HOPKINS Views From The Hill
SPRING 2019
Think
360
A Vision for the Future
Think
360 A vision for the future of Hopkins
HOPKINS Views From The Hill
Head of School
Editor
Photography
Kai Bynum
Linda Weber
Micky Bedell (21)
Views from the Hill is published biannually by
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Class Notes Editor
Hopkins School for the purpose of fostering ongoing
& Communication
Donna Vinci
engagement with and among alumni/ae, students,
Linda Weber
parents, faculty, staff, and friends of Hopkins. Hopkins School does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or national origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship, athletic and other school-administered programs.
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Management
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Trip Hartigan (7) Highpoint Pictures (14, 19, 24–25) Peter Mahakian (6, 22) Jason Niccolo Johnson (75) PhotoFlight Aerial Media (OFC, IFC, 2) Lauren Reichart (26) Kerry Schutz (2, 10–12, 15, 16, 23, 76, OBC) Leo Sorrell (26) Katey Varanelli (27) Jemma Williams Nussbaum (18, 20, 22, 26)
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SPRING 2019
Inside Views FEATURES
2 Thinking 360:
My Thoughts about Hopkins’ Future Kai Bynum
4 Building Proper Homes for Softball & Track David Holahan
10 Hopkins’ New Choir Bursting Out in Song Linda Weber
12 Canny Cahn: English Teacher & Razor Adviser to Retire Linda Weber DEPARTMENTS
15 News from the Hill 24 Alumni/ae: Hopkins Legacies 26 Alumni/ae: Hopkins Events 28 Class Notes 76 Milestones
“THINK 360: A VISION FOR THE FUTURE” IS HOPKINS’ FIRST STRATEGIC PLAN IN THE HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. The plan 1
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offers a way of thinking about how the School can fulfill its mission in a sustainable manner—and makes recommendations about priorities for governing Hopkins within a strategic framework. The name “360” acknowledges the School’s rich history, recognizes the comprehensive and collaborative nature of the 360-degree process, and represents three key priorities and six strategic objectives. Please see Kai Bynum’s reflections on the plan on page 2. Readers can access the complete plan at Hopkin.edu/360.
Thinking 360: My Thoughts about Hopkins’ Future BY KA I BY N U M
AS WE APPROACH HOPKINS’ 360TH YEAR , it is time for our community to take a step back and look upon the horizon as we chart a course for the future of our school. Scanning the landscape in front of us, and taking in this 360-degree view of time, allows us to reflect on the experiences of generations of our students and educators, affirm the hopes and values we share today, and determine how we can strengthen and sustain our community for the future. Hopkins is an historic institution, which has endured because of its commitment to excellence. No great institution endures without a constant concern about its times and the times it anticipates. Through the years, Hopkins has also always been a place that values integrity. Here, integrity does not just mean doing your own work. It means one does that work with the imagination of the artist, the precision of a mathematician, and the spirit of an athlete. We want our students to be thrilled to learn, and we share the belief that they flourish when their minds are inspired. Throughout my life, the muse of literature has inspired me. My perspective broadened as I studied the pond and the whale, and as I pondered the words of Walt Whitman, James Baldwin, and Mary Oliver. What those writers have in common is the value of inclusion and a keen sense of
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awareness. Their voices transcend the lines of race, religion, orientation, and status, thus allowing them to access a plethora of people and cultures. In that same spirit, I want the Hopkins education to be accessible to promising students from all backgrounds who value thinking and learning, who embrace a range of perspectives, and who care about the betterment of the community. In this vision, we must see to it that Hopkins continues to focus on creating a more racially, socially, and economically diverse student body. A critical part of doing so is increasing our financial aid resources to support students and families who otherwise would not be able to call Hopkins home. If we want to continue attracting and inspiring talented students, we likewise have to continue to attract gifted teachers. There are many ways to solidify Hopkins as a destination for promising educators. Our reputation of academic excellence exists because of a legacy of outstanding teachers; and more crucial for me than anything is for that legacy to continue—for teachers to be developed and supported in every possible way so they can be their best selves. Similarly we should maintain an ongoing conversation about our curriculum. What is taught for all times and what is taught in its time is the rewarding tension that a committed educator must engage, and that is a conversation that any forward-thinking
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
school should welcome. Through the collaboration of many voices and perspectives, we can continue to cultivate a curriculum that expands and deepens our commitment to the humanities, the arts and STEM programs. It is also important that we celebrate all of our student-athletes, making sure we are as inclusive to boys and girls across a wide range of sports—from cross-country to softball and swimming to lacrosse. In many ways, facilities give witness to our understanding of what it takes to fully support the activities that take place inside of them—whether that be executing a foul shot, folding a protein, building a robot, writing an essay, or performing a soliloquy. In order to realize this balance, and sustain the pursuit of excellence in the academics, the arts, and athletics, the quality of our facilities needs to match the quality of our programs. The depth and balance of our experiences on campus serve to connect our school to the people, ideas, and communities around us— locally, nationally, and internationally. Hopkins is situated in the City of New Haven which is, demographically, a typical mid-sized American city; that means there is a little bit of everyone here. With numerous universities and people flocking from the shoreline, Fairfield County, and other surrounding communities, there is an unusual amount of intellectual inquiry and people
coming from all over the state to feel this energy. Situated in this place and this time, we have all the advantages of urban life on a compressed scale that is accessible to teachers and students alike. With that in mind, I want Hopkins to see beyond its beautiful place on the hill, and it begins with Hopkins doing more with New Haven, and New Haven doing more with Hopkins. When our alumni/ae community (over 7,000 strong) come up to this campus for a reunion or a visit, they often express amazement at the changes—and there have been many! We must keep in mind, however, that these changes have been made to deepen our values. The location may be different, and the size may have expanded, but the underlying commitment to intellectual curiosity, integrity, character, and community abides. Hopkins is your school. We are at an inflection point as a school, where it is imperative for us to consider how we can advance our shared mission, our vision for the future, and our enduring values. By looking at who we are, where we want to go, and why we believe in this school, we can affirm the Hopkins we love and imagine the Hopkins we aspire to be. This is the time for us to Think 360, and I look forward to working together with all of you to realize the promise of Hopkins. To learn more about The 360 Plan, go to hopkins.edu/360
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Building Proper Homes for Softball & Track $2.7M Athletic Upgrade Underway
Stevenson Road
New 400-meter Running Track New Athletic Storage Building (1,020 SF) New Batting Tunnel
310' RF
200' LF
New Varsity Softball Field
Long/Triple Jump & Pole Vault
(Natural Grass) 215' LF
200' LF
Varsity Soccer & Lacrosse Field
(Natural Grass
High Jump
- 205' x 360')
New Scoreboard Existing Scoreboard
Stormwater Treatment Area
(To Remain)
Expanded Stormwater Treatment Area
BY DAV I D H O L A H A N
THINK MUSICAL CHAIRS. Except in place of individuals circling anxiously about, hoping to find a place to sit, substitute an entire sports team. Hopkins Varsity Softball has been playing musical fields for years now: from Parr Field to Far Field and in between. This spring the girls have moved to yet another of their temporary homes, where JV soccer is played. But not to worry: In 2020 this band of sisters will have a brand new—and permanent—home field, one that will be commensurate with their proficiency and perseverance. (They have gone 10–3 the past two seasons, winning the league championship in 4
2017 and qualifying for the playoffs both years.) Far Field is now undergoing an extreme makeover: it will emerge as a state-of-the-art and exclusive haven for Hopkins Varsity Softball—and perhaps a JV team, too, if enough girls are inspired to try out. Ava Pfannenbecker ’21 plays first base and is ecstatic. She and two other players met with Head of School Kai Bynum last spring to lobby for the new field (they were hardly alone in that): “I’m super excited about it, and the fact that he listened to us and we got the new field is huge for our team and for the softball program.” VIEWS FROM THE HILL
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Ko h a
ry Dri ve
Maintenance Buildings
Tennis Courts Parr Field
F
(Synthetic)
300' LF
New Shot Put
New Discus Cage
Junior Varsity Baseball & Multi-Use Fields
Varsity Baseball Field (Natural Grass)
(Natural Grass)
60' CF
315' CF
300' LF
Thompson Hall
300' LF
The Quad
New Javelin Throwing Area
Walter Camp Athletic Center
Smilow Field (Natural Grass)
Alumni House
Malone Science Building Heath Commons
Baldwin Hall
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The new field is one piece of a $2.7 million athletic upgrade that includes a new home for another deserving Hopkins sport: track and field. Girls and boys teams will be able to host home track meets next year—if not for the first time ever, at least in recent memory. Perhaps more important, they will be able to train on a regulation rubberized track surface, as opposed to grass or unforgiving pavement.
hurdles. Individually, Hopkins track athletes have done well. Last year, for example, the boys finished second in their division in the 4 x 400-meter relay at the prestigious Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The project was kick-started by generous and anonymous donations from several families that totaled just over a third of the cost. Construction is underway and fundraising continues.
Far Field is now undergoing an extreme makeover: it will emerge as a state-of-the-art and exclusive haven for Hopkins Softball. The new oval will be a 400-meter track, with eight sprinting lanes and areas at either end for jumping events and the pole vault. It will enable Hopkins athletes to compete in every track and field event and have a shot at winning meets as a team—again for the first time in anyone’s memory. As matters now stand, Hopkins track and field athletes do not have the ability to practice—and therefore don’t compete in—the following events: pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump, and the
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The softball diamond will sport a regulation, skinned-clay infield, as opposed to uneven grass. Right field will be dead level rather than on an incline; left field will no longer be marshy, and the entire outfield will be graded, well drained, sodded and irrigated with an underground watering system. There will be a scoreboard, a proper backstop and fencing in front of the players’ benches and down the foul lines. Lauren Gillespie ’20 plays second base, and last year she mastered the bad hops of the makeshift
diamond out on Far Field. But she can’t wait to play her last two seasons on regulation softball facilities. “I’m so excited about our new field,” she said. “Everyone is happy we’ll have an official field. It will definitely have an effect on team morale. It will make it more fun. I think getting girls on campus to come out and play will be easier now.” She added, referring to the new 1,000-square-foot storage building that will
Hopkins Chief Operating and Financial Officer David Baxter, who is overseeing the project, said, “Our goal was to make sure we were bringing real parity in the quality of facilities for the girls, so we, and our architect, took cues from the boys’ field, including such features as batting cages, bullpens, everything that you would expect to see in a quality facility.”
As we deepen our commitment to academics, we want to balance that out by making sure we have excellent experiences in the arts and athletics. be located near third base, “It will be nice not to have to lug all our equipment out there every practice.” Not for nothing is it called Far Field, which is at the extreme southwest corner of campus. “The girls are excited to have their hard work recognized,” said softball coach Angelina Massoia, who added, “Especially because there has been a whole other implication in the past with it being a women’s team and there being a really nice baseball field for the boys; the optics of that are going to improve.”
Head of School Kai Bynum couldn’t agree more. “The softball field made complete sense, to enhance a program that didn’t have a dedicated field on campus,” he said. Putting the project in the context of Hopkins’ Master Plan, Bynum said: “As we deepen our commitment to academics, we want to balance that out by making sure we have excellent experiences in the arts and athletics. The timing for this project was motivated by the generosity of the community. We had
LEFT The Varsity Softball players, led by coach Angelina Massoia, cheer on their team. RIGHT With the new construction of an on-campus track, the Varsity Track and Field teams will be able to host home track meets for the first time in recent memory.
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several families saying, ‘We’d like to make this happen right away.’” It should be noted that Bynum knows more about track and field than your average head of school. He was a varsity track athlete in high school, competing in all three facets of the sport: in running, jumping, and throwing events. Under persistent questioning, he revealed that his best time in the 100 meters was 10.9 seconds. The new track, under construction now, will be located where track and field athletes have practiced for years, adjacent to the new softball field. It will have a huge impact on the Hopkins Track and Field teams, girls and boys, varsity and JV. It will help female and male athletes to excel in both team and individual competition. Heretofore, Hopkins athletes could not compete in many events or perform in
“The new sports venues will be very competitive, on par with or better than facilities at most other public and private high schools.” The 400-meter oval track will have six lanes for distance events, along with eight straightaway lanes for the 100- and 200-meter sprints. “We start producing the track surface with a bituminous pavement base similar to a road or parking lot,” Webb explained. “Then a synthetic surface goes on top of that base, a resilient rubber system that is paved onto the bituminous concrete; and finally color and additional texture are sprayed on to create the final layer.” The rectangular area inside the track oval will remain grass, where varsity soccer and lacrosse will continue to play. An area inside the south end of the oval will be the venue for the long jump,
The 400-meter oval track will have six lanes for distance events, along with eight straightaway lanes for the 100- and 200-meter sprints, and areas at either end for jumping events and the pole vault.
others, like sprints and relays; they were hampered by the lack of a regulation surface to practice on. “This will definitely be a game-changer for younger runners,” said Connor Hartigan ’19, a senior on both the track and cross-country teams. “We’ve always had to do cross-country style training during track season. When I was on the starting line for the 1,500-meter race during my first track meet, I was still trying to figure out when I would be able to break out of my lane!” He added, “Sprinters suffered especially from our lack of a regulation track to train on.” Track Coach Michael Christie said that the new facilities will enhance the possibilities for recruiting. He added, “For example, we have a girl who is really good in the long jump and she wants to get better, but we have been at the mercy of our facilities.” The new track also will be a training, fitness, and wellness resource for participants in other sports, such as cross-country and soccer, and for others on campus who simply want to take a brisk walk around the oval or get in shape for a 5K fun run. According to Dick Webb, senior principal with SMRT, the architectural firm in charge of the project: 8
the triple jump, and the pole vault; a similar space on the opposite end of the oval will be dedicated to the high jump. Throwing events—the shot put, discus, and javelin—will be held two fields over, between the JV baseball and JV soccer fields. “Students, parents, and alumni/ae have been lobbying for this for years,” said Rocco DeMaio ’86, Hopkins Director of Athletics. “It came up a lot. I give campus tours all the time and it is always nice to show off what we have here. The new facilities will be a big plus.” Samantha D’Errico ’20 is a junior and co-captain this year of the Hopkins Softball Team. She will get to compete on a first-class field, at home, in her senior year. And she is fired up about it. She is fired up about having more people try out for the team and maybe even more spectators making the trek all the way out to Far Field to root for her and her teammates. “Having the new softball field and track is going to be really good for the school,” she said. “It will bring people out to the games and the meets. It will be great for school morale.” VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Hopkins’ First Track Team: The Hares & Hounds, circa 1886 Organized athletics became “a thing” around the time of the American Civil War, and Hopkins organized a baseball team as early as 1860, the “Rough and Readies.” There is a student diary entry which indicates that Hopkins had a football team by 1867. These were all somewhat haphazard, being led by students with little help and only occasional encouragement from the Head of School. The boys were not allowed to even wear an “H” on their uniform until the 1870s. In 1875, Walter Camp and other students organized the first Athletic Association of the school, raising dues to cover the cost of uniforms and equipment. Student politics and squabbling led to the collapse of the Athletic Association, but in the fall of 1878, someone suggested a Field Day be held at Hamilton Park. This proved to be quite popular and was continued for several years. It culminated in the creation of Hopkins’ first track team, called “Hares and Hounds,” whose records were recorded in the Hopkins Annuals of 1886 and 1887. The first interscholastic track meet in which Hopkins participated was in 1892, when Hopkins and five other school teams met in Hartford. Hopkins won second place overall, and James I. Lineaweaver, HGS Class of 1893 (for whom one of the school’s scholarships would later be named), won second place in the 120-yard hurdles and first place in the running broad jump. Thom Peters, School Archivist
Junior Varsity Softball Team at Day Prospect Hill School in 1971
DPH had limited sports facilities before the merger with Hopkins Grammar in 1973, and softball was one of the few sports offered in the spring. Jerri Trulock was the softball team coach, as well as DPH Athletic Director. After the merger, she was the Assistant Athletic Director at Hopkins, before moving into College Counseling. Math teacher Kevin Hart was the next coach for the Hopkins Softball Team. FIRST ROW (L–R): H. Landorf, G. Brundage, E. Schreiber, C. Toole, L. Trulock. SECOND ROW: M. Wohl, B. Chapman, L. Chaet, P. Heath, N. Bennett, J. Veronneau, L. Eckstrom, M. Campbell, M. Sulavik. THIRD ROW: C. Wrigley, A. Polares, R. Richards, C. Braeburn, S. Scoble, S. Walker, C. Sargent, W. Perlmutter, A. Skinner. FOURTH ROW: M. Babbitt, J. Brown.
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Hopkins’ New Choir Bursting Out in Song BY L I N DA W E B E R
The sound that this group makes is unlike any other group at Hopkins, which is exciting and extremely special. The high sophistication in tone quality and vocal production is incredible to be a part of, but it is not the only reason why I love singing with Treble Choir; it’s the talented, kind people that make it special. We are all kind and supportive of one another and having that level of trust is the only way we can make the sound and music we do. —Katie Broun ’19 10
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Director of Choral Music Erika Schroth leads Hopkins’ new Treble Choir.
IT’S 2:35 P.M. ON A FRIDAY afternoon—H
Block—and one would expect students to saunter into the final class of the week distracted, with thoughts directed toward the weekend. Not here in Erika Schroth’s choir room. Surrounding the piano in a swirl of energy are the girls of Hopkins’ Treble Choir, the newest extracurricular music offering that appeals to singers who, in Schroth’s words, “want to sing more and tackle challenging music.” “I wanted to have a path for our students who really love to sing and who are becoming more and more sophisticated musicians,” says Schroth, Director of Choral Music. The treble choral repertoire “is giving them a whole new sound world to live in and to experience—a different timbre, texture, and different musical colors.”
The music is challenging and harder than I’ve ever done. I’ve always wanted to sing something that pushes me and puts me in a range that is difficult. —Isabel Vlahakis ’19
A treble choir is exclusive to voices that sing around or above middle C—sopranos and altos. A typical size choir is 16, allowing for four sets of singers—Soprano I, Soprano II, Alto I, and Alto II. The treble choral repertoire is vast and rich. Schroth describes one piece the group is working on, Erik Esenvalds’ “Only in Sleep,” as “buttery, deliciously textured music, satisfying to sing and
SPRING 2019
a real challenge.” It features a six-part harmony and a solo. Hopkins’ Treble Choir is open to all junior and senior singers and is not restricted to students who have taken choral classes at Hopkins. “I had in mind there might be students who have done a lot of singing and haven’t had the opportunity to sing for Hopkins,” said Schroth. Hence, the choir is an extracurricular.
I play trumpet in the orchestra and jazz band. I don’t have the ability to sing in the choir, schedule-wise. This allows me to exercise another instrument— my voice. —Sophia Colodner ’19
Because the music is challenging and there is limited rehearsal time each week, singers need to be able to jump into the score quickly. Auditions are required and the students take them very seriously. Schroth recalls the newly formed choir’s first rehearsal last fall. “We started to read through a piece and the girls looked around and said, ‘Wow, we sound good!’ Everyone here has a unique voice, a real instrument.” For Schroth, the joy is providing another opportunity for these voices to sing. The Treble Choir had its premiere performance at the annual Songs of Winter concert in December 2018, and will perform at the annual spring concert in May.
