Class Notes CLASS OF 1949 Alison Robb: “I have heard from only two others for several years. Ann Brown O’Connell is in Chatham on the Cape, Nina Heald Webber is in West Falmouth and I am in North Falmouth, formerly in Woods Hole. We three on the Cape have met each year in the summer for a grand lunch or a walk on the beach somewhere. In recent summers we have met at the Alumni gathering as well, happy to meet up with fellow alumnae such as Irene Andreson Camougis and her daughters, and many others younger than us.”
CLASS OF 1951 Elizabeth Bousquet Johnson: I am stuck in Arizona because of Covid. I want to get home to my nine grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren. I hope many of my classmates write in.
CLASS OF 1954 Janice Hardy Bjork: Karl and I are enjoying our life at Briarwood Community Center. So happy to be here during this lockdown time! Janet Newton Weinberg: Enjoying life in Burlingame, California which is on the Peninsula, not far from San Francisco, and would like to see any of you who live nearby or visit here. Bradford C. Gooch: Your Ex-yet-still-humble Secretary has little to report from Rome. I am learning to live without Mary, the love of my life, but am also learning to make a super slow-cooker chicken teriyaki and a beautiful beef stew! I also wear a mask and only go out when necessary. I will brag about my granddaughter who just graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Dublin in Neuropharmacology and who is continuing there in Medical School; and about my grandson in Ohio who just finished his first year at Kent State as a Music Major with a 4.0 average. He sent me some of his compositions which show real talent and promise. Now the trick is to stay safe and healthy even as COVID-19 cases rise in Floyd County. You all stay safe and healthy, too!
CLASS OF 1957 John S. Mayher: In the current climate it’s almost impossible to remember when we were all together at Bancroft—which was actually 1953 since all of us boys were kicked out after 8th grade. Fortunately, Sue and I are in good health and in the process of selling our Pocono paradise to move back to Westchester County, but we miss my cousin Barry Morgan and several other friends who were COVID victims. I can only hope that the country we rebuild after the multiple disasters of the past few
years will enact the images of America we were taught at Bancroft—and be less like the painful reality we’ve come to recognize as the norm for too many people. Hope you are all staying well.
CLASS OF 1959 Judy Jarmer: Not much startling news. I’m still here in South Jersey trying to stay healthy! I spent a week on the Cape and 4 weeks at my home on Nantucket in June/July, before returning to New Jersey and the hottest 2 weeks on record. I hope to return for a couple of weeks in September or October. My heart is in New England, but my kids are not. My family are all well: grandkids; Jacob a rising senior and into the college search, Ronan is a rising freshman, hoping to run cross country and later play lacrosse, his passion, Saoirse, starting 1st grade, very excited, Abbie, her cousin, also starting 1st grade. Three in NJ, one in NY. School plans still not quite certain. This is all such a shame. Nice to hear your happy news, Phil. You are very lucky! That’s it for me. No major travelling in sight. Phil Kinnecut: After more than 55 years in the islands, I traded my Hawaii driver’s license for one from Florida when I moved to Vero Beach to be with Marcia Schoeller. It’s a happy story that began in the fall of 2012 when my late wife Annetta and I were on a Williams alumni travel Med cruise, met Marcia among the group and discovered that her younger brother had married the daughter of my uncle Lincoln Kinnicutt ’43 back in the day. Fast forward to September 2018, and another Williams trip, this time to Italy where we serendipitously reconnected. We are thinking we are very lucky. As I write this, we are still sheltering in place and hoping we will be able to resume traveling sometime soon. First on my list is a new grandson in Salem, MA and we have plans for a Danube River cruise next fall, but at this point, who knows... Sandy Sessions emailed me recently from an anchorage near Goose Island between Freeport and Harpswell, that he and Susan had just finished a picnic lunch and were still enjoying life in Maine. He reported they are protected from outsiders bringing in the virus by a secure bridge to the island where they live. They saw Billy Mayher a couple of years ago in Blue Hill and Billy himself sent me an email saying he was still living on the Maine coast. He is making fish and shorebird sculptures out of wood he finds along the shores of distant islands and Caroline, his wife of 52 years, is still making pottery. Per Billy, “We sell our stuff in galleries in Blue Hill, Rockland, Castine, and Northeast Harbor and have a sale at our studios in August. Our daughter Jenny lives down the coast and we see her family often. All of these activities, plus an active life out on the water, have provided us with a sense of fulfillment that we are grateful for every single day.”
And a final sad note. I came across the obituary for Linda Harris Farnum who passed away this spring in Tallahassee, Florida on April 8. I had an instant memory flash back of dance parties in the basement of her house on Ardmore Road in Worcester so many years ago and more recently seeing her on The Cape before she moved south to Florida. She will be missed.
CLASS OF 1960 Edith Heier: Hi everyone! In a world without Corona I would have attended our 60th reunion in May, but instead I am staying at home base which means meandering through an empty house. No small kids to homeschool, doing garden work and being lazy on the patio. In other words, quarantine on a high niveau. In Germany most folks have been compliant, accepting the common good over petty individual rights and so society has pretty much opened up again as long as regulations are followed. Schools open next week, some in class, some per ZOOM, some a mix of the two. My granddaughter, Charlotte returned from spending four months at two different BIO farms in Washington State and Oregon under the WOOF program (World Organization of Organic Farms) and was inspired by living a minimalistic, sustainable "green" life. Grandson Ben will start medical school in Vilnius, Lithuania, and already has a communal apartment lined up with three other German med students. So, life goes on and everything has a bright side. Stay well. Judy Sawyer McKeown: Still enjoying my life in Colorado. The weather lets me be outdoors every day. Tons of golf make me happy. Kids are awesome - two juniors and a freshman this year. Yikes! Sending my best to all classmates.
CLASS OF 1962 Jeffrey Hickox: Moved to Worcester after 70 years in Westborough. I am enjoying the city. Having my daughter, the biologist, with our grandson one street up nice! Our son-the CPA, daughter-in-law and our granddaughter are in Holden and our daughter, an Assistant Principal with son-in-law and our surfer grandson are in CA. I am semi-retired, but life seems to be as busy as ever!
CLASS OF 1963 Hilary Hosmer: “Bob and I are both feeling the effects of age, mostly in our knees. We have taken up croquet. We have been very careful to avoid Covid-19, staying home and walking around the neighborhood a lot. Our twins and grandkids are well, but we all fear school reopening in eastern Mass. Despite Covid-19, we, our twins, and four grandchildren are well. I am active in the climate movement trying to prevent climate change. Bob climbs mountains for fun, while both of us play competitive croquet and beach bocce for fun and exercise.”
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