C L AS S NOTES
your input. I look forward to seeing you all at committee meetings and, of course, our big celebration in 2020! • “Greetings from Arizona!” wrote Cindy Stinchfield Ryan. “The big news is the birth of our first greatgrandchild: a little boy, Josh Jr., born to our granddaughter and her husband. First greatgrandchild for our class, maybe?! We also had a wake-up call as to just how fragile life can be when my husband sustained an onthe-job injury that literally came within four inches of killing him. Fortunately, he has a hard head, most of his injuries have been repaired, and his neuro tests look normal.” I know this was a scary time for Cindy as many of us read about it on Facebook and were very concerned. • Beth Eisenberg and her wife, Paula Gottlieb, live in Cummington, Mass., about 45 minutes from NMH. Beth retired last year from her career as a psychotherapist specializing in the treatment of childhood trauma. She is now a full-time activist for single-payer health care, which may come first to Massachusetts. Beth never thought she would be a snowbird, but life brings surprises, and she will spend five months in Tucson, Ariz., this year, hoping to eventually live there full time. • Tess Pemantel Dunhoff is excited about entering our last year before our 50th reunion and is hoping to see some mini reunions in Florida, Durham, New England, and who knows where else? Her life is full with grandchildren in Long Beach, Calif., and Ottawa, Ontario. • Tess, Claire Schmidt Jones, Carol Ramsey, Sylvia Marshall Bailey, and I got together in Las Vegas last fall for some reunion pre-planning and fun entertainment. We all shared in some serious discussions, but also had lighthearted fun. As Tess stated, “We would like to share more, but you know what they say: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!” Our reunion planning meeting was at NMH in February.
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Mount Hermon Neil Kiely neil@marketinginmotion.com Thanks to those that responded to my frantic call for news two days before Christmas! It might be time for another classmate to take over this position, because no matter how much lead time I am given by NMH Magazine, I always find myself begging for a few extra days. A Christmas miracle happened: I heard back from some of you for the first time ever, which is where I get most of my satisfaction. • Seth Hetherington married Jean Spitznagel right after college. He went on to a career as a pediatrician, infectious disease specialist, academic researcher,
Northfield class of ’70 alumnae were pre-planning a reunion meeting in Las Vegas: (l–r) Tess Pemantel Dunhoff, Katherine Truax, Claire Schmidt Jones, Sylvia Marshall Bailey, and Carol Ramsey.
and, eventually, a biotech drug developer. Jean went to University of North Carolina School of Law and had a career in healthcare policy. Now retired in Chapel Hill, they have three children. Seth took up running at age 50 and has completed eight marathons as well as the 2014 NMH Pie Race! • Henry “Hanque” Curtis arrived in 1966 as part of the class of ’69, but then “set records for lackluster achievement” and graduated with us in 1970. One benefit of the extra year, according to Henry, was that “it gave me a fourth year of Spanish with Hal McCann that continues to reward me. I became a reporter and for years covered drug trafficking, addiction, and overdose deaths in Florida, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. I quit in 2016 after covering my final story: the Pulse nightclub massacre.” Henry, a first-time dad, volunteers in his 8-year-old daughter’s class. His wife, born in Havana, “regularly corrects my Spanish!” said Henry. • Tom Baldwin has been spending much of the past year covering the damage from Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle, and much of last fall working on the devastation caused by the Paradise Camp Fire in California. • Dave Hawley ’71 is retired and a widower living in Knoxville, Tenn. He has two daughters and four grandchildren, so he does lots of babysitting. He loves playing golf (year-round, unless it snows!) and is involved with a great production team at his church. • Peter Bartholomew retired from Deloitte Consulting eight years ago after spending 26 years with Equitable Life as a manager in their human resources IT department. He has been married for 42 years and has two daughters and two granddaughters. Peter is very involved with his church, attends Mass daily, and is a lector twice a week. He has worked with a youth group for 25 years and taught religious education (CCD) for 13 years. He said, “I often reflect that NMH shaped the values that are important to me today.” • Rajan Batra can no longer be called big. He has lost 75
pounds (and his wife, 94 lbs.) by concentrating on taking care of his health: working out, lots of walking, and “everything in moderation.” A three-week trip to Europe included another cruise that he continues to insist we try to organize as an NMH mini reunion! • Tom Kastner is a busy architect splitting his time between Washington State and West Palm Beach. “Right now I am in active conversation with Biff Watson in selecting a new guitar and beginning my comeback as a member of the band. Biff recently shared that my lack of musical talent was compensated by my enthusiasm.” Not exactly what he was hoping to hear. Tom is “still single and looking forward to rockin’” at our 50th! Speaking of Biff, he just finished co-writing and producing a song and video with Sahara Rain called “Sticks and Stones” about Sahara’s story of cyberbullying. • Mark Carta is over-the-moon excited to become a grandfather for the first time. His daughter, Sarah, lives in Nairobi, Kenya, where she works for USAID. • Bruce Berk is finally getting into the swing of retirement after being called back for second semester last year after a faculty member left unexpectedly. He is doing lots of hiking, both domestic and international (Patagonia). “Anyone up for New Zealand in 2020?” He is also finding time to volunteer at his temple, at a local animal shelter, and advising a financial literacy program. • Herb Hansen is starting to feel the aches and pains of aging. He took his dog for a walk and strained a nerve. He is looking forward to joining us for the 50th! • Frank Cowan retired from a career in archeology and moved back to Vermont, where he took over the care of his elderly parents and, as a result, became involved in the mission of health-care advocacy. • Edmund Dehn made it to our continent last year, spending a month in Mexico working on a fantastic film where he played the part of a priest dying of cancer. He realizes that he has “reached the age where I am offered many parts of depicting characters dead or dying!” • AJ Eckert’s daughter is moving to Australia “in search of the good life.” He is already planning his first visit! • Steve Chiasson still has CDs available from Collins and AJ’s wonderful performance at our 45th. A portion of the proceeds will help defray some of the costs, or become part of a class gift, for our 50th reunion. That amount is currently at $900. Contact me for Steve’s email address. Steve’s recording studio has been extremely busy working with all types of artists and bands. • John Witty has a very busy (and expensive) year ahead, as both of his children will be getting married in 2019! He recently spoke
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