CLASS NOTES
Michael Richards ’74 and wife Young attended the U.S. Consulate General Marine Ball, Jerusalem.
combed hills and towering boulders of otherworldly beauty’ with friendly people. We mountain biked and hiked the ancient cave-dwelling tours. I would love to know whether other classmates have visited Turkey.” Planning for New England hiking, crosscountry skiing, and snowshoeing with Stephanie Gerson, Sue Fenske McDonough, and Lyn Tranfield Bennett. • Christopher Matthews traveled to Guatemala, Panama, Germany, and Spain, communicating missionary opportunities with seminarians and parishioners for those European cities where the Spanish-speaking diaspora live and work. He was in Guatemala during September’s historic presidential election, and toured the Panama Canal Zone after lecturing at Panama City’s Chinese Seminary. In October, Chris presented at a Stuttgart conference, then led a Spanish tour from Valladolid, Salamanca, Ávila, Toledo, Córdoba, to Sevilla following the Camino de Santiponce, tracing the steps of 16th-century Spanish reformers smuggling forbidden literature. Beth joined him in Malaga for their first grandson’s birth, then taught a conflict resolution intensive while Chris taught cross-cultural communications at the Sevilla Seminary. • From Michael Richards: “I recently retired after 24 years as State Department cultural attaché, having served in Baghdad, Jerusalem, Lagos, Moscow, Seoul, and Tel Aviv, to pursue my muse as a writer. My first novel, Choice of Enemies, launched in January 2016, and my second novel, A Thousand Enemies, is set for publication in August. The third book of the series, Enemies in the Gate, publishes 2017. Visit marichardsbooks.com for my bio and book info. When not playing the role of reclusive writer, I can be found in the company of my wife, Young, a ceramic artist and painter. Palm Beach, Fla., is our home now, but when the travel bug bites, we visit friends and relatives in Israel and Korea.” • Let’s congratulate Andy Taber, executive director at the Mountain Institute, for his panel discussion at the Paris COP21 Climate hearings: “Conference sur les Changements Climatiques, Nations Unies,” Paris 2015! • Email johnsburnham@gmail.com for our Facebook page; and send your updated contact info to addressupdates@nmhschool.org.
Andrew Taber ’74 (far right) spoke at the UN’s climate change conference in Paris.
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Northfield Mount Hermon Veronica Froelich Adams veronicafadams@gmail.com • Carrie Roantree Ahlborn crahlborn@gmail.com
Strive ’75 Is Coming Alive ’75! After a wonderful 40th reunion last June, a number of classmates volunteered for a steering committee that will work together to strengthen our connections with one another and with NMH. Thanks to Jamie Robinson for helping to coordinate our reunion! Committee members include: Betsie Lord Danforth, Kansas Collins Wight, Carrie Roantree Ahlborn, Christine Blount Graves, Deborah Rosenberg, Gary Thurston, Hollis Graves, Jamie Robinson, Randy Showstack, Ronni Froelich Adams, Sallie Dillingham Bowling, Sarah Chapman, Sarah Sherrill, Shelly Pevner Zakim, Steve Johnson, Stuart Patterson, Tim Horrigan, Whit Inzer, and Laura Wright Brock. • Carrie Roantree Ahlborn and Ronni Froelich Adams have stepped up as co-class secretaries, taking the reins from Karen Perkins and Sallie Dillingham Bowling, who ably served in that role for many years. Thank you, Karen and Sallie! Be sure to write Carrie or Ronni with your updates! • If you’re on Facebook, please join the Northfield Mount Hermon Class of ’75 page. Also, we’re in the process of updating our email list, which is woefully out of date. Be sure to send Carrie or Ronni your latest preferred email addresses. • After some schooling in Middlebury, Vt., and New Haven, Conn., Chip Lende got married and headed out to Alaska in 1982, eventually settling in Haines. He has run the local lumberyard there for the last 30 years. He has five grown children (two are NMH alumni) and five grandchildren so far. When not working or reading stories to grandchildren, Chip can be found on a bicycle or at a hunting camp in the Chilkat Valley. You can find out more about Haines by visiting Chip’s wife’s blog, heatherlende.com. • Ruth Lapin reports that she had an amazing time with Ilene Feldman Steele when she came for a visit, and they spent a night at Ruth’s home in Woodstock. • An unexpected work trip to Atlanta gave Jamie Robinson an opportunity to get together with Karl Fezer last July. They had talked about this back in 2005, but it took 10 years for the opportunity
to come along. Jamie reports that it was great to see Karl, catch up, and reminisce. Karl gave Jamie a tour of his workplace in Atlanta, where he does pilot training and check rides for a commercial airline. Jamie does similar work on the railway, but as he has been fascinated by airplanes for many years, this was a fantastic experience for him! • J.B. Langer lives on the north shore of Boston in a place called Prides Crossing. He has a house and a fully appointed but little-used guesthouse on seven acres, and welcomes any NMH classmates if they are visiting the Boston area. J.B.’s elder daughter, a junior at NMH, was home for Thanksgiving. On a side note, J.B. has rekindled his interest in the poetry of the Great War (Owen, Sassoon, and Rosenberg). • Anne Harris retired from General Dynamics and now has her own consulting business in the corporate compliance and ethics field. • Ronni Froelich Adams is back in the D.C. area working on a federal diversity and inclusion project, and plans to move increasingly into leadership development and innovation management consulting. Recently in New York City, Ronni enjoyed lunch with Brian Lehrhoff and a couple of shows with David Caldwell, who’s continued his impressive career as a musical director and composer. She also visited with Randy Showstack and his family on Thanksgiving, and is plotting a D.C.-area class dinner with Lucy Lisle Austin for this year. • John Buckley is the author of the novels Family Politics (1988) and Statute of Limitations (1990). In 2010, The Business of Happiness by Ted Leonsis with John Buckley became a bestseller. In 2013, his novel The Geography Lesson, which is about a botched National Geographic Society expedition, was published, and his agent is currently shopping to publishers Not a Pretty Picture, his fourth novel. John has held senior positions in three U.S. presidential campaigns, and been the top communications executive at several companies, including AOL. He started his career as a rock critic for New York Rocker, the Soho Weekly News, The Village Voice, the National Review, and Rolling Stone magazine, and for a decade has published the blog “Tulip Frenzy: Commentary on Music (Mostly), With An Occasional Photo.” He is currently managing director of the Harbour Group, a strategic communications firm, and lives in Washington, D.C., and Wilson, Wyo., with his wife, Anna Bennett, and son, Will. • Carrie Roantree Ahlborn is in her fourth year as the director of annual giving for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation. She and her husband, Seth, headmaster of Henderson International School and home of Findlay Prep, welcome NMH visitors to their home in Henderson, just minutes from Vegas! Carrie’s four daughters were home for Thanksgiving — age 22 (working in theater in Vegas); 24 (going to grad school in art in Alamosa, Colo.); 26 (teaching chemistry and coaching at National Cathedral School in D.C.); and 33 (teaching in Madison, Wis.) —
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