August 2010 - Alumni News

Transcription

PEOPLE
August 2010
Reunion
2010
Society of Alumni
Officers
President
Christopher F. Giglio ’89
Vice PresidentS
John M. Malcolm ’86
Dennis R. O’Shea ’77
Secretary
Brooks L. Foehl ’88
Assistant Secretaries
Juan G. Baena ’06
Ashley W. Cart ’05
Robert P. Swann ’90
Paula Moore Tabor ’76
Executive Committee
Retiring 2011
Walter S. Bernheimer ’61
David C. Bowen ’83*
Thomas P. Kimbis ’93
Bernard Lau ’85
Gregg C. Peterson ’72
Kate Boyle Ramsdell ’97
Sarah Barger Ranney ’02
RETIRING 2012
Jennifer C. Bees ’08
James Gerard Christian ’82
Beth-Anne C. Flynn ’81
Aaron R. Jenkins ’03
Laura Moberg Lavoie ’99
Frederick M. Lawrence ’77*
Norma Lopez ’95
RETIRING 2013
B. Daniel Blatt ’85
Stephen D. Brown ’71
Richard T. Flood Jr. ’57
Melissa Fenton Herrod ’91
Kate Stone Lombardi ’78
Vernon C. Manley ’72
Katherine Queeney ’92*
RETIRING 2014
Robin Powell Mandjes ’82*
*Ex Officio as Alumni Trustee
Alumni Fund ChairS
Susan C.D. Fortin ’92*
Ted Plonsker ’86*
Alumni Offices
75 Park St.
Williamstown, MA 01267-2114
tel: 413.597.4151
fax: 413.458.9808
e-mail: [email protected]
http://alumni.williams.edu
Williams magazine
(USPS No. 684-580) is published in
August, September, December, January,
March, April and June and distributed
free of charge by Williams College for the
Society of Alumni. Opinions expressed
in this publication may not necessarily
reflect those of Williams College or of the
Society of Alumni.
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additional mailing offices.
Postmaster:
Send address changes to
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The Williams College Society of
Alumni was established in 1821 and
is the oldest continuously operating
alumni organization in the U.S. The
Executive Committee is its governing
board, charged with representing and
building closer bonds among alumni,
advancing the interests and reputation
of Williams College and furthering
meaningful relationships between
the two. The Executive Committee
conducts the business of the Society
of Alumni between annual meetings,
held on campus each June during
Reunion Weekend.
On the Cover
Frank Thoms ’60 and his wife
Kathleen Cammarata enjoyed
Reunion Weekend in June.
Photo by Art Evans.
CONTENT S
4 Reunion
Scrapbook
17
20 Class Notes
Click on text and photos to jump to the
corresponding page
1932 • ’36 • ’37 • ’38 • ’39
1940 • ’41 • ’42 • ’43 • ’44 • ’45 • ’46 • ’47 • ’48 • ’49
1950 • ’51 • ’52 • ’53 • ’54 • ’55 • ’56 • ’57 • ’58 • ’59
1960 • ’61 • ’62 • ’63 • ’64 • ’65 • ’66 • ’67 • ’68 • ’69
1970 • ’71 • ’72 • ’73 • ’74 • ’75 • ’76 • ’77 • ’78 • ’79
1980 • ’81 • ’82 • ’83 • ’84 • ’85 • ’86 • ’87 • ’88 • ’89
1990 • ’91 • ’92 • ’93 • ’94 • ’95 • ’96 • ’97 • ’98 • ’99
2000 • ’01 • ’02 • ’03 • ’04 • ’05 • ’06 • ’07 • ’08 • ’09
2010
79
128
129 W
edding
Album
Editors
Jennifer E. Grow
Hugh Howard
134 Births &
Adoptions
136
Obituaries
Student Assistant
Laura L. Corona ’11
Design & Production
Steve Parrish
Jane Firor & Associates
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnireview
PEOPLE
August 2010
Address Changes/Updates
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
fax: 413.458.9808
http://alumni.williams.edu
133
Volume 105 Number 1
On the Back Cover
1977 Ephs enjoyed fishing in the
Bahamas in April.
2010
o
o
b
p
Sc ra
Paul Guillotte
Paul Guillotte
Ian Bradshaw
Reunion
Photos by Art Evans unless noted.
4 | Williams People | August 2010
ok
From acrobats and stilt
walkers to bag pipers
and hula hoopers,
entertainment was all
around during Reunion
Weekend, June 10-13.
In all, nearly 1,600 alumni
returned to campus with
Paul Guillotte
their families and friends.
For more reunion photos, visit
http://bit.ly/94x4Ra
August 2010 | Williams People | 5
2010
Reunion
Sc ra p book
50 Reunion Class
th
The Class of 1960 celebrated in high style with 224 classmates
and guests. The class won the Reunion Attendance Trophy and
presented the College with a record $45 million gift, and Steve
Lewis won the Kellogg Award (see page 15). Penny and Foster
Devereux kicked off the festivities by hosting a dinner at their
Mt. Hope home. Another highlight was the exposition “Creative
Side: Class of 1960” curated by Ron Stegall, Fay Vincent and
Williams math professor Ed Burger. Seminars included Jim Maas
on the power of sleep; Jim Briggs and Williams athletics director
Harry Sheehy ‘75 on Williams athletics; and Stu Levy and his
brother Jay on the challenge of microbes. And Carol and Bob
Stegeman hosted a forum on retirement and creativity with
Art Evans
Art Evans
Cotton Fite, Keith Griffin, Chuck Smith and John O’Brien.
Photos by Scott Barrow unless noted.
Photos by Art Evans.
2010
Paul Guillotte
Reunion
Sc ra p book
50 Reunion Class
th
2010
Reunion
Sc ra p book
25 Reunion Class
th
The Class of 1985 welcomed 205 alumni along with 221
family members and friends. A weekend highlight was the
panel discussion “A Smiley Face Is Not a Thank-You Note: The
State of Civility in the 21st Century,” featuring LA-based TV
and film writer/producer Jenny Bicks; Sponsorship and Media
Development Officer for Episcopal Migration Ministries in New
York City Rev. John Denaro; New York Times Deputy Editorial
and Op-Ed Page Editor David Shipley; and Cate School
(Carpenteria, Calif.) Headmaster Ben Williams. At the annual
meeting the class presented the College with a $3.6 million
25th reunion gift for the Alumni Fund and the Class of 1985
Memorial Scholarship.
2010
Reunion
Sc ra p book
2009
25 Reunion Class
th
2010
Reunion
Sc ra p book
1
s
d
r
a
Aw
& Honors
2
3
4
Juan Baena
5
6
For a list of Alumni Fund trophy winners, visit
alumni.williams.edu/af0910report
President Adam Falk attended his first
annual meeting, where outgoing Society
of Alumni President Sarah Mollman
Underhill ’80 (1) was presented with the
Rogerson Cup, the highest award for alumni
service. The Reunion Trophy was awarded to
the Class of 1960 for highest percentage of
attending classmates (51.6 percent), and the
Class of 2005 received the Reunion Bowl for
the greatest number of Ephs present (3).
Other awardees were:
2 Sid Moody ’50, Thurston Bowl for
exceptional service as class secretary
4 Steve Lewis ’60, Kellogg Award for
lifetime career achievement
Juan Baena
5 Merce Blanchard ’55 (with wife
Mary Louise), Joseph’s Coat for post-50th
reunion alumnus held in high esteem
6 Cora Yang ’80, Copeland Award for
admissions volunteerism
2010
Paul Guillotte
Juan Baena
Reunion
Sc ra p book
Ian Bradshaw
Ian Bradshaw
2010
Art Evans
Paul Guillotte
Reunion
Sc ra p book
2009
Art Evans
Photos by Ian Bradshaw unless noted.
CL ASS
NOTES
1932
John P. English
3226 Heatherwood
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675
[email protected]
As secretary of what might be
called our senior class of alumni,
I take the liberty of representing all of our senior alumni in
welcoming Adam Falk, our new
president, to Williams College
and to Williamstown. He comes
from a new source for us, Johns
Hopkins, which I find healthy
(I don’t want to see Williams
becoming ingrown), and even
though he developed in a new
incubator, he seems like our kind
of guy. We wish him and his
family happiness, good health and
success in our lovely Berkshire
Hills and in our Little Three, and
we look forward to meeting him
in the flesh.
News from the Class of 1932
itself is understandably thin,
but four of us, Chuck Ecker in
West Chester, Pa., Jim Goodwin
in Keene Valley, N.Y., Taylor
Ostrander, our class president,
in Williamstown itself, and
yours truly on Cape Cod are still
around—but moving slowly as
we flirt with that 100th birthday.
Taylor, unfortunately, suffered a
collapsed lung in May. He now
is home at Sweet Brook (1561
Cold Spring Road, Williamstown,
01267; 413.458.8127). Jim
Goodwin is our oldest; he celebrated his 100th on March 8.
And by the time you read this. I
will have passed mine, too.
1936
Richard U. Sherman Jr.
Friendship Village Dublin
6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109
Dublin, OH 43017
[email protected]
1937
Class secretary Ed Heyes passed
away on May 17. An obituary
will appear in the December 2010
People. If you would like to submit class notes, please contact the
alumni office at 413.597.4151.
1938
George McKay
2833 Wind Pump Road
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
[email protected]
With regret, we report the death
of another classmate: Barton
Childs. To quote his obituary,
he was “professor emeritus of
pediatrics at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine
and a legendary geneticist and
teacher who influenced the practices of generations of physicians
and shaped the understanding of
inherited disease.”
We also report the deaths of the
following ladies: Terry Sterling,
widow of Arch Sterling; Jacqueline
Bates, widow of Asa Bates; Louise
Pellett, wife of Jackson Pellett; and
Pracilla Reed, widow of Charles
Reed.
1939
Roger Moore
39 Boland Road
Sharon, CT 06069
Bill Nelligan reported on his
winter in Florida, saying the
past 16 years were unspeakable, except for “great dancing,
lucky poker and pinochle.” Anne
Sawyer, still at Woods Hole,
Mass., with a view of Buzzards
Bay, was pleased to expect Holly
Silverthorne and granddaughter Kate, who is completing
her PhD in oceanography at
the prestigious Institute there
(great stuff, Kate!). Alex Carroll,
former class president, saluted
our new college president, Adam
Falk. Alex promptly received a
brief written reply to “stop by.”
Alex has survived his 93rd (me
too, Al!). Evelyn Beach continues bedeviled by back pain,
unrelieved by acupuncture. She
discovered a new—to me—
book, Williamstown’s First Two
Hundred Years by Professor R.R.
Brooks. (Have I just missed this
one?). At 92, Cynthia Wallace
notices more weeds in her flower
and vegetable beds. Cynthia sends
her best to all in the College class
“that always made her feel so
welcome,” and in the meantime
writes of “a beautiful, cold
spring” that she is “always happy
to see … again.”
Our present ’39 leader, Larry
Whittemore, will give thanks
when he is through standing in
for his rector, recuperating after
open-heart surgery. He will be
happy not having to do two
sermons on Sunday. Jane and
Harry Gottlieb feel little sympathy
for the New York Yankees when
their resident Snook (fish) froze in
their Florida weather. Must have
something to do with their White
Sox passion.
Holly Silverthorne states so
much is still happening in our
lives, still difficult to prioritize.
Kate Silverthorne is about to
present her “defense,” as she calls
it, for her thesis. She is graduating
after her doctorate degree, after
five years of full scholarship at
the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute. Holly says they were to
go Thursday, May 22, for that
talk, which was on the 23rd.
Sarah, her sister, is coming with
her first child, Samuel Spencer
Silverthorne, our first greatgrandchild, now 2 years old. So,
Spencer, your classmate, would
be the proud great-grandfather
of a Texas grandchild and of a
granddaughter who is about to
get her PhD.
The College has notified me of
the death of John (Jack) C. Whiting,
as of Jan. 23, 2009.
1940
Martin Brown
7926 Sand Ridge Road
Barneveld, NY 13304
1941
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Kim Loring
36 Samuel Way
North Andover, MA 01845
Back at the turn of the century,
Craig Lewis in his iconic fashion
began preparing us for our 60th
reunion. At Thanksgiving on the
eve of that fateful year, with a
dozen phone calls, he sampled
what we octogenarians were celebrating on that holiday. Family,
health, old friends ranked high
among reasons to be thankful.
But this small cross-section spoke
effusively about survival as the
greatest gift. Their Thanksgiving
hymn—and Craig’s—he suggested, would sound a lot like
Stephen Sondheim’s ’50 unforgettable song from Follies, “I’m still
here.”
How many of us nonagenarians
could echo this same sentiment?
We are hoping many will show up
to do just than on Oct. 1-3, when
we will gather for the last minireunion before the next culminating
event in our class history—the
70th. It will follow the same
format as recent minis, which
have been simplified and very well
received by those attending. There
will be the usual array of college
attractions, lectures, galleries and
athletic events, including what has
become a feature of the football
schedule, the game with Trinity.
Despite painful losses over
the past 10 years, happily we
n 1 9 3 2 –4 1
can count on a number from
Craig’s list to be present. Jean
and Bill Tallman are among the
most dependable. No longer
the twice-a-year Elderhostel
European travelers described by
Craig, they are expanding their
Naples, Fla., footprint, moving
from their condo apartment into
a villa in the same community.
They still consider Bedford, N.H.,
home and planned to head north
in May.
Another from Craig’s sample
whom we can hope to see is Bill
Bell. Craig marveled at Bill’s
contribution of homemade turnip
puffs to his son’s Thanksgiving
that year. Questioned recently,
Bill explained no one else likes
turnips. He gets to take most of
them home. He is doing as well as
anyone approaching 90 (youngest
in class) can expect. His bout with
shingles was a highlight of last
year’s mini and has led any of us
who had not had a shot for it to
get one. The effect of shingles on
his balance and numbness in one
leg have ended his tennis and golf,
which he greatly misses. Since
his wife Archie died in 1995, he
has lived alone in their house and
intends to continue there. He still
drives more than most of us and
should be a good bet for the mini.
Although two more in Craig’s
2001 notes are still with us, it
is not clear whether they were
included in his sample. But who
could doubt that they would
agree with his conclusion that
the greatest gift is survival—as
would any of us. Bud Detmer was
complaining in 2001 that since
age 70 his golf handicap had
gone up a stroke a year, but he
was still playing regularly. Now
at 91 who knows where it would
be if he hadn’t decided 91 was
time to quit. Time has broken
up that old gang at the weekly
Williams lunch Bud enjoyed for
so many years. Bob Kittredge ’43
and Hank Payson ’43 have died,
and Ernie Selvage ’42 has gone
to Piper Shores retirement community. Bud and Dodie are still
living in their house at Falmouth
Foreside, Maine, close to the
Portland Country Club, where he
and George Hallet were golfing
companions through the years.
The exotic travelers Craig
mentioned may be the last of their
kind, at least as far as ’41 is concerned. The only thing keeping Al
Senear and Ginny from heading
out again is the small matter of
selling their home of 30 years in
Seattle and moving into a new
retirement community. Planning
for it began a year ago, but they
have been unable to sell their
house. Now they are considering
various financial options being
offered to facilitate the process.
As soon as they can see their way
clear, Allen says they will be off
to Ethiopia and Tunisia, countries
they have long wanted to visit,
despite the fraught conclusion of
their most recent trip. They were
on a cruise in the South Pacific
when a medical crisis forced
Allen to a hospital in Noumea. It
was eventually traced to the side
effects of a seasickness patch he
was wearing behind his ear. In
any event, they flew home from
there.
In other news, our redoubtable
president inspires life on Spring
Street much as he has in the class.
The coffee group Wayne Wilkins
is a pillar of now averages 16 a
morning. It is only a matter of
time before there is a waiting list.
The good news from Margie
and Tod Blodget is that Lake
Winnepesaukee experienced its
earliest “ice out” in history. It
may have been an easy winter for
weather but not for the Blodgets.
Both are in various stages of
rehab from recent surgery and
making good progress. Tod gets
out three or four times a week
to workout at a local clinic. This
fortifies him for his battles with
the insurance company over their
long-term coverage.
In a nice note to Wilk, Smoke
Twichell reports they have moved
to Carleton Willard retirement
community in Bedford, Mass.,
where Dave Twichell is getting the
care Alzheimer’s requires. She
recently had to have heart surgery
for a prolapsed mitral valve and
dreads to think of the disaster if
that had happened before they
moved out of their home in
Belmont.
News of Jim Fowle arrived via
postcard to Wilk from Siracusa.
Jim forgot his address book in
Vermont, and asked Wilk to send
along the card to several of us as
a “sign of life.” And what a life!
The Fowles’ apartment seen on
the card faces southeast over the
Ionian Sea; a beautiful expanse
of blue sea. Understandably, Jim
was anticipating a steady stream
of winter visitors. He planned to
return to Vermont May 20, the
day before the deadline for these
notes.
Now for the hard part—a painful six months for ’41.
John Hardy Clark died Dec.
26, 2009, in Memphis, Tenn. In
1941, John entered Navy flight
training. After a year as a Marine
fighter pilot in Guadalcanal,
he returned to the States for a
year and then flew all over the
Pacific until the end of the war.
His military career is recalled in
a fascinating personal history
undertaken at the behest of his
daughter. It is summarized in the
August 2009 Williams People.
Most of his subsequent career was
associated with the design and
distribution of equipment for the
pulp and paper industry through
Rader Cos., which he founded. It
was eventually bought by Beloit
Corp., where John continued consulting until he fully retired. He is
survived by his wife of 39 years,
Marjie Miller, three daughters, a
son and four grandchildren.
William E. Morris died Feb. 25,
2010, in Dallas, Texas. After
service in the Army Air Force, he
began a long career in the printing industry. He owned Morris
Printing Co. and later bought City
Printing Co. His first wife died in
1989 after 45 years of marriage.
He is survived by his second wife,
Margaret Steele Morris. Bill was
very involved with his church, St.
Matthews Cathedral, the YMCA/
Camp Grady Spruce and the
Dallas Country Club, where he
was an avid tennis player. In addition to his wife he is survived by
eight grandchildren.
Francis H. Dewey 3rd died
March 12, 2010, in Worcester,
Mass. After service in the Army
Air Force, Chuck married Frani
Smith of Providence in 1950
and began a career in banking.
Beginning with two years at Bank
of Boston, he joined Mechanics
National Bank of Worcester in
1948, becoming president in
1961, the fourth consecutive F.H.
Dewey to hold the position. In
1973 Chuck went to work for
Williams College as vice president
and treasurer. During that time he
was president of the Taconic Golf
Club and served on many boards.
He returned to Worcester in 1980
to become chair of the George I.
Alden Trustees, responsible for
annual grants to educational institutions. Failing health in recent
years limited his Williamstown
visits, but through the good
efforts of his son David ’82, senior
development officer at Williams,
Chuck did manage some cherished time at reunions and a trip
to Florence, Italy, for his sister’s
90th birthday. He leaves his
four children, their spouses and
11 grandchildren. His family’s
affiliation with Williams spans
nine generations and more than
200 years. His wife Frani died in
2005.
Robert W. Taylor Jr. died May
CL ASS
NOTES
15, 2010, in Victor, N.Y. Bob
attended Harvard Medical
School, where he roomed with
Wayne Wilkins. He married Tibby
in 1944. After two years of Army
service at various hospitals, he
spent three years at the Mayo
Clinic, all in internal medicine.
Thereafter he moved back to
home base in the Finger Lakes
and set up solo practice in
Auburn, N.Y., where he worked
primarily at Auburn Memorial
and Mercy Hospitals. At various
times Bob was chief of medicine
at both hospitals and president of
Cayuga county Medical Society.
He retired Dec. 31, 1989. After
the death of his wife Tibby last
year, he lived with his daughter
Susan and son-in-law Mark in
Victor, N.Y. As recently as May
1, Bob had been in Williamstown
to attend the dinner for the
Leadership of the Alumni Fund
with his son Roger ’73. He was
looking forward to June, when
a grandson would be the eighth
member of the family to graduate
from Williams. He is survived by
his four children, their spouses
and 10 grandchildren.
1942
Bruce Sundlun
Carlotti Admin. Bldg., 001
75 Lower College Road
Kingston, RI 02881
[email protected]
In May I received a letter
addressed to the Class of 1942
urging all surviving members of
the class to become a member of
the “Ephraim Williams Society.”
The letter started out with the
sentence “And what is EWS,
you might ask?” The answer
was that “a group of 16,000
of our fellow EPHS who have
demonstrated their commitment
to Williams’ future by establishing planned gifts or including the
College initially as a charitable
recipient. Everyone is welcome to
join at any time. … A Gift-wise
News Letter for planning your
own EWS Gift in ways that help
Williams in tough economic times
and make financial sense for you
and your family. In summation
you will find useful suggestions
about tax savvy vehicles that
provide you with lifetime income
while making a charitable gift.”
For myself, years ago I
established a gift for Williams
by setting up a trust financed
by insurance. I haven’t had to
worry about that kind of a gift
for Williams ever since. The key
is http://alumni.williams.edu/
giftplanning.
It was fascinating to read the
list of 1942 members of the
Ephraim Williams Society. It
shows 23 living male members of
the Class of 1942 who are members of the Ephraim Williams
Society. The men who answer
the roll call for EWS are Baillen,
Benton, Caputo, Carr, Carter, Ellis,
JR, Everdell, Hamerslough, Holt,
Murray, Peet, Rudolph, Sammons,
Santry, Selvage, Sundlun, Tippit,
Tuttle, Ward, Jr, Whidden, Whiting,
Williams Wolf. When we add in
the ladies, we include the following widows: Colon, Lowell,
Maclay, Tippit, Whitting and
Woodin Jr. Additionally Mrs.
Hamerslough signed on with
Phil, as did Mrs. Rudolph with
Fred. All told, the lists totals 31.
Fred Rudolph wrote me a letter
and quoted Bob Barnet, who
died Jan. 20, 2010. Barnet wrote
five volumes of memoirs after
returning from the University of
Illinois Personnel Department in
1988. His widow, Barbara Swain,
has shared with us a selection
from the journal in which Bob
recalls his Williams course on
the Romantic poets taught by
Professor Nelson Bushnell.
“One of the courses I best
remember at Williams almost
half-century ago was one
concentrating on the English
Romantic Poets. My professor
Nelson Bushnell particularly
liked Keats and talked about him
with great affection. About 20
years later, while at Rutgers, I
was writing a paper about Keats’
life and researching material. I
found a book Professor Bushnell
had written about a trip he took
through Scotland, retracing the
steps Keats had taken about 125
years earlier. Bushnell had not
talked about this trip when I
took his course, so it must have
been a year to two later. Both
Keats and Bushnell spent three
weeks on their journeys. Keats’
trail was easy to follow, since he
had written many letters to his
friends during his travels and I
think he may have also kept a
journal. Bushnell wrote about
the poems Keats had composed
while on his trip, describing those
things, which had influenced
Keats. Bushnell too felt as if he
had known Keats.”
G. James Williams was a life
long resident of Midland, Mich.,
until his death at the age of 89 on
May 20, 2010, in Delray Beach,
Fla. After leaving the Army Air
Corps and attending law school
at University of Michigan, Jim
began his career at the Dow
Chemical Co. in 1948 in their
legal department. When he retired
in 1980 he was financial VP and a
member of the board of directors.
He also served on the boards of
Dow Corning Corp, Chemical
Bank and Trust, Sealed Power
Corporation and the National
Association of Manufactures.
Jim was active in many community organizations, including
the Midland Board of Education,
Saint John’s Episcopal Church,
Saginaw Valley State University,
Michigan YMCA and Midland
Center for The Arts.
Jim was married to Lydia
Landis for 61 years until her
death in 2003. He is survived by
their daughters Schuyler Williams
and Patricia Sessler and grandchildren Karl Jr. and Jennifer.
Son James Williams Jr. married
Candace and produced two greatgrandchildren, James and Kelly.
There are also three great-greatgrandchildren, Samantha, Cassie
and Patrick, surviving Jim. His
very special granddaughter Julie
Sessler preceded him in death in
2002.
A private family service will
be held in Midland, and family
requests that if you would like
to remember him through a
charitable donation, gifts can be
made to Children’s Cancer Caring
Center, care of Lee Kline, director,
2750 Northeast 183 St., Apt.
T-1508, Avantura, Fla. 33160, or
a charity of your choice.
Fred Rudolph sent word that
Jack Daly had been released from
rehabilitation for the fall that
hospitalized him soon after the
last minireunion in September.
However, Jack’s daughter Kathy
Everett was later in touch, informing us that during his time in the
assisted living facility Allertown
House (Unit 250, Condito Road,
Hingham, Mass. 02043) Jack had
a fall, which forced him into a
wheelchair. After a period of time
under constant nursing care, Jack
now is “in good shape” and can
be reached at 781.749.4989.
1943
Fred Nathan
180 East End Ave., Apt. 22G
New York, NY 10128
[email protected]
Several classmates sent enthusiastic reports about the college’s
new president, Adam Falk. Bernie
Boykin describes a gathering of
50 or so enthusiastic souls in
Baltimore on March 11 that
honored his former neighbors, the
Falks. Bernie thinks that he was
n 1 9 4 1 –4 4
the oldest alumnus present, and
the only one with a degree from
Adam Falk’s former employer,
Johns Hopkins University.
Occasionally the activities of
our children and grandchildren
are more interesting than our
own. For example, Doc Phillips
reports that Bill Budge’s son Joe’s
’74 single-engine Piper aircraft
made six early trips from Nassau
to Haiti carrying a total of 2,400
pounds of food and medical
supplies to small airports in
earthquake-stricken Haiti.
Doc continues to be a leader
of the Literary Lions of ’43. His
anthology of “risqué” jokes to
enliven treasurers’ annual reports
is still circulating. But Malcolm
MacGruer, who has completed the
text of his third book, remains
in first place. Leonard Eaton has
actually published more books,
but McGurk wins on word count.
Len’s full-length “fictional biography,” described in the last issue, is
supplemented by a steady flow of
poetry, but his word count is still
shy of McGurk’s. Alex Westfried is
a stealth competitor. His current
project is an “optimistic” book
about America’s future (good
luck, Alex!). Rumor has it that he
has authored previous books.
Al James is recuperating from a
bad fall on black ice last winter.
He is also a contender for the
top spot in word count among
our class authors but is probably
number-one in the depth of his
research and scholarship.
Your secretary has clinched last
place with his first book, now at
the printer, about New York lawyers in public service. They were
astonishingly overrepresented in
the presidency, Supreme Court
and the most important Cabinet
positions in the 80-year period
ending in 1981. Their entrance
into these posts virtually stopped
in 1981. The book examines why
and suggests what can be done
to restore highly talented and
well-motivated public servants
to high positions in the Federal
Government. The book points
out how the efforts of a small
group of Harvard-trained New
York lawyers, including Franklin
Roosevelt, Henry Stimson, Robert
Patterson and Grenville Clark,
supported by many Harvard Law
School-trained top assistants,
were crucial to saving Britain
in 1940 and then to winning
WWII. Free copies will be sent
to classmates whose requests are
accompanied by a promise to submit a Note for the next issue.
Nip Wilson reports that he and
Joan are selling their house and
moving across the park to a
Stanford rental property in Palo
Alto. They will have a swimming
pool at their front door and a
fitness center a short walk away.
Nip is one of two classmates
known to still be skiing, but Joan
is the designated driver.
Nick Fellner visited Romy
Everdell ’42 “at his beautiful
condo on the wharf in Boston.”
Nick and Romy had been squadron mates in Bombing 13, which
flew off the deck of the carrier
Franklin during the epic battle of
Leyte Gulf 66 years ago.
News about Bill Brewer
continues to trickle in from his
NYC Councilwoman daughter
Gale. She shared a newspaper
report that detailed the West
River Croquet club’s attainment
of the highest margin of victory
in the history of the 15-year-old
Marion Cricket Club Interclub
Croquet Tournament. The article
noted that the winning team was
organized in Bill’s backyard in
Gailsville, Md., in 2004, and that
its players range in age from 30
to the mid-80’s. Bill remains its
intrepid coach.
Dick Finlay’s son John sent us a
supplement to the notice of his
father’s death, which appeared in
the last issue. Dick was one of a
large number of classmates and
other Ephs who trained on skis
and fought on foot with the Tenth
Mountain Division. He continued
to ski until age 79. Dick and
Adele lived in the Manchester/
Dorset area in Vermont, allowing Dick to be a weekend ski
instructor at Bromley for nearly
50 years. He helped start the
American Museum of Fly Fishing
in Manchester and was active
at the Vermont Ski Museum
in Stowe. Dick received several
awards as a protector of Vermont
rivers, including the Watershed
Award presented to him by Gov.
Douglas in 2008 for “significant
efforts contributing to clean water
in Vermont.” Dick leaves three
children, three grandchildren and
a great-grandson.
Word was received of the
deaths of three other esteemed
classmates, Carl (“Bud”) Vietor on
March 16, Walter Griffin on April
9, and Philip Beal on Feb. 21. Phil
served as a gunnery officer on
LST 49 in the Pacific. He earned
his PhD in organic chemistry
from Ohio State University and
spent his career with the Upjohn
Pharmaceutical Co. in the environs of Kalamazoo, Mich., where
he and his wife Martha raised
their four children. He retired
in 1985 as director of research
and development. He was one of
the first researchers to synthesize
hydrocorzine, which won him the
Upjohn Award (1962).
Walter was an attorney in
Waterbury, Conn., for 61 years.
As his practice grew, he was
joined by his sons Stephen and
David and other attorneys. His
high school English teacher had
advised him to attend Williams,
a college he had never heard of
but which promptly admitted him
on scholarship. He served many
civic groups and bar associations, including as president of
the Waterbury Bar Association,
board member of the Connecticut
Bar Association, chairman of the
Waterbury Housing Authority,
chair of the board of Waterbury
Hospital and president of the
Country Club of Waterbury.
His wife Marie had been a
civilian employee of the Army
unit which mustered him into
service in WWII. He is survived
by Marie, five children and 11
grandchildren.
Carl left Williams after two
years to join the Navy. He became
a pilot and a lieutenant commander in the South Pacific. Bud
joined American Airlines in 1950
and flew until he retired in 1980.
He also developed and patented
a unique new flight safety system
and taught fellow pilots how
to use it. He was a passionate
investor in the stock market and
at age 85 developed the “CompuCast” computer program, which
shortly enabled him to predict
the severe market downturn of
2008-09. Bud is survived by three
daughters, six grandchildren and
a great-granddaughter. He also
supported three children in Africa
through World Vision.
John Stein’s widow Mary, an
honorary classmate, sends greetings. She is also proud of her
nephew Chuck Schlosser ’76, and
grandson Chris Calfee ’04.
1944
Hudson Mead
8 Stratford Place
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230
[email protected]
PPN, but a paucity of responses
to my recent plea has prompted
a personal note. We had quite a
“do” out here in the boonies. A
fundraising affair was held for
the benefit of the local community center known as the
Grosse Pointe War Memorial
Association. It timed the occasion
for the 100th anniversary of the
building of the Russell Alger
CL ASS
NOTES
house, which is the association’s
situs. There was dinner and dancing to a big band playing OUR
MUSIC—Benny Goodman et al.
I wore Russell’s brother Fred’s hat
to put on the table of memorabilia set up for the occasion. I told
you about the Algers in my last
column.
The latest Ephnotes announces
the closing of the Williams Club
in New York on June 1. Members
can now go to the Princeton
Club. I have stayed at the
Williams Club a couple of times,
the first being in August 1945,
when the Empire State Building,
but a few blocks away, was hit by
an Army plane coming in from
Europe. I did NOT rush down to
ogle the evidence of the disaster!
A Williams man just does not do
that sort of thing.
But here is what another
Williams man did that we all
knew and loved. I have just
finished reading Courting Justice
by David Boies, whose clients, as
the cover of the book proclaims,
run from the N.Y. Yankees to
Bush v. Gore. Born not long after
Pearl Harbor, Boies went to Yale
Law and by May 1997 he had
been accepted by Cravath, Swaine
& Moore. He writes: “Cravath
was widely regarded as the best
law firm in the country, and I was
the object of much envy among
my classmates.” He continues,
“In my early years I had the
opportunity to work with two
exceptional lawyers. The first was
Allen Maulsby, an elegant and
courtly attorney who epitomized
grace under pressure; no matter
how late he worked or how hectic
the pace, he never seemed harried
or raised his voice. A polished and
compelling writer and speaker, he
set a high standard for a young
and impressionable associate. He
also taught by word and example
two lessons that stayed with
me throughout my career—the
importance of integrity and
credibility, and the ability to be
tough, even aggressive, without
being mean or unpleasant.” Milt
and Satch take note as well as the
rest of the class; this book is well
worth reading.
Notes from all over include that
of Charley Merrels, who says that
as much as he enjoyed New York,
the time came to make a move.
He now has a pleasant apartment at Kendal on Hudson, 4109
Kendal Way, Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.
10591. Shorts Talbot reminds us
that he has authored a biography
of his wife Angela. Tom Buffinton
apparently read my short history
of President Garfield, because
Last spring, Mary and Hudson Mead ’44 attended a fundraiser for the
Grosse Pointe War Memorial Association in Grosse Pointe, Mich.
he points out that Garfield was
attending Hiram College when he
transferred to Williams, apparently drawn by the renown of
President Hopkins. Tom had a
comparable experience. Planning
to enter the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy, he did not make the
cut. A fellow counselor at a
summer camp by the name of
Dick King urged him to come to
Williams. It is wonderful how the
little coincidences of life turn one
one way rather than the other.
“Jack (Rosenquest) fell down
and broke his crown—well, not
quite,” according to wife Kay,
but he did a pretty good job on
his hip and is working hard in
therapy at Waterford Hospital in
Juno Beach to walk again. Speedy
recovery, Jack!
Sara Molyneaux wrote that her
mother Mary Molyneaux, longtime
companion to Ted Metzger,
preceded Ted in death by one
day. They lived in Palm Beach
and until recent years Ted joined
Hank Hunter and me for lunch
during the season. Ted passed
away on Aug. 4, 2009. John
Caulfield apparently slipped away
in California back in 2007—Nov.
3, to be exact, as did Dr. John
O. Mertz on Aug. 7 of that year.
Jack practiced medicine in the
Indianapolis area for most of
his life after a stint in the Army
Medical Corps. George R. Elder Jr.
died Dec. 15, 2009. Dick (Richard
A.) Hunsdorfer died Jan. 1, 2010,
after spending most of his life in
the Albany area in the iron and
steel supply business started by
his father and expanded by him
to 80 employees. Gil McCurdy died
Feb. 16. It was in Rochester, N.Y.,
that Gil ran his store. Herman
O. Baker’s wife Anne says that
“H.O.” died in 1979. She was
prompted to write upon receipt
of my recent plea for news and
was one of the two people who
received it who liked or at least
commented on it. Thank you,
Anne. With that aside, sincere
regrets from all our classmates
and the loved ones and friends
who survive.
Last but by no means least,
Marty and Gerry Oberrender
were to make their annual hegira
to Bridgehampton from June to
Sept. 13 (631.537.5234). Thence
to “The Groves at Lincoln” in
Massachusetts; as soon as they
settle down in the wilderness,
they will supply an address. In the
meantime, they “wonder as they
wander,” if anyone is interested
in joining them for a fall reunion
on Oct. 16. Y’all know how to
reach them.
1945
Frederick Wardwell
P.O. Box 118
Searsmont, ME 04973
[email protected]
Our 65th class reunion June
10-12 was totally successful.
Seventeen classmates, nine wives,
three classmates’ widows, and
two daughters attended, all in
a great crowd of 31 for dinner,
parade marching and sociability.
Unfortunately there were lastminute cancellations, including
the Fielding Browns, but not all
because of bad news. Emmet
Herndon reported his wife’s successful operation and her expectation of tennis again shortly.
Class President Gil Lefferts was
our host at Parsons House, hard
by the Dodd House headquarters.
n 1 9 4 4 –4 5
Members of the Class of 1945 convened for dinner at the home of Fred
Scarborough (back row, second from left) during Reunion Weekend.
We are happy to report that C.C.
Lefferts was present, ambulatory again after two broken hips.
The weather provided some
challenges, and the mountains
were mostly shrouded in cloud,
but spirits were not dampened.
Our classy purple canes, issued
to all, were sported as decorative
accessories—rather than as support— in the parade.
In attendance: Ed Bloch, June
Bremer (Mrs. Bill Bremer) and
daughter Annette, Mary and Stu
Coan, Sue and Bud Edwards, Dave
Goodhart, Jeff Harris, Jean Kirk
(Mrs. Brick Kirk), Fran Lathrop and
daughter Daphne Jackson, C.C.
and Gil Lefferts, Mary Elizabeth
McClellan (Mrs. Bruce McClellen),
Tracy McFarlan, Dick Morrill,
Ted Murphy, Lucy and Charlie
Pinkerton, Don Potter, Beverly
and Dick Raffman, Gay and Fred
Scarborough, Nancy and Tim
Tyler, Rachel and Joe Varley, Ann
and Fred Wardwell.
John Chandler, honorary
member, joined our discussion of
the significant Class of ’45 World
Fellowship grants awarded for
study of conflict resolution all
over the world. Obviously the
importance of such fellowships
has not diminished in the troubled
years since 1945.
The new College president,
Adam Falk, was much in evidence
talking to alumni groups. We
saw him not less than five times.
He is articulate, vigorous, quick
and obviously broadly intelligent.
Everyone expects him to succeed
nicely.
There were the usual alumni
lectures Thursday and Friday.
Perhaps the most talked about
and the best presented was
given by Harry Sheehy ’75, the
current director of athletics,
and Jim Briggs ’60, the former
baseball coach. They covered
the field, including department
and coaching awards, personnel
development, team results, how
student-athletes have performed
after Williams and the details
of past and present cooperation
with the admissions department.
(Noteworthy is that there is
absolutely no financial subsidy
to coaches for recruiting athletes
even if a lot of travel is required.)
Gay and Fred Scarborough
hosted the whole crowd for
snacks and cocktails at their
home on Oblong Road, which
looked out on a cloud-covered
Mt. Greylock. The Scarboroughs
are wonderful hosts, and it was
a great gathering, just prior to
our Saturday night dinner at the
Orchards. An innovation for this
class is that the College provided
transportation to and from cocktails and dinner in vans chauffeured by student “Rangers.”
After dinner and a serenade by
the Ephlats starring Rachel and
Joe Varley’s daughter, President Gil
Lefferts presided over an informal
class meeting. He reported that of
our original 281 members 109 are
still on deck, a loss of 34 since our
last reunion in 2005. The same
class officers were presented by
the nominating committee except
for Tony Bermant passing to Joe
Varley the VP position. With no
objections noted, these officers
will serve for the next five years.
A minireunion is planned for the
coming Oct. 1-2, with a football
game and dinner with the Class of
’46 on the program.
Ongoing oversight for our
Conflict Resolution Fellowship
Program was discussed, and there
are pros and cons as to whether
we should leave it up to the
College or pass on some oversight
responsibility to others. We will
discuss this again at our October
minireunion.
Notes from classmates before
and since our 65th have come in
more or less as follows:
Ed Bloch reports he is president of the New York Council
of Veterans Organizations, an
umbrella legislative group. He is
also the executive director of the
Interfaith Alliance of N.Y. State
and sticks his head in on Local
332 of UE, the union he has been
involved with for 60 years. He
and his wife Naomi swim at least
three times a week and are in
good shape. Ed stopped in briefly
at the reunion to say hello.
Fielding Brown reported he has
had two shows of his contemporary abstract sculpture in wood
and multi-media and works at it
three to five hours on a good day.
Mary Elizabeth McClellan
(Mrs. Bruce McClellan) came to
Williamstown from her stint as
the chair for her 65th reunion at
Middlebury College and reported
her large clan is in good fettle.
Two granddaughters graduated
from the Lawrenceville School in
June. Mary Elinore Davies (Mrs.
Don Davies) sent us greetings for
our reunion with the welcome
news that Don will soon be home
from rehab. Lynn Miller (Mrs.
Jack Miller) said she misses Jack a
lot, but is living only 10 minutes
from their old home in Winnetka,
is playing a lot of bridge and is
busier than ever.
Ted Murphy kept in close touch
with Bob Poole before he died,
and he has lived in nine different
states and has moved 20 times
since marrying Shirley. He was
among several of us who had
war stories to share. Al Pawlick
sent a smiley picture of himself
and a photo of Alice and Bill Fox
at Hilton Head. Bill reported
some surgery but is still playing
golf. Joan Jobson (Mrs. Ted
Jobson) said she is dividing her
time between Stamford, Conn.,
Delray Beach, Fla., Chateauguay,
N.Y., and Palm Beach, Fla. Travel
anyone?
SENDNEWS!
Y
our class secretary is waiting to hear from you! Send
news to your secretary at the
address at the top of your class
notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
1946
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Gates McG. Helms
5 Troon Court
Maplewood, NJ 07040
[email protected]
1947
John C. Speaks III
33 Heathwood Road
Williamsville, NY 14221
[email protected]
1948
John A. Peterson Jr.
5811 Glencove Drive, Apt. 1005
Naples, FL 34108
[email protected]
Dick McElvein writes that he
made it through his first year
after the passing of his wife
Priscilla. “No blue-haired ladies
with casseroles yet! I continue
with golf and painting and in
addition do volunteer work at a
local museum and food pantry
here on Cape Cod. Earlier this
year I had a great trip to Egypt
followed by visits to my children
in St. Louis, Washington and
Virginia Beach.”
For a “between official class
reunions” reunion this past June,
’48 was well represented by Judy
and Don Markstein, Bunny Smith,
Marilyn Ellingwood, Bud Dodge,
Dick Gray, Bill Rutter and Jerry
Teran. We thank Bunny for her
planning efforts (through Chris
Robare in the alumni office;
Chris is a truly great friend of
’48) in setting up ’48 at a lovely
table on the enclosed porch of
Dodd House for our many meals
there.
Also, I’ve received no death
notices since the last edition of
these notes, so GOOD-O!
Congratulations to our class
agents and all concerned for
their efforts re: the Alumni Fund.
Once again, ’48 came through
gangbusters. We beat our goal
and actually raised a bit more
than in ’09. Thanks to all.
1949
Chuck Utley
1835 Van Buren Circle
Mountain View, CA 94040
[email protected]
We were all terribly saddened when we learned of Billy
Heineman’s death in February
from brain surgery complications. He was an ardent
supporter of Williams and
specifically the Class of ’49. He
could be counted on to gather
with classmates in Williamstown
at every possible opportunity
and will be missed by us all.
Bill’s brother Andy Heineman ’50
reminds us that Bill and their late
brother Bernard ’45 both were
presidents of their respective
classes, terms which overlapped
in 1979-80, a unique distinction.
In his March letter to our class,
Charlie Jarrett specifically mentioned the loss of Billy and the
scholarship fund that he and his
brother Andy established years
ago. His suggestion to remember
Bill by contributing to the Fund
is worth repeating. Contributions
payable to Williams College and
designated to the RRR and Mary
Brooks Scholarship Fund can be
sent to the Development Office
at 75 Park St. in Williamstown.
Jim Geer reported that he and
his wife Pat were the guests of
Joe Albertson ’54 on board his
Grady White 33 for an excursion
to the Collier Inn on Useppa
Island, about eight miles south
of Boca Grade, Fla. Daughter
Suzanne Geer and a friend Rohan
Mehra, both ’07, were also part
of the group and made it a multigenerational affair. From the
looks of an accompanying photo,
they had one beautiful day on
the water.
Ed Maynard says that “like
most of us, activities seem to
focus around grandchildren. Just
back from our annual ranch trip,
riding in the Arizona mountains
with one. Now off to the Univ.
of Richmond, which has modeled itself after Williams, for the
graduation of another. Watch
a lot of Div. I lacrosse, where
a granddaughter is a star. Her
mother, who captained Williams
hockey ’81, is back on the ice.
I have to settle with my weekly
tennis game, mostly doubles. I’m
still in school—courses at the
Harvard Institute—and happily
do some teaching, Harvard med
students. The calendar still pretty
full. Cheers.”
A brief note from his wife
Dizzy told us, sadly, that Hal
Reynolds is being treated for
a malignant brain tumor. The
family can be contacted at 598
Reach Road, Deer Isle, Maine
04627.
The University of Wyoming
presented Al Kernan with an
honorary degree in May. Al
explained that “after graduating
from high school in Wyoming
70 years ago, I wrote to the
university asking if they had a
scholarship that paid everything
since it was still the depression
and my family was broke. They
replied ‘nothing doing’ so I joined
the Navy in time to get to Pearl
Harbor for the big bang. After
the war, and with the GI Bill, I
wisely decided to go to Williams
instead. But it is still nice to at
last get a degree from Wyoming. I
was devastated by Bill Heineman’s
death, a noble soul gone.“
Alec Clement tells us, “Time is
being taken up by visits to and
from my daughter. She and her
husband (an Episcopal priest)
were here in late April so he could
run the Boston Marathon with
his daughter—31st time for him,
the second for her. In May we
went to Clemson for their other
daughter’s graduation and then
at the end of May to Woodbury
Forest for the grandson who will
enter Johns Hopkins this fall with
a four-year scholarship—a good
student and a first-class lacrosse
player. Health wise we have our
aches and pains but plan on
celebrating our 55th in May with
a visit to Williamsburg, where we
spent part of our honeymoon.
Gotta keep moving! Sold our
house in Duxbury last year and
moved into a condo in Hanover,
Mass.—a culture shock but we
are getting used to it slowly. Still
singing with a local chorus—
concert soon—and still with our
church choir. Life would be dull
without music.”
Bob Messimer writes: “ We
continue to enjoy year-round
living in Sarasota, Fla. Much golf
and so many good restaurants
to enjoy. Jane and I just returned
from a tour of Egypt using the
Viking River Cruise group. In all
it took 12 days, with a three-day
stay in Cairo, a very busy airport
and capital city. We then flew
to Luxor for one day, and then
onto a boat for a three-day tour
of more pyramids, temples and
tombs while cruising the Nile
River to the Aswan Dam. We then
moved to another boat to cruise
Lake Nasser (that was formed by
the Aswan Dam). It was a most
interesting trip, especially since
some structures dated to 3,000
BC, but I think we should have
been 20 years younger for such a
strenuous trip!”
Oren Pollock and Sam took
another of the highly regarded
Williams-sponsored trips last
spring, this one to Spain from
March 21 to April 1. Highlights
included a good look at the
n 1 9 4 6 –5 0
Alhambra in Granada, then
on to Seville, with a side trip
to Cordoba and a stop in Jerez
to pick up some sherry. They
reached Madrid by bullet train
followed by a side trip to Toledo
with a much-too-short afternoon
for the Prado. Nero and Sam
left the Williams contingent in
Madrid and took another bullet
train to Barcelona, where for two
days their guide treated them to
the works of Gaudi, Miro and
Picasso. Then came their flight
back to Madrid and a nine-anda-half-hour flight from Madrid to
Chicago. Nero concluded with a
travel testimonial, “This was our
third Williams excursion with fellow alumni and spouses from the
purple hills and was well planned
and guided as always.” He added,
“We are looking forward to an
evening with Darra Goldstein,
professor of Russian, in May here
in Chicago.”
A note from John Thoman
reported that he and Tay “Visited
Williamstown over the May Day
weekend to see our family and
attend the annual Alumni Fund
dinner. Lots of old friends but,
sadly, no other ’49ers in sight. No
cups this year but an honorable
mention for participation of over
90 percent for the fourth year
in a row (or is it more?). Special
thanks to Dick and Nero for their
labors.”
Pedro Stites sent a folksy note
with greetings that arrived just
in time to make this issue. Our
esteemed ex-secretary acknowledged that he is “still with wife
Edna … married 53 years and
soon in June to celebrate #54.
Our son Jim is 53 years old this
year, and daughter Janet is 48.
Edna is from Indianapolis, and
I met her when we were both
teaching at a downtown school
in Cincinnati, my hometown.”
Pete and Edna reside at 3939 Erie
Ave., Apt. 2130, Cincinnati, Ohio
45208.
Dick Wells sends greetings from
Williamstown after two rainy
weekends for graduation and
reunions. “I thought you would
like to know that our good
classmate Joe Durrell is now living
in town. Unfortunately, his son
Jim died in late May at their
home in Bridgton, Maine. He
and Jim were residing together.
Connie Sheehy, Joe’s daughter
of the Class of 1975, has moved
him to Williamstown. Connie
works in the admission office, and
her husband Harry is our athletic
director. They brought Joe to the
alumni parade on Saturday where
I met them, and Joe and I, with
our 49’er name tags, watched the
younger classes go by. After everyone was in Chandler Athletic
Center, we wheeled Joe into the
meeting on the top level. He had
a wonderful view of the meeting
and—by golly—he stood up from
his wheelchair for all the Williams
songs. I thought you would like to
hear of one of our stalwart associate class agents. Perhaps some of
you would like to send him some
form of greetings at his new residence. If so, you could send it to:
Joseph Durrell, Sweetbrook Care
Centers, 1561 Cold Spring Road,
Williamstown, MA 01267.”
This last-minute addition to the
column unfortunately reports the
passing of our classmate Henry
Estabrook. According to a note
from Dick Warner, Hank died
peacefully in New Haven on April
15. He was a friend, fraternity
brother and genuinely good guy
who will be missed a great deal
by all who knew and respected
him. Gifts may be made in the
memory of Henry W. Estabrook,
Class of ’49, in care of Williams
College Alumni Relations and
Development Office, 75 Park St.
Williamstown, Mass. 01267.
1950
Kevin F.X. Delany
3143 O St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
[email protected]
In case you haven’t noticed,
I’m not Sidney Moody. I couldn’t
be if I wanted to, because Sid is
an original. I am sitting in his
familiar chair keeping the stove
warm because after 32 years as
our class secretary—the last 27
consecutively—Sid is dropping
“deadline” from his vocabulary
so he and Mrs. Moody can finally
start smelling the roses at their
retirement village close to their
old Bernardsville, N.J., home.
Sid went out in grand style
at our recently completed 60th
reunion. At the Annual Meeting
of the Alumni Society on Saturday
morning that highlighted the busy
weekend, Sid was awarded the
rarely bestowed Thurston Bowl
for distinguished service as class
secretary. The eloquent citation said that he had chronicled
every aspect of 50’s activity over
the years while serving not only
as class, but also in effect as a
college, historian, “all with his
characteristic sardonic sense of
humor.” The announcement was
a glorious moment, with the 102
classmates, spouses and relatives
from ’50 erupting at the news. I
think you could hear a collective
exhalation from the class members present as Moody’s contributions were finally recognized.
In fact, not long after the event,
Brooks Foehl ’87, director of
alumni relations and secretary of
the Society of Alumni, told me,
“Sid Moody really deserved that.
He should have been honored by
the College a long time ago.”
After several classmates told
him that the honor was overdue,
Moody paused before saying,
“I’m not the first secretary to be
(expletive) by management.”
That evening, our 55 returning
class members and their spouses
gathered for a final dinner in
Dodd House, while the Williams
Reunion Jazz Band accompanied
with their Dixieland best. In the
music break, outgoing President
Doug Coleman held his final business meeting to announce the new
slate of class officers.
Stan Roller was named class
president for the next five-year
term; Morgan Murray and Fred
Lanes were named co-VPs; yours
truly as class secretary; and
Tom Hodgman as the new class
treasurer.
Completing the class business,
Doug Coleman and Sid Moody
received handsome nautical clocks
in recognition of their outstanding
service, and Moody was named
Class Secretary, Emeritus.
The weekend concluded
on Sunday morning with an
ecumenical service for all reunion
classes at the college chapel honoring our deceased classmates.
The program included the names
of the 48 class members who had
died since our 50th reunion. The
1950 class roster currently totals
226 members. All in all, it was a
very well planned and organized
reunion by Morgan Murray and
Fred Lanes, with special kudos
due to Fred for a tireless effort
from his bunker near Boston.
The high points included a good
slate of lectures, surprisingly
good meals from the college food
service, a delightful cocktail party
on Saturday at Chuck Alberti’s
condo north of Williamstown and
some variable weather that never
slowed us down.
Mo Murray announced that he
will be joining the Moodys in
September at Fellowship Village,
their retirement abode in Basking
Ridge, N.J.
Other Reunion Mementos:
1950 held its own on the reunion
march to Chandler Hall, but
the class member who made
us look most stylish had to be
Ivar “Swede” Svenson, a retired
CL ASS
NOTES
Marine Colonel in his dress uniform with a chest full of ribbons,
including the Legion of Merit and
the Purple Heart. He is a Korean
War as well as Vietnam War veteran. Swede was accompanied by
his wife Ann, a State Department/
Navy nurse, whom he wooed and
won after they met in Danang,
Vietnam.
The Chicago contingent was
well represented in our returning
group. Lynn and Jack McConnell;
Katie and Norm Olson, their son
Todd and his daughter Taylor, a
high school junior, who was busy
checking out potential colleges
in her future; Gail and Charlie
Schaaf, with Charlie lobbying
hard for a college memorial to the
late Clarence Chaffee, renowned
tennis coach at Williams for many
years. Charlie suggests naming
the college courts after Chaffee
for starters.
Gina and Joe Jennata were
also on the Chicago list. Joe has
recently finished a memoir 10
years in the making based on
letters from a highly decorated
uncle’s Pacific War adventures
juxtaposed with the diaries of a
three-star Japanese admiral in
the Pacific. Joe hopes to see it
published.
Maurice O’Connell and Joan
were in from Toledo, with Mickey
regaling us with stories about his
roots in County Sligo. Bea and
Tom Leous, our stalwarts from
Buffalo, added their usual verve.
A less familiar class member
was Rik Fowle, born in Istanbul,
Turkey, of missionary parents,
who now lives with his wife
Irmalyn in a Congregational
Church retirement village in West
Lebanon, N.H.
From the west we were favored
by Sandy and Dunc Mcdonald
from Salt Lake; Joanie and Tom
Healy from Tucson; Susan and
Ford Schuman from Scottsdale;
Marge and Roy Collins from
Phoenix; and Judy and Don
Merwin from Denver. The
Merwins are newly settled in
Denver but are already joining in
the local Williams events in town.
Moving farther west to
California, we were joined by
Bud and Anne Cool from Walnut
Creek and Stu Robinson from San
Diego. Stu had to have a most
active weekend. He very kindly
made sure that our elder statesman Andy Heineman made it from
New York to Williamstown and
back at super shuttle rates and in
between gave his best in a hard
fought reunion tennis tournament.
Stu battled it out with Roy
Collins, Doug Coleman and Charlie
Schaaf. In the end it was declared
a gentlemens’ draw, even though
Robinson reportedly did not miss
a single shot.
Other New Yorkers at the
reunion were Janice and Hank
Meagher from Hyde Park, Rosalie
and David Scal from Manhattan
as well as Judy and Barry Benepe
from Saugerties, Long Island.
They are working to protect the
historic and agricultural resources
of the area very much as Barry
did for the parks and resources
in the NYC area for which he
gained much renown.
Other reunion attendees
included Dick Vernery and his
son Tad, who joined us from
Coventry, R.I. Amy and John
Brinckerhoff came up from
Lakeland, Fla. Fearless John has
a photo of himself waterskiing
amidst several alligators.
Jane and Gus Young joined us
from Shaker Heights, Ohio; Ellen
and Pete Thurber, who never
miss a class event, made it from
Grosse Point, Mich. Ditto with
Kitty and Howard Simpson from
Baltimore, and Marybeth and Jim
Burbank from Brunswick, Maine,
and always present Angelika and
Buzz Brumbaugh from Waitsfield,
Vt. Add to that faithful Judy and
Bud Blakey from York, Pa., and
Charley Jensch from St. Paul.
Are you still with me? We were
pleased to see John Golding and
Ginny from Charlotte, N.C.; Gil
Gregory and Marianne, all the
way from Los Gatos, Calif.; Bill
Partington and Eloise from Winter
Park, Fla.; and Pete Ganyard and
Nan from Boca Raton.
Closer to home were Bill Riegel
and Nancy from Duxbury, Mass.;
Dave Barker and Jane from
Marion, Mass.; and Henry Hall
and Dean from Concord.
Not to be forgotten are Ginny
and Stan Bourne from Castine,
Maine, and Stan’s brother Rusty
from Ithaca, N.Y., as well as the
Connecticut reps in Stu Duffield
from Darien and Peyton Mead
and MiMi from Farmington.
In closing, the clear consensus
was that it was an outstanding
reunion. I thought that, on the
whole, our classmates looked
remarkably fit for advanced gaffers. I hope that those who were
not able to make it this time will
please drop me an e-mail with
some news of you and your family at [email protected] or
call me at: 202.342.2118.
It would be great to see some
of you at the minireunion in
Williamstown on Oct. 15-17
(Middlebury game) or at our 65th
reunion in 2015.
For those counting the years,
let me sign off by mentioning
that the oldest grad at this year’s
Alumni Meeting was Reeve
Morrison of the class of 1935. I
got a brief look at him, and he
looked pretty darn good.
Then I heard from classmate
Jack Washburn, who, with wife
Barbara, was up from Mystic,
Conn. Jack said they knew
Morrison from West Hartford
days and that he told them
he had driven his car up from
Connecticut and that he was leaving the day after reunion to take a
six-week drive, mostly by himself,
to visit Texas, Arizona and several
national parks.
Jack guesses that Morrison is at
least 97. He adds “and many in
our class complain about getting
old!”
I suspect that Williams may
soon find that the oldest grad at
reunion time is a centenarian…
1951
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Dick Siegel
229 Golf Edge
Westfield, NJ 07090
[email protected]
Our indefatigable Wally Bortz
has done it again. After celebrating his 80th birthday on March
20, he departed for Boston, where
one month later he ran in his 40th
consecutive Boston Marathon.
Wally writes, “On Monday,
April 19, 1971, I ran the Boston
Marathon. On Monday, April 19,
2010, I ran the Boston Marathon.
40 years and 40 consecutive
annual marathons later I crossed
the finish line in Copley Square,
Boston. What a difference! The
first time it took me five hours
and five minutes to finish. I
finished in silence. This last time
it took seven and one half hours,
and I finished to the cheers of
1,000 Patriot’s Day celebrants
with flash bulbs popping. The
first time I hadn’t the slightest
idea what the effort entailed, and
I was in tears. This last time I was
a grizzled vet, who knew that the
back spasm I encountered at 24
miles was only a minor annoyance and nothing to halt the run.
So I finished with a big smile.
Not bad for an 80-year-old. I was
beaten by 30,000 other runners,
including an 83-year-old woman.
The winner, a Kenyan, broke the
course record in two hours, five
minutes. He could have lapped
me twice. The first time I was
n 1 9 5 0 –5 1
beaten by a mere 800 runners,
and I was only among the last
runners. At the end of the first
run I swore that I would never
again submit to the tortures of
this 26-mile test. But, just like
childbirth, as soon as it was done
I searched for next year’s opportunity. And the searching has led
to runs in Athens, Dublin, New
York, Beijing, Australia and Big
Sur, my favorite, which despite its
hills has spectacular scenery. So
this marathon story is my highly
personal odyssey of a life’s journey. It virtually has become my
religion. Exploring it has many
important derivative aspects. I’ve
learned the thermodynamics of
exercise, the anthropology of running, and mostly about its health
benefits. As a geriatrician, the
insight provided by these decades
of commitment has defined a
new way of looking at growing
older. Aging’s principal pathology
is frailty, which is not a defined
disease but is of immense importance. Its cause is to be found
principally in lack of exercise.
Physical activity of any type, from
walking to marathon running,
is the preventive and treatment
of frailty. It is cheap, safe and
effective. What other remedy can
make these claims? I’m already
planning marathon, 2011.”
As if running didn’t keep Wally
busy enough, he is in the midst
of publishing two more books,
Roadmap to 100 from Palgrave
McMillan, and his magnum
opus, Next Medicine from
Oxford University Press, both
scheduled for release in the fall.
I thought of Wally while reading
The Last Leaf, a recent book
written by Stuart Lutz about the
last survivors and their firsthand
accounts of many important and
fascinating episodes in American
history. In the introductory
chapter to the book the author
writes, “I discovered that a
commonality to nearly all the
Last Leaves is they remain active
and that they have something
to look forward to every day.
You can forget diets and miracle
medicines; activity is the answer
to Ponce de Leon’s quest.”
Wally may be the class marathon runner, but I believe our
marathon author is Joe McElroy.
Having published nine novels,
Joe now has written his first book
of short fiction, Night Soul and
Other Stories, to be published in
the fall by Dalkey Archive Press.
Joe writes, “Another story (in
a magazine, 1984), now to be
published as a novella, was once
going to be part of my 1987 novel
Women and Men, but I pulled it
because it was tangential; likewise
with the new short story volume.
… But a small press in New York,
people very young and the wave
of the future in the confused scene
of American publishing, came to
me asking, and the result is that
the novella, called Preparations
for Search, is coming out from
Small Anchor Press in June—a
chapbook beautifully designed
of 50-some pages. It will be sold
on Amazon and at independent
bookstores around the country and online. For both, but
especially the short story volume,
in the fall I will be traveling to
California and along the East
Coast, but still will mainly be
completing a nonfiction book
about water, which will go to a
New York publisher later this
year. An opera libretto getting
done, a film in fifth or sixth draft
with an assistant, and a performance piece for a dancer-actress
here in N.Y. Latest is all visible
on newly revised website home
page.” Joe may be going down to
the Gulf on assignment because
this disaster gets some coverage,
unavoidably, in his water book,
but the trip awaits his agent’s success in getting some money from
a magazine. A small piece written
by Joe of the water book Water
Work will appear in the summer
issue of the magazine Tricycle:
The Buddhist Review. All this
while Joe maintains a very active
family life. His wife Barbara is a
painter who has had two recent
shows; a son who is at Cal Arts
is a composer; his daughter and
her husband run a venerable and
successful bookstore, Magus,
near the University of Washington
campus; and two grandsons
in Seattle ensure that Joe is in
perpetual motion.
I received a nice note from
Pete Fisher and was delighted to
find someone whose handwriting is worse than mine. Pete is a
confirmed Californian, having a
“blast” out there and has finally
retired after marketing 5,000
new homes in Palm Desert/
Indian Wells. He has four sons,
one of whom attended Williams,
although Pete himself has not
been back since 1955. He has
talked a lot with Pete deLisser and
Pete Smythe and kept in touch
with Whit Fiske prior to Whit’s
death. Pete particularly misses
the past 20 years of developing
four major golf course communities. Although he lives on a golf
course, I’m afraid he won’t be
doing much golfing for a while,
since he was involved in a horrific
automobile accident last year that
did him in for a while. He is feeling better now, and we wish him
a complete recovery. He wrote
more, but this is all my magnifying glass could make out.
Some news from Don Gregg was
received a little too late to make
the last issue. Don had a great
time in January team-teaching a
Winter Study course at Williams
called, “Making Sense of the
CIA.”Don reports, “My students
were great, and so were those at
the two other classes I spoke to
as guest. James McAllister of the
poli sci department volunteered
to work with me. He is a great
teacher, and I think our class went
very well. It is a real privilege
to work with the kind of young
people at Williams today. I loved
every minute of it.”
Bill Paton has been doing some
work for IDignity, an organization that helps to obtain identification papers for homeless people
living on the streets in Orlando,
such as birth certificates, social
security cards and other forms
of identification in order to get
jobs. These people start lining up
at three in the morning, rain or
shine, to get these documents. Bill
describes it as a heartbreaking
sight, and says, “There but for
the luck of the draw, and maybe
a Williams education, go any of
us.” Released prisoners have a
particularly difficult time. “Upon
release they are given back supposedly what they brought with
them, but in many cases when the
police check in a grungy old backpack with a strong odor, they are
likely to toss it in the garbage and
with it whatever documents may
have been in it. People living on
the street have no place to store
personal documents, and they get
robbed and beaten up occasionally, so they’re in pretty bad shape
trying to get a job or a driver’s
license.” It is typical of Bill to be
involved in efforts to help those
who have so little.
The Coast Guard apparently
has put an end to Captain Herb
Poole’s boat chartering expedition
days. According to Herb, the CG
frowns on “ancient” skippers
over 75, but he still goes out for
himself in search of Moby Dick,
weather permitting. “This was
not a typical Florida winter—I’ve
been around Key West since the
1950’s and can’t remember such
cold and windy weather. I hope to
show up for the 60th to say ‘Hi’
to the troops.”
A welcome and long overdue
note was received from Brad
Pusey, who begs forgiveness for
CL ASS
NOTES
his delinquency over the years
in not sending in his story. Brad
writes, “My life seems to revolve
around graduations, weddings,
births and deaths. I do volunteer
on the cardiac floors of Eastern
Maine Medical Center and have
recently joined ranks with our fine
hospice program. Win and I look
forward to a summer of sailing
and hopefully retrieving our raspberries from the porcupines. We
seem geographically locked into
Maine for our golden years.”
Dick Wallace writes about knee
replacements and says that if you
still have your originals you can
skip to the “next guy’s communication.” Dick states, “I have
spent many years among you and
can attest to how boring reports
of other people’s knees can be
worse than cruises, grandchildren
and hemorrhoids. Fellow knee
replacementees: I joined your
society having qualified for the
cult on sequential sawings over
the past six months. If you crave
more news of that I shall gladly
provide a complete account, until
then happy stretching.”
Jack Hornor’s singing activities continue. On April 10, 18
Williams Octet alumni, representing classes from 1951 to 2009,
gathered at the Riverside Drive
home of Jack and Cathy for a
spring reunion of singing and
fellowship. The reunion was so
successful, a follow-up gathering
in New York is being planned for
the fall.
A gala event is in the works for
our October minireunion. Pete
deLisser, Bill Rodie and Scrubby
Perry are planning a replay of
their historic golf match, which
took place immediately after the
comprehensive exams in 1951.
(Green Carlton was the fourth
in that match). According to
Pete they played a team match
accompanied by a bottle of
scotch, but no one remembers
what the teams were, who won,
or if they even finished. They
only remember the rules—the
team that won a hole got a drink,
while the losers played the next
hole dry. Hopefully this time
they will make it to the class
dinner, perhaps as the floor show
entertainment. Pete is in the
process of completing a second
coaching book, which he hopes
to finish by July 1. The title may
be Responsible Communications:
The Core Competency of Every
Leader at Work, At Home. Pete’s
co-author of the book is his son
Michael, who currently is a senior
organizational development
consultant with Regence Blue
In March, David Ruder ’51 and his wife Susan (center) got together with
Ted Curtis ’51 (right) and his wife Claire in Boca Grande, Fla.
Cross/Blue Shield of Utah as well
as an adjunct professor in the
U of Utah MBA and executive
education program. Pete’s first
book Be Your Own Executive
Coach: Master High Impact
Communication Skills is still in
print, having been published in
English in ’99, Japanese in ’01
and Korean in ’06. Pete recently
had drinks at the Harvard Club
with Bob Bernhard and hopefully
got some good financial advice.
In late February George Dorion
and Dottie hosted the Williams
Jacksonville Regional Assn event
at the Ponta Vedra Inn and Club,
which was well attended by
alumni and family members and
by representatives of the College,
including Senior Development
Officer Catherine Yamamoto,
Professor of Mathematics Ed
Burger, and Trustee Fred Lawrence
’77 and his wife. Ed was an entertaining guest speaker, and Fred
enlightened the gathering with
a “State of the School” update,
including where the College
stands in the current economy
and what the future holds. He
emphasized the enthusiasm of the
extremely bright student population. John Cooper ’39 and his wife
Marion attended the event and
had such a good time they since
have had dinner twice with the
Dorions. George hopes he will be
just as sharp as “Coop” when he
is in his 90s.
Tad Jeffrey and Nancy will be
in Williamstown in June for the
graduation of a grandson, who is,
as were two of his cousins previously, a fifth generation Williams
grad. Their grandson will be off
to Chicago immediately after
graduation to be in the Teach
for America program, which is
not easy to get into. The Jeffreys
are looking forward to our 60th
reunion next year, which will also
be their 60th wedding anniversary. What a great doubleheader!
Richard Chinman and Carole
returned from a three-week trip
to Europe and Africa, which
included a 12-day camping safari
in Tanzania. Richard reports,
“The countryside, animals and
people were wonderful, and
anyone who doubts the idea of
global warming has only to talk
with the Tanzanian safari guides
to realize how their environment
has been affected, not the least of
which are the animals who search
for water, scarce from a three-year
drought. Their son Michael is
running for District Attorney of
Norfolk County (Mass.) after
spending 20 years as an ADA,
and it would be great if such a
capable and dedicated person got
elected to that office.
Grandchildren have been
occupying the attention of Alfred
Schlosser and Jackie. They
recently completed a two-week
swing to visit grandchildren in
Connecticut and North Carolina
and were to be attending another
grandchild’s high school graduation in Delaware. They have a
grandson at Hamilton, another
at William and Mary and shortly
will have one at RIT. Now that
the golf season has started, Alfred
will attempt to recapture his
form from years long gone by. I
hope he has better luck doing so
than I have had with my tennis
game. Alfred continues to stay
involved in golf as a rules official
and a course rater with the
Metropolitan Golf Association.
“It involves some long days once
a week or so, but it does have
n 1 9 5 1 –5 2
its (non-monetary) rewards,
and I work with a nice group of
people.”
As these notes are being written
(while watching a Montreal–Flyer
playoff game) Stan Hazen and
Sheila are off on a trip on the
Blue Ridge Parkway and then will
drive through the Great Smokies.
More from them next issue.
Don’t forget to make plans for
the mini reunion the weekend of
Oct. 15-17.
1952
Alec Robertson
3 Essex Meadows
Essex, CT 06426
[email protected]
Thank you all for responding
to the Class Notes. It was great to
hear from so many of you. Please
make sure to join your classmates
at the minireunion on Oct. 15-17.
Cocktails at John Hyde’s and
dinner afterward with the Class
of 1951 on Friday evening, lunch
on Saturday at the Log with ’51,
the game and dinner at the Doug
Foster’s await. It will be a blast.
Hope to see you there.
Bill Missimer wrote from sunny
Florida: “Had lunch with Bob
White and George MacAleenan a
couple of times this past season.
Very enjoyable. Planning on
attending the minireunion in
October. Stay busy with school
board stuff and my getaway spot
in the Florida Keys.”
“I’ve returned to Connecticut
from Florida and am kept busy
by advising Goldman Sachs,
Bloomberg LLP and the Carlyle
Group,” replied Art Levitt.
“However, every weekend is
taken up by grandchildren, fishing
in the sound and golf. I’m sorry to
have to miss the Pete Gurney play
event that Fred Goldstein generously set up for the NY alums.”
Mac McCormick reported: “This
spring was a first for me, as we
traveled on a trip sponsored
by our Society of Alumni. We
traveled to South Africa with a
group of 33, of which 10 were
Williams grads. Guess who was
‘senior’ (Sounds better than oldest) member? Our Prof. Michael
Samson and his wife Ingrid were
outstanding. It’s not across the
street, for it was 30 hours from
the time I left home until I put my
head on a pillow in Cape Town.
Included were two-and-a-half
days on Rovos Rail, without a
doubt the most luxurious train
operating anywhere. My Scottish
Thistle may be a close second. It
is a fascinating part of the world,
so put it on your ‘to do’ list.”
“Elizabeth and John
Montgomery joined me in an 80th
birthday celebration,” said Ray
George.
Betty and Howard Martin “just
returned from Amsterdam and
Provence flying between Icelandic
ash clouds. Mostly able to dodge
rain clouds in seeing beautiful
tulips, quaint villages, impressive
Roman and medieval monuments, scenes painted by Van
Gogh and Cezanne, great art
museums and even some wild
horses and birds. Strenuous, but
we got back in one piece!”
Cindy Powell related: “On
Easter for brunch at a cool little
downtown bistro with NYC
son Chip, I was delighted to
encounter the Paige L’Hommedieu
family with daughter Kate, who
taught English at Lawrenceville
to California son Philip. Paige,
Nicky and Kate are wonderful,
warm and welcoming as ever.
What a treat to see them all!”
“Since I last wrote you, we have
been on a trip to New Zealand,
Tasmania and Australia,” replied
Jay McElroy. “We spent 18 days
right after Jan. 1. The economies
there are strong, and the people
are very friendly. We continue
to go to Martha’s Vineyard on a
regular basis and will be spending
the summer there. I am on the
finance committee of our country
club and the board of a local
charity. I have recently gone on
the finance and investment committees of The Baldwin School.
Many years ago I was a board
member and treasurer. For some
strange reason they asked me
to come back. You asked about
books and my current read is The
Big Short by Michael Lewis. It
is a great read. I wish I had been
smart enough to see what was
going on. It sure was obvious in
hindsight.”
Henry Catto is staying busy: “In
fruitless search of solace for the
loss of my wife of 51 years, I have
traveled a bit, most recently going
on an Aspen Institute sponsored cruise to the Galapagos.
The company was fine, and the
scenery and wildlife incredible.
The Institute Board, of which I
am vice chairman, takes a good
bit of time, and, as I mentioned
in my last visit with your column,
I have been to Palestine twice in
search in a modest way, of stability in the Middle East. I read a
lot, partly on my new Kindle, but
partly also in the old fashioned
way of a book; dog-earing pages
to mark my place has a certain
satisfaction. Miss Reichert, my
teacher in grade school, taught
me that one should never do that.
Oh well. Current books include
Game Change, a history of the
titanic battle between Hillary
and Obama in ’08; Traitor to
His Class, a bio of FDR that I
find riveting, and The Last Juror,
one of Grisham’s best efforts. On
politics, I am suffering buyer’s
remorse. After consistent support
of McCain, I was so dismayed
by his first appointment (Sarah
Palin), that I voted for Obama.
Now, with the president’s failure
to act on the country’s budget
problems, I am not so sure I made
a wise choice.”
“Kudos to Rick Wheeler for
his superb work in helping to
lead the campaign of Martha
Coakley ‘75 to defeat in the U.S.
Senate race in Massachusetts, so
that Scott Brown could win the
seat formerly held by Sen. Ted
Kennedy,” offered Ted Canfield. “I
trust that Rick will work doubly
hard in 2012 so that Sen. Brown
will retain his senate seat! My
wife Zhanna visited friends and
relatives in Vladivostok, Russia,
during May 2010. (Kak khorosho! AJR)
“Decided to pass on our usual
three months in Arizona this past
winter and to stay and enjoy
Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” stated
Swifty Swift. “Guess what—alltime record snow for this part
of the state—80 inches from
December thru February! Snowed
in three times, once for three
days! Anyway, other than that
all’s well, and we leave next week
for our summer place in (far)
northeastern Vermont, where
the latch string is always out for
roaming ’52ers; lots of room,
right on Vermont’s most beautiful
lake, great boating & hiking &
we have a tennis court. Just give
us a call at 802.525.3596. We’ll
be at the mini. See you then.”
Fred Goldstein kindly included
some comments in response
to his letter, which are hereby
recorded. John Belash wrote: “It’s
been a long time since I have
written to a Williams connection, maybe the first time since I
moved to Nantucket. Somehow
being 30 miles out to sea inhibits
jumping into a car and driving
to Williamstown, or anyplace
else for that matter. However, I
did receive your letter requesting
replenishment to the class treasury and am enclosing a check.
Of our classmates, the only one
I have seen in the last few years
was Joe Powell, who used to rent
my house in Siasconset during
September until he passed on.
CL ASS
NOTES
Cindy has continued to use it since
then, but I gather she has not
stayed in touch with the Williams
contingent in Connecticut and
environs. Maybe I’ll organize
myself to send a contribution to
the class notes, but, as you may
remember, the New England
reticence about talking or writing
about oneself is deeply ingrained
in me. (Gotcha-AJR.) Nicki and
Paige L’Hommedieu reported running into Cindy when they were
having a Mother’s Day lunch
at a restaurant in NYC. Comer
Plummer replied: “Greetings.
Thanks for the recent letter.
Shocked and saddened to hear of
Dick Kraft’s demise. Would love
to get to the minireunion, but,
unfortunately, my travel is limited
these days—though I did ride on
Mac McComick’s train back from
DC on a recent weekend jaunt.
Much fun. My wife Natalie is
very lame and requires constant
care, though she’s a real fighter.”
Bob Trone planned to come to
Dick Kraft’s funeral but wrote he
regretted he and Nancy couldn’t
make it to Pusher’s service. Ted
Taylor said they are all set at the
Williams Inn for the mini. Paul
Doyle replied they were looking
forward to June 3 (Pete Gurney’s
play at Lincoln Center) and
Elizabeth and John Montgomery
the following week—all continues
OK. Ben Heilman replied, “I have
my train tickets for June 3 (Pete
Gurney’s play at Lincoln Center)
and am waiting for a call back on
accommodations.”
Peggy and Frank Weeks spend
most of the year in Florida but
still go to their condo in Cherry
Hills, N.J., for about two-anda-half months in the summer.
“Doesn’t seem possible that we
have a 60th just around the corner. When I graduated, I did not
expect to live beyond 60, let alone
an extra 20 to 25 years.”
Bud Drennan stated: “I’m definitely planning on being at our
60th and might even make it this
fall for the mini. Hope Gurney’s
play is a success, and will be
watching for a review in the
Times. Terrible news re: Pusher.
He was terrific!” John Sylvester
chimed in: “My warmest regards
to all classmates. I will try to be at
our 60th.” Fred added: “Thanks
to all who contributed class dues.
It has been a great help for our
treasury and the upcoming 60th.
Also, Emily Kraft has indicated she
wants to continue as one of the
reunion dinner planners. What a
great class and group of wives! Ed
and I are off today to the City to
join Nicki and Paige L’Hommedieu
for our Roundabout theatre
series.” (As many of you know,
Fred Goldstein was asked to speak
at Dick Kraft’s funeral and echoed
the feelings of the class extraordinarily well with an eloquent and
heartfelt eulogy.)
Jim Henry wrote: “I recently
asked my friend Barry Benepe
’50, who pioneered the growing
farm stand movement throughout New York, to speak to the
Westchester Land Trust. His
story was wonderful. Barry was
recently featured in the Alumni
Review and is a genuine example
of Eph accomplishments. I
recently joined Facebook, wondering whether I would have any
‘friends.’ My social insecurity was
relieved by a group composed of
my grandchildren—and Arthur
Levitt. He forwarded his picture
with a huge trout. I went all the
way to New Zealand in February
to match his trophy, but Susan
landed the really big one.” Jim
has kindly volunteered to take
Gus Campbell’s place as a reunion
co-chair.
“Just returned from a trip to
Australia, New Zealand and Fiji,”
reported Ted Chasteney. “It was
a long flight, but quite enjoyable
once we got there. I was accompanying my daughter while she
was picking up my granddaughter
Krista, who had taken her spring
semester in Brisbane at the Bond
College (away from Lehigh Univ.)
in international economics. We
loved Cairns, the Great Barrier
Reef, Sydney’s Opera house, zoo
and aquarium and coastal islands,
rain forests and aerial tram and
zoological gardens as well as
Auckland’s rolling hills, farm
country and sheep (outnumbering
humans 12 to one) and especially
the sandy beaches of Fiji at the
end of our visit. The food was terrific, and the various wines were
thoroughly enjoyed. We were glad
to get home with many wonderful
memories. My best to all my
classmates.”
Sam Humes replied: “Enjoying
Williamstown after 24 years in
Brussels. At frequent lunches,
John Hyde brings me up to date
on fascinating details of Williams
College and Williamstown
history. Recommend him as a
class reunion speaker at our
60th! See Doug Foster on Spring
Street. Hope to see you all at the
minireunion. I’m keeping busy as
president of Rotary and moderator of the First Congregational
Church.”
“Well, our edifying journey regarding that distant
relative—eighth cousin, thrice
removed—William Wheeler will
be over by the time you read these
lines,” wrote Rick Wheeler. “The
English language translation has
been published, and we have been
busily distributing the text. We
had a gathering of 90 people …
for a presentation on his engineering works in Japan, Concord and
around the world. We will round
it up with a ceremony at our new
waste water treatment plant with
the unveiling of a plaque honoring his work. Now, it is rapidly
getting to be the time to be at our
place on Cape Cod.” Rick and
Betty Ann were looking forward
to meeting our new President,
Adam Falk, at a Williams gathering in June in Boston.
In March, Mary Lee and I went
to South Africa, Botswana and
Namibia with friends we knew
when we lived there in the early
‘70s. We visited the Okavango
Swamp and Chobe River, where
we saw about 150 different types
of birds, and numerous animals,
as well as Johannesburg, Cape
Town and Port Elizabeth. It is a
beautiful part of the world. We
also spent a week in Cornwall
in May with daughter Gillian
Molesworth ’95, her husband and
our two grandchildren. They are
in great form. We look forward
to spending the summer in
Sagaponack.
Thank you all for these excellent responses. Hope you had a
great summer, and look forward
to seeing you at the mini.
1953
Stephen W. Klein
378 Thornden St.
South Orange, NJ 07079
[email protected]
Joe Worthington reports on
another meeting—with 100
percent attendance—of the
Quarter Mile Club of the 1953
swim team. Don Jones came from
his home in Belmont, Calif., to
Joe’s winter home in Tucson for
a few laps in the pool. An event
to be remembered. One of Joe’s
swim team memories was of
almost coming in fifth to four
Olympians—three from Yale and
one from Springfield. Joe continues to have his summer home in
Evergreen, Colo.
Spoke with Mike Goldstein
in part to clarify details of an
inadvertent meeting in an elevator
Mike had with Peter Fetterolf
some 30 years ago. Mike is retired
from his boutique law firm but
speaks of the advantage of outliving trust and estate clients. He
n 1 9 5 2 –5 4
Last winter, John McDermott ’53 (left) and George Hartnett ’53 (right)
visited King’s Academy in Jordan, where Eric Widmer ’61 is headmaster.
and Marion have two sons, two
daughters and seven grandchildren—the majority nearby.
Boine Johnson has a rich lode
of anecdotes, such as his attempt
to hire a young Jack Welch out
of GE years ago or the reasons
why Richard Nixon felt Boine
was the ideal candidate to be an
Undersecretary of HUD. Boine
is still an active member of the
Comedy Club, and his company,
Texture Technologies, continues
to prosper.
Hank Norwood (known to
Boine, who has never been
famous for remembering names,
as The Tennis Player from Mass.)
is a co-author on an article “The
Influence of El Nino on the Spring
Fallout of Asian Bird Species at
Attu Island.” This can be found in
Volume 13 of Earth Interactions.
Marianne and George Hartnett
greatly enjoyed the Williams
alumni trip to Egypt and Jordan.
Ann and John McDermott were,
one might say, fellow travelers.
Neither John nor George availed
themselves of the opportunity to
become active in the Egyptian
Camel Corps. George mentioned
that Dave Petersen has taken up
painting since his retirement.
David Palmer underwent several
months of off and on disabling
infusions to deal with chronic
lymphatic leukemia. The outcome
was favorable, as David is not
only back playing golf but plans
to be in Williamstown to play in
the annual alumni golf tournament. The oft spoken and never
actualized meeting at Farrels with
Woody D’Oench, Bob Howard
and Dan Oates has moved closer
to happening now that Dan has
acquired a used but mint condition large Ford SUV. Rumours
circulate that an attempt will be
made to produce Howie Potter as
well. The Howards planned to
be in Williamstown for the June
graduation of granddaughter
Jessica Mahoney ’10. She will be
off to Taiwan to teach English
on a Fulbright. Dudley Baker
said there were 120 people at the
Williams Inn on May 15 for the
celebration of the life of Gerry
Baker. Mike Lazor, Todd Mauck,
Tiger McGill and Barbara Weedon
were among the celebrants.
Hugh Robinson died in Dallas on
March 1. Hugh spent freshman
year at Williams waiting to be old
enough to enter West Point. He
retired from the army as a Major
General and went on to serve
on various corporate boards.
Mike Rayder died on March 27.
Mike had a practice in obstetrics
and gynecology for 36 years in
Syracuse. He is survived by his
wife Doris and four children,
including son Michael Jr. ’81.
The fall minireunion will be
Oct. 1-3. Williams will have a
new football coach and perhaps
the weather will be favorable on
game day.
1954
Al Horne
7214 Rebecca Drive
Alexandria, VA 22307
[email protected]
We lost another good friend
in Ken Sperling, who died of
cancer in an Austin hospital
in May. Ken spent 15 years as
corporate director of organization
and career development at the
Warner Lambert pharmaceutical
company and in 1984 formed
his own management consulting
business in New Jersey. He was
an active alumnus who came
to many of our reunions. Hugh
Germanetti, who saw him often
on Ken’s visits to his son John in
Austin, has posted photos of Ken
on the Facebook group Williams
1954, which the computer-literate
among you should consider
joining.
On a brighter note, Jack
Brennan received the honorary
degree of doctor of humane
letters from Green Mountain
College, the Vermont institution from whose presidency he
retired in 2008 after a six-year
term. The college, Jack notes, is
marking its 175th birthday this
year and has one of the nation’s
oldest environmental programs.
“I am proud,” Jack writes, “of
introducing graduate education
to Green Mountain College, now
200 students strong, with an MS
in environmental studies and an
MBA in sustainable enterprise.”
Another tribute to one of our
classmates came when Newsweek
was put up for sale by its owner,
the Washington Post Co., in
May. A former Newsweek media
editor, Charles Kaiser, used his
online column, Full Court Press,
to recount the magazine’s hiring
of Peter Goldman in 1962 from
the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Here’s how Kaiser tells the story
in his blog: “Goldman’s first big
test was to survive two rounds of
drinks at the New Westin Hotel
with two different editors, the
same day he was asked to write
his first complicated story. When
he proved he could drink and
write at the same time, he was
hired—and the extra Jack Daniel’s
actually had helped him. It had
given him the courage to up his
salary demand to $11,500, and
he got that sum, a hefty increase
from the $8,000 he had been
making in St. Louis. After that,
a combination of quiet conviction and gigantic journalistic
talent quickly made Goldman the
magazine’s conscience, and its
number-one star.”
Some of you may have noticed
the closing of the Williams Club
of New York and its transfer
to the umbrella of the city’s
Princeton Club, but Dan Tritter did
more than notice. As a 52-year
member of the club, he sent an
e-mail to our college president,
Adam Falk, saying in part: “My
May bill came with no hint of
an end to the Williams Club. On
May 12, I received the monthly
e-mail Ephnotes, and the fifth
item down was an announcement
that the Williams Club was to
CL ASS
NOTES
close its doors as of June 1, 2010,
less than three weeks hence.
One wonders how non-Eph
club members learned what was
casually imparted to me, not from
24 East 39th Street, but from
Williamstown. I am told that club
employees were informed just a
day before I received the news
and that none will be employed at
the Princeton Club after the move
there.”
No, Dan’s e-mail complaint
did not save the Williams Club,
but it did draw a response from
President Falk that included this
reference to the Class of 1954:
“I must say that the reputation
of your class impressively precedes you. One of the first things
I learned about alumni relations
at Williams was that ’54 sets
an example not just for Williams
but beyond.”
An earlier message from Dan
recalled his “virgin Caribbean
voyage by sail on Sea Cloud II,
suitably fried by the tropical sun,
having enjoyed the company of
Ephs Sid Moody ’50, Jock Duncan
’56, Kinley Reddy ’69, Cindy Tether
’72 and art professor Michael
Lewis, the latter filling gaps in our
previous knowledge of colonial
times in that intemperate zone.”
Dan also mentioned that “the
telethon for the Alumni Fund
turned up the long-lost voice of
Bob Burroughs, known during his
too-brief tenure in Williamstown
as Buck. Some of us bore far less
flattering identities.”
