(RPI) in Troy, N.Y., in September ’08, HumpTy immediately moved his household to Connecticut from a very convenient (for Clint) few miles from RPI in the AlbanyTroy, N.Y., area. Clint has already spent too much money on lodging and food that was expected to be avoided by “mooching” off the Tylers. Also, Clint has another son at N.C. State with a perfect 4.0 (just like his dad) and two girls at home in local schools. Retirement seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. Any Old Boys traveling through Wilmington, Del., should call Duncan Patterson ’64 or Chris Patterson ’68 for food and lodging. “Also, Clint is conflicted that Tim Hightower ’04 scored the Cardinals’ go-ahead and winning touchdown against the Eagles, thus spoiling their improbable Super Bowl quest. He can’t help but wonder if only Tom Rhodes had been on the right corner to stop that run, then the Eagles might have prevailed.” Clint’s e-mail had barely flickered across the computer screens of his ’65 classmates, when the following class notes submission, also written in the third person, was delivered to their inboxes: “…and Ian Williams writes that there seems to be a common theme throughout Clint Laird’s report, specifically the sad truth that Tom Rhodes, weighing only 160 pounds, was the closest thing to a pro-caliber football player in our class, excepting, of course, Cabell Maddux, who, on the strength of his spectacular misdirection runs against Lawrenceville, received, first, a full football scholarship to the Sarah Lawrence Night Program, and then went on to play, in a manner of speaking, with the Pussy Cat Volunteers of the Las Vegas League for several seasons; or, possibly, Blackie Davis ’64, who really wasn’t in our class, but did play about 10 minutes at Dartmouth; or maybe even Rixey Todd, who, weighing
class
less than Rhodes, had wide-receiver speed, but was never able to live down the marching-banddrum-major label so slanderously placed on him by both college scouts and former classmates. It would be easy, of course, to add Temple Grassi, but he went to the wrong school, repeatedly, and must be disqualified. All that having been said, you all have my full authority to wager with Clint on Eagles games and to solicit Tim Hightower ’04 for your collection efforts.” Third-person class notes submissions are obviously trendy this spring. Just before the deadline for submission of the class notes copy, my screen was lit up with the following: “Tony Abbott writes that he continues to pull down a paycheck from a modest three-ball finance company in the hills of Connecticut, sometimes known as GE Capital. He spends much of his time practicing triage over an increasing pool of borrowers ‘temporarily embarrassed by a shortage of funds,’ with an occasional foray into a bit of radical surgery on the busted balance sheet of a customer with reasonable prospects for survivability. He would like to remind all and sundry that, if money is the lifeblood of commerce, then as the Red Cross will tell you, it remains in critically short supply. So please go out and buy something, as an act of patriotism and charity – you’ll feel better and your neighbors will thank you for it. He remains happily married to the delightful lady – Deborah – who said ‘yes’ to him some 38 years ago; she spends her time reading inkblots and such (and had the tact to gracefully ‘lose’ his own inkblots years ago, with nothing more than the enigmatic comment that they were ‘really interesting’). They have three children – a daughter in the newspaper trade in the Berkshires, daughter No. 2 in medical school in NYC, and a son crunching numbers and running
notes
economic/investment scenarios for an outfit that’s also in NYC.” Tony lives in Guilford, a picturesque colonial New England village on Long Island Sound, but he plies his trade ruthlessly wringing blood out of deadbeat debtors at GE Capital further down I-95 in Stamford. A couple of miles further down the MTA’s New Haven Line is Greenwich, where Lee Browne continues to labor in the vineyards of venture capital seeking to plant the seeds of enterprises that will dominate America’s 21st century corporate landscape. Despite the recent economic turmoil, Lee says he’s enjoying the VC business “… as long as I don’t pick up a newspaper, log on to the Internet, listen to the radio, watch TV, or open monthly statements.” He says he sees John Townsend ’73, Harry Burn ’62, and Nat Gregory ’66 regularly in Greenwich and his neighbor in Florida is Landon Hilliard ’58. Lee has two daughters, ages 26 and 30, and is expecting to become a grandfather for the first time in April.
1966
Jack Sibley (O) 404-614-7551 (H) 404-237-2803 jsibley@hplegal.com 45th Reunion: June 2011
1967
Charles Coppage (H) 252-473-3893 (O) 252-480-2568 charles@nccoppagelaw.com 45th Reunion: June 2012
Bill Gray reports, “After a wonderful 35-year career with the same company, I took early retirement to enjoy my passion for small-scale organic farming in western rural Maine. All Old Boys are welcome to visit!”
1968
Jon Barrett (H) 704-348-1776 (O) 704-444-3504 jbarrett@mayerbrownrowe.com 45th Reunion: June 2013
1969
Kinloch Nelson (H) 585-385-3103 (O) 585-264-0848 kinloch@rochester.rr.com 40th Reunion: June 5-6, 2009
Speaking of which, Mat Swift’s daughters have been doing their part to keep their father competitive in his race with David “The Phant” Patterson for the class prize of having the most grandchildren. Regular readers may recall that Mat was doing his end-zone touchdown dance as the reigning champ with a count of five grandkids until Phant announced last year that he and his wife, Mopsy, have put seven points on the grandchild scoreboard. But Team Swift is – in the immortal words of Syd Walden – “no front-runner, first-half wonder.” Mat reports the birth of No. 6 last year and the expected arrival of No. 7 late this summer, which will tie the score as we head into the contest’s thrilling final phase approaching our 45th Reunion in June 2010.
T. Lad Webb reports that he was appointed to the positions of member of the board of directors and vice president, compliance, for Zodiac US Corporation, the holding company for 14 U.S. business units of the Paris-based Zodiac Aerospace Group. Please plan to join us for Reunion Weekend at Episcopal June 5-6! It will be a great chance to reconnect with each other and the School. Check out the Class of ’69’s Reunion page on the EHS Web site.
1970
David Clarke (H) 703-938-8577 (O) 703-293-7223 (O) 703-691-1235 dclarke@bklawva.com 40th Reunion: June 2010
EHS The Magazine of Episcopal High School
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