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Christine Yu, Jess Lunt, and Hannah Sharpless, all Class of ’94, enjoyed catching up at reunion.
years. Fellow lawyer-musician Mark Sabath was only a few meters away with his wife, Kay. Now that they’re proud parents of twins, Mark and Kay have moved four blocks in Washington, D.C., renting a home. Mark still plays weddings and other engagements, but his band has retired a bit from playing regular gigs in public settings. Amanda Moger Rettig, yet another lawyer classmate, made her goodbyes rather early on, but considering she had a newborn (Eve) in tow, it felt like a valid excuse. Spotted out of the corner of my eye, or only briefly greeted, were Heidi Cline Wall, Danielle Sadler Makrauer, Steve Hosmer, and Rich Enos, who was on crutches. Once we moved to Borden, the music drowned out a lot of the chatter. Nonetheless, Bronwyn Murray talked to me about how she fosters (that is, rescues) dogs and brings them to Washington, D.C. Adam Gurry made the trip up from Brookline, Mass., where he lives with his toddler and wife. In discussing the legacy of Stowe House with Adam, he informed me that Jen Karlen Elliott now not only teaches at PA but is also the cluster dean of Abbot. I moved from Adam to talk to Leah Henderson and Enola Williams, both late registrants. Leah’s working on two novels at once, but Wonbo Woo’s reminding me of a certain bit of authorial lack of clarity from a decade-old class notes installment pulled me away from them. I asked Wonbo what he is up to, but he refused to say more than that he’s “chilling in NYC.” Dan Ingster and Berk Nelson kept the festivities going strong with their other halves, but as the evening wound down, it became clear that their post-Borden plans were related to watching the end of the Stanley Cup finals. The next morning, I ran into Aaron Sharma in front of Stuart, and we met up with John Stubbs, Henry Higdon, and Kevin Moran at Phelps Field,
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Andover | Fall 2014
where they were playing catch with their children. Henry flew in from London to be inducted into the Athletics Hall of Honor. John and Kevin told me they, along with Matt McGirt, are basically neighbors in Charlotte, N.C., living literally only a mile from one another. Then it was time for the parade. Before we marched, I talked briefly with parts of the Russian contingent of our class, namely Eden Doniger, who was waiting with her husband, Itai, and Emily Kalkstein Carville, who was with her husband, Gregg, who calmly chided us for subtracting 1944 from 2014 and getting 50. I marched alongside Matt Ferraguto and family, but caught up with Bill Wood, who told me about his adventures in medicine. To my right marched Alexander Hancock, with whom I talked briefly and whom I overheard describing his work in commercial real estate. The parade led to Cochran Chapel, where I helped David Callum and wife Caroline lift their stroller, carrying daughter Sophia, up the steps. Inside, the talks, notably from our head of school but also with my old teacher Vinnie Monaco in the chapel lobby, reminded me why PA remains such a special place. I tried to get our whole class to sit together for a photo, and though Tricia Marshburn Davis and others were game, it didn’t ultimately work out. Part of the problem was that many classmates, including Darren Hopkins (whom I’d later help connect with Megan Wheeler), Beth Crowley, and Jess Dubin, were taking care of their little ones outside. In that number was also Bharath Nath, who came up with wife Kara and precocious daughters Pia and Asha. Asha was excited that both my name and her mother’s featured the letter R. Bharath is in Brookline, Mass., and working on becoming a transplant surgeon. At lunch in the Cage, one of Hannah Sharpless
Graff ’s sons (Tex or Theo) instantly recognized the shirt on my back as being a Brazilian soccer shirt. I stood behind Ivan Barry waiting for my veggie burgers, admiring his Blue Key T-shirt that indicated its datedness by a reference to a Mike Myers skit from Saturday Night Live. Gillian Schmitz came up to me during lunch to thank me for my work as secretary. Near the condiments, I let a moment with Liz Twitchell go by too quickly, and Nat Zilkha told me that most of his musical production is with his young children, who are learning the guitar. I was sad to learn that living in London hadn’t made Lila Musser Preston fluent in Lithuanian yet, but her Polish is improving. One or the other, I guess. On my way out, Randy Perry introduced me to his family, which led to his daughter’s putting an Andover sticker on my back, and I briefly talked with Ryan Spring, who was behind a baby carriage. In front of Paresky Commons after lunch, I ran into Kate Silva, Christina Lauricella Klineman, and Putney Cloos, and we lamented how the weather had sort of chilled our afternoon plans. It was time for decisive action, so Dimitri Chalvatsiotis, who now lives in New York with a young child who moves at 100 mph, drove me into town to acquire supplies for an impromptu picnic on the steps near Foxcroft. We watched Nicole Terry Jones walk by, chatted briefly with Liz DuBois, and were eventually ambushed (in a good way!) by Linda Fan, leading a Frost House mini reunion. Pete Radocchia walked by as well, and we spent awhile discussing our experiences learning Chinese at PA. On the steps, I did a bit of academic shop talk with Erin Lentz, who is moving to UT Austin, and we returned to similar themes later along with Swagata Chakrabarti. It was soon time to change for dinner, though, and, with Bronwyn and Emily Lin, we decided on a quick stroll through the Sanctuary, making use of the paper cups PA provided in our dorm rooms. Emily came from San Francisco, where she works in public housing, to disrupt (my word) the reunion. At dinner, Laurence Jollon introduced me to his fiancée. I talked briefly with Lindsey Shaw Bardsley, who was tending to her newborn, Saskia, and Hillary Chute, who received tenure from my now-former department at the University of Chicago. Yes, reader, while I was on the steps by Foxcroft, my name was being read at convocation in Chicago. My PA 20th Reunion was more important than getting my diploma. Andover, take note. Academic chatter continued with Megan Smith, who came up from her tenure-track position at Yale, where she does a lot of community outreach in her psychiatric work. I briefly spoke with Ben Haddon, Dan Galaburda, and Woody Sankar before we understood we would be on our own for organizing a class photo. We managed to get everyone together under fabulous golden-hour light, and I’m visible on the far side, just behind Ed Chen and Emily Liao Chen as well as Kitty Greene. Sadly, I’m blocking Alex Orbon’s face. After a pleasant dinner and an unsuccessful