Perspective Fall 2013

Perspective The M a ga zine fo r Univ er sit y L igget t Sc h ool Fa ll 2 0 1 3

From the Head of School

Paths followed, dreams realized From time to time, life or circumstances may allow us to explore that path and sing that song.

As this issue of Perspective goes to press,

the school year has just begun.

men (and women) lead lives of quiet

Thematically we are illustrating the

desperation and go to the grave with the

idea of “following your passion.” It is

song still in them.” I don’t think that’s

a central tenet of the Curriculum for

entirely true, but for many of us there is

Understanding that the goal of a great

that inner voice that constantly allows us

education is to identify and nourish the

to dream of greater and better. And from

passion that drives each of us to success.

time to time, life or circumstances may

To illustrate that idea, we profiled a

allow us to explore that path and sing

group of graduates who found and

that song.

pursued the one thing that most excited

and energized them, even if it wasn’t in

Liggett School has allowed you to both

their original life plan.

imagine and explore the passions that

The vast majority of us settle on

most delight and enliven you to sing

a career or a job that seems to make

your own unique and beautiful song.

It was Thoreau who wrote that “Most

I hope your education at University

sense for us and make that the object of our lives. A great education should

Joseph P. Healey

open windows that allow us to see for

Head of School

ourselves the paths that will not simply provide a living, but a life.

P e rsp ec t i v e

T he M a g a z i n e fo r Un i v e rs i ty L igget t School

Perspective The M a ga zine fo r Univ er sit y L igget t Sc h ool Fa ll 2 0 1 3

2

Contents

8 5 14 C4U 10

who grows your food?

Karen & Jody Warner, Farmers & Founders

Established in 2009 ~ a thriving vegetable, fruit, herb and flower farm serving the local community as innovators and stewards of the land. Growing organically. No GMO's - ew!

~ Zombie free since 2009~ See more products from the farm here: www . bigheadfarm . com

43 16

2 8 10 12 14 15 16 36 43 44

Cool Jobs Pathway to Happiness

by Ron Bernas

The Road Much Traveled

by Ron Bernas

The Curriculum for Understanding

Student Perspective

by Taniesha Williams

Parent Perspective The Elmer Family

Department of Advancement

Class Notes Our Newest Alumni, In Memoriam Department of Alumni Relations Distinguished Alumni Award, Our Most Loyal Supporters, Reunion Class Giving 2013, Alumni Weekend, Chicago & Red Crown, June 2013

Our Newest State Champs!

Knight Boys Baseball Liggett Life Day Two is the New Day One

by Ron Bernas

Cover art: The Leland F. Blatt Children’s Garden in a Lower School courtyard, Dedicated to a Man Who Enjoyed Watching Plants and People Grow.

Fall 2013 1

Cool Jobs

Pathway to happiness

By Ron Bernas

his appearance, though he says his

Some jobs are simply that – jobs.

long hair and beard help with his work

Something you get up in the morning

of promoting what he calls the Paleo

and go to and leave in the afternoon. And

lifestyle. It’s a lifestyle that has been

then there are the other jobs, the ones you

replaced with more sedentary, less

may wish you have, that sound like fun

healthy ways to live, but it’s one that

and not like work. We asked our alumni

he says has led to happiness and

to tell us if they had a cool job, and

great health.

we heard from them. What the people

profiled here all have in common is that

“that caveman guy” after his lifestyle

the jobs they love came to them out of

was profiled in the New York Times

an openness to follow a path that was

and after he more than held his own

not the one they expected. It was a path

in an interview with the freewheeling

that appeared to them, and they had the

Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central’s

courage to follow. Here are their stories.

“The Colbert Report.” It was, in fact,

me understand why I was getting

that appearance on Colbert’s show that

drowsy after lunch: I was eating tons of

brought him to the attention of book

sugar,…which caused my blood sugar

agents and the publication of “The

to spike and then crash. Biology was

Author, speaker

Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for

hindering my ability to learn about

John Durant is a busy man these days.

Lifelong Health.”

biology – go figure.” Other seeds were

His first book has just been published

planted when he received an end-of-the-

and he’s busy promoting it, writing his

traced in a long thread to his experience

year book award from history teacher

well-read blog and doing interviews as

at University Liggett School where he

Tony Gallaher, called “Consciousness

he prepares for a multi-city book tour

learned the basic tenets of evolution

Explained” by Daniel Dennett, which

that will include stops in his adopted

by natural selection in his freshman

posits that true consciousness comes not

home town of New York City, Boston,

biology class taught by Douglas Otto.

just from cognitive processes, but from

Washington, D.C., the West Coast

It was this theory he says that helped

physical ones, too.

and Detroit.

him eventually take control of his own

health. He had the class right after lunch

real job after graduating from Harvard.

“professional caveman.”

and could never stay awake, he said.

He worked in management consulting,

That’s not just a comment about

“It was biology that eventually helped

which required him to have short hair, be

2

Pe r sp e c t i v e

John Durant, ’01

Not bad for a guy whose job is

Durant has been known for years as

How he got here, he says, can be

Photo by Gabrielle Revere

Fast forward to 2005 and his first

clean shaven and sit at a desk a lot. (“My

He lost 22 pounds and went through an

article appeared in the New York Times,

mother loved it,” he quipped.) But he

entire winter without a single cold. His

he was inundated with requests from

wasn’t feeling well, didn’t sleep, gained

complexion cleared up.

other media: Everyone wanted a piece of

some weight. In short, he was unhealthy

“the caveman.”

both physically and emotionally. That’s

interested in his lifestyle and created a

when his brother, Clark ‘98, emailed him

web-based group called Paleo NYC that

first ever television appearance and

an essay titled “Evolutionary Fitness” by

brought like-minded people together. At

the largest audience he had ever

Dr. Art De Vany. His thesis was this: The

one of their gatherings was a freelance

addressed since he spoke at his 2001

genes we have do not prepare us to live

journalist who liked the story and asked

commencement. He was calm and

the lives most of us lead today. Humans,

Durant to sit for an interview. The

collected, not easy in a Colbert interview,

wrote De Vany, evolved as hunter-

reporter tagged along with Durant and

and came across as a charming guy

gatherers who didn’t have problems like

his friends for months and, when the

who granted that people might find his

He thought other people might be

“The Colbert Report” was Durant’s

obesity, diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

lifestyle a little, well, off.

Maybe there was something to learn

from them.

came out September 17 and is available

everywhere. It’s called a manifesto, but

So he stopped eating “industrial”

The interview led to the book that

foods, grain products, legumes and

Durant doesn’t harangue readers into

dairy. He ate more meat, seafood, fresh

living his chosen lifestyle. He simply

vegetables. “Basically any category of

lays out the case, using anthropological,

food that seemed like it would have been

psychological and biological theories. He

available in the wild that also happened

tells readers how these theories fit together

to be available in my local grocery

and lets the reader decide whether it’s

store,” he writes. He fasted, something

something they want to try. “It’s not a diet

hunter-gatherers did in the dry times

book,” he wants people to understand.

between big kills. He got outside more

“There are no recipes. It’s an attempt to lay

in the daytime and more sleep at night.

out a holistic way people can feel better and

And what do you know, in 10 days,

be healthier.” It also includes information

he knew he had something. He felt

about unlikely ways to exercise including

different, more confident and energetic.

the benefits of barefoot running.

Fall 2013

3

“I don’t say the Paleo lifestyle is for

This job led to her living in Russia

everyone,” Durant says. “If people don’t

managing a foreign aid program – and

have issues with their health and are

feeding her love of travel and foreign

happy with how they’re eating, there’s

cultures fostered in Liggett’s French

no reason to change. But if they are

classrooms. But while she thought she

• Stop counting calories.

having health problems or don’t like the

was making a difference, there was

Eat the right foods: meat,

way they’re feeling, it’s a great starting

a lot of bureaucracy. “I was a little

seafood, roots and tubers,

point. There’s mass confusion among

disheartened,” she said. The most

leafy vegetables, eggs, fruit

people over what’s healthy. This book

pleasure she got out of her job was from

and nuts. Experiment with

cuts through the noise.”

the public relations type of writing she

full-fat fermented dairy. Aim

But the noise is picking up in his

did on a regular basis. When she wasn’t

for a diet where the bulk of

world as he gears up for the book tour.

working, she and her ex-patriot friends

calories comes from seafood

“This is nothing that I anticipated,”

would travel, bringing with them the

and animals, but the physical

Durant concedes. “Life takes funny turns

Lonely Planet guidebook. One day it

bulk comes from plants. Don’t

and opportunities present themselves

dawned on her that it would be fun

be afraid of fat, eat nose to tail

and you have to be willing to take

to write for the book, so she sent the

and eat a variety of plants.

those risks.”

publishers a writing sample.

• Avoid processed foods of

the Industrial Age, including

after the book tour, and plans on moving

they finally contacted me and gave me an

sugar (sweetened foods,

his life as a professional caveman into

assignment in Poland.”

table sugar, dried fruit, plus

public speaking, advising and any other

artificial sweeteners) and

places it will take him.

almost since that time, writing about

vegetable oils (canola oil,

For more on the Paleo lifestyle, visit

places – Belize, Morocco, Costa Rica

soybean oil, corn oil, peanut

Durant’s blog, www.hunter-gatherer.com

-- many people only dream of seeing.

oil). Avoid eating large,

where you can also see his interview

What’s her favorite place? “When people

concentrated quantities of

with Colbert.

ask me that, I never give the same answer

Excerpt from

“The Paleo Manifesto”

He is already making plans for life

“It took a little while,” she said, “But

She has been a freelance travel writer

the seed-based crops of the

twice. Usually it’s the last one I visited.”

Agricultural Age, such as

“It’s such a great job because I have

grains (wheat, corn, barley,

Mara Vorhees, ’89

oats) and legumes (soy, beans,

Travel Writer

to cover a lot of regions,” she said. “I

peanuts). If grains are eaten,

When Mara Vorhees attended

uncover the little secrets about these places

go with rice.

Georgetown University’s School of

and that’s really rewarding.” She even

• Sleep as much as possible.

Foreign Service to study international

Move and exercise regularly.

relations, she spent a summer abroad

Stay on your feet (stand, walk,

in Finland. That trip included a visit to

run). Get regular, moderate

Leningrad that changed her life.

sun. Try some intermittent

fasting. Try some hot and cold

recalled. “Things were changing so much

exposure. Make it meaningful

and we were right in the middle of it.”

in order to make it a lifestyle.

She wanted to be part of that change

“It was my first time abroad,” she

and when she graduated she pursued a career in international development, which she describes as “how the United States and other countries and international organizations can help developing countries.”

4

Pe r sp e c t i v e

the opportunity to see the world and

a nice person and could communicate well and was reliable” and before he knew it, he was offered a job working on the second national tour of the musical “Big.” Well, with the encouragement of his mom who he says hoped he would get the theater out of his system, he took the job. He’s worked on many shows and in many theaters across the country, and is now head carpenter on the national tour of the award-winning blockbuster “Book of Mormon.”

“People hear head carpenter and

think it sounds like you can build a house,” he said. “But there are a lot of administrative tasks in running the show.

Basically, I keep the show moving.”

When the show comes into town with takes the time to learn some of the local

language – a skill she realized she had at

State University, with the dream of

and sound equipment and lights and

Liggett – because it can make the trip so

opening his own restaurant. But the

costumes, Jahnke’s in charge of getting it

much richer.

freedoms that come with college life

set up with the workers who travel with

proved too much for him, he says, and he

the show and the 60 crew members he

but it’s of a different kind. The title of

dropped out.

must recruit from the local town.

her website -- havetwinswilltravel.com

-- explains it all.

bum for a son, so they enrolled me in

my way into a job that only 10 people

“It doesn’t have to be Disney World,”

the culinary arts program at Macomb

in the world do,” he said. “I’ve got job

she advises parents. “We’ve spent plenty

Community College,” he said. While

security. I love this business and I’ve

of wonderful afternoons chasing pigeons

there, he wandered into the Macomb

taught seminars, given speeches and

around a plaza somewhere. With my

Center for the Performing Arts and asked

been guest designer.

generation, people are doing a lot of stuff

for a job -- his experience on and behind

with their children. It’s a new kind of

Liggett’s stage led to his being hired and

where I am now without the education

travel that is very rewarding.”

he was able to arrange his classes around

I got at Liggett,” he said. “And one of

the theater’s crazy

Nowadays, Vorhees is still traveling,

Liggett, she says, gave her the

After graduation he went to Michigan

“My dad was not going to have a

confidence and the willingness to try new

schedule. He

things, to make that leap, to take chances

worked backstage,

that have led to this “pretty great” career.

helping set up

its 15-20 semis full of sets and props

“My dad says that somehow I worked

“I don’t think I’d be anywhere like

the more than 300

Brent “Squatch” Jahnke, ’89

events a year at the facility. And during that time, he got to know

Head carpenter for “Book of Mormon”

people in the

At Liggett, Brent Jahnke was an athlete,

theater business.

a singer and an actor. He did it all, knew

everyone and took full advantage of the

know me and

opportunities provided him.

thought I was

“They got to

Fall 2013

#5

the things I learned at Liggett is to treat

everyone with respect.” That’s probably

fashion degree.

a good thing in a guy so big many people

“People who know me

only know him as Squatch, which is short

will say that I lived in

for Sasquatch.

the arts wing when

I went to Liggett,”

“Over the years I’ve learned that

But back to that

some of the best things came from

Warner said. “It was

tragedy or heartbreak. I wasn’t happy to

the art department

fail out of college, but it led to this.”

that supported me

and let me know that

He says he sometimes regrets not

using his culinary skills, but he really

I could do what I

only means not using them yet. “What’s

wanted to do. I didn’t

wrong with planning to open a B&B on

have parents who

Bora Bora?” Jahnke asks.

said ‘You have to be a doctor or a lawyer’,

Karen Bouwman Warner, ’91 Certified Organic Farmer The road to becoming an organic farmer doesn’t always begin with degrees in fashion design and English literature, but that’s the path Karen Warner took and it suits her just fine.

Since 2009, Warner and her husband

have owned Big Head Farm, 70 acres of certified organic space in Benton Harbor on which they grow 60 different crops in 136 varieties. They have 17 acres of blueberries, 10 acres of vegetables and recently purchased a 20-acre apple orchard they are in the process of turning organic. Because of the location, most of her customers are in the Chicago area, where they also sell their produce at farmers markets. She has four full-time salaried employees, a part-time crew of 12 and more workers brought in during the various harvesting times.

# 6

Pe r sp e c t i v e

they just let me know

who grows your food?

Karen & Jody Warner, Farmers & Founders

that I was supported.

It was the same thing

Established in 2009 ~ a thriving vegetable, fruit, herb and flower farm serving the local community as innovators and stewards of the land. Growing organically. No GMO's - ew!

at school.”

That feeling of

~ Zombie free since 2009~ See more products from the farm here: www . bigheadfarm . com

security helped a lot through the years,

she persevered and after college worked

she said. Being young for her class,

in retail for 22 years, helped run an

she was 17 when she started attending

aviation company and an art gallery. All

Washington University in St. Louis, Mo.

these experiences gave her the business

“I think going to college as a 17-year-old

acumen one needs to open a farm.

was probably not the best idea.” Still,

A vegetarian since she was 15, Warner

has long been involved in the issues of

the American food system. Her career as

Lower School, but he said the school

thing to do,” Bond said.

a farmer started with a guerilla garden

instilled in him a love of learning that

– a vacant lot no one seemed to own

took him successfully through Cass

exotic locales, but he also knows there is

between a church and an apartment

Tech in Detroit, Hampton University

job security in the government. He says

building in Chicago – where she planted

in Virginia, the Kennedy School of

Liggett’s educational philosophy still is

vegetables. She always loved being

Government at Harvard and a master’s

useful as he goes to new countries in new

outdoors, but had never considered

degree in environmental change and

capacities.

farming. When the idea of farming

management at Oxford in England.

started to take hold, she took a one-day

encouraged inquiry and excellence,

seminar on what it takes to start a farm.

Jakarta, Bogota, India and is currently

which is what my parents did at home,

That led to a nine-month class in farm

in Washington, D.C. His work has

too, is still with me,” he said.

management and in 2009 she and her

included managing the logistics of

husband started the business. Their first

getting materials, personnel and their

the Liggett LinkedIn account. Have you

season was 2010 and she’s been growing

belonging to the right places overseas,

joined? If you think you have a Cool Job, let

ever since.

managing the motor pool and, later,

us know and we may feature you in a future

working to limit the U.S. government’s

edition of Perspective. Contact Alumni

system that is healthy and can be

environmental footprint both because it’s

Relations Manager Savannah Lee at slee@

sustainable,” she said. “We also want

necessary, but also as an example to other

uls.org or 313.884.4444, Ext. 415.

to promote the shopping locally and

countries.

local food source movement.” They also

provide advice to others interested in

foreign service to try to show the people

“What we want is a whole farm

Bond attended Liggett only through

He has worked in Singapore and

in the countries we’re in that it’s the right He not only enjoys the work and the

“The extent to which Liggett

Most of these people were found through

“There’s a real effort on the part of the

starting organic farming.

It was a big leap, but she says she’s

happy she took it.

“I finally figured it all out,” she said.

“I’m definitely where I want to be.”

Clayton Bond, ’94 U.S. Foreign Service Officer With a name like Bond, Clayton Bond, how could you not work for the foreign service?

“As a Foreign Service generalist,

in the management cone, I’ve found a fulfilling way to engage in public service and environmental conservation, all while traveling the world,” Bond said.

Fall 2013

7

The road much traveled Siblings take cross-country trek to come together

By Ron Bernas

rugged terrain. It runs through France

Lindsay Brownell ’06 hoped that

and Spain, over the Pyrenees, ending

describes in one post, a town of feet.

traveling with her brother, Chris ’09,

at Santiago de Compostela, where

Hundreds of people doing the same

would bring them closer as young adults.

the remains of St. James are said to be

thing she and Chris were doing, for their

At three and a half years apart in age,

buried. It was one of the most important

own purposes, some religious some just

Lindsay said the trip was a celebration

pilgrimages in the Middle Ages and

for the physical challenge. What made

of his graduation from college, but it also

has experienced a surge of interest in

this town unique was that without access

was a way to reconnect with him and

recent years.

to Internet, people had to talk face-to-

learn about who they are as adults.

face. It was also a town that saw beautiful

Lindsay’s blog – which she updated

Lindsay graduated from Liggett when

They started their trek on June 6 and

She and Chris were part of, as she

changing landscapes, cathedrals and

Chris was a freshman and after

art works.

he started college, his summers

were spent at internships while

thinking and reflecting, but Chris

she worked in Ann Arbor for

and I would just laugh at these

Google. Now, with him moving to

stupid songs stuck in our head,”

Manhattan for a job and her about

she said. “Or we’d walk for an hour

to start graduate school, she was

without saying anything to each

afraid they would grow apart.

other and I thought ‘Oh, man, I was

They wanted to travel together,

hoping we’d really be connecting.’”

just the two of them, and decided

She realized later, they were.

they would travel El Camino de

Santiago together.

