April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College
April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College
April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College
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<strong>Williams</strong><br />
PEOPLE<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
getting<br />
together
REPRESENTING THE ALUMNI BODY<br />
As I wind down four years of Society of<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> leadership—two as vice president and<br />
then as president—I thought I would try to<br />
answer a question many alums have asked<br />
me: What exactly is it that you do?<br />
In some ways, the position is symbolic,<br />
with inspiring duties such as welcoming each<br />
graduating class in to the Society of <strong>Alumni</strong> at<br />
Commencement and presiding over the annual<br />
meeting of the society at Reunion Weekend. I<br />
also attend trustee meetings as a non-voting<br />
member and can affirm that the board is<br />
deeply attuned to <strong>Williams</strong>’ governance and to<br />
the thoughts of alumni. And because alumni<br />
leadership is represented on presidential<br />
search committees, I was honored to represent<br />
you on the team that brought us President<br />
Adam Falk.<br />
Since <strong>Williams</strong> enjoys one of the most loyal<br />
and engaged alumni groups in the world, I<br />
also preside over the three meetings each year<br />
of the society’s executive committee, which<br />
works with the alumni relations office to<br />
connect alumni with each other and our alma<br />
mater. The executive committee works with<br />
regional associations, class officers, affinity<br />
groups, reunion volunteers and other alumni<br />
seeking to engage with the society as a whole.<br />
In recent years, the executive committee<br />
has taken a special interest in students.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> is now home to an increasingly<br />
diverse group of undergraduates, not all<br />
of whom may be prepared for the college<br />
experience. While <strong>Williams</strong> has a fantastic<br />
support system in place, we believe that<br />
alumni—many of whom may have been in<br />
similar situations—can help ensure that every<br />
student can take advantage of all our college<br />
community offers. From career mentoring to<br />
offering a sympathetic ear, I have found that<br />
alumni across the world are eager to help.<br />
That so many of you voiced concern and<br />
support after the campus racial incident last<br />
November clearly demonstrates how important<br />
students are to you. My friend, <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Relations Director Brooks Foehl ’88, describes<br />
at the end of this issue some of the actions<br />
taken by President Falk. I would also direct<br />
you to an event planned well before this<br />
awful crime took place: Now in its fourth<br />
year, Claiming <strong>Williams</strong> Day is the result of<br />
a student-driven movement to challenge the<br />
campus community to face difficult questions<br />
of inequality. Please take a moment to look<br />
over the wide range of events that took place<br />
on Feb. 2 at claiming.williams.edu. Fellow<br />
alumni who have done so have expressed<br />
great pride in this initiative.<br />
I’m glad to end this overview of my last<br />
four years with this story about current<br />
students. They are an amazingly diverse and<br />
thoughtful group of young men and women,<br />
and I am proud to have witnessed first-hand<br />
the dedication that President Falk, the faculty,<br />
staff and of course alumni have shown in<br />
shaping these future leaders.<br />
Christopher F. Giglio ‘89<br />
President, Society of <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Brooks L. Foehl ’88, Director of <strong>Alumni</strong> Relations,<br />
shares an update on campus events here
118<br />
CONTENTS<br />
4<br />
Class Notes<br />
PEOPLE<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
109<br />
<strong>Williams</strong><br />
114<br />
121<br />
123<br />
Editors<br />
Jennifer E. Grow<br />
Amy T. Lovett<br />
Student Assistant<br />
Rose D. Courteau ’14<br />
Design & Production<br />
David Edge<br />
Click on text and photos to jump<br />
to the corresponding page<br />
Editorial Offices<br />
P.O. Box 676<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267-0676<br />
tel: 413.597.4278<br />
fax: 413.597.4158<br />
e-mail: alumni.review@williams.edu<br />
http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnireview<br />
Address Changes/Updates<br />
Bio Records<br />
75 Park St.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267-2114<br />
tel: 413.597.4399<br />
fax: 413.597.4178<br />
e-mail: alumni.office@williams.edu<br />
http://alumni.williams.edu<br />
www.facebook.com/williamscollege<br />
twitter.com/williamscollege<br />
On the Cover<br />
José Pacas ’08 and Martha<br />
Rogers ’07 celebrate their<br />
May 29 wedding in Minneapolis<br />
with a host of Ephs.<br />
1932 • ‘36 • ‘37 • ‘38 • ‘39<br />
1940 • ‘41 • ‘42 • ‘43 • ‘44 • ‘45 • ‘46 • ‘47 • ‘48 • ‘49<br />
1950 • ‘51 • ‘52 • ‘53 • ‘54 • ‘55 • ‘56 • ‘57 • ‘58 • ‘59<br />
1960 • ‘61 • ‘62 • ‘63 • ‘64 • ‘65 • ‘66 • ‘67 • ‘68 • ‘69<br />
1970 • ‘71 • ‘72 • ‘73 • ‘74 • ‘75 • ‘76 • ‘77 • ‘78 • ‘79<br />
1980 • ‘81 • ‘82 • ‘83 • ‘84 • ‘85 • ‘86 • ‘87 • ‘88 • ‘89<br />
1990 • ‘91 • ‘92 • ‘93 • ‘94 • ‘95 • ‘96 • ‘97 • ‘98 • ‘99<br />
2000 • ‘01 • ‘02 • ‘03 • ‘04 • ‘05 • ‘06 • ‘07 • ‘08 • ‘09<br />
2010 • ‘11<br />
Wedding<br />
Album<br />
Births &<br />
Adoptions<br />
Obituaries<br />
47<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> magazine<br />
(USPS No. 684-580) is published in<br />
August, September, December, January,<br />
March, <strong>April</strong> and June and distributed<br />
free of charge by <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> for the<br />
Society of <strong>Alumni</strong>. Opinions expressed<br />
in this publication may not necessarily<br />
reflect those of <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> or of the<br />
Society of <strong>Alumni</strong>.<br />
Periodical postage paid at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267 and<br />
additional mailing offices.<br />
Postmaster:<br />
Send address changes to<br />
Bio Records<br />
75 Park St.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267-2114<br />
Volume 106 Number 6
CLASS NOTES<br />
1932<br />
We learned just before <strong>Williams</strong><br />
People went to press that John<br />
English passed away on March 6<br />
in Yarmouth Port, Mass. He was<br />
the last living member of the class<br />
and the oldest known <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus. John was secretary of<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> Society of<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> and director of alumni<br />
relations from 1960-75. Upon his<br />
retirement he took on the role of<br />
class secretary, serving for more<br />
than 36 years and receiving the<br />
Thurston Bowl (1982), among<br />
his many <strong>Williams</strong> awards. A<br />
detailed obituary will appear in<br />
the next issue.<br />
1936<br />
Richard U. Sherman<br />
Friendship Village Dublin<br />
6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109<br />
Dublin, OH 43017<br />
1936secretary@williams.edu<br />
1937<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Please submit notes to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267 or<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
1938<br />
George McKay<br />
2833 Wind Pump Road<br />
Fort Wayne, IN 46804<br />
1938secretary@williams.edu<br />
1939<br />
Roger Moore<br />
39 Boland Road<br />
Sharon, CT 06069<br />
Bruce Burnham celebrated his<br />
95th birthday at the Red Lion<br />
Inn in Stockbridge, Mass. He is<br />
in relatively good health, cooking,<br />
housekeeping and building<br />
a grandfather clock on his own,<br />
but “living on the edge” as he<br />
guesses most ’39ers do.<br />
Harry Gottlieb sends wishes to<br />
all classmates for a happy and<br />
healthy <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
4 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Charles Cleaver sends news<br />
that he is still driving and playing<br />
some golf and that Patty is<br />
doing well despite some joint<br />
problems.<br />
From Maud Robertson comes<br />
the sad news that Thorndike<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> passed away Nov. 3.<br />
Marilyn and Alex Carroll are<br />
well. They celebrated the arrival<br />
of his grandson, <strong>Williams</strong> Class<br />
of 2011, as a teacher at “their”<br />
charter school.<br />
Gene Smith writes she has<br />
moved into a retirement home<br />
in St. Louis, near her daughter.<br />
She continues to enjoy traveling,<br />
playing bridge and following<br />
the pursuits of her grandchildren.<br />
Holly Silverthorne sends<br />
greetings to everyone; she<br />
continues to show the spirit of<br />
out great class.<br />
Doris and John Alstrom report<br />
the winter in Wilmington<br />
has been mild thus far. They<br />
planned to “bail out,” however,<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
In January William W. Steel ’37 received a certificate of appreciation for<br />
20 years as a volunteer tutor at Mount Greylock Regional High School in<br />
Willliamstown, where he had been a teacher at Pine Cobble School. He and<br />
his wife Miriam live in Sweetwood retirement community in <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
in March, for a house they<br />
rented in Hollywood, Fla.,<br />
which is near family.<br />
Karl Mertz sends news they<br />
have had the most wonderful<br />
fall, with 47 days of sunshine.<br />
He is very pleased to see Forbes<br />
Magazine put <strong>Williams</strong> first<br />
on the liberal arts college list,<br />
ahead of Princeton.<br />
Welcome to all you ‘ninetyfivers.’<br />
’39 will not mind.<br />
1940<br />
Please submit notes to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267 or<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
1941<br />
Wayne Wilkins<br />
240 South St.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267<br />
Pete Parish<br />
6350 Sheffield Drive<br />
Hickory Corners, MI 49060<br />
1941secretary@williams.edu<br />
Submitted by Wayne Wilkins:<br />
Pete Parish was in town to<br />
attend the Winter Study course<br />
that son Will ’75 was teaching,<br />
“Environmental Education,<br />
What, How and Why.” We<br />
were delighted to have Pete and<br />
Barbara stay with us. Pete has<br />
been nominated for the Michigan<br />
Aviation Hall of Fame. I’d be<br />
happy to share with you the<br />
actual nomination statement.<br />
Here is an edited version:<br />
Preston S. Parish, military pilot<br />
and aviation executive, was<br />
born in Chicago. He was a U.S.<br />
Marine Corps machine gun<br />
company officer during the South<br />
Pacific campaigns including<br />
Guadalcanal and Peleliu, He was<br />
awarded the Bronze Star Medal.<br />
Parish was accepted into Naval<br />
Flight Training and awarded<br />
Naval Aviator wings in 1984. He<br />
was vice chairman of the Upjohn<br />
Co. Board and helped establish<br />
the Upjohn Aviation Department<br />
and select its first aircraft. In<br />
1972 he became a principal<br />
owner of KalAero, and in 1977<br />
he co-founded the Kalamazoo<br />
Aviation History Museum, now<br />
the Air Zoo. He is authorized by<br />
the FAA to fly all types of highperformance<br />
piston aircraft and<br />
has 9,500 hours of pilot time.<br />
He has served as president of<br />
Warbirds of America, trustee of<br />
EAA Foundation, and treasurer<br />
and chairman of the National<br />
Business Aircraft Association.<br />
His election should be a shoein.<br />
The only other news is taken<br />
from a story on the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
website written by Dick Quinn,<br />
the director of sports information.<br />
Pete Parish has done the<br />
editing. <strong>News</strong> of ’41 must be<br />
hard to come by when I have to<br />
write about myself! Here it is, in<br />
the third person as written.<br />
“On Fri., Dec. 16, two Eph<br />
football and baseball players<br />
met and talked about their third<br />
common bond—the Boston<br />
Bruins. Meeting for the first<br />
time were current standout wide<br />
receiver Darren Hartwell ’13 and<br />
Dr. Wayne Wilkins, who had seen<br />
Hartwell perform for the Ephs<br />
and is a dedicated Eph football<br />
fan and member of the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Sideline QB Club. The Bruins<br />
connection comes from Wilkins’<br />
past association with the NHL<br />
team as their team doctor from<br />
1969 until 1984. Hartwell<br />
covered the Bruins in January<br />
as part of the ESPNBoston staff<br />
for a Winter Study independent<br />
study project. Hartwell decided<br />
in the fall that it might be fun<br />
to broaden his sports writing<br />
résumé under the auspices of Joe<br />
McDonald of ESPN. Wilkins<br />
went on from Harvard Medical<br />
School to the Massachusetts
General Hospital, joining the<br />
Bruins as team doctor just when<br />
Bobby Orr brought the Stanley<br />
Cup back to Boston in 1970.<br />
There Wilk got to see and know<br />
one of the all-time greats in the<br />
NHL. ‘There are two things I<br />
remember about Bobby Orr<br />
that stood out,’ Wilk offered.<br />
‘One, he was unbelievable as<br />
a player. He could shoot, pass,<br />
rag the puck and defend with<br />
anyone.’ His ability to rush the<br />
puck remains the best of all time.<br />
‘Two, he was a fantastic person,<br />
a great humanitarian.’ Wilk<br />
recalled a call in his early days<br />
with the Bruins from a doctor at<br />
the Boston Children’s Hospital<br />
wondering if Wilk could get Orr<br />
to visit a 12-year-old who had<br />
had a leg amputated because<br />
of a bone sarcoma, thus ending<br />
his hockey career. Wilk replied<br />
that he would ask Orr. He<br />
agreed with one condition—no<br />
publicity. ‘I told Bobby I had one<br />
condition, too; that I go with<br />
him.’ In three hours at the ward<br />
Orr visited with every young<br />
patient, boy and girl, athlete and<br />
non-athlete, and all of the kids<br />
responded very positively to the<br />
Orr visit. One of the veteran<br />
nurses commented to Wilk: ‘I’ve<br />
only seen this kind of reception<br />
once before—when Ted <strong>Williams</strong><br />
came to visit.’ Orr was only 21!<br />
When Orr scored the overtime<br />
goal to win the cup, Wilk was<br />
on the bench; son Wayne ’79 was<br />
sitting in his seat with Suki. It<br />
was his 13th birthday.<br />
“Wilk had enjoyed Hartwell’s<br />
breakout game as a sophomore<br />
against Trinity when he caught<br />
consecutive 80-yard touchdown<br />
passes right in front of Wilk.<br />
‘It was amazing to see him run<br />
right by the defenders.’ He has<br />
had great respect for the wide<br />
receiver wearing number 1.<br />
Wilk told Darren to say hello<br />
to Don DelNegro, the Bruins<br />
head trainer and former director<br />
of sports medicine at <strong>Williams</strong>:<br />
‘He’s my last connection to the<br />
Bruins.’ Wilk loved Darren’s final<br />
comment to Quinn: ‘I hope I’m<br />
as active and energetic as he is<br />
at 92.’”<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
1942<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Thurston Holt<br />
4902 Willowood Way<br />
Norman, OK 73026<br />
1942secretary@williams.edu<br />
“She is a woman, therefore<br />
may be wooed. She is a woman,<br />
therefore may be won.”<br />
—William Shakespeare, from<br />
his play Titus Andronicus. This<br />
was a favorite passage in a discussion<br />
I had with Ben Schneider<br />
Jr., who had taught English<br />
at St. Lawrence University.<br />
He believes Hamlet is partly<br />
autobiographical.<br />
Was Hamlet strong? Ben<br />
thinks only near the end when he<br />
returned to England with a “now<br />
I must act” determination.<br />
Did such luminaries as the Earl<br />
of Oxford, Ben Jonson or Francis<br />
Bacon really write the plays and<br />
sonnets rather the rustic bard<br />
of Stratford-Upon-Avon? Ben<br />
declared, “Shakespeare really<br />
wrote them—and I can prove it!”<br />
Ben is living at Goddard<br />
House, a retirement community<br />
in Brookline, Mass. “My wife<br />
Kaye died, my right knee is bone<br />
on bone, but this is a fine place<br />
to live, and the food is good,” he<br />
reported.<br />
Phil Hammerslaugh Jr. and I<br />
went back to our freshman days.<br />
Soon after the Class of 1942<br />
arrived on campus, the college<br />
had a meeting for all freshmen.<br />
President James Phinney Baxter,<br />
Class of 1914, greeted us.<br />
Later, the dean, Hafdan<br />
Gregerson, was introduced. He<br />
said, “<strong>Williams</strong> has a bunch of<br />
rules and regulations, but you<br />
don’t even have to know what<br />
they are if you bear in mind just<br />
one thing: Be a gentleman.” He<br />
left after having spoken for only<br />
about a minute.<br />
I told Phil how much that<br />
impressed me and how valuable<br />
it has been through the years.<br />
We didn’t all follow it that fall.<br />
During a Halloween celebration,<br />
one of us got the fire hose of a<br />
hydrant going. When the dean<br />
arrived at the freshman quad to<br />
see what was going on, the guy<br />
with the hose aimed it at him<br />
and soaked him.<br />
Phil recalled the fall hurricane,<br />
a hurricane that didn’t have a<br />
name except “The Hurricane of<br />
1938.” It knocked out the bridge<br />
over the Greenfield River from<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town to North Adams,<br />
so Fred Tompkins swam across it.<br />
n 1932–42<br />
Phil went back to his boyhood.<br />
When he and Bruce Sundlun went<br />
to a camp one summer, they<br />
became co-winners of the Best<br />
Camper award. Phil kept the trophy<br />
for six months, then handed<br />
it off to Bruce for six months.<br />
Later, Phil emailed me, “David<br />
Brooks of The New York Times<br />
once ran a column about some<br />
people who stay in one job<br />
all their lives, and others who<br />
change almost every seven<br />
years like the itch. I’m one of<br />
the latter.” Is he ever! I’ll cover<br />
highlights of his whirligig career<br />
in the next issue.<br />
When I called Olivia Woodin,<br />
widow of Raye, she told me, “I’m<br />
holding my own.” She’s living<br />
in Burlington, N.C., at Asheville<br />
House, a retirement community,<br />
and writing a weekly column,<br />
“Ripples from the Pond,” for<br />
their newspaper, The Village<br />
Voice. Among her subjects are<br />
profiles of new residents and<br />
the grand outdoors, including a<br />
great blue heron that fishes in the<br />
pond, which has a fountain in<br />
the middle, and sunsets that turn<br />
the pond golden.<br />
Raye’s father, also Raye Woodin,<br />
was <strong>Williams</strong> 1898, then came<br />
our Raye, then Olivia and Raye’s<br />
daughter Eliza Lovell ’72. Who’s<br />
next?<br />
F. Thomas Ward said to me,<br />
“The presence of Dottie and<br />
Fred Rudolph in <strong>Williams</strong>town is<br />
wonderful. Taking in women is<br />
the greatest thing <strong>Williams</strong> ever<br />
did.”<br />
I told Tom I share his enthusiasm<br />
for coeducation. Quite<br />
soon after Deerfield Academy,<br />
where I was class of ’37, finally<br />
went co-ed, I was thrilled to see<br />
the cover picture of Deerfield<br />
alumni magazine: a smiling<br />
young woman baseball catcher,<br />
crouched behind home plate,<br />
mitt out, ready for the next<br />
batter.<br />
Tom and his wife Cornelia<br />
live in Sedona, Ariz., and keep in<br />
shape hiking at Flagstaff.<br />
Joan Larned, an honoree, has<br />
an apartment in NYC and a farm<br />
in Kent, Conn. “I’m selling blueberries<br />
and giving away apples,”<br />
she says.<br />
I told her an old story about<br />
Jack Larned that I didn’t think<br />
she’d heard. He lived close by<br />
when we were growing up.<br />
When he was about 7 years old,<br />
at our house one day my father<br />
asked him what he wanted to be<br />
when he grew up. “A bishop,”<br />
he answered. “I hear there’s good<br />
money in it.” (His father was a<br />
bishop.)<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 5
CLASS NOTES<br />
Mary Boyd Carreau Timberlake,<br />
widow of Shelby “Shell,” who<br />
has taught watercolor painting<br />
and been active in a theater club<br />
and the philharmonic, is thrilled<br />
to have a great-granddaughter. I<br />
told her I particularly appreciated<br />
her having said at a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> reunion, “Thursty, you<br />
look so rested,” because I’d had<br />
bags under my eyes since I was a<br />
teenager. Still do. I quoted band<br />
leader Duke Ellington referring<br />
to his as “valises of accumulated<br />
virtue.” Mary has a milestone<br />
coming up this year, to be<br />
revealed in the August issue.<br />
Art Richmond is living at Ginger<br />
Cove, a retirement community<br />
of about 300, five miles from<br />
the Naval Academy “yard” at<br />
Annapolis, Md.<br />
“I’m fine,” he said. “Walking<br />
without a cane.”<br />
I said, “There’s a splendid<br />
song called ‘Without a Song.’<br />
“Without a song the day will<br />
never end.” “Maybe you can<br />
compose a song called ‘Without<br />
a Cane.’”<br />
His creativity was instant.<br />
“Without a cane! Can feel no<br />
pain.”<br />
Art recalled that at <strong>Williams</strong><br />
football star Herb Holden gave<br />
him help and encouragement,<br />
but after he broke his jaw<br />
making a tackle, he decided he<br />
was too diminutive to continue<br />
football, so he switched to running.<br />
He said, “Even though I<br />
was only the sixth runner on our<br />
cross country team, we won the<br />
Little Three meet at Amherst a<br />
month before Pearl Harbor.”<br />
While in the Army during the<br />
war, he was engaged in transfering<br />
Japanese prisoners from New<br />
Guinea to an Australian POW<br />
camp, and in Sydney he met<br />
Australian Eugenia Philomene<br />
“Phil” Hobbins.<br />
At the end of the war he<br />
had the good fortune to be in<br />
the Philippines, so he went to<br />
Australia and married Phil at<br />
Brisbane in October 1945. After<br />
raising three children with Phil<br />
and a career in teaching, Art<br />
joined Phil playing golf on visits<br />
to New Zealand and Australia.<br />
Being evenly matched added<br />
to their enjoyment. “About all<br />
we saw in New Zealand were<br />
golf courses,” Art related. “We<br />
played there 44 times and a few<br />
times in Australia. We did see the<br />
beautiful city of Christchurch,<br />
N.Z. It was such a tragedy when<br />
an earthquake destroyed it in<br />
March 2011.” He ended with,<br />
“I frequently correspond with<br />
Dottie and Fred Rudolph.”<br />
6 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Phil died in 2008. Now all<br />
three children live within an<br />
hour’s drive of Art.<br />
The polar bear met the<br />
purple cow on Oct. 15 when my<br />
grand-niece Lindsay Steinmetz,<br />
Bowdoin ’03, married Matt<br />
Haldeman ’02 at the Wilson<br />
Memorial Chapel, Ocean Point,<br />
Maine, in a service officiated by<br />
the Rev. Rick Spalding, chaplain<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong>. Lindsay’s grandfather<br />
was Rymund P. Wurlitzer ’44.<br />
At our 55th reunion Wiliams<br />
honoree Mary Raynsford (her<br />
husband Jim having died) presented<br />
each of us with an elegant<br />
engraved letter opener made by<br />
Oneida, the famed metalsmith.<br />
It was inches from me on my<br />
desk when I called John Tuttle,<br />
who had been publisher of the<br />
Oneida Dispatch, a small daily<br />
paper. Unfortunately Mary is no<br />
longer with us. Jim had worked<br />
for Oneida (Indian name). John<br />
told me of the demise of Oneida.<br />
I lamented the demise of another<br />
famed company, Steuben Glass,<br />
a U.S. maker of handcrafted<br />
crystal for more than a century.<br />
When we talked about John<br />
and Charlie’s son John Jr. having<br />
moved to Paris, married a<br />
French woman and become a<br />
translator of books and letters, I<br />
recalled how at a United Nations<br />
day at the University of Maine-<br />
Orono, when several of us were<br />
counseling a student gathering<br />
on possible international careers,<br />
I suggested translator. Bruce<br />
Stedman, a former assistant<br />
U.N. secretary-general, agreed<br />
it would be a fine career, then<br />
added, “To be a really successful<br />
translator you have to be able to<br />
dream in a foreign language.”<br />
John had a short foreign career.<br />
As Bruce Sundlun described it in<br />
the August ’08 <strong>Williams</strong> People,<br />
during WWII, “He graduated<br />
from college, then tried to enter<br />
the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps,<br />
Army and Air Force but was<br />
rejected by all those services<br />
because of bad eyesight. In frustration<br />
he then went to England<br />
and enlisted in the British Army<br />
as an infantryman. He saw<br />
combat service in Italy and in<br />
the fighting the British infantry<br />
did up the boot of Italy after the<br />
invasion of Anzio, which was<br />
tough, and there were many<br />
casualties. But John escaped<br />
without injuries.” John and<br />
Charlie have been married 64<br />
years and are happily living in<br />
North Palm Beach, Fla.<br />
In Memoriam: A tourist in<br />
Maine approached a man sitting<br />
on his front porch.<br />
“I’m trying to get to the<br />
Widgery Jordans.’ Do you know<br />
them?” he asked.<br />
“Ayah, I do. They got a big<br />
house. Well, you drive straight<br />
on out to the third crossroads.<br />
Come to think of it, you take the<br />
fourth crossroads. Go left theyah.<br />
Jordans’ is the fourth house<br />
on the right. No, it’s the third<br />
house.”<br />
“You seem a little confused.”<br />
“But I aren’t lost.”<br />
On another occasion a tourist<br />
asked a Maine native how to get<br />
to Calais.<br />
“Theyah’s lotsah roads out<br />
theyah that’s crisscrossin’. You<br />
can’t get theyah from heeah.”<br />
These were two of the<br />
downeast stories, with which<br />
the late John Daly would regale<br />
a wide audience, including<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> reunioners. Where did<br />
he pick up the knack? From a<br />
friend in Maine who was an<br />
expert on telling stories in dialect.<br />
Do you remember any of them?<br />
If so, send them to me, and I’ll<br />
include them in these notes.<br />
Here are a few details in addition<br />
to the write-up in December.<br />
Jack was a star football player,<br />
served in the Navy on an aircraft<br />
carrier, was the head linesman<br />
at the Sugar Bowl, the Army-<br />
Navy game and the Harvard-<br />
Yale game, and was Northeast<br />
regional manager for Kelvenator<br />
Corp., a manufacturer of<br />
electoral appliances. Jack was<br />
a widely known football and<br />
hockey official. Among his many<br />
honors, the annual Jack Daly golf<br />
tournament at the Sandy Burr<br />
Golf Club in Wayland, Mass.<br />
Sarah Brower, wife of Bruce—<br />
no obit available.<br />
Helene Hirson and her husband<br />
Miles, who died in 1987, had a<br />
daughter and two sons. Helene<br />
lived most of her life in Rye,<br />
N.Y., where she was a member<br />
of the Apawamis Club for almost<br />
40 years. From her obit: “She<br />
attended Marymount <strong>College</strong><br />
in Tarrytown, N.Y. She was<br />
employed as a showroom model<br />
by Hattie Carnegie Co. in NYC.<br />
Mrs. Hirson was a vibrant and<br />
fun-loving woman who loved<br />
to travel and play tennis and<br />
bridge. Her enthusiastic spirit will<br />
be missed.” Surely she enjoyed<br />
the picture on p. 156 in our<br />
50th reunion book of Miles and<br />
Hank Kaldenbaugh clowning in<br />
jodhpurs.<br />
Margaret “Maggie” McCann,<br />
wife of Ted—no obit available.<br />
Carol McGill loved living in<br />
Darien, Conn., 56 years. During<br />
some of her last outings, she
Bill Brewer ’43 welcomed daughter Anita Brewer-Siljeholm ’75 for a visit<br />
at his Galesville, Md., home in February.<br />
would exclaim, “What a beautiful<br />
town this is!” She married<br />
Don during WWII, when he was<br />
a Navy officer. Don was decorated<br />
for his bravery as a PT boat<br />
commanding officer in the South<br />
Pacific. Carol had a patriotic<br />
role during the war as a Red<br />
Cross volunteer. According to her<br />
obit: “She also worked for the<br />
Office of Civil Defense in close<br />
proximity to Eleanor Roosevelt,<br />
whom she greatly admired.” As<br />
an only child Carol’s dream was<br />
to have a large family. It turned<br />
out to be four children, and “she<br />
adopted a few stray children over<br />
the years.”<br />
Don and Carol had two Eph<br />
sons: Sandy ’73 and William ’83.<br />
Among her extensive community<br />
activities Carol was<br />
“especially fond of STAR, the<br />
Society to Advance the Retarded,<br />
where she devoted countless<br />
hours to advance care for the<br />
handicapped.”<br />
Barbara Aldene Morse was born<br />
in Cambridge, Mass. In 1948<br />
she married Robert E. Morse, and<br />
they had five children. A member<br />
of the Daughters of the American<br />
Revolution, “Morse served as<br />
director of volunteers at the<br />
Redlands Community Hospital,<br />
volunteering 4,000 hours when<br />
‘Pink Ladies’ were in existence.<br />
Morse is described by her family<br />
and friends as having great vision<br />
and artistic talent.” She was passionate<br />
in her support of the arts<br />
and local artists.<br />
Joanne Morse, a daughter,<br />
whose great-grandfather invented<br />
the Morse Code, emailed Liz<br />
Hannock, “Mother loved that she<br />
was kept informed and included<br />
as an honorary member of the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Class of 1942 after my<br />
father, Robert E. Morse, passed<br />
away in 2007. I would be happy<br />
to carry on the connection with<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> in honor of my parents<br />
and my grandfather (Class of<br />
1909) if that’s appropriate.”<br />
It certainly is. Thanks for your<br />
enthusiasm.<br />
Barbara and Robert were married<br />
59 years.<br />
Lenore Ott, who reached<br />
the age of 97, graduated from<br />
the University of Denver and<br />
received a master’s degree in education.<br />
Then she taught kindergarten<br />
in Denver public schools<br />
for 30 years. From her obit:<br />
“She was an enthusiastic and<br />
expert mountaineer and skier.<br />
Together with her husband Allen<br />
W. Greene she climbed all 54 of<br />
Colorado’s depth peaks. She and<br />
Allen also climbed extensively<br />
out of state: Mount Rainier and<br />
Mount Baker in Washington and<br />
the Grand Teton and Gannet<br />
Peak in Wyoming, volcanoes in<br />
Mexico and peaks in Peru.”<br />
Of course this Daughter of the<br />
American Revolution belonged<br />
to the Colorado Mountain<br />
Club. She supported Goodwill<br />
Industries, the Colorado<br />
Symphony and the Lamont<br />
School of Music. After her first<br />
n 1942–43<br />
husband died, she married Roy<br />
Ott, who predeceased her. Her<br />
son Benjamin Rhodes lives in<br />
Grosse Point, Mich., and her<br />
daughter Susan Brown lives in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
Coming to our 70th reunion:<br />
Mary Anderson, Leslie Beran,<br />
John Gibson, Phil Hammerslaugh<br />
Jr., Liz Hannock, Thurston Holt,<br />
Janet MacDonald, Dottie and<br />
Fred Rudolph and Bill Sammons.<br />
Maybe: Byron Benton, Mary<br />
Bartlett Reynolds and Felix Smith.<br />
Here’s hoping the maybes<br />
convert to yeses and we add even<br />
more. Watch for a 1941 Buick<br />
convertible joining the ’42 section<br />
of the <strong>Alumni</strong> Parade.<br />
1943<br />
Fred Nathan<br />
180 East End Ave., Apt. 22G<br />
New York, NY 10128<br />
1943secretary@williams.edu<br />
Malcolm MacGruer, our energetic<br />
president and substitute<br />
class secretary for the last three<br />
issues, contributed a great first<br />
two paragraphs for this issue of<br />
class notes: “My notes are mixed<br />
with happiness and sadness at<br />
this juncture. Happiness because<br />
Fred Nathan has resumed the<br />
duties of class secretary. McGurk<br />
is delighted that he has picked up<br />
his quill again. Sadness because<br />
we have all lost a dear friend<br />
and leader in December, Doc<br />
Phillips. He ran almost everything<br />
while at <strong>Williams</strong>: head of<br />
Gargoyle and of Phi Beta Kappa,<br />
editor of the Record, JA, honor<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
A Columbian mammoth skull, unearthed by Brainerd “Nip” Mears<br />
Jr. ’43 in 1961, has been on tour since 2009, with a stop at the Field<br />
Museum in Chicago, where it was cleaned and repaired. The fossil, also<br />
nicknamed “Nip,” will be on display at museums around the country<br />
until March 2014 before heading back to the University of Wyoming’s<br />
Geological Museum. Mears was a professor of geology at University of<br />
Wyoming and found the skull near Rawlins in Carbon County, Wyo.<br />
system, Chapel Committee, Tyng<br />
Scholar, assoc. editor of Purple<br />
Cow, Class Day Committee<br />
and a number of lesser jobs.<br />
And following graduation he<br />
distinguished himself as an outstanding<br />
lawyer, ’43 class agent,<br />
VP and loyal reunioner. His<br />
prize-winning needlework (see<br />
Westminster Abbey and King<br />
George’s Chapel at Windsor), his<br />
bridge playing and his counsel<br />
and guidance are only a few of<br />
the characteristics for which we<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 7
CLASS NOTES<br />
will all remember and miss Doc.<br />
We send our heartfelt condolences<br />
to his wife Marty.”<br />
McGurk also reported that<br />
the construction of his weekly<br />
crossword puzzle keeps his<br />
“brain hard at work, active<br />
and stimulated.” He invites any<br />
interested classmate who is a<br />
puzzle aficionado and an email<br />
receiver to inquire about the<br />
possibility of getting on his list<br />
by emailing semper.eph@att.net.<br />
Finally, McGurk performs yet<br />
another duty: The <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund<br />
report shows there are 44 class<br />
members on the solicitation list<br />
(down from 248 in September<br />
1939), and as of this writing 50<br />
percent had contributed, many of<br />
them in memory of Doc. By the<br />
time these notes are published<br />
we’re hoping for a donation level<br />
of 80 percent.<br />
Al James, Doc’s good friend<br />
and fellow Deke and a co-leading<br />
light of our class, wrote: “1943<br />
has lost one of its most illustrious<br />
members in the passing of our<br />
friend and leader Doc Phillips. He<br />
came to <strong>Williams</strong> with a good<br />
mind and left it with powerful<br />
intellect, social graces and<br />
a sense of community. Indeed,<br />
in my view <strong>Williams</strong> shaped<br />
Doc as much as any one influence.<br />
Little wonder then that<br />
he graduated owning the most<br />
prestigious prize the college<br />
can confer on a member of the<br />
graduating class. Phinney Baxter,<br />
Class of 1914, co-opted Fred<br />
Nathan, Dave Brown and me to<br />
serve as a board to select the<br />
winner. In a matter of minutes<br />
we unanimously picked Doc.<br />
In him the college had one of<br />
its most devoted alumni. We<br />
may, as Macaulay wrote, have<br />
‘bitter tears to shed,’ but they are<br />
not so bitter when we can give<br />
thanks for a life of the richness<br />
of Doc’s.”<br />
Al has sent off his latest Henry<br />
James oeuvre to the University<br />
of Virginia Press. Al is one of the<br />
longest-term and most prolific<br />
“literary lions” in our class,<br />
which has an extraordinary<br />
number of lions.<br />
Our treasurer, Walter Stults,<br />
commented on the magnificent<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
8 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
job that Doc did as our class<br />
agent and as a leader for almost<br />
70 years of our class’s activities.<br />
Jean and Walter are dividing<br />
their time between Chapel Hill,<br />
N.C., and Georgetown, Maine,<br />
except for one or two trips a<br />
year, mostly cruises “as befits our<br />
years.” Last year they took a trip<br />
up the Amazon, and by the time<br />
this issue is printed, they will<br />
have taken one up the coast of<br />
South America.<br />
Len Eaton, another literary lion,<br />
recalls Doc as a “lively contributor<br />
to the memorable senior<br />
seminars in American history<br />
and literature” (as does your<br />
secretary).<br />
Joan and Bill Wilson’s move to<br />
California “caused a big shakeup”<br />
in Bill’s life. He is glad that<br />
they have retained their contact<br />
with the East through their camp<br />
at Old Forge, N.Y., where they<br />
“will spend a good part of next<br />
summer.”<br />
Ivy and Nip Wilson report from<br />
Fort Myers, Fla., that their own<br />
news was scarce until he found<br />
Sallie Soule (Gardner’s widow)<br />
being interviewed on a local TV<br />
station about her collection of<br />
approximately 140 international<br />
Santa Claus objects. “I may be<br />
the only one here who calls her<br />
‘Senator’ in recognition of her<br />
service for Vermont.” Nip also<br />
reports that he seems to have<br />
battled his thyroid cancer to a<br />
draw and plans to outlive it and<br />
regain his normal speaking voice.<br />
Ken Moore, who is bedridden,<br />
was reading a book that Doc<br />
sent him when he managed to<br />
lose it (in his bed) before he<br />
could finish it. “C’est la vie,”<br />
writes Ken.<br />
Brainerd “Nip” Mears Jr.’s wife<br />
Anne reports that Nip supervised<br />
the disinterment of a fossil mammoth<br />
skull in Rawlins, Wyo.,<br />
in 1961. It has been nicknamed<br />
“Nip” and is on tour across the<br />
country, including Chicago and<br />
New York. On its return, “Nip”<br />
(named after Mears, not Wilson)<br />
will be ensconced in a place of<br />
honor at the newly renovated<br />
University of Wyoming Museum.<br />
Brainerd’s “last hurrah” was to<br />
rescue this part of the museum<br />
from being “axed for budgetary<br />
reasons.” He is now at the<br />
Laramie Care Nursing Home,<br />
P.O. Box 447, Laramie, Wyo.<br />
82073.<br />
Nick Fellner writes:<br />
“Recognizing that 90 has come<br />
and gone, we’ve put our house<br />
on the market and have moved<br />
to Edgehill” (122 Palmers Hill<br />
Road, Stamford, Conn. 06902).<br />
He quickly found two other<br />
alums there. He is relieved that<br />
his doctor has restricted him<br />
from driving “for only one<br />
week.”<br />
Martha Tolles recalls a story<br />
that her late husband Roy (a<br />
founding partner of the law firm<br />
that has represented Berkshire<br />
Hathaway forever) told about<br />
an event where Doc and Marty<br />
were playing bridge with Marty’s<br />
parents. Reaching under the table<br />
to pat Marty’s knee, he patted<br />
the wrong one. Doc handled his<br />
mother-in-law’s surprised reaction<br />
with his characteristic calm<br />
diplomacy. Martha is happy that<br />
she is still writing stories for The<br />
Los Angeles Times, the last one<br />
for the children’s page about the<br />
Civil War.<br />
Renee Hills, whose husband<br />
Don passed away last Aug. 4,<br />
writes, “Don talked about his<br />
days at <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> often. I<br />
think it was the happiest time in<br />
his life before he was drafted into<br />
the Army.” Renee still belongs<br />
to the <strong>Williams</strong> Club, although<br />
“It’s not the way it was on 39th<br />
Street—but then what is?”<br />
Also a nice note from Phyllis<br />
Blair, Tom’s widow, mourning<br />
Doc’s death. And a nice<br />
note (and a check to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
<strong>College</strong>) from Mary Stine, John’s<br />
widow. Mary is also a sister<br />
of Len Schlosser ’44 and has a<br />
nephew and a grandson who<br />
attended <strong>Williams</strong>. She writes,<br />
“It is a privilege to keep up with<br />
what’s going on at <strong>Williams</strong>”<br />
through the <strong>Alumni</strong> Review and<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People.<br />
As we have been previously<br />
advised, all <strong>Williams</strong> deaths are<br />
now recorded toward the end of<br />
these publications and will not be<br />
mentioned in this column unless<br />
we have special information or<br />
class comments.<br />
Your secretary attended a preview<br />
at the Century Association<br />
on Jan. 10 of Crazy Horse,<br />
the latest of 39 documentaries<br />
by Fred Wiseman ’51 (Yale<br />
Law ’54) and had an interesting<br />
talk with Fred afterwards.<br />
Wiseman is arguably the greatest<br />
and certainly the most prolific<br />
documentary film producer. One<br />
of his earliest and best known<br />
films, Titicut Follies (1967), so<br />
vividly described a Dickensian<br />
insane asylum in Massachusetts<br />
that a wave of reform followed<br />
its release. Crazy Horse deals<br />
with a Parisian nightclub that<br />
is the leading presenter of nude<br />
ballets. This film opened the following<br />
week (at “art theaters,”<br />
not your local movie house) and
is reviewed on the front page of<br />
the theater section of the Jan. 18<br />
New York Times. See this film,<br />
if you can find it. Your secretary<br />
did—with a receptive audience<br />
of about 100 distinguished men<br />
and women, average age over<br />
60. During the question-andanswer<br />
period afterwards, Fred<br />
described his techniques, which<br />
include taking (in this case) 150<br />
hours of film and then spending<br />
approximately a year cutting<br />
and editing it. He does not start<br />
or end with a point of view but<br />
tries to give a clear, fair, apolitical,<br />
carefully-organized and<br />
entertaining report, including<br />
the geographical and historical<br />
background. He succeeded.<br />
Fran and I expect to be in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town with son Fred Jr.<br />
’83 and his family on commencement<br />
weekend in June. We hope<br />
to see Helen and Ralph Renzi<br />
and any ’43ers who let me know<br />
where I can find them.<br />
1944<br />
Hudson Mead<br />
8 Stratford Place<br />
Grosse Pointe, MI 48230<br />
Trusting most everybody had<br />
a good Christmas holiday. I<br />
never say “vacation” anymore<br />
because there is hardly a working<br />
stiff among us, unless you count<br />
Uncle Miltie, who is always<br />
busy—from meeting the famous<br />
(Ken Burns) to taking over from<br />
our late and dear class agent Jim<br />
Lester. If there is anybody who<br />
will have done a good job it is<br />
Milt Prigoff. It is in the nature of<br />
the beast.<br />
I had a reasonable response<br />
from my last-minute plea. Percy<br />
Nelson sent his annual family<br />
photo. The changes in appearance<br />
appear mainly in the<br />
young—keep up the appearances,<br />
Percy.<br />
Those of you who were lucky<br />
enough to get Mary and Hank<br />
Flint’s Xmas card enjoyed<br />
the view of The Hopper on<br />
the northern flank of Mount<br />
Greylock. He says, “We are<br />
fortunate to be living in such a<br />
serenely beautiful part of this<br />
tormented world.” Ahlsay!<br />
Helen Corroon wrote in early<br />
November that Bob’s and her<br />
daughter (Class of ’84) ran the<br />
Paris to Versailles marathon,<br />
did very well and plans to run<br />
the NYC one in November. I’ve<br />
got one of those, Helen, my<br />
daughter-in-law Diana, whose<br />
daughter’s graduation from<br />
eighth grade this coming June (it<br />
is quite a ceremony at her school<br />
in Denver) caused her to scrap<br />
her plans to fly to Sweden to run<br />
in a 20-miler. Ah, youth!<br />
I quote Shep Poor’s note in full:<br />
“I cannot believe that anything<br />
that happened to me recently<br />
is of the slightest interest to<br />
anyone else. This includes having<br />
a pacemaker installed, which<br />
should keep me going until I join<br />
you 90-year-olds next August.”<br />
So nice to see you young folks<br />
coming along.<br />
Another chap who alludes to<br />
his health is Ross Macdonald. (It<br />
is better.) Still busy, taking time<br />
off from his scientific studies for<br />
the publishing of three papers to<br />
get into genealogy of one of his<br />
relatives. Ross should be pretty<br />
good at this when you consider<br />
he has eight grandchildren who<br />
have graduated from college and<br />
who are now in graduate school<br />
at Yale, Miami and Chicago as<br />
well as the law school of U.C. at<br />
Boulder, Colo., and another at<br />
Georgetown and still another at<br />
Bucknell. The prize, though, is<br />
Worth ’11, who is planning to be<br />
a professional golfer. How about<br />
that!<br />
The Whit (Bob, that is) was<br />
spending some time in Florida<br />
as well as St. Simon’s Island in<br />
Georgia before retiring back<br />
to the hills of Franconia, N.H.<br />
Speaking of New Hampshire, I<br />
see where there has been quite a<br />
political stir in them thar’ hills—<br />
just finished before these notes<br />
were written. That photo of Mitt<br />
Romney and his family of 15 on<br />
the front page of The New York<br />
Times evoked a memory of meeting<br />
Romney himself with all of<br />
his siblings at his father’s house<br />
when he was about 15. I was<br />
deeply involved in father George<br />
Romney’s campaign for governor<br />
back in 1962.<br />
That “dabbing” came naturally,<br />
as my own father, Harry<br />
H. Mead, was no dabber but<br />
was engrossed in politics on<br />
the way up the ladder of the<br />
practice of law. With him it was<br />
a case of always a bridegroom<br />
and never a bride; he ran all of<br />
the campaigns for public office<br />
of his friend from law school,<br />
the late Justice Frank Murphy,<br />
but when he tried it himself in<br />
1933 and ran for mayor he did<br />
not make it. Murphy’s record<br />
caught President Roosevelt’s eye:<br />
Recorder’s Court and mayor of<br />
the City of Detroit and finally<br />
governor of Michigan—the<br />
first successful and the second<br />
not. Lucky for Frank<br />
Murphy. Roosevelt appointed<br />
n 1943–44<br />
him attorney general. Murphy<br />
immediately decided to go after<br />
the gutter politicians who ran the<br />
big cities on it its merits, let us<br />
say, in addition to his inordinate<br />
ambition—forgetting that it<br />
was the gutter politicians who<br />
produced the Democratic votes.<br />
He was relieved of his crusade,<br />
not like Joan of Arc, but by being<br />
appointed to the Supreme Court<br />
of the U.S. Actually, to Murphy<br />
that was almost worse that the<br />
fate Joan suffered: Murphy was<br />
disappointed because as far back<br />
as the University of Michigan<br />
law school he had let it be<br />
known that he, Frank Murphy,<br />
was going to be the first Catholic<br />
president of the U.S. Well, you<br />
can’t win ’em all. My source<br />
for “the rest of my story” on<br />
Murphy is, needless to say, my<br />
father. James McGregor Burns ’39,<br />
take note! A bit of history not in<br />
the books—or is it?<br />
Jack Talbot slid into the 90s via<br />
a family birthday party Sept. 4<br />
(So did mine, Jack, same day in<br />
Denver—I called it my “anticipatory”<br />
birthday party with a<br />
candle wish to make the real<br />
thing: Dec. 16.) I was honored<br />
then by a limerick composed<br />
and delivered by a good friend,<br />
Jack Renick, at Prismatic Club:<br />
“Getting old can be kind of<br />
cruddy/but not when you are<br />
going like Huddy/He is not a bit<br />
fragile/He’s smart and he’s agile/<br />
And we’re glad to call him our<br />
buddy.” Thanks, Jack.<br />
Bob Luttrell observed his<br />
90th birthday on Nov. 22 and<br />
retired from the practice of<br />
psychiatry on Dec. 31. To spare<br />
Roberta from having to cook<br />
Thanksgiving dinner he took the<br />
whole family to the Dominican<br />
Republic for a week. There were<br />
27 in the party, all of which<br />
evokes a line from Tom Lehrer:<br />
“Doing well while doing good.”<br />
Tom Buffinton has a problem<br />
not likely to be encountered by<br />
his classmates: He lives someplace<br />
where the deer, if not the<br />
antelope, play, and that means,<br />
“Look out for Lyme disease!”<br />
Tom did—he took a pill and had<br />
a severe reaction. He survived<br />
and recalls how he started out<br />
with his dear wife 63 years ago<br />
with no money, a job that paid<br />
next to nothing but the hope that<br />
things would work out—they<br />
did! He and Sally carry on!<br />
A word from another of our<br />
ladies: Ruth Buck, who turns out<br />
to be another world traveler:<br />
Istanbul. Her daughter Cathy<br />
accompanied her mother—something<br />
she has been doing since<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 9
CLASS NOTES<br />
she was born, the first baby born<br />
to a member of the Class of ’44.<br />
Right on!<br />
Herb Bell keeps in touch<br />
with family at Chapel Hill and<br />
Charleston and avers, “I still<br />
drive some, but my vision is not<br />
great.” That comment evokes<br />
Milton’s sonnet on his blindness—remember?<br />
“—that one<br />
talent which is death to hide, lost<br />
from me useless—.”<br />
Marty Oberrender favored<br />
me with an Xmas card with<br />
a photo of their cute (Sorry!<br />
That’s the only word for it!)<br />
retirement house in addition<br />
to their unfairly (to the rest of<br />
us) handsome grandchildren.<br />
A granddaughter Eliza Noyes<br />
was accepted to <strong>Williams</strong>. How<br />
to go!<br />
John Royal has died, a resident<br />
of Haskins, N.Y.<br />
Milt Prigoff’s email, a la Paul<br />
Revere, is signed “Special<br />
Agent,” so I shall be careful to<br />
use the correct appellation. He<br />
laments the decline and fall of<br />
the U.S. and alludes particularly<br />
to Detroit, which is outside the<br />
“close”: Grosse Point. Yes—but<br />
Milt. Chrysler, which has a<br />
plant a few miles down the main<br />
drag into town from us, has<br />
just announced plans to make<br />
another line of cars at that plant<br />
(Jefferson-North), which means a<br />
lot filled with 1,000 cars at a time<br />
(a beautiful sight) awaiting transshipment,<br />
all of which means<br />
more jobs and steady work. The<br />
auto show is in progress as I<br />
write, and it holds great promise<br />
for the industry this year. Never<br />
mind that our previous mayor’s<br />
prison term is about up—brace<br />
yourself—and the owner of the<br />
international bridge to Canada<br />
is in jail for contempt of court.<br />
Yes, the Ambassador Bridge here<br />
in Detroit is not an international<br />
bridge. It is privately owned.<br />
That, too, is the subject of great<br />
controversy and swirls around<br />
whether to build a second bridge,<br />
and, if so, its ownership. Stay<br />
tuned.<br />
1945<br />
Frederick Wardwell<br />
P.O. Box 118<br />
Searsmont, ME 04973<br />
1945secretary@williams.edu<br />
The October minireunion<br />
produced a very pleasant time for<br />
the six classmates and three wives<br />
who attended. Presentations by<br />
recipients of our class fellowship<br />
program were greatly varied and<br />
intellectually very interesting.<br />
10 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Nine students described their<br />
several weeks in foreign countries<br />
studying everything from the rise<br />
and fall of squash in Pakistan to<br />
Palestinian graffiti, memories of<br />
WWII in Japan, domestic abuse<br />
in Egypt, discrimination of Afro<br />
descendants in Central America<br />
and more. Yanie Fecu ’10, this<br />
year’s Florence Chandler Fellow,<br />
spoke of her year’s study of the<br />
power and purpose of choral<br />
music, and it was remarkably<br />
interesting. This all took place<br />
Friday afternoon and was followed<br />
by a dinner out at a new<br />
place, name now forgotten, but it<br />
was very social and good in every<br />
way including the mathematical<br />
issues in determining who was<br />
to pay for what and how much,<br />
since the bill, not small, was<br />
oversimplified and designed for<br />
debate.<br />
Saturday a.m. was taken up<br />
by a fine lecture put on by the<br />
college on how our converging<br />
interests in South America are<br />
affecting our foreign relations<br />
and the p.m. by a football<br />
game against Tufts in which<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> barely prevailed. Fred<br />
Scarborough and wife Gay had<br />
the whole group for cocktails<br />
and dinner after the game, with<br />
a class meeting, the telling of<br />
stories and reminiscences of some<br />
good and some sad times—all<br />
in front of a lovely fire in the<br />
fireplace. In attendance for most<br />
of all this were Gil Lefferts, Mary<br />
and Stu Coan, Ed Bloch, Dave<br />
Goodheart, Dick Morrill, Gay and<br />
Fred Scarborough and Ann and<br />
Fred Wardwell.<br />
Ed Bloch, wife and daughter<br />
had just returned from China<br />
in time for our mini after a<br />
remarkable two weeks there.<br />
His trip was more or less to pay<br />
penance for having his Marines<br />
shoot up a Chinese village while<br />
simultaneously cooperating with<br />
but disarming Japanese troops,<br />
all immediately after the Japanese<br />
surrender. Apparently his guys<br />
didn’t shoot straight, for he was<br />
given a hero’s welcome, asked<br />
to speak at two universities and<br />
several clubs and was overfed at<br />
several dinners. After some 66<br />
years of feeling guilt, he was on<br />
top of the world.<br />
Stu Coan is delighted to report<br />
that the dizziness that led to a<br />
fall was not a stroke but was<br />
simple vertigo, and that he has<br />
now improved enough to put the<br />
cane aside.<br />
Annette, daughter of June<br />
Bremer, widow of Bill, wrote that<br />
her mother plays bridge twice a<br />
week, takes classes in politics and<br />
film and lives at 5 Wood Lane in<br />
Locust Valley, N.H. Annette and<br />
husband visit weekly and find<br />
their stories of Cambodia very<br />
interesting to June.<br />
Bud Edwards apparently never<br />
slows down. He reports playing<br />
tennis twice a week, swimming<br />
in the Bowdoin college pool three<br />
times a week and, given reasonable<br />
weather, using his motor<br />
and sail boats. He and Sue have<br />
kids all over, and they all seem<br />
just fine.<br />
Harold Gilboard says life is great<br />
in Laguna, Calif., and that he is<br />
not getting back to New England<br />
very often. One supposes he likes<br />
to get a tan.<br />
Sad last-minute news that Gil<br />
Lefferts’ wife C.C. died in early<br />
January. She was a great addition<br />
to the group, and I think the class<br />
will sorely miss her enthusiasm<br />
and cheer at <strong>Williams</strong> events.<br />
Strother Marshall excused his<br />
difficult handwriting as being a<br />
function of a stroke, but he is<br />
living alone, albeit with help. He<br />
thinks California is the place to<br />
be and loves the weather most of<br />
the time.<br />
Mary Elizabeth McClellan,<br />
widow of Bruce, wrote just before<br />
Christmas that her mother-in-law<br />
advised that every Christmas is<br />
different and that you have to<br />
decide what not to do. She has<br />
many kids and grandkids, really<br />
too many to enumerate here, but<br />
they are writing books, teaching,<br />
camping and doing about everything<br />
you can think of. Mary Liz<br />
and Bruce went to Lawrenceville<br />
in 1950, he as headmaster, and<br />
now she has been voted an<br />
honorary member of the Class of<br />
1960 there, so she can attend a<br />
new 60th.<br />
Pete McNerney reported from<br />
Lincoln, Mass., that Newt and<br />
the Tea Party drove him to distraction,<br />
but the book The Great<br />
Disruption by Paul Gilding is a<br />
must-read for your children and<br />
grandchildren and that it ends<br />
on a somewhat optimistic note<br />
and a very important message.<br />
He has a self-published book<br />
just coming off the press, based<br />
on his years of journal keeping,<br />
and he claims that those<br />
who have looked at it are very<br />
complimentary. His daughter<br />
Caroline ’85 helped with some of<br />
the grunt work.<br />
Art Nims and Nancy have quit<br />
DC and moved to the retirement<br />
community of Fox Hill<br />
in Westwood, Mass., and he<br />
says he loves being fully retired.<br />
Daughter Lucy and family live<br />
nearby in Needham.
Parker Smith died in October<br />
after several tries at overcoming<br />
his bladder cancer.<br />
Bill Snyder is adjusting to losing<br />
his wife Challis after 63 years but<br />
will stay in Vero Beach, Fla., for<br />
the winter, though Bronxville,<br />
N.Y., is still headquarters. He<br />
finds it hard to think that Pearl<br />
Harbor was 70 years ago, but<br />
maybe that is why he is beginning<br />
to prefer nine holes to 18. He is<br />
contemplating a retirement community<br />
but keeps putting it off.<br />
Arthur Stevenson says he<br />
and Margaret are plugging<br />
along at Rivermead, a wonderful<br />
retirement community in<br />
Peterborough, N.H., but he finds<br />
his eternal optimism hard to<br />
maintain when the thought of<br />
our government’s performance<br />
comes up. He is very concerned<br />
about the federal deficit but less<br />
so about holding his own in the<br />
local duplicate bridge club.<br />
Don Potter in Clinton, N.Y.,<br />
had finished many years’ work<br />
putting together the 150 years<br />
of his family’s history and is<br />
now hooked on sesquicentennial<br />
celebrations. He is writing the<br />
history of St. James Church in<br />
Clinton, covering the years 1862-<br />
<strong>2012</strong>, and says it is far from<br />
mundane.<br />
Tim Tyler’s wife Nancy died<br />
last June, but he claims to be<br />
surviving nicely in Denver with<br />
the help of his family nearby. As<br />
of January he felt the snow in the<br />
mountains was building up nicely<br />
and hoped to be skiing soon.<br />
Ann Traylor, Dave Traylor’s<br />
widow, fell and broke her neck<br />
almost two years ago and in<br />
the process killed the nerves in<br />
her left ear, thus impeding her<br />
balance control. The upshot was<br />
that she sold her beautiful condo<br />
and now has an apartment in a<br />
dandy retirement home in Essex,<br />
Conn., and feels that this is the<br />
way to go. She didn’t miss many<br />
reunions and regretted missing<br />
our last two minis.<br />
Barclay Trippe passed away last<br />
June, according to wife Nancy,<br />
after a nasty bout with cancer.<br />
Nancy is still living in their old<br />
house in Easton, Md., with<br />
daughter Nancy next-door and<br />
three other daughters away at<br />
school. She and Barc had 60<br />
good years together.<br />
Nat Wilmot says he is not listed<br />
as a serial killer and that he and<br />
his third wife, Dorathea, have<br />
been married for over 30 years.<br />
He retired 21 years ago as a VP<br />
of Textron Corp., and collectively<br />
he and Dorathea had five kids<br />
and 11 grandchildren. He didn’t<br />
say whether they were all in<br />
Niskayuna, N.Y., or not, but if<br />
so the town must be larger and<br />
better.<br />
Katy Winant, widow of Jake,<br />
has published a book since Jake<br />
died, titled One Washcloth, One<br />
Towel, hoping it may help others<br />
to adjust to the loss of a spouse.<br />
It can be accessed on www.northshire.com/printdemand.<br />
Type in<br />
“One Washcloth.” Katy is still<br />
living pleasantly in <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
but says attending class reunions<br />
is hard.<br />
We have sustained more losses<br />
than listed above, namely: Don<br />
Brumbaugh, Don Davies and Dave<br />
Nash. Their obituaries are in the<br />
last section of this edition of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People.<br />
And so as to not end on the<br />
note of obituaries, I will note that<br />
Ann and I (Fred Wardwell) have<br />
just spent a hectic Christmas visiting<br />
with kids in Wellesley, Mass.,<br />
and Mont Vernon, N.H. So far<br />
this winter I have not needed to<br />
test the new snow blower, and I<br />
hope tomorrow to join friends<br />
ice boating nearby. Ann will be<br />
happy to not join me but will<br />
instead hunker down with the<br />
large pile of books we were given<br />
for Christmas. Life is very good.<br />
1946<br />
Gates McG. Helms<br />
5 Troon Court<br />
Maplewood, NJ 07040<br />
1946secretary@williams.edu<br />
Dear fellow survivors of the<br />
Great Class of 1946: The obituaries<br />
from <strong>Williams</strong> are coming<br />
in to me at an increasing rate of<br />
late, I’m sorry to report. The one<br />
that will impact many the most<br />
is that of George F. Pieper, whom<br />
you will remember was the class<br />
scribe for well in excess of 50<br />
years. I have this to report thanks<br />
to Bill Shellenberger, who is my<br />
most reliable reporter on the<br />
doings of classmates, especially<br />
in the Delaware area. It seems<br />
that George had a bad fall on<br />
concrete that broke his back in<br />
n 1944–46<br />
three places. They were able to<br />
repair his back surgically, but<br />
apparently he lost his ability to<br />
swallow. He was in hospice care<br />
for a couple of weeks, but that<br />
did not please him very much,<br />
and his passing away was really<br />
a mercy. George hooked up with<br />
the space program, as did Jack<br />
Townsend, who passed away just<br />
two weeks before George. Their<br />
obituaries appear in the back of<br />
this issue of <strong>Williams</strong> People.<br />
Shelly spoke to Mase (Stan)<br />
Babson, who sounded well.<br />
He still lives in his house but<br />
expected to move soon. He<br />
wanted to go to Harbor Island<br />
in January “to get warm.” Shelly<br />
writes that he had lunch with<br />
Wally Thompson, who still has<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education selected<br />
Daniel H. Case ’46 to receive the <strong>2012</strong> Seymour Preston Award for his<br />
exceptional leadership as a trustee of the Punahou School in Hawaii<br />
from 1970 to 2000. Case, who is of counsel to the law firm Case,<br />
Lombardi & Pettit, played a leadership role in four of the school’s<br />
campaigns and as trustee emeritus belongs to the planning committee<br />
for Punahou’s 175th anniversary.<br />
his own power wheelchair that<br />
enables him to get out and about.<br />
Wally has a coterie of widows<br />
pursuing him. Tom Hyndman and<br />
Shelly try to have lunch together<br />
once a month, but Mary is not<br />
well at all, and this has him quite<br />
tied down. Shelly concluded his<br />
Christmas card by saying he<br />
will try to make it one way or<br />
another to next fall’s reunion.<br />
“I’m on a cane, and Barb pushes<br />
me around in a wheelchair at<br />
museums, etc. I still walk the dog<br />
and go to exercise two to three<br />
times/week.”<br />
I have a letter from Larry Heely<br />
in which he writes that he and<br />
Susan have sold their house in<br />
Greenwich, Conn., and moved to<br />
New York full time because that<br />
is where “everything important,<br />
like our doctors and the liquor<br />
store, are handy.” He writes<br />
that Steve Rowan is mentoring a<br />
bunch of American Indian tribes<br />
in western Canada. Steve will<br />
ever be remembered for having<br />
ordered a cord of wood freshman<br />
year, which was delivered<br />
on to the macadam drive in front<br />
of his entry. Steve had had no<br />
idea the huge amount of wood<br />
that was in a cord. He went<br />
on to drive ambulances for the<br />
American Field Service during<br />
WWII, because his poor eyesight<br />
disqualified him from serving<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 11
CLASS NOTES<br />
in the armed forces. Larry also<br />
speculates on our 70th reunion,<br />
which he figures “will probably<br />
be our last big one.” He goes on<br />
to hope that: “We can prevail<br />
upon relatives, friends, anybody<br />
we can think of, to drive us …<br />
to do the work.” Bless his heart,<br />
Larry also offers some advice<br />
to those who are downsizing,<br />
in moving from a house to an<br />
apartment, for example. “The<br />
worst things to get rid of after 45<br />
years are not the big stuff, but<br />
the knick knacks.”<br />
I would like to call your attention<br />
to the mailing from Dick<br />
Debevoise, our class president, in<br />
which he outlines the plans for<br />
our minireunion the weekend<br />
of Sept. 28-29, <strong>2012</strong>. You will<br />
remember that Dick sent each<br />
of us a letter in which he asks<br />
that we respond with an indication<br />
of our intentions to attend<br />
a minireunion. Dick was not<br />
overwhelmed by the response but<br />
figured it was enough to warrant<br />
going ahead with the plans.<br />
A few months ago, Alberta<br />
and I were just leaving the dining<br />
room in our continuing care<br />
retirement community, having<br />
finished our dinner, when for no<br />
good reason I looked behind a<br />
large stone pillar and spotted Art<br />
Silverstein having dinner with<br />
his wife Bobbie. Well, we pulled<br />
up a couple more chairs and<br />
had a wonderful, long visit. I got<br />
the impression they would like<br />
to move in here with us, if they<br />
could sell their house on Long<br />
Island. They have a granddaughter<br />
who graduated from <strong>Williams</strong><br />
this past June and a son-in-law<br />
who is a trustee of the college.<br />
It seems like only yesterday that<br />
Art was worried that his son-inlaw<br />
Eric Cochran ’82 wouldn’t<br />
make partner at Skadden Arps<br />
Slate Meagher & Flom, which<br />
of course he did. Their daughter<br />
Stacy Silverstein Cochran ’81 was<br />
in the business of making movies<br />
and is still at it. Art had a couple<br />
of adhesive plasters on his face<br />
and allowed that he is keeping<br />
his dermatologist from the poor<br />
house single-handedly.<br />
Just the day before the deadline<br />
for submitting copy to Jen Grow,<br />
I received a phone call from Toni<br />
Brinton to let me know that Jerv<br />
has been awarded an honorary<br />
degree as a Doctor of Laws by<br />
Bloomfield <strong>College</strong> that will be<br />
conferred upon Toni at their next<br />
commencement in May of <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
That is a very nice bit of news,<br />
though it is too bad it couldn’t<br />
have come during his lifetime.<br />
I have a lot of information from<br />
12 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Selim Zilkha about his biomass<br />
project and a new undertaking<br />
called Zilkha Black Pellets. This<br />
Black Pellet is a patented process<br />
he and his son Michael have<br />
bought that turns wood into pellets<br />
that weigh about half of what<br />
untreated pellets would weigh,<br />
are waterproof and will generate<br />
a lot of heat when burned. These<br />
are more economical to transport,<br />
because they weigh less than<br />
wood. Cheaper to store, because<br />
they are waterproof, etc., etc. A<br />
plant in Alabama is under construction<br />
to make these pellets.<br />
And so it is adieu for now.<br />
Please, please bear in mind that<br />
I desperately need to hear from<br />
you in order to have something<br />
to write about when Jen Grow<br />
emails me with the new deadline<br />
for these notes.<br />
Your devoted class secretary,<br />
Gates.<br />
1947<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
John C. Speaks III<br />
33 Heathwood Road<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>ville, NY 14221<br />
1947secretary@williams.edu<br />
1948<br />
John A. Peterson Jr.<br />
5811 Glencove Drive, Apt. 1005<br />
Naples, FL 34108<br />
1948secretary@williams.edu<br />
Wink Halsted wrote me last fall<br />
with a good thought. “While<br />
cleaning out old stuff we occasionally<br />
come across <strong>Williams</strong>related<br />
items from 60-plus years<br />
ago that might be of interest<br />
to the <strong>Williams</strong> library, and it<br />
might be a good idea to remind<br />
classmates to think of the Chapin<br />
when they are clearing out their<br />
attics & basements.”<br />
I received a note from Cue<br />
Kellogg: “I’m now the elder<br />
statesman of the 18-piece band<br />
I play in but hanging in there<br />
enjoying every time we meet.<br />
It’s a real thrill to play with such<br />
talented young people.”<br />
Re: my request in the August<br />
2011 edition of the notes where<br />
I asked for info on those in the<br />
class who were related to three<br />
or more generations of Ephs,<br />
here are a couple more replies.<br />
Etsy Foster writes: “Please note<br />
an unforgivable omission from<br />
my last email. There are two<br />
more Foster family members to<br />
include: brothers Charl and Reed,<br />
both distinguished members of<br />
’54. I’d be doing penance for<br />
the rest of my life if the text<br />
were not corrected!” And Harry<br />
Dewey said: “In my family there<br />
are five successive generations of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> trustees—nine generations’<br />
connection through trustees<br />
and graduates.”<br />
Sadly, I report two deaths: Dr.<br />
Robert L. Nelson, who died last<br />
August; and Jim Heekin’s widow<br />
Jane, who left us in November.<br />
Their families have our deepest<br />
sympathy.<br />
Joel Carr asked me to mention<br />
our 65th reunion in 2013.<br />
So Sandra and I have already<br />
booked ourselves into the Maple<br />
Terrace.<br />
1949<br />
Chuck Utley<br />
1835 Van Buren Circle<br />
Mountain View, CA 94040<br />
1949secretary@williams.edu<br />
Wally Barnes has the honor<br />
of letting us know all about<br />
last October’s minireunion in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town. “I can report that<br />
the weekend was a great success,<br />
thanks to the advance planning<br />
by Emily and Charlie Jarrett and<br />
superb implementation by our<br />
embedded agent on the ground,<br />
Dick Wells.<br />
“In attendance were Lisa and<br />
Ed Maynard, Donna and Herb<br />
Cole, Sheila and Joe Dorsey, Tay<br />
and John Thoman, Ann and Dick<br />
Wells plus Mike Robbins and<br />
Wally Barnes. The weather was<br />
gray, overcast and on the chilly<br />
side, but that didn’t matter.<br />
Sharing the Taconic Golf Club<br />
location for the Friday night<br />
dinner with the Class of ’50 was<br />
great, as we knew many of them<br />
and it was quiet enough so we<br />
could actually talk across the<br />
table. Ann and Dick Wells sprang<br />
for the drinks and wine, which<br />
was a very generous “priming of<br />
the pump” so to speak, and our<br />
class table was having so much<br />
fun that most of us didn’t even<br />
notice that the Class of ’50 had<br />
left until they were long gone.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> beat Tufts handily, and<br />
most people enjoyed the two faculty<br />
speaking sessions. Only one<br />
or two of our more conservative<br />
classmates found them provoking<br />
as opposed to thoughtprovoking.<br />
The Saturday evening<br />
dinner at Mezze Bistro was a<br />
successful replay of last year<br />
and again no one wanted to<br />
leave. We started the evening<br />
with a toast to President Charlie<br />
Jarrett and his chief of staff,
Emily. Fervent hopes were<br />
expressed that they can be with<br />
us in person next year.” Dick<br />
Wells provided an addendum to<br />
Wally’s report by writing from<br />
Vero Beach, Fla., that the decision<br />
was made to schedule this<br />
fall’s minireunion the weekend<br />
of the Trinity game, Sept. 28-29.<br />
“We will once again ‘reune’ with<br />
1950 at the Taconic Golf Club<br />
for a buffet dinner. The following<br />
night, after celebrating our victory<br />
over Trinity, we shall dine<br />
at Mezze Bistro again, which is<br />
the former Le Jardin restaurant.<br />
El Presidente Charlie Jarrett will<br />
advise the class where housing<br />
has been arranged for the<br />
weekend. I am still swinging the<br />
golf clubs, a few more times than<br />
previous years. Just received my<br />
year-end handicap and noted that<br />
I had played 118 rounds in 2011.<br />
Get to play every week with Bob<br />
Kingsbury ’58 both here in Vero<br />
Beach and in <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
Vero Beach is sometimes referred<br />
to as ‘<strong>Williams</strong>town South.’<br />
Chet Lasell ’58 runs the alumni<br />
group of about 35 here, and<br />
there are quite a few affairs<br />
held with college speakers. The<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Reunion Jazz Band was<br />
scheduled to play at the Indian<br />
River Club in Vero Beach March<br />
20, and the alums planned to<br />
host the <strong>Williams</strong> golf team the<br />
following week for rounds of<br />
golf at three courses with lunch<br />
to follow at the Bent Pines Golf<br />
Club.” At that point, our golfcentric<br />
classmate signed off with<br />
the admonition that he didn’t<br />
want to spoil your humble correspondent<br />
with too much news<br />
all at once.<br />
Alec Clement notes, “Things<br />
are in pretty good shape healthwise.<br />
Had wonderful time at the<br />
Octet reunion in <strong>Williams</strong>town—<br />
audience was terrific, and mixing<br />
with the younger crowd was a<br />
treat. Video of the performance<br />
is available. Made our annual<br />
stop on the way home at the<br />
Davenport Maple Farm on the<br />
Mohawk Trail to pick up my gallon<br />
of maple syrup. In October<br />
Jack Hornor ’51 provided a wonderful<br />
lieder recital at his new<br />
digs at Brookhaven in Lexington,<br />
Mass., and dividends were realized<br />
in seeing some additional<br />
old friends there. Christmas<br />
dinner was pleasant—both my<br />
boys and the grandchildren<br />
joined the festive board. My<br />
daughter and my Episcopal priest<br />
son-in-law were tied down in<br />
Alexandria, Va., with his church<br />
schedule, but we hope[d] to see<br />
them early in <strong>2012</strong>. Carolyn and<br />
I wish all our <strong>Williams</strong> friends<br />
the best for this new year.”<br />
A short report from Dr. Joe<br />
Takamine in LA strikes a positive<br />
note, although he did close his<br />
medical office last year after 52<br />
years of practice: “I’m not retired<br />
but enjoying life. Had an 87th<br />
birthday Dec. 6. Am blessed with<br />
good health and truly grateful<br />
for every day. <strong>2012</strong> should be<br />
an interesting year. Blessings to<br />
everyone.”<br />
Jim Geer: “I don’t know where<br />
the years go. … It seems like just<br />
yesterday in 1974 when we were<br />
celebrating our 25th reunion at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> the same time that my<br />
father Joseph White Geer ’14,<br />
was celebrating his 60th. Now,<br />
in <strong>2012</strong>, it is almost three years<br />
after we celebrated ’49’s 60th<br />
reunion. Even though 63 years<br />
and over 1,000 miles separate<br />
us from <strong>Williams</strong>, it is still very<br />
much a part of our life. Our<br />
daughter Suzanne Delight Geer<br />
’07 was home for Christmas with<br />
us on Boca Grande in Florida.<br />
The day after Christmas, the<br />
daughter of Hank Estabrook, Liz<br />
Hatfield, and her husband Bob<br />
were nice enough to spend the<br />
evening with us. Each Thursday<br />
on Boca Grande I have lunch<br />
with a group that includes Bill<br />
Snare ’51 and Joe Albertson<br />
’54. Lucy and Jim Stanton ’40<br />
live right next to Our Lady of<br />
Mercy Catholic Church on Boca,<br />
which we attend, and we often<br />
see Lee Comfort ’66 at church.<br />
Dr. Thom Ervin ’68 is also an<br />
island resident. The parents of<br />
Stephen Christakos ’77 and John<br />
Christakos ’87 live just across<br />
the street from us, and their<br />
grandson Jack Sessler ’07 was<br />
in my daughter Suzanne’s class<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong>. For a very small,<br />
seven-mile-long island in Florida,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> is very well<br />
represented.”<br />
In a separate update, Wally<br />
Barnes sent along interesting<br />
bio notes about a friend from<br />
the Class of ’47 that probably<br />
belongs in their <strong>Williams</strong> People<br />
column. But it’s worth including<br />
here: “Barbara and I spent<br />
a week over New Year’s at<br />
Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Mass.,<br />
exercising, eating less and sleeping<br />
more. Great way to get back<br />
on the right track healthwise.<br />
Missed seeing him this time, but<br />
Bob Mills ’47 is a legend in his<br />
own time here, where at 88 years<br />
young he is the oldest (by far)<br />
full-time outdoor guide. He leads<br />
parties on snowshoe and cross<br />
ski trips and hikes up Berkshire<br />
trails including the challenging<br />
n 1946–49<br />
Roaring Brook Trial up Mount<br />
Greylock. I can personally testify<br />
that the pace he sets is challenging,<br />
and often people 60 years<br />
his junior lag behind. Following<br />
25 years at General Electric,<br />
he retired to become a ski<br />
instructor at Butternut Basin in<br />
Great Barrington, Mass., before<br />
moving to Canyon Ranch. An<br />
article about Bob in the Pittsfield<br />
Berkshire Eagle a few years ago,<br />
headlined ‘Leading an Ageless<br />
Lifestyle,’ reads, ‘He enjoys his<br />
Canyon Ranch job very much,<br />
and the resort’s fully equipped<br />
exercise room offers a vast array<br />
of equipment he can use. Because<br />
he gets considerable lower body<br />
exercise on the job, hiking several<br />
miles a day, Mills concentrates<br />
on machines and free weights for<br />
upper body workouts three times<br />
a week.’ The article adds, ‘Mills<br />
is often asked by clients about<br />
his trim physical condition. He<br />
says that keeping involved and<br />
physically and mentally active<br />
helps him stay healthy.’” Wally’s<br />
closing comment: “He’s an inspiration<br />
and great role model to<br />
geezers, teenagers and all those in<br />
between.”<br />
Giles Kelly writes that he<br />
expects publication this <strong>April</strong> of<br />
a coffee table-type book called<br />
The Diplomatic Gardens of<br />
Washington, which he and his<br />
wife Ann Sevens created over<br />
a three-year period for Schiffer<br />
Books. The book features Ann’s<br />
photographs. (Giles’ news nicely<br />
coincides with publication of this<br />
issue of <strong>Williams</strong> People, and is<br />
being hyped solely at the discretion<br />
of your class secretary.)<br />
That’s the good news. The bad<br />
news is that Giles “jumped ship”<br />
onto a dock last November and<br />
messed up his ankle. Since then<br />
he has been trying to get rid of<br />
the limp that is spoiling his image<br />
and canceling his tennis. He also<br />
commented that during the last<br />
Christmas season he was “pleasantly<br />
surprised at how fast his<br />
five grandchildren have grown<br />
into interesting adults.”<br />
Ed Maynard adds, “It’s been a<br />
busy year celebrating the bicentennial<br />
of the Massachusetts<br />
General Hospital. I was given<br />
a pin recognizing 55 years on<br />
the staff and even had a video<br />
interview. Truly a great place to<br />
work for so long. And Harvard<br />
hasn’t made me emeritus yet,<br />
so I’m about to start another<br />
semester of teaching. At 85, my<br />
only complaint is being unable<br />
to reach those drop shots on the<br />
tennis court.”<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 13
CLASS NOTES<br />
1950<br />
Kevin F.X. Delany<br />
3143 O St., NW<br />
Washington, DC 20007<br />
1950secretary@williams.edu<br />
A highlight since we last<br />
communicated was the now<br />
traditional fall hijinks known as<br />
the minireunion. It is an October<br />
ritual where otherwise out-ofshape<br />
homebodies with a little<br />
extra time and loose cash head<br />
for the Berkshire hills to tramp<br />
around campus and Weston Field<br />
to root for the alma mater until<br />
hoarse or frostbitten, whichever<br />
comes first.<br />
By all barometers, this year’s<br />
fandango was a huge success.<br />
Twenty-three stalwarts were<br />
in attendance, including such<br />
worthies as Chuck Alberti, Judy<br />
and Bud Blakey, Sandy and Doug<br />
Coleman, Larry Fitch, Mary and<br />
Tom Hodgman, Morgan Murray,<br />
Nancy and Bill Riegel, Claudia<br />
and George Razook, Ellen and<br />
Pete Thurber, Katie and Norm<br />
Olson plus Edna Lomas, their<br />
able (and very strong) health<br />
aide, your scribe and of course<br />
class president Stan Roller and<br />
fair wife Mary. Also, but hardly<br />
least, among those present were<br />
Kitty Simpson and Eli Reynolds.<br />
Their presence really added<br />
much to our weekend, and we<br />
hope more widows will join us in<br />
the future if they are able to.<br />
Among the features of our<br />
weekend stay were several<br />
faculty seminars: history professor<br />
Scott Wong spoke about<br />
immigration and its discontents.<br />
The following day James<br />
Mahon, professor of political<br />
science, concentrated on how<br />
the U.S. and Latin America are<br />
becoming more like each other.<br />
On Saturday morning we had<br />
our usual class meeting over<br />
breakfast at the <strong>Williams</strong> Inn.<br />
Stan Roller led off with some<br />
upbeat comments in his annual<br />
State of the Class Address,<br />
followed by brief remarks by<br />
Peter Thurber re: class gifts, by<br />
treasurer Tom Hodgman on class<br />
finances (yes, we are solvent)<br />
and Doug Coleman on admission<br />
policies, particularly relating to<br />
foreign students. The meeting<br />
concluded in plenty of time to<br />
head for Weston Field and the<br />
Tufts football game. Fortunately,<br />
the Reunion Jazz Band was on<br />
hand to warm up the crowd<br />
with some red hot Dixieland on<br />
a nippy weather day. (The game<br />
was a pretty easy romp for the<br />
Ephmen.)<br />
14 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Wally Bortz ’51 and his wife Ruth Anne celebrate after the San Francisco<br />
Marathon last July.<br />
The minireunion participants<br />
were treated to some fine dining<br />
over the weekend, starting with<br />
a Friday night dinner at the<br />
Taconic Golf Club and Saturday<br />
evening at the always popular<br />
Mezze restaurant. There were a<br />
brief few moments of excitement<br />
at Mezze when one of the wives<br />
in our party had some difficulty<br />
digesting her steak dinner. Pete<br />
Thurber, moving quickly, deftly<br />
applied his Heimlich knowledge,<br />
and peace returned to the dining<br />
room. Pete and Ellen may<br />
find themselves to be popular<br />
dinner guests, at least in the<br />
near future. The evening and the<br />
weekend were nicely capped off<br />
by some late-night jazz at the<br />
Faculty Club.<br />
On the downside, Chapin<br />
Breer Weed died in Flat Rock,<br />
N.C., on Nov. 23. Chapin<br />
served in both WWII and the<br />
Korean conflicts. In WWII, he<br />
was a decorated flight engineer/<br />
gunner on B-17 aircraft. On<br />
two occasions, Staff Sgt. Weed<br />
saved crew and B-17 aircraft<br />
by flying damaged planes back<br />
to base after both pilot and<br />
co-pilot were killed. Chapin<br />
attended Rectory School and<br />
Kent school before entering<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>. He was a member<br />
of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.<br />
A widower, he is survived by a<br />
daughter, Patricia Ann Taylor<br />
of Dallas, Texas, and a son,<br />
Peter Capin Weed of Fletcher.<br />
Our sympathies go to several<br />
classmates on the painful loss of<br />
a spouse. Gerda Lanes, wife of<br />
our VP Fred Lanes of Newton<br />
Center, Mass., died on Dec. 29<br />
after a long bout with pancreatic<br />
cancer. Fred and Gerda had been<br />
married 58 years.<br />
On Oct. 25 Karin Roach, wife<br />
of Dan Roach, died quietly in<br />
their Buffalo home. Dan and<br />
Karin had been married 59<br />
years. Survivors include their<br />
children Molly ’78, Dan Jr. ’79,<br />
Kate ’87 and Michael ’88.<br />
1950 now numbers 204 strong.<br />
1951<br />
Gordon Clarke<br />
183 Foreside Road<br />
Falmouth, ME 04105<br />
1951secretary@williams.edu<br />
Some wise person once<br />
observed: If one wants to learn<br />
about a gentleman, get to know<br />
his barber. That bit of wisdom<br />
applies equally to class secretaries.<br />
I have my own problems<br />
with my computer, Word, email,<br />
URLs and the like. I am also<br />
on the receiving end of our<br />
classmates’ problems and get<br />
rather cranky when I can’t help<br />
out. Keep trying, guys; every day<br />
we get better and better! Now, to<br />
business.<br />
Don Gregg forwarded a letter,<br />
published by the Washington<br />
Post on Sept. 28, 2011, in which<br />
he expressed some of his views.<br />
This is not the proper forum for<br />
a political discussion, but the<br />
title assigned by the Post is a fine<br />
summary of Don’s views: “GOP<br />
candidates are too small for<br />
Reagan’s shoes.”<br />
Dave Fischer writes from New<br />
Haven that he is busy working<br />
three days a week at a new and<br />
rapidly growing Yale cancer<br />
center. Along with his other<br />
activities, he is writing a history<br />
of the cancer program at the Yale<br />
School of Medicine, with which<br />
he has been associated for 49
years. Always positive, he claims<br />
the best of all worlds: a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
and Harvard education and a<br />
Yale professorship.<br />
Bill Paton and Renis are “enjoying<br />
pretty good health … playing<br />
tennis and enjoying vigorously<br />
biased political discussions” with<br />
their Florida neighbors. Bill’s<br />
comment about Destiny of the<br />
Republic, a new book about the<br />
last days of President Garfield,<br />
has prompted me to order a<br />
copy.<br />
It took Tom Kent and me seven<br />
pages of Internet gibberish to<br />
sort out the mischief caused by a<br />
typo on an email address. Suffice<br />
it to say that the Kents are well.<br />
Stan Hazen and Sheila live in<br />
Charlottesville, Va., but they<br />
didn’t spend much time at<br />
home last year. Starting with<br />
our 60th in <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
their itinerary included trips to<br />
the Berkshire Choral Festival<br />
with stops en route; a day trip<br />
from Charlottesville to Poplar<br />
Forest and Appomattox;<br />
Seattle and environs using<br />
accumulated airline miles for a<br />
family visit; and, finally, back to<br />
Boston on Amtrak for a family<br />
Thanksgiving celebration.<br />
Along with keeping in touch<br />
with Pete Fisher, Stu Duffield ’50,<br />
Bill Sperry and Bill Rodie, Pete<br />
deLisser is the newly elected commander<br />
(and one of the youngest<br />
members) of his local VFW<br />
Piermont Memorial Post 7462.<br />
One of his members turned 100<br />
in November, and several served<br />
in WWII. I had hoped to be able<br />
to announce the electronic publication<br />
of his second book with<br />
this submission, but so far I have<br />
heard nothing. Stay tuned.<br />
Tim Blodgett wins the “Oh by<br />
the way…” award for this issue.<br />
After recounting the typical family<br />
holiday visits with children,<br />
he continued: “Incidentally, in<br />
Washington we had a tour of the<br />
West Wing of the White House<br />
at 9:30 p.m. on Friday after<br />
Thanksgiving, given by a young<br />
man who worked on the Obama<br />
campaign in Minnesota for Jeff<br />
(Tim’s son) and now works on<br />
the White House staff. We were<br />
surprised at how small the rooms<br />
are, including the Oval Office.<br />
We observed the (closed) door of<br />
the vaunted top-secret Situation<br />
Room.” Tim also reported the<br />
death of Renee, widow of Earle<br />
Spencer. On behalf of the class, I<br />
extend condolences to their three<br />
children and three grandchildren.<br />
In an email from Sarasota,<br />
Fla., Bob Griffin reports that he<br />
is mostly occupied at “writing<br />
a book, with constant revisions<br />
… a return to the days that I<br />
enjoyed my freshman creative<br />
writing class at <strong>Williams</strong>.” He<br />
has been fascinated following the<br />
careers of Fred Wiseman, John<br />
Frankenheimer and Joe McElroy<br />
and keeps in touch with Paul<br />
Shorb, Chuck Halleck and Jack<br />
Cremeans ’50. Bob still breaks 90<br />
on the golf course, not bad for a<br />
man who has been married for<br />
57 years, has two children and<br />
five grandchildren and a sore<br />
back.<br />
Finally, President Dick Siegel<br />
writes enthusiastically about<br />
our “small but most enjoyable<br />
minireunion the weekend of<br />
Oct. 21-23.” He extends special<br />
“thanks to Linda (Conway) and<br />
Sigrid (Mc<strong>Williams</strong>) for hosting a<br />
cocktail party at Sigrid’s home<br />
Saturday evening.” As for his<br />
own life, he writes: “I haven’t<br />
been this busy in decades. In<br />
June, the week after our 60th,<br />
I resumed commuting to NYC<br />
after a 14-year absence to work<br />
on the liquidation of Lehman<br />
Brothers Inc. for a former<br />
partner of mine who had been<br />
appointed liquidating trustee.<br />
The PATH train and the subways<br />
are as ‘delightful’ as ever, but my<br />
back and knees are not. Then, at<br />
the end of October, the trustee<br />
also was appointed SIPA trustee<br />
for the liquidation of MFGlobal<br />
Inc. (John Corzine’s adventure),<br />
and he asked me to do double<br />
duty. I couldn’t say no, and<br />
although at times it can be a bit<br />
enervating, it has been fascinating<br />
and most enjoyable.”<br />
1952<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Alec Robertson<br />
3 Essex Meadows<br />
Essex, CT 06426<br />
1952secretary@williams.edu<br />
Well, most of us weathered the<br />
fall and the Amherst game and<br />
have had a good go at life. Most<br />
importantly, please sign up for<br />
and get your room reservations<br />
for the Gala 60th Reunion of<br />
the Really Great Class of 1952<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong>town June 7-10.<br />
This is going to be a unique<br />
and excellent event. Nicky and<br />
Paige L’Hommedieu and Susan<br />
and Jim Henry have put together<br />
a fine program for us all. They<br />
had already received over 80<br />
positive responses as of the end<br />
of December. We are hoping<br />
you will be among the lucky<br />
ones who have made the big<br />
n 1950–52<br />
commitment. It is amazing that<br />
we have 80 already.<br />
The minireunion at the Tufts<br />
game on Oct. 22 was excellent,<br />
with cocktails at John Hyde’s on<br />
Friday evening, lunch at The<br />
Log and an excellent dinner at<br />
Ann and Doug Foster’s home on<br />
Saturday evening. Elliott Bates<br />
reaffirmed with great pleasure<br />
his return to his natal Class of<br />
1952, Marigold and Bob Bischoff<br />
were in good form and looking<br />
forward to another opera season<br />
at the Met. Ann and Duke Curtis<br />
looked just fine. Joan and Paul<br />
Doyle and I stayed as usual at<br />
the Berkshire Hills Motel with a<br />
bunch of other <strong>Williams</strong> returnees.<br />
The <strong>Williams</strong> Octet sang on<br />
Saturday night—their fifth year<br />
in a row—at the Fosters'. Edwen<br />
and President Fred Goldstein<br />
appropriately pushed attendance<br />
at our upcoming 60th reunion,<br />
where we will have events and<br />
meals like no other class before.<br />
Susan and Jim Henry—co-chairs<br />
of the reunion—laid out plans<br />
for fun. Unfortunately, the<br />
Henrys’ plans for a bumper crop<br />
of wine this fall were dashed<br />
by the excess rain, but Jim has<br />
alternative sources, so his still<br />
will be busy. Sam Humes was in<br />
attendance, while Rick Jeffrey<br />
left Fran at home to take care of<br />
the move to Florida. Emily Kraft,<br />
who with Ann Foster will be<br />
shouldering Saturday night at the<br />
reunion, looked swell in a couple<br />
of new outfits. Marylin and Art<br />
Levitt looked great, and Art had<br />
just been quoted with words of<br />
wisdom in an interview in the<br />
WSJ concerning the desirability<br />
of corporations changing their<br />
rating agents every five years so<br />
things would not get too cozy.<br />
Nicky and Paige L’Hommedieu<br />
were their usual cheery selves,<br />
although Nicky had to be taken<br />
to the hospital in Springfield on<br />
Saturday night, putting a cramp<br />
in their level of enjoyment. She<br />
is fine now. Jim Manning left<br />
Joan and his tie at home with<br />
a houseful of painting ladies.<br />
Fortunately, after some heckling,<br />
Jim bought a splendid new tie at<br />
Goff’s to save the class reputation,<br />
arriving for dinner Saturday<br />
night looking sartorially superb.<br />
Jacquie and Don Martin hit the<br />
late-night spots after Saturday<br />
dinner and are looking fine. Jane<br />
and Bill Missimer came over from<br />
their new farm in Blandford,<br />
Mass. It sounds like they have a<br />
lot of work on their plate. Swifty<br />
Swift was in great form, and<br />
Betsy and Ted Taylor are enjoying<br />
their new CCRC in State<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 15
CLASS NOTES<br />
<strong>College</strong>, Pa., where the football<br />
stadium holds 114,000 people! A<br />
little bit bigger than our modest<br />
grounds in Billville. Also they<br />
receive more national coverage.<br />
Betty Ann and Rick Wheeler<br />
are trying to get their home in<br />
the Massachusetts Registry of<br />
Historic Places.<br />
Ed and President Fred Goldstein<br />
chimed in as follows: “Not much<br />
to report other than seeing Nicky<br />
and Paige L’Hommedieu for<br />
theater and dinner in New York<br />
on a regular basis as well as the<br />
92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists<br />
Series. Joan and Jim Manning<br />
came over for dinner with us,<br />
and we had a great evening, even<br />
if my soufflé didn’t rise as high as<br />
it should have. I talked to Peter<br />
Ochs in Vienna early in January<br />
and was glad to hear that he is<br />
recovering well from a serious<br />
illness. Have been in touch<br />
with our great 60th reunion<br />
committee, Nicky and Paige<br />
L’Hommedieu and Susan and Jim<br />
Henry, and they are doing a terrific<br />
job. Everyone should have<br />
a wonderful time at reunion. We<br />
are looking forward to seeing all<br />
in June.”<br />
“I plan to attend the 60th and<br />
really enjoyed the mini last fall,”<br />
reports Art Levitt. “We are at our<br />
home in Stuart, Fla., for most<br />
of the winter but came up to<br />
NYC for the Xmas holidays. We<br />
saw several shows and movies,<br />
but the highlight was the New<br />
Year’s Eve premier presentation<br />
of a new opera, The Enchanted<br />
Island. I have fond memories<br />
every time I go to the Met of my<br />
roommate Ted Withington’s love<br />
of opera.” (Ted and wife Robin<br />
still do.)<br />
Got a nice note from Becky,<br />
stating: “Joe Bumsted doesn’t<br />
have anything noteworthy to<br />
share as he continues to be challenged<br />
with vascular dementia, a<br />
result of his long-term diabetes.<br />
He will not be attending the<br />
60th reunion, which is sad for<br />
both of us, as those gatherings<br />
are always great fun. With Joe’s<br />
blessing, I’m joining the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
trip to Holland and Belgium in<br />
<strong>April</strong> and look forward to seeing<br />
all those beautiful tulips.” (If<br />
you want to contact Joe, you<br />
can do so through Becky’s email:<br />
BBBum1415@aol.com. He will<br />
appreciate it.)<br />
Bob Huddleston happily<br />
reported, “After two and a<br />
half years as deputy assistant<br />
secretary of defense for policy<br />
(Africa), Vicki resigned as of the<br />
end of December and is now<br />
back in Santa Fe.”<br />
16 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Bill Missimer happily reports<br />
that he and Jane “were married<br />
on Dec. 29 at a little church in<br />
Newfields, N.H. Other than<br />
that it’s been a quiet holiday<br />
season. Life as a married couple<br />
is wonderful. We plan on making<br />
Newmarket, N.H., our<br />
headquarters, with time spent at<br />
the farm in the Berkshires and at<br />
our hideaway in the Florida Keys.<br />
We’ve volunteered to help the<br />
Henrys and the L’Hommedieus<br />
with the Big 60 celebration and<br />
look forward to seeing classmates<br />
there.” Also on the nuptial front,<br />
Ray George announced that he<br />
has some news: “BIG NEWS.<br />
Betsy E. LaMotte of Winnetka,<br />
Ill., and I were married in Florida<br />
on Dec. 29, and I am looking<br />
forward to introducing her to<br />
you all in <strong>Williams</strong>town this<br />
June.” (I wonder if the Georges<br />
and the Missimers knew they<br />
were getting hitched on the same<br />
day! Who knew?)<br />
Pete Gurney reported: “Molly<br />
and I took all eight of our grandchildren—and<br />
their parents, of<br />
course—to Mohonk Mountain<br />
House, near New Paltz, N.Y., for<br />
the Thanksgiving weekend. I recommend<br />
the experience heartily,<br />
though my checkbook showed<br />
considerable reluctance."<br />
Bob Rich, sounding in good<br />
form, wrote from Annapolis:<br />
“This fall was busy for Joan<br />
and me. On Oct. 15 my<br />
granddaughter Leila Wendler<br />
was married at Bisby Lake,<br />
Old Forge, N.Y., and on Oct.<br />
29 Joan’s son was married in<br />
Charlotte, N.C.” Bob also mentioned:<br />
Mary and Jack Ordeman<br />
have a “beautiful” new grandson,<br />
Thomas Wells Foster, who<br />
arrived in September. Jack also<br />
reports a glorious Thanksgiving<br />
when the whole family came<br />
to Nassawadox to celebrate<br />
son Lee’s 50th and Mary’s 80th<br />
birthdays. Bob recommends<br />
Jack’s latest book, The Art<br />
of Milton C. Weiler. “It is a<br />
beautiful, thoroughly documented<br />
and superbly illustrated<br />
treatise of the life and work of a<br />
talented artist-sportsman.”<br />
Bob also shared the sad news<br />
that his friend Bob Johnson<br />
passed away last July.<br />
Betty Ann and Rick Wheeler<br />
announced: “Starting with the<br />
annual ‘Holly Harvest,’ which<br />
united our family in the process<br />
of boxing and shipping over<br />
three quarters of a ton of my<br />
grandfather’s wonderful holly, we<br />
had a lovely family reunion on<br />
Christmas and a fun gathering<br />
on New Year’s Eve. So the clock<br />
is ticking now for our grand<br />
reunion in June, and we both<br />
look forward to being together<br />
again. In closing, we mourn the<br />
passing of Henry Catto and will<br />
always remember the many ways<br />
in which he served our country.”<br />
Mimi and Hank Norton<br />
chimed in to say that they are at<br />
Hillsboro Club for the winter, as<br />
are the John Montgomerys. Hank<br />
said they are signed up for the big<br />
reunion.<br />
“After a busy September—a<br />
wedding in Chicago and a funeral<br />
in Maryland, we hunkered down<br />
here while Nancy had a second<br />
ankle replacement in October,”<br />
writes Bob Kimberly. “The first<br />
one wore out after nine years.<br />
I’ve been chief cook, bottle<br />
washer, house maid and chauffeur.<br />
Currently we are thinking<br />
of a vacation for both of us in<br />
Scottsdale and sunshine for a<br />
couple weeks, but we haven’t any<br />
plans yet.”<br />
Bob Riegel announced with<br />
regret: “My granddaughter will<br />
be graduating from high school,<br />
so our trip will have to be to<br />
Florida rather than to <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
At the end of May I will officially<br />
retire from full-time parish ministry<br />
(56 years is long enough).<br />
Keren and I plan a two-week trip<br />
in <strong>April</strong> to Berlin and Prague.<br />
Sorry to miss the big 60th—hard<br />
to believe! (Congratulations!)”<br />
Pat and Bill Hatch had a<br />
nice Christmas with all the<br />
kids for one day in Cleveland.<br />
Just enough cold and snow to<br />
remember what it was like in the<br />
old days. They have both their<br />
houses here and in Chagrin Falls<br />
up for sale, but real estate is not<br />
moving well in either location.<br />
“If we sell up north, we have put<br />
money down on a lovely little<br />
home in a retirement community<br />
like Essex Meadows just out of<br />
Chagrin Falls and could move<br />
right away. We have reservations<br />
at the Berkshire Hills Motel<br />
for the reunion, and Pat and I<br />
are looking forward to being in<br />
attendance.”<br />
Good news came in from Don<br />
Wyman in Marblehead, who says<br />
he will be at the 60th.<br />
Betty and Howie Martin<br />
returned happily from a New<br />
Year’s weekend in <strong>Williams</strong>burg,<br />
Va., with their family. “New<br />
programs since our last visit<br />
30-plus years ago helped make<br />
history come alive again, plus<br />
our five grandchildren (ages<br />
23-30) make interesting travel<br />
companions. Happy to report<br />
two are employed and three are<br />
taking graduate work.”
John Phillips reported he was<br />
sorry to read about Ted Canfield<br />
in the last People. “He was one<br />
of my freshman-year roommates.<br />
We did not have much<br />
in common, but he did help me<br />
to break the smoking habit in<br />
that first year. He and my other<br />
roommate always smoked my<br />
cigarettes, so if I wanted to have<br />
money for Viagra, I had to quit<br />
smoking. The retirees at the old<br />
folks’ home always have wonderful<br />
stories and notions to share at<br />
the dinner table. One fellow from<br />
the Middle West, exasperated<br />
with his wife, said, ‘You can lead<br />
a girl to Vassar, but you can’t<br />
make her think.’ Later on he<br />
said, ‘She’s a vegetarian. When<br />
I first saw her she was grazing<br />
in her back yard.’ One night an<br />
85-year-old lady got angry at<br />
her husband during dinner and<br />
shouted at him, ‘Why don’t you<br />
put your teeth in backwards<br />
and bite yourself to death?’ Still,<br />
most of us enjoy it here. As one<br />
female octogenarian put it: ‘I’m<br />
as happy as a flea who owns his<br />
own dog.’ Also, one other elderly<br />
fellow said that he likes living<br />
in a community with few if any<br />
virgins on the prowl. As a youth,<br />
his father had told him, ‘Don’t<br />
waste your time with them—let<br />
Captain Kirk go where no man<br />
has been before.’”<br />
“I have spent lots of time trying<br />
to water my garden,” stated<br />
Thaddeus Up de Graff Jr. from<br />
LA. “Three or four years ago<br />
our house filled up with water<br />
because of a broken pipe. The<br />
plumber lowered the water pressure<br />
and much of my landscaping<br />
has died. Good exercise in<br />
repair, but sad aftermath. Right<br />
now my wife and I are hanging<br />
on. No problems, except those<br />
of being over 80 years old. Two<br />
daughters and five grandchildren<br />
keep us thinking—and busy.”<br />
<strong>News</strong> from Swifty Swift:<br />
“Robbi and I spent three weeks<br />
in California over the holidays<br />
visiting my two daughters and<br />
one granddaughter, two sisters<br />
and their families and several<br />
other relatives. This included my<br />
nephew David Phinney, whose<br />
winery—Orin Swift—has a<br />
wine—‘Abstract’—in the worldwide<br />
top 50 by Wine Spectator<br />
and Food & Wine magazines!<br />
His ‘Prisoner’ has also drawn top<br />
kudos. We loaded up (thanks to<br />
the family discount) at his place<br />
in St. Helena and enjoyed great<br />
wines doing holiday gatherings!<br />
Spent a day in San Francisco<br />
doing museums and fine dining<br />
and Xmas week in Grass Valley<br />
(in the Sierra foothills), but I<br />
missed my skiing—no snow! Oh,<br />
plus in Sept. a new granddaughter—Isarah—number<br />
six, but<br />
no grandsons yet! Back in cold<br />
Maryland now, missing the daily<br />
mid-60s we loved in the Bay<br />
Area and Napa!”<br />
Jay McElroy volunteered the<br />
good news that they plan to<br />
come to the 60th and wrote,<br />
“We continue our travels. Last<br />
year we started in Hong Kong<br />
and visited several cities in<br />
China, including Shanghai and<br />
Beijing. We went to one port<br />
where we saw three Chinese<br />
nuclear submarines. We ended<br />
the trip in Seoul, which we had<br />
never visited before. It was hard<br />
to believe we were 30 miles from<br />
North Korea. This spring we<br />
are going from St. Petersburg to<br />
Moscow on Viking River cruises.<br />
This is the third time we have<br />
gone with them. It is an easy way<br />
to travel. We continue to spend<br />
time in Martha’s Vineyard. On<br />
the business side, I continue serving<br />
on three finance committees<br />
and one charitable board.”<br />
I am sad to report that our<br />
esteemed classmate and friend<br />
Henry E. Catto Jr. died at 81 at<br />
his home in San Antonio, Texas,<br />
following a long battle with<br />
chronic lymphocytic leukemia.<br />
Henry was tapped by four<br />
Republican presidents for highprofile<br />
jobs, including director<br />
of the U.S. Information Agency,<br />
chief Pentagon spokesman and<br />
ambassador to Britain and El<br />
Salvador. In his time as ambassador<br />
to Britain, Henry brought<br />
a homespun atmosphere to<br />
Winfield House, his stately official<br />
residence in London, serving<br />
Tex-Mex food to dignitaries<br />
and placing a Texas state flag<br />
and a four-foot-high wooden<br />
Hereford steer on the lawn. His<br />
wife Jessica Catto died in 2009.<br />
Henry is survived by two daughters,<br />
Isa Catto Shaw and Heather<br />
Catto Kohout ’81; two sons, John<br />
and William; and 11 grandchildren.<br />
His obituary will be in the<br />
next issue.<br />
n 1952–53<br />
We also lost Rodney Skutt of<br />
Denver, Colo., who died Sept.<br />
21. He is survived by three<br />
children and eight grandchildren.<br />
He was best known for his salesmanship<br />
and his love of flying,<br />
hunting and fishing.<br />
Furthermore I have little information<br />
about Perkins “Perk” Bass<br />
of Poulsbo, Wash., who passed<br />
away Sept. 9 and is survived by<br />
his wife Anne Lawrence Bass.<br />
Thanks to all who contributed,<br />
and I look forward to seeing<br />
everyone at the reunion in June.<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
Bill Miller ’53, a senior policy scholar with the Woodrow Wilson<br />
International Center for Scholars, received a Common Ground Award<br />
from the D.C.-based Search for Common Ground last October for helping<br />
to free two American hikers imprisoned in Iran for 26 months. Miller,<br />
ambassador to the Ukraine under President Clinton, shared the award<br />
with Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal diocese of Washington<br />
and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington.<br />
1953<br />
Stephen W. Klein<br />
378 Thornden St.<br />
South Orange, NJ 07079<br />
1953secretary@williams.edu<br />
Bill Miller received a Common<br />
Ground Award in DC along with<br />
Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop<br />
Chane for his role in freeing the<br />
American hikers held in Iran. No<br />
mention was made of the ransom<br />
money or how it was paid.<br />
Attending the Snowbird<br />
Special minireunion organized<br />
by Mike Lazor on Oct. 7-9<br />
were Dudley Baker, Barbara<br />
Weedon, Sandy and John Beard,<br />
John Dighton, Marianne and<br />
George Hartnett, Polly and<br />
Chuck Hebble, Barbara and Bob<br />
Howard, Tess and Derry Kruse,<br />
Mike Lazor, Daphney and Bob<br />
McGill (whose house was the<br />
venue for most activities), Karen<br />
and Jim Truettner, and Bobbye<br />
and Bob Tucker. As reported by<br />
Bob Howard, four gatherings, all<br />
involving food, highlighted the<br />
mini, and there was the discovery<br />
that the <strong>Williams</strong> football team<br />
is not invincible, losing as they<br />
did for only the third time in 26<br />
years of play against Bates.<br />
The officially authorized mini<br />
was held Oct. 21-23 under the<br />
expert organization of Happy<br />
and Todd Mauck. Present were<br />
John Allan, Susan and Peter<br />
Connolly, John Dighton, Lucy and<br />
Pete Fetterolf, Carol and Dan<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 17
CLASS NOTES<br />
Fitch, Joy and Walter Flaherty,<br />
Barbara and Bob Howard, Tess<br />
and Derry Kruse, Mary and Jack<br />
Merselis, Sally and Harry Molwitz,<br />
Anne and Charlie Mott, Judy and<br />
Art Murray, Peggy Norwood, Liz<br />
and Bob Ouchterloney, Granthia<br />
and Fred Preston, Bob Sillcox and<br />
Sheila Thompson, and Nancy<br />
and Peter Sterling. In addition,<br />
Ted Potter appeared at the<br />
tailgate tent before the game.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> was victorious over<br />
Tufts at Weston Field.<br />
Mike Lazor received a long<br />
letter from Mike Puffer bringing<br />
him up to date on many of his<br />
activities over the last number<br />
of years. Puffer has a sizable<br />
Christmas tree farm outside of<br />
Saginaw, Mich., that he plans to<br />
turn into a site for homeless veterans<br />
and old race horses. (My<br />
feeling is that Puffer would be<br />
a valuable addition to the Mets<br />
<strong>2012</strong> pitching staff.)<br />
Greatly aided by Boine<br />
Johnson’s $25K legacy, adroitly<br />
steered to the ’53 <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Fund by Kathleen Piagessi,<br />
Pete Sterling advises as of early<br />
January the 2011-12 goal was<br />
exceeded. Pete however was<br />
hopeful that a good showing<br />
from recalcitrant classmates<br />
significantly boosted the class<br />
participation percentage.<br />
Tony Butterfield attended<br />
the memorial service for Dick<br />
Salladin and mentioned that<br />
although he saw no fellow Dekes<br />
or Ephmen, there were a great<br />
number of lawyers in attendance.<br />
Phil Ingwersen died on Sept. 29<br />
following a period of declining<br />
health. Phil is survived by<br />
his wife Jean, a daughter, a son<br />
and three grandchildren. John<br />
Judge died on Nov. 6. John was<br />
a banker and a sailor and was<br />
inducted into the Herreshoff<br />
Marine Museum Hall of Fame<br />
in Newport, R.I. Dan Fitch and<br />
Harry Molwitz attended John’s<br />
memorial service in Larchmont,<br />
N.Y. John is survived by his wife<br />
Mary Francis, two daughters and<br />
five grandchildren.<br />
1954<br />
Al Horne<br />
7214 Rebecca Drive<br />
Alexandria, VA 22307<br />
1954secretary@williams.edu<br />
We lost two more classmates<br />
since our last installment.<br />
In December Dave West died at<br />
his home in Wolfeboro, N.H. He<br />
served 25 years in the Air Force,<br />
including two years in Vietnam,<br />
and retired as full colonel with a<br />
18 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
chestful of medals, including the<br />
Silver Star and the Distinguished<br />
Flying Cross. After retiring, he<br />
worked in Florida for Lockheed-<br />
Martin as manager of quality<br />
assurance for the Patriot missile<br />
program until 1997.<br />
In February we lost Fred Joss,<br />
at a hospice in Pittsburgh. Jim<br />
Carpenter, sophomore year<br />
roommate, had kept in touch<br />
with Fred and reports, “He had<br />
been in failing health for several<br />
years.” Fred worked for Alcoa<br />
from 1958 to 1976, including<br />
five years in Brazil, and then<br />
spent 12 years with the Dravo<br />
Corp. as chief financial officer<br />
and VP for engineering and<br />
construction. After retiring, he<br />
taught at private and public<br />
schools in the Pittsburgh area.<br />
Wendell Elmendorf and Mildred<br />
Jorgensen Pelrine tied the knot in<br />
October and are now snowbirds,<br />
splitting their time between<br />
Riverview, Fla., and Remsen,<br />
N.Y. Here’s Wendell’s account of<br />
how all this came about: “Mil<br />
and I were classmates in fifth<br />
to eighth grade in Schenectady,<br />
N.Y., and became reacquainted<br />
in early September of 2010 when<br />
she read a letter I wrote to the<br />
editor of our local paper, recognized<br />
my name, Googled me and<br />
then emailed me. After a week or<br />
two of email exchanges I invited<br />
her out to lunch, then she invited<br />
me to dinner two times and on<br />
Oct. 5 left for her winter home<br />
in Florida with these parting<br />
words: ‘If you come to Florida to<br />
visit your sister again this winter,<br />
be sure to look me up.’ I said to<br />
myself, ‘I really wasn’t planning<br />
to visit my sister, but I sure will<br />
now!’ I did. Before and after my<br />
March trip to Florida, we continued<br />
emailing each other almost<br />
daily. About a month after she<br />
returned to New York State last<br />
spring we began planning an<br />
October wedding. Millie was a<br />
nurse while raising her five children.<br />
In 1984, after her husband<br />
died suddenly of a heart attack,<br />
she went to Syracuse University<br />
Law School and became a lawyer<br />
and is now retired.”<br />
Here’s another piece of happy<br />
news, from David St. Clair in<br />
Colorado Springs: “Gail and<br />
I celebrated our 50th wedding<br />
anniversary with a family<br />
reunion on Cape Cod this past<br />
summer. All three of our children<br />
and their families were there:<br />
Son David, with Julie, Alex and<br />
Peter, flew in from Konstanz,<br />
Germany, where David works<br />
as an engineer for a German<br />
company. Son John flew in from<br />
Nairobi, Kenya, where he works<br />
for a research company in global<br />
finance. Our daughter Susan, an<br />
emergency medicine physician<br />
here in Colorado Springs, her<br />
husband Jeff and their children<br />
Teddy and Gabi flew with us<br />
from Colorado to the Cape for<br />
the reunion. We spent Christmas<br />
in North Carolina with the<br />
Nairobi gang: John, his wife Kelli<br />
and their children Ainsley, Jack<br />
and Eliot.”<br />
From Atlanta, meanwhile,<br />
Bob Larkin reports: “I have just<br />
completed the process of going<br />
through a divorce from my second<br />
wife of 10 years and am living<br />
alone and loving it. Applying<br />
for a reverse mortgage to get<br />
some equity out of my home and<br />
be able to live here as I have for<br />
the last 25 years. I still am in the<br />
wine brokerage business—<br />
represent one winery from<br />
Oregon. Just celebrated my 80th<br />
birthday and fooled ’em all!”<br />
And here’s an update from Joe<br />
Usatine in The Dalles, Ore.: “Life<br />
still goes on here in the Pacific<br />
Northwest, but a little change<br />
has taken place. We’ve bought a<br />
house in Arizona City, Ariz., and<br />
now we’re spending about four<br />
to five months in the sunshine,<br />
abandoning our overcast, cold<br />
winter here. Lots of golf—not<br />
very good, but enjoyable.<br />
Martha’s well, but I’ve been<br />
dealing with a health issue which<br />
isn’t very pleasant. A couple of<br />
years ago I was diagnosed with<br />
blood cancer. My marrow is<br />
unable to manufacture sufficient<br />
hemoglobin. I’ve turned down<br />
a transplant; too many risks<br />
involved. So I deal with chemo<br />
infusions every month. These<br />
keep me pretty active and feeling<br />
well, but there will be no end to<br />
them. Great clinics, both here and<br />
in Arizona. Prognosis is good as<br />
long as I follow the protocol. I’ll<br />
be preparing a few tax returns for<br />
longtime clients, but my practice<br />
is not much anymore.”<br />
From Philadelphia, Harry<br />
Rieger reports: “We are currently<br />
enjoying the so-called<br />
Golden Years. However, they<br />
too have pitfalls. Both Didi and<br />
I had some issues with macadam,<br />
leaving her with a broken<br />
pelvis and lots of pain. (All<br />
better there.) I just recently had<br />
a similar meeting with blacktop<br />
and did a beautiful cosmetic<br />
face mess, now 90 percent back<br />
to normal. The perpetrator was<br />
our 60-pound Standard Poodle,<br />
who is quite active and tends to<br />
not understand the basic word<br />
‘No.’
