stay connected... Web is survived by his mother, Martha Belden Phillips, a resident of Montclair for 85 years; his sister, Tacey Carroll; and his brothers, Charles and Tyler.” There you have it, the life of a true Renaissance man, post-1960s version: observer (and reporter), artist/musician, polyglot, traveler, competitor, cultivator of the mind, correspondent. Not a conventional life as faculty, family, and friends might have predicted it in 1963; rather, a life formed without the restraint of convention. How many of us remember Reverend Fred Pease urging us to act “by the courage of your convictions” ? I for one didn’t show a lot of courage in choosing the well-traveled path. Web, it would appear, was listening, and lived his life as Fred urged we should. In 1982, Kai Erikson, sociology professor at Yale, spoke on the subject “Where are all the 1960s idealists, and why?” The answer to the first question: neurosurgical suites, psychiatry and dental practices, law offices, investment banks, and large corporations. The answer to the second: convenience, apathy, material wants, convention. Ours was supposed to be a unique generation, different from and better than our parents’ (subsequently dubbed “the greatest”), full of service, creativity, self-actualization, nonconformity, antimaterialism. I am sure some of those honorable ideals guided our adult lives, but rarely in full. It is my sense that Web never lost sight of them. Web’s father, C. Gorham “Doc” Phillips, predeceased him by less than two years, on Dec. 8, 2011. Google the father’s obituary and compare it to Web’s. The senior Phillips was a Williams graduate, WWII veteran, Wall Street lawyer, community leader, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather; he was also an artist (master needle pointer) and bridge player, aspects of his life that parallel his son’s. I don’t doubt Web could have become his Wall Street–lawyer father, his medical-pioneer grandfather, or his Montclair-mayor great-grandfather. Web simply made other choices. Bob Burton adds the following: “Web did not like to be called ‘Spider,’ but I have a spider-web-like network of memories about him from the first 30 years of our lives. Cub scouts; drum solos; ringside at the old Madison Square Garden; the original Birdland; horse racing; Mexico City; the house we shared in Madison, Conn., while at Yale; San Diego. At Andover, we competed for good grades. At Yale, we got off the competitive track. A few years later, we lost contact. Web had a clever, intricate, independent mind. Whenever I see a spider web, I will always think of my friend.”
76
Andover | Winter 2014
1964 50th REUNION June 12–15, 2014
ABBOT
Joan “Whippie” Whipple Trimble 16 Baldwin Lane Cape Neddick ME 03902 207-251-5554 whippie@maine.rr.com
Our 50th Reunion is approaching this June, and we hope as many Abbot ladies as possible will be attending. I have had e-mails from several classmates, and I will let them fill you in on their lives. Allis Brooks Hanley writes, “[Husband] Dan and I enjoyed a cruise up the Danube River with friends in July and a tour of Ireland with Dan’s brother and his wife in August. The best part of our cruise was in Prague, where we reunited with the Catholic priest, Father William Faix, we’d known when we were living in that city. Coincidentally, he was the Catholic priest at PA in 1963. He is now the pastor of St. Thomas’ Church in Prague. “We’ll go to Tampa, Fla., at the end of September to visit our oldest son, Jonathan, his wife, Katherine, and their son, Wyatt. They’re taking us to Disney World and to Cape Kennedy. Our other sons live in Boulder, Colo., and Atlanta, Ga. We’re looking forward to seeing all of them for Christmas. It’s been fun helping to plan our 50th Reunion. Looking forward to seeing many of you next June!” Carol Barker Guilford reports, “My husband, Gary, and I are planning to attend the reunion in June. We have lived in the Denver area almost since we were married 38 years ago, with a few early years in northern California. Gary has never been to New England, so I know we will both enjoy seeing Abbot and Andover and spending some time traveling north through New Hampshire and into Vermont and Maine. “I hope that many of our classmates will be in Andover for the June reunion. I am looking forward to seeing everyone! It has been a very long time since 1964, when I headed back west to Berkeley, leaving the East Coast and all of my Abbot friends behind. It will be fun to catch up with everyone!” Gretchen Overbagh Lord is uncertain whether she can make the reunion in June because she has a trip planned to the East Coast in September and one to the West Coast in August. Gretchen says, “I retired from insurance claims auditing in July 2012 in order to get some nice weather for retirement. Winter started early in Minnesota and went until the last snow in May! This year has been busy, with a few trips and work on my house, where I plan to stay for now. I enjoy the non-commute, especially during the winter, and not having to get up at 4 a.m. to get to work!” Gwyneth Walker writes to say that she is
planning on attending the reunion next June. She says, “I have enjoyed visits to campus quite often in recent years, due to the enthusiastic support of the PA music department. Thank you so much! We have collaborated on many new works for the chorus and orchestra. This has been a great joy for me. “I divide my time between my childhood hometown of New Canaan, Conn., and homes in the musical communities of Sarasota, Fla., and Randolph, Vt. New England travels have allowed me to keep in touch with Joanne Schwiebert Birge. I look forward to seeing other classmates in June!” Lucy Bingham relates, “I love how some of us have reconnected on Facebook; such fun to take brief glimpses into each other’s lives 50 years later. I’m still active, walking, kayaking, hiking, watching grandchildren, watching over several high-end real-estate listings, serving as president of a family land and farm trust, writing books, painting, taking photos, traveling extensively, and enmeshed in a large and complicated family. But above all else, I am aware of the fleeting nature of the days that rush by. Each day, in words and pictures, I try to capture the essence of the beauty that flickers past. I will be there next year for the reunion.” Nancy Poynter Sandberg recounts, “I’ve recently returned from a great summer cruising on the coast of Maine and am now catching up with the committee to help with our reunion plans. I remember what a great class of young women we had from 1960 to 1964 at Abbot, despite the trials with the school’s environment, so I can’t wait to see as many old classmates as possible next June.” Sue Trafton Edmunds, who has been in touch with Barbara Hugon Edge about the reunion, hopes to be there in June. Lee Porter expects to be at Andover for the events. Pat Morrill, our reunion committee head, and her husband, Ed Riegelhaupt, will be in Andover for the reunion. My husband, Terry Trimble ’64, and I will be at the festivities. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Andover!
PHILLIPS Bob Marshall 846 Lilac Drive Santa Barbara CA 93108 rpm@marshall846.com
Shortly after you read this, you will receive our 50th Reunion book, with essays and pictures from about half the class, so I will dispense with classmate news in this column. A fuller, far more vivid picture will soon be at hand. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with those of you who submitted to the somewhat inelegant process of contributing to the book, and all your essays were a joy to read. Two common themes struck me: (1) no matter how difficult or unpleasant the Andover experience was, you felt it prepared you well for what followed (except, perhaps, relating to women); and (2) those of you who had Dudley Fitts for English were very lucky.