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The Pull of Politics - Concord Academy

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CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2008the Citizens Advice Bureau and tries tokeep up with her ten grandchildren.Tinker Jenney Saltonstall and Bill arereally enjoying retirement. They havedownsized to a renovated village home,which gives them time to drive aroundthe country to ski, hike, and visit nationalparks and friends.1957Class Secretary: Carol SwansonLouchheim, clouchheim@yahoo.comAmazingly, we are now more in touchwith each other in 2008 than we were inl958! Eighteen classmates with varioushusbands and close companionsattended our reunion, and 25 are on ouremail list. Tremendous! And, tremendousthanks to Sylvia Fitts Napier, whocalled everyone she could reach, fromLondon, encouraging us to write for theclass book. Even more thanks go toMiphi Brooks Hall, who coordinated ourreunion and is compiling THE BOOK.Reunion was a special, golden momentfor me. The weather and campus werebeautiful. Those who were not presentwere deeply missed. Ally FullerAnderson-Spivy, Louise Smith Bowman,Ann Ingersoll Boyden, Cal AdamsChristy, Barbara Bullard Burn, AnneMcLean Dorr, Barbara FarnsworthFairburn, Holly Nesmith Fordyce, MiphiBurns Hall, Judy Gowing Houck, DianaWilson Hoven, Nancy Newbury-Andresen, Connie Rohrbough, MoniWulff Steinert, Lee Adams Weaver,Sandy Spencer Williams, and I celebratedour friendships. Ansti GreeneBenfield has been in touch withConnie Rohrbough and Franny BehrSunderland, but Ansti says she“missed the 50th due to events at ourhouse in Perkinsville, VT, where I have awonderful round house on HawkesMountain. There is a B29 plane wreckfrom 1947 near us. We had almost 100people from all over climbing up to thatwreck on the 60th anniversary in June.I retired from UMass Boston studenthealth services in 1999, after 18 yearsat the UMB Center for Survey Research.My three kids are Kristen, who lives inNew Hampshire; Becky, who is inSeattle; and Andrew, who lives inIpswich, MA. I have five grandkids.”Ann Ingersoll Boyden and Perry hadan extended stay on Vinalhaven to singconcerts with a community chorus andAnnie’s a cappella group. Annie spentChristmas in Connecticut with her 97-year-old mother, who lives with a l00-year-old friend! In March, Ann organizeda Song of Peace event, connecting withother singers and musicians in the U.S.and around the world (songofpeace.org).Ally Fuller Anderson-Spivy exploredsites significant to Chinese nationalism’s48rise (Sun-Yat-sen University and thetreaty ports) to create an article for theonline magazine Culture and Travel.She is a correspondent for artnet.com’sonline magazine, volunteers at theMuseum of Modern Art and the Colum -bia County Historical Society, andbabysits for the grandchildren. SiriLindberg Branson writes: “We areenjoying winter in Taos and will return toAlaska for summer and fishing.”Barbara Burn Dolensek says of our50th: “It was more wonderful than I cansay, and I loved feeling like part of theschool again.” She is busy with freelancework and supervising reconstructionof the local museum. “My son hasa great job working as a computer techin Cooperstown, NY and he wears a tie!What else could a mother want?” JoeCoreth is recovering well from his surgery,which kept Polly Graham Corethat home in June. They were able to visittheir daughter in California at Thanks -giving. Caroline Adams Christy has putoff singing and writing while she and herhusband deal with a year of his challenginghealth issues. With five surgeries inten months, they are staying near hisdoctors in Westerly, RI, where theysummer. Winters are spent in Niantic,CT. Her kids are fine: Caroline’s daughterand family live in Warren, VT with hertwo grandchildren, ages 8 and 6. HelenHardcastle Gates regrets that familycommitments kept her away from ourreunion. However, she says that AnnieIngersoll Boyden filled her in. MiphiBrooks Hall spends a day each weekwith her 94-year-old father, and anotherday with her two grandchildren, who liveat Concord Academy. She counts onthese extremes for flexibility. Her wintertrek to Florida’s Gulf Coast is a specialtreat. She loves its beautiful beaches,birds, and great company. She is alsodaring — in August, she and her friendTom went skydiving from 2½ miles up,with a freefall and a long parachuteassistedfloat down. This is what shedoes when she isn’t working on theClass of ’57 book! Sylvia Fitts Napiermissed the reunion but created her ownon the phone. Poetic Sylvia writes: “. . .rediscovering my estimable classmateswas as inspiring as admiring a colorfulpatchwork. Each patch of a person wasdense in design, intricately, conscientiouslywoven . . . Most patches werereplete with achievements, with beneficence,with self-assuredness, and mostcontained dark threads of anxiety aboutthe prospects for our country and theworld.” Sylvia and Karolina CarolWells, and Carol’s daughter Nitsa, had areunion in Paris in October. It remindedSylvia of her first wedding in Paris inl962, with Ally Fuller Anderson-Spivy andCarol Wells as attendants. Sylvia informsus that