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CONCORD ACADEMY MAGAZINE SPRING 2008and son James, now 12, “seems tohave adjusted well to the British School,which is only five minutes down theroad.” She says her new favorite activityis watching English Al-Jazeera. Whileshe is spared constant U.S. electioncoverage, and can see what’s actuallyhappening in the world, some of theprogramming “can be very depressing(no limits on bombed cars and bloodstainedstreets) since you get to seehow humanity is doing in places thatbear the brunt of our foreign policy.”Doris McMillon, who was in our classfor freshman year, was honored as theleader of one of the top 100 minoritybusiness enterprises in the state ofMaryland. Doris, who is president andCEO of McMillon Communica tions, alsois the first woman to serve on the boardof Carver Bible College in Atlanta. If anyoneis in the market for a budding curator,Doris says, her youngest daughter isjust finishing her master’s in curatorialstudies at the California College of theArts in San Francisco. Carla MariaPiccinini, who attended Concord as anAFS student during our senior year, metup in Venice last summer with herConcord family, the Beechers, includingCathy Beecher ’70. Carla is a grandmother— likely for a third time by thetime you read these notes. She likes herwork as a psychologist and psychotherapistfor Italy’s national health system (“Ireally think that health should be a rightfor everybody, and paid by general taxationand not by insurance for those whocan afford it”). She says she has beeninvolved in local politics for a few years.Though she writes that she feels “quitedesperate about how the world isgoing,” she is optimistic about a changein the U.S. government and believesthat “mankind is making enormousprogress in many fields,” despite thepeople in power. Sarah Pillsbury says“with an historic election on the horizon,”she continues to work with thenonprofit Voter Engage ment Network.“Our goal is to dramatically increaseturnout among people who are underrepresentedand underserved, by providingtools and training to the nonprofitsthat serve them, and by lowering barriersto voting” by upholding voters’rights and pressing for reforms that willmake the process more democratic(nonprofitvote.org). She adds: “Despitethis being ‘no country for old women,’particularly in this town, I am still workingin film. The latest, Quid Pro Quo,was just at Sundance and will be playingthe art house circuit in early summer.”Daughter Nora, who just finished Yale, ispursuing a career writing for TV and film.A TV movie she cowrote with her dad,Queensize, aired on Lifetime in Januaryand will most likely air again from timeto time, Sarah says. Meanwhile, Will is a60sophomore at Yale and “couldn’t be happier.”Didi Rea recently bought a 30-acre farm in upstate New York with afriend — “barns, silo, pond, woods,house, the whole shebang! My kidsthink it is hysterical — me on a farm, thatis — but we all love it.” (Check it out atphotocollage.com/farm.) Didi says that“Ali has applied to graduate schools inart history — fingers crossed — and Josiehas made a successful transition tomiddle school and has her brown belt inkarate. And I sold a series to the CWand a script to Universal and continue tomanage the unmanageable. And dating.And loving it.” Lea Morse Sloan saysher biggest news is that her grandbaby,Xander Elsas Chatterjee, is walking. “Helives in NYC with his terribly busy,lawyer parents, but I get to New Yorkonce a month or so to see him, and theyvisit me in DC.” Lea is still vice presidentfor communications at PBS,“where along with shouldering the missionof saving public broadcasting, I dealwith media/government/viewer crisesregularly, some big, some not so big,some funny, some not so funny.” Sheloves living in DuPont Circle, but alsoescaping to Tilghman Island on theEastern Shore on weekends for “gardening,writing, watercolors, sailing,motorboating, and occasionally fishing.So boomer of me.”1970Class Secretary: Elizabeth “Bobbie”Brown, Elizabethfbrown@hotmail.comBobbie Brown apologizes for missing ayear soliciting news for Class Notes.