friends along the way, and found that her mother’s stories about growing up in China have become more real. Karyl shares her story as a living example of the value of family stories, written journals, and the wonders of Internet research, which made a site-specific trip like this possible. Lucinda Young Kelly, living in Seattle, Wash., shared news of the birth of their son Bruce’s first child, Curtis, in Auckland. She and her husband, Thorpe, visited Auckland in January for Curtis’s first birthday. She recalled a “magical” summer in Seattle with 40 days over 80 degrees, but with negligible rain, “perfect for their annual Seafair celebration, when fireboats greet the US Navy fleet, Blue Angels soar, and hydroplanes race.” Pattie Pelton Lanier serves on her county’s library advisory board, a nonpaid appointment for which she visits county facilities and recommends ways to improve library service. She also volunteers at a library fundraising event for adult and children’s programs. Her four grandchildren, two outside London and two in the States, are central to her life. She enjoys her visits to England, and recently introduced her two American grands to the marine life to be found on the beach after a storm. She added water exercises to her workout regime in order to stay in shape for travel. Her observation: “Retirement certainly isn’t restful!” Sally Foster Wallace writes that after 50 years in Urbana-Champaign, Ill., she and husband Jim have moved to Florence, Ariz., midway between Phoenix and Tucson. They are enjoying living around the corner from daughter Amy (Jim and Sally’s daughter), Ken (Amy’s husband), Lydia (Jim and Sally’s granddaughter, 17), and Sally James (Jim and Sally’s granddaughter, 13). Ruth Ann Fredenthal has three small paintings (one of which has already sold!) in Philadelphia in an exhibition that opened on 1/18/15 at the Larry Becker Contemporary Art Gallery in Philadelphia. Joan Thomen Phipps and husband Rod were busy with their church choir singing Christmas music in snowbound N.H. They spent Christmas with grandchildren and then drove to their winter home in San Diego, Calif., where they rang in the New Year with her brother, Willard Thomen ’63. Elinor Abbot is retired and living in the Bridgewater Retirement Community in Bridgewater, Va., near her younger brother. She attended the Massachusetts College of Art after NSFG (and a “hippie spell” in Boston!). She became interested in world arts, received a Ph.D. in anthropology at Brandeis, and taught for a while. Then “after a knock-ya-over” Christian conversion experience, she worked as a cultural anthropology consultant for many years with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. The fascinating 40-plus years took her around the globe to work with languages, cultures, and translation teams from Argentina to Nigeria to India. Dorrie Krakower Susser is well, and she and Sue Chandler traveled to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in July 2014 to join Jan Mitchellhill Leas at David and Evie Walsh Stevenson’s “for lunch on a beautiful summer day, surrounded by flowers and plants nurtured by Evie, the Master Gardener.” Last September’s mini-reunion at the Zimmerlis’ was well-attended and a lot of fun! Equally fun was the Northfield brunch the following day at Benita
Pierce’s, where she, Lynda Gregorian Christian, Sue Chandler, Evie Walsh Stevenson, Jackie Blake Clayton, and Fiona MacKinnon all had a chance to catch up. The class had its usual pre-Vespers dinner in Boston in December. Lynda, Benita, and Dorrie attended the dinner, and Judy Freeman also attended Vespers. In not-so-good news, both Sue Chandler and Kate Guthrie Bergen are recovering slowly from bad falls. Do keep them in your thoughts and prayers as we all remember each other and our good times together at Northfield! During the winter, Pattie Pelton Lanier, Elaine Tetrault Smith, and Caro Woolley Peterson visit together a few times in Sarasota and Venice, Fla., where they all have homes. They have a way to escape the snow, ice, and cold of New England. Elaine and her husband visited the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada, on a Road Scholar trip. In June, Kim Buck took a trip to the Dalmatian coast with the Brown University Travelers—her first trip to the Croatian coast. Holly Cullum Walker, whose health has always been good, has had a difficult year: ovarian cancer and a hip replacement. The new hip was a breeze, but the ovarian cancer is being