NMH Magazine 2018 Fall

NMH Magazine Northfield Mount Hermon FA L L 2 01 8

THE SOUND OF HISTORY

24 NMH Magazine FALL 2018 Volume 20, Number 1

Editor Jennifer Sutton P’14, ’21 Design Lilly Pereira www.aldeia.design Class Notes Editor Kris Halpin Class Notes Design Harry van Baaren P’16, ’18, ’21 Print Production Pam Lierle P’17 Contributors Tekla McInerney Susan Pasternack Emily Harrison Weir Director of Communications Sharon LaBella-Lindale P’17, ’20 Head of School Charles A. Tierney III P’16, ’19, ’20 Chief Advancement Officer Allyson L. Goodwin ’83, P’12, ’14 Archivist Peter H. Weis ’78, P’13 NMH Magazine Northfield Mount Hermon One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354 413-498-3247 Fax 413-498-3021 nmhmagazine@nmhschool.org Class Notes nmhnotes@nmhschool.org Address Changes Northfield Mount Hermon Advancement Services Norton House One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354 413-498-3300 addressupdates@nmhschool.org Northfield Mount Hermon publishes NMH Magazine (USPS074-860) two times a year in fall and spring. Printed by Lane Press, Burlington, VT 05402

Margaret Honey ’74 on the roof of the New York Hall of Science, where she is CEO.

CONTENTS

NMH Magazine FA L L 2 01 8

F E AT U R E S

18 Hearing History

A century after World War I ended, NMH honors alumni who served.

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24 Design. Make. Play.

That’s how we learn, says educator and museum director Margaret Honey ’74.

30 Math Whiz2

Mona Zhang ’19 is motivated. Her teacher and mentor Abby Ross is, too.

36 The Ultimate Game David Gessner ’79 pens a love letter to his favorite sport on its 50th anniversary.

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DE PARTME NTS

ON THE COVER Music teacher Steve BathoryPeeler and Megan Pei Ying Liao ’19 in NMH’s Memorial Grove.

PHOTO: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY TABLE OF CONTENTS PHOTOS: ANDREW KELLY (LEFT), CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY (TOP), COUR TESY OF DAVID GESSNER (BOTTOM)

2 Postcard 5 Leading Lines 6 Connect 8 Lamplighter Way 14 In Class 16 First Person 17 A Conversation With ...

42 Alumni Hall 47 Class Notes 96 History Lesson 97 Giving Back

A SNA P SH OT FROM CAM PUS

Superfans At a girls’ varsity volleyball game this fall, several high-energy fans in the bleachers caught the eye of photographer Glenn Minshall. “I think this moment captured us celebrating a big hit,” says Marcel Awori ’20 (bottom right). As the team dug deep, came from behind, and finished strong with a win against Loomis Chaffee, the small but supportive crowd went wild. “It was an amazing moment of pure pride that I felt for my peers on the volleyball court,” says Khamari Culcleasure ’20 (bottom center). Clockwise from top: Olisa Tasie-Amadi ’20 (in dark cap), Mickey Ameris ’19, Awori, Culcleasure, Jack Molloy ’21, Minka Soumah ’19, and Zach Dekker ’21.

PHOTO: GLENN MINSHALL

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A SNAP SHOT FR OM CAMPUS

POSTCARD

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you.

It’s thanks to

NMH students are going out into the world with a strong sense of humanity and purpose.

Your NMH Fund gift allows the school to offer a rigorous academic program where questions are valued as much as knowledge and where honor and integrity matter.

Our faculty are teaching NMH students the intricacies of history and literature, real-world applications for math, and the mind-blowing power of computer science.

What better way to change the world. Transform lives. Give to the NMH Fund. nmhschool.org/give

BY C H A RL ES A . T IE RN EY III, H EA D OF S C H OOL

LEADING LINES

Becoming Stakeholders

NMH expects a lot from its students. They expect a lot from their school.

As the first week of school drew to a close in early September, I sat down to dessert with a dozen members of the class of 2019. I had invited them to Ford Cottage for a specific reason: I wanted to take stock. This is a crossroads year for Northfield Mount Hermon, as we prepare to welcome a new head of school. While I will meet with many alumni and parents in the coming months — and I trust you all will have much to say — it also feels appropriate and necessary to ask current students, NMH’s primary reason for being, what they are thinking.

And so my dessert guests, all leaders on campus in one way or another, reported in. Yes, they were stressing over college applications, yet classes had gotten off to a good start. They were excited to pursue new ventures during their senior year. They were energized by the chemistry on their sports teams. The vibe on campus, they said, felt good.

Some shared that they felt old. At 17 or 18, these seniors are still kids, but as they welcomed the new ninth graders that first week of school, they wondered to themselves: Did we ever look that young? Did we have the same deer-in-the-headlights look? I assured them that they most definitely did.

They registered feeling older beneath the surface, too. They talked about responsibility, how they want to inspire and reassure younger students just as older students once inspired and reassured them.

They talked about the responsibility they feel to NMH itself, the institution. They are thinking about the legacy they will leave behind. They want to strengthen their dorm communities and clubs and affinity groups this year, in order to help people live fuller, more balanced lives on campus. They want to model, in their own ways, NMH’s mission of acting

with humanity and purpose. They want more say in developing campus policies that affect their daily lives. They also want the school to practice what it preaches and be as inclusive as possible when it comes to different worldviews and voices.

In other words, they have become stakeholders.

Contributors. They no longer reside just in intake or consumer mode. They are giving back, and pushing back, asking NMH to live up to its potential, not just for them this year as they approach adulthood, but for all the students who come after them.

As we sat around the table and the dessert disappeared, I asked them to characterize, in a word or a phrase, what they value about their NMH experience. At the top of the list, not surprisingly, were the school’s excellent academics and the opportunity to work with teachers who truly love what they are teaching. Another word that stood out to me was “perspective” — as in learning how to recognize what you have, what others have, and how those two things are connected. And, finally, there was this: “NMH makes you uncomfortable, in a good way,” one student said. Being pushed to do what’s unfamiliar and difficult “has made me a better person,” the student said.

I am so grateful for my time with these wise and lively students. It inspired me to meet with more of their classmates around the table in Ford Cottage throughout the year. Their thoughtful questions and reflections can serve as guideposts for the school, just as yours do. All of us at NMH can gain perspective through learning, dialogue, debate, and shared meals, and we can push each other in good, productive ways. It can make us better people, and an even more remarkable school. [NMH]

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CONNECT

KEEP IT UP The topics covered in the Spring 2018 edition of NMH Magazine were the most expansive in tenor that I can recall. The snapshot from Spain, for example, renewed my interest and attracted my attention.

As a former Wall Street lawyer who spent more than three decades traveling the world doing deals as a hired gun for a federal agency, I thought the piece by Caleb Daniloff ’88 about fellow alumnus Jason Matthews ’69 was spot on. We need to see more pieces about our popular, accomplished alumni in future issues. I am a Matthews fan, having spent a good deal of time in Eastern Europe, doing deals in Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, and the former Yugoslavia.

Finally, there were parting comments from our departed head, but little discussion about the kind of individual who will lead NMH into the future. As a law school lecturer, I recently read James E. Ryan’s new book, Wait, What?, an expansion of his Harvard Graduate School of Education commencement speech that went viral on the internet.

Find [a head] who has read that book, given it meaningful thought, and asked the questions the book proposes we consider.

Keep up the good work.

Thatcher A. Stone ’73 Charlottesville, Virginia

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SOCIAL

@NMHSchool

The #NMHfarm welcomed new faculty members this year with a meal served right on the farm. From the blueberry-basil lemonade to the ice cream with rhubarb sauce, all the ingredients were produced on the NMH campus or sourced nearby.

@NMHSchool Seho Myung ’18 was victorious last spring after answering a question correctly at Friday Night Trivia. #NMHlife #trivia

New students got an enthusiastic welcome to Hubbard (Cottage 4) from resident leaders Annika Voorheis ’20 and Ayleen Cameron ’20. #backtoschool

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL, COURTESY OF NMH ARCHIVES AND CARA HOLMES ’12.

L ET T E RS/ EMA IL /S OC IA L M E DIA

NMH Farm Products

@NMHSchool When the call went out to alumni on Facebook to share photos of #vintageNMH apparel and gear, Cara Holmes ’12 and her JV lax T-shirt got the unofficial farthest-away award: Neko Harbour, Antarctica.

Download an order form at www.nmhschool.org/studentlife/farm-program/order-farm-products or return a copy of this order form, along with a check payable to Northfield Mount Hermon, to: Farm Program, NMH, One Lamplighter Way, Mount Hermon, MA 01354.

Please attach mailing instructions to your order.

All prices include shipping. Please note: The minimum order for each mailing address is $25.

Students returning to NMH this fall drove onto campus through similar gates, but with a vastly different view. #oldschool

Name Address (please, no P.O. boxes) City State Zip Telephone

❑ day ❑ evening

MAPLE PRODUCTS

QUANTITY

Maple cream

$15

Half pint syrup (Grade A)

$14

Pint syrup (Grade A)

$23

Quart syrup (Grade A)

$34

Half gallon syrup (Grade A)

$53

Pure maple sugar candy (One box contains two 1-oz. maple leaves)

$4

FRUIT PRODUCTS Strawberry jam (8 oz.)

GET IN TOUCH Let us know what you think. Correspondence will be edited for length, clarity, and grammar, and should pertain to magazine content. All views expressed belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies and positions of NMH. Reach us at nmhmagazine@nmhschool.org.

$9

Strawberry jam (12 oz.)

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Raspberry jam (8 oz.)

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TOTAL

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LAMPLIGHTER WAY

A Collaborative Leader “Thankful.” “Excited.” That was how Brian H. Hargrove described his reaction at being named NMH’s 12th head of school last month.

“To follow in the footsteps of visionaries, educational leaders, and gifted teachers in serving NMH is incredibly humbling,” he says. “I am honored, but more important, I am committed to serving the school with the kind of devotion, optimism, and love that has shaped it for nearly 140 years.”

The NMH Board of Trustees announced Hargrove’s appointment on Oct. 1, following a national search that began in February. Hargrove will officially become head of school on campus on July 1, 2019, and until then, Charles A. Tierney III P’16, ’19, ’20 will continue to serve as head. In July 2019, Tierney will resume his post as associate head of school.

Hargrove will come to NMH from Mercersburg Academy, a coed boarding and day school in Pennsylvania with about 440 students, where he currently works as assistant head of school for advancement and communications.

“What you see is what you get,” Hargrove told faculty and staff during a campus visit in September, explaining his transparent approach to leadership.

His educational philosophy is equally straightforward. “I believe we can change the world through education,” he says. “Our world needs citizens endowed with the qualities we nurture in our students. As we succeed, I believe

NMH Magazine

PHOTO: GLENN MINSHALL

Brian Hargrove Is NMH’s Next Head of School.

B Y EMILY HAR RISO N W E IR

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STORIES/N EWS FROM CAM P US

“ Few schools succeed in holding to their ‘true north’ in the way that NMH has. It’s unique. It’s powerful.” we make a very real difference in the world.”

“In Brian, we have found a leader for our entire community,” says Mariah Draper Calagione ’89, P’18, ’20, chair of the NMH Board of Trustees. “He understands and appreciates the strong culture of NMH; he embodies not only excellence but also NMH’s mission of humanity and purpose; and he’s a collaborative leader who brings people together. He’s a positive, solution-oriented person.”

When Hargrove and his wife, Linda, a lawyer, toured the campus and met with NMH community members, they both “felt pulled in with each successive step,” Hargrove says.

“The natural beauty of the campus is awe-inspiring, yet it is no match for the people. Linda and I connected with the heart-felt nature of the community. It’s clear that NMH is a fulfilling place to live and work, and that students and adults alike love the school and believe in its mission.”

Hargrove is ready to make that mission his own. “Head, heart, and hand — these words resonate deeply with me,” he says. “Few schools succeed in holding to their ‘true north’ in the way NMH has. It’s unique. It’s powerful. And it must be leveraged further as we live our mission.”

Over the past two decades, Hargrove has held leadership roles

3 0 S QUA RES Students in a 2017 Painting I class worked together on this multi-panel homage to a piece by the artist Janet Fish titled “Raspberries, Nasturtiums, and Goldfish.”

in both education and the private sector. He began his advancement career at Gettysburg College, his undergraduate alma mater, and raised $110 million at St. Mark’s School of Texas before joining the Mercersburg community and leading its $300 million campaign. He holds a master’s degree in school leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Texas State University.

Even though his new job doesn’t officially begin until

summer, Hargrove says he’s eager to start working on behalf of NMH. “This is an important moment in the life of the school” with “remarkable opportunities” ahead, he says. “We will continue to work with students in ways that are true to our character and, in doing so, we will raise the bar for all schools. How could I not be excited by this bold endeavor?”

Learn more about NMH’s new head at www.nmhschool.org.

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LAMP LIG H T E R WAY

“Jerusalem,” Deconstructed The adjectives “these” and “those” are totally mundane, right? Not exactly words that would foment controversy. This fall, during the first few weeks of school, a ninthgrade Humanities I class decided otherwise.

They were studying NMH’s school song, “Jerusalem,” and comparing the original verses, written by the British poet William Blake in the early 1800s, with the musical version that Hubert Parry created during World War I to rally England’s troops. Blake wrote of “these dark Satanic mills” as a way of calling out the evil he saw in England’s Industrial Revolution and its subsequent pollution and child labor. A century later, Parry changed the reference to “those” Satanic mills, in order to set England apart from its German opponents in battle. When NMH adopted “Jerusalem” as its school

song in 1971, as Northfield and Mount Hermon were merging into a single school, it went with Parry’s version.

Now is the time, today’s ninthgraders say, for NMH to return to using “these” when the song is sung at all-school meetings and special school events. In class, they drafted handwritten notes to Head of School Charlie Tierney arguing their case. They stated that 1) NMH should “stay true to Blake’s original wording”; 2) “these” would be more grammatically consistent (“our clouded hills,” “these Satanic mills,” etc.); and 3) “these” is a better metaphorical fit for NMH because it makes global issues “our problems rather than someone else’s problems that we don’t have to do anything about.”

Lori Veilleux, a religious studies and philosophy teacher whose class wrote the notes to Tierney, says

that even though her 15-year-old students are new to NMH, they recognize that “this is a place where they inherit tradition, but not a place where we do things simply because it’s tradition.” Essentially, she says, her students are “having a conversation about their responsibilities and capabilities as changemakers, not just with their school song but also in the world beyond.

They’re talking about living with humanity and purpose, and how they can make NMH’s song reflect that better.”

In response, Tierney pulled out a pen and exchanged several notes with Veilleux’s class, clearly relishing the old-school epistolary relationship as well as the thoughtfully reasoned arguments. He recently wrote to the students, “I will take up your suggestion for ‘Jerusalem’ with my esteemed colleagues and will reply posthaste.”

Where Legends Play The first Newport Jazz Festival, 64 years ago, featured legends like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, and Dizzy Gillespie. This year’s festival showcased not only a 21st-century lineup of greats — Christian McBride, Andra Day, Pat Metheny — but also two NMH students: drummer Jacob Smith ’21 (left), who played with a Berklee College of Music ensemble, and Miles Kaming-Thanassi ’19, a trumpet player with the Massachusetts All-State Jazz Ensemble. “The great musicians that you hear millions of stories about, they all played at Newport,” Smith says. “The fact that you get to be a part of it — it’s amazing.”

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PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL

L AM P L IG H T E R WAY

PIT C H P E R F E C T Before goalkeeper María Echezarreta Fernández ’20 stepped into the net for the girls’ varsity soccer team in September, she led Spain’s national team to the Union of European Football Associations U19 championship in July. She earned All-Tournament honors for three shutouts in four games.

FINISHING STRONG Yaraslau Slavikouski ’19 took third for Belarus at the Junior European Wrestling Championships in Rome. He’s the two-time defending New England Champion (195 lbs).

In August, Oliver Drake ’06 pitched a shutout ninth inning in a win for the Minnesota Twins, becoming the first player in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to play for five teams in a single season. He also pitched for the Brewers, Indians, Angels, and Blue Jays during the 2018 season and was profiled by The New York Times.

Faceoff specialist Max Adler ’13 led the Denver Outlaws in defeating the Dallas Rattlers and winning the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Championship in August.

Inside Lacrosse profiled Adler and noted the “tireless work ethic” that took him to the “highest level of the sport.”

Last April, math teacher and crew coach Taylor Washburn placed 112th in the 2018 Boston Marathon, out of nearly 27,000 runners. He crossed the finish line with a time of 2:38:27 — a 6:03/mile pace.

RE CORD-BREA K I NG RUN Smashing the NMH cross-country 5K course record this fall was Richard Sturtevant ’19, with a time of 15:54, beating the previous record by a whopping 25 seconds (16:19, set by Mohamed Hussein ’14).

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LAMP LIG H T E R WAY

MARIAH CALAGIONE ’89 NAMED NEW BOARD CHAIR The NMH Board of Trustees has elected Mariah Draper Calagione ’89, P’18, ’20 to serve as its chair for the next three years.

Calagione has been an active trustee for seven years, and her NMH roots run deep.

She is the daughter of the late Thomas Draper ’60, a former NMH trustee, and the sister of Thomas Draper Jr. ’94. She and husband Sam Calagione ’88 founded and continue to lead Dogfish Head Brewery, which includes two restaurants and an inn in Rehoboth Beach and Lewes, Delaware.

Calagione says it’s been a productive first few months on the job. “I didn’t exactly come into it during a period of low activity,” she says

wryly, referring to the search for a new head of school that she helped lead during the summer and early fall. That work showed her “how passionate people are in every corner” of NMH, she says.

Calagione’s primary responsibility now is to guide and support Brian Hargrove, who was hired in October as NMH’s 12th head.

The next 12 to 18 months will be “critically important” for NMH, she says. “It takes time for a leader to come into an organization and learn it through and through, so this is actually a big opportunity for the entire NMH community — to do an amazing job onboarding our new head of school.”

Writing Plays, Teaching Students Jared Eberlein, director of NMH’s theater program, had quite a summer. His play Click!

(A Travel Motif ) was one of 10 finalists, out of more than 850 submissions, in the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival in New York City in August. His newest composition, I’ll String Along With You, had a workshop production at the New World Theatre in New Hampshire, where he was playwriting fellow.

Seeing both plays come to life gave Eberlein insights that infused his work with students this fall, especially in his playwriting course. “I tell students that we all start with that horrible first blank page, but also with a wealth of human experience,” he says.

“The convergence of those things is where every play comes from.”

In Click!, two characters wait for a city bus and watch as driver after driver catch sight of them and lock

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Eberlein (second from left) with students in an acting class last fall.

their car doors (“click!”) while stopped at a traffic light.

The two men bond over their shared reality that people’s lives in the U.S. are frighteningly different, depending on the color of their skin.

Working with directors, playwrights, and actors both in

New York and New Hampshire reminded Eberlein that “students need focus and discipline, but they also need space to breathe,” he says. “If we’re jamming theory after theory down their throats, they won’t be able to express themselves any better than when they started.”

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL

L AM P L IG H T E R WAY

How to Face an Epithet When American-literature teachers assign books by James Baldwin, Mark Twain, or Claudia Rankine, they know there’s a difficult conversation ahead: how to deal with the n-word. Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, a history professor at Smith College who specializes in 19th-century U.S. history and race, visited NMH this fall to speak with a group of faculty about tackling the topic. Pryor frames her own scholarly work on the n-word with personal experience; she’s the daughter of the

late comedian Richard Pryor, whose unflinching examinations of racism helped make him a 20th-century icon.

Dr. Pryor was clear: She does not advocate saying the n-word; she advocates talking about the history of the word and its multiple contexts. Teachers who avoid or shut down the discussion when it comes up in the classroom are “reinstituting harm because they’re forcing students to fend for themselves,” she says.

IN THE WOODS

The hundreds of acres surrounding NMH are more than just a beautiful forest. Biology classes do research among the trees; English classes bring their books and journals to the edges of Shadow Lake for reading and reflection; cross-country runners, Nordic skiers, mountain bikers, and hikers take to the trails in every season. Forester Mike Mauri manages the land with one over-arching goal, he says: to keep the native tree population diverse and the forest structure healthy for present and future generations to use.

ILLUSTRATION: JESSICA MCGUIRL; PHOTO: COUR TESY OF SMITH COLLEGE

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IN CLASS

Half of History

What do Abigail Adams, the #MeToo movement, and the Northfield School for Girls have in common?

B Y JENNIFER SUT T O N

Early one morning last spring, teacher Chris Edler took her Women’s History class over the Connecticut River for a tour of the former Northfield School for Girls.

NMH Archivist Peter Weis led the group around the campus, stopping first at Round Top, the grassy hill where school founder D.L. Moody and his wife, Emma, are buried.

“Is it disrespectful to take pictures?” one student asked. And then: “Why doesn’t it say ‘husband of Emma?’ on D.L.’s grave when it says ‘wife of D.L.’ on hers?”

Edler nods, as if to say, Bingo!

That century-old disparity between Mr. Moody and Mrs. Moody epitomizes why women’s history classes exist. “We’re at a critical juncture where women are making some incredible strides, but in other ways — no,” Edler says. To understand how slowly society changes, she adds, just look at today’s Fortune 500 leaders; only about 5 percent are female. NMH’s Women’s History course aims not only to examine the past, but also “to show girls and young women that yes, they matter; what they have to say matters.”

Edler kicks things off with Abigail Adams. She has her students read the 1776 letter Adams wrote to her husband, John Adams, who was working with the Continental Congress to craft the Declaration of Independence. She advised the

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Founding Fathers to “remember the ladies,” and warned, “We are determined to foment a rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”

From British writer Mary Wollstonecraft to the 19th-century suffragists Elizabeth Cady-Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, from second-wave feminists Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem to the U.N.’s “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,” from the first woman Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor to the writer bell hooks, Edler and her students explore how women around the globe struggle to find the “voice” that Abigail Adams wrote of.

The class also zooms in and examines what’s right around them — not just Northfield, but also stories about their own lives and families. Edler says, “I want students to get a sense of why they are where they are, why they have the opportunities they have” — in other words, how they fit into the history they’re studying. “The class allowed me to see where issues that I care about stem from,” says Isabel Lewis ’18. Liza Riehs ’18 recognized how Susan B. Anthony’s labor activism in the mid-1800s “helped pave the way so that during my summer job, I am paid the same amount as my male co-workers for doing the same

work.” Amanda Aalto ’18 hadn’t realized that certain rights she takes for granted, like being able to drive, or voting, aren’t universal — alluding to Saudi Arabia, where women couldn’t vote until 2015, or drive until last year.

And a women’s history class today would feel incomplete without considering the #MeToo movement, which exploded a year ago with dozens of accusations of sexual assault leveled against the American film producer Harvey Weinstein. Is the class more relevant now, after a year of women speaking out publicly in the U.S. and around the world about assaults and

Student in NMH’s Women’s History class visit the former Northfield School for Girls.

“ Everything happening now rests on the bedrock of women who came before.”

Teacher: Chris Edler Years at NMH: 28 Other courses: World History (sophomore humanities), U.S. History, Shared Voices (combined American Literature and U.S. History) Education: Bachelor’s degree in American studies, Skidmore; master’s degree in women’s history, Dartmouth Before NMH: Taught history at Williston Northampton School, 1984–89; and at Moorestown Friends School, 1989–90

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL , MICHAEL DW YER

harassment? Edler says no. “The class is women’s history, not women’s issues,” she points out. “There’s a lot of overlap, but it’s important to remember that everything happening now rests on the bedrock of the women who came before.”

One challenge of the course is how to bring in the other side of the story, or the other voice in the conversation: that of men. Not many boys show up in the classroom. It’s unfortunate, Edler says, and a little puzzling, because the course is not about “berating men.” There were plenty of men, like the journalist, suffragist, and abolitionist William

Lloyd Garrison, who joined women in their fight for equity during the mid-1800s. “We’re simply learning about another part of history,” Edler says, like African American history or immigration history.

A different challenge — a good one — is that the discussion-based class “goes where the students take it.” They might start the day with Betty Friedan and end up talking about the #MeToo movement. Or start with Susan B. Anthony and end up examining how gender and sexism intersect with race and racism.

Or start with Emmeline Pankhurst, who was criticized for her political activism in England, and end up with Gloria Steinem. “I never know what connections they’ll make, and that’s exciting,” Edler says.

In the end, the course is designed to feed students’ desire for change.

Isabel Lewis, for one, envisions a history curriculum in which men and women are equally represented, so “there would be no need for a women’s history class.” Edler says, “I want students to understand that everything women have gone through in the past 200 years has been a fight taken up by ordinary citizens. They can be part of whatever comes next.” [NMH]

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FIRST PERSON

Together, in the Wilderness

The sunrises were stunning. So were the bagels fried in bacon grease.

BY A L BE RT BO O T H ’60

“ This was a tradition, being outdoors with NMH friends.”

Albert Booth, a former NMH trustee, joined the Appalachian Mountain Club when he was 5.

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Any canoeist worth their salt loves a following wind. One spring day on Chesuncook Lake in northern Maine, a favorable wind came up, so the six of us — including three NMH grads — rigged sails with our ponchos, lashed our canoes together, put up a paddle for a main mast, and flew south down the lake. We cut through the water, creating a sizable wake, and arrived at our evening’s campsite several hours early, rested and enthused.

This was a tradition, being outdoors with NMH friends. During the summer after graduation, I worked at the Northfield Conferences with several other recent Northfield and Mount Hermon graduates, and during our off-time, we discussed, among other things, our love of the outdoors.

At the end of that summer, a few of us took a 15-day hike along the Presidential Range in northern New Hampshire. We cooked our meals over fires and stayed, for the most part, in AMC shelters. The following summer, we gathered for a week of hiking in the Franconia Range. The summer after that took us to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario for 11 days of canoeing. After taking a break from the trips to focus on careers and marriages and children, we were back at it again in 2005, and over the years, we’ve taken 12 more trips into the woods. A dozen of us NMH graduates, including our children, have hiked and canoed together on New England’s remote trails and lakes.

Despite our varying degrees of skill, we always managed to fashion a team that did not feud or sulk even though we were often up to 50 miles from civilization. Admittedly, we were not facing life-or-death dangers, but we had to be careful of egos and avoid

in-fighting and personal slights. Plus, at the end of each day, we had to set up camp, scour for firewood, and prepare dinner, and that was after canoeing or hiking 10 to 15 miles. It was easy to feel pushed to the limits.

Amazingly, we found that when we went ashore or reached our campsite, each person, without direction or encouragement, would immediately pick a job to do. There was never any sitting around while others worked. Year after year, we melded a harmonious whole out of a group of strong-willed individuals.

What we had learned at our school about work and being considerate of one another was a significant element in the success of our trips. “Me first” and “I’m better than you” did not exist at Northfield Mount Hermon.

Sadly, our adventures are over now. The truth is that age has caught up with us. We reluctantly have put aside our bagels cooked in bacon grease, four-egg cheese omelets with hash browns, and cowboy coffee. We have stored away our fire-starting skills using flint and a “bird’s nest” of dried moss, cedar bark, and a tree fungus called “chaga.”

Thoreau once wrote that “we need the tonic of wilderness,” and he was correct, but that tonic is much better with longtime friends. Together, our group saw otherworldly sunrises, night skies full of stars, and the northern lights, all of which were as much a reward as conquering a dangerous set of rapids. We breathed in the beauty of the tall conifers and the broad, leafy ash and maples; the sun reflecting brilliantly off the water; the incongruity of a moose swimming across a lake and nearly bumping into our canoes, gazing up at us and wondering, I am sure, what we were doing on her lake.

Gosh, I wish I was back there. [NMH]

PHOTOS: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY, COURTESY OF ALBERT BOOTH

A CONVERSATION WITH …

Thérèse Collins Director of Financial Aid

Born in Antigua, Collins moved to the United States to attend the City College of New York. After graduating, she tutored children in math, and decided against law school in favor of working in independent schools — as a teacher, admission officer, and eventually, in financial aid.

She recently earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.

TURNING POINT I took a college course called “The Psychology of Religion” and was fascinated. I was raised Catholic on a Christian island. Exploring other ideas about faith and God actually made me a better Catholic, and allowed me to have a better sense of myself and the world, which helps me do my job with empathy.

PUZZLES & PEOPLE In financial-aid work, you use your brain in different ways. I like the numbers and calculations. I enjoy looking deeply at tax returns — they’re a puzzle I can solve. But I also like the human side of the job: meeting families, making sure students have what they need.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS The first is that the money is limitless. We give aid to about 30 percent of our students. Some people see that number as low, but we’re a tuition-driven school, so we have to balance between people who wouldn’t have the opportunity without aid and those who are able to pay. The second is who we fund.

It’s not just families who can’t afford it. We provide

access to talented kids who can contribute to the school community in specific ways — as academic leaders, or to our sports teams or arts programs.

THE HARD PART It’s helping students make the transition to NMH and feel they truly have access to the opportunities here, like music lessons or study-abroad trips. If all your friends are buying an NMH sweatshirt and you only have 50 cents in your pocket, then you feel like an outsider. Increasing the non-tuition aid budget has been a project of mine since I’ve been here.

“ I like being the bridge between families and the opportunity that NMH represents.”

of stability. I think about what a difference financial aid made in my own life, and that helps when parents call. I think they see me as someone who understands.

HEAD, HEART I want to have a good reason for everything I do. I take everything back to the mission of the school, and what’s fair to families. I want to make decisions that have heart.

MOST MEANINGFUL I like being the bridge between families and the opportunity that NMH represents. This place can catapult many kids into a good college, a career, and a sense

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Music teacher Steve BathoryPeeler P’20 and Megan Pei Ying Liao ’19 in Memorial Grove.

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PHOTO: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

A century after World War I came to a grueling and deadly end, NMH remembers alumni who served.

HEARING HISTORY

BY E M I LY H AR R I S O N W EI R

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Lt. William Griffin (left) of Winthrop, Massachusetts, was killed in the Battle of Saint Agnan in France.

Below, Bathory-Peeler in Memorial Grove.

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hen news broke that an armistice had ended World War I, crowds across Europe and America cheered, popped champagne corks, and danced in the streets. But for many at the front, there was only eerie silence when the gunfire ceased on Nov. 11, 1918. Eyewitnesses said weary soldiers doubted that the peace would hold. But it did. Four long years of muddy, bloody battle had cost some nine million lives. Sixty-nine of the dead had attended Mount Hermon.

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At 6 am on Nov. 11, 2018 — exactly one century after the armistice — a small troupe of NMH bagpipers played “The Battle’s Over” in memory of all who lost their lives in the war. They were joining close to 1,000 pipers around the world that day — all playing at 6 am — in the Scottish tune traditionally used to march soldiers back to barracks at the end of the day.

NMH performing arts teacher Steve BathoryPeeler P’20 and his protégée Megan Pei Ying Liao ’19, in full piping regalia, played the tune at NMH’s Memorial Grove. The stand of 69 white pines was planted on Memorial Day 1928 by the graduating seniors to honor “Mount Hermon men who gave the last full measure of devotion,” as a plaque in the nearby chapel states.

The trees have grown from saplings to living sentinels that tower over those who enjoy their cool shade in summer or go there for a quiet moment to ponder the past. Bathory-Peeler has spent time in the grove, set between the head of school’s home and the health center, and says, “it’s very moving to be there.”

Since few on campus were awake at 6 am that Sunday, Nov. 11 — at least until the bagpipers struck up their rousing tune — a second campus gathering took place later that day. Memorial Chapel’s bells tolled once for each of the Mount Hermon dead, and their names were read aloud.

The simple yet powerful bagpipe tribute was especially meaningful, since bagpipers were often the first out of the trenches during World War I. Playing loudly, unarmed pipers were an easy target for enemy fire, and an estimated 500 died that way in the Great War.

NMH’S COMMEMORATION had its origins more than a year ago. In the summer of 2017, BathoryPeeler was studying at the College of Piping in Glasgow, Scotland, when he heard about the worldwide “Battle’s Over” plan. He quickly connected the dots from his own interest in piping to NMH’s Memorial Grove and the plaque in the chapel.

“Clearly this mattered to the school,” he thought.

“We should do something.”

Back at NMH, Bathory-Peeler asked archivist Peter Weis ’78, P’13 about the Mount Hermon men

The simple yet powerful bagpipe tribute was especially meaningful, since bagpipers were often the first out of the trenches during World War I. Playing loudly, they were an easy target for enemy fire, and an estimated 500 died that way in the Great War.

or jobs to become soldiers. Others had helped the war effort as civilians, through the YMCA, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army, and as assistants in the War Department in Washington. One archival document counted 1,469 Mount Hermon-connected people who served.

Northfield women also supported the war effort.

Many were nurses or did relief work, according to Weis. Florence Marshall, class of 1895, was head of the Woman’s Bureau of the Red Cross. “When the U.S. entered the war and pledged her men to stand with the Allies … the women of the country were equally pledged,” she wrote in 1918.

who died in the war. Though it was no small feat, Weis unearthed the school files of all 69 men, and those of others who served and survived. Among the academic records were original letters the soldiers had sent to the school.

Bathory-Peeler, who directs NMH’s orchestra, knew that student violinist Mary Wells ’18 was interested in history, and he connected her with Weis. She delved into the World War I files as a workjob project, which dovetailed perfectly with her European history course.

[See sidebar for more about Wells’s experience.] As she read, made notes, and organized, the war became less and less abstract, and she started thinking that recognizing the soldiers’ sacrifice “is our responsibility as students and teachers.”

She saw individual lives emerging in the letters, most of which were addressed to then headmaster Henry Cutler. Harry Fittus operated a transport ship in the English Channel. Paul Beeben drove an ambulance to and from the front lines. Some men who died had been current Mount Hermon students who put their education on hold to enlist in the Army and Navy. Some were alumni who had left college

PHOTOS: COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVES, CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

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WELLS FOUND COMMON GROUND with the soldiers she was reading about. “They’d talk about living in Crossley, about being in the chapel, about speakers who came, about Mountain Day,” she says. “This was 100 years ago! It must have been so different, but somehow it’s also the same.”

A few letters from enlistees vividly conveyed the horrors of war. Carroll Hodges wrote of being in several “shows” (battles). “The conditions, by which I mean the weather and mud, were terrible,” he wrote.

“The enemy appeared to have been waiting for this attack, so that no sooner than our barrage started than the Hun laid a heavy barrage on our area.”

Portions of this letter were erased, presumably by a military censor.

Harry Fittus dodged mines as his ship ran troops from Southampton, England, to French ports “in the dark, still hours of the nights.” One letter noted his pride at carrying “so many troops so safely across the seas, especially on uncanny ‘junk boxes’ like this present ship. It is a habit of hers to break down in the danger zone.”

Paul Beeben escaped shelling as he drove his ambulance. “Our work is rather strenuous,” he wrote.

“ On the road the other day, I met Cornelius Vanderbilt fixing a car, and in another camp, a millionaire eating beans out of a tin can.”

FRANK L. HOWE, in Belgium

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caption here

“Sometimes things occur which make me wonder if I’ll ever see you all again.”

But most of the letters were surprisingly upbeat.

“In spite of the discomfort, there is a lot of real humor through it all,” Frank L. Howe wrote from Belgium.

“On the road the other day, I met Cornelius Vanderbilt fixing a car, and in another camp, a millionaire eating beans out of a tin can.” Howe also said that he’d met the king of England.

The soldiers often thanked Cutler for their time at Mount Hermon, and asked him to let current students know how much their school experience would benefit them. One soldier wrote, “Whenever any of the [Mount Hermon] boys complain of your strict rules, you may tell them they had better try the Army. The two things in my life that I shall always be proud of is, first, that I am a soldier in my country’s service, and second, that I am a Mount Hermon man.”

While reading the letters, Weis said he was struck by “the love that former students felt for this place.”

That was clear in thank-you notes sent to Cutler after the school mailed a slice of Christmas fruitcake to every Mount Hermon-related serviceman they knew

Sgt. Paul Buck’s thank-you letter to Headmaster Henry Cutler (far left); coverage in The Boston Globe (left); researcher Mary Wells ’18 (below).

of in December 1917. “As usual, you and the School are trying to cheer up us boys who are away from home,” Sgt. Paul Buck wrote. Weis says, “That slice of fruitcake was a Proustian thing that reminded them of the school.”

Wells also noted that it was “obvious how much the school and the students cared about each other.” Buck’s letter continued, “I remember only too well how you did everything possible for our happiness at the School on the Christmas of 1913, when I spent my first Christmas away from home.” In France, surrounded by soldiers and strangers, Buck always managed to find “Hermon boys,” he wrote. “We have always tried to carry the ideals of the school with us, and where ever [sic] we have been, we have tried to do our best to help bring a lasting peace for the entire world.”

It was to commemorate men like Buck that NMH pipers played in Memorial Grove on Nov. 11. Those pine trees stand today in silent tribute, their thick trunks testifying to the many years that have elapsed since the armistice. “Watching the passage of time through the growth of a tree is a powerful experience,” notes Bathory-Peeler.

“If we stop and listen, we can hear history.” [NMH]

IMAGES COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVES, PHOTO: MICHAEL DWYER

“ These Soldiers Were Once a Lot Like Me.”

BY MARY WELLS ’18 Thank you, Professor Cutler.

That’s what Mount Hermon students who fought in World War I said over and over in letters they wrote to the school and the headmaster in 1917 and 1918.

It was my job to read those letters.

Partway through my senior year, NMH archivist Peter Weis and my music teacher Steve Bathory-Peeler asked me if I was interested in a workjob sorting through the files of the 69 Mount Hermon students who died in the war.

I love history, so to me nothing could beat reading hundreds of first-person war accounts — by people who were once a lot like me. This was the ultimate primary source.

I started working in the library four hours a week, reading through those 69 files, then all the World War I military files, looking for anything interesting — which almost everything was. I especially loved the fruitcake letters. In December 1917, Mount Hermon headmaster Henry Cutler and the dining services staff sent a piece of “West Hall Christmas cake,” aka fruitcake, to all alumni participating in the war overseas. Cutler received almost 50 thank-you letters in return. The nostalgia and gratitude that these students felt for Mount Hermon made me feel grateful to be an NMH student.

The library became a time machine for me. Even though I sometimes struggled to read the students’ beautiful cursive handwriting, I got so entranced that I began to forget how historical the letters were. It was like I was with these young men in Belgium, or France, or even on the home front. One of my teachers asked me if it was weird to hold something that was over 100 years old in my hands. Yes, it was. It was surreal. The traumas that these students faced — I couldn’t believe that bravery like theirs existed.

One student wrote about a horrific night spent moving through trenches, worrying the whole time that it might be the end of his life; another wrote about sailing around the world and the yellow fever that broke out on his ship near South Africa. Many others wrote about their memories of Mount Hermon, such as going sledding with Professor Cutler, and how they longed for that feeling of safety again.

All these letters reminded me how much there is to love about NMH, and how lucky we all are. A bust of Professor Cutler resides in our science building, which is named after him. After seeing how much the World War I Mount Hermon students wanted to thank him, I couldn’t help but start thanking him myself, on my way to class every morning.

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DESIGN. MAKE. PLAY. BY AB IGAIL MEIS EL

That’s the philosophy of the New York Hall of Science and its CEO, Margaret Honey ’74.

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n a desert landscape dotted with tumbleweed and prickly pears, three purple roadrunners, heads crested with feathers, scoot from cactus to cactus. Meanwhile, just feet away, an 18-foot waterfall tumbles down a rocky ledge and flows into a reservoir. Beyond that, above a grassy plain full of wildflowers, butterflies flutter.

These ecosystems and several others stand side by side in the middle of Queens, New York — in a 2,300-square-foot digital installation at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI).

The exhibition, called “Connected Worlds,” is fun and fantastical, with colorful animated images projected onto giant screens, and cutting-edge technologies such as location tracking, gesture sensing, and global environmental and social databases bringing the images to life. It’s also firmly rooted in principles of cognitive science, particularly the study of how people learn by playing — a field that is the passion of NYSCI’s president and CEO, Margaret Honey ’74.

Visitors to NYSCI’s Maker Space and Design Lab (above, left) get busy building. The museum’s “Connected Worlds” exhibit (above, right) is a high-tech, interactive ecology lesson.

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“We want to make science really compelling to young people,” says Honey of NYSCI’s mission. “All our installations and exhibits are designed for students to be problem solvers, not just viewers.”

Last June, for example, a group of fourth graders explored “Connected Worlds,” making each ecosystem literally come alive. They were charged with maintaining the health of each habitat, so they planted virtual seeds by moving their hands in front of the screens, and, with play logs, they diverted water from the waterfall and reservoir into virtual streams that flowed along the floor. Once each landscape had enough water to sustain life, animated animals such

as the roadrunners and butterflies popped up.

Located in Flushing Meadows Park, in the Corona neighborhood in Queens, NYSCI is part contemporary art gallery, part science lab, part design studio, part funhouse.

Honey is its maestro. The museum was built for the 1964 World’s Fair, but it has evolved into an interactive, youth-friendly space focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It houses close to 450 exhibits, workshops, and interactive activities that serve a half million students, teachers, and families each year.

Honey took the NYSCI helm a decade ago, as an expert in the field of learning design — understanding how children absorb and implement new information, and creating activities that allow that learning to happen. With a doctorate

in developmental psychology, she helped pioneer, in the 1980s, the use of digital technologies, like those at work in “Connected Worlds,” to support children’s learning across the STEM disciplines.

At NYSCI, she has overseen more than $50 million in renovations, established new community programs to better connect the museum with its Queens neighborhood, and begun hosting the World Maker Faire New York, a STEM extravaganza that draws roughly 90,000 visitors over the course of a weekend every fall. Honey’s bigpicture vision for NYSCI comes through in a piece she wrote for the Huffington Post several years ago: She believes the U.S. must “broaden participation in STEM for young people in general,” and she cited a startling statistic from

PHOTOS: DAVID HANDSCHUH, COUR TESY OF NYSCI

“ WE WANT TO MAKE SCIENCE REALLY COMPELLING TO YOUNG PEOPLE, SO THEY CAN BE PROBLEM SOLVERS, NOT JUST VIEWERS.” the Department of Labor — that 65 percent of today’s schoolchildren will end up in STEM-focused jobs that do not even exist yet. “Students engage most readily with STEM when they get firsthand understanding of how it impacts their lives,” she wrote. The NYSCI is a place where they can do that.

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itting in a big, sunny office filled with books, Honey describes a class she took at NMH more than four decades ago that had nothing to

do with science or math. English teacher Nick Fleck assigned the book Summerhill, about a British boarding school where children make the rules. “It completely captured my imagination,” Honey says.

That idea of self-designed education led her to Hampshire College, where she studied psychology and philosophy — a mélange that underpins her work today. She went on to Columbia for her Ph.D. During graduate school, she took a job with Children’s Television Workshop, which created “Sesame Street” and brought user-friendly

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educational programming to the American public. She was part of the Children’s Computer Workshop division in the early 1980s and developed interactive computer games featuring “Sesame Street” characters. “I was passionate about the nexus of media, learning, and technology,” Honey says.

She shifted her attention to science education in the mid-1980s, when she joined the Center for Children and Technology at Bank Street College of Education in New York. She was part of a team that produced “The Voyage of the Mimi,” a series that aired on PBS and was repackaged and sold to schools. “The show was deeply anchored in math and science,” Honey explains. In it, the crew of a ship called “Mimi” explored the ocean and studied marine life. A young Ben Affleck was one of the lead actors, playing the role of the grandson of the ship’s captain.

Honey began taking “Mimi” into schools to screen rough cuts.

She developed software and a curriculum based on the show; students could play “Mimi” games on computers, and learn about sea creatures and plants in different ocean habitats as they followed the ship around the world in their classrooms. Honey saw from the kids’ reactions and comments that there was something irresistible about learning through playful storytelling. “No teacher could pass up having it in the classroom.

The students not only learned, but became emotionally connected to their learning.”

Honey continued to work as a learning specialist and curriculum developer at Bank Street, then at the global nonprofit Educational Development Center (EDC), where she became widely known for using new digital technologies to help kids learn science and math.

Eventually, she caught the attention of the NYSCI. “I’d never worked in a museum,” Honey says. Yet, in a way, NYSCI was similar to the work Honey had done with the “Mimi” and other projects. Like many experts in learning design, she rejects the

The NYSCI’s teenage docents, called “Explainers” (at right, top), know almost as much about the museum as Honey (right, bottom). The NYSCI’s distinctive home in Queens, New York (below) was originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair.

idea of top-down “instruction” and “delivery” of material from a teacher to students. That’s not a productive means of education, she says. She believes that people — children, especially — need interactive, hands-on activities to help them connect with what they’re learning.

Because of her academic background and connections, Honey has brought vast resources to NYSCI. To create “Connected Worlds,” she assembled a team of consultants that counted among its ranks professors from Columbia’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Yale’s Cognitive Science Department, New York University’s Games for Learning Institute, the MIT Media Lab, and the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

She also expanded the role of NYSCI’s Research, Exhibits, and Program department, a creative team that consists of 60 people, including 12 Ph.D.’s., education specialists, and science educators.

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esides its interactive exhibits, NYSCI has a Design Lab and a Maker Space, where children can experiment and tinker just as scientists and engineers do. They learn about physics by creating pathways on a pegboard with rubber bands and golf spikes, and rolling a ball down them to see in which direction it will head. They build structures out of PVC pipes, design prototypes that solve a problem, and learn how to use tools and write code.

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“ NO OTHER SCIENCE CENTER DOES WHAT NYSCI DOES, AND MARGARET LED US HERE.”

Honey is especially proud of NYSCI’s “Explainers” program, in which young-adult docents lead museum tours and give live-science demonstrations to visitors — such as demonstrating how hot-air balloons work by holding an inverted plastic bag over a hot plate and seeing it fill up and lift off. The Explainers program is the “heart and soul” of the institution, Honey says, bringing in youth from neighborhoods around the museum to serve as educators and role models for younger visitors.

Abraham Bautista has worked as an Explainer at NYSCI since 2014, when he was a student at Flushing High School in Queens.

He now studies economics at Hunter College, but still likes his job “floating” among the museum’s learning areas, giving demonstrations and guiding visitors as they play and explore.

“I came here as a child, and I love watching kids at NYSCI learn just like I did. It’s like seeing the next generation of Explainers at work,” he says.

PHOTOS: ANDREW KELLY

The museum has grown more firmly rooted in the local community, even as it draws visitors from across the New York metro area and beyond. Corona, like much of the borough, is known as one of the most international, multilingual areas of New York, and Honey sees it as the bedrock of the museum’s identity. “I love my job,” she says, “but what I’m most proud of is that NYSCI is known as a place that serves a diverse community.”

Honey has overseen the establishment of NYSCI’s preschool and after-school programs, and community events such as a neighborhood “block party” each June. She has also strengthened the bond between NYSCI and neighborhood schools, including the Leonardo Da Vinci Intermediate School 61. Assistant principal Stacey Burgoyne says that NYSCI’s classroom curriculum “has become more relevant than ever for our students.” The museum also offers professional development programs for the school’s teachers, and Burgoyne says that “having NYSCI open its doors after school

to the community affords students and parents the opportunity to experience an extension of the classroom work learners engage in each day.”

Melissa Vail, a co-chair of NYSCI’s board of directors, says, “We used to fight against the challenge of our Corona location because people didn’t want to travel here from other boroughs, especially Manhattan.” Honey changed all that. Now, Vail says, “no other science center does what we do, and Margaret led us here.” [NMH] Abigail Meisel has written for The New York Times and the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught writing at the University of Mississippi.

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Math 2 Whiz A motivated math student and an enthusiastic teacher join forces.

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here are several qualities that Mona Zhang ’19 admires in her math teacher, Abby Ross. The coolest one, perhaps, is that Ross can dream in code. “You know how people can sometimes dream in another language?” Zhang asks. “Abby told me how she could be thinking about a problem, and when she goes to sleep, she sees the code and figures out the solution. She wakes up, and she’s got it.” Zhang sighs. “It’s my goal to dream in code, too.”