Roger Friedman ’55 (middle) received “Peter’s Coat and Tray” given<br />
annually in honor of the late Pete Pelham ’55 and his widow Isobel for<br />
service to <strong>Williams</strong> and the class. Classmates (from left) Norm Hugo,<br />
Whitey Perrott, Merce Blanchard and Sandy Laitman joined Friedman to<br />
celebrate on Homecoming Weekend in November.<br />
“We enjoyed 10 years in<br />
Savannah but returned to Philly<br />
in 2005, as all three children<br />
live within 40 minutes, and<br />
with seven grandchildren it<br />
made sense to return to familiar<br />
grounds. Katie Rieger ’12, our<br />
oldest (Glenn’s daughter) is a<br />
senior at <strong>Williams</strong> as a math<br />
major and enjoying it. We have<br />
reunited with Harry Montgomery<br />
and Audrey, with some most<br />
pleasant visits. His Billsville<br />
home is beautiful and spacious.”<br />
From Mexico, Steve Livingston<br />
sends “just a little piece of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> lore”: “The Club<br />
Rotaract of <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
picked a small nonprofit here<br />
in San Miguel de Allende to<br />
assist—one in which I am a volunteer.<br />
It is Computadores Por<br />
Jóvenes, or Computers for Kids.<br />
We solicit used computers—<br />
mainly from the U.S.—clean<br />
them, install Spanish programs<br />
and give them to needy schoolchildren<br />
in our town (about<br />
150,000 people—most under<br />
18). The group in <strong>Williams</strong> was<br />
instrumental in writing a user’s<br />
manual, which we can distribute<br />
with the computers, and several<br />
of us had the job of translating<br />
the manual, adding some material<br />
as required and distributing<br />
it. The manual is a great hit, and<br />
we owe a great debt of gratitude<br />
to the students at <strong>Williams</strong> that<br />
participated—particularly Laura<br />
Villafranco ’13, who grew up<br />
here in San Miguel.”<br />
Closer to home, Russ Carpenter<br />
reports from <strong>Williams</strong>town:<br />
“Spent Christmas with son<br />
David and family in Brunswick,<br />
Maine, which gave us the<br />
opportunity to visit with Audrey<br />
and Beatty Smith in Topsham,<br />
the next town over, where they<br />
moved last year to a splendid<br />
community. As usual, Beatty<br />
remembered some stories from<br />
our years together in the Zete<br />
house that I had long forgotten.<br />
Santa gave me a Nook, which<br />
apparently would counter my<br />
aging eyes and finger dexterity,<br />
but turning pages by a weak<br />
finger tap is a new challenge.”<br />
And here’s some more oneon-one-reunion<br />
news, from<br />
Paris via Dan Tritter in New<br />
York: “Jacqueline and I had the<br />
pleasure of dinner in Paris in<br />
late September with Scorp Craig.<br />
We missed Penny, who was off<br />
in the country administering<br />
discipline to their new caniche<br />
royal (Standard Poodle to you<br />
anglophones) with the intriguing,<br />
recession-busting name of<br />
Gatsby.”<br />
As for the class’s official<br />
minireunion in <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
in October, our president Hugh<br />
Germanetti reports that along<br />
with he and Nancy, those<br />
attending were Sonnie and Bob<br />
Murdock, Bill Stott, Miriam<br />
and Ted Irwin, Emily and John<br />
Miller, Harry Montgomery and<br />
Audrey Clarkson, Dan Tritter and<br />
Jacqueline Laroche, Pokie Kalker,<br />
Annaick and Buzz Eichel, Wendell<br />
Elmendorf and Mildred Pelrine.<br />
“Wendell and Mildred,” Hugh<br />
says, “originally planned to be<br />
married that weekend. They<br />
put their marriage off until the<br />
following weekend so they could<br />
attend our mini. By the end of<br />
n 1953–55<br />
another delightful and boisterous<br />
dinner at the ’6 House we all<br />
wanted to attend their wedding<br />
the following weekend. Alas,<br />
they had planned a small, private<br />
affair, but we almost talked them<br />
into expanding it.”<br />
1955<br />
Charley Bradley<br />
103 Meadow Road<br />
Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510<br />
1955secretary@williams.edu<br />
Greetings in the New Year and<br />
thanks to all who were able to<br />
provide updates of your lives.<br />
Thanks particularly to Norm<br />
Hugo for sending the following<br />
news of so many classmates:<br />
“George Kesel thriving<br />
in Missoula, Mont., having<br />
moved to be closer to one of his<br />
sons,” he writes. “They closed<br />
an upscale fishing and sporting<br />
goods store earlier, so George<br />
has time to enjoy the beauty of<br />
his town. Mac Fiske has moved<br />
back to Denver and still enjoys<br />
tooling around in his vintage<br />
TR3. Has had some offers to<br />
sell it, but his son has already<br />
laid claim to it. Rick Smith is as<br />
busy as ever with a new book<br />
coming out shortly. Can’t wait.<br />
Jim Weber is retired from his<br />
architectural practice and living<br />
the good life. His old Milwaukee<br />
buddy Ted Gerhardy has moved<br />
to Denver and is enjoying the<br />
Rockies. Larry Frank is writing<br />
another critical book on Charles<br />
Dickens and is acknowledged<br />
as one of the world’s experts on<br />
Dickens. Sandy Fargo continues<br />
his year-round residence in<br />
Florida and looks forward to<br />
all visitors. Tsuneo Tanaka has<br />
personalized the devastation of<br />
Japan in his emails. It will be<br />
years before full recovery. Tery<br />
Canavan continues his active life<br />
with family in Savannah and<br />
‘micro-loans’ to small startups.<br />
Al Lazor suffered a stroke in late<br />
fall and is successfully rehabilitating.<br />
Billy Pogue has retired<br />
from active practice (radiology)<br />
but entertains and cheers<br />
hospitalized kids by playing a<br />
clown. David Lindsay was one<br />
of our first classmates to be<br />
in the computer world—right<br />
after graduation—and has been<br />
plagued with a bad back—eats<br />
all his meals standing up. But he<br />
is as cheerful as ever and enjoys<br />
life. Sent a couple of computergenerated<br />
holiday cards, which<br />
were beautiful.”<br />
Loretta and Walter McLaughlin<br />
wrote greetings in January from<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 19
CLASS NOTES<br />
their home in the “snow (sort<br />
of) country” in Colorado, noting<br />
that “our winter recreations,<br />
skiing and snowshoeing, are in<br />
abeyance until La Niña awakens.”<br />
They were looking forward<br />
to spending March and <strong>April</strong><br />
in San Miguel de Allende, a<br />
historic city in the high plains of<br />
Mexico. “It’s safe,” he assured,<br />
“off most traffic routes … with<br />
a vibrant cultural life, both local<br />
and imported, including a good<br />
classical musical scene and excellent<br />
restaurants, from genuine<br />
Mexican to European.”<br />
John Newhall planned a<br />
February jaunt through India<br />
and Nepal, “thanks to the<br />
thoughtful remembrance of<br />
my prior interest by <strong>Williams</strong>’<br />
erstwhile tour director, our<br />
president, Bob Behr.” The<br />
trip, led by former <strong>Williams</strong><br />
President Frank Oakley, was to<br />
include Tink Campbell ’56 class<br />
president, his wife Paula and<br />
Bill Montgomery. Meanwhile,<br />
Deere and Melville Bearns traveled<br />
to Tokyo in late November,<br />
visiting friends of Deere’s before<br />
joining a <strong>Williams</strong>-Smith tour<br />
group led by Peter Frost, former<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> professor and “master<br />
of all things Japanese,” Melville<br />
writes. “We were a most congenial<br />
group of 20 which included<br />
Margot and Bill Moomaw and<br />
Peter’s charming wife Marnie.”<br />
I can’t do justice to their journey,<br />
except to relay Melville’s<br />
particular recollection of a day<br />
seeing temples and shrines in<br />
Kyoto: “By the end of the day, I<br />
felt as though we had surely seen<br />
them all, and the old cerebral<br />
hard drive was full to overflowing<br />
with unforgettable images of<br />
timeless grace and beauty.”<br />
For each that tells of his<br />
travels abroad, two more write<br />
of life on the home front. “Just<br />
like the bulk of our classmates,<br />
Cecile and I have not climbed<br />
Mount Everest or broken into<br />
Ft. Knox,” jokes Al Ogden. “We<br />
are just doing the usual old<br />
folks, grandparents stuff—having<br />
a good time and enjoying<br />
reasonably good health,” though<br />
they did enjoy a cruise along<br />
the Dalmatian Coast and Greek<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
our class secretary is<br />
Ywaiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
20 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Bill Merizon ’56 (fifth from right) and his wife Martha hosted seven<br />
classmates and their significant others in Sun Valley, Idaho, last October<br />
for the Sun Valley Jazz Festival.<br />
Isles—“Very laid back and<br />
enjoyable with a refresher, crash<br />
course on Greek politics, ancient<br />
history and mythology, most of<br />
which we had forgotten or never<br />
knew.” Martin DuBois continues<br />
practicing medicine in Great<br />
Barrington, Mass., “though it<br />
will soon be less,” and has this<br />
to say about Mass Health Care:<br />
“It is nice to practice in a clinic<br />
where 98 percent of people have<br />
basic health care insurance. The<br />
ones that do not live in New<br />
York!” Outside of work he<br />
and Sharon “see Martin Deely<br />
and his wife Jesse in Lee,” and<br />
he recently went to the top of<br />
Mount Greylock—for the first<br />
time!<br />
“We’ve sold our house in<br />
Weston, Mass.,” writes Ted<br />
Bower. “Vero Beach is our<br />
regular residence, and we’re<br />
looking at options for this<br />
summer and others beyond in<br />
New England.” (In his numerated<br />
email, however, he first<br />
mentioned Exeter’s victory over<br />
Andover in November. Some<br />
things never change, no matter<br />
where one lives.) Eugene Latham<br />
and wife Gloria are also “happy<br />
to report that we will be moving<br />
back to the U.S. permanently”<br />
this year, having ended their<br />
“daily relationship” with the<br />
NPH orphanage and helped<br />
form its new board of directors.<br />
“Our seven grandchildren and<br />
10 great-grandchildren living<br />
in the U.S. are pulling us home,<br />
as Mexico’s increasing violence<br />
makes it ever easier to leave. We<br />
are both retired, and Gloria, a<br />
Mexican citizen, will soon apply<br />
for a green card, which will<br />
allow her to reside permanently<br />
in the U.S.” He describes the<br />
approval process as an “international<br />
Catch-22” but says<br />
they look forward to spending<br />
summers in Rhode Island and<br />
winters in Denver, “where we<br />
hope to make contact with some<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> friends.”<br />
Across the ocean, Ted Oviatt<br />
describes his life is “in a holding<br />
pattern as <strong>2012</strong> begins,” parenting<br />
13-year-old daughter Angel,<br />
who is “doing very well in<br />
school,” as Marilyn pursues her<br />
law degree. The older children<br />
are also doing well: Son Peter is<br />
still running marathons—<br />
following in the footsteps of<br />
his father!—and coaching track<br />
club in Bellingham, Wash.;<br />
Ted is “serving up Starbucks<br />
in Westlake, Calif.”; Jill is<br />
communications director for a<br />
health research firm in Seattle;<br />
and Wendy has ushered all but<br />
her last child to college. “I love<br />
my life in the Philippines,” Ted<br />
writes, “and thank God for my<br />
health, even though I complain<br />
that back injuries have slowed<br />
me to a non-competitive runner.<br />
I’ve stayed busy this semester<br />
tutoring an IB French lit course<br />
for a French boy of 17. Majored<br />
in French at <strong>Williams</strong> but<br />
haven’t taught it for 30 years—<br />
so I’ve been working hard …<br />
and enjoying.” Erwin von den<br />
Steinen is also “regrouping<br />
after having a joyful houseful<br />
of young grandsons over the<br />
holiday period.” Erwin reflected<br />
the shock at Ned Reeves’ death<br />
that many mentioned in their<br />
letters. “It shows again that life<br />
is as fragile as it is robust,” he<br />
writes. You can find an obituary<br />
for Ned in the back of this issue.
1956 classmates (from left) Walter Jensen, Tom May and Bob Buss<br />
enjoyed the sunny weather of Napa, Calif., in November.<br />
1956<br />
Vern Squires<br />
727 Ardsley Road<br />
Winnetka, IL 60093<br />
1956secretary@williams.edu<br />
I have one sad note with which<br />
to commence this report. Jim<br />
Innes passed away in August<br />
of 2011. Jim practiced internal<br />
medicine and gastroenterology<br />
in Greenwich, Conn., from 1965<br />
to 1997. During these years he<br />
held multiple leadership positions<br />
in local, state and national<br />
medical organizations while<br />
enjoying his passion for travel,<br />
golf and skiing. Jim is survived<br />
by Eleanor, his wife of 56 years,<br />
and many members of their<br />
extended family.<br />
My apologies to Bill Kerr for<br />
not incorporating his nice note<br />
in my last article. It became a<br />
victim of the column’s space limitation<br />
rules. However, definitely<br />
better late than never because it<br />
is so interesting. Bill expressed<br />
his regrets for not attending the<br />
55th last June, but he had a very<br />
good reason: That was also the<br />
weekend for his 50th reunion<br />
at Johns Hopkins Medical<br />
School. Moreover, Bill was in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town the preceding<br />
weekend for the graduation of<br />
his grandson Connor Olvany ’11,<br />
son of daughter Kendra Olvany<br />
and son-in-law John Olvany,<br />
both Class of ’82. Bill noted that<br />
at the baccalaureate service an<br />
honorary Doctor of Letters was<br />
awarded to Bruce Russett for his<br />
work in conflict resolution while<br />
a professor of political science at<br />
Yale. So a belated “congratulations”<br />
to Bruce. Bill recalled that<br />
during the <strong>Williams</strong> years he<br />
and Bruce and three others<br />
majored together in political<br />
economy. Bill met Bruce at the<br />
Faculty House and emerged with<br />
much information. Bruce is now<br />
emeritus at Yale but still working<br />
hard. He thanks Professors<br />
Fred Schuman and Emile Depres<br />
for launching his career and<br />
credits a year in Cambridge for<br />
opening vistas beyond the world<br />
of North Adams (his hometown)<br />
and <strong>Williams</strong>town. Bruce and<br />
his wife, also a professor at<br />
Yale, have four adult children.<br />
International assignments have<br />
conspired to keep him from<br />
many of our reunions, but<br />
let’s hope the 60th will find<br />
him and many others back in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
I had a nice note from Clarke<br />
Sperry, but he felt that (contrary<br />
to my own belief) he really had<br />
nothing to relate. So I will insert<br />
a memory of Clarke: playing<br />
first base on the baseball team of<br />
1956 under the watchful eye of<br />
coach Bobby Coombs.<br />
A great letter arrived from<br />
Wally Jensen that related several<br />
items of interest. In November<br />
Wally and Carolyn joined with<br />
Martha and Tom May and<br />
Bourne and Bob Buss to stage a<br />
Class of ’56 minireunion in the<br />
Napa Valley. As Wally related,<br />
“We reestablished friendship,<br />
enjoyed wonderful dining and<br />
of course drank fabulous wine.”<br />
Tom and Martha capped off<br />
a great luncheon by bringing<br />
two bottles of their classic 1990<br />
Martha Vineyard Cabernet<br />
Sauvignon. Wally concluded his<br />
letter on a nice philosophical<br />
note: “Again I was reminded<br />
of the privilege given to us in<br />
attending <strong>Williams</strong>. The breadth<br />
n 1955–56<br />
of knowledge possessed by Tom<br />
and Martha bespoke of the<br />
power of the <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
liberal arts education. It instilled<br />
in us a curiosity about the workings<br />
of the world. And somehow<br />
it bred character, or was that<br />
something Fred Copeland ’35<br />
detected in those he chose to<br />
enter each class?” Thanks,<br />
Wally, for the reminder of how<br />
fortunate we were.<br />
Kay and Wayne Renneisen have<br />
joined the list of classmates who<br />
have said a goodbye to their<br />
longtime residences in favor<br />
of downsizing. After 48 years<br />
in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., they are<br />
now in a small apartment in<br />
Wynnewood, Pa. However it<br />
was not a far move, geographically.<br />
As Wayne noted, 1.5 miles<br />
and six traffic lights. Wayne<br />
has retired from his position as<br />
chairman of the board of trustees<br />
of the Wetlands Institute but<br />
remains a member of the board.<br />
Paula and Tink Campbell<br />
participated in a fall trip,<br />
described by Tink as “fantastic,”<br />
to Thailand, Vietnam<br />
and Cambodia. The Thailand<br />
component was just about the<br />
time of the terrible flooding<br />
around Bangkok, but they were<br />
fortunate to escape it. Tink had<br />
a couple of interesting side notes.<br />
He encountered not a whisper<br />
of the war, now more than 35<br />
years behind us. And he found<br />
many of the local people not<br />
only friendly but quite fluent<br />
in English. (Note to Tink: The<br />
Wall Street Journal of Dec. 22,<br />
2011, reported that a current<br />
hot investment in Vietnam is<br />
buying a membership in a golf<br />
club. “Buying a membership is<br />
better than putting cash in the<br />
bank, better than putting it in<br />
the stock market, and better<br />
than putting it into gold,” said<br />
Do Dinh Thjuy, a 48-year-old<br />
management consultant.) The<br />
next big trip for Paula and Tink<br />
will be a journey to India in<br />
which the head docent will be<br />
former <strong>Williams</strong> President Frank<br />
Oakley.<br />
On a personal traveling note,<br />
Judy and I spent the latter part<br />
of November on the Hawaiian<br />
Islands, first on Maui for the<br />
Maui Invitational Basketball<br />
Tournament (won by Duke,<br />
her alma mater, for the fifth<br />
time) and then on to Kauai for<br />
Thanksgiving dinner and several<br />
days of sightseeing, including<br />
a catamaran ocean trip and a<br />
helicopter flight over the virtually<br />
inaccessible sections of the<br />
interior of the island.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 21
CLASS NOTES<br />
An event that I know from<br />
personal experience is special is<br />
the annual October Sun Valley<br />
Jazz Festival. Martha and Bill<br />
Merizon, as Sun Valley residents,<br />
serve as the hosts for <strong>Williams</strong><br />
classmates who come in for<br />
the occasion. This year they<br />
hosted a terrific group: Toni<br />
and Ken Harkness, Nancy and<br />
Kirt Gardner, Mary Clare and<br />
Bill Jenks, Ausra and Bill Kerr,<br />
Carolyn and Bill Mauritz, Gaysie<br />
Taylor and Jeff Smythe and friend<br />
Nancy. A great time was had<br />
by all, and many have planned<br />
to return to Sun Valley in July<br />
for a five-day rafting trip on<br />
the Middle Fork of the Salmon<br />
River. Bill and Martha are marvelous<br />
hosts for the jazz festival<br />
affairs, and they have expressed<br />
the hope that classmates will be<br />
in Sun Valley again when next<br />
October rolls around.<br />
It was nice to hear from Tony<br />
Morano. He and Mary are still<br />
living in White Plains, N.Y.,<br />
where they were born. Tony has<br />
retired from 43 years of medical<br />
practice but misses his patients,<br />
many of whom he has known<br />
his whole life. He is justifiably<br />
proud that the White Plains<br />
Hospital has a wing named “The<br />
Anthony J. Morano MD Cardiac<br />
Care Unit,” clearly reflecting a<br />
distinguished medical career. He<br />
mentioned his recent correspondence<br />
with Steve Gilman and<br />
Bill Evans and their interesting<br />
achievements over the years.<br />
Tony’s letter concluded: “Best<br />
regards to all our classmates.”<br />
Vance Ludtke, reporting in<br />
from the U.S. Navy city of<br />
Pensacola, Fla., expressed his<br />
regrets for not making the 55th,<br />
but he is planning ahead for the<br />
60th. Vance lives close to the<br />
Pensacola Navy Air Station,<br />
which means he can watch the<br />
famous Blue Angels practice<br />
for their air shows. Although<br />
they fly so low that they shake<br />
his house, he is spared the need<br />
to join the massive crowds<br />
that gather at Pensacola Beach.<br />
Vance’s health is holding up<br />
pretty well, with his weight at an<br />
enviable 175 pounds, but without<br />
getting into details he noted<br />
some harrowing experiences that<br />
he has shared with Phil Wick.<br />
Like Tony Morano’s letter, Vance’s<br />
letter concluded with thoughts<br />
of his classmates: “My very best<br />
wishes and prayers go out to<br />
you all.”<br />
Jo Anderson has published<br />
a new book in collaboration<br />
with two other scientists. Diet,<br />
Nutrients and Bone Health<br />
22 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
consists of 35 chapters on<br />
bone-related topics by leading<br />
researchers throughout the<br />
world. He and Betsey went to<br />
New York in February for the<br />
annual <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund<br />
telethon and joined forces with<br />
Bob Schumacher and other<br />
classmates. As Jo sadly noted, it<br />
will be hard to replace our late<br />
classmates Tony Fisher and Mark<br />
Saulnier, who did a great job for<br />
many years at the telethon. John<br />
Reeves (whose annual Christmas<br />
letter, entitled “The Voice of<br />
Atlantic Avenue,” I always look<br />
forward to) had lunch with Jo<br />
in Bar Harbor, Maine, and more<br />
recently Jo got together with<br />
Pete Brown, a fellow resident<br />
of Chapel Hill. Jo and Betsey<br />
have a wonderful trip planned<br />
for late June and early July:<br />
a <strong>Williams</strong>-sponsored trip to<br />
Athens, the Greek Islands and<br />
Turkey. Having done this trip<br />
several years ago (although not<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>-sponsored) I can attest<br />
that it is a winner. I am happy<br />
to report that Jo has recovered<br />
from knee surgery and is in terrific<br />
shape (but no longer referreeing<br />
football and basketball<br />
games as he did for many years).<br />
Speaking of good health news,<br />
I am glad to report that, after<br />
encountering a spot on his arm<br />
which naturally raised a concern,<br />
Jock Duncan had surgery in mid-<br />
January which was successful.<br />
The prognosis is excellent, and<br />
all is well. I have saved this<br />
paragraph for the conclusion of<br />
this article as it is always nice<br />
to be able to say “the end” on a<br />
high note.<br />
1957<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
John S. Pritchard<br />
150 Candlewood Drive<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA 01267<br />
1957secretary@williams.edu<br />
Greetings from <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
which only yesterday resembled<br />
late fall and today (Jan. 12) has<br />
become cold and snowy for the<br />
first time this winter. Members of<br />
the Greylock H.S. cross country<br />
ski team, including my grandson,<br />
have been frustrated for lack of<br />
snow to compete. One thing for<br />
sure is, come June 7, we won’t<br />
have these concerns for your<br />
return to celebrate our 55th<br />
reunion. President Fleming and<br />
Reunion Chair Tom Slonaker have<br />
been busy with arrangements,<br />
including visits to campus and<br />
the Dodd House complex (old<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Inn), where you will be<br />
staying, dining and enjoying old<br />
friends. Ted Cobden and yours<br />
truly, with considerable help from<br />
some of you, will be in contact<br />
on your plans to return. We look<br />
forward to a terrific weekend<br />
together in June!<br />
As promised in my December<br />
notes, the Oct. 21-23 ’57<br />
Scholars and Summer Interns<br />
Weekend was special, with 29<br />
classmates and spouses attending.<br />
The round table discussion<br />
at the Saturday night dinner<br />
was a highlight and led by our<br />
scholars’ chair, Richard Miller ’86.<br />
Fourteen scholars and interns<br />
participated in sharing ideas<br />
concerning economy/scholarship<br />
issues. Dinner sponsors included<br />
Steve Bullock and the Cobdens,<br />
Driesens, Flemings, Gardellas<br />
and Holmans. The Class of 1957<br />
Scholars Fund dispensed in excess<br />
of $160,000 to scholars last year.<br />
Other highlights of the weekend<br />
included faculty lectures, museum<br />
tours and athletic events, including<br />
the Tufts football game.<br />
The Hubert H. Humphrey<br />
Centennial Commission celebrated<br />
its 100th anniversary by<br />
honoring several Minnesotans<br />
who have distinguished<br />
themselves in a variety of fields<br />
involving public service. “Arne H.<br />
Carlson, governor of Minnesota<br />
from 1991-99, was presented a<br />
Humphrey Legacy Award for<br />
his continuous work on behalf<br />
of improving the quality of<br />
governance in Minnesota. A<br />
blogger and frequent speaker<br />
in his retirement, Carlson, a<br />
moderate Republican, frequently<br />
teamed with former VP Mondale<br />
on a variety of issues, ranging<br />
from creating an independent<br />
panel to handling legislative<br />
and Congressional redistricting<br />
to presenting a compromise<br />
designed to resolve the 2011 state<br />
of Minnesota budgetary deadlock.<br />
Carlson was also honored<br />
in October 2011 by being named<br />
by the Rochester Post-Bulletin<br />
as Minnesota’s most effective<br />
governor in the past 50 years.<br />
In 2001 Minnesotans, in a poll<br />
conducted by the St. Paul Pioneer<br />
Press, named Humphrey, Carlson<br />
and Mondale as the ‘great’ political<br />
leaders of the 20th century.”<br />
Congratulations, Arne, and<br />
please bring some pearls of political<br />
wisdom to us in June.<br />
<strong>News</strong> from Nick Wright, who<br />
reports, “Joan and I were in DC<br />
Nov. 6 to protest the building<br />
of the Tar Sands Pipeline from<br />
Northern Canada to Texas. It is
hard to act against the economic<br />
interests of a friendly government,<br />
but the addiction to fossil<br />
fuels in the U.S. and the rest of<br />
the industrialized world has to be<br />
broken, and stopping this pipeline<br />
is a very good start. Twelve<br />
thousand people showed up,<br />
and after some speechifying in<br />
Lafayette Park they proceeded to<br />
encircle the White House about<br />
two to four deep, with innovative<br />
placards, including quoting some<br />
speeches on the environment<br />
from President Obama’s 2008<br />
campaign. It was a civilized affair,<br />
and I did not see anyone arrested.<br />
There were students from many<br />
universities as well as a small contingent<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong> students who<br />
came by overnight bus. A mock<br />
section of black plastic-covered<br />
pipe undulated around the White<br />
House, carried above the heads<br />
of some students. A few days<br />
after the protest, the president<br />
referred the pipeline proposal<br />
back for further review, including<br />
an investigation of lobbying<br />
tactics that may have influenced<br />
the State Dept. to express its<br />
satisfaction with the project. The<br />
trip gave us the opportunity to<br />
visit with Jane and Crane Miller,<br />
who had volunteered legal and<br />
bail services! Since none were<br />
needed, we instead enjoyed some<br />
memorable Turkish food at the<br />
Ezme Restaurant, near Dupont<br />
Circle.” Thanks, Nick, for your<br />
up-close-and-personal experience.<br />
Phil Fradkin continues to<br />
produce creative and picturesque<br />
photography, and I wish you<br />
could view his “Winter Sunrise<br />
Over Brock’s Boathouse and<br />
Tomales Bay.” This beautiful<br />
December image captures the<br />
spirit of the holiday season and<br />
serves as the introduction to<br />
his next creative effort involving<br />
images rather than words.<br />
“I will be sending one monthly<br />
for those requesting them or a<br />
short series of my digital images.<br />
For those who gave me a photo<br />
printer on my 75th birthday, I<br />
would like to make a gift of a<br />
signed photograph of their choice<br />
printed on archival paper. For<br />
others, unframed photographic<br />
prints of West Marin, Calif., and<br />
the American West are available<br />
at a reasonable price. A few are<br />
on display outside my office in<br />
downtown Point Reyes Station.<br />
Call or email me for an appointment:<br />
philfrad@earthlink.net. I’m<br />
not new to photography. Taking<br />
photos for publications dates<br />
back to my first newspaper job<br />
in 1960. The equipment I have<br />
used spans a century of camera<br />
technology. I began with a simple<br />
Kodak; graduated to a large<br />
formal Speed Graflex; a medium<br />
format, twin-lens Rollieflex;<br />
various single-lens reflex cameras;<br />
and finally digital cameras. Such<br />
photo and design conscious<br />
publications as the Los Angeles<br />
Times and Audubon magazine,<br />
book publishers such as Alfred<br />
A. Knopf and the University of<br />
California Press used my images<br />
both on covers and inside with<br />
my texts. A Life magazine editor<br />
even asked to see a sample of<br />
my photographs. Except for<br />
some freelance assignments to<br />
illustrate articles by such noted<br />
writers as Page Stegner and Peter<br />
Matthiessen, the images were<br />
secondary to my words. Now<br />
photos are my dominant interest,<br />
and they provide a quick, intuitive<br />
way to tell a story. I have a<br />
number of exciting directions<br />
in which I want to travel. If you<br />
know anyone else who would<br />
like to join this trek, please have<br />
them contact me with an email<br />
address. In the next few months,<br />
I plan to have a website for my<br />
photographs. Information about<br />
my writing life is available on my<br />
current website at www.philipfradkin.com<br />
as well as a small<br />
photographic component.” Many<br />
thanks, Phil, for your update,<br />
and you will no doubt be hearing<br />
from more classmates.<br />
Len Kirschner, president of<br />
AARP Arizona and former director<br />
of AHCCCS, was quoted in<br />
the Dec. 18 editorial section of<br />
The Arizona Republic in support<br />
of using money to help people<br />
in need. “In advocating for the<br />
extension of the 1-cent-perdollar<br />
state sales tax, we should<br />
remember the words of the wise<br />
people who led this country<br />
during our tumultuous history.<br />
Supreme Court Justice Oliver<br />
Wendell Holmes said: ‘Taxes are<br />
what we pay for civilized society.’<br />
VP Hubert Humphrey, in the last<br />
speech before his death, opined,<br />
‘The moral test of government is<br />
how it treats those in the dawn<br />
of life, the children; those in the<br />
shadows of life, the sick, the<br />
needy and the handicapped.’<br />
n 1956–57<br />
Finally, it was Abraham Lincoln<br />
who said, ‘The legitimate object<br />
of government is to do for a community<br />
of people whatever they<br />
need to have done, but cannot so<br />
at all, or cannot so well do, for<br />
themselves in their separate and<br />
individual capacities.’ If we listen<br />
to these three great Americans,<br />
we must do better.” Len, hope<br />
you achieved your extension.<br />
We lost a well-remembered<br />
classmate and have heard<br />
from several close friends, and<br />
especially from his wife Kathleen,<br />
who wrote on Jan. 4, “My<br />
husband Dick Ennis died on Nov.<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
Arne Carlson ’57, governor of Minnesota from 1991-99, received<br />
a Humphrey Legacy Award for his continuous work to improve the<br />
governance of Minnesota. Most recently he worked with former U.S. Vice<br />
President Walter Mondale to design a compromise to resolve the state’s<br />
2011 budgetary deadlock.<br />
30 this past year. He had many<br />
good friends and memories from<br />
his years at <strong>Williams</strong>. He was a<br />
wonderful husband and father<br />
and is deeply mourned by his<br />
family,” including four children<br />
and five grandchildren. Kathleen<br />
shared Dick’s obituary, which<br />
appeared in the Naples Daily<br />
<strong>News</strong>, the Washington Post and<br />
in the online Bronxville paper.<br />
Please contact me if you’d like to<br />
read the full obituary. A <strong>Williams</strong><br />
obituary appears at the end of<br />
this issue. Thank you, Kathy.<br />
Looking forward to June and<br />
our 55th. Many of you will have<br />
made plans to be with your classmates<br />
as you read this update.<br />
Ted Cobden, Tom Slonaker, Pete<br />
Fleming and others, including<br />
yours truly, will have been in<br />
touch with the reunion schedule<br />
and details of our weekend<br />
together.<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
illiams People accepts<br />
Wphotographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 23
CLASS NOTES<br />
1958<br />
Dick Davis<br />
5732 East Woodridge Drive<br />
Scottsdale, AZ 85254<br />
1958secretary@williams.edu<br />
Last fall was a great one for<br />
’58 conviviality. It started in<br />
September with the collegesponsored<br />
jazz cruise to Nova<br />
Scotia and back. Bob Kingsbury<br />
and Fred Clifford led the musical<br />
way; I’ll bet Clare and Barbara at<br />
some point supplied some lyrics.<br />
Marcia Schoeller was aboard,<br />
along with Pete Paullin and<br />
Ann; Joe Young and Betsy; David<br />
Grossman and Jill; Jim Bowers<br />
and Suzie; and Bill Harter. Tom<br />
Hayne ’59, with Martha, was<br />
beatin’ on the drums, and John<br />
Halsey ’59 tickled the ivories.<br />
Three other ’59ers many of us<br />
know, Bill Applegate, Tony Volpe<br />
and Bob O’Neill,were also on<br />
board.<br />
Sam Jones and Becky had lunch<br />
with David Grossman and Jill and<br />
Bill Harter before the cruise was<br />
under way. I understand there<br />
was a pre-cruise concert where<br />
Spencer Jones was honored for<br />
his contributions over the years;<br />
a taped solo was played.<br />
In October there was a<br />
beautiful minireunion. The following<br />
were there: Dave Allan<br />
and Connie; Ron Anderson and<br />
Barbie; Jim Bowers; Fred Clifford<br />
and Barbara; Dave Cook and<br />
Loy; Tom Connolly and Ann; Rick<br />
Driscoll and Jeanne; Steve Frost<br />
and Anne; David Grossman and<br />
Jill; Joel Greeley and Louise;<br />
Spence Jones and Susan; David<br />
Kane and Siegrun; Chet Lasell and<br />
Kate; Skip Martin and Nancy;<br />
Bruce Maxwell; Jock Purcell and<br />
Nancy; Dick Siegel and Pam; and<br />
Joe Young and Betsy. Matt Donner<br />
and Judy and David Sims were<br />
there for the “Tentgate Lunch”<br />
and football game. Joe Young<br />
reported that the seminars were<br />
stimulating, especially on immigration<br />
and movements in South<br />
America. The Eph gridders beat<br />
Tufts. The ’58-’59 joint Friday<br />
dinner at the 1896 House and<br />
the Saturday class dinner at the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Inn were first rate. Joe<br />
and Betsy stayed with Chet and<br />
Kate. We all are grateful for Joe’s<br />
continuing contributions. Major<br />
credits for the weekend to Chet<br />
and Rick.<br />
On Dec. 2, the urbane gathered<br />
at the <strong>Williams</strong> Club within<br />
the Princeton Club in New<br />
York. Matt Donner writes: “We<br />
had a successful holiday lunch<br />
at the <strong>Williams</strong>/Princeton Club<br />
24 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
attended by Brad Thayer, Dick<br />
Lisle, Jim Conlan, Bob Guyett, Bill<br />
Kaufmann, Lin Patterson, Tom<br />
Synnott, Rich Lombard, Joe Young,<br />
Arnie Sher, Dave Grossman,<br />
Howard Abbott and myself. It<br />
was an upbeat get together.”<br />
That was the sentiment of all I<br />
heard from. I’m told the waitstaff<br />
loves the Ephs.<br />
Just when you think a Texan,<br />
even a transplanted one, would<br />
be kicking back, you learn<br />
that Carl Vogt is taking on the<br />
chairmanship of the Ephraim<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Society, succeeding<br />
fellow President Emeritus John<br />
Chandler. The society encourages<br />
testamentary and other major<br />
gifts to the college, and Carl<br />
aims to expand the universe of<br />
donors. Congratulations, Carl,<br />
on undertaking this additional,<br />
and major, service to the alma.<br />
Tex and Margrit visited<br />
Mongolia last summer on an<br />
“adventure” tour. They typically<br />
stayed in yurts, called “gers”<br />
there. It’s a huge, friendly country,<br />
Carl says, and something<br />
of a model in its distribution<br />
of ownership shares in mining<br />
enterprises to citizens. Mining<br />
royalties to the nation should<br />
cover most of the national<br />
budget. “The Russian influence<br />
is everywhere, including some<br />
world-class vodka. Should only<br />
be visited in the summer, as Ulan<br />
Bator is the coldest capital city in<br />
the world.”<br />
Skip Martin and Nancy were<br />
recent guests of George Vare<br />
and Elsa. They got Tex and<br />
Margrit up to Napa for some<br />
wine tasting. George and Elsa are<br />
looking toward slimming down<br />
and George is considering and<br />
promoting a “village” concept<br />
for the Napa area similar to the<br />
Beacon Hill village in Boston.<br />
George says there are 60 or so of<br />
these around the nation.<br />
Rick Driscoll and Jeanne have<br />
moved to a condo a little north<br />
of their former house. Rick says<br />
he is happy to be out of the<br />
home-owning business. The new<br />
address is 403 North Hemlock<br />
Lane in <strong>Williams</strong>town. Rick’s<br />
new email address is driscoll.<br />
ephans@gmail.com; phone is the<br />
same: 413.458.8681.<br />
Larry Nilsen and Barbara are<br />
going to hold their next family<br />
reunion, Thanksgiving, in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>, Ariz. If you’re ever<br />
near the Grand Canyon, spend<br />
a day and night at <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
named for Bill, a kind of<br />
Mountain Man. It’s in the<br />
mountains west of Flag, cool in<br />
the summer, on old Route 66.<br />
Black Jack Pershing stayed at the<br />
old hotel there I think before he<br />
took on Panchovilla. Larry and<br />
Barbara’s son Scott and his wife<br />
Megan, who live in Colorado<br />
Springs, are expanding their<br />
family from four to six with the<br />
adoption of two young children<br />
from Ethiopia. The paperwork<br />
and vetting took 16 months.<br />
Larry says if anyone can handle<br />
the challenges, Scott and Megan<br />
can.<br />
Joe Borus and Carolyn and Sam<br />
Jones and Becky attended the<br />
50th reunion of the law school<br />
class of 1961 at Yale. Sam and<br />
others filled me in. Phil McKean<br />
and Deborah got to Phil’s 50th<br />
reunion at the Yale Divinity<br />
School. Phil and others recalled<br />
the Rev. William Sloane Coffin,<br />
our chaplain senior year, who<br />
spearheaded the Divinity School<br />
in those subsequent years. Phil’s<br />
new address is 633 Leyden Lane,<br />
#203, Claremont, Calif. 91711.<br />
They expect to be back in Maine<br />
in the summer to visit with,<br />
among many others, Charlie<br />
Hudson.<br />
George McCracken continues<br />
his teaching, practicing and journal<br />
editorship and has received<br />
the <strong>2012</strong> Maxwell Finland<br />
Lectureship by the Infectious<br />
Disease Society of America. He<br />
will deliver the honorary lecture<br />
in October.<br />
Peter Bogle was to retire from<br />
Smurfit-Stone at the end of<br />
January, since it was acquired<br />
by Rock-Tenn and moved its tax<br />
operations to Georgia. Peter and<br />
Cheryl are still raising their two<br />
grandsons, and Peter is starting<br />
a home-based business dealing<br />
in wellness and health care products.<br />
Peter’s new email address is<br />
peche1978@gmail.com. Pete says<br />
he’ll enjoy being his own boss.<br />
When I turned on the TV this<br />
morning, I turned it up to better<br />
hear Mohamed El-Erian, the<br />
Pimco CEO. When he was last<br />
out here the group was talking<br />
bonds, and Dave Cook remarked<br />
that in his last career, setting up<br />
a security system for the IMF, he<br />
developed a close and personal<br />
relationship with El-Erian, then<br />
still the head of the Harvard<br />
Endowment Fund. This in my<br />
humble opinion is a world-class<br />
financial sage.<br />
In the same realm Matt<br />
Donner audited one of Prof. Tom<br />
Synnott’s classes on business<br />
economics at Cooper Union.<br />
Matt notes that Cooper Union<br />
was rated by <strong>News</strong>week in 2010<br />
as the “#1 Most Desired Small<br />
School.” It is highly selective
and all full scholarship. Matt<br />
said Tom’s class was highly<br />
stimulating.<br />
Matt also had lunch in<br />
December with Bill Harter. Matt<br />
says Bill has lost 60 pounds and<br />
looks great. Hey, nothing like<br />
Bill, but I’ve lost a few; Tom<br />
Shulman noted it last year. I got<br />
a shot over the bow re: type-2<br />
diabetes and hope to stave it off.<br />
I mentioned Phil Rideout’s<br />
and Flavia’s son Danny and his<br />
high position at the Waldorf.<br />
This astounds Phil, who teaches<br />
a lot of Danny’s contemporaries<br />
who have few if any job<br />
prospects. Danny is a graduate<br />
of Johnson & Wales, a university<br />
in Providence big in hospitality.<br />
One of Danny’s fortés is providing<br />
for the particularized tastes<br />
of the many foreign dignitaries<br />
who make the Waldorf their NY<br />
home. When the cooks cannot<br />
deliver, Danny cooks it himself.<br />
Phil and Flavia paid a moving<br />
visit to Ground Zero. They were<br />
both working two miles away<br />
in midtown when the attacks<br />
occurred. Phil also says that he<br />
has finished all of his work on a<br />
fifth edition of his Dictionary of<br />
American English.<br />
Phil said they visited the<br />
Ramapos after their NY visit.<br />
I imagined this must be some<br />
obscure group of North Atlantic<br />
islands. Nope—they are mountains<br />
in northern New Jersey.<br />
I think Ron Cullis drove me<br />
out there once yea those many<br />
years ago. Phil says they greatly<br />
enjoyed the relaxing visit.<br />
Jim Conlan said he and Virginia<br />
spent an enjoyable (and ocean<br />
swimmable) few days at Spring<br />
Lake, N.J., in the fall. Jim says<br />
this area is known as “the Irish<br />
Riviera.”<br />
Jim Hutchinson and Kay finally<br />
did make it to Antarctica on their<br />
third try in December. “Very<br />
enjoyable, though the Drake’s<br />
passage going and coming was<br />
rough. Back in Portland with the<br />
usual winter rain.” Up near the<br />
other end of the planet, Whitey<br />
Kaufmann attended a meeting of<br />
his University of the Arctic board<br />
in Fairbanks in early January. It<br />
was only about 5 below zero—<br />
practically a heat wave for the<br />
time and place. Whitey almost<br />
daily informally posts a reply to<br />
a conservative blog commenting<br />
on some of the prominent<br />
media op-eds. Whitey is so well<br />
informed and articulate that I<br />
sometimes wonder how he managed<br />
to stay out of an even more<br />
active political career. He’s going<br />
to have an active <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
I’m going to give you the bad<br />
news about Jim Becket first. He<br />
had some intercranial bleeding<br />
and a subdural hematoma and<br />
underwent brain surgery on<br />
Christmas Day. Jim notes that<br />
it was just a “one hole” surgery.<br />
He was in Southern California<br />
at the time. The good news is<br />
that the surgery appears to have<br />
been very successful. Jim had a<br />
follow-up with the leading neurosurgeon<br />
at UCLA, who gave<br />
him a strong thumbs up on the<br />
denouement. Jim sent me a priceless<br />
blow-by-blow of the events<br />
and his mindset as he awaited<br />
this meeting and “verdict.”<br />
Jim earlier completed his<br />
“peace climb” of Mount<br />
Kilimanjaro with the two scions<br />
of the past-warring African<br />
legends referred to in the last<br />
issue. He’s currently editing and<br />
finalizing that documentary and<br />
a “horror thriller” he directed<br />
in July called Serenity Farm. Jim<br />
reports he’s feeling fine and preparing<br />
for a trip to the Ganges in<br />
India for some more production<br />
work.<br />
I was kind of hoping for an<br />
upper-midwest World Series this<br />
year after the Brewers knocked<br />
off our local Diamondbacks.<br />
Tigers vs. Brewers wasn’t to happen,<br />
but Sandy Hansell confirms<br />
that the renaissances of the local<br />
feral beasts, the Tigers and the<br />
Lions, have raised spirits around<br />
the Motor City. Someone is<br />
going to get rich writing a book<br />
on fan psyche.<br />
John Buckner and Lorraine and<br />
all available family members go<br />
dressed up in stylish Renaissance<br />
garb to celebrate Lorraine’s<br />
birthday and sent me a picture.<br />
I can’t say whether John looks<br />
more ducal or troubadorian.<br />
Lorraine is very much the<br />
contessa, ready to outmaneuver<br />
Catherine de Medici. John Jr. is<br />
very much some royalty higher<br />
than conte. John and Lorraine’s<br />
daughter Alison ’89 is either<br />
queenly or high-level peasantry.<br />
I’m not enough of a renaissance<br />
man to know which.<br />
Donna and Bill Dudley are cochairs<br />
for the National Maritime<br />
Historical Society’s Washington<br />
Awards dinner to be held <strong>April</strong><br />
12 at the National Press Club.<br />
Honorees are Admiral Bruce<br />
DeMars, who directed the Navy’s<br />
nuclear propulsion program;<br />
innovative racing yacht designer<br />
Bruce Farr; and eminent marine<br />
artist Patrick O’Brien. Bill says<br />
this was to be a gala affair. You<br />
can reach him at billdudley@<br />
starband.net.<br />
n 1958<br />
Bill Taggart and Lil were off to<br />
Salinas, Ecuador, in late winter;<br />
report to come.<br />
Bruno Quinson and Minkie<br />
had a harrowing experience<br />
relocating to NYC. They were<br />
on the Taconic in the early heavy<br />
snowstorm and their car conked<br />
out. Bruno confesses to envisioning<br />
some “Elderly Couple Found<br />
Frozen to Death” headlines. But<br />
he finally got the car restarted<br />
and limped into Poughkeepsie,<br />
where they got the last room at<br />
the Marriott. Next day, Fifth<br />
Avenue Manhattan never looked<br />
better.<br />
Bruno ran into John Karol at<br />
the annual black-tie affair of<br />
the Century Association in New<br />
York. Bruno says John is looking<br />
good. Not long after the last<br />
issue’s material was submitted<br />
John sent me some fine memories<br />
he had of our late classmate Bill<br />
Huckel. John writes: “I was sorry<br />
to read of Bill Huckel’s death. I<br />
have happy memories of time<br />
spent together with Bill while he<br />
was at <strong>Williams</strong>. Among others,<br />
I recall long discussions on the<br />
relative merits of Mozart and<br />
Bach—his passion for the former,<br />
mine for the latter. And when<br />
winter ice now clings to our trees<br />
here in New Hampshire, I recall<br />
a hike with Bill up Pine Cobble<br />
where the ice-covered underbrush<br />
chimed our way to the<br />
sun-dazzled summit one Sunday<br />
afternoon. On vacations while<br />
still at <strong>Williams</strong>, Bill visited my<br />
parents and me in Chappaqua<br />
and Edgartown and joined me<br />
for an event or two in New York.<br />
I heard from Bill in January<br />
2002, together with an appeal<br />
to support The Regeneration<br />
Center in West Palm Beach. I<br />
was pleased to contribute to the<br />
faith-based nonprofit organization<br />
that had rescued Bill from<br />
the addiction that he forthrightly<br />
described. ‘Brother Bill,’ his then<br />
moniker, joyfully responded,<br />
enclosing photos from the center,<br />
including [one] with the caption<br />
‘Here I am with Corey, who, at<br />
18, is our youngest graduate.’ At<br />
the time, Bill reported that his<br />
cancer was in remission but that<br />
hepatitis was taking a toll. Bill<br />
has come to mind many times<br />
over the years. Those who add<br />
to one’s life are never forgotten.<br />
If any of you are in touch with<br />
members of Bill’s family, I would<br />
be pleased to hear from you via<br />
karol@apertura.org.”<br />
Be sure to either download or<br />
order your copy of the “hardcopy”<br />
mag.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 25
CLASS NOTES<br />
1959<br />
Dan Rankin<br />
1870 Bay Road #213<br />
Vero Beach, FL 32963<br />
1959secretary@williams.edu<br />
“I’ve noticed that the older<br />
and more gnarled the cherry<br />
tree, the greater the profusions<br />
of blossoms. And sometimes the<br />
oldest and dustiest bottles hold<br />
the most sparkling wine. I’m<br />
drawn by faces lined with crow’s<br />
feet, those credentials of humanity,<br />
beautifully lit from within.”<br />
As the majority of us turn 75<br />
this year we should reflect on<br />
Chaplain William Sloane Coffin’s<br />
thought and cherish our classmates<br />
who continue to do good<br />
works and stay active.<br />
Out in San Diego Cliff Colwell<br />
continues his medical research,<br />
and while he cautions his lab<br />
hasn’t cured anything yet, they<br />
have received a $3.5 million<br />
grant from the California<br />
Institute of Regenerative<br />
Medicine to study stem-cell<br />
regeneration and a possible cure<br />
for arthritis. He and Carolyn<br />
celebrated their 50th by hiking,<br />
biking and fishing with<br />
their children in Whitefish,<br />
Mont. Back on the East Coast<br />
in Virginia another MD, Alex<br />
Reeves, finds he’s reversed the<br />
clock and is gradually slipping<br />
out of retirement by working for<br />
the Department of Corrections of<br />
Virginia. He provides specialist<br />
consultations for “offenders”<br />
who have neurological problems.<br />
And while he finds this is<br />
a long way from the academic<br />
world in which he once lived, it<br />
is rewarding and allows him to<br />
pay the mortgage and buy the<br />
necessary and important fish<br />
gear he so cherishes. Across the<br />
pond in Scotland, Valedictorian<br />
Bob Gould remains active in the<br />
theological field as an interim<br />
pastor yet demonstrated his versatility<br />
by delivering a lecture at<br />
the Computer School in Spain on<br />
“How crystallographers survived<br />
before the digital computer.”<br />
(Right!) Bill Moomaw continues<br />
to fight the good fight against<br />
global warming by publishing<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
26 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
major papers on nitrogen pollution<br />
and what steps must be<br />
taken in climate change negotiations.<br />
His 19 years of work with<br />
the Intergovernmental Panel<br />
on Climate Change concluded<br />
with the publication of a crucial<br />
report on the very large potential<br />
for renewable energy. He still<br />
teaches graduate students at<br />
the Fletcher School at Tufts and<br />
hits the road to faraway spots<br />
with Margot when he can—<br />
Spain and France this year. Joe<br />
Prendergast’s wife Marlene states<br />
that the busy endocrinologist is<br />
still trying to save the world. He<br />
remains active in his practice in<br />
Palo Alto and Redwood City,<br />
Calif., with a real expertise in<br />
diabetes. No matter how hard<br />
he tries, Jack Hyland writes he’s<br />
“unable to stop doing what I<br />
like,” which is doing mergers<br />
and acquisitions with three other<br />
partners (www.mediaadvisorypartners.com).<br />
He’s just completed<br />
another novel and spends plenty<br />
of time on his hands and knees in<br />
the garden. As antsy as ever, Jack<br />
traveled to Bhutan, Angkor Wat<br />
in Cambodia, and Borobudur in<br />
Java last October. Jack wins the<br />
battle with Marc Newberg over<br />
who can accumulate the most<br />
frequent-flyer miles, since Mark<br />
and Ruth only saw fit to travel<br />
to Patagonia on a <strong>Williams</strong>sponsored<br />
trip in January. And<br />
then there is Geoff Morton,<br />
who is never far behind on the<br />
traveling circuit, as he routinely<br />
flies from Cleveland to Phoenix,<br />
to NYC, to Palm Beach, Fla., to<br />
Hawaii, etc. He made sure he<br />
was in attendance at Madison<br />
Square Garden to see Duke basketball<br />
coach Mike Krzyzewski<br />
break Bobby Knight’s record of<br />
902 victories. Now that he has a<br />
new hip, Geoff feels confident he<br />
and Pete Willmott, who had a full<br />
knee replacement in December,<br />
will earn starting positions on the<br />
<strong>2012</strong>-13 Eph basketball team.<br />
The knee Pete had replaced is<br />
the one he hurt so badly playing<br />
basketball in 1958.<br />
From Raleigh, N.C., comes<br />
word that Stu Wallace continues<br />
to teach at North Carolina State,<br />
where he offers a six-session<br />
course based on Ed Ayer’s book,<br />
In the Presence of Mine Enemies.<br />
Stu marvels at how fascinating<br />
it is to study two counties<br />
(Franklin, Pa., and Augusta,<br />
Va.) who were so much alike yet<br />
fought against each other in the<br />
Civil War. Never one to let my<br />
requests for info go unanswered,<br />
Richard Crews writes, “The<br />
chickens are molting, which<br />
means they almost quit laying<br />
eggs and they look like they’ve<br />
been in a bar fight with a lawn<br />
mower. The bees spend cold and<br />
rainy days indoors (in their hives)<br />
this time of year, but Silicon<br />
Valley weather being what it is,<br />
they have lots of nice days to go<br />
foraging for pollen and make<br />
honey.” Until this recent description<br />
of Richard’s flock I used to<br />
think I could say his chickens<br />
crossing the road were like<br />
poultry in motion. (Sorry about<br />
that.) My Scarsdale HS classmate<br />
always throws me for a loop<br />
with his many different thoughts<br />
and activities. He brings me back<br />
to the basics of life, which are<br />
so important. Our class may not<br />
have had a diversity of ethnicity,<br />
but don’t let anyone tell you we<br />
didn’t have a diversity of interest<br />
and reflection.<br />
Dave Skaff has finally succumbed<br />
to the constant tug<br />
of the sun and has taken up<br />
permanent residence in West<br />
Palm Beach, Fla. While the<br />
weather warms his heart and<br />
soul, the success of his son in<br />
starting up a digital advertising<br />
and production company<br />
provides a continuing glow. Bob<br />
Lowden, Sam Parkhill, Jerry Tipper<br />
and I gathered in Brunswick,<br />
Maine, for lunch and to watch<br />
the Eph football team open the<br />
2011 season with a win against<br />
Bowdoin. Since we all arrived at<br />
the restaurant in separate cars,<br />
we left lunch to attend the game<br />
in our individual vehicles. Poor<br />
Lowds—though he’d played on<br />
the Bowdoin field over 50 years<br />
ago, he had no idea how to get<br />
to the game and spent the next<br />
20 minutes wandering around<br />
Brunswick, finally arriving as the<br />
second quarter began. Directions<br />
to Cambridge, Mass., were no<br />
problem for Jerry Tipper, who<br />
returned to Harvard to attend<br />
his 50th at the business school.<br />
Jerry supervised Betsy’s rehab<br />
after total shoulder replacement,<br />
and they both still escape the<br />
cold Maine winters to spend time<br />
in Florida fishing and golfing. A<br />
long note from Tony Distler in<br />
Blacksburg, Va., where Virginia<br />
Tech understands they have<br />
the quintessential Renaissance<br />
man in Tony. He’s described as<br />
“<strong>Alumni</strong> Distinguished Professor<br />
and Director of the School<br />
of Arts, Emeritus, a teacher,<br />
performer, director, scholar, TV<br />
host and producer. His production<br />
of Waiting for Godot was<br />
presented at the Kennedy Center<br />
for the Performing Arts as part<br />
of the American <strong>College</strong> Theater
Festival.” And that’s just the<br />
beginning—he’s been teaching at<br />
VA Tech for 45 years.<br />
From northern California, Bo<br />
Kirschen, Chuck Dunkel and Norm<br />
Cram remain excellent correspondents.<br />
They continue to meet for<br />
lunch and make sure they huddle<br />
up for the <strong>Williams</strong>-Amherst<br />
game each year. Bo vividly<br />
recalls taking a break from<br />
his studies at Yale Law School<br />
in November 1961 to attend<br />
the famous <strong>Williams</strong>-Amherst<br />
game. As many remember we<br />
were a huge underdog in this<br />
contest since the Lord Jeffs<br />
were undefeated and had not<br />
been intercepted all season. As<br />
Bo reports, the Ephs played an<br />
“absolutely inspired game,”<br />
causing him and Bill Russell ’60,<br />
to cheer loud and enthusiastically<br />
(“obnoxiously”—my word) as<br />
they sat directly behind some<br />
older Amherst rooters who had<br />
to scurry to find more soothing<br />
shelter during the second half. (I<br />
never thought of Bo as boisterous<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong>, but I guess Yale Law<br />
brought out his more aggressive<br />
personality in two short years.)<br />
The word is out that our good<br />
Navy chaplain, “Crammie,”<br />
knowing compassion and justice<br />
are companions, not choices,<br />
has taken up the cause of the 99<br />
percent in the Occupy Wall Street<br />
movement and has protested in<br />
both Sonoma and Santa Rosa.<br />
He reports his placard pointed<br />
out that Bank of America did<br />
not pay federal income taxes in<br />
2010, and the Gregorian chant<br />
he led was, “I pay, you pay,<br />
why not B of A?” He’s a strong<br />
proponent of Louis Brandeis’<br />
comment, “We can have a<br />
democracy or we can have<br />
great wealth concentrated in<br />
the hands of a few; we can not<br />
have both.” Dick Lee writes from<br />
Rye, N.Y., that he and Sally<br />
took a wonderful cruise on the<br />
Danube last year; traveling from<br />
Passau, Germany, to Budapest.<br />
Their daughter Dorothy then<br />
descended on them from France<br />
for two weeks. In mid-October<br />
Terry Northrop and Susan visited<br />
David Thun and Barbara and<br />
proved to be perfect PR agents<br />
for Barbara as they notified<br />
their son George to check out<br />
Barbara’s paintings on the website<br />
barbarathun.com. In no time<br />
George bought one of Barbara’s<br />
paintings. David is therefore<br />
encouraging all classmates to<br />
make sure they tell their children<br />
about this website; however, they<br />
must do this soon, since supplies<br />
are limited.<br />
Though Pete Fessenden suffered<br />
a stroke a year ago you’d<br />
never know it by reading about<br />
his activities. From his residence<br />
in Santa Fe he traveled to Palo<br />
Alto to see friends and old colleagues<br />
at Stanford Radiation<br />
Oncology. Within two weeks<br />
of returning home he was off<br />
camping in the wild and remote<br />
area of northwest New Mexico,<br />
where he claims to have caught<br />
a beautiful 13-inch Rio Grande<br />
cutthroat trout. He followed<br />
this adventure with a trip to<br />
Nevada, where he attended the<br />
Las Vegas Independent Film<br />
Festival to see the eventual firstplace<br />
winning film, 40 West,<br />
which was directed by Andy<br />
Packard’s son Dana. He insists<br />
he challenged Wayne Newton,<br />
Mr. Las Vegas, to a karaoke<br />
competition. (And the outcome,<br />
Fess?) Pim Goodbody took time<br />
out from his rowing exercises to<br />
recount a little history he recently<br />
learned. The <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
Muslim chaplain is the great<br />
grandson of Agnes and Harry<br />
(Doc) Logan, who tended to the<br />
maintenance of the Chi Psi (now<br />
Spencer) House and counseled<br />
the rambunctious residents during<br />
our years on campus. What<br />
Pim appreciated most was that<br />
Doc had the ability to prepare a<br />
“magic potion that cured” him<br />
and his buddies of heavy hangovers<br />
so they could quickly return<br />
to their partying ways. Doc may<br />
have originated the pun: “A<br />
hangover is the wrath of grapes.”<br />
Henry Folz and Caryn hosted a<br />
nice lunch in Delray Beach, Fla.,<br />
for Tony Volpe and Amy and the<br />
Rankins. Henry turned ashen<br />
when we informed him we were<br />
there to solicit a major gift for<br />
the college, and it was not until<br />
we told him this was just our<br />
perverted sense of humor that his<br />
color returned.<br />
Fall weather in the Berkshires<br />
brought together 30 classmates<br />
and spouses for a minireunion.<br />
Friday night dinner with our<br />
special guests John and Joyce<br />
Chandler was held with the<br />
Class of ’58 at the 1896 House,<br />
and our Saturday night dinner<br />
took place at Hobson’s Choice.<br />
We heard two excellent faculty<br />
lectures Friday afternoon and<br />
Saturday morning, followed by<br />
lunch under the tent on Weston<br />
Field and a football win against<br />
Tufts. Tom Davidson directed<br />
a class discussion for folks to<br />
remember and relive moments<br />
during our time on campus.<br />
Saturday dinner proved there are<br />
classmates who are still at the<br />
n 1959<br />
top of their game: Bill Moomaw<br />
walked away with an extremely<br />
valuable prize for naming Robert<br />
Joseph Allen as the chair of the<br />
English department during our<br />
senior year. Bill Collins picked<br />
up the award for knowing that<br />
Sam Matthews was chair of<br />
the faculty, and Jay Hodgson<br />
collected gold for having the<br />
most grandchildren: 13. David<br />
Boothby’s performance was a<br />
bit weak when he was unable<br />
to identify the President of the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Concert Committee.<br />
Though he was still given his<br />
priceless prize, he’d forgotten<br />
that he, David Boothby, was the<br />
president. Once we managed<br />
to pull Barry Mayer away from<br />
telling anyone who would listen<br />
to tales of his fishing exploits, he<br />
proved again he could entertain<br />
the whole room as a storyteller<br />
par excellence. It was a nice gathering<br />
and very special to also see:<br />
John Coffin and Anne, Bill Collins<br />
and Ann, Bev Compton, George<br />
Dangerfield and Margaret, Jack<br />
Dietze and Maureen, Tim Enos<br />
and Sheilah, Nick Frost, Tom<br />
Hayne and Martha, E.J. Johnson,<br />
Jim Richardson, David Thun and<br />
Barbara, Jerry Tipper and Pete<br />
Willmott.<br />
I want to thank those classmates<br />
who toil in the trenches<br />
as agents for the college to raise<br />
money for the annual <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Fund. Under the leadership<br />
of Bob Lowden, Bart Robinson<br />
and Tony Volpe, the following<br />
constantly prove their loyalty<br />
to the college: Al Benton, Henry<br />
Cole, Bev Compton, Chuck Dunkel,<br />
Dan Fanning, Tony Harwood, John<br />
Kimberly, Dick Lee, Bob McAlaine,<br />
Hugh Morton and Ty Smith.<br />
Ever the voice of reason and<br />
remembrances, Ernie Imhoff<br />
writes from Baltimore and offers<br />
memories about our common<br />
denominator, Spring Street 1955<br />
to 1959. You must remember<br />
Ernie is our “townie” classmate<br />
and Baltimore Sun luminary who<br />
lived with the local businesses<br />
long before we arrived in the<br />
Berkshires. He reminds us: Mama<br />
Girgenti’s offered “pizza fit for a<br />
king”; <strong>Williams</strong>town Ice Co. had<br />
ice for house parties until 9 p.m.;<br />
Lupos Shoe Repair was located<br />
at the foot of Spring Street; Steele<br />
& Cleary’s Garage repaired<br />
our cars; the House of Walsh<br />
and the <strong>Williams</strong> Co-op were<br />
there for our clothing needs. We<br />
could get Utica Club and most<br />
anything else we wanted to drink<br />
from Cal King’s: “Always 5,000<br />
cans of cold beer”; we bought<br />
our books at Ray Washburn’s<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 27
CLASS NOTES<br />
Book Store at prices that always<br />
seemed exorbitant; we kept<br />
the pinball machines hopping<br />
at the Gym Lunch; and at the<br />
Walden Theater we could see An<br />
American in Paris, For Whom<br />
the Bell Tolls, The Wages of Fear,<br />
High Society and many others.<br />
Ernie recalls Rudnick’s Master<br />
Cleaners, which was run by the<br />
street’s unofficial rabbi, Louis<br />
Rudnick, a colorful character on<br />
the town’s board of selectmen.<br />
The street had two competing<br />
drug stores: The <strong>College</strong><br />
Pharmacy on the northwest<br />
corner and Hart’s Drug Store<br />
on the mideast side. The dearly<br />
departed in town were often<br />
handled by Hopkins Funeral<br />
Home, which also sold furniture<br />
near the money changers at the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town National Bank.<br />
Then there was Richard Gold,<br />
the diamond merchant, who<br />
urged students to “Come in and<br />
Get Stoned.” And just down the<br />
street from Gold was the District<br />
Court, where Ernie covered<br />
drunk driving charges and other<br />
sins unearthed by the town’s<br />
constabulary. Being a local resident<br />
he particularly liked the two<br />
stores at the bottom of Spring<br />
Street that in 1952 ran competing<br />
ads for the presidential candidates,<br />
one saying “I like Ike” and<br />
the other saying, “But I’ll vote for<br />
Stevenson.” Good memories—<br />
thanks, Ernie.<br />
We just received news of the<br />
sudden death of Richard Crews<br />
in San Jose, Calif., on March 7.<br />
Our condolences to his family.<br />
Please keep the notes coming.<br />
That’s the view from hear.<br />
1960<br />
Michael Penner<br />
38334 South Desert Bluff Drive<br />
Tucson, AZ 85739<br />
1960secretary@williams.edu<br />
Joe Masino responded from<br />
Wisconsin while visiting his<br />
daughter Julie. Joe and Jackie<br />
now live in Kentucky. Joe reports<br />
he is in good health and has<br />
become a stay-at-home person<br />
taking care of their dog Gabriel,<br />
a miniature German Schnauzer.<br />
Joe has retired from selling<br />
products in the Midwest and is<br />
hoping to write a book about his<br />
life if he can overcome writer’s<br />
block. Duncan Brown reports he<br />
and Susan, and Susan and Tony<br />
Roberts, Jill and Ned Benedict<br />
and Nancy and Peter Berkley all<br />
had a great rendezvous with Phil<br />
Scaturro and Rey Enriquez, who<br />
hosted them at Casa de Campo<br />
28 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
in the Dominican Republic in<br />
November. They had beautiful<br />
weather and fantastic accommodations<br />
on the water. Golf,<br />
biking, hiking, swimming and<br />
boating were some of the<br />
activities, while the superb<br />
cuisine and excellent wines were<br />
frequent and abundant. Jim<br />
Pilgrim writes from Plainfield,<br />
Mass., that on Nov. 8 he had his<br />
left knee replaced by Dr. John<br />
Cluett ’96. Recovery has been<br />
slow, with physical therapy<br />
classes, but Jim hopes to be<br />
cleared to drive soon. Jim reports<br />
that his right knee now feels fine.<br />
He feels it’s scared to act up or it<br />
will be replaced also. Stew Smith<br />
responded early so as not to be<br />
outdone by that laggard, Nimetz.<br />
He reports that he and Nancy<br />
were huddled on the eastern<br />
shore of the chilly Chesapeake<br />
Bay for the solstice holidays. The<br />
demands of work and responsibility<br />
must still be met, mainly by<br />
schlepping more firewood and<br />
defending the camellias from<br />
Bambi and friends as they make<br />
sweeps through the shopping<br />
mall of their shrubbery. Stew<br />
professes no envy of those<br />
Prestons, Healys, Cutlers,<br />
Stegemans, Alfords, Browns and<br />
other loyal legions of our<br />
classmates still in Yankee land<br />
right now. Or even of the<br />
Roaches and the rest of those<br />
expatriates perched on a West<br />
Coast fault line. Harvey Brickley<br />
writes that he has joined the<br />
advisory board of the Andrew<br />
Young School of Policy Studies at<br />
Georgia State University in<br />
Atlanta. The school includes<br />
3,700 of the university’s total<br />
enrollment of 32,000. Initially<br />
Harvey will focus on the work<br />
being done in career services and<br />
using opportunities presented in<br />
that area to bring all the<br />
members of the board in contact<br />
with students. Harvey reports<br />
that Andy Young has attended all<br />
the meetings, bringing his<br />
experience as a lieutenant to Dr.<br />
Martin Luther King, mayor of<br />
Atlanta and congressman and<br />
ambassador to the United<br />
Nations to bear on national and<br />
international issues. I received a<br />
great note from Dick Holliday,<br />
who asked that I remind<br />
classmates about <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund<br />
season. Dick’s goal as our new<br />
class agent was raising our<br />
participation percentage from<br />
last year’s 66 percent to well<br />
above 70 percent. We all should<br />
thank Dick for taking such an<br />
important job. Dick continues to<br />
divide his time between the<br />
printing equipment business and<br />
several community and sailing<br />
organizations. Ardis maintains<br />
her shared studio in nearby<br />
Stonington, experimenting with<br />
new ways to express her artistic<br />
vision. Dick keeps in shape<br />
bicycling and walking with Ardis<br />
and 10-year-old lab Gretta. Dick<br />
and Ardis left the New England<br />
winter to visit friends in San<br />
Miguel de Allende in the high<br />
interior of Mexico. San Miguel is<br />
an old Mexican town with<br />
spectacular weather and is a<br />
mecca for artists and their<br />
patrons. The Hollidays just loved<br />
it, and a return trip was<br />
scheduled for February. Dave<br />
Banta reported on the minireunion<br />
weekend Oct. 21-23.<br />
Dave writes: “A relatively small<br />
but typically enthusiastic number<br />
of classmates were back for the<br />
minireunion weekend. The<br />
‘locals’ spearheaded the list,<br />
namely Ned Benedict, Duncan<br />
Brown, Foster Devereux, Jim<br />
Briggs, Dave Paresky and Bob<br />
Stegeman. We on the traveling<br />
squad included: Dick Alford, Fred<br />
Combs, Jon Gilman, Win Healy,<br />
Marshall Lapidus, Jon O’Brien,<br />
Bob Pyle, Dave Banta and Toby<br />
Smith. Buck Frederickson won the<br />
distance award—a Tebow<br />
bobblehead. Penny and Foster<br />
Devereux hosted us all for dinner<br />
(as they have done many times<br />
before) on Friday night. Some<br />
played golf on the upgraded,<br />
always challenging Taconic<br />
course that afternoon. Saturday<br />
featured lectures, tailgating and<br />
Tufts football, an Eph triumph.<br />
Saturday night the class gathered<br />
at the ’6 House (private room)<br />
for a down loose dinner. Our<br />
prez, Buck, welcomed all and<br />
posed the following question:<br />
What do all <strong>Williams</strong> and<br />
Amherst students have in<br />
common? Answer: They all got<br />
into Amherst! Toby Smith took<br />
the floor and told a Scottish joke<br />
with a burr that was worthy of<br />
Robert Burns. We ended the<br />
get-together with the following<br />
idea: It’s a shame for so few to<br />
have so much fun, so let’s try to<br />
double the number for next year.<br />
Give it some thought. After all,<br />
why wait for the 55th?” Thanks<br />
again to Dave Banta for a great<br />
report. I had planned to attend<br />
(and win the distance award),<br />
but an important family event<br />
took precedence. Our daughter<br />
Jane Penner ’90 presented us with<br />
our first granddaughter in<br />
October. I received a very<br />
interesting note from John<br />
Whitman. John has been engaged
Ephs gathered at the Mount Desert Island Garlic Festival in Southwest<br />
Harbor, Maine, last fall included (from left) Eliot Coleman ’61, James<br />
Thompson ’68 and Hal Crowther ’66.<br />
during the past year in a<br />
none-too-practical but very<br />
interesting self-motivated study<br />
of how difficult it is to improve<br />
upon the vertical accuracy of<br />
public topographic data using<br />
GPS and GIS methods. Even<br />
with good equipment and<br />
software, GPS data are none too<br />
accurate, particularly in the<br />
vertical coordinate. What’s<br />
worse, that inaccuracy grows<br />
almost an order of magnitude<br />
larger when trying to receive<br />
GPS signals under a forest<br />
canopy. Nevertheless, John has<br />
amassed data (convincing to<br />
him) that show he can improve<br />
upon the best available public<br />
data for his region. Since this<br />
accomplishment has required<br />
more data collection and<br />
processing than any sane<br />
individual would wish to<br />
attempt, John suspects that the<br />
most appropriate conclusion<br />
may be that Whitman has too<br />
much time on his hands. John<br />
does hope to present a paper on<br />
his work next July at the ESRI<br />
User Conference. John, be sure<br />
to report back on how it went at<br />
the conference. For all you<br />
non-science majors, aren’t you<br />
sad you weren’t a physics major?<br />
Earla Sue and Colin McNaull<br />
report settling into their first<br />
Christmas in Trumansburg, a<br />
suburb of Cornell and Ithaca<br />
<strong>College</strong>, outside of Ithaca. Colin<br />
has learned Cornell gives no<br />
senior citizen discounts for PhD<br />
programs, so “Sex, Drugs and<br />
Rock-and-Roll Eugenics, a<br />
Modern Retrospective” will<br />
probably never make it into<br />
print. Colin may have reached<br />
the limits of his desire to be a<br />
cowboy last fall. Seven days on a<br />
horse with the cows at the<br />
Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming<br />
may have been two days too<br />
many. Earla Sue, on the other<br />
hand, finished her 350-mile bike<br />
ride from Buffalo to Albany<br />
along the Erie Canal with a zest<br />
to do more in <strong>2012</strong>. Spain<br />
perhaps? Sounds to me like<br />
Colin and Earla Sue are one of<br />
the most active couples in our<br />
class. Bob Stern remains active in<br />
the practice of law and has<br />
published the book Pennsylvania<br />
Nonprofit Corporation Law. It<br />
looks like a very complete<br />
coverage of the subject. With<br />
many of us retired, it’s great to<br />
see Bob publishing new material.<br />
Noelle Ho-Lam ’02 writes that<br />
although Tao Ho remains mostly<br />
bed-bound, he enjoys his<br />
grandchildren’s visits (Noelle’s<br />
2 1 ⁄2-year-old son Noah and<br />
11-month-old daughter Gabi).<br />
The noise (cries and screams) the<br />
children make add much life and<br />
joy to his daily routine. At the<br />
beginning of November,<br />
President Adam Falk visited<br />
Hong Kong with Geraldine Shen<br />
’01. Tao’s wife Irene and<br />
daughter Noelle had tea with<br />
President Falk and enjoyed<br />
getting to know him and hearing<br />
his vision for <strong>Williams</strong>. On a sad<br />
note, Ron Stegall reports the<br />
death of Lael, his wife of 44<br />
years, after a year of struggle<br />
with pancreatic cancer. Ron<br />
writes the outpouring of<br />
messages and appreciation of her<br />
from around the world has been<br />
overwhelming and gratifying.<br />
There was a celebration of her<br />
life in Deer Isle, Maine, in<br />
November and a similar<br />
n 1959–61<br />
celebration was to take place in<br />
Washington on Feb. 11 at St.<br />
Marks Episcopal Church on<br />
Capitol Hill. Ron expresses his<br />
gratitude for the wonderful<br />
support from so many of our<br />
classmates.<br />
1961<br />
Bob Gormley<br />
P.O. Box 3922<br />
Westport, MA 02790<br />
1961secretary@williams.edu<br />
It’s mid-January of a relatively<br />
mild winter as I post these notes;<br />
it’ll be <strong>April</strong> and spring when you<br />
read them. So welcome to spring,<br />
baseball and flowers again, and<br />
with a cumbersome national<br />
election process plodding<br />
toward summer conventions and<br />
anointed candidates. One thing I<br />
urged when soliciting these notes<br />
was something on how you all<br />
stood on the presidential election.<br />
Remember that in the fall of<br />
1960, just before that historic<br />
election, as John Chandler<br />
pointed out in his letter for our<br />
50th class book, the student body<br />
chose Nixon over JFK by a margin<br />
of 59 percent to 41 percent.<br />
I think it’s interesting to see how<br />
we of ’61 stand 51 years later.<br />
Here follow a handful of replies<br />
but I hope that by September,<br />
when the next notes come out,<br />
more of you will take the opportunity<br />
to declare yourselves.<br />
John Mayher, who was editor<br />
of the <strong>Williams</strong> Record in 1960,<br />
recalls the poll back then and<br />
dug out his “somewhat moldy”<br />
copy of the paper to prove it.<br />
(The Record also had “an ad for<br />
Budweiser, two for long-gone<br />
Schaeffer, one for Kools and<br />
a ‘humor’ column sponsored<br />
by Marlboro.”) In the poll we<br />
students liked Nixon’s choice of<br />
Henry Cabot Lodge as a running<br />
mate, noting he was “far<br />
superior” to LBJ. But as John<br />
proudly points out, The Record<br />
officially endorsed Kennedy, and<br />
he and Ben Campbell wrote a<br />
brief that concluded: “He can<br />
provide the leadership we have<br />
lacked for the last eight years.”<br />
Meanwhile, George Reath argued<br />
for Nixon that “he has professed<br />
his reluctance to have government<br />
spending any higher.”<br />
Notice how much more civil<br />
we were in those days about<br />
politics. John concludes, ”I’m still<br />
a Democrat and ready to work<br />
again for Obama. Are you still a<br />
Republican, George?”<br />
Walt Henrion chimed in that<br />
“being on a board with Lou<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 29
CLASS NOTES<br />
Guzzetti and Wally Bernheimer<br />
is quite the experience when it<br />
comes to political views, the far<br />
right and the uninformed left. I<br />
guess I make the sandwich complete,<br />
although I like to be on the<br />
unbuttered side of the bread.”<br />
Funny enough when Walt first<br />
submitted that he mixed up left<br />
and right and said “the far left<br />
and the uninformed right.” He<br />
quickly corrected himself but<br />
I liked thinking of Lou on the<br />
“uninformed right.”<br />
Van Schreiber was next in:<br />
“Schreiber is motivated as never<br />
before and thinks this election<br />
is the most important in my<br />
memory. We shall see, but the<br />
country is about to make decisions<br />
re: our future direction<br />
unlike anything before.” Pete<br />
Haeffner added: “Things not so<br />
bad for the Haeffners. Family<br />
is great. Sally and I are looking<br />
forward to our 50th wedding<br />
anniversary in <strong>2012</strong>. Interestingly<br />
our three kids will also be<br />
celebrating milestones of 25th,<br />
20th and 10th anniversaries. The<br />
reunion was neat. We hadn’t seen<br />
a lot of the class over the years,<br />
class art contribution was great,<br />
tour of the college art museum<br />
was really good, and wish I had<br />
spent more time exploring this<br />
field than breaking rocks in geo<br />
lab. Quick thoughts on politics:<br />
If I recall the 1960 election year,<br />
Prof. Burns was running for<br />
Congress … on platform suggesting<br />
Congress be abolished<br />
(interesting concept, now).” Dave<br />
Farrell, who ran Burns’ campaign<br />
around campus, may differ on<br />
the last point, since Jim wanted<br />
reform, not abolishment, I think,<br />
but Marty Linsky, who headed the<br />
Young Republicans on campus,<br />
may also want to add a point.<br />
Pete continues: “Have you seen<br />
the email offered with Warren<br />
Buffet’s name attached, wish list<br />
for <strong>2012</strong>, suggests Congress give<br />
up a lot of their ‘perks’ including<br />
their own medical and retirement<br />
program, join SS instead,<br />
etc. If you do the math, seems to<br />
me, a government-elected office<br />
is now a better paying ‘job’ vs.<br />
the real world, idea of service no<br />
longer driving force, neither is<br />
working together. Went to Tea<br />
Party rally in Vero Beach, Fla.,<br />
held outside municipal building<br />
at lunch hour. Ninety percent<br />
of attendees were the municipal<br />
appointees. Rally lasted 30 minutes,<br />
employees were there till<br />
4:30. I was a Nixon supporter in<br />
’60, even handed out brochures<br />
in N. Adams. Maybe that’s why<br />
I get 50 calls a week from the<br />
30 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
GOP. You guess Hopper and I<br />
are still in the GOP voting ranks.<br />
I guess you’re right.” Thanks,<br />
Pete, for an honest and forthright<br />
response.<br />
Joe Low continues with this<br />
comment: “Judging by how well<br />
our reunion went, we might consider<br />
drafting Denne, Guzzetti,<br />
Bernheimer and Wadsworth<br />
for a run at DC. Frightening<br />
potential as to who will lead<br />
this nation next year. Even<br />
Wally might admit our hopes<br />
for Obama might have been too<br />
exaggerated. Enjoyed dinner<br />
with Lou and Joan where we<br />
laughed at the CD of our ‘Buddy<br />
Holly’ session at the reunion.<br />
Music does have a way of energizing<br />
us oldies. Also dined last<br />
week with Bill Penny and Marge,<br />
who seem to revel in each others<br />
company.”<br />
Joe ended by hoping that a<br />
new class travel idea will gain<br />
traction. Wally Bernheimer, John<br />
Byers and John Denne have put<br />
forward a future plan for travel<br />
based on the fun and bonding of<br />
the 16 classmates and partners<br />
who made our Oxford trip in<br />
2010. They sent out a survey<br />
questionnaire on it in January,<br />
so you are aware of their idea.<br />
The hope is that we can keep the<br />
good relations among classmates<br />
going, pick up some new people<br />
and travel occasionally to exotic<br />
places possibly led by a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
faculty member and at a reasonable<br />
price. End of commercial.<br />
Back to politics and the<br />
thoughts of two wild-eyed<br />
California liberals, Bill Holmes<br />
and Jay Tarses. Bill begins a long<br />
letter with his “falling off the<br />
porch roof while untangling<br />
Christmas lights.” He’s OK<br />
but sworn off gutter cleaning<br />
and lights. After news about<br />
the weather and family and a<br />
fire in the neighborhood, he<br />
goes on kind of a political rant:<br />
“Between eight years of the idiot<br />
Bushies, the Norquist lemmings,<br />
the Obama haters and the<br />
Gingrich family values crowd,<br />
there’s not a lot to love about the<br />
Republicans.” That was the mild<br />
part. Jay is subdued by contrast:<br />
“By the time this is printed all<br />
the boring caucuses and frantic<br />
fundamental right-wing cackling<br />
will have died down some, and<br />
whoever invoked the name of<br />
Reagan the most times will be<br />
the Republican front-runner,<br />
unless I’m wrong, which has only<br />
happened once when I thought<br />
I was a shoo-in for a Rhodes<br />
scholarship.” He goes on to<br />
say how much he enjoyed the<br />
October weekend minireunion to<br />
which I’ll turn in a moment.<br />
Last two on the political scene<br />
for this go round. Fed up with it<br />
all, Gil Kerr sends along his New<br />
Year’s resolutions, in historic<br />
perspective: “2007, diet to get<br />
weight under 180; 2008, work<br />
harder to get weight under 190;<br />
2009, work new diet to get<br />
under 200; 2010, join a gym to<br />
exercise along with diet; 2011,<br />
work out three days a week;<br />
drive by a gym at least once<br />
a week.” Apologies to Jerry<br />
Remy. He has decided to view all<br />
politics in a historic sense and to<br />
include “our country” in his evening<br />
prayers. Al Demb leaves us<br />
with this warning: “If Americans<br />
want a taste of how dangerous it<br />
can be to have conservatives in<br />
the driver’s seat, keep an eye on<br />
Canada!”<br />
Now on the October minireunion<br />
with classes ’60, ’62, ’63<br />
and ’64. Also our famous “baton<br />
passing” dinner as ’62 became<br />
the new 50th reunion class. We<br />
had 30 classmates back, proving<br />
the success of our June festivities<br />
and once again topping the other<br />
classes in attendance. Another<br />
reason too why maybe the class<br />
travel plan should go forward.<br />
It is, after all, later than we think.<br />
George Lowe meanwhile<br />
proceeds with his world travel.<br />
I never know where he’s going<br />
to pop up. In September he and<br />
Barbara hiked 110 km on the<br />
Camino de Santiago in northern<br />
Spain, the great medieval pilgrimage<br />
route. He mentions the<br />
recent film The Way with Martin<br />
Sheen as a fine film. In Santiago,<br />
they hooked up with Fred Noland<br />
and Susan, who have a place in<br />
Salbrena, and toured through<br />
Portugal. Wish I were a judge<br />
too.<br />
Frank Gluck beat the deadline<br />
this time and reports that he’s<br />
still loving his voluntary teaching<br />
in a residency program for<br />
internal medicine. He enjoys<br />
keeping connected with young<br />
would-be doctors but also<br />
more down time for family and<br />
travel. He watched the <strong>Williams</strong>/<br />
Amherst game in Nashville and,<br />
despite the outcome, enjoyed<br />
the socialization and especially<br />
the moving tribute to Mike Reily<br />
’64. Several others mentioned<br />
this to me as well. Frank was on<br />
the wrestling team with Mike,<br />
who died too young. The gang<br />
in Nashville also discussed Tim<br />
Layden’s ’78 moving SI article on<br />
Mike. And Frank commented on<br />
Clyde Buck’s reunion retrospective<br />
as a great memento.
