class notes
I am leaving Irma Klein Schachter for last because I want to lift her up again for all she enthusiastically does as class fund chair. She has just called to say it is that time of year. We want 100% again. We’ve lost a number of classmates since my last column. Anne Boyce Mackie emailed to let me know of the death of Martha Avison Woodson on 12/29/11. Anne writes: “I had lost most of my memory after I did not wake up for 3 days last summer, but I do remember being in the room next to Marty and Sally Sutton Mead ’43, a senior student cop, in Center Gould. Marty wasn’t thrilled with math, and I loved it so I was a help. Marty was a friend for all these years, and I shall miss her. We used to visit her grandpa’s jewelry store in Greenfield.” June Kyle Corrigan died in 8/11. She was active in Meredith NH, serving on the conservation commission, as a library trustee, and helping start the original Friends of the Library. She was past president of the Meredith Garden Club, a member of Altrusa, and a member of the garden committee at Kirkwood Gardens at the Squam Lakes Science Center in Holderness. Kay MacKay Goranson of North Port FL passed away on 8/13/11.She received degrees from Wheaton and Lesley College and went on to become a pioneer in the field of reading disabilities, founding and directing for 20 years a program to prepare teachers to educate dyslexic adolescents. She received honors from the International Dyslexia Association. Kay served as president of the NE branch of Association for Children with Learning Disabilities. She was named Distinguished Woman Leader of the Year in NH in ’94. She was also active in musical theater, where she directed choirs, choruses, and community productions. Cynthia Slosson Emmet passed away 8/30/11. After Northfield she went to Wheaton and the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Cynthia was co-owner of Studio Fitness in Santa Barbara CA and was on the board of directors of Laguna Cottages for Seniors for many years. She is survived by 3 daughters and 3 grandchildren. Betty Cameron Spence passed away 9/24/11. A graduate of New England Baptist School of Nursing, where she received her RN degree in ’48, Betty worked tirelessly for those less fortunate and taught her children and grandchildren by example. She was an accomplished pianist and traveled widely. Betty is survived by her husband, daughters Carolyn Spence Newton ’71 and Elizabeth Spence ’73, and son John Spence III ’77. Ila Wright Helberg died 11/1/11. She was librarian at the Bowles Elementary School in East Springfield MA for 30 years. She is survived by her 3 children, their spouses, 6 grandchildren, and 1 great-granddaughter.
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PETE DEVENIS 9 South Meadow Ridge Concord, MA 01742-3000 ingadevenis@aol.com
I’m saddened to write about several classmates who passed away. Russ Housman died on 11/11/10, Joseph Fleck on 1/14/11, and Richard Hannum on 2/8/11. Russ was a star athlete at Hermon in football, wrestling, and track, was captain of the football team, co-captain of the wrestling team, and a member of the student council. At Colgate, Russ was a 4-letter athlete in the same sports plus lacrosse, of which he was captain. He worked in the advertising and financial fields in NY and was a longtime resident of Garden City NY. After retirement in ’91, Russ and wife Joyce moved to Vero Beach FL. Russ loved to play golf. He is survived by a daughter, 3 sons, and 7 grandchildren. Joe was a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory doing research on projects in chemistry, biochemistry, and physics. He was well known and respected in these fields as a project leader and author of many scholarly publications. At MH he sang in choir and a cappella, was elected Cum Laude, and voted by classmates to have the best vocabulary. Unfortunately, he spent his last 3 years in a nursing home suffering from Parkinson’s disease and dementia. He leaves his wife and a son. Richard served in the Army Signal Corps during WWII and attended Stockbridge School of Agriculture in Amherst and then worked as personnel manager for Consolidated Cigar Corp while living in Whatley MA. He served the town as fire chief and was a member of the Congregational Church, Grange, school committee, and Lions Club. He is survived by his wife, 4 sons, and 7 grandchildren. Howard (Buzz) Spellman reports he is strong enough to do a full hour of aerobics once a week and that he still drives a car. He learned to cook and takes care of wife Mollie, who came out of the hospital in ’11. They live in Acadia CA just north of LA. Buzz enjoys movies and books and regrets that he is not well enough to play golf anymore with his grandson or to come to reunions. I had a long phone conversation with Dick Towne, one of our better golfers, who lives in Beaverdam VA. He is still in good health after successful bypass surgery15 years ago. He doesn’t golf much because his golfing group gets up at 5:30 am to play. Both he and wife Anne take care of abandoned dogs. Right now they have 4 of their own inside the house, as well as 4 others in a kennel near their home and 10 in another kennel at a friend’s house. This keeps Dick up late and not too eager to get up early in the morning. Dick, you’d better find some time to sharpen your golf game for our return match with me, Inga, Cal Swan, and Carnot Evans.
Inga and I are still trying to play the top 100 golf courses. Realizing that the current list is difficult to get on because they are mostly private, we started counting any course that has been on the top 100 list in the US or the world since 1985 by Golf Digest or Golf Magazine, which do the rankings. At the end of ’11, we have played 75 but still hope to reach the magic 100 by the time I reach 100. At the end of ’11, 55 members of our graduating class of 138 are still alive. Congratulations on having good genes, perhaps a healthy lifestyle, and good fortune to be one of 40% survivors: 71 are deceased, 7 are lost, and 5 have been removed from the class list by request. The total class list has 68 with the addition of 13 who had been with the class initially but left Mt Hermon to go to other schools or were added to the class list later.
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BETTY BOLGER FLEMING 456 Riverside Dr Princeton NJ 08540-5421 bettyb.fleming@verizon.net
All of us knew Sunny Sundt-Busch, since she led us on every singing occasion, even those of us who could not sing a note. Her son Paul Murtha ’69 was featured in the NMH Magazine ’09 for his work in northern Ecuador, improving education for young girls. Sunny recently wrote a wonderful tribute to her years at Northfield and made it amply clear how much those years meant to her. One of the nice things about being a class secretary is that you occasionally get to know a classmate you never knew while in Northfield. Such is my case with Alice Elder Leake, who has been a big booster to me as I try to track down the news. Although she had no news to report this time around, she wrote to ask about my granddaughter (3). Now that’s a real friend. When the alphabet determined our seating at Northfield, I sat next to Barbara Boger Ramsdell. I met her family once after Northfield, but we lost contact for quite a few years. In my first years as class secretary, Bobbie responded to a call for news. That’s when I learned about her years of struggling with hearing loss that joyously returned after an ocular implant. Sadly, I later learned about the death of her husband. Bobbie came to the rescue again this year when most of my classmates appeared to be dealing with the intricacies of the holidays. She reports that she misses having David around after 61 years of marriage. She met David when she was 8 and he was 12. She is doing well and feels blessed to be well looked after by her kids, and admits to devouring the NMH Magazine. Joan Thompson Baker was in my dorm and was a very special friend to my roommate, Pat Into
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