The way Zhang is going, that goal seems eminently achievable. Last spring, she completed an independent study with Ross in discrete mathematics — a way of looking at numbers that typically is introduced in college. The two of them embarked on another independent study this fall, in linear algebra, another advanced topic.

“Mona is so self-motivated and driven to learn more,” Ross says.

“She created an independent study because she was excited about problem-solving and didn’t want to wait until college to get to these topics. But even if I had said no to working with her, she would have been learning all of this by herself.

I have no doubt about that.”

Each year, NMH approves about a dozen independent-study proposals. American Sign Language,

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portraiture, differential equations, organic chemistry, Korean language, the literary elements of hip-hop — these independent studies have all proven to be “good opportunities for students to follow their interests and demonstrate their ability to complete high-caliber work,” says Academic Dean Sarah Warren. To get the go-ahead, students must submit an extensive application, be in good academic standing, and have a faculty mentor committed to volunteering their time.

What Zhang wanted to tackle in her independent study isn’t a genre of math like calculus or algebra or geometry. Discrete mathematics is a way of thinking about numbers; it’s based on integers, which are whole and finite numbers, with no fractions. It’s like a digital watch: The time jumps from one number to

the next, with nothing in between.

What Zhang likes about discrete math is that it’s used to solve realworld problems in which things change clearly from one way to another. Google Maps, for example, uses discrete math to figure out which driving routes are most efficient. Zhang says, “I appreciate math as something abstract, but I understand that it doesn’t appeal to everyone, or feel useful to everyone.

Math is much more exciting when it is applied. I see it as a toolbox.”

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hang, a day student, grew up 30 minutes from NMH. Her mother is a professor of

PHOTO, PREVIOUS PAGE: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Teacher Abby Ross didn’t hesitate to work with Mona Zhang ’19 on independent studies in discrete mathematics and linear algebra.

computer engineering at UMassAmherst and her father is a computer programmer. Quantitative thinking clearly runs in the family, and Zhang took to it at a young age. “It just snapped in my brain and I understood,” she says. Her affection for the subject deepened as she got older, even as the concepts grew more difficult. “Math can be subjective, complex, and tricky,” she says. “That’s what I love so much about it.”

When Zhang went to what she calls a “math-y” camp one summer during middle school, she realized for the first time that there was a world of people like her — a “math community,” she says. As

“ I could see Mona was diligent, excited about learning, and curious about different ideas, so I kept going where she wanted to go.”

a ninth grader at NMH, she took Precalculus, a class that typically is for 11th graders. She doubled up her sophomore year with AP Calculus and AP Statistics. Multivariable

PHOTO: MICHAEL DWYER, EQUATIONS COUR TESY OF MONA ZHANG

Calculus followed — that was last fall — and just a few weeks into the school year, she was asking teachers and administrators about doing an independent study in the spring

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“ I appreciate math as something abstract, but I understand that it doesn’t feel useful to everyone. Math is much more exciting when it is applied.”

semester. As a kid, Zhang had spent hours working on math problems, so “the idea of working on my own wasn’t strange to me,” she says.

Despite Zhang’s drive, she’s no tunnel-visioned math geek.

She plays field hockey and tennis at NMH, and violin, both in the school orchestra and on her own — she likes to busk on the streets of Amherst, Massachusetts, her hometown. She’s part of NMH’s Rhodes Fellowship Course in Social Entrepreneurship, where she’s developing an initiative to help elementary-school teachers get kids more connected to and enthused about their math work.

Last fall, Ross was Zhang’s multivariable calculus teacher. Ross had just joined the NMH faculty after completing a master’s degree in applied math and data science at the University of Vermont, where she also taught calculus to undergrads. Like Zhang, she had been a math-lover from an early age. A diary she got for Christmas when she was 7 opens with the entry: “I dream of being a math whiz.”

When Zhang asked about doing an independent study together, Ross didn’t hesitate, even though she was only a month into her new

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job. “In class, Mona understood everything immediately, but she was also really good at explaining concepts to her peers. She was helpful in a kind way, not condescending at all.” Zhang had already started to hang around after class, asking about math concepts that went beyond the homework assignments. “I could see she was diligent and excited about learning,” Ross says. “She wanted to keep talking about math. I was like, ‘Great, let’s keep talking.’”

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ach independent study at NMH works differently, depending on the teacher and student. In this case, Zhang found a textbook she wanted to use and Ross mapped a path through it, selecting chapters and problem sets she thought would be most useful.

She threw in additional material that she had done herself in college and grad school, and scholarly papers she had read in math journals. They met twice a week in the dining hall. “Mona would think about the scenarios that I would pose for her, and we’d talk through the work, but it was really selfdirected by her,” Ross says. “She

was curious about different ideas, so I kept going where she wanted to go.”

Zhang’s main project used discrete math to examine how students’ classes could be scheduled at NMH. She developed an algorithm and learned the programming language Python to implement it. The premise was that there is a finite number of NMH students. There are finite — though many — ways to arrange their classes. And there are varying levels of happiness that students feel about the different schedules. Zhang quantified the amount of conflict in each person’s schedule, with the most-requested courses representing the highest conflict. She also quantified the happiness of each student to determine which arrangement of classes would maximize that happiness. She used the conflict and happiness values she generated to create a theoretical model “that optimizes the collective happiness of students by getting them the classes they want.”

Over the course of the semester, Zhang also learned about Catalan numbers, which are a series of numbers that occur in certain counting problems, and combinatorics — proof strategies, number theory, graph theory, binomial coefficients — as well as the programming and coding she needed for her project. Ross was a deft mentor. “I liked how Abby let me do most of the talking,” Zhang says. “It wasn’t, ‘Have you done this? Check. Have you done that? Check.’ It was more like, ‘What have you done over the last two days? And what do you want to do next?’”

Zhang developed a successful algorithm that “optimized the collective happiness” that students felt about their class schedules.

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his fall, Zhang and Ross embarked on a second independent study, in linear algebra. NMH offers the course every other year, and when Zhang couldn’t fit it into her schedule (the irony!), she pushed to do it on her own. Guided

by Ross, she’s blending pieces from the regular course with resources from Ross’s grad-school work as well as online materials published by MIT. It’s a prime example of how independent studies can “enrich and broaden NMH’s curriculum,” says NMH Registrar Jay Ward ’68.

PHOTO: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

One of Zhang’s overarching goals in studying math is to entice other people to appreciate the subject.

For her Social Entrepreneurship course, which continues from junior to senior year, Zhang is developing a series of kid-friendly word problems that can be used in elementary-school math classrooms anywhere. She’s hoping to test and implement the project this year.

“A lot of word problems out there don’t appeal to kids,” she says — like the classic how-many-apples-canyou-buy-in-the-grocery-store problem. How many kids, she wonders, are actually buying groceries? Why

not offer problems that focus on a kid’s bus ride to school, or the trip to go pick up a younger sibling at day care, or the time it takes to get dressed and eat breakfast in the morning?

“Math problems should be about something kids see in their own lives,” Zhang says. She’s not weighing in on the topics being taught in a classroom, or on the style of an individual teacher. “I want to offer a simple way to get kids who never thought they liked math to see that it can be applicable and relevant in so many ways.” In other words, a toolbox. [NMH]

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THE GAME B Y D AV I D G E S S N E R ’ 7 9

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NMH Magazine

ULTIMATE

Before David Gessner ’79 became a college professor, he played Ultimate Frisbee. More accurately, he lived Ultimate Frisbee, and he documented that life in the 2017 book Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession, and My Wild Youth. This excerpt of Gessner’s book is our way of marking the 50th anniversary of the sport’s invention — which happened, in part, on the Northfield Mount Hermon campus.

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W

e all labor over our big decisions and big dreams, but sometimes it’s the small things that change our lives forever. What could be smaller than this: It is the first week of my freshman year at Harvard, and I, looking for a sport to play, am walking down to the boathouse to sign up for crew, resigning myself to four years as a galley slave, when I see a Frisbee flying across the street.

The Frisbee, tossed from one long-haired boy to another, looks like freedom to me. Then I notice that there are several Frisbees flying back and forth between a band of young men, all wearing shorts, with cleats hanging over their shoulders. At the time, I am quite shy, but, uncharacteristically, I cross the street and ask them where they are going. To Ultimate Frisbee practice, it turns out, and I am going with them.

That was the beginning of almost 20 years lost in the world of Ultimate.

If that first long-ago Frisbee looked like freedom, it would lead to a kind of servitude, two decades in lockstep with the growing sport.

Why did I keep coming back? Chasing down a disc, diving or jumping for it, is at the core of the game’s appeal. For many people, myself included, the action proves addictive. During my years playing I was driven by a complicated mix of motives that included ambition, whimsy, love, and vanity, but it wouldn’t be until many years later, when I had hung up my cleats, that I would start to recognize what I missed most about the game.

I missed all the moments when I lost myself completely in it, when pestering thought disappeared and was replaced by a joyful thoughtfulness and a sense of being a strong and wild animal.

Gessner (left) describes Ultimate as a hybrid of soccer, hockey, basketball, and football, but because it is played with an object that’s considered a toy, it hasn’t yet escaped its whimsical origins.

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FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, people created games for the Frisbee. In fact, for a long time those very words — Play Catch, Invent Games — were printed along with the name right on the disc.

One of those games was a form of Frisbee football that sprung up spontaneously at colleges around the country, and one of those colleges was Amherst.

In the summer of 1968, an Amherst student named Jared Kass took the game to Mount Hermon, where he was teaching in a summer program. The game was a hit, played on the large lawn behind the Crossley dorm where Kass was staying, but it likely would have remained a quickly forgotten summer diversion if not for the fact that one of the players who learned the game from Kass was a brash, somewhat loudmouthed but charismatic high school student from New Jersey named Joel Silver.

Later in life, Silver would become famous as the producer of movies like Lethal Weapon and The Matrix.

But what most people don’t know is that he was also the individual most responsible for the invention of Ultimate Frisbee.

It was Silver who brought the game home from his summer stint at Mount Hermon, who taught it to his friends, and who organized a game between his high school’s student council and the school newspaper (he was a member of both) in the spring of 1969.

There was some debate over who deserves the credit, or, depending on your point of view, blame for burdening the sport with the pretentious adjective “Ultimate.”

It is possible that the sport was

PHOTO, PREVIOUS PAGE: STU BERINGER

Harvard undergraduate Gessner (back row, far left) and his team in 1980.

“ called that by some as far back as the Amherst-Mount Hermon days, when Jared Kass declared after making a great catch, “This is the ultimate game.” Future Frisbee scholars will no doubt argue endlessly over this matter of origin, but the point is that, for better or worse, the name stuck.

I KNEW NONE OF THIS when I started. Of course I sensed that throwing so much energy into a game played with a toy, and not, say, studying hard or starting the novel I dreamed of writing was kind of absurd. There were plenty of people, my father included, who I simply decided not to tell what I was spending so much time doing.

During my freshman year I became obsessed with catching — “You are what you catch,” read a note on the wall over my desk — and this obsession ran like a parent stream back to my father. When I was 8 or 9, I loved nothing more than playing football with him on the front lawn of our house in Worcester, Massachusetts. He had been a scrappy high school athlete himself; he threw tight, mean, lefty

spirals, and if they were out of my reach, I would dive for them, often ending up sprawled and cut in the bushes. If the ball tipped off my fingertips, he always said the same thing: “If you can touch it, you can catch it.”

In college, that era of long hair and short shorts, I found a home on the Ultimate field. There was a carnival feel to those weekends in the fall or spring when we would either host tournaments behind Harvard stadium or head out on the road, to UMass-Amherst or SUNY Purchase, or, once a year, as far away as Washington, D.C. On a successful tournament weekend, we could conceivably play 10 to 12 hours of Ultimate, so Sunday evenings meant cramped legs, and Mondays brought general enervation after an entire weekend of running.

It was during this time that the phrase “spirit of the game” — meaning to perform honestly and do what’s right — was written into the rules, and it was officially decided that Ultimate would move forward without referees. The earliest games were unofficiated not due to any lofty ideals but

PHOTOS: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, COUR TESY OF DAVID GESSNER

I began to bring a Frisbee along wherever I went, throwing it ahead of me when I walked to class, tossing it up in the air and running it down as I jogged along the Charles River. It became part of my identity, my security blanket.”

because there were no refs handy.

But what had been a practical reality was gradually elevated into the lofty position of a code of honor.

Pragmatism begat idealism.

As for me, I tried to play fair but I rolled my eyes at the more pious notion of “spirit.” I was not unidealistic, but the spirit of the game reeked of the perfectibility of man, and I thought it was silly the way it was writ large in the rules as if its origins were biblical. It also neglected one small factor: human nature. I had played enough pickup basketball to know what really happened when players made their own calls.

But with each passing month, Ultimate seemed to have a deeper hold on me. I began to bring a Frisbee along wherever I went, throwing it ahead of me when I walked to class, tossing it up in

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Gessner (left, in white shirt) playing for the Boulder, Colorado, team in Nationals in the mid-1990s. Inset below: Gessner today.

reek of the once-fashionable neoprimitivism of the men’s movement. But there was nothing contrived or literary about the feeling I was after, and I knew it to be real.

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“

I was addicted to the feeling I experienced when I dove through the air and a disc stuck to my hand, or when I jumped high and snatched one out of the air above someone’s head.”

the air and running it down as I jogged along the Charles River.

It became part of my identity, my security blanket.

My father liked to talk a lot about the “real world,” which he clearly believed I did not inhabit.

Who could blame him? As graduation approached, my Harvard roommates worried about which companies to go to work for.

Meanwhile, I’d secretly begun to wonder which of the great Boston Ultimate teams to try out for. By then I’d become completely wrapped up in the lore and the lure of the game, and while I pretended not to be sure, it wasn’t so much a decision as an inevitability that I would continue to play after school.

Why? It was simple, really. I was addicted to that feeling I experienced when I dove through the air and a disc stuck to my hand, or when I jumped high and snatched one out of the air above someone’s head. Playing Ultimate was one of the few times in my young life when I felt potent. Trying to describe it now, I keep coming up with words like “primal” or “tribal,” and I’m afraid this might

IN THE 21ST CENTURY, the sport has changed, exploding with millions of people playing around the world in competitive and corporate leagues, with professional leagues sprouting up in a dozen American cities, and most recently, with official recognition from the International Olympic Committee as a contender sport for the Olympics.

What was long considered preposterous now appears to be coming true: In an age of concussions and corruption in pro sports, this untainted game seems to be realizing its dream of becoming a “real” sport.

Despite a deep craving for legitimacy, there has always been an equally deep ambivalence among Ultimate players about the possibility of the sport becoming more popular.

This was a psychological battle in which I, like so many others, fought on both sides.

Yes, I understood the desire to make the sport bigger. At the same time, a big reason I was hooked on it was because of its wildness. I liked the fact that we refused to grow up, and that the game was really only understood by the band of brothers and sisters within it.

Some longtime players argue that the sport has become too tame, that its success will corrupt it. In my day, we didn’t worry too

NMH Magazine

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL, COUR TESY OF DAVID GESSNER

much about selling out. It wasn’t even a possibility. When I started playing, Ultimate was barely 10 years old, just emerging from its tangled countercultural roots, with the rules, and even the types of discs we used, still in flux. It never occurred to me as I ran around the fields in my too-short shorts and my too-long hair that I was a part of history. Now I understand that I am like one of those mustached men you see in the black-andwhite pictures of early football teams. One of the men in the leather helmets.

We were the pioneers in uncharted territory, and pioneers know a freedom that later generations will never know. We had the thrill of being first, of making it up as we went along. We were idiots at times. But we were proud and joyful idiots. [NMH] David Gessner is the author of 10 books, chair of the creative writing department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and editor-inchief of the magazine Ecotone: Reimagining Place.

GOODWILL GAME Last May, the boys’ varsity team won the 2018 New England Prep School Ultimate League (NEPSUL) championship, defeating Concord Academy, Choate, Wooster Academy, and topseeded Hotchkiss all in one day and earning its seventh championship in 13 years.

Such a record should grant the team rock-star status on campus, but that’s not quite the case.

“It’s a matter of culture,” says Sam Stone ’18, one of the captains of the 2018 team. “A lot of people at NMH still view Ultimate as a laid-back lawn sport.” Anyone who watches a game, however, would agree with Stone’s next comment: “It’s super-intense,” he says. “You have to be dedicated to do it.”

Ultimate is different from a lot of other sports, though, at NMH and elsewhere. That’s because of its “spirit of the game” philosophy, which essentially is sportsmanship on steroids. “You’re supporting your team, you’re supporting the integrity of the rules, and you’re supporting your opponent even if it’s a heated competition,” says Amelia Chalfant ’19, a captain of the girls’ varsity team. Players on the field officiate themselves, calling and negotiating fouls. Opposing teams share a camaraderie that would be unimaginable on, say, a hockey rink.

Colton Sy ’18, who captained the boys’ team with Stone and also played varsity soccer and ice hockey at NMH, says, “I’ve never played a sport where after a game, after you beat up on another team 11–0, you sing them a ridiculous song you’ve written.”

Despite Ultimate’s invention on the Crossley lawn in 1968 — at least that’s how one of the origin stories goes — NMH’s official program took shape roughly 30 years ago. Later, science teacher Bob Sidorsky P’98, ’06 ran pickup games on the Northfield campus and took students to coed tournaments. Today, NMH’s single-gender teams compete against both prep schools and area public schools, which are frequently among the top-ranked teams in the eastern U.S. “Our philosophy is to play the hardest teams we can find,” says Mark Yates, who runs the boys’ program.

At NMH, Ultimate resembles rowing, with many participants competing for the first time as ninth and 10th graders. But they get up to speed quickly enough to help win New England championships and go on to play in college. Sy will play at Northeastern University this year, Stone at Wheaton College, and Chloe Chen ’18, another girls’ varsity captain, at Carnegie Mellon. How much did they and their teammates think about the sport’s germination at NMH 50 years ago? Not much, admits Gaelin Kingston ’18, who played four years of Ultimate and soccer at NMH and is now playing both at Wesleyan. But, he says, “there’s something beautiful about playing where the sport has been played the longest.”

—Jennifer Sutton Colton Sy ’18 co-captained NMH’s 2018 NEPSUL championship-winning team.

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ALUMNI HALL

Watson shared his history during a Reunion 2018 “Our Stories” panel discussion.

Cultural Equity Ray Two Hawks Watson ’98 believes minority cultures should play as big a role in Rhode Island’s tourism industry as Newport’s mansions and beaches.

He landed a $300,000 grant to make it happen.

B Y NANC Y K IR SCH

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NMH Magazine

In July, on a stretch of grass beside Mashapaug Pond in Providence, Rhode Island, Chief Raymond Two Hawks Watson ’98 conducted a naming ceremony for the Mashapaug Nahagansets, the tribe he has led since 2009. Dressed in buckskin and feathers, he stood on land where Mashapaugs lived for centuries and bestowed traditional names such as Bearclaw and Lady Slipper upon a handful of members.

The ceremony ended with Watson

PHOTO: RUPER T WHITELY

A LUM N I H A L L

inviting everyone to “bust a move” as he led the Eastern Medicine Singers, a group of musicians from different tribes, in drumming and singing that was simultaneously solemn and joyous.

Pomham Sachem, or principal chief, of the Nahagansets is only one of Watson’s jobs. His greater mission is to highlight Rhode Island’s myriad ethnic traditions and make the state a hub for cultural tourism in New England.

In 2016, the Rhode Island Foundation awarded him a $300,000 fellowship to get started. The first person of color to win the prestigious award, Watson bested nearly 200 other applicants with his plan to establish the Providence Cultural Equity Initiative (PCEI), an organization that he believes can mitigate racism, connect communities, and bring income to local residents, businesses, and governments.

Watson modeled PCEI after what he saw during his 2015 honeymoon in Mexico, where he was impressed not only with the contemporary architecture, colonial history, and Aztec culture, but also with “how well the three worked together, showing the past and the present,” he says. He wondered why Rhode Island wasn’t taking the same approach. “Providence has tremendous colonial architecture, and some modern architecture, but we should be tapping into our ethnic heritage, too.”

Armed with his bachelor’s degree in political science and government from Union College, a master’s in community planning from the University of Rhode Island, and nearly a decade as executive director of the Mount

Hope Neighborhood Association in Providence, Watson launched PCEI. The nonprofit asks people to look at their histories and experiences in terms of culture rather than race. An example: English and Irish people are the same race, yet the Irish share a cultural experience with the Narragansett Nation; both were victims of English efforts to enslave and eradicate them. Watson maintains that culture allows individuals to be proud of who they are and not fear others who are different, while race engenders pride but not a tolerance of difference. Focusing on culture can help “do away with false alliances and false divides based on race,” Watson says.

One of PCEI’s initiatives is Living Culture RI, a series of foodand history-focused tours showcasing Rhode Island’s Dominican, Laotian, Native American, and Italian communities, among others. The goal is to expand the way visitors see Rhode Island — to get beyond Newport’s famous mansions and the coastline. The mansions may draw lots of visitors, but “have you thought about the people who built those mansions?”

Watson asks. “When you go to the beaches, are you considering the story of those who used those beaches before Rhode Island [was a state] and where those people are today?”

PCEI also established the Cultural Exchange and Ambassador Program, which connects businesses and nonprofits with minority community leaders. Because Watson and his PCEI colleagues have long-standing relationships with Rhode Island’s different communities of color,

“ Ray doesn’t sugarcoat situations.

He has a relentless determination to level the playing field.” they can guide organizations that are eager to collaborate with local ethnic groups, and help them avoid culturally insensitive encounters, which can damage an organization’s reputation. Say a museum invites a Dominican artist from outside Rhode Island to perform locally. If that artist and that museum fail to engage with the local Dominican community, they are “strip mining” the local culture, Watson says. He’s trying to “get people to understand culture and its economic value.”

“Ray doesn’t sugarcoat situations,” says Mike Ritz, executive director of the nonprofit organization Leadership Rhode Island (LRI), where Watson is a frequent speaker. “He speaks bluntly about the challenges experienced by folks who are being marginalized.

He has a relentless determination to level the playing field.”

Building awareness about Rhode Island’s living history and cultural resources is a giant challenge, Watson says — but he is patient. “I’m on a 500-yearplan,” he says. “What I’m starting now,” he says, “I don’t even expect [my 2-year-old daughter’s] grandchildren to finish.”

Nancy Kirsch is a freelance writer in Riverside, Rhode Island.

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A LUMNI H A L L

Ted Borland ’05 in one of his favorite places: midair.

Shred the Gnar, Pay the Bills Look for Ted Borland ’05 online and you’ll find videos of him sliding down stair railings or flying off a jump high into the air and — somehow — gliding for a few seconds across the side of a building before landing. That’s what he calls a day at the office.

As a professional snowboarder, Borland is never not thinking about snowboarding. He promotes gear all over the world for his sponsor, the snowboard manufacturer Lib Tech, and appears in videos and films for the production company Think Thank and Snowboarder Magazine.

He even finds the time to get behind the camera and produce his own videos. “I like being everywhere within the snowboard world,” says Borland.

“I like knowing the industry side of things, I like knowing the behind-thescenes of production ... I like having my hands in every aspect.”

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Borland now lives in Salt Lake City, but he started snowboarding at Mount Snow in southern Vermont, where his dad worked and where NMH students went to ski and ride.

He did an independent study his senior year at NMH in which he recorded his snowboarding exploits and edited the footage into a short film. A few years later, he realized he’d found his career.

“There’s a difference between having the dream and doing it,” he says. “I started getting connections and realized I could actually make this a job.

Like it could actually be possible to pay the bills.”

In 2017, Lib Tech gave Borland a custom “pro board,” hiring him to represent their brand. It’s like a basketball player getting his own line of shoes that people can buy; it demonstrates that Borland has a style and notoriety worth promoting.

A core of that style is accessibility.

Rather than going the route of competitive snowboarding, where only the most elite get access to major brand endorsements, Borland instead chose to star in and produce films that can be watched by anyone. He is particularly proud of the videos that feature stunts in urban settings — the ones that inspire viewers to say, “Hey, I want to try that,” and then walk out the door and do it. That kind of video was a motivator for Borland when he was growing up. The goal is to be “super into creativity and coming up with new ideas on how to snowboard,” he says. Recently, Borland could be seen riding along huge outdoor staircases and flipping off ledges in the full-length film “Pepper,” produced by Snowboarder Magazine.

In the winter he’s chasing snowstorms and promoting snowboarding brands all over the U.S. and Canada as well as in Russia, Japan, and Europe, like “a moving billboard,” he says. In summer, Borland visits snowboarding camps in Oregon and Canada — where he once worked building terrain parks — to hang out with kids. In September, he returns home to Utah and runs The BoneZone, a pre-season training park at Brighton Mountain Resort near Salt Lake City.

Borland designs and builds the park’s log and steel obstacles, which attract up to 300 boarders a day throughout the fall.

It’s all in pursuit of his main goal, “which is to be able to snowboard all the time,” he says. He’s got no plan to stop anytime soon, even as he hits his 30s, the age when pro athletes might look at their future with unease. “It’s always been hard to make a true living off being a snowboarder, so that has given me extra drive to do more,” he says. “I like the fact that I’m not just getting handed a bunch of money. I like earning my place.” — Zoe Licata ’15

PHOTO: SCOTTY ARNOLD

Secure your future . . . and the future of NMH. A LUM N I H A L L

Rooms Fit for Royalty

BY ZOE LIC ATA ’15

“It’s one of the most glamorous rooms in New York,” says architecture and design critic Wendy Moonan ’64. She’s talking about an over-thetop private art gallery on the Upper East Side with elaborately pedimented ceilings, black and white marble floors, and a nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a Roman emperor.

The gallery is one of 113 luxurious spaces that make up her new book, New York Splendor: The City’s Most Memorable Rooms. Moonan spent two and a half years compiling the 320-page book, but it’s actually a culmination of 30 years of her work as a writer and editor at The New York Times, Town and Country, House and Garden, and Architectural Digest. All the relationships Moonan built with photographers, architects, homeowners, and designers became the foundation for New York Splendor. “In a way, the book is a social history of decorating,” she says.

Moonan started her journalism career covering hard news in New Jersey after studying political science at Wellesley and interning on Capitol Hill for a year. But her interest in design — and the overwhelming lack of women she observed in the political world — steered her in a new journalistic direction.

Moonan began reporting on a wide array of decorating styles, and her years of discovery and experience are evident in her book. Besides the soaring ceilings, ornate chandeliers, and antiques, there’s also a stark, deconstructionist dining room with colorful stripes inspired by a Mondrian painting, and a brightly lit subterranean basketball court.

“I really wanted to show a wide range of interiors,” says Moonan.

“One of the things that makes New York so interesting is that everything is OK. Each designer has their own aesthetic, and each owner has their unique collection of art and artifacts.”

What’s consistent in New York Splendor is that every room is exceedingly eye-catching. “You have a few senses working at the same time — emotional, visual, tactile,” Moonan says. “The rooms encourage you to go through [their] layers and see how the effect was built up.” She writes in her author’s note that each room is “all about imagination; they invoke a sense of wonder. It’s something you feel in your bones.”

Zoe Licata is a senior at Emerson College, majoring in journalism.

IMAGE: COUR TESY OF RIZZOLI NEW YORK

A charitable gift annuity gives you: Fixed lifelong payments • Favorable annuity rates • Tax benefits • A gratifying legacy •

SAMPLE RATES BASED ON A SINGLE LIFE CGA*

AGE

68

73

78

83

RATE

5.3%

5.9%

6.8%

7.9%

*Rates displayed are for illustrative purposes only.

For details: nmhschool.org/plannedgiving Jeff Leyden ’80, P’14 Director of Planned Giving 413-498-3299 · jleyden@nmhschool.org Sue Clough P’06, ’08 Senior Associate Director of Planned Giving 413-498-3084 · sclough@nmhschool.org FA LL 2 0 1 8

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A LUMNI H A L L

’18 REUNION

ALUMNI AWARDS

LAMPLIGHTER AWARD Willem “Will” Lange ’53 Beverly “Bev” Bolton Leyden ’53

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD David Bennett Goldman ’83

Ride and Wrestle Reunion 2018 included the now-annual 30-mile “Pie Ride” (above), as well as a footrace, rowing on the Connecticut River, and the induction of the 1968 wrestling team into NMH’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Margaret van Baaren P’16, ’18, ’21

YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD Lucien “Luke” Shulman ’03

ALUMNI CITATIONS Pamela Beam ’68 David Hickernell ’68 Amy Lyman ’93 Carol Waaser ’63 Peter Weis ’78, P’13 Augustus “Gus” White ’53

for NMH, including funds for the Class of 1968 Leadership Remembrance Scholarship.

NMH Magazine

WILLIAM H. MORROW AWARD

John Stone ’58

$4,095,000

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Kelli King-Jackson ’93 Ellen Watson Payzant ’58

JOSIE RIGBY SPIRIT AWARD

50TH REUNION Members of the class of 1968 raised more than

THOUSAND ARROWS CHALLENGE 2018 Because 1,000 alumni in classes ending in 3 and 8 made a gift to the NMH Fund by the last day of Reunion Weekend, a group of trustees who were celebrating their own reunions contributed $114,000.

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

NEW ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBERS Andrew Ness ’04 Vice President Current city: New York, NY Profession: Aerospace and industrial products consultant Education: Columbia University

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL, COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVES

Andrew Taylor ’09 Young Alumni Committee Co-chair Current city: Tucson, AZ Profession: Videographer, Andrew Taylor Productions Education: Arizona State University

STORIES/N EWS FROM OFF-CAM P US

CLASS NOTES

PREPARING TO TRAMP Winter activities at the Northfield Inn circa 1910

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CLASS NOTES

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Northfield Dorcas Platt Abell sabell3@nycap.rr.com Sadly, Patricia Gordon Pickering died on 7/20/18. She grew up in Highland Park, N.J. She attended Syracuse University and later moved to the New Brunswick area, where she met her future husband, Henry. They married in 1950 and moved to Syracuse while Henry finished his degree. They finally settled in Sparta, N.J. Pat lived a very active life in Sparta. She was a Girl Scout camp director and later joined the professional staff at the Girl Scout Counsel in Paterson, N.J. An avid skier, she was a member of High Point Ski Club. She also belonged to the League of Women Voters, performed water ballet at the Cruiser Club, sang in the Sweet Adelines, and worked as a substitute teacher.

Pat loved boating and beach time on Long Beach Island. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, and was loved by all who knew her. She is survived by her husband, Henry, and her loving children and grandchildren.

2018–19 Alumni Council Executive Committee President Molly Goggins Talbot ’93 Executive Vice President Kate Hayes ’06 Vice President Andrew Ness ’04 Secretary Wendy Alderman Cohen ’67 Advancement Committee chair Brendan Mysliwiec ’04 Awards Committee chair Thomas Baxter ’59 Communications Committee chair Camille Kubie ’94 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee chair Courtney Fields ’06 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 co-chair Nicole Dancel ’09 Young Alumni Committee co-chair Andrew Taylor ’09

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NMH Magazine

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Mount Hermon Carleton Finch zeke137@aol.com

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Northfield Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Mount Hermon Loren Bullock mlbullock9@gmail.com It’s great to see the photos of all the new buildings on campus. Recitation and Silliman may no longer be there, but the replacements are beautiful. Today’s students are fortunate indeed. I’m well and enjoying a quiet life in our condo in the Washington, D.C., area. To Adele Toussaint Rolly: It was wonderful to see your note. Yes, it was my first parlor date, too. Very special memories.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org A heartfelt thanks to retiring class editor, Charlton Price, for his years of dedication, hard work, and devotion to his class and school. All the best of luck, Charlie!

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Northfield Arlene Finch Reynolds arlenerey@aol.com Pat Browning Paige passed away suddenly on 4/13/18. She studied at Juilliard to be a concert pianist but then got the acting bug.

She acted on stage, television, and in film before marrying and moving from Italy to California, where she had her own radio show. Entertainment was in her blood her whole life. She is missed and celebrated by her daughter, Roxanne Paige, and sister Toni Browning Smiley ’54. • Jackie Snyder Johnson wrote, “I now have four greatgrandchildren (three girls and one boy) from Calgary to Ontario to New Brunswick (Canada), and we will all get together for my big 90th in August.” • Irma Klein Schachter had a wonderful time with close friends and family at a 52nd wedding anniversary party in February. The celebration combined Irma’s 90th birthday with Joe’s 92nd. Their eldest son, Ted, is a manager of talent and has several clients on Broadway, including three stars in Tony Award-nominated plays. Irma broke her hip in a fall, but after hospitalization, rehab, and rest, she is walking without a cane and driving. “Many thanks to all of you

for supporting our annual 1945 class gift,” wrote Irma. “We get terrific participation and continue to get recognition for our class involvement.” • “I always enjoy the news and pictures that we get on email from NMH,” wrote Irene Eldredge Derby. “It brings back so many memories of our wonderful years on the Northfield campus. How lucky we were for all of our inspiring experiences. I would love to have been at Sacred Concert!”

• Ann Miller Dean read the article in the spring issue of NMH Magazine about fishing off Maine’s coast near Tenants Harbor with an Anne Miller, who turned out to be Anne Whitehouse Miller (died in 2007). • I, Arlene Finch Reynolds, attended a bi-annual Finch family reunion. Expect to visit with Carleton ’41 and my sister, Ellen ’54. Unfortunately, Ed ’46 will not be there because of ill health.

• I enjoyed Jeff Leyden’s (’80) advancement visit when he introduced me to my neighbor, Judy Woods Gibeaut ’53. He brought my senior scrapbook to NMH’s archivist. It will be there in 2020. Will you? I hope I will!

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Mount Hermon Pete Devenis ingadevenis@aol.com Johnny Rydin passed away on 3/10/17. He attended Berlin High School in New Hampshire before transferring to Mount Hermon.

John served in the Coast Guard and managed Rydin’s and Globe department stores for many years. He enjoyed reading, walking, watching sports, and his family’s summer home in Island Pond, Vt. John is survived by wife Lorraine, three sons, and six grandchildren. • George Lawson passed away on 11/11/17. At Mount Hermon, he played football and tennis, and was a member of the photography and dramatic clubs. A graduate of Bucknell Medical School and the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, George had a private practice for more than 30 years, was a medical director and chairman of psychiatry in several hospitals, and held teaching appointments at Tufts, Harvard, and other medical schools. He was married to his first wife, Georgia, from 1954 to 1997, and predeceased his second wife, Delores, whom he married in 2000. George loved boating as well as building a 46-foot ocean racing sloop, and he served twice as commodore of a yacht club in Camden, Maine. He leaves three children and six grandchildren.

• William Wallace passed away on 12/16/17.

He was born in St. Petersburg, Fla., and attended local schools before enrolling in Mount Hermon, where he played football and tennis and was on the swimming team.

After graduation, Bill first entered the New

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York Maritime Academy, and after service there, graduated from Princeton in 1950. He was drafted into the Army during the Korean War and served as instructor in Army finance school. Bill worked 42 years in the insurance business started by his father, which grew into Wallace Welch & Willingham Insurance Agency in St. Petersburg. Serving as a member of many clubs, Bill was also president of the Florida Orchestra and continued to be active in tennis, golf, and swimming.

His uncle, Henry A. Wallace, served one term as vice president in the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Bill is survived by his wife of 64 years, Sally, three children, and six grandchildren. • Born in Springfield, Mass., Robert Davidson, who passed away on 2/26/18, attended Mount Hermon for one year. After graduating, Robert served in the Army with the 82nd Field Artillery Battalion in Kumaguya, Japan. In 1950, he married Priscilla Chamberlin Davidson, who predeceased him in 2017. Robert became president of Noble Manufacturing, a firearms company established by his father, which was later acquired by Smith & Wesson Co. In the 1970s, he founded Midway Marina in Haddam, Conn., which he ran with his wife and two sons. After retiring in 1989, Robert and Priscilla moved to Washington, N.C., where he became a member of First Presbyterian Church and an active community volunteer — especially with Habitat for Humanity. He is survived by three children and six grandchildren. • As of late February, our class list included 21 out of 138 graduates in our Gateway yearbook, and 28 out of 182 members, with seven more who were later added to the class list. If you are reading this column, you are one of the few lucky 15 percent that remain on the class list. Please send news about yourself.

coincidence! John had many friends at Mount Hermon who will remember a strong, athletic friend with a wonderful sense of humor.”

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Northfield Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

Northfield Diffy Cushman Ransohoff mransohoff@aol.com • Anne Hardman Allen ahafma@yahoo.com Patricia Hensel Fields lives at Riderwood, a senior living community in Silver Spring, Md. After graduating from Northfield, she was a flight attendant with Capital Airlines. She lived in Arlington, Va., where she met her husband-to-be, Thomas Fields. He served in the Marine Corps for 28 years, retiring as a colonel in 1970 after taking part in the Battle of Iwo Jima and serving in Korea and Vietnam. Immediately after retiring, he worked for the University of Maryland (his alma mater), successfully raising money for their sports department. Sadly, he died in 2009. Patricia and Thomas had four children (Tim, Karen, Lori, and David) and eight grandchildren. • In the grandmother news department, Joan Campbell Phillips attended her granddaughter’s wedding in July, and Diffy Cushman Ransohoff enjoys going to her granddaughter’s ballet performances. • Anne Hardman Allen talked to Phoebe Brown Ballard Ford, who expressed her fond memories of Northfield and said it was there that she learned to love singing, which became an important part of her life. Phoebe was in a large choral group for 20 years. Now she participates in smaller groups, but she is still singing! Anne added, “Lois Vars and I have scheduled a luncheon date, and in the process, I caught up with her very active life. Her husband died two years ago. Since then, she has moved back into the Westerly, R.I., house she was brought up in. She enjoys traveling and has started taking piano lessons again (she was the East Hall pianist at Northfield). She said she is delighted with the progress she has made.”

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Mount Hermon Hugh Findlay hughf@occia.com findlay22@verizon.net Upon the news of John Goldsberry’s death in Ipswich, Mass., on 4/15/18, John Finlay wrote, “John was a North Shore resident, and I came to Ipswich with my wife to be closer to family and settled at Riverbend, an assisted living community for the elderly.

One day, John heard someone mention Jack Finlay. He said, ‘I knew a Jack Finlay at Mount Hermon.’ He checked the yearbook and, sure enough, it was correct … At Mount Hermon, we lived on the third floor at Crossley Hall. Our rooms were across the hall from each other, and we were good friends and had many of the same experiences. What a

Mount Hermon Charles A. Kennedy chask@myfairpoint.net (603) 223-0731 Last spring, Brad Bond discovered two unexpected connections with Mount Hermon schoolmates: George Banziger ’60 was on the same board, and Ken Boyle ’59 was a friend of George’s daughter. Both were at Mount Hermon in the decade after ours. • Roly Coates sat in the audience at Sacred Concert for the first time in 30 years. He is usually in the Alumni Choir but admits age is catching up with him. The combined choirs and orchestra did a section of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that was stunning. • Jan and Jack Daggett joined the ranks of proud grandparents earlier this year, welcoming a beautiful baby girl to the family. • Fred Monett ’50

attended a meeting of the New England Alliance on the Northfield campus last year. He worked at the Northfield Summer Conferences for three years after graduation, and is planning another trip from Florida for this fall’s meeting of the Alliance. • Murray Simmons is doing well in spite of the bad spell of weather in New Jersey. His upbeat response was a reminder that you don’t have to shovel rain! • Your scribe, Chuck Kennedy, attended his granddaughter’s high school graduation in Madison, Wis., which gave him the perfect excuse to drop in on Joe Elder, who retired last year from the University of Wisconsin. Joe no longer travels annually to India for the international program he started, but he is happy that the program continues at the university.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org Adele Lake Barton passed away on 5/12/18.

She attended Endicott College in Beverly, Mass., and later worked at Trinity College in Hartford before marrying her ex-husband, Arnold Barton, in 1956. They settled in Durham, Conn., until the birth of their fourth child prompted a move to Yalesville in 1968.

Adele was instrumental in developing the American Field Service program at Sheehan High School, and her life was enriched by the multitude of exchange students who lived with her family over the course of 15 years.

She leaves behind many dear friends, a legacy of caregiving through her Masonic ministry, and, of course, her homemade oatmeal bread and cookies.

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Northfield Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Mount Hermon Jim Hanchett jch46@cornell.edu • David Durham dedur@aol.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Janet-Marie Fitzgerald Whitley janwhitley@aol.com Anne Rayner Korjeff and husband Mike survived their second winter in Harwich Port, Mass. They formerly lived in the Florida Panhandle and missed the heavy snows in March. Their summers are spent in Fitzwilliam, N.H. The whole family (some as far away as California) gets together for one week. Oldest grandson Nicholas is in his final year at Oregon State; grandson Parker is a freshman at Skidmore (Anne’s a pleased alum); grandson Jason is looking at East Coast colleges; and granddaughter Rachel, a high school sophomore, continues to be a

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lovely dancer. Anne said, “We may have slowed down, but we appreciate nature, music, and life more fully.” • Lenice Krull Hirschberger is moving to a retirement community located in Shelburne, Vt. She will miss her boat, home, steel drums, and closeness to her Massachusetts family (she lived within a half hour of the NMH campus). She spoke to Jean Armknecht Stuart and learned Jean and her husband have also moved to a retirement community in their same town.

Rushing from Alumni Choir practice for Sacred Concert one stormy night, Lenice sprained an ankle. Lenice also participated in singing Verdi’s Requiem in the Northfield Auditorium. • Peggy Hill was married for the first time at age 75 to a man she’d known for years, and he brought two daughters and a granddaughter into her life. They’ve traveled Europe and Asia, and are riverboat cruising in the States. They live in a Kendall Life Care community in Ithaca, N.Y., surrounded by local and Cornell friends. Peggy thanks Northfield for teaching her that it’s easier to live in harmony if you practice tolerance and good manners. • Jeanne Longley Niederlitz resides in a beachfront home in Manzenillo, Mexico, where she writes and teaches English. Her three children graduated from NMH and are now “happily ever after.”

Jeanne often thinks of her incredible years at Northfield. • Joan Bliss Wilson and husband Tom have been at Kendal at Hanover for nearly 18 years and are still going strong.

Both performed in the Kendal Choral Holiday concert in the spring. Joan is the manager of the group. They put on a James Bond spoof; Tom played “James Bong (Bond)” and did some great singing. A greatgrandson, Peter, was born in September 2017.

He will be spoiled at the family’s 31st reunion at Rockywold-Deephaven Camps on Squam Lake, N.H.! • Many members of Barbara Bolger Collett’s family attended NMH: sister Betty Bolger Fleming ’46, brother Bill Bolger ’44 (deceased), and Barbara’s twin, David Bolger. Barbara and Bill live at the Village Retirement in Gainesville, Fla., and appreciate the care given them. Eleven-year-old grandson Will, diagnosed with leukemia, is on maintenance pediatric cancer care at University of Florida. Will returns to school full time and has done TV spots, been an advocate for the university’s cancer treatment, and has met celebrities like Tim Tebow and the university’s men’s basketball team.

Barbara enjoys reading the news from both NMH and Chatham University. • Katherine Spry Goldstein is in her fourth year of cancer treatment. The doctors are keeping her going so she can care for husband George, who has moderate dementia. She is concentrating on keeping him active and focused to slow him going downhill too quickly. They survived Hurricane Irma very well compared to many

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others. • Lois Seekamp Dole volunteers at a respite care center and is still gardening. She is trying to see if a mat impregnated with wild flowers from Oregon will survive in Maine. George had a cochlear implant and is writing about his experience. Once he is given the clearance, he will resume his threemile-a-week run. He is the last survivor of a race that took place in 1954. • Jean Cook Glidden is adjusting to the death of her husband in July 2017. She moved from her two-bedroom to a one-bedroom in the same facility, and has joined several groups and enjoys the activities. She sees her daughter Jennifer weekly, and daughter Beth (in Delaware) visits often. Jean’s husband’s cat provides much comfort to her. • Diana Bond Holtshouser has moved to a one-bedroom apartment in a facility that houses about 100 seniors in all stages of aging. Diana still drives and participates in outdoor activities.

Her Voluntairs Chorale performed in May for AARP at the Audubon Center, a departure from normally performing in nursing homes.

Diana and her family toured the Northfield campus in October 2017. • Constance Streeter Reilly moved from her villa in Homestead to a two-bedroom apartment; it was time to downsize. Excess possessions will be sold at auction in the Amish and Mennonite vicinity and should do well with Constance’s husband’s tools. She still enjoys golfing. The Reillys’ three great-grandchildren (ages 1, 3, and 5) live in western Pennsylvania. • Patricia Lawrence Schwartz was in the hospital once this year for a short stay.

She had a long visit from two of her wandering children: Daughter Barbara stopped by from her home on the sea—she was in Belize and will be sailing to Guatemala to get out of the hurricane box. Son Steve, an archaeologist, visited before traveling to national parks and digs during the summer. Daughter Karen lives close by and checks on Patricia regularly.

• David Bolger is a resident of Sarasota, Fla., and enjoys spending time there and in Ridgewood, N.J. He has retired from the business world, selling his company to his son, who continues to grow the business. David is enjoying his golden years by impacting the lives of numerous organizations through his philanthropic endeavors and foundation work. NMH carries a special place in his heart; he continues to give to the school, helping to impact the lives of students. Thank you, Dave, for all you’ve done for our class and NMH. • Ralph “Whitey” Barrows and his wife live in a retirement facility in Williamsburg, Va. Bill Brink also lives there. Ralph had a large melanoma removed from his left check in July 2017, which necessitated extensive repair to the left side of his face along with radiation. He was bitten by a tick, which gave him alpha-gal syndrome — he can no longer eat any meat from a four-legged

animal. He now eats only things with feathers and fins. Ralph visited his son in Charlestown, Mass., in the summer. His two grandsons live nearby and collectively gave him three great-grandchildren: a boy (3) and two girls (1). • Arnulf Esterer has been a wine grower along Lake Erie in Conneaut, Ohio, for 50 years. • Walter Hirsch is a tenor in a chorale and performs four times a year. He still has his NMH hymnal. • Fred Monett was planning to return to the Northfield campus in September for the second Restore and Revive Conference. Fred went on another cruise, this time with John Hagee Ministries in the western Caribbean. • Sailing since he was 5 years old, Roy Terwilliger embarked on a summer of sailing and racing in Cape Cod. He is looking to find Doug Whittles. Anyone have any information? • Dick Whelan had a permanent spinal cord stimulator unit installed in June, and he plans to name it “Quasimodo” (he named his right knee replacement “Ahab”). He enjoyed Texas and Hilton Head, going on 15-mile bike rides and working on back repair. Dick was planning to then bike the 35-mile “Tow Path Trail.” It follows the Ohio and Erie Canal from Akron to Lake Erie. • Speaking of bike rides, Bruce Dunn cycled to our 25th and 50th reunions from Canada to NMH. Although he would like to repeat the journey with an electrically assisted bike, those of us at the 50th knew that, on his journey, he met another cyclist and they traveled together. Tragically, the other cyclist was struck and killed. Bruce now has something else on his bucket list: a trip to Tahiti. Since reading Mutiny on the Bounty, this has been his dream. His four books are complete, and he’s working to sell them. • Vic Scalise made a trip to Massachusetts in May 2018. His son’s wife, Jill, was honored for her work with the homeless and public housing. Vic attended grandson Nathan’s graduation from State University of New York with a master’s in musical composition, and also a family reunion in Suffield, Conn. On Pentecost Sunday, he and his son engaged in a dialogue sermon at three services with the topic of “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” He spent his 86th birthday at their summer home in Ocean Park, Maine.

