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On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Lydia Eccles Page (left) hosted Susan Kimball Sugar (center) and Penny Whittall Hoadley, all Abbot Class of ’51, at her home in Gaithersburg, Md.
our most senior classmate, enjoyed exploring his surroundings around Plymouth, Mass., with camera at the ready, searching for “nature’s glorious creations” and tucking prints of the photos he took into notecards to share with family and friends. Recently, hindered by mobility problems and told by doctors to stop driving, Manny wrote that he was reaching into his personal photo archives for more prints so he could at least keep making and sharing his “photo cards.” Farther afield, in Alaska, John Havelock was keeping busy turning out thoughtful news columns commenting on current state and national issues such as responsible vs. irresponsible free speech, legalizing marijuana (but not marketing it), and “big money” influence on political campaign advertising. Pim Epler, heading back to Florida at the start of the new year after a family visit in Texas, wrote that he was looking forward to racing a Sonar sailboat on the St. Lucie River with friends and the Eplers’ older daughter, Gail. Pim said that Gail was looking around Florida for a place to retire. “How’s that?” he mused. “A retired daughter!” Makes you ask, Are we all getting a little older or what? Sadly, I must report that Gil Murray died Jan. 9, 2015 and Don Harris on Jan. 3, 2015; please see their obituaries in the In Memoriam section.
1951 ABBOT Connie Hall DeNault 37 Green St. Marblehead MA 01945 781-631-9233 dkdenault@comcast.net
Penny Whittall Hoadley attended Lydia Eccles Page’s 80th birthday party! Penny saw Lydia
In February, Bill Drayton, Peter Huvelle, and Jim Sprague, all Class of ’61, met for brunch and then visited the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) in Arlington, Va.
perform on the Friday night, “singing about birds and birding.” The birthday party was the next night. Since Penny’s husband, Dave, has retired, they have done a lot of traveling and cruising. They went to New Zealand for their 50th anniversary and traveled last year to Singapore, Hong Kong, Scotland, and Ireland. She and Dave are both well. They have 10 grandchildren, four of them out of college. Penny keeps busy with her garden and local theatre group and plays duplicate bridge three times a week. She has had a knee replacement, which she claims is her only concession to old age. Thanks so much for writing, Penny!
PHILLIPS George S.K. Rider 22 Curiosity Lane Essex CT 06426 860-581-8199 ridercrawford@gmail.com
By the time you read these notes, the book launch date for The Rogue’s Road To Retirement, Jan. 6, will have come and gone. As I write this, one week before Christmas, with lots of shopping left to do and arranging dates and sites for several book signings and the arrival of advance copies from my publisher, this aging scribe is addled or, as some would say, in a bit of a dither. Each step on the long journey from signing the publishing agreement on Aug. 8, 2013, to now has been a revelation. The process is grueling, but the reward is in knowing that the end is in sight and that somehow I’ve been able to get my work published, with a huge assist from daughter Jenny ’86, Skyhorse Publishing, and my agent and editors. Bob Segal ’48 observed recently that the two people in the world most surprised at my achievement would have been G. G. Benedict and John Kemper. High praise, and enough to make my work on the sequel move
along quicker. Somewhere in heaven, Bill Brown will be smiling and Walter Gierasch is muttering, “Oh my God, can you believe that?” On Nov. 6, 2014, General Barry McCaffrey ’60 delivered a stirring keynote address at the fifth annual Veterans Day dinner. Cochair Seth Moulton ’97 of our Andover and the Military affinity group, Marine Corps captain and now the newly elected representative from Massachusetts’s Sixth Congressional District, along with alumni council president Tom Beaton ’73, delivered opening remarks in a packed Paresky Commons dining room. This was the second major 2014 event of Andover and the Military (A/M), following the April events commemorating Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen ’91, killed in Afghanistan in 2005. Forty-five PA alumni are now serving on active duty, including A/M members Navy Captain Rob Patrick ’88, Tom Barron ’04, and Karl Novick ’07. Other highlights of A/M: Our database of Abbot and Andover military veterans now exceeds 900. This summer saw the graduation from Summer Session of the first student to receive funding from a scholarship established in Erik’s honor; the scholarship is awarded to a child of a military veteran. Students now participate in the Adopt a Platoon program, in which they correspond with and support a deployed platoon. Co-chairman Army Lt. Col. Charles Dean ’79, editor of A/M’s newsletter, the Blue Guidon, conceived the idea, design, manufacture, and distribution of a lapel pin featuring Andover’s seal and the word “veteran,” to be awarded to and worn by each Andover veteran. The first pin was awarded to Rear Adm. Kristensen, Erik’s dad, at the dinner prior to the showing of Lone Survivor last April. Since then, 250-plus veterans have been “pinned.” JoAnne and Bill Duffy headed down to Lawrenceville School in January to attend a trustees’ retirement dinner in honor of their Andover | Spring 2015
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