Violence Project, (now the NYC AntiViolence Project). I totally fried my brain and emotions doing that gig as the AIDS epidemic hit the city and wiped out 75% of the men that I knew and worked with. I went out to Seattle on vacation in 1989 to recharge my batteries, and never really left. After a seven-month “recovery job” as an office temp, I ended up managing human services in County Government out here, and stayed at that gig for almost 10 years. I also worked evenings as a psychotherapist, with a focus on LGBT issues and PTSD. After my work at the county, I became a consultant in my own firm, working mostly with states, counties and cities on the integration of human service systems for individuals and families facing complex challenges (mental health, addiction, homelessness, criminal justice system involvement, etc.). One of my clients on and off over the years was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; I took up an invitation to join the staff there in 2006, and am now the Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning & Management for our Pacific Northwest Programs. But now to the good stuff: As a gay man, I never would have imagined that I would be married and living a (typical 21st century) family life. My husband of 25 years, Paul, and I, together with two of our best friends (a lesbian couple that live nearby), now have three kids—a 16-year-old and two 13-yearolds (twins). The beautiful thing about lesbian and gay families is that there’s no such thing as unplanned or unwanted kids—you really have to work at it! Paul is also happily engaged in work at the Wilburforce Foundation, which works to protect wildlife habitats in the North American West. We divide our time between Seattle and Guemes Island—a small island with 600 people about 80 miles north of the city. Next June, I’ll be retiring from the foundation to focus on volunteer activities and island life.”
Mark Vamos writes, “After some 25 years as a magazine writer and editor in New York, I apparently lost my marbles and decided to become a college professor in Texas. So for the last 10 years I’ve been at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. We like to pretend that SMU is like the Holy Roman Empire—y’know, neither Southern, nor Methodist, nor much of a university. But it is pretty Southern. I teach magazine writing, business journalism and—yes!—food writing. That last subject has become a passion in recent years; I review restaurants for The Dallas Morning News and write food features. And bike a couple thousand miles a year to make up for the eating. Dallas is . . . still strange. My wife, Leslie, who is also a journalist (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, now claims to be something important at The Dallas Morning News), and I always thought we’d do a stint in a foreign bureau for one of our employers, but the timing never worked. And since they say Texas is a whole other country (dear New Yorkers, you have no idea), this is our foreign posting. We are fortunate in that we live not in one of Dallas’s zombie exurbs, but in a historic neighborhood near downtown filled with century-old Prairie-style houses. And we kept our old farm in upstate New York, where— such are the pleasures of the academic calendar—I get to escape the appalling Dallas summers. And we are beginning to make vague gestures in the direction of retiring there. We have a fabulous daughter, Elizabeth, who is in her senior year at Vassar.” Miranda Winthrop-Ellis writes, “Life has been good, a lot has happened. I went to England and all around Europe for a while before going to Sarah Lawrence. I studied writing under Dale Harris, who sadly passed away. I have written a few short stories and some articles for the
local newspaper. I have four kids and two amazing grandsons and I live on a big family farm in Ipswich, Mass. Have to say big family farm because I couldn’t afford all this land on my own. I have always worked in the equestrian world and I am now the barn manager for Harvard Polo. My children—Angela, Rosemary, Lily and Whit—all work in film/arts/ advertising/gardening/baking/music/ construction etc. They have all been all over the world for work, school, sports or fun but, amazingly, they have all recently moved back to Massachusetts, which is so wonderful for me. My grandsons Stormy and Rocco live near me on the farm, so I am the luckiest grandparent in the world because I get to see them all the time. They take me back to when I was a kid climbing trees and making forts in Pittsburgh before we moved to the West Village. There is so much to say and so much to think about and reflect on these days.
1975
The class of 1975 mourns the untimely loss of our good friend, Cella Irvine. (Please see the In Memoriam section of this issue.) Fran Bruno writes, “I was so grateful to have been able to see Cella when she returned home with hospice care. She was herself—smiling, chatting, and giving wonderfully strong hugs to those who visited with her. I was also grateful to have seen so many of our classmates who came to say their goodbyes to Cella. Our class was enriched by Cella’s presence, and her loss will be greatly felt. Those who wish to, may make donations in Cella’s memory to Friends Seminary, 222 East 16th Street New York, NY 10003, attention Katherine Precht.”
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