Vic spent time at Harvard for the graduation of his grandson, Greg, who played trumpet in the band, wrote the 2018 class ode, received the Smyth Thesis prize, and graduated magna cum laude in philosophy and classical civilization. During this time, his second great-grandchild, Amelia, was born. • The Whitley family continues to see our seven great-grandchildren grow and thrive. The eldest, Daniel, turned 15 in May, and makes his mark in the Outlaw Kart venue, already driving among adults. He was invited to Charlotte, N.C., to a championship race. Only 26 of the 45 could qualify for the main event;

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he qualified 10th. In the 50-lap main event, Daniel moved into fifth place with seven laps to go when a pin broke in his carburetor. He was done. However, he ended up 13th out of 26, as 13 other racers had either crashed or broken before him. Several NASCAR drivers were also racing in this event. Daniel then went to West Virginia, where he won everything. During my 86th birthday weekend in May, I did a beach run with my 38-year-old grandson and his oldest son. This will be an annual event. • The spring magazine listed the following classmates as deceased: Floyd Andrew, Donald Hunt, Mariel Gilbert Kinsey, Mary Springer McBride, Carroll Gillespie Pettengill, Irwin Severance, and Richard Smith. To this list, I must add Anna Johnston Taylor (11/4/17).

The class sends condolences to their families. • Have a wonderful holiday season. Only a year and a half until our 70th reunion.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Pat McCormick Hoehing sylv.snail@bex.net 7125 San Benito Drive, Sylvania, OH 43560 • Frederick W. Miller fwcemiller@sbcglobal.net From Pat: Having reached our 85th birthday, we seem to be embracing lifelong learning experiences while accepting necessary personal changes in the process. • Sammy Shuman Carr is now in an independent living situation in Port Charlotte, Fla. The on-site pool helps maintain her mobility after recent hip replacement and revision. Aside from bird watching from her apartment, Sammy continues painting, pine needle basket making, wood burning, and quilting. Active at the Port Charlotte Cultural Center, she still plays and teaches the mountain dulcimer.

Sammy thanks Northfield for her plentiful, active life. • Alice Toaz DeBaun wrote from Shell Point, Fla., “I manage an orchid house with 996 orchids, race a remote-controlled sailboat, kayak, golf poorly, act as mate or narrator on an out-to-lunch boat, and am on the board of directors of the St. Charles Yacht Club.” Alice enjoys company if you are in that area. • Marilyn “Skip” Smith Noll shared, “On my birthday in early April, I moved to Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Md. It’s a wonderful place, full of friendly people.

Although I miss Pittsburgh, my friends, and church, I felt lost without Walter. Taking care of our house was very difficult.” Skip enjoys the beautiful campus setting from her sunny, pleasant apartment and feels blessed to be there among new friends and nearer to family. • Ann “Mitch” Mitchell Seemann flew to Texas in early June to attend a granddaughter’s graduation from medical school.

Back home in Rhode Island, Mitch’s life continues to center around the local Unitarian church, especially their choir — the

highlight of her week. Mitch and Bentley, her rescue shih tzu, live quietly and enjoy long walks together. “I’m reasonably healthy except for the ho-hum aches and pains of aging. I feel lucky to have good friends.” • Carol “Maxie” Maxham Whittall admits to slowing down but is still working and has lived in the same house for 60 years. She sends her love to all. • Mary Ann Efird Higgins was sorting out stuff accumulated over many years and found this statement from the Northfield School for Girls: “Conditions have made necessary the following revision of charges: The expense for tuition is now $600 and the actual cost for this year will be between $850 and $900.” She assumes it referred to costs for our senior year. As a freshman in 1947, my father received a bill for $500. At that time, we worried about how much this excellent education was costing our families! • As for me, Pat McCormick Hoehing, travel to exotic places was not on our calendar for the summer of ’18. Herb and I enjoy day-tripping activities with a lifelong learning group at a local university. One such trip was to the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. It was amazing to view travel technology changes from the Wright Brothers, to sophisticated airplanes, to rockets, to the International Space Station, all in one century! A fun volunteer activity for me is sewing colorful eyes on large stuffed frogs for pediatric patients at our local hospital. The kids love their new soft friend as they are wheeled into a scary surgery or procedure.

It gives a whole new meaning to a college zoology major! Why frogs? The swampy area around northwest Ohio is a perfect environment for frogs. Locally, Toledo is known as “Frog-town”! • From Fred: Our class vice president, C. James “Red” Allen, passed away on 4/1/18 after a period of declining health. An insurance executive, he had lived in Scarborough, Maine, for more than 50 years. Jim was a four-year Hermon man, a co-editor of the Gateway yearbook, class president for freshman and sophomore years, a cheerleader in junior year, and cheerleader advisor as a senior. He was also on the Church Membership Committee and College Covenol Committee. Married to Lorraine (née Adams) for 41 years until her passing in 1996, Jim retired in 1991. Jim earned a history degree at Colgate, served in the U.S. Army, and was stationed at Fort Devens and at the Presidio of Monterey in California. He is survived by a son and a daughter, and five grandchildren. • “All is well here in Norfolk, Mass., as long as I do what my family members tell me to and what the doctors reinforce,” wrote Robert “Bo” White. “Having lost [my wife] Joan to cancer two years ago, it took a little time to ‘find my niche’ after 60 years together, but adjustments have been made and life is going along

At the 2016 NMH reunion of the class of ‘51 were Hermonites (from left) Fred Miller, David Norton, and Darren Rathkopf.

very well. Went to Sacred Concert and that brought back happy memories.” • Some of you may remember Lou Barber working in the student store. The store manager was Frank “Bud” Foster. Bud is 98 and doing well. Lou speaks with him often. “Fifty years ago, I was a test pilot on the world’s first attack helicopter, the AH-1G Cobra,” shared Lou. “I loved that job. Please take a look at my website, louiebarber.com.” • C. Bruce Laidlaw, a retired attorney and former naval intelligence officer, was one of the founders of the Syracuse Track Club in 1977. He started running in April 1948, and at Mount Hermon, he ran cross-country and track and was in the Outing and Current Events clubs. Bruce also has volunteered reading to second-graders at a Syracuse school. He has three children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. At age 84, he runs three miles three times a week, at, according to Bruce, “a strong, sustained 20-minuteper-mile pace.” • With humility, I share these comments from our classmates: “I want to express my appreciation to you for serving as class secretary over these many years [since our 40th reunion, 25 years]. I have always been happy and proud to be a member of the Mount Hermon class of ’51,” said Ben Pratt from Antrim, N.H. This was followed by Robert “Mac” MacFadyen from Barnstable, Mass: “Nicely put, Ben. I know you speak for all of us.” Retired justice Ted Newman: “Amen to that!” Thanks.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Julie Taylor Clemens jtclemens@cs.com Many thanks to Mel Smith for his leadership in making our mini reunions possible, but now he is stepping down, and three classmates — Mimi Hollister Gardner, Steve Waters, and Sybil Benton Williamson —are making plans for the 2018 mini. Updates will be conveyed through class notes communications. • Mimi reported that she and Don made a trip to China, where she enjoyed a Founder’s Week celebration honoring the history of the Shanghai American School, which she

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attended in seventh and eighth grade. Did you know there were three other NMH classmates at the school with her: Stape Roy, Mary Newman McMahon, and Anne Scovel Fitch?

Mimi saw many places of her favorite memories, including the hospital of her father in China. • Some of our classmates are moving into senior retirement places and others are remaining in their homes of many years.

Sometimes it means a simpler home on one level, sometimes it is an apartment in a busy city such as New York. Several classmates who have frequented the mini reunions have chosen the senior retirement areas. Muriel Hopkins Beahm and husband, Barc, moved several years ago into RiverMead Retirement Community in Peterborough, N.H., a large assortment of cottages and apartments.

Muriel is now content in the “Memory Unit,” Barc is nearby in their cottage, and family live in nearby towns. Muriel greets visitors cheerfully, recognizing old friends, but the memory is gone soon after. It is reassuring that there is extra loving caregiving at RiverMead, with Barc and family members visiting often. • Though Arlene Bailey LeinbachPrince has been living in the Seattle, Wash., area for many years, she is unable to attend the minis. She, too, has moved into a senior retirement community — Ida Culver House Broadview — where she joins old friends and has a comfortable living arrangement. • Opting to stay active in New York, Bill Rosser and wife Phyllis are enjoying life in the big city. Bill gives tours of Grand Central Terminal, creates monthly programs for Harvard Business School seniors, and attends talks at New York Academy of Sciences. Phyllis creates sculptures and is currently in three exhibitions. • We received news of the death of classmate Niki “Dottie” Nichols Friedberg.

She had an active life working for Polaroid, Crimson Travel Service, and Tufts University; and a passion for contemporary art. She was also president of the board of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston for 50 years.

Niki loved to share her love of travel, the Red Sox, and Martha’s Vineyard with her family. • George Bissell and wife Nancy enjoyed seeing both of the Northfield and Mount Hermon campuses on a beautiful sunny day last October. George noted the Northfield campus is well cared for and he discovered the many changes on the NMH campus since 1952! The Bissells relived some of their best memories.

They moved to a one-level home three years ago and are enjoying life there. • Though Sybil Benton Williamson spent some time in the hospital for a gallbladder operation last fall, she has been busy thanking Mel Smith for his 20 years of dedication to the class of 1952 and its mini reunions, and is helping to keeping them active. • Nan Lauder Eckfeld has a lively and much enlarged family group: only two married daughters, but there are 12 grandkids

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(six of them married) and 16 great-grands. • Last I heard, Suzanne Brown Longacre and husband John were awaiting news of how their catamaran had survived Hurricane Irma. They are contemplating settling into a retirement area but haven’t made plans yet.

They are always hopeful that they will be able to make a mini reunion. • When Luella Wilson Rainbow lost her husband, Anne “Cokey” Lanoue Weber kept in touch from a distance by telephoning every week or so. Luella still works for the Disney Cruise Line and loves it. • Our class newsletter helps those without computers keep in touch, and is often more detailed than this magazine column, which must be edited for space. • Keep in touch with your scribe, classmates, and friends.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Will Lange will@willemlange.com • Abby “AJ” Nicholson Hodges ajhodges@comcast.net From Will: Well, didn’t we have a great reunion! I’m guessing at least 25 of us, including spouses, showed up. Although it’s a bit unnerving to find your class seated by age near the front (only four ’48ers sat ahead of us), the swelling sounds from behind were reminders of the gusto and enthusiasm of all our fellow alums. Evenings, after post-prandial programs, we eschewed the rock concerts and keg parties, retreating to our motel for quiet conversation in the bar. Saturday afternoon at Convocation, we scored the highest number of alumni awards of any class, given to Bev Bolton Leyden, Gus White, and me. • Bev and her committee created a well-organized schedule for us.

There was lots of time for the quiet conversations that mark relationships at our age.

Every time I saw Gottfried Brieger, he and Bob Ashcraft were deep into something; and when Bev passed around a folder of letters from women who were unable to attend, we lost Marilyn Dimon White and other women for a while as they went through all of them.

• We adopted Bev’s son, Jeff ’80 (a member of NMH’s advancement staff ), as an honorary member of the great class of ’53. • One of the most moving episodes at reunion was the Friday-evening hymn sing. It is easy in these times to see beyond the pettiness of our national conundrum, that the thundering words and tunes of these mighty hymns, led beautifully by Sheila Heffernon and sung at full voice by hundreds of us, squeezed tears from my eyes and reminded us of the hopeful vision of the men and women who’ve sung them for more than 100 years before us. Sheila reminded us that the 2019 Sacred Concert will be the 125th. Many of us plan to be there. • One of Bill Burgess’ emailed updates read, “I so loved Mount Hermon and what it taught me. The rolling, wooded

hills flowing to the Connecticut River still beckon to me. In my California years, I did volunteer work with the San Francisco Maritime Museum. I served as mate on a friend’s sloop in deep-water sailing along the California coast. In 1980, I was a guest aboard the Coast Guard square-rigger, Eagle, in her run from Boston’s OpSail to St. Thomas. I wrote a book, In Bristol Fashion, about my maritime adventures (AuthorHouse). In 1999 I retired in Arlington, Texas, after 41 years in the insurance field. Patti and I married in 2001. I was one of the founders of the Arlington Urban Ministries and Arlington CERT (citizen disaster training). Patti and I are fairly mobile. She is a certified Stephen Minister with our United Methodist Church.

I still do Meals on Wheels. We enjoy family gatherings on our five acres of vacation land in Buffalo Springs, Texas, where we have a pond stocked with catfish and bass, groomed meadows for competitive play, and wooded trails to roam. Always the flow of birds riding high thermals, cows bawling, and horses nickering in nearby pastures. This is Cross Timbers country, north-central Texas, where skies stretch forever.” • Speaking of Texas, Bev and I persuaded Anne Eubank Jolliff to make it to reunion; but at the last minute she wrote to say that she was having a few minor problems with her real estate: The ceiling had fallen down in her getaway retreat above the Pecan Bayou, and the air conditioner in her Waco home was on the fritz; she had to stay home to attend to them.

Her ranch, where the getaway is located, is not at all far from the Burgess’ place. Time for a mini reunion with a Texas accent? • My old roommate, Stewart Crawford, and I both love classic cars and email each other what I call “automotive pornography.” He introduced me to the Adirondacks, where he lived at the time and which I love so much I’ve bought a grave plot there with a view of the high peaks. Stewart found it increasingly difficult to get east each summer, so he has at last passed on his lovely cottage in the mountains to his children, who will put it up for sale. He’s been the last of his historic family to maintain a presence in his home village. • Other members of our class have had various surgeries, prostheses, and parts replacements in order to maintain a semblance of their active lives. It’s to our credit that only rarely did our conversation at reunion slip into what’s called an “organ recital.” This is an upbeat bunch! • I lost Ida, my wife of almost 58 years, on April 12 this year after a long, struggling decline, and no longer have anyone to read novels to (her favorites were of plucky French girls thwarting Nazis during the Occupation), or share the news or my latest columns. Her death was heartbreaking. Thanks, however, to my younger daughter, Martha, I’m into my

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second year of cohabitation with Kiki, a very peppy rescue terrier from Texas and daily woods-walking companion, who’s beautifully in charge of household morale. • Don’t forget Sacred Concert 2019 and the year 2023: our 70th reunion!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dennis Kelly dskelly1935@gmail.com • Be Jay Froehlich Hill bhill24@juno.com • Dan Fricker dcfricker@videotron.ca From Dennis: Please clear your calendars for the first week in June 2019 to return to our great old school for our 65th reunion. Your Reunion Committee is working hard to make the gathering special. At the 60th reunion, we had seven classmates who returned who had never been to a reunion before and they had a great time. We want to duplicate that experience. We have arranged for Will Lange ’53, Mount Hermon’s storyteller extraordinaire, to be our guest speaker. Will has published nine books of wonderful short stories that should be required reading for all NMH graduates. We will be assisted by Jocelyn Merrick of NMH’s advancement office. In addition to me, your Reunion Committee includes Bob Salisbury of Manlius, N.Y., Bobbi Helmle Simon of Bridgeport, Conn., and Gail Schaller Storms of Bristol, R.I. Bobbi skied in Vermont this past winter and Gail has become a great-grandmother of four — can you believe it?! I returned to NMH in spring as an “observer” for the class of ’53’s 65th reunion to see how they did it and came away with some good ideas for our own reunion. • I had the great pleasure of meeting Gail in Providence, R.I., when I was accompanying my grandson, Logan ’19, on a visit to Brown University in the spring. Gail had two of her Simmons College roommates with her, and we all enjoyed dinner together at a local restaurant. Gail and her roommates attended their 60th college reunion in Boston the following day. • Good friend, class secretary, and loyal alumnus Charley Blatchford

Debbie Brown Boots ’54 at the controls of a pontoon boat in Hilton Head, S.C.

passed away on 6/30/18. Charley had endured COPD since 2005. From North Tarrytown, N.Y., he played soccer, basketball, tennis, and skied at NMH. He sang a cappella in the choir and worked on our yearbook, The Gateway, among other activities. Charley attended Yale and settled in Fair Oaks, Calif., where he taught at a private school for many years. I’ve been in touch with Charley over the years and will certainly miss him. Our condolences go out to his wife, Judy, and his family. • Fred Beardsley passed away on 10/27/17. He was at Hermon for three years, lettering in both soccer and lacrosse. He and I were initial roommates at Bucknell University, along with Al Westermann. Fred left Bucknell after two years to join the U.S. Air Force and later became an airline pilot for Delta Airlines, finally retiring to Roswell, Ga. • Mike Carpenter passed away on 11/22/17.

From Connecticut, he spent a year at Hermon before going on to Bowdoin College. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Mike became a computer programmer for the Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Conn., where he remained until retirement in 2003.

He said he really appreciated the Mount Hermon education he received. • Ed Phelps, who passed away on 1/9/18, was from Bernardston, Mass., and earned his degree in education from UMass. He returned to Bernardston, where he taught for the remainder of his career. His three children are also NMH graduates. • Those of us who were waiters remember Dave Lloyd.

Dave passed away on 1/3/18 from kidney failure at his home in Asheville, N.C. He was the oldest member of our class, born near London, England, in 1934. His family evacuated him to Wales to escape the World War II German bombing, and in 1943 he emigrated to Sudbury, Mass., to live with relatives. Dave supervised the waiters in West Hall and always had a clipboard of our names to be sure we were there on time and properly dressed in our white waiter’s jackets. After four years at Mount Hermon, Dave attended Tufts, later entering the pharmaceutical and medical equipment business, and retiring after 35 years. In retirement, he worked for Habitat for Humanity. I last saw Dave at our 50th reunion, and we will miss him dearly. • Dave Ward passed away on 10/12/17. He ran on the cross-country team with me in his junior year. After NMH, Dave earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and was employed by the Wright Patterson Air Force base. He and wife Betsy retired to Seneca, S.C., on the shores of Lake Keowee.

• We also are truly saddened by the news of the passing of Marianna “Bebe” Macone Bott on 10/4/17. Bebe lived in Center Gould

and West Gould. She went on to Northeastern University and became a radiologist for most of her career. In the mid-1980s she graduated from Smith College’s Ada Comstock Scholars program and continued to work in the medical field, retiring to Florida in 2001. We last saw Bebe at our 50th reunion, an event she really enjoyed. • Sadly, Laurie Lyall White passed away on 8/29/17. Laurie was from Flushing, N.Y., and spent two years at Northfield in Center Gould. She went on to Mount Holyoke College and later to Columbia for her master’s degree in education. She married Jon White, had four children, taught school, and retired to Naples, Fla., starting her own financial services business. • This past spring I had lunch with Stan Peck and his wife, Nancy, at a seafood restaurant in Belmar, N.J. Stan lives in Glen Rock, N.J., but is looking for a smaller place near the Jersey shore, as he used to come down to Bay Head in the mid-1960s as a weekend escape from his job as a Wall Street stock broker. Stan is recovering well from a broken ankle. • A yacht broker friend and I helped Fred Rice in selling his 38-foot motor yacht. We brought the boat down to the Jersey shore from the Hudson River, where we thought it would be more accessible to prospective buyers. Some Russian folks from Brooklyn bought the boat in the fall of 2017 and moved it up to Long Island. Fred lives in Maine, but plans to come down to Hilton Head, S.C., to shop for a small retirement home for the winter months. Fred visited with Bill Russell, who has retired to Palm Desert, Calif., after a great career in the insurance industry in Hartford, Conn.

Bill and his wife celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary earlier this year. Bill and Fred were roommates at Ohio Wesleyan University and both promise to return to our 65th reunion. • After a recent checkup at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia, I had a nice visit with Betty Vermey at her condo in Bryn Mawr. Betty was born near Amsterdam and came to America in 1939, barely escaping World War II, and her family settled in Middletown, Conn. She attended Bryn Mawr College, later becoming their director of admissions. She also earned a master’s degree at Wesleyan University and began her doctorate in philosophy at Columbia. I think I have the last remaining letter of 1953 from Betty to me accepting my invitation to some function on the Mount Hermon campus. By coincidence, both Betty and Toni Browning Smiley were roommates at Northfield during their senior year, as were their respective sisters, Patricia Browning Paige ’45 and Peggy Vermey Pierce ’45.

Sadly, Toni lost her older sister at age 90 this year. Patricia was an actress and lived

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in California. Our sincere condolences go out to Toni. • I see Susie Craig Hastings and Debby Brown Boots on a regulator basis in the winter months in Hilton Head Island.

Susie rents a place in Sea Pines Plantation, and Debbie lives in an independent living facility a couple of miles away. We all took a pontoon boat ride on the Broad Creek at Hilton Head, and I’ve taught them the game of dominoes, to which I have become addicted. Debbie conducts wildlife tours through the local forest preserve. Both are always a pleasure to be with. • Cathy Olney Irzyk lost both her son and her husband in 2017 within months of each other. Our sympathies go to Cathy. Susie Craig Hastings and Cathy were roommates at both Northfield and University of New Hampshire. Cathy spent a career in nursing on the West Coast and loved it. She moved back to her family’s home in Dunstable, Mass., a few years ago. • Steve Kurtz lives in northern New Jersey and is in excellent health, swimming a mile several times a week at his local Y. He used to cycle a lot, but wife Audrey made him give it up when he turned 80. I haven’t seen Steve since our

Alums like you frequently say, “I wish I could do more.”

You can.

By including NMH in your will.

With that simple act, you can have an impact on NMH students for generations to come.

Call 413-498-3084 or go to nmhschool.org/plannedgiving

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35th reunion in 1989, and I look forward to seeing him at our 65th; he promises to attend. • Ralph Perry, my old roommate, traveled east for his 60th Harvard reunion.

He and wife Betsy retired to an independent living facility near Pasadena, Calif., and both are still very active. Ralph played in July’s National Handball Championship in Minneapolis. He has six grandchildren, and the oldest just graduated from New York University Law School. Another is at the University of Chicago and wants to be a doctor. Ralph has had an illustrious career in law, practicing in Los Angeles after graduating from Stanford Law School. He plans to be at our 65th. • When I heard of all the flooding this past winter in Kingwood, Texas, due to the severe storms, I called our classmate Al Merritt, who lives there. He said the flooding didn’t affect him since he lives on high ground. Al lived on the second floor of Crossley and played on the football team. He went on to University of Maine and later began a career with the Humble Oil Company, part of ExxonMobil.

• Marcia Samuel lives in Hackettstown, N.J., the town where she grew up. She spent an interesting career with IBM as a systems engineer in New York. Now she volunteers at Rutherford Hall, a 50-room historical Tudor estate on 5,000 acres. • Ginny Reed Fisher had some major heart issues a couple of years ago and now attends a cardiac rehabilitation center in Brattleboro, Vt., where she works out on a treadmill. She says everything is going well and looks forward to visiting with her former classmates at our upcoming reunion. Ginny lives in her 1840 farmhouse in West Brattleboro, not far from NMH. She married Ken Fisher after he finished law school and began to practice law in Brattleboro. Ken lived right above me on Crossley’s fourth floor, and we became good friends. He’s even been crew on one of my yacht deliveries, enjoying the East Coast view from the deck. Sadly, Ken passed away several years ago. • I was in touch with Don McComb to see if he would like me to drive him to our 65th reunion, as I did for our 60th. Don lives on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and has knee issues, so he has some difficulty getting around. He has been a loyal NMH alum for many years. • Thank you all for your generous contributions to the McVeigh Scholarship Fund. We established the fund at our 45th reunion to honor our beloved crosscountry and track coach and French teacher, Fred McVeigh. We started out with pledges of about $33,000 at our 45th. As of June 2018, the fund was over $193,000, and I receive a nice thank-you letter from each recipient every year. Let’s try to make it $200,000 by our 65th reunion. The scholarship is open to anyone, but preference is given to students

who run on either the girls’ or the boys’ cross-country or track teams. Stay healthy, eat wisely, and get plenty of exercise — we’ll meet again in June.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Lisa Tuttle Edge etedge@aol.com • Don Freeman d.freeman4@verizon.net From Lisa: Diane Woods came back in June from a marvelous two-week Adriatic, Ionian, and Aegean seas trip on a small, comfortable 50-passenger vessel, traveling and visiting places along the Dalmatia and Croatia coast from Split to Greece. Many amazing sights and fascinating history. Then she and her traveling friend spent five delightful days in Santorini, the volcanic island in Greece — a lot of charm and ancient history.

She managed to walk three miles a day over pretty rough terrain! Said Diane, “I feel in good shape to tackle life back here at River Woods in Exeter, N.H., [at] the excellent CCRC, where I have lived for the past year.

I have taken up collage making. Also, I am enjoying a very stimulating poetry group.”

• Barbara Zschiesche Cooley celebrated her 80th by going to San Diego for a family reunion. Her balloon flight was canceled, but she intends to sign up for another in Vermont. She rents her cottage through Airbnb and reports interesting guests. She and Susanna Whitney Grannis meet once a month to resist some of the issues their congressman supports and they have lunch.

Barbara, Helen Bogle Crawshaw, and Emily Lovering attended Susanna’s 80th birthday extravaganza last December. • During April and May, Lisa Tuttle Edge and husband Don enjoyed a three-week visit to Paris (Impressionists, food, friends), Rome (Bellini sculptures), and an organized tour of Sicily (Roman ruins, great vistas, “Godfather” villages). Lisa’s checked suitcase missed the flight to Paris and then followed her secretly to Rome and Catania, but never made contact until she arrived in Chatham, Mass., where it was delivered to her door on Memorial Day. In Paris, she bought three tops, three pairs of pants, a scarf, socks, a windbreaker, a hat, sunscreen, detergent, an umbrella, and Rick Steves’ Italy — all of which fit in her carry-on bag. From now on, she is traveling light. • In June, Suzanne Rowan Sachatello toured Israel with a group from her church and commented, “Miss King would have approved of the Bible readings at each site.” Suzanne spends each winter in Amelia Island, Fla., watching her 6- and 3-year-old grandchildren while their parents cover the ER. She spends summers at her Kentucky home and plans to visit family in Connecticut before returning to Florida. • From Don: I had a nice note from Mike Carter, who,

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like many of us, just turned 80. He’s been retired since 2005 and is now working at the State Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and Lancaster General Hospital. Mike says he’s “pretty healthy for an 80-year-old.” Good news! • Packer Wilbur and wife Laura’s three children live in England and Australia, so all nine grandchildren are a long way away, but everyone joins them in the U.S. each summer.

Packer’s still competing in sailing with Ideal 18s, a small keelboat. • Art Duel visited Bernth Lindfors in Austin, Texas, in early 2018 and saw many Texas Longhorns games.

Art shot his age (81) on his golf community course in Florida. Well done, Art! • Connie and Don Hiller toured the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. They heard “many sad stories of this part of Europe, with WWII first, followed by the Iron Curtain.

Some generations are still trying to deal with freedom. Great goulash everywhere!” • Svein Arber joined Bernth Lindfors, Bernth’s brother Ken Lindfors ’53, and sister Sally Lindfors Keegan ’61 for lunch in Peterborough, N.H., in May. Ben published another book, The Theatrical Career of Samuel Morgan Smith, with Africa World Press. Svein, for his part, published a novel, Jumping to Conclusions, with Victory Books. He shared, “I’m happy to report that, at 80, I’ve become a grandfather for the first time.” Svein’s daughter, Gyda, gave birth to a boy, Richard, last December.

Svein’s novel is a roman noir, available as a Kindle edition on Amazon; a paperback version, as well as digital editions on other e-book platforms, will be available this year.

• Don Freeman did a lot of singing this past year, performing a program of three Masses (by Josef Rheinsberger, Johannes Ockeghem, and Ralph Vaughan Williams) with the Da Camera Singers, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Keene (N.H.) Chorale. He also represented our class, singing tenor with the Alumni Choir at Sacred Concert. Don’s granddaughter, Firefly, has followed the family tradition by being promoted to the top level of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

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Nelson Lebo nlebo@nmhschool • Kim Buck skimball1682@gmail.com • Caro Woolley Peterson petersoncaro3@gmail.com From Caro: As we all enter into another

decade, it is fun to remember and hear from our classmates from 62 years ago at Northfield School for Girls. • Sue Clough traveled south, escaping the snow and ice at NMH in February. We gathered for lunch and socializing in Venice, Fla. In the area were Benita Pierce, Pattie Pelton Lanier, Lyn Foote Marosz, Elaine Tetreault Smith, Dorrie Krakower Susser, and Caro Woolley Peter-

son. • Cynthia Warren Mahdalik shared with Elaine Tetreault Smith that living without

her husband of 50 years, who died in 2014 at age 79, is not pleasant. However, her daughter, Alana, is not far from her and comes frequently to help her, for which Cynthia is thankful. A longtime quilter, Cynthia belongs to three quilting groups, and is a member of her local historical society. She has been busy and active. • “Four years ago, I moved to a CCRC in Hanover, N.H., to be nearer to my children,” wrote Ann Carpenter Holbrook. Although it was hard for Ann to leave Raleigh, N.C., she has happily settled into apartment living. “Every morning, I took an early-morning walk, and last year began meeting a fellow resident with his dog. We began to have conversations when we met, then he asked me to join him and his dog for a longer walk during the day. From there, we began doing more things together until we were recognized as a ‘couple.’ Not an unusual occurrence in a retirement community. But what was unusual and caused a lot of excitement was when he asked me to marry him, and I was very happy to say ‘yes!’ We were married December 2 [2017] in a small ceremony here at Kendal [CCRC] with our families attending. We have moved to one apartment and married life is pretty darn nice! … Don worked in Washington, D.C., as a reporter for the Washington Daily News and 20 years for United Press International covering foreign policy and economic news. His interest in national/international news is ongoing and makes for some interesting insights! He is Don May, and I remain Ann Holbrook. And that’s my new life!” Congratulations from us all! • Barbara Tuller Cameron has been singing all her life, and performed in a Memorial Day concert with the 90-member Mid Cape Chorus this year. Barbara and her husband have lived on the Cape in Harwich for 27 years, where they both help people in their community maintain their homes. They have many grandchildren, including two adopted from Russia. Her life is full of frequent college graduations. • Joan Thompson Leonard (Saratoga, Calif.) and her husband were looking forward to a trip down the Rhine from Antwerp, Belgium, to Basel, Switzerland. • Sally Ahearn James, who had been widowed, passed away on 4/12/17 due to a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. Joan Thompson Leonard met Sally in 1966 when she lived in California, and spoke warmly of Sally’s daughter, Jennie, who was a caretaker for her mother through her disease. • For about a dozen years, Pattie Pelton Lanier has been singing in the Gulf Coast Community Choir, a multicultural adult choral group in Sarasota. Caro Woolley Peterson and husband Peter drove up from Venice for the annual concert, which raised funds for Girls Inc. and

Meals on Wheels. Thanks to NMH, music is still a big part of Pattie’s life. • “In September 2017, I traveled to China for the second time,” wrote Karyl Allyn Condit, “this time with my brother and daughter. We joined a group of 17 at a mountaintop village, Kuliang (or Drum Mountain), in Fujian Province, as descendants of missionaries who were in China in the early 1900s. We were invited by a government group to return to share our stories, photos, and/or small artifacts with the local historical restoration effort there.

For my mother, who was born and raised in China, Kuliang was the magical ‘summer camp’ where foreigners gathered to escape heat-driven diseases in the summer. We were treated as celebrities, complete with the camera-wielding press! [We] had a ride into the rural mountains to locate the sites of churches that our grandfather built and where he ministered.” • Evie Walsh Stevenson is still a certified master gardener, but is less bendable. Her husband, David, helps and they work together. She is still doing her Eleanor Roosevelt impersonation, which is fulfilling and makes her feel useful, community-wise. Her family is wonderful and her grandkids are growing: Julianna is a senior at Northwestern in Chicago, Miles is a freshman at Northeastern in Boston, and Quinn is a high school junior in New Jersey. • Joyce Wells Griner was given a surprise trip to Israel for her 80th birthday by her daughter.

“I have gone solar,” Joyce wrote. “Have had solar hot water since 1992, and now fuel the whole house. My daughter lives in Friendswood, Texas, close to Houston. The water came right up to the door during the terrible flood. My daughter’s father died during the hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico when the electricity went out and there was no hospital care. I have since purchased a solar-generated lithium battery, so we won’t worry about many things like refrigeration and light. All the grandchildren are doing well. Zachary starts college (Texas). Emmy Lou Newman Shehan and Gloria Southard Bradley are doing well.” • Judith Freeman is still working (barely), still traveling (as much as possible), and still healthy (as far as she knows). In the last mailing from NMH, there was a picture of Judith’s roommate, Kathy Filides Tsouros, in her dummy outfit! Where are you, Kathy? • Pat Fagin Scott attended a dinner party held at Spoonbread, Norma Darden’s (’57) restaurant. Jane Galvin-Lewis ’58 and Benita Pierce also attended. While in New York, Benita had breakfast with John Mitchell and Don Glascoff ’63. In June, Don and John hosted a farewell to Peter Fayroian at the Yale Club. • From Caro Woolley Peterson: “Peter and I continue to lead a double life: winters in Venice, Fla., in Country Club Estates — a 55-and-older resident-owned community — and springs and summers in

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Carver, Mass., in South Meadow Village, another 55+ community.” • And from Kim Buck: “I also divide my time between Gloucester (Mass.), at my friend Judy Avery’s cottage, and at my new condo in Beverly. I have taken up an exercise class and a writer’s group at the Beverly Senior Center.” • From Nelson: John Lubetkin’s latest novel, A Million Dollars an Ounce, was published in January, and the protagonist is a Mount Hermon School graduate. Check the novel’s summary and reviews online at Amazon. • Over the years, Ralph Bixler has been president of the Navy League for Puerto Rico and extending from Guantanamo, Cuba, to the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as having been a national vice president of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet organization. He was also chairman of the Reserve Officer’s Beach Club. As of today, Ralph and his wife have four sons and five grandchildren ranging in age from 4 to 29. • Walt Jones noted Rod Scheffer’s death in December 2017. Rod (MH ’46) was in the Brown class of ’50. He left Mount Hermon in 1962 and spent most of his career at the Tilton School in New Hampshire. • Howard Gelpey replied to my reporting of Terry Upson’s death. Howard was Terry’s roommate during junior year.

He reports, “I live in Florida seven months a year and in Danvers, Mass., for the warmer months. I have given up golf, but still work in real estate in the Sunshine State. Golf is much the better for my quitting, and I have more time to drive people around to see homes to retire in.” • I was unaware until I read the spring edition of NMH Magazine that Dick Chutter and Bill Taylor had passed away. I know of several other classmates who are in assisted living with memory issues.

Please send any news. • Your support is always requested for the NMH Fund (Annual Fund) and/or to the Class of 1956 Scholarship Fund and the James A. Rotherham ’56 Endowed Scholarship Fund.

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Jeanne Schwartz Magmer jeannem57@gmail.com

Our annual September Maine Madness mini reunion moved to New Hampshire’s Lakes Region this year, with a new name — ’57 Fall Fling — and new hosts: Bruce and Marsha Johnson and Dave and Pat Williams. This mini reunion took place Sept. 27–29, with classmates traveling from as far away as Oregon. We enjoyed hiking up Pine Mountain, touring the Boat Museum and World War II Museum in Wolfeboro, shopping, water sports, and meals at the Williams’ and Johnsons’ homes. Joyce Moore Arthur and Steve Springer, chairs of our 2022 class Reunion Committee, worked on planning our 65th reunion. The group enjoyed cruising on Lake Winnipesaukee before heading home. • Gordon Valentine and wife Lois enjoy good

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health and the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, as well as celebrations and reunions with family. They traveled to Europe last year for a cruise on the Rhine and Mosel rivers. They were also honored by the Rockbridge-area Habitat for Humanity for their involvement in its homebuilding projects. • Class president Dave Williams is back to his old active self with a new pacemaker to keep his heart on a regular beat.

He’s walking three to four miles a couple times a week and hopes to be running regularly by the time you read this. Dave, is your motivation a pie at the 2018 NMH Pie Race?

• Kudos to Joyce Moore Arthur and Darrell “Coop” Cooper for helping keep track of our classmates. Darrell tracked down Walter Mockett, who remembers Mount Hermon as “my favorite part of growing up.” Walt has 27 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. “I’ve been family and house poor all my married life, but I would not change that for all the money in the world. My health is pretty good and I still play tennis when I can.

We’re pretty much homebodies now except for occasional trips to see the children. And I’m still working,” Walt wrote. • Ginger Roe Lang conducted three hikes and explorations with Ginger’s Journeys this past summer.

Ginger’s hikes included walking and visiting three small towns in Massachusetts and sharing historical roots. • Judith Rosenbloom Hodges spent time in 2017–18 dealing with maladies initially caused by shingles and recommends everyone get the new shingles vaccine. (She’s since recovered.) Judith and her husband, Jan van Eys, enjoy living in a continuing care community, Richland Place, in Nashville, Tenn. • Edith “Dede” Kearney Heath and husband Kendrick moved to Maine in 1999 and they still love it. Their move was a celebration of their 60th birthdays, Kendrick’s retirement, and moving closer to the ocean. They live on the shores of Pemaquid Pond, close to the ocean, to which Dede has been attached since a 1971 Hurricane Island Outward Bound program.

She retired from University of Massachusetts Press in 1995. Dede, we hope you and your husband can connect with other classmates like Marti Welsh Goldstone, who spends her summers in Maine; Darrell “Coop” Cooper and wife Judy; and Bob Mansfield and wife Judi, who hosted Maine Madness for 15 years. • Marti Welsh Goldstone and Jeanne Schwartz Magmer spent two weeks in April cruising the Danube River from Passau, Germany, to the river delta in Ukraine. This was the second trip they’ve taken with a group of women from the Boston area that Ginger Roe Lang connected Jeanne with in 2011. A fall 2019 adventure in northern Italy is in the works, and if any Northfieldites are interested, let Marti, Ginger, or Jeanne know.

(Sorry, Hermonites. No men allowed. Your

wives, however, are welcome.) • Fast approaching 80 years on this planet caused Aldie Howard to reflect on his days at Mount Hermon: the early-morning milk crew and associations with men he still shares stories with. “Great memories,” he said. He and wife Sue spend winters in St. Petersburg, Fla., to escape the dreary Oregon weather. He’s restored a 1970 Chevy Nova and is back on the board of his local senior and community center. A true Hermonite, Aldie considers it his duty to serve his community and has done so as a city councilman, volunteer fireman, planning commission member, and in various civic organizations. • We wished Joe Harrington luck in June for selling his home, where he lived for 45 years. Joe moved to a retirement community in September in the same town. • Our online editor, Lloyd Mitchell, reports many more of you are signing up for our class website at www. classcreator.com/Mount-Hermon-Massachusetts-Northfield-Mount-Hermon-1957/.

Lloyd has also been tracking down our class authors. Here’s his list as of June 2018. Let him know what you’ve written and he’ll add you to the online list. • Terry Allen’s books include No Cash, No Fear (Entrepreneurial Secrets to Starting Any Business Without Money), 2001; Making 36% (Duffer’s Guide to Breaking Par in the Market Every Year in Good Years and Bad); and Coffee Can Investing (A Better Idea Than Mutual Funds in an IRA or 401(K)), 2014. Terry’s books in the works include one about hiking adventures in Europe (with his wife) and one tentatively called So You Think You Want to Downsize?

All of Terry’s books are available on Amazon.

• Sally Bogle Gable co-authored Palladian Days: Finding a New Life in a Venetian Country House, 2005, with Carl Gable. The book is available at thriftbooks.com. • Susan Tower Hollis’ The Ancient Egyptian Tale of Two Brothers, 2008, is available on Amazon.

Susan is hard at work on another book, Egyptian Goddesses: Their Beginnings, Actions, and Relationships in the Third Millennium BCE (tentative book title proposal accepted for publication, Bloomsbury Press Ltd., London),

Jeanne Schwartz Magmer ’57 (left) and Marti Welsh Goldstone ’57 were in Pecs, Hungary, where residents attach locks to fences for good luck.

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Lois and Gordon Valentine ’57 point out a plaque honoring their role in building a Habitat for Humanity home.

to be published in 2019. Susan is also editor and co-editor of several books to which she contributed and is in the process of editing, by invitation of Oxford University Press, Handbook on Ancient Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (2020 or 2021). The book has 36 international contributors, including Susan. • Martha Johnson is the author of Why Not Do What You Love? Musing Along the Way: Volume I — Tears, Lies and Fresh Fruit Pies (2001), and Volume II — Pain, Persistence and Purifying Waters (2008). Email martha@ taketimeforyou.net for signed copies of the books with a special message from Martha. • Estella Loomis Lauter, co-author/co-editor, published Feminist Archetypal Theory, 1985; Teaching Literature and Other Arts, 1990; Pressing a Life Together by Hand, 2007; The Essential Rudder, 2008; Transfiguration, 2013; and You Never Said. We Didn’t Ask, 2018. She also co-edited an anthology of poems, Soundings: Door County in Poetry, 2015; and 2017 Poets’ Calendar for Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, 2016. Her fourth book of poetry appeared in print in May 2018. She also co-edited Women as Mythmakers, 1984.

Check her out on Amazon. • Jeanne Schwartz Magmer used her editorial skills to finally publish a long-forgotten memoir written by her late husband, James Magmer, and southwestern Oregon gold miner/river guide Orval Robertson: Rogue River Guide and His Gold, 2018. She also edited her sister Shirley Schwartz Britton’s (’48) Pieces of Life, the story of quilt making, 2018. (Shirley is an amazing fabric artist.) In her professional life, Jeanne co-wrote and revised three editions of the National School Public Relations Association’s Election Success to help schools and local governments gain voter approval for money measures. She also authored and revised two editions of Oregon Schools’ Bond Manual and multiple editions of Oregon School Boards Association’s Reporters’ Guide to Education in Oregon. • Gail Minault has three books in print: The Khilafat Movement: Religious Symbolism and Political Mobilization in India, 1982, reissued in paperback in 1999; Secluded Scholars: Women’s Education and Muslim Social

Reform in Colonial India, 1998; and Gender, Language and Learning: Essays in IndoMuslim Cultural History, 2009. Check Amazon for copies. • James “Jim” L. Payne, our most prolific class author, has worked as a piano tuner and pipe organ technician, piano teacher, forest firefighter, apartment maintenance technician, and Christmas tree shearer, as well as a scholar and writer. He received his doctorate in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968 and has taught at Yale, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M. In 1985, he became an independent researcher and freelance writer. He is the author of 23 books, including works on Latin American politics, social science methodology, defense policy, Congress, taxation, and the motivation of politicians. His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Reader’s Digest, Fortune, and more. In 1996, he was awarded a Bradley Fellowship at the Heritage Foundation to study the welfare system, resulting in Overcoming Welfare: Expecting More from the Poor — and from Ourselves, 1998. He has edited a volume of writings by 19th-century social worker Octavia Hill, The Befriending Leader: Social Assistance without Dependency, 1997. In 2004, he published A History of Force: Exploring the Worldwide Movement against Habits of Coercion, Bloodshed, and Mayhem. Covering dozens of coercive practices, the book finds a broad historical trend against force. In 2010, he published Six Political Illusions: A Primer on Government, which explains the fallacies that lead to big government. In 2013, he published (under the pen name Count Nef ) Take Me to Your Government, a book of political fables for younger minds. More of Jim’s books, and his writer’s bio, are available on Amazon. • Check out Robert A. Pease’s Troubleshooting Analog Circuits, 1991, and How to Drive into Accidents — And How NOT To, 1998, both available on Amazon. • Malcolm Peck retired from a distinguished career in diplomacy from the U.S. State Department and is the author of two books based on his experiences in the Middle East: The United Arab Emirates: A

Judith Rosenbloom Hodges ’57 and her husband, Jan, enjoy life in their retirement community in Nashville, Tenn.

Venture in Unity (Nations of the Contemporary Middle East), 1986; and Historical Dictionary of the Gulf Arab States (Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania and the Middle East), 1996.

Both books are available on Amazon.

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Northfield Mount Hermon William Hawley hawleys@acsalaska.net • Helen Engelbrecht Ownby helen.ownby@gmail.com From Helen: Thirty-seven classmates (15 Northfield, 22 Mount Hermon) returned for our 60th reunion in June. • Reunion co-chairs Trinka Craw Greger and John Stone welcomed all to a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception at Cameron’s Winery in Northfield, followed by pizza back at the Inn at Crumpin Fox. During the pizza party, we were asked by the management to quiet down, so we haven’t lost our ability to party! • On campus the next morning (Hayden), we assembled pictures from earlier reunions on display boards. A number of us brought old yearbooks, programs, and other heritage items, which we gave to NMH archives at the end of the weekend. Linda Ryder-Munet organized snacks and drinks, and Steve White led a discussion on antiques, geared to helping us determine what is of value as we clean out our homes and attics. The Friday-evening hymn sing was a highlight, and Saturday morning included a special discussion of religion and spirituality at NMH with school chaplain Lee-Ellen Strawn. She was raised in Korea by missionary parents, and her mother was a close friend of Betsy Kraft Lee! At a panel discussion titled “Honoring Northfield,” Peter Weis ’78, school archivist, led our class bus tour of the two campuses, concluding with a memorial service, arranged by me and Trinka Craw Greger, to honor the 37 classmates who have died since our 50th reunion. John Stone and John Robinson spoke at the service. For our class “surf and turf” dinner, Steve Fuller arranged for the delivery of lobsters from an NMH alum in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Thank you, Steve! • During reunion weekend, Helene “Lenie” Smith and Andrea “Andy” Rogers were roommates again after 60 years. Bill Campbell joined us for the day on Saturday, with assistance from his wife and caregivers. John Robinson and his wife brought interesting beverages from Missouri, which were sampled by many.

Peter Heydon arrived via London, where he attended the opening of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Galleries in Westminster Abbey. Ruth Merrill Eldridge came from Paris and plans to return once she takes care of her mother’s estate. Dale “Beetle” Bailey and his wife, Arlene, drove from Washington State, Pat Wallendorf Wallace came from Nashville, and Ellen Watson Payzant from Salt Lake City. Two of our Northfield/Mount Hermon

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couples were also with us: Joe Bassett and Nancy Buermann Bassett, along with Joan Millett Walker and Steve Walker, who live in a Florida dome home part of the year and summer in Rhode Island. Sharon Hutchinson Hosley and husband Leigh arrived in their motor home from Texas, headed for Maine for the summer. You may recall that they both worked at NMH for many years prior to retirement. • Congratulations to our classmates Steve Fuller, John Stone, and Ellen Watson Payzant, who were given awards at Convocation on Saturday for their service to NMH and their communities. • Following Convocation, we were graced with a carillon concert by Sheila Heffernon on the bells that we moved from Sage Chapel to the Rhodes Center as our class gift at our 50th reunion.

A copy of the Together Again DVD depicting the carillon move, along with a CD of our 1958 Sacred Concert, were provided to all attendees by our committee. • It was one of our best, if not the best, reunion. Many have suggested that we do this again in 2020 as “grands,” since we are no longer restricted to a five-year schedule. Thank you to everyone who worked toward this special celebration

Did you know

that if you are 70 1/2 or older you can use your IRA to make a gift directly to NMH? It’s easy to do and it will: • count toward your RMD • be excluded from your gross income and federal taxes • support the NMH Fund or other interest • help fulfill a pledge Call 413-498-3084 or go to nmhschool.org/plannedgiving

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of what binds us to our NMH roots and each other. • From Bill: Helen Engelbrecht Ownby has said almost everything that can be said about our 60th reunion. It was an outstanding event thanks to the efforts of John Stone and Trinka Craw Greger, who organized and ramrodded it with the assistance of Jocelyn Merrick, NMH’s gift chair liaison. The hymn sing alone, which evoked tears from many, was worth the trip. Other attendees, and some who traveled far, were John Abel, Tom Chase, Dick Craig, Bill Curtiss, Dave Eberhardt, Ruth Lott Ellison, Davidson Gwatkin, Bob Harlowe (New Orleans), Susan Sperry Hicks, Ken Holden, Judith Johnston Klein (California), John Patten (Washington State), Debby Martin Pearse, Greg “Ducky” Pond, Helene Smith, Art Wood, and Jimmy Yu, and several spouses. Tom Baxter ’59 presented the Alumni Council Awards. We gathered in Hayden both Friday and Saturday night and reminisced about the days of yore. As of this writing ( just nine days after reunion), our class gift toward the 1958 Scholarship Fund totals $183,000, $17,000 short of our goal of $200,000. This from 23 people! Hopefully, those who have not yet donated will see their way clear to participate. • Gordon Wosak has seen very few Hermonites since he left Mount Hermon in 1957 and returned to public high school. He earned his engineering degree from Villanova and still maintains his professional engineer’s license in Pennsylvania. He did an enormous amount of international engineering work for Scott Paper. • Walt Wheeler died on 12/2/17, just as last issue’s class notes were being submitted. He had an exceptional career as a radio commentator and in public relations. He was the chief political reporter for WCBS for over 10 years and famous for his deep, rich voice. According to his obituary, “The late Governor Mario Cuomo called it ‘the voice of God.’” (Search for Walt’s obituary at Mooney Funeral Home. ) Walt was also a firefighter for 27 years with the South Schodack Fire Department. He is survived by his spouse, Linda, who attended the 2017 Christmas Vespers service at NMH shortly after his death, at Walt’s insistence. • While attempting to contact classmates for the reunion, Stoney and I learned of the passing of Henry “Hank” Bryant, Dick Fellows, Vann Jones, and Bill Lathrop. • Hank Bryant (died 8/1/14) graduated magna cum laude from Princeton in basic engineering and then obtained a degree from Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind. After graduation from Grace, Hank became a missionary pastor and then a professor in Grenoble, France.

