PEOPLE lSEPTEMBER 2014 - Alumni News

Transcription

Williams
P E O P L E l S E P T E M B E R 2 01 4
COMMON ROOTS
“I hope that you
continue to find
each other out there
in the world, talk to
each other about
Williams and, in the
process, be a friend,
mentor or adviser to
another alumnus.”
— Leila Jere ’91
President, Society of Alumni
leila.jere@gmail.com
I attended this year’s Reunion Weekend as an itinerant, roving from one
class event to another, relishing the conversations with so many alumni from
all over the world.
On Friday night I stopped at the Class of 2009 party feeling wrinkly and
old, but I soon forgot about that when I met Mijon Zulu ’09. Anyone familiar with Sub-Saharan Africa, where Mijon and I come from, will know that
family names identify us almost down to the village. We talked about what
his surname told me: that, like me, he has roots in Zambia; that our fathers
are of the same tribe (Ngoni); that their fathers were probably from neighboring villages near the provincial capital (Chipata); and that there might even be
a chance we share common ancestry. That this conversation took place in a
tent outside Gladden felt improbable.
I attended the Joseph’s Coat Award luncheon on Saturday, where I
had the honor of conferring the madras jacket on devoted volunteer Hugh
Germanetti ’54. I was excited for the lunch, attended by post-50th reunion
classes, because I love learning about the old days of Williams. Flanked by
past award recipients Fred Goldstein ’52 and Wayne Wilkins ’41, I pressed
them for stories. One of the nuggets I gleaned is that women took classes
at Williams much earlier than 1970, the year we traditionally think of as the
beginning of coeducation. Moreover, the first female president of the Society
of Alumni was Katharine (Mills) Berry, an economics major with a degree
year of 1957.
I have been pondering in the weeks since reunion the conversations I
had with the oldest and youngest of our alumni. What is it like to come to
Williams from a different continent? What must it have been like to be one
of a handful of women studying on campus before “official” co-education?
What must Berry have been like to have had the degree conferred upon her?
Thinking about these conversations and countless others from the weekend, the revelation is that all of our stories—Mijon’s, Katharine’s, mine and
yours—bear the familiar theme of grappling with finding a sense of belonging on this remote, rural campus. They point to a more organic quality of the
institution, like a living system.
Thinking about Williams in this way, it becomes easier to see beyond the
superficial and visually obvious differences between us that only mask the
extent to which our common experience of this lush, green campus binds us
to each other. The new connections we make refresh, enrich and expand our
relationship with this place.
I look forward to serving you as president for the next two years, along
with VP Jordan Hampton ’87. I hope that you continue to find each other out
there in the world, talk to each other about Williams and, in the process, be a
friend, mentor or adviser to another alumnus. And please send your observations, comments and suggestions to me at leila.jere@gmail.com.
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On the Cover
Jud Phelps ’64, who celebrated
his 50th reunion in June,
participated in the Parade of
Classes while wearing a reunion
jacket that belonged to his
grandfather, Albert S. Coons,
Class of 1910.
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contents
Alumni Photos
2
Class Notes
8
(including Reunion Scrapbook)
Weddings
130
Births & Adoptions
135
Obituaries
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
SEPTEMBER 2014
Volume No. 108, Issue No. 6
Editors
Amy T. Lovett
Francesca B. Shanks
Student Assistants
Mei Mei Chan ’17,
Khan A. Shairani ’15
Design & Production
Oberlander Group
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
Williamstown, MA 01267-0676
tel: 413.597.4278
fax: 413.597.4158
email: magazine@williams.edu
http://alumni-news.williams.edu
Address Changes/Updates
Bio Records
75 Park St.
tel: 413.597.4399
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email: alumni.office@williams.edu
http://alumni.williams.edu
Williams Magazines
(USPS No. 684-580) is published in November,
January, March, May, July and September and
distributed free of charge by Williams College.
Opinions expressed in this publication may not
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ALUMNI PHOTOS
Visit http://bit.ly/15MSmOG for information
on how to submit photos for consideration.
1. The Burnett family, including Bill Burnett ’63 (far left) and his daughter Elizabeth Burnett ’94 (third from left) celebrated the
birthdays of Bill’s wife Miranda and son Bill Jr. in Los Cabos, Mexico, in February 2014. 2. Henry Hall ’50 (left) and Bill Merizon ’56
met for dinner in Fort Myers, Fla., in April 2014 thanks to a mutual friend. 3. Sharon Nelson Hill ‘81 (center), executive director of the
Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, welcomed Cassandra Kirk ‘89 (left) and Melanie Velez ‘95 for the Good Apple Awards
in April 2014. 4. Tom Goodrich ’50 (right) presented a Williams banner that belonged to his father, L. Carrington Goodrich, Class of
1917, to family friend Jack Scaletta ‘18, who graduated from Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Md., in June 2014. 5. From left: Charlie
Kellogg ’62, John Child ’77 and Leo Murray ‘64 got together in Kathmandu, Nepal, in May 2014. 6. In April 2014, JJ Augenbraun ‘11
(center) hosted a Passover seder in his Cambridge, Mass., apartment for (from left) Britt Baker-Brousseau ‘11, Katerina Belkin ‘11,
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Janna Gordon ‘11 and Lauren Shuffleton ‘12. 7. The Bachelorette contestant J.J. O’Brien ’05 (back row, center) hosted a viewing
party for the show’s premiere in June 2014 with many Ephs from the classes of ’04, ’05 and ’06 in attendance. 8. From left: 2011
classmates Pat Barren, Chris Rudnicki, Peter Drivas, Tommy Tysse and Jonah Zuflacht reunited in D.C. in April 2014 for a Crawfish
for Cancer fundraising event. 9. Chris Eaton ’05 visited Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost point in the U.S., in October 2013.
10. In March 2014, George Hopfenbeck ’51 celebrated his birthday in Hillsboro Beach, Fla., with his wife Ruth (right), and Elena
Vandervoort (widow of Peter Vandervoort ‘51). 11. In June 2014, Lisa Kaestner ’91 (right) celebrated the eighth-grade graduation
of her daughter Ana Sophia Kiknadze (center) in Istanbul, Turkey, with Judy Conti ’91, Ana Sophia's godmother.
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ALUMNI PHOTOS
12. The retirement of Ron Anderson ’58 (second from left) brought together Brigham & Women’s Hospital rheumatologists (from left)
Karen Costenbader ’89, Kat Liao ’99 and Maggie Seton ’76 in December 2013. 13. In May 2014 (from left) Tad Drouet ’90, Eric Kaye ’92
and Peter Herbsman ’92 went diving off the coast of Roatán, Honduras. 14. During a Winter Study service trip to Liberia in January
2014, Williams Outing Club Director Scott Lewis (second from right) and students ran into Donna Staton ‘79 (center), who was doing
world health work. 15. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy ‘96 (left) chatted with constituent Peyton Mead ‘50 in West Hartford, Conn., in May
2014. 16. After the L.A. Kings won the Stanley Cup, Mark Yannetti ‘94 (center), the team’s director of amateur scouting,
posed with Eph hockey teammates (from left) Steven Hippel ‘95 and Sean Brousseau ‘94. 17. Jessica Ohly ‘02 (left) and Beth
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Ann Amendt ‘06 met up at the Boston Marathon Expo before the April 2014 race. 18. 1990 classmates (from left) Scott Nabel, Stacey
Minyard, Stacy Geant Hughes, Polly LeBarron and Brian Hughes gathered in Williamstown in May 2014 to begin planning for their
25th reunion. 19. In June 2014 Lane Wang ‘11 (left) visited classmates Glenn Yong (center) and Tomomi Kikuchi in Singapore.
20. Members of the Class of 1976 and their spouses gathered in Naples, Fla., for a collective 60th birthday party in June 2014.
21. Kevin Weng ‘93 (right) visited classmates John Birknes and Emily Rheinfrank Birknes and their three children in Norfolk, Va., in
March 2014. 22. 2010 classmates (from left) Jason Copelas, Crosby Fish, Chris Law, Erik Tillman and Chris Ting spent a long weekend at a cabin in Cranberry Lake, N.Y., in May 2014.
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23. Dara Musher-Eizenman ‘93 (back row, second from left) had lunch with Irene Gruenfeld ‘94 (back row, center) and Jeff Merritt
‘93 (right) and their families in Tel Aviv, Israel, in July 2013. 24. Erika Jorgensen ‘81 (left) and James Neumann ‘84 discovered their
Williams connection in May 2014 during a World Bank project in Bucharest, Romania. 25. Skip Adams ‘76 (right) and his father
Welles Adams ‘46 (left) shared lunch and memories with Dick Gray ‘48 in February 2014 at the Fort Myers, Fla., airport. 26. Members
of the Class of 1980 visited the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in D.C. in May 2014. 27. Matt Cranshaw ‘11 (left) met fellow Octet
member Aroop Mukharji ‘09 in South Kensington, England, to watch England play Uruguay during the World Cup. 28. Members of
the Class of 1979 got ready for the Parade of Classes during Williams’ Reunion Weekend in June 2014.
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29. Members of the band Cradle, from the classes of ‘70, ‘72, ‘73 and ‘74, reunited in Blue Ridge, Ga., in November 2013. 30. 2005
classmates (from left) Anna Swisher, Elizabeth Van Heuvelen, Ellie Frazier Donnell and Amy Dieckmann ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll
half-marathon in Portland, Ore., in May 2014. 31. Williams professors Sam Crane (left) and Steven Gerrard (second from right) had
dinner in Beijing, China, in July 2014 with (from left) Lane Wang ‘11, Adam Century ‘12, Chris Alberti ‘75, Claire Hsu ‘09 and Tom
Jones ‘71. 32. Williams English professor Katie Kent ‘88, outgoing director of the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford, caught up
with Seksom Suriyapa ‘88 during a celebration there in June 2014. 33. Molly Prindle ‘15 (back row, second from right) and fellow
Williams swim team members spent time in Sarasota, Fla., with her grandfather Joe Albertson ‘54 (standing, left) in May 2014.
34. Members of the Class of 1978 gathered in Lake Tahoe, Calif., in June 2014.
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If your class isn’t listed, please submit notes to Williams People,
C L A SS N OT E S
1936
Please submit notes to Williams People,
P.O. Box 676, Williamstown, Mass. 01267, or to
alumninews@williams.edu.
1938
1939
Karl Mertz, Mangels Ranch, P.O. Box 1509, Aptos, CA
95001; 1939secretary@williams.edu
While the 2014 Commencement and our 75th
fades from sight, we remain upbeat when we hear
from Jean and Harry Gottlieb that in May they celebrated their 72nd anniversary, attended by all five of
their great grandchildren, a “hectic but happy time!”
Isn’t that wonderful?
1940
REUNION JUNE 11-14
1941
Pete Parish, 350 East Michigan Ave., Ste. 500,
Kalamazoo, MI 49007; Wayne Wilkins, 240 South St.,
Williamstown, MA 01267; 1941secretary@williams.edu
Just a week before writing these notes, we received
the sad news of the passing of two of our dwindling
1941 numbers.
Syd Harrison died on Feb. 20, 2013, at Carmel
Valley Manor, a life care facility in Carmel Valley,
Calif., where he and his wife Jay had resided for many
years. There was no published obituary, according to
his executor. Jay predeceased him on April 15, 2010.
Much of Syd’s career was in investment management,
principally with Loomis Sayles in San Francisco and
Boston. He was chairman and CEO from 1969 to
1975. He and Jay enjoyed many years of retirement,
with bird watching and nature travel to exotic places
from Nepal and New Guinea to Antarctica. I recall
his gift to our 50th class fund when he remarked,
“Your appeals come with the frequency of Lands’
End catalogs.”
I learned of the passing of Bob Wineman in a moving telephone call from his daughter Marian. Bob
died on May 9. It was an unusually sad time for the
family. Bob’s wife Peg had died two weeks prior, on
April 26. Their 70th wedding anniversary would have
been on May 6. Both died peacefully at home with
family there. We remember them attending our 70th
reunion, a visit that was so beautifully arranged by
Marian from her home in Seattle. What I recall best
from our reunions was Bob’s story of the Japanese
bombing of his carrier, the USS Franklin, leaving it
“dead in the water” off Kobe, Japan, in May 1945.
Bob earned his PhD in chemistry at Harvard, where
he worked with Nobel Prize-winning Professor
Robert Woodward of double-helix fame.
News from the living front is indeed sparse and
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
P.O. Box 676, Williamstown, MA 01267 or magazine@williams.edu.
If you are interested in serving as class secretary, please contact
the Alumni Office at 413.597.4151.
certainly not emotional. It was pleasing to have Frank
Bush and friend Audrey Farnum here for the 192nd
annual meeting of the Society of Alumni of Williams
College. They were highlights of the parade, riding
in a convertible sports car down Main and Spring
streets. At the meeting Frank and I were recognized,
with remarkable applause, as the two eldest alumni
present. Remember now: our 75th reunion is just two
years away—2016!
In a nice telephone chat with Pete Parish I learned
that he and Barbara are not idle. The next day they
were flying to Chico, Calif., for a granddaughter’s
wedding where many of the family would congregate.
Later in the summer Barbara and Pete were to take a
cruise in Alaskan waters, ending with a week’s stay in
a “fishing camp.” Remarkable plans.
A brief ’41 Alumni Fund report for 2013-14, an
accounting you rarely see: Goal: $35,000. Achieved:
$35,357. Donors: 16 of 19 on the roll: 84.2 percent.
Thank you all.
1942
Thurston Holt, 4902 Willowood Way, Norman, OK
“Your Life and Music” was a class I took at the
University of Southern Maine. It sought to explore
how music we heard or played affected our lives.
We brought into class and played CDs, tapes, spinning LPs and 78s, music that was significant to
us even if it meant we just enjoyed it. For one session a daughter of our professor was a surprise visitor, and she sang beautifully to the accompaniment
of a grand piano. I discovered I enjoyed one of my
favorite songs, “All the Things You Are,” less because
it came to prominence at a stressful time in my life
and enjoyed another, “Stardust,” all the more because
I associated it with happy dances. As a start to seeing how music has influenced our lives, I asked each
member of the Class of 1942 to name a favorite song
and encouraged a brief commentary.
Norb Baillen’s favorite song was “The Star
Spangled Banner.” He likes its spirit of courage and
freedom. His wide interest in music includes Louis
Armstrong, Nat King Cole, reggae and classical
music that is not too loud, such as that by Maurice
Ravel and Claude Debussy.
Byron Benton picked the famous New Orleans
song “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
John Carr chose “My Blue Heaven.” “I know all the
words,” he told me. “It was one of the songs we sang
when I was a member of a singing group during the
several years I lived in NYC.”
Ted Carter and Bill Wulffleff both picked the theme
songs of Glen Miller’s band: “Sunrise Serenade” at
the start and “Moonlight Sonata” at the end. Ted and
I talked about two songs the band played: “Tuxedo
Junction” and “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” And Bill
and I recalled how the Glen Miller sound came
about. One day the alto sax player of the British band
Ray Noble became sick, so for the evening performance Ray inserted his clarinetist into his sax section.
Glen liked the makeshift sound and adopted it.
John Gibson emailed me, “Songs come and go.
Do you remember ‘Deep Purple’ and ‘In Old
Monterey’?” Actually my favorite songs have been
arias from operas.
1936– 42
One day in the 1980s I was driving in D.C.,
listening to the radio. The announcer said, “Next,
Brazilian singer Flora Perim will sing ‘Midnight
Sun.’ I knew the song was the Stan Kenton band’s
theme song, but I had never heard of Flora Perim.
Her singing was glorious. Afterward, the announcer
said she would be performing at a concert that evening. I happily attended it. “Midnight Sun” soars and
lifts my spirits.
For Paul Murray it is “The Mountains,” composed
by Washington Gladden, Williams Class of 1859.
Linda Wilde, who has been with Paul for many years,
told me, “ Williams is a big part of his life, and he is
talking about it all the time.”
Dick Ray sent me a letter: “I think we all have a
latent musical gene someplace in our makeup. And
for some of us this later emerges in an overt way,
perhaps as a professional musician or as an amateur performer. My father was a saxophone player in
dance bands of the 1920s. When I was 15, I took formal saxophone/clarinet training for a couple of years.
Those were the Big Band days, and I could never
get enough of tunes like Glen Miller’s ‘Pennsylvania
6-500’ or ‘Kalamazoo.’ There is no music other than
ragtime that gets my musical juices flowing as fervently as Big Band sounds.
“I later developed an interest in the piano. I’m
self-taught and have often regretted not having taken
formal training, as I did when I became interested in
painting. So I feel obligated to tell people that I do
not play the piano, but rather play at the piano. I’m
like a typist who uses the ‘hunt and peck’ method. I
do not know which fingers are supposed to go where
on the keyboard. Although I do a lot of playing by
ear, I do read piano music, and if it is not too complicated, I can stumble through it.
“I never go to bed without tickling the ivories for a
while. Living by myself, isolated in a big house, I can
play any time of day or night without disturbing anyone. So I will shun the senior facilities and just pound
the keyboard—at midnight, if that is what I wish.
“Music has a way of soothing the soul, and I have
found it to be a pleasant interlude in my less-thanexciting daily routine of nonagenarian living.”
Art Richmond proclaims his fondness for Williams
by choosing “Come All Ye Sons of Williams Sing.”
Having sung in the choir at State Street Church in
Portland, Maine, Ernie Selvage chose the Christmas
carol, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”
Felix Smith declined to pick a favorite song but told
me about his interest in the guitar, folk music, madrigal singing and singing in a choir.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was John Tuttle’s
choice. I asked if he liked the variety in the way singers render it. “No,” he said. “I like it straight.”
Without hesitation and without comment Tom
Ward chose the Williams song “Yard By Yard.”
“This Land Is Your Land” is the song Marion
Moore Abbott chose. It was a favorite of her late husband Mal Moore, too, and was played at the memorial service for him, along with the U.S. Navy hymn
“Eternal Father Strong To Save.” A bugler sounded
“Taps” as the people left the service.
Marilyn Lambert Ball, wife of the late Gus Ball,
chose George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue.” She
said, “I grew up in musical silence on a ranch in east
Utah. When the family finally got a radio, we were
thrilled. Partly because of that early experience I
listen to music much of the time.”
“Deep Purple” was the choice of Elizabeth “Liz”
Goodrich Barnes, whose late husband was Amos
“Binnie” Foote Barnes III. It brings back memories
of Williams football weekends and breakfasts
featuring hard boiled eggs at the 1896 House.
For fall house parties our freshman year the Sam
Donahue Band came to the Williams campus. Their
singer was sweet 16-year-old Paula Kelly. She sang
“Deep Purple” beautifully. She later became a member of The Modernaires, one of the famous singing
groups that included The Kingston Trio, The Beach
Boys, The Four Freshman, The HiLo’s and Lambert
Hendriks and Ross. Remember them?
Friday night of the Williams 1938 spring house
parties, word got out that an exciting new band was
playing at the Garfield Club. We raced over to hear it.
The band was Glen Miller. They were great. Marian
Hutton, sister of movie star Betty, was there, her skirt
swishing as she sang. Ray Eberly, whose brother sang
for the Tommy Dorsey band, sang too. During the
evening a telegram arrived for Glen Miller about
some arrangements he was doing for Tommy Dorsey.
Immediately after that weekend the band had a gig
at the renowned Glen Island Casino near NYC. That,
it turned out, caused the band to be instantly nationally acclaimed.
For the January issue I will continue with favorite
song choices while always welcoming thoughts you
give me on your life and music.
In May at the leadership dinner of the Williams
Alumni Fund, Class Agent John Gibson and
Honorary Members Agent Liz Hannock accepted
The John W. Chandler Trophy, awarded annually to
the post-50th class with the highest participation in
giving to the Alumni Fund. 1942’s was 100 percent.
They also accepted a splendid plaque honoring the
late Class Agent Bill Sammons for his leadership in
1997—our 65th Reunion year—when ’42 first had
100 percent participation. Sadly, Bill died Feb. 24,
when 1942 Williams Alumni Fund participation was
95 percent of the way to its final 100 percent.
Sorry to report the deaths of three more classmates.
I did not know about Ben Schneider’s death until
I read his excellent obituary in the May issue. John
Greenland died on Feb. 14. His obituary is in this
issue. I wrote about him in the September 2013 issue.
John Wolf’s obituary is also in this issue. He died on
Dec. 30, 2013. A conversation John and I had is in
the January issue.
Part of Bill Sammons’ successful life was his
delightful humor. Here he is with a story that was
part of his write-up in our 50th reunion book: “The
first time I caught myself in the melancholy of wondering who was controlling what occurred in NYC. It
was in the early ’70s. I was manager of a major division of a then-independent company, in NYC for the
annual hosting of security analysts. During the Q&A
I was asked to review my plans with respect to heat
pumps—the efficient use of electricity then resting
prominently on most everyone’s conscience. I gave
a very general answer, but I was pressed for specifics. And I caught hell later that day for my response.
Which was: ‘Sir, you’re asking me to state publicly
what all of my principal competitors would sacrifice
right arms to learn; I can’t reveal that information.’
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“Keeping the security analysts happy was, at least
in any one present moment, seemingly more important than technological—and share-of-market—
leadership in a mature, competitive, volume-oriented
industry. A number of years later, the independent
company now having been gobbled, I was seated
next to the very same analyst at lunch, now bankrolled by the much larger acquiring company. ‘Level
with me,’ I said. “Why do you guys keep prodding
the CFO and the CEO for a next quarter’s commitment, when they’re obviously reluctant?’ ‘It’s simple,’
he said (indeed, the wine had been pretty nice). ‘If I
can get enough better information than the analyst
who sits three desks from mine, I get to keep my job
and he doesn’t.’”
1943
Bill Brewer, P.O. Box 289, Galesville, MD 20765;
1943secretary@williams.edu
It is a pleasure to catch up with our 1943 cohort
by telephone, even though most of us—like your
secretary—are a little hard of hearing. The sad
news is that in February of this year we lost Pete
Oliver, after many years in the insurance business in Chicago; and then in April Len Eaton, our
West Coast poet and architectural historian, and
Bill Wilson, who took many of us flying around
Williamstown in those long-ago days. And I discovered that Bob Blakney, the physicist from
Albuquerque, died last year.
Happily, there are some of us still around, enjoying a bit of life and complaining a bit as well. Many
of us are in retirement communities, while some,
including your secretary, still struggle with the care
of a house.
Dr. Mal Clark in Minneapolis is cooking for his
nearby children—his cookies are famous!—and has
been married to Jean for 59 years. Not bad.
In Connecticut Bob Crane, also a physicist, says his
memory is going, but I reminded him of his prediction in our 50th reunion book that the Hubble telescope, which he worked on, would be used to find
other planets like our own. Recent news stories show
that his prediction was exactly right.
Down in The Plains, Va., in the middle of horse
country, Jean Eddy reports that Dr. Harry Eddy is
tolerably well. The main thing, she says, is “to stay
alive.” True enough.
A fine email from George Goodwin, one of our
distinguished academics, who taught political science at the University of Massachusetts, first at the
Amherst campus and then as one of the founders of
UMass Boston. He comments, “I learned that when
you start a new institution with a clear set of educational ideas, before you know it, a new generation
comes along and with a very different set of ideas.”
No doubt this is a story worth hearing. He goes
on to say, “It seemed sensible to retire to Amherst,
where Ellen and I are involved in gardening (Master
Gardeners of Western Massachusetts) and the local
Habitat for Humanity, with a foray or two into town
government. I am fortunate that all of our children
live in the area. Perhaps it was the Father’s Day picnic on the banks of the Connecticut River that got
me to respond to your [email].” Whatever it was, I’m
glad that he did.
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For 62 years George was married to Ellen Safford,
from a longtime Williams family. She died last
November from a fall.
Malcolm MacGruer, alias McGurk, also known
as our class president, is still living by the sea in
Madison, Conn., and producing about one crossword puzzle a week. He says that Will Shortz, the
crossword editor of The New York Times, is likely to be
buried “six down and three across.” I think the same
could be said of McGurk.
Believe it or not, Fred Nathan still goes down to his
law office every day. No doubt he keeps an eye on all
the eager young lawyers, and they keep a respectful
eye on him.
Henry Pennell, another of our retired academics,
taught at Avon Old Farms and Taft Schools. He is
losing the fight with glaucoma but still manages to
read a bit with the help of a magnifier. During his
career he coached seven different sports, which must
be something of a record. Henry says he is “older but
not wiser,” which I guess could go for us all.
In the Berkshires, Dave Rossell is in “reasonable
health,” which is not bad in one’s 90s, and like many
of us he has given up driving at night. He is reading—for the first time and with great pleasure—
Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of
Solitude. According to the Internet, in the 50 years
since this was written, 30 million copies have been
sold, so Dave is in good company. His wife Irene
Willis has a new book of poetry coming out, which
I would like to read.
Farther east on Buzzard’s Bay at Quissett, the
attractive harbor that is the weekend goal of many
local yachtsmen, one can find Dick Shriner. He no
longer drives, but he and Liz do get around; they have
just returned from a family wedding in Houston. His
26’ lobster boat has gone to his son, who runs a boatyard on Narragansett Bay. (An odd coincidence—I
have also gone from a largish power boat to a 26’
lobster boat, though mine is still parked at the end
of my dock.)
As of the end of June, Joe Sizoo had not yet left for
his summer place in the Thousand Islands. He and
Barbara do not drive much these days, so his daughter will drive them to Cape Vincent.
Linc Stevenson was back in Rye, NY, for the summer. He and Anne have a condo at the Ocean Reef
Club at Key Largo, off the southern tip of Florida.
Not a bad place to spend the winter!
Nip Wilson spent the summer at Shell Point near
Fort Myers, where he has lived for some years. “Yes,
it’s hot,” he said, “but I spend a lot of time indoors.”
With an exercise class every morning, indoors of
course, his health is “better than I deserve.”
I don’t hear enough from our honorary members, probably my fault, but I did have a nice email
from Carol Howe, widow of Halsey Howe. Their children are remarkable; all have graduate degrees in
various disciplines and rather extraordinary careers.
Now there are grandchildren who seem to be following their parents, and one grandson is in the second
year of Teach for America, which places recent college graduates in inner city schools. Their motto is,
“Teachers make everything else possible,” a sentiment
with which I heartily agree (confession: my stepson Benjamin was in TFA teaching at a downtown
school in D.C.).
1942– 46
As to those I could not reach, please forgive me,
and let me know by email or phone what you are
up to. Email is ottobrewer@me.com, and phone is
410.867.3140.
As for Bill Brewer, he and Collot continue to be
small-town folks at heart, though Collot is still trying cases for the Federal Trade Commission and is
in Washington for a few days every week. Their big
news? Gale Brewer, Bill’s oldest child, was finally
elected Manhattan borough president. And Bill has
gotten his memoir, In The Eye of Memory, back from
the printer. It was two years in the making.
1944
1945
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Frederick Wardwell, P.O. Box 118, Searsmont, ME
Carl Appleby says he is in pretty good shape, but
not quite as good as he was when running a Marine
weapons company in Korea. Like your secretary,
he was recalled for that police action after spending three years in WWII, but he then continued
in the reserves and logged 22 years of “satisfactory
government service.” After Korea he devoted himself to small-town newspapers, the largest of which
had a circulation of about 30,000, and found time to
generate three kids, which in turn produced seven
grandchildren and at this time one great-grand.
Unfortunately wife Eileen has Alzheimer’s, an alltoo-frequent occurrence in our age group.
Toby Bermant wrote from Manhattan that he is
trying with all vigor to hang both in there and out
there. He is happy that his “reclining years” allow
more time for enjoying his grandchildren and pursuit of the performing arts, exhibits and discretionary
reading. Of the latter he listed: Big Data, The Swerve
and The Orphan Master’s Son.
Emmet Herndon is still bicycling to work, as he has
for many years, running his moving company business in Boise, Idaho. He and Carl Appleby attended
the same prep school in California and somehow
ended up at Williams with Dartmouth an alternative.
Charlie Heuer says he is very pleased with his
choice of retirement home in Chapel Hill, N.C., and
spends a lot of time repairing and refinishing furniture in the craft shop for fellow occupants. Charlie
worked for Zenith Radio for 40 years as an advanced
electronic engineer and particularly enjoyed it while
the company was the world leader in TVs.
Diana (Hole) Strickler ’73, the daughter of Dick
Hole, wrote that her mother Tacey died of complications from Alzheimer’s. Tacey and Dick met at a
fraternity house party at Williams, hence Williams
was always near and dear to her. She is survived by
a large Williams family: Her sister Marty Phillips,
widow of Doc Phillips ’43, Richard W. Hole Jr. ’70,
Diana, Elizabeth Hole Knake ’02 and Tacey Phillips
Carroll ’76.
Mary Elizabeth McClellan (wife of Bruce
McClellan) wrote to wonder how I could have earlier reported Sally Hill (wife of Jim Hill) as “Sandy.” If
she could see my penmanship or typing, and know
that daughter Martha often translates to finished
copy, she would better understand. Sorry. Mary Liz
has been secretary for Bruce’s Oxford Class of ’47 but
is now retired from that. She is still the correspondent for her Middlebury Class of ’45, which, about
like our Williams class, had 250 members and is now
down to about 75.
Walter Minton holds the distinction of not only
being Williams ’45 but also Harvard ’45. After the
military in WWII he went to Harvard, and while
graduating in ’46 or ’47 they assigned him to ’45.
An Amherst friend advised him that Amherst’s
endowment was larger than that of Williams. That
must be corrected.
Lucy and Charlie Pinkerton declared victory
after surviving the winters of ’13 and ’14. It was
indeed cold, with lots of snow, and their residence in
Kennebunk, Maine, gets the winter damp and cold
ocean air. Charlie doesn’t move well but was his usual
exuberant self at a luncheon get-together in May.
Gay and Fred Scarborough called to see if the
Wardwells, Bud Edwards and the Pinkertons could
make it for lunch in Kennebunkport in early May.
Bud could not, but the rest did, and we had a fine
time concentrating on great lobster rolls and
small talk.
Your secretary, Fred Wardwell, reports all is well
with his family, bees and dog. Ann turned 90, and a
newspaper published on her birthday reported gasoline at 11 cents per gallon and the Dow Jones
Industrial Average at 100. I got 15 days sailing iceboats last winter, and I planned to build a lighter
and simpler boat over the summer. Winning a race
is no longer possible, but for everyday cruising it
beats water sailing. Maine has lots of small lakes
and big ponds, and the local commodore of the Ice
Boat Association announces the location of the best
ice and thus draws a group resulting in a very social
gathering. To sail you really just lie down in the boat
and scoot around with a minimum of effort. If the
wind dies, you walk home. Hard to beat.
As a class we have lost more members, namely, Bob
Hart, Luther Hill and Les Johnston.
1946
Bill Shellenberger, 4031 Kennett Pike, Unit 52,
Wilmington, DE 19807; 1946secretary@williams.edu
Pete Abbey died May 13, according to a note
I received. Art Catotti died. He was from North
Adams, served in the ski troops in Italy, returned to
Williams, getting his B.A. in chemistry and then a
master’s in physical chemistry. He worked for GE,
was an expert in the nickel cadmium battery field
and had several patents. He moved to Gainsville, Fla.,
and had a happy retirement there. Dick Debevoise,
after long and excellent service to the class, wants
to retire as president. Any volunteers or suggestions
for the job, please contact me: wdshell42@gmail.
com or 302.656.0459. Apologies to Gus Klein. Harry
Davenport called to say that he was in the Navy and
had not landed in Normandy as a combat engineer, etc. That was, in fact, Gus. See last notes. Called
John P. Davis of Cleveland. His first two years were
at Williams, the last two at Harvard, then Harvard
Law School. He has spent 36 years on the board and
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as president of the board of Shadyside Academy. He
also serves on the board of the Carnegie Museum
of Art. He was a fraternity brother of the late Paul
Didier, who attended Temple Medical School with
me. He was the anesthetist at Mayo for President
Lyndon B. Johnson’s gallbladder operation. Bill
Bernhard has been a professor of surgery at Harvard
and a pioneer in hyperbaric medicine (increasing atmospheric pressure producing higher concentrations of oxygen—best known for treating “The
Bends”). He has been, chiefly, a cardiac surgeon, but
very involved in research. He worked mostly at the
Brigham and Childrens’ hospitals in Boston. He had
three years at Williams in V12 and then was a naval
officer, ending in Okinawa. He attended Syracuse
med school and trained at Harvard in general surgery and Columbia in cardiac surgery. In ’63 JFK
brought his 3-pound son, born prematurely, to Bill,
with the hope that, by increasing the oxygenation in
the baby’s lungs, it might survive. Bill took the preemie into the hyperbaric chamber for 16-plus hours,
but it did not survive. He said JFK was great, but the
whole Secret Service entourage created chaos. Bill
and his wife are both in good health. He walks, lifts
weights, and sails his 38’ tartan in the bay and occasionally to Nantucket. Next doctor was Bill Wenzel,
but his was in physics from CalTech. He retired from
Berkeley National Lab,. They employ between 3,000
and 4,000 employees. Bill specialized in high-energy
physics—his thesis was on nuclear physics. He still
attends meetings and crosses San Francisco Bay twice
a week to attend lectures. He exercises daily by walking about half a mile on the hills around his home.
Regretfully he and his wife had to give up folk dancing, which they loved. Their daughter, who lives with
them, walks with him and helps run the house. His
son, an electrical engineer, lives 50 miles up the coast
and has two children they get to see.
Tried to call Frank Dealy using the phone number
on the class list. A nice lady responded saying she was
given that number but had no idea who or where he
was. She said he must have owed everybody or been
the most popular person because of all the phone calls
she receives for him. She was delighted when I told
her I would get that number removed from the class
list. Would appreciate any news—good, bad or sad.
1947
John C. Speaks III, 33 Heathwood Road, Williamsville,
NY 14221; 1947secretary@williams.edu
1948
John A. Peterson Jr., 5811 Glencove Drive, #1005,
Naples, FL 34108; 1948secretary@williams.edu
I have received a few more items than usual, for
which I am grateful and thank the senders.
Rich Persoff writes: “I stay busy on the board of
the local water agency (Watsonville grows most of
the U.S. strawberries, plus artichokes and lettuce just
down Highway 101), plant-breeding Mimulus and
playing duplicate bridge: Ann and I are up to 27.37
master points. Lots more complicated than dorm
bridge. Sadly, am selling my ’72 Mercedes 350 SL: I
no longer want the insecurities of a 42-year-old ride,
even if it can go 100 mph uphill!”
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Our class treasurer, Don Markstein, wired me: “Life
is very good here in Sarasota. Judy’s metastatic renal
cancer is inactive at the moment, meaning she is cancer
free after two metastases, and I am OK, with the usual
aches and pains of an 87-year-old—knees and hips.”
Judith and Don didn’t attend our 66th reunion, due
to health. And they put their summer unit, #231 at
Hemlock Brook Estates, up for sale on June 1.
George Kennedy, class president, contacted me
regarding the leadership studies program, which
was a part of our 50th reunion gift and an increasingly important part of the learning opportunities
at Williams. As of spring 2014, there were 48 leadership studies concentrators—more than all the
other concentrations combined. Leadership studies currently offers nine courses that feature influential presidents, activists, intellectuals, etc. Nicole
Mellow, associate professor of political science, is
the program chair. Nicole has done a superb job of
building on the vision of James MacGregor Burns
’39. The ’48s should be pleased that our gift had
had such a profound and lasting impact on the
Williams experience.
George also reports, “My wife Val and I continue
to maintain a residence in Williamstown. Between
the college, the museums, the theater, Tanglewood
and some venture capital activity, there’s more than
enough to keep us entertained.”
Rhett Austell passed along to me info he received
from Wink Halsted. Wink reminds us to sort out
our mildewed documents and pass along any which
may have historical significance to Williams. “Over
the years I have accumulated much this and that. I
am trying now to sort out and dispose of all kinds
of accumulated papers. A few documents of possible historical value may occasionally turn up. Most
of these are from my years working for the National
Education Association in D.C. and the Johnson
Foundation. When I believe a document has some
possible historical significance … my first thought is
to check to see if the Williams Chapin Library might
have an interest.
“I mention this because I would like to urge
classmates, particularly those who worked for
government, universities and national and international organizations to do the same when they are
cleaning out their attics. Before throwing stuff away,
consider whether it is historically significant, and
whether Williams might be interested in it.”
Here is the sad part of these notes, which regrettably must be expected as the years roll by. We have
lost the following classmates in 2014: Noel Melvin on
Feb. 22; my fraternity brother Joel Carr on Feb. 27;
and the Rev. George Higgins on April 25. We send
our condolences and best wishes to their families.
In closing, should you find yourselves anywhere
near Naples, Fla., please contact me at 239.566.3645.
1949
Chuck Utley, 1835 Van Buren Circle, Mountain View, CA
We are all sorry that President Charlie Jarrett was
unable to attend our 65th reunion for health reasons, and we wish him well as he continues his
recovery. VP Wally Barnes deserves a special ’49
salute for both organizing our reunion and provid-
1946– 50
ing color commentary for those of us who didn’t
make the trip to Williamstown. According to Wally,
“A total of 15 people (eight classmates plus wives
and relatives) gathered for a somewhat rainy weekend to celebrate our 65th: Ed Maynard, Michael
Robbins, Al Clement and daughter Leslie Malm, Tay
and John Thoman, Sheila and Joe Dorsey and their
daughter Daryl Coleman, Nancy and Ron Chute,
Ann and Dick Wells and Wally Barnes and Barbara
Franklin.“HQ for food drink, etc., was Dodd House
(the old Williams Inn—now a college dorm).
Dick Wells secured a private room for our meals
and thoughtfully reserved a quiet corner of the
lounge for cocktails. It made a difference, because
we shared Dodd House with noisy ’44, ’54 and ’59
classes. Thursday night dinner was cozy and serene
with only seven people. Largely due to weather,
another eight arrived Friday in time for dinner. We
decided to hold our class meeting in a quiet place at
Dodd House, since Saturday’s formal dinner would
be in shared ‘public’ space at the new Williams Inn.
Wally paid tribute to retiring President Charlie
Jarrett and wife Emily for their hard work in holding the class together over the past five years.
Dick Wells, who lives in town, was also lauded for
accomplishing minor miracles for us. A list of the
151 classmates who are no longer with us was distributed, and we shared a moment of silence in
their memory. Well over 50 percent of our class is
gone. Following dinner, Al Clement and Michael
Robbins led the singing of some old favorites from
our era such as ‘Auralee’ and ‘I Love The Ladies.’ The
group then retired to the large lounge area when the
Williams Reunion Jazz Band held forth. “Saturday,
the weather cleared just in time for the Parade of
Classes from Dodd House to Chandler Gym for
the Annual Meeting of Alumni, with ’49 leading
the parade. Most walked, and a few took advantage
of rides in antique cars. Under the persistent leadership of Head Agent Orin Pollock, our class again
won first place for percentage of those contributing to the Annual Fund—well over 90 percent.
“Everyone scattered Saturday afternoon to attend
presentations by faculty or to just wander about the
campus and enjoy the new buildings—especially the
new library, which is spectacular. Ed Maynard visited
Sheep Hill, which is now a town recreational area,
and the Dorsey clan made a trip to the summit of
Mount Greylock by car. Saturday evening we shared
the private dining area at the Williams Inn with the
Class of ’54 and closed out the evening being entertained by the Ephlats and the Williams Reunion
Jazz Band. A great 65th reunion left us all with the
glow of fond memories.”
Those attending elected new class officers:
President Wally Barnes; VP and Treasurer Dick
Wells; Secretary Chuck Utley; and Head Agent,
Orin Pollock. Al Clement provided other news and
another view of Williams: “The month of May was a
full one for me. I attended my grandson’s graduation
at Johns Hopkins and then traveled to Jekyll Island,
Ga., with my sister for a week’s stay at my son-inlaw’s cottage. Left well-rested and slightly tanned to
plan the trip to Williamstown. My daughter accompanied me and insisted on doing most of the driving, which I reluctantly relinquished but was secretly
relieved about. We arrived on Friday afternoon in
time for a very nice dinner at Dodd House, where I
particularly enjoyed renewing a friendship with Wally
Barnes, with whom I sang in the Glee Club and at
Octet reunions. I found the Sunday morning memorial service at the chapel very moving. All three faiths
were represented, beginning with the call to prayer,
chanted by the Islamic chaplain, a reading of the St.
Francis prayer and then the Hebrew Kaddish. The
postlude was ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ by
the Williams Reunion Jazz Band! How’s that for
spreading things over several centuries? I came away
from this weekend feeling proud of my association
with Williams, conscious that it is a much different and probably better school than when I attended,
awed by the diversity and grateful that the college
seems to handle the changes with grace and skill. It is
still one of the most beautiful places in Christendom.
It was my good fortune to have been able to attend
there. I do want to pass on a word of thanks to all
those who made my daughter Leslie so much a part
of my weekend. She enjoyed herself immensely.” Giles
Kelly was “sorry to hear that only eight classmates
took to the college campus for the reunion, particularly when I think of the numbers and vitality of our
class in June of 1949. Such a contrast now, but probably normal. I didn’t go back because the guys I most
wanted to reunite with were not going to be there.
Meanwhile, in my retirement, I am doing research
for an article on Chesapeake Bay pilots, a project that
has taken me to Norfolk and Baltimore to meet and
watch those elite mariners at work. Their business is
big in both senses of the word.”
1950
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Francis J. (Jack) McConnell, 1155 Wildwood Lane,
Glenview, IL 60025; 1950secretary@williams.edu
Stu Robinson continues to amaze. Charlie Schaaf
reports Stu won the National 85-and-over tennis
tournament in Vancouver, Wash.
Mo Murray’s wife Joan, who passed away six years
ago, was honored by the creation of the Joan D.
Murray Volunteerism Award, recognizing her many
volunteer activities, including those at Morristown
Memorial Hospital and countless hours in the coffee shop at the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center. She
loved to garden and was past president of the Garden
Club of Morristown and served as the club’s representative to the Greater Newark Conservancy. In
1995 she was awarded the Family of the Year award,
and in 1999 the Alumni Achievement Award by
Wheaton College. Mo, you picked a winner.
Bob Van Gorder keeps in touch with Babe and
Tom Pugh.
“Dusty” Pritchett, wife of the late Clay Pritchett,
writes that she sees John Golding at concerts when
their respective churches give a concert together.
Your secretary and wife Lynn had a minireunion
in Tucson this winter with Joannie and Tom Healy,
Sandy and Doug Coleman, and Margie and Royer
Collins. Good food, beverages and Williams remembrances enjoyed by all. Tucson has the best weather in
the country, high 70s and low 80s every day. Anyone
who would like a copy of my memoirs (Cases of
Interest), send me an email at fjm1013@aol.com.
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1951
Gordon Clarke, 183 Foreside Road, Falmouth, ME 04105;
We will open with the report from Pete deLisser
who with his wife Carolyn has relocated to Shell
Point, a retirement community in Fort Myers, Fla.
Here is a partial list of Pete’s weekly activities: he
attends a poetry class, a memory class, a bible study
class and a billiards class. In addition, he conducted a
“vision enhancement communications workshop …
for people with a variety of vision problems.” Some of
the participants couldn’t even see Pete, the leader!
Tom Kent has had a variety of health problems
over the past three to four months but is pleased to
report that he is finally “on the mend.” That said, he is
uncertain whether he will be able to get back to playing golf, tennis and squash. On behalf of the class,
Tom, we wish you well. We need you to continue to
hold up our name when the trophies are handed out.
Chuck Pusey writes (in a hand so clear that I am
embarrassed to look at my own signature) that he
has settled in a “retirement community in Newtown
Square, Pa. … a very pleasant place to live.” He lost
his wife (and high school sweetheart) two years ago
but has come to grips with being alone. Chuck had
his own real estate firm for 40 years before retiring,
and he continues to do some work in the field, which
seems to “help my mental health, and on occasion I
may make some money.” Ever the salesman, Chuck
enclosed his business card, which shows that he is
associated with one of Warren Buffett’s very successful real estate agencies. To top things off, Chuck
claims eight great-grandchildren!
Tim Blodgett’s notes are clear, well written and, if
he missed something the first time, I will get a follow-up email to correct the oversight. For example: “Had lunch with Jack Hornor the other day. He
and his wife Cathy are living in nearby Waltham (in
a very pleasant group residence), and he is still singing publicly in his rich baritone.” Later, Tim added,
“Something I forgot: Jack … is also acting in plays his
community is putting on, including The Late George
Apley.” Tim continued, “I didn’t ask Jack’s permission
to pass on his doings to the class, but being a showman he probably wouldn’t object.”
Tim also describes a series of four trips on which
he will take or has taken each of the four Blodgett
children “singly and alone (i.e., without Becky).”
Those adventures have already included a long weekend in New Orleans and a cruise to Costa Rica and
transit of the Panama Canal. Still to come: a cruise
through the islands south of the Alaskan mainland
and a cruise circumnavigating Newfoundland in
September.
Tim concludes by saying, “Great fun to have an offspring all to one’s self for a week. I recommend this
way of treating children (or grandchildren) before we
get too old to enjoy it!” Editor’s note: Becky seems to
have been treated fairly during this process, having
had at least one trip to Florida for a reunion with
former classmates.
The ever-proper Tad Jeffrey seems to be at peace
with his world when he says, “The only thing I have
to report is that the lady I have been living with for
63-plus years, i.e., Nancy, now has a swimming pool
attached to the house we have been in for 50 years.
14
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
I think it cost about five times more than we paid
for the house, but she likes it a lot, and the marriage
continues to go well. People often ask if I use the
pool, and I say, ‘No, I’ve got a nice shower upstairs.’”
In a footnote, Tad reports chatting with his cousin
Tim Blodgett and his daughter at a company annual
meeting.
Here is another report of a long-lasting and happy
marriage. Bill Paton writes that he and Renis are
“doing pretty well for a couple of old folks.” They
summer in Rehoboth Beach, Del., surrounded by
crowds of children and grandchildren, and retreat to
Maitland, Fla., for the winter. By now, they will have
journeyed to New York for a grandson’s graduation
from Columbia Business School. This will be Bill’s
first return to the Big Apple “in a long time.”
Elena Vandervoort, widow of the late Pete
Vandervoort, ran into Ruth and George Hopfenbeck,
who were vacationing at the Hillsboro Club in
Florida to celebrate George’s 85th birthday. Thank
you for sending in a photo of the event, Elena, and
Happy Birthday, George!
Don Gregg was in Korea as leader of a non-governmental mission to improve our relations with Pacific
Rim countries. He writes of a photograph he forwarded, “This was the Pyongyang airport on Monday,
Feb. 10, 2014. With me is Pete McCloskey, war hero
and ex-congressman, who met and made peace with
an 81-year-old North Korean lieutenant general
who had fought against him 63 years ago. Pete was
wounded twice leading bayonet charges, and Gen. Ji,
then 17, was wounded three times. It was an extraordinary sight to see them salute each other’s courage
and vow to do all they can to see that none of their
descendants have to fight in a war.”
Don concludes with a couple of personal observations. “I’m using a cane, the only way to survive
the endless Beijing airport. Glad to be home, but
it was worth doing. Various seeds were planted. …
That’s a Russian jet in the background. I don’t
recommend it.”
Having opened with a note from one very busy
classmate, we will conclude with another. Dave Ruder
may be Professor of Law Emeritus at Northwestern,
but that surely doesn’t mean that he has retired or
even slowed down! He teaches “a seminar on securities regulation … to educate law students about
the difficulties of regulating the securities markets
… cover a variety of subjects—enforcement, broker dealers, high frequency trading, corporate governance, hedge funds and derivatives.” He spends “substantial research time” in his law school office just to
keep current on that complex field. Still, he and his
wife Susan find time to play golf, hike and travel, and
she educates him “about art, ballet and opera.” The
Ruders were to celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary over the summer and hosted two parties to
celebrate Dave’s 85th birthday, one for their six children, spouses and nine grandchildren; the other, for
family and friends, was attended by 11 Williams
graduates.
Finally, it is always gratifying to be reminded that
the class has chosen to “get outside of itself ” by supporting students who undertake off-campus summer
internships. I quote from the letter to us by Patricia
M. Burton of the office that administers the projects: “Three students held Class of 1951 public sector
1951– 52
internships last summer … in the New York metropolitan area [that] ran the gamut from an education nonprofit to an arts nonprofit to a hospital in an
underprivileged and underserved community in the
Bronx.” Their reports are lengthy and revealing of the
seriousness and depth of each intern’s interest.
1952
Alec Robertson, 3 Essex Meadows, Essex, CT 06426;
1952secretary@alumni.williams.edu
I hope you are all scheduled to attend our mini
Oct. 10-12 in Billville. The sun has come out, and
the flowers have bloomed. On June 13, Judy and I
heard a fine presentation on the situation in Ukraine
by Sen. Chris Murphy ’95. Without a note, he outlined a dangerous situation with precision, underscoring his cordial relationship with Sen. John
McCain, crossing the aisle in the interest of the U.S.
President Bill Missimer chimed in: “Long, harsh
winter, short spring, and now it’s beautiful at the
blueberry farm. The bees made it through the cold
and have done their duty pollinating the bushes, so
should produce a good crop. I sound like I took botany or biology in college instead of physics. A question for the class: What else of note happened in
1952 besides our graduating? For starters, the first
commercial jet-powered aircraft flew across the
Atlantic. It was a British Comet.” (Answers are
required in the fall.)
Nicky and Paige L’Hommedieu were in Williamstown for the graduation of their grandson John
Sanderson ’14 in June. After the event, they had a
fun-filled dinner discussing the college and politics
with Ann and Doug Foster, Lynne and Sam Humes
and John Hyde. On the same day, Pete Gurney’s
grandson Jay Gurney ’14 graduated. Pete also mentioned, “The Signature Theatre in New York is doing
a retrospective of two earlier plays of mine and one
new one this summer and next year. Life goes on…”
“John Hyde and I have lunch once a week with Fred
Greene, generally, John Chandler and others where
we decide the fate of the world, the US and Williams
College,” reported Sam Humes. “The new library
opens this summer and the renewed Weston Field
this fall, especially for our minireunion. My book
Belgium: Long United, Long Divided launches this fall,
with a promotional blurb by Jim Burns ’39.”
Howie Martin reports: “The biggest news is the
arrival March 30 of our first great-grandchild.
Her neurologist father, Laz, has a fellowship at
Cleveland Clinic. The grandmothers have spent
a lot of time in Cleveland, but we manage to feel
close with FaceTime or pictures almost daily.”
“What Peter Ochs has done, is doing, and will
have done, God willing and the crick don’t rise:
Just back from six weeks in Gay Head, on Martha’s
Vineyard, seeing old friends and making new
acquaintances, mongering rumors, generally stirring up trouble wherever and when. Back in Vienna
for my sins, playing author, director and producer
for We’re Back Again: Winston Churchill and Adolph
Hitler in their own words. At the TAG theater,
Gumpendorfer Strasse, Aug. 25-Sept. 20, matinees
Sundays. Any alumni want to see and save, email
me at oxmark@chello.at or call 011.431.545.1323.
Don’t miss it if you possibly can.”
Bob Kimberly had nothing inspiring to report,
although he did say that they’ve had a wonderful
winter in the Northwest; sun in the morning and
rain at night. Bob waxed into verse: Why is it at
this stage of life/which is our Golden Years/our journeys are more often/back and forth to doctors /than to
far off lands?
Don Martin reported: “Looking forward to our
minireunion this fall. Just returned from a maxi 60th
reunion at Harvard Business School, Class of 1954.
Classmate Jay McElroy was there with spouse Mary.
Jacquie and I had a wonderful time with about 40
returnees over the three days of events. Although I
was the chair, I had plenty of time to mingle, because
Harvard has become very efficient over many years
‘getting it right.’ They assigned a dedicated reunion
coordinator to me a year ahead of time and arranged
luncheon meetings at the Faculty Club for our planning committee, etc.”
“Looking forward to the minireunion,” reported
Art Levitt. “I’ve been active in support of Westport
Country Playhouse, which has produced a number of Pete Gurney’s plays. This year on Sept. 22 the
Playhouse is holding a gala in honor of the two of
us. Hope as many Ephs as possible will be able to
attend.”
Shipley and Dick Walters went to a really great
graduation ceremony at UC Santa Barbara to see
their granddaughter graduate ( Junior Phi Beta like
her grandfather) with a BS in science. “She is interested in becoming a physician’s assistant. (My son,
an emergency medicine doctor, suggested that this
would be a better choice for her than an MD, and
she is learning about it while serving volunteer jobs in
the field.) Really the best graduation ceremony I have
ever been to, with excellent, student-oriented speakers, good advice for the grads and an impressive ceremony overall.”
Ray George reported: “Betsy had a completely successful hip replacement in February, and we were off
to Morocco for 10 days in May. Then it was back to
Illinois after Memorial Day. We were most fortunate
to spend the winter in Florida and avoid the horrendous weather experienced in other parts of the country.” (Excellent move, Ray and Betsy!)
Bill Hatch announced: “At the moment I am recovering from major surgery on my lower back, which
took place on May 22. I am still in quite a bit of pain
in my back, and my legs are weak. All I can do is
walk with a cane, and I am not allowed to drive until
I see the surgeon on July 1. After that I will be able
to do some therapy to begin to get back into shape.
Unfortunately I was unable to play any golf or tennis prior to the operation and decided it was time.
I hope I made the right decision. Pat and I would
love to come to the mini in October, but I need to
see how I am recovering before I commit.” (Get well
soon, my friend!)
“Bob Aliber and Jackie came to Santa Fe the weekend after Memorial Day,” reported Bob Huddleston.
“We had a good dinner at La Boca, a tapas restaurant, with lots of conversation.
“The first two weeks of May I flew to Haiti to visit
Vicki, with dinner in Miami on the way. She has a
nice house with a decent-sized pool, but the country
is a disaster area. We lived there for two years in the
mid-90s; it has clearly gone downhill every year since.
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I came away shocked and depressed, even though
I’ve lived in some pretty marginal places—impossible traffic, masses of people on the streets, tent cities,
piles of uncollected garbage with women and dogs
searching through it. Admittedly they had a massive
earthquake and flood, but that was two or three years
and millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance
ago. It’s not a pretty picture.”
Quintus “Bud” Drennan moved into a retirement
center last December and got his house sold this
spring. Bud’s wife Carol sadly passed away in March
after a 15-year battle with Alzheimer’s. She spent the
last seven years in a nursing home that specializes in
dementia care, a terrible disease with no cure anywhere on the horizon. “I’m still active, walking without a cane, driving myself and dating a great lady.”
Stay healthy, Bud.
Ed and Fred Goldstein drove to Williamstown for
the Reunion weekend parade, alumni society meeting and Joseph’s Coat luncheon. “Enjoyed seeing
John Hyde and Barbara and Bob Howard ’53 as we
watched the parade. After lunch we stopped to visit
with Ann and Doug Foster and joined them along
with Emily Kraft to attend the opening of the new
addition to the Clark on the July 4 weekend. Looking
forward to seeing Nicky and Paige L’Hommedieu for
our last Roundabout Theatre production for this season this weekend. Had a nice visit with Marylin and
Art Levitt earlier this month. We are looking forward to rounding up all of ’52 in the New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut area to attend the Westport
Playhouse in the fall when they will be honoring Art
and Pete Gurney. Will let everyone know when the
date is set.”
Betty Ann and Rick Wheeler are overscheduled.
“Right now, practically all of the monthly gatherings have been canceled for the summer, but Betty
Ann’s bridge groups just keep operating. We have
just joined a group that will be hearing from a very
qualified art historian, William Kloss, who is with
the Smithsonian Institute, who will comment on the
paths of development regarding art. We had a great
season with the Boston Symphony with a wide range
of conductors since our planned leader is not available
until the fall. So we are well and are looking forward
to the mini in October.”
Judy and I sincerely hope you all have had a great
summer and look forward to the mini.
1953
Steve Klein, 10 Sunningdale Court, Maplewood, NJ
I noticed in Mayor Bloomberg’s commencement address references to LBJ’s “Great Society” and
assorted wars. I remembered in Tom Brucker’s essay
in our 50th reunion book similar comments, which I
mentioned to Tom, and he said it makes him wonder
what other great minds are thinking. Tom still enjoys
hiking and tennis on Mercer Island.
Jane and George LaMore will continue their annual
summer drive from Iowa to Western Massachusetts.
George is hoping to preach at the United Methodist
Church in Williamstown while in the area. George
also takes some pride in concurring with Winston
Churchill’s comment that any intelligent person
over the age of 40 should be a conservative. George
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praised Joe Fell’s article in a past Alumni Review on
the great professor J.W. Miller.
David Palmer, between infusions, is still able to
travel and play an occasional nine holes of golf. Gene
Linett questions Yankees manager Girardi’s failure
to use the bunt in late innings to advance the potential go-ahead run. Don Goldstein continues seeing
patients and is widely sought after for his knowledge
and judgment. Just now, the controversial surgical use
of the Morcellator has Don involved in several challenging cases.
Don will stop seeing patients May 31, 2015, but
will continue with his writing and other related activities. Bill Miller claims that the only TV networks
where he now appears on panels for his knowledge of
the Middle East are the more obscure ones. Bill will
be going to Iran at the end of June. I believe that Bill
is somewhat skeptical as to the development of Iran’s
nuclear bomb capabilities.
Josh Schapiro ’83, son of our late, beloved classmate
Seth Schapiro, called to tell me that his older daughter had been accepted into the Williams Class of
2018 but the follow-up news was that she had chosen
to go to Smith, who had apparently outbid Williams.
The Williams College 225th Commencement on
June 8 featured three grandchildren: Robert Carnes
’14, son of Elizabeth Carnes ’78 and grandson of Bob
Howard; Kathleen Elkins ’14, granddaughter
of Mike Lazor; and Nicholas Stephen Tyson ’14,
son of Jill Tyson ’82 and grandson of Steve Klein.
A nice touch was congratulatory letters to the grandparents from President Adam Falk.
1954
Harry Montgomery, 610 Water St., Williamstown, MA
Outgoing President Hugh Germanetti got it right.
Our 60th reunion was great. But what else would you
expect from such a class?
Turnout was impressive, with 52 classmates, 99
total registrants. Saturday’s highlight was Hugh’s
receipt of this year’s Joseph’s Coat, the college’s top
alumni honor, emblematic of his great leadership for
five years. The award came as a total surprise to Hugh
and Nancy, but the college got his size right, raising those contemporary issues of privacy and surveillance. Also impressive was ’54’s broad support for
the Alumni Fund, again mobilized by Class Agent
Guy Verney, meaning we won the John E. Sawyer
Trophy for the eighth time. At Saturday’s dinner on
the Moltz Terrace of the Clark’s Stone Hill Center,
new class officers were chosen: Bob Murdock, president; Jim Carpenter, first VP; Al Horne, second VP;
Hugh Germanetti, treasurer; and myself as secretary.
Happily, Guy Verney was persuaded to carry on as
class agent.
Williams, June 2014: The look of the campus got
high grades from visitors despite the dust from trucks
hauling dirt to and from Weston Field, the Clark
and the new Sawyer Library. The last is far advanced,
already getting books back on shelves. Completion of
Weston’s Big Dig is promised for fall sports. (I missed
the tour explaining which way the stadiums will face
in the new configuration.)
Campus life, temporarily dormant following commencement, except for those great Reunion Rangers,
1952– 54
also looked good. As usual, reunions offered a great
menu of lectures, both by 50th alumni and faculty.
However, along the way, President Adam Falk and
Dean Sarah Bolton repeatedly had to field questions
about sexual assault on campus, triggered by the petition of victim Lexie Brackenridge ’16. They articulated thoughtful policies, but questions remained:
Why perpetrators are not simply expelled, “tips”
sports admissions of high school postgrads as old as
seniors, sports team housing off-campus and managing alcohol. Whether or not there were lapses, it was
clear this administration will henceforth be vigilant in
protecting the safety of students.
Our reunion. Two good dinners and other meals
at Dodd House, catered by the college, then a coolish dinner Saturday with that great view from the
Moltz Terrace. An after-dinner treat Saturday was
Graham Humes’ personal take on the Ukraine crisis
and czarist ambitions of Russian President Vladimir
Putin. Graham and Beth lived in St. Petersburg in
the mid-1990s, where Graham dealt with then Vice
Mayor Putin. Graham’s current ties to the college
include his great nephew, Willem Humes ’16, son of
Hans Humes ’87.
Looking at the attendee list, a significant component consisted of medical practitioners including Marvin Schiff, John Lewy, Rit Ames and
Hal Zimmerman. Whatever they thought of the
Affordable Care Act, it was evident they heeded that
hoary injunction: Doctor, Care for Yourself. They all
looked good and sounded well in tune with life.
Dr. Rich Bethune, 10 years retired, provided
another take on medical care. Rich endorsed the
Canadian health care system, both as a practitioner in that system from 1967-2002 and as a patient.
In Ontario as elsewhere in Canada, Rich said, every
person is covered regardless of age, pre-existing disease, employment, gender and race, and new immigrants are covered in three months of arrival. There
are no fees to pay and no deductibles. Serious disease
entities are prioritized and moved up as necessary.
Waiting times are not onerous for hip replacement,
cataracts, etc. All provinces have similar, portable
plans. “The majority of Canadians are happy with the
plan. … It was great to work under and efficient.”
Other estates of the realm were well represented, with a spectrum of clergy including Wendell
Elmendorf, Dick Payne and David St. Clair. Lawyers
were numerous, including Sedgwick Ward, John
Beard, Mal Kane, Charlie Foster, Vic Earle, Charles
Sheldon and Dan Tritter. Laurie Craig practices international arbitration out of Paris, his longtime home
base. Others continue as estate trustees.
Writers’ reports of works in progress suggest Fred
Stocking’s ’36 instruction is finally paying off. Lots of
good writing is under way, some manuscripts already
seeking encounter with the right publisher. Authors
speak modestly, but I’ve seen works by both Barbara
and Sedge Ward, a novel by Pat Cavanaugh and a
perceptive slice of college history in an essay by Mal
Kane. Personally, I steer clear of lengthy works but
am involved in a startup newspaper, trying to fill a
void left by the folding of the North Adams Transcript
and Williamstown Advocate.
Reunion regrets came from Rob Brandegee along
with thoughtful observations. Rob surveys the world
today from the vantage point of what he calls the
group that “lucked out” on education and then life’s
material rewards. Public complacency and ignorance
in the face of global climate change is his top concern. He then zeros in on rising inequality and the
political power of wealth in America. Without calling
these unfair and undemocratic per se, he sees them as
impediments to the functioning democracy needed
to meet today’s challenges. Still lucking out personally, Rob describes a creative, inventive family and
a remunerative hobby creating furniture for tomorrow out of relics of the past. A slice of Deerfield in
Pittsburgh? He and Ada hope to make October’s
minireunion.
Ollie Lee, who lost his beloved wife Barbara (a
cherished Fort Worth school teacher) in February,
also regretted. Never a square, he’s relocated to
Round Rock, Texas, to be near daughter Courtney.
Jane Briggs, widow of Taylor Briggs, wished us well
and hailed the graduation of grandson Jason Rastrick
Briggs ’14.
Sunday morning. As always, the Service of
Gratitude and Remembrance was beautiful, uplifting
and mostly solemn. Chaplains Rick Spalding, Robert
Scherr and Bilal Ansari led an interfaith memorial service also animated by the Ephlat singers and
the Reunion Jazz Band. Passing mention: Thompson
Chapel bells have now tolled one third of our initial class. This past year was especially tough. Most
recent or not-yet-reported losses included William
Tripler (Bill) Seed, who died June 3 in Vero Beach,
Fla. He was just what the doctor ordered for young
NYC couples, a great pediatrician. He is survived by
his wife Elizabeth Dorsey Smith-Seed and children
and grandchildren of their blended family. Beatty
Jennings Smith left us that same day, in Yarmouth,
Maine. A Philadelphian, Beatty followed his brother
Cooper Smith ’52 to Williams. Music major and
leader of the choir, he became a pharmaceutical executive, but vocal music continued as a lifetime leitmotif, along with Audrey, his wife of 54 years, and
family. Henry Dana Fearon III died May 16. He’s survived by children James and Mary and five grandchildren. Dana’s wife Janet predeceased him by four
months. Dana grew up in Brooklyn, attending Poly
Prep before Williams, where this scholar athlete was
starting quarterback for the 1952 and 1953 seasons.
Intrigued with the writings of Niebuhr and Tillich,
he enrolled at Union Theological Seminary, earning
a Master of Divinity. Dana was named associate pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY,
where he met Janet Adams, the daughter of his boss.
They married in June 1960. That same year, Dana
was installed as pastor of The Presbyterian Church
of Lawrenceville, N.J., where he remained for 42
years until retirement in 2002. He obtained a doctorate at nearby Princeton Theological Seminary in
1975. Parker D. Perry Jr. died in Palm Springs, Calif.,
on May 3. Born in Evanston, Ill., he grew up in the
Boston area, attending Noble & Greenough. Parker
left Williams after only one year but, like many of us,
was commissioned in the Air Force Reserve, serving at Westover AFB. Parker moved to Tucson in the
1960s, establishing and leading successful travel agencies for 30 years. An obituary in the Arizona Daily
Star notes he is survived by four daughters, eight
grandchildren and a lifelong companion. Dr. Franklin
J. (Jack) Arnold Jr. died March 17 in Atlanta, Ga.
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After a long career as pediatrician serving Canton,
Ohio, he and Jane Arnold, his wife of 52 years, retired
to Seven Lakes, N.C. Along with Jane, Jack leaves
four children and a large legacy of grand- and greatgrandchildren. Thomas T. Basil died Feb. 27 in Lake
Mary, Fla. An attorney from Buffalo, NY, he worked
as a lawyer for over 40 years in NY state government,
the U.S. Navy Department and private practice in
Buffalo. Frederick T. Knickerbocker made his career
as a top professional in the Commerce Department
and its Census Bureau. He also was active in the
Unitarian Universalist Church. While his death
Feb. 16 in D.C. had statistical import, Knick was
much more to wife Nancy Knickerbocker, family and
classmates. Alan H. Marsh died Dec. 12, 2013, in
California after a career in engineering in that state
with Douglas Aircraft, then McDonnell Douglas and
as a leading authority on aircraft noise control.
Favorable reviews of our 60th are already coming in. Dave Moore says, “Our recent college reunion
was the best ever!” Saltwater sailors like John Beard
and Sedgwick Ward, Dave and Dinny were back to
intensive summer study of yacht racing in Newport,
R.I. Now deck-chair admirals, they are watching son
Geoff and his three daughters do their thing. They’re
also savoring their good fortune that Foreign Service
son Roderick W. Moore was to be back teaching
at the Naval War College in August. Expert on the
states of the former Yugoslavia, Rod has been ambassador to Montenegro.
Dan Tritter, off to France with Jacqueline, declared
it a historic fact that Williams ’54 classmates are
the best around. Their help at reunion vindicated
his decision to go against doctors’ advice and attend.
Dan “couldn’t let this kindness of good friends go
unthanked.”
Jim Carpenter, pleased but appropriately modest
as a reunion organizer, writes that he and Shirley are
moving to “Vi at Bentley Village” in a golf-centric
CCRC complex of about 700 residents, in Naples,
Fla. Daughter Connie (Carpenter) Deans ’79 has
bought their home in nearby Mediterra. Jim and
Shirley, who got a faster start than most of us, have
two married grandchildren and four others with significant others, all “fortunate to be working.” A greatgranddaughter turned 2 at the end of June. They
expect to be returning to Williamstown for the summer for several more years and hope to see many of
you at the mini in October.
Finally, incoming President Bob Murdock writes,
“Reflecting on our college days, I recall a lot of us
were smokers (me included) and upon occasion
could drink a lot of beer (me included). At our 60th
reunion however, I did not see a single smoker and no
beer drinkers. Wine yes. Not only have we mellowed,
but we also have shed some bad habits. Good health
has caught all our attention and from the looks of our
class, we are in pretty good shape. Yes, we have a few
with severe challenges, and, yes, we have sadly lost a
significant number of classmates. But, as a group we
are pretty impressive. May it continue. Stay well, and
we’ll all look forward to our next get-together.”
Secretary’s note: Living mostly abroad for many
years, I was slightly detached from Williams
despite a purple father and daughter. My perception
of our cohort was a collection of bright, talented
individuals, scattered about campus by the fraternity
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system and differing majors and interests, then
living geographically and professionally diverse
lives. I didn’t see a lot of cohesion. My perspective
now is quite different, not just from living in
Williamstown. Today, thanks to the leadership of a
long line of exceptional class officers such as Hugh,
Russ Carpenter, Bob McGill, Jack Brennan, Alan
Fulkerson, Steve Selig, Taylor Briggs and John
Mabie, I see a great group with interest, attention
and affection for one another as well as the college.
For me, our 60th reunion brought the joy of catching up with old friends. And getting to know some
great classmates I scarcely knew.
My predecessor Al Horne, as a true journalist used
to making tight deadlines, passed on an archive
of Snowden dimensions and a June 20 deadline.
Apologies if your news is not here. It will emerge
when the next Williams People leaks. But please
nudge. Even better, inform me. And come to our
minireunion in October. Williams will of course win
at football on the new Weston turf, but it is just as
great to chat, drink and dine, maybe making new old
friends. Resisting the tide of winery investments in
Merlot, I’ll be enjoying the drink of moderation, beer.
1955
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Norm Hugo, 37 Carriage Lane, New Canaan, CT 06840;
Sadly, we have lost several classmates. Charlie
Deasy had been incommunicado for the past year
until Whitey Perrot found that he had passed away
on Jan. 17, 2013. Charlie was born in Fall River,
Mass., and graduated from the public schools of New
Bedford and later Tabor Academy. He did postgrad work at Iowa State University. Immediately
after Williams Charlie served on active duty in the
U.S. Army followed by service in the Reserves. He
was a manager for New Jersey Bell for 33 years.
He belonged to the Liberty Corner Fire Company
in New Jersey for 27 years and held many offices,
was a member of the New Jersey State Fire Chief ’s
Association, and was a VP of the Liberty Corner
First Aid Squad. David P. Williams III died April 14,
2014. He did not graduate with the class. Detailed
obituary unavailable at this time. Jim Leone died
from mesothelioma without known exposure to
asbestos on April 10, 2014. Jim was a class VP and
served on multiple Williams committees. After graduation, he got a masters from MIT and worked as
a mechanical engineer and researcher, obtaining 30
individual patents. He was instrumental in developing radiation dosimetry detectors, eye lazers,
implantable pacemakers, arterial stents and orthopedic devices. He had a great marriage with Arlene,
and they were together for 58 years. He is survived by
son Gary Leone ’82, son Bruce and daughter Susan.
Jim will be remembered for his intellectual contributions, decency, friendliness and devotion to his family. Sandy Laitman died from carcinoma of the pancreas on March 13, 2014. After graduation he served
as a navigator/bombardier in SAC. Following service he earned an MBA and CPA credentials from
NYU and then bachelor’s and master’s degrees in
law from NYU law school. He practiced law at Weil,
Gotshal & Manges, rising to partner and chairman
of the trusts and estates department. He retired in
1954– 55
1999 and moved to Williamstown, where he served
on the boards of the Williamstown Theatre Festival
and the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.
Through charitable trusts that he helped to establish, he supported many fundraising efforts at his
home and directed funds from them to little known
but important groups. In recognition of Sandy’s contributions he was awarded honorary degrees from
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (2012) and
Southern Vermont College (at his bedside, only days
before his death). Sandy was class treasurer early in
our days as alumni. He and Lynn hosted the minireunions virtually all of our postgrad years and were
the glue that held the class together spiritually and
financially. After Lynn died, he carried on the tradition in her memory. Theirs was a marriage made in
heaven, and he honored her memory. Sandy is survived by his son Andrew Laitman ’84 and daughters
Catherine and Elizabeth. Class reunions will not be
the same without Sandy and Lynn.
Merce Blanchard is holding his own against
Parkinson’s and is in a PT program (LSVT). Visited
the Cleveland Clinic, where he got an excellent
report. While there he visited family in Delaware,
Ohio, and had a great time. Mary Louise heads
46 volunteers who do pro bono tax preparation for
seniors.
Marty Deely goes to many Williams basketball
games with Dubie and attended the game for the
national championship, where Williams came in second for the Div. III national championship. Marty
has stayed active in local Lee politics and still gets
charged up over town meetings.
Sam Fortenbaugh continues to practice law at full
pace. His 10-year-old son made the travel hockey
team with a 60-game schedule all over the Northeast
and Canada; Sam is the designated driver. Stays in
touch with Bill Shaw.
Bob Diamond wrote: “We’re good, as Washington’s
steamy weather is about to begin. Spoke for a half
hour to Frank Rosenbach about a week ago. The bad
news is that he is confined to his apartment and is in
bed much of the day. Good news is that he is proud
of what he did during his life. He is surrounded by
his four kids and also has aides 24/7. His interest
in the market keeps him occupied. Our son David
Diamond ’89 will be coming to his reunion from
France with two of his nephews, ages 4 and 5. …
We will be in France from Aug. 16 to Oct. 29. We
hope to see Annemarie and Erwin von Den Streinen
during our stay. His grandsons live in Paris with
their father. Their daughter Bettina died of cancer
about a year ago. She had a promising career in film
design production and worked with Woody Allen on
Midnight in Paris.”
Frank Freeman is spending more winter time in
Charleston, S.C., with his son. Sees Al Ogden over
golf in Denver.
Ted Gerhardy is enjoying retirement after 20 years
in Connecticut and five in Denver. Nancy and Ted
enjoy intense National Park trips where they spend a
week in selected parks.
Chan Headley has tapered off from golf. Had
a great family reunion over the summer at Lake
George. Spends fall at Hilton Head/Charleston,
S.C. Sees son Phil Headley ’86, who is a teacher in
Northern Va.
Sherm Hoyt is on three school boards. The Green
Mountain Valley School trains Olympic-caliber skiers with academic promise. Placed two at Williams
and two at Harvard last year. The South Shore
Conservatory is New England’s biggest, with 3,500
students. And Duxbury Maritime School teaches
sailing to 2,000 students, many from the inner
city. Son Cliff Hoyt ’83 went to MIT and is heavily
involved in science. Sherm’s firm fixed the Hubbel
telescope by finding the jig was wrong, producing
the perfectly wrong mirror. Has a granddaughter in
the Class of 2017.
Dick Hoyt winters in Florida. His wife Milagros
is from Chile, so they also spend time there. Don
Kelley continues to walk the track at the fieldhouse.
Got caught up in the basketball madness. Pancho
Ienhart sees a lot of Ned Heppenstall in Denver.
For his 80th birthday had a costume party, and Mac
Fiske took honors as Professor Harold Hill. Pushed
by manual arthritis, Pancho—still intensely invested
in music—has embraced “gypsy jazz,” which substitutes chords and lessens digital involvement.
During the winter visited Sandy and Ted Bowers
in Vero Beach. Stu Kleit strayed north for the summer. Was Sandy Laitman’s roommate and very upset
over his passing. Dave Krehbiel travels, especially
in D.C., Cincinnati and NY. Sees Bob Ause ’57, Bill
Zeckhausen ’56, Phil Smith and Bobby Behr. Dave
Murphy has had a tumultuous year initiated by a
backward fall down a narrow flight of stairs and followed up with open-heart surgery on his aortic
valve and CABG X4. He and Charley Bradley had
a high school summer job working for the railroad
as Ghandy dancers. A Ghandy was a huge crowbar
which was used to position ties and rails. Heavyduty physical work. Murph’s father was a surgeon
for the NY Central RR.
Stan Foster took one of Bobby Behr’s alumni
cruises to Australia/New Zealand and pronounced
it sensational. John Gehret has leg/balance problem
and has sadly had to forgo golf. Our oldest classmate, John Gosselin, now 85, relates that Dean
RRR Brooks suggested he leave Williams for academic reasons, and so he did. Went to work for TWA
and later the U.S. Army Air Corps in the technical
sides. Got interested in education again and went to
Harvard summer school and performed well enough
that RRR Brooks let him back into Williams and the
Class of ’55. After graduation, he went to work for
IBM and became the worldwide guru on patents and
licenses. He currently serves as an expert witness on
litigation involving licenses and patents. Very proud
of his daughter Jennifer Gosselin ’89 who is a Gap
VP. George Montgomery and Jill are actively involved
in marine archeology involving diving. Recently gave
2,500 books on the subject to the Maritime History
and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy. Both still are
ski instructors for Wounded Warriors. Their son is a
Navy admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet and being
considered for chief of naval operations. Les Nichols
has recovered from a small stroke one year ago and is
fine. Jack Pratt still going strong. He is running for
Cheshire County, N.H., county commissioner again,
having served for 20 years. Also spent 10 years in the
state legislature and three years as a selectman. Lives
the bucolic life running his farm. Still heads up the
temporary labor group “The Right Man.” Bill Prime
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was in Europe for the month of June, according to
Fifi. Carl Rosen still working in the insurance business but with trips to Mexico to escape Toronto winters. Sends an open invitation to any ’55ers. Planning
to attend the 60th if Ruth’s spinal stenosis permits.
George Olmstead has tapered off but still active in
protecting the environment on Cape Cod. Attends
the long-running bridge club which is also attended
by Don Everett during summer. George’s daughter is
Mary Wyatt ’85, and his granddaughter is Caroline
Wyatt ’18. His father was Class of 1924. George was
captain of our ski team and still skis with teammate
Sherm Hoyt. Ira Reiskin is enjoying retirement with
good health but some minor shoulder problems. We
had a long chat about growing old. Reached Phil
Smith by having Susan call him in from the garden.
This is Phil’s first year not reading applications. In the
recent past he has concentrated on international students in keeping with ’55’s commitment to “Bring
Williams to the World and the World to Williams.”
His grandson just finished the year as a JA, Sage E.
Sim Simpson continues with a heavy schedule of skiing, biking, sailing and hiking. Stays in touch with
Dick Hale. Peter Sammond has been concerned
with the economy and inequality and organized a
study course around Rick Smith’s book Who Stole the
American Dream? He invited Rick, who presented
several seminars. Peter stays in touch with Paul
Quinn, Ted Gerhardy, Jim Weber, Bill Shaw, Tom
Hammond and Bill Montgomery. Al Ogden notes
lots of severe weather the past few years. Remains
active as a warden and in the choir with wife Cecile
in St. Gregory Episcopal Church. The Ogdens went
to dinner with the Frank Freemans and plan to visit
them in St. Louis. Al Dunn sent an interesting email:
“Here’s a brief update on my delightfully relaxed existence. After 22 years in the computer and operations end of a large insurance company, I started my
own carpentry business. I still fool around with some
of that, but two knee replacements mean strenuous
work is out. I enjoy restoring things such as a ’39 Ford
woodie and a ’40 Ford convertible. Also a ’47 Farmall
Cub tractor, a ’49 wood/canvas boat and two vintage
outboard motors to use with it. Currently I’m making
copper heron sculptures and have sold a few. I also
have fun helping my wife and daughter, who breed
and show Golden Retrievers. We have three champions in our kennel now. A few years ago we showed
one of our dogs in the Westminster Dog Show, with
nothing to show for it, of course. It was fun to be a
part of it, but once is enough. Jean and I are off to
Alaska on one of the National Geographic sponsored
cruises, which should be fun for a change.”
A funny email in abridged form from Mac Nelson:
“Planning to be in Chicagoland in September for my
… high school reunion, I asked my lifelong pals … to
get tickets for the Houston game. Done. Great ones
behind the Cub’s dugout. Then Ralph threw me a
curveball—more like a knuckler. … You are throwing
out the first ball. We lined up to throw to our catcher.
When it was my turn, I jogged out onto the sacred
turf, seeing my name on the famous scoreboard. I felt
surprisingly calm. … I wasn’t worried about the thousands of people watching. I was brilliant. Well, no, but
at least nobody booed. So I await the contract offers
which will no doubt flood in. … Anybody know a
good agent?” Iron Mac.
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We’ll close with Rick Smith as the clean-up hitter having solicited his marvelous email: “Forgive my
delay in replying. I am jumping around the country quite a lot and have a hard time keeping up with
emails these days. The Notre Dame visit was a special
honor and pleasure because it was their annual Red
Smith lecture, an endowed lecture to celebrate what
Notre Dame considers its greatest journalist-alumnus, the great sports writer Red Smith of NY Herald
Tribune and NY Times fame. So it is an honor to be
asked to give that lecture. In that setting, I converted
my normal book talk about Who Stole the American
Dream? into a talk about the state of journalism in
America today. My title was: ‘The Stolen Dream—
Did We Miss the Big Story?’ and the answer, no surprise, was yes. I went into the dangers to our democracy from the media’s failures to inform the public …
and the public’s misperceptions on several big foreign policy and domestic issues, largely because the
media today is so focused on scandal, sensation, soft
news, so busy hyping each new crisis, or stenographically recording … it does not get into the real meaning and implications of the news. … we collect the
dots instead of connecting the dots. The big story we
missed for three decades was the steady and yawning
rise in inequality of incomes and wealth in the U.S.
and the marooning of the middle class.
“At St. Thomas University in Minneapolis,
they gave me an opportunity to lead their annual
‘Stakeholder Dialogue’ and to talk about business
ethics, which is one of their concerns. I began with a
couple of quotations from Pope Francis, highly relevant to the issue of closing the wealth gap and sharing the fruits of economic growth more widely, and
the importance of Catholic Social Thought in the
development of European capitalism, especially in
Germany at the time of Bismarck in the late 19th
century, noting that Bismarck’s policies were forerunners of some of our own safety net programs including Social Security. Those observations set the stage
for my normal lecture about how we have become
Two Americas divided by money and power. The real
fun was the next morning—a 7:30 a.m. class!—and
there were 50 students there, including one guy who
had celebrated his 21st birthday the night before. The
dialogue was wonderful. … At both Notre Dame
and St. Thomas, and at the more than 30 other universities where I have spoken in the past year, I have
been surprised and delighted to find young people
far more interested in public issues than most of us
white-haired guys imagine. … So I am enjoying my
exchanges with the millennial generation immensely.
It keeps me engaged, alert and thinking, too. Great
way to enjoy one’s 80s. … Cheers, Ricker.”
1956
Bill Troyer, 1111 Ontario St., Apt. 1116, Oak Park, IL
On a recent Sunday afternoon I made 12 phone
calls to class members who have not been in this
column recently. Most were not home and I left messages. I reached two, Al Foehl and Jim Symons, and
had good chats with them. One other, Grady De
Camp, called back, and I have not yet been able to
reach him. I received one unsolicited call from Bob
Schumacher, bless his heart, who provided me with
1955– 57
news about the class minireunion in Vero Beach in
early March.
Sally and Al moved to Cape Porpoise, Maine, from
Falmouth, Mass., about 10 years ago. We discussed
the ordeal of moving. Al closed his law practice, and
recently Lorrie and I moved to much smaller quarters in a retiree community which didn’t have room
for all of my books and medical journals. At the time
I contacted Al, he and Sally were in Utah babysitting
a grandchild while his son and wife were attending a
25th reunion at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania.
Cape Porpoise is close to Kennebunkport, and Al
plays lots of golf on what he calls “Bush’s golf course.”