Friend and sometime neighbor<br />
Wally Bernheimer had lunch with<br />
Paul Boire and Nancy together<br />
with another friend, a Red Sox<br />
exec who had worked with Paul<br />
in the Cape Cod League baseball<br />
many moons ago. Stories floated<br />
about funny back-room sports<br />
happenings, including one about<br />
Lou Guzzetti after a game getting<br />
into a scuffle with a UMass<br />
basketball player that led to our<br />
terminating basketball relations<br />
with them and several about Paul<br />
being ejected from ball games<br />
after throwing down his clipboard<br />
to protest a ref’s call in Al<br />
Shaw fashion. Wally also had fun<br />
phone conversations with Fred<br />
Mayer on Red Sox baseball and<br />
Bruce Shilling, who had attended<br />
a Minneapolis lecture by Wally’s<br />
writer daughter, Kate (Wesleyan<br />
’88), on her fairy tale research.<br />
Jack Heiser certainly caught<br />
my attention with his note:<br />
“Planning to attend a Big<br />
Meeting proved harmful to<br />
my health. I was packed and<br />
ready in June but ended up in a<br />
hospital. My doctors ignored my<br />
plea for emergency performance<br />
enhancing drugs. Eight months<br />
and a knee surgery, followed by<br />
much rehab, a total-knee replacement,<br />
yet more rehab, a second<br />
total-knee replacement scheduled<br />
for late March followed by<br />
even more rehab later, I am also<br />
completing an almost complete<br />
body rebuild with a 50-year perfect<br />
health expectation (more a<br />
guideline than a guarantee).Most<br />
distressing about this is the burden<br />
(me) on my caretaker wife.<br />
Much of my career has been<br />
spent managing stress and strain.<br />
Now I am the stress straining my<br />
wife. I hope to return to work<br />
in May. I look forward to seeing<br />
everyone at the centennial, unless<br />
I end up in the hospital again.”<br />
Lastly, on a bittersweet note,<br />
I would personally like to<br />
acknowledge that Pete Raisbeck’s<br />
beloved wife Peggy passed away<br />
in August after a long battle<br />
with cancer. (Peggy resisted the<br />
spotlight, and Pete wanted to<br />
respect her wishes, but I insisted<br />
on a notice here.) Many of us<br />
knew Peg from back in college<br />
days but perhaps didn’t know<br />
all that she accomplished in outreach<br />
over the years. She was a<br />
model of volunteerism, including<br />
Shelter Inc., finding housing for<br />
the poor, founding the Becklam<br />
Foundation to fund a number<br />
of projects for the underprivileged,<br />
being active with Loaves<br />
& Fishes and soup kitchens,<br />
tutoring mentally challenged<br />
kids and assisting in the Oakland<br />
schools, helping to settle Laotian<br />
and Cambodian refugees back in<br />
Vietnam days in Connecticut and<br />
looking after desperate families<br />
at Christmas. She was a great<br />
lady, and our condolences go out<br />
to Pete in his loss.<br />
Onward to September, when<br />
I hope more of you will emerge<br />
from the closet about the election.<br />
We are of a generation that<br />
votes, so take the opportunity<br />
to speak to the <strong>Williams</strong> community,<br />
whatever your stripes.<br />
Cheers, all!<br />
1962<br />
50 th<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
William M. Ryan<br />
112 Beech Mountain Road<br />
Mansfield Center, CT 06250<br />
1962secretary@williams.edu<br />
I will begin with a quick<br />
procedural note. Now that my<br />
visits and the reporting of them<br />
are complete, I will be soliciting<br />
information for future class notes<br />
via email. The college has email<br />
addresses for over 80 percent of<br />
the class. If you think they may<br />
not have yours (and you care),<br />
please contact the alumni office<br />
and provide it. If you do not<br />
have access to email, please let<br />
them know that as well, and I<br />
will make certain you receive a<br />
hard copy of all requests.<br />
Thirty-one classmates, most<br />
with partners, attended the mini<br />
in October. We now are the<br />
official holders of the baton,<br />
received from the Class of ’61 by<br />
our president Spike Kellogg at a<br />
first-class dinner at the Faculty<br />
House. In other words, it is time<br />
to make your contribution to<br />
the 50th reunion fund. It was<br />
a fun-filled and educational<br />
weekend, with several <strong>Williams</strong><br />
faculty speaking to us and lots<br />
of athletic events taking place.<br />
We were entertained, amused,<br />
and learned much from President<br />
Adam Falk and former President<br />
John Chandler. Rufus Jarman led<br />
us in a stirring rendition of “The<br />
Mountains” (all four verses)<br />
at our Friday night dinner. I<br />
enjoyed seeing all classmates but<br />
especially ones I hadn’t seen in a<br />
while, including Bob Jackson and<br />
Mike Scott.<br />
Rufus also deserves credit for<br />
tracking down former classmate<br />
Pete Hayes and turning him into<br />
a current classmate. Pete began<br />
with us but graduated in ’63<br />
and was officially a member<br />
n 1961–62<br />
of that group until he changed<br />
his affiliation. He immediately<br />
wrote his bio for our book and<br />
will be attending the 50th. He<br />
and wife Melissa live in Santa<br />
Fe, N.M., and have a total of<br />
five children and five grandkids.<br />
If you remember Pete, you will<br />
not be surprised at the many<br />
twists and turns in his life. He<br />
began his post-<strong>Williams</strong> life in<br />
the Peace Corps in Peru, served<br />
as an A.P. photographer in New<br />
York and moved to New Mexico<br />
to manage a new outdoor store<br />
founded by friends. Then he<br />
started his own firm, Omniverse<br />
Research, of Los Gatos, Calif.,<br />
based on inventions Pete had<br />
devised for a battery-powered<br />
MIG Welder (I don’t know what<br />
that is, either). “By the early ’90s<br />
I was exhausted with commuting<br />
to Silicon Valley so I took a<br />
job at the local Boys and Girls<br />
Club, helping transform ‘at risk’<br />
kids into computer whizzes with<br />
real prospects. Utterly fantastic!”<br />
Welcome back, Pete. Get out<br />
your wallet.<br />
It is always special for me to<br />
reunite with classmates, but the<br />
minis are a real treat, as one can<br />
mingle with members of adjacent<br />
classes. I ran into Clyde Buck ’61,<br />
who asked me to contribute to a<br />
testimonial book he was preparing<br />
for former coach and one<br />
of my all-time favorite persons,<br />
Clarence Chaffee. I assented and<br />
now have a copy of the book.<br />
(John Botts is also a contributor.)<br />
It is an amazing tribute to<br />
an amazing man. Contact the<br />
alumni office if you would like to<br />
purchase a copy.<br />
Three weeks after our mini,<br />
the college staged another huge<br />
weekend to honor Mike Reily ’64<br />
and officially retire his number.<br />
(Too long a story to relate here,<br />
but read the early November<br />
Sports Illustrated story.) Over<br />
300 of Mike’s classmates and<br />
football players returned to<br />
campus, including all seven of<br />
the living members of our class<br />
who played with Mike in our<br />
senior year: Rawson Gordon,<br />
Dan Crowley, Choppy Rheinfrank,<br />
Price Gripekoven, Carl Davis, John<br />
Newton and Bruce Grinnell. (Tovi<br />
Kratovil also played but passed<br />
away earlier in the year.) Price<br />
and Bruce both wrote to me that<br />
it was one of the “most memorable,<br />
emotional and enjoyable<br />
reunions” they ever attended.<br />
Kudos to Ben Wagner ’64 for<br />
organizing the event!<br />
Now the sad news, which<br />
unfortunately is becoming a<br />
staple of this column. Two of<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 31
CLASS NOTES<br />
our classmates have passed away<br />
since last I wrote, and we have<br />
been notified of another who<br />
died in 2005. John Patterson is<br />
the not-recently-deceased class<br />
member. I admit to not knowing<br />
John but was able to ascertain<br />
that he left our class during<br />
our sophomore year and was<br />
a member of the Theta Delta<br />
Chi fraternity. He finished his<br />
undergraduate work at SUNY<br />
Buffalo and obtained a master’s<br />
degree from Stanford. He moved<br />
to LA, where he began a most<br />
highly decorated career as a<br />
director of TV dramas, including<br />
13 episodes of The Sopranos.<br />
He was twice nominated for an<br />
Emmy and received the Directors<br />
Guild award in 2003. He is survived<br />
by his companion Andrea<br />
Makshanof and two children.<br />
“Bert” or “Gerry” White<br />
died on Aug. 17, 2011, at his<br />
residence at Merrill Gardens<br />
in Monrovia, Wash. He was<br />
a cowboy born into a family<br />
of Philadelphia lawyers, and I<br />
always thought of him as the<br />
original Marlboro man. He had<br />
been married to his high school<br />
sweetheart, Elaine, and they<br />
raised their three daughters in<br />
Vail, Colo. He and Elaine built<br />
the Ram’s Horn Inn in Vail in<br />
1967, and they were pivotal in<br />
the development of the community.<br />
An article in the Vail daily<br />
newspaper referred to Gerry as<br />
the foundation upon which Vail<br />
was created. Gerry suffered a<br />
traumatic brain injury in 1974<br />
when he was biking and hit<br />
head-on by an automobile. He<br />
was never quite the same, and his<br />
memory was seriously impaired.<br />
Nevertheless, he returned to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> for several reunions<br />
and enjoyed himself immensely.<br />
When a classmate would come<br />
over to greet him, he often would<br />
ask those of us who knew him<br />
best (I was a fraternity brother),<br />
“Did I like that guy?” He was<br />
one of a kind, and I will miss<br />
him. Great sympathy to his<br />
daughters and six grandchildren.<br />
We lost Irv Marcus from our<br />
class on Nov. 14 from a series<br />
of complications following a<br />
long illness. Irv was a man of<br />
many talents. Among them was<br />
a remarkable sense of humor<br />
which he often expressed with<br />
very clever cartoons. I remember<br />
him sketching Robert Frost as he<br />
spoke at <strong>Williams</strong>. After the talk,<br />
Irv approached the renowned<br />
poet and asked him if he would<br />
sign the sketch, which he did,<br />
with the caveat: “Said to be<br />
Robert Frost.” After obtaining<br />
32 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
his Harvard law degree, Irv<br />
worked for 40 years at the firm<br />
of Lasser, Hochman LLC in<br />
Roseland, N.J. Irv and I were<br />
roommates (along with Steve<br />
Brumberg) during our sophomore<br />
year, and there was not a subject<br />
he was unwilling to debate. He<br />
is a loss in my life as well as that<br />
of the class. Our thoughts of condolence<br />
go out to his wife Harriet<br />
and his daughters Sarah Barton<br />
’89 and Miriam Karas ’91.<br />
It was exciting to hear from<br />
Graham Phipps after many years<br />
of silence. He wrote: “My life<br />
in a nutshell: Taught secondary<br />
school in <strong>Williams</strong>town for<br />
four years, then went to UPenn<br />
School of Architecture and<br />
worked as an architect for 15<br />
years. Gemologist and jewelry<br />
store owner in Denver for five<br />
years and then became an optician<br />
for LensCrafters for 12<br />
years and Advanced Eyecare for<br />
five more. Now I donate some of<br />
my time to doing eyeglasses for<br />
the Colorado Coalition for the<br />
Homeless. I have been married<br />
three times and have two children<br />
and three grandchildren by<br />
my first wife and several stepkids<br />
and stepgrandkids by my other<br />
wives. I still ski with all the kids<br />
and my dearest third and last<br />
wife, Carol. We travel quite a bit<br />
and manage a couple of properties<br />
in Scottsdale. I have not<br />
been in touch with my <strong>Williams</strong><br />
classmates but returned to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> 25 years ago with my<br />
daughter Catheryn ’86, who was<br />
a student there. I will really try to<br />
attend the 50th with Carol.” A<br />
lot of people are hoping you do,<br />
Graham.<br />
Our itinerant actor, Ash Crosby,<br />
keeps on doing his thing. “After<br />
The Crucible and Romeo and<br />
Juliet in rotating rep last summer<br />
off-off-Broadway, I returned to<br />
Tennessee to do Twain, not the<br />
Hal Holbrook version but one<br />
devised for Lincoln Center’s<br />
‘Meet the Artist’ series. Now<br />
back in NYC ready to rehearse<br />
Tennessee <strong>Williams</strong>’ Orpheus<br />
Descending, which will play off-<br />
Broadway and on tour. My film<br />
Wind Jammers is now available<br />
on Amazon.”<br />
Of course Spike Kellogg will<br />
be at the 50th, looking forward<br />
especially to seeing his past<br />
roommates Dave Kieffer and<br />
Johnny Russ. He is throttling<br />
back on long business trips and<br />
was looking forward to a good<br />
winter of skiing in Jackson, N.H.<br />
Volunteer activities loom more<br />
prominently in his future, particularly<br />
the Manchester-Essex<br />
Conservation Trust and the U.S.<br />
Biathlon Association. “Next<br />
year marks the 100th anniversary<br />
of cross-country running at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>. I am intent on running<br />
in a commemorative race in<br />
late September that will mark<br />
that milestone. I hope other<br />
classmates will run as well.” (I’m<br />
afraid I’ll miss that one, Spike.)<br />
Brenda and Tom Johnson will<br />
be attending the 50th and hope<br />
to see Denny Bauman, Scott<br />
Mohr and Stu Meyers there as<br />
well. Both of them stay busy<br />
working as standardized patients<br />
for the UMass Medical School<br />
in Worcester. In addition to<br />
teaching patient interviewing to<br />
UMass medical students, they<br />
travel to three Boston-based<br />
med schools, Tufts, Harvard<br />
and BU. “We help prepare the<br />
students to pass the oral portion<br />
of the National Boards on the<br />
final path to medical licensure.<br />
We continue to enjoy life in<br />
Worcester volunteering at local<br />
theaters and historical preservation<br />
groups. Any time left is<br />
spent visiting our four children<br />
and grandchildren. Our health<br />
is good, especially for me since<br />
a pacemaker was placed a year<br />
ago for a ‘sick sinus syndrome.’”<br />
Brenda and Tom celebrated their<br />
50th anniversary in 2011.<br />
Mike Scott wrote: “There have<br />
been some important changes for<br />
me in the past six months. On<br />
the Sunday at the tail end of our<br />
minireunion in October, I got a<br />
chance to lecture to the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
pre-med interest group. Can you<br />
believe it? Sunday, 2 p.m., and<br />
the lecture room in Griffin was<br />
full! The students were a delight,<br />
interested and attentive and full<br />
of questions and comments after<br />
the talk. It was simply a thrill<br />
to be there with them. I stepped<br />
down as chair of our pediatric<br />
neurosurgery department at the<br />
end of October and right now<br />
am working only three days a<br />
week and operating only one<br />
day—certainly the most relaxed<br />
work schedule I have ever had as<br />
a doctor. We have a new chief of<br />
the department, recruited from<br />
the Rainbow Babies’ Hospital<br />
in Cleveland, whom I know<br />
extremely well (my wife Susan<br />
was his scrub nurse when he<br />
was in Boston years ago), and<br />
the leadership transition has<br />
been a smooth one. I now get to<br />
forward all of the administration<br />
emails regarding new directives<br />
and policies to him without the<br />
burden of actually reading and<br />
enforcing them—perhaps the<br />
best dividend from the change. I
eceived a wonderful award from<br />
my peers at our annual meeting<br />
in Austin, Texas—the Ingraham<br />
Medal for distinguished service<br />
to pediatric neurosurgery—and<br />
was given a surprise party with<br />
our current faculty and many of<br />
my previously trained fellows in<br />
attendance. All of this was like<br />
getting a chance to read your<br />
obituary before the event itself!<br />
Best of all, I got a chance to play<br />
jazz piano three nights in a row,<br />
the last night at The Stage on<br />
6th Street as an opening act for<br />
the blues singer Jimmy Vaughn.<br />
Susan and I will be there for the<br />
50th and are looking forward to<br />
seeing everyone.”<br />
Jeanne and Andy Hero will be<br />
at the reunion, and Andy notified<br />
me of a new role undertaken by<br />
Mike Keating, chairman of the<br />
board of the Boston Foundation.<br />
Mike filled me in. “The Boston<br />
Foundation is the largest community<br />
foundation in New<br />
England and the 10th largest<br />
in the country. Our principal<br />
activities are to make grants to<br />
worthy nonprofit organizations<br />
in the Greater Boston region.<br />
Last year we made grants of<br />
approximately $90 million, with<br />
resources drawn from an endowment<br />
of approximately $850<br />
million. In addition to our grantmaking,<br />
the Boston Foundation<br />
is a leading advocate for many<br />
significant public policy issues in<br />
this area, particularly in the fields<br />
of urban education, public safety<br />
and employment opportunities. I<br />
chair a board of 23 persons who<br />
have significant positions in both<br />
public and private organizations<br />
in the Boston community. Peter<br />
Hero ’64, Andy’s brother, headed<br />
a similar community foundation<br />
in San Jose.”<br />
Rufus (Ed) Jarman is staying<br />
very busy, as he is chairing<br />
a study for the NYC Bar<br />
Association on country of origin<br />
disclosure laws. It revolves<br />
around, as best I understand it,<br />
how products must be labeled<br />
based on the amount of their<br />
foreign content. That is, “Made<br />
in the USA.” may or may not be<br />
used properly depending upon<br />
which agency—FDA, customs,<br />
FTC, defense—is doing the labeling.<br />
“It’s a real hodge-podge, in<br />
my opinion. We hope to produce<br />
a report with recommendations<br />
for change that will be forwarded<br />
to Congress and the president.”<br />
He travels a great deal, much<br />
of it following his daughter<br />
Georgia’s operatic career. Most<br />
recently he attended her performance<br />
of Lucia di Lammermoor<br />
in Atlanta and will be going to<br />
London to see her in The Tales<br />
of Hoffman. His son Baird and<br />
daughter-in-law Susannah, both<br />
’92, have a 14-month-old child,<br />
Rufus’ first grandchild, and live<br />
in Minnesota, where Baird is an<br />
art history professor at Carleton.<br />
Elsie and Ed Cordis will be at<br />
the reunion, but it was touchand-go<br />
for quite a bit of last year.<br />
Elsie was bitten by a tick while<br />
at their summer home in Niantic,<br />
Conn., and developed babesiosis,<br />
a disease caused by a tick-born<br />
parasite that eats red blood cells.<br />
She spent many weeks in several<br />
hospitals but finally recovered.<br />
Meanwhile, Ed developed blood<br />
clots in his legs, a condition<br />
called DVT, which he battles<br />
constantly and, lately, successfully.<br />
So the couple that has been<br />
married the longest in our class<br />
will be with us again.<br />
Alan Hood is coming in June<br />
and promises that he will bring<br />
no more than 100 photos of his<br />
two new (and only) grandchildren.<br />
Linda and Doug Haley will<br />
be with us. Their much-beloved<br />
15-year-old Dalmatian, Dudley,<br />
recently died, and they are again<br />
free to travel. Win Satterlee<br />
will return and hopes that Lou<br />
Benton and Bill Sommerfeld will<br />
also. Eugene Cassidy is coming.<br />
He would be a good one to talk<br />
with, as he has no grandchildren.<br />
Gil Leigh crossed paths with<br />
Steve Telkins at the Arlington,<br />
Va., library, where Gil volunteers.<br />
Both are planning on the 50th.<br />
Leon Lane spends most of his<br />
time with a group of 120 retired<br />
men in a variation of “camp,”<br />
i.e., playing poker, bridge,<br />
cooking lessons, book clubs and<br />
monthly bus trips out of Atlanta.<br />
He’s coming and looks forward<br />
to seeing Choppy Rheinfrank and<br />
Mike Ebert. Dinny and Barney<br />
Shaw will be there and hope that<br />
Ann Hill will, also. He said it’s<br />
even OK for her to bring Paul.<br />
Carl Davis is planning on the<br />
50th. Last Christmas he decorated<br />
a tree in the Beaufort (S.C.)<br />
Festival of the Tree contest. His<br />
was a <strong>Williams</strong> tree complete<br />
with many banners and purple<br />
cows. Barbey and Ned Dougherty<br />
celebrated their 50th wedding<br />
anniversary last summer under a<br />
starry Maine sky with 125 family<br />
members and friends. They will<br />
join us in June, and Ned hopes<br />
that Tin O’Leary, Larry Daloz, Jim<br />
Wick and the “elusive” George<br />
Downing will also. Art Palmer is<br />
coming and looks forward to<br />
seeing what 50 years have done<br />
to and with us. Since retiring<br />
n 1962–63<br />
from teaching, his geology field<br />
work and writing have occupied<br />
most of his time. Steve Huffman<br />
is delighted that his son Mark<br />
’88 and his family have moved<br />
back to Sacramento and hopes<br />
to see Linda and Bob Nevin, Julie<br />
and Bill Penick, and Shannon<br />
and Jim Evans in <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
Steve Brumberg is coming and<br />
wishes to see his grandchildren<br />
the most. (Son Joshua ’92 will be<br />
celebrating his 20th.) Jane and<br />
Bill Vaughn are coming. Archie<br />
Palmer continues his part-time<br />
ministry work, while wife Lynne<br />
has embarked on a career as a<br />
watercolor artist after retiring<br />
from 35 years in social work.<br />
“She’s good,” says Archie.<br />
They need some persuasion to<br />
get them to the reunion. Get to<br />
work, folks!<br />
I have begun the final editing<br />
work for our 50th reunion book.<br />
It is early January as I write,<br />
and if this work is successful<br />
you should have had it before<br />
you read these notes. I am very<br />
pleased with it, mainly due<br />
to your fine efforts. About 80<br />
percent of our class submitted<br />
autobiographies, which ties the<br />
modern record. Many spouses,<br />
relatives and classmates wrote<br />
about deceased classmates, so<br />
our book will have more biographies<br />
than ever before. And that’s<br />
the way it should be!<br />
See you in June.<br />
1963<br />
Jim Blume<br />
23 Vicente Road<br />
Berkeley, CA 94705<br />
1963secretary@williams.edu<br />
At the outset of these notes, I<br />
will briefly describe the delightful<br />
and extremely productive events<br />
that took place at our class’s<br />
minireunion, which was held<br />
Oct. 21-23 in <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
While the attendance was somewhat<br />
disappointing, I can attest<br />
that those who gathered had a<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
W illiams People accepts<br />
photographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 33
CLASS NOTES<br />
wonderful time, replete with class<br />
cocktail parties followed by dinner<br />
on both Friday and Saturday<br />
evenings, a football game in<br />
chilly, overcast weather which<br />
was offset by the Ephs’ triumph<br />
over the Bantams of Tufts, several<br />
scintillating lectures, meetings<br />
of both the reunion planning<br />
committee, ably chaired by the<br />
visionary Bill Burnett, and the<br />
reunion gift committee, chaired<br />
by the ever-competent Lenny<br />
Bernheimer. Both of the committees<br />
made remarkable progress<br />
in planning for our gala 50th<br />
reunion celebration in June 2013<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong>town. I encourage you<br />
all to place the reunion on your<br />
calendars. Without question, it<br />
will be a memorable weekend.<br />
In attendance during the weekend<br />
were Winston Wood, Roy<br />
Weiner, John Bell, Gordy Prichett,<br />
Lenny Bernheimer, Phil Kinnicutt,<br />
Bill Burnett, Stu Jones, Rick Berry,<br />
Clay Davenport, Rich Goodman,<br />
Bill McDaniel, me and Bonnie<br />
Knight, Woody’s widow. Most of<br />
us brought our spouses, which<br />
in contradistinction to our years<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong>, brought richness,<br />
warmth and gentility to the<br />
gatherings.<br />
I would be remiss if I didn’t<br />
describe our class’s next planned<br />
gathering. <strong>Williams</strong> creates a<br />
fabulous week at Oxford a year<br />
prior to our actual reunion. The<br />
positive reviews from previous<br />
classes have been extraordinary!<br />
The Oxford week presents us<br />
with a chance to re-create our<br />
academic prowess among longtime<br />
friends. A slew of classmates<br />
have already indicated that they<br />
are attending. I urge all to attend<br />
this remarkable event, if possible.<br />
After my promotional pleadings<br />
for class events, in keeping with<br />
my responsibilities as scribe, I<br />
will update you on the doings of<br />
several members of our class.<br />
I received a touching note from<br />
our former president, the illustrious<br />
Dick Potsubay. Unfortunately<br />
the Bay, who has been a class<br />
stalwart, will be unable to attend<br />
our 50th.<br />
Recently, Bay had a deep vein<br />
thrombosis of his ankles, which<br />
was secondary to the removal of<br />
a chondrosarcoma from his right<br />
shoulder. Thus, he is unable to<br />
travel but is otherwise in good<br />
health. Dick wrote, “I spend<br />
time listening to Hayden, Liszt<br />
and Chopin with Ormie played<br />
by a visiting pianist among other<br />
entertainment coming regularly<br />
to the grand lobby south at<br />
Regency Oaks (in Florida). I<br />
have finished acrylic/watercolor<br />
34 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
artwork and mounted a year’s<br />
worth in a scrapbook, incorporating<br />
a small portion of the art<br />
in a private memoir for family<br />
to spawn their writing of our<br />
family tree.”<br />
The Bay exercises regularly and<br />
then meditates outside “in a comfortable<br />
chair peering through<br />
Spanish moss drooping from a<br />
live oak tree to view bougainvillea<br />
flowers in the distance.” He<br />
further noted that one of his<br />
children and their family (including<br />
grandchildren and great<br />
grandchild) would be with them<br />
for Thanksgiving. Two other children<br />
and their families celebrated<br />
Thanksgiving in a cabin in North<br />
Carolina. His sons Richard and<br />
David live in Seattle and Las<br />
Vegas, respectively.<br />
Politically, he has moved to the<br />
right, subscribing to a rightof-center<br />
philosophy which he<br />
claimed was “consistent with<br />
most Americans.”<br />
I should also note that Bay’s<br />
relatives have cut a wide swath.<br />
John Bell and his family have been<br />
deeply involved with the Bay’s<br />
sister, Susie Symons, who with<br />
her husband John are renowned<br />
ceramic artists. In addition,<br />
Dick’s niece Amy Symons long<br />
ago taught seventh-grade English<br />
to my son Zach.<br />
In re-reading the fall class notes,<br />
I realized that there was an item<br />
worthy of mention. At our class’s<br />
recent San Francisco luncheon,<br />
four (Stu Brown, Alan Schlosser,<br />
Wood Lockhart and Bob Binder) of<br />
the nine attendees were members<br />
of Phi Beta Kappa. I ask you all<br />
to ponder the implications of this<br />
statement. How is that a disproportionate<br />
number of academic<br />
achievers settled in the Bay Area?<br />
I await explanation from anyone<br />
who is able to make sense of this<br />
phenomenon. The most cogent<br />
explanation will win the keys to<br />
Goddard’s 6-year-old Saab for<br />
our 50th reunion weekend.<br />
And speaking of Schlosser, I<br />
don’t know how many of you<br />
read The New York Times<br />
series about high school seniors<br />
cheating on the SATs in order<br />
to enhance their chances of<br />
college admission. The reports<br />
focused on Great Neck North<br />
High School, which Alan, Frank<br />
Simunek and I attended. The gist<br />
of the articles revolved around<br />
one student who was paid by<br />
several others to take the exam.<br />
The unfolding series of articles<br />
has finally provided me with the<br />
opportunity to reveal a secret<br />
which I’ve kept under cover for<br />
over 50 years. It may surprise<br />
many of you, but it is now time<br />
to set the record straight. I actually<br />
took Alan Schlosser’s SAT<br />
exams for him.<br />
The next commentaries are<br />
about three classmates: John<br />
Davis, Bill Holmes and Steve<br />
Thomas, who are all in the medical<br />
profession.<br />
John Davis, who lives in<br />
Phoenix, retired from a private<br />
practice in 2007, “driven out by<br />
the escalating cost of regulations<br />
and compliance.” He then<br />
took a position with the Indian<br />
Health Service, providing otolaryngologic<br />
services to Native<br />
Americans. He and two other<br />
physicians are the “ultimate<br />
referral source for the tribes of<br />
Arizona and Southern Nevada.”<br />
John and his wife Teri have<br />
three married daughters:<br />
Kathleen, Jeanne and Cassie.<br />
Cassie, the youngest, who resides<br />
in Connecticut, was married on<br />
Sept. 4 in Newport. The older<br />
daughters live in proximity to<br />
John and Teri in Arizona. They<br />
have three grandchildren—two<br />
boys, Gavin and Thor, and one<br />
girl, Mia. Gavin is a budding<br />
horseman, which leads me to<br />
John’s passion, his horse.<br />
Until he was 67, John rode<br />
competitively. Even now he<br />
remains engaged in other riding<br />
activities, primarily three- and<br />
four-day horse camps and rides.<br />
He also rides as a volunteer for<br />
the Maricopa County Sheriff’s<br />
Mounted Posse. “Arizona is a<br />
beautiful state, but the best parts<br />
are accessible only to hikers and<br />
horsemen,” John exclaimed.<br />
Financially, John has been hurt<br />
by the Great Recession, but he<br />
has not changed his lifestyle.<br />
Politically he remains more conservative<br />
than his cousin, Gordon<br />
(really!). He mentioned that Teri<br />
chides him by saying that she<br />
wouldn’t have dated him if he<br />
had been so conservative when<br />
they met.<br />
Bill Holmes wrote that he retired<br />
from his private practice in suburban<br />
Philadelphia some years<br />
ago. He subsequently retired<br />
from a corporate medical practice<br />
in Kansas as well as the U.S.<br />
Naval Reserves and the Mayo<br />
Clinic. He is ] living in quasi-rural<br />
Wyoming, where he and his wife<br />
Mary Ann stay active in summer/<br />
winter physical activities. He also<br />
volunteers for the county health<br />
department and does a little<br />
cooking (a newfound hobby),<br />
while serving as an elected official<br />
for the county health department.<br />
Mary Ann and Bill married<br />
in 1979 and have raised
six children, three of hers and<br />
three of his. Bill exclaimed that<br />
“the kids have matured into<br />
all wonderful and mature and<br />
successful citizens of life.” Their<br />
kids have produced 14 grandchildren,<br />
most of whom live in the<br />
East. Bill states that the time he<br />
spends with his grandchildren is a<br />
“treasure on demand.”<br />
Age has made him more<br />
reflective. He noted that “clinical<br />
physicians perhaps see their<br />
fate reflected in the travails of<br />
their patients throughout their<br />
careers.” He added that “the<br />
recent celebration of Mike Reily’s<br />
’64 life hit me particularly hard<br />
as a meaningful life experience<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong>.” Bill related that<br />
he hasn’t participated in “class<br />
events for other unstated reasons,<br />
although it has not dissuaded me<br />
from following news and class<br />
events with more than casual<br />
interest.” In the political arena,<br />
he expressed concern about<br />
“the sense of entitlement, class<br />
differentiation and obdurate<br />
political stances on both sides of<br />
the aisle.” He considers himself<br />
an independent/conservative who<br />
voted for Obama, about whom<br />
he expressed disappointment.<br />
After his revealing exegesis, I<br />
hope that Bill will see fit to reengage<br />
with classmates.<br />
Steve Thomas has been a<br />
professor emeritus at the<br />
University of Cincinnati <strong>College</strong><br />
of Medicine since 2000 but<br />
continued to work full time in<br />
the Department of Radiology,<br />
Medical Physics, until 2007. He<br />
remains active with the American<br />
Board of Radiology, where he<br />
was a trustee in medical physics<br />
from 2001-05. He then became<br />
associate executive director for<br />
medical physics. He is planning<br />
to fully retire this spring.<br />
Steve and Ingrid have been<br />
married for 41 years, and he<br />
indicated that “sainthood is on<br />
her side.” Their daughter Kristin<br />
’98 works at Genentech. Steve<br />
and Ingrid are making plans to<br />
attend our Oxford adventure.<br />
As many of you have surely<br />
realized by now, the information<br />
in the class notes is often dated.<br />
Let me explain why: I write<br />
the notes from material I have<br />
gathered in the quarter prior to<br />
their submission to the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
People; then after editing and<br />
other prep work, they are sent to<br />
you about three months after my<br />
submission. Hence, frequently,<br />
the information you receive is as<br />
much as six months old.<br />
This explanation segues nicely<br />
into my next news item, which<br />
is, indeed, six months out of<br />
date because I didn’t have<br />
enough space to include it in my<br />
last notes. Dave Lougee wrote<br />
that he and Carolyn “indeed,<br />
had a great summer—I played<br />
(he and his tennis partner) the<br />
U.S.T.A. National Hardcourts<br />
in early June and got to the<br />
quarter finals, spent a couple of<br />
great weeks with Jill and Gordy<br />
Prichett in Lyon, the Macon<br />
and Burgundy and then spent<br />
a couple of family weeks in the<br />
Sawtooth’s and at Tahoe.” Loug<br />
also spent a week trout fishing<br />
in Alberta and then traveled to<br />
visit with his family of origin in<br />
Maine.<br />
Mike Gehrhardt commented<br />
in November: “People ask how<br />
I get my jobs. The answer is<br />
simple—my great network of<br />
knowledgeable people. (Sixteen<br />
assignments at 15 separate agencies<br />
in 12 years.)” Evidently no<br />
position surfaced this year, so he<br />
and his wife Doree have escaped<br />
Providence to the warmer climes<br />
of Tucson for a short jaunt.<br />
My ex-roommate Bernie<br />
Wruble sent his annual holiday<br />
update, which detailed his children’s<br />
impressive exploits. His<br />
youngest and only male child,<br />
Austin, is a senior at Choate,<br />
where he is captaining both the<br />
wrestling and tennis teams while<br />
awaiting college admission. Mati<br />
’14, Bernie’s next oldest child,<br />
is at <strong>Williams</strong>, where she “had<br />
a smoking year eclipsing family<br />
GPA.” Since I’m well aware of<br />
Bernie’s academic record, Mati’s<br />
accomplishment is not surprising,<br />
but I assume the reference was<br />
really to the academic prowess of<br />
Bernie’s wife Jill ’83, or daughters<br />
Vanessa ’96 and Alexis ’99.<br />
Alexis, his third oldest child,<br />
ran her first marathon in Boston<br />
and finished in the top third.<br />
Vanessa’s year “began in Sierra<br />
Leone and there focused on<br />
developing www.okayafrica.com,<br />
a website that combines “music<br />
with news coverage, dedicated<br />
blogs, feature stories and concert/<br />
events highlighting the best coming<br />
out of Africa.”<br />
Bernie’s oldest daughter, Justine<br />
and her husband Peter live in<br />
Hanover, N.H. Justine is the<br />
mother of two boys and a girl.<br />
She teaches yoga and is an active<br />
runner.<br />
Alas, no information about<br />
Bernie, but Team Wruble seems<br />
to be really outstanding!<br />
In the process of casting for<br />
his holiday show of Peter Pan in<br />
Colorado Springs, Murray Ross,<br />
stage director par excellence,<br />
n 1963<br />
fantasized about an ideal cast<br />
consisting of classmates for the<br />
production.<br />
He dreamt about Gordon<br />
Davis in the role of the dark and<br />
sinister Captain Hook, whose<br />
gigantic brain was obsessed<br />
with good form. Murray stated:<br />
“Misguided man, though he was,<br />
we may be glad, without sympathizing<br />
with him, that in the end<br />
he was true to his traditions of<br />
race. His shoes were right, and<br />
his waistcoat was right, and his<br />
tie was right, and his socks were<br />
right—of course he will also bite<br />
in close quarters.”<br />
Alan Schlosser was cast as<br />
Bo’sun Smee, Hook’s right-hand<br />
man, a non-conformist who<br />
plied “his sewing machine ever<br />
industrious and obliging.” The<br />
Crow noted that Smee has the<br />
best lines, including, of course,<br />
“Captain I have often noticed<br />
your strange fear of crocodiles.”<br />
As for the role of Peter Pan,<br />
Ross cast the original puer, David<br />
Larry, “for reasons too obvious<br />
to be enumerated but including<br />
an early brilliant audition<br />
in the fall of 1961 when he and<br />
Gordon reportedly swash-buckled<br />
with foils across the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
campus.”<br />
John Davis, the nemesis of<br />
all left-leaning pirates (cousin<br />
Gordon), king of the desert<br />
reptiles, was to be cast as the<br />
crocodile.<br />
Charlie Pratt, the defender<br />
of gender switching and the<br />
oppressed, seemed ideal to<br />
Murray for the role of Tiger Lily.<br />
Bobby Seidman would make<br />
a natural Tinker Bell, “small,<br />
compact, fiery, loyal and inclined<br />
to stream of talk and babbling<br />
words.” Roger Warren, a judge<br />
who, in Ross’ fantasy, assumed<br />
the role of Tootles, rescuer of<br />
the heroine at a crucial moment.<br />
Jules Quinlan could assume the<br />
role of Nana, since he has “longer<br />
and better experience with<br />
great dogs.”<br />
Bill Whitney, Geoff Howard,<br />
Bill Boyd, John Kifner and I will<br />
have to fight our way for the<br />
remaining roles in the production.<br />
Murray also cast himself as<br />
the neverbird, who sits on eggs in<br />
brood and floats in the hat lent<br />
to him by Peter Pan.<br />
To me, it sounds destined to be<br />
a smash hit. If Bill Burnett will<br />
produce the play and Murray<br />
agrees to direct this grand<br />
production, perhaps Peter Pan<br />
can be staged as part of our 50th<br />
reunion celebration.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 35
CLASS NOTES<br />
1964<br />
Martin P. Wasserman<br />
13200 Triadelphia Road<br />
Ellicott City, MD 21042<br />
1964secretary@williams.edu<br />
Classmates, this is the first<br />
opportunity there has been to<br />
write following the extraordinary<br />
Mike Reily special weekend in<br />
November, and I want to devote<br />
this issue to describe that time<br />
to you. Perhaps Quentin Murphy<br />
expressed it best: “Only at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> could such an<br />
event as the Mike Reily Memorial<br />
Banquet have taken place. Susan<br />
and I were amazed at the amount<br />
of organization, planning and<br />
perfect execution involved. The<br />
Lasell gym truly resembled a<br />
banquet hall. The entire affair<br />
was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,<br />
with so many classmates,<br />
former teammates and friends<br />
there. Mike’s family seemed truly<br />
moved. It was a WOW (<strong>Williams</strong><br />
Original Weekend).” This truly<br />
was <strong>Williams</strong> at its finest! Kudos<br />
to Ben Wagner, who performed<br />
most of the heavy lifting for the<br />
event, although he is far too<br />
modest to accept the compliments.<br />
But it was certainly Ben<br />
who provided the inspiration,<br />
leadership and drive to make<br />
this all happen. More than 270<br />
people attended the Saturday<br />
evening event, which spanned<br />
classes from 1952 to 1988 along<br />
with three generations of the<br />
Reily family plus friends, managers<br />
and coaches from the 1960s.<br />
It became something even more<br />
special because so many friends<br />
came from those classes which<br />
surround our own—friends<br />
whom we don’t normally see<br />
during typical reunion events.<br />
So many people signed up for<br />
the celebration that the original<br />
venue for the events was changed<br />
from the <strong>Williams</strong> Inn to the<br />
beautifully decorated and transformed<br />
Lasell gym. You would<br />
hardly have recognized that<br />
this was the same arena where<br />
we could taunt our adversaries<br />
by nearly sitting on court with<br />
them!<br />
Classmates and spouses who<br />
attended the events include:<br />
Lisle Baker, Martha and Larry<br />
Bauer, Jack Beebe, Jack Beecham,<br />
Polly and Steve Birrell, Peter<br />
Buttenheim, Bill Chapman, Bob<br />
DiForio, Mabel and Dan Ellis,<br />
Terry Finn, Jane and Bill Frado,<br />
Jay Freedman, Sarah and John<br />
Foehl, Janet and Bob Furey, Nick<br />
Goodhue, Hope and Al Hageman,<br />
Ginny and Tim Goodwin, Dick<br />
36 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Hubbard, Chris Hagy, Peter Hero,<br />
Karen and Tom Howell, Steve<br />
Hyde, Dave Johnston, Muffy<br />
and Peter Johannsen, Sandy<br />
Kasten, Jack Kuehn, Polly and<br />
Dave Macpherson, Mary and<br />
Gay Mayer, Jack McWhorter,<br />
Jim Moodey, Susan and Quentin<br />
Murphy, Walt Nicholson, Joel<br />
Reingold and Coro Gorriti, Pam<br />
and Bill Riley, Caroline and John<br />
Romans, Craig Schelter and Liz<br />
Nill, Jeff Silver, Andrew Smith,<br />
Susan and Peter Stanley, Abby<br />
and Bob Summersgill, Jamie<br />
and Tom Todd, Sandy and Ben<br />
Wagner, Barbara and Marty<br />
Wasserman, John Winfield and<br />
Leigh Callahan. It was fun to get<br />
to see so many classmates really<br />
into the warmth and inspiration<br />
of the life and passing of<br />
an extraordinary young man.<br />
I hope I did not overlook any<br />
other classmates who might have<br />
attended.<br />
Others recognized the importance<br />
of, and were touched by,<br />
this event as well. Ben Wagner<br />
received a note from David<br />
Jaffrey, who wrote that he had<br />
“just instructed our fund at the<br />
Boston Foundation to contribute<br />
$1,000 to <strong>Williams</strong> for Mike<br />
Reily Recognition. It must be<br />
satisfying to you to have orchestrated<br />
such a heartfelt tribute to<br />
your old friend and co-captain.<br />
All of us who knew Mike<br />
appreciate what you have done,<br />
Ben.” David helped with the<br />
production of the video Tackle<br />
by Reily, which was played at<br />
the beginning of the event and<br />
really set the stage for the entire<br />
evening’s activities. As Ben commented,<br />
“We accomplished our<br />
purpose—to honor and remember<br />
Mike in a suitable way. There<br />
are many final tests for how<br />
we did, but the expressions of<br />
appreciation from Mike’s brothers<br />
and their families have been<br />
nonstop, genuine and effusive.<br />
There is more purple and gold on<br />
the streets of New Orleans than<br />
ever before!”<br />
Peter Buttenheim writes, “I<br />
am still floating on air about<br />
the Reily weekend. That was<br />
one fine thing we did to honor<br />
Mike. Ben gets 90 percent of the<br />
credit to be sure, but I think that<br />
the class did something for the<br />
classes around us, the college and<br />
ourselves by having such a glorious<br />
and kind event, even though<br />
it took 50 years to occur. I feel<br />
extra special being a member<br />
of the Class of 1964.” And Tim<br />
Goodwin adds, “I was blown<br />
away by the weekend! Ginny<br />
says I was on a high the whole<br />
time. Not only were we able to<br />
properly honor Mike’s memory,<br />
but we were able to include his<br />
family and friends in the celebration<br />
and at the same time have<br />
a reunion for guys from five<br />
classes from ’61 to ’66. We have<br />
Ben to thank for much of this,<br />
but I think it took the hand of<br />
providence for all the pieces to<br />
successfully fall together the way<br />
they did. I just wish there could<br />
be other opportunities to convene<br />
with such a broad selection<br />
of classes. Many of the attendees<br />
I had not seen for years and will<br />
probably not have the chance<br />
to ever see again! On the plane<br />
back to Houston all I could think<br />
about were conversations I wish<br />
I had been able to have with a<br />
lot of these guys. The weekend<br />
just went too fast! Maybe we<br />
can figure out ways to have more<br />
multi-class reunions in the future,<br />
but time is getting short! At any<br />
rate I am so thankful for the<br />
weekend and again congratulate<br />
Ben and all who helped for such<br />
an enjoyable and meaningful<br />
time!”<br />
Jay Freedman, one of the<br />
originators of the event, said,<br />
“This was one of those times<br />
none of us will ever forget. I<br />
have had many people ask me<br />
how the weekend turned out,<br />
and I have not yet come out<br />
with the right superlative!” Both<br />
Tommy Todd and Tom Howell<br />
reminisced about many things at<br />
a gathering following the event,<br />
but Tommy kept “reminiscing<br />
about the wonderful weekend<br />
that we all had recently spent<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong>town. Everything<br />
about the weekend made me<br />
feel good inside: good that I had<br />
chosen <strong>Williams</strong>, good that I had<br />
had the privilege to know, live<br />
with and play with Mike, good<br />
that people like Ben and many<br />
others would spend such an<br />
enormous amount of time and<br />
effort seeing that the right thing<br />
was done, good that so many<br />
parts of the <strong>Williams</strong> community<br />
not only embraced the effort<br />
but came together to celebrate<br />
it, good about The Game, good<br />
that the Reilys got to see why<br />
Mike wanted to spend his last<br />
months back with ‘his friends,’<br />
good that they and we had an<br />
opportunity for closure after 50<br />
years and, most of all, good to<br />
be part of a celebration with my<br />
friends that Mike would have<br />
really enjoyed.” Can anyone put<br />
it better?<br />
Steve Birrell, former director of<br />
alumni relations and development<br />
for the college, commented:
“Through years of <strong>Williams</strong>’<br />
events and countless alumni<br />
dinners, I’ve never experienced<br />
anything like the Reily weekend.<br />
The most satisfying aspect was<br />
to witness its powerful impact on<br />
members of Mike’s family … his<br />
brothers Patrick, Tim, Jonathan<br />
and Stephen, along with several<br />
of their children and grandchildren<br />
and other friends of the<br />
Reily family. This was a very<br />
emotional weekend for them all;<br />
the entire family was grateful to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> for holding this event to<br />
honor Mike. Particularly moved<br />
were the youngest generation of<br />
Reilys, who knew very little if<br />
anything about Mike. They now<br />
carry his legacy with them.”<br />
I had a chance to speak with<br />
several members of the Reily<br />
family, each of whom was very<br />
appreciative for the opportunity<br />
to hear about Mike from his<br />
friends and coaches and most<br />
important for the family to heal<br />
from the loss of a member so<br />
young, so long ago. As Steve<br />
remarked, “The most satisfying<br />
aspect was that this occasion<br />
brought a measure of closure to a<br />
family tragedy that had lingered<br />
for years.”<br />
As you may know, several very<br />
special occurrences took place<br />
during the weekend. Mike’s<br />
jersey, number 50, was retired—<br />
the first and only number ever<br />
“officially” retired by the college.<br />
If you were able to read “The<br />
Forgotten Hero,” the wonderful<br />
article by Tim Layden ’78 in the<br />
Nov. 7 Sports Illustrated, you<br />
will remember from the story the<br />
fact that Mike’s jersey actually<br />
had been “unofficially retired”<br />
for generations by the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
equipment managers: “For five<br />
decades <strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> kept<br />
the number 50 jersey packed<br />
away in a box, unofficially retiring<br />
it even though the school<br />
did not retire numbers. No one<br />
remembered who had last worn<br />
it or why it was not given out.<br />
Until last year.” See http://bit.ly/<br />
zkmJNq for the entire article.<br />
During the evening, a beautiful<br />
bronze plaque was unveiled<br />
honoring Mike. It now resides<br />
outside the office of football<br />
coach Aaron Kelton. The plaque<br />
was created by the Matthews<br />
Foundry, which, according to<br />
Ben, “underpromised and overdelivered<br />
on the artfully created<br />
sculpture.” Ben’s contact at the<br />
foundry dealt sympathetically<br />
with Ben, who “was extremely<br />
nervous about spending a king’s<br />
ransom for an irreversible and<br />
unchangeable end product that<br />
would not be seen until the day<br />
before the big event. You would<br />
never believe how much time<br />
was spent making sure that the<br />
two apostrophes were facing<br />
the same and correct direction.<br />
My sole comfort was knowing<br />
that Matthews had performed<br />
extremely well for the Major<br />
League Baseball’s Hall of Fame<br />
for a long time.”<br />
And, finally, there was the<br />
creation of the Michael Meredith<br />
Reily ’64 Award to be presented<br />
to the football player selected by<br />
his teammates who best captured<br />
the essence of Mike. It was<br />
presented for the first time at the<br />
conclusion of the annual football<br />
banquet. Ben was there, so let’s<br />
hear him describe this remarkable<br />
evening: “Coach Aaron<br />
Kelton started the presentation<br />
talking about Mike, his short<br />
but remarkable life and how<br />
important Mike’s values are<br />
to <strong>Williams</strong> and the football<br />
program. Coach asked me to talk<br />
about Mike’s award and how<br />
it ensures that Mike’s legacy is<br />
passed on to future generations<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong> student athletes.<br />
Then coach handed me the<br />
handsome crystal cup with Dylan<br />
Schultz’s ’12 name engraved on it<br />
to be presented to Dylan, whose<br />
teammates selected him to be<br />
the first recipient of the Michael<br />
Meredith Reily ’64 Award. To me,<br />
Dylan is an extremely worthy<br />
recipient. I watched him play<br />
four times over the past two<br />
seasons. He played the middle<br />
linebacker position with the<br />
intensity and effectiveness that<br />
reminded me of Mike. He served<br />
as a captain of both last year’s<br />
team and this year’s. … After the<br />
presentation, Dylan told me that<br />
he was particularly moved by<br />
Mike’s story, that he was greatly<br />
honored to receive Mike’s award<br />
and that being its first recipient<br />
made it even more special.” He<br />
seems like a fine young man,<br />
who is very well spoken … and if<br />
he tackles like Mike did, then he<br />
is a bone-crusher as well!”<br />
The only thing that placed a<br />
blemish on the weekend was<br />
an act of racism that occurred<br />
on Saturday but was little<br />
known by any of the attendees<br />
until we returned home and<br />
received a notice from President<br />
Adam Falk. I wrote him a note<br />
thanking him for the leadership<br />
he displayed in canceling<br />
classes on Monday and making<br />
a special effort to demonstrate<br />
zero tolerance of such behavior.<br />
I also thanked him for speaking<br />
with the class and to say how<br />
n 1964<br />
much we all enjoyed the Reily<br />
events. His response, which I<br />
can share with you individually<br />
if you’d like, affirmed the fact<br />
that although President Falk<br />
did not come from <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
he has quickly understood the<br />
“<strong>Williams</strong> way” and will be a<br />
fine leader for the next generation<br />
of Ephs!<br />
And with those words in mind<br />
I want to close by reminding<br />
everyone that our 50th reunion<br />
is fast coming up and that we<br />
should hold the dates: June<br />
11-15, 2014. There will be many<br />
events leading up to this very<br />
special long weekend. One of<br />
them is the special presidential<br />
colloquium in <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
Thursday through Saturday,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 19-21, <strong>2012</strong>, to which<br />
all class members are invited.<br />
We want to do everything we<br />
can to encourage attendance at<br />
this event, which will be held<br />
primarily at the beautiful Mount<br />
Hope Farm in <strong>Williams</strong>town. On<br />
Friday we will have the opportunity<br />
to hear about admission,<br />
curriculum, campus life and the<br />
finances of the college. President<br />
Falk will join us for a reception<br />
and dinner that evening, and<br />
there will be a final breakfast on<br />
Saturday.<br />
As promised at the outset, this<br />
is in honor of Mike Reily. It is<br />
fitting to close with this tribute<br />
from Tim Layden’s ’78 article<br />
in S.I.: “Reily could not have<br />
imagined the ways he would<br />
endure in memory. He could not<br />
have known what older men<br />
learn: that friends and teammates<br />
are never really forgotten, and<br />
those who live largest and die<br />
soonest are remembered in the<br />
most poignant way. He could<br />
not have known that nearly half<br />
a century after his death, those<br />
who knew him best would still<br />
be haunted by his absence. He<br />
could not have known that men<br />
who served in combat would<br />
recall his courage in the face of<br />
death and compare it to bravery<br />
in battle.”<br />
We all were privileged to<br />
witness the college at its very<br />
best, except, perhaps, for the<br />
football loss to Amherst! Kudos<br />
to Ben Wagner for an absolutely<br />
amazing job of providing the<br />
inspiration, leadership and drive<br />
to make this all happen.<br />
Be well, and remain inspired<br />
by the extraordinary life and<br />
legacy of Michael Meredith Reily.<br />
—Marty<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 37
CLASS NOTES<br />
1965<br />
Tom Burnett<br />
175 Riverside Drive, #2H<br />
New York, NY 10024<br />
1965secretary@williams.edu<br />
Secretary Burnett reports: The<br />
highlight of last fall was the<br />
Amherst homecoming weekend,<br />
which included the salute to Mike<br />
Reily ’64. Many of our classmates<br />
came back to participate<br />
in the events. While the Amherst<br />
victory left a bad taste in one’s<br />
mouth, the class participation<br />
was impressive. Some 30 classmates<br />
attended all or part of the<br />
various activities, which included<br />
formal tailgating before the<br />
game, the Mike Reily events and<br />
a warm and friendly evening at<br />
the home of Alice and Joe Small.<br />
Classmates with homes in the<br />
area include Jim Worrall, Dusty<br />
Griffin, John Jay, Phil McKnight,<br />
Dave Wilson, John Storey and, of<br />
course, Joe, all of whom were<br />
there. The reunion class gift<br />
committee, under the leadership<br />
of Mike Brewer, met after the<br />
Amherst game and narrowed<br />
the choices. More information<br />
about gift ideas and proposals<br />
will be forthcoming. Joe wanted<br />
to single out the contributions<br />
to the Saturday dinner at his<br />
home from Elizabeth and Lenny<br />
Gibson, who provided a bounteous<br />
selection of fresh vegetables<br />
from their garden in Vermont.<br />
Joe, Dusty, Dave Coolidge and<br />
John Storey all deserve citations<br />
for their contributions to the<br />
dinner and the weekend. I stayed<br />
with Jack Foley, Diane and Ron<br />
Kidd and Tim Reichert at Dorm<br />
Worral, where hostess Priscilla<br />
prepared a sumptuous repast for<br />
us on Friday night. Jim’s legendary<br />
skills at tailgating were tested<br />
and praised; no one went hungry<br />
at halftime. Space considerations<br />
prevent my listing all the attendees,<br />
but I particularly remember<br />
chatting with Max Gail, who did<br />
not want to miss the Mike Reily<br />
remembrance. Neil Peterson<br />
joined us at the Worralls’ for dinner<br />
Friday as the weekend coincided<br />
with a business trip back<br />
East for him. He recently was a<br />
finalist for the position of director<br />
of the MTA in New York but<br />
lost out to a politically connected<br />
local choice. It was also a treat<br />
to catch up with Irene and Julian<br />
Gladstone, who came up from<br />
the Philadelphia area with their<br />
charming daughter Alexandra,<br />
a recent Amherst graduate<br />
(nobody’s perfect). In all, some<br />
12 percent of the available class<br />
38 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
attended the weekend festivities,<br />
and the spirit and genuine friendship<br />
among participants was<br />
evident throughout.<br />
Jim Worrall referred a Dec. 11,<br />
2011, front-page article in the<br />
Boston Globe to me about the<br />
efforts of Norm Spack to treat<br />
patients with transgender issues.<br />
The article was very flattering to<br />
Norm and his leadership efforts<br />
in this field. In his reference to<br />
me, Jim wrote that reading the<br />
article made him proud to be a<br />
member of the Class of 1965.<br />
On Dec. 12, 2011, the Hospital<br />
for Special Surgery in NY<br />
announced that Steven Goldring<br />
had been appointed the first<br />
chief scientific officer under the<br />
Richard L. Menschel Research<br />
Chair at the hospital. Steve will<br />
seek to translate basic research<br />
into new therapies for patients<br />
with mobility disorders with a<br />
focus on expanding the hospital’s<br />
osteoarthritis initiative.<br />
I had not heard from Ted<br />
Barlow in many years, so it was<br />
good to learn that he and his<br />
wife Meriel took a long leave<br />
in Australia and toured Canada<br />
and the U.S. While in the East,<br />
he returned to <strong>Williams</strong>town and<br />
spent time with the Worralls,<br />
the Storeys and the Wilsons.<br />
Speaking of John Storey, he and<br />
Martha have been spending time<br />
in Westport, N.Y., near Camp<br />
Dudley and its girls’ camp affiliate<br />
Kiniya. They acquired the<br />
girls’ camp six years ago. It turns<br />
out that Peter Erwin’s son and<br />
Ron McGlynn’s grandson attended<br />
Camp Dudley last summer.<br />
Sally and Henry Lum have<br />
been busy. Last year they visited<br />
Prague to be with their son<br />
Zach ’91 and his wife Liana and<br />
granddaughter Sabina. Liana<br />
is with the U.S. embassy in<br />
Budapest, and Zach commutes<br />
to Vienna, where he works for<br />
General Dynamics. During the<br />
summer, all the family gathered<br />
on the Cape. Children Silas ’97<br />
and his wife Pamela, also ’97,<br />
Rosy (Kenyon ’02), Hannah ’07<br />
and Daniel ’99 were able to join<br />
them. Daughter Kaimi ’94 lives<br />
only 20 minutes away with her<br />
husband Josh. She is the associate<br />
editor of the Provicetown<br />
Banner. Silas is an attorney in<br />
NYC, Rosy is an energy reporter<br />
for a trade publication in NYC,<br />
and Hannah recently relocated<br />
from Chicago to Providence<br />
to work in an upscale restaurant.<br />
Sally is likely in her final<br />
year of teaching English at<br />
Nauset Regional High School,<br />
and Henry is a supply chain<br />
consultant for domestic and<br />
foreign-based manufacturing<br />
companies.<br />
The annual Jean and Sam White<br />
letter this year did not include<br />
photographs, as the family has<br />
become too dispersed to count<br />
on a single photo opportunity.<br />
Sam traveled widely in Asia to<br />
Singapore and mainland China<br />
to participate in conferences and<br />
study groups concerned with<br />
water purification and resource<br />
allocation. Jean and Sam now<br />
have two grandchildren, but the<br />
White boys are now spread out<br />
in Madison, Wis., San Francisco<br />
and Connecticut, so they relish<br />
the time in the summer when<br />
the family can reunite. Sam’s<br />
research and teaching activities<br />
continue, but he and Jean would<br />
like to enjoy more international<br />
travel, and that time is<br />
approaching.<br />
Hunt Hawkins sent a helpful<br />
email message. He is currently<br />
a professor and chair of the<br />
English department at the<br />
University of South Florida. He<br />
has been there since 2006, after<br />
a 28-year career at Florida State.<br />
His specialty is Modern British<br />
literature (Joseph Conrad) with<br />
an avid interest in African material,<br />
an interest he developed<br />
after teaching a year in Tanzania.<br />
He met his wife Elaine Smith at<br />
graduate school at Stanford, and<br />
she also teaches (American studies)<br />
at USF. His daughter Molly<br />
’08 works at the Urban Institute<br />
in DC. His son Sam went to<br />
Emory and is now enrolled in<br />
the PhD program in computer<br />
science at USF.<br />
A personal highlight last fall<br />
for Harriet and me was the opening<br />
of an exhibition of vintage<br />
19th century photographs<br />
from my collection at the Art<br />
Museum of the University of<br />
New Hampshire. The works by<br />
Felice Beato date from 1864-73<br />
and cover the period of Japan’s<br />
opening to the outside world<br />
along with the transition from<br />
rule by the Shogunate to the<br />
restoration of the emperor. The<br />
curator of the museum is on the<br />
UNH faculty, and she arranged<br />
for the show and the 64-page<br />
catalog accompanying the exhibition.<br />
The opening was a thrill,<br />
especially since Jim Leitz, Dennis<br />
Holland, Fred Ohly, Jack Foley and<br />
Art Wheelock all took the time to<br />
attend it. Except for Kathie and<br />
Jim Leitz, Durham, N.H., is not<br />
that easy to get to, and I really<br />
appreciated everyone’s effort<br />
to make it such a special event<br />
for us.
1965 classmates gathered at the University of New Hampshire Art<br />
Museum in October to celebrate the opening of an exhibition of Felice<br />
Beato’s 19th century photographs of Japan, part of the personal collection<br />
of class secretary Tom Burnett (center). Also pictured (from left) are<br />
Jim Leitz, Fred Ohly, Jack Foley and Art Wheelock.<br />
1966<br />
Palmer Q. Bessey<br />
1320 York Ave., #32H<br />
New York, NY 10021<br />
John Gould<br />
19 Nahant Place<br />
Lynn, MA 01902<br />
1966secretary@williams.edu<br />
It looked as though it would<br />
be a quiet season for news. But<br />
life, of course, does not stand<br />
still, and we had some additional<br />
news from the time of Reunion<br />
XXXXV.<br />
Toward the end of the year,<br />
we learned of the death of Peter<br />
D. Gallagher from esophageal<br />
cancer in October. He majored<br />
in poli sci and had an artistic<br />
bent. He was president of Zeta<br />
Psi and active in the AMT, usually<br />
doing tech support or scene<br />
design. He joined the Navy<br />
after <strong>Williams</strong> and retired in<br />
1989 with the rank of commander.<br />
Along the way he got a<br />
degree in architecture. He was<br />
from California and returned<br />
there with his wife Susan and<br />
their children. The write-up the<br />
college sent described him as a<br />
gracious, welcoming host and<br />
neighbor. That fits with how I<br />
remember him: upbeat, energetic<br />
and funny. He never sent in<br />
news for the notes, at least not<br />
during my tenure, and I thought<br />
he may have soured on <strong>Williams</strong><br />
because of the fraternity business.<br />
I had thoughts of trying to<br />
make contact and enticing him<br />
back East, at least for the 50th,<br />
but I hadn’t gotten to it yet.<br />
Jim Harrison filled in the gaps<br />
for me from reunion. He and<br />
Karen still live in the DC area,<br />
where he is actively engaged in<br />
economic consulting. Their son<br />
Jay ’90 lives in Hong Kong with<br />
his Italian wife and their two<br />
children. Babysitting or even visiting<br />
the grandchildren is quite<br />
a trek. Daughter Kathy (Kenyon<br />
’92) lives closer by in Fairfax<br />
County, Virginia, where she<br />
works as a foster care placement<br />
coordinator.<br />
At the time of the reunion,<br />
Dave Batten had recently begun<br />
a new venture: corporatizing<br />
some intellectual property from<br />
MIT and the Mass Eye and Ear<br />
Hospital. He had retired in his<br />
50s to go sailing but couldn’t<br />
stay away. The downside is that<br />
he will spend this year commuting<br />
between New York and<br />
Berlin, where Evi has found an<br />
apartment so that Alexis and<br />
Lydia can go to a German-<br />
French school there to solidify<br />
their German, which, according<br />
to Dave, is good but not great.<br />
Dan Cohn-Sherbok sent a<br />
Christmas card. That from a<br />
professor of Judaism, drawn<br />
by the rabbi himself and sent<br />
electronically via BlackBerry<br />
of Orange, seemed to me to be<br />
contemporary and ecumenical<br />
enough to capture the spirit of<br />
the holidays at the end of the<br />
year for all. We tried to forward<br />
it to the class but apparently<br />
without success. Dan reported<br />
that he has published his 86th<br />
book: Introduction to Zionism<br />
and Israel: From Ideology to<br />
n 1965–66<br />
History (Continuum, <strong>2012</strong> and<br />
also available on Kindle).<br />
Stuart Simon and Betty (and<br />
Brandy, their 13-year-old dachshund)<br />
live in Aptos, Calif., where<br />
he practices emergency medicine<br />
full time with no plans to retire<br />
for now. They had planned to<br />
follow up their Israel trip last<br />
winter with a trip to visit their<br />
daughter Lisa, who was on an<br />
archaeological dig on an island<br />
in the Ionian Sea, where she was<br />
digging up skeletons from the 7th<br />
century BC. But there were riots<br />
in Greece at the time. They reconsidered<br />
and spent three fabulous<br />
weeks in London and Scotland<br />
instead.<br />
Joe Hardy sent news from Wells,<br />
Maine, where he lives with his<br />
wife Alice just down the road<br />
from their daughter and her<br />
family. He retired last fall after<br />
17 years with Maine’s Mediation<br />
Service. Though slowed down by<br />
arthritis, he still hoped to cross<br />
country ski in the winter, if they<br />
got enough snow. He also devotes<br />
time to the Sierra Club, helping<br />
them with issues surrounding<br />
global warming. His home gets<br />
100 percent of its electricity<br />
from solar panels. He stays in<br />
touch with John Rugge and Keith<br />
Salsbury.<br />
Andy Burr and Ann wrote<br />
enthusiastically about the marriage<br />
of their daughter Alexandra<br />
at their farm in Worthington,<br />
Mass., on the weekend of<br />
Hurricane Irene. All the guests<br />
enjoyed the reception in the barn,<br />
but eight of their “beloved tractors”<br />
had to sit out the festivities<br />
in the deluge. Happily, they all<br />
started right up in the next couple<br />
of days. The bride and new<br />
son-in-law are both architects,<br />
as are Andy and Ann. And their<br />
younger daughter is now in architecture<br />
school.<br />
Mike Katz retired from<br />
Middlebury <strong>College</strong> a year<br />
ago and is emeritus professor<br />
of Russian and East European<br />
studies. He was also named a<br />
Mellon Foundation Emeritus<br />
Fellow, which is a generous<br />
grant to support his research on<br />
Tolstoy’s controversial novella<br />
The Kreutzer Sonata. Mike and<br />
his wife Mary are traveling:<br />
Egypt and Jordan last January;<br />
Spain and Portugal in October;<br />
and to England and Germany<br />
this spring. Life is good, and he is<br />
looking forward to Reunion L.<br />
Ron Worland decided to close<br />
his plastic surgery practice in<br />
Medford, Ore., after 35-plus<br />
years. He says it has been a<br />
great run, but his heart is in<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 39
CLASS NOTES<br />
international humanitarian<br />
missions. He enjoys the travel<br />
and the work and has found<br />
the changes in U.S. health care<br />
increasingly frustrating. He has<br />
trips already planned this year to<br />
India, China and Benin, Africa.<br />
Lisle Dalton continues to practice<br />
obstetrics and gynecology at<br />
the University of Kentucky. He<br />
and Kathy have a new interest:<br />
a grandson, Reilly Lisle. Lisle<br />
also finds time for fox hunting<br />
and ski trips, so he can zip down<br />
the black diamond trails. Who<br />
says you can’t be active after hip<br />
replacements?<br />
Bill Ewen, though retired from<br />
teaching math, continues to<br />
coach racquet sports. He is in<br />
his 44th season of coaching boys<br />
varsity tennis and sixth season of<br />
varsity squash.<br />
Bailey Young was discovered<br />
last summer by Belgium Public<br />
Television (RTB). They were producing<br />
a documentary on castles<br />
in Wallonia (French speaking<br />
part of Belgium). A crew spent<br />
three days filming the excavations<br />
at Walhain Castle that Bailey<br />
directs with colleagues from the<br />
University of Louvain-la-Neuve.<br />
They were so intrigued with the<br />
idea of an American professor<br />
and students coming to Belgium<br />
to dig in the dirt and excavate<br />
a castle most Belgians do not<br />
know exists that they followed<br />
him back to Charleston, Ill., to<br />
film the American backstory. The<br />
piece is scheduled to be aired in<br />
May.<br />
In December, Ron Bettaur spent<br />
a week in Vienna for meetings<br />
of the board of the U.N.<br />
Register of Damage Caused by<br />
the Construction of the Wall<br />
in the Occupied Palestinian<br />
Territory. (See www.unrod.org.)<br />
This happens quarterly. For the<br />
rest of the time, Ron is a visiting<br />
scholar at George Washington<br />
University Law School and the<br />
policy officer for the Section<br />
of International Law of the<br />
American Bar Association. For<br />
now, he and Raija are off on a<br />
trip to Southern Patagonia.<br />
On Feb. 2, the annual Class<br />
of 1966 NYC Dinner with No<br />
Special Agenda took place. This<br />
year it was held at the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Club at the Princeton Club in<br />
Midtown. Twenty-one living<br />
worthies of the class attended<br />
(tying the record for attendance)<br />
along with three from the alumni<br />
office. Lance Knox was again the<br />
genial host and had negotiated<br />
the arrangements. The ambiance<br />
was jovial. The food was palatable,<br />
though noticeably more<br />
40 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
heart-healthy than in years past.<br />
Those attending were all robust<br />
and appeared well, though two<br />
had already dealt with prostate<br />
cancer and several were managing<br />
diabetes.<br />
Co-secretary John Gould rode<br />
into town on Amtrak from<br />
Boston and Lynn, Mass., where<br />
the winter had been more typical<br />
of DC than New England: rain,<br />
moderate temperatures, brown<br />
grass, only one snowfall of any<br />
measurable amount. Dreary,<br />
but it kept him inside to plan<br />
his “Through Syntax to Style”<br />
course that he will teach at<br />
Bennington in <strong>April</strong> and May.<br />
John was in NYC to see his son<br />
Gardy, who was about to head<br />
to LA for the completion of the<br />
filming of Life of Pi, for which<br />
he is the assistant film editor.<br />
John sent in this report about<br />
his memories of the class dinner:<br />
“I sat next to David Corwin, an<br />
attorney who is now beginning<br />
a stint working for Legal Aid,<br />
assisting people who are trying<br />
to deal with the housing crisis.<br />
And I chatted with many others.<br />
Jody Dobson is still living in<br />
Philadelphia, where he continues<br />
to practice his educational consulting<br />
business. Dave Kollender<br />
looks extraordinarily fit; he does<br />
contract work for a number of<br />
spooky governmental agencies—<br />
NSA, FBI and so on. If I told you<br />
any more, he’d have to kill you.<br />
I can say that his daughter is a<br />
struggling actor in California,<br />
working her way up the acting<br />
food chain. Bob Rubin told me a<br />
hilarious story about dealing with<br />
Ronald Reagan and his cabinet,<br />
and if I told you any more about<br />
that, he’d have to kill me. Rusty<br />
Haldeman has recovered from<br />
cancer surgery and looks terrific.<br />
Jim Meier was preparing for<br />
another 100-mile ski race across<br />
Canada. (He is disappointed that<br />
the age record for swimming the<br />
English Channel just went up to<br />
71, so he’ll have to wait till he’s<br />
72 to reset it!) Jim makes me<br />
proud to know him, without in<br />
any way wanting to do the stuff<br />
he does. All in all, it was a great<br />
evening.”<br />
Others attending included John<br />
Carney, who had come in from<br />
Cleveland, and Punky “Ed” Booth<br />
from Arizona, who was on his<br />
way to visit his daughter. Wink<br />
Willett and Bill Bowden joined the<br />
alumni office folks in speaking<br />
about the beginnings of plans<br />
for our Reunion L. Other locals<br />
included Karl Garlid, Dave Tunick,<br />
Ned Davis, Dave Batten, Alan<br />
Rork, Jon Linen, Mike Burroughs,<br />
Bob Krefting and me. Next up<br />
is the Class Dinner in Boston<br />
in <strong>April</strong> or May. Details will be<br />
forthcoming.<br />
John and I managed to meet<br />
with Peter Koenig in London the<br />
next morning via Skype for initial<br />
discussions about the class book,<br />
which will come out shortly<br />
before Reunion L. After some<br />
technical difficulties, we were<br />
able to chat and watch flickering<br />
images of each other. Happily we<br />
each have tech-savvy sons, and<br />
with their tutelage things should<br />
go more smoothly next time. Be<br />
warned that we will be asking<br />
you for a biographical reflection<br />
(not a CV) about where you’ve<br />
landed a half century down the<br />
road and how you got there.<br />
There are many stories out there<br />
that are not the ones we imagined<br />
in 1966. We all want to hear<br />
them. We also will be looking for<br />
other materials—artistic, literary,<br />
photographic, philosophical—<br />
that you would be willing to<br />
share.<br />
Later that morning, several of<br />
us met with Chris Robare, Mary<br />
Richardson ’91 and Lew Fisher ’89<br />
from the alumni office to begin to<br />
flesh out some of the planning for<br />
Reunion L. That rag-tag group<br />
will grow some in the next several<br />
months, and you will all hear<br />
from them between now and<br />
June 2016. Many of you have not<br />
been able or inclined to maintain<br />
close connections with our class<br />
or the college. There were no<br />
doubt good reasons for this, but<br />
we hope you will think anew<br />
about it all in the next few years.<br />
A half century is a big share of<br />
a single lifetime. Fifty years out<br />
of college is a notable milestone.<br />
None of us has come through it<br />
unscathed, but we did share time<br />
together in <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
In that regard, John Gould<br />
recommended a book called<br />
Rerunning, written by Jonathan<br />
Stableford ’67, who was a colleague<br />
of John’s at Andover. This<br />
is a terrifying and ultimately<br />
happy account of his near-death<br />
experience with a particularly<br />
fast-acting and virulent form of<br />
pneumonia. “It’s fodder for all of<br />
us post-60 guys. His coming back<br />
from this precipice is a fascinating<br />
and heartening story.”<br />
And this shameless late news<br />
is just in from Bob Mitchell. “My<br />
wife Susan is an artist, and I am<br />
a novelist. We both love what we<br />
do very much. But as the Italians<br />
say, ‘Non ci son rose senza spine’<br />
(’There are no roses without<br />
thorns.’) Because accompanying<br />
the joy of art and writing is the
1967 classmates Bill Taylor (left) and Steve Watson got together in Vail,<br />
Colo., in September.<br />
pain of shameless self-promotion<br />
for survival purposes. Susan now<br />
has her new artist website up and<br />
running. It is located at www.<br />
susanellenlove.com.” Check<br />
out Bob’s novels, Match Made<br />
in Heaven and Once Upon a<br />
Fastball at www.bobmitchellbooks.com.<br />
“Do forgive me for<br />
all of the above, but understand<br />
that this is what we artists are<br />
sometimes compelled to do.<br />
Susan and I both hope that you<br />
all have a fantastic <strong>2012</strong>!”<br />
And so do your secretaries. Be<br />
well, and keep in touch.<br />
1967<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Kenneth A. Willcox<br />
178 Westwood Lane<br />
Wayzata, MN 55391<br />
1967secretary@williams.edu<br />
In this final edition prior to our<br />
big reunion we’ll first spotlight<br />
some of the retirements unfolding<br />
among us.<br />
Leading off is Ron Bodinson,<br />
who we thank for orchestrating<br />
the very clever design for<br />
our class reunion button. Ron<br />
has retired from 38 years of law<br />
practice in Kansas City and will<br />
be relocating to the Connecticut<br />
coast. That will put him closer<br />
to three daughters: Sara, a<br />
Smith grad and now a director<br />
of MoMA; Lily, in her second<br />
year at McGill in Montreal; and<br />
Maya, who graduates from high<br />
school in West Hartford and may<br />
be heading to Tulane.<br />
Mark Piechota is enjoying his<br />
retired status. He and his wife<br />
made the decision to move<br />
into a co-housing community<br />
committed to sustainability. It is<br />
located in EcoVillage at Ithaca.<br />
The village has been a pioneer in<br />
co-housing and sustainability for<br />
20 years.<br />
Bryan Hickman finally completed<br />
the sale of his bus-building<br />
business and is now looking for<br />
the next challenge. He’s considering<br />
either another business<br />
turnaround or doing something<br />
in the public sector. He and Beth<br />
are planning to be at reunion. He<br />
found the last one relaxing and<br />
fun just visiting with everyone.<br />
Jeff Bowen says he likes retirement<br />
more each day. Among<br />
other interests he’s pursuing is<br />
writing for fun with no deadlines.<br />
His wife Hilary is retiring in June.<br />
With that they look forward<br />
to vacationing at untraditional<br />
times and “doing stuff together<br />
on whims.”<br />
Leslie and Jeff Modesitt became<br />
great-grandparents a year ago<br />
to Coltyn Cash Walker. With<br />
a name like that Jeff figures he<br />
should be a country western<br />
singer or bronc rider. For a few<br />
years Jeff has been involved in a<br />
project in Argentina. He wishes<br />
he had paid closer attention in his<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Spanish classes. They<br />
like Buenos Aires but particularly<br />
enjoy the southern Mendoza<br />
area, the slower pace of the countryside<br />
and, of course, the wine.<br />
He invites visitors to the Denver<br />
area to call and enjoy some of his<br />
Argentine wine inventory.<br />
Gregg Meister had another<br />
busy year. Much of it involves<br />
the organization Foundation For<br />
Peace and focuses on the needs<br />
of the poor in the Dominican<br />
Republic and Haiti. He writes,<br />
“It is important to keep the<br />
n 1966–67<br />
hurting and the helpless, the<br />
hopeless and the homeless, close<br />
to my heart. It is with these<br />
people I believe Jesus especially<br />
lives.” Miriam is closing in on her<br />
PhD in neuroscience, and Gail is<br />
anticipating a well deserved sabbatical<br />
this spring.<br />
Valerie and Rick <strong>Williams</strong> spent<br />
the holidays in their second/<br />
third home in Texas to be with<br />
their daughter and her family,<br />
which includes grandkids 27<br />
months and 8 months old. Their<br />
son Christopher was also there.<br />
Last year he was commanding<br />
a USMC forward patrol base<br />
in nowhere Helmand Province,<br />
Afghanistan. Back in the civilian<br />
world he is now employed as a<br />
computer network consultant.<br />
They hope to spend some more<br />
time this year in their home base<br />
in the Florida Keys. Many family<br />
events last year, including the<br />
death of Rick’s mother-in-law,<br />
meant that they seldom spent<br />
more than two months in any<br />
one place.<br />
Jonathan Vipond has no<br />
retirement plans. He cites both<br />
temperamental and financial<br />
imperatives. He still practices<br />
law at Buchanan Ingersoll &<br />
Rooney PC, where he co-heads<br />
the 50-person Harrisburg<br />
office. He was recently named<br />
regional health care lawyer<br />
of the year by Best Lawyers<br />
in America. He and Tim<br />
gathered a mostly <strong>Williams</strong><br />
’67 group in Pittsburgh last<br />
September in accordance<br />
with their 2006 pact to do<br />
so. Attending were the Bents,<br />
Comforts, Olsons, Gillepsies,<br />
Turner Smiths, Covingtons,<br />
Hawns, Shafmasters, Thrashers,<br />
Lampheres and siblings Sharon<br />
and Jimmy Vipond ’71 and Linda<br />
Vipond Heath ’73.<br />
Although Chuck Glassmire<br />
left academic administration,<br />
he returned to his first love and<br />
is teaching chemistry again.<br />
Last November he and his wife<br />
Eileen spent a fun afternoon with<br />
Mebuccel and Paul Atkinson at<br />
the new Glassmire townhouse in<br />
Worcester, Mass. Their youngest<br />
daughter is doing a sophomore<br />
year abroad, the fall in Hong<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 41
CLASS NOTES<br />
Kong and spring in Netherlands.<br />
In between semesters she is<br />
traveling in southeast Asia. After<br />
reunion Chuck will leave for<br />
northern Georgia to begin the first<br />
half of a trek of the Appalachian<br />
Trail. He will do the southern<br />
half this year from Georgia to<br />
Pennsylvania, then from northern<br />
Pennsylvania to Maine the following<br />
summer. He hopes to<br />
have each of their four kids do a<br />
section of the trek with him.<br />
Sally and Ted McPherson are<br />
looking forward to our reunion.<br />
Trips to Phoenix, Pensacola,<br />
Salt Lake as well as visitors in<br />
Gettysburg before then. He was<br />
honored to be asked to say a<br />
few words to the current men’s<br />
basketball team at <strong>Williams</strong> just<br />
prior to the start of the season.<br />
Dave Nash continues to cut a<br />
swath through the international<br />
tennis circuit. Last November he<br />
and three teammates led the USA<br />
to first place and a gold medal in<br />
the Britannia Cup international<br />
competition for men 65 and over<br />
held in Antalya, Turkey. The<br />
competition features 500 players<br />
representing 35 countries, playing<br />
in various age groups. Well done,<br />
Dave.<br />
Bob Conway begins his comments<br />
with great praise for Rich<br />
Bernstein’s accomplishments in<br />
the 1650 Masters swimming<br />
championship. As a former competitive<br />
swimmer himself, Bob<br />
states that Rich’s technique and<br />
conditioning must be impeccable.<br />
He thinks the achievement is a<br />
great credit to both Rich and to<br />
Coach Bob Muir. Bob expects to<br />
be at reunion but may arrive late.<br />
He will be in DC for the opening<br />
of the George Bellows retrospective<br />
at the National Gallery<br />
that Thursday night. He says,<br />
“Working on that show has been<br />
a wonderful experience, which<br />
I interpret as proof that some<br />
things get better with age.”<br />
Hank Grass enjoyed a great<br />
Christmas skiing vacation in<br />
Central Oregon with his children<br />
and grandchildren. He says<br />
his skills as a psychiatrist and<br />
psychotherapist seem intact and<br />
in some ways still benefit from<br />
42 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
accumulated experience. He<br />
hopes to be at reunion, which, he<br />
is embarrassed to say, would be<br />
his first!<br />
Bill McClung and his wife have<br />
returned to the U.S. following<br />
his yearlong sabbatical in<br />
Ludwigsburg, Germany. Their<br />
older son Andrew has started his<br />
doctoral program in quantum<br />
physics at CalTech, while their<br />
younger son Charles is in his last<br />
year as a philosophy major at<br />
Macalester <strong>College</strong>. Next year<br />
they will own their home and<br />
won’t be paying tuition, so he can<br />
think about retirement. However,<br />
he still enjoys teaching computer<br />
science, so he may postpone that<br />
a bit. His heart operation seems<br />
to have fixed things, so he hopes<br />
to see us all at reunion.<br />
That’s it for this segment. The<br />
good news is that with reunion<br />
just a few weeks off, you won’t<br />
need to wait for the next edition<br />
for an update. You can get it in<br />
person. Remember, the place to<br />
be is <strong>Williams</strong>town. Dates: June<br />
7-10. Do please be there.<br />
1968<br />
Paul Neely<br />
P.O. Box 11526<br />
Chattanooga, TN 37401<br />
1968secretary@williams.edu<br />
From London, John Murray<br />
writes: “We are now about<br />
three-quarters through the<br />
construction project we started<br />
in December 2010, which is<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
Dave Nash ’67 and three teammates helped the U.S. win the title at the<br />
Britannia Cup at the 31st International Tennis Federation Super-Seniors<br />
World Team Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in October. Nash, who<br />
played tennis and basketball at <strong>Williams</strong>, has won more than 19 national<br />
tournaments and five World Team Championships over the past 20 years.<br />
designed to turn our farmhouse<br />
in the rural Wiltshire countryside<br />
into something, well, bigger. The<br />
happy ending is coming into<br />
view and in anticipation of a<br />
new pattern to our lives, Jenny<br />
and I are evaluating various<br />
dog breeds, keeping in mind the<br />
English adage that Labradors are<br />
born half-trained while spaniels<br />
die half-trained.”<br />
John claims to be cutting back<br />
on time devoted to business<br />
but then adds that he has just<br />
taken on a directorship of a<br />
BlackRock investment fund that<br />
invests in “frontier” markets<br />
like Nigeria, Kazakhstan and<br />
Mongolia. “I have also invested<br />
in—and become a director of—a<br />
company that is opening lowcost<br />
gyms across Britain. Since<br />
I have never been to a gym, I<br />
bring a unique perspective to the<br />
deliberations of the board.”<br />
Orthopedist Bob Stanton traveled<br />
to Jakarta in January as a<br />
guest speaker at the Indonesian<br />
Hip and Knee Society. “Flight<br />
through Hong Kong is about<br />
24 hours. We have a supply of<br />
Ambien. Medical degree is worth<br />
something.” He and Debby<br />
also managed to fit in a side trip<br />
to Bali without any speaking<br />
engagement.<br />
Jeff Brinn reports “no classmate<br />
sightings but several great<br />
conversations with those on<br />
my associate class agent’s list. I<br />
highly recommend such activity<br />
for all those who have not yet<br />
had the honor of serving our<br />
class in this manner. Larry Levien<br />
can no doubt arrange it.”<br />
Michael Yogman, in his double<br />
role as physician and board<br />
chair of the Boston Children’s<br />
Museum, writes: “It has been<br />
a busy fall working to create<br />
an advocacy coalition for early<br />
childhood, pulling together neuroscientists,<br />
educators, business<br />
leaders, psychologists, pediatricians<br />
and policy makers. We<br />
(the Academy of Pediatrics, the<br />
Children’s Museum and others)<br />
ran a well-received early childhood<br />
summit in November at the<br />
Mass Medical Society. We will<br />
kick off the 100th birthday of the<br />
museum in <strong>April</strong> of 2013 with a<br />
second summit and symposium.<br />
I am using all my <strong>Williams</strong> colleagues<br />
to network.”<br />
Geoff Connor writes: “I retired<br />
as a partner of Reed Smith and<br />
was lucky enough to get an<br />
adjunct professor teaching job at<br />
Bloomfield <strong>College</strong>, New Jersey’s<br />
‘other’ Presbyterian college,<br />
the one you’ve heard of being<br />
Princeton. This fall I taught a<br />
senior honors seminar entitled<br />
‘American History and its Legacy<br />
of Diversity.’ We started with<br />
American Indians and went right<br />
up to the war in Vietnam. Loved<br />
my hard-working, smart students.<br />
And I learned more than<br />
they did. Although otherwise<br />
retired, I’m still on the board of<br />
directors of The Provident Bank,<br />
NJ’s oldest bank (1839).”<br />
My fellow Tennessean Sherman<br />
Jones checks in from 100 miles<br />
away: “Still working, sort of, as<br />
a lecturer on the MBA business<br />
school faculty at the University<br />
of Tennessee, as an insurance<br />
agent/financial advisor with
Bankers Life Insurance and<br />
Casualty Company and at the<br />
usual nonprofit board and advisory<br />
committee stuff. I especially<br />
enjoy serving on the board of<br />
Knox Heritage, our historical<br />
preservation nonprofit. I tried for<br />
two years to get a charter school<br />
approved here in Knoxville, but<br />
east Tennessee is not very receptive<br />
to charter schools.”<br />
And Bill Perttula has a plan:<br />
“I took the fall semester off at<br />
SFSU and made a 20-day trip to<br />
Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria,<br />
all new to me. I gave lectures<br />
on Internet marketing at the<br />
Romanian American University<br />
and Valahia University, both in<br />
Romania. I spent a few days in<br />
Transylvania, and while teaching<br />
I spent several nights in a hotel<br />
next to Hotel Dracula.” Bill<br />
planned to go back to Europe<br />
in March, “giving a two-and-ahalf-day<br />
seminar for graduate<br />
business students in Aix-en-<br />
Provençe. After teaching the<br />
spring semester at SFSU, I will<br />
retire after 36 years and play<br />
with my two grandsons.”<br />
1969<br />
Richard P. Gulla<br />
287 Grove St.<br />
Melrose, MA 02176<br />
1969secretary@williams.edu<br />
Bob Whitton has kept up with<br />
several classmates in recent<br />
months. “Mike Himowitz and<br />
I had lunch in Baltimore in<br />
September and did lots of<br />
catching up. Andrea and I met<br />
Peg and Spike Riley for brunch<br />
in West Cape May on Labor<br />
Day weekend. Irrepressible and<br />
primed to become grandparents<br />
again. In November we<br />
met Rich Pollet and his special<br />
friend Ginny for the Amherst<br />
game. Game was forgettable,<br />
but weekend was very pleasant:<br />
again, much catching up.<br />
And I speak with Mike Morrison<br />
by phone two or three times a<br />
year. He is deeply invested in a<br />
humanitarian awards program.<br />
Andrea and I enjoyed a <strong>Williams</strong>-<br />
Westchester get-together and<br />
lecture in Bedford/Pound Ridge<br />
(in N.Y.) all about Andalucia<br />
and Cervantes, which convinced<br />
me to download and read<br />
Don Quixote on the Kindle.<br />
Dynamite <strong>Williams</strong> professor led<br />
the session. Work (media and<br />
communications consulting) is<br />
cyclical. Consulting last year was<br />
excellent, but now the pipeline is<br />
back to ‘the new normal.’”<br />
Also connecting with Mike<br />
Morrison was Dick Peinert, who<br />
is “still healthy and still working”<br />
as a physician and surgeon<br />
north of Boston. Dick adds that<br />
Mike is living on City Island in<br />
the Bronx and is a practicing psychologist,<br />
specializing in addiction<br />
treatment. “Brief call turned<br />
into an hour,” said Dick.<br />
Steve Brick in California “continues<br />
to enjoy his assignment in<br />
a civil complex trial department<br />
of the Alameda County Superior<br />
Court. Twenty eight years as a<br />
trial and appellate lawyer were<br />
great preparation for this assignment.<br />
Although the California<br />
budget is threatening the quality<br />
of justice as well as education<br />
and health care, for the moment<br />
we are getting by in our court<br />
without serious impacts on the<br />
timeliness or thoroughness of our<br />
approach to cases.” Steve says<br />
Wynne Carvill ’71 and Jon Tigar<br />
’84 are also on the court. “My<br />
guess is we’re the only court<br />
outside the Northeast with three<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> grads.”<br />
Steve’s better half, Ann, “who<br />
some will recall is the bride I<br />
came back with from Christmas<br />
vacation of our senior year,”<br />
retired two years ago from her<br />
legal career that consisted of<br />
private practice, being the first<br />
woman partner of Howard,<br />
Rice and, for the last 19 years,<br />
a staff attorney with the ACLU<br />
of Northern California. “She<br />
is thoroughly enjoying retirement<br />
and proves that there is life<br />
beyond the law for those who<br />
seek it.” Steve’s daughters are<br />
also making their mark. Kate is<br />
finishing her second year as an<br />
analyst at the Migration Policy<br />
Institute in DC, and daughter<br />
Rachel is in her fourth year of<br />
teaching first grade in the NYC<br />
public schools.<br />
Also extolling the achievements<br />
of his daughters, Craig Walker<br />
reports his younger daughter Liz<br />
is now a Harvard graduate and a<br />
professional dancer with the Los<br />
Angeles Ballet, and older daughter<br />
Dana is in graduate school<br />
at Columbia. Craig is maintaining<br />
the homestead in Stamford,<br />
Conn., and having his co-op<br />
renovated in New York.<br />
Fletcher Clark, in his small<br />
town of Lockhart, Texas, near<br />
Austin, is “engaged in cultural<br />
composting. I produce and host<br />
a monthly series of presentations<br />
by singer-songwriters at our Dr.<br />
Eugene Clark Library in tandem<br />
with concerts across the street at<br />
our community Gaslight-Baker<br />
Theatre. For many, this kind of<br />
direct presentation from creative<br />
n 1967–69<br />
artists is unfamiliar cuisine and<br />
decidedly an acquired taste.<br />
Last year’s inaugural season<br />
emboldened me to book a more<br />
robust schedule, and in spite of<br />
my adherence to the entrepreneurial<br />
constraints voiced by the<br />
market, I have garnered a bit of<br />
noblesse oblige to pay honoraria<br />
so my library guests can realize<br />
something other than their CD<br />
sales.” Fletch also continues as a<br />
managing partner in Armadillo<br />
Records, “with our latest<br />
release being a live recording of<br />
The Cobras made in 1979 at<br />
Armadillo World Headquarters.”<br />
Rob MacDougall is still at the<br />
Nuclear Regulatory Commission<br />
in DC and at last report was<br />
“wrapping up a guidance document<br />
on radioactive material<br />
security now more than 300<br />
pages, for which I earned a rare<br />
award, though it’s financially<br />
almost invisible to the naked<br />
eye.” Melinda is in her third<br />
year as an in-house attorney at<br />
Holy Cross Hospital. Children<br />
are busy, with Lindsay in her<br />
last year of acupuncture school,<br />
Catlin focusing on writing and<br />
Ian experiencing his senior year<br />
at Barrie, a private school in<br />
Maryland. “We now seem to be<br />
working harder than ever with<br />
less down time than our advancing<br />
age requires. By the time<br />
we can afford retirement, we<br />
probably won’t even know we’re<br />
retired.”<br />
Francis Moriarty, who’s working<br />
for Radio Television Hong<br />
Kong and reporting on the presidential<br />
election from Taiwan,<br />
attended the alumni gathering<br />
for <strong>Williams</strong> President Adam<br />
Falk while he was in the Far<br />
East. “He’s certainly impressive<br />
and an excellent ambassador for<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>.”<br />
Recently retired librarian Jim<br />
Barns in Charlottesville, Va., is<br />
experiencing a local minireunion<br />
of ’60s Ephs. At the local<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>/Amherst broadcast,<br />
Jim met Steve Bartholomew ’67<br />
and Jim Kramer ’66, two people<br />
Jim had never met but wrote<br />
about for the Record some 45<br />
years ago. Jim says they, along<br />
with Jesse Winchester ’67, who<br />
has had a successful career as<br />
a songwriter and performer,<br />
have all moved to the area and<br />
are catching up on <strong>Williams</strong><br />
memories. Jim has also started<br />
writing a blog, Around the Bend,<br />
on www.c-ville.com, a website<br />
about life and events in and<br />
around Charlottesville.<br />
Sandy Smith took advantage of<br />
a three-month sabbatical offered<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 43
CLASS NOTES<br />
by his employer, Cambridge<br />
Associates, and made the most of<br />
it. “Highlights included a month<br />
at our family’s rustic lakeside<br />
cabin in Maine, a trip to Oregon<br />
to visit the last living first cousin<br />
in my father’s generation at<br />
her retreat at Camp Sherman,<br />
and the icing on the cake was<br />
a solo trip to New Zealand for<br />
a week of guided fly-fishing,<br />
which began at the Lake Rotoroa<br />
Lodge on the South Island and<br />
ended in Turangi on the North<br />
Island. I returned to reality—and<br />
work—the Monday following<br />
Thanksgiving. Family is doing<br />
well, as daughter Samantha ’09<br />
is a third-year medical student<br />
at the University of Chicago,<br />
and son Trip is a senior at Colby<br />
and heavily into winter training<br />
for the men’s crew team. Sally<br />
continues her performing and<br />
teaching career, notably having<br />
been hired as adjunct professor<br />
at Queens <strong>College</strong> for the spring<br />
semester to teach a course in her<br />
specialty, Baroque performance.<br />
So life is good. Hope everyone<br />
else can say the same.”<br />
Marty Lafferty wrote that the<br />
second annual Content in the<br />
Cloud Conference within the<br />
<strong>2012</strong> Consumer Electronics<br />
Show, which was conducted<br />
by the Distributed Computing<br />
Industry Association, where he’s<br />
CEO, was standing-room only at<br />
the Las Vegas Convention Center.<br />
Marty says “cloud computing<br />
is off to an auspicious start for<br />
another year of unprecedented<br />
and explosive growth.” On the<br />
volunteer service front, Marty<br />
completed advanced piloting in<br />
December, a key boating course<br />
offered by U.S. Power Squadrons,<br />
and is on deck to become executive<br />
officer of District 5 in March.<br />
“If memory serves,” writes Jim<br />
Sicks, “and it serves less and less<br />
as the years pass, it’s been 11<br />
years since I last checked in, so I<br />
guess I’m due. A few milestones:<br />
In 2001 my marriage of 30 years<br />
broke up. I licked my wounds for<br />
a while, but, as the saying goes,<br />
it gets better. In 2003 my son Will<br />
graduated from <strong>Williams</strong>, and his<br />
years there gave me a chance to<br />
reconnect with the school after<br />
years of ambivalence about the<br />
place. He and my daughter Cathy<br />
are both married and, as of May,<br />
will be living here in Philadelphia.<br />
I have a grandson. … In 2004, I<br />
met Katie Day, and we were married<br />
a year later. She’s fun, energetic,<br />
beautiful and smart. We live<br />
on the campus of the Lutheran<br />
Seminary in Philadelphia, where<br />
she has taught for 25-plus years.<br />
44 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
I also got two stepchildren, Julian<br />
and Molly, in the deal—both in<br />
college now—and a smattering of<br />
pets. A second round of raising<br />
adolescents took its toll, but all<br />
is good now. In 2006 I fulfilled<br />
a decade-long ambition and quit<br />
the practice of law, went to South<br />
Africa for a couple of months<br />
with Katie and her kids, and then<br />
came back to find a job in the<br />
nonprofit sector. A lot less money<br />
and a lot more satisfaction.<br />
“My steadiest <strong>Williams</strong> connection<br />
over the years, other<br />
than my son, has been my old<br />
roommate Jon Moore and his<br />
wife Barbara. We manage to get<br />
together a few times each year,<br />
most recently at his daughter’s<br />
wedding in October. A trip to<br />
Seattle included a wonderful<br />
dinner with George Scarola and<br />
his partner Aldo—our first get<br />
together in about five years. I’ve<br />
also had sporadic contact with<br />
Fred Gramlich and Jim Asumano<br />
over the years. Greetings to all.”<br />
Rick Corwin met up with Julie<br />
and Linc Merwin after Christmas,<br />
taking his two grandsons Jacob<br />
and Jordan to see them in their<br />
new home in Doylestown, Pa.<br />
Linc is still at the Buckingham<br />
Friends’ School there, and their<br />
younger son, Matt, is a highly<br />
accomplished artist in woodworking.<br />
Rick discovered that<br />
George Wardman is a trustee of<br />
Eckerd <strong>College</strong> in St. Petersburg,<br />
across the road from where Rick<br />
now resides, and hoped to meet<br />
up with him after a trip with<br />
Beth to the Galapagos and the<br />
Amazon River Basin in February.<br />
Gordy Bryson and wife Liz<br />
are “retiring from our longtime<br />
places of employment. I leave<br />
Hawaii Preparatory Academy<br />
and private high school teaching<br />
after 42 years, having been<br />
there for 34 years as principal,<br />
department chairman of English,<br />
and coach. We have a place<br />
in Baltimore and will relocate<br />
there in June. We look forward<br />
to being near our friends and<br />
family. I’m not looking forward<br />
to the heat in Baltimore, but the<br />
house we have has central air<br />
conditioning, and I intend to<br />
spend time in the Enoch Pratt<br />
Free Library. I hope to teach<br />
teachers in Baltimore, but nothing<br />
is set yet.”<br />
Finally, in an experience<br />
that spans the generations and<br />
decades, 31 years to be precise,<br />
I had the pleasure of doing<br />
some media work with Andrew<br />
Morris-Singer ’00, a Harvardtrained<br />
primary care physician<br />
and the founder of Primary Care<br />
Progress, a grassroots community<br />
effort to promote primary<br />
care medicine and change how<br />
it’s delivered. Andrew was a<br />
guest on a TV program for<br />
patients produced by your<br />
humble scribe. The topic was<br />
medical literacy—the ability of<br />
patients to understand health<br />
information and make good<br />
decisions. A great adventure in<br />
lifelong learning. My thanks to<br />
those who write and keep this<br />
space filled, and keep the news<br />
and notes coming.<br />
1970<br />
Rick Foster<br />
379 Dexter St.<br />
Denver, CO 80220<br />
1970secretary@williams.edu<br />
To begin, there is some very<br />
sad news to report. In January,<br />
Carri and Gerry Stoltz’s son<br />
Zach died in South Carolina at<br />
age 26. Many from the DC area<br />
and some from as far away as<br />
Denver attended the memorial<br />
service in Virginia. Paul Miller<br />
wrote: “It was probably one of<br />
the saddest things I have ever<br />
been involved with. Zach was<br />
by all accounts an exceptional<br />
young man and incredibly close<br />
to his parents. Gerry and Carri<br />
were devastated yet welcoming<br />
to all who came and unbelievably<br />
strong in their ability<br />
to deal with everything. My<br />
admiration for them was always<br />
high. I don’t think it could possibly<br />
be measured now. I hope<br />
that the affection and support of<br />
classmates and friends will help<br />
them in the days ahead, and<br />
I encourage everyone to be in<br />
touch with them.”<br />
Ken McCurdy was the first to<br />
respond (almost immediately,<br />
via Blackberry) to my email<br />
missive on Dec. 13, advising<br />
me that he had just had dinner<br />
with Scott Miller, Bill Loomis,<br />
Ken Richardson, Andy Maier (all<br />
class of ’71), Paul Isaac ’72, Dale<br />
Riehl ’72, all former residents<br />
of Fort Hoosac House. They<br />
toasted the two favorite “Joes”<br />
of Fort Hoosac, Joe (“Chubby”)<br />
Daniels, the house man (who,<br />
at mail time, always announced<br />
that “checks are in” and when<br />
asked “What’s up, Chubby?”<br />
would mysteriously reply, “At<br />
my age, only the windows”);<br />
and Joe Florini, our fantastic<br />
chef and the former proprietor<br />
of Florini’s Italian Garden in<br />
Adams or North Adams. Joe<br />
Florini taught Ken how to<br />
break an egg with one hand,
Skip Kotkins ’70 (right), chairman of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber<br />
of Commerce, met up with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn ’82 at the<br />
chamber’s annual public officials reception Dec. 8.<br />
one of the few things he learned<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong> and still retains.<br />
Ty Tuttle replied that the main<br />
high point of an otherwise pretty<br />
awful year for him was his<br />
son’s June wedding in the lovely<br />
Aveyron region of France. Ty<br />
didn’t give details on what made<br />
at least part of the year awful,<br />
but I suppose it’s likely we all<br />
have some reason for hoping<br />
that <strong>2012</strong> will be a better year.<br />
Richard Wendorf’s latest book,<br />
Director’s Choice: The American<br />
Museum in Britain, is to be<br />
published in London this spring.<br />
He reports that he has survived<br />
the museum’s 50th anniversary<br />
year and is looking forward to<br />
enjoying himself a bit more in<br />
Bath, long known as “the graveyard<br />
of ambition.” Chip Baker<br />
wrote to say that after three years<br />
in New Orleans he and his wife<br />
Lynne moved to Roanoke, Va.,<br />
where he took the job of chair<br />
of surgery at Carilion Clinic and<br />
professor of surgery at the new<br />
Virginia Tech Carilion School of<br />
Medicine. Chip says that he and<br />
Lynne love living in Roanoke (a<br />
lot like the Berkshires) and that a<br />
few days before he wrote to me,<br />
John Hitchins (who lives a half<br />
mile away) showed up on Chip’s<br />
doorstep. The two enjoyed catching<br />
up with each other.<br />
Ray Kimball suffered a bad<br />
bicycle accident last fall that<br />
he described to Paul Miller as<br />
follows: “I’m recovering and<br />
not in much pain. Basically, I<br />
did a swan dive on pavement,<br />
known in the cyclist trade as<br />
a ‘face plant,’ when my front<br />
