Classes ending in 2's and 7's will have their reunion in the 2017-2018 school year, beginning the weekend of October 13-15. Please save the date!
CLASS NOTES Shirley Dawson Kirkland considers herself “a very lucky octogenarian, still married to my one and only husband (94 and going strong), in generally good health and very good spirits. “My problem is failing eyesight due to age-related macular degeneration. That’s a bit of a downer for an avid reader such as I was, but I take full advantage of modern technology to read and type on my Mac and, when tired, use my new DaVinci Pro to enhance text and even read aloud. And when there’s time, I enjoy Audible books. “Our elder son Keith and family live in Sewickley, PA, though his wife commutes to Boston during the work week. The eldest grandson in this family graduated from Pepperdine University and is now in China teaching English in a Nanjing high school. Number Two son is at Washington and Lee in Virginia. Number Three, a granddaughter, has just started her freshman year at Gordon College, north of Boston. “Our second son Derek lives in San Francisco, but he is pretty bi-coastal since he works part-time at Morgan-Stanley in NYC and is also affiliated with the Kennedy School at Harvard, doing research on government policy relating to the environment. He and his wife have three children: a graduate of Brown who is now working as an activist against coal pollution; a newly graduated son from Northwestern University, currently job-hunting; and a daughter who has just started Princeton after a gap-year comprising courses at London’s Cordon Bleu, a temporary job as ski-lift assistant, some months as a volunteer in a Katmandu hospital, travel in Thailand and Laos, and a summer job at a San Francisco bakery.” On their way to Canada last year and again last July, Shirley, her husband, Bill, and Keith, had lunch
with Shelley Bull Granger. When the house in Greenwich became too much, Shelley made a move which has “exceeded all [her] expectations” to Loomis Village in South Hadley, MA, which Shirley describes as “a super retirement community.” “Their visits have been so welcome,” says Shelley, who recalls other enduring friendships from “wonderful Riverdale years. “We had a great deal of freedom in an interesting community with friends in the older generation as well as our own. My life was certainly enriched by the families that left Europe with the threat of war and came to Riverdale, especially classmates Emmie Kreyberg and Suzanne Rufenacht. “Shirley and I spent a Christmas and New Year’s with the Kreyberg family in Oslo while we were in Paris our junior year. Suzanne, my daughter Cate’s godmother, is very much a part of my life now. She came to Loomis Village to visit me and stayed with Cate earlier this year. Cate, and her husband Timm Zolkos, live in Amherst, only 20 minutes away. She is Dean of Admission at Amherst College; he in community development. They have two sons.” Shelley’s eldest, Hal, and his wife, Alison, who live in Farmington, CT, work in the investment world and have two children; her son Chris, a doctor, and his wife, Bradi, a PhD nurse, are both at Duke University in cardiology and have three children. Ronald Mullins writes, “Riverdale was a major cornerstone in all of our lives. Much happens between the ages of 14 and 18; big memories and long friendships. I learned more about right and wrong and moral behavior from the extraordinary assistant headmaster, D. Earl Gardner, than from any other experience.
“The current news from us: our Vermont Dairy Farm has gone organic. Not so easy. It takes about three years to meet the rules and regulations. Lots of continuing restrictions. We have a young couple living on our premises that manage the dairy operations. It is a pleasure to see the cows grazing in the fields. “Our four children and four grandchildren all live in Vermont. Family gatherings and birthday celebrations bring all of us together and are scheduled frequently. “My wife and I have had enough of travel—though we escaped to Florida for a break from our tough winter last year—but in many ways we are quite active, and we are blessed with good health. We still have an apartment in NYC. Our schedule is usually two weeks at the farm, and a week in the city. Vermont has many wonderful features but the city visits afford us the chance to keep up with cultural events, mostly music and art.” Among his vivid Riverdale memories, Robert Blum cites Frank Hackett (“the Duke”), Earl Gardner (“the Shoe”); a generally superb faculty (e.g., Forrest Cobb, Bart Page, Robert B. Tucker, Irene Guiney, Marc Baldwin, Harold Klue, “Mickey” Murray); plus two marvelous coaches: Frank Bertino in football and Boris von Arnold in fencing. Bob was a member of the United States Olympic fencing team in the 1964 (Tokyo) and 1968 (Mexico City) Games. “No medals, but grand fun!” Bob is still connected to Riverdale by his daughter-in-law, Dr. Michele DeCarlo Blum, who teaches biology at RCS and whose husband Tom is VP for Administration at Sarah Lawrence. Bob’s eldest, Stephen, is a senior resident administrator of Yale alumni and student affairs. His youngest, Jennifer, is a lawyer. “Our fourth ( Jonathan, now 62 years old,) was
born profoundly autistic. He has no speech, and lives in a small group home in the Marine Park area in Brooklyn. We love him very much. “I'm retired (first from my law firm, then as a Bureau Chief in the Attorney General’s Office of NY State), but still a member of the State’s Advisory Committee on Civil Practice.” Bob keeps in close touch with his classmate Harry Rowney, whom he describes as “in good health, a splendid economist, a student of piano, and a devoted father and grandfather.” Harry Rowney, “a resident in Asheville, NC, for nigh on 20 years,” acknowledges that he “helped to create a son and a daughter and in turn has three granddaughters.” He recently retired as a trustee of the Asheville Art Museum, “on the old Wall Street rule that once your age begins with an 8, you retire from directorships and trusteeships. “I devote my time to studying piano and sponsoring piano recitals under the umbrella of the Museum, and have done this for about a dozen years when I realized the Museum had access to a superb Hamburg Steinway. “Following the custom of emperors and pharaohs before me, I have already created my headstone, which bears the legend ‘It is the Spirit that Quickeneth.’” Harry, who found Riverdale a unique institution/experience, considers “today's Riverdale quite different, which is not surprising with the passage of time. That does not make it better or worse. But my sense of the institution is that the purpose of the school is to drive its philosophy, rather than encourage mind creativity.” Longtime West coast resident Pat Arkin Gersden has been living in
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