They took a Williams cruise down the Danube
with Mary and Peter Lewis and Merry and John
Barton. Sandy and Dave Snow moved nearby, and
they see Rene and Tom Lincoln on their way in and
out of Maine in the summertime and Jeff Smythe
occasionally.
Pete Britton was the second contact I made that
afternoon. I caught him trying to park his car in a
parking garage somewhere in metropolitan New
York. Pete is no longer writing for magazines but is
writing a book about one intriguing subject. It’s about
coal in West Virginia. He posits that it is not the
problem, but that the problem is us—i.e., the way we
use the coal. Pete also gave me the name of an author,
Bill McKibbin, a professor at Middlebury, who wrote
a book about climate change called Earth, which he
says will set me straight about this subject.
When I last talked to Pete Lewis, he said that Jim
Symons is someone he liked to talk to because he had
a mind filled with ideas. So I got Jim’s phone number and contacted him in Pasadena. Jim is a retired
Presbyterian minister who is still very much engaged
with the world. He spoke to me about the books he
has written and would like to write and about several classmates. He is thinking about “compassion”
and thinks that his next book will be on that subject.
One of his dreams has been to fill up a “mile high”
stadium with people interested in compassion to listen to Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa and others
to launch a movement called “Toward a Millennium
of Compassion.” Jim is still in contact with Bob Buss
and also with Dan Berman in Salt Lake, Utah. He
said Dan is the power behind the political victories
of some Utah Democrats for high offices. Jim has an
upcoming birthday party; he has invited his guests to
be prepared to talk about what they have learned in
the past 10 years.
I promised you a review of Wally Jensen’s first
novel, Their Unbridled Rivalry. It involves a contentious rivalry between two investment advisers, an
evolving love affair and intriguing discoveries during
a trip through Napa Valley in California. The quest
for personal redemption and forgiveness leads to the
story’s unexpected ending.
On to the historic adjacent class minireunion in
Vero Beach last March. This was the brainchild of
Bruce Dayton, who planted the seeds early and nurtured them so that they began to bloom when he
took over the presidency from Sig Balka. Besides
’56, the classes of ’55, ’57, ’58 and ’59 bought into it.
Only once before in my memory has the college had
such a reunion. The one I am referring to was 20-25
years ago in the fall in Williamstown. Lorrie and I
attended, and I don’t remember seeing any ’56ers, and
there was only one person, Gil True ’55, that I knew
from an adjacent class.
Not this time. In Vero there were 50-plus members from the above five classes, with 23 from ’56.
Counting guests, the ’56 crowd totaled 44. The total
for all five classes, including guests, was 100-plus.
Among those attending, with an occasional annotation, were Martha and Bill Merizon, and Gracia
and Bruce Dayton. Bruce told me that Gracia
learned how to paint left-handed while her injured
right arm healed and mused if these works of art
might command a higher price; Paula and Tink
Campbell; Bev and Buster Grossman; Roxie and
Jim Hayne; Noanie and Jack Duncan; Betsey and
Jo Anderson ( Jo is writing a book on calcium for
the layperson and looking for an agent); Toni and
Kene Harkness; Nancy and Kirt Gardner; Barbara
and Scott Wood; Betsey and Phil Palmedo; Toby
Boltame; Ann and Bob Schmacher; Elinor and Sig
Balka; Renee and Tom Lincoln (who hosted a sitdown dinner at their home on Saturday night for
47 people, which must have included some party
crashers); Judy and Vern Squires; Kay and Wayne
Reinneisen; Peggy Brandoner and Bill Wilson;
Mary Clare and Bill Jenks, who along with Gaysie
Taylor, John “Tylo” Taylor’s widow, were co-producers of the finale dinner on Saturday night; and
Carolyn and Bill Mauritiz. Others making abbreviated appearances were Bonnie and Bill Potter and
Marilyn and Ed Pitts.
Some final thoughts: There is a rumor going
around about doing a repeat, at least for ’56, on the
West Coast in Napa Valley. Already there is the
Martha’s Vineyard, the home of Heitz Cabernet
Sauvignon grown by Martha and Tom May. And
our class novelist, Wally Jensen, has just signed on
to a temporary part-time job running the intensive
care unit at a local hospital. My guess is that this
is a cover so he can gather background for a sequel
to his work reviewed above. But what makes me
think this will happen is that Buster Grossman suggested it, and with that kind of energy behind it,
who knows.
In the fall is an Oct. 10-12 reunion weekend in
Williamstown with a football game, lectures and
tailgate.
1957
Richard P. Towne, 13 Silverwood Terrace, South Hadley,
MA 01075; 1957secretary@williams.edu
“We’ve saved the seals. Now what? Calls for culling
the seal population have become harder to ignore.” So
says an article from the Sunday Boston Globe writer
Elizabeth Gehrman that features Peter Howell,
retired international banker now living on Nantucket
with wife Darlene (aka Dolly) and founding director
of its Seal Abatement Coalition. “When does success
begin to overlap into excess?” Peter asks.
When I summered in Chatham close to
Nantucket, I used to take visiting friends in my outboard to watch a crowd of several hundred sunning themselves along its South Beach. A year ago I
took my son and his wife sightseeing off Chatham
Bars Inn nearer by where we found several thousand.
Nantucket and the outer beaches of Cape Cod have
a seal population estimated at 16,000 in 2011. Peter
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says he is “delighted to see the seals back” but advocates a model he calls “shared use” to scatter the 3,000
he now counts off Nantucket. Surf cast fishing has all
but disappeared in both locations. Fishermen on the
Cape, both commercial and sport types, will echo this
story’s refrain. Do sealskin hats still find fashion in
womenswear outlets?
Not long after reading about Peter came sad news
that one of his fraternity mates passed away: Dan
West. Dan came to us from Maplewood, N.J., which
is where he must have lived his entire life judging
by the information source received from the alumni
office staff. Little more is known about Dan’s life
there. I can remember him as a member of our freshman soccer team, a talented, even undefeated group
coached by Hank Flynt (Class of ’44). Dan was quite
an athlete from what the Guilmensian reports, having been a member of freshman swimming, soccer,
varsity track, lacrosse, winter track and cross country.
He took his degree in economics. Wish I knew more
about his later life.
Then came news of another classmate’s loss: Hall
Warren. Ted Cobden’s wife Nancy was kind enough
to let me know, the Cobdens having been close
to Hall through the years. She heard from Linda
Lombino, Bob Lombino’s widow, who attended the
service for Hall in Manahawkin, N.J. In support of
Eileen Kirby, Hall’s companion of many years.
Hall was a multi-faceted guy at Williams. Besides
playing soccer for Coach Chaffee, he did stints in
the Glee Club, Purple Knights jazz band, wrote for
the Record and worked at WMS radio. We shared
time together at Mansfield & Rudolph’s seminar in
American history and literature, which made more
of a scholar-historian out of Hall than it did me
because he became a teacher of the subject at Webb
School in Claremont, Calif., and later Westridge
School in Pasadena. After retirement, he became a
tour guide, allowing him to travel with Eileen (frequently to our recent reunions). The two of them
moved to Tom’s River, N.J., to live closer to their
families. My favorite recollection about Hall was his
essay for our 50th reunion, wherein he wrote a group
of his favorite quotations about the meaning of life.
One of his better ones was: “There must be more
to life than having everything” (Maurice Sendak).
Indeed so. Farewell, Hall.
Mentioning Linda, I thought about how much Bob
Lombino did for our class. His quiet but persistent
persuasiveness in calling for the Alumni Fund still
sticks in my mind. Nobody was more fun to be with
at a reunion, that’s for sure! Linda is always there to
remember us with more about Bob.
So too is Jean Morrison, Don Morrison’s widow.
She also is active on Facebook and lately posted an
image of him on the anniversary of Don’s birthday.
Welcome back to the class notes column, Jean!
I recently joined Facebook to see what these social
media aficionados were telling me I was missing.
I was (and still am) unsure about that decision but
I found some ’57ers had preceded me. Among the
more prominent were Dee Gardner, Dan Callahan
and Skip Cole. I can’t think of more interesting
classmates than these three: adventurous, curious
about the world around them, ever engaged. At the
moment their pages list more “friends” than I have
known in a lifetime! Skip alone has 672 at last count!
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How do they keep up with such popularity? Skip
does by being a lecturer on African art, his specialty
since 1968. He spoke recently at the University of
Iowa to a packed house, Facebook tells me.
Dan, in addition to being naturally photogenic, is
an avid skier and cyclist. Thus I find his Facebook
page includes his smiling visage together with goodlooking women, skis and bicycles. He combines these
“photo ops” with investment advisory work in Denver
and Steamboat Springs. How he finds the time for
such plebeian tasks as stock market research I’ll never
know, and I doubt he’ll give up that sort of trade
secret information!
Phil Lundquist has long been a contributor to this
column, and to the encouragement of Atlanta area
kids looking to apply for admission to Williams. So
it was good to hear about his recovery from a “neurological impairment,” as his friend Dr. Don McLain
told me when we chatted by phone a week ago. Phil
expects to return to his normal lifestyle soon. When
the state of Georgia reinstates his driving license, the
two of them will meet for lunch and resume their
regular schedule of debates on local politics, Atlanta
civic life and national affairs. “He’s made a remarkable recovery since I saw him soon after he was hospitalized,” said Don. “Thanks to the strong support of
his family to help Phil through an intensive therapy
program at Emory University Hospital, Phil is doing
a great job of responding to the latest in treatment for
his medical condition.” We’ll be rooting for you, Phil.
As for Don himself, he continues his medical
practice in allergy and asthma treatment while
also volunteering at the Salvation Army college in
Atlanta, the nation’s training ground for Salvation
Army officers. Don acts as a general practitioner for
any and all students at this center for professional
training of the men and women who will lead this
outstanding social welfare organization.
Another news column stalwart is Dr. Len
Kirschner, who writes of a trip to New York with
his wife Peggy to visit Herb Abrams ’56, last seen by
Len in 1956 when he left Williams to begin medical school. Len and Peggy planned to make this year’s
July 4 special by visiting his nephew Gerry Kirschner
’88 and his wife in Boston and see their newly
adopted daughter and take advantage of the lesser
heat of New England weather in July. Len continues
to write informational letters about the Obamacare
medical insurance plan. His latest missive is titled
“Social insurance is not the same as socialized medicine” can be found in the Arizona Central blog called
AZCENTRAL. Have a look, classmates.
Bob Harwood, M.D., is no stranger to class notes
either. He’s been an active correspondent since before
our 50th reunion, writing us from his homestead
in suburban L.A. Now, however, he’s taken on new
digs in Arizona. “After 40 years in L.A. (as a general surgeon, professor of surgery and clinical research
worker with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) my
wife Gwen and I moved to Cave Creek, a rural area
north of Phoenix. I’m not a golfer but I am an avid
hiker, swimmer and photographer (restoring old
slides on Photoshop is one of my current favorites).
Gwen is a painter and, like myself, an active volunteer. We just returned from the UK where we visited
my daughter. London was exciting, with walks, theater and its museums. Now we must plan a reprieve
1957– 58
from Arizona’s summer heat, however.” Find out how
the Kirschners and Slonakers do it, Bob, and let us in
on your secret!
News in the Williamstown area press has told
of the closing of North Adams Regional Hospital,
an action that can’t be viewed as positive for John
Pritchard, Nick Wright or Frank Uible, not to mention the students, faculty, staff and alumni from other
classes who live in Williamstown. The Emergency
Services Department reopened in May. Still, anyone
with clout amongst the medical or state department
of health services could do a lot of good for our classmates if you contacted the proper authorities to lobby
for reopening the entire hospital. It’s a 40-minute
drive to Pittsfield, where the nearest hospital services
can be found in the Northern Berkshires! Not a good
situation for our fellow classmates battling arthritic
hips, backs and knees to be sure!
Speaking of the Williamstown class delegation,
Nick Wright and his wife Joan hosted a gathering at
their house early in June at which John Pritchard and
Kathy met with members of the senior graduating
class and several of their parents. Nick reports, “The
event was meant to celebrate graduation among some
of our ’57 Scholars and Fellow as well as a group I
took to Thailand and Laos last January for Winter
Study. Our group spent their time studying silk and
cotton weaving, living their final week in a Vientiane
‘atelier’”—a workshop for decorative artists from the
days of the guilds in the Middle Ages as I learned
while writing this sentence!—“making a silk scarf.”
He does not tell us if these are available at a deep
discount for members of the Class of ’57!
Let’s keep those cards and letters coming, fellow classmates. Where have all those talented musicians gone that I remember from the days of house
parties and Chapin Hall concerts: the likes of Don
Coates, Fred Hughes, Bob Goss, John Rodgers and
Bob Ritter? Any recent gigs? Celebrity sightings in
your audiences?
What news from the ex pats of our generation such
as Bill Malcolm of New Zealand, Dick Repp in the
U.K., and Bob Adolph in Toronto? Do they still love
the USA in your hometown? What have you been
doing in the land of midnight sun in Sweden, Gosta
Hildingson? Have any of you something to say for
our next edition coming up this fall?
1958
Dick Davis, 5732 East Woodridge Drive, Scottsdale, AZ
We haven’t heard from Dick Lisle for a while, but
he’s been busy. Dick says he divides his time between
Rhode Island and NYC and has been working on the
environment with the Conservation Law Foundation
(CLF) in Rhode Island, Boston and New York. Dick
writes: “I am a trustee of CLF as well as a Rhode
Island board member. CLF is a nearly 50-year-old
New England regional organization with HQ in
Boston and offices in Montpelier, Portland, Concord
and Providence. The major programs are clean water,
clean air/climate change, ocean conservation and
healthy communities/environmental justice. CLF
staff include over 20 experienced attorneys who work
with pro bono legal support to ensure that Federal
Clean Air and Clean Water legislation enacted in the
1970s and 1980s is enforced by the Environmental
Protection Agency and affiliated state and local agencies.” Read more about the CLF at www.clf.org.
Jock Purcell and his neighbors are megaworried about the potential for rising water in
Massachusetts. He and Nancy are off to the
northern coast of Norway to check out the
progressing thaw.
Bob Iverson and his neighbors so far as I know
only have to worry about those little fish getting
into Chicago area water. Bob and David Grossman
and Jill enjoyed dining at the Alumni Fund gala in
the spring. I enjoyed eating with Bob last June, but
it’s hard to imagine Ivy sitting for long the way he
bounded down the steps in Entry E of Williams Hall
and tore around the football field.
I thought I saw Peter Massaniso sitting alongside
one of those beautiful hazards at the Ponte Vedra golf
tournament. I was wrong; Peter and Karen were at
their “favorite hangout,” Santa Barbara, that weekend. We both root for Peter’s Ponte Vedra neighbor,
Jim Furyk.
A phone call from Joe Young is always an upper
and full of news. Joe regularly sees or talks with
Howie Abbott, and he recently spent some quality time with Rob Hall, recovering from the loss of
his wife. Joe’s area in southeastern Pennsylvania near
Wilmington got over 40 inches of snow this winter.
“Still nothing like a Syracuse winter,” Joe says.
Joe got into two books with a Williams focus,
neither of which I have yet read. One is Jews at
Williams: Inclusion, Exclusion and Class at a New
England Liberal Arts College by Benjamin Aldes
Wurgaft, available at Amazon. The other is former
President John Chandler’s book, The Rise and Fall of
Fraternities at Williams College. Water Street Books, in
Williamstown, among others, has it. These are obviously books close to our lives and times.
Ted Wynne takes gentle but firm exception to one
passage written by our late professor Fred Rudolph
’42 and quoted in Dr. Chandler’s book, to the effect
that Sigma Phi’s pledging of Ted and Bill George
adversely affected its rushing effort in our junior year.
Ted cites various specifics, including the strong rushing results senior year. It’s too much for here, but give
Ted an electronic buzz at tedwynne58@gmail.com.
I guarantee you an enjoyable and fruitful transatlantic exchange.
Back to Joe Young. He will be at the minireunion
the weekend of Oct. 10-12. Don’t miss it. The locale
and the leaves and the ‘lums will have you taking
leave of any negative senses.
Hopping back to Merry England, Jack Kent was
there for a final visit with his daughter Katie Kent
’88 before she ends her term as administrator of the
Williams-Exeter Programme—and his grandchildren there. Jack’s forebears came to America from
Menheniot in Cornwall, and he combed that beautiful corner from tiny Merrymeet and Mousehole
to Penzance, where the pirates hung out. Jack’s son
was also there.
Arizonans awoke one May morning alarmed and
dismayed to hear that all of San Diego County had
been placed in a state of emergency due to wildfires. Jack Talmadge posted a Facebook message saying he could see flames from his apartment. But they
were far away, toward the north end of the county,
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and none of our classmates—Veep Zeke Knight, Jack,
Dick Attiyeh or Bill Merselis—were anywhere near.
The entire Southwest is a tinderbox.
Bill Taggert suffered a misfortune after he and
Lil returned from Mexico. Bill was bicycling with a
group, and a rider behind him failed to see him braking for a prairie dog. Result: a fractured pelvic bone
and a lot of pain. Bill should be back in good shape
by the end of the summer.
Where do Bruno Quinson and Minkie stay when
they visit Paris? Well, in May they stayed at Le
Pavillon del la Reine on the Place de Vosges. They
took in, as they did last May, the French Open,
watching a Frenchman lose in an 18-16 fifth set to
an Argentinean much to the dismay of the locals.
They were in Paris to celebrate Bruno’s brother J.P.
Quinson ’56 turning 80. After Paris it was back to
Pittsfield to prepare for the opening of the summer
theater season. This is the 20th year of this hugely
successful venture.
Jeb Magruder ’56 passed away May 11. Jeb graduated with us but is officially a member of the Class
of ’56. I recall Steve Cartwright and Elizabeth saying they had heard Jeb was well-regarded as a
Presbyterian minister in Columbus, between his
stints in Indianapolis and Lexington, Ky. Carl Vogt
brought Jeb to our 25th Reunion, and Carl and Matt
Donner visited with Jeb in Connecticut just a couple
of years ago. Jeb obviously lived in the swirl, took his
lumps and came back strong.
You’ve received Chet Lasell’s and Rick Driscoll’s
summons for the minireunion Oct. 10-12, and I
heard from Tom Synnott that he will be hosting the
holiday lunch at the Williams/Princeton Club on
Dec. 5. New York is always magic but exponentially
magical in December. Tom was honored for completing his 10th year of teaching at Cooper Union.
Jim Bowers and Susie have pared their farm down
to 18 acres (owned) via a land trust for the rest. Their
long-term farmer will keep feeding their herd of 22
beef cattle and tending the massive hay crop. They
are keeping two horses, which Jim says are basically
“lawn art.” Trips to Canada, Maine and Ireland to
celebrate their 50th are in the offing.
Hank Dimlich sent a good note just as he and
Kathy were leaving Florida for West Virginia. Hank
writes: “Looking forward to getting back to ‘Wild
and Wonderful.’ I do a bunch of volunteer activities
back in Beckley, but one of the neat things is working
at the Boy Scout Jamboree. Over 40,000 boy scouts
come to a beautiful facility on the New River Gorge
for their 10-day experience. It really has a lot for
scouts to do, including whitewater rafting, mountain
climbing, hiking, etc. It’s fun to work there. We also
get up to Pittsburgh now and then for a game at their
beautiful ball park.”
Jack Platt spent a long and honorable career in the
CIA. You may have forgotten, as had I, that an Eph,
Richard Helms ’35, was the director of the CIA from
1966-1973. He subsequently had to plead guilty to
perjury before Congress in order to preserve CIA
secrets and identities. Edward Bennett Williams,
Helms’ counsel, said at the end of the legal proceedings, “Richard Helms will wear this conviction as
a badge of honor for the rest of his life.” Jack was
immensely moved and proud when Carl Vogt, then
president of our college, conferred a Bicentennial
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Medal upon Helms in recognition of his distinguished career in public service. Carl called him “a
hero and a national treasure,” and tears came to Carl’s
eyes as well as Helms’. This was in 2002, just before
Helms passed away. Helms told Carl that he felt
restored to the Williams community.
Jack has so much more to say—he didn’t want to
get into a rehash of his 60 Minutes interview with the
KGB official—but I can’t set it out here. Buzz Jack at
ja.platt36@gmail.com.
Carl Vogt is as busy as ever, with the Ephraim
Williams Society breakfast coming up as I write.
Then it’s a visit with Chet Lasell and Kate, then
Skip Martin and Nancy in Manchester and Whitey
Kaufmann and Karen on Martha’s Vineyard. Then
it’s the Colorado Rockies with a Williams group and
a longstanding commitment to visit the beaches at
Normandy and Provence.
At the request of his son Mark, Whitey Kaufmann
performed Mark’s wedding to his betrothed
(Whitey says with a quick chuckle, “Where are Bill
Harter and Arnie Sher when you need them?”). But
according to all, Whitey did a fine job. Skip Martin
and Nancy were there. Whitey and Karen shared
a wonderful meal with Bruno and Minkie at a fine
restaurant in the Bronx and look forward to visiting
with Tex and Margrit.
Phil Wilcox was stepping down after 13 years as
president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace,
effective Aug. 1. Phil was commended by the chairman for his “remarkable commitment and leadership over the years.” Phil will remain on the board.
He says, “I’m making way for a talented, media savvy
young analyst who unlike me knows the difference
between a chirp and a tweet. All I could promise him
was job security, the way things are going in Israel
and Palestine. Peace there will continue to be an oxymoron until the U.S. stops pleading with the parties to do it themselves and starts treating the problem as a serious American national security problem.”
Phil and Cindy and Tom Connolly and Ann recently
took in the “brilliant and hilarious” opera Cenerentola
(Cinderella) at the Met and other delights of the Big
Apple. They do a great job for our class.
I heard a lot of fine Easter music and asked Sam
Jones if he and Becky were still singing chorales.
A resounding “yes.” They sing in the First Parish
Choir in New Brunswick, Maine, near the Bowdoin
campus. They recently sang the Faure Requiem. The
group travels abroad, most recently to Portugal.
Sam says: “Winter in Maine was indeed awful. We
almost ran out of fuel oil because the trucks could
not deliver. We just returned from a NetherlandBelgium river trip to compensate and get a head
start on spring.”
David Grossman and Jill spent quality time with
Chet and Kate in Vero at the five-class reunion in
early March. There had to be a lot of quality renewals there. Dave Cook played a round of golf with
Ed Hughes and Sudie at Ed’s country club. Cookie
said Sudie had a good round. Dave and Loy have
acquired a home in Davenport, Fla., near Orlando.
Various factors led to the decision, but the appeal of
Disneyland to grandchildren was likely paramount.
They will retain their home in Maryland.
When Tom Shulman and Ellie were in Palm
Springs last winter, they dined with Roger Headrick
1958– 59
and Lynn, and also with Joe Borus and Carolyn.
Roger and Lynn live in Indian Wells in the winter.
Ollie Stafford and Marcia got so many curiosity seekers at their (mostly vacation) house in
Maui that they took it off the market. It’s got to be
a Shangri-La, with elevated views of both coasts.
Marcia designed and supervised its construction.
Ollie and Marcia live in Walnut Creek, and Ollie
fixes all the neighbors’ computers.
Jim Hutchinson and Kay, still in Portland, are
visiting five sets of grandchildren in five different
venues this summer. They also will visit Russia,
Estonia and Finland.
Jim Murphy has heard from Marv Winston, who
alluded to some unspecified ailment, hopefully not
major, and Jim said Marv said in typical Marv fashion that he hoped to be completely over it “by 2044.”
Marv is in Tampa. Jim’s wife Connie is over a recent
bout with cancer and getting nicely back up to speed.
Jim was also musing as to how a Pownal, Vt., fire
truck ended up on Spring Street one morning way
back when, with its hoses all out on the street.
Ed Snyder ran into Karl Hirshman at the racetrack
in Tucson, and they spent a good afternoon together.
Ed is heavily into his Voyager Resort just outside
Tucson, which is a very substantial high-grade RV
park accommodating about 7,000 people during the
winter. Ed says there are about 300 activities, including a good par-3 golf course. The website is www.voyagerresort.com. Son Zach is up in Detroit shooting
Superman vs. Batman, and Ed’s daughter’s son was
named an All-American prep school lacrosse player
at Governor’s Academy as a sophomore.
Phil Rideout and Flavia passed a happy weekend
with Gabor Teleki ’61 and his wife Natasha in Naples,
Fla. Gabor is a native of Transylvania, Hungary,
which reminds me that I haven’t heard from Don
Morse recently.
Fred Clifford reports that the WRJB was busy in
Florida (Ponte Vedra, Vero and Palm Beach) this
spring and in Boston/Duxbury, with six appearances
there. In June they were playing a full reunion weekend schedule capped off by a party with Brad Thayer
and Bea in Bretton Woods, N.H. Fred adds: “Doing
what we do best—playing for the nicest people in the
finest places in the world!” You go, Fred, Bob and all
the rest of you in that great band.
Bill Harter will direct his 46th annual Pilgrimage
and Study Tour to Israel and environs in February
and March 2015. I didn’t get much response from my
“food revolution” thoughts, but Jack Creden suggested
that they might be enhanced by a bit of juniper berry
soup, olive-enhanced. It’s hard to disagree, but my
medical friend is especially fond of grape soup, red
peelings-enhanced.
Denny Doucette’s wife of many years, Gretchen,
passed away on March 9. She and Denny were a
strong combo in so many ways—family, education
and music, just for openers.
Terry Vermilye passed away March 20. He had
been ill for some time. Terry’s 50th bio outlines a rich,
full, dynamic life.
Stan Lawder passed away in May in the Bay area.
I very much enjoyed reporting Stan’s doings and
particularly art-rich reminiscences while he was in
Denver in recent years. He was with his daughter, an
M.D. in the Bay area.
Scott Ellwood passed away April 20. Scott was
among our Harvard Law grads and put in a strong
legal career in Chicago. He was remembered as a fine
mentor of younger lawyers.
Get crackin’ quick on the mini, and remember the
holiday lunch Dec. 5.
1959
Dan Rankin, 1870 Bay Road, #213, Vero Beach, FL
During the second semester of our freshman year,
we were all required to read the Old Testament in
English class. After we’d finished Ecclesiastes, we
were given a common test composed of a short but
complex question. I can remember reading the question and having absolutely no idea what the proper
(even improper) answer was. I just wrote and wrote to
fill up the bluebook. A few days later Fred Stocking
’36, a very good English teacher, entered the room
with the corrected tests and said, “Gentlemen, it
appeared to me that when you came in to take your
test, you were all balancing a large salad bowl on your
head. It was filled with many bits and pieces of info,
all mixed up into a nice tossed salad. You read the
question, didn’t understand it and proceeded to dump
the whole salad into the bluebook. You wanted to
prove you’d read the assignments, so you wrote down
anything pertaining to the readings, which in no way
answered the question but filled up the book.” Bingo!
He nailed me perfectly. So, good readers, please
understand residual adolescence has once again raised
its ugly head and put me in a position where I have
no concept of to how to organize this column in any
logical and meaningful way. With that in mind, fasten your seat belts, because this will be a bumpy ride
featuring a beginning, a muddle and an end.
I’ve just returned from our 55th reunion, and I’m
still soaring with so many good thoughts about our
classmates. They are wise, thoughtful, warm, caring,
funny, energetic—just plain nice. Gone is any cynicism, sarcasm, ridicule or invective that in youth we
may have thought signaled intelligence. They are people who are good company; people you enjoy and
want to spend more time with.
Thirty-seven classmates and 28 partners made the
trek back to the Berkshires. Five were West Coasties.
From Oak Harbor, Wash., came Bill Applegate, a
retired orthopedic surgeon, and his wife Yeseldah;
from La Jolla, Calif., came another orthopedic surgeon, Cliff Colwell, and Carolyn. Cliff is still very
active with the Scripps Clinic. Norm Cram, a retired
Navy chaplain still serving the spiritual needs of the
people in the Sonoma, Calif., region, returned with
his wife Deirdre. Our retired bank examiner for the
Federal Reserve, Chuck Dunkel, traveled from Santa
Rosa, Calif. And endocrinologist and major advocate of vitamin D Joe Prendergast joined us from
Palo Alto, Calif. This was not an easy journey for
these folks. With cancellations, delays, etc., it took
Joe Prendergast 25 hours from home to Dodd House
(the old Williams Inn).
Seven members of our order flew in from the
Midwest and Southwest: Tom Christopher and
Judy, Albuquerque; David Earle and Alix, Chicago;
Geoff Morton, Cleveland; David Taylor, Mundelein,
Ill.; Tony Volpe and Amy, Chicago; Pete Willmott
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and Michele, Chicago; and Fred Winston and El,
Wayzata, Minn.
The East Coast contingent was composed of:
John Coffin and Anne, NYC; Bill Collins and Ann,
Loudonville, N.Y.; Peter Culman and Sita, Baltimore;
George Dangerfield and Margaret, Hollidaysburg,
Pa.; Tom Davidson, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.; Jack
Dietze and Maureen, Williamstown; Tim Enos and
Sheilah, Rye, NY; Lonnie Fisher (Geoff Fisher’s
wife), Middlebury, Vt.; Pim Goodbody and Pandy,
Williamstown; Hanse Halligan and Judy Robbins,
Manchester, Vt.; Tom Hayne, Darien, Conn.; Peggy
Hedeman (Bill Hedeman’s wife), Savannah, Ga.,
Garry Higgins and Peggy, Greenwich, Conn.; Jed
Honigfeld and Terry, Livingston, N.J.; Ernie Imhoff
and daughter Jen, Baltimore; Dick Lee and Sally, Rye,
N.Y.; Bob Lowden, Sebago, Maine; Barry Mayer and
Deni, Shaftsbury, Vt.; Bill Moomaw and Margot,
Williamstown; Dan Rankin and Susan, Boothbay
Harbor, Maine; Jerry Rardin and Sue, Concord,
Mass., Alex Reeves, Port Haywood, Va.; Jim
Richardson and Barbara, Williamstown, Mass; David
Thun and Barbara, Reading, Pa.; and Jerry Tipper and
Betsy, Smithfield, Maine.
Walking away with the important awards of “Most
Grandkids” were Hanse Halligan and Judy Robbins
(we may have to retire this award as they are twotime winners), and “Most Great Grandchildren,”
with the impressive number of four and a half, were
Gary Higgins and Peggy.
Other highlights of the weekend were the many
meals we enjoyed with each other; Cliff Colwell’s
presentation of his study with stem cells to find a cure
for arthritis, something every one of us would cherish; Tom Davidson’s discussion on leadership; hearing stories about our time at Williams: Barry Mayer’s
short-lived career as a pole vaulter, Bill Collins’ swimming exploits where his times were kept by the calendar, Geoff Morton’s tale of a trip from Bennington
with Dan Fanning, when they were both required
to wear football helmets by their upper-class driver,
Rankin explaining how he impressed his students by
telling them he had a 4.0 average at Williams, never
letting them know the grading system was based
on a 12-point system (A-plus being a 12, B being
an 8, and C-minus being a 4!). I also had to confess that my adviser at the end of the first semester, when I received four C-minuses and one C-plus,
said he thought I might be spending too much time
on one course. Jerry Rardin wrote a touching piece
for our honorary classmate, John Chandler, to use in
his Saturday discussion about the demise of fraternities. In it Jerry discussed rooming with David Ransom
(our only African-American student) for two years
and belatedly questioning the fraternity system and
how it might have affected David.
Now it’s only fair that I give credit to the many
good classmates who wrote wonderful and convincing notes about why they wouldn’t be attending the
55th. Bob Gould explained he was quite busy organizing a food bank and wondering whether Scotland
could settle its debate for independence (he prefers
the word “secession”) in a September referendum.
In commenting on the fraternity system, Bob says
he’s quite sure that only he, Paul Hamilton and Steve
Ross made no effort to go through rushing and join
a house. There were others (Mac Hassler, Dick Crews,
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etc.) who later left their fraternities. During Bob’s
first year in Scotland he found it hard to explain the
whole initiation hazing business that goes on with
a fraternity system. “I’m very proud of the fact that
Williams led the way in moving on.” Holly Cantus
says he’s of two minds on the subject of fraternities:
“I resented the abolition of fraternities at Williams
but now, as then, I understand the logistics (social,
financial and moral).” He was pleased his fraternity
admitted racial and religious minorities since they
added “talent, wisdom, culture, humor and brotherliness to the house.” He wonders if there are others
like him who lament the lack of fraternities today. In
summary, he states, “Let’s face it: The fraternity system was eliminated primarily for the financial welfare of the institution and to enable male-only colleges to go co-ed.” From Chicago Joe Turner writes
that he “hopes Williams is not promoting the current Washington agenda. Lots of damage has been
done by the present administration.” While Peter
Tacy was unable to return for the 55th, we did have
a nice email exchange discussing how our 50th class
gift funds were being used. His interest in teaching is
natural, since he spent his career in education starting at Williamstown’s Buxton School and concluding
as executive director of the Connecticut Association
of Independent Schools. He continues to write and
live in Mystic, Conn. Stu Wallace indicates he traveled to the Windy City to have lunch with New
Trier classmates Cram, Earle and John Mangel along
with Chicagoans Willmott and Volpe at Rev. Cram’s
Lagunitas Brewery. From London, Dave Batchelder’s
wife Sian Batchelder expressed her sorrow at not
being able to attend the 55th but is already musing
about what travel insurance might run in 2019, when
she returns for our 60th. Though Bill Bailey wrote
he’d be unable to make the 55th, he did relate how
he’d been able to join Abdul Wohabe and his family in Rye, N.Y., to celebrate Abdul’s 79th birthday.
It was a warm and special gathering, and Bill learned
that Abdul’s two sons, “David Wohabe ’82 and Omar
Wohabe ’85, both followed in their father’s footsteps, graduating from Williams and Cornell Law
School.” Bill found it to be a special afternoon for the
two classmates who had roomed together with Steve
Bachand sophomore year. Following his June retirement after 54 years of teaching, Bill will do volunteer
work with the International Refugee Committee in
Manhattan.
“The trouble with retirement is you never get a day
off.” Bill Moomaw, who retired from Tufts University
in May, reports he’s failed it completely. There are
just too many interesting activities for him to pursue.
From Alexandria, Va., John Scales relates he’s been
semi-retired for 10 years. He’s been “engaging as a
lateral recruiter for a number of law firms and enjoying skiing in the West and sailing in the Martha’s
Vineyard area.” He concluded his government legal
career as assistant general counsel for litigation at the
U.S. Agency for International Development. While
he was in Central Asia he met Mada McGill, who
was also from Virginia and working there. They were
married and had 15 “blessed” years together before
she passed away three years ago from cancer. She too
worked at the Peace Corps as head of all recruitment
and placement operations worldwide. John has continued his interest in international understanding as
1959– 60
a member of the Alexandria Sisters City committee
and is active in the D.C. Quaker meeting as a trustee.
In his period of retirement, Peter Fessenden finds
life can be stressful even as he moves into a threestage retirement community. As he recounts the
benchmarks in his life he cites: “1) Making full professor at Stanford University; 2) Playing a major
role in developing one of the most complicated cancer radiotherapy treatment modalities ever conceived; 3) Running the Boston Marathon in 1979; 4)
Volunteering for 10 years with the Santa Fe Search
and Rescue Service.”
Jim Reynolds finds retirement is quiet in
Sunnyvale, Calif. “My musical activity for the last
10 years is a group called the StarGeezers. We’re all
over 75 and play American music ‘upbeat and off
beat.’” Last I knew, Jim was leading the “Hot Damn
String Band,” whose official name was “The Almost
Legendary Hot Damn String Band” with the motto,
“We never had it but never lost it either.” It seems
he’s not quite the bright fellow from Kent School
who joined us in September of ’55. By missing an
important meeting of the Sunnyvale Historical
Society he was unanimously elected president. Jim
recently bought an electric Chevy Volt, and each
time he drives it he thinks about “Ralph Winch’s
‘Electricity & Magnetism’ course and all that motorin’
and generatin’ that’s going on. Believe it or not, I still
have the book.”
Retirement may be fine for Chip Ide, but not wildly
exciting—a trip down the Rhine and a back operation are about it. He’s convinced he holds the class,
and maybe the world, record for back operations.
After Bob Platt survived the brutal Maryland winter,
he and Pam headed off to their house in Montana.
Before he left, however, he had a 40-minute phone
conversation with Bob Hofgren, who lives outside
Madison, Wisc., “discussing squash, handball and
racquetball, all of which he still plays.”
“When you are dissatisfied and want to go back to
your youth, remember algebra.” Possessing one of the
best memories of any ’59er, Ken Hanf, from Spain,
wrote a wonderful piece which included this vignette
about his days playing lacrosse. “Time and again I
see flashes of a dropped pass in clearing the goal area
in some game my senior year. This mishap elicited a
less-than-friendly remark from the passer, since my
awkward reception (or actually non-reception) sent
the pass over my head. I realize this event clearly did
not alter the history of the world in any way, nor have
any consequences for the outcome of the game in
question, and I don’t think the other classmate has
lost any sleep over this matter. But were I to be in
Williamstown and came across him, I’d apologize for
having made him look bad.”
Jack Hyland certainly hasn’t lost his touch as an
excellent writer. Harvard Magazine, in its “Off the
Shelf ” section, reviews his book The Moses Virus this
way: “Professional novelists may quail at an investment banker on their turf, but Hyland, drawing on
experience as chairman emeritus of the American
Academy at Rome, sets his thriller in the passageway
to Nero’s Golden Palace. Archaeologists, beware.”
Williams Professor Susan Dunn’s book 1940
caused Bo Kirschen to recall the presidential election of that year (A topic Rich Moe has also written
about so well). Bo tells us, “My father attended that
Philadelphia Republican Convention as a New Jersey
Young Republican and was on such a colossal high
when he came home and described the scene in the
hall when the delegates swung to Wilke.”
The youthful Fred Winston writes about the trek he
and El made up Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro. He
describes adjusting to the altitude and then “at 11:30
p.m. starting the ascent to Kilimanjaro’s 19,000-foot
crater. We reached the Stella Summit at 7 a.m. in
sunshine and gazed into the crater at the top. It was a
time of high elation and celebration.”
Newspaperman Ernie Imhoff was so concerned
about the Supreme Court’s opinion allowing public prayers (usually Christian) to open public meetings, that he wrote to the New York Times—and they
published it—“Politick in public, pray in silence, say
whatever you want.” Brevity to be admired!
Norm Cram continues to work for young and old
alike by “organizing folks in Sonoma County toward
the passage of a $15 living wage ordinance.”
Dick Lee and Dick Lucier have exchanged emails in
which Dick (Lucier) described his three-week trip
through the UK. Jay Hodgson took a nasty fall during the winter in Florida and spent several weeks
in the hospital. From all reports he’s now back in
Massachusetts, doing well. Since retiring 14 years ago,
Tony Volpe has been volunteering for the nonprofit
Career Transition Center of Chicago, which provides
job search assistance for those who are either out of
work or want to make a change.
The class was stunned and saddened by the deaths
of Dick Jackson and Bill Norris. Gary Higgins,
who roomed with Dick for three years, remembers the quiet patience Dick showed as he tried to
teach him how to use a lacrosse stick. Bo Kirschen,
Bob McAlaine, Dave Canfield, Dave Moore, Pim
Goodbody and Sam Parkhill all wrote fond memories of Dick. Steve Saunders was particularly shaken
by the passing of Bill Norris, since they’d roomed
together as JAs and rendezvoused in Bloomfield
Hills, Mich., to ride their respective motorcycles:
“There will always be a place in my heart for him.”
Marc Newberg, Barry Mayer, Joe Turner, Slate Wilson
and Tom Hayne all remembered Bill as an individual
of quiet and uncomplaining strength.
1960
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Michael Penner, 38334 South Desert Bluff Drive, Tucson,
AZ 85739; 1960secretary@williams.edu
Good news from Hong Kong. Tao Ho’s daughter
Noelle Ying Ho ’02 reports the Hong Kong Kowloon
Cultural District Art Museum M+ has started a new
project to begin collecting works of artists and architects who have made significant contributions to
Hong Kong architectural history. “They reached out
to our family and indicated they would like to showcase several significant designs by dad as part of the
exhibition,” Noelle says. “We believe this is a wonderful thing the museum is doing to start an archive
of Hong Kong’s architectural history and recognizing dad’s contribution to the city and its development over the years.” Other than that, Tao and Irene
continue to enjoy his grandchildren’s (Noah, 41/2, and
Gabi, 3, visits five times a week.
Dixie Griffin reports that she and Keith Griffin are
busy and life is good. Their daughter Janice had a
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show on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. Her pieces are
fun and colorful. Dixie’s favorites are the snakes.
Bob Francis is still active in the aviation and transportation world and does some consulting for
ZSRLAW, where he hangs his hat. Bob has done
quite a bit of media commentary recently concerning the Malaysian Airlines disappearance. Bob also
recently did a recording for a CNN program on the
TWA 800 accident that he investigated in 1996
when at the National Transportation Safety Board.
Recent travel includes visits to New York to see
Carolyn and grandchildren and a delightful visit to
Boston to see the last World Series game at Fenway.
Bob shares tickets with a friend who is an Os fan.
They see all Sox games in Baltimore.
Dick Holliday reports that when you live on the
Rhode Island coast, the onset of summer means
a great change in activity. Most of Dick’s volunteer activities settle down a bit, and the “summer
folk” flock to his small town. “Our boats are in the
water, and much of our life revolves around racing and cruising our boats. I’m quite active in a couple of yacht clubs and so organizing those activities
takes a bit of time.” Dick is continuing his great work
as our class agent and reports that the 2014 Alumni
Fund closed out with Class of 1960 participation just
over 80 percent! This is better than previous years,
but Dick feel strongly that we can do even better
next year. Dick also reminds us of the minireunion in
early October, which provides a laid back and enjoyable way to see classmates and enjoy a fall weekend in
Williamstown.
Colin McNaull reports that The Williams Alumni
Organization for the Finger Lakes is showing some
signs of life, but there are no members in our class
range. The horseback riding season has started again.
The horses are ready, but there is some question
whether Colin’s back and body are. Earla Sue and
Colin are looking forward to a cruise on the Erie
Canal from Rochester to Charlotte, Vt.
Frank Thoms reports that life in Mexico continues to be wonderful. His wife Kathleen continues
to produce in her studio. She had a major show of
monotypes and drawings at the Bellas Artes in San
Miguel. Rowan & Littlefield have offered a book
contract to Frank for Teaching That Matters: Engaging
Minds, Improving Schools, which will be released in
November. Frank is excited to know that four-plus
years of writing to teachers and principals will finally
reach the ears of at least some of them. He says being
published is a joy, writing is even more satisfying, but
he really misses teaching. It is a treat to hear from
Frank and his upbeat positive attitude toward life.
That is the reason I know he was a great teacher.
Shel Parker joins Dave Banta in recommending
Destiny of the Republic, a biography of Williams graduate and U.S. President James A. Garfield. Shel led
a book club discussion of this extraordinary bestseller, and all agreed that Garfield’s education, experience, intellect and humility would have made him
one of our greatest presidents had he not been assassinated a few months into his term. Shel found the
Garfield Mausoleum in Lake View Cemetery outside of Cleveland an outstanding tribute to his life.
The building combines Romanesque, Gothic and
Byzantine styles of architecture with terracotta panels depicting all aspects of Garfield’s life and death.
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Knowledgeable docents talk about the president’s
life—including how he graduated with honors after
only two years at Williams and the beauty and history of the building. Also, going to the outdoor balcony of this National Historic Site provides a view of
40 miles of Lake Erie shoreline on a clear day.
Dick Alford and Mimi enjoyed the winter months
working a bit on their West Palm Beach home and
entertaining grandchildren. They are now back in
Alford, Mass., where Dick works on his veggie garden and is reading The Goldfinch, the longest book he
has read (771 pages). Dick is on the alumni board of
the Harvard B School, which is working to raise a
billion dollars. Dick is keeping fit with regular walks
with Mimi and four weekly coed exercise classes.
Eric Jaeckel reports from Boulder that he has considered moving closer to family in Moscow, Idaho but
decided to stay put and visit family three or four times
a year. His most recent visit was in early June and featured some biking with his son, his wife Kate and his
two grandkids. Two great rides were the Trail of the
Coeur d’Alenes and The Route of the Hiawatha Rail
to Trails. Eric strongly recommends both. The oldest
grandchild is Avery, 13, who is into volleyball, tennis
and reading. Her brother Ellis, 9, is serious about ice
hockey, soccer and also reading. His Moscow, Idaho,
8- to 9-year-old coed hockey team won the state ice
hockey championship this year. Son Brad still runs the
Washington State University vegetable/fruit organic
research farm and teaches university courses. Kate runs
her own organic soap/lotion business from their farm.
Carter Craigie has a new puppy named Ditzy, who
is a miniature Australian Shepherd. Having Ditzy is
quite a change from their former dog, Frodo, a very
quiet, peaceful Jack Russell Terrier who almost made
it to 17. Carter hopes Ditzy can reach the exalted
status of Frodo, but he has his doubts.
1961
Bob Gormley, 1775 Drift Road, P.O. Box 3922, Westport,
The Williams community owes a considerable debt
to former president John Chandler for his illuminating study, The Rise and Fall of Fraternities at Williams
College (206 pp., published spring ’14 by the college
and available through Amazon for $16). Since the
trustees under President Sawyer, in 1962, voted to
assume from the fraternities the ownership for the
room and board of all Williams students, we were the
last class to experience the “old order” without concern for what the future without fraternities might
bring. If you take the opportunity to read John’s book,
you may wish to offer some reflections on the downfall of fraternities, pro and con, in future notes from
our 53 years of fading hindsight.
The book is full of fascinating bits of historical
detail and sociopolitical observations of the 19thand 20th-century evolution of college life with fraternities. One story that stood out for me was of the
group of students that went off to Union College
in Schenectady in 1833 in quest of a charter for
Williams of Phi Beta Kappa. It turned out that
Union could only authorize such a charter for colleges in NY state. But the group returned to campus,
having stayed in the Kappa Alpha Society (1825)
digs at Union, with a charter to start a Kappa Alpha
1960– 61
house at Williams. I guess any “Kappa” would do in
a storm! So Williams fraternity life began with the
founding of the Kap House in 1833. That was followed quickly, I’m proud to say, by the founding of
the Delta Upsilon House, mother chapter for the
national D.U. houses, in 1834 as a non-secret, open
society. So began the rise of the predominant secular and party life of the houses over the years and the
inevitable clash with the Christian and scholarly mission of the college. Phinney Baxter, Class of 1914,
was a Kap too, I discovered, perhaps a reason why he
defended the tradition until he retired as we graduated. I urge you to read up for yourselves. Chandler is
also very fair to the long tradition of non-affiliates on
campus in addition to his focus on fraternities.
Now to the news from all of you this spring. John
Trevett Allen (whom we called “Terry”) told an interesting tale that drew in yet another former Williams
president, Morty Schapiro, now at Northwestern.
About 30 years ago, before Dr. Schapiro’s time, so
he bears no blame, Northwestern joined forces with
the City of Evanston, Ill., on a major urban renewal
project, a corporate research park in downtown
Evanston. As was the case with so many such projects of that era, money ran out, and the partnership
dissolved, leaving one breathing part, the Technology
Innovation Center (TIC) orphaned. John became
involved 28 years ago by offering a legal workshop
for entrepreneurs at TIC. It seems the TIC is a “preinvestment” incubator for innovators long on ideas
but short on money. John realized too that startups
often crater when ignorant of the law, as they may
get hauled into court. As an attorney, he could help
get them around such barriers, so he persevered with
TIC because he became a believer in the cause.
A reason why: Ten years ago they did a survey of
TIC success rates and found that 140 of the startups
of the some 300 “graduates” of their program were
still in business after 15 years. Some were absorbed by
leading corporations like GE and IBM. One highflying graduate with a firm called “Cognitek,” Larry
Page, had passed through on the way to co-founding Google.
Last year when TIC faced a legal crisis, John
joined the board and has had a hand in extending
TIC into a new situation in nearby Skokie, where
an Illinois (State) Science and Technology Park has
been established. Suddenly TIC is hot and attracting research faculty from not only Northwestern but
also U. Illinois and U. Wisconsin, Madison. They are
also offering workshops in local high schools, showing energetic students where the jobs are going to be.
So the future looks bright. Maybe Dr. Schapiro will
come by soon, hat in hand!
This John (“Terry”) Allen (you may remember
that Fred Copeland ’35 admitted two John Allens
in our class just to confuse us) was also a college
swimmer, and Mike Dively captained that powerful team our senior year. I have lauded Mike for
his recent feats: swimming the 3.5-mile treacherous Hellespont in Turkey and, at 75, being the oldest to complete the challenge. Also winning multiple medals in the annual Gay Games. Well, fellow
Michigan Law graduate Noyes Rogers sent a copy
of a fine Michigan Law Review piece on Mike to
Kevin Morrissey, who in turn shuffled it to me, since
I had featured Mike.
What I hadn’t realized was that Mike had long
marked his significant birthdays with notable accomplishments: at 50 he climbed Kilimanjaro; at 60 he
biked through Provence; and at 70 he climbed the
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and traced Thoreau’s
25-mile trek along Cape Cod. All this after taking
30 years off from swimming and after he and the late
Buck Robinson teamed to win the graduate athlete
competitions at Michigan. God knows what we can
expect from Mike at 80.
Another splendid way to celebrate his 75th came
from Lou Guzzetti, who, with amazing orchestration
by wife Joan, hosted a grand reception and dinner at
a historic inn in New Canaan, Conn., on March 22.
Lest you think it was all about him, it was about us,
whom he wanted to thank for playing such important roles in his life. Tom Millington and Rosario, John
Whitney and Pat, Wally Bernheimer and Roz, along
with me and Bea, were among the lucky guests from
the various avenues of Lou’s life and career. Blended
and extended family, high school buddies, a few of us
D.U. brothers, dedicated executives who had worked
for Lou, some who had teamed with him in different
corporate venues (General Host, Chiquita (formerly
United Fruit), Envirosource and now Spinnaker) and
other friends toasted and roasted him. But the grand
finale was Lou’s heartfelt talk to thank us for making his life so wonderful. He may be a proud political
conservative, but one of the compassionate variety!
Mike White, from the Chicago area, and Fred
Mayer, from the St. Louis area, great baseball fans
and always fast friends, met up once again halfway for
each in Peoria to watch the Minor League versions
of Mike’s Cubs and Fred’s Cardinals go at it. Mike
noted that Fred still insisted on talking to everyone
he met, is still passionate about wine and jazz and
still discouraged by the decline of the U.S. No word
on how the current political climate is “playing in
Peoria,” though.
Dave Whittemore attended his 50th reunion at
UVA law school and encountered some interesting
classmates. One was developing an app to aid people in recovery from strokes to use a good hand to
guide a bad one using a bionic glove to use the computer. (Ah, the wonders of technology; the downside
being the mysterious eradication of a draft of these
notes on my computer as I was adding the finishing
touches.) The Whittemores were off to pay respects
at Normandy in July.
Paul Boire and Nancy are off to New Zealand in
October to celebrate his 75th and looking to track
down a retired sea captain they befriended 20 years
ago on their first cruise. He swore he would retire
to the most beautiful place on earth and settled
in Christchurch, New Zealand, to open a Marine
Academy to train seafarers like himself. Nice 75th
adventure.
Bob Marrin’s poem, “A Song for Emily,” was published in the winter edition of Open Minds. Bob
noted, “I’m glad the deep love I feel for my daughter
will be published by this sensitive and uncompromising publication.”
And, never not to be noticed, Ron Roberts offered
his quarterly non-adventures from Hilton Head: He
saw a 6-foot black snake on the sixth hole at Oyster
Reef; he paid only $14.95 for the shrimp special at
the Main St. Grill’s early bird; he put up an 8-foot
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Melamine shelf in the laundry room. Who needs
New Zealand!
Going from the ridiculous to the sublime, we must
offer the very sad note that we lost one of our true
stars on June 20, when Josiah Low succumbed to
the cancer that chased him for five years. As devoted
wife Penny Low wrote: “Husband, brother, father,
grandfather and a friend to so many. There is now a
giant hole in our hearts that we will try to fill with
the openness and generosity that Joe embraced.
He touched so many people.” And he truly loved
the college, our class and the beautiful home in
Williamstown that he opened to us on many occasions. He served us as class agent when we were
reluctant to give and later as class president, and he
was the all-around voice of celebration. Who can
forget his bringing the Buddy Holly group to our
50th and leading the class down memory lane in a
duet with Joan Guzzetti? That’s how we’ll remember Joe, going out with a smile. His obit will appear
separately.
Current President John Denne allowed as how his
oldest grandson, Taylor Foehl ’14 just graduated and,
John claims, is the first ’61 grandchild to do so. He
also reminds us of the fall minireunion, Oct. 10-12,
so make your plans. This year, in addition to football,
seminars and art exhibits, will be the dedication of
the new athletic complex. The new library will also be
open for tours.
Also, the ’61 travel tour coordinators (Wally
Bernheimer, John Denne and John Byers) are at it
again, this time promising a customized adventure led
by a leading college prof to Southern France, with an
emphasis on Provence. Dates will be between April
20 and May 9, 2015, and will feature the Roman heritage (Pont du Gard, Arles, Nimes, etc.), Catholic
history (Avignon, etc.), artists (Van Gogh, Cezanne
and others), gardens and especially food. Sound
inviting? Stay tuned.
Onward in peace!
1962
William M. Ryan, 112 Beech Mountain Road, Mansfield
Center, CT 06250; 1962secretary@williams.edu
Class President Carl Davis forwarded information
from the college about the use of our 25th and 50th
reunion gift. For those of you who missed it, I include
a brief summary.
Our 50th gift had two goals: To enhance Williams’
international presence and involvement through
the Global Initiatives Venture Fund and to provide
financial aid to students. During the past year, two
ventures were part of the Global Initiative. Eight
students participated in the summer of 2013 in an
archeological field school in Omrit, Israel, supervised
by Professor of Classics Ben Rubin, and another
group worked with Professor of Anthropology
Antonia Foias’ archeology project at Motul de San
Jose in Guatemala. Both projects involved a lot of
hands-on work and experiential learning. With
regard to financial aid, the Class of 1962 John Roe
Memorial Scholarship is currently held by Laurel
O’Connor ’15 from Alameda, Calif. During the
prior year, the recipient was Jackline Odhiambo ’14
from Kisumu, Kenya. The Class of 1962 Memorial
Scholarship is providing support to the general finan30
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cial aid budget. The current comprehensive fee for
students paying full tuition is $61,800/year. Each year,
the college spends about $90,000 educating an individual student and collects, after financial aid commitments, slightly over $30,000. The difference is the
reason our gift is so critical.
The Class of 1962 25th Reunion Fund remains
an important source of payment for innovative projects and programs, ensuring that Williams pedagogy and student life don’t get mired in repeating
history, but continue to Climb High and Climb Far.
The fund supports the “I Am Williams” photography
project. The faces and stories from I Am Williams
have grown exponentially to a collection of students,
alumni, faculty and staff worthy of a dedicated web
page. On the experiential education front, support
of the Williams Summer Theatre Lab continues. A
large part of the spending from this fund goes toward
the cost of the Winter Study program. Congrats to
all of us for making Williams a better place!
Get-togethers: Several classmates met for a threeday May golf outing hosted by Phil Wirth in Atlanta.
Included were Rick Pietsch, Jay Johnston, Albert
Oehrle and Steve Schwarz. Play on day one was
at East Lake, the home of Bobby Jones’ early golf
efforts. According to Rick: “We were accompanied
by an old friend of mine, Linton Hopkins, who had
written a book about Bobby Jones and gave us all
a copy of his book at the end of our round. Dinner
that night was at Phil and Lynn’s spectacular place
at Buckhead. The next day we played at Peachtree, a
very exclusive place and accessible to us only because
of Jimmy Watts’ widow Ruthie Turner Watts, who
also sponsored a great post-game lunch. The last day
we played at The Cherokee Golf Club, another magnificent course. From my perspective, everyone had a
good time, there were no shattered egos, and we hope
to be healthy enough to continue this event in the
future with more classmates joining us.”
In late April, Carl Davis with friend Laura and
Rawson Gordon with wife Janet had a delicious dinner with Sallie and Kent Collins at their beautifully
restored historic home on the May River in Bluffton,
S.C. The highlights, according to Rawson: “Shrimp
Mull prepared by Sallie, a classic dish favored by residents of this area, and the renewal of fraternal bonds
and the consumption of a modest amount of alcohol.
It was a lovely evening.”
While visiting our son Jim Ryan ’92 and family in Columbia, Md., in March, Bonnie and I met
with Jane and Dick McCauley for lunch on a lake
next to the headquarters of Rouse & Co., Dick’s long
term employer. Jane and Dick have three daughters
who live in the area, though they have moved to the
Eastern Shore. Naturally much of our conversation
centered on Williams, and Dick mentioned more
than once how grateful he was to the college. “It
didn’t cost me a penny to go there; I never could have
gone without their extraordinary assistance.”
Fenner Milton was cited in three get-togethers.
Steve Clarey reported from the West Coast that they
he and Bonnie attended the opening of an exhibition
at San Diego’s Timken Gallery of Fenner’s collection
by the celebrated Russian graphic artist El Lissitzky.
“Of note, the opening was catered by Fenner’s fiancée Barbara McQuiston, whose new restaurant The
Curious Fork opened recently in Solana Beach. The
1961– 62
Clareys enjoyed an evening out with Ralph Temple
and Carole Whitehill and Rick Seidenwurm and
Susan Horowitz. Rick and Susan also joined the
Clareys for a jazz concert featuring Ramsey Lewis
and John Pizzarelli (remember our 50th) in a salute
to Nat King Cole. Steve reports flunking retirement
again and now is fully engaged in the leadership of
the Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning at UC San
Diego. Bob Klein wrote that he has enjoyed a number
of meetings and dinners with Fenner over the winter in San Diego. On the “Klein Front,” Bob reports
that it is getting easier to shoot his age in golf; his
game hasn’t improved, so you can work out the reason. Over the summer in Northern Michigan he was
to initiate a fund on behalf of a local arts organization
called Good Samaritan that counsels young, single
and expectant mothers. Diane and Fin Fogg ran into
Fenner on a Williams College Museum of Art trip to
Bentonville, Ark., where Alice Walton built the spectacular Crystal Bridges Museum. And in April they
attended the wedding of Alex Shawe ’95, son of Gail
and Steve Shawe. Finally, Sel Whitaker sent me an
article about the exciting new program at Williams
that lends art works from the museum to students to
display in their dorm rooms. Fenner has been a prime
mover in this program. As Sel said, “Good thing they
didn’t have the program back in our day; there’d be
nothing left to lend!”
Travels: Spike Kellogg journeyed to Sochi for
the Olympics as an officer in the U.S. Biathlon
Association. About a month later he “went to the
coldest part of Maine, Presque Isle, for the World
Youth and Junior Biathlon Championships. Among
the best parts were skiing on incredible racing
tracks”—not as a competitor; Spike is just past the
age requirement—“and watching an American from
Conway, N.H., whose family I know win two golds
and a silver. In May I will be joining another trek in
Nepal along with Leo Murray ’64.” Carol and Dick
Paul were part of a Williams trip led by Professor
Magnus Bernhardsson and wife Margaret to northern Africa. They sent a photo of themselves in front
of Ait Ben-hadron, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
in the area of Ouarzazate, Morocco. “Great experience!” said Dick.
Colleen and Jim Van Hoven returned in April from
their annual respite in Jekyll Island, Ga. Part of the
reason for their earlier-than-usual return was to allow
them to follow the softball activities at Fordham,
where their granddaughter Amy is on a full athletic scholarship. “She is off to a great start,” said Jim.
“Being a Div I athlete is incredibly demanding—over
50 games this spring, played all over the country from
California to Florida. And she is pre-med to boot!”
Several classmates received and commented on my
message about Bob Ruehl’s death in February. Bob
passed away in February after a 44-year career as an
attorney in Doylestown, Pa. Al Oehrle: “I am sorry to
learn of Bob’s death. Although we never had a case
together, it was always a pleasure to see him in the
Bucks County Courthouse or at a continuing legal
education seminar, where we could compare notes
on our practices and our lives.” Buck Crist: “Sorry to
hear of his death. I saw him once or twice in the late
’90s when he did some work for my mother, then
a resident of Doylestown, a charming place.” John
Huntington: “Just a small anecdote. Bob was the first
classmate I ever met. I ran into him in the parking lot
of the motel we had stayed in the night before we set
foot on the campus. I will miss him.”
Potential Ephs: Marc Comstock is working on his
high school grandson to attend Williams. “He is
an outstanding soccer player with a very competitive development team. Another younger grandson, a promising soccer and hockey player, is next up.
Peg and I spent five weeks in Hawaii mixing business with pleasure as usual.” (Their company trains
nurses to obtain their LPN certification.) Says
Marc: “I appear to be one of the few of us still working, but both Peg and I still have a little gas in the
tank and enjoy it.” Gil Leigh recently returned from
Williamstown, where he shepherded his granddaughter through the Admission Office. “She’s interested and qualified but a little daunted by the stories of winter snowstorms. She says she will apply, but
that may be her way to assuage an old man’s anxiety.
I’m still in decent health for a controlled diabetic and
still with the same woman.”
Notes from the Seldom Heard: Kirby Allen went
to Washington University Medical School and
practiced for many years in the Seattle area. He
was forced to retire because of heart issues. “Being
able to speak the medical language and know
what the doctors are talking about really helps. We
moved to Portland, Ore., after retirement and from
our apartment we look over the Willamette River
and Mount Hood. We love Portland and are really
into the music scene in this upscale town.” The
Allens have a son who works for a NASA supplier
in Houston. “His company designed the docking
station.” They also have two daughters who live in
Seattle and whom they see frequently. They celebrated their official 50th anniversary in February,
but “the real party was in June with all the family.” I talked with John Crawford, who noted, “this
is the first conversation I have had with a Williams
classmate since 1960.” John left Williams that year
and enrolled in the mining engineering program at
the Univ. of Minnesota. “The reason I left—I really
wanted to get into mining, and it wasn’t going to
happen at Williams,” he says. He got his BA in ’63
and an MBA from Stanford in ’65. “I worked in
mining for 40 years with companies like Kennecot
Copper, Utah Mining and Occidental Chemical. I
consulted for 10 years after that, retiring in 2005.”
He and his wife Carol now live in Virginia, 40
miles west of D.C., and have a son and a daughter. They have four grandchildren, three of whom
are nearby.
Potpourri: Peter McLean writes: “Finally retired.
Not used to the change in schedule, but I think I’ll
like it. I’ve known for a while that I wouldn’t want to
ski or golf every day so it’s time for some new interests. So sorry to have missed the 50th; I’ll be at the
60th.” Pete also asked if anyone knew anything about
the whereabouts of his freshman and sophomore
roommate, Peter Trescott. He vaguely recalls hearing that he developed a brain tumor and died, but the
Alumni Office cannot confirm that and has no current address for him. Peter Hayes, who knew him
well, was also blank on Peter Trescott’s status but
commented: “Pete was three years older than most
of us because he had been in the Army. He had an
old Indian motorcycle, which was terribly exotic
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because it had a clunky foot clutch on the left and
an actual gear shift lever on the tank. We rode up
to Bennington often and I always enjoyed his good
company.” Can any of you enlighten us about Peter
Trescott?
Bart McDougal filled me in on a scheme he developed several years ago regarding giving to Williams.
He came up with it in his accounting practice and
it involved setting up a charitable remainder trust
which typically gives income to the donor for his lifetime, and the remainder goes to the donee (Williams,
for example) after the donor’s death. Bart’s wrinkle
was to “terminate the trust after say a year, the donor
receiving about 90 percent and the charitable remainder being 10 percent of the total. This may not sound
appealing, as Williams would normally get 100 percent at death, though this may be a very long time
coming. The benefit was that the donor gets the
money tax free! Unfortunately, I learned a few weeks
ago that the IRS will issue a new regulation which
will eliminate the tax benefit.” So come up with
another clever idea, Bart.
Ash Crosby: “Recent endeavors include off-Broadway with the Salt ‘N Pepper company doing new
plays for actors over 60 for audiences over 60. We
mark success by how many lines are remembered.”
Dinny and Barney Shaw are downsizing. They will
remain in Rochester but are moving out of the home
in which Dinny grew up. “It’s breaking our hearts,”
said Barney. “Dinny lived here when she was 15 years
old. But it is simply getting to be too much to take
care of.” Bonnie and I have had similar thoughts but
have made no decisions yet. How about all of you?
Any comments?
Lloyd Johnston wrote: “I continue to work at the
Univ. of Michigan directing two ongoing national
studies—Monitoring the Future (MTF) and Youth,
Education and Society (YES). MTF is comprised
of annual surveys of American adolescents in secondary school, college students and adults whom
we have followed since high school graduation—
the oldest being 55! It focuses on substance abuse
of all kinds. YES is an annual survey of 700 secondary school principals and tracks conditions in schools
that may contribute to childhood obesity. The work
remains exciting but quite demanding, so I intend to
cut back to ‘only 100 percent’ time and have brought
in an eventual successor to the team. My 16-yearold stepdaughter keeps me young and in touch with
what is happening among teens, and Janet, my wife,
helps me in innumerable ways. I still keep in touch
with Brenda and Tom Johnson, who continue to
live in Worcester. I am writing this from our beautiful place on the island of St. Maarten in the Eastern
Caribbean, truly a beautiful spot. It fulfills my New
Englander’s dream of returning to the sea.”
As I write this in May, Jim Dufty is at three weeks
in the countdown to marriage in Spokane, Wash.
“My fiancée is Virginia Seacrest, also of Gainesville,
Fla. We both have been here for about 40 years and
have many common friends but did not meet until
three years ago. I had an extra ticket to The Magic
Flute and offered it to the queue waiting for lastminute seats. She stepped out of line to capture both
the tickets and me. Virginia is an English professor,
writer, environmentalist, vegetarian, Buddhist, political activist, and that’s only what I have discovered so
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far. She has two children and three grandchildren in
Spokane. John Hengesbach has agreed to stand by
me in case my knees buckle.”
On that happy note, I declare these notes finished.
1963
Phil Kinnicutt, 341 Iliaina St., Kailua, HI 96734;
Brooks Goddard and his son Peter celebrated
Peter’s 40th birthday by visiting Florence for a week.
Brooks also wrote about two books that triggered
memories from the past and thoughts of his “obliviousness” to the forces of race and religion swirling in his life when he was young and naïve. The
books? Jews at Williams: Inclusion, Exclusion and
Class at a New England Liberal Arts College (2013)
by Benjamin Wurgaft, and A Stronger Kinship: One
Town’s Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith (2006)
by Anna-Lisa Cox. “I can now appreciate these forces
at 72 when I could not at 21 or 10. We come to our
understandings at different speeds.” Amen!
Bobby Seidman’s book Moments Captured was
released in paperback in February. And Murray Ross
notes “the celebrated novelist was given a lovely
London garden party in May on the happy occasion of the English publication by Duckworth Press
of (this) corset-ripping historical novel.” Luminaries
attending included the costume designer for
Downton Abbey and Murray and Betty, who were
busy getting autographed copies. Morris Kaplan was
in the neighborhood but couldn’t make it. Bob was
also reading at Blackwell’s, the world famous bookstore, and at Worcester College at Oxford, where he
went on a post-Williams graduation fellowship way
back when.
Dave Sage is out on Amazon with the second book
in his series aimed at young adults: The Heirs of the
Medallion. His first book, Adzul, was well received by
schools in Connecticut, Colorado and Wyoming, he
reports, and he is continuing storytelling in schools
in those same states as well as teaching critical thinking, problem solving and creative writing through his
stories—all for free because he feels strongly about
getting kids into their imaginations and out of their
obsession with the electronic medium.
Lenny Bernheimer and squash partner Tom Poor,
an Amherst grad, won the U.S. 70s doubles title and
the Canadian Open doubles in the 70-and-over category. Lenny and Lyn took their annual trip to Cape
Town in February to see their son and family. While
on safari they saw the “Big Five” and, evidently, there
is some kind of inside joke about their experience with
leopards. Hobby and Dave Jeffrey welcomed their
ninth grandchild on April 29. She was born to their
daughter Zoe and her husband Brad Stoesser. Reece
Bader has been named a principal of WGK-ADR,
a newly established dispute resolution practice of the
law firm Wiand Guerra King P.L. in Tampa, Fla.
The peripatetic Lynn and Mike Gerhardt spent a
month touring the American south and are thankful they missed the “worst weather months in recent
history.” Ned Grew has survived another Helsinki
winter where the sun sets at 3 in the afternoon. He
forwarded a lovely 3 a.m. photo to make his point
about appreciating the things around him. Bill
Burnett and family, including daughter Elizabeth
1962– 63
Burnett ’94, gathered in Los Cabos, Mexico, to cel-
ebrate Miranda’s 70th and Bill Jr.’s 44th birthdays.
Murray Ross had classmates in the audience again in
Colorado Springs for Venus in Fur, a play he directed.
Rave reviews from Bob Seidman, Jimmy Williams,
Holt Quinlan, Bill Whitney and Alan Schlosser.
Another example of what Clay Davenport describes
as the “Williams Mafia” at work.
Geoff Howard writes that he has always been
vaguely disappointed that his name has rarely been
in the ’63 notes, but then acknowledges that he has
rarely sent anything in. His thoughts on our recent
gathering: “It started, as I imagine it did for many
of us, with my high school 50th in 2009. Then of
course, there was ours last year. Both affected me
deeply. Seeing all those ‘old friends’—both senses of
the term—and rekindling some of those long-forgotten memories, made it possible for me to see the ‘old
me’—the teenager—more clearly than I had before.
And for me, there is one more left: My Senegal 2
Peace Corps group is reuning, and I expect that will
be more of the same good stuff— reconnecting with
people we knew well, connecting with some we didn’t
and realizing how much we have in common while
at the same time, how different our 50-year arcs may
have been.” Rich Castiello remembers the reunion
weekend with pleasure, recalling the mini Psi U
gathering at the vacation home of Al Shiavetti ’61.
Attendees included Hank Schneider, Pete Lewicki
and Brian King plus spouses and Bill Frado ’64 and
Jim Worrall ’65. “I wonder, in 50 years, if a similar gathering of truly close friends from four classes
spread over five years will take place,” he writes.
Cookie and Dave Lougee have been on the road
so much that Dave decided not to play in any doubles tournaments this year. They lunched on San
Francisco Bay with Diane and Dave Steward in
May, and Dave and Gordy Prichett have been on
fishing trips for steelhead, stripers and tarpon. Last
January, Loug and I went after bonefish when he
and Cookie were here in Hawaii. They also visited
and golfed with Naty and Mike Hopewell ’62 while
on Oahu.
Details are sketchy, but it was announced in an
advertisement in the May 22 New York Times that
Bruce Gagnier was one of the recipients of the prestigious Arts and Letters Award in Art from the
American Academy of Art and Letters. Also of note,
Mac Dick has been honored by the University of
Michigan with the naming of the first Macdonald
Dick II Professorship in Pediatric Cardiology and
Communicative Diseases. This is just the latest in a
long string of awards Mac has received. According to
John Bell, “He has been to pediatric cardiology what
Williams was to museum curating.”
Stu Brown and Terry Davis linked up at their 55th
high school reunion in Philadelphia in May, and Stu
also got to have dinner with cousins Jay Brown ’72
and Tony Brown ’75. Terry is semi-retired and is stepping down from his major administrative posts at
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus and
moving out of the big office with the big window and
into an adjacent cubicle. He reportedly is embracing
the change and enjoying the “extended warranties”
he and Barb purchased last year with Barb’s cancer
surgery/chemotherapy and his open-heart surgical
bypass procedure. Perry Kingman is keeping busy in
his retirement helping churches that need a “supply”
priest during vacations or between clergy. One of the
clients he enjoys is All Saints Worcester, the church
of my growing-up Sunday school years and where I
was baptized so many years ago along with my sisters.
He is also enjoying his house on Martha’s Vineyard
and would welcome visitors.
From Jack Luetkemer: “Looking forward to seeing the results of the new Weston Field and gym for
which the Class of ’63 was the major contributor. Tell
Bob Rich he was spotted in Argentina by some of
my friends, and his Spanish was shaky at best. Not a
good endorsement of his language proficiency from a
fellow Spanish major in the Class of ’63.”
With his health issues “under control,” Frank
Lloyd is enjoying biking and skiing again, and
hopes to ramp it up to more difficult trails this winter. He and Betsy are also celebrating the birth of
their third grandchild last summer. Betsy’s Wheaton
class has organized a trip to Vienna for the fall, and
Frank is an avid supporter of the ’63 effort led by
John Churchill to organize some kind of Williamssponsored study/vacation trip for our gang. The idea
for the proposed project was announced in the recent
class letter from President Jim Blume. I for one am
very interested! Steve Stolzberg completed a twoyear garage-based building project and has raised the
sail on his 15-foot “Skerry” sailboat/rowboat. For a
photo of one of these beautiful double-ended craft,
Google the name. His next project may be something
with a little more oomph in the power department.
He and his wife Alice are doing a lot of traveling, visiting kids and families across the country.
News from Bill Hubbard includes a comment on
the “sluggish” real estate business in New York, a confession that he was beaten decisively by Jimmy Sykes
in the Memorial Day Block Island sailing race and
that the two of them were planning to have a go at
the annual Bermuda race in late June. No results of
that potential duel were available at deadline. He
and Dave Jeffrey are both active in efforts to get
the money out of politics and push for campaign
finance reform, and Bill, who serves on the National
Governing Board of Common Cause, was hoping
to see Fin Fogg ’62, Kit Jones ’62 and Matt Nimetz
’60 at a Common Cause lunch this past summer.
He says he had a “fascinating lunch” with Gordon
Davis in which Gordy made a lucid presentation on
the intricacies of landmark preservation in NYC.
Turns out Gordy is featured on YouTube in a video
by Columbia University’s School of International
and Public Affairs (SIPA) that tells the story of how
then-Mayor Ed Koch hired him in 1977 to manage
the city’s 1,700 parks and, in particular, save city landmark Central Park. He is credited with establishing
the Central Park Conservancy that ultimately saved
the day through an innovative public-private partnership. Well worth watching. http://bit.ly/1oH74w0.
And from Virginia comes a long and fun note from
Jim Kidd about the joys of living in a small rural town.
He retired five years ago from Hampden-Sidney
College in Farmville, and wife Teri retired last year
from the local school system. He talks of masterfully
produced baguettes and croissants from a Belgian
baker, a group of 24 golfers of various advancing ages
to play with and enjoy, a brilliant resident novelist
and conversationalist, plus neighbors and townspeoSEP TEMBER 2014
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ple who know him—like the mailman who is also
on the county board of supervisors. He says his son
Dylan refers to the whole scene as something out of
Norman Rockwell. Jim and Teri are also traveling
to visit their kids and families and catch concerts at
Carnegie Hall. Sounds pretty idyllic to me.
Veterans at Williams update: The recruiting
efforts for veterans for the class entering in the
fall of 2014 were disappointing to say the least.
Admission Director Dick Nesbitt’s ’74 first response
to my inquiry about veterans in the class said simply,
“Unfortunately, there is nothing to report.” When I
inquired further, he sent the following email: “Dear
Phil, I, too, was disappointed that there were no veterans among the 6,317 applicants to the Class of
2018. This was despite our enhanced and more vetfriendly web presence as well as our attempts at
direct recruitment of military personnel. Trying to
locate and reach a critical mass of academically able
veterans has been a challenge. We have been making some forays, but so far to no effect. This past fall,
Kellen Williams ’04, our assistant director of admission, visited Marine Air Station Miramar in San
Diego to make a presentation to prospective applicants at a college day at the installation. The program was recommended by Beth Morgan, director of the Leadership Scholars Program of the U.S.
Marine Corps, with whom we have a partnership.
Kellen was the only representative from a small liberal arts college, but there was a sizeable crowd
because among our co-presenters were Harvard, the
University of Colorado at Boulder and a few other
big name universities. Kellen may be our most persuasive admission officer, but he could get absolutely no traction with this group. Every person he
spoke to would only consider a university. Most
wanted applied science or other courses of study
that Williams does not offer. All wanted to be in or
near a city.” He went on to say the office plans to try
other initiatives in the fall.
Mark Campaigne, who ultimately graduated from
the U.S. Naval Academy and was a Marine Corps
officer during the Vietnam War, is following the
veterans’ issue and wrote that his son is currently a
Marine officer stationed at Camp Pendleton and
that he might be able to help from that side of the
equation.
On a very sad note, I am sorry to report the passing of Phil Aberman last December. I do not have any
additional information on his death.
Something to look forward to in the next edition of Williams People will be Peter Moock’s
report on his new assignment for the Australian
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was
last heard from en route to Fiji and Samoa from
JFK. Other people on the move as this column goes
to press include Jim Kidd (Baltic cruise), Terry Davis
(Tuscany), Dave Lougee (Spain and France), Clay
Davenport (India) and Pete Lewicki (Croatia). And
I am already receiving some extremely interesting
narratives about community service and other volunteer activities by members of our esteemed class.
Please be sure to let me know what you are doing in
the so very important nonprofit and volunteer sectors of our country.
And finally, a 2013 poem by Teryn O’Brien submitted by one of our classmates who feels it summa34
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rizes us from 50 years of perspective: When we were
young,/We swung on swings and kicked our feet out into
the stars./We simply jumped, jumped out into the deep
blue of the night/And stepped from star to star across the
sky./Swinging back and forth, back and forth, we leaped
along the solar system/And we thought the world would
welcome us with open arms.
Stay tuned.
1964
Martin P. Wasserman, 13200 Triadelphia Road, Ellicott
City, MD 21042; 1964secretary@williams.edu
Classmates of the 50th Reunion Year,
What a time we 116 classmates plus spouse attendees all had from Wednesday, June 11, through
Sunday, June 15. Although the weather was less than
perfect, it reminded us of springtime memories in the
Purple Valley and then became sunny for our Alumni
Parade on Saturday.
President Gay Mayer and Mary greeted us as we
entered the former St. A’s, which served as HQ. Our
dining tent had already been erected, and the banner above the entrance welcomed back the ’64 50th
Reunion Class. Under the leadership of Bob Furey
and Dave MacPherson, a total of 60 persons (25 percent of the class) helped make this a most memorable occasion. Our 50th Reunion Class Book, coordinated by Ben Wager and Tom Howell, contained
interesting, revealing and honest essays by nearly all
of our classmates. Steve Doughty contributed sensitive descriptions of those whose lives were cut short,
including remembrances by classmates and family
members. It was OK to cry!
Skip Dunn, whose appendectomy nearly prevented
his attendance, created our class website, http://www.
ephs1964.com, which is the place to go for the latest
information and opportunity to “discuss” Williamsrelated issues among ourselves.
Let me briefly recap the events of our 50th: On
Thursday morning, our classmate Louise Ober was
finally recognized, and the theater award our class
has created in her honor was officially announced.
Movingly she was remembered by those who knew
her well, Steve Doughty, Paul Crissey and Biff Steel.
Two presentations followed. Bill Ruddiman discussed global warming and human contribution from
his studies of gas bubbles trapped in ice that were
ultimately released, which he believes reflects the
impact of farming and the birth of agriculture 8,000
to 10,000 years ago. His theories, though controversial, have gained support over the decade. Terry Finn
then provided a thorough discussion and analysis of
the history of the First World War from a variety of
perspectives and its global impact for the rest of the
20th century. Each has written a book on his subject and made major contribution in the field. In the
audience were two of their influential professors—
Bill Fox from the geology department and Kurt
Tauber from political science. They are the “thread of
connection of our present to our past,” which was the
theme of our reunion.
For lunch, while our spouses discussed The
Celestials, a book written by Williams English
Professor Karen Shepard, we discussed changes in
the fields of business (Al Hageman), law (Chris Hagy)
and medicine (Jack McWhorter).
1963– 64
In the afternoon, we were treated to two faculty seminars, the first one on learning (Prof. Nate
Kornell, psychology), which was one of the highlights
of the weekend for Lisle Baker along with the candor of our classmates when describing some of the
“bumps along the way” of our last 50 years. The second lecture dealt with the bio geologic topic of mass
extinction (Prof. Phoebe Cohen, geosciences).
We shared cocktails followed by a dinner cookout
under the tent at St. A’s, where we continued our personal discussions with one another.
On Friday morning, after some early bird walks,
we heard delightful and comprehensive statements concerning challenges in the 21st century by
Jonathan Fielding (public health and the 30 percent
financial waste in the system and the alternative dividends we could receive if we spent our health care
dollars more wisely), Rob Engle (economics and
the comparative stabilities of the financial systems
in the U.S. and Europe, with some red flags on the
horizon for China), a good lead in to Bob Oxnam
(China and its increasing role on the world stage
and the opportunities to lead through an autocratic
type of governance during this 25-year anniversary
of Tiananmen Square).
Our lunch focused on commentary derived from
Ben Wagner’s class survey with discussion from Bob
Furey, Tom Howell and Tom Stites. The importance
of liberal arts training in the future was one of the
central discussion topics. Peter Buttenheim identified
two resources for further consideration of this topic:
Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters,
by Michael Roth (current president of Wesleyan
University) and Community of Learning: The American
College and the Liberal Arts Tradition, by Francis
Oakley (former Williams president).
Many classmates spoke, but several persons were
moved by the words of Paul Riecks, who felt there
would be an “eternal need” for the liberal arts:
“Human survival and progress has been made possible by optimism—by the belief that we are going to
make it or that our idea will work. That optimism is
based on our belief that the information or idea must
exist somewhere that will see us through. That optimism is also sparked by exposure to the existence of
a huge storehouse of knowledge based on countless
years of human experience. We don’t have to know
it all. We can’t even know it all. We just have to learn
how to look for it and then go look for it. By exposing us to a variety of disciplines, a liberal arts education prepares us for a lifetime of learning so that we
never stop looking for what we need to know when
we need to know it.”
In the afternoon Ben Wagner reviewed a special
display of a scrapbook of Mike Reily with many contributions including those special ones of his youth
from his family.
In the evening we donned coat and tie for our
special reunion dinner at Paresky Student Center,
with President Adam Falk, who spoke warmly to
our class. Ron Ranes referred to the president’s talk
as a “straight 10 in my uneducated scale” and reinforced the president’s statement concerning the “palpable warmth” of our interactions. Ron, who has not
been back since graduation, was encouraged by Jack
Leingang, Jay Freedman and Joel Reingold and was
impressed with the content and logistics of the event,
the depth of impact of the work described and performed by our speakers and the fact that in addition
to being smart and successful our classmates were
“nice, kind and interested in and accepting of others.”
Dick Gardner thought the president was “on top of all
aspects of the college’s mission, and a fine role model
for today’s students.”
On Saturday morning we returned to Paresky for a
full breakfast before congregating in front of Chapin
to lead the 192nd Annual Alumni Parade. We, 116
strong plus wives, marched along the reunion route
eventually entering the Chandler gym for our class
picture and then into the auditorium, where we were
treated with the respect due our seniority by our fellow younger alums! The ceremonies were led by
Dennis O’Shea ’77, president of the alumni society, who welcomed everyone and announced that the
Class of 2009 had won the total attendance award
(though only a small number of them were present).
