CL ASS NOTES
San Francisco to Arroyo Grande to be with their granddaughter, Pema Elizabeth (who was adopted from Kazakhstan as a baby), and her family. The Starzels’ home, on a hill, backs onto a large pasture with nine horses. The hills, oceans, and dense California oaks make Arroyo Grande a paradise. • In December 2018, John Stone had a laminectomy and L3-4 fusion after an accident on his boat. The operation, performed by two surgeons with whom Trinka Craw Greger had previously worked, was a success. As of June 2019, John’s and Trinka’s lives were gradually returning to normal after a demanding and stressful year. The doctors say it will take John a full year to recover. (Trinka says that it will take her a year to recover as well.) One of the hardest things will be selling the boat, as the sale will represent the end of a long and happy era. • Steve “Seaweed” Walker built an 18-foot schooner over the previous two winters, and was ready to launch it last June. Steve said the project was a lot of fun, but that he will never be a real boat builder. Nevertheless, Steve invites classmates to come sail with him if you are in Rhode Island! • Elsbeth and Gordon Wosak joined an excellent Road Scholar trip to Egypt in October 2018. • Ellen Watson Payzant and Tom Payzant are new great-grandparents! Ellen’s brother, TJ, spent six months in Germany working for his company, Uponor. Their grandson, Kai, graduated from the Tokyo campus of Temple University in June. Ellen and Kai’s parents attended. They spent a wonderful 10 days exploring Tokyo with Kai before his graduation. They all then rushed home to attend the high school graduation of Kai’s twin brothers. They will both attend the University of Utah. The graduations were a bit bittersweet, since Tom could not be with the family in Japan or at the graduation ceremonies, although he was able to celebrate with everyone afterward at home. Tom’s Alzheimer’s has unfortunately advanced. He lives around the corner from Ellen in a wonderful assistedliving and memory-care facility. He is happy and well cared for. The family visits often and frequently bring him home for meals and family events. It is a crime that he is no longer able to contribute his vast experience and educational knowledge with others. This year, Ellen was able to participate in the 125th anniversary of Sacred Concert. She stays active singing in her church choir, exercising, and volunteering where needed. • Your reporter (Bill Hawley) and my wife, Betsy, had a great April visit with our Scottsdale-resident son and daughter and their families, as well as a mini reunion with
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law school classmates in Sedona, Ariz. We also enjoyed a visit from our oldest granddaughter, Emma, in Alaska in June 2019, playing in the snow at the top of the tram at Alyeska, the local ski area, and hiking around Anchorage. We were planning to tour Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki in the fall.
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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: Our 60th reunion was fantastic! Twenty women from Northfield School for Girls and 30 men from Mount Hermon gathered on campus and enjoyed the festivities during a beautiful weekend. Music by the Dubious Brothers (Steve Knapp, Clark Peters, and Charles Wantman), a talk by Soren West about his 2,200-mile trek on the Appalachian Trail at age 75, and the Hymn Sing and Shabbat services made this time together memorable. • Another highlight was our memorial service, led by Peter Olson, as we recalled the classmates who had died since our last reunion. Class gift chairs Karen Forslund Falb and Nancy Johnson and their callers succeeded in making our women the most generous class in terms of participation, at 32.6 percent. • Carol Crary Nordmann is living in Tubac, Ariz., in the winter and enjoying the adventure of the West. • Lori Dingman Wadsworth was on a cruise up the coast of Norway at the time of our reunion, traveling as far as the Arctic Circle in hopes of seeing polar bears. She and her husband, Chris, are planning to move into a retirement community in Lexington, Mass., this winter. • Heidi Jousson Fitch moved to Oregon from Montana 10 years ago to escape the long winters. She and her husband, Jeff, love hiking. • Louise Klinck Ferrebee enjoys living in Old Lyme, Conn., where she grew up. Her two daughters, one of whom went to NMH, live in Telluride, Colo., so Louise doesn’t get to see her grandchildren very often. • Dee MacKinnon Love said she was sorry not to be with all of us at reunion. She and her husband, Ralph, were cruising the Danube from Budapest to Germany at the time. • Susan Taylor Gillespie and her husband have moved to Bellingham, Wash. Unfortunately, Susan has been dealing with some health issues. She said that Jane Stevenson Fergus lives in western Pennsylvania and has four sons. • Shirley Kelley Tyschen and her husband, Bill, came for lunch during our reunion. They
were attending Bill’s reunion at Wilbraham and Monson Academy. It was wonderful to see her. Shirley and Bill are happily retired in Bonita Springs, Fla., and make visits to Colorado, where their two children live. • Judy Holbrook Hurlbut and her husband are living in a retirement community in Lititz, Penn. They are enjoying life and participate in community activities. They see their two sons and six grandchildren often. • Donna Hayes Kennedy retired in 2014 after a 37-year career as an academic librarian at Northeastern University. She’s enjoying retirement and keeping busy with volunteer work, tai chi, and travel. She still lives in her house in Winchester, Mass. Three of her children live in the Boston area; the fourth lives in Toronto. Her grandchildren are geographically scattered, but it’s fun when they get together. • On a sad note, Nancy Bissell Goldcamp’s husband, Bill, passed away shortly after our reunion in June after being in ill health for some years. We extend to Nancy our condolences. • From Tom: Our 60th reunion was fantastic! We started with a mystery: Our class numbers on senior rock had been filled with gold leaf. Who could have done this? It became clear when Buddy Brennan showed his handsome countenance. • We ended the Saturday evening of reunion with Steve Cohen reciting a poem he penned to commemorate our weekend. It goes as follows: “My brothers and sisters reune / Every five years or so. / We shall continue to do it, / As long as we can go. / The youth that we shared / Is alive through the years; / When one of us hurts, / We each shed real tears. / As life takes us forward, / At age we don’t rage / Whatever may happen, / We won’t disengage. / We shall take every step / And be present for good. / There’s no other choice; / We’ll live life as we should.” • Charles MacCracken thanks the committee members for the work they did to make this reunion a success. “Also, a big thank you to gregarious Pete Welsh who (re)introduced me to many of my classmates. He made my first reunion a memorable and delightful experience. Soren’s presentation of some of his 3,000 pictures and his commentary about his hike of the Appalachian Trail was both instructive and hilarious. I look forward to reading his book. I have always given just to the NMH Fund on the theory that the administration would know best how to use the money. I did not realize that the class of ’59 has a dedicated Scholarship Fund until Ty Bair Fox explained it Saturday night.” • Clark Peters shared, “I thoroughly enjoyed our reunion and have been searching for the right words to sum it up. Expected warmth,