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Canny Cahn:
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
&
English Teacher Razor Adviser to Retire BY L I N DA W E B E R
I will miss the kids of all ages ( 12–70+) who ramble this campus, injecting it with a mix of childlike enthusiasm and mature awareness unique to Hopkins. I truly believe that, if the Hopkins ethos could bedrock global education, our world populations would be happy, thriving, and peaceful. —Canny Cahn
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Canny Cahn, English faculty member and longtime adviser to The Razor, will retire in June, capping a forty-four-year teaching career, the last seventeen at Hopkins. Canny joined Hopkins in the fall of 2002. She began her career at Greenwich Public School. She taught at Stoneleigh-Burnham School for 25 years while also teaching summer school at nearby Northfield Mount Hermon. Canny epitomizes the Hopkins ethos she writes of—childlike enthusiasm and mature awareness—by bringing a sense of wonder, curiosity, and determination to her classroom. It is no surprise that her favorite elective course to teach is “Dangerous Books,” where she recounts that “great minds and great books trigger intellectual explosions.” When hearing of her retirement, former and current students describe a teacher with equal measures of exuberance and patience, who changed their life. “Canny transformed me into the student and writer that a Hopkins education demands,” wrote Jonathan Zarrilli ’16. “She guided us step-by-step through each element of a strong paper, and made the process fun. I remember being shocked at how marked-up each graded assignment was—especially early in the year, and it made me realize how much she cared about each student she taught.” Teddy Vlock ’16 shares that sentiment. “She was the best teacher I ever had. As a dyslexic person I always dreaded writing until I took her class. Her love and enthusiasm for the classes she taught and the students in them was infectious. She was the person who taught me to love Shakespeare and that will stay with me for the rest of my life.” 13
Students tell amusing tales of Canny’s disdain for tofu, love of bagels, and her unbridled energy. “I’ve had advisory group with Ms. Cahn for the past four years,” relates Eliot Carlson ’19. “Her ability to consistently bring energy into a room of teenagers early in the morning is an impressive talent.” Margie Lewis ’15 also cites Canny’s extraordinary skills as an adviser. “Her vibrant personality and soft heart was the greatest spirit to be around during the difficult growing years of high school. Now as a senior in college, I still keep in touch with Canny and her constant guidance and encouragement has stayed with me throughout these last few years.” In addition to teaching and advising, Canny has steered the course of Hopkins’ student newspaper The Razor over the past 16 years through incredible growth and depth. She notes that “the staff now regularly numbers over two dozen on the masthead plus another twenty to thirty writers; and most students work with the paper for all four years of high school.” Yet that is only part of the story. Canny relates that “dynamic student leadership has taken the paper
into contemporary reporting, digital formats, and savvy writing that reflects the sensibilities of the community. I’m incredibly proud of the many Razor alumni/ae working for professional newspapers, magazines, and online journalism outlets.” When asked what she will miss most, Canny doesn’t hesitate to say “the people, the people, and the people. I will miss the singular beauty of this campus and I will especially miss watching my current students grow up while they are here at Hopkins. And I will miss the classroom. I can’t imagine the day that I read a good book and won’t be able to share and test what I’ve learned with my students.” What will life look like for Canny come opening day of school in September? “My husband—a dean at Hamden Hall (yes, THAT school!)—is retiring, as well. We are moving to mid-coast Maine to start our next chapter as writers, kayakers, gardeners, volunteers, and small town eccentrics. The new house has lots of guest rooms, a chicken coop, and a greenhouse. I hope to keep them all filled.”
Having Canny Cahn by Your Side… I was having a hard time fitting in at Hopkins during my freshman year, and when I went to Canny with my dilemma, she showed me a different side of the school. Canny gave me a new perspective, and explained that being comfortable at Hopkins is finding your “team.” Whether it be sports, theater, or a club, she opened my eyes to the concept that while Hopkins is a warm community in itself, the best way to appreciate it was to open myself up to more activities. She taught me an important lesson in this moment—that the best way to feel “at home” would be to stretch myself and step out of my comfort zone. She assured me that I would eventually find my place, and that I had to trust I would. The next week I signed up for Science Olympiad and wrote my first article for The Razor. Before I knew it, I was attending Sci-Oly competitions on Saturday, formatting the paper and sharing bagels with fellow writers on Sunday mornings, and eating lunch with people I never even knew existed. A few months after my conversation with Canny, I stepped into her classroom with a book, a thank you note, and a new view of Hopkins. SAIRA MUNSHAN ’20
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VIEWS FROM THE HILL
NEWS FROM THE HILL
Business & Admission Office Colleagues Set to Retire GENA EGGERT : “It’s always exciting to think that any one of the applicants accepted could turn out to be a published author, the next Van Cliburn, a Michelin Star chef, and the possibilities go on.” Gena Eggert joined Hopkins in August 2005 as Administrative Assistant in the Admission Office. Over the past 14 years she has processed thousands of applications from prospective students, always exercising the care and attention to detail that every student and family have come to appreciate from their very first encounter with Hopkins. “Gena has been invaluable in keeping all of us on time and on task during the busy admission season,” commented Pam McKenna, Director of Enrollment Management. “Gena’s work ethic is uncompromising,” which has served Hopkins well. When she began at Hopkins there was still a typewriter in the office! “The single biggest change has been the advances in technology,” noted McKenna. “Gena has ushered in two new databases during her time, most recently this past year.” And while parts of the work of the Admission Office have become more automated, it’s still the personal touch and relationships that matter most. Gena’s post-Hopkins plans involve a big move. “My husband and I have some exciting changes coming our way. We will be building our retirement home in New Bern, North Carolina. Although we’ll be sad to leave our family and friends and our life in New England, we look forward to a new chapter in our lives, new adventures, and a new area to explore.”
GAIL LEAMON : “My job was multi-faceted and no two days were alike, which
was what made my time at Hopkins so interesting.” Gail Leamon joined Hopkins in January 1996 as the accounts payable clerk in the Business Office. She was promoted to Business Office Manager within a few years. Hopkins’ CFO David Baxter, who is grateful to have worked with Gail for the past ten years, said, “If you mix equal measures of skill, experience, dedication, patience, aplomb, and kindness you get Gail Leamon. It is a very hard recipe to duplicate!” Gail considers her participation in two significant projects as her major accomplishments—the transition of student enrollment from paper to online and the conversion and implementation of software for fixed assets tracking. “I have loved working at Hopkins,” commented Gail. “I will also miss many of the students, staff, faculty, and administrators who have made our school such an amazing institution.” Gail’s post-Hopkins plans include spending more time with family and friends, devoting time to volunteering, and traveling with her husband. She also plans to rekindle her love of painting and wants to try something entirely new. “I look forward to continuing with piano lessons, which I started recently and enjoy tremendously, and would very much like to take a few courses in areas unrelated to my past experiences.”
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NEWS FROM THE HILL
Hopkins Development Team Focused on the Future
The Hopkins Development Office (L–R): Carol Brouillette, Beth Ann Semeraro, Dan Junkins, Charlie Rich, Michael Van Leesten, Lauren Reichart, Katey Varanelli, Donna Vinci, and Tom Diascro Jr.
The Hopkins Development Office has some new faces as well as some familiar faces in new roles. The team in Alumni House is highly focused on improving engagement across all constituencies and enhancing the relationships that exist between Hopkins and members of our community. The appointment of Lauren Reichart as Director of Development in the summer of 2018 placed the office in capable and experienced hands. Lauren has brought fresh ideas to Hopkins since she began as the Director of Annual
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Giving in 2007. “Over the past twelve years, I have met many alumni/ae who credit Hopkins, and the people of this community, with having provided them with an incredible foundation for their success later in life,” commented Lauren. “It’s our job to encourage philanthropic support of Hopkins so that generations of graduates can continue to say the same for years to come.” Working with Head of School Kai Bynum and the Committee of Trustees, Lauren has been strengthening and preparing the department for the
School’s 360th anniversary year and beyond. The framework for the office is heavily based on collaboration, and team members partner on particular priorities to make the most of each individual’s strengths and maximize the school’s resources. In new roles this year, Charlie Rich and Katey Varanelli form the team responsible for Annual Giving. According to Charlie, who has taken on the role of Director of the Hopkins Fund, “The long-term financial health of the School is deeply
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
intertwined with the strength of the Hopkins Fund, which provides the financial resources that supplement and enhance opportunities for students to thrive and succeed.” He works closely with Katey Varanelli, Director of Alumni/ae Engagement and
in the Advancement Office. As the Director of Leadership Giving, a new role for Hopkins, Tom is charged with revitalizing the major gifts program. His work will focus on learning about each person’s interests and how best to match those with the needs of the
Breakthrough) gives him the perfect vantage point to share the impact of financial aid on the lives of all Hopkins students. He will help to build support for all areas of the School but will focus primarily on the role financial aid plays in preserving the academic experience
I have met many alumni/ae who credit Hopkins… with having provided them an incredible foundation for their success. It’s our job to encourage philanthropic support of Hopkins so that generations of graduates can continue to say the same. Assistant Director of the Hopkins Fund, to ensure that fundraising at Hopkins remains a community effort, one that brings together parents, faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and students. The pair are also tasked with engaging alumni/ae
School. Beth Ann Semeraro, who most recently worked at the Taft School as the Assistant Director of Development, joins Hopkins as Associate Director of Leadership Giving. She will work to strengthen relationships with commu-
and renewing our commitment to the City of New Haven. In the newly created role of Manager of Development Communications and Stewardship, Donna Vinci is focused on telling the stories of how gifts impact
The long-term financial health of the School is deeply intertwined with the strength of the Hopkins Fund, which provides the financial resources that supplement and enhance opportunities for students to thrive and succeed. with events around the country, as well as providing more robust networking and volunteer opportunities for all members of our community. Two new faces in the Development Office are Thomas Diascro Jr. and Beth Ann Semeraro. They each bring an increased focus to leadership giving. Tom came to Hopkins in the fall of 2018 from Wesleyan University, his alma mater, where he worked for six years
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nity members, help them to make meaningful connections within the School, and cultivate gifts that will have significant long-term value to Hopkins. A familiar name and face to many of our students, families, and alumni/ae, Michael Van Leesten takes on the new role of Director of Community Engagement. Michael’s career as a Hopkins teacher, adviser, and Executive Director of Pathfinder (formerly
the School, and expanding on current efforts to create a more robust stewardship program. Rounding out the team in Alumni House are Carol Brouillette, Development Services Associate, and Dan Junkins, Database Manager, managing gift entry and the complex data and research behind the scenes. The office will grow by one more in the summer of 2019 with the addition of a Director of Parent Engagement.
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NEWS FROM THE HILL
Francisco Palmieri ’79 Named Distinguished Alumnus
Head of School Kai Bynum presented Fran Palmieri ’79 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award on Friday, January 4, 2019.
Hopkins was honored to welcome Francisco Palmieri ’79 back to campus on Friday, January 4, 2019. Palmieri has been named the 2018–2019 Distinguished Alumnus for his 30-year career in public service working for the United States Foreign Service. Palmieri is currently the Acting Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. He has spent most of his professional career in the Foreign Service, doing diplomatic work abroad since the Reagan administration. The Hopkins Distinguished Alumni/ae Award is given annually to honor alumni/ae who have demonstrated extraordinary accomplishments in their chosen field, and in service to the community.
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Addressing students, staff, and faculty at morning assembly, Palmieri pressed the students to take advantage of all the opportunities that Hopkins provides, including access to the city of New Haven, a city rich in diversity and culture, as well as the mentors they can find in their teachers and advisers. For Palmieri, some of those mentors included former Head of School John Wilkinson, his adviser and former English teacher Susan Feinberg, and coach Bill Ewen, who were all in attendance for the special assembly. Palmieri also gave the students a homework assignment to look up another of his mentors: Barbara Jordan, former congresswoman from Texas, and his professor at the University of
Texas. Palmieri credited Jordan’s mentorship as having the most lasting impact on his career, deepening his understanding of service and creating policy. At the close of his talk, Palmieri stressed the importance of “servant leadership,” putting the needs of others first, and encouraged students to pursue careers that contribute to the wider world. Following assembly, Palmieri and invited guests, including his mother, Genoveva, brother Michelangelo ’95, and former classmate Jeff Arons ’79, enjoyed a breakfast reception before participating in breakout sessions with students and faculty in the Weissman Room. Heeding Palmieri’s earlier advice, students took full advantage of the opportunity, asking Mr. Palmieri about South American politics, as well as his diplomatic efforts in nations around the globe. In his remarks, he emphasized the importance of diplomacy over, or in concert with, military efforts in foreign relations, explaining that diplomacy is essential in developing relationships with other nations, and can do more to effect positive results than military operations. Several students posed questions in Spanish, while others were curious about the government shutdown, which had started December 22, and was in its 13th day at the time of his visit. Around midday, Palmieri joined invited guests for a lunch reception, before heading to Susan Bennitt’s Spanish V class. Palmieri will return to Hopkins for his 40th Reunion during Alumni/ae Weekend May 31–June 1, 2019, and
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
will lead a “Back to Class” session with Assistant Head of School and History faculty John Roberts on 21st Century Democracy. Palmieri holds an A.B. in Politics from Princeton University, and an M.S. in International Strategic Studies from the National War College. In his current role as Acting Assistant Secretary to the U.S. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mr. Palmieri develops and coordinates U.S. foreign policy for 35 nations in the Western Hemisphere. Previously, from January 2014 to January 2016,
Mr. Palmieri served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central America and the Caribbean. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the Director of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs’ Office of Policy, Planning, and Coordination. He also served in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Spain, and Honduras, and led the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement’s (INL) Latin American and Caribbean Programs Office. He was the Director of Embassy in Baghdad’s INL Office from 2010–2011. He also served as Director of the Near
East and South and Central Asia Office in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). In addition, Palmieri served in Iraq and El Salvador during war/civil conflicts in 2010–2011 and 1988–1990. He has directed travel advance for four former Secretaries of State: Albright, Powell, Clinton, and Kerry. He has monitored elections in four different continents, and has been honored in recognition of his efforts as a human rights officer in El Salvador and in Middle East.
Evan Carlson ’15 Receives Distinguished Engineering Award from Stanford; Science Department Chair Dr. Phil Stewart Cited as his “Outstanding Influence”
Evan Carlson ’15
It’s not unusual, especially at Hopkins, for faculty to receive notes and emails from former students expressing their gratitude for the positive influence their teachers have had on the direction of
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their life. It is a little surprising, and very rewarding, when that acknowledgment is expressed publicly at one of the nation’s leading universities. Evan Carlson ’15, a graduating senior at Stanford, was recently selected as a recipient of the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award, which is presented to only the top five percent of each year’s senior engineering class. Carlson surprised his former physics teacher Dr. Phil Stewart by identifying him as “the teacher who was most influential in guiding him during the formative stages of his academic career.” Stewart was recognized by the Dean of the School of Engineering at an awards luncheon on April 27 at Stanford
honoring Carlson’s achievement for distinguished academic performance. The award is named after Frederick Terman, who was the fourth dean of the School of Engineering at Stanford, from 1944–1958, and later the Provost at the university. Under his tenure, Terman expanded the science, statistics, and engineering departments and spearheaded the creation of Stanford Industrial Park to lease land to high-tech firms. He is widely cited as creating Silicon Valley. Dr. Phil Stewart
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NEWS FROM THE HILL
Athletics Roundup FALL SPORTS TEAM RECORDS Varsity Boys Cross Country Record: 18–0 Undefeated FAA dual record; FAA Championship Race Winners; Nic Burtson placed 1st for the 3rd consecutive year; 5th Place, NEPSTA Varsity Girls Cross Country Record: 24–0 Undefeated FAA dual record; FAA Championship Race Winners; 5th place NEPSTA Varsity Football Record: 5–5 Varsity Field Hockey Record: 4–11–1 Varsity Boys Soccer Record: 8–5–4 FAA Champions (2nd consecutive year); FAA Tournament Champions (2nd consecutive year) Varsity Girls Soccer Record: 6–8–2 Varsity Volleyball Record: 14–6 FAA Runners-up Varsity Boys Water Polo Record: 11–5 WINTER SPORTS TEAM RECORDS Varsity Boys Basketball Record: 7–13 Varsity Girls Basketball Record: 7–15 Varsity Boys Fencing Record: 8–4 Elliot Siegel, 3rd place Men’s Foil, States Varsity Girls Fencing Record: 1–12 Sydney Hirsch, 1st Place Women’s Sabre, States Varsity Boys Squash Record: 16–5 FAA Runners-up; 3rd Place, Division II Nationals (ranked in top 20 of country); New England Division I “Best Team Sportsmanship” Award Winners Varsity Girls Squash Record: 13–13 3rd Place, Division IV Nationals Varsity Boys Swimming & Diving Record: 9–4 FAA Runners-up
Bishop ’93 and Nakai ’00 Named Alumni/ae Fellows DR. TARA BISHOP ’93 has been named a 2018– 2019 Alumna Fellow. Dr. Bishop is an Associate Clinical Professor at Cornell Medical School and Chief Clinical Strategy Officer at Bind On-Demand, a health insurance start-up. Dr. Bishop has devoted much of her career to making healthcare in the U.S. more accessible and better quality for hundreds of thousands of people. Bishop visited Hopkins on Monday, February 11, where she spoke at an allschool assembly, during which she shared the importance of listening to your heart and following your passions, which led her to move away from practicing medicine toward building a health insurance start-up. She also spoke about the challenges and joys of being a working mother. She urged students to be the captains of their own lives, and offered four pieces of advice to aid them on that journey: “Follow your heart, create a vision for yourself, build connections with people around you, and keep learning.” Following assembly, Dr. Bishop enjoyed a breakfast reception in Heath Commons attended by her former adviser, JoAnn Wich, and math teacher, Clay Hall, as well as members of the Alumni Fellows Committee. Later in the morning, she attended a HARPS class (Hopkins Authentic Research Program in Science), where Dr. Encarnação and student Vivian Wen ’20 explained the research they are conducting with tiger fish. She also attended Mrs. Harris’ AP Biology class, where she and the students discussed the intricacies and challenges of the U.S. health care system.
JUNTA NAKAI ’00 has been named a 2018–2019 Alumnus Fellow. After 13 years on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs, Nakai left his financial career in 2017 for the world of artificial intelligence, joining the finance-tech startup Selerity, which sought to bring A.I. technologies to the rapidly changing Wall Street landscape. Most recently, Nakai joined Databricks, a growing finance software firm providing cloud-based big data processing, as Industry Head of Financial Services. Nakai will visit Hopkins on May 6, 2019, to share his journey from Hopkins into the worlds of finance, technology, and A.I. Please visit hopkins.edu to read about his visit.
Varsity Girls Swimming & Diving Record: 10–4 FAA Champions; New England Champion Ava Hamblett ’22 (500 Free) Varsity Wrestling 20 Record: 17–4
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Food, Culture, and Running: Hannah Springhorn ’15 Wins Watson Fellowship at Colby College BY KA R D E L E N KO L DA S HANNAH SPRINGHORN [Hopkins
Class of 2015, Colby Class of 2019], an astrophysics and art history double major, has been named a 2019 Watson Fellow. Through her project titled “Food Culture within Distance Running,” she will explore the relationship between food, running, and body image. She will visit training centers of numerous running communities in Ecuador, Japan, Ethiopia, and Kenya to learn from nutritionists, chefs, coaches, and athletes. “Watson year is a gift,” Springhorn said. “I think it’s one that everyone should have, because how often do you get the chance to spend 12 months getting to know yourself as a person, and getting to know who you want to become [or] how you want to change the world?” Since 1968 the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship has been offering graduates of 40 partner colleges a chance to globally, independently, and purposefully explore their interests. To date, Springhorn is Colby’s 65th Watson Fellow. As a distance runner and a member of Colby’s cross-country team, Springhorn was inspired by her personal experiences. “Running has been the foundation of who I am for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I love how free I feel when I run.” When she was diagnosed with autoimmune diseases, things changed. “I was forced to reimagine my relationship with my body and my sport.” “Watson likes to talk about how they want the perfect combination between a person and the project; it is
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[that] this project can only be done by whoever that candidate is,” said Daniel LaFave, associate professor of economics and a member of Colby’s Watson Committee. “That really stood out to us with Hannah, that this was an issue that she had been thinking about for a really long time. … She definitely had the mark of an extremely passionate project that matched the person really well.” Starting in August, Springhorn will join the 51st class of Watson Fellows, who originate from six countries and 18 states and who will travel to 76 countries, according to the Watson Fellowship website. “What’s so beautiful about Hannah’s project is that it’s going to evolve into something completely unknown probably, in terms of what she does next,” said Director of Center for Teaching and Learning Carol A. Hurney, who witnessed the growth of Springhorn’s project. “I want to learn a lot about myself as a person over the 12 months,” said Springhorn, who aspires to a career in global health. “At the end of the year I don’t know who I’m going to be. But I really can’t wait.” Reprinted with permission from Colby Magazine of Colby College. Photography courtesy of Colby College, Micky Bedell
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NEWS FROM THE HILL
Jasiri X Kicks Off Black History Month Hip-hop artist and activist Jasiri X visited Hopkins on Friday, February 1, to kick off a celebration of Black History Month. Jasiri X uses his platform to speak on racial inequity in the U.S. and around the globe. At an all-school assembly and Q&A sessions, he shared his journey, crediting his mom for changing the course of his life by moving their home from Chicago to Pittsburgh when Jasiri was in high school. When Jasiri began using hip-hop as a vehicle for activism to highlight injustice, many peers told him it couldn’t be done. Over the years he proved them wrong, and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago Theological School. He urged students to be their true selves and to speak out on issues that matter, saying “Follow your passion, your goals, and convictions. Be your own authentic self, most importantly tell your own story, don’t allow anyone to do it for you.” Jasiri X engaged with students in two Q&A sessions, where they asked questions about civil rights, privilege, the criminal justice system, and how to effectively use activism to bring about change. Video of Jasiri X’s visit can be seen on hopkins.edu.
