April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

CLASS NOTES
by his employer, Cambridge
Associates, and made the most of
it. “Highlights included a month
at our family’s rustic lakeside
cabin in Maine, a trip to Oregon
to visit the last living first cousin
in my father’s generation at
her retreat at Camp Sherman,
and the icing on the cake was
a solo trip to New Zealand for
a week of guided fly-fishing,
which began at the Lake Rotoroa
Lodge on the South Island and
ended in Turangi on the North
Island. I returned to reality—and
work—the Monday following
Thanksgiving. Family is doing
well, as daughter Samantha ’09
is a third-year medical student
at the University of Chicago,
and son Trip is a senior at Colby
and heavily into winter training
for the men’s crew team. Sally
continues her performing and
teaching career, notably having
been hired as adjunct professor
at Queens College for the spring
semester to teach a course in her
specialty, Baroque performance.
So life is good. Hope everyone
else can say the same.”
Marty Lafferty wrote that the
second annual Content in the
Cloud Conference within the
2012 Consumer Electronics
Show, which was conducted
by the Distributed Computing
Industry Association, where he’s
CEO, was standing-room only at
the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Marty says “cloud computing
is off to an auspicious start for
another year of unprecedented
and explosive growth.” On the
volunteer service front, Marty
completed advanced piloting in
December, a key boating course
offered by U.S. Power Squadrons,
and is on deck to become executive
officer of District 5 in March.
“If memory serves,” writes Jim
Sicks, “and it serves less and less
as the years pass, it’s been 11
years since I last checked in, so I
guess I’m due. A few milestones:
In 2001 my marriage of 30 years
broke up. I licked my wounds for
a while, but, as the saying goes,
it gets better. In 2003 my son Will
graduated from Williams, and his
years there gave me a chance to
reconnect with the school after
years of ambivalence about the
place. He and my daughter Cathy
are both married and, as of May,
will be living here in Philadelphia.
I have a grandson. … In 2004, I
met Katie Day, and we were married
a year later. She’s fun, energetic,
beautiful and smart. We live
on the campus of the Lutheran
Seminary in Philadelphia, where
she has taught for 25-plus years.
44 | Williams PeoPle | aPril 2012
I also got two stepchildren, Julian
and Molly, in the deal—both in
college now—and a smattering of
pets. A second round of raising
adolescents took its toll, but all
is good now. In 2006 I fulfilled
a decade-long ambition and quit
the practice of law, went to South
Africa for a couple of months
with Katie and her kids, and then
came back to find a job in the
nonprofit sector. A lot less money
and a lot more satisfaction.
“My steadiest Williams connection
over the years, other
than my son, has been my old
roommate Jon Moore and his
wife Barbara. We manage to get
together a few times each year,
most recently at his daughter’s
wedding in October. A trip to
Seattle included a wonderful
dinner with George Scarola and
his partner Aldo—our first get
together in about five years. I’ve
also had sporadic contact with
Fred Gramlich and Jim Asumano
over the years. Greetings to all.”
Rick Corwin met up with Julie
and Linc Merwin after Christmas,
taking his two grandsons Jacob
and Jordan to see them in their
new home in Doylestown, Pa.
Linc is still at the Buckingham
Friends’ School there, and their
younger son, Matt, is a highly
accomplished artist in woodworking.
Rick discovered that
George Wardman is a trustee of
Eckerd College in St. Petersburg,
across the road from where Rick
now resides, and hoped to meet
up with him after a trip with
Beth to the Galapagos and the
Amazon River Basin in February.
Gordy Bryson and wife Liz
are “retiring from our longtime
places of employment. I leave
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
and private high school teaching
after 42 years, having been
there for 34 years as principal,
department chairman of English,
and coach. We have a place
in Baltimore and will relocate
there in June. We look forward
to being near our friends and
family. I’m not looking forward
to the heat in Baltimore, but the
house we have has central air
conditioning, and I intend to
spend time in the Enoch Pratt
Free Library. I hope to teach
teachers in Baltimore, but nothing
is set yet.”
Finally, in an experience
that spans the generations and
decades, 31 years to be precise,
I had the pleasure of doing
some media work with Andrew
Morris-Singer ’00, a Harvardtrained
primary care physician
and the founder of Primary Care
Progress, a grassroots community
effort to promote primary
care medicine and change how
it’s delivered. Andrew was a
guest on a TV program for
patients produced by your
humble scribe. The topic was
medical literacy—the ability of
patients to understand health
information and make good
decisions. A great adventure in
lifelong learning. My thanks to
those who write and keep this
space filled, and keep the news
and notes coming.
1970
Rick Foster
379 Dexter St.
Denver, CO 80220
1970secretary@williams.edu
To begin, there is some very
sad news to report. In January,
Carri and Gerry Stoltz’s son
Zach died in South Carolina at
age 26. Many from the DC area
and some from as far away as
Denver attended the memorial
service in Virginia. Paul Miller
wrote: “It was probably one of
the saddest things I have ever
been involved with. Zach was
by all accounts an exceptional
young man and incredibly close
to his parents. Gerry and Carri
were devastated yet welcoming
to all who came and unbelievably
strong in their ability
to deal with everything. My
admiration for them was always
high. I don’t think it could possibly
be measured now. I hope
that the affection and support of
classmates and friends will help
them in the days ahead, and
I encourage everyone to be in
touch with them.”
Ken McCurdy was the first to
respond (almost immediately,
via Blackberry) to my email
missive on Dec. 13, advising
me that he had just had dinner
with Scott Miller, Bill Loomis,
Ken Richardson, Andy Maier (all
class of ’71), Paul Isaac ’72, Dale
Riehl ’72, all former residents
of Fort Hoosac House. They
toasted the two favorite “Joes”
of Fort Hoosac, Joe (“Chubby”)
Daniels, the house man (who,
at mail time, always announced
that “checks are in” and when
asked “What’s up, Chubby?”
would mysteriously reply, “At
my age, only the windows”);
and Joe Florini, our fantastic
chef and the former proprietor
of Florini’s Italian Garden in
Adams or North Adams. Joe
Florini taught Ken how to
break an egg with one hand,