From Russ Carpenter, back in
Williamstown after a spring trip
to Hawaii, here’s this report:
“Mary Jo and I returned … from
two weeks in Hawaii on a visit
arranged by two good friends
from Anchorage whom we had
met on a past Williams trip. Spent
a week on the Big Island in a
loaned condo and then moved to
Honolulu, a block from Waikiki.
Two experiences stand out: A
chopper ride over the caldera of
the active Kilaeua volcano, with
steam rising above and ground
burning below, and Pearl Harbor
with the Arizona Memorial and
the battleship Missouri, history
from one of my earliest memories
and an interesting and somber
visit.”
Russ also reports that the
National Endowment for the
Humanities turned down his
second application for a grant to
make a TV documentary about
the Field family. “We are taking
one more shot at it in August.
The worst that can happen is that
I will retire again.”
The June reunion, our 56th,
From left, 1954 classmates Buzz Eichel, Mal Kane and John Beard
paused at 10,200 feet in Bormio, Italy, before skiing a near-Olympic
descent in February.
was rainy and drew a small
but sterling contingent: Elaine
Barrett, Shirley and Jim Carpenter,
Mary Jo and Russ Carpenter,
Hugh Germanetti, Mal Kane and
Barbara Denney, Daphne and
Bob McGill, Harry Montgomery
and Audrey Clarkson, Bill Stott
and Julie Mestre, Dan Tritter and
Jacqueline Laroche, and Julie and
Guy Verney, who led our class to
its sixth straight Sawyer Trophy
for 81 percent support of the
Alumni Fund. Next is the annual
minireunion, Oct. 15-17.
Finally, more sad news. Last
winter, Bill Stott lost his longtime
companion, Connie Doyle-Jovais,
after an eight-month fight with
lung cancer.
1955
Charley Bradley
103 Meadow Road
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510
[email protected]
Incomparable ’55 Reunion
Chair and newly elected ’55 Class
President Bob Behr writes: “Dear
Classmates: It was a fun fiftyfifth! We had 50 class members
and 38 significant others here for
the reunion. Most distant stateside travelers were the Mick Hirths
and the Moto Montgomerys from
Arizona. From Panama came
Sharon and Dubie DuBois.
“And the champion travelers
were Annemarie and Erwin von
den Steinen from Bonn. Our sea
of yellow umbrellas (open wide)
made a great visual hit in the
parade. And they were practical as well. A highlight of the
weekend was the awarding of
the “Joseph’s Coat” to retiring
president Merce Blanchard, the
first member of a class from the
’50s to receive the honor. The
class officers remained the same
with one exception: President
Blanchard was replaced by some
guy named Behr. The postcard
picture is a reminder that our
next class gathering will be during
foliage season—Oct. 16 is the
date of the mini, with football vs.
Middlebury. Circle the date now.
Reserve your motels. Details to
follow. All good wishes, BOB.”
Those in attendance were: Sue
and Roger Ames, Martha Asher,
Barbara and Dick Beatty, Carolyn
and Bob Behr, Mary Louise and
Merce Blanchard, Sandy and
Ted Bowers, Eileen and Charley
Bradley, Libbie and Mark Cluett,
Kathleen Stephenson and Jim
Colberg, Charles Deasy, Jessie
and Martin Deely, Manuelle and
Bob Diamond, Sharon and John
DuBois, Cherie and Don Everett,
Bill Fall, Patricia and Roger
Friedman, Dave Gemmell, Dorie
and Stephen Gordon, Betty and
John Gosselin, Audrey and George
Hagerman, Maria and Dick Hale,
Kate and Jeff Henriques, Shirley
and Dick Hirth, Joan and Erv
Holmes, Diane and Sherm Hoyt,
Gerry and Norm Hugo, Paul Hunn,
Carole and Don Kelley, Sandy
Laitman, Arlene and James Leone,
Peggy and Harris Lindsay, Gail and
Richard Maidman, Loretta and
Walter McLaughlin, Debbie and
Bill Montgomery, Joyce Haines
and Mac Nelson, John Newhall,
Mary and George Olmsted, Betsy
and Whitey Perrott, Florence
and Ward Poor, Cornelia and Bill
Prime, Carol and Dick Rahill, Bill
Shaw, Dick Siegrist, Susan and Phil
Smith, Carolyn Horn and Gilbert
n 1 9 5 4 –5 5
From left, 1955 classmates Ted Bowers, Harris Lindsay and Phil Smith
traveled to Seville, Spain, in March with the alumni travel-study group.
True, Annemarie and Erwin von
den Steinen, Alleson and Terry
White, and Carol and Bob Wilkes.
It was a truly well planned and
orchestrated reunion, capped
perfectly by Merce being awarded
“Joseph’s Coat” for his truly
outstanding service to Williams
over many years, most recently
not only as president of the Great
Class of 1955 but as a member
of the Executive Committee of
Williams College.
The Alumni Parade ended just
as our class entered the gym
with our brilliant gold umbrellas extended against the sudden
downpour. The meeting of the
Alumni Association was beautifully run by outgoing President
Sarah Mollman Underhill ’80 and
new President Chris Giglio ’89.
New College President Adam
Falk spoke very well to the entire
alumni association for the first
time since his inauguration as
president, outlining his plans for
the future and emphasizing the
need of the College for the strong
support of all alumni.
Our hats are off in amazement and awe to the extremely
good Class of 1960. We in the
audience knew from references
by prior speakers that the 1960
class 50th reunion gift was going
to be big, but when the gift itself
was announced as being $45
million and change, the reaction
of the crowd was first a gasp of
initial disbelief, and then roars of
thanks and approval, followed
by sustained applause. In all, very
moving and heartwarming.
Your class secretary, whose last
notes included a subtle request
(to which no one responded) for
volunteers to succeed him in this
office, requested, politely, from
every ’55er he saw at the reunion
to please write with news for this
column. Bob Behr did. See, supra.
No one else did, except
Kathleen Stephenson, Jim
Colberg’s wife, who wrote that
Jim “continues to enjoy his retirement from medicine. His antique
business keeps him busy. He is a
member of the board of trustees
of the Society of Landmarks,
which owns or manages four historic houses in Philadelphia and
the surrounding areas. He is also
busy with St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, serving on the property
committee. Kathleen continues to
practice law.
And, Terry White sent a Bradley
Byte to say that he and Alleson
are the “proud grandparents of
Williams grad Crosby Fish ’10.”
Dave Murphy wrote courageously and with great feeling
about the need to keep in touch
with college friends as we grow
older. Dave was our class secretary for 11 years, he thinks. Poor
health, a particularly problematic
and painful bad back keeps Dave
from traveling, but he loves to
hear from all of us at 75 Beacon
St., Boston, Mass. 02106. He
sends his best “to all the troops!”
Following the last issue of
Williams People, I had an e-mail
from Stu Kennedy ’50, who
for the last 25 years has been
interviewing retired American
diplomats and not long ago did
an oral history with our late
classmate Bray Redecker. Stu was
particularly amused with Bray’s
account of arriving at Williams.
Redecker: “Yes, indeed! I came
into Sage Hall, and I am reported
to have said my good friend
who is an Indian with whom I
became very close and have been
a lifelong friend of his, an Indian
from India. He was a freshman,
too. He had come to the United
States from India. He had gone
to prep school. I am reported to
have barged into Sage Hall and
to have said, ‘I say, chaps, can
you tell me where I’m billeted?’
Suddenly, all these new young
boys waiting, a great silence
fell over this crowd who slowly
turned to see who had uttered this
peculiar phrase.”
Your Secretary has a complete
transcript of Bray’s unedited oral
history, which I will e-mail to
those requesting it. Eventually, it
will be placed with 1,600 others
on the Library of Congress’
website.
Mel Bearns sent a Bradley Byte:
“News from the frozen tundra
wastes of Virginia, where we just
went through the worst winter
on record, with Dulles airport
getting more snow in January
and February than Vail and
Aspen. Deere and I were down
in the Bahamas visiting friends
in Hope Town and returned two
days before it all started. Spring,
however, now seems to be arriving and the trees are all starting to
rapidly bud and flower out. Much
academic news on the offspring
front. Younger son Stuyvie is putting the finishing touches on his
dissertation and should be receiving his PhD in anthropology/sociology early next year. Daughter
Courtney ’07 received the glad
tidings that she has been accepted
into the doctorate program at
Princeton in social psychology, so
Deere and I are in full celebration
mode, although I’m starting to
feel like the knuckle dragger of
the family.”
Len Platt wrote: “Am holed
up in Florida helping an ailing
wife contend with the effects of
lengthy chemotherapy and radiation following two cancer surgeries. She will bounce back, but it
will take time and perseverance. I
am well.” The Platts hoped to get
up to their summer home in New
Hampshire sometime in July.
Elliott Bates sent: “Marilyn died
a few months ago of complication caused by Alzheimer’s. I’m
doing OK but not up to the
reunion this year. This would
have been our 55th anniversary,
too! Fortunately, my daughters
and families are within easy driving distances and have been so
supportive and seem committed
to keeping me from getting into
too much trouble—a hard task,
indeed!”
George Rounds was unable to
make the 55th but wrote: “My
CL ASS
NOTES
thoughts are with all ’55ers,
thoughts of those magnificent and
mad years in Williamstown, from
first encounters through to graduation, and the growing up we did
(or didn’t) each in our own way.
I also think of how each of us
impacted the world in one way or
another, and how many of us continue to do so. Quite a legacy that
is still growing. Personal notes:
Still in good health, completed
with son and granddaughter our
sixth run at the Des Plaines River
Canoe and Kayak Marathon,
more as a relaxed trip down the
river vs. going for a respectable
time. I am still active in executive
leadership coaching, career coaching and life coaching individuals
and teams in the Chicago area
and promoting my new voice
actor career to the U.S. market
(great fun, but not much action).
Since the last report, our list of
grandchildren grew yet again,
and now numbers eight, with one
completing his second year at
University of Chicago, while two
others have brought a total of
three great-grandkids to the table!
Sometimes it’s hard to believe. No
contact with other ’55ers, so no
second-hand reports.”
Ward Poor sent: “I have been
meandering through my family
genealogy just to establish a
broader sense of self. I have a
hand-written book from 1853
on the ‘Varde, de la Warde, or
Ward’ family as well as a book
on Andrew Warde dated 1910.
The Poors are well documented,
having settled in Eastern Mass.
I have not pushed the following:
Lane, Easton, Wynkoop, Gagnier,
Averell, Thompson. I am transcribing material to GEDCOM,
a standardized digital format. I
would enjoy sharing any data
with interested folks as well as
sharing historical tidbits (black
sheep and dubious connections to
notorious historical figures). Just
when I thought we had settled
that I was the third youngest
in the class (DOB 11/7/34), it
popped up again at our last dinner. Can you find the reference in
past alumni bulletins, perhaps in
2006? For any innumerates out
there, to be younger means born
more recently than 11/7/34.”
Gene Latham was sorry to miss
reunion and wrote, “Our planned
return to the U.S. is much more
difficult that we imagined. There
are both tax and immigration
issues. (Gloria is a Mexican
citizen.) We will be spending
the summer in Rhode Island as
usual, but Gloria must abide by
the 120-day residency rule until
From left, Whitey Perrott, Don Everett, Ted Bowers, Paul Quinn, Bob
Wilkes and Rick Smith, all Class of 1955, gathered at Vero Beach, Fla.,
in February.
she obtains her “green card.”
We’ll try not to get near Arizona
in the interim. We have recently
visited children and grandchildren in Denver and Miami
and spent last Christmas in the
Dominican Republic with all 23
family members. We continue to
work with Nuestros Pequenos
Hermanos and with its fundraising arm in the U.S. called Friends
of the Orphans. We lost several of
our older children in the Haitian
temblor and two wonderful
young volunteers, but our small
childrens’ hospital there did not
collapse and has worked tirelessly
through and after the disaster.
With two small operating rooms,
our staff and some visiting surgeons performed more than 250
amputations during a two-week
period following the earthquake.
… If there are any classmates
interested in what we are doing,
they can go to Friends of the
Orphans.org Lots of information
there.”
Last, Merce Blanchard said,
“I was totally surprised and
humbled to receive the prestigious
Joseph’s Coat award. One only
has to read the names of the
previous recipients to appreciate
the magnitude of this honor. I am
so proud that I had the privilege
to serve as president of the Great
Class of 1955. Thank you to our
officers and classmates for your
generous support these past five
years. ML and I hope to see many
of you this fall at the mini.”
Concluding for now, your
humble servant and frail scribe
hopes that you all will keep those
cards and letters and e-mails coming, particularly the latter, for five
more years. This is a neat job.
1956
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Vern Squires
727 Ardsley Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
[email protected]
These are Class of ’56 notes,
to be sure, but for this issue of
Alumni People they are, to a
large extent, really multi-class
notes. The reason: a very special
Williams-sponsored Alumni
Travel Study Program trip to
South Africa and Botswana in
late March and early April, set
up by Bob Behr ’55, as Alumni
Travel-Study Coordinator. 30
persons (including your class secretary) made up the tour group,
all of whom were connected to
Williams either as a graduate and/
or as a parent or grandparent of
a graduate, or through a marital
relationship or simply as a “friend
of Williams.” In all, 21 different
classes were represented directly
or indirectly within the group.
We had 10 alumni (which
group also included some parental relationships): Susan Dobak
and Dean McCormick ’52; Paula
and Tink Campbell (Tink is also
the father of Georgia Lundren ’87
and father-in-law of Scott Lundren
’87; Judy and Vern Squires (I am
also the father of Vern Squires
’86); Ginny and Rich Wagner
’58; Barbara and Walt McDonald
’60; Linda and Bruce Chapin ’61;
Marty and Mike Keating ’62, parents of Andrew Keating ’02 and
Lucy Keating ’08; Donna Dreschel
and Bob Asbury ’66; Susan and
Dave Eblen ’68; and Ed Brice and
Vita Weir ’78.
n 1 9 5 5 –5 6
In addition to the parental
connections noted above, we
had several additional parentdescendant relationships: Bill and
Kassie Gaillard, parents of Tom
Gaillard ’84 and David Gaillard
’89; Doug Watson and Susie
Hunter, who besides growing
up in Williamstown, had three
daughters and a son-in-law as
Williams graduates: Colby HunterThomson Previte ’99, Kristin
Hunter-Thomson ’03, married to
Malin Pinsky ’03, and Whitney
Hunter ’07 (more about Whitney
later). Nancy Means was tied
to Williams through daughter
Betsy Means ’76, son-in-law Steve
Gardner ’75 and granddaughter
Lisa Gardner ’08.
Connected to Williams through
marriage were Gaele Barthold,
who was married to Jim Barthold
’57 (deceased) and Mary Paddon
(Tink’s sister), who was married to Arthur Werthmann ’58
(deceased). Finally, through
personal relationships, we had
“friends of Williams”: Charlie
and Carolyn Wallace and Liz
Brown. Rounding out the group in a
special way was Visiting Associate
Professor of Economics Mike
Samson, whose several assignments include serving as director
of research for the Economic
Policy Research Institute in
Cape Town. Mike presented
two highly informative lectures,
arranged for a tour of the South
African Parliament in Cape Town
and was a constant source of
information about the country. It
was especially nice to have Mike
accompanied by his wife Ingrid
van Niekerk, a distinguished
economist in her own right, and
their lovely daughter, Catherine,
6.
This is not the place for a
complete diary, but with such an
extraordinary Williams flavor to
the tour some highlights of the
South Africa/Botswana experience deserve to be mentioned. So,
here we go. Our first port of call
was Cape Town, a beautiful city
with the Atlantic Ocean to the
south and rimmed by mountains
to the north. We visited Robbin
Island, the prison of choice for the
authorities during the apartheid
era and the home (if it can be
called that) of Nelson Mandela
for nearly 24 years. Other
memorable moments included:
the ascent to the top of Table
Mountain via cable car for a
stunning view of the city and the
harbor; the journey to the Cape of
Good Hope where the waters of
the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic
Ocean mix together; and the visit
to Boulders Beach to see dozens
of penguins, the target of cameras
that never stopped clicking.
For two days and two nights
we “rode the rails” from Cape
Town to Pretoria on the famous
Rovos Rail luxury train. The train
ride produced great scenery, great
food and great companionship,
made more enjoyable thanks to a
ban on computers and cell phones
in the lounge cars. Our suites had
a comfortable bed, air conditioning and a stand-up shower—a far
cry from the Boston Maine, the
Boston Albany and the New York
Central of my memory. Alas, a
week after we returned to the
U.S. we learned about a terrible
Rovos Rail accident involving
multiple deaths and injuries which
occurred on the same line and
at the same spot where we had
been a short while earlier. (Besides
dodging that bullet, we also
barely missed getting stranded in
Frankfurt, Germany, due to the
volcanic ash problem).
The train got us to Pretoria
and a very special highlight in
the form of a visit to the residence of Donald Gips, the U.S.
Ambassador to South Africa.
How did we manage this feat? A
Williams connection, naturally.
Ambassador Gips is married to
Liz Barry Gips ’82. Liz, a mother
of three young boys, was a marvelous hostess who found time
to spend over an hour sharing
stories of her and her husband’s
accomplishments (which are
many) and showing us the beautiful residence.
A stay over in Johannesburg
brought a trip to Soweto, the site
of the anti-apartheid uprising in
1976. We visited the Apartheid
Museum, a very sobering
experience. Then came a visit
to Kliptown, an impoverished
community of some 40,000
people within Soweto without
most of the basic needs such as
schools, health clinics, electricity,
proper sanitation, etc. Despite the
enormous obstacles, the Kliptown
Youth Program, established in
2007, exists to provide tutoring, athletic and arts programs
in an ongoing battle against the
disadvantages imposed on the
children of Kliptown. Very few
tour groups would ever wend
their way along the narrow path
between shanties housing people
living in the most abject poverty
imaginable, yet we were welcomed there. Why? Once again, a
Williams connection provided the
entree. Susie Hunter’s daughter
Whitney ’07 participated in the
program in 2009 and left a legacy
which generated a warm welcome
for our Williams group.
Many more adventures followed over the ensuing days:
viewing a wide variety of animals
in game preserve in Kruger
National Park and in a game
preserve in Botswana; marveling
at the majesty of Victoria Falls;
and experiencing one of the most
remarkable border crossings
between countries that most of
us had ever seen: a crossing by a
small boat to get from Zambia to
Botswana and vice versa.
As the South Africa portion
of the trip ended for part of the
group and the Botswana extension for the remainder of the
group, all were in agreement that
this trip was an extraordinary
experience, made even more so by
the commonality of the Williams
connections and the congeniality
of the trip participants.
Time to leave Africa, unfortunately on a sad note. Phil Wick
wrote to report that he had heard
from Chip Clark’s son Jim that
Chip’s widow Ranny had passed
away. Phil and Deb visited Chip
and Ranny a couple of times
during the summer of 2009 at
their place in Deer Isle, Maine,
so it was a sad loss for the Wicks
and much more so for Chip’s and
Ranny’s children, losing both
parents in five months.
Another sad note: Tom Mains
passed away early in the year as
a result of complications from
Wegener’s granulomatosis, an
autoimmune disease. Tom was
an attorney who started out as a
criminal defense lawyer and then
moved to medical malpractice
and business torts. He leaves
a large family: his wife of 15
years Nancy Llano, four children, two step-children and 14
grandchildren.
Jock Duncan brought me up to
date on his current activities. For
many years he has been involved
on a voluntary basis with The
Actors Fund, a national human
services organization that helps
professionals in performing arts
and entertainment in times of
need, crisis or transition. He is
currently serving as the treasurer
and as a member of the board of
trustees. As Jock noted, “It is a
wonderful experience for me, and
The Actors Fund appreciates all
of the time and effort that I give
to them.” That is very nice, Jock.
Mark Saulnier has for the past
10 years been the supervising
manager of an LLC that owns
an 8,000 square foot building
in Summit, N.J., that houses the
CL ASS
NOTES
Summit Antiques Center (where
Bonnie is a dealer and corporate
owner). By keeping an affordable
roof over 55 antiques dealers,
Mark and Bonnie are encouraging the first level of entrepreneurship in the local economy. And
speaking of the local economy,
Mark is active in the Summit
Taxpayers Association and is now
the VP for city taxes. He notes,
“It has been a struggle to get the
Common Council to come to
grips with controlling spending.
Like Williams College, when you
have a superlative product and
people are dying to get ‘in,’ you
can’t bring yourself to economize
instead of always doing more.
Finally, salary freezes, staff reductions and renegotiation of union
contracts are on the table for
Summit. Hopefully, controlling
real estate taxes will help people
who are struggling financially.”
That sounds like issues with
which not just Summit but
countless communities across the
country are now facing.
Jim Symons wrote to say that he
and Ed Amidon appreciated the
comment on their picture in the
December Alumni People. They
got together for the first time since
the 50th in Jim’s home town of
Pasadena. Ed was visiting his son,
who works at Cal-Tech. The nice
photo that accompanied Jim’s
letter showed two very young and
good-looking guys. Jim went on
to describe a recent cruise that he
and Marilyn took from Buenos
Aires to Santiago via Cape
Horn. They were in Valparaiso
and Santiago just days after the
earthquake and were amazed at
the efficient and compassionate
way the government and people
of Chile dealt with this natural
disaster. This summer they will
celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in Prescott, Ariz.
Way back in 1991, Pat and Tom
Willis (a recent retiree from Ford)
moved to a new home in the
Adirondack Mountains of upstate
New York with the idea of spending the summers boating, swimming, hiking and climbing small
mountains and snowshoeing and
cross country skiing in the winter.
As Tom noted, “This lasted
about five months.” He began
attending the monthly Brighton
Town Board meetings and quickly
became deeply involved in town
affairs. After applying his professional expertise to the town’s pay
and benefit programs, he and Pat
became interested in developing a
record of the town’s history. After
instituting “Brighton History
Days,” when they take over
From left, Dean McCormick ’52, Dave Eblen ’68, Bruce Chapin ’61, Tink
Campbell ’56, Vern Squires ’56, Bob Asbury ’66, Vita Weir ’78, Rich
Wagner ’58, Walt McDonald ’60 and Mike Keating ’62 enjoyed a Williams
alumni trip to South Africa and Botswana last spring.
a local barn for the display of
exhibits they have created about
the history of the town and local
families and their histories, they
moved on (with the help of a
grant from the Arts Council of
the Northern Adirondacks) to
carry out a photographic survey
of Brighton. This included aerial
shots of the whole town in the
springtime and over 800 color
slides taken by Pat during the
year. In 2001 they assembled all
this material into a marvelous
153-page “Brighton 2000” book,
originally in six copies for local
libraries and the town hall vault,
but so many people loved the
book that in 2006 they produced
over 60 bound editions in color,
all sold at cost. Not content with
these achievements they successfully got their town hall placed in
the National Register of Historic
Places and then obtained a grant
for the restoration of the town
hall. Brighton Town is indeed fortunate to have two citizens who
are so dedicated to local history
A nice note came in from JeanJacques Bossier (my Williams
Hall first year roommate).
Jean-Jacques continues to reside
in Santiago, Chile. I quote: “I congratulate you on your voluminous
Class Notes (which, I notice, keep
moving ominously closer to the
front of the magazine).”
Tony Fisher wrote a thoughtful
letter in which he reflected on the
various facets of his career postWilliams. Like all of us, Tony
had a military service obligation
to deal with, which he honored
through three years in the Army,
mostly at SHAPE headquarters
outside of Paris. Upon returning
to the U.S., Tony went into
international banking with Chase
for 14 years, taking on assignments that took him to Liberia
in West Africa, Belize in Central
America and Abaco Island in the
Bahamas. Then he moved on to
Moody’s Investors Services, where
he worked in the international
department for over two decades.
As Tony commented, “So overall,
during my 35-year corporate
career, I hope I helped [corporate executives and government
officials] improve the economic
conditions in their countries.”
As this article ends, let me
remind everyone that the 55th
is only about a year away.
Hopefully we will find many
of the Class of ’56 putting June
9-12, 2011, on their calendars
and preparing to assemble in
Williamstown to renew friendships and to get updated on the
changes that have occurred since
the memorable 50th.
1957
John S. Pritchard
150 Candlewood Drive
Williamstown, MA 01267
[email protected]
Last May, Kathy and I attended
the annual Alumni Fund Awards
Dinner in Williamstown with
Iris and Bob Driesen. We were
delighted when Bob was presented with a very special trophy
to designate his nearly 30 years
of leadership as class agent for
1957. With our annual giving in
excess of 65 percent, we are all
very grateful to Bob for his tireless
efforts to organize and produce
n 1 9 5 6 –5 8
such positive results, year after
year.
Williamstown celebrated
another successful athletic season
last spring topped off by the
women’s tennis team’s third
consecutive national championship. Ted Swain’s daughter Alison
’99 has been the coach during
this run, and he witnessed the
finals vs. Emory University in
Fredericksburg with wife Sue. The
Swains enjoy life in Steamboat
Springs, Colo., with lots of
recreation, and Ted has become
a fly fishing enthusiast thanks to
local friends. He also continues to
fly, including stunt planes, which
dates back to his Navy service.
Our class contingent from
Hilton Head continues to enjoy
retirement with golf, tennis and
lots of social functions. Bob Lane,
who heads up the area alumni
association, reports on the annual
golf outing at the Dataw Island
Club near Beaufort, S.C., followed by cocktails and dinner.
Tink Campbell ’56 sponsored the
event joined by Bob, Pete Fleming,
Tom Slonaker and George Sykes.
Others included Hal McCann
’60, Paul Galvani ’60 and Jim
Richardson ’59. Then in early
May, they hosted John Holman
traveling on his 42-foot Grand
Banks Trawler en route from
Vero Beach, Fla., to Virginia
Beach, Va., attended the annual
Kentucky Derby party at the
Lane’s before proceeding north
and flying home to Minnesota
from Va. Beach.
Following the Holman visit, the
Flemings welcomed Jean and John
Childs, who were traveling with
friends from the Brookline, Mass.,
Golf Club and enjoying various
golfing venues. Toni and Stuart
Young then arrived to celebrate
the joint 75th birthdays of Pete,
Tom, Bob, George and Stuart.
What a party! Finally, Fred Hodge
’61 invited the Hilton Head family to join him on his boat during
the Heritage Golf Tournament at
Harbor Town, S.C., during May.
Suzanne and Terry Vermilye ’58
also enjoyed the Hodge’s hospitality and watching the night time
party scene in Harbor Town.’
Mary and F.R. Dengel celebrated
the birth of their grandson F.R.
IV, born last April. Son F.R. III ’87
and wife Kate ’88 already have
a daughter Abigail, so plenty of
excitement for our Milwaukee
connection. We hope to see the
Dengels in Billsville this October
for the Scholars Weekend.
Congratulations to all!
Nancy and Chien Ho send
best wishes from Pittsburgh.
They became grandparents last
year when daughter Carolyn
gave birth to Samuel. She and
husband Andy are both academic
physicians at Brigham & Womens
Hospital and MGH in Boston,
respectively. Nancy and Chien’s
older daughter, Jeanette, is a
partner in a Pittsburgh law firm.
Chien is still very busy with
research, one dealing with a
blood protein, hemoglobin, and
the other on tracking immune cell
infiltration by MRI in an animal
model for developing a new noninvasive methodology to detect
organ rejection. He continues to
publish on a national/international level and serves as Director
of Pittsburgh NMR Center for
Biomedical Research at Carnegie
Mellon University.
Dick Towne reports the wedding of son Jim ’93 in Savannah,
Ga., last April: “a memorable
celebration in one of the most
charming cities in America.” Last
May, Dick wrote Dick Nesbitt ’74,
Director of Admissions, thanking
him for admitting Bill Glidden
to the Class of 2014. Dick had
been a close friend of Bill’s father
growing up, but life was not kind
to his childhood friend, who died
prematurely from respiratory
disease. “It was a sad end for an
old friend, but his love for his son
got me to write a letter to you
about his talented son. I’m so glad
I did.” Thanks to you, Dick, for
another example of support for
qualified candidates to Williams.
We see Steve Bullock almost
monthly, as he owns a charming
log house in town built by his
late father, Ed Bullock. I always
enjoy a breakfast with him at
which time we solve the pressing
town issues as well as the greater
world beyond. Steve’s primary
residence is still Alexandria, Va.,
where he lives with wife Nancy
and two sons. He has become
a “famous” collector of classic
autos, his latest being a red 1968
Chrysler convertible. Together
with Steve, Kathy and I enjoyed
a delightful evening with Joan
and Nick Wright in their beautiful
home with a majestic view of
Mt. Greylock. Joan is a talented
artist with several exhibitions to
her credit, while Nick continues
his travel in pursuit of epidemiology and public health projects.
He also maintains his interest in
rugs and textiles with every room
of his home reflecting beautiful
examples of his travel over the
years. As many of you know, they
are expert gardeners with a focus
on growing raspberries and pears.
Al Mottur is teaching several
business classes at Boston U., and
Libby is still active at the Boston
Museum of Fine Arts. They are
living in their charming Chatham
home on the Cape.
I reached Tom Slonaker again
in June at their Payson, Ariz.,
home, which they hope to sell.
Tom was awaiting the arrival of
the Kirschners from the Phoenix
area for a golfing weekend. The
McKees from Sedona were to
visit later in the summer. Tom and
Nina love the climate in Arizona,
and Nina stays busy with her
Quimper Porcelain collection.
I enjoyed my conversation with
Harold Byrdy, who with wife
Paula is enjoying retirement in
Wilton, Conn. They follow classical music in various venues, and
Harold has collected a variety of
instruments over the years. As I
still have my ole King trombone,
I am hoping he will bring one of
his favorites to our 55th reunion
in 2012 as part of a shared musical experience. I wish you could
all be on campus for one of the
four annual Berkshire Symphony
Concerts with undergraduates
representing 50 percent of the
musicians.
We see Judy and Dave Connolly
as often as possible in Basking
Ridge, N.J., as our son Andrew
lives in the same beautiful area.
Dave still lives in a 200-year-old
home with property to spare, and
we so enjoy a lunch together with
wives in one of the many historic
eateries.
Sorry I missed news from many
of you and hope to hear in time
for our next report. Regards from
Williamstown.
1958
Dick Davis
5732 East Woodridge Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
[email protected]
OK, you’ve sprung and summered well, maybe even sumptuously, so now you seek beauty,
rural grandeur, tradition, connectedness, vibrant music, soul and
solidarity. And so you head for
Williamstown in the Berkshires
and another of ’58s fabled
minireunions the weekend of Oct.
15-17. Then as fall is done and
the snow begins to fly, you need
a shot of urbanity, a jolt of bustle
and glamour, and a lunch worthy
of Ephs and Fifth Ave. environs.
And so you take yourself to the
Williams Club Friday, Dec. 3.
These are two solid steps toward
Nirvana, Eph-style. Details will
be coming.
CL ASS
NOTES
Where have we been? Let’s start
with China. Jack Creden and Ebby
were there in April. Jack writes:
“Ebby and I have just returned
from a three-plus-week trip to
China. We did all the things tourists do, including a four-day cruise
through the three gorges on the
Yangtze. The Three Gorges damn
is incredibly impressive. Although
we went as tourists, from reading
their English language papers
and from firsthand observation,
I’ll tell you the Chinese economy
is burgeoning. Unhampered
by union rules, infrastructure
and housing projects are under
construction 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. These are not
projects built by armies of coolies
as some Americans might picture.
They are projects built with walking cranes, fleets of trucks and,
in the aggregate, more concrete
than one can imagine. It appeared
to us on the trip that China talks
a much better game than they
play on pollution. Coal is still
their primary power source. The
resulting smog was evident almost
everywhere we went. Most rivers
and other water supplies are
polluted. Many, we were told, are
beyond recovery. Nonetheless,
China is a fascinating and historic
place. We’re glad we went.”
Springtime in the Rockies is
great, as at least a couple of Joes
and I and many others can attest,
but contemplate for a moment
spring in the foothills of the
Himalayas. Carl Vogt and Margrit
were there, hiking and rafting in
Bhutan and Nepal. Riveting and
broadening, but Carl also makes
the point, as many have experienced, that traveling enhances
appreciation of what we have
back here in the USA.
Stuart Crampton and the Rev.
Susan were still further west in
the Orient. They went with Bill
Harter. Stuart says: “In March we
joined Bill Harter on the 43rd or
so trip he has organized and led
to Israel. It was part pilgrimage
and part introduction to the
beauty, prosperity and dilemmas
of an ultra-modern western state
co-mingled with vestiges of a
medieval Arab world. We toured
locations traditionally associated
with Jesus’ ministries on both
the Galilee and in Jerusalem,
celebrating them with prayers and
services in which Bill was ably
assisted by three other Christian
clergy, including Susan. We also
visited many impressive Old
Testament, Greek and Roman
archaeological sites, took a boat
ride on the Sea of Galilee, visited
a restored fishing boat building
of the first century, floated in
the Dead Sea and spent a day in
Jordan to see the Nabatean ruins
at Petra. This was by far the best
organized and guided of the many
wonderful trips abroad we have
had since retiring. Our guide was
Mike Rogoff, originally from
South Africa, but an expert geographical and intellectual guide
in Israel since the 1970s, over 20
times for Bill’s trips. You can see
his byline on several interesting
articles in the excellent Fodor
guide to Israel. I cannot imagine
a better way to experience Israel
than to go with Bill Harter.”
In this hemisphere, Whitey
Kaufmann attended a global
conference on genocide in Buenos
Aires. The object was to work
toward creating a system for transitional justice for the victims and
perpetrators of genocides, with
an initial focus on the Argentine
experience under the military
regime in the 1970s and ’80s.
In early April when our treasured gambel quails are scurrying
around the neighborhoods trying
to find a decent place for nesting,
a bevy of golfers descended on
Phoenix and Larry Nilsen to hone
their skills at the Marriott Desert
Ridge resort. I spent a highly
enjoyable evening with the foursome, Dave Cook, Tom Shulman,
Ollie Stafford and Larry. I don’t
know who won, if anyone, and
there was no grousing except a
sub rosa suggestion from one of—
I’ll call them the “racketeers,”
and I include Larry because he so
thoroughly trounced me on his
tennis court some years ago—that
Cookie’s hockey background gave
him a slight advantage in swinging a golf club. Also one, I forget
who, got grievously ensnared in
one of our caliche sand traps. It
was a great night for me and a
great time for all, and they all
plan to do it again next year.
All of these gents are in fine
shape, with one notable but very
temporary asterisk. Dave Cook
opted to have a radical prostatectomy at John Hopkins in late
April. As I write this in mid-May
he is well beyond post-op and
expects to be back on the links
soon. Dave has to contend with
some farmers on the Eastern
Shore who do a lot more golf
than farming. Dave is, by the
way, more than willing to share
his perspective on choices and
courses of treatments with any
of us.
David Andrew and Bonnie were
also here in April to check out our
spring flora and Sedona. David
says we’re gorgeous, that we’re
as beautiful in flora as his islands.
Give us a little ocean, will you,
Dave?
Moving to the future again,
George Vare and Elsa invite and
challenge classmates to join them
for a hiking trip to Patagonia Dec.
19 through Jan. 3. All classmates
that come will be invited to
George’s birthday fiesta on Dec.
29; “location to be determined.”
Knowing George you’re going to
get a good splash of maybe malbec or maybe tempranillo, along
with a first-rate itinerary and
hiking. Contact George at gvare@
napanet.net.
Bill Taggert and Lil plan to sail
the Star Clipper from Rhodes to
Monaco in August. They were in
Puerto Vallarta and Zihuatenejo
for six weeks last winter. They
planned to be in New Hampshire
for a graduation in June.
Dave Plater and Sheela have
seen a lot of Ephs in Louisiana
and Florida recently and attended
a “boucherie” with members of
the Class of ’62. They had plans
to be in the Shenandoah Valley in
July with son Christopher ’89 and
his family. Dave wrote in early
May: “Oil creeping ashore from
the deep well spill is invading our
state. The big spill, a big problem,
is going to change our summertime diet from shrimp and crab
to steak.”
When the huge rains and floods
hit Rhode Island I wondered how
Jim Bowers and Susie fared. This
was a record, once-in-200-years
flood. Jim and Susie’s farm is on
the coast, and they were fine, but
friends and neighbors suffered
flooded cellars. Jim had a cow—
actually two calves—during the
storm. “We were dumbfounded
as multiple births are not common with beef cattle.” Is this an
omen or what, Ephs!
Tom Kellogg claims he’s slowing
down a little, but he just finished
trying a case in Chester County
and has several cases pending on
appeal. It sounds to me more like
Tom is reenergized.
Ed Martin writes: “A little over a
year ago I remarried, and Jeannie
and I are happily situated in
Bedford, Mass. Between us we
have eight grandchildren all living
in New England. We co-own two
condos on Sanibel Island right on
the beach with my youngest son
and his wife. We are working on
spending three months each winter there. I am reasonably healthy,
still enjoying tennis, woodworking, gardening, walking and
biking, although I am headed for
a knee replacement soon. In short,
life is good.”
n 1958
From left, 1958 classmates Larry Nilsen, Dave Cook, Tom Shulman and Ollie
Stafford gathered at the Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix last April.
More on Don Conklin: Two
of Don’s grandsons are state
wrestling champions. He’s heavily involved with science and
math-oriented Kean College,
18,000 strong, whose graduates
largely staff the drug industry.
Don has taken four trips with
Williams travel and is taking two
more this year—hiking in Utah
and Colorado and training from
Vancouver northward and then
to Calgary. The trips have been
excellent, Don says. He’s also a
particular fan of the Ocean Reef
Club in Key Largo. And in addition to his other sports, Don is a
fisherman.
Spencer Jones and Susan
checked out the Joe Youngs’ still
new digs on their way to Florida
for the month of March. Howie
Abbott was also a visitor; Joe
and Howie took in Longwood
Gardens. Joe also had a good visit
with Hugh McLennan at Hugh’s
house in Exton, Pa., encountering the grin that can illuminate a
universe.
Joe’s name was among the
many mentioned when Tom and
Ollie and Cookie were out here
with Larry. A few of the many
others were Jim Becket, Bob
Kingsbury, Prof. Charles Dew,
Dave Wood, Jim Murphy and Bob
Severance.
Bob Severance said that when
the big rains struck in New
England, the 10-foot dam on the
river at East Natick looked like
a “little bump in the water.” We
all wondered where Jim Becket
was most recently; I haven’t heard
since Copenhagen.
Tom Shulman’s CPA bears a
little extra onus. Tom’s nephew
Douglas Shulman ’89, the son
of Tom’s brother Jeff Shulman
’60, is the commissioner of the
Internal Revenue Service. He was
appointed by the president in
2008. Imagine the scope of that
position.
Tom mentioned in respect to
his Dayton area what a great job
Hank Dimlich did as chief of staff
of a major hospital, the Miami
Valley Hospital, with the busiest
emergency department in Ohio.
Hank and Kathy were briefly out
here in Tucson recently.
Jock Purcell is considering
writing a textbook on spousal
abuse. He sent me a brief but
comprehensive sampling of some
of the specific topics. Jock sees a
lot of this under one of the hats
he wears.
David Kane reports that Chet
Lasell was down to Naples for
an Eph event. David would very
much like to spend more time in
Naples, but the press of practice
with the large national firm Locke
Lord Bissell & Liddell keeps him
mostly in New York. Intellectual
property law may not sound
exciting, but it is, what with new
principles under debate and a lot
of people in the rest of the world
challenging settled standards,
one way or another. Dave has
practiced a ton of it, and I’m sure
Dave Phillips has too. No doubt
others as well.
I heard that the Lasells and
the Dave Simses made a foray
through the Everglades. Dave you
may remember, is a safari veteran.
Up at the other end of Florida,
Jim Kolster and Connie have
seen Hank Dimlich at a couple of
Williams’ events in Ponte Vedra
Beach. Jim and Connie live in
Atlantic Beach, about an hour
or so south of Fernandina Beach
where Hank and Kathy live.
For the past two winters George
Dorian Williams ’51 and his wife
Dottie have hosted a Williams
faculty presentation, this year
by Prof. Edward Burger of the
math department on numbers
theory. Jim and Hank are going
to meet again and maybe golf,
and Jim and I will visit when he
next comes to Tempe to see his
daughter.
Pete Massaniso also lives up in
that northeast Florida neck of the
woods, I think Ponte Vedra, and
manages investments. Peter, let
us hear.
Over on the Pacific Coast,
Denny Doucette’s and Gretchen’s
daughter Rebecca ’85 is learning
Arabic in the Monterrey area.
She and her husband also do
music in the Bay Area. Denny,
ably assisted by his sons, provides
the greatest kind of support for
Gretchen, who is recovering from
a second stroke. Gretchen has
not yet regained her sight. Denny
and sons were at a Red Sox game
recently. The Sox, Denny indicates, have a ways to go this year.
In one of his messages to their
friends and relatives, Denny
thanks God for the ability to provide all he needs to provide. And
we in turn thank the Almighty for
friends and classmates like Denny.
Phil Wilcox says, using baseball
terms, that our class is batting
.700 in giving. That wouldn’t be
true unless Phil and Tom Connolly
were pitching. Congrats all
around.
Bruno Quinson hasn’t told me
yet that it’s operative but the
website address will be www.
brunoaquinson.
Jim Conlan and I had a couple
of lively exchanges over Arizona’s
legislation addressing illegal
immigration. I think Jim was
more informed about the statute
than any public servant I heard
addressing it. Maybe we ought to
have a special institution to teach
legislators at all levels the 3Rs.
The Arizona legislation has
been a lightning rod. The hope of
many out here, including myself,
is that it will encourage federal
enactment of positive and effective immigration reform.
Whitey Kaufmann says spinning,
which I thought might be an
ancient Persian form of footwork,
is “a high intensity aerobic exercise on a faux racing bike … done
in special rooms in gyms with
usually 15-30 bikes in it.” Whitey
teaches this. He never ceases to
amaze me. I’ll probably stick to
my knitting.
Bill Harter is sandwiching in a
tour of Turkey between his next
CL ASS
NOTES
two tours of Israel.
As I finish this in May Europe
and its Euro are in disarray and
the American markets are down.
Tom Synnott, longtime chief
economist at U.S. Trust Co. of
New York, says: “We seem to
be going through a correction in
the stock market that is raising
questions about the pace of the
economic recovery. I have learned
through several decades of trying
to forecast the economy that it is
a mistake to be pessimistic about
the economic outlook. We should
trust in the energy and initiative
of the American people to give
us a much better economy a year
from now.”
I am very sorry to have to
report that Karl Hirshman’s wife
Poppy passed away on March 27,
2010, in Tucson.
1959
Norm Walker
15 Vin Mar Court
Rye, NH 03870
[email protected]
This issue will be about many
of our classmates who are still
working full time. Of course,
as I did with grandparents, I
will only write about those of
you who write to me or call me,
proudly letting us know how
commendable it is to keep working through age 70-plus, perhaps
in some cases even into the 80s.
Remember how many of our
professors were able to do that?
I can’t help but mention that my
intelligent junior-year roommate
Dave Sack is still running a firstrate worldwide business.
Here are some notes from Dave
that are worth reading because
they show how much he’s done
and still is doing: “I have been
employed/working since I was
8—sold locally-grown corn,
blueberries and tomatoes in my
neighborhood at that tender age.
Just passed my 50th anniversary
of my first real job in sales/international marketing for Breck hair
products. Because I had the luck
(believe me there was no foresight
involved) to learn languages at
Williams and had a gift for them,
I have spent most of these 50
years in the international division
of toiletries and textile companies.
To date, I have been in 65 countries on all continents and still get
a kick out visiting a new society.
“I’m always asked what my
favorite country or city is, and I
begin with … New York—but
after that are Paris and London.
Lived four years in the UK and
have been in Paris over 100 times.
Love to prepare hand-written
guides for friends and colleagues
to both [cities].
“I now work with a Pakistani
hosiery company and have been
there seven times to date. Lovely
people in general—just the
poverty and illiteracy lead to religionists; that creates narrowness
and chaos. Still, if you read Three
Cups of Tea, you will see what
type of people the Pakistanis are.
In the fall I will go to China and
Vietnam in search of sock manufacturing sources (Tom Friedman
is right—The World Is Flat).
“Since I love what I do and
my wife is willing to accept my
absences, I will try to keep working to some degree as long as my
health and enthusiasm hold out.
My doctor at Wake Forest Baptist
is a geriatrician and advises me all
the time to ‘keep on truckin.’”
Earlier in e-mail I published a
lengthy note from Slate Wilson
about his family; that e-mail
makes clear how much work he
is still doing: “I’m back at work
at Oregon Health Sciences—
University in Portland. Sort of
put out to pasture two years ago,
I never left the teaching aspect
but was given the responsibility
of teaching the clinical portion of
the anatomy course to 120 firstyear medical students and open
surgical skills to the residents. I
also picked up a couple lectures a
month for the third-year students
as well as third-year student
preceptees. They have actually
agreed to pay me something for
these activities in addition to what
I earn in the trauma/emergency
general surgery clinic. Keeps me
busy. … I continue to write symphonic music and perform (when
I can) on the piano. Recently
I was asked to write a fanfare
for the Columbia Symphony
Orchestra in Portland. … I’ve
been a long-time woodworker
and build somewhat fancy tables
for the boards that Davida, my
wife of 36 years, and I serve
on—for their auctions. Davida
continues to be a CFP at SmithBarney in Salem, earning about
twice what I ever earned. She’s
done this since 1986 and is quite
successful.”
Slate thinks Alex Reeves is
back at work. He’s right. Alex
is still doing significant medical
work. We have numerous doctors
in our class still working: Joe
Prendergast is working full time,
now giving new, improved health
care to doctors and patients.
Bob Hatcher is not working full
time, but anyone who knows
Bob realizes how much effort he
will still make, despite having
spent time in the hospital fighting
a heart problem. Palmer White
works full time in California, but
he has intelligently shifted from
providing operations for severe
medical problems to responding
to surface problems on the body.
He is quite busy and successful
but no longer under pressure.
Andy Packard is supposedly retired
but works constantly as a general
radiologist for Maine Medical
Center. His major effort in his
so-called “retirement years” is
working intensely with his wife in
Saco River Center for Performing
Arts, competing in National
Squash tournaments, and exercising in yoga.
Cliff Colwell writes, “I’m fully
employed but have changed my
role from the head of the division
of orthopaedic surgery to medical
director of orthopaedic research
and education at Scripps Clinic.
This has taken me out of the
operating room and into the lab,
where we have received grants
from the California Institute of
Regenerative Medicine for our
stem cell work in cartilage repair
and from the NIH for our work
with the electronic knee. Writing
the grants, doing the work and
reporting the results is a full-time
job in La Jolla, Calif.”
Cris Schaefer writes, “After leaving the business world (Hubbell
Inc.), I spent two years as executive director of a local watershed
nonprofit, which protects four
rivers in central Connecticut,
then ran for First Selectman of
Woodbury, Conn., losing by 127
votes in a town of 10,000, and
I’m now writing a biography of
my father (founder of Biogen),
assisting a local nonprofit that
funds college educations and
consulting for a local community
foundation.”
There are countless classmates
like Cris who retired from their
main job yet began working at a
major job or numerous demanding roles right away. Dan Rorke,
Sam Parkhill and Bob McAlaine
have all been involved in serious
jobs to help young people who
need financial and psychological help in education. Bob is
chairman of Eastern Insurance
Holdings, a company that specializes in workers compensation
insurance. Bob also spends a good
deal of his time at Gesu Catholic,
a grammar school in a poor,
tough neighborhood in Northern
Philadelphia. He and his coworkers are raising $8 million in
scholarship for 460 third-graders.
n 1 9 5 8 –6 0
Buz Van Sant was a great lawyer
for years but recently has devoted
his service to people who need
help with filing their income taxes
properly.
David Canfield says, “I’m
volunteering virtually full time for
our local Shakespeare company
in board and management roles
and learning all sorts of new
and fascinating stuff. If unpaid
work counts, I will send a short
reflection.”
Rich Moe recently retired as
head of the National Trust for
Historic Preservation in DC.
Bob Embry is head of a writing
foundation in Baltimore. Another
Baltimore classmate has for a long
time been a key writer—Ernie
Imhoff is not through yet. John
Halsey is still involved playing in
the Williams Jazz Band and teaching music in NYC.
Ted Sage’s note indicates how
long most of our educators stay
in school and how even after
they retire they remain busy in
the schools: “I retired from high
school math teaching this June
after 47 years in the classroom—33 years at Middlesex
School and 14 at North Haven
Community School. Hope and
I will stay right here in North
Haven where life is ‘the way it
should be’ for 70-plus-year-old
people. There’s lots to do in this
small island community, and I’ll
probably stay involved with the
school as a volunteer. Hope will
keep working as a part timer at
the school in charge of all the
state and federal mandated testing. To celebrate retirement, we’re
taking an Alaska cruise tour at
the end of August into September,
since this is the first time in my
life I don’t have to be in school on
Sept. 1.”
Jere Packard is still actively
teaching. For years he was a
teacher, writer and administrator in schools like Choate and in
Canada. Now he’s working with
adults who want to be teachers.
E.J. Johnson is still teaching
art at Williams. How can we
help but be impressed by our
classmate; after all, ever since we
became involved in Williams, art
professors over the years have
been among the oldest and most
impressive.
During the 50th reunion Bill
Moomaw taught us well about
energy, because he has done so
much work in that area, and he is
still teaching at Tufts.
Kirk Emmert taught at Kenyon
College for 32 years and just
retired. We can’t say he is no
longer working, because he is
now a well-respected mayor of
Gambier, Ohio.
Henry Cole has long been active
in geophysics at The University
of Alaska; now he is consulting
the educational world about sustainable and geothermal energy
systems.
Jack Hyland is still active
with Morgan Stanley and has
developed two new books. Pete
Bradley is also still writing.
Dan Fanning wrote a long note
about his present work: “Sorry
I missed responding to the issue
about grandchildren; we have
eight (four boys and four girls)
that we love to brag about.
But name me a grandparent
who doesn’t like to brag on his
grandchildren! My continued
work effort is a 50 percent to
75 percent time commitment
to a professional engineering consulting practice that
specializes in delivering ‘Value
Engineering Study Services’ for
public infrastructure. My current
client list includes: departments of
transportation in Florida, South
Carolina, Michigan, Connecticut,
Rhode Island and Washington
State; the Canadian Provinces of
Ontario and Alberta; as well as
several major engineering and
construction companies such as
Gilbane Building Company, Fluor
Corporation, Urban Engineers,
AECOM Canada and HNTB
Corporation.
“Value Engineering is a collaborative team driven examination of a design for a process,
product or project with the goal
of identifying their basic functions
and creatively developing recommendations for changes to those
designs that will enhance their
basic functions without increasing
their costs. The typical study is
a three-week commitment. …
Most of the time the actual study
is held near the project location,
so we can conveniently get out
to see the project on the ground
and reasonably convenient to the
client’s offices to facilitate input
from them and to report the study
findings.
“The fun part is meeting new
clients, working with new study
team members and facilitating the
actual studies (getting paid is nice
too). Writing the reports is just
as painful as it was in college—
worse than chewing sand but not
as bad as burning bamboo sticks
under your fingernails!”
Jerry Rardin and Bill Collins, as
alums, still perform a kind of
work that is honorable because of
its sensitivity. They wrote serious
reactions to the deaths of Len Grey
and professor Fred Stocking ’36.
Our classmates like Jerry Rardin,
who have for most of their lives
served religious positions, remain
helpful to fellow classmates and
to the world. Along with Jerry,
names who should always be
recalled and respected for their
spiritual commitment are Robert
Gould, Norm Cram, Donald Hart,
Jack Betz, Mike Darrow and
Donald Arnurius.
I received a good note from
Dan Rankin about the supposedly retired Peter Willmott, “who
is still doing lots of things. He’s
president of Willmott Services
Inc., and does a ton of consulting in that position. He’s on
many boards: 1) President of the
Board of the Clark Art Institute
in Williamstown; 2) board of
directors of the Thoroughbred
Owners and Breeders Association;
3) board of directors of the
Children’s Memorial Medical
Center in Chicago; 4) board of St.
Mary’s School in Memphis. I’m
quite sure there are many other
boards. I find he’s always on the
go … every time I call him he’s
in a different locale—Chicago,
Churchill Downs, LA, Memphis,
etc. A busy, busy guy for 73 years
of age.” Most of us will long
remember him for all he did for
us at our 50th reunion.
Another supposedly retired
classmate is Geoffrey Morton.
Even though he is retired, he
works long periods of time helping students who are applying to
colleges. Aside from that we all
know how often Geoff plays a big
role in many Williams activities,
telling countless stories—full of
humor and seriousness—about
our days at Williams; he is the
best storyteller in existence. As
I mention him, I can’t help but
remind us of a classmate who
communicates, even still, with the
written word—Ernie Imhoff.
1960
Michael Penner
38334 South Desert Bluff Drive
Tucson, AZ 85739
[email protected]
Submitted by outgoing class
secretary Ron Stegall:
What was most significant was
not the numbers or the records
broken! Yes, a higher percentage
of classmates at a 50th reunion
than ever before. Yes, the largest
50th reunion gift … by three
times … than ever before. Yes,
the largest amount contributed to
the Annual Fund during the 50th
reunion year. Yes, clearly the most
CL ASS
NOTES
creative class in Williams history
with scores of paintings, photographs, drawings, sculptures,
ceramics, needle craft, books published, DVDs produced, poems,
essays, speeches and op-eds written, watches made, algorithms
developed, and environmental
and social justice organizations
served and explained. (We didn’t
even have ways to share the
performance art of Al Miller and
the vocal talents of Sheila and
Tom Dodds, the piano skills of Bob
Pyle and Steve Ross, the violin of
Ara Asadorian or the classical flute
and piano, jazz trombone and
Russian Orthodox choir performances of Bill Keiffer!) The rarest
art offering to the Expo was
displayed in a locked glass poster
case on the gallery wall of the ’62
Center. It was Dan Cook’s body
art … a photo of his left shoulder
tattoo, complete with provenance
documentation on the origins of
the elaborate symbolism incorporated in the masterpiece! The largest art work was the 9-foot-tall,
state-of-the -art, geologic map
of Vermont, which Nick Radcliff
revealed a year ahead of its
publication by the U.S. Geological
Survey. The smallest offerings
were the beautiful watches built
by Marshall Lapidus.
No, what was most significant
about our 50th reunion was the
tone: exhilarating, affectionate,
affirming, inclusive, intimate
and communicative. We were
exhausted after five days but
wishing for more time and stamina to continue the conversation.
We recognized each other (for
the most part) and encountered
each other in new ways at new
levels of openness and appreciation. There were, undoubtedly,
lapses into old patterns, habits,
masks and protective armor, but
these were largely overwhelmed
by emerging, comfortable, inmy-own-shoes, appreciation of
the other. There was pervasive
understanding of the enrichment
we had received from each other
during those formative four years
in Williamstown and enthusiastic
engagement in continuing that
process. Your next opportunity
to experience that as a group will
be the Pass the Baton weekend in
October … and the 55th reunion
… and certainly various gatherings in between.
You will receive a “retrospective publication” on the reunion
complete with photographs and
personal revelations about the
Creative Side of the Class of ’60
as well as the texts of parts of
the program. Don’t put it aside!
Explore it! It too will be the largest such report ever issued, just
as the reunion class book was the
largest in the history of Williams
and contained the highest percentage of classmate biographies
and the first set of stories by
classmates. While waiting for the
book, revisit the website (also
record breaking!), where John
Klem has already posted photos
from the reunion … and while
you are at it, send a thank you
to John and Win Healy for the
monumental effort represented by
the website and class book.
Word circulated with great
sadness about the death of Steve
Beal in Loveland, Colo., just days
before the reunion. Bob Lipp was
able to speak with him and his
hospice caregivers just before
Steve died, and I had talked with
him before he entered hospice
care. He had hoped to be well
enough to attend the reunion
but gave that up months ago.
He did send one of his remarkable needlepoint canvases to the
Expo, and it held pride of place
at the beginning of the show. His
published books of poetry were
also part of the display. His help
with these notes over the past
five years, his unique humor and
perspective, his literary prowess
and his caustic commentary will
be long remembered in many
communities. A favorite story,
you may remember, was his total
delight at discovering his African
American heritage through a very
patrician grandmother. Treasured
time with his newly discovered
relatives in a small southern town
was a highlight of his adult life.
Other classmates who were
not at the reunion were well
represented there. Fay Vincent
had to cancel at the last minute,
but his creativity essay was part
of the show. Tao Ho remains
paralyzed from the neck down
since 2002 but has been at his
daughter’s wedding and now
enjoys Noelle, her husband and
son during weekly visits to him
in Hong Kong. Noelle sent copies
of books about Tao Ho’s vast
artistic achievements in painting,
print making, architecture and
sculpture. Selections from his
work were on exhibit at
WCMA as well as in our class
show. The museum tour included
a visit to the study room, where
many of his gifts to the College
were displayed and discussed.
A special show of the work of
contemporary Chinese artists
collected by Tao will be mounted
at the museum next year. You
can see more of Tao’s vast body
of work at www.taoho.com and
about the foundation established
in his honor by looking online
for Taohofoundation.com. David
Wright’s book on Italian painter
Leon Battista Alberti arrived
just in time for our show. Bill
Mead’s architectural brilliance
was lovingly presented by his
widow, Hansi, who joined us for
the reunion festivities with gusto.
The publications of Bob Dunn and
John Richardson were displayed,
and we were delighted that
Helena Dunn was with us. During
the class dinner in the ’62 Center,
a special toast was offered to the
women, now all official members
of the class, who celebrated with
us: Cynny Travers and Margorie
Myers, along with Helena and
Hansi. Ann Gallop’s intent to
participate in the Expo and to be
there was preempted by jury duty.
This is my last column as secretary, and it is a pleasure to introduce your new secretary (drum
roll here), Mike Penner! Mike and
Sally live in Michigan in the summer and in Arizona in the winter.
Mike will be in touch with you
by mail and e-mail with phone
numbers and mailing addresses.
In the meantime, Mike’s e-mail
is [email protected]. I will
try to be helpful to Mike by
contacting some of you. When I
took over from John Travers and
Bob Stegeman five years ago, I
did not realize how much I would
enjoy talking with you. Thank
you for your help and responsiveness. Please take the initiative to
provide Mike with your news and
the news of others.
You will read much more about
yourselves and your classmates
in the Reunion Report, but one
additional class record needs to
be acknowledged now. Take it
from this impartial observer that
the Class of 1960 is the youngest
looking 50th reunion class in
history. It is stunning to think
back to the wizened geezers who
appeared at our graduation and
at reunions since then and to
compare them to the handsome,
robust lot that we are! Global
warming is certainly a fact,
but I also suspect there is trend
toward 50th reunion younging!
It couldn’t be just my maturing
perspective!
Finally, there were many award
winners and many people were
publicly thanked for their efforts
toward a spectacular reunion
experience and their leadership
roles over the years, but Frank
Thoms probably hit the bell at the
top of the profundity meter when
he offered his toast at the class
n 1 9 6 0 –6 1
dinner on Saturday night. He
recognized the class as a whole
and especially the many who were
not listed on the leadership rosters
but rather provided the ballast
for ship, responded to initiatives,
engaged in their parts as friends,
colleagues and supporters, elected
the leadership and enriched the
college experience for us all. That
enrichment of each other, by all
others, continues!
It has been a pleasure, ladies
and gentlemen!
1961
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Bob Gormley
50th
P.O. Box 3922
Westport, MA 02790
[email protected]
TDX (Theta Delt) led the
charge this time. Nowadays, for
most of us former frat or social
unit brothers, initials like that are
mostly stock market symbols.
But return with me now to those
thrilling days of yesteryear. A fun
conversation with Fred Mayer
sparked it all.
Now retired and living near St.
Louis, Fred is by his own admission something of a “dinosaur”
when it comes to technology and
alternative systems. He does not
do e-mail or own a computer.
Too impersonal. Indeed, we may
have been talking on his original
round-dial phone. He writes
occasional newsy handwritten
notes, and I reply in kind. This
time he called to assure me that
he and Pat, his beloved wife of 49
years, would be at our 50th with
stories to spin. He likes to talk
and remembers everything, so
beware. Always the philosopher,
he referred to life in his 60s as
“patch and paste years”; his 70s
are “reconstruct and remove”
years. OK, he’s had a hip done
and a knee so far. He also noted
that he would turn 72 during our
reunion weekend, but I’m not
supposed to tell.
One tale he spun for me was of
a close call auto accident he, Mike
White and Max Davidson survived
senior year, in Davidson’s ’55
T-bird. They were headed for a
rural N.Y. state or Connecticut
burlesque show, being as how we
were so isolated, in midwinter.
Snow and ice were all over the
roads; oh, how we remember
those trips to Smith and Skids. On
a sharp turn near their destination, they hit a patch of ice, skidded out of control, brushed a pole
and flipped. Crammed together,
but with no seat belts in those
days, they emerged unscathed.
The pole they hit knocked out the
power for miles around, including
at the burly house. No show that
night! Fred, never a shy guy, was
proud to add that he had dated
one of the dancers there and
invited her back to TDX to party.
No, he didn’t mind me mentioning it.
Max Davidson III is the same
and now very distinguished
57th Street art gallery owner
who wrote this time to tell
me of his visit on May 6 to
Storm King Sculpture Park in
Garrison, N.Y., along with Roz
and Wally Bernheimer, Bob Buck
(former director of the Brooklyn
Museum), Bobbie and Al
Schiavetti, Madeleine and Harvey
Plonsker and Lisa Corrin, director of WCMA. Storm King is a
world-famous 500-acre parkland
edging up to the Hudson, where
sculptors the likes of Alexander
Calder, George Rickey and Mark
Di Suvero have their works
displayed in a glorious setting.
They were there to meet with
Di Suvero, who was installing a
recent piece of his, and to consult
about the artist and piece we hope
to install on campus and unveil
on our reunion weekend in June
’11 as part of our class gift. This
committee is working hard on
our behalf.
Rewind to 1961 and life at
TDX (now the Alumni Relations
Office). Fred Mayer also had a
car and was always willing to
seek adventure. His roomie, Mike
White, was an inveterate baseball
fan, then and now, who read The
Sporting News faithfully and
always knew who was playing
whom, when and where. Mike
was, of course, a Cubs fan so he
loved old parks like Fenway here
in Boston. One day, bored with
studying for exams, he easily
convinced Mayer to head for
Fenway to see the Sox vs Yanks in
their ongoing rivalry. Fred became
a Sox fan that day and remembers
too it was Carl Yazstremski’s
first game ever, at second base
in those days. He and Mike
have an annual outing to Peoria
to see minor league ball. (Both
are traditionalists and like the
prices and purity of minor league
ball.) Fred sends greetings to all,
especially other TDX brothers
Paul Mersereau, Phil Abrams and
Joe Bassett ’62, who were at his
wedding in summer ’61.
Ron Roberts, another TDX
stalwart, checked in to say he
and wife Marsha were looking
forward to June ’11 as well. He
has added bocce along with tennis
and golf to his sports portfolio
and thanks his stars for good
health and the joys of nature.
Dick Dodds also checked in and
that reminded me that he and
Meg ’74 were married in June
’61 before graduation and before
Mayer. They may be the longest
married in the class. Anyone
aware of who might beat that?
Bob Judd sent on an interesting recent electronic “postcard”
he did for friends on him and
partner Kathryn and vehicles.
Kathryn was racing a ’59 Pontiac
at Laguna Seca in California, and
Bob had purchased a 1969 red
Ford F250 truck from Arizona
on E-Bay for $4,549.00 and
was driving it back across Death
Valley. A cool truck, though collector Jim Hodges may prefer the
Pontiac. Jim and Sheila live now
three days a week on their boat
and the other four days on a small
plantation they own about 80
miles from Charleston, S.C. The
125-acre plantation is run by their
daughter and son-in-law “who
are raising two of their grandchildren along with 12 dogs,
86 Navajo-Churro sheep, 10
Pineywoods cattle, 10 rare breed
pigs, two Holsteins, four goats
and uncounted rare breed turkeys,
geese and chickens, all on a certified organic farm.” They plant a
five-acre market garden and sell at
three different farmers’ markets,
plus feed the household. Midweek
the Hodges go to Charleston for
bridge and appointments and
a morning volunteering at the
S.C. Aquarium, where Sheila is
secretary of the board. Their boat
is a 47-foot trawler, which they
take to Beaufort, Hilton Head,
Savannah when desired. When in
Charleston they eat only breakfast
onboard and sample the amazing
array of restaurants there for dinners. “All in all it is a lifestyle that
keeps us very busy.” I’d say so.
Back on March 3-4, 14
classmates plus some spouses
gathered in unseasonably cold
Vero Beach, FL for a minireunion. Barbara and George Lowe
and Rindi and Van Schreiber
coordinated the event for ’61
and they joined about 30 other
Vero based alums (’43-’65) for
social events and talks by former
president John Chandler on
changes at the College from our
day. Tennis and golf opportunities were taken advantage of with
Van’s team handily beating Fred
Kasten’s despite the fact that Jim
Frick starred for Kasten’s crew.
Generous handicaps accounted
CL ASS
NOTES
for the win. Other attendees
were the Bernheimers, Phil
Abrams, Clyde Buck, Jim White,
Paul Mersereau, Sally and Pete
Haeffner, Ann and Bob Sleeper,
Sam Weaver and Galey Clarke
and Ralph Epstein. Sorry I missed
it. These minis are great for
getting down with some we
hardly knew as well as renewing old friendships. Try to make
the Oct. 15-17 gathering with
other contemporary classes in
Williamstown. ‘60 will have had
their 50th and pass the traditional
baton to us for 2011.
Jim (“Worker”) White was there
in Vero and loved it. He stayed
with Susie and Fred Kasten and
Jim Frick, whom he had not seen
since graduation. He remembers
too that Van Schreiber helped him
order his engagement ring for
wife Linda 50 years ago. There
too was his chem lab buddy,
Ralph Epstein, along with Sam
Weaver, Pete Haeffner and Bob
Sleeper. He’s looking for more of
the same at the 50th while feeling the loss of fellow New Trier
classmates who were with us at
Williams, Buck Robinson, Dean
Howard and Cliff Granger. They
will be with us in spirit.
Joe Low spent three days in
Santa Barbara with Val and Bob
Montgomery “who have built a
beautiful Provencal retreat. Bob
recently retired from running
Gibson, Dunn (premier law firm)
and is bottling his own wine from
Montgomery Vineyards located
at the top of Napa Valley. We
were treated to a bottle from
his first vintage (just three years
old), which was quite a positive
experience. Bob’s good friend Bart
Araujo is one of California’s finest
producers. Retirement seems to
be to the liking for ‘the kid from
the coal mines of Pennsylvania via
Wyoming Seminary.’”
Tim Oliphant wrote from
Steamboat Springs, Colo., where
“after 28 years of hustling justice
in the boat, I sold my house and
office building and went to the
Apple, where two of my kids
were living, so I could spend time
before the paradigms changed.
Change occurred rapidly, and
grandchildren appeared. I gave
the use of the family home to my
son and family. Shortly, I was
rousted from my West Village
apartment and escorted north of
30th by the youth police. I am
currently licking my wounds in
Steamboat, while preparing for a
homicide trial in Florida.” He lost
me after the boat, and paradigms
always confuse me, but maybe
you can figure it out, “youth
In June, members of the Class of 1961 and their spouses gathered for
dinner in Waban, Mass., at the home of Roz and Wally Bernheimer (far
right). Also pictured, from left, Bob and Bea Gormley, Ellen and Tom
De Gray, Lou and Joan Guzzetti, and Pat and John Whitney.
police” and all.
Freshman roomie and DU
brother John Simons and I correspond regularly, and he was off to
fish for tarpon (“poons”) on the
Florida Keys. He avoids e-mail
too and still works half time as
an administrative judge out of
Sacramento, Calif.
Page and Walt Henrion were
washed out on a Texas golf resort
weekend and took the occasion to
write. They had enjoyed a TexasNorth alumni tour of the Nasher
Sculpture Garden (outdoor sculpture is in the air). Walt’s daughter
Alison ’92 and husband Andy
Kaplinsky ’90 head that alum contingent. Linda and Howie Tygrett,
Jane and Steve Thayer, and Vicki
and John Castleman were also
along. The Henrions were off to
Turkey with a Williams group in
July and are planning an Amalfi
Coast trip in October. They also
plan to be with us for the October
minireunion, so they get around.
Do not tangle with Dave
Shapiro. He’s a fifth-degree master
in Okinawan Uechi-Ryu karate
and plans to take further training
in Okinawa soon. Of course, he’s
still a trauma surgeon and on
the faculty of the University of
South Florida at Tampa General
Hospital, where, he is rightfully
proud, there are several Ephs, and
his daughter is a pediatric RN. He
and old roomie Jim Urbach plan to
be with us for the 50th.
So does Gil Kerr, who offered
that while life is good in North
Georgia, Washington needs an
enema (my word). Bob Marrin,
who transferred to ’61 from
Stanford after taking some
time off for Berkshire theater,
explained that he’s checking
routes from KC to Williamstown
for reunion. And Lou Guzzetti
shared with me a “memories”
piece our mutual buddy Tom
Millington had contributed to Tim
Weinland’s 50th classbook-inprogress. It’s funny and touching,
but you’ll have to wait to see
it. Please remember to write up
your own personal profiles for
the classbook, due Aug. 11, if not
sooner. Our 50th book is a key
to a successful reunion, and Tim’s
goal is a bio and pic on every
classmate.
On that score, John Denne, our
50th chairman on the scene in
Williamstown, urges that any of
you who have a creative bent or
know of others in the class who
do, be willing to share your works
(painting, music, poetry and
writing) for an exhibit we’ll have
at the 50th. Please contact John at
[email protected] with questions
and guidance on how and when
to send materials for display. John
is also proud to have a grandson
entering the class of ’14. We
are getting on. A reminder too
that Paul Boire is our appointed
webmaster and in process of setting up our class website toward
the 50th. He’s at [email protected]
and 7 Vernon Dr., Hudson, Mass.
01749. Pics and profiles can be
posted on the site.
Our reunion committee met
at the Williams Club in NYC
April 4, and you will be hearing
more from them in the next year.
Meanwhile, Wally reported that
only Ron Litowitz showed up at
the meeting drowning in obvious purple while usual suspects
Mersereau and Schiavetti dressed
n 1 9 6 1 –6 2
normally. Lou has this group
totally organized.
Lastly, two more sad deaths to
report from our gang: Edgar (Ted)
Dyer Hunting of lymphoma March
4 in Bremerton, Wash., and E.
Mark Williams III in Boston, April
16. Both will be missed.
Ted did a master’s in engineering at Stanford and an MBA
at UCLA after Williams. He
had an outstanding career, first
in the Peace Corps (1964-66)
in Bangladesh and Iran. Then
he worked in private industry,
building airfields in Thailand
before joining the World Bank
for projects across South Asia
and Eastern Europe in the early
’70s until retirement in ’88. From
1970-2001 he lived in DC, where
he sailed and was a runner, then
moved to Bainbridge Island,
Wash., to enjoy the outdoor life.
Mark succumbed to cancer
after a long battle. He was a physics major at Williams and worked
first as an engineer at Sprague
Electric in North Adams. He then
turned to financial management and spent the remainder
of his career at Paine Webber in
Worcester, Mass. He leaves his
wife Jane, three daughters and
four grandchildren. Mark was
active at St. Francis Episcopal
Church in Holden, where he
resided.
I hope to see many of you in
October. Be well and stay tuned.
1962
William M. Ryan
112 Beech Mountain Road
Mansfield Center, CT 06250
[email protected]
Thirty-three members of the
class, along with spouses and
friends, gathered in Williamstown
in April for the Presidential
Colloquium. At this exclusivelyfor-us three-day event we were
wined, dined, educated and
entertained by many of Williams’
administrators and professors
and learned a great deal about
the current state of the campus.
We were invited for dinner at
new President Adam Falk’s
home and had a chance to hear
his vision for the school. The
weather was perfect, and I believe
we all came away reinvigorated
about Williams. We also had
several class meetings and settled
on a dual-purpose class gift for
our 50th. Our two goals are to
add to scholarship funds and
to create a “Global Initiatives
Venture Fund.” Over half of
Williams students now receive
financial aid, and that percentage
is projected to grow as Williams
remains one of a handful of
schools in the country with a
“need blind” admissions policy.
The second objective would be
accomplished by providing funds
to the dean’s office for information and initiatives involving
the liberal arts and international
education. Jay Tompkins and his
committee developed the goals,
and Bill Whitman and the 50th
reunion fundraising committee
are responsible for enabling their
implementation. Count on hearing from them soon!
In late June 2011, our class has
been invited to take part in the
Oxford, England, trip, which is
reserved for the upcoming 50th
reunion class. Bonnie and I managed to sneak onto this trip with
the Class of ’43 and had a marvelous experience. I recommend you
sign up for it as soon as the dates
are confirmed as there is a limit.
Approximately 15 classmates
indicated their interest at the
colloquium.
Jef Corson has been named
interim president of Ursinus
University in Philadelphia. Jef has
long been active on the Ursinus
board and, when their president
became seriously ill, he was
elected by the board to serve for
approximately a year until the
new president has been named.
“Pray for me,” says Jef. “I hope
there are no crises in the next
year.” Bruce Grinnell has volunteered to help you deal with any
fraternity issues, Jef.
Jack Kroh’s partner, Linda Cox,
recently published a book about
her service on a jury trial in
Boston in the late 80’s. The title,
which is self-descriptive, is Lone
Holdout: A Memoir. It is available on Amazon, and I have read
and enthusiastically recommend
it. It is thoroughly engrossing and
written with great skill.
The health-care debate has
thrust Toby Cosgrove, head of
the Cleveland Clinic, into the
news frequently. In a March
story in Fortune, Toby discussed
the Clinic’s ground breaking
approaches to health, medicine
and patient care, which make so
much sense it makes one wonder
why everyone doesn’t adopt
them. Makes me feel glad I helped
him with his organic chemistry
homework.
Due to some expert sleuthing by
one of my high school classmates,
I was able to locate Hank Citron,
who was both a high school
and a Williams classmate. Hank
dropped out after our sophomore
year, a victim of a gambling
addiction that it took him many
years to overcome. Overcome it
he did, however, and he now is
healthy and living in the mountains outside of Santa Cruz, Calif.
It was wonderful to talk with him
by phone after so many years.
He sounded just like the Hank I
remember.
Chris Sargent was named to
the Barron’s Top 1,000 Financial
Advisors list and is one of Wells
Fargo Advisors “top persons.”
Correcting an error in an earlier
column, Anne and Chris have
one son, Christopher, and one
daughter (not son—that was the
error), Thayer.
More trips of a lifetime: Patti
and Dick Jaquith have lived
outside of Chicago in Northfield
since the late ’60s. After serving as
a teaching assistant in economics
at Williams, Dick was determined
to get his PhD and return to
Williams as a professor. He began
his program at the U. of Michigan
in ’62. “I quickly saw the difference between a big school and
a small school and headed for
Harvard and an MBA a year
later.” He joined the Northern
Trust Co. in Chicago in ’65 and
was hired as assistant treasurer by
Quaker Oats. He was promoted
to VP and treasurer in ’73, a
position he held until retirement
in ’92. He oversaw the acquisition
of many household name companies in those 20 years, including
Gatorade, Fisher Price, Aunt
Jemima and Puss ‘N’ Boots. Postretirement, he has been investing
his own money in several start-up
operations. “Probably have
made 25 deals, nine of which
have totally cratered. However,
there have been some amazing
successes, also. It’s all consumer
products stuff, no computers. I
am computer-phobic.” Patti and
Dick have three children, including an Amherst alumna, offset
by a Williams alumna, Deborah
Jaquith Musich ’86, and six grandchildren. Dick is a heavy-duty
skier even though he didn’t start
until he was in his 40s. He skis
60-70 days each year from his
second home in Snowmass, Colo.,
and has done some heli-skiing in
Canada. Of his Williams experience he has nothing but praise:
“Kermit Gordon was a great
teacher and luminary in the field.
The analytical skills I learned in
economics at Williams were far
more valuable than my two years
at the ‘B’ school.”
Buckley Crist and Dick Jaquith
share two common traits. They
live close to each other (Buck and
CL ASS
NOTES
Susan are in Wilmette) and they
both are acquainted with Ted
Kaczinski, aka the Unabomber.
Dick lived across the hall from
Kaczinski at Michigan and Buck
was his first intended victim
(Kaczinski’s, not Jaquith’s). A
package addressed to a teacher at
RPI was found in a Northwestern
U. parking lot with Buck’s name
as the return address. It was
returned to him by the finder,
but Buck had never sent it. He
contacted the campus police, and
it was opened and exploded in the
mail room. Fortunately, no one
was injured but, to this day, Buck
has no idea why his name was on
the package. Buck obtained both
his PhD and wife while at Duke
university. Susan Bowers was an
undergrad at Duke when Buck
was a teaching assistant there.
They have two children, including
B. Harris Crist Jr. ’91, and one
grandchild. Buckley spent 34
years at Northwestern as a professor in both the materials science
and engineering departments,
retiring in ’07. Polymer research
is his field, and he has two books
under way in that field. Most
of his research was for NSF and
the Gas Research Institute, and
he has collaborated with Jack
Sabin (U. Florida) in some of his
work. His advice to a Williams
first-year student: “Get plugged
into academics. Don’t treat it as a
trade school.”
Many of you will remember
Jameson (Jerry) Campaigne for
his outrageous conservative
statements that somehow made
sense. I can assure you that he has
not changed. An example of his
comments to me at our meeting in
Ottawa, Ill.: “I wouldn’t choose
Williams again because it practices political correctness, which
is simply tyranny disguised as
manners.” Nevertheless, Jerry has
good memories of his four years
at Williams, including working
with the architect to rebuild the
fire-restored Deke house and
traipsing up Pine Cobble with Bill
Robertson at 10 p.m. His career
has been in newspaper publishing
and book publishing, which he
began in Chicago immediately
after college. He took time off
to campaign for Goldwater in
’64 and has worked for several
publishers since. He started his
own company in ’90, Jameson
Books, which publishes “nonextreme political books” as well
as many other nonfiction works.
“The growth of chain bookstores
(Barnes and Noble, Borders)
have made the business very
difficult. At one point I had 7,000
independent bookstores as my
market. Now there are only about
300.” He met Caroline Young in
’65, when he bought control of
Calumet Newspapers, publishers
of several papers on the south
side of Chicago, and married her
in ’67. Caroline worked for the
paper and was known by local
police departments as “Little Miss
Poison” for her relentless pursuit
of a story. She and Jerry have
four kids and four grandkids. He
is most proud of his ability to
fund the Critical Issues discussion group after it was defunded
by the College Council after the
Cole-William Buckley debate. “I
raised $10,000 from alumni, my
first ever direct-mail campaign.”
Rick Seidenwurm and I grew up
in adjacent towns, and I met with
him when he returned from San
Diego for his 50th high school
reunion. He moved to San Diego
in ’73 to join a law firm after
Columbia Law School (roomed
with Pete Worthman), spent a
year with the newly-formed
Office of Economic Opportunity
in Washington and several years
with Davis, Polk & Wardwell in
NYC. “Bob Henry with Morgan
Stanley was one of my clients,
and I spent a month in Japan with
him.” Two years later Rick and
five other lawyers left to form
what is now the firm Solomon,
Ward, Aguirre and Seidenwurm.
There are 32 lawyers in the
group, and their business is split
evenly between litigation and
corporate work. Most of Rick’s
work has been on the corporate
side. He is now 90 percent retired,
working on an occasional deal
for an old client or doing some
arbitration work on business or
real estate disputes. Rick married Carol Wender in 1965, and
Carol died in 2008. She was an
accomplished artist and sculptor,
and he misses her “every day.”
They had two children, Amy and
Rob ’93. Rick is a frequent golfer,
very accomplished at stealing golf
balls from his playing partners.
(I must confess that he did, after
two years, return my Titleist 3.)
He is a member of a fictionwriting group and working on
a novel whose central theme
revolves around the members of a
fraternity at a small New England
college forming a tontine. Stay
tuned you Psi U’s! He loved
Williams—“It’s like Las Vegas.
Always something to do and
good people to do it with.” He
hopes to see Pete Worthman, Stew
Davis and Mike Hopewell again.
I met Gwyneth (Dinny) and
Barney Shaw at their son Matt’s
’94 wedding to Chloe Bland ’97 in
Branford, Conn. Notable among
the guests (besides yours truly)
was the novelist John Irving, for
whom Chloe had worked for several years. My college roommate
and lifelong friend had married
Dinny during the summer after
graduation, and they have lived in
Dinny’s family home in Rochester
for many years. Barney got an
MBA at the Kellogg School of
Northwestern and worked as
a CPA for Ernst and Ernst in
Rochester until 1969, when he
joined the family business, F.L.
Heughes and Co., a steel erection
and construction contractor. The
Eastman Kodak company was
their major customer, and many
of the major buildings in upstate
New York are their legacy. Barney
shut down the business in 1999
(“too many environmental and
workers compensation issues”)
and “barely got out with my shirt
on.” He and Dinny have raised
three boys and now have four
grandchildren. A recurrent theme
in Barney’s otherwise happy
and successful life is chronic
back problems, which began
our freshman year when he was
injured in a football game. He’s
been through three operations
and “spent almost a year in bed.”
Most recently, a drug release
source was implanted near his
spine so he could move with a
minimum of pain and without
the medication affecting other
functions. “Gotta keep goin,’”
is his stoic response to “how are
you” questions. I admire him
for his courage and his unfailing good humor. “Williams was
the best education I could have
gotten,” he says, “tho’ I sure wish
I had taken more art and history
courses.” Memories of Williams
include playing Stagger Lee on
the piano (more like nightmares
for his KA brothers) and his
roommate (me) smashing his
slide rule while trying to figure
out his physics homework (good
thing we didn’t have calculators).
“I remember Toby Cosgrove’s
Mom grabbing me by the ear and
dragging me to the ladies room.
‘You must redecorate,’ she said.”
He did. He hopes that Anne and
Paul Hill will be back for our 50th.
Anne and Dinny were roommates
at Bradford Jr. College.
Rick Pietsch stopped by en route
from his home in Charlottesville,
the same one in which he was
raised, to his summer residence
on Martha’s Vineyard, an island
he shares with John Botts, among
others. After Williams, Rick went
directly to UVA Med school,
n 1 9 6 2 –6 3
along with Louis Benton and
Toby Cosgrove. Four years later
found him doing a residency in
pediatrics and internal medicine
at U. Alabama-Birmingham. (One
of his patients was Bear Bryant. I
assume this was not the pediatric
part of his work.) He then joined
the U.S. Public Health Service to
satisfy his military service and
investigated the toxic effect of
pesticides on humans. Three more
years of training in ophthalmology and he began his career. He
spent a year in Jakarta teaching
eye surgery and began his private
practice in ’73 in Flagstaff,
Ariz. A year later he moved to
Charlottesville (“my wife hated
Flagstaff”) and started another
ophthalmology practice, which
grew to five physicians by the
time he retired in 2000. “I had to
have my right shoulder replaced
and had to stop surgery. I also
switched from golf to tennis.”
Rick’s first love always has been
music (“I wish I had majored in
it”), and he now has time to play.
He taught himself to play the bass
and several keyboard instruments,
formed a band, composes original
music for the band and takes on
a number of public gigs every
year. (Watch out, Al Oerhle.) He
runs regularly and has competed
in several marathons. He and
his first wife have two children
and two grandchildren. They
were divorced in ’87, and he
met and married Dee in ’91.
About Williams: “The education I received at Williams was
excellent, much better than med
school, where it seemed that
teaching was the last thing the
faculty wanted to do.” He is
hopeful that Peter Marlowe will
return for our 50th. “I’d love to
see him again.”
And I hope to see many of
you at our mini, Oct. 15-17, in
Williamstown.
1963
Jim Blume
23 Vicente Road
Berkeley, CA 94705
[email protected]
Continuing my yearlong, but
finally completed, theme of
profiling our class officers, Gordy
Prichett and Stu Jones, our class
treasurer and VP, respectively, will
be chronicled at the outset of this
column.
Gordy has served our class in
a number of capacities—reunion
chair and president, and in his
inimitable, exuberant style has
been a powerful force in the
chemistry of our class. When he
wrote in response to my initial
inquiry, he had just returned from
a “fabulous month in Australia
and New Zealand” and was
expecting to have a hip replaced.
Perpetually in motion and
extraordinarily athletic, Gordy’s
current foci are bicycling and
hiking, both of which he does
seriously (is there any other way
for him?).
Gordy and Jill (his long-suffering, ever-tolerant and sardonic
wife) have three sons, one of
whom, Glenn graduated from
Williams in 2000. According
to Gordy, his three sons “all
married fantastic girls,” and
Jill and Gordy now have five
grandchildren.
Gordy continues to teach math
half time at Babson College,
where he was formerly chair of
the math department. Gordy
added, “I find spending four
months of intense exchange with
18- to 30-year-olds keeps the
mind and spirit alert and up to
date.” In addition, he continues
to sit on three boards of directors
(down from five).
In one of the longest running
and almost continuous instances
of serious male bonding, Gordy,
Dave Lougee, Dave Steward and
Phil Kinnicutt have gone on fishing
adventures together, once a year,
for the last 47 years. Last year,
he and Loug visited Bob Rich in
Florida to fish for Spring Tarpon
in the Florida Keys. However,
they didn’t go fishing but instead
had “a fabulous dinner at one of
his (Rich’s) restaurants.”
Gordy and Jill just embarked
on a trip to Italy and England in
celebration of their recent move
to a new home.
Stu Jones appeared in this
column rather recently. However,
my previous write-up of Stu was
based on an article in the Business
Review, a Tri-cities publication,
which had been forwarded to me
by the Alumni Office. This profile
is direct from the horse’s mouth,
as it were.
Stu is the father of three
children, two boys and a girl. He
also has two grandchildren. His
oldest son Chistopher lives near
Stu in the Albany area, while his
younger children—both of whom
turned down Williams—live and
work in New York.
After being a widower for
seven-and-a-half years, Stu
recently remarried, and he
enthused that he again feels
“blessed with an extraordinary
woman and wife in my life.”
Stu’s involvement with Williams
has been intense. Some years ago,
he and his first wife, Penny, established a scholarship at Williams,
and he has continued to contribute to it. As a consequence, he has
had the opportunity to speak at
the Williams Scholars’ Luncheon
annually. Stu sees Bill Haase
(his classmate at both Albany
Academy and Williams) and Bill’s
wife Marty. He also occasionally
sees Rich Goodman.
Professionally, Stu has had a
stellar career as a trial lawyer.
He writes, “I am probably a
quintessential very large fish in a
relatively small pond that is the
dysfunctional but always interesting and exciting Capital and
Upstate New York Region. I thoroughly enjoy it.” He has been a
long time fellow in the four most
exclusive trial lawyer societies in
the country. Stu “has also chaired
the boards for educational, legal
and philanthropic organizations
and has had a prominent hand in
much that occurs in this region,
legally, philanthropically and
politically.”
He loves his work and remains
steadfastly involved, and so he
is not considering retirement,
partially because he suffered
“a major depletion of his asset
base in 2008.” He adds that he
may have to work until he is 90
to fulfill all of his philanthropic
commitments.
I received a nice note from the
elusive Bill Hubbard aka “The
Bard” stating that he is “not
retired, but things are pretty slow
in the multifamily real estate
business in NYC,” where Bard
has had an extremely successful
career.
Bard, who has always been
politically active, has recently
joined the National Governing
Board of Common Cause, where
he often sees Matt Nimetz ’60. He
is also active as chairman of the
New York Foundation for Senior
Citizens (I assume this skill is
transferable to his classmates) and
a trustee of the Citizens’ Budget
Commission.