Noah Schmeisser ’19 Receives Prestigious Jefferson Scholar Designation at UVA
“I met some incredible people when I went down to the scholarship selection weekend, and I’m very excited to be able to spend the next four years with them. I love UVA as a school, but I’m definitely most excited for the relationships that I will form there.” 22
Noah Schmeisser ’19 will join the University of Virginia’s class of 2023 as a Jefferson Scholar. “This is the first time in recent memory a Hopkins senior has been named a Jefferson Scholar,” said Erika Chapin, Director of College Counseling. “This is a huge achievement. The Jefferson Scholars program is a highly selective, global, merit-based award and we are just thrilled for Noah—and Hopkins too!” As described by the University of Virginia, candidates for the designation of Jefferson Scholar can only be nominated and must possess exceptional potential in the three areas that defined the life of Thomas Jefferson and that serve as the foundation’s selection criteria: leadership,
scholarship, and citizenship. Jefferson Scholars are recognized as strong-thinking, intellectually curious, and civic minded. “The financial aspect of the scholarship is obviously a huge benefit,” commented Noah. “I didn’t think that I had any realistic shot of getting the scholarship until a couple days before I actually received it, so it was definitely a surprise.” Jefferson Scholars receive a fully paid four-year comprehensive scholarship that includes supplemental enrichment experiences and opportunities for travel-based study.
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
HDA’s Technical Theater Program Growing The Hopkins Drama Association (HDA) has been bringing in some new gear and helping hands for the 2018–2019 season. New Hopkins mathematics teacher Abraham KirbyGalen will lend a hand as technical theater adviser and coordinator to the Performing Arts faculty Michael Calderone and Hope Hartup, who work closely with Robert Smith, Art Department Chair. “My goal is to give students the technical knowledge to run a show and to cultivate an environment where students are able to develop social and emotional integrity,” said Kirby-Galen. “Technical theater is not only a lot of fun, it also teaches students to be calm and patient with each other in stressful circumstances, to trust one another, and to solve multistep problems collaboratively. Eventually, I want the base of knowledge among students to be strong enough that students can pass along their knowledge to future generations of Hopkins students.” Kirby-Galen worked in theater for four years as an assistant in the scene shop at the ’62 Center for Theater and Dance in Williamstown, Massachusetts. As a shop hand, Kirby-Galen gained experience with set construction, hanging and focusing theatrical lights, and operating technical equipment during performances. At Hopkins, he is aiding in steadily developing a comprehensive tech theater experience for students backstage with HDA, building their knowledge of lighting, sound, special effects, building sets, and all the behind-the-scenes business that keeps a production moving. Kirby-Galen has organized the tech crews for all of this season’s productions in Lovell, and is becoming acquainted with the theater’s new lighting board. In the year ahead, the team plans to bring in more LED SPRING 2019
Abraham Kirby-Galen and students work on setting up the new lighting board for HDA’s spring production of Into the Woods.
bulbs to offer more efficient lighting and programmed effect options. Additionally, JT McLaughlin, a contracted sound technician and audio engineer who has worked with HDA for several years, has spent extra time with students and faculty this year training them to use the theater’s new sound
board and wireless microphones. All of these technical additions first came together for this year’s musical, Into the Woods, which opened at the end of February, and will continue to advance the technical capabilities of productions in the Townshend Auditorium in Lovell Hall. 23
ALUMNI/AE
Hopkins Legacies
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Hopkins alumni/ae and their children or grandchildren who will become alumni/ae in 2019
Francine Giaimo 2019, father Gerald Giaimo 1987, and
Alexander Harrison 2019 and father
grandmother Frances Grant Gorman 1958 PHS
Randy Harrison 1981
Sydney Hirsch 2019 and mother
Alexander Hughes 2019 and mother
Barbara Seymon-Hirsch 1971 DPH
Marcella Hourihane 1985
Inge Hughes 2019 and father Emlyn
Aaron Kleeman 2019 and father
Hughes 1978
Tammron Kleeman 1984
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George Kosinski 2019 and father
Benjamin Levine 2019 and
Peter Kosinski 1982
grandfather Charles Stone 1945 HGS
Charles Mason 2019 and mother
Robert Pitkin 2019 and mother Amy
Talbot Welles 1984
Fearon Pitkin 1982
Hannah Stelben 2019 and
Nathaniel Stratton 2019 and father
grandmother Jane Echlin Kammerer
Michael Stratton 1983
1948 PHS
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ALUMNI/AE
Alumni/ae gatherings around the country provide the opportunity for alums to reconnect with each other and former faculty and hear the latest about happenings on the Hill. This year Hopkins has held events in New Haven, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Seattle, Los Angeles, Ft. Lauderdale, and Chicago. New Haven
Hopkins
New York
Los Angeles
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Ft. Lauderdale
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371 DONORS
1,660
$ A HUGE thank you to all the donors who joined the Every Step Counts Young Alumni/ae Challenge. Your generosity helped to raise over $19,000 from 371 donors! For
LARGEST GIFT
1
$
SMALLEST GIFT
the fourth year in a row, class participation rates continue to reach new heights and this year five classes ended the challenge with a participation rate of over 25%. That’s impressive! The gatherings in New Haven, New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston have become highly anticipated events and we look forward to the next round in 2020!
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%
HIGHEST PARTICIPATION IN CLASS OF 2015
37
RECORD NUMBER OF DONORS FROM ONE CLASS (2015)
CLASSES THAT EXCEEDED
25%
2018, 2016, 2015, 2013 & 2012
Join these alumni/ae with a gift! hopkins.edu/giving SPRING 2019
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CLASS NOTES
HOPKINS GRAMMAR
MRS. DAY’S
DAY
PROSPECT HILL
DAY PROSPECT HILL
HOPKINS SCHOOL
1660–1972
1916–1938
1938–1960
1930–1960
1960–1972
1972–Present
If your class is not listed, we are either seeking a class correspondent or your class did not have any news to report. If you have any questions, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
1948 HGS Marvin Arons msarons@optium.com
1949
70th Reunion DAY, HGS, and PHS—May 31–June 1, 2019 HGS
Robert Archambault thearchambaults@optonline.net
I’m very disappointed to tell you that I will not be in attendance at our 70th Reunion! My oldest grandchild is graduating from The Rhode Island School of Design on that date, and I feel I should be there. She is attending on a full scholarship, which has saved me some money. However, I will be available for dinner Friday night, May 31. Please get back to me so we can make some arrangements. Repeating what I said last issue, if you cannot make the reunion, please pull together a brief write-up of what you would like to tell your classmates today, and email or mail it to me (49 Red Cedar Circle, Orange, CT 06477). I, in turn, will mail them to you as a package. I’m ready to start mine! Spoke to Bob Barry early in February. He informed me that his son, who has been ill for years,
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1950 Classmates, FRONT ROW, FROM LEFT: Al Mongillo, Ed Onofrio; BACK ROW: Larry Stern, Wayne Weil, Bob Adnopoz, John Fenn, Jack Gill, and Bob Newman
passed away earlier this year. Bob pretty much had devoted his recent years of life to taking care of him. Please say a prayer for his son. I’m pleased to tell you that 40% of our class is still with us! Whatever you are doing, please keep it up! I do exercise on a rowing machine five days a week for 30 minutes. While you are staying alive, please continue to remember Hopkins each year and in your will!
1950 HGS Robert DeFeo rhdefeo@att.net
On December 9, your class once again enjoyed a wonderful Winter Brunch at the Racebrook Country Club. Attending this year were Jean and Bob Adnopoz, Natalie and John Fenn, Judy Anibal and Al Mongillo, Rachel Selmont and Ed Onofrio, daughter Sandy and Jack Gill, Betsy and Larry Stern, Shelia and Wayne Weil, Bob
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Newman, Carole and Harold Greenbaum,
in nearby farms. More winter news from
and guest Janet Selzer. And as usual, it was a great opportunity to catch up with the latest interesting news as grand—and greatgrandparents. And as always, I look forward to hearing from you classmates who were unable to enjoy this delightful event.
John Youmans in Oslo, Norway: “All is well
PHS From Cynthia Fenning Rehm: Jack and I have sold our apartment in New York City—please blink your tears for us away— and have moved to a residential facility, Essex Meadows in Essex, Connecticut. For a change of pace, we took a ship to Cuba in November. Although it has its sad side in broken-down architecture, there was much to see and we loved Havana. What are you guys up to?
1951 HGS John F. Sutton johnfsut@aol.com
As I write these notes in Maine, in our seventh winter here, I look out my window and see three feet of snow piled on the edge of the road. I’m envious of Maxine and Paul Brown, who, Pablo reports, are enjoying Florida weather on their fifteenth consecutive winter escape to Sanibel Island. Gale and Don Scott, also in Florida, where they had lived in a single-family house for many years, have moved into a condo, because of the medical care, excellent food, and no house chores there. And Terry and Frank Foster are planning a trip in February to Belize and Guatemala. Farther north, Dick Lunt and his wife, Carmel, are living in a retirement community in Rochester, New York, where this winter has been brutally cold. Dick keeps busy by facilitating a Current Issues monthly meeting with topics as varied as abortion, Native American spirituality, the role of women in the Catholic Church, and migrant workers
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(adjusted, of course, for age) and I am privileged to have a lovely family nearby and to live in a stable and rational country. We just had a huge snowfall, so everyone is out skiing, myself included, although my trips are much shorter now.” Sam Velleca—in what surely is a unique report—states that he is “still raising rabbits for meat and chickens for eggs. One of my seven grandsons has taken over the deer harvesting. He shot, with my old bow, a tender doe, butchered it, and gave me the choice cuts. His parents raised him right.” Dick Wilde recalls that during his junior year at HGS, Alden Hammond was developing the Harmonaires, of which Dick would have been a founding member had he stayed at Hopkins. However, he reports, he landed at Lyman Hall High School, where he sang with the Boys’ Glee Club and coed Concert Choir. Then at Yale he worked his way up to the Yale Glee Club, and two years later was invited to join the YGC on a European tour, but he declined because Carla and he had just married, and Carla would not share her honeymoon with eighty other guys! Forty years later, Dick became a founding member of the Yale Alumni Chorus, in which he has sung around the world. Forrest “Woody” Bogan checks in: “Still live in a waterman village on Chesapeake Bay. Martha and I continue to crank out pots, homestead (collecting wood, cutting, splitting, thinning out maple trees), enjoy the backyard birds (an eruption of red breasted nuthatches this year), and listen to Tundra swans in the cove out back.” In my last column I wrote about Wick van Heuven’s recently published book, The Eye: Window to Body and Soul. I read the book and was fascinated to learn about the patients Wick encountered and treated in his fifty years of practice as an ophthalmologist. If you would like to purchase a copy of the book, email me and I’ll send you ordering info. Finally some sad news. Sue James, wife of Fleming James, who was with us at
Hopkins in Forms One and Two, wrote to tell us that Fleming died in March 2018 after a long decline. And the March and April issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine reports the death in April 2016 of Parry Larsen, our valedictorian. He had been in poor health for a number of years. I don’t know why we didn’t learn of his passing sooner. Until next time…
PHS Joan Haskell Vicinus joanvicinus@yahoo.com
Susan Adams Mott said in response to my news-begging email, “There is nothing new to share unless you want to hear about my internet adventures learning how to repair the wheels that fell off the lower rack of my dishwasher.” Not a joke—she is proud of this achievement. I guess one could say that at our age, we no longer have to cope with the rush and pressure of earlier days and now are free to pursue new interests, develop old ones, and focus on our increasingly interesting families. Susan credits her exposure to electronics to her years as a videographer for Princeton. She and husband Paul have always enjoyed being actively involved in events at the Lawrenceville School while their two grandsons still attended. One has graduated and gone off to college, but the younger one, who is in his junior year, is the object of their attention. Susan is out there with her video camera catching all the action, not for professional reasons any more, but to make a record for the entire family to enjoy. Their eldest son, Paul, has the youngest granddaughter, aged 8, and they live in Texas. Their next daughter, Elizabeth, has two girls who have both graduated from college and are just getting started on their careers; daughter Stephanie has a daughter in high school; and then there is Andrew, who has the two boys connected with the Lawrenceville School. A favorite gathering place for the entire family is at Saranac Lake, New York, a trip they are hoping to repeat this summer. I caught up with Janie Karlsruher Shedlin and she was
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happy to relate that her son Stanley’s eldest son graduated from Vanderbilt University and is now with PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York; son Adam attended Ithaca College (my own son Adam went to Ithaca College, so I tuned right into that piece of news) and he is currently in Texas, serving as a Navy corpsman; and his daughter is a freshman at Syracuse University. For a little travel, Janie, with her two daughters, took a boat trip up the Mississippi River, starting in New Orleans and ending in Memphis, Tennessee. They had a planned stop in Mobile, Alabama, near where Janie’s mother grew up, and visited some of the old neighborhoods. Our good friend Janie has been dealing with health issues old and new and is always so up and cheery about life. When she is in Florida she plays nine holes of golf, a modest cutback from her old form of 18. Elizabeth DeVane Edminster is very happy to have made the move to Ingleside, a retirement community in Washington, D.C., saying it is the best step they have ever taken. Their apartment is small after space is given up for a grand piano in the living room, but the sacrifice is happily made for music. She and David feel blessed to have a daughter and a son nearby, each within a 20-minute drive; both are very attentive, and the community offers good opportunities for care and enrichment. Here is word from Nancy Mueller Holtzapple: She did make it to Oklahoma for a football game in the fall, so has now been in all 50 states! Later she took a trip to the Washington, D.C., area where her son, Rick, and family live. From there, she and Rick went to New York City to visit with NYU/Abu Dhabi granddaughter Katarina, who was doing a semester at NYU/ New York. While in the city, Nancy and Rick did a lot of wonderful things that one comes to New York City to do: theater, museums, eating out. Amusingly, she recalls that she hadn’t been to the Big Apple since her trip to Lord & Taylor to buy her wedding dress. Long ago. Susan Myers Jacobs is doing well after a fall on Christmas Eve after running
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some last-minute errands. She lost her balance on the sidewalk and fell on her side. The ultimate result was a broken pelvis and she was confined to rehab for six weeks. In early February, I went to see her at her rehab facility in Washington Heights, New York, not far at all from her home and from her daughter, who has been very attentive and helpful. When I saw Susan, she seemed rested and comfortable there and was looking forward to getting settled back in her own space. She and her grandson and his wife went to Trier, Germany, last fall and in preparation for that trip, their little group studied German twice a week. When I saw her, she was eager to restart the German study, even though a trip abroad may not be in the immediate offing. And speaking of falling, Gladys Bozyan Lavine happened to fall as well, and she picked just before New Year’s Eve to do her tumble. She smashed up her face, but had no other injuries except perhaps a wounded self-esteem. Gladys enjoys as always having family and friends around but, importantly, holds on to her solitude with treasured pleasure. She has a married nephew living not too far away (sister Ellie’s son) and he took her out in his car on a “date” to the movies. En route, they ran into some heavy winter water and became impossibly stuck. The fire department had to come to the rescue and Gladys had the time of her life riding home, sopping wet and cold, on the very upmost open seats of the fire engine. Little did we know that this was a high goal on Gladys’s bucket list. The next day the nephew’s car needed a resuscitation, and they never got to the movies. Tammy Fenn, daughter-in-law of Mary Rossman Jordan Bird, has been my good contact for news. Mary stayed in her own home in Yarmouth, Maine, for the winter and did not travel, as she has done in the past, to her daughter’s in Arizona. Tammy says that Mary is largely cared for by her partner, Dave; other caregivers are with her about 25 hours a week. The following is a quote from Tammy. “Last month, January
(2019), Dave traveled to Washington, D.C., for business. He was gone for eight days and during his absence, Jeff and I took the helm. Part of the time I stayed with Mary in Yarmouth. For the five remaining days, she joined us in Charleston, Maine. We had a pleasant visit. Mary loved watching the birds from our dining room window and though missing her cats, Lily and Ebony, enjoyed the company of ours. Mornings were spent exercising together and doing the daily housekeeping. Lunches were taken in the company of neighbors, at the local church or out on the town. In the afternoons, if we weren’t running errands or attending an activity, I would read out loud to Mary, a book called Harris and Me. We both enjoyed this time together, laughing over the antics of two boys on a farm, growing up in the fifties. Afterward, we would each nap for a bit and then listen to music (easy listening jazz for me, 1940s hits for Mary… she has a lovely voice) while folding laundry or prepping for dinner. Jeff, my husband, would return from work in the evening, take over the kitchen, and then we would all eat. Being early risers, it was bedtime not long after.” What a pleasant glimpse that gives of Mary, and for that, we thank Tammy. I am always so pleased to hear from Lavinia Schrade Brunneau. She writes that she still teaches dance classes and goes to the theater on a very frequent basis. She reports that there are some wonderful things going on in the region with theater directors from Poland and Germany. She travels widely to productions that are not being performed in Lyon, France. “Family-wise, all is well. I am still living in Collonges (France) and only one son lives with his family in the neighborhood. All the others are either in Paris or in Bordeaux. But I get to Paris on a relatively frequent basis and the Bordeaux family comes to Paris as well, so this is where we all meet. And good news—I have become a great-grandmother. My oldest granddaughter, Laura, and her mate just had a little boy—he is a joy! And I have one grandson who is in
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Helsinki, Finland, for a year studying and I went to visit him. Helsinki is a truly wonderful city. The other grandchildren are thriving. Rose is in medical school, two are passing their baccalaureate this year, and the youngest two are still in high school. I wish we could all get together once more. Friendship is so important especially as one gets older. I have splendid memories of the happy times we were all together.” Judging by her Christmas card, Sukie Hilles Bush had a joyous birthday celebration given to her by her children, and by extension, her grandchildren. And she writes about her fall trip to Italy with her two artist sons, Jon and Jim, and Mary a “sister-out-law” that covered a lot of territory: Venice, Murano, Innsbruck (Austria), Ravenna and Florence, with a departure from Bologna.” She appears to be flourishing. My own May 2018 move to a retirement community in Exeter, New Hampshire, has proved to be a very positive adventure. After the inevitable strains of downsizing with all its wrenching decisions, and the reacquaintance with my stored furniture and arranging my new small but adequate space, I am beginning to feel settled. I spent most of the summer months in Holderness, New Hampshire, living with my sister Anne Haskell Knight ’55 PHS next door to my old home on White Oak Pond. We were able to do the all the marvelous activities that have filled our summers since the 1990s. I also spent a month with daughter and family in New York City, returning to River Woods in February to pick up with friends and activities where I left off. While in New York City, I tried to visit as often as possible my youngest sister, Judy Haskell Auchincloss ’57 PHS, in a rehab center, where she was recovering from shoulder replacement surgery. She was moved back to her own Park Avenue apartment the day before I left, but I felt positive about her recovery as we parted. She has other issues with mobility which will make her recovery more complicated, but she has grit and indomitable spirit. Despite
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the fact that there was no time to take in any theater or the other joys that the New York City scene has to offer, it was still a good visit.
Reflections on Turning 80 Years of Age By Barry Greene ’52 HGS I used to stand almost six feet tall with a waist size 34. I used to weigh 170 pounds and had a back
1952 HGS Matthew Smith elmatt56@msn.com
Thanks to Bob Conniff, who was first to respond by phone to my paper and digital solicitations. After Quinnipiac University, Bob was in the furniture business for 10 years before moving on to cabinet work and carpentry, in which he has now been succeeded by his son, whom he describes as “even better at it than I am,” with a grandson following! Bob is father of four and (can I believe I have this right?) grandfather of 21! Over the years, he has enjoyed boating (in a boat he built himself), fly-fishing and camping. Barry Greene moved from Avon, Connecticut, to Florida in 2001. He writes: “As with most of us, I am now pushing 85 years of age and feeling pretty well, all things considered. We live in Delray Beach in a country club community and life here starts with nine holes of golf in the morning, followed by lunch at our club, a gin rummy game in the afternoon and dinner at a different restaurant most every night. It’s a pretty easy life. I stay active and just now retired from acting as a mediator for the Florida courts and an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. Most of my work has been related to construction disputes, which down here are quite plentiful. I am currently the chairman of the Palm Beach County personnel appeals board and we hear appeals from employees of the county who may challenge a termination, suspension, or the like. County government is big in Florida, so there are a large number of people employed by the county. I dated my wife, Marlene, while in high school and took her to the senior prom at Hopkins. I am happy to
that was never sore. I used to hit a driver 220 yards. And without having my hands cramp up, I used to shuffle cards. I used to hit a tennis ball with speed and accuracy. And a whiz at table tennis is what I used to be. I used to drive a car at night with headlights on low beam. I used to be the captain of my high school football team. I used to hear most everything no matter where the sound. I used to run fast as hell, I could cover so much ground. I used to view most anything without needing glasses to see. I used to sleep right through the night without getting up to pee. I used to lift a hundred pounds and never make a grunt. I used to have a hairdo with a pompadour in the front. I used to have young children to whom I’d bring a treat. I used to live in New England on a very pretty street. I used eat all kinds of food without ever getting fat. And when I was dressed and went to work I always wore a hat. I used to go out bowling, whenever I had the time. When my wife and I made love together, everything worked just fine. I used to go out with friends and stay up half the night. I used to be a Republican and thought that choice was right. I used to work in the yard for hours without ever getting tired. I used to love to practice law and then I just retired. Well now that I am eighty years of age I am really not so blue. I can’t dwell on what I used to be or what I used to do. My only thought is to keep on going with great friends, family and wife. Believe me, that’s all I need, to finish this great life.