“I’m truly sorry, but am planning tocome on strong next year. On the otherhand, I am willing to step down as classsecretary if there is someone else whowould like to take on this responsibility.On a personal note, our daughterFrances Bothfeld ’08 will be graduatingfrom Concord this spring, and has experienceda fantastic past three years. Weconsider her Concord education worthevery penny of the considerable investment.I can also add a word about LucyMcFadden, who spent six weeks livingin a two-person tent while zippingaround Antarctica on a snowmobile lookingfor meteorites. Belle Choate writes:I have finally found the time to paintagain. I haven’t painted this much sincemy CA days, and I am thoroughly enjoyingmyself. I’m working mostly in watercolor,but have also gone back to oils.The high point of last year was a threeweektrek cross country for a workshopat Ghost Ranch, outside Santa Fe.Georgia O’Keefe is one of my favorites,and I was able to walk and paint herNew Mexico landscape. My sketchesand the 1,500 photos I took will keepCynthia Perrin Schneider ’71 andAnne Lauderdale Lee ’71 in Shanghaime busy painting for years! I visited theCA campus for a chapel and enjoyedthe chance to connect with this currentgeneration of students. Edith ChaseKeller and her husband Rob celebratedtheir 24th anniversary on St. Patrick’sDay. “My 89-year-old parents are stillchugging along. My three sisters —Helen Chase Trainor ’67, Mary ChaseNicholson ’73, and Lucy ChaseOsborn ’73 — are also doing well. LucyMcFadden visited a couple of times.We also saw Steff Pickman Monahan,Priscilla Stevens French, and a glimpseof Susie Wood Vermullen at Steff’smother’s funeral. These are old andcherished friends. I am very pleased thatCA has diversified as much as it has,and hope it will continue in the samevein. I am proud to be an alumna.Marilyn Byfield Paul and David continueto be madly in love with their fouryear-oldJonathan. “Lucky for us he is agreat traveler — we have been to Israel,Australia, California, Colorado, and manyother places. He grabs his suitcase andgoes. He gets around airports on his littlescooter since he has given up thestroller. We are moving to Brookline, MAthis summer. Brigid Williams is ourarchitect and so great to work with. I amhappy to report that Emily Wheeler’sdaughter Clara has been babysitting forJonathan. I am also blessed to seeStephanie Pickman Monahan fromtime to time. My book, It’s Hard toMake a Difference When You Can’t FindYour Keys (Penguin 2004) has soldalmost 40,000 copies. That’s good newstoo.” Elizabeth Ruml attended a DCenvironmental film festival that premiereda movie she cowrote and helpedproduce on the work of the AmericanPrairie Foundation. “I continue to try touse visual images to spread the wordabout this great project I have beenworking on since 2001. I am lookingforward to this summer when I will visitfive wildlife reserves in Namibia to learnmore about successful wildlife modelsand to bring home ideas for the Ameri -can Prairie Reserve. I love living inVermont and am deeply grateful that Iam no longer working on Wall Street.My oldest daughter and her husband arefinishing up their graduate programs inSan Diego and will be moving back toLas Vegas this summer. My youngerdaughter is teaching at Georgetown andenjoying living in DC. I have startedsinging again, which has added great joyto my life.” J. Brown Johnson hasswitched roles slightly to president ofanimation for Nickelodeon, after 20years leading the preschool entertainmentdivision. “I am juggling my timebetween NYC and LA, happily so. Mydaughter Louisa is 22 and lives in LA,too. If any classmates are in the LAarea, you can reach me through the NickAnimation Studio in Burbank.” SallyTrafton “retired” from the University ofRochester School of Medicine in June2006, after a string of back surgeries,only the fifth of them successful, “convincedme I should be doing something Iam passionate about. I landed in a smallregional health-planning agency, wherethey pay me for 30 hours a week,though my husband will tell you I spendmore time than that. I am delightedto be walking an hour a day, withoutthe cane or crutches I used for close to23 years. My daughter returned inDecember after two years in the PeaceCorps in Turkmenistan; she has beenwith us since then, coaching basketballand softball and substitute teachingbefore she heads off again for her nextgreat adventure.” Carol White Williamswrites: “I am quilting away here in FortWashington, MD. I am the chair for theUhuru Quilters Guild, which sponsors aquilt show in June. I haven’t retired yet,but I do take time every now and thento practice being retired. I’m still workingfor the public school system as aninstructional specialist. My son Jonathanis a senior at Hampton University, majoringin graphic design.”1971Class Secretary: Elizabeth AmesMacdonald, elizabeth.macdonald@comcast.net; Anne S. Lee,aslee640@hotmail.comSusan Everts Allen writes that herhusband Kent took a new job as theminister of a church in Yarmouth, ME,resulting in a move last spring, after