“When we were in our sophomore

“I thought I would do a lot more

“In the end,” she said, “Our

relationship was pretty much the only when she had Internet access – is a

same as it was when we were kids. We

years, we both did the Swiss Semester

travelogue with some meditation thrown

sang silly songs about things we did

Liggett offers,” Lindsay said. “That’s

in for good measure.

and saw and once I thought about it, I

where we first heard about El Camino de

understood that’s a good thing.”

Santiago in a humanities class. It really

well-structured El Camino is. At the

interested us because of the art history

end of what most people can walk in a

Brownells have another shared memory

aspect and just the adventure.”

day, there are hostels – called albergues

of good times and adventure, with more

-- where hikers can get a hot meal and

to come.

Also known as the Way of St. James,

El Camino is 550 miles of sometimes 8

Pe r sp e c t i v e

She found herself surprised at how

shower and have a safe place to stay.

Now off their separate ways, the

From A Googler’s Walk on the Camino de Santiago June 16 Something that I only recently realized is how far this walk actually is. It’s FAR. We’ve been walking for 9 days and aren’t even 1/3 of the way there yet. There are still so many pages of our guide book that we haven’t read.

In a way, I’m kind of glad, because the idea of being finished is really saddening, even this early in the trip.

I had some really interesting conversations with the other pilgrims; everyone has their own story about why they’re walking the Camino and what it means to them. One German lady walks it every 5 years or so, just to refocus her life and her energy.

An American from Boston has just finished a year of teaching in Spain and wanted to finish his experience with the Camino. And an Irish guy just decided to do it on a whim.

June 18 The albergue certainly was monastic.

There were tons of sparse, metal bunk beds in three big rooms with old wooden doors and windows, and in the center was a 16th-century courtyard. When we arrived there was no hot water, so I decided to forgo a shower and just sleep in the next day’s hiking clothes. We hung around the albergue for a while, then went to a mass and blessing for pilgrims, and then rushed to the restaurant to claim spots at one of their 5 tables for dinner.

We had morcilla de Burgos, which was like a kind of blood pudding sausage, but much more solid and tastier than British blood sausage, and tuna empanadas. For being the only gig in town, it wasn’t bad.

July 14 I actually think it was appropriate that our Camino ended in the fog. Many people hike the Camino because they are trying to find something or with a very clear purpose. The author of our guidebook, for example, walked it because he realized that he had been living the “corporate lifestyle” for most of his life and wanted to rediscover his purpose in life. Chris and I didn’t really have a similar motive of discovery. We’re both at transition points in our lives, and the decision to make those changes were made before we left for the trip. We weren’t really seeking anything, but in a way, the Camino’s purpose was to bring us to those new chapters of our lives. What exactly the future holds is unknown, and we are going to go plunge in head-first and learn on our feet. So, our “end of the world” is more of a beginning, and I think the fog represented the unknown that we’re about to venture into, and also symbolized that Finisterre (a short epilogue to the Camino that ends at the Atlantic Ocean) and the end of the Camino were not, after all, the end.

Read Lindsay’s blog, A Googler’s Walk on the Camino de Santiago, at tinybatcamino.wordpress.com.

Fall 2013

9

The Curriculum for Understanding

C4U

It all leads to this.

On four Monday evenings in May, Liggett seniors presented and defended their Academic Research Projects before a crowd of fellow students, parents, mentors, faculty and staff.

How did they get here? Peter Gaines, Assistant Head of Upper School, explains…

What do a marketing plan for a new

the Upper School which begins in ninth

hockey brand, an epigenetic and

grade and continues through classroom

anthropological study of the Dominican

coursework in all disciplines, ultimately

Republic and the Philippines, a cinematic

arriving at a unique and innovative

exploration of and homage to James

course for juniors and seniors. Beginning

Bond chase scenes, and a lab-based

with Research and Discovery as ninth

investigation of solid oxide fuel cells

graders, students at Liggett are taught to

explore their interests, to see the breadth of what it means to do research, and to work individually and collaboratively to demonstrate and publish their learning.

In my work as an educator, I have always watched students pursue their passions and accomplish great things.

The difference in our evolving program at Liggett is that instead of leaving it to chance whether a student can turn an interest — in education, hockey, art history, film, language, photography, medicine, genetics, chemistry — into

have in common? All four are topics of deep interest to members of the Liggett Class of 2013, and after attending our inaugural Academic Research Symposia this spring, I know that each is also a topic about which our most recent class of Liggett graduates now has an emerging expert.

In response to Head of School

Joe Healey’s vision for a Curriculum for Understanding, Liggett has been building a structural process that invites students to take ownership of their learning in areas of their choosing. Our three-semester Academic Research Project class is the culminating experience in a journey of learning in 10

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Kevin Allen’s project took him to a lab at Wayne State University where he attempted to build solid oxide fuel cells.

a deeper endeavor, we have created a

Enrollment in Detroit Public Schools;”

college with a clearer understanding

structure that ensures that every student

“Why Take Drugs? Post-Operative

of what they want to learn and how to

will do just that. What’s more, in the

ENT Pain Management Options,” and

pursue their learning and their passions.

process of doing this personalized

“Petroleum Engineering: The Use of

They will know how to research, how

academic work, our students are

Nanotechnology in Oil Extraction.”

to command a room as public speakers,

distinguishing themselves from their

and how to work with their professors,

peers at other schools both locally

curriculum grow and evolve over the last

Having watched our program and

mentors, and peers to do work about

and nationally.

After our students

complete two and a half years of foundational skill building in our Upper School program, students who enter the Academic Research Project Tutorial in their junior year. In this class they are guided through a semester-long process of identifying a focus question and the process they will follow to explore, research and ultimately propose conclusions by the end of their senior year. The 23 seniors who completed

These students volunteered to be the first group of students to complete the Advanced Research Project.

academic research projects this spring were guided by a team of teachers overseeing their year

three years, I know that we will continue

which they can feel appropriately proud.

and a half of work as they refined their

to develop an even stronger program

These are skills they will call on long

questions and strategies. Paired with

and course of study for our students

after their college years; in this way,

mentors from in and out of school, our

as we bring our second and third pilot

the lessons learned through Liggett’s

students were exposed to scholarship

groups through the process. That said, I

Curriculum for Understanding and

and research that most students do not

am proud that we are already asking and

the accompanying Academic Research

explore until their undergraduate or even

inviting our students to make things, to

Program apply not only as college-prep,

graduate years.

work with experts in and out of school,

but preparation for life.

To give you a glance at the depths of

to work in college laboratories, to read

the projects, one need only look at their

scholarly journals, and to do the very

at www.uls.org. If you’re interested in

titles: “When Words Move: The Evolution

work that colleges will expect of them

participating as a mentor, please call

of the Spanish Language from Castile,

as undergraduates.

313.884.4444, Ext. 329.

Spain, to New York City;” “Why Aren’t

More Kids in Detroit Going to College?

watched throughout the last four weeks,

Pinpointing the Barriers to College

I know that our ARP seniors went to

See videos of the ARP presentations

Reflecting on the presentations I

Fall 2013

11

Student Perspective

Senior Project’s focus is to give hope

By Taniesha Williams

Last May, I began my senior project at

senior project ended to work as a

soon as we arrived, the kids would

Focus: HOPE working with Amy Costello

program leader for Yes I Can Achieve’s

scramble to find the “Diary of a Wimpy

’05 in preparing for the next cohort of

Read and Rise/Math Matters pilot

Kid” series or a few Scooby Doo books.

students in Generation of Promise, a

program. This program targets students

In the math portion, we would work

diversity and leadership program for

in fourth through sixth grades who live

on adding fractions and learning long

I returned a few weeks after my

the local Parkman Branch library. As

high school students.

division. The kids worked hard

to understand these concepts

As I worked at my desk,

there was rarely a moment when I didn’t hear about the community-based programs happening at Focus: HOPE. There was always chatter about organizing the latest block party or putting together the finishing touches on a new photography class. Not to mention, it was great to see the constant stream of people who entered the building looking to utilize these resources. I realized Focus: HOPE was dedicated to rebuilding the

“ I knew I wanted to be a part of this change in my community...”

community in every aspect

that followed the Common Core Standards of Michigan, but I realized there were other things that needed to be addressed that weren’t directly related to getting a high score on the MEAP. For example, I worked with the kids to help them understand how to count change and how to read an analog clock. There were times when it was challenging to get everyone motivated so we taught the kids to always remember humility, optimism, perseverance, and earnestness to get them through tough situations. Whether it was

imaginable: financial literacy,

for school or just learning new life

job training, crime prevention, and

in Hope Village, the area immediately

skills, it was amazing to witness the joy

poverty alleviation. As a soon-to-be

surrounding Focus: HOPE. For the

and satisfaction that followed even the

education major, I knew I wanted to be a

reading portion, a typical day would

smallest victories.

part of this change in my community in

usually start with reading and discussing

one of the best ways I knew how: as a tutor.

a story and then going for a walk to

program is that in a few weeks these

12

Pe r sp e c t i v e

The most immediate benefit of this

kids will return to their classrooms with

as far off as they might think. After all, I

a better understanding of reading and

lived in this same neighborhood as a kid

math concepts from the previous years.

and went to some of these same schools. I

Maybe I’m too much of a dreamer, but

want them to hold on to the fact that they

I’m hoping for a little more. I hope from

can be successful and become the police

working with this program that the kids

officer or lawyer that they aspire to be.

become more confident in their abilities

to overcome difficulties in and out of

that I wouldn’t have wanted to spend

school. Whether it’s on their next spelling

it any other way. It’s such a privilege

test or in their own personal lives, I hope

helping kids learn things that will not

they remember those four themes to get

only help them academically, but also in

them through hard times. I hope from

their everyday lives.

As this summer winds down, I know

looking at me they’ll see that college isn’t

A tradition since 1972

By Elizabeth Jamett Director of College Guidance Since 1972, the senior project has been one of the defining features of a student’s final year at University Liggett School. In order to encourage responsibility, independence and self-reliance in our graduates, Liggett requires that seniors complete an off-campus internship.

Seniors spend 30 hours a week

at their project site, and the range of experiences is as diverse as our students’ interests. Some students Taneisha Williams, third from right, worked with children at Focus: HOPE for her senior project.

choose a project that will help them to learn more about a particular professional field, while others gravitate toward community-based organizations that welcome student volunteers. A fair number of the project supervisors are current or past Liggett parents.

While seniors may begin

their project with at least a little trepidation, most emerge with a better sense of the profession or organization with which they work.

Some Liggett alumni report that their senior project shaped their choice of major, and at least a few senior projects have led to offers of summer employment.

Independent schools often

provide seniors with a sort of “capstone” experience in their senior year, but the Liggett senior project is unique in that it requires students to be engaged in a community outside of Liggett.

Fall 2013

13

Parent Perspective

Liggett’s family is a blessing

By Shelli Elmer

in Algonac then -- the boys continued to

arts, music and sports. Liggett provides

My name is Shelli Elmer, and along

look forward to going to school each day.

a wonderfully full menu of choices,

with my husband Mark, we have two

Moving closer has added an even greater

and exposes our children to a various

boys, Jonathan ’16 and Geoffrey ’19. We

dimension of involvement in the school

opportunities to participate.

spent our last 25 years in Florida, and

activities and sports.

summered here for a number of years.

involved, particularly in the Lower

Mark grew up in the area, and we have

the case for choosing Liggett, but also

and Middle School, is welcomed and

been here full time since the fall of 2010.

the “navigating life” lessons that are

encouraged. The Parent Associations

Not only do the academics make

Finally, the prospect of parents being

Mark and I (and the boys too!) own and operate a number of Village Ace Home & Hardware stores throughout the Detroit area.

When we realized in the late

summer of 2010 that we were going to be staying full time in Michigan, we were quickly confronted with the school choice dilemma. Our children had been predominately schooled in the private Catholic school system, and had experienced the value of a private school environment. With a recommendation of Liggett being the best in the area, we met first with Denise Deane. After that first meeting, we were sold. The admissions staff did an excellent job and made us feel at home immediately. They are a true asset.

As parents, we worried about the

Shelli and Mark Elmer with Geoffrey, left and Jonathan.

taught are unsurpassed. The teaching

are always looking for fresh ideas and

transition, but within just a month

of personal responsibility starting at a

participation. Parents’ viewpoints are

we knew we had made the best

very young age prepares the children

welcomed and encouraged. This only

educational choice for our children. The

for Middle School and Upper School

strengthens the Liggett family. From our

administration and faculty provided

demands. They develop maturity in

perspective, we are tremendously blessed

excellent support and development, all

their thinking, their confidence and their

to have become a part of this wonderful

with a personal touch. Even with the

social skills. Also before Liggett, we

school community.

long drive in to school – we were living

had not experienced a large selection of

14

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Department of Advancement

You are always welcome here Take this time to think of the Septembers you walked through the doors at the start of a new year.

It’s interesting that September, the ninth

for November 2 at the Detroit Athletic

month of the year, is the beginning of

Club. This event raised more than

so many things. Sports seasons start up,

$195,000 for the school to enhance the

favorite television shows return, cultural

already great opportunities University

events begin to fill our evenings and, of

Liggett School students have every day.

course, a new school year starts.

And, though it’s hard to believe, we’re

already organizing Alumni Reunion

As I write this, there are a still a few

weeks of a remarkably quick summer

Weekend, planned for May 16-17, 2014!

left, but students are coming in and

We hope you will join us for any – or all –

bringing renewed spirit to the school that

of these events.

has been, over the summer, a place of

meetings and planning and organizing.

Septembers you walked through the

doors at the start of a new year. Recall the

The results of those planning

Take this time to think of the

meetings start to roll out as school

excitement, the anxiety, and remember

begins, the traditional flag-raising

how the school embraced you and made

ceremony on the second day of school

you feel like a part of a big, comfortable

is a fantastic way to welcome returning

family. You are still part of that family

students and make new families feel a

and we want you to come home. Even

part of the community that is University

if you can’t physically come here, you

Liggett School.

can be part of the family by reading

our website (www.uls.org) or joining

But that’s just the first of many events:

Homecoming on October 12 gets bigger

our Facebook pages (there’s one just

and better every year. More alumni

for alumni), our LinkedIn account or

return to cheer on the school’s teams

following us on Twitter.

and to see teachers and friends. On

October 11, we welcome several new

family. Take advantage of this September

people to our Alumni Athletic Hall

beginning and reignite your feelings for

of Fame, another event that attracts

University Liggett School.

You are an important part of our

alumni and sports lovers from all our predecessor schools.

Then there is Liggett Knight, our

Kelley Hamilton Associate Head of School for Advancement

annual fundraising auction, scheduled

Fall 2013 15

Welcome our newest alumni Class of 2013

These 68 seniors are now attending the following colleges and universities: Butler University, University of California-Santa Barbara, University of Cincinnati, College for Creative Studies, Cornell University, Cornerstone University, Denison University, DePaul University, University of Detroit Mercy, Emory University, Grinnell College, Hobart & William

16

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Smith Colleges, Indiana UniversityBloomington, John Carroll University, Kalamazoo College, Lake Forest College, Marietta College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, University of Michigan, New York University, Northwestern University, Oakland University, Olivet College,

Princeton University, Purdue University, Rochester College, Rollins College, Savannah College of Art & Design, Schoolcraft College, Texas Christian University, Tufts University, Vanderbilt University, Washington & Lee University, Wayne State University, Webster University, Western Michigan University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Class Notes 1938

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Jean Downer Hodges 429 Barclay Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-2813 trhjdh@sbcglobal.net

1939

Liggett Class Secretary: Mary Louise Goodson Drennen 106 Merriweather Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3623 Ann Pelton Babcock missed spending part of the summer in Northport, Michigan, for the first time in 86 years. She doubts she will go up again, but hopes members of her family will want to keep the property there. Her adopted daughters, Mary and Ann (adopted when they were 11 and 13 now 64 and 66) were there early this summer. In August, they went with Ann for a few days at a casino / hotel on an Indian reservation four hours away from Charlotte, N.C. Patricia Giblin Hack spent the summer at her cottage in Michigan. Her, daughter, Babe, was with her. Babe is quite a sailor and was off racing on nearby Crooked Lake when we talked to “Gib.” Both keep busy with the many events in the small, close-knit community of Bayview. This past winter may have been Gib’s last in Hawaii — at least in her usual apartment. Things are changing there and she is thinking of spending future winters visiting her six children. Daughter, Shelley, her husband and their young daughter are still in Hollywood, Calif. Daughter, Stacey lives in Florida permanently now and wants Gib to move near her.

From a call to Josephine Karmazin’s nephew, Greg, I was glad to learn that Jo is still happy in the nursing home. Except for dementia, which some days seems to be getting less severe, her health is very good.

She knows she went to Liggett as part of our class and smiles when Greg talks about her days there. She loves cards and notes he reads to her.

Things are going well for your class secretary, Mary Louise Goodson Drennen.

They stay much the same. Some bridge, some golf committee meetings and frequent visitors for a meal or an overnight or week-end stay.

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1940

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: William Klingbeil 201 Woodbury Avenue Mt. Dora, FL 32757-2865 Liggett Class Secretary: Constance Haberkorn Nichols 176 Kendal Drive Kennett Square, PA 19348-2333 nichols17@verizon.net

1941

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Jane Kilner Denny 125 E. Gilman Street Madison, WI 53703-1407 Hawkhill@comcast.net

1942

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: Robert M. Tonge P.O. Box 357 Waterville, ME 04903-0357 Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1943

CDS Class Secretary: Susanne M. Kemp Bartlett 262 Mount Vernon Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3437 sooze262@aol.com Susanne Kemp Bartlett: Grosse Pointe Country Day School’s third graduating class had only 16 members, all females. The school had, until the early 1940s, been K-10 and many students then went away to boarding school for “finishing.” Sympathy is sent to the families of two of those early graduates: Gloria Suzanne Rickel McCormick-Goodhart (Mrs. Leander Hamilton McCormickGoodhart) who died December 20, 2012 and Ann Young Robinson (Mrs. Howard Hall Robinson, Jr.) who passed away April 9, 2013.

DUS Class Secretary: William Wilson 470 Cambridge Way Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304-3814 wwwilson2@aol.com Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1944

CDS Class Secretary: Lydia Kerr Lee 1030 Arbor Lane, Apt. 103 Northfield, IL 60093-3356 DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Roberta Mackey Rigger 830 West 40th Street, At. 304 Baltimore, MD 21211-2125 rmrigger@aol.com Julie Harris ’44 CDS one of Broadway’s most honored performers, whose roles ranged from the flamboyant Sally Bowles in “I Am a Camera” to the reclusive Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst,” died Saturday, August 24. She was 87. To read an extended tribute of Julie please turn to the In Memoriam section.

Respectfully, Lydia Kerr Lee ’44 CDS

1945

Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Fall 2013

17

Class Notes

1951

CDS Class Secretary: Jane Ottaway Dow 191 Ridge Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3554 janeodow@gmail.com

Martha Bryant Hopkins ’47 LIG and Heather “Lil’ Mama” Hardy.

Nena Cunningham Dahling ‘50 CDS, and Mary McKean Roby ‘50 CDS with Sigrid Koebel ‘50 CDS, at the wedding of her grandson, Kurt Koebel Mosher, Jr. ‘02 on May 11, 2013 at the Detroit Yacht Club.