When he wrote, Bard and his
wife Daisy were about to embark
on a trip to Tahiti, where they
will reunite with their 26-yearold son Will, who, with two
friends, sailed from San Diego
on a 46-foot sloop. Daisy and
Bard will celebrate their 27th
wedding anniversary in Tahiti,
hopefully joined by their two
daughters, Alexa, 21 and Alyssa,
16. Their ultimate destination is
Sydney, where they plan to do the
Sidney Hobart Race (sailing) in
December.
CL ASS
NOTES
I noted in The New York Times
that Garrett Kirk’s daughter
Christina had been favorably
reviewed in a Broadway play,
entitled Clybourne Park, so I
e-mailed congratulations to my
former roommate. Garrett’s
other daughter, Laura, who fairly
exudes charm, is teaching English
and creative writing at the upper
school of Nightingale Bamford, a
highly regarded private school in
New York.
Garrett and Clay spend their
lives commuting between their
homes in Idaho and NYC.
Regarding Clay, Garrett reports
that their gyrotronics and pilates
teacher remarked that “Clay is
going to change the world, and
we need woman like her.” As is
his wont, the Turk stands in awe
of Clay. The ever-modest Garrett
failed to reveal much about his
own doings.
John Bell, who recently retired,
and his wife Lyn have spent some
of the last year living in Michigan
but also travelling frequently to
Auburn, Maine, to be with their
daughter Whitney and their “two
delicious grandchildren.” They
also have three grandchildren
who live in Washington with their
daughter, Elizabeth.
Bellboy contends that in retirement he is as fit as he has ever
been, which, knowing his conditioning regime, obviously says
a lot. He hopes to bike ride in a
100-mile fundraiser for cancer
research in October with his son
Chris ’98. Indeed, this summer
Chris will be competing in an
half-Ironperson event which John
will attend to cheer him on.
John’s wife Lyn, whom I always
found to be a highpoint of past
reunions, continues to battle with
MS, but I know from John that
her perseverance and resilience is
remarkable.
With great sadness, I have to
report another classmate has
recently died.
Peter Strauss, who courageously
attended our 45th reunion in June
while suffering from Parkinson’s
Disease, finally succumbed to
the disease in February. Peter is
survived by his wife Katherine,
sons Matt and Michael ’94 and a
granddaughter Anna. On behalf
of our class, I send sincere condolences to his family.
At our reunion, Peter, despite
being severely limited because
of his disease, aided by Mike,
managed to attend most of the
events over the weekend. He set
a remarkable standard of bravery
and fortitude for us all. After
Williams, Peter earned a MPA at
Columbia and a law degree from
Georgetown. He was a partner at
the law firm of Graydon, Head
& Ritchey, but his commitment
to the public weal was his lifelong
calling.
Peter’s career as a lawyer and
public servant were enviable. He
served as a city councilman and
for 12 years as vice mayor of
Cincinnati. In his obituary, the
former Cincinnati Mayor David
Mann stated that “this was a man
who became involved in politics
for all of the right reasons. He
didn’t have to do this. But he did,
because he wanted to help make
life better for people in this city. A
wonderful man.”
During his years on the city
council, Peter focused on redeveloping low-income neighborhoods, mentoring for youth,
health care for inner city children
and women and campaign finance
reform. Peter served as a Trustee
on the Boards of many Cincinnati
institutions—Radio Reading
Services, the Cincinnati Youth
Collaborative, the Mercantile
Library, the Hillside Trust, WCET
and Playhouse in The Park.
Peter’s father and his brother,
Class of 1933 and 1961 respectively, both attended Williams.
Both of Peter’s sons have continued Peter’s commitment to public
service. Mike works at The World
Bank, while Matt is engaged in
neighborhood re-development
in the poorer neighborhoods of
Cincinnati.
In his eulogy for his father, Matt
eloquently opined, “Dad never
set out to be a great man. He just
wanted to help people.” What a
treasured legacy!
It is always difficult to segue
into news of other classmates
after reporting on the death of
one of our compatriots, but I will
try to move on.
I heard from two Bay Area
stalwarts—Woody Lockhart and
Stu Brown—in response to an
e-mail inquiry. The redoubtable
Lockhart retired in 2001 after
a 36-year career as a pilot for
United Airlines. Woody commented, “It was a great career. I
enjoyed it all, especially the last
10 years flying to Europe, Asia
and South America. I take a great
deal of satisfaction in the fact that
in 36 years, I never injured a passenger or scratched an airplane.”
9/11 and its aftermath devastated
the airline industry, and Woody’s
pension was slashed. Even so, he
and his wife Barbara landed on
their feet.
Being a true Renaissance man,
Woody, who received a PhD in art
history from Yale, taught art history at Dominican University at
the same time (not literally) as he
was flying airplanes. In time, he
became chairman of the department but “retired” when his son
Ian ’02 started to grow up.
When Woody finally ended
his career with UA, he revived
both his teaching and his acting
careers. He has been in a dozen
plays at various Bay Area theaters
and even received a nomination for best actor for his role as
Norman in On Golden Pond.
Ian, Woody’s only child, is a
professional actor in LA. Barbara
and Woody are reveling in his
success, as he has the lead in a
new play opening at the Beverly
Hills Theater. Ian also completed
“acting in an independent film
and was recently seen in a TV
series on The Animal Planet
channel.”
Woody stays in touch with his
former senior year roommates
Chris Cluett and Jon Rose. Jon and
his wife Ann run a B&B on the
island of Nevis. Jon, Chris and
Woody managed to get together
for a small reunion in Nevis a
couple of years ago.
Stu Brown retired from Chevron
in 1999 after a 30-year career. In
retirement, Stu has found pleasure
in gardening, hiking and striving
to avoid over-committing himself
as he is “very jealous of my time.”
Stu and his wife Jean have two
children. Kathryn (Kit) is married
and the mother of three children.
She and her husband live in
Oakland. Kit received a PharmD
degree and worked until she married in 1999. Their son Jonathan
attended Stanford and then Boalt
Law School. Jonathan, who
works as a lawyer for Rambus
Corp., has two children as well.
As with many of us, Stu seems
totally uncertain about what his
future holds in terms of interests
and activities.
I had occasion to speak with
noted Tampa Bay ophthalmologist Stephen M. Weinstock. The
Stock and his third wife Susan
seem to be flourishing. A number
of years ago, Stock opened The
Eye Institute of West Florida. It
has been enormously successful
and it now employs more than
15 doctors in three offices in
Florida. Stock’s son Robert, who
specializes in LASIK and refractive cataract surgery, is one of the
star physicians. Stock’s other son,
Eric ’93, after attempting a career
as a screenwriter, is a psychiatrist
who practices at Stock’s institute.
While he still performs some
operations, Stock is semi-retired
n 1 9 6 3 –6 4
but continues to oversee the
operations of his extended medical practice.
After some recurring back
problems abated, Stock has
resumed playing tennis and golf
and continues his annual skiing
adventures with his three grandsons in Lake Tahoe. He also has a
home in the mountains of North
Carolina to which he flies in his
own plane. Oh that Stock!
I had a delightful lunch with
Morris Kaplan while he was in
San Francisco delivering a paper
to the Western Political Science
Association on Hannah Arendt
and the law. Morris continues
as a philosophy professor at
the Purchase campus of SUNY.
We discussed his teaching,
and he mentioned that he had
been considering retirement
but determined, after much
contemplation, that he enjoyed
his students and his colleagues
on the faculty too much to leave
academia. He continues to live in
NYC and commute to Purchase
three days/week. Morris, who
has never enjoyed sports, either
as a participant (he noted that he
barely passed the PE requirement
at Williams) or as a spectator, has
become enamored with watching
professional soccer on TV. Morris
often frequents London in the
summer, where he also writes and
teaches. He seemed full of gusto,
enjoying his life to the fullest.
The ever wandering Brooks
Goddard and I (sans wives)
enjoyed a two-and-a-half-week
William-sponsored trip to China,
which was fascinating. The last
time the two of us travelled
together was in 1980—a full 30
years ago—when we explored the
expanses of East Africa. EB has
not changed much. He remained
a notable presence throughout
our time together in China. Africa
was in tents, while China was
intense.
1964
Martin P. Wasserman
13200 Triadelphia Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
[email protected]
Classmates: It’s always nice to
have new faces updating us on
what’s going on in their lives.
Perhaps they will encourage
others to write and become more
involved in anticipation of our
50th reunion. Lynn Keller, widow
of Jay, writes that she located
some old Ephlat recordings and
wants to provide them to the
College or our class. Jay was
the business manager for this a
cappella group featuring many
from our class. She works with
their son in a company founded
by Jay 25 years ago that provides
promotional products, “logoed”
to create brand awareness, and
ships them across country. They
also design and manage custom
websites for online ordering of
merchandise. Lynn notes, “Our
offices in the old family pottery
building is only three blocks from
the house where Jay and Gary
were raised.”
Another voice from the past
reminds me of our introductory
meeting in Sage A in September
1960. Mike Bond took a year
off from Williams to save some
money and “see the world.” He
graduated in ’65 but “most of
my old friends are in the Class of
’64.” The past 50 years have been
exciting. Following graduation,
Mike spent a year hiking, climbing and investigating “unsavory
corners of the globe.” Returning
to Manhattan he worked for
Reader’s Digest, Chemical Bank
and then started his own moving
company, which was “much more
fun. I carried furniture all day,
met tons of women and made lots
of money.” He later worked for
the Sierra Club as well as Bobby
Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
While serving as a manager for
NASA’s design of the first orbiting
space station, he met and married
Peggy Lucas, an ocean engineer
and computer scientist in charge
of a NASA undersea habitat.
Together they acquired enough
real estate for Mike to retire at
38 and run for the U.S. Senate in
Montana. They traveled to Belize,
Spain and France before Mike
resumed work as an investment
banker/consultant and CEO of a
European energy company. Today
Mike hikes (a couple thousand
miles a year) and remains politically active on environmental and
other causes. Mike and Peggy
have been married for 37 years
and have three children who
have acquired the entrepreneurial
genes from their dad. Mike writes
poetry and has published four
novels. You will be enjoy his style.
Check out www.mikebondbooks.
com. Mike, here’s to your joining
your Class of 1964 for our 50th
reunion in 2014. It’s been quite a
ride since our meeting in Sage A.
Another freshman friend is John
Wester living with wife Katheryn
in San Diego several blocks from
world famous Balboa Park and
Zoo. They can walk to most of
the “important” places in the
city from their home in North
Park. One nearby activity is a
springtime Indie Music Festival
organized by Peter Wiley’s daughter, which allow the families to get
together each year. John retired
from Coleman College and enjoys
reading and writing (wonderful
poetry) and responds to “lists
provided daily by Katheryn, who
continues to work for the public
school system!” John’s four children live and work in California,
and he has six grandchildren!
John did not mention whether he
is still swimming, but I would not
bet against it.
Another one of our swimmer
classmates, Bill Bachle recently
hosted Polly and Steve Birrell
at his home in the Dordogne,
France, where the conversation
turned to the 1963 trip Steve,
Tim Baker and Bill made around
Europe to a Whitney Stoddardinspired itinerary. The group
rested at Lake Como, where
Bill now has a home overlooking the lake and the sunset over
Lugano. Bill is an accomplished
sculptor and just completed a
successful one-man show in
Rome and donated the proceeds
to the Children’s Hospital there.
Good man! Bill divides his time
consulting in Europe and the U.S.,
remains close to his four sons and
four grandchildren and continues
to create art.
We continue receiving great
news from Tom Stites, whom
the class helped elect to the
2010 We Media Game Changer
Community Choice award. Tom
received the honor for his vision
to change journalism. He is the
founder and president of the
Banyan Project, which aims to
strengthen democracy through
the Web by using techniques that
serve, engage and give voice to
“less-than-affluent” everyday citizens. Last fall Tom was selected to
become a Fellow at the Berkman
Center for Internet & Society at
Harvard University, a research
program founded in 1997 to
explore, study and develop
cyberspace. Additional information can be found at http://cyber.
law.harvard.edu. Congratulations
again, Mr. Stites! We proudly
look to you to shape the future of
our daily discourse and learning!
Another award winner from
our class is Bill Ruddiman, who
will receive the 2010 Lyell Medal
from the Geological Society of
London. “Charles Lyell was a
very prominent early geologist
who helped bring geology out of
the ‘Noah’s Flood’ era and make
it a real science.” The medal is
given to scientists who work in
CL ASS
NOTES
the ‘soft-rock’ (younger) end of
the geologic spectrum. Bill recalls
20 years ago, after a climaterelated conference in Edinburg,
he and several scientists visited
the Lyell family estate. “After a
lunch provided by Lady Lyell,
we roamed in Charles Lyell’s
library. Browsing through the
books, I found myself holding a
first-edition copy of An Essay on
the Principle of Population by
Thomas Malthus, with handwritten marginal notes made by
Charles Darwin. Both Malthus
and Lyell were significant influences on Darwin’s Origin of
Species. Just thinking about that
experience raises the hairs on my
arms in salute of genius.” Wow!
Many of our class continue to
work but many have retired, and
some continue to question which
of the two choices is right for
them. Bob Furey faces this existential dilemma by looking to Freud
who, upon being asked about the
meaning of life answered, “Love
and work.” Bob opines, “While
Freud’s story might be apocryphal, the truth lies within; what
else matters in this world? As we
face the prospects of retiring, we
face the loss of half of what kept
our lives centered. Work gave me
psychic energy; if I stop working,
what will become a new source
of that energy?” Bob reviews the
alternatives, including family,
golf, travel and hobbies, but
cannot yet “foresee the balance
that would bring satisfaction.
My lack of foresight is either
fear of change or maybe my own
inability to creatively imagine. But
it is equally possible that my job is
so central to who I am that future
satisfaction without work truly
would be impaired. I guess I will
never know until I retire.”
But, in contrast, Tom Jackson
retired over 10 years ago and
claims, “I can honestly say it
has been the best decade of my
life. I hope all my classmates are
enjoying this chapter of their
lives.” Tom manages a small
horse farm and enjoys horse trips
abroad. He was on a safari in
Kenya two years ago “where we
were charged by a bull elephant
and also swam the Mara River
with hippos 50 feet away.” Last
year they rode in the high-altitude
Oyamel fir forests in central
Mexico “where the Monarch
butterflies hibernate at elevations
over 10,000 feet.” This fall they
head to Turkey to ride in the
Cappadochia region. When not
on horseback the Jacksons retreat
to the Oregon coast for the summer and recommend the Ashland
Shakespeare Festival. Reading
and playing bridge fill up the
rest of their time. How does that
lifestyle sound, Mr. Furey?
Bill Wishard writes that he has
become a grandfather for the
third time. His daughters Alison,
a professor in early childhood
development/education for
multicultural children at UC San
Diego, and Keri, a well-respected
wedding planner in Austin, are
doing well. Bill has “unretired”
for a short-term assignment
with the Census Bureau. He still
remains active by volunteering with the Daniel Freeman
Memorial Rehabilitation Hospital
and participating in weekly
Rotary breakfasts at Pepperdine
University. Ten years ago Bill created Pepperdine’s Psi U Chapter,
which annually receives the
national award for highest GPA
and focuses on community service
projects rather than “alcohol and
partying.” For these accomplishments Bill has been honored as
Pepperdine’s “Advisor of the
Year!” Bill also is active on the
Executive Committee of the local
LA Williams Alumni Association.
News from the college front is
provided by Steve Birrell, who
joined fellow Williamstowners
Bill Frado and Dave McPherson
and out-of-towners Bill Chapman
and Gay Mayer for the annual
Scholarship Luncheon honoring donors, including the ’64
Memorial Scholarship. “This
event was one of the very first
of Adam Falk’s presidency, and
everyone present was impressed
by the remarks of Williams’ 17th
president.” We have been around
for seven presidents, beginning
with James Phinney Baxter ’14,
who served from 1937 to 1961.
Returning to Williams for a
very special activity Gary Ratner
writes that he and Rick Gold
attended “The Bob Gaudino
Commemorative Weekend” in
April. Professor Gaudino was
a giant in the political science
department and died all too
young in his 40’s. He influenced
many students, which resulted
in life changes for them. The
weekend was highlighted by the
viewing of a one-hour documentary on his life developed by one
of his former students. Gary also
participated in a mini-course
“Exploring Creativity,” which
resulted in the development
of a storyline that was a most
moving experience. More than
100 students attended along with
many wives. Kurt Tauber, who
also taught us, opened the weekend with a tribute to his friend.
Although I did not study with Mr.
Gaudino, I know of the profound
impact he had on his students. He
is the epitome of why we worked
so hard to get into Williams and
why we strived so hard to do well
there.
Continuing to work as a joint
replacement surgeon in Boston,
Dick Scott is a professor in the
surgery department at Harvard
and enjoys teaching new residents. He has “slowed down a bit
operating only on Tuesday and
Wednesday and seeing patients
on Thursday, which affords me
four-day weekends!” Perhaps we
can get Bob Furey to attend medical school, train under you and
begin his retirement gently with
a three-day work week! How
does that sound, Bob? You might
even get to return to Williams
to gain the necessary science
credits! On a more serious tone,
Dick writes that he and Mary
have just celebrated their 47th
wedding anniversary “making us
the longest-married couple in the
Class of 64!” Mary is a retired
pediatrician and remains active
with a variety of volunteer and
recreational activities. Their children have followed them in the
medical field, with sons Jordan
an allergist/immunologist and
Andrew a pediatric ENT surgeon.
Their daughters-in-law include a
family practice physician and an
attorney. Quite a showing for 47
years of togetherness!
Jay Freedman attended his 50th
high school reunion and suggests
we share these experiences with
each other. It will provide a nice
backdrop for our upcoming
Williams festivities in four more
years. Jay writes, “If you think
it is hard to remember all your
Williams classmates, I had 450
high school classmates, and,
believe me, some of them are
totally unrecognizable.” And they
all look so OLD, right Jay? I suggest that as you each attend your
reunions, take notes of the most
“special memory” evoked and
share these “moments” through
this report. Jay also notes that his
daughter Courteney ’90, director
of marketing for HBO, will be
returning to the DC area to join
her husband, who works at the
Defense Department. Jay will
play with the grandchildren while
Courteney shuttles back and forth
to NYC.
Also traveling is Henry “Skip”
Gwiazda, who recently spent a
week on the Sea of Cortez and
Baja, Mexico. There he saw five
species of whale, observed up to
nine dolphins surfing beside the
n 1 9 6 4 –6 5
ship, snorkeled with sea lions.
The latter would “come right up
to you, within inches, so close
that I extended one finger and
petted one animal as he swam
by. He returned and tugged my
sleeve for more attention. It was
a real and, for me, unique form
of communication between two
mammals.”
Skip also attended a “mini-’64
get together” at the Maryland
Eastern Shore home of Terry Finn
and Joyce Purcell. The weather
cooperated, the turnout was
good, and Peter Buttenheim, Bud
Elliott, Dennis Helms, Paul Riecks,
Craig Schelter and Gay Mayer and
wives shared a wonderful weekend. “Conversation was lively
and truly eclectic as you might
expect from a group of Williams
folks,” writes Gay who hopes this
can be repeated in other parts of
the country.
Refusing to fully retire, Paul
Crissey began a second career
teaching acting in California.
He is in his sixth year as a high
school drama teacher in Concord
and is directing Guys and Dolls.
Unfortunately the budget situation is such that the schools have
cut his drama classes even though
“66 kids signed up for drama
next year.” Paul is upset that this
current production might be his
last one and advises Williams
alumni and students to “not
move to California in the near
future! The weather isn’t what it
used to be, the state is broke, an
actor is governor, the legislature is
dysfunctional and there is a multibillion dollar debt.” Paul was to
return to upstate New York this
summer for his 50th high school
reunion and agrees with Jay and
will inform us of the event. Paul’s
son is a rocket scientist, his wife
is a wonder, and he is “working
on wisdom and kindness expansion.” Good luck; you will need
it to cope with the challenges in
California!
Returning to Williamstown
this June, Biff Steel will repeat
last year’s three-generation Steel
family procession in the alumni
parade, joining daughter Melissa
’95, father William W. ’37 and son
Anim ’94. The family will also
take time to celebrate his parents’
70th wedding anniversary. How
wonderful, Biff, to be with your
parents for such a milestone. So
many of us have lost either one or
both of our parents, so treasure
this moment with them both!
Our next comment was
ghostwritten by a friend for Bob
Summersgill, which provides an
insight into how we might be
perceived by others: “I have aged
reasonably well considering I have
lost some hair, have a rounded
tummy and use medication to
keep a number of bodily functions
going. I spend much time striving
to be fit, fighting the battle, and
hoping that the next decade won’t
be my last. For inspiration I keep
a blown up copy of my Class of
’64 photo above my bed and live
on memories from years past. The
photo motivates me to attend the
gym daily. It’s a lot of work to
be who I once was! On the other
hand I am still married to the
same Smithie, have never been
arrested, have two great sons, two
fabulous daughters-in-law, and
three perfect grandchildren who
all look exactly as I once did! In
my spare time I serve on various
boards raising funds for charities
and the arts and am content with
my life.” We all should have such
good friends who write with such
wit and love in our behalf.
Let me conclude by thanking
Bob Mitchell ’66 for writing me
to catch up on years gone by.
Bob was a freshman in Williams
A when I was a junior advisor.
He played soccer, squash and
tennis and later managed to
earn a PhD in French literature.
After multiple careers he has
settled down and combines his
knowledge of language, history
and people by writing extraordinary sports novels. I have enjoyed
his books Once Upon a Fastball
and Match Made in Heaven
and recommend them highly for
interesting, nostalgic and fun
reads. Check out Bob’s website
www.bobmitchellbooks.com or,
to read more about my friend and
chuckle at his “life comments,”
at http://noveljourney.blogspot.
com/2006/06/author-interviewbob-mitchell.html. I am sure you
will enjoy Bob’s musings on his
chosen profession.
That’s it for now. Peace and
health, Marty.
1965
Tom Burnett
175 Riverside Drive, #2H
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
Secretary Burnett reports: Re:
45th reunion.
Kudos to Jack Foley and his
team for an extraordinary
Reunion Weekend. Ably assisted
by Jim Gage, Dusty Griffin, Ron
Kidd, Phil McKnight, Joe Small,
John Storey, Dave Wilson and Jim
Worrall, Jack put together a full
agenda and then delivered on
each and every promise. Some
77 classmates out of a roll of 243
returned, a record number for a
45th reunion (the raw number
will eventually be eclipsed by
future classes from 1970 when
the College expanded for coeducation). We remain optimistic that the 50th reunion will
generate attendance in the range
of 55 percent to 60 percent, and
we will all work hard to remind
classmates how much fun we
experienced at the 45th.
In preparation for the next
milestone event some five years
away, the class elected the following slate of class officers: President
Dusty Griffin; Vice President John
Palmer; Treasurer Ron McGlynn;
Secretary Tom Burnett (41 years
and counting); Agent Jim Worrall;
Planned Giving Phil McKnight;
Reunion Fund Chair Dave
Coolidge.
On behalf of the class, I want
to note a special word of thanks
to Dave Coolidge for his efforts as
class president in the years leading up to the 45th reunion. The
events began on Thursday with
golf and tennis arranged by Dave
Wilson and several others. Hikes
on Thursday and Friday were led
by Dusty and Jim Worrall, respectively. The College also sponsored
faculty lectures and seminars for
early arrivals. Dinner that night
was held at the home of Martha
and Jim Storey, whose continual
generosity is always presented
with grace and warmth. We
needed a big tent to ward off the
elements, but it was a great way
to get the weekend going. Several
former faculty members and two
former presidents (Chandler and
Oakley) also attended. I spoke
with my freshman philosophy
professor Dan O’Connor, who
reminded me that I was in the
first College class he taught and
that he was more nervous than
any student. Other faculty guests
included Fred Rudolph ’42 and
Irwin Shainman. Our dean of
freshman, John Hyde ’52, was also
there with many lively stories of
our early years. Hank Flynt Jr. ’44,
who coached our freshman soccer
team, brought along a photo
album containing group shots of
the freshman team and one from
our year (fall of 1961) was priceless. It took us several minutes to
identify Dave Wilson, Art Wheelock
and Ted Preston, who collectively
looked all of 10 years old! The
evening included welcoming
remarks from Dave Coolidge and
a brief talk by President Adam
Falk summarizing his excitement about his future role at the
CL ASS
NOTES
College.
Friday held three special events.
Art Wheelock gave a presentation on “The Untold Stories
behind the Acquisition of the
Rembrandts, Vermeers and the
other Treasures in the Collection”
at the National Gallery of Art in
Washington. As a senior curator
at the National Gallery of Art,
Arthur is well positioned to give
a history of how the collections
were assembled. He described
the role of the Mellon, Kress and
Widener families in purchasing
and then donating the “treasures” that formed the bulk
of the National Gallery’s early
holdings. Immediately following
the Wheelock presentation, Dave
Coolidge gave a talk on his experiences as a College trustee and his
take on the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Finally,
President Adam Falk gave a talk
with extensive Q and A on his
background and his reasons for
finding the position so stimulating and rewarding. Dinner Friday
night was held in the Center Stage
at the ’62 Center for Theatre and
Dance. Chairman Foley did us
proud, with a very special evening
in a unique space with quiet jazz
to accompany the meal, followed
by dance music. The dancing
was enhanced by the invasion of
several members of the Class of
2005, who admitted it was ’60’s
and ’70’s music but seemed to fit
right in with no complaints.
On Saturday, the Alumni
Parade began at 9:30 at Chapin
and wound past Morgan on the
way to the gym for the Society
of Alumni Meeting. The Class of
1960 set a high bar for us as the
50th class, announcing a gift to
the College of $45 million (that
number includes annual giving for
several years, and we have already
a small head start at about $5
million). Following the meeting,
lunch was served on the hockey
rink due to the dreary weather. At
that time, Martha Storey hosted a
luncheon at the Storey home for
spouses/partners of classmates.
In the afternoon, Coach Pete
Richtmyer organized a lacrosse
scrimmage for the combatants
foolish enough to brave the elements. The last formal event was
a panel discussion on “Facing up
to America’s Long-Term Financial
Challenge” led by Dick Tresch. The
Panel included John Palmer, Alex
Pollock and Dr. Bob Mayer, with
each spokesman lending his experience and suggestions in his individual discussion of the financial
and healthcare issues facing the
country. Dinner Saturday night
was held at the Faculty Club after
cocktails there where everyone
was running from group to group
trying to catch up with friends
and long-lost acquaintances.
One of the advantages of having so many classmates living
in Williamstown is the opportunity for hosting at reunion
weekends. Emily and John Jay
hosted Christine and Rod Patton
and Anne (Jensen) and Nick
Holmes. Kathy and Phil McKnight
welcomed David Tunick, Lynn and
Jim Gage, and John Rawls. Connie
and Rob McGlynn stayed with
the Storeys and David Murphy
bunked at Alice and Dave Wilson’s
home. Of course, Priscilla and
Jim Worrall were the innkeepers deluxe with Diane and Ron
Kidd, Jean and Sammis White,
Eleanor and Bruce McLear, and
Eleanor’s brother, our own Carl
‘Sandy’ Drake. In addition, Jim
had arranged with his neighbors,
the Lee family, to house several
classmates, including Perry and
Art Wheelock, Lorinda and Tim
Reichert, Ted Preston, and Saranne
Murray/Jack Foley. Special thanks
go to all the hosts for their efforts
to make everyone feel welcome
and looked after. One example
of the detailed planning by the
reunion committee was related to
me by Emily Jay. She mentioned
that she suffers from several food
allergies (I quote with permission)
and that Phil McKnight provided
her with a single-spaced summary
sheet identifying each ingredient
at every meal from Thursday
night through brunch on Sunday.
Well done, team.
The final event was a brunch on
Sunday at Agard House, which
gave us a chance to catch up and
share photos with classmates we
may have missed throughout the
weekend. Space and time constraints prevent my commenting
on all 77 returnees, so I must limit
my comments to personal experience, no malice aforethought
to classmates not specifically
mentioned. I did learn while chatting with Wes Boyd that he shares
a birthday with Andy Sawyer and
Jim Worrall. (My spouse Harriet
also claims May 28—maybe I can
rely on Messrs Boyd, Sawyer and
Worrall to remind me in time next
year for Hallmark duty.)
Reconnecting with Dan
O’Flaherty was particularly
enjoyable for me. Dan is VP
of the National Foreign Trade
Council in DC, where he has
been affiliated since 1987. He is
also a member of the Council on
Foreign Relations and the USTR
Trade Advisory Committee on
Africa. He has written extensively
on foreign economic policy for
journals Foreign Affairs and The
Washington Quarterly and travels
widely to lecture and present on
topics related to global trade.
I particularly enjoyed sharing
dinner with Sandy Drake, a retired
banker and mortgage broker who
lives in Wausau, Wis. He is very
close with his two nephews, the
children of Eleanor and Bruce
McLear. Bruce is an architect in
Rochester, N.Y.
In the hockey rink, I shared a
lunch table with Martha and Jim
Gray, who live in Deerfield, Ill.
Jim commutes to his law firm in
Chicago. They enjoy seeing their
three children and grandchildren who live nearby. Jim even
consented to ditch his Cubs cap
to don a Reunion/Williams lid for
the Weekend.
Mortgage banker/broker Skip
Cline has managed to stay busy
even with the decline in the
housing starts nationally. He and
Tricia live in South Carolina,
near Charlotte, N.C., where
Skip works at MainStreet Home
Loans. Between them, they have
seven children and 11 grandchildren, so they do a good deal
of traveling to stay close to the
family.
David Stern operates his investment company, D.B. Stern & Co,
in Portland, Ore. He and Nancy
have two sons, Newton, 20, and
Aaron, 17, in college and high
school, respectively. It was good
to catch up with David, as we
had not seen each other for many
years.
Bob Oehler and his wife Dr.
Helene Lin attended the weekend, and I enjoyed catching up
with Bob. With some 33 years
of banking experience, Bob is
now the president and CEO of
Pacific Alliance Bank in the LA
area, after some 25 years as an
executive with Citibank in various
Asian locations. His two children,
Jeffrey and Karla, live in and
around the Lake Placid area.
Jane and Jim Orenberg have
moved into an apartment in Palo
Alto, Calif., after selling their
home in Menlo Park. They plan
on spending more of their time
at their weekend home in Sea
Ranch, now that Jim has retired
as professor and chairman of the
chemistry/biochemistry department at San Francisco State
University. I was unable to get an
update on the activities of their
two sons, Josh, 26, and Jacob, 24.
I look forward to seeing Jim on
my next trip to Palo Alto when
I visit my mom, who lives in the
n 1 9 6 5 –6 6
Hyatt Classic Residence there.
It was fun to chat with transplanted New Yorker Steven Wolff,
one of our most urban classmates, now that he has moved
to Carbondale, Colo., to better
participate in outdoor activities.
He has retired and hopes to see
classmates visit him when they
want to experience the Western
Rockies. Patsy and Jack Elgin also
live in Carbondale but are looking
to move to Florida for warmer
weather once Jack fully retires
from his role as vice chairman
and CEO of Wyoming Refining
Company in Denver.
Fred Hendler and I swapped
e-mail addresses, so I hope to
have more detailed information
for a later column on his career
and family. Fred is professor of
medicine at the James Graham
Brown Cancer Center in
Louisville. Speaking of doctors,
it was great to see Curt Mills after
many years. Curt is practicing
internal medicine in Gloversville,
N.Y.
Patti and Dave Byrne attended
the weekend from Haverhill,
Mass., north of Boston. Dave
continues his work as a partner
in the family practice/internal
medicine group Whittier Medical
Associates.
Dr. Jim Forbes has officially
retired from his orthopedic
surgery practice in Concord, N.H.
He maintains an active consulting practice through his Quality
Orthopaedic Care PC in Concord.
He and Alison travel extensively,
and Alison’s photographs can be
seen in a magazine (whose exact
title escapes me) dedicated to
country walking tours. They have
three children, Kristin ’92, 40,
Darcy, 38, and Greg ’97, 35. With
seven grandchildren, the Forbes
family has a lot to celebrate, especially when they can all gather at
special holidays.
Peter Stevens and his wife Linn
Bower live in Shelburne, Mass.,
where Peter operates the Peter W.
Stevens Educational Consulting
Company. He works with families
to help them find their way
through the search for the appropriate boarding school, college or
special needs school.
Thanks to Jim Hawley, who
attended with his wife Jane,
I received a letter from Steve
O’Brien. Steve lives in Manley
Hot Springs, Alaska, and is active
in the salmon fishing industry.
He could not attend the reunion
because of the conflict with the
fishing season. Steve keeps up
with Shaun (Mike) Bennett, and
they were scheduled to take a trip
to India earlier this year.
I also received an informative
letter from Henry Lum, who was
not able to attend the reunion.
He and Sally live on the Cape
in Truro, Mass. They have five
children, Zach ’91, Kaimi ’94,
Silas ’97, Rosy (Kenyon ’01) and
Hannah ’07. Probably a record
and what a way to give back to
the College! Henry still consults
from his home by telecommuting in the field of supply chain
management, and Sally is First
Reader in her church, almost a
full time job.
Continuing on with the
Weekend, I have only brief
updates from classmates with
whom I was not able to speak in
detail. Peter Hutcheon continues
to practice law in Bridgewater,
N.J. Cornelia and Ken Watson
have both retired and are looking forward to traveling to see
friends and family from their
Maryland home. Alice and Joe
Small have both retired from their
jobs in New Jersey and hope to
spend more time at their home
in Williamstown. Chi Chi and
Len Brumberg live in Manhattan,
where Len is active in a real-estate
consulting company. They have
two children and two grandchildren in nearby Irvington, N.Y.
Brenda and John Trainor are
awaiting their assignment this fall
to a location in the Peace Corps.
Their daughter Melissa earned
her MSW degree this year, and
she will start work in Pittsburgh
in the fall. John showed me a
couple photographs taken of him
and me when we were on stage
senior year in the play Ross, when
I had hair and “abs” (I immediately took them to Spring Street
to have scans made). Anne and
Nick Holmes have both cut back
from their full-time work. Anne is
active three days a week to enable
her to spend time with grandchild
Cameron Jensen Holmes, and
Nick is available to adjudicate
special cases as part of a reduced
role at the Common Pleas
Court system in Ross County,
Chillicothe, Ohio.
Ruth and Norm Spack attended
the weekend, and Norm made
several thoughtful comments
at the panel discussion led by
Dick Tresch on Saturday. Norm
has been an endocrinologist at
Boston’s Children’s Hospital since
1971. His work in founding the
Gender Management Service
Clinic has brought him and
the clinic patients from around
the world. Fellow doctor Bill
Roberts and his wife Lorna also
attended the reunion. Bill is an
ophthalmologist in Boulder,
Colo., where he specializes in
cataract surgery and treatment for
glaucoma. He has been successful
as a photographer working with
Steamboat Magazine and exhibiting his work in local galleries.
For Harriet and me, the weekend concluded with an afternoon
lunch at the country home Jane
and Bob Mayer in Richmond,
Mass., near West Stockbridge.
We had reconnected through our
daughters who work in NYC at
MoMA together. Both of their
girls, Rachel and Erica, graduated from Williams and each has
two children. Rachel’s eldest boy
attends Friend’s Seminary in the
City, where Harriet is the director
of admissions. The Mayer home
is lovely and the afternoon was
a perfect way to wind down and
reflect on the reunion activities.
1966
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Palmer Q. Bessey
1320 York Ave., #32H
New York, NY 10021
John Gould
19 Nahant Place
Lynn, MA 01902
[email protected]
After the extensive notes the
last time, you might have thought
that there would be little more to
report now. Happily and sadly
that is not the case. The sad news,
of course, was the passing of
George Piendak, on 8 March, just
after the last edition of the notes
was sent to press. George was a
poli sci major at Williams and
president of Berkshire House. He
earned a master’s degree in comparative politics at the University
of Sussex in England and went
on to begin a PhD program at
the University of Pittsburgh. In
1970 he joined the Baltimore
city government as a fiscal policy
analyst. He was reputed to be
great with numbers and could
make them understandable. He
was named director of budget
and management research for the
City of Baltimore in 1977. While
working the Downtown City
Fair in the early ’70s he met his
future bride, Zoe Daidakis, who
predeceased him a few years ago.
Their daughter Emily ’99 married
Chris Vainieri ’97. They now have
a daughter, Iris Zoe Vainieri
(Class of 2030 or thereabouts).
Although some think that Zoe’s
CL ASS
NOTES
untimely death created a real sadness in George that he never got
over, that is not what we remember. George Helmer said it well: “I
remember him vividly as one of
those people who could brighten
a room just by being in it—such
a big smile with a twinkle behind
those horned rim glasses.”
George worked for the class
and the alumni fund as regional
and associate class agent. For
those who might wish to make
a donation to Williams to
remember George, there are two
options: one to the Alumni Fund
in memory of George and the
other to the George Piendak 1966
Memorial Fund. More details
are available from the College or
from Bill Bowden.
Willard Spiegelman sent word
of the death of Larry Graver,
professor of English, at 78. He
reportedly had a rare neurologic
disorder. Despite a marked physical decline, he remained lucid to
the end.
Bob Krefting reported on the
Jeffrey O. Jones Fellowship presentation in May. He represented the
selection committee (Dave Tobis,
Peter Keonig, Peter Richardson,
Jonathan Vipond ’67 and Sayala
Harris ’97) and was joined by Bill
Bowden, Steve Atlas and David
Shipley ’85, editor of the Op-Ed
page of The New York Times.
The winner was Katie Palmer
’10, a chemistry major pursuing
a career in science journalism.
All the proposals submitted were
outstanding, and the committee
advises that they and the rest of
us would have a hard time getting
in to Williams these days. While
in Williamstown, Rob and Sally
visited Dottie and Fred Rudolph
’42, who turned 90 in June.
A plea on Mother’s Day yielded
the following items and a few
memorable portraits of mothers
we have known.
Michael Katz wrote from Brazil,
where he was spending the spring
semester learning how to surf
and do the samba. He was also
a Fulbright lecturer and was
teaching a course in comp. lit and
another on literary translation to
graduate students. He is planning
to retire early from Middlebury as
of midnight Dec. 31, 2010.
Jeffrey Rosen remains gainfully
employed in Houston, where he
runs an active molecular biology
research lab at Baylor College
of Medicine. Despite a cervical
laminectomy, he is still able to
play tennis with the old guys,
and he went skiing in Taos for
his 65th birthday. On a recent
trip to Jordan for a research
conference, he did the requisite
ride on a camel and swam in the
Dead Sea. He also harbored the
hope that science and medicine
could bridge the political chasm,
but even though he could see
the West Bank and the lights of
Jerusalem across the Dead Sea, no
Israeli scientists had been invited
to speak.
Bill Bowden and Margo took
a break from shuttling between
New York and Williamstown and
from his duties for the alumni
fund to visit Toby Weiss and Teri
in St. Croix. After being greeted
appropriately with Toby and Teri
wearing Class of ’66 reunion jackets, they had a typically decadent
several days, dining on fresh coconuts, oranges and mangoes grown
on the property and swimming
every day to the accompaniment
of opera masterpieces.
Co-secretary John Gould traveled to Santiago, Chile, to visit
his son Sam, who was spending
the spring semester from Stanford
there studying Spanish and
marine biology. John’s retirement
from Andover is final now that
he is no longer eligible to use his
andover.edu address.
Connecticut is more forgiving,
it seems. Con O’Leary, who goes
by the title, “Emeritus,” retired as
VP of Central Connecticut State
University, but he was able to
keep his ccsu.edu address. He still
teaches con-law there, and he has
also taught at UConn Law school
for 20 years. He keeps in touch
with Jeff Jones, who has done
some legal work for the College,
and Dick Dubow, whose daughter
teaches at Williams. Con also
reported that Tom Gunn is doing
well in Florida and planning more
interesting travels for the summer.
Jim Meir sent a progress report
on his preparation to swim the
English Channel this summer.
In April, he swam the 24-mile
Tampa Bay Marathon. He covered about 20 miles in 12 hours
before the currents turned and
slowed him down. He was the
solo entrant in his age group and
finished fifth overall. Look for
further news in the fall notes.
David Kollender is still banging
around Manhattan and doing
investigations when he gets
an assignment. In between he
works on his summer house in
Montauk, where he is replacing
the deck, painting the exterior
and installing solar electric panels.
His son Adam ’05 has moved
into investment banking with
JP Morgan, and his daughter
Kristen, Cornell ’07, has managed
to find work in an Off Broadway
theater in LA.
Rob Cunningham left gainful
employment four years ago.
Although he is still trying to
“perfect” his retirement, he
reports some progress living
the “carpe diem” life. His wife
Rigney planned to retire in July,
and they are trying to sell their
Wellesley, Mass., home of 28
years. They plan to spend the
summer and fall in their home in
Orleans on Cape Cod and hope
to avoid buying another home in
Boston by heading south for the
winter. Even retirement can have
its adventures.
Roger Kubarych, our
“Economics Popularizer,” wrote
to say he was hoping to figure the
world out a little in the next year.
Bob Snibbe reported on a busy
spring. He married off his son
and daughter within a two-month
period. Both were minimalist civil
ceremonies. He was struck by
the cultural change in the current
generation, where the role of the
parents has been reduced to only
a very few decisions about the
staging of the event. Not to mention writing the checks.
Peter Hoyt highly recommended
retirement as a career choice.
“Free of corporate politics, free
to sleep late, free to do nothing
important, or something very
important, it is a wonderful life.”
He and Doug visited Paris in May
and will visit Peter’s children and
grandchildren this summer. He
continues to produce “abstract
textile art,” mostly big pieces, in
Cincinnati, which he finds is a
good place to continue to make
some contribution to public life
and to have a good time doing
it. He even runs into Ernie Eynon
at the monthly meetings of
Cincinnatus. Peter also recommends Willard Spiegelman’s book
Seven Pleasures for the moments
of remembrance and happiness it
gave him.
David Harrison now works full
time at UC Davis. He sees no
way to the promised land until
his house sells. Who knows when
that will be with the California
economy. He says he has good
health and good friends, most of
whom are Williams grads.
Class President Wink Willett
reported on the 3rd Annual
Boston Class of ’66 Dinner,
hosted by Rob Bradley and Budge
Upton, Steve O’Brien and Dan
Coquillette. Other classmates who
made it were Bill Ewen, Al Finke,
Jeff Jones, Dick Pingree, and Marty
Shulkin. Wink says, “There were
lots of laughs, and it was wonderful to see so many classmates and
n 1 9 6 6 –6 7
From left, Jefferson Lin ’08, Michael Roizen ’67 and Dan MocciaField ’06 gathered at a fundraiser in NYC in April to benefit HealthCorps,
a national health education program to combat childhood obesity.
hear about what they’re doing
and what’s important in their
lives. What was striking was that
each person, in different ways,
was giving of themselves to help
others—such as providing medical care for people with no health
insurance; working with homeless
people; acting as general counsel
for Williams College; founding a
preparatory school accessible to
students from all neighborhoods,
ethnicities and socioeconomic
backgrounds; working with
NFP organizations in the arts;
working with kids with special
needs; teaching, coaching and
mentoring; and actively engaging
with grandkids. It really speaks
well of our Williams’ education.
It was also interesting in that
nearly everyone was still actively
working in the same careers they
have been involved with for many
years.”
Wink also wanted us to remind
you of our 45th class reunion
next June. A preliminary planning
meeting of a few members of the
class and the alumni office was
held in April. Please SAVE THE
DATE—JUNE 9‑12, 2011. This
will be a great opportunity to see
friends and visit with classmates
you may not have known well
or not known at all while at
Williams—and a great excuse for
those of you who haven’t been
back in a while. John Schelling
and Jack Vroom will serve as
reunion co-chairs. They are well
on the way to making this a really
great weekend.
And this just in, from Sean
Denniston ’87, the report of an
historic presentation by Dan
Coquillette, to the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
Dan is University Professor and
former Dean at Boston College
Law School, and he has had a
long interest in American Legal
History. He presented his new
compilation of Quincy’s Reports
(1761-72). These are the oldest
existing law reports in North
America. They were written by
Josiah Quincy Jr, John Adams’
cousin by marriage, and record
the cases of continental America’s
oldest court, the superior Court
of Judicature of the Province of
Massachusetts, in continuous
existence since 1692. They covered such topics as trial by jury,
statutory construction, slavery,
women’s rights, consumer protection and piracy.
The story behind the story
is also of interest. Dan knew
Sean’s parents, and he inspired
Sean both to go to Williams and
to pursue a career in the law.
The traditions continue. Have
a wonderful summer. Send us a
post-card.
1967
Kenneth A. Willcox
178 Westwood Lane
Wayzata, MN 55391
[email protected]
In the distinguished leadoff
position for this issue is a note
from long absent (from these
pages) Spencer Hays. In a probable moment of guilt at not having written to this column in ages,
he sent the message that he and
his wife have moved their primary
residence to Sanibel, Fla. They
will continue to spend winters
skiing at their home in Snowmass,
Colo. Carol and Bob Olson have
a house just down the road from
them there. Spencer says they will
spend summers at their home
on Fire Island, off Long Island.
After many years in NYC, they
are selling their apartment there.
They haven’t used it much since
Spencer retired in 2006. He
remains active in business and as
president of their Fire Island community. Daughter number one is
expecting her first child (the Hays’
first grandchild) soon. Daughter
number two is getting married a
year from now. So life is good!
Chuck Glassmire gave each of
his four kids a trip when they
graduated from high school. In
honor of his last child’s (Jessie
Jean) graduation this year the
two hiked the 46-km Incan trail
through the Andes to Machu
Picchu.
Hank Grass says that all is well
in his world. He continues to
work full time in his psychiatric
practice. He also is still pursuing
his athletic interests in spite of
occasional aches and pains.
Lenny Goldberg was recently
voted “Most Effective Liberal
Crusader” by the California state
legislature and staff in a recent
survey. His response: “Then how
come the state is in such a mess?”
He was also named number 45
on an arbitrary list of the state’s
top 100 power players by the
publication Capitol Weekly. He
concludes the recognition is a
matter of old age and persistence.
He has been active in public interest lobbying for over 20 years.
His main goal remains overturning Proposition 13, though it still
eludes him. His most fun comes
from visiting his granddaughter,
daughter and stepson in Portland,
Ore., or his daughter and sonin-law in Brooklyn. He has eight
grandchildren. He says that he
and Katy are healthy and happy
and have no plans to retire. He
often sees Brian Murphy, who is
enjoying his college presidency.
Mark Piechota says that his past
five years as head of The Crefeld
School in Philadelphia has been a
wonderful experience. He has had
the added pleasure of reconnecting with Craig Currie, whom he
hadn’t seen in 43 years. It turns
out that Craig lives just a short
distance away, and they have
mutual friends. Craig has agreed
to join Mark’s board of directors.
The good news from Steve
Mark is that he remains cancer
free. He has recently touched
base with Dave Hanni, Wally Pugh,
Jacques Vroom and Chris Noell ’66
via Facebook and You Tube. He
hadn’t communicated with any
CL ASS
NOTES
of them since graduation. He had
also connected with John Gladney
not long before he died.
While visiting his daughters and
grandchildren, Chris White had
a great visit with Jaime Willett in
San Francisco this past spring.
Jaime’s oldest son and Chris’s
oldest grandson run in the same
track meets. Chris’s daughter’s
novel Operation Redwood won
a Green Book Award. See www.
operationredwood.com for
further details. Chris is still practicing law for Uncle Sam at the
Federal Trade Commission. He
works closely with Lisa Harrison
’93. He plans to attend our 45th
in a couple of years. He marvels
“that will make an unbroken
string of two, count ’em, reunions
in a row.” He wonders if there
might be a prize for that!?
Susan and Allan Stern were
also in San Francisco early this
year, and they had dinner with
Brian Murphy and Rick Ackerly
and spouses. They then traveled
to Denver, where they dined
with Sue and Larry Ricketts in the
wonderful old Oxford Hotel. Last
April Allan attended the every
10-year Gaudino symposium,
which is held in honor of poli sci
professor Bob Gaudino. He says
it was a fascinating day of classroom experiences with current
Williams professors and current
“Gaudino Fellows.”
Tom Ehrich encourages us to
visit his company’s new website
www.morningwalkmedia.com.
For the first time he has all of his
enterprises under one roof. He
was looking forward to presiding
at his son’s June wedding. The
rehearsal dinner was to be held at
the Williams Club in NYC.
Paul Lipof sent in his message
from England, where he was
visiting his son and his family in
Cambridge. Paul was returning
from a mission to Israel for the
charity of which he is chairman,
American Friends of Libi (AFL).
The charity raises money to help
disadvantaged youth through
educational programs administered by the Israel Defense Forces.
They also provide medical care
and equipment for IDF. Gregg
Meister, a supporter of the charity, was there with his daughter
assisting with video and photo
documentation of the trip. After
his visit Paul was heading back
to Connecticut, where a new
construction job was waiting for
him.
Gregg Meister echoed Paul’s
comments, above, at how moving
the trip to Israel and touring the
military bases was. He says, “One
comes away with a deeper appreciation of the need for constant
vigilance.” Changing gears, he
added that several classmates had
expressed interest in his trip to
Haiti shortly after the earthquake.
He has posted his video at www.
YouTube.com/interlinkmedia.
Scanlon Gail reports that
Sara is working on a new film,
Battleship. Yes, it’s based on the
board game with the same name.
That will take them to Baton
Rouge and Hawaii. They will be
in Hawaii first, then Baton Rouge
from midsummer through the
holidays.
Your secretary and Winnie
enjoyed a wonderful weekend
visit in Minneapolis last March
from Neil O’Donnell and his
wife Chris Motley. Chris, who
retired from her legal profession
in San Mateo a few years ago,
has become an artist working in
fiber art. Some of her works were
being featured in a Metaphoric
Fiber Show at the Joan Mondale
Gallery in Minneapolis. Neil
is extremely busy with his law
practice and is juggling some very
high profile cases these days.
Meanwhile your secretary
recently joined some other local
Ephs to welcome Earl Potter ’68
for a casual coffee. Earl is the
current president of St. Cloud
(Minnesota) State University. Also
in attendance were Rick Moore
’68 , Gregg Peterson ’72 and Craig
Shaver ’79. Both Gregg and Craig
have been very polite constituents
of mine in my mayoral role in
Wayzata. They haven’t thrown
me out yet!
That’s the news for this issue.
Thanks to all for your contributions. Be careful out there, and
I’ll see you in the next exciting
edition.
1968
Paul Neely
P.O. Box 11526
Chattanooga, TN 37401
[email protected]
Lots of news this time engendered by the address check, and
thanks to the 51 percent of you
who responded to that.
Bob Arbeit describes “a few
decades of life while standing on
one foot. Still with my starter wife
and true love. Two kids, both
headed back to grad school—
my son at NYU in law and my
daughter in adolescent development at Tufts. She is also engaged
to be married next summer. Life
definitely marches on. My 20-year
career in academic medicine at the
VA Boston ended in 2001 when
the VA, in its infinite wisdom,
closed my hospital. It was not
a time to uproot the family, so I
changed to doing drug development for a pharmaceutical company in Boston. I still do clinical
research, it’s just (putatively) for
profit—frankly, for small companies, getting funding from investors is the same time-consuming
chore as getting NIH grants. I’ve
been very happy. The work is
interesting and challenging with
lots of good intellectual grist for
the mill. I am now with Idera
Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge. I
also continue to do some teaching
and clinical work thanks to the
opportunity graciously extended
to me by David Snydman, now
chief of infectious diseases at Tufts
Medical Center. David has built
a very productive and diverse
section over the past decade and
is both respected and admired by
his faculty and fellows. A remarkable set of achievements—even
for an Ephman.”
Tad Piper, adding to his already
long list of civic activities in
Minneapolis, has been elected
board chair of St. Olaf College, a
well-regarded liberal arts school
45 minutes south of the Twin
Cities.
Bill Blanchard reports, “I’m
doing some consulting work in
HR/workplace issues, serving
as admin and HR officer for
the transportation management
company that provides all the
people movement capabilities for
the U.S. Tennis Assn. at the Open
Championships each of the last
four summers and will again for
this one. Just finished nine-and-ahalf years of service on a board of
the U.S. Lacrosse Assn. (fundraising arm of the U.S. lacrosse
‘national governing body’) where
I served as chair of its governance
committee for the last five years.
And currently am secretary of the
Larchmont Yacht Club. So I stay
as busy as I’d like to be.”
Bill also reflects the increasing
number of us who report health
news: “On this past April 8, I had
my arthritic left hip replaced—am
in outpatient rehab and getting
more mobile daily. After this left
one is up to snuff (no hip pain
anymore, but leg and butt muscles
are still cranky) I’ll get the right
hip replaced, but guess I’ve played
my last competitive lacrosse. I had
a decent run through last summer
finishing up in the over-55 age
group tourney I’ve been playing
in for several years at Lake Placid,
with other tourneys in Florida
from time to time. Now I mostly
n 1 9 6 7 –6 9
sail competitively in an antique
wooden 30-foot Herreshoff S
class sloop. Looking forward to
getting back to golf, skiing and
biking.”
Anyone else been playing over55s lacrosse? I didn’t think so.
Other health notes: Larry Levien
reports a prostate surgery (heck, I
did that four years ago) and Bob
Chambers anticipates a mitral
valve surgery. And both say that’s
their main news.
Mike Herlihy sends along his
first notes in 15 years. “I want
to highlight that this year is the
50th anniversary of the Center
for Development Economics at
Williams. I didn’t know it existed
back in ’68, but in the last five
years director Tom Powers ’81
has helped get CDE involved in
our work in Rwanda. Our fourth
Rwandan masters candidate has
now graduated, and we are hopeful that a fifth will be funded this
fall. The CDE will celebrate over
a thousand Third World grads at
a weeklong event this October.
Penny and I spend a month each
winter working at a high school
in Rwanda. Rwanda’s recovery
is an amazing (albeit not perfect)
story. It is terrific to see Williams
making a difference in this way.”
Mike also reports that his
roommate Glenn Warren and his
wife Randee will be moving from
Zimbabwe to Kenya with the
State Department this year.
Another feather in Peter
Abrahams cap: His novel Reality
Check won the 2010 Edgar Allen
Poe Award for best young adult
mystery.
Among the Class of 2010’s
graduates is Ben Iliff, son of Paula
and Nick Iliff. Ben was one of
two Williams winners of awards
from the American Physiological
Society for their undergraduate
research. A Williams news release
quoted him as saying, “Probably
the thing I like best about
Williams is the degree of involvement of faculty in student lives.
Being able to work one-on-one
doing research with professors
has been great. As a member of
the Committee on Undergraduate
Life, I’ve seen how much professors care about the ways policies
affect students’ lives, and how
much thought and work they put
into making sure that students
have a good experience here.”
Ben graduated magna cum laude,
Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in biology. Likewise, Charlotte
Healey, daughter of Alice and
Bruce Healy, graduated magna
cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with
highest honors in art history (and
a double major in math). She presented a spring math colloquium
on the geometry of cubism.
Jesse Gordon, son of Patti and
David Schulte, graduated with
honors in theater, where he has
been a constant presence for the
past four years. His original play,
“A Trivial Pursuit,” was produced
at the college theater in early
May. Noted drama critic John
Oppenheimer described it to me as
“meaningful and heartfelt.”
What a remarkable record for
all three ’10ers.
From Santa Barbara, Peter
Naylor reports: “I’m still chairing
finance and international business
at SBCC, two programs which
I created in 1987 and 1996. My
students come from all over the
world, especially China, Brazil
and Sweden. We teach practical ‘know-how.’ All instructors
are veterans of their industry. I
wish that I had more American
students, but academic snobbery
excludes them. They can transfer
a course in stand-up comedy, but
not one in bank management or
trade logistics. Does the current
economic crisis argue for more
economic and financial literacy?
I keep my health and sanity by
dancing tango with Susette, dancing salsa with my hairdresser and
teaching ballroom to the students
here. For those of you seeking
health and relaxation, it’s not too
late to start dancing.”
Jeff Brinn catches up on the last
two years with this: “Effective
11.01.08, I was an early (last-in,
first-out) casualty of our generation’s ‘Big Chill.’ It took me a
while to thaw out, but I now have
a permanent albeit part-time gig
as the director of quality control
for an old-line, small to midsize
NYC CPA firm on Madison
Avenue, their location being
mostly irrelevant as virtually all of
my work is done on-line from my
home near Charlotte. I thoroughly
enjoyed being a rookie class agent
this past alumni campaign, and I
want to take this chance to thank
Larry Levien for asking me. My
eldest son is a lieutenant commander in the Navy, my daughter
lives in Israel and my youngest
son is completing his first semester
teaching at a private school in
Oyster Bay on Long Island. Myra
remains happily retired. As for
me, I have enough money for
the rest of my life or the next six
months, whichever comes first.”
On the road: Jon Weller says his
Williams alumni trip to China,
led by retired professor Raymond
Chang and his wife Margaret,
was fabulous.
Henry Hecht writes that “this
spring I had the great pleasure of
reconnecting with my roommate Dobby West, whom I had
not seen for years, when he was
visiting San Francisco. Dobby, his
wife Jane and I walked along the
Embarcadero waterfront in San
Francisco for several hours in the
late afternoon and then had many
more hours of conversation over
dinner at an Italian restaurant in
San Francisco’s North Beach. I
continue to see Clint Wilkins on
a very regular basis as we try to
walk in the hills of Marin County
almost every weekend.”
Barton Jones says he spent five
“great” days with Rick Moore in
February dog-sledding in and on
the Boundary Waters near Ely,
Minn., where he slept on river ice
at 28 degrees below Fahrenheit.
Sounds great indeed. “Rick’s
friends were all Minnesotans.
At the end of the trip they told
me that I didn’t seem like a New
Yorker. I guess that was a compliment.” He sent along a picture,
but honestly it’s mostly trees,
snow and two lumpy bundles of
parka material, with small faces
barely visible.
1969
Richard P. Gulla
287 Grove St.
Melrose, MA 02176
[email protected]
Rich Pollett attended a Williams
weekend in May commemorating
the 35th anniversary of the death
of Professor Bob Gaudino. “The
Class of ’69 was well represented,
with Jim Ferrucci, Bob Kandel,
Mark Smith, John Kitchen and
Richard Brockman (forgive me if
I omitted anyone) all participating. It was a very warm and
stimulating weekend. A highlight
was a Friday night dinner at
which our former political science
professors all spoke about their
late colleague and had dinner
with us (Profs. Burns, Greene,
Tauber, Craig Brown and George
Marcus). It was wonderful to see
all, and each was in fine form.
Remember those old Saturday
a.m. classes? Well, we replicated
that and more, with classes from
8:30-11:30 conducted by former
and current professors, plus various speeches and panels Saturday
afternoon. Another highlight was
a memorable documentary on
Professor Gaudino done by Paul
Lieberman ’74 that was screened
at the Student Center on Saturday
night. Not many dry eyes at the
very sad end.”
CL ASS
NOTES
John Zimmerman is now retired,
and he and wife Pat are devoting
more time to curling in several
ways. Besides playing the sport,
John led the fundraising and
politics for the construction two
years ago of a new four-sheet
Midland Curling Center, a successful project that doubled the
local curling membership. While
John says they’re mostly social
curlers, participating in local
leagues and bonspiels around
the Midwest and Canada, he
did take part in March in 20th
Rotary International World
Curling Championships in Perth,
Scotland. His Midland, Michigan
team (assembled from Rotarians
in Arkansas, Texas and Florida)
beat Madison, Wis., for the
bronze. John has been active in
curling for almost a decade and
participated in the 2002 Olympics
qualifiers but did not advance.
With the recent experience in
Perth, John says, “Now I’ve had
my chance to represent my country. I’ve got a bronze medal and
a neat team sweater emblazoned
with “Zimmerman, USA” across
the back.”
Mike Goodbody and wife Darcy
reported a visit in NYC with
Kathy and Rob Aylesworth ’72
and Kitty and Frode Jensen ’72.
“It’s been over 30 years since I
had seen Rob and Kathy, it was
great fun!
Gary Robinson, “working in
my office in dentistry and still
enjoying the ride,” competed in
the giant slalom in the Naster
National Championship at
Winter Park Colorado in March
and won a third-place bronze
medal in the 60-64 age group.
Gary reports a sixth grandchild,
Wolfgang Robinson, courtesy of
daughter Taylor.
Francis Moriarity has been
busy in Hong Kong, helping to
put on the Human Rights Press
Awards for the 14th year at the
Foreign Correspondents Club. “It
was perhaps our most successful awards to date. Mrs. Myrna
Reblando, widow of one of the
32 journalists killed in the massacre in Mindanao, Philippines,
in which 57 people were gunned
down, gave a moving speech. I’ve
also had the distinct pleasure of
recently meeting U.S. Ambassador
Steven Young, the new Consul
General here and a Wesleyan
grad, at a luncheon with the FCC
Board. The ambassador made a
somewhat rueful mention that
when he was a student, Williams
frequently beat Wesleyan at
football. I hope he won’t be too
unhappy with this revelation—it
was supposed to be an off-therecord event. The ambassador
was refreshingly open and candid,
and his appointment would
appear to bode well for U.S.Hong Kong ties as well as for
improved relations between the
consulate and journalists. On the
personal side, I’m tossing around
a few project ideas that might
take me back to the Berkshires
from time to time and am aiming
to visit family and friends there
in July. Margie and Bob Ware are
duly warned.”
Jim Barnes reports reliving a
Williams sports experience. “In
2004 with Tom Keogh ’77, I traveled on consecutive days to see
Williams men’s basketball first
beat Amherst in a thriller and
then lose to UWisconsin-Stephens
Point at the buzzer. Tough loss
but my greatest sports experience.
Six years later we were back on
the road again. It came down to
the finals against the 2004 winner.
Ahead by 10 with 11 minutes
to go, Williams lost 78-73. A
wonderful bonus was a splendid
reception at Hotel Roanoke after
Friday’s game. The stars of the ‘04
game were there, former coaches
and many alums. Highlight was
when the team came in. Great
ovation. It all was memorable.”
Bob Lunn, after 26 years as a
health administrator and 15 years
in a second career as a teacher of
health administration and director of a graduate program, was
“looking forward to relinquishing my administrator role as of
Aug. 1. I’ll be continuing as a
full-time teacher at Missouri State
University for at least four more
years, however, as I still have
teenaged kids at home! I recall
discovering at some point that
I was rivaling Dave Mason for
being the oldest guy having the
youngest kids in our class. Is that
the case? (Dave?) Fortunately, I
find the teaching and researching part of what I do for a living
energizing, and I imagine doing
it for years to come, but I am
looking forward to letting other
folks be the ‘front person’ in the
bureaucratic arena! My best to
you and all our classmates.”
Herb Ogden and wife Cathy
spent a “fine weekend in
Gloucester, Mass., with my
former roommate Dave Tower
and his fiancée Robin Hoffman,
whom we introduced to him.
Dave has long been teaching at
Rockport High School. I saw
his last evaluation. The principal
seems to think he not only walks
on water but carefully cleans his
shoes first.”
Skip Comstock answered my call
for notes from Beaune, France,
as he and spouse Claire were
enjoying a wine and bike trip in
Burgundy with friends. In the
small world department, Skip was
sitting in a bar at Boston’s Logan
Airport and “who steps up to
order a beer but none other than
John Halbrooks! He was on his
way to Ireland. I suspect his libations and cuisine are somewhat
different than mine! We spent
some time catching up while
waiting for delayed flights.” Skip
continues, “In a few short weeks
we will be true empty nesters
as our youngest graduates from
Bates. We have already downsized
in Boston and spend as much
time as possible at a house we
built in the White Mountains in
New Hampshire. Our older two
children both live and work in
Manhattan, so we visit there with
some regularity. 45th high reunion
in June. Scary? Best to all.”
Wes Howard and wife Patti
are “watching our youngest,
daughter Libby, graduate from
high school in a few weeks and
then head off west in the fall to
Lewis & Clark in Portland, Ore.
Our 20-year-old son, after high
school struggles, is doing well at
a local college, working toward
a major in music piano. Life
offers many unexpected sources
of satisfaction. Watching his
evolution has certainly been a
source of gratitude and humility
for me. I continue to use soccer
(coaching and, yes, still playing)
with skiing and bicycling (road
and mountain) as counterpoints
to my business litigation practice.
I also fool around playing the
blues harp (harmonica) when the
opportunity presents itself. The
combination of work and play
seems to keep me in balance.
Denver feels like home for the
very long run. All Ephs traveling
through Colorado are welcome to
call and drop on in on us.”
Mike Sabbeth has “finally finished my manuscript—a two-year
project—on my book about skills
for teaching moral reasoning
to young children. It has been a
tempestuous journey. The book’s
title is The Good, The Bad and
The Difference: How to Talk with
Children About Values. It should
be available in paperback within
the month. The book offers a
structure for moral reasoning
and represents the distillate of my
20 years as a volunteer teaching
in the Denver area public and
private schools.”
Gordy Bryson “reconnected
with Mike Himowitz. He’s in the
n 1 9 6 9 –7 0
From left, Charles Kellogg ’62, Phil Dunn ’69 and Charles Wolcott ’69 won
first place in the over-60 category at the American Track and Field
National Mountain Running Championships on Mount Washington in
June. Ned Jeffries ’85 (far right) competed in the open category.
Baltimore area so will be near
me when Liz and I relocate to
Baltimore in 2012. I will graduate
with my PhD in education on
May 15 from the University of
Hawaii at Manoa. Who says
you can’t teach an old dog new
tricks? Since I attended most of
my graduate classes, school was a
lot easier. Who knew? Dick Peinert
has been calling me doc and asking me about his knee. This might
not be fun.
Larry McCullough sent greetings
from his great state of Texas
and has “expanded my bioethics
portfolio in the past few years
to include serving as the ethics
resource person for the new
Fetal Center at Texas Children’s
Hospital in the Texas Medical
Center. This is one of a handful of
centers in the world that provides
interventional procedures for
fetal benefit, from laser ablation
for twin-to-twin transfusion to
exutero surgery and intrapartum
fetal surgery. Ethics is an essential
component of this exciting clinical
work. Looking at fetal magnetic
resonance images with an art
historian’s eye becomes an interesting exercise at the weekly case
conference. Linda and I plan to be
in Williamstown in August for a
holiday before I cross back over
the Berkshires to Schenectady
for my annual week of teaching
in the bioethics program of the
Union Graduate College and Mt.
Sinai Medical School. Greetings
to one and all in the United States
of America and other international destinations.”
Rob McDougall finally checked
in after a much-too-long absence.
He is working at the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission writing
rules and guidance on radioactive
material security. Wife Melinda
finished her first year as a staff
attorney at Holy Cross Hospital.
Rob’s offspring are busy, with
daughter Lindsay beginning a
program in acupuncture, Caitlin
a senior at Beloit in Wisconsin,
and Ian attending Barrie, a private
secondary school and eager to get
his driver’s permit following his
16th birthday. Rob says he finally
made the whole 7.5-mile swim
across the mouth of the Potomac
for Chesapeake Bay Restoration
and did another 100-mile bike
ride for some unnamed reason.
That’s it for this edition. Keep
the news coming and stay well
and in touch.
1970
Rick Foster
379 Dexter St.
Denver, CO 80220
[email protected] or
[email protected]
These notes mark a very successful 40th year reunion, this
time thanks to the efforts of
Ken McCurdy, who, along with
committee members and reunion
attendees Charley Ebinger, Margie
and Bob Ware, Don Berens and Ted
May presented the rest of us with
wonderful catered meals at the
Log and at Tyler House, a great
dance band Saturday night under
our tent at Tyler House, a trivia
contest of unparalleled complexity, a class bike ride and some
very memorable camp shirts the
color of eggplant. Opinion about
the shirts was mixed, but Bob
Bearman liked his so much, he
wore it twice and has generously
agreed to captain the Class of
1970 bowling team at our 45th!
(Hold onto those shirts, please).
The weather was pleasantly in the
70s all weekend, and although it
was cloudy much of the time, the
rain that came spared the alumni
parade and waited until later in
the afternoon, when those of us
who participated were well into
the 30-mile class bike trip led by
Don Berens, John Bare and Fred
Eames.
At the annual alumni meeting
following Saturday’s parade, the
gasp of the audience following the
announcement that 91.61 percent
of our class had contributed to the
Alumni Fund this year (winning
us the Meredith Wood trophy
for the sixth year in a row thanks
to the tireless efforts of our class
agent, Bill Sammons) was almost
as audible as the gasp when the
Class of 1960 announced its 50th
reunion gift of $45-plus million.
Fortunately, we have 10 years
before our 50th, and perhaps
some hope of another bull market
between now and then. In the
meantime, a manageable goal and
perhaps unprecedented accomplishment would be for us to
achieve a 100 percent participation rate next year.
Although I’d like to list each
of the more than 50 members of
the class who were at reunion,
I understand that is considered
poor form in class notes, so I may
miss some names, but all of you
know who you are and a list is
available. Same for spouses and
significant others who made the
dancing Saturday much more
enjoyable than it otherwise
might have been. By the way,
although the College reportedly
has some reservations, probably
based on sound medical data,
about classes our age having a
live band at the Saturday night
party, we should all hope that
Margie Ware can arrange for the
Jill Gallagher Band to play again
at our 45th. They were terrific as
Pam and Peter Ogilvie, Jean and
John Hitchens, my spouse Julie
Waggener and I and many others
can attest from all the time we
spent on the dance floor.
We had a large contingent of
secondary school headmasters,
administrators and teachers,
including Rob Hershey, Chris
Williamson, Paul Miller and, of
course, Pat Bassett, who by the
way, was recently elected to
Williams’ Board of Trustees.
Give Pat a call if you have some
interest in one or more of your
CL ASS
NOTES
grandchildren attending Williams.
Jean and John Hitchins came from
Roanoke, Va., where they both
serve as public school teachers.
They brought along their 12-yearold son (and potential future Eph)
Jack, who joined us all on the
dance floor Saturday night and
showed us a move or two.
Al Twaits came from Florida.
Bill Wadt travelled all the way
from his post at the Los Alamos
Nuclear Weapons Laboratory
(i.e., nukes!) in New Mexico (I
didn’t ask what he does there
and don’t want to know), and
Jim Slade came out of retirement
from his home on the Nevada
side of Lake Tahoe to regale us
at the Sunday brunch of such
tales of adventure as traveling
down the River of Doubt (now
Rio Roosevelt) made famous by
Candice Millard’s book of the
same name describing Teddy
Roosevelt’s 1913 trip down that
river after he left the presidency.
Dan James and his wife Beth came
from Telluride, Colo., while Mary
and Bob Bearman journeyed
from Denver. Phil Geier and wife
Amy traveled all the way from
Williamstown, where they now
live along with some 300 other
Williams alumni. Phil wore a
purple-cow-bedecked sport coat,
which, as far as I could determine,
is not available for sale on Spring
Street.
Although none of us think that
we’ve changed much in 40 years,
among those attendees who could
most honestly make the claim
are Dick Cooch, Jim Kirkland,
Cliff Robinson, Don Berens, Phil
Geier, John Hitchins and the only
retired Navy Admiral in the
class, Dick Ginman. Except for his
totally white mustache, I would
have included George Sawaya in
that august group and maybe I
should anyway, because although
he ended his Williams varsity
wrestling career 40 years ago,
he’s still wrestling competitively
and probably is entitled to sport a
white mustache.
SENDPHOTOS
W
illiams People accepts
photographs of alumni
gatherings and events. Please
send photos to Williams magazine, P.O. Box 676,
Williamstown, Mass.
01267-0676. High-quality
digital photos may be
e-mailed to alumni.review@
williams.edu.
Rod McLeod was in attendance
with wife Naomi and announced
his imminent retirement from the
practice of law in San Francisco
and his intention to move to
Israel. Nathan Fox made it for his
first reunion ever. (I looked for
you Nathan, but never found
you!) Vais Favrot, Randy Carleton,
Jerry Christiansen, Jim Hewitt,
Frank Bartolotta, Kevan Hartshorn,
Bob Groban, Gerry Stoltz, Joe
Sensenbrenner, Jennifer Wolcott,
Kim Kelton, John Cornwall, Ralph
Gerra, Bob Reckman, Dick Travers,
Rick Hole, Halley Moriyama, Roger
Taft, Jack Murray, Jay Nelson,
Mark Messing, Charlie Sawyer and
Tim Napier also were in attendance, some for only part of the
festivities (but at least they made
it). Vais and I scratched our heads
to no effect trying to remember
the names of each of the women
who were part of the initial 10
college exchange with Williams.
Mark Messing tried to explain
why it took multiple hours, one
island stop and two ferry rides
just to drive back to his home on
Long Island from where he commutes to his job in Philadelphia.
(Does that really make any sense,
Mark?)
Among those not able to attend
this year were Tom Michaels, who
lives in Denver, and Tom Crowley.
Tom and Linda have been trying
to sell their house in Goldens
Bridge, N.Y., and recently got an
unexpected purchase offer that
was conditioned on them being
out by the end of June. On top
of that, their daughter Amanda
is getting married in July in
Baltimore, so reunion was out of
the question.
We all owe a debt of gratitude
to our class officers Lou Buck
(who couldn’t make the reunion
due to his son’s graduation from
the Tuck School at Dartmouth),
Gerry Stolz, Ted May, and especially to Jeff Krull, who has served
as our class secretary and author
of these notes for so many years
(and also couldn’t attend), and
to Bill Sammons who has become
legendary for his tireless efforts to
make our class the winner of the
Wood Trophy for class participation in alumni giving for six years
in a row. Kevin Sullivan graciously
agreed at our class dinner and
party on Saturday night to take
over from Bill at least for the
coming year, so the next time Bill
calls you, there will be no reason
not to take his call!
I have agreed to relieve Jeff in
writing class notes each quarter.
You don’t have to respond to
my e-mails, but if you don’t, be
assured that I’ll just make something up about you. It likely won’t
be clever, but certainly inaccurate,
so please send me some info that
is accurate.
1971
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Scott Simundza
579 Sagamore Ave., Unit 102
Portsmouth, NH 03801
[email protected]
Serious reunion planning got
under way on an 80-degree day in
Williamstown on May 1. I joined
about a dozen classmates to make
plans for a great weekend of
activities next June 9-12. Steve
Latham is leading the effort, with
Steve Brown as treasurer working
the budget. We expect to continue
the popular format of our last
reunion, except with better
weather this time. Jack Sands,
Nick Tortorello, Sey Zimmerman,
Dan Hunt, Karen and John Ackroff
and John Chambers were in attendance, and we were joined over
the phone by George Reigeluth,
Hugh Hawkins, George Ebright
and Bill Sweney. In addition to the
traditional golf, hiking, biking,
dining and entertainment, we
expect to hold another memorial
service as well as special events
of topical interest throughout the
weekend. We hope you’ll plan to
attend, and we’ll be in touch. The
class will also hold another planning session and minireunion this
fall, to coincide with the second
weekend of the Williamstown
Film Festival (Oct. 22-24), so
look for that announcement and
join us if you can.
Earlier in the spring Nick
Tortorello attended the Gaudino
weekend and saw Rick Beinecke,
Paul Lieberman, Val Schloesser
and others. Most of the political science professors were in
attendance, and Nick says Steve
Lewis ’60 has found the fountain
of youth and hasn’t changed
a bit since our graduation. Bill
Loomis also attended, and both
Nick and Bill reported that Paul
Lieberman’s independent film on
Prof. Gaudino was excellent. The
reunion committee will ask Paul
to screen the film for us next June.
In April, Bill Loomis went to
Afghanistan to participate in an
independent review (by the Pacific
Council for International Policy)
of detention policies, facilities
and re-integration programs for
suspected Taliban. He reports an
extraordinarily high level of care
n 1 9 7 0 –7 1
for detainees by the Joint Task
Force. It was Bill’s third trip to
Afghanistan, with the first being
on his Watson Fellowship in
1971-72.
Ending a 40-year Class Notes
drought, David Albert submitted
a recent installment of his India
blog. Here are excerpts: “This
year I will turn 60, and I have
traveled far, both literally and
figuratively. I founded the most
successful pacifist publishing
house in North America, wrote
or edited 11 books, started two
foundations, and a third—to
promote appropriate, communitybased, self-sustaining clean water
technology—is on the boards.
I am very happily partnered
for more than 30 years with a
woman who has found great
passion for her work in hospice
nursing, and we homeschooled
two wonderful daughters. The
elder is a graduate student at
Princeton, pursuing a doctorate
in musicology and Italian studies,
the younger a concert pianist and
a student of international development at American University.”
David recounts his longtime
involvement in the development
of sustainable communities in
India in his blog, shantinik.
blogspot.com.
Roger Kaufman has also been
at work in the developing
world: “I spent my fall sabbatical working with a start-up
company in San Francisco that is
trying to make money promoting and financing the expansion
of income-contingent loans for
college and graduate students.
I’ve spent my spring sabbatical
in Cape Town with my fiancée
Mary Anne teaching economics
to members of the South African
Parliament. A few weeks ago,
my class was visited by Williams
alumni on their own South Africa
venture. Mary Anne has enjoyed
her volunteer work at a nearby
school. She tutors six fourthgraders from the Xhosa tribe
who are bused in from a local
township. The Xhosa language
has three ‘clicks,’ so she has been
practicing her clicks and learning
a few idioms. Unfortunately, one
gets the feeling that South Africa’s
future is precarious. Although the
number of mansions and Ferraris
is staggering, one-third of the
population still lives on less than
$2 a day, and the distribution
of income is more unequal than
[in] just about any other country.
Economic apartheid has replaced
political apartheid.”
This must be the year for
sabbaticals, as Mort Wasserman
reports: “Abby and I are on a
January-June sabbatical leave.
In January, we abandoned the
People’s Republic of Vermont
for the City of Brotherly Love.
In February, we experienced
three feet of snow in 10 days,
but the spring has been beautiful.
Abby is taking metal-smithing
and jewelry-making courses
at Philadelphia’s University of
the Arts. I am at the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia, learning
how to incorporate information
from electronic medical records
into clinical research. We’ll be
back home in Vermont in time to
enjoy the summer.”
Jim Tam is “being asked to
answer a question which for
no good reason I thought was
hypothetical up to now—what
do I want to be called by a grandchild? My daughter is expecting
this December, and I am, I must
admit, rather excited about the
course of events. In the tradition
of my culture, the name should be
Gung Gung (if a daughter’s child)
and Yeh Yeh (if it is a son’s child).
We’ll see. I committed to be on
the reunion committee again
to help with website interactive
communications. Look forward
to seeing classmates again soon!”
We’ll see you in June, Gung
Gung.
A quick note from Wally
Schlech: “I just got back from a
marathon teaching tour in Nigeria
and Uganda for five weeks. Got
to see son AJ flying Herc’s out of
Doha into Afghanistan and Iraq
for three hours in a stopover in
Qatar on the way home.”
A quicker note from Terry
Coes: “My school, Rocky Hill in
Rhode Island, invited Chemistry
104 Professor Bill Moomaw ’59
to speak at a seminar for seniors
on global warming. He was
fantastic!”
Mark Pearson got stranded in
London by a volcano in Iceland:
“I enjoyed a wonderful two
weeks of a speaking tour around
the southeast of England in April.
The culmination was speaking
at Canterbury Cathedral and the
next day in one of Sir Christopher
Wren’s churches, built after the
great London fire of 1666. It is
the Guild Church of St. Margaret
Pattens. A ‘patten’ was an overshoe like a sandal slipped over
regular shoes because the streets
were so full of garbage, manure
and mud. Thankfully, no one
suggested they needed the aural
equivalent for hearing me preach.
Alas, the volcanic disruption of
the air flights delayed my return
home, so a bit of an unexpected
holiday in London.”
In March I joined Roger
Widmer, Kent Rude, Gene Bauer
and Doug Pickard to watch a
Celtics team that is rapidly closing
the age gap on us, although they
were in fine form that night. Gene
and Doug appeared well rested
from a recent vacation in Cabo
San Lucas with their wives, where
they were joined by Holly and
Dick Lamb, and Eileen and Mike
Rade. Gene had more recently
arranged to accompany Ellen to
London, where she took advantage of a break from her active
teaching duties at Massachusetts
College of Art.
Kent closed out March with
more basketball, this time in
support of our own team: “After
catching the Williams men’s basketball bug from afar, my younger
daughter Emily and I made it to
Williamstown for the NESCAC
championship vs. Middlebury
that put Williams into the NCAA
tourney. Meanwhile my older
daughter, Monica, a junior at
WashU in St. Louis was talking
up a rendezvous in Virginia for
the Div. III Final Four. (WashU
won in 2008 and 2009 and ended
the season ranked #1 nationally
with Williams #2. When WashU
makes the Final Four the university charters a bus, gets hotel
accommodations and gives any
willing students food vouchers
to attend.) Well, WashU lost in
round two. As we know Williams
kept marching forward, and given
I had already cleared my schedule
for that weekend, I decided (with
Emily again in tow) to head to
Salem, Va., for the big games. It
was a lot of fun and great hoops,
despite the disappointing outcome
in the final game where Williams
suddenly lost their shooting
touch and acquired a penchant
for turnovers. Saw Doug Pickard
in Virginia, too. (Doug was
instrumental in piquing my interest, as he spoke of the resurgent
hoopsters both last year and this
year at our Celtics game and
tries to get to as many of their
games as possible.) Emily and I
inadvertently stayed at the team
hotel of Wisconsin Stevens Point
(to whom we lost in final game),
prompting questions like ‘What
is an Eph?’ or ‘How come there
isn’t a cow cheer?’ (I couldn’t
come up with an answer for that
one.) I think I enjoyed it more
than Emily did, although when
asked, she offered that her top
two highlights of the trip were: #1
eating at Sonic; and #2 meeting
the mascot ‘Pointer’ from Stevens
Point!”
CL ASS
NOTES
Kent also recently located
another classmate: “Tom Jones
and I have been talking about trying to locate our long-lost Wood
House roommate Bob Cleary for
years. (Bob left Williams in our
senior year.) We finally decided
to put some effort into the quest;
Tom from Beijing, me from
Massachusetts. Using the Internet
we located some possibilities, and
I started calling the list of phone
numbers, succeeding on the third
call. Bob was ‘lost’ in our midst
… living in Harvard, Mass.,
working in the environmental
field. Invited Bob over for dinner.
(He elected not to inflict our
nostalgia on his wife and 10-yearold son for this initial event. Bob
also has a college freshman son),
so he joined Roger Widmer and
his wife Barbara, and Ginny and
me in Needham. Caught up on
recent and ancient events, so am
looking forward to filling in the
middle era.”
1972
Jim Armstrong
600 W. 115th St., Apt. 112
New York, NY 10025
David Webster
596 Arbor Vitae Road
Winnetka, IL 60093
[email protected]
Tom Thornton recently sent
Paul Isaac an update: “I sold my
architectural firm in NYC 10
years ago but am still working
on my own, with lots of traveling
around the country. I’m thoroughly enjoying being a hands-on
grape farmer and winemaker and
architect. I make a cabernet that
I call ‘The Grade,’ a name taken
from the writings of Robert Louis
Stevenson about our own [northern California] neighborhood.”
Bob DeLaney has been living
in the West for more than just a
little while, but he still encounters
disconcerting cultural barriers.
He writes: “In the Grand Canyon
State, folks are more interested
in border issues and guns than
in Ephcomplishments. I chased
a lady around Tucson whose
license plate had ‘EPH’ on it and
found that she had never heard
of the place and thought I was a
stalker.” But Bob rallied when he
met up with Joe McCurdy ’70, “a
fellow Edgemont H.S. alum,” at
the Williams-Middlebury baseball
game played in Phoenix in April.
“Joe’s son Murphy plays for the
Panthers, so Joe was partial to
Middlebury for the day.” Bob
plans to visit the East Coast soon.
Gregg Peterson heard from
Paul Grossberg that he and Sue
will visit Kenya and Tanzania
this summer. “It promises to
be a memorable trip. We’ll be
seeing Theresia and Charlie Waigi
during the first week in Kenya,
visiting their home and the school
and going on a safari through
the Maasai Mara, etc. We’ll be
accompanied by Ned Palmer ’71
and his wife, Susan.”
Paul passed along an article
in SF Business Times featuring
Jerry Kennelly. Jerry’s company,
Riverbed Technology, in San
Francisco, with more than a
thousand employees, produces
software that sends information instantly across global
markets. The article noted that
the products “make it easier and
faster for companies to communicate among branches and [save]
customers money by reducing
the amount of bandwidth they
must purchase for networks.”
The thrust of the article was the
impact of the nation’s economic
situation—what Jerry referred to
as “the recession tax”—on business growth. It would appear that
Jerry’s firm has done exceedingly
well, recession or not.
An unexpected event has made
things interesting lately for Betty
Robbins. “This year I decided
it was time to stop working
24/7/365. So on May 12 I left
my full-time job. On May 14, I
flew to Vail with my husband.
And on a gung-ho first day out
of the box, May 15, I broke my
leg and tore lots of surrounding
ligaments. The great news is that
Vail has a fabulous orthopedic
hospital, where they successfully
put me back together by installing
cadaver bone, titanium plates,
and screws. It’s healing wonderfully, and I hope to be back on
skis next year.
“My family is well. Moses is
still working nonstop. Ben graduated from NYU law school and
plans to start working full-time
in the fall, and Rachel graduated
from Wesleyan. After a year of
juggling various theater related
internships, she is now the
assistant stage manager of an offBroadway play.”
John Malcolm, always a force to
be reckoned with in the government and economy of the Green
Mountain State, responded to
several classmate inquiries about
the College’s new VP of alumni
relations and development, who
shares his name—but is a member
of the class of 1986. John saw
news reports indicating that
Wendy Hopkins was one of the
authors of a history of the town
of Pownal for its 250th birthday.
(Wendy, kindly forward a copy to
your co-secretaries.) He notes that
the official portrait of Vermont’s
governor is to be painted by a
Williams graduate, and he says
that he sees Toby Talbot ’73 often
in the State House in his role as
an AP photographer. John hopes
all is well with everyone.
Gregg Peterson was kind
enough to drop your newsstarved co-secretaries a note of
recent encounters with ’72s on
a recent trip to the Northeast.
Gregg is on the Executive
Committee of the Society of
Alumni, which brings him to
Williamstown several times a
year. “Over lunch in Boston, I
found Paul Grogan still enjoying
his Boston Foundation tenure, fit
enough to ski the steep stuff this
winter with his teenage sons, and
looking forward to the Memorial
Day softball weekend in Billsville.
“Had a special visit with retired
Professor Fred Rudolph ’42 at his
home. He’s turning 90 and looking forward to his 70th reunion in
2012. He looked up my AmCiv
grade (a B+), proving that you can
never outrun your own history.
“Picked up the tab for lunch
at the Williams Club in NYC
for Messrs. Farren, Enteman, and
Riehl. Dale was hard at work on
last-minute organizing details
for the big Gaudino program
reunion.
“Finally, I had a nice e-mail
exchange with the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, Don Beyer,
who professes continued surprise
when people stand up when he
enters a room. However, with
their two youngest kids still at
home, he also reports plenty of
times when he gets less respect.”
The University of Pittsburgh
announced this spring that it was
presenting the Provost’s Award
for Excellence in Mentoring to
Jean Ferguson Carr, the director of
Women’s Studies and a professor
of English, for her longtime work
in helping graduate students.
The official notice cited Jean “for
having guided both entering and
advancing students throughout
her department as they have
become scholars, teachers, and
administrators of composition
programs.” The provost went
on to say that Jean’s “success as
coeditor of a leading series on
composition and her authorship of an award-winning book
on the topic enabled her to
guide students to new areas of
research and to help them develop
n 1 9 7 1 –7 2
scholarly contributions at the
forefront of the literature.”
