CLASS NOTES
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2017–18 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
ask us. (I just say, “I’m good!”) Names of 120 classmates are still on the combined NMH ’44 list. • I’m “flying solo,” like most of the rest of us, in a pleasant ground-floor apartment on Bainbridge Island. “B.I.” is both an island and a community — 30 minutes by ferry across Puget Sound from Seattle, here on the Left Coast. The remaining members of my generation in our family are on the Right Coast (on Casco Bay in Maine). Three of my four middle-aged children and their families are here in the Northwest. • Let’s “return now to the days of yesteryear”… Here we are in our senior year in the middle of World War II. Hermonites trudge through the winter cold, five miles over and five miles back, across the icy “Connecticut so grand,” just to dance for an hour to the Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey band on 78 rpm records at Northfield. Or to stroll as slowly as we can from Wheaton to Center Gould to Merrill Keep, holding hands to keep warm. Dating Northfield/Mount Hermon couples cheer the champion Hermon footballers, team captain and class president, Pete Leyden, along with Ken Kolkebeck and Charlie Young — all starring on the greatest gridiron team in Hermon history. Undefeated, untied, and, only once by Williston, scored upon. • Christmas Vespers 1943: the “Sing We Noel” processional into the Hermon chapel. Northfield choristers include Persis MacLean, June Baker, Class of ’44 President Nancy Bartram, Jean Domin Knapp, Shirley Gray, Dotsie Erskine, Bev Grove, and Mary Jo Hatch. • May 1944, on the patio at the Chateau: Carolyn Coleman and I are together for the 1944 Senior Prom. Dimpie Reynolds and Bob Davidson are, as they say, already an item. Likewise Mary Lighthall and Bill Compton. The Hermon Knights, led by Bill Welliver, are serenading us with a fond farewell.
President — Molly Goggins Talbot ’93, P’21 Vice President — Kate Hayes ’06 Secretary — Wendy Alderman Cohen ’67
Northfield Arlene Finch Reynolds arlenerey@aol.com
Northfield Elizabeth Jane (B.J.) Smith Johnson robert.johnson53@comcast.net Lois Borden Hord passed away on 6/12/17 after a brief illness. Lois loved her Northfield years, especially choir. She obtained her B.A. and an R.N. at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, where she met her husband, Harris. They were engaged before he went to serve overseas in World War II. In 1951, the family moved to Honduras. Lois started the first Brownie and Girl Scout troops in Honduras, taught nursing, and wrote a booklet, El Nino Sano, to promote breastfeeding and the use of fresh local produce for improved nutrition for disadvantaged children. After 20 years in Honduras, Lois and Harris moved to the seaside town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. There she continued with choir, nursing, and volunteer work with groups promoting cultural events. She was a founder of Meals on Wheels and Charlotte County Hospice. Loiswas the beloved mother of four daughters, including Charlotte Valliere Hord ’67 and Marjory Hord Mendez ’69.
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Northfield Dorcas Platt Abell sabell3@nycap.rr.com Louise Pfuhl Darby has been having heart problems — vertigo and dizziness — and is now at an assisted living residence. Write to me if you’d like Louise’s contact information. • I (Dorcas Platt Abell) am plugging along (almost 93) and had a lovely trip to Kennebunkport, Maine, to visit my daughter and her grandkids. I stayed at Harbor Inn, a great bed-and-breakfast, now owned and run by my granddaughter, Lisa, and
A L U M N I C O U N C I L
her husband, Bill Dries. Bill made me breakfast from his fresh eggs from their hens at Triple L Farm and sausage from his pigs. I highly recommend the place.
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Mount Hermon Carleton Finch zeke137@aol.com
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Northfield Cora Lee Gethman Gibbs coraleegibbs@aol.com
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Mount Hermon Loren Bullock mlbullock9@gmail.com I remember several of us walking over to Northfield on Saturdays in the fall, kicking leaves on Gill Road on our way to Parlor Dates at the Seminary. Sometimes, Mr. L’Hommedieu would pick up boys in his convertible, but I was never so lucky. We’d walk around campus holding hands with our dates, dance to Glenn Miller in Gould Hall, and then walk the five miles back to Mount Hermon. A few years later, I married my Northfield girl, Polly Kidder. Wonderful years.
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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org
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Northfield Mount Hermon Charlton R. Price charltonrp@gmail.com From Charlie: It’s almost three-quarters of a century since we left the “banks of the Connecticut so grand.” “How are you?” people
Advancement Committee chair — Brendan Mysliwiec ’04 Awards Committee chair — Thomas Baxter ’59 Communications Committee chair — Camille Kubie ’94 Diversity Committee co-chair — Courtney Fields ’06 Diversity Committee co-chair — Tracy Korman ’81 Nominating Committee co-chair — Carolyn “Ty” Fox ’59 Nominating Committee co-chair — Tanya Luthi ’96 Reunion Advisory Committee chair — Stephen Green ’87 Strategic Advisory Committee co-chair — Andrew Ness ’04 Strategic Advisory Committee co-chair — Stuart Paap ’93 Young Alumni Committee chair — Nicole Dancel ’09 Ex Officio staff liaison — Rennie Randrup Washburn P’12, ’13
ROPEPULL: THE CLASS OF ’69 STAR TS TO SWIM. PHO TO COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVE
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Mount Hermon Pete Devenis ingadevenis@aol.com On the drive to Innisbrook, Fla., we stopped at Bluffton, S.C., to have dinner with Cal Swan and Eugene Dix (with his wife, Ann). Cal still enjoys gardening and golf. Gene played on hockey and lacrosse teams at Mount Hermon and started lacrosse at Middlebury College with six other Mount Hermon graduates. • Bob Dorr wrote, “I was not in the Gateway because I left at midterm to join the Navy, preferring the Navy over being drafted into the Army. I retired from IBM
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