April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

Skip Kotkins ’70 (right), chairman of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber
of Commerce, met up with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn ’82 at the
chamber’s annual public officials reception Dec. 8.
one of the few things he learned
at Williams and still retains.
Ty Tuttle replied that the main
high point of an otherwise pretty
awful year for him was his
son’s June wedding in the lovely
Aveyron region of France. Ty
didn’t give details on what made
at least part of the year awful,
but I suppose it’s likely we all
have some reason for hoping
that 2012 will be a better year.
Richard Wendorf’s latest book,
Director’s Choice: The American
Museum in Britain, is to be
published in London this spring.
He reports that he has survived
the museum’s 50th anniversary
year and is looking forward to
enjoying himself a bit more in
Bath, long known as “the graveyard
of ambition.” Chip Baker
wrote to say that after three years
in New Orleans he and his wife
Lynne moved to Roanoke, Va.,
where he took the job of chair
of surgery at Carilion Clinic and
professor of surgery at the new
Virginia Tech Carilion School of
Medicine. Chip says that he and
Lynne love living in Roanoke (a
lot like the Berkshires) and that a
few days before he wrote to me,
John Hitchins (who lives a half
mile away) showed up on Chip’s
doorstep. The two enjoyed catching
up with each other.
Ray Kimball suffered a bad
bicycle accident last fall that
he described to Paul Miller as
follows: “I’m recovering and
not in much pain. Basically, I
did a swan dive on pavement,
known in the cyclist trade as
a ‘face plant,’ when my front
brakes grabbed and seized up.
Advice to all: When replacing
your smoke detector batteries
and contributing to the Williams
Alumni Fund annually, please
also replace and maintain your
front bicycle brakes. … The doctor
says I will recover completely.
The injuries were serious, but let’s
talk about pleasant things. Doing
OK under the circumstances. I’m
trying to decide between Brad
Pitt, Dave Strathairn or Stoltz for
the plastic surgery.” I did email
Ray for an update shortly before
submitting these notes and got
an out-of-office reply, which
included the following: “I will be
out of the country through Jan.
15 and will not be answering
emails. Thank you for all your
wonderful wishes for my speedy
recovery. I’m doing fine.”
When he wrote to tell me about
Ray’s accident, Paul also said, “I
wanted you and the rest of the
class to know what an incredible
asset Kevin Austin and Chris
Williamson have been to this
year’s fundraising efforts. The
best part of the exercise has been
getting to know them better. It’s
been great fun and so far very
successful.”
Chris Williamson wrote to say,
“Peggy and I are enjoying our
three granddaughters, twins 20
months and singleton 17 months.
We get to see some or all about
once a week, and so far their
parents haven’t told us we aren’t
welcome! Oldest daughter Abby
’98 finished her PhD at Harvard’s
Kennedy School last May. (She
also celebrated her twins’ first
birthdays that month!). She has
accepted a dual appointment
in political science and public
policy at Trinity, so they won’t
be moving too far away from
us. Younger daughter Sarah and
n 1969–70
husband are still in Brookline.
She earned her MSW at BC and
is now the inaugural school
counselor at Meadowbrook. We
plan to watch them run by in
the Boston Marathon, running
for Dana Farber cancer research,
while we watch their daughter.
Son Tom is in the finals of a singing
contest, but it’s not, unfortunately,
American Idol. We are
in our seventh year at Applewild
School, a delightful K-8 school in
Fitchburg. Any of you wanting to
recreate the road trip to Boston
from Williamstown, stop by!
Despite the economic challenges,
we’re successfully concluding a
capital campaign and building a
much-needed new dining hall. I
always enjoy seeing Pat Bassett
when our paths cross at independent
school functions, and
I am very proud that so many
Williams alumni have chosen to
make contributions as educators
or serve on education boards.
My hunch is that at least in part
that results from our appreciation
of the excellent teaching we
experienced at Williams. It has
been a pleasure to reconnect
with Kevin Austin and Paul Miller
while working on the Alumni
Fund—and to talk or email with
so many classmates too. You are
an accomplished group!”
Jim Kirkland, who hasn’t
appeared in these notes for a
while, sent a long email including
more well-deserved kudos for our
longtime class secretary Jeff Krull.
Jim reported (a little late) that in
2007 he and Noreen “surprised
ourselves wandering through Ft.
Wayne while driving non-expressway
from VA to IL, and so I
surprised Jeff with a call—I’d told
him at several reunions I hoped
to see his library someday. He
was available mañana and gave
us the cook’s tour. Two matters
of timing added to the pleasure:
First, the library had just finished
a four-year expansion that
doubled its size to a large city
block and made it incredibly state
of the art. Second, I was smack
dab in the middle of creating a
family history website, and his
library turned out to have one of
the five top genealogy collections
in the country. I had no idea of
either. Jeff said he’d be disappointed
if any classmate coming
through town with time didn’t try
to call. We were so glad we did,
and caught him.” Jim attached
to his email a photo of Jeff standing
in his library in front of the
entrance to a large art gallery.
Over the entrance was the room’s
name: “Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery.”
aPril 2012 | Williams PeoPle | 45