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: Albert M. Mackey, Jr. 276 LaSalle Place Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3107 amm276las@aol.com

Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1946

Liggett Class Secretary: Betsy Stanton 2001 S. Clinton Ave., Apt. D306 Rochester, NY 14618 bstanton@rochester.rr.com CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1947

CDS Class Secretary: Shirley Jerome McKee 9820 Oakhurst Holly, MI 48442-8610 Martha Bryant Hopkins: This is a picture of me on my 84th birthday at a night club in Tucson, Ariz., where “Lil’ Mama” Heather Hardy and her band played “Happy Birthday” to me. Jolly time had by all. Broken vertebra and leg are much better with new medication. Have moved, but Tucson will always be home. I can hardly wait for it to be mid-summer. My 51 year-old son, Alex, died last November when I was in the middle of nowhere in Northern Australia. Fortunately my girls handled things ‘till I got home after a 36 hour trip. I am getting deaf as a post, as was my father at this age, and frankly it is a real handicap. But I realize that I’m still better off than most people.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

18

Pe r sp e c t i v e

1948

CDS Class Secretary: Constance Woodall Fisher 1485 Kingswood Terrace We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Norah Moncrieff Williams 502 Glen Arbor Lane Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236-1506 JackandNorah@wowway.com

1949

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Ann Bolton Opperthauser 41140 Fox Run Road #610 Novi, MI 48377-4845 1950 CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Correction: Sigrid Koebel was mistakenly left off of the Spring 2013 listing of classmates from CDS 1950.

DUS Class Secretary: William J. Cudlip II 284 McKinley Avenue Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3460 cudlipwj@hotmail.com

DUS Class Secretary: Edmund R. Sutherland 216 Ridge Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3538 For many of us in the Class of 1951, this year is a very special one. We celebrate our 80th birthdays. Pete and I are among that group.

Our children, Jennie Dow Murphy ’78, Peter K. Dow ’80 and Tom Dow ’83 orchestrated a gala cocktail buffet to celebrate our special year.

Some of those attending the party were graduates of CDS, DUS and Liggett. Among the group were: Dick Sutherland ’51 DUS and Paula and Fred Fordson ’51 DUS and Martha Fordson. Martha, the former Martha Smith was a Liggett graduate Class of 1953.

Another Liggett graduate, Cynthia Keydel Huebner was present with her husband, Julius. Cynthia was a member of the Liggett Class of 1951. Also joining the party from Country Day was Betsy Chesbrough Maitland and her husband, Gordon. Betsy was CDS Class of 1952. Also with us was George Zinn’s ’51 DUS widow, Mary Anne.

In the spring 2013 issue of Perspective we mentioned that Joanie May was recovering in a rehab facility near their Florida home in The Villages. She was getting ready for yet another back operation. I was delighted when I phoned to check in to see how she was doing to hear her answer the phone. She was in great spirits. Her back surgery went well. She has had an excellent recovery. The only negative is that she is having some minor balance issues.

However, she is continuing to improve with regular physical therapy. The other good news is that Myron has been able to return to his golf. He is now playing three or four times a week. Joanie reported their children and grandchildren are all doing well.

We were impressed with the class notes from Class of 1956 which were included in the spring 2013 issue of Perspective. They are urging members of their class to share “what’s going on in their lives — what they enjoy — hobbies, sports, travel, volunteer activities, family events, etc. Please help us keep in touch with every member of the great Class of 1951. Even a short note on a Christmas card would be appreciated.

Class Secretaries: Jane O. Dow janeodow@gmail. com and Dick Sutherland dpsuth@aol.com Liggett Class Secretary: Barbara Allen Esler 43422 W. Oaks Drive #322 Novi, MI 48377-3300 Joan Jones: I moved to upper New York state last week after a week’s family vacation in Michigan. The movers came a week before that. I am now only eight minutes away from my son, Gordon, and his family. I am at an

unusually friendly, happy independent living place. Much unpacking left to do, but I am glad I made the move.

A recent note from Becky Patterson Hein lets us know that she and Gerry are “giving up landscaping” and moving about now.

Their new address will be 17111 East Jefferson, #23, Grosse Pointe, MI 48230. An e-mail from Judy Hubbard Hutchinson with a new e-mail address mentioned that she and Cynthia Keydel Huebner both flew east to attend Cynthia’s brother’s and Judy’s sister’s 60th wedding anniversary. They had some catching up to do since the previous time they had been together had been a year and a half previous, when they were celebrating Judy’s sister’s 80th birthday.

My most recent news is that my granddaughter, Tiffany, who has been in the U.S. Navy for fifteen years, married Christopher Hewitt, another navy career person, on 12/12/12. They have nearly finished their two-year period stationed in Japan and should be back in the states around Thanksgiving. I look forward to meeting my grandson-in-law. Chris has children from a previous marriage, so I guess that makes me an instant great-grandmother. It has just been announced that Tiffany will be advanced to the rank of Chief Petty Officer. My other granddaughter, Kenda, graduated from high school in June and will be attending the combined campus of Indiana University and Purdue in Indianapolis this fall.

The Detroit area members of our class are planning to meet for lunch on August 23rd to celebrate our 62nd class reunion.

1952

Shirley Langs Smith: A sad year for me. My last sibling/brother Russ Langs ’56 GPUS has passed on. First was my sister Ruth who died young as you all know. In 2010 my older brother Richard ’51 DUS. Now my younger brother Russell, July 26th 2013. Strange to be the last of Grace and John Langs’ four children. I was blessed to have them as my siblings. Learned from them, was protected by them, and loved by them. There will be a memorial walk at a later date in Petoskey.

Contact me at shirlthepearl78@gmail.com for more information on that.

CDS Class Secretary: We would love to have a CDS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

DUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a DUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Kay Jordan Phillips 14421 N. Ibsen Drive, Apt. A Fountain Hills, AZ 85268-2102

1953

We would love to have a class secretaries!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1954

GPUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a GPUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Valerie Oppenheim Hart 6849 S Clayton Street Mount Dora, FL 32757-7024 vhartcook@comcast.net

1955

GPUS Secretary: Jane Weaver Reuther 81 Lewiston Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236 jnb7@comcast.net Tony Barr writes that things are pretty quiet in Vero Beach in the summer. Tony and Robin Reade Ryan serve on the Board of the Princeton Class of 1959 Fund which was established to help classmates who are going through difficult times. They enjoy catching up on their personal news several times a year when they are in touch to discuss the 1959 Fund.

Liggett Class Secretary: Gael Webster McFarland 212 20th Avenue Indian Rocks Beach, FL 33785-3840 gaelstan@gmail.com Jean Martin Doelle, Julie Thompson Merriman, Patricia Bisceglia and Sue Laurence Wehmeier had an amazing reunion home in Palos Verdes, Calif. They spent a long weekend together taking in the sights of Los Angeles. Shopping and eating were high priorities along with a little culture thrown into the mix.

Anne Hardy Merritt has sad news to report. Gerry, her husband died suddenly in July. We send her our heartfelt condolences and remember when we visited Anne and Jerry, in their home, two years ago at a class reunion in St. Charles, Ill. Joan Korda is busy with her antique business. She specializes in 17th, 18th, and early 19th century European furniture and smalls. She also exhibits at several antique shows throughout the year.

Pam Keena Bell is happy to be back in her apartment after having spent most of the summer in rehab because of a fall. She lives in Cincinnati near some of her children and is back to leading a normal life.

Vivian Michel Hiedeman flew to Seattle this past July to see her daughter and to celebrate her granddaughter Zoe’s fifth birthday. Her other daughter who lives in Cleveland with her recently adopted baby, and Vivian’s brother were also there for the family reunion. Another highlight of her summer was spending a week at the Chautauqua Institute in New York.

Gael Webster McFarland and her husband Stan are planning to relocate to Michigan in the coming year. They are planning to live in Bloomfield Hills or Birmingham. Stan’s sister and extended family are also in the area.

Seated, Jean Martin Doelle ’55 LIG, standing (left to right): Julie Thompson Merriman ’55 LIG, Patricia Bisceglia ’55 LIG, and Sue Laurence Wehmeier ’55 LIG

1956

GPUS Class Secretaries: Lylas Good Mogk, MD 1000 Yorkshire Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230-1432 lmogk@aol.com George Jerome 40 Edgemere Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3709 ggjsr@aol.com While Detroit struggles with the world watching, its closest neighbor remains quiet, unobtrusive and exceptionally green: No burned grass, wilted flowers or fried kids this August. GPUS ’56 is also quiet, but thriving, with gracious notes from Jean in Detroit, Beam and Jody from points east along with a bit fantasy on Wilk and finking on Fink across the lake.

Jean Dodenhoff: I continue to enjoy being able to do what I please which includes tutoring at Dominican Literacy Center and cataloguing for the Detroit Symphony and the Detroit Historical Museum. I’ve been watching City of Detroit developments and wonder when the administration and its numerous consultants expect to become sufficiently organized to work productively with the council.

Possibly more indicative of Detroit’s revitalization, the new owner of the Mies van der Rohe designed Lafayette Towers Apartments where I live is doing an extensive restoration and upgrading of the buildings Barb “Beam” Denison: George and I are still in Bethesda, Md., and are in good health – all three daughters are in Marin County, Calif. as are, of course, our eight grandchildren.

Last summer I gave up my framing business after 45 years and turned to painting full time which is what I have always wanted to do. I’m loving it and hope to show some work soon.

George is still happily lobbying on Capitol Hill. We take frequent trips to California to visit family and try to get in one or two trips abroad each year as well. Hope all our old classmates out there are doing well – fondly, Beam Jody Hill Van Loan: We lead a very quiet life with our four dogs and 11 grandchildren, nine of whom live nearby and we see frequently. I take our three Portuguese Water Dogs to Agility classes and sporadically compete with them at agility trials. The one year old German Shorthaired Pointer will start

Fall 2013

19

classes in the spring. To keep my mind active, I play Duplicate Bridge twice a week. There is an excellent clip of a Jumpers on Youtube.

It first shows the run at full speed and then critiques the handler’s moves to guide the dog through the course and prevent off-courses.

The run at full speed only takes about 31 seconds so this is not a long clip. Look for “Serpentines and Ketschkers: Analysis of Daisy Peel’s ISC Jumpers Run” on Youtube.

As some of you are aware, we have been asking four or five class members each time to send a brief entry with the admonition that otherwise we will create a story. Ron Wilk, therefore, may be providing medical care to Astronauts, trading horses with Saudi Arabian princes or lounging on a yacht in Florida.

Whatever the case, we hope he is thriving.

Stephanie Fink Donaldson’s public Facebook page offers a charming and more likely glimpse of Canadian water scenes, Anglican Church entries, including a clip from Egypt, and photos of friends, cute kids, and a pair of black and white Springer Spaniels. Our best to Stephanie.

Thanks to Jean, Beam and Jody and with our 60th just three years away, let’s all keep in touch.

Linda Ross Radionoff: We are still very happy in Houston. Our daughter Sharon keeps us busy with her renovations on her home (built in 1938). New plumbing for the whole house and a complete new (old looking) bathroom. She wants to keep the 1930’s feel.

We are both busy still singing in two choirs at church and have many jobs. I teach fabric painting at what is called Open Door where about a dozen different crafts are being taught.

We are in a group that takes monthly one day trips to see many interesting things in and near Houston. I am also back working for our daughter 2 afternoons a week filing charts and calling clients. We have a grandson in Michigan and the rest of our family lives in Illinois. Where we also have 2 great grandsons.

It’s great to have Skype so we can enjoy them.

That’s about it. We have great neighbors and are in a good location. Hobby Lobby is one of my favorite places, but of course Michaels and Jo Ann’s run a close second.

They are all close by. Hope you hear from the others.

Joanne Streit Stewart: On December 6, 2012, I woke up with chest pains. I went to the doctor and he put me in the hospital where I had 3 stents put in my heart. I went through cardiac rehab for three months, lost 25 pounds, changed my diet to heart healthy food, and now exercise every day. It’s amazing how the medical doctors can repair your body and help you live a normal life again. I‘m training to swim in the Senior Games in October 2013 and the Synchronized Swimming Show in March 2014. I continue being a caregiver to my 93 year old husband, Dana. We enjoy a lot of the activities going on in Sun City and Hilton Head Island.

Liggett Class Secretary: Joanne Streit Stewart 5 Debeaufain Drive Bluffton, SC 29909-2500 danawsa@sc.rr.com

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1957

GPUS Class Secretary: Wendy Krag gigipab@comcast.net Wendy Krag (gigipab@comcast.net): As your new 1957 class secretary, I am thrilled to have had such a wonderful response from so many of you. Bill and I enjoyed seeing those of you who came to Grosse Pointe in 2007 for our 50th reunion six years ago – some even traveling from our coasts.

Bill and I have a son, Brace, who graduated from University Liggett School in 1984 and a daughter, Wendy O’Neil, who graduated from there in 1987. Brace and his wife, Kristen, live near Far Hills, N.J., and have three children. Wendy and Tom live in the Berkshires in western Mass. They have a family of two. Brace is in marketing for a pharmaceutical firm while Wendy is an active silver smith (kragsilversmith.com).

Bill and I have been married for 51 years living all this time in Grosse Pointe Farms on Merriweather Road. We winter near Sarasota, summer in upper Michigan, and travel with our children, mostly in the east in the spring and fall.

Since our class has lost 11 members, it becomes even more important that we maintain our connections. Thus, our updates as published in Perspective become very important. Here is what some of our class has to say: Skip Johnson (rjohn06850@aol.com): I just returned from Chicago where Wendy and I had a wonderful lunch with Mac Wiener. It was a too short trip but fun to catch up. Wendy and I are now old marrieds of eight years and very happy with 11 grandkids between us. I am still working at the Church Pension Fund perhaps for one more year while splitting our time between our NYC apartment and my home in Westport, Conn. We see Jim and Katie Stewart at the wonderful piano nights he arranges at the New Cannan Country Club.

I was in Grosse Pointe in May for my sister Jane’s birthday and then had a great lunch in Birmingham with my brother Dick’s widow.

Dick passed away a year and a half ago – miss him. Saw Greg Dodds and his wife, Chris, on the same trip. I have talked with Stu Piggins twice at least this year – on his birthday and mine.

Li Miller (liandtobermory@live.com): Li updates us from Durango, Colo. The whole family – including great-grandchildren — cruised Alaska. We’re getting together again in August for my last granddaughter’s wedding.

I now have five great-grandchildren including brand new twins.

Mary Yeager Moore (mymtrain@comcast. net): Mary writes from Olympia, Washington about her daughter, Sheri, who is a gifted artist. She has been invited to be a part of the Annual Craftswoman’s Art Show in San Francisco which will be in November. She was also asked to show at Seattle’s Best of the Northwest Art Show once again but has to decline as she will be showing at the same time in a show in San Francisco.

Friedrich Matthew Mozer, son of Judie BaileyGillis ’57 LIG, and fiancée Jessica Davis.

Carole Williams: Carole sends her compliments to Wendy Krag for reuniting our class. She lives in Kensington, NH. Julie Pearce (jpearce@ivc.edu): I am writing from California and continue to teach various psychology courses as well as some women’s studies as an adjunct professor at Irvine Valley College and Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, Calif. I’m also a licensed psychotherapist, so I am busy. When people ask me when I’m going to retire, three to five years is the number that comes to mind.

My work is challenging, but it’s also very stimulating – I really do love what I do – and I keep learning so much!

I remember hearing about an early version of women’s studies when I was at Smith, and thinking it must be an easy course. I lived by a very different paradigm then. I was so “out of it” when it came to realizing the ongoing importance of women’s issues and the role of gender in handicapping women. I just read Sheryl Sandberg’s book, “Lean In” and it’s a really good read on this subject.

I’ve been living in California since 1973, and really love it. I’m just inland from Laguna Beach. I got introduced to California on Chet Samson’s trip in 1956; it took many years and a lot of decisions and a divorce, but I finally made it out here permanently. A few years ago, Skip Clark, my driver on that trip, showed up in California and took me to see Chet, who was well into his nineties. Chet lived with his partner in a house just up the road from the Chateau Marmont, next door to a house of Johnny Depp’s. Chet always did love the whole Hollywood scene and it was delightful to see him again. Yes, he was definitely older, but that same personality and wit and love of life was still there.

Ginny McMillan Lambrecht (rpl.vml@ comcast.net). Having sold our home in Grosse Pointe we are now Florida residents so most of our time is spent in Boca Grande. Both of our sons, Jeff ‘85 and Jim ‘84, live in Michigan and each has a son and daughter, 14 years and 12 years (where does the time fly?). Additionally we enjoy our cottage on Walloon Lake, Mich., which our boys and their families also like to use year round.

Mary Pardee Maxwell [marymax@q.com] It’s been so long I don’t know where to start.

Here we go: Hi GPUS folks. Do I say ULS? Well not because I graduated from GPUS in 1957; Is this PC incorrectness? Perhaps.

Talk about boring, I’ve lived in the same house since 1970 in Tucson, Ariz. Never

thought I’d spend the rest of my life here, but looking at the mountains out of my front window is awesome. I’ve been sustained with my love (obsession?) with duplicate bridge and the world of Bedlington Terriers.

I’ve had the good fortune to be in touch with Julie Pearce and Mary Yeager Moore. I spent 2 week-ends with Julie in Orange County, Calif., this past June and just back from a week’s visit with Mary Yeager Moore in Olympia, Wash.

It’s terrific to see these old friends. We loved seeing Ingrid Cornelius Roberts in Scottsdale, Ariz., but sadly Ing died a year last September.

Year before last I got to visit Li Jacobson Miller in Durango, Colo., also God’s country.

Things are wonderful here in Tucson and if any of you come this way, please say hello and come visit.

Please note our 11 departed classmates: Carol Laird Booth Robert M. Bowker Charles R. Brooks David Brown Nancy Stair Karish William B. Lafer David Marentette Judith Ollison McKean Thomas C. Miller Ingrid Cornelius Roberts Nicholas Stroh Liggett Class Secretary: Diane Bedford Svenonius 736 Silver Spring Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20910-4661 dbsvenonius@msn.com Dana Wormer (Bunny) Riley: First of all, best wishes to all. This is a sad time to write as Detroit has just declared bankruptcy.

However, we have happy memories of a beautiful school full of the finest teachers and students in a great big wonderful city. We can count our blessings for those precious years!

Jim and I continue to enjoy our blended family of four delightful children and their families... we found the best way to gather them together was on a cruise ship! Cruising is also the perfect way to travel as I am still rolling on four wheels since the stroke in March 2008.

Must add how fortunate I am to be able to love, laugh and learn every day... and read and write as we were taught at Liggett. Sending love and hugs all around to all.

Sally Kaiander Cibirka: For 12 years we have been in Cape Coral but three years ago we moved to The Villages, in central Florida.

Our street address is 1125 Alcove Loop, The Villages, FL, 32162. It’s nice but we miss the sea breeze as we were on the water before. Our only son is a doctor, and lives in Augusta, Ga., with his wife and 13-year-old daughter. We do get to the Masters a lot because of that. How time flies ... we are getting ready to celebrate 53 years of marriage!