The Class of 1964 really shined, receiving all of
the major alumni awards. The Copeland Award for
“connecting prospective students with Williams and
actively recruiting them” was given to Bob Furey,
who noted subsequently, “I was incredibly moved by
the class response to my receiving the Fred Copeland
award (and embarrassed that I had to run out right
away to get to my tennis match—my girls won!).
Receiving that award brought my Williams life full
circle, as it was Fred who convinced me to come to
Williams all those many years ago.” Jonathan Fielding
received the Kellogg Award for his “most distinguished career.” He has directed health departments
at the state and local level, performed research, taught
at the UCLA School of Public Health (now named
after him and his wife Karin), authored hundreds
of peer-reviewed articles and served in high leadership positions for a variety of important government
task forces. In addition, Steve Birrell received the
Rogerson Cup, the college’s highest award for alumni
service. It symbolizes “outstanding loyalty, achievement and service in the name of Williams.” We are
the first class whose members ever won these three
coveted awards in the same year!
After the group sang Yard by Yard, Steve Birrill
announced our 1964 Class 50th Reunion gift to
the college of just over $14.6 million, making us the
fifth-highest gift in the history of the college.
Who would have predicted that under the leadership of “The Gang of Five”: Gay Mayer as class president; Bill Chapman as class planned giving chair;
Tim Goodwin as head class agent; John Foehl and
Steve Birrell, with Ben Wagner heading up the effort
to raise the $1 million to name the Reily Room and
Steve Doughty leading the drive to create the Louise
Ober ’64, together with the “coaxing” of a cadre of 36
additional agents, 86 percent of the class ultimately
contributed allowing us to achieve that number.
Thanks to the team and to ourselves for increasing
scholarships and tutorials, improving Chapin Hall
and separately contributing to the Reily Room in the
new renovations for the Weston Field complex. A
particular “shout out” and thank you to Bill Chapman
and Tim Tuttle for really stepping up to the plate on
behalf of our class and each making a major gift contribution to the college!
After a wonderful luncheon picnic under a sunny
sky on Chapin lawn, the dean of the college spoke in
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response to what Williams has done in light of the
current problem with sexual assault on college campuses and what is being done to protect students at
Williams. This was followed by a panel consisting of
former President John Chandler, Dean Sarah Bolton,
Bruce Grinnell ’62, and myself to describe the events
preceding and immediately following the Angevine
Report, which ultimately caused the elimination of
fraternities at Williams under President Sawyer, and
also highlight the current public health issues related
to alcohol use, abuse and resultant harm on college
campuses across the country. Richard Lyon also spoke
during the afternoon, revealing his highly accomplished story-telling abilities.
In the afternoon, at the Williams College Museum
of Art, a lecture by Karin and Jonathan Fielding
described the current exhibition of their collection
which they have loaned for several months: Material
Friction: Americana and American Art. It is a wonderful grouping and is featured alongside similar works
of art owned by the college. A reception followed.
Thank you, Jonathan and Karin, for sharing your
beautiful materials.
The final activity for the afternoon was a very moving ceremony led by Steve Doughty, Russ Bishop,
Gary Ratner, Davis Taylor and Bob Warner to honor
the memory of those classmates who are deceased.
The flowers, simplicity of commentary and silence
to bring up memories of each person was beautifully
conceived and carried out.
Our evening class reception and dinner was indescribable. Suffice it to say there were tears, choked up
comments and wonderful memories generated. Jack
Beecham brought a musical group to conclude the
evening with dancing. We still can rock and roll!
Sunday morning brought many to the Thompson
Chapel for another moving ceremony to honor those
who had passed away from all of the reunion classes.
The music, readings and individual comments left a
rich and warm feeling for those in attendance.
A farewell brunch was held at the Faculty Club,
and several invitees joined with us for a final meal
together. Professors Chandler, Roberts, Oakley, Hyde,
Fox and Wobus attended and provided additional
memories and insights into Williams of old and
Williams today.
And then we started our difficult separation from
the college and from one another. Gay passed the
presidential baton to John Foehl (whose son Brooks
Foehl ’88 celebrated the graduation of his son, and
John’s grandson, Taylor Foehl ’14). John is the first in
our class to be the paternal head of three generations
of Ephs.
Our time together and deep friendships renewed
will assure that these past several days will be long
remembered and deeply cherished.
So many have reflected on this event.
Art Sorenson, originally in ’63, wrote that he truly
enjoyed the Friday talks—all the talks are now
posted on alumni.williams.edu—and hopes Weston
Field will be ready for its initial game in the fall. He
expressed concern with the amount of money spent
on the new library but recognized it was nevertheless
a beautiful facility. This has been the overwhelming
consensus of our classmates who viewed this facility.
Cliff Hall, who had retained a piece of the Amherst
goal post from our loss during freshman year, pre36
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sented it to Gay as a memory of the sophomore year
they shared as roommates.
Chris Hagy shared a “moving moment when 10 of
us called Jack Beebe, who had planned to attend but
was stuck in Palo Alto recovering from surgery and
radiation. Although he was sorely missed, it was good
to hear his voice and his high spirits.”
Leo Murray returned from his base in Hong Kong
seven times previously but writes that this was “for
me, the best and most memorable reunion of all.
So many classmates who’d never before attended a
reunion or only sometimes previously came, on this
occasion decided they didn’t want to miss out. It
truly ended up being the ‘mother’ of all class reunion
gatherings.”
Jud Phelps, Bonnie, Barbara and I got to spend
some special time together with all four of us commenting on the ease of communication and the sincerity of our all-too-brief moments with one another.
Jud appreciated being with so many St. A “brothers”
and sharing memories of being with Bonnie there.
Particularly memorable was “wearing my grandfather’s 1910 50th jacket (which fit amazingly) and listening to the inspirational words of President Falk,
whose growth and leadership I look forward to following.” Jud and Bonnie took time to visit Dr. Rouse,
now 94 years old, who was his psychology professor.
“All of the events kept me full of gratitude, choked up
and in tears much of our weekend. I am so looking
forward to our return in October.”
Don’t forget to join as a Class of 1964 once again
for the weekend of Oct. 10-12 to pass the baton to
the incoming 50th-year Class of 1965. Come share
this special time with us.
Happy 50th reunion, classmates, the memories will
last forever. I think Bill Chapman, who has contributed
so much throughout the years, summed it up best:
“the reunion, from beginning to end, was special. So
many class members were able to attend; 86 percent
of the class supported the reunion fund. Impressive! I
thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be with classmates and catch up on what they’ve been doing and
plan to do. My regret is that I could not visit with
everyone who attended. So much has been accomplished, as the bios in the class book make clear. I still
recall the awe I felt the very first day I stepped on
campus. Fifty-plus years later I’m still in awe.”
As are we all.
More to follow next issue, with a transformative
event to be described by Dick Hubbard!
—Marty
1965
50
th
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Tom Burnett, 175 Riverside Drive, #2H,
New York, NY 10024; 1965secretary@williams.edu
Secretary Burnett reports: Hard to believe, but June
10-14, 2015, is nine months away. We only have one
50th reunion to celebrate and in which to participate,
and I urge all classmates to think about attending and
to make reservations early. I am also reminding classmates to compose their 500-word bios and email
them to John Storey at john@storeyfarm.com for the
class book. John needs the information by Sept. 30.
Finally, please visit often the class website www.eph65fiftieth.com for additional information, including
the class survey, which can easily be completed online.
1964– 66
Special thanks for the reunion go to Dave Coolidge
and Dusty Griffin for their tireless efforts organizing
class events. The deadline for this issue of class notes
is prior to the Oxford event, which I am sure provided a unique and unforgettable experience for all
who chose to participate. John Storey is busy editing bios as they come in and keeping the website current and informative. Fred Ohly and Tim Reichert are
cracking their whips to bring classmates to attention
about the need to plan for the reunion events. The
class gifts have been named and dedicated—Student
Opportunity Fund and President’s Venture Fund—
and I wish to thank all who have already made their
payments or pledges. Anyone with questions on the
reunion events can call Fred directly at 703.356.9525.
We are also expecting a large turnout for the fall
minireunion the weekend of Oct. 10-12, which will
feature football at the newly enhanced Weston Field.
Once again, our valued Class Agent Jim Worrall has
performed a miracle with a 90.16 percent participation rate in last year’s Alumni Fund. Jim and his subagents raised more than $175,000, up almost 9 percent from the prior year.
I received a warm email from John Gepson in
Chicago. His daughter went to Colorado College,
and her daughter is applying to colleges now. John
told me that the latest CC alumni magazine carried a front-page article and an eight-page spread on
my brother David, who was in the Class of ’68 there.
Typical Gepson, so thoughtful and conscientious—I
had no idea about the article until he sent it to me.
It was nice to hear from Hugh Rogers. He and his
family run a retreat center near their home in West
Virginia. He has a seat, as past president, on the
board of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy.
Son Ian is pursuing acting, son Tom Dyson Rogers
’96 has tenure at Emory, and his youngest son,
Gabriel, has returned to occupy and rebuild the old
house that Hugh first moved to some 35 years ago.
After several email assaults, I finally tracked down
Bob Sachs. He and Eileen have two grown children and live in Bedminster, N.J. Bob, like me, is a
determined Reds fan, and when the team moved
its spring training facility to Arizona, he followed
them and ended up buying a condo in Scottsdale. He
retired from his law practice in 2010 and then taught
five years at California Western in San Diego and
Rutgers-Camden in Camden, N.J. He has recently
picked up senior softball as a participant on a local
travel team, and, barring injury, will play in a tournament in Utah in October.
After more than 40 years of legal practice at the law
firm of Dowell & Dowell, Yates Dowell has retired
from his trademark and patent work in Alexandria,
Va. He was with the firm for more than 40 years.
Marjo and Paul Valliere traveled through New
England and visited with Scudder Parker and Lenny
Gibson. He just missed Bill Meacham, who had visited Scudder and Lenny. Scudder works full time in
Vermont on energy policy, and Lenny runs psychology workshops and cares for his farm. Paul continues teaching full time as a religion and humanities
professor at Butler University. He has no intention of
stepping down, and the students remain responsive
and enthusiastic about his courses. Bravely, he continues his summer teaching work in the Ukraine at
the Russian Orthodox theological institute. He has
made many friends in and around Kiev and always
looks forward to spending time with them. He and
Marjo have three children and six grandchildren
spread out from Portland, Ore., to Vienna, Austria.
In 2012, Cambridge University Press brought out his
book Concilliarism—A History of Decision-Making in
the Church.
Art Wheelock remains one of the easiest classmates
to catch up with. I just hop on the National Gallery
website and there he is, first curator to have his field
incorporated into the gallery’s new public online
database. He also has an article on the “Evolution of
the Dutch Painting Collection” in the spring 2014
Gallery Bulletin. He and Perry live in D.C., and
Perry’s charming daughter Louisa DeVenne Swain ’05
has stayed with us for a few weekends in NYC while
she completed her master’s work from Bank Street.
Dr. Les Pierce and Eileen took a trip to the Grecian
Isles. He retired from the solo private practice of
medicine in 2010. His specialties were nephrology,
internal medicine and geriatrics. He began working part time and is now full time with the Medical
Faculty Associates of George Washington University
School of Medicine in Geriatrics and Kidney
Diseases. Their four children have finished college
and are working in fields like engineering, programming and finance. Their daughter Elizabeth Pierce ’08
married Ryan Belmont ’05 in August 2013 in Salem,
Mass., in a ceremony surrounded by Ephs. Les and
Eileen plan to attend reunion.
Westy Saltonstall has his reservations for the
reunion and is looking forward to catching up with
many classmates. He stays in touch with Peter
Stevens and Dan Aloisi and, indirectly, with Pete
Hucheon and Jerry Wheaton. Westy is semi-retired
from his role running the high net-worth business at
Eaton Vance. His two daughters live nearby with two
daughters each, so the family is close to the house
Westy has lived in for over 40 years.
Joel Bergquist wrote from Palo Alto that he and
Margaret plan to attend the reunion. Joel is a dealer
in prints and drawings, and I often see him at the
Armory shows in NYC. Margaret is an executive
recruiter in Silicon Valley. Their son Jeff attends the
Stanford Graduate School of Business, and daughter
Annie graduated from the University of Washington
last June. She is now a recruiting coordinator at
Facebook. Joan and Nick Rawlings visited Joel and
Margaret at their home in Palo Alto.
One final reminder, please look at the class reunion
website, fill out the questionnaire and send in your
bio summary. So many classmates are working so
hard to make this event successful, and the least we
can do is participate to the fullest extent possible.
1966
Palmer Q. Bessey Jr. 1320 York Ave., 32H, New York, NY
I need to begin with the sad news before I deliver
the glad, of which there is a great deal. We’ve lost
three classmates over the last few months. Karl Garlid
died May 1 in New York. Joe Bessey and Bill Adams
knew him well and sent the following: “Karl Garlid
died early on May Day after a valiant stand against
lung cancer. He was a preacher’s kid who applied
to Williams because an adviser suggested it. It was
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a leap of faith to go from Marin County, Calif., to
Williamstown sight unseen, but it worked. He was
an English major, a member of Zeta Psi, and spent
time in the theater. After Williams, he taught middle school at Friends’ Academy on Long Island.
One day on a field trip he was talking to his students
about pipe dreams, and how one of his was to run a
restaurant in NYC. A man overheard him and had
a brother who was looking for someone to oversee
a restaurant. That led to another leap of faith, when
Karl left his teaching job and moved to Manhattan
to manage that restaurant. He became active in
the socially progressive Judson Memorial Church
in Greenwich Village. There he met Mary Meyer,
another transplant from California. They were married in 1979. After Karl’s restaurant stint, he reinvented himself again, becoming an IT person for
an advertising firm. In the mid ’80s, Karl and Mary
bought an old brownstone row house in Clinton Hill,
Brooklyn, a rough neighborhood at the time. His talents for woodworking and renovation flourished.
They ultimately bought and rehabbed an adjoining
building as well, became landlords and were ahead of
the curve of gentrification in Brooklyn. Their warm,
welcoming ways built a large, diverse community of
friends who remember him fondly.”
Kevin Sheehan died April 16 in Florida. He and
Barbara Sheehan had lived in Indianapolis until two
years ago, when they moved to New Smyrna Beach.
At Williams, Kevin was a three-letter athlete; he and
somewhat shorter Jim Kramer were co-captains of
the varsity basketball team, forming the Williams
version of the Monsters, Inc., duo of James P. Sullivan
and Mike Wazowski.
Perhaps our most famous classmate, certainly our
sweetest singer, Jesse Winchester died April 11 of
bladder cancer in Charlottsville, Va. He’d battled
esophageal cancer a few years ago and emerged successfully, still singing. When I reported his passing on the class list server, 14 members wrote
back, recalling his work. Rob Cunningham said, “I
have loved his music, ever since I walked in on an
empty dining room at Williams, with Jesse playing a piano quietly.” The word “sad” appeared in letters from Gordon Wishard, Jim Biehle, Dan CohnSherbok and Jody Dobson, who wrote, “I became a
huge Jesse fan about 10 years ago, appreciating his
quiet humor and insightful lyrics about love and loss
and his honest, unadorned vocal delivery.” Also writing condolences were Joe Swayze, Roger Kubarych,
Tom Anathan, Bailey Young, Ned Davis and Ned
Zimmerman. Finally, two of his old bandmates, Jeff
Fletcher and Doug Olcott, emailed. Jeff wrote, “I feel
incredibly fortunate to have played in the band that
Jesse led at Williams. Although we mostly played
covers of R&B hits, Jesse did compose a few songs
during those days, and his songwriting talent was
evident even back then.” Doug recalled, “We occasionally met when he was touring through Northern
California; once heard him performing backed up
by the great dobro player Jerry Douglas at a club
in Santa Cruz.” My own memories are two, one of
going with Swayze and Budge Upton to hear him at
the Paradise in Boston (“Rhumba Man” was great!),
and another in 1970, before I knew he had arrived
anywhere, of driving down Sunset Boulevard in
Hollywood and seeing a huge billboard with “Jesse
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Winchester” over his face. I almost had a heart attack
and then yelled “Yeah!”
Johnny Sundstrom also sent a long letter about
Jesse, with whom he had returned to Williams to
join our class after starting out in 1965. He mentioned that he and his ex-wife are close friends of the
woman who inspired “Yankee Lady.” That’s a wow,
from my perspective at least. He also wrote a remarkable bit about the Big Questions: “Let me just say
that we often hear the mention of the ‘miracle of
birth,’ but, in reality death is every bit as much an
unknown and mysterious miracle. Williams studies
might not yet have addressed the reality and truth of
‘death’ in its curriculum, but you and I are beginning
to understand its omnipresence and influence in our
lives. Long live Jesse Winchester and his example of
a good life and a successful death!”
One final note: at the Presidential Forum (more
later), Adam Falk, in his comments to the class,
remembered Jesse Winchester, reflecting on his legacy in the arts and the fact that he was reconnecting
with Williams over the last year, thanks to the
outreach of classmates.
Peter Hoyt writes some sobering news. His exwife Fran died “after a great battle with cancer (pelvic, spine, nodes, brain).” On top of that his daughter Beth Hoyt Bartlett ’00 has been dealing with
breast cancer, diagnosed in January. “Beth has gotten
through a double mas and chemo with only reconstruction ahead. Looking forward to 2015.”
Rob Bradley offers a recap of the class dinner at
the Country Club in Brookline: “Mssrs. Coquillette,
O’Brien, Upton and Bradley hosted the Seventh
Annual Williams ’66 Boston Dinner on May 21.
Fourteen class members were there. In addition to
the hosts: Peter Allen, Bill Bowden, Rob Cunningham,
Jeff Jones, Dick Murnane (a welcome new addition),
Dick Pingree, John Powell, Con O’Leary, Allen Rork
(another first-time attendee) and David Tunick. A
number of stalwarts who have frequently attended
(Marty Shulkin, Dave Dapice, Wink Willett, George
Helmer and Bill Sawyer, among others) sent regrets,
as they were traveling or otherwise occupied. As
usual, the wine and liquor bill nearly exceeded the
food bill. Budge Upton arranged for the excellent
video about the environmental center to be shown. A
very enjoyable occasion.”
Gil Conrad and his wife Jean have happily moved to
2750 Stratford Road, Richmond, Va. “We knew the
old Richmond and have relatives here and are greatly
relieved that it has modernized.” They are finishing
with renovations of the new house, a process “which
is educational.”
From Con O’Leary: “I had a great dinner with Dick
Dubow and Anna Jo at his son’s restaurant in West
Hartford: Blue Plate at Bishops Corner.”
Facebook fed me a photo of Jack Vroom on a
walker in a hospital gown. The reason? A new hip!
Congratulations to him on his new technology!
Tom Anathan and Patricia took a Williamssponsored trip to the Dordogne, in southwest France.
“Very well done,” he reports. “One of the highlights
was a visit to a museum where we literally bumped
into Lance Knox, who was there as part of a National
Geographic tour.” He was about to head to Stamford,
Conn., to attend David Tunick’s clambake, where he
hoped to see Stan Possick and others.
1966
Bailey Young was on his way to Belgium again for
another season of excavating Walhain Castle with a
group of students, whom he calls the “‘dirty dozen’
(as I warn them to expect to become).” He and his
students have been pursuing this project for years.
He adds that along with a colleague in the history
department who studies the history of agriculture
he won a grant in February to expand the research
project from the castle site itself to the lordship as a
whole over the next three years. “Another good reason not to retire anytime soon.”
Roger Kubarych is surrounded by family: grandchildren, 1 and 5 years old, son Greg graduating from
law school, wife Janet taking him to England as she
is running a London financial consulting business.
Roger is finding it “hard to find a niche in a crowded
book market on the economics of national security
now that so much of the story is no longer so secret.”
In April the college hosted a Presidential Forum
in Williamstown, at which classmates were treated
to a number of panel discussions featuring both faculty and students, giving the nearly 40 classmates
who attended a window into Williams today. It
was energizing and eye-opening. The final event
was a dinner held at the Clark’s new facility up on
the hill above the museum itself. I had an excellent
time: talking at length with Jock Kimberley, learning about his schooling and skiing in Austria before
Williams; planning the class book for the upcoming 50th with Peter Koenig and Joe Bessey; catching up with Gordon Wishard, now in Indianapolis,
who had been at Indiana University law school while
I was doing graduate work in English there. Gordon
sent in a report about the forum: “Greetings from
the middle provinces. Let me add a couple of lines
directed to any other ne’er-do-well classmates who,
like this one, have become disengaged in the mere 48
years since we sauntered out of Williamstown to take
on the world. The weekend in April at school, to caucus about the reunion and class gift and all the rest,
for me served larger purposes. It was certainly educational, yet more importantly it was rejuvenating
as well. I caught up with a place that I believed was
magic when we were there and seems to be still. And
for this fellow that’s pretty cool.”
We also toured the new library, and gazed
out a wall of glass at the growing Class of ’66
Environmental Center behind it. Kellogg House was
right down to studs and nails, as it was preparing to
be rebuilt to the standards of the Living Building
Challenge. Go to http://vimeo.com/95352013, and
watch in astonishment and amazement.
Bill Ewen reports that his son Gordon was selected
to be part of Team Connecticut for the Special
Olympics National Games in New Jersey in midJune. Gordon’s games were to be played at Rider
University in Lawrenceville, so Bill planned to visit
Graham Cole while he and Katie were there. “During
the Presidential Forum in April, it was fun not only
to reunite with a number of classmates, but also to be
able to get on the tennis court once again with Pete
Allen, who is just as spry and agile as ever.”
Budge Upton responds, “Other than all the
Williams news surrounding the Presidential Forum,
there is the latest and greatest earth (knee) shattering notice that I was party to a knee replacement
only days ago. I would write more, but the meds have
taken over… as I have entered the design development phase of a new project. Clearly, this has been
a new and surprisingly productive undertaking. I
intend to keep up the good work.”
Here is a list of some of the other PF attendees, many of whom brought significant others with
them: Bill Adams, John Amerling, Steve Atlas, Punky
Booth, Bill Bowden, Rob Bradley, Andy Burr, John
Carney, Rob Cunningham, Lisle Dalton, Jody Dobson,
Jeff Jones, Winston Kipp, Lance Knox, Bob Krefting,
Jon Linen, Chip Malcolm, Jim Meier, Bill Miller,
Dick Pingree, Con O’Leary, Art Perry, Stan Possick,
Charley Randolph, Pete Richardson, Bob Rubin,
Allen Rork, Bob Snibbe, Joe Swayze, Dave Tunick
and Wink Willett. It was all a howling success.
There’s a long announcement from Class
Webmaster Bill Adams: “Our 50th reunion website, http://www.williams66.org, is up. It includes
information about upcoming class events, the 50th
reunion class gift and what was happening on campus 50 years ago. You can also update your profile.
It currently has whatever information the Williams
alumni site has about you, and you can write your
autobiography for the class book. There is also a confidential survey on the website that will be reported
only in aggregate. We hope it will indicate both
where we’ve come from as a class and where we are
now in terms of our individual lives.
“In the class directory you can see the public parts
of classmates’ profiles, including how to contact them
by email or telephone (if that information is public)
so that you can reconnect and, of course, urge them to
come to the reunion in June 2016. You can filter the
directory by having only those who are within a given
distance of your or any other zip code.
“I have three requests: The first is to write remembrances about classmates who have passed away. In
your personal profile, there is a ‘remembrance’ page.
You can access a list of deceased classmates and
choose whom you would like to write about.
“Second, there is a ‘reminiscences’ button on the
right side. Here you can write about memories from
your time at Williams. They could be a favorite class,
professor, event, coach, game or whatever moves you.
These don’t have to be momentous.
“Third, if you have suggestions about the website,
please contact me. My email (and the emails of the
class officers) can be found by clicking on ‘Contacts’
on the top menu of the website.
“Details: To use the site, you will need to log in
with your user ID and password from the Williams
alumni website. If you have forgotten your user
ID or password or never had one, please contact
the alumni office (alumni.relations@williams.edu;
413.597.4151).
“Play around with the site and use it to connect,
re-engage, and (in June 2016) come as you are.”
Before signing off, a bit of personal news from secretary John. I had a terrific spring teaching grammar
at Bennington, with 19 bright, interested students.
I’d do it for free, but haven’t told the dean that. Also
I have just published a Kindle novel called Carlton
Sortwell, about Little League baseball and where
it goes right and where oh so wrong. Jane called it
“sweet,” not common praise from her. It’s available
on Amazon, pretty cheap. Do good work and keep in
touch, as Garrison says.
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1967
Ken Willcox, 178 Westwood Lane, Wayzata, MN 55391;
It is with sadness that I lead this edition of our
class notes with the news that Dana Stevens passed
away April 11, 2014. At the time of his death Dana
was professor of finance at the American University
of Armenia. Prior to that he had been a professor
and VP of academic affairs at KIMEP University
in Almaty, Kazhakstan. Dana and his wife Zhanna
Yeranosyan Stevens were married 15 years ago,
after they met at a fifth-century Cathedral in Talin,
Armenia. Dana is now buried in the churchyard
there. They have two daughters, ages 11 and 6. Dana
also had four children from an earlier marriage. He
was a very talented guy. He graduated from Williams
Phi Beta Kappa. He then went on to Stanford
University, where he earned a PhD in economics. In
1982 he ran for Congress. He had been planning to
attend our 50th. We’ll very much miss him.
In more positive news, this issue brings word from
a couple of contributors from whom we haven’t
heard for some time. First off, and contrary to popular rumor, George Malnati has not dropped off the
face of the earth. He sold his veterinary practice in
Athens, Ga., in 1999 and moved to Clearwater, Fla.,
where he now lives and operates a referral-only dog
and cat surgical practice. He specializes in orthopedics, mostly knees. George also works as an executive
in the Church of Scientology Tampa on nights and
weekends. He has no thoughts of retiring. He says he
tried it when he first moved to Florida and was bored
to death. His older daughter and two grandchildren
live in Mount Laurel, N.J. When he visits them there,
he often sees Spike Reilly ’69.
Our second long-absent classmate is Henry Hague.
He writes that he is still, since 1979, practicing law
as the managing partner of a firm in Carlsbad, Calif.
He also administers a charitable foundation. Henry
and Judith have been married for 41 years. They have
two kids, ages 29 and 31, and one grandson. He still
enjoys surfing and paddle boarding with friends and
family and occasional travels. He wishes good health
and happiness to all of us.
Rick Ackerly sends news of significant changes
in his routine. In June he became the new head of
Golden Oak Montessori School, a public charter
school in Hayward, Calif. This means weekend commuting to Oakland from Chicago, where he and
Victoria moved. They have a three-bedroom apartment with great views of the city and lake. It’s next
to Navy Pier and an eight-minute walk from Miracle
Mile. When in Hayward, Rick stays with Lizzie,
Tarek and grandsons Abdallah, Musa and Ilyas.
Hank Grass continues to be very happy with his
profession, marriage, children and grandchildren—all
of whom he terms “a joy.” He and his wife celebrated
their 45th anniversary. He remains physically active
despite some aches and pains but looks forward to
seeing us all at reunion in a few years.
Chris Covington spent some of last year’s wretched
winter in Antigua and the Florida Keys. Itty and
Spencer Hays visited them there from Sanibel. They
also got visits from Bobo Olson and Peter Bent. Peter
reportedly spent much of the winter on his sailboat,
Salmagal, cruising the Bahamas.
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Bill Biersach really enjoyed reconnecting with
classmates at the Mystic Seaport reunion planning
session. He had a less good time getting crushed by
the Amherst alumni golfers at the annual Williams/
Amherst tourney in Vero Beach, Fla. Bill is looking forward to a Williams trip this fall to the Lake
Region of Italy. Joining him on the voyage will be
Doug Mills and Warner Fletcher and their wives. He
writes, “If you are feeling old as we approach our
50th, consider the angst of having your son preparing
for his 25th in Williamstown next year.”
Judy and Gary Lamphere both retired in May.
They planned their first retirement celebration tour
down the Mid-Atlantic states to do some biking and to visit long neglected friends and relatives.
Among those would be Laurel and Dick Thrasher in
Gettysburg. Gary and Judy did a medical mission to
NW Haiti last April, and they hope to do more of
that sort of thing with their new free time. They travel
some with Paula and Evan Brodie ’64, and the four
of them see Maggie and Jon Shafmaster fairly often
at Eph-memorial dinners. They’d welcome classmates, including Tim and Viper and Mary and Don
Steinmuller to see them in New Hampshire. They’re
looking forward to our 50th.
Marty Samuels expressed concern over recent news
of sexual assaults at Williams. He said he realizes that
this is a problem everywhere, but it was jarring to see
it on the front page of The Boston Globe. He wrote
a letter to Williams President Adam Falk encouraging him to be forthright with the facts and truth.
He wrote, “As we have learned from numerous other
events that have evolved in the press, the appearance
of cover-up can be worse than the events themselves.”
John McCarthy checked in from Geneva, saying
he spent part of May in Lebanon. He is a trustee of
the International College (www.ic.edu.lb) there. He
chaired the development committee of the board
during the school’s recent $50 million Campaign for
Excellence. John quips, “No resting on laurels though.
The board has just given us a fresh $60 million goal
by 2019.” John, who lived in Lebanon for nine years
before the Civil War, believes strongly that promoting
education is a good way to help the country progress.
Bill McClung was officially designated professor
emeritus of computer science at Nebraska Wesleyan
University in May. He is back half time this fall,
and then “real retirement” will set in. With the extra
time he hopes to resume organ lessons and build
a Hauptwerk virtual organ at home. He continues
to play for the Catholic church where Hannah Jo
is music director. His physicist-son Andrew is still
laboring on his quantum physics PhD at CalTech.
His philosopher-son Charles is looking for a label to
release the EP of his Minneapolis band, Carroll.
Dave McCarron attended the 225th graduation
of the college, as the last of their three sons, Matt
McCarron ’14, was launched. He was joined at the
event by his other sons Jesse McCarron ’96 and Tim
McCarron ’99. Dave had coffee with Dave Rikert
in May. They’ve been doing that over the years. Dr.
McCarron wrote: “From my perspective the feds
have turned eating into a near-death experience. I
adhere to the advice offered many years ago by a public health adviser to the British government: ‘doctors
would be well advised to tell their patients to enjoy
the only life they are likely to have.’”
1967– 68
More than 20 years ago Phil Bolton founded
Global Atlanta. It is the only news source that covered the city’s rise as an international business center. Phil remains the publisher and president. To recognize the organization’s major contribution to U.S.
exports, U.S. Commerce Secretary Pritzker in June
presented Phil with the President’s “E” Award for
Export Excellence at a ceremony in D.C.. Phil’s
wife Vicki and children K.C. and Trina attended the
event. K.C. at age 33 was to be starting med school
at the University of Vermont in August. Trina is
involved in a program Hillary Clinton started at the
State Department titled “Sports Diplomacy.” She
arranges for teams of all sorts to come to the U.S. for
sports and cultural immersion activities.
Robin and Hugh Smyser get together frequently
with Peggy and Mark Ellis. Hugh and Mark had a
great time visiting MoMA with Gregg Meister. Last
year the Smysers sold their East Side Manhattan
place and returned to the West Side, where they had
lived for 21 years. Older son Ben graduated from
Emory Law School in May, and their younger son,
Ezra, after two years of building someone else’s net
venture, has set out to try to develop his own ideas.
Fred Sleezer joined Massanutten Resort and is loving it. It sports 6,800 acres of natural beauty as his
office. Of course, free access to 36 holes of golf, skiing,
waterpark and hunting too.
Beth and Bryan Hickman joined Suzanne and
Harry Tether on a Williams trip to Tanzania and
were able to witness the “Great Migration.” At
home, Bryan managed to convince 25 friends to lend
$100,000 each to renovate a building for the charter middle school they are launching in August. He
writes, “We are also launching a high school for boys
with self-paced learning and a role model/preceptor for every 12 boys to be sure that the boys have
the support they need to stay in school. In Rochester,
only 10 percent of black and Hispanic boys graduate
in the normal four years, and 35 percent go to jail, so
this is badly needed.”
Your secretary enjoyed a June lunch with Jack
Sjoholm. We had lots of years to catch up on.
Although now retired as general counsel for
Northern States Power, later Excel Energy, Jack
remains very active. He is a small claims court judge
and is on the board of several organizations helping at-risk children. And when he’s not doing that,
he and Gretchen are doting on their grandchildren.
Meanwhile, my wife Winnie’s mother passed away
(Alzheimer’s and worse) in May. Winnie had been
her primary care in Ohio with hospice assist for the
past three years. Winnie’s now back home catching
up on everything she deferred during the period of
her Ohio shuttle.
1968
Paul Neely, 34532 North 79th Way, Scottsdale, AZ
Barton Phelps sends an appreciative note from
L.A. about the Williams diaspora: “As our class
nears the front of the book, I’ve begun to suspect
that Williams people are especially generous and
there are more of them embedded importantly in
L.A. than I knew. Last year, I had the pleasure of
meeting Jonathan Fielding ’64, director of the L.A.
County Department of Health, just prior to the start
of the renovation I designed for the Jonathan &
Karin Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA—
renamed to honor the extraordinary, $50 million dollar gift by my Saint A’s bro and his gracious wife. (As
architects stretch to do, I’ll take minor credit for having designed the Santa Monica offices of the asset
managers Dimensional Fund Advisors, the fertile
environment in which Dr. Fielding’s amazing donation was nurtured.) More recently, I sent a futuristic sketch to an art auction benefitting Imagine L.A.,
a nonprofit that helps homeless people re-enter society. Only at the gala event did I learn that one of the
energetic co-curators who assembled the show as well
as donating work was artist Nancy Baker Cahill ’92.”
Former Navy Chaplain Vic Smith writes, “We are
still living in downtown Williamsburg, where I can
walk up the street a few blocks into a different century. This thanks to my wife, who, when I was in the
Gulf on the Mighty MO, was called by the Navy
chief of chaplains’ detailer, who said he ‘could not
get hold of me’ to ask if my orders might not be able
to be changed from Florida to Norfolk. A fan of
Colonial Williamsburg, Marcia thought a nanosecond before answering to herself, ‘I’ve always wanted
to live in Williamsburg!’ Thank you, dear Marcia!
Daughter Allison is joyously making beautiful
baroque oboe music and bird calls in Holland—talents practiced here in Williamsburg years ago.”
Andy Weiss continues his greats works: “Through
our foundation we are doing a lot of philanthropy.
We supplied 700,000-plus Haitians with chlorinated water. Helping poorest of the poor in Rwanda,
Uganda and Kenya through small local NGOs.
Supplying clean water in rural Punjab. Sponsoring
research on heat works both directly through my
foundation and through foundations support of
the Center for Effective Global Action. I’m on the
board there as well as the visiting committee for
the Williams Center for Development Economics.
Trying to fulfill the Carnegie maxim.”
Also out there on the international front is Ross
Anthony, in notes I lifted from his 50th high school
reunion report. “I continue to travel a lot for RAND
and am writing from Jerusalem, where I am codirecting a new project on the cost of the ongoing stalemate between the Israelis and Palestinians,
with a hope that once the true costs of the present
trends versus peace or a third intifada will help convince some policymakers to reach a resolution to the
impasse. I am trying to slow down but also continue
to go back and forth to northern Iraq in the Kurdish
area to help the Kurdish Republican Government
improve its health care system. Other than that, I am
really enjoying life with my wife Roberta, my two
wonderful and accomplished kids, and Roberta’s two
daughters and three grandchildren.”
Finally, a bit longer but heartfelt message from
Chris Dornin: “I prayed for meaningful work in a
Bible study decades ago. Next day the treatment
director at New Hampshire Prison called me to
become the joint’s first case manager and wander the
cell blocks. I ran into trouble in my competing roles
as a counselor and an adviser to a powerful inmate
service group, the Granite Quarry Junior Chamber
of Commerce. I still regret leaving in a hurry to write
the news for much of my career.
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“Maybe that’s why I volunteered a decade ago as a
religious mentor to an inmate. We started a nonprofit
agency together when he made parole, Citizens for
Criminal Justice Reform. Would you believe there is
a media silence about the suffering of prisoners and
their loved ones? We’ve dispelled some of it by getting 18 prison reform bills sponsored. We helped
forge a nonprofit coalition that blocked private prisons from taking over. Our alliance got lawmakers to
appropriate $38 million for a new women’s prison.
We’ve worked closely with some trustee inmates to
write legislation to let prisoners earn time off their
sentences. We campaigned for a Criminal Justice
Reinvestment law in 2010 that reduced the prison
population by 300 in one year. Sadly, the landslide
Republican winners that fall gutted the new statute.
We try to mitigate one or two vigilante panics a year
against convicted sex offenders, but the dangerous
myths about them take deeper root.
“We hope the courts still have the guts to do their
job of restraining the tyranny of the majority. We
wrote a Supreme Court amicus brief this winter on
behalf of a sex offender challenging the registry as an
unconstitutional retroactive punishment. One of the
lawyers for the plaintiff is Bill Chapman ’64. Folks like
us are trying to keep things from getting worse as fast
as they would without pockets of resistance.”
Reminders: 1) Many of us have recently attended
our 50th high school reunions. Reflections prompted
by that passage of time are welcome. 2) All classmates
are invited to attend the minireunion on the weekend
of Oct. 10-12, when classes from the 45th to the 50th
are especially welcome.
1969
Rick Gulla, 287 Grove Street, Melrose, MA 02176;
This edition of notes starts with a huge thank you
to reunion chair Bob Grace and committee members Wes Howard, Rick Corwin and Alan Dittrich. Led
by Bob, the committee created a wonderful reunion
experience. The goal of the 45th was simple: To create
a weekend marked by camaraderie with opportunities to renew friendships and perhaps establish some
new ones with those whom we may not have known
so well four-and-a-half decades ago. The view from
here: The weekend was a winner. Some 40 classmates,
along with spouses and significant others, returned,
and each thoroughly enjoyed the days.
Features of the weekend included Saturday evening’s dinner with President Adam Falk, who recognized that how members of the Class of ’69 view
their college experience (and subsequently our current connection to Williams) has been influenced to
varying degrees by the events of the turbulent 1960s
that surrounded and shaped us. Also noteworthy was
the well-researched multimedia presentation by Class
President Alan Dittrich, whose highlights of the years
since graduation through a timeline of events beginning in June 1969 and tracking along reunion years
not only brought back memorable moments but also
gave us pause to think about how far we’ve come
since becoming alumni. Finally, class officers volunteered to continue in their current capacities and were
honored to be re-elected to carry us through to the
50th: Alan will continue as president, Wes Howard
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as VP, Rick Corwin as treasurer and I as class secretary to fill this space as best I can with contributions
from all of you.
Space limitations here preclude me from writing
more about reunion activities, so I have sent a separate email to the class with additional notes, including a list of those who attended, classmates who have
passed, and whatever additional information I could
gather, remember and deem suitable for publication.
If any classmate missed that email or didn’t receive it,
let me know, and I’ll be glad to send it along. On to
personal notes…
Bob Grace says, “The sabbatical that I started two
years ago is morphing into a retirement. I found the
sudden absence of pressure to be an overwhelmingly favorable change. But I have been kept busy by
a bunch of professional, personal and family projects. I’ve also become an avid reader, mostly of history,
catching up after years of neglect.” And he’s watching his family expand as well. Daughter Holly Grace
’97 a year ago presented Bob with granddaughter
Hannah. Bob and Kate are also the proud grandparents of daughter Heather’s twins, who will be 10 in
December.
Patricia and Craig Walker frequently travel to
California, seeing their daughter Liz perform with
the Los Angeles Ballet. She’s now in her fourth
year with the dance troupe. Craig’s other daughter,
Dana, has begun her medical journey, entering Weill
Cornell Medical College in NYC. “Will tuition ever
end?” asks Craig.
Terry Palmer reported plans for a minireunion of
the Berkshire Boys in Colorado in late June, possibly including such daring activities as mountain
climbing, rafting and other assorted but unnamed
age-appropriate events for this group. Expected to
attend were John Pascoe, Dick Stout, Tom Small, Carl
Manthei, Scott Murphy, Rick Bullett and Jim Dunn.
Terry expected “lots of laughs, a few tears for MIAs
Don Tufts and John Strauss, plenty of excuses and
frequent altitude adjustment medications.”
Jim Barns and wife Rebecca “had the all-time
sports experience of a lifetime” in the spring at the
NCAA Div III men’s basketball Final Four at Salem,
Va., with Jean and John Hitchins ’70, watching the
Ephs beat defending national champion Amherst by
29 points after losing three in a row this season to the
Lord Jeffs. “It was an astonishing turnaround,” Jim
noted, but the next day “was the agony of defeat,” as
Williams lost in the final with less than one second
remaining in the game.
Dick Tobin missed attending reunion but sent best
wishes to all classmates, especially to old high-school
friend Tim Carlson ’70. Tim, who is now starting
retirement, entered with our class, left to serve in the
Peace Corps and finished with ’70. Dick notes that
Tim “made his life in the Williamstown area as an
attorney representing the interests of elderly clients,
as a gardener supreme whose home has been on garden tours, as a kayaker and inveterate ice hockey fan.
Talk about your liberal arts education, Tim exemplifies it.”
Grinnell Professor Henry Walker completed his
33rd year of grading AP computer science examinations, thus preventing his reunion attendance again.
Henry is “moving slowly toward retirement over an
eight-year period. This past year and next year, I am
1968– 70
teaching full time, and the year after next I will have
a full-year sabbatical, doing several projects, including my 10th book. After that I will move to a reduced
status for five years, with a combination of teaching
and scholarship one semester each year. I have some
specific projects planned, but I am sure those ideas
will evolve as the work progresses.”
Bob Whitton retired at the end of 2013, joining wife
Andrea, who retired from teaching in June 2013. Bob
has “straightened up my home office and started populating calendars with more than consulting trips.
In September we head for Scotland to inspect my
gene pool. The rest of the year is a period of adjustment: How many pleasure books and ‘duty’ books can
I fit in? How can I stay fairly involved with nonprofits without over-committing? How many lectures
and concerts can we afford in NYC? How can we cut
down on too many nights out at restaurants? How
can I get to the gym more than twice a week? Devote
more time to grandchildren near and far? Catch up
on our Williams sightings? So many questions for
late middle age.” May and June were busy for Bob, as
he connected with Peg and Spike Riley in West Cape
May, N.J., Jim Ferrucci in North Jersey, and Mike
Morrison on City Island.
Eric Smith retired from a career as a librarian at
Duke University in 2009 and is using the “benefits of
my liberal education as much in my leisure as when
I was helping Duke students at the reference desk. I
hope to return to Williamstown for the dedication
of the new Sawyer Library (a fabulous building) in
September. The best fun I have been having recently
has been spending time with my first grandson, often
in the company of his grandmother. Nicolas is a
happy little guy who is by far the most pleasant person in the family. Partner Greg and I try to get in
some backpacking each year. Last September we were
in the North Cascades, only to have our hiking curtailed by an early snowfall and then the government
shutdown. Better luck this year.”
Janine and Chip Broadhurst celebrated their
daughter Lauren’s wedding in June, preventing them
from attending the reunion, but they are looking
forward to the 50th. Chip became a full-time resident of the New Hampshire Lakes Region in 2005.
He continues in the medical industry as an independent recruiter and financer for emerging companies. Both he and Janine are active in local nonprofits, including a food pantry and the local health
system. Chip’s son Robert Broadhurst ’99 is an independent filmmaker and editor in Brooklyn. “We welcome Williams friends, should your travels bring you
to this lovely area.”
Fletcher Clark has delved into history, having
been commissioned by the Friends of the Susana
Dickinson Museum in Austin, Texas, to write an
epic ballad for their February annual meeting commemorating the 200th birthday of the Texas heroine. “Known famously as the Messenger of the Alamo,
this young widow was dispatched by General Santa
Anna to deliver his demand for capitulation to Texan
General Sam Houston. Later in life, she wed a man
in Lockhart, my current hometown, before moving to
Austin to become a pillar in emerging society there.
What is little discussed is that between husbands first
and last there were three others, and the tumultuous life of a woman doing whatever it took to survive
in the early days of the Republic. My composition
and presentation were successful, and I am scheduled for additional presentations to various historical and genealogical societies. Oddly, I have become
the reigning authority on this unusual historical figure, and the full ballad is published on my website,
FletcherClark3.com.”
Rob MacDougall in D.C. reports he’s still at work
as a project manager at the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, and his wife Melinda continues at
Holy Cross Hospital, advising on regulatory issues.
Rob says he’s making the 17-mile round trip to work
by bicycle on “most days, but not always making it
up the hills,” and last year he swam nearly eight miles
across the Potomac River to raise funds for wildlife
and water quality on the river and Chesapeake Bay.
Rob and Melinda have “started exploiting our emptynester-dom by taking more time away from D.C.”
Win Todd in Seattle says he remains “on track to
complete my goal of having three children in college when I’m 70.” Win’s older daughter, despite
being accepted at Williams, “decided she wanted a
bigger school closer to a city, so she will be attending Northwestern starting in September. I did feel
a slight twinge of regret that she didn’t consider
Williamstown a big enough city, but Northwestern
was her first choice, and she still will be wearing purple. My other two just finished their freshman year
in high school, ending the only year Deborah and
I had all three kids at the same school.” Win also
says, “After 40 years of practicing law, I’m shifting
my focus to mediation. It has been suggested that I
will now be spending more time resolving disputes
and less time creating them. Given the education
expenses still to be incurred, retirement remains only
aspirational. One advantage of having children at
an older age is that you can think you look like their
friends’ parents, all of whom are significantly younger
than you.” Unable to attend the reunion, Win sent
wishes to all classmates: “It’s always fun to reconnect
with these friends and hear about the remarkable
things they have done, are doing and are about to do.
It does not seem possible that 45 years have passed
since we finished those eventful four years together.”
That’s it for now. Keep writing, and to classmates
who have been missing from this space for too long,
I encourage you to check in. And thanks as always to
all those who fill this space.
1970
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Rick Foster, 379 Dexter St., Denver, CO 80220;
A special thanks for the many emails I received
from classmates whose news does not often appear in
this space. Jack Murray sent news and a moving tribute to Preston Washington: “This past Memorial Day
weekend, I went on a Harlem Renaissance walking
tour that took in sites important in the lives of Billie
Holliday, Langston Hughes, Ella Fitzgerald and other
notables. As we were outside Adam Clayton Powell’s
Abyssinian Baptist Church, I asked the 35-year old
tour guide if he had ever heard of the Rev. Preston
Washington. He asked me how I knew of him; I told
him I lived across from him my freshman year in college and how formative of an influence he had been on
my thinking. The guide stopped his tour to deliver this
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(greatly shortened) panegyric: ‘This person was a college friend of the Rev. Preston Washington, an individual who did more to get affordable housing built
in Harlem, who did more to advocate on behalf of
and help African-American AIDS victims than anyone in NYC. Rev. Washington was an extraordinary
force. He could talk to anyone, from high school dropouts to street hustlers to corporate leaders to mayors
of NYC. If he hadn’t died young, he would for sure
be mayor or president today.’ He was ready to take us
down to Preston’s church, but the rest of the group of
course didn’t want to miss out on a backstage tour of
the Apollo Theater so we didn’t. At the end of the tour,
I thanked him and offered him a tip, which he refused
to take: ‘I won’t take the money of anyone who knew
Preston Washington. My mom lost her apartment and
then got housing, thanks to him.’”
My apologies for misspelling Gary Bensen’s last
name in the last issue. The blunder did cause Gary to
write that he meets up with Whit Knapp and Steve
Brown ’71 each winter to take in a hockey game or
two in Williamstown and replay old hockey stories.
David Coplan is retired and now professor emeritus in social anthropology at the University of the
Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dave
says that he’s “still teaching as a part-timer” and
“enjoying the freedom from the grind so far, especially since work and me aren’t as close friends as we
once were.” He’s also doing a lot of consulting via his
website, http://bit.ly/1rwkOw0.
Although he was too modest himself to submit this, I can report that Bob Coombe was to retire
in late June from his position as chancellor of the
University of Denver, which he held for the last
nine years of a very distinguished 33-year career at
DU. He became a faculty member in the chemistry department at the university in 1981 and went on
to become chairman of the department of chemistry
and biochemistry, then dean of the division of natural
sciences, mathematics and engineering, and then provost of the university. He became chancellor in the
summer of 2005.
Larry Hollar was elected in May to a one-year stint
as moderator of the presbytery of the Miami Valley,
a grouping of 54 U.S. Presbyterian Church congregations in western Ohio. He’ll preside at presbytery
meetings, lead special worship services, appoint commissions when churches need support and preach
and bring greetings from the presbytery when invited.
To help clear time for these duties, Larry is leaving
the board of the Bach Society of Dayton after seven
years, where he had served as president for two recent
seasons. He’ll continue to sing bass with the group.
Larry still works as a regional organizer for Bread for
the World, covering upstate New York, Pennsylvania,
Delaware and parts of New Jersey. Larry ran into
his freshman year Williams E roommate, Chuck
Curtis ’70, at a Presbyterian denominational event in
Louisville, Ky., last year. Both discovered they were
deeply involved in church life (Chuck on staff of a
church in Santa Barbara, Calif.) and enjoying it a lot.
Larry’s wife Karen Cassedy is transitional pastor of a
church in Fairborn, Ohio, near Dayton, where they
live, while Larry attends a multicultural church in
West Dayton.
John Peinert wrote with a summary of his most
recent enviable travels: Getting ready to set sail from
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Lagos, Portugal, for the Mediterranean. They cruised
Spain, France and Italy over the summer, and plan to
stay in a marina in southern Sicily this winter. They
bought a campervan in Portugal last fall and drove up
to England in November, stopping in Paris for a couple of days, where they parked a block from the Eiffel
Tower for the weekend. Over the course of a windy,
rainy winter they drove around England’s southern
coast, Ireland, Scotland and even took the ferry to the
Shetland and Orkney islands. In all, quite a trip with
a lot of history.
Skip Kotkins wrote to say that he had no news to
report but did raise the question of why we all need
to get our class notes in months ahead of the publication date, expressing, with tongue in cheek, I expect,
“amazement that Williams, which is supposedly preparing students for success in tomorrow’s world,
needs copy two to three months before a magazine is
published. They ought to get with the world of modern communications and publishing. I’ll bet that if
they hired some smart Williams alums, they could
get it done much faster.”
Bill Courter sent this: “One of the highlights for
me this year was a dinner with Hill Hastings in San
Diego. I was able to grab a little of his time as he ran
a five-day orthopedic program for all of these surgeons from around the world. It was quite impressive.
Best of all, he looked great, planning for the possibility of some form of retirement. But with his reputation, and all of his teaching seminars/clinics, I
do not see him settling down to anything remotely
close to a passive retirement. But whatever keeps you
going, that’s what counts the most!” Editor’s note:
I have been communicating with Bill over the past
year about his book Baby Boomer’s Survivor’s Guide,
which I tell everyone about. Continuing the conversation, Bill sent these additional thoughts: “I like the
Internet’s God interview where he offers one perspective on what has surprised him the most about
mankind. ‘How they lose their health to make money,
and then lose their money to restore their health.’
Somehow, I think you have done it the correct way.
My friend? In retrospect, he realizes his mistakes.
But physicians, in general, have higher morbidity and
greater mortality. Guess they do not walk their talk—
if they even promote the healthy habits for improved
health and longevity.”
Paul Miller decided to retire from the National
Association of Independent Schools in May. Per
Paul, “It’s been a great eight years, and I hope to continue to do some work in the field of global education
from time to time. I also might have more time to
do things for Williams! I look forward to seeing you
next June, if not before.” In a subsequent email, Paul
clarified that he’s “not ready to hang it up completely,
as Lea is still a contractor at the State Department. I
am taking the summer off and then will decide which
of several possibilities to pursue.”
In his first-ever submission for class notes, Gary
Miller reported: “I retired in 2013 after a 40-year
career as a teacher. Thirty-three of those years were
spent teaching music, English and art history as
well as chairing the expressive arts department and
being the AV guy at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield,
Mass. Music has remained central to my life. Since
my days at Williams when I was the drummer for
the Evergreen Tea Room and played in the brass
1970– 71
ensemble, I have played in many groups for performances in clubs and concerts. I’ve also done some
work in theater, TV and radio. My main focus since
the late ’70s has been performing jazz on the vibraphone. I play vibes in jazz combos and as a soloist
in the Berkshires/Vermont/New York region. One
of my current groups is The Release the Penguins
Jazz Quartet, which features Brian Burke ’71 and
Joe Gold ’75. Along the way, I have recorded CDs of
my own works, plus I’ve recorded vibes, drums and
other instruments on many other projects. My wife
Debbie and I own a house in Pittsfield. Our daughter
Jennifer lives in Richmond, Va.”
Bob Groban still practices law “at Epstein Becker in
NYC, and my wife and I still live in Scarsdale, N.Y.
Two items of interest to the Eph community. First,
Tom Sweeney, Jay Nelson and I taught our Winter
Study course on the Supreme Court in January. We
selected the Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood
cases, which raise the issue of whether closely held,
for-profit companies can refuse to comply with the
contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act
on First Amendment/freedom of religion grounds. It
was fun being back on campus but somewhat daunting to teach students so bright. I knew immediately
that the college would not accept me if I applied
today! Second, I am a proud grandfather. My granddaughter Alila is almost 2, and my grandson Parker
was born in April. Class of 2036! These are the children of my son Eli Groban ’02. Unfortunately, Eli and
his family live in San Francisco, but this gives me an
excuse to spend more time on the West Coast.”
Richard Wendorf is publishing an essay this autumn
on the drafting and printing of the Declaration of
Independence. Per Richard, “What a pleasure to be
able to use the Chapin Library’s collection of the
founding documents in order to write this piece. I
thanked Wayne Hammond in the footnotes: Climb
high, climb far.”
Bran Potter, who lives in Sewanee, Tenn., wrote
to say, “As part of my cobweb-clearing sabbatical
this spring I hiked the first part of the Appalachian
Trail—Springer Mountain through the Smokies.
Quite a thrill to move (sometimes briskly) along
under my own power. I have definitely caught the
fever and plan to tackle the rest of the trail in time.”
More retirement news, this time from Jeff Krull,
who wrote, “I am retiring at the end of August after
serving 28 years as director of the Allen County
Public Library. Alice has already been retired for a
year, and we are looking forward to having lots more
time to do—whatever! That will no doubt include
more trips to visit Alice’s mom and sister in North
Florida and to see our son, daughter-in-law and
granddaughter in South Florida. And certainly those
Florida trips will include get-togethers with Jenny
and Lee Owen and Shirley and Jack Maitland. Janelle
and Sluggo Stearns returned to lovely Bloomington,
Ind., from Thailand in June, and we will be seeing
them over the summer. Recent travels have taken
Alice and me to Arizona for a quick break from the
nasty Midwest weather, and to Cape Cod for lobster
rolls, quaintness and unspoiled beaches. We are looking forward to seeing the ’70 bunch next summer for
our big 45th reunion!”
In the last edition of these notes, Rod McLeod
mentioned that he and Naomi were headed on a
Williams alumni trip to the Galapagos and Peru.
Well, he completed that trip and more and reports:
“We spent five weeks in Ecuador and Peru in
February. Among other places/cities, finally saw
Machu Picchu and the Galapagos, places I have
wanted to see since Williams days. Those places
exceeded expectations. In the Galapagos we joined
up with a Williams alum travel group on board a vessel named, appropriately enough, Evolution, and had
a most stimulating time. The schedule was full: morning hike, afternoon snorkel and then either another
late afternoon hike or evening lecture. The classes
ranged from ’55 to ’70. This was our first time on
an alum trip and it definitely deepened the overall
experience, in part because retired geology professor
Marcus and his wife (also a geologist) was tour leader
and gave us superb explanations of the volcanic processes that shaped the islands. Rick Smith ’55 gave us
a talk on his recent book. Clearly a Williams alum
tour is fraught with intellectual stimulation, much
wine and many Pisco Sours. The travel schedule continues apace: 4x4ing in Kyrgyzstan in July and mountain biking in Georgia (the country) in August.”
John Hitchens and Jean are looking forward to our
45th reunion and may be accompanied to the festivities by their son Jack, now 16, who was at our
40th. John also reports, “Our oldest, Christine, was
married to Owen Brennan (Dartmouth 2005) in
Charlottesville, Va., on Sept. 14, 2013. We were
grateful for such a beautiful day of blessings for
everyone in attendance. And yes, the groom’s best
man and brother is a Williams grad and cross-country team captain. Christine and Owen live and work
in Charlottesville—he as program coordinator at The
Haven and she as a social worker for the state, Region
10. Since the wedding, I made a new Williams friend,
Jim Barnes ’69. Jim and I had the great fortune of
attending several Williams basketball games, both in
Lexington and Salem, Va. It was especially exciting to
watch the early part of the season (December 2013)
and then witness from courtside the team’s crushing
defeat of Amherst in the semi-finals of the NCAADIII national championships. Doug Pickard ’71,
Henry Woodward ’65 and Phil Wall ’06 all enjoyed the
D3 March Madness with us. Pickard and Wall are
Williams basketball alums. Jean and I continue our
teaching positions with Roanoke City Public Schools
and enjoy the mountains and beautiful seasonal
changes in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We welcome
classmates and fellow alumni to visit us when your
travels bring you to Southwest Virginia.”
That’s all, folks. Don’t delay in making your
Williamstown lodging reservations for next June’s
reunion!
1971
John Chambers, 10 Ashby Place, Katonah, NY 10536;
If you have been reading class notes during my various Grover Cleveland-like terms as secretary, you
know my penchant for declaring themes. By mentioning work, aging, sports and grandparenting,
Canon Mark Pearson won my secretary’s award for
single contribution touching the most themes in
this installment: “Speaking tour around England in
March. My latest book came out, Fifty Days of Glory:
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From the Morning of Easter to the Eve of Pentecost.
Mostly enjoying being clerk of the works for a building project at our Healing Center in Kingston, N.H.
And grandchild number two was born May 15—
Charlena Ann Elizabeth Doherty (Charley). Usual
summer activities: big vegetable garden doing well;
Boston Red Sox, not so much. Oh, and I turned 65
on June 5. I thought Medicare was for old people.”
Well done, Mark! With such an introduction, the
themes flow from other contributors.
How about this from Wally Schlech: “At our age
it’s mostly about kids, so here goes: Son AJ a USAF
major and chief C-130 instructor pilot in Little Rock
with our three grandbabies; Bo (Walter IV), ER doc
at Baystate in Springfield while better half Eimear is
practicing peds at Berkshire Medical Center. They’re
living in Lenox, Mass., so can board me for golf
and reunions! Daughter Jane now in San Francisco
working for Twitter. She had a great wedding to
Olesh Stecyk last August in Halifax. Son Peter also
in USAF and flying KC-10s (air-to-air refuelers)
out of McGuire AFB in New Jersey to all parts of
the world. Last but not least is Mikey with a newly
minted BA in political science. He told his mom, ‘I’ve
finally found my passion!’—we were thinking law?
Medicine?—when he proclaimed, ‘Golf!’ So off he’s
gone to Golf Academy of America in San Diego,
where he’s doing well. Mary and I are still heavily involved in Uganda—I volunteer in medicine in
Kampala and she with our charity in Tabiro Village
(www.ugandaventure.com). So we’re all thriving, and
I’m looking forward to 2016 in Williamstown!”
And more about work, from another class MD,
Donald Mender, who has organized and will teach
a new elective course offered to psychiatry residents and interested faculty during the 2014-15 academic year at the Yale University School of Medicine.
Exercising secretarial license, I cannot resist quoting
the title: “Psychiatry in the Era of Quantum Biology:
Historical Background, Recent Work and Possible
Future Implications.”
Here is another with a work theme, but with a
Class of ’71 twist, from Bob Schwed: “For the past six
years I have been an adjunct law professor at George
Washington Law School teaching a course in venture
capital. In the past, I have had in my class the son of
one of my law partners, a couple of Amherst alums
and an odd assortment of NESCAC grads. This year
was the best, as one of my students approached me
after class and stated, ‘I think you went to college
with my father.’ Laura Duncan, accomplished law
student and daughter of Bruce Duncan.”
Reliable contributor Rick Beinecke writes:
“Keeping busy with lots of teaching and research
on the mental health response to the bombings and
change leadership, delegate to the state Democratic
convention, Mystic book presentations (www.mysticriverrick.com) and made the Boston Globe bestseller list. Emily helped coach Tufts to their second national championship even though Williams
beat them twice during the season. Very nice dinner last night with Gordon Clapp and his girlfriend
Elisabeth, both in Boston a lot now. He continues to
do a very interesting mix of movie and live theater
engagements.”
Gordon Clapp confirms the interesting work: “I’ve
been spending lots of time on the East Coast. My
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partner Elisabeth Gordon moved from Vermont
to Boston a year ago. Shortly after that I toured
Vermont with my one-man Frost show This Verse
Business. Had some time with Paul Hannan in
Montpelier. I envy his bucolic existence, in a kind of
poetic way. I wouldn’t want any part of the work. The
Vermont tour was exactly what I hoped to achieve
when I began thinking about taking this on 36
years ago. More recently I fulfilled a boyhood dream
by playing Jacqueline Bisset’s love interest in the
Nantucket-based indie Peter and John. The location
was magical if slightly challenging, and I think we
have a movie. Jay Craven wrote and directed. That’s
all I know.”
My favorite one-liner in this chapter of the notes
comes from Mark Ruchman: “I am daily stunned by
this: The world is so screwed up but my life seems
blessed.”
Ah, Mark, you give voice to my thoughts! And you
almost won the multi-theme award with the rest of
your contribution: “I am still working full time in my
solo oculoplastics practice and enjoying it immensely.
Our daughter Julia Ruchman ’02 has just been signed
as producer for Odyssey, a new show on NBC this fall.
Our son David (NYU film school ’06) had his short
feature, Acquired Taste, shown at this year’s Cannes
Film Festival. I know what you’re thinking—all of
that from Sharon, none of it from me.
“Was up in Williamstown for alumni leadership
council. Sharon and I had a tour of the new Sawyer
Library with Karen and John Ackroff. Very impressive. Open, light, airy, highlighting the dramatic vistas of Pine Cobble and the campus. The dungeonlike all-night lower reading room in Stetson seems a
lifetime ago.”
It seems a lifetime ago, yes, because it was! Now,
after a lifetime of work, some of us are “retiring.”
Take, for instance, John Barkan, who wrote on his
last day of teaching: “I am retiring after nine years
teaching middle school math at St. Anselm School
in Marin and 19 total years teaching. Joan and I celebrated our 40th anniversary last September. She
also plans to retire from Northern Trust this year. We
now have two grandchildren: Phoebe’s daughter, 17
months, and Andrew’s son, born April 13. In addition to being grandparents, activities include tennis, sailing, house projects, traveling and volunteering.
We’re planning a trip to Africa with Anne and Jock
MacKinnon in October.”
I love it when notes come from classmates who
have been elusive. Here is a retirement announcement from Drew Hatcher: “In July 2010, after nearly
34 years of service, I retired from my senior attorney
position with the U.S. Customs Service. No regrets
whatsoever. Love not having to work on weekends and holidays preparing to defend the bureau in
administrative litigation.
“The only Williams classmate that I have remained
in contact with since graduation is Russ Pulliam.
Every other year or so, I see Russ when he travels to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in D.C.
We share news about our families and discuss current events. Russ and I were roommates for two years
at Williams.
“My daughter Elizabeth Hatcher ’04 is attending her 10th reunion this weekend. For the last four
years she has been a middle school history teacher
1971– 72
at Democracy Prep Charter School in Harlem, N.Y.
She loves teaching. My youngest daughter, Susan, is
a registered nurse at the Virginia Hospital Center
and recently married her longtime boyfriend, who is a
police officer in Alexandria, Va.”
Russ Pulliam checked in, too: “We have five grandchildren now, living within 800 yards or 10-minute
drive, so I am learning once again how to read to preschoolers sitting on my lap. Pilgrim’s Progress is one
of their favorites, along with Yertle the Turtle by Dr.
Seuss. It was nice to catch up with Jay Haug ’74. He
was a freshman when we were seniors and ran cross
country very well.”
Get that grandparenting theme? Two-time grandparent Steve Brown modestly understated that
role. “Just spending wonderful times with Maddie,
3, and Liv, 1, and working a little bit. Our trips to
Williamstown have been infrequent because when
we go on the road, we go to Boston to visit Ali and
the grandkids.” Sue Denburg Brown had better tell
Steve nothing is more important.
But if you don’t have grandchildren, and are retired,
how about a little farming?
George Ebright retired from teaching a year ago:
“It’s the end of spring and planting time for my vegetables here in southwestern Michigan. We are doubling the size of our garden plot and the diversity of
our vegetables. I believe I saw a bean leaf sprouting
through the black soil just after a good rain. There’s
nothing like the taste of your own grown produce.
Good for one’s health and soul. I keep in touch with
Bernie Brush, who continues to visit Argentina, and
George Reigeluth, whose son Stuart Reigeluth ’01 is
editor of the online magazine Revolve. Lastly, I joined
the Kiwanis Club of South Haven, Mich., and was
quickly made VP (fresh blood, I guess). This helps me
know the local folks here and make a contribution to
our community’s children.”
Of course we cannot mention farming without Jay
Fahn’s bison update: “This year’s calves all arrived
more or less on schedule and appear robust. Grass
is tall and green. Clover is blooming, bees are busy,
pond is full. Life is good, blessings abound.”
How about golf? Mike Rade writes, “I’m looking
forward to some golf in Williamstown this summer.
I will be playing with Doug Pickard in the Taconic
three-day at the end of June and in the Alumni
Tournament with Flower (secretary’s note: Paul
Schneider) in July. Both Eileen and I will keep
working for a few more years to keep out of each
other’s hair.”
Or baseball? Jim Mason “went to the Williams
outing at the Pawsox game Sunday, June 8. Paul
Streicker ’67 organized it for the Rhode Island
alumni group (and any other Ephs in the area). We
won the game, and I got to spend time with Ben
Johnson ’91, Cheryl Bailey ’73 and Ted Browne ’72.”
Finally, returning to the aging theme, we know
where that eventually goes, even without reminders like the one in the last class notes about Joan
Hertzberg, or this link to an obituary for Allison
Conley: http://bit.ly/1vezOOP. She was married to
Richard Conley ’65, and with our class on a sojourn
from Smith.
Others leave us after more fullness of years. Fred
Rudolph ’42 was a mentor to many of us across
the years, even until his recent passing at age 95.
Eschewing a funeral or memorial service, Fred told
Dottie to just have a cocktail party, and what a party
it was, this past May—all the former Williams presidents still living were there, much of the veteran faculty, neighbors, alums, Fred and Dottie’s daughters
Marta and Lisa, grandchildren and great-grandchildren beyond count. Uncle Fred knew how to throw a
party, even when he was only there in a photograph!
Why don’t you send a photo, without waiting for
your own Rudolph-style cocktail party? Or just a few
lines to say you are still kickin’ and looking forward
to a reunion in 2016? Respectfully submitted, John
Chambers
1972
Jim Armstrong, 600 West 115th St., Apt. 112, New York,
NY 10025; Julie Rose, 27 Norfolk Ave., Northampton,
We’ve reported recently about Chris West, who’s
currently seeking a seat in the Maryland House of
Delegates, and about Bob Gordon, who won reelection to the N.J. State Senate last November.
Periodically, we’ve passed along updates from
John Malcolm, who’s served for a full decade in the
Vermont legislature. (More about John later.) Sage
B’s own Mark Udall served five terms in the U.S.
House of Representatives before being elected to
the U.S. Senate in 2008. Now the senior U.S. senator from Colorado, Mark is in the midst of a fiercely
contested re-election campaign. Meanwhile, readers
of The New York Times were made aware of additional
political news concerning the Class of ’72 when it
reported early in June on the race for the Democratic
nomination in Virginia’s Eighth Congressional
District. The focus of the article was the eventual
winner of the primary, Don Beyer—who, it turns out,
will be running against Micah Edmond ’96, winner
of the Republican primary. Don was the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein during the
first Obama administration and, before that, a twoterm lieutenant governor of Virginia. The Times article emphasized Don’s willingness to speak out in favor
of policies championed by President Obama but also
noted that Don “cited former Rep. Tom Davis and former Sen. John W. Warner as two Virginia Republicans
he admired, for their willingness to compromise.” Stay
tuned for updates on Chris’, Mark’s and Don’s races.
And if any other classmates are running for office,
please let us know.
When we sent the above to John Malcolm for his
OK, he replied, “Thanks for including me. However,
I’ve decided not to seek re-election this fall after five
terms and 10 years of service to the people of the
towns of Pawlet, Rupert, Wells, Middletown Springs
and Tinmouth here in southwest Vermont. It has
been an incredible experience, sitting on the House
Agriculture and Forest Products and the Natural
Resources and Energy committees over the years,
and serving with fellow Ephs: former Speaker of
the House Gaye Symington ’76, former member
Steve Maier ’79, Vermont Auditor of Accounts Doug
Hoffer ’85, legislative counsel Erik Fitzpatrick ’86,
and now retired AP photographer Toby Talbot ’73.
After 34 years of dairy farming (starting one week
after Williams graduation) and 10 years in the legislature, it seems like the right time to ease into some
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thing less stressful, a few gears above puttering, whatever that might be, and some possible travel (classmates, beware), following Tedeschi Trucks Band and
increasing the number of baseball stadiums visited.
And I will enjoy catching up on many projects here
at the farm, now expanded to 1,300 acres with my
acquisition from my siblings of my parents’ adjacent
land. My best to Mark, Bob, Chris and Don!”
When Ann Freeman Fisher rolled into the Institute
for Zen Leadership retreat at the Spring Green Dojo
in Spring Green, Wisc., in June, she was looking forward to enhancing the executive coaching skills she
uses at her firm, Integral Coaching. She reports that
the course proved to be “a powerful approach I can
use myself and with my executive coaching clients
to slow down, manage stress, find clarity and to be
even more powerful leaders.” What Ann also discovered was that the dojo was founded eight years ago
by Gordon Greene. “I didn’t realize when I signed up
that Gordon was involved, so it was a wonderful surprise to learn, just the day I arrived, that we had the
’72 connection. The dojo is a beautiful place in the
rolling hills and woods of Wisconsin, just down the
road from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin house and
school.” Ann sent a wonderful picture of this cosmic
encounter, and it’s posted on our ’72 website, www.
purplecow72.com.
Gordon also had some news. To do justice to its
poetic cadence, here it is in its entirety: Long-distance
bike ride with my son./Rain, small-town ball fields good
places to stay./Sam just graduated and will take up his
Rhodes Scholarship/In October. Quantum chemistry./
Unexpected pleasure to see Ann Freeman Fisher./We recognized each other more by remembered gestures/Than
by our faces./She came for a workshop in our Institute for
Zen Leadership/Held at our Zen Dojo in Spring Green,
Wisconsin./Zen teaching has been my main focus since
2006/When I moved with my family from Honolulu./
But the Zen training has been almost continuous/Since
John Eusden’s Winter Study 1971./I’m grateful.
Sadly, Gordon’s news included the death this past
May of Ken Liu. “We were dorm mates freshman
year and roommates every year after, including the
two summers we worked together in Hopkins Forest
for Hank Art.” Gordon’s remembrances include
end-of-summer backpacking trips in the Tetons,
Sierras and Canadian Rockies. Ken also loved to
sail and indulged his passion for tennis with a trip
to Wimbledon with his son Ryder. “Professionally,
Ken, who was an architect, was known for the rigor
of his analyses and his drive for excellence but also
for his kindness in mentoring young designers. His
firm, Lee Burkhart Liu, was the preeminent firm
for any health care facility on the West Coast—hospital, medical research facility, medical school, clinics—and Ken was leading the effort to build in Japan
and China as well.” The firm, founded in 1986, garnered more than 25 American Institute of Architects
awards as well as “firm of the year” in 2011. “Ken
retired a year ago due to illness,” Gordon reports. “He
spent the year mostly at ease, taking walks, enjoying a renewed friendship with his ex-wife Patricia
Eastman, spending time with his two brothers and
designing a home for his own use. Despite his professional success, he lived quite humbly in a small home
in Santa Monica, but he wanted something bigger
and with a view, and that house is now under con48
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
struction under the supervision of his son and exwife.” We send our condolences to his son Ryder and
to his brothers and extended family.
We’ve also learned from Barnaby Feder in
Middlebury, Vt., that Justin Crocker died in April. “I
had a long conversation with him about nine months
ago. He had been the manager of a shop here in
Middlebury called the Bike Center since 1998. He
told me that he had never found himself until he
started cycling. I believe that he was a reasonably
high-ranking competitive cyclist at some point, and
around here he was known for routine 125- to 150mile per day rides that would involve three, four or
even five local mountain gaps—in other words, going
back and forth across the central ridge of the Green
Mountains at different spots. He had a lot of admirers in the cycling community here for his dedication to the sport and for his ability to help them get
exactly the gear that was appropriate for them.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commemorated
the 50th anniversary of the deaths of civil rights volunteers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and
James Chaney by publishing an op-ed piece by David
Webster. After providing a concise but detailed summary of the events in Mississippi in June 1964, David
turned his thoughts to the present day. “A great irony
is that another life-and-death struggle is currently
being waged in America, one in which members of a
new generation are being sacrificed in the pursuit of
freedoms taken for granted by most Americans. In
numerous neighborhoods of the great cities—particularly in the North—gun violence is so widespread
that the lives of children of this new generation are
threatened merely by walking to school, playing in
public parks and playing with friends. For them, pursuing these commonplace activities takes considerable courage because of the quite real possibility that
their lives will end with a screech of tires and a hail of
bullets. We honor Schwerner, Goodman and Chaney
today for the part they played in fixing a deadly social
disorder that was greatly harmful to the nation. But
who today seeks to honor the youthful martyrs who
fall victim to the violent, gun-wielding, criminal
menace that dominates significant parts of our cities, particularly our Northern cities? More important,
why has there not been a modern equivalent of the
massive effort in civil rights defense and enforcement
that is the ongoing and immortal legacy of those who
died 50 years ago?”
Dale Riehl emailed news of a pleasant dinner at the
Williams Club in New York this spring in the company of John Entemann and Paul Isaac. The guest
speaker was President Adam Falk, but the big news
that night was the election of Vernon Manley as a
trustee of the club. Dale also sent in news of current and upcoming exhibits at the Art Quilt Gallery,
the exhibit space that he and Cathy run in conjunction with their store, the City Quilter, on West 25th
Street. If you or someone you know is interested in
making quilts, the store is the place to get everything
you need; if you just enjoy looking at elaborate, artistic, fanciful, beautiful quilts, then be sure to visit the
gallery next door.
And, finally, for your and your loved ones’ reading pleasure, summertime or anytime: The Modern
Compendium of Despicable Jerks by John Prescott,
but more importantly, illustrated by Tom Kerr. On
1972– 73
the cover, drawn in Tom’s familiar, inimitable style,
are Justin Bieber, Vladimir Putin and Rob Ford.
Available both in print and as an ebook. In the words
of one reviewer: “Laughs guaranteed for wing nuts
on the left or right and the great majority stuck in the
middle.”
1973
Nan Elliot, P.O. Box 101195, Anchorage, AK 99510;
Dan Farley, 6875 Avenida Andorra, La Jolla, CA 92037;
One year after ’73’s spirited 40th reunion,
Co-Secretary Dan Farley reports a pleasing volume
of messages, notably from Northwest and Northeast
constituencies. Leaving behind the editorial tasks
for this edition, my wonderful partner Nan Elliot
departed for her solstice paddle on Glacier Bay, but,
following her own invitation, penned a Haiku: “Little
Japanese butterflies/of Haiku/now beat wings/in joy.”
Emlen Drayton sent regards with his own 17-syllable poem: “My barn burned down/I now own a better view/of the rising moon.” Literal or figurative,
we’ve yet to determine.
Class President Tom Hyndman shared voluminously
from Maine: “By my count, home to more ’73ers per
capita than any other state (and I’m not even counting those from ‘away’ who choose to summer in the
Pine Tree State). Am happy to report I’ve spent time
with a number of fellow Mainiacs since reunion. Last
fall I had breakfast with Jackie Oliveri; later in the
year, Laurie and I had the pleasure of joining Mary
Schendel and her husband Phil Gleason to watch
Jackie’s remarkable performance as Martha in a local
theater production of Agnes of God. No surprise,
Jackie was fantastic; such a multi-talented lady! Mary
and Phil have been town neighbors for 25 years, and
our families have shared Thanksgiving dinner (and
many other meals) over the years. Back in the fall,
Doug Morrell and I played golf with Blake Wilkes
’81 and Bob Kingman (an Amherst grad—doesn’t
make him a bad person) in an annual golf tournament where a team of Ephs takes on the Defectors
of 1821. We are proud to report our record of 10-53. To the victor the spoils: The Amherst team has
helped donate $9,850 to Williams over the years.
Doug and Georgette still live in Brunswick, bordering the Bowdoin campus and not far from Mike
Jones and Dodie (Preston) Jones. Speaking of college
towns and ’73 couples, Wylie Mitchell and Barbara
(Smith) Mitchell live in Auburn, next to Lewiston,
home of Bates College, where Wylie was dean of
admission for a number of years. Thankfully, he stayed
on in that position until most of our classmates’ children finished their college applications! What other
state has more classmate couples? Christina Moore
Ferland and her husband John live just up the street.
We see each other regularly, most often walking
the dogs. Last week I had dinner with Rick Cook,
whose wife Stephanie passed away in 2012. Rick also
resides in Maine, splitting time between his home in
Portland and Park City, Utah. For some crazy reason he seems to prefer skiing on their powder over
our ice. And speaking of coastal towns, John Sivright
and Nancy (Lawrence) Sivright ’74 have a spectacular home on the beach on Drake’s Island, another
Maine gem, where they hosted us for lunch late last
fall. As usual, Siv has it figured it out, spending winter in Turks and Caicos while breadwinner Nancy
remains up north, suffering through our wonderful weather! Leaving Maine for a moment, this past
winter we were in Scarsdale, N.Y., for the celebration of the life of Bob Koegel’s father, Bill Koegel
’44. After the service, Amy and Skip Masback, Mary
and Bob, Marlene Gallagher, and Patty and Marty
Doggett descended upon Ellen and Richard Muglia’s
spacious home in Wilton, Conn. Skip, retired from
the pulpit after 19 years, is now acting director of
the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. Robert and
Mary, longtime Rochester residents, were headed
to Boston to meet their new (second) granddaughter Lexi, born on Valentine’s Day. Marlene has retired
from her yoga instruction practice while looking to
become bi-coastal, splitting her time between New
York state, where two of her children live, and the
other Portland, home of her third. Marty and Patty
moved from Newburyport to Salisbury, Mass. Marty,
former head of the Governor’s Academy, is enjoying semi-retirement while remaining on the school’s
faculty. Richard retired from Skadden, Arps last year,
returned from London, and immediately went back
to work as chief counsel for Tronox, a firm based
in Stamford, Conn. At the wedding of Marty and
Patty’s son in Ohio was Mark Lesniowski. Lester now
resides in Dillon, Mont., where he spends his days
fishing and playing golf. Finally, I won’t forget our
noble class treasurer Bill Walton also resides in Maine,
up the coast in Newcastle. Bill deserves much acclaim
for keeping an eye on your money and making sure
we have a positive balance in our bank account, seed
money for 2018!”
In New England, Spike Booth emailed: “Oldest
son, Griffin, married, living in Marblehead, Mass.
Father of three, he is a teacher, and his wife Brooke
works at BU; younger son, Morgan, married, living
in Houston, Texas, where he owns and runs an oil
company. Right now his wife Ede is a stay-at-home
mom. Morgan got a huge helping hand in Houston
from AJ Knapp. Debbe and I had dinner with him
and Carmen not long ago. Morgan ran into Andy
Bittson recently. I guess Bitty was a geo consultant
for a potential investor and coming out of the meeting asked if Morgan was any relation to Spike. Small
world. Debbe and I are enjoying time in Idaho. Great
people, great music, great literature. Lots of hunting, fishing, hiking and biking. Grandchildren invade
during Christmas for skiing and the summer for fishing. I’m on the board of Higher Ground Sun Valley,
an organization that utilizes recreational sports therapy for handicapped kids and vets, many with MTBI
and PTSD. Also spending some time investigating
and promoting the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
for the treatment of these afflictions.”
And Jerry Wheelock, who was the first to reply,
says: “After 14 years working on the ‘Dark Side’ at
Fidelity Investments, I have returned to working
with local Boston nonprofits. I am currently working part time with a local outfit that trains immigrant
hotel workers in English, hospitality jobs and computers. I am setting up a data and class tracking system using SalesForce.com. Our 12-year-old adopted
boy loves theater and was in two back-to-back productions this winter. One production ran for about a
month and was seen by 14,000-plus people. I volunSEP TEMBER 2014
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teer at Wheelock Family Theater (distant relationship), which keeps my woodworking skills sharp. My
sewing skills are limited, but I get to watch the most
fantastic costumes being created. We go to lots of
theater here in Boston, particularly at the music conservatories, which have incredibly talented students.
My wife Elizabeth is on sabbatical this year from
teaching Russian history at MIT and will be doing
a Wilson Fellowship in D.C. next winter. There will
be lots of boy-bonding with Daddy teaching cooking
and housekeeping skills!”
Time off from university also figured into Jeff
Bowen’s missive: “Wife Mary Beth James and I
spent the fall semester in beautiful Victoria, B.C., on
Vancouver Island, ostensibly on a physics sabbatical
to study time-travel in curved space-times. We saw
lots of Rob Duisberg in the Northwest, and I completed my quest to visit all 50 states. We fell in love
with the ancient forests, the First Nations cultures
and art of British Columbia, and the national sports
of hockey and curling. So we were really happy to see
Canada take the gold in men’s and women’s Olympic
curling and ice hockey events.” In a later update
he said, “I spent the weekend of May 30 in Seattle,
attending the world premiere of Rob’s Hungarian
Symphony, which was conducted by the composer, my
Morgan Hall freshman roomie, Robbie himself!” He
concluded with news that he would be completing
his sabbatical this spring and would then retire from
Bucknell after 35 years as a physics professor.
Martha Elliott wrote: “My other alma mater, Vassar,
awarded me the annual ‘Time Out’ grant, given each
year to an alum who has reached his/her 40th birthday (God, it would be nice to be a little closer to
that trail mark). The award allows one to take a year
off from work and do something completely different. Although I have written nonfiction books and
have one coming out next spring—The Man in the
Monster, published by Penguin—I haven’t published a
novel. I began work on a novel 15 years ago (Dan has
seen part of it), but it is still a work in progress. Now
I have the time to actually do the research, perhaps
travel and write a publishable manuscript—especially
coming on the tail of my other book. I will be writing
the book in Maine (Secretary’s note: another plug for
that state), so I am packing and trying to get organized because the moving van is coming in a week
and a half. So this year I’ll actually have time to go to
some Maine alumni events—and see Jackie Oliveri
and Tom Hyndman, and Gil Birney ’72. I have already
gotten new L.L. Bean boots. I’ll also be able to go to
Baltimore more often and see my daughter Hadley
Cornell ’01 and her two boys, Connor and Ryan.”