As pastor, he wrote Bible commentaries and similar books in Spanish and French. Hank had said that his conversion to Christ at Princeton in 1958 was the crucial event of his life. He is survived by wife Alice and four

children. Search for Hank’s obituary at paw.

Princeton.edu. • Dick Fellows (died 5/24/15) graduated from West Point and served in the Air Force for 15 years. He received a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan and a second master’s degree in systems management from UCLA. After the Air Force, Dick worked for 23 years as a communication systems and satellite systems engineer and as a technical writer.

He is survived by his wife, Brenda, and two children. Search for Dick’s obituary at the Capital Gazette. • Vann Jones (died 10/27/17) attended Cornell, where he was an AllAmerican, honorable mention, in lacrosse.

He then obtained an M.D. from Howard University College of Medicine. After serving in the Air Force for two years, Vann practiced medicine in Brooklyn for over 35 years. He is survived by his wife, Judith, two children, and two grandchildren. Search for Vann’s obituary at the New York Times. • Bill Lathrop (died 3/1/18) graduated from Norwich University, where he majored in English, and enjoyed singing with choral groups and choirs. A captain in the U.S. Army, he was stationed at Fort Ord. Bill later moved to Wellesley, Mass., where he became assistant vice president for property management for Sun Life of Canada. Bill and his wife, Marion, retired to Windsor, Vt. Bill is survived by four children and four grandchildren. Search for Bill’s obituary at Legacy.com.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Nancy Bissell Goldcamp 2002 Chantilly Drive Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 ngoldcamp@cox.net • Ty Bair Fox tybfox@aol.com • Tom Baxter baxtg741@comcast.net From Ty: Emily Tucker Dunlap is writing and taking classes at the New York Society Library, finishing a wonderful series on Willa Cather. She was planning to return to Deal, England, for another week with the Peripatetic Writing Workshop, and will spend a few days in London. • Kathy Coulborn Faller, Ph.D., A.C.S.W., D.C.S.W., L.M.S.W, is the Marion Elizabeth Blue Professor Emerita at the University of Michigan. She is also co-director of the Family Assessment Clinic at Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County, where she’s involved in research, clinical work, teaching, training, and writing in the area of child welfare, child sexual abuse, and the child welfare work force. • Nancy Goode Treadwell’s granddaughter received her master’s in education and human development, and her grandson earned his master’s in language and speech pathology, both on the same weekend. Her doctor has cleared her to play golf, which

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she’s doing with joy but less skill. • Barbara Paresky Budnitz thinks of her Northfield time frequently. She hosted a group of third-grade girls for a tea at her home in Berkeley, Calif., and remembered those kinds of events at Northfield. She noted the vast array of experiences she had in that school, set in a village away from her newly widowed mother.

Barbara is so thankful for the sacrifices her mother made to provide her and her siblings with schools in which to learn, explore, and move toward becoming adults. • De MacKinnon Love Weed reported that Houston is almost back to normal, whatever that is, after Hurricane Harvey, although some homes and businesses are still in some stage of rebuilding or just abandoned. Her oldest grandson graduated from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a degree in industrial engineering; she’s very proud of him. Her two other grandsons are still in college and her granddaughter is a high school senior. De and Ralph keep busy with church, yard work, and traveling whenever and wherever.

Retirement is great, and she’s happy the Astros won the World Series. • Anne Beilby Benedict resides in Hatfield, Mass., with her partner, Gerard Paquin, and has been in the area for 15 years. Previously, she lived in Kalamazoo, Mich., where she raised three wonderful kids. One fun and inspiring job she held this past year was organizing and starting a virtual village in Northampton, Mass., inspired by Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal. Northampton Neighbors (northamptonneighbors.org) is a nonprofit organization that empowers seniors to live independent, engaged lives at home. It has been quite a ride, and they now have more than 400 members. Anne still has her business appraising antiques, decorative arts, and fine arts in New England. She hopes to make it to our 60th reunion. • Victoria L. Travis sends hugs to all the East Marquand girls.

Her grandson finished his second year at Duke and made the dean’s list, and interned at a cybersecurity company. Her granddaughter, Emma, finished her junior year of high school in May. Victoria is president and CEO of an executive search and coaching company, Travis and Associates, and loves it.

She enjoys working out, lifting weights, practicing yoga, and playing lots of golf. She volunteered at the U.S. Senior Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo., in June. • Sue Lawrence Anderson had a second great-grandchild, Ina Crosby Anderson, in March. She’s named for her grandmother, Ina Anderson ’86, and for their 10 Crosby NMH alumni relatives. Her grandson, Eoin McKenna, has finished his sophomore year at the University of Virginia. She’s hoping he’ll be the first to finish college in four consecutive years, rather than the family’s usual habit of stop and go. • Karen Forslund Falb is

busy being a grandmother with three grandchildren, age 3 and under. Two granddaughters were born within the year. Karen wonders who in our class would like to walk the Forslund-Bemis Pie Race in November … at an appropriate pace to celebrate our 60th reunion coming up next June. • I (Ty Bair Fox) am writing these notes for Nancy Bissell Goldcamp, our class secretary. I continue to serve as co-chair of the Nominating Committee on the NMH Alumni Council. I moved last fall to Marion, Mass., and live in a house overlooking Buzzards Bay. My ride to campus suddenly got shorter. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you back on campus next June for our 60th. • From Tom: Now it is our turn for reunion. Start your plans to come back. • This year we had four of us at reunion: Ty Bair Fox, Randy Foster, Jim Kondras, and I went to a number of events together and are charged up for our reunion. Stay tuned for more information. • Clark Peters wrote, “There is a saying that it is dangerous to ask a senior how they are feeling, because they will tell you! We have had an exciting year for health. Les fell off an extension ladder and cracked her heel bone, one of the most painful injuries humans can endure. My right shoulder has been giving me problems for some time (osteoarthritis), and after the cortisone stopped helping, I bit the bullet and had a total shoulder replacement. I am recovering nicely and expect to have a golf game by reunion. It will be terrific to see all the folks again — after all we are the best class ever to go through that institution.

They even named a street after us!” • Bob Freidman is back from Sarasota, Fla., and is now in Connecticut after a summer trip to his Maine cottage. “Hard to keep up with all of these houses,” said Bob, “but we have a lot of help. We don’t travel abroad anymore. We did a lot of that in the past, and content ourselves with our yearly trek up and down the East Coast. I definitely plan on coming to the 60th! Best wishes to all!” • Kevin Leary visited Ireland in June, and is contemplating our reunion. He was hoping that Bonnie and Soren West would be visiting him on the Cape, as well as Steve Cohen and Andrea MacLeod. (They were challenged to have a mini 1959 reunion.) • Peter Koch attended his 55th Bates College reunion and thanks Mount Hermon for getting him there. “I was a one-year PG ‘townie’ from Turners Falls, and I think Mount Hermon changed my life,” said Peter. “I joined the Peace Corps right after Bates and was teaching in New Hampshire when I was drafted in 1966 … served 13 months in Thailand/Vietnam as a lieutenant.

I became a high school guidance counselor in Massachusetts, where I stayed for 31 years!

Upon retirement, we moved to our ski house in Waitsfield, Vt., where I teach skiing to 7- to 12-year-olds, and we spend summers at our

‘camp’ on North Hero Island on Lake Champlain. A new knee, cataract lens replacements, and I’m as good as new!” • David Lunde shared, “My 10th book has just been published by Mayapple Press. It is a collection of science-fiction poetry titled Absolute Zero.” • Regarding his 2016 nine-month trek on the Appalachian Trail with his golden retriever, Theo, Soren West relayed, “I have written over 650 pages about my trek. In time, I’ll have a 200–300-page book. Meanwhile, I’m posting online, with lots of pictures and videos (hikersojo.com), including an 80-minute video of a talk I gave (with Theo, the real crowd pleaser) at a $34 million performance space here in Lancaster [Pa.]. I expected about 20 people. They had over 400 … and had to turn others away. I was flabbergasted.” • Tom Bethea (the other, more handsome Tom B.) sent a request: “If your spring 2018 issue of NMH Magazine got tossed onto the household slush pile, I encourage you to dig it out. As a many-year Mainer, I was drawn in by the cover article profiling Maine entrepreneur/attorney Merritt Carey ’87. And then it was just one fascinating bit after another. It would be a pretty jaundiced reader who couldn’t agree that NMH students today are having notably broad high school experiences. And turn to page 47 and see if the full-page photo of queued-up, tray-laden West Hall waiters doesn’t bring back clear, even salivating, memories. Pretty sure that’s Karl Neuse at the back, next to Barry Brooks ’60 and Francis Partel, with (possibly?) soccer goalie Al Turner or a youthful look-alike in the foreground. All others look familiar, I just can’t name ‘em. Can you? ” • And from Tom Baxter: Like so many of us, I am keeping more than a few doctors in tuition money.

Carol and I went to our first grandson’s graduation from the University of Delaware. Our granddaughter now goes there. Our middle grandson is a highly ranked tenor in New Jersey. He now has his own car, so we are seeing less of him. I am back building my 10th house for Habitat for Humanity, so life is good. I have been able to catch up with Rick Goodrich. He now is in New Durham, N.H. Remember, come back, give back, and tell a friend about our 60th.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Phil Allen philhallen@gmail.com • Sheila Raymond Hazen sfernh@centurylink.net From Sheila Raymond Hazen: Greetings to my classmates from the great Northfield class of 1960! For many months, our class has not had a class editor; I have recently volunteered for this job. So please send me news about what you’ve been doing — traveling, reading great books, taking courses, tending grandkids,

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etc. My deadline for submission of materials for the spring issue of NMH Magazine is early December, so you’ve got time to be in touch. • From Phil: Congratulations to Sheila Raymond Hazen, the first Northfield 1960 contributor to class notes in many moons — and new Northfield class editor! “Stan and I are not thinking of moving to a retirement community,” wrote Sheila, “but I am determined to go through some things that moved to this house with us in 1997 and to decide what to keep, including boxes of stuff that I inherited from my parents, Al and Ginny Raymond. My dad was the director of choral music at NMH from 1945–73, and the excellent concert hall in the Rhodes Arts Center on the NMH campus was named for them. I sent the school archivist, Peter Weis ’78, old Vespers and Sacred Concert programs, LP recordings from the Sacred Concerts that my dad conducted, and lots of photos. Except for one year in Ottawa, Ontario, I’ve lived in Charlottesville, Va., for 50 years. The town is calmer than last August, but I fear that the discussions about the Civil War statues and the lawsuits will go on and on.” • Doug Barrett and wife Sally attended their granddaughter’s graduation from North Carolina State in May. “We had an exciting lacrosse season, as our grandson, Drew Simeon, plays for UVM and I was happy to attend four games. I’m biking, golfing, and trying to keep up with the numerous activities of our 11 grandchildren. Sally and I are blessed to be in good health and enjoying every day. Hope to make a visit back to Mount Hermon.” • Fred J. Black shared, “My brother, Richard Black ’57, lost his wife to cancer. It was very sudden and has shocked us into realizing the diminishing time we have left. Jean and I rented a cottage on Bailey Island in Maine for most of July.” Fred also planned to embark on a trip to Ireland and Scotland, which have been on his bucket list since he retired in 2006. “As for making it to the reunion in 2020,” added Fred, “we will have to see how our health is at that time.” • “I’ve purchased a 1950 Ford Tudor similar to the one we had at Mount Hermon’s auto club,” said John Gregorian.

“Currently, I’m replacing floor pans and the gas tank. Yes, it now runs, drawing gas from a plastic can sitting on the floor on the passenger side. Told my youngest it’s his to continue repairs after I pass.” • Jon Ross hopes to attend the 60th reunion. “I find it hard to believe that much time has gone by,” he commented. “I have had lunch with Curt Ley a few times, but have not seen other classmates for many years. I continue to practice family law full time in New Hampshire. As long as my health is good, I have no present plans to retire.” Jon still serves on the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and is active on the Access to Justice Commission.

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He lobbied in Washington, D.C., in April to obtain adequate funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which funds lawyers for eligible clients who are within federal poverty guidelines. Jon has also trained to conduct interventions with lawyers who are exhibiting cognitive problems and may need to retire. “Kathy and I traveled to Tacoma, Wash., in April to see our youngest daughter, Rebecca,” said Jon. “We were blessed to have several clear days with beautiful views of the Olympics and Mount Rainier. Our oldest daughter, Sara, is the HUD administrator in Connecticut, and our middle child, Heather, is a lawyer with a private equity firm in Boston. Three grandsons are within an hour’s drive and we see them as much as possible.”

• “The Croatian [adult choral] tour planned for this past June didn’t fill,” reported Dave Clapp, “so we’re running it June 11–21, 2019, with more advance promotion among choral alumni at Sacred Concert, the choral alumni program at the June reunions, and other musical events. NMH Music Director Sheila Heffernon and I will be leading the group once again. Please spread the word.” • If you are currently only a voyeur, your classmates would love to hear from you through the alumni magazine. Whoever might still be shy at our age can always look up classmates’ email addresses on the NMH website.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Alexandra Groome Scopteuolo sandis10992@yahoo.com • Craig Walley operacraig@aol.com From Sandi: Please share your news to my email address above — the next class notes deadline is December 15 for the spring 2019 magazine issue. • Gail Buerger Kerr is “just plugging away.” She’s with a startup company, Connect2.Health. The perseverance is really hard and she is good at it! She’s been invited to visit a friend of 35 years in Greece next August. Her daughter and family live in nearby Acton; her granddaughter is 7 and grandson is 4. • Anne Rodgers is doing well in North Carolina, although she took a fall and is in physical therapy. She’s busy with church activities and volunteering. “Unlike others, I can do computer stuff. I’m known as the signup-sheet lady. I’m a sister in the Daughters of the King.” • For the past two summers, our family (11 including grands) took cruises on the Mediterranean with extra days in Italy this year, and we’re touring the Baltic with extra days in Germany and Ireland. The cruise includes St. Petersburg. • If everyone would donate at least one dollar to NMH, our school might qualify for more grants, which are based on percentage of alum donations, not just the total dollar amount. Don’t forget to send news via email, and you can also keep in touch on Facebook with a lot of us.

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Northfield Louise Cole Nicollet lnicollet@gmail.com As you read the news from your classmates, I think you, like me, will see some common threads that run through the various contributions: life changes, travel, creativity, interest in community work, and a zest for and pleasure in life. • Jean Meyer Martin wrote, “I am a full-time resident of Sarasota, Fla., having moved there permanently from New York City six years ago after losing my husband in 2010. Cultural life permeates the entire Sarasota community, along with adult education experiences, golf, tennis, swimming, bird watching, etc. I am currently chairman of the board of trustees of Ringling College of Art and Design (an amazing institution ranked among the top five in the country), and I am an honorary trustee of Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. This remarkable research center was recently cited for its groundbreaking work on coral reef restoration in the Florida Keys. I’d love it if more NMH alums lived in this area. Come down for a visit. I’ll be your tour guide!” • Karen Anne Smith Zee and husband Eric Riedel both sang with the Harvard Summer Chorus in Carmina Burana, and donated four of the woodblock prints in “Japanese Prints: The Psychedelic Seventies,” a Boston Museum of Fine Arts exhibition. They have been volunteering at the museum for five years, working behind the scenes with the curator of Japanese woodblock prints, counting, photographing, and carefully sorting details of the works.

The museum has the largest collection of woodblock prints in the world. “We now are creating exhibits for all this art,” said Karen.

The cover of The Northfield Alumnae Chronicle shows the Northfield class of ’60 lined up for graduation. Recognize these young graduates?

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• Cindy Kidder was at the memorial service for our much-missed Scott Calvert at the National Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2018. Mike Menne also attended. Sted Howard and his wife were there as well. “It was a beautiful service,” said Cindy, “with a very impressive choir made up of singers from the D.C. church where Scott used to sing before moving to Ashland, Ore., with his wife, Kori Hedman Calvert ’67, and from the Yale Alumni Choir that he had helped to organize. It was a sad time — a really major loss to our classes.” • Ellen Reiss Barry wrote, “A widow for almost four years, I fill my days with two delightful grandchildren, frequent yoga classes, tons of reading, and a good deal of theater work.” Ellen has been performing her one-woman show, The Infinite Variety of Shakespeare’s Women, at various East Coast venues. When not in acting projects, she keeps busy as a theater consultant in budgeting, marketing, and fundraising. A resident of Morristown, N.J., Ellen is not far from Manhattan and would love to reconnect with any classmates in the area. • Sherry “Bobbi” Brush Geddes-Lehmann wrote, “After retirement in 2004, I hit the road in my RV, traveling full time around the U.S., southern Canada, and northern Mexico, enjoying the amazing sights and wonderful people I met. In September 2008, an RVing friend introduced me to a friend of his in Washington State, Ted Lehmann, and in May 2009, Ted and I ‘sealed the deal’. What a joy it is to have found such a wonderful new life partner and hubby this late in life! After getting together, we continued RVing until 2011, when we remodeled and sold my California home and bought property in Belize, where we built a home. Now we live in Belize most of the year, traveling back and forth to California and Washington. Along the way, we’ve flipped a few houses for fun and profit.

This March, we bought a home in Florida on the Gulf Coast and plan to use that as our primary residence after we sell our Belize home. We still have our West Coast home in the San Francisco Bay Area. We love traveling and enjoy boating and golf.” Sherry and Ted went on a trans-canal cruise and spent four weeks visiting family and friends in Arizona, California, and Washington. Sherry relayed that any classmates planning a trip to Belize or Florida should consider a visit. • “My husband and I were at NMH for 18 years,” said Eleanor Dorman Johnson, “he in the math department, and I as director of international programs and international admissions. It was a most wonderful time in our lives, and a great community in which to raise our three kids. In 1996, we left NMH to help start a new boarding school in Thailand. Then, in 1998, we returned to Beirut, Lebanon, where I had grown up, and were there for the next 16 years. I spent most of that time as assistant

to the provost of the American University of Beirut. It was a very interesting time to be at the university, and I loved being ‘home’ and picking up on my Arabic again. We retired to the U.S. in 2013, and now live in Easthampton, Mass. I was diagnosed with MS almost 20 years ago, and I’ve slowed down quite a bit. But we keep up with interest in all things NMH, and visit the campus when we are able. Our eldest lives in Doha, Qatar, with her family; our second lives in Nairobi, Kenya, with her family; and our youngest is in Connecticut.” • Sharon Strachan Surhoff (at Northfield for two years) wrote, “Since retiring from Rutgers University as a computer programmer, I have been a full-time RVer, active in the Holiday Rambler Club for many years. I’ve written several plays for the club’s International Rallies (including an off-offBroadway play in 2000, Showtime in Waco, about the Davidians’ tragedy at the hands of the government). I’m wintering this year at Voyager RV Resort in Tucson.” Sharon directs plays that she’s written, and will be teaching a playwriting course at the Voyager Resort next winter. • Ingrid Krohn placed her special home in Alpine, Texas, for sale. She wrote, “Far west Texas in the Davis Mountains high desert is a hidden gem. If there’s anyone out there who loves astronomy, this could be their dream house. We have deep, dark skies and the International McDonald Observatory nearby. There is no humidity to speak of here, so the climate is ideal and the stargazing unobstructed.” Contact Weezie Cole Nicollet for Ingrid’s email address if you’d like to find out more.

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Mount Hermon Eric Riedel riedelNMH62@gmail.com From Eric: On Feb. 10, 2018, Jock Bethune, Bob Seely, Roger W. Smith, and Bruce Bethune ’64 attended the memorial service for Dick Linthicum in Manhasset, Long Island, N.Y. And on April 6, Jock attended the funeral of Scott Calvert in Ashland, Ore. Scott died after a valiant struggle with acute myeloid leukemia. A memorial service for Scott was held in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2018, and Michael Menne, Sted Howard, and Cindy Kidder joined Kori Hedman Calvert ’67 in celebrating Scott’s life. In Jock’s words, “It is hard to believe that we lost two of our class leaders so close together in time … I go back 60 years with both of them, to September 1958, when we were freshmen on the Mount Hermon campus.

Scott lived next door in Cottage 4, and Dick was across the way in Cottage 3. Thank you both for your friendship over the years and for all you did for our school! God bless you, Dick and Scott!” • Roger W. Smith noted, “I grew up with Scott in neighboring small towns in eastern Connecticut, thus I have

known him for literally all of my life.” Roger met Dick Linthicum at Mount Hermon registration and they roomed together for two years. Richard Mueller recalled, “They were two people I remember well from my (only) two years at Mount Hermon. I saw them fairly often during my seven years after I returned in 1998.” I know that we all have fond memories of these outstanding men, and we send our love and prayers to the families of Dick and Scott. I regret that I do not have Dick’s obituary. The following is excerpted from Scott’s obituary: “Scott attended Mount Hermon, where his core values were forged, and he was exposed to what became a lifelong passion — choral singing — and starred commencement weekend as Ko-Ko in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado. He served as his 1962 class correspondent since 1984 and received the Alumni Citation in 1986. Scott attended Yale University, where he ‘studied some’ and sang with the Yale Glee Club and the Bachelors. Following graduation in 1966, he embarked on a 21-year Navy career as a surface warfare officer. He met his wife Karin ‘Kori’ Hedman in 1972, and they married on May 12, 1973.

Naval assignments took them to Newport, R.I.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; San Diego; and Guam. After the Navy, Scott became a residential real estate broker, and he and Kori undertook a long-term labor of love project restoring an 1890s Victorian home. While in the D.C. area, Scott was active in the 50-voice choir at Foundry United Methodist Church. He was active in lay leadership and initiated the process that led to a policy permitting gay marriage at Foundry.

Scott also sang with the Washington Chorus and the Yale Alumni Chorus. With the Yale Alumni Chorus, he conceived and served as a principal producer of the Power of Song Tour to South Africa in 2007. It involved some 200 Yale singers and the Tour raised substantial financial support for worthy local charities from U.S. companies doing business in South Africa. Scott and Kori retired to Ashland in 2012 and quickly embraced their new community. Scott sang with Rogue Valley Chorale and the Siskiyou Singers, serving on the board of directors and development committee of the latter; volunteered with the Chamber of Commerce and with the Ashland Independent Film Festival; served on the Ashland Newcomers Coordinating Committee; and was active in Rotary, serving as club photographer. Scott had many passions and interests. He was a news junkie and voracious reader who loved both an intelligent political debate and Tuesday night Trivia at Louie’s … He especially loved Africa and its people, traveling there seven times, including a 56-day adventure truck trip from Cape Town to Nairobi and on to Uganda for gorilla trekking. He loved food, wine, old rum,

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cooking, and entertaining. He loved nature and landscape photography … adding the best of his photos to his website, scottcalvert. com. Scott was a vibrant, caring, generous man and a model for how to live life full of song, spirit, love, and laughter. A friend said, ‘We will remember Scott as the “bon vivant extraordinaire” who left the party too soon.’”

• Phil Handy went on a “wonderful river cruise on the Danube, Weinhofen to Budapest. We highly recommend the trip.” Phil “retired” in 2013 to Orlando, Fla., after 40 years in the private equity world. He and Bobby Heller have 23 grandchildren, “so the summer is full of trips with them … London, Bermuda, and Las Vegas.” Phil keeps up with our classmate David Stocking. • Paul Wade and wife Kathy are travel writers who travel frequently to the U.S. They often see Barry Goff, Harlan Levy, Reuben Johnson, and their wives and kids. Harlan said, “Pattie and I had a boisterously good time at lunch with Paul and Kathy in a British pub in New York City.”

Paul and Kathy returned from New York, “seeing our 7-month-old grandson, who has had some heart operations, but is sailing through.” We, too, are pulling for the little guy! Karen Anne Smith Zee and I plan to meet up with Paul and Kathy in Boston. • Ted Lenz and his wife, Anne Walker Lenz, will celebrate their 53rd wedding anniversary in December by “taking three weeks to sightsee in New Zealand and Australia,” wrote Ted. “I will cross an item off my bucket list by climbing up and over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.”

In the meantime, Ted says he practices law “less and less each year, doing a small amount of the corporate/securities law for a few clients.” He also volunteers by representing domestic violence victims in seeking an Order of Protection from the abuser. “Mostly, these victims are poor, inadequately educated, and totally intimidated by the judicial system. It is very rewarding, frustrating, and infuriating when the judge seems not to appreciate what is at stake for these people.”

Bravo, Ted! • Mike Menne wrote in April, “Slipping out across the country between two winter storm systems with my daughter assisting with the driving, I pulled up stakes in Maryland after half a century and have relocated in University Place, Wash. Trading the Chesapeake Bay for Puget Sound, I left the land of East Coast hurricanes and derechos for the potential of earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, with their attendant lahars! Since my son is still in Europe, I thought it prudent to relocate closer to my U.S. mainland daughter, now only six miles away. I have a spacious apartment with plenty of room for my harpsichords, and enjoy my view of the Olympic Mountains, one of the towers of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and just a bit of Puget Sound.” Mike noted that the area has a

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celebrate our 60th together on campus.”

Let’s do it! • Since I married Karen Anne Smith Zee (a.k.a. Yum-Yum) in 2014, we have enjoyed time in Guatemala, Japan, and France. Between trips, I had a mitral valve replaced and am in remission with metastatic EGFR T790M mutation-positive NSCLC lung cancer. That’s a mouthful, I know, but I offer this information to encourage all of you to keep in touch since now is the time to celebrate our lives. I retired in 2014 after 44 years as a student life dean, dividing my years between St. Lawrence University, Lake Forest College, Bradford College, ColbySawyer College, and Hiram College. I married my college sweetheart, and we adopted two wonderful children, Helen and Richard. Together we have six grandchildren. We have a winter home in The Villages, Fla., and we are currently downsizing from our Brookline home to a condo in Worcester, Mass. We are singing with the Harvard Summer Chorus and the choir at First Church in Cambridge, where I am also a deacon. We will be in Paris for Christmas and New Year celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of close friends. • If you enjoyed reading our class notes, or have suggestions for improving them, please let me know.

Share news of your life with classmates by writing to me with content for the next issue of NMH Magazine. Thank you!

wealth of performing arts, a fine selection of exceptional pipe organs, and the Pacific Lutheran University choral groups. Mike added, “My guest room is ready, if any classmates are motivated for a visit.” • Richard Mueller shared, “Claire and I finished up at Shanghai American School [in 2016] where I was head of school, and moved to Golden, Colo., to be closer to three of our young grandchildren. We have three more in San Francisco. It’s been fun watching up close as they grow and change. Often I think about what their world will be like as they become adults; and I ponder what more our generation can do to ensure a safe and promising future for all young people. I’ve ‘retired’ four times and think I’m done with the fun of running institutions. I’m enjoying writing about China, foreign affairs, diplomacy, and education. Half a century of following China, Asia, and world events keeps me wanting to record my thoughts. And my time at NMH, both as student and head, encourages me to write about education, the uniqueness of our alma mater, and how to manage significant change both at an institutional and national level. If I ever write a book, I’ll call it Diplomacy Goes a Long Way in the World of Education”! In his spare time, Richard enjoys “meeting young people and holding seminars at the Korbel School at Denver University, and remaining on the board of trustees of the Chinese American International School in San Francisco. And, of course, grandchildren, who are the world’s greatest truth tellers.”

Richard would like classmates to know, “I believe NMH is doing well. The school is again looking for a new head of school. The trustees, search firm, and on-campus community all seem encouraged by the opportunities ahead. We need someone who not only is an educational leader but who can spend enough time off campus building the school’s networks — domestically and internationally — to create the needed partnerships for cross-cultural learning, admissions, visibility in the school world, and, importantly, fundraising.” Richard closes by saying, “I hope we can encourage our classmates to put June 2022 on their calendars so we can

Northfield Mount Hermon Diane Sewall Chaisson diane@meadowlarks-farm.net • Willard Thomen wthomen@stfrancis.edu From Diane: I write this column a few days after the 55th reunion. The 23 classmates, nine spouses, and one guest had a wonderful weekend. Attending from Northfield ’63 were Susan “Sandy” Freund Borden and husband Bob, Lydia Adams Davis, Heidi Herrick Davis, Mardy Swett Gordon, Victoria “Tory” Hawkins, Deb Jenks, Mimi Woodcock Karlsson and John, Margie Attwater Mosher and Keith, Debby Eaton Peck and Ray, and me. Faith Milnes joined us via internet from Hawaii. As usual, Mimi and others provided

Bob and Sandy Freund Borden ’63 made it to reunion in June.

Frpm left: Tom French ’63 and wife Carol, and Margie Attwater Mosher ’63 and husband Keith at reunion.

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David Gregory, John Hoy and his wife Alesia, David Robinson, John Schadegg, Tim Sullivan, Richard Watson and his wife Kay, Richard Weisman and his wife Melody, and me.

Thanks to a special hookup that Holt and John Gamel arranged, John Brock and Ricker Winsor were able to communicate with us via the internet. Mimi Woodcock Karlsson provided a marvelous spread of food and libations. The tour of the Northfield campus was particularly enjoyable. The weather was The class of ’63 lined up at reunion in June.

an exceptional spread of goodies. The roving students declared we had the best food of the whole reunion! • We took part in the hymn sing, doing the class proud, but we missed many of our exceptional class voices this time around. Some enjoyed the band and karaoke in Grandin before returning to the dorm for socializing. • Many walked around NMH to see old haunts, visited the farm, and/or toured the Northfield campus.

Tom French played the organ at Sage Chapel.

At Convocation, Carol Waaser was a recipient of an Alumni Citation for her work on behalf of the school. She served on the Alumni Council, edited bylaws, worked on reunion committees, led an alumni seminar on her bike tours, and attends every possible NMH event in the New York City area. Since Carol was on one of her international tours, Deb Jenks and I accepted the award for her.

We also saw Don Glascoff’s recent documentary, Barney’s Wall, about 1960s icon Barney Rosset, a fascinating piece about the decades of our youth and the culture of the times. • Sue Hines Rohrbach wrote, “I have been retired for two years now, and I love it.

My husband retired at the same time and, surprisingly, we haven’t had many difficulties getting along! I keep busy by being on several nonprofit boards and working with a group to encourage other women to get involved in local government and civic life.

We now have five grandchildren, so visiting them means fairly frequent trips ‘off-Cape.’

We had our 50th wedding anniversary last September; our children gave us a wonderful party at Thanksgiving.” • “Though retired, I’m hardly out to pasture,” said Betsy Sigler Roman, “and very grateful for the youngsters in my life. It’s been a year of growth spurts and challenges for all of us, not the least of which was ending up among the very lucky from the Napa/Sonoma fires. Don’t know what I’ll be up to next, but support of voting rights and women’s issues has my attention.” • From Will: We had a memorable and enjoyable 55th reunion. Fourteen of our classmates returned: Holt “Beau” Anderson, Chuck Bates and wife Ruth LeBar, Rafael Fraguada and wife Mary, Tom French and wife Carol Norris, John Gamel, Don Glascoff,

perfect; we had time to sit back, visit, and reminisce about our school days and our lives. A great weekend.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Robert Eastman rheastman4@comcast.net • Pamela Street Walton pawalton@myfairpoint.net From Pam: Our sports activities, volunteer work, gardening, grandchildren, and travel experiences are keeping us younger in looks and abilities than our actual years. We are having medical problems, but we’re overcoming them. • Gail Myers Pare and Sara Simon Stevens were roomies in MacKinnon for Reunion Weekend 2018 and said the 55th reunion festivities were “most excellent.”

Gail noted that ’63 arranged GoToMeeting video-conferencing sessions for worldwide online communication with classmates … a must for our reunion next year. Sara is on the Alumni Council Reunion Advisory Committee and encourages all who can to attend our 55th, not just to be with our ’64 friends but to associate with other classes as well. Mark your calendars — our 55th reunion will take place June 7–9, 2019! The 55th class usually stays in MacKinnon with air conditioning and elevators! I just hope NMH doesn’t again schedule the Dogfish Head tasting opposite a bus tour to Northfield! • Attending their 50th Wellesley College reunion were Wendy Moonan Darrow, Anne Ralston Ronai, Barbara Littwin, Mardi Drew Keyes, and Kathy Childs Jones. Both of Anne’s children got married and each has a child. Her daughter, Christina, is a pediatric cardiologist in Oregon, and her son, James, is a management accountant in London. Anne joined her husband, Bill, at his 50th at Williams; Ned Perry and Tony Wilkins were also in attendance. • It took nearly two years between journalism assignments for Wendy Moonan to finish her book on the most splendid private rooms in New York City, titled New York Splendor: The City’s Most Memorable Rooms (Rizzoli, 2018).

(See p. 45) • Mardi Drew Keyes and husband Dick celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June. Mardi wrote, “We still work in L’Abri Fellowship, a residential Christian

study community, with a changing group of guests from age 18 and up. Dick and I are thankful to have a competent team of younger workers, so we have handed over the leadership and day-to-day running to them. Both Dick and I have spine-related challenges … but we are thankful for the health we still have. We have been members of a black church for over 20 years, and 15 years ago the pastor and deacons asked Dick to be one of the ministers. We have become friends with an amazing group of people we would not have met in any other context.” • Judith Bryant and husband Peter Marsh caught up with Margaret Neuse when Margaret visited Vermont briefly to check on repairs to her lakeside cottage. Still the world traveler, Margaret toured New Zealand last winter. • Sometimes Joan Thatcher Tiffany stops by my home in New Hampshire when she visits Brattleboro, Vt., on business. Joan is in touch with four NMH graduates from varying decades. She wrote, “Maicharia Weir Lytle ’92 is the president and CEO of United South End Settlements (USES) in the South End of Boston. I serve on the board of USES. Maicharia is a terrific leader! Yen Liu ’96 is the parent of children at the Josiah Quincy School in Chinatown in Boston, where my granddaughter is in pre–K and takes violin lessons in the same program as Yen’s children. Ellie Durham Spiegel ’42 is a longtime colleague in my work with the International Honors Program on Cities. We had lost touch and recently had a great catch-up conversation.” • Writing from the U.K., Vivien Gall Gibney has retired as general counsel in international oil and gas, but sits on the board of a U.K. energy company as a non-executive director. She and her husband, Noel, a retired Irish restaurateur and publican, live in Stamford, England, but also enjoy a second home in France in the Charente Maritime. • Also living in the U.K., Mary Ann “Marty” Reinisch Gillies plans to attend our 55th reunion. She has been living in England for 42 years, having traveled there for a job in social work in 1976. She ended up staying for love. Her professional life (working in child and adolescent mental health) and her private practice as a psychoanalytically trained psychotherapist have filled her time. She retired once six years ago. Sadly, her husband, Malcolm, died soon after her retirement, and so she returned to the clinic part time. She now plans to fully retire and take advantage of living in London.

She visits her family in California every Thanksgiving. Malcolm and she had no children together, but she has two stepdaughters with whom she is close. Marty and Kathy Childs Jones had a wonderful get-together several years ago when Kathy was in London with her group from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Marty also enjoyed having Sue Delaney McConchie and her husband, Don,

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visit after a choir tour a couple of years ago.

Marty and her friend, Elise Elderkin ’63, both joined the protest when Trump visited London. • Lynne Schneider and her husband, Dick Fusch, moved from Ohio to the Big Island of Hawaii in July 2017. Luckily, their new home is on the opposite end from Kilauea, so there’s little worry about earthquakes and eruptions. • Susan Creasy Case and husband Bob celebrated 52 years of marriage. They are in their fourth year of retirement on Lake Chapala in Ajijic, Mexico.

Bob had a difficult winter medically, but is now out of the woods. Their older daughter lives in the next village, so life is good. • Norma Jean Chatfield helped with publicity for the 350th anniversary of the First Church in Middletown, Conn. She also participated in the concert choir. • In 2017, Linda Seiffert Reynolds battled breast cancer, negotiated the sale of one house, and moved back to the farmhouse where she raised her son, Will.

He and his family live in Boulder, Colo., where Linda had the joy of being introduced to her first grandchild, Ezzy, the day he was born! In May 2018, she enjoyed a 17-day art trip to Italy. She returned with several completed watercolors and hundreds of photos to inspire her painting. To help pay for the trip, she had 31 seasonal watercolor landscapes turned into blank greeting cards to be sold. In addition to painting, she also plays Scrabble twice a week with a former neighbor who is in a wheelchair with M.S., gardens, and sings (thanks to Northfield’s influence). • Mary Howard Callaway is our second classmate with a new book. Jeremiah through the Centuries is part of the Blackwell Bible Commentary series. One source she quotes is D.L. Moody, from the time when evangelicals were intellectuals. Mary said, “My love of the Old Testament started in 1962 in Mr. Hathaway’s class for entering juniors. Who knew the Bible could be so intellectually engaging and prickly?” • The news from Faye Lavrakas might help you plan a car travel experience. She and a friend met in Tulsa to drive to Pawhuska, Okla., to tour the Pioneer Woman’s (Food Network) hometown, Mercantile, restaurant, and the lodge where the program is filmed. On to Waco, Texas, where they visited the Fixer Uppers (HGTV) silos, pastry shop, and Magnolia Table. The cupcakes and biscuits were delectable. It was then on to Austin, Kerrville, and Fredericksburg for a SuperWhole Foods store, James Avery Jewelry, and Texas pecans. They drove 1,000 miles in five days. Faye is looking forward to our 55th reunion in 2019. • Karen Holvik Deitemeyer shared that her husband, Bill, died from lung cancer in February 2018. Dealing with grief and the loss of the man she has loved for more than 51 years is almost insurmountable, but Karen is trying. She wrote, “I’ve begun to

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reach out to others via online chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) support groups … and provide hope that there is life after such a diagnosis. I find myself crying at the drop of a hat these days, but I have so many supportive friends who remind me that it’s OK (and therapeutic).” • Kit Andrews emailed from West Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where she spends much of the summer. She was looking forward to family week in July with daughters Nel ’94 and Margo ’94, and their families. Kit wrote, “In April, I traveled to Idaho to visit dear friends from Tanzania, and in May, Betsy Newcomb and I met for lunch in my hometown of Middlebury, Vt. Betsy and I were both juniors in brand-new Hibbard. The following year, Betsy was a freshman cop in Hillside. I suspect some members of Northfield ’67 who notice this entry will remember her well. Betsy and husband, Henry, live in Princeton, Mass., and, in addition to working, enjoy time with their two daughters and grandchildren.” • May 2018 was the 27th time that Kathy Childs Jones participated in the Walk for Hunger in Massachusetts.

Among her sponsors this year were several Northfield classmates. Son Dan (35) is now chief operating officer of the Major League Soccer Players Association. Kathy also traveled to Paris and the Dordogne with a group of fellow MFA senior associates. • For the past year, Gail Myers Pare and her husband, Jack, have been downsizing and moving from a 1760s house on 12 acres to a new condo … one of 31 condos on 12 acres. They like having neighbors, visitors (it’s only 10 minutes out of the way if driving to Maine), and the ability to lock the door and travel. Bob Eastman and his wife, Sally, dropped by when they were traveling nearby. Gail and Jack took a Viking Cruise up the Rhine in May 2018; they loved it and recommend staying two extra days in Amsterdam. They still must sell their old house; anyone interested in a historical home on 12 acres with 900 feet of river in Newington, N.H.? • Karen Singer Baker is continuing her work with pregnant, recovering addicts (with children) in residential treatment.

When not working, she spends quality time with her children. Son Justin (38) is in graduate school at University of Minnesota. He has a website worth perusing, GotMindPower. com, and has developed mindfulness programs for school and college sports teams. Daughter Robin (44) remains a successful executive in the mortgage world in Scottsdale, Ariz., and specializes in metrics. She and her son, Evan (11), visit Karen each summer. • Remember to email me your news as it unfolds, send our ’64 Scholarship Fund some of your “required minimum distribution” funds, and forward updated contact information to addressupdates@nmhschool.org. • From Bob: Don

Powell hopes to be in San Diego for the winter (and to see Pam Street Walton and Sue Delaney McConchie). Don’s looking forward to our 55th reunion. • John Merriman wrote, “I am collaborating on airport projects in more than a dozen cities across the country while also doing some residential projects ‘on the side.’ Travel is a major priority for us. Last fall, Carol and I went to Marseille, Arles, and Aix … then on to Paris.

In April, we were off to Glasgow, where we saw progress on the rebuilding of the firedamaged Glasgow School of Art, and then drove south to the English Lake District, a destination that is everything that’s written about it. And, yes, it is ‘England’s green and pleasant land.’” • Kris Pueschel has been residing in Washington, D.C., for the last 15 years after living in the West Indies for three years, where he was the chief operating officer of a medical school. Prior to that, Kris founded an independent school in Lawrence, Kan. Kris shared, “I’m currently with an organization that focuses on building energy efficiency, having retired from an organization focused on federal and state policies that affect low-income people (having retired from an organization supporting the national parks). My spouse has worked for 15 years at an organization that accredits zoos and aquariums in the U.S. and around the world.

We’re blessed that two of our three children and their families live in D.C., so we’ve been an integral part of the lives of our four grandchildren (ages 9–15). Our son is a physician in Tennessee, so a lot of our travel is to see him often.” • Dan Snodderly wrote, “Having just published the second edition of my book, Peace Terms: Glossary of Terms for Conflict Management and Peacebuilding (USIP Press, 2018), I am now back at the institute working part time as a development and acquisitions editor. Retirement will have to wait.” • Dudley Rose ’65 shared, “I continue serving as associate dean and on the faculty at Harvard Divinity School, teaching and overseeing the master’s of divinity program. I’ve been there for 30 years — longer than I ever imagined, but it’s been exceedingly rewarding. I still haven’t figured out when to retire;

Gail Myers Pare ’64 and Bob Eastman ’64 at Gail’s New Hampshire condo.

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for now the work remains fulfilling and energizing.” Dudley credits Mount Hermon for his love of an academic life. He added, “I have three grown children of my own and a stepson. My oldest has two boys in their early teens.” • “About ready to attend my 50th Colby reunion,” said Steven Campbell. “I am back from Iceland, where we went inside a lava tube and into a glacier. Wish it had been a month later when the lambs were born.

Mary Jo and I have traveled to Ireland, Amsterdam, Italy, Prague, Vienna, London, Budapest, and Costa Rica since retirement from the USDA. Still would like to get back to Colombia, where I served in the Peace Corps.” • From Steve Marx, “I was pushed out of a major production management job during a corporate takeover about 15 years ago. I’ve been producing video independently since then, and about two years ago became producer of a monthly TV magazine program in Boston. I enjoy working with accomplished video professionals and a changing pool of smart, committed young people ...

Our show has won a number of national and regional awards — but I think my proudest moment came when a young videographer said he thinks of me as ‘the perfect Old Guy.’ I was also given a coffee mug recently that certifies that I’m the ‘World’s Okayest Boss.’

My wife, Michele, retired a few years ago from her job as a vice president at Massachusetts College of Art, and is volunteering as a teacher of English as a second language and helping immigrants gain U.S. citizenship. Our daughter is interning with a veterinarian on Cape Cod … We’ve just installed solar panels on our house on the Cape, and I hope to get down there to visit more often this summer than last. I really like my work in Boston, but I love the companionship of my wife, daughter, and Abby the dog. And maybe, in spite of my artificial left shoulder, which sets off alarms in airports, I’ll have a chance to fit in an occasional swim in the bay or the pond.” • From Steve Newcombe, “I am well on my way to an honorary community college degree in Cannabis-speak. As one of the ‘pot legal’ states, Oregon requires all of its citizens to be proficient in the sublime language of Cannabis sativa. Without reference to notes, we must be able to define THC, CBD, Indica, Sativa, and myriad other terms. We must be able to identify at least 136 different strains of pot with their individual names. Since there are now at least 4,616 different types of pot available on every street corner, some find memorizing all these names difficult. I have discovered the secret. You can combine any two cool-sounding words and, voila, you can easily pass the test. For example: Thunder Rush, Ocean Serenity, Hermons Happiness, Northfield Nirvana. Any two words will do.”

• Paul Ross retired last year as operations manager for Gotham Early Music Scene

(GEMS), a position he’d held for 10 years (gemsny.org). In the spring, he was elected board president of GEMS for a yearlong term. “I love the early music scene in New York,” said Paul, “and it seems the feeling is mutual!” • Jim Ault’s “semi-retirement” doesn’t seem relaxing. He worked on a marathon production trip filming in Ghana and the U.K., after working with footage from filming in Zimbabwe in January just after Mugabe’s fall. “The history and life of our school remains very much in my mind,” wrote Jim, “as I learned that my next-door neighbor’s great-grandmother was one of Northfield’s early students, her tuition paid by none other than D.L. Moody. We learned [this] from scans of her application materials kindly sent to us from NMH archivist Peter Weis ’78. Looking forward to sharing memories at other gatherings soon.” • Johan Carl spent three weeks knocking around southern Italy in March, traveling by bus and train.

Following Italy, he spent another three weeks in western Ireland in May and “enjoyed every pint of it,” said Johan. “As previously reported, I climbed Machu Picchu in 2016, so I did Croagh Patrick while in Ireland. More challenging climb than I anticipated, as the trail was mostly unstable rocks, but I survived unscathed. I guess that means Fujiyama is next?” • I (Bob Eastman) and my wife, Sally, are spending our time visiting our grandchildren, son, and daughter-in-law in Syracuse, and our son and daughter-in-law in Washington State. We also deliver Meals on Wheels twice a week and spend a lot of time volunteering with Cancer Center Community Crusaders, a local organization committed to raising funds to support the patient resources fund. Our 55th reunion will be June 7–9, 2019. Hope to see you all then.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Wendy Swanson-Avirgan wsavirgan@aol.com • Henri Rauschenbach henri.rauschenbach@gmail.com www.northfieldmounthermon65.com From Wendy: Ellen Anthony was honored, along with nine other local elders, as a “living legacy” by the Truro (Massachusetts) Historical Society. An exhibit at the Highland House Museum in June featured large portraits of the honorees by photographer and artist Mason Morfit, along with personal stories and memories of Truro from interviews conducted by Ellen. • Sally Hamilton Atwood wrote, “We had a great winter in Florida. I spent a lot of time cycling.” In June, Sally and Mark took a paddle boat cruise on the Mississippi from Memphis to New Orleans, and in October, they took the Rocky Mountaineer train through the Canadian Rockies. “The cruise was a surprise, but the train trip has been on our bucket list for a

long time,” added Sally. She continues as a docent at the Pemaquid Point lighthouse and is advising 50th-reunion yearbook editors for NMH. • Steve and Abby Ayers Bruce enjoyed a wonderful two-week singing tour of Croatia and Slovenia in May and June. Abby wrote, “This was the seventh European tour for Con Brio Choral Society, our beloved community chorus of 21 years. Music is definitely a universal language!” Abby and your scribe, Wendy Swanson Avirgan, enjoyed a fun visit over lunch in Stamford, Conn., in January. Among other things, we’re both happy to still be working part time! • Susan Brunnckow Oke “took a few ukulele lessons in the fall and found a group to play with. It has been fun.” • Linda Burden Tokarski “was looking forward to the Alumni Choir trip to Croatia in June, but there weren’t enough people to go — maybe next year.” Linda is singing in another choir: Rock Voices, with venues in Hadley (Mass.), Keene (N.H.), Brattleboro (Vt.), Auburn (Mass.), and West Hartford (Conn.). • Robin Burroughs wrote, “This has been a time of ups and downs for me. A wonderful three weeks in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. So healing for the soul and the opportunity to pay my respects to those who fought and died. I loved the Southeast Asian people, many living very simply and among much poverty, but gracious and welcoming to those who wish to get to know them … I loved the beauty of the lands, the chance to interact with elephants, and the opportunity to meet with one of five men who survived the Cambodian death camp, where 22,000 men, women, and children were murdered. He spends his life writing and speaking about the need for forgiveness and compassion for all living things. I returned feeling fortunate, grounded, and invigorated.” Unfortunately, Robin fell, shattering her femur, and is now allowed to walk short distances with a walker. She may require more surgeries, but says, “It’s a very good thing I have such great health-care workers, friends, and family who have supported and spoiled me through this episode.” • Angela Croce Gomez retired a few years ago and has been preparing for a big move to Boston in a year or so. In addition to selling her 1898 home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., she plans to downsize — furniture, books, and many records. Her three grown children live in the Boston area, as well as her only grandson, Alex (3). “So, in our 70s, we get to try city living for a while,” wrote Angela. “In Boston, we will explore volunteer opportunities and make new friends. With our ‘aches and pains,’ the excellent hospitals and medical care in Boston is another positive feature. And maybe another chance to make an outing to a school near the Connecticut River in the northern part of the state!

