CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2008She is also “enjoying being a grandmother— my daughter’s wonderful littleson recently turned 2.” Darsie hasstarted painting with acrylic paints againafter many years — “alizarin crimson,anyone?” Joan Underwood apologizesfor not being able to convince PieWhitman to come to reunion. Lastsummer she saw Lila Greene, whosemother is a summertime neighbor.1968 40th reunionClass Secretary: Katherine Little,Katherine.Little@valley.netPamela Aall McPherson is vice presidentfor education and training programsat the U.S. Institute of Peace, a federalinstitution established by Congress topromote international conflict resolution— she’s been there since 1993. Her husbandCharles is at the InternationalMonetary Fund, working on oil anddevelopment and focusing on corruptionand transparency issues. Daughter Ellais 28 and a PhD student at CambridgeUniversity in sociology/politics, and sonAndrew, 25, is at the American BarAssociation in their Rule of Law forAfrica program. “We’ve just bought arundown house on the Maryland EasternShore and would be happy for visitorswho aren’t alarmed by mice.” AliceBeal is still practicing medicine and isnow the director of palliative care at theVA in Brooklyn, but covers theManhattan VA as well. She and BillKuntz are celebrating their 30th anniversarythis spring. Bill practices law inNYC, but is debating his next move. Hecontinues to be the Brooklyn representativeto the NYC Civilian ComplaintReview Board. Will, 23, graduated fromWilliams College and is working for “TheEvil Empire” (i.e., the NY Yankees);Kate, 21, is a senior at Pomona, majoringin comparative languages, and Lizzie(our “sleeper cell,” according to Kate) isa freshman at Harvard and loving it.Carla Bloedel Clark is still practicingpediatrics in Albuquerque. Her 26-yearoldethnomusicologist son studiesAustralian aboriginal cultures and languages,and her 18-year-old daughter isstill finding herself. After 21 years ofwoodworking in Acton, Lissa Coolidgehas moved upward to a beautifully light,high-ceilinged shop in Stow, MA. She isstill making custom cabinets, bookcases,and other odds and ends out of wood.Louise Ewing’s daughter Zinnia isstudying Chagas’ disease in Quito,Ecuador; her son Eli is adventuring onNew Zealand’s South Island; and she’sfeeding the birds in Salt Lake City. Butshe did join Josie Smith Koehne andfriends last spring on a wonderful trip toZion National Park and spent an afternoonat Summer’s End with Kerry58Munro, exploring old haunts. SuzanneGriffith is a professor at the Universityof Wisconsin at Superior and recentlytook over coordinating the graduate programin school counseling, in addition toteaching. Her daughter embarked on anew career in culinary sciences this winter.“I have now lived in Wisconsin andMinnesota longer than in New Englandand feel a part of it. I enjoy the naturallandscapes; my home overlooks LakeSuperior and the St. Louis Bay thatdivides Minnesota and Wisconsin.”Larkin Hilliard has completed an 18-month, full-time certification program indiagnostic (as opposed to therapeutic)sonography, aka ultrasound technology,and is in the job market once more. “Ithink sometimes of a line from a songfrom our CA class play: ‘Never knowingwhether we would live or die.’ I imaginedthen that our fate was an either/ormatter — succeed or fail, live or die. Butthe correct answer was that we woulddo both. Somehow, realizing that simplefact has taken a lot of stress out of situationsthat used to paralyze me withfear. Either this new career focus willwork out or it won’t — or both! All I cando is keep dancing forward.” PamMcAdoo will be coming east for herson’s graduation from Dartmouth inJune. She finished a master’s of finearts in illustration last summer, through anew degree program at the University ofHartford Art School. Pam is still teachingart at the local community college, isvery involved with the public library,enjoys doing some graphic design andillustration out of the house, and has forsakendance for yoga. Tamsen Merrillhas lived in the small town of Ashfield inrural Western MA for the last 24 years.“In the last year, by tapping the energyof the resident young farmers and alocal contractor, we have built a lovelypost-and-beam barn, with solar panelson the roof, to house animals. The barncontains a small-scale dairy that wehope will produce certified organic goatcheese within the next year.” She hasalso begun to explore filmmaking: “I cando most of it on the same computer onwhich I am typing this letter. And I canpost it for you all to see on YouTube. I’mcool.” Son Abbott will be graduatingfrom RISD this spring with a major inpainting and will join daughter Eleanor inthe real world. Eleanor received hermaster’s in social work at Smith Collegeand is working with an eldercare nonprofitand living in Holyoke. Hilde Norliestill has her own finance and propertycompany. Her grandchild Hannah, 1, is anatural little wonder, a happy and harmonicchild with proud parents. Hilde’sson Jan, 27, will finish his master’s infinance this year. Her daughterCharlotte, 34, unfortunately has manyhealth problems. Pauline Lord’s daugh-ter, Megan Harlow ’04, had a greatexperience at CA: “excellent teaching;friends who were bright, caring, andoriginal; the encouragement to developself-expression in many directions . . .plus she learned to think and write andcompute. Megan’s travels since thenhave included Senegal, Guatemala, Italy,and Spain (speaking French, Wolof,Spanish, and Italian), and she is atAmherst, loving life. Her parents love livingin their wonderful, lake-surroundedhouse in East Lyme, CT and working onour organic farm (whitegatefarm.net).The whole process, from seeding to harvestinghealthy food to be scarfed up byavid ‘locarians,’ is my complete passion.”Cary Ridder lives in DC, workingas a fundraiser for the TheodoreRoosevelt Conservation Partnership — aconservation organization composed ofsportsmen working to protect wildlifehabitat. Her husband, Dave Alberswerth,works for the Wilderness Society;daughter Kate just graduated from NYUand is working in NYC for Bidoun magazine,which covers contemporary MiddleEastern art and culture; and son Matt isa freshman at Reed College in Portland,OR. Pamela Shaw is still working forEileen Fisher, “putting together work/lifeprograms for the company, helpingemployees juggle work and the rest oftheir lives (kids, aging parents, etc.). Thecompany functions more collaborativelythan most corporations, and the ownershipis gradually being turned over to theemployees. It’s a different kind of capitalism,and a very interesting place towork.” Her husband Kent is still workingfor the Wildlife Conservation Society inNew York, and daughter Sofia will graduatefrom Mt. Holyoke in June, hoping towork in public health, while son Hugh isa sophomore at Grinnell in Iowa, majoringin philosophy. Ann Boling Solbergis fine, doing Pilates in the hope that bythe time she has grandchildren (nonescheduled so far) she’ll still be able topick them up. Son Christian graduatedfrom college and is gainfully and happilyemployed at BTS in NYC. DaughterNancy is a sophomore at Mt. Holyoke,hoping to be an anthropologist. Annoccasionally sees Consuelo CotterMack, who remains wonderful. BetsyWeiss will miss our reunion, as she willbe participating in her first mini-triathlon!She has only recently learned to swimthe crawl for more than a few strokes,and her running time is that of mostpeople’s walk, but it will be fun!For more Class Notes, go towww.concordalum.org1969Class Secretaries: Isabel BrowneDriscoll, pmdibd@verizonmail.com;Nancy L. Schoeffler, nschoeffler@courant.comMany of our classmates are already gettingjazzed and making plans to BETHERE for our 40th reunion! Mark yourcalendar now: The dates are June12–14, 2009! Kathy Agoos writes fromher home in Melbourne, Australia thaten route to these shores for Christmasand her mother’s 80th birthday, she andher family stopped to visit DebbieBandler Bellman in London, “which wasa real treat as always.” They both planto return to CA for our 40th reunion,“figuring that if we both say it, it’ll happen.”Kathy works as the educationmanager of a community center not toofar from home. “Michael continues hisplanning work within a firm of environmentalscientists and geologists. Jesseis still in Boston working for NESN andcontinues to look for an opportunity tocrack the baseball industry in the administrativeside of things. Talk about aclosed shop/old boys network!Alexandra completed her degree at theUniversity of Melbourne and will do anhonors year in history — a thesis onimmigrant soldiers’ experiences in theCivil War, having discovered relativeswho fought for the Confederacy.” LauraPalmer Aronstein says her son Duncanis having a fine time at Vanderbilt, andher second son, Angus, is a high schooljunior. Laurie is “having fun with tutoringand lots of sports stuff. My hardworkinghusband makes the trek to NYC everyday. We have a lot of fun with friendsand family near and far. I love talking toeveryone from Concord.” DebbieBandler Bellman’s daughters, Racheland Jessica, are almost 16. “The Britishschool system is full of ‘important’exams at this stage, but they manage tofind time for the flute, violin, horseriding,a social life, and their shared love ofmusical theatre.” Debbie’s husbandMartin is a consultant pediatrician. Inwhat Debbie calls her “neverending pursuitof professional development,” shequalified as a psychoanalyst last year(she was already a child, adolescent, andadult psychotherapist), and continues towork part-time in private practice. Herleisure pursuits include “gardening onthe rare occasions it doesn’t rain” andgoing to art exhibits and musical theatre.“But the last few years have alsobrought sadness. My sister Jane diedfour years ago after a long illness, andmy mother died this past April, at thegrand age of 97. . . . It feels strangenow being part of the older generation(my father died 15 years ago), and thefamily home in Cambridge, MA, always
our American base, is being sold.”Mellen Candage, whom we knew asMary Ellen our sophomore year, hasbeen running a publishing company,Grammarians, Inc., for 30 years. Thecompany specializes in the editing,design and layout, proofreading, andindexing of books for international developmentagencies, working in about 30languages with about 200 freelancers.Mellen went on “an absolutely fascinatingassignment in Nairobi, helping tocraft the language for the five-yearpeace plan for Somalia.” Mellen’sdaughter Madeleine “is a junior atBerkeley, on the lacrosse team andmajoring in political science/internationalrelations . . . My son Taylor graduatesfrom high school this year. Not surewhere he’s going to college, but he’salready into a couple of places. Or hemay just don a backpack and travel theworld for a year. He’s a wild card. I’mabout to be divorced after being separatedfor what seems to be half a centuryand married for