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report that in June of this year we will have been married 64 years. We are fortunate that both our children and grandchildren live in Florida, no more than a one-hour drive from us. We have traveled extensively, having been to almost every country in Europe and numerous places in the Far and Middle East. When I turned 80, I wrote about the difference between what I used to do or be and what I can now do and am, and here it is for your perusal. Be good, stay well and keep in touch.” [See poem on page 31.] Frank Nasti called to reminisce, and reports playing basketball these days despite having given up both biking and his vintage stick-shift Corvette due to mobility issues. He recounts an anecdote from a pre-game award ceremony for community service at the “old” Yankee Stadium. Chatting with others at home plate, he recalled playing there on the NYU team, and hitting two home runs. An immediate barrage of good-natured profanity ensued, whereupon he learned that his neighbor at the ceremony was the Fordham pitcher who gave up the homers! When Bob Litsky and wife aren’t globe-trotting, they spend winters in Florida and summers at their digs in New York City, where he retired several decades ago. They have a son and a daughter also living in greater New York. Having recognized that selling livestock feeds to Connecticut family farms was not a growth industry, Bob redirected his family business into pet and especially bird feeds just before that market exploded. We share a personal connection: Bob now remembers my son, Douglas, working at the Derby Feed store one high school summer, but didn’t realize he was my son! Dave Steinmuller’s New Year’s letter details a year of travel, including an eight-day cruise from Sitka to Juneau, Alaska. Kayaking excursions from the ship provided close acquaintance with harbor seals and sea otters, and the Inside Passage route included Glacier Bay and the Margerie Glacier, humpback whale sightings, and ultimately views of Mt. Denali. Dave’s year 2018 culminated in a repeat
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performance of the Grandfather role in the Montana Ballet Company’s annual production of The Nutcracker. Roy Wells, Bill Cramer, and Jim Fair ’56 HGS are enjoying season tickets to the UConn women’s basketball games at the Hartford XL Center. As this is written, that team is at 20 wins, two losses, with high hopes for the playoffs. Roy reports a recent phone conversation with Burt Brockett, who’s already looking forward to our 2022 (70th!) reunion. Regards to all, and please keep those calls and emails coming in!
1953 HGS Hal Hochman kappieh@aol.com
It appears that the old codgers of the Class of 1953 have little to report. Jon Cohen, who left us to start Yale a year early, thanks to the Ford Foundation, seems to be the exception. He has recently retired after practicing law for more than a half century at the Justice Department, with private firms in several locations, and teaching. Jon and Susan, a potter, have two children and four grandchildren. In addition, we’re pleased to hear he keeps active training therapy dogs and studying metal sculpture. Unfortunately, however, Jon has had to give up ice hockey, though I’m not sure at what age. Please keep in touch.
1954
65th Reunion DAY, HGS, and PHS—May 31–June 1, 2019 HGS Jess B. Davis, Jr. JBDavis@md.metrocast.net
PHS Peggy Graham Beers peggy.beers@gmail.com
1955 HGS Woolsey S. Conover, Jr. woolcon@aol.com
From George Hodgetts: “Bill Branon’s complaints about my giggling about his freshman pitching and not letting him win at anything reminded me it was time to check in. By the way, three of my grandkids graduated from the excellent Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire. One was the 18-and-under downhill snowboard champ of the U.S. in 2006, and his sister was ranked number two in the same event in North America in 2017. The remainder of my 18 grandkids are good athletes—a high school football captain and the quarterback of an undefeated college rugby team, for example. But studying has not been high priority, at least for the boys, which are half of them and most of the older ones, although one is graduating from Boston University Medical School this semester. I find myself in Birmingham, Alabama, of all places, as we follow the youngest grandkids around the country, the previous stop being Westerly, Rhode Island. When grandkids reach 11 or 12, it’s been my experience, they no longer want to listen to grandfathers, or maybe it’s just me. At any rate, the youngest are here, and where to go next is a puzzle but probably not back up North since skiing is no longer an option. The golf here is tremendous, inexpensive, and year round. If I play the senior tees, which most tournaments require, I shoot my age or better half the time. It saddens me to report that my ex-wife, Nancy, whom many of my classmates remember, died two years ago. Most of the Class of 1955 celebrated decades of marriage to their first choice, and I am embarrassed that I did not, which is in large part the reason you seldom hear from me. Keep up the class notes, Woolsey, as they are fun to read.” Bill Branon writes: “Congrats and thanks to Hopkins for the outstanding holiday video featuring The Hopkins Orchestra—the best Christmas card
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FROM LEFT, Hank Powell, Jim Kidney, and Jack Haeseler, all ’55 HGS
ever. Congrats also to Gunnery Sergeant Woolsey Conover for teasing George Hodgetts out of the bushes using me as bait. It was great hearing from Hopkins’ prodigal champion, summa athlete, apex scholar, and merciless suppressor of uppity Irish pretenders like myself. However, regarding his golf game, George wrote in his response to Woolsey that ‘I can shoot my age or better half the time.’ In the name of non-fake news, I would append such claim with most probable modifications—‘for nine holes’ and ‘ladies tees.’” From Peter Goldbecker: “I’m back in Sarasota, Florida, and enjoying the weather and friends but no big news. Sarasota is very diverse with a great opera house, Selby Gardens, Ringling art and circus displays, a Black Theater Group, and many other enjoyable things to do. You can be as active as you want. Hope all well with your family.” From Jim Golden: “I just came back from Cozumel while visiting my son, who was there on vacation. Taking a taxi to the hotel, we passed the airport, which had just three aircraft on display—two T-28s and a T-33—all which I’ve had some flight time in. This prompted me to relate to my son, Jim, and his girlfriend my hero for a day (Sully) experience back in October 1974. I was giving a fellow Marine an instrument
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The home of Dave Bluett ’56 HGS in Statesboro, Georgia
check in a T-33B. He was under the hood in the aft cockpit when the aircraft lost power. Assuming control determining that the throttle position had no effect on the RPM. I declared an emergency, jettisoned the two 260-gallon tip tanks and became a glider pilot. I looked up the write-up I received—this was 45 years ago. It was complete overcast and with the assistance of the aircraft controller, I was vectored below the overcast. We had a choice of DFW airport or Addison, Texas. We chose Addison, and as I broke through the overcast, I dove and converted 150 knots glide to enough speed to make an overhead. ‘Through skillful use of speed brakes, flaps, and bank angle, Major Golden was able to land approximately 1,000 feet down the runway at approximately 140 knots. Rollout was uneventful. Major Golden’s superb professional aeronautical ability prevented the possible loss of life and destruction of an expensive aircraft. His performance was in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and reflects great credit upon himself, his organization, and the Marine Corps. Congratulations on a job well done!’ There’s some fodder from this old man. Semper Fi.” As for me, Woolsey Conover, Bea and I are well here in New Hampshire and enjoying the fact that our
Wisconsin granddaughter, Nell, is immensely enjoying her freshman year at Yale with the occasional opportunity to mingle with some recent Hopkins grads!
PHS Lucie Giegengack Teegarden teegarden_lucie@comcast.net
DAY Alice Watson Houston alice.houston@yahoo.com
This past winter, Anne English Hull had a vacation in Florida, and I, Alice Watson Houston, traveled to Paris, Milan, and Rome. In Paris, meeting with one of our former gym teachers, Isabelle Carter Michel, I sadly learned of the death of her husband, Maurice, in January. While comparing news of vacations, Anne and I made plans to drive together again to Hopkins for our next big reunion, getting together with our PHS friends for the 65th in 2020. We hope more classmates will join us.
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1956 HGS Stephen Raffel tuleton@sbcglobal.net
Perhaps those of you who do not have email are unaware of the sad news that Ted Yampanis died October 20. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family. Dave Bluett writes about his machine shop in his outbuilding: “I have helped a neighbor, who is a skilled welder and fabricator, with a few small jobs. and some not-so-small. Another fabricator has given me four followon projects, and I have earned enough for him to insist on sending me a 1099 at year end (to keep his accountant happy). It’s still primarily a hobby, but I did put an ad in the local paper; there is a small sign out near our mailbox; and I did get some business cards printed up for ‘Dave’s Shop.’ It keeps me off the streets nights, as they say.” Owen Cylke and his wife, Nancy, moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, three years ago, fortuitously finding a house three houses up the street from their son and his family. Owen writes, “Life is different, of course, from Washington, D.C., but the beach is seven minutes up the road. Kai Bynum is hosting an alumni event in Fort Lauderdale in mid-March, so we may discover some Hopkins alumni here in South Florida. Should any of you be in South Florida, do look us up. My email address is owencylke@ mac.com.” Charlie Marvin reports that his granddaughter, Rory, has just been admitted to Westmont College in the very upscale Montecito, California, area: “She was chosen as the first girl golfer for the brand-new program at the school. She is also being given the first girls’ golf scholarship. As a high school freshman, she was the first girl to win a letter in a boys varsity sport (golf). I selfpublished a book that now can be purchased on Amazon, The Tuesday Morning Gang. Any proceeds from the sale of the book will go to a local surf museum. My secret wish is that I had started writing instead of becoming a
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lawyer. However, from the financial standpoint, given the fact that I’m not that good a writer, that might not have been a really smart decision!”
1957 HGS Alan Cadan alancadan@mac.com
Ed Cantor: “Rise and I traveled to Botswana,
Zimbabwe, and South Africa with Judy and Doug Fitzsimmons in October. We spent
several days in the bush with an incredible array of animals. It was my third trip to southern Africa and probably the best of all the trips for animal viewing. We had great company and ended with several days at Cape Town, certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the world.” Doug Fitzsimmons: “One of the joys of the Fitzsimmons journey with Ed and Rise: the opportunity to encourage their visiting us in Boston, Massachusetts, and, during the summer, in Castine, Maine. We extend the same welcome to each in the class of ’57! Always much on which to get caught up!” Joe Schwartz: “A late fall first cousins reunion (Marilyn’s family) in Virginia Beach was yet another occasion to focus on the highlights of earlier years, a pleasurable romp down the proverbial memory lane. While recollections can be meaningful, I trust that present and future activities remain foremost as most of us ’57ers approach or reach the 80-year mark, which I view as the peak of middle age. (Okay, I had too much spiked prune juice this morning!) This sojourn down the Atlantic coast was followed by a week in Fort Worth, Texas, land of cattle and oil wealth, where we stopped in at my family’s hamster ranch, the Circle O. We try to visit a different American city at least once a year; there’s always so much to see, learn, and do. At holiday season, escaping from the hubbub of the Big Apple, we landed at the Jekyll Island Club Resort in Georgia, former
exclusive ‘Millionaires Retreat’ established during the Robber Baron era. It’s a remarkably historic and beautiful place (look it up). Winter months find us remaining here in our ‘retirement village’ partaking of the joys of our cultural, educational, and community volunteer regimen. An ongoing highlight is the ad hoc New Haven–area lunch, which usually features eloquent words of wit (?) and wisdom from His Honor Judge Tom Corradino; indispensable brain surgery advice from Dr. Mike Apuzzo; baseball bat diplomacy from labor mediator Dave Ryan; undecipherable legal jargon from barristers David Totman and Andy Ullman; high-rise building design hints from Pat Marino; updates on the new Parcheesi rules from goateed Commissioner Ed Cantor; and physical fitness guidance from outdoor and volunteer factotum Dana ‘No-mountain-toohigh’ Murphy. Oh, and Alan Cadan provides meditation on tie design and yoga for dummies, while Newton “Skip” Borgerson, who learned to play piano by ear (the left one) leads us in raised voice from the truly forgettable Hopkins songbook. Who did I forget? Come join us.” John Lunt: “Alas, not too much to report from Southport, Maine, at this time, though given Winter Storm Maya’s pending arrival, I am pondering heavy matters such as the amount of stove wood I have on hand (the stove providing that one very warm area in the house which allows us to give the furnace a bit of a break) and whether or not to check oil and gas in the big snow blower or let it sit and take my chances with the new, very well rated, electric snowthrower that recently arrived and has yet to be used. Heavy matters, these. Thank goodness Jane and I can look ahead to April and some time in the Bahamas, where I will follow the good advice of the locals who say, ‘nobody move; nobody get hurt,’ and sip a rum punch or a cold Kalik.” Dave Opton: “I keep hoping that at some point in my monthly travels from Rhode Island to Norwalk, Connecticut, that I’ll pass through New Haven in time to join the assisted liv-
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ing luncheon group that Joby has written about so eloquently in this magazine, but since the stars never seem to align properly, I can bring everyone current as follows: For reasons no sane person can explain, I am still active in ExecuNet, a company I started 31 years ago after corporate America decided I had caused enough damage. These days, through the wonders of modern telecommunications, the involvement is virtual except for the monthly trip mentioned above. While we don’t travel any longer, MaryAnn did enough of that for both of us for 25 years— among other trips, I can certainly relate to Doug and Ed’s recent trip to Africa. Of the several we have taken over the years, Africa remains in the top three for sure. In the last year or so, in addition to working online out of my man cave over the garage, I have signed on as a volunteer at a local NFP called Tapin. It is largely a food bank, but also provides rides to medical appointments for those without transportation. In addition to driving for them (at least until they take my license away) I also write a monthly newsletter for the organization. In addition, and since MaryAnn has gone on strike from cooking, we signed up for one of the meal kit services (Hello Fresh) and I am doing the cooking three days a week. Strangely enough, I find I am enjoying it, and have even ventured out into doing some other recipes and feeling pretty proud of myself. Beyond the foregoing, I am still pretending to play golf and actually have taken some lessons from GolfTec, where my progress is best described by telling you that my last lesson ended in tears… by the coach who apparently realized that I am a lost cause. If anyone finds themselves on I-95 North, you can find us 10 miles outside of Providence, Rhode Island, on the edge of Narragansett Bay. Give us a call, just not during Jeopardy— MaryAnn refuses to answer the phone.” Mike Apuzzo: Word has reached us that Mike has been invited to Bahçeşehir University School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey, where a ceremony honoring his achievements in the
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field of neurosurgery will be the occasion for presenting him with their coveted Medal of Science in May 2019. Additionally, the school has a tradition of naming each of their class years after role models, and intends to convey that honor on him as the Professor Michael Apuzzo Class of 2025. (How fortunate that Papa Grasson taught Mike early on how to “parry” a saber thrust!)
1958 HGS Dan Koenigsberg dkoenigsberg14@gmail.com
Yet another six months have passed, but still in the glow of the 60th Reunion last spring. It was great to see everyone and one or two newly resurfaced brethren (to wit, James “Jim” Cohen and Eugene F. “Gene” Kiley). It’s mid-February as I pen this and I am back for a visit from a second winter in Palm Desert, California. Am sitting at the window looking out at the snow falling and, although it’s picturesque, can’t help wondering why I didn’t do this sooner. I saw that Punxsutawney Phil unfortunately saw his shadow on February 2, so not a great sign for the next couple of months. News of the class has been, well, “slim pickens,” to quote the eponymous actor. Dave Branon weighed in with his latest literary accomplishments. “My third and latest novel, Angels With Broken Wings, is a thriller in the guise of a satirical and jaundiced view of prevailing race relations in our ever self-inflicted divisive country. It joins The Curmudgeon’s Tree and The Spider’s Web in my literary effort to prevent (or at least delay) the feathers of my postretirement brain from molting. Books are available through sites at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, Nook, etc. My website is authordavidrbranon.com. On the personal front, aside from some nicks here and there, Kay and I are blessed with good health and our grandkids keep having kids of their own which has elevated us from grandparents to
great-grandparents… proving that however we try to impede its relentless progress, time marches on.” Wonder if Branon and DeLucia are still the only great-grandparents, or if there are more of you out there. Let me know. Not to be outdone, Chris Doob reported on his newest effort in erudition on sports psychology, Great Expectations: The Sociology of Survival and Success in Organized Team Sports. “The book’s title sums up what it involves: anticipated major rewards for successful athletes, most decidedly for the male professionals in the four leading sports, but varying amounts of fame and recognition available for top performers at all levels of team sport for both females and males. However, as an athlete progresses through a particular sport’s different levels, the competition becomes stiffer and the pressure from such sources as coaches, parents (at the youth level), and oneself can be unrelenting. The book starts with little children’s team sports programs and extends to the pro level in both men’s and women’s sports.” Chris added that “at the moment, I am revising my Social Inequality and Social Stratification in US Society for Taylor & Francis, the same publisher as the sports book.” From Germany, Doug Sperry forwarded a very nice holiday greeting, and he and Birgitte were doing well. Meanwhile, the Hummels continued unabated in their quest to “visit all countries,” with travels to yet more exotic climes. So guys, am open to receiving more items of interest (okay, pleading) from you for the next Class Notes. I do believe Messrs. Weber, DeNoyon, and Reid (to name some of my favorites) would be proud of us, even in our dotage. For now, hope all remain in good health and can look forward to another “gathering of the ’58 clan” when the crocuses bloom. CORRECTION: In the fall 2018 edition of The Views, Hopkins incorrectly attributed a quote to Dave Hummel in the ’58 HGS report. In fact, the quote was from Dave Branon, regarding his wife, Kay, and their grandchildren. Dave Hummel’s update, regarding travels with
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his wife, Cindy, should have read as follows: “The Hummels continued their extraordinary geographic quest, and according to Dave, have now visited 165 of the 196 sovereign nations on this planet and counting. Go Dave! Their last major trip was to Oceana, with tours of numerous Polynesian and Micronesian islands. The islands turned out to include several independent countries, including the Marshall, Gilbert and Caroline islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati. Who knew! Impressive pictures of the native flora and fauna sent by Cindy Hummel. Then they were off to Korea and Mongolia. Safe to say not many tourists venture to Ulan Bator (capital of Mongolia).”
1959
60th Reunion DAY, HGS, and PHS—May 31–June 1, 2019
to be an enticement. Come. Visit. Reune. I write this on a date when the richest man in the world is focused on the threatened publication of purloined photos of his body parts allegedly for political ends and which, if it goes too far, may impact my timely receipt of Nespresso pods; when the top elected officials of the state that has given us the most presidents are suffering from apparent ethical infections; and when I have just learned of the existence of an incomprehensibly lucrative new profession, “fashion influencer,” a position to date unacknowledged by the Bureau of Labor Statistics but recognized with approval by The New York Times. Go figure. I long for simpler days when the biggest decision I had to make was whether or not to pull my uncle’s finger. Come to the reunion. Please. I need to talk to someone who sees the world I see. (Or saw?)
HGS William F. Dow III wdow@jacobslaw.com
Well, it’s February and those in charge have importuned me to pluck from the deluge of information received from members of the Class of ’59 only those precious gems that best bind us together as we launch forward to the 60th anniversary of our departure from 986 Forest Road. It won’t be hard. Nobody writes. Nobody calls. I feel like the mother in a Henny Youngman joke. There are some modest morsels I can pass on, however. I have heard from Bob Dickie, who informs that he’s reserved Mory’s for a Friday-night reunion repast; Steve Sewall, who submitted an exegesis rivaling James Joyce’s Ulysses; Steve MacDonald, who forwards observations and insights perhaps better suited to late-night cable; Mike Wilder, whose travels and family ties are indeed enviable; Diane and Joe Waronka, whose travels rival Wilder’s; and Sandy Mack, with whom I shared an amazing client who was Sandy’s former student, whose personal story inspires us both. Details on all the above and more will be available when we convene in the late spring. That is meant
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PHS Linda Billings Kiser LKiser1941@gmail.com
If we took a poll, I think Debby Bassin Fletcher would win the “best traveled” award. She sent a wonderfully newsy paragraph on her activities: “We are off to Gujarat, India, in a few weeks, just ourselves and a guide. Then in June, we plan to join our daughter and her family in Puglia, Italy. She has been working on a show at the National Gallery, set to open in early May, which focuses on animals in Japanese art. Her older daughter is a freshman at Georgetown and her other daughter is in high school. Our son lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and has three very active kids—all into sports. I spend more of my time playing tennis, still on a team after 35 years. Obviously I do not play with a lot of power, but really still enjoy it.” Debby closes with a plea: “I would really like to hear about other people. I am sure that everyone has something interesting to say.” I second that, Debby. Julie Duff Moore touched base and reported that she had had a nice conversation with Ann Flahive Devlin-Low. I am
lucky to see a lot of my childhood friend Jeanne Allen, who lives across the river
in McLean, Virginia. I have known Jeanne since birth, so we have many years of shared experiences. Today we share a love of books and movies and have great fun discussing. One of the joys of retirement is having more time for both. I am busy with Board work, teaching at an adult charter school, taking courses at Georgetown and at OLLI and traveling every chance I get. Your classmates would love to hear from you. Please send your email and news to me. Julie Duff Moore writes that she and Bill had a wonderful Christmas with daughter Lisa Moore ’91, Vinetta and Kiran (4½) visiting, and they are looking forward to visiting them in Toronto, Canada, during the March break. At the beginning of January, they had a fun trip to Hilton Head to celebrate Julie’s birthday and Bill’s brother’s birthday. Julie is enjoying two book groups—one made up of Foote retirees and another of women from the Church of the Redeemer. Sadly, their church, The Church of Redeemer, has closed, but they are finding Spring Glen Church to be a welcoming new place to worship. She had a nice phone visit with both Annaleigh Winston and Ann Devlin-Low and recently saw Peter Bunting ’59 HGS for the first time in many years.