Ann Travis reports that she had a wonderful month-long stay this February in Sydney, Australia, with her good friend (and granddaughter of her father’s best friend) Heather Flynn. The trip was a gift for Ann’s 75th birthday and while there she visited the wine country and “the real outback.” On

the way back she stopped in California and saw old friends. Ann is moving to a beautiful retirement/assisted living community in Traverse City. Her new apartment has a fireplace and a balcony overlooking a lake, and she’s very pleased with it. She is regularly in touch with Ann Mavon Lawrence and plans to get together with Ann and her husband Tim sometime this winter.

Sally Smith Bedrosian: Loving my new home in Caya Costa. My roof leaks are finally resolved with a new one. The neighbors have been so very supportive and the atmosphere is really comfortable. I am writing from Traverse City where I have my “summer cabin” — my Airstream trailer. Summers in northern Michigan for the past few years have been wonderful. However, with a case of itchy feet, I am selling the trailer which will give me freedom to become a “nomad” and travel when and where I want to. Will miss my chums up here, but I can always return for a month or two in the future.

In May, my cousin and I took a relaxing trip to Savannah and then on up to Charleston for the Spoleto Festival. What a great time we had! Wonderful performing arts at venues all over town, great seafood, fun people. Might do it again next year with a group of friends.

For those of you who remember my parents, my mother Helen is still going strong at 103 in her own apartment in assisted living. She lives near me in Florida and I visit her often, taking my Maltese, Max, with me as she adores him. I am still involved with metalsmithing and have added knitting to my favorite things to do on a rainy day. Love the challenge of reading the patterns for exotic jackets, etc. Fun! Life is good and I wish the best for all.”

Nini Lofstrom: “Hola amigas! I am in San Miguel at the moment, back and forth from California. When is the next reunion? I think I have missed about 60 of them! My recent travels have included two trips to West Africa (Mali and Senegal) and a wonderful rhythm and blues cruise out of Florida. Am doing another blues cruise in January and will be in Miami in December for Art Basel. All is well with me, as I hope it is with you all.”

Clare Hartwick Connor called to say that she was just back from Italy, where she and Larry vacationed with daughter and son-in-law Lynne ‘88 and Larry Scoville ‘85 and their children on a Tauck tour, starting at Lake Como. It was a big success. The “little girls” — Louise who just turned 12 and Katie who is 9 — were great travelers, listened well to the presentations, and enjoyed the Sistine Chapel and all the other sights. Clare’s son Jeff and his family couldn’t go this time, as he and his daughter Alexandra were involved in a production of “Hairspray” in Brattleboro, Vt. near Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Mass. where he teaches.

Clare is painting and “trying to learn bridge.” She’ll head for Sarasota in November, where she says “it’s a different life, in a smaller condo-type house in a vibrant small city that looks a little like Nice. People live downtown where there are markets and restaurants and something to do all the time. Hello to all my classmates and hope they are having a good year.”

Sandra Jenkins Eldridge: Chas and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with 50 family and friends. We enjoyed a wonderful ski trip to Deer Valley with our daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren. In June we went to New York to see a production of the play “Spirit of Detroit” written by my sister Mercilee Jenkins ’64 LIG. One of her Liggett classmates, Liz Wainstock ’64 LIG was able to attend.”

Judie Bailey-Gillis: Phil and I enjoyed a wonderful trip to Rome and Sicily this May. It was great having our own tour guide and driver, Michelangelo, who spoke fluent English, Italian and several other languages.

Phil speaks good Italian and I picked up some conversational Italian from our Rosetta Stone series before leaving. Beautiful scenery, lifelong memories, lots of pics and of course, enjoying daily catches from the Mediterranean Sea. The best was by far Sicily and being totally captivated with “Rigoletto” in Palermo’s Teatro Massimo Opera House, Pompeii, and the world famous sights (and beautiful “Pines”) of Rome.

In July, we returned for our fourth year to Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan with my recently widowed sister.

I’m still teaching private piano to children and adults in Grosse Pointe, and enjoying retirement from the Grosse Pointe School System (1998).

The biggest news is the upcoming September 7 Wedding in Dallas, of my No. 2 son Friedrich Matthew to Jessica Davis from Mandeville, La. We’ll have a well-represented Michigan delegation there.

Hope all is well with ‘57 Liggett classmates. Let’s shoot for our sixtieth reunion in 2017. Could it possibly beat 2007?

1958

GPUS Class Secretary: Suzie Sisman Decker 77 Muskoka Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3009 suziesis@aol.com Reunion Weekend brought back 13 classmates from GPUS 1958, plus some spouses. It never fails, we are always so happy to see each other and seem to pick up where we left off the last time we met.

Friday night we gathered at the Grosse Pointe Farms Pier for a cook out. Saturday night we were at the home of Paul and Suzie Sisman Decker.

The weekend allowed time during the day for some to get together for walks, lunch or just visiting.

Jack Flaacke is so loyal returning again from Tampa, Fla, where he is still in the recycling business. Richard Strother came from New York City, another faithful. Lyn Hallett Backe now retired in Annapolis, Md., lost her husband Don Backe recently and made the effort to be here. Bonnie Gillis Dugan was missed at our 50th but she, too, made it. Bonnie keeps busy in her golf community in Southport, N.C. and travels whenever she has the chance. Dona and Peter Boone joined us from Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Fall 2013

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Class Notes

Diane Finkel Hubert ’58 LIG and her “boat crew”

Artwork by Linda Weingarten Roth ’58 LIG

Artwork by Linda Weingarten Roth ’58 LIG

They always add to the merriment of the occasion. They are relieved to be through the reconstruction of their home and the end of legal battles. Whew!

The Cocktail Party at University Liggett School gave us a chance to see some friends who were in seventh grade when we graduated who were celebrating their 50th Reunion, in addition to others. We are so proud of Gary Rembacki who won an Alumni Award at the party. Hooray for him! It was fun to see Judy and Gary again after too many years. They are happily retired in Georgetown, Ky., and as involved as ever.

The “Loyal Locals” were there too. Chris and Greg Dodds are still living in Grosse Pointe (thankfully) but have plans to move closer to Ann Arbor; Lynn and Bill Turner keep busy with all of their grandchildren in town; Dennis and Laura Drebes Smith have family in town too: Claudia Gage Snyder seems to be doing well after losing her husband George, Stephanie Hall Hampton, and Harriett Bradshaw Lafer who was a huge help.

What would a reunion be if no one made the effort to come back? You are the best! It was great seeing all of you and thanks for everyone pitching in to help, especially our house guests.

There is talk of a 60th Reunion. I hope and pray we will all make it. Meanwhile, I would love to hear from you long before 2016.

the fall. It is good to be alive!

Birgit Dahlen Hopkes: Getting older has really slowed me down these past few years. After my breast lumpectomy and the 35 radiation treatments I thought I’d get back to a pretty active life. Didn’t happen. Now it seems I have periods of slow going and times when I feel pretty good and I can really participate.

This past week I spent a wonderful day with my three youngest grandchildren (Chrissy’s kids – hard to believe that she’s now 37) ages 5, 9 and 13. Lunch at Benihana of Tokyo then an afternoon of shopping for school clothes.

It’s terrible reading about Detroit’s problems and seeing what’s left of the city on TV. Though I left Detroit and Grosse Pointe almost 31 years ago I still have great memories of a wonderful city. As I’m sure we all do I pray that the city and its people will recover. Best to all, Birgit Hopkes Donna Sisk Carol: Hi Class of ‘58, Bob and I just got back from a 22-day Viking River Cruise on the Danube, the Rhine and the Main — super great time! We always enjoy seeing the world — we feel very blessed to be able to do this. On a less joyous note, our little 11-month-old great-granddaughter, Sadie Layne Smith, is battling neuroblastoma, a cancer that hits about 650 young toddlers and children each year. She is currently enduring radiation and rounds of chemo.

Her father is our oldest grandson, Jacob. He, Meghan and Sadie live in Tennessee and thus Vanderbilt Children Medical Center is where she is receiving her care and treatment. Bob is scheduled to have his thyroid removed on August 15 because of tumors. We pray for his speedy recovery as well as Sadie. Our next cruise is early October --- an 18-day trip that starts in Venice with a number of stops in Italian ports, Spain and Portugal and comes across the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. My good wishes to all of you for a joyous and blessed day each and every day throughout the year.

Our New York correspondent filed this report: Overall, life is busy and good. The real estate market was very strong during the spring; so I worked much too hard. Had a number of overseas buyers as well as locals; and they all wanted to buy at the same time.

Fortunately, I have been able to rest a little this summer. We spend our weekends on the Ocean in Quogue (the Hamptons). My husband’s dementia is increasing; and he needs more attention than the last time I wrote news. I am again a team leader for the

Alzheimer’s Association Walk in October and am boggled by the number of people who seem to suffer from this horrendous illness. I live across from Central Park and love going out to the Park in the evening to join the other joggers, walkers and bikers. Then I ruin my good exercising by going out to lunch with clients and/or friends the next day….a no-win struggle. Think of everyone often and hope everyone is thriving. Martha Friedricks-Glass Diane Finkel Hubert: Hi, everyone! The fleeting days feel like life is happening at light speed. We went to the Caribbean the end of March to sail with our friends on their beautiful 42’ boat. We flew to St Lucia, joined the boat and sailed to Martinique hopping around the island for 10 days. It was fun to be back in France, or a variation thereof, and very hot. We were ready to come back to winter. I learned that I really do like cooler weather and winter better than constant hot. (85 degrees at night!) We put our boat in the water the beginning of May; and I have an all-women race team this season. My crew ranges in age from 17 to 73. I have included a photo of four of the six of us with my boat in the background. We’re coming in to the dinghy dock at the boat club after a Wednesday night race. R’s son got married at our boat club in June. Christopher and Megan became a family of five. My son was Christopher’s best man. Very sweet. TC was their “destination wedding!” Most everyone came up from Ft. Wayne, Ind. We hosted the rehearsal dinner BBQ garden party for 40+ the night before.

Nothing fancy but we have a great backyard and the irises and peonies held out. The Film Festival is over and done and was fantastic.

I’ve heard that it has made some national papers so perhaps some of you have read about it. My kids were here for two weeks, which is always great fun. We all participate on various levels in the festival. Even Jake, my one and only, 10, saw movies and was a credentialed volunteer at one of the venues.

His specialty was making popcorn! At the end of August we and four other couples from our boat club are going out to sail in the San Juan Islands for 10 days. We have chartered two boats. We’ll be on the boat for three couples.

Three cabins and three heads. It is a chance of a shortening lifetime to sail there. One of the couples on our boat lived in Seattle and sailed the islands for 10+ years before moving themselves and their boat back to Michigan.

They know tidal waters and will be great guides through some of the islands. I’m still working three days and plan to continue in

Liggett Class Secretary: Lois Dickinson Hutchison 135 Cochise Drive Sedona, AZ 86351-7928 hutchlovl@earthlink.net Mary Warren Eick: My year 2013: This year we actually got to travel a little. After arriving at our home in western Ontario, we flew to Vancouver, then began a circle through the Coastal Mountains, then the Rocky Mountains on the Rocky Mountaineer train. It was an 11-day trip, stopping at night in hotels, and riding in a domed car during the day. We spent two days in Whistler, putting out feet where Olympic athletes had walked, and two days in Banff. We rode on top of a glacier near Lake Louise. The glacier was on my “bucket” list, and was just one of 40 in that area of Alberta. The rest of the summer was spent enjoying western Ontario with friends and family. Our grandson, Alex, will be at USC in August as a freshman in the Cinematic Arts program, so I hope we get to visit him in LA in

22

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Artwork by Linda Weingarten Roth ’58 LIG

Gary Rembacki ’58 GPUS and Judy Rembacki received the Alumni Loyalty in Annual Giving Award.

Jack Flaacke ’58 GPUS, Claudia Gage Snyder ’58 GPUS and Gary Rembacki ’58 GPUS

the immediate future. I thank the Force daily for my life, my health, my family, and my surroundings. I wish nothing but the best in your lives. I hope you are well and finding laughter.

Linda Weingarten Roth: Since the last Perspective, I’m not feeling all that upbeat. I started to write, then abandoned the project. I was just too gloomy. To underline my gloom, I spent the last months working on Beethoven’s Pathetique, which is coming along quite nicely IF you like gloomy tunes. I do, but don’t.

Fortunately, in the last weeks, I felt my verve returning. I think I owe it to my lowest sodium ever diet, for since I’ve been pursuing that lifestyle, my dizzy episodes have decreased and my confidence has returned in spite of the humid, rainy weather we’ve been having, which has an effect on this new ailment of mine from hell. I have the misfortune of having secondary endolymphatic hydrops.

It’s a disease of the middle ear that springs dizzy spells on you unexpectedly when there’s an imbalance of the fluids in the middle ear brought on by too much sodium in the diet, changes in the atmospheric pressure and drops in blood sugar. It’s a bitch. It’s crippling.

It can send you to the emergency room via EMS with severe dehydration and it has.

So instead of painting as much as I did, I’ve been researching lowest salt food products, concocting recipes and spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and stocking the freezer. Not much fun when you consider I’m a pushover for potato chips, seafood and occasionally a trashcan pizza. You can see my ire in these two landscapes. I especially can relate to A Tree Fell, for this ailment has definitely taken me down a peg or two. Not to worry about your susceptibility, it comes from having lost my hearing in the left ear due to the mumps when I was a kid. Thankfully, vaccinations have eliminated that particular cause—if you have had a head injury though, chronic vertigo (SEH) could be one of the side effects. On the bright side, my knee will be great by the time you read this. I’m having a MAKOplasty, a half knee replacement, in September. I figured while modern medicine can’t totally fix the hydrops, it can fix the knee.

So I’m doing it to scratch that annoyance off my list. I’ll also be a full-fledged breast cancer survivor come April 17 and I will celebrate that probably with the trip I planned to American Revolution sites. I’ve been reading a lot of American history these days. Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. I just want to and am hanging on every word. I particularly like

the personal stuff—like George Washington had a very troublesome mom, Mary, who was a nag. Martha was a beauty, came to George with lots of money and property, and four children from her first marriage. Meanwhile, my children and their children are great. My granddaughter Taylor is 20, in college and currently working and touring in Japan. My grandson Zac, 17, is a swim jock, about to begin his senior year in high school, who also designed a gaming app that’s selling like hotcakes. My grandson JD, 13, is embarking on the tough growth and development years.

He’s a real looker and the girls are looking and calling while he’s winning trophies in wrestling and primping. (He’s my current portrait interest). Erin, JD’s bossy, loquacious, brilliant younger sister who spends her time on the soccer field or playing the flute, will be the next one on my easel; she’s a vamp. All are happy, healthy and pursuing their lives with gusto. They make me smile with pride. Ellis does too. He’s still working and loving it a lot more now that the housing market is on the rise and folks are investing in their properties.

There’s even danger that I might have to get back to my drafting board. I will, but I’m really enjoying my artistic retirement.

Wendy Martin Blair: I needed that! I am sitting on the deck of my small rental cottage in Shell Beach (part of Pismo Beach in California) watching the ocean, smelling the salt air and listening to the loud squawking argument of a couple of seagulls. I’ve been happily doing this for most of the summer.

Every three weeks I go back to Scottsdale, Ariz., to have my chemo, and any of a number of other appointments I can cram into the week, before I return here to contemplate the ocean. Somehow, I feel good here — not just good — better than that. Being able to see and feel the ocean feeds my soul in a way I don’t understand. It’s a year now that I’ve come to this cottage and the rest of the months are just as good. In other parts of my life, my family is all well, my mother having just celebrated her 94th birthday. John had hip replacement surgery some months ago and is slowly recovering. It hasn’t stopped him from going out on trips metal detecting and coming home with gold nuggets. I’m still doing jewelry and happily selling at two galleries. In all, life is good!

Susan Kreis Champine: Russ and I are still here on a bluff in Cape Fair, Mo., overlooking Table Rock Lake. I stay very active in quilting belonging to a guild and two local quilt clubs and we are still fortunate

enough to waltz around the dance floor a time or two. We continue to enjoy our pontoon boat which is berthed in our community boat dock. Of course the 99 steps to get to it is getting more laborious. Going down is easy, it’s getting back up that’s a challenge. The lure of a swim, martinis and dinner on the boat remain irresistible. We recently returned from Minnesota and Wisconsin where we celebrated our 50th anniversary with our family. Those 50 years sure went by fast. We’re continuing to celebrate by taking short trips to places in and around the Ozarks that we haven’t been to in our 24 years here. Your request for information always brings back pleasant memories of our time at Liggett, especially our Friday excursions to downtown Detroit. How things have changed and now bankruptcy. As you know, Russ worked in Detroit as a Special Agent for the Naval Investigative Service and also as a Special Agent for the U.S. Customs Service. He had the following to say about Detroit: “Crooks, scam artists and rabble rousers plundered the city over decades. The honest citizens and businesses, taxpayers all, fled the city under the onslaught for fear of their lives and possessions. Meanwhile, the government on the municipal, county, state, and federal levels sat back and did nothing.

So, there you have it!” Hope all is well and best wishes to everyone.

Martha Sanford: Thanks for the timely heads up. “No news is good news.” My life in Asheville, N.C., is easy. I still design clothes, garden and relax . Hope that you are all well.

Actually, I do have some health issues which are slowing me down. So, no photos this issue.

So the good news is that I have a great team of doctors helping me recover from my falls!

Allison Lewis Friedman: Not much to report that is new or different. In the last bulletin, my response was done jointly with Wendy from Arizona. No travel between late February and May, then off to Washington, D.C. twice for visits with my sister, Emmy ’62 LIG. Then to west Michigan to Spring Lake and Grand Haven for visits with friends who were nurse colleagues at the State Health Department as MCH nursing consultants back in the day. I continue with my ceramics and jewelry-making but have not produced for more than friends and family. It’s just plain and simple fun. Linda Weingarden Roth and I get together for lunch and/or art-y things about once a month — we have friends in common from high school and college so we laugh a lot about growing up, and share our feelings of good fortune for having been

Fall 2013

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Class Notes picture in an old year book. Back to the beach trip, we’ve rented a beach house and are looking forward to being there for four days.

After that we will drive up the coast to our old haunts in the Manhattan Beach area where I lived for 27 years.

1959 Lyn Hallett Backe’58 GPUS and Harriett Bradshaw Lafer ’58 GPUS teenagers in the 50’s. What a great time!

Carol Nagel Lantz wrote in her letter that she recently spent a week in Petoskey. She loves the food, the water and the shopping!

She collects frog figures and purchased two more for her collection from a Majolica dealer in Petoskey. Her son Bill visited with Larry and Carol in Grosse Isle earlier this summer. The grandchildren — Kyle 11 and Collin 9 — are adorable. Carol loved it all: phones ringing, jet skiing and the parties. She and Larry play tennis once a week, and also dominoes. Carol’s back into canasta which she remembers playing at her parents’ cottage in Port Huron many years ago. On Labor Day (2013) Larry and Carol went to Los Angeles to visit relatives and friends and will also go to San Francisco. She had a fun luncheon with Sandy and would love to get together with more classmates in the Detroit area.

Sandy Lloyd wrote: We do not have much news. I’d like to be traveling to Africa, but the closest we have come is going to the African section of Binder’s Zoo in Battle Creek recently. It really was great, but climbing up and down in the forest with the mosquitoes and oxygen for a mile was a little bit of a stretch!

