April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

From left: Brian Eng ’96, Elise Brown ’85 and John Goodrich ’80 caught
up with each other at the Juice Conference, a two-day event supporting
collaboration and connection in the creative economy, held in Camden,
Maine, in November.
during a trip through New York
last June. “We walked across
the Poughkeepsie Pedestrian
Bridge and capped off the calorie
burning excursion with some ice
cream.” Isn’t that how you’re
supposed to do it—Diet Coke
with the brownie ice cream
sundae?
In the DC area, my daughter
Aviva and I celebrated with
James and Lydia (Vermilye) Weiss
at their son Rex’s 3rd birthday
party in December. Also there
to celebrate were Jim Heyes and
his two and a half-year-old son
Oliver. Jim attempted to dodge
“the press,” but being that he
was sort of stuck there in the
planetarium, I was able to drag
out the details about Jim’s baby
son, Zachary, who was born
Nov. 4. Another of our regular
DC-area crew also has been busy
with a new baby: Alexis Gilman
and his wife Michele Buenafe
welcomed son Anson Javier on
Nov. 1. And from Jim Heyes’
former teammate Andrew Feller:
“Long-time listener, first-time
caller. I’m still in DC, working
for the SEC, where I’ve been for
a little more than four years.
2011 was a big year for me—I
got married in May, and my
wife Kathy and I welcomed a
daughter in October. She was
actually born on Oct. 17, so
she shares a birthday with her
dad—best birthday present
ever! We’re part of a nice little
WUFO baby crew, along with
Jim Heyes and his wife Julie,
whose second son was born in
November, and Lyn and Anne
(Bilby) Debevoise ’98, whose
second child arrived in October.
We’re looking forward to taking
the little one to Williamstown
sometime this spring, should it
ever thaw.”
Anna (Cederberg) Heard
reported an eventful year. “We’ll
be doing Christmas in DC this
year, instead of the traditional
trip to Minnesota, where my
parents live. Miles, our older
son, turned 2 in November and
had fun eating chocolate cake.
He’s in love with his new toy
hockey set. He also now has an
obsession with backhoes and
gorillas and a great little book
called Dino-Hockey. Kai, our
newest addition, is putting his
parents through the wringer, but
we’re hopeful that we’ll soon
be able to look back and say,
see how much you’ve changed?
I’m sort of looking for a job,
but really don’t want to start
working until April or May, so
that makes it a bit tricky. So for
now, hanging out with the boys
is my job, and an exhausting
one at that.” Holly (Hodgson)
Stephens wrote, “Susan Gillmor
and I went to see Kate Marquis
sing in her Christmas concert
with DC-area choir Choralis. It
was quite professional and fun,
and I had flashbacks to 1994-era
Elizabethans when they sang a
P.D.Q. Bach song. In other news,
n 1996
2½-year-old old Sean is potty
trained and going to Montessori
preschool with his big brother—
in the same classroom! They’re
both thrilled, and Mommy is
thrilled to have mornings to
herself to prep for tutoring/teaching.
I’ve been teaching a high
school journalism class to six
homeschoolers. Some of them
have already been published on
patch.com!”
Perhaps inspired by her
attendance at reunion back in
June, perhaps drawn in by my
Katy Perry reference (all right,
I will let it go now), Kelly Beard
wrote in for the first time ever
with an update. “I am back in
the Bay State after many, many
years in Virginia. I’m beginning
work on an M.Div. at Andover
Newton Theological School and
living in Newton, not far from
my sister. It’s a great change, and
getting to go to my nephew’s
ballgames is certainly a factor!”
In November New Hampshire
resident Megan Farkas won “The
Future of Quilting” award at
the Houston International Quilt
Festival, “which is the biggest
and most prestigious quilt show
in the world. The award included
travel and hotel, so I got to go
to Houston and be a celebrity
for a week.” And Karen (Coyle)
Robinson is still living outside
Boston in Norwell, working
EPHCOMPLISHMENT
Megan Farkas ’96 won The Future of Quilting award at the International
Quilt Festival in Houston in December. Her winning piece, Sakura I:
Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms, also won Viewer's Choice at the
Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival.
and raising her three kids and
seeing Robin (Keller) Elliott, Porter
(Harris) May and me sometimes
but not as much as we moms
would like. “The boys (Jack,
7, and Aedan, 5) are playing
hockey, and it tends to take up
our weekends, but it has inspired
Libby (3) to get out on the ice
and try to skate—she can actually
stand up and move a little
out there.” I am super impressed.
My fellow Sage B’er Meg
Barber also wrote in. “I did get
up to Williamstown this fall with
my husband and in-laws and I
showed them Sage B. So many
funny memories. This fall I got
involved with a political campaign
here in Holyoke, Mass.,
and served as the volunteer coordinator
for Alex Morse, who is
now our 22-year-old mayor-elect!
It was thrilling to be a part of the
aPril 2012 | Williams PeoPle | 87