1960 PHS Tricia Swift TSwift@grubbco.com
From Mary Louise “Weesie” Long in Stamford, Connecticut: “It has been a good year, with quite a few art exhibitions. A monotype was selected for the Monotype Guild of New England’s 5th National show at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Massachusetts, with a handsome catalogue. I was invited to exhibit a painting at the Loft Artist show at the Stamford Museum. My studio used to be in a factory in Stamford,
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
where many of the Loft Artists had their studios. My latest large painting studio was in Port Chester, New York, but I moved everything back to our home, where I have a smaller studio and my printmaking facilities, etching press, and flat files. I miss the larger studio, but it is good to everything in one location. Right now, I am working toward a solo show for September. My paintings are featured on Artsy (artsy.net) through my association with Artists for World Peace, artistsforworldpeace.org. Artists create 6" x 6" paintings to donate to their cause of supplying free eye care worldwide. They are now supplying eye care to Native American reservations. Fortunately, my sons Christopher and Nicholas live within a couple of hours driving distance. I enjoy seeing my grandson, Timothy, who is 8 years old and a true joy!” From Anne Goodwin Draper in Florida: “Our big news is that we survived Hurricane Michael, 350 miles wide and 155-mile-anhour winds. It was still a Category 4 going through here. Our three-story tobacco barn built in the 1950s, which had gone through many hurricanes, could not hang on after the tornado split it in half. I was watching through a tiny back door window, and seeing it leveled, in a minute—according to my camera—I burst out crying. And not even thinking how close it was to the house! We could have been leveled also, and the old barn could have been blown into the house. We are the lucky ones. Even the 26 trees in the yard fell away from the house. All uprooted. Our place looks barren now. I must say, I was enjoying having coffee by candlelight. Two weeks later when we got power, I missed my early mornings on the porch and the glow of candles. Time to get back to housework. Because of the damage to so many trees around the whole farm, we had to give up the cattle business. The mileage of downed fencing was too much for the cattle owner and us. And FEMA was not going to help. We will raise hay now, which doesn’t need fencing, and the three donkeys hang around anyway. For those of you with
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wanderlust, or kids not sure of what to do next—check out my granddaughter’s blog, seenicwander.com. She ‘housesits’ her way around the world and teaches English as a Second Language online—to pay for the extras. How else could you find the perfect Norwegian surf instructor from Australia in Bali?” From Nana Carroll Ollerenshaw in Australia: “Good to hear from you, and to recognise the old familiar names. I enjoy knowing what classmates are doing, or even not doing. My news is partly influenced by having had ovarian cancer for the past six years. I’ve responded well to intensive chemo, been free for a year, and am now making a comeback from a second dose of chemo, but feel well enough to enjoy life. I volunteer with aged care activities in a home, and also with reading in primary school. After 55 years, Australia is my home, but I’ll always have a deep connection with North America. I have a close friend here also from Connecticut, and a few Australian, New Zealand, and English girlfriends. Our children are in the fields of nursing, agriculture, and chemical engineering, employed and with young families. Very important in our lives! I write poetry, occasional essays, and have an outlet for them in a respected publication, Quadrant. English was always my subject, starting at Prospect Hill. Hope you enjoy living in the east. My greetings to you and the class of ’60.” From Ursula Goodenough in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts: “I am in the middle of my second winter of retirement in the Martha’s Vineyard woods/ocean, and the beauty and pleasure of my life are legion. I’m still able to do science online and have published two major research articles as first author and three as co-author since I arrived in summer 2017. Daughter Mathea lives down the road with her family and daughter Jessica lives on the next island over—Nantucket—with her family, and I sing in two choirs and do charity and environmental work, and there are trips to Boston, Massachusetts (Tricia!), New York City, and Washington, D.C., and
of course the summer is full of additional family and friends. I’m also deeply engaged with the Religious Naturalist Association (religious-naturalist-association.org). That said, most of my days are spent mostly in solitude, and I seem to be joyously tapping an inner Thoreau that I didn’t know was in there.” From Tita Beal in New York City: “Enjoying my older son and daughter-inlaw’s 3-year-old and 9-month-old who live nearby. I’m writing the plays I didn’t have time to write when I was main financial support—three full-lengths in last five years, no productions yet, but each has won contests, had readings and is moving forward step by step. I could drop dead tomorrow or function another 20-plus years. Strange time. So, with kids self-feeding and tuitioned, I decided to live the life I wanted and have fun till I can’t. My older son is a creative director at an ad agency, has a weekend business making furniture and sculptures from fallen trees (fallenindustry.com) but still gets home most nights for dinner with his family; and my younger son, a community manager at one of the top three computer game companies (an industry much bigger than film and growing), living in and loving Montreal, Canada, working global quarterfinal championships and in February, the annual—a new world. Wonderful when you get through your kids’ childhood and end up friends. Tricky balance between structure and freedom. Was it Peter Brook who said ‘Creativity is the intersection between discipline and spontaneity’? Parenting too. But actually for me, Melville’s comment when he was wrestling Moby-Dick is also good guidance: ‘There’s a thin line between insanity and creativity: depends on whether the compulsion is in control of you… or you are in control of the compulsion.’” And for myself—Tricia Swift, your class secretary— in Boston, Massachusetts: “I am loving my return to New England, the proximity to family and friends, winter, and the creation of a new life for myself here in retirement and in a senior community. The transition
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has been easier than I could have imagined. I miss my California friends enormously, but fires and earthquakes not so much! Ruth and Ursula have both visited, and I have had the pleasure of applauding their next generation musician children (Ruth’s daughter, Deborah Selig, is a magnificent soprano here in Massachusetts; Ursula’s son, Thomas Heuser, is a rising conductor and led the New Hampshire Symphony in the fall). At Lasell Village, on the campus of Lasell College, I could have an entire life right here, but I am also creating a life beyond, through music. Fortuitous connections have brought me into the Boston Conservatory community—as a patron kind of person, not a performer. And of course there is the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In addition, I am reading up a storm and enjoying being a student again: courses on Ishiguro novels, Othello, Genetics, Blood—a nice balance between science and literature—and more. Boston is called “The Hub” with good reason: concerts, museums, theaters abound and I am cramming in as much as I can. And friends and family. To be able to see and interact with (and help) my family without it being a big production is terrific. Keep writing and stay in touch! P.S. Have any of you written a memoir of your life?”
DAY Kathleen Euston keeuston@me.com
1961 HGS Bob Kessler bobkessler@yahoo.com
DPH Valerie Banks Lane capecodwoman43@gmail.com
Hello my friends. First of all, I am very sorry to tell you that Ed Sause, husband of Anita Warner Sause, wrote to me that Anita had
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passed away on August 20, 2016. Her husband, children, and brother were by her side. She waited for her children to come from Washington, D.C., San Diego, California, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before she died. Ed said that she held on to say goodbye. “She was a strong person,” Ed wrote, “She was loved, and still is.” Anita was at our 50th Reunion Saturday night at Hopkins in 2011, and it was great to see her. She and I had been friends in our senior year at DPH. She was part of the Day School before the merger, and she was a very funny person, hence why our friendship blossomed. Later in life, I was working at Yale New Haven Hospital in OBS and who was my patient one evening? Anita, after having given birth to her youngest baby. We had a mini reunion of sorts in the post-partum unit. That was many years ago. I send my heartfelt and bereft condolences to Anita’s family. Anita Fahrni Minear wrote from Switzerland that she “again enjoyed her winter month in West Newbury, Vermont, where the strong community lives a wonderfully peaceful and welcoming ‘America’ in contrast to the disturbing chaos of Washington, D.C.” She also rents the cottage there to those “seeking tranquility.” Plans for an exhibit in Frauenfeld of the works of two Mongolian artists are taking shape and Anita often hosts Mongolian friends or former exchange students as well as inviting some to Switzerland for additional training. Malitta Knaut says, “Would love to get together anytime. I often think of our small but talented class and how much we have accomplished and are still accomplishing. I credit most of it to Miss Booraem!” (Math teacher. Does everyone remember her? She scared me.) When asked by me for news, Malitta replied, ”I don’t really have any news.” Then went on to say, “My daughter is now working with me doing property management, grandchild number three is a freshman in college, and I still have my horses. Newest member is Levi, standing 32 inches tall. Hopefully I will be
driving him in miniature horse shows this summer.” Phoebe Ellsworth responded by writing, “I formally retired January 1 and turned 75 on January 22. My daughter Sasha, now living in the same town, signed us both up for an art class, no doubt in an effort to provide me with some fulfillment in retirement. I haven’t had an art class since Day Prospect when Martha Porter Haeseler and I and a couple of others established the Art Club, whose main purpose was leaving school early to go look at art exhibits, which conveniently happened to be right around Yale.” She further said that she, her husband, and her daughter and son-in-law had gone out to a lovely French dinner to celebrate her birthday. I think 75 is a wonderful milestone. Three quarters of a century! Maureen McKeon Peterson has moved to California to be closer to her daughter and her family. As they were getting ready to move, she was helping her husband to carry a chest and she fractured her wrist, so she had that to deal with as she packed and unpacked! It is slowly healing. She has changed her email address to momopeterson@yahoo.com. Maureen’s granddaughter, Kate, is 14 and just finished third overall in rodeo district-wide (far greater than just her school district) high school barrel racing. “She is quite the cowgirl,” Maureen says. Maureen’s daughter, Katy, visited lately for a long weekend. She lives in Pennsylvania and has a very good job at the Bank of America. They had a great time wine tasting, watching Maureen’s granddaughter, Kate, barrel race and her grandson, Ryan, play basketball. Oldest daughter Amy, in Upper Montclair, New Jersey, became a business owner in November. Her shop is “Moss and More,” all indoor botanicals, pots, and unusual gifts. “She has a potting table, so patrons can pot their plants right there. Visit her at Mossandmorellc through Facebook.” Nancy Newman Feldman is traveling a great deal, exercising, doing interior design work and has four grandchildren in college… all good. She is grateful to be healthy and active.
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Deeply involved with her two daughters and their families who live in Weston, Connecticut, Nancy remains in Fairfield, Connecticut. Rives Fowlkes Carroll corresponded with me a bit, and I just want to mention Rives’ book again, entitled Chaplain: The World War II Letters of Army Air Corps Chaplain Paschal Dupuy Fowlkes, about her father in WWII. It is outstanding! I bought two copies at Christmas and I gave one to my husband, who reads books about the WWII era, and he loved it. It is a wonderful memoir through letters from the perspective of a young man, an Army chaplain, during the war traveling through France with the Army Air Corps. Rives never knew her father, who was killed in France when she was just a baby, but she got to know him by visiting the areas he traveled through as a soldier, and as she edited his letters to her mother and her mother’s to him. She said it was a great way “to spend time with your parents and to leave the answers for your children.” A really superb book. I am reading it now and I highly recommend it. You can get her book online at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C. (politicsprose.com). Martha Porter Haeseler continues to make and sell felted, knitted, and sewn items, and started a new job about a year ago as market master of the Dudley Farm Farmers’ Market in North Guilford, Connecticut. She is trying to support local and organic farmers and craftspeople by promoting the market far and wide. She writes, “If you are in the area, please drop by. We are located on an historic Farm Museum with gardens, meadows, sheep, and oxen. We have a Children’s Corner in every Summer Market, featuring historic and nature crafts, storytelling, and animals. On June 22, we are having a Well Being Day, featuring free tai chi and yoga classes, chair massages, workshops on nutrition and making herbal salves, and a mindful wet-felting workshop. Check us out on Facebook: Dudley Farm Farmers’ Market, or dudleyfarm.com.” Carol Miller Rand wrote
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from sunny Mexico: “Many of you knew our mother, Elizabeth Miller, mother of five graduates of the Hopkins family (Barbara PHS 1957, Frank Fowlkes HGS 1959, Carol and Rives DPHS 1961, and Muriel DPHS 1964), so I wanted you to know that she died peacefully this past July 4, just a few months shy of her 102nd birthday. She had a long and fruitful life and we were blessed to have had her for so much time. This past year saw me feeling my age more than usual. In October, I fell and broke both my ankles! What an interesting change of life event that was as I spent the next six weeks in a wheelchair and am still struggling to get back to normal. Being forced into inactivity was somewhat of a blessing as I had the opportunity to take several Yale online courses and to do tons of reading. My two favorite readings were Rives’ recent book, Chaplain, in which she weaves together the letters home from her father during World War II with historical and personal commentary. He was a remarkable man and reading her book was a wonderful and rewarding way to get to know the father she never met. For those interested, the book can be found through the following link: politics-prose. com/book/9781624291500. My other favorite was reading the Ph.D. dissertation of our daughter, an incredibly thoughtful and scholarly work which has been accepted for her degree at the Claremont School of Theology.” Carol recommends that we look for the editorials written in The New York Times by Thomas Edsall. “They are always interesting and stimulating and there is much pleasure in knowing that our classmate, Mary Deutsch Edsall, plays such a major role in their formation.” Yes indeed! I, your faithful servant Valerie Banks Lane, have been reading, recently listening as well to an unabridged audiobook of Wuthering Heights, caning chairs, ironing pillowcases (truly), attending the symphony, trying to make myself get down to writing my memoirs and stop procrastinating, and planning our next trip to Scotland in
September. We will take the Queen Mary II over to Southampton again and fly back from Edinburgh. I’m trying to trace where my MacReynolds ancestors lived on the Isle of Skye. Of course we know through genealogy research that we are descended from Robert the Bruce, yes of the Braveheart fame! We are descended from an illegitimate line, but hey! As my tenth MacReynolds cousin Libby says, “Royal blood is royal blood!” The trip will be fantastic. Send me your news!
1962 HGS Marshal D. Gibson mgibtax@aol.com
DPH Judith Parker Cole judithparkercole@gmail.com
Ann Carter-Drier updates us from
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she has survived the record-breaking deep-freeze this winter. “With the temps at minus 20, and wind chill at minus 50, it was a real challenge to walk my little 10-pound rescue! Snow I can handle, although I now have walking crampons after a few falls which resulted in broken wrists, but could have been a lot worse. Otherwise, I am enjoying my two grandchildren, Sadie, 5, and Declan, 3.” Mary Jo Cipriano Amatruda continues to be a world traveler with husband John, and this winter they truly had the trip of a lifetime. She wrote, “For the first time in our 50 years of marriage, John and I went away for the winter holiday. We went to Antarctica, a wonder. The landscape is ethereal and primitive. It is a place one cannot capture in words. We took lots of photos but they do not do it justice.” Here’s an invitation from her: “I am still fully involved at the Met. I added a tour in the Met’s new Native North American Art collection. It is a stunning collection and should not be missed by anyone coming to New York City. I am happy to give you a tour
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Ann Carter-Drier ’62 DPH with her two grandchildren
1962 DPH Classmates Rocky Mitchell Morton and Susie Ferguson Nicolino at the Grand Canyon in fall 2018
if I am in the City; just let me know.” Susie Ferguson Nicolino has happy news, as she has kept in touch over the years with Rocky Mitchell Morton. They sometimes meet up and travel together—and they shared the photo above from their trip together to the Grand Canyon in the fall of 2018. Susie reports, “Rocky and I took a road trip from Dallas to Arizona and New Mexico, visiting some our nation’s incredible sights including both rims of the Grand Canyon and a raft trip down the Colorado.” Great to hear from Terri Petrillo Connolly: “Frank and I arrived last week at our condo in Estero, Florida. We are enjoying the warm sunny weather, quite the contrast to what Connecticut has been experiencing this winter. We’ll be heading back to Connecticut in early May, and I’ll resume my volunteering jobs and the ‘normal’ New England hectic pace.” As for me, Judy Parker Cole, I’m still adjusting to the outrageous fact that I will be 75 years old this year! I’m fortunate to have my two sons and their families, and my four grandchildren, all living nearby in greater Boston, Massachusetts. I keep in touch with our dear math teacher Mrs. Benedict, who turned 95 in January this year! If you’d like to have
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Mrs. Benedict’s address to send her a note or card, I know she’d love to hear from you: email me. What have you been up to, dear classmates not here in the news this time? Your news matters to us all; please us know how you’re doing!
1963 HGS Ron Groves groves18@gmail.com
When you ask Ed Bradstreet a question, expect to get a full accounting: “Enjoyed the grandkids; read 41 books; ate out too much; landed via plane at 9,000 feet at the base of Denali; airboated through the Everglades; took multiple three-day minivacations; moved to a new abode overlooking the Hammonasset River in Madison, Connecticut; wintered in Florida; and with 48 years of search experience had my most successful year.” I had the pleasure of visiting Penny and Gordon Allen in their new home in Bonita Springs, Florida, this winter. Gordon underwent back surgery shortly afterwards, and I just wonder
if the Ponderosa lemons he grows may have had something to do with his injury. These things are so big that I had to take one out of my suitcase in order to avoid being charged for overweight baggage on the flight home. It weighed one pound, 13 ounces. Alan Silberberg and I reminisced over a few brews at the Irish Inn in Glen Echo, Maryland, in January. Aside from his great company, that wouldn’t be all that unusual, except two days later the Irish Inn was pinpointed on page 412 of the latest Daniel Silva novel I was reading. Driving my grandsons around Bethesda, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., that weekend, it seemed as if every street we took was mentioned in the book. I saw Danny McNulty ’61 at the memorial service for Ron Wilmore ’61 in Washington, D.C., in February. Danny, who eulogized him, remained a close friend of Ronnie’s ever since their days at Hopkins. Margaret and John Crowther celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary this past December in Savannah, Georgia. They’ve been celebrating their anniversaries in Savannah every year since 1976, when John served as Deputy Provost Marshal at Hunter Army Airfield there. Alan Fairbank has reneged on his retirement and is enrolled in a master’s degree program at the Yale School of Forestry, taking courses on “The Physical Science of Climate Change.” While he hasn’t built his ark yet, he is warning about “really bad weather coming soon. It will be worse than you think,” he said, “but at least my grandchildren won’t blame me for not trying.”
DPH Carol Stock Kranowitz carolkranowitz@gmail.com
Being in our 70s brings new rewards. One of life’s greatest rewards is grandchildren! Patricia Fiorito Oakes happily reports that her daughter got married and her second grandson, a boy named Calder, was born last year. Visits with grandchildren and old friends keep Mary Anne Barry Cox upbeat
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
and entertained. Last fall, she and Pat Oakes met with Virginia Hart Thomas, who came east from Washington State for her sister’s memorial service. “The mini-reunion was a special chance to reconnect after all these years. We shared memories (bridge at lunch time, New Haven beaux) and organ recitals about our latest surgeries.” Ginny’s three (!) shoulder replacements inspired Mary Anne to undergo successful spine surgery, so she can travel to be with her kids. She says, “Hope and friendship spring eternal.” Nancy Bussman Van Natta continues her busy interior design practice and is also president of the Symphony League in Santa Cruz. She writes, “We create community-wide events that provide much-needed funds for the symphony, and we become part of the life of the orchestra, which I find fascinating. Much has been written recently about women in their 70s enjoying fulfilling, creative lives, and I am certainly experiencing that.” Sarah Robbins Jenks Coate concurs with that thought. Last week, we were reminiscing about the childhood fun we had sewing clothes for our dolls. Sarah comments, “We were practicing a kind of empowerment when we were little girls. When we needed doll outfits, we had to dream them up, figure out how to make something from nothing, and make the outfits ourselves in order to have what we envisioned. Figuring out how to make things has stood us in good stead. I’ve always felt empowered to make things happen. I’ve created successful companies in a tough, competitive business. At 73, you can treasure memories in a more profound way than you can in your 40s, 50s or even 60s. I’m becoming keenly aware of how precious my memories are, whereas I was much more forward thinking in previous years. The past is who we are.” I, Carol “Bonnie” Stock Kranowitz, recently added a rewarding activity to my full life. A few musical friends and I have become “Sibley Musicians.” Once a month, we perform duets or trios in the local (Washington, D.C.) Sibley Hospital’s lobby to provide a soothing ambiance for patients,
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visitors, and staff. It is gratifying when some linger for a few minutes to listen, although we play for the joy of it, with or without an audience. I have also begun giving recorder lessons to a 70-something friend who always wanted to play an instrument and decided it’s now or never.