Our friend, Julie, the anthropologist, whose cat we have been sitting, has decided to go back to Pakistan again this year to teach at a different university, so we get the kitty for another year! Julie spent a couple of weeks with us trying to get me organized! She did a lot, but I am seriously challenged when it comes to organization of stuff! I was teaching four courses this summer and we had three weeks of house guests during the seven-week semester. That did take some organization!

Sam was also teaching! But that ends next week, and it’s back to school for fall semester!

Perhaps after next year, it will be time to retire.

The kids (16-75) are just so darn much fun. I’d sure miss them!

Last but not least, Lois Dickinson Hutchison: We have a great group of friends here and I enjoy playing tennis and belonging to a book club. We are still busy at our massage and healing clinic near our home.

We enjoy our work and people tell us that the healing continues after they leave Sedona. We were planning an end-of-summer vacation in Utah, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.

However my half-sister, at 91, has some health problems and we will be going to the LaJolla, Calif., area after Labor Day to check up on her. FYI, another half-sister, now deceased, attended Liggett for a brief period. I found her

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GPUS Class Secretary: Robin Duke Harris Russell 2 Flagler Drive Rye, NY 10580-1848 rdhr@mindspring.com It’s been too long since you, reader, have had news from the GPUS Class of 1959 so here’s what was gleaned from the most recent request.

Melinda Bryan Earle was busy this winter judging and entering flower shows in Naples, Fla. She traveled to Grosse Pointe and Mackinac Island (first time in 62 years!) and by the time you read this will have been to England and India. She is now shooting the formalized version of shooting clays (FITASC), and was outside Prague, the Czech Republic, in mid-May for the European Championship and north of Madrid midJuly for the Worlds. Melinda is planning on returning for our 55th next May and hopes a lot of our class will come back, especially those of you who missed our 50th.

Mary Graves Jordan keeps busy doing “old lady stuff” like sewing for her two granddaughters and knitting. Now that her Army husband has retired and they aren’t moving frequently, she also enjoys the work they have put into their house and garden.

“Life is good!”

George Haggarty and Thumper, who has made an amazing recovery from a severe breathing problem which saw her in ICU and hospitalized for five weeks, celebrated her 70th birthday in July with their children, grandchildren and three of her siblings and their spouses. Last January saw the marriage of their daughter, Laura, in Austin, Texas, which was attended by alumni Mary Warren ’83, Cathy and Bob Wood ‘59, Peggy and Peter Kross ‘59, Anne Wood ’61 and Bruce Birgbauer ‘60. George enjoys “being in Grosse Pointe with its many fine institutions and is looking forward to the future here, including the emergence of a stronger Detroit.”

Susan Lambrecht Siphron takes piano lessons with a concert artist, spends time with four grandchildren, and travels with husband David to Gatesburg, Pa., and to their house in Bridgeport, Calif., which is in the eastern Sierra “and is mountainous and beautiful all year round.“ Her seven children are doing well. Susan invites any of us to visit her on our way to or near Santa Monica.

Julianne MacMillan Bockius, our nature photographer, reports no news other than that she is continuing with that hobby.

Gordon O’Brien continues with all his interests and hobbies. He and Pat took a trip to Spain in July, enjoying its beauty, culture and charm, visiting Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo. In between he went to Pamplona for the San Fermin festival with its Running of the

From left to right: Mrs. Peter Grossi, Wendy Jennings, Jody Jennings ’61 GPUS and Peter Grossi ’61 GPUS

Bulls, which he participated in – a “fascinating but pretty scary experience.” He also went to two bullfights.

Jane Rueger Willis and Bill recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Each summer they spend a week in Hilton Head with their family, including seven grandchildren. While there, she visits with Carolyn Jacobson Cremins – a friend since fourth grade.

Susie Ryan Knapp says she has no news to report. She and George spent part of the summer with some of their extended family up in Canada at their summer home, a respite from the hot Florida summer but too “rainy and chilly” for August in Canada.

And lastly, and it is so hard to write this.

My husband of 49+ years died on August 11 after a courageous battle with AML. George was an extraordinary man who was deeply committed to his church and community and whose life touched many. I have had wonderful support from my family and a multitude of friends, which as many of you who have lost a loved one have undoubtedly experienced, has helped to ease the pain of such a loss.

Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1960

Liggett Class Secretary: Anne Wrigley Molesky 19540 Butternut Southfield, MI 48076-1764 Gwenny Bennett and Jim Gugino: They are so happy in their new home and have made many new friends! We had a great hour-long phone conversation. Their home is 15 years old, 3,000 square feet, with 17-foot ceilings and has a beautiful pool. They are the second owners. The original owners decided to downsize in the same community. It seems as if people stay in the same community and either downsize or move into a larger home.

They have four restaurants, a beauty salon and several other stores right there on the property.

Their daughter Gretchen is coming to visit in October so they are looking forward to her visit.

Bonnie Wilson and Jim Skoryanc: Oldest daughter, Beth, is a graphic designer for a financial consulting firm in Chicago. Krissie

Judy Lomax ’62 GPUS (left) and Ann Barrett Johnson ’39 CDS

Susan Adams White ’62 GPUS (right) and Carol Johnson Carlson ’62 GPUS (left)

Catherine Kellner Avery and Ewen

and her husband live in Charleston, S.C., and she is in real estate. Katie, their youngest daughter, graduated in May from Lake Superior State University with a degree in accounting (with honors). Tom and I think of them often, especially in the wintertime. But Bonnie said they like it up north in Sault Ste. Marie. The roads are always plowed and they have a generator, just in case the power goes out.

Anne Wrigley and Tom Molesky: In January, Tom contacted a realtor in Florida, “via the computer.” We must have looked at 60 homes, then we narrowed it down to the specifics we definitely wanted in the Boynton Beach area. We purchased our new home in Boynton Beach, in Valentia Isles, which is a gated community for those who are 55 and older. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen with a bay window and an eating area, three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and a screened-in patio. There is a beautiful club house, large pool, tennis, exercise room, and many activities. Tom had said “if we don’t do it now, we won’t do it at all.” Our “first move” occurred June 11-July 5. We had three cleaning ladies, the painter, electrician, new carpeting and blinds. Our “second move” will occur in mid-September. Our new address is 6649 Hawaiian Avenue, Boynton Beach, FL 33437.

Our email is tomjmolesky@gmail.com. Tom and I plan on coming home for next year’s Reunion Weekend which will be Friday, May 16 and Saturday, May 17, 2014. Since it will be my sister, Alice Wrigley Baetz’s ’64 LIG, 50th reunion!

Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Conference of our involvement in teaching about the water sources in the Old City of Jerusalem; we had taken students to Istanbul and Jerusalem.

Elisabeth Leach and her husband Russ are enjoying their retirement at home all summer gardening and entertaining family and friends. We are also spending much of our time volunteering and planning the 8th Annual Betsie Valley Run here in northern Michigan. The proceeds of this run go to support our Betsie Valley District Library. The most exciting news is that we have just broken ground on a new library for the community.

After the run in October we will continue our travel schedule. This year we are touring Budapest, Vienna and Prague for three weeks; coming home for the holidays; and finally heading to Costa Rica and Mexico for the winter. As you see we remain healthy and happy volunteering and traveling!

Bicky Bicknell Kellner writes: Hi, everybody! We’ve had a productive year in the Kellner family. Daughter, Catherine, pictured with her son, Ewen, 8 months old, and with her daughter, Bess, just visible, to be born around December 12 is living near us in NYC, with her husband, Reuben Avery.

She continues in her acting and producing career, in fact, has a movie about to come out that they wrapped when she was 8 months pregnant! Our son, Peter, is hoping to meet the perfect girl soon, send along any suggestions.

He’s 43, lives in Miami Beach and is an Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the tech start-up area. George and I have just celebrated 46 years of marriage. He is still managing partner of Kellner Capital, a post he has held for 30-plus years. And we’ve lived in our old brownstone for almost 30-plus years! I guess things are good (or is it inertia?)

I continue to be a “civic booster,” I support the theater, the International Center of Photography and The Children’s Aid Society as a board member, plus I take classes in clinical psychology at Columbia, toying with the idea of returning for a doctorate (I got a masters in psychology at Columbia back in 1980).

Living in a very cool city which I adore, hoping to see many of you who pass this way.

Please call, please email, I feel so bad that I missed our 50th, but was off on a very special annual ritual trip, walking with Betsy Semple (Knight, Hart) on a pilgrimage trail. Going again this year with Betsy et. al., this time, we’re going to walk from Sienna to Rome in October.

GPUS Class Secretary: Alice Gage Schultes 511 Lakeland Grosse Pointe, MI 48230-1268 aliceg@comcast.net

1961

GPUS Class Secretary: Marion Polizzi Shanle 21 North Duval Road Grosse Pointe Shores, MI 48236-1108 In late April, Jody Jennings and his wife Wendy, after many years of procrastination, found the time and energy to visit classmate and friend, Peter Grossi, in Florence, Italy.

It was a wonderful trip to other cities as well.

However, they especially had fun sightseeing for a short time with the Grossi’s in their homeland.

1962

GPUS Class Secretary: Susan Adams White 58 Waterway Court The Woodlands, TX 77380 suwhite11@aol.com Greetings to the Class of 1962! I was so glad to hear from several of you when I put out my, as usual, tardy request for news. The August deadline seemed so far away in February!

Patty Whalbridge Ahlbrandt welcomed a new addition to the family! Her daughter had a baby boy named Graham Segan McGuire.

Bill Stockard said: Here I am on my 69th birthday at my cottage near West Branch, Mich., building an abatis from fallen trees and limbs. What’s an abatis you might ask? An abatis is a man-made barrier — obstruction to keep someone or something from passing in the protected area (my back yard). See, Beverly and I planted some seedlings trees, flowers and bushes — and our deer love to eat them.

Deer are protected in our enclave so we look at them on the far side on the abatis. I love you Susan!! Can’t wait for our next party! By the by, Beverly has just earned (Summa Cum Laude) her BS (Human Services-gerontology) YEA! She’s 67 years young! WOW! Am I proud of her! So now Bev can take care of me…and others! Us old folks need tons of help with SSA stuff, insurance, care, living conditions — arrangements etc. etc. etc. so good for her!

From Brooke Harrington: Not much of interest from here I’m afraid. I am still involved in academic work and local volunteer work. I co-authored and presented a paper on disseminating research digitally (Digital diffusion of research: Ongoing studies & potentials) and continue working on our web-site and arranging for having our archive preserved. The Aga Kahn Documentation Center at the MIT Libraries is interested. Also both Judy and I have been accepted as Center Associates at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard so that we can use the library. I continue my EMS volunteer work on the Cushing Rescue Squad and Fire Department and we are continuing to work on our house. In February, Judy and I gave a short presentation as part of the Camden

Fall 2013

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Class Notes

Tom White, Susan Adams White ’62 GPUS, Martha “Bicky” Bicknell Kellner ’62 GPUS, and George Kellner

Saw Steve Parks last year while he was visiting NYC; plan to see Susan and Tom White who will be here in October.

Received this from Polly Blake Burke after our reunion!

Hi class of 1962! Was so pleased to hear from Susan and to get the information on the reunion. Sorry to say this but the school I graduated from, here in Maine, is having their reunion on the same weekend. Otherwise I would have loved to come to the GPUS reunion. Maybe the 60th!

I loved GPUS and have wonderful memories of my years there. My favorite teacher was Mr. Simmons. I even asked him to be my father at the father/daughter dance we once had, (but I sure hated math). I loved all the after-school events we had. Yes, we sure got into tons of trouble! Betsy Semple lived “over” the fence and we had lots of adventures together. Betsy is the only one that I hear from and that isn’t very often now. I would love to hear from anyone via a visit to Maine or an email. My email is silly, made up by my son; I taught woodworking at a girl’s camp in New Hampshire, it is powertoolpolly@yahoo.com.

My life has been interesting. I went to college and after graduation I was then one of the first groups to go to Colombia, in South America via the Peace Corps. Those years were the very best! Then married and had three children and now have two grandchildren. I still live in Maine. I taught school for years and now do many hours of volunteer work and have time for all sorts of sports. What a snowless winter this year, no skiing!

Enough on me! I would love to hear about all of you, please! (I forget that Liggett and GPUS merged, how was that?!) I hope the reunion is a wonderful time and tons of gossip is spread! (Now to me) My address is 8 Thornhurst Road, Falmouth, ME 04105. Come visit! I am sorry this is so late in coming. I was trying to figure out how I could be in two places at once! Have a great weekend. I would love to receive any news, pictures, etc. that can be found, gathered and sent, thanks!

Harrop Miller and wife Lisa rode their bikes in the 2013 BPMS 150 from Houston to Austin, Texas, in April. It’s a fundraiser for MS and Lisa has a cousin in Houston who has MS. Way to go Harrop and Lisa!

Judy Lomax and I visited Carol Johnson Carlson in Florida this October. It was such great fun to see her (she looks terrific) and we spent a wonderful time at her house catching up and enjoying a great lunch! We also went to

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her mom’s apartment and had a fun time with her as well! She seems to be happy and likes her apartment in the assisted living facility as well. I am including some pictures of our visit!

Talked to Bliss Caulkins Clark and she also sent me some news. Happy Endicott Rands is feeling fabulous and looking wonderful after her major heart surgery last year. Thank god for that! Joanie Upsham Nagy is still in Vermont and traveling to England. Some very sad news that Jessie Hill Hawkins’ husband passed away unexpectedly this past winter. We send her our deepest sympathy and I’m sure she would love to hear from you. Tommy Whyte and Teddy Edwards are both still in New York. Bliss just returned home from a wonderful week in Canada and you will all be happy to hear she received a fabulous award from The Garden Club of America! Congratulations to you for sure!

Patty Walbridge Ahlbrandt and Judy Lomax had a great trip from Beijing to Bancock this year and had a fantastic time!

Patty’s daughter Julie also just had her second child right before their trip and Patty was out in California to be with them! Really wonderful!

Anne and Bruce Birgbauer ‘62 have some very exciting news and that is their daughter Carrie ‘93 is going to be married this coming Thanksgiving in Boca Grande, Fla. Congratulations!

Well that’s about all for now. I’ll look forward to hearing from you and will be in touch. Till the next deadline!

Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Just a note about Liggett Class of ‘62 alums from Allison Lewis Friedman. They don’t have a class secretary, unlike our class whose wonderful secretary, Lois, has held down the post these many years. So when I see or hear about a Liggett ‘62 alum, sometimes through my sister, I include it in our class notes. So, I am in contact with Nancy Rose Nahabedian Elby. We had a wonderful afternoon together at The Heard Museum in Phoenix when I was in Arizona with Wendy this last winter.

Nancy is an expert in antique and vintage Native American turquoise and silver jewelry, and vintage southwest clothing. She lives in Scottsdale during the winter and has clients all over the West and comes back to Michigan for the summer. She was featured in an article about Round Top, Texas, in the Martha Stewart Living March 2013 issue. See if you can find it — she’s blonde, wearing a ton of antique jewelry and a fabulous Ralph Lauren vintage blanket coat; she looks great!

By the time you read this, we will have had our Michigan meet-up. Caroline Hughes “Mimi” Crowley Dickson left Washington, D.C., where she had lived for many years on Capitol Hill. With husband David she moved to Nantucket where Mimi’s parents had lived until they died. They are happy in their retirement from careers as feature writers.

Linda Wayburn Grossman lives in Ohio near her daughter who is a young peoples’

orchestra conductor. And that’s about all I know at this point in time about the Liggett ‘62 alums.

1963

Alexandra Georgeson Moisides 17 Colonial Road Grosse Pointe Shores, MI 48236-1719 sanmoi@comcast.net A note from GPUS class secretary 1963, Sandra Moisides: We celebrated our 50th reunion in May and had a wonderful time. We started emailing each other about three weeks before the event when Bill Randall sent us an email list. I suggest that each class contact each other as we did. We had such fun reminiscing about classes, teachers, and each other. Adding different versions of the same event brought us closer as a group. We couldn’t believe 50 years had passed.

Friday, some golfed and others attended the luncheon at the country club, but that evening we gathered at Fishbone’s in St. Clair Shores. Bill Randall provided a generous platter of appetizers, and I brought spinach pies. Lots of fun catching up and trying to figure out who was who. Al Blixt brought hundreds of 50 year-old photos from sporting events, dances, parties. He spread them out on a pool table and let us pick and choose which ones to take home.

The next day many of us attended the daytime events at the school but the highlight was the dinner at the school. It started with a tour of the school. Many of us hadn’t seen it in 50 years. I couldn’t even remember where the senior rooms were.

At the cocktail party, we won the Annual Giving Cup. See more coverage and photo on page 41.

Our dinner was in the library and greeting each of us at our seat was a laminated copy of our senior page! Dinner was delicious, including wine. Dessert and coffee were in another room. After dinner, Bill and Peggy Clark invited us back to their home. A perfect ending for a perfect weekend.

Hope to get more responses soon.

Sandy Moisides Liggett Class Secretary: Sharon Litsky 2000 California Street #402 San Francisco, CA 94109-4302 sharonlitsky@sbcglobal.net Gail Sake Niskar 30030 High Valley Road Farmington Hills, MI 48331-2143 galeml@aol.com Sharon Litsky was so delighted that we had such a substantial number of classmates gather for our 50th Liggett reunion. It was even more fun and rewarding than I thought it would be! We laughed so much about the old days and had fun remembering all the highs and lows of those teenage days. We all enjoyed the lovely school-sponsored luncheon at the Country Club of Detroit and the reception and dinner at the new school for which we had our own private room. At the reception before

the school dinners, we shared, with the rest of the alums of 1963, the award for most funds raised by alums. But for some of us the best times were the laid-back, relaxing times we had at the Chinese dinner at Gail’s house, the tea luncheon at Tami’s and the farewell brunch at Gloria’s. Thank you ladies for taking such good care of us! And thank you, again, Gloria, for extending me such elegant “bed and board” at Chez Gloria while I was in Detroit.

You spoiled me!”

There was talk at the reunion of some of us who live on the West Coast (which would include Joan Caplan Simon, Patricia Frank, Ellen Kuschinski Castleman, Marijane Lazar Einstein, Carolyn Leech, and Sharon Litsky) getting together for a regional reunion sometime soon. Something to think about ladies!

Joan Willens Abraham hadn’t replied sooner because my life just went into a tailspin. I have to move out of my home by May 1 and I’m going to Portland to see my kids on May 1! I am also launching a business in May here in Harbor Country. (Thank the Lord I will have an income!) It’s looking very slim that I make it to the week end. I won’t know until I’m on the other side of my move.

But everything here is better than in many years. Loving Harbor Country and I’m having fun every day. And I haven’t been here for a summer yet but I am really looking forward to this summer. Harbor Country is the very west side of the state. I’m 90 minutes from Chicago and 3 hours from Detroit. I’m four blocks from the beach! It’s all beach country out here — like Charlevoix but nicer. We have all Chicagoans here.

I am very excited about the program I’m doing with the students. I had a meeting last night with the merchants here and they are so excited about this. I am feeling pretty proud of putting this together too. It is such a good way to get involved in the community and to use my skills to create something new.

