CLASS NOTES
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Northfield Mount Hermon Susan Loring-Wells susanloring@me.com • Joe Mcveigh joe@joemcveigh.org
From Joe: A group of 46 stalwart class members descended on the NMH campus in June to re-connect and relive the glory days of our youth. In addition to traipsing about the campus and dining in Alumni Hall, highlights included David Bernstein’s Alumni Classroom talk on concert photography and Adam Saffer’s receipt of the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Service Award. Adam’s citation noted his 30 years of work in international development, making the world a better place, and he made a few remarks to the assembled convocation. He and wife Alison had flown in from Cairo for the reunion! • Several determined classmates arose early on Saturday morning to demonstrate their fitness. Pam Kaull rowed in an eight-person shell on the river. Terry Green, Peter Lovell, Dean Steeger, Valerie Malter, Mary Worthington, and Cari Hemenway opted for the 30-mile bicycle Pie Ride. Later in the summer, Cari competed in the Ironman triathlon in Lake Placid, N.Y., her fourth Ironman in four years. • Several classmates attending reunion are parents of current NMH students, including Matt Kennedy, Charlie Knirsch, Dave Belletete, and Elaine Monchak. Elaine, who has moved to Manhattan, recalled fond memories of learning French from Monsieur Cary Bell. • Newell Thomas drove up from Barrington, R.I., to join us for a few hours. Newell designs solar and wind projects and cycles 30 miles every morning. Come for the Pie Ride next time, Newell. Son Casey (26) works in the public schools in Barre, Vt., and coaches lacrosse at Norwich University. Son Ian is 24. • Kevin Sullivan brought wife Rae Latt back to campus to help celebrate four years of marriage. Kevin directs TV sitcoms, most recently Liv and Maddy for Disney. Rae is an actress. You can see her dancing on TV and YouTube in the Gain detergent commercial, “Oops, there it is!” She’s the one in the pink sweater. • Chuck Funderburk returned to campus for the first time in 35 years. After NMH, Chuck went to the University of North Carolina as an undergrad, where he played lacrosse and then stayed on for medical school. After fellowships in Oklahoma and Florida, Chuck and his wife then settled in Oklahoma City, Okla., where Chuck is an orthopedic surgeon. His grown children have gravitated to jobs and schools in the Northeast. • Also returning for the first time in many years was Tracy Hallberg Harvey, who is married to Peter Harvey. Their children are Hunt (20), Rudy (19), and Charlotte (18). After 15 years with Pfizer, Tracy now works at an independent branch of Charles Schwab near her home in Stonington, Conn. It was also terrific to see Darcy Schramn after many years. • Lisa Morgan works in architecture and design in
Rockland, Maine. She also paints and hosts visitors at her Airbnb. Daughter Vivian (18) is a freshman at University of Vermont. Son Adrian (25) lives in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Lisa brought a fabulous scrapbook to reunion that traced the early history of women’s rowing at NMH. Lisa would love to have a reunion of those early rowers, including ’76ers Mary Clifford Tittmann, Pam Kaull, Lori Geissenhainer Bate, Margot Booth, and Mary Stull Gibbons. • Derek Jones lives in Montreal, where he is an attorney specializing in health law and bioethics, exploring issues that arise in areas such as organ donations and tissue transfer technology. He sometimes teaches health law at McGill University. • Special thanks to Laura Stookey Johnson and Susan Loring-Wells for their help in making our reunion a success, along with all the other members of our reunion committee who labored to send out postcards and invitations. • As part of our reunion, we took a few moments to remember our departed classmates, particularly those who died within the last five years: Rusty Lindgren, Dave Marley, Stephen Piscuskas, and most recently, Amy Gladstone-Fischbein. Amy died on 4/22/16 after a serious illness. Mary Worthington and Phebe Gregson had been in touch with her. Phebe remembered fun and memorable times re-connecting with Amy in New York City when their daughters attended NYU. Amy had founded and ran a successful business designing shoes, but her biggest success and pride were her two daughters, Ali and Nicole. Phebe recalled Amy as happy, beautiful, stylish, and full of life. She will be missed. • A week after our reunion, I traveled back to campus again with classmates Michael LaChance and Will Torrey for a reunion of fellow faculty brats. Growing up at NMH is a great experience, but it is also a bit disorienting — when you return years later, all the people that you knew as a child have moved on. We had a wonderful time reminiscing with siblings and nearly 40 “fac brats” who grew up on campus in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. • I occasionally travel to give professional development training workshops for English language teachers for the U.S. Department of State. This year’s trip was to Bahrain and the
United Arab Emirates, where I almost-butnot-quite managed to get together with Bill Bodie, who is living in Abu Dhabi. • You may have caught the article in NMH Magazine’s spring 2016 issue outlining Peter Barbey’s efforts to restore the Village Voice to its rightful place in American journalism. Peter returned to campus in the spring and spoke to students about his experiences in publishing. • Mary Clifford Tittmann and husband John live in Cambridge, Mass. Mary is director of outreach at the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, and John is an architect. Daughter Hester graduated from Hampshire College and works in the Bay Area. Son Henry is studying architecture at Wentworth Institute of Technology. Mary is in touch with Lisa Morgan and Alice Payne Merritt. • Jeanne Finestone is in Kabul working as Afghan program director for Lapis Communications, a strategic communications firm operating in Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. • Ian Horne is the systems developer for the Psychosocial Care Program at Uppsala University, Sweden. This government-sponsored program aims to provide internet-based psychosocial support and psychological self-help to those who need it. He also teaches computer programming. Carter Mario has a successful law practice in Milford, Conn. • David Bernstein was awarded the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award by the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University. David was recognized for his career in program evaluation and public administration. Congratulations, David! • After NMH, Debbie Lipton Appelbaum attended University of Pennsylvania and later worked in sales, marketing, and human resources counseling. She became a “professional volunteer” and spent many years helping the Greenwich, Conn., public schools and the Junior League. Debbie serves as secretary on the Greenwich Board of Education and often works with Bill McKersie ’77, superintendent of schools. Debbie’s husband, Bob, works in the home furnishings industry and participates in triathlons. Daughter Amber (27) is in public relations at Nike Communications in Manhattan, and son Jack (24) graduated in
(From left) ’76ers Michael LaChance, Joe McVeigh, and Will Torrey returned to campus for the inaugural Faculty Brats reunion.
Lisa Morgan ’76 shows off handmade crew singlet from the first NMH women’s crew team.
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