CL ASS NOTES
Among those being memorialized at the ceremony were Peter Henwood, whose wife sent word that he had died on 11/15/16, and Lenny Rankin, who died on 4/21/17 — only weeks before reunion. • Offspring of former faculty Robin Whyte Reisman, Jim Baldwin, and Jim Archibald were invited to cut the ribbon at the dedication of Northfield House at 67 Mount Hermon Road, the faculty residence donated to the school as a reunion gift from our class. • One of the highlights of reunion was a concert performed by Will Ackerman, with the able accompaniment of Jim Baldwin, exclusively for our class. Will is a renowned musician and a skilled raconteur. His repartee was as enjoyable as the music itself. During the show, Jim told this story: “At our reunion 25 years ago, Will, my roommate from junior and senior year, handed me our 245 North Crossley room key, saying, ‘Here. You keep it for the next 25.’ I saw the key in a drawer from time to time and eventually it made it to the glove compartment of my truck. In March, I had dinner with Will. Once we were seated, I pulled the key out of my pocket and handed to him. ‘Your turn,’ I said. We agreed upon a shorter period going forward. Flirting with both optimism and pessimism, we landed on five years.” • The NMH Golf Tournament was held at the Crumpin-Fox Club near campus during reunion. Bob Turner and Gary Barnes represented the class of ’67. The scramble format kept the play very relaxed — the alumni staff had it well organized. This was Bob’s first time back for reunion and he found it to be a wonderful weekend. • “It was so good to return to NMH and spend time with the old gang,” exclaimed Ross Mason. Reminiscing was the order of the day during meals in Alumni Hall with Jim Johnson and Will Melton, among others. Ross enjoyed the 30-mile bike ride, but felt the
competition was lacking. Even the young guys had trouble keeping up with a 67-year-old Hermonite. • Sheila Morse had fun facilitating the “Rewired, Not Retired” discussion at reunion, which included good stories, questions, ideas, and observations. “Good conversations and encounters throughout the weekend! What a great group of people. And so many inspiring moments, particularly at Convocation,” said Sheila. • Before heading back to Tanzania, Trish Watson Bartlett and husband John took some time to put the slides and commentary from their reunion presentation on combating AIDS in Africa into a short paper. Trish had rich experiences at reunion, and many with people she had not seen or really known before, and feels we are very lucky to have such a fantastic class. • Lois Robinson Eddy retired in May from supervising student teachers from Syracuse University. She is still working as the director of Women’s Life Ministries for her church, helping to organize Bible studies and mentoring groups. She and Bob have three daughters and four grandchildren, and they enjoy spending time with them in the summer at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Bob recently retired, and they are still trying to decide what direction their post-retirement will take. • Irma Simonsuuri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon loved reunion and the many powerful emotional connections for both of them, and the topper: the greeting we class of ’67 members received as we marched into Memorial Chapel for Convocation. Following reunion, Irma and Gene drove from Brattleboro to Waterbury, Vt., then over to Gorham, N.H., and south to Bretton Woods. They took the Cog Railway to the top of Mount Washington under sunny skies. Then it was on to the home of Bonnie Parmenter Fleming before flying to Helsinki and on to
The class of ’67 remembered deceased classmates at their reunion’s memorial service. Photo: Liz Savas ’10.
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Irma’s summer home in the Baltic. • Nancy Crothers and Nancy Hemmerly recently renewed their East Gould friendship and traveled to reunion together from their respective homes in D.C. and Pennsylvania. Nancy H. especially enjoyed getting to know Ann Haigis Banash and hearing about her service to the Greenfield and Gill communities. Nancy H. thanks Jeff Leighton for his sensitive discussion about caring for aging parents. After caring for her former husband until his death last year, she is now caring for her 90-year-old mother. Her joy is her six grandchildren and three children, who have grown into interesting adults. • Judy Boice has offered to host a mini reunion on Florida’s Gulf Coast in February 2018, to go along with the get-together that annually takes place on the Atlantic side each March. Jean Walker has volunteered to co-host the Florida Gulf side mini reunion with Judy. To be kept up to speed on either Sunshine State gathering, drop a line to Dana Gordon at mounthermon1967@comcast. net. • Catching up on Jean Walker’s life since Northfield: Jean earned degrees in English and secondary education from the University of Arizona. She taught junior high school for five years before marrying and moving to the Detroit area, where she worked in department stores as a buyer and assistant branch manager. After losing her job in a corporate takeover, she did outplacement testing, which revealed her true calling was accounting. She then moved from Florida to Connecticut and studied for her CPA but never took the exam because the job she loved was as a financial analyst. Her employer transferred her back to Florida in 2010. When her division closed two years later, she worked as a membership associate for Selby Gardens. In 2014, she retired to have a total shoulder replacement. She has since had a knee replacement, second shoulder replacement, and is scheduled for a hip replacement. She divorced “ages ago” and lives in Sarasota with her two kitties, who are her “children.” • During a break in reunion activities, Dana Gordon and Donna Eaton Mahoney took a brief side trip to Cameron’s Winery in Northfield, where they encountered Debbie Mayberry, a director of the farmer’s market there. If you happen to be in the area, Cameron’s limited-edition blackberry chocolate-infused wine is worth a stop. • John Mudge summed up our 50th: “It was great seeing and catching up with classmates at reunion, and it was great seeing and learning about NMH today. Fifty years ago we graduated from two good schools. From what I learned about NMH at the reunion, NMH is today one very good school. Now to prepare for the 55th reunion.” • We plan to carry the success of our reunion onward. A challenge has been issued to have more of us present for our 55th than the