Sandra Mattman Augustine says: Sorry to have missed the reunion. It looked wonderful from the photos. Just enjoying Michigan right now, up in Traverse City for a short getaway with John. Next month we get all the family together in Holland on Lake Michigan for a week. It is great enjoying the grand kids. I like to do painting projects with all six of them, but I better remember to bring smocks this time!

Marianne Moran Eddy shares: She has very little new to report, but here it is: I visited Portland, Ore. following Duncan’s graduation and decided that it’s definitely the next place for me—especially after a side-trip to the coast, which is truly spectacular! We are frantically scraping out the house—amazing what seems to seep out of the walls after 20+ years in one spot—and plan to drive across the country this fall with our 13-year-old Labrador, visiting friends along the way. Loved all the pictures from the reunion—a treat to see everyone!!

Marijane Lazar Einstein is enjoying living in Rancho Mirage, California. She has kids and grandkids and is looking forward to coming to Detroit in August for her father’s 100th birthday celebration.

Susan Heavner Becker shares: The kids and grandkids continue to be our great joy.

Biggest event this year was a trip to China. It was fabulous, in all ways. So, so glad I went to the reunion.

Gloria Shenkman Cohen left a voice message after her return from a marvelous summer trip to Paris and Croatia from which she’s recuperating from lots of horseback riding, biking and hiking. She has had her hands full, having just sold her Florida condo and taking major responsibility for the care of her aging parents. But she wanted to share that she loved the amazing camaraderie of those of us who attended the 50th reunion and said our weekend “knocked her socks off.”

Connie Wineman Jacob adds: Our reunion was remarkable. We were fortunate to have so many of us here to celebrate. A special thank you to Sharon for overseeing this incredible endeavor which everyone loved beyond words. You really can’t believe so many years have passed so quickly. I know I so vividly remember our ring ceremony, our song contests because we deserved to win and we didn’t, the athletic banquets and our beautiful May Day. All treasured.

But everyone at the reunion fixated on the cinnamon buns at school and the wonderful aroma until you could get downstairs each morning. Yum. This was really fun being together. So to everyone I look forward to the next time.

The summer has flown. Serving as president of our Camp Make-A-Dream chapter has been an honor. We had the extraordinary experience this summer of sending 84 Michigan children to camp cost-free in Gold Creek, Mont. This is the largest group we have ever sent. Each camp is one week being teen camp, two sibling camps, kid’s camp and two brain tumor camps to which we sent eight young adults. Their reactions and responses upon returning have been heart-wrenching.

All because they are not alone and they are not different but all the same and can be themselves. These are real friendships and they wish the week would never end. All with different types of cancer but all the same.

Renate Schmidt Latimer says: Hi from hot Manhattan. I’m planning to escape the heat and spend some time with friends in Newfoundland. Then in September I’ll enjoy the theater in Vienna and bond with my favorite aunt.

Jenifer Hughes Parker adds: Sorry to miss the reunion, but was already off to Nova Scotia for a house closing that didn’t happen. Had I known… It was fun to see everyone’s pictures.

I am sure you had a great time together.

Suzanne Kogut Phillips thought the Liggett Reunion weekend was wonderful. I loved every minute and had the best time!

Sharon, Carolyn, Sally and Sue came into town and we all enjoyed endless fun and laughter at Gail’s dinner on Friday; at Tami’s tea party on Saturday and at Gloria’s brunch on Sunday.

We all felt great; we all looked terrific; (I don’t know what Connie’s secret is, but, she looks just as she did in high school!) And we all, truly, enjoyed catching up on each other’s lives! The Liggett luncheon and dinner were also fun to go to and we all shared many great memories of our Liggett years. I’m already looking forward to our next get-together! P.S.

to Sharon: Thank You, for keeping all of us informed and organized!

Personally, the summer has been too short and flying by. Tom and I have busy with assorted “house projects” that have been keeping us close to home. We are looking forward to our usual up North trip in August.

All is well with our family. We’ll soon be celebrating our beautiful granddaughter’s second birthday. She is an absolute joy and we love spending as much time as possible with her. We are truly blessed.

Tamara Salisbury: “Struggling to find words to express how much this reunion weekend meant to me. I feel so blessed to have been able to share this time with all of you. It was special in so many ways. Each of you is so remarkable, kind, loving, giving, gifted, real, and thoughtful. I was sorry to see the time we were sharing come to an end. I sincerely hope that we will be able to keep in closer touch with each other as we go forward from here. I promise to do my best to keep in contact with each of you as you have enriched my life. I send my prayers that God will continue to bless us all with good health and happiness.”

Karen Jones Stutz was sorry to miss the reunion. She had a prior commitment with the wedding of a dear friend. We could have used her to help lead us in some of our old Song Contest songs!

Condolences: Our sympathies go out to the family of our classmate, Linda Schaitberger, who passed away several months ago. Sharon Litsky did a lot of sleuthing and circuitously tracked down Linda’s email address a few months before Linda died. Linda was so delighted to be reconnected at this point in her life when her health was failing. Linda shared the following in her last email to Sharon: “I am sorry to miss our 50th reunion and send my regards to everyone. I lived in a variety of places since graduating Liggett, including New York City, New Orleans, Vermont, and New Hampshire before settling in a remote area of down east Maine in a delightful old farmhouse. I maintained my interest in art and business, creating my own thriving painted furniture business as well as a contracting business, giving me the opportunity to design several houses. I have traveled considerably and have dabbled in a variety of creative ventures, including building and maintaining several websites. I’m enjoying my children and grandchildren, having had the wonderful experience of writing 10 novels with my granddaughter Alexandria which we hope to publish one day.”

A few of our classmates sent their memories of Linda when they learned of her death. Sharon Litsky has “especially fond reminiscences of our fathers enjoying each other’s company at the annual FatherDaughter Banquets.” Susan Heavner Becker remembers how much she liked Linda and “sharing so many fun and funny times with Linda.” And Rebecca Rank says that “Linda and I were very close at Liggett. When she and Jim moved to New York, we exchanged a few letters, then drifted, but I thought of her countless times. I was at her home for the wedding or maybe it was the small reception.

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Class Notes She looked so pretty in her ice blue /aqua silk suit. She looked like a young Maggie Gyllenhaal. We shared so much laughter and teen angst. Once, we snuck a look at one of the teacher’s grade books and found everyone’s IQ penciled in next to their names. Linda’s was four points higher than mine! She drew a portrait of me and gave it to me, matted. It was senior year. So many deeply poignant memories. I am flooded with sorrow. Her death is an untimely one.”

A bit of song trivia: Do any of our classmates remember one of our 9th grade Sing Out songs to the turn of “The Caissons Go Marching Along”? Here it is: Thru the halls, Up the stairs, You can hear the mighty calls, Of the Freshmen of Liggett School.

We have pep, We have spirit, No other class comes near it, We’re the Freshmen of Liggett School.

With our Hands up high, Our aims are to the sky, Nothing can stop our hue and cry.

We’re girls of might, We’re always doing right, We’re the Freshmen of Liggett School.

1964

GPUS Class Secretary: William B. Canfield III 5307 Falmouth Road Bethesda, MD 20816-2916 canfieldwilliam@gmail.com Liggett Class Secretary: Karolyn A. Krieghoff Sewell 2046 Camino de los Robles Menlo Park, CA 94025-5917 ksewell7@comcast.net J.J. L’Heureux has an exhibition of photographic prints titled “Faces from the Southern Ocean” running from July 9 – December 7 at the Albany Museum of Art. For more information contact info@ albanymuseum.com.

1965

GPUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a GPUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Eugenie Corey Wagner 604 Cressfield Lane Ann Arbor, MI 48103-3105 eugeniewagner@gmail.com

1966

GPUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a GPUS class secretary!

Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary:

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Ann Mesritz, Jani DuCharme Gunsaulus, Amy McMillan Harwood, all GPUS Class of 1967, in Sonoma, Calif. in June 2013

Dr. Susan Stuckey Thoms 4937 Fairway Ridge Circle West Bloomfield, MI 48323-3321 sthoms@umich.edu Nadine Urben: My news-- I’m getting married Sept. 28! His name is Michael Zonder and we’ve been together six years.

1967

GPUS Class Secretary: Jani DuCharme Gunsaulus 74 Essex Road Ipswich, MA 01938-2548 Janidu00us@yahoo.com Liggett Class Secretary: Mikkee Brown 73144 Carrizo Circle Palm Desert, CA 92260-6650 760-774-4072 mikkee.brown@verizon.net

1968

GPUS Class Secretary: We would love to have a GPUS class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Liggett Class Secretary: Joni Welch Hollinger 229 South Quincy Street Hinsdale, IL 60521-3949 tfvinc@aol.com

1969

GPUS Class Secretary: Bettye Bee Friedberg Reis 37 W. 72nd Street, Apt. 11B New York, NY 10023-3488 bbreis@nyc.rr.com Rev. Meredith B. Jackson 500 Deepwoods Drive Valley Grande, AL 36701-0404 jaypbsig@sprintmail.com Liggett Class Secretary: We would love to have a Liggett class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Chrissie Johnson Zoufal ’67 GPUS & Jani DuCharme Gunsaulus ‘67 GPUS with husband Clyde Gunsaulus, visiting us in Charleston S.C.

1970

GPUS Class Secretary: Pricilla Mead 461 South York Street Denver, CO 80209-2724 ulsclass1970@gmail.com Sally Pittman Wright: Just got back from my annual trek back to Michigan. Stopped in GP and had a great visit with Hadley Mack, Lynn Ford, Kathy Getz and Anne Donnelly.

It’s great to catch up and I am impressed by Grosse Pointe. I don’t think it has ever looked better. I am still a Lions fan and can’t wait until college football starts so I can cheer on U of M. Saw Mary Starrs a few weeks ago in Rye (her sister Kathy lives here) and had a great visit with her. As a Development Director, I continue to ask people to part with their money which is kind of fun. Life is good.

Tommy Buell McDonell: I have been accepted for a two-woman art show along with Debby Kline at the Moore Council for the Arts in Southern Pines in November and December of 2015. And at Absolutely Art, a juried show at the Artist League of the Sandhills in Aberdeen, N.C., my painting was chosen as one of the cover pieces. I also won honorable mention for another alcohol ink painting. http://tbmcdonellart.com.

Priscilla Mead: My Uncle Taylor Mead ’42 DUS passed away at age 88 while visiting me and my family in Denver this spring. He had just moved out of his apartment and was going to start a new creative venture in New Orleans before returning to his beloved Lower East side in NYC. He is best known as one of the first Andy Warhol Superstars and prior to that, was part of the Beat scene as a poet and friend with Alan Ginsberg. He was the first “Underground” movie star, starring in “Flower Thief.” For over 50 years, he was well known in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, walking 40 blocks a day and reading poetry regularly at the old Bowery Poetry Club. He enjoyed many loyal friends, fans and local restaurants. I am planning his memorial service in NYC in early October.

Liggett Class Secretary: Renee R. McDuffee 480 Lodge Drive Detroit, MI 48214 renee.mcduffee@36thdistrictcourt.org

Why I give In 1961, Donna Marie Iukov’s social

with more free time now, especially

sciences teacher told her parents he

traveling and hiking.

saw academic promise in her that

probably wouldn’t be fully realized

from her education every day, and

at her public school. He suggested

that is why she and her husband

they seriously consider sending her

have set up an estate gift to create the

to Grosse Pointe University School,

Donna Marie Iukov Joity Scholarship

whose reputation for academics was

Fund for the school to distribute as

justifiably strong.

it sees fit. “To provide access to such

an education for students who might

She applied and received a full

Donna Marie says she benefits

scholarship for Upper School and,

otherwise be financially unable to

many years later, wrote to the school

attend University Liggett School is an

that “the rewards … were immense.”

extraordinary pleasure,” she wrote.

“The knowledge I acquired and

the development of my ability to think critically and analytically was a gift of inestimable worth,” she wrote. “My outlook on the world was broadened; I was introduced to ideas, sources

CY CIRC GA

LE

I was delighted to join Judi Bruno Idris for dinner last week at Andiamo Trattoria, not far from our old haunt on Briarcliff. Judi was not able to graduate from Liggett as her father chose to send her to the newly opened Grosse Pointe North High School but we will always see her as one of the Liggett Class of 1970. When Dody DiSanto was in town in April, she and I enjoyed catching up over coffee for a couple of hours. Judi was able to attend the May Memorial Service for Dody’s mother and we thank her for being our class representative. She and her husband, Charles, have a very successful fitness center in Washington, D. C., and Dody teaches performance art at several universities. They are pleased that their daughter Francesca will attend college at one of the universities at which Dody teaches.

Judi and I were happy to run into Romily Stackpoole and her husband Bob at Andiamo.

It took her a minute to remember us (why would I think that she would after 45 years?) but once she did, we talked so long about the old Liggett days that Bob was threatening to leave without her. She even remembered my mother who will be 95 in February. I gave Romily my card and she promised to email us. What wonderful memories we have of our days on the field with Mrs. Stackpoole. Little did we know that she was only in her twenties when she whipped us in to shape.

Kevin and I are excited about having purchased our retirement home in January at Birchwood Farms Golf and Country Club in Harbor Springs. We won’t retire for four or five years but we look forward to life up north. We welcome anyone needing a northern Michigan fix to join us at the top of the hill on Pine Tree Trail. When I need a break from the cold and snow every spring, I will try to invite myself to the homes of our class mates who live in warm places – Millie Kaufman Sloan (Sarasota), Kathi Carroll Wicklund (Naples), Joann Collins Scissors (Lakeland) and Karen Smith (Orlando) in Florida. Also, Leslie Caplan Kuerbitz in Dallas, Texas (the Big D) and Dianne Seeber in Irvine, Calif. When needing an east coast fix, I may be able to prevail upon Martha Klingbeil Coates in Boston and Francesca Cinelli Stratton in Cambridge (once she and Randall decide to come to the United States from Italy), Joanie Merdler Basloe in New York State and Dody DiSanto near D.C. to let me lay my head.

Although I hear little from Ann HaddenGood who is in Colorado, it’s only because

Repaying a gift of a lifetime

LE

London Kathryn Straach, granddaughter of Leslie Caplan Kuerbitz ’70 LIG.

Legacy Circle

and systems of knowledge which far

Because of the type of their gift,

exceeded anything I had been exposed

Donna Marie and John Joity are

to up to that time.”

members of The Legacy Circle

at University Liggett School,

After graduating from GPUS

in 1965, Donna Marie attended the

which honors those who have

University of Michigan where she

made a gift in their estate plan

earned a bachelor’s degree in pre-legal

establishing scholarships, providing

studies in 1969. She then married, and

special programs and building

in 1972 completed a master of library

endowment. These gifts, large

science, also at Michigan. Donna Marie

and small, have helped to shape

and her husband, John, moved to New

superior academic experiences,

Orleans in 1973 where they each began

nurtured outstanding teachers and

their careers -- he as a geophysicist and

enabled talented and motivated

she as a law librarian. They relocated

students to attend our School.

several times as a result of John’s

To discuss making an estate

transfers before settling in Texas.

gift, please call Cressie Boggs,

Both Donna Marie and John retired in

Assistant Head of Advancement,

2008. They enjoy a variety of activities

at 313.884.4444, Ext. 413.

Fall 2013

29

Class Notes she doesn’t respond to any emails, according to her husband, so I feel better about that.

I also have not heard from Diane Dossin Ruth but have heard that she and her husband are building a large home on Lake Huron in the thumb, near Port Austin. Of course Joan Boddy Matson is in Manchester, Mich., and is delighted to be grandmother of several with her husband Tom. The only other grandmother news is that Les and Charlie welcomed a granddaughter born on 3/18/13, London Kathryn Straach – 10 lbs., 1 oz., almost 22 inches long. Jennifer, a doctor and her husband reside in Texas too.

Kathi’s and Doug’s son Christopher married his high school sweetheart Carolyn in St. Croix on 12/8/12 – but no little ones to report (yet?). They are wrapped up in their careers in Houston where Carolyn is an attorney and Christopher is an oil and gas associate.

Shelley Herman Kane and Tom (Waterford, Mich.) write each Christmas and they are proud of their two children’s successes. Their daughter is an attorney but I cannot recall what Tom Jr. is doing but I do recall that it is very impressive!

We haven’t heard from Christine Farrah, Anne Galvin, Carol Olds, Karen Starbird or Lydia Stoiadin in years but hope they are all well and happy.

Joann Collins: No matter why I left or how long I’ve been gone, Detroit will always be a part of who I am and what shaped who I have become. Thanks for the good, the bad and the awesome memories of those innocent days. I am thankful for my family, my friends and all those many miles.

1971

Class Secretary: Shanda Rumble 851 Westchester Way Birmingham, MI 48009-2917 shanshome@yahoo.com Shanda Rumble: Don’t be afraid to accept those senior discounts. I now will submit your messages in a respectful fashion (I hope).

Jane Peabody Fennessey: 2013 finds me still horsing around, traveling around the country like a circus performer. I spent nine days in Holland with a student, after looking over 50 prospects, we purchased six new horses to import and sell in the United States.

The true definition of horse poor! It took me 40 years, but I guess I finally attained my senior goal of riding in Europe! I’m looking forward to taking my 90-year-old mother from New York to Quebec in the fall. She is as feisty as ever, so lucky that although she is a bit bionic with new shoulders and knee replacement she remains an independent soul. Although, the metal detectors at the airports are a challenge!

I hope the rest of the group take a moment to touch base. It’s so fun seeing where all our lives have taken us.

Liz Starrs: I was sworn in as a judge on 9/7/12 and nothing interesting has happened since! I do have two trips planned, but they will be fodder for next year’s update I bet: Barcelona and south of France and, in December and January, Burma/Myanmaar

30

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Leslie Caplan Kuerbitz ’70 LIG with granddaughter London

Class of 1973 at their reunion dinner May 18, 2013

(if the unrest does not keep us away)! Going to one of my (many) nephews’ combined graduation/18th birthday in Oregon this weekend. How are you going to spend/have already spent your milestone birthday? I will be in Burma for mine (1/1/2014) I hope!

Cheers!

P.S. My domestic partner of 20 years, Lorraine Parker, and I “civil unionized” (I am sure that is a verb) on 7/12/13. Colorado passed Civil Unions effective May 1, so we decided go for it. We’re still second-class citizens, but the CU is something! Maybe we will be allowed to get married in our lifetime...

Warren sends this along: Not much going on, we love living up north. Two grandchildren: Violette is almost 2, her mom is Megan Watkins Smith ‘98. Violette and her parents have recently moved to Durban, South Africa. Pierce is 4 months old, his dad is Andrew Watkins ‘00 they live in Chicago.

Marguerite Judge and Carol Gregg Stratton recently enjoyed a delightful lunch together in Chicago. Marguerite has a successful business as an interior designer and owns a historic and beautifully decorated property in Chicago.

Carol recently accepted a new call to serve a congregation in Durham, N.C. She is pastor to The Congregation at Duke University Chapel, which is closely associated with, yet distinct from, the University Chapel. Both Marguerite and Carol would enjoy connecting with classmates when they are in town.