It was great to hear from Paul Peterson: “I continue
to live in southern VT. I saw some of the Williams at
Home alums this weekend as part of the Class of ’74
reunion. I missed my own but I made this one.”
Bill Foote wrote: “I just returned from
Williamstown and the glories of graduation—excited
graduates and parents, wonderful speakers and beautiful weather. It was Williams at its best! I was there
having just completed my first year as a trustee. I follow in the illustrious footsteps of fellow ’73ers Cecily
Ellrodt Stone, Billy Simon and Steve Harty. It is a
real privilege and honor to serve.”
Speaking of Steve, he confessed haiku naivety but
shared his poem: “Change impermanent/Certainty
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elusive/Today must be our time.” He also wrote: “I’m
working in Montana this week, near Glacier National
Park; hoping that these long northern evenings give
me a chance to hike after work.”
Jay Haug shared his news: “Our daughter Lydia
married Andrew Holzheimer on the Hudson last
September at a winery. Knowing she is an artist, I
encouraged her to date a businessman with an artistic sense. After all, someone’s got to pay for this operation. (No control issues here…) When Andrew
walked in the first time, a voice said, ‘This is the guy.’
When I found out he was an accountant who is an
artistic entrepreneur, I knew we were doubly blessed;
we love him as our own son. But I did check with the
European Union before the wedding to make sure
it was OK to have that many Germans in one place!
I just published Speaking to the Addictive Personality
in the Local Congregation. A lot of this came from
finding relief from my own addictive thinking and
behavior.”
Peter Pierson showed haiku prowess and affinity for Nan’s territory: “45th Hill School reunion
now past/Four old boys returned/Deep sharing.”
Also, “Talk of Williams/Princeton, Stanford/Talk
of growth and grief/Lots of deep grace.” He added
that he’s retired now from leading congregations,
just heading some small men’s groups, and he continues to worship at the Cathedral in Albany. Also
that he’s working on websites, “not knowing much,
just enough to have fun.” To our Alaskan class secretary he added: “Our son Josh Pierson ’00 has been
salmon fishing on Bristol Bay since he was a senior at
Williams. This weekend he returns to skipper a boat
he now owns (with his own permit) and an allWilliams crew.”
Sue Danvers wrote from her home in Olympia,
Wash., where she’s lived for the past 15 years. She
shared North Pacific sailing experiences with Nan,
particularly her and partner Bob’s joy of evening
swells, seas like glass and Steller sea lions.
Carol Holland Lifshitz, a model for those who’ve
thought to write, finally debuted and said she was
fondly replying: “Would love to hear from any of my
old buddies who still remember me. … I spent the
first years after college in NYC, in a variety of executive-level marketing positions. After marrying a wonderful man named Marty, to whom I’m still happily
married, I moved to New Jersey and started my own
marketing communications company. I’ve specialized in writing marketing materials but also branched
off to write scripts for video, TV and film. I’m semiretired but still take on project-based marketing writing assignments. We own a home in N.J. and a condo
in downtown San Diego, where we spend months at
a time and plan to move.” She invited me to plan to
meet in La Jolla.
Chris Brown shared his amusing haiku: “2:15 am/
Ernie Wolff is at the door/June peepers calling.” And
then, his lyricism seemingly spent, Chris was matter-of-fact in his reporting, “It’s been a good year.
Both my kids live in Brooklyn, so drivable from
Boston. Both kids have good jobs and work hard. Too
hard, maybe, but with many friends and much to do.
Vanessa also works too hard but helps people and has
respect. I have a startup.”
Linda Heath was proud to report her two older
children have launched a startup company called
1973– 74
Bombas Socks. “Clearly, it becomes a family affair
when your children immerse themselves in a new
company. I unashamedly will put in a plug for my
classmates to check out the website www.bombassocks.com to learn about some amazing socks and
a give-back model (for every pair purchased a pair
is given to homeless shelters across the country). I
spend the rest of my time singing, quilting, doing
a little financial planning work and traveling a fair
amount with my husband, who has a long bucket
list of places to see now that he is 73. My third
child, Emily, will graduate from UVM next May,
and we will perhaps become empty nesters.”
And, finally, in our class’s quest for lifelong learning, in this case in pursuit of “true” higher education,
Hutch Smith invited collaborative support from fellow ’73ers: “Quite simply, Williams College must
not be upstaged by Skidmore’s summer course,
‘The Sociology of Miley Cyrus.’ Island expert John
Sivright agrees, and we’ve collaborated with our
mentor from ’71, Bob “Boomer” Toomey, to lead a
Winter Study course which features a unique multidisciplinary integrated curriculum. … As one might
deduce, the situation is fluid, so stay tuned for further details.”
And that’s all, folks, except for a plug from the
Midwest, this time, from non-classmate Garrison
Keillor, who urges, “Be well, do good work, and keep
in touch.”
1974
Jonathan W. Fitch, 5 Cedar Hill Road, Dover, MA 02030;
A great time was had by all at the 40th Reunion
of the great Class of ’74! The masterful work of
the many hands involved in its organization paid
off. Grateful thanks and our admiration as well go
to, among others: Jeff Elliott, chairman of planning everything and exceeding expectations; the
reunion team of President Fran Doran, VP Hiram
Brett and Treasurer Margie French; Jeff Johnson and
Hy Conrad, the hosts of the Thursday night dinner; Mary Lou Boutwell, Joanne Talbot Ginsberg and
Grace Paine Terzian for producing a lively panel discussion of our futures, reported below; Rich Levy
and Lynellyn Horne Long for producing our Friday
night mind-boggler of a trivia contest and dynamite playlist (all songs by the staggering number of
stellar artists who performed at Williams 1970-74);
Mike Parker and Tom Slattery for the golf outing,
(look for the ’74 classic leaderboard in a future edition); Paul Stekler for previewing and taking questions about his film Getting Back to Abnormal, and Jeff
Thaler for leading a panel discussion after the screening of Mr. Gaudino. Of course, the highest recognitions are awarded to all who attended: Claudette
and Ed Adams, Mike Adams, Donny Allison, Frank
Baciewicz, Margaret and Gene Berg, Mary Lou
Boutwell, Mark Brown and Hope Coolidge ’75, Robin
Conners, Nancy Contel, Cheryl and Chris Corson,
Alan Cutler, Kristin and Rusty Day, Collette and
Jack Dill, Christina and Fran Doran, Kathy and Tom
Douglas, Charles Dropkin and Jill Lipton, Ned Dunn,
Tom Dunn, Pat and Ron Eastman, Audrey and Jeff
Elliott, Tim Emerson, William Finn, Yrs. Truly and Deb
Fitch, Robert Fogarty, Margie Kessler French, JoAnne
Talbot Ginsberg, David Hargrove, Ray Henze, David
Hoffman and Mary MacElree, Andy Holt, David
Holzworth and Roslyn Mazer, Wendy Hopkins ’72
and Peter Hopkins, Tom Hut, Bill Jacobs, Jeff Johnson
and Hy Conrad, Jerry Kapp and Christina Hofmann,
Bob Kaus, Janny (Peet) Kravetz ’75 and Jon Kravetz,
Bob Laidlaw, Dick Langlois, Dave Lehman and Tina
Bentley, Lori and Alan Leland, Matty Levine, Rich
Levy and Carol Miller, Lynellyn Horne Long, Michael
Lucow, Deborah Marshall, Dave McTigue and Carol
Stein, Hal Miller, Ned Miller, Yvonne, Julia and Chuck
Mitchell, Ed Moss and Marnie Bodek, Beth and Dick
Nesbitt, Rory Nugent, Martha and Mike Parker, Bob
Patterson, Larry Pelz and Nancy Reimer, Randall
Rives Perkins, Chris Potter, John Ramsbottom,
Patsy and Peter Riley, Nat Robbins, Jim Rodgers,
Katherine Davis and Hugh Roome, Florence and
Bob Rothman, Liz and Jim Samenfeld-Specht, Tom
Sansone, Shuara and Phil Shands, Marty Singer and
Ann Gordon, Kitty and Tom Slattery, Paul Stekler,
Annie and Billy Suda, Jack Sullivan, Grace Paine
Terzian, Jeff Thaler, Carmany (Heilman) ’76 and
Erik Thorp, Shellie and Rick Unger, Heidi and Rick
Vancisin, Erik Von Bucher ’75, Richard Weinberg,
Joni and Don Westblade, Wendy Whiston, Don
White and Loretta Hopman, Harvey White and
David and Iris Wolinsky.
A turnout of 100 percent would have been very
much unlike us, but it’s still not a bad goal to shoot
for five years from now (too soon to talk about our
50th!). A few of our classmates sent regrets and well
wishes. My Fitch cousin McKelden Smith wrote,
“Sorry to miss the reunion this time. We are enjoying our new life in a New York apartment: no yard
care, no water pumps, no repairs, no snow shoveling, no attic or basement to accumulate useless items,
50 percent fewer possessions and no cars. Sweet.”
Jann Williams says, “My best to our class this weekend. I am blessed to be traveling to Moscow and St.
Petersburg with my daughter this week, the only
reason I am not in Williamstown.” Jennifer Barry
Gainer emailed: “So sorry I’ll not be with all of you
soon. Had long ago planned to, with my room at
The Orchards secured, and then two opportunities to
spend time with my daughter Courtney Gainer ’07,
who lives in London, took the few vacation days left
in ’14, and then some.” Peter Talbert sent regrets from
Scottsdale, where family commitments kept him
home. A bad back scotched Betsy Schaper’s plan to
be with us. She says, “Have the best time! Just had
spine surgery or I would be there!” Betsy, many of
us feel your pain and we hope you are on the mend!
And, finally, from Bill Gisel: “I’m sorry I’m unable to
join you all for the reunion this weekend. Last fall,
Nat Heintz, Nat Robbins, Tom Barron and I had a
‘roommate’ reunion at Nat H’s house on Fire Island.
We were also joined by Ted Inbusch ’77 and Ben
Heintz as well as Nat’s son Natty, who promises to be
a better hockey player than his dad. Enjoy the weekend.” Thanks Bill and everyone else. We did!
The early-comers kicked off the weekend Thursday
night with a BBQ at the beautiful home of Jeff
Johnson and Hy Conrad in Pownal, Vt. Peter
Hopkins catered the dinner, serving local Vermont
wine, beer, cheese and meat from his business Hoppy
Valley Organics. Mary Lou Boutwell says, “We had
hoped to be outside around the pool, but, in a repeat
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of the weather at the previous cookout at Jeff and
Hy’s at our 35th reunion, the skies opened just as
classmates arrived, and the party moved indoors. The
hosts and caterers rose to the occasion, and we all had
a wonderful evening sampling the delicious Vermont
products and catching up with classmates.” A surprise
cake in honor of the wedding anniversary of Audrey
and Jeff Elliott topped off the meal.
On Friday classmates gathered in Agard’s oldworld parlor for a panel discussion on “Where do we
go from here? Next chapters of our lives.” Moderator
Grace Paine Terzian and panelists Ed Adams, Margie
Kessler French, Jeff Johnson and Bob Kaus presented
varied perspectives on transitions in our working lives. Grace recounts, “Thoughts were shared
on seeking fulfillment in a stage of life that might
be more self-centered, ‘giving back,’ not retiring and
practical advice on how to start making plans. The
audience recounted stories, and we felt connections
in light of the changes we’re all facing. We agreed
that the one certainty is that Baby Boomers will
reinvent this next phase, which could stretch into
decades of relative good health and activity.” A suggested reading: The Hourglass Solution: A Boomer’s
Guide to the Rest of Your Life, by Jeff Johnson, Ph.D.,
and Paula Forma, Ph.D.
While speaking of transitions, David Holzworth has
taken an inspiring new direction in his career—of the
kind our reunion panel suggested as a possibility. He
writes, “Some in the Class of ’74 may remember writing short essay responses to questions on the 1970
Williams College application. One question was (to
the best of my recollection): ‘If the Selective Service
draft were not an issue, what would you do instead if
you did not attend college next year and why?’ Over
half of the applicants (including over half of those
who were accepted at Williams) said that they would
join the Peace Corps, myself included. Nearly every
applicant stated a desire to provide meaningful public
service. The answers to the question did not, I believe,
provide much of a differentiating basis for determining who would or would not be accepted at Williams.
I understand that the question was omitted from subsequent Williams applications for that reason. It does
seem to me, though, that many in the Class of ’74 as
well as all other Williams classes have found ways
during their professional careers to do public service
on the side as well as a fortunate minority who have
been able to devote most of their professional lives to
public service. We are now approaching an age when
we may have the luxury to re-engage with our public
service impulses in a more focused way. As an experiment, I chose to volunteer for the last six months
on a full-time basis teaching writing in a District
of Columbia Title I middle school, an exceptionally challenging environment and age group. Nothing
in my former career as a corporate lawyer has been
as interesting, engaging, energizing or fulfilling. So I
have joined AmeriCorps and Teach for America and
will be deeply engaged in the educational reforms
that are changing the educational landscape in D.C.
and across the nation. This may not be for everyone as
a ‘retirement career,’ but it will certainly be for those
who want to be re-energized and rejuvenated. Can
an old dog teach new tricks? I think so. Will the pups
respond and learn from the old dog? Depends on the
relationship between dog and the pups.”
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Rusty Day has also retired from the practice of
law. At Friday’s tent party at Agard, he explained to
Deb and I that he devotes his energies now to yoga
and learning to play the cello. For over 30 years,
Rusty was a formidable IP litigator recognized by
Chambers USA as “one of the preeminent patent litigators in California, if not the whole country.” A
founder of Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder LLP,
he was renowned for his skill trying high-stakes patent cases on behalf of leading high-tech companies
throughout the country. Why yoga and the cello? He
says that he was stuck for years in thinking about the
future (a good habit for a lawyer!), and both of these
activities guide him to focusing on the present. Jeff
Thaler is enjoying a transition in the law—from private practice to the University of Maine, where he
acts as both university counsel and professor on various renewable energy topics. Jeff says that he is happy
to be free from the ordinary day-to-day requisites of
law firm life. An expert on the development of wind
energy, he is currently working on a fantastic project of the DeepCwind Consortium, a group of universities, nonprofits and utilities led by the University
of Maine. DeepCwind’s goal is to develop a massive
network of deepwater offshore wind farms. In this
undertaking, the turbines would be built on floating
platforms, anchored in waters 100 to 200 meters deep
off the Maine Coast. Planners envision the possibility of eliminating the need for home heating oil in
Maine. In the battle to reduce carbon emissions, we
are all fortunate to have Jeff ’s considerable abilities
and passion leading the charge!
Other reunion tidbits: Tim Emerson is doing well
as director of the upper school of Maret, a coeducational K-12 day school in D.C. Bill Finn was looking forward to a full summer of productions at the
Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, including a
premier of Romance in Hard Times (music & lyrics by
William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin). Barrington’s
website sets the stage as follows: “A soup kitchen in
the Depression. A pregnant woman refuses to give
birth until she sees more hope in the world. Former
socialites, unemployed actors, capitalists down on
their luck and Eleanor Roosevelt try to get through
the Depression with some dignity intact.” Bill mentioned to me that he began work on Romance in Hard
Times quite a few years ago.
It was great to see Rory Nugent and reminisce a
bit about life in Morgan Hall. Rory is an adventurer
and writer of nonfiction whose works include Down
at the Docks, The Search for the Pink Headed Duck and
Drums Along the Congo, the Search for Mokele-Mbembe,
the Last Living Dinosaur. Rory is probably the only
member of the Class of ’74 to have had lunch with
Osama Bin Laden. What, you say? I recommend,
“Lunch with Osama Bin Laden,” an article published
in Rolling Stone, linked through rorynugent.com.
(We may have begun a new regular feature for the
notes here—something like, say, “Lunches of ’74 in
History”—for which contributions are welcome!)
Our well-attended class dinner at MASS MoCA
on Saturday night was a blast— beginning with
guided tours before drinks on an elevated patio and
an elegant dinner inside. After we sat down, Jeff
Elliott led a program in honor of all 22 of our dear
friends of ’74 who have died since graduation. We
remembered each of them with poetry readings and
1974– 75
in peaceful moments when their names were spoken out loud. Jeff thereby brought them into the
room with us, making them a part of the festivities. Thanks to him for that! There were other memorable times. President Fran Doran excited the room
with dread when he pulled out an envelope containing the official list of the “Ten Percenters” in our class.
As Fran was about to disclose their identities, (and,
let’s say, most of us privately believe ourselves among
them), enlightened director of admission Dick Nesbitt
saved the day by snatching the envelope from Fran’s
hands and announcing that the disclosure would be
deferred until our 50th! Phew, our secrets are safe for
another 10 years. Jeff Johnson capped off the evening,
graciously suffering spontaneous hooting and wisecracking from the audience, with a hilarious report of
the latest edition of the quinquennial questionnaire.
For the evidence-based thinkers among us (and there
are a few of them), Jeff reports there is a lot to cheer
for: We are more optimistic about the future, we are
doing more volunteer work, our incomes are up, we
are exercising more frequently, we are still able to
remember that “Layla” was the most popular song of
ours as undergraduates, and fewer of us would push
our pet off of a cliff for $1 million.
Finally, our thanks to all outgoing class officers
and also to the new leaders of the Great Class of ’74
for the next five years: Grace Paine Terzian,
president; Jonathan Kravetz, VP; and Richard Unger,
treasurer. I’m in for another term as secretary, a privilege to be sure. Be well everyone and drop us a line,
including perhaps your report of a notable lunch for
our archives.
1975
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Julia Berens, 22 Sperry Lane, Lansing, NY 14882;
Many thanks to all who responded to my plea for
news. I appreciate all you “regulars” who faithfully
correspond, and I am always grateful to the less-frequent classmates who brave the occasional email. This
column might be a tad shorter than usual, with deference to the reunion classes who probably have gobs
of gossip to report.
In March, Larry and I joined David Kern and
Melissa McGuire in Newport, R.I., for the wedding
of Abby and Tim Howson’s daughter Kate. We were
pretty overwhelmed by the Syracuse Orange since
Kate and her husband are both SU grads, but Tim
was a distinguished father of the bride. A week later
in Boulder, Colo., Kathy Bogan and I caught the
second half of the NCAA Div. III basketball final
played in Salem, Va., where Williams lost by one
point at the buzzer to Wisconsin Whitewater. The
best part was recognizing classmates on TV wearing
our 25th reunion Hawaiian purple cow shirts—most
notably Anton Bestebreurtje (can’t miss the ‘stache)
who was joined by Peter McChesney, Jon Abbott, Milt
Morin, Virginia Drewry and Jon Cole ’74. The previous
week’s Elite 8 games were on the campus of Mary
Washington University, where Anton was joined
by Virginia, Milt, Bob Pinkard, Meredith Fox and
Richard Finkelstein, a dean at the school who risked
his job by sticking with the Eph contingent.
In June, Fred Dittmann had the principal role of
Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre in Gilbert and Sullivan’s
The Sorcerer. He performed with the Savoy Opera
Company at the open-air theater at Longwood
Gardens. He also reports that in early May he
attended a celebration of life gathering at the home
of Dottie Rudolph and Fred Rudolph ’42. I know
many of us remember Fred as a wonderful professor and friend, and for many he was an important
mentor.
Steve Stephanian survived another season coaching
soccer for 6-year-old girls and was headed to Maine
for two weeks over the summer, where he expected to
be “the oldest surfer on the beach.” He sent word that
Mike Hensley’s daughter Kerrin Hensley ’14 was one
of 15 Williams seniors named as Fulbright Scholars;
she will travel to Taiwan.
Gene Falk has been named as the new CEO of
StartOut, an organization whose mission is to foster entrepreneurship in the LGBT community. The
press release describes Gene as “a highly acclaimed
and innovative leader and senior executive with
extensive experience as a CEO. … Gene has a track
record of scaling and managing game-changing ventures, including a series of groundbreaking enterprises he developed for Fortune 500 media companies.” In May, he and Tim relocated to San Francisco,
and Gene would be happy to buy a cup of coffee for
anyone who contacts him at gene@genefalk.com. I’m
proud to say I worked with (for?) him at The Log
once upon a time. Or at least I’m going to say I did.
North Adams native Martha Coakley sent “news”
that she is running for governor in Massachusetts. In
September she hopes to win the Democratic primary,
followed by the election in November. She definitely
plans to attend our reunion in June, so we may have a
governor in our midst.
A quick correction from Alicia Kershaw: Her therapeutic riding organization, about which I have
reported in the past, is named GallopNYC, not
“Gallup” (the opinion poll). Kip Cleaver wrote that
while listening to NPR, he heard an interview with
a bone marrow donor, and Joe Antin ’74 was brought
in to comment on the topic. Joe ushered Kip through
his transplant; the donor being interviewed, a
Concord Academy grad, was someone well known to
Kip’s sister, a former dean there. Kip considers himself a member of “Antin’s Army” and urges all to sign
up for organ donation.
Debba Curtis was planning a trip to Dubai to meet
her two new grandsons, Sasha, 8 (son of her daughter-in-law, whom Debba’s son is in the process of
adopting), and Misha, 8 months old. Will Parish
continues to work for Ten Strands, a nonprofit he
founded that promotes, supports and strengthens
interactive, experiential and inclusive environmental
education for K-12 students. This school year, partnering with the state of California, they have brought
environment-based education to over 150,000 students. His wife Julie continues to work on the board
of Marin Country Day School and the Trust for
Public Land California Advisory Council—and to
win tennis matches.
Tully Moss resides in the Philippines, where he
teaches Harvard-based leadership development programs for Asian managers. While riding the elevator in his condo building, he did a double take at
the guy next to him when he spotted a cow on his
sports shirt. Tully asked him if he went to Williams,
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and Mike Strauss ’94 was shocked that someone in
Manila in his condo building would know about the
Purple Cow. Mike is deputy U.S. ambassador to the
Asian Development Bank and told Tully, “Your name
sounds familiar.” It was, because at the top of his toread pile was a Harvard Business School case study
on the Philippines that Tully co-authored.
In June several members of the Class of ’76 celebrated their 60th birthdays at the Naples Beach
Hotel and Golf Club, which might lead some of us
to question the judgment of our own Mike Watkins.
I hope someone gave the report to Jane Ray Kell ’76;
those expected to attend included organizers Paula
Moore Tabor ’76 and Debbie Heineman ’76 (with
able assistance from Ellin Goetz ’76) as well as Paul
Sheils ’76, Carmen Palladino ’76, Tim Mages ’76, Tom
Belden ’76, John Solar ’76 and the inimitable Vinnie
McLoughlin ’76. If you’re on Facebook, it’s worthwhile
to friend Vinnie for a reliable laugh a day. Other regular visitors to Watkins’ amazing hotel include Bear
Peterson and Suzanne Peterson, and Marcia and
Bruce Humphrey. Mike and Ellin’s daughter Oona
Watkins ’15 spent her spring semester in Berlin
“studying I don’t know what,” according to Mike.
Nonetheless, when he and Ellin and their other children, Glenn and Rhys Watkins ’13, visited Oona in
Germany, they had a great time.
Freshman roomie Nancy Reece Jones sent her six
words for 60: “Massachusetts. Colorado. Montana.
Oregon. New Adventures!” Her choice reflects
her life in its geographical chunks: 21 years in
Massachusetts, 30 in Colorado, nine in Montana,
and she and Ken are planning a move to Oregon
to be closer to his grandkids, to downsize and to
get away from long, gray winters. Their move will
include five horses, three dogs and a cat, so no easy
task. She has no complaints about spending another
summer in Whitefish (which is 35 minutes from
Glacier National Park), but they are hoping to sell
their small ranch and make the move before another
winter.
A wonderful message arrived from Hugh Rienhoff,
who says classmates are “miles ahead of me—I got
married late, [and] my three children are still young.”
He stays in touch with Kirk Victor and adds, “I travel
too much and dream recklessly of returning to my
agricultural past but with a better vocabulary, and I
play my guitar every night.” Despite Hugh’s belief
that no one from Williams knows him, I hope he will
consider attending our reunion since some of the best
reunion encounters/conversations are often with people whom we never knew from 1971-75. I am sure
many will attest to that.
Suzanne Fluhr writes that she and Steve Albelda
have had one of those “best of time, worst of times”
since the last issue. In January, they traveled through
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and
Singapore. Shortly after she celebrated her 60th birthday in Hawaii, where they lived for three months during Steve’s sabbatical, they learned of Steve’s brother’s
(Bruce Albelda ’85) sudden death from an apparent
heart attack. Suzanne had an all-too-brief visit with
Elizabeth Titus while in Boston to retrieve her dog on
the way back to Philly. She has two words of advice
for those of us who have made it this far: “carpe diem.”
Harry Sheehy’s one-line email echoes that sentiment:
“We are alive … which is great.”
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By the time you receive this column, plans for our
40th should be well under way. If you have never
attended a reunion, or haven’t been to one in a long
time, please consider attending ours in June 2015. I
can tell you that they get better each time; any “posturing” is gone, and by this age, everyone has been
kicked around and experienced loss/difficulties
in some way—parents, children, health, marriage,
finances, employment—you name it, and someone
else in our class has been in your shoes. If you would
like to come but have difficulty getting here (finances,
physical limitations or another reason), please contact Tim Reny (timreny@gmail.com), Anton (abestebreurtje@mcleanmortgage.com or 703.598.2781 if
you don’t want to spell his name) or me (jberens53@
gmail.com). All requests for assistance will be completely confidential. We have an incredibly generous
class and will find a way to get everyone who wants
to come to reunion here. Hope your summers were
the perfect antidote to the tough winters so many of
us experienced.
1976
Jane Ray Kell, 2110 Howell Mill Road NW, Atlanta, GA
Hi everyone. I’m writing to you just after a weekend in Naples, Fla., where I celebrated our collective
60th birthday with a group of around 20 classmates.
The weekend was a huge success, thanks to Ellin
Goetz and Mike Watkins ’75, who graciously hosted
us at the Naples Beach Hotel, and to Chris Oates,
Deb Heineman and Paula Tabor, who did a great job
of planning the weekend.
The party started with dinner Friday night, which
lasted until the wee hours of the morning. On
Saturday, a group including Chris, Tom Belden,
Andie Sehl and Carmen Palladino hit the golf course.
“Beautiful day, fun course,” reported Tom, who earned
the title of “Golf Czar” by organizing the tee times
and the outing. “Highlights had to include Carmen’s
300-plus yard drive and Andie’s deadly short game.
We saw no alligators, but there was plenty of blooming foliage. We laughed a lot and shed very few tears.
Looking forward to the next time out, maybe at
Taconic.” Noticeably missing from the outing were
Vin McLoughlin and Liza Fraser, who according to
Chris “had signed up to drive the beer cart and jeer
and cheer” but apparently found better things to do.
While the foursome was on the golf course, Chris
and Rick Siegrest were playing tennis and others
were shopping on Naples’ posh Fifth Avenue. The
remaining classmates made themselves comfortable
on the beach, taking advantage of the beautiful day
and the warm Gulf water.
Saturday night the group gathered at the “Chickee
Hut,” where we were treated to liquid refreshments
and an assortment of delicious hors d’oeuvres, followed by a “surf and turf ” dinner and a birthday dessert. The party continued through Sunday morning, when we gathered for a farewell breakfast on the
beach and snapped a couple of group photos.
A highlight of the weekend for me was catching up
with Randi Ziter, whom I had not seen since 1977,
when I attended a party at a house she shared with
Doug Smith and Chris Mazzia in D.C. I was fascinated to learn that she had returned home to Putney,
1975– 76
Vt., shortly afterward as a result of a health crisis
from which she recovered, and that she spent the next
three decades at the helm of The Putney Inn, which
she is in the process of closing. She regaled me with
stories of her life as an innkeeper, from the rewards of
being an integral part of the community to the challenges of dealing with eccentric customers and the
difficulties of sustaining a small, family owned hotel
in the tough post-2008 economy. Her many nieces
and nephews bring her great joy, and she is looking
forward to the next chapter of her life.
It also was fun to catch up with Deb Heineman,
who attests to have “moved back ‘home’ to NYC, to a
great apartment in Harlem overlooking Morningside
Park.” Deb’s oldest son, Josh, 24, is living with her
and working as a code writer/web developer for
ItBit, a leading Bitcoin trading company. Middle son
Ben, 22, is in Boston job hunting, and youngest son
Nick Scaglione ’16 is a rising junior math/chemistry
major at Williams. Nick was to spend the summer
with Deb in NYC while working for Experiences
Unlimited, which produces custom interactive programs for major companies, before heading off to
Budapest for a math program in the fall. Deb and
Paula Tabor are planning a 60th birthday bash in
Paris and the Dordogne in October, and afterward
Deb may embark on a trip around the world (anyone with a spare guestroom outside the U.S. should
let her know).
We missed seeing Chris Oates’ wife Cynthia, who
stayed home with daughter Joanie, who recently came
home from Bates College, where she is a rising sophomore. The Oateses’ older daughter, Ginna, finished
at Colorado College and will be in her second year
teaching at Graland County Day School in Denver,
Colo. Chris and Cynthia celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in May with a hiking trip through
Provençe, France.
I had a good chat with Andie Sehl, who is running her own consulting firm in NYC and managing to spend a good amount of time outside of
the city. I also talked with Joe Sena, who is living
in Mount Kisco, N.Y., where he practices immigration law, representing clients all over the U.S.,
often under challenging circumstances. I caught up
with Chris Suhonen and his wife Elena, a native of
Santiago, Chile, who have been raising their family in
Glendale, Ariz., and with Scott Perry, who is working as a first-grade teacher in Los Angeles, Calif.,
where he has started a program to expose inner-city
children to local farmers. It was great to see Laurie
Taylor, who is looking well and is enjoying life in
Montclair, N.J., and John Solar, who got away before
I could pump him for news.
The birthday weekend was the first reunion Tim
Mages had attended since our fifth in 1981. He and
wife Nancy live in Greensboro, N.C., where he is
general manager of North State Flexibles. Tim and
Nancy’s older son Timothy, who many of us remember as an infant, is 42 and lives near me in Marietta,
Ga. They also have two younger children, a daughter
Shannon and a son Clayton.
It was just a short trip down the road to Naples
for Barbara (Jackson) Palladino ’78 and Carmen
Palladino, who moved to Boca Raton, Fla., several
years ago. Carmen leads a structured products investment team and is enjoying the relatively laid-back
atmosphere of the Florida office. The Florida climate
obviously is agreeing with both Carmen and Barbara,
who looked healthy, rested and not materially
changed from 1976. I would say that the weekend
was a short hop for Susan Evans and George Evans,
too, except that they commuted from their summer
home north of Boston. The Evans were stopping by
their “winter” residence in Bradenton, Fla., to check
on things before they went back north.
I enjoyed talking with Mike Gibbons and his wife
Karen Leban at dinner on Saturday. It turns out that
they both had roles in the Jimmy Carter administration “back in the day” when I was on the White
House staff. Mike served in the Peace Corps in Sierra
Leone after college and “spent almost four amazing
years helping farm families improve rice production
and rural income there, 10 years after Sierra Leone’s
independence and before the civil war in the 1990s.”
Scott Perry visited Mike there during a pro football
off-season, and they had some “fun times way off the
grid.” Mike met Karen several years later at a Peace
Corps agriculture training center, and the pair joined
Save the Children. They lived and worked in Bolivia,
Maldives, Sri Lanka and many other countries in
Africa, Latin America and Asia over nearly 15 years.
“Some good adventures, hard work, amazing diverse
friends, and lots of learning about our diverse and
complicated world,” Mike summarized. They live in
D.C., where Karen leads a network of international
child health agencies and Mike leads the child rights
and education program for a philanthropy advisory firm. Mike and Karen continue to travel to lowincome countries to collaborate with organizations
addressing children’s needs. Their son Alex is 23 and
lives in Wilmington, N.C.
Paula Tabor has been enjoying her retirement from
Williams, traveling a good bit and accepting a position as director of advancement at the Hoosac School
in Hoosick, N.Y., a boarding school that was founded
in 1889 by Williams alumnus Edward B. Tibbits.
Paula’s youngest, Trent, graduated from high school
in June and will join Cyndie Spencer’s daughter at
Union College.
Paula reports having attended a fabulous retirement party for art history teacher Eva Grudin, who
retired from Williams in June after 43 years of teaching. “Because she is loved by many, there were lots of
Williams alumni present at the event hosted by Sue
and Bill Oberndorf ’75 and held at the Williamstown
home of Tom Krens ’69. I was delighted to see Mitch
Besser, Bob Woods, Gus Nilson, Kevin O’Neil, Bill
Temko, Diana (Moran) Chabrier and Wil Chabrier
’77 and Wick Sloan, in addition to Mike Glier, Mike
Reed, Rich Pickard, Walter Matia and Gene Falk, all
Class of 1975. Other alumni included Bill Bowden
’66 and Bill Finn ’74. There were also lots of spouses,
partners, friends and a few undergraduates to round
out the festive crowd. The weather was perfect,
and there were lots of hugs and much catching up.
Temko and Wick provided funny and moving stories
about good times with Eva. Among Eva’s gifts was a
framed photo of Degas’ Dancer with her head photoshopped with Woodsy’s head!”
Finally, I heard from D.C. Dugdale, who was on his
way to Williamstown to the graduation of his daughter Emily Dugdale ’14. He expected to see Pratt House
friends Matt Rowe ’77, who also has a daughter in the
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Class of 2014, and Steve Pagnotta ’77. D.C. recently
was in touch with former Pratt House roomies Ed
Bacher ’77 and Larry Hyde ’77, who connected around
the sad occasion of a fatal accident involving Larry’s
wife Carol. He had plans to audition for a musical theater company, singing “You’re the Top,” a song from
Anything Goes that he first heard sung by the theater group at Williams. “The audition will be fun, and
maybe I’ll even be cast in a show!” he wrote.
D.C. reports that life and work in Seattle are going
well for him. “We are emerging from the dark and
wet season and looking forward to a summer of
climbing, hiking and other outdoor adventures. I am
still working at the University of Washington with
the health system called UW Medicine. Recently I
have taken on the role of vice dean for clinical affairs
for the UW school of medicine—not something I
ever aspired to or expected, but I hope to help move
our school and system into a new era of health care
under the Affordable Care Act.”
Stay tuned for news regarding our Class of 1975/76
fall tailgate, which is likely to take place around the
Middlebury game on Oct. 11. More news will follow
by email as the time grows near.
1977
Deborah DePorter Hoover, 7480 Herrick Park Drive,
Hudson, OH 44236; Sandra Lorimer Lambert,
149 College Road, Concord, MA 01742;
Sadly, Vivian L. Patterson died suddenly on June 9,
2014. Vivian was a longtime member of the Williams
community, earning both her undergraduate and
master’s degrees in art history at Williams and then
becoming a curator at the Williams College Museum
of Art until her retirement in 2012. During her long
career, she developed an encyclopedic knowledge
of the museum’s permanent collection and mentored numerous students. She married Stephen N.
Pagnotta in 1987, and we extend our deepest sympathies to Pags, as he is known to many.
Several classmates were able to attend the ceremony for Vivian organized at the Taconic Golf Club,
where Vivian spent much of her leisure time mastering the elusive game of golf. Among them were Rick
West, Brad Kendall and Barbara (Lebaron) Kendall,
Alan Eusden and Lynn (Smyers) Eusden, Julie and
Chris Lovell, Brent McKinley, Scott Conant, Charley
Janson, Andy Kahane, Andy and Anne (Weisman)
Hogeland, Katie and Will Schmidt, Susie and Peter
Van Oot ’78 and Peter Wells ’79, to name a few.
Chris Lovell reported that Pags delivered “a simply wonderful, funny and poignant and meaningful” remembrance and was quite overwhelmed by the
large group in attendance and the “universal sadness
for the loss of Vivian.” One attendee added, “Very
nice, just hard … without Vivian.”
Other classmates shared personal remembrances
of Vivian. Almost all touched on her lively and vivacious spirit and sense of humor, and they universally
expressed shock and sadness. We can’t reprint them
all, but here are a few that express the sentiments of
many. Holly Boyer Scott wrote, “Such an aptly named
person—vibrant, vivid in her creativity, vivacious
(especially at reunions!) and a vital member of my
memory bank of Williams … a roommate/suitemate
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for three years, longtime friend. I will always remember her freshman year, gracefully playing lacrosse
(a game many of us knew little about); shooshing
through Winter Carnival on her cross-country skis,
donning party beads for a Mission Park melee, entertaining my husband at our 10th reunion, giving him
the down-low on all comers at Tyler House … hysterical, and spot on … I will miss knowing she is on
the planet but feel forever grateful to have had her
in my world. … She sustained me, and many, during
college with her keen mind, creative spirit and eye for
beauty as evidenced in her career. … They were years
of the hard yet wild work of growing up, and I will
always be grateful that Vivian was there, bright-eyed
and with that great burbling laugh, as a friend.” From
London, Paul Gismondi wrote, “I always remember her mischievous smile and her wicked sense of
humor, and I know from experience how highly
thought of she was in the art world.”
Jane Lester commented, “Vivian was one of
my first friends at Williams and my roommate in
Mission sophomore year. Irreverent, funny, opinionated, with that skeptical look on her freckled face,
always laughing. Ten years ago she sent me a funny
story called ‘The Purple Hat’ about beautiful women
growing old. It is not fair that Vivian did not get a
chance to grow old with us. I will miss her.” We don’t
have space here for “The Purple Hat;” please free to
contact either Sandy or Deb for a copy. It’s a lovely,
funny commentary on female self-perception by
decade, and in her short life, Vivian was able to go
out “and conquer the world” and enjoy every minute of it.
Echoing the sentiments of many about Vivian,
Nina Girvetz contributed: “She was a real sweetheart.
Quiet, warm, smart and creative. I adored her, as
did, I believe, anyone who knew her.” Andy Kahane
added, “I respected her not only as a colleague in the
art world but considered her a friend. I’ll miss seeing her a great deal on my visits to Williamstown.”
We will all miss her in Williamstown and at reunion,
to which she had contributed so much, as Patty May
Thompson noted.
It’s hard to transition, but several classmates shared
other news that we would like to pass along. Thomas
Carey wrote that his son Michael married Lapde So
on a farm in Lancaster, Pa., in a ceremony officiated
by Steve Piltch. Steve was also Tom’s best man 37
years ago, when he wed his wife Pat. Tom wrote, “The
ceremony was a wonderful mix of American and
Chinese customs including a Chinese tea ceremony,
dancing lions and a wardrobe change for the beautiful
bride.” Also attending were Tom’s JA, Michael Rosten
’75, Alex Rosten ’76, Tom’s son Brian Carey ’06 and
his wife Abigail (Southard) Carey ’07, and Abby’s
father, Bill Southard ’75.
Experiencing “nostalgia” as he reads about his fellow alums sending their offspring to the Purple
Valley, Sam Wright updated us on life in Silicon
Valley, where he is now a commercial real estate broker following many years of practicing real estate
law locally. His wife Kathy has logged 20-plus years
teaching at Stanford Law School and, he adds, “If she
can figure out how to maintain my access to the golf
course, she may eventually be allowed to retire!” All
three of their children stayed close to home, attending
Stanford, with the youngest graduating in June. He
1976– 78
and Kathy plan to visit their daughter Kelly in NYC
in September; she will be working with Uncommon
Charter Schools in Brooklyn. Sam adds, “I hope to
see some of the Easterners this fall.”
Liz Alton received the 2014 Dave Walker Award
from the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association.
The award recognizes “Dr. Alton’s contributions
and service to the Vermont veterinary community
throughout her professional career” and, according to the VVMA, is its “most prestigious award.”
Congratulations to Liz!
In May, Steve White finished his year as director of
St. Lawrence University’s program in Spain. While
there, the Spanish publisher Amargord-Colección
Transatlántica published an anthology edited by
Steve of eco-poetry by five poets from Hispanic
America and Spain called El consumode lo que somos:
meustra de poesía ecológica hispánica contemporánea.
Deborah DePorter Hoover was named to the board
of the New York-based Foundation Center, which
provides information to “strengthen the social sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy
in the U.S. and around the world.” In April, Chris
Vogelsang and his wife Karen visited with Deb
and her husband John Hoover ’76 in Ohio. The visit
included time with Chris’ son Paul and Catherine
Hoover ’09, who both live in Cleveland. Deb added,
“Catherine graduated from Case Western Reserve
University in May with a master’s in nursing,” specializing in cardiac care. Deb has also been in touch
with Barney Ireland and reported that Barney and
his wife Liz Roob have returned “from a wonderful
trip to Rome and Positano.” The Hoover family also
has been traveling—in May, they celebrated John’s
milestone birthday by cruising the Baltic with stops
in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and St.
Petersburg. Deb advised that there was plenty of variety to meet the interests of all the generations! We
hope that in the coming years, we hear more about
birthday celebrations as our class notches another
decade. Please stay in touch.
1978
Maggie O’Malley Luck, 751 Cypress Drive, Boulder, CO
Hello to all classmates out there, and thank you so
much for contributing to these notes. I am so excited
every time I read a response to my request for news. I
knew we were a remarkable group back in the 1970s,
but we continue to grow and blossom with our passions. Thank you for sharing.
This year it looks like we had quite a few classmates back in Williamstown for graduation. Steve
Rothstein enjoyed the beautiful weather as he
watched his youngest son, Isaac Maze-Rothstein ’14,
graduate. Dan Rudolph’s daughter Claire Rudolph
’14 graduated with a degree in art history, and he had
the pleasure of running into Brent Shay during the
day. Joseph Kiernan and Sharon Kiernan were also
in attendance as their niece Kate Kiernan ’14 became
the fifth Kiernan to graduate from Williams. In addition to the beautiful weather and seeing some familiar faces, everyone on hand enjoyed the wonderful
address given by Michael Bloomberg.
As it is June, it just might happen to be the time
of our high school 40th reunions. Seriously, how did
that happen? Liza Waters headed back to Exeter for
the first time and ran into Bill Whelan, John Bessone
and Betsy Nicholas.
In September Liza and Amy Sterling-Bratt are
joining the fight against cancer, walking in the Jimmy
Fund Marathon. They were doing quite a bit of fundraising and could use all the support they can get.
Amy moved to Princeton, N.J. The saga of getting
licensed in that state would make anyone go insane,
but she stayed the course, and final approval came in
this week after waiting more than six months. Also
celebrating a 40th reunion was Cordy Gould Kelly,
and lucky for me, that happened to be in Denver,
the weekend of a big 5K fundraiser for cancer. So
we chatted the entire race and had a wonderful time.
Next year I’ll come prepared with an extra teal tutu.
Speaking of Colorado, I’m glad that there are a few
that pine for this state. Jacquie Glanz has cousins up
in Aspen that she visits regularly. With her two sons
in San Francisco and a daughter entering college in a
few years, I am applying steady pressure.
And then there are still enough of us with younger
broods who are just finishing the high school stage.
Diane Goodman’s youngest graduated in June
due to the late timing of New York state. While
being accepted to Williams, her daughter has chosen to attend Colgate in the fall, where Diane’s oldest daughter attended. A trip to South Africa was in
Diane’s plans for late July as well as a fall trip up to
Williamstown to celebrate empty nesterhood. Jane
Garvey’s son Ike still has a year to go, but the college visits were just commencing. Jane was up at our
Tahoe gathering and was my kayaking companion on
the lake. I will never forget the beauty of that trip.
It appears that there are many of you who are
embracing this next chapter in life and/or coming
full circle with passions realized at a young age. David
Forrester opened a négociant winery in October
2012 with a business partner. The winery, in Orlando,
Fla., has a focus on sustainability. David’s winery
purchases juice from all over the world from small
family owned farms. Once the juice is at his winery he transforms the juice into wine. His wine label
is “Quantum Leap,” and his winery offers a tasting room where customers can enjoy wines crafted
from South America, Italy, Oregon, Washington and
Napa. David and his wife Edna celebrated a 25th
wedding anniversary.
Miranda Heller has become a life coach extraordinaire. She hosted a slew of us in Lake Tahoe and
coached most of us. Just a new, refreshing way to look
at things. Val Corning Spencer and Miranda were
discussing Val’s son Teddy, a wonderful young man
with Down’s syndrome. He is living in his home with
a caretaking couple. Miranda suggested calling them
house advisers rather than parents to move another
step forward on his road to independence. Val was
enchanted with the idea, especially since the initials
would be HA and totally appeal to Teddy’s sense of
humor.
A special congratulation to Suzanne Case. Finally
gay marriage is becoming legal in more and more
states, so she and her longtime partner Gigi could tie
the knot. She was positively beaming with the news.
She is still a lawyer with the Nature Conservancy,
saving the planet for the rest of us. Julie Dunne
unfortunately did not win her race for treasurer in
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Arlington, Mass. But she took it in stride, booked a
wonderful vacation in southern Utah and came back
renewed. Now she has the time to hang at her summer house in Rockport.
Deborah Robinson spent four weeks in South
Africa and one week in Namibia during March and
April. From 1985-91 she ran the Political Prisoners
of South Africa Bracelet Program, which involved
people wearing a brass bracelet with the name of a
political prisoner serving a life sentence. Deborah
used the trip as a chance to reconnect with former
prisoners and their families, as she is trying to collect, archive and share materials in order to document the impact of the program nearly 30 years after
it was started. Kevin O’Rourke has been performing in a play at Lincoln Center’s Newhouse Theater.
After 10 years of running the Williams College
Summer Theatre Lab, Kevin is calling this past summer his last. His performance City of Conversation at
Lincoln Center has attracted a handful of Williams
grads, including Kate Stone Lombardi. Kate is working on her first novel, which she describes as fun,
scary and challenging. Marcus Smith has a new collection of poems coming out in England titled SEZ/
everything speaks. The collection is being published by
the London publishers Live Canon. If you Google
the title you can sample some of his poems. They are
wonderful.
Henry Whittemore wrote that his daughter Katie
is a chef in Portland, Maine, at a restaurant called
Vinland. The restaurant only uses ingredients grown
within a 200-mile radius and was featured in a Wall
Street Journal article that included one of Katie’s recipes. His son Sam received his degree from MIT
back in February and has co-founded a startup called
AvaTech. The company is dedicated to backcountry
avalanche detection, prevention and safety.
Conjuring up a wonderful image, Jonathan Snyder
wrote that he is out on his racing single most mornings on Martha’s Vineyard. He is also chairman of his
town’s Board of Selectman. Herb McCormick wrote
to say he was thrilled with my plug last column, but
I have to follow up and say that the book was absolutely wonderful. It will definitely give you a bad case
of wanderlust and was a perfect companion for my
camping trip through Baja this spring. And speaking of boats, I can’t forget about Sarah Baldwin
Kavanaugh. She has her boat in Nantucket every
summer and loves the nautical life.
Barbara Palladino and Carmen Palladino ’76 are
enjoying his new job, which has brought them to
Boca Raton, Fla., where Barbara is finally back on the
beach after her Southern California childhood. Their
daughter Kim was to be married at the end of June
and after that they were planning a minireunion with
Cheryl Isaac Murphy, Carol Buck Whitehead, Marcy
Bush and Paul Sheils ’76. Barb writes that she is
fortunate to be in a location where she can use her
Spanish, and she has a substitute-teaching certificate
for Palm Beach County.
Another common theme was the marriages of our
offspring. Brian Harrison wrote that his younger son,
Tim, will be tying the knot in October and he is getting pretty excited. Sally Kruse Hughes was headed
straight to Jackson Hole after a minireunion in Lake
Tahoe with a bunch of us. Daughter Sarah picked
Sally up in Lake Tahoe, overwhelmed at the sight of
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all of us. Sally’s painting is really getting some recognition. She’s been my mentor over the year. Cammie
Lanphier’s son is also getting married soon. She is
excited that they have bought their own place on
Glen Lake, Mich., and dreams of being able to spend
the entire summer there.
Jim Little writes of recent travels. He and his wife
Cathy returned from a 10-day trip to Israel. He said
it was wonderful to visit places that he has read about
in the Bible over the years, as well as locations that
have been so important in modern history, such as
the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Incorporating travel into her annual schedule, Sally
Fri adjusts her location according to the season. She’s
up in Vermont at the moment, where she spends
four and a half months and can still work remotely
on projects. The other seven and a half months she is
back in North Carolina. She sent a visual of the view
from her picture window across Lake Champlain to
the Adirondacks. In sad news, she also wrote that
Barb Phillips recently lost her mother after a long
illness.
Mary Fish Arango and Peter celebrated their 30th
wedding anniversary and are looking forward to
retirement next year and a move to Ashland, Ore.
Summer was spent building photography and writing portfolios and generally loving the summers of a
teacher. Rich Usatine writes from San Antonio that
life is pretty darn good. His son graduated college
and will be heading to Yale for a PhD in math. His
daughter teaches high school honors chemistry. His
grandson just turned 3, and he is grateful that they
get to see so much of him, as his daughter lives in San
Antonio, not far away. Rich will be publishing three
new medical books this year, and his work practicing
and teaching family medicine, dermatology, homeless
health care and global medicine continue to flourish at the University of San Antonio. He and his sonin-law also run an app developing company called
Usatine Media. They currently have over 40 medical apps. But allowing them to all live together in the
same city has been the best part of the business.
Now onto those of us with somewhat younger children. Mary Donahue’s daughter Maddie turned 13 in
May, but still wanted cupcakes. Cindy Hill Dopp made
sure her 25-year-old had cupcakes on her birthday, too! Mary has had a crazy year in her new gig as
SVP nonfiction at Lifetime. I have a new appreciation for Project Runway, and, yes, my daughters have
guaranteed that I’m addicted. Anne Youngling still
gets the prize for wee ones, as those of you at reunion
will remember. Max just turned 5 and the twins celebrated birthday number two over Memorial Day
weekend. Challenging school and day care schedules await those working moms, but they seem to be
enjoying every second of it. Lew Mills, you will have
to check in soon, as I see those photos of your adorable young son on Facebook quite often.
Dan O’Connell sent me an appropriate note for
concluding this column. He was invited to a cocktail
party where Dr. Jim Stone was hosting Professor Joe
Cruz ’91, who explained the “I think, therefore I am”
explanation of life, as posited by Descartes. Very cerebral stuff. When we lose our minds, we aren’t, “but
whenever we get together with Williams classmates,
our memories are as vivid as if it were yesterday, so
fortunately, ‘we are.’”
1978– 79
As for my life, there is never a dull moment. I feel
like I am finally utilizing my brain to enjoy life in a
wondrous way. I know I have shared that I was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer almost six years
ago. Although I have been dancing an amazing dance
with it, I wouldn’t change a thing. The last five years
have been magnificent. Guiding hikes in Rocky
Mountain National Park, running marathons and
trail races over 13,000-foot passes, studying geology
at University of Colorado, painting and photographing this beautiful world around us. My mind is alive
with the opportunities that present themselves. I just
returned from Cambodia, where I threw a pack on
my back and joined my daughter and her boyfriend
on their SE Asia travels. I was 22 again, but with the
wisdom of a 57-year-old. On so many levels, it was
the most interesting trip I have undertaken, and I’ve
been a lot of places. So what if cancer keeps rearing its ugly head, I know you incredibly smart classmates have my back, including you, Jay Loeffler. And
I know that you are all just as passionate.
1979
Barbara H. Sanders, 3 Stratford Road, White Plains, NY
So many classmates, so little time. One beautiful
Purple Valley, with three short days in Tyler House.
And yes—what a great weekend we had! Over 160
’79ers (more than one-third of the class, and 20 percent higher than five years ago) returned for our 35th
reunion! Within the next five years, we should devise
a “handshake line” (or similar strategy) to increase
person-to-person interaction. Campus tours, volunteer projects, great food and dancing were just a few
of the items on the itinerary. All expressed that they
felt very fortunate and blessed to have such wonderful friends and experiences. And everyone looked
younger than their stated ages! Some of those sending a brief shout-out on their time well spent include
Cyndy Tufts Anderson, Russell Yeh, Andy Masetti,
Kiki Spencer Batina, Marcia Johnston Wood,
Michael Golden, Hal Sprague and Bob Kraus.
Prior to Saturday’s dinner, there were solemn
moments of remembrance and silence for those who
are no longer with us. Marti Ikehara read the names
of classmates who are forever in our memories and
hearts—Cynthia Beal, Laureen Swanson, Peter E.
Mach, Barbara L. Melody, Lee F. Jackson, David A.
Maltzan, Denise Terry Cobb, Ann M. Silvi, Bartlett
Miller, David A. Clement, Bronson H. Fargo, Thomas
W. Soybel, Donald A. Cameron Jr., Kristin N. Djorup,
Nina E. Murphy and Andrew P. Kane.
Later, Stew Menking gave a humorous but mov-
ing tribute to our classmates who have served in the
armed forces. He also announced that Chandler
Couch, son of our classmate Bill Couch, has been
deployed with the Marines. After returning home
from the reunion, Kathy Sharpe Jones wrote, “I
would like to thank everyone for all of the support
extended to our Class of ’79 veterans and military
family members. I will be eternally grateful.”
Al Blakey agreed with many of our classmates—
“being empty nesters is not all bad! Still, after having all three of our daughters in California this past
year, Eleni and I are quite happy that our middle
daughter, Sophie Blakey ’13, came east this fall to
start Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. That
leaves our eldest in San Francisco and youngest in
L.A. for the foreseeable future. We’re looking forward
to having one kid in our time zone, at least for a little while.”
Mark “Eck” Eckert had a great time with
Dave “Zooks” Massucco ’80 at a Greensboro
Grasshoppers AA baseball game in North Carolina.
“He looks great and was thrilled to hear about all
the people I reconnected with during our reunion.
He said it convinced him to make it to his own 35th
reunion next June,” says Mark.
Barbara Ernst Prey says, “It was great to see so
many classmates to celebrate the first anniversary of
my gallery on Spring Street (in Williamstown). I’m
thrilled that one of my paintings, Parade Route, will
be on exhibit at the U.S. Embassy Residence in Hong
Kong. I have paintings in several American and
European collections, including the Lobkowicz collection in Prague.”
Although he was delighted to get to campus, Bill
Whitney had to leave the reunion early. He was traveling to Japan to visit son Zac Whitney ’12, who is
finishing up at the JET program as a coordinator
of international relations. “If anyone in the Boston
area is interested in hiring a Williams grad, fluent in
Japanese, strong in Chinese, with skills in planning,
coordinating, writing, teaching, etc., let me know!
Also, we are moving! After six years in Baltimore,
we are moving to Potsdam, N.Y., at the end of June.
I will be pursuing my PhD in physics at Clarkson
University while my wife starts up the occupational
therapy program.”
Cyane Gresham has not made it to many reunions
but was very happy to come this year. “Thanks to
the planning committee, Laurie Thomsen and Peter
Thomsen (for Thursday’s dinner), our class officers,
and Williams, all of whom really know how to host a
reunion. I enjoyed walking up Stone Hill with friends
from freshman year and going to MASS MoCA.”
Marti Ikehara spent a month in New England to
attend her niece’s commencement at Wesleyan, culminating with reunion in Williamstown. “Two sisters, two nieces and I spent a week in Falmouth
after the graduation festivities. We visited the
NOAA aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution on a rainy day, did a nature walk in a
Mass Audubon sanctuary, and visited the Sandwich
Glass Museum. Then we spent a week in the southern Berkshires doing a lot of bird watching and other
nature stuff. We spotted a black bear looking at us
across the pond, then sauntering down the boardwalk toward me! I spent time at the Presidential
Library, and the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt mansions
in Hyde Park, N.Y., then to Stratford, Conn., to visit
my grandparents’ grave, and the PEZ Visitor Center
nearby! At our reunion, I enjoyed the opportunity to
catch up and make new memories with long-time
and new friends at Williams.”
Larry Pensack reflected on his visit to
Williamstown: “It was great to reconnect with
so many friends and classmates. Coming back to
Williams for our reunion reminded me of how much
I love being in the mountains and on campus (now
that there’s no study-related stress!) I was also struck
by how many classmates are doing interesting things.
I think it would be great to develop a mechanism
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that can put people with similar interests in touch
with each other, especially since there appears to be
some significant overlap of people working in education, environmental issues and entrepreneurship. Like
a number of classmates, I’ve been shifting careers
and am now helping my wife expand her insurance business. I’m also learning a new business (real
estate notes investing) and continuing to operate my
most recent venture where we manufacture portable
computer monitors for accounting and audit industries. Our two daughters have scattered far, to North
Carolina and Singapore! But with today’s modern
technology it’s not so hard to keep in touch.”
Cynthia Briggs Kittredge sent regrets for missing
the reunion. “Frank and I celebrated the graduation
of our last child, Henry, University of Virginia.”
Over the summer, Leslie Milne and her teammates
were inducted into the U.S. Field Hockey Hall of
Fame. This year marks the 30th anniversary of their
1984 Olympic bronze medal capture. “Unfortunately
we are still the only women’s team to have ever won a
medal for the U.S. in field hockey.”
Don Perry says, “It’s been very busy, as our latest film, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers
and the Emergence of a People, had its theatrical release
and national roll-out! The film debuted at the Film
Forum in NYC in August, then opened nationally in most major markets. It would be great to see a
Williams Class of ’79 night at the movies. We could
even get a group discount if folks are interested. My
partner Thomas and I have been busy writing new
spec scripts and trying to get a few narrative projects off the ground. Recently, I joined the executive
committee of the Williams Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian
and Transgender Alumni Network. We’re planning
a number of new initiatives and events over the next
several months. Look for a new website soon and
announcements of some upcoming regional events.”
Earlier this year, Charles Sena opened the
California office of Axiom Valuation Solutions, a
Boston-based firm, so he should be more “bicoastal”
in the future months and years. “I am also mentoring
the founder of a startup in the mobile app space and
contemplating getting involved in the turnaround of
a biodegradables venture. And hitting the gym and
beach as often as I can!”
Glenn Rogers is enjoying the high mountains of
Ethiopia. “I made a 1,400-kilometer drive down the
rift valley to the Konso area with my nephew and
wife Dominique. The air gets a bit thin at 11,000 feet,
but the scenes and cultural diversity are amazing. My
tour here with U.S.AID as the representative to the
African Union ends in 2015, so come visit soon!”
Mitchell Reiss is stepping down from his position as president of Washington College. He has
accepted the appointment of president and CEO
of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He will
focus on advancing Colonial Williamsburg as a leading center for history and citizenship with innovative, interactive experiences for the living history
museum’s visitors. The foundation’s leadership stated
that Mitchell “is the ideal candidate who has a range
of experiences, and is the perfect choice to lead this
extraordinary place into the future.”
So there you have it. If you haven’t written since
the last reunion, now is the time in life to start. We
look forward to everyone joining us in June 2019!
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1980
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Laura Pitts Smith, 1828 Old Yellowstone Trail S.,
Emigrant, MT 59027; 1980secretary@williams.edu
Summer is exploding in Montana: Raging rivers
refusing to respect their banks; baby animals stumbling after their mothers on shaky legs; wildflowers and sunshine galore. Last night I discovered a
feral cat with newborn kittens in the drain of the stall
barn, so I am embarking on a new friendship with
the meanest three pounds of feline in the county. I
placed her kittens in the back of a live trap, which
worked like a charm, and now she has taken over a
cozy stall. I call on her several times a day, armed with
fresh pieces of meat. When you read this, it will be
fall, and I hope you are all looking back on a glorious summer season and I am enjoying a new batch of
friendly barn cats.
It’s been rewarding to hear from some classmates
who have been absent from this publication for a
while. After nearly 25 years, Karen Dold reports she is
“healthy and happy, living in Chapel Hill, N.C. (since
1982) with my partner of 30-plus years, Nancy. I’m
in private practice as a Feldenkrais Method practitioner, helping my baby boomer (and older) clients
move from pain and limitation to ease and agility.
Life is good. Rather, great! I enjoy singing with the
Common Woman Chorus of Durham, N.C., which
I’ve been doing for 16 years. I love to cook with food
from local farms, and I spend a lot of time outside
hiking, trikking and biking. As I get older, I’ve found
that my attention is moving more to my spiritual
life. Three years ago, I became a Oneness Blessing
Giver. Earlier this year, I traveled to India to participate in the 28-day Deepening Program at Oneness
University, where I became awakened. As my consciousness continues to expand, my heart is opening
and I am experiencing life quite differently than ever
before. This has been the greatest gift of my life—and
I can’t wait to see how life unfolds from here.”
Andi Colnes reports, “Life is good in East
Montpelier, where I live with my husband of four
years ( John) and my daughter Jesse, who’s working
her way through middle school discovering the joys
of adolescence, friends, track and robotics. My work
as executive director of the Energy Action Network
to shift Vermont to a renewable and efficiency based
energy system is satisfying and exciting. And on the
Williams front, I’ve been enjoying crossing paths over
the past year with Janet Besser in her work with the
New England Clean Energy Council.”
Brian Shiro and his wife of 25 years, Donna, have
two children at UNC Chapel Hill, which is where
the two of them met. He concluded recently, “A quarter-century as a pathologist in Wilmington, N.C.,
seemed like enough death and disease for one lifetime, so I retired last summer.” He says he is available for golf, paddle boarding, ice hockey or yoga in
Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach, if classmates find
themselves in the area.
Chip Lindquist reports, “My oldest daughter, Anna,
is graduating from high school but has chosen a college on the sunny coast of Florida to study marine
biology. My son Jack won’t leave computers alone.
My youngest daughter, Lily, has long proclaimed her
passion for all things Williams, even the Purple Cow.
What fun that was to be a Purple Cow.”
1979– 80
Julie Kosarin is warming up after the coldest, longest winter in the Midwest in recent history. She
reports, “Doing more volunteer work in my community. My daughter had her bat mitzvah in November.
Traveled to Israel with my husband, my daughter
and a group from my synagogue over spring break—
and can’t wait to do it again. Recently began an interview project with my father to record his life story—
and I encourage others to do the same. It’s fun and a
great gift. Marlies Carruth—quick-witted and beautiful as ever—and I have been ‘doing lunch’ regularly in
downtown Chicago and having a blast reconnecting.”
In addition to his work in politics, Fred Thys has
been spending a lot of time at Williams reporting on
higher education. He says, “I am continuing to work
on a series on the cost of college and recently sat in
on Charles Dew’s ’54 course on slavery in the U.S. to
talk to him and his students about what small classes
mean to them. I’ve also been to the college to talk
to Dean of the College Sarah Bolton and the college’s new director of sexual assault response and prevention Meg Bossong ’05 for a series of stories on
how Williams handled the most recent sexual assault
charges.” Fred met Bruce Goerlich ’81 for theater and
dinner in New York this winter.
Sue Harris spent a beautiful weekend in
Williamstown hiking the AT and Greylock with
friends and eating and drinking, of course! She was to
be back for more hiking and theater in July.
Marko Remec reports, “My family just spent a
relaxing week in Bermuda and caught up with Hal
Masters. He mentioned Gerald Wellesley will be visiting him in August. I have another solo show scheduled to open Sept. 18, 2015, at the Museo de Art de
Ponce in Puerto Rico. I am very excited, as it will feature a large outdoor work as well as several indoor
installations in two of their largest galleries.”
Van Townsend has been connecting with classmates in New England. He reports, “While managing a few of my athletes at the tightly secure Boston
Marathon, I got to squeeze in some soulful sojourns
with James Meigs, Julia Talcott and Bart Mitchell.
Even was blessed to attend a radical, liberal, socialist Catholic Easter service with Bart and Susan. If
I revealed the church and location, Bart would have
to kill me. Actually it’s in plain view of the Boston
Common: a clever Poe ‘Purloined Letter’ ploy! Then
I trained down to The Golden Square Mile that is
home to Bronxville’s Sarah Mollman Underhill and
top wine connoisseur husband Bob. Wonderful hosts
with the surreal Sophie, their golf ball-obsessed
Cocker Spaniel. This dog must be seen to be believed!
Of course, being the running geek I am, I had to run
around their cul-de-sac until I bumped into the teen
phenom Mary Cain, who went pro whilst still in high
school. I told Mary and her parents that she shoulda
gone to Williams and set D3 running records out of
site forever and in perpetuity!”
Roger Prevot had a spectacular Williams experience in March, when 19 alumni and spouses joined
the Nordic ski team for a spring trip to Norway.
Roger says, “The trip was organized by Norwegian
Ragnar Horn and gave everyone involved another
opportunity to celebrate Bud Fisher’s four decades as
the Williams ski team head coach. Although only the
youngest of the alums on the trip (as well as trustee
and 55-year-old Andreas Halvorsen) could keep up
with the current ski team members, we enjoyed the
famous Birkebeiner and related trails during a week
of perfect snow and weather. It couldn’t have been
a better final salute to all Bud has done for skiing at
Williams over so many years.”
Rebecca Webber is bracing for a “Ramen Year” as
she prepares to send children numbers three and four
off to college (one possibly to Middlebury and the
other possibly to BC). She adds, “Just had my left
kidney taken out, along with a metanephric adenoma
(class doctors, ever seen one?), so the golden age of
body parts being replaced or removed has begun. But
it’s also the age of feeling OK about all of that, as in,
well, OK, that scar is just about where my six-pack
abs would be if I were to get some of them.”
Kathleen Kelliher and husband Phil helped the
Exeter College, Oxford, celebrate its 700th anniversary last May with fellow alumni and current students
on the WEPO program. She explains, “After massive thunderstorms in the morning, we had a lovely,
warm afternoon for the garden tea party, college tour
and black-tie evening do in the refectory.” Earlier
in the spring, she had an invigorating conversation/
lunch with Michael Lissack in Bonita Springs, Fla.
Kathleen and Phil had a big party celebrating both
their 20th wedding anniversary and son Spencer’s
18th birthday. She explained that British students do
not graduate, they leave school in an underwhelming
fashion, making a party very much in order.
I strongly suspect whoever the next secretary is
will love, as I do, Gus Nuzzolese. He is the first to
respond to requests for news, always includes various classmates in his reports, and slathers the secretarial praise on really thick. Gus’ son Patrick has
a summer internship at MG Engineering in NYC.
Gus says, “I feel funny driving him to the train in
my golf attire on a sunny Wednesday.” He continues,
“Our daughter Margaret was promoted at her job at
Boston College, Elizabeth was selected as head technology teacher for leading a schoolwide tech program
in Santa Monica, and Colleen is studying for master’s
in nursing at Georgetown. Liz and Colls ran the L.A.
Half Marathon witnessed by parents tailgating most
of the time. Mike Curran vacationed at my house for
the Chaminade Golf Outing and remains ‘Infinity
and Beyond’ entertaining. John Svoboda ’78 and Jill
Svoboda and I connected spontaneously via a mutual
Colliers Chicago friend. John Glynn’s daughter Julia
was voted MVP of the NY State Girls Lacrosse
Championship game. Julia, a three-time high school
All-American, averaged about seven points per game
in the Nassau Finals, Long Island Championship
and NY State Playoffs and had seven points in the
Indians 11-7 come-from-behind win in becoming NY state champions. Heading to Harvard. John
Moore’s son John is the star defenseman #17 on the
NY Rangers and played tremendous hockey in the
NHL Stanley Cup Championship.” Gus was elected
president of Chaminade Alumni Association, with
over 19,000 members worldwide.
Phil “Guido” Adams describes a pretty good
week: “Got my first hole-in-one and saw President
Obama speak at the Worcester Technical High
School graduation. Not making a political statement here, but just saying that he is an extremely
compelling speaker. No wonder Demosthenes put
pebbles in his mouth and practiced oratory over the
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W
illiamstown was a sea of
purple and gold June 12-15
as more than 1,700 alumni and
1,300 family members and friends
celebrated this year’s reunion.
In addition to partaking in the
parade of classes, family activities,
parties and seminars—with lots of
unstructured time for reconnecting,
reminiscing and an Ephelia spotting or two—alumni participated
in three new local service projects
created by the Class of ’79 and
Williams’ Center for Learning in
Action. Reunion highlights appear
on the following pages. For links
to videos and even more photos,
visit http://bit.ly/wmsreunion2014.
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T
he Class of ’64 welcomed back
108 members (nearly half the
class) for five days of festivities. On
Thursday and Friday classmates led
and participated in seminars about
climate change, World War I and
21st-century “macro” challenges. At
the Annual Meeting of the Society of
Alumni on Saturday, Steve Birrell won
the Rogerson Cup, the college’s highest award for alumni service. Jonathan
Fielding won the Kellogg Award for
lifetime career achievement, and Bob
Furey won the Copeland Award for
admission volunteerism. (See p. 70
for awards coverage.) The class raised
more than $14.6 million for its 50th
reunion gift, providing support for the
Class of 1964 Tutorial Fund, the Class
of 1964 Memorial Scholarship and the
renovation of Chapin Hall. The class
also contributed to two efforts in honor
of deceased classmates: the Louise
J. Ober ’64 Memorial Fund, creating a
prize and summer internships in the
performing arts; and the Michael M.
Reily ’64 Room in the new Weston Field
Pavilion, which will be dedicated when
the class gathers for Pass-the-Baton
Weekend in October.
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he Class of ’89 set the 25th
reunion attendance record with
252 classmates. Another 347 family
members and friends joined in the
festivities. With a gift to the college
of more than $3.75 million, the class
supported the Alumni Fund and created
the Class of 1989 Memorial Scholarship.
The class also won the John P. English
’32 Alumni Fund Trophy for the largest
dollar increase over the previous year’s
gift. Other highlights included the ’89
reunion seminar “Writing Between The
Lines,” a discussion about writing and
the creative process with classmates
Deborah Schoeberlein David (author
and contributor to The Huffington
Post), David Bar Katz (screenwriter,
playwright, author and director) and
Adam Schlesinger (songwriter, composer, record producer and bassist for
Fountains of Wayne, Ivy and Tinted
Windows).
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A
AWARDS & HONORS
1
t this year’s Annual Meeting of
the Society of Alumni, outgoing
President Dennis O’Shea ’77 (2, right)
handed over the reins to incoming
President Leila Jere ’91 (3). Steve
Birrell ’64 (1) received the Rogerson
Cup, the college’s highest award for
alumni service. Bob Furey ’64 (2, left)
won the Copeland Award for admission volunteerism. Dan Rankin ’59
(6) received the Thurston Bowl for
exceptional service as class secretary.
Hugh Germanetti ’54 (7) was awarded
Joseph’s Coat as a member of a post50th reunion class held in high esteem
by alumni and the college. Jonathan
Fielding ’64 (8), a leader in public health,
received the Kellogg Award for lifetime
4
career achievement. The Class of 2009
(9) received the Reunion Bowl and
Reunion Trophy for largest number
(253) and highest percentage (46.5 percent) of classmates registered and in
attendance. And the Classes of ’89 and
’84 (4 and 5, respectively) were among
many to receive Alumni Fund awards.
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3
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roar of the ocean. Public speaking can move people. It also looked like a funner gig for him than
the other parts of his job. He really connected with
the grads; opening comments: ‘You know I must
admit that I don’t remember who my HS graduation speaker was.’ (Laughter.) ‘I was too busy thinking about the party.’ (More laughs.) ‘To be honest, I don’t remember the party either.’ (Eruption
of applause and whoops.) He also had serious
moments when he encouraged the grads to recognize that many people made sacrifices and investments to get them to where they are today, and that
they should also help others (though more compellingly stated). In the rarified 1 percent that Williams
is, it was humbling to have a view into another segment of society to see the grads’ excitement and the
families’ pride in graduating from a technical high
school where ambitions to be welders, hair stylists,
cooks or mechanics represent a step.”
I am going to close with new beginnings.
Paul Goren reports, “In one week this spring
I had a series of big life transitions. My daughter Ruby decided where she was going to college (Brandeis, where Fred Lawrence is the president). This was followed sadly by the death of my
dad, who lived a robust 90 years and died peacefully at home. And this was followed literally the
next day by my appointment as the superintendent of the Evanston/Skokie Public schools, where
my three children have attended school. The district is just north of Chicago, has 17 schools pre-K
through eighth grade, is diverse racially and economically, and has outstanding teachers and school
leaders. Just over 30 years ago I started working
for the newly minted superintendent of the San
Diego Schools—Tom Payzant ’62 and subsequently
President Clinton’s assistant secretary of education
and the superintendent of the Boston Schools—
hoping that one day perhaps I would be leading a
public school system. With Tom’s mentorship and
that of several others, I have landed in a fascinating assignment. Three weeks into the job, and after
six graduation speeches, all is good. Please come and
visit—I would be happy to show folks around.”
Peter Winn accepted a daunting task. He moved
from Seattle to the “other Washington,” where he is
the acting general counsel of the Privacy and Civil
Liberties Oversight Board, the agency charged with
dealing with the Edward Snowden leaks.
Jane Goldfarb Himmel is going to grad school this
fall: “I was accepted to the master’s in health advocacy program at Sarah Lawrence College. Classes
will be two days a week—it’s a small program with
15 students, and classes are conducted seminar
style, so I will be an active participant in my education. (I can’t sit in a lecture hall and not raise my
hand to talk.) There are also fieldwork requirements
that begin after the first year. The program looks at
our health system from different approaches (historic, legal, ethics, delivery, etc.) and I think it will
be a fascinating—and busy—two years, as I will also
continue in my work as our local Democratic Party
chair, which is quite time-consuming on its own.
Because I have been so footloose and fancy free
since the kids went to school, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I really am craving an in-depth,
disciplined intellectual experience. I don’t know
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where I plan to go with this degree when I’m done.
The internships should be helpful in that, and it will
be really good to do some volunteer work outside of
New Canaan, where I have been focused all these
years. But, those experiences have prepared me well
for this next step, because much of what I have done
has been related to health issues (more by coincidence than by design, except for my years doing the
Sleep Study/School Start Times project).”
Countdown to our 35th is well under way. Call
your friends and make some plans.
1981
Alexis Belash, 1466 Canton Ave., Milton, MA 02186;
Martin Kohout, faithful reporter, writes: “Austin
has tended to be a little off the beaten track for
Williams alumni, but perhaps that’s starting to
change. I enjoyed seeing Al and Lynn Brandi Bunis,
Dave Sterling ’80 and Kim Jenkins Sterling ’80 and
Lee Shackelford Swykowny ’80 at a January meeting of the Society of Alumni in Austin. (The lovely
and talented Heather Catto Kohout couldn’t attend
the dinner at the Blanton Museum of Art, where
President Adam Falk spoke, but we both enjoyed
catching up with Al and Lynn over coffee the next
day.) We also enjoyed two Class of ’81 encounters—
one and a half, really—on one October weekend.
“First,” Martin says, “we went to see a friend
interviewing the author Alan Weisman about his
new book at the Texas Book Festival; after I posted
a photo of them on Facebook, I got a message from
Beckie Kravetz asking me if I realized that Alan
was her husband. The answer was no, but thanks
to Beckie’s long-distance string-pulling from their
Massachusetts home, we enjoyed a delightful dinner with Alan the following night. And that same
weekend we had the singular and unexpected pleasure of seeing Joy Howard and her wife Pam Werntz,
who were in town (near town) from Massachusetts
for the wedding of Joy’s nephew. Much hilarity
ensued.”
Martin adds: “In March we saw Kevin Weist, who
came to Austin ‘on business’ (ha!) during the annual
South by Southwest madness, and in May one of
Heather’s JAs, Ginny Earll Soybel ’79, spent a few
days with us. Both visits were an unalloyed delight.
Ginny’s visit came just after we returned from the
graduation of our youngest, Thea, from Kenyon
College in Gambier, Ohio. This means that the
five of us Kohouts now have eight college degrees
among us (so far).”
Beckie Kravetz writes: “Greetings from Charleston,
S.C., where I am working for a month with the wig
and makeup department of the Spoleto Festival
USA. It’s my fifth season with the festival, as part
of the team that transforms opera singers into anything from countesses to homeless drug addicts. It’s
always a delight to be back working with opera folks,
and historic Charleston is a very lovely place for a
working vacation (though I do miss being home in
Massachusetts where spring has finally decided to
arrive). Before coming here, I was working on a fascinating sculpture commission—recreating an architectural frieze for the restoration of a house on the
Historic Register in Brookline, Mass. The house
1980– 81
was built in Chicago for the 1893 Worlds Fair, then
was dismantled and transported piece by piece to
Brookline. It’s a fabulous building, loaded with great
sculptural detail, much of which has been lost or
destroyed. It’s a fun challenge to recreate the frieze
from the old photographs, and I am pleased to add
architectural restoration to my sculptural portfolio.
When I return home, I will be working on a mask
project with the Double Edge Theater in Ashfield,
Mass., and preparing new work for a group exhibition in November.”
Another very active artist classmate, “Nick Lyle
and his wife Jean Whitesavage recently completed
six floors of forged steel sculpture that will line two
stairwells in the new HQ of the Association of
American Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C..
This is the fourth commission they have completed
since they moved to a new home and studio that
they built on Whidbey Island in Washington State.”
Amanda Acker Rice reports: “Last weekend I
attended my younger daughter’s graduation from
Amherst! She had a great four years there, loved
her studies and professors, made wonderful friends,
played squash all four years and co-captained the
team (can I make that a verb?) her senior year, providing Jim and me with an extended four years of
athletic spectatorship. Lena’s always been a little bit
of a rebel, so going off the Williams ‘reservation’ ( in
spite of having 24 Eph relatives over four generations) was just her way of continuing to express her
independence! The two schools are amazingly similar, as you might expect. She’s already RSVP’d to
an alumni networking event in D.C. where she’ll be
starting her job at The Advisory Board in mid-June.
She’s looking forward to moving in with her older
sister, Lucy (Vanderbilt, 2012), who’s losing one
of her roommates to a job in NYC. Jim and I are
excited to simplify our travel schedules! I’ll look forward to seeing you at our 35th reunion! Yikes!”
I once thought making it to 35 was impressive,
much less a 35th college reunion. For some more
perspective, this comes from Steve Jenks and Lisa
Jenks: “We became grandparents in March. Our
daughter Sarah Jenks Brajtbord ’07 and her husband Jonathan Brajtbord ’06 had a healthy baby boy
they named Marshall. Being grandparents is a lot
easier than being parents.”
Williams D roommate Terry Guerriere wrote to
share the joys of having two boys under the age of
7: “Life is good in my hometown of White Plains,
N.Y. Our two sons, Jonas and Luke, are happily
ensconced in the German International School of
New York, where Corinna is an elementary teacher.
Everyone in our house speaks German. Regrettably,
‘mein Deutsch’ is subpar. I am best when listening in German! I had a great time catching up with
Michael Sardo ’81 in Santa Monica during a recent
business trip, and I see Joe Cotter ’81 in and around
nearby Greenwich, Conn., all the time. And I am
looking forward to the Williams Alumni Golf
Tournament in July.”
Anita Rydberg Swift’s submission: “I have a smallworld story that defies the odds. I call it ‘Three
Williams Woman and a Pilot: Or How I Learned
to Stop Worrying and Love Chihuly.’
“My husband Dave flies for the private jet division of Delta Airlines. When a brief layover in
Seattle in April looked promising, he asked me to
join him from Cincinnati using my flight benefits.
The weather dictated our itinerary, or so we thought.
Mostly sunny skies inspired a day trip to Bainbridge
Island by ferry. Clouds led us to Chihuly Garden
and Glass the next morning. We were waiting for
tickets when I noticed a familiar ponytail poking
out of a baseball cap at the head of the line. It was
Cathy Ramsay along with Sue Hemond! The three
of us had lived in Williams F. What in the name
of physics, metaphysics or some other ‘y-sics’ happened? I hope the finest minds in our class will provide the answer. Until then, when Chihuly speaks,
Dave and I listen!”
V-Nee Yeh is still collecting wine and has “retired,
bagged the rat race. Spending summers wakesurfing (best fun ever, much better than wakeboarding
or water skiing) and winters skiing. Unfortunately
knees are at fourth-stage arthritis. Lateral cartilage
all gone, so will need knee replacements.” V-Nee’s
daughter Nadya is joining Williams’ Class of ’18.
Phil Darrow writes: “Robin and I are enjoying our
first year of empty nest-hood in L.A. after a short
stint in Las Vegas, both occasioned by the resumption of activity in homebuilding. It has been a journey. Son Mack is here in OC, daughter Adrienne is
in Michigan, and son Mason in New Jersey, so we
have not exactly created a family compound. Robin
is training as a massage therapist and I’m a willing
test dummy.”
Nevill Smythe: “We had a wonderful gathering
at Kathy Shanahan’s in January with Kathy, Sherri
Nelson, Bill Haylon, Val Collville and Pam Hansen
Platt. We also caught up with BethAnne Flynn outside of Boston at the New England squash tournament, where (daughter) Denison was competing.”
Denison will be going to UVA.
Fellow expat Rob Kukulka reports: “It is hard to
believe that it has been two years since I moved to
Abu Dhabi, and we have been enjoying traveling in
the region (Turkey, Jordan, Oman) as well as living
the expat life in the Emirates. We have been lucky
to have quite a few visits from classmates including Joe Cotter, Tinker Connelly, who was at a conference in Dubai, and Julia Fiske and her husband
Jim Parker (Kenyon ’81), who spent a weekend
here on their way to India. I was finally fortunate
enough to make the roster for the legendary Alta
ski trip this January organized by John Palmer and
his gang of ’79ers. There was good representation
from our class, with Bolo Reynolds, Steve Jenks and
Marc Tayer. Summer has arrived here, as it has been
well over 100 degrees the past few days, and we are
looking forward to spending most of the summer in
the States.”
This expat will soon be losing his “ex.” We
move(d) back to our home in Milton, Mass., in late
June. Luckily it has been totally rebuilt since being
destroyed by fire. The twins will miss all their international friends and experiences but are looking forward to spending their last two years of high school
in a new home with old friends and family.
I look forward to being able to report actually seeing classmates (before the 35th). Hope you had a
wonderful summer.
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1982
William K. Layman, 8507 Garfield St., Bethesda, MD
Dear Diary,
How faithful you are, sitting in my drawer each
day, awaiting my reflections on life and my innermost secrets. Today I decided to get a chocolate milkshake, thought better of it and decided on a stalk of
celery instead! Imagine my guilt—when I could have
simply clamped down and bitten the inside of my lip
instead. I hope you can forgive me.
At least I have my friends, Diary. Not just you, dear,
but also people like Mike Miller, whose faithful contributions to these pages are cheerful, consistent and
come by Gmail so I can see a little photo of him
with each one, reminding me that Tom Costley and
I are not the only Williams guys who look great
as bald men. Mike returned to health policy and
public affairs consulting after an in-house stint at
the National Governors Association. “I’m looking for new organizations to help successfully transition into the new realities of value-based health
care delivery and benefit design. I’m also looking
into opportunities with some high-tech companies
like Google[x].” Mike lives in the D.C. area where I
live, Diary, which is why I saw him at the WilliamsAmherst football game last winter. “I’m still the
secretary for the D.C. Williams alumni chapter
after a hard-fought election battle against ‘none of
the above,’ and trying to get work done while also
keeping up with the World Cup.”
