listened, aghast, to Mia’s story of her father being taken away to fight for the Russians and of her never seeing him again. I still have one very good sketch her mother made of a soldier while they were in a displaced persons camp. Then there was the story of the Bulgarins being adopted by the town of Lakeville CT and of Mia’s lovely mom finding John, a good CT man, who loved all the Bulgarin women. It was a romantic story, but a very hard one as well. An education for me, and as important as anything I learned in the classrooms at Northfield.”
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HANNAH SIBLEY GRAY 306 Cotuit Bay Dr Cotuit MA 02635-2916 hsgray@verizon.net SARAH MAHONEY RUGGLES 2945 Ash Meadows Blvd Zanesville OH 43701-9795 sruggles@columbus.rr.com AL CHASE 1141 Kumukumu St Apt A Honolulu HI 96825-2645 nmh60uh66@yahoo.com
From Happy: It’s been one year since our glorious 50th and our classmates have news to share. Mary Stevens has moved from Princeton NJ to nearby Cranbury NJ. She enjoys her beautiful new home with 10-ft ceilings and a butterfly garden. Sons David and Isaiah continue in their old schools, which send many students to Princeton. Mary keeps busy with aerobics, political activities, and taking care of her grandsons in Philadelphia. She also has reconnected with her old roomie Sarah Buermann and says “the reunion was great.” In their retirement, Jessie-Lea Ehrich Abbott and husband Curtiss have started a photography business: “He is the genius behind the camera” and she is “his (unbiased?) promoter. She designed the website—her first—and makes cards to sell. Check out curtissabbottphotographer.com and ‘like’ us in Facebook.” Deb Wright retired from private practice as a clinical psychologist in Monterey CA in 6/10. Now she is moving to a retirement community in Walnut Creek CA, near Berkeley, San Francisco, and family. Downsizing and moving are “grim,” but she looks forward to a smaller space, less stuff, someone else doing the garden, and splashing in the pool. Sheila Raymond Hazen reports that she is active in the Presbyterian church in Charlottesville VA; she’s a pastoral deacon, serves on the music committee, and belongs to a women’s singing group nicknamed SIS or Sisters in Song. SIS goes out to retirement communities and sings one Sun afternoon a month—always receiving a warm reception. Sheila also tutors 2nd-grade math in a
local public school. She has become reacquainted with fractions and bar graphs. Sheila says: “What these children do at age 7 is so much more advanced than what I remember working on at the elementary school in Northfield.” Your secretary has been traveling a bit this past year: a delightful river cruise on the Danube, to Frisco TX near Dallas to see our daughter Laura Gray Breitenfeld ’86 and family, and to Naples FL for some sun in Mar. Now I’m doing some ESL tutoring and working on the gardens and my golf game, a never-ending challenge. Thanks for your news. Please send Sally Ruggles some for the next NMH Magazine. From Al: George Banziger missed our 50th reunion, as he and his wife moved back to OH from IL to be closer to 2 of their 3 children. He still works part time as a grant writer for Lewis and Clark College in IL. Jay Kerney and wife Bonnie celebrated 42 years of marriage in June. They live in the West Indies on Grenada, their home since he retired from Cunard in ’89. After living on a boat for the better part of 17 years, they are adjusting to shore life. Diagnosed with prostate cancer last summer, Jay underwent 9 weeks of apparently successful proton bean radiation treatment at Shands at U of FL in Jacksonville. John Kawecki passed away 11/16/10 at his home in Montague MA. He attended NMH as a post grad and was employed by the Veterans Administration before retiring. He also owned John’s Custom Crafted Jewelry for many years. The Class of ’60 Scholarship for the 2010/11 academic year was awarded to a freshman girl from VT. Her courses in the fall were religious studies, English I, and arts foundation—visual arts, and she was a member of the junior dance company. In the spring she studied geometry, honors physics I, 9th-grade health, and beginning modern dance.
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GRETEL PORTER P.O. Box 369 Damariscotta ME 04543 sangam1008@yahoo.com CRAIG WALLEY 573 S 6th St Columbus OH 43206-1272 bozocraig@aol.com
From Gretel: Glad to be class secretary. Northfield girls were 40 strong at our 50th reunion. Despite torrential rain, we had fun, exchanged deep hilarious thoughts, and missed those absent. Michele Mutschler-Bopp and Lucinda Benjamin Hazler came from France and Austria; from the West Coast Kay Dinolt Frank, Linda Galloway, and Patty Howell Jones. Enjoyed Carol White Odell’s art show, Barbara Hare’s sunflower book, and Sally Johnson Ackerman’s impassioned fundraising, so like Charlie Chaplin. The Northfield luncheon
featured dummy smocks, and recent grads gave us golf cart rides. Betsy Stephenson Hansen, Cynthia Van Hazinga, and Gail Buerger Kerr left too early. The more we talked the more we had in common. The banquets went well—best was the singing—and the ultimate song, “Jerusalem,” wrung our hearts. Historical talks by Ayo Oum Weiri Shanti and Anne Rodgers gave the perspective of multigeneration alumni families. Nancy Schwanda Kida and Bruce Schwanda are also from a long NMH line. Trina Wynkoop Simmons won kudos for best outfit: earrings, blouse, red high-tops, and overflowing heart. Susan Swartwood Berk and Susan Meader Tobias made us howl with laughter. Class teacher Mary-Ann Efird Higgins ’51 showed love and compassion. At chapel we heard Episcopal priest Sue Hayden Russell. Perennial thanks to ’61 couples Al Higgins ’50 and Mary-Ann Efird Higgins ’51, Monte and Sally Johnson Ackerman, Stuart and Sue Flasch McCalley, who lend great stability and integration at united NMH. Today’s school is thriving, which makes us proud of the founders, ourselves, and the parents, teachers, and staff who educated us. Blessings on the benefactors. Where were Kate Alling Throop, Lois Isenman, Hannah Beecher, Tobey Hiller, and so many others? I missed roommates Louise “Petie” Robinson, Rhoda Smith Fantasia, and Maud Pilkington Easter. Please be in touch. We want to hear your news. The Class of ’61 has get up and go. From Craig: Our 50th reunion in June was a resounding success but perhaps not meteorologically. It was fantastic for me to march up the center aisle in the chapel with the rest of our classmates for the convocation, between applauding members of all the other reuniting classes. I don’t have the total count of attendees, but it was a large group. Forgive me if I miss you in the listing: Fred Fox, Chips Arend, Graham
Cole, Warren Ferris, John Berlin, Joe Berlant, Sherif Nada, Peter Johnson, Bruce Schwanda, Dick Miller, Pete Donavan, Ed Payne, John Gagnon, Jeff Stillman, John Bryan, John Hann, Monte and Sally Johnson Ackerman, Chuck Bennett, Jim Lawler, I-Lok Chang, Paul Derounian, Stanley France, Fred Gray, Brew Harding, Bruce Jackson, Larry Leffingwell, Wayne Magoon, Stu and Susan Flasch McCalley, Richard Milk, Allen C. Myers, Rick Najaka, Jeff Newsom, Robert Rieffel, Tom Smith, Paul Swatek, Brian Walsh, Al Simpson, Bill Forbes, and John Wheeler. As always, there was too little time to talk to everyone. Among the many highlights for me was the memorial service our class held, remembering our deceased classmates. Dobbs Hartshorne performed one of Bach’s cello suites on his bass. Beautiful. Speaking of Dobbs, I enjoyed meeting his wife Emily and their son, Scotty (nearly 3). Honest. It was a great pleasure to see so many returning faculty, including David Burnham, J J “Cadillac”
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