1972

Class Secretary: Kevin Granger 943 Hidden Lane Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236-1522 mikevric@comcast.net

1973

Stephen A. Rosati 5937 S. Glencoe Way Centennial, CO. 80121 303-847-8001 srosati54@hotmail.com

1974

1977

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1978

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1979

Class Secretary: Catherine Sphire Shell 185 Ridge Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3554 cshell185@comcast.net

1980

Class Secretary: Roxane Lie PO Box 130 Wilsonville, Oregon 97070 rml2vizsla2002@yahoo.com

Class Secretary: Sara Hendrie Sessions 900 Sunningdale Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236-1670 sessions9@comcast.net

1981

1975

1982

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1976

Class Secretary: Rev. Carol Gregg Stratton 1148 North Lawn Park Alma, MI 48801-2108 greggandstratton@gmail.com

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Michael Ottaway 252 Cloverly Road Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-3304 Michael_Ottaway@ml.com

1983

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Carol Gregg Stratton ‘76 and Marguerite Judge ‘76 in Chicago

Dike Ajiri’s kids. These two will be welcoming a sister in November!

Jennifer Listman Barthel ’90 and daughter Lauren enjoy summer fun at Liggett Day Camp!

1984

in her high school, and just got her driver’s permit. Anna will be 13 in December when she will have her Bat Mitzvah. She is a seconddegree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and she is about to take up tennis. Sam, who will be 9 in November, plays tennis, football, basketball, and recently started playing soccer. He is on a competitive soccer team, and just completed a week of camp with a group of British soccer players who were flown out to Springfield to provide the training. “All of us are healthy and well (except Ray who is in physical therapy for his knee), and we wish the very best to all of you and your families.”

It’s time to congratulate David Schilling who sent this update along with beautiful family photo: This past April I was promoted to Colonel in the Air Force. I just completed 21 years of service and plan to continue serving.

I am currently stationed at Ft. McNair in Washington, D.C., and working as the Chief Operations Officer at the Inter-American Defense College. I have also enjoyed hosting the University Liggett School sophomores for a Pentagon tour for the past three years.

Dr. Sreedhar “Steve” Samudrala 9143 Concord Hunt Circle Brentwood, TN 37027-8762 DrSam@AFDclinics.com

Class Secretary: Lawrence Paolucci 1898 Kenmore Drive Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236-1982 lpaolucci@wcpc.us

1985

Class Secretary: Andra Hirt Starshak 414 Woodland Court Glenview, IL 60025-3462 astarkshak@comcast.net

1986

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1987

Class Secretary: Eva Dodds 6196 Eastmoor Rd. Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301-1440 evamdodds@aol.com Eric Wise writes: My wife, Kim (formerly Owens), and I recently ran into Lesley MacLeod ‘88. She and her husband, Andrew, recently moved into a home down the street from us in Old Greenwich, Conn. Kim and I and Lesley and her husband spent the weekend catching up and sharing stories. It’s a small world.

Elizabeth Hader Weiner reports that she continues as a correctional psychologist in the federal bureau of prisons. Her specialty areas are self-harmers and gender dysphoric inmates. She recently presented on gender dysphoria to a group of state corrections attorneys due to the many lawsuits involving these inmates in all systems, and gave a second presentation to a large conference of mental health staff. She teaches religious school, is head of the fundraising committee at the synagogue, sings in the choir, participates in Sisterhood activities regularly, goes out with friends every week, has lunch with her husband every week, and drives the children all over creation every night and all weekend.

Her husband Ray continues as a manager for McKesson, and recently became the vice president of the Board at the synagogue.

Rachel just turned 15 and is cheerleading competitively. She is in the honors program

1988

Class Secretary: Joy Brzuchowski Nichols 2688 Amberley Drive Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301-2655 umpilots@aol.com

1989

Class Secretaries: Dike Ajiri 3031 Old Glenview Road Wilmette, IL 60091-2908 dajiri@yahoo.com Dike Ajiri: My wife Rilee is expecting in early November so we’ll add a girl to our two boys.

Mobile Doctors is fun but getting harder. No complaints though. Finally getting my tennis game back. Enjoying rousing people up for our 12.5 year reunion next May — you know, because the Class of ‘89 only ages 1/2 as fast.

1990

Class Secretaries: Brooke Hohmeyer Kemler Hohenstaufenstr 36 Apartment no. 20 71696 Moeglingen Germany brookemler@hotmail.com

1991

Class Secretaries: Natasha Moulton-Levy 5400 Bucksaw Court Columbia, MD 21044-5717 teklaml@aol.com Samina Qureshi 2016 Norwood Grosse Pointe Woods, MI 48236-1746 Saminaq1@yahoo.com Kirk Sripinyo: I’m working on my 15th year in the Marine Corps. I’m a lawyer stationed at Miramar, Calif. where I practice environmental and labor law.

1992

Class Secretaries: Lila LaHood 1624 Vallejo Street, Apt. 2 San Francisco, CA 94123-5115 lilalahood@gmail.com Anne Hildebrandt Tranchida 521 Lakeland Grosse Pointe, MI 48230 arh1214@aol.com

1993

Class Secretary: Carrie Birgbauer 116 Pinehurst Ave #J 21 NY, NY 10033 cbirgbauer@me.com Elaine Calderon: I’ve wondered how all of you have been doing. Over the past 20 years, I ran into Doug Martin at the Philly airport.

I’ve seen Yumna Jafri and Angie Kim in NYC. Right after a Michigan wedding, I had the luck of running into Aaron Lewis at Detroit Metro where we summarized our post-Liggett lives over a cocktail. I saw John and Shannon “not too long ago” at another Liggett alum function during Thanksgiving.

Autwan Fuller and Mike Fox were there too.

That Thanksgiving, was the first time I had seen Jason Go, despite our parents being good friends and the frequency at which I saw his parents on my visits back to Michigan.

Fall 2013

31

Class Notes

Katy Campbell ’91, Samina Qureshi ’91 and Abigail McIntyre ’91 celebrate Katy’s birthday

Rasheen Carbin ‘94 and Francesca Nesi-Eloff ‘94 along with Louis Eloff with Mr. Peanut

Danielle Foust Derethik ‘95 and Blair Foust ‘00, BWCAW, 2008

As for me, all I can say is it was a great party after college in rural Pennsylvania. Right afterwards, I moved to NYC only to find that one of my first assignments in commercial banking was servicing Tiger Stadium.

Mrs. Shanle was working with the Tigers organization at the time. After that, I worked for a corporate immigration firm and decided to grind through law school. Outside of living in NYC, I had two episodes in California (San Francisco and L.A.) and one in Detroit before returning to NYC. Practicing U.S. immigration law has not led me to enough international destinations. I have only managed a few trips (France, the Philippines, UK, Italy). These days it is only work and when the schedule allows, weekend tennis. The Liggett surprise in my family is vis-a-vis my sister, Rachel ’96. She married another Liggett alum, Justin Young ’98. We joke that Justin was too shy to go to a Liggett dance with Rachel and instead, held out to get married. They are quite the match for each other and are very happy in Oklahoma City where Rachel does the news and Justin works for Boeing. They have two kids, Tyson Lucas (3) and Vivienne Rose (3 months). I had more opportunity to play Auntie and visit when they lived in L.A., but it’s more of a challenge now. Every year, I try to watch a match or two at the U.S. Open.

Liam Ryan: I am married with a 1-yearold daughter. I’m a heart surgeon at Carolinas Medical Center and am an assistant professor at UNC. I’m the director of their aortic surgery program. My wife is a consultant. The three of us are doing well. All in all, life’s been good to me so far.

Brent Jahnke: A little side note, I work as the head carpenter and travel with the Broadway Tour of the “Book of Mormon.” (See the feature about him in this magazine.)

1996

1994

Class Secretary: Peter Brown 5605 Trousdale Drive Brentwood, TN 37027-4308 Rasheen Carbin ‘94 and Francesca Nesi-Eloff ‘94, along with Louis Eloff, were recently able to meet up in Plymouth, Mich. for an impromptu tete-a-tete with the longtime spokesman for the Planters Peanut Company.

They hope to continue in the future their spontaneous encounters with commercial mascots, dubious celebrities and great American dignitaries, which have included John Glenn, Ross Hess, Weird Al Yankovic and Chester the Cheetah.

Peter Brown: Things going well for me down in Nashville. My wife, Angie, and I are expecting our second child this fall. I continue to work for G7 Entertainment Marketing putting together partnerships between brands and artists e.g. Taylor Swift/Diet Coke/Keds/Elizabeth Arden, Kid Rock/Harley-Davidson, P!NK/ Covergirl, Academy of Country Music Awards/ Ram Trucks, Brad Paisley/Cracker Barrel

32

Pe r sp e c t i v e

1995

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

Danielle Derethik: It’s going on eight years since I moved to St. Paul, Minn., and it is definitely home to me now!

I’m currently designing retail displays and fixtures for a unique printing/fixture manufacturing company in the Twin Cities.

My husband sells plastic, so it is fun to go shopping and spot his materials and my displays out in the marketplace! We stay busy with our ongoing home remodeling projects, yard work and activities like canoeing, camping and snowboarding.

Back in the summer of 1995, I ventured to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness on a trip with Mr. Thomas Novitsky and seven other students. I always remembered it, and after moving to Minnesota, I was determined to go back. It has been an annual summer trip for me the last seven years! Not growing up backcountry camping, I’m very glad I had that experience, as it has become an activity that I really enjoy. My brother, Blair Foust, was able to join me on my first trip back to the BWCAW and we found a campsite that he had remembered staying at when he went on the trip in 1999! I stayed on that campsite again this summer!

I do not make it back to Michigan nearly enough, but try to keep in touch with my old friends. I was lucky enough to host Natasha Lie Wilde, her husband, Chris Wilde, and their dog, Jack, for a night as they drove back to Michigan from Washington earlier this spring.

I love seeing what my old classmates are doing — people have pursued so many different career paths!

Class Secretaries: Jennifer Silverton 445 West Baraga Avenue, #4 Marquette, MI 49855-4558 jsilvers@nmu.edu Rachel Calderon 3208 Silva Street Lakewood, CA 90712-3014

1997

Class Secretary: Peter Birgbauer 124 East 85th, Apartment 5F New York City, NY 10028 pbirgbauer@gmail.com

1998

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

1999

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

2000

Class Secretary: Celeste Hubbard 636 S Cochran Avenue, Apt. 205 Los Angeles, CA 90036-4036

2001

Class Secretary: Christal Phillips christalphillips@gmail.com

2002

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

2003

Class Secretary: Brandon Celestin 1126 Berkshire Grosse Pointe Park, MI 48230-1341 Brandon.celestin@gmail.com

Alexis Bohlinger is currently working at Dorian Ford as the Internet sales coordinator.

She also writes for the Hockey Weekly and is head coach of the Girls 10U Troy Sting Hockey Team.

2006 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Entry Point #16, Moose River. Left to right, back row: Ms. King, Matt Novak, Sherif Manganas ‘99, Masseeha McDonald ‘99, Mr. Novitsky. L to R Front: Ariadne Lie ‘98, Sheena Parik ‘98, Danielle Foust Derethik ’95.

Todd Damren married Caroline Page on August 3 at St. Ann Church in the Communion of Saints of Parish in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

Julie Ellison married Rick Rodriguez Shaw on August 10 at Blossom Heath Park in St. Clair Shores. The newlyweds honeymooned in Jamaica. Joi Light, Angela Andrews and Brandon Celestin were all members of the wedding party.

Leython Williams welcomed daughter Elle Marie Williams on May 15, 2013. She weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and was 19.25 inches long.

2004

Class Secretaries: Rachel Costello 126 East Pointe Lane, Apt. B23 East Lansing, MI 48823-1984 rachelncostello@gm.com Carly Croskey 180 Country Club Drive Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236-2902 cacroskey@gmail.com Meghan Doletzky 1365 Pinellas Road Belleair, FL 33756-1061

2005

Class Secretaries: Caitlin Costello 800 Cadieux Road Grosse Pointe, MI 48230-1232 caitlinbcostello@gmail.com Kimberly M. Dickinson 240 Brown Street Providence, RI 02906-1527 Kimberly_Dickinson@brown.edu Carol Perry is thrilled to announce that she spent a part of her summer performing in Italy. She sang the role of Countess Almaviva in the Opera Tascabile production of Mozart’s classic comedy “Le Nozze di Figaro.” The show, which was performed in Orvieto, Italy, also gave her the opportunity to assistant direct. Carol, an opera singer by trade, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in vocal performance from The University of Miami and Colorado State University, respectively, after graduating Magna Cum Laude from University Liggett School. She moved back to the Grosse Pointe area in 2012 to start her own voice studio, which has flourished in part thanks to the wonderful

Leython ’03 and daughter Elle community of Liggett students and parents committed to the performing arts. When she returned from Italy, she served the Music Director for the University Liggett School day camp, where she once was a camper herself.

In addition to her teaching and performing, Carol is also a substitute teacher at Liggett in the Fine and Performing Arts and Foreign Language departments, and she works as a private tutor in Spanish, Italian, Latin, and French. She is so grateful to the Grosse Pointe community and to the school for welcoming her back home with open arms.

Matthew Smith graduated with his masters of music in guitar from Indiana University in 2011. Afterward, he became a first grade teacher apart of Teach For America in Memphis, Tenn. In 2013 he joined the faculty of The Music School of Delaware where he also serves as their student and alumni relations officer. Alongside teaching and performing, he is working to gain admission into dental school by 2015.

Elizabeth Drettmann is a recent graduate of Michigan State University College of Law. She took the Michigan Bar Exam this past July and is moving to Washington, D.C., to pursue her career dreams.

Elizabeth Kossak graduated in May of 2013 from University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry. She is happily residing in Chicago, working as an associate at Kenilworth Dental Associates.

Alexandra Binns-Craven is currently teaching fifth grade science, math and social studies at the Vicksburg Warren School District.

Paul Leahy is with the national public affairs firm the Dewey Square Group where he focuses on research, communications and grassroots outreach for political, corporate, nonprofit and trade association clients. He attended the Michigan State Society Ball at the U.S. Presidential Inauguration in January and the 150thAnniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in July. He’s having the time of his life.

Erin Deane married Zachary Crisan on May 4, 2013, in Hilton Head, S.C. Attended

by University Liggett School Class of 2005 graduates Chrissie Keersmaekers, Leeza Kossak, Peter Spina, and Michaelangelo Giancarlo. Erin and Zack will make their home in Durham, N.C, where Zack will be pursuing his MBA at Duke and Erin will be working in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit at UNC Medical Center.

Class Secretary: Alyssa Bronikowski 1221 N. Dearborn #211N Chicago, IL 60610-8376 Alyssa.bronikowski@gmail.com

2007

Class Secretaries: Catherine Watson Catherine.V.Watson@gmail.com Sabra Morman Sabramorman@yahoo.com

2008

Class Secretaries: Maria Russo mariarusso90@comcast.net Laura Hicks laura.hicks10@gmail.com

2009

Class Secretary: Bianca Aviolo 4884 Kensington Detroit, MI 48224 Bianca@thesecondguess.com

2010

Class Secretary: Mary Grech marygrech22@gmail.com

2011

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

2012

We would love to have a class secretary! Call Savannah Lee @ 313.884.4444, Ext. 415 or email slee@uls.org.

2013

Armaity Minwalla aminwalla@gmail.com

Fall 2013

33

Class Notes

In Memoriam

Mary Jacobsen ’37 LIG died in her sleep on December 16, 2012. She had spent the day with caregivers and had “partied” the day before with fellow residents. Mary had hoped to be able to stay in her apartment until her death and was able to do so. A memorial service took place in early January at Grace Episcopal Church in Mount Clemens. A brief service to place her ashes in the columbarium at Christ Church in Detroit took place in May. Mary was born March 2, 1919. She had served in WWII and was quite proud of that fact.

Katharine Jones ’53 CDS, passed away in her home in Wells, Maine, on September 12, 2012.

Russell J. Langs ’56 GPUS, of Petoskey, 74, passed away on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Hiland Cottage in Petoskey. He was surrounded by family and close friends.

He was born in Detroit on Aug. 21, 1938, to Grace and John Langs who preceded him in death along with his sister, Ruth, and brother, Richard.

Russ graduated from Grosse Pointe University School. He received his degree in marketing from Michigan State University where, on a tennis court, he met Karen Higley Langs, who became his wife and best friend of 53 years. Together they enjoyed tennis, kayaking, biking, hiking, camping, golfing, community service, and above all else, being with friends and family.

He helped found the Northern Michigan Tennis Association and was its president for 10 years. Russ was an inquisitive person who loved getting to know people. He was interested in everything and was a prolific reader.

He spent his high school summers on his father’s ranch in Granby, Colo., and never lost his love of the mountains. He spent 10 years in industrial sales in the Detroit area before moving to Petoskey in 1970, where he was self-employed. Before retiring, he enjoyed working at Preston Feather, and during retirement spent time with the Retired Engineer Technical Assistance Program, work he found immensely rewarding.

His greatest satisfaction came from Rotary, becoming a member in 1974. He loved playing an active role within the community, but was especially grateful for the many friendships he found in Rotary. He was proud to have been involved in helping build the new tennis court complex at Petoskey High School, and especially enjoyed the many years assisting with the Petoskey High School Girls Tennis Team, along with his wife.

34

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Russell J. Langs ‘56 GPUS

Coit Cook Ford III ‘81

He is survived by his wife, Karen; daughter, Kelly Gregg (Mark), Ocala, Fla.; son, Scott, Fort Collins, Colo.; sister, Shirley Smith, Chatham, Mass.

Throughout his life, Russ was committed to the youth of the community. He actively supported the concept of developing and upgrading the athletic complexes on the campus of Petoskey High School. It is for this reason the family requests donations in Russ’ memory be made for this purpose. Checks should be made out to the Public Schools of Petoskey, earmarking the funds for the Future Sports Complex at the high school.

A memorial walk in Russ’ memory will take place at a future date. Contact Shirley shirlthepearl78@gmail.com for date of memorial walk. If you wish to contact Karen, Box 283, Petoskey, MI 49770.

Linda Schaitberger ’63 LIG, passed away on April 21, 2013.

Coit Cook Ford III ‘81, was the son of Coit (who preceded him in death) and Delores (nee Matthews) Ford; born December 9, 1964, in Detroit. Coit passed away on March 17, 2013 at the age of 48, at Henry Ford Hospital.

From the moment Delores first laid eyes on the tiny newborn, her heart filled with the love and joy that only a mother can know.

Even then, she knew, Coit would never be ordinary. In fact, she was determined to make it so.

After graduating from University Liggett High School, Coit and his sister Cheryl, traveled through Europe and experienced the great works of art, music, and literature. He went on to receive a degree from the London School of Economics and a graduate degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.

Coit was constantly on the go, but miraculously, always found time to devote to his mother, friends – old and new, and basically anyone who came to him for assistance. Friends and co-workers remember

his kindness, humor, generosity and compassion. Coit always seemed to have the right thing to say and knew the right thing to do. Many people relied on him for so very many things and he obliged them, one and all.