brakes grabbed and seized up.<br />
Advice to all: When replacing<br />
your smoke detector batteries<br />
and contributing to the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Fund annually, please<br />
also replace and maintain your<br />
front bicycle brakes. … The doctor<br />
says I will recover completely.<br />
The injuries were serious, but let’s<br />
talk about pleasant things. Doing<br />
OK under the circumstances. I’m<br />
trying to decide between Brad<br />
Pitt, Dave Strathairn or Stoltz for<br />
the plastic surgery.” I did email<br />
Ray for an update shortly before<br />
submitting these notes and got<br />
an out-of-office reply, which<br />
included the following: “I will be<br />
out of the country through Jan.<br />
15 and will not be answering<br />
emails. Thank you for all your<br />
wonderful wishes for my speedy<br />
recovery. I’m doing fine.”<br />
When he wrote to tell me about<br />
Ray’s accident, Paul also said, “I<br />
wanted you and the rest of the<br />
class to know what an incredible<br />
asset Kevin Austin and Chris<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>on have been to this<br />
year’s fundraising efforts. The<br />
best part of the exercise has been<br />
getting to know them better. It’s<br />
been great fun and so far very<br />
successful.”<br />
Chris <strong>Williams</strong>on wrote to say,<br />
“Peggy and I are enjoying our<br />
three granddaughters, twins 20<br />
months and singleton 17 months.<br />
We get to see some or all about<br />
once a week, and so far their<br />
parents haven’t told us we aren’t<br />
welcome! Oldest daughter Abby<br />
’98 finished her PhD at Harvard’s<br />
Kennedy School last May. (She<br />
also celebrated her twins’ first<br />
birthdays that month!). She has<br />
accepted a dual appointment<br />
in political science and public<br />
policy at Trinity, so they won’t<br />
be moving too far away from<br />
us. Younger daughter Sarah and<br />
n 1969–70<br />
husband are still in Brookline.<br />
She earned her MSW at BC and<br />
is now the inaugural school<br />
counselor at Meadowbrook. We<br />
plan to watch them run by in<br />
the Boston Marathon, running<br />
for Dana Farber cancer research,<br />
while we watch their daughter.<br />
Son Tom is in the finals of a singing<br />
contest, but it’s not, unfortunately,<br />
American Idol. We are<br />
in our seventh year at Applewild<br />
School, a delightful K-8 school in<br />
Fitchburg. Any of you wanting to<br />
recreate the road trip to Boston<br />
from <strong>Williams</strong>town, stop by!<br />
Despite the economic challenges,<br />
we’re successfully concluding a<br />
capital campaign and building a<br />
much-needed new dining hall. I<br />
always enjoy seeing Pat Bassett<br />
when our paths cross at independent<br />
school functions, and<br />
I am very proud that so many<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni have chosen to<br />
make contributions as educators<br />
or serve on education boards.<br />
My hunch is that at least in part<br />
that results from our appreciation<br />
of the excellent teaching we<br />
experienced at <strong>Williams</strong>. It has<br />
been a pleasure to reconnect<br />
with Kevin Austin and Paul Miller<br />
while working on the <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Fund—and to talk or email with<br />
so many classmates too. You are<br />
an accomplished group!”<br />
Jim Kirkland, who hasn’t<br />
appeared in these notes for a<br />
while, sent a long email including<br />
more well-deserved kudos for our<br />
longtime class secretary Jeff Krull.<br />
Jim reported (a little late) that in<br />
2007 he and Noreen “surprised<br />
ourselves wandering through Ft.<br />
Wayne while driving non-expressway<br />
from VA to IL, and so I<br />
surprised Jeff with a call—I’d told<br />
him at several reunions I hoped<br />
to see his library someday. He<br />
was available mañana and gave<br />
us the cook’s tour. Two matters<br />
of timing added to the pleasure:<br />
First, the library had just finished<br />
a four-year expansion that<br />
doubled its size to a large city<br />
block and made it incredibly state<br />
of the art. Second, I was smack<br />
dab in the middle of creating a<br />
family history website, and his<br />
library turned out to have one of<br />
the five top genealogy collections<br />
in the country. I had no idea of<br />
either. Jeff said he’d be disappointed<br />
if any classmate coming<br />
through town with time didn’t try<br />
to call. We were so glad we did,<br />
and caught him.” Jim attached<br />
to his email a photo of Jeff standing<br />
in his library in front of the<br />
entrance to a large art gallery.<br />
Over the entrance was the room’s<br />
name: “Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery.”<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 45
CLASS NOTES<br />
Jim also participated in a couple<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong>-related events last<br />
summer. In June Rob Hershey,<br />
headmaster of the Episcopal<br />
School up the street from Jim,<br />
invited him and several classmates<br />
in the area—Pat Bassett,<br />
Gerry Stoltz, Harvey Levin Paul<br />
Miller, Dick Ginman and others—<br />
for a round of golf and dinner at<br />
Alexandria’s country club, Belle<br />
Haven. Rob humbly led off the<br />
two threesomes with an eagle<br />
on the first hole. Along with<br />
available spouses, the six finished<br />
with dinner on the clubhouse<br />
patio overlooking No. 18. Jim<br />
described another summer<br />
(this one in August) <strong>Williams</strong><br />
event as follows: “I joined five<br />
alumni (one a woman), from<br />
the classes of 1982, two from<br />
1987, 1990 and 1999, in a relay<br />
swim from Port Jefferson, N.Y.,<br />
to Bridgeport Conn.—15 miles<br />
across Long Island Sound—in<br />
the annual St. Vincent’s Medical<br />
Foundation’s Swim Across The<br />
Sound fundraiser. We—the Angry<br />
Fish (though angry at no one)—<br />
are several former swimmers for<br />
Carl Samuelson, <strong>Williams</strong> swimming<br />
coach from 1966 to 2000.<br />
Carl tipped me off to the group<br />
in 2010, and with a few emails I<br />
was welcomed. Swimming alongside<br />
a motorboat, we six rotated<br />
15-minute swims over seven<br />
hours. A post-race picture of my<br />
teammates holding me up was in<br />
the December class notes for the<br />
Class of 1987. I knew none of<br />
them before the race. We had a<br />
blast, and except for making one<br />
sharp right turn toward Maine,<br />
provoking a frenzy of “come<br />
back” signals from the boat, I<br />
may have held my own enough<br />
to be invited back.”<br />
Don Berens wrote to say,<br />
among other things, that in<br />
June, he, his wife Maureen and<br />
daughter Kate ’04 traveled with<br />
their church choir to Bavaria,<br />
Austria and Prague, singing in<br />
five cathedrals and abbeys in<br />
Salzburg, Melk, Vienna and<br />
Prague. In August the three of<br />
them, joined by son Tom, cruised<br />
from Rotterdam to six Baltic<br />
ports. In late September Don<br />
began a 1,600-mile supported<br />
group bicycle tour from Maine<br />
to Florida, which ended in<br />
mid-October in Daytona Beach.<br />
His band of 25 bicyclists was<br />
joined in that city by 100,000<br />
Harley riders in town for<br />
Biketoberfest, making for one<br />
of the noisier bike rides Don has<br />
done. In November Don walked<br />
daughter Kate down the aisle at<br />
St. Stanislaus Church in Buffalo,<br />
46 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
N.Y., where she married Craig<br />
Bucki. Other <strong>Williams</strong> folk in<br />
attendance were Ken McCurdy<br />
’70, Don’s sisters Liz Berens ’71<br />
and Julie Berens ’75, Julie’s son<br />
Bob George ’04 and Kate’s friend<br />
Daniel Rooney ’06.<br />
Having had so few replies from<br />
the rest of you (no doubt preoccupied<br />
with writing your annual<br />
checks to the <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund), I<br />
am reduced to supplying the<br />
following filler material about<br />
myself. Julie and I took some<br />
time off from our law practice in<br />
October to go on a bike trip in<br />
the Dordogne region of France.<br />
This was our third European<br />
bike trip, but the first not part<br />
of a group and therefore a little<br />
daunting. But the weather was<br />
great, we saw very few tourists,<br />
faced little traffic on country<br />
roads and, most important, had<br />
no bike breakdowns. Biking past<br />
the literally hundreds of castles<br />
and chateaux in the region of<br />
France where the Hundred Years’<br />
War was fought was a wonderful<br />
experience. Highlights were the<br />
Caves of Lascaux, Rocamadour,<br />
Les Ezyies and La Rocque<br />
Gageac. Well, that’s all, folks.<br />
Thanks for the memories.<br />
1971<br />
John Chambers<br />
10 Ashby Place<br />
Katonah, NY 10536<br />
1971secretary@williams.edu<br />
Last time around we had a<br />
farm report, a reunion retrospective<br />
and purposes, pleasures and<br />
perils as seen by members of our<br />
class. This time contributions<br />
from classmates lead us to the<br />
arts, to acts of service and a set<br />
of milestones. Thanks, as always,<br />
go to contributors, along with<br />
apologies to those whose news I<br />
mangle or misrepresent. What is<br />
good here comes from all of you.<br />
The Arts: Paul Lieberman tees<br />
off first; he has gone Hollywood.<br />
They will roll out the red carpet<br />
for him and Heidi in October at<br />
the premier of a film he describes<br />
as “based on my seven-part<br />
narrative (for the LA Times) on<br />
the LAPD’s secretive Gangster<br />
Squad, which in the years after<br />
WWII had the anything-goes<br />
job of driving Eastern-linked<br />
mobsters—particularly Mickey<br />
Cohen—from the supposed City<br />
of Angels.” Well, maybe the red<br />
carpet is not just for Paul and<br />
Heidi, given the names in the<br />
cast: Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen,<br />
Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma<br />
Stone, Nick Nolte. Paul explains,<br />
“The project has gotten a lot of<br />
hype, and you’ll be hearing/seeing<br />
more leading up to its release<br />
next October. I’m a ceremonial<br />
executive producer.” He is now<br />
at work on the book version,<br />
hoping to create a fund for future<br />
greens fees.<br />
Remember the photo of<br />
Gordie Clapp in the last edition?<br />
Following up, he wrote he<br />
was to “be back at the Acorn<br />
Theatre in New York in The New<br />
Group’s World Premiere of David<br />
Rabe’s An Early History of Fire.<br />
Performances start on March<br />
21. Come on down! We had a<br />
wonderful four-week run of This<br />
Verse Business at Merrimack<br />
Rep in Lowell in October. The<br />
word is getting around, and we<br />
hope to shop it extensively during<br />
2013, the 50th anniversary of<br />
Frost’s death.” Taking note of<br />
that start-of-performances date,<br />
and realizing that the publication<br />
of these class notes is <strong>April</strong>, let us<br />
hope for a long run.<br />
David Kubie reports further<br />
on the New York theater scene:<br />
“Audrey and I were pleased to<br />
welcome Kathy and Peter Wege<br />
and Linda and Jim Tam to NYC<br />
this December. The Tams were<br />
coming to attend the opening on<br />
Broadway of the show Lysistrata<br />
Jones. Their son Jason has a<br />
leading role in the play and was<br />
great, as usual. When the Weges<br />
heard that we were gathering in<br />
New York, they decided that it<br />
was high time for a visit themselves.<br />
We enjoyed a great few<br />
days together highlighted by a<br />
few shows and a tour of parts of<br />
Brooklyn, including a great lunch<br />
in Park Slope.”<br />
Acts of Service: Wally Schlech<br />
continues to be an exemplar:<br />
“Four months of the year on ID<br />
and Gen Med services keeps me<br />
reasonably sharp for my trips to<br />
Uganda and, now, Nigeria, for<br />
teaching/research/clinical work.<br />
… Was able to spend some time<br />
with Mary and team at Tabiro<br />
village in <strong>April</strong> to help with construction<br />
projects at the school<br />
(i.e., hauling bricks!). Yearly<br />
team visits through Navigators<br />
are now the norm, and the<br />
project(s) are going well—check<br />
us out at www.ugandaventure.<br />
com.” Wally claims to be semiretired,<br />
but just reading about<br />
family weddings (Walter F.<br />
IV—aka Bo—and Miss Eimear<br />
O’Loughlin of Portmarnock,<br />
Ireland, at Barberstown Castle,<br />
Co. Kildare) and the exploits<br />
of the rest of his and Mary’s<br />
offspring left me breathless. In<br />
between all this, Mary has fallen
David Kubie ’71 (second from right) and his wife Audrey welcomed<br />
classmates Jim Tam (left) and Peter Wege and their wives for a visit in<br />
NYC in December. The Tams were in town from Honolulu to see their son<br />
perform in Lysistrata Jones, which opened that week on Broadway.<br />
in love with Celtic fiddling and<br />
takes the fiddle along on all their<br />
travels.<br />
Even as these notes are written,<br />
Bob Eyre is also doing something<br />
good, but with typical modesty:<br />
He took a brief surgical mission<br />
trip to Haiti and says it “might<br />
be more interesting to reflect on<br />
the trip rather than just anticipate<br />
it.” Let’s do both, and hope for<br />
more from Bob next time.<br />
Peter Clarke is going even farther<br />
afield, to Bhutan. “I am taking<br />
four students (and Cushing<br />
Academy) to the Himalayas<br />
for three weeks in search of an<br />
enduring partnership with a<br />
small nation (whose king graduated<br />
from the academy) that is<br />
trying to transform itself into<br />
a vibrant, modern, democratic<br />
society without losing its cultural<br />
soul, a tall order for any people.<br />
At the heart of this journey is our<br />
desire to help them in any way<br />
we can to create a world-class<br />
educational system rooted in<br />
Buddhist principles. For a school<br />
like Cushing, seeking to engage<br />
students in the challenges of the<br />
21st century, what better place<br />
for a real-world, educational<br />
expedition than Bhutan?” Does<br />
it sound like Peter is channeling<br />
Bob Gaudino?<br />
Mark Pearson (that’s Rev.<br />
Canon Dr. Mark Pearson in<br />
certain circles) has been busy out<br />
of the country the past several<br />
months—England, France,<br />
Canada, Spain, Estonia—teaching,<br />
preaching, playing church<br />
organs. Mark and his wife Dr.<br />
Mary Pearson run a holistic wellness<br />
center called New Creation<br />
Healing Center on an eight-acre<br />
property in southern New<br />
Hampshire; according to Nick<br />
Tortorello, “This entity combines<br />
medical care, counseling, massage<br />
therapy and Christian spirituality<br />
in a whole-person way.”<br />
Remember David Albert’s<br />
update in the last class notes—his<br />
first in 40 years? He follows up<br />
by offering a further glimpse of<br />
his housing and water projects<br />
and other adventures, at<br />
shantinik@blogspot. com and<br />
www.friendlywaterfortheworld.<br />
com and signs off with, “Yellam<br />
Seyalkoodum! (’Everything is<br />
Possible,’ in Tamil).”<br />
Milestones: Lucky 13?<br />
According to executive director<br />
Steve Lawson, the “Lucky 13th”<br />
season of the <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
Film Festival turned out to be a<br />
prophetic slogan: “Nearly three<br />
dozen guest artists, premieres<br />
of 29 films ranging from family<br />
fare to late-night risqué shorts,<br />
a Bollywood seminar, a tasting<br />
with restaurateur Danny Meyer<br />
and a salute to cinema legend<br />
Sidney Lumet (marred only by<br />
that weird October blizzard)—<br />
this year had something for<br />
everyone.” Among ’71 attendees:<br />
Perennials Karen and John<br />
Ackroff and Sue and Steve Brown,<br />
Arria and Jack Sands, Jori and<br />
Steve Latham and first-timers<br />
Laura and Mike Foley and Mary<br />
and John Untereker. In 2011<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni made a record<br />
60 contributions to WFF, with 22<br />
of these coming from our class.<br />
Check out www.williamstownfilmfest.com<br />
for a fun slideshow<br />
of snapshots from the season.<br />
Landmarks: Bill Rives is<br />
now your secretary’s favorite<br />
n 1970–71<br />
classmate, thanks to his note<br />
from Paris commending the<br />
“spirited, agreeable style”<br />
of these notes. So much do I<br />
respond to flattery that I hope the<br />
editor will include a photo of Bill<br />
in front of Notre Dame. Of the<br />
cathedral, Bill says, “Victor Hugo<br />
liked it, and so do I.” He sent<br />
another photo from a day at the<br />
races, saying, “Degas liked it, and<br />
so do I!” No classmates among<br />
the horses or jockeys, but take<br />
the hint, classmates, and send<br />
photos, even without the flattery.<br />
But wait, you say, Rives was in<br />
Singapore, not Paris! Right you<br />
are, for half of our 40 years since<br />
graduation, “but this fall was in<br />
France on a replacement contract<br />
teaching at the American School<br />
of Paris. A stimulating change of<br />
pace.”<br />
Mark Ruchman is traveling,<br />
too, “to Brazil, Uruguay and<br />
Argentina with Barbara and<br />
Jock Kimberley ’67.” But Mark<br />
has other milestones as well:<br />
“Sharon’s fourth CD has just<br />
come out and was favorably<br />
reviewed in Fanfare Magazine,<br />
the go-to publication for classical<br />
music enthusiasts. Check out<br />
www.sharonruchman.com. Julia<br />
’02 is writing for Covert Affairs<br />
on USA networks, and my medical<br />
practice continues to delight.”<br />
Fifteen years of cyber-sales? I<br />
tried to get a comment on the<br />
success of online marketing<br />
behemoth Amazon.com from<br />
Jane Gardner, since she was<br />
instrumental in their early media<br />
campaigns around the time of<br />
our 25th reunion, but she politely<br />
refused to take the credit for their<br />
success.<br />
Retirement? Mike Rade says,<br />
“I won a Lifetime Achievement<br />
Award from the American<br />
<strong>College</strong> of Surgeons. I think they<br />
are trying to tell me that I’m<br />
really old and it’s time to retire.”<br />
Nice award, Mike, but you’ll<br />
have to wait for retirement—<br />
remember you have med school<br />
tuition to pay for your son Matt<br />
’04, following in old dad’s professional<br />
footsteps.<br />
Grandchildren: A first grandchild,<br />
Tyler James Azarow, was<br />
presented to Nick Tortorello by his<br />
daughter Kerry Ann. Nick had<br />
other milestones, too: “After battling<br />
prostate cancer last year and<br />
recovering from umbilical hernia<br />
surgery, I am trying to lose weight<br />
and get myself a little healthier.”<br />
What else does he do to get<br />
healthy? “I ran for town commissioner<br />
in Upper Chichester,<br />
Pa., last November and lost by<br />
57 votes.” So what does it mean<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 47
CLASS NOTES<br />
that Nick could get elected as our<br />
class president but not as town<br />
commissioner?<br />
Annual luncheon? Joe Fitzgerald<br />
reports, “Jim Heekin, Bob Miller<br />
and I had a nice Christmas lunch<br />
in NYC in late December. The<br />
engineer’s report revealed no<br />
structural damage to the restaurant.<br />
We sure did laugh a lot. I<br />
think there is a 50/50 chance it<br />
may happen again next year.”<br />
If Joe had sent a photo, I would<br />
have hoped to include it, because<br />
he, too, had kind words for the<br />
secretary.<br />
But better than the kind words<br />
are the laughs, the news items<br />
and the inspiration that come<br />
from all of you. Each time I<br />
gather these notes, I come away<br />
awed by our class. Please keep<br />
the bulletins coming, especially if<br />
we have not heard from you in<br />
too long a time!<br />
Respectfully submitted, John<br />
Chambers<br />
1972<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Jim Armstrong<br />
600 W. 115th St., Apt. 112<br />
New York, NY 10025<br />
David Webster<br />
596 Arbor Vitae Road<br />
Winnetka, IL 60093<br />
1972secretary@williams.edu<br />
You will be reading these class<br />
notes shortly before our 40th<br />
reunion in <strong>Williams</strong>town, June<br />
7-10. For those of you who<br />
are still undecided, we hereby<br />
provide some of the most common<br />
excuses for not attending a<br />
reunion, and rebuttals to those<br />
excuses. We ask that you read<br />
them in the spirit in which they<br />
were created: in the hope that<br />
lots of the members of the Class<br />
of 1972 will indeed choose to<br />
return to <strong>Williams</strong>town for a<br />
few days of … well, for want of<br />
a better word, camaraderie.<br />
1. Excuse: “None of my<br />
friends will be there.” Response:<br />
Even if the classmates with<br />
whom you were closest can’t<br />
make it, we guarantee that you<br />
will renew a forgotten friendship<br />
or make a lasting new one.<br />
This has happened at every one<br />
of our previous seven reunions,<br />
and it will happen again this<br />
time. Trust us on this.<br />
2. Excuse: “Frankly, I had no<br />
love for the college when I was<br />
there, and I have no love for the<br />
48 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
college now.” Response: This is<br />
a Class of 1972 reunion, not an<br />
encounter group with the college.<br />
We attend reunions to be<br />
with each other.<br />
3. Excuse: “It’s too expensive.<br />
I can’t afford to come.”<br />
Response: If money is a serious<br />
problem, please get in touch<br />
with Class President Harry<br />
Kangis on a confidential basis,<br />
explaining the situation. There<br />
are some funds (admittedly<br />
limited) that are available to<br />
help classmates, particularly<br />
those who have never been to<br />
a reunion before. All inquiries<br />
will be kept strictly confidential.<br />
We very clearly hear what you<br />
are saying and want to help if<br />
we can.<br />
4. Excuse: “I’ve put on a few<br />
pounds (or lost a lot of hair,<br />
etc.) over the years.” Response:<br />
Oh, please. Who hasn’t? Each<br />
one of us will be 40 years older<br />
than we were when we graduated—and<br />
all that that implies.<br />
5. Excuse: “It’s going to be<br />
like a fraternity party weekend,<br />
with lots of rah-rah pep talks<br />
and bacchanalian binges.”<br />
Response: Again, this is a weekend<br />
of, by and for our class.<br />
We have some truly fascinating<br />
classmates, and many of them<br />
will be at the reunion. The parties<br />
are fun, not frivolous. Heck,<br />
we’re getting a private concert<br />
from Livingston Taylor on<br />
Friday night. Most of all, you<br />
will be among people who like<br />
you and care about you, and<br />
that’s the whole secret about<br />
reunions.<br />
6. Excuse: “If I show up, I’m<br />
likely to get assigned some onerous<br />
duty or position involving<br />
the class.” Response: Wrong. It’s<br />
the people who don’t show up<br />
who get stuck with such things.<br />
7. Excuse: “I’ve never been<br />
back and would find it difficult<br />
to walk into some cocktail party<br />
where everyone there knows<br />
everyone else. I’d feel totally<br />
left out.” Response: It sounds<br />
silly, but reunions can be quite<br />
magical. Yes, it may take a while<br />
to get in the swing of things,<br />
especially if this is your first time<br />
back, but at noon on Sunday on<br />
Reunion Weekend, when everyone’s<br />
packing up to head home,<br />
it’s pretty rare to hear people say<br />
they had a bad time or wish they<br />
hadn’t come. On the contrary.<br />
8. Excuse: “I won’t be able to<br />
make up my mind about attending<br />
until the last minute, and<br />
by then it’s always too late.”<br />
Response: Contact reunion cochairs<br />
Carter Peterson and John<br />
Brewer if you need an extension<br />
of any deadline to register or<br />
show up.<br />
9. Excuse: “I’m worried that<br />
somebody will put the arm on<br />
me at one of the class functions,<br />
when I may be emotionally vulnerable.”<br />
Response: Just say no.<br />
10. Excuse: “I hate listening<br />
to windbag speeches and other<br />
boring class lore.” Response:<br />
Harry Kangis is president of<br />
the class, and “Brevity” and<br />
“Focus” are his middle names.<br />
10a. Excuse: “I don’t accept<br />
the legitimacy of Harry B.F.<br />
Kangis as our president; I<br />
want proof he was born in<br />
Massachusetts.” Response: He<br />
has promised to release his birth<br />
certificate at Friday’s dinner.<br />
11. Excuse: “I can’t make<br />
it for the entire weekend.”<br />
Response: Talk to the reunion<br />
co-chairs, who can come up<br />
with a pro-rated package to<br />
meet your needs.<br />
12. Excuse: “It’s the same<br />
old crowd that comes to these<br />
things—never anybody I really<br />
know.” Response: Actually,<br />
there is no “same old crowd.”<br />
Each reunion is unique and<br />
has a fascinating blending of<br />
classmates who have been to<br />
(1) every reunion or (2) some<br />
reunions or (3) no reunions. If<br />
you are interested in helping<br />
shape the weekend, talk with<br />
reunion co-chairs. There is every<br />
opportunity for anyone willing<br />
to become involved to leave his<br />
or her imprint on the reunion.<br />
13. Excuse: “The annual<br />
alumni meeting is a drag. We<br />
don’t win trophies anymore, so<br />
why bother?” Response: We’re<br />
in a tricky spot concerning<br />
trophies, because the so-called<br />
younger classes have many more<br />
members than we do, and older<br />
classes can more easily obtain a<br />
high percentage of contributors,<br />
given their diminished ranks.<br />
Besides, let’s face it, 1972 is a<br />
very unusual class. We’ve never<br />
really fit the mold, a fact for<br />
which many of us are profoundly<br />
grateful. Bottom line:<br />
We don’t need any trophies for<br />
it to be a successful weekend.<br />
14. Excuse: I understand that<br />
the Class of 1972’s Saturday<br />
night party typically goes on<br />
so long that the <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
police are called in to break it<br />
up. Response: Guilty as charged.<br />
Blame (or, rather, credit) John<br />
Kincheloe and his band. By the<br />
way, it’s always the younger<br />
classes who call the police<br />
because of the noise. (Hint:<br />
they’re jealous.) No one has yet
een arrested, and if that were<br />
to happen, bail will be available<br />
… probably.<br />
15. Excuse: I’ll be washing my<br />
hair or doing my laundry that<br />
weekend. Response: Understood<br />
and accepted. The Amherst<br />
Class of ’72 reunion will likely<br />
have vacancies, where, as an<br />
inducement to attend, we understand<br />
they supply shampoo<br />
and detergent to all returning<br />
classmates. All eight of them.<br />
16. Excuse: (Fill in the blank)<br />
Response: Please bear in mind<br />
that reunions exist both for<br />
attendees to receive something—typically,<br />
fellowship and<br />
enjoyment from being with the<br />
unique and finite body of people<br />
who knew you when you were<br />
19 years old—but also to give<br />
something. It may be hard to<br />
imagine this, but your attendance<br />
will make someone in the class<br />
very happy. We guarantee this.<br />
Unequivocally. You—you—being<br />
around, visiting with, talking<br />
with others will enrich their<br />
experience and often their lives.<br />
If you don’t come, the experience<br />
of those who do will be the lesser<br />
for that. Contribute your presence.<br />
The rest of us will be very<br />
glad you did. And so will you.<br />
And since these are class<br />
notes, we end with some news<br />
from and about some of our<br />
classmates.<br />
Congratulations to Bob Gordon<br />
on his re-election to the New<br />
Jersey State Senate in November.<br />
The geography of Bob’s district<br />
was heavily changed during reapportionment,<br />
turning his race<br />
into what was widely acknowledged<br />
to be the most competitive<br />
one in the state.<br />
Dave Martin sends in this<br />
update: “Since March 2011 I<br />
have been working in the newest<br />
country in the world, South<br />
Sudan, helping the Ministry of<br />
Finance develop procedures to<br />
prepare a budget. The country<br />
has a long way to go to<br />
recover from half a century of<br />
civil war, which destroyed the<br />
roads, schools, hospitals and the<br />
economy. It is exciting to work<br />
in a country where leaders are<br />
ready to implement reforms, but<br />
progress will be slow. I had few<br />
visitors in other countries where<br />
I worked (Georgia, Moldova,<br />
Uzbekistan and Jordan), and I<br />
am not expecting many in South<br />
Sudan. I am writing this note in<br />
January from snowless Vermont,<br />
where I had hoped to crosscountry<br />
ski on the Catamount<br />
Trail before my return to South<br />
Sudan.”<br />
Michael Pitcher’s son Quinn is<br />
in his freshman year at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
Michael notes that Quinn is<br />
“third generation: I was ’72,<br />
my brother was Class of 1971,<br />
and our late father was Class of<br />
1937. My son Casey is currently<br />
a junior in high school and is<br />
eyeing <strong>Williams</strong> as well.” He<br />
adds that “after 30 years in the<br />
newspaper business, I went over<br />
to the dark side seven years ago,<br />
as my newspaper friends tell<br />
me. As director of communications<br />
for the Suffolk County<br />
Legislature, I am now applying<br />
the spin rather than removing<br />
it.”<br />
Ken McGraime has been at<br />
HSBC for almost 10 years and<br />
manages the corporate banking<br />
team for New England out of<br />
Boston. He writes: “Judy can’t<br />
seem to totally retire from teaching<br />
and has taken a part-time<br />
position teaching French in the<br />
Lexington public school system.<br />
Our two daughters have long<br />
since fled the nest, but we have<br />
two strays, Scruff and Jasper,<br />
who never question our judgment<br />
and provide unconditional<br />
love. My main passion in the<br />
community is the Make-a-Wish<br />
Foundation of Massachusetts<br />
and Rhode Island. I’m on the<br />
board and have served as chair.<br />
Judy and I are currently teaming<br />
on granting a young child’s wish,<br />
which is incredibly fulfilling. We<br />
enjoyed Columbus Day weekend<br />
down in Bay Head with Janet<br />
and Thad Russell, who are both<br />
doing well.”<br />
“My wife Carol and I are<br />
chugging along in suburban<br />
Philadelphia,” reports Chip<br />
Young. “She has her own business<br />
designing kitchens and<br />
baths, and I am general counsel<br />
at Airgas Inc., a public company<br />
that manufactures and distributes<br />
industrial and medical<br />
gases. The last couple of years<br />
were professionally challenging<br />
as Airgas fought off a hostile<br />
takeover attempt. It’s been more<br />
fun watching our four kids, two<br />
each from previous marriages,<br />
grow into young adults. Son<br />
Matt rowed and studied his way<br />
through Harvard and after three<br />
years in New York is applying<br />
to business school. His brother<br />
Brian, also a rower, is finishing<br />
up at U Penn and aspires to be a<br />
collegiate rowing coach. Carol’s<br />
daughter Rachel is a psych major<br />
at Delaware, and her sister Aly<br />
is studying comparative religion<br />
at a favorite haunt from long<br />
ago, Skidmore. We enjoy the<br />
occasional visit with Martha and<br />
n 1971–73<br />
Dore Griffinger when they are<br />
in town to see their daughter,<br />
and we traveled south last<br />
fall to catch up with Ann and<br />
John Searles when they came<br />
east for parents’ weekend at<br />
Georgetown. Life is busy, and we<br />
look forward to jumping off the<br />
track long enough to enjoy the<br />
40th this spring.”<br />
Lastly, the Office of Donor<br />
Relations of the <strong>College</strong> has<br />
announced that it has established<br />
a fund in memory of Rex<br />
Krakauer. Appropriately, it is<br />
called the Rex Krakauer 1972<br />
Asian Experience Fund. Its purpose<br />
is to support Asian Studies<br />
programs, including scholarships<br />
for students who want to travel<br />
to Asia. Donations can be made<br />
to the fund in memory of Rex.<br />
Donations can also be made to<br />
the <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund in his name<br />
or in the name of any of our<br />
deceased classmates.<br />
1973<br />
Cole Werble<br />
2540 Massachusetts Ave., NW<br />
Apt. 204<br />
Washington, DC 20008<br />
1973secretary@williams.edu<br />
The “Climb High, Climb Far”<br />
spirit keeps emerging from the<br />
deep collective soul and sinews<br />
of the Class of ’73. Another<br />
amazing mountain trek highlights<br />
the notes (for the fourth time<br />
in a row). This time Fred Harris<br />
reports a bike trek from deep<br />
in Tibet to Nepal (Lhasa to<br />
Kathmandu). Fred says the desire<br />
for the trip long preceded his<br />
exposure to Greylock. “For my<br />
60th, I accomplished a goal I<br />
have had since the eighth grade<br />
and visited Tibet.” However,<br />
staring at the Berkshires and the<br />
climbing exhortations must have<br />
had some impact on this obsession<br />
sending so many classmates<br />
back to the mountains. These<br />
are not soft, pampered outings.<br />
Fred bicycled 670 miles in the<br />
mountainous region in about<br />
three weeks. He carried GPS<br />
equipment that recorded an<br />
astounding array of data. One<br />
day near the middle of the trip,<br />
he biked 47 miles in five-and-aquarter<br />
hours, gaining 3,294 feet<br />
in vertical height and burning<br />
2,827 calories. Sounds like the<br />
regimen of a graduate of ’93 or<br />
’03, not ’73.<br />
Meris Delli-Bovi kept up a<br />
frenetic pace of travel in an<br />
extended pre-60th celebration.<br />
As she explains, she decided<br />
that “constant motion” was the<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
perfect antidote to the 60 event.<br />
Constant motion it certainly was.<br />
At first, I had a hard time figuring<br />
out when these travels took<br />
place. Maybe in the 37 years<br />
since graduating from <strong>Williams</strong>?<br />
No, it turns out in a two-month<br />
period from the end of summer<br />
through mid-fall. Meris started<br />
by heading west from her home<br />
in Colorado to “the gorgeous<br />
wedding of my nephew Noah at<br />
my sister Jan’s place on the water<br />
at Whidbey Island, Wash.” She<br />
stayed for a week with her sister<br />
“in Coupeville, catching up,<br />
hiking and feasting on massive<br />
amounts of stone crab and oysters<br />
(a fantasy for Coloradans)<br />
pulled every couple of days from<br />
the bay.”<br />
Then to the East Coast<br />
for another wedding (niece<br />
Catherine) “on Cape Cod at her<br />
dad’s 50-acre horse farm.” Then<br />
to the Southwest and Austin in<br />
September “to see my ‘daughter’<br />
Joanna, Rob and their four<br />
kids” (ages 4-14). The eldest is a<br />
dancer, and that allowed Meris<br />
to experience the extravaganza<br />
of Texas high school football<br />
“with a halftime that made Glee<br />
look like amateur hour. There<br />
were literally hundreds of band<br />
members, dancers, cheerleaders,<br />
etc., on the field for a production<br />
that was far from the<br />
humble offerings I grew up on<br />
in Connecticut.” Meris tactfully<br />
did not dare compare the Texas<br />
show to the unique experiences<br />
of Weston Field.<br />
Then back to the East Coast<br />
and NYC “in early October to<br />
officially celebrate my 60th with<br />
my sister Jan, who flew in from<br />
Washington. We had a great time,<br />
including breakfast with Bill Finn<br />
’74, who is still working on his<br />
Little Miss Sunshine musical.<br />
They also got the chance to tour<br />
the Metropolitan Museum at<br />
“a leisurely pace” on one of its<br />
closed days “with nary a soul in<br />
sight.” Then back to Colorado to<br />
drive back to the North Carolina<br />
mountains for more celebration<br />
and the southern version of<br />
Berkshires foliage. Meris says<br />
she is recovering as <strong>2012</strong> begins<br />
and planning to start to cut<br />
back on work at the business<br />
she runs, Flatirons Marketing<br />
& Communications, “which<br />
provides community relations,<br />
technical writing, proposal<br />
management/writing and editing<br />
to engineering and environmental<br />
firms as well as nonprofits.” She<br />
says her enjoyment of the travel<br />
around her “seminal birthday”<br />
and the realization that “we are<br />
50 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
all not getting any younger” is<br />
leading her to think about cutting<br />
back a bit on work. Suggesting<br />
that getting older and acting<br />
older are different events, Meris<br />
follows that statement with plans<br />
to spend next July in Venice and<br />
study Italian for a month.<br />
After continuing to receive<br />
these tiring reports of adventurous<br />
athletic and travel feats<br />
(exhausting to read if not to<br />
experience), I was relieved to<br />
finally come across a note about<br />
an actual retirement.<br />
Barbara Smith Mitchell writes<br />
that Wylie “decided it was time<br />
to retire as the dean of admissions<br />
from Bates after 33 years.”<br />
Alas, retirement comes hard to<br />
this Class of ’73. Barbara notes<br />
that the retirement lasted “all of<br />
a couple of weeks until he joined<br />
the admission staff at Bowdoin<br />
as the Distinguished Visiting<br />
Dean of Admission.” From<br />
emeritus to visiting dean sounds<br />
like a nice, active inversion of the<br />
traditional emeritus pattern. One<br />
of the first people Wylie ran into<br />
at Bowdoin was Gil Birney ’72,<br />
“now Bowdoin’s rowing coach.”<br />
Barbara notes that Wylie is “also<br />
doing some consulting at the<br />
Waynflete School in Portland and<br />
putting all of his years of experience<br />
to work doing some private<br />
college counseling. He’d love<br />
to hear from any of you who<br />
still have kids facing the college<br />
admission process.”<br />
Dave Butts went west from his<br />
dental practice in the Virginia<br />
suburbs of DC and visited Steve<br />
Hobbs “in the Bay area as well as<br />
up the Sonoma coast. We were<br />
able to visit with his two daughters<br />
as well.” Dave also noted<br />
the next-generation education/<br />
career progress of his son David<br />
’06 and Larry Shoer’s son Joseph<br />
’06. Both recent graduates, good<br />
Eph friends, completed PhDs in<br />
engineering: David at MIT and<br />
Joseph at Cornell. David started<br />
work at Draper Labs at the start<br />
of <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Bill Eyre just had to walk the<br />
streets of New York, where he<br />
“literally bumped into” John<br />
Loeffler in early December and<br />
expressed amazement that John<br />
looks the same as at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
I can vouch for that, having<br />
run into John at a high school<br />
graduation six months earlier.<br />
Bill reports that his daughters at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> have graduated, and<br />
his “youngest is in college at<br />
Princeton playing number two<br />
on the women’s squash team.”<br />
One classmate has discovered<br />
the ability to enjoy mountains<br />
by looking up at them without<br />
scaling to the top. Linda Vipond<br />
Heath writes, “My husband and<br />
I took a trip to Hawaii for our<br />
shared 70th and 60th birthday<br />
celebrations. We didn’t scale<br />
any major mountains but did do<br />
some scuba diving and hiking<br />
in the Volcano National Park.”<br />
Linda reports, “All three children<br />
are out of the nest; my youngest<br />
just went off to Occidental<br />
<strong>College</strong>.” Linda also notes<br />
(literally) that she has returned to<br />
singing, joining “a local women’s<br />
a cappella group. Not having<br />
sung a cappella since my Ephlats<br />
days, I am finding it challenging<br />
but a lot of fun. We sing in<br />
nursing homes and at community<br />
events in Greenwich.”<br />
Milton Grenfell reports a<br />
significant milestone for Antonio<br />
Lulli Almenara, who “has finally<br />
become an American citizen.”<br />
Milton feigns shock “to think<br />
I was harboring an alien in my<br />
Bryant House suite for three<br />
years!”<br />
A number of classmates are<br />
adventuring into the wilds of in<br />
town apartment living. Chris Pitt<br />
reports: “Dottie and I sold the<br />
house in Milton and moved to a<br />
condominium in the old Baker<br />
Chocolate Mills in Dorchester,<br />
and I started a one-year term as<br />
president of the Massachusetts<br />
Real Estate Bar Association.”<br />
John Vestal has made a similar<br />
move to a downtown apartment<br />
in Dallas. One son, Andrew, was<br />
married In September; another,<br />
Charles, is to be married next<br />
September.<br />
At the Art Institute in<br />
downtown Chicago, Suzanne<br />
Folds McCullagh advanced to<br />
become the chair and curator<br />
of the department of prints<br />
and drawings. Suzanne has<br />
been in the prints department<br />
at the Art Institute for over<br />
35 years. The museum says<br />
she has “acquired some of the<br />
most significant works of art<br />
held by the Department of<br />
Prints and Drawings” and has<br />
curated “dozens of exhibitions”<br />
including one for this spring on<br />
“Capturing the Sublime: Italian<br />
Drawings of the Renaissance and<br />
Baroque.”<br />
I have another tidbit to add<br />
to the continued success of the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> art mafia. My daughter<br />
Kate Werble ’02 was featured in<br />
The New York Times Sunday<br />
arts section in October as one of<br />
New York’s new leading contemporary<br />
gallerists for her gallery in<br />
Chelsea, Kate Werble Gallery.<br />
Several classmates weighed
in on the varying reminiscences<br />
raised in the last two issues by<br />
Bill Cunningham and Jay Haug. In<br />
addition to her lively account of<br />
her birthday travels, Meris also<br />
shared her fond memories of<br />
Professor Stocking as “a marvelous<br />
teacher who knew how to<br />
make the American Renaissance<br />
come alive.” She recalled being<br />
called in for a conference with<br />
Stocking after a successful paper<br />
on Thoreau so that he could<br />
point out the “humorous undertone<br />
that ran through Walden.”<br />
Meris points out, “I love a<br />
teacher who would worry that a<br />
student might miss some of the<br />
joy in a literary masterpiece.”<br />
Meris adds that Stocking “was a<br />
free spirit and had a right to his<br />
own feelings on religion. It didn’t<br />
seem to affect his teaching of a<br />
time when religion was a main<br />
part of how people viewed the<br />
world.”<br />
Steve Hauge said he enjoyed<br />
the sharing of memories and<br />
opinions from different points of<br />
view and suggested some topics<br />
to try to stimulate more active<br />
discourse in future class notes.<br />
Steve and his twin brother have<br />
combined to create a website<br />
(www.truetheatergoer.com/) to<br />
create a community of theater<br />
goers and “to promote theater<br />
on Broadway and in DC by<br />
providing an enriching collection<br />
of information on current shows,<br />
topline reviews and ratings.”<br />
Steve welcomes “reviews from<br />
any classmates who have seen<br />
any of the shows posted.”<br />
Field Horne reports that a large<br />
contingent of our class turned<br />
out for a memorial service for<br />
Peter Klejna’s wife of 31 years,<br />
Margo Reid Klejna. The list of<br />
classmates at a service in late<br />
October: Mike Barry, Vanessa<br />
and Chris Brown, Carrie and Tracy<br />
Brown, Field Horne, Alice and<br />
Sandy McGill, Dan Schwartzman,<br />
Put Smith and Bill Teitler.<br />
1974<br />
Jonathan W. Fitch<br />
5 Cedar Hill Road<br />
Dover, MA 02030<br />
1974secretary@williams.edu<br />
Alas, I begin with a farewell to<br />
our cherished classmate Ronnie<br />
Krauss, who died of cancer in<br />
November. Heidi Jerome, Peter<br />
Talbert, Ed Ryan and Gates<br />
Blodgett visited with Ronnie,<br />
her husband Paul and sons<br />
Eric and Brett at their home in<br />
Irvington, N.Y., shortly before<br />
her death. Gates writes, “We<br />
had a relaxed time watching<br />
football, eating great food and<br />
telling tall tales from our days<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong> and specifically the<br />
endless adventures from Water<br />
Street, where we lived during<br />
1973-74. Ronnie was clearly<br />
on her last legs, but her sense of<br />
humor and wise view were fully<br />
intact. We were all lucky to have<br />
known her, a truly remarkable<br />
person. Heidi was especially<br />
helpful to Ronnie during the ups<br />
and downs of treatment over<br />
the past years, a great friend and<br />
remarkable in her own right.”<br />
Ronnie was a seven-time Emmy<br />
Award-winning TV producer<br />
and writer. Her creative brilliance,<br />
wit and warmth were<br />
expressed in the many projects<br />
she completed, including those<br />
as head writer of Nate the Great,<br />
a comedic mystery series for<br />
WNET/PBS; as producer/writer<br />
of What’s Going On?, a global<br />
documentary series produced by<br />
Showtime/RCN Entertainment<br />
in cooperation with the UN; as<br />
supervising producer/executive<br />
story editor of Out of the Box,<br />
a Disney Channel preschool<br />
arts and imagination series;<br />
and as producer/writer of<br />
Reading Rainbow, the nationally<br />
acclaimed series hosted<br />
by LeVar Burton. Ronnie also<br />
wrote scripts for shows such as<br />
Cyberchase, The Magic School<br />
Bus, Stanley, I Spy, Dragontales,<br />
Really Wild Animals, Sesame<br />
Stories and many others. She collaborated<br />
with Nobel Peace Prize<br />
recipient Elie Wiesel in creating<br />
a video based on his Passover<br />
Haggadah. Ronnie also authored<br />
14 children’s books and was cocreator<br />
of the first board game<br />
ever designed for grandparents<br />
to play with their grandchildren,<br />
“To Grandma’s House We<br />
Go!” As one of the pioneering<br />
women of ’74, Ronnie transferred<br />
from her beloved Vassar<br />
to <strong>Williams</strong>, where she majored<br />
in English and graduated at the<br />
top of our class and Phi Beta<br />
Kappa. I found a long, glowing<br />
professional recommendation<br />
for Ronnie on a website, which<br />
ends with the simple statement,<br />
“Really, you couldn’t ask for<br />
better.” I’d say that about sums it<br />
up. Our sympathies to Paul and<br />
Ronnie’s sons.<br />
The well-traveled Class of<br />
’74 has seen the world, in part,<br />
thanks to the junior-year trips<br />
abroad our children have taken.<br />
Nancy and Larry Peltz had an<br />
amazing trip to Cameroon,<br />
where their daughter Haley,<br />
a senior at Hamilton, was<br />
n 1973–74<br />
studying. Larry writes: “It is<br />
quite an amazing country, very<br />
long in the north-south axis<br />
and so contains many different<br />
ecosystems. We first went<br />
to Kribi, on the ocean, where<br />
people stop you on the beach<br />
offering to take their boats out<br />
for fish and shrimp for your dinner<br />
on the sand. The accommodations<br />
were spartan but quite<br />
reasonable for such a beautiful<br />
place. You just have to get there.<br />
From there, we took a bus to<br />
Douala, where we got a plane<br />
to Maroua in the extreme north.<br />
Mainly Islamic, the city has a<br />
much more low-key feel than<br />
the other major cities, Douala<br />
and Yaounde, the capital. We<br />
constructed a tour with a young<br />
guy we met at the airport and<br />
hoped for the best. This turned<br />
out to be mostly a good idea,<br />
as renting a car and driving to<br />
the mountains on your own is<br />
almost impossible—at least for<br />
me at this stage. I had been in<br />
Cameroon in 1982 and at that<br />
time there were no paved roads<br />
in the entire country. Now you<br />
just need a professional driver to<br />
navigate them. The landscape in<br />
the extreme north is extremely<br />
rugged, and our planned threeday<br />
hike through villages was<br />
shortened to returning to our<br />
hotel for dinner. However, our<br />
guide and friends we met were<br />
quite supportive and funny about<br />
our limited conditioning. The<br />
greatest thrill was getting around<br />
the country with Haley, whose<br />
ease and skillfulness with the<br />
people were great accompaniments<br />
to my half-assed French.<br />
We finished in Yaounde, hosted<br />
and feted by Haley’s family, professor<br />
and friends. It was a real<br />
eye opener seeing middle class<br />
homes without running water.<br />
We also went to a soccer game<br />
that ended in a tie but eliminated<br />
Cameroon from the Africa Cup<br />
tournament. In the ensuing<br />
riots, six people were killed. The<br />
disappointment of their team’s<br />
inability to score apparently<br />
goes quite deep.” Larry’s note<br />
also mentioned a minireunion in<br />
Cambridge. “Nan Elliot ’73 was<br />
visiting from Alaska, and we had<br />
a great visit. A bonus was getting<br />
to hang out with David Dryer ’72<br />
and Martha Bedell at their beautiful<br />
Cambridge house where Nan<br />
was staying. And I even got to<br />
see photos of that handsome<br />
John Dryer and his beautiful<br />
girls.” Larry is a therapist in<br />
NYC and is working on a book<br />
on the subject of mindfulness<br />
and addiction.<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
Here’s some news from two of<br />
the nearly 100 lawyers (yes, that<br />
is correct) in the Class of ’74.<br />
Joyce Gorman writes, “I am still<br />
a capital markets partner with<br />
Ashurst LLP, a London-based<br />
global law firm, in its DC office<br />
and often traveling to NY and<br />
elsewhere representing Wall<br />
Street clients, which has been<br />
a challenge in the financial<br />
markets and with the uncertainty<br />
of changing regulations. It has<br />
been very interesting to be with<br />
a global firm, though, to witness<br />
first-hand the worldwide financial<br />
issues that we read about in the<br />
paper. My husband Joe Fanone<br />
(Georgetown ’71, JD ’74) has<br />
been named managing partner<br />
of Ballard Spahr’s DC office.<br />
Our son Peter Fanone graduated<br />
from Georgetown Prep in June<br />
and is a freshman at Georgetown<br />
University. He released his first<br />
album, which is available on<br />
iTunes and at amazon.com (just<br />
search for his name), is very<br />
involved in acting and has been<br />
inducted into the Chimes a cappella<br />
group. Stepson Michael<br />
Fanone and his wife Hsin-yi gave<br />
birth to a baby girl on Christmas<br />
Eve several hours after leaving<br />
our annual Gorman family<br />
Christmas party (the timing could<br />
not have been more perfect!), and<br />
stepdaughter Kathleen Fanone is<br />
living in Baltimore and working<br />
at Johns Hopkins hospital. So<br />
everyone is busy and productive<br />
and starting to make plans for<br />
<strong>2012</strong>!” And from Minneapolis,<br />
Peter Reilly checks in saying, “I<br />
still practice PI law at Schwebel,<br />
Goetz & Sieben, and Patsy is still<br />
the senior VP of government programs<br />
for Blue Cross Blue Shield<br />
of MN. … Our daughter Sarah<br />
(Bowdoin ’06) has been awarded<br />
a Forte Fellowship to obtain her<br />
MBA at the Carlson School of<br />
Business here at the University<br />
of MN. The Forte Foundation<br />
is sponsored by many major<br />
national corporations, including<br />
PIMCO, Pfizer, Exxon Mobil and<br />
Goldman Sachs and has as its<br />
goal the promotion of women in<br />
MBA programs. Needless to say<br />
we are very proud of Sarah for<br />
achieving this honor. Patsy and<br />
I are also celebrating our 30th<br />
wedding anniversary with a trip<br />
to Germany this summer and will<br />
be visiting <strong>Williams</strong>town this fall<br />
as I am a national board member<br />
of the American Board of Trial<br />
Advocates, which is holding its<br />
fall meeting in Boston.”<br />
Thanks go to Jeff Elliott for<br />
once again organizing the<br />
Annual Class of ’74 Holiday<br />
52 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Lunch, which took place at the<br />
new home of the <strong>Williams</strong> Club<br />
in NYC. As the historian of<br />
the event, Jeff reports that the<br />
turnout was the largest ever. That<br />
is a good thing, and we hope<br />
that next year (on the eve of<br />
our 40th reunion!), many more<br />
will gather with us in NYC.<br />
Those present this year from<br />
our number were: Tom Cohen,<br />
Lusyd Doolittle, Phil DiMauro,<br />
Fran Doran, Tom Douglas, Jim<br />
Edwards, Audrey and Jeff Elliott,<br />
Bill Finn, Tom Hut, myself and<br />
wife Deb, Jeff Johnson, Jerry<br />
Kapp, Bob Kaus, Matty Levine,<br />
Carol and Rich Levy, Jenny and<br />
Dave Maraghy, Skip March, Chuck<br />
Mitchell, Janet Keyes O’Connell,<br />
“Grace (x2) Paine Terzian,” Bob<br />
Rothman, Bruce Sheehan, Tom<br />
Slattery, Shellie and Rick Unger,<br />
Iris Wolisnky and Betsy Howard<br />
from <strong>Williams</strong>. Some tidbits from<br />
the good cheer of this excellent<br />
annual tradition: Rick Unger is<br />
energized by a transition in his<br />
legal career; he has moved from<br />
his solo practice to the large<br />
national firm, Duane Morris,<br />
where he began his career (and<br />
stayed as partner for a number<br />
of years) and he is now acting<br />
as special counsel for business<br />
development. Jeff Johnson is back<br />
to work in NYC as executive VP/<br />
general manager of Cramer-<br />
Krasselt, the second largest<br />
independent marketing and<br />
advertising agency in the country.<br />
Tom Cohen, another consummate<br />
New Yorker, is enjoying work<br />
as an investor in media and new<br />
technologies. It was good to<br />
meet first-time attendee Tom Hut,<br />
an accomplished architect, who<br />
has worked, for instance, with<br />
the Guggenheim Museum on<br />
projects in NYC (in Soho and on<br />
the Frank Lloyd Wright project<br />
uptown) and on the design and<br />
construction of the Guggenheim<br />
Museum in Bilbao. Grace times<br />
two? Grace’s daughter Gracie,<br />
a UVA undergrad, was in NYC<br />
for an internship with Saturday<br />
Night Live: Flaming hair,<br />
winning smile, and Southern<br />
charm—well, Grace’s daughter.<br />
Deb and I ran into Grace later<br />
at a production of Follies (by<br />
Stephen Sondheim ’50) that Bill<br />
had recommended. Richard Story<br />
could not make our lunch, but<br />
Dave Maraghy wrote that they<br />
were able to enjoy lunch together<br />
the following day.<br />
Julie Scandora is picking up the<br />
pieces following a devastating<br />
fire in her home in the Seattle<br />
area. She says, “I took it all<br />
pretty well. Really, what can one<br />
do but move on? So I’ve been<br />
having a wonderful (usually) and<br />
frustrating (once in a while) time<br />
redesigning and reconstructing<br />
my house. Meanwhile I continue<br />
to edit book manuscripts for<br />
a local publisher and love the<br />
variety, the challenges and helping<br />
the many good authors that<br />
come my way. As for my watercolors,<br />
the fire destroyed almost<br />
all of my artwork, and I must<br />
rebuild my inventory. I haven’t<br />
even had time to get art supplies.<br />
My published books went the<br />
same way—all gone—as well as<br />
the illustrations I had done for<br />
my next children’s book. So I<br />
have a lot of starting over to do<br />
this year.<br />
My family is doing well. My<br />
son and oldest daughter and her<br />
family live nearby, and I get to<br />
see them often, which is especially<br />
good since two grandsons<br />
are part of the mix. All in all, life<br />
is good, balanced with time for<br />
friends, family, outdoors, intellectual<br />
activity, creative endeavors<br />
and uninterrupted peace.”<br />
1975<br />
Julia Berens<br />
22 Sperry Lane<br />
Lansing, NY 14882<br />
1975secretary@williams.edu<br />
As I write this, Upstate New<br />
York is experiencing the winter<br />
that wasn’t; 53 degrees during<br />
the first week in January means<br />
a lot less salt on one’s car and no<br />
possibility of local cross-country<br />
skiing. Breaking news is that I<br />
have just agreed to climb back<br />
into the saddle (and out of retirement)<br />
to teach the senior class<br />
in Lansing, N.Y., for the entire<br />
second semester while a teacher<br />
is on maternity leave.<br />
Becoming China’s Bitch<br />
and Nine More Catastrophes<br />
We Must Avoid Right Now is<br />
the (admittedly) provocative<br />
title of Peter Kiernan’s newly<br />
released book examining “why<br />
we are frozen as a nation, and<br />
10 problems we must have the<br />
courage to face.” Peter’s intended<br />
audience is neither Republicans<br />
nor Democrats but Independents,<br />
“the largest and fastest growing<br />
political segment.” Somewhat<br />
less jarring is the title of K.K.<br />
DuVivier’s book The Renewable<br />
Energy Reader, a sourcebook for<br />
U.S. renewable energy law. Jeff<br />
Thaler ’74 is using the book as<br />
a text for his renewable energy<br />
class at the University of Maine.<br />
K.K.’s daughter was married in<br />
November, and her son received
an NSF grant for grad work<br />
on solar panels at UC Santa<br />
Barbara. K.K. and fellow geo<br />
majors Mike Wilson and Ben Duke<br />
try to see Professor Bud Wobus<br />
whenever he is in Denver.<br />
Two classmates spent January<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong>town as Winter Study<br />
instructors. Will Parish taught<br />
“Environmental Education:<br />
What, How and Why?” Will’s<br />
wife Julie won an award for her<br />
fundraising efforts on behalf<br />
of the National Parks in San<br />
Francisco. Chan Lowe co-taught<br />
“Editorial Cartooning and the<br />
Art of Propaganda” with E.J.<br />
Johnson ’59, who addressed<br />
the art history side while Chan<br />
taught students how to draw and<br />
communicate. Last fall, Chan<br />
was inducted into the Oklahoma<br />
Cartoonists Hall of Fame in<br />
recognition of nine years he spent<br />
working for Oklahoma newspapers<br />
and his work as a Florida<br />
journalist.<br />
After five and a half months,<br />
Chuck Chokel reports that he has<br />
recovered from his 2011 bike<br />
injury. He and Naira alternate<br />
between their New Hampshire<br />
and Arizona homes with plenty<br />
of domestic and international<br />
travel as well as triathlons to fill<br />
in the gaps.<br />
Dede and Tony Brown traveled<br />
to New Hampshire to welcome<br />
Tony’s third grandchild,<br />
Thatcher, born Dec. 3. Hermien<br />
and Phil Less love living in Rhode<br />
Island and celebrated their first<br />
year back in New England since<br />
1975. Bobby Kittredge is stateside<br />
after two and a half years in<br />
France. His wife found the<br />
perfect job in Sacramento, and<br />
Bobby is “better suited to English<br />
and optimists” and is still changing<br />
diapers. He recommends<br />
watching the 20-minute lectures<br />
in the EphNotes emails, which<br />
are helping him “stop flunking<br />
out of <strong>Williams</strong> in my dreams.”<br />
Margaret Stuhr checked in from<br />
Chicago, where she and husband<br />
Tim Quinn ’77 celebrated the<br />
marriage of their daughter Katie<br />
Quinn ’08 to Bryan Eckelmann<br />
’09 in July. Janean Abbott and<br />
husband Tracy Slack came from<br />
Oregon to join the festivities,<br />
which sounded like a massive<br />
Ephfest with alumni from the<br />
’70s and ’80s as well as current<br />
students including Margaret and<br />
Tim’s son Andy ’13.<br />
Always a source of ’75 news,<br />
Anton Bestebreurtje watched the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>/Amherst game with<br />
Bob (Milt) Morin, Gene Frogale,<br />
Lucy and Bob Beck and Larry<br />
Patent ’74. Anton provided this<br />
report: “Milt has retired from<br />
his administrative position at<br />
St. Elizabeth’s but maintains<br />
his private psychology practice.<br />
Gene opened a sideline for their<br />
lumber business that caters to<br />
custom builders and is always<br />
nice enough to offer Redskins<br />
tickets to Milt and Anton. Lucy<br />
continues in an internal medicine<br />
practice. Apparently Bob felt<br />
that dealing with preemies as a<br />
neonatologist wasn’t enough of a<br />
challenge, so he’s about to get an<br />
online MBA from UMass. Larry<br />
is in private practice after retiring<br />
from the U.S. government.”<br />
Sam Bronfman, living in<br />
Barcelona for the school year,<br />
reports that his Spanish is<br />
improving slowly and that he is<br />
becoming a fan of international<br />
“football.” Bonnie Harris had a<br />
fabulous holiday in France to celebrate<br />
her husband Larry’s 60th<br />
birthday. I guess after 30-plus<br />
years in Sydney, every day<br />
doesn’t seem like a holiday in<br />
the Land of Oz. Amy and Allan<br />
Ruchman took an online course<br />
through Princeton on “The Art<br />
of Engineering” (greatest hits of<br />
buildings and bridges over the<br />
last 150 years), and Allan continues<br />
to sing with the Greenwich<br />
Choral Society. He reports that<br />
Tully Moss is alive and well<br />
and visited Connecticut before<br />
returning to the Philippines,<br />
where he is doing management<br />
consulting and teaching management<br />
education courses for<br />
various companies.<br />
Polly Smith and her family rang<br />
in the New Year with Liz Titus,<br />
who looks forward to attending<br />
the ordination of Barnaby Feder<br />
’72 into the Unitarian ministry<br />
in <strong>2012</strong>. Liz writes, “Thanks<br />
to an enduring friendship with<br />
Professor Roger Bolton, I had<br />
the opportunity to write a book<br />
review that will be in the Journal<br />
of Regional Science.” Liz is<br />
fortunate to have the inspiration<br />
of her parents’ “vim, vigor and<br />
60 years of marriage!”<br />
Ned Reade spent a week last<br />
summer working at an orphanage<br />
in Haiti and found the<br />
experience to be transformative.<br />
Bottled water was readily<br />
available, but electricity and<br />
other “necessities” were spotty,<br />
if available at all. It sounds as if<br />
Ned believes that a jolt to one’s<br />
perspective can be a good thing.<br />
My request for news elicited a<br />
lengthy response from Gene Falk,<br />
who has decided after 10 years of<br />
working with mothers2mothers,<br />
the last seven of them in Cape<br />
Town, to step down as m2m’s<br />
n 1974–76<br />
CEO and return to the States<br />
in <strong>2012</strong>. Ten years ago, after<br />
visiting his college roommate<br />
Mitch Besser ’76, who had just<br />
launched the very first Mentor<br />
Mother program in Cape Town,<br />
Gene was hooked. He writes,<br />
“One mother at a time, the<br />
Mentor Mothers battle stigma<br />
and discrimination, confounding<br />
expectations of what it means to<br />
be a woman living with HIV and<br />
becoming important role models<br />
for personal and economic<br />
empowerment.” Kudos to Gene<br />
for his tireless work for one of<br />
the most successful grassroots<br />
programs on the planet whose<br />
aim is to improve people’s lives.<br />
The fall included two noteworthy<br />
experiences for me. The first<br />
was meeting and “chillin’” with<br />
Bill Murray (of SNL fame), clad<br />
in his pink pants, at the Cornell-<br />
Harvard football game. Unless<br />
someone can introduce me to Sir<br />
Paul, I have probably maxed out<br />
as far as celeb encounters go. The<br />
second and far more worthwhile<br />
and enjoyable experience was<br />
spending an October afternoon<br />
with Sage F classmate Akua Lezli<br />
White at her house in Corning,<br />
N.Y. Lezli is wheelchair-bound<br />
due to transverse myelitis, but<br />
there is nothing “bound” about<br />
Lezli’s spirit, energy and humor. I<br />
brought my 40-year-old copy of<br />
What’s What (with all our high<br />
school senior pictures), and we<br />
laughed and reminisced about<br />
many of you. We both learned<br />
things about <strong>Williams</strong> from<br />
1971-75 that neither of us had<br />
known before.<br />
Just a reminder that what you<br />
see as your ho-hum existence is<br />
very likely of great interest to<br />
your classmates—so please send<br />
along a report of how <strong>2012</strong> is<br />
shaping up for you!<br />
1976<br />
Jane Ray Kell<br />
4 Spring Lake Place NW<br />
Atlanta, GA 30318<br />
1976secretary@williams.edu<br />
Hello, everyone. I have sad<br />
news to report this time. George<br />
Powell Jr. passed away on Nov.<br />
12 in Tampa, Fla., where he<br />
lived for 28 years and worked<br />
as an economic development<br />
manager at Boone, Young &<br />
Associates and as a program<br />
director at Central City Family<br />
YMCA. He is survived by his<br />
mother Leonarda Powell and<br />
daughter Garvey Powell. The<br />
funeral was held in Tampa,<br />
and the burial at Laurel Grove<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 53
CLASS NOTES<br />
Cemetery in George’s hometown<br />
of Savannah, Ga.<br />
I heard from Don Firke in<br />
October, just after sending in<br />
the last edition of notes. Don<br />
is upper school head at the<br />
Potomac School in McLean,<br />
Va., and is enjoying his position<br />
very much. “Great school, great<br />
colleagues,” he writes. “Feels like<br />
I’ve found a home. My kids are<br />
in college. My son will graduate<br />
from Wesleyan in May with a<br />
degree in English and government.<br />
He thinks he might like to<br />
work in new media (he blogged<br />
and tweeted for the Department<br />
of Education last summer),<br />
but he may go into teaching.<br />
Time will tell. My daughter is a<br />
sophomore at Swarthmore, and<br />
she thinks she’s interested in science.<br />
She’s taking a lot of biology<br />
classes and is enthusiastic about<br />
the subject. I think the closest<br />
I came to a science class at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> was ‘History of Science’<br />
with Donald deB. Beaver, but<br />
she really likes it. My wife Lisa<br />
continues her web design business,<br />
but she is taking advantage<br />
of our move to diversify a little.<br />
We have been able to make an<br />
art studio for her, and she has<br />
opened up a little shop on Etsy<br />
to sell some of her artwork.”<br />
Glad things are going so well for<br />
you, Don!<br />
Susan and George Evans spent<br />
their sixth winter in Florida after<br />
an October trip to Europe, where<br />
they visited Normandy, Brittany,<br />
Paris, Amsterdam and the<br />
English Cotswolds. Son George<br />
’04 is a second-year associate at<br />
Goodwin Proctor in NYC, and<br />
younger son Tim ’06 is the production<br />
manager at the Brooklyn<br />
Brew Shop in Brooklyn, N.Y.<br />
George Sr. has launched a business,<br />
OnDeckBioTech, with his<br />
two sons and a nephew to provide<br />
an online marketplace for<br />
small pharmaceutical and biotech<br />
companies. Susan and George<br />
had a bittersweet Christmas as it<br />
was the first since her mother’s<br />
death in January 2011, but they<br />
are doing well and continue to<br />
enjoy living in Bradenton, Fla.<br />
“My father, C. Gorham “Doc”<br />
Phillips ’43, died on Dec. 8<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
54 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
John Bell ’76 (left) visited classmate Masaharu Kohno, who is Japan’s<br />
ambassador to Italy, on trip to Rome in November.<br />
after 90 years of wonderfully<br />
full life,” writes Tacey Phillips<br />
Carroll. “He is the main reason<br />
I went to <strong>Williams</strong>, although<br />
he was an impossible act to<br />
follow. At <strong>Williams</strong> he was<br />
president of Gargoyle Society,<br />
chairman-secretary of Phi Beta<br />
Kappa, editor-in-chief of the<br />
Record and associate editor of<br />
the Purple Cow in addition to<br />
being a JA and Tyng Scholar and<br />
who knows what else! As one<br />
of his good friends, Malcolm S.<br />
(McGurk) MacGruer ’43, wrote to<br />
me: ‘We will all miss dear Doc,<br />
leader, friend, advisor, example<br />
setter, humorist, classmate.<br />
Without his advice and counsel<br />
my books could never have been<br />
written and my sense of humor<br />
kept active.’ Ditto, McGurk!”<br />
Susan and Tacey are not the<br />
only classmates who have lost<br />
parents this year. My mother,<br />
who had been ill for several<br />
months, died unexpectedly on<br />
Dec. 13, and Susan Collings lost<br />
her mother on Nov. 30. Despite<br />
the sad news, Susan also had<br />
happy news: Her niece Lindsey<br />
Vandergrift was recruited for the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> women’s soccer team<br />
and got the “early decision nod”<br />
that she will be a member of the<br />
Class of 2016. “My daughter<br />
and other nieces and nephews<br />
have covered a ton of great<br />
schools—Swarthmore, Yale,<br />
Dartmouth, Middlebury—but<br />
Lindsey is the first to choose my<br />
alma mater, so <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
will be seeing more of me at<br />
women’s soccer home games<br />
starting next fall!” Susan was<br />
planning a trip to Beijing and<br />
Shanghai at the end of January,<br />
“a super bargain trip on a<br />
Groupon” and preparing for The<br />
Art Connection’s signature event<br />
on March 24, “Art Bingo,” in<br />
Boston.<br />
Ellen O’Donnell reports that she<br />
has been living in the DC area<br />
for the past two decades, working<br />
as a technical writer/editor<br />
in the medical field. “For the<br />
past 12 years, I’ve been with the<br />
National Institutes of Health’s<br />
center for alternative and<br />
complementary medicine, a fascinating<br />
window into the world’s<br />
healing traditions. I spent a<br />
year in the Library of Congress’<br />
Office of Strategic Initiatives,<br />
working on the preservation<br />
of cultural treasures in digital/<br />
digitized forms. Just moved into<br />
a great house in Silver Spring,<br />
Md., and am busy getting up<br />
my art and music studio. Hope<br />
to retire from the government<br />
in four years, moving on to new<br />
adventures. Enjoy hearing from<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> folks.”<br />
DC Dugdale writes that his<br />
daughter Emily ’14 was involved<br />
in the <strong>Williams</strong> Record’s reporting<br />
of the campus events of the<br />
fall, including the hate crime that<br />
occurred. “It was great to see her<br />
passion for working on reporting<br />
things accurately.” Emily enjoyed<br />
a Winter Study journalism course<br />
and was “trying to arrange a<br />
study abroad program for her<br />
junior year. It gives me nostalgia<br />
for Winter Study, when we could<br />
study at ‘half speed’ surrounded<br />
by a great environment and our<br />
friends!” DC’s younger daughter<br />
will be entering college next year.<br />
Deb ’77 and John Hoover<br />
enjoyed having their family home<br />
for Christmas in Ohio. Catherine<br />
’09 is working at Mass General<br />
for a clinical trial team after<br />
spending two years at Worcester
1976 classmates Sandy and Kristi Bragg (far left and fourth from right,<br />
respectively) celebrated their son’s October wedding in Vermont with<br />
Ephs from the Classes of 1969 through <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Academy teaching biology and<br />
chemistry. Jack ’15 lives in Sage<br />
D and is studying Arabic and<br />
economics while rowing for the<br />
JV crew team and serving on the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town fire brigade. John<br />
is U.S. CEO for Export Now<br />
Inc., a startup based in Akron,<br />
Ohio. The company helps U.S.<br />
consumer product manufacturers<br />
export and sell items in China<br />
on Taobao Mall, the largest B2C<br />
e-commerce site. Deb is president<br />
of the Burton D. Morgan<br />
Foundation, which supports<br />
entrepreneurship in Northeastern<br />
Ohio. She also is on the advisory<br />
board for the Norman Rockwell<br />
Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.,<br />
and is taking classes toward<br />
her PhD in art history at Case<br />
Western University. John and<br />
Deb planned to spend Masters<br />
weekend in Georgia with Barney<br />
Ireland ’77, Bill Goodell ’77 and<br />
Chris Vogelsang ’77 and their<br />
significant others.<br />
Deb Nelson was looking<br />
forward to a weekend in Boston<br />
of “Frozen Fenway hockey,<br />
Prince Pizza, Lenny Clarke<br />
comedy and Patriots football!<br />
Vinny McLoughlin will be in town<br />
along with Gus Nilson, his son<br />
Matt and wife Cheryl. Other<br />
participants will include Paul<br />
Nelson, Steve Castraberti, Patti<br />
and Mike Capone ’75, and rumor<br />
has it there may be an Al Skene<br />
’77 sighting as well! Should be a<br />
great time!”<br />
“In mid-October 2011 I elected<br />
to retire early at the ripe old<br />
age of 58 from People’s United<br />
Bank after almost 22 1 ⁄2 years as a<br />
portfolio manager in their wealth<br />
management and trust department,”<br />
writes Alex Rosten. “Of<br />
course my wife Susana gave me<br />
her blessing, albeit with some<br />
reservations. I am now a ‘stayat-home’<br />
investor, glued to the<br />
computer screen watching the<br />
stock market and CNBC and<br />
Bloomberg TV. Dark suits and<br />
business casual attire have been<br />
replaced with sweat pants and<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> sweatshirts. It’s been<br />
wonderful thus far.”<br />
Alex, Susana and daughter<br />
Amy, a high school junior, went<br />
to <strong>Williams</strong>town in January for a<br />
basketball game and dinner with<br />
Alex’s twin brother Mike Rosten<br />
’75, his wife Margie, Sunny and<br />
Steve Piltch ’77, and Pat and Tom<br />
Carey ’77. Alex’s oldest daughter<br />
Jessica ’08 and boyfriend Tyler<br />
Auer ’07 drove over from Boston<br />
and were joined by Jamie Rosten<br />
’13 and Matt ’12 and Ali Piltch<br />
’14. The weekend included a surprise<br />
visit from Harry and Connie<br />
Sheehy, both Class of ’75, who<br />
drove down from Dartmouth<br />
<strong>College</strong>. “Seventeen people representing<br />
nine different <strong>Williams</strong><br />
classes broke bread that night at<br />
Hobson’s Choice,” writes Alex.<br />
“It was a lovely evening and a<br />
testament to long-term college<br />
friendships. I hope my kids will<br />
do the same with some of their<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> friends when they are<br />
old and wrinkled.”<br />
“After two years living in<br />
South Bend, Ind., Rick ’77 and<br />
I have returned to the Boston<br />
area,” writes Chris Woodring<br />
Siegrist. “We are happy to be<br />
‘home’ on the East Coast near<br />
family and friends. Rick is back<br />
to doing what he loves, teaching<br />
and working on two startup<br />
companies. As I have in the past,<br />
I am working with him on the<br />
n 1976<br />
startups as director of finance<br />
and all-around detail person. I<br />
am very lucky to be able to manage<br />
my work schedule so that I<br />
can also play lots of tennis! Rick<br />
is teaching at Harvard School of<br />
Public Health and working part<br />
time as chief innovation officer<br />
for Press Ganey Associates, a<br />
patient satisfaction survey and<br />
performance improvement<br />
company. So we are very busy<br />
but also have lots of flexibility<br />
in our schedules. Our children<br />
are grown. Tracey, 28, is living<br />
nearby and working as a senior<br />
data analyst for Press Ganey (no,<br />
Rick did not get her the job).<br />
Ryan, 25, is back in school doing<br />
an MBA at UNC.” Chris and<br />
Rick missed our reunion due to a<br />
flight cancellation in South Bend,<br />
but they plan to attend Rick’s<br />
reunion this year.<br />
“2011 was a year chock full of<br />
wonderful <strong>Williams</strong> connections,<br />
and that beat went on right into<br />
the New Year for our family!”<br />
writes Ellin Goetz, who visited<br />
with Cappy Hill and Kent Kildahl<br />
at Vassar last spring and “really,<br />
really loved sleeping in those<br />
presidential digs.” Ellin and husband<br />
Mike Watkins ’75 “finagled”<br />
a Vermont summer dinner with<br />
Theresa and Paul Shiels ’76,<br />
who are proud new grandparents,<br />
and the “always elusive”<br />
Mark Sinclair ’75, his wife Boo<br />
and their two sons. Ellin and<br />
Mike’s three kids, two of whom<br />
attend <strong>Williams</strong> and the third,<br />
Hamilton, also joined them. Also<br />
during the summer, Ellin and<br />
Mike celebrated the Cornell hotel<br />
school graduation of Marcia and<br />
Bruce Humphrey’s ’75 youngest<br />
daughter Emily at their home in<br />
Norwell, Mass. They also barbecued<br />
on Labor Day with Harry<br />
and Connie Sheehey, both ’75, at<br />
their “splendid new spread” in<br />
Hanover, N.H. “I am stunned by<br />
how quickly green has overtaken<br />
purple in their world!” writes<br />
Ellin.<br />
The end of the year brought<br />
a reunion with Mark and Jan<br />
Goldman Carter, who joined Ellin<br />
and Mike for “a sunset beer or<br />
two together at the newly renovated<br />
Beach Bar” at Mike’s business,<br />
the Naples Beach Hotel.<br />
“That Beach Bar scene continued<br />
to rock on into the New Year,<br />
with Vin McLoughlin ’76 sporting<br />
soft pastel cashmere sweaters in<br />
his attempt to fit into the local<br />
scene, along with Andy ‘the Bear’<br />
and Suzanne Peterson, both ’75,<br />
from Colorado, and their savvy<br />
daughters Betsy and Katie ’08.<br />
Some stories were told during<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 55
CLASS NOTES<br />
that eve of our New Year about<br />
times at <strong>Williams</strong> that sent the<br />
Peterson and Watkins kids howling<br />
into the night, aghast at our<br />
Boomer generation! Who knew<br />
that climbing dorm walls was an<br />
extracurricular activity back in<br />
the day? Just goes to show that<br />
some selective rule breaking can<br />
be really, really fun, and here’s to<br />
more of it in <strong>2012</strong>!”<br />
Finally, I am told that we had<br />
a great turnout for the Class of<br />
1976 fall tailgate in October.<br />
Among those present were Deb<br />
and Paul Nelson, Chris Oates,<br />
Jody Hale Norton, Ray and Karen<br />
Bliss, Peter and Joanie Shainman<br />
Zegras, Chris and Rick Siegrist<br />
’77, Steve Castraberti, Liza Fraser,<br />
Steve Hein, Dan Yeadon and Vinny<br />
McLoughlin. If you haven’t yet<br />
seen the photos, check them out<br />
on our class Facebook page.<br />
Well that’s it for this edition<br />
of class notes. I hope you will<br />
write me with your news in the<br />
spring so I can continue to keep<br />
everyone up to date. Until then,<br />
best wishes for a great start to the<br />
New Year!<br />
1977<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Daiva (Garbus) Gasperetti<br />
401 East 74th St. #5C<br />
New York, NY 10021<br />
1977secretary@williams.edu<br />
Dear classmates, I would like<br />
to take a moment to remind you<br />
that our 35th reunion will be here<br />
before we know it! The dates are<br />
June 7-10, and I hope you will<br />
make it back to <strong>Williams</strong>town for<br />
a fun weekend of good company,<br />
a broad range of activities plus<br />
several hearty repasts and libations<br />
to suit all. If you have rarely<br />
(or never) attended a reunion, this<br />
is the year to come back, expand<br />
your circle of <strong>Williams</strong> friends<br />
and enjoy all that the Purple<br />
Valley has to offer. Why not call<br />
a fellow classmate and book<br />
your trip together? If you’d like<br />
to be involved in any of the planning,<br />
please contact our Class<br />
President Patty May Thomsson at<br />
p.thomsson@comcast.net, or find<br />
her on Facebook. Register for the<br />
reunion online today!<br />
Now for the news. We are<br />
honored to boast two classmates<br />
as presidents of institutions of<br />
higher education: Fred Lawrence<br />
and Clayton Spencer.<br />
A lawyer with civil rights<br />
expertise, Fred Lawrence has been<br />
met with accolades as the new<br />
56 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
president of Brandeis University.<br />
According to an article in The<br />
Jewish Daily Forward, “To many<br />
students and faculty, Lawrence<br />
has practically achieved rock star<br />
status.” Formerly a dean of The<br />
George Washington University<br />
Law School, he became president<br />
in January 2011. According to<br />
the article, Fred is not planning<br />
to lead a building boom;<br />
rather, he will focus primarily on<br />
improving programs and building<br />
relationships on campus and<br />
abroad. “He is well aware that<br />
he is leading a university that<br />
has a unique history. Founded<br />
in 1948, Brandeis describes<br />
itself as the only nonsectarian<br />
Jewish-sponsored university in<br />
the country.” In tune with the<br />
school’s heritage as well as its<br />
diversity, one of his plans is to<br />
expand the university’s programs<br />
in India. According to Fred: “The<br />
genius of this place is it’s both<br />
an open nonsectarian institution<br />
and a school that has deep roots<br />
in the Jewish community. … I do<br />
not see that as a paradox. … You<br />
always embrace your strengths.”<br />
The Bates <strong>College</strong> Board of<br />
Trustees “unanimously and<br />
enthusiastically agreed that<br />
Clayton Spencer is the best<br />
possible choice to lead Bates<br />
at this key time in the college’s<br />
history. She is a true national<br />
leader in higher education, and<br />
she understands Bates in a very<br />
personal way, endorsing its innovative<br />
approach to the academic<br />
curriculum and its unpretentious<br />
ambition for excellence<br />
in all aspects of the liberal arts<br />
experience in the 21st century.”<br />
Currently, Clayton is VP for<br />
policy at Harvard University and<br />
will become the eighth president<br />
of Bates on July 1. A graduate of<br />
Yale Law School, Clayton served<br />
at the national level as chief education<br />
counsel in the U.S. Senate,<br />
working for the late Sen. Edward<br />
M. Kennedy. For the past 15<br />
years Clayton has worked with<br />
four Harvard presidents to shape<br />
key initiatives. She is widely<br />
regarded as an extraordinarily<br />
collaborative and effective leader<br />
in higher education. In Clayton’s<br />
words, “I am honored and<br />
humbled to be asked to serve<br />
as the next president of Bates<br />
<strong>College</strong>. It is such a privilege to<br />
be invited to join this very special<br />
community—on campus and<br />
beyond—and to imagine our<br />
work together as we write the<br />
next chapter in the life of this<br />
remarkable institution.”<br />
Bruce Orkin, MD, chief of<br />
the division of colon and rectal<br />
surgery, was appointed vice<br />
chair of academic affairs in the<br />
Department of Surgery at Tufts<br />
Medical Center. Bruce and his<br />
wife Ethel are now enjoying<br />
their third year in Boston, having<br />
moved there after 20 years in<br />
DC. Last summer they drove<br />
from Boston to Chicago to visit<br />
their son Daniel, who recently<br />
graduated from Brandeis. They<br />
made a stop in <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
Ethel’s first after hearing about<br />
it for 30 years. It was a gorgeous<br />
day in the Berkshires, and even<br />
Ethel, a graduate of UCLA, had<br />
to admit that <strong>Williams</strong> is a stunningly<br />
beautiful place. Of course,<br />
she didn’t have to deal with the<br />
long winters or that fifth season<br />
between winter and spring—sleet.<br />
Deb DePorter Hoover is looking<br />
forward to our reunion<br />
and the opportunity to catch<br />
up with classmates. She was in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town last fall, visiting<br />
son Jack ’15, a freshman living<br />
in Sage D. He is very happy and<br />
volunteers with the <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
Fire Department. Those of you<br />
living in the Northeast will<br />
remember the enormous freak<br />
snowstorm that hit late last<br />
October. As luck would have<br />
it, Parents’ Weekend took place<br />
at the same time. According to<br />
Deb, “We had the full Berkshire<br />
experience during our visit!”<br />
Daughter Catherine ’09 is living<br />
in Boston and works at Mass<br />
General. While in <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
Deb enjoyed seeing Martha<br />
Pritchard, whose daughter Emma<br />
’15 is a freshman as well.<br />
All is well with Rich Remmer.<br />
He has been working with a<br />
local “Friends Group” to help<br />
the state of New York preserve<br />
the Connetquot River State Park<br />
Preserve. The projects include<br />
the restoration of an 18th<br />
century grist mill that is perhaps<br />
the only surviving horizontal<br />
grist mill located east of the<br />
Mississippi and the refurbishing<br />
of the historic 19th century<br />
trout hatchery, along with the<br />
design and construction of a new<br />
environmental education center.<br />
Daughter Meredith is in her third<br />
year at NYU Medical School and<br />
loving it. Son Max is a project<br />
manager with a large construction<br />
firm that specializes in NYC<br />
waterfront projects. Last summer<br />
Rich and his wife Kathie enjoyed<br />
dinner with Chris Vogelsang and<br />
his fiancée Karen. “She is a truly<br />
wonderful lady. I can still visualize<br />
that classic Vogelsang smile<br />
when he introduced us!” Rich<br />
extends an invitation to any classmates<br />
visiting Abaco, Bahamas,
in <strong>April</strong> to stop by and say hello.<br />
The bonefish are always biting!<br />
Sending a “short report, big<br />
news,” Ed Bacher wrote to say<br />
that he was laid off in January of<br />
last year then offered a new job<br />
with Google in June. So after 10<br />
years in New Hampshire he was<br />
on his way to California. Enjoy<br />
the Google amenities, Ed!<br />
Steven White continues to<br />
publish. His most recent work<br />
is an ecocritical study, Arando el<br />
aire: la ecología en la poesía y la<br />
música de Nicaragua (Plowing<br />
the Air: Ecology in the Poetry<br />
and Music of Nicaragua).<br />
The Nicaraguan Ministry of<br />
Education is distributing the<br />
book to public high schools<br />
and universities throughout the<br />
country.<br />
A brief note from Tim Hester<br />
announced that he has been<br />
elected to serve a second fouryear<br />
term as the chair of the management<br />
committee of Covington<br />
& Burling. “Covington is a<br />
firm of about 800 lawyers with<br />
offices in DC, New York, San<br />
Francisco, Silicon Valley, San<br />
Diego, London, Brussels and<br />
Beijing—so this position is endless<br />
entertainment!”<br />
Sending season’s greetings from<br />
Pennsylvania, Rick Bartlett wrote<br />
that he continues to work as an<br />
OB/GYN physician as well as<br />
an instructor at his hospital’s<br />
residency program, where 1,000<br />
babies a year are delivered. He<br />
and wife Valerie have three<br />
children, Henry, Lincoln and<br />
Emily. Last May Lincoln married<br />
Jaime Miller. Ed and Art Wilk, an<br />
oral surgeon in Guilford, Conn.,<br />
remain in contact. Art and wife<br />
Nancy have two daughters, Ellen<br />
’07 and Nancy.<br />
Jim Ford finds that “our children<br />
continue to help us stay in<br />
touch with classmates.” Last fall<br />
Jim and his wife toured a bit of<br />
Washington before visiting their<br />
daughter for Parents’ Weekend<br />
at Whitman <strong>College</strong>. In Seattle<br />
they enjoyed a great evening and<br />
dinner with Jane Lester and her<br />
family. Later, while waiting in the<br />
airport for their flight home, they<br />
ran into Mary Burton Nelp! Small<br />
world.<br />
In December, Rich Spicer played<br />
in six harpsichord performances<br />
for the Candlelight Christmas<br />
Stroll at Strawbery Banke<br />
Museum in Portsmouth, N.H.<br />
He also managed to pass the<br />
qualifying exams for his PhD in<br />
early December, “confirming that<br />
you can indeed fool some of the<br />
people some of the time!”<br />
Joel Scheiman wrote to share<br />
some practical advice from<br />
<strong>News</strong>week for those of us interested<br />
in maintaining stellar cognitive<br />
functioning as we age: learn<br />
a second language. Joel recently<br />
lunched with Newton Davis<br />
’12, who was in Tokyo doing<br />
a Winter Study project on the<br />
Brazilian community in Japan.<br />
So that’s all for now. Remember<br />
to sign up for Reunion Weekend!<br />
1978<br />
Jeff “J” DeLisle<br />
538 Bloomingrove Drive<br />
Rensselaer, NY 12144<br />
1978secretary@williams.edu<br />
It’s a bit early for spring break,<br />
but the dockside sun in Naples,<br />
Fla., under which I compose<br />
this column, has me channeling<br />
all the youth, impetuosity<br />
and unbidled optimism of those<br />
midterm two-week road trips<br />
of yore, c. 1976-78. By now my<br />
significant other of nearly four<br />
years, Julie Zelman, has heard all<br />
the Jocko-Smitty-Rex-Larry-Tex<br />
stories a dozen times. Still, she<br />
smiles as I recount vignettes from<br />
the 28-hours-stop-only-for-gas<br />
trips from frigid <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
to the doorsteps of Jocko Rainey’s<br />
parents, where, amazingly, we are<br />
welcome in spite of the previous<br />
year’s antics. We were rowdy and<br />
looking for mischief before the<br />
first Bud can was cracked, and<br />
what with the powerful thirst we<br />
worked up in the Naples heat,<br />
well, that’s the stuff from which<br />
Legends are Made.<br />
This is my first vacation as an<br />
empty nester, though my beagle<br />
Clyde might object to the use<br />
of that term to describe our<br />
situation. Mallory, my youngest<br />
daughter, has left for school at<br />
SUNY Morrisville, majoring in<br />
office management. She aspires to<br />
be a secretary, which is to say, the<br />
Real Boss. Her Russian biosister<br />
Olesya has her own apartment<br />
and is waitressing and sitting for<br />
a handicapped child. My middle<br />
son, Derek, graduates this spring<br />
from Columbia, with a combined<br />
degree in mathematics and<br />
computer science. My daughter<br />
Phoebe, Virginia Tech ’09, works<br />
in human resources at Celerity,<br />
a consulting firm in Arlington,<br />
Va. My oldest son, Dewey, has<br />
earned a master’s degree in<br />
applied behavioral analysis and<br />
is about to sit for his licensing<br />
exam. He works for the New<br />
England Center for Children—<br />
the world’s leading center for<br />
autism—as a residence manager<br />
and, now, recruiter.<br />
n 1976–78<br />
Yes! Yes! Yes! After months<br />
of excruciating anticipation,<br />
Kate Stone Lombardi’s book<br />
The Mama’s Boy Myth (Avery/<br />
Penguin) hit the shelves on March<br />
15. Kate writes, “The basic<br />
theme is in the subtitle: ‘Why<br />
Keeping Our Sons Close Makes<br />
Them Stronger.’” You can read<br />
an excerpt on www.mamasboymyth.com<br />
and look for it at your<br />
local bookstore or download it<br />
for your Kindle.<br />
Gordon Hardy and Alice Dunn’s<br />
older daughter, Molly, came back<br />
East after five years in Vancouver,<br />
B.C. She has enrolled in the<br />
Cambridge School of Culinary<br />
Arts in the professional chefs program.<br />
She is already a “helluva<br />
chef.” (I think this is a rather<br />
strong remark for a Unitarian<br />
minister.) The younger, Laura, is a<br />
sophomore at Hofstra University.<br />
Gordon nearly advised her to follow<br />
in his footsteps to be an Am<br />
Civ major, then, as quickly as his<br />
mouth opened, he stopped himself.<br />
He expects she will major in<br />
psychology.<br />
John Gilbert had described<br />
himself as “happily retired” from<br />
the practice of environmental<br />
engineering, having sold his business,<br />
GeoInsight Inc., to his staff<br />
three years ago. But, wait! He has<br />
embarked on a new endeavor,<br />
working with leaders of for-profit<br />
and nonprofit businesses on<br />
strategic operations assessments<br />
and realignments. John finds it<br />
fascinating that in spite of the<br />
diversity of clients, the core issues<br />
they are facing are the same. John<br />
volunteers as chairman of the<br />
New Hampshire Water Council,<br />
the Governor’s Commission on<br />
Water Sustainability and the<br />
New Hampshire Center for<br />
Nonprofits. John’s two oldest<br />
children are now college graduates,<br />
and, to his great delight,<br />
both are employed. His daughter<br />
Emily graduated from Franklin<br />
& Marshall in 2008, and Allison<br />
from Pratt Institute in May<br />
2011. His son Matt is a junior<br />
at St. Lawrence University and<br />
planned to spend spring semester<br />
in Kenya. John gets together with<br />
Pete Tuttle, who is still on the<br />
faculty at St. Paul’s School. Both<br />
of Pete’s sons are in graduate<br />
school, one in hydrogeology and<br />
the other in veterinary school.<br />
Jim Little took his family hiking<br />
at Big Bend National Park in<br />
West Texas. The big news is that<br />
his daughter Amy, a junior at UT<br />
Southwestern Medical School,<br />
is engaged to Nate Jones, who<br />
has just completed his divinity<br />
training at Duke. The two met<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 57
CLASS NOTES<br />
as Duke undergrads. Ever the<br />
responsible father, Jim checked<br />
Nate’s sports credentials and<br />
found them to be solid. (Big<br />
Duke sports fan, was its football<br />
equipment manager.) He has<br />
given his blessing to the union.<br />
Jim’s younger daughter<br />
Sarah is a first-year at UT<br />
Southwestern, and, so far, so<br />
good.<br />
Jim and Cathy continue to be<br />
well. He likes his work at the<br />
VA, where the residents push<br />
him, but make no mistake, they<br />
can’t get anything by the old<br />
man—not a “pimp” question<br />
on rounds nor a forehand smash<br />
on the tennis court. His Little<br />
League team made it all the way<br />
to the league championship,<br />
only to fall in the last game. Jim<br />
also noted he is “about halfway<br />
through my stent” as deacon of<br />
his Presbyterian Church. (When<br />
I first saw this I thought it was<br />
a typo, but maybe not.) Cathy<br />
divides her time between being<br />
a practicing pediatrician and<br />
serving on the board of El Buen<br />
Samaritano, which helps out<br />
immigrant families in Austin.<br />
Jim Norton gave an update<br />
from Santa Fe, N.M. He<br />
completed an eight-year stint as<br />
director of the Environmental<br />
Protection Division for New<br />
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.<br />
He is now teaching biology<br />
and physics at the Gonzales<br />
Community School. His wife<br />
Katie (sister of Todd Jebb) is<br />
also a teacher, in the Santa<br />
Fe Public Schools. They have<br />
two kids in college: Molly, a<br />
senior at the University of New<br />
Mexico; and Jebb, a sophomore<br />
at Middlebury. Jim still plays<br />
hockey every Sunday (along with<br />
John Bessone) for the Santa Fe<br />
Old Timers Hockey Club, which<br />
he founded 12 years ago.<br />
Bill Schultze, chair of the<br />
management department at<br />
University of Utah, has seen<br />
enrollments up and a rise in<br />
his department’s ranking to<br />
number 16 nationally. Bill is<br />
bullish on new approaches to<br />
entrepreneurship, particularly<br />
The Foundry, which has received<br />
a nice bit of attention in the<br />
press. Essentially a community<br />
service, the Foundry takes a new<br />
approach to teach students how<br />
to rigorously develop, validate<br />
and test business ideas. They<br />
don’t charge fees, or take equity,<br />
or give them any money. In the<br />
past 18 months, the students<br />
have worked on 114 business<br />
ideas, market tested 69 business<br />
concepts, incorporated<br />
58 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
and launched 53 companies,<br />
of which 43 are active and 22<br />
revenue-positive. Total sales<br />
(for all companies) exceeds $8<br />
million, and 75 (and counting)<br />
jobs have been created. One of<br />
the companies that came out<br />
of Bill’s five-week MBA class<br />
last fall, ipadenclosures.com,<br />
makes kiosks for ipads. The<br />
company was recently chosen as<br />
the sole provider of kiosks for<br />
Macworld! Bill exults, “They’re<br />
knocking it out of the park.”<br />
The Foundry has already gone<br />
international. Recently some<br />
of Bill’s kids went to Armenia,<br />
where they ran a Foundry bootcamp<br />
for women entrepreneurs,<br />
and they are already up and running.<br />
Another group is headed<br />
to Ghana in the spring. Another<br />
half-dozen universities have<br />
established Foundry programs.<br />
Bill was in Denver and had<br />
Thanksgiving with Richard and<br />
Maggie Luck, among other folks.<br />
The Lucks are doing terrific and<br />
spent most of last summer leading<br />
hikes in Rocky Mountain<br />
National Park.<br />
Susan Beebe is still working as<br />
an art instructor in Rockland,<br />
Maine. If the fancy strikes, you<br />
can take one of her workshops<br />
at the height of the summer season<br />
up there—Aug. 3-9—where<br />
she will give a class on en plein<br />
air oil painting. Check her out at<br />
coastalmaineartworkshops.com.<br />
Glenn Shannon and his wife<br />
Lori joined newlyweds Miranda<br />
Heller and Mark Salkind<br />
for brunch in San Francisco<br />
and then went to see David<br />
Mamet’s play Race, featuring<br />
Kevin O’Rourke in the role<br />
of Charles Strickland. Glenn<br />
notes a number of his friends<br />
described Kevin’s performance<br />
as superb: Starting as a rich,<br />
white, arrogant and completely<br />
unsympathetic figure, by the<br />
play’s end he was still rich and<br />
white but emotionally shaken<br />
and somewhat sympathetic. At<br />
the show they ran into Anna<br />
Waring, and afterward they went<br />
with Kevin to meet up with Edith<br />
Thurber and their sons Charlie<br />
and Peter.<br />
Well, the column is done, and<br />
I think I’ve earned a beer and<br />
the right to indulge my sweet<br />
reverie. Ah, those spring breaks!<br />
If the moral and educational<br />
development of a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
undergraduate’s four years can<br />
be likened to a kind of Pilgrim’s<br />
Progress, those Naples trips<br />
didn’t quite fit that kind of journey.<br />
No, they were more like our<br />
own Canterbury Tales—by turns<br />
funny, ribald, even shocking<br />
and not to be discussed in polite<br />
company. Too bad—um, I mean,<br />
thank goodness—no one ever<br />
wrote them down.<br />
1979<br />
Barbara H. Sanders<br />
3 Stratford Road<br />
White Plains, NY 10603<br />
1979secretary@williams.edu<br />
Well, it was a very pleasant<br />
and welcome surprise to hear<br />
from Peter Sachs: “It’s been a<br />
really long time (since about<br />
1979) since I wrote. I have<br />
been wonderfully married for<br />
28 years. Hilary and I have an<br />
amazing 21-year-old son, who is<br />
a computer science and physics<br />
major in his junior year at the<br />
University of Chicago. Hilary<br />
and I spent 24 years in Cleveland<br />
raising Jacob and working—neuroscience<br />
research at Case School<br />
of Medicine (Hilary) and radiology<br />
department at University<br />
Hospitals (Peter). Two years ago<br />
we left the suburban Cleveland<br />
life and moved to Denver. We are<br />
both working harder than ever,<br />
Peter as section chief of thoracic<br />
imaging/vice chair of informatics,<br />
and Hilary in a vibrant and busy<br />
neuroscience lab working on MS<br />
research, both at the University<br />
of Colorado, Denver. We live in<br />
an old schoolhouse in the city<br />
and are reveling in the outdoor<br />
lifestyle here. Three-hundred days<br />
of sunshine and easy access to the<br />
mountains makes every weekend<br />
seem like a vacation!”<br />
Donna Staton and her new<br />
husband Richard Tedlow are<br />
enjoying life in Los Altos Hills,<br />
Calif., since he has taken a job<br />
at Apple. Donna is devoting her<br />
time to many global health projects,<br />
including work in Liberia.<br />
She visited with Martha Constable<br />
in Westport, Conn., and both<br />
enjoyed the chance to catch up<br />
on each others’ lives.<br />
Brad White sends greetings<br />
from the “green hills of Africa,<br />
in Bomet Kenya. My original<br />
plan was to be able to retire from<br />
orthopaedics (after 22 years) in<br />
2011. Well, that time has passed,<br />
and since that momentous occasion<br />
I have been mixing things<br />
up a bit. This winter I did a onemonth<br />
stint at Tenwek Hospital,<br />
a mission hospital just west of the<br />
Great Rift Valley. Unfortunately,<br />
in 2007 cheap bikes flooded the<br />
Kenyan market, and since then<br />
the number and severity of road<br />
traffic accidents has skyrocketed—a<br />
common problem
1979 classmates (from left) Lisa Russell O’Shea, Bruce McElvein and<br />
Dorea Ferris caught up at a holiday party in December for the D.C.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> regional association.<br />
throughout the developing world.<br />
Maybe someone in our class (or<br />
reading this) is a public health<br />
guru who can work on this issue?<br />
Anyone know a good neurosurgeon<br />
who wants to travel?”<br />
Bill Couch writes from his home<br />
base in Baltimore but has spent<br />
considerable time in Dallas and<br />
Richmond on various projects.<br />
“I am working with IBM, both<br />
Will and Chan are home with<br />
us (post-college) and applying to<br />
various military services. They<br />
are still works in progress, and as<br />
a parent I worry but am proud<br />
that they want to make that<br />
commitment. Can’t judge otherwise<br />
since I spent 14 months in<br />
Baghdad worrying them and the<br />
rest of the Couch clan!”<br />
Jas Dembinski writes that he<br />
rode a bicycle from Paris to Brest<br />
to Paris (1,200 kilometers, or<br />
750 miles) in under 90 hours<br />
this past August—along with<br />
4,000-plus other cyclists who<br />
participated in an event that’s<br />
been a part of bicycling culture<br />
since 1891. If there are any other<br />
alumni who have ever ridden<br />
“Paris-Brest-Paris,” he would<br />
love to hear from you.<br />
Clint Willis has been “surfing<br />
a bunch in Maine (cold) and<br />
down in Costa Rica (warm). I<br />
have a writing business, and my<br />
wife Jennifer teaches yoga and<br />
makes pottery. Our sons Abner<br />
and Harper have formed a band<br />
by the name of ‘Two Lights,’<br />
derived from twin lighthouses<br />
near Cape Elizabeth, Maine,<br />
where they grew up. The band,<br />
based in NYC, will be on tour<br />
this year.”<br />
We received some upbeat<br />
news from Ken Hollingsworth:<br />
“As you know, my dad (Bud)<br />
had the Reading High football<br />
field named after him. At the<br />
October ceremony, Mark Eckert,<br />
Stan Parese and Bill McCalpin<br />
all surprised Don Rice and me<br />
by showing up to see my dad.<br />
It was an awesome effort by<br />
all of them to be there, and my<br />
dad was so appreciative. I later<br />
asked my dad where he would<br />
like to go to watch a college<br />
football game. He said that he<br />
had always wanted to go to<br />
Notre Dame to see live action on<br />
the gridiron, so Don, my sons<br />
Scott and Eric, my dad and I all<br />
went to Chicago to stay with<br />
John Svoboda, Jill Simon ’80 and<br />
their family for a weekend in<br />
November. ‘Boda’ took us to<br />
the Notre Dame game Saturday<br />
afternoon, where we also met<br />
up with Greg McAleenan (and<br />
made obnoxious phone calls<br />
to Kid Collins, Mark Eckert and<br />
John Dell’Erario). Being at Notre<br />
Dame and standing in front of<br />
‘Touchdown Jesus’ was a surreal,<br />
out-of-body experience for all of<br />
us. We then went to the Chicago<br />
Bears game Sunday afternoon<br />
and then came home for a great<br />
dinner that night, which also<br />
included spending quality time<br />
with two of the Svoboda children,<br />
Sam and Lucy. Throughout<br />
n 1978–79<br />
the weekend, Boda showed us<br />
all around Chicago. I think that<br />
maybe he should have been the<br />
mayor of Chicago! What an<br />
absolute thrill it was, and I will<br />
never forget how much fun we<br />
had. My dad said that it was one<br />
of the best weekends of his life!<br />
Needless to say, Jill and Boda<br />
were the consummate hosts.”<br />
Ken added, “Last but not<br />
hardly least, I had a brief visit<br />
with Phil Shuman, who was in<br />
New Hampshire to cover a presidential<br />
primary for FOX <strong>News</strong>.<br />
It was fun to see him in action!”<br />
For those of you residing in the<br />
LA area, hopefully you have seen<br />
Phil, who is the weekend anchor<br />
on KTTV. Several months ago he<br />
did a live interview with Dr. Troy<br />
Elander ’81, ophthalmologist,<br />
medical expert and president<br />
of the LA County Medical<br />
Association.” Phil has included a<br />
beautiful picture which includes<br />
Troy, his wife Diane (Grimes)<br />
Elander ’83 and himself.<br />
AlIan Macdonald continues<br />
to teach family medicine to<br />
residents and medical students.<br />
“However, after six very good<br />
years teaching in Florence, S.C.,<br />
I have taken a position in the<br />
Greenville Family Medicine<br />
Residency Program in the<br />
beautiful upstate South Carolina<br />
area. Greenville Hospital has<br />
just started a new medical<br />
school—the only new med<br />
school accredited in 2011—and<br />
our residency is proud to be part<br />
of this new effort! I teach ‘womb<br />
to tomb’ family medicine with<br />
special interests in maternity<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
Outside magazine ranked Mark Tercek ’79 ninth on its list of 25 most<br />
influential people in the “world outside.” Tercek is CEO of the Nature<br />
Conservancy and has been credited with transforming the world's<br />
biggest conservation organization into a more global, sustainable<br />
enterprise.<br />
care and children’s health. Our<br />
kids are all growing up. Our<br />
oldest is married to a wonderful<br />
young woman. He is head of<br />
graduate school web development<br />
at Clemson University, his<br />
first job out of college, and she is<br />
pursuing a master’s degree there.<br />
Our middle son just received his<br />
bachelor’s degree in history, and<br />
we are very proud of him! My<br />
wife continues to home school<br />
our youngest, who has many<br />
challenges in life but who is very<br />