Paul Isaac has worked on our
class’s annual fund campaign for
many years, and he is thoughtful
enough to pass on information
gleaned from conversations
with classmates as part of the
campaign. Among other things,
Paul noted that Bob Ouimette’s
son graduated from Wheaton;
Martha and Dore Griffinger are
now grandparents; and Lew
Steele attended the Gaudino
Conference at Williams in April,
which was a great success, with
a couple of hundred attendees.
James Mathieu also made it to
the conference, as did Andy Hurst.
James sat on one of the panels.
Paul also noted that his and
Karen’s youngest child, Sam,
“graduated from Taft and broke
his poor old father’s heart by
applying early decision to Tufts.
I guess he can keep his favorite
sweatshirts and just pick off the
embroidered tops of the vowels.”
I wonder whether anyone is better
than Paul at making lemonades
out of lemons, meaning not the
slightest disrespect to any Jumbo
who may read these fleeting
words.
Sally Stern writes from
Arlington, Mass., that two years
ago she took the early-retirement
option from her employer of
36 years, the Brockton school
system. She worked with
learning-disabled students at the
elementary level her entire career
and loved it. But she also loves
the freedom of retirement. She’s
been taking adult-education
classes, doing part-time tutoring,
and traveling. Last fall she traveled with the Society of Alumni
to Tuscany and had such a good
time that she’s planning to make
a similar trip late this summer,
this time to the Amalfi Coast,
an early 60th birthday present.
“Life is great!” she writes in
conclusion.
Harry Kangis sent Bill Kehoe
birthday greetings and was
delighted to learn from Bill that
he had “asked Mimi to marry
me at my 60th. It was about
time, after nine years of ‘dating.’”
Harry observes that “either my
former roommate is a guy who
knows how to make a big statement for his 60th or he’s simply a
slow learner.” He adds, “I’ve met
Mimi, and she’s a doll.”
Dale Riehl offered his reflections on the April conference
in Williamstown sponsored by
the Robert L. Gaudino Trust
mentioned earlier. There have
now been 12 Gaudino Scholars
since inception of the Trust,
Williams faculty who usually
serve for two or three years and
are enabled by the Trust to devote
substantial time to worthwhile
projects emblematic of the
far-ranging mind and interests
of Prof. Gaudino. Seven current
and former faculty political science faculty colleagues offered
reflections on him at one of the
weekend’s dinners—James M.
Burns ’39, Fred Greene, Craig
Brown, George Marcus, Charlie
Baer, Kurt Tauber, and Raymond
Baker. Former Williams president
John Chandler and former Prof.
Stephen R. Lewis Jr. ’60 were the
keynote speakers at the conference’s principal dinner. Dale is
particularly gratified that some 35
years after Prof. Gaudino’s death
the Trust has been able to perpetuate the extraordinary impact he
had on a generation of Williams
students. In addition to the classmates mentioned previously, the
other 1972 attendees were Carol
Martinez Weber, Gary Patteson,
Paul Isaac, Jerry Kennelly and Chris
Cassel. Mark Blundell had his
round-trip ticket purchased but
was prevented from flying from
London by the volcanic eruption
in Iceland.
Your co-secretaries have not
exactly been inundated with
contributions for these notes,
and there have been discussions
on how to increase communication with members of the class
whose names have lately not been
included in these pages.
Why should class secretaries cast about for news when
servers, websites and whatever
the heck else you call various
“keep in touch” networks no
doubt abound with news about
members of the Class of ’72? So
ten names of classmates were
selected at random and fed into
Google, with some quite interesting results.
None of the 10 was asked to
assist with this or to confirm
information. Some of the information is as much as five years
old. It’s also possible that what is
offered below as news about one
of our classmates is, in fact, news
from someone with a similar
name—in which case, Sorry! See
whether you can figure out to
whom each of the following ten
gleanings from Google applies.
Coauthored an article in
the respected journal Cell
Metabolism.
Represented his employer
at a 2008 conference in Basel,
Switzerland, on “Measuring
Financial Innovation and Its
Impact,” one purpose of which
was “to promote the exchange
of views amongst central bank
economists, statisticians and
policy makers as well as others
who want to participate in discussing statistical issues of interest
to central banks, including those
relating to economic, monetary
and financial stability.”
Wrote about legislation in
Arkansas—namely, the Arkansas
Act 1220 of 2003 to Reduce
Childhood Obesity through
School-based Policy, Environment
and Practice Changes.
Had a son graduate with a B.S.
from Allegheny College, majoring
in environmental science with a
minor in religion.
Reviewed a scholarly worked
titled Victorian Detective Fiction
and the Nature of Evidence: The
Scientific Investigations of Poe,
Dickens, and Doyle.
Was mentioned in Kentucky
Living magazine for his participation in hunting and other activities of men’s groups, and cited for
particularly valuing the respect
and brotherhood displayed by
participants.
Is on the “Grand List” of
landowners in a beautiful
Vermont town not far from the
Connecticut River.
Finished 35th out of 233 runners in the 2007 “Turkey Chase”
in eastern Massachusetts.
Was recognized as a “Super
Lawyer” for his work with the
Federal Public Defender’s Office
in a major East Coast city.
Has been a supporter of the
Wilderness Workshop’s mission to
protect and conserve the wilderness and natural resources of the
Roaring Fork Watershed, the
White River National Forest, and
adjacent lands.
There you have it. It’s interesting; it’s admirable; it’s fun; it’s a
snapshot of our lives. Of course,
to some degree it lacks the spice
and dazzle that good class secretaries can add, but if the future of
class notes is to be some kind of
auto-pilot, computer-generated
compilation, so be it. The choice,
esteemed classmates, is yours, and
it sure would help if more of you
shared what has interested, challenged, confronted, disappointed,
or enriched your lives. Please
never underestimate the pleasure
many of us take in simply hearing from you and about you as
together we cross the threshold
into our 60s.
CL ASS
NOTES
1973
Cole Werble
2540 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Apt. 204
[email protected]
This is a tough job. Just when
I thought I had a novel story of
an unusual Eph achievement
by one of our classmates to
headline these notes (Bill Simon
rising to new heights with his
mid-February ascent of Mount
Kilimanjaro), the spring alumni
notes arrived with the cover picture of an Eph mother-daughter
team atop the African peak. Not
to take anything away from Bill’s
ascent, the top of Kilimanjaro is
apparently at risk of becoming
a satellite campus for Williams
alums.
Other classmates have been
writing in previous notes to say
how fit and youthful Bill remains.
The compliments must have gotten to his head or at least his legs;
the Kilimanjaro climb sounds
like an ambitious challenge. He
writes that the trip was successful
but was accompanied by “fatigue
to these old bones.” It couldn’t
be too much fatigue because Bill
sent word of the trip in a rushed
e-mail while traveling.
Bill made the ascent with his
wife Cindy and fellow Eph Jim
Marver ’72. Bill’s wife created an
entertaining and detailed blog
account of the training and planning for the trip and the long sixday ascent, noting that Bill helped
to make the first days of the
climb easier by singing “Hakuna
Matata” with the porter in
Swahili. From my sea-level view,
the Swahili serenading is perhaps
as breathtaking an achievement
as the ascent into the thin air at
19,340 feet.
Also acting on a grand scale,
Joe Standart reports mounting
a major art exhibit in Hartford
last spring. One phrase describing the installation gives an
idea of the scale of the show of
portraits; these are not small
portraits tucked away in a quiet
gallery. “Hartford Sign’s crane”
was needed to put up the first
portraits in late May. These
outdoor portraits of Hartfordians
who contribute to the city culture
are immense. One set will adorn
the eastern façade of one of the
Connecticut state capitol buildings; another set of photos will be
displayed as freestanding pieces
on the lawn of the Wadsworth
Atheneum. The Capitol portraits
will be right off I-84. That means
Bill Simon ’73 (left) and James Marver ’72 climbed to the top of Mount
Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, last winter.
that Joe will be contributing to
the tough traffic around Hartford
all summer but making the delays
more tasteful, entertaining and
artistic.
Taking on a different capital
city, Milton Grenfell, a relatively
recent emigrant from the South
to DC has begun working with
the National Civic Art Society to
re-establish classical architecture
and traditional memorials to
major public spaces. Milton is an
architect himself and works in a
classical vernacular on a variety of
private and institutional projects.
He is not only proselytizing in his
campaign to return traditionalism
to DC architecture; he is fixing
one very unattractive church
façade on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Steve Davies, who has devoted
a career to advocating for
public spaces such as open local
markets in cities from New York
to Sarajevo, is undertaking his
second private-space makeover:
the renovation of a 1900 house
in the arts/vacation community
at Chautauqua, N.Y. This will
be Steve’s second rental property
complementing a townhouse in
Brooklyn. That means he has only
about 7 million more residential
units to acquire in New York
State to corner the state’s rental
market.
Worth Linen has taken up
land preservation as a passion.
He is working on a project
in Pennsylvania to save the
Blooming Grove Hunting and
Fishing Club and protect the
largest private piece of land in
eastern Pennsylvania. To draw
on environmentally conscious
Ephs, Worth made a late April
visit to Williamstown to address
the Center for Environmental
Studies to describe the effort to
work with Penn State and state
agencies on making the club a
focus for study of land management techniques. Worth was also
seeking future environmental
Ephs, suggesting that the project
could offer good Winter Study
internships.
The report on Worth’s
discussion at CES comes from
Williamstown denizen Jay
Nawrocki, a great source at the
source for updates on returning
Ephs. Jay’s second daughter, Tina
’10, graduated in June after helping to lead the women’s lacrosse
team through a series of comefrom-behind victories earning
them the first NESCAC championship in women’s lacrosse. Now
that Jay will have less lacrosse to
follow, I’m hoping there will be
more news on ’73 visitors from
the Purple Valley.
Jay apparently missed one large
contingent of the class of ’73 in
Williamstown in mid-April—he
was probably distracted by a long
overtime. A large group of more
than 100 gathered to remember
Professor Robert Gaudino. John
Neikirk reports that “the commemoration was quite inspiring.”
From our class, John saw Jay
Haug, Paul Peterson, Joe Standart,
Dick Tavelli and Randy Thomas.
From ’74 were Jon Kravetz, Jeff
Niese, Jim Specht and Jeff Thaler.
Jay Haug is this issue’s unifying
figure: at each deadline, one member of the ’73 class emerges in
notes from several sources—but
usually not from the individual
directly. Jay, you can add your
own comments at any time. Mary
Schendel sent an amusing account
of an unexpected Eph encounter
with Haug in Charleston, S.C.
n 1973
Mary, who lives in Portland,
Maine, was in Charleston with
her husband Phil to attend a wedding. At a local Episcopal Church
on Sunday morning, they ran into
an “attractive woman visiting
from Florida [who] engaged us
in conversation. We exchanged
reasons for visiting; and, when
she mentioned her husband
exploring the possibility of a staff
position at the church, something
prompted me to ask, ‘You don’t
mean Jay Haug from my Williams
class?’ She looked stunned for a
moment and said, ‘Yes!’” That
shows a special type of Eph
intuition on Mary’s part—a skill
for discerning a nearby Eph in the
most unlikely locations.
Mary said she shared the story
about running into Jay with Tom
Hyndman and his wife Laurie,
“whom we ran into at a play in
Portland.” Mary points out that
the Hyndman encounter was
less of a surprise than meeting
Jay in South Carolina. Seeing the
Hyndmans “was not so much of
a coincidence as we live only three
miles from each other and are
great friends,” Mary noted.
Peter Pierson writes to say his
career in the ministry and teaching is moving to a new phase.
“In June,” Peter writes, “I’ll be
retiring, after nearly 35 years in
parochial ministry and privateschool teaching. Later in the
summer, I will be devoting much
of my time to volunteer work at
the Retreat/Conference Center of
the Episcopal Diocese of Albany,
in Greenwich, N.Y. It is an exciting place, which Mary and I have
grown to love over the past six
years.” Greenwich must be in
easy distance of the Purple Valley,
as Peter’s wife will continue to
work on a reduced schedule at
Pine Cobble School. Peter is also
making plans for more “room in
our schedules to spend time with
our two granddaughters, now 10
and 1 years old.”
Also devoting more time to
grandchildren is Spike Booth, who
reports being totally captivated by
his first granddaughter, Addison,
and expectantly awaiting a second
granddaughter in August. Spike
describes Addison, the daughter
of his oldest son, Griffin, “as the
light of our life.” From day one,
Spike says, “she literally lifted her
head and wanted to know what
was going on, and that temperament has not stopped.” Addison
sounds like she is in for an exciting childhood. Spike and Debbe
have moved to “a new residence
in Sun Valley, Idaho, where hunting, fishing, hiking and friends are
the order of the day.”
Like Worth, Spike is taking an
active interest in his new environment. He is “spending some time
re-building the Coffee Pot Lodge
on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake
River in Idaho, built in 1927,”
and working “on the Board of
Living with Wolves, a smallish
organization in Ketchum, Idaho,
dedicated to saving the North
American Gray Wolf from extinction, a second time”—talk about
getting into the local wild life.
Again, the Eph connection with
the environment is strong. “We
may be developing a relationship
with Williams as they develop
a new major encompassing
conservation.”
Spike also reports that his
second son is graduating from
Stanford Business, and he clearly
keeps up his California connections despite the pull of Idaho.
He reports a Simon-sighting (the
notes wouldn’t be complete without one) at a dinner hosted by Bill
for the new Williams president in
LA. I suppose I should be mildly
surprised he didn’t run into Bill
on the top of Kilimanjaro.
Linda Vipond Heath reports
undertaking the grueling trek of
the college hunt, and her travels
have been extensive—“from
Scotland to California” to find
a suitable location outside the
Northeast for her daughter. “The
process doesn’t seem to get any
less angst-ridden the more you
go through it,” Linda notes. She
has been taking some solace from
sharing the experience with Cecily
Stone, who lives in Armonk and
has a daughter off to college in
the fall. Linda says, “We have
been sharing notes about college
admissions.” Linda also notes,
with a hint of relief, that Cecily
“has one more to go, which
makes me feel good that I’m not
the only ‘older’ parent doing the
college tours.” While not touring
the academic landscape, Linda is
doing her own form of educating.
“I’m still doing lots of volunteering and have gotten involved with
a local financial literacy program
for women and teenage girls.”
Jeff Seitelman is one of those
parents who has been through the
college years once but is facing
the years of high school parentage
again. His son Rob ’01 is “actively
teaching English and theater in
an arts charter HS in Antioch,
Calif.” Jeff’s daughter was Bat
Mitzvah’ed in mid-June. Jeff’s
work schedule sounds hectic and
demanding: “I am on the faculties
of UCal Irvine Med Center Dept.
of Psychiatry, the New Center for
Psychoanalysis (where I’m senior
faculty) and the Newport Center
for Psychoanalytic Studies (where
I’m a training and supervising
psychoanalyst). I am still engaged
in the office practice of psychoanalytic psychiatry for adults,
children, teens, couples and families. I just finished teaching in the
Orange County psychodynamic
psychotherapy program of the
NCP (New Center).”
Bill Eyre also looks forward to
another vicarious college experience with a daughter graduating
from high school this spring.
Bill actually needs a professional
scheduler for this spring. Not only
does he face a high school graduation but two college graduations
(Williams and Duke) and a marriage in July. The Williams grad,
“Toby ’10, had a great experience
at Williams and was able to finish
All American in squash all four
years, reaching as high as number
three in the country in 2009.”
Julie Kaufman got close to the
Purple Valley, relaxing for “a few
blissful days at Canyon Ranch
(Lenox, Mass.) with Patricia
Deneroff” in the early spring. Julie
was working “giving two seminars there on learning to choose
the right clothing and accessories,
and Patricia was good enough
to come keep me company.
Even though we manage a lunch
together when I’m in New York
now and then, this was the first
extended time we’ve had together,
probably in decades. It was great
fun.”
James Fraser Darling reports
from UK on different form of taking the waters. “I had a difficult
time getting through the coldest
winter in the UK in 30 years, as
my apartment in London is a
converted attic and has no insulation. Heating the bath water was
very expensive,” James says. But
his chilling tale takes a warm
turn with the note that James
turned 60 in late March, and
the Brits consider that officially
old (probably due to many cold
baths) and will provide assistance
in future years. In fact, officially
old life in UK sounds pretty good.
James says: “I have joined an old
people’s organization called Open
Age. They offer free tai chi and
yoga classes, and the occasional
outing in a bus. Now that I am
over 60, I get free public transportation in Greater London,
which helps to keep my horizons
expanded.”
Dede Gotthelf is seeking out
new horizons in NYC, moving
from her East Side coop apartment to a townhouse in Harlem.
CL ASS
NOTES
She chalks up the adventurous
real-estate pioneering to the same
spirit that put her among the early
classes of women in Williams. She
says the neighborhood is “new,
up and coming.” She predicts that
John Loeffler will be following
soon—though how that fits with
an up and coming is a subject
perhaps for future notes.
1974
Jonathan W. Fitch
5 Cedar Hill Road
Dover, MA 02030
[email protected]
World-class explorer, ornithologist and environmentalist Bruce
Beehler writes that he is spending
the summer heading up a field
project in Papua New Guinea,
measuring the impact of ongoing
climate change on the health
and distribution of wildlife and
forests. He says, “Climate change
is actively impacting nature in the
tropics today and one can see it
happening. … Species generally
flee up-slope into the mountains
to get away from the heat. Other
impacts are harder to predict,
hence the study!” Good luck to
Bruce in undertaking that work.
And congratulations to him are
also in order: He was appointed
senior director for biodiversity
assessment at Conservation
International in Arlington, Va.,
where he has worked for 14
years. Bruce’s note mentions, too,
that he has children studying at
Wake Forest and Lehigh.
Those many among us who are
fans of Bill Finn have something to
look forward to. Bill has teamed
up again with James Lapine in the
creation of Little Miss Sunshine, a
musical comedy premiering at the
La Jolla Playhouse next February.
The musical is based on the
superb 2006 Oscar-winning film
about the escapades of a family
helping their 10-year-old pursue
her dream of winning a children’s
beauty pageant. Bill, writer of
the music and lyrics, previously
collaborated with Mr. Lapine,
(director and author of the book),
on Falsettos. Perhaps Jeff Elliott,
who wrote to me about Bill’s
project, will organize a Little Miss
Sunshine-like road trip for us to
La Jolla next winter. (Not a bad
idea, heh?) Why should we have
to wait until Bill’s latest feat hits
Broadway?
If you haven’t read it already,
get yourself a copy of Rory
Nugent’s latest novel, Down at
the Dock’s, set in the city of New
Bedford, which has just been
released in paperback. It’s great
reading! According to a review in
the Washington Times, the novel
“weave(s) history and speculation, reveal(s) cravens and heroes,
offer(s) low comedy and high and
resonate folklore. … Mr. Nugent’s
homage to his adoptive home
port, a moving and desperate
book, is at once a chronicle, ramble, reminiscence, expose, epitaph
and screed.” Rory’s other books
are Drums along the Congo and
The Search for the Pink-Headed
Duck. He also has written (“hack
work,” he calls it), for Spin,
Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The
Atlantic, National Geographic,
newspapers and news services.
In his e-mail to me, Rory says, “I
continue to swim into the sunset,
writing books better suited to
an earlier century, and accepting
news assignments to places few
others want to visit.” If you lived
in Morgan Hall in, say, the fall of
1970, you know that Rory’s West
entry was a lively scene. Alas, as
Rory writes, “After we left, they
stripped, then gutted Morgan and
it could never be the same again.”
It was a pleasure to hear from
several of our classmates, who
have been shy to report their
movements over the last several
decades. A note, for instance,
came in from Ed Ryan! Ed says,
“Hate to break my ghost status,
but here’s a report for the notes:
Everything fine here. For the last
few years, my wife Mary and
I suspended our semi-reclusive
life out near the beach on Long
Island to work on Mary’s first
album and tour since her longago Shangri-Las days. The CD
got good reviews, and we did
small tours of U.S. and Europe.
Fun to travel and hang out with
the 20-year-olds and see that
there’s still good new rock and
roll out there (though not on the
radio). Now starting to plan our
dotage—back to the beach.” And
great to hear from another “lost
list” member, Steve Cooperstein,
who writes, “I’m rolling along
at a nine-lawyer plaintiffs’
personal injury firm, where I do
most of the writing and all of
the appeals. I’ve been doing that
for 20 years now. Carol and I
have been sort of empty nesters
for a couple of years. ‘Sort of’
because one of our children is
in college in Philadelphia and is
therefore given to the pop in. Our
oldest of three daughters is two
years out of college, living and
working in Pittsburgh (about a
five-hour drive from our home
in suburban Philly). Our others,
twins, have each completed three
years of college, one at Pitt and
the other at Drexel (the latter is
in a five-year program, so we’re
not quite at the end of the tuition
trail).” Steve also mentions
taking advantage of the familiar
child-abroad gambit to visit Great
Britain last fall. “Our daughter at
Drexel spent the fall in London,
and so we visited her there, and
the three of us spent a weekend
in Edinburgh and the Highlands.
We have nothing on the immediate horizon more exciting than
Pittsburgh.”
You think that you have a full
plate? Here’s what Bill Morris is
up to: “All five kids doing great.
One prepping for vet school, one
entering senior year at SUNY
Potsdam, one in fourth grade
and two in pre-school. Yikes.
No time for golf, not much
anyway. Business is good. I’ve
just completed a 10-year term as
county Democratic Party chair,
run for and lost a race for town
supervisor and am running again
for county chair in the fall. I
met Jamie King ’84 on the golf
course here. He is squash coach
at Hamilton. My best to all in the
class!” Brewster Rhoads shares
Bill’s zeal for the Democratic
Party and continues to work in
Ohio state politics. He writes, “I
am just working my tail off as the
SW Ohio Regional Director for
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
(D). He is up for reelection in
November, so the heat is on!”
Our class was well represented
at the Gaudino Commemorative
Weekend in Williamstown last
April. Jeff Thaler reports that
on hand with him were Jim
Samenfeld-Specht, Jon Kravitz, Jeff
Niese, Mike Lucow and Margie
Kessler French. In addition, Jeff
says, “Although not present in
person, Dick Slade had some
key scenes in the film shown
Saturday night about Gaudino’s
life, created by Paul Lieberman
’71. Some of the profs from our
day who spoke and attended
were Jim Burns ’39, Kurt Tauber,
Craig Brown, George Marcus,
Charlie Baer and Fred Greene.”
For the last several years, Jeff has
organized a Winter Study project
in which students meet and work
with immigrants in the area of
Portland, Maine.
A lot of graduation reports
were sent in. Joanie and Bob
Stern’s son Michael graduated
from Swarthmore in May and
will be working for Impala Asset
Management in New Canaan,
Conn. Bill Gisel dropped us a note
while on his way to Williamstown
for the graduation daughter
n 1 9 7 3 –7 5
Hannah ’10. Chuck Zellerbach and
Patricia were in Seattle to help
celebrate Hilary’s graduation
from UW Nursing School. Chuck
says, “Hilary has a job working
at the rheumatology clinic at
Swedish Hospital in Seattle. Phew,
now maybe the cash flow will go
in my direction. Jennifer is entering UC Berkeley this fall in social
welfare. She has been working as
a Buddhist Chaplin at the AIDS
ward at the Laguna Honda Home
and with the inmates at San
Quentin for the last six months.
Will should be coming home from
Kenya this fall after doing community development work there
for the past six months. It will be
great to have them all close for at
least a while.” Doug Miller writes,
“ I went with the rest of my family to LA earlier in May, as my
oldest son Karl was graduating
from law school at USC. While in
LA we visited the Getty museum,
had some spectacular dinners and
of course went to the graduation. USC Law grads wear bright
red robes … so the assembled
class looked something like the
College of Cardinals.” Doug also
mentions that he was recently in
Boston for a convention of model
ship enthusiasts. He says, “I was
staying over in Charlestown near
the USS Constitution, as a group
of us who have as a hobby collecting finely detailed models of
ships of all types had our annual
meeting there … the Society of
Miniature Ship Collectors. I have
some nice pictures of Boston
as seen from across the water,
with clear blue skies to boot.
BUT I did not know until this
weekend that one can see jellyfish
in Boston harbor … and in the
drydock at the Charlestown
Navy Yard, in the water next
to the Constitution. Not just a
few, but many, many jellyfish.
I’m guessing this has to do with
climate change, the warming of
the oceans and so on.”
Best wishes to Skip March,
who writes that he is recovering from an illness that sidelined
him from organizing the Yo-Yo
Memorial Golf tournament this
year. Skip says, “The upside is
I’ve lost about 20 pounds, which
was sorely needed. I have no
idea yet the effect on my golf
game, but that has nowhere to
go but up. Tom Slattery picked
up on the organizing for the
Yo-Yo Memorial Golf Outing …
held on July 10, so thank you to
Tom.” Skip also reports, “My
eldest daughter is getting married
in August, so we are all getting
geared up for that. The happy
couple really enjoys each others
company, lots of laughter and
joy.” Peter Venter, a Hopkins
House suitemate of Skip’s and
mine, writes that he relocated
his company’s operations from
Streetsboro, Ohio, to Detroit.
Peter is the VP and general manager of Acument North America,
a division of Acument Global
Technologies. Acument, a publicly
traded company with more than
9,000 employees, operates in
more than 150 countries and provides a broad array of fastening
and assembly technologies.
That’s all for now, folks. Don’t
forget to buy Rory’s novel, to follow Bruce’s adventures in Papua
New Guinea, to plan a night
at the theater with Little Miss
Sunshine, to drop a note of wellwishing to a classmate—or send
in a report to me that I can share
with us all.
1975
Julia Berens
22 Sperry Lane
Lansing, NY 14882
[email protected]
secretary Allan Ruchman:
Our 35th reunion has come and
gone, but the glow will remain
for a long time. Be careful what
you wish for: We didn’t have
the scorching heat of our 30th
reunion but more of a Berkshire
gray with a drizzle here and there.
However, friendship and fun
always trump weather. Kudos
again to the reunion committee
led by Liz Haff and Virginia Drewry
for a wonderful weekend.
The good times were shared
by 111 classmates. With spouses
and “significant others,” that
number was anticipated to be as
many as 150 for the Saturday
dinner. Guess what? 166 showed
up for dinner. So our fleet-footed
class organizers scrambled to
set up another table and expand
the party. Making the reunion
particularly special were the
attendance of some first-timers to
a Williams reunion. They include
Delbert Wigfall, Chan Lowe, Mike
Durst, Phil Less, John Abbott,
Mike Hensley, David Jacobs, Greg
Formey, Larry Choy, Warren Barker,
Steve Pomeroy, Paul Council, Steve
Stephanian and Ada Miller. If I
missed other newbies, forgive me.
So many folks, and not enough
time.
In addition to the class festivities
under the Garfield House tent,
special contributions were made
by many. Chan Lowe and Harry
Sheehy led alumni seminars
on Friday morning. Saturday
afternoon Pete “Zac” Zaccanino
ran a class on playing the ukulele;
Bart Nourse conducted a seminar
on education reform; and Class
of ’75 artists Susan Read Cronin
, Walter Matia, Ned Reade, Mike
Glier and Chan Lowe hosted a
showing of their work at the
Harrison Gallery on Spring
Street. On Sunday morning at
Thompson Chapel, Greg Formey
gave a reading from the Book of
Matthew as part of the Service of
Gratitude and Remembrance.
Among the other highlights of
the weekend was a presentation
and Q & A with new president
Adam Falk. Adam, with a light
touch and wonderful sense of
humor, talked about his priority
commitments to three areas: 1)
continued academic excellence;
2) development of a balanced life
for 18- to 22-year-olds, 3) the
multiple communities that make
up the College and of which it is a
part. Current and future students,
faculty and (we) the alumni are in
good hands.
Mike Pucillo hosted, as current chairman of the Gaudino
Memorial Fund, a screening of a
documentary by Paul Lieberman
’71 about Prof. Bob Gaudino
“who shook students to their
core. He took students from
warmth and comfort to the unsettling place he called ‘otherness.’”
The film captures the essence of
the man and those times. Mike
tells me that copies of the DVD
are available through the development office and contributions to
the Gaudino Fund that support
campus programs related to his
teaching goals are welcome.
My nomination for best story
of the weekend comes from Chan
Lowe at the ’75 artists reception:
“At the Harrison Gallery opening
on Spring Street the Saturday of
the reunion, the owner thought it
would be nice to have a photo of
three of the artists who were present, Susie Read Cronin, Ned Reade
and myself. Art history Prof E.J.
Johnson ’59 was there, and since
Ned and I had both credited him
in our write-ups as having been
a positive influence, we included
him in the photo. The place was
jammed. The owner handed the
camera to a random alum who
happened to be standing around
at the party, Tom Lockhart. He
takes the photo, puts down the
camera and suddenly E.J. turns
red, points his finger at Tom
and yells, “You’re the guy who
streaked me!” Tom also turns red
and looks away at the floor. Sure
CL ASS
NOTES
enough, he streaked E.J. during
an Art 101 lecture in the AMT
back in 1971, and E.J. never forgot what he looked like. “It’s the
way you carry yourself,” E.J. said.
Busted, after 39 years. Anyway,
there was lots of laughter all
around, they shook hands and
now the story is part of Class of
’75 lore.”
We had classmates come far
and wide, including Ed Case from
Hawaii and Bobby Kitteridge
from his current residence in
the south of France. Bobby
particularly wanted to thank
classmates for the warmth and
welcome extended to spouses and
significant others.
Saturday night after cocktails
and buffet dinner, DJ Uncle Zac
had everyone rockin’ and rolling,
prancing and dancing from his
virtual juke box, the Class of ’75
iPod. Julie Berens recalls: “Bob
Morin dancing in the chair with
a bevy of ‘babes’ dancing around
him was a priceless image. Harry
Sheehy suggested a rope line from
the tent to a tree by the road so
that he could get to his car in the
dark.” Another take on Saturday
night comes from Andrea Diehl:
“Wild and crazy dancing, intense
talk with wonderful people …
I was laughing so hard.” In the
spirit of the six-word biography,
Kathy Bogan summed up: “Must
dance until your feet bleed” and
“I wish I knew you then.”
Kathy is moving her journalistic
skills and talents from Colorado
and a collapsing newspaper
industry to the adventure of a
thriving chain of English-language
newspapers based in Nairobi,
Kenya, and operating throughout
East Africa.
Tony Brown reports on the great
time he had at the reunion and
duly noted the many photos in
the class photo loop (playing
Friday and Saturday night) of
the Bonn-Chokel-Earle-Remy
quartet. Tony did plenty of singing over the weekend. He caught
up with some former Ephlats at
the Log for a few songs. Then he
sang a few tunes Saturday night
at Mike Reed’s house and joined
(with me) in the alumni choir at
the Memorial Service on Sunday.
Also at Mike’s house that night
for some singing were some
of the former members of The
Black Complexities and fellow
classmates Greg Formey, David
Jacobs and Delbert Wigfall. Both
David and Mike shared with me
the impetus for the reconnection
being the belated news of the
death several years ago of Gerald
Gantt. David got this news by
From left, 1975 classmates Delbert Wigfall, David Jacobs, Gregory
Formey, Michael Reed and Paul Council caught up on campus during
Reunion Weekend in June.
interviewing Gerald’s son for
a surgery internship at David’s
hospital in Charlotte, N.C.
Also singing at the Memorial
Service were David Jacobs, Delbert
Wigfall, Fred Dittman and Jerry
Brown.
Charlie Safford observed from
the weekend: “We all look exactly
the same—just keep telling
ourselves—we all look exactly
the same.” Charlie wrote that
Gina Campbell was to visit him
in Atlanta and “help out with
a conference for mental health
clinicians my company is offering.
Gina is an expert in symbolic
modeling and clean language,
an incredibly interesting therapy
technique. That brings the
number of classmates who have
visited me in Atlanta up to one.
Any other classmates should feel
free to visit and raise that number
a little.”
Barbara Austell pointed out that
the yellow Hawaii style shirts
from our 25th reunion were still
the big fashion item on campus
after 10 years. Mark Fishman, who
had them made for us, would
have been proud.
I caught up with Kirk Renaud,
my Williams A entry mate: “We
just got back from visiting our rising senior Williams son in Spain,
where he was completing a semester abroad. Our Princeton grad
is working in Washington for the
Union of Concerned Scientists.
I’ve recently been traveling in
China and Japan for my sports
products business and busy with
work on a new solar energy venture plus some nonprofit boards.
I occasionally run into Harry
Jackson, Mike Durst and Anton
and would love to hear from
other Ephs in the area.”
Ned Reade, one of our class
artists, checked in to say: “I was
so appreciative of the many who
turned up at the opening at the
Harrison Gallery. While Chan
and I were talking together about
influential Williams profs, we
both mentioned E.J. Johnson ’59.
As if on cue, who should walk
in but E.J.! Wonderful coincidence and a great chance to say
‘thanks.’ The rain certainly did
not dampen the fun for the Class
of ’75.”
At the Saturday-night festivities,
I got an update from Paul Council.
Paul helps coordinate litigation
at Kaye Scholer in NYC. He feels
fortunate, given the post-crash
squeeze felt by big corporate
law firms, that he got involved
in a very big and complicated
multi-year litigation defense of a
big pharma company just prior to
the crash.
Linda (Spencer) Murchison
recently walked from Springer
Mt., Ga., to Hot Springs, N.C.,
on the Appalachian Trail. 270
miles! Linda left reunion early to
attend the wedding of Charlotte
(Vaughan) Winton’s son at the
Brooklyn Museum. We hope to
see Charlotte at the 40th.
Patty (Brown) Glenn also scooted
out early to catch up with her
NYC-based son. Patty’s new
project is a web-based art gallery devoted to indigenous and
primitive art. Global in scope and
affordable in price. Starting in
September.
Right after reunions, where
I briefly saw Joe Bonn, he was
featured in a front-page article in
The Philadelphia Inquirer about
using interventional radiology to
n 1 9 7 5 –7 6
help treat people with multiple
sclerosis.
Steve Gardner (also from
Williams A and my co-JA buddy)
had an eventful spring with his
son graduating from high school
(Macalester College bound), and
daughter from college (Tufts). He
also ran the Boston Marathon.
Mike Doochin is very sorry he
couldn’t make it to reunions
but was busy with multiple
graduations (Vanderbilt and
Harvard Business School) and the
promotion of his new book The
Tzaddik. This is the story of “a
unique soul born into a prominent family who is endowed with
the power to effect vast change
in our contemporary society.”
The book was based on years of
study of Kabbalah with a rabbi.
To learn more, go to www.The
TzaddikANovel.com.
Another reunion regret was
sent to me by Andrea Axelrod. “I
was in crisis mode for my mother,
who recently entered assisted
living and was facing a setback.
I’ve gotten helpful and loving
notes from some classmates
who have been through similar
heartbreaking journeys with their
memory-challenged parents. …
Reflecting back on the Class of
’75, I realized how lucky we were!
I certainly wished I could have
spent reunion weekend with my
classmates, but duty called.”
Liz Titus said she was sorry she
was unable to attend reunion.
“My two senior-year roommates
Polly Wood-Holland and Polly
Smith and I had a wonderful
minireunion in Lexington, Mass.,
this spring, during which we celebrated the success of their youngest children in graduating from
high school and getting accepted
at great schools and marking that
major parental benchmark of a
soon-to-be empty nest. I work in
a field—energy efficiency—that
is enjoying a level of activity and
public interest that keeps us all
busier than we may like to be, but
not complaining!”
Dave Clarke sent me a note saying: “I retired from my medical
practice last summer to begin
a new career lecturing around
North America and Europe about
unexplained symptoms linked to
stress. Sorry I couldn’t attend the
reunion but will try again in the
future.”
Congratulations to Dan Muzyka,
who was made a Knight of the
National Order of Merit by
the Government of France and
named to the Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (equivalent to
the National Science Foundation
in the U.S.).
Further congratulations to
Stan Fri, who passes on the good
news of his marriage to Colinthia
Whyms in a small service in
Charlotte, N.C. He picked up
two stepsons in the bargain, ages
14 and 25. Among the attendees
were Peter Johnson.
Suzanne Fluhr and Steve Abelda
also sent their reunion regrets but
were in Chicago for their niece’s
bat mitzvah. They had lunch at
the event with former Williams
College president Morty Schapiro,
now president of Northwestern
University. They also report seeing
Kirk Victor in Washington, where
he covers the White House for
National Journal.
This is my final report. I am
passing the baton to Julie Berens,
who was the class secretary many
moons ago. Please give her all of
the fantastic support you have
given me. It has been a thrill and
a privilege to share with you the
activities and life cycle events
of our classmates. The roads
we have and continue to travel
are rich and varied. That is one
among the many reasons why this
is such a wonderful and interesting task. Thank you for the honor
and be well.
1976
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Jane Ray Kell
4 Springlake Place, NW
Atlanta, GA 30318
Laurie Taylor
435 Grove St.
Upper Montclair, NJ 07043
[email protected]
Hi everyone. We hope you’re
making plans to attend our 35th
reunion June 9-12, 2011. A
committee met in May to start
planning, and Tricia and Steve
Castraberti have agreed to be our
hosts for food and drink once
again, guaranteeing a culinary
feast. Class President Debbie
Nelson is soliciting suggestions of
faculty members to be invited to
join us and additional help with
planning. She writes, “Numberone priority will be to keep it
casual, relaxed and affordable.
Come one, come all! If not now,
when?”
DC Dugdale made his first trip
back to Williamstown in 32
years to show his daughter Emily
’14 around and was greeted
by Physics professor Kevin
Jones ’77 and retired professor Stuart Crampton. “I don’t
know whether it was the grilled
honeybun at the snack bar or
my description of the epic snow
ball fight(s) in the Freshman
Quad that made my daughter
say ‘yes’ to Williams,” he writes,
“but I am glad she’ll be there,
and I look forward to visiting again.” DC lives in Seattle,
where he is on the faculty of the
Department of Medicine at the
Univ. of Washington. Son Alex is
a sophomore at Eastman School
of Music in Rochester, N.Y., and
DC’s youngest child is in 10th
grade. He sees other Seattle-area
alumni Judy Bowen ’78 and Ed
Lipkin ’71 and keeps in touch
with Pratt House roommates Ed
Bacher ’77, Larry Hyde ’77 and
Dave Axon ’75.
Also entering the Class of 2014
are Warren Feder’s twins Katie
and Robbie, whose older sister
Julianne ’10 was to graduate in
June. “Three for three which
completes the brood,” writes
Warren, adding that “given the
4:1 advantage, my wife Judith,
who went to Tufts, has given
up and now sports purple and
gold.” Warren and Judith planned
to have dinner with Anne ’77
and Andy Hogeland while in
Williamstown for graduation and
looked forward to seeing Fawn
and John Bell, whose daughter
Audrey ’10 was to graduate with
Julianne ’10. After graduation and
a family trip to Japan and China
to celebrate Warren and Judith’s
25th wedding anniversary,
Julianne was to return to NYC
to begin working in the specialty
food world, “where she can leverage her love of real, local products
with her fluency in Italian, French
and Spanish.”
Warren recently worked with
Jeff Nicholas on two M&A deals,
Jeff as lawyer and Warren as
investment banker, and noted
that it’s “nice to have a sharp,
dependable colleague on your
side.” Similarly, Jeff worked with
Peter Reynolds on a “complicated
project in Singapore, where Peter’s
experience in the region proved
to be invaluable.” In the spring,
Warren dined with Tyler House
housemate Corinne Ball ’75, who
heads up the restructuring and
bankruptcy practice at Jones,
Day. He looked forward to the
annual benefit for The Gateway
School, of which he is board
chairman, noting that it was to
be hosted by Robert DeNiro
and Matt Damon and to feature
performances by Jon Stewart and
Bruce Springsteen.
CL ASS
NOTES
Vin McLoughlin caught up with
a number of old friends during
a visit to New England last
spring. While in Williamstown,
he watched Bruce Entwisle’s son
Jimmy ’10 play a “mean second
base” for the Williams baseball
team and “had a few giggles
with Fred Geilfuss ’75, whose
cool son is a junior, and Mike
Watkins ’75, whose truly cool
son Rhys is a freshman.” He also
saw Peter Keller, an oil banker
in NYC, and Bruce Humphrey,
who “rides Harleys with dudes
from Aerosmith.” In northern
Vermont, he caught up with
Mark Sinclair ’75 and Tony Kroker
’75. Earlier in the year, Vin had
watched Chris Mazdzer, son of
Ed Mazdzer ’75, compete in the
Olympics as the “up-and-coming
standout in luge.”
Vin continues to “toil in the
exciting world of trucking” as
CEO of Cardinal Logistics in
Roswell, Ga. He reports that his
eldest son has finished college and
started a band. “He got to play
David Letterman in February and
tours all over the world. Please go
to iTunes and buy all music from
The Soft Pack as I do not desire
or need any cash calls for the rest
of my life!” Vin had dinner with
Jeff Artis, who lives in Alpharetta,
Ga. After 20 years at IBM, Jeff
now runs sales at high-tech firm
Spherion and is a proficient golfer.
He has been married “20-plus
years and has three lovely
daughters, one at Univ. of South
Carolina, one in high school and
one entering high school.”
Kay Pesek Nixon sends greetings
from “Chicagoland,” where she
is in her 14th year teaching reading and language arts to seventh
graders at Lincoln Hall Middle
School. She plays tennis for fun
and uses “any excuse to get back
to Williams,” including serving
as an associate class agent for
our 35th reunion. Kay’s daughter
Annie, 24, lives in Buenos Aires,
where she has been for almost
three years. Kay visited her last
spring and went to Patagonia and
hiked on the Moreno Glacier. Son
Matt is 21 and in his fifth year
at the University of Colorado at
Boulder in the Leeds Business
School. He was to attend a
program in London this summer
to complete two requirements and
is on the extreme ski team. Kay’s
husband retired and is enjoying
golf, “going to Ireland this fall to
do just that.” Kay plans to attend
the tailgate party in October and
our 35th reunion.
Deborah Gould reports that she
is still with Kaiser Permanente,
responsible for risk management,
compliance and regulatory performance of the medical centers
at Oakland and Richmond, Calif.
“Personally, I have now recovered
from a year of surgeries,” she
writes. “I have great respect for
rehabilitation specialists! With
two new hips and repair of a
broken spine, I am now bionic!”
Deborah looks forward to
getting back to tennis, golf and
skiing this year. She is still living
in the Bay Area “and planning
for retirement—not as soon as I
would like, however!”
Jeanne Gerulskis was in
Williamstown in April for a
gathering of students “whose
worlds were rocked by having
Robert Gaudino as a professor.
It was great to reconnect with
Chuck Senatore and Pam Carlton
and to make new friends over the
three days,” she writes. “A couple
of us did end up with some
scars—perhaps a legacy of Mr.
Gaudino’s desire for ‘uncomfortable learning’—as we had a little
fight with some barbed wire on
Stone Hill! It was great to step
out of my day-to-day life to spend
time in thoughtful reflection. I’m
glad to see Williams carrying on
the Gaudino legacy by funding
innovative teaching and student
experiences and encouraging this
gathering and sorry that the wild
Icelandic volcano kept my fellow
Appalachian Williams-at-Home
travelers Mike Rosenblum and
Lynel Long ’74 on the other side
of the Atlantic.” The McAuliffeShepard Discovery Center, which
Jeanne heads, was close to reaching the 100,000-visitor mark,
helped along by Carol Towson,
Anna Ewing and Bert Saul, who
visited to celebrate Bert’s birthday.
Jeanne’s son Jaki finished his
stint with VISTA in his birthplace
of Ketchikan, Alaska, and was
headed back to Univ. of New
Hampshire, and Jeanne was
enjoying a stint as president of the
Bow Rotary Club.
Writing from “the other side
of the Atlantic,” Mike Rosenblum
reports launching a new venture:
a partnership with Crystal Cruises
to offer “filmmaking theme
cruises,” which entail sailing the
world while learning to make
movies. Mike and wife Lisa
joined the crew on the Mumbai
leg of the maiden 108-day voyage, stopping off in Capetown to
shoot the pilot for his new cable
series Killer Sharks! More trips
are planned in 2011, when he’ll
offer a cruise for filmmakers in
the Caribbean. Mike and Lisa
were buying a country home in
the Cotswolds, replete with sheep,
cows, lambs and chickens, where
they will live when not living
“on top of MoMA” in NYC.
Though he missed the Gaudino
event, Mike managed a trip to
Williamstown with his nephew
and was “amazed at all the new
buildings and the deterioration
of Tyler House—or maybe it was
just my memory.” He hopes to
make it back for reunion “if it
isn’t lambing season.”
“Watching Up in the Air was a
bit like observing my own life!”
writes Jim Ware, who has flown
100,000 miles this year, with trips
to Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore,
Tokyo, London, Cape Town,
Johannesburg and Amsterdam.
“My airline is American, and
I just got one of those goofy
‘Concierge Cards’, which are
featured in the movie,” he quips.
“Fortunately, I like the travel,
and I love my work. Unlike [the
character played by] George
Clooney, I have a wonderful family and home to return to. And I
intend to bring my tribe (Jane and
daughters Alex and Nikki) to the
reunion next year.”
Having spent last spring as
a James Martin Fellow at the
Environmental Change Institute
at Oxford University, England,
Meg Lowman was headed to
Ethiopia for the summer to
work on conservation of the last
remaining forests there. Back
home, she and husband Michael
are “reducing their energy footprint” by downsizing to a condo
in Sarasota, Fla.
Deb Heineman continues to
enjoy her work as executive
director of the Wolf Conservation
Center in South Salem, N.Y.,
which recently received a large
grant to build an education center
and was to be featured on Good
Morning America. Deb loves
the diversity of her work day,
which ranges from “checking on
2-day-old pups in their den” to
recruiting board members and
hosting a gala party with Richard
Gere and renowned French
pianist Helene Grimaud. Two
of her three sons are in college,
and one is a sophomore in high
school. She recently had lunch
with Daryl McMillan in Princeton,
N.J., and often sees Liza Fraser in
Westchester County. She stayed
at Betsy Means’ house in NYC
during the February snowstorm
and hosted Jeanne Gerulskis on
a recent visit. “Who would have
thought that two former pre-med
students would end up running
non-medical nonprofits!” she
writes of herself and Jeanne. “But
n 1 9 7 6 –7 7
then, who would have thought
that Debbie Heineman would ever
end up in a suburb?”
“It’s all good,” writes Heather
Thomson. “In April I was part
of a 10-person team in the Run
of the Charles relay canoe race
through the suburbs of Boston,
and we won the mixed class and
came in eighth overall out of
about a hundred boats. I’m writing this on the flight back from
a meeting of the International
Society for Pharmacoeconomics
and Outcomes Research, where
I and two colleagues presented
two posters to the world’s largest
assemblage of policy wonks and
statistics geeks. Our kid seems to
have spent finals week at Ithaca
College seeing how far he could
navigate around town in his
canoe (‘Hi, Mom – I paddled to
Walmart.’) so we’ll have to see if
he took enough final exams to be
a junior in the fall.”
Wisely reminding us to “B
EZ,” Ernie Roberts reports that
his son is a member of the State
Championship WOHS Marching
Band and the N.J. Gala Wind
Ensemble.
Jim Fieber is wrapping up a
year off from work, during which
he and wife Debbie traveled
extensively. They were in LA in
May to attend daughter Sarah’s
(Yale ’08) graduation from
the USC Graduate School for
Screenwriting and Fiction. They
stayed with Peter Nelson, who
Jim reports “is doing great as a
star lawyer/agent in a spectacular
new office overlooking the Pacific.
I wonder how he concentrates
with that magnificent view.”
Jim’s sons Brian and Greg (both
’03) finished their first year in
the Columbia MBA program
and “thoroughly enjoyed their
respective experiences. With our
youngest son, Daniel ’12 … at
Williams, we have made several
trips to campus this past year and
have especially enjoyed getting to
know Daniel’s friends. We love
bumping into the usual ’76ers
at football games, and we are
looking forward to next year’s
35th when we can catch up with
more of our classmates.” Jim
and Debbie were headed back to
Napa and the West Coast and to
Scotland, Holland and the Middle
East during the summer. “It will
be hard to get back on the roller
coaster!” Jim writes.
Fortunately for the residents
of Jamaica Plain, Mass., Joy
Silverstein is still in the business
of styling hair at Fresh Hair, the
midsize full-service salon that she
has owned for 28 years. “Over
the years I’d considered growing
the business, hiring a manager,
moving out from ‘behind the
chair,’ expanding into a more
competitive market,” she writes.
“But then I realized how much
I enjoy keeping a personal hand
in everything, and so I decided
to dig deeper rather than wider. I
figure that retirement beckons in
less than 10 years, and meanwhile I have learned to delegate
all that I do not like to do and
am leading some younger staff
members to finance my exit
plan.” Joy’s daughter is a junior
at Milton Academy and interested
in Williams, having visited with
her mom last spring. Joy gardens
(mostly vegetables), reads (a lot
of non-fiction) and “used to do
gymnastics but that led to two
hip replacements so now it’s only
gentle yoga and physical therapy.”
She is involved with a few local
organizations and is engaged to
Lewis Baer, with whom she has an
“untraditional” relationship. “It’s
sort of a joke: we’ve been seeing
each other for over seven years,
and although we agree that someday we’ll probably get married,
we live apart and have no plans to
move in together anytime soon.”
Still commuting into Manhattan
for his “day job,” Jim Whitcomb
recently ran into Jim Follett as
they stepped off the same train
and reports that he “appears not
to have aged at all in 35 years.”
Jim finds himself “in the eye
of the perfect storm of college
tuitions—offspring #1 graduating
from Virginia, #2 at St. Andrews
and #3 starting at Bowdoin.”
As are many of us, he is sad to
see the Williams Club closing its
doors, having been a member
since 1976.
1977
Daiva (Garbus) Gasperetti
401 East 74th St. #5C
New York, NY 10021
[email protected]
Thanks to everyone who sent
notes for this issue, especially
the “first-timers!” Remember to
register your e-mail address with
the College so that the school can
stay in touch (and so I can remind
you when to forward your news)!
James A. Roe and Catherine O.
Becker were to tie the knot June
26 at Our Lady of the Isle Church
on Shelter Island, N.Y. Catherine,
a graduate of Northwestern
University with a BS and MA
in speech pathology, currently
resides in Dana Point, Calif.,
and has a private practice as a
speech and language pathologist. Jim obtained his PhD in
chemistry from the University of
California at Berkeley and lives in
Westchester, Calif., and on Shelter
Island; he is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Loyola
Marymount University in LA.
David Levy and his wife Judi
(Mount Holyoke grad and
former NYC roommate of Daiva
Gasperetti) occasionally practice
their empty nesting skills when
their 15-year-old, Alice, is away
for a weekend. Claire, their eldest,
graduated from Wesleyan in June
and now works as an assistant
account executive at a New York
advertising agency. Hannah, their
middle child, is a sophomore at
Bowdoin and planned to participate at a dig in Israel this summer and spend fall semester in
Grenoble. In recent years, David
has been running the Jerome Levy
Forecasting Center LLC, a macroeconomic research and consulting
firm, and occasionally managing
money, most notably through a
special situation hedge fund that
he closed in 2009 after a successful five-year run. Presently, he is
fully occupied with his business
but is considering opportunities
in public policy. The family lives
in Waccabuc, N.Y., surrounded
by Judi’s beautiful gardens, and
David hopes that the swimming
pool will draw Claire out of the
city on summer weekends! After
multiple back surgeries over the
years, David recently underwent
two hip resurfacing surgeries. He
looks forward to skiing again this
winter and feels extremely lucky
to “live at a time when I have
access to some of the wonders of
medical science. I have a frequentflyer card from the Hospital of
Special Surgery in New York;
I have had five surgeries there,
two elsewhere, and if I get two
more they will give me a free
lobotomy.” David laments that
he has been out of touch with his
Williams classmates. He sometimes sees John Kim ’93, who used
to work for him, and hopes to get
back in touch with more people
in the future.
Fred Simmons had his second
hip replaced. Having recuperated, he and Williams Trustee Bill
Simon ’73 are gearing up to climb
Big Mountains. Fred’s daughter
is happy as a clam in college
and was just elected one of 15
students on the Senate at Stanford
University. Fred longs to visit the
Purple Valley but fears it may be
a while.
Reporting a few changes in his
life, Larry Sanders wrote to say his
CL ASS
NOTES
wife decided to retire as a school
teacher and, at least for now, he’ll
be exiting the teaching field as
well (but may go back). He and
his wife are leaving New Jersey
and moving into their dream
house in, of all places, Rensselaer,
N.Y. An Albany native, Larry
never thought he’d rebel and
move cross-river, but they found
the perfect home on 24 acres that
look right down to the Hudson
and across to Albany. Another
chapter is about to start. They
will be close to Route 2 and plan
to shoot up to Billsville frequently.
Daniel Davidson is running
a couple of small businesses.
He is also the board chair of a
nonprofit called Documentary
Arts, www.docarts.com, whose
mission is to preserve our artistic
and cultural traditions. He works
extensively with the National
Endowment for the Arts and the
Library of Congress. Dan recently
visited Paris to attend an exhibition produced by Documentary
Arts at UNESCO’s HQ, as the
nonprofit had been picked as a
model NGO in the field of cultural preservation. While in Paris,
he visited with Jeb Seder and wife
Francie, who hosted dinner at
a small Russian restaurant near
their apartment not far from the
Arc de Triomphe. Jeb invoked the
memory of a spring break trip to
Florida when their almost 20-person traveling band spent the night
with Dan’s Russian grandparents.
Jeb and Francie are in fine form.
Jeb is turning a new chapter with
the sale of ADT France, which
he has been running for the past
several years.
Living outside Nashville, in
Franklin, Tenn., Dave Libardi
and wife Patty have raised three
daughters. One went to Holy
Cross and is now married, living
in California; the second went to
Notre Dame and is now teaching
in Nashville; the third is a junior
at Notre Dame. Dave and Patty
have seen John Greer and Skip
Grossman and wife Karen this
past year, as their kids either
attend or recently graduated from
Vanderbilt.
Steve Piltch wrote to say that as
much as he enjoyed his Williams
experience as a student, he loves
it more each year he is out of
school. With his son Matthew
’12 there, Steve has been back to
campus several times over the last
two years. Each time, he is taken
by everything that is offered there.
During the winter, he enjoyed a
special treat when he and wife
Sunny took in a basketball game
and enjoyed a nice meal with Alex
From left, (front) Tim Belk ’77, Jerry Tone ’77, Topper Webb ’77, Ramsay
Stabler ’77, (back) Charlie Haines ’77, Dudley Tyler ’77, Skip Smart and
Jerry Perkins ’77 gathered in April to fish in the Bahamas.
Rosten’ 76, his wife Susana and
their kids: Jessica ’09, Rachel ’10,
Jamie ’13 and Amy, a high school
freshman. They were joined by
Mike Rosten ’75 (who was Steve’s
JA) and his wife Margie. In April,
he returned with daughter Ali,
who will be a freshman this fall.
On that visit Steve visited with
Harry and Connie Sheehy (both
’75), heard President Falk, who
impressed everyone, and enjoyed
a nice lunch with Coach and Mrs.
Tong, who continue to live in
Williamstown and look out for
students at Williams. In addition,
he ran into Stan Parese ’78, who
practices law and lives with his
family in Williamstown. It was a
great visit for both his daughter
and him. Ali got home incredibly
excited to be a member of the
Class of 2014, and Steve returned
knowing Williams “continues to
be a place that remains as much
about the people as it does about
all the wonderful facilities and
programs it has to offer.” With
only their youngest son Jamie, a
high school sophomore, left at
home, Steve and his wife look
forward to Family Weekend in
the fall and other visits to come.
Anu Vuorik’s stepson Will has
been accepted to college in Walla
Walla, Wash. Anu still has a
stepdaughter at home who is
considering colleges with an
equestrian program.
With news from Seattle, Jane
Lester wrote to say her 15-yearold daughter Nina recently earned
a spot on Team USA for the
World Junior Ultimate Frisbee
Championship. The international
body sponsoring the tournament is the World Flying Disc
Federation. In the first week of
August, the world championship for kids under 20 years old
will take place in Germany. So,
Jane is looking forward to a trip
to Germany courtesy of Nina.
This comes after a wonderful
three-week trip to Buenos Aires,
courtesy of Jane’s older daughter
Lisa, who spent eight months
studying abroad in Argentina.
While there, they visited an
incredibly remote national park
so filled with capybara (related
to guinea pigs, they’re the largest
species of rodent) that it was a
challenge not to step on piles of
capybara scat. They also saw caimans (like alligators), rheas (like
ostriches), monkeys, storks—in
Jane’s words, “REALLY cool!”
Tony Spaeth moved from Hong
Kong, where he lived for nine
years, to Seoul, to become chief
editor of The JoongAng Daily, an
English-language edition of a top
Korean paper. It’s distributed with
the International Herald Tribune.
For 25 years, Ramsay Stabler
and some Williams friends have
headed out to Montana each
summer to do some trout fishing
with their resident guide Dude
Tyler. Since they all hit a pretty
good birthday (55), they decided
to upgrade their yearly jaunt and
headed to Abaco Island in the
Bahamas for four days of bonefishing last April. They brought
in a couple of “strays” (aka nonWilliams alums) to fill the lodge,
and a great time was had by all.
Another world traveler, Patty
Thomsson and husband David
traveled to Ghana with their
daughter Katie for spring break
in late March and completed the
second phase of a computer lab
construction at the Amankwatia
n 1 9 7 7 –7 8
Primary School in Kumasi. The
project began in the spring of
2008, when Katie’s second-grade
class was studying Ghana, and
David, who had traveled there
for business (veneer importing) for 18 years, worked with
Katie’s teacher to develop a
“Ghana curriculum,” including
information on the Ghanaian
school system. A pen-pal relationship was then established
with the second-graders of the
Amankwatia School. Wanting to
do more, the Cranbury School
children in grades K-2 raised
$506 in “Pennies for Ghana.”
Patty and her husband matched
this money, and David took it
to Kumasi, where he bought five
computers loaded with Windows
XP for the school. Subsequently,
the Amankwatia PTO raised
money for seven more computers, and a Member of Parliament
found funds for another two. In
the fall of 2009, the new crop
of kindergartners, first- and
second-graders wanted to raise
money to help the Amankwatia
School and enhance its computer
lab. This time the contribution
was $532! With additional funds
from Patty and David, they
purchased all the supplies and
technician services to network
the lab of 14 computers with the
Internet, a laser printer, paper
and 18 months of Vodaphone
Internet service. Patty and David
received their first e-mail from
the school about two weeks
after leaving Africa. In Patty’s
words, “It was a remarkable
and incredibly moving experience. Indeed the Amankwatia
School computer lab is now used
by two other schools as well.
Our reach with so little money
is substantial. Ghana may be a
developing country, but it is a
wonderful place to visit.”
For several months, Joel
Scheiman has been working
at MF Global, a leading cash
and derivatives broker, in their
Tokyo startup. His daughter
Anne landed a teaching job in a
bilingual Japanese program at
a school in Oregon and is very
excited to launch her new career.
Last spring, Daiva Gasperetti
attended a fun cocktail party
at the Williams Club in NYC.
Alums from all classes were
invited, and she enjoyed catching up with Jay Sullivan ’76,
Trip Spencer ’75 and Susie
Montgomery ’76, all whom live
and work in NYC.
1978
Jeff “J” DeLisle
538 Bloomingrove Drive
Rensselaer, NY 12144
[email protected]
I’m definitely going Green.
Another late bedtime, watching
the Celtics come within a game
of their 18th championship. Up
at just before light to protect my
perimeter. “Aged human urine,”
said the feeble but authoritativesounding woman in line with me
at the garden center. Somehow
that sounded like a better solution (in the chemical sense) for
my garden groundhog problem
than the pellets at $24.99, and it
is after all, natural. After deciding to plant tomatoes this April,
I caught a bad case of spring
fever. Cultivating, sorting rocks,
sinking a fence 4 inches into the
ground and rising 21⁄2 feet above,
pruning shade trees, include a
maple behemoth later, I have my
own little Boston Garden: 10 x
22, with squash, beans, carrots,
onions, scallions, swiss chard,
peppers of kinds, cucumbers
and enough plants for a million
tomatoes. I’ll be danged if those
little rodents are going to ruin
my plot.
While I was breaking ground,
Veta Weir and her husband
Ed were traveling to S. Africa,
Zambia and Botswana on a
trip sponsored by the Williams
College Society of Alumni. Vita
found them to be a fun and interesting group and had a fabulous
time.
The trip was made all the more
exciting by the upcoming World
Cup. “The people, safaris, food
were fabulous, and Ed and I are
already planning to return next
year.” On the way back, they
were in Paris, visiting friends, and
left just before the volcanic ash
blew. Vita half wishes she didn’t
miss it, so as to have an excuse to
stay a few more days in Paris.
Proving that one is never too
old to go back to grad school,
Raquel Shapiro Kislinger just completed a master’s in psychology
and is working as a marriage and
family therapy intern. She and her
husband are about to celebrate
their 33rd wedding anniversary,
making her wonder how time
manages to race by so quickly. “I
am struck with the memory of
standing in the Fayerweather and
East parking area in September
1974 just as Mark Leighton and
his dad pulled up. How sad that
we lost that vibrant, kind soul so
very early!”
Congratulations are in order for
Sue Stred, who was elected to a
three-year term as an administrator of the Tyng bequest.
Jim Little picked up on the golf
theme of my solicitation, and
hopes to get in a round or two
this summer. His heart, though,
is in coaching. Heavily recruited
as a T-ball coach, Jim graduated
to Little League last season. Their
team made it to the finals this
year but went down in flames
14-1 in the finale. Still, Jim points
out that they fared a lot better
than his beloved Houston Astros
will this year.
Jim and family just got back
from a trip to Yosemite and
Sequoia national parks. “We
enjoyed eating all the fresh fruit
(particularly the strawberries and
cherries) from the central valley
fruit stands as we drove from one
park to the other. The waterfalls
were full with all the snow melt.
The view from glacier point may
have been the prettiest view I have
ever seen.”
Jim and Cathy’s daughter
Amy completed her first year at
Southwestern Medical School in
Dallas and was to spend a month
with a family practice physician
this summer. Their daughter
Sarah completed her junior year
at Davidson and this summer
was studying for the MCAT and
using her Spanish language skills
at a nonprofit job, working with
kids. Jim is enjoying his work at
the local VA seeing patients and
teaching some of the UT neurology residents.
Dan Rudolph reports he is doing
very well in Atherton, Calif. He
is about to graduate his second
Eph-bound high schooler, Claire
’14, who will be joining her
older brother Jack ’11 for his
last year. Jack is an economics
major focused on environmental
studies who is moving off campus
next year (Hoxsey St.) after two
years in Garfield House. He is
friends with Roger McEniry’s older
daughter Courtney ’11. Dan’s
youngest daughter, Ellen, has a
couple more years before college,
and Dan suspects she will find
a different place to hang out for
four years. Dan heard from Ted
Rouse that one of his twins will be
at Williams in the fall.
Dan will be celebrating 10 years
on staff at Stanford University’s
Graduate School of Business.
The fruits of his labor there are
quite impressive and satisfying: In December he expects
the university will complete the
immense project he has overseen,
the new GSB campus. Its eightAugust 2010 | Williams People | 75
CL ASS
NOTES
building, 360,000-square-foot
green design was awarded a
platinum rating by the internationally recognized Leadership
in Energy and Environmental.
Dan is up for sabbatical next
year, after which point he will
decide whether to continue in
academia, something else in the
education-nonprofit area, or head
back into his roots in the Silicon
Valley. Dan continues to be in
touch with Jamie Barickman, Paul
Shorb, Mark Pogue, Bill Dahling,
Peter Currie (who lives next door
in Palo Alto) and Paul Strauss on
a regular basis. When he visits
Williamstown he has enjoyed
visiting the Clark and running,
especially Gale Road (3.1 miles if
memory serves).
Will Noel writes that he and
wife Barb Smith, having gotten
started with children before
most of our classmates, are now
expecting their first grandchild
in August. “That kind of busts
my concept that we graduated
just a few years ago,” quips Will.
“You would have thought all
three daughters graduating from
college (Vanderbilt, Williams ’06
and Colby) and being a reunion
ranger for our 25th reunion,
would have convinced me that
graduation was a long time
ago.” Will and Barb are living in
Houston, and he is representing
landowners in eminent domain
proceedings.
Diane Curtis Goodman’s son
was to graduate from high school
in June and head to Bates. They
were hoping he’d take a gap year
and were trying to find a good
fit. Their daughter Vicky finished
her sophomore year at Colgate,
which she loves. She’s a math
major, which amuses Diane, who
confesses she struggled a bit with
calculus freshman year. Youngest
daughter Katie will be starting
high school in the fall and is not
looking forward to being the only
one left at home.
Diane has seen Caroline
Congdon Dove several times in the
last 18 months, despite her living
in Flagstaff, Ariz., as her daughter
Emily has been determined to
leave Flagstaff and head east
for college, possibly to HobartWilliam Smith. Caroline’s son Ben
is at Westminster College in Salt
Lake City.
Glenn Shannon reports that
in April he had breakfast with
Guy Hoelzer and his wife, Cindy.
Guy, now the chair of the biology department at University of
Nevada-Reno, has been spending
a lot of time managing his department within a public university
during a period of state revenue
shortfalls but has been pleased at
his ability to keep his program
intact and relatively unscathed.
That same Glenn and his wife
Lori were invited to a dinner
hosted by Miranda Heller for
’78 women. Sarah Baldwin, Jane
Garvey, Casey Kiernan, Cammie
Lanphier, Jacquie Glanz, Maggie
O’Malley Luck, Liza Olsen Waters,
Amy Sterling Bratt, Julie Dunn, Val
Corning Spencer, Mary Fish Arango
and Sally Kruse Hughes were in
attendance.Glenn was amazed
and impressed at the significant
accomplishments these women
have made in the field of education, as teachers, administrators
or board members.
Glenn joined the real assets
advisory committee for the
Williams Investment Office and
has enjoyed meeting alums from
other classes and working with
the top-notch investment office
staff.
For those who offer excuses
for not contributing to the notes,
Angela Person and I don’t want
to hear any more. She wrote in
unseasonably bad weather, with a
stomach bug, right in the middle
of moving from Colorado to
Portland, Ore. Her house sold
in two days for cash money.
(Editorial comment: Are you kidding me?)
Joe Hurley is retiring this year
as VP of Bankrate Inc. This
comes a couple of years after
Bankrate purchased his website
Savingforcollege.com and his
publishing business that includes
my book The Best Way to Save
for College: A Complete Guide
to 529 Plans. Joe describes his
brush with the world of Section
529 college-savings plans as “a
12-year obsession.”
Joe seemed a bit abashed that
his wonderful wife Ginny, a
nurse practitioner in an oncology
practice, is the only one steadily
employed in his family. He can
hardly be described as a kept
man, though, as his entrepreneurial jones seem to have displaced
most people’s idea of “retirement.” He is now with their children Megan, 23, and Chris, 20,
in launching Bizplancompetitions.
com, a national registry of business plan competitions. He has
also started a maple-syrup business on their 50-acre homestead
in Victor, N.Y., and plans on
expanding to beekeeping and
honey production over the next
year. Their tagline at Kettle Ridge
Farm is “Because life should be
sweet.”
“And it is,” says Joe. Amen.
1979
Barbara H. Sanders
3 Stratford Road
White Plains, NY 10603
[email protected]
Summer is nearly over, and
autumn will be here in a minute.
That of course means more
news—transitions, jobs, milestone
achievements, offspring and partner updates, etc. Read on...
Not long ago, I was riding the
subway in NYC. My train pulled
into a station, and when the doors
opened, who should prance in but
Jackie Wilson! I couldn’t believe
it—as far as I was concerned, she
could have stepped down from
the stage at graduation, because
her looks haven’t changed since
June 1979 (which was the last
time I saw her). After all the
hugs, we tried to catch up on 30
years of news (which of course
is impossible) before saying our
goodbyes and going our separate
ways. Hopefully she can make it
to our next reunion (hint!).
Ann McCabe is the kind of classmate that class secretaries cherish—she connects with a number
of people and shares lots of good
news! She has been in touch with
Anne Calcagno, Raj Khadka (he
and his wife live in Atlanta), and
Peter Harty. Ann M. saw Jill and
John Svoboda at a recent Stanford
alumni dinner in Chicago.
She also ran into Betsy Jeffrey
Balderston and Blythe Miller
Brown ’80 last spring at their high
school reunion in Columbus,
Ohio. Ann, Betsy and I ended up
“e-mail conferencing”—Betsy’s
son Caleb ’10 graduated from
Williams in June, and he will be
moving to Chicago to work for
“Teach for America,” where he
will be teaching high school math
(father Tom ’78 gets half of the
credit for a job of 21 years well
done!). Ann also informs us that
Andy Massetti became CFO of
Remedi SeniorCare, located in
Baltimore, early this year. Judy
Dayton Mitchell has joined Huron
Consulting Group as the managing director in their Boston office.
She brings a wealth of skills,
which include the development
of hospitals and other health and
academic centers. Judy recently
spoke with Kathy Connelly
Ruane, who has three children at
Bowdoin this year.
Jonathan Ballan is head of New
York Public Finance at the Mintz
Levin law firm in New York. He
and his wife Sandy have been
married for 20 years and are the
very proud parents of two sons
n 1 9 7 8 –7 9
and two daughters. Jonathan and
son Scotty were featured in an
article in The New York Times
last spring. His “extra employment activities” include managing
his son’s little league team and
coaching soccer in the fall.
Jonathan and family enjoyed the
company of Laura and Tom Cox as
well as Rebecca and Peter Monson
at his son’s bar mitzvah this year.
Kathy Jackson Edington says
that “2009 was an amazing
year for our family, starting with
my oldest son Bob’s graduation
from Nichols College in May,
my husband Dave and my 25th
anniversary in June, our 30th
Williams reunion, Bob’s wedding
to Jolene Aussant in October,
Dave’s 50th birthday and party
the day after the wedding and
son Michael’s 21st birthday in
December. Then, in the midst of
all this (actually, the day after
our 25th), I was diagnosed with
early stage breast cancer and had
a successful lumpectomy in May,
followed by radiation therapy
through the summer. Thankfully,
all has gone well, and I have been
able to continue to work full time
at Cox Communications and
part time selling real estate, run
(including two half marathons)
and “kinda” keeping up at
home—although I have cut back
a bit on some of my volunteering efforts. Between the losses of
some classmates and friends and
my skirmish with cancer, I have
been forced to evaluate what’s
important, and it still comes
back to faith, family, friends and
treating people the way you want
to be treated. I guess that’s what
they mean by older and wiser.
Our family is looking forward to
a much quieter 2010!”
After working several years
with the State Department, and
at the College of William and
Mary, Mitchell Reiss became
president of Washington College
in Chestertown, Md., on July
1. He leads an institution that is
cited on more than one respected
list of top U.S. colleges and is
known for its excellent literary
and marine science programs.
He has been in touch with Greg
Kinsella, who will be bringing
his son to the college this fall.
Mitchell is also putting the finishing touches on his soon-to-be
released book, Negotiating with
Evil, which examines why, when
and whether governments should
negotiate with terrorist groups.
He explains, “For the past twoplus years, I have been traveling
around the world talking to
government ministers, military
commanders, intelligence officers
and former terrorists to try to
understand this phenomenon.
The basic premise is that we are
in a long war against many violent extremists and are not going
to be able to kill our way out of
it. At some point, we may want to
try to peel off some (by no means
all) of these groups by exploring
whether we can accommodate
their limited grievances. But how
can a government differentiate
between the “reconcilables”
versus the “irreconcilables”?
The wrong judgment can result
in political disaster, or worse. In
fact, there is a lot of experience
out there, but very little of it has
been captured. Negotiating with
Evil looks at a number of different cases in Europe, the Middle
East and Asia, and then extracts
lessons that can help guide future
policy-makers.” The book is due
for release this fall, so be sure to
include it on your “must read”
list. He extends an invitation to
all to stop by to see him and wife
Elisabeth and to visit the campus!
Herbert Irvin has had a truly
eventful year. On April 24,
a tornado swept through his
hometown of Yazoo City, Miss.
(population 15,000), about 40
miles from his current home in
the City of Jackson. The base
of the tornado was almost two
miles wide, leveling a significant
portion of the town, causing mass
destruction and heavy casualties.
He feels very fortunate that none
of his family or friends were in its
path, but nonetheless the disaster
had a profound impact on him,
one that is difficult to explain
or measure. On a more positive
note, he and his wife Lurlene are
approaching 30 years of marriage. The joy of their lives is their
daughter, Angelyn, who will be a
high school senior this fall.
Several classmates wrote
about Mark Tercek’s appearance
in The Wall Street Journal. As
president and CEO of The Nature
Conservancy, the article discussed
Mark’s impressive work with
this nonprofit. Through TNC, he
oversees the preservation of more
than 100 million acres of land in
more than 30 countries around
the globe. Mark and his wife Amy
live in Washington, and they have
four children, ages 12 through 21.
Stew Menking informs us
that Peter Wells ’79 is the head
crew coach at Williams. He also
reminds us that Peter May was
deployed to Iraq in February—
let’s pray for his safe return to
his family in early 2011, when
he retires from the Navy. Please
show him your support by sending him a card or package—CDR
Peter May; USF 1-C J 2 (ITFC);
Camp Slayer; APO AE 09342.
Tom Dodds has been named
chairman of the department of
anesthesiology at DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center, which
is also his medical alma mater.
After medical school, he left New
Hampshire for residency training
but subsequently returned to
Dartmouth and has been there
since 1988. His colleagues express
that he brings sound leadership
and fiscal management skills to
the department and has been
responsible for drawing cutting
edge, state of the art technology
and services to the division. Tom
says that “one very interesting
fact is that Gregg Hartman joined
the department over a decade ago.
Realizing that he is every bit as
capable as I (perhaps more so!) of
running this department, I made
him vice chair!” He adds, “I am
not sure what will be more of a
shock to my system—handling
the chair role or adjusting to my
three kids out of the house next
year! Tyler runs track at Wake
Forest, where he will be a senior;
Cooper, my ski jumper, qualified
for the USA World Junior team
last year and will be a sophomore
at Carleton College, and Haley,
my daughter and youngest, will
be a freshman at Skidmore. My
wife Bonnie (of 24 years and
counting) just convinced me to
get our second Great Dane—I
think she is covertly trying to
keep the house a busy place. I
have continued to be active in ski
jumping, coaching our local Ford
Sayre program for the last decade
and assuming the coaching position at Hanover High School
two winters ago. I even strap
on the old boards occasionally
myself! I am looking forward to
the ‘Reach-the-Beach’ relay team
which will be descending on the
Upper Valley in September.”
Wouldn’t you like to see your
name in nice, BOLD PRINT—as in
this column? Just imagine how
attractive it would look, accompanied by news about you! All
you have to do is drop us a line.
As a matter of fact, you can start
SENDNEWS!
Y
notes column.
CL ASS
NOTES
working on your composition
today! In the meantime, please
enjoy the fall season.
1980
Laura Pitts Smith
1828 Old Yellowstone Trail S.
Emigrant, MT 59027
[email protected]
secretary Mimi Dumouchel:
Greetings classmates, and happy
summer! A big thank-you to
everyone who contributed this
time.
“Sarah Austell ’81 and Ben Cart
regret missing reunion, especially
after reading Sarah Mollman’s
great write-up and viewing Gus’s
wonderful photos. Wish we could
have danced to that band! But
we like to think we contributed
a little bit. Our son James ’05
and his wife Ashley Ulmer ’05
are living in Williamstown now
(along with three dogs and our
granddaughter!), where Ashley
is the assistant director of alumni
relations and director of reunions!
They have a lot of purple stuff in
their house.”
Dave Beardsley: “Sorry I
couldn’t make reunion … it
sounds like it went well. I just
recently was transferred to
Chicago to head the Navy portion
of a unique merger of a Navy
medical facility with a veteran’s
hospital in North Chicago. It is
a wonderful opportunity that I
hope will benefit all those who
have and do honorably serve.”
Michele Corbeil had a great time
at reunion, despite the rain.
Lisa Marder: “I was lucky to
be able to make it to reunion for
Friday night and Saturday morning activities. I would have loved
to stay longer, but high school
graduation parties beckoned back
home. It was a great treat to see
those who were there Friday and
to catch up or get a glimpse into
their lives. I must say, our class is
an impressive bunch, and I’m so
grateful to our class officers and
to all those who were involved in
planning the reunion. I look forward to the 35th and hope we’ll
get a reprise of Bert’s band!
“Meanwhile, my youngest
son graduated from high school
this year and is off to Dickinson
College in the fall. My older son
returned from a semester in Paris
with IES Abroad and will begin
his senior year at Connecticut
College in September. Despite our
first flight being cancelled due to
the volcanic ash in Iceland, we
were able to get over there for
five days to visit him, which was
a great treat. We will be empty
nesters come September, and
while I will continue to teach art
and photography at Notre Dame
Academy in Hingham, Mass., and
at the South Shore Art Center in
Cohasset, Mass., I look forward
to having more time for my own
artwork, volunteer work, travel
and friends.”
Laurie Mayers: “I am working
for the UK Financial Services
Authority, managing the team in
the Prudential Risk Division that
assists supervision in assessing
bank capital adequacy based on
their Pillar II (of Basel II) submissions and their firm-wide stress
testing. We are also contributing
to development of the FSA’s own
stress testing framework and to
international discussions around
future bank regulation. All very
topical and putting my political
economy degree from Williams
and international economics
degree from Columbia SIPA to
good use. On the personal front,
my eldest son is just finishing his
last year at Winchester College
in the UK (that’s a private high
school) and considering applying
to Williams.”
Carol Newcomb: “Regrettably,
I missed the 30th reunion, but I
was there in spirit! Just finished a
data governance consulting project in Grand Rapids, Mich., …
and now I’m enjoying some summer down time in Chicago. It’s an
eventful year with parents hitting
their 80s, nephews reaching their
teens, and me not aging at all!
Who knows where work will take
me next? Consulting is challenging in its own peculiar way, and
who knew I would still need to be
so flexible at this age?”
Gus Nuzzolese loved photographing our resplendent
classmates!
Chip Oudin: “E-mails and
pictures from reunion (thanks,
Gus!) showed that a good time
was had by all! At least I was
there in spirit. Life in Houston is
going well, although the blowout
in the Gulf of Mexico has put a
dark cloud over our industry and
is affecting millions in the region.
On a brighter note, Julie, Jeanie
’08 and I vacationed in Hawaii
for the first time in May, and it
was spectacular. I can’t wait to
go back.” As for summer plans,
Chip’s daughter Jessica was to
play with the Cleveland Orchestra
as a part-time violist. He was
to travel to West Africa in July
as a member of the partnership
helping Ghana develop its newfound oil reserves. He also was,
“Looking forward to getting back
to Williamstown to play in the
Alumni-Guest golf tournament
with Ed Bousa.”
Van Townsend: “Wish I could
have been in Billsville for our
30th, but with my stem cell
transplant (stupid multiple
myeloma cancer) I had to settle
for wonderful minireunions with
Sarah Mollman and Carl Tippit.
They lifted my spirits and aided
my recovery, so much so that
Carl and I probably packed two
reunion nights into one honkytonk bar crawl and music talent
search in Nashville! Many thanks
to Bart Mitchell, James Meigs
and Andy Chase for amusing
text exchanges. The immunesuppression unit at the hospital
even allowed me to place my
road bike on a trainer stand in the
room, ostensibly to aid recovery
but actually so I can ride with
Greg Avis and his phenom son one
day! Hope to be alive and well for
our 35th.”
As you may have noted, Laurie
Pitts Smith has graciously agreed
to take over the position as our
class secretary. I’m sure you join
me in welcoming her to the post.
I have had a wonderful five
years of intermittent cyberconversations with many of you.
Thank you so much for all your
help in creating our Class Notes.
Here’s wishing you health and
happiness.
1981
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Kyle Doherty Hodgkins
8645 Monte Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45242
[email protected]
Pardon me, I’m a little distracted. As I sat down to write
these notes, the fellow who is
quoting the brick work for our
new chimney pulled up and
needed to talk to me. He is driving a brand new, bright yellow
Mercedes convertible. This can
mean many things, but here are
two that come to mind. First, I
think I need a competitive bid for
the brick work. Second, I suspect
that the Career Counseling Office
at Williams may have been remiss
in not setting out a full complement of lucrative career options
for us. I suppose it’s not too late
for reinvention.
Here’s a note from Nan Gray,
with an update about our fellow
dorm mate Kathy McCleary. “I
just finished reading a novel
n 1 9 7 9 –8 1
In May, Emily Grossman ’81 (second from left) and her daughter Olivia
and Valerie (Colville) Nierenberg ’81 (second from right) and her
daughter Amelia attended the Fieldston School Fashion Show, where
Olivia and Amelia are students and showed off their designs, Olivia’s
made of Juicy Juice boxes and Amelia’s of zippers.
written by Kathleen McCleary,
our freshman entrymate (and my
roommate) on Fayerweather’s
first floor. Kathy writes so artfully
and with wit, and though the
plot is clearly not autobiographical, I suspect several attributes of
the protagonist are. The novel is
called House & Home and can be
found on Kathy’s website (http://
kathleenmccleary.com) as well
as in bookstores. Kathy, I’m very
impressed, and living somewhat
vicariously through your publishing success.”
From Kathy, I received a
hilarious note that required
some careful editing (sorry, folks,
sometimes it’s really good to be
the class secretary). “It seems the
more years elapse since I’ve been
at Williams, the more I re-connect
with Williams classmates. Just
today, Jane Piness saw more of me
than anyone should (she’s a doc
of mine), and I exchanged e-mails
with Joy Howard, who’s started
a terrific blog (www.joyhowie.
wordpress.com). When I’m not
undressing for Jane or gabbing
electronically with Joy, I slave
away on my second novel, which
I hope to finish before my eldest
daughter graduates high school
and leaves home in two years,
depriving me of all my best material. I’m blessed with two lovely
daughters, now 13 and 15, and if
on some days I struggle to remind
myself that they are indeed a
blessing and not gigantic pains …
I never forget how lucky I am.”
John Faughnan, who dropped
by to join the Class of ’81 for a
bit (even though he graduated
from Cal Tech), sends this quiet
note, “Steady in turbulent times.
Spouse, one dog, three kids,
friends, aging parents. Enough
stuff as long as we work. Special
needs child means never having
to worry about unused capacity.
Entropic, still functional. Near
maximal contentment. Blog:
notes.kateva.org.”
Martin Kohout gives an update
(along with his lovely and talented
wife Heather): “Our big news
may get us drummed out of the
Society of Alumni: our youngest
actually turned down Williams in
favor of Kenyon College. Given
that both parents, her older sister,
one grandfather and her aunt are
all Williams alums, we think she
showed an admirably independent spirit, though of course we’re
sorry we won’t have as convenient
an excuse for regular visits to
the Purple Valley. Actually, we’re
blaming our Williamstown friends
Steve and Elizabeth Shorb St. Clair
(both ’80), who missed Thea’s
April campus visit because they
were off running in the Boston
Marathon—like that’s a big deal
or something!” Oh, Martin,
don’t worry—there’s nothing like
central Ohio to compete with the
Purple Valley. (As an Ohioan now,
I have residential permission to
make this comment). However,
we’ll have to break this news
gently to Julia Fiske and ask her
to make sure that her husband
Jim Parker (Kenyon grad) doesn’t
gloat too much.
Val Colville Neirenberg forwarded a great photo, saying
“Emily Grossman and I have
daughters at Fieldston. Olivia
Zisman is in 10th Grade and
Amelia is in eighth Grade. Emily,
Phil, Rick and I were treated to
having our daughters participate
in the annual Fieldston Fashion
Show, a most unique event. The
high school kids (Olivia), and
a few middle schoolers (like
Amelia), voluntarily make wearable garments out of anything
except traditional fabrics. The
show is an incredible celebration
of creativity, thinking outside the
box (in Olivia’s case Juicy Juice
boxes), and unique twists on
materials (such as a zipper dress
in Amelia’s case). Emily teaches
art at Fieldston Lower, the grade
school, and I am a Fieldston
alum—guess we have Fieldston
covered from all angles. The first
Saturday in May, I went up to
Williamstown with Amelia and
met up with Steve Jenks, Denise
Harvey, Beth-Anne Flynn, Shawn
Burdick and Kirsten Barford
Levinsohn to begin planning our
30th reunion next June 2011.
We are looking for volunteers, so
please contact Steve (or any one
of us) if you are interested in lending a hand.”
Which gives me a segue into
some late-breaking reunion
news: Thank you to Alison Gregg
Corcoran and Nevill Smythe for
agreeing to be the co-chairs for
our upcoming 30th reunion.
Steve Jenks forwarded some
details from the kick off, so here’s
some scoop with much more to
follow in the coming months:
“Other folks who have expressed
an interest and willingness to help
include Sherri Nelson, Pam Hansen
Platt, Kyle Hodgkins, Yoshi Belash,
John McCammond, Hub Langstaff,
David Kaplan and Alec Ramsay.
It looks like the reunion will be
consistent with past reunions in
that the form and style should be
generally casual and not over the
top. The emphasis is on providing
an environment where classmates
can easily congregate. Some extra
activities may be planned but care
will be taken to not over-schedule
the weekend. Our headquarters
will be Perry-Wood House.” I
know the teams are working to
plan a fun, convivial weekend
that’s reasonably priced. We’ll
also be sure either to make a deal
with the weather gods or ask
Goff’s to overstock their fleece
selection. Not that last reunion’s
cold, grim rain diminished your
warmth and cheer.
So, plan ahead, jump in and
help. Many hands make light
work, and all that. But most of
all, watch for the save the date
notices and mark your calendars.
Cheers!
CL ASS
NOTES
1982
Will Layman
8507 Garfield St.
Bethesda, MD 20817
Kolleen Rask
55 Pine Hill Road
Southborough, MA 01772
[email protected]
Place: A giant, wood-paneled
conference room, 1100 Avenue of
the Americas, N.Y., N.Y., the city
so nice they cursed it with being
across the river from Jersey.
The Time: Right now.
The Issue: Ratings,
people—RATINGS.
The Players: Bill Nelson, CEO of
HBO, and his mighty mustache;
many programming lackeys, who
lack both facial hair and taste.
Nelson: OK, people. Once
we were the network of The
Sopranos: Ratings and critical acclaim. Sex and the City:
Ratings! The Wire: Critical
plaudits so thick you’d think they
were the Rogaine-strengthened
hair on the head of a local weatherman. Now, whadda we got?
Entourage is over the hill, Curb
Your Enthusiasm is only popular
with misanthropes, and I just
mercifully cancelled The Life and
Times of Tim.
So I want ideas, people! Good
ideas! Real ideas! Riveting, fashionable, bloody, mafia-or-cop-orundertaker-related ideas. Go!
Network Lackey No. 1: You are
going to LOVE this one, boss. It’s
about an “Extreme Makeover”
dentist in Bethesda, Md., named
Jeff Morrison. Just turned 50, but
he’s got three young kids, a wife
from Peru and aging parents.
He says, “I kinda lived my life
in reverse and, at age 40, when
I had been enjoying retirement
for quite some time, I decided
if I were to ever be a parent,
then ‘now is the time.’ The cast
of characters is enriched by my
three children: James Howard,
6, Jacqueline Elena, 2, and Capt.
Crunch (Lucas Jeffrey, born in
2009 at 9 pounds, 22 inches).”
