CLASS NOTES
A CLOSER LOOK
this role for our class. Please send an email to me or to alumni@nmhschool.org if you would like to volunteer. –Marggie Slichter
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Northfield and Mount Hermon Jennifer Buell Horschman jenhorschman@yahoo.com
Northfield and Mount Hermon Geoffrey Locke gwlocke@gmail.com From Geoffrey Locke—Our 30th reunion is June 2–5, 2016. Chuck Abel and Wendy Mansfield Donovan are now reunion cochairs. Jim Rymes and Schuyler “Skip” Bush
Small World on a Big Mountain Laurie Shaver Watt ’83 Bobby Fisher ’85 It’s not every day that you climb the highest mountain peak in North America. It’s even less probable to be on that mountain, joined by rope, in 60-mile-per-hour winds, to someone from your high school years. Yet Laurie Shaver Watt ’83 and Bobby Fisher ’85 experienced the unlikely “fancy meeting you here” on a 21-day climb on Alaska’s Denali Mountain this year. Laurie and Bob’s NMH “click” came 10 days into their expedition. “It’s amazing, since we were roped together, living in small tents, eating every meal together,” says Laurie. Over a meal in the camp’s kitchen tent, the two intermediate mountaineers struck up a conversation about favorite foods they missed during the trip—maple syrup being one of them. Bob mentioned sugaring on his Vermont farm; Laurie mentioned that her high school had a farm that made maple syrup, too. Bob’s question, “What high school?” prompted the NMH reveal.
have signed on as well, and they attended the 2015 reunion as “reunion observers” to begin preparation and ideas. Highlights for them were running the Meg Peller Memorial Run (just Skip), visiting Dan Carson, ice cream at the Northfield Creamie, catching up with Vicky Curtis Jenkins at the boathouse, and going to a concert and dance outside of Blake Hall. We plan to have a large turnout, and especially hope that people who have never been to one of our reunions come back. Look for more information and registration materials soon, and sign up for a super-fun, nostalgic time! Contact any of us with questions or if you want to be involved. • It is with sadness that I report the unexpected death of Thomas Louderback on 5/11/15. After NMH, Tom graduated from Middlebury. He then received a law degree from American and worked for many years as a corporate attorney for Procter & Gamble, specializing in sports-figure endorsement contracts. We will remember Tom at reunion to honor him and his love for NMH. • Bruce Mendelsohn attended his 25th reunion at Vassar and looks forward to our 30th. He is now executive director of the New England Region of the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF). FIDF is a nonprofit organization that promotes the nonpolitical, nonmilitary mission of providing educational, social, cultural, and recreational programs and facilities for the well-being of Israel’s soldiers and their families. Bruce continues to collaborate with Gillian Williams while on the board of trustees for the Rensselaerville Institute. Bruce and Gillian have connected with Christina St. Laurent, and Bruce stays
in contact with a variety of NMH alums on Facebook and the “old-fashioned telephone.” • Alison Marble Reddy is the director of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) Math Placement Program and finds the work rewarding. The job’s flexibility also leaves time to spend with her three children. Alison enjoys running 5k road races and spending summer vacations in Colorado. • Craig Zodikoff works as managing principal for Cresa, a San Francisco‒based global commercial real-estate firm. He and his partner just finished a renovation of their Palm Springs weekend home. • Nilda Lopez visited with Mary D. Davis this past winter—“a great afternoon of memories and connecting again in our present lives.” This past March, Nilda also had lunch with Xandra Castleton in San Francisco. Xandra lives in Berkeley with her husband, David, and their 8-year-old daughter, Jasmin. Her latest film, Stand Up Planet, came out last year, and she teaches screenwriting part time at Stanford. Li Lin Hilliard Hally continues with life in Portland, Ore., and is settling into a part-time private psychotherapy practice after many years of challenging work for the Oregon State Department of Children and Families.
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Northfield and Mount Hermon Kit Gattis kitnmh@gmail.com www.facebook.com/nmh1987 website: nmh1987.org From Kit Gattis—Our 30th is in only two
years! So start talking to your classmates, reconnect, and get excited! • I had a wonderful time performing at the Alumni Dance Weekend last January, and discovered that my donations to NMH pay for toe shoes! They also unveiled the Gretel Schatz Endowed Fund for Dance, honoring our wonderful dance director. Every dollar we give to the fund is matched by donors, up to $35,000. In April I started flying trapeze with TSNY Boston. I’ve now been studying the circus arts for two years. • Matt Albee lives on Bainbridge Island, Wash., with his wife, Sarah, and two boys, and is running Eleven Winery. Matt enjoyed a random visit from Ken Robinson (from Chicago), and encourages anyone visiting the Seattle area to pop over to Bainbridge on the ferry to say hi. • Kara Connors lives in Marin
“Amy Fisher!” exclaimed Laurie — her NMH friend Amy Fisher Fazekas ’83 is Bobby’s sister — as their list of mutual NMH acquaintances grew. “It’s amazing how many people we collectively knew,” Bobby says. Bobby allows that he and Laurie were slightly less agile and altitude-ready than Bobby’s son, Mac, 21, who was also in the climbing group, but he added, “We Hoggers might have been a little older, but we have a certain amount of endurance in us.”
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Marggie Slichter ’84 and Ben Blake ’66 above Camden Harbor
Will Sheats ’87 in the VIP tent at NHL All Star Weekend