brave and extremely determined.<br />
We are now in the ‘waiting-forgrandkids’<br />
stage. Seems like only<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 59
CLASS NOTES<br />
yesterday we were all very young<br />
adults, with marriage and children<br />
way off in the future!”<br />
Bill Webster dropped a line,<br />
saying that “’the wife’ (Diane<br />
Hughes) and I shared a house in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town with Pat Strong<br />
and her husband John Owens<br />
for the freshman drop off as well<br />
as for Parents Weekend. Pat, her<br />
daughter Jessica and I squeezed<br />
in a day at the U.S. Open, while<br />
Pat extended her stay on the<br />
East Coast. If Pat casually asks<br />
you if you’d like to play her in<br />
tennis, beware! In November I<br />
had lunch in New York at the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Club with Tom Mierswa<br />
and Clinton Loftman, and both<br />
are doing well. The next day<br />
I meandered my way back to<br />
Billsville for homecoming (it<br />
was a good excuse to descend<br />
on my son David ’15 yet again).<br />
Despite the loss to Amherst, it<br />
was a great day. Pete and Laurie<br />
Thomsen hosted a wonderful<br />
dinner at their <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
home, where I saw Long Ellis and<br />
his wife Catherine Buckley Ellis<br />
’78, Kristen Johanson, Lydia and<br />
Mario Chiappetti, Tom ’78 and<br />
Betsy Balderston, Jim Trapp and<br />
others. Looking to the south, I<br />
heard from Ken Gilbert, husband<br />
of Donna (Smith) Gilbert. Donna’s<br />
life has really gone to the dogs.<br />
She is now president of the<br />
Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of<br />
America!”<br />
In NYC, radiologist Mimi<br />
David was honored by the Bronx<br />
County Medical Society with<br />
a “Peer to Peer Excellence in<br />
Medicine Recognition Award.”<br />
As director of women’s imaging<br />
at Jacobi Medical Center and<br />
assistant professor of radiology<br />
at Albert Einstein <strong>College</strong> of<br />
Medicine, she was also honored<br />
at a gala as one of the medical<br />
center’s “Precious Jewels,” a<br />
distinguished group of clinicians<br />
and caregivers whose brilliance,<br />
dedication and commitment to<br />
healing are instrumental in its<br />
mission to serve the needs of its<br />
patients and community. Mimi<br />
says that her daughter Hannah<br />
Gray ’07 and Rowena Ashan ’07<br />
changed the world at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
“Together these women from<br />
totally different backgrounds<br />
were instrumental in introducing<br />
kosher/halal dining options at the<br />
college—an incredible <strong>Williams</strong><br />
story! We are headed off to<br />
Bangladesh, as Hannah is participating<br />
in Rowena’s wedding!”<br />
We received a note and picture<br />
from Lisa Russell O’Shea—“I<br />
had a wonderful time with<br />
Bruce McElvein and Dorea Ferris.<br />
60 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Phil Shuman ’79 (left), weekend anchor of KTTV in LA, interviewed<br />
ophthalmologist and president of the L.A. County Medical Association<br />
Troy Elander ’81 last year. Also pictured is Diane (Grimes) Elander ’83.<br />
We all saw one another at the<br />
holiday party sponsored by the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni association<br />
of DC. It was great to see both<br />
and to catch up on their lives. I<br />
still live in Baltimore but commute<br />
daily to DC, where I am<br />
senior director of development<br />
at the Association of American<br />
<strong>College</strong>s & Universities. It is the<br />
national curriculum think-tank<br />
advocating for all college students<br />
across the nation. Our own<br />
president John Chandler headed<br />
the organization after he retired<br />
from <strong>Williams</strong>. Both of my kids<br />
have graduated from college.<br />
I’m still seeing lots of good blues<br />
music in the area and hope to get<br />
back to New Orleans for Jazz &<br />
Heritage Festival this spring—<br />
any ’79ers headed there?”<br />
It’s always nice to read what<br />
others are up to. But if you<br />
haven’t written in a while (or at<br />
all), we want to hear from you,<br />
too! My contact info is above, so<br />
send your news soon. Until<br />
next time, take care.<br />
1980<br />
Laura Pitts Smith<br />
1828 Old Yellowstone Trail S.<br />
Emigrant, MT 59027<br />
1980secretary@williams.edu<br />
As the January sun shines down<br />
in Montana, we are painting<br />
the new siding on the chicken<br />
coop that a poultry crazed bear<br />
destroyed last fall. No mittens,<br />
no coats, certainly no freezing<br />
temperatures. By the time this<br />
is published, the remainder of<br />
this astonishingly warm winter<br />
may have ended differently for<br />
us all. At present, however, we’re<br />
scouring shaded canyons for<br />
enough snow to support skis and<br />
watching shaggy livestock bask<br />
in balmy temperatures.<br />
As usual, impressive accomplishments<br />
are lingering in our<br />
midst. Susan von Moschzisker<br />
Morse published The Habit,<br />
which Nina Girvitz ’77 describes<br />
as “so sly and funny and painful<br />
and everything a good book<br />
should be.” Kate Schwartz spent<br />
her birthday in Philadelphia with<br />
Susie. The pre-Halloween ice<br />
storm there dropped a branch in<br />
the driveway, extending her visit.<br />
Kate spent a good part of a day<br />
“laughing out loud like a lunatic<br />
(lolll),” reading Susie’s book.<br />
Julia Talcott let me know that<br />
Wendy Jacob was awarded the<br />
Maud Morgan Prize for 2011,<br />
which “honors a Massachusetts<br />
woman artist who demonstrates<br />
significant vision, creativity and<br />
contributions to contemporary<br />
art in the Commonwealth.”<br />
Check out Wendy’s new installations<br />
in the MFA when you’re in<br />
Boston.<br />
Bruce Kneuer masterminded<br />
and completed a daylong,<br />
12-peak run through the Belknap<br />
Range last August. Beyond<br />
the physical prowess, the race<br />
reflected years of conscientious<br />
trail maintenance.<br />
Anyone enjoyed a Joia? I can’t<br />
locate one in Montana, but<br />
you might have better luck in<br />
the upper Midwest, where Bob<br />
Safford is successfully marketing<br />
this organic soft drink. This<br />
is according to Bill Wickwire,<br />
who is enjoying an annual (13th<br />
or 14th) pilgrimage to Aspen<br />
to ski with Bob. Bill learned to<br />
kiteboard last fall in the Yucatan
1980 classmates Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart (left) and Linda Hansell<br />
spent 10 days together while visiting Taggart’s daughter in Copenhagen,<br />
Denmark, in October.<br />
and continues his work with the<br />
National Ski Patrol, despite knee<br />
surgery in October. He claims to<br />
be a dermatologist, but I’m not<br />
sure when he has time to work.<br />
For the second time since graduation,<br />
Paul Tratnyek returned to<br />
campus to give two seminars. It<br />
was a nostalgic drive in, retracing<br />
the route from his ski team<br />
training days. Paul states, “The<br />
chemistry talk was about my<br />
current, main area of research:<br />
‘Reactivity of Iron Nanoparticles:<br />
Spectroscopy, Electrochemistry,<br />
Kinetics and Environmental<br />
Implications.’ It was presented in<br />
the (renovated but) same hall we<br />
all took large chemistry classes<br />
in.” Well, I certainly wasn’t part<br />
of the “we” there, but I remember<br />
well the Friday lunches at the<br />
Log, sponsored by the Center<br />
for Environmental Studies,<br />
which is where Paul gave the<br />
second lecture, with a friendlier<br />
title, “From Green Chemistry<br />
to Emerging Contaminants:<br />
Are We Getting Any Better At<br />
Engineering New Materials That<br />
Are Environmentally Safe?” Paul<br />
says Larry Kaplan, Ray Chang<br />
and Anne Skinner remain as<br />
faculty, and the current chair is<br />
Jay Thoman ’82. It’s still 10 years<br />
away, but Paul is wondering if<br />
one of his daughters might be<br />
interested in <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
David Beardsley tipped me off<br />
on Fred Thys, who was too busy<br />
covering the New Hampshire<br />
primary for NPR to correspond<br />
directly. Exciting times for Fred!<br />
Tim Sager is trying to start<br />
a charter school just north of<br />
Philadelphia. It is a fascinating<br />
endeavor based on the<br />
premise that smaller enrollment<br />
numbers can be better for 7th- to<br />
12th-graders, particularly in light<br />
of the fact that online curriculum<br />
can provide the variety of<br />
options that were formerly only<br />
available in larger schools. Key<br />
components include Internetbased<br />
instruction, small group<br />
discussions, individualized learning<br />
plans and flexible schedules.<br />
Tim’s son is a freshman at<br />
RISD, and his daughter was just<br />
accepted at Trinity.<br />
Tim was impressed with<br />
Bert Snow’s company Mussy<br />
Lane software, which created<br />
online software for Middlebury<br />
Interactive and is turning heads<br />
in the online curriculum world.<br />
Tim says, “Bert used a gaming<br />
platform to create the software,<br />
which includes perfect renderings<br />
of streets in Paris and other<br />
places. Students develop an<br />
avatar and they walk the streets<br />
of France, talking to people on<br />
the street, going into restaurants,<br />
etc.”<br />
Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart<br />
and Linda Hansell traveled to<br />
Copenhagen to visit Mary Ann’s<br />
daughter, who was studying<br />
abroad from Davidson <strong>College</strong>.<br />
Mary Ann’s son was to graduate<br />
from high school in January and<br />
was preparing to study abroad<br />
in New Zealand. She and her<br />
husband are excited about the<br />
first three months alone in 20<br />
years.<br />
Ann Oberrender Noyes and<br />
Nick ’79 are also anticipating<br />
the empty nest. Their youngest,<br />
Eliza, was accepted ED to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> and plans to play ice<br />
hockey. Their older sons are<br />
settled in at the University of<br />
Richmond and Dickinson.<br />
n 1979–80<br />
James Meigs and Julia Talcott,<br />
still in Newton, Mass., are<br />
sending their twins off next fall,<br />
leaving their nest empty, too.<br />
Julia claims it was a crazy fall,<br />
visiting colleges with two very<br />
different kids. She reports, “I see<br />
it as the bookend to the craziness<br />
that begins by having two babies<br />
at once. Isabel found out she<br />
was accepted to Reed <strong>College</strong> in<br />
Portland, where she will be able<br />
to bond with James’ relatives<br />
when not ‘studying like her life<br />
depended on it’ (sic Fiske Guide<br />
to <strong>College</strong>s). Stoddard’s college<br />
will be revealed in the next few<br />
months. Stod rowed at the Head<br />
of the Charles last year and will<br />
continue to row wherever he<br />
goes.” Julia saw Bert Snow and<br />
wife Leigh at the HOC, watching<br />
their son Eric row for Vassar, and<br />
rumor had it Beth Geismar was<br />
there with her club team from<br />
Ashland, Ore. James is still at<br />
Mass General doing research in<br />
the area of diabetes. He’s been<br />
golfing with Phil (Guido) Adams<br />
and fishing with Nick Noyes<br />
’79. Julia teaches printmaking<br />
workshops in her studio. Their<br />
oldest, Ramsey, is on a Fulbright<br />
scholarship in Germany after<br />
graduating from Colby. They are<br />
hoping to visit him in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
Ruth Wells was waiting up (for<br />
a long time, as this rendition of<br />
her words is cropped!) for her<br />
son to return safely from a NJ<br />
Nets-Miami Heat game and<br />
filled me in on all sorts of people.<br />
She reports, “This past spring I<br />
was on a college tour with my<br />
younger son, Lyndy, and we<br />
stayed with Carrie Brown Wick<br />
and family. Carrie is exactly the<br />
same, working as a biotech consultant,<br />
living in Hillsborough,<br />
and while we were there her<br />
youngest, Catherine, was getting<br />
college acceptances. She is spending<br />
this academic year in Europe<br />
to pursue her passion of equestrian<br />
vaulting (basically gymnastics<br />
on horseback) and will go to<br />
Bates next fall. Her middle son,<br />
John, is at Trinity, and her oldest,<br />
Will, just finished a stint in the<br />
Army with, I believe, two tours in<br />
Iraq and is now back in school.<br />
Our last night there Carrie had<br />
a fun dinner party that included<br />
Anne ’81 and Greg Avis as well<br />
as Cora Yang and Suzanne Kluss<br />
Noe and their spouses. Everyone<br />
looked great, and all are leading<br />
interesting lives. Janet Allaire’s<br />
son Mike graduated from the<br />
Air Force Academy last spring<br />
and is in Texas for the year<br />
getting trained in some special<br />
intelligence that will keep us all<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 61
CLASS NOTES<br />
safer. Her daughter Lauren is a<br />
junior at Middlebury, and I had<br />
thought only a star ice hockey<br />
player, but Ann Oberender Noyes<br />
sent us an update last fall that she<br />
was the NESCAC field hockey<br />
player of the year (or something<br />
like that). Never knew Janet<br />
had such athletic genes; maybe<br />
her husband Marc helped. They<br />
have their dental practice in<br />
Portsmouth, N.H., and travel<br />
to many Middlebury sporting<br />
events.” Ruth continues, “In<br />
late September I had lunch with<br />
Brooks Tanner. He is living in<br />
Manhattan and very proud that<br />
his daughter has made it into<br />
first grade and is thriving at her<br />
school. I also saw Rick Walters at<br />
a <strong>Williams</strong> alumni meet-and-greet<br />
with President Falk. He seems<br />
happy, has two children, lives in<br />
NJ and works at Merrill Lynch<br />
aka Bank of America. We went<br />
into NYC and had dinner with<br />
Missy McMahon and her husband<br />
Jon Kramer. Missy looks exactly<br />
the same, although she has finally<br />
started to wear drugstore reading<br />
glasses if the print is too small.<br />
Their oldest, Tommy, graduated<br />
from Colgate and has been working<br />
in NY, contemplating applying<br />
to law school. Younger son<br />
Matt is a senior at Northwestern<br />
and has a job lined up in Chicago<br />
after graduation, no small feat<br />
these days. My sons and I had<br />
dinner at Elizabeth Laurent’s<br />
home with her family. She is<br />
doing well, married to Larry<br />
Dame and has twins Edward and<br />
Rebecca, soon to be 16. Elizabeth<br />
is curator of Girard <strong>College</strong> in<br />
Philadelphia as well as an active<br />
volunteer and board member for<br />
several Philadelphia institutions.”<br />
Ruth concludes, “For me, I am<br />
still a self-employed architect<br />
but have had little (paid) work<br />
the past year or two due to the<br />
economy. I am in the process<br />
of trying to assess how to do<br />
more of the creative problemsolving<br />
aspect of architectural,<br />
development, master-planning<br />
and design work on a consultant<br />
basis both for private clients as<br />
well as nonprofits. I just finished<br />
a two-term stint on the board of<br />
Princeton Academy of the Sacred<br />
Heart, and I chaired the buildings<br />
and grounds committee, which<br />
during my tenure built a gym<br />
and library, completed a facilities<br />
audit, did a master plan and<br />
started work with architects on<br />
a build-out of the master plan. I<br />
have been volunteering weekly at<br />
the area food bank for about four<br />
years. … My oldest son, Patrick,<br />
is a freshman at Colorado<br />
62 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Wendy Jacob ’80, recipient of the 2011 Maud Morgan Prize from the<br />
Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), poses with Joseph Thompson ’81,<br />
director of MASS MoCA, on one of her two installations at the MFA.<br />
<strong>College</strong>. Younger son Lyndy is a<br />
senior at Princeton Day School<br />
and will hopefully be looked<br />
upon with favor by an admission<br />
office for his creative wit,<br />
intellectual ability and academic<br />
potential despite the fact that he<br />
hates the busywork that would<br />
have pushed his transcript to the<br />
4.0 needed for any college these<br />
days.”<br />
Gus Nuzzolese reports, “Pat<br />
Nuzz got into a bunch of colleges,<br />
so now we start road tripping.<br />
Our three girls were home<br />
for Santa, and it was wild fun. I<br />
got a panini griddle, so I spend<br />
a lot of time making hot paninis<br />
with whole-wheat flatbread,<br />
heavily oiled sundried tomatoes,<br />
smoked turkey, pepperoni, pesto<br />
and provolone … then nappy<br />
time. Mike Curran got married to<br />
Lucy, so they have six kids, and<br />
it’s heavenly. We plan on seeing<br />
a lax game with a total of our 10<br />
kids, enough for one team!”<br />
Betty Keller lives in Vermont<br />
with her husband Jonathan<br />
Lynch. She’s been home with<br />
kids for 14 years, volunteering<br />
in media for social change and<br />
active in seeking universal health<br />
care for Vermont residents. Their<br />
youngest is a junior in high<br />
school, so she’s thinking about<br />
professional pursuits. The oldest<br />
graduated from Tufts, and the<br />
middle one is a freshman at the<br />
University of Vermont. Jonathan<br />
works in alternative energy systems.<br />
They were hoping to make<br />
it to Italy for a bike trip in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
Chip Oudin “spent much of<br />
2011 traveling overseas, helping<br />
Anadarko develop a West<br />
African oilfield, but as the year<br />
wore on, I realized that there<br />
were parts of me that were<br />
wearing out.” He had a full<br />
hip replacement in November.<br />
Ed Bousa better watch out, as<br />
Chip claims there is now “more<br />
titanium in my golf swing.”<br />
Chip and his wife Julie remain in<br />
the Woodlands, with daughter<br />
Jeanie ’08 living in Houston and<br />
working for Wood Mackenzie<br />
and daughter Jessica performing<br />
as a violinist with the Atlanta<br />
Symphony Orchestra. Chip is<br />
hoping to travel more in <strong>2012</strong>, as<br />
the airport metal detectors will be<br />
more entertaining.<br />
Kathleen Kelliher had another<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alum stay with her in<br />
the fall. Ali Tozier ’09 helped out<br />
while applying for law school.<br />
She worked for HERA, a charity<br />
that helps trafficked women<br />
start new businesses. Kathleen<br />
has been in touch with Jean<br />
Dexheimer Dudex (Smith ’79<br />
exchange), whose daughter will<br />
start at Smith next September.<br />
Rebecca Webber’s life will get<br />
slightly less busy next year as half<br />
her brood takes off for college.<br />
Daughter Lucy was accepted at<br />
Bowdoin (where the ski coaches<br />
will allow her to compete in both<br />
XC and Nordic), and stepdaughter<br />
Alana will be off to Boston<br />
<strong>College</strong>. Rebecca broke a long<br />
series of Bowdoin grads in her<br />
family when she chose <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
so maybe Lucy’s decision will<br />
return her some chance of inheritance.<br />
One of Rebecca’s cases this<br />
year involved a government fraud<br />
case, the Department of Justice,<br />
the FBI and the illegal sales of an<br />
epilepsy drug, resulting in $26<br />
million in penalties plus criminal<br />
charges. There is balance in her<br />
life, however, as she tracks down
owners of loose Holsteins on<br />
her runs, shoots a gun well and<br />
navigates snow conditions transporting<br />
her skiers to the far-flung<br />
corners of Maine. As she puts it,<br />
“It’s a liberal arts existence.”<br />
Jim Holmes and Jean Dugan<br />
Maritz shared some time and<br />
perhaps some tears on the sidelines<br />
this past fall as their boys<br />
competed together in the state<br />
championship football game. Jim<br />
reports, “A <strong>Williams</strong> connection<br />
was made on every offensive<br />
play as Jean’s son Jack hiked the<br />
ball to Davey.” Davey earned<br />
All-State honors as quarterback,<br />
but that final game ended in a<br />
heartbreaking loss in the final<br />
seconds. Jim’s daughter Katie ’13<br />
left her duties as JA in <strong>Williams</strong> A<br />
to watch her brother.<br />
Michele Corbeil is still hoping<br />
to sell her home and move to<br />
Boston. Her daughter had a<br />
spinal fusion for scoliosis over the<br />
winter, which Michele expected<br />
would involve a long recovery<br />
period that, along with her bag<br />
business, would keep her busy.<br />
The Cart family sold their Ohio<br />
home and are official residents<br />
of the Florida Keys. All fishing<br />
visitors are welcome. Son James<br />
’05 and wife Ashley ’05 had a<br />
daughter, Courtland, in August.<br />
Ben’s company is busy now that<br />
oil and gas are in the news again.<br />
I heard <strong>Williams</strong> students<br />
recently described as “hearty<br />
souls who work hard and play<br />
hard.” Nothing new about that!<br />
Keep on working and playing,<br />
and, like Chip, replacing the<br />
parts that break. Here’s wishing<br />
titanium worked everywhere.<br />
1981<br />
Alexis Yoshi Belash<br />
1466 Canton Ave.<br />
Milton, MA 02186<br />
1981secretary@williams.edu<br />
I am sitting here surrounded by<br />
dragons, pussy willows and red<br />
banners. Kuala Lumpur is getting<br />
ready to celebrate the Chinese<br />
New Year, the auspicious year of<br />
the dragon. With a population<br />
made up of large numbers of<br />
Muslims, Hindus and Christians,<br />
Malaysians celebrate the holidays<br />
of all three traditions. It makes<br />
for many short weeks and a lot<br />
of eating. As a full participant<br />
I find that I have to go to the<br />
gym five days a week and coach<br />
middle school rugby just to keep<br />
in shape.<br />
Kathy McCleary submits a<br />
(somewhat) shameless plug<br />
for her second novel, A Simple<br />
Thing, due out in July from<br />
HarperCollins. “I’m very proud<br />
of it, hope people buy it in droves<br />
and chat it up on every possible<br />
form of social media, and dream<br />
that Clint Eastwood will buy<br />
movie rights and decide to direct<br />
and produce (there is a plum<br />
role for an elderly man in the<br />
book). When I’m not at work<br />
on my third novel, which will be<br />
published in 2013, I’m teaching<br />
writing at American University<br />
and riding the roller coaster of<br />
college admissions (or gap year?)<br />
with my eldest daughter, Gracie,<br />
as well as the roller coaster of<br />
ninth grade with my youngest,<br />
Emma.”<br />
Valerie Colville writes: “I have<br />
reached my first anniversary as<br />
a small business owner/entrepreneur.<br />
CC Solutions specializes<br />
in supporting the administrative<br />
requirements associated with U.S.<br />
government-financed loans both<br />
internationally and within the<br />
U.S. We developed and own a<br />
web-based application to streamline<br />
the myriad U.S. government<br />
documentation process and<br />
obligations. We are fortunate to<br />
have won transactions in Mexico,<br />
West Africa and Mongolia, as<br />
well as domestically in Arizona,<br />
so we are off to a good start.”<br />
Valerie saw Nevill Smythe and<br />
his family over New Year’s,<br />
when Amelia celebrated her 16th<br />
birthday. They are all well and<br />
fun as always.<br />
My predecessor Kyle Hodgkins<br />
sends greetings from southern<br />
Ohio, “where we continue<br />
our quest to raise a healthy<br />
and happy free-range teenager<br />
[with] organic food, clean water,<br />
fresh air and a set of car keys.”<br />
In March they embarked on<br />
a spring break driving tour of<br />
colleges.<br />
Eric Widing wrote from<br />
Uruguay, where he and his family<br />
were “hanging out with Vico<br />
(Victor Zerbino ’79, Eric’s JA)<br />
and his family … spending New<br />
Year’s Eve with 25 of his cousins<br />
at a traditional Uruguayan<br />
BBQ.”<br />
Tim <strong>Williams</strong> was in New York<br />
in January and called former<br />
suitemate Jonathan David. “It<br />
turned out that Jon’s daughter<br />
Elmina was having her bat mitzvah<br />
that weekend, so I stayed<br />
for the event. The ceremony was<br />
magnificent, capped by Elmina<br />
giving a truly remarkable and<br />
beautifully delivered speech<br />
about Moses and individuals<br />
working for the betterment of<br />
society. After the ceremony,<br />
we enjoyed catching up and<br />
n 1980–81<br />
reminiscing about <strong>Williams</strong> and<br />
other old friends.”<br />
Marc Tayer had a wonderful<br />
family trip to Italy (Amalfi<br />
Coast, Rome, Umbria, Tuscany,<br />
Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice)<br />
late in the summer. He attended<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> vs. Amherst game<br />
again at Yogi’s Sports Bar in<br />
Cardiff-by-the-Sea (north county<br />
San Diego). This year the room<br />
was segregated. An ex-boss,<br />
Jim Bunker’s grandson, was the<br />
running back star of Amherst,<br />
and Ken Quinn’s ’79 son was still<br />
at Amherst on the coaching staff<br />
after graduating last year, so Ken<br />
was apparently ambivalent for<br />
one last year.<br />
Old roommate Bill (Bolo)<br />
Reynolds sends greetings from<br />
Vermont, where it was 16 below<br />
zero one day and supposed to<br />
rain the next. He wrote, “This<br />
past November Matthew St.<br />
Onge, Steve Jenks and I traveled<br />
to the Outer Banks (Beaufort,<br />
N.C.) to fly fish for false albacore<br />
in the waters off of Cape<br />
Lookout. Some fish were caught,<br />
beers were drained and fish<br />
stories told. Despite high winds<br />
and driving rains, Capt. St. Onge<br />
managed to keep the ship afloat,<br />
and no one got impaled by a<br />
wayward cast.”<br />
Bill is still a lawyer in the<br />
Vermont attorney general’s office,<br />
where he has transitioned from<br />
criminal prosecution to labor<br />
and employment matters, which<br />
mostly involves representing the<br />
state before the Vermont Labor<br />
Relations Board and Vermont<br />
Human Rights Commission and<br />
arguing cases before the Vermont<br />
Supreme Court. Most of his cases<br />
involve wayward employees,<br />
including corrupt cops and sexual<br />
harassers.<br />
Shawn Burdick paid his final<br />
tuition bill to UVM for daughter<br />
Amanda; too bad son Ted starts<br />
college in the fall. He is excited<br />
to have two graduations coming<br />
up this spring. In addition to his<br />
full-time job teaching high school<br />
physics in <strong>Williams</strong>town, he<br />
taught a semester of introductory<br />
astronomy to non-majors at<br />
MCLA. The day before school<br />
began, his principal convinced<br />
him to pick up an extra course at<br />
the high school this year.<br />
High school classmate Susan<br />
Rogers Moehlmann is helping<br />
me plan our 35th high school<br />
reunion. We have to coordinate<br />
conference calls between three<br />
continents! She is “a volunteer<br />
guide at the Royal Academy in<br />
London. My art history courses<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong> have prepared me<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 63
CLASS NOTES<br />
for just about anything, until<br />
now. For the first time, I’ll be<br />
doing tours of an exhibition that<br />
includes iPad drawings! David<br />
Hockney, now in his mid-70s, has<br />
been fascinated by the iPad technology<br />
(for sketching nature, it<br />
is like using watercolors without<br />
needing to bring the water).”<br />
Another old high school classmate,<br />
Anne Ricketson Avis, was<br />
named chair of KQED’s board of<br />
directors. (Public radio and TV in<br />
San Francisco and San Jose.)<br />
Mike Hulver, who has spent<br />
much of his professional career<br />
in Saudi Arabia, introduced his<br />
second daughter, Ann Marie, to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>. “She enjoyed the setting<br />
and thought the school was<br />
nice, but, alas, the lure of the big<br />
city is upon her as she fell in love<br />
with Boston. She was accepted at<br />
Northeastern University. … I was<br />
also able to run in the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumni cross-country race at<br />
Mount Greylock High School,<br />
aka The Aluminum Bowl. Great<br />
attendance by alumni, though<br />
most were from post-2000 classes<br />
and therefore I had little chance<br />
of finishing in the top quarter of<br />
the pack! … I had a nice time<br />
catching up with my geology professor<br />
and thesis advisor Markes<br />
Johnson.”<br />
Martin Kohout news: “The<br />
lovely and talented Heather Catto<br />
Kohout and I had kind of a roller<br />
coaster ride in 2011. On the positive<br />
side, we welcomed our first<br />
10 residents to Madroño Ranch:<br />
A Center for Writing, Art and<br />
the Environment, our place near<br />
Medina in the Central Texas Hill<br />
Country; we successfully went<br />
into business selling meat from<br />
our herd of grass-fed bison; and<br />
we hosted a series of ethical hunting<br />
and fishing ‘schools’ at the<br />
ranch that proved to be a great<br />
success, drawing mentions in<br />
The New York Times and Texas<br />
Monthly.<br />
“We’ve had our share of sorrow,<br />
too. Heather’s father, Henry<br />
E. Catto Jr. ’52, died at his San<br />
Antonio home on Dec. 18 following<br />
a long illness. A number<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong> grads attended the<br />
memorial service in San Antonio<br />
on Jan. 7: the two of us, our<br />
daughter Elizabeth ’08, Heather’s<br />
sister Isa Catto Shaw ’87, plus Bob<br />
Geniesse ’51, Jim Hayne ’56, Tom<br />
Geniesse ’86 and Walter Hayne<br />
’90. It was a beautiful service and<br />
an apt farewell to a charming,<br />
elegant, good man.”<br />
Ann Maine: “Our oldest son<br />
graduated from Middlebury<br />
<strong>College</strong> in May. I took a road trip<br />
with him as far as Nevada (he<br />
64 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Ephs participating in a charity bike ride in Colorado in July included<br />
(from left) Jim Christian ’82, John Pike ’81, Marc Johnson ’81, Dan<br />
Friesen ’81, Sean Bradley ’81 and Derek Johnson ’81.<br />
continued to California for a job<br />
putting radio collars on American<br />
Martins). We had a great time<br />
hiking at Arches National Park.<br />
… We also spent a few days at<br />
Great Basin National Park in<br />
Nevada, where we stayed at<br />
Silver Jack’s Inn and LectroLux<br />
Cafe in Baker (pop. about 30). …<br />
We had to plan our trip around<br />
floods, fires and heavy snow. …<br />
I finally saw burrowing owls.<br />
… A local archeologist gave us<br />
directions to a box canyon with<br />
petroglyphs; we had a beautiful,<br />
quiet, sunset hike there.”<br />
Ann continues, “Beth-Anne<br />
Flynn was here in Chicago in<br />
May to attend the high school<br />
graduation of our third son,<br />
Kevin. … Despite the rain delays<br />
and the continual rain it was<br />
wonderful to see all who made it<br />
to reunion. For the second time<br />
in 23 years, there were a few<br />
weeks when all four boys were<br />
gone. … Gordon and I visited<br />
friends in Montana and did a lot<br />
of hiking there and some rafting,<br />
which was great fun.<br />
“I’m running for re-election to<br />
the Lake County (Ill.) board. …<br />
I’ve been president of the Forest<br />
Preserve District for the past<br />
two years. We’ve been buying<br />
land (prices are excellent with<br />
little development action—one<br />
silver lining to the downturned<br />
economy). We oversee about<br />
29,000 acres in 60 different<br />
locations. Come on out, and I’ll<br />
take you to the fen, the marl,<br />
the kettle moraines, the kames.<br />
Don’t know what they are? You<br />
need to learn Midwestern glacier<br />
geology!”<br />
Alison Gregg Corcoran continues<br />
to commute from Massachusetts<br />
to her Toronto job with Sears<br />
Canada.<br />
Tom Rizzo was featured in an<br />
article about rowing in Florida<br />
Doctor (ask him about “bottled<br />
violence”). He also rowed<br />
in England with others from<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> in July and then in<br />
Boston in October with his son<br />
at the Head of the Charles. He is<br />
down to one child left at home,<br />
with three in college/grad school/<br />
post-high school activities.<br />
Charlie Lafave spent two<br />
months last spring trekking at<br />
high altitude in Bhutan and<br />
Nepal, getting 1,000 feet or<br />
so above Everest Base Camp.<br />
“Trekking a long way in freezing<br />
temps at 18,000 feet with<br />
a 35-pound pack. The clarity<br />
of the air is spectacular at that<br />
elevation, and I was blessed with<br />
an incredibly clear day to capture<br />
the moment.”<br />
Chris Gootkind tells us, “In<br />
October my wife Barbara and<br />
I spent a great week cycling in<br />
Provençe, France, with Anne and<br />
husband Greg Avis ’80, Chip Foley<br />
’80 and wife Laurel Rice, and<br />
two other couples. We enjoyed<br />
great riding, wonderful food and<br />
fabulous wine. Riding up and<br />
down Mount Ventoux was one<br />
of the highlights. We also made<br />
our annual trek to Long Island<br />
to celebrate New Year’s at Jamie<br />
Parles’ house, along with … Mark<br />
Aseltine, Bill Lohrer ’80 and Mark<br />
Gennaro ’79. Jamie got married<br />
in October. Many Ephs were in<br />
attendance; unfortunately, Barb<br />
and I missed it, as it coincided<br />
with our long-ago-planned<br />
France trip.” Chris saw several<br />
Ephs at Jamie’s “bachelor party,”<br />
including Mark Aseltine, Bill
Lohrer, Dan Katz ’79, Bill Sprague<br />
’80, Jeff Seymour ’79, Warren<br />
Feldman ’80 and Joe Flaherty ’80.<br />
Malathi Jayawickrama and<br />
Calvin Schnure are still living in<br />
Bethesda, Md. Malathi is an<br />
economist at the World Bank,<br />
working in agriculture. After<br />
11 years working on Africa, she<br />
joined the Europe and Central<br />
Asia region and regularly visits<br />
Montenegro and Macedonia to<br />
assist them with two projects on<br />
agriculture and EU accession.<br />
After several years at the Federal<br />
Reserve, JPMorgan Chase and<br />
Freddie Mac, Calvin joined the<br />
National Association for Real<br />
Estate Investment Trusts in DC<br />
in <strong>April</strong>, and he loves his work<br />
and his bike ride to and from<br />
work. Malathi writes, “Our two<br />
kids, Nilan, 21, and Melissa, 19,<br />
are both at Princeton. Nilan is a<br />
senior; he runs track and sings<br />
in an a cappella group, while<br />
Melissa is a sophomore and in<br />
two dance groups. They love<br />
Princeton.” Malathi sees Erika<br />
Jorgensen regularly, as Erika also<br />
works on Macedonia and is very<br />
much into “green growth.” She’s<br />
also in touch with Sean Bradley,<br />
who also works at the World<br />
Bank.<br />
The award for brief and intriguing<br />
note: Nick Lyle and Jean<br />
Whitesavage installed 20 panels<br />
of their ironwork for MTA at<br />
the Elder Avenue Station on the<br />
Pelham Line in the Bronx.<br />
Troy Elander tells us: “Our<br />
oldest daughter Samantha is<br />
a freshman at Wake Forest in<br />
North Carolina. Diane ’83 and<br />
I have a high school junior and<br />
fifth-grader left at home. … I am<br />
serving as the president of the LA<br />
County Medical Association. In<br />
these times of health care reform<br />
it is especially interesting. I still<br />
have my busy ophthalmology<br />
practice, but at night I am often<br />
downtown at meetings.” When<br />
he wrote Troy had just had dinner<br />
with four congressmen to discuss<br />
approaches for Washington<br />
regarding health care issues.<br />
Tad Read reports: “Nancy<br />
Shapero, husband Bill and I spent<br />
Nan’s January birthday together<br />
enjoying dinner and the first episode<br />
of season two of Downton<br />
Abbey. Any Eph not familiar<br />
with this addictive period British<br />
melodrama airing on Masterpiece<br />
Theatre should throw all caution<br />
to the wind and plunge in.”<br />
Old entrymate Todd Tucker is<br />
working four hours south of me<br />
in Singapore.<br />
Kira (Mary Tom) Higgs sent: “I’m<br />
amazed to see from a distance<br />
how much <strong>Williams</strong> has changed<br />
and thrilled with the school’s<br />
direction. Life on the other coast,<br />
specifically in the Rose City, is<br />
wonderful. I’m just back from<br />
Hawaii, the key to surviving the<br />
low-hanging gray of the PNW.<br />
Most of my consulting in the last<br />
four years centers on education<br />
reform. It’s not a niche I targeted;<br />
it found me, and I’m glad it did.<br />
Uphill work and very satisfying.<br />
Monthly dinners with Margaret<br />
Olney are always a joy. She’s<br />
practicing law in Portland when<br />
she’s not visiting Carnegie Hall to<br />
see her son perform.”<br />
Sharon Gosselin McCormick<br />
lives in Durham, Conn. In 2002<br />
she founded Sharon McCormick<br />
Design, a national interior design<br />
firm. Five of her projects will<br />
be published in a coffee table<br />
book titled Ava Living: The Best<br />
Western Interior Design, published<br />
in China and distributed<br />
in Asia and Europe. She is now<br />
planning to go global.<br />
Kevin Weist is working for the<br />
cable channel AMC as executive<br />
producer of “a thing called<br />
‘Story Notes.’ It’s like pop-up<br />
trivia over their primetime<br />
movies. Finally found a use<br />
for all the movie trivia rattling<br />
around in my head! My lovely<br />
wife Katharine (Bowers) is back<br />
in the fashion world, designing<br />
for a company fittingly called<br />
Catherines. She and I have been<br />
up to <strong>Williams</strong>town more often<br />
than usual because our daughter<br />
Madison is Class of ’15. One of<br />
her classmates is Tatum Barnes,<br />
son of Dave Barnes and Lizzie<br />
Halsted ’80. We’ve convinced<br />
our kids that their getting into<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> was all part of a ploy<br />
so we could spend more time<br />
together.”<br />
By the time you read this, Kevin<br />
will probably have re-lived some<br />
old college-ness by playing in the<br />
semi-annual <strong>Williams</strong> Trivia contest<br />
on a team with Dave Barnes,<br />
Will Hahn, Charlie Singer ’82,<br />
Mitch Katz ’79, Wayne Wilkins ’79<br />
and Bruce Leddy ’83. “We play as<br />
‘Geezers on Stun.’”<br />
Mary Tokar carried the flag<br />
for ’81 at a dinner in London<br />
organized by John Botts ’62 to<br />
allow London-based alums to<br />
meet Collette Chilton, the chief<br />
investment officer for <strong>Williams</strong>’<br />
endowment.<br />
Rachel Duffy took up running<br />
last summer after a more than<br />
30-year hiatus. “I started running<br />
this summer to honor a running<br />
friend of mine who died suddenly<br />
in June and to spend time with<br />
his wife. I ran my first 5K in<br />
n 1981-82<br />
Waterbury, Vt., in October and<br />
hope to run a little bit more than<br />
that in the Burlington Marathon<br />
(just a leg of course) in May. I<br />
can’t believe I like running, but<br />
I do.”<br />
1982<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Will Layman<br />
8507 Garfield St.<br />
Bethesda, MD 20817<br />
Kolleen Rask<br />
55 Pine Hill Road<br />
Southborough, MA 01772<br />
1982secretary@williams.edu<br />
You hold in your hands the<br />
latest edition of Lavender Bovine,<br />
the smallest-circulation quarterly<br />
poetry journal published in the<br />
Western Hemisphere. To those<br />
who say that poetry, the oldest<br />
form of literature, is no longer<br />
relevant to the lives of 21st<br />
century Americans, the editors<br />
of Lavender Bovine simply say,<br />
“Duh.”<br />
We aspire to neither relevance<br />
nor popularity but only to a<br />
delicate poignancy that The New<br />
York Times described as “something<br />
other than idiocy, though<br />
it’s hard to say what.” Exactly.<br />
This quarter’s journal ranges<br />
from haiku to Ginsberg-ian free<br />
verse. Enjoy.<br />
Georgia Tech Haiku by Will<br />
Foster<br />
“The Sam Nunn School of<br />
International Affairs<br />
is my future home.”<br />
Song of My Week (excerpts) by<br />
Jay Hellmuth<br />
1.<br />
I celebrate and sing myself<br />
and what I assume shall you<br />
as every atom of my Sundays<br />
is listed for you here—<br />
“Watching the morning news<br />
reading the Sunday NY Times<br />
Saturday Wall Street Journal<br />
Monday’s papers after 11 p.m.<br />
online.”<br />
And the multitude of sports<br />
Does occupy my beard and<br />
my soul, which are inseparable<br />
“during the appropriate<br />
seasons:<br />
NFL—Jets and Cowboys<br />
English Premier League<br />
MLB—Mets<br />
NHL—RangersStarsCoyotes<br />
and tennis<br />
and le Tour de France<br />
and Formula One<br />
and 24 heures du Mans.”<br />
7.<br />
A child said, What do you do<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
on Saturday?<br />
How could I answer him?<br />
And then I realized—<br />
“I allow myself a guilty<br />
pleasure—a fast food lunch”<br />
27.<br />
I take part, I see the whole<br />
“I read 41 books this year.<br />
Ben Kane<br />
(a trilogy about ancient Rome)<br />
More about the financial crisis,<br />
The Swerve by Stephen<br />
Greenblatt<br />
about Lucretius’ De Rerum<br />
Natura<br />
which I started to read<br />
in Latin in high school<br />
and finished in college.<br />
“I saw 53 new movies in <strong>2012</strong><br />
The best: the Swedish<br />
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo<br />
trilogy.<br />
Action-packed spectaculars<br />
in the theater and<br />
the rest from Redbox.”<br />
43.<br />
O movement! O earth and<br />
boots!<br />
I tramp a perpetual journey<br />
to friend and place<br />
This year, “to <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
for the swimmers’<br />
and divers’ reunion<br />
(for we are all one big family);<br />
To Milwaukee and Chicago<br />
for baseball stadiums/games<br />
To Long Island to drive my<br />
folks’<br />
second car to Sanibel”<br />
A Florida island<br />
that is so unlike New Jersey.<br />
49.<br />
And as to you, Death,<br />
you do not alarm me.<br />
For though we are over 50<br />
“and the term ‘bucket list’<br />
keeps coming up in discussions,<br />
I have done all but six<br />
(numbers 2, 5, 14, 23, 27)<br />
of the Parade magazine<br />
list of 32.”<br />
52.<br />
The spotted hawk swoops and<br />
steals “my list of everyone’s<br />
birthdays,<br />
so get on Facebook! It is a great<br />
reminder<br />
(ladies, you do not have to<br />
put in the year).<br />
For my tea and hot chocolate,<br />
I have been using a mug<br />
that I had since high school.<br />
I was hand-washing it when<br />
it broke.<br />
A loss of an old friend.”<br />
Missing it one place<br />
I search another<br />
It stops somewhere<br />
Waiting for us all.<br />
When Virginia drew us<br />
By Marian Helms Hewitt<br />
When Virginia drew us,<br />
“We, my husband Bill<br />
66 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
and daughter Diana,—<br />
for two days and one half<br />
did go to Colonial<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>burg:<br />
“To a 10-year-old studying<br />
that period of American<br />
history, it was great,<br />
“Did we go to that other<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong>,<br />
the one that married Mary?<br />
“No, but maybe we will:<br />
in seven years<br />
when Diana is,<br />
visiting colleges.”<br />
The License Plate<br />
by chuck warshaver<br />
so much depends<br />
upon<br />
“my amherst friend’s<br />
vanity plate<br />
’lord jeffs’ it<br />
said<br />
so i ordered an<br />
’ephman’ plate<br />
thinking we could<br />
photograph<br />
our two arizona cars<br />
hahaha<br />
but arizona thought<br />
’ephman’<br />
mean f*&%-man<br />
(really)<br />
that is how crazy it is<br />
here.”<br />
Techno Slam Poem<br />
by Anthony “AJ” Moore<br />
“OMG today, as I was texting<br />
my high school daughter to come<br />
downstairs for dinner, I had a<br />
flash of insight. My wife was<br />
reading her new Kindle Fire and<br />
our sixth-grader was checking<br />
her homework on her schoolissue<br />
MacBook when I tripped<br />
over the cord charging my HTC<br />
EVO 4G smartphone, my head<br />
struck a Nintendo DSi game lying<br />
on the carpet, and I blacked out.<br />
“Which is why I’ve got this<br />
guy Vladimir from Ukraine who<br />
lives on a mattress in the garage<br />
providing 24-hour IT support.<br />
Whenever one of the family yells,<br />
‘Dad! The Internet’s down …’<br />
Vladimir bangs on our wi-fi with<br />
a wrench and everything’s fixed.<br />
“Speaking of my trade, not long<br />
ago I was sitting in my cubicle<br />
on the third floor of Building G<br />
at Yahoo! with moving boxes all<br />
around. They were about to put<br />
me in Building B, which means<br />
during my two years at the company<br />
(and in the San Francisco<br />
Bay Area) I’ve been housed in<br />
A, B, D and G. It’s what they do<br />
in Silicon Valley to remind you<br />
nothing’s permanent.<br />
“I finally attended, after<br />
30 years procrastination, a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Octet reunion concert<br />
at homecoming. They even gave<br />
me a ‘solo,’ reading ‘the news’<br />
during ‘I Got Rhythm’ (whadda<br />
surprise), and believe it or not I<br />
included a 30-year-old joke that<br />
killed: the one about changing<br />
Winter Study to Winter Ski,<br />
Drink and Sex Party. Clearly<br />
things haven’t changed much at<br />
the alma mater.”<br />
My Three Sons<br />
by Bill Beres<br />
“My son Ryan, Hamilton ’13<br />
completed a six-month<br />
immersion<br />
He was kind enough to<br />
show me the ways<br />
in Beijing and Shanghai<br />
We made an exhilarating<br />
four-hour trek on the<br />
Great Wall<br />
My sons Gabe, 8, and<br />
Max, 5, keep Dad moving<br />
at full speed between<br />
football and Lego.”<br />
Bécassine<br />
by Annabelle Cone<br />
“A French comics heroine from<br />
the early 20th century<br />
Bécassine<br />
I started 10 years ago writing<br />
an article about her<br />
Bécassine<br />
Submitted to a British journal<br />
(European Comic Art)<br />
I had to change all the quotation<br />
marks to the British system,<br />
which uses single quotes. That’s<br />
my punishment.<br />
Bécassine<br />
Now, I hope to start on another<br />
comics-themed project, with a<br />
much needed visit to the national<br />
comics library in<br />
Angoulême<br />
I’m heading to France again<br />
with Dartmouth students<br />
Lyon and then Toulouse<br />
A side trip to the city of kings<br />
and comics shouldn’t be too<br />
difficult.”<br />
A Farmhouse in Southwest<br />
Michigan<br />
by Michele Gazzolo<br />
“I just finished a year<br />
of arduous renovation<br />
on a farmhouse<br />
in southwest Michigan<br />
and am sorely tempted<br />
to get a few chickens<br />
to prance around<br />
And maybe a few bonsai-sized<br />
cattle.<br />
When not contemplating<br />
my imaginary barnyard<br />
or persimmon orchard<br />
I am writing, blogging at<br />
girlwalksin.wordpress.com,<br />
and eavesdropping on<br />
my daughter’s happy chatter<br />
in the carpool.”<br />
Thanksgiving Limerick<br />
by Karen Keitel<br />
To the Macy’s parade in<br />
Manhattan
Dave Park ’83 (third from right) celebrated his 50th birthday in the fall<br />
with a Seattle Harbor cruise with classmates and friends.<br />
Did my family go where we<br />
sat in<br />
with the “Occupy” folks<br />
and saw Broadway stage jokes<br />
With my daughters at <strong>Williams</strong><br />
and Ob’rlin.<br />
On the Frontier<br />
by Jim Leonard<br />
“All is good out here on the<br />
frontier<br />
We herd cattle, throw pots,<br />
milk goats,<br />
and roast green chiles,<br />
which makes for a messy<br />
homestead<br />
and a ‘Leonard’ smell.<br />
Story ’84 and I celebrated<br />
25 years this summer with<br />
a trip to Colorado<br />
We’ll likely mark the 30th<br />
anniversary of our first date:<br />
the Black and White party<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong> where both our<br />
daughters will be.”<br />
We must inform you that<br />
one of the editors of Lavender<br />
Bovine, Lorraine Driscoll, reports<br />
that she is reading a new book by<br />
a Bovine favorite, Tricia Hellman.<br />
A New Song, published under the<br />
name “Sarah Isaias,” is a book<br />
with interfaith themes wrapped<br />
in a tense thriller. Recommended<br />
by the editors of this journal.<br />
Finally, join us all at the next<br />
big literary event: our 30-year<br />
reunion this June, where we all<br />
but guarantee you will see the<br />
best minds of your generation,<br />
starving, hysterical, naked. Well<br />
… at least hysterical.<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y hear from you! Send news to<br />
our class secretary is waiting to<br />
your secretary at the address at the<br />
top of your class notes column.<br />
1983<br />
Bea Fuller<br />
404 Old Country Road<br />
Severna Park, MD 21146<br />
1983secretary@williams.edu<br />
Happy <strong>2012</strong> to all, as we have<br />
turned the page on another year<br />
and the days are getting longer<br />
again in North America—thank<br />
goodness! I started the New<br />
Year grateful for my family,<br />
my friends and my health and<br />
hope all of the same to all of<br />
you. Turning 50 certainly makes<br />
those simple things all the more<br />
important. For me, winter days<br />
and evenings are spent either in<br />
a tropical venue of a chlorinated<br />
pool for swim meets, the fetid,<br />
angst-ridden gyms within 90<br />
miles of Annapolis for wrestling<br />
matches or in dusty old gyms for<br />
basketball games, all to watch<br />
my boys in their winter physical<br />
pursuits. Of course, I love every<br />
minute.<br />
Maryam Elahi continues to<br />
direct the International Women’s<br />
Program at the Open Society<br />
(Soros) Foundations. She was in<br />
Nepal meeting with groups that<br />
the program supports in rural<br />
areas of the country. She was<br />
headed to Kenya in February and<br />
looked forward to connecting<br />
with some classmates along the<br />
way.<br />
Don Carlson “started a new law<br />
firm last fall—one completely<br />
dedicated to entrepreneurs,<br />
growth companies and the<br />
investors who love them. We’re<br />
taking space in Silicon Alley (just<br />
north of Union Square in NYC)<br />
and already hitting our stride<br />
with a run of VC financings. The<br />
model is pretty unique, as every<br />
n 1982–83<br />
lawyer is an expert in a field<br />
relevant to startups, and many<br />
work virtually and on flexible<br />
schedules with no overhead. It’s a<br />
great way for people to get back<br />
into the profession after a few<br />
years out raising families—and<br />
I’m proud to say we already have<br />
four <strong>Williams</strong> alums in our stable<br />
of a dozen lawyers (ranging from<br />
’72 to ’96). Are there any great<br />
’83 lawyers out there looking for<br />
a novel, rewarding way to practice?<br />
Our Latin motto is Nunc<br />
Exceedium Gulielmensianae<br />
(loosely, ‘You can never have too<br />
many Ephs’). I get to see Gordon<br />
Renneisen whenever I’m out on<br />
the West Coast, and my daughter<br />
Katie and I had the honor of<br />
taking part in his son Gabriel’s<br />
bar mitzvah. Katie and Gabriel<br />
were born just a few days apart,<br />
so naturally they were betrothed<br />
to one another at birth by their<br />
happy dads. The plan seems to<br />
be working surprisingly well.”<br />
Musician Andy Schlosser<br />
reflects, “I spent about four<br />
months in France last year, acting<br />
as sales manager for Fender<br />
France until we found a full-time<br />
sales manager. I spent major time<br />
in Paris, traveled all over France<br />
and visited about 60 French<br />
music stores with our sales reps.<br />
At least my French language<br />
skills are even better than they<br />
were, and I ate and drank some<br />
killer food and wine. Not a bad<br />
job, although I had to walk every<br />
day in order not to gain a ton of<br />
weight. My son Evan is taking<br />
some time off from William &<br />
Mary, and my daughter Maddy<br />
is a senior at Granby High<br />
School and is getting ready for<br />
college next year.”<br />
Diane Elander ran into Nancy<br />
Simms at parent orientation at<br />
Wake Forest, where their kids<br />
are both freshmen! Samantha<br />
and Robert have become friends<br />
and are enjoying the South.<br />
Diane writes, “I spoke with Ellie<br />
Gartner Kerr, who shared exciting<br />
news: her daughter is coming<br />
west next year for college. USC<br />
for lacrosse; that means I’ll get to<br />
see her and more of Ellie. What a<br />
great New Year’s gift!”<br />
Melanie-Anne Taylor writes,<br />
“My daughter Kate ’14 plays<br />
rugby and can’t get enough of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>! I’ve never seen her<br />
happier; it melts my heart. I<br />
am counting down the months<br />
to turning 50 this summer,<br />
and I am hoping to launch my<br />
first waste-to-energy project in<br />
Jamaica before my birthday! My<br />
company is building a 300-tonsper-day<br />
capacity energy plant<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 67
CLASS NOTES<br />
that will convert waste tires and<br />
biomass (by way of gasification,<br />
a totally green and environmentally<br />
friendly process), into 12<br />
megawatts of electrical power to<br />
light 41,500 Jamaican homes!<br />
This will be a big year for me<br />
and for us!”<br />
When she wrote, Jona Meer’s<br />
two older boys were home from<br />
college, “already eating us out of<br />
house and home. Our 11-yearold,<br />
while happy to have his big<br />
brothers around, wonders how<br />
he could go from ‘crown prince’<br />
to ‘punk’ in a matter of days.<br />
Rascal (our 15-month-old rescue<br />
dog) is just happy to have two<br />
extra sets of hands around to<br />
rub his belly. I had the brilliant<br />
idea to pull the trigger on longdelayed<br />
knee surgery just before<br />
Christmas, rendering me pretty<br />
useless for many of the aroundthe-house<br />
responsibilities over<br />
the holidays. (Maybe not such a<br />
bad idea after all!)”<br />
Aytac Apadin writes, “Michael<br />
Brownrigg, aka Boney, and I went<br />
up to Seattle early December<br />
to hook up with Spanky (Dave<br />
Park), play golf and go to dinner.<br />
Spanky must not be working too<br />
much, as he is playing too well!<br />
I also stayed up there to watch<br />
Dave’s boy Phillip play … on the<br />
top-ranked team as goalie.”<br />
Sarah Weyerhaeuser shares:<br />
“Our youngest is an Eph—Class<br />
of ’15. She played soccer on the<br />
squad this year, and the team<br />
made it to the Elite 8. Our oldest<br />
just graduated from <strong>Williams</strong> last<br />
June. One of her best buddies on<br />
campus was Eli Bronfman ’11,<br />
son of Matt Bronfman ’82 and<br />
Fiona Woods ’81, and now our<br />
youngest is palling around with<br />
his little sister Gabby ’15.”<br />
Tim Curran was “heading to<br />
Cleveland on Christmas Day<br />
with the family for four days<br />
there and then back to MSP.<br />
Had some email correspondence<br />
with Sage D’ers Fred Nathan and<br />
Amy Wilbur, who had seen Bobby<br />
Robinowitz. No Sage D reunion<br />
yet on the books, however. Mike<br />
Nock is my info source for all<br />
things Apple.” I have a vivid<br />
memory of Mike being one of<br />
the “early adapters,” buying<br />
his own Mac computer back in<br />
1982 and teaching himself how<br />
to use it.<br />
Deborah Bowers Kenealy<br />
writes, “Our daughter Diana,<br />
16, a junior in high school, just<br />
returned from a study semester<br />
abroad in Paris. She had a fantastic<br />
time, learned lots of French,<br />
lived with a French family and<br />
joined a local swim team. Our<br />
68 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
son Andrew completed his first<br />
semester at Dartmouth and is<br />
very happy. He is a member of<br />
the crew team and rowed at the<br />
Head of the Charles, which was<br />
lots of fun. My husband Ed and<br />
I and our two kids did a trip of<br />
a lifetime this past August to<br />
South Africa and Zimbabwe<br />
which included Victoria Falls,<br />
many safari drives and canoeing<br />
with hippos and crocodiles! And<br />
we enjoyed the company of Kim<br />
McCarthy McEntee and her lovely<br />
family over the New Year’s<br />
weekend.”<br />
Jeanne Rougas James writes,<br />
“Here in Colorado we are indeed<br />
hoping for snowmeggedon—or<br />
something vaguely resembling<br />
that! It’s been a good year for<br />
those of us in the ’61 vintage, I<br />
believe. … I’m approaching my<br />
ninth anniversary as a finance<br />
manager for Deloitte Consulting,<br />
and midway through the summer<br />
a business trip to NYC gave me<br />
the opportunity to enjoy a boisterous<br />
dinner with Richard Mass<br />
and Rob Burge. In October my<br />
husband Scott and I brought our<br />
bikes to Napa for a week, and<br />
we had a great time visiting and<br />
cooking with Peter Graffagnino<br />
and his wife Nancy. They are<br />
enjoying their retirement in the<br />
most admirable way possible<br />
(exotic travel!), despite Richard’s<br />
comments to the contrary! In<br />
November I celebrated my Five-<br />
Oh-No in New Orleans, and if<br />
any classmates are looking for<br />
a fabulous domestic vacation<br />
destination, I highly recommend<br />
it. The food, music, architecture<br />
and hospitality are not to be<br />
missed. And for history buffs, the<br />
WWII museum there is superb—<br />
the unexpected bonus was mentally<br />
retrieving a few tidbits from<br />
Prof. Robert G.L. Waite’s history<br />
class! In December Cathlene<br />
Banker, Scott and I surprised<br />
Richard Mass on his momentous<br />
birthday in New York—the highlight<br />
of the evening was Cathlene<br />
presenting him with a Batman<br />
cake to commemorate the attack<br />
on his neck by a bat while he<br />
was trying to enjoy a cocktail<br />
on Block Island. … During that<br />
same weekend, Scott and I had<br />
dinner with Amy Withington,<br />
son Aidan and her parents,<br />
Robin and Ted Withington ’53.<br />
… Other adventures for us this<br />
year included a ski weekend in<br />
Telluride, mountain biking in<br />
Crested Butte during the peak of<br />
wildflower season and a weeklong<br />
trip to Grand Teton and<br />
Yellowstone National Parks. One<br />
of the highlights for us was a<br />
97-mile bike ride in Yellowstone,<br />
complete with an on-road buffalo<br />
encounter!”<br />
Lis Bischoff-Ormsbee, our<br />
fearless class agent leader,<br />
thanks everyone who gave to the<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Fund. “In the last class<br />
update there were a number of<br />
mentions of ’83ers having freshmen<br />
this year that they dropped<br />
off on the <strong>Williams</strong> campus in<br />
the fall. Well, my son Michael ’13<br />
was likely greeting some of them.<br />
He is a JA this year and is really<br />
loving the experience and getting<br />
to know these amazing freshmen.<br />
My parents Marigold and Robert<br />
Bischoff ’52 have come to all the<br />
reunions and minireunions that<br />
happen on campus. They love to<br />
see Michael when they are there<br />
(if he can make time in the midst<br />
of studies, JA, etc.). <strong>Williams</strong><br />
means so much that they almost<br />
were planning to miss our second<br />
child’s graduation this spring<br />
to attend one of these reunions.<br />
Thank heavens they did not end<br />
up being on the same weekend! I<br />
would love to see anyone who is<br />
swinging through the Rochester<br />
area!”<br />
Jamie Spencer “went to a<br />
very nice event earlier this fall<br />
to celebrate the publication of<br />
Bruce Irving’s book New England<br />
Icons. As I was approaching<br />
the entrance of the Cambridge<br />
Historical Society, where the<br />
event was taking place, I happened<br />
to look over at the guy<br />
walking next to me and realized<br />
it was Drew Helene! Haven’t<br />
seen Drew in years and didn’t<br />
realize he was living on the Cape,<br />
so it was fun to get caught up.<br />
Also saw Jennifer Catlin (briefly)<br />
and enjoyed seeing Bruce’s wife<br />
Debbie and their two girls, who<br />
seemed very grown up. Bruce<br />
seemed to be enjoying himself,<br />
though we only chatted for a<br />
short time, since he was so busy<br />
signing books! He had a great<br />
turnout, and the book looks terrific.<br />
… I celebrated my 50th with<br />
a great family trip to England in<br />
June/July, staying mostly in the<br />
Cotswolds with a brief stop in<br />
London. Had a blast, as our kids<br />
are really at a great age for traveling.<br />
Sophie’s 9, and Tom is 13.<br />
Still living in Winchester (outside<br />
of Boston), where I often run into<br />
Mark Pine and Margen Kelsey,<br />
whose daughter is in my son’s<br />
class at the local middle school.<br />
Hoping to catch up soon with<br />
Marc Sopher. It’s been too many<br />
years of just exchanging holiday<br />
cards, so am trying to make the<br />
drive up to NH to see him after<br />
the New Year.”
Marianne O’Connor wistfully<br />
wrote: “Richard Mass threw<br />
himself a ‘surprise’ 50th birthday<br />
party in NYC in early December.<br />
While I had to miss the event due<br />
to a previously scheduled trip to<br />
Mexico, I heard that attendees<br />
from our class included John/<br />
Carolyn Kowalik, Alice Albright,<br />
Liz Cole, Rob Burge and Mike<br />
Smith. Sadly, Richard’s birthday<br />
roast wasn’t videotaped and<br />
uploaded to YouTube for the rest<br />
of us to enjoy.”<br />
George Liddle “exchanged<br />
emails … with Marc Sopher;<br />
almost made it to Octet reunion<br />
concert but family stuff intervened.<br />
I did just receive the CD<br />
recording and today listened to<br />
Lyman Casey working his magic<br />
with Love Potion #9. … My<br />
oldest (Caroline) is a high school<br />
freshman, and the boys (William<br />
and Allie) are in seventh and<br />
sixth grades. I’m still working<br />
at HP.”<br />
Jessie Lenagh-Glue noted,<br />
“In June we planned a family<br />
Christmas at my sister’s in Utah,<br />
with siblings coming from Alaska<br />
(my brother), Netherlands (my<br />
eldest sister) and New Zealand<br />
(us). We felt it would be a good<br />
idea to spend Christmas with my<br />
father, Tom Lenagh ’41 as, at 93,<br />
he was beginning to show the<br />
years (though not as much as one<br />
would expect). Unfortunately,<br />
Dad died on Dec. 8, so the family<br />
gathering has been one of memorializing<br />
as much as celebration.<br />
Not to mention that Utah is<br />
having the driest and warmest<br />
December on record, so the<br />
skiing has been limited (although<br />
being an Easterner by ski tradition,<br />
I have to say I thought the<br />
skiing was pretty damn great).<br />
2011 was a good year for us in<br />
that we finally (after four and a<br />
half years on the market) sold<br />
the big farm in New Jersey and<br />
are now (almost) rid of property<br />
in the U.S. I decided that turning<br />
50 was a good excuse to start<br />
something new and went back to<br />
university to study law, 28 years<br />
after taking the LSATs. As both<br />
the U.S. and N.Z. systems are<br />
based on common law, should<br />
we ever decide to return to the<br />
U.S., my midlife crisis will not be<br />
for naught! I started out thinking<br />
that I was going to focus on<br />
energy and land-use law but am<br />
now veering in the direction of<br />
medical and emerging technology<br />
law. Don’t think I will go the<br />
practicing lawyer route. I cannot<br />
imagine being the lowly junior<br />
clerk at my age but am thinking<br />
of either consulting work<br />
(again, but this time with a legal<br />
emphasis) or perhaps academic<br />
research. Whatever I do choose,<br />
it has been gratifying to recharge<br />
the gray cells and realize that<br />
exam hell applies whether you<br />
are 15 or 50! Next year will be<br />
strange. My daughter, my husband<br />
and I will all be affiliated<br />
with the University of Otago.<br />
As always I would welcome any<br />
classmates who wish to visit the<br />
most beautiful place on the earth<br />
to get in touch should they be in<br />
the South Island.”<br />
Dave Lipscomb writes, “Deb<br />
and I are back in the DC area<br />
after five years in Jersey—though<br />
finding a house (we’re renting for<br />
now) has proven more difficult<br />
this time around. Trying to guess<br />
the future needs of a 4-yearold<br />
and a 6-year-old tends to<br />
complicate house hunting, we’ve<br />
learned.”<br />
Laura Kaiser notes, “It’s fun to<br />
see everyone’s kids growing up in<br />
the holiday letters. Jenny Weeks’<br />
girls are 9 and 13 and looking<br />
more like her all the time! I’m<br />
scheduled to leave for Zambia<br />
soon for a short stint helping an<br />
AIDS-related NGO create some<br />
training modules.”<br />
Until next time… I hope everyone<br />
stays healthy and balanced<br />
as we head full steam into <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Only 14 months until our 30th<br />
reunion!<br />
1984<br />
Sean M. Crotty<br />
31 Carriage House Lane<br />
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866<br />
Carrie Bradley Neves<br />
1009 County Route 3<br />
Halcott Center, NY 12430<br />
1984secretary@williams.edu<br />
Greetings fellow Ephpersons! A<br />
new day is upon us. A new year<br />
is upon us. For all of those who<br />
made New Year’s resolutions this<br />
year, I got a head start. A very<br />
energetic dog named Taz (indeed,<br />
named by my 11-year-old<br />
daughter because he reminded<br />
her of the Tasmanian devil the<br />
instant we brought him home<br />
from the kennel) and two stairs<br />
did what all my years of football,<br />
hockey, lacrosse and rugby could<br />
not—they combined to blow<br />
out my right quad tendon. I of<br />
course fell down—cried like a<br />
baby— and called my roommate<br />
Tom Graham, who is once again<br />
back at the Cleveland Clinic<br />
doing wonderful things there<br />
(which he told me not to talk<br />
n 1983–84<br />
about in the class notes; always<br />
a private and humble man, I will<br />
respect those wishes. However, I<br />
will say that you all can Google<br />
him up, should you wish to<br />
learn of some of his most recent<br />
actions). When I called him, he<br />
first told me to “Stop crying, you<br />
big baby” (not really, but I am<br />
taking poetic license once again<br />
… so shoot me). The second<br />
thing he told me was that I was<br />
going to be “mending” for about<br />
three months, following my<br />
surgery. Three months. At first<br />
I thought, no way I can’t be out<br />
of the cockpit for three months.<br />
Then it dawned on me: Home<br />
for Christmas (never happens).<br />
Home for New Year’s (never<br />
happens). Home for my daughter’s<br />
birthday in February (never<br />
happens). Get to rent an electrical<br />
chair that moves my legs up<br />
automatically as I perch myself<br />
in front of about a thousand<br />
football games in the months of<br />
December and January (never,<br />
ever happens). Hmm, why didn’t<br />
that dog trip me years ago?<br />
In any event, it got me thinking<br />
that since I was down for the<br />
count for a few months, it might<br />
be a good time to change my diet<br />
and take some pounds off and<br />
see if I couldn’t make an overhaul<br />
of my lifestyle. I went on<br />
a three-day juice fast—not bad<br />
actually—and now am eating<br />
an anti-inflammatory diet called<br />
“The Abascal Way.” For those in<br />
a similar “rotund” condition as<br />
myself, you might take a gander.<br />
I have lost about 15 pounds so<br />
far and feel much better and on<br />
my way to better health. Thanks,<br />
Tom, for helping to guide me—<br />
and for getting me to stop crying.<br />
It was with great joy that I got<br />
a wonderful email from Steve<br />
Zlotowski, who writes: “Sean: A<br />
bit delayed response, but I was<br />
away when your mailing went<br />
out. … During the first week<br />
of May I meandered 270 miles<br />
on bike through Connemara,<br />
Ireland. The trip ended in<br />
Westport, County Mayo, and<br />
afforded the chance to spend<br />
Saturday night at Matt Malloy’s,<br />
which is one of Ireland’s more<br />
famous pubs—both from its<br />
namesake flute player (of the<br />
Chieftains) and its ongoing<br />
vibrant live music scene and the<br />
unannounced famous visitors<br />
such as Sting, Bono, the prime<br />
minister, etc. Well, the place was<br />
overflowing. … I felt a moment<br />
of destiny upon me. I … asked<br />
what the protocol is if you want<br />
to sing. ‘Just stand up and start<br />
singing.’ As I stood up, during<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 69
CLASS NOTES<br />
a break between songs, the<br />
room started to quiet, and I half<br />
shouted: ‘I’m an American on my<br />
first trip to Ireland.’ With this,<br />
there was a loud cheer and then<br />
the room went quiet. So I continued,<br />
‘My first love was a girl<br />
named Katie, she was Irish and<br />
she was beautiful, and she introduced<br />
me to the music of your<br />
country.’ … I finished by saying,<br />
‘So if you’ll humor me, I’d like<br />
to sing a song that I’m sure you<br />
all know better than I. With that,<br />
I launched into ‘Navvy Boots’<br />
… the song that had spared<br />
me from chugging at my first<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> rugby beer practice,<br />
when I knew not a single rugby<br />
song yet was beckoned as Blake<br />
Martin started chanting: ‘We call<br />
on all people wearing visors to<br />
sing us a song.’ … Perhaps it was<br />
the moment, perhaps the energy<br />
in the room, perhaps the pints of<br />
Guinness, but it went off magically,<br />
and I’m not sure I’ve ever<br />
sounded better. Partway through,<br />
the bodhran began to gently<br />
drum, then the guitar to strum,<br />
then the crowd to join in at the<br />
end of the chorus, and when on<br />
one refrain I hit the trademark<br />
falsetto note the whole room<br />
roared. … As I scanned the<br />
enthusiastic and happy faces, I<br />
knew that for that moment I was<br />
taken in as an Irishman.”<br />
I have decided to at some<br />
point take my son Ryan to Matt<br />
Malloy’s pub for some singing<br />
and pints just because of Steve’s<br />
notes, which I’m happy to share<br />
in their entirety. Steve, you<br />
should start collecting from the<br />
Irish tourist board starting today.<br />
Good on ya, Yank.<br />
Speaking of travels, Jim<br />
Neumann gave us an update on<br />
his work and rambles: “Thanks<br />
for the December notes in<br />
People. Was fun to learn about<br />
all the folks who are involved in<br />
variations of sustainable economies.<br />
In the last month or so I<br />
connected with two ’84ers whom<br />
I hadn’t seen in a long time. In<br />
November, Bill Pelosky surprised<br />
me at my local church—imagine<br />
me whispering to my daughter<br />
in the pew, ‘I think I know that<br />
guy, from <strong>Williams</strong> … maybe<br />
… no, couldn’t be.’ Bill was<br />
there in his new role as director<br />
of development for El Hogar,<br />
a small nonprofit that provides<br />
education for boys and<br />
girls in Honduras. Bill lives in<br />
Winchester, Mass. (next-door to<br />
Lexington, my coordinates), and<br />
we made plans to get together<br />
again in the new year. Then during<br />
my trip to San Francisco for<br />
70 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Doris Beyer ’84 (left) and Jacqueline Mitchell ’86 gathered with friends<br />
for an “all-American Thanksgiving feast” at the Castle in Tarrytown, N.Y.<br />
an Intergovernmental Panel on<br />
Climate Change authors meeting,<br />
I spent a day with Jeff Mills<br />
and family. He has a great home<br />
in a very cool neighborhood of<br />
the city (his wife Elizabeth grew<br />
up in SF), two terrific kids and a<br />
new dog. The only disappointing<br />
part of the visit was realizing,<br />
with all SF has to offer, Jeff will<br />
never move back to the East<br />
Coast! My work with developing<br />
countries on adapting to climate<br />
change continues apace—just<br />
returned from Macedonia, in<br />
January I am off to Madagascar,<br />
then in the spring to Armenia,<br />
Azerbaijan and Georgia. Down<br />
the road I am looking into more<br />
work on the African continent,<br />
including a new assignment with<br />
UNDP, and in October the IPCC<br />
meetings are in Buenos Aires, so<br />
if anyone needs some miles…”<br />
If you, like Jim, are planning a<br />
stop in Africa, heads up for Joel<br />
Hellman; it seems no one is working<br />
in Sheboygan these days!<br />
Joel reports: “I have moved<br />
from Delhi to Nairobi, where I<br />
have a new job overseeing the<br />
World Bank’s work in what we<br />
call ‘fragile and conflict affected<br />
states,’ and what the rest of the<br />
world calls ‘really screwed-up<br />
countries.’ I hope to reassure<br />
some of our classmates that their<br />
hard-earned tax dollars on development<br />
assistance are being used<br />
reasonably well. And I promise<br />
to steer more good people to<br />
the Center for Development<br />
Economics at <strong>Williams</strong>.” Joel,<br />
now that I know you are in<br />
Nairobi, I may bug you the next<br />
time I’m on a layover. We normally<br />
stay at the Stanley, where<br />
I head to the bar and sit in the<br />
booth where Hemingway sat and<br />
wrote—well, mostly drank, but<br />
maybe wrote—and try and let<br />
the inner muse take over while<br />
I continue to write the great<br />
American novel.<br />
Ned Buttner writes: “Barb<br />
Close got married in June, and<br />
many of the <strong>Williams</strong> clan were<br />
there. Paul Peppis will be the<br />
incoming chair of the English<br />
department at the University of<br />
Oregon this year. Tom Malarkey<br />
is enjoying his job as well<br />
and is playing summer league<br />
Ultimate in the Bay Area after<br />
recovering from an injury that<br />
kept him out of winter league;<br />
his wife Nicole just completed<br />
a film about an NIH research<br />
team (NIHGR) working on<br />
rare disorders. Marya and Tony<br />
Rose continue their legal work<br />
in Indianapolis and have been<br />
traveling around the country<br />
attending Phish concerts. We all<br />
visited Barb’s healing center in<br />
East Hampton, which is lovely,<br />
and also her husband, Courtney,<br />
took us out on his lobster boat.<br />
After the wedding they took<br />
their honeymoon in Italy. Some<br />
highlights so far this year for<br />
myself include the birth of our<br />
third child, Mika. Also, I was<br />
awarded my black belt in karate<br />
this spring. Work-wise, I am<br />
still spending most of my time<br />
in the lab doing neurogenetics<br />
research. Lots of grant writing<br />
and preparation of manuscripts.<br />
However I also started seeing<br />
patients on the neurology service<br />
this summer. I saw Chris and<br />
Marian <strong>Williams</strong>, both ’82, in LA<br />
when I went there for a scientific<br />
conference; they were in good<br />
spirits.” Thanks for the updates,<br />
Ned, and keep them rolling in.<br />
Finally, it is not often that I
find myself at a loss for words.<br />
However, hearing of the untimely<br />
death of Scott Corngold, and then<br />
reading the outpouring of love<br />
and sympathy from some of our<br />
classmates on Scott’s Facebook<br />
page following his death, I’m<br />
still searching for what to say.<br />
So I’ll begin by letting our fellow<br />
classmates speak to you in their<br />
own words.<br />
Phillip Holmes writes: “I am<br />
stunned by the news of Scott’s<br />
passing. He was one of my college<br />
roommates, one of the small<br />
group of friends who helped<br />
me so much my first year, and I<br />
cannot believe that he is gone.<br />
He was passionate, hilarious,<br />
quirky—and he energized everyone<br />
around him. He should not<br />
be gone. My deepest condolences<br />
to all who knew him.”<br />
Bob Hollister writes: “RIP<br />
Rabbi Scott Corngold, my college<br />
roommate, civil disobedience<br />
partner in crime, Mont Blanc<br />
hiking companion and friend.<br />
The world has lost a brilliant,<br />
compassionate teacher.<br />
Too young, my friend, far too<br />
young.”<br />
Richard Dodds writes: “The<br />
lump in my chest still returns to<br />
a tight sadness when I think of<br />
Scott not being here anymore.<br />
Scott was such a quirky, wonderful<br />
suitemate at <strong>Williams</strong>. He had<br />
a way of looking down at the<br />
ground while you were talking<br />
to him, and I soon learned that<br />
he was listening and processing<br />
during those times. Then<br />
he would put his hand to his<br />
head or chop it up and down in<br />
the air as he replied (and with<br />
me at least, there was a certain<br />
amount of eye-rolling when I<br />
wasn’t getting his point). On one<br />
occasion, while visiting NYC,<br />
another suitemate of mine, John<br />
Springer, and I accompanied<br />
Scott to a children’s fair at his<br />
synagogue. As we watched Scott<br />
walk through the crowd, we saw<br />
Rabbi Corngold derive such joy<br />
from his young congregants.<br />
It was a wonderful window to<br />
look through into another side<br />
of Scott that we had never seen<br />
before. I will miss you, Scott.”<br />
Beth Grossman writes: “We<br />
were friends since we were 18,<br />
college freshmen at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
He said to me: ‘You’re Jewish<br />
and from California and went<br />
to public school—so am I. We<br />
are going to be kindred spirits.’<br />
And we were. He brought me<br />
lunch every day when I was<br />
pregnant and on bed rest for<br />
weeks. Thirteen years later he<br />
bat mitvah’d that same daughter.<br />
I had a new snow globe, from<br />
someplace I am sure he had<br />
never been, for his collection that<br />
I brought him that Saturday. He<br />
was my kindred spirit, and my<br />
heart breaks…”<br />
I did not know Scott as well<br />
as many of you did, but I do<br />
remember his energy and smile.<br />
There was always some “action”<br />
around him, and that is how I<br />
will remember our friend and<br />
classmate. I have been dealing<br />
with some loss within my own<br />
family recently and have been<br />
reading a lot, as I tend to do<br />
when life ebbs away from me<br />
for a while. During such times,<br />
I know it will turn and flow<br />
back to me on the incoming<br />
tide, bringing with it new people<br />
and experiences to fill some of<br />
the holes left by those who have<br />
passed on. Eventually, I turned to<br />
Thoreau, an old favorite of mine,<br />
and found what I was looking<br />
for in the final paragraph of the<br />
second chapter of Walden. A fly<br />
fisherman since I was a young<br />
boy, the words have always<br />
struck me deeply—even as a<br />
young man—somehow warning<br />
me to not squander a good day<br />
of fishing, whether 10 years old<br />
or 70. I’ll share them with you<br />
now as I’m thinking of Scott and<br />
the other classmates who have<br />
passed up into the starry path<br />
before him. “Time is but the<br />
stream I go a-fishing in. I drink<br />
at it, but while I drink, I see the<br />
sandy bottom and detect how<br />
shallow it is. Its thin current<br />
slides away, but eternity remains.<br />
I should drink deeper; I should<br />
fish the sky, whose bottom is<br />
pebbled with the stars.” When I<br />
wrote the pages in the yearbook<br />
to our classmates who had<br />
passed, I told of the Sioux belief<br />
that when we leave this earth we<br />
become a point of light in the<br />
night sky, and that together we<br />
all form a starry path. While I fly<br />
across the globe and look up into<br />
the clear night’s sky, I now will of<br />
course also think of Scott as part<br />
of that starry path and remember<br />
that wildly wonderful energy of<br />
his and his quirky smile.<br />
1985<br />
Wendy Webster Coakley<br />
271 Pittsfield Road<br />
Lenox, MA 01240<br />
1985secretary@williams.edu<br />
Mike Coakley and I rang in the<br />
New Year with a jolly group of<br />
Middlebury alums, including Ted<br />
Thomas’s older brother Jack. As<br />
simpatico as grads of our two<br />
n 1984–85<br />
great schools tend to be, we were<br />
delighted to discover another<br />
Eph at the party: Joel Friedman<br />
’57, whose son Dave was Jack<br />
Thomas’ hockey co-captain at<br />
Midd in 1983.<br />
Betsy Crill Robertson welcomed<br />
<strong>2012</strong> in grand style by cheering<br />
daughter Kaya as she marched in<br />
the Tournament of Roses parade<br />
with the Mercer Island (Wash.)<br />
High School band. The kids had<br />
to practice their parade formations<br />
on the runway at nearby<br />
Boeing Field, since the streets<br />
in suburban Seattle aren’t wide<br />
enough to replicate Pasadena’s<br />
broad avenues!<br />
Many of you entered the New<br />
Year with new professional<br />
pursuits. Shannon McKeen joined<br />
the Keenan Flagler School of<br />
Business at the University of<br />
North Carolina as its dean of<br />
global corporate relations. The<br />
daily 90-mile commute each way<br />
from Winston-Salem to Chapel<br />
Hill has been offset by travel to<br />
Brazil, India and other far-flung<br />
destinations.<br />
After several years on the<br />
professional poker circuit (who<br />
knew?), Jeff Calkins switched<br />
gears and is now with AXA<br />
Advisors in midtown Manhattan.<br />
When he wrote me, he was in<br />
the process of building out a<br />
team, seeking career changers like<br />
himself.<br />
“Being a financial advisor is not<br />
for everyone, but for the right<br />
person it’s great: You have the<br />
challenges and rewards of running<br />
your own business but have<br />
the corporate backing and benefits,”<br />
Jeff noted. “I’ve said many<br />
times that I wish I had found<br />
this career at 27 rather than 47. I<br />
hope to make a recruiting trip to<br />
the Purple Valley sometime soon,<br />
and it will be interesting to be sitting<br />
on the other side of the table<br />
in the OCC.”<br />
I also heard from Bill and<br />
Susan Knapp McClements about<br />
their new positions. Bill is senior<br />
VP of corporate operations at<br />
Merrimack Pharmaceuticals in<br />
Cambridge, Mass. Merrimack is<br />
developing several promising cancer<br />
drugs, and Bill is really enjoying<br />
the mission and the people.<br />
And after many years working on<br />
a volunteer, part-time basis in the<br />
nonprofit sector, Susan has joined<br />
ACCESS, a Boston-based leader<br />
in helping young people chart an<br />
affordable path to and through<br />
a post-secondary education. “I<br />
feel very fortunate to be working<br />
with an amazing group of people,<br />
including some fellow Ephs,” she<br />
wrote.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 71
CLASS NOTES<br />
That’s not all the excitement in<br />
the McClements household these<br />
days: “We entered this fall with<br />
some real trepidation. In addition<br />
to two new jobs, all three of our<br />
kids are high school seniors. We<br />
were anticipating a holiday break<br />
filled with application writing,<br />
lots of nagging and grumpy<br />
teenagers. Happily all three are<br />
done with the process. Annie<br />
and Becky are members of the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Class of 2016, and Will<br />
is deciding between Elmhurst<br />
<strong>College</strong> and New England<br />
<strong>College</strong>. We couldn’t be happier<br />
for them.”<br />
Julie Meer Harnick sent in news<br />
that her daughter Jocelyn, like<br />
young Will McClements, started<br />
<strong>2012</strong> with the happy choice<br />
between two early acceptances:<br />
the <strong>College</strong> of Charleston and<br />
University of Delaware. And this<br />
from David Gow: “I hope my<br />
fellow classmates will forgive<br />
me, but my third son will be<br />
attending Amherst next year. We<br />
will have three in college (tuition<br />
is not my friend) and two still at<br />
home.”<br />
David is now deep in the world<br />
of sports talk radio, with a local<br />
station in Houston, 1560 The<br />
Game, and a national network,<br />
Yahoo Sports Radio.<br />
Our era’s contributions to the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Art Mafia continue<br />
to make their mark: I spotted<br />
Michael Govan in the February<br />
issues of Vanity Fair and Town<br />
and Country, photographed at<br />
the Art & Film Gala at the LA<br />
County Museum of Art—where<br />
Michael is director—and at Art<br />
Basel Miami Beach. The same<br />
edition of T&C also featured<br />
Thayer Tolles ’87, a curator at the<br />
Metropolitan Museum of Art,<br />
in a story about the Met’s new<br />
American wing, which opened<br />
in January after 10 years in the<br />
making.<br />
January in an election year<br />
means caucus season in Iowa, so<br />
I reached out to Rachel Stauffer<br />
afterward to see how she fared.<br />
As a registered Democrat, she<br />
didn’t get inundated with candidate<br />
mail and robocalls this election<br />
cycle but has been very busy<br />
nonetheless with the construction<br />
of a new house in Des Moines<br />
with her husband, Jim Lawson.<br />
“The move was awful but<br />
well worth it, as we love our<br />
new home,” said Rachel, who<br />
continues to enjoy her work at<br />
Aviva Investors. She and Jim are<br />
both active in the community on<br />
nonprofit boards and with their<br />
church, and will be celebrating<br />
their 10th anniversary in <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
72 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
My deadline was too close to<br />
the New Hampshire primary to<br />
get a report from John Gregg.<br />
A longtime reporter on Capitol<br />
Hill, he’s now political editor for<br />
Valley <strong>News</strong> in West Lebanon,<br />
N.H., so no doubt got a lot of<br />
face time with the candidates.<br />
I laughed out loud while reading<br />
this missive from Anne Melvin<br />
about her mid-life crisis-averting<br />
adventure with husband Dan<br />
Sullivan ’82: “After 15 years of<br />
not having a vacation alone, Dan<br />
and I finally found time to take<br />
a week together joining Lizard<br />
Head Cycling Guides White<br />
Rock tour of Utah for a 350-mile,<br />
25,000-foot climbing, weeklong<br />
road biking extravaganza in the<br />
most deserted (and beautiful) part<br />
of Utah with 11 other slightly<br />
‘off’ souls. I say ‘off’ because, the<br />
week before, in telling a group<br />
of girlfriends over dinner about<br />
trying to get in 100 miles on my<br />
bike each weekend in preparation<br />
for this vacation, one of the<br />
slightly puzzled women said to<br />
me ‘Um, Anne, we don’t take<br />
vacations that we have to train<br />
for. That doesn’t sound like fun.’<br />
All the other women nodded in<br />
agreement to murmurs of ‘swizzle<br />
sticks,’ ‘beaches’ and ‘cabana<br />
boys.’” So, why did she do it? In<br />
Mel’s words, “Let’s face it: We’ve<br />
been at this thing for 26 years<br />
now since graduation, and I can<br />
tell you down to the minute what<br />
I’m doing each morning between<br />
5:48 a.m. when my alarm rings<br />
and 7:06 a.m. when I leave the<br />
house to catch the train to work.<br />
I need to shake things up a little.<br />
What I am far too insecure to do<br />
in my job (namely, try something<br />
different and get a new one), I<br />
am bold to do on a bike.” Anne<br />
also passed along the news that<br />
Alec Brackenridge won’t tell her<br />
what he’s doing at his company,<br />
Equity Residential, but that he’s<br />
more than happy to share that<br />
his wife Heidi Knight Brackenridge<br />
’86—Anne’s former Mills House<br />
suitemate—teaches part-time at<br />
the Epiphany School in Boston<br />
and teaches yoga in Natick.<br />
“Since I’ve gotten into yoga in the<br />
last few years, I’m going to go try<br />
her class and see if I can’t make<br />
her break into peals of giggles<br />
in front of the other adults just<br />
by my looking at her funny,”<br />
declared Mel, “which, if you’ve<br />
taken yoga at all, you’ll know is<br />
very non-yogi (especially during<br />
shivasana) and, if you know<br />
Heidi, you’ll know is also very<br />
likely to occur.”<br />
Chris Varrone celebrated his first<br />
full year in business at Riverview<br />
Consulting, focused on renewable<br />
energy. His daughters both<br />
starred as Sgt. Sarah Brown<br />
in their schools’ respective<br />
productions of Guys and Dolls;<br />
Emilia is a senior at Choate,<br />
and Elise is a fifth grader in the<br />
local Irvington, N.Y., school.<br />
Meanwhile, his equally talented<br />
son Espen, a high school sophomore,<br />
toured Belgium with his<br />
band over the holiday break.<br />
Finally, thanks to Class<br />
President Peter Orphanos for graciously<br />
hosting the 1985 tailgate<br />
at homecoming. Classmates at<br />
the game included John Gregg<br />
and his wife Mary, Jeanette<br />
Hazelton Fairhurst (who was<br />
up for a women’s ice hockey<br />
reunion), Phil and Mary Nealon<br />
Lusardi with their pre-schooler<br />
Grace and older daughter Jackie<br />
’14 in tow (“They may challenge<br />
for the greatest offspring age<br />
spread,” observed Orph), Ted<br />
Thomas, Mike Coakley and Mike<br />
deWindt, who may challenge<br />
for longest distance traveled to<br />
Homecoming in a single day,<br />
having flown from and back to<br />
Cleveland to see the Lord Jeffs<br />
beat the Ephs, 31-18. Talk about<br />
alumni devotion.<br />
Also dropping by the presidential<br />
spread were Jay Thoman<br />
’82, Liz Gallun Krieg ’83, Debbie<br />
Bernheimer Harris ’86 (in town<br />
to play hockey with Jeanette and<br />
visit daughter Addie ’15) and former<br />
swim coach Carl Samuelson<br />
and his wife Nancy.<br />
“While work keeps me busy,<br />
I try to keep in touch with Rob<br />
Kirkpatick and John Peloso as<br />
often as possible,” Peter said.<br />
May the rest of you also enjoy<br />
many classmate connections in<br />
the months ahead … and write<br />
to me about them, of course!<br />
1986<br />
J.P. Conlan<br />
Tulane D-2<br />
San Juan, PR 00927<br />
1986secretary@williams.edu<br />
At the conclusion of his first<br />
Hundred Days, Class President<br />
Mark Braude reports that he<br />
“was up in <strong>Williams</strong>town for<br />
homecoming this fall, and saw<br />
Richard Miller and Ken Richardson<br />
perform in the Octet alumni<br />
concert on Saturday night. My<br />
son, an aspiring a capella singer,<br />
joined me and absolutely loved<br />
the performance. In a sign of how<br />
much things have changed, upon<br />
getting home he immediately<br />
pulled up videos of the current<br />
Octet on YouTube.”
Mark’ can’t help but stay<br />
connected. In August Mark<br />
ran into Martha Nikitas Stone<br />
and her family on a flight from<br />
Chicago to Jackson, Wyo., and<br />
in December, at the end of a<br />
week’s ski trip in Big Sky, Mont.,<br />
Mark came to the realization at<br />
the lunch table that the one other<br />
New Yorker in his daughter’s<br />
ski class was the daughter of<br />
Alexandra Shapiro.<br />
In contrast to Mark’s successful<br />
ski vacation in Big Sky, former<br />
Class President Steve Troyer was<br />
suffering from a lack of snowfall<br />
in the Sierras. December wasn’t<br />
a total loss for Steve, as he ran<br />
into Marty Collins at a couple<br />
of holiday parties. “Marty and<br />
his family are doing quite well,”<br />
Steve reports. Marty is running<br />
corporate development at what<br />
Steve calls “a pretty well-funded<br />
green energy startup called<br />
Bloom Energy, where he’s been<br />
for a few years now.”<br />
Class VP Tim Faselt answered<br />
my call for information for the<br />
class notes within seconds of me<br />
posting to the class listserv. He<br />
informs me, in an email timestamped<br />
Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011,<br />
at 3:55 p.m. that he was out of<br />
the office. Thanks, Tim, for the<br />
update. I hope these notes don’t<br />
get you in trouble with your<br />
boss.<br />
In a hilarious post that I,<br />
alas, had to edit, Debbie Semel<br />
Goldenring reported what she<br />
learned from an engaging email<br />
exchange with her Eph-gal pals:<br />
“All seems well with Martha<br />
Nikitas Stone! From what I can<br />
see from her holiday card she<br />
and her family have recently<br />
returned from Stockholm—real<br />
jet-setters these Stones are.<br />
Martha is aiming to have a new<br />
holiday card from a different<br />
destination every year—so far no<br />
repeats! Ellenore Knight Baker,<br />
while entertaining guests this<br />
year for the holidays, has tried<br />
her hand at crafting! Please send<br />
all orders to her for personalized<br />
snuggies; she and her adorable<br />
children Cate and Graham are<br />
helping keep Ellie in a festive<br />
mood! Carolyn Walker Niles,<br />
celebrating her first holidays in<br />
Seattle where she and her family<br />
have recently relocated, sent a<br />
great holiday card—her daughter<br />
Grace looks so much like she<br />
did/does I had to do a double<br />
take on the photos, requiring a<br />
search for the ol’ reading glasses<br />
(so sad). Kathy Kirmayer has<br />
been trying her hand at cooking,<br />
after a 47-year hiatus. She<br />
decided to be an over-achiever:<br />
her first attempt was to make a<br />
Brussels sprout dish! Not even<br />
dunking one in chocolate could<br />
help! Madeline Hughes Hiakala<br />
is busying herself with her four<br />
grown children and workiing<br />
full time doing the lawyering<br />
thing in Alabama. Maryellen<br />
Mahoney Bissell’s house in<br />
Medfield is party central! She<br />
and husband Brad were the hosts<br />
to an impromptu holiday party<br />
visited by the always elusive<br />
Brian “Hoofa” Nixon ’87 and his<br />
family.”<br />
Debbie also reports that Sue<br />
Klein has moved back from the<br />
Czech Republic and is living in<br />
the Atlanta area, where she and<br />
her kids seem to be adjusting<br />
to the American way. Welcome<br />
back, Sue!<br />
Still living abroad in Valencia<br />
is Laura Gatzkiewicz, resident<br />
director of the Rutgers University<br />
in Spain program. Laura writes,<br />
“Every year brings me two<br />
new batches of college students<br />
coming for all kinds of reasons.<br />
Some come to party, some come<br />
to improve their Spanish, some<br />
come for adventure. In the end<br />
they end up doing all of the those<br />
things and growing more than<br />
they realize. My own two children<br />
are also growing fast. Julia<br />
is in her last year of high school<br />
and is applying to fine arts programs<br />
here in Spain, while Paco<br />
is finishing up primary school<br />
and eager to move on to the<br />
challenges of secondary school.<br />
Both of them are wonderful company<br />
and just all-around great<br />
kids. I would like to take all the<br />
credit for this, but I sometimes<br />
think they’re that way despite my<br />
parenting!”<br />
Laura hopes that this summer<br />
trip to Cape Cod to visit her<br />
parents will be the first leg of<br />
a road trip “out West” to the<br />
Berkshires.<br />
Soon after he completed his<br />
work on the class book and<br />
joined us at our glorious class<br />
reunion with only minor injuries<br />
to his offspring, Jeff Lilly left to<br />
begin a new life in Jordan, where<br />
he’s working “on a USAIDfunded<br />
project that assists<br />
political parties to develop and<br />
municipalities to govern more<br />
in concert with the needs of<br />
citizens—boilerplate democracy<br />
work. It’s a tough region for this<br />
and one that is going through<br />
dramatic changes as we speak<br />
and violent convulsions. Jordan<br />
has been stable, and we hope it<br />
is able to address grievances in<br />
[a] peaceful way. It’s a fascinating<br />
country, just about 70<br />
n 1985–86<br />
years old and a mix of Bedouin<br />
and Palestinian and urbanized<br />
Jordanians. Few resources, little<br />
rain but a highly educated elite<br />
that serves the rest of the Middle<br />
East as doctors, engineers, etc.”<br />
Jeff’s boys are “in third grade,<br />
learning Arabic faster than their<br />
parents and scrambling over<br />
Roman ruins whenever they get<br />
the chance.”<br />
Jeff has seen John Austin ’87,<br />
who is head of King’s Academy,<br />
the Deerfied-in-the-desert boarding<br />
school started by Jordan’s<br />
King Abdullah five years ago.<br />
Shelley Ball writes that she’s<br />
“still living in Berkeley, Calif.,<br />
and loving my school job, which<br />
gives me two weeks off in late<br />
December.” Shelly got to see<br />
Libby Hoffman and her daughter<br />
Anna for a quick breakfast in<br />
Manchester, N.H., over winter<br />
break, as her family headed from<br />
Boston to northern Vermont for<br />
a family reunion.<br />
Bill Hughson married Monica<br />
Lee in 2005, and is raising two<br />
wonderful little girls: Sophia, 5,<br />
and Tessa, 3. In 2009 Bill moved<br />
to Chicago with his family<br />
from San Francisco to take a<br />
job with DeVry: “It has been a<br />
very interesting (read: challenging!)<br />
time,” writes Bill, “to<br />
begin a career in private sector<br />
higher education, but DeVry has<br />
proven to be a great organization<br />
with exceptional commitment<br />
to our students.” Bill’s<br />
responsible for six institutions,<br />
including American University<br />
of the Caribbean School of<br />
Medicine, Ross University School<br />
of Medicine, Ross University<br />
School of Veterinary Medicine,<br />
Chamberlain <strong>College</strong> of<br />
Nursing, Carrington <strong>College</strong> and<br />
Carrington <strong>College</strong> of California<br />
(the latter two of which focus<br />
on allied health professional<br />
education).”<br />
One of the many things Sarah<br />
Vandervoort Morgan gives thanks<br />
for this year “is the reconnection<br />
with people who matter to me<br />
at our 25th reunion and, yes,<br />
friending them on Facebook!”<br />
She just joined the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
LinkedIn group, too, which she<br />
describes as “long overdue!”<br />
Sarah enjoyed a balmy Christmas<br />
with her husband Christian’s<br />
parents in St. Petersburg, Fla.,<br />
where it was all college prep this<br />
holiday season: the number-one<br />
gift of the year was a foosball<br />
table, a thoughtful investment<br />
in the future that allows her son<br />
Dylan eight years to practice<br />
and Elena nine years to practice<br />
before they are tested for real in<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 73
CLASS NOTES<br />
the Purple Valley, where Debbie<br />
Semel Goldenring’s son Jake,<br />
Debbie Bernhiemer Harris’ daughter<br />
Addie, Lisa Jayne Sippel’s<br />
daughter Mahaney, and Rich<br />
Miller’s daughter Lauren, all class<br />
of ’15, have finished their first<br />
semester at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
Also enjoying a balmy<br />
Christmas was Elizabeth<br />
Szatkowski, who, on Christmas<br />
Day, emailed me: “The kids and<br />
I are in Puerto Rico right now.<br />
We came with some friends from<br />
Portland and are staying near<br />
Yabucoa. I know it is a long<br />
shot but I was wondering if you<br />
happen to know what time the<br />
ferry leaves for Culebra? I do not<br />
have wifi here so am not able to<br />
access current information. The<br />
kids and I are hoping to go out<br />
for the day tomorrow. I thought<br />
I’d ask you since you live here<br />
and might have something like<br />
the ferry schedule to Culebra<br />
memorized.”<br />
After I forwarded Elizabeth the<br />
ferry schedule, Elizabeth shared<br />
some news worthy of congratulations:<br />
“One actual piece of<br />
information is that I was elected<br />
as the Region 1 repesentative to<br />
the Statewide Homeless Council<br />
which advises the governor on<br />
how to end and prevent homelessness.<br />
In 2011, we at PROP<br />
(People’s Regional Opportunity<br />
Program) and Youth Alternatives<br />
Ingraham unified our missions to<br />
form The Opportunity Alliance.<br />
Our new organization serves<br />
children, youth, adults and<br />
seniors; individuals, families and<br />
communities throughout Maine.”<br />
Tenor extraordinaire, Richard<br />
Miller reports that Carl Leafstedt<br />
flew into NYC the end of<br />
October to attend the opening<br />
night of Wagner’s Seigfried<br />
with him and Professor Kenneth<br />
Roberts.<br />
Taking time out from her<br />
Christmas vacation in New<br />
Orleans with her husband and<br />
three children, Elizabeth (“EBeth”)<br />
Skorcz Anthony writes, “My<br />
husband Pete Anthony ’85 and<br />
I, along with our buddies Ted<br />
Harshberger ’85 and Sharon<br />
Novey ’87, went to the <strong>Williams</strong>organized<br />
tour of the ‘ASCO:<br />
Elite of the Obscure’ exhibit at<br />
the LA County Museum of Art<br />
in November. The exhibit was<br />
co-curated by LACMA and the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> Museum of Art.<br />
It was a great evening of art and<br />
conversation.”<br />
Catching up with the Anthonys<br />
at the ASCO event was Andrea<br />
Smith, who reports that CEO<br />
and director of LACMA Michael<br />
74 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Govan ’85 gave the opening<br />
remarks. Since reunion, Andrea<br />
traveled from time zone to time<br />
zone to see classmates. In July<br />
Andrea visited her “former<br />
freshman roommate, Robin<br />
Lorsch Wildfang, and her adorable<br />
daughter Leah in Cambridge,<br />
Mass.” Robin was back stateside<br />
from Denmark, where she lives<br />
and teaches classics year round.<br />
Back home in LA, Andrea<br />
caught up with Richard Georgi ’87<br />
for coffee at the Getty Museum:<br />
“Richard is doing well, still<br />
running Grove Investors Fund<br />
and adoring his three gorgeous<br />
children.” Andrea then took a<br />
business trip with her brother-inlaw<br />
to Puerto Rico to scout out<br />
pubs, during which time she had<br />
the foresight to give me a call<br />
and experience some of the local<br />
criollo fare.<br />
In October Andrea attended<br />
the art opening of the Ed Moses<br />
and Gwyn Murill show at Ernie<br />
Wolfe’s ’73 gallery. Chris <strong>Williams</strong><br />
’83, his wife Marian <strong>Williams</strong><br />
’83, David Garfield Roland ’85<br />
and Daniel Blatt ’85 all attended.<br />
Ernie made his famous big game<br />
chili—this time it included boar<br />
and deer in the mix, and was,<br />
of course, extremely delicious.<br />
(Vegetarians may not have<br />
agreed.)<br />
At the end of October Andrea<br />
and Brendan Glynn ventured to<br />
Brooklyn to watch Paul Boocock<br />
read an original piece. Brendan<br />
is at The City of NY Housing<br />
Authority “doing very important<br />
and rewarding work,” helping<br />
people in their living situations.<br />
“Not only was Paul’s work<br />
funny, accomplished and thoughtprovoking,”<br />
writes Andrea, “but<br />
his performance easily made it<br />
the best piece of the night.” Then<br />
there was a “first time ever”<br />
ride on the Staten Island Ferry<br />
to have lunch and catch up with<br />
“the fabulous Winnie Martin”<br />
(one of Andrea’s Fayerweather<br />
freshman floormates). Winnie is<br />
still busy working as an attorney<br />
for Legal Services NYC. Andrea<br />
and Winnie lunched at a Spanish<br />
tapas restaurant and saw the<br />
Richmond County Ball Park,<br />
the training grounds for the<br />
New York Yankees. Andrea also<br />
caught up with Abby Solomon<br />
’93, who returned to NYC,<br />
where she is busy producing<br />
theater, and Scott “Buzz” Koenig,<br />
who is teaching production at<br />
NYU and producing his own<br />
projects.<br />
According to Andrea, autumn<br />
was a very busy season for<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni in LA. First<br />
there was the <strong>Williams</strong>/Amherst<br />
football game and then the<br />
monthly Ephs-in-Entertainment<br />
dinner run by Daniel Blatt ’85.<br />
Phil Walsh ’85, Lisa Mazzote ’86,<br />
Charlie Sena ’79, Zeke Nicholson<br />
’11, Susan Lai ’01 and Chris<br />
Zerwas ’02 were among those in<br />
attendance.<br />
On Dec. 1 there was the<br />
NESCAC Holiday Mixer, which<br />
included numerous alumni from<br />
the 11 colleges. Dan Blatt ’85 was<br />
in attendance with his classmate<br />
Phil Walsh ’85, along with Peter<br />
McEntegart ’91, Smith Glover ’00,<br />
Ron Moskovitz ’94, Andy Lee ’93,<br />
Genevieve Sperling ’04 and newer<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni Michelle Noyer-<br />
Granacki, Lucas Bruton, Alex Cruz<br />
and Rebecca Alschuler, all class<br />
of 2011.<br />
Topping the year off in LA was<br />
the annual Christmas luncheon<br />
organized by Bill Wishard ’64<br />
on Dec. 22 at the LA Athletic<br />
Club. Andrew Doyle ’98, CEO<br />
of Break Media, was the guest<br />
speaker. “Andy spoke about his<br />
personal journey of pursuing a<br />
writing career and how he took a<br />
year to write a book about Irish<br />
boxers, and how it eventually<br />
lead him to his work in the new<br />
media business,” writes Andrea.<br />
“He was extremely inspiring<br />
to the newer alumni in relating<br />
how the experiences of his<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> education have helped<br />
him to pursue his goals.” LA<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> President Jacqui Davis<br />
’87 hosted the event, and Andrea<br />
and Laura Kaiser ’83 assisted<br />
at the luncheon. Jeff Bader ’85,<br />
Howie March ’83, Martin Hilton<br />
’89, Felix Grossman ’56, Betsy<br />
Rosenblatt ’95 and Julia Karoly<br />
’03 were some of the alumni in<br />
attendance as well as undergrads<br />
Marissa Robertson, Paula Moren,<br />
David Michael, Laura Wann,<br />
Adrian Castro, Oriana McGee,<br />
Grant Torres, Lisa Gluckstein,<br />
Elana Teitelbaum and Taylor<br />
French, returning from <strong>Williams</strong><br />
on their Christmas break. Some<br />
of these students spoke about<br />
their current <strong>Williams</strong> experience:<br />
“It was enlightening for us<br />
‘older’ alumni,” writes Andrea,<br />
“to hear their experiences and<br />
to re-connect us with the Purple<br />
Valley.”<br />
Pam Mersereau Dickinson<br />
explains her truancy from<br />
reunion, writing that “between<br />
her daughter’s high school<br />
graduation and the riots in<br />
Greece,” she couldn’t make it to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town in mid-June. Pam<br />
nonetheless got up to the Purple<br />
Valley over the summer to play<br />
the Taconic Classic.
