class notes
“This past year has been filled with lots of volunteer work. In the spring, I was survivor chair of our local American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event; in the fall I was education and advocacy chair for the ACS Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event in Orlando FL; throughout the year I have continued as chair of our local Tobacco-Free Program Partnership; I serve on the leadership board for the American Lung Association and also on their Asthma Run/Walk committee. But the most exciting times for me were my 2 trips to Washington DC to represent EFFORTS, an online support group for COPD patients, and then to attend the 2nd national COPD Conference, where approximately 350 researchers, clinicians, and patients shared the advances made in COPD during the past 10 years and to set goals for the next decade. I was also asked to be part of a workshop panel discussion on advocacy. I came away feeling very hopeful that a cure will be found in my lifetime. COPD is now the 3rd leading cause of death in the US and is estimated to affect 24 million people, 12 million of whom do not even know they have it yet. A simple spirometry test in a physician’s office can diagnose it much earlier than waiting for the patient to become symptomatic. If you have ever smoked, please ask for the test.” Karen and Bill enjoyed a family vacation at Cocoa Beach with their children and grandchildren, and Karen has promised Bill to spend more time on their sailboat now that the boat is closer to home and near their son’s home. Karen and Bill celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this fall. Finally, I must apologize to Margaret McCasland, who wrote several months ago, and I somehow missed adding her comments to the last column. She spent 5 weeks in Australia in ’11 to meet her new grandson, James, born 12/13/10 to Anne McCasland-Pexton ’93 and husband Simon and to celebrate grandson Henry’s (5) birthday. Son Scott is a computer guru in Ithaca NY. Margaret is dismayed by the effects of global warming. To quote her: “Regular trips down under have inspired me to work on ways to slow ‘Global Climate Disruption’ (as I write, northern Canada has had an exceptionally warm winter, and we are having sub-zero weather, so climate disruption seems a better term than warming). Here in NH, Ken and I enjoyed but
Eliza Childs ’67, Will Melton ’67, and Kathy Childs Jones ’64 at Kathy’s 65th birthday party.
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were concerned by the 10/30/11 20" snowstorm that caused so much damage in the Northeast. Remember that our 50th reunion is right around the corner…just a couple years…you know how fast time flies. A few more class tidbits. Anne Wadleigh McAnulty sold her Cape house, so she rented a Cape cottage to enjoy the late summer days. Marjorie Witty posted info on our reunion website, including a remembrance of several teachers; if you are still delinquent and haven’t done so as yet, make it a New Year’s resolution to join us at northfieldandmounthermon1964.com. From Easty: I am now completely retired. You can expect to hear more from me as we approach our 50th reunion. Sally and I now have our 1st grandchild and as many of you know, spoiling them is great fun. Via email Bill Saunders is “retiring happy daughter (teacher in NYC), son (filmmaker/ photographer/actor in LA), and wife (professor and therapist). Thinks of NMH time as perhaps the most soul-feeding period of his life. Just driving through the Pioneer Valley is enough to feel at home.” From Dana Walston: “All 3 children married, 3 grandchildren. Enjoy visiting them in MI, MD, and MA. Still enjoy retirement; making furniture, driving my Miata in the mountains of NY, VT, and NH, and sailing on Buzzards Bay and other NE waters.” From John Carl: “I got a new hip for Christmas. I’m looking forward to returning to tennis and being able to do the 2-step in double time again. Everyone has always told me I needed to be ‘hipper.’” Mark Macomber plans to retire after 35+ years in banking. He ran into Dwight Keeney while vacationing in Southwest Harbor ME (Mt Desert Island). “He and wife Ellen have a vacation home on Deer Island, but it was a surprise to see him in a coffee shop where we were having breakfast. He’s hard to miss as you may recall.” By now all of you should have received information regarding the establishment of the Class of 1964 Scholarship Fund. I hope all of you will do what you can to help make this a significant gift that will go on long after we are gone. If you have not joined our class website, do it today at www.northfieldandmounthermon1964.com. Write soon and send money.
Betty Naughton ’65 with proboscis monkey in Borneo.
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WENDY SWANSON-AVIRGAN 106 Blueberry Dr Stamford CT 06902-1828 wsavirgan@aol.com HENRI RAUSCHENBACH 2 Endicott Lane, PO Box 1064 Brewster MA 02631-7064 henri.rauschenbach@comcast.net
From Wendy: Tony Cantore visited friends Ken and Sylvia Walker in CA last summer and reminisced about the summer of ’63 that he spent working for Ken, the school’s public information officer at the time, in Revell Hall, developing and cataloging photographs of the schools: “It was the same summer that Bruce Johnson worked the conferences at Northfield and we would all gather at the pool at the Northfield Inn in the evening about 7 pm. Bruce would bring his guitar and we would all sing our favorite folk songs and/or swim. That was the summer we organized a Roman Toga Party at the Inman Ice Skating Shelter, which ended with a hayride through the countryside. Debbie Kiendl had just arrived, and I was set up as her blind date to that party.” Tony saw Margaret McGowan in the underground passageway between the capitol and legislative office building in Albany recently, but she was rushing to a meeting and couldn’t stop to talk. Son Matthew and wife Laura had Tony’s 1st granddaughter in Sept, joining 2 older brothers. Matt works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. Younger son Mike is in the 3rd year of a doctoral fellowship in materials eng at UC Santa Barbara. Abigail Crine is looking forward to the July birthday celebration on campus. She would be glad to talk about launching new careers to anyone interested. Hers is Boomer Vitality at www.boomervitality.me, which she is doing in addition to a full-time job at Brandeis. “I am excited about this new look toward aging forward.” Brad Fitzgerald and Lisa went back to MA in Aug to visit his parents near Greenfield and then decided to go see Dave Stone and Tony Cantore in Albany. Tony, who is now a public employees’ lobbyist at the state capitol after having been involved in state politics for many years, gave them a splendid tour of the capitol. They met Dave for lunch and shared NMH stories and caught up on each other’s doings over the past few years. Dave is about to retire from the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, where he has worked since the summer of ’91. He notes that next Feb will be the 1st time he hasn’t worked since he was 14, if you include the Mt Hermon work program. Lisa and Brad average 8 gigs a month with their rock and bluegrass band, Myakka (www.myakkamusic.com). Tom Lemire responded to the class birthday