programs in her church. Katie is an accomplished pianist and also has a wonderful voice, which she uses as a choir member. Katie is an avid bird watcher and travels around the state to pursue her hobby. When we talked on 5/24/11, she was considering a mile drive to see the happenings with the Mississippi River, which was at flood stage. Jean Cook Glidden continues to recover from her fall, and decided to hang up her realtor’s license for good. As for me, Janet-Marie Fitzgerald Whitley, when I last wrote we were about to pour the foundation on our new country home. This week they are stuccoing the outside walls and installing drywall on the interior ones. We lost a lot of time with the excessive rain this winter. By the time you read this, we will be living in the house. Grandson Brian II started as a national forestry fireman recently and still works part time at 6 Flags as a supervisory EMT. He plans on entering paramedic school this fall. I was talked into not re-retiring in 12/10 and am currently on authorized leave without pay until further notice, as I am out of hours until 7/1. Those receiving state retirement are allowed a maximum of 960 hours a yr. I may get really retired someday. It’s only been 47 yrs and 7 mos. Did not get much response to my request for info this time, so the result is another short column. Our 65th reunion is in ’15. The school pays all the expenses (except travel) for classes with 60+ yrs. Think about making your appearance. Two columns before this, I listed all our classmates who passed away “since graduation.” Somehow, it came out in the magazine as “since reunion.” Hope this finds you and yours happy and healthy. From Bob: Again, we have Mark Jander to thank for his steadfast leadership in the campaign to keep the Class of ’50 supporting the fine progress NMH continues to make in its efforts to attract, support, and educate the worthy students who make up its diverse student body. In fact, his and his teams’ efforts caused us to exceed our class gift goal; at least on the financial side. I still lament that we haven’t done as well on moving toward our participatory goal, which should be at least equivalent to the number of years since we walked those paths on the hill. (We are far too short of that 60% mark.) Sadly, as we reference the statistics pages of our magazine, the deaths column is including those from our class too often. In addition to Alan Morrison listed last time, we received belated notice that Lisle Kramer passed away 9/23/10. On a personal note, I was sad to see the name of Edwin “Skip” White ‘48 included, as the 2 of us spent time with “Blackie” baking in Gould Hall on the Northfield campus during summer conferences. (That’s where we learned to break 4 eggs at a time with 2 hands and hit the large mixing bowl sitting in front of us.) His brother “Big Bo” White ’51 and cousin Harland Williams ’49 were also members of the summer conferences’ team. Along with our Northfield sisters, we also long for the success of C S Lewis College so that “our” Northfield campus is preserved and can still perform an educational mission.
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Previously, while Brad Abele was still with us, we learned that his dad, the captain of the USS Grunion submarine SS216, had gone down with all hands off Siska AK during World War II. Brad and his brothers were involved in trying to find its exact location on the ocean floor. They were successful, and I invite you to read the intriguing account at http://ussgrunion.com/. That electronic site is being continuously updated. To quote Marv Kelley ’60: “Spring is the reward for being a New Englander. It is what most of us who live in New England believe. Here on campus, signs of spring are increasingly evident every day.” A visit to campus will attest to those memories, and believe it or not, the current campus is improving with age, and with its new additions is looking toward the future with positive anticipation, knowing that the “Head, Heart, and Hand” provide a solid foundation for living. Marcus Mello shares that his frequent trips to Brazil are going to cease: he is moving to Rio permanently. Brazil is the largest producer of cattle in the world (and with more square miles than continental US). Maybe we can talk Marcus into giving us a tour with a steak/hamburger included for lunch. Classmates worldwide, like Bruce Roberts in Venezuela, state that they look forward to receiving NMH Magazine and immediately go to the class news to “mentally reconnect” with old classmates. Are you failing to meet your responsibility to let such classmates reconnect with you? Let’s hear from you, even if it is secondhand, like the nice note that I received from Barbara Bolger Collett, who will be celebrating her and David’s birthday together (remember, twins) 8/12 as the new wing at the Sarasota Hospital is dedicated as the result of David’s continued philanthropy. In a call from Mark, I’ve learned that Donald “Brownie” Brown, while heading to Louisville for square dancing last summer, got as far as CT and Walter Hirsch’s when he experienced a heart attack that landed him in the hospital for “33 days horizontal” followed by 19 days in rehab. He now has 2 new arteries in his lower legs and a “cleanedout neck artery,” which has interrupted his dancing for a while. Pete Lanoue stopped by for a short visit, which cheered him up considerably. We look forward to a future report, Brownie, telling us that you are completely mended and back at square dancing again. Glad to hear that Walt and Pete were able to be around. After this visit, Pete called in with a suggestion: when any of us is out on a trip, make time to stop in to have a chat with a classmate wherever/whenever it might be—it’s a win/win opportunity. (If you need the name/address of a classmate where you might be, contact the alumni office or me, and we’ll provide it: plan ahead.) Also, we are pleased that there are class contacts even when we don’t know about them. To facilitate such interaction, the alumni office has introduced a new service that allows classmates to send their own notes directly online. Go to the NMH alumni homepage (www.nmhschool.org/alumni). If you need help, contact Sally Atwood Hamilton ’65 (shamilton@nmhschool.org).
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PAT MCCORMICK HOEHING 7125 San Benito Dr Sylvania OH 43560-1129 sylv.snail@bex.net
Reunion ’11 is over, but wonderful memories remain. Unfortunately, the sun chose to shine elsewhere, so our weather ranged from cloudy and damp to downright wet. Speaking for one who lives far from “the noble river,” it is always a treat to return to NMH and renew friendships, rain or shine. Eighteen of us attended for most of the weekend. A highlight for our class was the presentation of the Alumni Citation Award to Shirley Vanderpool Romoser at the Annual Convocation. Shirley has served us well as class gift chair for many years. Due to her efforts and your responses, our class has always met or exceeded its goal. Shirley continues to be involved in numerous volunteer activities in her community and church. In her spare time, she created our centerpieces for the tables at the class banquet Sat night. Congratulations, and thank you Shirley. I had planned to highlight a bit of each of us at reunion but soon discovered a recurrent theme in all of our lives. Like Shirley, we are active in multiple volunteer activities in our churches and communities. All aspects of society are addressed and benefit, from the very young to seniors, from the impoverished to the illiterate, from the hungry to the ill and dying. We serve in our churches and schools, teach, sing, travel, read, garden, and, of course, enjoy grandchildren. In general, we seem to have embraced the ideals of “head, heart, and hand” after leaving Northfield. I, for one, am proud to be a member of such a group. Skip Smith Noll presented a beautiful memorial service in honor of our 40 deceased classmates, 10 since reunion ’06. After the service, we enjoyed talking and sharing our lives during and after our years at Northfield. If you would like more information, please email me and I will try to fill you in. Jonni Audette Feige led our class meeting at which we donated our banked treasury monies to the class reunion gift. By mutual assent, class business meetings are history. Our class gift monies were given in honor of Al Raymond, who led us in song and gave us all the gift of music. Thanks to the Mt Hermon reunion team’s efforts, a plaque from NMH ’51 has been placed in Raymond Hall in the Rhodes Art Center. We held a short, memorable dedication at this location prior to our class banquet. Notes from those unable to attend: Jean Elliot Nobbe writes that they have spent many years traveling the country in an RV but are now “parked” in Walnut Creek CA. Dayton and Margo Peabody Thorne have decided to dispense with a 2nd home in AZ and stay in Gardnerville NV. Diana Lowe Chang is busy with the “head, heart, and hand” in Honolulu HI. Betty Eaby Taggart sends love and best wishes to all. Nancy Maker was involved with planned family commitments