Yes, there are my many accomplished friends, Diary,
who do not make me feel bad about myself or as if
I have wasted my life. Like Bern Johnson, executive director of the Environmental Law Alliance
Worldwide (www.elaw.org), who was recently presented with a David Brower Lifetime Achievement
Award for his work building the global ELAW network. Under Bern’s direction, ELAW and its partners have won countless victories around the world,
including protecting a community in South Africa
from a polluting landfill and shelving plans for polluting coal-fired power plants in India.
Diary, I recently learned that I am under consideration for a lifetime achievement award for my work
in playing 2048 on my phone for at least seven hours
a day ever since I got that stupid game. I am an angry
bird, indeed.
Luckily for me, Diary, I have other friends who
do cool things that help the planet, assuring that
you don’t think my whole world is spent interacting with technology. Erin (Sweeny) Evans and her
husband Dick own and operate the C Bar Ranch
in the Burro Mountains about 35 miles southwest of Silver City, N.M. And, Diary, they are so
awesome at running this ranch in a super-sustainable way that they won the Excellence in Range
Management Award from the New Mexico Society
for Range Management. Yes they did! And they
gave guest lectures at New Mexico State University
while cooperating on a research study designed
to evaluate the potential of genetic selection for
improving grazing distribution of beef cattle. Which
I think means that the hamburgers (yeah, plural,
Diary, that’s right) that I will eat for lunch today
will be that much more delicious.
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Diary, I’m so hungry, and I love my iPhone so
much. Is Apple coming out with a chocolate iPhone
soon? Please?
Last night, Diary, I watched the Spike Jonze movie
Her on demand on my iPhone. The movie is about
a guy who falls in love with his computer’s operating system, which allows him to have an emotionally
complex and erotically fulfilling relationship with the
voice of Scarlett Johansson via his phone. I did not
know that Spike Jonze made documentaries that are
not about skateboarding.
But life exists outside the virtual, Diary (even if I
like to imagine, Diary, that you also have the voice
of Scarlett Johansson. Or maybe at least her husky
giggle). Like, how about Will Hodgman, who is taking some time this summer to do local “bucket list”
things. “I started the first leg (of many) of the Pacific
Crest Trail/Washington State on July 13—83 miles
(of a total 500 miles) from Bridge of the Gods (kid
you not) to Route 23.” Then Will had planned a
weeklong sea kayak paddle in/around the San Juan
Islands, with his party and Seattle Mayor Mike
McGinn’s party rafting together up somewhere in
the passage between Sucia and Patos Islands. Finally,
Will reports that “Steve Siegler (Werbs) ’79 came
through Seattle with his kids Ben and Anna,” where
they were joined by Tad Seder ’79 and a few others
to watch Team USA in the FIFA World Cup.
Diary, even if you sound like Scarlett Johansson, is
it OK if I start calling you “Tad”?
Romance, Tad, is on my mind. And why not?
Annie Neal Corkill got married on March 30 to
Britt Stamps. (“So now I’m Annie Stamps instead
of Annie Neal Corkill, and I couldn’t be happier, as
you can probably tell—Britt was at my first wedding 27 years ago, and I was at his wedding that same
year, only we married the wrong people for a while!
This is the best do-over ever, and ... we will just have
to live longer to get more time with each other. So I
stopped smoking too!”) Annie, if Britt has the giggle
of Scarlett Johansson, then he is perfect. But don’t tell
me if he does. I’d rather not know.
Some marriages really hang in there, Tad or no
Tad, Diary. Lori Miller, out of touch with this particular journal for decades, is a United Methodist pastor serving the Pound Ridge Community Church in
Westchester County, N.Y. “In June I celebrated 23
years of marriage to John Halbrook, who is a psychotherapist with a private practice in NYC. In June
we also celebrated the high school graduation of
our younger son Gregory, who will attend SUNY
Morrisville in the fall and made Eagle Scout this
spring! Our older son Jaan Paul lives in Greenville,
S.C., with his wife Samantha and two little boys,
Alex and Connor. In June, I also saw Margaret
Collins Welton in New York, who is a dermatologist
in practice with her husband Bill in Lecanto, Fla.,
and the mother of two beautiful daughters, Ella, 15,
and Claire, 12.”
Diary, sometimes when I’m feeling randy and my
iPhone is dead, I open up the newspaper and read
“Cathy”—she’s so crazy! Nice to know that I’m in
good company, since Annabelle Cone also digs comics! “I am enjoying my research on Franco-Belgian
comics. Last year, I invited French web comic artist Boulet to campus, and he gave a very entertaining lecture to my seminar class. I just published an
1982
article in the International Journal of Comic Art on
the humorous erotic in two post-68 French comic
authors and am now wrapping my brain around the
Wild West in same aforementioned Franco-Belgian
post-war comics, the most well-known being ‘Lucky
Luke,’ but there are countless others.”
Diary/Tad, if you were a remarkably sentient and
emotionally needy operating system, might we have
Scarlett Johansson-voiced children? Al Gerra and
Mary Pat have a bunch, each apparently human,
three of whom are starting new schools next year.
“Kindergarten for Michael, middle school for Brian,
and Daniel will be attending a performing arts high
school for cello and bass after being homeschooled
since sixth grade. Mary Pat and I are looking forward
to some quality parent time with the kids in school,
if you know what I mean.” (Diary, do you know what
he means? Would Scarlett Johansson know what he
means?) “Right now I have some guy time as the rest
of the family is in Ireland for three weeks. Bigger picture, I’m enjoying retirement after leaving New York
in 2002. Mom passed away two years ago, but Dad is
still going strong at 94.”
Another friend with wee tots, Diary, is Jeff Menzer,
who lives on Capitol Hill. “I’m focusing on which
third-grade teacher my son will get next year, and
I just finished a master’s in health care administration at George Washington University.” And how
about Sean Bayliss: “Pulling up the rear in childrearing, I am spending my days at the rec park outside Woodstock, N.Y., with my 8-year-old. Spent
July 4 in Billsville with family taking in the new
Clark and fireworks. Life is (ridiculously) good in
Williamstown! Still making quirky paintings and
teaching.” How young these boys seem, Diary!
Of course, Diary, most of us have older children.
Mine are grown: Caila Driscoll now a teacher after
graduating from Middlebury, and Miles Layman
now a student at Colorado State University. Pete
Evans, a Bethesda-ite in Maryland like me, is also
an empty-nester. “However, did get a chance to host
Ned Chasteney for dinner a few weeks back and
was greatly amused at the fact that he has a daughter entering high school in Portland, Ore., who he is
trying (and failing miserably) to control. Also compared notes on recent trips to Italy—ours was slightly
better than the Chasteneys’ since it was without children and in celebration of a 25th wedding anniversary.” Nice, Pete.
And how about this more-grown child adventure
from golden-throated A.J. Moor? “Andy Miller and I
still are talking about our families’ great sailing adventure in Greece last summer. With our two teen girls
in tow (Maggie is Yale class of 2018, and Carolyn
enters high school this fall) the Moors met Andy,
Emily and their daughter and son in London (Emily
Fair is at Oxford and George is in his last year at the
ancient Westminster Abbey prep school) before flying to the Ionian islands. The very permissive tour
operator handed us a pair of 35-foot Beneteaus and,
with about 30 minutes of ‘training’ from our flotilla
captain, we were off. Fortunately, I was able to leverage my sailing know-how from sleep-away camp and
summers on Lake Michigan, so we only faced certain death once as I wandered so close to an island
that we came within seconds of smashing onto the
rocks. My daughter motored us out of harm’s way.
I also managed to hook my anchor on an undersea
cable once (just to be sure I wouldn’t float away?) as
we picnicked on a nearby beach. We had to cut the
anchor loose to depart. Andy had no previous sailing
knowledge but somehow he also avoided mishaps—
although the Millers did not have a working holding
tank for their toilet, so we were careful not to swim
near their boat while in port. It was a sun-drenched,
island-hopping adventure replete with Greek salads,
wines and lamb kabobs.”
Diary, when I’m not chatting with you, I try to get
out to play some music in the various watering holes
around D.C., like Gypsy Sally’s, where I recently got
down with some New Orleans music with Magnolia
Blue. But I’m not John Russell, Tad, no I’m not. He
recently conducted the L.A. Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl. In attendance: Rick Wentz, Michael
Newkirk, Olivia Garfield ’81, Pete Anthony ’84, “and
I’m sure a half-dozen more in the 40K attendees over
three performances July 2-4. It was all red, white,
blue, purple and gold!”
Also making me feel slightly less-than-great about
my own talents, Diary, is Lisa Mathews: “I’ve angled
away slightly from my hired-gun (whoops, writerfor-hire) position in kids’ books to writing a humorous mystery series for grown-ups, tentatively titled
Ladies Smythe & Westin (yep, sic). It’s set in fictional
Milano, which bears a murky resemblance to Matt
Simon’s stomping grounds in southwest Florida. Just
signed with an agent, so the traditional publishing
quest begins. Not sure exactly how the books would
fit in beside the substantial tomes on Eph’s Bookshelf
(nod to a few of my far more talented and acclaimed
fellow classmates’!) but I guess we’ll find out down
the road, if anything ever comes of them!”
O Diary, did I mention Tom Costley? Happily, he
claims to be up to nothing at all. “Except for a great
visit to Santa Fe, N.M., in May to ride the Santa Fe
Century with Jim Leonard and Story Reed Leonard
’84 and Chris Knapp ’84.” At his super-cool summer adventure business, Overland, Tom is into a great
summer with some of our classmates’ children on the
Overland staff: Sarah Cooperman, Maddy Lawler,
Jack MacCarthy, Claire Olvany and Cellie Pardoe.”
The recession, Diary, is ending in Williamstown, with
TC hiring like a madman.
Diary, I think I’ll polish off today’s lunch of New
Mexico hamburgers and chocolate shake with something in a peanut brittle. My own dental work has
been elaborate lately, yes, with a crown topping a rear,
bottom molar. But I can handle it because I’m up on
all the Williams dental news. Jane (Lopes) Puskas
completed her term as the first female president of
the Hinman Dental Society in Atlanta. She and husband John are almost empty nesters. “Our oldest,
who spent some time at Williams, just graduated and
is working in L.A.. We also have a daughter at John’s
alma mater, Princeton. Our youngest is applying to
colleges now, so we shall see.”
Ah, that sounds nice, Diary. Whaddaya say we go
out, grab Scarlett Johansson and Spike Jonze, bring
along a nice big bag of them burgers I love so much
and then head up to Williamstown for the cool
summer? Our friend Howard Shapiro and his wife
Shirley just “took the plunge and bought a house in
Williamstown, up on Northwest Hill, adjacent to
Hopkins Forest. In May, we inaugurated the house
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with a mini-’82 reunion, welcoming Bob Hannigan,
Paul Geroulo, Art Leo, Chris Lamb and Marc Rubin
for a long weekend. We hope to see many others in
the months and years to come!”
We’re all invited, Diary, and the weather, hoo-eeee,
it’s getting hot here in D.C.. I’ll bring my iPhone
charger and you, old friend. I’ll be a faithful correspondent, keeping the news coming. Let’s head north
soon, Scarett Johansson and Tad in our earpieces and
hearts.
1983
Beatrice Fuller, 404 Old County Road, Severna Park, MD
Congratulations to the Class of 1983 and the hard
work of our class agents for their success in fundraising for Williams this year. Over half of our class contributed to the Alumni Fund, and we just missed out
on a trophy. The big news in my house this summer
was dropping off my middle son, Braden Nelligan, at
the U.S. Naval Academy for plebe summer, and his
first year. Clearly his summer and college experiences
will be quite different from our days at Williams,
but I have to say I was really impressed with the care
and commitment shown by the commandants and
other leaders. Although I will not have any contact
him with him for most of the summer, and I promised him I would not skulk around campus pretending to walk with friends, I am grateful to Rob Blanck
’89, USNA women’s soccer coach and longtime family friend, who promises to keep a surreptitious eye
out for him.
I want to lead off with a note from Debbie
(Jenkins) Clark: “I got a big surprise today at one of
the orientations for new freshmen at Quinnipiac
University. One of the other professors looked familiar; it turned out to be Elena Bertozzi, who was in my
freshman entry in Morgan MW! She has joined the
visual and performing arts faculty and will be working to develop a new game design program. I’ve been
there for 20-plus years in the biology department and
met a few Williams alums from other classes, but
not from my own! In other news, I was at the Class
of 2014 graduation this weekend and had a chance
to talk to Jill Diamond Wruble and Dick Woodbury.
Our daughters/son were all graduating on a beautiful
and hot sunny day, with three student speakers and
the keynote speaker Michael Bloomberg. My family enjoyed a hike and picnic up Mount Greylock on
Saturday morning and our own party under a tent
behind Poker Flats. Wonderful weekend!”
Also attending the Williams graduation this year
was Marc Sopher. “Beautiful weather made the commencement festivities even more festive, and a number of us also enjoyed a minireunion. I had the pleasure of catching up with some of the P’14 group,
including Greg Holm, Dick Woodbury, Jill Wruble
(and husband Bernie Wruble ’63), Melanie Taylor,
Jeff Sutton (and wife Peggy Southard Sutton ’84)
and Ian Sanderson (and wife Anne L’Hommedieu
’84). It was also great to see my former squash teammate, Blake Auchincloss ’82. For the record, ALL
of these folks are looking good. Just the week
before, Bruce Goff invited me over for a cookout.
… Beverages served included a tasty home brew
(“867”—named for the classic Tommy Tutone tune)
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by Jay Thoman ’82, Williams chem prof extraordinaire. I was able to thank the brewmaster in person at graduation, as he was one of the elite participants, gowned in colorful robes and silly hats. My
note would not be complete without mention of
lunch with Hunter Pynchon, celebrating her birthday.
She lives in picturesque Manchester-by-the-Sea, and
I’m sure she’d enjoy showing visiting Ephs the local
scenery and beach.” With more graduation news,
John McClellan, proud papa, writes: “Liz Martineau
’82 and I celebrated our second daughter’s graduation from Mount Holyoke—Casey spent a semester
at Williams-Mystic, so she has her own Eph affiliation and thus she can still speak with her older sister
(Jane McClellan ’12). Besides work, I’m staying busy
in athletic events. I competed at the New England
Masters swimming championships in March, where
I saw many recent Williams grads, including Paul
Dyrkacz ’13 and Logan Todhunter ’13, who competed
in the trials for the 2012 Olympics. Thank heaven
for age groups! In April, Peter Orphanos ’85 convinced me to join him and Steve Delano ’86 to play
in Williams’ vitruvian water polo tournament. While
I was the oldest person in the pool, I did not drown,
nor seriously embarrass myself vs. the students from
UMass, BC and Dartmouth. Liz and I also competed in the Waldenman Triathlon relay, organized
by Sue (Marchant) LaChance ’82. Our team would
have done better if Sue had run for us! On the work
front, the consulting company I manage just hired
All-American diver McKenzie Murdoch ’14, joining four other recent alums. Our hiring strategy is
simple—recruit from Williams!” Doug Staiger “met
Rob Bowman, Mark Weeks and Tom Potter ’84 for
a ski weekend at Whistler and had a ball. Hadn’t
seen Tom since he moved to Hawaii, and his boys
were there, too. I had forgotten how much better skiers these guys were than me, but at least they had an
excuse for taking it easy! Mark’s daughter is going to
Middlebury next year so we will be seeing him more
regularly.”
Gretchen Campbell Seefried shares: “We thought
we’d be the first to be announcing a grandbaby but
found out that Todd Krieg and Liz Krieg beat us
to the punch. We had a great visit with them on
Gasparilla Island in April. They had a granddaughter in August. Hope all’s well with you and yours!”
Is this possible? I remember chatting with Liz in
Georgetown when she was pregnant with her first
child. Wow.
Switching topics completely, Bob Scott shares
an interesting personal story: “We all know that
Williams provides a first-rate education. And yet,
with one exception, I remember little, if anything,
from the classes I took. The exception is a book I read
called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by a guy
named Thomas Kuhn, in a class on western intellectual thought taught by Michael Metz. The thing
I remember about this book and from this class was
Kuhn’s thesis that when two industrial phenomenon
collide, they can produce a third industry—an innovation in technology—which can give rise to a technological revolution, a new industry, if you will. …
That’s all I remember from my academic career at
Williams. The rest is a blur (though I do remember
drinking beer at The Log with Bruce Leddy in front
of the big-screen TV watching the last game of the
1982– 83
USA vs. Russia hockey game in the ’84 Olympics).
Now, fast-forward to 2003 or so. I’m out in California
looking for emerging tech companies to finance. The
tech bubble had burst, and I smelled blood in the
water: potentially good companies at cheap valuations. For some reason I decided to attend a conference out in the East Bay (Oakland, Calif.), which at
the time was the tech equivalent of Siberia. There,
at this conference, I meet a lanky guy from Stanford
looking to raise money for his company, which at the
time was called Savage Beast Technologies. This guy
was a math-music major who decided to combine
his interest in mathematics with his love of music
and use algorithms to decode music into its constituent elements of rhythm, harmony, tonality—a kind
of music genome project, if you will. He was down
to his last credit card; he had maxed out, and pretty
much no one wanted to fund him. Well, I’m listening to this guy’s pitch and, Bingo! I get it. This guy
is doing exactly what the author of that book I read
at Williams talked about—combining two things to
produce a third thing, in this case, combining math
and music to produce a better listening experience.
Long story short, my partners and I financed him.
Despite a few near-death experiences trying to finetune the business model, the company survived, and
in 2011, after changing its name (thank God) listed
on the New York Stock Exchange as PANDORA.
Who knows, but for that book I read at Williams
(and a chance meeting at this no-name conference), Pandora may never have been funded. But,
today, thanks largely to a sense of wonder cultivated
from that class I took/book I read at Williams (and,
a work-ethic handed-down from my father) millions of people now enjoy a new industrial phenomenon called Internet radio. So much for those naysayers who claim that a liberal arts education is a waste
of time.”
Barbara (Riefler) Hammond writes: “I have been
very busy managing a nonprofit that I started four
years ago with a friend, called The Learning Alliance.
PBS just stopped by for a two-day visit, so we may
get some TV coverage. We’re trying to solve the
third-grade reading crisis where almost seven out of
10 third-graders are not reading proficiently. Sadly,
only one in seven succeed thereafter. With only one
in 10 jobs today available to people with low literacy,
third-grade reading has become the bellwether signal for individual success and community prosperity.
Sounds like I’ve been giving too many speeches, and
I have. Our work is all about supporting the teacher
with unheard of amounts of professional development. So, while I should be slowing down, my life is
speeding up. My two sons are 15 and 16. One loves
boats and fishing, and the other loves skateboarding.
So my husband finds himself next week supervising a fishing expedition with 10 16-year-old boys to
the Bahamas (imagine the fun of trying to convince
them that your experience outweighs their overconfidence), and I find myself in faraway cities watching
my other son and his five buddies skateboarding on
handrails and ledges (cringe). Not sure why neither of
them care for golf or tennis!”
Jessie Lenagh-Glue reflects, “It would have been
nice to have made it back to Billsville for our 30th—
but New Zealand is far, far away. Going to be in
Mass. in a few weeks—my youngest is going to
Andover Summer Session, and I am taking the
opportunity to visit old friends from Williamstown.
Am in my final year of an honors law degree at
Otago—have come full circle from doing psychology with Saul Kassin looking at cameras in the courtroom and am doing a dissertation in mental health
law in NZ! Just got my first author publication in
Australasian Psychiatry—not sure if it is groundbreaking, but I am finding it interesting.”
Rich Stern breaks his “lurker role to report that,
following the graduation of our youngest child from
high school last year, we moved to Vienna, Austria
(my job with the World Bank). It’s been an amazing change of life—empty nest, leaving a house we’ve
lived in for 17 years in D.C. Vienna is an amazing city—young, vibrant and, yes, a foodie city. Right
now, the city has been engulfed by the World Cup,
with giant screens set up in most large spaces, replete
with food and soccer emotion. Come visit.” Enith
Willams, writing from Kingston, Jamaica, planned
“to be in the States for August to spend time with my
son, who lives in D.C. Hoping to catch up with Bea
Fuller, Jill Wruble, Octavia McBride and any other
Ephs living between D.C., NY and Billsville (spending time on a friend’s farm in the Berkshires). We will
see who all I catch in my web.”
With more on summer fun with kids, Steve Flaim
explains that his “summer vacation this year was
devoted to kids’ activities. My 9-year-old daughter
Lilianne had a dance competition in Ocean City, Md.
Mom took her, and I played Mr. Mom with the rest
at home for a week in July. In August my 11-yearold son Matthew had a baseball tournament in
Cooperstown, N.Y., for an entire week.”
I close with a moving and heartfelt note from Jon
Tilles, who writes for perhaps the first time. “I was
very moved by your words about Mike Weiner’s
death—and more importantly the way he lived his
life. Mike was wicked smart, wicked funny, and most
importantly he was a real mensch. Even as a freshman he was wise and mature and compassionate way
beyond his years. He must have thought he won the
lottery when he landed that job as union representative for the MLB players union. I’m not surprised.
When our group of Williams D friends had to split
into two groups (one to Mission Park and the other
to Greylock) it was Mike who took it upon himself
to help us figure out how to divide our group without hurting anyone’s feelings. He was a really good
guy, and I regret I didn’t get in touch with him after I
read that he was in a wheelchair at the reunion. Make
sure you reach out to the people you care about while
you still can! I live in Philomath, Ore., just five miles
from Corvallis, where I, Ben Garrison and Katherine
Berry all hail from. It’s green and beautiful here. My
mom left me a cool house out away from town after
I kept getting arrested for playing reggae (blues and
hip hop too, but mostly reggae) too loud! After a lot
of ups and downs due to my bipolar illness, I have
finally accepted that my mission in life is to smoke
ganja and listen to and play roots rock reggae music
and to take African drumming lessons from these
dudes from Guinea and Senegal and hang out with
my long suffering (and also bipolar) partner Jody. …
I was so ashamed for decades because how much of
a failure I felt myself compared to my former friends
and classmates so eloquently reported about in your
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column. I feel so sad that I let myself lose contact
with Mike. I really loved him—he was the best kind
of person there is. I guess we just have to be grateful
for what we had of him and taken heed of his advice
for living. Thanks so much—I feel so much better—I
deeply mourned the loss of contact with my Eph pals
but it was totally my fault. Only a fool would risk love
to save face! One love, Jon.”
Thanks, Jon, for sharing your revelations and struggles with us. We are of an age where many of us have
faced and continue to weather personal and family challenges. Most of us have scars, visible and not.
(Reminds me of a favorite Cormac McCarthy line:
“Our scars remind us that our past is real,” from All
the Pretty Horses) I wish you, Jon, and all of our classmates, peace, health, happiness and some sense of
purpose. Again, let me know if you are in the D.C./
Baltimore/Annapolis area.
1984
Carrie Bradley Neves, 1009 Route 3, Halcott Center, NY
12430; Robert Kent, Temple Allen Industries, 687-J
Lofstrand Lane, Ste. 0CO, Rockville MD 20850;
Submitted by Carrie Bradley Neves and Rob Kent:
Greetings, 8EPH4ers, from the still-warm (as I
write) coals of our cool-weather but bright-burning
June-ing reunioning fireside. About that beautiful
weekend under Berkshire blue skies, the only complaint was never enough time to visit individually
with every long-time-no-see face. It seems like each
time we gather, there is a spreading natural connectedness that is such a pleasure to pursue.
Grateful appreciation to the reunion volunteers
who put in extra time to make it extra special: rallyer-in-chief Donna Ching; Greg Pachus; Jong Yang
and Barbara Close for collaborating on our class
gifts; Carrie Greene and Russ Howard, for the comfy
lounge in Perry House; Marissa Lazor, who arranged
entertainment for the kids; Bruce McEldowny for his
tennis tourney and Mount Greylock outing; Kathy
Howard, who led a gua sha class at the ’62 Center;
Ted Leon, for guiding a Hopkins Observatory tour;
Kenny Wyatt, for the lavish vodka endowment; John
Skavlem and Diane (Koenitzer) Halvorsen and her
husband O. Andreas Halvorsen for hosting the
reception at The Clark; and John again for securing
the DJ for the Saturday night disco.
In addition to all the happenings, our class won two
awards: the Atwell Trophy and the Hopkins Gate
Trophy, for raising the largest dollar amount overall
and the largest dollar amount for classes 26–49 years
out, respectively. Giant huzzah, agents, officers and
everyone who contributed. We also broke the attendance record for a 30th, with 137 of us.
After general settling in, the first banner ’84
buffet ensued Friday night under our Perry House
HQ tent. Thereafter, thanks to the (ahem) concerted
efforts of Arunas Gudaitis, Michael Winther, Greg
Pliska, Donna and Matt Kadish, there was a house
concert by classmates in the cozy climes of adjacent Wood House. Special thanks to the organizers and hosts—to have set up, set off and anchored
such a smooth and sensational evening was a spectacular feat. With acts from comedy to classical, it was
a diverting and eye-opening display of our talents—
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culminating with a song from our Freshman Review,
featuring nigh on half of the original cast members. The evening set a sweet tone for reuniting, mingling old connections with a sense of new bonds, new
adventures and new energy.
Without further ado, a note from Arunas, our new
class president: “I have to say, this was just a magnificent reunion. Catching up with old friends and
finding new ones, it’s clear that we’ve all gotten mellower and wiser over the years but are just as much
fun as ever! Thanks to Donna, John and team reunion
for a stupendous job. A shout-out too to all our outgoing class officers who guided the ’84 ship for the
last five years: president John McNicholas, VP Donna
Ching, treasurers Kathy Spraitz and Laura Spearman
Watt and co-secretary Sean Crotty. Still not sure how
it all happened, but I am somehow the new president. (Was that motion ever seconded?) Best part
of that is the chance to get to know even more new
’84 friends and to work with terrific new class officer
team members—co-VPs Roseanne Ilario Luzaragga
and Carrie Greene, treasurer Dorothy Briggs Brill and
co-secretary Rob Kent—together with the officers
who have agreed to stay on for another term, super
Secretary Carrie Bradley Neves and our super class
agents Suzy Akin and Scott Brittingham. Dan Aramini
is joining Suzy and Scott as a co-head agent, with Bill
McNamara and John Berg on board to support leadership giving. I look forward to working with you all!”
A quick report from the McEldowny sporting
fronts: “The No. 1 seeded doubles team of Andrea
Gessner Friedman and Doug Sparks outlasted the
Cinderella team of Rob Kent and Bruce McEldowney
to capture the first Pentannual Ephperson Tennis
Classic. Both Sara Griffiths and Mike Shore had to
withdraw in the first round due to dubious medical excuses.
“The Mount Greylock expedition had to turn back
early, as we learned that there was not a suitable electrical outlet at the summit to accommodate the popcorn machine. Instead, daredevils Audrey Albern,
Meg Foster and Julie Wolman met in the Gold
Room of Perry House to plan a conquest of K-2.”
More notes from the field:
Ben Bahn: “I love these reunions. I truly enjoy talking both to people I knew well and people I did not
know so well. The people in our class are so smart and
interesting; everyone has such fascinating stories to
tell. I loved hearing about Iraq from Jack McGonagle.
Dave Roland talked about the entertainment scene
in L.A. Tim Sedlock is a carpenter! How cool is that?
I drove in with Peter Muz. Who knew he was born
in Poland and can speak Ukrainian? I learned that
Heidi Fishman and I share a common history: Her
family and mine both survived WWII in Europe. I
drove back with Phil Busch. He had the most fascinating stories of the nuances of the law regarding
immigration. Who knew that Scott Brittingham is a
huge charity fundraiser in California? He regaled me
with fascinating exploits while we were both stuck in
the airport for four hours. I also caught up with Patti
Reuben, whom I dated in college. She is such a gem.
There is so much more I could say. But I have to run.
Can’t wait for the next one!”
Jeff McIntosh: “My thanks to all those who worked
on creating a wonderful 30th year reunion weekend.
Here’s a haiku of what it did for me: Parched soul
1983– 84
hungers/Purple valley oasis/Renews and restores. I
asked many of my classmates this question: ‘It is 30
years since you graduated. Did your major matter?’ I
know a lot of freshly graduated high school seniors
who are agonizing over picking the right major; is it
worth the agony? No one I asked had to think about
it. The answers were overwhelmingly and instantaneously ‘No.’ What did make a difference was the liberal arts education. Another common theme from the
weekend was, ‘If I had to do college all over again, I
would come here.’”
Lisa Scott Allison: “I have had many wonderful
and warm thoughts this past week. Most are centered on the comfort of connecting with old friends
with whom I forged bonds at Williams and my year
in France, even if those friendships aren’t part of my
every day today … and what struck me were the
very sincere, meaningful conversations I had with all.
What a special privilege it was to congregate with
the Class of ’84, then and now—reconnecting with
old friends and yukking it up with my dear, dear
friends who are still part of my everyday life. And I
couldn’t help thinking about the classmates I missed,
too. Fortunately I got to see my roommate and fond
friend Carol Newhall Nielson in April while visiting
Swarthmore with my son Reese. We had a fabulous
dinner with her daughter Annie and husband Ted
and picked up right where we left off.”
Peter Muz: “Thanks, classmates, for an excellent
time at the reunion. I was surprisingly moved by visiting the old Sawyer Library. A part of me wants to
make a museum out of the old stacked carrels in the
basement and the upstairs sunken desks. But it would
be of limited interest to those who never studied
there, and looking at it through contemporary eyes, it
seems like an old, tired, contemporary, boxy building.
Since the new space is so grand, it’s probably best to
let the old Sawyer go.”
Jeanmarie Condon: “Favorite moment: Everyone
dancing to ‘Burnin’ Down the House,’ ‘Blinded Me
with Science,’ ‘Sunglasses at Night,’ and ‘It’s Raining
Men’ at Perry House on Saturday night. No wonder we were in such good shape back then—though
I think it was a good thing our offspring didn’t see us
all dancing with our name cards dangling around our
necks. As I said to someone that night: ‘It turns out
our kids are right … we really aren’t cool.’
“Sorry I have been bad about contributing—I’ve
sort of been hibernating as I muddled through some
big life events. After a long stint writing and directing docs for Peter Jennings and Diane Sawyer at
ABC News, I moved to the West Bank to teach documentary and broadcast journalism, fell in love, lived
through a pretty intense war, had a child, was widowed and then returned to the States. I then put in
many years as the executive producer of Nightline
while raising my daughter Laila. In February, I was
promoted to senior executive producer of content
and development for the news division, where I have
a great assignment overseeing deep dives on the big,
complicated stories (see Iraq, Syria, immigration) and
making docs and web series for ABC and others. This
means I will have more normal hours and can do my
best to contribute more to this column and, more
importantly, reconnect with friends.”
Dorothy Briggs Brill: “We are not too old to find
love and romance—I was happy and proud to be
listed on the program as Jack McGonagle’s significant other. It wasn’t just a weekend fling; we have
been dating for a year and a half. Sorry, ladies, he’s off
the market!
“Besides having an incredible, exhausting, burnthe-candle-at-both-ends weekend (just like being a
student again), a bunch of our kids also enjoyed the
reunion and campus. My son Cooper loved hanging at Perry (big game of Manhunt Saturday night)
with kids his age who’d joined their parents Dina
Zeckhausen, Kathy Spraitz, John McCarthy, Scott
Brittingham, Jeff Congdon, Kathy Howard and Rob
McLean. He got a chance to throw the football with
John, a former NFLer, and enjoyed an impromptu
aikido lesson after shooting pool with Rob Kent.”
Rory Costello: “Although prior family obligations
meant that we had to leave the Purple Valley at 4
a.m. on Saturday, I feel we did well to chat with as
many old friends as we did, though some of the chats
were on the brief side. I saw other familiar faces but
didn’t actually get to speak (hello, Tom Gaillard and
Kaia Updike) and barely missed still others (until next
time, Kendall James).”
Jong Yang: “Great seeing everyone last weekend.
For those who couldn’t make it or those who missed
getting a T-shirt tagged with our own 8EPH4 logo,
I’ll be doing another silkscreen print run. Just send
me your shirt or other cotton printable, along with
a postage-paid return envelope, and I’ll ink it and
return it. Please write your name on tape and stick it
on your item so I have an ID, and let me know where
you want the graphic positioned. Send to Jong Yang,
618 Walden St., Concord, MA 01742. For a picture
of the logo, check out @8EPH4 on Instagram or our
Facebook page.”
And from those who couldn’t make it (you were
missed!):
Stephen Brewster: “Sorry to miss reunion, but it
conflicted with my son’s wedding, which was also a
Williams event, as my son, Leland Brewster ’11, married Jenny Schnabl ’10. Hope to make it next time!”
Perdita Finn: “Sorry not to make it to the reunion.
I’m getting ready for my son’s graduation from high
school, so it was too hard to get away. I have a book
coming out next January from St. Martins called The
Reluctant Psychic. I’m sort of the medium’s medium,
ghostwriting for an extraordinary local oracle I’ve
come to know. You can pre-order it on Amazon; I’ll
post a link on Facebook. And hope I can make it to
the 35th.”
Bill Sawyers: “Sorry I missed the reunion, but
I have a good excuse: I was at my son Reed’s high
school graduation. Reed starts at Williams this fall;
we are thrilled to have another Eph in the family. I
have returned to Del Monte Foods in San Francisco
as general counsel and chief compliance officer.”
(Secretary note: Reed Sawyers will join Suzy Akin’s
son Ian Mook and several other ’84 progeny as members of the Class of ’18. If yours is one of them, let us
know, because I’d like to ask each to share a few “first
impressions” sentences in our next class notes.)
Heidi Fishman: “I’m happy to report that I have
recently finished a complete draft of the book I have
been working on, about my mother’s Holocaust survival story. She was 5 when Holland was invaded
by the Germans and spent 18 months in concentration camps. I will be looking for an editor, agent
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and publisher soon, so if anyone has any ideas, please
let me know. Besides writing, I have just been trying to keep one step ahead of my teens (ages 15, 16,
17 and 19). Between driving lessons, a home-grown
pottery studio, college search and other teen activities, I have more than enough to keep me busy here
in Vermont.”
Bronwen Loeb: “Straggler report from Cheverly,
Md. … Eric and I went to the UK in May and had
a lovely visit with Christine Young and her husband
Mark and daughter Hope. It was so wonderful to
catch up and have the time to simply enjoy each other’s company. Unfortunately, it also made me realize
that I don’t seem to have friendships like that in my
day-to-day life. Williams was a precious gift to me in
so many ways, and profound friendships are not least
among them.”
Lastly, from new co-secretary Robert Kent: “Your
new and humble servant also enjoyed the weekend
tremendously, from late Thursday night musings with
Phil Carroll on how best to recreate Periclean Athens
by improving our education system to Friday night’s
wonderful coffee house performances to something
that resembled tennis thanks to Bruce on Saturday
to quality time with friends that came from near
(Tim Sedlock and Jackie (Ziter) Sedlock) and far (Jeff
McIntosh) and all distances in between. One particular pleasure was spending more time with former
roommate John Leahy than I’d had the chance to do
in at least 20 years. Dozens more conversations of
note and fond remembrance I will not chronicle here,
because my job is to share your story and not just my
own; but suffice it to say that something truly special
transpired in our little corner of the campus reunion
weekend. Here’s to the hope that something truly
special continues to occupy your own little corner of
the world wherever you’ve returned to.”
Till next time! —CBN and RK
1985
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Wendy Webster Coakley, P.O. Box 1640,
Lenox, MA 01240; 1985secretary@williams.edu
“Wendy, this is Craig Lee ’84. You don’t know me
but it’s important that you get back to me as soon
as possible.” This was the message I received on a
Saturday in April, telling me that Bruce Albelda had
suddenly passed away earlier that day. The Williams
network mobilized to do what it does best, providing
support and information, shepherded by class president Peter Orphanos.
Co-class agents Elizabeth Edwards Prickett and
Randy Rogers flew to Chicago for Bruce’s memorial service three days later, as did Bob Lumley and
Jim Singer. Former Williams President Morty
Schapiro, now president of Northwestern, was also in
attendance.
Morty was Bruce’s economics thesis adviser. Since
relocating to that other purple institution of higher
learning in the Chicago suburbs, he saw Bruce frequently, on and off the golf course. He asked that I
share this remembrance with the class: “Bruce started
as my student and ended up being one of my greatest friends. He had an extraordinary talent for keeping in touch with people from every stage of his life.
He never let us go, and for that we are all so grateful.
I loved him and I miss him.”
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Elizabeth and Randy sent the following to their
fellow agents, as well as those of you who were fortunate to have Bruce as your own agent: “Many of you
knew Bruce far better than we did, but we all knew
Bruce through his work on the Williams Alumni
Fund. Jim Singer remarked that he thought Bruce
had been his class agent since graduation, and it certainly is true that Bruce covered more classmates than
any of the rest of us by a multiple of two or three.
Bruce began his ‘calling program’ with a summer letter, well before most of us had even begun to think
about the coming fund year, and had emailed us as
recently as April 18 (more than a month after the end
of the active solicitation period) to report that his last
expected gift had just come in; amazingly, Bruce went
on to express remorse that he had not been able to
track down the last of his repeat donors, despite the
fact that he had already brought in the largest number of class gifts this year!
“At his service, we learned that Williams was
only one of Bruce’s many passions. He was as, if
not more, involved with his synagogue, professional
life, high school friends in Pittsburgh, the Steelers,
golf, ancestral history and, of course, his wife Sarah
and girls Ryan and Alison. Speaker after speaker
commented on Bruce’s ability to make and maintain connections, using business trips as an excuse
to catch up with old friends and impressing Alison
with his recall rate on the 3,000 contacts in his
phone; virtually everyone we spoke with had ‘just
talked with Bruce.’ We also learned that Bruce was
very focused on health, shyly proud of the ‘six pack’
he still maintained, and dressed for a paddle tennis
game on the morning that he died. As his 80-yearold father-in-law said, ‘It’s not supposed to happen
this way.’
“A Williams banner was prominently displayed at
Bruce’s service, confirming what we already knew
about Williams’ place in his heart. We, too, are grateful to Williams for making it possible for us to have
known this incredibly talented, generous and muchloved individual.”
Bruce’s brother Steve Albelda ’75 sent this heartfelt message: “On April 26, my wife Suzanne Fluhr
’75 and I received a telephone call in Honolulu where
I was doing a sabbatical. It was my sister calling to
inform me that Bruce had been found dead by his
wife Sarah that morning. Bruce was my younger
brother by 10 years, but we had some things in common. His Williams graduation was the same year
as our Williams 10-year reunion, and he came to
Philadelphia to attend the Wharton School at Penn
for his MBA, just as I had come to Penn (where I still
work) for medical school.
“We were stunned by the news. Bruce was the
youngest of the three of us. He was also seemingly
the healthiest, exercising regularly and able to limit
himself to one spoonful of ice cream. We managed to
snare the last two seats on a red eye from Honolulu
and were in Chicago the following day. We had been
too in shock to cry until we walked into Bruce and
Sarah’s home. It was then that the magnitude of our
family’s loss was palpable. Bruce’s two teenage daughters, Ryan and Alison, were poised and composed but
clearly in great pain. It was heartbreaking when Ryan
told us that Bruce had told her what he intended to
say at her wedding.
1984– 85
“At Bruce’s memorial service two days later, they
needed extra seats. The synagogue was filled by
Bruce’s relatives, colleagues and friends, including his
boyhood friends from Pittsburgh. He clearly must
have been important to a lot of people for so many to
gather with such short notice. We knew that Bruce
had been a class agent for his Williams class, the
intensity of his dedication to his alma mater reflected
by the Williams banner that covered his casket. I’m
sure we will keenly feel Bruce’s absence when we
attend our 40th reunion at Williams next June. It
would have been Bruce’s 30th.”
Like Bruce’s brother, Bob Lumley traveled from his
home in Hawaii to make it in time for the service.
He later sent me this: “Eager. That was Bruce. Bruce
was eager in everything he did. The most genuinely
eager person I have ever met.
“Eager to learn. Eager to befriend. Eager to help.
Eager to try new things. If you left Bruce a voicemail, he would call you back within 10 minutes (vs.
10 days when somebody leaves a voicemail for me).
And, when you talked to Bruce, it seemed as if he
had just spoken to everybody you ever knew within
the last few days. He would always say ‘What can I
do to help? Can I call this person? I have a friend of
a friend who knows all about that. Let’s set up a conference call.’ And 15 minutes later, an Outlook meeting invite would show up in your inbox, complete
with agenda, contact details and a conference call
number and code. The only thing he was not eager
to do was to actually hit the golf ball when he golfed.
He could (and did) take an unusually high number
of practice swings! There were more than 400 people
at his memorial service. And everybody who spoke,
and everybody we spoke to, said the same thing about
Bruce: He was always the first to volunteer to help. I
have no idea how he could fit all of these friendships
into his life, but he did. I think his favorite war story
concerned Chem 103. For 18 of us, it was the very
first class of our Williams College career, and Bruce
still loved telling the story of that first class 33 years
later. ‘Jimmy Brawner sat in the second row. Lance
Rothstein was in the front. Emily Sneath Jones sat
next to Lumley. Singer was sitting here.’ The vividness
and humor with which he could recollect that one
hour was remarkable. And I think this is how he lived
every moment of his life. Nobody was as engaged in
life as Bruce was.”
From Jill Klein Tyson ’82: “Four years ago, Bruce
and I reconnected in the suburbs of Chicago. Bruce
loved reminding me (teasing me!) that I had been
his Chem 103 TA: the class that he took with his
dear pals Bob Lumley and Jim Singer. But through
our new friendship, I realized he was the true teacher.
Thanks to Bruce, we ended up working together for a
couple years at Guggenheim Partners. He reminded
me—all of us—to keep an open mind, that the possibilities were endless, to keep trying and that the
world was a wonderful place. After every lunch, no
matter what, we would share a giant cookie. (Bruce
knew every lunch spot that had giant cookies!)
“Everyone knew Bruce. Everyone at the office.
Everyone in town. When we’d go for a run or out
for coffee it was like hanging out with a celebrity.
Bruce never ended a conversation without making
sure there was a ‘next step’—another coffee, a paddle game, a golf date, dinner plans, a run. And Bruce
so loved Williams. I had never seen a coffin draped
in a Williams flag. But it was painfully appropriate because Williams really did lose one of its own.
Always a huge, warm smile. Always there. The kindest, most thoughtful friend.”
In the wake of the loss of such an honorable Eph,
someone whose quiet devotion to our alma mater
inspired so many others to pay it forward, it seems
impossibly blasé to report on the day-to-day news
of the class. But life goes on, as Bruce would want
and—as the ultimate “people person”—would insist
be shared and celebrated.
Congratulations to Jenine Gordon Bockman, whose
sparkling literary magazine, Literal Latte, celebrated
its 20th anniversary in June. From its printed origins distributed in New York’s coffee houses and
book stores to its current international online edition,
Jenine’s venture is devoted to bringing new writers
from around the world to the attention of editors and
agents. Check out www.literal-latte.com.
Claudia Rankine ’86, who entered Williams with
our class and is now the Henry G. Lee Professor
of English at Pomona College, won the prestigious
Jackson Poetry Prize. The $50,000 award honors an
American poet of exceptional talent who deserves
wider recognition. Claudia was one of a select group
of froshwomen who daily ascended five heart-pounding flights to the upper echelons of Morgan East,
along with Judy Berman, Victoria Chester ’84, Polly
Gottesman, Cheryl Robinson Joyner, Tracey Tenser
Sydel and yours truly.
Kudos to Zayong Koo, who was named VP/head of
global corporate communications for Hyundai Motor
Co. in Seoul. Christina Lundquist is now VP of operations at University Hospitals of Cleveland, following an impressive stint at Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore. The shifting health insurance landscape
has been good to Rich Gallun, CEO of Chicagobased Bswift LLC, a health care benefits software
firm that enables employers to provide comparison
shopping, enrollment and administration of health
insurance benefits. Rich’s company also operates
insurance exchanges for private and public markets.
In my last column, I noted that Jeff Speck had
achieved 21st-century coolness for his TED talker
status. David McCabe can be added to that list as a
regular HuffPost contributor. (His day job is professor of philosophy at Colgate.) You can read his posts
at http://huff.to/1jESmrQ.
Mike Coakley, our sons and I met Cacky Caan
Mayher and two of her daughters for lunch on their
drive up to New England from their home in New
Jersey. Cacky was doing a double-drop off—taking Tory to Trinity College and Lane to Berkshire
School, where Pieter Mulder ’86 is the headmaster.
My reunion staffing duties included marshaling the
Class of 1984 in the parade. Any apprehension about
herding a bunch of rambunctious 50-somethings was
swiftly alleviated when I spotted Cathy Wick, there in
her role as spouse of Rob McLean ’84. We had a great
catch-up convo as we marched. Cathy and Rob love
experiencing the Williams of the 21st century via
their son Jack McLean ’17. Which reminds me: Save
the date for our 30th reunion, scheduled for June
11-14, 2015. More details to come from class president Peter Orphanos. Meanwhile, who’s still rocking
their flamingo pink tee from our fifth?
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1986
James Peter Conlan, Tulane D-2, San Juan, PR 00927;
News from VP Tim Faselt! Apparently, the Faselt
family bought a home in Williamstown this past
winter: “We’ve only been there a few weekends so
far,” Tim wrote, “but each time we‘ve gone, we’ve
run into old friends and faces. Michelle and I are
really excited and hope to see more friends passing
through.”
Sara Beadle Reed writes from Stowe, Vt., “where it
is beautiful but cold … mid-June, but spring arrived
only recently!” Sara is teaching AP history at a local
high school “way out in the country.” How way out?
“My students often ride snowmobiles or ATVs to
school, wear a lot of camo, and bring me venison
and eggs.” Apparently, there is quite an exchange of
knowledge going on: “They have taught me to change
a tire, catch a fish and trap a mink that was eating all
the fish in my pond. They like to tell me that their
knowledge is far more practical than mine!”
Sara does a lot of skiing, hiking and music
with her children. Her children appear to have
embraced Sara’s own high standards of education, and that has brought benefits for all: Her
oldest daughter, Evelyn, 21, is starting her senior
year at Yale in the fall and looking at med school
after that, and her son Sam, 18, enters Harvard in
September. Sara’s youngest, Fiona, 14, has been
busy measuring their bedrooms to choose the
best trade-up: “I agreed to that over a pony!” Sara
admits, highlighting the promise of her youngest’s
negotiating skills.
Perhaps if Sara changes her mind about the
pony, she might talk to Jeff Lifson, executive VP of
Midwest operations for West Point Thoroughbreds.
Jeff and those who were following his ponies on
the track had a particularly exciting spring, when
West Point Thoroughbred’s Commanding Curve
broke hard in the final furlong and placed (finished
as runner-up) in the Kentucky Derby. As the pundits completely overlooked the potential of this horse,
Commanding Curve went off as a 35:1 underdog.
The payout of $17 on a $2 bet was the best return of
the day.
“Life in Minnesota is great!” writes Dr. Clark Otley.
Since finishing his fellowship in 1996, Clark has been
on staff in the Department of Dermatology at Mayo
Clinic, serving as chairman of the department for
the past six years. Six weeks ago, Clark took on the
additional responsibility of medical director of Mayo
Clinic Ventures, the invention and entrepreneurial
branch of Mayo Clinic. “Although I have some experience with medical invention and commercialization,” Clark writes, “the learning curve is steep and
fascinating.” Clark welcomes communication with
fellow Ephs who may see opportunities for collaboration on medical technology, invention and commercialization, so give him a call! Concerning his family,
Clark writes, “We’re busy and having a great time.” Jill
Marie Leet-Otley ’85 is busy leading a STEM charter
high school where all the students are from Somali
families. “All the graduating seniors are going to college,” writes Clark, “based on significant increases
in scores and performance in this school.” Taylor,
their oldest, is a rising senior at Wesleyan; Kendall
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Leet-Otley, their daughter, is a rising sophomore at
Williams; and their twin high school seniors, Grant
and Keller, were touring colleges over the summer.
“Thinking of our classmates and hoping all
are adeptly navigating our transition into our
sixth decade,” Tedie Jones writes. Her son will be
attending Case Western Reserve University in
Tedie’s hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, in the fall.
“He just walked in while I was typing this to tell
me that he did his first solo flight today (he’s getting his pilot’s certificate)”—a talent that shall
make him a coveted contact on the ride board,
no doubt. Tedie’s daughter was leaving for China
on a two-week-long school trip, quite the adventure for a ninth-grader to cap off a year of singing, rowing crew, playing basketball and studying hard at her new school. “My husband and I are
busy with work,” Tedie admits, “but we took some
time around this Father’s Day weekend to catch
some exciting moments in the NHL finals, NBA
finals and the World Cup … as well as attend a
baseball game as a family.” Not so long ago, Tedie
and her family had the mixed fortune of missing
their connecting flight through San Juan. After the
aggravation of spending hours in the airport trying to get set up at a hotel paid for by the airlines,
they left the airport in the dark. The next morning,
though, was better: “We enjoyed a sunny, warm
taste of a beautiful seaside view,” writes Tedie,
and then they headed into Old San Juan to see El
Morro, a citadel begun in the 16th century to control the entrance to San Juan Bay now run by the
National Park Service. As luck would have it, they
arrived on the day of the kite-flying festival. “The
lawns out by the park were covered with folks picnicking and flying kites. It was quite a sight, and it
was a spectacularly beautiful day.”
Visiting San Juan with his family on purpose, Dan
Damstra had better luck finding me. Dan, his wife
Inge, his teenage daughter Emma and his twin sons
John Damstra ’16 and Conrad Damstra ’16, both at
Williams, met me for dinner in Condado on the
crowded Sunday when the monthly outdoor jazz fest
is held. It’s an interesting moment, perhaps a rite of
passage, when one has cocktails with one of his classmate’s sons and hears how the college has changed.
John and Conrad will soon be getting a sense of
how education is done elsewhere than in the U.S.,
each headed off to Europe in the near future, one to
Hungary to study Hungarian over the summer, the
other to Oxford to study philosophy in the fall.
Don Murray checks in: “My weird little law practice, which I learn more and more to keep pruned
for the best balance between complication at work
and time to live life outside work, continues to chug
along. I’ve been really lucky in this regard all along,
and still wonder when I am going to have to grow
up. I’m hoping no time soon.” Don’s oldest daughter is in college in Ireland at University College
Dublin (for four years), where she is studying law
and history. “Law is an undergraduate degree in
Ireland, and because law is so closely related to
law here, New York will allow her to sit for the bar
exam when she is done. Nice thing to have in your
back pocket after undergraduate school, if you ask
me. She is also studying history as a sort of minor
at the same time. With one year under her belt,
1986– 87
she has done well and is having an amazing experience. Funny to hear my punk 18-year-old talking about contracts and torts like she knows what
she is talking about. She keeps saying she probably isn’t ever going to practice law, but I think it is
fine. I see law as a sort of liberal arts major anyway.”
Don’s younger daughter is a couple of years away
from college still: “Who knows where her path may
lead?” Don sees Mark Young and his wife and Art
Xanthos and his wife on regular basis. “We all went
out to dinner recently, followed by an opening-night
movie experience to watch Godzilla in 3D. … It
was a grand time.” Apparently, Don and Mark did
some “research” in advance of this by seeing a showing of the original Godzilla movie with subtitles:
“Interesting, slow, weird movie it was,” Don remarks,
“and it didn’t have Raymond Burr in it the way the
American version did.” Even more recently, “We
all had dinner at Mark’s place in Brooklyn,” Don
writes, “where we got to spend time on his rooftop lounge lording over Brooklyn with views of the
Statue of Liberty off in the distance.)” Mark apparently has top-shelf tastes in pre-owned outdoor
furniture: “Installed in this rooftop lounge,” writes
Don, “are a couple of actual seats from the original
Shea Stadium that Mark somehow managed
to obtain.”
1987
Jeffrey A. Heilman, 426 67th St., Fl. 2, Brooklyn, NY
11220; Jill Shulman, 135 Red Gate Lane, Amherst, MA
As we approach the pivotal half-century mark in
our lives, it is safe to say that we have arrived, however
and wherever that may be. Where will our continuing life journeys, sprung in the now distant 1960’s,
take us next? One preview can be found by looking
in the opening pages of these notes, where the oldest living alumni, a half-century or so our seniors, are
still reporting in. Continue to visit their pages, as we
ourselves advance into what are hopefully even more
fulfilling years ahead, getting wiser, possibly even
younger, along the way.
One classmate committed to going the extra distance—60 miles, to be exact—is Sean Brennan. In
April, sporting his “vintage yellow bike helmet,”
Sean and his “Broken Spokes” mates raised nearly
$30,000 for the Greater New England chapter of
the National Multiple Sclerosis Society by cycling 60
miles around Martha’s Vineyard. Sean and his beautiful wife Shannon are also regulars on the musical stage, “playing loads of music on the Cape and
around the Boston area.”
Also tuned up and helping others is Paul Rardin,
who just finished his third year as director of choral
activities at Temple University, where he conducts
the concert choir and teaches graduate conducting. “It’s been great to be back home in Philadelphia
after many years away,” writes Paul. “I recently had
the opportunity to conduct a choir of residents and
staff from Project Home, a local nonprofit devoted
to eradicating homelessness in Philadelphia,” he
continues. “It was a great experience and a nice
way to step out of my (albeit urban) ivory tower
to work with members of the formerly homeless
community.”
Another plus? “Jon Bon Jovi, who is a major donor
to Project Home, was in attendance to hear my adhoc choir sing his ‘Because We Can,’” adds Paul. “Just
slightly different from the Bach and Haydn projects I had taken on earlier in the year—and possibly my sole career opportunity to conduct music by
Bon Jovi!”
Continuing in the academic realm, Annie Gilbert
Coleman reports from Notre Dame, where she serves
as associate professor and director of undergraduate
studies in the university’s department of American
studies.
“I am loving the department, which I joined five
years ago,” writes Annie. “I get to teach courses on
American wilderness, making the American west,
and sports and American culture, which was especially interesting last semester with the NLRB ruling
on Northwestern and (L.A. Clippers owner Donald)
Sterling’s initial blowup.” Annie is also “still plugging
away on a book about professional outdoor guides,
and will get a bit of field work in this summer during
a short fly fishing trip with my Dad, John Gilbert ’59,
on the Green River in Pinedale, Wyo.”
This summer, Chicago-based Julie Welborn taught
two continuing education courses at the Institute for
Black Catholics at Xavier University in New Orleans,
followed by 10 days in Israel where she took eight
Catholic high school teachers to learn about the
modern state of Israel.
“Tasked with incorporating this subject into their
curricula, the teachers learned about the historic land
of Israel with its roots in the collective Jewish memory and the pivotal role that it plays in Jewish identity, and the church’s role in modern Jewish history,” explains Julie. “The trip was sponsored by the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the
Archdiocese of Chicago—of which I am soon to
become director of Catholic identity and mission.”
It’s “slow food and fast skis” for Mary Keller, fresh
off her Wyoming Climate Forum and under way
with her Kickstarter campaign, along with e-media
and Cactus Productions, “for a documentary that tells
the story of Grant Bulltail, an Apsáalooke (Crow)
tribal elder in his effort to reconnect with the mountain that adopted his ancestors.”
Writing from L.A., where she works with the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focused
on HIV prevention, Sharon Novey and husband Ted
Harshberger ’85 enjoyed “an unbelievably beautiful”
first-ever trip to Yosemite this spring with their two
teenagers.
“Our son Brendan took photos for his 10th-grade
project that rival Ansel Adam’s best work,” reports
Sharon, “while back home, Miriam, the diva of the
family, made her stage debut as Ms. Darbus in her
middle school’s rendition of High School Musical.”
Joking that Miriam “missed a Tony nomination by
only one vote,” Sharon also recently caught up with
Elizabeth Skorcz Anthony ’86, “my BFF since our
days in Chadbourne House and an inspiration with
her fantastic paintings in a recent group show from
Malibu Artists Unite.”
As the following dispatches reveal, connections
with classmates and fellow Ephs remain a dominant
theme.
Malcolm Smith recently visited Steve Browning in
Houston, where he found Steve, now managing his
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law firm’s local office, “happily ensconced with wife
Sara and son Sam in their trendy townhouse and its
rockin’ rooftop deck.”
Mike Best, who just concluded more than 20 years
of service in New York City government—including
eight years as general counsel of NYC’s Department
of Education, and during the last couple of years,
as counselor to former NYC mayor and 2014 commencement speaker Michael Bloomberg—reports on
several recent Eph meetings.
“I regularly see Nik Khakee,” writes Mike, who lives
in Brooklyn with his wife Jenny and works as chief
of staff at Bloomberg LP. “Not too long ago, I hung
out with Adam Ruderman and his lovely family and,
on another occasion, with Cindy Morhouse Bardwil,
despite the fact that she is always asking me to give
money to our alma mater.” Continuing the jest, Mike
adds, “I guess Cindy should get points as an effective class agent, even if she recently told me she can’t
make it to commencement to see my boss speak.”
Returning serve, Cindy confirms dining with
Mike and Nik, informing also that Bloomberg
“was a client when I worked at Chemical Bank
eons ago.”
Cindy ran into Facebook co-conspirator Bob
Gallagher ’88 at NYC’s Five Boro Bike Tour in May.
I should say “waited” for Bob, whom Cindy reports
besting by an hour in the event. Cindy also visited
Thayer Tolles at New York’s Metropolitan Museum
of Art, where Thayer thrives in role as curator of
paintings and sculptures in the American Wing.
Says Thayer: “One of the great pleasures of working
at the Met is that our classmates voluntarily come to
look at art, doubtless thanks to their excellent training
at Williams. Along with Cindy, Ann Marie Plankey,
Karen Adams Finley, Monica Crossman Meling and
Jody Abzug ’88 have all visited recently.”
Along with inviting all classmates to “come see
what you have retained from your Art 101-102
days,” Thayer says that her daughter’s “‘Great College
Search,’ ending happily at Dartmouth, brought
me back into my liberal arts comfort zone, where
I enjoyed hospitality, empathy and excellent advice
from Kelly Flynn Post, Jill Shulman, Rich Miller ’86
and Donna Lisker ’88.” Thayer also enjoyed a “random
East 84th Street encounter” with Williams C peeps
Curt Myers, and in Denver, with Bruce Pohlman,
“both after many years.”
Daniela Klare Elliott writes, “While I’m pretty
sure I haven’t contributed in about a decade, hilariously it feels like not much has changed!” Living in
Manhattan with her husband Steve and their three
girls, Daniela “had so much fun at the 25th reunion,
I had planned on organizing dinners with the NYC
women of ’87, as I know Nancy Clapp Kerber and
friends put together in Boston.” That was the plan
anyway, until her “slacker ways intervened,” but with
renewed commitment, here’s Daniela’s call to the
women of ’87: “Let’s have dinner!”
The word must be getting out. Joey Horn recently
dined with friends Alex Ruah, Jan Shim and Sonali
Weerackody ’86 in Gotham. Sue Christensen
arranged a dinner for Eph friends at destination
restaurant Blue Hill Stone Barns in Westchester
County, north of the city, including husband Steve
Jones, Rob Miller and Maureen “Moe” Miller, and
Angela Bedoya and her husband Javier.
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“Moe” writes that she is making a welcome return
to golf and other activities following hip surgery. “We
have been on the go quite a bit, including a road trip
to Wisconsin with our oldest son, who worked there
this summer, Nashville and Sun Valley. Rob and our
youngest son Thomas are into competitive shooting, which has them traveling all around, from South
Carolina to Rhode Island.”
Residing in suburban Greenwich, Conn., Alec
Dawson and Anne Noel Dawson recently attended
a local gathering of Ephs at the home of David
Frechette and Mika Wood Frechette ’93, where guests
included the Dawsons’ long-time neighbors, John
Booth and Laura Cook Booth.
“Our daughter Katherine is heading to Greenwich
Academy for high school, where she will be classmates with the Booths’ daughter Aimee,” writes
Anne Noel. “Our son William, meanwhile, is finishing up sixth grade, along with the Frechettes’ son, and
also the son of Colleen Murphy Columbo ’86.”
With Alec “allergic to Facebook and thus living
vicariously through me,” Anne Noel “is happy to stay
connected with many classmates via social media.”
The Booths connected with Kimberly Hatch Wright
’88, wife of Denny Wright, at a field hockey tournament. “Our daughters are high school juniors playing
on the same regional travel team—we had no idea!”
writes Laura.
Also at the party were Ninette Enrique and husband
Mark McLaughlin ’89, whose oldest daughter Liz,
after graduating from high school this year as salutatorian, is heading to a school with purple and white
colors. “Northwestern, thankfully,” writes Ninette,
adding that “while we can’t believe we are this old
now, we are thrilled for her.”
Writes Mike Coyne: “My son Jack Coyne ’18 is
joining the Williams Class of 2018. The city lives!”
Calling his oldest son Willem Humes ’16 both “a
better student and Frisbee player than I was,” Hans
Humes says younger son Henrik “seems to think liberal arts is for people who can’t actually build or
make things,” writes Hans, who took both boys to
Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, joined by A.J.
Mediratta and his son Bubby.
Williamstown’s Tom Kaegi proudly saw his daughter Emily graduate from Mount Greylock High
School, where in the absence of an official valedictorian, the faculty chose her as the graduation speaker.
“She is heading to Carleton College, the ‘Williams of
the Midwest,’” writes Tom. “I wish that the ‘Carleton
of the Northeast’ would have been good enough!”
With son Gray a “rising star” at Mount Greylock,
Tom was away from Billsville for most of the
2014 reunion weekend. “I just missed seeing David
“Space” Grossman,” writes Tom, “but did manage to
accompany Jim Reichheld to Hans Humes’ home in
Vermont to pick up Jim’s Tesla.”
Speaking of Space, Rob Moreland’s near-neighbor
in L.A. recently provided “great planning advice” for a
backpacking trip that Rob, his son and a scout group
took to the spectacular Havasu Falls near the Grand
Canyon. “Dave’s son Keith runs track and crosscountry with my son Jamie at the same high school,”
writes Rob, who “continues to enjoy working for the
producer of Shrek as a writer and development executive” while living happily with wife Inma and their
two teenagers in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
1987– 88
Also enjoying the Golden State is Daphne Lurie.
“I have been in San Diego for almost eight years
now, which is the longest I’ve lived anywhere,” she
writes. “Already several inches taller than me, our son
Sammie starts high school in the fall, while my husband Steve is happily working at the University of
San Diego.” Continuing her work at The Scripps
Research Institute, Daphne now has the dream office,
looking out on magical Torrey Pines Golf Course
and the Pacific Ocean. “I’m still rubbing my eyes in
disbelief at the view,” Daphne says. “Come visit and
I’ll give you the tour.”
In northern California, life for Josh Lebowitz is
“about as nutso as nutso gets here in the East Bay.”
This includes producing and directing film shoots;
doing voiceovers, flying to NYC for his brother’s
50th birthday, marshaling the kids in every direction,
including camp, prom and to Europe with friends; a
kitchen renovation and a surprise 20th anniversary
rock show for wife Liz. “We like being busy, but this
is pushing it,” exhales Josh. “Oy. To. The. Vey!”
For others, life is truly a beach. Barton George, loving life in Austin, Texas, took his three kids to Hawaii
for their annual family pilgrimage this summer, while
Bill Brown sounds like he’s got it made in the shade
in Daytona Beach, Fla.
“I live in a beautiful circa-1920’s house with a pool
and view of the ocean, just a block away,” says Bill,
who owns an ultra-classic Harley. He adds that he
“eats for free at my own restaurant,” and develops real
estate for a living. “Things are not bad.”
Life is also swell for Denis Newcomer and family in New Hope, Pa., where Denis works as an environmental consultant. “Attending the University of
Richmond, my beautiful daughter Maggie interned
in D.C. this summer, while my son Jake is a freshman
at Millersville University,” writes the proud father.
“Eph-wise, I primarily keep in touch with Michelle
Wilcox, who I grew up with on the same street in
Middletown, Conn., Jim Sperry, Carol Smallwood
and Michele Barry. All in all, life is good.”
The radar is showing clear blue skies with a customary pinch of humor from FAA maven Sean
Denniston, who writes of “nothing new, save regularly
reading the Facebook postings of classmates as they
record their travels throughout the NAS.” That’s not
the NSA, folks, but the National Airspace System,
Sean’s shorthand for our air transit network.
Lastly, there is Karin Muller, who has earned herself
a regular spot in this column with her on-assignment
dispatches from around the globe.
Her latest mission took her to Sudan, where she
spent three months living in refugee camps and interacting with Sudanese rebels and the Chadian military. “Among many things, I learned that the camp
butcher doubles as the camp surgeon, and that the
soldiers’ immense bravery stems from the belief that
their religious amulets protect them from bullets and
make them invisible,” relates Karin of her experience,
the result of which, a two-hour documentary series
called Sudan’s Secret Side, is due to air nationwide on
PBS stations. Next up for Karin: a three-month field
shoot in remote China.
Not to sound like an ad, but where do you go next?
At 50, perhaps a gift to ourselves is to start all over
again. Be sure to send notes on your renaissance to
Jill next time around.
1988
Peter Grose, 1 Hampshire Woods Court, Towson, MD
We had lots of news from a number of classmates.
Some of our classmates did a fantastic job
of staying in touch with fellow Ephs.
Sharon Burke wrote for what she thinks is the
first time to report that she stepped down from her
position as assistant secretary of defense for energy
in early May, after four years in the job. She was
honored to serve the president and the men and
women in uniform but said it is also a relief to be
in the private sector now and spending more time
with her family (husband Paul and sons Thomas
and Anthony). She will miss having lunch in the
Pentagon with Janet Mansfield, who is a very busy
Army lawyer, and seeing Amy Searight, a senior official in the Asia-Pacific office at DoD, in the halls.
Christine Wormuth ’89 is waiting to be confirmed
as undersecretary of defense for policy, the number-three official in the building. One of her favorite colleagues in her time there was Dick Ginman ’70,
a retired Navy admiral who is in charge of all defense
contracts policy and is just a great guy—his son is
a current Williams student. Williams remains very
well represented in the Pentagon! She was also fortunate to have the advice of former defense official
Frank Miller ’72 and support from U.S. Sen. Mark
Udall ’72 of Colorado. She’ll be doing some writing
and advising now, and will be just around the corner
from Drew Erdmann, who’s a honcho at McKinsey.
Sharon keeps in touch with Randy Schriver ’89, a
former colleague at both the Pentagon and the State
Department.
Ben Schlosser was a wealth of Williams news. Ben
is still working in the NASCAR world, having completed his 12th year at Richard Childress Racing as
CMO. Ben was in Boston for an MIT sports analytics conference in late February and had dinner with
Jon Hollenberg, Scott Healy and Mike Goldstein. Jon
continues to work for HawkPartners and was starting the college search process for his eldest daughter, Sara. Scott Healy is with Care.com, and he’s also
starting the college process with eldest son Tyler,
who Ben says looks like a “mini-me” clone of Scott.
Scott and wife Ann Munchmeyer are doing well,
although they also have three additional tuitions
after that! Mike continues his ophthalmology practice on a limited basis while also heading up Eleven
Biotherapeutics, a biotech firm in Boston.
On the same Boston trip, Ben and Scott Berman
enjoyed dinner at the Island Creek Oyster Bar. They
apparently ate half of the Atlantic Ocean and had
a great time catching up. They felt a little old when
they hit the bar next door afterward. Scott stays busy
with his HawkPartners business and regular trips to
the Caribbean (I guess somebody has to do it). He
also is facing college for his eldest daughter, Annie.
Ben ran into Mike Sullivan in the Charlotte airport. Mike was on his way to San Antonio from
Pittsburgh, and Ben was (ironically) headed to
Pittsburgh. Mike was just promoted from COO of
HM Insurance Group (part of Highmark) to CEO,
now also heading up the vision business.
Ben and his wife Liz took their son Brad on a trip
to visit eight boarding schools in Massachusetts and
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Connecticut for a likely post-grad (PG) year. They
visited Westminster and saw Jon Deveaux ’87, who is
director of admission there. The following day, they
visited Loomis Chaffee in Windsor, Conn. Scott
Purdy, track coach extraordinaire, and wife Becky
(Conklin) Purdy ’87 gave them a terrific tour.
Scott Purdy let me know he was in Senegal in
March for about 10 days with AFLK, a group that
provides educational, medical and cultural funds
and support. Though just a long plane trip and a few
hours in an SUV, he said he saw a side of the world’s
experience that he had not witnessed up close. In
some remote villages he visited, they lacked a host of
basic necessities. Coming back to Loomis, Scott and
his daughter have been collecting books in English
from students and faculty to send to students in the
Tambacounda region of Senegal he visited. Scott has
one daughter graduating middle school and the other
completing 11th grade. They will both be attending
Loomis Chaffee at the same time next year, and as
he and his wife Becky Conklin Purdy ’87 both work
there, and they all live on campus, Scott and Becky
are celebrating the fact that for the next year, they will
have zero commute!
Bob Gallagher said that his ride up Greylock
Mountain at reunion inspired him to train for a
sprint triathalon. His son, however, who just made
the track, basketball and soccer teams, can beat him
running backwards (with Bob going forward!). His
daughter continues to impress as a class leader, a viola
player and a soccer player.
Another active New Yorker, Rob Pucciariello, ran
into Annie Shulman on 22nd Street, about a block
from where he lives. He tried to run the 32-mile
Manhattan perimeter with Win Goodbody ’90 but
reached an impassable fence on West Side around
190th Street. He is looking for tips on a workaround.
He saw Eric Hanson on his random jazz forays into
NYC from Philly as of late. Matt La Pointe also saw
Eric Hanson when Eric (and Eric’s daughters Luisa
and Alexa) visited Matt in Florida over spring break.
Matt’s sons Ben and Mike are close in age to Luisa
and Alexa, and they all had a blast. Eric Hanson, Matt
Lapointe, Rob Pucciariello, Tom Smith, Keith McIver
and John Kucich are planning their annual retreat in
honor of Eric Reath. This year they will be camping in
Acadia National Park in Maine.
Mary Taylor Miller is well in southern Arizona. She
enjoys having occasional Williams alums at her guest
ranch, Elkhorn Ranch. She’s amazed her girls are
both in high school. She continues to love keeping
track of dear Williams friends through email and FB.
Martin J. Furey III reports that after five years as the
senior grant writer for Family Health Centers of San
Diego, the second-largest federally qualified health
center in the country, he accepted the position of
senior director for development at the Jacobs Center
for Neighborhood Innovation—also in San Diego.
He departs Family Health Centers proud to have
raised $58 million over the past five years to assist
underserved San Diegans, and he looks forward to
the new challenges that he will face working for the
Jacobs Center.
Kathy J. McDonnell notes that she went to hear
Andy McElfresh ’85 perform at The Comedy Store
with Dan Blatt ’85 and Andrea Smith ’86. While they
were waiting, she and Andrea realized that 1) they
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had several Facebook friends in common, including
the infamous Bobbie G, and 2) they had met freshman year when Kathy visited Williams as a prospective student. It is not often that the phrase “Mitchell,
S.D.” triggers a memory.
Alicia Bjornson went to Cuba again in the winter with art conservation colleagues sponsored by
the American Institute for Conservation. Alicia also
just returned from the AIC annual meeting in San
Francisco, where the topic of sustainable conservation
(how museums and the art conservation world make
less of a carbon footprint as well as using resources
wisely) was discussed. She had a chance to explore
the city and briefly catch up with friends and family. She was back into the work routine at Hancock
House for a busy summer season in N.J. state parks.
Teresa Spillane let me know that she added a
downtown Boston location to her practice and is
hoping to catch the lunchtime crowd for a mental
health break. Her girls were busy working this summer. Sophie was working for U.S. Sen. Ed Markey,
Catherine was volunteering at Children’s Hospital
and Flora at A Better City—an urban public policy/transportation think tank. Rest will be at assorted
camps and trips to their house in Marion.
Donna Lisker was navigating a move to
Massachusetts because she has been named the next
dean of the college and VP for campus life at Smith
College in Northampton, Mass. It will be a much
shorter trip to reunions for her from here on out.
Brian Kornfield has been feeling old playing hockey
and ping pong with players as young as 10. His stepdaughters graduated from college. His son will be a
senior at Georgetown in the fall, and he snared an
internship in D.C. over the summer. Brian continues
to work in the nonprofit arena doing good works and
helping those in need.
Tracy Heilman was in Williamstown to help judge
the Business Plan Competition with fellow judges
Adam Ifshin ’87 and Jack Wadsworth ’61. Despite
travel woes getting to and from Williamstown, she
said the students were very impressive. Then she was
back on campus in early May for Alumni Fund vice
chair meetings, where she enjoyed staying at Mount
Hope, which was very cool but a little spooky late at
night. While there, she also got to sit at dinner with
Brooks Foehl, Alison Foehl, Tim Bock and Joyce
Noonan. Jordan Hampton ’87 and Dave Attisani ’87
were also part of their group.
Bill Pike had the good fortune to run into Dave
Glendon at Bretton Woods during February, and they
skied together for a couple of hours. Dave showed
Bill’s kids a few tricks in the “terrain park,” and the
best part is that everyone emerged unscathed. Bill’s
family was in the middle of the usual springtime
scramble: Lucy plays lacrosse for Arlington High
School (freshman team); Calvin plays town lacrosse
and baseball; and Jameson plays baseball and also
fences. Bill helps coach Calvin’s LAX team. He is
traveling to the UK frequently and for longer durations than he would like.
Elise Friedland was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor at George Washington
University in the department of classical and Near
Eastern languages and civilizations. Her husband,
Andrew M. Smith II, was also granted tenure and
promoted in the same department! They’re delighted
1988– 89
to be able to continue their careers at a vibrant,
research-oriented institution in our nation’s capital
and especially in a department that is so supportive of
research programs in the Greco-Roman Near East.
Suz Mac Cormack is still at a large law firm,
working too much, living with family in the
Presidio National Park and loving spending time
with her husband and three boys (11, 8 and 4).
Eddie, 11, made baseball all-stars again this year.
That means baseball for a few hours each day
through July. However, the family was headed to
the Santa Cruz mountains with Kim Kelly Bartlett
’85 and her kids in June, to Stinson Beach (as
always) in July and then to the UK, Paris and
Amsterdam for most of August.
Eleanor Congdon was saddened by the recent passing of her mother due to the effects of dementia.
Her mother, Lenore O.K. Congdon, taught several
J-terms at Williams on Egypt after our class graduated. Her mother graduated from Oberlin with her
BA, taught English in Izmir, Turkey, for a few years,
graduated in the first class of women to receive PhDs
from Harvard (1961) in ancient art history, published
her dissertation and a number of articles on Greek
mirrors and on Armarna-period Egypt. We all send
Eleanor and her family our condolences.
Katie Brackenridge is very grateful for all the support her family—and most importantly, her niece—
has received from Williams alumni and especially
classmates this spring after her niece stated publicly
that she had been sexually assaulted at Williams.
Lisa Tenerowicz wrote in that over Memorial Day
weekend, she, Cindy Soohoo, Ellen O’Connell, Sarah
Benioff (who flew in from London), Tal Klein and
Katie Brackenridge (who both flew in from Northern
California), and Christine Boddicker Roach and Beth
Bernheimer Harrington gathered for four days at
Cindy’s house on Fire Island. The weather was close
to perfect for a weekend of catching up, easy runs,
reading and walking on the beach, cold beer and
fine wine, and a lot of tasty meals (complemented by
Beth’s fabulous brownies and coffee cake). It was a
fantastic weekend of catching up and much laughter.
Carrie Rheinfrank gleefully reported a spontaneous week away in May with her Sage F dorm
mate Joey Horn ’87 in the San Diego area. They lingered over meals like they used to at Baxter Hall,
hiked up mountains as if they were charging up
Pine Cobble, laughed a lot remembering college
antics and counted their current blessings—among
them not to having to be evacuated even though
there were fires raging all around due to intense
heat and winds. She was planning to visit Sarah
Loebs Werkman in Spokane this summer after taking her daughter to a sleep-away summer camp in
the Seattle area.
Randy Fox writes that after nearly seven years at
the New York Attorney General’s Office, first in the
Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and then as the first
bureau chief of the Taxpayer Protection Bureau, he
has joined the law firm of Kirby McInerney, where
he will be focusing primarily on bringing whistleblower cases.
Seksom Suriyapa attended a celebration of Exeter’s
700th anniversary and a celebration of the WEPO
program. He had the great pleasure to see Katie Kent,
who is ending her tenure as the director of the pro-
gram. According to Seksom, she spent time back in
the day with the intellectuals at Wadham College
while Seksom was at the pubs and parties. Seksom
said it was wonderful to share Exeter with his wife
Susan Shrader and son Sebastian.
Britta Bjornlund and Ellen O’Connell visited me for
my birthday. They showed up without telling me, but
it was a special treat nonetheless. I hope that everyone has a healthy and happy fall.
1989
Leslie Jeffs Senke, 284 Partridge Run, Mountainside,
NJ 07092, 1989secretary@williams.edu
Our 25th reunion has come and gone, but the
memories will last forever. Or will they? Just 10 days
after reunion was over, I sat down to write this column and realized I had very few specific memories
of the weekend. Exhaustion and mania had compressed all 72 hours into one big blur. A festive,
happy blur, but not exactly column-worthy. And so,
dear friends, I called upon you to provide me with
your reunion highlights and surprises. And here
they are:
Tom Robertson and Laura Titus Tang share the
award for Most Distance Traveled, coming all the
way from Nepal and China, respectively. Deborah
David places a respectable second, flying in from
Bogota, Colombia.
John Andrews enjoyed chatting with Jen Krouse
(who, by the way, looks amazing in primary colors)
about her recent adventures in Memphis; he also
compared respective anxiety levels with Mark Reid
at Friday’s picnic. He wishes Shoko Kashyama and
Dane Dudley had been there to share in the fun. I
can’t answer for Dane, but Shoko was busy organizing the San Francisco Symphony’s annual opera in
her role as executive assistant to the music director.
Ecstatic to see John was first-time reunion-goer
Rebecca Salazar, who loved catching up with David
Diamond ’90, who flew in from Paris (as did Dorothy
Lee and Katrina Hubbard Bens), as well as Selena
Tan and husband Ken Lafler ’86. In the category of
Best Hugs, Rebecca nominates Joaquin Campbell.
The person she was most surprised to see there?
Herself!
Sarah Mitchell and I missed Diana Hird all weekend. Sarah writes: “Rick Nobleman and I had a great
conversation on Friday night, and I had fun talking with Jan Blacka and her partner Craig.” Jan
traded chicken-raising tips with Jennifer Fox-Colwell.
Jennifer enjoyed seeing Anna Henriques but missed
Bethany (Spalding) Harbison, who is living the good
life in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Joaquin Campbell was “excited out of (his) gourd
to see David Diamond ’90” but would have loved to
see Brittany Peacock and Jose Calero as well. Dave
Beischer caught up with Dave Sandford and enjoyed
seeing “the usual cast of characters”—Mike Barbera,
Seth Rabinowitz, Eric Mukai and David Bar Katz. He
missed Frank Vespe but manages to keep abreast of
Frank’s horse racing business via Facebook. Dave
and the rest of his Sage F entrymates thank Jeff
Urdang for organizing a minireunion where they
remembered Charlie Hufford with love.
Also happy to reunite with Sage F peeps was Vicki
(Smith) Storrs, who hopes Ann Tucher and Kristi
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Tolo Passaro will join them next time. Vicky writes,
“I had conversations with some classmates for the
first time ever, like Tony Fuller and David Reiss,
and with those coming back for the first time in
years, like David Sandford, Gene Brown and Anna
Henriques. I laughed to learn that Karin Bessin
and I, neither of us athletes at Williams, are now
involved with youth track and field… Caitlin Deinard
Blasdell and I explained to Brian Fields, theoretical physicist, how the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby
teaches basic physics. Finally, I forgave Gordon Jones
for baby powdering my room freshman year!”
Shelley Hiatt Shanaman was thrilled to see Paul
Brainard and was lucky to sit with James Mannix at
Saturday’s dinner. Shelley’s highlights include “reminiscing with my Williams F hallmates: Judy Kellogg
Johnson, Jen Morris Grossman and Susie Sullivan…
And I will never forget the photo session—with
Dorothy Lee, Shirley Kagan, Cathy Paper and
Annabel Sheinberg—in the port-a-potty that was
nicer than our suite in Mission Park!” Shelley’s only
regret? “I would have loved to see Mike Masters.”
Sam McIlvain ’90 arrived on Saturday just in time
for the cocktail party and was touched by the “100
people who asked about (his) son.” He gives Susie
Everett and Mike Coyne the award for Nicest Couple.
He enjoyed a little “teacher talk” with Al Becker and
a late-night Pub hangout with Jason Phillips but
missed Steve King (“he may never make it above the
Mason-Dixon line again”), Ted Hobart, Tim Cohan,
John Baker and Chris Collingwood. Chris was also
missed by Minnie Cho, who was “most excited to see
Essicka Kimberly and her sister, Ariadne Kimberly
Huque ’90, who traveled from Berlin and London,
respectively, burdening Zia Huque with the decision of which sassy beauty to escort on each arm. I
was also glad to spend time with Leslie Pelch and to
finally meet her husband Peter and daughter Willa.”
Minnie thanks everyone who reached out with kind
words about her music, especially Jon Servin and
James Mannix, and she is considering starting a
Facebook group for divorced alums after getting dating advice from Jon Ward. Perhaps this group will
provide an answer to Alison Jones Chaim’s query
whether dual-Williams couples have better marriage
success rates.
Bill Hoch loved catching up with Jeanne Spencer,
Matt McQueen and Kevin Hinton at reunion. He
enjoyed a long talk with Laura Richman and hopes
to see Brandt Enos and Chris Nealon at our 30th.
Leslie Pelch was happily surprised to see her former biology lab partner, Kathy Winans, whom she
hadn’t seen since graduation. Leslie writes, “It was
fun to find out that we have somewhat similar values, interests and lives.” Leslie also enjoyed a quiet
breakfast with Becky Miller, with whom she shares a
love of wilderness canoeing. Leslie wishes she’d had
more time to talk with everyone, especially Chris
Muntz, Laura Richman, William Lin, Fausto Espinosa
and Shirley Kagan.
Shirley quotes Tim Shaw as noting “how delightful it was for us to reconnect (at reunion) as though
we had just seen each other five minutes before.”
Shirley also writes, “It was lovely to be able to carve
out some time for quieter conversation with Vicki
Smith, Kent Whitehead and Nancy Gannon. But
there were also many unexpected and wonderful
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conversations at full volume with many incredible
classmates. I left on a cloud.”
Sherwood Smith writes, “I had my best visit with
my old friend Tom Bottern, along with Cathy Paper
and their kids. Also loved conversations like the one
with Mark Reid, whom I didn’t know well back in
the day.” Sherwood aptly describes James Mannix as
“transcendently great all weekend.”
Eugene Langner was thrilled to see “not one, not
two, but three El Paso Ephs: Mary Kipp, Tara Flynn
Rutledge and Felipe Millan.” Eugene writes, “I had a
terrific conversation with Dave Allen as we rode out
together on Thursday night.” But Eugene missed
Frank Vespe, Clark West and Ruben Urquidi.
Sarah Holland discovered that Erik Mukai lives
three miles away from her in South Portland, Maine.