Carol is “a much vaunted artiston the Greek island of Myconos,” whereshe has lived since the early sixties.Barbara Farnsworth Fairburn andDavid had dinner in London with Sylviaand her husband. Sylvia notes, “Theygrow ever more glamorous.” ConnieRohrbough enjoyed some spectaculartravels in 2007, highlighted by a helicoptertour to the west end of the GrandCanyon, followed by a flatbottom boattour of the Colorado River. NinaSwaim’s news takes the cake — thewedding cake! In August, she and herpartner of 29 years, Doug, slipped overthe VT border to NH and got married!Best wishes to both of them. Sylviasays Didette Van Slyck lives a demandingNew York City life. Marcia Synnottenjoyed having lunch with Ansti GreeneBenfield in October. Marcia plans toteach “a small graduate class in historicsite interpretation, a course that I beganteaching in 1979 and which grew out ofmy love for Old Sturbridge Village,Colonial Williamsburg, and old Salem.”Hal and I, Carol Swanson Louchheim,enjoyed a celebratory evening of dinnerand the San Francisco Ballet with SandySpencer Williams and a classmate ofours from Wheaton College. I continueas art docent, French student, and memberof our city’s Housing Commission.1958 50th reunionClass Secretary: Caroline Murfitt-Eller,carolineeller@comcast.netHazel Demille Angeledei writes thather grandnephew and his wife, whowere in the Peace Corps in Kenya, wereevacuated (along with all the other volunteers)after the post-election violencebroke out. Her older son Charles workedin the “back office” with the manresponsible for the $7 billion loss at theSociété Générale bank in France.Gretchen Becker has pursued a widevariety of activities in 2007, includingnursing two large Boer-cross goats;serving as a patient panelist about diseaseson a public TV show in Rochester,NY; blogging on diabetes for HealthCentral; and trying to write anotherbook. She published a third book, TheFour Corners Diet, a low-carb dietfocused on lots of vegetables and fiber,monounsaturated fat, and yogurt/kefir, incollaboration with the authors of a dietcalled the GO Diet (for their names,Goldberg and O’Mara). Her previousbooks, Prediabetes: What you Need toKnow to Keep Diabetes Away and TheFirst Year: Type 2 Diabetes, have beentranslated into Japanese and Chineseand published in England. Her 97-yearoldmother is still in her own homenearby with 24-hour hospice care.Martha Metchear Cunningham commentsthat after spending most of hercareer in clinical social work and crisisintervention, she is now using many ofthe skill sets she accumulated over theyears in running a dog obedience schoolin New Hampshire. Nancy CushmanFairbanks is still loving retirement andthe additional time it affords for friendsand family, music, books, and travels.She notes that “2007 brought twin boysinto our lives, so now we have fiveunder age 4.” The extra time in retirementalso allows her the opportunity toparticipate in “some community service(haven’t our lives been community serviceall along?)” and time to ponder herconcern about the world her grandchildrenwill inherit. She is still “looking forthe 25th and 26th hour in each day —the blessing of good health and a fulllife. I am looking forward to seeingeveryone in June (surely it cannot be 50years!).” “While dearly missing my husbandand best friend since his passing inJanuary 2007, I rejoice in the good thathas unfolded in my life,” writesElizabeth England Fisher. “First, I havetwo new grandchildren. Each of mydaughters had babies within a month ofeach other, so now there are five. Lastsummer my 9-year-old granddaughterand I took a motor home trip to Idaho soshe could learn wood carving and wecould raft the Payette River — great fun!In early October, Hope, my goldenretriever, and I took off in the motorhome for a 2,600-mile trip to Texas, withvisits along the way with my oldestdaughter and her family in Salt Lake Cityand with friends in Sedona and Tucson,AZ. Since November we have beenparked in Austin, enjoying being near myyoungest daughter and her husband andthe newest grandchild. March 1 webegan retracing our steps back toWashington.” Ann Terry Kerns continuesto participate in her church parishmission in Kingston, Jamaica, where shewill be providing health care during ourreunion in June. She misses her grandchildren,who have moved to NorthCarolina. “Time sure has flown, but I’vedone and seen a lot,” notes JackieVaughan Lee. From her 1960 Briarcliffegraduation in business/secretarial skills,she headed to Harvard, working for 12years for the dean of the law school, theCenter for Cognitive Studies, and finallythe medical school, where she met andmarried her husband CS in 1972. “Wemoved to Austin, TX, where he was aprofessor in the department of zoologyat the University of Texas, teaching anddoing research in molecular biology. Ourchildren, Christopher, 34, and Jennifer,33, kept us very busy over the years andboth went to Bowdoin College in Bruns -wick, ME. I did various volunteer jobs attheir schools, entertained lots for UTdepartmental functions, and helped withfamily members back east when possi-

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