about 19,000years.” Mellen lives part of the year inFrance; her house is “in the Dordogne,where all the prehistoric caves are.”Mellen marvels that she has “realizedpretty much all my dreams. And I doattribute that to the amazing education Igot, starting very early in life from thewonderful schools I went to.” SarahCoffin O’Connor is a senior curator atCooper-Hewitt, National DesignMuseum, where she is head of theproduct design and decorative artsdepartment. She co-curated and wrotethe book on Rococo: The ContinuingCurve, 1730-2008. Sarah says she hadfun seeing a few CA friends in 2006 duringher first big exhibition, FeedingDesire: Design and Tools of the Table,1550-2005. “My sainted husband Tom,who moved from DC to NYC to anotherjob with an international nonprofit whenI took this job, has seen almost as littleof me while I worked on this show andthe book as when we commutedDC–NYC. We go to our house upstatefor R&R. My stepchildren from my firstmarriage and their kids are nearby, andwe see a lot of them, which is great,except for the huge loss of stepson PaulKlebnikov, who was editor of ForbesRussia and murdered there almost fouryears ago.” Sarah says that in additionto Linden Havemeyer Wise ’70 andCynthia Perrin Schneider ’71, sheoccasionally sees Julia Preston, PodieLynch ’67, Linda Stillman ’66, andsome of the others who also went toYale. Libby Covington says “life hasbeen interesting in the last severalyears, by far for the better.” She separatedfrom her husband in 2005, initiateddivorce proceedings, and also moved toTennessee, where she lives in a littlefarmhouse her great-grandfather built inthe late 1890s. She’s tackled somemajor improvements but figures she’son a 10-year plan. A downside of themove is being so far from her children:Kate, 30, and Jeremy, 26, who live inCalifornia with their respective spouses.Libby’s medical transcription work alsostayed in California. “These days, I do abit of needlework design and a bit ofphotography and enjoy both. I also functionas ‘Geek On Call’ for friends whothink their computers are intimidating. Ireassure them that they are muchsmarter than ‘the box.’” Isabel BrowneDriscoll is “alive and well in Aspen.Shoveling a lot of snow, so it feels likethe old days on the farm. I am findinglong-distance grandmotherhood a bit trying,”particularly because Cora, now 3,“is growing by leaps and bounds! She’sa big reader, so I buy books. The oldones are the best.” Connie Burr Evansasks, “Whatever made me think I’dslow down when we moved toVermont? I’m working (ostensibly parttime,ha ha!) as a language tutor at theGreenwood School in Brattleboro, fordyslexic, middle-school-aged boys — anincredible place, and I’m totally hooked.”She and Norris are “back to an emptynest, at least for now. Younger sonGalen may graduate as much as a yearearly from George WashingtonUniversity (hello $50K!), and is off toChina this summer. Older son Owen ison the slow boat through college, butseems to be picking up steam atRochester Institute of Technology.”Marion Freeman and Corky “are adjustingto our quiet house now that bothkids are in college. We’ve taken somelong-delayed trips — to California to hikealong the Big Sur coast, and up to theNapa Valley. And we went south toavoid some of Maine’s cold weather.We’re having fun!” Carrie Harwood is“settling into life in Seattle at theUniversity of Washington, where sheand husband Pete have been for threeyears as professors of microbiology.“Our son Ted is in college in Santa Feand our daughter Barbara, who has sufferedwith cystic fibrosis for 22 years,was given a new lease on life in Octoberwith a double lung transplant. I urgeeveryone to become an organ donor, ifyou aren’t already. This has been anincredible gift.” Debbie Mason is stillpotting and teaching at her studio inDuxbury, MA and has added galleryspace attached to her work area. “I’malso still raising and showing goldenretrievers and English cocker spaniels . .. I call them my four-legged children. Imanage to get to England every year tosee friends and the beautiful countryside. . . my first trip was with Kate Brooks,when we were both at CA . . . I fell inlove with the country and now havemany connections, with potters and dogbreeders, which draw me back.” SusanMcEwen says our query for newsarrived just as she and Erin PearsallBrayton were in her living room, drinkingwine from Cappadocia and checkingtheir email. Susan says Erin was inTurkey for 10 days, visiting and collectingitems for her home and gift store inRoslindale, MA. They spent a few daysin Cappadocia staying in a cave hotel(with central heating) and hiking throughthe otherworldly landscape of strangevolcanic rock formations, carved by thewind, to visit churches, monasteries,and underground cities that date back tothe third and fourth centuries. “Theother person from our illustrious classthat I encountered this year was JennyScheu, who was in town with friendswhile on what sounded like a fantasticTurkish/Greek excursion.” Wrapping upher third year in Istanbul, Susan saysshe is “beginning to feel my customarywanderlust.” But she loves her house,The Agoos and Bellman families in London: Second from left, Debbie BandlerBellman ’69; far right, Kathy Agoos ’69.Carla Maria Piccinini ’69 (left) with her family and her American “parents,”Norman and Nancy Beecher (in chair)59<strong>WWW</strong>.<strong>CONCORDACADEMY</strong>.<strong>ORG</strong> SPRING 2008
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