She picked right back up with Lynne du Pont and
Tara Flynn “like no time had passed.” Sarah had
a memorable conversation with Kevin Hinton on
Saturday night and enjoyed reliving the glory days
of East 3 with her former entrymates. Sarah’s mostmissed list included: Juan Aponte and Louise Chan
Aponte, Diana Hird, Susan Emerson Strasser,
Marcello Da Silva and Bill O’Brien.
John Watkins missed “the no-shows from
Fayerweather 2” and marvels that Fausto Espinosa
“is father to three beautiful children.”
Dave Allen was happy to reconnect with Chris
Klipstein, Al Becker, David Bar Katz and the T.J.
Hooker team at reunion; people he would have
loved to have seen included John “Bunnyman”
Bellwoar, Clark West, Frank Vespe and Mandy
Dawson. One of Dave’s favorite conversations was
with Britty Shaw, “someone I never chatted with
during college. … I had the best, most honest, real
conversations with her. Refreshing.” Britty had this
to say about what makes reunions so emotional for
many of us: “It made me realize that feeling of who
we all are when we aren’t defined by other relationships—mother, wife, etc.”
Although he wishes Billy Mitchell and John Faust
had been at reunion, Jim Simmonds was happy to
see Dale Thompson and Matt McQueen and had a
lovely chat with David Reiss about the miracle of
waterless urinals. Susie Sullivan can breathe a sigh
of relief now that her significant other has survived
his first immersion into Eph-mania! Susie enjoyed
catching up with her six fellow computer science
majors: Doug Gschwind, Todd Pelkey, Rachel Scales,
Rich Ward, Jon Headley and Bill Morrison. Most
missed on Susie’s list: Michele Bilbo Flavia, Chris
Michaeles, Maureen O’Brien, Anne Petersen and
Mike Masters.
Reunion sommelier Ann Carson spent several
hours at The Log talking with her Wood-Tyler
peeps “about everything and nothing!” and tore up
the dance floor on Saturday night with Sara Bott,
Jenny Payne Johnson and Lisa West. Heather Zona
“enjoyed talking with Jon Bank about his plans to
launch Tear Down Mission Park and was privileged to have a number of conversations regarding
pole dancing with Wynn Hohlt and Jim McNulty.”
Heather loved seeing Jules Norton and her “brandnew accessory” (aka son Quinn) and was happy to
reconnect with Eliza Kent, Becky Miller and “the
Face People,” Mark Reid and Alison Buckner. She
wishes Dave Trattner had been there, too.
1989– 90
Marcia Toll shared my excitement about seeing Trace Blankenship on campus again. Marcia
had great chats with her former JA-mates Mike
Coyne and John Dillon; she also caught up with
Mari Omland, who is running a farm in Vermont,
and Eliza Kent, who begins teaching religion at
Skidmore this fall. New Class President Cooper
Campbell Jackson writes, “I had a great conversation with (College President) Adam Falk, and I’m
very impressed by his leadership, especially given
the recent challenges. Cathy Paper, Naree Viner and
I had a very interesting conversation about working
women and how they advance their careers while
juggling personal responsibilities. And I had some
wonderful talks with my old roomies, Sarah Cole,
Alison Landsberg and Noriko Honda Chen, who still
know me better than anyone else.” Cooper loved
reconnecting with Ann Myers and Dave Garfield,
among others, but missed “the 250 who weren’t
there, including Al Mottur, Susan Lacy, Seth Burns,
Randy Schriver and Tim Dailey.”
Bill Tulloch would have loved to see Ted Hobart
and Julie Barbo, and he expects better representation from Morgan West at the 50th. He nominates T.J. Hooker for honorary class membership,
stating, “Through him I got to hang with Beth
Edwards, Dave Allen, Mike Coyne, Stew Verdery,
John Dillon, Sam McIlvain ’90, and others whose
names escape me due to the Coors Light we were
drinking.” Bill and Todd Pelkey discovered they
have each visited 49 states; Bill is missing Alaska,
and Todd, North Dakota. According to Bill,
“The first to complete all 50 gets to tell the other
to ‘suck it’ on Facebook… About a week after
reunion, my company had a training request for a
program in Anchorage, which I jumped at.” Todd,
are you listening?
Alby Gallun learned more about elk hunting than
he ever wanted to know from Tom Bottern. Alby
was disappointed that Chris Palmedo and fellow
“Men of Meadow” Walt Hoffman and Pete DuBois
missed the big event, but he reasons they may
have been “worried that Officer Thompson of the
Williamstown Police Department had a 25-yearold warrant out for their arrest for ‘keeping a disorderly house.’”
Jeff Etemad writes, “I especially enjoyed seeing
Kevin Hinton, who I had not seen since my wedding 20 years ago. We compared notes on our two
children (each) who are about the same age. I wish
I had seen Ben Pearlman. I was flattered so many
people asked about the lecture I did at reunion (on
osteopathy).” Joan Callahan commented, “I was
very happy to connect with Becky Miller Helbling
and sorry to have missed Heather Zona—the three
of us survived a dugout canoe ride on the Rio
Rama in Nicaragua 25 years ago.” Joan was expecting her fifth grandchild in August!
Kin Ma enjoyed conversations with Karen von
Haam, who is practicing family medicine on Cape
Cod, and Dom Grillo. He also caught up with Beth
Edwards, who is planning to re-enter medical practice after taking time off to raise her three children.
Although Lynda Gregory didn’t make it from
Australia, she has enjoyed seeing pictures online
and says, “It was great to see people even from
afar.” She and her sons are busy planning their first
winter camping trip. Also enjoying international
living is Nancy (Titus) Johnson, who has finished
three years of teaching in Tbilisi, Georgia, and is
moving back to Dongguan, China, with her husband and four children this fall.
Susan (Emerson) Strasser was also sorry to miss
reunion, but Graham McDougal and his wife Karen
stopped by her home in upstate New York for a prereunion visit. Susan is working as a family practice
doctor and was recently elected to the local school
board. Karin Johnson (whom I met before any of
you, way back in the fall of 1985 while running down
Route 2. Well, one of us was running, the other was
sort of limping along. I’ll let you decide for yourselves
who was who...) spent reunion weekend on a paleontology survey in South Dakota, digging up dinosaur
fossils in the famous Hell Creek formation.
Sean Walter knew it would be tough to get to
Williamstown, but “the kicker was when (his) daughter started her own countdown to Father’s Day. …
Clearly, she has the wisdom of a future Eph.” Carolyn
Darrow was busy attending her son’s Little League
playoff game and her daughter’s ballet recital, but she
promises to be at the 30th and hopes to see Charles
Kiblinger, Sean Walter and CJ Johanson there, too!
Rob Shapard sent his regrets from UNC Chapel
Hill, where he was teaching a summer school course
on American history. Also busy with academic obligations was Tom Roche, who has been working
as an adjunct professor of classics at Salve Regina
University in Newport, R.I. Tina Loose writes that
she and husband Tom Loose didn’t make it due to
an “already action-packed summer … starting in
Quebec City!” Their twin boys finished ninth grade
and were happy to use the French they’ve been learning in school.
A few final words of inspiration from some
reunion-goers:
Two different Jennifers summed up the weekend nicely: “It was a feast of good company, and my
only wish is that we had one more day.” (Jennifer
Krouse). “Why was I so intent on going? I wanted
the reminder that Williams College claims me as an
alum and that I belong to this incredible group of
people.” (Jennifer Fox-Colwell).
From Cooper Campbell Jackson: “The energy at
the reunion was palpable. There was a magic to the
weekend which transcended nostalgia and memories and brought us all to a place of connection with,
and acceptance of, amazing friends and experiences,
old and new.”
And, finally, from Dave Allen: “Liz Gray Erickson’s
recent passing and the passing of other classmates
further helped us to see the great value of our bonds
to each other and that we should be welcoming
to everyone. … I felt like during our reunion, we
became a family.”
And with that, my ’89 family, I say farewell until
next time!
1990
25
th
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Catherine Ann Brennan, 2018 Rosilla Place,
Los Angeles, CA 90046; 1990secretary@williams.edu
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1991
Christine W. Choi, 85 1st Place, Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY
11231; Ramona Liberoff, 34 Charlotte Road, Flat 4,
London EC2A 3PB, United Kingdom; Pete McEntegart,
34 South Venice Blvd., Unit 2, Venice, CA 90291;
Harper’s Index is this issue’s inspiration behind the
organization of your updates.
5,797: miles between Chicago, Ill., and Benin,
where Francine McKenzie Kelley volunteered this
summer with a group of young women through
Expanding Learning, a nonprofit that assists young
women from Niger who are the first in their families
to attend high school.
6,746: the average distance, in miles, of Robin
Lloyd’s post-Williams moves. The peripatetic wanderluster and his gorgeous wife Wendy moved from
Seattle to Boston and continue to travel around the
globe: “Our latest six-week travel binge just ended, so
the reality of life in Boston can no longer be ignored.
We’re slowly settling into a rather sweet pad in the
South End. Already looking ahead to the next roost.
Which of course means we’ll be here for 20 years.”
25: miles Michelle Sanders was training to bike in
the summer Pan-Mass Challenge. She completed last
year’s ride, and her indomitable spirit was captured
by CBS (interview is online). She rode with a sign
that said: “Cancer got one lung, so I just use the good
one,” and during the ride thought of the many people
she has lost to cancer. On not letting physical limitations stop her, Michelle said, “On a bike I can get as
fast as everyone else.” Frankly I’ve never known her to
need anything to soar beyond the rest of us. Michelle
is in her 13th year as partner physician at Pediatrics
West in the western suburbs of Boston.
25: our next reunion, whose co-VPs are Tim
Hildreth and Ellen Drought. Tim reports of a recent
visit with Sara Dubow, Ellen, and Ellen’s sister Kay
Drought ’81 and her nephew Dan. As co-VPs, they
are “the entertainment committee, so ideas are most
definitely welcome!”
45: the birthday that Judy Conti celebrated in
Istanbul to visit Lisa Kaestner and her goddaughter,
Lisa’s daughter Anna. Lisa, who will be in Istanbul
for another year, “chartered a dinner cruise of the
Bosphorus Strait for us and about 20 of her friends.
Couldn’t have asked for better hospitality!” Judy herself was host to Cathy Moore Fernandez and son
Jonah and is looking forward to catching up with
Caitlin Osborne.
10: months Brian Carlson and his wife Kristin
have enjoyed their baby Henrik. Brian claims time
flies: “I never imagined how fun and fulfilling fatherhood would be.” Peter Crawford and his wife Susan
are Henrik’s godparents and joined the family in
Marblehead, Mass., for Henrik’s baptisim: “Pete left
the practice of law for good a few years ago and is
now a full-time, self-employed real-estate developer
in Philadelphia. I, on the other hand, am very much
still in the legal world but enjoying it a lot.”
16: the age of Jim Curry’s oldest child Clare; he’s
got two more, Catie, 14, and James, 12. Also keeping
him busy is his event-driven equity hedge fund, Finns
Point Partners LP, which he started in January. He
is engaged to Kathryn Fike (Duke 2007), and they
live in NYC. He stays in touch with Ray Neufeld,
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Barry King ’93, Bert Garcia ’92, Tom Burke ’89, Ben
Hough ’90, Greg Behling ’96, Ian Graham ’96 and
Jeff McMahon ’95. He hopes for “another swimming/
water polo/diving reunion in the near future, if there
is any way to drop a hint on that to the powers that
be.” You’ve got the power, Jim!
6.47: (6 minutes, 47 seconds) the pace run at the
Brooklyn Half Marathon by David Nadel, who also
celebrated milestones including 10 years of marriage
to his wife Nicole Feliciano (Vanderbilt ’92), whom
he married in Bhutan, and eight years at The Royce
Funds, where he directs international investments
and manages two mutual funds. You may have
caught media mention (Barrons, CNN, Consuelo
Mack’s WealthTrack and Bloomberg TV) of a white
paper he authored for Royce on India. David and
his wife run into Sam Coffin and Toby Cornejo ’94
on the weekends and summer in Litchfield County,
Conn. (“The Foothills of the Berkshires”) and have
two daughters, 8 and 6, who enjoy “skiing, horseback-riding, a 1920s Bechstein piano we refurbished
and all things magenta. (I know it’s not quite purple, but give me time!)” They have caught up with
Mariam Naficy (who was seated next to David at
graduation, or as he calls it “that steaming June day
in 1991”), Tom Morgan, Jim Clarke, David Dibble
and Kate Holliday, Jen Bowden ’92 and David’s
cousin Mark Walsh ’73.
8.55: minutes, the duration of a short web film
called Brad Pitts starring Birgit Huppuch. Thanks
to Jessica Melcher Yansouni for pointing out the
positive review in The New Yorker.
152: the run time in minutes of a Guys & Dolls
production, which means this spring Melissa Fenton
has sat through a minimum of 969 minutes of G&D
(includes videos and live performances by her son
Tristan, who made his debut as Nathan Detroit, and
does not include many rehearsals). Coincidentally,
Megan Jacobson Shafritz’s daughter also performed
in Guys & Dolls, in South Burlington, Vt. Of late,
Melissa has caught up with: Louise Kelly, who continues to participate in grueling mud Spartan races
and challenges; Rebecca Sokolovsky at a cabaret show at The Metropolitan Room followed by a
play date with her twins Milo and Gideon (just what
time of the day was this cabaret show, girls?!); Deirdre
Pappalardo and Tom Morgan and his wife Lorraine,
who hosted a gathering for President Adam Falk
at the Williams Club in NYC; Erica Dankmeyer,
who danced in a Martha Graham revival of choreography by Deborah Zall in The Glass Menagerie at
the Wesbeth Graham Studios; and Sarah Peterson
for the first annual Little Three (Williams, Amherst
and Wesleyan) Alumni of Color picnic in Brooklyn
followed by a show at Joe’s Pub by Williams alum
band Darlingside. Sarah and Melissa also had dinner
in Brooklyn with me, Hilary Appel and Mary Moule
in April when Hilary was in town for an academic
conference. Melissa is working as a freelance development/communications and events consultant for
nonprofits. In May, she volunteered again with The
Promise Project event supporting ABC anchor and
master of ceremonies Bill Ritter.
1631: the year the English atlas that Cara
Schlesinger is restoring was printed. She works in
NYC as a hand book binder and volunteers as a technician at the Metropolitan Museum’s book con-
1991
servation lab, “an incredible privilege and learning
opportunity.”
271: pages in Riot at the Calc Exam, math professor Colin Adams’ latest book, which Anna BardoneConde highly recommends. She and her two children were planning a big cross-country summer trip
including stops in Orlando (Disney World) and
Denver (Jessica Walker). Anna is associate professor of psychology at UNC in Chapel Hill, N.C. Her
research projects include eating disorder recovery
and the examination of the effect of social media on
body image and disordered eating, but teaching is her
favorite part of the job: “I taught a first year seminar
(FYS) on eating disorders and body image—FYSs
are small classes for first-year students (mine was 20),
a big school’s attempt to provide a Williams feel.”
21.25: inches in length of Bob Nishioka’s second boy, Oscar Kazuaki Nishioka, born on June 23.
Amazing feat for a mother who is not five feet tall.
Congratulations to the London-based family.
23: the number of alumni referenced in President
of the Society of Alumni Leila Jere’s amazing update
(including herself ): “This past reunion weekend,
Dore Lebeau was elected to Tyng Bequest administrator, and Dennis O’Shea ’77 handed over the baton
and, yes, yours truly is now the president of the society. … Between the campus looking greener and
lusher than ever, the bunting, the parade, the outfits, the antique cars, the Old Guard in bowties and
hats, the purple and gold cow, the stilt-walker and
the face paint, singing The Mountains over and again,
it was truly something. I ran into Erica Dankmeyer
and Laylah Ali, both teaching at Williams, and Allan
Isaac, who drove up from N.J. to see David Diamond
’89. I saw Mary Richardson across a crowded room.
My JA Jules Norton ’89 was there with partner
and 8-week-old son in tow … also Cathy Paper,
Sherwood Smith. That entire class still parties like
they did when we were freshmen: inspiring. Also
met Pam Volpe’s father, Tony Volpe ’59. Thrilled to
be able to visit Greg Woods and Mary Moule, now
serving on the EC of the Society. Jillian Charles is
a vice chair of the Alumni Fund, so I look forward
to seeing her in Williamstown. Also went to Palm
Springs for the annual women’s weekend extravaganza with Heidi Beebe and Heather Martinez Zona
’89. Ran into Jenny Griffin at a screening of Cherry
Cottage: The Story of an American House, a sweet movie
about an old house in Stockbridge with a connection to Williams (it was owned by a relative of Mark
Hopkins and Albert Hopkins). I played golf with
Jessica (Melcher) Yansouni, who is a lot better than
me. Dan and I are still basking in the glow of the
evening playing entourage to you at Coqueta. I suspected something was up when you were able to get
a table on no notice. Then when we arrived early and
were shown to that swank corner table, I realized they
know you professionally. Years ago I had a crush on
Michael Chiarello (I’m over it), but it was still a treat
to meet him.”
$20 million: the amount raised by Gretchen Piper
for the YWCA of Minneapolis. She and her husband Scott and children Louise, 12, and Sam, 10, “are
already considering a family trek to Williamstown
for the big 25th reunion! I hope we will have a great
turnout of classmates and their families.” She gave
a shout-out to an equally accomplished member of
our class: “So proud of Adena Friedman’s new post.
Smart move by NASDAQ. It’s so great to see a confident, capable woman recognized for her smarts and
hard work. And super supportive Mike and boys!”
12: the District of California in which Jim Welles
launched an independent run for Nancy Pelosi’s seat
in Congress. While he lost, Jim found voters agreed
that “we need more people in Congress with deep
international experience gained from working abroad
so that our country will be able to cooperate better internationally, solve our planet’s environmental problems and generate more peace.” He plans to
practice law in Vermont.
22101: the zip code of The Potomac School in
McLean, Va., where Mike Hyde is now teaching and
coaching. While he is excited to experience life in
the D.C. area, he is uncertain about life without his
Philadelphia professional sports teams.
2012: the first year the population of Baltimore
increased after (according to the U.S. Census) six
decades of population decline. Baltimore is home
to Matt Wyskiel and his wife Christy Williams
Wyskiel ’94, who started a new job at Johns Hopkins
University, and their 12-year-old daughter Jamie and
9-year-old son Tolliver. Matt celebrated “six years
at my one-person investment management firm,
Skill Capital Management” and reports seeing Jim
Higgins, who leads the Curtis Hand Center at Union
Memorial Hospital: “Jim and the CHC have a fantastic national reputation for their knowledge and
expertise. The same can be said for Steve Moran (my
freshman year roommate in Sage A) who works for
the Mayo Clinic and specializes in many of the same
areas as Jim. Steve and his wife Andrea Moran and
their children live in Rochester, Minn., and we hope
they will visit us. Sal Vasi has transformed from a
New York “city slicker” to quite the outdoorsman living in Montana. I saw long-time friend Sean Culman
’89 who was in Baltimore to see his father Peter
Culman ’59.”
2: volumes in Amy Butler Greenfield’s Chantress
trilogy, of which Tim Hildreth says, “Great YA fiction
with a historical—and magical—bent.”
$1 billion: the amount in energy bills that Cliff
Majersik hopes to lower through the 10 cities City
Energy Project, which is aimed at significantly
increasing energy efficiency in buildings. At the
Institute for Market Transformation in D.C., Cliff
helps mayors reduce energy waste in large public and
private buildings. Best part: “I’m actually using stuff
I learned in my Williams political economy classes!”
Cliff is hiring in D.C., Atlanta and Houston.
1: the number of times Kathi Fisler has ever run
a half marathon, which she did earlier this summer with her veteran marathon sister Jodi Fisler ’95.
That same week, she got promoted to full professor
(Worcester Polytechnic Institute). She just finished
a yearlong sabbatical during which she did research
and also worked on an outreach project (called
Bootstrap) that integrates computing into algebra for
seventh- to 10th-graders.
1: the number of flights on the plane ticket
purchased by our co-secretary Peter McEntegart
to Chicago, where he now resides as co-founder
of a startup called CharacTour. I hope Melissa organizes another entrepreneurs’ panel at our 25th so that
we can hear about his adventures in startup land.
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1992
Heidi Sandreuter, 130 West 79th St., #11A, New York,
In case you ever need to drown your sports-induced
sorrows, keep in mind the burger at PJ Clarke’s. Mark
Neihaus and his son Andrew drove up to NYC from
Charlottesville in March to see their beloved UVA
men’s basketball team play in the Sweet 16. They
hoped to see the Cavaliers lace up for two games in
Madison Square Garden; instead, they only played
one, so the three of us set out to find a cheesy-meaty
salve for the visiting fans’ wounds. The Niehaus men
bounced back by the summer for a week’s vacation on
Oak Island, N.C., before the kids (including Julia and
Emma) filled their days with swim practice or horseback riding, basketball and baseball camps. Mark and
his incredible wife Valeria are “looking forward to
more dates, whether it be a bike ride, a game of tennis or an evening out, since Andrew is now able to
watch the girls.”
The Upper West Side sidewalks generated another
happy run-in when I bumped into Eric Matson and
his great family. Eric informed me that he went out
for a few beers with Jason Phillips while he was visiting Boston for work. “As is common with Jason,
idle chat quickly turned into a late-night BS session on whether our options to impact the world
have declined given our advancing age (the answer
was unclear, perhaps due to the beers).” Eric managed to see Kris Delmhorst in concert in Boston,
as she started touring to promote the release of her
latest album, Blood Test. “Kris had been providing
Kickstarter supporters with detailed personality profiles of her chickens, but sadly the chickens did not
make an appearance on stage,” reported Eric.
Here’s a bit from Kris’ own website: “Releasing
an album is funny in this day and age. … It’s not so
much an event as a slow ooze. There have been so
many chapters to the process, from when I called
my friend to help produce it with me, through refining and finishing songs, hiring the band, recording the tracks, mixing, mastering, taking pictures,
designing various packages, redoing websites, organizing press and radio, the amazing little sub-journey
which was Kickstarter, setting up tours, plus a million details along the way.” I am very disappointed
to have missed Kris’ May appearance at Rockwood
Music Hall here in New York. I saw Kris perform
a few years back and left with several CDs, inspired
by her lyrics and style. Check out Kris’ tour schedule and tunes at krisdelmhorst.com—and if you are
in Burlington, Vt., on Nov. 21 (Andrew Everett or
Kelly McCracken) or Natick, Mass., on Nov. 22 (Todd
Alcock), go check her out! Speaking of Andrew, this
energetic stay-at-home-dad populates Facebook
with countless cute pics. It looks like summer fun
included son Chance’s first hike up Burke Mountain
when dropping daughter Tess off at Circus Smirkus
Smirkling Camp at Burke Mountain Academy (nod
to David Brule, Burke alum stud). The Everetts also
hit the Great Falls, Mont., area for vacation.
Another classmate connecting with her artistic
spirit is Kris Davenport Toohey, who reports, “I’ve
gotten far more serious about oil painting. I’m part
of ‘The Art Studio CT’ (based in Westport, Conn.)
and am enjoying studying, showing and sometimes
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even selling my pieces.” Kris and her sister Kerry
Davenport Fitzgerald ’94 also launched an entrepreneurial food venture based in Westport. “Coming
from years in the corporate world, it is very exciting to start a small business from scratch and watch
it grow.” Kris’ twin daughters Annie and Sarah are
about to start fifth grade, and her little guy, Parker,
“graduated” from preschool. Kris—like many of you
multi-tasking parents—hopes to catch up on sleep
in 2020.
Jilly Perlberger Hollman has rediscovered her passion for arts and crafts and developed a possible
“obsession with hand-sewing. I just started selling my
artwork and embroidery on Etsy ( Jillian Hollmann
Creations: Extraordinary Gifts at Reasonable Prices)
and hope to make it my vocation!” Jilly has obviously
found a silver lining to being on bed rest due to her
struggles with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia. “I
am committed to living every day with love and joy
nonetheless!” What a great example Jilly is for her
husband Mark and kids Oliver, 8, and Tucker, 3.
Camille Utterback, another artist in our midst and
MacArthur scholar, was part of a LASER (Leonardo
Art/Science Evening Rendezvous) talk at UC Santa
Cruz titled “Exploring the Frontiers of Knowledge
and Imagination.” Wowzers. Camile is still a relatively new assistant professor in the art and art history department at Stanford University and remains
“an internationally acclaimed artist whose interactive
installations combine innovative technology, elegant
design and surprising situations to reconnect us to
our physicality and to the world around us.”
Denis Gainty is still “in lovely Decatur, Ga., where
I’m up for tenure in the history department at
Georgia State University. My wife Jen Patico ’94 is
already tenured there in the anthropology department, so—like always—I’m counting on her mojo to
carry me through.”
Dennis spent part of the summer in Japan to continue researching the history of bluegrass music in
Japan. “Bold theoretical reformulation of the role
of tradition in modern national identities? Or selfindulgent ‘mesearch’? Why be either/or about it,
that’s what I say. While in Japan, I saw Ben Lewis ’92
and his wonderful family before attending bluegrass
performances in Tokyo, Osaka, and, best of all, a festival in Hokkaido. And speaking of bluegrass festivals, I encourage everyone to come back to the Purple
Valley for the FreshGrass festival Sept. 19-21 in
North Adams. It’s the brainchild of Chris Wadsworth
’91, and it’s an amazing event—come check it out!”
Eric Swanson volunteered to be a newer name in
the notes “since I’m changing jobs and going back
to academia starting in July. I’ve been in the research
department at the D.C. and San Francisco branches
of the Federal Reserve for the past 16 years, but I feel
like it’s a good time for a change and have accepted
a position as professor of economics down at the
University of California, Irvine.” The Swansons will
live next to campus and about two miles from the
ocean, “So I can go shred a few before heading over
to teach class.” Eric is particularly excited to get two
quarters off every year (yes, every) to concentrate
on his research focused on the relationship between
financial markets and the macroeconomy.
I appreciate how Josh Brumberg holds a scoop
tight to the vest only to then pounce post-Olym-
1992
pics with a challenge to me and my new employer: “I
think you need to explain how your hiring by Under
Armour was correlated with the U.S. speedskating team’s inability to win any medals at the Winter
Olympics which in some quarters was blamed on the
skin suits, hmm….” Well, Dr. Brumberg, did you not
notice that the U.S. speedskating team signed UA on
as its suit provider for another eight years before the
Olympics ended?
Josh may not have his PhD in aerodynamics, but
he does have game in psychology as proven by his
appointment as the executive officer of the psychology PhD programs at City University of New
York. This means Josh will be the head of 14 different training areas and have responsibility for the
faculty (more than 270) and PhD students (more
than 500) scattered across nine different campuses.
“It will only be for a year, but I am sure it will come
with some serious headaches.” And opportunity,
Josh. Congrats!
MIT-Sloan School of Management Economist
Kristin Forbes asked that any ’92ers living in London
look her up since “it would be great to reconnect
with any old friends in the UK!” Kristin was named
to the Monetary Policy Committee for the Bank of
England, the group that sets interest rates for the UK.
Kristin will still be part time at MIT and commute
between Boston and London.
Alison Locke Perchuk is “living happily in Santa
Monica.” Alison lives around the corner from fellow
Sage E-mate Gene Klein (producer of USA’s Suits)
and teaches art history at California State University,
Channel Islands. She assures us that she does not
take a boat to work but does spend weekends in
Palm Springs “when I’m not off at conferences running into other members of the ’92 art history mafia
like Kerr Houston (Maryland Institute College of
Art), Baird Jarman (Carleton College) and Kim
Bowes (recently appointed director of the American
Academy in Rome).”
Deborah Lee’s journey to become a priest in the
Episcopal Church is progressing nicely. “After an
absorbing and complex discernment journey and official process with the Episcopal Diocese of NY, the
bishop of the diocese has granted approval for me
to continue on toward seminary and eventual ordination.” Deborah finished up her job as a program
manager at Trinity Wall Street and will start her fulltime studies at the General Theological Seminary in
NYC this fall. To celebrate this new chapter in her
life, Deborah took off for Paris, “excited to eat some
really awesome Parisian pain au chocolat!”
Deirdre Flynn took a break from the city heat and
spent the summer in Salisbury, Conn. “My four
kids are all at Dalton, and my third is surrounded
by Williams connections. He was in class this year
with the daughter of Hilary (Klotz) Steinman ’90 and
the son of Tom Morgan ’91. He is also good buddies with the nephew of Dave Shuman ’93 and is on
a soccer team with the son of Mary Moule and Greg
Woods ’91.” That’s a lot of purple for the Upper East
Side. Deirdre’s son’s name is William, and “it used
to be quite difficult for him to grasp that I didn’t go
to ‘his’ college. Truth is, I don’t think I would have
named him that if in the 48 hours after his birth I
had recalled the name of my alma mater. Guess I had
other things on my mind!”
Our poster boy for communal living, Scott Figgins,
has been in the process of buying a house in Oakland,
Calif., with another family. Scott also visited a
Vietnamese Culture Camp in Jiminy Peak and was
hoping to visit the Williams campus for the first time
since graduation. “Was that really 22 years ago?” he
wondered. In that vein, Patty Conte wrote, “Our niece
just graduated from UMASS Amherst (not plain
Amherst, don’t worry). We can always remember how
old she is because she was born two weeks before we
graduated from Williams—22 years ago. Scary!”
Peter Schneeburger is in India managing “a software and investment management company,” so
maybe he’s pulling double-duty. He finds time to beat
the heat in India by swimming with sea lions in the
Galapagos and hiking up to Machu Picchu for the
view. Come visit Baltimore, Peter. It’s beautiful this
time of year.
Paul Gaspar moved his family last year to Tokyo,
where he took a post for AIG. “We are enjoying the
benefits of being in Asia, including being able to see
some other folks from our class. In December, I went
to Bangkok to attend the wedding of Philip Prentiss.”
Since Holly Hedeman Lovvik still claims nothing
exciting happens up in New Hampshire, I took matters into my own hands and trolled Facebook for a
scoop. (Get used to it, people. Social sharing provides my paint; the class notes, my canvas.) One of
Holly’s buddies bragged that while their friends run
races and soar to great heights, “Who among you
have earned the coveted ‘most creative’ award for
the Great Spudracer Derby? Only Holly Lovvic and
I, that’s who. Meet our fab racer, Jim’s Big Baby. It
didn’t quite drive straight but it got us some ribbons
for pure beauty.”
I cheered when seeing that Liz Nasser’s daughter, Sophie, broke a seven-year cross-country track
record at track camp. Garrett Ingoglia ran up Mount
Greylock with Paul Fortin. (You know, that guy
who runs 100 miles at a time!). And it looks like Dr.
Doug Dreffer is on the hook for the next race. Susan
Snyder’s son Joey is playing a mean piano these days,
and younger Jonny is learning how to read and write.
“I thik Joey is dum” is one of Jonny’s most recent
works and may appear cuter as a picture online.
After “spending the evening in the parking lot of an
amphitheater while my daughters were inside watching One Republic,” Keith Faigin decompressed by
writing that after 11-plus years as a CIO for a pharmacy benefit management company, he took a position as an IT director at Little Caesar’s. “I got to
spend a day making pizza as part of my orientation,
and I was brilliant at it,” Keith boasted. “I am still
performing improv a couple of weekends a month.
My oldest daughter is now old enough to attend,
which has been both entertaining and humiliating.
I also finished my first novel (edited by Chris Green
’92). It is genre-skewering comedy called The Bone
Eaters. Fifty percent humor, 50 percent horror, 50
percent romance and 50 percent mystery—it’s twice
the entertainment of a regular book.” Go check it out
on Amazon or the Kindle store.
Howie Kim and his wife Betsy welcomed Harold
Jr. (Hal) in February. With older sister Elise (3 1/2),
the Kims have settled into Williamsburg, Brooklyn,
where Howie is finishing his second year as chairman
of the anesthesia department at Brooklyn Hospital.
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“I am trying to decide if I like administrative work
or not. My commute is fantastic, though, and I get to
ride my bike to work along the waterfront most days.”
Stephanie Phillips is preparing for life in another
borough, also. Steph and her husband closed on a
new apartment on West End Avenue—or it could be
Riverside. Regardless, she might as well be moving
to New Jersey, because blocks matter here in NYC.
Hoppie (my cockapoo) and I will miss running into
Steph and her beautiful golden, Mackie, on weekend
mornings around the Great Lawn.
Abigail Solomon remains active in the theater as
an actor and a producer of IF/THEN on Broadway.
Abby’s son Jasper will rock two years in September.
Since we started the last notes with Don Graves
hanging out with POTUS and the Veep, I thought it
fitting to end with the news we saw coming. In June,
Don Graves left his post at Treasury, where he helped
with the rejuvenation of Detroit, to join the White
House staff as counselor to the VP. Don will run
Biden’s policy office. Go Cows.
1993
Anne Conrad Hummel, 5 Bittersweet Court,
Centerport, NY 11721; 1993secretary@williams.edu
There were many “new” correspondents who were
in touch for the September edition of class notes.
Kevin Weng shared that after seven years in Hawaii,
he is moving to Virginia this fall to work at the
Institute of Marine Science as an assistant professor
of fishery science. Kevin writes, “After all these years,
I finally got a ‘real job.’ In academia, that means a tenure-track job. I’m looking forward to learning about
the area and exploring the Chesapeake as well as the
greater mid-Atlantic region. I’m sure there are lots
of Ephs around there!” While in the area for his job
interview, Kevin visited Emily Rheinfrank-Birknes
and Jon Birknes in March and met their three wonderful kids (and fearsome guard dog) who live in the
beautiful Ghent neighborhood of Norfolk, Va. Kevin
reports, “Much reminiscing and catching up occurred
over some excellent IPA.” Kevin is looking forward
to reconnecting further with the Birknes family when
he moves and plans to use their Norfolk roots to help
with “plugging into the quality community.”
Seth McClennen had Brian Foster and his wife
Nancy as “house guests” for Memorial Day weekend. Everyone enjoyed the McClennen pool, despite
the cooler spring temperatures, as well as the heated
hot tub, which Seth thinks was perceived by Brian’s
kids as “a big bathtub.” They also enjoyed a weekend
BBQ with the Fosters as well as Robb Friedman and
his wife Elisa Djundi ’92 and their kids. Seth optimistically notes, “If there is a major in Nerf or squirt-gun
warfare, there is a small chance one of our children
could attend Williams.” Seth also sees Dave Litvak
all the time at South Shore Hospital (Weymouth,
Mass.), where Dave works for “the other cardiology practice” at the hospital. Dave practices interventional cardiology (dealing specifically with the catheter-based treatment of structural heart diseases), and
Seth specializes in electrophysiology, so the two “are
always bumming around the cath lab.”
Greg Meyer has been working on a new Internet
business with the launch of Pro.com, a free website that helps customers find a price estimate and
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a great pro for their home projects. Mike Lapin ran
into Andy Wright at Arena Sports in Seattle, where
they both play indoor soccer. Mike picked up with
Andy’s team for a game, which Mike found “reminiscent of our days playing IM soccer for the Light Blue
Booters.” Camille Preston sent word that Jen Raney
is the best godmother ever. Jana (Swail) Mannan met
up with Maureen Edman and John Edman on Feb. 14
for the first baseball game of the season at Stanford
University, where the Edmans’ son Tommy is a freshman and on the starting lineup for baseball. Jana
reports the Edmans’ daughter Elise was at the game
cheering on her brother and his team, while their
other son Johnny is away at college.
Tom Kimbis made good on his promise to send
news since assuming his role as class president last
summer. He continues to work on increasing the
use of solar energy in the U.S. but will be stepping
down after five years serving as chairman of the
Solar Foundation “to share the fun.” He has joined
the board of the Clean Energy Leadership Institute,
a nonprofit that helps develop the next generation of energy leaders in D.C. and across the globe.
Tom spends most of his free time doing the suburban shuffle between softball, soccer, diving and basketball events for his two daughters, but he still has
time to catch up on a regular basis with Chris Walker,
Paul Piquado and Bill Mowitt. However, his contact
with Bill will be somewhat restricted in the foreseeable future, as “the newlywed Mr. Mowitt is back to
the South Atlantic Seas aboard a two-year National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mission.”
Tom pitches that “even though it’s a long four years
away, your class officers are finally awakening from
the 20th reunion celebration and looking through the
haze toward Williamstown in June ’18. Feel free to
reach out to any of us with your ideas on making the
25th reunion of Bicentennial Class of ’93 spectacular!”
Kim Cleland is winning points as the most faithful contributor to class notes, writing that things
continue to go well for her as a small-animal vet in
northern Virginia. Kim’s son Xavier finished first
grade, and her daughter Menolly is 1½ years old
and “sprinting around like a maniac.” Kim writes
that Xavier has started saying that he wants to go to
Williams, remarking, “He was enormously psyched
when I showed him that he was mentioned by name
in the last Williams People!” Kim had dinner with
Chris Welch ’94 when he was in the D.C. area for a
conference and reports that Chris does a lot of international travel for his work. Stephan (Fiedler) Terre
wrote from Tucson with the unique news that he has
been teaching yo-yo, juggling and other skill toys in
after-school programs for the last year. Stephan comments: “I never thought I’d get a chance to turn that
particular interest into a little business. Neither did
I anticipate how much I would enjoy helping kids
learn these skills.”
Jeff Hummel and I were looking forward to the
(slightly) more relaxed pace of summer on Long
Island, planning many weekend outings to the beautiful nearby beaches and state parks we are lucky to
have in our backyard. Jeff continues to work as an
attorney for a large defense firm, and I am about to
mark my 12th year as a pediatrician in group practice—it is amazing (and scary) to see the children
I have helped to take care of since they were only a
1992– 94
couple of days old now entering middle school! Our
son Christopher turns 9 in October and is a happy,
busy almost-fourth-grader who enjoys baseball, basketball, reading and hip hop! We attended his first
dance performance and as veterans of many a latenight Dodd dance party; I have to say he made us
very proud.
I look forward to sharing the many Eph reunions
and travels that the summer months are sure to
inspire in the January edition of class notes; it was
great to hear from so many of you for this installment, so keep the emails coming!
1994
Genevieve Mann Morris, 1203 East 19th Ave.,
Spokane, WA 99203, 1994secretary@williams.edu
Thanks to Liz Rappaport for her duties as class
scribe for the last five years. Her parting words:
“Reunion was great. It is bittersweet to abdicate my
secretarial crown, as it connected me to Williams and
to so many of you who wrote in over the past five
years. It was a thrill, ahem, to stay in the quad and
relive a fun party night with a group of such glamorous revelers as yourselves. I arrived Saturday afternoon and took a tour of all the new buildings that
have been constructed since we graduated—an
impressive collection of environmental and architectural creativity. The evening events got started
quickly after, though I snuck in a shopping trip to
the Williams store on Spring Street in the early evening where I bought some gear I may never wear
and ran into Rachel Remmel trying on sweatshirts.
We wound up sitting together in the dinner portion
of the evening where I also caught up with Elizabeth
Burnett, one of our illustrious Williams development
officers, and Jen Wingate and husband Steve Dean,
my old neighbors from Brooklyn Heights, and their
adorable son John, who seemed to have energy from
the fresh Berkshire air. It was great to catch up with
Pete Rankin, who works at Johnson & Johnson and
lives in New Jersey with his wife and young family. We reminisced about watching the launch of the
first Iraq war from his suite on the bottom floor of
my old entry, Williams F—among other, more cheerful memories. I caught up with Coreen McCool and
Susan Vaill, who looked great and have lovely families and careers. Amanda Oberg, Star Hampton and
Liz Rosan Kirkwood—it was amazing to catch up,
and, Liz, we’ll have to fly in some kegs from the
brewery for the 25th! Jon Aborn was celebrating his
birthday as well as reunion, which meant he was …
talkative. He burned the midnight oil a bit with me
and many others, including Paul Austin, whose attendance was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.”
It must be said that despite being 20 years away
from our glory days—and the fact that those aforementioned glory days included significant gallivanting and shenanigans—we looked damn good at
reunion! I hope all of you enjoyed reminiscing, catching up and trying desperately to remember the details
of Armstrong late night as much as I did. I am still
confused by the new pub and whether I am supposed to be pleased that my feet no longer stick to
the floor or depressed that it is now a cheesy sports
bar. Anyway, as my 6-year-old daughter Maggie
remarked upon leaving reunion, “College is so awe-
some; you get parades, balloons and your own room
with free soap!” Oh, honey, it is so much better than
free soap.
Williamstown was as lovely as I remembered
(although far easier to connect with friends with
WhatsApp). Our class is pretty fabulous: Lots of
lovely children running around the freshman quad,
impressive jobs, exciting entrepreneurial ideas and
YouTube videos out there (now you’re intrigued, eh?).
Highlights for me included watching the football
team (especially Chris McIlraith and Mark Bussard)
play a solid game of two-hand touch with a gaggle of little boys, listening to Pam Worthy rock both
her new ’do and “Killing Me Softly” at the Pub (seriously, we need a new name for that place; it’s just not
the same), chatting with Joanne Torres and Agatha
Donovan Walker down at lovely Cole Field while
watching the next generation of soccer players, and
“getting ready” with my ladies in the dorms like the
good ol’ days.
I had very little time to prepare these notes (about
four days), so please feel free to fill in details with
your own imagination. As I told many of you at
reunion, if you don’t write me with your news I will
a) make it up, b) curse your name and shame you
in front of your classmates, or c) use material I have
from your early years at Williams (and we all know
that is not too pretty). And I take bribes (ask Andrew
Ferguson—here is a link to his book for you all to
buy: http://bit.ly/1rr0Jaw). Despite my desperate plea
for news (and thinly veiled threat), many of you still
ignored me. Thank you to those mentioned below.
Let’s start with some exciting job news: Christy
Williams Wyskiel joined Johns Hopkins on the president’s staff with responsibilities including entrepreneurship and technology transfer. “I’m loving the
transition from entrepreneur to academia, though my
golf game is suffering. In my free time I help Matt
Wyskiel ’91 with his mentorship of several local teenagers. Matt is proud that his success at Williams JV
LAX allowed him to land a position coaching our
son’s team of 9-year-olds. Such positions in Baltimore
are hotly contested!”
Chris Roosenraad was lucky enough to become an
adjunct professor of computer science at Williams:
“Specifically, I taught a CS Winter Study at
Williams this past January (‘Bots, Malware, and the
Underground Economy’). It was an awesome experience, and if anyone else gets the chance to go and
teach a Winter Study class at Williams, I highly
encourage you to do so.”
Cory Wickwire Halaby started a life coaching business, and after visiting with her classmates at reunion
“would like to retroactively claim credit for their
thriving careers and personal lives. There’s no such
thing as coincidence.”
Adam Carroll made the trek to reunion from
Oregon and wrote this about his trip: “It was a
nice break from being in software startup mode. I’d
be happy to see any classmates making their way
through central Oregon, especially those that didn’t
make it out to reunion. Bend is known for its beer,
if that’s any enticement.” Another NW coaster,
Amy Minnick, “loved seeing so many friends at the
Williams reunion and already looking forward to the
25th. My family moved to Denver from NYC about
four years ago in hopes of spending more time in the
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mountains with our two kids, Jessica, 8, and Zack, 6.
It has been a great move for everyone, and I think I
am at risk of being the worst skier in the family in the
next few years, as my kids both love to ski anything
and everything. On the professional front, I joined
IHS, an information services company, where I work
in product management. I am lobbying for more
Ephs to make the move west and join me in the
mountains or at least for a minireunion in the Mile
High City sometime before the 25th.”
Other West Coasters I see from time to time
include Peggy Drucker Headstrom (making a name
for herself as a gastroenterologist), Sarah Davidson
Richmond (a director of strategic partnerships at
Microsoft, who recently bought a lovely house overlooking the water and is generous with her guest
room) and Melissa Braisted Nordquist (who has now
swum 1,568,568 miles since we graduated). Melissa
enjoys living in Tacoma and has been working for
DeForest Architects in Seattle. “Two of my residential projects are currently under construction, so there
is never a dull moment. I have been exploring the
waters of the Puget Sound and have been expanding
my circle of open-water swimmers in the area. Riding
my bike with my husband Paul as much as possible,
too.” Also in Seattle is Emily Sprong Suiter, program
director at Kruckeberg Botanic Garden Foundation,
who was not responsible for pushing the reunion
cow-on-wheels down the hill into Mission at a high
rate of speed while it was engulfed in flames.
Making her own cross-country trek but unable to
make reunion was Ellie Linen Low, who was busy
preparing to move 3,000 miles. “We are packing up
the whole kit and caboodle and moving to Falmouth,
Maine, in July to finally live closer to family and our
East Coast friends. We will miss the PNW but hope
to connect with any Ephs in the Portland, Maine,
area.” Ellie and her husband Dave also welcomed
their third child, Blythe, in July 2013. She joins adoring older sisters Haven, 11, and Rosie, 8.
Another classmate sad to miss reunion, Leigh Frost
wrote, “I’ve been with the same market research firm,
Vision Critical, for over six years now. They’re based
in Canada, so I’m up there about once a month, otherwise commuting into NYC from the ’burbs. We did
move back to the Connecticut ’burbs last year, after
living in the Long Island ’burbs (where my husband
Dave is from) for about 12 years. It wasn’t as different as I would have thought, but it’s nice to be back
to my homeland.”
Lizzette Colon wrote, “Since turning 40 I have
been able to complete many of my bucket list
items, including: riding a hot air balloon over Lake
Tahoe, zip lining in South Carolina, running away
from zombies on the Intrepid in NYC, and getting
splashed with colors in a color run this spring. Next
up I will be doing the Warrior Dash this summer
in New Jersey. When I am not checking items off
of my list I am happy to be a guidance counselor at
the NYC iSchool. High school always lends itself to
many fun stories and makes me wonder if I was this
clueless but yet so sure I knew it all when I was their
age. I want my students to see that you can be in your
40s and fabulous and still have tons of fun.”
Cynthia Llamas “had a great time reconnecting
with old friends, introducing them to my boyfriend
Richard (Mojica) and touring the campus, which
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is more beautiful than it was when we were there. I
would have spent a lot more time in the library if it
had the breathtaking views that the new library has.
I hope everyone took advantage of the preview tours
during the reunion. The only things it is missing are
the monkey carrels. As for life in El Paso, Texas, I’m
still practicing law at the same firm where I started
and in which I’ve been a partner for 10 years. I continue to be an avid cook. (The extra pounds are well
worth it!) I also very recently paid off my mortgage
and am looking for new home improvement projects.
I only wish I had the space to redo my kitchen.”
Nicole Vennell Roberts still lives outside D.C. with
her husband Brian and two daughters, Michaela, 5,
and Clara, 2 1/2, “who are the most delightfully craziness-inducing beings on the planet.” She’s been at
the National Cancer Institute for 14 years (yikes!)
and loves her work doing executive coaching, staff
training, leadership development and “other duties as
assigned.” She says, “I had a great time at reunion—
and I’ll say we all look pretty damn good—and am
looking forward to our 25th in 2019!”
And, lastly, great to hear from Sean Brousseau:
“Living outside Providence, R.I., with my wife and
two girls (6 and 10). Partner at a law firm, Hodosh,
Spinella & Angelone, PC, where I am a civil litigator. The girls are big into hockey and lacrosse, and I’ve
just started training for and competing in obstacle
course races. I enjoy coaching the girls and recently
helped to begin a mom’s hockey league in Providence
for late starters. I see Mark Yannetti a couple of times
per year and stumble across Williams people like
Tony Gagliano, John Alissi ’93 and Garrett Nannene
’95 at rinks around New England.”
As for me here in Spokane (we like to call it the
’Kane—rhymes with “pan”), I do my best to avoid
becoming the maniacal parent at my kids’ soccer
games, and I sometimes succeed. I started a new position June 1, joining the clinical faculty at Gonzaga
School of Law. My clinic works to prevent home
foreclosures, and I sometimes succeed at that, too. I
spend most days giving my daughter reasons why she
does not need a horse and keeping my boys guessing
as to when they will have “screen time.”
I hope you will all send me your updates so as to
prevent my musings into your freshman-year antics.
Some folks mentioned in these paragraphs may not
have written in, but I abused my artistic license and
wrote about you anyway. Let this be a warning to the
rest of you.
1995
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin, 535 Arabella St., New
Orleans, LA 70115; Nancy O’Brien Wagner, 1049 Linwood
Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105; 1995secretary@williams.edu
Submitted by Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin: I begin
this installment of notes with important announcements and acknowledgements. I start with a heartfelt
thank you on behalf of all of us to Suzanne (LePage)
Wintner. Sue has been an amazing head agent and
an inspiration to our Alumni Fund team. The year
I received fresh-baked cookies in the mail halfway
through the campaign to keep me going, I knew
we were in for a special ride. But even all good rides
come to an end, and this year Sue is stepping down as
head agent to focus on her PhD and her non-agent
1994– 95
life! Sue and her now former agent team are super
excited to see which one of you will step up to fill
that role. Thank you, Sue!
On the announcement end of things, you have
probably heard that next year we will be celebrating our 20th reunion! I will refrain from going into
the “how did we get that old” diatribe and instead
thank Gretchen (Engster) Howard and Jessie Price
for stepping up as reunion co-chairs! Gretchen and
Jessie have already started working diligently on
planning an outstanding reunion, and they need
our help. I hope everyone has received and filled out
a survey asking our input on various areas around
reunion and volunteer information. If either of
these things sound new to you and you’d like to get
involved and/or volunteer, please email Gretchen at
gretchen.e.howard@gmail.com as soon as you are
done reading these notes!
So, what are people up to, you ask? Well, making
babies for one!
Rachel Levinson-Waldman announces the birth of
her son Eli on April 24. He joined his sister Sarah,
who turned 3 at the end of June. Rachel tells us that
Sarah “was extremely dubious about the new addition at first, but she seems to be coming around. I’m
still at the Brennan Center for Justice, working on
issues related to civil liberties and national security.
I didn’t make it to the 15th reunion, but I’m crossing my fingers we’ll make it to the 20th.” Hope to
see you in June, Rachel. Make sure you email Jessie
and Gretchen!
Dedrick (Dunbar) Asante-Muhammad shares that
he and his wife Monica had their second daughter on June 10, Ella Elijah Ali Asante, who joins her
big sister Jemison.
Elizabeth Blum updates us on Priscilla Carr, who
delivered identical twin boys, which completely
skewed the male/female ratio in her home. Elizabeth
also reports that Melissa Mohr is having a great time
in England, that Liz Juang is dealing gracefully with
the surprises of dealing with a fifth-grader who is
learning “everything” at school including “the talk,”
and that Maren Reichert had a busy spring, enjoyed
launching her kindergartner to school and spent
some time in Montreal over the summer.
We have a couple of weddings as well. On June 14,
Ted Welsh married Jon Todd. Ted clarifies that his
Jon Todd is not the math major Jon Todd ’96, who
is happily married to someone else, as near as he can
tell. Ted’s Jon Todd is the director of residence life
at Elms College in Chicopee, Mass. Celebrating
with Ted and Jon at their church in the woods in
Springfield, Mass., were Anne Wenzel Hicks and her
husband Craig, Greg Bowne ’93 and his husband
Mark Staloff, Chris Cardona and Cathy Sumner ’94,
Justin Lewis’ partner Roland Tactay and hearty partiers Aleks Williams and Leslie Loranzana—who
“closed first one and then the other hotel bar the
night of the wedding and then opened the hotel pool
the next morning.” Go Aleks and Leslie!
Jeremy Fox and Brinsley (Horner) Fox ’94 headed
to Seattle for the June 19 wedding of Greg Crowther
and Leila Zelnick ’00.
In the miscellaneous section of the notes we learn
that Margaret Coady headed to South Africa for
work, accompanied by her husband Joe Cruz ’91,
where they celebrated their first wedding anniver-
sary. Margaret says, “The self-drive safari craze was
just our speed—in the smallest imaginable rental car
we watched herds of buffalo, zebra, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, lions and impala go by. Parked at
the watering holes waiting for the animals to arrive
gave us plenty of time to remember how wonderful it was to have family and friends celebrate with us
in Williamstown just a year ago. Joe brought his ‘fat
bike’ and is taking a few more weeks to explore; he’s
already been adopted by the mountain biking nuts
there. Looking forward to reunion next June!”
Paul Boxer writes in from north Jersey that he
was appointed director of the Evidence-Based
Institute for Justice Practice & Policy in the School
of Criminal Justice at Rutgers. Paul’s work focuses on
youth violence and delinquency and how to get communities to come together around coordinated efforts
to intervene with high-risk youth. Paul shares, “I am
also writing a book on interventions for youth who
are perpetrators or victims of violence.” Additionally,
he continues to keep his “three high-energy children
happy, healthy and, most of all, busy.”
Jonathan Nitschke was promoted to professor of
chemistry at the University of Cambridge.
Bobby Walker Jr. is now CEO of the Boys &
Girls Club of Greenwich, Conn. The organization’s press release states: “Bobby is a seasoned educator, administrator and coach who has spent two
decades working with young people. He is currently head of the middle school at King (formerly
King Low Heywood School) in Stamford, Conn.,
where he has served for nine years. At King, Bobby
also teaches eighth-grade history and serves on the
admissions committee and the strategic plan task
force. From 2000 to 2005, Bobby was dean of middle school students at McDonogh School, a boarding and day school in Owings Mills, Md. Bobby
launched his teaching career in 1995 at his alma
mater, St. Marks School of Texas in Dallas, where
he taught U.S. history, language arts and life skills.”
Sarah (Mills) Marchant writes in for the first
time in many years and tells us, “I have been living in Reading, Mass., for 14 years, with my husband Dave and two children (ages 12 and 9). During
that time, I took a job teaching middle school science
at one of the two middle schools in town, Coolidge
Middle School. This year, I became the principal of
Coolidge! It has been an exciting year with lots to
learn, and it has been wonderfully challenging as well.
I also enjoy seeing my son Taylor in passing, as he is a
sixth-grader (soon to be seventh!) in the same school.
(Thankfully he has managed to avoid my office for all
things disciplinary!) It is very rewarding to work and
live in the same community and to be a part of shaping the youth who pass through my school!”
Rebecca Doucette sent the next volume of her husband John’s book, I was Detailed to the Regimental
Band: Vol. II, New Hampshire & Vermont, which was
to be on the shelves before fall. As for her day job,
Rebecca says: “I’m enjoying my new foray into the
Army’s officer ranks, spending time with my troops
and trying to get the most out of that aspect of my
career, using my Arabic and studying leadership.
We’ve settled into our huge house in Utah, 40 minutes from skiing. Visitors welcome!”
Betsy Rosenblatt sent her news before I even
asked: “I’m delighted to report that I’ve received
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tenure! My five years as a professor at Whittier Law
School have positively flown by. I still have a tiny
consulting practice in intellectual property law and
serve as volunteer legal chair for a nonprofit called
the Organization for Transformative Works, but
most of my professional time is spent teaching and
writing law review articles (and, inevitably, doing
administrative work in my position as the head of
the school’s Center for Intellectual Property Law)—
and I love it. Most of my time with other Williams
alums nowadays is online or during my annual winter pilgrimage to the Purple Valley, but in May,
Ethan Zuckerman ’93 came out for a rare Southern
California visit (he was speaking and receiving an
award for his amazing book, Rewire) and we had a
lovely visit on my home turf, for a change.”
Lisa (Masterman) Michaud went camping at
the end of May with her father in the Mohawk
Trail State Forest. Lisa says: “We crossed over into
Williamstown the first day, had lunch at Pappa C’s
and took a long hike in Hopkins Forest; we spent the
next day trekking through the Savoy Forest up in the
hills above the hairpin turn. It was so nice to have a
little taste of being back in the valley, and I am looking forward to our 20th!”
Norma Lopez contributed to the Williams
Latina/o studies 10th anniversary celebration and
says the following: “I am happy to report on a successful celebration! Held May 2-4, it brought close
to 30 alums back to campus to celebrate this milestone. For many of us it was a long-overdue reunion
with wonderful friends and staff/mentors, yet it was
also an opportunity to become immersed in the
vast and varied academic topics of Latina/o studies. I think it’s safe to say that we all better understood the long road to creating this program, heard
from leading faculty in the field, were exposed to
how recent concentrators have utilized their degree
beyond Williams and made meaningful connections
with current students. I wish I could express in this
email the contagious excitement from this gathering. Many of us certainly left with a desire to continue to reconnect with other alums and with students at Williams.”
As for myself, I am very excited to see many of
you in June for our 20th reunion. I am particularly excited because June will mark my 10th year of
being your class secretary. I know, I know, it seems
like yesterday when I stepped into this role. It has
truly been a joy and an honor to read your news
and compose these notes alongside Flo Waldron the
first five, and now with Nancy (O’Brien) Wagner.
However, and you know what’s coming: It is time
I pass this baton. I may want to pick it up at some
point in the future, but I have a feeling that one
of you is really itching to do this job! So. You have
until June to think about it! As it turns out, it will
be my turn to write the reunion column, so you will
surely see me pestering you for news for the last
time and looking for my replacement. Until then,
fill out the reunion survey, consider volunteering for
reunion planning and stay cool!
—Love, Anamaria
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1996
Lesley Whitcomb Fierst, 50 Scottsdale Drive,
Fredericksburg, VA 22405; 1996secretary@williams.edu
I think I already used this Sesame Street shtick once
before (you lose track of gags when you’ve been secretary since George Bush was president), but at the
risk of being repetitive, this edition of class notes is
being sponsored by the number “40” and the letters
“OMG.” Yes, we are really there. Many of you wrote
in about gatherings planned and trips taken to celebrate, mourn and/or acknowledge that big birthday
that many of us have passed this year.
So, first, to the partiers. Amy (Smith) Dundon and
Lisa (Libby) Kuhns traveled to California to reunite
with Molly (Kelleher) Myers. Molly said that the
girls “spent a very enjoyable, kid-free, reminiscing-full weekend in Napa together and are already
plotting their next get-together.” Meera Gill wrote,
“Bonnie (Macpherson) Ricci, Heather (Westergren)
Humphries, Kate (Ginevan) Mattsson-Boze, Doris
(Quintanilla) Forteith, Carole (Smith) Warren and I
all just got back from a girls’ weekend in the White
Mountains to celebrate that big birthday that is happening to us all this year. The highlight of our trip
was, of course, catching up and reminiscing, but the
zip line was fun, too!”
Deb (Palmer) Whitney, who is still living outside
of Philadelphia and working as a pediatric hospitalist, had “a fun girls’ trip with Martine (Conley) Twito,
Lyn Aborn, Becky (Marin) Scandrett and Jill (Zimmer)
Simon in Vegas! We came from all corners of the
country and left our kids with the husbands for a
getaway weekend (to celebrate a rather momentous
birthday for all of us this year), and it was a blast. It
felt just like old times ... with a little less drinking and
a little more napping. We are determined to do this
every five years at least!” And I headed up to Boston
for a surprise party for Robin (Keller) Elliott thrown
by her fantastic, poker-faced husband Chad. Porter
(Harris) May, Karen (Robinson) Coyle and I celebrated with Robin over more drinks than we probably should have had and took several rounds of selfies, until we got some particularly flattering ones that
made us feel as if we look just as we did 20 years ago.
Now, I know what you’re thinking—there must
have been guys in our class who are celebrating their
40th birthdays, but y’all just didn’t write in about it. (I
make no judgments about any deeper meaning there.
And it’s not too late either to do the celebrating or
write in about it.)
Abe Loomis released his first solo album, The Early
Treasuries. Abe wrote, “I have been thrilled that it’s
getting airplay on folk radio nationwide and as far
away as Radio Upper Galilee 105.3 FM in Israel. It
was produced by Jay Erickson of Red Rooster and
features performances by Tracy Grammer as well as
Seth Paris of Roosevelt Dime.”
Vanessa Wruble wrote, “It’s just the daily grind
here in NYC. This past weekend our company
helped produce The Roots Picnic in Philly—Snoop
Dogg headlined. That was pretty rad.” Vanessa’s
company also planned to put on five free shows at
Summerstage over summer (check out www.okay
player.com). Vanessa was in Williamstown in June to
attend the graduation of her sister Mattia Wruble ’14.
Also in attendance were her brother Austin Wruble
1995– 97
’17, sister Alexis Wruble ’99 and father Bernhardt
Wruble ’63 and his wife Jill (Diamond) Wruble ’83.
Willard Morgan is still living in Alna, Maine, and
serving as president of Chewonki in Wiscasset. “At
Chewonki we are about to begin our centennial
year celebration of powerful nature-based education
focused in Maine—adventurous summer programs
for boys and girls, a rigorous semester school for high
school juniors and a variety of innovative school programs. In the last three years, I have also been founding board chair for Juniper Hill School Place-Based
Education, a growing independent school in Alna
with a very similar philosophy to Chewonki. Next
year we will have over 40 students from ages 4 to 9
(pre K-fourth grade), and we are adding a grade each
year so far. My daughters Sierra, 8, and Zella, 2 in
December, are well, and my wife Jenn and I are looking forward to family time in the outdoors together
in 2014. I also just began my second term as a trustee
of the St. Mark’s School in Southborough, Mass.”
From fellow educator Zack Wiseman: “I’m finishing
my fifth year of teaching engineering to high school
students in Baltimore County, Md. Though teenagers can be annoying, I laugh a lot with (and at) them.
I’ve begun writing my dissertation for my PhD in
education (instructional leadership) at Notre Dame
of Maryland University. And I am having a blast with
my two kids, Noah and Hannah.”
Ron Chowdhury is single-handedly keeping our
class connected. “It’s ‘summer’ here in L.A., which
really isn’t so different here from spring, winter or fall.
Anyhow, we had a spring full of get-togethers with
old friends from Billsville. Eva Flodstrom ’97, her
husband Dylan and her son Sol made the epic trek
from their beach community in Venice to our side of
town a few times to meet up with Chan and me and
Ada, 3, and Lila, 4 months, to do the circuit of L.A.
children’s attractions. While chasing the kids through
the zoo with diaper bags slung over our shoulders,
Eva and I chatted about how we are still totally cool.
In March, Ted Park, wife Simi and daughter Navya
were in town for a wedding. Ada and I were able
to meet them at a German place for würste, brezeln
und bier. Es hat Spaß gemacht! In April, we met up
with Tania Shaw, Matt Abrahams and their sons
Owen and Eli for a trip to Legoland, where everything was awesome. And in May, I got to see Dan
Polsby when he made the joyless trip down the 5
from the East Bay to L.A. for the first meeting of
our new book club. (Book discussed: The Sleepwalkers,
by Christopher Clark—a history of the origins of
WWI.) Our book club is always trying to recruit
new members, so if you’re interested and can make
a meeting once every two or three months in L.A.,
drop Dan or me a line.” And just in case you thought
Ron perhaps was making up some of those Ephvents, Tania Shaw wrote: “In April Matt and I met
up with Ron Chowdhury, his wife Chan and their
lovely daughters to tour Legoland. We had a great
time soaking up some sun and catching up.”
Michele (Gleason) Gonzalez wrote about Micah
Edmond, who is running for Congress in northern
Virginia’s 8th Congressional District this year. “I had
the pleasure of attending his campaign kickoff party
in Alexandria this spring. I hope that any Ephs living in that area will vote for him! As for me, I am
still living in Norfolk, Va., having a blast watching
my 3- and 5-year-old boys play and grow together. I
recently became a partner at Atlantic Dermatology
Associates in Virginia Beach. I also do some teaching
at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and I have been
serving as president of the Tidewater Dermatologic
Society since January. Life is good!” Fellow physician Gretchen von Oesen Diemer acknowledged,
“It’s been a while since I’ve written in—my husband Andrew Diemer ’97 and I are still living in
Philadelphia with our three kids, Marcus, Anna and
Katherine, and I practice hospital-based internal
medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. I serve as
the program director for the internal medicine residency program and recently assumed the role as
associate dean for graduate medical education and
affiliations. I visited Amy Laderberg O’Sullivan in
Alexandria and ate pizza with her, her husband Paul
and her twin girls. I also attended the wedding of
John Young in Asheville, N.C., where I celebrated the
event with Ian Graham, Matt Brokaw, Alex St. Clair
’97, Casey Londergan ’97, Anne Pitts Londergan ’98,
Brad Maron ’97, Chris Sweeney ’97, David Gallon ’97
and Pattie (Koontz) Turrettini ’97. And partied like
we were in college again.”
And long-lost Katharine (Kami Neumann) Reagan
wrote for the first time in our 18-plus years postgraduation. Katharine and her family (husband Cory
and two boys, Ben, 8, and Henry, 5) moved to New
Canaan, Conn., after spending the last four years
in Chicago. Katharine works for Gartner, based in
nearby Stamford, and was offered a position to run
the Northeast sales region. Katharine wrote about
her excitement for the job and “a great opportunity
to reconnect with the Northeast and alumni friends
from Williams!” Less time spent in Arctic winds is
probably an added plus. Signing off now, be happy,
enjoy 40, and keep in touch!
1997
Jeff Zeeman, 5301 1st Place N., Arlington, VA 22203;
Christine Cox is still living in Decatur, Ga., with
her husband Don, 5-year-old son Sam and daughter Madeleine, nearly 7. They visited Natasha
Stanley and Bryan Stanley ’96 over spring break
in beautiful Portland, Ore., where the kids finally
got to meet their doppelgängers, Hope and Zane.
In May, Christine left her position as a trademark
attorney to join MitoAction, a mitochondrial disease nonprofit, as director of outreach and advocacy. In her spare time, she reads Robbi Behr and
Matthew Swanson’s Bobbledy Books to her kids
or cruises around town listening to Drew Bunting
and Brian Slattery’s Where is My Chicken? CD.
Definite must-haves for any Eph parents! Speaking
of our kid-friendly musical and literary contingent,
Matt Swanson also endorses Where is My Chicken?,
which came out in June as part of the Bobbledy
Books book club. An eclectic mix of hilarious, gorgeous and high-energy tunes, the album includes
the Beastie Boys-inspired rap odyssey “(I Woke
Up With a) Cracker in My Pants,” featuring MC
Brian Slattery. In March, Matthew and Robbi gave
a TEDx talk on collaboration and in June spoke
on creative entrepreneurship at the Alt Summit in
Salt Lake City. That is the first, and likely the last,
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time I’ve heard “Beastie Boys-inspired” and “recommended for small children” describe the same piece
of music.
It seems that Brian Slattery’s music is just as
appealing live as on the album, as Jennifer Meyers
reports: “Jason Meyers and I went to the Black Creek
Fiddlers’ reunion last month with Brian and Steph
(Silton) Slattery. It was great to catch up with Steph
and Brian. We had fun watching Brian play, and as
novices it was fun for Jason and me to sit in with
some of the groups. The highlight was looking out
into the field and seeing Leo Slattery with his violin and our daughter Naomi with her viola learning
fiddle tunes from each other. … Jason is still really
enjoying his job at Colgate, and I love being the town
pediatrician in this rural area. It is definitely odd to
feel closer in age to the senior faculty than the students. At this point my oldest patients and Jason’s
youngest students are half our age. Ouch.”
Dave Vosburg writes, “Kate Vosburg ’98 and I tried
our hands at an Irish smithy and then celebrated
our 15th anniversary in Spain. Upon our return to
England, I found that I had been elected a fellow of
the American Scientific Affiliation. And my sabbatical host, Jonathan Nitschke ’95, has just been promoted to professor of chemistry at the University of
Cambridge. A very good year!” Also checking in from
abroad is Bryan Sherman, who is seven years on as a
Tokyo resident, celebrating 10 years of marriage and
five years running a boutique consulting, training
and facilitation firm called Gramercy Engagement
Group Inc. First-time writer, long time reader Sylvia
Park has made her home in Auckland, N.Z., for the
past eight months, and is now returning to Maryland.
How could it not be home, with a mall named after
her, nature wild and beautiful, and learning to speak
the Kiwi way—“Sweet as … Good on you … Good
as gold.” She worked as a psychiatrist at a government outpatient clinic and enjoyed tramping (hiking), snorkeling, mountain biking and playing some
badminton. Sweet as!
Seth Morgan met up with Seth Bair and his son
Santosh to watch the U.S. vs. Turkey game before the
U.S. team left for the World Cup. Robin Kelesoglu
was also there, and unfortunately Seth didn’t get to
see him as long. Soccer alums and fans have a bittersweet feeling after the announcement of Coach
Russo’s retirement. His former players are trying to
figure out the best way to celebrate coach’s last season.
Matt Bostick has plenty to report since his last submission. In a highly unprofitable but terrifically satisfying move, Matt left the law last year to pursue a
high school teaching credential. Matt is just finishing
up a one-year ed school program and will be teaching
world history, government and econ to ninth- and
12th-graders next year in Moraga, Calif. Matt lives in
Berkeley with his wife Amy and their toddler Sam,
and, far too infrequently, they get together with Bay
Area ’97ers including Poorab Sangani, Minnie TaiSangani, Max Ross and Molly Barrett Stern. They
make it back to the East Coast about once a year
to see family and friends and would love some Eph
visitors. Speaking of outside-the-box employment
choices, after getting his commercial pilot’s license
in September, David Turner is now the owner/manager of a small airport in Pennsylvania called Flying
Dollar. Feel free to fly in!
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Hilary Hutchinson lives in the ’burbs of Boston
with an entourage of husband, children and pets.
She still works for Google, doing research for the
search team, but, more importantly, she continues to be the keeper of the coveted purple cow
badge for Eph alums on Google’s employee directory page—now over 50 strong! On Hilary’s last
trip out to the main office in CA, she had lunch
with Iein Valdez and Balakrishna Narasimhan, who
both work at Google in Mountain View. Others at
Google include Max Ross and Andrew Schein. In
the Boston office, Hilary regularly runs into Cara
Shortsleeve ’00 and Josh Ain ’03. Outside of work,
except it was actually at work, Hilary had lunch
with Emily Manus. Emily finished her degree in
social work at BC and is now employed in that
field. Hilary’s son ended up in a play group a few
years ago with Rachael Moeller Gorman ’98’s son,
whose family she now hangs out with regularly.
Rachael writes food and science articles and gets
to go to the James Beard awards every year. Hilary
also sees AJ Bernheim Brush ’96 a few times a year
at conferences, as their work is related. AJ works at
Microsoft, but Hilary tries not to hold it against her.
Could be worse, Hilary—at least it’s not Hooli!
Byron Wetzel has had a few Eph gatherings
recently. Byron made the rounds to meet John
D’Agostino’s daughter and Noah Harlan’s daughter and had drinks with George Creppy and Kenny
Harmon to celebrate George’s birthday in early May.
Maxine Burkett ’98 came to visit from Hawaii, and
they got together with Ginny Suss ’99 and Jim Rowe
’98 at Jim’s bar, Trophy Bar, in Brooklyn. Maxine
and Byron also met up with Dan Shaw for dinner in
Manhattan. Byron also had a lovely evening with Liza
Johnson ’92 (Williams professor of art, chairwoman
of American studies program) as they plot to take
over Hollywood in the fall. Fingers crossed! Natasha
Stanley jumped back into the paid workforce in
February after a six-year “family break.” She’s an
account director at Babcock & Jenkins, a B2B marketing consultancy in Portland, Ore., working primarily with technology and financial services clients.
Natasha was thrilled to grab a local power lunch with
Monica Goracke recently (as though the years never
passed). The conversation was delicious.
Peter Mackenzie moved back to Kenya last August
for a second stint (his first was 2003-06). He is now
working as the senior program officer for democratization at the Somalia office of Interpeace, a Genevabased NGO that helps countries emerging from conflict to strengthen the foundations for sustainable
peace. Pete traveled to different parts of Somalia four
times in the last few months, working with the governments of several different autonomous regions to
prepare for elections and other processes of democratization. Pete notes that “Somalia is an incredibly
complex political environment, and of course there’s
some risk involved in traveling there, but I’m really
enjoying working with the Somalis, and it’s never
dull. My sons Samuel and Iain are now 7 and 5, and
both are thriving here in Nairobi and enjoying all our
weekend safaris. A few weeks ago I had a great night
out with Bob Feit, who was in town for the wedding
of a Kenyan friend. In recent weeks, there have been a
number of terrorist attacks around Kenya, but this is
still a great place to call home.”
1997– 98
In April, Patricia Porter flew from Seattle to San
Francisco for an extended weekend break and to visit
with Thien Lam ’98. They enjoyed a free walking tour,
great food and going to see a late-night band, and
the highlight of the weekend was attending the San
Francisco Wine Vintner’s event—which they don’t
remember much of!
Last but certainly not least, Secretary Emeritus
Kate Ramsdell’s son Morgan Christopher Ramsdell
was born on May 21. “The kid took his sweet time
getting here—two weeks past due—but we are loving being a family of four. The man-to-man defense
still stands! Unfortunately, I had to miss John Young’s
wedding to the amazing Eleanor Cross (Davidson
’01) because of Morgan’s pending arrival, but from
what I have gathered, it was a great time had by all!”
Classmates, here is my challenge to you over the
fall: I know there are some of you who religiously
read about your classmates’ foibles but have yet to
write in yourselves. Believe me, we all want to hear
from you! The next edition of class notes is dedicated
to long-time listeners, first-time callers. No excuses…
You may not have done anything of note in the past
few months, but you have 17 years of notes-worthy
adventures to choose from.
1998
Jediah White, 503 South Prospect Ave., Madison, WI
Let’s start with some heroics. Aran Degenhardt was
cited in the local news for saving the life of a woman
being carried out to sea by a riptide. Even better,
he did it on Father’s Day in front of his 4-year-old
daughter. All in a day’s work for Aran, who recently
returned from Shanghai, where he was the team physician for the U.S. men’s national water polo team.
He writes: “My son finished first grade and daughter
graduated from pre-K. We’re living in N.J., and my
medical practice is doing well in NYC. Other than
that, looking forward to the summer, doing some triathlons, paddle-boarding and kite-boarding when
I have the chance.” He also plans to attend the U.S.
Open (tennis) as a covering physician.
Sam Young was selected by Gold’s Gym as the top
overall male for its 2014 Know Your Own Strength
Challenge. He received a huge check (literally, not
so much numerically) and signed paperwork permitting his likeness to be used however Gold’s sees
fit. So if you think you recognize him on a billboard
or a city bus, you might be right. Sam also “finally”
earned a Master of Laws in taxation (LLM) degree
from NYU after five years of part-time work. But
these successes were overwhelmed by a loss. “In
March Kris Bruneau ’96, Jess (Charland) Shear and
Jess’ hilarious youngest son were kind enough to
attend a memorial service for my brother Charlie
(Trinity ’02), which of course wasn’t the reunion any
of us wanted.”
Then there is Mac Harman, who was named one of
Silicon Valley’s “40 under 40” for his success in building and mentoring businesses. He reported in from a
remote part of the Philippines, where a free-roaming
(purple?) cow startled him on a nighttime walk. Mac
and Stephanie (Min) Harman are “enjoying work and
parenting, and trying to figure out where our 2- and
4-year-old boys get all their energy.”
Amanda Cowley avoided not just cows but also
camels and giraffes on her epic 12,000-km bicycling
adventure from Khartoum to Cape Town, South
Africa. The five-month journey helped raise money
for a South African children’s center that she was able
to visit before flying back stateside.
Maya DeHart is raising the next generation of
international adventurer. “I’m writing to you at
2 a.m. Lviv, Ukraine, time, taking a hopefully short
jet-lag break from sleep. My 6-year-old,Vivien, and
I arrived earlier today, after 12 hours of travel and
three flights.” Maya was an exchange student the
year before Williams, just after the Soviet Union
broke apart. Her host sister’s wedding brought her
back during the latest transitional moment. “My
husband and 4-year-old, Neko, are holding down
the fort in Providence, R.I. I’m welcoming this break
from a job that brings much satisfaction: working on
health care delivery for a service sector labor union’s
self-insured health care fund.”
And now for adventures of the terrifying and noturning-back variety. It’s like a really long Indiana
Jones movie with more mopping and less sleep.
Alana (Teutonico) Brock’s third, Sofia Grace,
arrived in November. “Big bro and big sis are
thrilled to have her around, most of the time at
least!” Samantha Abelson and her husband Stephen
Weigman became parents of David Eoghan
Weigman in February. Lincoln Pan’s son Corey Pan
was born in April. “He’s our first and a blessing in
our lives here in Hong Kong.” Aaron Kammerer’s
second, Abe, was also born in April. This interrupted
a semi-regular trivia night at a Newton, Mass., pub
with Jim Bell and Pete Robinson, but Pete’s daughter Millie, who just turned 5, says she’s ready to babysit for Abe anytime. Aaron says: “Second baby is a
whole new ball game, but still great.”
Andrea Stanton and her partner Ted gave birth to
slightly premature but very healthy twins in May:
Ted Finian Stanton Kerr (Finn) and Brianna Layale
Stanton Kerr (Annie). “We love them dearly and are
already entertained by how often we have been asked
whether they are identical.”
Brad Johnston reported from a baby shower in
Cohasset, Mass., for Gerht Lubitz’s third child,
Henley. Ted Grannatt attended the festivities with
his wife Katie (Simpson) Grannatt ’00 and their new
daughter. Ned Sahin, who has relocated to the Boston
area after an around-the-world tour, also made an
appearance.
A few hours west, Seth Battis and Jordi (Schuster)
Battis welcomed their second son into the world. “He
rejoices in the name Rachmael Solly Battis but goes
by Rocky to his friends and close associates. Everyone
is doing well, including Gersh, who is proving to be
a wonderful, kind, doting big brother. Jordi and I are
on combined parental leaves right now but will be
continuing our (ever-shifting) roles at Temple Beth
Shalom in Needham, Mass., where Jordi is now the
director of K-12 curriculum, and St. Mark’s School in
Southborough, Mass., where I am now the chair of
the math department while continuing as director of
academic technology.”
Seth also extended welcome to Elise London, who
writes: “After 13 years in Chapel Hill, my family is
moving back to New England. I have taken a job
at St. Mark’s School (working with Seth Battis and
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Elise (Estes) Morgan ’00) while my husband Mike
will be working for Ole Imports, a Spanish wine
importer. We are excited to move back to the land of
snow and changing leaves.”
Ben Slocum helps us transition from new babies to
new homes. “In January, my wife and I welcomed our
new daughter Annika into the family. Now 5 months
old, she is doing important things like learning to
roll over and preparing to crawl, while I’m learning to
make rice cereal to the right consistency. In July, we
are leaving the D.C. area and moving to WinstonSalem, N.C. I have left U.S. Airways and do not
know what I will be doing for work after we move—
a situation which quite excites me! All of us are looking forward to a slower, less stressful (more rational?)
pace of life away from Washington.”
Liz (Mills) Little and Chris Little are moving to
Massachusetts. “We finally found two jobs in our
respective small specialized fields within commuting distance of each other and family. I’m staying
with my current employer, Idexx Laboratories. Chris
will be working for Atmospheric and Environmental
Research. We are thrilled to be closer to family and
friends, particularly our Boston Eph friends! We
bought a house in Bolton, which is a small “right to
farm” town just West of 495. If anyone is out that way
apple picking this fall, look us up!”
Tim Gustafson is leaving the Boston area in favor
of the Lakeview neighborhood in Chicago. “My wife
will be starting an assistant professor of English literature role, and my son Nate will start kindergarten.”
Kate (Hedden) Vosburg is returning to California
from England. “Sadly, none of our kids will return
with a strong British accent. Too bad. But we’ve had a
fabulous year here, including spending a weekend in
the tower of a medieval city wall in Wales, crawling
through tunnels under a castle in Scotland and holding hawks at a medieval festival at a nearby English
castle. Dave Vosburg ’97 and I both took Middle
Ages history classes at Williams, so we’ll credit our
alma mater for setting us up to enjoy this year more.”
And Emily Queenan is leaving Rochester, N.Y.,
for Ontario, Canada, with her husband Rick and
their three boys. “After five years in solo family medicine practice, I made the heart-wrenching decision
to close; I have just become fed up with the frustrations of trying to practice effective primary care in the
extraordinarily dysfunctional U.S. health care system.”
While ironing out the details, Emily is working in a
rural community health center west of Rochester.
Finally, news from Deanna Zibello: “I will be starting a new job at Saint Mary’s College of California
in the fall as an assistant professor in design and production. Charles, our son Xander and I will be moving to the East Bay, assuming we can find housing
that fits our budget.” Saint Mary’s reminds Deanna
of Williams with its January term, strong emphasis on liberal arts, and gorgeous campus. She’s looking forward to meeting fellow Ephs in her new
neighborhood.
Others of us are a little more settled, happy to
watch all these transitions from a comfortable career
and a consistent zip code. As if!
Akeela (Ali) Azcuy is a first-time contributor: “I am
married with two little boys, Savion, 4, and Zaiden,
2, and we live in NYC. I am a psychologist and completed my clinical psychology doctorate in 2012. In
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addition to that I recently designed and renovated an
apartment, which was a crash course in construction
in NYC. We travel often with our kids and are looking forward to our summer in Michigan. Our family
spends a month out of the summer on Lake Huron
every year, our retreat without TV or Internet. We
have a record player, a rotary phone and the sound of
waves; it is our personal heaven. Recently I went on
a jaunt around NYC with Candi Myers and her husband; she has an amazing new job. Mara Weitzman
is doing very well living in London and working in
banking. Leigh Gold finished her doctorate at NYU
and is writing, teaching and using her many languages to the fullest!”
Lauren Guth writes: “Tony Barnes and I are lucky
to have two of the most adorable kids ever—
Ariadne, 3, and Zachary, 1. Ariadne likes to sleep
in her (purple) cow sweatshirt, procured at last
year’s reunion, and since it shows every sign of
being worn by a 3-year-old, it’s probably best that
it stays indoors. Zachary is pretty much the happiest little being either Tony or I have ever known
and is a quintessential toddler looking to help
with or get in the way of everything his sister does.
Tony is director of client solutions at EnergySavvy,
a software startup based in Seattle and COO’d
by Scott Case. I’m a partner with Hagens Berman
Sobol Shapiro, where I generally spend my days
suing drug companies. I also just joined the board
of directors of On The Rise, a shelter supporting women in crisis. We were lucky to spend an
afternoon with Abby Williamson, her husband and
her loving, funny 4-year-old twin girls, Anya and
Lyla. We’ve missed Abby and her family since they
moved from Boston to Hartford, Conn., two years
ago so that Abby could begin teaching there. Gwen
(Garber) Hoffmann joined us as well, with her fullof-smiles newborn Nicole. And we’re hoping to
spend the Fourth of July with Kristin Doughty, Josh
Mankoff and their little ones, Natalie and Noah.”
Sebastian Diaz and his wife hope to help all of us
with little tykes eat better. They launched the website staybasic.com and set a good example as their
three kids planted a garden of kale, radishes, carrots
and herbs. My son picked a piece of basil tonight
and had fun spitting it out for the next 10 minutes, so I’ll be sure to visit the site. Sebastian’s family
enjoyed the summer at Crane, Wingaersheek and
Plum Island beaches.
Speaking of protecting Earth’s magnificent waterfronts and natural resources for the use and appreciation of future generations (weren’t we?), Reggie
Hall reports: “Back in April I purchased, with my
organization’s money, an entire canyon in WV! Four
thousand acres in a 1,000-foot deep canyon that is
eight or so miles long: 90 percent of the commercial rafting route for the Cheat River. The property
has an Indiana bat (federally endangered species)
cave on it and is home to 30 percent of the global
habitat for the Cheat three-toothed flat-spired snail
(also a federally endangered species). We are working with the state of WV to turn the property into
a new state park for public recreation.” Inspiring for
me at least; any other Ephs involved with the land
trust movement?