The family lives in his parents’
house in Potomac, Md., but “my
dad has serious dementia now in
its third year. He had to retire in
2007, which was really hard on
him.” Poignant, but you still have
the “makeover dentistry angle,”
like a less campy Nip/Tuck?
Nelson: The public isn’t going
to tune in to watch anything
involving saliva! Ridiculous!
Next!
Network Lackey No. 2:
Last spring, Evan Benjamin ’82 (second from left) celebrated his 50th
birthday party with friends, including members of the band Darlingside.
Also pictured, from left, Benjamin Goldberg ’82, Auyon Mukharji ’07,
David Senft ’07, Harris Paseltiner ’09, Samir Ghosh ’13, Don Mitchell ’06,
Lee MacKinnon ’79, Bill Cutler ’79 and Ari Benjamin ’13.
Boss, here’s a hit with serious
international secondary market
possibilities. We focus on the
dashing and brilliant wife of the
U.S. Ambassador to South Africa,
Liz Berry. “It is a far cry from
Boulder, Colo., where we have
been for the past 11 years. We are
learning about and exploring this
amazing country with our three
boys (ages 17, 15 and 12), who
really enjoy their international
school.” She works with local
NGO’s and on education issues,
and she occasionally runs into
people from her college “thanks
to Williams and Overland
T-shirts, including at the Cape
of Good Hope.” We can work
in The World Cup—this thing
becomes a smash!
Nelson: A show about a
government employee? Do you
want those Tea Partiers all over
corporate with their protest signs?
Forget it!
Network Lackey No. 3: I’d
like to work the sports angle,
boss. We’ve got this guy, Joel
Richardson, who “attended
the NESCAC Track and Field
Championships at Tufts in April
and saw Steve Bellerose there.”
College buddies, reuniting as
adults—a real nostalgia angle.
“We talked about how much the
program has changed and about
Steve’s daughters, one of whom
has shown promise as a half-miler
at Newton North High School
and the other who is entering
Colby in the fall.” Chariots of
Fire meets The Big Chill, huh?
Nelson: More like Chariots of
low ratings! Next!
Network Lackey No. 4: A show
with a hip setting and nature
theme—our hero Ned Chasteney
doesn’t have “much going on in
the dismally rainy Pacific NW.
We’re desperate for expert advice
on managing beavers on our
flooding lowlands. The honeybees
are looking for any sign of spring.
We plan to flee immediately as
school lets out in a few weeks.”
Remember Northern Exposure?
Nelson: Honeybees? Beavers?
At least give me a moose. Next!
Boss, we all loved The Wire, so
I’ve got Ed Burns working on
multi-layered show about health
care set in Baltimore and DC,
or maybe New York or maybe
some other hip place. We follow
two guys, Mike Miller, a health
policy consultant dealing with the
aftermath of health reform laws,
“in serious discussions about
different positions, one of which
is a corporate-level job with a
global company.” The other guy
is Evan Benjamin, “a senior VP
of Healthcare Quality in my role
as physician/executive/researcher
at Baystate Health in Western
Massachusetts. Healthcare reform
is keeping us very busy as we
think of the implications of redesigning healthcare delivery.”
Nelson: A show about policy
wonks? You’re fired! Fired, I say!
Network Lackey No. 5: But
in the pilot, Evan celebrates his
“50th birthday in Northampton
Mass., with a party featuring the
‘string rock’ band, Darlingside,
which consists of five recent
Williams alumni (Classes of
2007-09): Auyon Mukharji, Don
Mitchell, Sam Kapala, David Senft
n 1982
and Harris Paseltiner. At the
party we had Ben Goldberg, Bill
Cutler ’79, Lee McKinnon ’79, Ari
Benjamin ’13 and Samir Ghosh
’13.
Nelson: You get me Jon Bon
Jovi in the band at the party
and you’re not fired. Otherwise:
FIRED!
Network Lackey No. 6: Boss,
you know what’s exciting: college
life. This new series follows some
kids enrolling at prestigious—yet
oddly nutty and entertaining—
Williams College. But it also
follows their proud parents,
because most people who actually
pay for HBO are middle-aged.
Jane Puskas has a son, Alex,
entering the Class of 2014 (natch,
the name of our show), and she
“ran into my freshman suitemate,
Nora Monroe Dowling, with her
son, Connor, at the Williams
admitted students preview days
in April.” In the meantime Amy
Daubert “heads up to Williams
for Jim’s 30th reunion next week,
and our son Thomas had a great
freshman year… soon to be head
of All College Entertainment and
a Woolf leader for the freshman,
moving from Sage A to Carter
next year.”
Nelson: This college … William
and Mary?
No. Williams College in
Massachusetts.
Nelson: Never heard of it, so …
you’re fired.
Network Lackey No. 7: Boss,
HBO needs a show set in the
bayou of Louisiana, where disaster and humor are close cousins,
and music mixes with politics in
unusual ways. We follow music
professor Jeff Perry as he and
his family “keep our sanity and
sense of humor amid ecological
catastrophe, the de-funding of
education in our state and the
onset of hurricane season.” Jeff
and wife Kathy “are buoyed up
by our kids: Jack finished his
freshman year in the electrical
engineering program at LSU with
flying colors and is working on
climate sensing systems for the
LSU Agriculture Center this summer, while Gabi has taken up the
ukulele and was looking forward
to summer trips to Massachusetts,
North Carolina and Indiana with
friends and church groups. Kathy
does battle every evening with
the forces of entropy in our yard
(aka Bayou Perry). Meanwhile I
recover from various indignities
of middle age (sinus surgery, a
minor back injury) and prepare
for summer teaching duties and
furiously apply for grants to fund
my sabbatical next spring. It is a
simple life, but at least it is ridden
with debt.” A sarcastic, knowing
HBO show about Louisiana,
boss—it’s a great idea.
Nelson: I would never support a
show like that. I am exTREMEly
sorry to say that you are also
fired.
Network Lackey No. 8: I’ve
got your show, boss. It’s a Sex
and the City for the new decade,
OK? Ladies of style but with a
social conscience! Plus, we up the
ante from four to five amazing women! We’ve got Susan
(Edwards) Richmond, “poetry
editor of a new publication called
Wild Apples: a Journal of Nature,
Art, and Inquiry, and would
welcome submissions (preceded
by visits to our website) from
class poets, fiction writers, artists,
photographers, essayists and all
those passionate about living sustainably on the planet. Also a new
chapbook of poetry, Increase,
inspired by the Shaker community in Harvard, Mass., is out.”
She’s naturally pals with Michele
Gazzolo, who “recently made a
foray into the clean-tech world
with a friends and family startup
selling network management
software: intelgen.com. Who
knew business could be so fun,
and bracing—like sailing around
the world without a boat?” When
not lunching with angel investors,
she may be found pacing her little
quadrant of Michigan beach with
daughter Livia and two frisky
dogs or catching up subscribers on her madcap domestic/
romantic adventures in her
blog GirlWalksIn.” When these
two get together, hey, things get
crazy! Add to that Kim Carpenter,
who can tell you that “the most
exciting thing I’ve done recently
is re-caulk a bathtub and make
a daring rescue of a mother cat
with her newborn kittens …
except that all I did was put a
plastic lid over the tub she’d given
birth in and whisk them over to
my office.” All this while still running a small company that helps
other companies find and keep
customers. With Missi Pelham,
“just nominated to the board of
the Pet Project Foundation, the
all-volunteer nonprofit entity that
funds and runs our local no-kill
animal shelter. Every skill I have
is called on in this role: from
event planning to marketing, to
merchandising and schmoozing!” Finally, you round out the
quintet with Margot Greer Carr,
who “works with an education
funders collaborative and is a
program officer and consultant
for a charitable trust and a
corporate foundation, all clients
of my firm, GMA Foundations.”
Margot gets as revved up about
“the much-needed, broad-based
effort to improve the quality and
availability of educational opportunities for children” as she does
about lemontinis with her best
girlfriends, and that is why this
show is going to be the feel-good
hit of 2011!
Nelson: Get as many
Kardashians as possible to play
these ladies and the show is a
green light! Finally, someone
understands what I’m looking
for!
Meeting adjourned. Those of
you who were fired should feel
free to bring your ideas to FX so
that network can fire you as well.
NBC will, of course, put these
shows on the air, which means
you will simply be fired later, after
they are flops.
I’m off to a huge and important party with other network
big-wigs and various charming
colleagues, including a handful
of Kardashians, being held by my
chum Jim Leonard. The last time
we gathered “in mid-May, various members of the Class of 1982
came together in Santa Fe for a
few days of bike riding and La
Vida pura … or not. The world
suddenly became much smaller:
The convergence included Jon
Dayton from San Francisco, Dan
Blakey from LA, Tom Costley
from Williamstown, Charlie
Pardoe from Abu Dhabi, ’84
from Houston, and Sandy Pike
’81 from Boston, who joined Jim
Leonard (in residence) to support
the economy in New Mexico.
Rides took us through local
villages like Madrid, Pojoaque,
Tesuque, Nambe … you get the
picture. We were not in Kansas
anymore. Biking across a dry
arroyo in Jaconita and taking
a short break, our group was
asked by a couple of sketchy guys
passing in a car whether we’d
like to ‘buy some jerky.’ Code?
Dan Blakey, uncharacteristically,
declined. The two then sped off in
their car, with their pit bull chasing after on a training run. Late in
the week, several of us completed
the Santa Fe Century and felt the
fullness of time in our bones.”
This is the life of a powerful
network executive. If you have
news of your life, its ups and
downs or its potential for a reality
series, shoot it to HBO. Or to the
undersigned, your faithful class
secretaries.
CL ASS
NOTES
1983
Bea Fuller
1113 Jenniper Lane
Annapolis, MD 21403
[email protected]
Summer. Morning runs leave
me dripping with sweat, the
crab pot off my dock seems to
hold a few Maryland blues every
other day; life is good on the
Chesapeake Bay. I thoroughly
enjoyed my first year on my new
job at Severn School. In the smallworld category, I have been out to
eat with Jeremy Snow and his wife
Lisa Renfro and have run into
them on lacrosse sidelines and
social events as their twin boys
are rising ninth-graders with my
middle son, and their daughter is
already in the high school. The
year has flown by as I have been
busy with the high sloped learning curve (it’s like trying to drink
from a fire hydrant!) and trying to
pay attention to the adjustments
of my kids; I keep reassuring
myself that they are better off if I
am not really paying attention. I
have also been trying to get back
to Bethesda to play some soccer
and hang out with my sisters and
their families—we have 11 kids
(9 boys) between us—and my
mom and one of my brothers. I
am writing this column as I am
trying to balance graduation, end
of the year meetings, boys who
are already out of school and
need to be driven to lacrosse and
swimming and seem to need to
eat every two hours. All to say, I
do not feel very eloquent. Thank
you for writing in so that we even
have a column! Phew.
I heard a great suggestion (from
Mike Nock), so I am going to start
a new feature. Every quarter will
include a section for the “Cool
Classmate of the Quarter, “ or the
“Self Esteem Wrecker.” Write in
and describe a classmate who is
doing something that you think
is really awesome, impressive or
admirable—could be intellectual,
service, creative, altruistic …
or write about the person who
makes you feel that you have
accomplished so little… I am
going to share them all as I refuse
to choose. And I will not share
the nominator. Here are this quarter’s nominees: Michael Brownrigg
aka Boney “was elected and
serves as a city council member in Burlingame, Calif. Mike
ran against three incumbents,
including the former mayor, with
the top three moving on. Mike
was the top vote getter and is
doing a great job representing his
community.” You can find him
on Facebook—as you would any
modern politician. Fred Nathan
“founded Think New Mexico
10 years ago. Today the think
tank has a prominent board of
directors, an energetic staff, a
growing endowment, offices a
literal stone’s throw from the
Roundhouse and an impressive
list of accomplishments for the
public good. Think New Mexico
was founded with the goal of
improving New Mexico in some
of the areas in which it consistently ranks at or near the bottom
in the nation. The group started
by improving public education
and making full-day kindergarten
accessible to every child in New
Mexico. The full-day-kindergarten law now benefits approximately 26,000 5-year-olds across
the state. Think New Mexico
has accomplished several other
important goals, such as getting
the state’s gross-receipts tax on
groceries repealed.”
Rick Weber: “We had just
adopted our daughter Elisabeth as
a newborn almost exactly a year
ago. Life with Elisabeth has been
a happy, amazing and wonderful
journey for my wife Catherine
and me. We just celebrated her
first birthday. … A few days
later—just two weeks ago—while
sitting in the Lufthansa lounge
in the Berlin airport, I received a
call from our adoption agency.
I assumed they were looking
for our one-year post-adoption
report, which was (shockingly,
I know) a few days late. Much
to our surprise instead they told
us that Elisabeth’s birth parents
wanted to place their older
daughter Gabriella with my wife
Catherine, Elisabeth and me. Of
course we said yes, after picking
ourselves up off the floor! Since
that call it’s been quite a whirlwind. … The girls are getting to
know each other, and Catherine
and I are getting a crash course in
toddler parenting as well as the
joys—and challenges—associated
with adopting an older child. We
are learning a little more each
day, getting help from many good
friends and family members and
some great counselors, and faking
the rest! Gaby is a bright, happy,
loving and adorable little girl who
is quick to smile. We are thrilled
to have her in our family and are
so very grateful for this amazing gift of these two wonderful
girls—sisters!—who will grow up
together with us.”
Pete Graffagnino “retired from
Apple and is traveling the world
with his wife Nancy.”
Bruce Goff “is always there
when any of us go back ‘home.’
He has managed to make purple
cool (my son wears his hoodie
everywhere), which even Vivienne
Westwood failed to achieve. He
has ventured into grandparentland so that none of use have to
do it first. He must be one of the
kindest, most welcoming emissaries for Williams and our class. He
is single-handedly responsible for
the worldwide spread of mad cow
disease—the purple variety.”
Steve Flaim: “We added to
our family in February when
we adopted a cute 2-year-old
boy from China—Jude David
Aojun Flaim. He is settling in
very well and is a very happy
child. He loves pancakes (legend
has it that he had eight of them
one morning) and has a hearty
appetite. Jude is our sixth child,
and Kathleen has finally promised
to stop prodding me to adopt
any more (time will tell). I think
she realizes that grandchildren
are not too far around the corner
(our oldest, Christian, turned
21 in June—ouch!). I’ve been in
touch with a couple of Williams
alum recently. Greg Pachus ’84 has
taken a fantastic job as a banker
at Silicon Valley Bank in Newton,
Mass., and was presented with
his red “NO LOAN” stamp on
Day 1. He is doing well with wife
Nicole and their two children.
Steve Zlotowski ’84 is still on
the left coast, working as an
emergency room doctor, married
with three boys. He recently sent
me the last two years of annual
family updates that he sends out
during the holidays. I am still trying to get through the documents.
I don’t know if it’s my poor attention span, weak reading glasses
or inability to comprehend West
Coast (or medical?) lingo.”
And now on to the normal
column. Greg Holm writes, “The
big news in our house is that
my daughter Cece is headed for
Williamstown in September to
join the Class of 2014. We’re all
very excited, especially me—it
is truly a dream come true that
one of my children gets to have
the great pleasure and honor
of being an Eph. It has really
brought back for me what a
wonderful place Williams is and
how important those brief years
were for me. My son Peter is just
finishing his freshman year in
high school and is finding his legs.
He is his own man and loves to
play drums, skateboard, ski, fish,
hunt and play video games. So
far academics are not high on his
priority list; we’re hoping that will
n 1983
The Gallun and Krieg families gathered at Commencement in June to
celebrate with Gretchen Krieg ’10 (third from left). Also pictured, from
left, Dick Gallun ’57, Sam Krieg ’13, Alby Gallun ’89, Rich Gallun ’85, Todd
Krieg ’83, Katherine Krieg ’08 and Elizabeth (Gallun) Krieg ’83.
change in the next year or so. Our
youngest, Jack, is in third grade
and is also a budding drummer.
He is fascinated by the sport of
free-running aka parcours, and
he recently started a free-running
class. He also takes tae kwon do
and loves basketball. We have
a cabin in the woods north of
Steamboat Springs, where we
go as often as possible. With
teenagers in the house this is not
very often, as they have their own
agendas that keep us in Denver
most weekends. I’m keeping busy
at CB Richard Ellis, and Mary
works part time for City Wide
bank when she’s not taking care
of the kids, house and me. Life is
good, and we are very fortunate
people.”
Chris Tantillo writes, “Bill ‘Victor’
Hugo come through KS in April
on his way from CO to CN
with a friend, so we had a nice
spring BBQ and a hot-air-balloon
flight the next morning.” They
were hoping, in June, to “try for
a bike ride to the lake and go
sailing. This will complete the
land, sea, and air trifecta.” Laura
Kaiser admits that “no one has
heard from me lately, because
we’ve been busy building (yes,
from scratch, in the garage), and
installing, new kitchen cabinets!
We spent the week between
Christmas and New Year’s doing
the installing, which was nice,
because we got rid of all the new
cabinets sitting in the garage, the
living room, the extra bedroom,
etc. We found out we’re a good
team for this: I design, Jon draws
plans, he cuts, we glue and clamp,
I do final finishing. Although the
kitchen is functional now, we’re
still not quite finished. However,
we’ve successfully managed not to
make this project one that creeps
to all parts of the house—though
one of us keeps coming up with
ideas of more things to build with
all the great tools we now own
… and the other would rather
be outdoors or doing something
social on weekends. … Jamie Crist
came skiing with us in Colorado
in January, and luckily we hit
a great week of fresh powder.
Jeanne Rougas and hubby Scott
came up and joined us for a day,
too. We had a blast skiing the
powder in the trees. Now he’s
back home working too much,
as usual.”
George Liddle writes, “I have
gotten together w/AJ Moor ’82 a
couple times now—he’s moved
out to the area with his family
following soon. Otherwise, I’m
afraid I have very little interaction
with Williams folks (though am
very willing to have more!). One
piece of family news: my 13-yearold daughter won the first round
of the National Spelling Bee,
then went to the San Francisco
regional and didn’t make it past
that.”
Diane Elander writes, “Troy ’81
and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. One of the best
things that happened to me at
Williams was meeting Troy! Our
family of five is now looking into
colleges (Sam is a junior) as many
are, and I want to express my
greatest empathy for all parents
facing this challenge! While it
is exciting, it is also so stressful!
Troy and I just don’t remember
things being so difficult when
we were in high school. When
not running a three-ring circus
at home, I continue to help food
clients sell food and build businesses. Lately, a lot of New York
photographers have been coming
to LA to shoot, and it is so much
fun to see them. I have had my
own business now for 25 years
and can’t believe how quickly
time has passed. My favorite
jobs are those with clients I have
known for many years. Aside
from working in the studios, I
also do a lot of recipe development and writing. I also hobby
with an organic garden. … My
goal … is to be self sustaining for
our family’s vegetables. Working
as a freelancer has allowed me
time to get deeply involved with
the public schools, which our
kids attend, and be an active
part of our Episcopal Church.
Life is good, life is busy. I spoke
with Ellie (Gartner) Kerr … she
and her family are doing well in
New York. She was on her way
to the club for an evening tennis
match!”
Nancy Simms: “My daughter
Caroline and Cliff Hoyt’s daughter
Emily are playing on the same
club soccer team. They of course
had no idea of the connection, and neither did we, until
Cliff’s wife Roma and I showed
up simultaneously at practice.
Both our families used to live in
Needham, Mass., but about 10
years ago they moved to Wellesley
and we moved to Dover. Funny
how fate keeps bringing you back
in touch with great (Williams)
people! Also, we continue to love
sharing our town with David
Heinlein and his family. My
husband Jamie and David have
become good friends—so much
so that the two of them, along
with a half dozen others, went
to Las Vegas together for March
Madness.”
Janet Johnston has “taken a
faculty position at the University
of Alaska-Anchorage in the
Department of Health Sciences. I
am teaching a couple of courses
and working on adding a health
educator track to the bachelor
of science in health sciences program. I find myself thinking back
to my Williams days frequently
as I work on my courses. I keep
trying to figure out what made
my classes at Williams so good
and how to translate that into my
own classes.” Jessie Lenagh-Glue
shares, “Sitting here in Dunedin
in the middle of an incredible
gale—flooding all over the South
Island—and having a really
difficult time realizing that this
is May. Still think of May as
CL ASS
NOTES
spring. Quite pleased with life in
general—the NZ immigration
authorities have finally seen fit to
agree with my doctors that my
cancer is indeed a thing of the
past and have granted me permanent residency. So I don’t have
to worry about being shipped
off to the States while my citizen
husband and kids stayed behind
(only somewhat kidding). Have
been working part time as a tutor
for girls with special needs at the
secondary school my children
attend. Plan to have a mid-life crisis next year and go (back) to law
school—can’t wait to show these
young students how to REALLY
study (and am fairly sure that my
life experience will stand me in
good stead). My aim is to go into
alternative resource consulting—
sustainable energy and land
policy. … I would love to see
some classmates here in NZ.”
Sue Kumleben: “Not too much
news from here—my work’s been
hit by the recession (parenting
is one area that is cut quickly
when the budget squeezes). To
take my mind off that and an
impending big birthday (my son
helpfully pointed out that my
50th year started on the day I
turned 49. Hope nobody else has
a mathematician in their family), I
decided to run my first marathon.
My husband says it could have
been a worse mid-life crisis. The
training paid off with a great
time, which only means it won’t
be my last. If anyone wants to run
London next year, I’ve a place for
them to stay!”
Peter Detwiler attended a “celebration of 25 years of Peter Wells
’79 coaching at Williams (they
didn’t count his sabbatical years).
Nobody else from ’83, and rowers in attendance young enough
(but not unfortunate enough) to
be my progeny. What an amazing
event! Take the things that tie us
together as Ephs, inject the bond
that arises with the brotherhood
and sisterhood of the oar, and put
it on steroids for one evening of
reminiscing, tributes and celebration. All of us in attendance knew
we were blessed.”
Ann (Mesmer) Dietrich: “I am
busy with my kids these days,
who are just starting school.
Where I live in Colorado, the
open land is being developed into
subdivisions, and Douglas County
is building schools to accommodate an influx of families
from various places, especially
California. Parents are given a
lot of influence in forming their
neighborhood schools, and I’m
interested in the experiences of
others, regardless of whether
their kids are in public or private
schools. If any classmates can
provide their insights into how
to use technology to give kids
of any age a great public school
experience that is long on both
learning and fun, I’d like to know
their thoughts—annmdietrich@
msn.com.”
I also write with a small request
for help for Marc Sopher. For the
past year-and-a-half, Marc has
been battling the complications
of a rare autoimmune connective
tissue disorder. In that time, he
has had open-heart surgery to
replace his aortic valve and major
abdominal vascular surgery to
remove a large aneurysm. Early
this spring he sustained a small
stroke, a complication of his
medication regimen and artificial
valve. Marc has always been an
effervescent optimist as well as
an athlete in constant motion.
Yet nowadays, Marc will tell
you, honestly, he could use some
“cheering up.” In his way, he has
reached out to many friends in
his worldwide network. Marc
says that his extraordinary family
(wife Michele, kids Meredith and
Max), his friends and his appetite
for humor are his greatest assets,
and all three help him get through
his days. The bright spot of
this past year was his daughter
Meredith’s acceptance into the
Class of 2014 at Williams. Marc
would love some recommendations for literary humor, jokes,
stories, online comedy, funny
movies or just friendly howdies.
Send to mdsophermd@comcast.
net or write to him in Exeter,
N.H.
I close with sad news about the
loss of a classmate. Kathyrn Katie
Miller died June 5 at St. Charles
Hospital following a cerebral
hemorrhage. She was born Oct.
8, 1961, in Palo Alto, Calif. She
lived with her family in Bend
from 1974-80, graduating from
Cascade Junior High. She graduated from Santa Catalina School
in Monterey, Calif., in 1979,
and from Williams in 1983. She
received a master’s in education
from Stanford University in 1985
and taught elementary school
from 1986 until 2003. Katie had
been living at Black Butte Ranch
with her parents since 2007.
She is survived by her two sons,
Richard and Will Aime, who live
in Monterey, Calif.; her brother
Ray N. Miller of McKinleyville,
Calif.; and her parents Ray and
Kathryn Miller of Black Butte
Ranch. If you want to share more
news about Katie, please let me
know. She was a great classmate
and faced some difficult challenges in recent years.
I would also add that not
everyone feels comfortable with
sharing his/her challenges in this
forum, so I send prayers, support
and positive karma to any classmate who is in need.
1984
Sean M. Crotty
31 Carriage House Lane
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Carrie Bradley Neves
7 Gay St., Apt. 4N
New York, NY 10014
[email protected]
This, as I write, is May. This
is the time of year when you
know the world is spinning like a
top. You can actually watch the
grass grow and porch paint dry.
Weeds are already tall and seeding
while the trees are still in their
fluorescent green new clothes,
as if dressed for prom, glowing
with innocence and riffling with
show-time energy. It rains and the
small stream roars, terrier like,
like the ocean; the sun comes out
and it reshrinks to babbling. New
smells parade tail to nose past
our noses. A clod of earth breaks
and changes in my fingertips. It
is metamorphosis madness and
magic. At precisely the same
moment the last tulip petal falls, I
see the year’s first firefly.
In an astonishing feat of balance, a few of our classmates
report of actually trotting the
spinning globe. First, from Katy
O’Hanlon, a telegraphic message:
“In Balkans—came via Rome—a
week late due to volcanic ash—
four days in Italy, Vesuvius,
Pompeii—what a terror with
three kids—beach, bad traffic,
nice fish, overland and lots of
hills, ferry up lake Komani in
Albania, bus to Kosovo (my
husband from here)—quit job
and went to per diem—home
schooling—not sure what’s next.”
Rory Kennedy is the second
planet walker: “My wife Noriko,
son Kai (2 in June), and I enjoyed
a trip to Japan in April. The
timing for sakura was perfect,
and we got to dig fresh bamboo
shoots to eat as a spring vegetable! I also finally sampled another
wild veggie I’d long heard about:
fiddlehead ferns. The Japanese
like ’em too.” I traded stories
with Rory about foraging of the
same two edibles in our very own
Catskills backyard.
n 1 9 8 3 –8 4
And from my co-secretary,
Sean Crotty, who spends perhaps
more time in the air around
the globe than any of us: “I got
stuck in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan,
during a three-day coup—a bit
surreal as I ordered up a very
good pizza from room service in
the wee hours of the night and
watched one of the opening series
games between the Red Sox and
Yankees, while small-arms fire
was popping off a few blocks
away. After 57 countries and
more than two decades of travel,
it was my first coup. The funny
thing was, even on the other side
of the world I was getting help
from Williams folks: Stuck in
your first coup and the regional
security officer at the embassy just
happens to have lived in Morgan
East with a friend of yours
his freshman year. Long story
somewhat short—as short as a
storytelling Irishman can make
it—we all got out safely.”
I got to ride the planet to the
south a while back, where I was
treated royally by Lucy Corrigan,
Josh Schapiro ’83 and their daughters Hattie and Tula in their beautiful casa (and a casita for me) in
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
They showed me every nook and
cranny of the town they have
lived in and loved for two years.
It’s a breathtaking landscape of
rolling high desert, gardens, sunny
plazas and color everywhere.
The girls study music, dance and
handwork after school, and Lucy
traverses the continent for her
work as a costume designer.
Jeff McIntosh was kind enough
to send a couple of newspaper
clippings from the St. Paul
Pioneer Press. Kira Obolensky got
an excellent review of her play
Hiding in the Open, which was
staged in March at the History
Theatre in St. Paul, part of her
long and ongoing success as a
playwright. Jeff writes of a visit
with Caragh O’Brien, who published her first young adult novel
after several for adults: “Caragh
was in town … for a reading
from her new book, Birthmarked.
I took my 14-year-old daughter,
Rachel, down to … hear Caragh
read. Rachel came home with an
autographed copy of Birthmarked
and is inspired to start writing
again. For a few hours at least,
I was the best dad in the world.
Jennifer (Mugler) Peterson was
also there.”
Sonya Grant Zindel, ’84 nee
’83, wrote to catch up from
Sacramento, where she lives with
her husband Tim, a classmate
from law school, and her son and
daughter. “FYI, although I myself
demonstrably lack any musical
talent, I have somehow produced
a son who is fronting his own
band and next year will be attending a performing arts charter high
school.” They all share a love of
music (Tim also sings and plays
guitar) and of travel—three weeks
of biking in Holland, France and
a bit of Belgium was a recent
adventure. Of Sacramento, she
says, “All in all, a very nice place
to live. We are in an old neighborhood close to downtown, where
we know all our neighbors, have
(illegal) chickens and can bike
around as much as we want.”
Jeff Mills delivered this update:
“I am extremely busy, having
joined a new job a little more
than a year ago with Prudential
Real Estate Investors in an
economy that was collapsing around me. Nothing that I
haven’t lived through before, but
the net result is that I am getting
fatter while life is getting busier
and more hectic around me. My
children are growing in leaps and
bounds; my 14-year-old just got
accepted into a local private high
school, adding the equivalent
stress and rejection factor of when
we were applying to get into
Williams. But she got into one of
her top choices, the economy is
recovering, and I am getting used
to my new work environment,
which means that I can start
rededicating more time to those
things that are most important
to me: family, friends and health.
On that front, I was able to come
up for air long enough to host
an annual Tahoe ski trip that
included … Rob Sommer and John
Gould. John and I even got in and
swam a couple of laps outdoors
in a heated pool in the middle of
January. Like the old days, John
kicked my butt in practice, but I
was first to and the fastest in the
hot tub. I also briefly reconnected
with Pam Briggs at an alumni
event and later with Charlie
Pardoe ’82, who also works at
PREI. As John Gould used to say,
‘The faster we get behind, the
longer we have to catch up.’”
Jack McGonagle writes,
“I’m still in and about NYC.
Technically I’m now both living
and working in Jersey City, so
my two-mile commute is great.
My son Jackson, 17, 6-foot-3
and 190 pounds, is going to Taft
next fall as a repeat junior. He’s
planning to play football (WR/
CB/K/P) and baseball (3B/C/
OF).” Jack was planned to see
some Williams people near
Boston in late May, when Kevin
Waggett’s ’82 girlfriend planned
to throw a surprise 50th birthday
party for Kevin. Tim Curran ’83
planned to fly in from MSP, and
Bill McNamara and John McCarthy
were to be there, too, as well as
Mark Pine ’83, Kirstin Lynde and
Joe Markland. Jack teases Ken
Wyatt, who had to bow out:
“Can you believe Zeke used
the excuse of his 22nd wedding
anniversary?!”
Maggie Winslow took a break
from teaching sustainable economics, making beer and raising
three kids to check in. “All is
well here. Jasper is now 2, and
we call him Mr. Bossyman. Good
thing he’s not the oldest. Work at
Presidio Graduate School is keeping me really busy. I have started
making some very nice beer. You
can check out my new blog at
brewess.wordpress.com.” I did—
you should! They are beautiful
beers, designed to inspire some
brew-pub fever in the rest of us.
Suzy Akin is feeling a little left
out. She shared this funny story
of a recent trip to Williamstown,
after a hike on Pine Cobble:
“Todd and I were at that funny
little liquor/convenience store
across the street from the
Women’s Exchange, and I saw a
box of Ping-Pong balls, for sale
individually, behind the counter.
I asked, ‘Ping-Pong balls? Why
do you sell Ping-Pong balls?’ The
guy behind the counter and Todd
were both silent long enough for
me to gather I was being really
dumb, and then they said, in
unison: ‘Beer Pong!’ OK … so …
did I even GO to college?” Of my
salute to the emerging spring, she
says, “I did find that the relentless
snow did in my lavender. Yet the
wisteria planted last fall is exploding and lush. I have cleaned my
patio, hung the hammock, put
cushions on the porch swing . . .
If I am lucky, I will actually find
some time to sit on that swing or
nap in that hammock. But it’s nice
to know they’re there. Perhaps
my biggest news is that I just got
a new car—my first actually ‘new’
car (as opposed to ‘new to me’)
since the Honda Prelude I nearly
totaled driving Dina Zeckhausen
to the Albany train station our
senior year (swerved to miss a
dog, landed in a ditch. I’m pretty
sure she missed the train).”
I missed a chance to see Kaia
Updike wield her violin in NYC’s
West Village but am hoping for
another chance soon, as it sounds
like she’s banding in some really
fun projects: “We’re doing a
Southern Rock workshop; my
first time ‘fiddling’ (i.e., Charlie
CL ASS
NOTES
Daniels and “Black Water”
Doobie Brothers); will be playing keys on all the Skynyrd and
Allman Brothers tunes.” Sweet.
Other musician news comes
from Greg Pliska: “I got invited
to the Sundance Composers
Lab this summer, one of several
professional film labs they run.
It’s an exciting program, pairing
composers and filmmakers on
projects over the course of a week
at the Sundance Institute in Utah.
The music I orchestrated for
Hem for Twelfth Night as part of
Shakespeare in the Park last summer got nominated for a Drama
Desk Award for Best Music in a
Play! It’s a great honor and nice to
see that excellent production get a
few additional bits of recognition.
Lastly, I’m playing rock ‘n’ roll
[monthly] at the Iridium.”
Kirstin Lynde had great news,
on both work and home fronts:
“I’m two months into a new
job as director of operations for
Communispace Corp, a cool,
growing company in the business
of creating online private communities for customer insight/market
research. I’m happy to feel 100
percent back in the saddle after a
decade of downshifting while my
daughters made their way from
babyhood to young teenhood.
And I’m engaged to Michael
Kolowich after many happy years
together. Probably getting married
this summer (very low key, would
happily elope except that we have
three daughters between us who’d
never forgive us).”
Val DiFebo dropped a note:
“Not a ton to report, but had
the pleasure of seeing Sheldon
Ross ’82 (he’s been a real mentor
to me re: supplier diversity) and
Rick Weber ’83.” Val keeps a tight
schedule in her ongoing role as
CEO at Deutsch to make sure
gets home in time for dinner and
bedtime with her 5-year-old.
Although she says, “For what
I think may be the first time ever,
I have some news to report from
Chicago,” Leslie Pratch has been
one busy alum since Williams, as
founding partner in her company
for business leadership assessment. Now she is “working
relentlessly on completing my
book, Good on Paper.” The book
draws on the expertise she has
developed and put into play into
her company; for more information, see her blogs, where she continues to hone her writing skills
in essays and open dialogs on art,
history, business, ethics and more.
She welcomes input and contributions from classmates; see http://
lesliepratch.us/.
Last spring, Class of 1984 alums Jeff McIntosh and Jennifer (Mugler)
Peterson (right) met up with Caragh O’Brien (middle), at a at a bookstore
in St. Paul, Minn., after reading by O’Brien as part of a book tour for her
novel Birthmarked.
John Campbell is likewise always
a welcome note in the inbox—
always with apologies for not
having news but always words of
appreciation for the class secretaries and ensuing notes. With my
keen reporting skills, I recognized
a hot lead in his mention of
rearranging his sock drawer—by
color? size? fabric? But when I
pressed he pushed back with:
“Carrie, as you might recall, I am
a simple man. I only have white
athletic socks (much to my wife’s
dismay), thus no need to sort by
color, purpose or size.” He’s not
going to get off that easy. … I
have someone on it.
From David K.B. Cole: “When
I saw everyone at reunion last
summer, I was in the middle of a
job search. I had been laid off by
the new Tampa Lightning ownership group after eight years of
service. Their tenure did not last
long, however. After 18 months,
they cashed in their chips and
their era of debauchery ended. In
October I accepted the director of
summer and auxiliary programs
position with the Blake School
in Minneapolis. This is move
number four for my wife Janet
and me, and despite taking a
step back weather-wise, the Twin
Cities are a step up from Tampa
in many ways: culturally, artistically, academically, politically and
pluralistically. Last [spring] we
journeyed to Northampton for
our daughter Marisa’s graduation
from Smith. While in Noho, I
hooked up with Bill Pelosky. He is
a great man. And I am proud to
be his friend.”
Rob Kent articulated the grim
impact of the massive oil spill
beginning last spring: “As I write
this, another week of cold and
wet weather is expected. This
is not normal for California in
late May. Meanwhile in the Gulf
of Mexico, some hundreds of
thousands of gallons of oil are
blasting, billowing, bursting forth
from the ruptured BP wellhead.
We may never know the full
extent of how tragic this will be
for New Orleans, for Mississippi,
for shrimp and turtles and for all
of tragically fragile creation. All
of which is to say that the trials
and accomplishments of our own
Eph-launched lives may not be
making the evening news for a
long time to come.”
And finally, from Donna Ching:
Kenny James and I were up in
Billsville in April for our last
Society of Alumni Executive
Committee (yes, it snowed). With
Greg Pliska having termed out last
year, our exit leaves the EC with
no more representation from the
great class of 1984. With Kenny
in LA, Greg in NYC, and me in
Honolulu, the three of us brought
real geographic diversity to the
committee. It was a great run!
We all hope the society continues
to focus on reconnecting and
engaging alumni through things
like enhancing career outreach
and networking for alumni. Here
in Hawaii I last saw Ted Leon MD
on an outing with his family up
to the Makapuu Lighthouse for a
full moon rise. Matt Viola is busy
in Kailua with his two young
daughters. I last saw him leaving
the courthouse where he was
doing some part-time judging for
family court (I hope that’s right,
Matt). Robin Bunn Martin gamely
n 1 9 8 4 –8 5
volunteered with other classmates
from Punahou at the carnival,
and we made chicken plates for
three hours. After years teaching
at Honolulu Community College,
our fourth former Hawaii
resident/classmate, Cynthia Smith,
uprooted herself last year and
moved to the UK. Just when she
was completely fluent in pidgin
English, too! To the east, Orrin
Murray, PhD also has his hands
full with a small one—Miss
Charlotte, his 3-year-old daughter,
and his post on the faculty at
Penn State.”
Thanks, everyone! Keep them
coming.
1985
Wendy Webster Coakley
271 Pittsfield Road
Lenox, MA 01240
[email protected]
Thank you, Ken Hillman, for
dreaming up the post-reunion
“Dear Wendy” template that
inspired so many members of the
class to write in with memories of
our spectacular 25th.
Thank you, Sara Harkness Curry
and Meg Holliday Kelly, outgoing
co-class presidents and co-organizers of a reunion for the ages.
Yes, they were blessed with lots
of help and the ability to delegate,
but in the end it rested at the feet
of this dynamic duo. Katie Myers
spoke for all exhausted revelers:
“They deserve to be inducted
into the pantheon of reunion
goddesses.”
Thanks to those who traveled
long distances to celebrate our
silver anniversary: Salim Currimjee
from Mauritius, Jan Fischer from
Germany, Ragnar Horn from
Singapore, and Ann McCarthy
from Australia, to name just a
few. Most of all, heartfelt thanks
to the brave and determined classmates (you know who you are)
who overcame significant medical
challenges to attend.
Folks who couldn’t make it had
excellent reasons: kids graduating from high school (Julia Short
Batdorff, Paul Coleman, Hunsoo
Kim), new baby boys (Larry
Greenberg, Jeff Speck), a scientific
conference in Norway (Paul
Bierman), under doctor’s orders
not to travel after falling off a
horse and fracturing a vertebra
(Kathy Mountcastle) and hard
at work planting crops on her
family’s land in Idaho (Karla
Miller, who left her teaching job
in Colorado to get closer to her
roots, literally). We missed you
and hope to see you in five years.
For anyone who may have felt
too shy to attend, consider the
experience of my fellow Morgan
East-er, Adam Pass: “My son
ditched our plans to have a fatherson weekend—finals—so I found
myself panicked as I walked to
my first event of the weekend, the
Friday night get-together at Poker
Flats. What if no one remembered
me? What if I had no one to talk
to? Thought about hightailing
it out of there, but decided to
act 46 instead of 18 and try my
luck. For an event that was slated
to go from 6 to 9 o’clock, I was
happily surprised to find myself
ensconced in great conversation
at midnight!” Adam chatted with
John Denaro and his partner Joel,
Lisa Celona, Jon Carpenter, Phil
Lusardi, Lynne Jaycobs Theurer and
her two Harolds (husband and
son), Danny Blatt, Bob Mancuso,
Sue Beres and her husband Adam,
Susan Leone, Billy Valerio, Ross
Wilson, Steve Haggett, Holly Kulka,
Sue Rosenzweig and many others.
Best of all, he was able to reconnect with his old suitemates: Hank
Uberoi, Jim Roche, Dave Battey
and Greg Masters.
Likewise, Lucy Gardner Carson,
who transferred into our class as
a non-traditional student, “sucked
up my shyness and popped in
to the welcome dinner at Katie
Myers’ house. What a great time!
I met all kinds of classmates and
their families, ate and drank a lot,
explored Katie’s idyllic purplemountain spread and thanked my
lucky stars to have such a cool
group of fellow ’85ers.” First-time
attendee Dave Blaney agreed that
“after Thursday night at Katie’s,
I was already kicking myself
for not having been back for a
reunion before this one. Ah well:
not to be missed again!”
The aforementioned Danny Blatt
arrived in Williamstown after a
monthlong cross-country trek. He
recently stepped down as president of the LA regional alumni
association but was appointed at
reunion to the Society of Alumni’s
Executive Committee. Danny
and Vidisha Dehejia Patel enjoyed
a conversation “that seemed to
continue from Thursday through
Saturday,” according to Vidisha,
who was also thrilled to catch
up with Bob Mancuso. “Williams
taught me so much about myself,
my interests in life and how to
build and sustain relationships,”
she wrote. “I hope at least one
of my kids chooses to go to
Williams, but for now I will do
my best to subtly encourage
them!”
As it turns out, Vidisha’s kids
were the babysitters assigned to
Rob Kirkpatrick’s young sons. “I
would have gladly paid them
even more if only they’d been
willing to start at 6 a.m., when
my youngest would knock on the
door of my Pratt House dorm
room and awaken me seemingly moments after my head
hit the pillow,” Rob said. The
Kirkpatrick clan spent a lot of
time with Mark Schmitz and his
family as well as with new class
president Peter Orphanos, John
Peloso and Sean Moore, in from
Bermuda. Sean’s oldest son will
be entering the Class of 2014 in
the fall after attending Hotchkiss,
Bert Cushman reported, adding
that “Sean thought that the
money he was saving not having
to feed a teenager expensive
Bermuda food helped offset the
cost of prep school!”
Bert also caught up with Jon
Carpenter, Jeff Calkins, Reese
Hughes, Nancy Vorsanger, Jan
Fischer and Peter Minnium, who
brought Bert up to speed on his
teenage son, who recently spent a
year in Italy, where he fell behind
in calculus but now knows how
to press grapes to make wine.
Susan Reifer told Bert about her
new life in Whistler, B.C., where
she writes for ski magazines and
is married to a steel fabricator.
Susan and her husband joke that,
even if he started reading every
day, he would never catch up
with the number of books she’s
read, and she would never catch
up with the amount of beer he’s
drunk.
“Lots of people pumped me
for information on Paul Fukui,
whose reunion book entry was
so enigmatic,” said Bert, adding
that Paul is an artist living in
Portland, Ore., with his partner,
Todd Karkashian. Some of Paul’s
work has been posted to www.
maripoza.net.
A recently torn ACL was not
going to keep Susan Leone from
enjoying her 25th to the fullest. She spent her first evening
in Williamstown with Andrea
Johnson, Sandra McNeil, Jan
Pynchon Jeffries, Eileen Donlin
Lucey and Jean Hannigan Moran.
“Jean and I seem to have identical
memories of the horrific Calc
101 final freshman year,” Susan
relayed. “I will never forget
walking back from Bronfman to
Fayerweather after the exam only
to find Mace Foehl Hemphill face
down in the snow bank. We were
all in shock.”
Susan went to the Williams Art
Mafia lecture with Leslie Ganyard
Nutting, a talented artist in her
CL ASS
NOTES
own right who has persuaded
Susan to join her as a docent at
the Carnegie Museum of Art
in Pittsburgh. Although she
missed her Fox Chapel neighbors
Charlie and Sue Babiec Goodwin
and Maria Mori Brooks, Susan
enjoyed spending time over the
weekend with Cam Burns, Paul
Meeks, Vidisha Dehejia Patel,
Mireya Calderin D’Angelo, Sue
Rosenzweig, Randy Rogers, Adam
Pass, Brenda Favreau Lawson,
Katherine Boozer Cote, Margie
Duffield, Brooks Hoffman, Phil
and Mary Nealon Lusardi and
Spencer and Emily Sneath Jones.
Just as she had given up hope,
Susan’s old roommate Sarah Hart
Wills tracked her down, with Liz
Mangee Jones and Lori Symanski
Williams in tow. “Sarah only came
to reunion for a few hours and
made it her quest to locate me
before leaving campus,” Susan
said. “The renewed friendships
by far outweighed the discomfort
of hobbling around campus on
crutches.”
Like Sarah, Art Hutchinson
was only able to come for a few
hours, but he made the most of
it, managing to squeeze in a Gale
Road run with Jan Van Eyck and
Danny Blatt. His elder daughter,
a junior at Emory, is filling out
her Fulbright application, and his
younger daughter is getting attention from college track and field
coaches as a result of her national
high school ranking in high jump
and javelin.
Helen Mango was another
enterprising classmate who could
only make it for one day, but
what a day: She hung out with
Nancy Vorsanger, Beth Bennett
and fellow geology majors Joan
Becker Kelsch, Hal Lescinsky,
Gillian Davies and Peter Zeeb, all
of whom were very impressed by
the number of green initiatives on
campus, including LEED-certified
construction, an organic garden
and solar panels on the Science
Center. During the cocktail reception at Paresky, she caught up
with her Trivia pal Ted Benson as
well as Peg Thoman Rachfal, Mary
Beth Greiter Miotto, John Butter,
Bobbie Boykin, Laura Henriques
Colburn, Susan Lippold, Jan Fischer
and Gregor Kalas.
Mireya Calderin D’Angelo had
to leave early for her daughter
Sofia’s horse show but enjoyed
introducing her family to “my
wonderful life at Williams; they
fell in love, too!” She spent time
with Mike Coakley, Mike
deWindt, Susan Rosenzweig, Susan
Reifer, Ken Hillman, Marty Davey,
Vidisha Dehejia Patel, Jenny Bicks
and Salim Currimjee and enjoyed
watching Sofia bond with the
daughters of Mike Greeley and
Ann Warren Lockwood. As for
Mireya’s husband Joseph, “his
night became sheer perfection
when Michele Colocci congratulated him on ensuring that I took
on an Italian name!”
Jeannette Hazelton Fairhurst
enjoyed reuniting with her old
Sage D crowd, including Susan
Sohler Everingham, Laura Volpe
Roche, Brad Case, Jenny Bicks,
Phil Lusardi and Jenine Gordon
Bockman. “It was quite a different
weekend sleeping in Armstrong
again,” she wrote. “It gave me a
little perspective on my kids’ college dorm complaints.” Now that
she’s an empty nester, Jeannette
has replaced running them
around to activities with working extra hours at Regeneron
Pharmaceuticals, identifying
therapeutic antibody candidates.
Ted Benson is also doing amazing
things at his new research job
with GlaxoSmithKline; he lost me
at “peeling layers of proteins,”
but it sounded impressive.
Brooks Hoffman relayed how he
found himself across the airplane
aisle from former athletic director
Bob Peck earlier this year. Turns
out that, in addition to their
Williams connection, both have
adopted children from Vietnam.
Brooks’ son Binh is adorable and
loved meeting his first purple cow.
Katherine Boozer Cote was
especially glad to reconnect
with Jan Pynchon Jeffries and
her husband Ned, Susan Leone
and Ken Hillman (who went joke
for joke with Katherine’s witty
husband Jacques), and to meet
Les Johnson for the first time. “Les
was a non-traditional student,
already married and with a young
family at school. He joined the
class agent team a few years ago,
and we have enjoyed a fun e-mail
exchange but had never met
until reunion.” Katherine, who’s
stepping down after years at the
Alumni Fund helm, gave a shoutout to her agents, “truly a superstar bunch, as Anne Melvin called
us.” She had hoped to see Bruce
Albelda, Andy Dickens, Lindsay
Rockwood Irvin and Penelope Beal
Pennoyer at reunion; maybe next
time.
Kudos to Brad Case for joining
Ginger Greene Williams and yours
truly in reclaiming his inner prep
and daring to wear pink and
green Saturday night. (I did it
especially for you, Allison Martin
Mertens.) Brad enjoyed talking
with people “whose company
I hadn’t over-taxed while we
were students: Tom Dumphy,
Eric Dahlberg, Les Johnson and
Trey Van Norstrand. Except for
Brian Rutledge, I missed my
suitemates, but I had dinner in
New York with Adam Wilson,
a senior director at VH-1, and
lunch in San Francisco with
Andrew Cypiot, who’s writing
screenplays. I haven’t seen Marty
Marchaterre recently, but he’s
living in Lexington, Ky., involved
with land use and environmental
policy.” Brad and his wife Leigh
Repko Case ’84 planned to get
together with Peter Bruun and his
wife Serafina Krag ’86 over the
summer.
“Reunion was a brawl and a
ball,” said my dear Lake Forest
High School friend Bob Angevin,
who doesn’t need to reclaim his
inner prep because he’s never
lost it. “My apologies to anyone
staying near Pratt 310. After the
symposium on civility, I assumed
we had learned to act our age.
Apparently not. It’s all a haze
now, and don’t hold me to it,
but I recall Rich Wada and Jonna
Kurucz mixing strong drinks,
Ted Thomas dirty dancing, Mike
Turnbull channeling Phil Walsh
(who everyone missed) and
several others: Francie Billups
Mannix, Cacky Caan Mayher,
Rachel Stauffer and Ben and
Ginger Greene Williams. A few
hours later, I had breakfast with
Diane Harkins Modesett and
her husband David and Salim
Currimjee. Our classmates are a
happy, content, quirky and successful bunch. Each person has a
differing tale and measures life by
their own yardstick.”
“While I wouldn’t have said it
on Sunday morning, I think I’m
grateful to Allison Martin Mertens
and Sean Moore for introducing
me to the joys of dark Bermuda
rum and my new favorite
cocktail, the Dark & Stormy,”
reminisced Katie Myers. “Kudos
to Ann Warren Lockwood for
selecting the fabulous understated
fleece vest, which received many
compliments at my kid’s softball
game on Sunday afternoon.
Though I live in town, I never
set foot in college buildings.
The weekend showed that they
all seem to have been gutted
and look completely different,
whereas all of us look exactly the
same. Finally, God bless whoever
assigned me to share a room in
Williams B with Sara Harkness
Curry across the hall from Meg
Holliday Kelly some 29 years ago.
Due to that twist of fate, I was
able to bask in their reflected
glory all weekend.”
n 1 9 8 5 –8 6
“From my vantage point—
remember that I’m tall, so I can
see a lot—it seemed that everyone
was having fun. I know I was,”
wrote Bobbie Boykin. “The
rain did not seem to dampen
any spirits, especially since we
were mindful of the sweltering
heat from the 20th.” Bobbie’s
reunion suitemate in Mission
was Emily Sneath Jones, “one
of my freshman roommates,
just like old times, except for
the minor detail that Emily was
joined by Spencer Jones and
their four boys, instead of Nancy
Seufert Barr, who didn’t attend.
In the adjoining suite were three
fabulous women: Kathy Hewitt
Williamson, Sarah Cooper Hall
and Debbie Wickenden Crisfeld.
I hadn’t spent much time with
them in college, but my new ‘first’
impression of them was great:
They offered me a glass of wine.”
Other memorable moments for
Bobbie included being adopted
by the Williams C gang—Sam
Broeksmit, Jeff Bader, Chris Sayler,
Ann McCarthy, Joan Becker Kelsch
and Laura Napolitano—for a hike
up Pine Cobble, and watching the
kids of Kay Lackey, Caren Nelson
Pennington and Susan Lippold
collect all the balloon centerpieces
after Friday night’s dinner. She
also enjoyed a minireunion of
field hockey and lacrosse players,
including Jane Rech Toll, Lori
Symanski Williams, Bea Bast Welch
and Mace Foehl Hemphill, when
Coach Chris Larson Mason came
to Saturday cocktails at Paresky.
If I listed all the other classmates
Bobbie remembers seeing, the
College would zero out its boldprint budget, but I will share her
“thanks to everyone for your
camaraderie and good thoughts.
Happily, Ted Benson and Dave
Curry have each graciously agreed
to keep working to find ways for
women with metastatic breast
cancer live long and healthy lives.
So with their help (no pressure),
I am looking forward to seeing
everyone at many more reunions
to come.”
Julie Meer Harnick and Sunica
Tyler Edelstein were close friends
and roomies in Greylock and
Doughty but for various bicoastal reasons hadn’t seen each
other since our fifth reunion. They
used this one as an opportunity to
reconnect with one another and
the rest of the class. Highlights
included Hal Lescinsky’s hike up
Pine Cobble: “Fun, beautiful
and incredibly strenuous for this
out-of-shape former rugby player,
but very happy to check that one
off the list every 25 years of so,”
said Sunny. Added Julie, “I tried
my best to smell the earth, hear
the birds, see the beauty around
me … but this was an all-out race
to the top.” Nevertheless, both
had a great time with Ned Jeffries,
Anne Melvin, Trey Van Norstrand
and Dave and Sara Harkness Curry
on the climb. They also enjoyed
sitting with Reggie Hollinger,
Paula Tuffin, Sarah Abernathy,
Kevin Jenkins and Linda Aaron at
the dinner on Saturday, where,
Julie noted, Ted Thomas invented
a new dance step: the squat and
cross. As for their many other joyful encounters over the weekend,
“the list of all the people I was
happy to see would be as long
as the attendee list,” said Sunny.
Julie missed Betsy Crill Robertson,
Frank Edwards, Chip Gray, Steve
Mazzari, Shannon McKeen, Steve
Murray, Ben “Hat” Olshin, Bethany
Pray, Marcy Rubinger and Mark
Winters, and expects them all to
be at our 30th.
Other thoughts from other
classmates, starting with Joan
Becker Kelsch: “Thanks to all the
organizers—sort of like putting
on a wedding for 400 people.
Your efforts are much appreciated
by those of us who just paid and
showed up.” From Greg Taylor:
“Amazing catching up with old
friends, but the surprise for me
was making new friends that I
hadn’t really known at school.
Great that Williams is still giving
that gift after 25 years.” From
Randy and Lesley Feltman Rogers:
“Conversations with classmates
that we didn’t know as well
remind us what an interesting,
fun, diverse and talented group
of people we have in our class.”
From Gus Haracopos: “Nearly
every moment held sparks of fun
and connection. Didn’t anticipate
that we’d manage to keep the
dance floor going for so long.
Grateful to college security for
finally pulling the plug and letting
us get to bed!” From Phil and
Mary Nealon Lusardi: “Here’s our
favorite quote from the weekend.
Mark Schmitz, reminiscing about
fun times at the Log, reminded us
that ‘It’s the only place you could
go with $5 in your pocket, drink
all night and come home with
$10.’”
Let me close with this beautiful
reflection from Emmy Olmsted
Wyatt: “The 25th reminded me
how great middle age can be! I
am young enough to dance until
the DJ gets shut down. And I
am mature enough to stay in the
moment, savoring every morsel of
conversation. Reunion was full of
connecting with old friends and
making new connections with
people I did not know well during
our college years. The Williams
community continues to impress
and transform me.”
A highlight of my weekend
was partnering with Christina
Lundquist (back for the first time
since we graduated) to organize
the 25th reunion panel discussion
on civility featuring Jenny Bicks
(also back for the first time), John
Denaro, David Shipley and Ben
Williams. Thanks to Christina
for proposing such a timely topic
and to our four speakers, whose
humor, humility and profound
insights made me so proud, yet
again, to be a member of this
class.
In a lot of ways, the dynamic
of this panel was a micro-version
of the reunion that encompassed
it: Four classmates who didn’t
know one another too well but
who came together in the spirit
of mutual respect and trust and
rediscovered the special bond that
unites us all. It reminded me—as
did Bob Ause’s moving prayer
of remembrance—of four other
classmates whose paths on this
earthly campus rarely crossed,
if ever: Dori Dewar Clark, Scott
Pond, Shelly Traina Riecke and Kim
Zullo. I would like to think that,
somewhere, the four of them were
having a reunion of their own
that special weekend.
1986
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Brian Carpenter
6308 South Rosebury 2E
St. Louis, MO 63105
25th
Greg Heller
178 Rolling Road
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
[email protected]
Like the big ball dropping in
Times Square, or an impending
launch at Cape Canaveral, or the
last few seconds on a soft-boiled
egg, we’ve entered the official
countdown for our 25th reunion,
and we’re here to provide occasional updates on the festivities
while keeping you informed
about classmates.
In these columns we’ve often
done a geographic tour of the
U.S., visiting classmates from state
to state, and this time around
we’re going to start on the East
Coast, where Robin Hoagland
checked in from Cape Cod.
Robin writes, “I was recently
contacted by the Williams Record
CL ASS
NOTES
for a story they were doing on
‘nontraditional career paths.’
That seems as good a way as any
to describe me. For the past three
years, I’ve been giving inspirational talks nationally as well as
online primarily to youth audiences (middle school up through
20-somethings) as a member of
the Christian Science Board of
Lectureship, based in Boston.
This is in addition to an ongoing
ministry of healing as a Christian
Science practitioner and teacher.
My work has also taken me from
New Zealand to Africa, including the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Cameroon and Kenya. As
far as the home front, our daughter Elissa graduated midyear from
Brown and has been working in
a nonprofit think tank in DC as
an economist. She’s about to have
a couple of articles published,
one in Parks and Recreation
Magazine, the others in academic
journals. Our son Henry will be
a junior at Bowdoin, spending
his fall semester in Sri Lanka and
working toward a double major
in music and government. He’s in
the a cappella Meddiebempsters
during the academic year but
pulled together a band to do gigs
over the summer. And finally,
weathering the recession, John
continues his work in executive
search as the founding partner of
Mainstay Partners.”
Among the many classmates
who commented about how
quickly the years seem to be flying
past, Tedie Jones Bastian marveled
at how impossible it seemed
that she recently celebrated her
15th wedding anniversary. Tedie
lives in Dover, Mass., where
her husband is a pediatrician at
a community health center in
Jamaica Plain. Their eighth-grader
is headed off to Milton Academy
next year, and their lively fifthgrader attends the Charles River
School. Tedie is on the Yes list
for next June, looking forward to
catching up with classmates. Sara
Morgan, who lives in Framingham
with husband Christian, is not
only committed to reunion—she
has already booked her room at
the Willows! Her son Dylan (second grade) has started lacrosse,
daughter Elena (third grade) is
playing soccer, and Sara has taken
up sailing.
Now we get to some real gossip from our reliable eagle eye
informant, Martha Nikitas Stone.
Martha writes, “I have finally
decided to break my silence,
because in our little Town of
Sudbury 01776 you can’t swing
a dead cat without hitting a
Williams alum, and I am going
to offer a bold review of those I
see and know something about.
Scott Kessler ’87 lives around the
corner with his wife Annika and
three children. Tom ’84 and Tracey
(Niederauer) Davies ’85 live across
the street with their three. And,
no kidding, the other ‘wicked tall
kid’ on our son William’s Little
League team is a boy named Ben,
son of the coach, Mark Winters
’85. And if that weren’t enough, I
was in the audience at our middle
school when Julie Anderson
Hebble ’82 taps me on the shoulder to have me greet her brother,
who is our very own 86er, Dan
Anderson, in the audience with his
wife and daughters. Rick Wheeler
’52 and Tom Beal ’51 are two of
my best pals in Concord. They
were few years ahead of us but
they acknowledge the purple
when prompted. OK, even I’m
fed up with the random name
dropping.”
Martha continues, “Had a
great visit with Andrew Garfield in
Boston in late May. He is a PhD
candidate in developmental psych
at University of Wisconsin and
was in town for a conference. He
promised to try to get his father
John ’56 to join him for reunion
weekend next June. I took that
opportunity to admonish him not
to go by way of Union Station
in Washington, as Garfields have
had historically bad luck getting
to Williamstown from there. He
will return to campus by another
way or engage the Secret Service.
Heard from Erik Fitzpatrick, who
is raising his “awesome 2-1⁄2-yearold daughter” with wife Charlie.
As legal counsel for the House
and Senate Judiciary Committees
in the Vermont legislature, he
is keeping the Green Mountain
State safe for democracy, or at
least safe for democrats. As for
me, I have been painting for
the last couple of years, mostly
acrylic, and am going to begin
studying with a local artist to
learn to work with oil.”
Martha is part of the “communications nerve center” for
our 25th reunion, so don’t be
surprised if you hear her gentle
knock on your front door this
year (or worse yet, the hollow
thump of her cat) because her
goal is to “hunt down as many
classmates as possible so that our
class attendance blows the doors
off the place.”
Jurian (Martha) Hughes just
bought a house in the woods
south of Pittsfield with her partner
David. Jurian trains yoga teachers
at the Kripalu Center for Yoga
and Health in Stockbridge and
leads workshops and trainings in
yoga, movement, voice, theater
and dance. She was returning to
the stage this summer to perform
in a new play at Berkshire Theatre
Festival.
Any of you with children
should be able to sympathize with
Allison Hild Petrie, whose kids
are adorable and lovely and fine
human beings and all that but
are on the verge of adolescence
and its accompanying sturm und
drang. Claudia is 9 and Max
recently turned 14. Max is at
the Kingswood-Oxford School
in West Hartford, Conn., where
Alex Kraus is head of the English
department at the Upper School.
Allison is assistant director at a
small nonprofit that offers crisis
intervention programs, including
a soup kitchen, pantry program
and job training program. She
also continues to run a microenterprise program she started over
a decade ago. Learn more next
June—Allison is also on the Yes
list.
Martin Hildebrand is a
professor in the department of
Mathematics and Statistics at the
State University of New YorkAlbany and makes it back to
Williamstown from time to time.
Continuing down the coast,
Rich Miller wrote in from NYC,
where he continues to practice at
Morris & McVeigh LLC, focusing on tax, estate and trust planning and administration and the
representation of cultural institutions. Faster than seems possible,
Rich’s kids are growing, with
daughter Lauren a rising senior
at Emma Willard School and son
George entering Albany Academy
for Boys next year as a freshman.
Rich was elected president of the
Metropolitan Opera Guild (which
is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary), having served on their
board for the previous five years
and as treasurer for the last two.
Also in NYC, Ed O’Toole
reported having a great time at
a recent MoMA cluster cocktail
party for classes ’84-’88 organized
by Geri Hugo Mohr, Sue Lockwood
and Jen Koski Washburne. Also
there were Brad and Amy Ball and
The Voice (aka Rich Miller). By
Ed’s description, “The cocktail
reception followed a provocative
tour of a photography exhibit
that featured naked bodies
draped across shabby furniture.
Reminded me of Mission Park
back in the day.” Ed is heading up the New York office of
Venable LLP, which, according to
Ed, means he’s “a pinata for our
n 1986
Members of the Class of 1986 convened on campus in April for reunion
planning. Pictured, from left (front), Mike Curtin, Colleen (Murphy) Columbo,
Sally Hart Petersen, Steve Troyer; (back) Martha Nikitas Stone, Mel Mahoney
Bissell, Debbie Semel Goldenring, Ted Plonsker, Ellenore Knight Baker, Jeff
Weber, Lisa (Jayne) Sippel and Liz Peay McCreery.
other lawyers.” Ed’s daughters
are in the midst of their teen-angst
phase (Allison, we can put you
in touch), and his wife Kim is
working as a lawyer for a predominantly female insurance firm.
Ed gets the frequent chance to
see Tim Faselt, Mike Duncan, Rob
Coakley, Jim Reardon, Greg Norton
and Mike Curtin, “all smack in the
middle of the middle (hopefully)
and enjoying it.”
Just a short train ride outside
of NYC, in New Jersey, we check
in with Bettina Roth Caluori.
Bettina is a professor of English
at Mercer County Community
College. Husband Paul Caluori
commutes to NYC, where he
“continues to work hard for the
Associated Press and the future of
professional journalism.” Their
daughter Nava is in high school.
A longer train ride outside
NYC, down to DC, Mike Curtin
continues to do his good work
as CEO of DC Central Kitchen,
which teaches unemployed men
and women culinary skills while
turning donated goods into balanced meals that are distributed throughout the Greater
Washington area. Mike writes,
“Not too long ago, I had the
great pleasure of hosting the DC
chapter of the alumni association to DC Central Kitchen for a
day of service. Classes across the
board, including classes well into
the teens and beyond, were represented and did an amazing job
helping us put out our daily production of 4,500 meals to local
shelters, transitional programs
and other social service partners.
Also helping out with our work is
my buddy Ed O’Toole, whose law
firm has taken on the majority
of our legal work pro bono. Any
Williams folks who happen to be
passing through DC, please stop
by; I’d love to show you around.”
Mike was up in Williamstown
last spring, invited to speak at the
College to kick off their Spring
into Service Program. Mike
remarked, “It was amazing to be
on campus and to talk to another
generation of Williams students
and see how incredibly engaged
and involved they are.”
Another classmate dedicated to
service, Julie Convisser continues
to enjoy her work as a psychotherapist in private practice in
Charlottesville, Va. Julie and her
husband Tim are doing their best
to keep up with their two sons,
ages 9 and 13, heavily involved
in the school-soccer-viola-kung
fu rotation, while still making
time for long family hikes in the
Blue Ridge Mountains. Julie adds,
“In my ‘spare time’ I’m working
on a novel based on my years
working in HIV prevention in
the Congo from 1989-91. (I was
a double major after all, English
and African studies). This year
I also started a ‘Dollar A Week
Network,’ a way for women in
Charlottesville to create community and support women’s
microenterprises in Africa
through modest donations.”
In a modern-day wagon
train, after 20 years of living in
Boston Tristyn Patrick packed
up and moved to Cleveland last
August. Tristyn’s husband Toby
got a great new job opportunity, and they were ready for
a new adventure. They now
live in Shaker Heights, running
into classmates Lucy Lytle, who
heads up admissions at one of
the excellent private schools in
town, and Dick Hollington, who,
it turns out, lives right around the
corner. Tristyn had been working
at Harvard Business Publishing
for over 11 years and has been
(voluntarily) unemployed since
leaving Boston. Tristyn says that
the “I need time to get the family
settled” excuse is beginning to
wear a bit thin, so she’ll be working on her next career move soon.
In a reverse wagon train,
after 22 years in California Bill
Hughson moved to Chicago with
his wife Monica and their two
kids (ages 11⁄2 and 31⁄2). Bill took
on a new job as president of the
healthcare group of DeVry Inc.
This includes responsibility for a
number of academic enterprises,
including Chamberlain College
of Nursing (the second largest nursing school in the U.S.),
the Carrington Colleges (which
focus on allied health profession
education) and Ross University
(which is comprised of the largest
medical and veterinary schools in
North America, both based in the
Caribbean).
Heading down to south Texas,
Ann and Carl Leafstedt were commenting that their cold and rainy
winter reminded them at times
of Boston, though at this writing
temps were up in the 90s, and
they sounded a little nostalgic for
some cold. Their well-rounded
boys, Wendell and Kent, just
finished up 8th and 6th grades,
respectively, and have been on the
baseball-cello-violin-Boy Scouts
circuit. Carl is looking forward
to a long-awaited sabbatical next
fall, and Ann just caught up with
Mary Claire Daviss Munroe. The
Leafstedts were part of the cheering throng when the Williams
men’s soccer team played in the
Div. III Final Four tournament
held in San Antonio last fall.
Moving to the great Northwest,
Carolyn Walker Niles has moved to
Seattle with husband Mark, who
became dean of the University of
Washington Law School. A little
bit south of there, Brian Mahon
reports that this year Portland
is earning its reputation as far
as rain goes. Tomato and basil
plants were struggling at last
report, with cold, wet weather
continuing well into June. On a
sunnier note, Brian and his wife
Tracie completed the final stage of
their foster parenting certification
and so are “open and exposed”
for a young’un to walk through
CL ASS
NOTES
their front door at any time. By
the time reunion comes around
next June life could be very different for this family!
Steve Troyer has taken on a
new role at Juniper Networks,
managing the company’s fastestgrowing product line. He is still
living in San Francisco’s South
Bay area. He regularly sees Marty
Collins and Greg Stanger and had
the pleasure of doing some back
country skiing in Steamboat with
Chris Toll in February.
Robin Flagg—in a move that
should be an inspiration to all of
us—has headed back to school,
starting a PhD program in health
policy at UC Berkeley. This with
a high school freshman, a high
school senior and two college
freshmen in her household!
Laura Gatzkiewicz is still in
Valencia, Spain, where she works
as the resident director of the
Rutgers University in Spain study
abroad program. She writes, “It
is a fantastic program, so if you
know any college students who
want to spend a year or a semester in Spain, send them my way!”
Laura’s husband is a chemistry
professor at the University of
Valencia. They have two kids. Of
her daughter, who is about to turn
16, Laura writes, “She is looking
to study fine arts. She has done a
lot of research on art schools …
and will probably stay in Europe
to study.” She continues, “My
son is 9, and our goal is to civilize
him before the hormones kick
in.” Laura’s not sure she’ll be
able to make it to the 25th, but
then again Martha has only just
begun her efforts. Also, Laura, if
you do figure out how to civilize
adolescent boys, then missing
reunion is really not an option.
Your classmates need you.
Thanks to all of you who
answered the call for news. And
an even bigger thanks to those
who gathered in Williamstown
this April to get the reunion
juggernaut rolling: Mel Mahoney
Bissell, Martha Nikitas Stone,
Ellenore Knight Baker, Steve
Troyer, Jeff Weber, Ted Plonsker,
Colleen Murphy Columbo, Deb
Semel Goldenring, Sally Hart
Petersen, Lisa Jayne Sipple, Liz
Pay McCreery and Tim Faselt. Stay
tuned for details and set aside
next June 9-12 on your calendars.
1987 Ephs James Sadock (left) and Hans Humes (center) attended a
performance of classmate Brandt Johnson’s one-man show, Give and
Go: Learning from Losing to the Harlem Globetrotters at Metropolitan
Playhouse in NYC in February.
1987
Greg Keller
2810 College Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94705
Rob Wieman
11 Jarell Farms Drive
Newark, DE 19711
[email protected]
Acknowledging my own
early-onset senility seemed to
strike a chord with several of our
classmates who reported a variety
of similar symptoms. First among
them was my fellow secretary
Greg Keller, who noted that in
writing about Tom Fitzgibbon
he mistakenly confused his own
fantasies about Ladera Ranch
with Tom’s new home. Tom does
not live in Ladera, as previously
reported, but moved and barely
changed houses in Newbury Park,
Calif.
Jennifer Raymond is also feeling forgetful in California. She
has bought a fixer upper in San
Francisco, where she assures
me that she has several medical
colleagues who could help me
with my dementia, if only she
could remember their names.
Daphne Lurie took time out from
her work at the Scripps Institute
in San Diego, where she has been
promoted to director of the counseling center, to recommend that I
do crosswords to stay sharp.
Although most respondents
were sympathetic to stories of
aging, they seemed to be engaged
in more youthful, if still age
appropriate, pursuits. Sarah
Pynchon leads the list, writing
that she is to be married later this
year and heading off to Australia
for her honeymoon. Her future
husband hails from Northern
England, excellent meteorological
preparation for their present location in Seattle. Sarah is working
as a marketing consultant, which
brings her east on occasion.
Sarah was also to be joined for
a bachelorette weekend in July
in Sonoma by Cindy Morehouse
Birdwell, Carol Smallwood and
Deb Wickenden Crisfield ’85. As
mentioned before in this space,
Sarah might want to contact Kara
Buntin, who continues to win
accolades for her wedding cakes
and, when not baking cakes, writing for wedding magazines and
her own cake blog.
Laura Feitzinger Brown writes
that she has had a fourth child,
Joseph Ambrose Brown, who
got an early start on the broken
collarbone requirement for males
in her family by breaking his in
the delivery room. This seems
to have been less strange for
the folks in Laura’s small South
Carolina town than the fact that
she was having a baby at her
age, apparently more advanced
in years than other expectant
mothers in that community. It all
made for interesting discussion
when she co-taught a course on
human sexuality and literature
with a menopausal colleague at
Converse College.
Most other news is less of the
life changing and more of the
age-appropriate immersion in
family life—or becoming more
professionally responsible—variety. Kate Pugh is starting her own
consulting company and publishing a book Knowledge Jam on
n 1 9 8 6 –8 8
how to utilize knowledge that is
generated in conversation but that
we don’t write down. Elizabeth
Sawyer (aka Libby Hennesey)
celebrated the retirement of her
boss by buying the company.
She now is the proud owner
of Bennett Schoolplacement
Worldwide, which specializes not
only in compound words but in
finding schools for the children of
folks who are moving overseas.
She also has time to oversee the
meteoric growth of her own three
children.
John Austin writes that he will
be leaving St. Andrews School
in Delaware to become the new
headmaster of King’s Academy, a
School in Jordan founded by the
King Abdullah II and inspired by
his own positive experiences at
Deerfield Academy when he was
in high school. John will replace
another Williams graduate, Eric
Widmer ’61. John has been at St.
Andrews, his own alma mater,
since graduating from Williams,
most recently as academic dean.
Others in our class making professional waves are Reed Muoio,
part of the SEC team prosecuting
Goldman Sachs (heard third-hand
from Andrew Smith, by way of
Greg Keller). Also from Greg came
news that Scott Messenger has
published a study that chronicles
the increasing ideological bent of
Supreme Court clerks, and that
Kurt Billick is back in the states
after several years in London,
working at a hedge fund and
enjoying life with wife and two
children.
David Frielech writes that he
took Michael Clinchot to a Red
Sox game for his birthday, and
Michael spent the game snapping
shots of various bullpen denizens,
and David mused on life as a
Yankees fan in Cambridge. Jeff
Dalzell’s photographic exploits
entail documenting his be-tuxed
son going off to the high school
prom, prompting memories of
his own high school prom in
Williamstown with his present
wife. When not reminiscing,
Jeff is teaching the history of
architecture, working on small
architectural projects and keeping
chickens “against the cold winds
of underemployment” at his
home in Hopkinton, N.H. David
Attasani continues to lawyer,
concentrating these days on various calamities, while overseeing
house construction projects,
trying to avoid bad athletic advice
to aspiring child athletes and
looking forward to the summer
on Martha’s Vineyard.
Finally, Sean Denniston
modestly shares his own tale of
professional accomplishment
from DC, where he has received
the “member of the year” award
from the DC chapter of Women
in Transportation. Sean seems
to think that this award signals
either his own increasing enlightenment and progressive attitude
toward ‘the fairer gender,” or this
particular group’s confusion, but
either way, he is not sure that it
has been a great help in dating.
1988
Britta Bjornlund
3406 Rodman St., NW
Carolyn O’Brien
241 Huron Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
[email protected]
First, we must issue a correction, as our announcement of
Mark Raisbeck’s retirement from
competitive darts, according to
Ray George, was a bit premature.
Ray, Mark and Jim Elliott played
in the NYC darts league last
spring as a way to honor their
friend, Jeremy Ensey, “former
dart teammate and sommelier
extraordinaire,” who recently
succumbed to a long battle with
cancer. Ray admits his dart skills
are a bit rusty, but he enjoys
meeting up with Ephs and others
once a week to share a few beers,
throw a few darts and honor their
friend. In a perhaps more refined
setting, Ray and his wife recently
attended the bat mitzvah of Sara
Hollenberg in Stamford, Conn.
(daughter of Jonny Hollenberg).
Also celebrating with Sara and
Jonny were Scott Berman and Tim
Bock.
Scott Berman as well as Mike
Goldstein and Cary (Benedict)
Collins and families skied with
Bill Pike at various points this
past winter. Bill wrote us that his
life, which includes flying around
volcanic ash clouds, juggling an
11-year-old daughter’s birthday
party after a trans-Atlantic flight
and acting as COO for companies headquartered in the Chanel
Islands is “not that exciting.” On
one of his rare times working at
his home office in Boston, he ran
into Wendell Chestnut, looking
“every inch the banker (and by
the way exactly the same as he
did in 1988 except for maybe the
pin stripe suit).”
Thinking he might be the last
in our class to take the plunge,
Carter Zinn confirmed his
marriage to Karen Sue Rapoport
in June 2009. Nicole Melcher, Eric
“Shaker” Hanson, Tim Farnham,
his wife Ellen Alvord and their
daughters Julia and Annabelle,
and Josh Levenberg ’92 not only
attended but reportedly showed
skill on the dance floor. Carter
shared an interesting anecdote:
Karen, now VP of creative services at Williams Sonoma in San
Francisco, went to tennis camp
at Williams in August 1984 and
is photographed sitting on the
railing of the Freshman Quad,
right in front of Sage C. Two
weeks later, Carter showed up for
freshman days, and where was
his dorm room? Sage C. Carter
writes, “So from this I conclude
three things: the world is a small
place, fate is a wonderful thing,
and I am glad Karen wasn’t sitting
at the bottom of the stairs in Sage
C when I was conducting physics
experiments by dropping apples,
coins or vats of salad dressing
from the fourth floor all the way
down to the basement through
the chute formed by the handrail
to the stairway. Otherwise I might
still be single.” Carter still works
as a trial lawyer, running his own
small practice representing plaintiffs who have suffered serious
injuries due to accidents (salad
dressing vat mishaps, perhaps?)
or medical mistakes.
Two brave classmates have
added “caring for a newborn”
to their mid-40’s resumes: Jane
Amidon and husband Matt
Hopkins welcomed Nora Anne
Dodge Hopkins in late March,
and Suz MacCormack gave birth
to Matthew Aldrich Taylor in
January. In a super-mom move,
Suz nursed young Matthew at her
first meeting as a board member
for her 1,000-person law firm.
Kate Hodgson has been contemplating the work/family balance in
Toronto in her dual (triple?) roles
as a professor in both family and
veterinary medicines as well as a
mom. She will spend the summer
with her children after lecturing
on the “constant search for balance” over the academic year.
Dave Kane has also been balancing family and work. He has
coached one or both daughters’
soccer teams every fall and spring
for eight years now. He says it
brings back fond memories of IM
soccer “not that long ago.”
Robyn Clark Bostrom is also
raising two children (Juliette, 7,
and Axel, 4), in a small town in
Germany with her husband Paul
’87. They recently traveled to
Amsterdam to see the “gorgeous
Keukenhof Garden Tulips.”
CL ASS
NOTES
They expect to be there until
2012 because of Paul’s work as a
dermatologist and International
Health Specialist for the U.S. Air
Force.
Donna Lisker also visited
Amsterdam last spring, and she
saw Valentina Mazzucato ’87, a
former rowing teammate. Donna
is a dean at Duke and was preparing for more travel, rowing and,
of course, work this summer.
Olga Bassine, another faithful
correspondent from Germany,
may soon be a faithful UK
correspondent, as she is contemplating a move to another
“miserable” climate. She would
be grateful to anyone who could
suggest why the “Indus valley
3rd Millenium BC ware” she is
currently studying (and previously excavated) was imported
into the Sultanate.
Rob Chase reminds our readers
that his guest room, currently
located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
is always open. And is much
more available than the one in
his previous locale, Italy. He and
his family moved there summer
’09 so that he could continue
his work for the World Health
Organization (WHO), addressing
local-level health, education and
safety nets through transparency
and accountability.
Rob Newman, is also working for the WHO, currently in
Geneva. He does not mention
whether he has had many house
guests but does say that his sons
bravely and cheerfully adapted to
school in French, having spoken
none in Atlanta, from where
they arrived last July. He is the
director of The Global Malaria
Programme, and his wife Lori
also works for the WHO focusing
on congenital syphilis elimination.
Karen Olsen is also in Geneva
and plans to keep a place there
despite the fact that she is moving
to Moscow to take a part-time
position with the National
Democratic Institute in Russia.
Chris Jones, Cecilia Malm
and daughters Emma, 10, and
Annelise, 6, were winding down
their year abroad adventure
in Rennes, France, last spring.
Chris taught high school math
in between visiting chateaux in
the Loire Valley, checking out
sculptures in the Louvre and hiking along the southern coast near
Provence with the family.
Vicki Rummler is still living in
the center of Paris, finishing her
second solo album and working
on about 15 different musical
projects, including workshops,
festival performances and a role
in a French rock opera. You can
also see her on YouTube or victoriarummler.com.
In the Big Apple, Corinna Lamb
participated in a minireunion at
MoMA with Chauncy Lennon,
Dave Greenberg, Thomas Vitale
’86, David Futterman ’87 and
others. It sounds like it was a
nice break for adult conversation in between chasing her twin
toddlers.
Lisa Mandl, husband John Ciolek
’87, and their three children see
Ellen O’Connell and family for
museum time and reminiscing in
NYC whenever possible.
On the busy streets of NYC,
Catherine Eaton-Coakley recently
ran into Mark Schein. Catherine
may have seen the most classmates in recent days when she
went to a Women of Williams
event at Annie Schulman’s apartment featuring a talk by Professor
Carol Ockman. Katie Kessler
Chatas, Kathy Wolfe and others
attended. Catherine and husband
Rob Coakley ’86 also regularly see
Tim Hamilton and recently had
dinner with Ross Jannotta and
his wife when they were in town.
Catherine, who is too young to
have a teenager, nonetheless is
happily raising daughter Signy,
14, and son Robert, 11.
Brian Kornfield’s twin
stepdaughters are heading off
to college in the fall! And to
prepare for the empty nest, he
and his wife have gotten three
dogs—a Shipeke, a Shih-zuh,
and a Shih-zuh/toy poodle
mix! His own son will also be
entering his senior year of high
school, but Brian is defying any
signs of aging by playing hockey.
His team made it to the national
tournament of Hockey North
American in Toronto in June.
He modestly (or accurately?)
says that, “Basically we just play
other teams as lousy as us but
get a trip to Toronto.”
Claire Hsiang surprised us when
she talked about re-creating
Dodd Days stair diving, but we
subsequently figured out that it
wasn’t she and Bennett Lee, but
their respective children, several
of whom were waging “Jedi
knight light saber battles” during
a recent quick visit. Despite the
battles, Claire enjoyed socializing with Bennett, his wife
Eun and their three delightful
children—Caton, Noah and
Kaija.
Nicole Melcher took Laura
Hurwitz out for $5 martinis for
Laura’s birthday—Nicole split
the tab with Amy Searight. They
must have been tasty martinis,
because Nicole reports that Laura
graciously welcomed Nicole into
her longstanding book club for
Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward
Bethlehem. Nicole was to travel
to China in the spring with the
secretaries of commerce, state
and treasury for the strategic and
economic dialogue.
Nicole and Amy have also
enjoyed several of Blake Robison’s
recent shows at DC’s Round
House Theatre, where Blake is
artistic director. George Tolley,
wife Kirsten ’89 and Laura Myers
’87 have also been in attendance
for shows, including The Picture
of Dorian Gray and The Talented
Mr. Ripley.
Befitting a Williams alum, Nick
Beatty’s “mid-life crisis” led to
more education. He wrote in on
the day of his graduation from the
Irish version of medical school.
He planned a summer move to
Saskatchewan for family medicine
residency and then one extra year
for emergency medicine. He has
two daughters: Olivia, born in
British Columbia, and Bryn, born
in Cork, Ireland.
Another traveling classmate,
Kathy McDonnell, tells us that she
ran into Pavlos Yeroulanos on the
streets of Athens, Greece.
Back in Billsville, Tom Smith has
become both a full professor at
Williams and a chicken farmer.
Apparently the logical next step
after mathematics and raising
twin second-graders is building what Tom calls a “chicken
fortress” for the family’s six new
baby chicks.
Orion Howard is also in
Williamstown, enjoying the view
of Pine Cobble from his home on
Stratton Road. Orion’s daughter Molly, 8, is finishing grade
school, while Noah, 11, enjoys
squash as “only a Williams alum
son could.” Orion works at the
cancer center in Bennington along
with his wife Lisa, who is the staff
psychiatrist.
Having successfully launched a
citywide volunteer program for
the Boston Public Schools and
gotten daughter Audrey into preschool last spring (much more difficult than admission to Williams
was back in the day), Carolyn
O’Brien was looking forward to
a relaxing summer, including
her annual reunion with Tracy
Heilman and family in Maine.
As Olga Bassine calls us, that’s it
from your “courageous gleaners
of news”!
n 1 9 8 8 –8 9
1989
David Bar Katz
138 Watts St., Apt. 4
New York, NY 10013
Shannon Penick Pryor
3630 Prospect St., NW
[email protected]
Let’s kick it off with Rob Blanck:
“Living in downtown Annapolis
with my wife Kristin and two
young boys. I am still coaching
soccer at the Naval Academy.”
Brittain Shaw McInnis writes, “I
can best sum up my current status
as ‘former federal prosecutor on
extended sabbatical as stay-athome mom.’ I was an Assistant
U.S. attorney in DC until my
son Conor was born four-anda-half years ago, at which point
I decided that my son would be
little for only a short time, but,
sadly, there would be murderers,
drug dealers and other miscreants
in DC for a long time.”
Amanda C. Graham wrote,
“My eyes are blue. My son
Finnegan is nearly 6.” At
the bottom of Amanda’s
e-mail it read, “Amanda C.
Graham, PhD; Director,
Education Office; MIT Energy
Initiative Massachusetts Institute
of Technology,” which I found so
impressive I’ve resolved to put it
at the bottom of all my e-mails.
Nancy Gannon wrote in to
announce a semi-new baby! “Her
name is Matilda Rose GannonSias, and she’s 15 months old and
technically the cutest, smartest little thing ever. Her dad and I [were
to be] married in May.” Dominick
Grillo writes, “Soon to hit my
10-year anniversary at Hofstra
Law School. With luck, hope to
attend more Minor League baseball games this summer.” Mike
DeSenne, bringing back memories
of The Pub’s jukebox, opines, “In
Austin with Trey Meckel, Dave
Cantor and Steve Makowka. Just
heard a set by Paradise Titty, an
all-female Guns ’N Roses cover
band.” Lisa West wrote from
Iowa: “It is 17 below zero, and I
am writing an essay on domestic
violence in early American novels
and teaching at Drake University,
where I got tenure last year.”
Alison Landsberg wrote, “Had a
great time visiting with Cooper
(Campbell) Jackson and family in
DC and then flew off to Italy with
husband and kids to give a talk in
Trento.”
Beth Levine wrote, “We managed to survive the Christmukkah
craziness (husband, two kids,
labradoodle puppy and I), and
I’m trying to keep all my primary
care patients out of the hospital
during this crazy flu season.” Eric
Marks wrote in, “I quit a lucrative
and predictable legal career to
become a ‘social entrepreneur.’
Check out TisBest Philanthropy
(www.TisBest.org).”
Susan Sullivan, writing from
Boston, says, “I joined a golf club
here, but given the frigid cold and
snow, it might be a while before I
get out on the links again.”
Leslie Pelch wrote, “My 4-yearold daughter loves dressing up,
nail-polish and ballet class (where
did she come from?), and I provide enthusiastic customer service
to the map-challenged.”
Adam Kimberly wrote, “Beth ’91
and I chase our kids (David and
Sophie) and dog around Boulder
and up/down/through nearby
mountains and woods.” Tom
and Tina (Webster) Loose wrote,
“Toured the Irish countryside
with Heather (King) ’90 and Tim
Allen in October, tubed on Lake
Winnipesaukee in N.H. with
John “Bunnyman” Bellwoar.”
And Julie Norton, with her first
submission EVER (yay!), writes,
“Heading into perhaps my
busiest year ever—more clients
than I can handle will have me
traveling nonstop, which will be
good, since my new house will
be undergoing a complete gut
and renovation, and I’ll need the
escape!”