In addition to drawing Debbie<br />
Bernheimer Harris and her<br />
daughter Addie Harris ’15 in the<br />
first round, Pam met up with Lisa<br />
Jayne Sippel, who played with<br />
her mom Betsy, widow of Dave<br />
Jayne ’58, and Martha Amidon.<br />
Lindsay Brown missed reunion<br />
because the St. Andrew’s School<br />
boys’ varsity boat, which he<br />
coaches and in which his son<br />
Forrest was rowing, was competing<br />
at the High School Nationals.<br />
St. Andrew’s chance to enter<br />
the finals literally evaporated.<br />
Having weighed the shell the<br />
day before after practice on<br />
an overcast day, the boys from<br />
St. Andrew’s found themselves<br />
eight ounces underweight in the<br />
semi-finals, as two pounds of<br />
water steamed off the shell in<br />
the scorching heat. St. Andrew’s<br />
showing at the Henley Royal<br />
Regatta showed their true mettle<br />
as they finished second in the<br />
Princess Elizabeth Cup, beating<br />
the defending champions, Eton.<br />
The <strong>Alumni</strong> Office reports that<br />
they do not have an address for<br />
Sally Khalaf, who moved back<br />
to Kuwait from Jordan several<br />
years ago. If you have any news<br />
about Sally or her whereabouts,<br />
please pass it on.<br />
Blessings of peace, health and<br />
happiness to you and yours in<br />
the New Year.<br />
1987<br />
25 th<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Greg Keller<br />
2810 <strong>College</strong> Ave.<br />
Berkeley, CA 94705<br />
Rob Wieman<br />
11 Jarell Farms Drive<br />
Newark, DE 19711<br />
1987secretary@williams.edu<br />
“The mountains, the mountains,<br />
we greet them with a<br />
song…”<br />
In addition to re-learning<br />
the lyrics of the college song in<br />
advance of our 25th reunion,<br />
our classmates headed to their<br />
favorite peaks in December.<br />
David Attisani and family could<br />
be found skiing and boarding<br />
at Okemo in Vermont over the<br />
holidays, and at least one more<br />
trip to Stowe was in the works.<br />
David is a trial lawyer in Boston<br />
at Choate, Hall & Stewart,<br />
where he’s marking his 20th<br />
year on the job. “It seems that I<br />
woke up one morning and a few<br />
decades had passed,” he writes.<br />
In that vein, David is still getting<br />
used to having a teen-aged<br />
daughter (Clayre, 15), who along<br />
with siblings Chris, 12, and Ellie,<br />
8, is looking forward to another<br />
family trip to the Purple Valley<br />
in June.<br />
Jim Reichheld reports from<br />
nearby Concord that life is<br />
“wicked good.” His family took<br />
a ski trip in New Hampshire<br />
with Keith Goldfeld and clan. Jim<br />
helps shuttle his kids to various<br />
sports and activities, coaches<br />
youth hockey and soccer and<br />
plays in an adult hockey league a<br />
few nights a week. In his remaining<br />
waking hours he manages<br />
a gastroenterology practice in<br />
Lowell (“a good place to gastroenterologog”).<br />
Jim adds that<br />
his wife Julia (Beasley) Reichheld<br />
’89 is “loving life” as a literacy<br />
specialist in Needham.<br />
Craig Breon has moved from<br />
the Monterey Coast to an<br />
elevation of 6,200 feet in South<br />
Lake Tahoe for a new job. He’s<br />
now the climate change project<br />
director for the Sierra Nevada<br />
Alliance, which “means I’ll be<br />
working on land use and natural<br />
resource planning throughout<br />
the Sierra Nevada of California<br />
and Nevada.” Craig did not<br />
mention skiing, perhaps because<br />
this has been one of the driest<br />
winters in decades for the Sierra<br />
region. However, he is pleased<br />
that his new home is within<br />
walking distance of the crystal<br />
clear lake.<br />
Craig is also near enough<br />
to Reno to catch part of Paul<br />
Rardin’s <strong>2012</strong> guest conducting<br />
tour. Paul has relocated from<br />
Ann Arbor to his hometown of<br />
Philadelphia and is in his first<br />
year of teaching choral music<br />
at Temple University. This<br />
spring he’s looking forward<br />
to guest conducting engagements<br />
in Orlando, Providence,<br />
Fort Wayne and Reno (aka<br />
“the Biggest Little City in the<br />
World”). These events are typically<br />
with high school honors<br />
choirs, and Paul’s come to the<br />
realization that he could be conducting<br />
some of our classmates’<br />
kids.<br />
Monica Fennell will be making<br />
a temporary move this summer<br />
from Indianapolis to Bangkok,<br />
where she will be serving as<br />
a Rotary Peace Fellow. While<br />
she’s excited about the opportunity,<br />
she’s disappointed that<br />
the timing will keep her from<br />
attending our class festivities in<br />
June. “There’s only one 25th<br />
reunion,” she writes.<br />
A Google search reveals that<br />
Monica was previously on the<br />
n 1986–87<br />
Greencastle, Ind., school board,<br />
though I hesitate to report that,<br />
since Maureen (Ford) Miller<br />
asked me to clarify details from<br />
the fall 2011 notes. Moe is<br />
currently serving as president of<br />
the Somers, N.Y., school board,<br />
not the one in <strong>Williams</strong>town—a<br />
statement that slipped through<br />
our thorough fact-checking process.<br />
In addition, she writes, “I<br />
have two kids, not three, unless<br />
you’re counting Rob” (Miller,<br />
not Wieman, that is.) Moe sees<br />
Sue Christenson regularly and<br />
was looking forward to a spring<br />
trip to the Baltimore/DC area,<br />
where she was to watch her boys<br />
play lacrosse and ideally have<br />
lunch with Li Gwatkin.<br />
Ethan Balk posted the following<br />
140 characters to the<br />
Class of 1987 Facebook page<br />
on Jan. 7: “Sarabeth’s, Central<br />
Park, Islamic art, Burghers of<br />
Calais, Temple of Dendur, Le<br />
Pain Quotidien, Simon Doonan,<br />
30 Rock, Off for drinks, then<br />
WD-50.—with Sheila Dacey.” I<br />
wouldn’t normally report on this<br />
type of message but did enjoy<br />
the reminder of how much fun<br />
a winter weekend in Manhattan<br />
can be.<br />
Of course, what’s appealing<br />
to us old fogeys is not always<br />
that interesting to our kids. In<br />
December Anne Noel (Jones)<br />
Dawson joined her sister-in-law<br />
Mandy (Dawson) Murphy ’89 and<br />
family to visit the new Islamic<br />
art wing at the Metropolitan<br />
Museum of Art in NYC.<br />
“Clearly we have hit the years<br />
where our 12- and 13-year-old<br />
daughters are not so interested<br />
in museums and not afraid to<br />
show it,” she emails. “We shall<br />
see how it goes on future family<br />
trips where we try to provide<br />
some educational aspect to family<br />
travel.” On the home front,<br />
Alec Dawson and son William,<br />
10, cheered the N.Y. Giants<br />
improbable run through the<br />
playoffs and Super Bowl.<br />
Kate Pugh is surrounded by<br />
Giants and Patriots fans since<br />
she continues to live in the<br />
Boston area, after joining the<br />
faculty of Columbia University’s<br />
information and knowledge<br />
strategy master’s program in<br />
August. She’ll begin teaching her<br />
second course, called “Networks<br />
and Collaboration,” with<br />
Larry Prusak, “a well-known<br />
knowledge management author<br />
and thought-leader.” Kate also<br />
worked with Larry in 2011 on a<br />
project involving knowledge networks<br />
and international health<br />
for the Bill and Melinda Gates<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 75
CLASS NOTES<br />
Foundation. She adds, “I’m still<br />
engaged to Peter Van Walsum ’85<br />
and spent some wonderful (cold)<br />
holidays in Quebec with his<br />
kids Saskia, 15, Johan, 13, and<br />
Clarice, 8.”<br />
Everyone who emailed this<br />
round mentioned our 25th<br />
reunion and their plans for June.<br />
For those of you who are still on<br />
the fence about coming, Jordan<br />
Hampton, our class organizer<br />
extraordinaire, sent in one more<br />
plug for the big weekend. It<br />
will be fun, and I may figure<br />
out the second line of The<br />
Mountains song before then. In<br />
the meantime, courtesy of Moe<br />
Ford, “May all your troubles<br />
last as long as your New Year’s<br />
resolutions.”<br />
1988<br />
Britta Bjornlund<br />
7504 Honeywell Lane<br />
Bethesda, MD 20814<br />
Carolyn O’Brien<br />
241 Huron Ave.<br />
Cambridge, MA 02138<br />
1988secretary@williams.edu<br />
Greetings Class of ’88. As<br />
January cold takes its toll on us,<br />
many of us are reminiscing about<br />
Winter Study in the Purple Valley<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong>town.<br />
Mary Miller was not only<br />
reminiscing. She hosted a Winter<br />
Study group at her ranch in<br />
Arizona! Current <strong>Williams</strong><br />
undergraduates studying the<br />
U.S./Mexico border region spent<br />
a day in January working on<br />
a grassland restoration project<br />
on her ranch as volunteers.<br />
This sounds far more ambitious<br />
than the winter “studies” we<br />
participated in, which included<br />
less academics and more social<br />
endeavors.<br />
Brian Kornfield was also thinking<br />
about Winter Study, what<br />
with his older son home from<br />
Georgetown for many weeks.<br />
He says it’s “just too darn long<br />
to have older teens hanging<br />
around your house with nothing<br />
to do.” Brian is still working<br />
for a nonprofit in finance. He<br />
spent Christmas weekend in<br />
New Paltz, N.Y., hiking, skating<br />
and relaxing. He writes, “I even<br />
rented figure skates and pulled<br />
off a Hamill-camel or two without<br />
ending up in the hospital!”<br />
That is something we’d like to<br />
see—next time please videotape!<br />
Laura Gasiorowski was teaching<br />
a “Winter Intersession” class<br />
at her law school alma mater,<br />
Tulane. She<br />
76 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Ephs in the D.C. office of Morrison & Foerster welcomed Suz Mac<br />
Cormac ’88 (second from left) when she visited from the San Francisco<br />
office. Also pictured (from left): Tom Eldert ’97, Mike Fransella ’98,<br />
Alexandra Steinberg Barrage ’97, Andrew Smith ’87 and Nick Spiliotes ’77.<br />
explained that she led a weeklong<br />
practical skills workshop on<br />
criminal practice. She was happy<br />
to be back in the amazing city of<br />
New Orleans among old friends<br />
and colleagues and fresh-faced,<br />
impossibly young law students.<br />
Tracy Heilman was excited<br />
about the first real snow in<br />
Illinois. She attended a glam<br />
party hosted by Kate Kennedy<br />
where she also caught up with<br />
Katherine Wolf.<br />
Cindy Craig Johnson and family<br />
took a break from sunny, balmy<br />
Florida over the winter break to<br />
visit Utah for skiing. She reports<br />
that despite the complaints of<br />
lack of snow out west, it was terrific<br />
by Florida standards.<br />
Nils Christoffersen took part in<br />
a different kind of “winter sport”<br />
while visiting the Bay Area. He<br />
ran into Andy Harris and family<br />
playing tennis in Marin County<br />
and called on Kurt Oeler to take<br />
his son and nephew surfing in<br />
Pacifica. Nils also caught up with<br />
Britta Bjornlund, Nicole Melcher<br />
and Amy Searight, all government<br />
types, in the late fall in<br />
DC. Where the heck was Brad<br />
Roegge, they asked.<br />
Mark Huffman is also enjoying<br />
California winters, having<br />
moved there from the Northeast.<br />
He’s also enjoying a new baby:<br />
William Albert Coker Huffman,<br />
born Oct. 10, 2011, joining big<br />
brother Asher. Mark writes, “I<br />
thought I was too old for this,<br />
but it turns out I’m not.” Late<br />
nights with a colicky newborn<br />
are one thing, but can he pull off<br />
a Hamill-camel or two on figure<br />
skates, we ask? Congratulations<br />
Mark and family!<br />
Ashok Ashta has also relocated,<br />
for three months anyway, to<br />
Toyko. He writes that he traveled<br />
to Singapore, Shanghai and<br />
Bangkok. He planned to be back<br />
in Delhi soon.<br />
Alicia Bjornson spent 10 days in<br />
Cuba, studying conservation and<br />
cultural heritage preservation in<br />
tropical climates as a member<br />
of the American Institute for<br />
Conservation. She said it was a<br />
great experience, and her beautiful<br />
photos have not had us wanting<br />
to visit too. Unfortunately we<br />
cannot get visas!<br />
Andy Harris’ visit to NYC<br />
sparked a minireunion of the<br />
infamous “Sunday Night Beer<br />
League,” which was rightly held<br />
on a Sunday night in the fall.<br />
Ray George, Dekker Buckley, Jim<br />
Elliott, Jonny Hollenberg, Ajata<br />
(AJ) Mediratta ’87 and Dave Tager<br />
’87 were all in attendance. Ray<br />
also saw Ulysses Sherman in New<br />
York, visiting on business.<br />
Perhaps next time they can visit<br />
Robert (Pooch) Pucciariello’s band<br />
Sora An, which plays frequently<br />
in NYC. Rob and wife Maria are<br />
still living next to the Flatiron<br />
Building in New York, and he<br />
saw Tim Bock when <strong>Williams</strong><br />
President Adam Falk spoke at<br />
Credit Suisse. Rob reports that<br />
Eric Hanson is moving to San<br />
Francisco to book Yoshi’s, a<br />
legendary jazz club.<br />
Also in New York, Vicki<br />
Fuqua saw Jeanne Cloppse and<br />
Katherine Wolf at a party hosted<br />
by Claire Marx. Claire and Sally<br />
Laroche and families visited<br />
Vicki for New Year’s Eve. Jody<br />
Abzug reported seeing Tim Bock,<br />
Catherine Eaton Coakley, Lewis
and Carrie Collins, and Brooks<br />
Foehl at <strong>Williams</strong> Homecoming<br />
in November. She says, “Chatting<br />
with classmates was much more<br />
fulfilling than watching the<br />
game.” Given the score, that is<br />
not surprising. She also met Lisa<br />
Buxbaum Burke with her new<br />
husband in his first visit to the<br />
Purple Valley.<br />
That is all the news, my fellow<br />
Ephs. Keep warm, and keep on<br />
keeping on. Peace.<br />
1989<br />
David Bar Katz<br />
138 Watts St., Apt. 4<br />
New York, NY 10013<br />
Shannon Penick Pryor<br />
3630 Prospect St., NW<br />
Washington, DC 20007<br />
1989secretary@williams.edu<br />
Graham Dougal writes, “Spend<br />
most of the time delivering the<br />
kids to their various activities<br />
with occasional breaks for<br />
work or sleep. Did take older<br />
daughter on <strong>Williams</strong> alumni trip<br />
to Nepal earlier this year—very<br />
interesting in a ‘Dorothy, we’re<br />
not in Kansas anymore’ kind of<br />
way—but had a great time and<br />
would love to go back for some<br />
trekking.”<br />
From Nancy (Titus) Johnson,<br />
“In August my family moved to<br />
Tbilisi, Georgia, in between the<br />
Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.<br />
It’s a beautiful capital surrounded<br />
by mountains. My husband is<br />
teaching sciences and high-level<br />
math classes at the secondary<br />
level, while I am teaching fifth<br />
grade. We just missed teaching<br />
our own children. Forrest is in<br />
sixth grade and Autumn is in<br />
eighth grade. The youngest two<br />
girls are in second and kindergarten.<br />
Being able to speak Russian<br />
is much more useful here than in<br />
China.”<br />
From Dominick Grillo, “Can’t<br />
say it’s juicy or gossipy, but I<br />
and my house came through<br />
Hurricane Irene OK earlier this<br />
year.”<br />
Susan Sullivan writes, “I am still<br />
working at the Bank of America<br />
despite layoffs and protests. I<br />
am supporting our International<br />
Wealth Management business<br />
and, as you can imagine, the<br />
hours are crazy. Tomorrow I am<br />
getting up at 4 in the morning to<br />
be in the office for a telepresence<br />
conference call with Asia and<br />
the U.K. starting at 6 a.m. My<br />
big news this year is that I have<br />
moved to a new townhome on<br />
the water in Hingham, Mass.<br />
Hingham is a quaint colonial<br />
town, and the shipyard where<br />
I live is the perfect blend of the<br />
traditional and the up-andcoming.<br />
The popular hangout is<br />
Wahlburgers, a restaurant owned<br />
by Mark Wahlberg’s brother.”<br />
From John Berger, “It looks like<br />
I’ve settled in to St. Augustine,<br />
Fla., for a while, as Sarah and I<br />
have been able to take advantage<br />
of the housing bust and bought<br />
our first place since I left Wall<br />
Street for the nonprofit world.<br />
I’m still traveling a lot for Made<br />
By Survivors and will be in<br />
India several times this year. I’m<br />
thinking of doing a short trek in<br />
Nepal this spring as a fundraiser.<br />
If anyone wants to test the effects<br />
of beer at high altitude, let me<br />
know.”<br />
As many of you know, David<br />
Gaillard died over the winter in an<br />
avalanche. Seth Burns wrote the<br />
following, which I’d like to share<br />
with the class: “It is with great<br />
sadness that I learned of David<br />
Gaillard’s passing. My thoughts<br />
and prayers go out to his family<br />
for such a tragic loss. I met Dave<br />
freshman year, as we both lived<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong> A. I will always<br />
remember moments with Dave<br />
at <strong>Williams</strong>: eating late night at<br />
the Snack Bar, joking around the<br />
freshman entry, rowing on Lake<br />
Onota, stressing out over school<br />
work, going on runs through<br />
the Berkshires… A few years out<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong> I lived for a bit in<br />
Dillon, Mont., and spent many<br />
weekends sleeping on Dave’s<br />
couch in Bozeman. Always kind<br />
and helpful, Dave had definitely<br />
found his calling and was<br />
clearly in his element doing the<br />
important work of protecting the<br />
greater Yellowstone ecosystem. I<br />
remember having many conversations<br />
with Dave about his work<br />
and was always impressed with<br />
his intelligent and selfless way of<br />
discussing the issues of protecting<br />
the environment. Dave had a way<br />
of working his understated sense<br />
of humor into conversations that<br />
I will always remember. It was<br />
that year (living in Montana)<br />
that I read the book Zen and the<br />
Art of Motorcycle Maintenance<br />
by Robert M. Pirsig. As the<br />
novel’s narrative meanders<br />
through Beartooth Pass and<br />
into Yellowstone National Park,<br />
Pirsig’s discussion of goodness<br />
is similar to how Dave lived his<br />
life. Dave moved to Bozeman<br />
to pursue work and a life that<br />
he believed in. Always purposeful,<br />
intelligent, selfless and kind,<br />
Dave was an uncommonly good<br />
person, and we are all blessed<br />
n 1987–90<br />
to have him enrich our lives.<br />
Although Dave is longer with<br />
us, his impact on the world will<br />
always remain.”<br />
1990<br />
Katie Brennan<br />
2018 Rosilla Place<br />
Los Angeles, CA 90046<br />
1990secretary@williams.edu<br />
I’ve just realized that the class<br />
notes only come out three times<br />
a year! I’ve been thinking all<br />
along it was four and worrying<br />
I’d bitten off more than I could<br />
chew, but three times a year does<br />
feel manageable. Lots of news<br />
this time! So great to hear from<br />
so many of you, and thanks to<br />
everyone who sent in updates.<br />
Read on and see what your<br />
classmates are up to!<br />
Congratulations to Doug<br />
Barnaby, proud father of triplets!<br />
On the side, he’s also an emergency<br />
physician in Huntington,<br />
N.Y., and we’ll forgive the<br />
brevity of his message “Yep,<br />
triplets—it’s a blast, and they<br />
definitely keep me on my toes.”<br />
Tina Lieu wrote from<br />
Cambridge, where she and<br />
family welcomed Ellen Miharu<br />
Tomioka, who was born June<br />
10. “We’ve been so busy between<br />
the baby and Henry, 3, that not<br />
much else has been happening.<br />
I do get to see Gretchen<br />
Swanz Herault every few months<br />
though. I’m still working at Basis<br />
Technology, although now in the<br />
marketing department.”<br />
Lots of educators from our<br />
class continue to write in. So<br />
great to see the <strong>Williams</strong> legacy<br />
passed on in so many ways! Amy<br />
Whritenour Ando is a professor of<br />
environmental economics at the<br />
University of Illinois at Urbana-<br />
Champaign. “My grad class has<br />
about 20 students from many<br />
parts of campus (engineers and<br />
urban planners as well as economists).<br />
… My undergrad class<br />
has 180 students. It is designed<br />
to be accessible even to students<br />
who don’t know anything about<br />
economics. I feel like it’s part<br />
of educating the general public<br />
about some basic important principles<br />
of environmental problems<br />
and policies.” Amy is “still married<br />
to the same great guy,” and<br />
the main source of change is the<br />
kids, now ages 9 and 13, who<br />
keep getting bigger and developing<br />
new interests.<br />
Bob McCarthy is the humanities<br />
department chair at the Key<br />
School in Annapolis, teaching<br />
European and American<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
civilization—“a combination<br />
of English, history, philosophy,<br />
economics, etc. It’s been great<br />
for me. I have good students and<br />
a lot of freedom to teach what<br />
and how I think best.” He had a<br />
chance to get back to Oxford last<br />
spring and stayed in the college,<br />
which was fun and especially<br />
exciting for his son.<br />
Nathaniel McVey-Finney has<br />
been teaching for more than two<br />
decades at public, charter (very<br />
briefly) and private/independent<br />
schools as well as coaching cross<br />
country at several schools including,<br />
recently, The Bullis School in<br />
Potomac, Md., and The Madeira<br />
School in McLean, Va. Nate<br />
also has a 5-year-old son in the<br />
second year of preschool.<br />
Kristin Moomaw Harder also<br />
started teaching right out of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> and promptly met<br />
future husband Adam at Choate<br />
Rosemary Hall. She’s been teaching<br />
ever since, most recently at<br />
The Rivers School near Boston.<br />
Kristin teaches math, and Adam<br />
both math and Spanish. When<br />
they had children, they were<br />
eager for them to be bilingual,<br />
and this year have had the<br />
great fortune (and thoughtful<br />
employers) of being awarded<br />
concurrent sabbaticals. They<br />
have taken one-year appointments<br />
at School Year Abroad<br />
Spain, an immersion program for<br />
U.S. high school students. So the<br />
Harder family is having a grand<br />
adventure, centered in Zaragoza<br />
(midway between Madrid<br />
and Barcelona), with jaunts<br />
to Burgos, Leon, the Asturian<br />
coast as well as Portugal and<br />
Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands!<br />
Kristin is finally catching up<br />
to Adam in Spanish (no more<br />
secret Dad-kid conversations?!)<br />
and enjoying a reduced teaching<br />
load for the year. “Our children<br />
(Keagan, 5, and Keira, 8) are<br />
attending a Spanish school. They<br />
have adjusted well to both the<br />
language and the culture (and<br />
they have learned a lot about the<br />
Catholic religion). After just a<br />
few months, they are completely<br />
fluent.” Wishing the Harder family<br />
a few more months of delight<br />
in Spain before they return to<br />
Boston in July.<br />
Also living a life of adventure<br />
is the family of Karen Hufnagel<br />
and Brice Hoskins. “In May,<br />
we moved our family of four<br />
and two businesses (Montanya<br />
Distillers and Mountain Boy<br />
Sledworks) to Crested Butte,<br />
Colo. New school, new house,<br />
new community, new friends,<br />
new employees, new ski area,<br />
78 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
new mountains. You name it, we<br />
changed it. And we are loving it!<br />
In June, we all went to Ladakh<br />
and Darjeeling, India, for a<br />
three-week trip that involved lots<br />
of hiking (our 11- and 13-yearold<br />
boys made it to 17,000 feet<br />
in the Himalayas!) and lots<br />
of eating great food. We are<br />
ever so tired of moving boxes<br />
around. Sammy Rogers came<br />
to visit over Thanksgiving, and<br />
she thought we were living in a<br />
vacation rental because we got<br />
rid of half of what we owned in<br />
the transition, leaving not much<br />
to help her know she was in<br />
the right house. We are looking<br />
forward to lots of visits from<br />
Ephs for rum at our new facility<br />
in Crested Butte.”<br />
Yoko Hirano wrote, “I’m still at<br />
Pearson working as a ‘publisher’<br />
(in U.K. terms), which is more<br />
like an editorial manager, in ELT<br />
material for children learning<br />
English around the world,<br />
primarily in Latin America. It’s<br />
a great job with fabulous people<br />
that I am so lucky to have! I am<br />
married, living in Cold Spring,<br />
N.Y., and have two boys (7 and<br />
almost 3), who are lots of work<br />
but so much fun.”<br />
Brett Babat is a practicing spine<br />
surgeon in Nashville, specializing<br />
in adult deformity and revision<br />
surgery. He spent a great week<br />
before Christmas in Playa del<br />
Carmen, Mexico, with wife<br />
Jackie and kids Zach, Sylvie and<br />
Lucy. Brett also reported a great<br />
weekend eating and drinking in<br />
Manhattan with Ed Wiggers last<br />
July.<br />
Timmie Friend Haskins is doing<br />
residential interior design in the<br />
SF Bay area as well as in Hawaii,<br />
Montana and Sun Valley. A<br />
splendiferous house she designed<br />
in Hawaii was featured in<br />
Architectural Digest.<br />
You may recall reading here<br />
that Michael Erard was finishing<br />
up a book on super language<br />
learners. Babel no More has<br />
had a fantastic review in the<br />
New York Times Book Review.<br />
Of course, you should read the<br />
book, but if you at least manage<br />
to read the review, you’ll<br />
learn how “shadowing” is a<br />
great technique to learn a new<br />
language, one that might involve<br />
making a “spectacle of oneself …<br />
but seems to help the beginner<br />
shed some of the self-consciousness<br />
connected with speaking a<br />
foreign language.”<br />
Whitney Wilson is a lawyer<br />
at Jacobson Holman, in DC,<br />
practicing in the patent and<br />
trademark fields. “I spend most<br />
of my spare time patrolling the<br />
youth sports sidelines (hockey,<br />
soccer, baseball and diving) with<br />
my 8- and 10-year-old sons and<br />
leading an eager group of 10<br />
Cub Scouts. One of my fellow<br />
soccer dads is Hamilton Humes<br />
’85. I get to see Bruce Young ’90<br />
pretty regularly.”<br />
Tim Sullivan wrote while<br />
recovering from his first-ever<br />
marathon! He wisely selected<br />
the Disney World Marathon for<br />
his debut, and wife Katie, son<br />
Devin, 12, and daughters Niamh,<br />
10, and Aoife, 4, all enjoyed<br />
a long weekend in Orlando.<br />
Otherwise, the Sullivan family<br />
lives in Marblehead, Mass., and<br />
Tim commutes to Cambridge,<br />
where has worked for 15 years<br />
at Millenium Pharmaceuticals,<br />
currently in environment, health<br />
and safety. Tim and family have<br />
been getting some skiing in at<br />
Jay Peak, including with Peter<br />
Millikan and family. Tim was also<br />
looking forward to getting back<br />
in touch with Rubber Band mate<br />
Phil Jordan ’89.<br />
Training for a half-marathon<br />
is Steve Allen. Unfortunately,<br />
the unseasonably warm winter<br />
in Moscow has been depriving<br />
him of the best excuse not<br />
to train, reducing him to “my<br />
legs really hurt from running<br />
so much, when the hell is it<br />
going to get cold so I can stop<br />
running?” Hope was on the<br />
horizon, though, with a promising<br />
10 degrees F on a day in<br />
January, and “with the wind chill<br />
it is somewhere between seven<br />
degrees below and 18 degrees<br />
below zero. A) Russians scoff at<br />
this. For Christ’s sake, it should<br />
be 20 below for two or three<br />
solid weeks. ‘You know, back in<br />
the 70’s…’ is something I often<br />
hear as a preface to just how<br />
mild the current weather is, and<br />
this has been the case in exactly<br />
17 of the last 17 years. B) There<br />
is no such thing as ‘wind chill,’<br />
bekoz unlike amerikaans vee do<br />
not feel zee vind.” But can zey<br />
handle zee heat?<br />
Pam Lotke is stoic during the<br />
summers, and enjoys the cooler<br />
seasons in Tucson with her<br />
family, including husband Alex,<br />
daughter Allegra, 7, and son<br />
Asher, 5. Pam is keeping very<br />
busy working at the University<br />
of Arizona, Department of<br />
OB/GYN as well as spending<br />
one day a week at Planned<br />
Parenthood and another half<br />
day at the county jail. “Enough<br />
research to keep it interesting but<br />
not so I have to bring it home.<br />
Alex, on the other hand, could
e doing his research (physics,<br />
and now solar energy) 24/7.”<br />
Although Arizona ranks low in<br />
the nation for education funding,<br />
Pam feels lucky to have found<br />
a Spanish immersion magnet<br />
public school with some great<br />
programs. Hard for the kids to<br />
return to Spanish mode, though,<br />
after a winter break of ziplining<br />
across the back yard!<br />
David Becher has been living<br />
in Boulder and working for 19<br />
years at a small market research<br />
and city planning firm—primarily<br />
in the travel and tourism<br />
field. He enjoys hiking and cross<br />
country skiing as much as possible.<br />
Perhaps unusual for the<br />
West, Boulder has lots of snow<br />
this year. David sees John Putnam<br />
fairly often in town and on the<br />
trails. John is an environmental<br />
attorney with two kids and is<br />
active in local environmental<br />
efforts/boards in addition to his<br />
professional work.<br />
Jim Fogarty has been keeping<br />
the headhunters in business, with<br />
a whirlwind tour of executive<br />
positions, including CFO at<br />
Warnaco, CFO at Levi Strauss,<br />
CEO of American Italian pasta<br />
company, COO at Lehman<br />
Brothers, CEO of Charming<br />
Shoppes and now CEO of<br />
Orchard Brands!<br />
Emily Dolbear delegated Paul<br />
Willen to write in and “explain<br />
what we do with our time.<br />
We have two children, Joseph,<br />
11, and Marco, 8. Emily does<br />
some freelance editorial work<br />
but devotes most of her time to<br />
raising the boys. I work as an<br />
economist at the Federal Reserve<br />
Bank of Boston. I’m something<br />
of an expert on home mortgages,<br />
so I’ve been very busy the last<br />
few years. (If you’re bored, you<br />
can find out more on my website<br />
http://sg.sg/pwillens.”<br />
Chap Petersen was re-elected<br />
to the Virginia State Senate<br />
last year and is now approaching<br />
his second decade in the<br />
legislature. He also maintains<br />
a full-time law practice in<br />
hometown Fairfax City. He and<br />
wife Sharon have four children,<br />
with the youngest born last<br />
August and the oldest in middle<br />
school. Life is great, and Chap<br />
“recently visited with Chris<br />
Adams, who lives in Charlotte,<br />
N.C. He’s the godfather to my<br />
son Thomas, 6, which means<br />
he’s supposed to be an example<br />
of integrity and morality in<br />
adult living. That’s a frightening<br />
thought.”<br />
Keep the frightening thoughts<br />
coming! At press time, at least<br />
one birth and one wedding were<br />
imminent, so I hope I’ll have<br />
more good news for you next<br />
time.<br />
1991<br />
Ramona Liberoff<br />
34 Charlotte Road, Flat 4<br />
London, EC2A 3PB<br />
United Kingdom<br />
1991secretary@williams.edu<br />
Greetings to the Class of ’91<br />
from London, where I’ve been<br />
living since 1994. This is my first<br />
class notes, and I am glad we get<br />
five years to improve both solicitation<br />
of news and presentation.<br />
My husband Garry and I spent<br />
much of the end of 2011 holiday<br />
break with BlackBerry switched<br />
off and a mince pie in each hand,<br />
so thanks to those who overcame<br />
turkey torpor to write in your<br />
news.<br />
I received no news of extreme<br />
weather, odysseys to Kazakhstan<br />
or emergency rescues as in Pete’s<br />
September notes, though everyone<br />
who wrote in lives impressively<br />
busy lives of daily heroism,<br />
juggling children and work,<br />
participating in community life,<br />
while maintaining a sense of<br />
humour.<br />
I have spent the last 10 years<br />
working in different global roles,<br />
and it is always fun to run into<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni. Last October<br />
at a conference in Baltimore,<br />
Md., I ran into Chris Walker ’93<br />
and Stephanie Linden Seale ’96,<br />
working in Switzerland and<br />
California, respectively, on issues<br />
of global health and technology.<br />
Also in DC, I caught up with<br />
Greg Woods and got news of former<br />
class secretary Mary Moule<br />
and family as well as inside tales<br />
of the Beltway from Greg. I<br />
managed through decoding the<br />
DC Metro map to meet with<br />
Jessica (Baraka) Nolan and have<br />
a rapid-fire 37-minute coffee<br />
and catch-up on the last decade,<br />
including how she met husband<br />
Phil, life with a young son and<br />
the delights of McLean,Va. When<br />
in Paris, I try to catch up with<br />
Jennifer (Austin) Flanigan, who<br />
now has three boys and a girl,<br />
all under the age of 10, with an<br />
impressive command of French<br />
and a fine line in Franglais.<br />
London is a common place for<br />
global alumni to pass through or<br />
visit. Last summer I enjoyed the<br />
company of Deidre (Goodwin)<br />
Carovano, who with husband Bill<br />
working locally in Cambridge<br />
(the UK one) enjoyed life in a<br />
flat with their two children and<br />
n 1990–91<br />
a total change of pace from<br />
“normal” life in Tampa, Fla.,<br />
with sunshine and a house in<br />
London in December. I shared<br />
an Indian dinner with Monica<br />
Brand, who was on a work trip<br />
to London and Amsterdam with<br />
Accion International in DC.<br />
My Thanksgiving dinner table<br />
included Sarah Peterson, who<br />
was in town for work, Sophie<br />
Muir, who lives in London, and<br />
Jae (Gruenke) Barnhill ’93, who<br />
with husband Eric is spending a<br />
year in Edinburgh.<br />
Scott Schwager, another longtime<br />
London resident, living with<br />
wife Viviane and family, met<br />
with Josh Kurzban and his wife<br />
Michelle on their way to a wedding<br />
in Europe. “Josh loves the<br />
open spaces and life in Kansas,<br />
where they recently moved after<br />
decades in New York.”<br />
Brian Carlson writes that he<br />
and his new wife Kristin were<br />
planning a trip to Europe in<br />
the spring and “are thrilled to<br />
have moved into a new home in<br />
Marblehead, Mass., my favorite<br />
town in the world.” Brian is still<br />
practicing employment and labor<br />
law with a boutique law firm in<br />
the Boston suburbs and enjoying<br />
the work.<br />
Tim Hildreth is convinced that<br />
London is the glittering, celebrity-strewn<br />
and unrecognizably<br />
tidy version of itself that turns<br />
up in films like Love, Actually<br />
and writes that he’s “jealous”<br />
that I get to spend the holidays in<br />
such a wonderful place. I think<br />
New Hampshire sounds far<br />
nicer than London, if terrifyingly<br />
filled with very fit people,<br />
from Tim’s description. Tim, Lisa<br />
Leinau and 10 friends enjoyed<br />
the landscape by doing the 2011<br />
New Balance Reach the Beach<br />
Relay, running 200 miles from<br />
Cannon Mountain to Hampton<br />
Beach in 36 legs. (I assume each<br />
runner contributed two of their<br />
own.) “It was a really amazing<br />
experience to run through some<br />
of the most beautiful places in<br />
the state, through the night, and<br />
run as one team across the finish<br />
line 29 hours after our first runner<br />
started.”<br />
I am glad to hear news from<br />
the “home” team, those who<br />
have stayed in the Northeast. Joel<br />
Foisy is committed to bringing<br />
back the Janes, a splendid ensemble<br />
homegrown in the basement<br />
of Lehman Hall in summer 1989.<br />
The Janes included Mike Cole on<br />
keyboards, Greg Woods on guitar,<br />
Andy Beveridge on bass and,<br />
of course, Joel on the drums.<br />
Joel writes that he now “has an<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
electronic drum kit and is ready<br />
for a reunion.” If references are<br />
needed, “Jane Greenawalt ’90<br />
or Soo La Kim can provide fan<br />
notes of the awesome show in<br />
Greylock Quad.” We should<br />
keep an eye out for the Janes on<br />
YouTube or demand a live show<br />
at our 25th Reunion. Joel also<br />
visited DC in September and<br />
spent time with Jake Smith and<br />
Cliff Majersik and came away<br />
impressed by “how many kids’<br />
soccer games Cliff planned to<br />
attend the next day (three).”<br />
Betsy Allen-Pennebaker and<br />
Andrew Allen are living in<br />
Burlington, Vt. While Andrew<br />
is busy growing a new division<br />
of his business, Betsy is<br />
now teaching the liberal arts<br />
strand at Champlain <strong>College</strong><br />
in Burlington. Betsy writes, “I<br />
am enjoying teaching the curriculum<br />
because it is so varied.<br />
I just couldn’t face teaching<br />
‘der, die, das’ to freshmen. …<br />
Here I get to teach psychology<br />
and literature and this semester<br />
political philosophy. Classes start<br />
tomorrow, and I am nervous<br />
because the readings for this one<br />
are quite dry, and I am starting<br />
to have late-night moments of<br />
terror in which I see a classroom<br />
full of heavy-lidded teenagers,<br />
all texting under the desks to<br />
their friends, saying how much<br />
my class sucks.” A common<br />
nightmare for all faculty, Betsy,<br />
particularly those teaching philosophy,<br />
I suspect!<br />
Josh Becker is making sure he<br />
raises a next generation of Eph<br />
fans by bringing his son Aaron<br />
to watch the <strong>Williams</strong>/Amherst<br />
game in Palo Alto, Calif. Josh<br />
writes, “two members from our<br />
reunion entrepreneurship panel<br />
(at the 20th reunion in June)<br />
were featured in San Francisco<br />
Magazine: Mariam Naficy was<br />
on the cover for an article about<br />
women and entrepreneurs, and<br />
Eric Grosse is in the same magazine<br />
having taken over as CEO of<br />
Task Rabbit, a company that just<br />
raised $18 million and is growing<br />
rapidly.” Congratulations to<br />
our West Coast entrepreneurs!<br />
In East Coast sports news,<br />
Chris Mersereau is making sure<br />
the Red Sox have a next generation<br />
of fans. Chris writes, “My<br />
sons Jack and Pierce and I attend<br />
many Fenway Park games,<br />
and we were heartbroken by<br />
their September performance.”<br />
Chris’ own home equine team is<br />
doing far better: “Stoneymeade<br />
Farm continues to grow and<br />
‘show,’ with 40 horses. Last<br />
November we had three of our<br />
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horses compete at the Maclay<br />
National Finals in Lexington,<br />
Ky. Fortunately our daughter<br />
Josie, 6, prefers horseback riding<br />
to baseball.” Chris also spends<br />
time with Ephs in Boston and<br />
was planning a <strong>Williams</strong> trip<br />
to golf St. Andrews in Scotland<br />
with Pam Dickinson ’86 and Paul<br />
Mersereau ’61.<br />
Michelle Sanders writes from<br />
Bedford, Mass. Michelle was<br />
enjoying her holiday break from<br />
her pediatric practice and gearing<br />
up for the busy January season.<br />
She was able to bid bon voyage<br />
to Jonquil Wolfson, who with<br />
husband Jeff and children Talia<br />
and Eliana, has moved to Stuart,<br />
Fla., where Jeff is the new rabbi<br />
for a congregation. Having seen<br />
photos of the family in shorts<br />
for Halloween, Michelle believes<br />
“Jonquil misses wool sweaters …<br />
but the family enjoys the citrus<br />
trees in their backyard and being<br />
able to use the pool for much of<br />
the autumn.” Doesn’t sound like<br />
a bad trade-off, but then I live<br />
in a country where sunshine is<br />
worthy of a special mention.<br />
Please do send your news<br />
in—to Christine next issue—and<br />
a happy and healthy <strong>2012</strong> to<br />
everyone.<br />
1992<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Stephanie Phillips<br />
241 Central Park West, Apt. 5A<br />
New York, NY 10024<br />
1992secretary@williams.edu<br />
I’m saddened to report that<br />
after a two-year battle with cancer<br />
Elizabeth (Betsy) Carson Rupe<br />
passed away on Jan. 10. She is<br />
survived by her husband Allan<br />
and sons Keith, Simon and Isaac.<br />
The rest of these notes were written<br />
three weeks prior to receiving<br />
this news, so please excuse the<br />
incongruity in tone.<br />
Here’s the few, the proud, that<br />
made it in before I had to shame<br />
you all into contributing: Lynette<br />
Guastaferro bumped into Eric<br />
Kaye in the lobby of the building<br />
where her nonprofit, Teaching<br />
Matters, is located. In a random,<br />
fun coincidence he was in the<br />
building cutting a record with<br />
singers from the building’s wellknown<br />
choir.<br />
Anne (Joseph) O’Connell shared<br />
a comprehensive update: In<br />
the past five years she married<br />
Jamie O’Connell, had two kids<br />
(Evelyne, born in 2008, and<br />
Alexander, just born Oct. 21,<br />
2011), and received tenure (at<br />
the University of California,<br />
Berkeley).<br />
Jim Scott, whom we haven’t<br />
heard from in ages, was encouraged<br />
by his wife and kids to<br />
“let everyone know that I<br />
was honored to be selected to<br />
perform with the Philly Pops<br />
Festival Chorus with Peter Nero<br />
in their 2011 holiday program.<br />
It was a blast and brought lots of<br />
memories back from performing<br />
with the Springstreeters in<br />
Chapin Hall.”<br />
Kerr Houston rang in the New<br />
Year by traveling to Cairo for a<br />
week as part of a research project<br />
that culminated in a paper,<br />
delivered in LA in February, on<br />
1950s Egyptian movie posters. In<br />
the meantime, he also managed<br />
a second, briefer trip to the City<br />
of Angels, in order to compete<br />
on Jeopardy! Kerr advised that if<br />
you want to see him wishing he<br />
knew more about jazz pianists,<br />
tune in in late <strong>April</strong>.<br />
From Keith Faigin, we learn<br />
that “the Faigin family still<br />
counts themselves as one of nine<br />
documented families that voluntarily<br />
moved to the Detroit area.<br />
We’ve been here about seven<br />
years. I moved up to take the<br />
position of CIO of a health services<br />
company and my wife is an<br />
oncology nurse. Our daughter,<br />
Anabel, 12, has her bat mitzvah<br />
in May and is a cheerleader. She<br />
is the first cheerleader who will<br />
talk to me*. Our daughter, Eliza,<br />
9, is a budding drummer and<br />
excels in the areas of volume and<br />
noisiness. As for me, as a way of<br />
further avoiding growing up, I’ve<br />
gotten back into improv. *I’ve<br />
used this joke before—primarily<br />
on <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund solicitation<br />
emails—but, it is a good bit, and<br />
I feel it merits repeating.”<br />
And now the guilty consciences<br />
who felt that it would be untoward<br />
for our class to have really<br />
short notes on the eve of our<br />
20th reunion.<br />
Ivan Fermon very helpfully<br />
asked whether I meant “saddest<br />
as in depressing or as in<br />
pathetic?” but then provided<br />
no information. Thanks for the<br />
help, Ivan.<br />
Dan Weiswasser shares that, “as<br />
an internist/pediatrician, I am the<br />
director of quality and clinical<br />
informatics at Riverbend Medical<br />
Group, the largest multispecialty<br />
medical group in Western<br />
Massachusetts, i.e., we’re big fish<br />
in a small pond. When not seeing<br />
patients, I work to leverage our<br />
electronic medical records system<br />
to provide the best quality care
From left: Josh Kurzban ’91 and his wife Michelle caught up with Scott<br />
Schwager ’91 in London on their way to a wedding.<br />
on a practice-wide basis. I am<br />
looking forward to bringing my<br />
boys, Jake, 8, and Alex, 5, to<br />
the reunion this summer, as the<br />
Berkshires are practically in my<br />
back yard. I would like to give a<br />
shout out to Sage B entry-mates<br />
Derek Schilling, who has just<br />
returned from a sabbatical in<br />
southern France (pauvre bâtard),<br />
and Doug Boyce, who is the chair<br />
of the music department at The<br />
George Washington University.”<br />
Joan (Malamud) Rocklin shared<br />
that she got married to Bob<br />
Rocklin in 2009 and in 2011<br />
welcomed Sam Rocklin to her<br />
clan. She also sent a lovely<br />
picture of her wedding and a<br />
really cute picture of her baby<br />
boy. She has also co-authored a<br />
legal writing textbook, A Lawyer<br />
Writes, which is good reading<br />
for first-year law students or<br />
anybody having trouble sleeping<br />
at night. And Joan and Bob (also<br />
an attorney) are working on<br />
a second textbook, tentatively<br />
titled To Move a Court.<br />
We learn that Jeremiah Axelrod<br />
also welcomed additions to his<br />
family this past year: Amalia<br />
Serenity Axelrod-Delcampo<br />
and Sophie Amistad Axelrod-<br />
Delcampo were born on July 3<br />
to Jem and Lil Delcampo (Drake<br />
’92). The twin girls are happy<br />
and healthy, having completed<br />
their first big trip (to Tennessee<br />
for the holidays) and look<br />
forward to the <strong>Williams</strong> reunion<br />
in June.<br />
Abigail Solomon is engaged and<br />
plans to get married Memorial<br />
Day weekend on Martha’s<br />
Vineyard to Jason Teuscher.<br />
Congratulations, Abigail! If I<br />
recall correctly, your family has<br />
a lovely house on the beach in<br />
Chilmark. But details of that<br />
long-ago evening on the beach<br />
are hazy, except I still remember<br />
Will Brockman arriving late after<br />
finishing his thesis and running<br />
into the ocean fully dressed. We<br />
hope no one will do that at your<br />
wedding!<br />
Tony Elison moved to the<br />
Seattle area (as of late 2010,<br />
actually), and chose to live on<br />
Mercer Island as it is where<br />
Greg Hart also happens to live.<br />
“As a result, both of our lives<br />
have regressed by a few decades,<br />
as we hang out on weekends<br />
with nothing better to do. It’s<br />
also interesting to see the kids<br />
well into a second-generation<br />
Elison-Hart friendship. Although<br />
this time around it seems the<br />
Harts are the better athletes,<br />
young Charles, 7, and Catherine,<br />
5, seem to be preserving some<br />
semblance of family honor for<br />
the Elisons with their superior<br />
dance moves.”<br />
Louisa (Mittlegluck) Quittman<br />
also gets to hang out with<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> classmates. She is “still<br />
at the Treasury Department,<br />
trying to find ways to make our<br />
financial system work better<br />
for the 99 percent, and works<br />
with a number of <strong>Williams</strong><br />
folks, including the famous<br />
Don Graves, and got to have a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> intern this past summer,<br />
thanks to Michael Tae ’97.”<br />
Louisa recently caught up with<br />
Deborah Lee, who is preparing<br />
for the Episcopal seminary.<br />
Melinda (Varn) Pearson admitted<br />
she never writes and that<br />
“when you said it was the saddest<br />
ever, I felt a certain twinge<br />
of guilt and obligation.” She<br />
reports, “I now live in Ventura,<br />
Calif., after stints in Sacramento<br />
n 1991–92<br />
and Denver, working on various<br />
degrees and having fun. My husband<br />
Duane and I have two fantastic<br />
daughters, Marlo, 6, and<br />
Alice, 4. I am an English PhD<br />
dropout (yes, the pathetic ABD)<br />
and currently full-time SAHM<br />
(oh the acronyms!), but am contemplating<br />
returning to teaching<br />
English lit and composition once<br />
my girls are both in school full<br />
time. Or maybe taking up tennis?<br />
We’ll see.”<br />
Deirdre Flynn, who protested<br />
that she had little to tell, did a<br />
great job reporting on the whereabouts<br />
of several classmates:<br />
She reports: “Kate (Lee) Flynn<br />
and I had dinner last week. She<br />
is doing well in her job at JP<br />
Morgan, where she has nearly<br />
hit the 20-year mark. I can’t<br />
understand how it’s possible that<br />
we are old enough for someone<br />
to have been at a job for 20<br />
years, but apparently the math<br />
works. I also had lunch with<br />
David Willmott’s wife Catherine<br />
when they were in New York.<br />
They live in Portland, Ore., now,<br />
but their East Coast friends are<br />
assuming that’s not a permanent<br />
move.<br />
Did you know that Alison<br />
Bonner is now married? As I was<br />
enjoying a mint julep on Derby<br />
Day last May, I emailed her to<br />
wish her a good one (as it was<br />
this Kentucky roommate who<br />
introduced me to all the hoopla).<br />
As it turns out, she actually was<br />
at the Derby, where her then<br />
boyfriend proposed. They didn’t<br />
wait long before finishing the<br />
deal, but I have no more scoop!<br />
And I still live in NYC with four<br />
kids and a minivan.”<br />
Also doing an excellent job of<br />
reporting on classmates is Heidi<br />
Sandreuter. Heidi is “still at<br />
Pepsi. It’s been 12 1 ⁄2 years, all in<br />
marketing, and for the last year<br />
I’ve been leading the media strategy<br />
team for Pepsi Beverages.<br />
My position has allowed me to<br />
work closely with Matt Colangelo<br />
’98, who is our finance guru.”<br />
Heidi looked at an apartment<br />
shown to her by her Sage E<br />
suitemate Abigail Lash but had<br />
yet to pull the trigger. She visited<br />
Ashley Edgar Milliken and her<br />
husband Peter ’91 last fall and<br />
went out to San Francisco in<br />
October to check in on Candace<br />
Kelly. Candace had just returned<br />
from a two-year detail in DC.<br />
They also “bopped over to Josh<br />
Levenberg’s house in Hillsboro,<br />
where he and his wife Verna are<br />
raising three terrific kids.”<br />
And Amy Sachtleben writes that<br />
she was (at the time of writing)<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
hosting Elizabeth (Feeney) Asali<br />
in London, as she travels to the<br />
GSK home office occasionally,<br />
and that “tonight we have plans<br />
to visit a purple pub.” Amy<br />
heard from Caitlin Mann that she<br />
was meeting Lloyd Alexander and<br />
Clint Kendall in Boston for lunch<br />
but had no details.<br />
Kristen (Hassing) Howard<br />
reports that in November she<br />
met up with Brad Behr, Jonathan<br />
Lindley, Jared Cumming, Karen<br />
Schroeder, Amy Elmore and<br />
Maura Gallagher along with their<br />
families for a weekend in Deep<br />
Creek, Md. “Peter Weingartner<br />
usually joins us but was unable<br />
to this year, so we hung out via<br />
video chat instead. We watched<br />
our kids perform some very<br />
funny skits, ate some really<br />
great food and found a geocache<br />
in Deep Creek State Park.”<br />
Kristen has also performed in<br />
two plays, Oliver! and Alice in<br />
Wonderland, and has started<br />
up with rapier sword dancing<br />
again (there’s something for<br />
you to Google!). She currently<br />
works for Silverchair Science &<br />
Communications, a company<br />
that designs and hosts websites<br />
for science, technical and medical<br />
publishers.<br />
Arielle (Kagan) Masters writes<br />
that she is determined to at least<br />
try to get in shape, and so has<br />
been taking classes at LA Boxing<br />
since October (and hopefully<br />
will still be taking them as of this<br />
printing so as to avoid the hasbeen<br />
embarrassment. She’s loving<br />
the classes, aside from the sore<br />
back and shoulders.<br />
Alison Locke Perchuk continues<br />
to enjoy teaching art history<br />
at Occidental <strong>College</strong> in LA,<br />
where her fellow faculty members<br />
include Paul Nam ’91 and<br />
Jeremiah Axelrod.<br />
Also in academia is Marica<br />
Tacconi. Marica had what may<br />
just be the best gig going: In July<br />
2011 she concluded a sevenmonth<br />
residency as a visiting<br />
research professor at Villa I<br />
Tatti, the Harvard University<br />
Center for Italian Renaissance<br />
Studies in Florence, Italy. “I was<br />
assigned to live in my own huge<br />
villa overlooking Florence and<br />
had a marvelous 1875 concert<br />
grand piano in my living room/<br />
ballroom. When not playing<br />
and composing at the piano, I<br />
worked on a new musicological<br />
project while benefitting from<br />
the interdisciplinary community<br />
of scholars at the center. With<br />
a more flexible schedule away<br />
from my regular teaching duties<br />
at Penn State University, I also<br />
82 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
got to fit in some great trips to<br />
Paris and Tanzania.”<br />
Holly Frazier has been working<br />
significantly harder and has been<br />
very busy juggling work, home<br />
and school. She completed her<br />
PhD in educational leadership<br />
from University of Pennsylvania<br />
in 2011 and is happily married<br />
and the proud mother of<br />
three terrific kids—EJ, Nia and<br />
William. She continues, “People<br />
may be surprised to know that<br />
I am currently involved in a TV<br />
series called DanceMoms, and I<br />
have the pleasure of supporting<br />
my daughter through the world<br />
of competitive dance.” I have<br />
to admit, that sounds intriguing<br />
enough to break my “no reality<br />
TV” rule.<br />
Patty (Altoff) Conte returned<br />
to education part time in the fall<br />
of 2010, “tutoring at the school<br />
where I did my student teaching<br />
(17 years before!). And this summer<br />
I will be coaching diving for<br />
the first time in almost 20 years!”<br />
From Kent Wosepka, we learn<br />
John Staudenmayer did Ironman<br />
Louisville over the summer.<br />
Oddly, Kent shared no details of<br />
his own.<br />
Dan Rhode very helpfully wrote<br />
the following: “Dan is living and<br />
working in Buxton, England,<br />
and is hoping some more people<br />
in the U.S. will buy his recently<br />
published book on pottery<br />
(Introducing Pottery, find it on<br />
your favorite online bookseller!).<br />
Work includes looking after his<br />
two nutty children aged 9 and<br />
3 who are a constant source of<br />
bedlam mixed with fun. He is<br />
happy to show anyone around<br />
the peak district by mountain<br />
bike so stop by!”<br />
And last but not least, Christy<br />
Johnson writes, “I wish I had<br />
something exciting to send in,<br />
but I got nuthin’! Just getting<br />
excited about the reunion in<br />
June.” As am I. I wish you all<br />
safe travels to <strong>Williams</strong>town, and<br />
I am looking forward to seeing<br />
you in June!<br />
1993<br />
Chad Orzel<br />
1570 Regent St.<br />
Niskayuna, NY 12309<br />
1993secretary@williams.edu<br />
Another year, another January<br />
set of class notes. This time, I’m<br />
not writing from an airport bar,<br />
but never fear, I’ve found a new<br />
way to simulate jet lag and thus<br />
generate the slightly punchy<br />
prose you’ve come to expect: My<br />
wife Kate Nepveu and I had a<br />
son, David, in November. Big sister<br />
Claire (now 3 1 ⁄2) is so excited<br />
to be a big sister that she can’t go<br />
more than five minutes without<br />
running over to give him a hug<br />
and a kiss. She’s also apparently<br />
too excited to sleep, which means<br />
nobody in the house is getting<br />
any rest. I’m typing this at 10<br />
p.m. in my bedroom, hoping that<br />
she’ll finally doze off, but judging<br />
by the sounds from her room,<br />
she’s still telling stories to her<br />
stuffed animals…<br />
This leads naturally to<br />
the other new births in the<br />
class: Zahie El Kouri and John<br />
Greenman have a new son,<br />
Nico, born back in June, and<br />
Laura (Wedner) Grams had her<br />
third, Patton Henry, in August.<br />
Laura’s still teaching philosophy<br />
at the University of Nebraska,<br />
Omaha. Dara Musher-Eizenman<br />
and her husband Abe had their<br />
third, Sylvia, in <strong>April</strong>, and are<br />
greatly appreciative of the many<br />
advances in baby technology<br />
since their first two, 8 and<br />
11 years ago. Dara was also<br />
promoted to full professor at<br />
Bowling Green State University,<br />
which is nearly as difficult as<br />
having kids, so double congratulations<br />
to her.<br />
The topic of new children also<br />
brought in a couple of first-time<br />
reports, first from Rajveer Purohit<br />
and his wife Mamta, who have<br />
a new son, Shivraj. Rajveer also<br />
had his first co-authored book on<br />
urology published, sees Sandeep<br />
Patel and Girish Bhakoo regularly<br />
and attended Navin Girishankar’s<br />
wedding in DC. Paul Krebs also<br />
wrote in for the first time, to<br />
report the birth of his daughter<br />
back in <strong>April</strong>. Paul’s living in<br />
Atlanta, working for Coke and<br />
promises to write in again in<br />
2031 or so.<br />
There were also plenty of<br />
pre-existing child stories. Patty<br />
(Pennebaker) Rutins reports that<br />
she and husband Erik are still<br />
looking for their 5-year-old in<br />
the giant pile of Lego bricks<br />
from Christmas (this was in<br />
January, but may well still be<br />
true when this sees print later in<br />
the spring). Nadine Block is still<br />
working on sustainable energy in<br />
DC and reports that it’s gotten<br />
much harder to keep up with her<br />
4-year-old twins now that they<br />
no longer need training wheels<br />
on their bikes. Pete Putnam’s kids<br />
are a little older (8 and 11), so<br />
he and his brother John ’90 took<br />
them hiking to a “remote yurt in<br />
Colorado” in December, which<br />
sounds faintly ominous but was<br />
apparently fun. Rebecca Beavers
was looking forward to skiing<br />
with her 6- and 3-year-olds and<br />
also had a minireunion/40th<br />
birthday get-together with<br />
Sarah Platman Baird in October<br />
in <strong>Williams</strong>town, where they<br />
supported the local economy by<br />
buying lots of <strong>Williams</strong>-related<br />
clothing.<br />
John Dye is doing the “Mr.<br />
Mom” thing for a little while,<br />
having just moved from<br />
California to Hawaii (just what<br />
I needed to read in January in<br />
the Northeast…) as his wife<br />
became the team physician for<br />
the University of Hawaii. John’s<br />
also studying to take his third<br />
different bar exam, an image<br />
that undoubtedly sends shivers<br />
up the spines of all the class<br />
lawyers. And speaking of chilling<br />
thoughts, Holly Bernstein writes<br />
to note that her children are<br />
entering the teen years, and her<br />
oldest recently asked whether<br />
she could attend Amherst (I<br />
recommend encouraging a more<br />
socially acceptable form of<br />
rebellion, such as a tattoo…).<br />
Kim Tresch reports that she’s still<br />
happily working as a pediatrician<br />
and recently took a class with<br />
Robb Friedman.<br />
Robb and Elisa Friedman ’93<br />
also turn up in a report from<br />
Camille Preston, who attended a<br />
New Year’s party at their place.<br />
Camille had a busy start of the<br />
year, publishing a new book<br />
and moving to a new house as<br />
well. And since we seem to have<br />
moved into the usual random<br />
encounters part of the report,<br />
Tom Kimbis reports from DC,<br />
where he manages to take the<br />
occasional break from promoting<br />
solar energy to hang out<br />
with Heather Rieff, Dave Barker,<br />
Bill Mowitt and Paul Piquado,<br />
who apparently has some sort<br />
of aircraft-based scheme for<br />
getting back to <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
more often. A request for class<br />
notes material on Facebook led<br />
to Claire Benson-Mandl, Chris<br />
Colburn and Bowen Chung playing<br />
“six degrees of separation”<br />
on my wall, though I’m still not<br />
sure which of them knows somebody<br />
who knows Kevin Bacon.<br />
And lest all the parenting talk<br />
make you feel too old, Kate Brill<br />
writes in from <strong>Williams</strong>town following<br />
Charley Stevenson’s 40th<br />
birthday party, which involved<br />
prune wafers, walker races<br />
(highlighted by Tom Wintner righteously<br />
trouncing Brad Svrluga<br />
’95), walker gymnastics (by Scott<br />
Lewis) and traditional beverages.<br />
Kate writes, “It’s hard to imagine<br />
the next round of milestone<br />
birthdays being as much fun,<br />
although childcare will be much<br />
easier.”<br />
Kat Kollett writes in with<br />
a couple of years’ worth of<br />
updates, reporting that she’s<br />
now working with Blick Art<br />
Materials, helping run a program<br />
called Art Room Aid that helps<br />
school art teachers reach out for<br />
funding to support arts education.<br />
Oh, and by the way, she got<br />
married.<br />
Also in the art world, Allison<br />
Achauer and husband Tim Sellers<br />
’90 have (or perhaps will have<br />
had, by the time this appears)<br />
a joint show at the Future Art<br />
Studio in LA, featuring her photographs<br />
and his oil paintings.<br />
Kerrita Mayfield was awarded<br />
a grant from the Community<br />
Foundation of Western<br />
Massachusetts to do workshops<br />
for teachers in the Pioneer Valley<br />
(almost in the Berkshires).<br />
The unquestionable champion<br />
for the most shocking anecdote<br />
of this round of notes belongs<br />
to Stephan (Fiedler) Terre, whose<br />
house was struck by lightning<br />
back in October. Everybody is<br />
fine, which is why I feel comfortable<br />
introducing this with a<br />
dreadful pun, but as a story,<br />
that’s pretty tough to top.<br />
And that brings me to the end<br />
of another round of class notes<br />
(and the faint snoring from the<br />
next room suggests I will finally<br />
be able to go to bed myself…),<br />
though I do want to sneak in a<br />
little self-promotion, to mention<br />
that my second book, How to<br />
Teach Relativity to Your Dog<br />
will be published at the end of<br />
February and should be available<br />
wherever books are sold by<br />
the time this sees print. I highly<br />
recommend it for all your spring<br />
and summer gift-giving needs…<br />
And if you have any news you’d<br />
like to report, drop me an email<br />
at oilcan@gmail.com.<br />
1994<br />
Elizabeth Randolph Rappaport<br />
9 Killington St.<br />
Chappaqua, NY 10514<br />
1994secretary@williams.edu<br />
Dear Class of 1994, this<br />
winter has been the usual slog<br />
toward the holidays, exhaustion,<br />
sick kids and then some<br />
restorative time off. But I’d<br />
say the highlight thus far was<br />
my kick off to <strong>2012</strong>. I had the<br />
privilege of sitting on the other<br />
side of the podium at <strong>Williams</strong><br />
for the first time—if only for a<br />
brief few hours for a couple of<br />
n 1992–94<br />
days—to teach a portion of a<br />
Winter Study class.<br />
I was lucky enough to help<br />
teach a class on journalism to<br />
students interested in the media.<br />
I was one of four alumni in the<br />
field to visit campus, where I<br />
found it remarkably easy to<br />
speak for two hours at a time<br />
about my work and my life—go<br />
figure. My segment was on investigative<br />
newspaper journalism,<br />
and I gave them all an assignment<br />
to come up with something<br />
to dig into. Their ideas were<br />
amazing, and they all devised<br />
creative ways to investigate and<br />
powerful messages they felt their<br />
revelations would send to the<br />
world.<br />
The experience, including the<br />
cold weather, reminded me of<br />
what I love about <strong>Williams</strong> and<br />
why it’s always the highestranked<br />
school in the country.<br />
Each student was so present,<br />
so engaged and so responsible<br />
about their work, and the place<br />
is so conducive to reading and<br />
thinking and taking time to do<br />
things.<br />
One element of my visit disturbed<br />
me, however, and I want<br />
to share it with the class as many<br />
of us have kids and the world is<br />
becoming ever more competitive.<br />
I found the students understandably<br />
anxious about their<br />
futures and their job prospects.<br />
Unemployment is still high, and<br />
the economy is still wobbly.<br />
But they were dramatically<br />
relieved and surprised to hear<br />
that my career path was varied<br />
and indirect. It struck me that<br />
they imagine they’d have to start<br />
out at The New York Times or<br />
The Wall Street Journal upon<br />
graduation to be successful.<br />
I was in book publishing, the<br />
Internet boom, grad-school.<br />
I wrote obituaries, for trade<br />
newsletters, a web site, a<br />
newswire and finally reached<br />
my goal of writing for The Wall<br />
Street Journal by the time I was<br />
35. Who knows what’s next? In<br />
between, I’ve gotten married,<br />
had two children, traveled and<br />
enjoyed life as New Yorker.<br />
It made me a bit sad to think<br />
that kids feel they have to<br />
start out at the top or they feel<br />
they’re failing. It’s just not true.<br />
Meandering a bit is healthy, and<br />
so is failing and getting up. One<br />
path always leads to unexpected<br />
avenues.<br />
I told the students that while<br />
I understood the pressure to<br />
perform at <strong>Williams</strong>, life is all<br />
about their own happiness and<br />
definitions of success. I explained<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 83
CLASS NOTES<br />
that most of my classmates have<br />
not gone down a singular, predetermined<br />
path. I encouraged<br />
them to just go and try things<br />
that may seem unfathomable<br />
to the career office or to their<br />
parents. I think I’ll email them a<br />
reminder of all this and suggest<br />
they just read the <strong>Alumni</strong> Review<br />
for inspiration.<br />
Firstly, I’d like to correct<br />
myself. Alex Amidon is a woman,<br />
not a man. I mistakenly referred<br />
to her as a “he” in the prior<br />
class notes. My apologies, Alex.<br />
You’re kind to say my mistake<br />
made you “giggle.”<br />
On the baby news front,<br />
Nicole Vennell Roberts and her<br />
husband Brian had their second<br />
daughter, Clara June, born on<br />
Thanksgiving. No cooking for<br />
Nicole (nice work).<br />
Peggy Maher moved back<br />
to Manhattan after living and<br />
working at the University of<br />
Arkansas for five years. “It<br />
surely is great to be back in<br />
Gotham,” she writes, adding<br />
she loves her job as the associate<br />
dean at Columbia’s School of<br />
Engineering and Applied Science.<br />
Congratulations are in order as<br />
well because Peggy got married<br />
in December to Todd Thompson,<br />
who not only agreed to move<br />
from the Midwest to Manhattan,<br />
but will now root for the Mets!<br />
That is devotion. Peggy sees Ted<br />
Mason and keeps in touch with<br />
Tibisay Salerno here and there,<br />
she said.<br />
I hope to hear from more of<br />
you soon. Happy Spring. —Liz<br />
1995<br />
Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin<br />
535 Arabella St.<br />
New Orleans, LA 70115<br />
Nancy O’Brien Wagner<br />
1049 Linwood Ave.<br />
Saint Paul, MN 55105<br />
1995secretary@williams.edu<br />
My mother, who successfully*<br />
raised seven kids, says that<br />
having the first child is an act of<br />
optimism, and all others are an<br />
act of courage.<br />
Joining the optimist’s club is<br />
Wei Lin Chang, who announced<br />
the birth of her son James last<br />
May. James was mastering crawling<br />
and clapping at Christmas<br />
time, and Wei Lin was enjoying<br />
full-time motherhood. Rachel<br />
Levinson also joined the club<br />
with the birth of the “super<br />
good-natured” Sarah Anateah<br />
Levinson-Waldman on June<br />
29. Rachel is also transitioning<br />
84 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
professionally and left her<br />
position as in-house counsel to<br />
the American Association of<br />
University Professors to join the<br />
Brennan Center for Justice as<br />
counsel to its liberty and national<br />
security program.<br />
Joining the “courage” club is<br />
Shelby Hallam Benton. Shelby had<br />
her fourth child, Sarah Katherine<br />
in July. Shelby is helping her oldest,<br />
Maggie, 13, apply for high<br />
schools and writes that it’s “kind<br />
of surreal having an infant and<br />
a teenager at the same time!”<br />
She is homeschooling Drew, 11,<br />
and chasing around the toddler,<br />
Patrick, 2. She founded a new<br />
Boy Scout troop and is acting as<br />
treasurer and managed to play<br />
violin with the New Bedford<br />
Symphony for a brief time before<br />
maternity leave. And if you want<br />
proof of her courage: “Oh, and<br />
we enjoyed our first family trip<br />
to Disney World last May. I was<br />
seven months pregnant with a<br />
16-month-old in tow. Drove all<br />
the way from Massachusetts<br />
with the three kids. Had a blast.”<br />
Donny Wong breaks his silence<br />
with some big news: He has been<br />
living in London for the past<br />
five years and has just received a<br />
permit for permanent residency.<br />
He’s seen a few classmates who<br />
have passed through London<br />
over the past couple of years<br />
(Kyle Roberts, Teddy Welsh, Chia<br />
Hwu ’96). “The other exciting<br />
news is that I got engaged at the<br />
end of 2011 and will be entering<br />
a civil partnership in the UK with<br />
my partner Chris Dicken some<br />
time in <strong>2012</strong>. I invite Ephs to<br />
read about our trials and tribulations<br />
on our blog: http://www.<br />
gayweddingstory.com.”<br />
Alastair Moock sends news that<br />
he has been reconnecting with<br />
some ’95ers (and their kids) at<br />
his shows recently. Last fall he<br />
saw Marc Johnson and Sarah<br />
Knight in DC, Maren Reichert in<br />
Philadelphia, Chris Cardona and<br />
Catherine Sumner in New York,<br />
and Yvonne Hao, Jim Joy and Kate<br />
Lanford Joy in Boston. Check out<br />
his website, www.moock.com,<br />
and see if you can catch him!<br />
Check the newsstands for the<br />
spring <strong>2012</strong> issue of CBE-Life<br />
Sciences Education for Greg<br />
Crowther’s essay “Using science<br />
songs to enhance learning: an<br />
interdisciplinary approach.”<br />
Greg also enjoyed a dinner with<br />
Mark Cordes, “who still spews<br />
analogies like a hyperarticulate<br />
rapper, or like Prof. Hodge<br />
Markgraf ’52 used to do.” Greg<br />
has been teaching his son Phil,<br />
age five, to enjoy the chemistry<br />
set he got for Christmas, though<br />
he clarifies that “at this age,<br />
‘chemistry’ mostly involves dissolving<br />
things in water.”<br />
Rami Alturki sent in big news<br />
about his wedding to Maha<br />
Al-Jasser last fall. They married<br />
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Oct.<br />
5., and followed up with a party<br />
in Paris on Nov. 5. Ramon Silva,<br />
and Naomi Hewitt-Couturier ’99<br />
were able to attend the Paris<br />
event and can vouch that the<br />
couple looked gorgeous and<br />
happy. You can check out the<br />
photo at the end to see for yourself.<br />
Congratulations, Rami!<br />
Flo Waldron reports from the<br />
parenting frontier that she has<br />
begun her daughter’s potty-training,<br />
though she has “nothing<br />
concrete to report.” A-hem.<br />
I am selfishly very happy<br />
to report that Chris Wells’<br />
Minnesota roots just got a shot<br />
of Miracle-Gro. Last November,<br />
he was serenaded by bagpipes,<br />
which is Macalester <strong>College</strong>’s<br />
traditional signal that he received<br />
tenure. Chris says that the greatest<br />
change is the silencing of the<br />
niggling voice of tenure concern.<br />
But with 3-year-old twins and<br />
baby Meg (born in March) there<br />
isn’t much silence in the home,<br />
anyway.<br />
Paula Peters writes from<br />
Olanthe, Kan., that she has<br />
been having fun teaching writing<br />
classes to officers at U.S.<br />
Strategic Command. She is in<br />
the 13th year of running her<br />
technical writing business and<br />
publishes articles on the side.<br />
She keeps busy chasing around<br />
6-year-old Zack and 2-year-old<br />
Alexa. Paula reports that Maria<br />
Suro Leach is now in Japan with<br />
her husband Jay Leach and two<br />
kids through his work with the<br />
U.S. Navy, and that Alethea Cruz<br />
has moved back to Wisconsin.<br />
Tiraatso Tebatso Lekalake writes<br />
that “happiness is my daughter<br />
Seneo!” Seneo is 5 now, and<br />
joined Tiraatso on a two-week<br />
trip to France to catch up with<br />
Yetunde (Ramsey), her lovely<br />
daughter Anais and Hussain ’96.<br />
Prepare to guffaw: Maren<br />
Reichert reports that she sees lots<br />
of Bernard Prusak, as their oldest<br />
kids attend the same elementary<br />
school in Bryn Mawr. Maren<br />
apparently throws a mean<br />
6-year-old’s birthday party, as<br />
one of the other parents “propositioned<br />
me to pick up and babysit<br />
their daughter on a regular<br />
basis after school—even offering<br />
to pay me. I’m not sure what I<br />
did to suggest that I needed to<br />
take in stray children of parents
Jake Russin ’94 (standing, left) takes a breather with some of the 30 Ephs<br />
who participated in a six-mile hike he led in Virginia’s Great Falls Park<br />
for a <strong>Williams</strong> D.C.-area “Mountain Day” celebration in October.<br />
who are stretched too thin. Alas,<br />
I work full time (albeit in a family<br />
friendly law clerk position) in<br />
Philadelphia, where my younger<br />
son attends day care. I’d like to<br />
have someone pick up my kids<br />
for me too sometimes, but I’m<br />
not about to ask another working<br />
parent to do it!”<br />
Tony Qaiyum writes that life<br />
has been thrilling and exhausting<br />
the past few months—it was a<br />
record year for Smallflower.com<br />
and for Merz Apothecary, his<br />
family’s 137-year-old Chicago<br />
business. Tony was able to get<br />
away to celebrate Cory Nohl’s<br />
wedding to Sarah Daoust in<br />
Southern Vermont in October.<br />
Daughters Saffron and Nol<br />
were flower girls along with<br />
the daughters of Pete and Liz<br />
Richards. Other ’95ers celebrating<br />
the occasion were Chris<br />
Murphy, Josh Caley, Rami Batniji,<br />
John Streng and Jessie Price. “It<br />
should be mentioned that the<br />
wedding band was without a<br />
doubt the most dance-inducing<br />
group of all time. I want to<br />
become a wedding crasher and<br />
follow them around!”<br />
Tony was able to grab brunch<br />
with John Ruder and his wife<br />
Kate on Jan. 2 before they<br />
finished their Chicago visit and<br />
headed back to their new digs in<br />
Boulder, Colo. “They and their<br />
sons Wes and Quinn seemed as<br />
happy as can be!”<br />
By the end of this year, many of<br />
us will begin to cross into our<br />
fifth (ack!) decade. Classmate Ted<br />
Welsh confessed to some memory<br />
lapses related to the cheers at<br />
homecoming and mentioned he’d<br />
made it to the annual mathematics<br />
meetings in Boston, where<br />
he “saw half the <strong>Williams</strong> math<br />
faculty and a bunch of (much<br />
younger!) alumni.” They’re getting<br />
younger every year, Ted.<br />
Jonathan Eades, who is the<br />
head of St. Mary’s Hall in San<br />
Antonio, also made it back to<br />
Boston for a conference. After<br />
the conference, he and his<br />
wife squeezed in a road trip to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town. They “stayed at<br />
the Orchards, appreciated the<br />
new student center, ate a pizza<br />
from Hot Tomatoes, reloaded<br />
on <strong>Williams</strong> gear at the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Shop, stopped at the new Purple<br />
Pub (the old one burned down)<br />
and learned Spring Street is now<br />
a one- way street!”<br />
Max Simian sends news from<br />
Saipan, Commonwealth of<br />
the Northern Mariana Islands<br />
(“where America’s day begins”),<br />
in remote Micronesia. He is now<br />
a registered professional geologist<br />
and works for the local utility<br />
company’s power division in<br />
their environmental compliance<br />
office. He is working on groundwater<br />
oil spill cleanup and future<br />
prevention. Go, Max!<br />
Laura Hemmeter Putnam wrote<br />
that her husband Pete Putnam<br />
’93 and his brother, John Putnam<br />
’90 recently took themselves and<br />
their sons (Ethan, 15, Tom, 11,<br />
and Matt, 8) camping in a yurt<br />
in Colorado. They had a wonderful<br />
time with snowshoeing,<br />
cross country skiing and card<br />
playing. Although the temperature<br />
dropped into the single digits<br />
overnight, the wood-burning<br />
stove kept the yurt toasty with<br />
temps in the 70s. Pete also got to<br />
feel like a heroic frontiersman by<br />
stoking the fire in the middle of<br />
the night. Laura stayed down in<br />
n 1994–96<br />
Colorado Springs and “enjoyed<br />
Starbucks and Barnes and Noble<br />
with my in-laws, and everyone<br />
was happy!”<br />
Co-secretary Anamaria<br />
Villamarin-Lupin shares that she<br />
and her husband Tim Lupin ’93<br />
met with Sue Le Page Wintner and<br />
Tom Wintner ’93 in Connecticut<br />
in December to enjoy a Saints<br />
game. Anamaria is now the New<br />
Orleans representative on the<br />
Louisiana Parenting Education<br />
Network’s guidance team and<br />
continues to supervise master’s<br />
level students pursuing their<br />
degrees in social work and counseling.<br />
“And when I am not busy<br />
with that, I continue to supervise<br />
master’s level offspring pursuing<br />
their degrees in elementary education<br />
and socialization.”<br />
*My mother’s definition of<br />
“successfully raising” seven kids<br />
meant that none of us ended up<br />
in jail, and I am happy to report<br />
that when this went to press that<br />
was still the case.<br />
Happy spring, folks! Keep the<br />
news coming.<br />
1996<br />
Lesley Whitcomb Fierst<br />
245 Dale Drive<br />
Silver Spring, MD 20910<br />
1996secretary@williams.edu<br />
So, I get a little e-receipt telling<br />
me when my messages to the<br />
Class of ’96 list have been successfully<br />
distributed. I could not<br />
help but notice that, when I sent<br />
out my request for news in which<br />
I described my grandfather’s trip<br />
to the Katy Perry concert (only<br />
briefly), the e-receipt said the<br />
message had been distributed to<br />
441 recipients, but when I sent<br />
out my reminder email a couple<br />
of weeks later, it said it had gone<br />
out to 439. I immediately felt a<br />
pit in my stomach, thinking that<br />
in my attempts to be clever and<br />
funny in my email news requests<br />
and reminders, instead I had<br />
inspired two of you to ask for<br />
mercy. I am going to hope that<br />
two people just left jobs and so<br />
they lost their email addresses, or<br />
moved to cabins where they have<br />
no email access, but just in case,<br />
I promise my next request for<br />
news will be more garden variety<br />
so as not to potentially alienate<br />
folks.<br />
On to the news. Joan (Lee)<br />
Tarbutton appears to be gunning<br />
for her own Brady Bunch.<br />
“Believe it or not, I just had<br />
my fifth kid! Robert Augustine<br />
Uh-Jin Tarbutton was born on<br />
Dec. 18, weighing 8 pounds, 10<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
ounces. We now have two boys<br />
and three girls, and it appears<br />
that we have more blond-headed<br />
kids than brunettes! Both our<br />
boys are blond, and one of our<br />
girls is fair-haired. I often get<br />
asked where on the Korean<br />
side of the kids’ family does the<br />
blond gene come from. Uh-Jin<br />
(whose name in Korean means<br />
‘kind and benevolent king’)<br />
is enjoying the attention of so<br />
many. My a capella music friends<br />
will appreciate that I now have<br />
enough children to form that<br />
SSATB vocal ensemble I have<br />
always wanted.” Making a rare<br />
appearance in class notes, Jill<br />
Wasserman had a few pieces of<br />
exciting news. “My husband,<br />
Stephen Devereaux, and I were<br />
married on <strong>April</strong> 30—the day<br />
after the royal wedding of<br />
Will and Kate. Although my<br />
(maternity) wedding dress was<br />
not nearly as chic as Kate’s, I<br />
managed to pull off a “tiara”<br />
(purchased on Etsy) and certainly<br />
felt as lucky as a princess. In<br />
addition to marrying my own<br />
Prince Charming, the marriage<br />
also came with Stephen’s darling<br />
10-year-old daughter Emma. I<br />
am trying very hard not to be a<br />
storybook wicked stepmother!<br />
And finally, our lovely twin<br />
daughters, Harriet McGillivray<br />
and Carolyn Witte, arrived just<br />
a few months later on Aug.<br />
23. Needless to say, 2011 has<br />
been a year of fairytale magic<br />
for me and my family.” Also<br />
new parents (again), Mary Liz<br />
Brenninkmeyer and her husband<br />
Chris Kaczmarek had a baby girl,<br />
Annika Elizabeth Kaczmarek, on<br />
Nov. 9. According to Mary Liz,<br />
big brothers Ian and Andrew are<br />
enjoying their little sister, but,<br />
hey, just give it time.<br />
Among our internationally<br />
residing classmates, Ian<br />
Graham wrote of the birth of<br />
his third daughter, Charlotte,<br />
on Dec. 14 in Bad Homburg<br />
(Bah Humbug?), Germany.<br />
“Obviously, this meant that my<br />
wife Priscilla and I weren’t going<br />
to go off and have a raucous<br />
New Year’s Eve, but it did give<br />
us an opportunity to check out<br />
what German TV has to offer in<br />
lieu of Dick Clark. The highlight<br />
of the night was coming across<br />
the ‘Silvesterstadl,’ a concert<br />
featuring traditional folk music<br />
from across Germany, Austria<br />
and Switzerland and complete<br />
with audience members dressed<br />
in lederhosen. Hearing the sound<br />
of the accordion-infused music<br />
brought me back to the Saturday<br />
morning polka show we would<br />
86 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
listen to after Friday night<br />
water polo games at Amherst.<br />
If memory serves me, the theory<br />
was that nothing can be as bad<br />
as the polka, so enduring it made<br />
the hangovers that much more<br />
manageable. Besides such choice<br />
TV options, we are still very<br />
much enjoying our time here and<br />
taking advantage of the travel<br />
options. The highlights from last<br />
year were Istanbul, Provence<br />
and Amsterdam. This year we<br />
are really looking forward to<br />
San Sebastian, where Kevin<br />
Burke ’94 will host a gathering<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong> alums in Europe.”<br />
And Kyle Downey and his family<br />
moved from Shanghai to Hong<br />
Kong a year ago, “where I’m still<br />
working for Morgan Stanley. I<br />
heard from Micah Edmond over<br />
the break but just missed him in<br />
NYC at end of 2011.”<br />
Living it up in LA, Heather<br />
(Laquer) <strong>Williams</strong> wrote, “Life<br />
with three kids (ages 11, 8 and 3)<br />
is busy and fun. I’m embracing<br />
my sports mom role and have<br />
now branched out into being a<br />
stage mom as well with my oldest<br />
daughter Caitlin performing<br />
as Young Louise in a 12-week<br />
run of Gypsy and booking and<br />
shooting a co-star role where<br />
she plays a bully named Tiffany<br />
on The Office that airs March<br />
1. I can’t really give out the<br />
details of who all she takes on<br />
and beats up, but it is funny.<br />
We’re big Office fans too, so it<br />
was just as exciting for us to be<br />
on set with her—never has my<br />
husband offered to help with set<br />
parent duties as quickly as he did<br />
for this! So now I’m attending<br />
premieres not only for my husband’s<br />
projects as a film and TV<br />
composer, but now my daughter’s<br />
projects as well. #groupie.”<br />
As for other Eph sightings, Kate<br />
Newman Jerris, her husband<br />
Rand and their three kids swung<br />
through LA, and we met up at<br />
Descanso Gardens so all of our<br />
kids could run around and we<br />
could catch up. They’ve been<br />
coming out to LA fairly regularly,<br />
so it’s been great seeing them and<br />
marking the passage of time by<br />
how much bigger our kids have<br />
gotten. And after about a decade<br />
of living in the same city, Smith<br />
Glover and I finally met up for a<br />
nice alfresco lunch by the pool.<br />
He got a taste of how crazy life<br />
can be with three kids as, while<br />
they were playing pirates, one<br />
kid accidentally fell in said pool.<br />
So if anyone is in LA, drop me<br />
a line, and I’d love to hang out,<br />
with or without pirates. Also<br />
out in LA and in what I can only<br />
assume is his iPhone version of<br />
a Tweet, Shing Chi Poon wrote,<br />
“Baby Nicole born in mid<br />
October 2011. Big brother Derek<br />
adjusting to new addition.”<br />
Apparently in competition<br />
with Strom Thurmond and Mr.<br />
Rogers, Teon Edwards this past<br />
summer passed the 15-year mark<br />
at her job. “Despite being at<br />
the same company for so long,<br />
my actual work has changed a<br />
lot over the years. Currently it<br />
largely involves designing and<br />
researching games that engage<br />
the players in science learning<br />
and that they want to play in<br />
their free time. A task that is<br />
both very fun and very hard. Jen<br />
(Nicholson) and Jon Todd, along<br />
with their daughter Julia moved<br />
to Newton, Mass., recently,<br />
so we’ve been able to see each<br />
other much more often. The J’s,<br />
plus Sarah Calvo, Alexia Rosoff,<br />
Jim Wilber and I met recently<br />
for an (almost) annual holiday<br />
gathering. As I’m sure all the<br />
parents out there know, but<br />
something new to this ‘Auntie,’<br />
watching a 4-year-old decorate<br />
a Christmas tree is a truly great<br />
experience! Along with many<br />
others in the Northeast, I’ve had<br />
more than a few blackout days<br />
this past fall, between Irene, the<br />
‘hurricane, that wasn’t’ but that<br />
still knocked out my power for<br />
three days and flooded so many<br />
areas, and the freak October<br />
snowstorm, which took down<br />
my power for another two days,<br />
plus several more during the following<br />
week for ongoing repairs.<br />
I actually kind of enjoyed them. I<br />
hope both were fun in our purple<br />
mountain valley!”<br />
Hanna (Kelly) Sanoff liked my<br />
Katy Perry reference (so there).<br />
“My news is definitely not of the<br />
‘earth shattering’ variety. Still<br />
living in Charlottesville, working<br />
at UVA, trying to make some<br />
headway against cancer. I think<br />
my favorite thing here is our<br />
Friday night ‘girl parties’ with<br />
my 3-year-old daughters and<br />
one of our favorite people: Kate<br />
Paxton. Girl parties feature ‘girl<br />
wine,’ wine, cheese, dancing and<br />
general ridiculousness. Lest anyone<br />
think girl parties are exclusionary—my<br />
husband is invited<br />
too—we just rename them wine<br />
and cheese dance parties those<br />
days so he doesn’t feel left out (or<br />
have to wear a party dress, which<br />
he just plain refuses to do!).”<br />
Also living in the Southeast<br />
region, Brad Wasserman and his<br />
partner Scott Graves met up with<br />
Tracy (Weir) Marek, her husband<br />
David and their daughter Maria
From left: Brian Eng ’96, Elise Brown ’85 and John Goodrich ’80 caught<br />
up with each other at the Juice Conference, a two-day event supporting<br />
collaboration and connection in the creative economy, held in Camden,<br />
Maine, in November.<br />
during a trip through New York<br />
last June. “We walked across<br />
the Poughkeepsie Pedestrian<br />
Bridge and capped off the calorie<br />
burning excursion with some ice<br />
cream.” Isn’t that how you’re<br />
supposed to do it—Diet Coke<br />
with the brownie ice cream<br />
sundae?<br />
In the DC area, my daughter<br />
Aviva and I celebrated with<br />
James and Lydia (Vermilye) Weiss<br />
at their son Rex’s 3rd birthday<br />
party in December. Also there<br />
to celebrate were Jim Heyes and<br />
his two and a half-year-old son<br />
Oliver. Jim attempted to dodge<br />
“the press,” but being that he<br />
was sort of stuck there in the<br />
planetarium, I was able to drag<br />
out the details about Jim’s baby<br />
son, Zachary, who was born<br />
Nov. 4. Another of our regular<br />
DC-area crew also has been busy<br />
with a new baby: Alexis Gilman<br />
and his wife Michele Buenafe<br />
welcomed son Anson Javier on<br />
Nov. 1. And from Jim Heyes’<br />
former teammate Andrew Feller:<br />
“Long-time listener, first-time<br />
caller. I’m still in DC, working<br />
for the SEC, where I’ve been for<br />
a little more than four years.<br />
2011 was a big year for me—I<br />
got married in May, and my<br />
wife Kathy and I welcomed a<br />
daughter in October. She was<br />
actually born on Oct. 17, so<br />
she shares a birthday with her<br />
dad—best birthday present<br />
ever! We’re part of a nice little<br />
WUFO baby crew, along with<br />
Jim Heyes and his wife Julie,<br />
whose second son was born in<br />
November, and Lyn and Anne<br />
(Bilby) Debevoise ’98, whose<br />
second child arrived in October.<br />
We’re looking forward to taking<br />
the little one to <strong>Williams</strong>town<br />
sometime this spring, should it<br />
ever thaw.”<br />
Anna (Cederberg) Heard<br />
reported an eventful year. “We’ll<br />
be doing Christmas in DC this<br />
year, instead of the traditional<br />
trip to Minnesota, where my<br />
parents live. Miles, our older<br />
son, turned 2 in November and<br />
had fun eating chocolate cake.<br />
He’s in love with his new toy<br />
hockey set. He also now has an<br />
obsession with backhoes and<br />
gorillas and a great little book<br />
called Dino-Hockey. Kai, our<br />
newest addition, is putting his<br />
parents through the wringer, but<br />
we’re hopeful that we’ll soon<br />
be able to look back and say,<br />
see how much you’ve changed?<br />
I’m sort of looking for a job,<br />
but really don’t want to start<br />
working until <strong>April</strong> or May, so<br />
that makes it a bit tricky. So for<br />
now, hanging out with the boys<br />
is my job, and an exhausting<br />
one at that.” Holly (Hodgson)<br />
Stephens wrote, “Susan Gillmor<br />
and I went to see Kate Marquis<br />
sing in her Christmas concert<br />
with DC-area choir Choralis. It<br />
was quite professional and fun,<br />
and I had flashbacks to 1994-era<br />
Elizabethans when they sang a<br />
P.D.Q. Bach song. In other news,<br />
n 1996<br />
2½-year-old old Sean is potty<br />
trained and going to Montessori<br />
preschool with his big brother—<br />
in the same classroom! They’re<br />
both thrilled, and Mommy is<br />
thrilled to have mornings to<br />
herself to prep for tutoring/teaching.<br />
I’ve been teaching a high<br />
school journalism class to six<br />
homeschoolers. Some of them<br />
have already been published on<br />
patch.com!”<br />
Perhaps inspired by her<br />
attendance at reunion back in<br />
June, perhaps drawn in by my<br />
Katy Perry reference (all right,<br />
I will let it go now), Kelly Beard<br />
wrote in for the first time ever<br />
with an update. “I am back in<br />
the Bay State after many, many<br />
years in Virginia. I’m beginning<br />
work on an M.Div. at Andover<br />
Newton Theological School and<br />
living in Newton, not far from<br />
my sister. It’s a great change, and<br />
getting to go to my nephew’s<br />
ballgames is certainly a factor!”<br />
In November New Hampshire<br />
resident Megan Farkas won “The<br />
Future of Quilting” award at<br />
the Houston International Quilt<br />
Festival, “which is the biggest<br />
and most prestigious quilt show<br />
in the world. The award included<br />
travel and hotel, so I got to go<br />
to Houston and be a celebrity<br />
for a week.” And Karen (Coyle)<br />
Robinson is still living outside<br />
Boston in Norwell, working<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
Megan Farkas ’96 won The Future of Quilting award at the International<br />
Quilt Festival in Houston in December. Her winning piece, Sakura I:<br />
Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms, also won Viewer's Choice at the<br />
Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.<br />
and raising her three kids and<br />
seeing Robin (Keller) Elliott, Porter<br />
(Harris) May and me sometimes<br />
but not as much as we moms<br />
would like. “The boys (Jack,<br />
7, and Aedan, 5) are playing<br />
hockey, and it tends to take up<br />
our weekends, but it has inspired<br />
Libby (3) to get out on the ice<br />
and try to skate—she can actually<br />
stand up and move a little<br />
out there.” I am super impressed.<br />
My fellow Sage B’er Meg<br />
Barber also wrote in. “I did get<br />
up to <strong>Williams</strong>town this fall with<br />
my husband and in-laws and I<br />
showed them Sage B. So many<br />
funny memories. This fall I got<br />
involved with a political campaign<br />
here in Holyoke, Mass.,<br />
and served as the volunteer coordinator<br />
for Alex Morse, who is<br />
now our 22-year-old mayor-elect!<br />
It was thrilling to be a part of the<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 87
CLASS NOTES<br />
grassroots effort that brought<br />
together people from all different<br />
parts of this community. I have<br />
so much hope for my city right<br />
now. Just last week I bonded<br />
with the new mayor by plunging<br />
a toilet together. Nothing like<br />
some early morning poop humor<br />
to solidify a relationship!” Meg<br />
also asked whether I had heard<br />
from many of our co-entrymates.<br />
Brings up a good point—where<br />
are you guys? Kudos to regular<br />
contributor Vanessa Wruble, but<br />
other than that, where are you<br />
guys—Polsby, Bruce, Josh Cohen?<br />
Mitch Howell, our head class<br />
agent, has encouraged a friendly<br />
entry vs. entry competition for<br />
contributions to the <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Fund (BTW, keep those donations<br />
coming!), but how about a<br />
news competition? Not based on<br />
quality of course, but quantity/<br />
participation rate. What say you,<br />
’96ers? OK, gotta run. I’m off to<br />
a Katy Perry concert.<br />
1997<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Bahia Ramos Synnott<br />
5 South Elliott Place, B<br />
Brooklyn, NY 11217<br />
1997secretary@williams.edu<br />
As to be expected, the Class of<br />
1997 is all over the map, doing<br />
great things…<br />
On the West Coast: Norm<br />
Anderson writes, “I'm still living<br />
in LA, working as supervising<br />
producer on a new show for<br />
Spike TV and developing some<br />
feature film projects, including<br />
one set in the beautiful<br />
Berkshires. Actually tied the knot<br />
on 8-9-10 in a ceremony where<br />
we sang and danced down the<br />
aisle and had circus performers<br />
entertain the guests.”<br />
Beverly Grossman Palmer is also<br />
in the LA area, practicing law<br />
and parenting two young boys,<br />
Tobin and Emmet. She writes,<br />
“We love it here. We live less<br />
than a mile from the beach and<br />
are there regularly. Our boys<br />
will surely surf before they know<br />
how to ski at this rate.”<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
88 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
“All is well here in sunny LA.<br />
Just had another daughter—<br />
Saskia, who has a sleep ‘allergy.’<br />
I was told by the preschool that<br />
our older daughter is ‘quite<br />
independent,’ which apparently<br />
is code for not listening to any<br />
of her teachers. Busy directing<br />
a bone and soft-tissue cancer<br />
program for children, adolescents<br />
and young adults at UCLA<br />
where I work very closely with<br />
… Dr. Jeffrey Eckardt ’67, who is<br />
now the chair of orthopedics at<br />
UCLA,” writes Noah Federman.<br />
Melanie Howard is practicing<br />
law at Loeb & Loeb LLP<br />
in LA in the advanced media<br />
and technology department.<br />
She writes, “My husband R.J.<br />
and I were blessed with a son<br />
(Jackson Marquis) a year and<br />
a half ago, and we are delighting<br />
in this crazy parenthood<br />
journey. I am actively involved in<br />
the microfinance sector in Haiti<br />
sitting on the board of directors<br />
of Fonkoze USA.” Melanie and<br />
R.J. were planning a trip to Haiti<br />
in <strong>April</strong>.<br />
“I just came off of my first sabbatical,<br />
during which I completed<br />
the first half of my manuscript<br />
on contemporary sculpture made<br />
out of string. I hope to run into<br />
some Ephs at the upcoming CAA<br />
meeting in LA,” says John Corso.<br />
Susan Arico saw Dana Critchell<br />
Beausang, a fellow Golden State<br />
resident, over Thanksgiving<br />
weekend. They swapped<br />
pictures of their <strong>April</strong> babies.<br />
Susan writes, “Mine, Matilda<br />
Mae Arico, came fast enough<br />
to become an accidental home<br />
birth, delivered safely by my<br />
husband moments before the<br />
paramedics arrived. Keeping<br />
things interesting with number<br />
four.”<br />
Julie Rapoport reports, “Bought<br />
a house. I can only talk about<br />
home repair, fruit trees and the<br />
fun and excitement of tearing<br />
down and rebuilding an entire<br />
room. Tom Reid finally moved<br />
to SF about a year ago, so I see<br />
him more often. I also see Bonnie<br />
Schulkin ’96, who also … bought<br />
a house. For our summer vacation,<br />
we decided to hike the John<br />
Muir Trail, which covers over<br />
200 miles, most above 10,000<br />
feet, and runs from Yosemite to<br />
Mount Whitney. Eighteen days,<br />
200 miles, 50,000 vertical feet,<br />
one shower. Average backpack<br />
weight: about 40 lbs.”<br />
Jonathan Botts is doing a oneyear<br />
fellowship in orthopedic<br />
sports medicine at the Kerlan<br />
Jobe orthopedic clinic in LA.<br />
His wife Evette and 2 1 ⁄2-year-old<br />
daughter Isla love it out in LA.<br />
Dave Vosburg, Kate (Hedden)<br />
Vosburg ’98 and their three kids<br />
all shaved their heads following<br />
a family-wide episode of head<br />
lice. Kate also reports, “Dave got<br />
to see one of his Harvey Mudd<br />
students get baptized, which was<br />
a really great experience.”<br />
Emily Eldredge is living in<br />
Tucson, Ariz., now with her<br />
sweetheart of three years, Paco.<br />
She is diligently writing a book<br />
about the emotional healing<br />
technique she created called the<br />
Drawing Out Process (www.<br />
drawingoutprocess.com).<br />
“Vy Bui Rossi here. … Working<br />
for Kaiser and living the dream<br />
in Denver with husband Adrian<br />
’95 and Great Dane puppy.<br />
Good wishes to all for Year of<br />
the Dragon.”<br />
“I work part time as a pediatric<br />
nephrologist at Seattle Children's<br />
hospital,” says Susan Halbach.<br />
The rest of my time is spent as<br />
a mom to my two cuties Larson<br />
and Cora. We have just entered<br />
kindergarten world this year, and<br />
so far it's been a hoot!”<br />
In the Dirty South… Eleanor<br />
Driver Post says, “Taking care of<br />
my three kids and continuing to<br />
paint, mostly filling portrait commissions<br />
but doing some of my<br />
own work as well. We bought a<br />
house in Atlanta. It should keep<br />
things interesting and put our<br />
artist/architect creative skills to<br />
the test. We had Kate Cardoza<br />
Blackwell and baby Mika down<br />
… in November, and Mika and<br />
our baby Jackie had a great time<br />
bonding and ‘chatting.’”<br />
“Greetings from Decatur, Ga! I<br />
am happily raising my two kids,<br />
Madeleine, 4 1 ⁄2, and Sam, 2 1 ⁄2.<br />
They are both at a cooperative<br />
preschool, which keeps me pretty<br />
busy. I also am working on<br />
legislation that seeks insurance<br />
coverage in Georgia for medical<br />
foods used to treat certain<br />
metabolic and GI disorders. …<br />
I’m learning how to brew beer,”<br />
writes Christine Soares Cox.<br />
“I'm loving my position as<br />
the Buddhist chaplain at Duke<br />
University and have become<br />
increasingly busy as the minister<br />
for the Buddhist Families of<br />
Durham (BFD),” writes Sumi<br />
Kim.<br />
New York gets its own<br />
category… (You can take me out<br />
of NY, but that doesn’t mean<br />
I don’t love the place.) “The<br />
New York Times published a<br />
documentary I wrote, directed,<br />
edited and narrated on the life<br />
and death of NHL hockey fighter<br />
Derek Boogaard, who was found
to have CTE, a degenerative<br />
brain disease caused by repeated<br />
head traumas that has also been<br />
found in professional football<br />
players and boxers. The piece<br />
investigated the brutal culture<br />
of fighting in hockey and the<br />
growing science of concussions.<br />
The piece was a collaborative<br />
effort with a sports reporter and<br />
photographer and jumpstarted<br />
the conversation about violence<br />
in hockey. Over the holidays, I<br />
headed to the Mekong Delta in<br />
South Vietnam as a volunteer<br />
with Habitat for Humanity,”<br />
says Shayla Harris.<br />
Ian Synnott is enjoying Ft.<br />
Greene, Brooklyn, and investment<br />
management out of Rock<br />
Center. “I was recently in<br />
London, where I stayed with Kurt<br />
Knuppel and Johan Kongsli ’98,<br />
in from Oslo, who is doing well.<br />
Over the holidays and into the<br />
New Year, I caught up with Jenny<br />
Keane and Jim Stanton in NYC at<br />
a pickle contest and bon voyage.<br />
Jenny was just back from a bike<br />
tour in New Zealand, and Jim<br />
is enjoying his new(ish) job in<br />
Stamford. I also saw Seth Morgan<br />
and Shayla Harris.”<br />
David Turner is playing Harry<br />
Connick Jr.’s psychiatric patient<br />
in the Broadway musical On a<br />
Clear Day You Can See Forever.<br />
“Everyone asks if he really kisses<br />
me as the lights fade in Act I. But<br />
I’ll never tell! Matthew Swanson,<br />
Christian Vainieri, Kenny Harmon,<br />
Penn Clarke ’96, Matt Alsdorf ’96,<br />
Matt Rouse and my <strong>Williams</strong><br />
B entry mates have all come to<br />
support me!” Maria Plantilla got<br />
to go backstage to David’s dressing<br />
room. “It was so lovely to<br />
celebrate his success with him,”<br />
she writes.<br />
“I’m living in Manhattan with<br />
my wife Radhika, daughter<br />
Ashima and son Santosh. I still<br />
work at KBW in investment<br />
banking, covering insurance<br />
companies. I recently saw Peter<br />
Sinclair, who was interviewing<br />
for his new marketing position at<br />
ScoreBig, and Joshua Tripp, who<br />
was also in town for work and<br />
hosted me for burgers, beer and<br />
a very healthy side of steamed<br />
broccoli,” reports Seth Bair.<br />
“I have two daughters, Alison<br />
and Lauren. I am still traveling<br />
between NYC and DC during<br />
the week, working as an advisor<br />
for U.S. EPA Administrator<br />
Lisa Jackson. My wife and<br />
daughters have been troopers<br />
during the past 2-and-a-half<br />
years. While it has been difficult<br />
being away from my family so<br />
frequently, it has been a truly<br />
amazing experience, and it is<br />
still difficult for me to fathom<br />
that there are less than 4,000<br />
political appointees in place to<br />
direct policy for the president.<br />
I am proud of our accomplishments.<br />
I periodically see Ephs<br />
in and around DC, including<br />
Alex Steinberg Barrage,” submits<br />
Charles Imohiosen.<br />
Noah Harlan’s daughter<br />
Mazhira Dahlia Harlan—who<br />
goes by Mazzy—was born on<br />
Christmas Day. In February, the<br />
latest film he produced, Return,<br />
premiered in theaters and on<br />
iTunes/VOD. It was a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
project in many ways, directed<br />
by professor Liza Johnson ’92,<br />
produced by Noah, starring<br />
Byron Wetzel's client Michael<br />
Shannon, photography direction<br />
by Anne Etheridge ’92 and coproduced<br />
by Charlie Birns ’09.<br />
“Eric Watson here. Living<br />
in New Paltz, N.Y., and still<br />
coaching soccer at Utica <strong>College</strong>.<br />
My wife Paola Gentry ’98 is<br />
working at Vassar <strong>College</strong> in<br />
their admission office. Aracely,<br />
9, and Oliver, 6, are keeping us<br />
very busy.”<br />
Edging on over to the Tri-State<br />
Area… “My wife Michelle and<br />
I welcomed the birth of our first<br />
child, Chloe Jane Hyland. Born<br />
Jan. 5 @ 4:28 a.m. We are now<br />
living in Wilton, Conn. I’m still<br />
with NBC Sports, primarily producing<br />
football, horse racing and<br />
Olympics,” reports Rob Hyland.<br />
Jess Bongiorno says, “My<br />
daughter Mia Rose Bjorkedal<br />
was born July 29. She is already<br />
displaying a great deal of my<br />
late Grandma Rose’s spunky<br />
personality! … I am still enjoying<br />
my career in reinsurance, heading<br />
up property underwriting<br />
for Arch Re in Morristown, N.J.<br />
My husband Nik and I live five<br />
minutes away from my office<br />
with Mia and her ‘big sister,’<br />
Harper, our Boston terrier. We<br />
see a lot of Seth Morgan, since<br />
he is married to my sister, and he<br />
and Nik share a love for drinking<br />
grappa and playing cribbage.<br />
… We spent some time with<br />
Martha (Folley) Bullock, Bevin<br />
Brennan, Nancy Lee and George<br />
and Kari (Lampka) Watson at our<br />
backyard pig roast/baby shower.<br />
I met up with Bevin, Rosie Rubin<br />
and Jawad and Colette Haider<br />
to see David Turner in his new<br />
Broadway show.”<br />
Massachusetts has earned its<br />
own category as well… Matthew<br />
Swanson writes, “Robbi and<br />
I welcomed our third child, a<br />
little boy named August. Our<br />
latest book, Build Your Own<br />
n 1996–97<br />
President: <strong>2012</strong>, is an interactive<br />
game that was featured on<br />
BoingBoing.net and rattled the<br />
interwebs on New Hampshire<br />
primary day. … It can be found<br />
at www.idiotsbooks.com/buildyourownpresident.<br />
We're on the<br />
verge of launching a small press<br />
that publishes children's books.”<br />
“Enjoying life in Somerville,<br />
Mass., with our daughter Violet,<br />
who has recently started walking<br />
and thinks she's absolutely<br />
unstoppable,” writes Jardayna<br />
Werlin Laurent.<br />
Michel Ohly reports, “Derek<br />
is still working to slingshot his<br />
custom bra company, Zyrra,<br />
to startup fame and success.<br />
I’m home with the kiddos, now<br />
2 and 4. I am contemplating<br />
re-entering the work force as<br />
a middle school math teacher,<br />
hoping to pass the Mass. teacher<br />
exams this winter/spring. We just<br />
moved to a new house, which we<br />
love. We did spend New Year's<br />
weekend with Kay Kamiyama<br />
and Josh Pierson, with their baby<br />
Leena, and Adam Nesbit. It was<br />
like old times, except our poker<br />
skills are now rusty, we drink<br />
less, go to bed early and get up a<br />
lot earlier the next day.”<br />
“I’m still living in the<br />
Berkshires, eight years now. I just<br />
passed my PhD comps at UMass<br />
in comparative literature, and<br />
I'm currently teaching a Winter<br />
Study at <strong>Williams</strong>—an introduction<br />
to Old Irish, sponsored<br />
by the Classics. The next few<br />
months for me will be about dissertation<br />
and beginning to look<br />
for a permanent academic job<br />
here in the Berkshires or within<br />
commuting distance,” says<br />
Shannon Farley.<br />
Hilary Hutchinson writes, “I am<br />
emerging from the first year of<br />
life with a second kiddo, (Abigail<br />
Katherine Hutchinson, born<br />
1/10/11). I still work at Google<br />
in Boston and love it. <strong>Williams</strong> is<br />
still representing against all the<br />
Stanford and MIT alums here—<br />
Iein Valdez, Max Ross and DeWitt<br />
Clinton among them. … I keep<br />
up with Arch Handel and Emily<br />
Manus in the Boston area.”<br />
“All is well in Boston. My husband<br />
JF and I are having a great<br />
time with our 10-month-old<br />
Cordelia. We try to have regular<br />
play dates with Ellie Sosnovik<br />
(daughter of Debbie Goldstein)<br />
and Caleb Ginsberg (son of Steve<br />
Ginsberg ’96). We’re hoping<br />
that they all become fast friends.<br />
I’m still practicing landscape<br />
architecture but have reduced<br />
my hours post-baby,” says Gigi<br />
Saltonstall.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 89
CLASS NOTES<br />
Last year Annaliese Beery (plus<br />
husband David and toddler<br />
Ronan) left sunny California for<br />
a neuroscience faculty position at<br />
Smith <strong>College</strong>. They now live in<br />
Northampton, Mass.<br />
Kate Boyle Ramsdell writes,<br />
“Jamie and I kicked off <strong>2012</strong><br />
with the arrival of Whitman<br />
(Whit) Boyle Ramsdell! He was<br />
born early in the morning on<br />
Dec. 27. What a love he is.”<br />
And in other New England hot<br />
spots… “Our third daughter,<br />
Georgia, was born last March. In<br />
June, we moved from Berkeley,<br />
Calif., back to a small, cold,<br />
northeastern liberal arts college<br />
town: Middlebury, Vt., where my<br />
husband landed a post-PhD job<br />
teaching economics. I’m feeling<br />
a lot of <strong>Williams</strong> deja-vu, except<br />
that now I’m seeing things from<br />
the vantage point of the professors.<br />
… Already had some fun<br />
visits this fall from Maria Plantilla<br />
and Kristin Hem,” contributes<br />
Faith Cinquegrana Gong.<br />
Susan Costanzo writes, “In<br />
2009 I left Best Buy with the<br />
help of a severance package that<br />
I voluntarily accepted prior to<br />
Best Buy’s round of involuntary<br />
layoffs. I visited Frank Vigorito<br />
in Gato Morto, Spain, in the<br />
Galician region. The highlight<br />
was when Frank and I drove to<br />
Braga, Portugal, to go skydiving!<br />
We're both afraid of heights, so<br />
it was an exercise in overcoming<br />
fear. I’ve dabbled in modeling<br />
and acting and working<br />
with certain photographers in<br />
Minneapolis. It makes for some<br />
great Facebook profile pictures,<br />
I'll admit.<br />
“I now work with FICO in the<br />
Marketing Solutions division. We<br />
serve the retail and CPG industries.<br />
My client is also my former<br />
employer—Best Buy.<br />
“I recently returned from a trip<br />
to London where I said goodbye<br />
to 2011 and hello to <strong>2012</strong>. Other<br />
recent travels include a trip to<br />
China this past summer, where<br />
I met up with Adam Nowak ’95,<br />
my former JA, in Shanghai for a<br />
weekend. I then took the bullet<br />
train to Nanjing.”<br />
Kate Ramsdell and I have been<br />
working together for about<br />
a year and a half leading the<br />
agent team raising funds for the<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Fund.<br />
A brief stop in our nation’s<br />
capital… Alex Steinberg Barrage<br />
and Mike Tae have been lunching<br />
at various eateries around the<br />
Treasury building, rekindling the<br />
lazy days in Baxter where Alex<br />
and Amina Abrahams laughed<br />
with Mike. Alex writes, “I’m<br />
90 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
still running. Two kids later and<br />
somehow I’m faster. So many<br />
pluses to enduring childbirth!”<br />
Jonah Wittkamper ran into<br />
Dahna Goldstein at a congressional<br />
event on philanthropy in<br />
November. “She and I now run<br />
in similar circles, linking technology<br />
and giving. … I was playing<br />
in my front yard with my boys<br />
when Eli Boritz randomly walked<br />
by with his dogs. We have been<br />
living near each other for over<br />
four years and just discovered it.<br />
… He’s now working at NIH. I<br />
saw Dana Mason. … She’s also<br />
working in a similar field—<br />
bridge-building and mediation.<br />
She’s a new mom, too. I<br />
exchanged holiday text messages<br />
with Josh Solomon. I’ve been in<br />
touch with Francisco Alarcon.<br />
We will someday go cave diving<br />
together,” writes Jonah.<br />
Last <strong>April</strong> Cora Ganzglass quit<br />
her job as legislative director at<br />
a consumer protection nonprofit<br />
to hike the Appalachian Trail.<br />
She writes, “My boyfriend and<br />
I started <strong>April</strong> 7, 2011, down at<br />
Springer Mountain in Georgia.<br />
Over six months we hiked north<br />
through 14 states, approximately<br />
2,100 miles, seeing lots of Ephs<br />
along the way. I got to meet up<br />
with Julie Weed ’96, Emily Eakin<br />
’99, Gina Coleman ’90, Cammie<br />
Barrow and Michel and Derek<br />
Ohly. I also met along the trail<br />
another <strong>Williams</strong> through-hiker,<br />
Krystal <strong>Williams</strong> ’96. On Sept. 30<br />
we reached the northern terminus<br />
of the AT, Mount Katahdin.<br />
Since then we have returned<br />
home to the DC area and are<br />
slowly adjusting back to the real<br />
world.”<br />
Bob Feit writes, “My wife<br />
Preethy and I are the proud new<br />
parents of Nathan Ram Feit,<br />
who was born on Oct. 27. The<br />
little guy is doing well and shows<br />
some promise of being a ‘starter’<br />
baby. He has already been visited<br />
by Chetan Rao ’97, Ron Alcala<br />
’97, Lenny Alfred ’98, and David<br />
Galaty ’98, who are all doing<br />
well.”<br />
And all the places in between<br />
and abroad… Laura Christensen<br />
Guthrie submits, “Trent and I<br />
are enjoying life in Michigan.<br />
Our son Quinn, 2, is too fun for<br />
words. I quit my job about a year<br />
ago to concentrate on Quinn and<br />
all the life stuff that needs to be<br />
done. Trent continues to enjoy<br />
his work as an orthopedic trauma<br />
surgeon in Detroit at Henry Ford<br />
hospital. We bought a house in<br />
the nearby city of Northville …<br />
and are working on plans for<br />
renovations before we move in.”<br />
Jennifer Feighner and husband<br />
welcomed their third child, Julia,<br />
in October. “She is a wonderfully<br />
sweet newborn, and her older siblings<br />
are enjoying her as well. Life<br />
continues to be good to us in the<br />
Bitterroot Valley of Montana-—<br />
we are building a house on 61<br />
acres we have christened Skyfire<br />
Ranch, and I was able to start up<br />
our hospital medicine program<br />
full time, with the recruitment of<br />
three additional hospitalists,” she<br />
writes.<br />
Dylan and Harriet (Greenwood)<br />
Ragozin and Charlotte and Isla<br />
left the Bay Area for a one-year<br />
stint in Basel, Switzerland. Dylan<br />
works for Genentech, which was<br />
purchased by Roche, and he is<br />
there leading a project related<br />
to the integration of the two<br />
companies. Harriet is taking a<br />
year off from work and enjoying<br />
being a stay-at-home mom. They<br />
spend their free time traveling as<br />
much as they can; so far, they’ve<br />
explored Switzerland, France,<br />
Germany, Croatia and Israel.<br />
Guillermo de las Casas writes to<br />
us from the 90th floor of a hotel<br />
building in Shanghai. “I will be<br />
glad to be done with a month<br />
and a half of traveling for work<br />
and vacation around Europe,<br />
South America and Asia. Have<br />
just rented my new home in<br />
Hong Kong. I really hope to be<br />
the host to some of my <strong>Williams</strong><br />
classmates during my stay here!”<br />
Sam Sommers contributes, “I<br />
just published my first book,<br />
entitled Situations Matter:<br />
Understanding How the Context<br />
Transforms Your World. It’s a<br />
behavioral science book written<br />
for a general audience, and I’ve<br />
spent time promoting it on local<br />
radio, NPR, MSNBC and on-line<br />
(more details at www.samsommers.com).<br />
Marilyn and the girls<br />
are well.”<br />
David Monoky and I celebrated<br />
our Second Annual Art Basel<br />
Miami Random Sighting in<br />
December. He is enjoying his<br />
career as a doctor in NYC, and<br />
we reveled in the pleasant Miami<br />
winter weather. Matt Rouse and<br />
I shared some delicious BBQ in<br />
Atlanta on a quick stop over.<br />
And now a word from our<br />
president… Seth Morgan writes,<br />
“It’s not too early for people<br />
to contact Hallie D’Agruma to<br />
help with reunion. She is really<br />
working hard to make it a good<br />
time for everyone and could use<br />
the help.”<br />
Biggest Takeaway: Come to<br />
reunion. Help with reunion See<br />
you in June, for the big 1-5. Until<br />
then, be well and enjoy life! xoB
1998<br />
Andrea Stanton<br />
734 St. Paul St.<br />
Denver, CO 80206<br />
1998secretary@williams.edu<br />
Hello, all, and happy <strong>2012</strong><br />
from Denver! Several 1998ers<br />
wrote in with news about how<br />
they finished 2011 or are starting<br />
<strong>2012</strong>—lots of great stuff all<br />
around, including a few first-time<br />
updates. I’m going to try another<br />
regional division, so…<br />
Starting off on the East Coast,<br />
Andrew Fagenholz writes that<br />
daughter Ruby arrived in<br />
October, joining older sister<br />
Viola, 2. They live in Boston,<br />
and Andrew describes himself as:<br />
“Slogging away at a mega law<br />
firm as of this writing, so work<br />
and family occupy all hours.”<br />
He notes that Evan Hornbuckle<br />
’99 was his “go-to tennis partner<br />
on the local public court” but<br />
that Evan recently moved away.<br />
If you’re in Boston and like<br />
tennis, you might get in touch<br />
with Andrew. Diana Villamarin<br />
writes from Connecticut that<br />
she married Carl Solazzo on<br />
Nov. 21. The newlyweds spent<br />
the holidays with her family,<br />
including Anamaria Villamarin<br />
’95 and Tim Lupin ’93, where she<br />
was also able to spend time with<br />
goddaughter Isabella Tarantino<br />
(daughter of Ken Tarantino ’97).<br />
Back in Boston again, Peter<br />
Robinson writes that he, wife<br />
Liz and daughter Millie had<br />
a great year. “We managed to<br />
meet up with Aaron Kammerer<br />
and his family regularly,” he<br />
writes, “most recently for my<br />
birthday, where we made a<br />
hasty retreat from the restaurant<br />
because, well … our kids are 2<br />
years old.” They also ran into<br />
Whit Growdon, whose children<br />
attend the same nursery school.<br />
Family adventures included<br />
putting Millie on skis (a hit!)<br />
and ice skates (deemed “scary”),<br />
while Pete joined the board of<br />
a local charity, CYCLEKids,<br />
“which is fighting childhood<br />
obesity through putting bike and<br />
nutritional programs into urban<br />
schools.” Meanwhile, he adds,<br />
“I am happy to report that my<br />
company has officially matured<br />
out of the toddler stage.” Lauren<br />
(Guth) Barnes writes that she and<br />
husband Tony are doing well, and<br />
that daughter Ariadne, 7 months,<br />
is “crawling and pulling up on<br />
anything she can get her hands<br />
on,” which Lauren describes as<br />
“both thrilling and terrifying.”<br />
They recently spent a weekend<br />
in Washington, where Lauren<br />
was sworn in to the Supreme<br />
Court Bar and heard oral<br />
arguments for a case involving<br />
the EPA. “Ariadne was a star<br />
throughout,” she notes, adding:<br />
“Like her dad, she can fall asleep<br />
before the plane takes off and<br />
not wake up until it lands.”<br />
Lauren also notes that she and<br />
Tony will be sad to say goodbye<br />
to Abby (Fisher) <strong>Williams</strong>on and<br />
family this summer, when they<br />
move to Hartford for Abby’s<br />
newly-accepted position as assistant<br />
professor of political science<br />
and public policy at Trinity<br />
<strong>College</strong>. “We’re sad to see them<br />
leave Boston,” she says, “but<br />
we’re thrilled for her.”<br />
Writing from our nation’s<br />
capital, Rob Watkins notes that<br />
he and his wife welcomed a<br />
son, Aire Furio, in late July. Sam<br />
Young writes that he attended the<br />
Iceland Airwaves Music Festival<br />
in October, a few days after running<br />
the Army Ten Miler—“my<br />
first big distance race,” he<br />
notes. Sam adds: “I’m training<br />
for the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA<br />
Half Marathon in March and<br />
taking a class on the taxation of<br />
financial instruments”—which he<br />
describes as a conversation ender.<br />
Micaela Coady writes from New<br />
York that she and Kate (Genung)<br />
Taylor and their families enjoyed<br />
a “lovely” dinner at the Taylors’<br />
over the holidays. “Kate’s two<br />
daughters as well as my daughter<br />
were luckily asleep,” she says,<br />
“so the four of us could really<br />
live it up.” They’re planning<br />
another “somewhere on the<br />
East Coast get-together” with<br />
Liz (Mills) and Chris Little, Britta<br />
(Beenhakker) Mullany, Kai Collins,<br />
Erica Bollerud and Katie Schultz<br />
but note that “our group now<br />
includes over a dozen adults and<br />
eight kids, so it’s a challenge to<br />
find a house large enough to hold<br />
us all.” Jonathan (J.O.) Oakman<br />
writes from South Carolina to<br />
say: “All is well in 70-degree<br />
Charleston.” He adds: “The<br />
weather is great for the kids to<br />
play outside, but I do miss snow<br />
and pulling on a heavy coat<br />
every once in a while!”<br />
From the West Coast comes<br />
some of the most interesting<br />
travel news of this update.<br />
Ned Sahin and wife Nicole are<br />
traveling the world for a year<br />
while she works on a book, Ned<br />
“writes up my scientific papers<br />
and grants,” and they work<br />
together on a startup. We look<br />
forward to future updates! Jim<br />
Ying writes that he and his wife<br />
spent Christmas Eve welcoming<br />
n 1997–98<br />
new daughter Harper, who joins<br />
son Miles, 20 months. “She’ll<br />
inevitably be getting those<br />
combined birthday/Christmas<br />
presents,” he writes. After several<br />
years in Seattle, Jim is now in<br />
San Francisco, working at a<br />
social gaming startup. They live<br />
in Millbrae, but he says: “We’ll<br />
probably be headed back up<br />
the coast pretty regularly, since<br />
we have family in the Seattle<br />
area.” Brad Johnston writes that<br />
he spent Thanksgiving at Sally<br />
and Chris Bell’s house, where he<br />
found an Amherst alum among<br />
the guests—although one, he<br />
notes, who brought “delicious”<br />
contributions to the potluck.<br />
Chris in turn adds that he and<br />
Sally have been “expanding my<br />
life-long vegetarian palate by<br />
sampling freshly caught oysters<br />
in, logically, Oysterville, Wash.”<br />
Giving up on the low snow levels<br />
across the U.S., they headed<br />
up to British Columbia for a<br />
week of Nordic and telemark<br />
skiing, which Chris described<br />
as “getting our Norwegian<br />
on.” Finally, Evelyn Spence<br />
has rejoined the ranks of West<br />
Coasters, having returned to<br />
Seattle from Brooklyn. She’s still<br />
traveling, though: “I spent New<br />
Year’s at Mount Rainier with<br />
Honora Englander,” she writes,<br />
“and now I’m off to Mongolia<br />
and South Korea to write about<br />
skiing in Asia!”<br />
Moving overseas: Our woman<br />
in Brazil, Thais Mariz de Oliveira,<br />
writes that she is currently on<br />
maternity leave from her work<br />
as a headhunter with Heidrick<br />
& Struggles, having given birth<br />
to daughter Catarina in October.<br />
Catarina joins son Caique, 4, and<br />
Thais reports that she is “loving<br />
every minute” of her leave.<br />
She adds: “I had a VIP visitor<br />
come in for a quick visit to meet<br />
Catarina: Carlos Arnaiz was<br />
here for a couple of hours with<br />
Nacho (Jose-Ignacio Palma). Even<br />
though it was too quick,” she<br />
says, “it was absolutely amazing<br />
to reunite.” And, she concludes,<br />
she’ll be in <strong>Williams</strong>town for<br />
our 15th reunion. Another<br />
1998er abroad is Reed Lindsay,<br />
who is working as a freelance<br />
journalist and documentary filmmaker<br />
in Cairo. After covering<br />
the Egyptian revolution with<br />
partner Jihan Hafiz, “we later<br />
covered the Libyan rebellion and<br />
did a documentary film called<br />
Benghazi Rising.” They returned<br />
to Egypt in October, and Reed<br />
now contributes to the Real<br />
<strong>News</strong> Network.<br />
I hope that the year ahead<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 91
CLASS NOTES<br />
brings many good things for all<br />
of you—whether with family<br />
or friends, at work or at home,<br />
in the U.S. or abroad. I spent<br />
the past two months bouncing<br />
between presentations at four<br />
academic conferences and a<br />
faculty exchange in Vienna—so<br />
I’m looking forward to spending<br />
at least the first couple months of<br />
<strong>2012</strong> in Denver! If your travels<br />
bring you to Colorado, please let<br />
me know.<br />
1999<br />
Erik Holmes<br />
915 East Mayfair Ave.<br />
Orange, CA 92867<br />
Nat White<br />
11 Interlaken Road<br />
P.O. Box 800<br />
Lakeville, CT 06039<br />
1999secretary@williams.edu<br />
Well, we’re halfway between<br />
our 10th and 15th reunions<br />
(closer to 15 by the time you<br />
read this), and it’s shaping up to<br />
have a slightly different flavor.<br />
The biggest news flowing in<br />
remains new arrivals; we have<br />
a lot to report this time around,<br />
and more on the way.<br />
Rochester, N.Y., doctor Colby<br />
(Hunter-Thompson) Previte has<br />
used the July arrival of her<br />
daughter Ainsley Madeline<br />
Hunter Previte to simplify<br />
her life; as she returned from<br />
maternity leave, Colby switched<br />
from working in three hospitals<br />
to one. In addition to operating<br />
and doing obstetrics, Colby is the<br />
medical director of the OB/GYN<br />
residency clinic at her community<br />
hospital, and she runs the<br />
women’s health curriculum at the<br />
medical school; she has gotten to<br />
see and work with several Ephs<br />
in her latter two roles. Colby,<br />
Greg, Ainsley and 5-year-old<br />
Carter also get to enjoy the<br />
newfound proximity of Colby’s<br />
sisters Kristin Hunter-Thomson ’03<br />
(and her husband Malin Pinsky<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
W illiams People accepts<br />
photographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
92 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
’03) and Whitney Hunter-Thomson<br />
’07. Milwaukee-based Tim<br />
Stoddard and Emily Gillmar ’00<br />
welcomed Emma Ruth Stoddard<br />
into the world on Sept. 17.<br />
Emma arrived as Tim continues<br />
his progress toward being a fullfledged<br />
MD and Emily uses her<br />
architectural talents to improve<br />
their condo.<br />
Back in Brooklyn, Ted Mann<br />
and his wife Suzanne Miazga<br />
celebrated the birth of Leonardo<br />
Francis Miazga Mann on Sept.<br />
30. When they are not playing<br />
with Leo, Ted is an assistant<br />
curator at the Guggenheim<br />
Museum, and Suzanne is a high<br />
school art teacher. Ted is also<br />
working toward a PhD in art history<br />
at the Institute of Fine Arts,<br />
NYU. A scant four days later in<br />
Boston, on Oct. 2, Dan Pozen and<br />
Heather Garni welcomed their<br />
second child, daughter Tess Willa<br />
Pozen. Tess joins big brother<br />
Evan, 3, and she has already<br />
met Dave Willett, Courtney<br />
Stokes Willett, Mike Johnson<br />
and Danielle Kunian Wallis. Also<br />
in Boston, Imelda (Ramirez)<br />
and John Berry-Candelario<br />
welcomed their second child,<br />
Maya Ideliz Berry-Candelario,<br />
on Oct. 23. On the other coast,<br />
Leo Eisenman was born on<br />
Oct. 26 in greater LA. He was<br />
welcomed home by proud papa<br />
Ian Eisenman, mom Ariane Verdy<br />
and 2-year-old big sister Maya<br />
Verdy Eisenman. Leo made it<br />
in time to dress up as a cat for<br />
Halloween. Ian has finished his<br />
postdoc and has taken a job<br />
farther south in California, as an<br />
assistant professor at the Scripps<br />
Institution of Oceanography, so<br />
you can find them now in San<br />
Diego.<br />
We return to the East Coast<br />
for our next few new arrivals.<br />
On Nov. 6, New Yorker Taylor<br />
Smith and his wife Ana Aguilar<br />
welcomed Lucia Elizabeth Smith<br />
into the world. They are doing<br />
well, and 2-year-old Natalie<br />
is enjoying life as a big sister<br />
so far. Chris Rodriguez and his<br />
family moved back to his home<br />
state of New Jersey in July,<br />
when Chris started working as<br />
a policy advisor on homeland<br />
security to N.J. governor Chris<br />
Christie. On Nov. 11, Josephine<br />
Amanda Rodriguez was born<br />
in Princeton. Chris, Amanda,<br />
Josephine and 2-year-old<br />
Julianna are all enjoying the<br />
proximity of Chris’ sister Joanna,<br />
her husband Rik Dugan ’98 and<br />
their children Isabella, 7, and<br />
Roderik, 4. In New Paltz, N.Y.,<br />