Anyone with advice about downsizing, please

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share.” • Marcia Franzen-Hintze and Ulli both officially retired in 2017, “although I still do some freelance work for old customers,” shared Marcia. “Between grandchildren, hobbies, and volunteer work with refugees, we have no problem keeping ourselves busy.

Ulli still loves working at the Composer’s Quarter, giving guided tours in German and English of the Baroque museum featuring Telemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Johann Adolph Hasse. I continue to sing with the Kantorei and took part in two concerts, one of which was a piece composed and performed once in 1717 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Reformation, and only for the third time 300 years later in 2017 by the Kantorei to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.” • Judith Preble Miller wrote, “I retired from the Legal Aid Society at the end of January and, so far, am enjoying retirement … I went to Albany to lobby the legislature on behalf of tenants and had a nice chat with Tony Cantore before going. Would love to get together with any classmate who is coming to New York City.” • Priscilla Prutzman still works with Creative Response to Conflict, doing a lot with restorative practices in the New York City area.

Priscilla wrote, “I’ve been in touch with Betty Naughton and hope to get together when she comes to New York … I’ve also been in touch with Elizabeth Eber, talking about the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont!

I went to Paris for my 70th and it was as wonderful as ever. We’ve been seeing lots of plays and going to museums in New York.”

When Priscilla wrote, she was looking forward to seeing Penny Ackley and Lynne in Provincetown during the summer. • Candace Reed Stern had a busy winter in Dallas.

Daughter Caitlin and her husband, Charles, gave birth to Emma last December. Candace and Richard are now delighted grandparents and have enjoyed babysitting. “This spring, Richard and I flew to Vienna to attend the 50th reunion of my ’67-’68 Institute of European Studies class,” wrote Candace. “We stopped off first in the Netherlands, where we visited the famous Keukenhof Gardens; then to the ancient city of Bruges, where we explored the city and its many channels and bridges … we flew on to Vienna, where we participated in a delightful reunion celebration. When we are in Castine (Maine), we are active members of the Downeast Outing Club.” • Ann Steiner Clough’s son, Andrew ’03, attended his 15th Northfield Mount Hermon reunion with his fiancée, Amanda. • Tanya Trinkaus Glass said, “Painting and collaging keep me very busy — still trying to find myself through my art. It seems that all the experimenting I do with different media, with abstraction and realism, might show I should have been a scientist like my father and brother. My website shows my efforts:

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tanyatrinkausglass.com. A first-place award in Naples (Fla.) recently, as well as some other awards, were welcome. Gardening in South Florida is fun, since everything grows so much. Our four grandchildren are a joy to watch growing up. I can be the kooky artist grandmother.” One of Tanya’s paintings won an award at the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs in February, and she was featured in an article in a Naples magazine in March. • “I spent a few days in Brattleboro with William Stearns,” shared Beth Zelnick Palubinsky.

“We’ve stayed close friends since our Northfield-Mount Hermon days and all the plays we did together on both sides of the river. Bill has often come to Philadelphia to visit Al and me, too; we’ve had some scandalously good times, including a notorious visit years ago with Kristin Kellom ’80 to Philadelphia’s gorgeous Masonic Temple. While in Brattleboro, William and I drove down to NMH to a splendid dinner with Peter Weis ’78 and Lydia Perry Weis ’80, and Kristin Kellom ’80 and her husband, Mitch Damon. Brad Fitzgerald and I talk often on the phone. I still sing with my old band from time to time, and my work as a Life-Cycle celebrant keeps me busy and happy. Al and I travel when we can: long road trips to new parts of the U.S., always finding something to inspire and startle us about this amazing country. Still enjoying recollections of that great NSFG Philadelphia mini reunion in 2015. Maybe we’ll have another one someday.” • From Henri: We were saddened as a class with the passing of Carroll W. Bailey on 4/9/18. Christopher Parker attended the memorial service at Christ Church in Andover, Mass., in May and was moved by remarks made by Becky and Hal McCann, whom many of you will remember as the floor master on Third South Crossley. Carroll was in charge of Crossley, which was a rather engaging enterprise. • Robert Kowal visited Italy, where he hiked, biked, fished, looked, tasted, and experienced awe. • Mark Holzberg retired from Northwestern’s Department of Psychiatry and is settling into the lifestyle of little to nothing to do. While he is being socialized by his wife, he does maintain his interest in woodwork-

Tanya Trinkaus Glass ’65 with her award-winning painting.

ing. • Dave Stone relayed that our class website, northfieldmounthermon65.com, is alive and well, but underutilized. It has the potential to be the great nucleus of our lives and, thus, we should take advantage of it. For example, Ellsworth McMeen recently updated his profile. • That curious man from Wolfeboro, N.H., Mark Boeing, informs us that, although retired, he still has a hand in business. His kids are now positioned to perhaps create some grandchildren for him and his wife, Lisa Shealy Boeing ’75. He stays in touch with Peter Barber, Peter Goelz ’66, Tom McLaughlin, Pete Ticconi, Flash Clark, Matt Couzens, and John Stinchfield. • On 12/30/17, Stuart Bethune had passed on “into that good night,” as his wife, Sally, wrote in his obituary. She mentioned that education was extremely important to him and that “his four years at Mount Hermon helped shape his adult self and also gave him an inquisitive ‘Holden Caulfield-esque’ questioning of the world around him.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jean Penney Borntraeger Wheeler theinn@ferrylanding.com • Frank Sapienza sapienzafc@cdm.com From Jean: I am writing this as I look at our calm, cool Eggemoggin Reach seawater in front of me, where our intrepid 16-year-old granddaughter helped me reset a boat haul off-line in shoulder-deep water at 7 a.m. I think of one of our classmates, Jennifer Risley Moon, who lived with her husband, Jack, on the Washington coast in a similar fishing community, retired from her work as a forensic genealogist. Jennifer had been battling cancer for 23 years when we gathered for our 50th reunion and was unable to make the trip east, so we were pleased when she sent a page for our reunion yearbook, and so saddened by the news of her death (6/30/16) just weeks after that reunion weekend. We had corresponded, and she always expressed her gratitude for her Northfield years. She wrote in that yearbook two years ago that she treasured every day and the beauty around her. May we all remember to do that. • In July, we celebrated family who mostly live many miles or an ocean away. The energy and enthusiasm of grandchildren on the beach and boats is contagious! • Mary-Jane Atwater had the pleasure of attending NMH reunion this year as an Alumni Council volunteer and loved being back on campus.

She especially enjoyed archivist Peter Weis’ (’78) exhibit of Northfield memorabilia, which included videos and photos from Northfield activities and traditions through the decades. Back home, Mary-Jane stays busy as a founder and board member of a growing nonprofit based on the Beacon Hill “village” model that enables seniors

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to remain in their homes with volunteer support. She and her husband, Walt, traveled this year to Central and South America, but their favorite trips are to Boston to see daughters Emily ’96 and Gillian, son-in-law Dave Wing, and 2-year-old granddaughter, Poppy. • Day Merrill’s career and executive coaching practice is going strong; she visits with her 1-year-old grandson in Brooklyn; and her poetry life is expanding! One of Day’s poems was published in Transitions, an anthology written between the 2016 election and inauguration. She was invited to read at the book launch held during this year’s Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Tampa, and then became the first poet laureate of Collingwood, Ontario.

Day is conducting Playing with Words “play-shops” and will be poet-in-residence at Big Heart Dance Camp. Find out more at collingword.ca. • From Frank: Brad Minor wrote, “I now have the entire 1962 Christmas Vespers on YouTube in three parts. I prefer to plug in the headphones, close my eyes, and recall the walk down the aisle of Memorial Chapel that first year. I lived in Oak Knoll.

Bill and Mary Compton were dorm parents and Mary’s chocolate cakes for dorm birthdays were legendary. Chuck Ives was floor officer and my roommate that first year was the accomplished physicist Viktor Decyk, at the time an astonishing high hurdler and friend. If anyone finds problems with the audio, please let me know and I’ll correct it.” Once you search for “62 Vespers Part 1” on YouTube, parts 2 and 3 will be visible as choices as well. • Peter Fulton wrote The Trial of Mr. Stone, which premiered in May at The Actors Studio of Newburyport, Mass., a community black-box theater. Set in the near future, the play calls upon the audience to judge whether a poet turning 70 has proved his future value to the community and meets the high cost of extended-life health care.

Without making a judgment, the play challenged the Newburyport community to work together in a non-political effort to find solutions to rising health-care costs. • Jim Weiss, founder of Pomfret Chocolates, has gone chocolate full time with a passion. So if you want to try some really good stuff that’s legal, don’t miss our next mini reunion on campus this fall. Check out Jim’s webpage at pomfret chocolat.es. • Derrick Mason succinctly wrote, “Reed College in Portland, Ore.; Peace Corps service in Togo, West Africa; organic farming in Maine and West Virginia; radio and television in Tampa, Fla.; ride-sharing services in Oregon and D.C.; sign-making, organic farming, rural economic development services, and volunteer community services in western Massachusetts.” • Gerald Suggs graduated from Rhode Island College in 1971 and earned his master’s in human relations and community affairs (counseling)

from American International in 1975. He’s been a teacher, coach, school administrator, then teacher and coach again for 44 years, the last 29 at William M. Davies Jr. Career and Technical High School. He’s been recognized twice as a girls’ basketball Coach of the Year, and five times as the “SkillsUSA Rhode Island” State Adviser of the Year. He has also served as the advisor to the National Technical Honor Society for the past 10 years. In 2009, Gerald was inducted into the Rhode Island College Hall of Fame as a member of the 1968–69 team and also inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame as a high school player. Gerald retired in December 2017. He is now an education program associate with WaterFire Providence, a nonprofit arts organization. • “I went to Oberlin and graduated with a B.A. in 1970,” shared Stuart Bennett, “then moved to Washington, D.C., where I worked on the Hill and as a law clerk, then went to law school in D.C. I met my wife, Pati Naritomi, in D.C. We moved to Vermont in 1974 … Our son is an orthopedic surgeon, and our daughter is a teacher. Pati and I still live in the first and only house we bought, in 1977 — a circa 1791 farmhouse on 32 acres. For 40 years, I ran my Vermont law practice, established a statewide trade association, and invested heavily in commercial and residential real estate. I have recently retired from my law practice and am still actively managing the real estate investments. Pati and I owe our connection to Vermont to my NMH roommate and friend, Alan Coulter. He introduced us to likeminded outdoors-oriented people. For years, our group of friends competed in a wide variety of canoe-racing competitions all over the East Coast … I have traveled three times to India (once with Alan), twice to Japan, lived and traveled in Europe several times, went around the world in 1969, worked on a sheep and cattle station in western Australia, plus cross-country motorcycle rides, a month in a canoe with Alan on the Noatak River in Alaska, and recently with Pati, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. My NMH experience nurtured a sense of grounded restless responsibility, together with an appreciation of the calm center that religious ritual (sitting in chapel) can provide. I am very thankful for that.” • Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo wrote, “While my series of historical novels set in Algiers during the 1790s has yet to be published, one of them is short-listed in an international literary competition.” • In late 2017, my former roommate, Frank Donnini, retired after working almost 47 years for the U.S. Air Force (military, contractor, civilian), primarily in the intelligence field. He’s now involved with LifeLong Learning Society classes, enjoying yoga and art, especially painting and drawing. For Frank, being the cartoonist for the NMH class of ’66 50th

reunion yearbook was a major factor in wanting to do more with art. • Many of you have expressed your condolences and fond memories of Carroll Bailey, who passed away in April 2018. Not only was he a brilliant and dedicated teacher, he had concern for each and every one of his students.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Donna Eaton-Mahoney dmeato@outlook.com • Dana L. Gordon mounthermon1967@comcast.net Since the last column, we lost our class teachers Elaine Rankin ’55 and Carroll Bailey. Memorial services were held for them at Christ Church in Andover, Mass., just across the street from the quaint Rose Cottage, where the Baileys lived from 1997–2012. Representing our class at those services were Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Bobbie Burdge Rosenquest, John Rosenquest, Pam Crawford, Robin Whyte Reisman, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Chuck Streeter, Dana Gordon, and Tom Hanna. • Kori Hedman Calvert and husband Scott Calvert ’62 were on a trip to Southeast Asia when Scott was hospitalized in Bangkok and diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. They were medically evacuated back to the States in what Kori reports being a walking ad for travel insurance. Three weeks into his treatment, Scott died on 3/16/18. Kori was comforted by the NMH classmates who attended beautiful memorial services in Oregon and D.C. She was able to spend time with Kit Williams Krents and Carol Coleman while she was in Washington. • News of the death of Peter Henwood had escaped the notice of fellow British exchange student John Cartledge, until he spotted it on our class website. John remembered Peter as an entrepreneurial free spirit to whom he was indebted for his skills as a matchmaker on Saturday nights. Because he already held a pilot’s license when he was a student, Peter was able to take John aloft in a tiny two-seater plane one afternoon, and they spent a happy hour or two buzzing the campus, an experience John has neither forgotten nor ever repeated. More recently, John took advantage of a nephew’s posting as a diplomat to Cairo by visiting Egypt and immersing himself in several millenniums’ worth of temples, tombs, pyramids, mosques, churches, citadels, museums, souks, and camels. John’s interest in flags has not flagged — he contributed an article to the North American Vexillological Association’s Raven: A Journal of Vexillology, titled, “Oh Say Can You See ...?” which explores references to flags in the lyrics of national anthems. • On one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, you may spot a beautiful wooden boat

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hand- built by Chris Crosby from original plans for a 1939 Chris Craft Barrel Back. The construction took two years and was his third maritime project. Previously, Chris had restored a 1940 Chris Craft and a 1952 Shepherd, but he says building a boat from scratch was actually easier. • Ritchie Davis Dow was named Volunteer of the Year for Partners for World Health, a nonprofit organization based in Maine that distributes serviceable medical devices to programs in need and organizes medical missions in developing countries.

This is one of the groups that helps support the work of John and Tricia Watson Bartlett in Tanzania. Tina Dobsevage joined the ranks of proud grandparents with the birth of her grandson in March. Sheila Morse continues to serve as chair of the Guilford (Vt.) select board, but is finding that her position takes an emotional toll in time-consuming travel. Many classmates have benefited from Sheila’s hospitality at her large home near NMH, but as her household shrinks with her 17-year-old nephew leaving for his gap year, the house is on the market. She plans to build a smaller place nearby. Judith Hull celebrated her daughter’s graduation from college as a public health major. Judith lives in northern New Hampshire, where she is reclaiming her ruinous terraced gardens one weed at a time. She loves the snow and does not mind the cold. She does miss D.C., however. Prior to their move north, Judith and her husband, Dennis, had a reunion with Elizabeth Moore O’Meara and her husband, Tom. Will Ackerman has never contemplated the idea of retirement. He continues to tour (with Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice, FLOW, and Four Guitars) across the country and beyond. FLOW is a quartet featuring Will and three artists he has produced over the years. Their 2017 debut CD won Album of the Year at the ZMR Radio convention in March. They plan to release another recording in 2019 following a second Carnegie Hall appearance in September. Will toured Japan in July; he was honored to be the first non-Japanese musician to play for the latest incarnation of the Nara Kasuga Shrine. Four Guitars will release their first album this summer and tour for three weeks in December. Check Will’s website, williamackerman. com, for tour dates. • Linda Hoff-Irwin gained a publishing credit when her essay, “Lord, Make Me a Babe,” was selected for inclusion in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Empowered Woman. The article is based on Linda’s reflections after an NMH reunion. • The past year started well for Maddi Lenagh with the birth of her granddaughter, Cato, and trips to New Zealand and Iceland, but came to a screeching halt last November when she tripped while birding and smashed her shoulder. Rehab has taken the good part of a year. To compensate for not being able to

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go on a photography trip, she spent a week with her son and his family on the Canary Islands, just relaxing, reading, and splashing in the pool. In April, Maddi enjoyed a day with Marty Ratcliff Rix in Utrecht. • Judy Boice hosted a Florida Gulf Coast meet-up at her home in Longboat Key in February with Carol Bullard-Bates, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, and Dana Gordon. Ann Haigis Banash met the group for dinner. Jean Walker was unable to attend due to illness.

Jay Garbose checked in with FaceTime when back pain prevented him from making the cross-state trek. A month later, however, Jay was able to attend the annual South Florida get-together in Delray Beach. Also there were Jay’s brother Dan Garbose ’65, Kirsten Besanko, Brad Waterman, Buddy Levine, Dana Gordon, and Will “Winks” Whitaker, who traveled from Tennessee and spent a few days as the houseguest of both Brad and Jay. Four Moore-Daly friends got together in June to keep the promise made at our 50th to reunite every year. Kathy Cole Gibbons, Linda HoffIrwin, Cindy French Pasackow, and Tricia Watson Bartlett met in New York City, where they visited the Met and Governor’s Island, and saw a movie and a musical. Most of all, they enjoyed each other’s company, catching up over morning lattes made with Tanzanian beans supplied by Trish, wonderful dinners, and fine wine. Plans are underway to celebrate our collective 70th birthdays in 2019. We will keep you posted via email, and you can stay up to date by visiting our class Facebook page, which has grown to nearly 150 members: go to facebook.com/groups/ nmh1967 and request membership. Send a message to mounthermon1967@comcast.net to be added to the email list.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Mark G. Auerbach mgauerbach@gmail.com • Rebecca Bright Freeland rbfreela@gmail.com From Mark: Over 100 members of NMH ’68 attended our 50th reunion, which was made special by the hard work of many committee members, such as co-chairs Becky Bright Freeland, Gary Hopson, and Mark G. Auerbach, along with members Pam Beam, Nancy Lovett Bray, Steve Cone, Buzz Constable, Ed Cook, Fred Cook, Judy Molesworth Darnell, Jean Davis, Cliff Dodge, Molly Mosser Downer, Kris Alexander Eschauzier, Peter Eschauzier, Ginny Haines, Marion McCollom Hampton, David Hickernell, Varney Hintlian, Hillary Johnson, Cap Kane, Jeff Miller, Bill Newman, Nancy Alexander Randall, Pam Sardeson, Becky Schrom Lamb, Deborah Sliz, Jeff Sliz, Nancy Stevens, Ruth Stevens, Peter Szura, Rev. Paul “Buzz” Tuttle, Jay Ward, Dave Wells, and Buddy Whitehouse. Thanks to our NMH liaisons, Liza Tarr and Casey

Vollinger ’01, archivist Peter Weis ’78, Wendy Alderman Cohen ’67, and Josie Rigby for their support. • You can find many photos from 50th reunion at our “NMH68 Alumni” Facebook group page and NMH’s Flickr page (flickr.com/photos/nmhalums/albums). • Thanks to Kris and Peter Eschauzier for their many years as class secretaries. Becky Bright Freeland will join the class secretary roster, and once Mark G. Auerbach finds a replacement, he’ll devote his time to our class Facebook group page. • The NMH ’68 wrestling team was honored, and Pam Beam and Dave Hickernell received Alumni Citations at the NMH Alumni Association Convocation. • Cliff Dodge, Hillary Johnson, and Dave Wells edited our extraordinary 50th reunion yearbook, which includes essays and illustrations by fellow classmates. You can order a copy at community.nmhschool.org/yearbook1968. • Frederico Bussinger traveled to reunion from Brazil; Penny Cowland Hamilton flew back to NMH from England; and Wendi Markert Lipphardt flew in from Germany. • Sara Young was featured on the “Our Stories” panel. • There were some unique events for NMH ’68: an NMH farm-to-table dinner, with foods from the NMH farm, along with Farm Director Jake Morrow’s presentation on how NMH grew our dinner. Nancy Lovett Bray and Wendy Golenbock organized a game of Northfield Jeopardy for our Northfield classmates. • Mark G. Auerbach and Deborah Sliz organized an Authors and Artists Showcase, which gave the NMH community an opportunity to meet some of our class talents. The authors included Janis Lieff Spring, Steve Cone, Hillary Johnson, John Paul Maynard, Don Stanton, Ruth Stevens, Cary Unkelbach, and Alida Howard Woods. The artists included Pamela Glasscock, James Kiberd, and Ken McCasland, and Marty Tracy held a workshop in felt making. • Dave Hickernell presented an evening music program featuring Betsy Rose. The band consisted of Paul “Buzz” Tuttle (guitar and vocals), Fred Cook (guitar), Varney Hintlian (bass), Dave Hickernell (bass and vocals), Steve Colantuono (drums and vocals), with backup singing

by Gary Hopson, Shelley Cabbell, and Pres Grandin. • Deborah Sliz organized a food drive for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. She and Sarajane Bender Diosi reported that over $1,000 in canned goods and checks had been contributed by reunion attendees. • Rev. Paul “Buzz” Tuttle led the ceremony where NMH ’68 planted a sugar maple between Crossley and Blake, as we remembered our classmates who had passed.

Marion McCollom Hampton and Mark G. Auerbach read the names as classmates placed flowers at the site. Buzz also organized and led the Sunday worship service for the entire NMH community. NMH ’68 worship leaders included: Pam Beam, Nancy Lovett Bray, Ed

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The Pink Shirt Incident When Dave Wilson ’68 was a junior at Mount Hermon, his studied English with Thomas Donovan, aka T.D., who had a reputation as an excellent but extraordinarily strict teacher.

One day, Wilson arrived in class as usual. T.D. took one look at him, pointed an accusing finger, and demanded that he leave immediately. Wilson was stunned. “I was not a miscreant or anyone who raised the ire of any teacher,” he says. When Wilson asked what he had done wrong, T.D. replied, his face red with anger: “Men do not wear pink!”

illustration: tekla mcinerney

Wilson looked down. Indeed, he was wearing a pink dress shirt and a tie. He paid little attention to clothes in those days, he says. “I just wore whatever my mom packed for me to wear.” He left the classroom, upset. But as he made his way back to Crossley, he got an idea.

“It was around the time of the Chat, so all the seniors had tuxedos in their rooms. I can’t remember whose it was, but I got dressed in a tux, top to bottom.” Wilson returned to T.D.’s classroom and quietly sat down. The other students snickered and exchanged looks. T.D. glared. “It looked like he might explode, but he didn’t say a word,” Wilson says.

That was the end of it — until the next year, when Wilson graduated and received an award and citation “for basically being a decent guy,” he says. After the ceremony, Wilson learned that his laudatory citation had been written by none other than T.D. “No way!” Wilson marveled. Again, his teacher had surprised him, and again, he wanted to know why. He strolled over to T.D.’s home on campus, and was welcomed like an old friend. He asked about the citation. T.D. explained, “Wilson, you’re the first guy who ever really got me. I couldn’t do or say a thing.”

Cook, Ted Finlayson-Schueler, Becky Bright Freeland, Gary Hopson, Nancy Stevens, Jay Ward, and Dave Wilson. • Richard Anderson

wrote, “We have lived at the foot of Mount Washington for 34 years in Jackson, N.H. I continue in private practice and am active on the medical staff in North Conway. We spend our summers on the Maine Island Trail kayaking the 3,000 islands there.” • Scott Byers and wife Janice have become snowbirds, spending half the year on Marco Island, Fla. “I still dabble in commercial real estate, along with my son,” said Scott, “while Janice is an on-call babysitter. But mostly we golf, exercise, volunteer, and try our best to stay off the various devices.”

Scott has been part of a high-altitude hiking group that has summited Kilimanjaro, gone to base camp on Everest, and on journeys to the Dolomites, Tetons, Yosemite, Denali, and Patagonia. He and Janice have become pretty good golfers, according to Scott, with a smattering of championships in various events. • Peter Szura missed our reunion but returned to campus for a visit in May. He wrote, “Married to Pittsburgher Elaine for 41-plus years, two kids, four grandkids. I’m gainfully employed by Boscovs department store. Golfing and serving as volunteer on government, social service, religious, drop-in center, and mental health agency boards.”

Peter would love to hear from classmates passing through Pittsburgh. • Don Stanton explained how “1968” got carved into the rock at Memorial Chapel. “I was a very quiet kid who was at Mount Hermon two years and didn’t exactly love the place. I did some sculpture in marble in Mr. Doug Jones’ art

class. Somebody must have seen it because toward the end of the semester, some class leaders asked me if I could carve the [1968] numerals in the rock. I said ‘sure.’ I was very glad when the job was done!” • Betsy Rose shared, “The Friday-night Crossley Lounge sing-along was a highlight for me, as was the Coffee House. By the way, my 26-year-old son, Matt, after graduating from Cal Berkeley and backpacking around Colombia and Peru for eight months, is a dedicated permaculture/organic farmer.” • Kaaren Ragland was unable to attend reunion because her group, Sounds of the Supremes, was touring Europe.

She’ll be touring the U.S. next year and hopes NMH ’68 will come to see her. • Cliff Dodge wrote, “My wife, Daleela, and I had a fantastic time throughout reunion weekend, touring the campus and catching up with many old friends and classmates. One of the high points was having dinner with my senior-year roommate, George Hansen, and his lovely wife, Carol!”

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Northfield Sue Pineo Stowbridge sue.stowbridge@gmail.com From Sue: Carolyn Brown and her wife moved near Indianapolis, Ind., to be closer to their Indiana family, which includes four children under the age of 4. They are thoroughly enjoying the freedom and spontaneity of retirement, the beauty of four seasons, and the joy of children. • Joanna Brown wrote to say that her spouse and partner of 25 years, Jo Lower, died peacefully at their home in hospice care in February. Jo was 82 and had lived a long and purposeful life. She had

survived advanced cancer seven years ago, so Joanna said that every day since then had been a gift. Joanna is slowly re-inventing her life after being Jo’s caregiver for the last year. • Susan Griggs continues her work as a pastor in rural Washington State. Her children and their families live in Bainbridge, where her son is a chef. Her daughter is a physician and commutes to a hospital in Ketchikan, Alaska. Susan enjoys having the grandchildren close by. When she wrote, she had just returned from a family Thanksgiving in Connecticut with 27 attending, and she enjoyed being back east. • Marjory Hord Méndez’s husband, Refugio, died in August 2017 after dealing with a pulmonary embolism. Marjory retired from university teaching (ESL) at the end of the year and spent a few months with kids and grandkids in California and Quebec. She is now working online in audiovisual translation (English to Spanish), which means learning new software and techniques to do subtitles and dubbing. Among other jobs, Marjory works with the sermons from Saddleback Church in California, which she attended when visiting her daughter. • Katie Lane Margo happily announces her retirement after 36 years of practice and teaching family medicine. With a fourth grandchild on the way, scattered in D.C., Great Barrington, and Boston, she says there just isn’t time to work. What to do instead of working? Photography, boxing, birding, gardening, traveling, and singing in a wonderful chorus. “Don’t think I’ll be bored!

Looking forward to seeing many people for our 50th!” • Libby Leonard Siegmund reports that their son, Carl, and his wife

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welcomed daughter Hadley last December.

Libby and Fred are happy that the family is only 30 miles away. • Susan Parker Belcher visited Sarah Allen-Oberstein in Santa Fe, N.M., and overlapped there with Debbie Whittaker ’68. Susan says her mother saved all her letters home, dated September 1966 to May 1969. “They are illuminating and amazingly descriptive,” said Susan. “Seating Day, our class songs, etc.” She said there are some gems that the Reunion Committee might want. • In April, Becky Shafer Tuuk and Roger met Faith Goodwin Hodgkins and Don Hodgkins ’69 for visiting and hiking in Cookeville, Tenn., at a property owned by the Tuuks. Walks took them past cave openings, through woods filled with wild flowers, and to a beautiful waterfall. Becky and Roger headed to Denver in June to visit their daughter, enrolled in a master’s program at University of Denver, and they dined with Lisa Mathews-Bingham and husband Stephen. • Susan Shepard retired from her second career in inpatient oncology nursing, which started in 1992, where there were several trials but many more blessings.

Meanwhile, grandchildren play a big part in her life. She wrote, “Bio-grandies are in the Seattle area, but there are step-grandies in Europe and California, as well as bonus (those chosen by the heart) children and grandchildren all over.” An injury and severe arthritis have slowed Susan down some, and she is impatiently waiting for hip and/ or knee replacements while working hard at getting excess weight off. “Water aerobics has become an obsession,” said Susan. She says that being connected with friends and classmates on Facebook is a blessing, and she hopes to participate fully in the 50th reunion.

• Virginia Tyson wrote after returning from her 45th Yale reunion. While there, she caught up with several old friends, including Dr. Claire Robinson, who retired in January after practicing medicine for 35 years in Philadelphia. Virginia is semi-retired in Los Angeles and doing freelance editing, proofreading, and writing. Virginia and Claire had such a great visit that they’re talking about a road trip from Philly to reunion next year. • Other recent retirees are Sarah Ward Neusius and husband Phil, who both taught at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Sarah taught archaeology for 31 years, and Phil taught anthropology for 30 years. The couple have settled in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, closer to daughter Ginny Neusius Caramana ’99 and her husband, and only a little farther from son Ben ’02 in Brooklyn. Sarah said, “We will be close to the airport and all the sports and cultural venues of interest to us in downtown Pittsburgh.”

She is looking forward to our 50th reunion and joins many of us in remarking that it’s hard to believe it’s been that long. • If you’re

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thinking of an old friend and wondering where life has taken her, let me know and I will send any available contact information.

Do any of you aged Girl Scouts out there remember, “Make new friends and keep the old?” That’s what reunions offer. Put June 7–9, 2019, on your calendar!

Mount Hermon Roland Leong dmdmba2k@icloud.com William Gibbs retired in March after 41 years as a tax attorney at the Treasury Department.

He and wife Julie’s son, Jonathan, earned his master’s from M.I.T. in aeronautical engineering and works at a startup in Oakland, Calif. Their daughter, Christina, works at an investment firm in Washington, D.C., after earning her degrees from Harvard and is now married to Jason Wilson, a lawyer. “I last visited Northfield Mount Hermon in 2011 to see all the changes since the merger of the campuses,” wrote William. “Over the years, I have attended several NMH alumni events in the D.C. area. I was sorry to hear about the passing of our classmate Peter Kropp. I was shocked to hear that Mount Hermon dropped football as a sport. I recall the Deerfield rivalry and went back to those games after I started college. The basketball team is doing quite well, and maybe I’ll get a chance to see them play in the near future.

I plan to be at the 50th reunion in 2019.”

• George Dreher met with Padriac Steinschneider in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., in May. They jammed and are preparing to participate in the 50th reunion, and they encourage others to participate in the reunion band jam. • Ronald Majdalany wrote, “After 37 years, I retired in March and closed my veterinary hospital here in Great Barrington. I’ve been busy gardening and landscaping at my farm and plan to do some traveling and visiting. I keep in close touch with Dana Barrows, with whom I ski each winter, and look forward to seeing everyone at the 50th.” • Grady Houseknecht is looking to retire to South Carolina low country. He was in the Beaufort area in late April checking things out. • John Barbour retired in May from the religion department

at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, after 36 years. His wife, Meg, also retired from the art department, where she taught photography. John’s future plans include lots of travel (Sweden and Norway, India and Bhutan, Scotland, Japan), writing, and more time with friends and family. “I’ve enjoyed seeing Doug Burbank in California and Minnesota in the past few years,” said John. • Gordon Ellis wrote, “Now retired, I spend some of my time writing and recording music. I have two faith-oriented CDs out. I am currently writing music with my brother, Mark ’72. We have one secular CD out.” • Kirk Johnson is “busy in Hilton Head, S.C., running a successful hip-and-knee-replacement program that I initiated six years ago. A recent highlight was a mission trip to Esteli, Nicaragua. Busy with beekeeping, 18th-century-method candle making, equestrian activities at our home, and enjoying the redfish and oysters of the beautiful low country of South Carolina. See you at the 50th!” • Steven Shapiro emailed, “Business has been quite good since the interminable recession of 2006–15. I still go to the office most days. But given what the next generation is achieving, I’ve kinda been promoted to emeritus status. On the home front, we are watching the grandkids at their myriad activities. I’m in charge of golf cart adventures to hidden lakes so they can fish … Last year we visited the Galápagos, with a stop in Quito, where I met up with nuestro hermano, David Lansdale. Recently fished a beautiful steelhead river, the Damdochax, in British Columbia, golfed and drank wonderful wine in Portugal, then took some time out for a surgical adventure … I’ll take my boys and wife fishing in Alaska … and will be fishing a beautiful and remote river in the Amazon called the Rio Marie for gigantic peacock bass. I am so looking forward to next year’s reunion. Hats off to those working on this fiesta for years.” • Steve Pollock sent this message: “Second trip back east this year — a promising sign for getting to the 50th! And in year 10 of living with metastatic cancer, this is all-bonus time, guys!”

• George Chaltas reported, “In February, Brian Bauer was kind enough to drive me

From left: Sarah Allen-Oberstein ’69, Susan ParkerBelcher ’69, Debbie Whittaker ’68 in Santa Fe, N.M.

Becky Shafer Tuuk ’69 and Lisa Mathews-Bingham ’69 met up in Denver, Colo.

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Faith Goodwin Hodgkins ’69 and husband Don Hodgkins ’69 in Cookeville, Tenn.

up from Boston to campus so that I could participate in Key Day (aka Diversity Day). I engaged three groups of NMH students in an exercise that has long been a dream of mine: Diversity Dome. Using a kit intended for school playgrounds, we built a half dome in Grandin (Camp) Hall. The students labeled each strut with a diverse lifestyle/view of life and connected them all into a single structure. The exercise makes two points: one, mathematical, and the other, humanitarian.

The dome is the strongest structure that can be constructed with the fewest pieces, but if any piece (strut) is removed, the integrity of the dome is compromised. The dome works best when all the pieces (diverse viewpoints) are connected. The event was a success, and we hope that the exercise will be a recurring event at Key Days in the future.” • Bill Johnson’s wife, Kathy, retired “so that has meant a lot more flexibility in our lives in retirement,” wrote Bill. They now have three grandchildren (two girls and a boy), all born within four months of each other. “We had a great month-long Florida vacation,” Bill wrote.

“Another season of playing hockey and officiating youth hockey has come and gone, and I still manage to keep up with the play in my over-45 league and with the youth players I officiate. Kathy and I are going on a European trip, including travels in the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia, as well as a Mediterranean cruise from Venice to the Greek Islands.” • John M. Fitzgerald and Christine got together with the Mount Hermon ’69 contingent of the Bay Area at George Chaltas’ house in Palo Alto in June. The visit was during the Fitzgeralds’ travels to California to see their first grandchild, Henry. They also joined John’s sister, Virginia “Jinny” Fitzgerald ’71, who was head of our school’s campus government in 1971 when NMH went fully coed. • Lastly, from me: Bill and Kathy Johnson visited me and my wife, Kathy, in the winter for a few days at our rented home in Bradenton, Fla. We had a great visit. • By now you’ve received your NMH ’69 reunion newsletter, and it is an example of how talented and hard the group is working to make the 50th reunion special. We hope that you will come. We want to see you.

Northfield Katherine Truax katetruax@aol.com Carol Ramsey hopes her news will spark some 50th reunion action! “I have officially stepped aside from any leadership role in the organization of our 50th reunion in 2020.

Other obligations have crowded my time, and I have chosen to step aside rather than deliver a lackluster reunion. That said, there is help for us all: you. Eighteen of you have already volunteered to participate in the preparation of events. Others might do so as soon as it is clear what is needed. Please contact the alumni office at the school if you are willing to join the effort to organize our big celebration. I continue to be encouraged by the large number of mini reunions, sightings of long-lost classmates, and progress at NMH and the Northfield campus. Our reunion will be a ‘must-attend’ event, and I will look forward to seeing you all there.”

• Kimberly Chase-Adler and husband Tom had a busy 2017. Their youngest daughter, Fiona, married Fabrice Schlegel on May 29, 2017, in Bonnieux, France. On Aug. 14, 2017, daughter Blythe gave birth to her third daughter, Vivian. Three months later, Kim and Tom helped their oldest daughter, Daphne, and her husband, Claudio, to move into their new home in South Kensington, London. Tom doesn’t wish to retire, and Kim still enjoys painting, photography, and “performing” vegetarian and vegan cooking for her growing family. As Kim wrote, “Life is full.” • Ellen Frost wrote, “A few of us from Merrill Keep gathered [in May] in Asheville, N.C.: Janet Persons from New Mexico; Holly Babbitt Cobb from Atlanta; Kitty Scott from Florida. My roommate in junior and senior year, Lisa Paszamant Clark ’71, came up with the initial idea. I flew from Rhode Island to her lovely home in Charleston, and we drove to Asheville from there. Polly Craige ’71 joined us from North Carolina. We enjoyed the Chihuly exhibition and … had a fabulous time. Some of us hadn’t seen one another in 40 years, but we picked up just like we did back in our rooms at Merrill Keep.”

• Claire Schmidt Jones and her husband, Richard, have left the traffic in Los Angeles and moved to St. George, Utah, close to Zion National Park. She enjoys her job at NEC Corporation and the travel associated with it. Her work has taken her to Denver, where she connected with Michael Wilson. Her latest assignment included the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. If anyone is interested in creating a mini reunion in Vegas, Claire is less than two hours away. • Martha Seely continues to design jewelry and recently won second place for a pair of earrings in a national competition. She also participated in a retail event in Long Island, where one of her jewelry photos was chosen as the cover

of the event’s show journal. • Tess Pemantel Dunhoff and her husband, Don, are spending lots of time in Ottawa enjoying their new granddaughter, Evelyn, along with big sister Emma, who turned 5 in March. They also enjoy their time with their grandchildren (ages 5 and 8) in Long Beach. Tess and Carol Ramsey still walk many mornings together.

Gretchen Law was in Los Angeles in October 2017 for the production of her play, Turn Me Loose, and Kay Robertson Rod, Deborah Whiting, Carol, and Tess enjoyed a musicfilled afternoon at Malibu Winery. Carol, Tess, Julia Auerbacher Bergstrom, and Anne Mavor had a delightful lunch in Los Angeles in fall 2017. • “The years have gone by far too swiftly since our Northfield days,” wrote Sue Tonner. Following a brief stint in Boston, where she worked for a publishing company, she moved to Washington, D.C., in 1976, where she worked her way up the “lobbying ladder,” representing, at one time or another, the aerospace, defense, and the telecommunications and electronic industries, SAP and AT&T. “At the end of my tenure on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon, I established my own consulting firm, Tonner and Associates LLC.” Sue also kept busy showing English cocker spaniels and Airedale terriers. Three years ago, Sue moved to northern Michigan and lives close to the numerous lakes. “Some D.C. clients supported my move, agreeing that I could continue to represent them, albeit from the northern climes,” she added. “What a gift!” Sue keeps busy in her small, idyllic town — she is on the board of the local regional airport and on the zoning appeals board. • Sharing news for the first time, Mary Lou Halstead reports that she owned her own business managing nonprofit finance associations, but sold it when she planned to retire. There is no such thing as retirement, so she is now involved in a women’s startup in New York City. Mary Lou planned her daughter’s and youngest child’s weddings in the spring, and she looks forward to spending more quality time with her three grandchildren. She is regularly in touch with Marilyn “Morgan” Groves, who lives in Madison, Wis. Mary Lou would love to connect with other local (Fairfield, Conn.) classmates. • Martha Nace Johnson is still living in Annapolis and is the proud parent of Lucas, who just finished his double master’s at Yale. Daughter Anna is working in Iowa and is “Midwestern-minded and focused on sustainable agriculture in that hyper-industrialized food production region.” Martha continues her consulting work around D.C. She also quilts, having received several quilt commissions; she works from her basement studio. Martha included a photo of one of her quilts in her email to me — it is absolutely beautiful! • Cindy Stinchfield Ryan shared that she has a good life filled with family and

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friends. She retired in between her first knee replacement and the second hip replacement. She now volunteers with a nonprofit that lends durable medical equipment, short term and free of charge. Her previous careers have been as a metallurgist for Dirats Testing Laboratories and various accounting positions. Cindy wrote, “My husband, Jim, will retire at the end of the year, and then we will crank up the RV and go see areas of the country that we have never seen … and some we want to see again.” Her 25-year-old granddaughter got married in November 2017 and will make Cindy and Jim greatgrandparents! • It was wonderful to get an email from my roommate of three years, Margaret Wilson. We haven’t corresponded regularly over the years, so it’s always special when we reconnect. Margaret and her husband have completed a lot of work on their “fixer upper,” which now allows her time to concentrate on her gardens and participate in a weekly painting group. Painting has become central for her; she has had solo shows as well as entries in several group shows. Reflecting on retirement, Margaret wrote, “I have come across a couple quotes that I use when wishing people well into their impending retired state. The first one is attributed to our own D.L. Moody: ‘Preparation for old age should begin no later than one’s teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled in retirement.’ But my favorite is: ‘Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not the return to the hedonism of youth.’”

Margaret added, “I can’t report that my retired life feels very hedonistic at this point, but it is filled with the joy of my children, their spouses, and our granddaughter.” • And, finally, some exciting news from Louise Rothery! On June 10, Louise married Ridge White (a Tabor boy!), who is an avid sailor, former teacher, and the publisher of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot book. Louise said, “Any East Coast sailor knows this volume of tides, current, and all sorts of nautical lore.”

In retirement, Ridge repairs sextants, barometers, and barographs, and Louise is painting again, playing guitar more, and singing with a local folk group. She is also reading, cooking, sailing, and taking her daily dance class.

Louise and Ridge spent their honeymoon in Penobscot Bay, Maine, and are planning a future trip to France. • Hoping life is good for all my Northfield classmates!

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Mount Hermon Neil Kiely neil@marketinginmotion.com As of this writing, I have just returned from an Alumni Council weekend at NMH. I was helping two classes with their reunions, one of which was ’73 as they celebrated their 45th. I also spent time with the 50th reunion

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class of ’68. I picked their collective brains and spent time in their headquarters lounge (Crossley) to help us plan our own in less than two years. Mark your calendars, especially those who have never been back! • Rick Brown was inducted into the NMH Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a member of the undefeated 1968 wrestling team and came up from his new home in the Carolinas to attend the ceremony. • University of Idaho history professor Dale Graden taught a course on Ernest Hemingway in Havana, commenting, “There is no substitute for reading an author’s work in the same place that they lived.” Dale has also taught courses in Spain and Venezuela on civil war, revolution, and its aftermath. • Speaking of Hemingway, Ed Dehn just completed a one-man show in London, where he played Hemingway in the last hour of his life before his suicide. One of the most difficult parts of the play for Ed was performing with an American accent!

He is “seriously considering attending our reunion in 2020.” • Dave Hawley returned to campus last year and said it looks terrific.

He met Doug Freeman and Joanne Smolensk Freeman for dinner, and continues to summer on Sebago Lake, Maine. • A.J. Eckert has no plans to retire from real estate any time soon, but he is traveling more. Recent trips include Portugal and Spain, and A.J. and his wife plan an extended trip to Australia when their daughter moves there later this year. • After 40 years with the same company, Mark Vokey has taken his printing and sales experience to Journeyman Press in Newburyport, Mass. His children, including an NMH ’00 grad, have blessed him and Melissa with five grandchildren — so far! • After 10 years of planning and execution, Steve Chiasson said that “co-housing in Belfast, Maine, is finally feeling like a normal life.” Gardening and playing music in his studio take up much of his time. Steve still has 45th reunion CDs available from the A.J. Eckert and Collins Lein performance, if you are interested. Steve also enjoys the “NMH Class of 1970” Facebook page. • Cornell Hills and Alex Lotocki met for lunch in Virginia when Alex was dropping his NMH grad daughter at University of Virginia. Some of you may recall Cornell organizing a Saturday-morning exercise class at the last reunion. He has offered to initiate one for all attendees on campus for the 2020 reunions (classes ending in 0 and 5).

He would like it to be a fundraiser toward our class gift, with a goal of $1,000. His program is called DABS (Dance Aerobics and Body Sculpting) and is exercise set to energizing music. Thanks for the offer, Cornell. “A hearty ‘wie gehts’ from Cornell to Tom Cherry, wherever you are.” • Tom Durwood has written three historical fiction novels. It was fun to look them up and see them on Amazon, all with great reviews. • Rick Lovett’s son,

Linda Kellogg Glover ’70 and David Ericson ’70

Zachary, graduated from Rick’s alma mater, Yale, and his daughter graduated from Noble and Greenough School in the spring and is enrolled in Georgetown. She suffered a severe concussion while at Nobles, taking a leave during which she interned at the Concussion Legacy Foundation. The foundation runs a brain bank at Boston University, where research is being conducted on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, with the NFL. On her 18th birthday, Rick’s daughter became the youngest person ever to pledge their brain to science. • After retiring, Jeff Marks went on a “fabulous tour of Egypt.” He is now a part-time Uber driver and directs a choir in Port Charlotte, Fla., where he and his wife live when not on Peaks Island, Maine, during the summer. • After 36 years in the same house, job, and marriage, Karl Horne retired in May from Seattle City Light. Their retirement home is on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. “My health is good but requires a daily trip to the gym,” Karl says. • As you may recall, Tom Baldwin only makes money when he is away from home working as a disaster insurance adjuster. Last year, he has hardly been home at all. Stints of several weeks to various cities were augmented by 10 weeks in Minneapolis and more than three months in Philadelphia. • In early May, the NMH class of ’70 was well represented at the memorial service for Carroll Bailey in Andover, Mass. Neil Kiely and Laurie Reich Kiely, Mark Carta, Ted Martellini, Bruce Berk, Dale Silver, Mark Vokey, and John Witty were joined by Kerry McCollester Smith and Eric Crone ’69. It was a wonderful celebration of the life of a wonderful guy and friend of our class. One of the eulogists was former Mount Hermon faculty member and coach, Hal McCann. It is the end of an era, for sure.

• By the time you read this, I am confident that the 50th Reunion Committee will have had another on-campus meeting and that you will have been contacted by a 50th Reunion Yearbook Committee member. Regardless of your involvement over the years or even your experience as a student, I hope you can join us. We want to see each and every one of you in June 2020!

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Northfield Cathy Shufro cathy.shufro@yale.edu Judi Tremblay Barrett shared, “At 64, I left behind working for other people (all guys, of course) and started my own planning firm.

Today, I have more work than I know what to do with (pardon the misplaced preposition, Mrs. Wilcox!).” At first, Judi planned to run her new business from her home in Duxbury, Mass., which she shares with three dogs, five parakeets, one “very annoying” cat, 10 chickens, and a rooster. She reconsidered the home office and in June rented a “real” one in town. Two years ago, Judi found herself back in Northfield to help the town undertake the difficult task of updating its zoning bylaws. Judi joined the former master-plan consultant to lead a comprehensive zoning revision, including special district zoning for the Northfield campus. This was just before Thomas Aquinas College entered the scene.