Julie Barbo reports: “I’m living
in Seattle with my husband Mark
and our four kids. My legal
training comes in very handy
with domestic management. We
finally entered the 21st century
with Santa bringing a Wii for
Christmas!”
Heather Martinez Zona: “Surf
camp in Hawaii in November. I
am saddened to surf in cold water
in California, but it is still a fun
sport; Working with kids in foster
care.”
Meg Boyle Campbell writes in
from Vermont, where she is “saving old buildings and training for
triathlons, and mostly succeeding
at keeping my head above water
with our small farm, huge old
house, two very busy daughters
and even busier husband.”
John Watkins alleges he, “Saw
the Katzes on New Year’s
Eve—his kids couldn’t have been
nicer.” John’s sarcastic comment
is directed at my eldest son, who
laughed for about two hours
straight because your co-class
secretary may have accidentally
drawn a bunch of stuff on John’s
face after he “dozed off” premidnight.
Kirsten Hano writes, “I see Drew
Sawyer ’89, Wilbur Swan ’88 and
Mike Harrington ’88 regularly at
Good Sports board meetings.
Our organization is rolling out
nationally.”
Alan Krause writes, “I am in the
fourth year of a PhD in management at the University of Oregon.
When I’m not working, I indulge
my passion for whitewater
kayaking.”
Byron Shah writes, “I’m limping
down the aisles of Home Depot
with my 6-year-old son shopping
for supplies to build a vegetable planter—limping because
I sprained my knee skiing during
the Christmas vacation.”
Chris Muntz remains “blissfully
married and the proud papa of
three who are all swimmers. I’m
a general pediatrician, balancing
time between patient care, administrative headaches and continuing to develop our electronic
medical record system.”
Seth Burns wrote in taking
exception to my comment that
people in our ’89 reunion boat
(that is currently training for the
upcoming Head of the Charles)
are fat. He insists we are not. I
invite the whole class to come to
Boston in October and find out
for yourselves!
Anne Carson wrote, “I’m
snowed in on Cape Cod, loving
life in a small town with my
husband and cats, trying to decide
whether to renovate the bathroom or go on vacation!”
Allison (Buckner) Robichaud
writes, “I’m a stay-at-home mom,
and among the domestic skills I’ve
mastered is judging the exact size
Tupperware container for saving
the leftovers.”
Jenn Storey Gillis wrote,
“Mother of four and teacher of
5-year-olds. Love running, reading and a great Italian dinner—
still in St. Louis with Fletch!”
Tom Howard opines, “I’m on my
third mid-life crisis. Having children (first one) worked out well.
The motorcycle (second one) did
not. The inability to decide what
to do next (third one) meanders
toward an uncertain conclusion.”
Kate Underhill: “This past year
I left a job in Greensboro, N.C.,
and took a job in RTP, NC in
semiconductors. I’m enjoying play
time with my 4-year-old, Tobias.”
Melissa Hem reports that she,
“Saw two ’89 Ephs on National
TV [on the same day]. Mika
Brzezinski on the Today Show
kicking off her book tour, and
Rob Gotti on the new Sam Adams
CL ASS
NOTES
beer commercial. What are the
rest of us doing. Clearly I am
watching TV.”
Rob Neuner, writes, “I sold my
beer importing and distribution
companies two years ago and
started another company with an
old friend selling personal oxygen
cans. So yes—I do sell ‘air.’”
Marc McDermott reported that
he “went to work at the North
Adams Regional Hospital after
helping Rebecca Mattson ’90 get
their children to school. Oh, and
on lunch break played bass on a
sound check for Bono and Bruce
Springsteen’s … charity performance at MASS MoCA.”
David Beischer sends a dispatch
from Durham: “Michelle and
I are building a house in the
middle of the farm. I went on a
golf trip in September with Mike
Barbera and had a great time in
Williamsburg.”
Erika Elvander reports that
she and her dog “have bought
Capitol Hill’s smallest rowhouse
and are embarking on adventures
in employment at DoD, DC home
ownership and long-distance
cycling.”
Laura Hammond writes, “I’m
married to a great guy from
Atlanta, Ga., and we have a
7-year-old daughter. I work part
time for my family’s cattle ranch,
doing the bookkeeping. I wonder
if Seth Burns is still doing anything
beef- or ag-related?”
Thomas P. Roche is a teacher
of Classical languages, bible and
rhetoric, and school librarian at
the Aquidneck Island Christian
Academy. Marisa R. Randazzo,
who has just published her second
book, writes “My husband
Robert Randazzo is running for
Lt. Gov. of Nevada. Check out
RandazzoForNevada.com and
join the adventure!”
Sean Walters: “I sent an update
like this years ago, saying, ‘I
am living in Boston. I am still
tall.’ None of that has changed,
except I am living in Southern
California.”
Alison Jones Chaim works at the
Wisconsin Book Festival, which
she describes as “a high-energy,
high-profile, public literary arts
and humanities program that
makes an impressive cultural and
economic impact each year.”
Jennifer Krouse “now has a job
in real estate development—feels
like a miracle in this economy.”
Laura Titus Tang reports, “My
family and I traveled with another
American family to Beijing and
Guilin [last] Christmas, walked
the Great Wall and the Forbidden
City.”
James Elliott writes, “The talented team of people with whom
I work has spun off to create our
own new company. At the end of
summer I came out of mourning for my partner, who died of
cancer in 2008, and in November
I met and fell in love with a
remarkable young man who fills
me with hope for the future.”
Jenny (Payne) Johnson wrote,
“My millenium New Year’s resolution was to learn how to play
the banjo. That was the best New
Year’s resolution I have ever made
for numerous reasons, the least of
which was it was how I met my
husband.”
Ted Hobart reports that he has
“finally given up his long-held
dream of a life on stage, having
let himself go to seed for the last
20 years. He is working in a
small venture capital fund in New
York.”
Paul Knudsen writes, “I celebrated my 12th anniversary with
my partner Tim this year, went
to Ireland and Spain, am still at
American Conservatory Theater
(four years now).”
Shirley Kagan reports, “Matt
and I just got back two days ago
from dragging our poor children
through France for a month.
Now it’s back to the grind here
at good old Hampden-Sydney
for one more semester before full
professorship (I hope) and a yearlong sabbatical!”
Dorothy Lee reports, “I live in
Paris. At the moment I am in the
Eurostar train to London and
praying it won’t snow today as I
prefer not to stay in the Channel
tunnel for long!”
Susan Becker wrote, “We took
a fabulous family vacation to
beautiful Alaska this past summer, with a stop to visit Bethany
Spalding in Fairbanks, where she
is a magistrate judge for the state
court system. I’m still at the U.S.
Attorney’s Office.”
Lynda Gregory, from Sydney,
“Just completed the first 20-year
term at Gen Re and have signed
up for the second half of my life
sentence.”
Stewart Verdery wrote, “I’m still
working in DC at the consulting firm I founded in 2006,
Monument Policy Group. We
are now a nine-person firm and
have been very busy on a range of
issues from health care to sports
to immigration. We see the Randy
Schriver clan pretty often.”
Marcia Toll writes, “I am home
with our kids. We are trying to
keep all of our lives simple, and
I am trying not to fall into that
housewife trap of spending too
much time and energy on all
things that are my children.”
Southy Walton: “I am still living
in Vienna, Va., with my husband
and two children, and I am still
a trusts and estates lawyer at a
small firm in Reston, Va.”
Jennifer Garrett writes that she
“lives in Denver with her partner
Rodney.” Jennifer works as a
social worker at St. Anthony
Central Hospital.
Leslie Pelch wrote in with a
suggestion; “I can see that this
[class status updates] is going to
turn into your next project—kind
of like the Vagina Monologues!
The actor will recite all of the one
sentence descriptions of life (or
made-up crap) from a whole class
of elite college graduates. It will
define our generation … depressing as that might be.”
Andrew Seligsohn: “I live in
Trenton, N.J., with Martina
Anderson. After teaching political
science at a small liberal arts
college in upstate NY, I am now
director of civic engagement
at Rutgers-Camden. Martina
continues to work at Princeton
as communications and outreach
coordinator in the Office of
International Programs.”
Jan Blacka “has been enchanted
by the iPhone and only comes out
to dabble in front yard vegetablegrowing experiments or to fawn
disgustingly over her beloved
mutt.”
Bridget Baird claims she “leads
an uneventful life, and nothing
has changed since six months ago.
She does not have triplets or a
new Corvette.”
Petra Levin: “Wake up to 6 a.m.
alarm. Get 1-year-old from crib.
Convince 5-year -old that she
needs to get dressed instead of
spending 10 minutes doing her
hair. Call Daddy in Washington.
Change diaper #2. Then start very
important work saving the world
from harmless soil bacteria.”
Michelle Thomas Cartagena
is “still at the Transportation
Security Administration, now
managing the contact center after
a short stint with customs and
border protection.”
David Nowacek “is enjoying
baking, sledding and taking two
of my three little boys for their
first skating lessons.”
Vicki (Smith) Storrs reports, “I’m
working on a PhD in financial
market regulation, a new interdisciplinary program between
SUNY-Albany and the Albany
Law School. We still live in a leafy
suburb of Albany, N.Y.”
Tom Bottern writes, “I’m helping
raise three kids while my wife
n 1 9 8 9 –9 0
Cathy runs her own business, and
sticking with my job as senate
counsel for the Minnesota senate
has not left tons of time for other
hijinks.”
Jennifer (Rheum) Grossman
reports, “I had the pleasure of
watching Karen Costenbader
Kargere receive the Mary Betty
Stevens Award for Young
Investigators from the Lupus
Foundation at the American
College of Rheumatology’s
annual scientific meeting in
October.”
Jennifer Fox-Colwell is “raising two young kids while my
husband does his family medicine
residency, trying to fit in skiing,
mountain biking, hiking and
reading in Grand Junction,
Colo.”
Devastated to hear that I had
forgotten the color of his eyes,
Seth Rabinowitz reports, “My eyes
are still a lovely shade of bluish
greenish yellowish.”
Kristin Seemann Moreau wrote,
“Family (husband, sons ages 12,
9, 2), work (part-time family physician), fitness (competitive trail
runner, marathoner, etc.)—trying
to find the balance.”
CJ Johanson writes, “I’m considering becoming a referee for our
local roller derby team, the Vette
City Vixens.”
David Sette-Duccati reports,
“I’ve lived in the Boston ’burbs
approx 15 years now with my
wonderful wife Amy, two great
kids and two dogs.”
The enlightened Rachel
Maiorano wrote, “I don’t even
have a line for you, but I had to
respond to the most interesting
e-mail Williams has ever sent me.
And I totally agree about the horrible thing next to Greylock.”
Patty Donnelly (the winner of
the Class of ’89 Alumni Notes
Raymond Carver Prize) wrote:
“John Massaro and I are still married. OK?”
Leslie Senke tells us: “The
highlight of my fall was a trip
to Burgundy, France, for the
spectacular wedding of Maria
Teresa Tejada to Patrick Tournoy. I
am still enjoying the life of a stayat-home mom to my 3-year-old
twins.”
Eliza Kent (the winner of the
Class of ’89 Alumni Notes ‘you
make me feel as though I squandered my religion major’ award)
writes, “I’m living in Albany,
a scant one hour away from
Williamstown, which enables
me to do things like deliver a
paper at a conference sponsored by the fabulous Williams
College Religion Department on
Spiritualism, Theosophy and the
Origins of the Academic Study of
Religion.”
Lin Nulman reports, “I’m halfway through year #2 of a PhD
program in literature.”
Douglas Gschwind writes, “I just
took my 4-year-old son Lucas
skiing for the first time back in
December. After a half-hour lesson he skis better than my wife.”
Germaine Belle wrote, “I
relocated my family to Maryland
from Georgia in 2008. I’m still
studying Kanji whilst surfing the
waves of the contract attorney
market.”
And finally, David Bar Katz,
responding to his own threats
about the repercussions of not
writing in reports, “I live in
Tribeca, where I spend most of
my time reading or wrestling
with one of my four sons. I find
most of my spare time revolves
around pointing out to people
that if there’s vodka in it, it is not
a martini. When I’m feeling too
happy I read the class notes from
any pre-1940 class at Williams.
1990
Catherine Anne Brennan
2018 Rosilla Place
Los Angeles, CA 90046
[email protected]
secretary Christina Evans:
Every time I return to
Williamstown I wonder how it is
I’ve let five years go by between
visits. The unmatched beauty of
the Berkshires remains the same,
and it is wonderful to see the
Purple Valley and picturesque
campus through a child’s eyes—in
this case, my daughter Kate’s, 71⁄2.
Reunion weekend started off
with a glorious, cool evening
(unlike the sweltering 10th
and 15th) under the tent in the
old Freshman Quad. I had a
chance to reconnect with many
classmates, including Ragnar Von
Schiber, David Pesikoff, Beth Kissel
and Kathy Ryan, who is a school
teacher in Connecticut.
I loved catching up with
Jeanette and Brad Roegge ’88 and
finally meeting their three kids
after so many years. The Roegges
live in the DC area, where they
both practice law and their kids
are avid athletes. Carol Lind came
from Chicago with daughter
Cameron, and Hilary Steinman
came from NYC with her husband Rob and daughters Lucy
and Paulina.
Other attendees in no particular
order included Mo Minicus, Jill
and John Romans and their four
children (eldest Sarah is 15,
young Henry is 11⁄2 years old,
making the babysitting age split
just right), David Outcalt, Geoff
Beard, Hassan Murphy and Ginny
Churchill. It was wonderful to
see Jeff Friedman and wife Stacy,
who live near me in NYC, but
somehow we don’t get together
enough. The Friedmans had baby
Elizabeth in tow, while Frances
and Dave Morrison brought sons
Walter and Henry up from NYC
as well. Hillary Jones Danziger was
there, as was a strong showing
by the women of Meadow Street:
Becky Kasten, Becky Welch, Brooke
Sabin, Susan Gray and Beth
Worley, in from the Bay area sans
husband or her four children.
I ran into Dave Bank and his
family in the Paresky Center
(aka Baxter Hall), where I felt
nostalgic about the old snack
bar, that nasty flume, and the old
school mailboxes with the dials.
All of the kids in attendance had
a big time running free, playing
lacrosse and tag, and dancing to
the wonderful tunes of Wendy
Lipp and Gina Coleman’s band,
as well as Saturday night’s band,
which featured Arlo Guthrie’s
son. Gina Coleman, associate
dean at Williams, was there with
fellow ex-rugger/new mom Dagny
Maidman and her 4-month-old
son Ezra. Dagny and her partner
Molly were in from San Francisco
for the weekend. Rick Bruner,
Geoff Beard, Brian Harwell, Ragnar
Von Schiber, Beth Worley and
many others made the trek from
California as well.
Jeff Biersach drove in for the
occasion and filled me in on all
of his news from Chapel Hill,
N.C. He continues to teach high
school, gets to see a lot of Billie
Schwartz and his family, and
spends part of each summer in
Wisconsin. Sadly, Billie, Amie and
their three boys couldn’t be at
the reunion but hope to be at the
25th. Peter and Ashley Milliken
’92 live in Vermont, where Peter
runs a small private-equity fund
called Tuckerman Capital in
nearby Hanover, N.H. Karen
and Brice Hoskin live in Silverton,
Colo., where they produce rum
and love the mountain life. They
very kindly supplied the fantastic
spirits for our spirited gathering.
Former JAs Brooks and Allison
Foehl, both ’88, dropped by to
wish everyone well and catch
up with the Class of 1990. The
Foehls live in Williamstown
(Brooks is the director of alumni
relations) as do Chris Jones, and
Rob and Anne Marie Swann ’91.
CL ASS
NOTES
Andy Bernheimer and his family
were in town for a long weekend,
staying in a house of his own
design that he created for his
sister several years ago. David
Oman made the long trip back
to Billsville for the reunion (he
is currently working in banking
in London), as did Dave Cox and
Dean Caven.
Saturday was an event-filled
day that started with the everpopular Alumni Parade. I had the
chance to have a quick breakfast
in Greylock Quad with my dad,
Fred Ohly ’65, before a jampacked day of activities began.
The parade was well attended,
and the rain held off just long
enough for people to get into
the gym for the 188th Annual
Meeting of the Society of Alumni,
where Hilary Steinman and David
Pesikoff were commended for
their outstanding fundraising
efforts. The afternoon was filled
with a picnic lunch at the Field
House, where I caught up with
Brad Gendell, who is the proud
dad of twins and recently moved
to Hilltop Capital, a hedge fund
based in NYC. I also ran into
several Morgan Midwest entrymates, including Joanna Lowell,
Sam Coffin, David Bank and Amy
Kershaw. It was wonderful to
have time with Amy, who continues her work as an advocate for
quality education and childcare in
the state of Massachusetts. Amy
came solo, as sons Lucas and
Miles were busy playing soccer
back in Jamaica Plain.
Many Ephs gathered at the
Log for an exciting USA vs.
England World Cup soccer
match. Chuck Samuelson, Andy
“Panda” Bernheimer, Steve Linen,
the Romans and Roegge families
were all there, and everyone
enjoyed a great game in a setting
that remains classic and quintessentially “Williams.” Despite the
pouring rain, people were out in
the museums (I ran into Duniya
Lancaster and Janet Baker at the
Clark and on Spring Street), in
the pool (Mo Minicus and family
braved the icy waters, I hear), and
making arts and crafts projects
in the Science Quad (the Carlson
family). I saw Chris Adams on
Spring Street and enjoyed catching up with Sarah Fulkerson.
Sarah is living outside of Boston,
after a string of interesting moves
that have taken her from Spain to
Vancouver to London.
The party on Saturday featured
a slide show, a dinner buffet and
more cocktails and catching up.
Bob Verhey and his wife came
back from Minnesota, as did the
Romans family. Ginny Churchill
spoke glowingly of a three-hour
catch-up/coffee with Jeff Farmer,
an old friend she hadn’t seen for
years. That strikes me as one
of the most wonderful parts of
these reunions: everyone seems
to truly pick up right where they
left off, regardless of time and
distance in between visits. Other
attendees who I saw or only got
to chat with briefly included Stacy
and Brian Hughes, Beth Gannon,
Amanda Gallagher, Heather
Wilcox, Jacques Payne, Kathy Ryan
and Brian “Boz” Stevens. Will
Hong was there with his wife, as
was Steve Linen and family, in
from Chicago. The whole wonderful weekend is something of a
blur, so please forgive me for not
mentioning everyone by name. I
think this was the best class of ’90
turnout thus far with more than
180 classmates in attendance.
Polly LeBarron did a most
excellent job pulling our 20th
reunion together as did countless volunteers, so many thanks
to you all for your hard work.
I will be handing over my pen
to Katie Brennan, who has
volunteered to be your next class
secretary. Please e-mail her often
at [email protected].
It has truly been a pleasure being
in touch with you all over the
past five years, and thank you all
for your newsy e-mails and being
so supportive. I look forward to
seeing everyone at the 25th!
1991
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Mary Moule
555 Edgecombe Ave., Apt. 9D
New York, NY 10032
[email protected]
Matt and Seanna Connor Walter
took their children, ages 12, 10,
and 7 to Costa Rica during spring
break to visit Betsy Pennebaker
and Andrew Allen in their winter
home. Back home in Ohio,
Seanna is the “general manager of
the universe” (aka stay-at-home
mom), while entrepreneurial Matt
continues his work with both
the emergency medical products
distribution company he built
as well as investments with his
private-equity firm.
Betsy began the New Year
by slipping on an icy sidewalk
while running near their home
in Vermont. That kept her off
the slopes but didn’t slow them
down on their annual trek south.
Andrew and Betsy visited her
sister Patty (Pennebaker) Rutins
’93, her husband Eric Rutins ’93,
and their 3-year-old son Alex
recently, where their Rock Band,
the Def Ephers belted out cheesy
eighties songs. They confined
their performances to the Rock
Band game, which could be either
a great loss or a welcome relief to
the world.
Cliff Majersik and family “rang
in the new year at Jeff Butler
and his wife Andrea’s farm in
Hudson with Sam Coffin and his
wife Tobie Cornejo ’94.The grown
ups, Sylvie and Henry Butler
and John and Ella all had a great
time skating and sledding on the
Butlers’ frozen pond. It was the
first time many of us had skated
anywhere but a rink—you haven’t
skated till you’ve skated without a
zamboni!”
Cliff continues, “The theme of
our spring is soccer. Emilia, 10,
David, 7, and Harrison, 5, play
on different teams on Saturdays
and team up against me on
Sundays. I occasionally see my old
JA Doug Shulman ’89 on the pitch
coaching his twin 6-year-old boys’
soccer team.
“Joel McElvain, his wife Alice
O’Brien and their baby Teddy
just moved back to DC from
San Francisco. … Molly O’Meara
Sheehan ’92 and her twin 2-yearolds, Charles and William, were
in town from NYC. Along with
her parents, they bravely hosted
John Freedman, his wife Cecily,
their baby Elio and our family for
dinner. And, in the small-world
department, the nonprofit I work
for has outgrown our old offices
and just started subletting space
from Worldwatch, where Molly is
a senior fellow.
“We’re about to spend our
eighth Memorial Day weekend
renting neighboring places in
Bethany Beach with Jay Stanley
’90, his wife Meg Schryver and
their three kids. They live across
the river in Arlington. (Their
daughter Lucy was delivered by
the same doctor an hour before
our son David, and the moms
stayed in adjacent hospital
rooms.)
“Matt and Christy Williams
Wyskiel ’94 celebrated their
10-year anniversary at Woodberry
Kitchen, a local restaurant, when
John Whalen, who was also dining
at the restaurant, recognized me,
said hi, and we talked a bit. It
was good to see him, and since
he’s living in the Baltimore area,
hopefully we’ll get together in the
future.”
Susan Barnett: “My husband
Greg Delisle and I live near my
n 1 9 9 0 –9 1
From left, 1991 classmates Josh Becker, Chris Mersereau and Chris
Wadsworth bumped into each other at a Red Sox vs. Giants game in
San Francisco in June.
hometown of Ithaca, where we
both work for Cornell. I hadn’t
gotten around to writing in with
the news that we bought a beautiful farmhouse in summer 2008,
and now must share the sadder
news that on Jan. 12 of this year,
when we were at work, our home
was destroyed by an electrical
fire (check your wiring!), and our
three beloved dogs were killed.
We have been preoccupied with
salvage and inventory (photograph everything you own!), with
demolition and reconstruction
on the horizon. This is not how
we were planning to occupy ourselves this year. Classmates near
and far have been a great source
of support both in person and
online—I am very glad I have
been in closer touch with many of
you over the past few years.”
Brian Carlson wrote: “I ran
into Amy Honigfeld at the
Williams Club for a reception
for potential members. My little
niece Meredith (daughter of
sister Harriet ’89) is a fan of the
Williams sweatpants I buy her
every year.”
Tara Hurley: “After 12 years
in DC … I moved back to New
York last August, to take a job as
counsel for the Drug Enforcement
Administration. Yes, I’m a longtime fed. It’s been so long now, I
wouldn’t even know how to bill
hours! I spent about 10 years with
Justice, mostly in the national
security/intelligence law area. I’ve
never done criminal work before,
so DEA’s been a fun change in
that respect, as is living in NYC
again. My family is all in the NY/
NJ area, so I have been logging
many miles on I-95.”
James Lee: “I joined Brock
Capital Group, a New York
investment bank and business
advisory firm, as a partner and
managing director.
Brian Carlson: “Jim Welles is
working as a lawyer in Moscow,
and during a visit he made to
Boston for a conference a couple
of months ago, we got together
for dinner and a good, long chat.
I’ve had lunch twice recently with
John Mulreany, who is studying
theology at Boston College and
[was to] be ordained as a priest
within the Jesuit order [this summer]. As for me, I’m still living in
the Boston suburbs and practicing
law with a management-side
labor and employment boutique
firm. Life is good these days, and
I’m hoping to see a lot of old
friends at the reunion next year.
I should add that I got together
with Rebecca Sokolovsky and her
husband, Franco, for a short visit
during a trip I made to NYC in
March.”
Alison (Furniss) Skurcenski and
her family live in Harrisburg, Pa.
Alison works part time as a family physician, and her husband
Craig is an ER doctor. They have
a busy life, with three kids and a
dog: “Kyra is 11 and plays travel
soccer, basketball and piano.
Jenna is 8 and plays soccer and
swims on the local swim team.
Bryan is 6 and plays soccer and
baseball and recently tried karate.
Charlie turned 1 year old in April
[and plays fetch. Or maybe, hide
the sock].”
Lisa Alcala and Caleb Gordon:
“While I await a Florida summer spent in my air conditioned
Virginia office, our kids will be
jetting off for exciting travel. Our
12-year-old, Lily, will be spending
almost five weeks in Spain with
my friends and family solidifying
her Spanish, while Phoebe, 9,
will be milking goats and llamas
with my mom on a farm in
Vermont and then traveling with
Caleb’s mom out to his family’s
summer lake place in Wisconsin.
We hope to spend a chunk of
August all together in Wisconsin,
where Caleb and I do daily
mini-triathlons and then play
bridge with gin and tonics the rest
of the day. Caleb also has a full
slate of business travel in Texas,
DC and Honduras as he sprints
forward on his work with wind
power/wildlife issues. I recently,
um, misplaced my keys for a
while, and when I asked the office
manager if he’d seen my purple
and gold beaded key ring he said,
‘You sound like a Lady Eph.’ It
warmed me to be recognized as
a member of the Williams family
(am I nauseating or what?!), and
I reflected on how a part of my
heart will always reside in the
Purple Valley.”
Brian Torres: “I had the pleasure
of co-hosting with Martin Burkett
’92, biology professor Hank Art,
who gave a talk to our Gold
Coast Alumni Association group
in South Beach on Jan 30. …
Professor Art spoke on the unique
environmental challenges facing
Florida in a presentation entitled,
“Environmental Issues of the
Sunshine State—Living on the
Edge.” Little did anybody know
at the time that tar balls and
enormous quantities of oil would
pose a more immediate threat to
Florida than hurricanes, rising
oceans and drought. It was a fascinating presentation, and it also
included some interesting history
on Williams students’ fairly long
history of environmental research
in this state.
“On a more personal level,
my wife Elsa and I enjoyed a
nice dinner with Josh Kurzban
’91 and his wife Michelle in
Miami on Super Bowl weekend.
Josh is doing well, and we spent
considerable time playing the
name game and catching up on
mutual friends, raising kids and
just having a good time. I have
also spent some time in the past
few months with other members
of the Class of 1991, who shall
remain nameless (attorney-client
privilege!), who are doing some
bottom-fishing in the flattened
Miami condo market. Finally, I
am happy to announce that, after
14 years in Miami, my ‘boutique’
law firm, Sheftall & Torres P.A.,
just opened our second office in
Jacksonville, Fla., to serve our
CL ASS
NOTES
clients in the northern part of the
state. We will continue our trial
and arbitration practice in Miami
and Jacksonville representing
clients in complex commercial,
insurance and catastrophic injury
matters.
“I look forward to the reunion
next year and to beginning
to indoctrinate, er, introduce,
my three kids to the culture of
Williams College. Go Ephs!”
Kathellen Judge Igoe: “Bridget
Mary Igoe was born on April 23,
2010, and we are all loving life
with her. William, 3, is so psyched
to be a big brother, and Lucy, 5, is
an experienced and loving big sister. We can’t wait to see everyone
at the 20th! I let Melissa know
that I would love to help out with
the planning, but I couldn’t attend
the meeting on the first weekend
of May as I just returned home
from the hospital after having a
c-section.”
Many correspondents mentioned that they hadn’t been back
to Williamstown for years but
that maybe the 20th reunion was
the time. I’m going to be plugging
for it for the next year, so start
making your plans now.
1992
Stephanie Phillips
241 Central Park West, Apt. 5A
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
Hey all. Hope you had a good
summer. Let’s jump right in.
Both Kate Queeney and Jared
Cumming wrote with news on
Jared’s visit to Smith, where Kate
is faculty. Jared gave a fabulous
chemistry seminar last spring
(he also spoke at Williams on
the same trip), and the work he
talked about has now resulted
in an Alzheimer’s drug that’s
in Phase I clinical trials. Jared
has survived Merck’s purchase
of Schering-Plough unscathed,
and in the midst of all this he
and his wife managed to have
a third child in October, a boy
named William (called Liam).
Jared also continues to do a fair
bit of traveling (he reports that
one of his daughter’s first words
was “lobby”), most recently to
Hawaii and Scotland.
Kate (who deserves huge credit
for sending in high quantities
of high quality reports) also
exchanged e-mail with Kerr
Houston. She writes, “When I
was trying to find contact info for
him, Google led me to a slew of
glowing reviews of Kerr’s teaching
on RateMyProfessor.com. My
favorite was the student who said
‘i want to put kerr houston on a
keychain and carry him around
with me forever.’” I’m fairly sure
that Kerr will no longer now ever
speak to either me or Kate, but
that was too good to leave out!
Also from Kate is that
Rob Spence was elected to
the Amherst, Mass., School
Committee. From the Gazette:
“Robert Spence … said that as
an emergency room physician he
can bring to the school committee his training in ‘using data to
make decisions and taking care
of patients at the same time. …
Spence, 39, has children who are
4, 6 and 8. He came to Amherst
in 2004 … [and is an] emergency room physician at Wing
Memorial Hospital in Palmer.’”
Maren Auckerman, a firsttime writer, shares: “For the
past several years I’ve been an
assistant professor of education
at Stanford. I study classroom
discourse as it relates to the
textual sense-making of children
and adolescents. But what’s
newsworthy is the birth of my
daughter, Minel Neda Aukerman,
in January. At 4 months, she’s a
bookish gal with a soft spot for
gingko trees.”
Also a first-time (or it’s been
a long time) contributor, Emily
(Rees) Kasradze writes that last
summer she moved with her family from Houston to Singapore,
still working as a finance manager
for BP. She reports that daughters
Anna and Ellen are enjoying
learning Mandarin and swimming
outdoors year round.
Alison Lebwohl, writing from
Madison, Wis., wrote that
she has “a new baby, George
Bartholomew Morrison, born
3/22 and doing fabulously. Now
cooing and smiling (in between—
and sometimes while—pooping,
spitting up and crying). New
job and new workplace, though
I’m still working for the state.
I’m now in the Department of
Children and Families, doing
performance analysis of the state’s
foster care and adoptions. It’s
wonderful to be working for kids,
instead of roads.”
Also in the upper Midwest is
Caroline (Smith) Older. She writes
that since her 2002 marriage
to Eric Older, “through Eric’s
company we have had two
moves in the Midwest, the first
to Cincinnati, Ohio, and the
second to Grand Rapids, Mich.,
where I have learned to live with
snow, snow and more snow!
Our daughter Samantha is now
3. Throughout the moves I have
been able to finish my PhD in art
history and continue working in
the arts. Currently I am the executive director of the Arts Council
of Greater Grand Rapids, an
interesting and challenging position given the state of Michigan’s
economy.”
Eric Verby shared that he is making great progress on his memoir
Crazy Times and is almost
finished capturing his Williams
career. He writes, “You’ll probably be happy to know that not
many names have been used thus
far, and the ones that I’m using
I am often concealing to protect
the innocent. … Life can be very
difficult at times (especially with
bipolar disorder), but the good
news is that I’m moving forward
noticeably.”
Also creating media is Allison
Handler, who is “still hiding out
here in sunny Portland, Ore.”
In July, she was to marry John
C. Miller, “who brings with him
a 14-year-old (Madelyn) and a
10-year-old (Jack). My band,
Succotash, just put out a recording. … Check us out at www.
MySpace.com/Succotashband
and today’s CD sales (at $10,
cheap entertainment) support
our next recording, due out in
late autumn. I earn my keep as
a management consultant with
Decisions Decisions (www.decision2.com), focusing on working
with organizations and leaders
who protect and care for the
land—primarily land trusts of all
stripes, housing and community
development organizations, and
public agencies. I’m lucky to have
great colleagues, and I get to bring
the dog to work. Right now, life
is good.”
Alison Locke Perchuk completed
her PhD in medieval art history at
Yale in December 2009, and this
fall begins teaching at Occidental
College in LA.
Chenoweth Stites Allen wrote of
a “crazy” spring, having received
her MEd in counseling as an art
therapist in May, about the same
time that her husband Tyler was
entering the primary election for
his bid for mayor of Louisville.
She writes, “I think our kids will
soon appreciate having parents
again … or maybe not!”
There were a fair number of
meet-ups among our class that
were reported. Rob Paci shared
that he “spends most of my Eph
time with friends Brian Carlson
and Nick Antoun, both from ’91,
but had a great time in February
catching up with my old friend
Martin Burkett, who was nice
enough to join me for a tasty
n 1 9 9 1 –9 3
steak dinner during my first ever
visit to Miami. We hadn’t spoken
since an early ’90s homecoming
and had a fantastic time catching
up on all manner of people and
things and fondly remembered
our days together in Williams B
and Tyler Annex. Both Martin
and I wondered what Marshall
Hayes was up to.”
Parry Graham had dinner with
Tom Evans while he was down
in North Carolina on business.
He writes, “As we walked into
the restaurant, I heard Taylor
Swift’s song 15 playing over the
restaurant’s speakers. I turned to
Tom and said, ‘Because I have a
5-year-old daughter, I can tell you
the name of this song, the album
it’s from, where it is on the album,
and I could probably tell you
about 50 percent of the lyrics.’
Tom has two boys, so he wasn’t
impressed. His response: ‘But
could you tell me the name of five
carnivorous dinosaurs from the
Jurassic time period?’”
Lon Troyer shares that he “has
recently joined a gay softball
team in San Francisco’s D-league
(which means if you can successfully wield a bat without knocking yourself out, welcome to the
team). No one is more surprised
than he is that he’s already got
one home run under his belt and
is starting shortstop. Prior to his
new life swinging for the fences,
he had a great time last summer
reconnecting with Christy Johnson
and Molly O’Meara Sheehan at
Lora Verkouille’s birthday party
in Connecticut. A few days later
he celebrated his birthday with
Christy’s parents, Peter and Ellie
Johnson, “a dynamic duo who
have played host to more than
a few members of the class of
’92 over the years, perhaps most
famously during Thanksgivings
of yore.”
Doug Dreffer writes that he
“used a conference as an excuse
to go to DC and see Dave
Frank and Garrett Ingoglia. We
enjoyed steaks and pints at the
Chop House and relived many a
Williams memory, but it was great
to return home to Concord, N.H.
I have lived here since 1997, still
working at a community health
center associated with Concord
Hospital. Current hobbies include
joining my wife Lisa at Kyla’s, 13,
drama performances and Grant’s,
11, soccer games.”
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t
share about a great weekend I
had with 10 other members of the
class (and, since I often get hassled for not contributing my own
news to the notes, here you go).
In February, Gillian Flory, Bonnie
(Gerhardt) Lo, Shannon Morse,
Nicole Bouvier, Kris (Davenport)
Toohey, Zanna (Goldblatt) Nikitas,
Caroline (Smith) Older, Bethany
McLean, Eliza Swann, Lynette
Guastaferro and I all got together
for a collective 40th birthday
celebration and spa weekend in
Texas. After a bit of a weather
nightmare for us New Yorkers
(which involved a switch of
airport, new tickets, a sprained
ankle, numerous phone calls and
spiking blood pressure, which
can’t be good in our advanced
years), we all arrived safely and
had a great time spa-ing, eating
what was definitely the lowest-cal
food I’ve ever had on vacation
and pretty much doing nothing
but hanging out and catching
up. Despite the lack of sufficient
calories, we all managed to have a
fabulous time.
I look forward to hearing from
you all soon!
1993
Chad Orzel
1570 Regent St.
Niskayuna, NY 12309
[email protected]
Another edition of the Class
Notes, and in keeping with
established tradition, I’m typing
these up in the Houston airport,
waiting for a plane. I’m not sure
how it is that I’m always on the
road when these come due…
Top billing for this edition
goes to Andrew Kirkpatrick, who
included a photo of my book
(How to Teach Physics to Your
Dog) on display at the Concord,
Mass., library. It never hurts to
flatter the vanity of your class
secretary. Andrew and Jen Raney
made a trip to Ottawa to do a little ice skating and celebrate Trevor
Pound’s 40th birthday. Andrew
reports that Jen trounced both
of them at Foosball, which he
attributes to his lack of practice,
though he was unable to explain
Trevor’s lack of skill, given that it
was his table.
In class business notes, Brian
Foster points out that he and Jeff
Whittaker have switched offices,
in a move he describes as being
similar to Putin and Medvedev
in Russia. Should they find
themselves in need of advice on
complicated political maneuvers,
they might want to call Kenneth
Thomas, who is working for the
Obrador opposition government
in Mexico, though he checked in
from Prague (the check/ Czech
pun is fortuitous, not intentional),
where he had lunch with Melinda
Hough Reidinger ’95 and failed to
meet up with a mysterious third
Eph, whose name he couldn’t
recall, but who I’ll choose to
imagine as being played by
Orson Welles. Other classmates
in foreign lands are Martin and
Kristin Conneen, who are settling
in Surrey after several years in
Tokyo, and senior Middle East
correspondent Paul Schemm, who
is still working for the Associated
Press in Carro, but recently
returned to Baghdad for the first
time in a few years, and reports
the city greatly changed, mostly
for the better.
In places that aren’t foreign, but
are pretty far from Williamstown,
we have a collection of West
Coast news. John Dye has
spent the last two years as staff
counsel for the California State
Lands Commission and asked if
there are any other Ephs in the
California state service. I don’t
know of any off the top of my
head, but I can report that Antone
Johnson has started the Bottom
Line Law Group in San Francisco
and LA, providing business law
services for Web 2.0 companies.
Further north, Jessica Rutledge
reports that she is “cheerfully
unemployed” in Portland, Ore.,
and recently spent time with a
bunch of other West Coast Ephs
and associated persons, including
Nate Kurz ’94 and Emily Cooper
’94, Sarah Moren (who started as
a ’93-er, but transferred sophomore year) and Erica Marieb, who
spent junior year in Williamstown
on exchange from Mount
Holyoke. Yet further north Mike
Lapin ran into Paul Crane while
scouting kindergartens, the first
time their paths have crossed in
something like 10 years in the
same city. And Helene (Wilburn)
Lhamon and husband Dan ’92 are
in northwest Washington State,
where Helene works in emergency
medicine at a rural hospital. She
reports that they plan to spend
the summer hiking, paddling and
getting a new pony, making tons
of people who never got a pony
jealous. Stephan Fiedler Terre
writes from Tucson, where he
has taken up electric guitar and
repented of some past pop-culture
snobbery. Kevin Weng is in charge
of Pelagic Fisheries Research at
the University of Hawaii and
writes that he has a boat, making
those of us whose research careers
involve windowless rooms in
dank basements jealous.
Hearty congratulations to Laura
Grams, who got tenure in the
philosophy department at the
CL ASS
NOTES
University of Nebraska-Omaha.
In other Midwest items, Pete
Putnam is a pediatrician in St.
Louis, playing guitar and hockey
and keeping up with his kids, and
Holly (Lowy) Bernstein reports that
she spent New Year’s in Chicago
with Jen Oats-Sargent, Andrew
Mauer-Oats, Susan Kim, Kat Kollett
and Amy Pokras ’92. Holly also
visited Williamstown for the first
time since ’94 after traveling to
the Northeast for a graduation
at Wesleyan and plans to visit
Syracuse, N.Y., to catch up with
Bridget McManus and Brad Hunt,
and visit Dennis and Kathy Kuo in
Little Rock later this year.
Reporting from Williamstown
itself, Kate Brill had Tom and Sue
Wintner as next-door neighbors,
when they’re not in Cambridge,
and sees Matt and Michelle Griffin
regularly. She was helping to
organize the Hoosic River Ride,
scheduled for Aug. 21. Camille
Preston has moved to Cambridge
and gotten engaged. She also
has a book coming out (before
the wedding, she hopes), so
there’s something else for Andrew
Kirkpatrick to keep an eye out for.
In May Jeff Merritt ran a
marathon in Providence, which
is about 25 miles farther than I’d
care to run. NYC was strangely
quiet, but there’s a lot of news
from the mid-Atlantic. Lee Keichel
Koles visited Becky (Kline) Dubill
and Allie (Van Dyke) Hoover in
DC and plans to meet Meredith
(Collura) Applegate and Penny
Foss in New York later this year.
Nadine Block is in DC, working
as the senior director of government outreach for the Sustainable
Forestry Initiative, a nonprofit
organization, but says that the
more difficult job is keeping up
with her 3-year-old twin sons.
Sarah Plattman Baird writes
in with some semi-official
news—she helped put together a
reception for Adam Falk, the new
president of Williams, before he
left his home region of Baltimore
to take over in the Purple Valley.
She also notes that this year is
the 15th wedding anniversary
for her and Cam Baird (time
flies…) and reports that their
daughters, at ages 6 and 10, are
SENDNEWS!
Y
notes column.
“simultaneously keeping us young
and aging us exponentially.”
Lots of people wrote in with
news about their kids, including
Heather Grace Espinosa, whose
kids were finishing kindergarten,
where they learned about the
development and hatching of eggs
and also how to contribute to
their mom’s e-mails to the Class
Notes. John and Maureen Edman
also reported in, saying that their
son Tommy is playing shortstop
for his school’s baseball team,
which John was coaching to an
impressive record.
That’s as good a lead-in as
any to the usual listing of birth
announcements, which leads off
with Janette Light Cox, whose
daughter Gillian Rose decided
to arrive a bit early this January,
before the home renovations were
complete, and adding some extra
excitement for Chris Welch ’94,
who was hosting them during the
construction. Gillian was just the
first of a surprisingly large number of daughters born to the class
of ’93—in fact, Noah Myerson
and Chris Ericson were the only
two reporting the birth of sons.
Noah and Hester welcomed
Paul in January, and Chris writes
that Chris Junior had his first
birthday in June. C.J. is only one
facet of the Ericsons’ expanding
operations, as their Lake Placid
Brewery continues to thrive, with
beer now sold in seven states (NY,
NJ, PA, MA, CT, MD and ME),
to be 12 by the end of the year,
with total world domination to
follow.
The female cohort of the Class
of 2031 has expanded dramatically. In a nice bit of synchronicity, Roz Moxon O’Connor (Lily, in
October 2009) Jen Weiss Blecker
(Colette, late 2009), Jen Thurman
Pruett (Grace, March 2010), and
Hilary O’Rourke Wynperle (Kate,
May 2010) all had daughters.
Other new arrivals, in roughly
chronological order: Jen McQuaid
and Jorge Pedraza welcomed
their third, Elizabeth Emerson
“Emma” Pedraza, last September,
with Greg Locroft making his
first appearance in this set of
class notes as Emma’s godfather;
Jen is back to work as a clinical
psychologist for the Sanctuary
for Families in New York and
training students for the Phipps
Community Development Corp.
Heather Traeger and Jeff Cohan
welcomed Elana Rose Cohan in
December. Bill Hanson and his
wife Alex had twins, Willa Maeve
and Ellery Maire, in February;
their oldest daughter, Tenley, is
reveling in the title of “big sister,”
while Bill and Alex are happy but
tired (but not too tired to spend a
day with the aforementioned Greg
Locroft). Kurt Shaw and his wife
Rita had Helene Iara in April and
lament the difficulty of finding a
purple cow onesie in Brazil. (This
sounds like a job for the Internet!)
And, finally, Jodi and Chris
Roosenraad had Evelyn Rachel at
the very end of April; they refer
to her as “the cutest baby in the
cosmos,” but only because they
haven’t met my daughter, Claire
(who has just figured out how to
climb out of her crib, leading to
much excitement hereabouts…).
For personal reportage, I’m
on my way back from a physics
conference, where I ran into a
bunch of Ephs from other classes
who do the same sort of physics I
do, including Tom Gallagher ’63,
Josh Grossman ’96, Charlie Doret
’02, Justin Brown ’05 and Colin
Bruzewicz ’05, who is working in a lab around the corner
from where I was a postdoc.
And by submitting these a little
late, I can sneak in a mention
of the Memorial Day barbecue
hosted by Ethan Zuckerman and
Rachel Barenblatt ’96, where we
got to meet 6-month-old Drew
Zuckerman ’32 and admire the
wood-fired hot-tub designed by
Ethan and Nate Kurz ’94.
We’ll give the final billing
to a classmate who’s engaged
in important work as I type:
Rebecca Beavers wrote in from
the Mississippi coast, where
she’s marking her 10th year as
the coordinator of the Coastal
Geology Program for the
National Park Service by helping
coordinate the response to the
Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As
Rebecca writes, “Many people
do not know about the barrier
islands off the coast of Mississippi
in Gulf Islands National Seashore
that are designated wilderness
or the Barataria Preserve south
of New Orleans in Jean Lafitte
National Historic Park and
Preserve with a unique floating marsh; I hope they do not
learn about these amazing places
because they are heavily oiled.”
Kind of a bummer note to end
on, I realize, but it’s good and
important work, and we can
hope that the problem will be
contained by the time these notes
see print. If you have something
cheerier that you’d like me to
know about, drop me a line at
[email protected].
n 1 9 9 3 –9 5
1994
Elizabeth Randolph Rappaport
45 Pineapple St., Apt. 4A
Brooklyn, NY 11201
[email protected]
1995
Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin
535 Arabella St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
Nancy O’Brien Wagner
1049 Linwood Ave.
Saint Paul, MN 55015
[email protected]
15 years. 105 of you came,
along with 100 children, spouses
and significant others. I believe a
great time was had by all. And if
you didn’t know me or Flo before
this weekend, I suspect you do
now! Thanks for humoring us.
You were very generous with
your contributions, and both Flo
and I feel privileged to report on
your lives. This column is very
much a collaborative piece.
Before I embark on reporting on
who attended and what you are
up to, there is a bit of official secretarial business. A new slate of
officers was chosen, and here are
the results: President Julia (Broehl)
Hesse, VP Yvonne Hao, Treasurer
Flo Waldron, Co-Secretaries Nancy
(O’Brien) Wagner and myself
again.
Thanks to Julia for her hard
work and for planning a wonderful kid-friendly 15th reunion.
Julia works as in-house counsel
for Tufts Medical Center, and she
came to reunion with husband
Randy and children Madeline
and Jacob. Outgoing co-secretary
and future Treasurer Flo Waldron
is taking the year off from teaching to stay home with daughter
Caela, unpack her new house,
catch up on research and explore
other areas of academia. Flo
chatted with many of you, such
as David Baker, who came to
reunion from Chicago, where he
works as a financial consultant
for a bank; Dave reports that
after 15 years in consulting work,
he is looking for a change of
pace. Flo also touched base with
former suitemates Michelle Lung,
Bridget Kelly, Maggie Swayne and
Amelia Cottrell. A lawyer in NYC,
Michelle said she still sees her
former suitemates often. Maggie
is a pediatrician in LA and loving
it. Also in NYC, Amelia Cottrell
has plenty of work these days as
a lawyer for the SEC. Flo hiked
up Pine Cobble with former
suitemate Stina Bridgeman.
Stina was promoted to tenured
associate professor of computer
science at Hobart & William
Smith College this past January;
to celebrate, she and her spouse
Elizabeth Hane spent several
weeks kayaking and hiking in
Washington State this summer.
Maren Reichert, husband Han,
and their two toddlers arrived at
reunion from Havertown, Pa.,
where both Maren and Han are
lawyers. Maren clerks for a judge.
Pam Mishkin and Nick Branstator
arrived with their daughter Ana
Sofia. They live in Florida, where
Nick is developing a multiplayer
online fantasy game with two
other Williams alums. Amy
McDougal flew in for reunion
from San Diego with her husband
Kurk Beitz. Amy is an architect.
Beth Reynolds has been back at
Williams for the past three years
as a development officer for the
Alumni Fund; she works with
the head agents of the “middle
classes” and really loves being
back in Williamstown. Jason
Hoch, who got to stay in his old
freshman year room in Morgan
at reunion, lives in southern New
Hampshire and is taking a break
from consulting to enjoy being a
stay-at-home dad. Meghan Dunn
and Jason Haas flew in for reunion
from central California, where
they live near Jason’s parents,
who own a winery; their current
projects include potty-training
their 2-year-old son. Mike Nery
and wife Katie, with twin daughters Natalie and Olivia, 4½, came
from Asheville, where Mike runs
a hedge fund. Betsy Rosenblatt
arrived from California and
shared with us that she has
switched from practicing law
to teaching it at a part-time law
program in California.
I intercepted many of you at the
beginning and during the parade.
Beth Wheeler attended with
daughter Emma and continues
to teach in Suffield. Sarah (Mills)
Marchant attended with husband
David and daughters Taylor and
Olivia. Lydia Rheinfrank came
with husband Kyle and daughters
Mae, Anna and Tessa. Janelle
Dodds lives in Pittsfield and is an
attorney in Springfield. Also living
in Pittsfield, Nancy Ringer came
up for the day on Saturday with
her daughter Eilish, 2, leaving her
4-year-old son at home. Nancy
is freelance editing for several
small local publishing houses.
Kendra (O’Neill) Raine attended
with her children Charlotte and
Henry. Christina Pligavko marched
with husband Jim Boden and
kids Nicholas, 4, and Alexa, 2.
She lives outside of Boston and
celebrates 10 years at Millenium
Pharmaceuticals. She reported
running into Mike Kivi at an
open house. I met Amy Zindell
Bevilacqua, who came with husband Rafaele ’94 and kids Joey,
7, Max, 5, Emily, 3, and Luke,
1. Rafaele proudly shared that
Amy is an accomplished Olympic
distance triathlete who turned pro
at the St. Anthony’s tri in Florida
in April.
Along the route I chatted
with Nomita Rao and Michael
English, who attended with
their children Quinn, Lekha,
Charlie and Eleanor. Michael is a
federal prosecutor in Manhattan.
Michael shared that Joe Pew and
Mopsy Pepper live in Minneapolis
and that you can find Jeff Huang
in Hong Kong and Nick Marsh in
DC. Jason and Emily (Chi) Fogler
hailed from Needham, Mass.,
with kids Ella, 14 months, and
Ben, 3. Emily is in-house counsel
for Partners Health Group, and
Jason practices psychology in
Nashua, N.H. Jason continues to
practice karate, which he began
at Williams with Dean Lima and
Seamus Fernandez. Dean also
attended with wife Amy and kids
Connor, Josh and Ryan. Seamus
brought wife Kelly and kids Liam
and Eva. Steve Cassavant another
fellow student of karate, moved
to San Francisco and works for
IGN Entertainment.
When the rain interrupted our
walk, I took shelter under a tree,
where I talked with Neil Gandhi.
Neil attended with wife Sarita
Shah and children Sahil, 4½,
and Ashima, 21 months. Neil
and Sarita are both physicians
engaged in clinical research on
TB and HIV. They work at Albert
Einstein College of Medicine and
travel periodically to South Africa
for field work. Shelby (Hallam)
Benton was there with son Drew
and 4-month-old Patrick but had
to leave on Saturday to catch her
daughter’s ballet recital. Sherie
Esteban-Elie was also under the
tree with her husband Claude
and kids Aiden 6, Jessica, 5, and
Ben, 3. Sherie is a psychologist
in Binghamton, and this year
celebrates her 10-year wedding
anniversary.
When the tree proved to be
insufficient shelter, I took refuge
in Morgan, where I encountered
several people watching the
Argentina vs. Nigeria match. I
found Jen Hood-DeGranier with
husband Caleb and children
Atticus and Julia. At home
in Wellesley, Jen has had the
CL ASS
NOTES
opportunity to get back on the
water this spring. Jen’s faculty
boat came in third in a race
against student boats. Tracy (Lee)
Kim was there with husband Dave
and kids Rachel, 6, and Laura,
2. They live in Long Island. I
also saw Brad Svrluga. He and
wife Julia hosted a great party
Thursday night. Brad and Julia
have two boys, Will, 2½, and
Drew, 1, but for the weekend
they had a lot more boys, as they
hosted Brian Eng, John Berkley,
Chris Oleks, Brett Dalke, Deryk
Kuhl and Meech Ackah. While
Meech came with his wife Carra
and baby Kwame, the rest of the
pack made it a “boys trip.”
I chatted with Laura (Libbey)
Blackmore and husband Craige
’86, who made their trip a “parents only” trip. Their 6-year -old,
Lael, stayed with grandparents
in Massachusetts. Laura works
for herself as an environmental
consultant in Seattle. She lives
near Valerie (Weber) Millar,
and they get to see each other
regularly. Valerie and husband
Jamie were amused at reunion as
they observed Alastair Moock dip
his challah in the crème brulee.
Alastair pre-redeemed himself
earlier by rocking Brooks-Rogers
while dozens of children twirled
with gusto to music from his CD
ACow Says Moock. His wife Jane
Roper ’96 and twin girls joined
the madness. Amanda Kaplan,
also from Seattle, made reunion a
“girls weekend” and got to stay in
her old entry, Morgan East, where
she was reminded that two days is
not enough to build up tolerance
for the bell chimes. John and
Michelle (Kang) Fagan came with
their dogs Mona and Sophie, who
seemed enjoy their surroundings.
Wade Davis left Morgan hurriedly
to take his kids Cullen, 5, and
Torin, 2, to WCMA to see the
felt whale. Lara (Cooper) Edwards
celebrated her first wedding
anniversary over reunion and
trained for another triathlon over
the weekend. Her husband stayed
home taking care of the dog.
Yvonne Hao and husband Mark
live in NYC with their daughters
Audrey, 3, and Madeleine, 1.
Yvonne is the CEO of a Japanese
based company, which is a “really
hard commute.”
Pete and Liz Richards brought
Lillie, Sophie and Mark along to
enjoy the plethora of kid-friendly
activities. Josh Gordon brought his
fiancée Alyssa Litoff and exposed
her to the madness. Stephanie
Pare Sullivan and husband
Dave ’94 came with children
Jack, Laura and Julie. Shaye
(Hokinson) Hardner came from
New Hampshire with husband
Jared and twin daughters Ashley
and Taylor. Also from N.H.,
Stephanie Hobbs and Eddie Tabit
were seen having a great time.
Amy (Smith) and John Lieb arrived
with Sarah, 5, and Katie, 3. Amy
is “looking forward to the next
adventure after 15 years with
Monitor.” Amy will be switching
gears to work in the nonprofit
sector. Anne Marie Reardon came
from Cambridge and enjoyed
the salmon. When not working
on her dissertation (she’s ABD
in U.S. history at Brandeis), she
teaches ESL and tutors at the
campus writing center. Melissa
(Steel) King lives in Albany, N.Y.,
with her husband and daughters Amina, 6, and Mireya, 3.
Melissa recently relocated to
Albany and works for Scholastic.
Ammu (Ramakrishnan) Kirtane
brought her husband Ajay and
children Jahnavi, 8, and Sachin,
6. Ammu recently left working
in law to become a Montessori
teacher. Harrell Smith married his
wife Nicole six months ago, and
they live in NYC. Attendees at
his wedding included Josh Caley,
Jess and Chris Murphy, Rami
Batniji, and Pete and Elizabeth
Richards. Charles LaCour was the
best man. Charles and his wife
Megan live in Stonington, Conn.,
since Charles’s job for Homeland
Security involves security on
the ferry system to Long Island.
Michael Blanding came with his
wife Alexandra and children
Zachary, 5, and Cleo, 3. They
live in Boston, where Michael
works as writer. His book The
Coke Machine is due out in the
fall. Susannah Wheelright lives
in Sherborne, Mass. She teaches
middle school social studies and
coaches the cross-country ski
team.
Tony Qaiyum attended reunion
with wife Rachel and girls Saffi
and Nola. Tony planned “to
stick around for a couple weeks
after reunion in a rented house
to escape Chicago city summer
life and enjoy some of the lazy
days that I remember from my
Williamstown summers.” Tony
attended Rami Batniji’s wedding in
April and saw Chris Murphy, Pete
and Liz Richards, Charles LaCour
and Adam Nagata. Tony also saw
John Ruder in Chicago, and he
reports that Cory Nohl was finishing as chief resident in psychiatry
at Northwestern and moving
back to Brattleboro, Vt., in July.
Lisa N. Michaud reported before
reunion that she is “wrapping up
my temporary faculty position
and starting a new tenure-track
job in September at Merrimack
College in North Andover, Mass.
…Son Noah is also starting first
grade next year in the very same
elementary school that I went to.”
Lisa is playing clarinet with the
Chelmsford Community Band.
Dave Rowland and wife Cindy
live in Simsbury, Conn., with
daughters Eliza, 6, and Sloane, 4.
Dave reports that he still enjoys
“soft rock, bubble baths and
long walks on the beach.” Wendy
(Kasserman) Dwyer is a physical
therapist in New Jersey and has
two daughters, Morgan, 3, and
McKenna, 4. Betsy Nicholson
brought her husband Eric. Betsy
and Eric and son Whit welcomed
a baby girl, Sayles Avison, on
April 7. David Lee, who writes
often and whom I didn’t know
until this weekend, shared the
following: “I had a minireunion
of sorts with eight guys from our
class in Scottsdale, Ariz., in April
for the Governor’s Cup. Frank
Puleo, Jay Ashton, Brooks Gibbins,
Alex Shawe, Justin Griffith, Matt
Governali and myself all got
together for a little golf. … Life in
San Francisco is going well. I’m
just about to end up the school
year, and I am excited about having the entire summer off to play.
I’m convincing myself that 37 is
the new 27.”
Gretchen Engster received the
news over reunion that she will
co-chair the next reunion with
Jessie Price. Jessie and husband
John Streng live in Vermont.
Jessie is the food editor for Eating
Well and was nominated for a
James Beard Award for her book
Comfort Foods Made Healthy.
John played at least 74 holes of
golf over reunion. Jeff Quinn is finishing seminary and can be found
in Burma planting churches. Neil
Glass lives in Millburn, N.J. In
June Neil was part of the team
to sell Ziff Davis Media to Great
Hill Partners and is staying with
Great Hill. He and his wife Kerry
completed the Ridgefield (Conn.)
Triathlon in early June and
knocked several minutes off their
previous finishing times. Mike
Gregg came from Paris, where
he has been living for two years
with his wife and two children.
Mike works for AXA, a French
Financial Services company.
Bobby and Becky Walker attended
their first reunion with their three
children; their youngest, Mallory,
just turned 2 and, according to
her dad, is “very independent—
which can be both a blessing and
a curse!” The Walkers are moving
to faculty housing at Greenwich
n 1 9 9 5 –9 6
Academy, where Becky works.
During the Sunday morning hike
up Stone Hill, Jane and John
Phipps declared “life is good.”
Sons Noah, 7, and Simon, 5, confirmed this as they enjoyed finding
salamanders along the trail.
Suzanne (LePage) Wintner and husband Tom ’93 graciously gave me
a ride to reunion with daughters
Emily Anne and Virginia. Sue
quietly celebrated her birthday
hiking up Stone Hill, greeting the
mountains with a song.
Heading the “First-time in Class
Notes” section, Kate (Lanford)
and Jim Joy came with kids Matt
and Sarah. They live outside
Boston, where Jim uses his MBA
at John Hancock Financial
Services, while Kate enjoys life
at home with their two children.
Jean Pesola and husband Don
live in Watertown, Mass., and
said of the weekend “came.saw.
conquered.” Jean just finished her
PhD in virology and is taking a
break to figure out what’s next.
In the meantime, she teaches part
time and practices her Chinese for
trips to visit her in-laws in China.
Sean Kelly is an attorney who lives
in Andover, Mass., with his wife
of seven years, daughter Lydon, 7,
and son Garrett, 5. Sean attended
reunion by himself. Matt Fletcher
brought his wife Julie and kids
Will, 3, and Michela, 1. Fletch
lives in Lexington, Mass., and
works for BZZAgent. Archana
(Unni) Tamoshanas lives in
Brooklyn with her husband and
daughter Nina, 5. Archana stated
she started her own law firm with
three partners last year.
This ends the reunion news,
sightings and encounters. I also
attended by myself which was
a good thing, since I was busy
working! I enjoyed re-connecting
with and meeting some of you.
News from non-reunion
attendees included a note from
Jeff Vander Clute, who says, “I
am unable to attend this year’s
reunion due to other commitments and so am sending my
heart instead. These days I am
working quietly to empower
Loved-based communities and
organizations in Africa, India,
Japan and so on.”
Mark Cordes writes from Seattle:
“I’ve recently come back from
a trip to South America, where
I toured through Patagonia. I
enjoyed a number of great day
hikes over glaciers in Argentina as
well as a trip to Torres del Paine
in Chile. I was actually in Chile
at the time of the earthquake in
Concepcion, but I was down in
Patagonia and so felt nothing.”
Dedrick Muhammad is “still
enjoying my first few years of
marriage and my new home
in Columbia, Md. I have been
debating Melissa Steel King over
charter schools and working on
my first book Racial Inequality in
the Obama Era.”
Ted Welsh was promoted to
associated professor and finished
leading a short-term study abroad
in Greece and is starting his
sabbatical.
Katrina Hoch reports, “I’ve
had a lot of changes in the past
year. I finished my PhD in communication/media studies at
UCSD, moved from San Diego,
to Greenville, S.C., to join my
husband after six years of long
distance, then moved to DC.”
Flo and I have had a wonderful
time reporting your news. I look
forward to another five years and
welcome Nancy into the fold.
1996
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Lesley Whitcomb Fierst
245 Dale Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910
[email protected]
By the time you read these
notes, our (gulp) 15th reunion
will be less than a year away!
How can it be that 14-plus years
have passed since we sat on the
Science Quad lawn, sweating
off our hangovers, as George
H.W. Bush gave our commencement speech? Well, next June,
we can revisit all the glory of our
college years, perhaps sharing
Williamstown with significant
others and families—plenty of
details about reunion will follow.
Until then, here’s what your
classmates are up to.
Let’s start with infrequent
contributor Lisa Hauser, who
wrote about her new connection
to Tibisay Salerno ’94, one of our
JAs. “It turns out that Tib and I
made a match and are now family! My sister Andrea married her
cousin Victor in January here in
Miami. Neat … another match
made in Williams! It was fun
having my two kids play with her
daughter from across the pond
(Tib and her family currently live
in the UK).”
Warren Woodfin’s scholarly
world travels were coming to
an end. “Beginning June 1, I
will begin a postdoc (my fifth,
unless I’ve lost count!) at the
Kunsthistorisches Institut of the
University of Zurich. I’ve also
landed—at long last—a tenuretrack job, and in New York no
less. Starting in the fall of 2011,
I’ll be the Kallinikeion Assistant
Professor of Byzantine Studies
at Queens College of the City
University of New York. After
nine years on the job market, I’m
ready!”
Matt Kohn’s son Justin
Alexander Kohn was born Jan.
17. “Both baby and mom are
doing well, not yet two days in,
and I’ve already changed five dirty
diapers.”
Kate (Ginevan) Mattsson-Boze
and her husband Karl welcomed
their daughter Annika Marie on
Oct. 17. “She is such a joy, and
we can’t help but smile as we
listen to her babble (and often
let out high pitch squeals!) while
she attempts to get her toes in her
mouth.” Annika was preparing
for a visit from her new friend
Karina (Daisy Ha and Sam Kim’s
daughter) when Kate wrote.
Monica Patel wrote, “I’m
still practicing law part time in
Savannah, and my son Paawan
will enter pre-K in the fall. So
far, his favorite color seems to be
purple, which makes me hopeful
that he might be a member of
Williams, Class of 2028.”
Meg (Romeis) Blume-Kohout,
her husband Robin, and their
2-year-old daughter Ariana
were to move back to the U.S.
this summer after three years in
Canada. Meg says, “I’ve accepted
a position as an assistant professor in the economics department
at University of New Mexico in
Albuquerque, cross-appointed
as a senior research fellow of
the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation’s Center for Health
Policy. We’re also in escrow on
our very first house purchase!”
Speaking of, Holly (Hodgson)
Stephens and her husband
recently embarked on a mission
to improve our economy by buying a home in Silver Spring, Md.
She remarked on the anxiety of
the process: “Will we find something? Will we have to stay in our
way-too-small apartment with the
stressful Mission-esque fire alarms
that freak out my 3-year-old? Will
we have to move to a rental and
then move again whenever we
eventually find a house?” Their
first attempt fell through after a
this-house-is-like-the-house-inThe Money Pit-esque inspection,
and so the search continues.
After a long quiet period, Jen
(Suesse) Stine sent in an update.
“Lots going on here since the
birth of my daughter Eleanor in
January. I’m back to work now
CL ASS
NOTES
(part-time director of organizational planning and development
at Root Capital, a nonprofit in
Cambridge, Mass.) and excited
for spring with a new baby!
Dan, Eleanor and I are living in
Arlington and saw Cornelia Alden,
who was here … visiting from
Colorado.”
Alex (Ware) DeWolfe is still living
in Boulder, Colo., where her son
is about to turn 3. While Alex
still has the same job, she had
some pretty cool work-related
news. “I’ve been put in charge
of the science data center for
the upcoming MAVEN mission
to Mars! MAVEN is scheduled
to launch in late 2013 and will
orbit Mars for a year, collecting
data about the upper atmosphere
and its interaction with the solar
wind, which will allow us to learn
more about the history of Mars’s
atmosphere.”
Tania Shaw and Matt Abrahams
have been busy with their two
boys—Eli Shaw Abrahams was
born Jan. 25, joining 31⁄2-year-old
brother Owen. Anna (Cederberg)
Heard’s son Miles “is doing well
and growing fast—he’s started
day care three days a week so I
can get back to work on my dissertation. Nate and I are adjusting
to parenthood and loving it.”
All is well with Paul and
Christine (Rowe) Burke and their
three kids. “Charlie and Jimmy
started both baseball and soccer
… they are in heaven. Janie
doesn’t understand why she can’t
participate.”
Elizabeth Waugh-Stewart wrote,
“I’m still a stay-at-home mama,
and it’s hard to believe that Stella
Rose will be 4 in September,
and Callie is fast approaching
the 18-month mark. [Last] fall
Callie and I traveled to Boston
and visited with Tiffany Steinwert,
her husband Josh Arrowood,
and their baby Grady. Callie and
Grady had a great time hanging
out. We also spent time with Jen
Fain Greenwold, husband Simon
and kids Molly and Henry in
Newton, Mass. It’s still amazing
to me that we are all really old
enough to have all these children!
I continue to volunteer at our
local domestic violence agency.
I recently served on the strategic
planning committee and helped to
map out the next five years for the
organization, which will hopefully
include finally building a domestic
violence shelter in Chapel Hill.
My partner Joy will enter the PhD
program in social work at UNC
this fall—a big change for the
whole family!” Jen hoped to see
some Williams friends over the
summer and is “psyched for the
15 (!!!) year reunion!”
Also reporting big family
changes, Jeremie Perry and
wife Laura Bennett welcomed
their daughter Jordyn Colleen
Perry Nov. 6. “Jordyn is now a
constantly growing 5-month-old
and creating an endless number of
new experiences for us.” In June
the Perrys were to travel to Kona,
where Laura and Jeremie were to
participate in their fourth Hawaii
70.3 Ironman race. Jeremie also
planned to travel the West Coast
Trail in Victoria, B.C., later in the
summer and will continue to take
care of patients in Abilene.
When I heard from Penn
Clarke he had just returned from
“a perfect spring weekend in
Williamstown … however I don’t
EVER remember it being in the
80s up there in early May. I was
actually there as part of a kickoff
15th reunion planning meeting
(don’t forget to save the date …
June 10-12, 2011). Seriously,
didn’t we just have our 10th like
last year?” Penn got the chance
to hang out and reconnect with
Jonnie Cluett, Krystal Williams,
Mitch Howell and Jen Stoner over
the weekend, including a waffle
breakfast at Jonnie’s house that
featured eggs from Jonnie’s own
chickens! Penn said Jonnie also
talked about getting a goat?
Jonnie, Mitch and Penn also
managed to fit in a round of golf
at the recently revitalized Taconic.
“The course looks amazing.
It’s still easing its way back to
perfection after all the work that
has been done. But it should be
in great shape by the time the
Alumni-Guest rolls around.”
Penn hoped to “get up there
a few more times” before the
Alumni-Guest tournament, saying
“I could use the practice after
the way I played this weekend.”
Penn also spent some time liaising
(is that a word? French majors,
chime in please) with the reunion
planners from the Class of ’06 at
the Red Herring (formerly known
as Canterbury’s), so he is your
official contact for those wanting
to party with the 25-year-olds
next year. Penn also was heading
down to Jon Snow’s wedding in
Nashville shortly after the news
deadline, but Penn teased, “you’ll
have to wait until the next round
of updates to hear stories from
that one! All I know is that Snow
+ wedding + Nashville x (BBQ +
country music) = AWESOME!!
He better not let me down.”
Megan Farkas had been quilting
for a few years, “mostly baby
blankets for friends and things
for around the house. Last year
I read about a technique that
would allow me to take on
more ambitious projects that I’d
wanted to do but just couldn’t
figure out how to go about, and
I completed a quilt last fall that I
decided to enter in some competitive shows. It’s been astonishingly
successful, getting a Best Hand
Workmanship award at its very
first show, and even being juried
into The Most Prestigious Quilt
Show in the Universe, the AQS
show in Paducah, Ky. There are
more shows I’m planning to enter
it in this year, and I’m well underway on my next project. Photos
are at the Facebook page Quilts
by Megan Farkas.”
Also enjoying success is
Amy Vulpio, who was named
counsel at White & Williams in
Philadelphia, where she focuses
on debtor and creditor representation, bankruptcy and commercial
litigation, and bankruptcy appellate work.
Michael and Jennifer (Alpert)
Wong ’97 wrote, “Santa wasn’t
our only visitor for Christmas
in 2009. On Christmas Eve,
the stork brought us the newest
additions to our family, our twin
sons, Jonah and Ari. After a
month in the NICU, they came
home and are doing great. Big
brother Zachary is enjoying his
new role and all the presents
people give him when they give
presents to the twins. Mike and
I are tired. After some paternity
leave, Mike is back at work at the
Collegiate School as the dean of
students of the upper school and
biology teacher. I am enjoying an
extended maternity leave and plan
to return to my job as an associate
at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in
September.” Continuing in my
“it’s never too early” matchmaking efforts, let me suggest that
Mike and Jen get in touch with
Amy Bradfield Douglass for some
introductions. Amy and her
husband Luke celebrated the birth
of twin daughters Tessa Mae and
Lily Alice on Aug. 29. “They are
a delight, although we watch with
some trepidation as they think
about crawling! I am still at Bates
in the psychology department
teaching statistics, psych and law
and applied social psychology,
doing research on eyewitness testimony. I see Saul Kassin (professor
of psychology) and Sam Sommers
’97 at our professional conference
every year.”
Vanessa Wruble is “so busy I
can’t even think straight.” The
band she and Ginny Suss ’99
manages, Bajah + the Dry Eye
n 1 9 9 6 –9 7
Crew—biggest hip-hop stars from
Sierra Leone, was to launch their
U.S. debut July 27 (self-titled)
and tour throughout the summer.
(planetbajah.com for dates!)
Vanessa writes, “I’m also working
with the AMAZING musical
Fela! on Broadway about the life
of Nigerian revolutionary Fela
Kuti, and I’m helping to re-release
his entire catalog of music. (Yes!
Eph’ers can get a discount for the
musical.) Also with Ginny, I’m
launching a new venture called
okayafrica, which grows out
of The Roots’ web community
okayplayer.com. The new site will
be all about the amazing music
and art coming out of Africa right
now. As we like to think about
it, we’re helping to coordinate
and structure the New African
Renaissance.”
Katie Sawyer Rose’s family has
a new member: Juliette JeanneMarie Rose, born March 26,
who joins 21⁄2-year-old brother
Brady. “Also, we’re leaving San
Francisco after 10 great years,
but we’re not going far … just to
Fairfax, Calif., in Marin County.
It’s about half an hour north of
the city with grass and trees and a
cool small-town vibe.”
Kelli Martin and her husband
Darius were joined by daughter
Vivian Alexis Cayetano March 8.
“Our sweet baby Viv is cuddly,
strong, observant, loves to be
held and be around us, loves to
be active and seems to like Celine
Dion (just like her mommy) …
and she has these moments with
the most serious expression on
her face! It’s like she’s contemplating the issues of the world and is
about to ask me some deep, philosophical question. Vivi is gorgeous
and an absolute joy to be around.
I am on maternity leave and have
lost all sense of time. I have to ask
my hubby what day it is!”
Peter Everett wrote, “Finally, I
make good on a promise to send
you some news! And it’s good
news: My wife Veronica and I
welcomed Anna Langston Everett
into the world on Feb. 15. …
She’s been a pretty good kid so
far. We’re keeping her.” During
Anna’s delivery, Peter’s wife’s
anesthesiologist was none other
than Warren Eng! After Peter told
me this, I discovered that Warren
is married to Dr. Cynthia King,
the obstetrician who was there for
phase one of the delivery of our
daughter Aviva two years ago.
And of course, Peter is our kids’
pediatrician and was one of the
first Ephs, along with hospital
visitor Lydia (Vermilye) Weiss,
to meet our son, Eitan Zachary
Fierst, who was born May 12. I
forgot to ask Peter if his wife is a
doctor, but chances are she probably is. So if you need medical
care in DC’s Maryland suburbs,
there apparently is a decent likelihood that Warren, Peter, their
wives or perhaps some relative of
theirs will be your doctor.
So mark your calendars for
reunion, June 9-12 next year, and
until then, keep in touch!
1997
Bahia Ramos Synnott
c/o Ecofin Inc.
630 Fifth Ave., Suite 2452
New York, NY 10111
[email protected]
Class of ’97, I gotta hand it to
you. When the call goes out, you
answer in droves. I have limited
space this go-round, so I may not
get to everything, but I will do my
best. And so we begin:
Nicholas O’Donnell writes, “I
haven’t written in some time,
but it’s been a busy year. My
youngest Zachary’s first birthday
is fast approaching along with
the twins’ birthday. The four kids
under 4 routine is quite a trip, but
kindergarten is just around the
corner. No change in work, still at
the same law firm where I’ve been
for almost seven years, and trips
to Paris, Vienna and Amsterdam
are keeping it interesting. In
Williams news, I just got back
from Williamstown where we
had a surprise 25th anniversary
party for Coach Wells’s tenure
as men’s crew coach, which also
functioned as a reunion of sorts.
Almost 100 people were there,
including ’97 rowers Matt Bostick,
Dan DeSnyder, Poorab Sangani
and Sam Coxe. Everyone is doing
well. While we were sneaking
around town trying not to spoil
the surprise, I ran into Colette and
Jawad Haider and their beautiful
children. There is nothing like the
Berkshires in May.”
From the other side of the
pond, Alyson Rodriguez submits,
“My boyfriend Adrian and I
were engaged in November. (He
is a fabulous Englishman I have
been dating for the past three
years. We actually met while
living in Madrid and had been
living there at the time!) Shortly
after our engagement, we moved
to London. It was bittersweet
leaving our friends in Madrid
after so many years, but we have
been very happy with our new
positions, and the weather has
been surprisingly pleasant for the
most part since arriving in mid-
February. We managed to find an
apartment in Primrose Hill, which
has none of the things we originally searched for (lots of closets,
two bedrooms, etc) but happens
to have three amazing pubs
within a one-block radius! I still
wish I had more closet space, but
sitting in the garden of our local
on a sunny day almost makes up
for it! We also have been going
crazy planning our wedding,
which is scheduled to take place
in Florence, Italy, in October.”
Keeping with the international
theme, Mary Banker writes, “At
the start of January, after spending Christmas in Wales and New
Year’s Eve in Ireland, where we
went to surprise my husband’s
last remaining grandparent,
I travelled to Bilbao and San
Sebastian in Spain to meet up
with an old friend that I met
while studying Mandarin in
Taiwan after Williams.
“From mid-January, my husband was granted a two-month
sabbatical after 10 years with his
company. Taking advantage of
this great opportunity to take a
break, we planned an itinerary
that included places we’d always
wanted to experience. We traveled from Hong Kong (where
we live) to Burma—(highlights
included Bagon and Inle Lake),
Zanzibar (highlights included
wandering the wonderful
labyrinth that is Stone Town
and snorkeling around the reef
at Mnemba Island), Northern
Tanzania on safari (in and around
the Serengeti), and then on to
Morocco (Casablanca, Fez and
Marrakech, followed by a fantastic five days in the High Atlas
mountains, where we climbed
Jebel Toubkal, the highest
mountain in Northern Africa—a
strenuous, but extremely satisfying three-day climb in the ice and
snow, equipped with cramp-on
sand ice axes—and I celebrated a
very memorable 35th birthday. We then flew to Meribel,
where after a day of painful and
embarrassing face-planting, my
body remembered how to ski,
and I really enjoyed it, zipping
down the slopes, taking in the
crisp, cold air and grandeur of
the Alps. We ended the trip in
Bali, spending five days taking in
the sunshine and beauty of that
tropical paradise island, before
reluctantly making our way
back to the hustle and bustle of
Hong Kong. I then traveled in
April with a former colleague to
Bogota, Colombia, for a friend’s
wedding—my first trip to South
America! I made the very long
CL ASS
NOTES
journey back to Hong Kong
via New York, where I stopped
over to visit family and friends.
We plan to live in Singapore for
six months and thereafter possibly move to London or New
York. I’ve been doing freelance
writing, editing, marketing and
communications work since I
left my job last fall (just before I
had a thyroidectomy—not fun,
don’t recommend it) and plan
to continue with freelance work
wherever we go.”
Brian Slattery says, “Here’s
some news: Steph (Silton) Slattery
is going on five years at her pediatric practice. Kids she’s cared for
from birth are starting kindergarten. And after five years, we have
no plans to leave the greater New
Haven area, a place that’s currently that wonderfully unstable
combination of interesting and
affordable. Speaking of New
Haven, the New Haven Review,
of which I’m an editor (along
with founder Mark Oppenheimer,
who’s married to Cyd Fremmer,
now Oppenheimer ’98), has just
put out its sixth issue—we come
out twice a year with essays,
fiction and poetry, and have a
web presence as well (www.
newhavenreview.com). We’re
even starting to publish books this
year—three titles—because the
publishing industry is doing so
well these days. We’re mad! But
quite excited. Also, I’ve sold my
third novel, tentatively titled Lost
Everything, to Tor Books—same
publisher as the first two, which,
along with the awesomeness of
my family, makes me feel like one
very lucky man. Finally, I played a
gig as part of the band backing up
Drew Bunting ’97 recently in DC,
to support his most recent album,
The New South. The gig was,
by any standard, a real success.
Great turnout, enthusiastic audience, including a large handful of
’97ers.”
Nathan Day and Dawn Biehler
continue to live in DC, where
he teaches high school English
and she teaches geography at
University of Maryland-Baltimore
County, where she’s also affiliate
faculty in the gender and women’s
studies program. When he’s not
teaching, Nathan spends a lot of
his time paddling outrigger canoes
competitively. In the past year
he was a top points winner in
the East Coast Outrigger Racing
Association and Men’s Paddler
of the Year in his local canoe
club! Dawn has been awarded
a National Endowment for the
Humanities stipend to support
her work to turn her dissertation
From left, Rob Benson ’90, Jordan Lewis ’79, Kathy Kirmayer ’86, Chris
Kirwan ’87, John Young ’97 and Bill Couch ’86—a team of six swimming
alums known as the Angry Fish—competed in the 2010 Whiskey Joe’s
Tampa Bay Marathon Swim of 24 miles last spring.
into a book, so she expected to
be buried in revisions most of the
summer.
They recently had a great time
at a CD release party/concert for
Drew Bunting’s album “The New
South.” Brian Slattery was also
there playing fiddle, banjo and
guitar in the band. (And by the
way, in case this has not come up
elsewhere in the class notes, Robbi
Behr and Matthew Swanson are
also responsible for the art and
prose that comes with the album.)
Martha Folley Bullock and family
moved back east to Lake Placid,
N.Y., after an amazing year in
Aspen, Colo. While they miss
the mountains and the fabulous
skiing, they’re very happy to be
closer to family and friends and in
such a wonderful new place.
Dayo Mitchell is still professing history at the University of
Oregon but also working on
undergrad admissions for the
honors college (her department),
which gives her a whole new
insight into students and colleges.
Since last writing a few years
back, she spent a year at Penn
State, drove cross-country twice
before and after that, and visited
Hawaii, Barbados and Aruba. But
so many islands still to go!
Sam and Marilyn Sommers are
enjoying their first year in a new
house in Lexington, Mass. Sam is
now a tenured associate professor
in the psychology department at
Tufts, and Marilyn continues to
work as director of HR for a physicians’ financial services company
in Medford. Their two daughters,
Abigail and Sophia, are now 6
and 5, respectively, and everyone’s
looking forward to both girls
going to the same school for the
first time in the fall. They hung
out with Jesse Brackenbury and
his wife and son on the Cape
over Memorial Day and recently
caught up with Mike Norton, Jon
Zeppieri and Aleta Angelosante for
dinner in Harvard Square.
Norm Anderson is still living in
LA, working in TV to sustain his
feature screenplay writing habit.
He was recently nominated for a
daytime Emmy as a producer on
the Style Network show Ruby.
On Aug. 9 he was to be married
in a ceremony that was to include
singing, dancing and circus
performers. And, last but not
least, he and his fiancée recently
adopted. A parrot. Named
Nacho. He doesn’t talk yet, but
he’s quite a looker.
Jenn Cartee and Chuck
Hagenbuch ’00 welcomed Samuel
Robert Hagenbuch a month early
on Dec. 26. He is healthy and
well and his impatience to join
the family was equaled by his
sister’s excitement for his arrival.
Certainly an exciting time!
Peter Sinclair is California
dreamin’ with two kids under 3.
Chris Mestl shares, “Ashley
and I had our first child, Connor
Andrew Mestl, on Dec. 7 (7
pounds, 1 ounce) in Bronxville,
N.Y. Our family is doing great,
and the little guy appears to be
taking after his parents.”
Dana (Mason) Goodson writes,
“My daughter Mariah Juliet
Goodson was born on May 26
at 5:24 p.m. She’s a healthy baby
at 8 pounds, 15 ounces and 21
inches long. We’re both doing
well, and she, my husband Brian
Goodson and I are getting to
n 1 9 9 7 –9 8
know each other as a new family.
I live in the DC area and work as
a facilitator at a nonprofit organization called RESOLVE, which
specializes in conflict resolution,
mediation and consensus building
on public policy issues, particularly environmental ones. I’m taking the summer off for maternity
leave and am looking forward to
long walks, picnics and visits to
the zoo with baby Mariah!”
On March 26, Beverly
Grossman Palmer and husband
welcomed their second son,
Emmett Muir. Beverly writes,
“Big brother Tobin appears to be
reserving judgment on the newest
addition until he can do more
than sleep, poop and cry! We are
all doing well and enjoying life in
Santa Monica, where I practice
election law and land use with a
small, public-interest law firm.”
Amy Smith Muise continues
to work at New Mexico State
University, producing media for
agriculture and, now, astronomy.
Amy writes, “My husband and
I have a small herd of beef cows
near Dell City, Texas, where
we live and have begun to sell
natural-raised, grass-fed beef on
the hoof. We participate in the
local tradition of old-time fiddle
music, usually with a toddler in
the backpack.”
Corey Jeffery writes just a quick
note to add to the mix: “My
wife Meredith and I welcomed
our second boy, Charlie, into the
world on May 5, and despite a
4-plus-year gap we’re quickly
getting reacclimated to life with
a newborn around. I’m also
happy to report that our first,
Sam, is taking quite a shine to his
new little brother, and Charlie is
already proving a real trooper in
keeping up with his big brother;
at 3 weeks old he’s already been
to a Bridgeport Bluefish game
(Minor League Baseball), a day
trip to the ESPN Zone in NYC
and a Memorial Day weekend
road trip to Vermont, where he
gamely dipped his toes in the
raging waters of the West River
but wisely declined a ride on
the alpine slide at Bromley.” Jen
Laundy and Jason Meyers attended
Julie Rapoport’s wedding (to Tim
Derouin) in Yosemite. Says Jen,
“We had some great hikes, and a
great time catching up with Julie,
Tom Reid, Mimi Epstein, Henry
Roe, Holly (Hodgson) Stephens
’96, Kyle Downey ’96 (who flew
in from Shanghai for a 36-hour
visit), Bonnie Schulkin ’96. Jason’s
still teaching biology at Colgate
University (where Maura Tumulty
’95 teaches philosophy and Greg
Hammond ’97 is just finishing a three-year stint teaching
history). I’m still working as
the town’s pediatrician. Our
daughter Naomi will be starting
kindergarten this fall, and Eli is 2
and thinks he’s starting, too, but
mostly because he just wants to
ride the bus.”
Michel Ohly writes, “I think
we were negligent last time in
introducing Lillian Blair, born
Sept. 2. At nine months, she is the
definition of ‘roly poly’—by her
first birthday she may outweigh
her 3-year-old brother. So far,
they are best buddies … so cute
together! I am gaining proficiency
at juggling two tiny people and
dreaming of the fall when Miles
starts preschool. Derek continues
to plough forward with Zyrra, his
custom bra business. We hardly
get out to see anyone these days,
which makes us sad, but we
know that eventually we will see a
light at the end of this tunnel.”
Frank Pericolosi was in Italy for
the summer, coaching baseball
in San Martino Buon Albergo
(near Verona) and finished his
eighth year as the head coach
at Pomona-Pitzer in Claremont,
Calif.
Craig MacDonald is in
Richmond, Va. He says, “Things
are good here. Enjoying a great
spring. (For once in the south.)
Myself, Brian Higgins, Pat Moore,
Frank Pericolosi, Chris Mestl,
Kevin Poppe, Michael Pergola, Eric
Kelly and Mike Vasquez are all
planning on heading out again to
the Purple Valley for the second
annual get together/minireunion
in October for a football game.
Looking forward to that.”
I have a novel’s worth of material, but alas, this is a tight issue,
and I have to keep things to a
minimum. You will hear more
updates shortly. Now for a bit of
sad news…
We were saddened to learn of
the passing of Manish Jain, who
was a classmate through 1995.
Manish had moved his family to
Las Vegas and was about to start
his practice as a neurosurgeon. He
leaves behind his wife of 10 years
and four children.
1998
Andrea Stanton
104 Bobolink Road
Yonkers, NY 10701
[email protected]
Hello, and happy summer to
all of you! I hope that the warm
weather brought beach visits
and barbecues, and lots of fun
memory-making adventures.
The new baby announcements
continue apace. Last October, son
Jack joined Mac and Stephanie
(Min) Harman. “Jack has already
outgrown his first set of Williams
clothes,” Mac writes, but
“fortunately, Sally and Chris Bell
came by in March with reinforcements.” Chris’ visit allowed Mac
to exchange “dad duty” for a
ski day at Squaw Valley, where
the two got stuck in a whiteout.
He reports that they put the time
to good use, planning our 25th
reunion—“2023 here we come.”
(No word on their thoughts for
2013 or 2018.)
In December, Jess (Charland)
Shear and her husband welcomed
son Connor. “Big brother Evan
has adjusted well,” she writes,
“and smothers Connor with
affection.” Jim and Caroline
(Nesbit) Bell had a daughter,
Riley, in January. In February, Jill
(Strassburger) and Adam Barkin
welcomed son Jacob Samuel with
great joy. That same month, Tui
Sutherland and Adam Sterns’ son
Jonah joined the world. “My
author blog at www.tuibooks.
com has been taken over by
oodles of baby photos,” Tui
writes, while book updates can be
found on her Facebook fan page.
Jonah has been introduced to
several “Williams babies,” including Sharon (Smith) Tomasulo’s
son Adam. Tui also found time
to read Kristin Cashore’s second
book, Fire, which she highly
recommends: “Everyone should
run out and read it.” Kristin now
lives in Boston, so Tui sees her
more often.