Coit was a spiritual man. He cared about his community and gave with his heart. It is impossible to sum up the man Coit was in this miniscule space, but we can look to Micah 6-8 to know his inspiration for the life he led: “The Lord requires that we do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.” He leaves behind his proud and loving mother Delores Ford; and dear sister Cheryl (Stan) Wenskay. He will be missed by loving family members and friends including Sherry Robinson Covert (Craig) and their son Zavier; Darnell (Imelda) Robinson and their sons Ricardo and Carlo; Wendy Waller of Germany; Juanita Waller, Juanita Robinson, Dr. Milton (Elinor) Woods and family of California; Lorraine Greg of Pittsburg, Pa.; Dr. Rhonda Beale and family of California; Halcyon Kramer and family of Mt. Clemens; Susan Nash of Detroit; Jean Crittendon, Gary Owens, Jason (Angel) Beale and numerous friends including Rose Marie Ashley, Edwina Henri, Dennis Cook, Cordell Hill, and Ollie McMillan; and Gainor Tomokiyo and family of Hawaii.

Coit’s cremated remains were buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, 1820 Mt. Elliott, Detroit, MI, 48207; Herald of His Coming Gospels Revivals, Box 279, Seelyville, IN 47878, or Insight for Living Ministries, P.O. Box 269000, Plano, Texas 75026-9000.

Robert Stark Hickey ‘82, 48, died Wednesday, March 6, 2013, in Templeton, Calif., after an accident on his ranch.

Mr. Hickey was born in Detroit to William Stark Hickey and Mary Page “Frisky” Fuger Hickey. He attended University Liggett School

Julie Harris ‘44 CDS and graduated high school from Portsmouth Abby School, Portsmouth, R.I. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1981 and in 1993, a master’s in cinema/television from the University of Southern California-Los Angeles.

Mr. Hickey worked for Campbell Ewald advertising in Detroit and Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, before moving to California and working as an independent writer and producer.

He was devoted to and happiest when managing his California ranch, dogs and horses, where he found peace and joy. He was an integral part of the Templeton community, and an enthusiastic photographer, chef, golfer and served proudly as his family’s archivist.

In addition to his mother, Mr. Hickey is survived by his wife, Vanessa Inn Hickey; stepsons, Jeremiah Jones (Alexa) and Josha Bronson (Tabitha) and grandchildren, Zander and Atom Jones.

He also is survived by his sisters, Page Hickey Klumpar ‘76 (David) and Pamela Hickey Barlow ‘86 (Jim) and brother-in-law, Roger Grayson.

He was predeceased by his father and sister, Ellen Hickey Grayson ‘78.

His family said cherished memories of Mr. Hickey will live on in the hearts of those whom he touched and loved deeply.

A private celebration of life service was held in Templeton. A memorial service was also held at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church.

Donations may be made to Woods Humane Society, 875 Oklahoma Ave., San Luis Obisbo, CA 93405 or at woodshumanesociety. org.

Kathryn Jagger ’91 passed away on August 8, 2013 in Edinburgh, Scotland. A memorial service in Grosse Pointe took place in September.

Julie Harris ’44 CDS, one of Broadway’s most honored performers, whose roles ranged from the flamboyant Sally Bowles in “I Am a Camera” to the reclusive Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst,” died Saturday, August 24, 2013. She was 87.

Harris died at her West Chatham, Mass., home of congestive heart failure, actress and family friend Francesca James said.

A native of Grosse Pointe Park, Harris won five Tony Awards for best actress in a play, displaying a virtuosity that enabled her to portray an astonishing gallery of women during a theater career that spanned almost 60 years and included such plays as “The Member of the Wedding” (1950), “The Lark” (1955), “Forty Carats” (1968) and “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln” (1972).

Television viewers knew Harris as the freespirited Lilimae Clements on the prime-time soap opera “Knots Landing.” In the movies, she was James Dean’s romantic costar in “East of Eden” (1955), and had roles in such films as “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1962), “The Haunting” (1963) and “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1967).

Yet Harris’ biggest successes and most satisfying moments have been on stage. “The theater has been my church,” the actress once said. “I don’t hesitate to say that I found God in the theater.”

The 5-foot-4 Harris, blue-eyed with delicate features and reddish-gold hair, made her Broadway debut in 1945 in a shortlived play called “It’s a Gift.” Five years later, at age 24, Harris was cast as Frankie, a lonely 12-year-old tomboy on the brink of adolescence, in “The Member of the Wedding,” Carson McCullers’ stage version of her novel.

Harris won her last two Tonys for playing historical figures — Mary Todd Lincoln in “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln” and poet Emily Dickinson in “The Belle of Amherst” by William Luce. The latter, a one-woman show, became something of an annuity for Harris, a play she would take around the country at various times in her career.

In 1993, Harris returned from New York for a benefit performance for Christ ChurchDetroit. She brought “The Belle of Amherst” to metro Detroit in 2000.

Harris’ last Broadway appearances were in revivals, playing the domineering mother in a Roundabout Theatre Company production of “The Glass Menagerie” (1994) and then “The Gin Game” with Charles Durning for the National Actors Theatre in 1997.

Harris was born on Dec. 2, 1925, the daughter of an investment banker. She made her stage debut at the Grosse Pointe Country Day School in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at age 14. In the years that followed, she studied drama in finishing school, prep school, Yale University and the Actor’s Studio.

Before “Knots Landing,” Harris made numerous guest-starring television appearances on dramas and was a regular on two quickly canceled series — “Thicker Than Water” in 1973 and “The Family Holvak” in 1975.

Her Emmys were for performances in two “Hallmark Hall of Fame” presentations: “Little Moon of Alban” in 1958 and “Victoria Regina” in 1961.

Harris was married three times, to lawyer Jay I. Julian, stage manager Manning Gurian and writer William Erwin Carroll. She had one son, Peter Alston Gurian.

Fall 2013

35

Department of Alumni Relations

Make plans to see us this fall 2013-14 Alumni Board of Governors

Fall is upon us, and at University Liggett

the field with dedication, determination

School that means the Alumni Office is

and grace. Congratulations to the 2013

humming with activities in preparation

class! Join us as we celebrate them at our

Alice W. Wrigley Baetz ’64 LIG

for a new year of alumni events! We

induction ceremony during Homecoming

are busy preparing for Homecoming

Weekend on Friday, October 11, at 5:30 p.m.

Weekend, in which we celebrate the

rich traditions of athletic excellence and

will continue Saturday, October 12, with

sportsmanship at University Liggett

an Alumni Football game on the Cook

William B. Canfield III ’64 GPUS

School, and its predecessor schools.

Road football field followed by family

Ellen R. Renick Durand ‘79

This year, we will honor our third

festivities like face painting, bounce

Craig Durno ‘84

class of Alumni Athletic Hall of Fame

houses, crafts for kids, a parade and

Michael Fozo ‘87

inductees. The Alumni Athletic Hall

finally the varsity football game. A cook

Page Heenan ‘82

of Fame each year recognizes alumni

tent will be staffed by our Alumni Board

athletes who show solid character and

of Governors members, so make sure to

citizenship in the school community,

swing by and get some delicious

have an exceptional athletic record, and

fall treats.

Carrie L. Birgbauer ‘93 Elizabeth A. Renick Bracher ‘87 Stacy L. Miller Buhler ‘82

Thomas J. Henry, Jr. ’61 GPUS Latia B. E. Howard ‘03 Abigail McIntyre ‘91

Homecoming Weekend festivities

have distinguished athletic competition

Amy McDonnell MacKethan ‘82

or coaching accomplishments after they

Athletic Hall of Fame or Homecoming?

R. Booth Platt, Jr. ‘96

graduate. I am proud to announce that

Contact the Alumni Office at 313.884.4444,

Jane W. Weaver Reuther ’55 GPUS

the five alumni who will receive this

Ext. 415 or slee@uls.org for details and

Samina R. Qureshi ‘91

honor for 2013 are:

registration.

Robin D. Harris Russell ’59 GPUS

John Neville Patterson ‘06 DUS

Catherine S. Sphire Shell ‘79

David Rentschler ‘52 DUS

Anne Hildebrandt Tranchida ‘92

George Perrin ’64 GPUS

Beth M. Van Elslander Wood ‘89 Mr. L. Pahl Zinn ‘87

Laurie Khelokian Byron ‘87 Eugene Overton, Faculty Emeritus

GGET Y LI T

S

36 Perrsp speecctti vi vee # Pe

OOL

UNIV

T SI

Each of the inductees represented

University Liggett School on and off

CH

ER

Are you interested in attending the

I hope to see you out and about with

University Liggett School this year as we host alumni programming locally and around the country!

Warm regards, Savannah Lee Alumni Relations Manager

Distinguished Alumni Award

Our honorable graduates University Liggett School’s Distinguished

Alumni Award, created in 2009,

Eugenides ‘78,

celebrates alumni who have had a

acclaimed author of

significant impact in their professions

“Middlesex” and “The

and communities. This year University

Virgin Suicides,” who

Liggett School was thrilled to present the

was the first recipient.

2013 Distinguished Alumni Award to the

In 2010, Ralph Wilson

Honorable Nita L. Stormes ’72.

’36 (DUS), the owner

of the Buffalo Bills,

Judge Stormes is the presiding

She joins Jeffrey

magistrate judge for the Southern District

was honored. In 2011

of California. She was appointed to

we honored Gretchen

this position in 2000. Prior to taking the

Valade ’45 (CDS),

bench, she was for 16 years an Assistant

owner of the Dirty

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District

Dog Jazz Café, who

of California. In addition, she worked at

was honored for her

law firms Sternberg, Eggers, Kidder &

entrepreneurial spirit

Fox and Jenkins & Perry.

and philanthropic endeavors. Last year

accept her award. Her brother, Charles

CNN correspondent Miles O’Brien ’77

Stormes ’81, accepted the award on

Enright Inn of Court, a member of

received the award.

her behalf. She was able to watch the

the Rules Committee for the Federal

acceptance in California on a special live

Magistrate Judges Association (FMJA),

unable to attend Alumni Weekend to

Judge Stormes is a Master of the

Unfortunately Judge Stormes was

stream that was set up for her!

appointing authority for the Southern District of California’s Appellate Panel, a Sustaining Member of Lawyers Club of San Diego, and a regular presenter on civil discovery and settlement issues at Federal Bar Association (FBA) Programs and the annual Judith N. Keep Civil Practice Seminar in San Diego.

Judge Stormes graduated summa

cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University and received her law degree from Duke University.

Top: Judge Nita Stormes ‘72. Above: Dr. Healey presents the Distinguished Alumni award to Charles Stormes ‘81, brother of honoree Nita Stormes ‘72.

Fall 2013

37

Department of Alumni Relations

Our Most Loyal Supporters

The Alumni Loyalty in Annual Giving Award is presented to individual alumni celebrating milestone reunions who have given to the University Liggett School Annual Fund for 20 years or more.

Recipients of the award were honored at the Alumni Cocktail Reception during Alumni Weekend on Saturday, May 18, 2013. The following alumni received The award, which is given annually, went to the following alumni: Jean D. Hodges ’38 LIG & Theodore R. Hodges, Jr. ’40 DUS Richard L. Goodwin ’38 DUS Marjorie Oberteuffer McClure ’43 CDS Joseph F. Maycock, Jr. ’48 DUS Norah Moncrieff Williams ’48 LIG Bette-Burr Meader Fenley ’48 CDS &

Greene Fenley ’47 DUS

Jerry Jaglowicz, Jr. ’53 DUS Patricia L. Fitzgerald ’58 LIG &

James A. Fitzgerald ’56 GPUS

John L. Golanty ’63 GPUS William A. Petzold ’58 GPUS Gary W. Rembacki ’58 GPUS William W. Shelden, Jr. ’68 GPUS Alison Q. Wolfson ‘73 Charles Getz ‘73 Vivian W. Day ’75 & John W. Stroh III ’78

38

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Gary Rembacki ‘58 GPUS, right, receives his award from Booth Platt ‘96.

S OO L

UNI V

ER

L I GG E T T

CH

Reunion Class Giving S

ITY

$200

$200

5%

1943

70th

$7,575

$7,575

21%

Total

75th

Other

Annual Fund

1938

Class

Reunion

% Participation

2013

1948 65th $3,080 $4,160 $7,240 25% 1953

60th

$700

4%

1958

55th $12,835 $12,835

27%

1963

50th

30%

45th $165,069.60 $15,039.01 $180,108.61

1968

$700 $3,705

$3,705

6%

1973

40th $5,523.06 $5,523.06

20%

35th $109,058.91 $57,888.61 $166,947.52

13%

1983

30th $24,400 $500,000 $524,400

15%

1988

25th

$5,400

15%

1993

20th

1998

15th

2003 2008

1978

$5,400 $865

$865

9%

$60

$5,890

8%

10th

$250

$250

6%

5th

$375

$375

13%

$5,830

Totals $344,866.57 $577,147.62 $922,014.19

15%

*Classes from all predecessor schools prior to 1970 are combined for a single year total.

Fall 2013

39

Alumni Events

Alumni Weekend

Adena Wright Testa ‘63 GPUS, Richard Strother ‘58 and Suzie Sisman Decker ‘58 GPUS

Angela Trofi ‘83 and Mary Fisher-Viglietta ‘83

Lynne Connor Scoville ‘88, Claire Hartwick Connor ‘57 LIG and Alan Hartwick ‘63 GPUS

Lynne Connor Scoville ‘88, Mary Psihas Petersen ‘88, Elizabeth Maninno Cleland ‘88 and Elizbeth Birgbauer Jackson ‘88

Linda Heller ‘63 GPUS and Lee Pearce Bryant ‘63 GPUS at the Ladies Luncheon

Alumnae from the class of 1963 LIG at the Alumni Weekend Ladies Luncheon

Sidney Small ‘48 DUS and Rex Ford ‘73 at the Alumni BBQ

40

Pe r sp e c t i v e

May 17-19

Lauren Gargaro Grace ‘93 and daughters Maryanne and Alice at the Alumni BBQ

Alumnae Lacrosse Game during Alumni Weekend

Alumni Foursomes at the Annual Alumni Weekend Golf Outing

50th Reunion GPUS Class of 1963 ULS Alumni Weekend May 2013

50th Reunion Liggett Class of 1963 ULS Alumni Weekend May 2013

Gary Rembacki ‘58 GPUS and William Randall ‘63 GPUS at the Alumni Golf Outing

30th Reunion Class of 1983 ULS Alumni Weekend May 2013

Fall 2013

41

Alumni Events

Chicago & Red Crown, June 2013

25th Reunion Class of 1988 ULS Alumni Weekend May 2013

20th Reunion Class of 1993 ULS Alumni Weekend May 2013 Carol Peters ‘75 and Dr. Healey

Alumni Board of Governors Members Samina Qureshi ‘91, Anne Hildebrandt Tranchida ‘92, Booth Platt ‘96 and Abigail McIntyre ‘91

Marguerite Judge ‘76, Gerard Judge and Kelley Hamilton

Sarah Thurber ‘82,Trustee Tom Robinson ‘80, Lindley White ‘84, Shelley White Dolan ‘82

Ellen Renick Durand ‘79, Garland Knight ‘81, Mark Van Osdol ‘84, and Paula Mighion Cornwall ‘84

Lauren Parrott ‘02, Elizabeth Golightly ‘07, Alesia Bicknell ‘66 GPUS and James Perry ‘04

42

Pe r sp e c t i v e

Champs!

Congratulations to our newest state champs!

This June, the Knights baseball team won its second state

the East vs. West All-Star Game played at Comerica Park.

championship in three years. In addition, pitcher Connor

He started, the East team won 9-4 and Fannon was selected

Fannon (that’s him in the back, fifth from right) was chosen

game MVP.

by the state’s high school baseball coaches to participate in

Go Knights!

Fall 2013

43

Liggett Life

Day Two is the new Day One

By Ron Bernas

been here since

This article comes from Liggett Life, our

kindergarten --

(almost) daily blog about life at Liggett. It

and their parents

originally ran Sept. 4, 2013. For more stories

were honored.

like this, please check out the blog at blogs.

This year’s class of

uls.org/LiggettLife/

almost two dozen

was particularly

Yes, the first day of school is its own

special event and it brings with it all

large and their

the feelings that come with beginnings

commitment to

and endings.

the school was

While it’s still an important day, it’s

duly noted.

also a day filled with rules and policies

Student

-- the getting-to-know-you-and-the-new-

body president

classroom things that are important, but

Antonio Malkoun

not particularly inspiring. At Liggett,

talked about the

and low-key occasion that brought

the first day of school is not even the

community that is Liggett. He spoke

together the school’s past, present

emotional, here-we-go first day of school.

of all the important things that will be

and future.

The year at Liggett really starts at one

done this year -- games won, challenges

of the nicest events of the year -- the

met, records surpassed, friendships

speech, new parents were told by veteran

flag-raising ceremony on the second day

made -- that will be special not because

parents that Liggett will be what they

of school.

they happen, but because they will

make of it. If you give of your time and

have been done by us, members of the

talent to help your child’s class or grade

staff, alumni and parents came together

Liggett family. There will be setbacks,

or a school event, parents said, you

to note the start of University Liggett

he acknowledged, and unmet goals

learn a lot about the school. You’ll also

School’s 135th school year under a sky as

that could lead to a bad day or two.

make friends and find the support of a

blue as it comes. The morning breeze was

But when that happens, he said Liggett

whole community that truly cares for

gentle enough to keep the heat from the

people are lucky enough to be able to

one another. And anything parents do

still-rising sun from becoming too much.

turn to the Liggett family, where they’ll

for the school makes their child’s Liggett

Together, they heard the “Star-Spangled

find love and help and support. He also

experience -- and their own -- even better.

Banner” sung by senior Jewell Evans,

encouraged everyone to get involved

The sooner, the better, too. To quote the

were led in the reciting of the Pledge of

because, he said, it’s the right thing to do

advice parent Beth McMahon gave to

Allegiance by eighth-grader Delaney

for yourself and for the school.

new parents: “Jumping right in is the

Bandos and watched as senior John

best way to go!”

George and fifth-grader Zachary Ahee

to the school gathered for a breakfast

raised the flag. Head of School Joe Healey

where they were welcomed by staff,

school year at University Liggett School.

urged us all move forward together.

faculty and parents who have been part

You’ll be glad you did.

The “Lifers” -- those seniors who have

of the family for a while. It was a friendly

Today, Liggett students, faculty and

44 Pe r sp e c t i ve

More than 600 students – plus faculty, staff, alumni and parents – attended the annual flag-raising.

Immediately afterward, parents new

Almost as an echo of Antonio’s

So go ahead, jump in to the 135th

Office of Advancement Associate Head of School for Advancement Kelley Hamilton Assistant Head of Advancement Cressie Boggs Director of Communications Ron Bernas Manager of Alumni Relations Savannah Lee Annual Giving Manager Mariana Gilbert Advancement Communications & Special Events Manager Katie Durno Advancement Coordinator Trisha Shapiro Campaign Project Manager Genevieve Valiot Campaign Communications Coordinator Lee Ann Gusmano Perspective Fall 2013 Editor Ron Bernas Photography Ron Bernas, Lee Ann Gusmano and Chris Burja Art Direction and Graphic Design Lee Ann Gusmano

UN IVER SITY L IGGETT SCH OOL 1045 Cook Road Grosse Pointe Woods MI 48236-2509 313.884.4444 www.uls.org University Liggett School is Michigan’s oldest, co-educational, pre-K through grade 12, independent day school. University Liggett School does not unlawfully discriminate against any person on the basis of religion, race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or any other protected class as provided by applicable law.

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