Judi writes that although the college may not need to tap into the new zoning, it’s there if they need it. “The town officials I worked with were delightful … While we all lament what the trustees did to our beautiful school, the town suffered immeasurably from the closure of the Northfield campus.” In August 2017, Judi and Robin Craig met up after 46 years and took a 10-day trip through Quebec.

They hiked, visited the colony of Northern gannets at Bonaventure Island, and went on a whale-watching excursion. Turning 65 doesn’t faze Judi: “65 is the new 35!” • Tinker Elmer sends news of her life in an ecumenical Christian community in the Benedictine monastic tradition. She took her vows in 1975 as a religious sister at the Community of Jesus on Cape Cod (communityofjesus.org), becoming the 15th sister. “Now there are 68 of us, ages 22 to 87, and our community numbers close to 300.” Tinker, now known as Sister Monica, has returned to Northfield several times since graduation, and over the years she has seen several classmates, including Becky Drew Guerra, Peggy Zollner Ahern, Donna-Marie Peters, and Maia Lee Wright. “As a sister, I have had some amazing opportuni-

The Merrill Keep ladies gathered in North Carolina in May 2018: (left to right) Janet Persons ’70, Holly Babbitt Cobb ’70, Lisa Paszamant Clark ’71, Polly Craige ’71, Kitty Scott ’70, and Ellen Frost ’70.

ties to work with young people and to travel to such places as Russia, Estonia, the Holy Land, Jordan, South Africa, Italy, France, Greece, Bosnia, and Croatia.” Tinker invites classmates to visit her and see the community’s church “with its stunning mosaics and frescoes.” She oversees the reservations for her community’s performing arts events, runs the gifts-in-kind office, cares for the elderly, and teaches a homeschool Russian language and culture class. She discovered Russian at Northfield. “My roommate, Nan Close, was all excited about taking Russian … I took it totally on a whim and fell in love with the language, and, later, the people.”

Tinker has toured Russia three times with her community’s choir at the invitation of the late Patriarch Alexy II. “Russian has been an important part of my life as a sister. We have many good friends in Russia and many visitors to our community from Russia.” Tinker had a very successful knee replacement and still feels “young at heart.” She wrote: “I am finding each day is a new challenge to grow more into the person God has called me to be. With gratitude for Northfield and all it has meant it my life, I send all the best to our class of ’71!” • Claudia Istel ran as a Democrat for a seat in the New Hampshire state legislature, representing Sullivan County District 7, north of Keene. By now, the votes have been cast. Claudia wrote, “During my teaching career, particularly my 30 years in our local Fall Mountain Regional School District, I got to see not only the struggles of my students, but those of their families. I taught math, not only for its own sake and the importance of this subject in academic and career success, but as a vehicle to teach self-respect, respect for others, to learn how to learn, to develop soft skills such as perseverance and problem solving and critical thinking — to ready my students to become successful adults and active members in their community. Working to make the world a better place has been part of the values taught to me by my parents and teachers (at Northfield and Hampshire College), has been part of my career as a teacher, and now is leading me to seek the opportunity to represent my fellow citizens in the New Hampshire legislature.” Claudia and Grant celebrate their 39th anniversary this year.

Their younger daughter lives with them, and her mother-in-law was living with them during the summer. “Multigenerational living is interesting and good,” said Claudia.

• Lydia McAnerney has been working part time at a small nonprofit that supports older people who want to remain in their homes.

By the end of the year, however, she expects to fully retire. “Turning 65 will mean more autonomy about how I spend my time,” she wrote. “I hope that not having a schedule will help me be more relaxed, focused, and, ulti-

mately, healthier.” Retirement will give Lydia more time with her recently retired husband and with her son, who has bought a house nearby. She looks forward to being busy with community projects, including volunteer work at Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis. That’s where she ran into “Caz” (Catharine Lewis) at a spring contra dance weekend. “A surprise snowstorm allowed us to have two more days together, during which we got reacquainted.” Lydia and her husband will try to see Catharine (and husband Kerry) in Albany, N.Y., when their daughter begins graduate school there in the fall. • Less than a year after being appointed dean of Lemieux Library and McGoldrick Learning Commons at Seattle University, Sarah Watstein received the highest honor awarded to reference librarians — the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award, which was presented by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden at the annual meeting of the American Library Association. The award cited Sarah as “a prolific author,” recognizing her work as co-author of the award-winning 1998 AIDS Dictionary, and The Encyclopedia of HIV/AIDS, published in 2003. The prize is named for the woman who pioneered reference librarianship in the first half of the 20th century. • Rebecca Gohmann Bechhold is happily living on Daniel Island, S.C., “though Southern politics infuriate me on a daily basis,” she said. Upon moving there, Rebecca retired, went back to work, and then retired again. Rebecca now volunteers once a week at a cancer clinic in the V.A. hospital.

She also supervises oncology fellows from the university, “thereby giving back to the community and staying current.” Rebecca relayed that she won a state title with her tennis team, and that she loved having Alison Elliott, Merrill Mead-Fox, Susan Terry, and Suki Whilton Agusti visit her. • Becky Drew Guerra has been teaching English to eighth-grade students since the 1970s. “Miss Buckmaster was excellent preparation,” she writes. She and her husband, Frank, both work at Boston Trinity Academy and look “longingly” at the prospect of retirement, but they’re not quite ready. Becky’s students make her think she’s younger than she is. “Twinges in my knees, and what I see when my children FaceTime me, reminds me that I am not still 14.” Becky keeps in touch with Joann Thomas, who is living in Atlanta and has remained a good friend over the years. She also occasionally crosses paths with Julianne Steuart. Becky’s thoughts on turning 65? “Last year was actually the fun birthday. A couple of my children, my husband, and I went together to karaoke, where I had the pleasure of singing “When I’m Sixty-four” to my husband. I believe I may have mortified my children more than I mortified myself.”

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Mount Hermon David C. Eldredge d.eldredge@verizon.net Congrats to our 50th organizing commander, Marshall Horowitz, for besting a cancer flare and being 100 percent back in the saddle driving reunion! • Had a nice dinner with Charlie Kirk, who was in town on business a few months back. While he claims we drank too much wine, I pointed out to him that he did, in fact, make it back to his hotel room via subway. Nice to subsequently report that he, his wife, and Florida home made it safely through an intense hurricane season, and I’m hopeful of catching up with him again at the New York City edition of Christmas Vespers. • Dave Kjeldsen made good on his years of threats to leave Long Island, as he and wife Deb hightailed it to Lyman, Maine, becoming “empty nesters” in the process of beginning retirement instead of thinking about it. • Thanks to the scores of you responding to our class teacher, Becky McCann’s, poetic appeal to send best wishes to her husband, Hal, on his 80th. Hal shared, “I received many emails and a few phone calls from kids (sorry, you will always be ‘kids’ in my mind) of the class of ’71.” He went on to say that a big joy of his birthday was the communications from our class. The McCanns hope to be at our 50th reunion. • It’s not too early to start planning for the big event! As you make your plans, please drop us a line and let the rest of the class know what’s up!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Tom Sisson 1972NMH@gmail.com Bernie Niemeier, publisher/owner of Virginia Business magazine, has been named to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame at Virginia Commonwealth University. The award recognizes communications professionals with exceptional media careers. • After an exciting career working in Silicon Valley, Colyn Case and his wife, Nancy, moved back to Vermont. Nancy resumed her interest in horses, and Colyn has resumed flying. Their older daughter is a correspondent with the Christian Science Monitor, their son is a full-time musician, and their younger daughter is a fashion stylist in Manhattan. Colyn and Nancy recently renovated a house in Thetford, Vt. They spend most of their time on Christian healing. • Cheryl Miner Williams has been raising her kids and trying to figure out life alone since her husband passed away eight years ago.

She traveled to Vanuatu, where her daughter met and married her husband while in the Peace Corps. Cheryl’s son graduated from college in May, and is pursuing his first job.

Cheryl teaches first- and second-graders in a small school in northern Vermont. When not

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traveling to the coast of Maine, she works on her gardens and yard. Camping and kayaking are also summertime interests, but since her knees are bad, skiing is no longer an option. • Two years ago, Eric Van was the primary subject of a story in ESPN The Magazine’s 15th anniversary issue. Eric continues to work on his scholarly book, Mind as Matter: A Comprehensive Theory of Phenomenal Consciousness and Actual Free Will. Eric’s major hobby is watching every quality lowand mid-budget science fiction movie from the last 20 years; he’s seen more than 225 movies in the last year! • Dale S. Lewis and his partner of 37 years have a small horse farm overlooking the “greatest lake,” Lake Superior, with four of the six horses they have owned and competed in dressage together over the years. Three years ago, after selling the banking company his grandfather started in 1916, Dale decided it was time to step away. Dale and his partner have a wonderful winter home in the low country of South Carolina that they escape to as often as possible in the cold months. • Steve Wohlgemuth echoes many classmates by saying, “Thanks for being so diligent about keeping up on all of us. Although I don’t frequently submit, I love reading about folks.” After 35 years as a general/bariatric surgeon, Steve is going to retire at the end of this year and concentrate on his other passion, woodturning. Steve’s business is primarily creating custom pens and he has offered to make them for our 50th reunion (at the NMH friend discount) that say, “Hoggers.” Steve remains very happily married to his wife of 36 years, an OB/GYN. Steve’s son is a secondyear OB/GYN resident who will be going into Steve’s wife’s practice in two years. Steve’s daughter has a master’s in public health and works in Africa on trachoma and river blindness. Steve has many fond memories of Jay Spence, Lance McClean, Geno Pena, Jon Bleh, Steve White, Blount Stewart, Bill Campbell, and many others. • Will Matthews hopes you did not miss the feature about his brother, Jason Matthews ’69, in the last issue of NMH Magazine. Will is still consulting for the realestate development and investment industry, and is an adjunct professor of finance at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business and at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He’s also an angel investor/advisor for a few Boston-area small-business startups. • Steffani Bennett Vogt authored two books and is currently working on another. She and husband Jay recently completed a five-month trip-by-sea around the world. In 141 days, they visited 34 countries and 63 ports, and covered 36,585 nautical miles (that’s one and a half times around the planet!). “We visited places that had been on our bucket list for decades,” she wrote.

You can see some of their photos at insta-

gram.com/spaciousway/. For the full effect, enter the hashtag #slowboatseries in the search bar and scroll from the bottom up (beginning with Miami). • Kenneth G. Bartlett was voted captain of the 40th anniversary lacrosse team at University of Vermont. He’s still practicing law in Madison, Conn. • Janet Kester can’t believe it’s been 46 years since high school graduation. Although Janet only attended NMH for two years, it strongly marked her life. In the decades since 1972, she attended college (Cornell for biology) and graduate school (University of Rochester School of Medicine, Ph.D. in toxicology), was happily married, bore daughters Daria and Eleanor, fulfilled her lifelong dream of having horses, had a nearly 30-year career in environmental consulting, was widowed after 28 years of marriage, retired, and started her own consulting firm, taking on projects she finds interesting. Janet meant to devote her time to her passion for animal behavior and positive reinforcement training, specifically horse rescue. Now she finds herself the 2018 Democratic candidate for Missouri State House District 63. • Andy Howe lives in Jackson, N.H., with his wife, working for SAIL and PassageMaker magazines, and splitting leisure time between their sailboat on the coast of Maine and the New Hampshire ski slopes. They look forward to being able to spend more time on those pursuits, but for now they must toil away a bit longer.

If in New Hampshire, look for the license plate “SAILSKI.” • Richard Stobaeus’ son, Kenji, graduated from Berry College and will be working international logistics in Dominica. Daughter Keiko Stobaeus ’07 finished at the Medical College of Georgia and passed her boards. She is raising Rick’s granddaughter, Eva (8). Nobuki Stobaeus ’04 is doing well in veterinary practice in Tampa, Fla. Son Akira has another year to complete his pre-med requirements. Rick is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Maria.

His veterinary practice is doing well. Rick says come visit Dominica! • For about the fifth year in a row, Michael White is intending to retire, but hasn’t yet and probably won’t.

He is scared of having too little to do. He is working half time and traveling a lot, including time in a motor home visiting national parks. • Jeff Kessler noted that the sports car he’s wanted since high school is now probably a rusted-out shell out in some field with a good-size tree growing through the hood.

Jeff’s daughter, Katharine, completed her nursing program in spring 2018 and started her career in nursing at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in the fall. Son Philip spent the summer interning with Liberty Mutual Insurance and is currently at University of New Hampshire for his senior year.

Jeff and wife Laura continue to work full

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time and remain involved with several local and regional boards and committees. • Alida Glancy Birch has been learning how to create soil from leaves, sticks, grass, charcoal, cardboard, and food waste. Her property has come alive with birds and animals. All of her many birdhouses are occupied, and she finally has a barn owl in the owl box, which has gone begging for 10 long years. • Wyoming feels like home for Pamela Brown after a year at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains in the small town of Buffalo. Bigger windows are being installed in the Brown home, the better to watch elk, eagles, mule deer, antelope, and even a wolf from the living room. You could fit two Delawares into their county, but there are only two towns and 8,500 people. With so much gorgeousness to explore, Pam has compressed work into three 12-hour days. Nursing — long-term care and geriatrics — has been a good way to integrate into the community and is far more challenging and rewarding than she had expected. • Deborah Henderson caught up with Celia Popper Carboni over lunch in Bedford, N.H., in September 2017. They talked about their life journeys after Northfield and what an awesome time they had at their NMH reunion. • Frank S. Brewer Jr. retired from Criswell Chevrolet after 20 years, but that lasted all of four months; GM made him an offer and Frank is now the Chevrolet medium-duty specialist for the mid-Atlantic region, presenting the new Silverado 4500, 5500, and 6500, as well as the Low Cab Forward product. Frank is six years cancer-free (post prostate cancer) and has had no cardiac issues in the past two years. • Toby Wolinsky Libowitz is still teaching full time as a special ed resource teacher for Providence public schools. Last summer, she taught Hebrew in Krakow and was able to visit the town her mother’s family was from before many escaped to the U.S. Toby hopes to visit the area in Poland where her father’s family lived; it’s now part of Belarus. • Jay Spence’s daughter, Colleen, graduated from high school and is now attending Emmanuel College, studying pre-law. Her twin brother, Liam, is studying mechanical engineering at Worcester Polytech. Jay, wife Bonnie, and their children visited Europe during the summer, and they attended Jay’s college reunion at the American College of Switzerland. • Janet Archibald Fish and her husband attended the Preakness Stakes horse race, part of the Triple Crown. Janet attended the Belmont Stakes when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown. • Jay Kaplan took on the role of chairing the search committee for the next NMH head of school. Throughout the summer of 2018, the committee worked with search consultants to bring candidates to campus who could lead and transform NMH for years to come. • Richard Taylor now

has five grandchildren: three are in Virginia with his son and his wife, and two are in Vermont with his daughter and her husband.

Richard continues to do educational consulting in China several times a year. He is also president of the board for the Community Health Centers of Burlington, Vt. Between family, travel, and local responsibilities, Richard keeps quite busy “in retirement.” • Both of Nancy Klarman’s parents have now passed on, her father in February 2018 and her mother in January 2016. Nancy is tired of major yardwork and clearing snow, so she’s now looking at condominiums in Nashua, N.H. Still working part time as a U.S. Census field representative, she hopes to get in some traveling in the near future. • Stephen Williams had an encounter last summer that evoked the NMH motto. While he was walking with his dog, a lightning bolt struck, with no delay between the thunder and lightning. The bolt traveled down an electrical pole a few feet away. Luckily, the pole was “well grounded.” Russell Pollock is still living in Berkeley, Calif., having moved to the Bay Area from Providence in 1984, and has been practicing business law with the same gang for the past 33 years. Russ is serving out his eighth year on the volunteer board of the nonprofit Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley — a wonderful concert and teaching venue for traditional music. Carrying on the Mount Hermon tradition. His older son is finishing up a yearlong world tour with Depeche Mode, and his younger son is halfway to his nurse practitioner degree at Vanderbilt in Nashville. Russ missed Doug Adair’s umpteenth annual BBQ jam again this year. Maybe next summer! • Joan Elgosin Milnes and husband Brad became grandparents in April. What a thrill! “I was with our daughter and son-in-law during labor and delivery at Newton-Wellesley Hospital,” wrote Joan. “At one point, I was locked out of the hospital and had to convince a Chinesefood delivery man to give me a ride to the night entrance.” Joan is also doing some volunteer work with Compassion & Choices, promoting the legalization of medical aid in dying. The nonprofit recently started a dementia initiative, in which Joan hopes to become involved. • Toya Doran Gabeler met up with Nick Biddle in Ecuador and saw the beautiful home he’s built in Cahuasqui. In early April, Toya flew up to Fairbanks, Alaska, to see the Northern Lights. Her grandson (5) was a “seahorse explorer” at summer day camp in Mattapoisett, Mass., and stayed with Toya for a month. “I recently got back from a great trip to Portugal,” said Toya, “and stayed in the Alfama section of Lisbon for a few days, then drove to the Algarve and explored the southern coast from Tavira to Sagres, then up to a small fishing village called Sesimbra. What a beautiful country and such

great food! Fresh seafood every day!” • Dave Skinner’s two daughters married a year apart

— one in 2015 and the other in 2016. Both had the poor judgment to get married during the hottest time of the summer in Bermuda (late July to mid-August). Dave’s son will be getting married this coming June. By then, all three receptions will have been on Dave’s lawn in Hungry Bay, Bermuda. He has two grandsons from his older daughter and a granddaughter from his younger daughter.

“It’s a great feeling, even though I’m still not old or wise enough to be a grandfather,” he said. Dave retired from a career in financial services in April 2014, and the following year he took on the responsibility of being executive director of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts. He managed to connect with Jeff Higgins. Jeff is a blues musician living and playing in Florida. • Bill Stebbins has been enjoying retirement and is currently involved with a huge Burpee for Vets challenge through the Courage Foundation. He is looking for donations (visit Bill’s Facebook page for the link to his donation page). The goal of the team is to do 22 million burpees, or squat thrusts. Bill’s piece is 90,000 burpees by the end of the year. • Gwyneth Jones Radloff is still watching traffic on Baltimore Harbor and volunteering at the National Aquarium, where she practices her Australian accent in the Aussie exhibit and locates cleverly hidden sloths in the rainforest. Her husband, Scott, is at Johns Hopkins. Daughter Katie married last summer and is working on a doctorate of physical therapy. Their younger daughter, Chrissy, is working on a master’s in medical informatics and is engaged to marry in August. • Jane Backus Gelernter’s older son is working on a startup,

Keep Calm and Carry On

The NMH bookstore can help outfit you and your family.

Visit the NEW and IMPROVED online store for great gift ideas.

nmhschoolstore.com

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Dittach, which is looking for next-step funding. It is a wonderful app that strips attachments from your emails and runs them in a column on the right side of your emails.

It is going to be expanding platforms, but can be used now via Google’s Gmail. Give it a try!

“I have found some amazing treasures, especially pictures, that I had forgotten people had sent to me over the last 10 or 15 years,” wrote Jane. • Sandy Horne Marshall is busy composing choral music, teaching piano, and working as a church musician. • Hope Belanger continues to work for CDM Smith, 33 years and counting. It is a rewarding career that continues to provide interesting challenges. Hope “translates engineering (and science) into English so that the nontechnical reviewers can understand our approach.” Hope enjoys living in Savannah, Ga., where golf is her relaxation; when she retires in January 2021 (is that even possible?), she expects to play even more. • Ellyn Spragins and her husband, John Witty ’70, enjoyed their spring in Malvern, Penn., and all the blooming trees and plants in a new garden they installed last fall. Ellyn and John traveled for two weddings: a nephew got married in Tuscany in May and a niece’s wedding in Sweden in September. • Craig Ward was busy in Aspen with the thin snowpack melting quickly in warm spring weather! He and wife Becky planned to bike in Provence in mid-September, after Becky hikes around Mont Blanc with her siblings in early September. Craig is still engrossed in Aspen real estate with Sotheby’s Realty. • Karen Beshar Zakalik’s son Sam married Rachel Rosenblum, M.D., in July 2017 in New Hope, Penn. Karen’s son David is applying to a master’s degree program in horticulture at his alma mater, Cornell University. Karen is a research coordinator for UB Neurology and has no plans for retirement on the horizon.

She loves the work she is doing. Her mother turned 91 in June and, despite Alzheimer’s, still plays the piano and enjoys time with family and friends. • Robin Smith-Johnson has been busy over the past year. At the end of September, she left the Cape Cod Times after serving as their newsroom librarian for 19 years. She is still teaching at Cape Cod Community College as an adjunct instructor in the English department. Robin’s second book on Cape Cod history, Cape Cod Curiosities, was released in May from History Press.

• Milly Scovel Rawlings says her son was married over Memorial Day weekend last year and so she was unable to attend our reunion. She retired two years ago after 29 years in the Baylor School library, serving as the director for 23 years. When not traveling, she works with elementary-school students as a reading tutor, volunteers at her church and in the community, and enjoys having

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time to read! Husband Peter is a pediatrician and plans to continue practicing for a few more years. Milly and Peter marked their 42nd wedding anniversary in July! Their older daughter, Joan, is an R.N.; she works in Metairie, La. Their son, Nate, is the speechwriter for Dr. Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, and lives in Washington, D.C. Their younger daughter, Lydia, lives in Metairie as well. She is a special education teacher and mother of their 5-year-old and 17-month-old grandsons. Milly stays in close touch with her senior-year roommate, Kiki Gallant Scovel, who is also her sister-in-law.

Milly sees Eddie Waterhouse every so often; he lives in Chattanooga, Tenn. “I will see everyone at our 50th reunion and am excited to reconnect with many of our classmates,” wrote Milly. • Peggy Stone and husband Ted have a new family member called Otis. He’s a 9-year-old pug who was rescued from a dog hoarding situation. He is utterly quiet, but they first heard him bark when they were watching sheep dog trials on TV. “Not sure you Americans will know what this is,” said Peggy. “It’s a farmer, his dog, whistled commands, and a herd of sheep … absolutely riveting, like cricket.” Otis likes going on holiday, so they have all been to Cornwall, and soon he will get his pet passport so they can head off to the south of France. • Kim Siewers has relocated from Santa Cruz, Calif., to Jupiter, Palm Beach County, Fla., to assist his father, Albert, who is a retired psychiatrist. The area is particularly suited to fishing and diving; the Gulf Stream comes the closest to the U.S. there, and it’s where the finest sport fishing yachts and boats are made. “Reed Stewart lived a few miles south, and I never saw him in person before he died last year, although we had chatted online,” shared Kim. In Florida, “the thunderstorms in the summer come in the afternoon, as did the fog in Santa Cruz. Either way, it’s time to get off the beach; there was a storm with 679 lightning strikes within 10 minutes, and it’s scary if you are outside in it. The slow pace,

the abundance of non-working residents for half of the year, and other aspects make it slightly strange, although it’s nice enough if you are ready to relax and not pay taxes. I’m not ready yet, so I will return to Santa Cruz, Calif., in the fall. From there I can more easily visit La Paz, Mexico. I once lived down there, and I speak Spanish.” • Cheryl Cernak Folstad moved to Surprise, Ariz., in 2017 and is officially retiring in 2018 after 34 years of having a chiropractic practice in Wisconsin.

She is enjoying exploring the Southwest as well as taking up other activities she didn’t have time for when she was working and caring for her two children. Cheryl remarried in 2008, to Don Swailes.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Heather Blanchard Tower smtower@comcast.net • Bill Stewart billstewartnmh73@gmail.com From Heather: It was a great weekend full of laughter, stories (past and present), music, and good times. The weather was perfect and the company extraordinary. We all still look 18. I ended up in West Hall for four hours on Saturday, from breakfast through lunch, table hopping and enjoying everyone. We don’t often get to relax and be with longtime friends, which is a lot of what reunion is about. Check out the pictures from the class and the official photos on the school website.

• In five years, in June 2023, we will celebrate 50 years of friendships and memories.

We hope to see all who came last year, and many more. It’s a long way to travel for such a short stay, but in this transient world, it’s important to come together for special times — and reunions are among them. • From Bill: Our 45th reunion was our best ever! The weather was perfect, and the accommodations in Shea Family Cottage were ideal. At least 45 of us were there, along with special guests from other classes, notably Kelly Karpoe ’74, Lyn Joy Maravel ’74, Tom Sisson ’72, and Jeff Kessler ’72. We were happy to

From left: Linda McGoldrick, Sheila Woodson Horine, Sandi Stanton Sloane, Tom Goelz, Hugh Moss, Mark Spitzer, Jane Gould von Trapp, and James Voos of the class of ’73.

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have several people back for the first time since graduation, as well as some brave spouses and partners. The highlights were a Thursday pre-reunion golf outing, Saturdaymorning bird walk with David Torrey, and a memorial recognizing those who are no longer with us, led by Linda McGoldrick, and our own home-grown music. Friday was a cabaret night of favorite songs from our youth, with a hefty dose of Beatles tunes, headed by David Wright and David Torrey, with the help of Greg Burrill. The Saturdaynight dance party was led by the ever-better Keep on Truckin’ band: Greg, David Torrey, Pierce Campbell, Brad Morgan, James Voos, and Joe Klein. We are grateful to David Torrey for our new class banner, with added photos courtesy of NMH archivist Peter Weis ’78. • Heather Blanchard Tower came to reunion all the way from Northfield, and was glad to welcome all of us back to campus, reminding us of when we were 18 and just starting our journeys. • Brad Morgan traveled from Rutland, Vt., and had a great time. His musical talent helped bring us all together. • Amy Halstead loved reunion and enjoyed the bird walk. She is savoring her retirement. • Thatcher Stone returned to NMH for the first time in 25 years. He found the event special, delightful, and a true joy, with golf, friends, and music. He lives in Charlottesville, Va., still practicing aviation law. • James Voos said, “We never had it so good! I think we are all blessed. Peace and love.” • David Wright commented, “So many pleasurable moments I’ll be thinking about for days. What a great class is 1973.” • Mary Ellen O’Connor (PG) of Holyoke, Mass., had a great time and was pleased that so many remembered her. She is looking forward to our 50th. • John Lazarus wrote, “Always a priceless long weekend, already looking forward to our 50th.” We all thank John and the rest of the committee for all they do to make this happen. • Sheila Woodson Horine shared, “I am always lifted by reunion weekends. It’s a more grown-up microcosm of our years at NMH — people of all backgrounds and experiences that by touching my life make it richer.” • Jay Thomas of Dearborn, Mich. said, “I’m very glad our class does come together [to] share our stories and our lives … I hope Al Burnett ’62 comes for our 50th.” Alas, Al could not be with us, but we had a great visit from Denny Field. • Tom Schmidt (Twinsburg Township, Ohio): “I’m continually amazed by the generosity of my classmates: Tom Kuhns, Scott Vokey, Thatcher Stone, Hugh Moss, John Lazarus, Dave Torrey, and more. Became friends with Nick Biddle ’72 this reunion.

Sheila Woodson Horine will lead us in fundraising for our 50th. Al Burnett and Denny Field honored as great house parents.” • Betsy Bullard Morse said that her marriage

eled to teach in Cape Town, South Africa.

She also enjoyed cycling in the Pie Ride.

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Clockwise from bottom left: Kit Schiele ’73, Sue Child Kerr ’73, Klas Mills Beatty ’73, and Nancy Creasy Slack ’73 held their own West Gould reunion at Sparkling Point Vineyard, Long Island.

grows stronger with age and that she is happy seeing her children thrive. Grandchildren are a pure joy and a chosen responsibility. Working in health care with college kids is still fulfilling, and she continues to work for good through her Friends meetings. • Bill Stewart is still finding his work meaningful at AIDS Healthcare Foundation, helping clients struggle with increasing challenges with funding and access to care. Still playing with the Barbary Coast Recorder Orchestra and Berkeley Baroque Strings, and very active programming concerts for the San Francisco Early Music Society. • Timothy Shear shared the sad news of the passing of his Cottage II roommate, David Mojekwu, on 5/1/18. David was with our class for only one year but enjoyed his time at Mount Hermon. • Greg Burrill, our brilliant bass player, lives in Portland, Ore., where he is a substitute teacher and diligent political and social activist. • Dave King’s short story, “The Stamp Collector,” was awarded an O. Henry Prize and is included in The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018 anthology. His essay, “Once More to the Beach,” about a roadhouse reunion in Kodiak, Alaska, is in the fall 2018 issue of Conjunctions, Bard College’s literary magazine. The crew filming Dave’s novel, The Ha-Ha, for which he also wrote the screenplay, has cast Michael Shannon in the lead role, and hopefully will begin shooting this fall. • Tom Bartlett is still busy as an electrophysiologist in Nashville, Tenn.

If your heartbeat gets out of whack, get in touch with him — though he might be on his bike. He won a pie in the reunion Pie Ride. • Linda McGoldrick is in Newport, R.I., and continues to work in global health care, traveling to countries all over the world. She would welcome visits to beautiful Newport.

• Sandi Stanton Sloane is enjoying retirement in Menands, N.Y. She was delighted to see so many old friends and looks forward to keeping in touch with her NMH buddies. • Laura Meek Foote is in West Newton, Mass., works in social entrepreneurship, and trav-

Northfield Mount Hermon Stephanie Gerson stephanie.l.gerson@gmail.com Judy Armbruster had a great get-together with Karen Cunningham Van Adzin ’75 in Boston in May. • Peter Allenby continues his role at New York Life, helping people by counseling and strategizing for the financial what-ifs of life. He’s thrilled that his “far better half,” Reverend Saramaria B. Allenby, was ordained in the United Church of Christ in June. She has worked as a spiritual counselor at Gosnold, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Falmouth, Mass., and underscores spirituality in addiction recovery, overcoming shame and societal stigma, helping the hopeless realize that one’s behavior isn’t necessarily who you are. “Sara joins my father, Rev. Hubert A. Allenby, and my grandfather Rev. Hubert Alfonso Allenby, as a minister in the UCC. My dad turned 92 on March 31! I’m involved daily with ensuring that the physical aspects of his life are accomplished. His mind is as sharp as ever!”

Peter’s son Cole (15) is a great student at Falmouth Academy and loves ballet and hip-hop. Son Theodore (10) plays on two soccer teams and dreams of becoming a professional soccer player! • In late March, Jim Leven had two stents and a balloon angioplasty. “I was very fortunate, since I was 80, 90, and 99 percent blocked.” While flying is Jim’s passion, he was temporarily grounded by the FAA due to health, but was expecting a renewed medical flight certificate by the summer’s end. Jim’s company, Community Broadcasters, has been growing — 46 radio stations in eastern U.S., with more to follow.

His radio stations are in a wide variety of broadcasting formats (classic rock, sports, talk radio, etc.), and cover areas of Florida, New York State, and South Carolina. Jim was featured on the cover of the radio broadcast magazine Radio Ink in the spring. He’s also active in lobbying Congress relative to various issues affecting the industry. • “My new career as a 1099 guy has led me to leadership coaching and writing work for several companies,” wrote John Burnham. “One of my best gigs is co-leading the media team for the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race … I’ve been told I have to meet the sailors at the finish line. The three daughters Rachel and I raised have grown up and moved on — one to Houston, one to L.A., and one nearby in Newport, R.I.” • Adam G. Thomson III has moved from machining to the sanding department at Ethan Allen. “It’s a slowerpaced crowd, getting the assigned pallets out and onto the assembly line,” said Adam.

Adam rowed with the Asheville Rowing Club

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John Loggia ’73, Dave King ’74, Marika Partridge ’73, Kelly Karpoe ’74, and David Wright ’73.

and enjoyed it, and he thanks Helen Stookey Jones’ father for getting him started in the rowing world. • After 20 years in private practice, working with kids with severe autism symptoms, Kelly Karpoe has been writing about it. “I’ve written three books so far, although I haven’t finished any of them yet! If any of my NMH mates have experience self-publishing on Amazon, I would love to talk with you about it.” Her first book on extreme self-care includes fasting wisely with supervision. She’s in the second year of her personal fasting journey, fasting now about half of every month. “My longest fast so far was my very first one, at 45 days. For fun, I model for a photographer here, obviously not for fashion! One photo was exhibited at the Newport Art Museum.” • David Schut is “sort of involuntarily retired, with no law clients and no job leads,” he wrote. “My wife remains supportive, and I try to be a good mate and house husband. Although not a great cook, I’m good with the vacuum and other domestic tools.” David plays in three bands: Flonicity is his main venture (check Facebook for clips!); another project involves Stevie Wonder covers; and his third music group is a summer festival band. Son Evan (23) married in September and daughter Katie (33) lives in Minneapolis. “My family has been blessed with a year of good health and no calamities,” he added • Harry Bick and wife Sandi will celebrate their 40th anniversary next March. They continue to enjoy life in Fort Worth, Texas. Sandi is still experiencing balance problems after her stroke five years ago. Harry continues buying and selling used books and other items online. In October 2017, Harry discovered over $300 in cash tucked in books he found at estate sales.

Harry recalls with fondness his years at NMH and considers them some of the best years of his life. • In May, Anne Lawrence Sallee and her husband celebrated one year in their new home in Winter Park, Fla., where two of their children and three grandchildren live close by. Anne is executive director and CEO of Superior Small Lodging of Florida, a trade association representing small independent lodging properties. • David Raymond spent three consecutive

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weekends at his alma mater, Swarthmore College. First, his daughter graduated from Swarthmore; she is taking a year off before starting a medical school-doctoral dual program. Next, David attended his college class reunion there, seeing two of his Swarthmore football teammates. Dave played football, basketball, and track and field both at NMH and at Swarthmore. And lastly, he attended his Swarthmore high-school reunion. “Having attended these two reunions, I’m really looking forward to coming back to NMH next year! Hope to run into some of my old teammates and classmates,” David wrote. • Artist Yolanda Suarez Merchant divides her time between Northfield and New York City. Her recent landscape pastels were exhibited at Greenfield Cooperative Bank, highlighting her love of nature inspired by NMH art teacher and mentor Doug Jones. “It’s very challenging to paint from nature,” shared Yolanda. “You’re looking at a snowstorm and trying to capture it in some sort of literal sense.” She now wants to share her artistic knowledge through summer retreats and private lessons.

“I want to give back what Doug did for me: learning to see and to maximize one’s art.”

Son Alex (28) works for New York City Mayor de Blasio, and grandson Cyrus Mateo was born last December. Daughter Emily (in north Jersey) has three children under age 6.

• Jonathan Towne retired from the Coast Guard in June after more than 30 years of active-duty service playing in the Coast Guard Band. He’ll still play the clarinet, though no longer full time. Jonathan and his wife, Becky, spent three days in Venice in September before hooking up with Becky’s family for two weeks, hiking the Italian Alps — their own “retirement present” to themselves. Jonathan is looking forward to a more relaxed and quiet lifestyle. “Hope to see many of you in June 2019 at our 45th,” he wrote. • Chuck Adams’ daughter finished seventh grade. He is retired but working a part-time job and is looking forward to seeing old friends and classmates at next year’s reunion. • Year 2016 was a watershed for Bonita Hyman, debuting in the Patrice Chéreau production of Richard Strauss’ opera, Elektra, at four of the world’s great opera houses: Metropolitan Opera in New York, Finland National Opera in Helsinki, Berliner Staatsoper (with Daniel Barenboim conducting), and Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. “I especially loved my six weeks in Helsinki,” Bonita said. “This was the trip where I discovered that my son, who has Down syndrome, could indeed fly alone when he had to return to Germany to go back to school. This was a major life milestone for both of us. Last year was plenty busy with teaching at two schools, conducting three choirs, and doing vocal training for fifth- and

sixth-graders. My significant performances included: the African American Art Song Alliance Conference (Irvine, Calif.); singing the role of Begonia, a Jamaican cook with a taste for rum (I hardly had to act, really) in Henze’s opera, Der junge Lord, at the Staatsoper Hannover in the fall [2017]; a concert performance of Elektra at the Philharmonie de Paris in December; and my annual benefit performance with UNICEF Deutschland.”

Bonita returned to Milan for a revival of Elektra this year and was planning to sing again in Berlin. “Even with a creaky knee, [I’m] not slowing down any time soon,” she wrote. • Linnea “Lyn” Joy Maravell made a quick trip to see Bill Stewart ’73 while he was on the East Coast for the class of ’73 45th reunion! “We hadn’t seen each other in 45 years and connected like no time had passed at all,” said Lyn. “With so much in common, we always resonated well together!” • Merry O’Dowd Adams sees John Burnham intermittently at sailing events. “I sat with John, Rachel, and their daughter, Olivia, last fall at a racing awards dinner.” Merry and husband Ed hiked with Tom Sisson ’72 in the White Mountains in August 2017. They convened at Highland Lodge, hiked to overnight at Mizpah, then on to Lakes. Tom continued solo to Madison, traversing Mount Washington. • At the Reunion Weekend 2018, we were represented by Kelly Karpoe and Niels Peter Olsen — with Niels insisting, “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away!” before posting breathtaking campus photos on our class Facebook page. Speaking of reunion, our 45th is in June 2019! Contact me to join our planning committee! And come!

Bonita Hyman ’74 performed as Begonia in Henze’s Der junge Lord at Staatsoper Hannover Opera House, Germany.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Veronica Froelich Adams veronicafadams@gmail.com • Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett kbmhartnett@gmail.com Lucie Lisle Austin retired after 20 years of teaching high-school French in Montgomery County, Md., and traveled to Spain, Morocco, and Martinique in the summer, something she hopes to do more of with her free time.

She’d like to find the right place to volunteer and make a difference, possibly using her language skills and understanding of cultural differences. • Jon Newman is enjoying life in south-central Pennsylvania (near Baltimore) with Cyndi, his wife of 38 years. Their three boys are starting families of their own: three grandkids and another on the way. Jon sold his company and is looking forward to road trips, writing, consulting, board work, chasing grandkids, and drinking good wine. He’s still making music as a recording studio owner, engineer, and performer.

He enjoys visits with Marshall Wood when he passes through playing standup bass. Jon says he would love to catch up with Brian Eady, and have a mini reunion with his old bandmates Marshall, William Foley ’76, Tad Hitchcock (Daniel Hitchcock’s brother), and Travis Hudelson ’76. • Ruth Lapin enjoyed a weeklong visit at her Brooklyn apartment with Ilene Feldman Steele and husband. The highlight was their annual rib fest in Woodstock — and by the time you read this, they will have gathered for Ruth’s 60th in France.

• Adrian Shoobs and family have turned his retirement home in New Lebanon, N.Y., into a bee mecca. Regarding the close proximity to bees, Adrian said, “If you are careful and deliberate in your movements, there’s not much to worry about.” His daughter, Elizabeth, helps him keep things, um, buzzing. • Chip Lende wrote, “I’m still in Haines, Alaska, where I’ve owned and operated the local lumberyard for over 30 years, raised five kids, and exercised too much. You can find out all you want to know about living (and dying) in rural Alaska by reading my wife Heather’s blog or her books (heatherlende.com.) … I credit my NMH experience for helping me to live such a full life.” • John Lozada and wife Beth have been enjoying a wonderful, albeit challenging, transition into a third phase. As their kids explore life and careers, Beth is living out her lifelong dream to write novels, and John continues his career in civil rights — lately, in transportation. This spring, John was honored by the American Public Works Association with their Diversity Exemplary Practices Award, in recognition of his work to increase disability access across the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s highway infrastructure. John also continues to serve on NMH’s Alumni Strategic Advisory Committee. He will be reaching

out to classmates to gather ideas on how we can build alumni engagement in mentoring the next generation from the school we all so love. • Gail Majdalany Heaslip should win the prize for most original birthday celebration.

She said, “I spent my 60th with my brother (Ron Majdalany ’69) and sister (Carol Majdalany Williams ’71) being serenaded by Maasai herdsmen in Tanzania last March.”

• After 24 years in Brazil, where he married, raised a family, and developed a large group of friends, John “Whit” Kennedy moved back to the States in July, resettling in Connecticut. In Brazil, his work focused on U.S. venture capital and IPOs, advising Brazilian and U.S. family offices on their investments.

His youngest child, Charlotte, is a sophomore at Furman University; Nicolas is a banker at JPMorgan in Geneva; and Christian runs a small flavors and fragrances business outside Mexico City. John hopes that his Brazilian partner of the last 10 years will join him soon, in the States and in matrimony. He looks forward to reconnecting with NMH friends, like former roommate Rob Brougham, Bill Blais ’74, and Chuck Knirsch ’76, among others! • Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett shared, “We had our own mini reunion in Portland [Ore.] during Ronni Froelich Adam’s visit to the Northwest in April. I spent my milestone birthday having pizza in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with husband Tim and former students from the CODA Social Work Scholars Project I coordinate each summer in Portland. The project brings students from Queen’s University, Northern Ireland, to shadow clinical staff as they treat folks with opioid use disorders. Earlier this year, I fell and broke my shoulder … and a week later, I got word that the University of North Carolina Press is bringing my 2015 book, Carolina Israelite: How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights, out in paperback this summer. (I am working in physical therapy to recover my ability to do an appropriate happy dance.) Of course, Kathy Lyons Egan jumped on a red-eye from Baltimore to be couch-side for the tough first days of recovery. Without her and NMH, I would not have made it this far, no joke.” •

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Northfield Mount Hermon Susan Loring-Wells susanloring@me.com • Joe Mcveigh joe@joemcveigh.org From Joe: Lisa Morgan and Mary Clifford Tittmann met up at the Head of the Charles Regatta in October 2017. They were honored at an NMH reception for playing an important role in the beginnings of women’s rowing at NMH in the 1970s. Lisa works in architecture and design in Rockport, Maine.

She also paints and hosts visitors at her Airbnb. Daughter Vivian (20) is a junior at

the University of Vermont. Son Adrian (28) lives in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he is a practicing Rolfer as well as an avid golfer.

Lisa spent the spring of 2018 coaching novice rowers for the Megunticook Rowing Club in Camden, Maine, and says it is great fun to be out on the water again. Mary and husband John live in Cambridge, Mass. Mary works in public policy and John is an architect. Mary’s oldest, Hester (26), lives and works in the Bay Area. Son Henry (24) is an architecture student at Wentworth Institute of Technology. In addition to Lisa, Mary regularly keeps in touch with Alice Payne-Merritt. • Tom Jamison, an archaeologist, made his way up to Middlebury, Vt., in the summer of 2017 to work on a nearby dig. He stopped by for dinner on our deck, and we reminisced about old times. Tom lives in Putney, Vt., with wife Nancy. He has also posted some photos of the MODOS tour of Romania on the “NMH Class of 1976” Facebook page, with photo credits to Phil Lee. Meanwhile, Rich Miller ’78 has been scanning and posting photos of old articles from The Bridge. • Saralee “Taffy” French Etter is one of the recent additions to our class Facebook page. Taffy has published several novels set in England in the early 1800s. Think of Jane Austen and add in romance and mystery. Check out her work on Amazon or at saraleeetter.com. The biggest excitement in her life recently was winning a round of Jeopardy! that was broadcast in January 2018; she enjoyed a brief taste of celebrity. • After 30 years in Bend, Ore., and a year in Topeka, Kan., Tim Goulart moved his chiropractic practice to Fort Smith, Ark. • I managed to squeeze in a dinner with Bob Mudge at the airport in Washington, D.C., in November 2017. Bob is an expert in corporate and project finance matters in the energy industry. Wife Ingrid Creppell is an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. • I have increasingly been running into my fellow faculty brats Michael LaChance and Will Torrey at memorial services for former faculty members, including services for Michael’s father and for Will’s mother in 2017. Our sympathies to them and to all of you who have recently lost parents. Will’s son, John, graduated from Andover Newton Theological Seminary this year. Daughter Lucy teaches in the Boston area, and daughter Kay is a student at Bowdoin. • Travis Hudelson is still playing drums and selling software. His wife, Patty, is a realtor. They celebrated their 30th anniversary last summer. Daughter Molly works in music video promotion and is a music photojournalist; son Luke left Discovery communications and has been traveling in Asia; youngest daughter, Maddie, a junior at Elon, spent the fall studying at the London Academy of Dramatic Arts. Travis hopes to make it to our

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Bill Bodie ’76 (left) reunited with his family on a visit home from his work in the United Arab Emirates.

next reunion in June 2021. Mark your calendars now! • A rash of 60th-birthday celebrations have been making their way through the class of ’76! Pam Kaull celebrated hers in February 2018 with a trip to Costa Rica.

Maureen Miller Hallock went to see Elton John on his farewell tour. Melissa Totten had a big party back in her old L.A. stomping ground. Steve Williams enjoyed a quiet day of snowboarding. Laura Stookey Johnson was feted by her sons and husband. Phil Hosmer got a jump on the rest of us and celebrated in Bermuda in 2017. • Adam Saffer and wife Alison live in Egypt, where Adam runs programs for the U.N. and for the U.S. government. Last spring, he was in Tanzania and Nigeria working on projects dealing with economic development issues related to women, youth, entrepreneurship, and human trafficking. Adam and Alison enjoy living in the Middle East, sailing on the Nile, partying in Beirut, and diving in the Red Sea. Adam reports that their three children, Nani, Jordan, and Taylor, are all thriving in their own weird and wonderful ways. • For the first time in 40 years, Tom Schiller and Bill Bodie appeared together again onstage. Their appearance in The Devil and Daniel Webster was so well received in our senior year that they thought a reprise was in order. Their latest dramatic effort was the 1908 play, The Melting Pot, produced by the Jewish Community Theater of Montgomery County, Md. • David Bernstein’s younger daughter, Mei, graduated from high school and is college-bound. Older daughter, Jia, completed her first year in a bachelor of fine arts program at Pennsylvania College of Arts and Design. David is working as the parttime director of evaluation for the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church, and putting some of what he learned at NMH to work in this role. His evaluation consulting practice is still going strong. • Chris Kraus has stepped down as acting chair of the Near Eastern languages and civilization department at Yale and returned to being a regular old classicist.

In spring of 2018, she spent time catching up with old friends in Oxford (U.K.), where she worked from 1997–2004, while her husband,

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Peter, stayed home with the dog and cat.

Their daughter, Eleanor, is a junior at Haverford studying the history of art and creative writing. Chris spends a lot of time visiting her 95-year-old mother in West Brookfield, Mass. • Mary Worthington kicked off a year of celebration by spending New Year’s in London with loved ones. She is still running marathons and participating in the Pan-Mass Challenge to prove that 60 is definitely the new 50. Or is it 40? Mary is continuing to build her home-care agency on Boston’s South Shore, helping families with the challenges of aging parents. Her three kids, all in their 20s, are happy, healthy, and thriving along with a newly added son-in-law. Mary wishes ’76 classmates all the best! • After 25 years of editing, Jim Barnett left NFL Films in February 2018 to write about his youth, kibitz on the internet, and work on a biography of his mom. Jim also plans on traveling, photographing pretty much everything, and beachcombing on the “Redneck” Riviera. Get in touch if you’d like to join him! Jim’s oldest and youngest children are living in Ashland, Ore. His middle son has one more semester of college. • Charlie Knirsch and Matt Kennedy met up at Vespers in New York City last year.

Both are parents of NMH students. At NMH family weekends, they sometimes see Dave Belletete from New Hampshire and Elaine Monchak from Maine, who are also parents of current students. • Mari Baumgarten and I were nearly drenched while having dinner in Boca Raton, Fla., in June 2018. She has spent 25 years as an independent registered investment advisor, providing financial planning and wealth management services focused on women and people preparing for retirement.

She still loves to travel and visited Australia this year. Daughter Veronique (26) graduated from Carnegie Mellon and now works in the Bay Area as a civil/environmental engineer.

Son Andrew (23) is finishing his degree and squeezing in time for Ultimate Frisbee. Mari is happy to connect with NMHers passing through the Boca area. She posed a great question: If you were going to give a bunch of money back to the school, what would you want to see it used for? • My son, Nathaniel (14), is a ninth-grader who enjoys running and playing jazz on his various saxophones.