Elise London reports that Sarah
(Malcolm) LaPerle and husband
Adam have added a second child
to their family: daughter Gwen
was born in April, and “all are
doing very well.” Akeela (Ali)
Azcuy and husband Eric also
had an April baby: son Savion
Rashied. They live in New York
and regularly see Leigh Gold, who
is finishing her dissertation in
German studies at NYU; Candi
Myers, who works as an actor;
and Mara Weitzman, who Akeela
describes as “working her tail
off” in international banking.
Linden (Minnick) Cornett and her
husband welcomed daughter Ada
in late April and reports, “We are
all doing well and adjusting to life
with a newborn again.” Son Jude,
20 months, adjusted immediately:
“He loves his little sister and
wants to hold her all the time.”
Linden invites ’98ers to view their
blog: www.cornettandcompany.
blogspot.com.
CL ASS
NOTES
West Coast news: Kate (Hedden)
Vosburg reports that daughter
Isabella’s adoption is now complete—a “drama-free but slow
moving” process. She lunched
with Pam Bromley, who was
finishing the spring semester at
Pomona College’s Writing Center
and heading to Germany for the
summer. In March, Kate and her
family headed to San Francisco
for a minireunion with Steph and
Mac Harman and their son, Eping
Hung and his family, and assorted
Ephs from other years. “It was a
delightful chaos, with adult conversation loud enough to drown
out the many children wreaking
havoc,” Kate writes, although it
was still a bit “bizarre to see each
other’s children and gray hairs.”
Seth Battis and Jordi Schuster are
engaged and living in LA, where
Seth finished his first year at
Milken Community High School.
His work there ranges from overseeing “technology integration”
projects—“everything from a 1:1
laptop program to digital portfolios to blogging with history
classes”—and teaching media
studies and computer animation
courses. Jordi has one year of
rabbinical studies left before her
ordination; Seth reports that she
is “deep in her studies, as well as
a multitude of teaching and curriculum development projects.”
Vickie Vertiz’s poetry is featured in
Galeria de la Raza’s latest poetry
anthology, published in May. Her
work has also been published on
the literary website Namecalling.
Vickie’s summer plans included
a visit with Kendra Dunbar in
Harlem, where she hoped to run
into Todd Craig, Chris Tan ’94 and
many other Ephs. Finally, my
sister Brianna (Trinity ’01) spotted Garet (Asbury) ’97 and Matt
Libbey in late March at the Seattle
Aquarium. They were in town to
visit Laura (Libbey) ’95 and Craige
Blackmore ’86.
East Coast news: Adam Borden
has stepped down as the head of
a nonprofit working to legalize
wine shipping in Maryland and
returned full time to specialty
food venture capital. He writes
that he saw “Jam Girl” Carolina
Braunschweig in San Francisco
during the annual Fancy Food
Show. He also saw Cynthia
Osterling, who “rolled through
Charm City [Baltimore]” last
spring en route to an awards
ceremony where she represented
her employer, United Health
Care. Adam reports that the
ceremony must have paled next
to the opportunity to meet his
daughter Emma’s stuffed purple
cow. Finally, since Emma and her
brother Ian attend day care where
Becky Morris teaches, Adam
often runs into “Ms. Morris”
during morning drop-off. Seizo
Mazer writes that his golf blog,
Journey to Scratch, has spawned
a business in partnership with a
well-known golf pro. Their latest
product, www.gamesensegolf.
com, helps golfers work on their
on-course decision-making, which
in turn helps lower their scores.
“The business is getting off the
ground, and I’m having a blast
with it,” he reports. He’s also
been prepping for a charity golf
marathon benefiting the Jack and
Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation.
Veronica Roberts and Steve
Chin hosted an impromptu Eph
BBQ at Jim Rowe’s Williamsburg
bar, Trophy. Stephanie (Sewell)
’99 and Jon King, Dave Neff,
Adam Gogolak and Ross Wank all
attended. The BBQ ended with an
inadvertent tour though a Satmar
Hasidic neighborhood, thanks
to a wrong turn en route to the
subway. “It was just after the
Sabbath ended,” Veronica writes,
“so our casual BBQ morphed into
a cultural outing.” She also writes
that Evelyn Spence has finished
her MFA creative writing program at Brooklyn College, written
a novel, received a fellowship for
an artist-in-residency in Prague
and completed the Wildflower
half-Ironman near Big Sur. As
for Veronica, her spring included
curating the Lee Bontecou show
at MoMA, which is open through
Aug. 30. She’s reconnected with
several Williams professors: Eva
Grudin, who stopped by MoMA
while in town to curate a show
at the Williams Club, and E.J.
Johnson ’59 and Carol Ockman,
who came to Grudin’s show.
“Lots of Eph art love all around,”
she adds.
Several East Coasters wrote
about minireunions. Rik Dugan’s
wife Joanna (sister of Chris
Rodriguez ’99) surprised him
with a 34th birthday party that
included Bohn Vergari, Matt
Colangelo, Alex Harmon, Brian
Steele and Matt and Kathleen
Sigrist ’99. “There were plenty
of salted meats, fresh mozzarella, sausage and peppers, and
eggplant to keep us fueled while
chasing around the little ones,”
he writes. “While ‘Yard by Yard’
never got sung, the revelry did
last late into the night, and our
time was spent rehashing some
of our most humorous Williams
moments,” he adds.
Conrad Oakey saw Sam
French—in from Kabul, where
he is still working on his latest
film, Tom Gratian and Aran
Deganhardt in New York. In
April, he and Aran traveled back
to Williamstown for the Third
Annual Vitruvian Shootout Water
Polo Invitational, which drew 15
alums in all. “The tournament
invites alums and their current
squads—like NYC’s Asphalt
Green and Boston’s Metro—to
compete against Williams’ team,
as well as other college teams like
Middlebury and Dartmouth,” he
writes. “The event will happen
again next year,” he adds, “so
any former players who want to
pass around at Samuelson (Muir)
again should e-mail me.”
Finally, Erin Casey writes that
she does have big news: She’s
moving to Williamstown. “My
husband Jonah has a job at
Berkshire Medical Center in
Pittsfield,” she writes. “Our two
daughters, Lyra, 3, and Talia, 18
months, and our mutt Brandy are
all excited about the move, and
I’m super excited that I can eat
Hot Tomatoes whenever I want.”
She adds that their home will
include space for guests and asks
anyone passing through to look
them up.
No Coast news: Nathan
Pieplow wrote in to announce
his Valentine’s Day engagement
to fiancée Molly. They live in
Boulder with dog Sirius—“who is
black, of course,” Nathan adds.
Jed Untereker was in Phoenix,
where he caught up with Anjali
Abraham for an evening of
“re-bonding over Lehman West,
Lost and a great thin-crust ricotta
pizza.” He had a morning coffee
with Jocelyn Gibbon, who consults
on Colorado River water policy.
She has also been moonlighting
as a writer and actor in the soonto-be released (“and soon-to-be
critically acclaimed,” Jed adds)
documentary on Arizona’s failing
state parks, Postcards From the
Parks. Cat Bolten, who moved to
South Bend with fiancé Mac last
fall for a position at Notre Dame,
has enjoyed settling in. “Mac’s
having fun with our 130-year-old
wooden house, and I got sucked
into my first year of teaching,”
she writes. They were to spend
the summer in Sierra Leone—the
site of her newest research project. Jennifer (Lockhart) Przybilla
writes from Minneapolis, where
she and husband Eric bought
a new house. “We got really
lucky with the crazy market,”
she writes, “and were able
to sell our old house in three
days.” They love the new house
but still planned a summer of
n 1 9 9 8 –9 9
remodeling. In January, they flew
to New Orleans to cheer on the
Minnesota Vikings in their game
against the Saints; the game didn’t
end well for Minnesota fans, but
they still enjoyed the trip. Son
Jack is growing fast: “He’s getting
crazy big, crazy fast,” she writes.
“I put him in some outfits and he
looks like he is 12 years old.”
Enjoy the rest of your summers.
I look forward to hearing from
you later this fall.
1999
Erik Holmes
808 Alabama St.
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Nat White
4476 North Morris Blvd.
Shorewood, WI 53211
[email protected]
As I was lying in bed one night
recently, trying to figure out what
to write for this round of class
notes, I had a particularly jarring
realization: The class of ’99 babies
born in the first year or two after
we graduated are now closer to
college age than we are. Kids born
in 2000 or 2001 will be heading
to college eight or nine years from
now, whereas we’re a full 11
years removed from being the hot
seniors on campus. Just a little
tidbit for those of you who aren’t
feeling old yet. But they say 33
or 34 is the new 27, so we’ve got
that going for us, which is nice.
Perhaps my late-night ruminations were brought about by
the rapid approach of my own
wedding, which was held May
29 in Ridgefield, Conn. I married
Shannon Reid, a PhD student in
criminology at UC Irvine, whom
I met when we were both living
in DC. A number of Ephs were
in attendance: John and Ryan
(Grimaldi) Pickard ’01; Jeff and
Erin (Dempsey) Macey ’01; Keil
Mueller and his wife Heather Lee;
Stephanie (Sewell) and Jonathan
King ’98; Jan Postma and wife
Jane Panetta; Ian Eisenman; Ian
Lewis ’01; Scott Selberg; Katie
(Westbrook) Redding and husband
Chad; and Robyn (Markham)
Harrington and husband Shawn.
A couple months earlier John,
Jeff, Keil, Ian Eisenman, Ian
Lewis and I went to Las Vegas
for my bachelor party. No one
got arrested, and that’s all I’ll say
about that.
Your other class scribe, Nat
White, has a major life change
to report as well. After several
years in Milwaukee, he and
wife Julie Rusczek are moving to
northwestern Connecticut, where
Nat has taken a teaching job at
the Hotchkiss School. Nat will
be teaching math and coaching
two sports, and the family will be
living in a dorm. Nat also recently
set a master’s age-group world
record in speed skating in Salt
Lake City, and the next weekend
he won his age group at the master’s world sprint championships
in Milwaukee.
Arriving in Milwaukee just
as Nat and Julie leave will be
Tim Stoddard and Emily Gillmar
’00, who are moving from San
Francisco. Bundle up, folks.
California makes you soft.
The Class of ’99 baby boom
continues. Christian Rubio and
wife Renee welcomed their second child, Virginia Marie Rubio,
born April 28 in Newton, Mass.
Christian reports that big sister
Amelia Noelle loves holding little
Virginia while watching Dora the
Explorer. John and Ryan Pickard
had their first child, Luke, on
Jan. 12 in Northampton, Mass.
Katie Montgomery and husband
Jason Pauls and are the proud
parents of Holden Alexander
Montgomery, born Jan. 14. Katie
and Jason own a Servpro franchise and helped clean up after
the recent floods in Nashville.
Elsewhere on the baby front…
Liz (Claflin) Wyderko and husband
John had their second child,
Leah Marie Wyderko, in April.
Denver resident Andrea (Slate)
Daily and husband Brent had
their first, Maxwell Jones Daily,
born April 29—a birthday
shared with Stephanie King and
Jerry Seinfeld, Andrea reports.
Ethan Lasser and wife Jessica
welcomed their first child, Levi
Weldon Lasser, born Jan. 26,
one day after Ethan’s birthday.
Joan Walling reports that she
and husband David Linsenmeier
had a baby girl, Helena Beatrix
Linsenmeier, in September. And
Creighton William Polisi Jones,
son of Catherine Polisi Jones and
husband Andrew Jones, was born
Feb. 2—after 36 hours of labor.
Gillian (Morris) Green and
husband Daniel had their second
daughter, Saoirse Regan Green,
on March 31. They have gotten
together with Sylvia (Englund)
Michel and her daughter Joanie;
Tiffany (Talley) Farnum and her
two kids; and Andrea (Slate) Daily
with recent arrival Max. Gillian
says she is enjoying maternity
leave from her law firm and not
at all looking forward to going
back to work.
Finally, we have two babyrelated awards to hand out. The
first, for most babies at the same
time, goes to Seth Resnick and
his wife Alicia. The couple’s twin
girls, Ava Dalia and Kayla Sofia
Resnick, were born April 26 in
New York. The second, for longest baby name, goes to Sophia
Irina Leinbaugh-Chelukhova, the
daughter of Erryn Leinbaugh and
wife Alla Chelukhova, a Russian
teaching assistant at Williams in
1998-99. Sophia was born Oct.
21, and Erryn reports that her
name was too long to fit on her
hospital ID bracelet. All I can
say is I hope she’s a good speller.
Erryn is graduating from Brown
Medical School in Providence,
R.I., and will begin an emergency medicine residency at the
University of Massachusetts. He
spends his time fixing up their
home, built in 1888, and working
part time as a paramedic to make
money while in school.
Davis Teichgraeber, a radiologist, is completing a body MRI
fellowship at the University of
Pennsylvania and will move on to
do another fellowship in breast
imaging at Brown in July. Davis
reports that the job market in
medicine is terrible, and he is hoping it will improve after another
year. He plans to reconnect with
old friends in the Northeast and
do the occasional triathlon.
It turns out I’m not the only
’99er getting married. Alex
Hassinger, who is writing to
class notes for the first time,
is marrying Alison Bell (Holy
Cross) in Bristol, R.I., in August.
The couple lives in Cambridge,
Mass., where Alex works for
a community development
financial institution that provides
consulting services and loans to
nonprofit health centers. Also
heading down the aisle was
Neelam Jain, who married Eric
Weber (West Point ’95) on May
14 and 15—that’s right, two wedding ceremonies. The couple had
an Indian wedding on a Friday
and an American wedding the
next day. Ephs in attendance were
Shanna Renzi, Sarah Carr, Kristin
France, Brett Linck, Dan Suver and
Josh McNutt. And finally, Rich von
Bargen and partner Suela Nako
’00 are living together in New
York and were looking forward
to their honeymoon to Hawaii
in June.
Other news from New York…
Stephanie (Sewell) King writes
that Jan Postma and wife Jane
Panetta hosted a party celebrating
the opening of the Lee Bontecou
show at MoMA, curated by
Williams art mafia member
Veronica Roberts ’98. Steph and
CL ASS
NOTES
her son Graham see fellow New
Yorker Kate Ervin and her son
Miles regularly, though Kate was
moving to Boston this summer
to begin a psychiatry residency
at Harvard. Also leaving New
York are John Olson and his wife
Joy, who recently moved to Paris
for a few years. John-O says any
classmates travelling in France
should look him up and impose
on his hospitality. I, for one, will
be there.
Farther upstate is Colby (HunterThomson) Previte, who lives in
Rochester with her husband Greg
and son Carter. The Prevites
work on the clinical faculty at the
University of Rochester, Colby in
ob-gyn and Greg in anesthesia.
Colby and family were to attend
the wedding of Larsen Fusco in
San Francisco in June, and she
planned to meet up with her
sisters—Williams ’03 and ’07—at
MASS MoCA in August for a
music festival. While in the Purple
Valley she might run into Maggie
Adler, who completed her first
year as a Williams art history
graduate student.
In New Jersey, Dan Nehmad
reports that he is still working his
way through a long recovery from
a traumatic brain injury sustained
2002 when he was hit by a car in
Moscow. He is tutoring at Mercer
County Community College and
giving ESL lessons. Dan says
he wants to continue teaching
and try to build off his personal
experience with traumatic brain
injury. He’s considering focusing
on medical anthropology. Good
luck, Dan. We’re pulling for you
in your recovery.
We have a couple updates from
creative classmates in Vermont.
Dayna (Kaufman) Lorentz, who
lives in South Burlington, sold her
first book! Three books, actually,
as her animal adventure trilogy
for children will be released by
Scholastic in summer 2011.
Dayna and husband Jason Lorentz
’96 also celebrated their daughter
Evelyn’s first birthday. Nick
Zammuto, who lives in Readsboro
with wife Molly Frost ’02 and their
two kids, is releasing his band’s
fourth album in July. The band,
called The Books, will be touring
worldwide in 2010 and 2011.
Not much news from out West
this time around, but I did hear
from a few people. Bay Area resident Leigh (Winter) Martin went
to the Final Four in Indianapolis
in March and had Easter lunch
with Bill Stebbins while she was in
town. Leigh reports that she was
wearing a Williams shirt to one
of the games and heard a random
shout of “Go Ephs!” as she was
walking through the arena. Way
to represent, whoever you are.
Also in the Bay Area is my old
Morgan ME pal Tracy Foose,
who was promoted to co-chair
of the anxiety disorders program
at UC-San Francisco and was
an in-studio guest talking about
obsessive-compulsive disorder
and psychedelic drugs on the
local NPR affiliate. Tracy also
was quoted in The New York
Times, which led several Ephs
to contact her—including fellow San Francisco resident Jay
Langheier ’01. Tracy saw Heather
(Genovese) Einstein, who was in
town for a medical conference,
and Dede Orraca-Cecil, with
whom she reminisced about
Armstrong Late Night over
Thai food and “more traditional
beverages than the evening really
called for.”
Up the coast is Emily (King)
Teraoka, who completed her
master’s degree from Humboldt
State University in natural
resources with a concentration in
forestry. Emily wrote her thesis on
old-growth and second-growth
riparian forests at Redwood
National Park, and she works as
an ecologist at Stillwater Sciences,
an environmental consulting firm.
Heather Kovich is working as
a family doctor on the Navajo
reservation in Shiprock, N.M.
Heather reports that she and
husband Andrew are getting used
to reservation life: “We adopted a
stray dog, abandoned our moral
objections to shopping at WalMart and think nothing of driving
60 miles for a beer run.” Now
that’s dedication.
And the last word goes to
Lindsay (Beach) Petersen, who
lives with her husband Rick,
in southwest Colorado. She
writes: “We are busy growing
our garden, our new natural
childbirth education business, and
our 18-month-old redhead, who
knows that cows don’t say ‘moo;’
they say ‘Go Williams; beat
Amherst!’”
How’s that for a closer? Till
next time, everyone!
2000
Jon Pearson
33 Chester St., Apt 2R
Somerville, MA 02144
[email protected]
Given our consistently extraordinary Class Notes output, I
suppose we shouldn’t be surprised
that we just set a record for
highest attendance ever at a
Williams 10-year reunion. It was
a real treat to see so many of you
enjoying each others’ company in
and around our boisterous, rainsoaked, mud-covered Berkshire
quad tent. It certainly didn’t
hurt that Wyeth Lynch started the
weekend out right by providing
mountains of delicious barbecue from his very own Soulfire
restaurant.
I also got a kick out of meeting
a lot of the mini-Ephs that most
of us had previously only read
about in this space. I hope that
all of your children remain as
adorable and well-behaved as
they were during reunion, and
I’m confident that Oren Kallay
and Zoe Eyre will enjoy the torrid romance they will inevitably
pursue as Williams undergrads
in the 2020’s. I’d also like to take
this opportunity to thank all of
you who put in so much time and
effort to plan and publicize the
event. From our outgoing class
officers, to our reunion chairs, to
anyone who wrote a mass e-mail
or just convinced one of your
friends to make the trip—thank
you.
I’ll leave the rest of the reunion
recaps to your updates, but for
now we’re going to get started
with some folks who didn’t
make it to Williamstown. If you
were there and I include you in
this section, I’m sorry and I’m
a bad person. Rebecca Cover is
batting leadoff—I’m about 98
percent positive that she wasn’t
there! Rebecca graduated from
UC Berkeley in May with a PhD
in linguistics. She also wins the
coveted Brevity Award! Chuck
Munyon married Vinola J. Vincent
on May 16. Ben Katz was best
man and Pat Burton was also in
attendance. Chuck was to start
his fourth year of neurosurgery
residency at University Hospitals
in Cleveland. Raph Rosen sent
what he calls a “real update,” letting us know that he is a science
writing intern at the Princeton
Plasma Physics Lab and that next
year he expects to enroll in the
specialized journalism program at
USC, focusing on science writing.
Raph, let me assure you that your
other updates are very real. Real
and awesome.
Jonathan Isaacs reports that he
got married in early May in Italy
and that a long stretch of poor
weather ended just in time for
the ceremony—sparing him from
knowing the “irony” of rain on
your wedding day. (FYI: It is similar in ironic value to needing a
knife to, say, spread some butter,
but instead finding a number of
n 1 9 9 9 –2 0 0 0
spoons and no knives.) Jonathan
works in Hong Kong and would
like all of you to know that our
local alumni association is teaming up with alumni from other
liberal arts schools to organize
events throughout the Asia-Pacific
region. Any interested Ephs in or
around Hong Kong who would
like to be informed of such events
should write Jonathan at jmiaisi@
yahoo.com.
Torie Gorges could barely
contain her excitement as she
announced that she and her husband Todd welcomed beautiful
twins Molly Gorges Manchester
and Andrew Gorges Manchester
on March 19. (I know for a fact
that they’re beautiful—Facebook
told me). Molly weighed 6
pounds, 1 ounce and Andrew
was 5 pounds, 14 ounce. Torie
wrote, “They’re both extremely
annoyed with me that I followed
the pediatrician’s advice and
did not buy cross-country plane
tickets for reunion. They had
cow onesies ready to go and
everything!” After seeing the
pictures of them in those cow
suits, I’m extremely annoyed that
you deprived us of the opportunity to make googly faces at them
all weekend. Continuing our trip
to Babytown, Leigh (Greenwood)
Radlowski welcomed her second
son, Grant Thomas Radlowski,
on Feb. 10. He weighed 9 pounds
even, “came pre-equipped with a
full head of brown curly hair and
was born in the living room!”
Lily (Filip) Trajman has had a
busy year. She graduated from
MIT with a PhD in biology in
June 2009, spent the rest of
the summer traveling and then
welcomed her second son, Asher
Tobias Trajman, on March
2, 2010. Lily points out that
this gives Asher “the awesome
birthdate of 3-2-10.” Older
brother Gideon tells anyone who
will listen that “Baby Asher cries
and sleeps and eats and poops
but he does not do anything
INTERESTING.” The day after
writing her update, Lily and family were to move to San Francisco.
Rebecca (Atkinson) and Andy
Anderson ’99 welcomed an adorable little boy into their family on
April 20. His full title is Herbert
Warren Anderson V (after Andy,
as well as his father, grandfather,
etc.), but we’re calling him Huck.
You are far more likely to be in
the running for future Brevity
Awards, Rebecca, by going with
the shorter moniker.
Nikki Lopez left LA and moved
to London, where she continues to work with the Kabbalah
Centre. In January, Nikki put
together a lecture for Yehuda
Berg, one of the leaders of the
Centre, and had over 600 people
attend. Dan Mason blames Apple
for scheduling their developer
conference the same week as
reunion, causing him to miss
out. “Life is good,” Dan reports,
“We’ve moved into our new
house on the north Jersey Shore,
and I started working for MTV
Networks. Odds of our next child
being named Snooki: better than
average.” If you name your kid
The Situation Mason, I’m calling
protective services. DJ Pauly D.
Mason is fine. David Ramos lives
in DC, has been building his
own graphic design practice and
teaches interaction design at the
Corcoran. He donated his car
and became a “happy city cyclist”
and planned to complete his first
triathlon this year. David reports
that fellow DC resident Dan
Puskin is a newly minted PhD in
economics.
Yana (Dadiamova) Levin almost
always prefaces her update with
a facetious (and quite funny)
disclaimer warning me that it’s
not going to be interesting. As
usual, I disagree. Yana finished
her second of three years in a
pulmonary/critical care fellowship. She was starting a job search
at the time of this writing, so if
anyone needs a slightly used pulmonologist, she’s your lady. The
rest of Yana’s update in her own
words: “Mostly spending my time
off chasing scrawny but diapered
toddler heinie. Unlike my brilliant
Williams classmates, have yet to
invent a cure for cancer, travel
around the world, or row the
Atlantic in a thimble. [Secretary’s
Note: that was me.] Even when
bedraggled and discouraged, I
still love my job and family, a
lot. I miss Jason Oraker and Bert
Leatherman so much!”
Katie (Fogg) and Brendan Kinnell
have moved from New York
to Richmond, Va. Brendan was
lured away from a great teaching
gig after being offered his “dream
job” at The Collegiate School in
Richmond. He will be teaching
high school math and coaching
basketball and soccer. Katie wrote
that they don’t know anyone in
Richmond, so if you’re in the
neighborhood give them a buzz.
Phoebe, their 3-year-old, finished
her first year of nursery school
and Lucy, their 16-month-old, is
learning new words every day.
Gabriela Pereira checked in to let
us know that she graduated from
The New School with an MFA in
creative writing, with a focus in
writing for children. This summer,
she taught creative writing in
NYC, planned to start a literary
magazine with some of her fellow
graduates, and was working on
finishing a manuscript. What
sort of manuscript? Tune in next
time! (Gabriela, we demand more
details).
Morgan Eckles has a new
job, having left her position in
category management at eBay to
work at an education management company, InsideTrack, in
downtown San Francisco. Carrie
Sloan is a coworker—they ran
into each other in the hallway
when Morgan was interviewing.
Speaking of Carrie, how about
an update next time? I accept
e-mails, Facebook wall posts,
Twitter-things, letters, phone calls
and recordings of you singing
’60s pop standards. In other
Carrie news, Carrie Ryan married
her husband, JP, on April 1.
Carrie expressed her excitement
about the wedding with multiple
exclamation points. Her first
book, The Forest of Hands and
Teeth, hit The New York Times
bestseller list, and her first short
story was due in July as part of an
anthology called Kiss Me Deadly.
Two more stories were due in
September.
Damian Zunino is a new dad; he
and his wife Brit become the parents of a happy and healthy baby
girl, Harper Lofgren Zunino,
on March 24. The Zuninos had
lunch with Dave Haimson, his
wife Tara and their son Max
in New York in April. Carla
(Chokel) Macklin is “knee-deep in
diapers” after giving birth to her
second daughter, the beautifully
named Wren, who was born 2
weeks prior to reunion weekend.
Wren has also conspired to keep
the Macklins from celebrating
the wedding of Malana Willis
and Sawyer Haig, as well as
Sara Cofrin’s wedding. Luckily,
Malana was able to visit Carla in
Cleveland to collaborate on the
creation of her wedding dress.
Brad Geddes is a very skilled skeeball player. More importantly, he
and his wife Jennie are the proud
parents of a second son, Dylan
Geddes ’32. Big brother Colby
loves to help take care of the baby
when he’s not appearing in very
cute pictures on Facebook.
Now for folks who I saw (or at
least think I saw) at reunion: Nell
Putnam-Farr liked being a student
at Sloan so much that she stayed
after completing her MBA to
work on a PhD in marketing.
Son Teo is a “huge, happy,
healthy 15-month-old.” The
CL ASS
NOTES
height, I imagine, is hereditary.
Teo’s dad and Nell’s husband,
Brendan Nelson, continues to
travel frequently in his work
for McKinsey. Megan Fredericks
Dubofsky and her husband Matt
celebrated the birth of Nicholas
Fredericks Dubofsky on March
7. Megan took the summer off
to enjoy her time with the little
one. She and Matt continue to
live in Boulder. Kim (Massimiano)
and Mike Paolercio report the
birth of their second daughter, Catherine, on March 20.
She joins big sister Ellie, who
turned 3 in the spring. Yng-Ru
Chen also had a baby girl, Sadie
Marigold, last October. They
live in Brooklyn, and Yng works
as a Chinese art specialist at
Sotheby’s. Some classmates
visited to pay Sadie a warm
welcome, namely Ruko (Takeuchi)
Senseney, Patty Hines and Biniam
Gebre. Will Rawls was also one
of Sadie’s first babysitters.
I was extremely excited to see
Cara Shortsleeve at reunion,
having developed a previously e-mail-only friendship
with her through this column.
Cara spent some quality time
in Williamstown with Megan
Kelley and her new French
bulldog, Leo. They all hiked Pine
Cobble with Cara’s 3-month-old
son—hopefully his first of many
ascents. Away from reunion,
Cara reports that Sarah Sheppe
Okun is the mother of twins
and that she saw Alan Fitts at
their fifth reunion from business
school. I love Cara so much that
I don’t even mind that she typed
her update using her phone,
setting a record for spelling
mistakes, with a particular flair
for misspelling Williamstown.
While we’re on the topic of child
creation, Elise Morgan wrote that
it was really fun to see many
pregnant classmates at reunion.
I cannot tell you who these pregnant classmates were, lest my
editors become very angry, and,
possibly, violent. They actually
have claws. You probably didn’t
know that. But I digress… Elise
stayed with Becca Parkinson’s
family during reunion along
with Becca, Becca’s fiancé and
Ann Brophy.
We conclude this edition of
Notes with Deb (Frisone) Young,
who wrote something really
funny in her post-reunion e-mail
then asked me not to include it.
But yes, Deb, I agree that you
won the award.
2001
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Katie Kelly Gregory
2642 West Cortez St., #3
Chicago, IL 60622
[email protected]
In April, Dan Perttu received an
honorable mention for his composition, “Tonospheres” for violin and cello, from the Duquesne
University New Music Ensemble’s
2010 Call for Scores, as well
as a performance at Duquesne.
Another of Dan’s recent compositions, “Gloamin,” for flute and
piano, was performed at universities in Beijing and Guangzhou,
China.
Derek Soto moved to DC in
February and reported that he
is enjoying the city and his new
job at the Pentagon as legal
counsel for space and cyberspace
acquisitions.
Rishaad Currimjee married
Shakti Callikan in Mauritius
in March. After the wedding,
the traveled to Japan to view
the cherry blossoms and then
returned to Dehli, India, where
they live and work.
Last August, Sandra DiPillo
graduated from Smith with
a master’s degree in social
work. She moved to Brooklyn
in December and works as
a therapist for children and
families. Sandra wrote that she
loves living in New York and
has been able to reconnect with
Maywa Montenegro and Jesse
Metzger. She also reported that
she had a minireunion in New
York in the spring with Lauren
(Wiener) Johnson, Lauren (Krisko)
Sweatman ’00, and Deborah
(Frisone) Young ’00.
Jesse Metzger received her
PhD in clinical psychology from
Columbia in May and had plans
to move to Montreal to pursue
a research fellowship at McGill
University.
Caitlin (Carr) Lopez checked in
from St. Louis, where she has one
more year of a residency program
in radiology and then plans to
complete a fellowship in breast
imaging. Dusty Lopez coaches
at Webster University, and their
daughter Nora turned 2 in July!
Jason Greenberg checked in
from London, where he has been
living since 2005. He and his
wife Fabienne, an opera singer,
welcomed a son, Sebastien, in
December 2009. Jason works as
the general manager of the Great
Britain National Baseball Team,
which is ranked second in Europe
and 21st in the world. In March,
he attended Tony Salerno’s wedding in Connecticut and enjoyed
visiting with Matt and Phoebe
(Geer) Speiser, Mayur Deshmukh,
Adam Jeffers, John Valliere, James
and Liz (Roller) Apgar, Seth Earn,
Moira Shanahan, Alana (Belfield)
Levine and many others.
Sharmista Ray was awarded
a TEDIndia Fellowship in
November. The fellowships were
awarded to 99 people around
the world who are designated as
future leaders from South Asia.
Sharmista recently left a position
at a contemporary art gallery to
start her own art consultancy firm
in Mumbai. She met up with Tanu
Kumar, who recently moved to
Mumbai, for drinks. Sharmista
took a trip to the U.S., where she
bumped into Geraldine Shen at
MoMA in NYC.
Elizabeth Hoover graduated in
May with a PhD in anthropology from Brown University. Her
dissertation was about environmental health issues in a Mohawk
Native American community.
To celebrate her graduation,
Elizabeth had plans to spend the
summer traveling to a Lakota
Sundance in South Dakota, a
series of Osage ceremonial dances
in Oklahoma and a monthlong
trip to Hong Kong and Tibet. Her
plans for the next year include a
one year postdoc in the anthropology and environmental studies
departments at St. Olaf College in
Minnesota.
Brian Werner owns a coffee
shop, The Steaming Bean, in
Telluride. He was elected to the
Telluride Town Council in a
contentious race last year and
has already crafted an aggressive
Green Energy Building Code
and was working on bringing
Phish to Telluride for two shows
over the summer. Brian has also
been working on a composting
pilot program for restaurants in
Telluride.
Duncan Meiklejohn started a
surgical residency in otolaryngology at Stanford in June. Before
moving to California, he attended
Matt Wessler’s wedding in May.
Josh Burson completed his first
semester of full-time teaching as
an adjunct faculty member at two
University of New Hampshiresystem schools. At press time,
he was struggling under the
mountain of grading to try to
figure out what comes next. Josh
reported that his 2-year-old son,
Peter, is working on his singing
and jumping-off-things skills.
Johanna Kolody works for Print
n 2 0 0 0 –0 3
restaurant in NYC as the forager.
She encourages everyone in NYC
to stop in, eat and check out the
spectacular rooftop bar views!
She also reported that Heidi
Montoya was set to receive her
doctoral degree in psychology
over the summer.
Phil Swisher is newly engaged—
to a non-Eph, but he promises she
looks great in purple! He started
a new job in June in the product
innovation group of Brown
Brothers Harrison in their Boston
office.
Fumi Tosu completed the first
year of a graduate program at
Columbia. He is pursuing a master’s in development practice and
had plans to spend the summer in
a Millennium Village in Malawai.
In March, Pelagia Ivanova and
Alfonso Gonzalez del Riego ’00
welcomed daughter Kristina
Maria. Pelagia wrote that they
are having lots of fun with their
baby girl.
Across the pond, Tori (Henrion)
Weir and her husband welcomed
their son James on March 29. She
writes: “Since then I have gotten
very little sleep, but at least lately I
have been getting some big toothless grins from him in return!”
Jeff O’Neil shared the news that
he and his wife Kathy welcomed
their son Cameron Jeffrey Louis
O’Neill on March 10. Jeff
wrote that Cameron’s big sister
Charlotte is enthralled with her
new “Sonny Boy.”
Erin Palazzolo Loparo and her
husband Joe welcomed their first
child, Helen Marie, on May 12.
The family plans to stay in Boston
as Joe secured a position as an
assistant professor at Harvard
Medical School.
Julia Cianfarini and her fiancé
have been keeping busy renovating a home they purchased in
DC. She wrote that “after months
of work, it’s nice to see it finally
looking like a house!”
2002
The class is looking for a secretary. Please contact President Brad
Nichol ([email protected]) or
the alumni office (413.597.4151)
if you are interested.
2003
Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer
280 Riverside Drive, #GB
New York, NY 10025
[email protected]
Spring and summer marked
many new beginnings for
classmates in the form of degrees
earned and new jobs started. But
first, a new arrival: Andrew ’02
and Ellie Beasley welcomed son
Grant Bass Beasley on May 18.
The Beasley family is doing well,
and Andrew and Ellie can’t wait
to take Grant on his first trip to
Williamstown.
May and June were ripe with
graduations. Nick Goodbody
graduated from Yale with a PhD
in Spanish and plans to return to
Williams in the fall as a visiting
assistant professor in Spanish
language and Latin American
literature.
Mike Buscher graduated from
medical school. In June, he
began his residency training in
emergency medicine at Virginia
Commonwealth University
Medical Center in Richmond.
Between graduation and the
start of his intern year, he traveled to South Africa, Mauritius,
Botswana and Zambia.
Diane Reis graduated from
medical school at the University
of Wisconsin and moved to
Boston to start her residency at
the Harvard-Longwood psychiatry program. She will be working
at Brigham and Women’s, Beth
Israel Deaconness, the Mass
Mental Health Institute and
Boston Children’s. After narrowly
avoiding a Craigslist scam, she
was looking forward to settling
into an apartment in Brookline
and seeing lots of Nicole Colson
and, hopefully, other Ephs as well.
With any luck, Diane’s boyfriend
Alex will be joining her in Boston
after he finishes his PhD next year.
Dave Brenninkmeyer graduated
from Columbia Business School,
where his MBA was focused on
finance and investing.
Emily Stone (Glenn) Tucker
completed her PhD in psychology at NYU. Emily and husband
Peter Tucker continue to live in
Manhattan.
Eliza Myrie earned her MFA
from Northwestern University.
Some of her work was showcased
in an exhibit curated by Kathleen
Smith at the WORK gallery in
Brooklyn (whose executive director is Walker Waugh ’02). In attendance were many Ephs, including
Eliza, Kathleen, Walker, Tom
Cubeta, Mike Winton, Moonjoo
Han, Nick Suttle, Stu Warshawer,
Anri and Dave Brenninkmeyer,
Nick Waugh ’00, Scott Selberg
’00 and John Crowley-Delman
’01. This summer, Eliza was to
participate in a nine-week artist
residency at the Skowhegan
School of Painting and Sculpture
in Maine.
Chris Holmes defended his PhD
dissertation on global mercury
pollution in April. Afterwards,
he spent a spring weekend with
Bill Sacks and Nina Chaopricha in
Madison, Wis. Chris also caught
up with Dan DeMoss on a walk
through Lincoln Park in Chicago.
Last fall, Robert Michelin
finished his second master’s
degree, in education and mathematics, and has been teaching
math and music at Arts and
Media Preparatory Academy in
Brooklyn. He also spent the last
year as one of the artists-in-residence in the music department at
Williams, working with Professor
Ernest Brown and Zambezi. He
was planning to travel to London
and the Caribbean this summer to
study percussion.
Other ’03ers are hard at
work finishing up their respective degrees. Erica Dwyer is in
Durban, South Africa, conducting
research for her PhD on the rise
of global health policy around
drug resistant TB. Starting in July,
she’s been living in a rural area in
KwaZulu Natal doing fieldwork
on local responses to TB. She was
in South Africa for the World
Cup but didn’t have any tickets,
so she enjoyed it on TV. Sadly,
she had to leave her husband
Amar behind in Philadelphia, but
he was planning a visit soon. If
anyone is in the neighborhood,
definitely give Erica a shout.
Scott Neff finished his first year
at Wharton and was working for
the Philadelphia Eagles this summer, helping them sign their draft
picks to rookie contracts.
Kathleen Gibbons is in her fifth,
and hopefully final, year at the
University of Toronto, finishing
a PhD in religious studies, which
has almost been the death of her.
In the spring, she was in NYC,
visiting her lifeline to normalcy,
Alex Lavy.
After three wonderful months
in Istanbul, Matt Ellis moved to
Cairo, Egypt, in December to continue his archival research for his
PhD dissertation. In March, Matt
took a quick trip back to NYC
and met up with Dave Goodman
and Nick Goodbody. In June, Matt
moved to his next archival stop:
Rome, for one month. He was
planning to finish up with two
months working in archives and
libraries in the UK.
Rebecca Linder is still living in
Cambridge, studying religion at
Harvard. She planned to spend
the summer studying in Muscat,
Oman. Rebecca sees lots of Ephs
in the Boston area, including
Ayesha Fuentes, with whom she
CL ASS
NOTES
danced together in a piece Ayesha
choreographed, Katie Rocker,
Morgan Steiner, Molly Stone,
Kathleen Smith, Max Montgelas
and Rachel Berlin ’05. Rebecca
lives with Keji Adebayo ’04.
Healy Thompson is living in
Toronto, where she is pursuing
her PhD in women’s studies and
working part time for the Stephen
Lewis Foundation. She continues
to be involved in HIV and AIDS
activism and is training to run a
half-marathon as part of the SLF’s
“A Dare to Remember” campaign to raise funds for grassroots
organizations working to turn
the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
So far, Jess Lovaas ’06 is the only
Williams person to visit Healy
in Toronto. She invites others to
come see a great city and catch up
with her.
Diane Bennett was sad to have
finished her year of teaching
oceanography for the WilliamsMystic program at Mystic
Seaport. She had a great time
traveling with the students around
the country (sailing offshore in
the Gulf of Maine and Florida
straits, and flying to Louisiana,
California and the Pacific
Northwest) and guiding undergrads in their science research
projects. In the fall, the full-time
faculty member for whom Diane
was covering will return from her
sabbatical, and Diane will be back
on the University of Connecticut’s
Avery Point campus to finish her
PhD in oceanography. Diane
hopes to graduate in the fall
and was applying for postdoc
positions.
Several classmates started new
ventures, many of which involve
relocating. In August, Jessica
Katz will be trading in her newly
developed Jersey accent for a
much more desirable British one,
as she moves across the pond to
teach sixth grade humanities at
The American School in London.
Jessica would love to get in touch
with Williams folks in the area.
Taimur Khilji is starting a
new assignment with the U.N.
Development Programme in
Bangkok, while Sara Schwanke
Khilji is moving into her
second year of residency at
Massachusetts General Hospital.
Courtney Janney joined a new
animal care team at the National
Zoo and is now working with
African and Asian hoofstock and
carnivores. She was working to
hand-rear some clouded leopard
cubs, two brothers, who were
born in February, and finding
them to be quite a handful.
Sarah Nichols enjoyed spending
In April, Dave Mihm ’03 (right) visited Phil Dimon ’03 in India, where
Dimon is working with the Foreign Service.
the spring as a postdoc in Ann
Arbor but was ready for a
change. In August, she was to
move to Washington for a visiting
professorship. Let her know if
you’re passing through Walla
Walla and environs.
David Mihm had a busy spring
helping start a couple of new
Internet companies in Portland
and launching a nationwide series
of Internet marketing seminars
for small business owners. He
also spent two weeks overseas,
one with Phil Dimon in Mumbai
and visiting some sites in northern India, the other in the UK
visiting multiple pubs, each of
which claimed to be the oldest
in England. This summer, David
was to head on a golf trip to play
the great links courses of eastern
Colorado and central Nebraska
before returning to Portland to
attend Jason Deaner’s wedding.
Nicole Theriault moved to
Boston this summer and plans to
begin teaching second grade at
the Advent School in the fall. She
sends thanks to Bethany (Sayles)
Yu and Adrienne Ellman for hosting her during the job and apartment hunt. Over spring break,
Nicole was delighted to meet up
with both Katy (Austell) Elortegui
and Katherine McGrath, who both
happened to be in Paris at the
same time Nicole was vacationing
there. Katy was on break from
teaching English at the Chadwick
School in California, Katherine
from her MBA studies at Kellogg.
Katherine also was planning a
move to Boston.
Dean Laochamroonvorapongse
is in his final year of anesthesia
residency at Mount Sinai Medical
Center in NYC and was selected
as chief resident. After eight years
on the Upper East Side, he is
excited to finally be leaving NYC
next year for Portland, Ore.,
where he’ll be starting a fellowship in pediatric anesthesia.
Laurel Fedor was finishing
her third, and final, year of
internal medicine residency at
Dartmouth. She has taken a job
in Manchester, N.H., where her
husband is already working. She
was looking forward to being
finished with school/training.
Laurel was also excited that her
youngest sister will be joining the
Williams Class of 2014 this fall.
She is looking forward to having
more excuses to return to the
purple mountains.
Phil Dimon joined the Foreign
Service and is working in
Mumbai, India. He will be there
through fall 2011.
Perry Kalmus is still running
DrinksCity, his company that promotes boutique alcohol brands.
He hopes to expand nationally
this winter, so look out for the $4
high-end drink coming to your
city. Perry is excited that Marshall
Dines matched in radiology in LA.
The two plan to continue writing
screenplays together. In March,
Perry and Justin Ditrich engaged
in an Iron Chef-style competition
at Perry’s apartment. The main
ingredient was salmon, and—
with 10 people in attendance,
including Guy Danella—the votes
for Justin’s Salmon Porto Fina
and Perry’s Salmon Kentucky
(barbecue) were dead even.
Also in LA, Dmitri Goudkov still
enjoys teaching history and tanning in Malibu. This summer, he
went back to the Salisbury School
for a few weeks to teach English
composition and bodybuilding.
Please get in touch with Dmitri if
you have any ideas to share about
the role of individual sports in
violence prevention.
Adam Cole is still teaching high
n 2 0 0 3 –0 4
school math and swimming. This
summer, he was co-leading a trip
with students to Tanzania for
backpacking and a service project.
Adam was very excited, as, at
the end of the trip, the leaders
plan to stay on and climb Mt.
Kilimanjaro.
After returning from an
inspiring trip to India, Renee
Dumouchel is studying to be
certified as a Phoenix Rising
Yoga Therapy Practitioner and
Registered Yoga Teacher. She
was recently promoted to senior
marketing manager at the 92nd
Street Y and continues to live and
play in NYC.
A painting by Miguel Payano
entitled “Sha-Boy” won the
Sovereign Asian Art Prize
public vote. The prize is awarded
annually by the Sovereign Art
Foundation, which is based in
Hong Kong. Another of Miguel’s
works, “Obama Opera,” was
featured at China International
Gallery Exposition 2010 and Art
Beijing 2010.
Becca Krass has been an event
planner at Charles Schwab for
the past two years. She is excited
to be starting her MBA at UCLA
Anderson in the fall. Just 24
hours after being accepted, Becca
quit her life in San Francisco for
a plane ticket and her backpack.
She wrote in from New Zealand,
where she was swimming with
dolphins and hiking glaciers.
After NZ, she planned to spend
five weeks in Australia and four
weeks in Japan. On her way
out of the U.S., Becca stopped
through LA to go wine tasting
with Genevieve Sparling ’04
and celebrate Cyndi Wong’s ’04
birthday.
2004
Nicole Eisenman
1884 Columbia Road, NW
Apt. 111
Cortney Tunis
51 Chestnut St., Apt B
North Adams, MA 01247
[email protected]
Maria Lapetina graduated from
UNC law in May with Emily
Kirby and Taylor Tyson ’06. Over
the years they had a number of
Williams visitors, including Jeff
Nelson, Annie Moore and Keji
Adebayo. After travelling through
Brazil and Argentina, Maria is
moving to NYC in October to
work at Debevoise & Plimpton
LLP.
Ally Matteodo worked as a
production assistant on and was
an extra in JoAnne, a project written by Boston University professor
Brian Herskowitz. Ally helped celebrate Justin Dittrich’s ’03 birthday
at “The Woods” in Hollywood,
but Justin had already left when
Ally arrived.
After a brief stint in Dallas,
Charlie Davidson is back in NYC
working with his family as
associate director at the Maxwell
Davidson Gallery. Eve Biddle is
curating a summer exhibition in
which Matt Watson’s work was to
be included.
Elizabeth Just works in international PR at The Estee Lauder
Companies in NYC. She loves it,
despite never imagining she would
wind up with a career in beauty
PR. She finished her first year at
Stern getting her MBA part time.
She lives with Stephen Dobay ’05,
and they were looking forward to
his five-year reunion.
Andrew Kao left LA for more
hostile weather in NYC. He’s
working for Andy Bernheimer ’90
at DB Architects in Brooklyn.
Andrew celebrated with Chrissy
Draghi when she passed part I of
her LEED exam. Tim Patterson
is still the marketing director for
Where There Be Dragons and
says living in Boulder is awesome. He sees Mike Henry and
Jon Langer frequently and was to
travel to Jordan and Syria with
a Dragons group this summer.
Zach Kung is moving to Silver
Spring, Md., and preparing for his
wedding to Bethany Cobb ’02 in
Williamstown next year. Recently
they attended Evan Gee’s wedding,
where they saw Sara Arnold,
Topher Cyll, Dan Weintraub,
Anna Popick, Dave Grey and Alex
Timofeyev. Nick, Alex and Zach
are brewing up beer on weekends.
After two years of trying to get
Sarah Dickens, Crissy Campbell
and Peter Deutsch to behave at
Stanford business school, Mike
Needham is returning to DC
to become CEO of Heritage
Action for America, a grassroots
organization aimed at pressuring
Washington to move our country
back in a free market direction.
Daniel Bahls is living in Ann
Arbor, Mich., and working in
Toledo, Ohio, for Legal Aid of
Western Ohio, providing free legal
assistance for people who are
facing foreclosure. He says, “The
foreclosure crisis is destroying
communities, tearing families
apart and leaving individuals
emotionally and financially ravaged. The resources and political
will to stop it aren’t there.”
Federico Sosa returned to
Paraguay in 2008 and worked for
Save the Children, advocating for
an increase in public investment
for early childhood education
and health. Lately he is working
in the public diplomacy section
of the U.S. Embassy in Asuncion.
Luis Diego Cob moved back to San
José, Costa Rica, his hometown,
after 11 years. He is directing programs at the international NGO
The Art of Living Foundation, to
reduce violence and stress. Diego
says, “Costa Rica is paradise;
I invite all alums to come and
visit!” Liz Kaplan is enjoying her
new(ish) job as a staff attorney in
the Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal
Services Program, working with
low-income clients from the DC
area.
Kristen Van Woert Connolly
worked with Operation Smile in
Cambodia and the Himalayan
Health Exchange in India last
spring and graduated from the
UVM College of Medicine in
May. She and her husband were
moving from Portland, Maine,
to Burlington, Vt., where she will
begin a residency in pediatrics.
They celebrated the wedding of
Lydia Crafts and Nate Putnam in
Cohasset, Mass., in May with
Brookie Kaltsas, Pete Andres, Sarah
Torkelson, Tim Stickney, Alexis
Weber, Caitlin Canty, Cliff Huang,
Lexi Lee, Justin Sullivan, Anders
Haugen and Maggie Lee and
were looking forward to seeing
everyone again this summer at
the weddings of Lexi and Justin,
and Sarah and Tim. Lydia and
Nate have studied and worked in
Austin, Texas for four years, and
in the fall will both be enrolled in
graduate programs at UT-Austin.
Caitlin released her album Neon
Streets, co-produced by the band
Darlingside (all Williams alums).
She and Darlingside toured the
Northeast together in June,
including a big show at Brooklyn
Bowl.
Brendan Docherty is in LA,
working on Harry Potter video
games at Electronic Arts. He
plays Ultimate Frisbee but says
“most WUFO people would be
dismayed at the sorry state of the
stacks. On the plus side, I can
throw ill-conceived hammers with
reckless abandon since no one is
there to shame me into running
a proper offense.” I had to quote
that, because, not having played
WUFO, I really have no idea what
he is talking about.
Ben Fleming procrastinated for
law school exams by sending
Lost conspiracy theories to Devin
Fitzgibbons. Ben was to work
CL ASS
NOTES
as a summer associate in NYC
and hoped to remember the
lame excuses he used during the
last World Cup. In March Bryan
McCoy left his job in Miami and
moved to Swaziland, where he is
overseeing a commercial vegetable
farm that was funded last year by
Sustainable Development Capital,
a small agricultural venture fund
he started with Chris Ryan. Bryan
was to be working on the farm,
looking at new opportunities and
watching the World Cup until
August, when he planned to head
back to the States and start at
Wharton.
Hayden Lynch, Andrew Zimmer,
John Schneider, Matt Dahlman,
Brian Catanella and Ryan Paylor
met up in Puerto Rico to celebrate
Joe Reardon’s bachelor party
before returning to NYC to continue celebrating the rest of their
lifelong bachelorhood. Except for
Brian, who returned to Philly. And
his wife.
After graduation, Prosper
Nwankpa teamed up with Ali Moiz
’06 and Murtaza Hussain ’08 to
build a company. They succeeded
in creating a profitable web 2.0
company, Peanut Labs. They
won an MRA award for Most
Innovative Company in ’08, the
Fast 50 company award in ’09 as
one of the top 50 fastest growing
companies of the year, and have
grown to 50 employees.
Ashley English is looking forward to the return of broomball
to her life when she moves to
Minneapolis this fall. She’s
heading to the Twin Cities to
start a PhD in political science
at the University of Minnesota.
Michelle Allen got her master’s in
international affairs at Columbia
and is back in DC. Michelle Kron
got her PhD in neuroscience from
University of Michigan as part
of the MD/PhD program. She
married Brian Gray on June 12 in
Chicago. Now she is headed back
to medical school to finish her
last two years. Colby Chamberlain
received a master’s degree in art
history from Columbia, on his
way to a PhD. Curiously, he is
now also a “writer in residence”
at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.
Mark Orlowski finished his master’s program at Harvard, where
he studied nonprofit management,
and is staying in Cambridge
to continue serving as executive director of the Sustainable
Endowments Institute.
Kristin Cole hosted a cooking
class in her Chicago apartment
with Sarah Pesin, Susan Combs
and Kelsey Peterson. In her spare
time, Kristin has been teaching
In January, Kristin Cole ’04 (right) welcomed three of her classmates to
a cooking class in Chicago. Also pictured, from left, Sarah Pesin, Susan
Combs and Kelsey (Peterson) Recht.
personalized cooking classes
focusing on international cuisines
using local, seasonal ingredients.
Amanda Stout lives in
Somerville, Mass., and works as
senior economic development
planner for the City of Newton,
Mass. She recalls that many of our
classmates who hail from “just
outside of Boston” grew up in
Newton, and she would love hot
spot recommendations in the city.
Sarah Jensen moved into her own
apartment in Manhattan after
living with Megan Henze ’05 for
four years. She works for Turner
Broadcasting, selling advertising
space for TBS, TNT and truTV
Networks. Sarah attended Kelly
Murphy’s wedding last October.
In September, Camille Mathieu is
leaving California for Europe to
pursue her dissertation research,
funded by the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, in Paris, Aix,
and Rome for a year and a half.
She’s excited but sad to leave
Katie Ackerly and Zan Armstrong.
Zan, when she isn’t in London
“for work,” lives in an adorable
house in San Francisco, and Katie
is at Berkeley, finishing an MA in
building science.
Dan Ohnemus tells us that many
Ephs came together at services for
Aaron Pinsky ’06 in Concord last
spring. Dan says “It was a touching ceremony, but despite our sadness I don’t think any of us could
have asked for better company.”
Dan is around Cambridge and
Woods Hole, working on his PhD
qualifying exams and prepping
for several months at sea (North
Atlantic for two months this fall,
and Antarctica this winter). He
was looking forward to seeing
people this summer while still on
land!
Sarah Croft and John Backus
Mayes ’05 are to be married
in October. They are looking
forward to having ’04s and ’05s
come to Chicago to celebrate!
Samir Thaker and Abby Kelton got
married last year. In attendance
were Marina Vivero, Joel Hebert,
Elizabeth Hatcher, Jamie Pinnell
Hebert, Lindsay Taglieri, Anne
Lewis, Mary Flynn, Michelle Kron,
Melissa Umezaki Long, Samuel
Gilford, Spencer Wong, Jonathan
Lovett, Margaret McDonald and
Elizabeth Remus.
Drew Newman hosted Jamaal
Mobley in DC last spring. He
hopes that Jamaal will join Josh
Earn in moving back to DC.
Drew has been busy writing a
Healthy Schools Act that was
passed unanimously by the DC
legislature and aims to fight
the District’s childhood obesity
epidemic by improving health,
wellness and nutrition in schools.
It was profiled on the front page
of the Washington Post, and the
secretary of agriculture called it a
model for the nation.
Cyndi Wong reports that Marcos
Sahm and his fiancée Jenny
Mashberg came down to visit
Cyndi, Spencer Wong, Brendan
Docherty and Genevieve Sparling
in LA. They had a blast when
Gen, Marcos and Cyndi hit up
Disneyland.
Melanie Beeck graduated from
Melbourne University with a master’s of teaching. She was “absolutely loooving” teaching fifth
grade and was looking forward
to next semester. Rene Hamilton is
teaching English at the Fieldston
School and planned to spend the
summer in Ashville, N.C., starting
his first summer in Middlebury’s
Bread Loaf English master’s.
n 2 0 0 4 –0 5
Last spring, Scott Grinsell ’04 (second from left), a 2009 Yale Law School
grad, celebrated with Eph classmates—and 2010 grads of Yale law—
(from left) Elliot Morrison, Adam Grogg and Alexandra Orme.
Emily Isaacson had a bachelorette party in NYC attended by
Adam Grogg, Jeff Nelson, Ohm
Deshpande, Elliot Morrison, Steve
Seigel and Nicole Eisenman.
They had a great time drinking,
bowling and making fun of Ohm.
Emily felt loved and prepared
to start her married life after all
that beer and fried food. Steve
Seigel has nothing big to report,
oh, except that trip to Equatorial
Guinea. Elliot, Adam and Ali
Orme graduated from Yale Law
School. After July in New Haven
studying for the bar, and bidding
adieu to Ephs Ohm and Sophie
Hood, the newly minted lawyers
are headed to clerkships (Adam in
Billings, Mont.; Ali in Iowa; Elliot
in Miami) after Elliot and Maggie
Popkin ’03 get married in August.
Hannah Harte produced her first
cover shoot for the LA Times
Magazine with Kobe Bryant. He
arrived in a helicopter. She visited
San Francisco to catch up with
Sumana Cooppan and Fern Senior.
Fern was visiting from NYC
before moving to Barcelona for
part of the summer.
Mike Hackett is living in the
North End of Boston, graduated from law school and is
working at Duane Morris as a
full-time lawyer/part-time golfer.
In May he met up with ’04s and
’00s in Newton, Mass., for the
Katie Lynch Heartbreak Hill
Half Marathon & Purple Shoes
Challenge. Katie was Hayden
and Wyeth’s sister, who passed
away in 2002. The proceeds of
the event fund programs that
promote opportunities and respect
for people with disabilities. As
Hackett is not quite in halfmarathon shape, he volunteered,
along with Hayden Lynch and
Andrew Zimmer. John Schneider,
Andrew Maurer, Whitney Hays,
Wyeth Lynch ‘00, Rob Quan ‘00
and Glenn Pritchett ’00 all ran the
half-marathon. Schneider was the
first Eph to cross the finish line.
Dan Giardina graduated from
New York Medical College in
May. He matched in radiology
at Long Island Jewish Medical
Center, New Hyde Park, N.Y., for
his residency. He sent his update
from Sicily, where he spent two
months visiting relatives and
trying to learn Italian. His notes
came late, but we forgave him
because of the time difference.
Alaya Kuntz survived her first year
of teaching freshman composition
relatively unscathed and looks
forward to continuing her PhD
program in English at Arizona
State University in the fall.
Carly Massey is moving from
Boston to Seattle in September
to attend the University of
Washington Foster School of
Business for an MBA. She met up
with Kristen Lacey, Jennifer FossFeig, Nigina Turnbull, Charlette
Steed and Courtney Gordon ’05
for Antoinette Wilson’s May wedding in Fresno, Calif.
Julie Mallory will start medical
school at Columbia in the fall.
Along the interview trail, she
stayed with Meredith (Olson) and
Sean Clifford ’05, Brittany Binet
’05, Joanna (Touger) and Keith
Olsen, and Perry Kalmus ’03. She
received amazing advice from
Meredith, Joanna, Keith, Kathleen
Kiernan and Nick Bamat along the
way. She can’t wait to catch up
with the Williams crew in NYC
next year and has a request for
any ’04 NYC Ephs: please be her
friend, as her classmates will be
22. In May, Nick graduated from
Penn med school and got engaged,
all in the same wonderful
weekend!
After finishing another semester
in India last January, Kristin
Engelbrecht Bleem spent a lovely
and harrowing few months
baking cupcakes in southern
California during the warm
winter of her exploitation. She
and her partner Sarah have since
moved back to Seattle. She has
adopted Marie Antoinette, a
pot-bellied pig that she plans to
butcher next fall.
Alexandra Grashkina got married
to Alexander Hristov. Kamen
Kozarev ’05 introduced them in
March 2008. Kamen could not
attend the wedding because doctoral research keeps him too busy,
but his parents came!
Natalie Bump is continuing her
JD/PhD (with anthropology) at
Northwestern. She’s working on
her dissertation: an ethnography
of the Forest Preserve District
of Cook County. She has fun in
Chicago with her homegirls Eileen
Bevis ’03 and Eliza Myrie ’03. She
and Sarah Iams ’04 had some
beers and reminisced about Odd
Quad living in February.
Nathan Hodas and his wife
Jennifer are proud to announce
that their son, Leo Oken Hodas,
was born Nov. 17, 2009. He’s
growing fast, and they love seeing
him learn about the world. A
future Eph? Class of 2031!
Emily Ludwig is still in DC,
completing a 6- to 12-month
secondment to Save the Children
to help with long-term strategy
development for post-earthquake
Haiti. She was to get married in
August at her family’s farm in
West Virginia and hoped to catch
up with several of the ’04 crowd
then over some moonshine and
bluegrass.
Cortney Tunis wrote most
of these notes because Nicole
Eisenman was busy finishing law
school and getting engaged.
2005
Aron Chang
1432 6th St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
Charles Soha
5415 Connecticut Ave. NW
Apt. 617
[email protected]
secretary Zach McArthur:
Eric Manchester noted how his
reunion weekend ended: “As a
proud five-year Alumni Fund
donator, I was pumped to get a
CL ASS
NOTES
Baxter Brick. JFK security? Less
so. They laughed at me when I
tried to get it through security.
One wise guy asked if I was trying
to build a house slowly. The brick
went in the trash.”
A couple nice tales from
reunion, the first courtesy of
Lindsey Taylor: “My favorite
moment was reuniting with my
freshman year roommate, Sara
Martin, who I hadn’t really talked
to since graduation! We reminisced about our trip to PEI—an
epic 26-hour journey that we
drove in just over a day.”
Matt Kugler bumped into his
thesis advisor, Al Goethals,
whom Matt was sure was at
the University of Richmond
this spring. “It was wonderful
to see him again, and all the
more because it had been so
unexpected.”
For those of you that missed
reunion, I heartily encourage you
to attend in 2015. Highlights of
my weekend included thinking I’d
won an award for class secretary,
only to be beat out by some old
dude who’s written class notes for
32 years, witnessing 1500 Forge
wings get completely demolished
during the US-England World
Cup game, and dancing to Shout!
in the mud-pit that was Greylock
Lawn Saturday night. Kudos to JJ
O’Brien for flawlessly running an
outdoor 60-team Beirut tournament despite intermittent downpours. The victors? The Herbs
(Steve Smith and Lindsey Dwyer)
in a 1-cup thriller over May
Contain Sluts (Dan Lieberman and
Bobby Muhlhausen). The biggest
upset of the tourney was JJ and
Mike Graham beating Kendra
Totman and me in the Elite Eight.
Guess Graham’s numerous mornings of playing 1-on-1 (against
himself) freshman year in East 3
(with two video cameras running
and four mirrors set up to check
his form) finally paid off.
A brief aside for a few of
2005’s favorite memories of our
years in Williamstown. Wendy
Stone: “November 2004: four
teams (field hockey, men’s soccer,
women’s soccer and volleyball)
win NESCAC Championships
on the same day and party in
Perry to celebrate!” Aron Chang:
“That snowball fight freshman
year on Baxter Lawn—everyone
massing out in front of Chapin
and just enjoying the snow and
being ridiculous together.” Tommy
Prairie: “Crawfish Cookout
behind Tyler Annex sophomore
year and Naughty by Nature
coming to campus.” Justin
Brown: “Grading a problem set
that Matt Spencer completed in
CRAYON!” Chuck Soha: “The
WOOLF trips, where if you were
un-ambitious like me and signed
up for beginner you walked for
about 20 minutes and then played
no fewer than 15 hours of Mafia
and also assumed an alliterative
animal alias—how many people
can remember Chuck Cheetah?”
Eric Manchester: “Meeting my
roommate Charlie Giammattei
on our WOOLF trip. … his little
moniker was Chevy Charlie, I
was E-Class Eric.”
I think if Williams housing
had a sense of humor, they
would have made Chelsea Pollen
and Michelle Flowers roommates. Chelsea’s was recruiting
engineers for Google in Boston,
while Michelle prepared to
climb Kilimanjaro this summer.
Chelsea fondly recalls Mafia on
her WOOLF trip, a spontaneous
East 2 frosting fight, the WUFO
Rubik’s Cube party, lilacs in
bloom by the President’s house,
Log lunches, choir trips and outing club hikes. Michelle misses
Gladden 5 (what what!), and her
favorite college activity was “lying
down on Cole Field looking up
at the mountains waiting for field
hockey practice to start. I think it
is one of the most beautiful places
on campus.”
Cole was the site of two other
reminiscences: Both Chris Eaton
and Joyia Yorgey fondly recalled
the Leonid meteor shower our
freshman fall. Chris, who’s going
to Michigan for law school,
stayed up all night with Sage E
before playing Uno at sunrise.
Joyia, now living in England
with husband Brent, slept out
under the stars with the Williams
Christian Fellowship. They
awoke “to a dusting of frost on
top of our sleeping bags and then
trooped into Mission for a hot
breakfast. Perfect!”
The first ’05 to send in an
update via text message?
Amazingly, Ken Brown! “Living
in Burlington, researching participation of forest landowners in
carbon offset markets. Growing
a garden. Seeing lots of concerts.
Fav memory: leading WOC trip
to Carter Notch senior year—
same trip that had made me
excited about club my first year.”
Also growing a garden is Laura
Cavin, who’s combating the
Pacific Northwest climate “along
with starlings, raccoons, and
slugs!” Laura closed out her first
year of architecture school by teleskiing 12 inches of fresh Oregon
powder with Meghan Ahearn.
Robert Hahn spent spring break
with Jonathan Landsman, Gavin
McCormick and Vivian Schoung
’04 in Portland, followed by a
hut-skiing trip in Canada. Robert
was the subject of a favorite Justin
Brown memory from college:
“Filling Robert’s room with 800
balloons while he was away for
winter study.” Wow.
Matt Spencer, who’s moving
to Boston this August, wrote
from a conference on Arithmetic
Dynamics in NYC. He also
checked out the park Jonathan
Landsman takes care of, the
Brooklyn Heights Promenade.
You think Jonathan would appreciate this recent Yelp review of the
park by a young lady? “I strolled
up the promenade tonight, as a
warm breeze wound its way up
the river and a crescent moon
hung low over the skyline. It was
so romantic I nearly dropped
down on one knee and proposed
to myself.” By the way, J-dawg
told me his favorite memory from
Williams was “beating you at
cribbage all the time.” Funny, I
don’t remember him even winning a single game.
Bobby Muhlhausen was tardy
to reunion because he filmed an
episode of “Batter’s Box,” a Red
Sox trivia game show that Friday!
Find him on NESN this summer.
Daniel Narva is kinda a big deal.
Why? “There’s a player named
Daniel Nava that just hit a grand
slam on his first pitch ever for the
Red Sox.” Almost like getting
an A+ in astrophysics freshman
fall. Cough, cough. Dan was the
subject of a favorite Sean O’Brien
memory, from the summer of
2004. Sean and Dan went to
Papa Gino’s for all-you-can-eat
pizza night. “Narva thought he
could eat a lot,” Sean says, “and
as he gets to his ninth piece he’s
struggling. I go up for my next
piece [11th] and put it down in
the time it takes him to finish his
crust!” Sean’s in grad school at
Cornell, hoping to finish within
a year. Susie Theroux finished her
third year at Brown in geology
and “had a blast at reunion, with
a pair of ruined muddy stilettos to
prove it!”
Others in grad school include
Amy Dieckmann at McCombs
Business in Austin (“Hook ’em
Horns!”), Phil Enock at Harvard
psychology (“studying social
anxiety and worry issues via
iPhones”), and Ann Woods at MIT
architecture (“developing new
housing prototypes for Haiti”).
Kate Dineen finished her first
year strong at MIT’s Department
of Urban Studies and Planning,
which earned her the privilege of
n 2005
“bumming around Cambridge
drinking draft beers with the
likes of Z-Mac.” She was to be
in August in Berlin conducting
research at the Environmental
Policy Research Center. Adam
Zamora’s starting a child clinical
PsyD at Yeshiva in NYC. His
favorite memory from Williams
is playing Beirut sophomore year
every Thursday and Friday night
in Armstrong 2 with Kyle Skor,
Adam Kollender, Ryan Belmont,
Matt Barhight, Adriel CepedaDerieux, Steve Moseley, Sabrina
Wirth, Courtney Adkinson and
U2’s Best of the 1980’s Album (on
repeat). Lindsey Taylor finished her
first year at Tuck and is interning
at the Green Mountain Horse
Association. “Business, horses
and Hanover in the summer—it
doesn’t get much better than
this!” Taking a slightly different tack (wait, was that a horse
pun?!) is Hilarie Ashton, writing
her thesis on Edgardo Vega
Yunqué’s novel The Lamentable
Journey of Omaha Bigelow Into
the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle.
Whoa.
John Harris is starting his
residency in ob-gyn at Kentucky,
while Katie Dolbec is starting hers
in emergency medicine at Maine
Medical Center. Trevor Scott’s
starting orthopedic residency in
LA—“where he knows flat out
no one.” One suggestion via
local Eric Manchester: Frequent
a diner called Tokyo 77, where
“you get a breakfast for $3.50
that is worth at least $10.” Trevor
won’t be that lonely, as his old
roommate Boon Fox is arriving
in August to start film school
at UCLA. Amy Shelton’s also
traded coasts; she resides in SF
with her boyfriend Greg a few
blocks from Delores Park, “the
hipster capital of the U.S.” Um,
Amy, my sister lives in the hipster
capital of the U.S., and she lives
in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. No
contest.
Beth Fischer’s working at the
Architectural Heritage Center in
Portland, Ore., and met up with
Willy D entrymates Noah Bell,
Molly Sharlach and Mary Etta Burt
for a Napa weekend. Great news
from Mary Etta: She and Geofre
Schoradt ’06 are engaged! More
engagement news comes via the
other Portland (Maine), where
Will Cary and his new fiancée
Ella live. Will’s working at the
Portland Museum of Art and is
excited to re-acquaint himself
with New England and Jerry
Remy. Grace Tomooka “had an
amazing pre-reunion weekend
celebrating Kate Rutledge’s
wedding.” As Kate eloquently
wrote, “I became a Dr. on May
27 with fiancé Gene Schiappa
then became a Mrs. the next
weekend.” Bridesmaids included
Samantha Goldman and Emily
Joiner and Deborah Hemel,
Margaret Ross and Jackie Hom
’04 also attended. Newlyishweds
Maggie (Gilmore) and Brian Saar
celebrated their first anniversary
by hiking in the White Mountains
and eating a monster Mexican
dinner.
A monster update from Ross
Smith, who’s living in Boston
with girlfriend Sam, working on
a mouse model of autoimmune
heart disease, and was heading to
British Columbia and Norway for
summer orienteering competitions. Ross’s favorite college
experiences included his freshman
WOOLF trip, WOOLF training,
Payson Cushman and Isaac Foster
capturing newt-like creatures in a
Nalgene, cider donuts at the top
of Stony Ledge after bushwhacking his way up, and running
down the Shepard’s Well trail
with the XC team (“by far the
best vista the Purple Valley has to
offer”).
It was great to see Steve Kelleher
at reunion. He did a triathlon in
Utah, which enabled him to meet
up with Zinnia Wilson at Zion
National Park. Sarah Meserve
flew to Pittsburgh to run a halfmarathon with Michelle Flowers.
After their 13.1, they cheered on
Steph Downs-Canner and Chip
Canner ’04, who finished the
whole thing! And it seemed like
Sarah enjoyed our reunion a little
bit: “Seriously, how FUN!”
Those at Goodrich on early
Sunday morning would certainly
comprehend Jeff Delaney’s suggestion to change Martin Kariithi’s
name to “DJ Stop-N-Play” after
Martin’s performance around 1
a.m. Faith Lim’s reunion jibe hit
home personally: “One of my
new favorite memories is you
singing ‘America the Beautiful.’”
Who knew the first word of the
song isn’t ‘America’? Certainly
not me.
Matt Ressenger joined Ashok
Pillai, Zach McArthur, Jennie Lott,
Elissa Klein ’06 and Brendan
Dougherty ’06 in saying goodbye
to Somerville karaoke spot
Razzy’s, which closed at the end
of May. “Brought back memories
of singing sweet tunes at nowshuttered Gringos in North
Adams. I guess my rendition of
the ‘Monster Mash’ sounds the
death knell for any bar in which
it’s heard,” Matty writes. Katie
(Marsh) and Chris Garvin ’03
moved to Arlington, Mass. Katie’s
fondest memories of Williams
include runs on Stone Hill, meals
in Baxter, shopping at Where’d
You Get That and “field trips
to splendid locations such as
Elizabeth’s, Rattlesnake Café and
the Blue Benn.” Those outings
may be a part of everyday life
for Ashley and James Cart, who
relocated back to Williamstown.
James is a stay-at-home dad,
while Ashley works in the Alumni
office. It was cool to see her up on
stage during Saturday’s reunion
festivities.
Jason Davis and Maryl
Gensheimer are sailing the Virgin
Islands with Kevin Kingman and
Abigail Wattley, and touring Spain
and Morocco for a fortnight
this summer. Jane McCamant
spent the past year in Dallas,
where she teaches earth science
and occasionally drinks beer
with Nate Pyeatt. This summer
she sails from Honolulu to San
Francisco with the Sea Education
Association! Jane’s favorite
memory of our years at Williams:
“I have been thinking about Sept.
11, and how my GEOS 105 class
unanimously decided to go on our
planned field trip that afternoon.
We all agreed that continuing to
go about the business of educating ourselves, and especially in
the beauty of a Williamstown
September, was about the
best thing to do in the face of
national tragedy. So, not a good
memory, per se, but a memory
that represents good things about
Williams.”
Barry Fulton’s the director of
Camp Rising Sun, an international leadership camp for teens.
“It is a wonderful program and
an honor to lead.” Barry “returns
to da derrty jerz in the fall.”
Three classmates will be in the
mid-Atlantic region come fall:
Kendra Totman in Baltimore, Sara
Gersen at the Environmental Law
Institute in DC, and Meg Giuliano
in northern Virginia as an environmental consultant focusing on
energy efficiency for commercial
buildings. Meg’s spring sounds
idyllic: She was “bumming
around North Carolina, swimming and kayaking in rivers,
road-tripping to weddings and
visiting lots of friends in New
England.”
I want to thank all of you that
have written in over the past 15
issues. The outpouring of sincere
thank-yous, both via e-mail or in
person, is truly overwhelming. It
is easy to write these notes given
the vibrant stories you provide
every edition. In closing, I wanted
CL ASS
NOTES
to share a most special memory
of Williams. It is a picture of
my mom and me under a birch
tree at the top of Stone Hill, the
backdrop full of brilliant red and
yellow leaves. I don’t remember
the hike itself, though I do know
it was freshman fall, and I think
it was her first visit back to
Williamstown after dropping me
off for first days. Since my mom
passed away about a year ago, the
picture of us standing there is one
of my very favorites of us—we’re
both wearing comfortable gray
sweatshirts, and simple, contented
expressions.
Finally, may I introduce our
class secretaries for the next five
years. Our very own Bonnie
and Clyde, Thing 1 and Thing
2, Lewis and Clark, Abbott and
Costello, Dumb and Dumber,
Beauty and the Beast, Cheech and
Chong, and Salt n Pepa. I present:
Aron Chang and Chuck Soha. We
are in good hands. As Coach
Pohle might say, I’ve reached the
carrot, or the candle at the end of
the rainbow, or whatever. Thanks
again, all.
2006
REUNION JUNE 9-12
Ariel Peters
226 W. Rittenhouse Square
Apt. 1618
Philadelphia, PA 19103
[email protected]
We lost our classmate and dear
friend Aaron Pinsky on Feb. 13.
At the memorial service, Andres
Schabelman recalled that “feeling
of belonging and joy” that all of
us experienced when we were
with him. As Adam Ain noted,
it was his “way of being” that
made him truly special. He went
on to write, “So much of what
I loved about Pinsky was just
hanging out, making stupid jokes
or talking about sports. Most of
my memories are from dissecting
some inconsequential basketball
trade or just laughing for hours
and then looking back and not
remembering what we were talking about to begin with.”
It is impossible to mention his
name without picturing his smile.
It was as if, in Eric Markowsky’s
words, “he could bend light with
his expression.” He also had an
uncanny ability to impersonate just about anyone, and his
impression of Liz Sewell is pretty
much legendary.
His inner strength touched all of
us in the end. Geoff O’Donoghue
observed that, as far as even his
closest friends could tell, Pinsky
never felt sorry for himself. He
endured his illness with dignity
and grace. As Andres put it, “My
overwhelming sadness is overcome by the joy of my time spent
with Pinsky.” We were so lucky to
have him in our lives.
Here’s the latest from Blocho:
In the new west, the cowboys
have traded in their horses for
Cadillacs, but their hard bitten,
edge-of-society ways haven’t
changed. That’s what I learned
when I holed up for the winter
and spring in a dusty stretch
of Texas with a fellow named
Bannon, whose herd was getting
shot out from under him by
the government on account of
some bovine epidemic. Modern
machines, modern diseases, modern society. But what happens
to the pre-modern man and his
ancient land in such a world?
Blake Albohm and Sasha Gsovski
are movin’ on up: They found
a new place, complete with a
garden and a patio. Blake planted
tomatoes before the house was
even unpacked. In March, he and
Sasha joined 150 other DC-area
Ephs to meet President Falk at a
reception on Capitol Hill, where
Senator Mark Udall ’72 made an
appearance, and in April they had
dinner with Paul Lindeman and
Jesse Schenendorf.
Ben and Jaye Locke have also
switched addresses: They recently
moved into an apartment on
Episcopal High School’s campus
in Alexandria, Va. (It has an extra
bedroom; visitors are welcome!)
Ben is taking classes toward a
master’s in applied economics, and Jaye is working in the
admissions office and coaching
field hockey and squash. She was
looking forward to chaperoning
a three-week-long service trip to
Kenya this summer.
Reed and Annie Harrison stayed
with Alex Chan and Stephanie
Vano during a weekend visit to
NYC. They met up with Jessie
Kerr, Andrew Pocius and Laura
Kolesar and braved 50 mph wind
gusts on their trek from Park
Slope to the Brooklyn Bridge.
Emily Vargyas left her post at the
National Cathedral School after
four years of teaching English
to study education policy at
Harvard, and Neal Holtschulte
is starting grad school at the
University of New Mexico in
Albuquerque, going for a PhD in
computer science. A short story of
his was published in Ghostlight
Magazine in June. Rachel Winch
arrived in Tucson, Ariz., “just
in time for the (bleep) to hit the
(bleep).” She was working on
educating others on border and
immigration issues and “trying to
prevent other places from passing similar laws.” Steve Myers
is officially an attorney in New
York—he was sworn in at the end
of March!
Alan Cordova reported that
an alumni team took charge of
the 88th Semi-Annual Williams
Trivia Contest back in May.
David Letzler ran the operation,
Alan and Jonathan Landsman
’05 were behind the mikes,
Stephen Webster ’10 kept WCFM
broadcasting and Brian Hirshman,
Suzanne Walsh ’05, Jon Horn ’07
and Ronit Bhattacharyya ’07
handled the call-in responses.
Alissa Caron e-mailed me from
Bangkok in the midst of the
uprising; she was doing her best
to avoid the hot zones while
seriously contemplating a move
to a different country. She hoped
to be back stateside in August
for a quick visit. More on her
whereabouts next time.
Sarah Hack and Lindsay Thomas
are both at Cornell Law School.
Lindsay was an honors fellow in
one of Sarah’s classes, and Sarah
somehow managed to win the
class legal citation award, despite
Lindsay’s attempts to divest her
of the title. Sarah also mentioned
something about a tall baldy
named Bobert, but I decided not
to pry.
“On Jan. 30, I married my
best friend and love of my life,
Elaine. It was the most perfect
day,” Sam Dreeben wrote. Sara
Beach, Kai Steverson, Evan Miller,
Leah Weintraub, Daniel Rooney,
Brendan Dougherty, Lucy CoxChapman, PJ Bonavitacola, Ari
Schoenholtz ’05, Jacob Eisler ’04
and Allison Davies ’07 all made it
to Kerrville, Texas, to celebrate
with them. Sam is working on his
PhD in clinical psychology at the
University of Louisville, Elaine
is in grad school at Louisville
Presbyterian Theological
Seminary, and John Knox, their
1-year-old puppy, makes the family photo complete.
Yami (Mackenzie) Colette married her fiancé, Joseph, on March
20. The wedding was on Long
Island and Christine Williams,
Christine Rodriguez, Nadria
Gordon and Asha Rhodes ’05 were
bridesmaids. She finished her
LLM in taxation from NYU last
spring and was busy job hunting
and looking forward to attending
more Williams weddings over the
summer.
Finally, in May, over a dozen
n 2 0 0 5 –0 7
Ephs descended on Boston’s
Silvertone Bar & Grill for a night
of “inebri-celebration” in honor
of Tim Pingree and Liza Welsh and
Drew Gottenborg and Emily Welsh
’05. Tim and Liza got engaged
on March 26, and then five days
later Drew proposed to Liza’s
sister Emily while on vacation in
Malaysia. Attendees included Ben
and Jaye Locke, Kent Sands, Chris
Thom, Jess Graham, Chip Gibson,
Blair Coffman, Matt Bilodeau,
Colleen Hession, Sarah Hardin,
Sarah Reinus, Sally Dickerson,
Emily Grannon, Eliza Davison,
Lizzie Reifenheiser, Ned Hole ’05,
Phil Willner ’07, Jake Randall ’07,
Jessie Freeman ’08 and Courtney
Samuelson ’08.
My fingers are numb from
typing all of those names, but
I still give this development an
enthusiastic two thumbs up. Keep
writing, and let the good times
stay.
2007
Diana Davis
Brown University
Math Department, Box 1917
Providence, RI 02912
[email protected]
Greetings from your new class
correspondent! Matt Earle has
stepped down and I (Diana Davis)
have stepped up. Many thanks
to Matt for his three years of
dedicated service.
Another of our class officers,
David Brown, reports that in the
fall he will be heading to Boston
for business school, and he is
excited to reconnect with classmates in the area. Let’s give David
a tour of classmates in Boston:
First, Bill Ference, who made a
huge career shift from technology consulting to something he
is really into: a personal chef
business in Boston! Check out
www.williamference.com. Bill
ran a relay race in Montana with
Stephen Wills, Sean Hyland ’08,
Grant Burgess ’08, Chris Furlong,
Mike Davitian, Colin Carroll, Dan
Center ’01 and Joey (Shapiro)
Key ’01. He reports, “I destroyed
Davitian … though he is still the
greatest ever.” Bill was to spend
August traveling through France,
Spain and Italy. Also in Boston is
Abby Taylor, who is in a post-bac
pre-med program and will be
applying to veterinary schools
in the fall. She is volunteering at
the MSPCA in Boston and at the
New England Aquarium.
Nearby at Boston University,
Amanda LaSane is a part-time
dual master’s degree candidate
in social work and public
health, and she works full time
managing a web-based asthma
referral program with the Boston
Public Health Commission.
Congratulations are in order for
Amanda, who planned to marry
her fiancé in June! In the course
of just one month, she ran into
Stephan Elrington ’09, MarieChristine Andre ’08 and Daniel
MacGregor, who all ambushed
her on a train a week after
Tony Coleman ’10 visited for a
weekend. In the two subsequent
weekends, Lars Ojukwu and
Rafael Frias paid visits. Later the
same month, Amanda ran into
Charles Plaisimond and found out
that they live very close to one
another! Her take on all of this:
“Boston’s too small!”
In nearby Cambridge we find
Katie Baldiga, who finished the
third year of her economics PhD
at Harvard. This summer she
was submitting her first paper
for publication, traveling to Paris
to present it at a conference in
late June and spending a few
weeks traveling in France and
Spain with her boyfriend. Tessa
Kelly will begin her third year at
the Harvard Graduate School of
Design this fall, with Tim Pingree
’06. Outside of classes, she and
Rachel Williams meet for ice cream
dates at Toscanini’s as frequently
as possible. Min Kim is living in
Davis Square in Somerville, Mass.
Min started a job in March as a
risk analyst at Edison Mission
Marketing and Trading in the
financial district in Boston.
In March, Ellen Wilk, Haley
Tone, Christina Perron, Maggie
Lowenstein, Erika Haydu, Karen
Olson and Kate Larabee spent a
weekend in Williamstown. Erika
reports that they “went hiking,
visited Tunnel City, and, of
course, stopped by the Herring.”
From western Massachusetts,
Auyon Mukharji reports: “Things
are going well in the world of
Darlingside. We’ve been gigging
steadily since January and have
been graced with the presence of
innumerable ’07s along the way.
NYC, Boston and our hometown
of Northampton have all been hot
spots for us, and we’re looking
forward to catching many more
friendly faces as we gear up for
our summer tour. Thanks to
everyone for all the support! You
can keep up with us at www.darlingside.com.” When Darlingside
came to Providence, Megan
Bruck and I (Diana) went out
to see them, and the music was
great! Also in Providence, Joanna
Korman finished her first year in
the psychology and cognitive science department at Brown.
Stephanie Dockery has moved
back from Singapore and is
working in Manhattan at the Arts
and Business Council of N.Y., a
nonprofit art advocacy group that
(among other things) pairs art
organizations with companies and
consultants for funding, development and board placements. She
is looking for an apartment and
a roommate! Congratulations
are in order for Ana Correa and
Samantha Williams, who graduated from Columbia Law School
in May along with Evan Hiller ’03
and Adriel Cepeda-Derieux ’05.
Ana planned to take the bar exam
this summer and begin work at
a New York law firm after that.
Ronit Bhattacharyya reports: “In
January, I played Williams Trivia
with Ana Correa and Alan Cordova
’06 and numerous other people,
as part of a multi-state team
known as Le Esponja Grande.
After a grueling, caffeinated night
of answering trivia questions,
identifying songs and shooting
a thrilling short film, we beat all
other competitors and emerged
as Williams Trivia Champions.”
Ronit was to host the “next
edition of Williams Trivia on the
night of May 14-15.”
Brandi Brown visited NYC for
a week in February and saw
Andrew Goldston ’09. They
met up with Ronit, which was
Brandi’s first time meeting him in
person after knowing him for a
long time via his online persona,
and with Tim Nolen over burgers.
The trio also had drinks with Ana
Correa and her boyfriend and
sampled a bacon waffle from the
Waffle Truck. They got to meet
comedian/actor Jordan Carlos
and saw him perform, and Jordan
let Brandi do a guest stand-up!
David Edwards ’09 attended a
show at which Brandi performed,
and then they all went out with
some non-Ephs. She also made
time for fish and chips with her
entrymate Crystal Wei ’04 and
Crystal’s boyfriend and was
able to meet up with Claudene
Marshall ’03 and Estelita Boateng
’04, whom she hadn’t seen for
eight years. Brandi thanks everyone for a great time and hopes to
return soon to see everyone she
missed on this trip.
Lauren Moscoe moved back
home to Rochester, N.Y., when
she came back from Guatemala
in November. This fall she will
move to Madison, Wis., to
begin graduate school in botany.
Also planning to begin graduate school is fellow Peace Corps
CL ASS
NOTES
alumna Sara Jablonski, who will
be enrolling at Michigan State
in the fall in an “uber-interdisciplinary master’s degree program
called Community, Agriculture,
Recreation and Resource
Studies.” Her focus will be on
international agricultural development. Sara claims that the closest
Eph in the area will be Ananda
Burra, but she should know that
Laura Ellison is also in nearby Ann
Arbor. Laura reports that Diana
Davis visited her there in April
while attending a math conference, and they had sushi and went
for a run together.
Further west, the highlight of
Jess (Phillips) Silverstein’s spring
was a trip to Seattle with her
husband Mike Silverstein ’05
to see a show produced by the
Satori Group, a theater company
founded by several ’07s after
graduation. They saw Winky,
adapted by Spike Friedman
and directed by Caitlin Sullivan.
Additional Satori Group members
Alex Matthews, Lauren Hester,
Andrew Lazarow and Greta
Wilson all had various artistic and
administrative jobs on this show.
They also enjoyed the company of
“the wonderful Martha Williamson
’77,” who came from California
to see the show. Jess reports: “We
started off with a raucous karaoke party (they assured me that
every night in Seattle is just as
wild and crazy), and they showed
my husband and me the sights
with flair.”