persistent. However, Holly is upbeat and determined to return to her usual healthy self. Dede Lawrence Smith’s husband passed away in early June 2014 after being ill with dementia. Ann Carpenter Holbrook moved from Raleigh, N.C., to Hanover, N.H. She is a new resident at the Kendall Retirement Community in independent living. Her daughter and family live in nearby Lebanon, N.H. After her first weeks, she is very, very happy there. Sharon Wright and Sue Chandler attended their 55th reunion at Oberlin College. Sharon moved from California to Fredericktown, Ohio, where she is living with her cousin and family, and is gradually recovering from her stroke. Sharon has severe difficulty articulating her thoughts, but can understand what people say to her. Her biggest frustration is not being able to speak what she wants to say. She takes great pleasure in the companionship of her dog, Poppy, whom she walks frequently around the six country acres where she is living. She is now on the waiting list for the Kendall Retirement Community in Oberlin, where there are three levels of care, as she hopes to obtain some speech therapy. She will be able to take Poppy with her when she moves there. From Nelson—The annual class of 1956 mini-reunion was held on 9/26/14 at the home of Betsy and Bruce Zimmerli in Falmouth, Cape Cod. This is the third year that the Zimmerlis have hosted this event—kudos! Hermon and Northfield classmates, spouses, and representatives of advancement and archives were there. Newcomers this year included Harlan (Hi) Baxter and wife Jane, and George Davis and wife Elaine. Hi came from Minnesota and George from two miles down the road in Falmouth (he resides part time in Falmouth and Annapolis, Md). Also in attendance was Ralph Wadleigh ’57 and wife Janette. The biggest frustration is there is never enough time to get around
and chat with everyone. A small group of classmates attended Dave Tait’s memorial service (July 2014) in Ridgewood, N.J. Bruce Zimmerli and John McClintock gave remembrances at a sad but uplifting service. Dave spent his military time in the submarine service. Ashby Morton reports on his and wife Joann’s annual migration to Little Deer Island, Maine, and the local lobster population. Dick MacKinnon was invited to “briefly” address the early inductees to the Cum Laude Society at a brunch in January. Carol and I welcome a new Kiwi grandchild in April 2015 and will travel to New Zealand for most of May to be with our “down under” Lebo family. A group of Northfield ’56 and Mt. Hermon ’56 classmates attended Christmas Vespers last December at Emmanuel Church in Boston. The Vespers service was preceded by an early class dinner at a nearby restaurant, with a reception afterward. It is never too soon to plan ahead. Our 60th reunion (the last formal one) will be in early June 2016. Mark this date on the calendar, and plan to attend this joyous and memorable event. Mt. Hermon class of ’56 continued to lead in support of the Annual Fund for 2013–2014. Let’s keep up that tradition for 2014–2015.
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NMH
DAVID C WILLIAMS 619 East Side Dr, PO Box 6 Alton NH 03809-0006 revdcwms@metrocast.net
JEANNE SWARTZ MAGMER 12705 SE River Rd Apt 103A Portland OR 97222-9701 jeannemagmer@comcast.net
From Jeanne—NMHConnect works! What’s especially exciting is that the friendships we made almost 60 years ago still flourish. Judy Wagner McKernon, Thalia Verros, and Wendy Hsu Lee were at the flume in Franconia, N.H. These loving friends try to get together at least once a year. They write, “We are grateful to Northfield for giving us the opportunity to become dear friends.” Linda Shemwick Lindquist writes that Marianne Severance Parris and her husband, Charlie, visited in fall 2014 en route to Turkey. The Lindquists also went to Africa on safari with Marianne and Charlie in 2013. “We always have the best time together” and Africa was “one amazing trip,” Linda said. Joyce Moore Arthur and husband Bob enjoyed the holiday season at home in Wisconsin. They spent a week in Mexico with daughter Sarah and son Bruce and his family (wife and two granddaughters). Joyce and Bob celebrated their 50th anniversary in June 2014. Mexico was their “treat for hanging in together for half a century.” Judy Clifford is busy adjusting to life without her partner/husband of many years. During the holidays, Paul Reyes and his wife, Pat, gathered in Minnesota with the flock of children and grands spring 2015 I class notes I 57