My wife, Leila, and I performed in a local community theater production of The Drowsy Chaperone. After a 20-year break, I have been elected again to the board of our professional association for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. • We would love to stay in touch, so send the school your up-todate email and postal addresses at addressupdates@nmhschool.org; make your information shareable on the NMH online community and on the NMH Connect mobile app; and join the “NMH Class of 1976” Facebook page. We would love to see our class

make a difference to the school of today by increasing our financial giving. Many thanks to all of you who give generously of your dollars and participation. Keep it up!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Anne Howson ahowson@rics.bwh.harvard.edu Megan Wonnacott Sutton and husband Clark celebrated their 35th anniversary. “While some of you may be contemplating retirement,” wrote Megan, “I find myself adding to my professional role as an elementary-school librarian. In September, I will be working at two small schools in our district. This is not unusual in Vermont, the home of many small schools. I’m hoping that this arrangement will last for some time, as long as our governor doesn’t succeed in his desire to squeeze public education to death. Ah, the joys of politics!” • Paula Whitaker Carr’s daughter, Lena ’18, graduated from NMH in May. “She’s had four wonderful years on this hill,” said Paula. • “For my 60th birthday, I plan on attempting to play 60 holes of golf in one day,” shared Jim Gullickson. “Lots of travel this summer: Breckenridge, Colo.; Nashville, Tenn.; and across the pond to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. By August, all children will be officially out of the house.” • John Spence participated in his fifth AIDS/LifeCycle in June. He wrote, “It was an amazing week in the ‘love bubble’ of support while we rode our bikes 560 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The event raised $16.6 million for crucial HIV-related services in San Francisco and L.A. I was touched by how many friends from our class generously supported my efforts. Thank you to all who did.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Donna Grinold Hawley djghawley@aol.com From Donna Grinold Hawley, our new class secretary: Hello, class of ’78! I joined the reunion in progress on Saturday and was met in Blake Hall by my fellow Marquand resident, Heidi Walter Nelson, and it was wonderful to share laughs with her once again. We headed over to Memorial Chapel for Convocation, where we joined about 60 of our classmates. Luke Pollard from our brother dorm, East Hall, recognized me immediately and that was all it took to break the reunion ice. Familiar faces packed our designated class of ’78 pews. We cheered as the class of ’68 entered the chapel behind some rockin’ bagpipes, and again, even louder, when our own Peter Weis was presented with an Alumni Citation for exceptional volunteer service in support of NMH. No chapel service would be complete without the singing of “Jerusalem” and the Northfield Benediction, and we were not disappointed. • Our intrepid reunion organizers,

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Erika Monsees McCormick and Beth Graden Rom, conducted the class meeting outdoors

under a sunny sky. We posed for our official reunion photo before walking into West (Alumni) Hall for a surprisingly tasty dinner.

My dinner companions reminisced and compared their present-day hometowns and pursuits. Our table had Matt Heller (Washington, D.C.), Evan Steen (New York City), Heidi Walter Nelson (Brunswick, Maine), and Luke Pollard (Canada), to name a few. • On Saturday evening, I joined Holly McCandless, Martha Piscuskas, Bob Kropp, and many other ’78ers on the dance floor, and later, on the third floor of Crossley, Cynthia Neuwalder and I reconnected; Cami Miller and I realized we both had experiences with adoptions; and Fitch Bullard and I discussed politics and pets, because that’s what you do at your 40th reunion. • Sunday included a moving service in Memorial Chapel to honor deceased classmates. The class of ’68 led the program that addressed the sale of the Northfield campus and the resulting sense of loss that many of us experience still. The men of Mount Hermon acknowledged our grief, which was validating and necessary in many ways. • It was heartwarming to see all of the faculty brats gather and to see (almost) a full boat for girls’ crew get back onto the Connecticut River. All the conversations left me wanting to get to know my classmates all over again.

Everyone has amazing stories, and yet we all share the mundane. I hope that all of you will think about coming to our 45th reunion.

It will be a less flashy affair than our 50th, so it would be a perfect time for anyone who eschews the limelight to join us on campus.

• From Cathy Abraham Hopkins: Still on the reunion thread, Mike Wise ’79 fills us in on the rowing reunion! “As luck would have it, the entire first boat of 1978 seniors happened to return for their 40th reunion. At dinner [on] Friday night of the reunion, word started to spread about this fact. Exhortations were given to turn out at the river at 8 a.m. the next morning, one for all, and all for one. And sure enough, with Beth Graden Rom’s arrival at 8:15, a cheer went up — the eight was in place.” (Cynthia Neuwalder, currently rowing in California, rowed for Cami Miller.) • “This was my first-ever reunion,” wrote Katherine Hauke DuGarm. “As well as reconnecting with people from ’78, I met Helene Smith ’58 and Louise Miner ’68, who live within a couple miles of me. There aren’t many NMH people in St. Paul, Minn., so it was a treat to meet them.” • Meredith Jacobson and her family have made Mill Valley, Calif., home for over 25 years. Recently retired from University of California, San Francisco, she hikes the hills and skims the water of San Francisco Bay. “I tend my garden when not traveling to all seven continents or spending the summer in Harbor Springs, Mich. I welcome

contact from any classmates, as I am a social media Luddite.” • Charles North and his wife, Sharon, live in McLean, Virginia. Charles is a senior advisor with U.S. Institute of Peace, where he works on great power conflict and, specifically, the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“I’ve been on loan to the institute from the U.S. Agency for International Development since October [2017] when I finished 30 years with the Foreign Service and three years as the acting assistant administrator for economic growth, education, and environment. Our older daughter is married … and is planning to move to Portland, Ore., for her work in stop-motion animation. Our younger daughter graduated from Oberlin College, majoring in physics.” • Valerie Hendel de la Torre was reunited with her best friend, Jane Moroney Wallace, and Patty Moroney Lewitt ’80 in early June at the funeral of their beloved mother, Barbara. While a sad occasion, this passage brought back many memories for Valerie, who was invited to their home in Massachusetts countless times over their years at NMH. It was a gift beyond compare for Valerie to have a home away from home and be treated as one of the family

by Jane and Patty’s wonderful mother, who was known as “Mumma” by all who knew and loved her. Proof positive that the bonds formed at NMH transcend the generations.

• And, finally, Cathy Abraham Hopkins says, “Thanks for 10 years of sending along your news! Stay in touch, and see you in 2023!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Paige Relyea Lehman Paigerelyea@Yahoo.com • Caryn Liebowitz Bonosevich Bonosevich@Hotmail.com From Paige: Jay Kanzler wrote, “I am still working at the law firm during the day, but my nights are spent hosting my radio talk show on KTRS (ktrs.com). Love the discussion and exploring new topics each night.

Attended the class of ’78 reunion and it was fantastic seeing so many old friends 40 years later, Erika Monsees ’78, Lisa Glovsky ’78, Matt Heller ’78, and Rich Miller ’78, to name a few. Also attending were our classmates Mike Wise, Wendy Mauser, and Lesley Snelling ’78. Looking forward to the class of ’79 reunion.” • Martha Wishart has been promoted to chief counsel of the Department of Unemployment Assistance in Massachusetts. She’s married and lives in Framingham, Mass. Her son is a jazz bassist living in Brooklyn, N.Y. • Mary Jane Curry finished two years as co-chair of the University of Rochester faculty senate, during a year with a major sexual harassment scandal at the university.

Two books that she co-edited were also published, both by U.K. publisher Multilingual Matters: Global Academic Publishing: Policies, Perspectives, and Pedagogies, and

Educating Refugee-background Students.

• “After more than 25 years of teaching,” shared Jennifer Baker Warren, “I’ve been an admissions director for a few years and am enjoying it. Always good to learn new skills!

I’m finding that not having children in the house has really freed me and provided me with some energy, so I also do search and rescue, have my own educational consulting company, and am the vice-chair for my local Democratic ward. And we opened a coffee shop a year ago! We also do Airbnb and still have horses. Still passionate about social causes, so I have helped with marches here in Santa Fe. Would love to see classmates; you always have a room here. All the best, and see you in 2019.” • As for me, Paige Relyea Lehman, this has been a year of transitions and milestones. In December 2017, my mother moved to assisted living, and now we spend every other weekend in Vero Beach, Fla., visiting her. Our older daughter, Sarah, spent her fall 2017 semester in Spain, and our family met up after Christmas in Cortona, Italy, for a week. Sarah graduated in May from Florida State University. Our younger daughter, Emily, completed her freshman year at University of Central Florida. My husband, Charlie, and I celebrated our 25th anniversary in May with a trip to Seattle and an Alaskan cruise. We always enjoy seeing classmates when they visit Florida. In the spring, we saw Estelle Dorain Burgess as well as Sarah Heminway and her husband, Earl. • From Cary: Scott Smith wrote, “I am a partner/VP/COO of Max Restaurant Group in Hartford, Conn. I live in South Glastonbury and am married with two kids.” • Living in Taiwan for 18 years, Christopher Neumeyer manages the Taipei office of Duane Morris, a U.S. law firm, representing tech companies and manufacturers. Christopher’s wife is Taiwanese and his daughter completed junior high in the public school system.

“Still, I continue to dream of moving back someday,” wrote Christopher. “Perhaps when Emily’s ready to start college in the U.S. … or attend NMH.” • With undergraduate and master’s degrees in Chinese, Nathan Congdon chose medicine as the best way to pursue his passion for China. He spent 20 years at Johns Hopkins studying and teaching medicine, public health, and ophthalmology. In 2006, Nathan and his family moved to Guangzhou, China, where Nathan taught and practiced at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center. His two children, Marco and Amelia, grew up in China and were educated entirely in the Chinese school system. In 2015, the family moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where Nathan is a professor of global eye health at Queen’s University and director of research at Orbis International while still directing a team at Zhongshan in China. His work focuses on designing and testing models of

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inexpensive eye care for low-income countries. Visit them in Northern Ireland, where they are surrounded by sheep farmers on all sides — quite a change from China! • Mike Wise shared, “I’m writing a book about D.L. Moody focused on ‘The Northfield Schools,’ as they were then called.” Mike asks, “Did you know that there is a Bible embedded in the cornerstone of the original buildings?”

Due out next year, “the book will have broad appeal and raise awareness for NMH. Book proceeds will fund something in relation to the school. If you have something to contribute, please write to mwise@webwisedom. com. I also sang in the 124th Sacred Concert, an amazing experience. Consider participating or simply attending the 125th.” • As for me, Cary Liebowitz Bonosevich, I am almost fully recovered from shoulder surgery and looking forward to returning to work for the USPS. My husband, Len, and I are excited for our 40th reunion next summer. Please join all of your classmates for the fun! Mark your calendars for June 7–9, 2019!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jack Farrell jack@jackfarrell.org • Antony Pang aa1105@yahoo.com • Lynelle Kucharski lynelle@lynellekucharski.com • Kristin Kellom kkellom@nmhschool.org From Kristin: As I write this, we are just on the other side of another NMH reunion.

Spending time, in particular with the class of ’78, got me brainstorming for our next reunion, though still two years away. I hope we can organize some mini reunions throughout the country in the interim, mimicking what classmates in D.C. have been doing. Lee Coykendall, at whose home the most recent gathering was held, shared, “For the last number of years, members of the class of ’80 in the Washington, D.C., area have gotten together — sometimes at restaurants, sometimes at classmates’ homes. These evenings are a wonderful time to reconnect … an opportunity to really get to know the classmates we did not know. We share rich stories of how we got to NMH, memories, favorite classes and teachers, and our lives today. Thirty-eight years later (yikes) it is NMH that brings us together. What a lovely thing.” Lydia Perry Weis, Chris Lindstrom Schaeffer, Karen Lange, Abby Millager, and Cab Dempsey were there. • After the gathering at Lee’s house, Chris Lindstrom Schaefer wrote, “I have lived in, or close to, Bowie, Md., for 23 years now. My husband, Steve, and I returned from being missionaries in Papua New Guinea in 1993. We came back to care for my parents, both of whom died in the late 1990s. I raised and homeschooled

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three sons, Luke (29), an accountant, Silas (26), a teacher, and Caleb (19), in nursing school. My two older sons are married and Silas has two beautiful daughters … I have been a registered nurse for 33 years and am currently a hospice nurse, working as the director of admissions for Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care in Columbia, Md. I enjoy my work immensely, and am halfway through a master’s in palliative care through University of Maryland, Baltimore, in the School of Pharmacy. I continue with my professional photography business (started in 1999), shooting weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, and portrait sessions. I love the creative aspects of photography and also enjoy teaching others the craft. I enjoy run/walking two half marathons a year; these keep me in a semblance of health and certainly keep me humble … We are thoroughly blessed and are considering where we might move in retirement. Anyone traveling through the D.C. area is welcome to call, email, or stop by.” • Henry Wooster had hoped to make the D.C. gathering, noting: “I am still assigned to Amman, Jordan, but plan to be back in town, graduating our middle daughter from, improbably, the College of Wooster!” Phil Schoenfeld could not make it either, as his daughter was headed back to Boston that evening. No doubt, our children seem to keep us on the move. Melanie Calitri Holden and husband Bill traveled to China to see their eldest daughter while she was on a semester abroad program. • Lydia Perry Weis admits feeling lucky to connect with classmates while traveling for NMH. She and John McManus spent time talking and walking on the High Line in New York City and having coffee with Jae So while in D.C. Dan Martin and wife Susan were on campus regularly to visit with daughter Anna, now off to college. Anne Shepard, too, has been a regular on campus as a volunteer for the Alumni Council. • Sadly, Liz West Blakely’s mother passed away in May. In June, Liz was planning to see Ginny Golder in Vermont as part of their Brown ’84 women’s crew gathering. • Please do stay in touch, consider coordinating or being a part of a class mini reunion, and please support the school, which has given us much. Even

Leslie Eimas ’81 is an alternative healer in Fayetteville, N.Y.

beyond our student days, NMH has provided deep friendships, which sustain us all these years later.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Frank Chandler frank@thechandlers.com • Marina Colman marinacolman727@yahoo.com • Lilian Blacken Hannapel lilhannapel@gmail.com • Class of ’81 Website: www.nmh81.us From Lilian: Leslie Eimas wrote, “After working as an alternative healer for more than 10 years, I started my own business — My Oils Life — in 2017. We help people create healthy, balanced, abundant lives with Young Living Essential Oils and hands-on healing, and offer free essential-oils classes throughout central New York and virtually by phone or FaceTime throughout the world.

You can find us online at MyOilsLife.com or facebook.com/LeslieEssentialOils/. As for the kids, they love the city … twins Mari (New York University) and Rachel (Hamilton College) graduated from college last year and live together in Brooklyn, and son Will just finished his freshman year at New York University.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Martha Holbrow Sandler martha.sandler@gmail.com • Michael Rickard mrickard330@cox.net From Martha: I’m still in the Boston area, recharging my spirit through gardening and home improvement, then back to work at On the Rise, a nonprofit for homeless and formerly homeless women. Family life consists of husband Craig, busy with his beloved hobbies — astronomy and American history — and his online news business (real news!); studying my parents for lessons in aging gracefully now that they’re in residence in my accessory apartment; and watching my daughter (13) count down the endless days to finish seventh grade and start summer theater camp. Her passion for theater has us wanting to see lots of Broadway shows. So, New York City friends, if you’re around when we show up at the Great White Way, let’s get together! • “I’m adjusting to ‘low country’ living, and I’m thrilled with my move to Charleston,” wrote Marion “Mickey” Gill. “My work at the International African American Museum is intense, as any startup typically is. But it’s abundantly clear that this will be my most meaningful work in a career that spans 30 years. The museum will be built on the very spot where almost half of the enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. disembarked. To help temper the intensity, I look to Sally Willis and Lilian Blacken Hannapel ’81. They get classmates and NMH

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alums to join in fun, mischief, and mayhem, and I welcome the invitation to tag along.

Recent adventures included Kristin ColeSposato ’81, Gretchen Miller Crowley ’81, and Lori Christopher Glenn ’77.” • Jon Bailey reported, “I live in the Raleigh, N.C., area with my wife and two children. I work as an engineer for Schneider Electric, and can sometimes be heard mispronouncing Eastern European names on WCPE, our regional classical music station, where I volunteer as an announcer.” He’s curious to hear from classmates. So, friends, reach out! Find him on Facebook or ask your class secretary how you can connect. • Sadly, Charlie Crowley died suddenly in February. Ismael Ramirez wrote about attending the memorial: “The Uber dropped me on the quiet street with not a person in sight. When I opened the door to the church, a few young dudes fell out the door; the church was packed to the rafters.

They directed me to the other side, where I was led to an overflow room with an audio feed. The preacher gave a lively, jovial homily: Charlie’s lack of time for church, Charlie’s hardly being an Episcopalian, but not really of the Roman either. The man did well, and his people loved him.” Search for “Charles Crowley” on legacy.com to read his obituary. • Carrie Worthington shared, “I am living in New York City … I teach in East Harlem in a public high school. I have two girls: Sylvia is a junior at Binghamton University, and Chloe graduated from Stuyvesant High School and will be attending Binghamton next fall. I am married to T.C., and he is also a public high-school teacher. He teaches in the South Bronx. We teach AP English language and AP English literature, respectively, and we both teach ESL. We either bike or walk or take public transportation to work. Life is good. I still sing.” • Ben Pease shared news on his map projects: “My recent projects include four beautiful guidebooks on section hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (The Mountaineers Books), plus maps for authors, ranging from Jerusalem to Caracas to Lhasa.

Mostly armchair work, alas. But I’m also helping update a trail guide of Marin, Sonoma, and Napa counties, so I’m thrilled to get away from the computer to re-hike the old book and add some new trails, plus see how the parks are recovering from the 2017 fires. By the time you read this, I may be back at my computer dusting off the writing part of my brain.” Ben also traveled this summer with his partner, Shiz Zeigel, getting her settled in writing residencies outside Atlanta, Ga., and Olympia, Wash. • Gail Macdonald lives in Quincy, Mass., and has three children.

“My older son, Adrian, lives in New York City with his wife, Amy; my second son, Michael, lives in Quincy with his wife, Alex; and my daughter, Alissa, a recent graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison, is planning a

Gail Macdonald ’82 (left) and Caroline Loewald ’82

Jon Bailey ’82 and family

move to Allston this September. I continue to be a director at the Braintree After-School Enrichment preschool and after-school program. I enjoy biking, hiking, and volunteering with the Foundation to Re-Build St. Yves School, which I co-founded with my friend Marie Denise-Fabien. The foundation financed and oversaw the rebuilding of the St. Yves School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after it was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake. It now operates as a K–12 school with over 250 students. I recently met up with my old Moody roommate, Caroline Loewald, and we had so much fun catching up and looking at old photos.” • Gene “Yona” Triestman emails from Israel to say his country “was generally as skeptical as everyone else over Trump’s election, but the left and right are now universally thrilled by his performance.”

Yona’s first son is now in the army, and his daughter will enter the air force in July. Yona writes, “No one can understand what that means, until they have their own kids in this country. Come see for yourselves what a beautiful country with strangely beautiful people.” • Gene Ward and his partner, Lisa, opened an independent co-working space, Function Co-working Community, in Baltimore. “It will include a large gallery that we will use as art and performance space, as well as for community meetings and events,” said Gene. “We hope to work with local groups on racial equity and environmental issues and will provide free space and services to support them. If you have friends in or around Baltimore, please help spread the word!” Gene and Lisa aimed for opening their doors in August. “In family news, my son, Owen, who graduated from University of Maryland, College Park, with a civil engineering degree, finished up a year working with multinational firm AECOM, where he was working on a redesign of the Camden Yards/Orioles Park rail terminals. He accepted a new position with Kiewit Construction and Engineering and heads out to Santa Fe Springs in Southern California.

My daughter, Meredith, graduated from Vassar … and started a two-year position as clinical research coordinator in a Mass

General Hospital-Harvard lab for a study on MBSR [mindfulness-based stress reduction] effectiveness in treating anxiety disorders.”

Gene added, “I visited Dan Bellow ’83 in Great Barrington and had the pleasure of brunching with my old fourth North Crossley peeps, Leo Devellian and Steve Crocker, in Somerville, Mass.” • Annie Hope lives in San Francisco, practicing in primary care for University of California, Berkeley, students.

She and Mark have five kids: Emily and Henry are in their 20s, living at home while establishing teaching and dental careers, respectively; Kinga attends Carleton College; Aschalew attends Hampshire Country School, “a terrific middle and high school near NMH, perfect for high-functioning kids on the spectrum,” said Annie. And middle schooler Zofia Rose goes to a performing arts school. “We have reestablished our New England connection by spending a week in the AMC Family Camps,” wrote Annie, “where I am excited to train to be a hike leader.” She would be glad to be in touch with NMH friends of long ago. • Sarah Meyer Stevens wrote, “My youngest daughter graduated from high school with an over-4-point GPA and has chosen University of Colorado over Colorado School of Mines. Life marches on.” • Jay Lochhead is vice president of quality at a Swiss pharmaceutical company in Vista, Calif. He loves living in Southern California and is active in triathlons, mountain-bike racing, swimming, and running. Jay reconnected with Andy Hewitt, co-producer of California SwimRun, a 15K sprint race. • Margaret Flaherty is living in a bungalow in Berkeley, Calif., and is married (for 10 years) to Max MacLeod, a civil engineer who puts his skills to work on their two rental properties in Oakland. “No kids, two perennially replaced cats,” wrote Margaret. She spends her free time cycling, hiking, and volunteering for two nonprofits: Native Here Nursery and Skyline Gardens (skylinegardens.org).

She’s also supervisor of physical therapy at Kaiser Park Shadelands, where she has worked for over 20 years, since graduating from the physical therapy program at University of California, San Francisco. •

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Dylan Brody will be back in western Massa-

chusetts this fall, performing at a fundraiser for Silverthorne Theater. He directed his first feature film in the summer — a micro-budget indie film that he wrote, starring Paul Provenza. He shares a small townhouse condo with his dogs, Ursa Minor, Hellhound of Love, Pup of a Thousand Adjectives, Little Bear Brody, Esquire, and Brother Theodore Brody, and his lovely wife, whose name escapes him at the moment.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Allyson Goodwin agoodwin@nmhschool.org • Angela Lambert drangela@mac.com More than 55 people attended our 35th reunion, including some who have not been back in many years, as well as a few alums from other classes who hung out with us.

Many thanks to the Reunion Committee: Rob Hodgkins, Janice Russell, Bill Rowe, Robin Hirshberg Jobe, Lulu Lason Cannon, Laurie Smith, Allyson Goodwin, and Angela Lambert.

It was a great weekend and there are lots of photos and videos on the “NMH Class of 1983” Facebook page. Allyson and Mark Short hosted the weekend party at their home on campus (Mayberry House), and the Reunion Committee bestowed a giant brass hog that is also a smoker/grill. They were thrilled!

Rob built a beautiful Adirondack chair and donated it for a raffle to benefit the NMH Fund. (Check out Rob’s side business, Ripley Point Chairs, on Facebook if you want one of your own.) Sheila and Gautam Gujral won the chair raffle. • Leila Abu-Gheida has been living in Arlington, Va., for five years, and is regional director for West Africa and the Middle East for FHI 360, a nonprofit human development organization. “The kids are out of high school and finding their way in the world slowly but surely,” said Leila, adding that reunion was “fantastic seeing everyone!”

• David Anderson is an architect in Boston and rides his bike everywhere. He even did 30 miles in the Pie Ride with Angela, Rob, and Robin’s daughter, Austine. Check out images from David’s Go-Pro on our Facebook page! •

From left: Jon Duffy ’83, Lulu Lason Cannon ’83, T.C. Connors ’83, and Chris Stiepock ’83

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Dan Bellow and his gorgeous new rescue dog,

Fonzie, were on campus. Dan had been at a trunk show at Pinch in Northampton with his beautiful ceramic wares, and did a quick bit of business on campus with classmates as well. He creates beautiful pieces! • Elizabeth Berg is a property manager in Portland, Maine. In addition to taking care of other people’s property needs, she owns several units herself. • Mark Brodie brought all of his portraiture equipment to reunion, but we all got too caught up in having a good time.

He did, however, go up in Paul Loring’s plane with David Anderson and created a wonderful video, also on our Facebook page. As he said, “Hoggers really do fly.” • Lulu Lason Cannon wrote, “Our 35th reunion was one to remember! I laughed for three days straight.

It was so much fun to catch up! Staying on the fourth floor in Crossley brought back some memories. Back home in Michigan, I am still teaching exercise classes and selling M SALT (michigansalted.com). Our son is pursuing his hockey dream and hopefully will be playing on a junior team. Our daughter will be in her last year at Miami of Ohio … Thanks again to all of the class of ’83 for the fun!” • Peter Cardelia has been working for Showtime in New York City for more than 20 years. He makes an epic commute into Manhattan each day from his Pennsylvania home. • Sarah Farrington is living in Cambridge and managing properties for the family. • Stacey Gerrish stopped by reunion while on a summer road trip from Colorado to Vermont, where she is setting up a retreat center in her grandparents’ home that she renovated. • David Hiler and his girlfriend, Alison, stopped in on Friday night to say hello, and welcomed a big group of ’83ers for lunch on Saturday at his awesome restaurant, Whetstone Station, in Brattleboro. • Angela Lambert and Judge Arcaro ’77 came from Portsmouth, N.H., where Angela is busy with her practice as a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist, and is working on her first book, The Anxiety Solution, about anxiety in teenagers and young adults. • Paul Loring got himself to campus via a single-engine plane and a bicycle. He later shared his fantastic

From left: Kirsta Schmitt Davey, Patti Dame Rohrmeier, Sue Swift Warner, Tracey Anderson Egan, Margie Brower Gregory, and Lulu Lason Cannon at reunion.

piloting skills with Mark Brodie and David Anderson. • John Reilly came to reunion all

the way from Seattle and had a great time visiting with old friends. He also stays in touch with Dean Swartz. • Patti Dame Rohrmeier has been in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past five years after nearly 20 years in New York City. She and her family enjoy being near her California-migrated family.

Patti said, “Our boys are an energetic 8 and 10 years old, keeping us busy and active … I am doing independent market research contract work. It was so much fun to see everyone at reunion … Definitely looking forward to the next!” • Lou Usherwood came back to NMH for the first time since our fifth reunion.

He’s doing well in his family business and has recruited most of his daughters to join him. • Tiran Kiremidjian is working on an organization app and lives in New York City.

• Peter DeLong is a pulmonary/critical care doc at the VA hospital in White River Junction, Vt. He has completed building a timber frame home in Norwich, Vt. • David Goldman won the Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest honor bestowed on an alumnus or alumna for outstanding career achievement and demonstrated service to humanity. David is the founder of Atacora, a collective whose mission is to collaborate in the fight against poverty and inequality through market-based initiatives in Africa.

• Jim Husson and Laurie Smith went on a six-month sabbatical in Australia and New Zealand. Jim is back to work as vice president of advancement at Boston College, and Laurie is finishing up her master’s in play therapy. • The dynamic duo of Robin Hirshberg Jobe and daughter Austine were back for the weekend from their home in Colorado. They visited George Miller’s amazing “Butterfly Museum” before coming to reunion. • Roger Lerrick wrote, “Reunion is where your old acquaintances become your new friends and your old friends reaffirm that, although many years have passed, you are still buddies … If alumni are in San Francisco Bay Area, get in touch.” • Other reunion attendees were Laura Albright Boat, Gretchen Bowder, T.C. Connors, Kirsta Schmitt Davey, Jonathan Duffy, Paul Foster, Harriet McCann Lamont, Roger Lerrick, Freddy Maguire, Bill Rowe and Paul Rowe Tollefson, Janice Russell, Sam Servello, Jess Steinert, Chris Stiepock, Dean Swartz, Daniel Ward, Tempie Thompson, Alice Fisher Fazekas, Margie Brower Gregory, Sue Swift Warner, Mark Rigdon and Tracy Anderson Egan. Others who came to hang out with us were Jane Mellow ’82, Thekla Smith Alcocer ’84, Doug Calvin ’84, and David Skeeter ’85. • Claire Johnson-Hurry wrote, “Loved seeing all the reunion pics ... I’m sorry I couldn’t make it.”

Claire was busy in June with her son’s high school graduation and prom. Her son, Mac, is

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studying at St. Lawrence University. College tours brought Claire to Burlington, Vt., where she visited with Bill “Schuby” Schubart at his Hinesburg home. “I have high hopes for a trip to the San Diego area to visit Vera Heidolph in the near future,” she added.

• Courtney Small Francis shared, “I’m into my eighth year as full-time faculty at Northeastern Illinois University. I am also interim executive director at an organization called Literature for All of Us. My husband and I have a son who earned his M.A. from Ball State University, a daughter in grad school, a son entering 12th grade, and a son entering ninth grade. We are all sorry to have missed the reunion, which looked like great fun.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jennifer Buell Horschman jenhorschman@yahoo.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Geoffrey Locke gwlocke@gmail.com Gillian Williams enjoys being connected with Bruce Mendelsohn through the board of the Rensselaerville Institute and School Turnaround, where Gillian serves as its president.

She’s rowing again, reconnecting with old rowing buddies, and is excited about the new NMH boathouse. She’d love to reconnect with Susan Lee! • Alysa Ray passed the Georgia psychology licensing exam and is starting a private psychotherapy practice in Decatur, Ga., while looking for adjunct teaching positions. She enjoys the slower pace of southern living in “this progressive little pocket.” • Sarah Gump Batt lives in Denver.

Married since 1998, she has two children: a boy (16, and driving!) and a girl (10). Sarah works in the affordable housing field since graduating from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. She’s been a consultant to affordable housing developers for the past 11 years, and helps nonprofits and housing authorities put together the financing for affordable multi-family rental housing. “I have connected with Eben Clark in my work and that was fun,” wrote Sarah. “I see Melissa Burke Lester ’87 periodically in Colorado, and [am] in touch with other NMHers. Still playing soccer and spending lots of time in the mountains. We love to see people when they visit Colorado.” • After three years in New York City, Buffa French is moving again, this time to Toronto. In New York, Buffa enjoyed reconnecting with NMHers, on purpose or by chance, and will miss those connections, so go visit her in Canada! Buffa’s twin sister, Dee Dee French Boone, is doing great in Virginia Beach, Va.,

raising her beautiful family. • Scott Whitney continues to enjoy rowing — both racing and coaching/mentoring. This past March, he raced in Amsterdam. • Donna Kadis had a great 50th birthday. “I had a girl’s trip to Delray Beach, Fla., during my spring break (benefits of being a teacher). Then I celebrated my birthday with family and friends in New Orleans, an old stomping ground of mine. Lots of good food, good drink, and good times. I have to say, the only really good thing about finally joining Facebook is being able to communicate with old friends from NMH!” • Eileen Pierce celebrated the oneyear anniversary of Pierce Lighting Studio, located in the NoMad section of Manhattan.

Her daughter, Maeve, turned 7, and Eileen loves her home in Queens, although summer vacations out of the city are a necessity. • Ian Hill and his spouse, Berit, continue to create theater in New York and are designers, consultants, and technicians for both their own group and other theater companies.

After successful runs of their original plays, ReFuse and Harakiri Kane, at The Brick in Brooklyn in November 2017, they left The Brick, which had been their creative home for the past 12 years. Ian and Berit now run their own company, Gemini CollisionWorks, a collective of around 20 talented actors/ artists/workers, looking for new work to do, places to do it, and money to get it done. “We will probably also be moving into short films and podcasts as well,” wrote Ian. “A high school in Tucson recently produced the first non-New York City production of one of my original plays, Spacemen from Space!, so we’re also pretty proud of that. Politics also takes up a good deal of our time. Seeing the work and lives of so many interesting classmates around the world on social media continues to be a source of strength and inspiration to me.” • After 18 months of under-employment, Bruce Mendelsohn accepted a position as director of communications at the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services. Bruce later ruptured his Achilles tendon playing basketball, but hoped to start running again by the end of the summer. • Ben Robertson is having more success with his website company, Menadena, and now has an office at the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in Keene, N.H., and an intern. • Hilary Sklarin Hodgman lives in Dunbarton, N.H., and is running her father’s insurance company. She and her husband, Eric, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year. They had a good harvest of 42 gallons of maple syrup from their backyard. Their daughter, Madeline, graduated from UMass Amherst in 2016 and is now at Case Western Reserve in a master’s in social work program.

• Matthew Andrews lives with his family in the suburbs of Paris and is working on some new music recordings, which he hopes to get

on the internet soon. His oldest son, Tristan, will be starting his second year of universitylevel studies and will have a semester abroad in London next year. • Celia Santana-Feinberg is living with her family in South Orange, N.J., and commuting to New York City to run an insurance business. Her sons are now 17 and 14. This year, Celia visited with fellow Merrill Keepers Jocelyn Glatzer ’87 of Boston and Alison Tenenbaum ’88 of New York City. • Ina Anderson’s second grandchild, also named Ina, arrived on March 9, the day after Ina’s 50th birthday.

Baby Ina joins her brother, Sulo, who is now 2. Ina still lives in Kansas City, Mo., with husband Dana and spends her vacations going to Massachusetts to visit her son, Toby, and the grandkids. Ina’s daughter, Roze, is now living and tending bar in Brooklyn. Stepkids Jacob is acting in Los Angeles and Max conducts public health assessments in conflict zones in South Sudan and Ugandan refugee communities. Ina recently visited with Virginia Wasiuk Lay and Jennifer

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Some (mostly) class of ’86 women celebrating their 50th birthdays in Croatia were: (front to back) Nicky Phear, Li Lin Hilliard Hally, Julie Pearse Sullivan, Holly Bachman Bennett, Laura Longworth ’85, Kendel Leet, Gretchen Ganze Kidder, Nilda Lopez, Julie Trela Tantillo, Mel Park Lovering, and Bebe Brown.

Williams ’87. • Nilda Lopez, Kendel Leet, Bebe Brown, Li Lin Hilliard Hally, Julie Perce ’85, Julie Trela, Mel Park Lovering, Gretchen Ganzle, Holly Bachman Bennett, Nicky Phear,

and Laura Longsworth ’87 gathered this summer in Mlini, Croatia, a small coastal village outside of Dubrovnik, for a 50th birthday celebration and reunion. • I celebrated my 50th birthday during that horrible cold spell in early January with a house full of hardy revelers, including Ellen McCurtin ’85, Anne Bartfay Platzner, Will Wear, and Laura Bauernfeind Wear. This past academic year, Anne’s daughter, Lizzie ’20, and Will and Laura’s daughter, Holliday ’20, traveled with their NMH humanities class to Morocco and Spain. For now, Anne enjoys living and practicing medicine in western Massachusetts.

Ellen was recently in South Africa, where she ran the Two Oceans 56K ultramarathon and then visited Addo Elephant Park. In February, she climbed Mount Washington with wind chills measuring 78 below zero, and in April she organized the Sybil Ludington 50K ultramarathon in Carmel, N.Y. This was her fourth consecutive year as co-race director.

Ellen is planning to study for a wilderness first responder certificate as well as embarking on a trip to Rwanda for gorilla trekking.

She’s in regular contact with Bay Brown ’85, Julia Callahan Streit, Josh Lee ’85, and Matt Pavoni ’85. • The birthday parties continued in April with a trip to New York City to visit Bebe Brown and celebrate Nilda Lopez’s 50th at Louie and Chan’s in SoHo. Also enjoying the drinks, food, and dancing was Kathrine Clark ’87, who’s in New York doing interior design work. The party continued all weekend at the Standard High Line, Barbuto, Catch Rooftop, and The Blond at 11 Howard Street. We all hope to do it again soon. Nilda continues with her work at MetLife in New York, and Bebe lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is a registered dietician in an inpatient bariatric surgery program at a Phoenix hospital. • Chip Konowitz lives in Amherst with his wife and two kids. He has put his M.B.A. from Western New England University to use as the practice manager of Baystate Health’s

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Regional Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Program. Chip is currently pioneering a video-based tele-neurology patient visit program to provide better care access for patients. • Jane Hartman MacLachlan lives with her husband, Trevor MacLachlan ’87, in Walpole, N.H. Jane finished a second master’s degree at UMass Boston, which focused on understanding and assisting people who are blind or visually impaired.

She is consulting for various school districts and private contracts. Her oldest child, Lauren, completed her first year at University of New Hampshire, and the whole family enjoys international travel. • Aliina Laine sends her regards to everyone as we all turn 50. She is thrilled that it is her 21st year owning her own financial services and insurance business. • I have been elected to the NMH Alumni Council for a three-year term and will work specifically on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Contact me with any ideas, concerns, and questions.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Kit Gattis kitnmh@gmail.com www.facebook.com/nmh1987 website: nmh1987.org I am on a tour of megalithic sites in Ireland and writing these notes on my phone on the bus to Newgrange. It’s the solstice, and it’s great to reconnect with Ireland. When I get back, I’ll be taking summer school classes in acting and a workshop in clowning. My brother, Trevor ’93, just had his 25th reunion at NMH this summer, while my other brother, Drew ’91, had his two years ago. • John Bete continues to work on Cape Cod as a pain physician and raising his children with his wife, Robin. He’s recently discovered the joy of playing Dungeons and Dragons online with NMH classmates! He is also learning to play guitar — slowly. • Jason Dumont and Andrea Berry are doing great, and were so psyched to see their amazing cohorts at the 30th reunion. “Lots of love in our great class!” they wrote. Since then, they’ve met up with Rosie Comprés for beers in Connecti-

cut, and Jason had fun seeing Geoff Weed in Chicago. Jason and Andrea spend a good deal of their time getting up to everything they lecture their teenagers to avoid. Otherwise, they’ve taken their sit-at-home-and-do-nothing game to “Next Level.” They hope everyone is well and would love to see any of you passing through their area! • Christine Goepp still lives in Washington, D.C., with husband Todd and works as a communications lawyer.

Their kids are grown up and doing well.

Christine and Todd are planning to move back to New England in a year! • Chuck Linton and family are doing well in Houston and enjoyed their summer. The daughters are 9 and 11, and the older one started middle school in the fall. • Elizabeth Wright O’Brien continues to live in Rhinebeck, N.Y., with her husband and their three sons, Jack (19), Kristopher (17), and Logan (15). After teaching second grade for the last 10 years, Elizabeth has returned to teaching kindergarten. • Will Sheats is still in Columbus, Ohio, and is in professional helicopter pilot school. He was happy to see ’88 had fun at their reunion.

“Looking forward to our next one,” said Will.

• Luis Del Valle started a whale-watching and ambergris-retrieval business in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Each summer migrating whales swim through the Mona Passage, the body of water between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, where they regurgitate ambergris. While whale watching in dinghies, tourists will also be able to prospect for ambergris, a valuable wax-like intestinal secretion of sperm whales used in the manufacture of high-end perfumes. • Geoff Weed is in Chicago, having completed a road trip with his oldest daughter and finding out what a Kendrick Lamar is. “Also enjoying Taylor Swift concerts with my 9-year-old and long sullen silences with my 17-year-old,” said Geoff. “Also, I still love NMH and my ’87ers. The rest is for the courts to decide.” • Jennifer Williams is beginning her 12th year as part of the advancement team at NMH. She is reeling from the fact that her oldest is almost 23 and is launched (although still living at home). Her son Ben ’17 is a sophomore at St. Lawrence University (Jen’s alma mater), and her daughter, Ruthie ’21, is a sophomore at NMH. There are a ton of NMH alumni kids at NMH this year, and Jen enjoys seeing so many alums regularly during the school year. Emma ’21, daughter of Mark Chaffee ’88, and Jen’s Ruthie have become besties. That’s what NMH is all about!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Anne Stemshorn George anastasia.s.george@gmail.com From Jeffrey Epstein: More than 60 of us showed up for reunion — the final tally could be a new attendance record for the 30th! • Josh Cohen threw his annual pre-reunion bash at Moe’s Tavern on Thursday night. He

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has built an incredible business and the place was packed, including more than a dozen folk from our class, such as Todd Tucci, who showed up wearing a wrestling onesie. Possibly the weirdest thing about that was that he looked pretty much the same in it as he did 30 years ago. The party continued back at Josh’s home, which is amazing. Dogfish Head beer was on tap (of course), the grill was fired up, and people watched sports on TV or chatted by the fire pit in the backyard. • Naturally, there was an RV again. This time Ren Martyn and Jeremy Steinberg were behind the wheel. Ren and his wife, Heather, sold their Colorado home and will be spending the next year sailing the Caribbean in a new boat they purchased. Jeremy works at Rhode Island Hospital. He seemed to spend a significant portion of the weekend hiding the RV keys from Ren. • Eric Crawford showed up and looks remarkably the same. • As always, Sam Calagione and Mariah Draper Calagione ’89 kept the party on tap (so to speak) with a bevy of beers from Dogfish Head. • Event co-chair Amy Flynn gets huge props for everything from the great decorations to the small details. She is developing the hospital market in North America for an industrial storage company. “I travel a lot and would love to see any and all NMHers. A big thankyou to my reunion co-chair, Barbara Thomas, and committee members: Jeffrey Epstein, Kriya Lendzion, Mark Chaffee, Jennie Kent, and Lauren Swick Jordan, with special props to Nancy Chaffee for her graphic-design skills. Without this team, reunion would not have been a success! And a keg-sized thankyou to Sam and Mariah for once again providing their amazing Dogfish Head beer and a great tasting/presentation.” She was also very excited to room with her NMH roommate, Winnie Johnson, who lives outside of Montreal with her husband and two beautiful daughters and works for GE. • Jennie is still living in Bogota, Colombia, where she has now authored 40 books! Lauren burns up social media and writes essays, many about her terrific son T.J., who happens to have autism and recently graduated from high school. Lauren’s other son, Peter, finished his sophomore year. And of her husband, “Sean the Dreamboat is doing his dream boating, as per usual.” • Eric Johnson is leaving New York to move back to sunny Southern California (where he will still do the important financial stuff he does). • Mark Chaffee attended reunion with his amazing wife, Nancy, and along with Jennie, harassed, I mean, kindly asked, us all to donate to the NMH Fund … many, many times. They were fantastic, leading the charge to raise funds for One Thousand Arrows, and Nancy had the best Bloody Mary bar set-up ever at a reunion. • Chris Sexton was kind enough to provide additional libations from one of his

four liquor stores. He also has an Airbnb cottage two miles from NMH if anyone needs a place to stay. “The rate is a donation to the Alumni Fund!” he said. Barbara departed early, as she had to facilitate a Women’s Commission Entrepreneurship networking event on Sunday. She has spent a lion’s share of her time at NMH and was a trouper for facing Northfield in February for reunion prep! Her son, Connor, is an NMH student. • It was a joy to see Soomi Nahm (her first NMH reunion) and hear about her life in Laguna Beach, Calif., with her husband and four kids — two boys and two girls. • Otis Adusei moved from D.C. to Houston, where he is now an IT executive at ExxonMobil. • I saw MacAndrew Jack when he was getting a tour of the campus with his wife and two sons. • Meg Fitzgerald Heithcock brought her 15-year-old daughter, Skyler, to reunion.

Skyler was a great sport putting up with all of us, and even participated in an impromptu ’80s dance party and balloon toss in the basement of CV. The Heithcock household still resides in Nashville, and Meg remains fantastically fit as a trainer there, as well as playing on Ultimate, tennis, and soccer teams, and doing modeling and acting gigs. • Matt Borghesani is still remarkably tall and teaches science on the North Shore of Boston. • Peter “Pecos” Donko-Hanson is as charming as ever and is an assistant principal at a school in Rochester, N.Y. On Friday night at Sam and Mariah’s ’80s karaoke party, Pecos joined me, Barbara Thomas, Kriya Lendzion, Liane StoneIngalls, and Mira Levinson to sing “Lean on Me.” Kriya brought her amazing boyfriend, Terrence, with her, and we made a music video to send to Yaa Taah Obeng-Wiredu, who wasn’t able to join us. Kriya is in Asheville, N.C., and is a middle-school counselor and provides substance-abuse education at area schools. She also holds workshops for parents and educators on preventing selfdestructive behavior in teens. • Liane StoneIngalls wrote and recited a both funny and heartbreaking memorial poem for the classmates we have lost over the years. • Mira Levinson is co-director of the HIV and Infec-

tious Disease Center at a mission-driven public health organization called JSI. She lives in Roslindale, Mass., with her husband, Tim. Mira killed it at karaoke on Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night.” Kriya later said she wished 17-year-old Mira could have seen just how confident and fantastic and astounding the Mira of today is. • Asha Heinegg Armstrong lives outside Philly and works in insurance. Her daughter attends University of Pittsburgh and her son is in high school. She lives close to (and attended reunion with) Gretchen Goller ’89, who has two adorable kids — a boy (15) and a girl (8).

Gretchen works in clinical research to help save lives. • Karol Dixon de la O attended with her husband, Ralph. They live in Washington, where Karol is working to change the culture at Microsoft. • Harry Burton lives in New York City and is director of publicity for Thames and Hudson publishing. • Carrie Edwards was my roommate at reunion, and is living in San Jose and continues her work in neuromuscular therapy. After a night of dancing at Overtoun, she managed to wake up at 7 a.m. to bike 30 miles. Henry Wheaton actually did the 30-mile bike ride with Carrie. It was his first bike ride in more than a year after a severe trapeze training accident. He is the co-owner and technical director for SHOW Circus Studio in Easthampton, Mass. • Donna Latham participated in the 5K run on Saturday morning of reunion weekend, and is training for a marathon. She lives in Long Island and is a supervisor at Victoria’s Secret. • Chris Frothingham made it to his first reunion since our fifth! The adorable osteopath has four kids and lives in Maine. • Artie Keown attended with his wife.

They live in the Worcester, Mass., area and Artie is working in construction. Their son, Arthur, graduated from College of the Holy Cross; daughter Kat is a junior at Lesley University in Cambridge; and their other daughter, Isabelle, is a high-school senior. • Carrie Lawrence Ertl lives in Ridgefield, Conn., and is the mom of three kids. • Gerry Van Dorn attended with his wife, Ann, and I wish I’d spoken with them more! • Jenna

Members of the class of 1988 gathered at the bench outside Memorial Chapel that was donated by Jeffrey Epstein ’88 in honor of “The Northfielders.”

From left: Soomi Nahm ’88, Kriya Lendzion ’88, Jeffrey Epstein ’88, and Ren Martyn ’88 visited the farm during reunion weekend.

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Bagley Hrinda lives in Deerfield and has her

A New Puerto Rican Narrative Writer Ivelisse Rodriguez ’93 is on a mission to diversify Puerto Rican literature beyond stories about “migration, identity, and nostalgia for our homeland,” she says.

Her recent book, Love War Stories, captures something different: the role of love in Puerto Rican culture and the pressure it puts on women. The “idea of love takes precedence” for women, Rodriguez says. Her work shows “how destructive that can be,” and provides “different narratives about what women could do with their lives.”

Rodriguez has been writing short stories for 20 years. She was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts — a city with a large Puerto Rican community — when she was 2. She earned an M.F.A. from Emerson College and a Ph.D. in English and creative writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She was the senior fiction editor for the online magazine Kweli, and her short stories have been published in Boston Review, All About Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color, Obsidian, Kweli, The Bilingual Review, and Aster(ix).

Rodriguez is currently working on a novel about salsa musicians in 1970s Puerto Rico, another topic she sees missing from literature. “I’m a really picky reader,” she says. “What I’m looking for is to be touched on a very human level, to feel connected to characters and carry them with me in my heart. This is what I’m hoping to create.”