Chris Bell has been enjoying some scenic beauty
and skiing with Ned Sahin on both coasts, with Mac
1998– 99
Harman in northern British Columbia and with his
wife Sally, who got him into backcountry skiing 10
years ago. Chris is finding Eugene to be a welcome
reduction in hipsteria from Portland, although he
recently waited in traffic for two hours due to the
blockage created by the annual kombucha festival.
If you’re still reading this long report, read that last
part again.
Class VP Mike Ryan says: “My wife Meg Ting
’00 and I are still living outside Philly raising our
‘Irish Triplets,’ Finbar, Declan and Eve. We were up
in Boston visiting family a few weeks ago, and on
the way out of town my 5-year-old refused to exit
Newton without stopping to visit Kristie (Rogers)
Koppenheffer and Alex Koppenheffer’s son Rowan
to compare notes about The Lego Movie. Otherwise,
I still run the investment research department for
a private markets asset management firm on the
Main Line.”
Mari-Claudia Jimenez was named partner in the
art law group at Herrick, Feinstein. She represents
collectors who are buying and selling art, as well as
museums, galleries and auction houses in all sorts of
art transactions. Aside from the travel schedule, she’s
loving it: “I have to say that my Williams art history
degree has been invaluable, and my art law colleagues
are always impressed when I tell them where I went
to school, since it gives me the ‘Williams art mafia’
street cred.”
Bringing it all the way around to the Purple
Valley, John Williams has been rowing competitively with the North Adams Rowing Club. He
claims the “young guns” drag him down the course,
led by Pete Clements ’08, but they’ve had some
nice wins. Most recently they beat the “ever green”
Dartmouth alumni and lost to Brown in a photo
finish. They also beat the Fat Cat Rowing Club,
Princeton alumni who scratched for being late to
the starting line.
And Sheri (McKay) Kelly has been holding down
the purple fort: “All is well here in Williamstown.
This past semester my daughter Elizabeth has been
taking piano lessons from Lisa Liu ’15 in Brooks
Rogers. It has been really fun being on campus more.
Even though I live right in town, there was more
connection and nostalgia by going into the buildings
and walking the inner grounds. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
I think we all would. But Ephs seem to have an
obligation to populate all the coolest localities in the
world, so we’re spread pretty thin. Anyone looking for
a new Shangri-la, try Madison!
1999
Erik Holmes, 2014 Belvedere Ave., Charlotte, NC 28205;
Nathaniel B. White, 11 Interlaken Road, Lakeville, CT
Submitted by Erik Holmes: Our individual lives
have rolled on, but the big happening this summer
for our class was of course our 15th reunion June
12-15. It was a solid turnout, with 322 attendees
overall—119 classmates, 75 guests and a whopping
128 kids. In fact, we blew away the previous 15th
reunion record of 110 kids! Mercifully, our reunion
planners had the foresight to hire a bunch of babysitters to entertain the little ones with sidewalk
chalk and bubbles during the Friday evening recep-
tion so the grown-ups could socialize and catch up
with old friends.
Our class’s home base for reunion was a tent on
the Science Quad, which was the scene of latenight Hot Tomatoes delivery and spirited Beirut
games. (Yes, Hot Tomatoes still tastes as good as you
remember it.) There were a number of fun events for
the adults and the kids, but it seems like the highlight for most people I talked to was just shooting
the breeze over cocktails and dinner with folks none
of us get to see enough of. Another high point, in my
mind, was seeing all the kids toddling around in the
purple Williams backpacks that were one of the class
gifts. And the weather—after some rain on Friday—
was just beautiful, early-summer perfection in the
Purple Valley.
My co-secretary Nat White reported some of his
highlights from reunion: “Kenric Taylor and Davis
Teichgraeber made it back to campus for the first
time since graduation. Roosevelt Bowman did his
first-ever keg stand. We were the least-represented
class at the annual meeting, but Laura Lavoie, Leigh
Martin and Emily Eakin (with me and Emily Piendak
for backup) made sure ’99 was noticed during the
closing rendition of The Mountains. It was awesome
to see a lot of friends and finally meet the kids whose
pictures I’ve seen on Facebook but never met. My
kids ( Jasper, 4, and Greta, 2) certainly enjoyed the
puppet show and the number of other kids they met
and ran around with.”
A number of people were involved in making the
reunion work, but Leigh Winter Martin and Emily
Eakin deserve a special shout-out for organizing a
truly wonderful weekend. Great work!
Now, on to your news, which is admittedly limited this time because so many of us saw each other
just days before my deadline. Perhaps the biggest
Eph ’99 gathering aside from reunion was Steve
Bennett’s wedding just the weekend before. Sylvia
Englund reported she had a great time and got to
catch up with Zack Grossman, Antony Blaikie, Jon
Pak and Aaron Decamp. On her East Coast trip
Sylvia also got to see skiing pals Maren Eggert Hilton
’98, Cynthia Osterling ’98 and Rachel Allyn ’96. Even
at home in Boulder Sylvia has regular Williams connections, as her daughter goes to preschool with the
daughter of skier Erin Whitney Witmer ’96, and she
lives across the street from Cam Wobus, son of geology professor Bud Wobus.
Also tying the knot was Davina Kunvipusilkul,
who married Poom Siraprapasiri (Harvard 2003) on
Nov. 10 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok,
Thailand. Sukpinnarat Vongsinsirikul ’94 and Karn
Tepvorachai ’03 were at the reception. Davina reports
she is working at the Bank of Thailand and regularly
sees Surach Tanboon ’98 and Rungporn Roengpitya
’01 through her work.
Ted Geiger made his march down the aisle
on Dec. 12 in NYC, where he married Debbie
Leiderman. John Coffey served as a chuppah holder
during the ceremony.
Leah Doret attended her first Williams reunion and
reported she had a great time sharing our alma mater
with her family. Leah’s brother Charlie Doret ’02 has
joined the Williams faculty as a member of the physics department and moved back to Williamstown
with his wife Lida (Ungar) Doret ’02. Leah is thrilled
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she has a place to crash now when she brings the
family from Grafton, Mass., where she continues to
work as a part-time family physician and full-time
mom to three little ones. Her oldest just finished
kindergarten and enjoyed her first “summer vacation,” which of course presents challenges for working parents.
Becky Logue-Conroy reports she and her daughters
had a great time at reunion, including taking in the
talk by House of Cards star Seb Arcelus. Becky and
her family moved to Doylestown, Pa., near Philly, and
are renting while they decide where to buy a house.
She says she hopes to see more Williams people in
and around Philly now that she is there for the foreseeable future.
John Pickard showed up to reunion with wife Ryan
(Grimaldi) Pickard ’01, two kids and a pony keg of
delicious home brew in tow. He writes: “After receiving slavishly complimentary encouragement from
Erik Holmes, Keil Mueller, Ian Eisenman, Erin Macey
’01 and Jeff Macey, nanobrewer John Oppenheimer
Pickard will be using all-Massachusetts ingredients to brew a pale ale.” My son Declan Holmes was
smitten by young ladies Emma Macey and Claire
Pickard, and he is currently considering their offers
of marriage.
Laura (Moberg) Lavoie returned from reunion to a
big change, as she left her field of independent school
development after 13 years to start a new job as
director of philanthropy for Rady Children’s Hospital
in San Diego. Rady Children’s operates all the neonatal intensive care units in the city, including the one
where Laura’s son Luke lived the first 37 days of his
life. She writes, “I am so excited and honored to be
able to raise significant funds for the place that saved
his life and made me a mother.”
There are a couple other career changes to report.
Matthew Sigrist and wife Kathleen (Higgins) Sigrist
were unable to attend reunion because they were
busy with a move from New Jersey to Norfolk, Va.,
where Matt has taken a job at Norfolk Academy.
The Sigrists look forward to seeing more of Steve
Dambusky, who also lives in the area.
Out in L.A., Rachel Axler finished work writing
for the final season of How I Met Your Mother and
then spent April with a small group writing the sixth
season of Children’s Hospital. She reports she happily joined the writing staff on Mulaney, a new sitcom that she hopes Fox will pick up for the fall. Also
in L.A. is Jeffrey McMahon, who works as an assistant editor for World of Wonder, the company that
produces RuPaul’s Drag Race. Living and working in
Hollywood, he of course bumps into Matt Dessem
and Rachel Axler from time to time.
Rich Von Bargen caught up with Jason Eisenstadt
at a Yankees game in the spring, and in May he
joined more than 100 New York-area alumni, parents
and friends of the college to host President Adam
Falk as the Williams Club’s annual dinner speaker.
Marina (Gisquet) Knight was sorry she couldn’t
attend reunion, but she reported she and husband
Chip Knight ’08 welcomed a baby boy named Forest
in January. She and her family live in Norwich, Vt.
Nat White continues to work as co-head of the math
department at Hotchkiss, where he’s also a dorm head
and soccer and hockey coach. He got to juggle summer curriculum work and departmental business with
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taking care of the kids, since wife Julie Rusczek is an
attorney without the luxury of summer break.
That’s all for this time, folks. I hope you all enjoyed
your summers, and put June 2019 on your calendars.
Twentieth reunion is going to be a big one!
2000
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Jon Pearson, 91 Sidney St., Apt. 903, Cambridge, MA
After 12 years of helping to announce all of your
wonderful MLEs, I finally have one of my own,
and let’s get it out of the way early: On June 21 I
married the coolest woman ever, Julie Button, in
Wilmington, Del. Joining us for the celebration
were my groomsmen, Will Darrin, Chris Foxwell
and Matt Levy, along with Haynes Cooney, Cordy
(Ransom) Dawson, Becca (Norwick) Eyre, Brad
Geddes, Anna Frantz, Steve Roman, Kevin See and
Virginia See. Thanks also to all of you who sent
along kind wishes via email and Facebook leading
up to the wedding.
OK, let’s get started for real with the babies.
Congrats to Gabbie (Thiele) Whitbeck and Pepper
Whitbeck, who welcomed their third child, Siena
Catherine Whitbeck, on Dec. 21. Gabbie notes that
older siblings Alexandra, 6, and Jackson, 5, have
adjusted very well to their little sister. Julianne (Lili)
Anderson Mann and Britton Mann welcomed their
second daughter, Eloise Margery Mann, on Dec.
15, meaning that Eloise and Siena can celebrate
their birthdays on the same weekend when they’re
together in the Class of 2036.
It’s still early, but at a hardy 8 pounds, 11 ounces,
Siena may win this edition’s weight award—stay
tuned. More important, “She has been full of smiles
from the get-go. Her favorite pastime is to laugh
uncontrollably at her 3-year-old sister Coraline’s
antics.” Lili also reported that Britton was about to
finish his doctoral degree in Chinese medicine—
“Which will put the kibosh on 15 years of medical training between the two of us”—and they
were planning on bidding the West Coast goodbye this summer so that Lili can join the faculty at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center as their second pediatric dermatologist.
Apparently when you’re up to four kids it’s easy to
act like you’ve been there before. Witness the latest
update from Emily (Eustis) Liggett, in its entirety:
“Hi Jon. Baby number 4. Sally Scott Liggitt, Nov.
14, 2013.” Brevity Award, clinched. But I won’t lie,
I do kind of miss the stats, Emily. Here I am wondering at what number of inches between 18 and
21 Sally arrived. Some great news just before the
deadline from Drew Sutton: “We just had confirmation today that the first round of legal hurdles has
been crossed, so I feel safe to announce an MLE.
Bayliss and I are thrilled to welcome our adopted
son Owen Jacques Camp Sutton, who was born on
May 8. He’s an extremely cheerful and good-looking baby (if I do say so myself—and I do). We’re
having a great time getting to know him.”
Sara Cofrin Walsh and her husband Alan decided
to double the fun by welcoming twins Grace
Eleanor and Conor James on March 27. It looks
like Grace, at 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and 19 inches
won the tale-of-the-tape battle over Conor, 5
1999– 2001
pounds and 18 inches. “They have been keeping us happy and tired since their arrival,” according to Sara. Twins are great, right? Oh, you want
more? Well, Leah Larson-Rabin is happy to help
out. She had two baby girls, Hypatia and Irena,
also in March. “They are beautiful and happy and,
most importantly, prefer to be dressed in purple
and gold.”
It was nice to hear again from Class Notes AllPro Cara Shortsleeve, who started her email with a
highly forbidden MLE—more on this next time—
before diving into what she called the “sanitized
version,” which attempted to obscure the MLE but
did not really obscure it all. So here’s the class secretary and editor-approved “super-redacted sanitized version”: Cara’s been enjoying a lot of quality time at home with Finn, her 4-year-old, and
Maren, her 2-year-old. She still works at Google in
the Cambridge office, now on the YouTube business. She had lunch in June with Megan (Doherty)
Kelley, “who is still at Fidelity and killing it,” unlike
your class secretary, who is just still at Fidelity.
Megan’s twin boys (twins!) turned 3 over the summer. Cara also reported that Sarah (Sheppe) Okun
is doing well and was on the eve of a cross-country move from D.C. to L.A., and that Marie Michel
Tasse is also great—she is now a certified yoga
instructor. “I have not had the pleasure of taking
one of her classes, but I assume it is equally Zen
and physically punishing!”
Speaking of forbidden MLEs, Chuck Munyon
checked in with one before reporting that he
and his wife Viola were planning a move to
Philadelphia, where Chuck will take a position as
director of functional and restorative neurosurgery
at Temple University. He is “looking forward to
reconnecting with any Ephs in the Philly area!” Don
Wood and family moved recently as well, to a new
house in Rockville, Md. “We’re going to be here
long term, so if anybody is in the area and would
like to visit, we would love to see fellow Ephs.”
Don’s oldest son, Cameron, is to start kindergarten
in the fall. Heather (May) Eckert and family moved
last fall to northwest Connecticut, where Heather is
director of admissions operations at the Hotchkiss
School.
We’re in the home stretch! Steve Roman visited
Boston in April where he partook in a lot of
nerdy activities with Brad Geddes and myself and
gorged himself at a dinner with Will Darrin, Alfonso
Gonzalez del Riego and Pelagia Ivanova ’01. Molly
(Chase) Pachence checked into class notes for the
first time with a couple of MLEs. I’ll let her tell
you all about it: “I have both a title and release date
for my debut women’s fiction novel. The One That
Got Away will be released by Random House in
March 2015 under the pen name Bethany Chase.
More books are in the works! Oh, yeah, and I’m still
working as an interior designer and got married in
2012 to a fantastic guy named Allen.”
Last but certainly not least, Emily Small
Lazaro married Anthony Lazaro on Oct. 13 in
Lambertville, N.J., and got a nice showing from
Williams, including her dad Joe Small ’65 (who
performed the ceremony), Geordie McClelland,
Lindsay Hatton McClelland, Matt Fineman, Jocelyn
Olsen, Carrie Wicker, Abby Sayer Velluci and Megan
Fredericks Dubofsky. Emily added, “I have to say
I have always like weddings, but I underestimated
how much I would enjoy my own. Truly good stuff
to get to celebrate the one you love with a bunch of
other people you love.”
2001
Liana Thompson Knight, 135 Pleasant St., Richmond, ME
There were a few people who noted that they were
writing in for the first time, so I thought I would
start with their news.
Ricardo Tapia shared news of Miguel Fernandez’
marriage to Stephanie Cabantan on March 15 in
Hoboken, N.J. In attendance, along with Ricardo,
were Andrew Sullivan, Rich Sarkis, Dre McKenzie,
Clif Convington and Osterman Perez.
Julia Vaughan married Philip Ohst on May 31 in
Mill Valley, Calif. Julia said that the wedding was
wonderful and that their guests tore it up on the
dance floor. After the wedding they took a 12-day
honeymoon in St. Lucia. Julia and Philip live in
Oakland, Calif., with their two dogs and were looking forward to camping and backpacking with
friends over the summer.
Allyson Rothberg wrote in with news of the birth
of her second daughter, Ariella Miri Gelbord, on
Nov. 5, 2013. She commented that she, her husband
Boaz and their older daughter Noa were all enjoying
bonding as a family of four.
It was a busy spring for Emily Brocks and her wife
Becca (Parker-Johnson) Brocks ’02. Their daughter Naomi was born in March, and Becca graduated
from general surgery residency at Maine Medical
Center in June. Naomi’s passport arrived in time for
their move across the border to Montreal, Canada,
where Becca will be doing a fellowship in pediatric surgery at CHU Ste. Justine. Emily noted that
Naomi has already begun making Williams connections: Their family met up with Anne Dwyer Wilmer
and Jeremy Wilmer ’98 and their son Patrick on a
visit to Boston, and they also received a visit from
Liz (Wall) Stuhlsatz and Dave Stuhlsatz ’99.
Timothy Karpoff and his wife Fiona welcomed their
first daughter, Saoirse, on June 7. Tim wrote that
everyone was doing well, except perhaps the dog, who
wasn’t quite sure what to make of the new addition.
They live on the hill in D.C., where Tim works as a
lawyer, mostly in the complex finance space.
Tracy Zanco wrote in to let us know that in June,
Erika Beltran was chosen to represent District
13 on the Texas State Board of Education in a
highly contested election. Erika will be representing 300,000 children in a North Texas district that
spans Dallas and Fort Worth. Erika currently works
at Leadership for Educational Equity as a regional
director.
Darah Schofield moved from Boston to Florida
this past year and managed to miss one of the nastiest winters on recent record. In the late winter she
took (and passed) the Florida bar exam, so for the
foreseeable future she will be practicing law in and
around the Naples/Fort Myers area and enjoying
life in the sunshine state.
After three intercontinental moves in about eight
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tled in Tanzania. Fumi says they intend to stay there
for at least a couple of years!
Rishaad Currimjee was planning a move to
Mauritius in August with his wife and two children. After 10 years in Delhi, India, he was looking
forward to being back on the island. Rishaad travels often to complete an EMBA from INSEAD,
and he is looking forward to working in the family business.
Lizzie Jacobs lives in Brooklyn with her husband
Mangesh and two kids (Henry, almost 4, and Ruby,
almost 1 1/2). Since 2006, Lizzie has been working with StoryCorps, an independent nonprofit oral
history project that aims to “record, preserve and
share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds
and beliefs,” where she produces animated shorts
and edits books for publication with Penguin Press.
Lizzie recently went to Ian Synnott ’97 and Lauren
Harris’ wedding, where she caught up with John
Crowley-Delman, Cam Clendaniel and Carol Shirai.
She also caught up with Beth Friedman while Beth
was in NYC for work.
In other NYC news, Michael Cooper had a concert of his original musical and lyrics at the end
of June. Among the songs featured were two from
a show that he and Phoebe Geer wrote together
“waaaay back when we first moved to NYC.”
Julia (Cianfarini) Schmidt caught up with three
Ephs she doesn’t see frequently. In June, Roshni
(David) Guerry and her husband visited D.C. to
go to a concert with Julia. Days later, Julia ran
into Josh Earn ’04 at a housing industry awards
event; she noted that it’s always nice to see Ephs at
work events. She also bumped into Seth Pietras in
Georgetown last spring while he was in town from
Switzerland for work.
Pioneer Valley, Mass., residents Mike Schloat and
Matt Attwood enjoyed catching up over a burger and
a beer last spring. Matt is working as an academic
administrator at a charter school in Springfield, and
Mike was recently named the English department
chair at Deerfield Academy. Mike and his wife Julie,
who both start their seventh year on the Deerfield
faculty this fall, have been teaching alongside Katie
(Bishop) Calhoun ’00 for the past six years. Mike
had several other Ephcounters, as well: coaching
against Heather (May) Eckert ’00, who is on the faculty and coaches track and field at the Hotchkiss
School; hosting Charles Danhof ’03 for a visit to
Deerfield in April; and bumping into Tim Austin ’03
at an early spring fair in Northampton.
Annie Richards has opened her own private practice (AWR Associates) working with young children and families as a psychiatric nurse practitioner. She commented that it was a scary but exciting
transition and that it felt like an upward move from
agency work. Annie also noted that her brother
Drew Richards ’99 was in Williamstown for his
15th reunion. Given that 1999 is our JAs’ class year,
it makes it feel like our 15th is going to be right
around the corner. Crazy and exciting!
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2002
William Henry Davidson, 219 East 69th St., Apt. 11J,
I have the honor to welcome two ’02ers into the
annals of our class notes for the first time.
Carolyn Shank graduated from Bryn Mawr
College’s Graduate School of Social Work and
Social Research with a master’s in social service in
May. After several years teaching high school Latin,
Carolyn has decided to make a dramatic career
change and is looking to land a position in mental and behavioral health policy. On June 7, Carolyn
married Aaron Solo (University of Chicago ’97).
Johanna Heinrichs was one of her bridesmaids, and
Johanna’s husband Scott Moringiello ’01 and their
adorable son Theo were also in attendance. “Aaron
and I also just bought our first home in the Graduate
Hospital neighborhood of Philadelphia and are
excited to be homeowners!” They headed to Norway
for a two-week honeymoon in July, after they settled
into their new abode.
Matthew Brothers, another first-timer, reports that
he and his wife had a son, Calvin, on May 10. “We
have a 2½-year-old daughter, Mia, who thinks he
cries too loud.” Matt is finishing pediatric cardiology fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta and
was to move to Charlotte to join a practice at the
end of June. After our graduation, Matt did Teach
For America with Dwight Ho-sang and Andrew
Pinkston. Andrew is now a lawyer in Philadelphia,
“leaving only one of the trio left in the ‘A.’” Dwight
is the principal of KIPP WAYS middle school.
Dana Nelson planned to move to Lyon, France,
in July and asked that anyone who happens to be in
France (or elsewhere in Europe) or who will be traveling there to get in touch.
Laura McMillian got married on June 7 in Salt
Lake City, Utah. The wedding was held at Millcreek
Inn, which is located in a canyon that’s part of a
national park.
Margaret diZerega and her wife “are now the
proud parents of Kiyoshi Suzuki diZerega. He was
born on March 21, just in time to enjoy some March
Madness.” Kiyoshi has had many wonderful visitors, including Laddie Peterson, Carrie Jones, Clare
Newman, Janna Rearick and Henry Matthieu.
Sadaf Ahmad congratulates Erika Beltran ’01, who
won the election for state Board of Education in
Dallas, Texas.
Ronit Stahl finished her PhD in American history
at the University of Michigan in May (along with
Aston Gonzalez ’08—“Ephs are all over the UM
history department!”). Ronit planned to move to St.
Louis for a postdoctorate at Washington University
in late summer. “Ann Arbor treated me well over
the past six years, and the arrival of Jenny Veraldi
Brinkmeier, Mike Gross and Anna Kneitel made the
past two years even more fun,” Ronit says. “Over the
past six months, Alix Partnow, Leah Sharpe, Cynthia
Posner, Cristin Brennan Kazarnowicz, Phoebe Fisher
Reese, Britta Hult Mularski and I have been upping
the email correspondence ante, and we’re working
on meeting up again soon—scattered geography,
jobs and new babies notwithstanding.”
Theresa O’Brien and Brad Howells welcomed
a baby boy (Graeme Howells) on Dec. 14, 2013.
2001– 03
“We had a chance to introduce the little guy to
Nathan Cardoos, Mark Robertson, Jamie Morrison,
Ian Tate, Topher Goggin, David Glick, Brad Nichol
and Derek Ward when they visited the Bay Area for
Ben Chafee’s wedding in San Francisco in April.
The gang, plus significant others and Tate’s kids, all
came over to our home in Oakland to watch the
Final Four basketball game. It was our first time
hosting a big gathering since buying and renovating
the house.” Theresa has been enjoying video chats
with Brian Michener, his wife Laura and daughter
Aya, who is just six weeks older than Graeme. Brian
and Laura, who is also an architect, designed the
new fireplace and bathrooms in their 102-year-old
home. “The kids are awesome, and we’re excited to
get back to Williamstown with them in July for the
Alumni Golf Tournament. It will be Graeme and
Aya’s first trips to the Purple Valley!”
Theresa was fortunate to be on maternity leave at
the same time as Sarah (Barger) Ranney, who lives
only a few miles away in Berkeley, Calif.. “We’ve
decided that Graeme and her second son, Sam, are
going to be best buddies.” Finally, Theresa reports
that Graeme got to meet Emilie Mathieu last month
when she visited Berkeley for her sister Camille
Mathieu’s ’04 graduation.
Todd Gamblin, who hasn’t written for a while, got
married to Erin Perez (UC Berkeley ’03) on July 27
(which is their shared birthday—“She’s four hours
older than me”). “It was a beautiful outdoor wedding with a bunch of Williams people down in
Big Sur, Calif. Steve Biller was the best man, and
also present were Charlie Doret ’02, Lida Doret ’02,
Kate Alexander ’02, Justine DeYoung ’02 and Alex
Glenday ’02.” They are still working on a honeymoon,
although Erin has been joining Todd to tack a few
vacation days on the end of work trips. They traveled to Delhi and Agra for in February and then
London and Munich. Last month, Todd got an
early career research award from the Department
of Energy. There’s more on that here: http://1.usa.
gov/1ocLuyY. These DOE early career grants are
pretty selective (they took 35 out of 750 proposals),
and “You get $2.5 million over five years to do the
research. The project is on modeling the performance
of simulations on future supercomputers, and I’ll be
sticking around at Lawrence Livermore National
Lab to work on that.” Todd sees Marcel Martinez at
work occasionally, and they had dinner in Oakland a
month or so ago. “I think that makes two of us at the
lab now that I know of.”
Amanda Gramse Swiatocha got together with Jess
Paar, Jess Poch Foley, Katie Worth McCarthy, Maggie
Clark, Carrie Nesvig, Laura Brand Harrison, Katie
Effler, Laura Crum Wright, CC Ciafone and Rachel
Brodie for a return to the Purple Valley and a girls’
weekend. The ladies found a great VRBO house near
the Williams Inn and had a full itinerary planned,
including “a hike up Pine Cobble, lunch at Pappa
Charlie’s, a trip to MASS MoCA, a run on Blair
Road, reservations at Hops & Vines (where Mezze
used to be) and lots of laughter and reminiscing also
on the agenda.”
Becca (Parker-Johnson) Brocks and wife Emily
Brocks ’01 had a baby this spring, Naomi Allene
Brocks, and “Moms and baby are all healthy.” Becca
was graduating from general surgery residency at
Maine Medical center in June, and after five years in
Portland, Maine, they moved north to Montreal for
two years for her fellowship in pediatric surgery.
Jessica Grogan-Young and her husband Jim welcomed their first child, Magdalene Faye, on May 26.
“Maggie was 8 pounds, 13.4 ounces, and 21.5 inches
long. Everyone is healthy and happy.”
Bethany Cobb Kung and her husband Zachary
Kung ’04 had a baby girl, Maia Rose Kung, born on
April 28.
Former class secretary Holly Kohler had the pleasure of attending Megan Delehanty’s wedding on a
scenic hilltop in Sunapee, N.H. Also in attendance
were Janet Curran, Jessie Grandgent Stanley, Ken
Ryu and Bethany Cobb Kung (along with her husband Zachary Kung ’04 and 7-week-old daughter Maia, who supposedly out-danced many of our
classmates). Holly also reports “an auspicious, justpast-full ‘honey moon’ hung over the festivities.” In
other astronomy news, “A jokey flow chart that I
drew for my little webcomic was featured on NASA’s
Astronomy Picture of the Day website, giving me
a brief taste of Internet stardom. It was all quite
bewildering.”
And, finally, Jack Linehan, my housemate from
Agard and 71/73 Hoxsey Street, reports that
things are going well in Baltimore. “On May 1,
my wife Jenny and I welcomed our newborn
daughter Margaret Catherine Linehan (Maggie).
We’ve already arranged child play dates with our
new neighbors, Gabe Brammer and his wife and
two kids.”
2003
Claire Raffaelli, 215 Old Spanish Trail, Portola Valley, CA
Hello, class! I hope this issue of class notes finds
you well. Thank you for all of your varied submissions for this latest round of notes. It has been wonderful hearing from you.
Before we dive in, we wanted to ask you to keep
an eye out for an announcement this fall about
some exciting new initiatives we are putting in
place to keep our class better connected. These will
include photo collages of ’03 wedding celebrations
and adorable Eph kids, as well as a biannual mailer
profiling select members of our class with various themes. In the meantime, if you are active on
Instagram, please use #03ephs when you’re out and
about with fellow classmates; we’d love to see what
you’re up to. If you are interested in helping out with
any of these initiatives, please let myself or Sumant
Bhat know!
With that said, there are some nuptials to report!
Peter Van Steemburg and Whitney White were
married on April 5 at The Parker in Palm Springs.
Ephs in attendance included Andrew Schulte,
Tony Lawson, Jess McLeod ’02, Michael Heep
’99, Ayesha Fuentes, Gene Klein ’92 and Peter’s
father, Kurt Van Steemburg ’75. Rebecca (Linder)
Blachly officiated the ceremony. Peter and Whitney
left NYC for L.A. three years ago and see Mark
Cummins and Guy Danella in L.A. on occasion.
Peter has been at Magnolia Pictures for seven years,
keeping it purple with Sarah Hack ’06, who is in the
NYC office. They are eager for more ’03ers in L.A.!
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Leanne McManama and David Conyers ’04 eloped
on Feb. 27. They were married at the John & Mable
Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla. Her
words: “It was awesome.” Having bought a company in Sarasota, they are now making the city
their home.
Our classmates’ careers continue to take off with
impressive speed, with professional degrees earned
left and right, new jobs and exciting moves to new
cities. To kick things off, Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden
received her master’s in elementary education from
Lesley University in May, after a yearlong intensive
internship/graduate program. Her two kids are very
happy their mom is done with school!
Cara Cipriano finished her last year of fellowship over the summer and is starting her first “real”
job as an orthopedic oncologocist at Washington
University in St. Louis, Mo. She invites anyone
passing through the area to visit!
Tim Folan and his wife Korin returned to the
Northeast after a year-and-a-half living in Nashville
and working at Vanderbilt University. Tim is
now in Philadelphia working at the University of
Pennsylvania’s athletic department.
Joe Lucia recently changed jobs, leaving the private practice of law for a position as an assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. He also attended a “fabulous” wedding weekend in New Jersey, where he and Daniel
Klasik, Jen Doleac, Caty Sumner, Steve Eyre, Liz
Chase and Tad Hodgson celebrated Faith Black getting hitched! A great time was had by all!
Kimmie (Kemper) Beal and Angus Beal moved
to Belfast, Maine, in July. Angus will be working
at EMMC in the emergency department (goodbye residency!). Kimmie is leaving urban marketgardening for greener pastures—26 acres of greener
pastures! She notes, “Hoping to see lots of Ephs, so
come pick apples at our place! We will be missing
our SLC and mountain-west people: Mel Scheefer,
Bekah Levine, Zinny Wilson ’05.”
Jen Doleac is an economics professor at the
University of Virginia’s Batten School, studying
crime policy—in particular, the impact of high-tech
surveillance tools on criminal behavior. It is a great
gig, which often involves epic battles for information and data that aren’t quite public record (but
totally should be!). She also spends lots of time
in D.C., where she’s heavily involved in the local
alumni association. She travels quite a bit for work
and gets to catch up with lots of Ephs in person, all
over the country, on a regular basis. It doesn’t get
much better than that!
Mike Buscher wrote from Pittsburgh, where he
was finishing his first year of a critical care medicine fellowship. He recently became board certified in emergency medicine. And to top it off, he
is engaged! We are excited to hear more on that
front…
Alvaro Jarrin accepted a tenure-track job in
anthropology at College of the Holy Cross and will
be moving to Worcester, Mass., with his partner
Nicholas Lancaster.
Luckily, it hasn’t been all work and no play. Kate
(Leonard) Hood and Sumant Bhat played corn hole
in summer league in Golden, Colo. Their team
name, courtesy of Sumant, was “Corn in the USA.”
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Kate is looking forward to catching up with Jess
Katz when she’s back from London.
Freeden Oeur shared stories of seeing Ryu Yokoi
’01, Karin Rosenthal and their new adorable baby
boy Akira in NYC. Nicole Theriault also stopped
by. He also saw Nick Martinelli ’00 at an ice cream
shop in Northampton, Mass., after both attended
the Sharon Van Etten concert at the Iron Horse.
Small world!
Mitchell Green is busy hanging, working and
spending time with his family when not on an airplane. Lindsay, 2½ years old, and Grace, 5 months
old, are doing great. They love playing with their
three French bulldogs, Lulu, Max and Luna.
I also received news from Father Michael
Sheehan. He went on quite the hitchhike last summer, spending four months traveling from Boston to
Brazil and back for World Youth Day with the pope
of the year. Along the way, he visited Jon Melton ’05
and Grace (Smith) Melton ’04, who are doing well
with four beautiful kids. Williams’ former Catholic
chaplain, Peter Feudo, and family are thriving in
central Massachusetts. Father Sheehan also shared
the joy of visiting with the recently married Andrew
Ferrer. Other Eph encounters include a divine
appointment with Political Science Professor Justin
Crowe and his son; Erin (Palazzolo) Loparo ’01 and
toddler Michael (on the drums) for Catholic TV
Mass; and Rob MacDougall ’01, Olesia B. Doran
and Scott Faley ’05 at the March for Life in D.C.
and a parish mission in Fairfax, Va.
Never fear, there couldn’t possibly be class notes
without reports on the littlest Ephs of all. Jason
Deaner shared the news that his second child,
Cameron Woolsey Deaner, was born on May 27.
Jason teaches seventh/eighth-grade math. He is also
a reserve coxswain in the Coast Guard Reserve, in
which he enlisted last summer.
D’Arcy Robb announced that she and husband
Todd Borek welcomed Annika Mae Robb Borek on
Dec. 17. She says, “Our lives are now lived in service to a tiny, adorable monarch—really hard, but so
wonderful and worth it.”
As for me, I’m writing these notes from Negros
Island in the Philippines while on a work trip (I
know, great perk!). When not travelling to far-flung
places, I am soaking up time with my 2-year-old,
Quinn. We spend a lot of time in the pool, usually with her on my back encouraging me to “swim
faster!” I suppose it is good practice for a triathlon I
have coming up.
That’s a wrap! It has been wonderful hearing from
all of you. Big thanks to those who wrote in for the
first time in a while. Please take care of yourselves.
2004
Cortney Tunis, 150 The Riverway, Box 802, Boston, MA
02115; Nicole Sasha Weber, 141 Joralemon St., Apt. 3E,
Brooklyn, NY 11201; 2004secretary@williams.edu
Hi, classmates. As we write this, only a week has
passed since our 10th reunion, and what a reunion it
was. The ’04s descended on Williamstown on Friday
the 13th of June under ominous skies, wondering
if we would again be slipping and sliding through
a muddy mess as we were at our five-year. Luckily
we were upgraded to higher ground this time—the
2003– 04
Odd Quad—while the ’09s were left to reckon with
Greylock Swamp. The weather was misty and drizzly, but we were all smiles, setting up Beirut tables
by 4 p.m. and running through the hallways of
Prospect, Fay and Currier to great each other giddily. By the time all were accounted for, we were 209
strong (an impressive 40 percent of our class), plus
90 guests and 26 kids—a stellar turnout all around.
The weekend officially kicked off with a pig roast
on Currier Lawn, where everywhere we turned
there was an old entrymate or a new baby Eph.
Parents (and yes, there are a frightening number
of us) soon ushered the younger crowd off to bed
so they could get serious about reconnecting with
old friends. As it poured rain we huddled closer
together under the increasingly muddy tent, wondering where the night would take us. Thanks to
our unstoppable Reunion Planning Committee,
we were all set. After the skies cleared up we slowly
trickled in to Goodrich for our very own First
Friday dance party, where we were greeted with live
music by Williams’ very own Darlingside (classes of
’06, ’07 and ’09) and flowing kegs. We danced, chatted loudly and animatedly, and continued to greet
each other giddily. When the music stopped at midnight we let out a collective wail of disappointment
in true Williamstown fashion—but we weren’t discouraged for long. We moved the party back to
Currier Lawn, where it continued under the tent
until 3:30 a.m. complete with tunes (such as the old
favorites “Remix to Ignition” and “Ride Wit’ Me”)
and pizza delivery.
The next day early risers flocked to Spring Street
for the Parade of Classes or to beat the rush at
Tunnel City (a.k.a “The Coffee Shop”). There was
no rain in the forecast, a slight chill in the air and
sunshine peeking shyly through the clouds—the
mountains were calling. After fueling up on haute
Grab ‘n’ Go (featuring treats such as ski team bars
and gluten-free options) we headed out on various adventures. Many classmates gathered at the
Hopper trailhead at the base of Mount Greylock
for a memorial hike. Chaplain Rick Spalding and
WOC Director Scott Lewis joined us on the walk,
which led us to the Bob Quay Memorial Bridge
on the Moneybrook Trail. There, we shared reflections and memories of Bob, Pavel Hristov and Inti
Montenegro de Wit, our late, beloved classmates.
On Saturday at 3 p.m. it was back to Currier
Lawn for the long-anticipated Beirut tournament.
There was honor to defend from 2004 and 2009 and
fresh blood to sniff out as non-Eph significant others came into the mix. In the end the trophy went
to Daniel Murray and Lex Urban, but not without a
fight from the rest of us that kept the battle raging
until 6 p.m.
After a long day it was time for more mingling
under the tent, this time in cocktail attire. Kicking
off the festivities for the evening, Class President
Drew Newman aptly remarked that after 10 years,
we look pretty damn good. There were other astute
observations and musings from class poet Mike
Eros, class toaster Charlie Davidson and class comedian Tony Bletsis. After raising our glasses and collectively patting ourselves on the back for being
the best, we continued to raise glasses and tell each
other we looked pretty damn good for the rest of
the night. Soon dinner tables gave way to a dance
floor and DJ, where we again proceeded to rock out
to the tunes of the early 2000s (“It Wasn’t Me” featured prominently). At midnight it was time to head
over to Goodrich again, but this time we would be
co-mingling with the young faces of the Class of
2009. What to expect? Would we feel old and withered? Would they dance us under the table? To the
contrary, it was the ’04s who decided we should
extend the DJ’s cutoff time to 3 a.m., and it was the
’04s who were still dominating the dance floor until
the bitter end.
Goodbyes on Sunday were heartfelt. It was a picture-perfect Billsville day, which did not make parting easier. But it certainly made us excited for 2019.
Here are updates from our classmates:
Katharine Burgess had a very exciting spring and
married Michael Pavey in May, celebrating with a
few Ephs (including Taylor Stapleton, who brought
the house down with a song!). The newlyweds will
be spending next year in Berlin, where Katharine
will be working in urban planning through the
Bosch Fellowship, a program that sends under-40
public policy professionals to Europe. They would
love to see any ’04s who find their way to Berlin!
Zan Armstrong almost didn’t make it to reunion,
but Jen Lazar saw her frantic post on Facebook
that her connecting flight from Philly to Albany
was canceled and she was stranded. Jen sprang
into action, calling Maggie McDonald Potter.
Maggie turned around to rescue Zan despite
already being 30 minutes north of Philly and having to go through rush-hour rainy traffic! Zan says,
“Thank you both! It was wonderful getting to know
Maggie’s husband and very cute daughter on the
drive and getting caught up on all the WilliamsPhiladelphia news.”
After six years Zan left Google to create some
time/space to focus on data visualization: working on personal/portfolio projects, building up her
web-dev engineering/CS skills to do more interactive projects online and doing freelance work. Be in
touch if you have some cool data she should take a
look at. Bonus points if it’s related to science, journalism, changing the way we solve problems, or for
social good (healthcare, education, socioeconomics,
transportation/communities, justice, etc.).
Zach Yeskel and Heather Brubaker ’03 welcomed daughter May Leonte Yeskel into the
world on March 31. On April 17 Sarah Torkelson
Stickney and Tim Stickney welcomed Spencer
Andrew Stickney. Tim says, “Spencer met a lot of
new friends at reunion, where we think he narrowly edged out May Yeskel as the youngest baby
in attendance.” Sarah and Tim enjoyed catching up
with friends at reunion, and Tim was able to continue his tradition of pushing the DJ to play better
dance songs.
Brent Yorgey accepted a one-year position as a
visiting assistant professor in the Williams computer science department for the 2014-15 academic
year! Brent, his wife Joyia (Chadwick) Yorgey ’05
and their 2 1/2-year-old son Noah had a great time
at reunion and are all looking forward to moving
(back) to “Wee-yums” (as Noah says).
Ben Fash and his wife Assal were proud to welcome their first son, Colton Allan Fash, into the
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world on April 24. Unfortunately, Dad was not able
to bring Colton to Williamstown for the reunion
in June but hopes he will get a chance to introduce
him to the Purple Valley soon.
Alaya (Kuntz) Swann received her PhD in
English, with a focus on medieval literature, from
Arizona State University in May.
Zach Kung and Bethany (Cobb) Kung ’02 had
their little girl Maia Rose Kung in April. Sadly, she
kept their hands a little full to head to reunion, but
they were there in spirit.
In January, Charlie Davidson was at an art fair
in San Francisco and caught up with Andrew
Nathenson and Garrett Collins. Both have settled
into West Coast life well. In May, Charlie met up
with Eben Pingree and Omri Bloch, who each filled
him in on their lives, their grad school experiences
and their entrepreneurial enterprises. Charlie is
loving that Eben’s new social media platform has
allowed him to keep in contact with a lot of his former Carter 5 co-habs. It’s like junior year, but with
less Beirut.
Rob Follansbee and Katie (Joyce) Follansbee ’05
hosted Charlie and his fiancée at their house in
Greenwich for a beer tasting that they’d planned
for nearly two years. Charlie says, “It included
some particularly hard-to-get beers that Bee and I
bought at auction. Yes, we bought beer at auction.
We were in Cape Cod for Memorial Day and got
to see the Bees again for lunch. It was a quick gettogether, but the three-piña-colada lunch helped set
the tone for the summer.”
Charlie reports that he runs into Andrew Zimmer
on the subway. Charlie and his brother wrote a
book that was published at the beginning of the
year. It has lots of pictures. He says, “I’m not getting on any best-seller lists anytime soon, but if you
need something for your coffee table, or just a largish doorstop, please pick up a copy of the enticingly titled Pedro S. DeMovellan, Complete Works:
1990-2012.”
Prosper Nwankpa reports, “My daughter Pearl
Nwankpa is now 1 1/2 years old. My son Jesse
Nwankpa is almost 3. It amazes me how quickly
they grow!”
Sam Arons continues to work on renewable
energy supply at Google. Since the last update
he’s worked on a 240-MW wind contract in Texas
and a new utility renewable energy tariff in North
Carolina. He lives in San Francisco with his wife
Magali Rowan ’07.
Cortney Tunis completed her first year in the
MBA program at Boston University. She is spending the summer as a fellow with the mayor’s Office
of New Urban Mechanics at Boston City Hall. No,
she can’t fix the Green Line, so don’t even ask. In
June, she had a great time in the Hamptons with
Ashley Carter, Sumana (Cooppan) Wolf, Fern Senior,
Nicole (Eisenman) Weber and Laurel Carter ’12 playing tennis, drinking craft beer and cruising around
in limos.
Shamus Brady was honored to be crowned champion of endurance at Sean Hyland’s ’07 bachelor
party. More importantly, he wrestled Bill Ference
’07 to a draw after 10 minutes. Shamus and his
wife Anthea were spending the Fourth of July in
Minnesota with Eric Engler and his wife Alex, Matt
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Winkler, Maya Kessler ’05 and their wonderful
daughter June.
Plans for Mitchell Baker’s bachelor party are still
under way. All that is known is that Lance White
will not be in attendance due to a series of important meetings.
2005
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Aron Chang, 1432 6th St., New Orleans, LA 70115;
Charles R. Soha, 150 Huntington Ave., Apt. NA6,
Boston, MA 02115; 2005secretary@williams.edu
Let’s take a trip from the northern tip of Alaska to
Williamstown, by way of Tasmania.
You can’t go any farther north in the U.S. than
Barrow, Alaska, and that’s exactly where Chris Eaton
took a dip in the Arctic Ocean and laid eyes on a
polar bear. Karen Untereker, Ellie (Frazier) Donnell,
Elizabeth Van Heuvelen, Anna Swisher and Amy
Dieckmann got together in Portland, Ore., to run a
half-marathon and test designer donut shops. Based
in Portland, Tim Crawley is running to become a
U.S. senator. He met up with Dicken Counts, who
was on a road trip up the West Coast with his
father after returning from duty in the Middle
East on board the USS Harry S. Truman, where
he served as a pilot with Helicopter Sea Combat
Squadron 7.
Alice Hensley writes in from the Bay Area, where
she receives periodic visits from Abby Whitbeck
when Abby’s in town for work. Alice and husband
Jeremy brought son Evan Michael Walz into the
world in March. Dedicated Eph friends have made
sure that Evan has a closet full of Goff ’s-supplied
Williams apparel. Alice finished her pediatrics residency at Stanford and will stay on for one more
year as chief resident.
Also in the Bay Area, Gavin McCormick hit
the pause button on graduate school to launch
WattTime.org, an environmental technology nonprofit. With the help of Steve Winslow ’04, Colin
McCormick ’95 and others, this startup is developing
software and smart devices with which users can
influence how much their local power grid runs on
renewable energy instead of fossil fuels.
JJ O’Brien was on The Bachelorette.
Down in the land of the banana slug, Molly
Sharlach finished her 23rd and final year of school
at UC Santa Cruz and picked up a certificate in
science communication. Our L.A. contingent is a
quiet bunch, so let’s skip south on Highway 1 to
San Diego, where Marissa Doran recently wrapped
up a clerkship. Both Molly and Marissa are moving back to the East Coast: the former to New
Jersey to write for Princeton University’s research
magazine and to swim in the warm waters of the
Atlantic, and the latter to Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. In
Boston for her sister’s graduation, Marissa saw Meg
Giuliano, Brian Saar, Maggie Saar, baby Gillian Saar
and Aaron Helfand.
A sweaty trek past the Salton Sea and through the
Mojave Desert will take you to Las Vegas, where
Chuck Soha gathered with Andrew Leeser, Vishal
Agraharkar, Eliot Peyster, Pat Krivoshia, Jay Ross,
Blake Goebel and Bryan Birsic for March Madness.
Zigging up into the Rockies brings you to Denver,
where Addie (Robinson) Slack finished her family
2004– 05
medicine residency at the end of June. She’s moving on to Denver Health Family Medicine Clinics,
where she’ll provide safety net care for Denver
County residents.
A straight shot to the east on I-70 will get you
to St. Louis, now home to one more resident: Pam
Choi and husband Nick’s baby boy Calvin. Pam
completed a pediatric surgery research fellowship
and will be resuming general surgery residency at
Washington University.
Hop on a barge and float down the Mississippi to
New Orleans, where Faith Lim, Maggie Saar, Jumi
Song, Holly Takashima, Meg Giuliano and Crystal
Son celebrated Crystal’s disappearing bachelorette
status in New Orleans doing not-so-wild things.
I joined them for brunch one day, and we nibbled
on bread and talked about The Bachelorette and the
demise of Neville’s Do-Nut Shop.
Until Amtrak restores service to Orlando, you’ll
have to hop in a car to get to Florida, where
Desiree Gonzalez will be hostessing and working
social media for a jewelry company in Miami starting this fall. Hop on a big ship and make your way
over to Portugal and France, where Nicky Chang
was on vacation this June, time away from her usual
workday routine at Skidmore Owings Merrill in
New York—the famed Three Blind Mies, for those
of you who took Art History 101. Nicky is working
on the design of a super tall building in China—
“much more challenging as the scale and ambition
shifted drastically from the human scale and street
life I’m familiar with, but I’m hopeful that the next
generation of super tall can be both about the far
and the pedestrian experience.”
You’ll probably want to take a plane to Hawaii,
where Margit Sande-Kerback is enjoying life with
her new husband, work as a hospice chaplain and
playing “puppy parent” to an adopted Boston terrier.
Hop back onto a ship and drop anchor in
Tasmania, where Daniel Krass was in the middle
of a six-week trip to Australia and New Zealand
when he wrote in. He’d already visited Melanie
(Beeck) Gaudion ’04 and her son Oliver, and he still
had the Great Barrier Reef on his itinerary. He’ll
soon be rocking out on the piano in the modernday saloons of Scottsdale, Ariz., after three years in
Tennessee. If you’re in Arizona, give Daniel a shout.
Chris Sewell graduated from Vanderbilt with
an EdD in K-12 educational leadership and policy. While there in March, he stumbled upon
Samantha Goldman’s mailbox and left her a
note. Samantha is studying special education at
Vanderbilt. Chris moved back to New York and
hopes never to move again, ever!
Chelsea (Pollen) Cohen moved to Baltimore with
husband and their baby, Shira, at the end of last
year, and she started her own recruiting and talent
consulting firm, www.SynapticTalent.com, which
is focused on helping technology and finance firms
diversify and enhance their technical workforce.
Not too far away, Joanna Lloyd is finishing a veterinary small-animal rotating/emergency internship
and looking to start work as a veterinarian in an
emergency practice in the Pennsylvania and New
Jersey area. In addition to three cats, a dog and two
birds, she is also raising two newborn kittens.
In New Jersey, Faith Lim, Jumi Song, Crystal Son
and Julia Prieto gathered to celebrate Jumi’s birthday and Crystal’s remaining time on the East
Coast. They “supped on fine meats and libations
at the ever-popular Medieval Times. Their team
knight did not win, alas.”
Hale Simon and his wife welcomed their first
child, Connor Robert Simon, in April.
Now over to NYC, where Deborah Hemel married Doug Stone in February, with Emily Joiner,
Samantha Goldman, Amy Katzen, Grace Tomooka,
Kate Rutledge, Leisa Rothlisberger and Amy Sosne
joining the celebration. For his wedding, Jonathan
Landsman chose Alley Pond Park, Queens, because
this was the park where he learned to love plants as
a child, because of its healthy lawn and because the
park’s black locust trees typically flower in late May
when the wedding took place. Jonathan observed
that the white pea flowers of the locusts bloomed
during our Williams graduation, which is how he
first became aware of the bloom timing he then
used to such great effect.
Sabrina Wirth was also planning a wedding and
graduated from Columbia’s Graduate School of
Architecture, Planning & Preservation with a master’s degree in critical curatorial and conceptual
practices in architecture. She now works in business development at Grimshaw Architects. Louisa
Swain defended her thesis in June and graduated
with a master’s degree in museum management and
education from Bank Street College of Education.
Hilarie Ashton was deliriously happy about her
first year as a doctoral student in CUNY Grad
Center. She taught a writing workshop and organized a panel at the Northeast Modern Language
Association Conference. She’s obtained group fitness certification, which will allow her to teach
kickboxing on top of the yoga and writing workshops she leads.
Barry Fulton is back in New York for the 201415 school year, earning a master’s degree in private
school leadership at Columbia University’s Teachers
College while on sabbatical from The Pingry
School. On his 30th birthday, he spent time with
Adriel Cepeda, Julia Prieto and Asha Rhodes-Meade
before joining Asha and her husband at La Birreria
at Eataly on New Year’s Day.
Emily Ente ’06 (officially ’06 but an ’05 at heart)
earned a MBA from Yale School of Management
(alongside Enrique Perez ’01), and is returning to
New York to work with Deloitte’s human capital
consulting practice. “It’ll be a change after six years
in the nonprofit education reform sector, but I’m
looking forward.”
Michelle Flowers got engaged in April after finishing business school at Columbia University and
starting a new job at Accordant Media. No longer juggling a full-time job and full-time school,
Michelle is enjoying homework-free mornings, evenings and weekends, with which she is catching up
with fellow Ephs and reuniting with hobbies such
as running and reading for pleasure.
I’ve been in New York and Connecticut a lot for
work this past winter/spring and have had the good
fortune to run into Kate Dineen, Tracey Samuelson,
Chloe Taft, Gary Lapon and Todd Herlihy in various
professional capacities, in the subway station and at
a bar in Greenwich Village.
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Settle into the vinyl of your Metro-North seats
and head on up to New Haven, where Noah
Capurso is now splitting time between clinical
work and teaching medical students and residents
as chief resident of education after a four-year residency at Yale. Maggie (Gilmore) Saar and Brian
Saar visited with Noah’s daughter Gillian. Noah
and wife Allison have outfitted Gillian with a xylophone: “Gotta start them young!”
Afton (Johnson) Gilyard and husband Will Gilyard
’02 had their second son, Max, in April. Emily
(Tomassi) Grant visited from London and provided
amazing support, even with her own due date just a
few months down the road.
Let’s go deep into Eph Country. Stephen
Moseley and Liz Hodgman got married in
Cambridge, Mass., in early June with a big bunch
of our classmates joining the party.
Head west on I-90 to get to Worcester, where
Beth Landis and husband Dan are thrilled with
their newborn baby, Joseph. He first opened his
eyes at the end of March.
Make a quick detour to northern Vermont, where
Andra Hibbert finished her first year teaching
English at Saint Johnsbury Academy, which is also
where she went to high school. “It was a long, cold
winter, and I’m happy to be staring down 10 weeks
of summer vacation,” during which she will be
swimming, hiking and working on her own writing.
She and Emmet Quinn married in July.
You might make a stop at the Blue Benn on
your way down from Vermont, but let’s get right
to Williamstown, where Stephanie Swanson married Giorgio Mosoni ’07 before nearly 30 Williams
graduates, classes of ’04 through ’11, including
Lindsey Taylor, Samantha Goldman, Ryan Gerrity,
Sara Gersen, Joe Kerckhoff and Lillian Chang. The
bride and groom are traveling the world for seven
months before relocating from New York to Lima,
Peru.
Meg Bossong is settling back into the Purple
Valley as the college’s director of sexual assault
prevention and response. Ashley Weeks Cart and
James Cart are happy to have a dear friend “back in
the collegiate motherland,” where they are expanding the vegetable garden and chicken flock on their
farm.
Joyia Yorgey and Brent Yorgey ’04 moved to
Williamstown in July, and Brent is teaching in the
computer science department at Williams. “Things
we are excited about doing with (son) Noah in
Williamstown this year: visiting the completed
Sawyer Library, hearing the bells, going to volleyball games in Chandler Gym, seeing the organ in
Thompson Chapel, walking the Sheep Hill trail,
going to a track meet on the new Weston Field, listening to the Berkshire Symphony in Chapin—
and so many more! If you have other suggestions of
things to do with a toddler in Williamstown, please
let me know.” And, “I hope that everyone will be
coming for our 10-year reunion.”
Well said. It’s time to return to the motherland,
though Barrow, Alaska, would be pretty cool too.
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2006
Ariel Peters, 626 Independence Ave. SE, Apt. 206,
Washington, DC 20003; 2006secretary@williams.edu
Bryan Dragon quit his job in January and spent
two months traveling around Colombia. Highlights
included hiking through a cloud forest, sleeping in
a hammock in the jungle, visiting coffee and cacao
farms and celebrating Carnival. He also tried fried
ants! (“If you’re curious, they’re sort of like earthy,
half-popped popcorn kernels.”) Alas, now it’s back
to work: he just moved from Colorado to the Bay
Area for a job at Apple.
Alissa Caron bought a house in the Boston suburbs in April; she and her husband were planning a
housewarming party as well as some home improvement projects.
In early May, Laura Kolesar Gura, Arathi Rao,
Reed Harrison and Annie (Denison) Harrison, Allison
Farley, Stephanie Vano and Analia Sorribas traveled to SF for Alex Chan’s wedding. They celebrated with Alex and her new husband Justin Crum
and explored the city, observing the sea lions at the
wharf, navigating Lombard Street and sampling
dim sum in Chinatown.
Also in early May, Sam Sawan, Todd Shayler,
Adam Ain, Andy Bisset and Jon O’Hanlon attended
Eric Markowsky’s bachelor party at a castle in New
Hampshire. (Eric was set to wed Katie Fulton in
June.) “Hansel completed an array of challenges to
confirm his worthiness,” Andy explained. “He won
the majority by successfully”—I was sure Andy
was going to say that Eric pulled the sword from
the stone, but no—“riding a penguin named Bill
Bernsen ’08 down a hill.”
Lucy Cox-Chapman married Zachary Dagneau on
May 17 surrounded by Ephs: “I think it would be
too many to list!” Then it was off to Turkey for their
honeymoon.
Anne Marie Schoradt, daughter of Geofre
Schoradt and Mary Etta Burt, arrived on May 20!
“There have been many diapers.”
Melody Marchman Schade claims she had
an “uneventful” spring: She finished her PhD
in historical musicology and music theory at
the University at Buffalo in May, and she and
her husband Matt welcomed their second son,
Maxwell Marchman Schade, on June 6! (“A little
D-Day baby for an Army family—fitting, no?”)
She was looking forward to a relaxing summer
with her boys.
Elizabeth Hewett wrapped up her pediatrics
residency in June; she’ll stay at Boston Children’s
for a fellowship in pediatric emergency medicine.
Co-residents included Liza Pingree, Katie Cecala
and Geri Ottaviano Landman.
By the way, Geri and her husband Zach now have
a baby of their own: Audrey Maya Landman was
born on June 17!
Sara Ossi celebrated her first wedding anniversary; she married Peter O’Connor on June 15,
2013, at the Boston Public Library. Alums from the
classes of 1952 to 2006 were present, including Opal
Thompson, Richard Sosa, Julie Esteves Nagy, Jessica
Wege McLear ’97, Gavin McLear ’97, Jennifer Wege
’90, Peter Wege ’71 and Jim Henry ’52, plus chemistry professor Larry Kaplan.
2005– 07
Adam Bloch was living in a small town in Ohio,
working at the local paper and listening to the
grotesque stories of local inhabitants, when Ben
Berringer arrived in Cincinnati; together they biked
cross-country. In the words of Adam, “That dude
is a speed demon. Totally left me behind in the
Rockies.”
PJ Bonavitacola was also headed in that direction:
He had just crossed med school at UMass off his list
and was to start a psychiatry residency at UCLA.
Meanwhile, Justin Lavner graduated from UCLA
with a PhD in clinical psychology in June, but he
was eastbound to become an assistant professor
in the psychology department at the University of
Georgia. He spent his last year in SoCal living in
San Diego, where he was completing his clinical
internship and enjoying spending time with Marissa
Doran ’05.
After finishing medical school at the University
of Michigan, Johannes Pulst-Korenberg moved to
Philadelphia to begin his residency in neurology at
the University of Pennsylvania. He was looking forward to getting to know his new city with others in
the area.
Steve Myers and Hayley (Wynn) Myers are still
happily in D.C., where they are a stereotypical
“two-fed family.” In February, Steve left his law
firm and is now a trial attorney at the Department
of Justice, working on constitutional and regulatory challenges to federal programs and decisions
in an office with several other Ephs. (He and Adam
Grogg ’04 are co-captains of the office softball
team!) Hayley left the Department of Energy for a
new position as a legislative analyst at the Office of
Management and Budget.
Steve, Hayley, Pamela Good and I were the last
ones standing at Mary Catherine Blanton’s rehearsal
dinner at Houston’s Bayou Club last fall, so we
jumped in the pool with our clothes on and went
for a swim. MC married Bailey Jones the following evening, Oct. 12, 2013, at a church in Houston,
and the reception was held at the Museum of Fine
Arts. Among the masterpieces hung a custommade neon sign: “Late Night Dance Party.” MC
and Bailey kept the party going, joining their wedding band onstage (MC on tambourine, Bailey on
cowbell) before hopping into a pedicab at the end
of the night and riding off into happily ever after.
Epilogue: the neon sign has found a home in their
West Village apartment, which they share with their
dog, Indiana Jones.
After two years in Houston, Ilya Feldsherov
relocated to Corpus Christi at the end of July
to start a federal clerkship. He hoped to see
Houstonians Laura (Noel) Borland, her husband
Seth Borland ’03 and Julie Esteves Nagy before
his departure, as he wasn’t quite sure what his next
move would be, except that it might entail a move
back to NYC.
Good news: Aaron Reibel is stateside following a
nine-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. He asked
me to pass along his most sincere thanks: “The
Eph men and women were wonderful and sent me
plenty of goodies that certainly buoyed my and my
soldiers’ spirits.” Aaron, welcome home!
2007
Caitlin Hanley, 445 E. Ohio St., Apt. 2404, Chicago, IL
This edition’s notes begin with exciting news from
the world of Disney! Jen Sleeper worked on the
movie Frozen, which won the Oscar for best animated film. When the Frozen story was in development, Director Chris Buck interviewed Jen and her
twin sister Debbie about the relationship of sisters
for the characters Anna and Elsa. In addition, the
song “Let it Go,” written by Kristen Anderson Lopez
’94 and her husband Robert Lopez, won the Oscar
for best original song. Jen and Kristen celebrated
by taking a celebratory Frozen-Oscar-“Go Ephs!”
photo after a quick chorus of “The Mountains.”
In the Purple Valley this past June, Giorgio Mosoni
married Stephanie Swanson ’05 atop Sheep Hill.
Ephs from the classes of 2004 to 2011 attended the
wedding, including: Perry Fridley, Larry Dworkin,
Stephen Abbott, Alex Hogan, Colleen Gerrity, Rohan
Mehra, Owen Simpson, Ryan Gerrity, Alden Conner,
Thomas Kindred, Ross Kravitz, Manny Holowatz
’04, Dan Pesquera ’11, Emily Flynn ’09, Tanya
Pramatarova ’09, Samantha Goldman ’05, Elizabeth
Goggins ’09, Lori Griffin ’09, Kristyn Bretz ’07, Sara
Gersen ’05, Jacob Kravetz ’10, Joe Kerckhoff ’05,
Lillian Chang ’05, Kieran Brennan ’10, Nick Rios ’10
and Lee Wang ’08. Following the big celebration,
Stephanie and Giorgio were spending seven months
traveling around the world before relocating from
NYC to Lima, Peru.
After graduating from a master’s program at the
Yale School of Forestry last May, Annie O’Sullivan
completed her first year at the Pomfret School,
where she teaches biology and environmental science and coaches field hockey and ice hockey. Last
December she faced off against Kimmy Ulmer, who
is a girls’ JV ice hockey coach at Tabor—although
she doesn’t really want to talk about the result of the
matchup!
Angela Doyle will be moving to New Haven this
fall as she starts at Yale Law School, where she ran
into Blake Emerson while visiting for admitted students weekend. As a member of the Class of 2017,
her graduation dates will be exactly 10 years apart,
meaning her reunions will be on the same years—
how convenient! Angela had lunch with William
Parsons when he visited for a friend’s wedding. She
planned to see Jen Menzies and Laura Lee when
they gathered in Nashville over the summer to see
Laura’s new home and spend time with her son.
“Things are good here in D.C.,” Chris Furlong
reports. His work in real estate development is
going well. Chris been out of town a lot recently,
most notably for Sean Hyland’s bachelor party in
western MA at a summer camp rented out by Bill
Ference in Lenox, which was attended by 40 alumni
from the classes of 2007 to 2014. In June, Chris
attended Sean’s wedding, followed by the wedding
of Jim Clayton ’08 and Emily Fowler-Cornfeld ’09 a
week later.
In April, Katie Howard accepted a new sales position with Adidas, where she is now the key account
manager for the military accounts and will be traveling to Virginia/Dallas/D.C. often. She met up with
David McManic ’07 in Clemson, S.C., for a 40-mile
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bike ride. Dave is interning in Atlanta for the summer, and they have plans to meet up again for
another bike ride. He is helping Katie train for her
first Ironman race in August in Mont Tremblant,
Quebec, which just a little farther in distance than
the Williams Track and Field days training for the
4x400m relays and mid distance events!
Auyon Mukharji was “looking forward to a big
summer on the road with the band.” In the fall,
Auyon is moving in with his “baby brother” Aroop
Mukharji ’09, as he is starting a PhD program at the
Kennedy school in Cambridge.
Ashley Brown Burns is now an assistant professor at Amherst College. After teaching at Elon and
Gettysburg while finishing her PhD, she “cannot
believe how amazing it is to be on the other side
of the classroom experience!” Ashley is now working on her book manuscript, and has been adding classes in public policy to the curriculum at
Amherst (http://bit.ly/1oG1oCp). Her son Juan
Anthony Burns Jr. was born last September. Ashley
writes: “The year is a blur as we approach [ Juan’s]
first birthday. It seems like just yesterday Pamela
Council, Rob Bland and Aalayah Rasheed were visiting in New Orleans for the baby shower.”
Abby Taylor started her fourth year of vet school,
which is a clinical year that rotates through all of
the veterinary services and specialties. She is currently on the ER service rotation.
Erika Haydu writes: “I’m excited to share that I
defended my PhD, and I got married!” Her PhD
research focused on pediatric leukemia and mitochondrial encephalopathy and was completed at
Columbia University, where she is pursuing an
MD-PhD degree. A week later, Erika married Irun
Bhan, an internal medicine physician she met in
Boston in 2008 while he was studying at Harvard
Medical School and she was working in a leukemia research lab and living in the Back Bay with
Ellen (Wilk) Ginman and Haley Tone. The wedding
took place in Connecticut and was attended by several recent Williams alums, including Ellen, Alex
Ginman, Haley, Riley Maddox ’08, Kate (Larabee)
Tuttle, Sheryl Brea, Christina Perron, Sam Kapala ’09
and Maggie Lowenstein.
Megan Bruck Syal completed her PhD in
planetary geosciences at Brown this spring. She
was moving to San Francisco to begin a postdoc
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
September.
This spring, Katie Montgomery graduated from
the University of Iowa with a PhD in English,
specializing in Victorian literature. She moved to
NYC in early June and looks forward to seeing
more Ephs around! She writes: “I’ve gone on three
runs in Central Park so far, and on two of them I
saw people in Williams T-shirts. For comparison, I
saw two Williams shirts and one Williams baseball
cap in six years in Iowa City.”
At the 2014 Williams Club Annual Dinner
with President Adam Falk on May 19th, our class
received an award for the most alumni in attendance. Ten of us from the Class of 2007 attended
the dinner: Ali Beswick, Marisa Cabrera, Emily
Chepiga, Cathleen Clark, Stephanie Dockery,
Eugenie Du, Regine Lim, Tamieka McLean, Kaylan
Tildsley and myself. Stephanie accepted the award
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on behalf of our class, and “2007” will be engraved
on the silver prize cup that our class received.
Stephanie Dockery is now working as manager
of corporate relations and sponsorship at Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts, overseeing the corporate fundraising for all seven of Lincoln Center’s
annual festivals. She recently produced a concert at
Macy’s for its American Icons Campaign launch, as
well as a “Silent Disco” for Bloomberg. Stephanie
moved to the West Village and is excited to be a
“West Sider.”
2008
Sarah Bonn, 110 East 84th St., Apt. 5D, New York, NY
10028; Tim Geoffrion, 45 Trowbridge St., Apt. 5B,
Cambridge, MA 01238; 2008secretary@williams.edu
The Class of 2008 is excited that summer is
finally upon us after one too many arctic blasts this
winter. Our classmates have been busy getting married, completing graduate school, starting new jobs,
going on assorted adventures and, most importantly,
making time to visit with other Ephs.
First, the wedding updates. Uzaib Saya got married to Ayesha Rabbani on a beautiful mid-April
day. The never-ending winter in Massachusetts
decided to give them a break, and the sun came out
just for the wedding. Ephs traveled from different
parts of the world to enjoy the festivities with the
couple. Didem Ilter, Sebastian Shterental, Haydee
Lindo, Prassanna Raman, Marie-Christine André,
Ashley Burrell, Rachel Fevrier, Megan Brankley
Abbas and Aatif Abbas were all at the wedding in
addition to a number of alumni from other class
years. Uzaib continues to work for a D.C. and
Boston-based global health NGO, Management
Sciences for Health, on issues related to health
care financing and health systems strengthening in
developing countries.
Stuart Jones and Denise McCulloch got married in Toronto last July with a great crew of fellow
Ephs in attendance, including Stuart’s dad, Barton
Jones ’68, and his classmates Tom Nicholson ’68,
Ned Perry ’68 and Jon Weller ’68 as well as Denise’s
ice hockey teammates Alessandra LaFiandra, Joey
Lye ’09, Sam Tarnasky ’09, Catherine Mullen ’09
and Caralyn Quan, who heroically managed to
emcee the wedding in spite of having knee surgery
two days prior. Joining the celebration were Mary
Burr, Cooper Jones, Hugo St. John, Eugene Berson,
Will Ford, Scott Hertrick, Sara duPont, Cary Bearn,
Johnny Greenwald, Kim Taylor and Liz Gleason.
On to graduate school updates! First, the future
of science is looking very purple and gold. Zachary
Thomas graduated with his PhD in physics from
MIT and is now off to the University of Minnesota
to complete his postdoc. Paul Hess and Shelby
Kimmel Hess both earned physics PhDs in the
spring: Paul from Harvard, Shelby from MIT.
They are moving to D.C. this fall to start postdoc
research positions at the University of Maryland.
While they were in D.C. looking for apartments,
they met up with Chris Law ’09, Jim Clayton and
Emily Fowler-Cornfeld ’09, who shared their knowhow about the city and made them feel a little less
sad to be leaving Cambridge. Didem Ilter got her
PhD in cellular biology from Harvard and moved
2007– 09
to NYC. Before moving she celebrated her 30th
birthday with her roommate of six years, Uzaib
Saya, as well as with Julie Wyman, Haydee Lindo
and Sebastian Shterental, who flew in to Boston to
surprise her. In New York, Greg Tobkin received his
computer science M.Eng. from Cornell University’s
new Cornell Tech campus in NYC as one of five
students in the program’s first class. He is still living in New York and now working at Bloomberg,
where he is helping build a next-generation trading
platform. Out west, Katie Stack Morgan received
her PhD in geology at Caltech and is planning
to stay in Pasadena after graduation to work as a
geologist on the Curiosity Mars rover at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
The Class of ’08 is headed out into the world of
business after completing MBA studies across the
country. In Chicago, Diana Jaffe Jagannath graduated from Kellogg and plans to move back to New
York with her husband and their new mini golden
doodle puppy, Fala. She’ll be starting a job in brand
management at Unilever this fall. Out east, Tom
Samuelson graduated from MIT Sloan and is
headed to NYC to work at JP Morgan in health
care. Tyler Hull and Dixon Hargrove both graduated
from Tuck this summer, and a large contingent of
Ephs are following behind them planning to graduate in 2015, including Will Eudsen, Jeff Callahan
and Charles Christianson. Charles reports that after
finishing his first year at Tuck he was enjoying
spending as much of the summer as he can catching
some tasty waves in Newport/Huntington Beach
when he’s not working at Danaher. Meanwhile,
Dani Johnson is getting ready to start her own
MBA studies at HBS this fall after finishing up her
role as a manger of strategic analytics for pharmacy
operations at CVS Caremark. Between work and
school she plans to spend time with friends, travel
to Ireland with family and to Thailand with Caitlin
Warthin before she goes to Columbia in the fall to
receive her master’s in public health.
Ephs also graduated from medical schools and
architecture schools this spring. Emily Siegel graduated medical school and started her residency in
general surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in
L.A. this summer. She also got to hang out with
Alex Brooks and Gordon Phillips when they were
in L.A. and with Kelsey Jones when she traveled
to Philly. Annie Ferguson finished her first year of
pediatrics residency at Cincinnati children’s. She
is enjoying the city and co-residents, including
Matthew Barhight. Mary Burr graduated from the
Yale School of Architecture in May and was moving to New York at the end of the summer, where
she looked forward to seeing lots of other Ephs!
Lastly, Kate Nolfi and Eugene Korsunskiy are
thrilled to be moving to Burlington, Vt., together,
after enduring four years of red-eye flights to visit
each other on opposite sides of the country. Kate
started as an assistant professor in the philosophy department at the University of Vermont in
August after completing her PhD at UNC-Chapel
Hill. She is ecstatic to be trading in her grad student stipend for a real salary. Eugene is very sad to
be leaving California weather but giddy with excitement about adopting a puppy as soon as they get to
Vermont!
Ephs are also beginning new adventures and seeing old friends all over the world. Ryan Dunfee
moved out to Jackson Hole, Wyo., last fall to work
as the associate editor at Teton Gravity Research.
He writes a lot about adventure sports, namely skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking and surfing. In
addition to writing and exploring the powder, he
got to ski with Katie Warren and Justin Vassar.
In between his studies Jesse Levitt was able to
see a number of Ephs this spring. He welcomed
Sunmi Yang to New Orleans, where she continues
her medical degree after four semesters in Australia.
Peter Nunns also made it into town for Mardi Gras
and reported that his life in New Zealand continues
to be filled with adventures as he starts a new job.
He also continues to travel frequently around the
great basin, and has seen Morgan Goodwin outside
Tahoe as he recovers from ACL surgery and Anne
Royston in Salt Lake City, where she was presenting at a conference.
Jarrad Wood was back to the Purple Valley with
his sister Kallan Wood ’10, to see their little sister
Gillian Wood ’14 graduate.
Lashonda Gardenhire and her husband John made
the leap into home ownership and bought a house
in the suburbs of NYC! They’re super-excited to
move to Long Island. In addition to a new home
the couple also welcomed an adopted a shelter dog
into their lives this spring. She is a hound/terrier
mix named Elsa who keeps them both on their toes!
Madeleine Outman was promoted to head track
and field coach at Div. II Ursuline College in
Cleveland. In addition to coaching she currently
runs track professionally and finished in the top
eight in the USA in the pentathlon. She has traveled internationally to compete for the USA.
Kim Taylor returned from four months in
Patagonia, where she was conducting research
for her dissertation in ecology. She is now back
in Bozeman, Mont., spending lots of time
with Whitney Leonard, who is out for the summer interning at the environmental nonprofit
Earthjustice.
Angela Crudele just finished her intern year at
Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia and is about to
start her second year as a neurology resident.
Rachael Konecky is now working in business and
corporate development for an early stage tech
company in Seattle. Lastly, Scott Hertrick returned
from an epic bachelor party in L.A. that included
Will Ford, Hugo St. John, Stuart Jones, Cooper Jones
and Justin Vassar.
We hope our classmates will continue enjoying
the summer and having new adventures! Please
continue to send us all your updates as 2014 progresses. We look forward to hearing from you!
2009
Claire Rindlaub, 215 West 21st St., Apt 1B,
Submitted by outgoing secretary Mijon Zulu: Like
most things, all good things must come to an end.
Reunion has come and gone and these will be the
last notes from me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
you for sharing so much of your lives with our class.
It has been an honor sharing in your joys and, of
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course, to serve you, my class! So, I’ll try to do what
I do best and give one last toast.
Cheers to the World Cup!
Matt Felser went to Brazil and lived for all of us.
Mr. Felser followed the U.S. National Team, spent
time with Davi Parente Schoen ’11 and Conor
Olvany ’11 in Fortaleza and met up with Tommas
Golia in Rio. The highlight of the trip was definitely
the USA/Ghana match. Well done, sir!
Now, let’s change things up. Cheers to the West!
Instead of keeping Boston strong in January, Emily
Flynn traveled to Texas with Kat Conaway, Katie
Grace, Emily George, Tanya Pramatarova, Lori Griffin
and Elizabeth Goggins for an epic friend reunion.
Then it was back to Beantown, where Ms. Flynn
has been promoted to associate director at the
Sustainable Endowments Institute. Owen Martel is
back home in Honolulu working on the footage from
his walk across the U.S. Up north, Fiona Worcester
teaches language arts to a crew of awesomely talented
eighth-graders in Anchorage, Alaska. Over the summer, Ms. Worcester was to spend a month touring
and performing music with small-scale circus groups
in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon; accordion is her latest project.
Cheers to the East!
In Maine, Victoria Stanton and her husband Patrick bought a house and adopted a rescue German shepherd named Fraulein. Cheers to
planting roots! In Connecticut, Jessica Rodriguez
got dinner with Katie Gagne when she was in town
for a wedding. Ms. Gagne is actually a Portland resident and absolutely loves its beauty and ridiculously delicious Greek pastry. Ms. Rodriguez has
also been quite the active athlete, completing a
Spartan Sprint in Tuxedo, N.Y., and a FoamFest 5K
in Brooklyn. Feel free to hit her up if you have more
suggestions of races or obstacle courses or want to
join in on the fun. Still living in Stamford, Rahul
Bahl took a break from CT to celebrate Brandon
Halloway’s birthday in Chicago and catch up with
Wes Johnson, Haniff Brown, Kevin DeWar, Elizabeth
Goggins and David Aitoro.
Now for New York. Stop the presses! Dan Benz
wrote in for the first time ever! Mr. Benz is in his
third year as the sports information director at the
SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica, N.Y. He
makes frequent trips down to NYC to see his fellow
southpaws from the baseball team, Ben Horwitz and
Zack Stone. Lauren Garcia got back from reunion
and then headed straight out to L.A. to get the
full scoop on AG’s spring ’15 collection. Katherine
Conaway left her job and was traveling and freelancing around the U.S. for the summer, visiting
friends and family as well as attending Jess Kopcho
and Rob Buesing’s wedding in Cali and Katherine
Robinson’s wedding in Seattle). Still recovering
from her five-year reunion, Molly Hunter lives in
New York with Stew Gilson ’08, roughly 70 blocks
from Riki McDermott, but the two work right across
the street from each other. Ms. Hunter works on
the international desk at ABC News with a specific
interest in the Middle East and North Africa.
Julian Mesri started a new bilingual theater company, Sans Comedia, which is presenting a new
show, Immersion, in NYC in September. Eve
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duction associate at Joan Hornig Jewelry, a company on the Upper East Side that donates all profits to nonprofit organizations around the world.
Finally, after two years of fighting sartorial crime as
a ninja, Mijon Zulu left Bonobos to join the e-commerce team at John Varvatos.
Education opens new doors, so cheers to those
working on new beginnings!
Stacey Baradit moved home from China after five
years. Not exhausted by being abroad yet, she spent
the summer traveling through Spain before starting grad school at UC Berkeley. Toni Kraeva will be
going to business school next year at UC Berkeley
but was to spend the summer traveling through
England, France, Italy, Turkey and her homeland,
Bulgaria! A typical pre-med student, Ryan Olavarria
was spending the summer traveling through NYC,
Provincetown, Maine, Newport and Europe before
med school at Dartmouth in the fall. Post reunion,
Cam Henry took a flight to Southeast Asia for
six weeks of traveling ahead of business school at
Columbia in the fall. Highlights include visiting the
Mekong Delta, Angkor Wat, getting interviewed
on Vietnamese TV in Halong Bay and catching up
with Ed Wichiencharoen in Bangkok. Finally, Aroop
Mukharji is moving to Cambridge in the fall to start
a PhD in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy
School (where Lindsay Moore is a second-year MA
student and Katie Grace works). He will be living
with Auyon Mukharji ’07 and will happily be a parttime Darlingside tour groupie whenever duty calls.
It may not be over, but cheers to those who are
still trekking through!
Natalia Rey de Castro finished her first year of
an MBA at Yale and is interning at Benetech, a
tech nonprofit social enterprise in Palo Alto, Calif.
Angelo Terra finished his first year at Kellogg
School of Management. Mr. Terra was in NYC for
the summer doing an internship at Year Up, a nonprofit that prepares urban young adults for professional careers. Ben Grant is halfway through an
MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.
Mr. Grant was spending the summer in Hood
River, Ore., working for Dakine while spending his
free time hiking, biking (mountain and road) and
learning how to kite-surf. At the end of the summer, Mr. Grant was to bike around Yellowstone
National Park, then travel solo cross-country and
head up to NH. Brian Prest finished his first year of
his PhD at Duke and is prepping for his wedding
next year. Ryan Jane Jacoby is pursuing a PhD at
the University of North Carolina. Tim Durham finished his first year of a PhD in the Department of
Genome Sciences at the University of Washington.
For play, he is in the UW Triathlon Club and hangs
out with Aaron Schwartz ’09 and Stephen Wills ’07,
who live nearby in Olympia and Tacoma, respectively. Morgan Phillips-Spotts is in Chicago where
she enrolled in the musical improv conservatory
program at the Second City and will be in a sketch
comedy show. When Ms. Phillips-Spotts gets a
break she plans to go on a sweet suitemate vacation
with the Willy D third floor girls: Mallory Green,
Dr. Katie Jordan and Kristen Milano. Avalon Gulley
is in Boulder, Colo., in school for CranioSacral
therapy. She is helping run a nonprofit focused
on seed saving and seed libraries called Restore
2009– 10
Colorado: Seeds for the People. Finally, Kelly
Kirkpatrick is a fourth-year med student in Philly.
And, to those of us who have finally graduated
(again), cheers to being done with school—for now.
Naya-Joi Martin graduated with an MBA and was
interning for the Atlanta Hawks and the NBA for
the summer while looking for a full-time job with
a team. Nicole McNeil and Stefanie Williams graduated from Cornell Law School this May. Ms.
McNeil will join Latham & Watkins in Boston,
while Ms. Williams returned to NYC and will join
Davis Polk in the fall. Ben Bodurian graduated
from UVA Law School and will begin practicing at
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in D.C. this fall. Robin
Kuntz graduated from Berkeley Law and took the
California bar exam at the end of July before going
to NYC to clerk for a federal district court judge
for a year. Dr. Jared Lunkenheimer and Dr. Caroline
Kan graduated med school at the University of
Rochester. Dr. Lunkenheimer will began a residency in family medicine at the University of New
Mexico, while Dr. Kan is already at Cedars-Sinai as
an anesthesia resident and catching up with friends
like Hannah Cho! Dr. Kenneth Flax graduated from
the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the spring
and is still there doing a residency in anesthesiology. Down south, Dr. Katie Jordan graduated medical school; she started pediatrics residency at UNC.
Finally, Nico Aiello finished a math PhD in number
theory from UMass Amherst in May and moved
to NYC to work at Bloomberg as a software developer. Before starting his job, he spent the summer
traveling, including stopping by the Williamstown
Theatre Festival to support a friend who works in
scene design.
Finally, cheers to love. It is truly one of the only
things that keeps this world together, so congrats to
everyone!
In April, Harris Paseltiner and Hannah Ratcliffe
got married in Austin. Liz Kantack graduated from
Bard College with an MA in teaching in May, got
married in July and moved to Monterey, Calif., with
her husband after the wedding. Ms. Kantack is on
the wedding circuit—first Hannah Ratcliffe and
Harris Paseltiner’s, Sam Smith’s, and Jess Kopcho’s
and Rob Buesing’s.
Rachel Asher and Sean Hyland ’04 got married just after reunion. Bridesmaid Claire Rindlaub
sang in the ceremony with Mr. Paseltiner, with Don
Mitchell ’06 and Auyon Mukharji ’07 accompanying. The other bridesmaids were Claire Whipple,
KK Durante ’11, Sarah Hill and Julie McNamara.
Kelly Kirkpatrick and Natalia Rey de Castro also
attended. There was little rest after that because Ms.
Rey de Castro flew to St. Louis for Emily FowlerCornfeld and Jim Clayton’s ’08 wedding. Jessica
Kopcho and Rob Buesing, who got married in July,
attended Sam Smith’s wedding in June. Jessica and
Rob start grad school at Columbia in the fall, Ms.
