Magazine. I post my writing here: mgauerbach. blogspot.com.” Class notes editor Kris Alexander Eschauzier, Karen and Bill Newman with son Patrick, and Evie and Jay Haberland got together in August 2014 for drinks and dinner at Evie and Jay’s lovely home in Round Pond, Maine. “We went through a shocking amount of wine and gossiped about the rest of you as we gazed at the harbor!” says Kris. “Sadly, co-editor Pete Eschauzier was slaving away in Portland and wasn’t able to join us.” Later that week the Newmans visited Kris at Heron Island, around the point from Round Pond. Eschauzier grandchild number five arrived in August 2014!
69 N
SUE PINEO STOWBRIDGE PO Box 26 Silver Lake NH 03875-0026 sue.stowbridge@gmail.com
As I write, the world is frozen and some music from our time is rolling around in my head. There is Gordon Lightfoot’s line, “I’m on my second cup of coffee and I still can’t face the day…” and more appropriate to the season, Maine Public Broadcasting recently played Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols,” which brought tears to my eyes. I have happy memories of those days with Mr. Raymond. If you have ever logged in at nmhschool.org but did not receive this column in December, please update your email address. Our NMH list includes 204 addresses, 77 of which are invalid. On average, about 80 people open messages, which suggests a lot of us are not particularly interested in emails from NMH. You may not realize that our class is building a separate, private list on Mail Chimp, and we urge you to join that group, especially if you would like to stay connected to the old gang but not the school. We do not share our list with anyone; and the MH side of the class already has nearly everyone on their list. We need to catch up with them, ladies, so please join the Mail Chimp list by finding Karen Hoff McMahon on NMHConnect’s online directory. If you’re a Facebook user, search for Northfield Mt. Hermon Class of 1969 Alumni NMH69. After leaving the emergency assistance program where she was executive director for 17 years, Bonnie Blair Peterson returned to school and got her doctorate before her 60th birthday. In 2007, she started teaching in the grad program in public administration at Valdosta State University (VSU). Although pay is poor for adjuncts, she enjoys teaching both master’s and doctoral students. The biggest challenge is that she teaches the electives, which change on a regular basis. When Bonnie wrote, she was on the committee of 12 doctoral dissertations. Husband Jim is planning to retire after 30 years as head of the political science department at VSU. His specialties are the Czech Republic, Russia, and NATO, and he has written four books. He looks forward to writing more and possibly enjoying some downtime traveling with his wife. Bonnie says, “As grandchildren arrive, teaching may go by the wayside!” This thought has led them to leave the house in Valdosta, where they have lived for
32 years, and move to Atlanta, near both of the children. Bonnie has had fun trying to pick out areas near Atlanta and check out houses that are on the market. Chris Fleuriel still works at the VA in Augusta, Maine. Son Sam is a senior at Champlain, and daughter Shoshi is a freshman at Syracuse. In the fall, Shoshi had a 12-hour internship with a congressional candidate, a 10-hour-per/week workstudy, was involved with the campus Democrats, served as peer adviser, and was carrying 15 credits. Chris hopes she doesn’t burn out. Marti Hall Malabad is still traveling with her husband. They camped and kayaked in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia in July and August (2014), and also enjoyed a sailboat cruise in May, going up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore, with many stops in between. In October they did another week cruise. They love spending time with their grandkids (6 and 8). Marti would love to hear from anyone visiting the Virginia Beach area. Kate Handzo Gray had a great time at reunion. She and her husband were very pleased to be invited to the beautiful October outdoor wedding in Texas of the oldest daughter of Louise Windecker Sasaki and Nori Sasaki. Karen Hoff McMahon finally sold her house in Charlestown, N.H., at the end of June (2014) and moved at the end of September to a detached condo in Concord, N.H. Breaking news is that just as this column was in development, Karen wrote that grandson Russell was born on December 3. She says son Jeff and his family are doing well. They are not far away, so she has been able to visit. “It’s so wonderful—having had three boys myself, I remember how fun and terrific little boys are!” Katie Marshall Greenman and her husband are now settled on the shores of Alamoosook Lake in Orland, Maine, in the year-round log home her father had built in the late 1990s. They have access to an 1895 log cabin, where they have spent summers since 1978. Their daughter’s family (with girls, 7 and 4), son and fiancée, and other family and friends visit often in the summer. Katie has taken on the presidency of the Alamoosook Lake Association and the guiding of environmental protection efforts. Having completed a five-year commitment as an adjunct instructor teaching early literacy development at Eastern Maine Community College, she is taking the leap into foot reflexology. She says that singing with Voices for Peace helps her keep sane. She hopes to make our 50th reunion. Jane Porvancher Angelich is on the East
Kate Handzo Gray ’69 (left) celebrates with Louise Windecker Sasaki ’69 at Louise’s daughter’s wedding in Texas.
Coast! She and her husband moved from California to Bethesda, Md., in May 2013. Jane was hired as the VP of e-commerce for National 4-H Council, which is headquartered in Chevy Chase. She is having a great time running this division of the organization and experiencing all that D.C. has to offer. Her oldest son and his family live in D.C., so the added benefit is that they are now 20 minutes from grandchildren (2 and 5). Jane’s sister moved from California to Connecticut, and her 89-yearold dad moved from Florida to Connecticut, so most of the family is now relatively close by. One of Jane’s passions is helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses, so she added a feature to their retail division to support small, product-based business owners. She says if you are in that category and are in 4-H or have children that are, check out the small-business section of the website, 4-hmall.org. She would love to help! Becky Rounds Michela says that she is not working for pay this school year. She would like to spend more time in Maine on the family tree farm and think more about the upcoming generation. She finds that she needs to learn more technology and to solve those moments of brain freeze. Joanna Schoen Tillson wrote “from sunny and beautiful (but very cold) Bhutan,” where there was no central heating and getting dressed in the morning reminded her of getting ready to go skiing. She was finishing her year as senior librarian at Royal Thimphu College and planned to head to Southeast Asia in December for some warmth. She doesn’t know what comes next, but at least she would be able to sit on a beautiful beach to ponder where she wants to live and what she wants to do. Noemi Stewart Anderson is on that growing list of people who have moved. She wrote that, in July 2013, she and Greg moved to Mt. Laurel, N.J. Gretchen Vandewater began raising honeybees in April (2014) and harvested a little honey this fall. She says she left most combs full for food and insulation for the winter. The bright side of being stung is that she no longer takes ibuprofen for the arthritis in her hands. She is fascinated by the complex community process of beekeeping, from their genetic quirks to their entertaining dances of communication. She uses organic methods and has adjusted lawn care accordingly. It’s hard work at times, but lots of fun and rewarding. When she wrote, the countdown to retirement was less than 500 days. She continues work as an OT in the school system. While she enjoys working with the students, the documentation is tedious and excessive, and it’s difficult watching the teachers succumb to the burden of mandatory testing and paperwork, which stifles their creativity. “In this information age, we need to teach students how to think, find answers, and creatively solve problems, not simply absorb data to regurgitate on tests as proof of teacher competency and school system merit.” When Gretchen wrote, she had just finished hosting Thanksgiving for three sons and their ladies, plus one girlfriend’s two young daughters. Colin, 36, lives in East Atlanta; Cory, 33, lives in Decatur; and Tommy, 31, lives close by. Colin commented that this was their first holiday dinner where the women outnumbered the men! “I loved it,” Gretchen said. She had a great time at reunion and is already looking forward to spring 2015 I class notes I 71