— Zoe Licata ’15

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own dentistry practice. She is just as lovely as you remember. • Michelle “Mich” Hollins Crowley lives in my hometown of Newton, Mass., where she owns a landscape architecture business. • Alec Coyle gets the award for having traveled the farthest for reunion. He lives in Jordan and heads the history department at King’s Academy. • Will Hutchins moved to the Atlanta area and flies for FedEx, traveling the globe to get you your Amazon Prime packages on time! • Lawrence Koplow lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and is a criminal defense attorney. He attended reunion with his wife and daughter, who fit right into our crazy family. • Josh Kwiat lives in Las Vegas and works in real estate … and enjoys blackjack. • Holly Hornor Cleary lives near Portland, Maine, with her husband and kids. She is spearheading the fundraising for a memorial bench for our classmate, Kathy Pazuk Naficy, who sadly passed away in February 2016. Please contact Holly, Jennie Kent, or Mark Chaffee to help us reach our fundraising goal for Kathy’s bench. • Steve Gauster and his wife, Kari, welcomed the birth of their son, Henry, on 5/15/18. They live in New York City. • John Barkan and his family live in Newton, Mass., and he works for the family real-estate company. He is excited for the winter, as his son is a ski racer and they will be spending a lot of time at Stowe, Vt. • I put together an all-new class slide show, which features more than 400 photos and will be uploaded on our Facebook page. I also spoke on an “Honoring Northfield” panel. It addressed why the Northfield campus had to close, how Northfield is celebrated on the Mount Hermon campus, what is happening to the campus now, and how seriously pissed off I was about the closure. But I also talked about how my feelings have changed over the years, and how I appreciate how much more candid and transparent the school has been about the situation. As a gesture, I bought a bench, which I dedicated to us. Well, mostly the Northfielders, but really, I think we all have a piece of the campus in our hearts. The bench is outside the chapel, overlooking the rolling hills of Northfield. It says: “In Honor of the Northfielders, always remember the dances at Tracy, the afternoons on Round Top, and the evenings in Silverthorne.” • It was amazing to see all of you who made it to reunion. Hopefully, it won’t be five more years until I see some of you again.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Chris Roof roofsound@comcast.net • John Carroll jcarroll@nmhschool.org • Caryn Crotty Eldridge slickcke7@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Robbianne Mackin robbianne.mackin@gmail.com • Travis Lea travislea@gmail.com • Kristin Steele kaste@conncoll.edu • Toryn Kimberley Stark torynk@yahoo.com From Toryn: My husband, our pets, and I moved from Charlotte to Asheville, N.C., at the end of 2017. I’m working in the workforce development department at Goodwill of Northwest North Carolina. There are several other NMHers in the area, including Ellis Dowdeswell Vaughan, Kriya Lendzion ’88, and Sam Ganly ’88. • Scott Malone recently stopped by the NMH campus, where he visited with John Carroll ’89. • Anne Comstock Thiam, Themba Flowers, and Kate Kaming attended the spring NMH awards ceremony. Each is a parent of a member of the class of 2019. • In sad news, Kathy Lalazarian died on 5/2/18 following a second cancer diagnosis. She will be greatly missed by her NMH family.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dairo Moreno demoreno@post.harvard.edu • Blythe Asher asherblythe777@gmail.com From Blythe: Hey, everyone. I’ll be handling our updates for NMH Magazine. Send me your news! What are you working on? Where do you live now? Tell us about your family, your travels. In the meantime, our classmates are busy all around the world! • Kira Zielinski wrote, “We just celebrated the first birthday of my son, Xerxes! I’m living in Iowa City, studying classics and playing recorder in an early music ensemble.” Her little boy started walking, and “immediately joined the Hospitaller Knights and went on crusade at our local Ren Fest [Renaissance Festival].” • “I’ve recently moved to Nairobi, Kenya, and am raising three young kids,” said Katie Johnson Kabage. “Would love to have some NMH visitors in East Africa!” • Kate Golden lives in Beirut with her husband and two boys, Declan (6) and Isaac (4). She worked for an Irish humanitarian organization, Concern Worldwide, for 15 years and is now taking a career break to spend more time with her children and study Arabic again, which she started when she was a student at NMH during a semester in Egypt with Lori Byrom and Jim O’Shea. “The experience changed me forever,” said Kate. “Come visit; we have a lovely balcony!” • And Broch Bender went for the gold at the kung fu competition at Gay Games X in Paris in August 2017.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jennifer Sadula deVore devorejr@msn.com • Cate Steele Hartzell cate.hartzell@gmail.com • Leah Clarkson leah.clarkson@gmail.com • Gene Ehrbar geneehrbar@icloud.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Susannah Sprong Cahillane coloradocahillanes@mac.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Carol Koldis Foote carol.foote@gmail.com • Dan Furlong furlongtime@gmail.com Dear members of the class of ’94: Because we all love to flip to this page when we receive our NMH Magazine, we’re including a special message about returning to campus for our 25th reunion in June 2019.

Whether you’ve returned for some or all of our gatherings, or haven’t yet come back, please make it a priority to attend as we look back on 29 years of sharing friendships, experiences, memories, space, and time. If you haven’t updated your information, do so now (email addressupdates@nmhschool.org).

This is how invitations and information are communicated — and watch for those. Our class has a history of turning out in hearty numbers. Let’s continue that trend. At any point, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact the Alumni Office. With hope and good wishes — Carol and Dan.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Caroline Leonard carolinecleonard@gmail.com It is with a heavy heart that I am sharing that our classmate Christine Cummings died in hospice on 3/26/18. I remember her big smile, her outgoing, creative personality, and quick wit and humor. She worked in Manhattan for CITY Magazine and was instrumental in the product development, design, and promotion of the energy supplement EBOOST. She loved skateboarding, and Barcelona, where she’d lived for two years. Christine’s mother, Nancy, described her as “artistic, talented, intelligent, funny, and [she] loved people. She touched many in her short time here on Earth.” • In January, I visited with Alexis Hurley, who is living in San Diego but came to Maine for a bit of real winter! In the spring, Tom Boutureira, Klaas Templeman, Jill Hriniak Stevenson, and I saw Tom Feely play guitar and mandolin with his bluegrass band in Portland, Maine. I was in New York in June seeing Dead and Company with Karyn Star ’96, and visited the Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine, with Alexis.

Jocelyn Leary Lavallo, Laura Astor Mauldin,

and I got together in July in Maine as well.

Each summer I spend time on Vinalhaven Island, and it’s always fun to hang out there with my NMH cross-country buddy Erin Lyman ’97. She is fixing up a little house there with her husband, Craig, when she is not working at NMH. It was great to see everyone! • In January, Sally Walker started an herbal products company, Emerald Dragonfly Apothecary (emeralddragonflyapothecary. com), which focuses on health and wellness through medicinal herbs. She started the company to spread knowledge about medicinal herbs and plans to host workshops and retreats. These workshops will bring her fellow stressed-out city dwellers into the country to learn about herbs, mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and astrology. Sally said, “I am still a full-time lawyer in D.C., which fills my bank account; this venture fills my heart. Reach out if you’re inclined. I’d love to hear from you!” • I heard from Sasha Krushnic, who wrote that he “is the Connecticut housewife to Professor Claire R. Grace ’97, a historian of contemporary art at Wesleyan University. Claire is working on a book about the ’80s art collective ‘Group Material.’ Our firstborn, Halifax Merna Grace (aka “Mern”) turned 1 in April.” Sasha teaches recreational partner acrobatics and yoga, and also innovates and tests high-efficiency building products and systems in his residential design building projects. • Matthew Radune shared, “Last summer I got to see L.A.-based cinematographer Benjamin Kasulke working on a film shoot on my block in the East Village, which was pretty epic.” Matthew is living in New York City and works in architecture. He recently completed certification as a passivehouse designer. “Passive houses are built kind of like thermoses, with thick continuous insulation and triple-pane windows to lower the energy needed to heat and cool the house to almost nothing,” he explained. • Hannah Cabell lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Ryan, and 4-year-old daughter, Iris. Hannah

Sally Walker ’95 at her company, Emerald Dragonfly Apothecary, in Washington, D.C

is still acting; she performed in Fairview at Soho Rep in the summer, and can also be seen in the movie Luce, premiering next year. She still spends time in New Hampshire and sees Jeanne Cloutier occasionally. • Ben Schuman shared, “Life, being as it is, has brought me to Hilton Head Island. My folks retired down here a few years ago, and I’m helping them out and running a restaurant on the prestigious Sea Pines Resort. It’s been an awesome experience, both island living and getting into the resort/restauranting thing. Never thought I’d find anything as much fun as doing radio, but I somehow have! Thanks to Facebook, I caught up with K.T. Dowd … and still talk to Ben Shippee, Will Slocum, and John Doyle on a semi-regular basis. Definitely want to extend an invite to anyone who is coming to Hilton Head Island: Please hit me up if you’re in the area! Aside from access to great food, if anyone is into golfing I have crazy discounts!”

• Recently licensed as a psychologist, Thea Silva de Souza, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., said, “I am busy working and being mom to an active 3-year-old boy! Missing my NMH family lots.” • Liz McEvily and husband Ian lived in New York City, Los Angeles, then Connecticut with their young kids, and now Ian’s job is taking them back to Los Angeles.

“It will be an adventure for sure! I’d love to catch up with other NMHers in L.A.,” wrote Liz. • Leah Musacchio moved from Orlando, Fla., to Vail, Colo., in 2013 with her dog, Lulu.

She married Steven Sendor in September 2017. Her brother, Mark Musacchio ’96, and Natascha Sherman Hess ’96 attended the wedding in Vail. Leah is a revenue director in the vacation rental industry, which allows her to travel to ski destinations in the U.S. and Canada. She spends her free time hiking, skiing, biking, and taking in the views. She still visits the NMH campus regularly when she sees her family in Massachusetts. “It’s the best feeling to return home and walk [the] NMH grounds,” said Leah.

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Leah Musacchio ’95 married Steven Sendor in Vail, Colo.

Northfield Mount Hermon Patrick Davis patrickdavisknows@gmail.com Carolina Liu and husband Andre Kamili ’97 coincidentally met Joan Thacher Tiffany ’64.

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Turns out Carolina and Andre’s children and Joan’s granddaughter go to the same school and even the same string academy.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Julia Cohen jmacleodcohen@gmail.com We were saddened to hear the news of Chris Thompson’s passing on 3/11/18, only a few weeks after his son Angus’ birth. The class of ’97 will miss Chris’ kindness, smile, and friendship more than we can say. • Ben Hoadley shared the happy news that he and his wife, Emily, welcomed their wonderful daughter, Shira Molly, on 1/24/18. They live in Norwood, Mass., and are enjoying being first-time parents. • Chelsea Simons Taliercio and husband Chris welcomed baby number three, Brooks Baker, on 2/5/18. They live in New Canaan, Conn., where Brooks gets doted on by his two older sisters. • Ayinde Wagner is still in Washington, D.C., and invites others in the area to reach out. • Will Dane co-runs Open Book Press, an independent book publisher, in Grass Valley, Calif. • Please keep writing, friends, so we can stay in touch. Be proud Hoggers and keep the NMH spirit alive and well wherever we may be!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Brian Pressman brainjpressman@gmail.com • Rachel Carfora rachelcarfora@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Audrey Korte aekorte@cox.net • Melia Knowles-Coursin meliakc@gmail.com • Molly Loveday chefmollyloveday@gmail.com Kate Dempsey Martineau’s book, Ray Johnson: Selective Inheritance (University of California Press), explores 20th-century artist Ray Johnson and his connection with various iconic artists. Her book was released in June and is available at various book outlets.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Rose Jackman Spurgin rosejackmanlynch@gmail.com Jess Scherm-Martin Corwin, Genevieve Bergeret, and Janna Blais Patterson sang at Sacred Concert again this year, joined by Matt Marlin ’98 and Harlin Glovacki ’08.

Steve Rozenski ’98 was in the audience and hopes to sing next year. A week after the concert, Genevieve wrote, “I woke with music in my head today, as I did yesterday and I’m sure I will for days to come. Music in a language I do not speak, from a country I’ve never visited, from a culture I now understand better having learned from their struggles — and triumphs — through song. I cannot begin to describe the joy that singing in Sacred Concert brings — the chance to make music again, despite how rusty I may be. To sing with my classmates, current students, and alums from as far back as the class of ’47 … being back at NMH eating Bishop’s Bread and walking those hills and singing ‘Jerusalem’ and thinking how apt those lyrics are, how the commitment to not cease from mental fight is as necessary today as it ever was ... Next year will be the 125th Concert of Sacred Music, on May 5, 2019. Come make music with us!” • Thanks to all those who joined alumni Mountain Day at Mount Monadnock. (Photos in the next edition.) Jess and Genevieve are planning to make this an annual event! Please get in touch and join us next year! • Katherine Borntraeger-Wheeler Nisbet is now working for the U.K. government as the private secretary to the director for EU and international trade at the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. “It’s a really interesting job, as my directorate covers all the Brexit negotiations, U.K. free-trade agreements, our World Trade Organization membership, and much more! I’m getting a great insight into the world of policy and central government, including briefing the Cabinet Office,” said Katherine.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Josh Grubman joshuagrubman@gmail.com • Christopher A Zissi christopher.zissi@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Danielle Henry Beale dhbeale@gmail.com Only half our classmates have active email addresses on file! Every time I get an NMH newsletter and see the announcements about new buildings, speakers, and student innovation, it takes me right back to that exciting time in my life. My sense of belonging is renewed and a gray hair disappears. Please write to addressupdates@nmhschool.org, or email me, to update your contact information so NMH can stay in touch. Thank you! • Matt McNabb married Lauren Kelly at Trinity Church in New York in May 2018, with classmate Nick Martowski in attendance. Matt then spent the summer moving the headquarters of his company, Native Data, from Washington, D.C., to New York City. Native Data applies the Uber model to the market research industry and operates in 25 countries. Great work, Matt!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dee Guo deedith@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jamieson Baker jamieson.baker@gmail.com • Jane Lilly Warren janelillywarren@gmail.com • Daniela Frias daniela8_5@hotmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Donnie Blackwell ptowndon@gmail.com • Arjun Pant arjunpant@gmail.com • Jingping Zhang jingping.ellen.zhang@gmail.com

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From left: Kathrene Tiffany Bell (Joan’s daughter), Alden Bell (Joan’s granddaughter), Joan Thacher Tiffany ’64, Andre Kamili ’97, and Carolina Liu ’96.

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Ben Hoadley ’97 welcomed his new daughter, Shira, in January 2018.

Northfield Mount Hermon Ramon Guadalupe ramon.g2975@gmail.com • Collin Lever collinlever@gmail.com From Ramon: I am currently on staff for the New York State Assembly campaign for Mathylde Frontus, getting my hands dirty with this grass-roots campaign in my neighborhood, and I love every minute of it. I still reside in Coney Island, Brooklyn. If any Hoggers are ever in the area, please give me a call so we can link up! • Laura Carbonneau finished grad school, earning her master’s in sustainable food systems from Green Mountain College. She’s also been acting lately in

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Becky Eldridge Capasso ‘05 and Dominic Capasso ’07 married in Vermont in May with many Hoggers attending, including: (left to right) Abby Eldridge Koppes ’03, Kylie Jelly Mones ’06, Will Kidston ’05, Laurel Edson ’05, Amanda Abramson Clarke ’05, Sam Clarke ’06, Claire Anagnostopulous ’06, Stef Krug Saywer ’01, Aaron Sawyer ’01, Tegh Kapur ’05, Alex Case ’05, Matt Vollinger ’06, Hickory Lawson ’06, Rebecca Zukowski ’07, Michael Broady ’06, and Daniel Chapman ’06.

community theater — as Mother in A Christmas Story: The Musical, and as Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown! • Jon Gustafson teaches fifth grade in Minneapolis and had a blast at the last NMH reunion with his now wife, Kassira (married November 2017). “Shout out to Matt Shephard-Lupo and Ian Boll for crashing my apartment and making the flight out to be at our wedding,” wrote Jon. • Rachel Forbus Blanchard and her husband volunteer for the Make a Wish Foundation as “wish granters” and absolutely love it. Rachel’s also been promoted at work as a specialty benefits coordinator at a specialty pharmacy. “I help get important medications approved through insurance and find funding to help with high costs for patients experiencing HIV, hepatitis, inflammatory diseases, oncology issues, transplant recipients, and pediatric endocrinology,” Rachel explained. • “This year my wife and I bought a house in Virginia,” wrote Lakota Maria Coon, “and I received my master’s in early childhood education from Loyola Marymount University, with a focus in Montessori for children under the age of 3.” • Nicole Worden Adkins had a daughter, Sydney, in November 2017, and was married at Memorial Chapel in February of this year. • Chantal Palacci Sagnes moved to Lyon, France, and started her own freelance consulting busi-

ness for the advertising industry (chantalsagnes.com). She and her husband traveled to Greece in the summer.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dith Pamp dith.pamp@gmail.com Hello, 2007! I hope all is well in your corner of the world. I recently got a new job in the technology sector and am still happily living in Portland, Ore. Let me know if you’re ever in Oregon, and keep sending me updates for this magazine. • Naomi Collett Ritz wrote, “After four years living in Siem Reap, Cambodia, working as a journalist, I got married to Luis Sanches in Lisbon last June [2017].

Matthew Shephard-Lupo, Hannah Riley, Blisse Wilkinson, Naomi Stewart-Rubik, and Ayana Christie were in attendance. We have relocated to Berlin for two years while my husband studies sound engineering at the Funkhaus, and we have a 4-year-old pug that we brought with us when we moved from Cambodia.” • “I finished my Ph.D. in classical studies in 2017,” shared Martin Shedd, “spent the past year as a visiting assistant professor at Indiana University-Bloomington, and will be joining the community of Hendrix College as the Murphy Visiting Fellow in classics for 2018–20. I welcome any suggestions about things to do in Arkansas.”

Naomi Collett Ritz ’07 (center) surrounded by wedding guests.

Northfield Mount Hermon Emily Jacke ejacke@middlebury.edu • Sarah-Anne Tanner tanner.sarahanne@gmail.com From Sarah: It was great to see so many people at our 10-year reunion in June! There were over 40 of us there on a weekend with picture-perfect weather. We tasted Dogfish Head beers, toured the farm with the new farm director (who is doing really exciting things with the program), watched Spencer Hattendorf’s band, The Rooks, listened to the songs of our youth around a campfire, rowed on the Connecticut, picnicked with the class of 2013, danced until the wee hours outside Tron, toured Northfield, and held a memorial for the classmates we have lost.

Let’s do it all again in five years, yes? • I’ll leave you with a list of some of the beautiful ’08ers who attended reunion. Huge apologies if I’ve forgotten someone! Emily Arena, Kyle Cerutti, Joe Charpentier, Guy Chirico, Yulong Cui, Brooke Evans, Tom Fagan, Jules Findlay, Renee Forcier, Harlin Glovacki, Esther Gutow, Tanner and Weston Halkyard, Spencer Hattendorf, Ben Hefner, Sarah Heist, David Hsia, Emily Jacke, Jeff Kwan, Tanapol Lertnantapanya, Tim Liponis, Max Mazzone, Julia Mix Barrington, Davy Mok, Jim Montague, Ashleigh Casey Morris, Kayci Wickline Neff, Pat Peltier, George Posner, Teresa Ramos, Stephanie Randall, David Rome, Nikki Rossetti, Jensi Rovang, Karissa Scano, Eli Stiefel, Devers Talmage, Darah Thomas, Rob Valair, Jarad Weeks, Ben Weyers, Rebecca Young, Abby Zelenka, and Alexis Ziemba. Bravo to all those who were brave enough to bring significant others. • If you’re in New England on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we’ll be having our 11th annual NMH Thanksgiving at my house in Somerville, Mass. Come one, come all, and don’t stop believin’.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Daisy Letendre daisycletendre@gmail.com • Eshalla Merriam eshallamerriam@gmail.com • Pamela Chen pamchen13@gmail.com • Fayette Phillips fayettephillips@gmail.com • Anna Stevens annagstevens@gmail.com • Galen Anderson gjande01@syr.edu From Pam: It is with great sadness that we learn of our friend and classmate Kendhall Davis’ passing (5/7/18). We shared our memories of Kendhall on Facebook and reminisced about our time at NMH. It brought us back to days of Friday-night Ping-Pong at Blake, Saturday-night intramural basketball, and Sunday-morning eggs-to-order. And

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From left: Juan Stimpson ’09, Kendhall Davis ’09, and Chris Nardone ’09 on Founder’s Day.

from this tragedy comes an appreciation for what NMH gave us: a few hundred people who were at NMH with us from 2005–09 to look back on all of those times. The laughter, the silliness, the achievements, the downfalls, the boredom. Next summer is our 10-year reunion, and we will take the opportunity to reconnect with our class. We will also celebrate Kendhall. As he so perfectly put it, “I could reminisce all night.” • Some shared thoughts on Kendhall begin with Wendy Ogando: “I’ll never forget meeting Kendhall; he was very intentional, kind, and a loving friend to all. He had an exceptional way of pushing people to believe in their dreams and fulfill their destiny. Whenever he walked into a room, he filled the place with joy. I pray that you rest well in paradise and that your legacy (to relentlessly pursue one’s dream) will live on!” • John Gallagher: “Kendhall and I were soccer postgraduates together. We had an immediate bond from the beginning, probably due to the fact that we already graduated high school! It wasn’t long after meeting each other that we found out that we would be the two center backs on the soccer team that season, creating another special bond. I always admired his calming presence … a really good kid whom I would benefit from associating myself with … a terrific guy to be around in every facet.

In my eyes, he never changed through that year, and we kept that bond forever. I last saw Kendhall at a bar in Maine last summer.

I remember being so excited to introduce my friends to Kendhall as my fellow PG center back. I miss him, and I wish more people knew him the way I was so fortunate to have.” • Gabriel Isserlis: “I feel so lucky that I got to know [Kendhall] and spend as much time as I did with him during my time at NMH. He was without a doubt one of the nicest, gentlest guys that I have ever met, and I will always remember the shenanigans we got up to together. I had a nasty habit of starting projects and not seeing them through to the finish. Together we started a very silly film. At one point, I wanted to give up, but Kendhall convinced me to see it through. Not because it affected him in any

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way, but because he felt it was important to see a project through to the very end — a lesson I’ve never forgotten and never will.

While I didn’t consider it too important at the time, this incredibly silly video actually helped me get accepted to university (for film school) and started me on the bizarre path to where I am today … He is probably embarking on a new project in the stars, hopefully teaching others important lessons and being the incredibly kind, thoughtful person we all knew and loved.” • Daisy Letendre: “Kendhall was someone who truly embodied the spirit of NMH, and in his one year as a PG, he left his mark on the class of 2009. We will miss you, Kendhall.” • Mo Eldib: “Kendhall, I’ll never forget meeting you during the soccer camp before the start of senior year. From the very beginning, it was clear that you were a true leader and a model example for your teammates. You were truly a great friend, and I will always cherish the moments we had together. From our spontaneous trip to Boston, to the late-night indoor soccer matches against the Deerfield faculty, you always knew how to lift the spirits of those around you … May you rest in peace.” • Leo Chiquillo: “Kendhall, thank you for being a light in our world. You will be missed dearly.”

• Sawyer Connelly: “One of my favorite memories of Dhali, as he was affectionately known by his dormmates and teammates, was during the running of the 118th Pie Race. Dhali was a gifted athlete, and if he hadn’t been such a talented soccer player, he surely could have made it as a runner. At the crack of the gun, Dhali was off with a quick pace and easily put distance between him and the next few racers. A younger student, whom we’ll call K.B., was a very talented cross-country runner, but was full of boyish arrogance. K.B. let the mass head out before he began and easily worked his way to the front over the course of the race, catching what he thought was the leader as he headed down Cottage Row. He then tauntingly ran circles around Josh, a dormmate of Dhali, thinking he’d take off to win the race. All the while, Dhali was rounding the corner to head down Tron Hill. Josh, amused by the act, let it go on for a moment before telling K.B. that he, in fact, was not the leader. As Dhali, Colin, Juan, and a few others sat around the Shea common area later that evening, Josh described the ‘oh shit’ look that came across K.B.’s face when Josh broke the news. K.B. sprinted off, hoping to catch Dhali, but the man was just too fast! Dhali easily won the 118th running of the Pie Race, and as we sat around piecing together the various stories of the event, Dhali humbly chimed in, ‘Damn, this pie just got a lot tastier after hearing that!’ We’ll miss you, bud. Hope the pie is just as tasty wherever you are.” • Josh Leslie: “Dhali, you led us from the back with calm

conviction. Our experience transcended time and space, turning a year into what still feels like a lifetime. I feel fortunate. You are missed and loved.” • David Turina: “I grew up playing soccer with Kendhall in Maine before we both ended up at NMH … [he] was always the soft-spoken, multi-talented, and intelligential Kendhall we all grew to know. On the field, he was composed and relentless. Off the field, he was ambitious with his music and education. At some of my proudest achievements in my young soccer and academic careers, Kendhall stood right there next to me. I am grateful that I was a teammate and a friend of Kendhall Davis.

Whenever I would see him years after graduation … we’d always recall the time we spent at NMH. Those amazing memories will always live on.” • Kiano Moju: “Kendhall was just such a kind person. One of those rare humans you meet where, just from the first encounter, [you] could just feel good to be around.” • Juan Stimpson: “From me to the PG/Shea/NMH family, Kendall will be truly missed!” • From ’09 class parents, Anne and Mike Atkins: “As class parents to a large group of students, we know well that each student has their own way of contributing to the ‘family,’ and Kendhall’s soft, yet spirited, personality made an impact on all of us.” • Pam Chen: “You know those people in your life that you can always count on to say hi to you with a friendly smile, day in and day out?

That was Kendhall for me. We will miss you and we will celebrate you next summer!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Eli Spector elishsp@gmail.com • Jed Kundl kundlj@gmail.com From Jed: Nora Donahue moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, in September 2017 after living in Dublin, Ireland, for three years.

Nora is a yoga instructor and holistic nutrition student. After she graduates, she plans to start her own practice incorporating yoga, wellness, and nutrition. • Another entrepreneur, David Mah, left his job to start his own business. He’s a bit terrified, but also very excited! If anyone is interested in what he’s up to, he’d be happy to chat with you.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Olivia VanCott vancott.olivia@gmail.com • Nisha Malik nishamalik92@gmail.com • Olivia Wolpe oliviawolpe@gmail.com From Olivia W.: Elizabeth Pratt Marlowe is working as an underwater archaeologist contractor for the U.S. Navy (what?!). She’s in the process of building a farmhouse with her husband an hour outside D.C. • Geneva

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Jonathan completed her first year of a clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Northwestern — only five more years to go! She writes, “I am working on research that develops smartphone interventions for severe mental illness with the hope that it will increase access and availability.” • Natalie Hutton didn’t “do” college, but just bought a house in Vermont, so she’s fine. Natalie’s working as a case manager and says all are welcome to visit if you find yourself in the Burlington area. • Emily Lefebvre Smith is working on a Ph.D. in developmental psychology. She researches domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Emily lives in North Carolina with her husband. • Anna Schimel graduated from Columbia University with a master’s in climate and society. She spent the summer in Bergen, Norway, doing research. To that, the ever-elusive Ashley Grevelink responded, “Dang, Bergen’s beautiful.” Ashley is still in Utah, seems to be attending every psytrance music fest in North America, and responded to a call for updates with, “I’ve had quite a few string cheese incidents.” • Will Werblow is working corporate in New York. He saw Oliver Dormody and Hanson Cheng on a recent visit to the Bay Area, and has also met up with Junius Ross-Martin and Andrew Stewart. Speaking of Junius, I’ve issued him a final warning in regard to the content he submits for this publication. He is currently on probation after sending in a detailed dinner order, so let it be publicly known that I’ve had it up to here with his tomfoolery. • Jenna Florio is in San Francisco, still getting her hands dirty with ants, and spreading her love of insects. Both Caitlin Duffy and Morgan Wilkinson provided no answers, but mild stalking reveals they are in London and New York City, respectively. • Olivia VanCott Stanton lives near campus with her husband.

• Julie McCausland just had her heart broken. • Until next time, kids!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Parker Peltzer ppeltzer@gmx.com • Wilson Josephson josephsonw@carleton.edu Charlotte Gross began her M.F.A. studies in fiction writing at the University of New Hampshire this fall.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

Faculty

Please send news to Josie Rigby rigbyjosie48@gmail.com Lorrie Byrom continues to own/co-direct Camp Betsey Cox for Girls alongside daughter Devri Byrom ’90. Son Jed Byrom ’93 directs Camp Sangamon for Boys next door.

Lorrie serves on two local boards in Vermont (the Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum and Four Winds Nature Institute) and sings in two choirs. Enjoying travel, she recently went on a bike/barge trip through tulip fields in the Netherlands. Three beautiful granddaughters live nearby and provide frequent delights.

• Becky Dominguez (Alumni and Parent Programs, 2006–12) is director of development for the Shasta YMCA in Redding, Calif., having moved there four years ago with husband Ben (NMH Outdoor adjunct and Summer School) and son Rowan. Becky and Ben have since welcomed daughter Selah.

Becky wrote, “I miss NMH like crazy, especially in the fall … and when I have bad days at work. My favorite years were at NMH. Never take it for granted.” • Chantal DuPuis and Karen Guthrie traveled to Ireland, taking in some wonderful scenery and maybe even quaffing a glass or two of Guinness. On their return to the U.S., they ran into Louise and Dick Schwingel at Philadelphia Airport!

Louise and Dick had been to Paris, and were in Spain with Barb Watson and Alan Wallace.

• Rachel Jackson and Curtis Warren’s little boy, Chase, arrived on 5/25/18. Congratulations to the proud parents. • Marv Kelley ’60 and wife Carol continue to live in Greenfield.

Carol keeps busy with her gardens, communicating with family and friends, and keeping Marv out of trouble! Marv keeps busy by volunteering for several local nonprofits, reading, and keeping Carol out of trouble!

• Deb Kolpa welcomed baby grandson Matthew Christopher on 6/3/18. Congratulations to mom and dad, Emily Kolpa ’98 and Tom Patuto, and big sister Ali. • Carolyn Mann was spotted at Reunion 2018. In the 25 years I have known her, Carolyn has not missed many reunions, and it was great to see her enjoying the company of her former students.

• Dick Peller and Ellen Turner are happily living in northeast Ohio, helping son Michael Peller ’98 and his family (Kelsey Sullivan ’02 and their son, Harvey) move into their new home. Michael is associate head of school at White Mountain School in Bethlehem, N.H. After that, Michael and his family will visit Annie Peller Neill ’97, Jeff Neill ’97, and family in Taipei. Ellen is associate director of admissions at Kenyon College, and Dick teaches

at Western Reserve Academy. • Betty and Noel Stookey continue to present their “One Light Many Candles” (onelightmanycandles. org) program across the U.S. The Stookeys spend the winter in Ojai, Calif., and the rest of the year in Maine. Betty works at a local thrift store and for local organizations, and takes many trips to visit children and grandchildren. She turns 80 this year! She has written a soon-to-be-published account of her bilateral knee surgery, The B’s Knees, One Woman’s Account of Bi-Lateral Knee Surgery: An Extraordinarily Knee-Focused Journal.

Betty counts the years working at NMH as one of her greatest blessings. • Sher Sweet is now the spiritual care coordinator for Hospice of Franklin County. • Ted Thornton enjoys life as a retiree, a grandfather, a singer in two choirs, a board member of the Northfield Council on Aging, a board member of the Northfield iteration of the national Village-to-Village movement (which enables seniors to remain in their homes as long as possible), and a consultant for Greenfieldbased Silverthorne Theater. He goes on bird walks with Nick Fleck and the Northfield Bird Club and plays guitar with friends and at church. • Charlie Tranfield and wife Pat are still living in Keene, N.H., and they summer on Shelter Island. Lions, book club, bridge, and reading are some of their activities. No more tennis, but life is good and they hope it is for all of us. • Brian Walsh is enjoying retirement. In June, his son, Colin, married in Colorado. • Barbara Watson, John Rees, and Margarete Couture are all volunteers for LifePath in Franklin County. They do a fine job as benefit counselors, helping seniors with their food stamps, fuel assistance, and home-improvement loan applications. Carol Koldis Foote ’94 has recently joined the staff at LifePath. • Gloria Varno is still retired and loving every minute of it! • Sadly, Meredith Wood died at age 104 on 6/2/18 in Danbury, Conn., surrounded by loved ones. She was a faculty wife at Mount Hermon while her husband, Robert Wood, was director of physical plant from 1960 to 1970. Meredith was the proud mother of three Mount Hermon alumni: Robert H. Wood ’65, Norman Wood ’67, and Douglas Wood ’72. • I, Josie Rigby, stay active with daily workouts at Greenfield YMCA, three leagues at Brattleboro Bowl, and I hope to have ridden 1,000 miles on my bike by the time you read this! I got to help Chantal DuPuis with the Mother’s Day Half Marathon in Whateley, and will once again help out at the Bridge of Flowers race check-in. I travel as often as I can — this year to Amsterdam, Lisbon, U.K., Maine, Panama Canal, and Hawaii. I recently took over from Peter Snedecor as president of Western Massachusetts Swim Officials Association, so from October to March you will find me on a pool deck.

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VITAL STATISTICS B IR T H S 1988 Henry to Steve Gauster and wife Kari Gauster May 15, 2018 1997 Shira Molly to Ben Hoadley and wife Emily Hoadley January 24, 2018 Brooks Baker to Chelsea Simons Taliercio and husband Chris Taliercio February 5, 2018 1998 Matthew Christopher to Emily Kolpa and Tom Patuto June 3, 2018 2006 Sydney to Nicole Worden Adkins November 2017

M ARRI AGE S 1956 Ann Carpenter Holbrook to Don May December 2, 2017 1962 Sherry “Bobbi” Brush Geddes-Lehmann to Ted Lehmann May 2009 1970 Louise Rothery to Ridge White June 10, 2018 1995 Leah Musacchio to Steven Sendor September 2017 2002 Matt McNabb to Lauren Kelly May 2018 2007 Naomi Collett Ritz to Luis Sanches June 2017

D EAT H S 1933 Carol Valentine Kabler June 23, 2018 Survived by Mary Wilde Stubbings ’35, Sanford Rugen ’66

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1934 Ellen Northrop Shannon February 14, 2018 Survived by Elizabeth Shannon Laun ’91 1936 Elinor Allen McBride February 21, 2018 Survived by Hazel Robinson Quelch ’58, Donald Buermann ’66, Dorothy Halligan ’66, Janet Buermann Stiles ’71, Robert Buermann ’75

1940 Miriam Hunt Bellinger July 29, 2017 Survived by Virginia Steadler Rawling ’46, Sue Steadler McElwain ’52 Barbara Sedgwick Clark November 9, 2016 Betsy Walker Rogge December 21, 2016

Gordon Johnson May 31, 2014 Barbara Bilkert Mulder April 15, 2018 Barbara Cole Peck February 25, 2017 Peter Tolman February 2, 2016

Jane Robinson Siegel March 26, 2018

1944 June Baker Bremer April 10, 2016

1937 Barbara Sweet Kahrman May 4, 2018 Survived by Wylie Earp ’12

John Wheeler December 26, 2017 Survived by Douglas Wheeler ’68

Jane Pinney Foster May 9, 2018 Survived by Frances Farnsworth Armstrong ’44

1938 Betty Hasbrouck Bangert April 24, 2017

1941 Patricia Gordon Pickering July 20, 2018

Shirley Meyer Poe April 4, 2009

L. David Bevan February 18, 2000

Carolina Weber Rhea February 5, 2015

Robert Congdon August 9, 2013

Jean Atwell Sweitzer June 14, 2018 Survived by Margaret Atwell ’79

Aiden French May 20, 2015 Charlou Snyder Larronde January 26, 2015 Barbara Hall Schleyer July 22, 2014 Augustus Winder May 19, 2018 1939 Robert Ehinger March 8, 2018 Survived by Nelson Ehinger ’48 Alice Webb Kavanagh April 10, 2005 James Spaulding October 19, 2017 Survived by Howard Spaulding ’42, Robert Helbig ’58, Lance Jillson ’58, Susan Helbig Maddern ’60, Gail Livernoise Noland ’60, James Smolen ’67, Joanne Smolen Freeman ’70, Nancy Smolen Chase ’71, Elizabeth Maddern-DeHoyos ’82, Linda Maddern Leduc ’85, Thomas Maddern ’88 Dwight Stauffer May 12, 2016 Survived by Deborah Mague ’60, Benjamin Mague ’65

1942 Kenneth Franz April 22, 2018 Survived by Bruce Barnes ’56, Melinda Franz ’72, Peter Franz ’73 David Hall January 13, 2010 Survived by Richard Handy ’53, F. Philip Handy ’62 Alfred Holer October 25, 2009

Suzanne Berger Roethel August 11, 2017 1945 Robert Buker September 25, 2017 Survived by Norman Buker ’43, Kent Buker ’69 Robert Davidson February 26, 2018 Survived by Cynthia Davidson ’70 Mary Bauman Gates July 15, 2018 Patricia Browning Paige April 13, 2018 Survived by Toni Browning Smiley ’54

1947 Jane Goostray Bissell April 27, 2018 Survived by Thomas Bissell ’87 Jocelyn Chutter Frost September 23, 2017 Survived by Reinald Chutter ’47, Robert Chutter ’53, Elaine Chutter Latham ’53, Cynthia Chutter Kahn ’57, Brenda Bareham Mack ’73, Cynthia Latham Worrell ’84, Mark Chutter ’85, Leonard Latham ’86, Donna Latham ’88, Ross Latham ’91, Heather Latham ’94 Priscilla Hartwell Hansen April 27, 2018 Survived by George Hartwell ’50, Leigh Hansen ’71 Dorothy Brauff Melamed May 17, 2018 Patricia Rollins Nelson May 27, 2018 Survived by Richard Rollins ’50 Malcolm Payne January 5, 2016 Survived by Alan Payne ’53 Helen Taft Staser March 11, 2018 1948 Adele Lake Barton May 12, 2018 Arnold Barton January 13, 2018

Albert Lahr June 24, 2018 Survived by Fred Horenburger ’55, Steven Lahr ’70

D. Colin Selley May 2018

Herb Emanuel June 7, 2017

M. Jean White Walther January 23, 2018

Roger Tuttle September 3, 2017 Survived by Paul Tuttle ’68, Tracy Tuttle-King ’81

1946 Justus Fennel March 11, 2018 Survived by Mitzi Fennel ’80

Emily Dean Greenberg June 10, 2015 Survived by Cynthia Britten Robinson ’48, Britten Dean ’53

Elwood Wilbur March 21, 2018 Willis Wilcoxson April 30, 2018 1943 Bruce Gillette September 13, 2016 Jane Maddox Hatch January 24, 2018 Marjorie Heywood May 1, 2016

John Goldsberry April 15, 2018 Irwin Goodchild March 21, 2018 Edward Melby April 22, 2018 Survived by Marian Melby Abbott ’41, John Cayward ’53, Arnold Whitehouse ’68, Jonathan Whitehouse ’71

Frederick Mills February 4, 2015 Alfred Noe June 22, 2014 Owen Sutton February 24, 2018 Sally Carleton Trippe August 2006 1949 Rae Wickes Ackerly April 11, 2018 Survived by Peter Ackerly ’89

VI TA L STATISTICS

William Browning March 23, 2018 Shirley Grange Dayton March 12, 2018 Survived by Dawn King ’74, Bruce Dayton ’81, Heather King Frechette ’02, Jessica King Savoy ’03 Joan Stevens Gross February 28, 2018 Survived by Dwight Wilkinson ’42, Anne Stevens Mitchell ’50

Melanie Todman ’02, Sean Todman ’04, Adam Chatman ’14 Virginia Crandall Horan June 4, 2018 Sybil Benton Williamson June 20, 2018 Survived by Sarah Williamson ’80

Margit Hammalian Harris May 13, 2018 Survived by Virginia Kiremidjian ’48, David Kiremidjian ’54, Stephen Hammalian ’59, Tiran Kiremidjian ’83 J. William Purdon February 11, 2016

Richard Linthicum February 5, 2018 1963 Susan Yinger Johnson November 12, 2014 John Laestadius July 13, 2012 Survived by Karen Laestadius Sutton ’66

1953 Audrey Snyder Donley November 11, 2015

Norman White January 23, 2018 Survived by Barbara Hill Bullock ’39, Cynthia White Spokes ’58

Joanne Vose Johnston February 27, 2018

Carolyn Knapp Foster March 12, 2018 Survived by Michael Foster ’82, Amy Rider ’82, Hannah Rider ’08

1957 Janice Hoadley Glossman January 12, 2016 Survived by Nancy Hoadley Mustoe ’53

Winfield Jones November 4, 2017

Rene Gonzalez May 20, 2018

Bruce Johnstone April 10, 2018

Janet Pope Paulsen March 16, 2018

Dorothea Shrope Myers May 9, 2018

Wallace Nichols April 22, 2016

1950 Allan Davis January 13, 2015

Thomas Warwick February 18, 2018

1958 A. Michael Lafferty May 28, 2017

1969 Peter Bull July 18, 2018 Survived by George Bull ’67

William Lathrop March 1, 2018

Wallace Howe February 2, 2018

Clifford Holton May 15, 2011

Ruth Van Deusen Scholtz January 11, 2018 Anna Johnston Taylor November 4, 2017 1951 C. James Allen April 1, 2018 Ruth Ann Appley January 17, 2018 John Hesse August 7, 2017 Survived by Olivia Cleary ’16 Larry Levine February 7, 2018 Nancy Maker February 11, 2018 Survived by Winston Maker ’42, George Maker ’61, Geoffrey Franklin ’80 David Norton April 16, 2018 Robert Owen June 20, 2018 Survived by William Owen ’54 Barbara Klaer Pardee March 11, 2018 Survived by David Klaer ’55 1952 Donald Chatman February 22, 2018 Survived by Lynn Chatman Todman ’75, Eleanor Chatman ’77, Eric Chatman ’78, Malachi Weir ’89, Maicharia Weir Lytle ’92,

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Lorna Stoltzfus Wells November 22, 2016 Bruce Wilson January 12, 2009 1954 Charles Blatchford June 30, 2018 Survived by Helen Leavitt Campbell ’47, Amy Blatchford Hecht ’48, Joan Bliss Wilson ’50, Lucy Blatchford Dillon ’78 Richard Hassell January 15, 2013 1955 Robert DeRight February 13, 2016 Mary-Scott Dayton Reding April 1, 2018 Martha Stegmaier Speno January 12, 2018 Walter Topham February 20, 2018 Survived by Christopher Thompson ’81, Sarah Topham ’85 1956 Linda Rubendall Fletcher February 24, 2018 Survived by Suzanne Rubendall Faudon ’61, Bee Rubendall Boster ’63, Robert Boster ’83, Katherine Ballard ’85, Cara Ballard ’87

Nancy Whitaker Jones Tavares October 14, 2017 1959 David Person March 7, 2018 1960 Arthur Mitchell October 2, 2017 1961 Brenda Slater Holske February 2018 Survived by Janice Thompson Butler ’54, Judith Thompson Flemister ’57, Donna Hayes Kennedy ’59, Karen Lanphear Malinowski ’77, D. Bradford Lanphear ’79, Kristin Lanphear LaPorte ’82, Wendy A. Flemister Shairs ’82 Brian Walsh July 3, 2018 Survived by Maryn Wright Barrett ’87 Mary Weigle June 14, 2018 Survived by Luther Weigle ’63 1962 Scott Calvert March 16, 2018 Survived by Peter Calvert ’66, Karin Hedman Calvert ’67 Lillian Foster Ketchum June 29, 2018 Survived by Joanne Foster Carlisle ’60

1981 Samuel Rose January 2018 Survived by Deborah Housen-Couriel ’77, Phyllis Housen ’79 1982 Charles Crowley February 27, 2018

1964 Roberta Randall Lalama June 18, 2018

1983 Holly Christian April 10, 2018 Survived by Bonnie Christian ’84

1965 Bruce Johnston June 9, 2018

1995 Christine Cummings March 26, 2018

1968 Rory Dalton April 2, 2018

1996 Kristin Moyer April 24, 2018 Survived by Anne Rodgers ’61

Carolyn Stange Goodwin January 24, 2018

Brian Miner June 7, 2018 Survived by Bradford Miner ’66, Cheryl Miner Williams ’72, Alison Miner Valley ’76, Anne Miner Jarek ’94, Sarah Miner Quina ’94 1970 Steven Goldstein July 2, 2018 Barbara Jean Gardner Kissel January 7, 2016 1973 Kathryn Todman Browne September 20, 2014 Survived by Michael Todman ’75, Melanie Todman ’02, Sean Todman ’04 David Mojekwu May 1, 2018 1975 Sarah Paine Curley June 30, 2018 1978 Barry Rose January 10, 2015 Survived by Deborah Housen-Couriel ’77, Phyllis Housen ’79 David Sawyer January 31, 2018

1997 Christopher Thompson March 11, 2018 Survived by Rhonda Mitchell ’94, Krissy Mitchell Thompson ’00 2009 Kendhall Bradley Davis May 7, 2018 F ORMER FACULT Y AN D STAF F Carroll Bailey April 9, 2018 Louie Clough April 10, 2009 L. Elizabeth Costigan July 4, 2018 John Graves February 4, 2017 Katherine Lester May 25, 2018 Fay Mesic July 1, 2018 Shirley Reed February 22, 2008 Jacob Stafford July 22, 2018 E. Wayne Turner November 26, 2017 Survived by Wendy Turner ’73, Amy Turner ’77 Marilyn Wiggin July 8, 2018 Harold Williams July 11, 2018

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B Y PET ER W EI S ’ 7 8 , P’ 1 3

HISTORY LESSON

Signed, Harry Truman The Bible that once belonged to Mount Hermon student William Henry Jackson lies under glass in the NMH Archives. With good reason: There’s nothing else like it in the world.

Its flyleaf pages contain an extraordinary collection of autographs: seven U.S. presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Harry Truman; British prime minister Winston Churchill; Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the first lady of the Republic of China; General Douglas MacArthur; the prince of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). And those are just some of the grandest names.

Jackson came to Mount Hermon from London when he was in his late 20s and already preparing for the ministry. Attached to no particular class and with no aspirations of graduating, he nevertheless was awarded this Bagster Polyglot Bible at the school’s fifth Commencement, in 1891, for “excellence in notes on Bible lectures.” The prize was signed by headmaster Henry F. Cutler.

Jackson appears to have sought out other prominent attendees at the ceremony; the signatures of school founder D.L. Moody, his wife, Emma, and Moody’s musical partner, Ira Sankey, appear directly below Cutler’s.

We don’t know when Jackson started asking other well-known figures to sign his Bible. It may have been as late as 1911, when Jackson, by now the pastor of the Reformed Church in Oyster Bay, New York, invited one of his congregants, President Theodore Roosevelt, to add his name. We do know that Jackson’s wife continued to seek signatures for her husband’s prized possession after his death in 1925.

In 1986, Jackson’s daughter, then 90, offered the Bible to NMH.

P H O T O : C H AT T M A N P H O T O G R A P H Y

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The Bible of William Henry Jackson is signed by Truman, Winston Churchill, both Presidents Roosevelt, and other world leaders.

GIVING BACK

Nearly 40 Years and Counting Dr. James “Jim” and Miriam “Mimi” Niederman P’78 HOME: Bethany, Connecticut PROFESSION: Jim is a retired physician and epidemiologist at the Yale University School of Medicine (his research identified the EpsteinBarr virus as the cause of infectious mononucleosis). Mimi has served on the boards of several community organizations and was an original member of the Connecticut Mental Health Center Foundation.

WOW FACTOR: They first gave to NMH in 1979 and have done so nearly every year since.

WHAT MOTIVATES THEM: Their daughter, Dr. Caroline “Carrie” N. Niederman ’78, who served for decades on the NMH Alumni Council, including two terms as president, and is now an NMH trustee.

WHAT INSPIRED THEIR FIRST GIFT: At Carrie’s old school, she was deemed “not college material.” At NMH, she “was happy, she did well, and when she graduated, she was well on her way.”

BEST NMH MOMENT: When Carrie was accepted to her top-choice college on their 25th wedding anniversary.

NMH SOUVENIR: After graduation, their daughter’s roommate left a plant behind in the dorm, and it went home with the Niedermans. Thanks to Jim’s green thumb, the plant is still thriving 40 years later.

WHAT THEY HOPE FOR: That NMH will always “educate the whole student.”

— Tara Jackson P’21

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PHOTO: GALE ZUCKER

NMH

Magazine

One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354

THE VIEW FROM 60,000 FEET The Connecticut River, as seen from the high-altitude balloon that was launched last May by students in NMH’s Science Club.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE NMH SCIENCE CLUB