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HEATHER BLANCHARD TOWER 46 Main St Northfield MA 01360-1023 smtower@comcast.net BILL STEWART 28 Wildwood Pl El Cerrito CA 94530-2049 billstewartnmh73@gmail.com
David Eldredge ’71 (left) and Brad Foster ’71.
resulted in my being sent there. Though I rarely discuss my Mt. Hermon days, I have to admit it was the best time I have ever had. I fondly remember the food fights, butter pads stuck to the ceiling, Nimitz’s car for sale in West Hall, the strange sound emanating from the chapel when the electronic bells would freeze during the extreme cold, the auto-flush toilets in the bottom floor of Crossley, the broom closet with a teletype that was our first computer center, and the freak snowstorm that closed the school for the first time in 42 years. I have not returned since graduation, but, in the next few years, my wife and I plan on an extended RV trip around the country and Mt. Hermon is on the top of our list of destinations. I still have my maroon Mt. Hermon jacket. Any word from Archie Agan and Charlie Zienowicz?” Jim Morrisette: “I recently attended the wedding of Leif Jansson, son of Jerry Jansson. Jerry and I have been hanging out some. Each attended the other’s 60th birthday party, and we went to the BYU-Connecticut football game recently. He’s still as conservative as ever, and I’m still a liberal Democrat, but we have fun with it. Jerry says he hopes you put that in the bulletin just the way I wrote it. “I have artwork online (amazingthings.org). Click on Art Shows and scroll back to 2006. My show was called ‘August Combo.’ Some of my portraits are on there. Also, I’m on YouTube singing at the Chicken Bone Tavern in Framingham. Go to YouTube, Jim Morrisette Sings at the Chicken Bone.” And here’s hoping I hear even more from others of you in the New Year as well!
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KAREN BESHAR ZAKALIK 397 Woodbridge Ave Buffalo NY 14214-1529 karen.zakalik@gmail.com facebook.com/groups/47624874849
TOM SISSON 86 Punchbowl Trail West Kingston, RI 02892-1033 1972nmh@gmail.com
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From Heather—Thanksgiving was an interesting day, as we had our first power outage. I will say I was truly grateful that we were having a vegan Thanksgiving, as everything was cooked on the stove top and we had everything we had planned, relatively on time! Vespers was wonderful, as always. The Chamber Orchestra outdid itself and the choirs sang traditional pieces, which were stunning. The chapel was bathed in candlelight; the first strains of “Dost Thou Remember” instantly brought me back to the first time I heard it, and the recessional of “Adeste Fideles” with the soaring descant keeps me there. Channing Harris ’72 made the trek back. My children are busy and happy and were home for Christmas. It was great to have them nearby and they like to keep us up to date on their activities! News is sparse here—hint, hint! David King did a couple of interviews in connection with his recent term as visiting writer at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y. Check it out on the Writes Loop. We would love to hear from more of you. Much is shared on Facebook, so save some for us! From Bill Stewart—David Holleb writes, “The year is winding down, but Regina and I are still cycling as long as it’s above 40 degrees. It would be great if we could have an NMH alumni cycle ride. Our younger son will be graduating from University of Scranton this spring with a degree in neuroscience. He hopes to apply to med school next year. Our older son is a deck officer on an ocean tugboat pulling a 1,000-foot barge and 100 feet high between Jacksonville, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico. We would like to join him on those cruises during the winter! Our 15-year-old Shiba Inu died last October, so we are feeling the loss of our pooch. I walked him every day in the heat, cold, and rain, and it seems really odd now not to have to get up early in the morning for his onemile hike. Tom Bartlett, let’s go for a bike ride the next time you’re in New Jersey!” Tom Schmidt: “I have started a business with my daughter called Eagle Eye Aerial. We own a growing fleet of quadcopters and hexcopters, or drones. We are safety-driven and privacy-conscious. We provide search-and-rescue services. We film aerial video for commercials and media and for private industry. We can drop rose petals on a married couple exiting church or deliver and drop cargo in a remote spot. It is a challenging and exciting business.” Greg Burrill: “I’m in my 10th year as a substitute teacher for Portland (Ore.) Public Schools, still playing bass, being active in the teachers’ union and local politics, and living with roommates as a reluctant landlord. In another way, everything has changed. I have lived for decades following the
aphorism, ‘Belief is a trap; adopting a belief too strongly blinds you to other possibilities.’ I have adopted a belief that allows me to put the majority of my energy working to ‘create a world that works for all beings.’ Such a world would have no war, no unsustainable use of any of the planet’s resources, and little or no hunger, poverty, or hate. I invite you to think about what it would have.” Skip Weaver: “My son, Stephen, got married in August 2014. I stopped teaching at Seminole State in September, but am now going through the hiring process at Mid-Florida Tech. Still living in Clermont, Fla., with my min-pin and my pug. Have had John Miller and John Lazarus to visit.” Ann Bolas Siwiak: “On personal leave from teaching high school for the next year and a half. Actively working on becoming healthy. Slowly divesting my abode of 29 years of accumulation. Pondering the role of a teacher in today’s climate. Returning to the philosophical tenets imbued within my soul during four years of religion at NMH. Being grateful to everyone at NMH for being born so that I had the benefit of your intelligence and your friendship as I solidified the foundation of who I became. Especially appreciative for Mike Watkins and Emilykaye Lonian Mitchelson. With every student who walked across my threshold in high school, I sought out each one’s intelligence so that I could learn as much as I did from Mike and Emilykaye. ‘Education and hard work,’ the words of Sidney Poitier at our graduation, have guided how I have taught and who I am.” David Hill: “Neurosurgery for a brain tumor led to a career change. Then, after several years teaching English for business communications, I returned to the U.S. and UPenn for a master’s in education. Great to reconnect with American pragmatics as well as an old alma mater. I’ve just finished my program, but envy my 23- and 24-year-old classmates’ energy levels, which they all seem to take for granted.” Nancy Elkington: “Partner Ted and I spent much of 2014 on the road. In the spring: two weeks in Ireland filling our eyes and souls with natural beauty and visiting historic sites. In the summer: we happily camped in our new teardrop travel trailer with our two dogs in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. In the fall: stimulating trips to Pittsburgh, Williamsburg, and Washington, D.C. I continue to really enjoy Facebook as a venue for building and rekindling friendships with NMH pals.” Amy Halsted: “For factors personal, professional, and physical, I got serious about retirement last spring, after 27 happy years with the American Physical Society. Put my house in eastern Long Island on the market at the end of June (2014) and it was under contract 10 days later (thanks to Greg Burrill for his astute advice on this transaction). Wanting to return to my Yankee roots, I househunted in northwestern Massachusetts/southern Vermont through the summer, and made an offer on a glorious place in Bennington in late August in between trips to Connecticut to spend time with my gravely ill father. In a three-day period at the beginning of September, my darling father died, my offer on the house was accepted, and I retired. It was a big week in the life of little Amy. I’ve been