April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

1980 classmates Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart (left) and Linda Hansell
spent 10 days together while visiting Taggart’s daughter in Copenhagen,
Denmark, in October.
and continues his work with the
National Ski Patrol, despite knee
surgery in October. He claims to
be a dermatologist, but I’m not
sure when he has time to work.
For the second time since graduation,
Paul Tratnyek returned to
campus to give two seminars. It
was a nostalgic drive in, retracing
the route from his ski team
training days. Paul states, “The
chemistry talk was about my
current, main area of research:
‘Reactivity of Iron Nanoparticles:
Spectroscopy, Electrochemistry,
Kinetics and Environmental
Implications.’ It was presented in
the (renovated but) same hall we
all took large chemistry classes
in.” Well, I certainly wasn’t part
of the “we” there, but I remember
well the Friday lunches at the
Log, sponsored by the Center
for Environmental Studies,
which is where Paul gave the
second lecture, with a friendlier
title, “From Green Chemistry
to Emerging Contaminants:
Are We Getting Any Better At
Engineering New Materials That
Are Environmentally Safe?” Paul
says Larry Kaplan, Ray Chang
and Anne Skinner remain as
faculty, and the current chair is
Jay Thoman ’82. It’s still 10 years
away, but Paul is wondering if
one of his daughters might be
interested in Williams.
David Beardsley tipped me off
on Fred Thys, who was too busy
covering the New Hampshire
primary for NPR to correspond
directly. Exciting times for Fred!
Tim Sager is trying to start
a charter school just north of
Philadelphia. It is a fascinating
endeavor based on the
premise that smaller enrollment
numbers can be better for 7th- to
12th-graders, particularly in light
of the fact that online curriculum
can provide the variety of
options that were formerly only
available in larger schools. Key
components include Internetbased
instruction, small group
discussions, individualized learning
plans and flexible schedules.
Tim’s son is a freshman at
RISD, and his daughter was just
accepted at Trinity.
Tim was impressed with
Bert Snow’s company Mussy
Lane software, which created
online software for Middlebury
Interactive and is turning heads
in the online curriculum world.
Tim says, “Bert used a gaming
platform to create the software,
which includes perfect renderings
of streets in Paris and other
places. Students develop an
avatar and they walk the streets
of France, talking to people on
the street, going into restaurants,
etc.”
Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart
and Linda Hansell traveled to
Copenhagen to visit Mary Ann’s
daughter, who was studying
abroad from Davidson College.
Mary Ann’s son was to graduate
from high school in January and
was preparing to study abroad
in New Zealand. She and her
husband are excited about the
first three months alone in 20
years.
Ann Oberrender Noyes and
Nick ’79 are also anticipating
the empty nest. Their youngest,
Eliza, was accepted ED to
Williams and plans to play ice
hockey. Their older sons are
settled in at the University of
Richmond and Dickinson.
n 1979–80
James Meigs and Julia Talcott,
still in Newton, Mass., are
sending their twins off next fall,
leaving their nest empty, too.
Julia claims it was a crazy fall,
visiting colleges with two very
different kids. She reports, “I see
it as the bookend to the craziness
that begins by having two babies
at once. Isabel found out she
was accepted to Reed College in
Portland, where she will be able
to bond with James’ relatives
when not ‘studying like her life
depended on it’ (sic Fiske Guide
to Colleges). Stoddard’s college
will be revealed in the next few
months. Stod rowed at the Head
of the Charles last year and will
continue to row wherever he
goes.” Julia saw Bert Snow and
wife Leigh at the HOC, watching
their son Eric row for Vassar, and
rumor had it Beth Geismar was
there with her club team from
Ashland, Ore. James is still at
Mass General doing research in
the area of diabetes. He’s been
golfing with Phil (Guido) Adams
and fishing with Nick Noyes
’79. Julia teaches printmaking
workshops in her studio. Their
oldest, Ramsey, is on a Fulbright
scholarship in Germany after
graduating from Colby. They are
hoping to visit him in April.
Ruth Wells was waiting up (for
a long time, as this rendition of
her words is cropped!) for her
son to return safely from a NJ
Nets-Miami Heat game and
filled me in on all sorts of people.
She reports, “This past spring I
was on a college tour with my
younger son, Lyndy, and we
stayed with Carrie Brown Wick
and family. Carrie is exactly the
same, working as a biotech consultant,
living in Hillsborough,
and while we were there her
youngest, Catherine, was getting
college acceptances. She is spending
this academic year in Europe
to pursue her passion of equestrian
vaulting (basically gymnastics
on horseback) and will go to
Bates next fall. Her middle son,
John, is at Trinity, and her oldest,
Will, just finished a stint in the
Army with, I believe, two tours in
Iraq and is now back in school.
Our last night there Carrie had
a fun dinner party that included
Anne ’81 and Greg Avis as well
as Cora Yang and Suzanne Kluss
Noe and their spouses. Everyone
looked great, and all are leading
interesting lives. Janet Allaire’s
son Mike graduated from the
Air Force Academy last spring
and is in Texas for the year
getting trained in some special
intelligence that will keep us all
aPril 2012 | Williams PeoPle | 61