Now let’s go to Chicago! Conor
Quinn is still working for Teach
for America Chicago, where he is
managing the high school math
cohort. Next year, this cohort
will include Caleb Balderston ’10,
who will teach at Austin Business
and Entrepreneurship Academy
on Chicago’s far west side. Dan
Binder visited Chicago, where
he “crashed at Dave Brown’s
place, although he wasn’t there
(yes, he did know I was staying
there).” He tried to visit Aashish
Adhikari while in Chicago but
was unsuccessful. Dan has been
working and narrowing down his
options for law school. Michael
Fairhurst was to visit Dan on the
way to his brother’s graduation
from Amherst. He finished his
first year at Berkeley School of
Law and had a summer internship at the First Amendment
Foundation in Tallahassee. When
work permits, he tries to see Matt
Kane, Alison Koppe and Mike
Davitian and to generally enjoy
the Bay Area’s abundant outdoor
and food-related opportunities.
Matt reports that life is good in
From left, (front) Colin Carroll ’07, Chris Furlong ’07, Grant Burgess ’08,
Joey (Shapiro) Key ’01, (back), Mike Davitian ’07, Dan Center ’01, Bill
Ference ’07 and Brendan Christian ’09; competed in a relay race in
Montana last spring.
San Francisco, where he works
at Google in nearby Mountain
View. He visited Boston briefly
to run the Boston Marathon
and hung out with Bill Ference,
Chris Furlong, Sean Hyland and
Grant Burgess. Matt says he saw
Tyler Gray during the race, but it
must have been a quick glimpse
because Matt was running fast!
Matt ran 2:37 for the marathon,
and classmate Krista Suojanen ran
3:31, raising money for a charity;
both of these times qualify them
to run Boston again next year!
Matt was looking forward to
a “Brew Ha Ha” party held by
Mike Davitian, featuring some of
Davitian’s home-brewed Brown
Ale. John Chatlos was also on
hand for the Boston Marathon,
where, along with Meghan
Stetson, Matt Allen ’08 and Jason
Kohn ’08, he cheered for Jen Bees
’08 (who ran 4:32). In the fall,
John will begin work at the PhD
program in mathematics at the
University of Texas-Austin, about
which he is very excited. Further
along in her PhD program is
Emily Bruce, who plans to be ABD
(all but dissertation) in history at
the University of Minnesota by
the time these notes come out.
She has turned in a dissertation
prospectus and written about 150
(!) pages of exams. In August,
Emily will be doing research in
Paris, and September will find
her in Braunschweig, Germany,
near Berlin. She would love to see
anyone who is in Europe then!
Perhaps Emily should make
a side trip to Spain: After living
in San Francisco for nearly two
years, Juliet Markis will be moving
back to Spain to get a master’s
in bilingual and multicultural
education at the Univeridad
de Alcala de Henares, outside
of Madrid. She visited Jennie
Levitt and Steph Reist ’09 in
Aspen, Colo.; Katy Wilks in Santa
Cruz; and saw Emily Peinert
’06 and Joanna Westrich ’06 in
San Francisco. In other international news, Tucker Sawin and
Zack Brewer visited Jack Nelson
in his adopted hometown of
Oslo, Norway, in March. Along
with thousands of costumed
Norwegians, the trio camped
overnight on the grounds of the
Holmenkollen World Cup 50K
nordic ski race, Norway’s biggest annual sporting event. The
spirited trailside tailgate scene
reminded the boys of Williams
homecoming weekends. Skiing
back to Jack’s place post-race, the
trip was complete when Tucker
encountered a rare snow pony.
Let’s hope you read this far,
because I’ve saved the best
news for last: Anne Smith
and Young Hahn are engaged!
Congratulations to both of them.
2008
Julie Van Deusen
61 Brighton Ave., Apt. 2
Allston, MA 02134
[email protected]
It’s a toss-up whether the theme
for this edition of Class Notes
should be grad school or running,
since it seems like almost everyone is getting involved in one,
the other, or both. And when our
class isn’t busy hitting the books
or the pavement, we’re off traveling the world, exploring new
cities, volunteering and hanging
out with other Ephs. We’ll start
n 2 0 0 7 –0 8
by celebrating our newest group
of masters and then see where we
go from there.
Scott Hertrick finished up his
master’s degree in education at
Harvard in May. Next year he
will be teaching eighth and ninth
grade English in Tampa, FL. Kate
Nolfi completed her master’s thesis
in philosophy and is staying in
Chapel Hill for a few more years
to work on her PhD. Christina
Lee finished her biology master’s
thesis and graduated this summer.
She’s been hanging out with
Louisa Hong, Hanna Na and Nisi
Zhang in NYC. In May, Louisa
and Christina went to Boston
(Cambridge) to see Hannah Wong.
As a reward to herself for making
it through grad school, Christina’s
spending the summer relaxing on
the coast of Maine with Logan
Gerrity ’09. After studying in
Oxford for a master’s in criminology, Julia Kropp is now starting
law school at Stanford as part of
the Class of 2013.
Now that we’re on to law
school, Rachael Konecky finished
her first year at the University
of Washington and is working
for the King County prosecuting attorney this summer. Trevor
Newman completed his first
year at Pepperdine School of
Law and is working in Tel Aviv,
Israel, this summer in the legal
department of the Israel Union
for Environmental Defense. This
fall, he plans to be studying in
South Kensington, England, at
Pepperdine Law School’s London
campus and returning to the
Malibu campus in the spring.
Also in England, Sarah Fink is
in Cambridge partway through
her PhD in chemistry, synthesizing
experimental cancer drugs. She
and Ben Rudick are happily celebrating their recent engagement.
They haven’t set a wedding date
yet but are having an engagement
party out on Long Island—Ephs
welcome! For the last year and a
half, Ben has been working for
Bill Schoenfeld ’87, running his
philanthropic and social investing
work. Their primary focus is
“social enterprise”—using forprofit models (businesses, investments, etc.) to solve the world’s
biggest social and environmental
problems. Ben is based in Hong
Kong, though he effectively lives
on airplanes.
Caitlin O’Connell completed
her first year of grad school in
Madison, where she’s pursuing a
master’s degree in civil engineering (specifically water resources
engineering) at the University of
Wisconsin. She likes using her
math major in new ways and
solving really tangible problems.
She also loves the beautiful and
bike-friendly little city—it’s a little
too far from most of her Williams
friends, but she does see Julie
Wyman sometimes in Milwaukee,
and she swung through Evanston
for a weekend to see Michal
Crowder and check out Morty’s
new stomping grounds at
Northwestern.
In July, Erin Brown left her job
in international development in
DC to spend the summer at home
in California before moving to
Chicago to pursue a master’s in
public policy at the Harris School
at the University of Chicago.
She’s planning to concentrate in
nonprofit management. Being
in Chicago means that she’ll get
to hang out with Katie Quinn at
her sweet rooftop pool. Over the
summer, Erin and Constantine
Mavroudis took a trip to Budapest
and Croatia. On the return leg,
Erin stopped in Boston to see
Emily Siegel, Alex Brooks, Liz
Pierce and Kim Shampain, who
made the trek up from Florida
(where she’s in med school) to
visit. Alexandra Letvin finished her
first year of the PhD program in
art history at Johns Hopkins. She
loves the program and Baltimore
and is spending the summer in
Berlin doing research and studying German.
This fall, Ariel Heyman is moving to the San Francisco Bay Area
to start a teaching credential/
master’s program at Mills College
in Oakland. Sunmi Yang is moving
down to DC to start a master’s
program at Georgetown. She
has enjoyed living in “Hatherly
College” with Anna Weber and
Becca Gifford, and, of course,
Charlie the bird. She became certified as an EMT last fall but can’t
actually work on ambulances
until she gets a driver’s license;
however, she does get to volunteer
in more exciting capacities at
events like the Boston Marathon,
where she worked in the finish
area with Erika Williams.
Jesse Levitt left the Hill School
to join Myron Minn-Thu-Aye ’07
at LSU to start his master’s in
mathematics. In late May, Jesse
got a visit from Peter Nunns after
Peter spent some time out in
Chicago with Anne Royston and
Raff Donelson ’09 Peter finished
up his winter working for the
New Zealand Government and
returned to the States but planned
on returning down under for his
master’s this summer. Peter also
spent a night in NYC catching
up with former entrymate Andy
Whinery ’09, and Jesse and Peter
both went out to Philly for a
weekend to meet up with Sesh
Sundararaman for drinks after his
hospital OB-GYN rotation.
Halley Smith is finishing her
post-bac at Columbia and has
even published some papers. Taryn
Rathbone completed her second
year of vet school at Cornell and
is well on her way to becoming
an equine vet. When not in class,
she’s been training for/competing
at endurance horseback riding.
In May, she completed her first
50-mile ride, coming in sixth!
Matthew McClure took his step
I med school exam (one of three
steps en route to becoming a
practicing physician) and began
his third year of med school at
the University of Pittsburgh. He’s
looking forward to working with
patients but is a little bit worried about the long hours. Rose
Thaisrivongs finished her first year
of med school at the University
of Missouri-Columbia and, after
that, headed off for a two-week
medical mission trip in Tecolutla,
Mexico. Angela Crudele completed her first year of medical
school at Jefferson and will soon
be joined by Gordon Crabtree
(who quit his job in Boston in
June to move to Philly) and Katya
Prakash, who were both accepted
to Jefferson med school. Angela
is spending the summer traveling
in Australia and New Zealand
before heading back to Philly for
her second year. And Gordon’s
summer is planned to be relaxing!
Eric Ballon-Landa is also headed
to med school at the end of the
summer. UC Irvine is the one.
He’s thrilled to be the closest to
his family that he’s been since
high school (only an hour away
by car) but sad to be far from his
Williams friends, who unsurprisingly seem to be congregated
around the New York/Boston
area.
Eric and Angela have offered
me the perfect transition on to
running. Over the first weekend
in May, Angela, Katie Quayle and
Becky Nourse all ran the New
Jersey Marathon, while Natashia
Kadimik and Nisi Zhang ran the
Long Branch Half Marathon
(part of the same race) in record
90-degree weather. They reported
that it was great to see each
other and fun to run along the
Jersey Shore, but the heat was a
killer! Also in May, Eric, Whitney
Livermore and Meghan O’Malley
’07 participated in the Bay to
Breakers “race” in San Francisco.
(Eric says the quotes around
“race” are necessary because
CL ASS
NOTES
technically it’s a race, but really
it’s a big street/costume party/
parade/extravaganza). A major
part of the event is dressing up
in costume with your friends,
so, for lack of any planning or
other options, Meghan, Whitney
and Eric pillaged their Williams
clothing/gear/schwag and nearly
overdosed on purple and yellow.
They got a lot of comments
from passersby, mostly along
the lines of, “Ohh Williams in
Massachusetts! My husband’s
brother went there!” Though
Eric says the best comment
came from a rowdy group on a
balcony, who screamed down,
“Thatcher Heumann ’09!! Do
you know him??!!” “YEESSS!!”
“COOOOLL!!”
Eugene Berson participated
in a 200-mile relay race called
Ragnar from Ventura to Dana
Point in Southern California.
This involved getting a dozen
friends together to run the course
over 36 legs, with each person
running three times, sometimes
in the middle of the night. Their
team got to the finish in about
28 hours. At the end of July,
Eugene planned to participate in
a similar event in Montana with a
bunch of guys from the Williams
cross-country team. While there,
he hoped to visit Nic Miragliulo,
who is working in Helena, Mont.,
through Americore.
Anne Peckham, Jen Bees, Taryn
Pritchard, Grant Burgess, Meghan
Stetson ’07, Allison Holmes ’07
and I (along with a few others)
are running (and will hopefully
have successfully completed by
the time you read this) a very
similar 200-mile relay across the
state of Massachusetts in mid-July
to raise money for The Jimmy
Fund/Dana Farber. It starts at
the top of Mount Greylock and
finishes in Boston. We’d been
searching around for a fun race to
do together, and when we came
across this one, it just seemed too
perfect to resist.
In the spring, Eugene Korsunskiy
managed to finish a Half-Ironman
triathlon (in one piece)! He
finished in 5 hours and 44 minutes, and for about three hours
afterward he felt like he got hit by
a truck. Eventually that wore off
and a sense of accomplishment set
it. In late May, he set off to bike
across the country (Charleston,
S.C., to Santa Cruz, Calif., 4,100
miles) to build homes for lowincome families, on a ride called
Bike and Build. (Track his progress at www.bikeandbuild.org.)
He is very much expecting to
have the best summer of his life.
And then in the fall, he will be
starting grad school at Stanford,
working on his MFA in design.
And on to travel, Katherine
Huang had an awesome trip to
Paris and Geneva in April, which
was made especially memorable
by the volcanic ash clouds causing several canceled flights and
a three-day unexpected stint in
Madrid. In June, she moved to
Hong Kong for a new role as a
strategy consultant at Roland
Berger.
Angie Blanchard-Manning is
PUMPED about life lately …
her mentoring program for
teens is continuing to grow since
she started it up two years ago.
She headed out to NYC to visit
Megan Brankley toward the end
of May and then went down
to Austin to a conference on
Forum Theater (aka theater of
the oppressed). After that, she
traveled to Germany with her
mother to visit her sister, who
will be returning from service in
Afghanistan.
And a handful of our classmates are coming home after
their two-year service in the
Peace Corps. After finishing his
assignment in July, Jarrad Wood
returned to the States, where he’ll
be until September. In October,
he’ll be starting a new job teaching English in Lille, France, and
he’s looking forward to seeing
as many people as he can! Chris
Beeler is still living in the jungles
of Ecuador, where he is either very
hot or very wet. He’ll be returning
home at the end of the summer
and should have a bunch of free
time to catch up with friends and
fellow Ephs. Samra Brouk is still
in Guatemala, trying to teach
elementary kids the importance
of healthy habits. She’ll be done
early next year and is definitely
trying to live it up while she’s still
there. Jared Oubre and Dan Golub
summit-ed the Caribbean’s tallest
mountain, Pico Duarte with Dan’s
parents in June. Their Dominican
Republic Peace Corps work is
mixed in with cliff diving, mango
eating and garden planting (note
all activities are done with kids
making them extra vibrant and
sometimes crazy). They didn’t
mention when they’d be coming
back stateside, but from the
sound of it, it doesn’t seem like
they’re in any rush!
Jessica Rosten’s most exciting
news is that she just purchased
her first car! The whole process
was very overwhelming, but in
the end so worth it. Her summer
has been very busy, but fulfilling. She spent four weeks in
Philadelphia with family friends,
Steve Piltch ’77 and Matt Piltch
’12, while attending a seminar on
the Abolitionist Movement. She
followed that with a road-trip
throughout the eastern United
States (in her new car!), then went
on to see family in Puerto Rico
and finally to Martha’s Vineyard
to meet up with many other
’08 Ephs at Eve Woodin’s house.
Nicolette Savageau moved to
Ashland, Mass., in the spring and
has been busy helping plan her
sister’s wedding in August. She’s
teaching at Ashland High School
and coaching basketball, lacrosse
and tennis! Her summer plans
included taking nursing classes
and joining in on the Vineyard
outing at Eve’s.
Sean McKenzie continues to do
his part to help keep the wonderful city of Eugene weird and to
establish The People’s Republic
of Cascadia. Eric Zaccarelli is still
living in Union Square with Tom
Sargeantson, Ryan Karolak and
John Shipes and has been keeping
himself busy playing beach volleyball at The Oasis.
Greg Schultz is continuing to
enjoy life in Boston. In May, he,
Steve Bruch and Jeff Lyon visited
Charles Christianson (who’s living
as a hippie in northern Vermont
coaching the Hazen High track
and field team while he heals
from his latest ski injury) for
“Weekend of Man.” They went
on a six-mile canoe trip, cooked
a very organic Vermont dinner
and went to a gun range only to
find out that you need to pay $35
for an annual membership. So no
shooting for the boys, but they
did build a large fire and enjoyed
the many bugs that bit them in
the fresh Vermont air. Greg also
bought a new bed and a hammock from L.L. Bean and deems
it an “awesome investment” that
he highly recommends.
Zoe Fonseca finished up her two
years of Teach for America in the
South Bronx but has decided she
wants to continue teaching. She’ll
be moving to the Bronx Success
Academy 1, a charter school
starting this year. She’s also toying
around with the idea of starting a
fair trade/recycled/organic/handmade goods store with her father
and hoping she’ll have more to
say about that in the next round
of Class Notes.
That wraps us up, and, yet
again, I’ve hit my word limit.
Thanks for keeping me updated
(and for having such interesting
and noteworthy things to share). I
look forward to hearing from you
again soon!
n 2 0 0 8 –0 9
2009
Mijon Zulu
19 Bridge Lane
Haverstraw, NY 10927
[email protected]
Take a second, breathe, then
pat yourself on the back for
having made it this far. Your first
post-college summer is here, and
you know what that means. You
have either a couple of weddings on your planner, you have
recently heard a tearjerker about
someone’s engagement, or both.
Whatever you do, do not despair
if your finger is bare. You have
time and youth ahead of you.
Instead, sit back and take a peak
at the lives of the people who will
think of you as young and fun
forever.
While time lies ahead, that has
not stopped the people with a
plan from changing their future
education status from prospective
to imminent. In this fashion, we
too must look into the future and
note experts to call when in need
of sound advice.
For medical knowledge, call
Keith Butts, Caroline Kan and Jared
Lunkenheimer. Mr. Butts will soon
begin a post-bac pre-med program at John Hopkins, while the
remaining two are now members
of the University of Rochester
School of Medicine Class of
2014. For math and science,
refer to Dave Kleinschmidt, Nick
Colella, Nico Aiello and Natalia
Gonzales. Accompanied by Ruth
Arnoff, Mr. Kleinschmidt will also
take residence at the University of
Rochester for his PhD in cognitive
science. Elsewhere, Mr. Colella
and Mr. Aiello will attain UMass
Amherst PhDs in polymer science
and math, respectively, while Ms.
Gonzales will go to U Chicago
for a PhD in human genetics. For
the Arts, write to Shyla Foster and
Lisa Sloan. Ms. Foster is a year
into her Cornell PhD in English,
while Ms. Sloan starts her UCLA
PhD in theater and performance
studies this fall. Finally, Galen
Jackson, Clark Flynt, Liz Goggins,
Dubbs Mullen, Fiona Worcester
and Kristan McIntosh will cover
the social sciences and teaching.
Mr. Jackson completed a one-year
master’s at U Chicago and will go
to UCLA for a PhD in political
science, while Mr. Flynt will start
a master’s in international affairs
from GWU. Ms. Goggins and
Ms. Mullen are a year into their
master’s in teaching, and Ms.
Worcester will begin hers this
year. Finally, Ms. McIntosh will
soon live with Amanda Nicholson
in NYC while getting her MSW
from Columbia. Congratulations
to all of you!
Now, can you hear the echoes
of the herd? That means it’s time
to note the whereabouts and
activities of our globe trotting
Ephs.
In the East, both Brian Bistolfo
and Macklin Chaffee said farewell
to New Zealand and traipsed
off to new ventures. Mr. Bistolfo
will continue to think of life in
purple and gold as he studies vin
and wein in France and Germany.
Mr. Chaffee returned to America
wearing a silver medal and now
divides his time between web
design (http://www.goldenorbventure.com) and training for the
2012 Olympics. Still down under,
Thatcher Heumann is surfing and
working in Australia. To the
North, a year of teaching English
in China ended; Hannah Baker
now hopes to move to California,
and Stacey Baradit will work for
a marketing research company
in Shanghai. Scott Tamura, Emily
Smith and Jim Whitledge continue
to enjoy the sushi in Japan and
Mr. Tamura would like to send an
open invite for sake to Ephs passing through the neighborhood.
In Africa, Camille Bevans
is volunteering for the Peace
Corps while Ryan Powell and
Ben Horwitz live and work at the
American School of Las Palmas
in the Canary Islands. Nearby,
Stella Onochie spent six months in
Nigeria through her Hutchinson
fellowship before moving to Block
Island, R.I., to practice writing for
an MFA as she house sits for the
Park professors. Leaving Africa,
Kat Conaway finished teaching
math in Morocco and will be
a summer sports counselor in
Switzerland before moving to
Bulgaria to teach Biology at the
American College of Sofia.
Speaking of Europe, Aroop
Mukharji will finish working as
a junior fellow at the Carnegie
Endowment for International
Peace so that he can make a
videoblog of his singing and
traveling through Europe with
musicians Auyon Mukharji ’07,
Daniel Yudkin ’08 and David Senft
’07. Hopefully, Mr. Mukharji
will learn from the boldness of
Helen Hatch and Jess Kopcho,
who answered Allison Prevatt’s
call for company in Prague. Both
visitors ran a marathon before
Ms. Hatch’s travels also saw her
nibbling baguettes with Claire
Rindlaub and Bibi Metsch-Garcia
in Paris. Ms. Hatch returned to
Cambridge to finish her courses
and prepare to intern at the Met
this summer. With Ms. Hatch,
Ms. Metsch-Garcia will return
to NYC and, unfortunately, miss
Cary Choy’s arrival in Reims,
France, where he will teach for
the next year. Thus, it is up to Mr.
Choy to be proactive while on his
new continent. Perhaps he will
visit Jonathan Earle in Moscow,
where Mr. Earle just finished
a year teaching English and
American studies and recently
began copy editing for The
Moscow Times.
In Middle East, Molly Hunter
will summer in Damascus and
learn Arabic. Ms. Hunter continues as the full-time director of
Reclaim Childhood, a nonprofit
that empowers Iraqi women and
girl children who are refugees in
Jordan.
Finally, in South America,
Natalia Rey de Castro is finishing
a year at Liberty and Democracy,
a consulting firm for developing
countries around the world, and
is still finding time to run for fun.
Hopefully, Ms. Rey de Castro
will run into Matt Felser when he
leads an Overland trip to Peru
this summer. Mr. Felser, sadly, will
be too late to tag along with Elissa
Brown’s South American journeys.
Ms. Brown happily reported having traveled through Guatemala
with Avalon Gulley—learning how
to weave and make chocolate.
Ms. Brown is now teaching environmental science in the Namib
Desert, while Ms. Gulley is integrating special needs adults into a
sustainable community Copake,
N.Y., through Americorps.
Phew! Keep it going, trotters.
As we turn to America, we shall
mirror the day and start in the
East.
People in Boston should note
that speed demon turned finance
guru Deividas Seferis and future
doctor Stew Buck are roomies in
Boston. Hopefully they will catch
a Red Sox game with roomies
Katie Grace and Eric Jonash. Ms.
Grace has been thoroughly enjoying her research at the Harvard
Kennedy School, but, little does
she know, she may start running
into relocated Eph Rachel Asher.
Ms. Asher will teach at Phillips
Andover Academy but promises
to frequent Cambridge to visit
neighbors, Sean Hyland ’07 and
Julie McNamara. Meanwhile,
funnily, Emily Chu will teach at
Phillips Exeter Academy and,
subsequently, become Ms. Asher’s
rival. Feel free to place your bets.
To the north, baking apprentice
Miriam Foster is learning the entire
Berkshire Bake Shop repertoire
and loving life with Grayson in a
CL ASS
n 2 0 0 9 –1 0
NOTES
converted 18th century farmhouse, while Victoria Williams
has put her Women’s and gender
studies degree to work as a community educator on domestic
violence in Maine. To the South
and in the Connecticut, Noemi
Fernandez will move from Maine
to teach at a day school in New
Canaan, while Alex Hoerman
continues teaching math at Avon
Old Farms School.
In city that never sleeps, Cam
Henry placed second in the Street
Squash Cup with teammates Tony
Maruca ’08, Tyler Kyle ’07 and
Nick Phillips ’94. Mr. Henry now
commutes to Connecticut while
blogging on www.flashlightsandexplosions.tumblr.com. Rob
Buesing, also feeling active, now
works off his Barclays-bankingsteam by playing in basketball
league. Kelly Smith just began
diabetes research at Columbia
University’s Medical Center.
Hopefully, Ms. Smith will find
time to enjoy Magnolias with
Naya-Joi Martin, who works in
the development office of her
high school, or Alicia Santiago,
who will soon begin her first
year as a NYC Urban Teaching
Fellow. Downtown, Nichole
Beiner and Robin Kuntz are close
to a year at the criminal division
of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and
recently welcomed Andres Lopez
to their civil division. The month
of May brought Tim Ryan and
Jeremy Goldstein’s birthdays and
lots of Ephs to NYC. Festivities
were attended by Quinn Sievers,
Denise Duquette, Courtney Asher
and Emily Gray from Boston,
Ben Bodurian from DC and New
Yorkers Ali Barrett, Lauren E.
Finn, Dan Meyer ’08, Ben Bullitt
’08, Matt Neuber ’08 and Gary
Simonette ’08.
Moving down the East Coast,
Lindsay Millert loves life in synthetic fabrics at Under Armour
in Baltimore and recently hit the
Preakness with Christine Cohen.
Down a little farther, Alex Hoff is
working at the National Institute
of Mental Health in DC and, at
the very bottom, Jacob Cerny is
educating the next generation
by teaching eighth grade math
in Miramar, Fla. Mr. Cerny also
recently became a South Florida
sports radio announcer. Does that
mean that TV is next?
The Midwest is still home to
Sarah Hill, who completed her first
marathon. Ms. Hill was joined
by Kelly Kirkpatrick and her sister
Katy ’12 who ran half-marathons,
but the big surprise comes Cale
Weatherly, who also completed a
half-marathon. Who knew that
From left, 2009 classmates Ali Tozier, Denise Duquette, Pei-Ru Ko and
Ryan Jane Jacoby enjoyed Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park last spring.
Cincinnati’s Flying Pig marathon
was so popular? Nearby, Rahul
Bahl is still working for GE in
Louisville, Ky., but will be moving
every sixth months to Cleveland,
Miami or North Carolina. Ted—
not “Henry”—Kernan—is now in
Texas and works for ExxonMobil
in Houston. Mr. Kernan is curious
to see if he has Eph neighbors. In
the Bay Area, Emily Olsen is also
curious but has enjoyed working
at a high school in Sierra Foothills
and was to summer at a farm
camp committed to social and
environmental justice. In Tahoe,
Matt Felser and Grant Meyer
hosted an epic Eph ski-break at
Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Ephs
the likes of Kevin Coombs, Molly
Hunter, Keith Butts, Lauren Garcia,
Natalia Arango and Francisco
Bisono came from all directions
for some serious long-john fun.
Highlights include winter sports,
creative kitchen acrobatics and
traditional Eph merriment. Also
having a minireunion RJ Jacoby,
Rachel Ko, Ali Tozier and Denise
Duquette went on an epic West
Coast road. Sadly, their trip did
not take them to see Owen Martel
in Seattle, where he has been
shooting videos for a sustainability nonprofit.
Sadly, I must conclude what has
been the longest ’09 class notes
ever. Thank you to all those who
keep submitting. Thank you to
all the first-time submitters. But
before the goodbye, I would be
remiss to not mention—or gush—
over the recent ’09 weddings and
engagements. Love, it seems, is all
around the Williams campus.
The mountains inspire greatness. This is an idea known to
Steve Van Wert, who proposed
to Lauren Philbrook on the top
of Stone Hill. Then, of course,
there is the campus. This June,
Shawn Woo will say I do to
Hanna Park, Lady Jeff ’08. Mr.
Woo’s groomsmen consist of
Carl Vos, Matt Mascioli (Lord
Jeff ’07), Cale Weatherly, Daniel
Hong, Jimi Oke ’10 and Desire
Gijima ’10. Described by Shawn
as a Williams wedding, it will be
attended by Anastasia Brathwaite,
James Jin “JJ” Chung, Kimberly
Elicker, Stefan Elrington, Christina
“Teia” Fanciullo, Jeong Hyo, “Kay”
Kim, Madelyn Labella, Annie Liang,
Caitlin McGugan, Elizabeth Jun,
Aroop Mukharji and Sarah Stone.
The couple plan to be married in Thompson Chapel, and
Darlingside, save Sam Kapala, will
play at the reception, and Ms.
McGugan will make the cake.
Whether your future ceremonies
will be connected to Williams or
not, one cannot help but smile at
the thought so many celebrating
two people finding each other,
trusting each other, and choosing
to walk through life together.
Give a toast to the happy couples
and to everyone and their endeavors some time soon.
Till the next,
Your Class Secretary.
2010
Ethan Timmins-Schiffman
2004 North Van Buren St.
Wilmington, DE 19802
[email protected]
W e d di ng
a l bu m
All dates 2009 unless noted
01 Kallus ’03 • Galbraith:
Aug. 8, Petoskey, Mich.
All ’03 unless noted, left to right: John
Vance ’02, Caroline (Norton) Vance, Heather
Poole, Kathryn Doherty, Kenneth Galbraith
(groom), Heather Kallus, Amy (Sanders)
O’Rourke, Nukte Tuncok, Chrissy (Holland)
Wooliver
01
01
02
02
02 Forcier • Murphy ’85:
Sept. 26, Weston, Mass.
All ’85 unless noted, left to right: Brian Kilcoyne,
Susan Knapp McClements, Bill McClements,
Sandra Forcier (bride), Kelley Murphy, Floyd
Short, Sarah Keohane Williamson ’84
03 Saltonstall ’97 • Goldstyn:
Sept. 26, Chestnut Hill, Mass.
All ’97 unless noted, left to right: (front) Sarah
Humphreys, Holly Grace, Debbie Goldstein,
Mary (Booth) Dwight, Carrie Elson Philpott, Gigi
Saltonstall, Jean-François Goldstyn (groom),
Sandra Jelin Plouffe, Kris Kahn; (back) Greg
Forbes, Pattie (Koontz) Turrettini, Griz
Dwight ’96, Joel Goldstein ’62, Westy
Saltonstall ’65, Chandler (Dewing) Fritz, Amy
Saltonstall Isaac ’94, Steve Ginsberg ’95
04 Tejada ’89 • Tournoy:
Sept. 19, Chambolle-Musigny, France
All ’89 unless noted, left to right: Jennifer
Garrett, Leslie Jeffs Senke, Patrick Tournoy
(groom), Maria Teresa Tejada, Patty Koo Bassett,
David Bassett ’87
03
03
Williams People publishes
photographs of weddings,
commitment ceremonies and civil
unions. Photos must be received
within six months of the ceremony
and may not be altered digitally.
04
04
W e d di ng
a l bu m
05 Tramontozzi • Porcelli ’03:
Sept. 26, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
All ’03 unless noted, left to right: (front) Lisa
Schulman, Jennifer Tramontozzi (bride), Jason
Porcelli, Kate DeLuca, Vern Bond; (back) Will
Karczewski, Will Sicks, Matt Casey, Rob Sica,
Sumant Bhat, David Sands, Sam Jennings (nonalumnus), Todd Garbatini, Catherine O’Donnell
06 Crocker ’06 • Vachon ’06:
Aug. 15, Gray, Maine
All ’06 unless noted, left to right: Avery Briggs,
Carolyn Reuman, Erin Blanchard, Jen Vorse ’04,
Matt Wilka, Emily Russell-Roy, Travis Vachon,
Ellen Crocker, Christine Hunt, Kate Majzoub,
Sally Lambert ’08, Owen Westbrook, Will Wetzel
05
05
07 Edwards ’96 • Gustafson:
May 17, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
All ’96 unless noted, left to right: Kristin
Hem ’97, Kristin Edwards, William Gustafson
(groom), Jennifer Stoner, Pete Traube
08 Davis ’98 • Stahl:
July 25, Bridgehampton, N.Y.
All ’98 unless noted, left to right: (front) Laura
Davis, H. James Stahl (groom); (back) Anne
(Nickel) Curtin ’72, Abby Ramsden, Danielle
Bahr Eason, Carl Davis ’62, Blake Davis ’92,
Sarah Roth, Beth Lambert, Mary Frekko Kilavos,
Christie McGovern Hussa, Connie (Cocroft)
Brown ’96
06
06
07
07
08
08
09 Norton ’03 • Vance ’02:
Sept. 19, Washington, D.C.
All ’02 unless noted, left to right: (front) Conan
Leary, John Vance, Caroline Norton ’03, Derek
Chapman, Kathryn Doherty ’03, Nukte Tuncok
’03, Tracy Cheung ’03, Tracy (Borawksi) Baker
’03, Jennifer Feldman ’03, Heather (Kallus)
Galbraith ’03; (back) Unidentified Non-alum,
James Kingsley, Erik Fagan, Adam Sigrist, Sean
Collins, Mike Minnefor, Dave Ewart, Phil
Dimon ’03, Dave Sands ’03, Colin Brooks
09
10
11
10 Rabe ’06 • Matulewicz:
Sept. 12, Philadelphia, Pa.
All ’06 unless noted, left to right: (front) Priscilla
Damaso, Laura Lee ’07, Hannah Johnson,
Jennifer Huang, Sulgi Lim, Justin Matulewicz
(groom), Christine Rabe, Joanna Darcus,
Christine Rodriguez, MiHye Kim ’02; (back) Brent
Yorgey ’04, Joyia (Chadwick)
Yorgey ’05, Katie Conner, Ben Scent, Ben
Rah ’05, James Schroder ’04
11 Mondel • Giarusso ’00:
Aug. 15, Williamstown, Mass.
Photo taken in New Lebanon, N.Y. Left to right:
Steven Bodner (Williams Music visiting artist in
residence), Josephine Hearn ’99, Robin Kibler
(Williams libraries staff), Keith Kibler (Williams
music instructor), Richard Giarusso ’00, Allison
Mondel (bride), Doris Stevenson (Williams music
department artist in residence), Nicholas Wright
’57, Lois Banta (biology professor), Richard
Spalding (Williams chaplain), Stephen Fix
(English professor)
12 Higgins ’02 • O’Dea:
Dec. 12, Washington, D.C.
All ’02 unless noted, left to right: Danielle
Tarantolo ’01, Lisa Cohan, Elizabeth (Hole)
Knake, Shoshana (Clark) Coburn, Carol Lynn
Higgins, Daniel O’Dea (groom), Anne (Richards)
Jesse, Kathryn Hibbert, Joanna (Pons) Edstrom,
Kristin Wikelius ’01
12
W e d di ng
a l bu m
13 Lowenthal ’06 • Epstein ’05:
July 18, North Haven, Maine
Left to right: (front) Christine Williams ’06, Molly
Stone ’03, Ashlee (Martinez) Dahlberg ’06,
Katie Stiffler ’07, Jacqui Miller ’07, Belle Stone
’06, Cecily Lowenthal ’06, Jason Epstein ‘05,
Sally Dickerson ’06, Eliza Davison ’06, Sarah
Hardin ’06; (middle row) Markus Burns ’06,
Pete Endres ’04, Mark Foster ’06, Kate Leonard
Hood ’03, Chris Frank ’05, Sarah Torkelson ’04,
Mark Heinrich-Wallace ’04, Brooke Kaltsas
’04, Meredith Olson ’04, Ashley Carter ’04,
Will Gilyard ’03, Afton (Johnson) Gilyard ’05,
Emily (Tomassi) Grant ’05, Kerel Nurse ’05,
Kendra Totman ’05, Ethan Dahlberg ’06, Addie
Robinson ’05; (back row) Tim Stickney ’04, Alex
Hood ’02, Sumant Bhat ’03
13
14 Grashkina ’04 • Hristov:
May 15, 2010, Bansko, Bulgaria
Alexander Hristov, Alexandra Grashkina
15 Ascha • Batniji ’95:
April 17, 2010, Newport Beach, Calif.
All ’95 unless noted, left to right: (seated) Rami
Batniji, Alia Ascha (bride); (standing) Charles
LaCour, Peter Richards, Liz (Martin) Richards,
Chris Murphy, Adam Nagata, Anthony Qaiyum
14
16 Hsu ’00 • Namgyal:
Jan. 30, 2010, Thimphu, Bhutan
Namgyal, Deborah Hsu ’00
15
16
17 Hinyard ’01 • Neumann:
Nov. 7, Dallas, Texas
All ’01 unless noted, left to right: Joel Iams, John
Neumann (groom), Rebecca Hinyard, Josh Kelner
17
18 Callikan • Currimjee ’01:
March 27, 2010, Mauritius
All ’01 unless noted, left to right: (front) Daniel
Shirai ‘00, Carol Shirai Ergas, Sebastien Ergas
‘98, Arif Currimjee ‘83, Shama Currimjee
Veerasamy ‘83, Sara Hausner-Levine ‘02,
Ashraf Currimjee ‘84, Shawn Song, Alison
Hess, Stephen Taylor; (middle) Azim Currimjee
‘86, Anil Currimjee ‘83, Shakti Callikan (bride),
Rishaad Currimjee, Natalie Marchant, Cameron
Clendaniel, Joseph Seavey; (back) Salim
Currimjee ‘85, Tanu Kumar, Jacob Israelow
19 Klionsky ’03 • Nelson ’03:
Oct. 4, Williamstown, Mass.
Photo taken at a celebration in Madison, Wis.,
June 27. All ’03, left to right: Jordan Goldwarg,
Malin Pinsky, Ashford Bradly, Ian Warrington,
Nicholas Nelson, Angus Beal, Jeff Garland,
Elizabeth Miller, Kimmie Beal, Sarah Klionsky,
Elizabeth Mygatt, Kristin Hunter-Thompson
18
19
W e d di ng
A l bu m
1969
1997
2002
Paul R. Kessler & Robert M.
Connelly, Sept. 5
Richard W. Kleinman & Sally
Rosen, May 23
Jeffrey M. Walsh & Nicole
Knutilla, June 6
Holly M. Grace & Kris
Kahn ’97, Dec. 12
Gabriel B. Brammer &
Macarena Bartolome, April 26
John R. Vance & Caroline
Norton ’03, Sept. 19
Carol Lynn Higgins & Daniel
P. O’Dea, Dec. 12
Matthew J. Shear &
Alexandra Harris,
March 27, 2010
Eloisa Chavez & Joseph John
Avino, March 6, 2010
Bryce Tinker Gillespie &
Darria Long, April 17, 2010
1977
Charles D. Haines Jr. & Nancy
Lee Haines, Dec. 5
1998
1991
Karl L. Galle & Sylvia Atalla,
April 24, 2010
Edward H. Yu & E. Lillian
Cheng, May 5
1999
1994
Margaret M. Maher &
Richard Todd Thompson,
May 2010
Andrew D. Henderson &
Gwynne Morrissey, Aug. 22
Ethan Gutmann & Rachel
Estorge, March 27, 2010
1995
2000
Karla Bradley & Jan Ulrich
Hermann Eitel, Aug. 15
Brandon P. Hehir & Sarah L.
Whipple ’96, Aug. 29
Bevan P. Londergan & Margo
Vallee, May 23
Nicholas A. Barker &
Kathaleen Gravel, June 6
Nancy Walworth & James A.
McBrady, Aug. 29
Shara Ann Pilch & Hunter K.
Gates, Oct. 4
Peter J. Spina & Amanda
Nilsen, Dec. 31
1996
Kristin Edwards & William
Gregory Gustafson, May 17
Alexis J. Gilman & Michele
Buenafe, Sept. 5
2004
Katherine Neal & Gilles
Fellens, Sept. 5
Kimberly Rebecca Forrest &
Daniel Adam Richards,
May 15, 2010
2006
Christine Rabe & Justin
Matulewicz, Sept. 12
Ashlee Martinez & Ethan
Anderson Dahlberg, Oct. 4
Elizabeth Ellis & Kyle Ludvik,
Dec. 19
Christine Rodriguez & Joel
Nieves, May 23, 2010
2001
Celina Zlotoff & Cameron
Johnson, Oct. 10
b i rths
&
a d o p ti o ns
1983
1988
1991
Lloyd Robinson Luckett to
Stuart Robinson,
March 13, 2010
Matthew Aldrich Taylor to
Susan MacCormac Taylor,
Jan. 15, 2010
Bridget Mary Igoe to Kathleen
Judge Igoe, April 23, 2010
1986
1990
Samantha Elizabeth Corley to
Richard Corley, Nov. 22
Lauren R. von Schiber Vermeil
to Ragnar H. Von Schiber,
June 10
Fisher Buxbaum to Steve M.
Buxbaum, Dec. 22
Ezra Wood Maidman to
Dagny C. Maidman,
Feb. 5, 2010
1987
Frank R. Dengel to F.R. &
Katrina (Macko) Dengel ’88,
March 29, 2010
1992
Samuel Robert Warren to
Thomas H. Warren, March 13
William V. Cumming to Jared
N. Cumming, Oct. 25
1993
Miriam Donna JoslynSiemiatkoski to Jennifer
Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, April 27
Lucia Ruth Applegate to
Meredith Collura Applegate,
April 29
Harper Marilyn Pinto to
Timothy M. Pinto, May 23
Tate Deeks Flowers to Ashley
S. Deeks, July 20
Lily Catherine O’Connor to
Rosamond Moxon O’Connor,
Oct. 17
Gillian Rose Cox to Janette
(Light) Cox, Jan. 22, 2010
Willa Maeve & Ellery Maire
Hanson to William F. Hanson
Jr., Feb. 26, 2010
1994
Donovan Howard Kirkpatrick
to Jennifer L. Whitfield, Nov. 12
1995
Benjamin Callahan Davis to
Judith (Kelleher) Davis,
March 27
Maayan Rachel Kaplan to
Adam E. Kaplan, May 11
Crosby William Howard to
Gretchen (Engster) Howard,
June 21
Ana Lorraine Leach to Maria
A. Suro Leach, Aug. 18
Alexander Ari Zubieta Nanao
to Max H. Nanao, Oct. 5
Lily Frances Schafler to Rebecca
(Poate) Schafler, Dec. 29
Micaela Firenze McCooey to
Flo Waldron, Jan. 30, 2010
Ella Grace Fogler to Emily Chi
& Jason M. Fogler,
Feb. 10, 2010
1996
Grady Will SteinwertArrowood to Tiffany L.
Steinwert, June 30
Patrick Thomas Warren to
Carole Smith, July 2
Nixie Beatrice Gerdes to Farah
(Schaeffer) Gerdes, July 4
Mae Billings Lawrence to
Margaret (Howell) Lawrence,
July 27
Emily Sachi Heller to Daniel
A. Heller, Aug. 23
Henry Harris May to Porter
(Harris) May, Aug. 29
Tobias Whitney Finando to
Claire (Kelly) Finando, Sept. 21
Eleanor Susan Stine to Jen
(Suesse) Stine, Jan. 8, 2010
Justin Alexander Kohn to
Matthew J. Kohn,
Jan. 17, 2010
Elizabeth Jane Hammond
Kechley to Aaron T. Kechley,
Jan. 30, 2010
1997
Eliot Wren Adams to Christina
L. Matheson, March 8
Samuel Lawrence Cox to
Christine Soares Cox, May 8
Sarah Feighner to Jennifer A.
Feighner, May 18
Cameron Stewart Forbes to
Greg Forbes, July 17
Campbell Josephine Gong to
Faith (Cinquegrana) Gong,
July 25
Conor William Dowling
Torres to Erinn (Dowling) &
Mark Torres, Aug. 4
Lucia Pray Arico to Susan
(Bradley) Arico, Aug. 16
Lillian Blair Ohly to Derek W.
& Michel (Woodard) Ohly,
Sept. 2
Ashar Pierre Rafic Barrage to
Alexandra Steinberg Barrage,
Jan. 5, 2010
1998
Jyotsna Kar Byrne to Meghan
Byrne & Avinash Kar, April 5
Mary Elizabeth Fifield to
Elizabeth Norwood Fifield,
April 13
Foster Mills Little to
Christopher M. & Elizabeth
(Mills) Little, May 22
Tate Liam Kindlon to Lee C.
Kindlon, July 30
Reed Morris to Whitten M.
& Mimi Bartow Morris ’99,
Sept. 20
Abigail Grace Smith to H.
Oliver & Sarah (Lurding)
Smith, Oct. 10
Natalie Beatriz Smith to
Ana Aguilar & Taylor C.
Smith ’99, Oct. 31
Tomas Arnaiz to Carlos R.A.
& Elizabeth Taylor Arnaiz,
Nov. 1
Aaron Briscoe Zimmer to
Audrey Watkins & Andrew R.
Zimmer ’99, Feb. 6, 2010
Jonah Daniel Sterns to Adam
Sterns & Tui Sutherland,
Feb. 12, 2010
Jacob Samuel Barkin to Adam
Z. & Jill Strassburger Barkin,
Feb. 25, 2010
Brandt Edison Lubitz to
Gerhard W. Lubitz, Feb. 26,
2010
1999
Beatrice Anna Krenkel to
Aaron P. Krenkel, May 9
Sophia Elizabeth Wallis to
Danielle Kunian Wallis,
June 24
Keira Ann Kujawa to Jennifer
Ann Hurley, July 23
Piper Rose Ennen to Melissa
Louise (Schmidt) Ennen,
July 29
Maya Verdy Eisenman to Ian
Eisenman, Sept. 27
Clara Lee Roland to
Nathaniel C. & Samantha
Kim Roland ’01, Oct. 2
Phoebe Monroe & Charles
Koury Hajjar to Peter K.
Hajjar, Oct. 9
Keghan Joseph Nolan Joyce
to Katherine Nolan Joyce,
Oct. 11
Samuel Elliott Perry to Tyler
Lewis Perry, Oct. 21
William Irving Kravis to
Jonathan I. & Laura Jacobs
Kravis, Oct. 31
Wyatt Miles Orraca-Cecil to
Dede O. Orraca-Cecil, Nov. 2
Charlotte Rush Soslow to
Jonathan H. Soslow, Nov. 16
Camille Seraphin Harwell to
Jonathan P. Harwell, Dec. 8
Addison Jane Ray to Anazette
(Williams) Ray, Jan. 9, 2010
Levi Weldon Lasser to Ethan
W. Lasser, Jan. 26, 2010
Grant Thomas Danbusky to
Stephen G. Danbusky, Feb. 9,
2010
2000
Zoe Laura Grant to Jeffrey
D. Grant & Mariya J. Hodge,
May 5
b i rths
&
a d o p ti o ns
Elijah L. Sanchez to Lisa
Sanchez, May 28
Caroline Kilcommons Criqui
to Andrew D. Criqui, July 30
Cameron Lowell Wood to
Donald Franklin & Melissa
(Vecchio) Wood ’01, Aug. 9
Henry Max Mitnick to
Kimberly Helene Zelnick,
Oct. 20
Sadie Marigold Chen-Gordon
to Yng-Ru Chen, Oct. 26
Haley Jean Keenan to Sean
P. & Liza Walsh Keenan ’01,
Nov. 4
Maya Friedmann to Paul J.
& Allison Jacobs Friedmann,
Nov. 27
Evan Ryder Sophinos to
Melina F. Evans & Nickolas
Manuel Sophinos, Dec. 16
William MacEachern Horn to
Alexander S. Horn,
Jan. 11, 2010
Colleen Rose Sheehy to James
M. Sheehy Jr., March 6, 2010
Eleanor Anne Bloss to
Deborah Ebert Bloss,
March 25, 2010
2002
2001
2003
Shea Patrick McDonnell to
Brian Michael McDonnell &
Julianna B. Connolly, Sept. 3
Sebastien Michael Greenberg
to Jason Greenberg, Sept. 12
Connor York Doherty to
Brian P. & Amanda Brokaw
Doherty, Feb. 3, 2010
Benjamin Isaac Thalhimer to
Adam R. Thalhimer,
May 7, 2010
Lillian Kathryn Hosty to
Whitney (Gee) Hosty,
Feb. 21, 2010
OBITU A RIES
1930
Franklin K. Hoyt of
Duxbury, Mass., Jan. 6.
Hoyt was VP of finance and
administration of Houghton
Mifflin. At Williams he was
a junior advisor, president
of College Council and
belonged to Gargoyle
Society, Purple Key, Sigma
Phi and the baseball team
and was ice hockey captain.
He received a law degree
from Northeastern (1934).
He received an Honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters
from Simmons (1992).
He was chairman of the
Corporation of Simmons
College, trustee of the
American College of Greece
in Athens, President of
the Stone Institute and
Newton Home for the Aged,
chairman of the board of
Newton Cooperative Bank
and director of American
Mutual Insurance Co.,
Arkwright Insurance Co.,
Ballantine Books and
Keystone International
Fund. He belonged to the
Boston Bar Association
and the American Bar
Association. As a Williams
alumnus he was Tyng
Bequest Administrator, class
president and a member of
the Executive Committee
for the Society of Alumni.
Among his survivors are
three children, including
F. Sherman Hoyt ’55, 10
grandchildren, including
Clifford C. Hoyt ’83, and 14
great-grandchildren.
Emma Jean Sisk to Michelle
(O’Brien) Sisk,
March 13, 2010
Grant Bass Beasley to Andrew
G. & Eleanor Walsh
Beasley ’03, May 18, 2010
2006
John Francis Montalbano to
Michael P. & Kimberly (Davis)
Montalbano ’08, June 14
grandchildren, seven greatgrandchildren, and cousin
William D. Snare ’51.
1932
Frederick S. Peters
of Falmouth, Mass., Dec.
19, 2009. Peters was a
stockbroker with Laidlaw
& Co. At Williams he
belonged to Kappa Alpha.
He was a U.S. Naval
Intelligence lieutenant
commander (1941-46).
three daughters, including
Elsiedale P. Armstrong
’71, six stepchildren, seven
grandchildren, two step-
Peters
1934
Edward P. Pease of
Madison, Conn., Feb.
19. Pease was industrial
relations manager at Procter
& Gamble. At Williams he
was a junior advisor and
belonged to the football and
track teams and Alpha Delta
Phi. He received an MBA
from Harvard (1936). He
was VP of the Staten Island
Hospital Board of Trustees,
chairman of the Staten Island
Red Cross, vice chairman
of the YMCA Board of
Managers and a member of
the New York State Draft
Appeals Board. Among his
survivors are two children,
two grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.
John g. pinkham of
New York, N.Y., March 4.
Pinkham was director of
manufacturing services at
Corisbrook Industries Inc.
He served in the U.S. Army
(1942-45) and received
a Bronze Star Medal. He
attended Oxford University.
As a Williams alumnus he
belonged to the Ephraim
Williams Society and the
Williams Club. Among his
survivors is a brother.
Arthur F. Stocker
of Charlottesville, Va., Jan.
13. Stocker was a classics
professor and chairman
of the classics department,
associate dean of the
graduate school of arts
and sciences and secretary
of both the academic and
general faculty at University
of Virginia. At Williams
he belonged to Outing
Club and Phi Beta Kappa.
He received a master’s
(1935) and PhD (1939) in
classical philology, both
from Harvard University.
He was a U.S. Army Air
Force historical officer
(1942-46) and served in the
U.S. Air Force Reserves,
retiring as colonel in 1974.
He received the Raven
Award (1977) from the
University of Virginia’s
Raven Society, of which he
was an elected member. He
belonged to the American
Philological Association,
the Mediaeval Academy
of America and the
Archaeological Institute of
America and was president
of the Huguenot Society of
Virginia and the classical
associations of Virginia and
the Middle West and South.
was a class secretary and
treasurer and belonged to
the Williams Club and the
Ephraim Williams Society.
He has no immediate
survivors.
1936
JOEL R. DAVIS of
Cazenovia, N.Y., March 14.
Davis was a sales manager
with International Playtex
Corp. and held previous
sales positions at Pillsbury
Flour Co. and Allen V. Smith
Inc. and worked in personnel
at General Electric. He
spent two years at Williams
and belonged to Delta Phi.
Among his survivors are two
children, three grandchildren
and one great-grandchild.
Darwin R. Wales of
binghamton, N.Y., Jan. 9.
Wales was a law partner
with Kramer, Wales &
Wright and later practiced
at Hinman, Howard &
Kattell. At Williams he
was manager of the track
team and belonged to Psi
Upsilon. He received a
law degree from Albany
Law School (1939). He
received an honorary
doctorate from Broome
Community College (2007).
He was a co-founder and
board member of Broome
Community College, vice
chairman and trustee for
the State University of New
York and trustee of the
Roger Kresge Foundation
Inc. As a Williams alumnus
he was class president and
Williams Society. Among
his survivors are three
sons, including Charles
A. Wales ’62 and Roger
M. Wales ’62, and many
grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.
1938
barton childs of
Baltimore, Md., Feb. 18.
Childs was a professor
emeritus of pediatrics and
director of genetics in the
pediatrics department at
Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. At
Williams he belonged to
Alpha Delta Phi. He received
a medical degree from Johns
Hopkins (1942). He was a
U.S. Army captain (1943-46).
He wrote Genetic Medicine:
A Logic of Disease (1999).
He received the American
Pediatric Society’s highest
honor—the John Howland
Award (1989). Among his
survivors are his wife Ann,
two daughters and nephew
Hamilton B. Brown ’62.
Jackson R. Pellett
of Morristown, Tenn., Jan.
30. Pellett was a mining
engineer for The New Jersey
Zinc Co. Previously he
worked at Sperry Gyroscope
Co. He attended Williams,
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute and the Columbia
University School of Mines.
Among his survivors are his
wife Louise, two daughters,
three stepchildren, four
grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren.
1939
Philip r. peters jr. of
Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 25.
Peters was a chartered life
underwriter for New York
Life Insurance Co. and later
was a self-employed real
estate developer. At Williams
he was a junior advisor and
belonged to College Council,
the Record and Chi Psi. He
was a U.S. Army captain
(1941-46). As a Williams
alumnus he belonged to his
class’s 50th reunion fund
committee, was LA regional
special gifts chairman and
OBITU A RIES
his survivors are three
children, a granddaughter,
sister Caroline Rockwood
’39, nephew Philip P. Bolton
’67 and niece Sarah B.
Richmond ’94.
Alpha. He was a U.S. Air
Force captain (1942-46).
He received a doctor of
business administration
from Assumption College
(1992). He was a trustee of
Clark University, Worcester
Memorial Hospital, the
Worcester Science Center,
Bancroft School and the
George I. Alden Trust; a
director of the YMCA; and
a corporator of the Greater
Worcester Community
Foundation. He was
president of Taconic Golf
Club. As a Williams alumnus
he was his class’s secretary
and VP and a member
of his 50th reunion fund
committee, the Worcester
regional major gifts
committee, the Executive
Committee of the Society
of Alumni and the Ephraim
Williams Society. Among his
survivors are four children,
including Stephen H. Dewey
’73 and David B. Dewey ’82;
11 grandchildren, including
Sarah O. Dewey ’11; brother
Henry B. Dewey ’48; cousins
John C. Dewey III ’43 and
Charles N. Dewey Jr. ’57;
niece Jane M. Dewey ’76;
and nephew Chandler R.
Gilman ’74.
1940
george a. frost of
Jacksonville, Fla., Dec.
17, 2009. Frost was VP of
marketing for Cannon Mills
and William Carter Co. and
retired as marketing director
of the consumer products
division of J.P. Stevens Co.
Inc. At Williams he belonged
to glee club, the football and
wrestling and track teams
and Phi Delta Theta. He was
a U.S. Marine Corps colonel
(1941-46). As a Williams
alumnus he belonged to the
Ephraim Williams Society.
three sons.
1941
john hardy clark
of Memphis, Tenn., Dec.
26, 2009. Clark worked in
sales for Eastern Air Lines
and Olin Corp. and was
VP and secretary for Wilco
Machine Works before
forming Rader Co., an
equipment designer for the
pulp and paper industries.
He later was a consultant for
Harnischfeger Industries Co.
At Williams he was football
manager and belonged to
Gargoyle and Delta Psi. He
was a U.S. Marine Corps
major (1941-46). Among
his survivors are his wife
Margie, four children and
four grandchildren.
FRANCIS H. DEWEY III
of Worcester, Mass., March
12. Dewey was president of
Mechanics National Bank
in Worcester and, later,
treasurer and VP of Williams
College. At Williams he
belonged to Gul, glee club,
the tennis team and Kappa
dewey
William e. morris
of Dallas, Texas, Feb. 25.
Morris was president of
Morris Printing Co. At
Williams he belonged
to the tennis team and
Delta Upsilon. He served
in the U.S. Army Air
Corps (WWII). He was
active with the YMCA’s
Camp Grady Spruce for
more than 40 years and
was a lifetime honorary
board member. Among
Margaret, three daughters,
eight grandchildren, four
great-grandchildren and
several stepchildren and stepgrandchildren.
1942
Robert ayres barnet
iii of Champaign, Ill., Jan.
20. Barnet was director
of human resources
management at University
of Illinois. Previously he
worked for the U.S. Fidelity
and Guaranty Co. in NYC
and Baltimore and was
personnel director at Marsh
& McClennan in Chicago.
He spent three years at
Williams and belonged to
Beta Theta Pi. He was a U.S.
Naval Reserve lieutenant
(1940-45). He graduated
from Rutgers State University
(1964). Among his survivors
are his wife Barbara, four
children, four stepchildren,
five grandchildren and one
great-grandchild.
Joseph lintz jr. of
Reno, Nev., Dec. 18, 2009.
Lintz was professor emeritus
of geology at University of
Nevada. He was an exchange
professor at the Bandung
Institute of Technology
in Indonesia (1959-61).
He later was acting dean
of University of Nevada’s
Mackay School of Mines and
a Fulbright lecturer in India.
At Williams he belonged
to choir and the football
team. He was a U.S. Army
Air Force lieutenant (194345). He received a master’s
of science in geology from
the University of Oklahoma
(1947) and a PhD in geology
from Johns Hopkins
(1956). He was an executive
committee member of the
Nevada Area Council Boy
Scouts and a member of the
Silver Dollar Chorus. Among
his survivors are three sons,
seven grandchildren and
many great-grandchildren.
1943
PHILIP F. BEAL III of
Kalamazoo, Mich., Feb.
21. Beal was director of
research and development
at Pharmacia & Upjohn.
to photography club, the
wrestling team and Phi
Sigma Kappa. He was
a U.S. Navy lieutenant
(1944-46). He received a
PhD in organic chemistry
from Ohio State University
(1949). He won the Upjohn
Award (1962) for his work
synthesizing hydro corzine.
He was City of Kalamazoo
squash champion. Among
Martha, four children, three
grandchildren and a greatgranddaughter.
murray l. cole of
Pompton Plains, N.J., Feb.
14. Cole was president of
the law firm Cole, Geaney,
Yamner & Bray and later
served as counsel to the
firms Dunn, Pashman,
Sponzilli & Finnerty and
Williams, Caliri, Miller
& Otley. At Williams he
was swim team manager
and belonged to Purple
Key. He was a U.S. Navy
midshipman (1943-46). He
received a law degree from
Cornell University (1948)
and an Honorary Doctor of
Laws from Montclair State
University (2005). Among
his professional activities he
was chairman of the advisory
board to Montclair State
College and board member
of the First National Bank
of New Jersey, Gibraltor
Corp. of America, Treadway
Co. and Summit Bancorp
and a trustee of the New
Jersey State Bar Foundation
and the Montclair State
University Foundation. He
was president of the Passaic
County Bar Association.
He served the Boy Scouts
of America on the national
leadership level and received
the organization’s Silver
Buffalo Award (1990). He
received a medal of honor
from the New Jersey State
Bar Association (1997).
As a Williams alumnus
he was admissions
representative, Bergen
County regional special gifts
chairman, class secretary and
belonged to his class’s 50th
reunion fund committee,
the Williams Club and the
Ephraim Williams Club.
wife Mimi, sons Jonathan S.
Cole ’76 and Peter B. Cole
’79, brother Herbert L. Cole
’49, niece Elizabeth S. Cole
’83, nephew Andrew J. Cole
’80.
cole
G. Dick Finlay of Hyde
Park, Vt., Jan. 17. Finlay was
a publisher’s representative
and contributing editor for
Down East Enterprise Inc.
Previously he worked for
Orvis and Fly Fisherman
magazine. In retirement he
worked part time as a canoe
and fly fishing guide for the
Battenkill Canoe Co. He also
was a weekend ski instructor
at Bromley Mountain for
nearly 50 years. At Williams
he belonged to Cap & Bells,
Outing Club, Purple Key, ski
team and Alpha Delta Phi
and was golf team manager.
He was a member of the
U.S. Army 10th Mountain
Division (1943-46). He was
instrumental in starting
and was a trustee of the
American Museum of Fly
Fishing in Manchester, Vt.
He was a lifetime member
of the Professional Ski
Instructors of America and
a member of the Silver
Griffins at Bromley and the
Smuggler’s Notch 55+ Club.
He was a volunteer at the
Vermont Ski Museum in
Stowe. He was president of
the Battenkill Conservancy
Inc. and a member of the
Manchester Conservation
Commission, and he received
the Watershed Award from
Vermont Gov. Douglas for
his efforts contributing to
clean water in Vermont
are three children, including
John R. Finlay ’73, brother
Peter S. Finlay ’49, two
grandchildren and a greatgrandson.
Thomas W. Leary Jr.
of Lady Lake, Fla., July 14,
2009. Leary had a career
in marketing including as
executive VP of Calvert
Distilling Co. and VP of
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons.
At Williams he belonged to
Cap & Bells, the football and
lacrosse teams and Zeta Psi.
He received an MBA from
Harvard (1948). Among his
survivors is a son.
CARL W. VIETOR of
Irvine, Calif., March 16.
Vietor was a pilot for
American Airlines for 30
years. He later consulted in
air traffic control. He spent
two years at Williams and
belonged to the baseball,
cross-country, squash, tennis
and swimming/diving teams
and Alpha Delta Phi. He
graduated from University
of California-Berkeley
OBITU A RIES
(1950). He was a U.S. Naval
Air Division lieutenant
commander (1941-46).
He developed the stock
market investing program
“Compu-Cast. He was a
lifelong member of the Grey
Eagles of American Airlines,
the Naval Retirees and the
Association of Independent
Investors. Among his
survivors are three
daughters, six grandchildren
and a great-granddaughter.
He was on the board of
directors of Chase Lincoln
First Bank-Rochester,
Cincinnati Milacron,
Frederick Atkins Inc.,
Midtown Holdings Corp.
and Seneca Office Building
Corp., chairman of the
Rochester Downtown
Development Corp.
and trustee of Robert
Wesleyan College and the
University of Rochester.
He was president of the
Rochester Chamber of
Commerce, founding
member of Rochester’s
Boys and Girls Club. He
received the Civic Medal
Award from the Greater
Rochester Metro Chamber
of Commerce (1992). As a
Williams alumnus he was
Upstate New York regional
major gifts chairman and a
member of his class’s 50th
reunion fund committee,
the Ephraim Williams
Society and Williams
Club, and he received
the Kellogg Award for
a “truly distinguished
career” (1994). Among his
survivors are his wife Katie,
two children, including
Gilbert K. McCurdy ’70,
cousins Henry N. Flynt
Jr. ’44, Philip O. Geier
’70, William A. Flynt ’75,
Richard E. Geier ’75,
Rodney P. Geier ’75 and
Molly C. Flynt ’09, and
three granddaughters,
including Katherine V.A.
McCurdy ’09.
1944
GEORGE R. ELDER JR.
of Baltimore, Md., Dec.
15, 2009. Elder was VP
of Security Trust Co. and
previously worked in trusts
at Maryland National
Bank. He spent one year
at Williams. He received
degrees from Washington
College and Johns Hopkins
University. He belonged to
the Williams Club. Among
Hazel and a daughter.
RICHARD A.
HUNSDORFER of West
Sand Lake, N.Y., Jan. 21.
Hunsdorfer was president
of Albany Steel, Iron &
Supply Co. At Williams
he belonged to the soccer
and track teams and Sigma
Phi. He was a founder
of the RA Hunsdorfer
Foundation. He served in
the U.S. Army (WWII). He
was a charter member of
the Menands Rotary and a
board member of the Albany
Rural Cemetery. Among his
survivors are two sons and
five grandchildren.
Gilbert G. McCurdy
of Pittsford, N.Y., Feb. 16.
McCurdy was chairman
and CEO of McCurdy
& Co. At Williams he
belonged to Cap &
Bells and the track and
basketball teams. He was
a U.S. Army Signal Corps
lieutenant (1943-46).
1945
RODMAN W.
CHAMBERLAIN JR.
of Suches, Ga., Feb. 10.
Chamberlain worked in
sales management for
The Stanley Works and
later as a manufacturer’s
representative. At Williams
he belonged to the baseball
team and Alpha Delta Phi.
He graduated from Wharton
School of University of
Pennsylvania. He was a U.S.
Navy lieutenant junior grade
(WWII). He was a tutor at
Colwell Detention Center
and Lifelong Learning
Center. Among his survivors
are his wife Betsy, three sons,
two stepchildren and six
grandchildren.
ROBERT M.
MCANERNEY of Norwalk,
Conn., Feb. 11. McAnerney
was an attorney in private
practice. Previously he was
a law partner with Durey
& Pierson and Sullivan &
Cromwell. At Williams he
belonged to College Council,
Gargoyle, Delta Psi and the
squash team. He was a U.S.
Navy aviator (1942-45).
He received a law degree
from University of Virginia
(1953). He was a director of
Connecticut Attorneys Title
Insurance Co., State National
Bank of Connecticut and
Union Trust Co. He held
many leadership roles,
DONALD A. WARNER
of Edison, N.J., March 26.
Warner was a merchandise
coordinator for J.P. Stevens
& Co. Inc. Previously he
was a geologist for the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
He belonged to Ephraim
survivors are two daughters,
two grandchildren and
brother Richard A.
Warner ’49.
mcanerney
including president, of the
Connecticut Bar Association
and was a member of the
American Bar Association
House of Delegates, director
of the New England Bar
Association and a life
fellow of the American Bar
Foundation. Among his
survivors is a daughter.
ROBERT F. NEWTON
of North Branford, Conn.,
Jan. 30. Newton was a
pediatrician and, later,
worked as an occupational
physician with Pratt and
Whitney Aircraft. At
band and Phi Sigma Kappa.
He was a U.S. Army private
(1943-45) and captain
(1949-53). He received a
medical degree from Yale
are his wife Martha, four
children, including David
I. Newton ’71 and Steven
R. Newton ’87, and several
grandchildren.
1946
EARLE O. BROWN JR. of
Williamstown, Mass., March
16. Brown was a psychiatrist
in private practice and a
staff member of North
Adams Regional Hospital
and Southwestern Vermont
Medical Center. At Williams
he belonged to band, choir
and the Record. He received
a medical degree from
Albany Medical College
(1947). He served in the U.S.
Navy (WWII). He belonged
to numerous professional
organizations and was
president of the Western
Massachusetts Psychiatric
Association, VP of the
Berkshire District Medical
Society, American Medical
Association and American
Psychiatric Association
and executive member of
the Massachusetts Medical
Society. He was president
of the Williamstown
Rotary Club, regional
director of the Bank of
New England, member of
the Williamstown Finance
Committee and board
member of the Williamstown
House of Local History. He
published several articles
in medical journals. He
received a Distinguished
Service Award in the Junior
Chamber of Commerce
(1956) and was honored
by the Massachusetts
Medical Society for 50
years of service. Among
Rita, two children and four
grandchildren.
LOOMIS I. LINCOLN of
Lake Forest, Ill., Jan. 13.
Lincoln was a marketing
representative with Whitney
Blake Co. and a partner and
manufacturers representative
with Lincoln, Hodges &
Assoc. Inc. He was a U.S.
Army second lieutenant
(1943-45). At Williams he
belonged to the squash,
tennis and soccer teams and
Alpha Delta Phi. He was
a member of the Board of
Governors of the Onwentsia
Club and a volunteer with
the United Way and Lake
Forest Hospital. Among his
survivors are his wife Gwen,
three children, brother
Edward C. Lincoln ’45 and
seven grandchildren.
1947
RICHARD E. ELY of
Springfield, Vt., Jan. 27.
Ely was a life insurance
underwriter with
Massachusetts Mutual Life
Insurance Co. At Williams
he belonged to outing club
and Theta Delta Chi. He
was a U.S. Naval Air Cadet
(1943-45). He was a director
of the Springfield Humane
Society and president of the
Springfield Rotary Club. He
was a director of the Twin
State Valley Underwriters
Association. As a Williams
committee. Among his
survivors are his wife Mary,
two daughters and four
grandchildren.
1948
JAMES R. HEEKIN JR.
of Williamstown, Mass.,
Oct. 5, 2009. Heekin had
a career in advertising,
including as president of
Ogilvy & Mather and Doyle
Dane Bernbach and later
as partner with Canter,
Achenbaum, Heekin. Upon
retiring to Williamstown he
launched the marketing firm
James Heekin Associates.
WCFM, the lacrosse and
football teams and Chi Psi.
He served in the U.S. Army
Air Corps (1944-46). He
was a director of the Roper
Public Opinion Research
Center and a member of
the South Williamstown
Association Board. As a
president of the Cincinnati
and Southern New Jersey
alumni associations, his
class’s bequest/gift planning
chair and VP and member
of the 50th reunion fund
committee, the Ephraim
survivors are his wife Jane,
four children, including
Jim Heekin ’71, brothers
Kenneth P. Heekin ’52 and
Thomas D. Heekin ’59,
nieces Anne B. HeekinCanedy ’77 and Shailah
T. Stewart ’77, eight
grandchildren, including
Philip H. Bartels ’03, and
two great-grandchildren.
1949
WILLIAM M. HEINEMAN
of Westport, Conn., Feb.
21. Heineman worked at
Heineman and Seidman
textile brokerage firm before
co-founding Heineman
and Co., where he became
OBITU A RIES
a senior partner. He was a
U.S. Army Air Corps flight
engineer (1943-45). At
Williams he was president
of Delta Upsilon and a
member of Interfraternity
Council (1948-49), and he
belonged to Purple Key and
was manager of the soccer
team. He was a trustee of the
Baron de Hirsch fund and
treasurer and trustee of the
Westport Nature Center for
Environmental Activities.
was class agent, president of
his class and co-chairman
of his class’s 50th reunion
fund drive and belonged
to the Ephraim Williams
Society. Among his survivors
are his wife Harriet,
children Kathryn Heineman
Calabretta ’81, Annemarie
Heineman Doherty ’83 and
Thomas Heineman, brother
Andrew D. Heineman ’50,
niece Deborah K. Heineman
Scaglione ’76 and nephew
Matthew D. Heineman ’79.
the U.S. Army (1943-46).
He served on the board of
directors of the Philadelphia
YMCA. As a Williams
alumnus he once served as an
associate class agent and was
a member of the Ephraim
Ann, five children, including
Nevill Smythe ’81, and eight
grandchildren.
Heineman
J.L. NEVILL SMYTHE of
Bryn Mawr, Pa., Dec. 12,
2009. Smythe was president,
chief administrative officer
and VP of the board of
Rochester, N.Y.-based Alling
& Cory Co. after its merger
with the Philadelphia-based
J.L.N. Smythe Paper Co. At
Williams he was manager
of the squash team and
belonged to Cap & Bells,
Purple Key, Purple Cow
and Zeta Psi. He served in
smythe
MIT (1952). He served
in the U.S. Navy. Among
Marilyn, four children and
three granddaughters.
L. CLINTON HOST of
Orange, Calif., Aug. 15,
2009. Host was field sales
manager for MacDermid
Inc. He spent two-and-ahalf years at Williams and
Outing Club and Theta
Delta Chi. He was a U.S.
Army Medical Corp sergeant
(1951-54). He received
a bachelor’s of science in
mathematics from University
of Wisconsin (1960). He was
president of the Milwaukee,
Wis., and Orange County
Metropolitan, Calif.,
branches of the American
Electroplaters Society.
his wife Marilyn and two
children.
1951
1952
GEORGE WHITNEY
FISKE of North Port, Fla.,
Jan. 29. Fiske had a 37-year
career with Goodyear Tire
& Rubber Co., including
25 years on the Goodyear
International team, where
he expanded partnerships
throughout Europe. At
Williams he belonged to the
football and lacrosse teams
and Chi Psi. He served in the
U.S. Marine Corp (194447). He was a volunteer
with Service Corp of Retired
Executives and St. Luke’s
Hospital Surgery Center.
wife Janice, five children, 13
grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.
RICHARD M. KRAFT
JR. of Andover, Vt., and
Tampa, Fla., March 8.
Kraft was VP of community
relations for the New York
Yankees. Previously he was
regional sales manager for
KCL Corp. in Westfield,
N.J. At Williams he
belonged to the football
team and Kappa Alpha.
He was director of the
Westfield Girls’ Softball
League and a member of
the agency review and
allocation committee
of the United Fund of
Westfield. As a Williams
alumnus he was admission
representative, class VP
and member of his class’s
25th reunion committee
and 50th reunion fund
committee. He was VP of
and belonged to the board
of directors of the Williams
Club of New York City.
his wife Emily, and two
daughters
DENNIS S. GORMAN of
Monterey, Calif., Jan. 5.
Gorman was chief engineer
for the City of Monterey.
to Phi Beta Kappa. He also
received a bachelor’s of
science in engineering from
1953
MICHAEL L. RAYDER
of Falmouth, Maine,
March 27. Rayder was an
obstetrician-gynecologist in
private practice in Syracuse,
N.Y., for 36 years. At
Williams he was a junior
advisor and Tyng scholar
and belonged to the football
team and Delta Upsilon. He
received a medical degree
from Tufts (1957). He was a
U.S. Air Force flight surgeon
(1959-62). He belonged to
the Onandaga County and
New York State medical
societies and the American
Medical Association. As a
Williams alumnus he was a
Tyng Bequest administrator.
Among his survivors
are his wife Doris, four
children, including Michael
L. Rayder Jr. ’81, and 13
grandchildren.
HUGH G. ROBINSON of
Desoto, Texas, March 1.
Robinson was a U.S. Army
Major General, serving 29
years in the military and
serving as President Lyndon
B. Johnson’s personal
military aide. After retiring
from the military, he was
VP of The Southland Corp.
and CEO of Tetra Group.
Most recently, he served on
a military advisory council
to President Obama. He
attended Williams for
one year and belonged to
the basketball team. He
graduated from West Point
and received a master’s
in civil engineering from
MIT (1959). Among his
professional activities he
was a director of Aleris
Internation Inc., Carmax
Inc., Dallas Power and
Light, Federal Reserve
Bank of Dallas, Guaranty
Federal Savings Bank, LBJ
Foundation Inc., Lomas
& Nettleton, NewMarket
Technology Inc and North
Texas Public Broadcasting
Co. He received an
honorary doctor of laws
from Williams (1983). As
a Williams alumnus he
received the Kellogg Award
for a “truly distinguished
career” (1993). Among
Paula, four children, three
stepchildren and two
grandchildren.
1954
NEILL S. COOPER JR. of
Annapolis, Md., Oct. 6,
2009. Cooper was a hand
surgeon with Anne Arundel
Orthopaedic Surgeons.
to WCFM. He received
a medical degree from
University of Michigan-Ann
Arbor (1958). He served
the U.S. Army (1957-77),
including as 68th Armor
Battalion Surgeon in West
Germany (1959-60) and in
Qui Nhon, Vietnam (197172), and he was chief of
orthopaedics at Fort Belvoir
for five years until retiring
as colonel. He received
the Commendation Medal
(1960) and Legion of Merit
among others. Among
Virginia, two children and
three grandchildren.
CHESTER R. JONES of
Poultney, Vt., Dec. 1, 2009.
Jones was an organist
on the staff of All Saints’
Cathedral in Albany, N.Y.,
and later was organist at
Peniel Presbyterian Church
in Granville, N.Y. He also
taught music in the Proctor,
Vt., public schools as well as
private music lessons, and
he was the accompanist of
the Granville Area Chorus.
He received a master’s of
music from Yale University
School of Music. It is
unknown whether he has
any survivors.
1956
THOMAS P. MAINS JR.
of Great Falls, Va., Jan.
17. Mains was an attorney
in private practice who
specialized in medical
malpractice and business
torts. He spent two years
at Williams. He attended
University of Colorado
Medical School. He
American University (1962).
his wife Nancy, four sons,
two stepchildren and 14
grandchildren.
1957
CORNELIUS FURGUESON
IV of Islip, N.Y., July 12,
2009. Furgueson was
president of Furgueson
Capital Management Inc.
Previously he was VP of
Bankers Trust. At Williams
he belonged to Purple Key,
Chi Psi and the lacrosse
team, and received honorable
mention from the 1957 All
American Team. He served in
the U.S. Army (1957-58). He
received an MBA from New
York University (1963). He
was director and chairman
of the finance committee
of Southside Hospital. As a
an admissions representative
and Western Long Island
admissions regional chair.
He belonged to the Ephraim
survivors are his wife Dickie,
four children and seven
grandchildren.
1960
ROBERT M. DUNN JR.
of Chevy Chase, Md., Feb.
18. Dunn was a professor
of economics at George
Washington University.
Previously he was an
instructor at Dartmouth
and a member of the
Federal Reserve Board.
OBITU A RIES
to Gul, Sigma Phi and the
cross-country and wrestling
teams. He received a
master’s (1963) and PhD
(1967) in economics, both
from Stanford. He wrote
the textbook International
Economics as well as several
academic articles and
essays and op-eds in The
Washington Post and The
New York Times. He was
a member of the American
Economic Association. He
belonged to the Williams
Club. Among his survivors
are his wife Helena and three
sons.
Nikki, two children and two
grandchildren.
BENJAMIN R. SCHENCK
of Seabrook Island, S.C.,
Jan. 28. Schenck was an
attorney on the staff of N.Y.
Gov. Nelson Rockefeller
and practiced with Bond,
Schoeneck & King before
joining the N.Y. Department
of Insurance, where he served
as superintendent (197175). He later was senior
VP of Shearson Hayden
Stone, executive VP of State
Mutual Life Insurance Co.
and president of Central
Mass Health Care. In
retirement, he and his wife
operated Devonfield, a bed
and breakfast in Lee, Mass.
Beta Theta Pi. He received
a law degree from Harvard
(1963). He was president of
the United Way of Central
Massachusetts and chairman
of the executive committee of
the Chamber of Commerce.
wife Sally, two children and
five grandchildren.
MICHAEL K. TAUSSIG
of Highland Park, N.J.,
Feb. 24. Taussig was an
economics professor at
Rutgers University. He spent
two years at Williams and
graduated from University
of Colorado (1960). He
received a PhD in economics
from MIT (1964). He
1961
EDGAR D. HUNTING of
Bainbridge Island, Wash.,
March 4. Hunting was a
project officer at the World
Bank. Previously he worked
for the Louis Berger Group,
constructing airfields in
Thailand. He served in the
Peace Corps, in East Pakistan
and Iran. At Williams he
belonged to the soccer team
and Zeta Psi. He received a
master’s in civil engineering
from Stanford (1963)
and an MBA from UCLA
(1970). He volunteered with
Antarctic Project and World
Learning, among others,
and he participated in a
study for the U.S. Agency for
International Development
among other organizations.
three siblings and several
nieces and nephews.
LAURENCE S. REINEMAN
of Wellesley, Mass., Nov.
30, 2009. Reineman
was VP and investment
counselor with Eaton Vance
Management Inc. Previously
he was VP of First National
Bank and before that was
an investment officer at
Manufacturers and Traders’
Trust Co. in Buffalo. At
the ice hockey and golf
teams and Delta Psi. Among
his civic and professional
activities he served on the
advisory council of Booth
Memorial Hospital and was
chairman of the business
division of the United Fund,
president of the Bond Club
of Buffalo and a member
of the Financial Analysts
Federation. As a Williams
committee and was a Weston
Fellow of WCMA, an officer
of the Williams Club and
secretary and treasurer of
the alumni association of
Western New York. Among
Linda and two daughters.
1963
PETER J. STRAUSS of
Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 12.
Strauss was a partner with
the law firm Graydon,
Head & Ritchey LLP. He
served several terms on the
Cincinnati City Council
and as vice mayor. At
Gul, the football and rugby
teams and Psi Upsilon.
He received a master’s in
public administration from
Columbia (1965) and a law
degree from Georgetown
(1969). He was a trustee or
board member for Radio
Reading Services, Cincinnati
Youth Collaborative, Hillside
Trust and the Cincinnati
Business Incubator, among
many other nonprofit
organizations. He received
the Neighborhood
Development Corporation
Association’s President’s
Award (1993) and Lifetime
Achievement Award (2009)
and the Cincinnati Bar
Association’s Community
Service Award (2000). As a
regional secretary and a
member of his class’s 25th
reunion fund committee.
strauss
his wife Kitty, two sons,
including Michael Clinton
Strauss ’94, a granddaughter
and nieces Michelle S. Ross
’95, Carrie Strauss Dunn ’96
and Nicole L. Strauss ’99.
1966
GEORGE A. PIENDAK
of Baltimore, Md., March
8. Piendak was senior VP
of Lombard Securities.
Previously he was president
of GAP Finance Inc., VP of
corporate finance of Butcher
& Singer Inc. and VP of Alex
Brown & Sons Inc. Before
entering the private sector
he served as chief of the
Baltimore Bureau of Budget
and Management Research
and was a fiscal policy
analyst for the Baltimore
City Council. At Williams
he was a junior advisor
and belonged to WCFM,
Newman Association,
Gargoyle, College Council
and Delta Psi and was a Tyng
Bequest Scholar. He received
a master’s in administration
from University of Sussex
(1967) and an MBA from
Loyola (1976). Among
his professional and civic
activities, he was chairman
of the board of trustees at
Baltimore International
College, trustee of
Baltimore International
Culinary College and
board member of Bic
Foundation Inc., Greater
piendak
Homewood Community
Corp., Pony Express Inc.
and the Baltimore National
Aquarium. As a Williams
alumnus he was a member
of the Baltimore special
regional gifts committee
and his class’s associate
agent, agent, VP, 25th
reunion fund vice chair, 30th
reunion chair, alumni fund
vice chair and belonged to
the Williams Club. Among
his survivors are daughter
Emily A. Piendak ’99 and a
granddaughter.
1967
JOHN H. GLADNEY JR.
of Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 20.
Gladney was a self-employed
consultant in Melville, N.Y.,
and Washington, D.C.
Previously he was president
of Gladney-Chatman
Chemicals Inc. in Saint
Louis, Mo., executive VP
of The Lauren Group Inc.
and general manager of
administration and finance
with Bi-State Development
Agency. At Williams he
president of the Williams
Civil Rights Committee and
belonged to Black Student
Union, the swim team,
WCFM and Psi Upsilon.
He received a master’s in
business administration
from Harvard (1971). He
was treasurer of Family &
Children’s Service of Greater
Saint Louis and a member of
the development board
of Saint Louis Children’s
Hospital. As a Williams
alumnus he was admissions
representative and member
of the Executive Committee
of the Society of Alumni.
Among his survivors is a
daughter.
1971
CHARLES G.
HUNTINGTON III of
West Simsbury, Conn., Dec.
27, 2009. Huntington was
associate dean and associate
professor at University
of Connecticut School of
Medicine. Previously he was
director of Hermon Medical
Group, a clinic in Hermon,
N.Y., before accepting a
health policy fellowship in
Washington, D.C., which
led to employment with
the American Academy of
Family Physicians, where
he later became director of
the academy’s Washington
office. He also was a Pew
Health Policy Fellow at
the University of Michigan
School of Public Health.
to College Council and
the football team and was
captain of the track team. He
received a physician assistant
degree from the Bowman
Gray School of Medicine
at Wake Forest University
(1976) and master’s in
public health from George
Washington University
(1988) and completed the
coursework for a doctorate
in public health at University
of Michigan. He was
active in the Connecticut
Public Health Association,
president of the New York
State Society of Physician
Assistants and of the
American Academy of
Physician Assistants. Among
Susan, five children and three
grandchildren.
gladney
OBITU A RIES
1979
He wrote poetry, and one
of his poems was turned
into an illustrated children’s
book The Diner on the Wall
(1995). He volunteered
at Wellesley’s Hardy
Elementary School and
participated in Disabilities
Learning Day. Among
Virginia ’79, daughter Anna
H. Soybel ’11 and sister
Carol Ann Bartges ’77.
and basketball teams and
played the French horn
including as a member of
the Berkshire Symphony
Orchestra. As a Williams
alumnus he was an associate
class agent. Among his
survivors are his parents, a
sister and his fiancée Eleanor
C. Schmidt ’06.
1983
George B. Cruden ’38
of Bend, Ore., April 1, 2008
JOHN PECK CAULFIELD
’44 of Carlsbad, Calif.,
Nov. 3, 2007
JOHN H.O. MERTZ ’44 of
Indianapolis, Ind.,
Aug. 7, 2007
HENRY G. HOOD JR. ’46
of Greensboro, N.C.,
Dec. 30, 1994
HAROLD S. SHELDON ’46
of Hopewell Junction, N.Y.,
May 24, 1999
THOMAS T. TAYLOR III
’50 of Portland, Ore.,
March 13, 2009
JOHN T. WEEMS ’55 of
Brewster, Mass.,
Jan. 15, 2010
WARREN WILSON ’55 of
Bainbridge Island, Wash.,
April 7, 2008
DUNCAN K. MCMARTIN
’58 of Reno, Nev.,
Jan. 9, 2010
HENRY F. WOLF JR. ’60 of
Hardwick, Mass.,
June 2, 2008
BRONSON H. FARGO JR.
of Happisburgh, Norfolk,
England, Jan. 15. Fargo was
sales manager of ACIS Ltd.
Previously he was general
manager in Africa for Farrell
Lines Inc.; assistant VP
for Equator Bank Ltd. in
Lagos, Nigeria; marketing
director of Globe Holdings
in Suffolk, England; and
director of Liberia Mining
Co. At Williams he was a
junior advisor, was president
of College Council and
belonged to Gargoyle
Society, Cap and Bells,
Dance Company, the rugby
team and ski patrol. As a
student he was an ambulance
driver for the Williamstown
Fire Department. He was
chairman of the Royal
National Lifeboat Institution,
Happisburgh Station.
He served on the board
of overseers of the Joslin
Diabetes Center in Boston
and was a trustee of the
Hart Foundation. He was
a director of the Nigerian
American Chamber of
Commerce and a member
of the American African
Institute. As a Williams
alumnus he was Tyng bequest
administrator, associate
class agent and a member
of his class’s 25th reunion
reconnect committee. Among
Melinda, four children and
cousin Edward A. Fargo III
’55.
THOMAS W. SOYBEL
of Dorchester, Mass., Jan.
16. Soybel was an attorney,
first with the New York
County DA’s Office, then
as a civil litigator with
Proskauer, Rose, Goetz and
Mendelbaum. He later was
assistant college counsel at
Dartmouth. At Williams he
Purple Key and WCFM. He
Boston University (1982).
CHARLES E. DONOVAN
of Quincy, Mass., Feb.
9. Donovan was account
supervisor for DDB
Needham Worldwide Inc.
Previously he was account
executive with Backer &
Speilvogel. At Williams he
belonged to the baseball
team. Among his survivors
are his wife Anna Ilariucci
’83, two children, father
Kreag Donovan ’54 and
uncle Alan B. Donovan ’59.
1997
MANISH JAIN of Las
Vegas, Nev., April 23. Jain
had recently completed
a residency at Tulane
University and was to start
a neurosurgery practice.
He spent two years at
Williams and belonged to
the tennis team. He received
his bachelor’s degree from
University of Nevada (1999).
He received a medical degree
from Tulane (2003). Among
Donna and four children.
2006
AARON MICHAEL
PINSKY of Carlisle, Mass.,
Feb. 13. Pinsky was a market
research consultant for
Marketing and Planning
Systems in Waltham. At
Williams he was a junior
advisor, sports editor of the
Record, WCFM play-by-play
announcer for the football
Other Deaths
Of Note
A photograph of J.L. Nevill
Smythe ’49 accompanied
an obituary of David B.
Smith ’42 in the April 2010
Williams People.
Obituaries are written based
on information that alumni
and their families have
provided to the College over
the years.
01267-0676
Williamstown, MA
P.O. Box 676
Editorial Offices

August 2010 - Alumni News

Transcription

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