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55th Reunion HGS, and DPH—May 31–June 1, 2019
Fred Smith ’64
HGS
and 2.0. I hope many of you will sign up for 1.0, which was developed with patients in mind. Progress has been slow in reducing errors, but hopefully we are making some progress. The most recent statistics: 200,000 to 400,000 deaths per year in the U.S. from preventable medical errors. This makes medical errors the third leading cause of death in the U.S. That is why every patient should know the key facts about patient care quality and safety.” Bill Ablondi Jr., writes: “2018 was a good year for me and my family. All four of our children are now happily married with the last one tying the knot this past summer at our family camp in the Adirondacks. We have four grandchildren and are now pressing our newly married son and his wife for more. I’m still working and hope to for a few more years, God willing. My wife, Nancy, and I are still able to append fun adventures onto my business travels in addition to vacation-only trips a couple of times a year. One of the highlights was a trip to California, where we met up with our class scribe Dr. Adelberg and his wife, Sydell, for a tour of San Francisco. He managed to keep us out of too much trouble. Michael Adelberg writes: “My recollection differs slightly. Bill made every effort to get me in trouble, despite laudable preventative efforts by his wife, Nancy. I had the impression this is not the first time she has been put through this. He was already doing this to me at Hopkins.” Reply from Carl “Woody” Hobbs: “It’s difficult to comprehend that it will be 55 years this June since
Michael Adelberg mga@aya.yale.edu
Mark Blumenthal writes: “It’s January when
I’m writing this and tax season is rapidly approaching. Why, might you ask, would a career engineer be interested in taxes? The reason is that I volunteer with the AARP to do people’s taxes, at no cost to them, at local libraries and senior centers. While I have an MBA from 1970, I have no career experience in taxation. But like others in our group, over the years, I have done my own and other family members’ taxes. When asked why I voluntarily subject myself to this torture annually, I struggle to come up with an answer. While it’s an opportunity to ‘give back,’ it’s well beyond ladling soup to homeless people. You need to learn and keep up with the tax law. Aren’t there studies showing that maintaining knowledge of quasi-useful information staves off Alzheimer’s? Or perhaps it’s the opposite. Maintaining tax knowledge drives one off the edge.” Fred Southwick writes: “My wife, Kathie, and I now have two grandsons who are both three years old, and all four of our children are finally fully employed and happy! Kathie has retired but she doesn’t want me sitting around home. I am now a hospitalist at the University of Florida and am in charge of improving the safety and quality of care for all the patients cared for by our division (250 patients per day). Also, I continue to teach two online courses through Coursera: ‘Fixing Healthcare Delivery’ 1.0
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we made the daily trip up ‘the Hill,’ or that I’ve been retired, happily, for six years, or that my wonderful granddaughter is six. I keep a little active professionally by teaching a short course in coastal processes for William & Mary’s lifelong-learning program and by giving the occasional talk on sea-level rise or the geologic history of Chesapeake Bay to local civic groups. A few months ago, I retired from the editorial board of a professional journal. About the same time, I started volunteering at the county’s free medical clinic where I help screen clients to be sure that they meet the financial criteria, i.e. are sufficiently impoverished, to qualify for clinic’s services. I leave every shift with a profound sense of how fortunate I am. My new (fall 2016) wife and I spend a good deal of time working on our house and yard. As, like many, I have two email addresses— hobbs@vims.edu and carlhobbsiii@gmail. com—don’t be surprised if I seem to bounce from one to the other. Both are good and I check both.” Several contributions took the form of replies to Fred Smith Jr.’s (fsmithjr47@cox.net) remarkable note, which follows: “I have had my share of events that have burnt off a lot of the naïveté and immaturity of a fairly sheltered adolescence and hardened my self-protective sensibilities. Some of the ‘burn off’ began at Hopkins. After 50 years, I don’t know that many of our classmates might remember that on Fridays, when we had late assembly, a number of students from different classes would stand outside the study hall door facing the road leading up the hill and throw rocks at me, as I walked my bike up the hill. Fortunately, I was never hit, although on several occasions, rocks came close enough to my head for me to hear them whizzing past me. No one ever said anything to me about it. No one intervened. It just strengthened my sense of isolation, being the only black in our class and one of only four in the entire 300-plus student body at any time during my six years. Despite literally being a target, I decided to quietly endure, graduate,
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and reap the benefits of my Hopkins education. Fortunately, as I mentioned in an earlier communication to Hopkins, I had a stalwart in Miss Barton. She was able to nurture and develop my innate love of language into a lifelong quest for better, compelling expression. Mr. Bluett, although he did not take the interest in me personally that Miss Barton did, was instrumental in enlivening my imagination with class discussions of the Homeric epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. I have reflected back on numerous occasions during the course of my life on Priam’s grief at the loss of his son, Hector, and of wily Odysseus, whose name is the origin of the word odyssey. Did you know that Odysseus’ name means ‘to trick,’ and that is either what he does or what is done to him throughout the epic? Also, of great importance in my development was Hopkins’ athletic program, which allowed me, despite no great participation in varsity sports, to make fitness an essential part of my life. So, I have taken the bad with the good from my Hilltop experience and have crafted a lifestyle that still serves me well. My language skills were enhanced by the Columbia School of Journalism, where I obtained my master’s degree in 1981. Five years later, my athleticism helped me pass an insanely rigorous physical agility test and become a firefighter in the Oakland, California, Fire Department. After my dozen years in the fire service, I used my writing skills and concomitant lifelong love of learning to develop a family history website about my dad for my master’s project in San Francisco State University’s Multimedia Program. Fred F. Smith, M.D.: Black Renaissance Man has been online for almost 20 years now and has provided me with any number of laudatory comments and a most distinctive web address: fredsmith.com. So, while I never had to choose between facing Scylla or Charybdis, I think you can see that I have experienced several careers that have provided me with both extraordinary intellectual pursuits and life-and-death
dramas. Currently, I am involved in a long-term writing project. I would tell you about it, but it is super-secret, still. It is the culmination of a lifetime of being a proud black person, of being my parents’ son, and a son of Africa, as well, who is more outraged and dismayed at the treatment of my people in this country than ever. That feeling has not been attenuated by the superior education that I have received. In fact, that education has given me the ability to research into the reasons for it. So, I have learned that it is not merely a racial conflict; it is a technique to divide potential allies in a class struggle. And it is not only a problem in America, but around the world, where people of darker hues are invariably placed at the bottom of societies and mistreated.” Reply by Jim [James F.] Early: “Fred, thank you for sharing your narrative with us. It is good to see the success you have had in different disciplines and vocations. The rock-throwing incidents are surprising to me but not shocking given the more evident racism that existed in the early 1960s. I live not far from Hopkins, have visited it several times and kept somewhat abreast of the culture there. I don’t think something like that ever would happen today. But after 55 years, racism still exists in subtle ways. (I am talking generally and not specifically about Hopkins here.) Some of it has percolated to the surface over the past couple of years. Not being an African American disqualifies me from fully appreciating what you have encountered throughout your life. But it does appear that the lessons you learned intellectually and socially, though very difficult, have helped shape your character in a positive way. Although your narrative evoked several different emotions in my mind, the overriding ‘take-away’ for me is that your perseverance through the many highs and lows during your formative years at Hopkins has served you well.” Reply by Neil Hiltunen: “Fred, I think you, your perseverance, and your ability to verbalize your experiences is going a long way to
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
continue the slow progress toward equality. I had been unaware of the rock-throwing assaults you endured, and it is sad it has taken so many years to come to light (at least for me). My guess is that progress moves forward as generations with prejudice die off. Our wish is that it will disappear quickly, but that is unlikely, particularly when we see how prejudice permeates other areas of the world. I like your website and look forward to seeing your writing project. Maybe a movie? Coincidentally, my wife and I saw the movie Green Book two days ago and were deeply moved. It should receive an Academy Award. It takes place at the same time we were at Hopkins.” Reply from John Morgan: “I am retired now, but over the years life has been pretty good. I read your HGS class note yesterday and it has been on my mind ever since. As I remarked last night, I was not aware of the rock-throwing incidents and, judging by other comments by several classmates, I guess I am not the only one. I am curious to know if Headmaster Sherk or any faculty members were aware of your
dreadful experiences. Did your parents inform anyone? Today I read the wonderful work you put together about your dad, Dr. Smith. He and your mom are smiling down (from somewhere) on their talented son. I lost the love of my life to that awful leukemia 25 years ago. Patti was 42; my daughter, Sara, had just turned nine. Sara and her husband, Zoheb, have a wonderful little boy and I visit them in San Jose, California, often. My home for the last 47 years is Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, a little mountain town of 600 located west of Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak. It’s just my good dog, Jack, and me in our mountain cabin.” Bob Kimberley replies: “As I’ve read through the email thread, I’m struck by the surge of memories about our HGS years—sometimes good, often times awkward and sometimes bad and frankly unacceptable. The lack of awareness, certainly on my part, of so many things like your experiences, Fred, make me wonder, what else did I miss? I am heartened, though, by our collective memories of Mr. Bluett, Miss Barton, Mr. Preston, and I’d
add Mr. Kittredge, all of whom somehow managed to teach us the tools to make our way in the world. I still diagram sentences in my mind’s eye when I’m writing or editing text of colleagues. But I also have a sense of deep regret, of things that could have been and weren’t and of things that were and shouldn’t have been. Thank you for encouraging the open reflection.” Reply from Paul Thim Sr.: “Fred, thank you very much for your response to Mike’s email and for sending it to all of us. I appreciate your openness and your courage. I remember clearly talking at some length with you at one of our reunions (the 40th?) and hearing about your experience pushing your bicycle up the hill. I am pretty sure I sent you an email after that reunion, but, more important, I want to let you know that I have thought about our conversation numerous times since then. Since you have been open with us, I will share a memory I have about you. Perhaps in our junior year, after being at Hopkins with you for several years, I remember one of our classmates (I don’t
Hopkins’ Response to Fred Smith and the Class of 1964 Hopkins would like to thank Fred Smith Jr. ’64 for sharing his painful experiences as
a Black student at Hopkins with the community. The Hopkins administration is so very sorry that Fred and other students have experienced such blatant racism while at Hopkins. We are grateful for Fred and others who remind us that our beloved institution has not always been welcoming to all of its students. While we would like to believe that Hopkins is a panacea, in reality, our community is tainted by some of the same views that affect our society at large. Despite these challenges, we continue to make strides toward our hope that every Hopkins student feels as though they are an equal and welcome part of the Hopkins community.
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In order to promote awareness, focus, and accountability, increasing the diversity of our student body and faculty is a key part of Hopkins’ Strategic Plan. Yet, we also recognize that we will only improve the Hopkins experience for all students by making equity and inclusion part of the fabric of Hopkins. Our Office of Equity & Community is dedicated to enhancing the student and overall experience through programming, continued training, and collaboration, along with student initiatives. One example is Real Talk, a program that provides a platform for self-expression and empowers the Hopkins community to join the conversation. In addition, multiple student affinity groups exist to enhance awareness and provide advocacy and support for students in under-repre-
sented groups. The recently formed Hopkins Black Alumni/ae Network (HBAN) is a wonderful resource for Black alumni/ae, Black students, and the Hopkins administration, and creates the forum for Black alumni/ae to share their stories and bond with those with shared experiences. Hopkins remains committed to healing past wounds and preventing new ones through candid and courageous conversations such as the one Fred started with his classmates. Those who wish to learn more about Hopkins’ diversity initiatives may contact Becky Harper ’07, Director of Equity & Community, bharper@hopkins.edu or Medina Jett ’83, President of HBAN and Hopkins Trustee, medina.jett@comcast.net.
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remember who) telling me that your father was Black. It was not said in a mean-spirited way, more like something serious or personal about a person that you say quietly. I did not hear it talked about after that, and, when we graduated, I actually was not clear what you were. I am not sure why this was, why it was not addressed more openly, why I did not pursue it. Partly, it was probably due to my sensitivity to what might offend another person. You were/are a lighter-complected black man, so that was probably part of it. I am sure it also has to do with race being such a terribly fraught issue. My wife, Sandy, and I are embarking on a year of transitions. This July our daughter will be getting married near Paris, where she and her fiancé (a Frenchman) live. Then in October, our son will be getting married, near Hilton Head, South Carolina, where his future in-laws live. He and his fiancée live near us, in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. If travels bring any classmates to Atlanta, I would welcome a chance to get together.” Robert Guthrie replies: “I appreciate your letting us know what you experienced at Hopkins, who nurtured you, and your life response to how the world has responded to who you are. I was basically oblivious to anyone’s issues other than my own during my teens, and did not really become aware of racism in our society until college. Even then my understanding was superficial.” Chris Fenger: “Like those who have already weighed in, I have no recollection of the rock-throwing incidents you suffered through. I don’t know what I would have done or said had I encountered it while it was happening. I’d like to think I would have confronted the aggressors, but fear my real response as a witness at that time might have been to avoid confrontation. I don’t like that picture of myself. Memories are so plastic and verity is not their hallmark, but I have two singular ones about my first day on the Hill and one of them involves you. I believe I was picked up that day in a New Haven carpool driven by Mr. Preston (?), and
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FROM LEFT, Peter Kneisel ’67 HGS, Bill Kneisel ’65 HGS, Head of School Dr. Kai Bynum, Chris Fenger ’64
HGS, and John Braman ’65 HGS at the celebration of Coach MacDermott at Hopkins on November 10, 2018
I distinctly recall driving up Goffe Street (?) and pulling over to see you walk to the car. My first thought was ‘Gee, doesn’t this guy comb his hair before coming to school?’ I don’t think I learned that you were AfricanAmerican until you asked if I would make a donation to SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) in our sophomore year. My naiveté was astonishing. Perhaps more astonishing to me is that I came to know so few of my classmates over the ensuing five years, you among them. What a waste.”
DPH If you are interested in serving as a correspondent for the Class of 1964, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
1965 HGS Tom Delaney tfed3rd@gmail.com
We were saddened by the untimely passing of our classmate Robert “Bob” Schulz, in November. Our condolences go out to his wife, Stefany; children, Philip, Christopher, and Ellen; sister, Deborah; and grandchildren, Lauren and Carson. Most recently a
retired attorney, Bob had a professional life that included time as a chemical engineer, a maple syrup entrepreneur, and an enthusiastic dog sitter. Several classmates sent personal recollections to his family of their friendships with Bob. One was sent by Steve Scully, who passed along a story about how Bob developed a close bond with Steve’s mother, a nearby neighbor of Bob in Woodbridge, Connecticut, which grew because he had befriended her dog. Also, Dick Hutchinson’s wife, Barbara, passed away in September. They met on a blind date as college freshmen in 1966, and continued that date for 52 years. Classmates were quickly notified via our class mailing list. Jeff Alderman checked in from Portland, Oregon, and wishes everyone well. Attending one of our reunions and visiting with classmates is on his bucket list. Jim Seymour ’64 visited with John Braman in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in late January. Heart-warming and wonderful memories flowed nonstop, with reflections on living and learning at this stage, the news of Ron Wilmore ’61’s passing still fresh. They hiked the foothills, hit the gym, soaked at a local Japanese spa, meditated at the local Zen Center, and planned a four-wheel expedition for the Utah Canyonlands in March. Finally, John was one of our classmates offering
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Bill Kneisel ’65 HGS speaking at the event celebrating the memory of Coach MacDermott at Hopkins on November 10, 2018
comments about life’s lessons learned from Mr. Mac at his November remembrance ceremony. Tom Burkhard’s hometown of Swansboro, North Carolina, was visited by Hurricane Florence in September. Since Swansboro is such a nice place, the hurricane decided to hang around for 24 hours, providing 105-mph winds and 34 inches of rain. Luckily Tom’s house held up, suffering only minor damage. Tom actually missed the storm, since he was in Scotland playing golf at the time! Lucky (?) for him. John Cherniavsky checks in periodically with pictures taken of the Washington, D.C., area and the surrounding counties. This time, John’s input was unavailable while the 35-day government shutdown was in effect. Gordy Clark and your Class Secretary and their wives are planning a get-together in the spring during Gordy’s next Los Angeles– area family visit. These get-togethers have become an annual event. Gregg Cook’s marine research and exploration company (Promare.org) has traveled to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia as part of a quest to visit the bottoms of the deepest lakes on all of the continents. While at Baikal, the biggest and deepest lake on earth, Promare provided services to National Geographic to video mud volcanoes for their “Drain the Ocean” series. Tom Delaney continues to enjoy the free-
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dom of retirement in Southern California, working steadily at re-energizing his tennis game. He’s finding it hard to accept that he’s not 30 anymore. Regrettably, he was forced to miss the Hopkins Alumni Gathering in Los Angeles, California, this year. The typically heavy traffic conditions at that time of day made the 130-mile round-trip into downtown Los Angeles a non-starter. Dave Kiphuth loves living in Maine. He’s busy playing banjo in two bluegrass bands: Bolt Hill Bluegrass and New England Bluegrass Band, both of which have Facebook and websites so you all can hear some videos! He is also busy making expressive political illustrations, which appear on his Facebook page, and of course, continues with drawing, painting, and illustrations. One of Marc Lendler’s Smith College students conducted a survey showing an enormous drop in support among today’s students on issues of free speech. The magnitude of changes surprised both author and professor. They posted an article on the subject on the Social Science Research Network, then condensed it into a blog post on the Heterodox Academy website (under his student’s name: J. Voorhes). Mr. William MacDermott, a teacher, football and wrestling coach 1961–1966 at Hopkins, was remembered in November by a group of alumni, faculty emeriti/ae, former coaches,
and friends gathered in Heath Commons. Though efforts had been made to bring Mr. Mac back to the Hill several times in recent years, he was never able to make the trip, and sadly passed away on May 5, 2016. Alumni Bill Kneisel, Peter Kneisel ’67 HGS, and John Braman organized this gathering as a remembrance of Coach Mac and a celebration of his impact on the Hopkins student body in the 1960s. After a welcome by the Head of School, speakers Bill Kneisel, Fred Southwick ’64 HGS, Billy Walik ’66 HGS, John Braman, Chris Fenger ’64 HGS, and Steve Southwick ’66 HGS paid tribute to the Coach, telling stories and sharing some of the wisdom that has stayed with them all these years later. Dr. John Mordes reports he is still working, still healthy, still traveling (most recently to Cuba), and still distraught with government. Bill Sarris’s oldest son enlisted in the Army’s daunting Special Forces/Green Beret selection process. He graduated first in his class and has been deployed overseas. Bill and his wife, Lisa, are praying and hoping to see him return safely and soon. Lisa retired from Yale in November and they’re beginning to look for a retirement oasis on Florida’s beautiful west coast. Bill keeps in contact with Dick Hutchinson. Norm Von Wettberg lives in Hamilton, New York, but is in the process of moving to the Hudson Valley to be closer to his daughter and two grandchildren. He has sold six of the 10 properties he owns in Hamilton, and is negotiating on two new lots in the Hudson Valley. Billy Walik ’66 passed along New Year’s greeting from Maastricht, Holland. He and wife Kathy spend a good deal of time traveling in Europe. Bob Wintsch has finally moved, after 42 years as a geology professor at Indiana University, from Bloomington, Indiana, to Haddam, Connecticut. Ideally, he’d like to just call it relocating, but without a job in Connecticut, it really is retirement. Bob would like to continue teaching if he’s able to find a school needing earth sciences, but in the meantime, he’ll research the geology of Connecticut,
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one of the attractions of moving there. He and his wife bought an old house (1812), which turns out to need more work than anticipated. It is nearly a full-time job keeping up with all the restorations. Where in the world are Jan Lindquist, Bob Leary, Richard Cole, Ben Brown, Dick Hentz, and Michael Feldman? If you know, please pass along any contact information you might have. Finally, thanks to those of you providing the above updates to me. Your participation makes my job as Class Secretary enjoyable.