Kopcho for med school and Mr. Buesing at business school. Also this summer, Matthew MayCurry and AnneMarie McClain got married in
Williamstown, with Kelly Smith, Nailah Wilds,
Bryant Lewis, Morgan Phillips-Spotts and David
Edwards attending.
Phew! It that is not enough, we actually have even
more weddings coming up the pipe!
In February, Emily Flynn got engaged to Dan
Pesquera ’11 at Cole Field at Williams. There liter-
ally were fireworks, because—apparently—Williams
throws events with fireworks in the middle of
February. Lindsay Millert’s boyfriend Doug Melzig
proposed in early April. In May, they picked up a
set of brother-sister Labrador retriever puppies, and
in June, Ms. Millert moved to southern Vermont
to be with her man full time. The icing on the cake
of all of these fun changes is that she is still able to
work for Under Armour from the Green Mountain
State—the best of both worlds! Alicia Santiago got
engaged to her boyfriend, Ryan, over Memorial
Day weekend at a vineyard in upstate New York.
Then, just after reunions, BOOM! It happened.
Claire Rindlaub and Claire Whipple are both
engaged. Not to each other, though. Ms. Rindlaub
will wed Chris Basham ’07, while Ms. Whipple will
wed Jake Koshland.
And, that, friends, was literally all he wrote. So
thank you again!
I love you all, miss you all, and wish you an amazing next five years.
Cheers! —YCS
2010
REUNION JUNE 11-14
Catalina J. Vielma, 833 West 15th Place, Apt. 312,
Chicago, IL 60608; 2010secretary@williams.edu
Happy summertime, Ephs! I hope you’re all taking advantage of this hard-earned weather after
the winter we went through. It was a blast to
hear from so many of you this time around, especially our abroad alums! Safe travels to all who are
visiting Eph pals (in the voice of Chris Trager)
LITERALLY around the world. I promise a special long-distance treat at the end of these notes—
but for now, we’ll start our run around the world in
the east…
Sarah Sedney started her residency in pediatrics
at Maine Medical Center in Portland in July. Good
luck, Sarah! She’s doing her best to make frequent
visits to Boston whenever she can to visit fellow ’10s.
Also bopping along in Maine is Bex Gilbert, who
finished her first year at the Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies and spent the summer
interning at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute
with Molly Pickel ’15 and Jonathan Labaree ’85. In
early July, Bex sailed on the Charles W. Morgan, the
last wooden whaling ship left in the world, during
its first voyage in 80 years up the New England seaboard. To wrap up the summer, she was to visit Park
City, Utah, with Lizzy Brickley, Jess Clarke, Leah
Katzelnick, Emily Porter, Evan Oleson ’12 (and many
more) for the wedding of Alessandra DeMarchis!
Moving down the coast brings us to Cullen Roberts,
who finished his fourth and final year teaching
math at Choate in June. Cullen spent the summer
at Bryn Mawr’s post-bac pre-med program. “Lots of
great people here,” he writes, “including Laura Henry
’13 and Mattia Wruble ’14—small world.”
Joining the already tremendous Eph contingent
in Boston is Maria Tucker. She returned from a brief
but wonderful trip to Asia with Daniel Tao. They
had a great time temple-climbing and eating their
way across Cambodia, China and Hong Kong. She
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coin startup based in Boston. She had a visit this
spring from gung-ho journalist Adam Baron, who
stopped in Boston after he was (unfairly) deported
from Yemen. Maria was looking forward to spending the summer in Boston with Daniel, Cristina Diaz
and other Ephs in the area!
Still rocking life in Boston is Jamie Havlin. She
was promoted to the head baker of the Hotel
Commonwealth, running the bread department for
three restaurants and hotel events. Congrats, Jamie!
Moving south to D.C., I was lucky enough to
catch up with Bethany Baker while in the Beltway
for work … and we had a great time spectating
Jell-O wrestling. As always, Baker knows how to
show a girl a good time. Leaving D.C. is Jason
Copelas, as he’s moving up to New Haven to start
an MBA at Yale in the fall, planning to focus on
endowments and nonprofit portfolio management.
He’s leaving two roommates in Chris Law and Greg
Ferris, as they packed up their D.C. house this June.
Good luck to them all!
Moving into the Midwest brings us to another
Eph starting a new chapter, Caitlin Eley. She moved
to Nashville, Tenn., to start a PhD in teaching,
learning and diversity from Peabody College at
Vanderbilt University.
Schuyler Hall is crushing it in Phoenix, his new
home. He moved there to do health coverage education and outreach in the local community. Kevin
Garcia ’13 visited at the end of May and, not to brag
or anything, thoroughly enjoyed his time out here
exploring the Valley of the Sun. Schuyler’s looking
forward to surviving the summer heat, DJing, and
starting marathon training.
San Diego has both Ron Burgundy and Terri
Hoffman. She was interning with HP for the summer while on break from Booth School of Business
at the University of Chicago. She enjoyed the sun
and warmth after the Chicago winter (stop rubbing it in, Terri!) and was thrilled to travel around
Southeast Asia for a few weeks between the end
of her internship and the beginning of fall classes.
Also in the German-founded San Diego are Sara
Plunkett and Stephanie Berger ’11. The two of them
did something this summer… something … oh,
right! They got married in Williamstown and partied until the early morning alongside friends, family
and a lion. I would write more, but then the women’s
hockey team would have to kill me.
Taking on a new adventure are Sarah Webb and
Larry O’Boyle, who moved to Hawaii. We’re all envious! She’s taken a job in a library, and Larry is on the
hunt for law positions.
That was a quick trip coast to coast plus the big
island… And now we’re headed abroad, so pack your
passports!
Our first stop is in South America with Annick
Benavides, who is stamping her Williams art mafia
card. She finished her master’s in art history at
UNM, where she specialized in colonial Peruvian
paintings. A hop, skip and a jump later she was in
Lima, Peru, with her beautiful New Mexican mutt
Tisco to work as the director of the Museo Pedro
de Osma. Currently on exhibit at the museum is a
show she curated that centers on a moveable Christ
statue carved in Lima in 1619. Congrats on the position, Annick!
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Writing in from the insanely beautiful islands
of French Polynesia is Melissa Kemp, who was
a teacher’s assistant for a marine ecology course
this summer. She’s wrapping up her fourth year in
the biology PhD program at Stanford University,
where she is studying “all things related to tropical islands, or, more specifically, extinction in
Caribbean lizards.” At least some of us are living
the dream! In March, right before heading out to
the French Antilles for fieldwork, she was able to
spend a week in Miami with Candace Gibson ’11,
Sydney Pitts-Adeyinka ’12 and Jennifer Rodriguez
’12. It was definitely the highlight of her spring!
My favorite submission from this volume doesn’t
quite come from Patrick Rhine, but it kind of
does… His mystery submitter writes that Patrick
interviewed Chinese contemporary artist and
pain-in-the-government’s side Ai Weiwei for
the cover story of the winter 2013 edition of The
Miami Rail magazine. He’s living in Beijing and
writes, translates and curates for the Ullens Center
for Contemporary Art. Who is this mystery submitter? Why, Bob Rhine, unofficial press agent
and official dad of Pat. Thanks for the update,
Mr. Rhine!
Finally, the most valuable voicemail I’ve ever
received comes from the western coast of Africa,
specifically, the city of Kankan in Guinea. Our previous class secretary, Ethan Timmins-Schiffin, has
been in Guinea since February 2014, eating mangoes, cutting trees and learning all about moringas,
a native tree species used for everything from food
to fencing! Ethan wants everyone to know that if
you’re “passing by, give me a call, we can party and
roast a goat, because that’s how we roll in Guinea.”
I can’t top that. Hope everyone enjoyed the summer
and don’t forget to save the date for reunion:
June 11-14, 2015!
2011
Caroline Chiapetti, 504 Clinton Ave., Apt. 3, Brooklyn,
Thanks to all of you who responded to my particularly personal plea for news this round, and congratulations to all of you tying the knot or starting
graduate school or another new adventure!
Courtney “Coco” Smith has launched her own
women’s clothing line, Rum+Coke, and is working
as a design assistant and model for Nakimuli.
Evan Maltby is heading out to Colorado for the
summer to act in Big River and Sweet Charity in
rep at a regional theater. Most importantly, the gig
is giving him the opportunity to join the Actors
Equity Association, which those of you in the theater world will know is a huge step professionally—
congrats to Evan!
It wouldn’t be Williams College alumni news if
we didn’t have a long list of physical and outdoorsy
feats to share. After a few years in the Adirondack
mountains, Will Harron has started hearing the
call of other mountains. In July he was to hike the
Long Trail from end to end. Afterward, he was
moving to Boston for a year of service with the
“Life Together” community.
Atlanta-resident Alysha McElroy returned to the
Northeast to run the Boston Marathon in April. “It
2010– 11
was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’d
do it again in a heartbeat. It was such an emotional
experience with it being the first year after the
bombings. … It honestly renewed my faith in mankind. … There’s one particular moment I’ll never
forget. As I struggled to run (walk, lol) up heartbreak hill, I couldn’t stop thinking about how miserable I was and how everything hurt and how I
was crazy and stupid for signing up for the race. I
looked at the crowd and this little boy, maybe 7 or
so, looks me dead in the eye and says, ‘Keep on running! You can’t stop now! You’re strong, you make
Boston strong. Do it for us and never give up!’ That
was an incredible experience.” Alysha spent a few
days in NYC before the race to get some inspiration from fellow Ephs; Ashley Taylor organized a
long overdue reunion of Alysha’s “#1 homies.”
Gary Roberson returned from three-and-a-half
months in New Zealand with Ben Wampler ’12.
They hiked 1,300 kilometers of the Araroa Long
Trail down the length of the South Island; stories
and photos can be found at http://garyinnewzealand.blogspot.com.
Constant adventurer Nick Arnosti used an ice ax
and crampons for the first time while hiking up
Mount Whitney with Dave Moore ’10. He was
excited to spend his summer in Boston around lots
of Ephs.
Confirming all of my California stereotypes,
Stevie Luther shared that he “traipsed around the
redwoods with David Monnich ’12 and Jimi Morales
’12” when they visited Humboldt to play music as
“The Dank.” He also ran into Monel Chang ’12
at the “Lightning in a Bottle” Festival in Bradley,
Calif., where they “enjoyed a watermelon smoothie
together while listening to a talk from a man
named Bashar who claimed to be an alien.”
Rounding out our class’s interest in tackling physical challenges, Andrew Triska invited NYC-area
Ephs to reach out if they have any interest in forming a Tough Mudder team in fall of 2014. He fills
the rest of his time working with criminal defendants as a forensic social worker at the Legal Aid
Society of New York. He and Sam Barbaro ’09
were planning to hang out with California and
Oregon-area alums when they traveled to the West
Coast in August.
I know some of us are starting to feel guilty right
about now for not summiting any mountains or
running marathons in our spare time, so let’s turn
to more decadent news.
Melinda Salamaan is working for the Advisory
Board Co. in D.C., researching community college
student success. She and Jen Potvin were spending as much time as possible with Kyle Victor
before he moved to NYC at the end of the summer.
They planned to attend many happy hours, BBQs
and Nationals games! Jen works at the Brookings
Institute with a number of Ephs. She sees Rokimi
Khawlring in Boston frequently. The two made a
trip out to Berkeley, San Francisco and Napa earlier
this year to visit Dale Markey and Matt Crimp ’12.
“In other seeing-people-from-Williams news (and
in an attempt to relive our Hilton Head experience)
Kimi, Melinda and I are all heading to Cape Cod
next weekend with Mary Freeman, Robby Finley,
Laura Pickel, Jen Oswald and Meredith Annex. It’s
crazy how much more difficult group vacation
planning is post-college, but I’m glad we’re finally
making this trip happen!” wrote Jen.
Tim Lengel has had a marvelous year down in
the “Old Dominion” (Virginia for non-American history buffs), but his highlights have been
Ephcentric. “A few weeks ago, I drove up to
Williamstown to see the [Spring] Streeters’ final
concert—it was a lovely chance to reconnect with
old friends including Tommy Nelson, Evan Maltby
and Nathaniel Basch-Gould as well as Greg Kaskan
’12 and SuGi Min ’12. This summer, Tommy, Greg
and I will be driving cross-country and stopping off
to see many an Eph. I can’t wait!”
While visiting Adrienne Darrow in Ann Arbor,
Mich., Anna Soybel and Adrienne attended a
small concert where they ran into Jeff Putnam
and Ari Binder.
Faisal Khan was meeting Zeynep Coskun ’12 in
Istanbul over the summer and hopefully Ayaaz
Ahmad in the UK in the fall.
Danielle Diuguid has been living in Berkeley,
Calif., where she and friends have replicated their
senior year Woodbridge experience by fitting too
many Williams bodies under one roof; she lives
with Steve Rubin, Dan Waters, Marissa Pilger,
Julian Suhr, and Sarah “Sab” Bender, with David
Roth around the corner. Danielle, Julian, Sab and
Marissa are still trying to better the world through
public education, while Steve and Dave are doing
the same through science and technology. “We
have fun trying to be adults and regressing to the
Woodbridge ways with Camille Chickles and Peter
Gottlieb.”
This spring, Jack Wadden, Joey Kieran, Shawn
Curley and Dan Costanza flew out to L.A. to visit
Mike Abrams at CalTech. “For some reason the
school owns a creepy but awesome beach house,
and we hung out there by the campfire all weekend,” wrote Dan. Mike and Dan had another
chance to hang out when Dan passed through L.A.
for a business trip. Earlier in May, Shawn, Dan
and Joey met up yet again, this time for Leland
Brewster’s bachelor party in Key West, Fla.
Aras Holden is engaged to fellow NESCAC alum
Elizabeth Holland (Conn College ’10). They celebrated on D.C. rooftops late into the night with
Cameron Nutting, Brendan Majev, Christope DorseyGuillaume ’10 and Chris Furlong ’07.
Laura Huang is also engaged, to Georgetown
alum Tim Worm! “I really have no idea what happens next, so huge shout-out to Lisa Li and Leanne
Lin for patiently explaining wedding-themed
Pinterest boards to me despite being hundreds and
thousands of miles away. I also discovered only
recently that Prim Songkaeo and Carol Tsoi have
been in D.C. this whole time, and together with
Faisal Khan and Jade Vichyanond ’05 we got delicious tacos right before Prim and Jade moved to
Singapore.”
Carly Ameen is finishing up her master’s coursework in Scotland and was looking forward to coming back to the U.S. to celebrate the wedding of
Steph Berger and Sara Plunkett in the Berkshires
this summer. She was to spend the rest of the summer writing her dissertation and continuing her
fieldwork excavations in Alaska.
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Kate Anderson moved to Boston (“well,
Cambridge, technically”) and started a job at a venture philanthropy firm called New Profit. Charles
Toomajian graduated from the University of
Minnesota Law School and was moving to Long
Beach, Calif., with girlfriend Katy Carrigan ’14.
Rhassan Hill is still living in D.C. but has left the
Department of Justice to start his own firm, King
Street Property Group, based in Alexandria, Va. He
was touring the East Coast over the summer and
hoped to see Carmen Vidal ’13 and Pinsi Lei ’12,
among others.
Christine Chung is heading to Columbia School
of Journalism in the fall and moving to the Upper
West Side from Brooklyn (not to be discounted as a
small change). She is freelancing for various newspapers and blogging for the Asia Society. She was
planning to hang out with Gaby Hernandez, who
teaches in Harlem and lives with T. Sam Jensen.
Maya Hislop finished her third year of study in an
English PhD program at the University of Virginia.
She was spending the summer (“fully funded! yay!”)
conducting archival research toward her dissertation
in Montgomery, Ala., D.C. and Princeton, N.J. She
looked forward to bumping into alumni during all
of her travels.
Irtefa Binte-Farid is also at UVA. Jen Monge ’12
visited her for five days and had the good fortune of
watching Irtefa freak out before turning in her big
paper for her master’s but was there for moral support throughout the whole ordeal. Afterward, they
participated in the cultural festivities the small town
of Charlottesville has to offer.
Others are content and/or still pondering big
changes. Will Slack is currently trying to balance a
cool job with a growing desire to go to grad school
and start his “real, probably lower paying” career.
“Happily ran into Andrei Baiu in Peoria, Ill., while
we were helping the same health care system, and
caught up with Laura Christiansen, who is nearish to Madison in Chicago now. Also excited that
Tanvir Hussain ’10 is coming to Epic!”
Sophie Robinson is in her second year of working for Better Future Project, a climate change
nonprofit based in Harvard Square, where she is
the co-coordinator of the statewide network 350
Massachusetts. Sophie has also been involved with
a group of Williams alumni trying to get Williams
to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. Contact
her to join!
Stephen Webster has been learning Mandarin
for the past year in Tianjin, Beijing, and beautiful,
breathable Chengdu, where he met up with eightyear expat Lance White ’04. He has been spreading
awareness of the “small liberal arts college” model
across China.
In San Diego, Danny Huang met up with two
Ephs from the computer science department,
Benjamin Wood ’08 and Ethan Katz-Bassett ’01.
Danny was doing a summer internship at Google
in Mountain View, Calif., where he was analyzing
and fighting cyber crimes as part of his PhD thesis.
As I will begin my first year of law school in the
fall, both the length of my soliciting emails and
the quality of these compilations is likely about to
plunge, but I welcome the challenge and look forward to the distraction! Until next time!
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2012
Kyle Vincent Martin, 786 Nostrand Ave., Apt. 2, Brooklyn,
NY 11216; Kendra Demetria Sims, 19½ Quincy St.,
Somerville, MA 02143; 2012secretary@williams.edu
Halfway to our five-year reunion, we’re
already having mini meet-ups all over. Sayantan
Mukhopadhyay, the assistant director of a contemporary art gallery in New Delhi, has had several Ephtastic visitors, including Vanessa Soetanto.
Vanessa spent time in Mongolia with Amanda Reid
and Lowell Woodin.
Jeanette (Rivera) Growler hung out with Gregory
Sherrid, Emily Niehaus and Margaret Richmond in
San Diego for the first time since graduation.
In Vegas, Laura Burke met up with Nick Pugilese
and worked at a small business incubator. For a
change of scenery and a startup opportunity, she
moved to San Francisco. Bianca Martinez started
at the United Way of the Bay Area, a nonprofit
working on cutting poverty. Walter Filkins lived
out of a van in California while kicking off his web
development company, ChartDeck Corp. David
Monnich and Jimi Morales’ band played a full lineup
in venues in Tijuana, Guadalajara and California.
Monel Chang guest performed for one of their
shows before journeying to Vancouver for her first
Burning Man festival.
Emma Pelegri-O’Day celebrated finishing her first
year of her chemistry PhD by visiting Nora Kern in
Nashville.
Grad school is the latest trend. Jack Berry is getting an art degree, and Pawel Langer is getting a
MD-PhD in neuroscience at Columbia. Marsha
Villarroel is at Tufts Veterinary School.
Three roommates at Cambridge University are
parting ways: Zina Ward will be starting a PhD in
history and philosophy of science at the University
of Pittsburgh. “My new roommate will have to be
prepared for nostalgic weeping into the late hours
of the night.” Hilary is starting at Yale Law, and
Sam is moving to Austria to teach English and to
try out being a house husband.
Melissa Whitaker graduated from UPenn with a
master’s in education.
There are as many educators as students among
us. Marni Jacobs teaches physics in Revere. “I think
I’ve found what I want to do for (at least most of )
the rest of my life. That feels weird.”
Among Timothy Higgins’ coworkers at New
Jersey’s Blair Academy are Chris Cameron ’13,
Margie Fulton, Caroline Wilson and Charles
Danhof ’03.
If you missed Jonathan Draxton acting at the
Fringe Festival, catch him in an upcoming OffBroadway show. Jonathan went on an extended
family reunion in Tromso, Norway, with Noah
Schechter, Dan Grossman and Christopher Fox ’11.
Tori Borish tutored in Seattle and competed at the
World Orienteering Championships in Italy. Kyle
Villanova traveled across Southeast Asia and works
at a tech startup in Sydney.
Before moving to Australia, Leila Crawford
skipped across the pond to explore Paris,
Amsterdam, Barcelona and the UK with Francesca
Barrett. Francesca then started at Harvard Medical
School. Her class will include Michael Alcalca, who
2011– 13
went on a Spirit of Boston cruise with Oscar Calzada
and hosted a charity cocktail party with Zebulon
Levine ’11.
After two years translating, interpreting and community organizing in Japan, Don Maruyama joins
the Boston crowd for his master’s in international
relations. Aaron Freedman lives in the area with
Tom Crawford and Luke Breckenridge. He bumped
into Claire LaFave at a national food conference
in Austin and visited the school gardens she runs
on Martha’s Vineyard. Stephen Weiss wrapped
up work on the Health Insurance Exchange website in Hawaii and returned to Boston. Stephen,
as well as roommates Chad Lorenz ’13 and Jamie
Rosten, attended NYC’s Governor’s Ball with Erich
Trieschman, Jack Chen and Jacob Blau.
Congrats are in order to Vanessa Harper! Not
only is she engaged, but she also was promoted to
assistant director of education at Temple Micah
in D.C.. Hopefully she’ll bump into Amy Nguyen,
who moved into an apartment there with Elizabeth
Jimenez. Matt Staiger also moved to the area after a
year in South Africa.
Madura Watanagase met up with Susan Chen and
Jiajia Jin, both consultants in New York, in Cancun
for Independence Day.
Now doing corporate sales and teaching English,
Jordan Freking Reyna went to gay pride in Mexico
City with his husband. “If anyone wants advice on
traveling around, studying in, passing through: Hit
me up.”
Sara Dorsey teaches environmental science,
outdoor skills and teamwork at the Mountain
Institute of rural West Virginia. This past winter
she hiked and skied with Ford Smith just outside of
Bozeman, Mont.
At a farm in Brunswick, Lauren McDonald is
learning more about tractors, livestock and largescale vegetable operations.
Michelle Rodriguez traded Costa Rista for
Montpelier, Vt., to pursue a music career, and Lucy
Rollins returned to the Purple Valley to work on a
small farm and develop her artwork.
Hopefully these snippets, only some of the great
news you’ve sent in, will tide you over until we all
make the trip back to Williamstown.
2013
Lindsey Graham, 601 Henry St., Brooklyn, NY 11231;
Greetings, beloved Ephs! As another class graduates it’s a little bit harder to find our class notes (no
longer the very last one!) and a little bit less justifiable to refer to ourselves as having “just graduated.”
In that vein, I hope your path to adulthood is going
smoothly and that you have some time to relax this
summer, even if you no longer get the three-month
vacation we had as students. As always, I am so
impressed by all our classmates have accomplished
and wish I were on holiday with each and every one
of you when you tell me your tales of adventure.
Meghan Kiesel is wrapping up her first post-grad
year in Chicago with another round of packing.
After a 10-day adventure with Carrie Tribble and
Elise Baker in Peru in June, Meghan was to ship
out to Shenzhen, China. She’ll be spending most of
her time there on an international consulting project until August 2015, with intermittent trips to
her homestead in Minnesota—and, hopefully, to
Williamstown and to visit other Ephs! (Editorial
aside: Everyone should plan to go to homecoming.)
Anyone passing through Shenzhen or Hong Kong
should let Meghan know!
Dominique Exume wrapped up an AmeriCorps
year where she tutored students at Moten
Elementary School in reading. She was taking a
few weeks off to visit family and friends in the
Midwest and then in July was starting a master’s
program at the Center for Inspired Teaching, with
a Pre-K residency.
David Michael, who is preparing to move in with
Dodi, spent a month in Seattle doing technology
consulting with Kaiser Associates and saw Chris
Simmons and Kendall Follert in L.A.
Jennie Harding and Jen Bees graduated from the
Stanford Graduate School of Education in June
with their master’s degrees and teaching credentials.
Jennie will be teaching second grade in an elementary school in San Francisco beginning in August.
Lindsey Graham graduated from the Harvard
Graduate School of Education with her master’s in
education and will be teaching 12th-grade social
studies at a public school in the South Bronx next
year. She got to catch up with Ben Seiler, Holly
Fisher and Justine Neubarth playing shuffleboard.
The game was surprisingly hard, though it thankfully did not require much upper-body strength.
Her fellow WEPO alum Tarun Narasimhan
moved from California to D.C. to start a new job at
the IMF as a research assistant.
Kevin O’Connell bumped into Sean Hoffman in
D.C. and got to hear about his fascinating work
on the staff of the Senate Budget Committee.
Kevin also enjoyed seeing a lot of Zack Shapiro,
who, after loving his first year at Yale Law School,
came to D.C. to spend the summer working for the
Department of Justice. Kevin left D.C. in June after
a fantastic year at Akin Gump, where he learned
more than he could ever have imagined from his
boss and mentor, Smith (“Smitty”) Davis, whose
father is John Aubrey Davis ’33. Fun fact: the Davis
Center at Williams is named in honor of Smitty’s
father and uncle.
Kevin was to spend the summer traveling in
Europe before moving to California to attend
Stanford Law School. He is eager to link up with
Charlie Cao and looks forward to having Sarah
Clark ’12 and Rusty Cowher ’12 as his classmates.
Ari Benjamin also took advantage of the time
before he enrolls at Northwestern (where he will
be living with Alex Lou) to travel. He planned to
visit Samir Ghosh in Mumbai and Sally Mairs in
Bangkok. After his teaching gig ended in Mexico
City, he traveled to Peru for three weeks (where he
“serendipitously met up with Anna Spiers ’15, who
was in Cusco on a travel grant”).
Lots of Ephs are starting school afresh in
the fall! After spending the summer in Boston,
Blair Robinson will be starting medical school at
UMASS. She graduated from FEMA Corps this
spring after traveling around the country for a year
performing disaster relief in Colorado, New York
and Georgia.
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Emily Ury was moving to New Haven in August
to start her master’s in environmental science and is
living with Emily Levy! She had an “epic Memorial
Day weekend in Boston” with Christine Schindler,
Kate Dusenbury, Lexie Carr and Tyler Holden.
Amelia Simmons plans to stick around Chicago
and then venture to Australia before she starts
nursing graduate school in fall 2015. In April she
visited Zara Currimjee and Christine Schindler in
D.C. and was joined by Lexie Carr for the Keystone
XL pipeline protest, where they all ran into Shanti
Singham. They also had a mini Willy E reunion
with Peter Skipper and Danny Schwartz and visited
with Julio Luquin, Rhys Watkins, Stan Monfront,
Kevin O’Connell and Andrew Langston.
Alexis Rodriguez and Michelle Almeida were
migrating to NYC from Williamstown over the
summer, and Alexis will go to graduate school for
business. Alexis caught up with Ayela Butt and
Rumi Mitra this spring while Ayela worked for the
Tribeca Film Festival and got to celebrate her, Tat
Udomritthiruj’s and Monica Torres’ birthdays at the
end of May in the city. During her month at home
in New Mexico before the big move she was to be
visited by Yasmine Goelzer and Henry Su.
Krista Pickett is holding down the fort in
Williamstown, where she works as an admission counselor and will live with Adrian Castro ’14.
In May she traveled and recruited for two weeks
in Latin America (visiting Ecuador, Costa Rica,
Brazil, Chile and Peru). Happily, while attending
a conference at Stanford in May, Krista saw Nancy
Gonzalez, Charlie Cao, Dominique Rodriguez ’12
and Jennifer Bees ’08.
Nicolei Gupit left L.A. to volunteer in the
Federated States of Micronesia in the Pacific where
she teaches math and English to high school students. Before going, she met up with Claudia
Corona, Jalynne Figueroa and Jennifer Garcia
in L.A. and was hosted by Esther Cho in San
Francisco.
Mike Ormsbee wrote in from Singapore, where
he’s been working since September 2013 teaching literature at a junior college (last two years
of high school, basically), thanks to the efforts of
the Princeton in Asia program and Singapore’s
Ministry of Education. Thus far he’s “having a blast
enjoying the tropical weather, the delicious local
food and the challenges of making Shakespeare
accessible to Singaporean students.” He also had
time for an Eph reunion in Seoul, South Korea
with Sungik Yang, who is entering his second year
of military service. He also planned to meet up
with Sang Hwan Lee ’16, who is still at Williams,
and Carly Velenzuela, a Fulbright Fellow teaching
in Daegu.
Those in graduate school have found fun ways
to relax. David Kealhoffer and Christina Knapp are
enjoying the sunshine while doing physics at UC
Santa Barbara. David is doing research in biophysics, and Christina is studying topological quantum
computation, though both have impressively found
time to compete in local running races.
Rachel Schine and Nathan Schine celebrated their
one-year anniversary, reflecting: “It was great to
have so many of our Williams friends at the wedding.” In addition, they celebrated completing their
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first years of graduate school at the University of
Chicago this spring, Rachel in Near Eastern languages and civilizations and Nathan in physics. Nathan writes: “We were lucky to have Dan
Sullivan nearby to hang out over this past year. Too
bad he’s moved to Austin, Texas, for a job.” Rachel
will leave for Jordan soon, as she is enrolled in the
QASID program to study classical Arabic. If anyone is in Jordan, she would love to meet up.
Patrick Lin took a break from studying law at
Sydney University this summer and went to Taipei,
Taiwan, in July.
Effua Sosoo went to the Association of Black
Psychologists conference in Indianapolis in July
and plans to attend the Association of Behavioral
Cognitive Therapies conference in Philadelphia,
Pa., in September. At the latter she is presenting
two posters—one based on her thesis and another
on expressed emotion.
Rhi Alyxander and Daeus Jorento enjoyed their
May engagement party, which was thrown by
Dominique Exume and David Michael at David’s
Arlington, Va., apartment. Carol Tsoi ’12, Casey
Lyons ’12, Haotian Xu, Haley Eagon, Peter Skipper
and Zach Evans ’12 were also in attendance. Peter
got to celebrate many Ephs’ birthdays at a party
with Rob Pasternak ’11, Chandler Sherman ’11,
Emily Whicker, Elizabeth Jimenez ’12, Zach Evans
’12, Paula Moren ’12, Katy Gathright ’12, Chris Fox
’11 and Will Piereson ’11.
Sarah Freymiller wrapped up her school year in
Boston by planning a talent show at her school and
playing ultimate Frisbee with adults on her team,
Puddingstone. She was excited to move to NYC,
where she started working at Bottom Line in July
and living with Justine Neubarth. Will Speer is
starting a job teaching math at Deerfield Academy
this coming fall and is “looking forward to being
back in Western Mass after a one-year hiatus.”
Alex Wheelock finished up his first year of teaching 11th-grade math in Newark with Teach for
America.
If you are reading this and have never sent in an
update, Gabe Lewis and Nicholas Neumann-Chun
just put you to shame by writing in from the wilderness. Gabe, Gordon Bauer and Ben Kuelthau
were hiking 2,600 miles (!) on the Pacific Crest
trail from Mexico to Canada. In the fall, Gabe will
start his PhD in glaciology at Dartmouth. Nicholas
and his brother are hiking the Appalachian Trail.
In June Alex Highet returned from four months in
New Zealand, where she got to work and explore
with Emma Laukitis and Gabe Lewis. She stopped
off in NY and Massachusetts to hang out with her
Willy B entrymates and the ’13s at commencement
before starting her third summer working with
Overland. She was excited to take 12 high school
students to Tanzania on a field studies trip.
Tyler Holden writes that she got to see numerous members of the Class of 2013, including
Becky Miller, Trey Meyer, Grace Horwitz, Jay Mehta,
Marissa Thiel, Biff Ryan and Zach Weiss in Madrid
in June, where they went for an OC&C Strategy
Consultants international training week. Joining
them were Liz Pierce ’08, Danny Tessler ’12, Stella
Berke ’12 and Tim Marrs ’11. Lots of Williams love
in España!
2013– 14
Celeste Berg is living in San Francisco with
Andrew Gaidus ’11, Anthony Raduazo ’12 and
Wade Davis: “The Clementsters.”
Celeste frequently sees other SF dwellers like
Sam Jackson ’10, Brian Cole ’11 and Beth Links
’09. Quite a few Ephs have come through to visit
the gang and SF, including Nick Marks ’13, Annie
Dear ’13, Rachel Maclean ’14, Peter Drews ’14,
Tommy Gaidus, Greg Eusden and Marisa Thiel,
Alex Reeves, Jeff Putnam, Brian Borah ’11 and Bill
Ference ’07. Celeste writes: “Our couch should
have a guest book.”
Kelsey Roggensack is living in Boston, sharing an
apartment with Kate O’Leary and working for Don
Berwick’s Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign
with Dave Marsh ’12. She returned to Williams
with Logan Todhunter ’12 and Liz Visconti to celebrate 2014’s graduation!
Haotian Xu spends most of his days “going to
basketball games, playing Settlers of Catan and
munching on delicious bi-color corn” with Rhys
Watkins, Julio Luquin and Erich Trieschman and
taking voice lessons from Peter Skipper.
Charlie Sellars met up with Ben Stone in San
Francisco for out-of-this-world wings at Mission
Chinese and grabbed paella with Randall Otis ’15
and Timeyin Olumide ’15 in Madrid. He
performed a combination of bar hopping, game
playing and rock climbing with Scott Sanderson,
Mir Henglin, Olivia Uhlman, Julian Hess and
Marni Jacobs ’12 in Boston. He also caught Tara
Deonauth driving on the road in Cambridge, “so
I made sure to jump in her car to take a quick joyride.” Charlie did Mardi Gras in style in New
Orleans with Colton Growney and Alejandro
Gimenez and followed it up with a trip to
Breckenridge, Colo., where he serendipitously
Snapchatted Haley Eagon pictures of the mountains only to learn that she was also skiing in the
area. The two wound up adventuring past the chair
lifts to drop into a bowl full of powder. Returning
to Williamstown, Charlie attended the last physics party of the year (“in good old Milham—I miss
it dearly”) with Olivia Uhlman and Mir Henglin.
That weekend he also ran into Eugene Shin, Doug
Ballanco and Kristen Sinicariello, who were on
campus for wholly different (and possibly less
depraved) reasons.
Lexie Carr took time before moving to Seattle
to work in the intersection of business and environmentalism to meet up with Emily Ury, Kate
Dusenbury, Brian Kirchner, Dave Rapp, Ian Nesbitt,
Sarah Rowe and Luke Breckenridge over graduation weekend, and she “had a blast camping outside
on Poker field—Kate and Brian were hardcore and
slept without tents.” She also saw Sugi Min, Haotian
Xu, Miranda Bona, Olivia Ulhman, Julia Benderstern,
Alex Highet, Omer Khalayleh and James Mathenge.
She writes: “Graduation was a lot more enjoyable
the second time around because we didn’t have to
deal with packing and with the emotional roller
coaster that is leaving the Williams community for
the first time. I’d definitely recommend going next
year!”
Ian Nesbitt is living in eastern New Jersey and
working as a marine geophysicist aboard a 58-foot
research vessel based primarily in the N.Y./N.J.
harbor. Ian and Sarah Rowe have been making regular trips back to the Purple Valley for breaks from
city life, with Sarah clocking in three trips in May
and June. The two joined Emily Ury and Miranda
Bona in crashing some reunion festivities (“purely
for research purposes, of course”) and contend that
they are the only ’13s to have celebrated their oneyear reunion in Williamstown. According to Emily,
they “had dinner with the Class of ’74, then partied
with the ’09s, and we cannot wait until it’s our fifth
year!” With their hands-on research, Ian’s Reunion
Ranger experience and Sarah’s money management
skills, they also contend that our five-year reunion
is going to be epic.
Lastly, some Ephs missed the last deadline:
After graduation, Alex Xu moved back to
Shanghai to work in private equity. He left his job
in December to pursue opening a fast casual restaurant chain concept in Shanghai that serves creative
Chinese food with an emphasis on food safety.
Alex traveled to Boston over Christmas and shared
dinners with Hrishi Srinagesh and Trey Meyer.
Jen Law wrote in from South Korea, where
she was working on a Fulbright grant with Carly
Valenzuela. Jen wrote: “Tracy Hu came out to Korea
to visit me in December before moving to her new
job in L.A.,” and Jen got to visit Becky Miller in
Boston for a “hot second” in December, along with
Meghan Landers, Shirley Li, Tyler Holden and Jay
Mehta.
That’s all, folks! Write me any time at
graham.r.lindsey@gmail.com.
—Love, Lindsey
2014
Emily Dugdale, 2124 Northeast 80th St., Seattle, WA
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WEDDINGS
Williams People publishes photographs of weddings,
commitment ceremonies and civil unions.
For detailed instructions on how to submit your photo,
please visit http://bit.ly/ephphotos.
Sabrina Assoumou ’99 & Steven Nagle
Topsfield, Mass., June 23, 2013
Ian Bone ’06 & Miguel Ferreyra
Stephanie Barlage & James Marver ’72
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov. 9, 2013
San Francisco, Calif., May 7, 2014
Katie Belshé ’06 & Zach Barkan
San Francisco, Calif., June 1, 2013
Laura Crum ’02 & Brandon Wright
Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 19, 2013
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
Ayesha Rabbani & Uzaib Saya ’08
While spending his junior year abroad, Uzaib (seventh from left) met Ayesha through a mutual friend. They lived and worked
in Boston, and visited the Berkshires often. They were married in Danvers, Mass., on April 19, 2014, in a traditional Pakistani
celebration, including a Mehndi ceremony with dancing the night before the reception. Ephs from the classes of ’02, ’06, ’08 and ’11,
including Uzaib's brother, Shenil Saya ’02, attended the wedding.
Suzanne Geer ’07 & Mike Kijewski
Kelley Kidwell & Luke Hyde ’03
Boca Grande, Fla., Jan. 18, 2014
Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 28, 2013
Liz Hodgman ’05 & Stephen Moseley ’05
Lindsay Mack & Rory Kramer ’03
Cambridge, Mass., June 7, 2014
Philadelphia, Pa., June 22, 2013
Denise McCulloch ’08 & Stuart Jones ’08
Toronto, Canada, July 27, 2013
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
WEDDINGS
Davina Kunvipusilkul ’99 & Poom Siraprapasiri
Leanne McManama ’03 & David Conyers ’04
Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 10, 2013
Sarasota, Fla., Feb. 27, 2014
Tricia O’Reilly ’07 & Ariel Zetlin-Jones ’04
Maggie Quackenboss & John Symanski ’06
Lenox, Mass., Oct. 5, 2013
Chenequa, Wisc., July 6, 2013
Amanda Santiago ’08 & Robin Alexander Browne
New York, N.Y., March 7, 2014
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
Elizabeth Suda ’05 & Gael Forterre
Elizabeth and Gael were introduced eight years ago by Elizabeth’s first-year roommate Magali (Sutton) Rowan ’05. Magali’s
boyfriend (now husband) and Gael were both French transplants living in New York City at the time. Elizabeth and Gael were married
at the Forterre family’s home in Bretagne, France, on Aug. 17, 2013, in an Eph-filled wedding which included members of the classes
of ’74, ’75, ’03, ’04 and ’05.
Anna Parnes & Ben Isecke ’02
New York, N.Y., Jan. 19, 2014
Thuy Phung ’11 & Tuan Hoang-Trong
Annie Neal ’82 & Britt Stamps
Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 27, 2013
Sperryville, Va., March 30, 2014
Stephanie Swanson ’05 & Giorgio Mosoni ’07
Williamstown, Mass., May 31, 2014
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
WEDDINGS
Lucy Cox-Chapman ’06 & Zachary Dagneau
Hartford, Conn., May 17, 2014
Sara Ossi ’06 & Peter O’Connor
Ted Welsh ’95 & Jon Todd
Boston, Mass., June 15, 2013
Springfield, Mass., June 14, 2014
Ashley Sewell ’07 & Patrick Ryan
Osterville, Mass., May 24, 2014
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
WEDDINGS
1961
2004
1979
2005
Bruce McBean & David Lavelle, Nov. 14, 2013
Jeff Jenks & Christine Couchman, Jan. 25, 2014
Daniel Murray & Jen Kim ’07, June 22, 2013
John Young & Eleanor Cross, April 26, 2014
Dan Shaw & James A. Tanaka, May 2, 2014
Ryan Boyd & Joanna Pei Breslow ’07,
Aug. 10, 2013
Rosemary Kendrick & Stephen Menaquale,
Oct. 5, 2013
Gigi Stender & Andrew Schwertfeger,
Oct. 12, 2013
Kate Beswick & Andrew P.R. Johnston,
Oct. 26, 2013
1998
2006
1999
2007
1981
Vita Wells & Michelle Bertho, Sept. 1, 2013
1997
Bevin Hartnett & Audrey Chen, Nov. 2, 2013
Ted Geiger & Debbie Leiderman, Dec. 13, 2013
2003
Alison Stewart & Brian Munroe ’07,
Sept. 14, 2013
Adam Cole & Rachel Bloom, Oct. 13, 2013
Leanne McManama & David Conyers ’04,
Feb. 27, 2014
Ian Bone & Miguel A. Ferreyra, Oct. 12, 2013
Morgan Anderson & John Henry Shankweiler,
Aug. 3, 2013
Katherine McAllister & Christopher Paone,
Aug. 17, 2013
Annie Smith & Ethan Craig, Sept. 28, 2013
2008
Alex Brooks & Gordon Phillips, May 4, 2013
BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS
1985
1997
1987
1998
Violet Rose Lumley to Robert Lumley,
Feb. 18, 2014
William Hewitt Ward Nichols to David Nichols,
Nov. 12, 2013
1988
Nicholas Strapko to Helen (Tkaczevski)
Strapko, Aug. 21, 2013
1989
Zoe Avra Richmond to Dan Richmond,
Nov. 20, 2013
1990
Collins Anne Barbot to Bill Barbot,
April 30, 2014
1994
Lucinda Blatchford Kluger to Laurel Blatchford
and Bernie Kluger, Sept. 25, 2013
1996
Morgan Christopher Ramsdell to
Kate (Boyle) Ramsdell, May 21, 2014
Luke Carlo Solazzo to Diana Villamarin,
Oct. 29, 2013
Sofia Grace Brock to Alana (Teutonico) Brock,
Nov. 7, 2013
Josie Sage Kelter to Katharine (Golden) Kelter,
Dec. 7, 2013
Mateo David Robison to Nathan Robison,
Dec. 15, 2013
Annika Josephine Slocum to Ben Slocum,
Jan. 8, 2014
David Eoghan Weigman to Sam Abelson,
Feb. 20, 2014
Corey Pan to Lincoln Pan, April 8, 2014
Abe Kammerer to Aaron Kammerer,
April 15, 2014
Brianna Layale Stanton Kerr and Ted Finian
Stanton Kerr to Andrea Stanton, May 2, 2014
Rachmael Solly Battis to Jordi (Schuster) Battis
and Seth Battis, May 3, 2014
Freya Corrine Snow to Jon Snow, Jan. 11, 2014
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BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS
1999
Carys Egan Ramanathan to Alex (Egan)
Ramanathan, Jan. 9, 2014
Keane Winter Martin and Trevor Winter Martin
to Leigh Winter Martin, Feb. 17, 2014
2000
Samuel Tefft to Nate Tefft, Oct. 26, 2013
William McKinley to Taylor McKinley,
Jan. 9, 2014
Ainsley Ryann Liversidge to Norm Liversidge,
June 12, 2014
2001
Tobin Joshua White to Joshua White,
July 13, 2013
Anna Elisabeth Matro to Dan Matro,
Jan. 9, 2014
Naomi Allene Brocks to Emily Brocks and Becca
(Parker-Johnson) Brocks ’02, March 12, 2014
2002
Kiyoshi Suzuki diZerega to Margaret diZerega,
March 21, 2014
Maia Rose Kung to Bethany (Cobb) Kung and
Zachary Kung ’04, April 28, 2014
2003
Edwin H. May to Ned May, July 1, 2013
Angela Grace Padilla to Jeff Padilla and
Katherine (Ackerman) Padilla ’08, Oct. 24, 2013
Colin James Morris and Juliet Faye Morris to
David Morris, Nov. 5, 2013
Charlotte Eleanor Flaherty to Randi (Lewis)
Flaherty, Nov. 17, 2013
Noemie Adele Patterson to Brigitte Teissedre,
Nov. 19, 2013
Grace Virginia Green to Mitchell Green,
Dec. 4, 2013
Annika Mae Robb Borek to D’Arcy Robb Borek,
Dec. 17, 2013
Juliet Hatoun to Jon Hatoun, Dec. 27, 2013
Rebecca Claire Pahl to Jonathan Pahl,
Jan. 5, 2014
Xavier Arturo Brillembourg and Alejandro Brian
Brillembourg to Jennifer Feldman-Brillembourg,
Jan. 28, 2014
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
2005
Shira Cohen to Chelsea (Pollen) Cohen,
Oct. 26, 2013
Elizabeth Hawley Kingman to Kevin Kingman
and Abigail Wattley, Nov. 30, 2013
Calvin Yoojin Iffrig to Pam Choi, March 17, 2014
2007
Grayson Andrew Morgan to Paul Morgan,
June 29, 2013
2011
Lucy Elizabeth Geary to Mike Geary,
March 18, 2014
OBITUARIES
1938
GEORGE W. MCKAY, Jan. 22,
2014. George was a U.S. Army
first lieutenant during WWII.
After the war, he moved back to
his hometown of Fort Wayne,
Ind., and spent 60 years in
the grocery business. He was
an executive at major grocery
chains, including SuperValu,
where he was the CEO. He was
elected to Fort Wayne’s Business
Hall of Fame. A member of
the First Presbyterian Church,
Rotary Club and Quest Club,
George enjoyed playing golf,
hunting and fishing. He served
as his Williams class secretary
for 13 years. He was predeceased
by his first wife, Barbara. His
second wife, Nancy, died in 2010
after 35 years of marriage. His
survivors include three sons, two
stepdaughters, 12 grandchildren
and 13 great-grandchildren.
1940
WILLARD W. BROWN, July 15,
2013. When Hitler bombed
Poland in 1939, Bill was in
Frankfurt, Germany, with a
group of college students. He
returned to Williams and joined
the U.S. Navy’s V-7 program,
knowing U.S. involvement in
WWII was not far off. He spent
six years in the Navy, where he
narrowly escaped from a sinking
ship during the war and earned
his wings as a naval aviator. He
retired as a full commander.
He went on to earn a master’s
degree in banking at NYU and
worked in investment banking
at Kidder, Peabody & Co. He
made his home in Far Hills, N.J.,
and spent most summers on
Nantucket. His survivors include
his wife of 60 years, Jean, and
four children.
JOHN A. LOWE JR., Feb. 15,
2014. John served with the
Signal Corps in England and
the Pacific during WWII, after
which he returned to his career
in sales at Bausch & Lomb,
where he worked until his
retirement in 1984. John raised
his family in Needham, Mass.,
and in 2005 moved to Peabody,
spending a month in Florida
most winters. His wife of 55
years, Emily, predeceased him in
2006. Among his survivors are
three children, including John A.
Lowe III ’73, five grandchildren,
including Brian R. Lowe ’06, and
three great-grandchildren.
1942
JOHN K. GREENLAND, Feb.
14, 2014. Jack attended Naval
officers training and served as a
WWII lieutenant, surviving a
bombing in the Mediterranean
Sea. He worked as a sales manager at the Kaiser Steel Corp.
until his retirement in 1989, at
which point he began volunteering at Bryn Mawr Hospital,
Longwood Gardens, the Hagley
Museum and the A.I. duPont
Hospital for Children. He made
his home in West Grove, Pa.
Jack’s survivors include his wife
of 64 years, Margaret, two children and three grandchildren.
WILLIAM L. SAMMONS, Feb.
24, 2014. Bill studied physics at Williams and electrical
engineering at MIT through
a joint program between the
schools. He earned an MS from
MIT in 1944 before launching a
four-decade career in engineering at Carrier Air Conditioning
Corp. He raised his family in
Syracuse, N.Y., and later lived
on the St. Lawrence River
near Ogdensburg, where he
enjoyed sailing. In retirement, he
participated in the International
Executive Service Corps, traveling to Costa Rica, Siberia and
Kuwait with his wife of 38 years,
Kris. She survives him, as do
two children, including William
A.H. Sammons ’70, and two
grandchildren.
JOHN M. WOLF, Dec. 30,
2013. John earned an MBA
from Harvard (1943) before
returning to his hometown
of Pittsburgh and entering a
career with his family business,
Kaufmann’s department store.
From 1963-98, he was chairman of the board of NAPCO
Building Products. John was
the driving force behind the
building of the Pittsburgh
Jewish Community Center. He
served as VP for the United
Jewish Federation of Greater
Pittsburgh and the United
Jewish Appeal of Pittsburgh,
and in 1996 he received the
Frank L. Weil award for his
contributions to the North
American JCC movement. He
was predeceased by his first wife,
Gene. His survivors include his
second wife, Lee, to whom he
was married for 32 years, six
children, 11 grandchildren and
five great-grandchildren.
1943
LEONARD K. EATON, April 1,
2014. Len was a medic with the
10th Mountain Division during
WWII. He earned his PhD
from Harvard (1951) and taught
at the University of Michigan’s
College of Architecture &
Urban Planning for nearly four
decades. He received fellowships
from the Ford and Fulbright
foundations. In retirement, he
moved to the coast of Oregon
and built a house “within sound
of the ocean.” The author
of several academic publications, Len continued to write,
adding poetry and a novel to
his collection. His survivors
include his wife of 25 years,
Ann, two children, four stepchildren, four grandchildren,
two step-grandchildren and a
step-great-grandchild.
ALEXANDER E.H. WESTFRIED,
Jan. 5, 2014. Alex joined the
U.S. Air Force during WWII.
He then earned a PhD from
Syracuse University and taught
at Western Connecticut State
University for many years.
He authored several books on
sociology and anthropology and
continued to write after retirement, publishing Reinventing
the Culture of Womanhood in
America and Brazil in 2010. His
survivors include his wife of 23
years, Betania, two children and
a stepdaughter.
WILLIAM B. WILSON, April
11, 2014. Bill joined the Navy
the day after the Pearl Harbor
attack and flew seaplanes and
Corsairs. While he tried several
careers after the war—research
and development, farming on
his own 200-acre farm and
manufacturing—he loved
flying best. He operated the
Burlington Airport in Vermont
and later bought what he
developed into the Brandywine
Airport in West Chester, Pa.
Bill and his wife Joan moved
to California in 2003 but made
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OBITUARIES
annual trips to their longtime
home of Bryn Mawr, Pa., and
their cabin in the Adirondacks.
His survivors include his wife
of 29 years, five daughters, a
stepson, 14 grandchildren and
17 great-grandchildren.
1944
ROBERT R. BENSEN, March
13, 2014. Bob left Williams to
serve with the U.S. Army’s 79th
Division during WWII. He
participated in the Normandy
invasion and was wounded in
the Vosges Mountains in France.
He returned to Williams to finish his degree (1946) and then
moved to Burlington, Vt., where
he raised his family and operated an investment business. He
volunteered with the Burlington
Chamber of Commerce,
American Red Cross, Meals on
Wheels, Fletcher Free Library
and Christ the King Parish.
of 63 years, Winifred, and two
children.
HAROLD R. HOLMYARD JR.,
April 27, 2014. Hal served as
a commissioned Naval aviator
during WWII. He then started
working in investment management in NYC at Hayden Stone
and Newhart & Cook before
becoming VP of Gabelli &
Co. He moved from NYC to
Greenwich, Conn., in 1989 and
was a member of the Weeburn
Country Club, the Field Club
and the Belle Haven Club.
He served on the board of the
Coalition for a Secure Driver’s
License. Among his survivors
are his wife of 47 years, Sandra,
two children, including Harold
R. Holmyard III ’73, two stepchildren, five grandchildren and
a great-grandson.
JOHN C. REED JR., March 12,
2014. Jack served as a B-17
bomber navigator in the U.S.
Air Force during WWII. He
earned his MBA from the
University of Connecticut
(1959) and then worked for
Allen Manufacturing, the
Northfield School for Girls
(now Northfield-Mount
Hermon) and National Wool
Marketing. In 2006, he returned
to his childhood home in
Easthampton, Mass., where he
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
was a member of the Lions Club
and Community Chorus and
treasurer for the Easthampton
Lathrop Communities
Residence Association. He was
predeceased by his wife Ruth in
1996. His survivors include two
children, one granddaughter, six
great-grandchildren and three
great-great-grandchildren.
1945
BRUCE D. ALEXANDER, Feb. 1,
2014. Bruce served as a B-17
navigator in the Army Air
Corps during WWII. Returning
home to Denver, Colo.,
afterward, he entered the
banking industry, eventually
serving as president of the
First National Bank of Denver
and the First National
Bancorporation. In retirement,
he managed the city’s department of parks & recreation and
was the executive director of the
Denver Botanic Gardens. He
served on the boards of Saint
Joseph’s Hospital, Colorado
Women’s College and the
Central City Opera. Bruce was
predeceased by his wife Phyllis
in 2012, after 64 years of
marriage, and by his son Kirk.
Among his survivors are two
children, including Paul Knox
Alexander ’78, and six
grandchildren.
LUTHER L. HILL JR., April 23,
2013. After WWII, Luther
earned an LLB from Harvard
and clerked for U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Hugo Black. He
returned home to Iowa, joining
the legal staff of Equitable
Financial Cos. in 1952. He also
served as administrator of the
Iowa Life & Health Insurance
Guaranty Association from its
inception in 1987. During his 52
years on the Simpson College
Board of Trustees, he saved
an important college building,
encouraged the largest single
donation in the college’s history
and strengthened ties between
the college and Des Moines
businesses. He volunteered with
the Health Planning Council of
Central Iowa, the Des Moines
Metro Opera and the Hoyt
Sherman Place Foundation. His
years, Sara, two sons and niece
Catherine E. Carpenter ’78.
1946
ARTHUR CATOTTI JR., March 28,
2014. Art served with the U.S.
Army’s 10th Mountain Division
in Italy during WWII, returning to Williams to finish his
undergraduate degree and earn
a master’s in physical chemistry.
He then completed a master’s
in education at North Adams
State College (now MCLA)
and taught science at Arlington
Memorial School in Vermont
for two years. He entered the
private sector, first with the
Aerovox Corp. and later General
Electric. He moved with GE to
Gainesville, Fla., and became
an expert in the production
of nickel cadmium batteries.
When Gates Energy Products
bought GE, Art stayed with the
company. He retired in 1990.
He was predeceased by his wife
of 58 years, Phyllis, in 2006. His
survivors include seven children,
18 grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.
1948
JOEL L. CARR, Feb. 27, 2014.
Joel earned his law degree from
Yale and graduated from the
advanced management program
of the Harvard Business School.
He was a partner at Levitt &
Sons; special professor of law
at Hofstra; special counsel at
Speno, Goldman, Goldberg et
al.; court examiner for the New
York State Supreme Court; and
mayor of the village of Saltaire,
N.Y., on Fire Island. Joel was
predeceased by his son Simon.
His survivors include his wife of
66 years, Dorothy, three children
and 10 grandchildren.
GEORGE B. HIGGINS, April 25,
2014. George earned a Master
of Divinity from Hartford
Seminary in Hartford, Conn.,
and was a pastor for more
than 60 years, most recently
at the Reformed Church in
Hawthorne, N.Y. He was
proud of his Scottish heritage,
as evidenced by his tartan
Tam o’ Shanter and moustache
trimmed in the Scottish style.
His Berkshire connections were
strong—to his hometown North
Adams, his alma mater and
Camp Becket, where he spent
summers as a child. George
served as town moderator in
1943– 51
Eastham and Dalton, Mass., and
in Milford, N.H.; as chairman
of the Cape Cod Conservation
Committee; and as a volunteer ambulance driver. He was
predeceased by his first wife,
Elizabeth. His survivors include
his second wife of 12 years,
Lynn, five children and cousin
Scott B. Garfield ’88.
S. NOEL MELVIN, Feb. 22, 2014.
Noel earned his law degree from
the University of Michigan
before serving in the Medical
Service Corps and later in the
U.S. Air Force’s Judge Advocate
General’s Department during the Korean War. He was
assistant attorney general for the
state of Ohio until 1958, when
he entered private practice with
Power, Griffith & Jones. He
later became of counsel at the
firm now called Kegler, Brown,
Hill & Ritter. He was a member
of the Columbus and Ohio state
bar associations and was president of the Columbus Defense
Association. He served on the
Ohio Republican Party Finance
Committee, the United Appeals
of Central Ohio and the
Father’s Board of the Columbus
Academy. Among his survivors
are his wife of 56 years, Anne,
three children, including Seton
J. Melvin ’82 and Anne T. Melvin
’85, four grandchildren, cousins
David L.K. Jeffrey ’63, Joseph A.
Jeffrey Jr. ’57, Robert H. Jeffrey
’51, Walter Jeffrey Jr. ’59 and
Donald M. Mykrantz ’82, and
nephew Andrew L. Harris ’88.
1949
JAMES S. DISSELL, March 9,
2014. Jim served in the U.S.
Marine Corps during WWII
and the Korean War. He worked
in the insurance industry for
many years before becoming director of personnel and
purchasing at the Hill Haven
Convalescent Center in his
hometown of Louisville, Ky.
In retirement, he worked as a
part-time driver for a funeral
service in Louisville. Among
his survivors are five children,
including James F. Dissell II ’71,
his special friend Mary Ann
and several grandchildren and
1950
VIVIAN JERRY PALMIERI, April
6, 2014. Jerry served in the
U.S. Air Force during the
Korean War, after which he
joined Franklin Templeton
Investments, where he was a
money manager of one of the
firm’s most successful funds. He
loved to maintain gardens of
tulips, daffodils and roses at his
homes in Narragansett, R.I., and
Jamestown, Va. His survivors
include his wife Lelia.
1951
HAROLD R. HOLMYARD JR. ’44
EDWARD B. FOX, Jan. 2, 2014.
Ed spent many years as an
emergency medical services
instructor, getting his start when
he helped form the Bethlehem,
Conn., Ambulance Association
in 1977. He served as its
president for many years. He
was also a volunteer with the
Bethlehem Fire Department.
In retirement in Willcox, Ariz.,
Ed volunteered as a CPR
and EMS instructor at a local
hospital and as a home health
aide at the Charles W. Leighton
Jr. Hospice. He was predeceased by his first wife, Mary.
of 54 years, Pearl, six children
and many grandchildren and
PETER R. KENT, April 22, 2014.
Peter served with the U.S.
Marines before embarking on a
17-year journey living in Spain,
France, Italy and Morocco with
his wife Carol and three sons.
While abroad, Peter began
designing clothing using natural
and hand-woven fabrics. He
opened several clothing boutiques in NYC when the family
returned stateside. In 1989, Peter
and Carol moved to Cambridge,
N.Y., where they opened
Chelsea Designers, a clothing manufacturing and retail
shop, from which he retired
in 2003. His survivors include
his wife of 64 years, three sons,
four grandchildren and two
JOEL L. CARR ’48
PETER R. KENT ’51
ROBERT L. LEWIS, March 27,
2014. Bob joined the 57th
Military Police Company during
WWII, returning to Williams in
1948. After graduation, he spent
several years in business before
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OBITUARIES
moving to Keeseville, N.Y.,
where he built a house on a lake
and started teaching seventhgrade math. He retired from
teaching in 1985 and went to
work for the U.S. Postal Service
shortly after that, a job he held
for nearly another decade. In
2012, he was predeceased by his
wife of 64 years, Helen, whom
he met on a blind date. His
survivors include a daughter, a
grandson and a great-grandson
as well as brother Jackson E.
Lewis ’53.
ALBERT F. MCLEAN, Jan. 15,
2014. Al earned his PhD in
American civilization from
Harvard (1960) and started his
career at Point Park College
as academic dean. During his
tenure there, the institution
was accredited as a four-year
college. He went on to teach
English for 20 years and later
served as dean and VP before
retiring in 1989. His books on
American culture are widely
respected, and his poems and
articles were published in
various journals and anthologies.
Among his survivors are his wife
of 61 years, Jean, three children,
seven grandchildren, including Ian A. McLean ’13, and a
great-grandson.
MERCER P. RUSSELL, Dec. 10,
2013. Mercer served in the
U.S. Air Force before going to
Trinidad to study at the Imperial
College of Tropical Agriculture.
He earned a PhD in entomology from Purdue University
(1961) and joined the faculty
at California State College in
L.A., where he taught zoology for many years. He was a
recipient of a U.S. Department
of Agriculture grant to study the
resistance of some grain species
to insect attacks, was a fellow
of the Royal Entomological
Society of London and was
a Fulbright lecturer in Peru.
Mercer was predeceased by his
first wife, Mary Ellen, in 2002.
His survivors include his second
wife, Liv.
1952
JACOB A. BRODY, April 22,
2014. Jack earned his MD from
SUNY Downstate Medical
Center (1956) and discovered
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WILLIAMS PEOPLE
his love for epidemiology as a
commissioned officer with the
U.S. Public Health Service.
He investigated epidemics of
encephalitis, meningitis, cholera,
polio and other diseases in the
U.S., South America and the
former Soviet Union. In 1965,
his focus shifted to chronic
neurological diseases, and he
worked as a research coordinator
at the Atomic Bomb Casualty
Commission in Hiroshima,
Japan. He worked on issues of
alcoholism and aging before
becoming dean of the School of
Public Health at the University
of Illinois, a position he held
for seven years before turning his attention entirely to
teaching. In 2002, Jack was
recognized among the top 0.5
percent of most frequently cited
authors in epidemiology. He
was president of the American
Epidemiological Society and
received the Distinguished
Service Medal from the U.S.
Public Health Service and the
Abraham Lilienfeld Award
from the American College of
Epidemiology for outstanding
contributions, leadership and
research. His survivors include
his wife of 45 years, Ann, two
children and five grandchildren.
1953
BRUCE B. VAN DUSEN, Feb. 16,
2014. Bruce’s journalism career
included writing and editing
for The Providence Journal, The
Detroit News, the Louisville,
Ky., Courier-Journal and the
Kokomo, Ind., Tribune. He
owned and edited the Voice of St.
Matthews in Kentucky. High on
Bruce’s topic list for editorials
(and his own civic engagement) were civil rights, women’s
reproductive rights, fair housing,
environmental protection and
corporate accountability. Later
in his career, Bruce taught
English at the Peddie School
in Hightstown, N.J., earned a
Fulbright Fellowship to Lewes,
England, and edited the alumni
magazine for The College
of New Jersey. His survivors
Perkie, three children, three
grandchildren and niece Amanda
Van Dusen ’75.
1954
FRANKLIN J. ARNOLD JR., March
17, 2014. Jack earned his MD
from Case Western Reserve
University (1958) and served as
a physician in the Army in the
early 1960s, where he administered the new oral polio vaccine
to the children of military families. He went on to a career as
a pediatrician at North Canton
Medical Clinic Center in his
hometown of Canton, Ohio. In
1989, he moved to Seven Lakes,
N.C., where he built a home and
enjoyed retirement with his wife
of more than 50 years, Jane, who
predeceased him in 2008. His
survivors include four children,
eight grandchildren and 11
THOMAS T. BASIL, Feb. 27, 2014.
Tom earned his JD from SUNY
Buffalo in 1958 and went on to
work in the New York State
Attorney General’s Office before
becoming a civilian attorney
with the Navy’s Office of
General Counsel in Albany, Ga.
Tom returned to Buffalo in
1962, working in private practice
with his firm Berg & Basil for
more than 10 years. He then
became chief attorney for a new
state consumer protection board
in Georgia. He retired in 2000.
His survivors include his wife of
55 years, Diana.
WILLIAM D. BRENNAN, Feb. 25,
2014. Bill rode a bicycle from
Plattsburgh, N.Y., to his first day
of college at Williams, where he
earned a BA and a master’s in
physics. He went on to earn a
PhD from the Illinois Institute
of Technology (1970). He taught
at IIT while pursuing his degree,
then worked as a research physicist before working at printing
and optical machinery companies in Ohio, Massachusetts and
eventually Oklahoma, where
he joined Coburn Optical in
Muskogee. In 1994, he started
consulting in ophthalmic lens
process development and held
several optics patents. His survivors include his wife of 20 years,
Donna, four children and eight
grandchildren.
BRADLEY GRINNELL, Feb. 23,
2014. Brad served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force before
1951– 55
returning to his hometown,
Rochester, N.Y., to work in the
family business, Grinnell Travel.
He and his brother Curt owned
and operated the business until
their retirement. He volunteered
with Rotary International and
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and
coached Little League baseball.
Brad then moved to Vernon
Hills, Ill., in 2010 to be closer to
family and so that his wife Sue,
who suffers from Alzheimer’s
disease, could receive full-time
care. His survivors include his
wife of 57 years, two children
and three grandchildren.
FREDERICK T. KNICKERBOCKER,
March 19, 2014. After graduation, Knick served as a pilot
with the U.S. Air Force. He
went on to earn an MBA from
the University of Pennsylvania
(1960) and begin a business career with Eli Lilly and
Co., spending several years in
England and Italy before moving to the NYC headquarters.
He retuned to graduate school
to earn a DBA (Harvard, 1971)
and taught at the Harvard
Business School until 1995. That
year, he became assistant director
of economic programs at the
U.S. Department of Commerce,
where he worked until his retirement in 2005. His survivors
Nancy, and two children.
ALAN H. MARSH, Dec. 12,
2013. Alan earned a bachelor’s
degree in electrical engineering from MIT (1956) and a
master’s in aeronautics from
the University of California
(1962). An acoustical engineer
specializing in aircraft, he was
president of Douglas Aircraft
and DyTec Engineering and
then worked at the Federal
Aviation Administration.
While at Douglas, Alan was the
principal author of reports issued
by NASA on noise reduction
in commercial aircraft. That
research led to new industry
standards on civil jet noise control, making living near an airport “less annoying than it used
to be,” Alan once said. He made
his home in Huntington Beach,
Calif. His survivors include his
wife, Florence, two children and
several grandchildren.
1955
CHARLES W. DEASY JR., Jan. 17,
2013. Charlie’s imperfect
eyesight kept him from the
Navy and the Air Force, but the
Army later drafted him as an
instructor in Ordinance
Training Command. He
attended Iowa State University’s
program in the engineering
economics of public utilities
before launching a 33-year
career with the New Jersey Bell
Telephone Co. and Bell
Communications Research. He
spent many years as a volunteer
firefighter while living in
Basking Ridge, N.J. In
retirement, Charlie moved to
Vermont, where he shared a log
cabin and 18 acres with his two
dogs. The move brought him
closer to family and, he said,
softened his conservative
politics. His survivors include
two sons and two grandchildren.
WILLIAM D. BRENNAN ’54
SAMUEL LAITMAN, March
13, 2013. Sandy earned an
MBA (1960), a bachelor’s
degree (1964) and a Master of
Law (1970) from New York
University. A lieutenant in the
U.S. Air Force, he was partner
at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in
NYC from 1968 to 1999. Living
in Stamford, Conn., and keeping
a home in Williamstown, Sandy
served on the board of trustees
of the King Low Heywood
Thomas School, the Federation
of Jewish Philanthropies of
New York and the boards of
the Williamstown Theatre
Festival and the Williamstown
Art Conservation Center. In
retirement, Sandy made his
Williamstown home permanent
and was the host of many minireunions and other fundraisers for the Class of 1955. He
received honorary degrees from
MCLA in 2012 and Southern
Vermont College in 2014. He
was predeceased by his wife,
Marilyn, in 1996. Among his
survivors are three children,
including Andrew R. Laitman
’84, and three grandchildren.
FREDERICK T. KNICKERBOCKER ’54
JAMES E. LEONE ’55
JAMES E. LEONE, April 10,
2014. Jim earned a bachelor’s in
mechanical engineering at MIT
(1957) and went on to work
as an engineer at Cordis Corp.
in Miami. His work produced
SEP TEMBER 2014
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OBITUARIES
more than 30 patents, and he
was instrumental in developing
devices such as ophthalmic lasers
and implantable pacemakers. In
2008, Jim moved to Pittsburgh,
where in semi-retirement
he worked as a mechanical
engineer and research scientist
at MIT, consulting and teaching
engineering technology to high
school students. His survivors
Arlene, three children, including
Gary T. Leone ’82 and Susan A.
Leone ’85, nine grandchildren
and two great-grandchildren.
DAVID P. WILLIAMS III, April 14,
2014. David earned a bachelor’s
in government administration
from Pomona College and an
MBA from Indiana University.
He joined the family business, L.S. Ayers Department
Stores, in 1966. In 1983 he
became president and chairman of Caldor Inc. and then of
Associated Dry Goods in NYC.
He served in the U.S. Army
Reserves for 11 years. In his
hometown of Indianapolis, he
was president of the city’s public
TV station, WFYI, and director of the symphony orchestra
board. He retired in 1986 and
moved to Boca Grande, Fla.
Camille, two children and three
grandchildren.
1957
BERNARD M. KELLEY, March
28, 2014. Bernard served in the
U.S. Army during the Korean
War. He earned a master’s
degree in education from
North Adams State Teacher’s
College (now MCLA) in 1963
and stayed in his hometown of
Pittsfield, Mass., working as a
self-employed carpenter and
landscaper. He was a communicant of St. Joseph’s Church
and member of the Pittsfield
Shade Tree Commission and
the Lenox VFW. His survivors
Veronica, and two daughters.
1958
SCOTT ELLWOOD, April 20,
2014. Scott left Williams after
two years, earned a BA from
Eastern Michigan University
and then an LLB from Harvard.
His career in estate planning
142
l
WILLIAMS PEOPLE
and tax law in and around his
hometown of Winnetka, Ill.,
culminated in a senior partnership at McDermott, Will &
Emery LLP, from which he
retired in 1999. He and his wife
of 24 years, Suzanne, loved to
travel around the U.S. to visit
family and internationally. His
survivors include his wife, three
children and six grandchildren.
HENRY R. VERMILYE, March
20, 2014. Terry earned an MBA
from Rutgers University and
worked with USAID in Pakistan
in the 1960s. After returning to the U.S., he headed the
international department of a
Memphis bank and then a similar department at SouthTrust
in Birmingham, Ala., where he
worked for two decades. He
served on many committees
focused on international trade
and commerce, was a founding
member of the Japan America
Society of Alabama and was
director of the Southeastern U.S.
Korea Chamber of Commerce
and the U.S. Yugoslav Economic
Council. He retired as senior
VP of SouthTrust in 1997
and moved to Hilton Head
Island, S.C. His survivors
Suzanne, two children and three
grandchildren.
1959
RICHARD R. JACKSON JR., Feb.
13, 2014. Dick earned his law
degree from the University
of Virginia before joining the
U.S. Naval Reserves. He served
with the U.S. Navy Judge
Advocate General’s Corps in
Chicago, where he took courses
in admiralty law. He moved to
Baltimore and joined the firm
Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver
and focused on maritime law
and litigation. Described by a
partner as “one of the last true
gentlemen in Baltimore,” Dick
enjoyed landscaping and managing his investments, and he was
a member of the Green Spring
Valley Hunt Club. He was
predeceased by his wife Greer in
1986. His survivors include two
stepchildren.
WILLIAM A. NORRIS, March 23,
2014. Bill earned his LLB from
Boston University and moved
to Northampton, Mass., where
he opened a private law practice.
In his first case, he represented
Berkshire Community College
faculty in Pittsfield, Mass., who
had been asked to take a loyalty
oath after speaking out against
the Vietnam War. When UMass
professors wanted to make the
same complaint, they called Bill,
and he soon became recognized
as the local anti-war and civil
rights lawyer. He retired in 2001,
volunteered with American
Friends Service Committee
and traveled extensively. In
Thailand, he met and married
Bua, and they made their homes
in Northampton and Thailand.
He was predeceased by his son
Levin. His survivors include his
wife and a son.
1960
DEANE W. MERRILL JR., Feb.
16, 2014. Deane earned his
PhD from the University
of California, Berkeley, in
high-energy nuclear physics. He worked for the French
Atomic Energy Commission
before returning to Berkeley for
another PhD in public health
and epidemiology. He was
head of the biostatistics group
and a computer scientist at the
Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory. From 1997 to 2006,
he ran a bed-and-breakfast in
his ancestral home in Shelburne
Falls, Mass. He later moved
to Asheville, N.C., and taught
physics at a community college.
Among his survivors are his
wife of 18 years, Chris, three
children, cousins Douglass E.
Ray ’73, Reginald A. Ray ’65 and
Charles R. Merrill ’62, nephew
Whitney R. Merrill ’90 and a
great-granddaughter.
JOSEPH A. WHEELOCK JR.,
Dec. 17, 2013. Joe earned his
LLB from Harvard (1964) and
clerked for John A. Danaher on
the U.S. Court of Appeals for
D.C. He went on to a career
at Latham & Watkins in L.A.,
where he made partner in 1975.
After retirement, he moved to
Williamstown in 2003. He was
a volunteer auditor with Elder
Services of Berkshire County’s
money management program
and taught a few Winter Study
courses at Williams, including
1955– 74
one called “So You Want to Be
a Lawyer.” His survivors include
his wife of 22 years, Ann, a son,
two stepchildren and several
grandchildren.
1962
ROBERT F. RUEHL, Feb. 3, 2014.
Raised on a farm in Bucks
County, Pa., Bob spent most
of his life in Doylestown, living with his wife Cheryl in an
18th-century stone house beside
a stream. A 1965 graduate of
the University of Virginia Law
School, he became partner at
Power, Bowen & Valimont, the
firm for which he had clerked in
law school. In 1979, he opened a
private practice focused on real
estate and estate administration. In his free time, he enjoyed
woodworking. Among his survivors are his wife of 41 years and
several nieces and nephews.
1964
J. GARRY CLIFFORD, March 26,
2014. Garry earned a PhD in
American history from Indiana
University (1969). He taught
and directed the political science graduate program at the
University of Connecticut for
27 years. He participated in two
seminars for high school teachers sponsored by the National
Endowment for the Humanities
at the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., and
he was working on a book about
FDR and American intervention in WWII at the time of his
death. A specialist in American
foreign relations and diplomatic
history, he wrote, edited or coauthored five books and a number of book chapters and journal
articles. His survivors include his
wife of 38 years, Carol.
1966
KEVIN SHEEHAN, April 16,
2014. Kevin earned an MBA
from Harvard before moving
to Nashville, Ind., where he
built a log house in the woods
and worked for two decades
at Cummins Engine Co. He
made annual recruitment trips
to Williams during that time
and enjoyed introducing fellow
alumni to the Midwest. He
later moved to Indianapolis
and became a partner at CID
Venture Capital, where he
worked for 12 years before
becoming partner at Cambridge
Capital Ventures. He also served
on the boards of the Canterbury
School and Civic Science. His
survivors include his wife of
almost 40 years, Barbara, two
sons, a granddaughter, sister
Monica Mary Bennett ’77 and
cousins John F. Sheehan ’76,
William J. O’Brien ’81 and
Kristin Frederickson ’90.
1967
DANA N. STEVENS, April 11,
2014. Dana earned his PhD
in economics from Stanford
(1973) and started teaching at
Georgia State University and
then New College in Florida
before taking a visiting professorship at Williams. In 1985
he became a private financial
adviser to a Lebanese businessman, which took him all
over Latin America to explore
investment opportunities. He
moved to Kazakhstan, where he
was the VP for academic affairs
at the Kazakhstan Institute
of Management, Economics
& Strategic Research. More
recently, he taught economics
at the American University of
Armenia. His survivors include
his wife of 15 years, Zhanna, and
six children.
J. GARRY CLIFFORD ’64
KEVIN SHEEHAN ’66
1972
JUSTIN CROCKER, April 1,
2014. After graduation, Justin
chose alternative service to
the Vietnam War and worked
at a school for the emotionally disturbed. While there, he
discovered what would become
a lifetime love of bicycle racing;
he competed with Olympic
hopefuls for many years. He
also worked as a manager at the
Ski Rack in Burlington, Vt.,
and as a freelance sportswriter
before becoming software editor
at Digital Equipment Corp.,
where he worked until 2007. His
survivors include a brother and
two nieces.
1974
JAMES L. CATTERTON, Dec. 13,
2013. James earned a BA from
Connecticut College, an MS
in natural resources from the
University of Vermont and an
MA in public administration
from Harvard. In his hometown
SEP TEMBER 2014
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OBITUARIES
of Concord, Mass., he operated
Walden Associates, a consulting firm that specialized in
conservation services and land
planning and management. A
world traveler, gourmet cook and
lover of wine, James sat on many
local boards and was president
of the Concord Community
Gardens. Among his survivors is
his wife of 21 years, Lois.
DAVID L. JONES, Dec. 18,
2013. David’s career at General
Motors began soon after his
graduation from Williams
and took him all over the
country. In 1993, he was
promoted to VP of plans and
smart products at GMAC
headquarters in Detroit. He
served on the boards of Junior
Achievement of Southeastern
Michigan, the Music Hall
Center for Performing
Arts, the Farmington
Public Schools’ Community
Partnership Committee and
the Multicultural/Multiracial
Council of Oakland County,
Mich. He coached the
Detroit-area Catholic Youth
Organization basketball
program for years, including
when his sons were on the
teams. David retired in 2007
and moved to Cary, N.C. His
years, Pauline, and two sons.
1977
VIVIAN PATTERSON, June 9,
2014. Vivian earned her master’s
in the history of art at Williams
(1980) and went on to a 32-year
career at the Williams College
Museum of Art, first as assistant
curator and later as curator of
collections. She oversaw the
exhibition, documentation, photography, storage and conservation of objects in the museum’s
permanent collection, and she
developed an encyclopedic
knowledge of the collection and
the museum’s history. She retired
in 2012. In her free time, she
played golf, collected folk art and
enjoyed her cats and dogs. Her
survivors include her husband of
27 years, Stephen Pagnotta ’77.
2004
INTI R. MONTENEGRO DE WIT,
March 27, 2014. Inti first traveled outside the U.S. as a child,
144
l
WILLIAMS PEOPLE
visiting his mother’s family in
the Netherlands and his father’s
in Peru. International relations caught his interest early
on. He spent a summer during
college in Spain, a semester in
Ecuador and, after graduating
with a degree in political science, worked for two years at an
indigenous rights NGO in Peru.
Those experiences inspired him
to complete a master’s degree at
Columbia University’s School
of International and Public
Affairs in 2011. Originally
from Tennessee, he stayed in
New York to work with the
U.N. Development Program,
helping to create the roadmap
for the post-2015 Millennium
Development Goals. He was
struck by a car while on vacation
in Mexico. His survivors include
his parents and his sister Maywa
Montenegro de Wit ’02.
VIVIAN PATTERSON ’77
OTHER DEATHS
WARREN H. WARD JR. ’41,
Aug. 2, 1994
LEWIS V. RICHARD ’46,
June 9, 2010
EDWARD A. DONAHUE ’49,
April 17, 2014
HALL WARREN ’57, March 22, 2014
DANIEL W. WEST ’57, March 17, 2014
JOHN K. MOYNAHAN ’62, March 2014
PHILIP ABERMAN ’63, Dec. 20, 2013
PETER V. SMITH ’64, May 2, 2013
ZORAN POPOV, CDE ’65, April 14, 2014
Obituaries are written by Julia
Munemo and are based on
information that alumni and
their families have supplied
to the college over the years.
To access more biographical
information on many alumni,
visit www.legacy.com or www.tributes.com.
INTI R. MONTENEGRO DE WIT ’04
WELCOMING LEILA JERE ’91
During my tenure as director of alumni relations I’ve had the honor of
working with five graduates who have served as president of the Society of
Alumni. They each brought their professional expertise, individual personalities and perspectives to their service to you and the college. And like all those
in the long line of Society of Alumni presidents before them, they’ve each
been remarkably successful in their own rights.
Leila Jere ’91 is the most recent. She was appointed president at the
Annual Meeting of the Society of Alumni on the Saturday of Reunion
Weekend. Take a moment to read her thoughts on the inside front cover—
and let me tell you a little bit about Leila and her new leadership role.
Leila arrived at Williams from her native Zambia via a boarding school in
southern England, having never set foot on campus. A political science major,
she spent time on the track and rugby teams and served as a JA and for two
terms on the JA Selection Committee. After Williams, Leila moved to San
Francisco, where she has maternal family roots, with thoughts of law school
on the horizon. Instead, with the technology juggernaut revving up in the mid‘90s, it seemed like a good idea to climb aboard. She worked in project management and operations at a variety of technology firms and, along the way,
developed an interest and expertise in cloud computing. She founded Baobab
Consulting and has built a thriving practice, working with companies to build
and optimize their sales and operations on salesforce.com.
Leila’s volunteer service to Williams kicked into high gear in 2002, when
she assumed leadership of the NorCal (Bay Area) Regional Association. This
was followed by a productive three-year term on the Executive Committee
of the Society of Alumni from 2004-07; she stepped into the role of VP two
years ago.
Only those who have served as president of the Society of Alumni
can fully appreciate the commitment it entails. Beyond oversight of the
Executive Committee, which encompasses three meetings annually and
significant accompanying work, Leila will serve ex officio on the Board of
Trustees and attend all meetings. Let’s just say Leila is going to be racking
up the frequent-flyer miles for trips from San Francisco to Williamstown over
the next two years.
Beyond the broad-based work of keeping you connected to each other
and the college, Leila and the EC will be particularly focused on the issue of
sexual assault this academic year and beyond. The country is in a national
conversation about sexual assault prevention and response on college and
university campuses. In addition to the EC’s ongoing involvement with these
issues, Leila will lead a newly formed liaison group to facilitate communication between alumni and the college as Williams works to continually
improve both our sexual assault prevention and response. There’s no issue of
greater importance to us, and you’ll be hearing more about it.
Leila will be hard at work on this issue and many others over the next two
years. She’s doing it all for you and the college she loves. Wish her well on
the journey.
With best wishes from Williamstown,
“Only those who have
served as president of
the Society of Alumni
can fully appreciate the
commitment it entails.”
—Brooks Foehl ’88
Director of Alumni Relations
bfoehl@williams.edu
Editorial Offices
P.O. Box 676
Williamstown, MA
01267-0676
ALUMNI TRAVEL-STUDY 2015
Since 1981 Williams has offered outstanding educational travel opportunities led
by professors and alumni who are experts in each destination.
Cuba Culture and Cuisine DARRA GOLDSTEIN • Central America’s Volcanoes
BUD WOBUS • Panama Canal and Costa Rica AL GOETHALS • Inside Morocco
MAGNUS BERNHARDSSON • Wake of the Vikings MARKES JOHNSON • Cruising
the Rhone River JOHN HYDE ’52 • On a Mississippi Sternwheeler PATRICK
SPERO • Rafting Utah’s San Juan River DAVID DETHIER • St. Petersburg,
Russia JULIE CASSIDAY • The Peruvian Amazon HENRY ART • Islands of Coastal Alaska PAUL KARABINOS • Canada’s Northwest Passage SHIP STAFF • Flavors of Northern Italy LOCAL CHEFS • The Insiders’ Japan PETER FROST •
Polar Bears of Hudson Bay MARKES JOHNSON
Learn more at alumni.williams.edu/alumnitravelstudy or contact Robert.V.Behr@williams.edu, 413.597.4011.

PEOPLE lSEPTEMBER 2014 - Alumni News

Transcription

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