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R eunion 2018 Celebrating 3s and 8s on June 8 –10.
Louise Wooldredge Wieland and her husband are now living at Carlton Willard Retirement Community in Bedford, MA. She is healthy and enjoying her new home. Louisa Birch occasionally sees her there when visiting friends. Please send your news and keep in touch!
PHILLIPS Stephen C. Trivers 151 South Rose St., Suite 611 Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269-385-2757 Stephen@StephenTrivers.com Gregory Wierzynski 4426 Klingle St., NW Washington, D.C. 20016 202-686-9104 gregor@wierzynski.com Class website: PA57.online
Perhaps the best thing about retirement is that it channels us and gives us the time to pursue what we like to do best. Take Bob Darnton, our distinguished scholar. Bob devoted much of his academic career to studying Enlightenment in France and he’s doing more of the same—and loving it—since becoming emeritus as Harvard librarian. “My wife and I spent the first six months of 2017 in Paris,” Bob writes, “where I was a fellow at the Institut d’études avancées, a research center located in the beautiful 17th century Hôtel de Lauzun on the Ile Saint Louis. We had a studio apartment on the Left Bank near the Place Saint Michel. Every morning I walked from there along the Seine, crossed to the Ile de la Cité, admired the beauty of Notre Dame, crossed the bridge to the Ile Saint Louis, walked along the Quai d’Anjou past houses with imposing 17th-century facades, then entered the courtyard of the Hôtel de Lauzun, which is the handsomest of them all, and climbed up to my study on the fourth floor. For three years in the 1840s it was Baudelaire’s bedroom. I looked out over the Seine and Paris rooftops through the same window that framed his gaze. At the end of the day I walked back to our apartment past the same scenery under a different light. It was like living in a dream.” Similarly, after a career in investment banking, Dave Remington has turned to writing books. His first tome, published in 2011, was a biography of his great-grandfather, Ashbel P. Fitch, a late 19th-century New York financier and congressman. Dave has now sent a second book to the printer, A Gift to America. The title refers to the construction of a new visitors’ facility for the
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Andover | Winter 2018
Gettysburg battlefield, complete with a museum and a magnificent diorama of the great Civil War clash—a 10-year effort by the Gettysburg Foundation in conjunction with the National Park service. Dave was the foundation’s chief fundraiser. Concerned by how easy the undertaking appears in hindsight, when in fact it was strewn with obstacles, Dave wrote a detailed history of the foundation as a tribute to its leaders and a case study in publicprivate partnerships. Fred Shuman, our hedge fund guy, has decided to wind up his business, the highly reputed Archstone Partnerships. “I found it irresponsible to manage other people’s money when my instincts were out of synch with market behavior,” he writes. “So, we rode this market rally to July 31 when we returned 75 percent of our capital and we plan to return most of the remainder at year end. After 54 years at work, that’s lots of changes. I will need to find the local Staples on my own. No more asking my office for a box of blue pens and no more monthly expense reimbursements.” Now, he says, “I have my eye on playing golf competitively on the senior ‘wheelchair’ circuit with the others that used to hit the ball so much farther!” In Anderson Valley, CA, Bill Sterling finds his life increasingly determined by his wife’s Alzheimer’s affliction. His solace and therapy come from teaching at the local school. “Teaching means engaging active minds,” he writes. “I anticipate some hearty mental exercise.” As usual, you’ll find Bill’s reflections in his class letter, on the class website. John Douglas, our iconoclastic artist, sent this note from his home in northern Vermont along with pictures of his works, which I encourage all to look at on the class website. Here’s the gist of his note: “I’ve been pretty much stretched out this past year; did two months of daily radiation and lupron (has affected what memory I have left) all for a malignant tumor. Have been busy since, being able to be up and around more most recently: interview with Vermont PBS about the film Peoples War, a film we (NEWSREEL) made in 1969 in North Vietnam—Hanoi to DMZ 50 years ago—and finally they (not even PBS nationally) will show it as part of the Ken Burns month—yep 50 years— unbelievable! Work is on its way to LA for a show. Much of what was being shown last year still seems to speak to our continuing situation including ‘AutoWarming’ (https://vimeo.com/182244922), which was also shown at night on the side of a building during Women’s March weekend.” Anne and Gary Hammond motored across southwest Colorado in their RV to get away from the summer heat in Tucson. Good Samaritan that he is, Gary devotes the rest of the year to organizing his Saddlebrooke suburb into a “Senior Village,” where neighbors help neighbors age in place. “We try to help people stay here independently as long as possible.” Becky and Ben Field spent part of August on safari in Zimbabwe, their eighth trip to Africa. “We stayed away from Zimbabwe for a long time because of the economic and political strife but there are still
some wonderful places to visit there, out in nature in its most pristine form,” Ben writes, adding with glee, “imagine, no wifi, no internet, no emails, no Facebook, etc. for two weeks. Pretty cool.” We’ll excuse Tom Fox for missing the reunion. He was in Denmark, attending the wedding of his favorite niece. For the rest of the summer, Tom cavorted at the family’s summer home in Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park in Maine. It was an idyllic time of hikes, walks, sails, tennis, golf, extended family, guests and a lot of quiet life with books. “Lucky me!” Tom says. Almost incredulously Bill Dial reports that he’s finally grasped the old duffers’ Holy Grail of golf, a score below his age—a 75 on a “legitimate” par 71 course. “I thought this must be my day.” Immediately afterward he bought a handful of lottery tickets. No word whether the lucky streak continued. Best to all. —G
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60th REUNION
ABBOT Parry Ellice Adam 33 Pleasant Run Road Flemington, NJ 08822-7109 908-782-3754 peaba@comcast.net
A hold-over from the last issue: Anne Cole Stephano spent the summer at her home in Maine. She and I meet for lunch along the Delaware River. Jo Shanklin’s two children and seven grandchildren are fine. Two “grands” are already out of college. She sends her best wishes to all. Sally Leavitt Blackburn went to Seattle and spent 10 days with Jackie Locke Neaville. Jackie lived with the Leavitts her senior year. They had a great visit to Victoria and one day at the Butchart Gardens. Sally’s oldest grandson moved to Seattle last year so she got to see him, too. She hopes to be at our reunion. Jane Christie and Sandy Bensen Calhoun enjoyed a week a Tanglewood this summer. Seeing and hearing the Pops, the fireworks, and visiting author Edith Wharton’s home at The Mount were highlights. Jane is leading the pack of participants at our reunion with a “planning” lunch in Newburyport in September. Our big days are June 8–10, so y’all come!