Rene Gonzales, who lives in AL, wrote to Bev Bolton Leyden on 4/29: “Missed 1 [tornado] by 10 miles, another by 2 miles. This did give me serious butterflies, but all is well with me. The devastation is unbelievable—as of now over 400 still missing in 2 communities. In true American spirit, we are not waiting for the feds. We are all neighbors down here, even if you live 100 miles away. Volunteers, churches are on the move. Healing will not be overnight.” My old roomie Stewart Crawford was featured in the spring issue of the MIT alumni magazine in an article about his passion for old cars and an early job chauffeuring an elderly lady about Boston. When we visit him at his summer place in Keene Valley NY, we ride around in his 1940 Cadillac sedan. Ida and I continue well and busy, she with multiple activities at church and I with my writing, speaking, and trying to get the house finished while I can still work. This summer my group of friends and I will take yet another canoe trip to the Arctic coast of Canada.
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DENNIS KELLY 668 Main Ave Bay Head NJ 08742-5346 dskelly007@gmail.com BE JAY FROEHLICH HILL 747 Water St Apt 349 Framingham MA 01701-3236 bhill24@juno.com DAN FRICKER 165 King St Waterville CQ, Canada J0B 3H0 dcfricker@hotmail.com MARGEE WELLS NEWELL 72 Matthew Dr Brunswick ME 04011-3275 jmnewell3@yahoo.com
From Margee: Jim and I just got back from singing in Sacred Concert. The Northfield campus looks beautiful and it’s wonderful to be able to go inside the chapel again. Nicky Nichols Boday sent me a note sharing the sad news of the death of her roommate Priscilla “Pebbles” Bruns Glander on 11/7/10 after a year-long battle with cancer. After receiving her doctorate from U of Hawaii in ’81, she moved to CA, where she continued her research in pharmacology. After retiring in ’95, she moved back to Honolulu. She remained active playing competitive tennis and bridge. She loved travel, exploring the world, and visiting family and friends. Rennie Williams McLean wrote that she and Pebbles “lived on the same floor in West Gould, remained friends, spent a few days together in San Francisco not too long ago, and planned to take the NMH cruise around the Horn.” But the cancer diagno-
sis came instead. I’m sure each of you join me in sending sympathy to her family. We also have had a tough 6 months with the death of our much-loved daughter-in-law late in 12/10 and the death of Jim’s brother in 2/11. In addition, we left our NJ home of 40 years and moved into Thornton Oaks, a retirement community in Brunswick ME. It has been fun to reconnect with Phyllis Gansz Greene, a math teacher in our era, as well as one of our class teachers. She and husband Sam Greene, who also taught math at MH, live across the street from us. Tobi Scheinblum-Freund writes: “Sadly, my beloved husband Gene died in 12/08 after a heroic struggle with kidney failure.” As a class we send our love and sympathy. Tobi and Gene had sold their home and moved into a retirement community closer to medical facilities. It’s been a difficult adjustment for Tobi, and she’s not certain she will remain there. In ’09, Tobi and Jean Gammie Ridge took a trip to Italy. Tobi also accompanied sister Esther Scheinblum Yeck ’68 and her husband on a drive through Ireland. In Feb ’11, Tobi and sister Sondra Scheinblum Kay ’51 attended an NMH get-together in FL with Tom Sturtevant. “I have become increasingly accepting and at peace with the decision to vacate the Northfield campus.” Suzanne Buckson Crowder and husband Jim have also moved into a retirement community, Broadmead in Cockeysville MD, where they have run into several people with NMH connections. They continue to be active in their parish church and are very active at Broadmead. Suzanne writes: “I think of serving in these ways much like our responsibility to do dummy at Northfield in that all of us are responsible for doing the things necessary for the community to function well. Our 4 children (all NMH graduates) have visited us and thanked us for making this move so they will not have to manage our care from CO, MN, and VA.” Mary Ann Bond Gebhart retired from Sears in ’99. Her last position was manager of an inhome-decorator—one of the tops in the country. In ’73 she was divorced and raised 5 children alone and alone put them all through college, “a huge accomplishment in my life.” She has traveled throughout the world and visited 49 of our 50 states, not OK, plus several Canadian provinces and Mexico. Mary Ann volunteers at a local correctional prison for teenage girls and sings in her church choir. Cathy Olney Irzyk writes: “After 26 years of military life, Bob retired and we spent the next 20 in CA.” She had a long, satisfying career as a critical care nurse and is now a hospice volunteer and enjoys that equally. In ’05, Cathy and Bob moved back east into the house where she grew up in Dunstable MA. They were avid sailors in CA, cruising the coasts of AL and BC in the summer. Now they are boatless but planning a trip to England, Ireland, and Scotland in Sept. Cathy says “I plan to attend my first reunion in ’14, God willing.” I also heard from Kathy Hoey Thompson, who spoke of a really tough course she took at Northfield as well as several others that she loved.
And like all of us, she emphasized the singing. By the time you read this, it will be late Dec or early Jan ’12. Keep in mind that our 60th reunion is scheduled for ’14. Meanwhile, don’t forget the Annual Fund. BeJay Froelich Hill has moved to an apartment in Framingham MA. Please continue to send news to either of us. From Dennis: With this letter I have very sad news to report. Our good friend, ever-loyal classmate, and Mt Hermon guy Dick Hubbard passed away 7/14/11 from vascular problems. Dick was from Springfield MA and spent 4 years on the “hill.” He played football, was a swimmer, and played tennis. Dick roomed next to me in Crossley, and we became and remained good friends over the past 58 years, always sharing wonderful memories. He went on to Northeastern and then earned an MBA from Columbia. He married Marjorie, started his business career, and settled in Woodbury CT. Their daughter Kristin Hubbard also graduated from NMH in ’84. Dick always came back to every reunion and generously contributed to our McVeigh Scholarship Fund and the general fund. A memorial service was held 7/19 at the North Woodbury Congregational Church in North Woodbury, which unfortunately I was not able to attend. He is survived by wife Marjorie and daughter Kristin, and son Andrew, plus a collection of grandchildren. We will all miss Dick’s extraordinary good humor and friendship, and express our deep condolences to his family. This past winter Ed Snyder came down to Hilton Head Island for a visit. I have a rental home there where I go in the winter months to “maintain” the place. Ed came over one evening and we all went out to dinner along with Suzie Craig Hastings, who was also renting a home nearby. Ed’s son Zack Snyder has become a very successful movie producer and director in Hollywood. In April, I saw Phil McKean at the D L Moody Society reception held at the Yale Club in NYC. Phil is leaving his beautiful home in Cushing ME to move to CA to be nearer his son Tom, who lives in Santa Barbara, but Phil is going to keep his home in Cushing as a summer place. I can understand beating it out of ME in the winter months as beautiful as ME is. While at the Moody Society reception, we both approached Head of School Tom Sturtevant to insist that our class tree be replanted to its original position on the path leading up to the chapel. Mr Sturtevant said he would see that it was done. I saw Stan Peck in Apr at a reception for wife Nancy, who was exhibiting her recent paintings at the Glen Rock NJ library. Nancy attended the Art Students League in NYC and has become quite an accomplished painter. Stan and Nancy then rented my neighbor’s big old house here in Bay Head NJ for 2 weeks in July for a place at the shore for their extended family. They were so busy that we were only able to get together once for dinner at our local yacht club. Stan asked me to thank all the folks in our class who have been such loyal phone callers, raising money for NMH’s Annual Fund as well
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