1966
Charlie McClure cnmjr132@gmail.com
Although our class had no entry in the last issue of this magazine, Rod St. Clair feels “there is something positive to be said about no updates that goes well beyond just apathy” and speaks well of our class. His rationale was very amusing, but for selfish reasons I hope he’s not right, as I don’t need this job to be any harder than it is. Instead, I hope he will give us a bullet point summary of what he has been up to for the past 53 years, because although he’s been out of touch, I know he has been very busy. Bill Fogle was hoping to read fictitious stories about himself involving beautiful women, roadster chases, fireworks, and frontal nudity. As outrageous as that might sound, nothing is more outrageous, or funnier, than Bill’s perspective on the world. He felt bad that so far this year he could only report a trip to Montana, where he visited Marine Corps pals and picked up a 10-week-old Cairn terrier pup. But he has also written to New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo seeking direction on which state agency to contact in an effort to examine all records that were suppressed by the Cornell Board of Trustees’ policy of “official silence” regarding the 1967 homicide of nine undergraduate students. The coming months are bound to become more interesting for Mr. Fogle. Mike Piccolo, his wife and two dogs have moved
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1970
to Mexico for the foreseeable future. He can’t believe how much he is enjoying horseback riding, kayaking, hiking, bird watching, cultural and historical interests, involvement with the local schools, animal shelters, other expats, locals, and even Spanish classes. Fred Schueler and his wife, Aleta Karetad, sent a draft of their annual newsletter “The Deviation, a Fragile Inheritance Natural History,” which is far too long to include here but includes a narrative of their activities in 2018, a list of more than 20 projects in which they are involved, and poetry. Hervey Townshend reports, “I am still working and loving it. But there is plenty of time to play in Montana, fly-fishing, exploring, partying, bull-riding (not) and enjoying Yellowstone Park. I am off to Patagonia on February 15 for some fishing in the mountains. One bucket list item checked off; then on to Tahiti. Seven grandkids keep Pam (MeMa) and Hervey (Pop-Pop) busy most of the year from their home in Guilford, Connecticut. I was saddened to hear how many of our classmates have passed away so far. It’s not right. They bring back such good memories of my time at Hopkins on the fields and in the Boys Club pool on Grand Avenue. I can still taste the chlorine while swimming the backstroke with my old friend Charlie. Best wishes to all.”
Ed Koh has retired from the practice of medicine. He spent his career as an anesthesiologist in the Boston area. He had a very serious health scare in the fall of 2018, but he is on the road to recovery. Bryant Boyd and his wife, Marie, were very proud parents at the wedding of their beautiful daughter, Christina, this past September in Manchester, Vermont. In attendance were a couple of Bryant’s advisers from his Ham Club and Big Top Express days: Tom “Sonny” Confrey and Brian Smith. Tim Donahue was also a very proud dad at the wedding of his daughter, Katie, last October 27 on Martha’s Vineyard. The wedding took place the weekend of a big nor’easter, but the storm cleared out just in time for the wedding and reception to take place. John Walsh and his wife, Marcie, were in attendance. Richard Hexter, who has been living in Shreveport, Louisiana, for many years and has trouble remembering the last time he was back at Hopkins, is looking forward to—yes it’s true—coming back to our 50th Reunion next year. It’s never too early to plan!
1969
1971
50th Reunion HGS and DPH—May 31–June 1, 2019 Alumni/ae from the HGS and DPH Classes of 1969 are hard at work planning for their 50th Reunion on May 31 and June 1, 2019, and looking forward to getting together with old friends to celebrate a milestone year! We also look forward to sharing updates on what has transpired in the lives of your classmates in the pages of the Life After Hopkins and Life After Day Prospect Hill 50th Reunion Class Books, which will be given out at reunion. Don’t miss it!
HGS Brian Smith bcsmitty@gmail.com
HGS Brian Smith bcsmitty@gmail.com
It’s hard to believe that Joe Burns has been gone since 2012. He left behind two great children. Daughter Julia, her husband and son live in Brooklyn, New York. She is a successful entrepreneur, owning Vessel Brooklyn, a curated gift company. His son, Joey, lives in Portland, Oregon, and works for Gartner when he is not snowboarding at Mount Hood. Ernie Williams and wife Lauren have moved from Killingworth to
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
North Haven, where he is more likely to get visitors. Jack Peck is working with Bruce Jacobs ’69 at Jacobs & Jacobs law firm in New Haven. Jack’s son, John Peck ’07, is an attorney living in the Boston, Massachusetts, area.
1972 HGS AND DPH Richard Hehre richardhehre@gmail.com
Please note that for this spring edition, Mr. Hehre is reporting for both the DPH and HGS classes of 1972. For the fall of 2018 (omitted by mistake in the fall Views): Life has been super busy for me for the last three months... I have taken a position at one of the luxury hotels here on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, as the Facilities Manager (chief engineer), and the days and hours are long. I do, however, really enjoy the position, and all of the years working for Four Seasons Hotels, and the experience of running my own business for 20 years, is really paying off. I will retire no later than 2020, but probably will go back to construction and other related projects for hire then. After all, it is all about the benefits. Anyway, here goes for news… “Well, gentlemen, summer is now in full swing, and that must mean that you all are outside enjoying some form of retirement life or, are at least contemplating it. I had a great exchange with Jamie McAndrews when Betsey and I were in Florida this past spring, but for various reasons we couldn’t get together in person. I am always inspired by Jamie’s enthusiasm and upbeat outlook on things, and the fact that he is busier than ever despite retirement. We will get together next spring, for sure. J.B. Kittredge writes that our reunion last year was the spark that rekindled the HGS friendship between Dennis Rhodes and Chris Greene. One of my favorite pictures of the weekend was of them standing together on the porch at Bux’s
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for the first time in 45 years… Now that is what reunions are all about, my brothers! Joe reports that he is now in retirement, but also on retainer with GMO, LLC, in Boston, Massachusetts, and was looking forward to the boat being launched for the summer up in Gloucester. Glenn Pantaleo posted pictures of himself (Mr. UPS) on Facebook with Rick Davis walking his dog in Branford, Connecticut, and Rick shares the spotlight with Frankie Annunziata and Dennis Rhodes for not looking a day older than when we finally left the Hill. Must be something about being six-year team members. Glenn… ya gotta get Davis back to the Hill one more time, or at least to the Friday night at Bux’s so we can share his stories with the others. Finally, as promised, Peter Reilly has been sharing his grandfathorial bliss with everyone on Facebook with pictures of himself and his grandson, Charlie. Now, that little tyke is a mighty handsome lad, and grandpa has a wider smile than he did at HGS because of him. Surely he will be skiing as well as his grandpa, but please do not teach him to put the Yankees above his classmates. So, come on, you scalawags! Send me some news for next fall so I can keep your brothers informed.” For the spring: Well, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes we go about our business not thinking that anything going on outside of our own circle is of great importance. That being said, I am embarrassed to say that it was I that wasn’t listening properly. Not every member of the classes of 1972 is on Facebook, so I feel obligated to cross the playing field to make sure the other half of the team is working with the same play book. Merilyn Francis has surfaced after extensive Googling by Betsey Harrington, with some details of her past. Merilyn went on from DPH to Simmons, and initially worked in health care policy and admin. Then, she became a nurse and experienced health care from the practical and clinical side—an eyeopener, as her nursing colleagues will attest to. Then six years in ICU
and oncology at Georgetown, and she is now back in health policy administration in the greater Washington, D.C., area. She is trying to get back in touch with Nancy Mann Freeman, and can be reached at 202380-5222 or mdianefrancis@gmail.com. I just learned that one of my old wrestling buddies, Jim Flanagan, has relocated to the great state of Michigan after an outstanding 40-or-so-year career at Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut. In his own very reserved and very determined way and manner, he has proven himself a winner, team player, and outstanding coach, having been elected to the Hand High School Hall of Fame in 2014. His kids, Shawn, Max, Kelly, and Erin, truly love their Dad and are congratulating Jim and his wife on their relocation to Michigan, as we all are. Loved seeing you at Doc Kirchhofer’s scholarship recognition get-together on the Hill. Best of luck, enjoy retirement, and keep in touch! I also just learned that Steve Kreis has a Facebook page with a lot of great pictures of Steve and his family on it. Steve is married to Joyce and they have three wicked-goodlooking kids: Amy, Scott, and Heidi. Now, if you ever want to see a parent radiate love, well, just scan the pics of Steve and Joyce with the family at Amy’s wedding last October. I hope to have more news from Steve when we make contact with each other. Patty “Irish gal” Wynne Dayton and husband Dickie write from sunny Fair Oaks, California, and Marco Island, Florida, that they are well and prospering. Sons Kenny and Draper are pretty much running the world salons and wine right now, so expect the economy to flourish under their leadership. Ah, yes, the wonderful world of grandparenting, as little Shannon (daughter of Draper) is conquering the adult world one grandparent at a time. By the time you read this, I will be retired from the job as Facilities Manager (chief engineer) for a hotel here on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Borrowing from J.B. Kittredge, I refer to it as the “salt mine.” While I have loved the
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work, my days of working 70 hours a week for anyone other than my friends, family, or myself, are over. I took the job last May, but a summer without competitive sailing is a bit like walking across the desert without water. Now back to small building projects. Last, but not least by any means, please Google Dr. Jean Bennett Maguire, if you have not done so already. She and her husband have selflessly spent considerable time and effort working to restore eyesight in children who have either been born blind or lost their eyesight through degeneration. Her research with DNA earned recognition in Smithsonian Magazine, and deserves as much recognition from our school nearly 50 years later. So come on, you scalawags! Get me some news to report on for the next issue of Views from the Hill.”
1973
Michael P. Finnegan mfinnegan218@gmail.com
I just wanted thank everyone who sent holiday wishes. If you didn’t get an email from me, it means I don’t have your address, so please send it to me. Joe Pegnataro writes: “I have been married for the last 35 years and for the past 21 have lived in Old Lyme, Connecticut. My son is getting married at the house and everyone is great.” Chip Kenna (did I really have to use his last name?) had his first grandchild recently.
way around the globe)! It was great to catch up, at least a little.” And from Bob Kyrcz: “Daughter Sophia ’17 and I were on Kauai, in mid-January to hike Waimea Canyon, but first we stopped in unannounced to see Scott Giarman at his United Way Kauai office. I hadn’t seen Scott since graduation, and he looks great. The Hawaiian lifestyle and climate have obviously been good to him!” Matt Patrick writes: “I thought I’d share my new website (matthewpatrick.com) with some of my movies, scenes from movies, and photographs. Your thoughts on how to make this a better website are welcome. Be blunt, I don’t take things personally.” And from Julie Shemitz (in late January): “My news is that I’m one of those government employees who’ve been working for free the last few weeks. (We’re supposed to get a paycheck this week.) It’s been interesting to say the least. I feel most sad for contractors and others who won’t get back pay. They are usually the ones who need it most and are living paycheck to paycheck. It is a daily challenge to continue to do what’s right and seek justice in the current environment. But I continue to believe I can do more good where I am.” Thanks to those of you who shared news.
1975
Mike Landman Strategicrunningadvisor@gmail.com
Mike Landman and wife Andrea here: We
1974
45th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Anne Sommer anne.sommer.editor@gmail.com
A reminder that our 45th Reunion is coming up on May 31 and June 1. I hope to see many of you there! Scott Giarman writes: “Pal from the distant past Bob Kyrcz blew my mind by appearing in my office with his daughter when they were vacationing here on Kauai, Hawaii. It’d been almost half a century (and about a quarter of the
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happily report that we have volunteered to take over the Class Notes for the Class of 1975. We continue to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and both practice law in greater Boston, and enjoy spending time at our Manhattan Upper West Side second home. We are in the early stages of planning our part-time retirement in Eugene, Oregon (TrackTown USA), and hope that once we are settled there, some of you will come for a visit! I have recently been in touch with Clay Hall (of course), Ozzie and Wendy Parente, Lisa Voos, and Mike Amore, and wish to
Bob Kyrcz ’74 (in shorts) dropped in on Scott Giarman ’74 on Kauai in January.
hear from more ’75 classmates.
1977
Diane Kolligian Shannon dshannon925@gmail.com
Thank you to those who sent news. Perhaps more of you will share your stories in the next issue. Jim Riley is still working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, living in Arlington, Massachusetts. He wrote: “On the fun side, I’ve learned to kiteboard. In the winter I ski a lot, mostly at Sugarbush in Vermont. On a sad note, my mother died at age 92 back in August, not long after my father who died at age 91 in October of 2017. They both lived well.” Lascelles Browne sent greetings from Florida: “Class of ’77, congratulations on another great year. As for me, I am enjoying the South Florida sunshine. Hope your future years will be as fruitful as those of the past. Bless you all.” An update from Joe Cogguillo: “My son Jake, who is a Fairfield Prep 2012 and UConn 2016 graduate, is working at Boston University and living in Brighton, Massachusetts. My younger son, Isaac, is a senior at Xavier High School in Middletown, Connecticut, and is considering matriculating at either St. Anselm’s College, Nichols College, or Merrimack. Otherwise, we are contentedly living in Durham, Connecticut, and looking forward
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to the spring, when we start going, on a near weekly basis, to the Mount Sunapee region in New Hampshire. Just celebrated my mother’s 83rd birthday and always look forward to my chance encounters with fellow Hopkins alums around town or wherever they might occur!”
1978
Andrea Boissevain hrc95ster@gmail.com
Hat in hand, I confess that I missed the deadline for last issue’s class notes. Our glorious class picture was posted, but no narrative! So let’s rewind and relive reunion! Reunion was fun and most of us missed the huge downpour, except for Kevin Maloney, who was none the worse for wear. He’s still with Wells Fargo and incredibly proud of his daughter, who is an optometrist with Warby Parker serving as Senior Clinical and Medical Affairs Manager. His son is married with a 3-year-old and is a manager at Big Y in Enfield, Connecticut. Kevin and his daughter are asked every year to volunteer with Robert Yudkin at the Dallas Rotary Club Service trip to Mexico for the Guerrero Eye Clinic. She already volunteered at six eye VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity) care clinics in Peru. Robert could not join us because he was at a family event in New Hampshire… so close, yet too far! More on his adventures later. Michael Ryan (former cardiologist turned vein specialist) and his wife, Hildegard (a pediatrician), flew in from Missouri for the event. Seriously, he flew the plane, himself. Mike has pursued a lifelong interest in flying to the point of becoming a commercial pilot so he can fly his vein specialty team to various clinics across the country—of course, this is in addition to having raised four children, ages ranging from teens to the twenties, and keeping up with their respective busy lives. Another doctor in the tent was Richard Bernstein, who apparently has operated on a couple of classmates! You need to check out
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his wide-awake surgery postings. Reunion Committee member Steve Falcigno and wife Loredana joined the party—proud HOP parents of two grads who are both college graduated and launched into the real world. Reunion was so inspirational that now Steve, Jud Smith, and Rich get together every month or so for dinner! Burch Sise Valldejuli and her husband, Raul, joined us after having hosted the night-before gathering at mActivity, a gym, a retreat really for those who don’t need or want the loud noise, ubermirrored, judgment-filled environment of a “run-of-the-mill” gym (that Burchy co-owns and manages). She provided food and drink and wonderful conversation. We had great fun when Welmoed Bouhuys Sisson (hailing now from Fredericksburg, Maryland) and Jane Sikand Edelstein ’79, an honorary classmate, showed up at both events. Welmoed is the celebrated seamstress who provided our class with a brand new class banner. She worked with the development office to get measurements and designed it so we could actually see all of our names. Thanks, Welmoed! Also attending both events were Karen Monteith Flynn and Gina Carloni Hart. Honestly, they too look not a day over 18. Karen just graduated the last of her children from college. She is still with University of New Haven in its Financial Aid section, helping students pay for that college education. Gina continues to accomplish great things for her passion, the Boys and Girls Village in Orange, a volunteer organization her grandfather founded more than 75 years ago. Apparently it’s a family affair that involves husband Kevin Hart, son Connor and daughter Courtney, raising money at various events to support the services and facility for at-risk youth. Jud Smith also joined us at Burch’s place. He continues to make that Orange Hills Golf Course hum and maintains that incredible ear-to-ear smile of his. Another great smile among of us is that of Betsy Doyle. She drove down from Geneva, New York, where she works at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center.
She is very proud of her boys, Ben, Jake, and Nathan. Nathan recently got married, lives in San Diego, California, and is in the Navy. Andrea Isaacs (Reunion Committee member) and husband Angus McDonald Jr. arrived amidst the rain, joining us under the tent. Her business, Cloud Nine Catering in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, caters weddings at their “industrial chic” facility, a restored 19th century space known as the Lace Factory in Deep River Landing. Frankie Huckaby came all the way from Anniston, Alabama, to reunion. I had the pleasure of seeing him in Anniston in January and was thrilled that he had penciled the event in. He is at General Dynamics when he isn’t busy perfecting his BBQ rub for Phat Frankies, his impromptu BBQ venture. It was great having him back in the fray on the Hill. Duane and Allie Crisco rolled in, looking not a day older than they did on May 12, 1978—not sure they could make it because of the weather and other commitments, but they did. Mark Harrison and wife Theresa attended. Mark is still busy with Meyers, Harrison & Pia. Dave Keegan and wife arrived from Atlanta to join the group. They are doing a lot of golfing (they even met golfing!), I think they mentioned they were close to retirement? Jealous! Bill Miller, a.k.a. Milo, arrived before the rain. He hails from Oxford, Connecticut (my old hometown), where he runs Miller Investment (investment and financial planning services) with three grown (and launched) sons. We want to thank the reunion committee who pulled off yet another successful testimony to celebrating our aging process. We are not the fledgling 18-year-olds we were in 1978. We all have evolved, moved in various directions, and yet are connected by a strong bond of having spent formative years on the Hill. On other fronts, Bob DuCharme sent this note back in April and just missed the last edition: “While playing upright bass in the local minor league jazz scene since we moved to Charlottesville in 2003, I’ve written enough songs that I’ve recorded an
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album with some friends as The Heptatonic Jazz Quintet. The album is called Gin & Heptatonic and is available on Spotify, Apple Music, and all the big streaming music services. The music is hard bop, swing, and variations on those. Working on this made me think back to getting my first grounding in music theory in a music theory class with Herb Richman (a class consisting of myself, Jessica Cogen, Larry Selzer, and Steve Falcigno) and especially from Robby Ameen, who explained things like modes to me as we hunched over the beat-up piano in the senior lounge. More information on the band and album is available at heptatonic.com. (And, if anyone is interested in SPARQL, the W3C standard query language for RDF graph databases, look up my O’Reilly book Learning SPARQL.)” Robert Yudkin writes that he is doing the half marathon in New York City on St. Patrick’s Day, his 20th state for long distance events. He will be heading to Chihuahua, Mexico, in March for a Rotary Eye/Dental clinic with open invites to all. He spends 10% of his time consulting and 90% as a realtor in the commercial multi-family real estate space in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. And in his spare time he will be serving as the area’s Rotary President and heading to Hamburg, Germany, for the International Convention. Claudia Cook d’Allesandro sent in this note: “I am currently serving as interim Executive Director of Berkshire Opera Festival, a post I will occupy until the summer when I expect to have a new knee installed.” She’ll return to her photography with a solo show in September at the Sandisfield Arts Center. She’s captured some of her amazing work in calendars (full disclosure: I bought three). She added that her three grown children are doing beautifully; she shares her life with a “kooky cat” and her “treasured better half, David.” And on that note, please send any notes, trivia, and/or pictures to hrc95ster@gmail.com. I’m on FB and Twitter (@aboissevain) as well. I’ll try and make the deadline!