Marie Glancy O’Shea and her<br />
husband Colm O’Shea welcomed<br />
daughter Sufi Zoom O’Shea on<br />
Nov. 14. Marie’s take on the<br />
arrival: “When I was in labor we<br />
went to see Melancholia, Lars<br />
Von Trier’s film about the end of<br />
the world, and that’s when the<br />
contractions finally kicked into<br />
gear. After the credits rolled we<br />
walked straight from the cinema<br />
to the hospital, where we said<br />
goodbye to our own old world<br />
and entered a new one.” Back in<br />
N.J., Matt and Kathleen Higgins<br />
Sigrist continued to expand<br />
their family with the arrival<br />
of Elizabeth Higgins Sigrist,<br />
nicknamed Ginny, on Dec. 15.<br />
Her sisters Katie and Anna<br />
were thoroughly excited by the<br />
early Christmas gift, and Matt<br />
is now totally outnumbered. We<br />
conclude this section of births<br />
back in Southern California,<br />
with my co-secretary Erik Holmes<br />
and his wife Shannon Reid<br />
welcoming their first, Declan<br />
Timothy Holmes, on Jan. 6. Erik<br />
reports that all are doing well. I<br />
know we’ll have more births to<br />
announce by the next round of<br />
notes, including several that will<br />
just miss my deadline for these<br />
notes, others that will push up<br />
against the next deadline and<br />
probably some in between.<br />
In addition to babies, our<br />
class continues to expand by<br />
marriage. Kelley Powell married<br />
Doug Welsh on Oct. 28 at Swan<br />
Harbor Farm in Maryland.<br />
Kelley is thrilled, and she has the<br />
distinction of having the only<br />
wedding reported in this round<br />
of notes.<br />
We have writers! In addition<br />
to those whose work is seen in<br />
popular culture, like Rachel Axler,<br />
and the many of our classmates<br />
who publish academic papers,<br />
Roosevelt Bowman got a mention<br />
in The Wall Street Journal<br />
(and elsewhere) for his article<br />
examining the decline of the U.S.<br />
dollar. Dayna (Kaufman) Lorentz<br />
has four books coming out in the<br />
spring: her Dogs of the Drowned<br />
City trilogy is being published<br />
by Scholastic in <strong>April</strong>, May and<br />
June; and the first book in her<br />
young adult trilogy No Safety in<br />
Numbers will be published by<br />
Dial Books for Young Readers in<br />
May. Dayna is enjoying being a<br />
mom and living in Vermont with<br />
Jason Lorentz ’96.<br />
We now shift from those<br />
with good reason to stay at<br />
home to those on the move to<br />
new homes. Marina (Gisquet)<br />
Knight, her husband Chip ’08<br />
and son Cedar have moved to<br />
Hanover, N.H., where Chip
coaches the Dartmouth women’s<br />
alpine ski team. Marina works<br />
for a nonprofit called the T2<br />
Foundation, which provides<br />
financial support to elite athletes<br />
and connects them with youth.<br />
Marina and Chip are looking<br />
forward to teaching Cedar how<br />
to ski at the Dartmouth Skiway.<br />
After 10 years in Cambridge<br />
and Somerville, Mike Heep and<br />
his girlfriend Ayesha Fuentes<br />
’03 moved to Santa Monica in<br />
September. Ayesha is a graduate<br />
student, and Mike continues to<br />
work remotely for PG Calc, a<br />
company specializing in planned<br />
giving software and services.<br />
Mike is loving the year-round<br />
farmers’ markets, restaurants<br />
and hiking so far, and he enjoys<br />
having Meg (Randall) and Eddie<br />
Park ’98 right around the corner.<br />
Austin Chang had a number of<br />
big moves to report, including<br />
his own. The company Austin<br />
founded in 2010 was acquired<br />
by Google in August, and<br />
Austin moved from NYC to San<br />
Francisco to join Google+. Snehal<br />
Patel was a part of Austin’s<br />
company, and he also moved to<br />
SF to join Google. Austin also<br />
reported on Albert Dang’s move<br />
back from Hong Kong to SF,<br />
where he works at Frog Design.<br />
Portland resident Neelay Shah<br />
brought his wife and two kids<br />
to San Francisco to visit Albert<br />
and Austin. A much smallerscale<br />
move happened in the DC<br />
area, where Eric Soskin and his<br />
wife Miran moved from their<br />
apartment into a much larger<br />
suburban house, where they are<br />
looking forward to hosting many<br />
visitors. They’re off to a good<br />
start, having been visited by John<br />
Rivera-Dirks and his wife Sheila<br />
on the weekend they moved in.<br />
Shortly after that, Zack Mully,<br />
Reggie Hall ’98, Haynes Cooney<br />
’00, Liza Murcia ’00 and Joel Iams<br />
’01 dropped by for a housewarming<br />
cookout. Eric had lots of<br />
other <strong>Williams</strong> encounters, too.<br />
He coxed for the <strong>Williams</strong> ’81<br />
eight at the Head of the Charles<br />
in October, and in November he<br />
and Miran went to San Francisco<br />
to visit Will Slocum and his wife<br />
Zoe and son Rory. While there,<br />
they joined Jason Langheier ’00<br />
for the 2011 Painted Turtle charity<br />
benefit. Somehow both Eric<br />
and Will found clothes that fit<br />
in Jason’s closet. Eric also made<br />
an appearance at the Palo Alto<br />
telecast of the <strong>Williams</strong>-Amherst<br />
game, where he got to hang out<br />
with Leigh Winter Martin.<br />
There may be more moves<br />
coming soon, as several<br />
classmates are finishing current<br />
work and looking for new<br />
opportunities. Cleveland resident<br />
Christina <strong>Williams</strong> is halfway<br />
through her trauma/surgical<br />
care fellowship, and she reports<br />
that she is finally searching for a<br />
“real” job. Astrophysicist Laura<br />
Brenneman is on the academic<br />
job hunt and finding positions in<br />
short supply. She has managed<br />
to build her résumé by giving a<br />
few lectures at <strong>Williams</strong> at the<br />
invitation of Prof. Jay Pasachoff.<br />
Laura reports that the alumnae<br />
soccer game this year was<br />
enjoyed by all participants, and<br />
she’s enjoyed the opportunity<br />
to pick up <strong>Williams</strong> gear for her<br />
son Luke. Both Laura and her<br />
partner Kathy have been traveling<br />
too much for work, but they<br />
really enjoy their downtime at<br />
home with Luke. All of Laura’s<br />
athletic activities have caught<br />
up with her; she’ll miss most of<br />
<strong>2012</strong> recovering from Tommy<br />
John surgery. Environmental<br />
engineer Andrew Henderson is<br />
also on the academic job hunt.<br />
He managed to schedule a great<br />
trip from Ann Arbor to the East<br />
Coast in the fall; he visited with<br />
Nilesh Kansagra in New Jersey,<br />
staying long enough to compete<br />
in a Tough Mudder race. Andrew<br />
then presented at a conference in<br />
Boston for a week, before spending<br />
the weekend visiting with me,<br />
Julie Rusczek and our son Jasper.<br />
Julie and Jasper recently met up<br />
with Becky Logue-Conroy, her<br />
husband Chris Conroy and their<br />
twins Maeve and Meiris at the<br />
Curious George exhibit at the<br />
Norman Rockwell Museum in<br />
Stockbridge, Mass. Becky earned<br />
her master’s in social work in<br />
August, and she has enjoyed time<br />
“between careers” with her family.<br />
Chris, a baseball umpire, is<br />
home for the winter, and they’re<br />
having lots of fun together<br />
as a family. They went to the<br />
Princeton, N.J., tree lighting ceremony<br />
with Anazette (<strong>Williams</strong>)<br />
Ray and her daughter Addison,<br />
and they drove by Emily Eakin’s<br />
very well-decorated house. Becky<br />
drew a nice comparison between<br />
Emily’s decorations and those<br />
of Clark Griswold. Anazette<br />
has also seen Rebecca (Krause)<br />
Missonis a few times, including<br />
during the <strong>Williams</strong>-Amherst<br />
telecast, also attended by Kyra<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> ’98, and at Rebecca’s<br />
Christmas party. Rebecca lives<br />
and teaches history at The<br />
George School.<br />
Some of you have been all over<br />
the world visiting classmates.<br />
Roxann (Smerechniak) Blasz<br />
n 1998–99<br />
headed to Europe for work, and<br />
she managed to meet up with<br />
Jenny (Walsh) Singer in London.<br />
During their visit, they also<br />
connected with Leticia Smith-<br />
Evans by phone, and they shut<br />
the place down while catching<br />
up over dinner and drinks. Jen<br />
Hurley and her family traveled<br />
to Oaxaca, Mexico, in early<br />
November, where they met up<br />
with Sarah Connolly ’00 and her<br />
husband and baby daughter at<br />
the wedding of their mutual high<br />
school friend, Leslie Anderson,<br />
to Simon Maloy ’03. Jen and her<br />
family are doing well in Butte,<br />
Mont., where their grocery store<br />
is starting to make a name for<br />
itself. When she’s not chasing<br />
after her two kids or working on<br />
the family businesses or exploring<br />
the outdoors, Jen still dabbles<br />
as a part-time appellate defender.<br />
Rich von Bargen and his wife<br />
Suela ’00 took a trip to Arizona<br />
in November to visit with<br />
Aram Maradian ’97 and Tyson<br />
Matsumoto, who was in from<br />
LA. They all watched the telecast<br />
together, among other activities.<br />
Rich and Suela also traveled<br />
to New Orleans for an <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
Fund Vice Chairs meeting and<br />
enjoyed some great jazz on a<br />
tour led by Tom Piazza ’76. Liz<br />
Claflin Wyderko brought her family<br />
to Portland for her brother’s<br />
wedding. While there, she got to<br />
catch up with Fran Monga and<br />
Jon Baldivieso and their kids. Liz<br />
learned an unfortunate lesson<br />
about mixing stomach flu, air<br />
travel and toddlers. Liz continues<br />
to work as a dentist, and she<br />
loves her role as mom to Zach<br />
and Leah.<br />
Last word this time around<br />
goes to Dan Nehmad, who<br />
continues his impressive recovery<br />
from a massive car accident 10<br />
years ago in Moscow. Dan has<br />
been tutoring a woman from<br />
Siberia in English, working as<br />
a writing tutor at Rutgers and<br />
working at a Wegmans grocery<br />
store. Dan is making tremendous<br />
progress and hoping to be able<br />
to continue on to some sort of<br />
graduate work, in a field to be<br />
determined.<br />
It’s a busy time for the Class of<br />
’99; stay well, and keep the news<br />
coming.<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y hear from you! Send news to<br />
our class secretary is waiting to<br />
your secretary at the address at the<br />
top of your class notes column.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 93
CLASS NOTES<br />
2000<br />
Jon Pearson<br />
129 Franklin St., Apt. 218<br />
Cambridge, MA 02139<br />
2000secretary@williams.edu<br />
Despite the fact that you’re<br />
likely reading this in early spring,<br />
I’m going to start this edition by<br />
wishing all of you a Happy New<br />
Year, because as I type this up on<br />
a cold day in January it still very<br />
much feels like the new year to<br />
me. One of my resolutions this<br />
year is to start submitting my<br />
notes on time (the editors will<br />
believe it when they see it), so<br />
let’s get on with the show:<br />
Steve Kim and his wife Susie<br />
moved to Atlanta in summer<br />
2010 and are enjoying the<br />
Southern life. He’s in practice as<br />
an orthopedic surgeon and finds<br />
it very gratifying. He is also, by<br />
the way, extremely generous<br />
about giving medical advice to<br />
friends on request. Steve and<br />
Susie are the proud parents of a<br />
beautiful little girl, Brynn Susanne<br />
Kim, born June 28, 2011. Steve<br />
says, “She’s definitely Daddy’s<br />
little girl, and life has definitely<br />
not been the same since.”<br />
Melissa (Vecchio) ’01 and Don<br />
Wood welcomed Tyler Franklin<br />
Wood on Aug. 9, 2011. Vitals on<br />
Tyler: 7 pounds, 7 ounces and,<br />
according to his dad, very smiley<br />
and pleasant. As luck would have<br />
it, Tyler shares the same birthday<br />
as his big brother Cameron; the<br />
birthday parties will be wild<br />
affairs. On the day he wrote his<br />
update, Don had Robert and Jess<br />
Adamo ’01 over to watch the<br />
Giants game. Don continues to<br />
work at Campbell’s Soup and<br />
was eagerly anticipating a brand<br />
switch to V8 Splash and some<br />
work on the company’s Hispanic<br />
beverage efforts.<br />
Will Darrin and his wife Tracy<br />
made a lot of big changes last<br />
year. First and foremost was the<br />
birth of their first child, daughter<br />
Autumn Marie, born right on<br />
her due date of Nov. 7. I was<br />
fortunate enough to visit Autumn<br />
in the hospital a day later and can<br />
attest that, despite looking very<br />
much like her father, the child is<br />
beautiful. The second big change<br />
for the Darrins was their move<br />
from Boston to Marblehead,<br />
Mass., last summer. They took<br />
advantage of their new abode by<br />
hosting Matt Levy, Anna Frantz,<br />
Steve Roman, Becky Iwantsch and<br />
me for a delightful New Year’s<br />
Eve soiree.<br />
If you’re not friends with Torie<br />
Gorges on Facebook, you’re<br />
94 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
missing one of the funniest,<br />
most honest accounts out there<br />
of what it’s like to be the parent<br />
of young twins. Torie, Todd,<br />
Andrew and Molly made a big<br />
move cross-country in October;<br />
they are now living in Northern<br />
Virginia, just a bit outside of<br />
DC. Torie works with SRI as an<br />
education researcher. “Things<br />
are going well in our new<br />
home, and we’re getting used to<br />
winter again after many years<br />
in California. I do not, for the<br />
record, highly recommend moving<br />
with one-and-a-half year-old<br />
twins, but I DO recommend<br />
the fantastic cooking of our<br />
new sort-of neighbor, Cristina<br />
Santiestevan, who kept us fed<br />
for a week while we awaited the<br />
arrival of our moving truck.” If<br />
you live in the area, Torie would<br />
love to get together with you.<br />
Jennifer Kingsley started working<br />
at Johns Hopkins University<br />
in a new academic program<br />
called Museums and Society.<br />
She assures us that “if it’s not<br />
obvious to you what that means,<br />
you’re not alone—defining how<br />
we are not really museum studies<br />
is about a quarter of my job.”<br />
Working in Baltimore means<br />
that Jen finally gets to live with<br />
her husband after three years<br />
of bouncing from university to<br />
university. She adds: “Two-body<br />
problem, I am glad to see the<br />
back of you at least for the next<br />
three years, ’til the grant runs<br />
out...”<br />
Raph Rosen knows what his<br />
class secretary likes: “I just saw<br />
a cool ferromagnetic sculpture<br />
at the New York Hall of<br />
Science. I thought that was pretty<br />
noteworthy.” Dan Mason takes a<br />
page from Raph’s book with his<br />
update: “Nothing’s really new<br />
except that we bought a minivan,<br />
which we call the Silver Bullet.<br />
The irony is not lost on us.”<br />
At the time of this writing, Paul<br />
and Allison (Jacobs) Friedmann<br />
and their daughter Maya had<br />
just returned from a holiday trip<br />
to Philadelphia to see family.<br />
While they were there, Paul spent<br />
some time with JA Anne Pitts<br />
Londergan ’98 and her husband<br />
Casey Londergan ’97 and their<br />
two kids. Anne asked after former<br />
Sage A-ers and was curious<br />
how everyone was doing. The<br />
Friedmanns see my former colleague<br />
Andrew Cloutier as well as<br />
Andrew Speck and Emily Simpson<br />
Speck fairly regularly. Paul<br />
writes, “Clouts and I recently ate<br />
an absurd amount of junk food<br />
at Five Guys, where I shamefully<br />
must say I was the worse<br />
imbiber.” On occasion, Allison<br />
and Paul also get to see Lauren<br />
Krisko Sweatman and her brood,<br />
and the couple continues to work<br />
hard teaching at Brooke Charter<br />
School in Roslindale, Mass., and<br />
tell me that the excellent results<br />
their kids have posted over the<br />
past few years is the payoff for a<br />
lot of hard work.<br />
Lauren (Siegel) Applebaum<br />
wishes you all a Happy New<br />
Year, and what a happy new year<br />
it is for her, with son Micah Zev<br />
having arrived on Dec. 22. As I<br />
read Lauren’s email, I thought<br />
to myself that I’ve loved writing<br />
class notes for almost a decade<br />
because of stuff like this: “We are<br />
all doing really well, including<br />
big sister Liora. But does anyone<br />
actually admit it if their older kid<br />
is being a pill about it?” She adds<br />
that the family is enjoying life in<br />
Santa Monica. Mike Hickey wrote<br />
about the arrival of his daughter,<br />
Rory, news of which appeared<br />
in the last class notes. I mention<br />
it again because, well, why not,<br />
and also because Mike was<br />
kind enough this time to attach<br />
a picture of the little one, who<br />
is about as cute as they come.<br />
Wrapping up the baby announcements<br />
this time are Phil Groth<br />
and Abbey Eisenhower ’01, who<br />
welcomed Henry Eisenhower<br />
Groth into the world on Oct. 3.<br />
Elise (Estes) Morgan had a<br />
“wonderful” dinner over the<br />
holidays with Becca Parkinson<br />
and Ann Brophy. Becca is the<br />
godmother of Elise’s daughter<br />
Emily, and Ann is the godmother<br />
of her son Erik. This reminds me<br />
that none of my <strong>Williams</strong> friends<br />
have yet trusted me with godparenting<br />
responsibilities, which<br />
speaks to the wisdom of our<br />
classmates. Little Emily enjoyed<br />
a taste of skiing at Sugarloaf over<br />
the holidays, “especially riding<br />
the chair lift.” Elise also revealed<br />
an exciting upcoming MLE that<br />
I cannot mention if I wish to<br />
avoid the considerable wrath of<br />
my humorless, MLE-embargoing<br />
editors. Whom I love. They’re<br />
the best. Seriously.<br />
Ruko Takeuchi Senseney has<br />
taken advantage of social media<br />
to reconnect with some former<br />
classmates. Facebook allowed<br />
her to reach out to friends in<br />
San Francisco when she visited<br />
with her two-year-old son Tyson,<br />
which resulted in a long brunch<br />
with Malana Willis and Sunshine<br />
Wu ’99. LinkedIn helped Ruko<br />
reconnect with her freshman-year<br />
roommate Molly (Cummins) Scott,<br />
and they managed to exchange<br />
holiday cards this year. “So nice
to get back in touch with these<br />
friends,” Ruko writes. Also, after<br />
having three kids, Ruko plans to<br />
pursue an MBA this year.<br />
Mya Fisher is a wonderfully<br />
thorough updater. She reports<br />
that she is in her final year of<br />
grad school at University of<br />
Wisconsin-Madison and is<br />
spending the year working in the<br />
Office of International Education<br />
at Beloit <strong>College</strong> while writing<br />
her dissertation. She made<br />
it back to NYC this fall after<br />
a three-year absence to see the<br />
production Step Show, written<br />
and produced by our classmate<br />
Maxine Lyle, at the New York<br />
Musical Theater Festival. Over<br />
Thanksgiving, she met up with<br />
her former summer science tutor<br />
Krystal <strong>Williams</strong> ’96 (who was<br />
newly returned from hiking the<br />
Appalachian Trail in its entirety)<br />
for a 10-state, six-day road trip<br />
beginning in the Quad Cities.<br />
“A cell phone left in a Kentucky<br />
hotel room, lots of songs from<br />
musicals and favorite films,<br />
winding roads of West Virginia,<br />
the Bossypants audiobook read<br />
by Tina Fey, driving by real cotton<br />
fields in Georgia and random<br />
stops in Veedersburg, Ind., made<br />
for an adventure worthy of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> folks.”<br />
Mya spent New Year’s Eve at<br />
the home of Sam Reed, “who<br />
hosted a celebration complete<br />
with Sam’s original tasty food<br />
creations and a music soundtrack<br />
worthy of a Rice House party!”<br />
Also in attendance were Maxine<br />
Lyle, Susan Asiyambi ’01 and<br />
Vanessa Alvarez. Sam is back<br />
in the DC area after receiving<br />
a fellowship to spend the<br />
summer studying Spanish out<br />
in California and taking a few<br />
months off to work on various<br />
writing projects. Maxine came<br />
down from New Jersey, recently<br />
returned from a three-week<br />
collaborative choreography<br />
and drill workshop in Ireland<br />
with Soul Steps, the States’ first<br />
professional Step company,<br />
which she founded. Vanessa<br />
was enjoying a holiday break<br />
from her work as a medical<br />
resident in New York. After the<br />
New Year, Mya returned to the<br />
Midwest and made her way up<br />
to the Twin Cities, where she<br />
took in the Japan Pop exhibit at<br />
the Minneapolis Museum of Art<br />
and spent a few days catching up<br />
with Beth McCray ’98.<br />
Taking us home this time is<br />
Steve Roman, who, as you may<br />
recall, only submits his updates<br />
in bulleted lists. Since <strong>Williams</strong><br />
People does not, as far as I know,<br />
print bulleted lists, this means<br />
I typically have to turn Steve’s<br />
PowerPoint-style “writing” into<br />
actual prose. Not this time, however.<br />
For your enjoyment, I leave<br />
you with Steve’s list, edited only<br />
to remove the bullets and add<br />
periods: “Gearing up for another<br />
marathon with Drew Sutton<br />
(LA Marathon in March <strong>2012</strong>).<br />
Visited New York with Becky<br />
Iwantsch. Spent New Year’s<br />
Eve with great friends, Matt<br />
and Anna, our esteemed class<br />
secretary and Will and Tracy<br />
(with their beautiful daughter<br />
Autumn). I’m happily surprised<br />
that I was able to get Autumn<br />
to fall asleep. Visited with Brad<br />
Geddes and other friends on<br />
New Year’s Day. Brad is enjoying<br />
his new home and had a very<br />
good Christmas with the family.<br />
Also, on this visit I realized how<br />
much I missed DD. I made sure<br />
I had enough Boston Creme<br />
doughnuts to hold me for at least<br />
half the year. Six, I think. MLE<br />
planning is ongoing, and I find<br />
myself looking for more tastings<br />
to enjoy. Think I can extend the<br />
final OK just to squeeze in a few<br />
more?”<br />
2001<br />
Liana Thompson<br />
135 Pleasant St.<br />
Richmond, ME 04357<br />
2001secretary@williams.edu<br />
The lag between submitting<br />
notes and reading them in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People is striking to me<br />
today. I’m sitting here in Maine<br />
watching the snow fall as I write,<br />
but I also know that by the time<br />
this column is published there<br />
will probably be crocuses coming<br />
up. Happy spring!<br />
Nifer (Knight) Hoehn wrote<br />
in for the first time with news<br />
of her marriage to Ramsey<br />
Hoehn on May 14 of last year<br />
in Waitsfield, Vt. Nifer’s sister<br />
Heidi (Knight) Brackenridge ’86,<br />
her brother Chip Knight ’08 and<br />
her sister-in-law Marina (Gisquet)<br />
Knight ’99 were all in the wedding<br />
party. Also in attendance at<br />
the wedding were her brother-inlaw<br />
Alec Brackenridge ’85, Heidi<br />
and Alec’s daughter Lexie, who’s<br />
been accepted into <strong>Williams</strong>’<br />
class of 2016, and Kate (Flynn)<br />
Grant and Tom Grant, both ’00.<br />
Erin Troy married Ming Tung<br />
on Oct. 1 in Boston. Erin<br />
reports that she brought Ming<br />
up to <strong>Williams</strong> for the biology<br />
research reunion, and everyone’s<br />
first question was if he was a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> grad. (He’s not.)<br />
n 2000–01<br />
Moving from weddings to<br />
babies, Mike Schloat and his wife<br />
welcomed Macrae Ross Schloat<br />
on Sept. 22. Mike reports that<br />
Macrae had a great first three<br />
months getting to know his older<br />
brother Carter and hanging out<br />
quite a bit with Katie (Bishop)<br />
Calhoun’s ’00 three kids. (Mike<br />
and Katie are both at Deerfield.)<br />
In October Julia Goren<br />
ventured from her home in<br />
the Adirondacks, where she<br />
coordinates an alpine stewardship<br />
program, back to the Purple<br />
Valley to visit Elena Traister, her<br />
husband and the newest member<br />
of Elena’s family, Solomon Davis<br />
Buddington. Julia reports that<br />
Sol is a beautiful, healthy boy<br />
who is already showing his musical<br />
inclination, and that Elena is<br />
teaching environmental studies at<br />
Mass <strong>College</strong> of Liberal Arts.<br />
Allyson Rothberg and her husband<br />
welcomed their first child,<br />
Noa Abigail Gelbord, on Nov.<br />
20. Just two days later, Sarah<br />
Rutledge-Crump and her husband<br />
had their second child, Louisa<br />
Lucia Crump, on Nov. 22. Sarah<br />
reports that newborns are significantly<br />
easier than 2-year-olds,<br />
but that their son Henry is being<br />
an excellent big brother. Sarah<br />
also shared the news that Kathryn<br />
Dingman Boger welcomed a son,<br />
Brady Dingman Boger, on Oct.<br />
24.<br />
Alana Belfield Levine and her<br />
husband welcomed their second<br />
child, son Noah Alexander, on<br />
Dec. 19. Their daughter Hannah<br />
is now 2. Noah (and family) have<br />
had visits from Phoebe Geer,<br />
Matt Speiser and Seth Earn as<br />
well as lots of long-distance love<br />
and support from Sara Richland,<br />
Melissa (Vecchio) Wood and Don<br />
Wood ’00, and Alana notes that<br />
they are very, very happy.<br />
We have several classmates<br />
who have been moving around<br />
for jobs recently. One is Elly<br />
(Spensley) Moriarty, who also<br />
wrote in for the first time. She<br />
finished her PhD in archaeology<br />
at Boston University in<br />
December, and is now living in<br />
Vermont, where she is coaching<br />
high school Nordic skiing<br />
and teaching a class at the local<br />
community college this semester.<br />
“Life is good!” Elly says.<br />
Also in the academic realm,<br />
Elizabeth Hoover recently<br />
accepted a tenure track job at<br />
Brown University. She has been<br />
at Brown since last August as a<br />
visiting assistant professor and<br />
is excited about the switch to<br />
tenure-track. Her appointment is<br />
at Brown’s Center for the Study<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 95
CLASS NOTES<br />
of Race and Ethnicity in America<br />
(CSREA), and she is teaching<br />
courses in American Indian studies<br />
for the CSREA’s ethnic studies<br />
concentration as well as for the<br />
Department of American Studies.<br />
Ellen Bognar moved back to<br />
Charlottesville after finishing<br />
her clerkship in Miami and is<br />
now working at a law firm in<br />
Lynchburg, Va. Brian Connors has<br />
moved to Detroit and is working<br />
for a nonprofit doing community<br />
development in southwest<br />
Detroit.<br />
Carissa Carter has moved from<br />
Hong Kong to San Francisco.<br />
One of the new projects in her<br />
life is Scree Magazine, www.<br />
screemagazine.com, a new crossdisciplinary<br />
magazine for which<br />
she is the creative director. As<br />
I was working on these notes,<br />
I learned that she is spending<br />
January in <strong>Williams</strong>town, teaching<br />
a Winter Study course on<br />
design.<br />
Julia (Cianfarini) Schmidt is<br />
still in DC, where she works<br />
for a law firm and keeps busy<br />
with house renovations in her<br />
non-working hours. She is happily<br />
now seeing more of two of<br />
her freshman year entry-mates:<br />
Kate Figge, who moved back to<br />
DC last fall, and Beth Friedman,<br />
who’s now living outside<br />
Baltimore. Julia also runs into<br />
Matt Wessler periodically, as he<br />
lives just a few minutes away.<br />
Verena Arnabal and her family<br />
visited Roshni (David) Guerry in<br />
Delaware, where Roshni moved<br />
to start a new job. Verena says<br />
that her daughter Maya and<br />
Roshni’s son Liam, both three,<br />
had a lot of fun playing together<br />
and tearing it up at the Please<br />
Touch Museum in Philadelphia.<br />
Todd Swanson Merkens wrote<br />
while waiting to be rescued by<br />
a tow truck after the exhaust<br />
system on his car dropped out.<br />
Other than car trouble, he said<br />
that he is doing well and is<br />
continually amazed watching his<br />
daughter, Anja, grow up. Anja is<br />
now (in January) 15 months old,<br />
and Todd says that every day<br />
is something new. On the work<br />
front, he’s still doing toll system<br />
planning and design work in the<br />
96 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Seattle area. He’s hoping to get<br />
into the snow a few more times<br />
this winter.<br />
Todd and his family had a<br />
chance to connect with Noel<br />
Johnson and Lauren (Wiener)<br />
Johnson just before the holidays.<br />
Noel and Lauren moved to<br />
Seattle last fall. Todd also saw<br />
Ethan Katz-Bassett just before<br />
Halloween; Todd said that it<br />
sounds like Ethan is nearing the<br />
end of his PhD and had some<br />
exciting work and ski plans<br />
coming up.<br />
EPHCOMPLISHMENT<br />
The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, founded in 2003 by<br />
Jeremy Faust ’01, received a 2011 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for<br />
Adventurous Programming. Faust, a medical student at the Mount Sinai<br />
School of Medicine in NYC, continues to serve as director of the chorale.<br />
Judd Greenstein shared a<br />
happy New Year’s with a bunch<br />
of Ephs and their partners,<br />
including Todd Rogers, Matt<br />
Wessler, Matt Atwood, Jackie<br />
Stein ’00, Morgan Barth ’02<br />
and Deidre Fogg ’03. Judd is<br />
still living in Brooklyn but is<br />
plotting a dual-residency move<br />
to split time between New York<br />
and Massachusetts. His music<br />
will be all over the country this<br />
spring, including a big orchestral<br />
premiere in Minneapolis this<br />
March, a multimedia installation<br />
and performance in Scottsdale,<br />
Ariz., this June, and New York<br />
performances in May and June.<br />
Drop him a line if you’re in any<br />
of those places—he’d love to see<br />
you!<br />
Sharmistha Ray’s solo debut<br />
exhibition of paintings, “Hidden<br />
Geographies,” was on display<br />
at Galerie Mirchandani<br />
and Steinruecke in Mumbai<br />
from mid-January to mid-<br />
February. Vogue India featured<br />
Sharmistha’s exhibition as a highlight<br />
of the month in its January<br />
<strong>2012</strong> issue; you can read the<br />
article/interview at Sharmistha’s<br />
website, www.sharmistharay.net,<br />
under “news.”<br />
Michael Cooper’s musical<br />
Sunfish received its world<br />
premiere in February 2011 at<br />
the Stoneham Theatre outside<br />
of Boston, and as I was writing<br />
this column I saw that Sunfish<br />
won Best Musical at a Medium<br />
Theater in Broadway World’s<br />
2011 Boston Theater Awards.<br />
Michael also contributed lyrics to<br />
the musical It Shoulda Been You<br />
(starring Tyne Daly and directed<br />
by Fraiser’s David Hyde Pierce),<br />
which had a successful run at the<br />
George Street Playhouse in New<br />
Jersey last October. Outside of<br />
the theater, Michael reports that<br />
he has moved into a beautiful<br />
new apartment in NYC and<br />
continues to flood Facebook with<br />
status updates.<br />
After being her husband’s first<br />
reader and supporter for the<br />
past 10 years, Tami Thompson<br />
Wood was very excited to see<br />
his debut novel published in<br />
2011 (No Hero, by Jonathan<br />
Wood). It was also a momentous<br />
year because Tami’s son Charlie<br />
started kindergarten and her<br />
daughter Emma began nursery<br />
school. Tami is still teaching family<br />
programs at the Metropolitan<br />
Museum of Art (where she’s now<br />
been for eight years), and she<br />
enjoyed bringing Charlie along<br />
to her programs this year.<br />
Last fall Tami and her family<br />
went into NYC for a weekend,<br />
where they had a picnic<br />
in Central Park with Noga<br />
(Chlamtac) Minsky and her baby<br />
Elinor and spent a morning<br />
at the Manhattan Children’s<br />
Museum with Lia (Amakawa)<br />
Morrison and her toddler Ian.<br />
Tami also got a chance to catch<br />
up with Allyson Rothberg and<br />
Lisa Libicki over lunch on the<br />
Upper West Side.<br />
Elizabeth (Pulbratek) Randisi<br />
and her husband became small<br />
business owners in 2011,<br />
purchasing the boutique estate<br />
planning law firm Weinstein &<br />
Randisi. Elizabeth’s sons (4 and<br />
1 ½) are now old enough that<br />
she can unwind with a drink<br />
after a long day of figuring out<br />
small business ownership details<br />
like payroll taxes. She’s also<br />
working on a memoir-writing<br />
project while her husband works<br />
on developing a swampy piece<br />
of woodlands for their someday<br />
dream house.<br />
Fumi Tosu is still based in NYC<br />
and is keeping busy running the<br />
U.S. office of Table For Two<br />
(TFT), a Japanese nonprofit<br />
that aims to simultaneously<br />
address the issues of malnutrition<br />
in developing countries and<br />
obesity in the developed world.<br />
TFT serves healthy, low-calorie<br />
meals at restaurants, universities<br />
and corporate cafeterias, and a<br />
portion of the proceeds from the<br />
food sales go to school meals<br />
programs in Ethiopia, Rwanda,<br />
Uganda and South Africa. If<br />
you’re curious to learn more<br />
about the program, see http://bit.<br />
ly/zCBMrV.<br />
Jeremy Faust is in his last<br />
semester of medical school at
Mount Sinai in NYC and is<br />
going into emergency medicine.<br />
He is also still active in the music<br />
world; the choral ensemble he<br />
co-founded in San Francisco<br />
(International Orange Chorale<br />
of San Francisco) won the 2011<br />
ASCAP/Chorus America Award<br />
for commitment to new music.<br />
The chorale remains a locus<br />
of Eph networking for Jeremy.<br />
Kenric Taylor ’00 sings in the<br />
group and runs its public face<br />
(press and web). Following the<br />
award, Jeremy decided to commission<br />
Dan Kohane ’12, a young<br />
composer currently studying at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>, to write a new piece<br />
for the ensemble.<br />
Jeremy sees Ryan McNaughton<br />
for almost weekly karaoke<br />
sessions in the East Village and<br />
reports that Ryan recently took<br />
a job as an attorney at the NYC<br />
firm Paul Weiss. Jeremy also<br />
saw Adrienne Wiley and Grayson<br />
Myers recently in Seattle and<br />
met their son Nathaniel, whom<br />
Jeremy reports is charming.<br />
Sara (Grote) Custer is working<br />
as a postdoctoral fellow at the<br />
Indiana University School of<br />
Medicine, where she is studying<br />
spinal muscular atrophy and also<br />
just began a new collaborative<br />
project with Loyola University.<br />
Sara, her husband and her two<br />
girls enjoyed an extended holiday<br />
vacation with lots of family.<br />
Zuzana Tothova wrote in just<br />
hours after getting back to<br />
Boston from a trip home. She<br />
celebrated the New Year in the<br />
mountains of Slovakia at her<br />
family’s ski cabin. I also know<br />
that Zuzana bought her own<br />
little apartment in Brookline last<br />
summer and is enjoying life as an<br />
oncology fellow (even though she<br />
doesn’t do as much dancing as<br />
she used to).<br />
Kivlina (Shepherd) Block, her<br />
husband and their three kids<br />
rang in the New Year with<br />
fondue and an early bedtime.<br />
Kivlina looked forward to taking<br />
a vacation in February with just<br />
her husband.<br />
Seth Brown wrote his update<br />
using only four letter words,<br />
a linguistic challenge he calls<br />
“Game With Four.” If anyone is<br />
interested in trying to correspond<br />
in sentences comprised of words<br />
with only four letters, drop him<br />
a line.<br />
Annaliis (Abrego) Canty and her<br />
husband Scott Canty ’98 are still<br />
living outside DC. They have<br />
three boys and celebrated their<br />
youngest son’s first birthday in<br />
December; their older sons are 5<br />
and almost 4. With a 5-year-old<br />
in the house, they’re in the midst<br />
of applications for kindergarden,<br />
which Annaliis is finding a<br />
very weird concept, especially<br />
given the cost of tuition at<br />
some DC-area schools. Annaliis<br />
remains thankful for Facebook,<br />
which she says allowed her to<br />
reconnect with some classmates<br />
after our reunion last year.<br />
As for me, I’m slowly settling<br />
into life in small-town Maine.<br />
My husband and I have now<br />
been in our house for a year and<br />
have managed to begin far more<br />
house projects than we have<br />
completed. (I am learning that<br />
DIY house projects always take<br />
longer than I think they will.) I<br />
exchanged several emails with<br />
Charis Anderson in December,<br />
and we were in agreement that<br />
it would be really nice to have<br />
an entry again as a way to meet<br />
people now that we’re scattered<br />
all over the country and world.<br />
Short of that, I’ve joined a writing<br />
group to try to meet some<br />
people and to keep the creative<br />
side of my brain active; Charis<br />
has taken a different tactic on<br />
getting involved in the community<br />
and is in her first season<br />
of coaching the New Bedford<br />
(Mass.) YMCA’s swim team. It’s<br />
also great to hear what you’re<br />
all up to—makes me feel more<br />
socially connected than I actually<br />
am. Keep the updates coming in!<br />
2002<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Holly Kohler<br />
541 Main St., Apt. 4<br />
Melrose, MA 01276<br />
2002secretary@williams.edu<br />
What’s that you say? You’ve<br />
been feeling nostalgic for<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> in general and the<br />
Berkshire Quad in particular?<br />
Dear classmates, you are in luck.<br />
Preparations for reunion <strong>2012</strong><br />
are well under way and the halls<br />
of Prospect, Fitch and Currier are<br />
gearing up to welcome us back<br />
in all of our (slightly more aged)<br />
glory during the weekend of June<br />
7-10. A decade is the sort of time<br />
chunk really worth celebrating,<br />
and I look forward to seeing<br />
many of you there!<br />
Amanda Gramse is so determined<br />
to make it to our 10th<br />
that she specifically scheduled her<br />
June <strong>2012</strong> nuptials around the<br />
event. Amanda got engaged to<br />
her boyfriend of seven years on<br />
a cloudy Cape Cod beach over<br />
Memorial Day weekend and is<br />
n 2001–02<br />
looking forward to having her<br />
wedding on her parents’ front<br />
lawn in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.<br />
Annie Weiss married Peter<br />
Cook on Martha’s Vineyard over<br />
Labor Day weekend in a ceremony<br />
attended by Sarah Barger<br />
Ranney, Hilary Hackmann, Brooke<br />
Ray Smith, Tenaya Plowman<br />
Kolar, Susan Fulmer and Rich<br />
Dunn. Annie is currently living in<br />
New Orleans, where she works<br />
as a clinical psychologist at Sci<br />
Academy, a charter high school.<br />
Sarah and her husband Mike<br />
have since had another cause for<br />
celebration, welcoming their son<br />
Jackson William Ranney into the<br />
world on Nov. 10—just one day<br />
after his mom’s birthday. “He’s a<br />
character, and we’re loving every<br />
minute getting to know him,”<br />
writes Sarah.<br />
Tenaya, her husband Nathan<br />
Kolar ’05 and their 2-year-old son<br />
Dash moved to the Sun Valley<br />
area in Idaho last September.<br />
“Though we couldn’t be happier<br />
up here in our mountain home,”<br />
reports Tenaya, “the move has<br />
taken us from a thriving Ephtropolis<br />
(the Bay Area) to an<br />
area slightly less populated by<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alums.”<br />
Conversely, Sarah Philipp<br />
is now living much closer to<br />
familiar faces, having returned to<br />
Jacksonville, Fla., in mid-December<br />
after completing her deployment<br />
to Bahrain and Qatar. She<br />
is thrilled to be home and has<br />
“a newfound appreciation for a<br />
nice private bathroom and the<br />
ability to cook [her] own meals.”<br />
On the way home, Sarah spent<br />
10 days visiting her boyfriend<br />
in Dubai, where he is currently<br />
deployed, and at submission<br />
time she was looking forward<br />
to returning for another visit in<br />
March. She is still with the same<br />
P-3 squadron and divides her<br />
working time between them and<br />
the aviation clinic on base.<br />
Big changes are also afoot for<br />
Patrick McCurdy and his wife<br />
Christine, who were joined<br />
by their first child, Thomas<br />
Frederick McCurdy, on Sept. 21.<br />
Will and Afton Johnson Gilyard<br />
’05 welcomed son William Jesse<br />
Gilyard on Sept. 3.<br />
Michelle O’Brien Sisk, her<br />
husband Jarrod and their 2-yearold<br />
daughter Emma increased<br />
their family size on Dec. 16 with<br />
the arrival of Brennan Michael.<br />
In <strong>April</strong> Michelle will begin<br />
“a very part-time” position at<br />
a women’s wellness center in<br />
Manchester, Conn. In addition<br />
to giving monthly lectures on<br />
pre- and perinatal nutrition, she<br />
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CLASS NOTES<br />
will provide one-on-one nutrition<br />
counseling to women.<br />
Stephanie Pirishis has also<br />
added to her brood, welcoming<br />
second daughter Iliana Lucia<br />
Wijpkema on Nov. 25. Last<br />
September Stephanie launched<br />
her own business: poladora.<br />
com aggregates local stores for<br />
wedding registry purposes and<br />
currently represents a dozen<br />
Chicago retailers. While in<br />
NYC last fall she hung out with<br />
Tron Wang and Ame Igharo. In<br />
December Laura Spero dropped<br />
by for a visit and caught<br />
Stephanie up on her latest<br />
Nepalese adventures.<br />
Tron traveled to Asia for work<br />
last spring and shared meals<br />
with Yui Tsao and Heng Cheam<br />
’01 in Hong Kong and Kevin<br />
Hong ’01 in Shanghai. Thanks<br />
to the fortuitous timing of a visit<br />
to Stephanie in Chicago, Tron<br />
managed to avoid “the hurricane<br />
that never was” in NYC. He<br />
hosted a New Year’s Eve party at<br />
his Manhattan apartment, and<br />
Yui stopped by to help usher in<br />
<strong>2012</strong>.<br />
In nearby Brooklyn live Sara<br />
Hausner-Levine, her husband Cam<br />
Clendaniel ’01 and their son Jack.<br />
Jack goes to daycare with Lizzie<br />
Jacobs’ ’01 son Henry, who is<br />
four months older. Writes Sara:<br />
“We like to think of Henry as<br />
Jack’s mentor.”<br />
Brooklyn Borough Hall was<br />
the site of Margaret diZerega’s<br />
marriage to Chiemi Suzuki on<br />
Sept. 2.<br />
Josh Burns married Brittany<br />
Raven last August in San<br />
Francisco. In addition to his dad<br />
John Burns ’70, many ’02ers were<br />
in attendance, including best<br />
man Ben Doob and groomsman<br />
Forrest Wittenmeier. Josh reports<br />
with certitude that “no one held<br />
back on the dance floor at the<br />
reception, myself included.”<br />
Forrest sent in news of Mike<br />
Gross’s December birthday<br />
celebration at Baker Beach in San<br />
Francisco, a “huge crab feed”<br />
attended by 25 people, including<br />
Maggie Clark and her husband<br />
Trevor Babb ’00, Ed Han, Alex<br />
Morrison and Eli Groban. Seven<br />
dogs were also in attendance,<br />
including Mike and his wife Anna<br />
Kneitel’s Newfoundland Lucy.<br />
Charlie and Lida (Ungar) Doret’s<br />
Labrador Hazey is featured in<br />
this year’s Atlanta Dog Squad<br />
calendar. Charlie and Lida volunteer<br />
for the rescue organization,<br />
which is also where they adopted<br />
Hazey. “In less momentous<br />
news,” writes Charlie, he and<br />
Lida met up with Kate Alexander<br />
98 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
and a number of other friends<br />
at last fall’s homecoming, an<br />
occasion that Charlie has never<br />
missed. He was particularly<br />
pleased to be joined by his sister<br />
Leah Doret ’99 this time around.<br />
Over the holidays, Lida and<br />
Charlie drove from Atlanta up to<br />
Massachusetts, where they met<br />
up with Steve Biller, his wife Julie<br />
and their young son Zack and<br />
“talked about being postdocs<br />
and searching for faculty positions.”<br />
They celebrated New<br />
Year’s on Cape Cod with about<br />
a dozen <strong>Williams</strong> grads including<br />
Kate, Jason Carini and Elizabeth<br />
(Moulton) and Darik Velez ’01 and<br />
their children Rigel and River.<br />
Reports Charlie: “I was delighted<br />
to learn that Elizabeth and Darik<br />
have purchased one-way tickets<br />
home from South Africa for this<br />
June, which will end three years<br />
abroad. They’re not quite sure<br />
what their jobs will be when they<br />
return stateside, but I think they<br />
are looking at high school teaching<br />
options in the Northeast.”<br />
Jamin Morrison spent five<br />
weeks in South Africa teaching<br />
and treating villagers as part<br />
of his residency. Brad Nichol<br />
was excited to welcome him<br />
to London during pit stops on<br />
either end of his journey.<br />
Dan Elsea and his partner Yung<br />
marked their civil partnership<br />
with “impromptu, casual proceedings”<br />
on Oct. 15 at Hackney<br />
Town Hall in East London. They<br />
took some friends down to the<br />
pub afterward to celebrate.<br />
Terri O’Brien and Brad Howells<br />
were married on Nov. 12 in<br />
Berkeley, Calif. Topher Goggin<br />
was their officiant “and did,<br />
as expected, an amazing job,<br />
providing a personal and humorous<br />
touch that [they] will never<br />
forget.” Brad Nichol flew in<br />
from London for the occasion,<br />
and also in attendance were<br />
Nathan Cardoos, Dave Glick,<br />
Brian Michener, Derek Ward,<br />
Seth Behrends, Brennan Kelly,<br />
Katie Sharff and her husband<br />
Dan Clayburgh ’01, and Laura<br />
Bothwell.<br />
At submission time, Jessica<br />
Ohly had just returned from a<br />
great weekend in Vermont with<br />
Dave, Seth, Mark Robertson,<br />
Jamin Morrison, Michelle Ruby<br />
and Nicole Theriault ’03. Jessica<br />
wrote: “I continue to enjoy<br />
teaching and am currently training<br />
to run the Boston Marathon<br />
for a small charity, Housing<br />
Families.” A little farther south,<br />
Michael Minnefor is training<br />
to run this year’s New York<br />
Marathon. In December he<br />
started a job at a small law firm<br />
in Manhattan.<br />
Another admirable runner in<br />
our midst is Jess Paar, who wrote<br />
in just hours after competing in<br />
the <strong>2012</strong> Ragnar Florida Keys<br />
relay race. She and 10 friends<br />
ran the 198.5 miles from Miami<br />
to Key West in about 33 hours<br />
as team “I Thought This Was A<br />
5K.” Although no Eph friends<br />
joined Jess’s team, “they did offer<br />
words and texts of support along<br />
the way.”<br />
William Davidson was in Florida<br />
over Christmas and the New<br />
Year, and he met up with Billy<br />
Marino at the Square Grouper in<br />
Jupiter “to watch the Giants dismantle<br />
the Cowboys and clinch<br />
the NFC East Championship.”<br />
Dana Nelson had a big finish of<br />
her own last August, when she<br />
completed her PhD program at<br />
Penn State. She is now working<br />
as a clinical postdoc at the<br />
University of Delaware’s counseling<br />
center.<br />
First-time contributor (editor’s<br />
note: Yay!) Maywa Montenegro<br />
began her PhD in the environmental<br />
science, policy and management<br />
program at Berkeley.<br />
She loves being in California<br />
and is hoping to focus on food<br />
sovereignty and sustainable<br />
agriculture, “ideas that started to<br />
percolate during my last six years<br />
[as] a science journalist in NYC.”<br />
At submission time, Maywa had<br />
just participated in a panel at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> on science writing.<br />
Laura McMillian is in the last<br />
year of her PhD program in<br />
organizational leadership at the<br />
Chicago School of Professional<br />
Psychology and continues to live<br />
in LA. She visited with Stephanie<br />
Pirishis during a residency trip to<br />
Chicago in September 2010 and<br />
passed her competency exam last<br />
October.<br />
Sadaf Ahmad shared a Chicagostyle<br />
deep-dish pizza with<br />
Stephanie and Renee Robinson<br />
last November. Renee, who<br />
works for Women in Film in<br />
Toronto, was visiting graduate<br />
schools for communications policy.<br />
In October Sadaf joined Erika<br />
Beltran ’01 in DC to celebrate the<br />
birthday of Enuma Menkiti ’01.<br />
While in DC she saw Caroline<br />
Fan ’03 and U.S. Secretary of<br />
Education Arne Duncan speak at<br />
a conference on Asian-American<br />
research. Over Halloween Sadaf<br />
and Erika attended a Mexican<br />
Ballet Folklorico performance in<br />
honor of Dia de los Muertos.<br />
Morgan Barth traveled to DC<br />
to visit Elizabeth Hole Knake and<br />
her daughter Charlotte and also
made a trip out to Portland,<br />
Ore., to see another former<br />
entrymate, Josh Weinstein. He is<br />
hoping to catch up with the rest<br />
of his <strong>Williams</strong> F entry at our<br />
10th Reunion. Last July Morgan<br />
began a new job as the director<br />
of a charter middle school in<br />
Bridgeport, Conn. “After a<br />
three-year hiatus in elementary<br />
school,” he writes, “I love being<br />
back at the middle school level—<br />
reading great novels with young<br />
adults. If you ever find yourself<br />
on Bridgeport’s East Side come<br />
visit Achievement First!”<br />
Farther afield, Noëlle Ho-Lam<br />
wrote in from Hong Kong with<br />
news of President Adam Falk’s<br />
November visit. Over 30 Ephs<br />
attended the reception held at<br />
the Box at IFC, and Noëlle,<br />
her mother and Geraldine Shen<br />
’01 later had tea with President<br />
Falk at Sevva in Central. It was<br />
her first time meeting him, and<br />
Noëlle enjoyed hearing about<br />
his vision for <strong>Williams</strong>. Later in<br />
the month the <strong>Williams</strong> Hong<br />
Kong <strong>Alumni</strong> Association hosted<br />
its own version of Mountain<br />
Day, an occasion led by Russell<br />
Yeh ’79 and followed by brunch<br />
at Parkview. Among those<br />
attending were Jon Isaacs ’00,<br />
Bonnie Lui ’04, Fulton Breen ’03<br />
and Cadence Hardenbergh ’11.<br />
Noëlle writes that while “being a<br />
mother of two and working full<br />
time is not easy, the joy and<br />
laughter the two little ones bring<br />
is indescribable and makes all the<br />
sleepless nights worthwhile.”<br />
Sleepless nights are something<br />
that Alana (Clements) and Stefan<br />
Kaczmarek have likely grown<br />
used to since the arrival of<br />
their son Reiter on July 7. The<br />
Kaczmareks are being aided<br />
in their early “Eph indoctrination”<br />
by Edlyn Smith, a recent<br />
Boston transplant whom they see<br />
frequently. They’ve calculated—<br />
with some horror—that Reiter<br />
will be in the Class of<br />
2033. As Alana justly pointed<br />
out, “this is mind-boggling.”<br />
Stefan completed his PhD in<br />
neurobiology last summer and is<br />
now doing cystic fibrosis research<br />
at a nonprofit lab. Alana is a<br />
pediatric nurse practitioner at<br />
Children’s Hospital in Boston,<br />
where she provides primary care<br />
for kids with complex special<br />
health care needs.<br />
Also in Boston is Andrew<br />
Mitchell, who recently joined a<br />
funk band called The Othership<br />
and enthused: “It’s great to be<br />
playing the trombone again!”<br />
They have several songs up<br />
on YouTube and will also be<br />
playing gigs in the Boston-area<br />
throughout <strong>2012</strong>. Check out the<br />
website for more details: www.<br />
theothership.com.<br />
And that about does it for the<br />
springtime update. I’m excited<br />
to collect much of your news<br />
in person for the next round of<br />
notes, which will include a full<br />
reunion recap. Register now for<br />
the June festivities, and please<br />
seek me out during the weekend<br />
to introduce all your fabulous<br />
new partners and progeny and<br />
other life projects! I’ll be the one<br />
wearing horn-rimmed spectacles<br />
and a bun as I revel in my final<br />
days as class secretary.<br />
2003<br />
Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer<br />
4 Howard St.<br />
Somerville, MA 02144<br />
2003secretary@williams.edu<br />
Ayesha Fuentes wrote in to say<br />
that she is trying not to gloat<br />
about the beautiful weather in<br />
sunny LA, but she’s seen dolphins<br />
five times since moving there last<br />
September with her boyfriend,<br />
Michael Heep ’99. Ayesha is<br />
studying the conservation of<br />
archaeological and ethnographic<br />
materials at the Getty Villa in<br />
Malibu, where, in between very<br />
scientific-seeming projects, she<br />
watches hummingbirds, Monarch<br />
butterflies and red-tailed hawks.<br />
She loves her job; her focus is on<br />
human remains and devotional<br />
objects, and she gets to travel<br />
a lot (Chinchorro mummies in<br />
Chile, wall paintings in Tuscany).<br />
Ayesha loves being in the same<br />
city as Pete Van Steemburg and<br />
Lucas Goodbody and was psyched<br />
to have them over for her thirdannual<br />
cookie decorating party in<br />
December.<br />
Also in LA, Perry Kalmus<br />
met up with Saif Vagh and Hall<br />
O’Donnell for Saif’s birthday on<br />
the hipster side of the city (aka<br />
the East Side). Perry was hosting<br />
four <strong>Williams</strong> seniors as interns<br />
for their winter study. They will<br />
be thrown into the fire at his<br />
tech startup, DrinkCity, as the<br />
company goes through its angel<br />
round of funding. Perry roasted a<br />
wild boar with Marshall Dines at<br />
Marshall’s pad in Venice, Calif.<br />
They then made specialty dishes<br />
using different parts of the boar.<br />
Hitesh Walia is working for<br />
Cisco Systems in the VOIP team.<br />
He is based in the San Jose office.<br />
Kristen Shapiro married Antoine<br />
Griffin in September. Anjuli<br />
Lebowitz was one of Kristen’s<br />
lovely bridesmaids.<br />
n 2002–03<br />
Also married in September were<br />
Alix Davis and Andrew Weiss,<br />
in Lancaster, Pa. A number of<br />
Ephs participated in the wedding,<br />
including Eric Woodward,<br />
who served as the officiant and<br />
led a beautiful and meaningful<br />
ceremony, and Katie Saxon, who<br />
composed a whimsical vocal<br />
and flute arrangement of “The<br />
Rainbow Connection” that she<br />
and Emmy Valet performed. Also<br />
in attendance were Katharine<br />
Baker, Jen Barone, Pippa Charters,<br />
Sarah Nichols and Lindi von<br />
Mutius, who kept the dance floor<br />
lively during the entire event. The<br />
Weisses live in Philadelphia. Alix<br />
is finishing her graduate studies<br />
in art history at U Penn (she is<br />
slated to defend her dissertation<br />
in the spring), and Andrew is a<br />
resident in internal medicine at<br />
the Hospital of the University of<br />
Pennsylvania.<br />
Rounding out the wedding<br />
news, Randi Lewis married<br />
David Flaherty, a fellow graduate<br />
student at the University of<br />
Virginia. They were married<br />
on Oct. 22 in Lexington, Mass.<br />
Members of the Class of ’03<br />
in attendance included Robert<br />
Baldwin, Elizabeth Mygatt and<br />
Betsy Thomas. Anne Lewis ’04<br />
was the maid of honor. David<br />
and Randi live in Charlottesville,<br />
Va., and both hope to finish PhDs<br />
in American history from UVA in<br />
the next year or two.<br />
Brian Katz finished his PhD<br />
(math, from UT Austin) and is<br />
enjoying his job at Augustana<br />
<strong>College</strong> (in the Quad Cities). He<br />
hopes to use his increased flexibility<br />
to start an a cappella group<br />
on campus.<br />
Janet Ho completed the NYC<br />
Marathon for the first time on<br />
Nov. 6 with support and cheers<br />
from Brigitte Teissedre, her husband<br />
Luke Patterson, Linda Lau,<br />
Lisa Marco, Monty Silva, Jiyong<br />
Kim, Kevin Hseuh and Caroline<br />
Fan. Janet wore a “Purple Cow”<br />
sign on the back of her singlet but<br />
didn’t spot any other Ephs on the<br />
course.<br />
Faith Black is still working at<br />
Penguin, editing books under<br />
the Berkley Publishing Group<br />
imprint, handling mainly fiction.<br />
In October she was in<br />
San Francisco to run the Nike<br />
Women’s Half Marathon on<br />
behalf of Team in Training. It was<br />
a really challenging race, but the<br />
views were spectacular and Faith<br />
was happy with her time. She<br />
was cheered on by Liz Chase who<br />
came out to San Francisco for the<br />
occasion. Faith and Liz followed<br />
the half marathon with a wine<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 99
CLASS NOTES<br />
tasting in Napa the following day<br />
with Jen Doleac and Daniel Klasik.<br />
Vivien Shotwell’s novel, Amato<br />
Bene, will be published by<br />
Ballantine Books in 2013 and<br />
translated into four languages.<br />
Renee Dumouchel left the 92nd<br />
Street Y in NYC after five years<br />
to become the associate director<br />
of external affairs for the<br />
Guggenheim Foundation. She is<br />
super excited to start this next<br />
phase of her journey and gets lots<br />
of free passes. If you’re in NYC<br />
and are looking for a cultural<br />
play day, let her know. She also<br />
loves teaching yoga and is putting<br />
together a series of workshops<br />
on the yoga of transformation,<br />
taught in the Phoenix Rising<br />
style. Inspired by her puppeteer<br />
boyfriend, Renee recently joined<br />
an arts collective to create new<br />
works combining dance, poetry<br />
and puppetry. She also got to<br />
ring in the new year with Heather<br />
Brubaker and Zach Yeskel ’04 and<br />
spent time cavorting in NYC<br />
with Debby Chen, waxing philosophical<br />
about holistic health and<br />
French food.<br />
Rob Michelin is a visiting<br />
lecturer at <strong>Williams</strong> in the music<br />
department. He also teaches<br />
in NYC at Arts and Media<br />
Preparatory Academy. Rob is<br />
applying for doctoral candidacy<br />
in cultural anthropology.<br />
As always, our classmates’<br />
families continue to grow.<br />
Graeme Sanderson and his wife<br />
Beth celebrated the birth of their<br />
son Deacon Thomas Sanderson<br />
on Aug. 24. Matt Grunwald stood<br />
vigil at the hospital to welcome<br />
Deacon into the world. Graeme<br />
just completed his MBA at NYU<br />
Stern’s executive program.<br />
Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden had<br />
her second child, Isabel Rose, on<br />
Sept. 14. Anastasia, her husband<br />
James and Isabel’s big brother<br />
Patrick are all smitten.<br />
Bethany (Sayles) Yu and her<br />
husband Jonathan welcomed<br />
their second child on Nov. 25.<br />
Baby Peter joins his big sister Evie<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
W illiams People accepts<br />
photographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
100 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
in exploring Philadelphia, their<br />
new home since the Yus relocated<br />
in July so Jonathan could attend<br />
business school at Wharton.<br />
Tina Howe and her husband<br />
Brian Clites welcomed a son,<br />
Liam James, on Nov. 28. They<br />
were having a wonderful holiday<br />
season with him.<br />
Kimmie and Angus Beal are<br />
settled into Salt Lake City and<br />
had a baby girl, Phoebe, on Dec.<br />
2. Angus loves EM residency.<br />
Kimmie and Angus’ 2-year-old<br />
had his first day on skis, and<br />
they were all looking forward to<br />
Wasatch powder for the rest of<br />
the winter.<br />
Courtney Janney and her husband<br />
Ben welcomed a daughter,<br />
Kairi Noel Janney, on Dec. 20.<br />
Sarah Nichols had a busy year.<br />
She spent the spring semester<br />
teaching at Whitman <strong>College</strong>,<br />
then moved down to Claremont,<br />
Calif., to join her husband. Along<br />
the way she enjoyed meeting<br />
Ephs at the wedding of Chris<br />
Holmes in Chicago in March<br />
and catching up with Lillian<br />
Diaz-Przybyl ’04 and Jesse Dill<br />
’04 after the latter biked from<br />
San Francisco to LA in June for<br />
a fundraiser. In September Sarah<br />
enjoyed seeing many classmates<br />
at Alix Davis’s wedding. Jen<br />
Barone visited Sarah in October<br />
on a whirlwind vacation tour<br />
through California. Sarah is looking<br />
forward to her first Christmas<br />
in a house she shares with her<br />
husband after many years of<br />
alternating between parents<br />
and in-laws. She is currently an<br />
adjunct in the physics departments<br />
of several schools and<br />
hoping that one of them will have<br />
money for a full-time hire soon.<br />
Phil Dimon has returned from<br />
two years in India with the<br />
Foreign Service. He is now in<br />
DC learning Spanish. Later this<br />
year he will head to El Salvador<br />
for two years on his second<br />
assignment.<br />
Nick Nelson and Sarah Klionsky<br />
live in Cambridge, Mass., and<br />
have enjoyed meeting up with Jeff<br />
Garland, Ian Warrington and other<br />
classmates on occasion. Nick and<br />
Sarah had a great time skiing,<br />
sledding, playing in the snow and<br />
eating a lot in Vermont over New<br />
Year’s with Jordan Goldwarg,<br />
Bekah Levine, Malin Pinsky, Kristin<br />
Hunter-Thompson and Liz Mygatt.<br />
They also enjoyed seeing Bethie<br />
Miller over the holidays.<br />
2004<br />
Nicole Eisenman<br />
53 Boerum Place, Apt. 3H<br />
Brooklyn, NY 11201<br />
Cortney Tunis<br />
Box 802<br />
150 The Riverway<br />
Boston, MA 02115<br />
2004secretary@williams.edu<br />
Josh Weisenbeck writes: “My<br />
wife and I had our first child,<br />
Ethan Claxton Weisenbeck, born<br />
Sept, 1, 2011. He’s doing great,<br />
and we’re blessed to have him!”<br />
MJ (Priest) Lanum also had a<br />
baby. Theodore Arthur Lanum<br />
was born on Nov. 17, 2011.<br />
MJ writes, “East 1 seems to be<br />
having a baby boom, with Rob<br />
Follansbee and Ali and Chuck<br />
Abba also having kids this year.<br />
Game on, other entries.”<br />
Shamus Brady is considering<br />
a run for Congress in the<br />
4th district of Massachusetts.<br />
He encourages his classmates<br />
to reach out to him if they are<br />
interested in the campaign.<br />
Chris Ryan married Ellen<br />
Abbott on Aug. 13 in Charlotte,<br />
N.C. They met while attending<br />
business school at Wharton, and<br />
they are now living in Boston.<br />
Chris is working for a midmarket<br />
private equity fund called<br />
Riverside Partners, and Ellen is<br />
working for a consulting firm<br />
called IGS.<br />
Elizabeth Just married Stephen<br />
Dobay ’05 on Oct. 22, at the<br />
Museum of Natural History<br />
in New York City. About 35<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> people attended,<br />
and the Octet sang during the<br />
ceremony and the reception. The<br />
happy couple spent New Year’s<br />
in Puerto Rico with Alex Lees<br />
’03, Jenny Eames ’01, Andrew<br />
Marks ’05, Ellie Schmidt ’06 and<br />
Peter Schmidt ’08.<br />
On Sept. 18, Liz Kaplan married<br />
Dan Gordon, a graduate<br />
of the University of Missouri-<br />
Columbia, in a beautiful<br />
ceremony overlooking the ocean<br />
in Ipswich, Mass. With them to<br />
celebrate were Sarah Godbehere,<br />
Mike Henry, Jen Lazar and Daniel<br />
Shearer.<br />
Jen Lazar and Daniel Shearer<br />
celebrated their first AND<br />
their 10th anniversary this past<br />
December. They’ve been married<br />
for one year and together since<br />
our sophomore year! Jen spent<br />
most of 2011 running the first<br />
year of the Field Academy, a<br />
traveling high school that she is<br />
founding with Heather Foran. Jen
Classmates Kam Shahid ’04 (right) and Charlie Davidson took a photo<br />
with Shahid’s son and Davidson’s godson, Kam Jr., before running the<br />
Manchester Marathon in New Hampshire in November.<br />
and Heather had an unbelievably<br />
awesome time co-teaching<br />
their first group of students<br />
alongside ’04’s Claire Samuel and<br />
Tim Patterson and scheming with<br />
Mike Henry, Maggie McDonald,<br />
Adam Grogg, Dani Lerro ’05,<br />
Brian Burke ’02, Emily Simons,<br />
Elliot Morrison, Sarah Godbehere,<br />
Emily Issacson, Shilpa Duvoor,<br />
Elaine Denny and various others<br />
around the country.<br />
Ally Matteodo has been<br />
enjoying her time back on the<br />
East Coast. She attended the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>/Amherst homecoming<br />
game telecast at J.A. Stats<br />
in the Financial District of<br />
Boston and caught up with Emily<br />
Bloomenthal ’05 and Amanda<br />
Stout. Ally also attended the<br />
annual <strong>Williams</strong> holiday party<br />
at the Black Rose in Boston,<br />
where she caught up with Mark<br />
Orlowski and enjoyed the music<br />
of Darlingside. Since returning<br />
to Boston Ally has several projects<br />
in the works. She currently<br />
stars in the horror series Camp<br />
Halloway as bad girl Torrie and<br />
in the Rhode Island web series<br />
Red Circles as ADA Alexandria<br />
Jacobson. However, Ally is<br />
most excited about garnering<br />
a spot in Fireball Improv, an<br />
improv troupe headed by Daniel<br />
Phoenix that will begin performing<br />
in the Boston area some time<br />
in the early spring.<br />
Charlie Davidson writes: “This<br />
fall, Dave Rackovan hung out for<br />
a few days as he came through<br />
NYC on his way to grad school<br />
in Bologna. The occasional<br />
email and Skype conversation<br />
lets me know he’s surviving in<br />
Italy. I was out in LA for an<br />
art fair at the end of September<br />
and got to catch up with Scott<br />
Goldberg ’02 and Michele Kovacs<br />
’01 as well as my old Willy D<br />
entrymate and former Slippery B<br />
co-denizen Brendan Docherty. I<br />
can’t remember if Doc and I had<br />
burgers this time around, but<br />
it seems like something we do<br />
every time we get together.<br />
“In November, Kam Shahid<br />
and I ran the Manchester (N.H.,<br />
not U.K.) Marathon. We got to<br />
stop by Wellesley on the way<br />
home to see Danny Follansbee,<br />
Rob Follansbee’s brand-new<br />
baby boy. He was about the size<br />
of a football, but judging by his<br />
parents, I imagine he’ll be taller<br />
than most of us in a week or<br />
two. After Thanksgiving I was<br />
down in Miami for Art Basel<br />
again and saw Walker Waugh<br />
’02, who was also working at<br />
the Pulse fair. We ran into each<br />
other again in December at an<br />
awesome Wassaic Project event<br />
in Brooklyn put together by, of<br />
course, Eve Biddle and Bowie<br />
Zunino and attended by Ephs<br />
including Eve’s husband Josh<br />
Frankel ’02 and Lucy Teitler ’05.<br />
I also got to check out Matt<br />
Watson’s most recent work at<br />
the Columbia MFA open studios<br />
and met up with Matt and<br />
Omri Bloch at a Nuru Project<br />
fundraiser. My classmates are<br />
amazing in their ability to make<br />
me feel like I don’t do enough<br />
with my time.<br />
“That said, Jabe Bergeron,<br />
Rob and my brother Will<br />
Davidson ’02 were all once<br />
again a part of the this year’s<br />
annual installment of the Bar<br />
Game Olympiad—an event that<br />
I organize (take that, Eve and<br />
Bowie)—and which saw record<br />
n 2003–04<br />
attendance this year. Bee and<br />
I got paired up again, but the<br />
teams are picked at random, so<br />
don’t listen to what anyone says<br />
about conspiracies. Anyway, we<br />
claimed the silver this time after<br />
strong finishes at the Boot Race<br />
(won by Jabe’s dad), Big Buck<br />
Hunter and Darts. Matt Rade<br />
was missed, but we’ll be seeing<br />
him for Pro Bull Riding at MSG<br />
this year (only a few days away,<br />
as of the writing of this email),<br />
and I’m sure I’ll be ready to see<br />
him back to Buffalo by the time<br />
the weekend is over. Jabe also<br />
filled in as a ringer on my ice<br />
hockey team for one game. We<br />
lost, but it wasn’t his fault.”<br />
Kate (Neal) Fellens moved<br />
away from London this year,<br />
though she hopes to return in<br />
the future. She has relocated,<br />
with her husband and their<br />
daughter Mathilde to Nairobi,<br />
Kenya. It’s a wonderful adventure.<br />
She would love to meet<br />
up with any other Ephs living<br />
out there!<br />
Melanie Beeck had a really<br />
nice time with Amy Dieckmann<br />
’05, and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen<br />
’05 who visited her in Australia<br />
from the U.S. They toured the<br />
city and at night went to watch<br />
Christmas carols at the park<br />
near Melanie’s house. Melanie<br />
writes, “They were expecting<br />
a small group and some candle<br />
lights. It was great to see the<br />
look on their faces when they<br />
saw the thousands of people<br />
and huge stage set up for a<br />
great night!” Melanie finished<br />
her second year teaching 5th<br />
grade in Melbourne and as<br />
of writing in was about to fly<br />
home to Brazil to get married.<br />
2011 has been very kind<br />
to Alex Grashkina’s creative<br />
spirits, making her think more<br />
than ever about abandoning<br />
tax law as a career field and<br />
doing theater and writing<br />
instead. She directed a Chekhov<br />
comedy that premiered in<br />
Boston and received invitations<br />
for performing in New York.<br />
Kamen Kozarev ’05 played a shy<br />
bachelor in the comedy. She is<br />
worried that Kamen will soon<br />
finish his PhD and move away<br />
from Boston leaving her with<br />
no one to boss around on stage.<br />
Alex also did a poetry reading<br />
of her book Migrant Words<br />
at the Manhattan Movement<br />
& Arts Center and traveled in<br />
Asia with her husband around<br />
Thanksgiving. In Hong Kong,<br />
she ran into Robin Hwang<br />
’04 and had dinner with Asti<br />
Khachatryan, who was an<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 101
CLASS NOTES<br />
exchange student at <strong>Williams</strong><br />
from Armenia in 2004.<br />
Seven of the “Goodrich<br />
9”—Josh Earn, Jamaal Mobley,<br />
Neil Hoffman, Jacob Scott,<br />
Chris Vaughan, Peter Deutsch<br />
and Drew Newman—met up in<br />
Tampa in December for a weekend<br />
of beach, cigars, libations<br />
and sports games.<br />
Nathan Hodas graduated from<br />
Caltech in the spring with his<br />
PhD in physics. He is a postdoc<br />
at the Information Sciences<br />
Institute at USC studying the<br />
dynamics of social networks<br />
like Twitter. Nathan also had<br />
his second son, Eli Joseph<br />
Hodas, on Sept. 20. He’s<br />
already best friends with his<br />
older brother!<br />
Aaron Wilson and his wife<br />
Stephanie moved to Dallas.<br />
Aaron started work with the<br />
Boston Consulting Group in the<br />
fall, and they are both loving<br />
Texas.<br />
Adam Grogg reports that<br />
although flatter landscapes<br />
and warmer temperatures<br />
have taken some getting used<br />
to, finishing up one clerkship<br />
in Montana and starting<br />
another in DC has happily<br />
meant many more <strong>Williams</strong><br />
encounters. Adam writes,<br />
“Highlights include sharing<br />
a charming apartment in an<br />
alarmingly dilapidated building<br />
in Columbia Heights with Jack<br />
Nelson ’07; frequent outings<br />
with Steve Seigel and husband<br />
Justin Wilson in DC; an embarrassing<br />
(but delightful) four<br />
visits to <strong>Williams</strong>town this fall;<br />
and recent New Year/birthday/<br />
etc. celebrations in New York<br />
with our fantastic class notes<br />
editors Cortney Tunis and Nicole<br />
Eisenman Weber (and her husband<br />
Simon Weber), Jeff Nelson<br />
and Meredith Sanger-Katz ’06,<br />
Elliot Morrison and Maggie<br />
Popkin ’03, Christina Draghi<br />
and Will Edgar ’03, Charlie<br />
Wittenberg, and many more.<br />
Cheers, <strong>2012</strong>.”<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
illiams People accepts<br />
Wphotographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
102 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
From left: Amy Dieckmann ’05 and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen ’05 visited<br />
Melanie Beeck ’04 in December in Melbourne, Australia, where Melanie<br />
teaches fifth grade.<br />
2005<br />
Aron Chang<br />
1432 6th St.<br />
New Orleans, LA 70115<br />
Charles Soha<br />
2500 Wisconsin Ave., NW<br />
Apt. 619<br />
Washington, DC 20007<br />
2005secretary@williams.edu<br />
Marissa Doran is finishing her<br />
second year of law school and<br />
loving it. Fran-Fredane Fraser<br />
has moved back to NYC and<br />
joined Lillian Chang and Mark<br />
Hobel for tapas and is hoping<br />
to spot her roomie Liz Suda.<br />
Joanna Lloyd is in veterinary<br />
school and is bird-sitting five<br />
birds and fostering a kitten.<br />
Ned Hole bumped into Tim<br />
Crawley in San Francisco when<br />
he spotted Tim rocking a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> <strong>College</strong> sweatsuit—<br />
they caught up over a Guinness.<br />
Wes Connors stopped by Tim’s<br />
Christmas party only to miss a<br />
broken window, burnt carpeting<br />
and Chinese floating lanterns<br />
later in the evening.<br />
Afton (Johnson) Gilyard had<br />
a baby, William Jesse, on Sept.<br />
3. Joyia (Chadwick) Yorgey<br />
gave birth to Noah David on<br />
Sept. 17. Noah has already<br />
become quite the piano player.<br />
Ward Bitter and his wife Jenny<br />
celebrated the birth of their first<br />
child, Mirabelle May, on Oct.<br />
14 and spent Christmas and<br />
New Year’s Eve up at their family<br />
home in Stowe, Vt.<br />
Katie Joyce and her husband<br />
Rob Follansbee ’04 had their<br />
first child, Daniel, on Nov.<br />
4. They’ve already had visits<br />
from Louisa Swain, Lindsay<br />
Payne, Kam Shahid ’04, Charlie<br />
Davidson ’04 and Matt Rade ’04.<br />
Natalia Romano is pleased to<br />
announce the birth of her first<br />
son, Emil Agramonte Gehlot,<br />
on Dec. 11 in Singapore.<br />
Congratulations to all!<br />
Lucy Thiboutot and David<br />
Cooperman ’02 were married<br />
by <strong>Williams</strong> Chaplain Rick<br />
Spalding in the Berkshires on<br />
Sept. 17, 2011. Twenty-four<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alums were in attendance.<br />
Emily Perry got married<br />
in September in São Paulo,<br />
Brazil, to Renato Lulia-Jacob.<br />
Kerel Nurse married Ines Major<br />
’06 on Nov. 4, 2011. Phil Smith,<br />
who recently completed law<br />
school, attended the wedding<br />
and reports, “It was awesome.”<br />
Perhaps as awesome as Kyle<br />
Skor’s plans to build the firstever<br />
art gallery on Antarctica?<br />
Ross Smith came back to<br />
Boston from Sweden for just<br />
a couple of weeks for the<br />
holidays and is planning a few<br />
trips, notably to Portugal and<br />
Croatia. Any hints about where/<br />
how to be a tourist in Croatia<br />
are welcome.<br />
Chuck Soha survived his first<br />
brushfire evacuation in Austin<br />
and caught a Longhorns game<br />
with Amy Dieckmann. He went<br />
to Oktoberfest in Munich with<br />
Andrew Leeser, and celebrated<br />
New Year’s in New York with<br />
Jay Ross.<br />
Jaime Hensel is halfway<br />
through Yale’s nurse practitioner<br />
program. She and Zach<br />
Sullivan ran a 6.66 mile race<br />
called the Devil’s Chase in<br />
Salem, Mass., on Halloween,<br />
and she noted that Julia Brown
lives down the street from her<br />
in New Haven. Carolyn (Dekker)<br />
Bahls had a reunion with Masha<br />
Lifshin. Carolyn’s moving to<br />
Springfield and welcomes any<br />
New England-based Ephs who<br />
can help her avoid a “madwoman<br />
writing in the attic<br />
situation” while she continues<br />
her dissertation.<br />
Noah Capurso graduated from<br />
Yale School of Medicine, moved<br />
to a new place in downtown<br />
New Haven for his first year of<br />
residency at Yale in the department<br />
of psychiatry and recently<br />
published a book on the medical<br />
school admission process.<br />
Daniel Krass returned from an<br />
amazing trip to Brazil with Ari<br />
Schoenholtz for Melanie Beeck’s<br />
’04 wedding. Enyi Koene was<br />
the maid of honor, and Sam<br />
Goldman made the trip as well.<br />
Dan is enjoying his audiology<br />
program at Vanderbilt’s<br />
School of Medicine—Ari, Jane<br />
McCamant and Abby Whitbeck<br />
visited during the fall. He<br />
writes, “I didn’t think I would<br />
begin to enjoy country music<br />
this quickly, but I totally dig<br />
the ‘Music City’ scene and even<br />
made my Broadway debut.”<br />
Micah Halsey moved to NYC<br />
after six years in Boston and<br />
notes, “It was great to see<br />
several ’05s at homecoming in<br />
November like Abby Wattley,<br />
Kevin Kingman, Julia Kivitz<br />
and Ashley and James Cart. In<br />
January Micah was starting<br />
his MBA at Columbia Business<br />
School, where Michelle Flowers<br />
was to start the executive MBA<br />
program. They expected to join<br />
Elena Bonifacio and Scott Malish<br />
on campus.<br />
Rosemary Kendrick graduated<br />
from Harvard Business School,<br />
moved to San Francisco, and<br />
now works at an education<br />
technology startup. Ricardo<br />
Woolery passed the New York<br />
Bar exam and is currently<br />
settling into life as a first-year<br />
associate at a corporate law<br />
firm in DC<br />
Hilarie Ashton lives in<br />
Brooklyn, where she sees many<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumni on a regular<br />
basis. Hilarie also started a new<br />
job as a senior institutional<br />
research analyst in NYU Office<br />
of Institutional Research.<br />
Gavin McCormick and Brian<br />
Hirshman ’06 found the joke<br />
was on them when they tried<br />
to get free labor to help build<br />
a treehouse for Emily Cooper<br />
’93. The pair used an old WSO<br />
list serve to declare the first<br />
Saturday in October as “West<br />
Coast Mountain Day,” hoping<br />
to entice Joe Gangestad ’06 to<br />
come and help them build. But<br />
Gavin and Brian were stunned<br />
to also get RSVPs from 16 other<br />
Ephs, including Kelly Morgan,<br />
Jenni Simmons, Josh and Aubryn<br />
Cooperman, Justin Brown and<br />
Amy Katzen. What started as a<br />
joke ended with an actual hike<br />
up Wildcat Peak in Berkeley,<br />
Calif., complete of course with<br />
hot cider, camping and a stirring<br />
rendition of “The Mountains.”<br />
Elizabeth Van Heuvelen and<br />
Amy Dieckmann finished a wonderful<br />
road trip on the Great<br />
Ocean Road in Australia. They<br />
also had the pleasure of having<br />
a local host in Melbourne when<br />
they met up with Melanie Beeck<br />
’04. Amy’s still living in Austin,<br />
finishing up business school and<br />
will be moving to Dallas next<br />
summer.<br />
Elena Bonifacio, Laura<br />
Futransky, Laura Kaufman,<br />
Litia Shaw, Abby Whitbeck and<br />
Karen Vanderbilt met up in<br />
Philadelphia to ring in <strong>2012</strong><br />
together. They ate many foods,<br />
drank many drinks and danced<br />
many dances and still had the<br />
energy to get up and watch<br />
the Philadelphia Mummer’s<br />
Parade...on TV.<br />
It appears that Jonathan<br />
Landsman and Zach McArthur<br />
have moved on from cribbage<br />
to other games. Zach came to<br />
NYC for a game of Taboo on<br />
Jonathan’s birthday. “He (Zach)<br />
was in fine form, basically the<br />
most attractive I’ve ever seen<br />
him. Zach’s the only guy I’ve<br />
ever known to misunderstand<br />
the proper use of a sand timer,”<br />
Jonathan said.<br />
JJ O’Brien is enjoying life in<br />
San Francisco, where he rocked<br />
out to My Morning Jacket with<br />
Drew ’06 and Emily (Welsh)<br />
Gottenborg, with whom he also<br />
enjoyed a bonfire on Ocean<br />
Beach along with Ben and Jaye<br />
(Gregory) Locke ’06, Ned Hole,<br />
Jake Randall ’07 and Garrett<br />
Collins ’04. JJ rang in the New<br />
Year with with Katie Shattuck,<br />
Lindsey Dwyer, Jon Silvestro ’06,<br />
Tim Crawley and Blair Coffman<br />
’06.<br />
Liz Gluck got engaged last<br />
week – her boyfriend Greg<br />
proposed while they were skiing<br />
at Breckenridge. The snow was<br />
terrible, but it was the best day<br />
of skiing she’s ever had!<br />
Eric Manchester went to<br />
his 10 th high school reunion.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> was well represented,<br />
with Zach McArthur and Danner<br />
Hickman also in attendance.<br />
n 2004–06<br />
Melanie Kingsley moved back<br />
to Boston from Guatemala to<br />
start writing her dissertation.<br />
She went to see Three Pianos<br />
with Brittany Duncan and got<br />
the awesome opportunity to<br />
create and teach a class this<br />
spring at Brandeis University<br />
called “Archaeology in Politics,<br />
Film and Public Culture.” She<br />
has dinners with Chris Vaughn<br />
’04 and Lindsey Taylor, who<br />
graduated from Tuck this<br />
past summer and started back<br />
at Parthenon in Boston in<br />
September.<br />
Alice Brown moved back to<br />
the Chicago area last fall and<br />
now teaches middle school<br />
history at the Avery Coonley<br />
School. Zophia Edwards is still in<br />
graduate school in sociology at<br />
Boston University and has made<br />
some major progress toward her<br />
dissertation. She was heading to<br />
Gabon for the spring semester<br />
to collect data. Parlez-vous<br />
Français?<br />
Aaron Helfand celebrated<br />
New Year’s in Northampton<br />
with a number of <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alums, including Jeff Kaplan ’09,<br />
Lindsay Moore ’09 and Kevin<br />
Waite ’09. He’s back in Boston<br />
now, happily re-settled into his<br />
old architecture job.<br />
2006<br />
Ariel Peters<br />
2070 Belmont Road, NW<br />
Apt. 307<br />
Washington, DC 20009<br />
2006secretary@williams.edu<br />
Former Morgan West entrymates<br />
Steve Myers and Hayley<br />
Wynn got engaged in November!<br />
Remember that photo we took<br />
on the science quad during<br />
freshman orientation? Steve<br />
and Hayley own a copy. (Why<br />
wouldn’t they?)<br />
I got to wondering: Exactly<br />
how many of us ended up<br />
engaged or married to someone<br />
in that photo? Since I make<br />
it my business to know these<br />
things, I decided I should start<br />
counting. Here goes!<br />
Will Pucillo and Sarah Connell<br />
(two!) also got engaged in<br />
November. They’re living in<br />
Denver and loving the proximity<br />
to the mountains. Sarah’s<br />
a resident in OB/GYN at the<br />
University of Colorado, and<br />
Will works for a private-equity<br />
firm in Boulder.<br />
Ian Bone is engaged to an<br />
Argentinian named Mike.<br />
He popped the question<br />
after asking Mike’s parents<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 103
CLASS NOTES<br />
for permission—in Spanish!<br />
Following the proposal, Ian<br />
surprised Mike with champagne<br />
and a visit from his very happy<br />
family.<br />
The lovebirds also had dinner<br />
with Jon Brajtbord and Sarah<br />
Jenks ’07 (who were traveling<br />
across South America on<br />
their honeymoon) after their<br />
weeklong “engagement-moon”<br />
in Punta del Este, Uruguay.<br />
Surekha Gajria planned on<br />
finishing her PhD in biomaterials<br />
at UCSB last spring. She’s<br />
engaged to a German named<br />
Thorsten, a polymer chemist<br />
whose company manufactures<br />
the artificial leather used in<br />
Louis Vuitton bags. They’re<br />
looking forward to a fall wedding<br />
in Germany and think<br />
they’ll stick around for at least<br />
a few years.<br />
Angie Chien married Garrett<br />
Calderwood in Fort Worth,<br />
Tex., on Oct. 1. Taylor (Tyson)<br />
Haywood was a bridesmaid. At<br />
the reception, Angie and Garrett<br />
taught wedding guests Matthew<br />
Brown, Sarah Brooks, Courtney<br />
Bartlett, Erin Wagner, Nadia<br />
Moore, Ali Macdonald, Daley<br />
Kirby ’07, John Haywood ’04<br />
and Don Macdonald ’04 how to<br />
“wobble.”<br />
Alan Cordova attended the<br />
wedding of Phyo Phyu Noe to<br />
Lwin Mon Thant in Yangon,<br />
Myanmar, on Christmas Day<br />
with Jay Bid, Thomas Kunjappu,<br />
Wei Wang ’07, Ta Banchuin ’08<br />
and Aom Wisa Kitichaiwat ’10.<br />
Creston Herold’s wife Carrie<br />
gave birth to baby girl Charlotte<br />
Ruth at the end of December.<br />
She arrived with a full head of<br />
dark hair after a “near spontaneous”<br />
delivery.<br />
Christine Matulewicz was<br />
working on her master’s at Penn<br />
and eagerly awaiting the arrival<br />
of Christine (Rodriguez) Nieves’<br />
baby girl.<br />
Devon and Jackie O’Rourke<br />
(three!) returned from Jordan<br />
in June and settled back into<br />
life in South Berkshire County.<br />
They never feel far away from<br />
the Purple Valley with the likes<br />
of Andrew D’Ambrosio ’10,<br />
Will Cronin ’10 and Julia Cohan<br />
’11 working alongside them<br />
at the Berkshire School. A few<br />
Ephs visited them on the Cape<br />
in August, and they bought a<br />
house in Eastham, Mass., in<br />
the fall! They’re renovating it<br />
and looking forward to future<br />
gatherings.<br />
Blake Albohm spent six weeks<br />
in Amman, Jordan, in the fall,<br />
and Sasha Gsovski (four!) left<br />
104 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
2006 classmates (from left) Sarah Steege, Miriam Lawrence, Cassie<br />
Montenegro, Elissa Hardy and Alissa Caron got together New Year’s Eve<br />
on Boston Common. The group also was celebrating Alissa’s visit from<br />
Cambodia and Sarah’s birthday.<br />
consulting to work on health<br />
policy in Senator Kerry’s office.<br />
Her colleagues aren’t keen on<br />
her choice of baseball teams,<br />
but this only makes her feel like<br />
she’s back at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
She was home in NYC for<br />
the holidays and had a raucous<br />
reunion with Jeanne Lehmann,<br />
Melissa Paige, Emily Casden<br />
and Jesse Schenendorf in the<br />
West Village, and she and Blake<br />
caught up with Jeremy Wertzer<br />
(a second-year at Tuck) and Ben<br />
Berringer (now an attorney at<br />
law) at the Jets-Giants game on<br />
Christmas Eve. She also—quite<br />
literally—bumped into Sally<br />
Dickerson in the Union Square<br />
craft market. And Gillian Weeks<br />
accompanied her and her mom<br />
wedding-dress shopping.<br />
EmCas moved into her own<br />
one-bedroom apartment in<br />
Crown Heights last <strong>April</strong> and<br />
turned in her thesis in May. She’s<br />
now Master of Art History/The<br />
Universe! She’s been back at the<br />
Jewish Museum since finishing<br />
her course work; she made her<br />
YouTube debut giving a tour of<br />
“The Snowy Day and the art of<br />
Ezra Jack Keats” exhibit; have a<br />
peek and help make her famous,<br />
“Bieber-style”!<br />
Blair Coffman bid the Big<br />
Apple adieu when Pandora<br />
transferred her to the West<br />
Coast late last year. Now she<br />
lives in San Fran’s the Haight;<br />
she misses nothing less than<br />
winters in <strong>Williams</strong>town and<br />
NYC. As proof, she rang in the<br />
New Year at Ocean Beach with<br />
John Silvestro, Lindsay Dwyer<br />
’05, Katie Shattuck ’05 and J.J.<br />
O’Brien ’05.<br />
Reed and Annie Harrison<br />
(five!) moved out of the third<br />
floor of Annie’s childhood<br />
home; now they’ve got a home<br />
of their own. Reid works in<br />
operations management at<br />
Columbia Sportswear, and<br />
Annie is doing contractor<br />
training at Intel; both mentor<br />
through Minds Matter, run by<br />
Graham Covington ’64. Alex<br />
Chan and Emily Peinert have<br />
paid them a visit, and they have<br />
met up with fellow Portland,<br />
Ore., Ephs Chris Yorke and<br />
Joanna Westrich, too.<br />
Morgan West sticks together!<br />
In November, Anna Gunning<br />
and JA Matt Hoffman ’04<br />
visited Macy Radloff at Macy’s<br />
restaurant in Boston: The coffee<br />
and pastries were “lovely.”<br />
And in October Liz Woodwick<br />
took advantage of Macy’s sweet<br />
Harvard digs when she was in<br />
town to cheer on current and<br />
alumni Ephs at the Head of the<br />
Charles regatta.<br />
Liz was in sunny, summery<br />
Santiago, Chile, when she<br />
emailed me; she started her<br />
last semester of b-school by<br />
participating in a two-week<br />
global business program. She<br />
interned at Deloitte last summer<br />
and is excited to return to the<br />
Minneapolis office next fall.<br />
Elissa Klein is keeping count,<br />
too, but of Ephs at Harvard’s<br />
ed school. In addition to Marty<br />
West ’98, Richard Murnane ’66<br />
and Thomas Payzant ’62 are<br />
profs there, and Cynthia Zwicky<br />
’05 is getting her doctorate.<br />
David Butts got his PhD in<br />
aerospace engineering from<br />
MIT before Christmas and took
Rowena Ahsan ’07 (kneeling, center) celebrated her wedding to Jainal<br />
Chisty (not pictured) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Ephs from the classes of<br />
2005 through 2009.<br />
a month off before starting<br />
work at the Draper Lab. Wife<br />
Erika Latham (six!) loves Boston<br />
and is dancing tango about six<br />
days a week. Joe Shoer visited<br />
over New Year’s; he and Dave<br />
got started on a new batch of<br />
homebrew and did some sampling<br />
as well.<br />
Rachel Segretto got her<br />
master’s in social work from<br />
the University of Louisville last<br />
May and landed her dream<br />
job—she’s working for a refugee<br />
resettlement agency. After<br />
she ran into Travis Vachon in<br />
San Fran in early December, she<br />
showed him and Ellen Crocker<br />
(seven!) Louisville’s secret<br />
hipster scene (“Bet you didn’t<br />
think we had one!”) when they<br />
were in town for the holidays.<br />
Bars don’t close until 4 in the<br />
morning, and they took full<br />
advantage.<br />
Lucy Cox-Chapman finished<br />
her master’s in public health at<br />
BU and was getting ready for<br />
the next big thing but hoping<br />
to stay in Boston, where she<br />
regularly sees Sara Beach, Tomio<br />
Ueda and lots of other Ephs. A<br />
big group of them celebrated<br />
New Year’s together and reminisced<br />
about reunion.<br />
Cassie Montenegro and Sarah<br />
Steege flew to Boston and<br />
joined Miriam Lawrence and<br />
Elissa Hardy in greeting Alissa<br />
Caron on a trip home from<br />
Cambodia. They had a belated<br />
five-year reunion in her honor<br />
and celebrated Sarah’s birthday<br />
and New Year’s all in one. They<br />
also met up with Elissa Klein for<br />
some yummy Mexican food—<br />
something Alissa can’t get in<br />
Cambodia.<br />
Elspeth Mitchell and her boyfriend<br />
Greg were headed for the<br />
States in February after a year<br />
of teaching in Taiwan. She had<br />
an internship lined up outside<br />
Boston and was excited about<br />
getting together with <strong>Williams</strong><br />
folks.<br />
Robin Stewart quit his job in<br />
November and was using his<br />
free time to learn aerial circus<br />
acrobatics.<br />
Andres Schabelman has been<br />
at Silicon Valley startup Airbnb<br />
since last summer; he helps set<br />
up and train teams in different<br />
offices around the world.<br />
He’s an elite member of several<br />
different airlines: “I get paid<br />
to travel and be myself. Life is<br />
good.”<br />
Steve Acton, Matt Teschke<br />
and his girlfriend Helah hosted<br />
former DC resident Bryan<br />
Dragon (now residing in Fort<br />
Collins, Colo.) and Aaron Reibel<br />
in our nation’s capital over the<br />
holidays. Aaron was in between<br />
basic training and officercandidate<br />
school and returned<br />
to Fort Benning (Evan Bick’s<br />
old haunt) in early January. He<br />
says Army life is crazy, but he’s<br />
really enjoying it.<br />
By the way, Evan Bick is married<br />
to Gillian Sowden (eight!).<br />
Adam Bloch arrived in Harlem<br />
in the winter where, despite a<br />
profound sense of alienation<br />
and some communication problems,<br />
he was welcomed into the<br />
local community while pursuing<br />
love, chasing down drug pushers<br />
and evading two foreign<br />
goons who were after him—a<br />
pair of <strong>Williams</strong> alums from the<br />
’70s named John and David (no<br />
last names provided).<br />
n 2006–07<br />
I’m still counting, by the way.<br />
Next time, Adam, you’d better<br />
be marrying a classmate.<br />
2007<br />
REUNION JUNE 7–10<br />
Diana Davis<br />
Brown University<br />
Math Department, Box 1917<br />
Providence, RI 02912<br />
2007secretary@williams.edu<br />
Chris Furlong visited Chris<br />
Ellis-Ferrara in NYC and met<br />
up with Sean Hyland and Andy<br />
Stevenson also. Things are good<br />
with Furlong; he has a new job<br />
in multi-family underwriting<br />
beginning soon.<br />
Katie Fleming is at UC<br />
Berkeley, getting a master’s in<br />
public policy. She reports, “I am<br />
so glad to be back in school and<br />
love the NorCal lifestyle and<br />
food culture. I think I ate only<br />
tomatoes the first three months<br />
I lived there; it was delicious.<br />
I’ve been lucky enough to see<br />
Laura Wagner several times!”<br />
Jess (Phillips) Silverstein rang<br />
in the New Year <strong>Williams</strong>-style<br />
in New York City! Her husband<br />
Mike Silverstein ’05 got Ashok<br />
Pillai ’05 into town, and Anne<br />
Louise Ennis ’06 and Nick Perry<br />
’04 came downtown to enjoy<br />
such varied pleasures as a vintage<br />
rooster-shaped chip’n’dip,<br />
terrible SNL highlights and a<br />
grape-eating countdown at a<br />
Spanish restaurant.<br />
Michael Fairhurst is finishing<br />
his third and final year of<br />
law school at UC Berkeley and<br />
plans to start a clerkship with<br />
a federal judge in Jacksonville,<br />
Florida, in August.<br />
Abby Taylor is in vet school at<br />
Ohio State.<br />
Brett Marinelli is a first-year<br />
now at Mount Sinai medical<br />
school in NYC; he moved there<br />
from Boston in August. During<br />
their orientation week in the<br />
fall, he, Jessica Harris ’10 and<br />
Brittany Micham ’10 all coincidentally<br />
signed up for tae kwon<br />
do and found themselves in the<br />
same class!<br />
Pilar Macdonald is getting<br />
an MBA at the University<br />
of Pennsylvania’s Wharton<br />
Business School with Doug<br />
Holm. They are both in their<br />
first year.<br />
In November Jen Sleeper<br />
was hired as a production<br />
finance analyst at Walt<br />
Disney Animation Studios in<br />
Hollywood, Calif. They are<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 105
CLASS NOTES<br />
currently working on three<br />
full-length animated movies;<br />
the first one to hit theaters is<br />
called Wreck-it-Ralph, and is<br />
to premier next November.<br />
Before Christmas, Ren Wei and<br />
Lingwei Gu met up with Jen in<br />
LA to celebrate Ling’s wedding,<br />
and Jen also met up with<br />
Mariama Massaquoi-Gartmann<br />
and Priyanka Bangard Carr, who<br />
came to LA for the holidays<br />
with their husbands. Pri is in<br />
her last semester at Stanford,<br />
Mariama is in medical school<br />
and Ren is in Boston, at<br />
Harvard.<br />
Ashley Overlander and<br />
Matthew Boggia were married<br />
Oct. 1, 2011, in East Hampton,<br />
N.Y. Many <strong>Williams</strong> graduates<br />
attended the wedding, including<br />
Ashley’s parents and sister.<br />
Alex Hogan and Colleen Garrity<br />
got married in Thompson<br />
Chapel on a beautiful fall day<br />
surrounded by many Ephs.<br />
Colleen says, “It was a beautiful,<br />
joyous day. After doing long<br />
distance for the past three years,<br />
we’re both looking forward to<br />
graduating from medical school<br />
and starting our pediatrics residencies<br />
together this summer.<br />
We’re currently interviewing for<br />
residencies … and looking forward<br />
to finally living together in<br />
July!” Congratulations, Colleen<br />
and Alex!<br />
Laura Lee was to marry<br />
Christian Ernst on March 31.<br />
She lives in San Diego and<br />
works with churches in community<br />
outreach and plans to<br />
continue doing so for the near<br />
future.<br />
Nirmal Deshpande is working<br />
as a strategist at SS+K, a<br />
New York-based advertising<br />
agency. He is living in Brooklyn,<br />
where he has “standing food<br />
adventures with Isaac Gerber,<br />
Alexis Knepp, and Zach Safford<br />
’09, among others.” Nirmal<br />
attended the wedding of<br />
Rowena Ahsan and Jainal Chisty<br />
in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was<br />
“a wonderful minireunion filled<br />
with choreographed Bollywood<br />
dances, late nights and lots of<br />
curry.” Alums in attendance<br />
included Thomas Kunjappu ’06,<br />
Jay Bid ’06, Hamaad Ravda<br />
’05, Ridhima Raina, Aleha Aziz,<br />
Julia Ramsey, Hannah Gray,<br />
Emily Gray ’09, Katya Prakash<br />
’08, Pam Vachatimanont, Liz<br />
Atkinson, Anna Edmonds, Allison<br />
Davies and Jessie Yu. Former<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> staff member Kareem<br />
Khubchandani also attended the<br />
wedding.<br />
106 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Anna Edmonds is in Cambodia<br />
on a bicycle, having come from<br />
attending Rowena’s wedding<br />
in Bangladesh. She is on a fellowship<br />
this term, so besides<br />
“dissertating,” she will be training<br />
to race the Great Divide<br />
Mountain Bike Race, which is<br />
“a 2,785-mile, off-road, selfsupported<br />
race from Banff to<br />
Mexico along the Continental<br />
Divide. It starts the first Friday<br />
of June, sadly, the same day as<br />
our reunion!” We’ll be sad to<br />
miss you, Anna.<br />
Doug Hammond and Elizabeth<br />
Preston got married Oct. 1 in<br />
Syracuse, N.Y. Their wedding<br />
party included their Morgan<br />
Midwest entrymates Tyler<br />
Auer and Amanda Nicol as well<br />
as Elizabeth Bond and Zach<br />
Grossman. Elizabeth and Doug<br />
are “living in Chicago along<br />
with an awesome contingent of<br />
Ephs.” Doug trades agricultural<br />
options at the Chicago Board<br />
of Trade. Elizabeth works as<br />
the editor of Muse, a magazine<br />
that covers science and other<br />
nonfiction for kids ages 10<br />
and up. Elizabeth also writes<br />
a science blog called Inkfish,<br />
which can be found at inkfish.<br />
fieldofscience.com.<br />
A crew including Alexis<br />
Machabanski, Laura McCarthy,<br />
Abby Southard, Phil Arnold and<br />
Brian Carey ’06 got together to<br />
watch Ashley Sewell run the<br />
NYC Marathon on Nov. 6. As<br />
they looked out for Ashley, they<br />
got to see Chris Ellis-Ferrera and<br />
several other Ephs run by. Postmarathon,<br />
they all gathered<br />
at Ashley’s Upper West Side<br />
apartment and were joined by<br />
Ezra Burch, Chris Merwin, Doug<br />
Holm, Sally Cobb ’09, Meighan<br />
McGowan ’09, Steph Sewell King<br />
’99 and Jonathan King ’98.<br />
Katie Howard was promoted<br />
to a new sales position with<br />
Adidas and planned to move to<br />
North Carolina from Austin,<br />
Texas, in February. Katie, Laura<br />
Ellison and other <strong>Williams</strong> runner<br />
alums gathered to run the<br />
Headwaters Relay in Montana<br />
this past summer.<br />
Auyon Mukharji reports that<br />
Darlingside “is releasing its<br />
debut album over the course of<br />
the next few months. We could<br />
not be more excited about the<br />
music, and we will be touring<br />
across New England to support<br />
the release. So much love to our<br />
fellow Ephs for the incredible<br />
support.”<br />
Alison Koppe hosted Sarah<br />
Martin, Lauren Moscoe and<br />
Julia Sendor ’08 in Berkeley<br />
for their annual New Year’s<br />
reunion. Lauren reports, “We<br />
arrived with a splash. Berkeley<br />
was resplendent with botanical<br />
delights. One dead vole, two<br />
Justin Biebers and three of the<br />
world’s best macaroons ensued.<br />
Carols were at the spinet, and<br />
we painted with all the colors of<br />
the wind.” Well, then!<br />
Matt Kane is still working at<br />
Google in Silicon Valley, Calif.,<br />
where he tries to find time to<br />
make rap videos about search<br />
tips. (Search for “Santa search<br />
tips rap” on YouTube; he both<br />
wrote the rap and appears in<br />
the video!) He ran another<br />
marathon in Sacramento in<br />
December, and at press time<br />
he was looking forward to<br />
cheering (not running!) as<br />
Lauren Philbrook ’09 and some<br />
other friends competed in the<br />
Olympic Trials in Houston in<br />
January. He hoped to see Colin<br />
Carroll and a bunch of other<br />
alums there, too.<br />
Alyssa Mack reports, “I’m officially<br />
esquire now! I was sworn<br />
in back in December, and I’m<br />
working as a public defender<br />
in Brooklyn, a job I not only<br />
love but which also gives me<br />
endless topics of conversation<br />
for cocktail parties. I live in<br />
Park Slope and see Carl Clayton<br />
’08 pretty regularly and had<br />
the opportunity to see Brendan<br />
Mulrain when he stopped<br />
in NYC from London last<br />
November. Now I’m planning<br />
a trip to Italy in <strong>April</strong> to visit<br />
my sister Dominique Mack.”<br />
Congratulations, Alyssa!<br />
As for me (Diana Davis), I<br />
recently attended the Joint<br />
Math Meetings conference<br />
in Boston, where I saw Colin<br />
Carroll along with many other<br />
mathematically-minded Ephs. I<br />
also ran into Chris Ellis-Ferrara<br />
at a few cross-country races<br />
last fall. My news is always<br />
predictable (still in grad school,<br />
still running) so I’d like to thank<br />
all of you who sent in your<br />
news and made this issue so<br />
interesting!<br />
2008<br />
Julie Van Deusen<br />
92 Charles St., #32<br />
Boston, MA 02114<br />
2008secretary@williams.edu<br />
It seems as though things are<br />
starting to settle down a bit<br />
for our class, but we still have<br />
some exciting major life events<br />
to report as well as some crosscountry<br />
moves, new jobs and
grad school updates.<br />
Ryan Dunfee left his job as<br />
the director of communications<br />
for an action sports adventure<br />
travel company to move to Lake<br />
Tahoe and get more involved<br />
with his ski journalism career.<br />
He’s been writing for Powder<br />
Magazine and a couple other<br />
outlets and is hoping to get<br />
more involved with writing full<br />
time. He had a great final trip<br />
to Argentina over the summer<br />
with his former job and says it<br />
was definitely the most incredible<br />
skiing he’s ever had and an<br />
experience of a lifetime after<br />
working his way back from<br />
his spinal cord injury freshman<br />
year. He reports that he is still<br />
“hopelessly addicted” to both<br />
skiing and surfing, and they<br />
seem to be dictating his life<br />
choices as much as they did at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>. Ryan saw a couple<br />
other ’08s over Thanksgiving,<br />
including Hugo St. John, Mike<br />
Darling (who just got engaged)<br />
and Nate Brevard, as well as<br />
a bunch of ’07s. Ryan drove<br />
through Aspen for New Year’s<br />
to party with his freshmen year<br />
roommate Justin Vassar as well<br />
as Sylvia Semper. He reports<br />
that it was “a wild circus of<br />
humanity and super fun.” He<br />
also saw Cooper Jones, Eugene<br />
Berson, Riley Maddox and Haley<br />
Tone ’07 in San Francisco in<br />
January.<br />
Last fall, Dani Wolinsky<br />
moved to San Francisco from<br />
Boston with Google and<br />
has been running into Darcy<br />
Montevaldo, Riley Maddox and<br />
fellow Googler Ben Byrne. She<br />
also lives with Ben Echols ’07.<br />
At the end of the fall, Eugene<br />
Korsunskiy finished his favorite<br />
semester of design grad school<br />
so far, in which his culminating<br />
project consisted of staying<br />
up for two weeks straight to<br />
construct a hanging forest<br />
of 10,000 feet of ball chain<br />
(eugenekorsunskiy.com). As<br />
much fun as grad school in Palo<br />
Alto can be, Eugene says it was<br />
wonderful to fly back to North<br />
Carolina to see Kate Nolfi and<br />
travel with her to spend New<br />
Year’s in New York and hang<br />
out with such lovely Ephs as<br />
Joe Song, Polo Black-Golde,<br />
Daniel Yudkin and David Kessel.<br />
Matthew McClure rang in the<br />
New Year with Will Parker (and<br />
their significant others) in South<br />
Beach, Miami. They attended<br />
a concert on the beach and<br />
enjoyed the people-watching.<br />
Dani Johnson is working<br />
at CVS’s strategic product<br />
development group (with<br />
Gordon Phillips). She moved to<br />
Providence from Boston and is<br />
no longer reverse-commuting<br />
each day. Louisa Berky is living<br />
in Denver, Colo., with<br />
Alex Horne and 10 minutes<br />
away from her sister Madeline<br />
Berky ’10. Louisa’s working<br />
at the Clear Creek Academy<br />
of Jewelry and Metal Arts in<br />
Denver and recently started her<br />
own jewelry design company,<br />
Louisa B Designs. Alex is in his<br />
second year of medical school<br />
at the University of Denver and<br />
still manages to make it up to<br />
the mountains for a few good<br />
days of skiing each winter.<br />
Chris Shalvoy graduated from<br />
law school and took a job as an<br />
associate with Vedder Price P.C.,<br />
in their global transportation<br />
finance group. In December,<br />
Alexandra Letvin passed her<br />
comprehensive PhD exams in<br />
art history at Johns Hopkins.<br />
She spent a month traveling in<br />
Thailand, Cambodia and Laos<br />
and then returned to “Charm<br />
City” to begin her dissertation<br />
and work at the Baltimore<br />
Museum of Art.<br />
Alex Wentworth-Ping is in<br />
his second year at Fordham<br />
Law School and recently won<br />
a Moot Court Interschool<br />
Competition. He looks forward<br />
to working at Allen & Overy in<br />
New York this coming summer.<br />
Alex also reports that Ben Bullitt<br />
got in to Harvard Business<br />
School and looks forward to<br />
moving back to Boston and that<br />
Taryn Rathbone and Michael<br />
Daub plan to get married in<br />
June of this year. Taryn got<br />
a job at an equine veterinary<br />
clinic in the Bay Area. The job<br />
starts in July after her graduation<br />
and wedding.<br />
Lashonda <strong>Williams</strong> worked with<br />
Teach for America right after<br />
graduation (as a corps member<br />
for two years) and is now<br />
partway through her fourth year<br />
of teaching ESL. She works in<br />
a high school in Far Rockaway,<br />
N.Y., and really loves her job.<br />
She’s even encouraged some of<br />
her seniors to apply to <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
Lashonda was recently awarded<br />
the Albert Shanker Grant to<br />
assist in the financial costs of<br />
applying for National Board<br />
Certification (the highest honor<br />
a teacher can achieve), and she<br />
also got engaged in the spring of<br />
2011. She and her fiancé, John<br />
Gardenhire, are busy planning<br />
their wedding for August <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Eric Zaccarelli is having a lot<br />
of fun living in Brooklyn with<br />
n 2007–08<br />
Ryan Karolak, Tom Sargeantson<br />
and their friend Doug Lavender.<br />
They have been playing and<br />
watching a lot of football and<br />
are enjoying the new year and<br />
hoping the end-of-the-world<br />
predictions for <strong>2012</strong> don’t<br />
hold true. Eric also reports<br />
that he recently got an iPhone<br />
and is pretty impressed with it.<br />
Corey Beverly got together with<br />
“Tarevina” (Taryn Pritchard,<br />
Eve Woodin and Marina Harnik),<br />
Kate Peterson and Liz Hirschhorn<br />
in NYC in December, which<br />
he says was much better than<br />
his previous NYC trip over<br />
Halloween weekend where it<br />
snowed all over them and their<br />
costumes.<br />
Last fall I (Julie Van Deusen)<br />
went out to <strong>Williams</strong>town for a<br />
work recruiting event and was<br />
treated to a delicious homemade<br />
dinner with Jen Bees and Josh<br />
Cantor, complete with local<br />
vegetables from Peace Valley<br />
Farm. And in early January I<br />
spent an unseasonably warm<br />
weekend (originally intended to<br />
be a cross-country ski weekend)<br />
in the Purple Valley and ended<br />
up hiking Mount Greylock with<br />
Jen and Josh, where we did<br />
eventually find some snow (and<br />
a lot of ice) near the top. Over<br />
the holiday break I met up with<br />
Anne Peckham for coffee and<br />
caught up with her about her<br />
job and life in DC. I also got to<br />
hang out with Nancy Haff when<br />
she was home for the holidays<br />
and hear about how things are<br />
going at Penn medical school.<br />
Nancy is in her second year and<br />
has started her clinical rotations<br />
with general surgery. She<br />
also got together with Simone<br />
Levien, Dani Johnson and Caitlin<br />
Warthin for Caitlin’s birthday<br />
and Matt Neuber’s fundraiser<br />
party in NYC in December.<br />
And, Katie Quinn sent in the<br />
alumni photo from her wedding<br />
to Bryan Eckelmann ’09, which<br />
was in Lincolnshire, Ill., on July<br />
3. You can check it out in the<br />
Wedding Album section. They<br />
had quite the alumni attendance,<br />
although Katie pointed<br />
out that it doesn’t hurt to have<br />
a sibling, three parents, an<br />
SENDNEWS!<br />
Y our class secretary is<br />
waiting to hear from you!<br />
Send news to your secretary at<br />
the address at the top of your<br />
class notes column.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 107
CLASS NOTES<br />
uncle and friends who went to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
I think that covers the news<br />
from our class for now, and I<br />
look forward to hearing from<br />
you again soon!<br />
2009<br />
Mijon Zulu<br />
377 East 33rd St., Apt. 8H<br />
New York, NY 10016<br />
2009secretary@williams.edu<br />
A friend of mine recently said,<br />
“Oh my God. There is a TV<br />
on my phone. I am living in the<br />
future.” Guess what? He was<br />
right. Most futuristic films from<br />
our childhood had ultra thin<br />
screens and videophones. Now<br />
that this is quickly becoming<br />
the norm, one has to wonder,<br />
“What is next?” If we are in<br />
the future, I can’t help but feel<br />
that we are at the end of an era.<br />
Currencies are crazy, the Arabs<br />
have sprung, Congress is trying<br />
to police the Internet, publishing<br />
is being redefined, etc. What<br />
lies ahead is, put simply, quite<br />
uncertain. However, I still see<br />
people continuing to invest in<br />
new ideas, their education, their<br />
careers and, most importantly,<br />
their family. Thus even in the<br />
future, we must not forget<br />
where we come from and who<br />
was there. So why are we<br />
checking in? We check in just<br />
because.<br />
Because they build bridges<br />
for tomorrow’s innovation and<br />
have to deal with everyone’s<br />
children, I begin with our<br />
educators.<br />
Jim Lowe, in Shiprock, N.M.,<br />
left the classroom and now<br />
advises the Bureau of Indian<br />
Education on secondary science<br />
and math for Shiprock High<br />
School. In North Philly, Rashid<br />
Duroseau is transforming a<br />
historically low-performing<br />
school’s culture to increase<br />
performance and is teaching<br />
seventh-grade social studies.<br />
Mary Wilson Molen in<br />
Wetumpka, Ala., which is near<br />
the shooting locations of films<br />
such as The Grass Harp and Big<br />
Fish, is teaching seventh-grade<br />
social studies at Wetumpka<br />
Middle School. And, in Boone,<br />
N.C., Elissa Brown is finishing<br />
up her first year teaching in the<br />
classroom at an expeditionary<br />
learning public charter school.<br />
Next, because they are learning<br />
what we need to learn<br />
tomorrow, we turn to the<br />
increasingly more educated.<br />
At the University of Wisconsin<br />
108 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
at Madison, Sara Riskind will<br />
finish her MA in choral conducting,<br />
while, at the University<br />
of Idaho, Emily Olsen has<br />
finished an MS in the natural<br />
resources program in conservation<br />
social science but still<br />
needs to finish student teaching<br />
in Boise this spring in order to<br />
finish the teaching certification<br />
requirements for secondary<br />
science.<br />
In Beantown, Ed Newkirk took<br />
a break from his PhD in math<br />
at Brown and attended the<br />
annual Joint Math Meetings in<br />
Boston, where he ran into Jess<br />
Levitt ’08, Ralph Morrison ’10,<br />
Jake Levinson ’11 and Diana<br />
Davis ’07 before stepping away<br />
to catch up with Bret Thatcher.<br />
Also in the land of the Red Sox,<br />
Kari Lyden-Fortier will complete<br />
an MS in speech-language<br />
pathology at the MGH Institute<br />
of Health Professions. When<br />
not studying, Ms. Lyden-Fortier<br />
paints the town red with Jackie<br />
Berglass ’11 and, when not<br />
in Boston, Ms. Lyden-Fortier<br />
reunites with old friends like<br />
Rahul Bahl and his close proximity<br />
to South Beach in Miami.<br />
Mr. Bahl is clearly starting a<br />
trend, because he also hosted<br />
Brandon Halloway and Chris<br />
Chiang for what was rumored<br />
to be an absolutely epic New<br />
Year’s beach party.<br />
In Texas, Sarah Hill is working<br />
on finishing her MA at UT but<br />
spent a month back in England<br />
enjoying immediate family, her<br />
new niece, high school friends,<br />
her home church and the comfort<br />
of the English countryside.<br />
In Philly, Lauren Philbrook<br />
is enjoying a graduate school<br />
program in human development<br />
at Penn State and was looking<br />
forward to running the Boston<br />
Marathon in <strong>April</strong> with Ryan<br />
Ford, Beth Links, Karin Knudson<br />
and Rachel Asher. Last, Steve<br />
Van Wert and Ms. Philbrook<br />
have set a date for a wedding at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> this June!<br />
Over in London, Aroop<br />
Mukharji started a second<br />
MA in war studies at Kings<br />
<strong>College</strong> London. During his<br />
holidays, Mr. Mukharji went<br />
to Morocco with Alex Lees ’03<br />
and was joined by Jake Gorelov<br />
and friends for more fun in<br />
the Canary Islands in Spain. In<br />
whatever free time he has left,<br />
Mr. Mukharji is working on<br />
a book about <strong>Williams</strong> from<br />
the 1940s till the present with<br />
fellow Octet alum Kevin Waite<br />
’81. Claire Rindlaub returned to<br />
the States to start her master’s<br />
program in New York after<br />
spending two months in India<br />
and a month in Thailand, where<br />
she caught up with study-abroad<br />
friends, including Francisco<br />
Bisono. Ms. Rindlaub’s new<br />
locale is shared by Jess Kopcho,<br />
who stopped nursing school and<br />
begun a post-bac premedical<br />
program at Columbia, and Jess<br />
Walthew, who, after completing<br />
her first year in her conservation<br />
program, will spend the summer<br />
in Turkey as a junior conservator<br />
at the ancient Lydian capital of<br />
Sardis.<br />
Because we wonder when<br />
we will ever get to go abroad<br />
for a significant period again,<br />
let’s hear some news from our<br />
travelers.<br />
Up north, Anouk Dey is still<br />
doing an Action Canada fellowship<br />
and was to present her<br />
findings to the Canadian parliament<br />
in March. Before the end<br />
of the year, Ms. Dey ski-trekked<br />
over La Foglietta in the Alps,<br />
crossing from France to Italy.<br />
In the new year, she will host<br />
Molly Hunter, Arianna Kourides,<br />
Riki McDermott, Helen Hatch<br />
and Nanny Gephart for hardcore<br />
adventures and encounters<br />
with bears and beavers for Ms.<br />
Hunter’s 25th in the Canadian<br />
North. In England, Ali Tozier has<br />
been living in London and volunteering<br />
at a charity that helps<br />
victims of human trafficking<br />
become economically independent,<br />
but she plans to return to<br />
Maine in the fall for law school.<br />
Outside of work, she has been<br />
having fun with Mr. Mukharji<br />
and Lindsay Moore, before Ms.<br />
Moore left her job working at<br />
U.K. Parliament and for the MP<br />
fo Cambridge and journeyed to<br />
Somaliland to teach biology at a<br />
boarding school. In Russia, Jon<br />
Earle is still a news reporter for<br />
The Moscow Times, an Englishlanguage<br />
daily in Moscow.<br />
Finally, Fiona Worcester took<br />
a break from Alaska to travel<br />
around Ecuador to practice<br />
Spanish and scale some<br />
mountains. Now returned, she<br />
has completed a 50-mile ski<br />
race and began training for a<br />
100-miler that will take place in<br />
February.<br />
Because we are now wondering<br />
if people still have their<br />
jobs, let us hear from Ephs in<br />
working America.<br />
Ted Kernan, at ExxonMobil<br />
in Houston, got accepted into<br />
the Colorado School of Mines.<br />
Andy Ward, in Beantown,<br />
announced that he landed a<br />
walk-on role as an extra in the
Jenny Coronel ’10 (left) traveled to Istanbul to visit Burge Abiral ’11 in<br />
November. The two rode the ferry from Asia to Europe and had dessert<br />
by the Bosphorus Strait.<br />
upcoming Paranormal Activity<br />
4 movie! Pei-Ru Ko is living<br />
a new life as a yoga teacher<br />
and therapeutic chef in San<br />
Francisco! And, Avalon Gulley<br />
is living in Durango, Colo.,<br />
as a nanny and energy/sound<br />
healer. Ms. Gulley also started<br />
a project called Light University<br />
(www.thelightu.net).<br />
Wendy Li lives in Brooklyn<br />
and works at Red Line Films,<br />
a production company where<br />
she was the key production<br />
assistant on a Bravo show that<br />
premiered in December, Chef<br />
Roble & Co. Since then she has<br />
been a production assistant/<br />
coordinator on a few other Red<br />
Line projects, including a TLC<br />
show about Italian-American<br />
men in the Bronx and an<br />
investigative discovery crime<br />
recreation show. Watch for her<br />
as “the nurse” in one of the episodes—they<br />
ran out of extras.<br />
Julian Mesri is working as an<br />
educator at the Lower East Side<br />
Tenement Museum giving tours<br />
and opening up minds about<br />
immigration. Mr. Mesri is also<br />
in the “Playwright Spotlight”<br />
for Magic Futurebox, a New<br />
York theater that will produce<br />
three of his plays this year.<br />
Visitors include Lindsay Millert,<br />
who stopped by NYC to<br />
celebrate Christine Cohen’s 25th<br />
birthday with friends Stefanie<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>, Bibi Metsch-Garcia,<br />
Chris Doyle, John Szawlowski<br />
and Meghan McGowan. NYC’s<br />
Naya-Joi Martin is still the<br />
development associate at the<br />
Ethical Culture Fieldston School<br />
and has fun with Bryant Lewis,<br />
Nailah Wilds, Alicia Santiago,<br />
David Edwards and Kelly<br />
Smith but planned to take some<br />
time off and work at the NBA’s<br />
Jam Session/All-Star Weekend<br />
in Orlando in February!<br />
Finally, because love is<br />
everything, let us take a second<br />
to get Victoria <strong>Williams</strong>’ take on<br />
becoming Victoria Stanton. Back<br />
in October, supported by her<br />
Eph bridesmaids—Lisa Sloan<br />
(maid of honor), Emilie Voight<br />
and Amanda Montano, Ms.<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> married her longtime<br />
partner, Patrick Stanton,<br />
University of Maine. The guests<br />
in attendance were Kenny Yim,<br />
David Edwards, Anthony Molina,<br />
Alicia Santiago, Morgan Phillips-<br />
Spotts, Josh Goldberg-Sussman<br />
and Amanda Santiago ’08. Good<br />
luck to the happy couple. Till<br />
the next, YCS.<br />
2010<br />
Ethan Timmins-Schiffman<br />
907 Washington St., Apt. GN<br />
Evanston, IL 60202<br />
2010secretary@williams.edu<br />
Arjun Ravi Narayan continues<br />
to study computer science at<br />
the University of Pennsylvania,<br />
“which mostly means I get<br />
to procrastinate all day,” he<br />
wrote. When not indulging<br />
in TV tropes and “Wikipedia<br />
binges,” he teaches undergraduate<br />
students. “Then I feel smug<br />
about the quality of my undergraduate<br />
education, reopen the<br />
25ish tabs that were previously<br />
keeping me busy and get back<br />
to procrastinating.” Arjun is<br />
happy that his work allows<br />
him to travel to conferences,<br />
enabling him both to present<br />
work “that I most certainly<br />
n 2008–10<br />
did not do” and catch up with<br />
fellow Ephs.<br />
Lizzie Brickley is finishing up<br />
her MPhil in epidemiology at<br />
the University of Cambridge<br />
with a focus on health in<br />
developing countries. She enjoys<br />
hanging out in the U.K. with<br />
Asheque Shams, Leah Katzelnick,<br />
Ruthie Ezra, Scott Oleson,<br />
Nathan Benaich, Jun Liu, Susan<br />
Tan and Jose Martinez.<br />
At Nevsehir University in<br />
Turkey, Jenny Coronel is a<br />
conversational English teacher.<br />
Jenny teaches undergraduates<br />
in the tourism department<br />
the meanings of hip<br />
English colloquialisms such as<br />
“hands down” and “way out<br />
of your league.” Jenny spent<br />
Thanksgiving visiting Burge<br />
Abiral ’11 in Istanbul: “It was<br />
great to catch up as we rode the<br />
ferry from Asia to Europe, and<br />
as we enjoyed dessert by the<br />
Bosphorus Strait.” When she<br />
wrote, she was looking forward<br />
to meeting up with Ambika<br />
Thoreson and Gean Spektor in<br />
January. Jenny sends the following<br />
message to those visiting<br />
Turkey: “Hit me up!”<br />
Daniel Gura lives just down<br />
the street from Mount Greylock<br />
High School, in a cottage that<br />
faces the Waubeeka Springs<br />
Golf Course. He resides with<br />
Leah Lansdowne ’11. “We’ve<br />
got a meadow behind our<br />
house and a patio with a fire<br />
pit. It’s basically awesome.” In<br />
December Dan started working<br />
at the studio of Jenny Holzer, a<br />
conceptual artist whose work<br />
is featured in our very own<br />
Science Quad. “I spend my days<br />
archiving her art, prepping it<br />
for places that want it, filing<br />
correspondence and random<br />
documents, etc.” Dan works at<br />
Mezze on the weekends, occasionally<br />
hikes with Kelsey Levine<br />
and took yours truly on a hike<br />
on New Year’s Day.<br />
Whitney Hitchcock is loving<br />
life as a second-year medical<br />
student at Dartmouth. She still<br />
finds time to play volleyball,<br />
brew beer and even teach a<br />
yoga class. She looks forward<br />
to getting some chickens in the<br />
spring. “I wish that I could have<br />
a goat, but ç’est la vie.”<br />
Sy Schotz spends his days at<br />
Manda Farm, an organic farm<br />
in Plainfield, Mass. There he<br />
works with the goats for which<br />
Whitney yearns but also with<br />
many other animals. He is<br />
especially happy to tend to the<br />
three llamas and three sheep<br />
that he acquired in the fall. The<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 109
CLASS NOTES<br />
autumn months brought Sy<br />
experience in nurturing the lives<br />
of his animals—feeding, breeding<br />
and providing shelter—but<br />
also in ending the lives of some<br />
his charges. He slaughtered three<br />
goats, explaining that he was<br />
careful to utilize every part of<br />
the animal. “I’m in the process<br />
of tanning the skins, and I am<br />
mummifying the feet to make<br />
decorative barn door handles<br />
and coat hangers.” With the<br />
experience that he gains from his<br />
current work, Sy plans on establishing<br />
a permaculture farm. He<br />
wrote his note while attending<br />
a workshop in traditional<br />
bow and arrow making. On<br />
Fridays, Sy works at the Heron<br />
Homeschool in Amherst, Mass.,<br />
part of Earthwork programs. Sy,<br />
the students and their mentor<br />
meet at the Hitchcock Center<br />
for the Environment in Amherst,<br />
“teaching and sharing primitive<br />
living skills and generally enjoying<br />
hanging out in the woods.”<br />
Joanna Hoffman still lives in<br />
Cambridge, Mass. In October,<br />
she took her athletic prowess<br />
out of the water and onto<br />
dry land and ran the Chicago<br />
Marathon with fellow swimmers<br />
Jillian Hancock ’11,<br />
Courtney Asher ’09 and Michelle<br />
Kurkul ’08. “It was super fun!”<br />
Also in Cambridge is Erik<br />
Tillman, who is applying to<br />
graduate school.<br />
After completing a thesis on<br />
art crime—specifically, looting<br />
of Native American artifacts in<br />
the Southwest—Perri Osattin<br />
moved to Boston, where she<br />
now works at an international<br />
contemporary art gallery on<br />
Newbury Street.<br />
Maria Tucker lives with Kim<br />
Cheng, Kait O’Brien and Daniel<br />
Tao in the Porter Square area of<br />
Cambridge. “It’s been really fun<br />
so far because there’s always<br />
someone to hang out with,”<br />
she reported. Maria works for<br />
AdMonsters, where she writes<br />
about mobile advertising and<br />
coordinates the company’s<br />
international conference schedule.<br />
She looks forward to graduating<br />
from Harvard this spring<br />
with a master’s in archaeology<br />
of religion. Fun fact: Maria’s<br />
younger sister Angelica will be<br />
a member of the <strong>Williams</strong> Class<br />
of 2016.<br />
In DC, Bethany Baker plays<br />
rugby with Liz Hirschorn ’08.<br />
Over the winter Bethany and<br />
Hannah Rosenthal attended a<br />
national rugby tournament.<br />
Tyler Ware and EJ Toppin are<br />
holding down a “sweet bachelor<br />
110 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
From left: Brittni Micham ’10, Jess Harris ’11 and Brett Marinelli ’07<br />
became friends after meeting each other at a Tae Kwon Do class during<br />
orientation at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the fall.<br />
pad” in DC only two blocks<br />
from Chris Law. EJ is making<br />
the big decisions on Capitol Hill<br />
working for Sen. Blumenthal,<br />
while Tyler is testing his entrepreneurial<br />
skills by trying to<br />
grow his tea company (check<br />
it out on Facebook or at www.<br />
botshelotea.com). Both are<br />
sampling DC culture and nobly<br />
saving the environment by<br />
bicycling just about everywhere.<br />
“Hope everyone is doing well<br />
and say ‘Hi’ if you are in DC!”<br />
Samim Abedi is surrounded<br />
by too many copies of the New<br />
York Post “hoisted up and read<br />
by irritable Long Islanders” on<br />
the NYC trains. “All else,” he<br />
added, “is well.”<br />
Dae Selcer is still teaching<br />
high school English language<br />
arts at an International School<br />
in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam,<br />
where she won the dubious<br />
award “Teacher Who Gives<br />
the Most Homework” from<br />
the student body. She has also<br />
begun an MA in teaching ESL<br />
from Hamline University,<br />
which she will complete both in<br />
Minnesota and Ho Chi Minh<br />
City. Her one complaint is that<br />
the lack of snow in Vietnam<br />
hasn’t deterred anyone from<br />
putting up lots of snowflakeshaped<br />
Christmas lights: “Not<br />
cool, Saigon. Not cool.”<br />
At February’s end, Julianne<br />
Feder began her work at<br />
Spannocchia, where she is<br />
creating a “working master’s<br />
program” that involves a<br />
year of work on a farm, in<br />
the hospitality profession, in<br />
kitchens and restaurants, in<br />
food retail and with lots travel.<br />
Check on her status at her blog,<br />
thegastronerd.com. Julianne<br />
introduced yours truly to some<br />
of the finest dining Chicago has<br />
to offer while she was in town<br />
on business in October. We<br />
partook in oysters, the classiest<br />
of the bivalves.<br />
Kallan Wood began a dance<br />
program in NYC in January.<br />
She moved in with Sarah<br />
Ginsberg, one of many “cool<br />
kids” in the city whom Kallan is<br />
excited to hang out with.<br />
January 1 was not just the<br />
first day of the year in the<br />
Gregorian calendar, but also the<br />
one-year anniversary of Lauren<br />
Sinnenberg, Christine Jones and<br />
Stephanie Kim sharing the residential<br />
bond known as “being<br />
roommates.” The three live in<br />
Manhattan’s East Village and in<br />
January were very excited that<br />
Sarah Walmsley, Tyler Rainer<br />
and Annie Neil were to soon<br />
move into an apartment nearby<br />
in Alphabet City. No gaggle of<br />
roommates would be complete<br />
without specific social plans,<br />
though. A Hunger Gamesthemed<br />
housewarming party,<br />
Sunday night dinners and a<br />
new favorite board game, “Six<br />
Word Memoirs,” were all in the<br />
works.<br />
Cullen Roberts wrote in from<br />
Connor Kamm’s living room in<br />
Nashville, Tenn. Cullen, Nora<br />
Mitchell, Amanda Huey, Sam<br />
Jackson, Sam Blackshear, Matt<br />
Deady and Brian Citro decided<br />
to celebrate the New Year in<br />
Nashville. Only Corey Watts and<br />
Jeff Perlis were missing from the<br />
’09-’10 Milham House lineup.<br />
“It’s been a great trip so far<br />
with perfect weather and lots of<br />
awesome food,” Cullen wrote.
“As for my regular life, I’m still<br />
teaching at Choate and enjoying<br />
it a lot.”<br />
Caleb Balderston reports that<br />
his second year in Teach for<br />
America has been “so much”<br />
better than the first. “It is still<br />
more challenging than anything<br />
else I’ve ever done, but knowing<br />
what to expect, more or<br />
less, makes all the difference.”<br />
Caleb teaches math at Austin<br />
Business & Entrepreneurship<br />
Academy in the western reaches<br />
of Chicago.<br />
Cat Vielma is now “exclusively<br />
underwriting all real-estate<br />
investments west of the<br />
Rockies.” In November, she<br />
“ditched” homecoming to see<br />
Liz Pierce ’08 and Ryan Belmont<br />
’05 in Boston, where she also<br />
ran into Sammy Sawan ’06 and<br />
Maggie Tucker ’09. In December<br />
she enjoyed hosting a Christmas<br />
party with various Ephs living<br />
in the Chicago area.<br />
Christophe Dorsey-Guillaumin<br />
celebrated the New Year by<br />
moving to a new city: Chicago.<br />
Here, he works on the Obama<br />
campaign in the analytics<br />
department. “It’s super fun,” he<br />
wrote, noting that he enjoys the<br />
company of “tons of incredibly<br />
smart, politically well-informed<br />
and all-around nice people who<br />
really care about what we’re<br />
doing.” The combination of<br />
math and politics is his dream<br />
job, “and I couldn’t be more<br />
excited!”<br />
Tommy Coleman gets bonus<br />
points for writing in while being<br />
out and about in NYC with fellow<br />
alumni. He spent a January<br />
evening traversing the streets<br />
of Brooklyn and Manhattan<br />
with Vince Powell-Newman, Alex<br />
Mokover, Samim Abedi, Dave<br />
Kulik, Jim Dunn, Julia Reiser,<br />
Rachel Rosten, Cristina Diaz,<br />
Jimmy Nguyen and Jonathan<br />
Galinsky. Yours truly is looking<br />
forward to Tommy visiting<br />
Chicago from his current home<br />
in Missouri, where he is a<br />
PhD student in mathematics at<br />
Mizzou.<br />
Since I last wrote, I have<br />
thoroughly enjoyed coaching<br />
high school basketball with<br />
Maggie Scannell (formerly<br />
Miller) ’07. Other important<br />
updates include downloading<br />
and then listening to a Rick<br />
Ross mixtape, hanging out with<br />
Tanya Zhuravleva in Boston and<br />
the steady upward progression<br />
of my quest to make the perfect<br />
kale chip.<br />
Marco Sanchez wrote in with<br />
the following note: “I’m still<br />
in Switzerland, cleaning and<br />
waxing cars by day and making<br />
music dressed as a gnome<br />
by night (it’s that time of the<br />
season).”<br />
2011<br />
Caroline Chiappetti<br />
2090 Frederick Douglass Blvd.,<br />
Apt 2C<br />
New York, NY, 10026<br />
2011secretary@williams.edu<br />
So many of you wrote in this<br />
time that I have hardly any<br />
room to editorialize or wax<br />
poetic on your lives. I wrote<br />
most of this batch of notes at<br />
a coffee shop next to an older<br />
woman who mistook me for a<br />
writer (granted, I was writing)<br />
and proceeded to offer me some<br />
wonderful unsolicited advice.<br />
(“Make sure your editors know<br />
they work for you!”) When I<br />
told her I was in fact writing<br />
up class news for my college’s<br />
alumni magazine, she was most<br />
impressed I had volunteered for<br />
the position, so thank you to<br />
all of you who contributed and<br />
make this job pleasurable.<br />
To continue the tradition<br />
of beginning the notes with<br />
those who most deserve our<br />
recognition, Steph Berger was<br />
commissioned as an ensign<br />
in the U.S. Navy on Nov. 18.<br />
She is a surface warfare officer<br />
on the USS Pearl Harbor and<br />
went on deployment in early<br />
January. To send Steph goodies<br />
while she’s away, check out the<br />
Adopt-an-Eph program about<br />
which I emailed you information<br />
a while ago.<br />
Faisal Khan embarrassed himself<br />
on co-worker Alex Mendel’s<br />
first day of work on his team at<br />
Booz Allen in DC by asking him<br />
what school he graduated from.<br />
Otherwise, Faisal is enjoying<br />
DC and hangs out with the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> people he recognizes.<br />
After spending all summer and<br />
fall working as a farm manager<br />
for her parents, Casey Lyons<br />
started a fellowship at the FDA<br />
in Bethesda. Though still living<br />
at home in the DC suburbs,<br />
Casey plans to move into the<br />
city soon with hopes of reviving<br />
her social life. Nevertheless,<br />
Casey has managed to see<br />
Candace Gibson, who is studying<br />
for an MA at Georgetown, Thuy<br />
Pham and a contingent of Ephs<br />
at the Keystone XL Pipeline<br />
protest in November, and Abby<br />
Martin, Laura Staugitis and Jay<br />
Cox-Chapman ’09 at a holiday<br />
party chez Chandler Sherman<br />
n 2010–11<br />
and Julia von Hoogstraten.<br />
Casey regretfully shared that<br />
her fellow Milham housemates<br />
Ellen Stuart, Nick Arnosti, Aaron<br />
Bauer and Jake Levinson see<br />
each other frequently in San<br />
Francisco without her. True to<br />
Casey’s word, Nick and Ellen<br />
spent Thanksgiving weekend<br />
in Berkeley with Aaron Bauer,<br />
Jake Levinson and Dave Moore<br />
’10. Nick spent two months<br />
this summer traveling around<br />
Central Europe and improving<br />
his German before heading to<br />
California, where he finished<br />
his first term as a Stanford<br />
graduate student. Ellen joined<br />
Nick in Palo Alto and works as<br />
a research assistant at Stanford<br />
Law School.<br />
Nick and Ellen also joined<br />
classmates Peter Gottlieb,<br />
Marissa Pilger, Camille Chicklis<br />
and Steve Rubin to watch the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>-Amherst game at the<br />
San Francisco alumni association’s<br />
homecoming party. Steve<br />
started a PhD in computer<br />
science this fall at UC Berkeley.<br />
He reported that Camille works<br />
south of San Francisco, Peter<br />
is in grad school at Stanford,<br />
and Marissa and Julian Suhr live<br />
nearby in Berkeley.<br />
Also in Berkeley are Sasha<br />
Macko and Morgan Goodwin<br />
’08. Sasha works for the<br />
Alliance for Climate Education<br />
with a fellow Eph (Class<br />
of 2000) and a bunch of<br />
Middlebury alums. After a<br />
three-month long cross-country<br />
road trip, she is “enjoying<br />
exploring San Francisco and<br />
the Bay Area and running into<br />
random old friends from<br />
the East Coast who all happen<br />
to be out here basking in the<br />
mellow winter.”<br />
Will Slack, who is working<br />
in Madison, Wis., is one such<br />
friend who enjoyed seeing Sasha<br />
and Morgan as well as Diego<br />
Flores on a recent business trip<br />
to California. He also writes<br />
that, on a recent warmer day in<br />
Madison, he put on a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
sweatshirt before heading out—<br />
the first person he ran into that<br />
day was a <strong>Williams</strong> ’06 wearing<br />
a purple hoodie!<br />
Sarah Dewey is still holding it<br />
down in <strong>Williams</strong>town along<br />
with Corey Baldwin, as they<br />
both received teaching fellowships<br />
at the Pine Cobble School.<br />
They both live on the PC campus<br />
along with Sarah’s recently<br />
acquired dog, Gunner.<br />
“Still being in the Purple Bubble<br />
has allowed us to kick it with<br />
some other alums in the area,<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 111
CLASS NOTES<br />
including Deborah Caitlyn<br />
Cain, Kevin Snyder ’09, Dan<br />
Greenberg ’08, Kelsey Levine ’10<br />
and Jim Entwisle ’10. Being a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town native myself, it<br />
has been a slightly bizarre but<br />
awesome experience to officially<br />
include my parents, Dave ’82<br />
and Suzanne, in my social circle,<br />
which often includes outings to<br />
the Pub and the Forge, as well<br />
as the good old free, homecooked<br />
meal,” wrote Sarah.<br />
Katie White, another<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town native, spent the<br />
fall working with Professor<br />
Darra Goldstein on <strong>Williams</strong>’<br />
international website (http://<br />
international.williams.edu) and<br />
working at a Turkish restaurant<br />
in Wellesley while looking for<br />
a full-time job. The search has<br />
brought her to Boston, where<br />
she has seen KK Durante, Janna<br />
Gordon, Maddy Haff, Sarah<br />
Weber, Lizzy Barcay and Rooney<br />
Charest (among others), to<br />
New York, where she has seen<br />
Nina Cochran and Chris Serna<br />
and back to <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
where she has seen Amy Nolan,<br />
Julia Drake, JJ Augenbraum and<br />
Akemi Ueda.<br />
Across the Atlantic, Ceci<br />
Davis-Hayes works as an English<br />
teaching assistant at a public<br />
primary school in Verdun,<br />
France. Highlights so far have<br />
been mountain biking in a<br />
deep WWI trench, eating fresh<br />
baguettes and stinky cheese on<br />
a daily basis, and playing soccer<br />
at recess every day with her<br />
10-year-old students.<br />
Ellen Song is still teaching in<br />
Madrid and has been fortunate<br />
enough to see Marco Sanchez<br />
’10 in Switzerland as well as<br />
several Ephs passing through<br />
Madrid, including Mustafa<br />
Saadi ’12 and Ben Kane ’12.<br />
Ellen spent her Christmas break<br />
in Turkey with Bürge Abiral, and<br />
the two rang in the New Year<br />
together by taking shots of jäger<br />
with Bürge’s parents and watching<br />
fireworks on the streets of<br />
Istanbul.<br />
Maddie Jacobs is still teaching<br />
in Vietnam and is currently<br />
washing dishes in her shower, as<br />
water has stopped coming out<br />
of her kitchen sink’s faucet and<br />
her bathroom sink is too tiny to<br />
wash dishes in.<br />
Asad Liaqat wrote in on behalf<br />
of the Pakistani Eph contingent.<br />
Ayesha Shahid works as a<br />
features writer at Dawn <strong>News</strong>,<br />
the oldest English-language<br />
newspaper in Pakistan, and covers<br />
cultural events. According to<br />
Asad, Ayesha sometimes tires of<br />
112 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
cultural events and writes about<br />
social issues, hoping her editors<br />
don’t notice. On one such<br />
occasion she ran into Asad at a<br />
political party’s press conference<br />
in Islamabad, where he works<br />
as a research associate at the<br />
Center for Economic Research,<br />
Pakistan. Asad has been studying<br />
the learning levels of children<br />
in conflict-hit Buner and<br />
as of January has been leading<br />
a study on the belief formation<br />
of pre-primary kids in South<br />
Punjab. “Punjab, of course, is<br />
where Ayyaz Ahmed is working<br />
at Sang-e-Meel Publications,<br />
where he meets with authors<br />
by day and dreams of a digital<br />
book revolution in Pakistan by<br />
night,” wrote Asad.<br />
Emanuel Yekutiel spent 10<br />
rupees at an Internet café in<br />
Goa, India, in order to send<br />
in his news after a day of<br />
parasailing. He was about to<br />
finish month five of the Watson<br />
Fellowship adventure and was<br />
due in Australia on Jan. 19.<br />
While in India he hung out with<br />
Bhavya Reddy, and in the UK,<br />
where he spent the previous<br />
three months, he saw Jehanne<br />
Wylie in Cambridge, Fhatarah<br />
Zinnamon and Sara Ahmed in<br />
London, and visited the current<br />
WEPO kids in Oxford.<br />
Also globetrotting in 2011<br />
was Brian Borah. After spending<br />
the summer studying for<br />
the MCAT and applying to<br />
medical school, Brian flew to<br />
Guatemala in September, where<br />
he volunteered in the small<br />
town of San Lucas Tolimán<br />
until mid-December. Now<br />
trying to figure out what to do<br />
with the months that remain<br />
before medical school, he asks<br />
whether “any 2011ers want to<br />
team up and road trip?” In the<br />
meantime, Brian was planning<br />
to join Alex Reeves and Andrew<br />
Gaidus for a Poker C reunion in<br />
Jeff Putnam’s NYC apartment<br />
in January. For old time’s sake,<br />
Brian predicted they would<br />
probably “listen to jams, pay<br />
visits to Betty and steal lots of<br />
[Michael Geary’s] food.”<br />
Fellow adventure-seekers<br />
Dan Walsh and Lisa Merkhofer<br />
spent the fall mapping rockfall<br />
hazards and hot springs at<br />
Grand Teton National Park.<br />
“Before that we spent the<br />
month of September living<br />
out of a Subaru Outback<br />
(’Bruce’) and traveling the<br />
Rockies from Glacier, Wyo.,<br />
to Jasper, Canada. We also<br />
enjoyed hanging out with Peter<br />
Hick at Stanford and leaving<br />
appreciation messages for mysterious<br />
alums with <strong>Williams</strong> car<br />
stickers at Mount Rainer. We’re<br />
both now looking for new<br />
adventures in the U.S. or South<br />
America,” wrote Dan.<br />
Carol Tsoi wrote in on behalf<br />
of her Poker E housemates,<br />
many of whom have been<br />
traipsing around the world.<br />
Leigh Davis and David Phillips<br />
spent the summer WWOOFing<br />
in Spain and Italy, herding<br />
goats and making cheese. When<br />
David came back in August<br />
to start work in Boston with<br />
Deloitte Consulting, Sophie<br />
Robinson joined Leigh to<br />
WWOOF in the French countryside.<br />
Tending all of those<br />
animals made Leigh a prime<br />
applicant for veterinary school,<br />
and she is in the midst of deciding<br />
where she will matriculate<br />
next year. Sophie is now in<br />
Nashville, Tenn., working for<br />
a very busy family. Despite<br />
her long work hours, Sophie<br />
still finds the time and energy<br />
to play pickup soccer with the<br />
locals. Without a fixed itinerary,<br />
Mara Shapero is traveling<br />
through South America for the<br />
year, volunteering with different<br />
clinics in Nicaragua and Peru<br />
before applying to medical<br />
school.<br />
Stateside, Carol is an<br />
Americorps VISTA, serving<br />
at the Asian Pacific American<br />
Legal Resource Center and<br />
planning to pursue public<br />
interest law. Also serving the<br />
community is William Lee,<br />
who works as a hotel union<br />
organizer in Boston. He shares<br />
a beautiful house by the beach<br />
with Jen Rowe, Tasha Chu and<br />
Josh and Johannes Wilson. When<br />
not running outside, cooking,<br />
or hanging out with homeless<br />
three-year-olds, Jen looks for<br />
leads with environmental NGOs<br />
in Boston. Elizabeth Kalb is<br />
studying up a storm at Robert<br />
Wood Johnson Medical School<br />
in New Jersey.<br />
Nancy Dong wrote in from LA<br />
on behalf of our class’s Teach<br />
for America cohort; her fellow<br />
TFA Ephs include Emily Spine<br />
in Milwaukee, Giselle Jiminez in<br />
Houston, James Allison in DC,<br />
Gershwin Penn and Dale Markey<br />
in Arkansas, and Jon Carroll in<br />
Indianapolis.<br />
Meghan Rose Donnelly is<br />
now teaching theater classes in<br />
Wakefield, R.I. Her most recent<br />
student? Danielle Diuguid.<br />
Veronica Rabelo is enrolled in<br />
a dual PhD program in women’s<br />
studies and psychology at the
From left: Robert Kim ’11, Michael Ives ’11, Josephine Warshauer ’11,<br />
Rebecca Shoer ’13 and Brittany Baker-Brousseau ’11 ushered in <strong>2012</strong><br />
with a celebratory dinner at JoJo in NYC.<br />
University of Michigan, where<br />
she has bumped into Jake<br />
Levinson and Tatiana Fernandez.<br />
She lives with fellow rugger<br />
Emily MacLeary ’10, and they<br />
have hosted Veronica’s <strong>Williams</strong><br />
roommate Mike Semensi ’12.<br />
Andrei Baiu and Veronica have<br />
switched off visiting each other<br />
in Ann Arbor and Madison,<br />
where she has bumped into his<br />
co-worker Will Slack.<br />
Abby Martin works at the<br />
Yestermorrow Sustainable<br />
Design/Build School in<br />
Warren, Vermont. “It’s right<br />
by Sugarbush and Mad River<br />
Glen; any ’11s headed that way<br />
should say hello!”<br />
Laura Corona lives with Ariel<br />
White and Ben Atkinson in<br />
Boston.They’re all working as<br />
research assistants—Ariel at<br />
the Harvard School of Public<br />
Health, Ben at Children’s<br />
Hospital and Laura at UMass-<br />
Boston. These days, they spend<br />
a lot of time reading on the T,<br />
and enjoying having their own<br />
kitchen and paying incredibly<br />
expensive cab fares coming<br />
home from downtown bars.<br />
While sending in her news,<br />
Laura happened to be texting<br />
Harlan Dodson, so she decided<br />
to send in an update on his<br />
behalf as well. He teaches<br />
American history and economics<br />
and coaches basketball at<br />
the New Hampton School in<br />
New Hampshire.<br />
Nathaniel Lim continues his<br />
PhD program in mechanical<br />
engineering at Boston<br />
University. Tina Zeng is a project<br />
manager at an IT company in<br />
Cambridge, Mass., and volunteers<br />
her free time at Venture<br />
Cafe. She has been accepted to<br />
Tufts Dental School and will<br />
matriculate in the fall. In their<br />
spare time, Tina and Nathaniel<br />
have been working on an idea<br />
for a website, which launched<br />
at ranksocial.net. They welcome<br />
support from fellow Ephs!<br />
Our trusty class treasurer<br />
Joey Kiernan reports that he<br />
had a great time with a bunch<br />
of members from the classes<br />
of 2008-11 at the Head of the<br />
Charles in the fall, where the<br />
current men’s Eph rowers beat<br />
Trinity by over 20 seconds for<br />
their third Head of the Charles<br />
victory in four years. Though<br />
based in Boston, Joey spends a<br />
few days a week in Chicago for<br />
work.<br />
Becca Licht started work at a<br />
small consulting firm outside of<br />
Boston in July but in January<br />
relocated to NYC with the<br />
same firm and moved in with<br />
Dan Constanza and former crew<br />
teammate Liz Zhu. As much as<br />
she loved spending time with<br />
the Beacon Hill “crew crew,”<br />
which includes Jenny Schnabel,<br />
Leland Brewster, Shawn Curley<br />
and Joey Kiernan, Becca was<br />
looking forward to a change<br />
from Boston, where she grew<br />
up.<br />
Fiona Moriarty works at an art<br />
law firm in NYC and lives with<br />
Nicole Ballon-Landa in Chelsea.<br />
Fiona and Christine Chung have<br />
just started a food blog entitled<br />
“Kiimchi + Bangers” (after<br />
two notorious foods from their<br />
respective backgrounds) which<br />
will give the inside scoop on<br />
New York’s food scene with<br />
sarcastic flair.<br />
Douglas Onyango is enjoying<br />
Manhattan and learning about<br />
machines at Columbia and also<br />
n 2011<br />
runs into random Ephs in the<br />
subway. Elliot Schrok is in NYC<br />
pursuing an MA in math and<br />
spent Thanksgiving with Katrina<br />
Tulla and Iliyana Hadjistoyanova.<br />
They were graced with a visit by<br />
Catalina Stoica as well!<br />
Since moving (back) to NYC,<br />
Evan Maltby has been lucky<br />
enough to land two acting<br />
gigs, the first a production of<br />
Woychek by George Buchner,<br />
with a small company called<br />
Stasz/Pruitt Productions, and the<br />
second an ongoing job with the<br />
NiteStar Program, an educational<br />
theater company that performs<br />
in schools and community<br />
centers all around NYC.<br />
As for myself, I hosted Evan<br />
along with Chandler Sherman,<br />
Clare Quinlan, Tess Bingham,<br />
Tommy Nelson, Lauren Anstey,<br />
Chris Fox, Carla Cain-Walther,<br />
Nathaniel Basch-Gould, Jared<br />
Nourse, Maya Hislop and Eric<br />
Koenigsberg ’10 for dinner in<br />
NYC on New Year’s Eve. Also,<br />
before starting a new job, I<br />
made a spontaneous visit to the<br />
West Coast to surprise Michelle<br />
Noyer-Granacki in LA for her<br />
birthday in January. Much<br />
credit is due to Lucas Bruton for<br />
helping organize the surprise<br />
and for driving me around LA.<br />
Finally, Will Harron is living<br />
in a shack in the mountains of<br />
North Carolina, interning on a<br />
farm, herding goats and mastering<br />
key skills that <strong>Williams</strong> did<br />
not teach him, including “splitting<br />
wood, building rail fences,<br />
slaughtering chickens, driving<br />
tractors, herding cows, goats<br />
and pigs (although JAing might<br />
count towards that).” His boss’s<br />
father is John Ager ’71 and Henry<br />
Schmidt ’14 is also related to the<br />
farm. He’s there until fall <strong>2012</strong><br />
and, “would love to see more<br />
Ephs swing by these beautiful<br />
mountains, although nothing<br />
compares to seeing Greylock<br />
loom over the horizon.”<br />
Till next time, folks. Thanks<br />
for writing in!<br />
SENDPHOTOS<br />
W illiams People accepts<br />
photographs of alumni<br />
gatherings and events. Please<br />
send photos to <strong>Williams</strong><br />
magazine, P.O. Box 676,<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass. 01267-<br />
0676. High-quality digital<br />
photos may be emailed to<br />
alumni.review@williams.edu.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 113
Wedding album all dates 2011 unless noted<br />
Margaret<br />
diZerega ’02 &<br />
ChieMi SuZuki<br />
Chiemi and Margaret<br />
(right) were married<br />
Sept. 2 at Brooklyn<br />
Borough Hall in New York<br />
City. The couple, who had<br />
mutual friends in high<br />
school in California and<br />
met again in New York<br />
shortly after Margaret<br />
graduated from <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
decided to elope when<br />
the state passed a law<br />
allowing same-sex<br />
marriage last summer.<br />
anna SCholtZ ’09 & audun hePSø<br />
114 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Aug. 6, Trondheim, Norway<br />
ViCtoria WilliaMS ’09<br />
& PatriCk Stanton<br />
Oct. 9, Hallowell, Maine
Molly SharlaCh ’05<br />
& keVin hoeSChele<br />
Sept. 4, Silver Bay, N.Y.<br />
eMily WelSh ’05 & dreW gottenborg ’06<br />
laura MaSSie ’99 & brian SPitZer ’96<br />
Oct. 15, Swarthmore, Pa.<br />
March 5, Lexington, Va.<br />
liZa WelSh ’06 & tiM Pingree ’06<br />
June 18, Swarthmore, Pa.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 115
Wedding album all dates 2011 unless noted<br />
alix daViS ’03 & andreW WeiSS<br />
Alix and Andrew (fifth and sixth from right) were married on Sept. 11 in Lancaster, Pa., in a ceremony officiated by<br />
Eric Woodward ’03 (fourth from left) and including a performance of “The Rainbow Connection,” arranged and sung<br />
by Katie Saxon ’03 (second from right), featuring flute by Emmy Valet ’03 (second from left).<br />
Martha rogerS ’07<br />
& JoSé PaCaS ’08<br />
116 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
May 29, Minneapolis, Minn.<br />
Vanea norriS ’01<br />
& derek turner<br />
June 4, Gainesville, Va.<br />
Jen laZar ’04 & daniel Shearer ’04<br />
Dec. 30, 2010, Huntington, Vt.
Jennifer hendi ’99<br />
& MattheW troVato<br />
barbara CloSe ’84<br />
& Courtney horbloCk<br />
June 18, Shelter Island, N.Y.<br />
Sept. 17, New York, N.Y.<br />
Colleen gerrity ’07 & alex hogan ’07<br />
kate berenS ’04 & Craig buCki<br />
Nov. 12, Buffalo, N.Y.<br />
adrienne MaSon & Peter JohnSon ’75<br />
Oct. 2, Audubon, Pa.<br />
Oct. 9, <strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 117
Wedding album all dates 2011 unless noted<br />
aMy Shelton ’05<br />
& greg laughlin<br />
Amy and Greg (third and fourth from right) were married on Oct. 29 in Foresthill, Calif., in a ceremony officiated by Kevin<br />
Bolduc ’99 (second from right), their boss when they both worked at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, where they met.<br />
eliZabeth PreSton ’07<br />
& doug haMMond ’07<br />
118 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
Oct. 1, Syracuse, N.Y.<br />
brittany raVen & JoSh burnS ’02<br />
Aug. 27, San Francisco, Calif.<br />
liSa buxbauM ’88 & brian burke<br />
Maggie Mcdonald ’04<br />
& Jon Potter<br />
Sept. 17, Scituate, Mass.<br />
June 25, Cape May, N.J.
terri o’brien ’02 & brad hoWellS ’02<br />
anna ludeke & daVid broWn ’07<br />
Nov. 12, Berkeley, Calif.<br />
Sept. 4, Vail, Colo.<br />
aliSSa goldhaber & Peter krauSe ’02<br />
Carolyn Skudder ’07<br />
& andreW PoCiuS ’06<br />
July 23, Falmouth, Mass.<br />
ineS MaJor ’06 & kerel nurSe ’05<br />
Nov. 4, New York, N.Y.<br />
July 3, Boston, Mass.<br />
aPril <strong>2012</strong> | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | 119
Wedding album all dates 2011 unless noted<br />
lWin Mon thant & Phyo Phyu noe ’06<br />
Phyo and Lwin (center) were married on Dec. 25 in Yangon, Myanmar. <strong>Williams</strong> friends traveled from Thailand, China,<br />
Seattle and New York to attend the celebration, which spanned several days and included a religious service at a<br />
monastery, formal receptions hosted by the couple’s families and a Western dinner party.<br />
Caren MintZ ’01<br />
& JoSePh groSSMan<br />
liZ ChaSe ’03 & tad hodgSon ’03<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> People publishes photographs of weddings, commitment ceremonies and civil unions. For detailed instructions on how to submit<br />
your photo, please visit http://alumni.williams.edu/sendphoto.<br />
120 | <strong>Williams</strong> PeoPle | aPril <strong>2012</strong><br />
June 26, New York, N.Y.<br />
Aug. 20, Andover, Mass.<br />
aShley oVerlander ’07<br />
& MattheW boggia ’07<br />
eliZabeth JuSt ’04<br />
& StePhen dobay ’05<br />
Oct. 1, East Hampton, N.Y.<br />
Oct. 22, New York, N.Y.
WEDDING ALBUM<br />
1952<br />
Raymond E. George Jr. &<br />
Betsy E. LaMont, Dec. 20<br />
1961<br />
David E. Wheelock & Mary<br />
Harrington, Sept. 10<br />
1977<br />
William J. Feeney & Kathleen<br />
Marshall, June 19<br />
1988<br />
Gerald S. Kirschner & Katie<br />
Thatcher, <strong>April</strong> 16<br />
Lisa Buxbaum & Brian Burke,<br />
Sept. 17<br />
1991<br />
Cathleen Hanclich & Mark<br />
Neslusan, Aug. 6<br />
Brian D. Carlson & Kristin<br />
Simonson, Sept. 17<br />
1993<br />
Christopher M. Colburn &<br />
Katherine Longwell, Sept. 15<br />
1995<br />
Michael B. O’Connor &<br />
Kristin Philippi, July 9<br />
1996<br />
Brian Spitzer & Laura<br />
Massie ’99, March 5<br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
Jill Wasserman & Stephen<br />
Devereaux, <strong>April</strong> 30<br />
Jennifer Morgan & James<br />
Zembrzuski, June 17<br />
1999<br />
Catherine Laible & Sean<br />
Plummer, June 2<br />
2000<br />
Craig D. Branca & Melissa<br />
Roberts, Sept. 23<br />
2001<br />
Kristen Lee & Robert Webster,<br />
Aug. 21<br />
2003<br />
Joo-Hee Suh & Yeon Jae Ko,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 16<br />
Caroline Crocker & Bradford<br />
Otis, Aug. 5<br />
Alexandra Davis & Andrew<br />
Weiss, Sept. 11<br />
2004<br />
Sara Gilliam & Patrick<br />
Lonergan, Aug. 20<br />
Samuel M. Arons & Magali<br />
H. Rowan ’07, Aug. 27<br />
Sumana Cooppan & Adam<br />
Wolf, Sept. 4<br />
Liz Kaplan & Daniel Gordon,<br />
Sept. 18<br />
Elizabeth Just & Stephen<br />
Dobay ’05, Oct. 22<br />
Kathleen Berens & Craig<br />
Bucki, Nov. 12<br />
BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS<br />
1986<br />
Sofia Arabel Wagner to David<br />
Wagner, Oct. 6<br />
1989<br />
Cordelia Mya Stanley-Hunt,<br />
Dec. 2; adopted by Douglas B.<br />
Hunt, Dec. 4<br />
1990<br />
Olivia Martine Hoff Igharo to<br />
Geoffrey Igharo, <strong>April</strong> 27<br />
1991<br />
Jasper Alling Clements to<br />
Wilson Kendrick Clements,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 12<br />
2005<br />
Stephen Kelleher & Candice<br />
Corvetti ’07, July 29<br />
Emily C. Perry & Renato<br />
Lulia-Jacob, Sept. 3<br />
Molly Sharlach & Kevin<br />
Hoeschele, Sept. 4<br />
Emily Welsh & Drew<br />
Gottenborg ’06, Oct. 15<br />
Kathryn P. Dineen &<br />
Alexander W. Lawton, Oct. 22<br />
Amy D. Shelton & Gregory<br />
Laughlin, Oct. 29<br />
2006<br />
Yamilee Mackenzie & Joseph<br />
Colette, March 20, 2010<br />
Elizabeth Welsh & Timothy B.<br />
Pingree, June 18<br />
Angie Chien & Garrett<br />
Calderwood, Oct. 1<br />
2007<br />
David T. Brown & Anna C.<br />
Ludeke, Sept. 4<br />
2009<br />
Valeria Cueto & Juan D. Pava,<br />
July 22<br />
Miriam S. Foster & R.<br />
Grayson Murphy, Sept. 16<br />
Victoria <strong>Williams</strong> & Patrick<br />
Stanton, Oct. 9<br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
1993<br />
Kailyn Zoe Bierer to Gregory<br />
B. Bierer, March 5<br />
Michaela Moxon O’Connor to<br />
Rosamond Moxon O’Connor,<br />
March 10<br />
Sylvia Esther Musher-Eizenman<br />
to Dara R. Musher-Eizenman,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 25<br />
Danica Alison Piquado to Paul<br />
D.A. Piquado, Oct. 11<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | WilliAms people | 121
BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS<br />
1994<br />
Isabel Marie Almaguer to<br />
F. Daniel Almaguer, Sept. 13<br />
1995<br />
Lukas Eugene Schebesta to Emily<br />
(Sterne) Schebesta, March 15<br />
Dorothy Etta Macomber to<br />
Annie Weisman Macomber,<br />
<strong>April</strong> 6<br />
1996<br />
Max Tristan Stuhlfaut to<br />
Amanda E. Jones, <strong>April</strong> 18<br />
Ava Abebe Margaret Wolpaw<br />
to Bethlehem Abebe-Wolpaw,<br />
June 27<br />
Carolyn Witte & Harriet<br />
McGillivray Devereaux to Jill<br />
Wasserman, Aug. 23<br />
Nicole Pui Yee Poon to Shing<br />
Chi Poon, Oct. 13<br />
Anson Javier Gilman to Alexis<br />
J. Gilman, Nov. 1<br />
1997<br />
Chet William Rhodes to<br />
Jeffrey K. Rhodes, Jan. 11<br />
Axel Ham to Paul S. Ham,<br />
March 14<br />
Claire Sarah Dornin to Laird<br />
E. Dornin, <strong>April</strong> 25<br />
Emmett Muise to Amy Smith<br />
Muise, May 10<br />
Katherine Anne Hynes to<br />
Joanna (Barnes) Hynes, Aug. 17<br />
Elise Georgia Classen to<br />
Colleen (Campbell) & Greg<br />
Classen ’98, Oct. 11<br />
Nathan Ram Feit to Bob Feit,<br />
Oct. 27<br />
August Behr Swanson to<br />
Robbi Behr & Matthew<br />
Swanson, Dec. 10<br />
Whitman Boyle Ramsdell to<br />
Kate Boyle Ramsdell, Dec. 27<br />
1998<br />
Hailey Braden Stahl to<br />
Laura Davis Stahl, <strong>April</strong> 6<br />
Nola Nemser Quann to<br />
Eliza Nemser, <strong>April</strong> 23<br />
Callan Elizabeth Dalton to Erin<br />
(Thelander) Dalton, <strong>April</strong> 25<br />
Raj Edward Jain to Amy<br />
Withers Jain, <strong>April</strong> 28<br />
122 | WilliAms people | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
Ariadne Eleanor Barnes to<br />
Lauren Guth & Anthony M.<br />
Barnes, May 16<br />
Aire Furio Watkins to Robert<br />
P. Watkins, July 28<br />
Elliott Shaw Debevoise to<br />
Anne Bilby & Lyn Debevoise,<br />
Oct. 13<br />
1999<br />
Callum Paul Kelleher to Robin<br />
Paul Kelleher, March 2<br />
Eli Suver to Daniel William<br />
Suver, March 12<br />
Elizabeth Cheuk Min &<br />
Hudson Cheuk Wai Chan to<br />
Christine Chan, <strong>April</strong> 13<br />
Ryan Sawyer Linck to Brett<br />
Linck, <strong>April</strong> 21<br />
Noelle V. Osbourne-Roberts to<br />
Tamaan K. & Camille (Barker)<br />
Osbourne-Roberts ’00, July 28<br />
Sawyer Brooke Hall to Peter<br />
J. Hall & Kate Simon ’00,<br />
Sept. 14<br />
Ranvir Singh Lamba to Vikram<br />
S. Lamba, Nov. 14<br />
2000<br />
Oliver Graham Cohee to<br />
Lauren (Singer) Cohee, Feb. 20<br />
Coraline Alexandra Mann to<br />
Julianne (Anderson) & Britton<br />
R. Mann, March 21<br />
Poppy Hache Ridd to Lisa<br />
(Knappen) Ridd, <strong>April</strong> 3<br />
Cavan O’Donnell Criqui to<br />
Andrew D. Criqui, May 18<br />
Matthew Charles Sensenbrenner<br />
to Joe & Jennifer (Orr)<br />
Sensenbrenner ’01, June 17<br />
Magnus Erickson Stiefler to<br />
Todd & Jessica (Erickson)<br />
Stiefler ’01, June 26<br />
Carleigh Grace Birdsall to<br />
Alexander S. Birdsall, July 12<br />
Reece Hyland & Cormac<br />
James Eckert to Heather May<br />
Eckert, Aug. 23<br />
2001<br />
Reina Kaye Waddell to Sonya<br />
(Ravindranath) Waddell,<br />
May 20<br />
Solomon Davis Buddington to<br />
Elena Traister, May 29<br />
Molly Scott Doherty to<br />
Amanda Brokaw & Brian P.<br />
Doherty, June 5<br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
Conner Elliott Chesterton to<br />
Katherine Hadley Cornell,<br />
June 14<br />
Benjamin Jay Block to Jennifer<br />
(Berylson) Block, July 17<br />
Macrae Ross Schloat to Mike<br />
Schloat, Sept. 22<br />
Willem Moses Seaton-Wisman<br />
to Dan Seaton, Oct. 27<br />
Noah Alexander Levine to<br />
Alana Belfield Levine, Dec. 19<br />
2002<br />
Fiona Shannon G. Stanley to<br />
Jessie Grandgent Stanley,<br />
May 11<br />
Nicolas Roberto Bravo to<br />
Jose Isauro Bravo & Isabel<br />
Sanchez ’03, Sept. 17<br />
Nicanor Bartolome Brammer<br />
to Gabriel B. Brammer, Oct. 28<br />
Nicolas Emmanuel Bradley to<br />
Sebastien Jerome Bradley, Nov. 8<br />
Ashley Chang Comstock to<br />
Scott Comstock, Nov. 10<br />
Brennan Michael Sisk to<br />
Michelle (O’Brien) Sisk, Dec. 16<br />
2003<br />
Lily Mae Andruskiewicz<br />
to Katherine (Baldwin)<br />
Andruskiewicz, Feb. 2<br />
Simeon M. Piralkov to Anna<br />
(Andonova) Piralkova, Aug. 21<br />
Deacon Thomas Sanderson to<br />
Graeme C. Sanderson, Aug. 24<br />
2004<br />
Noah David Yorgey to<br />
Brent & Joyia (Chadwick)<br />
Yorgey ’05, Sept. 17<br />
Eli Joseph Hodas to Nathan<br />
Oken Hodas, Sept. 20<br />
2005<br />
Mary Clare Tomooka to Grace<br />
(Wells) Tomooka, March 21<br />
Courtland Whaley Cart to<br />
Ashley (Ulmer) & James W.<br />
Cart, Aug. 10<br />
2006<br />
Charlotte Ruth Herold to<br />
Creston D. Herold, Dec. 27
OBITUARIES<br />
1932<br />
F. TAYLOR OSTRANDER<br />
of <strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass.,<br />
Nov. 10. Ostrander was an<br />
economist. He taught at<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> for a year and spent<br />
17 years working for the U.S.<br />
government, including with<br />
the Treasury Department. He<br />
later worked in the Marshall<br />
Plan regional office in Paris<br />
before spending 20 years as<br />
assistant to the chairman of<br />
American Metal Climax. He<br />
was an adjunct professor of<br />
international business at Pace<br />
Graduate School of Business<br />
and contributed to several<br />
books on economics. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to the<br />
Liberal Club, Sigma Phi and<br />
Phi Beta Kappa. He pursued<br />
graduate studies in economics<br />
at Oxford University and<br />
at University of Chicago. He<br />
served on the executive committee<br />
of the U.S. National<br />
Commission on UNESCO<br />
and on numerous boards,<br />
including the International<br />
Center for Industry and<br />
Environment. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was class president,<br />
chair of his class’s 65th<br />
reunion and president of<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> Club of D.C.<br />
Among his survivors are three<br />
children and a granddaughter.<br />
1935<br />
OSTRANDER<br />
PRINCE H. GORDON of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, Mass., Nov.<br />
27. Gordon was a pilot with<br />
Pan American Airlines. At<br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to the<br />
football and baseball teams,<br />
<strong>College</strong> Council and Kappa<br />
Alpha. He was a U.S. Navy<br />
fighter pilot (1941-45) and<br />
served in the Naval Reserves.<br />
He belonged to the Ephraim<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Society. Among<br />
his survivors are two daughters,<br />
10 grandchildren, five<br />
stepchildren, 10 step-grandchildren,<br />
14 step-great-grandchildren<br />
and nephew Rawson<br />
C. Gordon ’62.<br />
1940<br />
ROBERT R. CAVE of Saint<br />
Louis, Mo., Oct. 3. Cave<br />
worked in estate planning<br />
and insurance for more than<br />
20 years. Previously he was<br />
co-owner and manager of<br />
The Ely & Walker Dry Goods<br />
Co. At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged<br />
to Phi Gamma Delta. He was<br />
a U.S. Navy pilot (1940-45).<br />
He belonged to the Ephraim<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Society. Among his<br />
survivors are his wife Betty, a<br />
daughter, two stepdaughters<br />
and two step-grandchildren,<br />
including Jennifer Rutledge<br />
Veraldi ’02.<br />
1942<br />
DAVID L. HART of Calais,<br />
Vt., Aug. 26. Hart was a selfemployed<br />
Jungian analyst in<br />
Swarthmore, Pa. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
he belonged to the band,<br />
choir, Kappa Alpha and Phi<br />
Beta Kappa. He was a U.S.<br />
Army Air Corps first lieutenant<br />
(1942-46). He received<br />
a PhD in psychology from<br />
University of Zurich (1957).<br />
He was author of The Water<br />
of Life: Spiritual Renewal<br />
in the Fairy Tale (2001). He<br />
was a founding member of<br />
the Pennsylvania Association<br />
of Jungian Analysts and a<br />
member of the New England<br />
Society of Jungian Analysts<br />
and the International<br />
Association of Analytical<br />
Psychology. He was president<br />
of the training board of<br />
Boston’s C.G. Jung Institute.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Demaris, two children, a<br />
stepdaughter, two grandchildren<br />
and a step-grandson.<br />
1943<br />
DAVID W. HARRIS of<br />
Seneca, S.C., Sept. 10.<br />
Harris was a psychiatrist,<br />
chief of staff of the Veteran’s<br />
Administration Hospital in<br />
Montrose, N.Y., and previously<br />
assistant superintendent<br />
of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital<br />
in D.C., where he was on<br />
the staff for 17 years. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to Delta<br />
Phi. He received a medical<br />
degree from University<br />
of Pennsylvania (1946).<br />
He served in the U.S. Navy<br />
Reserve Medical Corps<br />
(1947-49). He belonged<br />
to the American Medical<br />
Association and the American<br />
Psychiatric Association<br />
and was a diplomate of the<br />
American Board of Psychiatry<br />
and Neurology. Among his<br />
survivors are two children.<br />
C. GORHAM PHILLIPS<br />
of Vero Beach, Fla., Dec. 8.<br />
Phillips was a partner with the<br />
New York law firm Dewey,<br />
Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer<br />
& Wood, retiring in 1989 as<br />
chairman of the management<br />
committee. He was a master<br />
needle pointer whose projects<br />
included a cushion for the<br />
main altar at Westminster<br />
Abbey. At <strong>Williams</strong> he was<br />
a junior advisor, president<br />
of Gargoyle Society, Tyng<br />
scholar, editor of the Record<br />
and associate editor of Purple<br />
Cow, belonged to Delta<br />
Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta<br />
Kappa and received the<br />
William B. Turner Citizenship<br />
Prize and Dewey Prize. He<br />
served in the U.S. Army Air<br />
Corps (1943-46). He received<br />
a law degree from Harvard<br />
(1948). He was on the board<br />
of numerous organizations,<br />
including Ceverceria<br />
Corona, Junior Achievement,<br />
Petroleum Tankers and<br />
Wiener Enterprises. Among<br />
his numerous civic and<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | WilliAms people | 123
OBITUARIES<br />
professional activities he<br />
was a trustee of Kimberley<br />
School and the Montclair,<br />
N.J., Art Museum and<br />
chair of the New York Bar<br />
Association’s Section on<br />
Banking, Corporation and<br />
Business Law. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was class coagent,<br />
VP, president, gift<br />
planning chair, 25th and<br />
50th reunion fund committee<br />
member and reunion<br />
golf chair, <strong>Alumni</strong> Fund vice<br />
chair, Treasure Coast regional<br />
special gifts chairman, Tyng<br />
Bequest administrator and<br />
a member of the <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Club and Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Society. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Marty, four children,<br />
including Tacey Carroll<br />
’76, 10 grandchildren, eight<br />
great-grandchildren, nephew<br />
Richard W. Hole Jr. ’70, niece<br />
Diana Hole Strickler ’73,<br />
grandniece Elizabeth (Hole)<br />
Knake ’02 and grandnephew<br />
Edward D. Hole ’05.<br />
1945<br />
DONALD E.<br />
BRUMBAUGH of Webster,<br />
N.Y., Nov. 25. Brumbaugh<br />
was a quality control engineer<br />
at Eastman Kodak Co.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
the band and Delta Kappa<br />
Epsilon. He served in the U.S.<br />
Navy (WWII). Among his<br />
survivors are his wife Jean,<br />
two sons, including Donald<br />
V. Brumbaugh ’74, and four<br />
grandchildren.<br />
DON P. DAVIES of South<br />
Dartmouth, Mass., Aug.<br />
26. Davies was a longtime<br />
resident of Cincinnati, where<br />
he was an aeronautical engineer<br />
for General Electric. He<br />
later worked in insurance.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged<br />
to Zeta Psi. He was a U.S.<br />
Army second lieutenant, 10th<br />
Mountain Division (1943-<br />
46). He did graduate work in<br />
physics at Carnegie Mellon<br />
University. He was a member<br />
of the American Institute of<br />
Aeronautics and Astronautics.<br />
124 | WilliAms people | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
He was a volunteer with<br />
Habitat for Humanity. As a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he was a<br />
class secretary, member of the<br />
Cincinnati regional special<br />
gifts committee and admission<br />
representative. Among<br />
his survivors are his wife<br />
Mary, four children, including<br />
Stephen P. Davies ’72<br />
and David L. Davies ’77, and<br />
seven grandchildren.<br />
DAVID S. GREENBAUM<br />
of East Lansing, Mich., Aug.<br />
25. Greenbaum was professor<br />
emeritus of gastroenterology<br />
at Michigan State University<br />
and earlier was a physician<br />
at the Hunterdon Medical<br />
Center in Flemington, N.J.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
the band and Cap & Bells.<br />
He served in the U.S. Army<br />
(1943-46). He received a<br />
medical degree from Case<br />
Western Reserve University<br />
(1947). He and his wife<br />
founded the Better Art<br />
Museum Committee at MSU,<br />
and he was a reviewer for<br />
several medical journals. He<br />
won several teaching awards.<br />
He belonged to the American<br />
Medical Association,<br />
the American <strong>College</strong> of<br />
Physicians and the American<br />
Federation for Clinical<br />
Research. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he belonged to his<br />
class’s 50th reunion fund<br />
committee. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Ruth, two<br />
children, cousin Donald Stone<br />
’46, nephew Robert B. Oehler<br />
’65 and seven grandchildren.<br />
DAVID H. NASH of<br />
Belhaven, N.C., Aug. 9. Nash<br />
spent a semester at <strong>Williams</strong><br />
and enlisted in the Army<br />
Air Corps, where he was a<br />
pilot (WWII), earning the<br />
Distinguished Flying Cross,<br />
Air Medal with five oak leaf<br />
clusters and ETO Ribbon<br />
with four battle stars. He<br />
returned to <strong>Williams</strong> and<br />
belonged to Cap & Bells,<br />
Purple Cow and Chi Psi,<br />
graduating in 1947. A longtime<br />
resident of Connecticut,<br />
Nash was an advertising<br />
executive at various agencies<br />
and most recently secretary,<br />
director and VP of Dansea<br />
Enterprises Inc. In North<br />
Carolina, he was director and<br />
president of the Friends of<br />
the Brown Library and board<br />
member of Beaufort County<br />
Community <strong>College</strong> and<br />
Washington Arts Council. As<br />
a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he was a<br />
class secretary and member of<br />
the Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong> Society.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Nancy, six children,<br />
including Peter L. Nash ’69,<br />
11 grandchildren and three<br />
great-grandchildren.<br />
1946<br />
JAMES M. BARRETT III of<br />
Fort Wayne, Ind., Sept. 22.<br />
Barrett was a partner in the<br />
law firm Barrett & McNagny.<br />
He attended <strong>Williams</strong> for<br />
one year and graduated from<br />
University of Michigan-Ann<br />
Arbor (1947), from which<br />
he also received a law degree<br />
(1949). He served on the<br />
board of directors of Fort<br />
Wayne National Bank, Fort<br />
Wayne National Corp. and<br />
Fort Wayne Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra. He was chairman<br />
of the taxation section of the<br />
Indiana State Bar Association<br />
and president of Fort Wayne<br />
Art School and Museum. He<br />
drafted the Indiana Nature<br />
Preserves law and helped<br />
found the Acres Land Trust.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Patricia, three children<br />
and four grandchildren.<br />
GEORGE F. PIEPER of<br />
Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 12.<br />
Pieper was director of sciences<br />
at NASA’s Goddard<br />
Space Flight Center for more<br />
than 20 years. Previously<br />
he was an assistant professor<br />
of physics at Yale and<br />
project supervisor at Johns<br />
Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.<br />
He was a visiting scientist<br />
at the Max Planck Institute<br />
for Extra-Terrestrial Physics<br />
in Germany. At <strong>Williams</strong> he
elonged to the baseball team,<br />
Glee Club, WCFM, Gul, Cap<br />
& Bells, Phi Sigma Kappa<br />
and Phi Beta Kappa and was<br />
a Tyng scholar. He received a<br />
master’s in engineering from<br />
Cornell (1949) and a PhD<br />
in physics from Yale (1952).<br />
He received NASA’s Medal<br />
for Outstanding Scientific<br />
Achievement (1969) and<br />
Medal for Outstanding<br />
Leadership (1977). He<br />
authored many scientific articles.<br />
He was a member of the<br />
board of directors of Goddard<br />
Alliance Inc. and president<br />
of the Goddard Retirees and<br />
<strong>Alumni</strong> Association. He was<br />
a member of the American<br />
Physical Society, Washington<br />
Academy of Sciences,<br />
American Geophysical Union<br />
and American Association<br />
for the Advancement of<br />
Science. As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus<br />
he was a 50th reunion<br />
fund committee member,<br />
class secretary—for which<br />
he received the Thurston<br />
Bowl (2006)—and Ephraim<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Society member.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Barbara, two daughters<br />
and two grandchildren.<br />
JOHN W. TOWNSEND JR.<br />
of Cabin John, Md., Oct.<br />
29. Townsend was a rocket<br />
and satellite pioneer, beginning<br />
his career with the U.S.<br />
Naval Research Laboratory<br />
and later helping to establish<br />
the Goddard Space Flight<br />
Center near Greenbelt, Md.<br />
He was deputy administrator<br />
of the environmental services<br />
administration in the commerce<br />
department and then<br />
associate administrator of<br />
the National Oceanic and<br />
Atmospheric Administration.<br />
After more than 30 years<br />
of government service, he<br />
became president of Fairchild<br />
Industries Space Division,<br />
returning to lead Goddard in<br />
1987. He served in the U.S.<br />
Army Air Force (1943-46).<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged<br />
to the swim team, WCFM<br />
and Phi Sigma Kappa. He<br />
received a master’s in physics<br />
(1949) and an honorary<br />
Doctor of Science (1961),<br />
both from <strong>Williams</strong>. He was<br />
a fellow of the American<br />
Institute of Aeronautics and<br />
Astronautics, the American<br />
Meteorological Society and<br />
the American Association for<br />
the Advancement of Science.<br />
Among his many awards<br />
and honors he received the<br />
NASA Medal for Outstanding<br />
Leadership (1962), Arthur<br />
S. Flemming Award for outstanding<br />
government career<br />
service (1963) and the NASA<br />
Distinguished Service Medal<br />
(1971, 1990). He was elected<br />
to the National Academy<br />
of Engineering (1975). As<br />
a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he<br />
belonged to his class’s 50th<br />
reunion fund committee and<br />
the Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong> Society.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife JoAnn, three children<br />
and three grandchildren.<br />
1947<br />
TOWNSEND<br />
RICHARD J. BROWN<br />
of Clayton, N.Y., June 27.<br />
Brown was a U.S. Navy<br />
fighter pilot (WWII) before<br />
entering <strong>Williams</strong>, where he<br />
belonged to Outing Club,<br />
Flying Club, Theta Delta Chi<br />
and the ski and cross-country<br />
teams. He owned Gold Cup<br />
Farms retail and wholesale<br />
cheese business. Previously<br />
he worked in the Sauquoit<br />
Valley Dairy. He was a director<br />
of Adirondack Cheese Inc.<br />
Among his survivors are four<br />
children, brother Martin A.<br />
Brown ’40, nine grandchildren,<br />
two great-grandchildren<br />
and niece Melissa Brown ’78.<br />
1948<br />
ROBERT L. NELSON of<br />
Tulsa, Okla., Aug. 4. Nelson<br />
left <strong>Williams</strong> to serve in the<br />
U.S. Army 10th Mountain<br />
Division as a first lieutenant<br />
(1943-46). He returned to<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> and belonged to the<br />
track and swim teams, Sigma<br />
Phi and Phi Beta Kappa and<br />
was a Tyng scholar. He was<br />
a geophysicist with Amoco<br />
Corp. for more than 30 years,<br />
serving as division manager<br />
and later exploration systems<br />
manager. He received<br />
a master’s (1950) and PhD<br />
(1952) in geophysics, both<br />
from California Institute of<br />
Technology. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was an admission<br />
representative. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Anne, two<br />
sons, including R. Eric Nelson<br />
’72, three grandchildren and a<br />
great-grandson.<br />
LEWIS S. SOMERS III of<br />
Lafayette Hill, Pa., Aug.<br />
30. Somers was founder<br />
and chairman of BioChem<br />
Technology and Harmac<br />
Medical Products. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to the<br />
crew, track and cross-country<br />
teams as well as the Record,<br />
Purple Key Society and Phi<br />
Sigma Kappa. He served in<br />
the U.S. Army (1946-48). He<br />
was a member of the New<br />
York Academy of Sciences,<br />
the American Society for<br />
Artificial Internal Organs,<br />
the International Society of<br />
Nephrology and the U.S.<br />
Department of Commerce<br />
Industry Sector Advisory<br />
Committee. Among his survivors<br />
are three children, including<br />
John F. Somers ’82, and<br />
two grandchildren.<br />
WILLIAM R. WESSON of<br />
Mantoloking, N.J., Nov. 26.<br />
Wesson was a U.S. Navy<br />
lieutenant before entering<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | WilliAms people | 125
OBITUARIES<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>, where he belonged<br />
to the sailing team and<br />
Delta Psi. He also received a<br />
bachelor’s degree from MIT<br />
(1950). He was a stockbroker<br />
at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and<br />
then Laidlaw, Adams & Peck<br />
and Dominick & Dominick.<br />
He was treasurer and tax<br />
collector for the Borough of<br />
Mantoloking. He belonged to<br />
the Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong> Society.<br />
Among his survivors are four<br />
children, four grandchildren<br />
and one great-grandchild.<br />
1951<br />
EDWARD CHILDS of<br />
Falmouth, Mass., July 3.<br />
Childs served in the U.S.<br />
Army (1945-46) before<br />
entering <strong>Williams</strong>, where<br />
he was a junior advisor and<br />
baseball team manager and<br />
belonged to the hockey and<br />
football teams, Gargoyle<br />
Society, Purple Key Society<br />
and Delta Psi. For 38 years<br />
he was a teacher, coach and<br />
administrator at several New<br />
England private schools,<br />
including Cape Cod Academy,<br />
Middlesex School and<br />
Salisbury School. He received<br />
a master’s in history from<br />
Boston University (1957).<br />
He was inducted into the<br />
Middlesex School Hall of<br />
Fame (2004). As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was a regional<br />
president and secretary.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
companion Betsy Ingraham,<br />
four children, including<br />
William Childs ’81, six<br />
grandchildren and a greatgrandson.<br />
THEODORE G.<br />
CONGDON of Pasadena,<br />
Calif., Jan. 5. Congdon was<br />
senior VP and chairman of<br />
the board of Boston Safe<br />
Deposit & Trust Co., later<br />
Mellon Bank. He began his<br />
career as a securities analyst<br />
at Dean Witter. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
he belonged to Cap & Bells,<br />
choir and Alpha Delta Phi.<br />
He was a U.S. Army second<br />
lieutenant (1951-53).<br />
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All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
He received an MBA from<br />
Harvard (1956). He was<br />
president of the L.A. Society<br />
of Financial Analysts and<br />
Friends of the Huntington<br />
Library and chairman of the<br />
American Art Council at the<br />
L.A. County Museum of Art.<br />
He was a board member of<br />
the L.A. Master Chorale and,<br />
with his wife Eleanor, helped<br />
found the original Music<br />
Center in L.A. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was an associate<br />
class agent. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Eleanor, four<br />
children, including Caroline<br />
C. Dove ’78 and Theodore<br />
G. Congdon Jr. ’81, and five<br />
grandchildren.<br />
JOHN F. RAYNOLDS<br />
of Vero Beach, Fla., Nov.<br />
11. A longtime resident of<br />
Greenwich, Conn., Raynolds<br />
was president and CEO of<br />
Outward Bound USA, Ward<br />
Howell international search<br />
firm and the National Peace<br />
Garden Foundation. Earlier<br />
he was an executive at Mars<br />
Inc., Butcher & Sherrard<br />
and Heede Industries. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he was a junior advisor<br />
and belonged to Chi Psi<br />
and the football team. As an<br />
undergraduate he was a New<br />
England Golden Gloves boxer.<br />
He served in the U.S. Navy<br />
(Korean War), helped found<br />
the Navy Seals and served<br />
with the U.S. Intelligence<br />
Agency. He was on the<br />
boards of the International<br />
Executive Service Corps, the<br />
John F. Kennedy School of<br />
Government Advisory Board<br />
and the Shackleton Schools,<br />
which he founded. He wrote<br />
several books, including<br />
Leadership the Outward<br />
Bound Way: Becoming<br />
a Better Leader in the<br />
Workplace, in the Wilderness,<br />
and in Your Community<br />
(2007). He received honorary<br />
degrees from Lynchburg<br />
<strong>College</strong> (1991) and Green<br />
Mountain <strong>College</strong> (1999)<br />
and the Kurt Hahn Award<br />
from Outward Bound (2007).<br />
As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he<br />
was an associate class agent,<br />
belonged to the Ephraim<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> Society and received<br />
a Bicentennial Medal (2009).<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Eileen, three children,<br />
two stepchildren and six<br />
grandchildren.<br />
1952<br />
RODNEY L. SKUTT of<br />
Denver, Colo., Sept. 21.<br />
Skutt was an account<br />
executive at Previews Inc.<br />
and The Western Corp. He<br />
spent three years at <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
where he belonged to Phi<br />
Delta Theta. He graduated<br />
from the University of<br />
Denver (1953). Among his<br />
survivors are three children<br />
and eight grandchildren.<br />
KEVIN H. WHITE of<br />
Boston, Mass., Jan. 27,<br />
<strong>2012</strong>. White was an<br />
assistant district attorney<br />
for Suffolk County and then<br />
Massachusetts secretary<br />
of state before serving as<br />
Boston mayor from 1968-<br />
84. He was credited as<br />
a civil rights leader and<br />
with revitalizing Quincy<br />
Market and redeveloping<br />
the waterfront, among many<br />
other initiatives. He later was<br />
a communications professor<br />
at Boston University. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> Christian<br />
Association, Outing Club<br />
and Phi Delta Theta. He<br />
received a law degree from<br />
Boston <strong>College</strong> (1955). He<br />
WHITE
eceived numerous awards<br />
and honorary degrees and<br />
served on several dozen civic<br />
and professional boards.<br />
As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus<br />
he was an alumni trustee<br />
(1976-81) and received an<br />
honorary degree (1968) and<br />
Bicentennial Medal (2004).<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Kathryn, five children,<br />
including Mark H. White<br />
’80, and 10 grandchildren.<br />
1953<br />
PHILIP A. INGWERSEN<br />
JR. of Exeter, N.H., Sept. 29.<br />
Ingwersen was an engineer at<br />
Raytheon and MIT Lincoln<br />
Laboratory. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa.<br />
He was a U.S. Navy lieutenant<br />
(1953-57). He received<br />
a master’s in applied physics<br />
from Harvard (1958). Among<br />
his survivors are his wife<br />
Jean, two children and three<br />
grandchildren.<br />
JOHN H. JUDGE of Hilton<br />
Head, S.C., Nov. 6. Judge<br />
worked for First National<br />
Bank in New York. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to Psi<br />
Upsilon, <strong>Williams</strong> Christian<br />
Association, Outing Club,<br />
the yacht club and the hockey<br />
team. He was a U.S. Navy<br />
officer (Korean War). He was<br />
inducted into the Herreshoff<br />
Marine Museum Hall of<br />
Fame (2011). Among his<br />
survivors are his wife Mary,<br />
two daughters and five<br />
grandchildren.<br />
1954<br />
DAVID A. WEST of<br />
Wolfeboro Falls, N.H., Dec.<br />
29. West spent 25 years in<br />
the U.S. Air Force, including<br />
two years in Vietnam, retiring<br />
as colonel. He received a<br />
number of military decorations,<br />
including the Silver Star,<br />
Distinguished Flying Cross,<br />
Purple Heart and Air Medal<br />
with five oak leaf clusters.<br />
He then worked as quality<br />
assurance program manager<br />
at Lockheed Martin Corp.<br />
in Florida. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to the lacrosse and<br />
wrestling teams and Phi Delta<br />
Theta. He received an MBA<br />
from George Washington<br />
University (1965). Among<br />
his survivors are his wife<br />
Dorothy, three daughters and<br />
11 grandchildren.<br />
1955<br />
PETER B. FARNSWORTH<br />
of North Salem, N.Y., Nov.<br />
6. Farnsworth was director<br />
of pediatrics at Westchester<br />
County Medical Center and<br />
later director of the Division<br />
of Scientific Activities at the<br />
Medical Society of the State<br />
of New York. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to Kappa Alpha and<br />
the Outing Club. He received<br />
a medical degree from McGill<br />
University (1959). He was a<br />
U.S. Air Force captain (1963-<br />
65). He was president of the<br />
Westchester County Medical<br />
Society and the Westchester<br />
Academy of Medicine, a diplomate<br />
of the American Board<br />
of Pediatrics and a fellow<br />
of the American Academy<br />
of Pediatrics. He belonged<br />
to the Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Society. Among his survivors<br />
are five children and six<br />
grandchildren.<br />
CHARLES F. GUNTHER<br />
of Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 5.<br />
Gunther was assistant director<br />
of education at the Toledo<br />
Museum of Art and chairman<br />
of the University of Toledo<br />
art department. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
he was a member of the<br />
Record, WCFM, Beta Theta<br />
Pi and the football team.<br />
He received a master’s in<br />
studio art from University of<br />
Colorado-Boulder (1958). He<br />
received the President’s Award<br />
from the Arts Commission<br />
of Greater Toledo (1990).<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Barbara, three children<br />
and five grandchildren.<br />
EDWARD D. REEVES JR. of<br />
Topsham, Maine, Dec. 23. A<br />
longtime resident of Summit,<br />
N.J., Reeves was owner<br />
and president of Templar<br />
Foods. Previously he worked<br />
for Tenco. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to the track team<br />
and Delta Psi. He was a U.S.<br />
Navy seaman (1957-58). He<br />
was a member of the Summit<br />
Volunteer First Aid Squad and<br />
president of the Summit Child<br />
Care Center. As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he was class president<br />
and belonged to his<br />
class’s 50th reunion fund<br />
committee. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Ann, five<br />
children, including E. Duer<br />
Reeves III ’81, and 13 grandchildren,<br />
including Timothy<br />
K. Lengel ’11.<br />
1956<br />
REEVES<br />
L. TONY FISHER of Morris<br />
Plains, N.J., July 19. Fisher<br />
was a financial analyst at<br />
Moody’s Investors in New<br />
York and banker with Chase<br />
Manhattan Bank. He served<br />
in the U.S. Army (1957-60).<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
the choral club and Purple<br />
Key Society. He received an<br />
MBA from NYU (1966). As<br />
a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he was<br />
class treasurer, associate class<br />
agent, class agent and a member<br />
of his class’s 50th reunion<br />
fund committee. He belonged<br />
to the <strong>Williams</strong> Club and<br />
Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong> Society.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Carolyn, a stepdaughter,<br />
a granddaughter and niece<br />
Sharon Glick ’93.<br />
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OBITUARIES<br />
JAMES W. INNES of<br />
Greenwich, Conn., Aug. 29.<br />
Innes served in the U.S. Navy<br />
before entering <strong>Williams</strong>,<br />
where he belonged to the<br />
Outing Club, Record, Flying<br />
Club, Sigma Phi, the football<br />
team and Phi Beta Kappa.<br />
He received a medical degree<br />
from Cornell (1960). He was<br />
a physician in private practice,<br />
specializing in internal medicine<br />
and gastroenterology. He<br />
was assistant clinical professor<br />
at Yale University School of<br />
Medicine and chief of gastroenterology<br />
at Greenwich<br />
Hospital. He served on the<br />
legislative advisory committee<br />
for the Fairfield County<br />
Medical Association and the<br />
public affairs committee of<br />
the Connecticut State Medical<br />
Society. In Greenwich he<br />
served on the Board of Ethics,<br />
the Board of Education and<br />
on the town’s legislative body.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Ellie, two daughters, two<br />
grandchildren and brother<br />
John P. Innes II ’55.<br />
MARK M. SAULNIER of<br />
Summit, N.J., Aug. 8. Saulnier<br />
was VP at Bank of New York.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
WCFM, <strong>College</strong> Council<br />
and Phi Sigma Kappa. As a<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he was a<br />
class agent, gift planning chair<br />
and member of his class’s<br />
50th reunion fund committee<br />
and the Ephraim <strong>Williams</strong><br />
Society. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Bonnie, two children,<br />
including Peter Saulnier<br />
’83, and three grandchildren.<br />
THEODORE C. SLOSSON<br />
JR. of Santa Fe, N.M., March<br />
20. Slosson was CEO of<br />
Theodore C. Slosson Jr. &<br />
Assoc. management consultants.<br />
Previously he was<br />
a partner at Goodbody &<br />
Co. in N.Y. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to Chi Psi. He was<br />
a U.S. Army first lieutenant<br />
(1950-53), receiving a Bronze<br />
Star Medal. Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Joyce, three<br />
children and a granddaughter.<br />
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All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
1957<br />
HUGH R. ENNIS of Naples,<br />
Fla., Nov. 30. Ennis worked<br />
with the U.S. Department<br />
of State and the CIA. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he was a member<br />
of Phi Gamma Delta and<br />
the squash team and was cocaptain<br />
of the baseball team.<br />
He was a U.S. Air Force first<br />
lieutenant. He received the<br />
Intelligence Medal of Merit.<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Kathleen, four children,<br />
including Gregory Ennis ’93,<br />
and five grandchildren.<br />
1961<br />
F. RAYMOND DRURY<br />
of Staunton, Va., Aug. 30.<br />
Drury was VP and director<br />
of group sales and marketing<br />
for Hartford Insurance Group<br />
and then senior VP and COO<br />
of the TransGeneral Life<br />
Insurance Co. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
he belonged to the Outing<br />
Club, wrestling team and<br />
Phi Sigma Kappa. He served<br />
in the U.S. Marine Corps<br />
(1962-63). Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Pat, two<br />
children, two stepchildren,<br />
seven grandchildren and two<br />
step-grandchildren.<br />
1962<br />
EMIL A. KRATOVIL JR.<br />
of Charlottesville, Va., Aug.<br />
1. Kratovil was a partner in<br />
the admiralty and maritime<br />
law firm Haight, Gardner,<br />
Poor & Havens in N.Y.C. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to the<br />
rugby, football, sailing and ice<br />
hockey teams, Cap & Bells<br />
and Delta Psi. He served in<br />
the U.S. Marine Corps (1963-<br />
66) and in the Marine Corps<br />
Reserves, attaining the title<br />
of captain. He received a law<br />
degree from University of<br />
Virginia (1968). As a <strong>Williams</strong><br />
alumnus he belonged to his<br />
class’s 25th reunion fund<br />
committee. Among his survivors<br />
are his companion Janie<br />
Barnes and two sons.<br />
IRVING C. MARCUS of<br />
Short Hills, N.J., Nov. 14.<br />
Marcus was a senior partner<br />
at Lasser Hochman. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> he belonged to<br />
the Record, Outing Club,<br />
Phi Sigma Kappa and Phi<br />
Beta Kappa. He received a<br />
law degree from Harvard<br />
(1965). He belonged to the<br />
N.J. Board of Bar Examiners.<br />
As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus he<br />
belonged to his class’s 25th<br />
reunion fund committee and<br />
the regional special gifts committee.<br />
Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Harriet, daughters<br />
Sarah Marcus Barton ’89 and<br />
Miriam Marcus Karas ’91<br />
and five grandchildren.<br />
ALBERT G. WHITE of<br />
Snohomish, Wash., Aug. 17.<br />
A longtime resident of Vail,<br />
Colo., White owned and<br />
managed Rams-Horn Lodge.<br />
He later worked for Coldwell<br />
Banker/Timberline Real<br />
Estate and owned Financial<br />
Alternatives. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to Kappa Alpha.<br />
He was a director of the Vail<br />
Metropolitan Recreation<br />
District and a town councilman,<br />
mayor pro-tem and<br />
chairman of the charter commission<br />
and planning commission.<br />
Among his survivors<br />
are three daughters, six grandchildren<br />
and brother Thomas<br />
R. White III ’60.<br />
1963<br />
MARK L. TEITELBAUM<br />
of Baltimore, Md., July<br />
14. Teitelbaum was associate<br />
professor of psychiatry<br />
emeritus at The Johns<br />
Hopkins University School<br />
of Medicine. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to the band, Delta<br />
Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. He<br />
received a medical degree<br />
from Cornell (1967). He was<br />
a U.S. Air Force major (1969-<br />
71). He was president of the<br />
Maryland Liaison Psychiatry<br />
Association. He belonged to<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> Club. Among<br />
his survivors are his wife<br />
Sandy, two children, including
Joshua C. Teitelbaum ’93,<br />
and two grandchildren.<br />
1965<br />
AKISOFERI M. OGOLA<br />
of Entebbe, Uganda, Dec. 3.<br />
Ogola was a member of the<br />
7th Parliament of Uganda,<br />
representing West Budama<br />
South. Previously he was<br />
permanent secretary at the<br />
Ministry of Financial Planning<br />
and Economic Development,<br />
and he was a constituent<br />
assembly delegate, contributing<br />
to the crafting of Uganda’s<br />
constitution. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
was co-captain of the cross<br />
country team and belonged<br />
to Delta Psi. Among his survivors<br />
is a son.<br />
1966<br />
PETER D. GALLAGHER of<br />
San Anselmo, Calif., Oct. 11.<br />
Gallagher was a partner with<br />
D. Wahler Associates and Belz<br />
& Associates architecture<br />
firms and project manager<br />
at Woodford/Sloan AIA<br />
Architects. At <strong>Williams</strong> he<br />
belonged to Cap & Bells and<br />
was soccer team manager and<br />
Zeta Psi president. He served<br />
in the U.S. Navy (1966-69)<br />
and in the Naval Reserves,<br />
retiring in 1989. He received a<br />
bachelor’s in architecture from<br />
Heald Institute of Technology<br />
(1976). Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Susan and three<br />
children.<br />
1968<br />
PAUL R. MUNIZ of<br />
Berkeley, Calif., July 27.<br />
Muniz was a community<br />
organizer for United<br />
Farm Workers of America,<br />
worked at the Nicaraguan<br />
Information Center and<br />
then was deputy counsel<br />
for Contra Costa County<br />
for 27 years, representing<br />
Children and Family Services.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> he worked at<br />
WCFM. He was a U.S. Army<br />
specialist (1969-72), receiving<br />
a Vietnam Campaign Medal<br />
and Army Commendation<br />
Medal. He received an MBA<br />
from University of Oregon<br />
(1975) and a law degree<br />
from University of California<br />
Hastings <strong>College</strong> of Law<br />
(1982). He was a board member<br />
of the Institute for Central<br />
American Studies. Among his<br />
survivors are his wife Tyche,<br />
five children and a grandson.<br />
1969<br />
ROBERT A. LEE of South<br />
Burlington, Vt., Sept. 18.<br />
Lee was a United Church<br />
of Christ pastor for almost<br />
40 years, working in<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, on Long<br />
Island, in Willamette, Ill., and,<br />
most recently, for 19 years as<br />
senior minister of Burlington<br />
First Congregational Church.<br />
He received a master of<br />
divinity from Iliff School of<br />
Theology (1973) and an honorary<br />
degree from Chicago<br />
Theological Seminary (1986).<br />
He was a founding member<br />
of Christians for Justice<br />
Action, vice chair of the UCC<br />
Executive Council, director<br />
of the Justice and Witness<br />
Ministries and trustee of the<br />
UCC Pension Board. He<br />
published a book of sermons,<br />
Roads Less Traveled (2011).<br />
Among his survivors are his<br />
wife Donna, three sons and<br />
two grandsons.<br />
1974<br />
RONNIE S. KRAUSS of<br />
Irvington, N.Y., Nov. 21.<br />
LEE<br />
Krauss was a seven-time<br />
Emmy Award-winning children’s<br />
TV writer and producer,<br />
first at Lancit Media<br />
Productions and then on<br />
a self-employed basis. At<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> she belonged to the<br />
squash team and Phi Beta<br />
Kappa. She was on the board<br />
of directors of the Irvington<br />
Children’s Center, wrote 14<br />
children’s books and received<br />
the George Foster Peabody<br />
Award. As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumna<br />
she was an editor of her 25th<br />
reunion class book. Among<br />
her survivors are her husband<br />
Paul Tobey and two sons.<br />
1979<br />
KRISTIN N. DJUROP of<br />
Natick, Mass., Aug. 18.<br />
Djurop was a librarian and<br />
manager of library research<br />
and instructional services at<br />
Babson <strong>College</strong>. Previously<br />
she worked at MIT’s<br />
Dewey Library and Suffolk<br />
University’s Sawyer Library.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> she belonged<br />
to the handbell choir and<br />
choral society. She received<br />
a master’s in library science<br />
from Simmons <strong>College</strong> (1982)<br />
and an MBA from Suffolk<br />
University (1999). She was a<br />
board member of the Friends<br />
of the Morse Institute Library,<br />
belonged to the SLA Boston<br />
Program Committee and<br />
was newsletter editor for the<br />
Natick Garden Club. It is<br />
unknown whether she has<br />
any survivors.<br />
NINA E. MURPHY of<br />
South Kent, Conn., Sept. 12.<br />
Murphy worked in advertising<br />
at McCann-Erickson and<br />
later as VP and senior writer<br />
at Wells, Rich, Greene. She<br />
was instrumental in founding<br />
the Heart of the Healer<br />
Foundation, a nonprofit<br />
committed to bridging the<br />
gap between indigenous<br />
cultural traditions and the<br />
modern world. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
she belonged to Outing<br />
Club, the Record and Phi<br />
Beta Kappa and was swim<br />
<strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong> | WilliAms people | 129
OBITUARIES<br />
team captain. She received a<br />
master’s in journalism from<br />
Columbia (1980). She served<br />
on the <strong>Williams</strong> Club Board<br />
of Governors. Among her<br />
survivors are her mother and<br />
two siblings.<br />
1981<br />
JANE (ROTCH)<br />
BOISSEVAIN of Esmont,<br />
Va., Oct. 5. Boissevain<br />
worked for 20 years at<br />
the University of Virginia<br />
(UVA), including as program<br />
director of the Center for<br />
the Study of Mind and<br />
Human Interaction and as<br />
associate director of the<br />
Center for Global Health.<br />
At <strong>Williams</strong> she belonged<br />
to the soccer and lacrosse<br />
teams, the band, Lehman<br />
Council, handbell choir<br />
and Phi Beta Kappa. She<br />
received a master’s in public<br />
health from UVA (2011).<br />
She received the Leonard<br />
Sandridge Award for<br />
Outstanding Contribution<br />
to the University, UVA’s<br />
highest employee award.<br />
As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumna<br />
she was an admission<br />
representative. Among her<br />
survivors are her husband<br />
Frederick, son Jeremy R.<br />
de Moleyns Boissevain ’15,<br />
a stepdaughter and a stepgranddaughter.<br />
130 | WilliAms people | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2012</strong><br />
MURPHY<br />
All dates 2011 unless noted<br />
1984<br />
SCOTT M. CORNGOLD<br />
of Avila Beach, Calif., Nov.<br />
26. Corngold worked in<br />
publishing and as a freelance<br />
writer before being ordained<br />
as a rabbi in 1999. He served<br />
at Temple Shaaray Tefila in<br />
N.Y.C. and Temple Emanu-El<br />
in Lynbrook, N.Y. Most<br />
recently he led Congregation<br />
Beth David in San Luis<br />
Obispo, Calif. At <strong>Williams</strong><br />
he belonged to Purple Key,<br />
Jewish Association and Phi<br />
Beta Kappa. He received<br />
a master’s in Hebrew letters<br />
from Hebrew Union<br />
<strong>College</strong> (1997). He belonged<br />
to the San Luis Obispo<br />
Ministerial Association and<br />
the Association of Reform<br />
Zionists of America. Among<br />
his survivors are his parents.<br />
1989<br />
DAVID L. GAILLARD of<br />
Bozeman, Mont., Dec. 31.<br />
Gaillard was a wildlife conservationist<br />
with the Greater<br />
Yellowstone Coalition,<br />
Predator Conservation<br />
Alliance (now Keystone<br />
Conservation) and, most<br />
recently, Defenders of<br />
Wildlife. At <strong>Williams</strong> he was<br />
an Outing Club board member.<br />
He received a master’s<br />
in environmental studies<br />
from Yale School of Forestry<br />
(1997). He served on the<br />
board of directors of Wild<br />
Things Unlimited and was<br />
active with the Craighead<br />
GAILLARD<br />
Institute. He was co-president<br />
of the Irving School parent<br />
council, tutoring elementary<br />
school math and leading field<br />
trips. As a <strong>Williams</strong> alumnus<br />
he was an admission representative.<br />
Among his survivors<br />
are his wife Kerry, a daughter,<br />
two stepchildren and brother<br />
Tom Gaillard ’84.<br />
Other Deaths<br />
PIERRE LOISEL PAPIN ’20<br />
of St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 19,<br />
1964<br />
ROCCO D. BRUNO ’38<br />
of Danbury, Conn., Feb. 21,<br />
1988<br />
JOHN HARMAN<br />
BUSSER ’42 of Tampa, Fla.,<br />
Jan. 24, 2009<br />
JOHN LIGHT II ’46 of<br />
Melbourne, Fla., Nov. 21<br />
EDWARD R. PERRY ’46 of<br />
Stow, Mass., Sept. 11<br />
JEAN E. BENNETT JR. ’48<br />
of Pacifica, Calif., Feb. 8<br />
JEFFERSON D. ROBINSON<br />
III of Granville, Ohio, Aug. 26<br />
ROBERT S. BLOSSOM ’49<br />
of Pacific Palisades, Calif.,<br />
July 8<br />
GILBERT A. QUINTANA<br />
’50 of West End, N.C.,<br />
May 6, 2008<br />
CHAPIN B. WEED ’50 of<br />
Fletcher, N.C., Nov. 13<br />
PERKINS B. BASS III ’52 of<br />
Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 23<br />
BRUCE M. BEATTY ’52<br />
of Carlsbad, Calif., Dec. 25,<br />
2010<br />
JOHN T. PATTERSON ’62<br />
of Glendale, Calif., Feb. 7,<br />
2005<br />
Of Note<br />
A photograph of<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town doctor Robert<br />
K. Davis accompanied<br />
an obituary for Robert J.<br />
Davis ’44 in the December<br />
2011 <strong>Williams</strong> People. We<br />
apologize for the error.<br />
Obituaries are written based on<br />
information that alumni and<br />
their families have supplied to<br />
the college over the years.
AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY<br />
One of the charges of the <strong>Alumni</strong> Relations<br />
Office is to monitor alumni opinion on matters<br />
relating to <strong>Williams</strong> and the Society of <strong>Alumni</strong>.<br />
Occasionally, we find a significant volume<br />
of your thoughts, comments, questions and<br />
observations gathering around a specific issue<br />
or event. November’s hate crime was one such<br />
case, and I’d like to share some of what we’ve<br />
heard from you—as well as the on-campus<br />
response—since then.<br />
As most of you are aware, in the early hours<br />
of Saturday, Nov. 12, the words “all n******<br />
must die” were written on a hallway wall in<br />
the Prospect House residence hall. While much<br />
of the campus, unaware of the event, was<br />
celebrating Homecoming Weekend, a group of<br />
students, faculty administrators and a handful<br />
of alumni engaged in an initial conversation to<br />
grapple with the realities of this horrific act. Late<br />
on Sunday, the decision was made to cancel<br />
Monday classes to allow the community to come<br />
together, acknowledge the damage caused<br />
and listen to one another. During Monday’s<br />
three-hour open forum, students of varied<br />
backgrounds shared their personal stories of<br />
discrimination at <strong>Williams</strong>.<br />
President Adam Falk sent an email to all<br />
alumni that same Monday morning, informing<br />
you of the incident and the college’s decision to<br />
pause from its routine. Initial alumni response<br />
reflected three central themes: a desire to see<br />
the perpetrator(s) apprehended; opinions on the<br />
decision to cancel classes (a significant majority<br />
supported it, while some expressed concern that<br />
the college overreacted); and frustration that<br />
the <strong>Williams</strong> community was struggling, once<br />
again, with a racial incident. This last point was<br />
expressed primarily by alumni of the past decade<br />
and shared directly with the college via a handful<br />
of alumni-organized efforts and on social media<br />
networks of fellow Ephs.<br />
Two campus groups were formed in the<br />
aftermath of the incident and are hard at work<br />
this semester. One is a task force of students,<br />
faculty and staff appointed by President Falk<br />
to determine the best protocol for response to<br />
bias incidents of all kinds. This includes support,<br />
communication, investigation and other efforts<br />
to best serve those targeted by incidents and the<br />
<strong>Williams</strong> community as a whole. The second is a<br />
student group called Students Against Silence,<br />
which has overseen the formation of several<br />
task forces to address issues of inclusion in eight<br />
areas: the first-year experience, residential life<br />
for upperclassmen, classroom culture, curriculum,<br />
identity, social life, community values and public<br />
discussion.<br />
We continue to hear from you with questions<br />
about the incident and the climate on campus.<br />
Some ask why this is considered a hate crime<br />
(exacting federal crime definitions are clear) and<br />
if students really felt threatened (student fear<br />
was very real, which pains us all). Awareness and<br />
understanding of these experiences is just one<br />
step in creating a <strong>Williams</strong> where every member<br />
of this community can claim her or his place<br />
within it.<br />
Best wishes from <strong>Williams</strong>town,<br />
Brooks L. Foehl ’88<br />
Director of <strong>Alumni</strong> Relations<br />
bfoehl@williams.edu<br />
Outgoing Society of <strong>Alumni</strong> President, Christopher F.<br />
Giglio ’89, talks about his term in office here
Editorial Offices<br />
P.O. Box 676<br />
<strong>Williams</strong>town, MA<br />
01267-0676