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1979
40th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Jeffrey A. Arons jeff@jeffreyaronsmd.com
Say it ain’t so, but our 40th Reunion is upon us. It’s a cliché, but it is oh so true how fast the time has passed. It has actually been 46 years since many of us first stepped foot in the now demolished Junior School building that had been hastily constructed following the merger with the Day Prospect Hill School. Remember we had blue and yellow sweatshirts emblazoned with “HGDPHS”? Now of course the school is known simply as “Hopkins,” or even “Hop.” This year, and in honor of our 40th, Hopkins honored one of our own, Francisco Luis Palmieri, as the Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient, recognized for his nearly four decades of public service to our nation in the U.S. State Department. On January 4, with his first adviser, Mr. Bill Ewen, in attendance, along with Mr. John Wilkinson, Mrs. Susan Feinberg, Fran’s mother, and myself (Jeffrey Arons), Fran was honored in front of the entire school, where he gave a moving and insightful talk to the student body about his experience at Hopkins after having grown up in New Haven’s inner city and how it continues to influence his career traveling throughout the world with several secretaries of state and meeting many heads of state. He discussed the importance of public service and the importance of the “servant leadership” philosophy. He also acknowledged that Barbara Jordan was perhaps his greatest mentor and urged us all to Google her (which I did). Fran then “diplomatically” fielded some difficult questions from the students and attended several classes. It was a great day of course for Fran, but also for the Class of 1979, a year when the world changed. Meanwhile, in an inscrutable political misadventure, Fran’s nomination was somehow quashed in the Senate, so he will not be going to Honduras. Fran remains in the State Department and is pursuing other opportunities. There is still the real
chance that he could be nominated again as an ambassador elsewhere in the future. Nevertheless, in light of Fran’s accomplishments, several classmates this time reminisced about their relationship with Fran. Rob Quish provided this: “Seeing Fran Palmieri receive the Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award brought great pride in our friend and great memories from our time on the Hill. Fran’s photo—beard included— flashed instant memories of our time together on the Hopkins basketball team. I distinctly remember seeing his Dad—beard included—on the sideline, full of pride, watching Fran race around the court. I noticed this because I was often on the bench, behind Fran, which I wasn’t too happy about. You see, I thought I had a much better shot than Fran. In retrospect he was a much quicker defender than I was and his role was more frequently required. Cut to today: Fran racing around the world, representing our country in places we only hear about on the news, often playing defense to keep our country safe and our position strong. Some things never change. Especially the good coaching one gets from their time on the Hill. Congrats, Fran!” From Scott Fisher: “Fran was the first close friend I made at Hopkins in seventh grade. I don’t remember what connected us at first, but we became very close in that first year. So many memories stand out, but some of my most impactful memories surround spending time with Fran’s family down in the city. We came from different cultural worlds and spending time with Fran and his family was my first immersion in a different culture. I loved being around his Mom and Dad, brothers, and many cousins. I was introduced to foods I’d never tried before. The word ‘stranger’ did not exist for the Palmieri family: they welcomed any and all into their hearts and home. I believe my love for other cultures very much started with my friendship with Fran. I am so thankful to call Fran my friend and so proud of all he has done in his career.” From Jane Sikand Edelstein: “When
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I first got to Hopkins in ninth grade, I was pretty sure I recognized Fran from the neighborhood where I used to hang out with my best friend from St. Mary’s, where we attended junior high. I’m sure Fran had no clue who I was though! But it made me feel happier seeing another familiar face on campus in those early days. Of course, I’m incredibly proud to count Fran among my friends. I will always remember his Dad on campus, and I see so much of Mr. Palmieri in Fran now. Fran has made his family and his classmates so very proud. Fran for president in 2020!” Jane also added the following update: “My girls continue to grow up, though neither my husband, Steve, nor I get older, of course! My oldest daughter, Kiran, who still works at The George Washington University as the Coordinator for Student Support and Family Engagement, and holds a master’s of public health, is beginning her journey now to become a nurse. She is starting pre-reqs for admission to an accelerated entry nursing program with the goal of ultimately becoming a Nurse Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. My second daughter, Sarah, graduated from The George Washington University last May with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and took a position as a Junior Associate with Weber Shandwick in New York City. In October, she moved into the city and is enjoying life in the Big Apple. My youngest daughter, Sophie, a senior in high school, was accepted to Yale’s Class of 2023 just before Christmas, which was both exciting for all of us and an incredible relief, knowing there were no more applications to be completed! Sophie has spent most of her high school career doing science research based on her own orthopedic issues growing up, and competing in state, national, and international science competitions. She currently works in a lab at Yale School of Medicine. I continue to work for a federal Health Profession Opportunity Grant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, one of 30-plus grantee sites nationwide. The work is interesting,
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frustrating, and rewarding all at the same time. But as the grant ends in 2020, I’m starting to think about my next move and where it will take me. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the end of May. However, I’m still baffled as to how 40 years has passed since our senior year at Hopkins!” Howard Etkind added: “It is very nice to see Fran do so well in the State Department and I have very warm memories of him. He was destined to be a leader, and I saw that when I lost a minor election to him as home class something or other, somewhere around 1973. I on the other hand, work as a staff engineer, in an obscure DoD agency, dealing with the layout of munitions plants. Certainly not as glamorous as U.S. Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs, but I don’t have to wear a suit every day or attend numerous social functions.” From Jerry Blair: “Simply put, Fran with our support can change the world.” John Laviola recollected the following: “Fran and I first met in Mr. Ewen’s seventh grade adviser group. Although we both hit the soccer field that first fall in seventh grade, a scrappy competitive football player who gave 1000% to his team is my most vivid memory of Fran. Our parents also connected while we were at Hopkins, and I remember a wonderful family summer party at our house where Fran’s mom crafted a huge paella—the first I had ever seen or tasted. Our fathers also enjoyed meeting and attending various sporting events. In particular, they appeared to enjoy ‘very spirited’ cheering at our football games. Fran’s significant achievements at the Department of State are in no doubt due to his high integrity, intellect, and strong work ethic. But most important, congratulations to Fran on his receiving the Hopkins Distinguished Alumni Award!” I (Jeffrey Arons) recall first meeting Fran in seventh grade through Scott Fisher. His adviser was Mr. Ewen; mine was Mrs. Sandler. I had gone to elementary school in Orange, Connecticut, Fran in inner city New Haven. He was the first Latin American I had ever
met; I was the first Jew he ever met. Mine was the first bar mitzvah he had ever attended. I called him Frank the first time I met him. I thought that was his name. I had never met anyone with an ‘ethnic’ name. Fran was our junior year class president and our Student Council president. Fran was the ultimate competitor. He taught me the love of competitive sports, how to compete at all odds, and how to appreciate being a sports fan. I hadn’t really been involved in sports prior to Hopkins. I remember during a Hopkins football game, close to halftime, he appeared to be injured on a play. As time expired, I was working the chains on the sidelines so I walked on the field to check on him and was surprised to find that he was fine—he was trying to stop the clock so another play could be run! Who would think of that back then? Fran did. Now there’s actually a rule against that. He was ahead of his time. He was a pretty good trash talker too. I could also tell the story of when we ‘procured’ the Hamden Hall sign, but I’ll save that for another time. And I don’t want any senators to use that against him some day. From growing up in the inner city with a mother from Colombia and dad from Italy, to Hopkins, to Princeton, to the State Department, his is a magnificent story.” Ken Yanagisawa, physician and proud father, is as busy as ever: “I am currently serving as Chair of our Board of Governors, American Academy of Otolarynglogy–Head and Neck Surgery, as well as continuing to serve as Managing Partner of our private practice, Southern New England Ear, Nose, Throat & Facial Plastic Surgery Group, LLP. Tremendously busy, but satisfying especially with two new young physicians recently joining our practice and growing our future. My daughter, Katie, got married last summer, and is about to graduate her pediatric residency to take a job in Maine. Michael is working at Epic (electronic medical record company) in Wisconsin, and Mark is working as an engineer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jon is in college locally and
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D.C., to improve the industry. With two family businesses to run and family to enjoy, it will indeed be a busy year!” Let’s hope Fran’s yearbook page is never examined by some Senate subcommittee. Hope to see you all up on the Hill May 31 and June 1!
1980
Pierce Tyler ptyler@gmail.com
Decorative plate by Willa Ridinger ’80 specially created for Eric Mueller’s retirement
helping Grandpa with his daily activities, and Kevin, our ‘baby,’ is attending Rowan University in New Jersey as a freshman studying engineering, and contributing to their successful swim team as a distance swimmer (1650, 1000, 500 free, and 200 butterfly). He has been named New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie Swimmer of the Week four times this year! My wife, Julia, recently gave a presentation on Buprenorphine Maintenance at the AMERSA National Conference in San Francisco, California. Hard to believe that 40 years has already whizzed by! Hope everyone is doing well.” Sharon Livieri Peterson sent in this great news: “I have been following all the emails and enjoying the updates and reminiscing. I am looking forward to seeing you all at the reunion in May. I can’t believe it is 40 years! Seems surreal to me. Very exciting news about Fran. I am looking forward to getting to catch up in person. For 2019, I am honored to have been selected Chair of the national trade association for our industry, Petroleum Marketers Association of America (PMAA). During the year, I will travel throughout the country, promoting the advances we have made in renewable diesel and biodiesel and working with members and legislators in Washington,
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You may have heard that our art teacher and soccer coach, Eric Mueller, retired from Hopkins last year. Eric was a great guy and seems to have discovered the fountain of youth. I saw a recent photo of him and he hasn’t aged a bit. For his retirement, Willa Ridinger honored him with one of her commemorative plates, which she shared a picture of with me. Willa has been painting and doing calligraphy as a side business. She started the enterprise at the urging of her sister, Kristin Ridinger Taurchini (also former faculty) who passed away in 2016. Willa writes, “I miss her terribly but am trying to make good on my promise.” You can learn more about Willa’s work at Willaware.org. It was also nice to hear from Sue Fiore Seeber, who sends her best wishes to everyone. By way of updating us, Sue says, “I’ve been living near Boston for the past 30 years, where I play viola professionally, and also maintain a small acupuncture practice. I’m married to a bass player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and we have a son, Nick, who is studying at the University of Arizona and also competes in triathlon. For fun, I show and train retrievers (a Labrador and a Standard Poodle) to hunt.” Like my wife, Dia, and me, it appears that Chris Cogguillo and his wife, Jorie, are also facing the prospect of becoming empty nesters in the fall. Chris writes, “The question is how far from the nest will Leah fly? Right now, she has been accepted to a school in New Haven founded in 1718. But she is freaking out at the idea of being so close to her parents. Time will tell.” Indeed it will. I’m sure we’ll all have
lots more news to share next winter. And if anyone, especially lately, has considered leaving the nest themselves, Jenny Burwell writes with a strong recommendation for the country on our northern border, saying, “It’s never too late to make Canada your home as well!” Jenny is in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (a UNESCO World Heritage site), and would love to hear from anyone who wants to explore this idea more. Finally, some sad news from Sylvia Schafer, who lost her father, Roy Schafer, in August 2018. She writes, “He was 95 and had lived a long, fruitful life. Otherwise, life goes on quietly in the quiet corner of Connecticut.” That’s it for now. Look forward to staying in touch with more of you in 2019!
1981
If you are interested in serving as a correspondent for the Class of ’81, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
1982
Diane Lifton diane.lifton@hugheshubbard.com
Greetings from Brooklyn, New York. I am sitting at our scarred, cluttered kitchen table preparing our class notes. Our dogs, both rescues, one 15-pound Jack Chiweenie and one even smaller toy fox terrier, are stationed nearby, hoping I will drop snacks on the floor. Our 16-year-old son, a high school junior, just came down to the kitchen, grabbed a half-eaten pint of Häagen-Dazs from the freezer, filled up the other half with whipped cream and ate it from the container. (A chip off the old block.) He then went back upstairs to take a practice section of the ACT. Fun times. Next up for him, baseball spring training with his high school team, and college tours. Our 13-year-old daughter is in eighth grade, and trying out for JV softball a year early. Fingers crossed. Both of them play travel ball outside of school, and it’s getting harder to keep up with them.
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Meanwhile, I continue to practice law in Manhattan, and serve on the board of a wonderful organization called World Connect. As usual, I am renovating part of our very old brownstone, which Rich and I moved into in 2000 because we needed space for a family. When I sent out the email blast to our class, I was very happy to hear from Vin Sansone, and asked him what he thinks of his hometown (just in case our son wants to become an Oregon Duck). Vin wrote: “I like Eugene enough that I keep moving back, lots of nice nature close by, fun events and weird people; I just had to learn to make my own pizza. My kids all live in the area for now—Valentina (8), Iliana (18), Jona (23), Cerina (25), and Osana (28). Osana has a 7-, 5-, and 1-year-old. When I’m not playing with the kids I ‘work’ at games, parties, events, and festivals, as a balloon twister, magician, and sports official (volleyball and basketball, high school and kid sports). Two years ago Ellie, Valentina, and I visited New Haven, where we met Chris Hilton and Bill Palmieri ’81 and his kids. Ellie and I walked around New York City with Cody Brueler. Planning a visit this year.” For Deidre Cuffee-Gray, who is in her 11th year at a college-bound public school in Springfield, Massachusetts, “Things are copasetic here in Northampton. As a school counselor focused on college planning, I’m working against the tide of economic and educational inequity that exists. I love my little job. Aside from my marriage to Libby Woodfin, I’ve never done anything for this duration. Both are worth the investment of time, sweat, tears, and work. Loving all of it.” Deidre visited Hopkins in the spring “and was impressed by the work the Hopkins Black Alumni/ae Network is doing. Going to remain involved in that little piece of the Hopkins world. Read Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny, and was sleepless for days. Thinking about #11 (11. Make eye contact and small talk…), I started a group called The Neighborhood Project (theneighborhoodproject.com) in my living room. A
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pretty cool attempt to build community through conversation. Working with the idea that looking folks in the eye and having meaningful conversation is the thing that will save us. It’s been an amazing experience. I started a similar group at my school as well. Connecting with others helps in what I see as perilous times. Trying unsuccessfully to stay off Facebook, but picked up masters rowing here. Northampton Community Rowing and Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club have me sworn off of running marathons (three) and enjoying the Connecticut River in ways I couldn’t have guessed when we were in high school. I still cringe when that water splashes on me, and I’m having the time of my life.” I admittedly am jealous of Kenny Ballard’s recent vacations. He writes that “life in Keene, New Hampshire, is great. Loving being back on the East Coast and close to my brothers in Connecticut and in-laws in Vermont. Our daughter, Erin, graduated from high school early and is working and riding her horse, teaching riding lessons as she figures out whether she is going to get her Equine Therapy certification. Liam is 16 and is enjoying the start of the second semester of tenth grade, hanging out with friends and playing XBox. Recently, Kelly and I spent a great long weekend in London, England, exploring the museums and the sites. Headed to Ireland in March for fun in Dublin and exploring the Ring of Kerry. Work at The Mountain is going well, turning the business around and having a blast expanding the art and reach of the brand. Looking forward to getting out and doing some skiing and snow biking when we get more snow on the ground. All the best to everyone, happy 2019!” Chris Hilton and his wife have been working hard, but traveling for fun too: “Not much has changed out here, but there is good news. My team and I are in the midst of pushing the first release of our software out the door. The work alternates between exhilarating and exhausting as we tackle the various obstacles in our path but it’s genu-
inely fun to work with this cloud-based technology stack. My wife’s company is finalizing a merger. This is doubly complicated when your merger coincides with a government shutdown, ’nuf said on that. The splash of color in this sea of beige fortune is my son. He’s a senior in high school so it’s college application time. He wants to pursue an aerospace engineering degree. Yale was in consideration for a while, because they are actively seeking STEM students. But Yale is still working on its program and they don’t have his major. We’ve already heard from one school, but my wife tells me not to brag so you’ll have to Google the clues for the details but… He was very excited to receive his ‘silver tube’ just before Christmas. Before he makes his decision he wants to hear from a certain California engineering school. Not the one you are thinking of, but if you own a printer, you’re probably familiar with a couple of the alumni. I haven’t made any calls yet, but I think that we will be up in Northampton, Massachusetts, this spring. It’s where we got married. This time when we go, I plan to give Deidre Cuffee-Gray and Andrew Grant-Thomas plenty of warning so we can get together. I plan to see Sridhar Srinivasan and his wife, Rebecca, when they visit New York from their home in Washington, D.C., in early February. We’ll be slogging across northern Europe in August. If it’s at all possible, I’ll try to run into Mike Fawcett ’86 on that trip. That’s all the news that fits.” Continuing the trend, I saw on Facebook that Jake Stevens is back in Myanmar: “For the past five plus years I’ve divided my time between Brooklyn, New York, where my son lives, and Myanmar, where I support lawyers and law teachers in (slowly) expanding the rule of law and access to justice. This year I’ll be in Myanmar full time as Country Director for International Bridges to Justice, leading six E.U.-funded legal aid Justice Centres. The timing is not ideal, as my kid is 1.5 years shy of college. While in the States, I’ve seen Victor Pardi (happy in his orthodontics
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practice in Greenwich, Connecticut), Melanie Cohen Greenberg (taking on new challenges in international ‘peace-building’ and moving from Washington, D.C., to suburban Virginia), and Sally Dawidoff (about to have a book of poetry published). Feel free to look me up if you are in Myanmar. (Ha! Let’s see if that happens!) (jakestevens.net).” And meanwhile, Drew Nuland is coming home (soonish): “After 32 years in China, we’ve finally decided to head back home. We sold our Shanghai house, bought another one in Princeton, New Jersey, and while it’s being renovated, we’re taking a ‘family gap year’ to travel the world. We’re now seven months into our new lives as ‘immigrant refugee nomads’ living in Airbnb’s and out of one carry-on suitcase each. What a ride! I hereby (and wholeheartedly) seduce all Hop ’82 beloveds to put this on your bucket lists… then come visit us in Princeton post–July 2019. Love to you and yours.” Meanwhile, I am impressed by Gretchen Papagoda Parisi, who has been effecting change through political action and public service, and, yes, traveling: “Because at Hopkins I learned two important lessons: (1) Speak your mind, and (2) Stand up for what you believe in, I recently ran for and was elected to a Democratic Committee position here in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. I am happy to report that I helped to deliver victories up and down the ballot during the midterm elections, including the election of the first woman and the first Democrat in the history of Chester County, Pennsylvania, to hold our state representative seat. In other news, I continue to run my own business, providing health care writing and editorial support for Optum, Teladoc, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Coalition for Healthcare Communication. Highlights of 2018? My oldest daughter graduated from the University of South Carolina and my husband and I took a 25th anniversary trip to Ireland and Scotland, which was amazing!” Dr. Jonathan Bogan has been in Madison,
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Connecticut, since 2002: “My wife and I have five kids, now ages 18, 15, 15, 13, and 11. Our oldest is in college, and the others are in middle and high school so you can imagine we’re pretty busy with all sorts of activities (swimming, fencing, orchestra, scouts, dance, etc.). My wife works as a hospitalist at Yale New Haven Hospital, and still finds time to run a Girl Scout troop. I’m in the Endocrine Division and Cell Biology Department at Yale Medical School and lead a research laboratory focused on understanding cell biology related to diabetes and obesity. I’m also active clinically and teach in the MD-Ph.D. program, as well as for medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows. I often see our classmate Liz Holt, who is also an endocrinologist in our division—it is actually kind of fun when we have career day for the medical students and we tell them we were high school classmates!” I also have enjoyed reconnecting with Andrew Grant-Thomas, Liz Holt, Frank Colandrea, Mandy Burwell Young ’83, Betsy Chapman ’83, Medina Tyson Jett ’83, former Hopkins history teacher Virginia Wilkinson, and many others on Facebook. For all of Facebook’s faults, it’s a great space to see each other’s families. That’s it for now. Send me an email with news or find me on Facebook.
1983
Andrew Levy alevy@wywhp.com
The Class of 1983 seems to either be going through a post-reunion letdown with notes or else simply a midlife crisis. I, however, am going to do the best I can with what I have been given. Lisa Haury sending in, “I promise next time,” or Bob Bua’s “My life is the same,” are not very helpful to my task at hand! Steven Sneideman writes, “Hope this update finds you well. I’m still enjoying the memories of our 35th Reunion last year. Make sure you put the spring of 2023 on your virtual calendars. It would be great
to see more of you next time. Kelli and I are doing some traveling as usual. We took the opportunity to visit friends stationed in China back in September and had a wonderful and enlightening time. Found a place to be alone on the Great Wall and it was surreal. We spent 18 days in five different locations around the country. If you have any questions about places to go, and how to do it, send me a message on Facebook. In March, we head to Iceland for eight days to see the ice caves and glaciers and hot springs and northern lights. We’re hoping for a fascinating trip as well. We’ll be traveling with my cousin and her husband so it will be a small group with a private guide in an off-road vehicle. Yes, we still work, too—Kelli supporting Midwest Energy customers as a client exec for IBM and I’m still a Global Project Exec for AT&T. And I am coming up on 20 years working out of my home. Not a bad gig; I highly recommend it. The last 15 years I have been an elected public official in one capacity or another here where I live in Michigan and currently I am also Chairman of our local community Charitable Foundation. In the last 18 months, we have grown from $2 million to almost $4 million. If you have questions about starting a charity for anything (kids, animals, seniors, vets, whatever) drop me a line. If you can dream it, we can help you do it. This year, my town population of 100,000 has given me the honor of inducting me into its Hall of Fame. It’s nice to be appreciated for the volunteer work you do. (Don’t worry Beatty and Ades, they said I can go in as a Red Sox!) Finally, our daughters are off in the world making a difference: Emily in New York City and Maggie in Detroit, Michigan, so Kelli and I travel to see them quite often. It’s fun to see them starting their lives after college. Hope everyone has a great spring and wonderful summer.” David Keck adds that he continues to enjoy serving as chaplain at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is empty-nesting and enjoying the best of both worlds, since his younger
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child is a freshman at Embry-Riddle. His son comes home for laundry and home-cooked food and comes by his office just to chat (and to see what is in the office refrigerator). His daughter is making her way in the world, now working in Atlanta, Georgia. David is developing several projects, one exploring connections between the sports and aviation sectors and one on preparing students proactively for when another student dies. This latter work is challenging, but meaningful. Adam Perlmutter shares, “I recently spent two days in New Haven, where my 11-yearold received a new heart valve at Yale using a catheter procedure, i.e., without needing open heart surgery. The doctors and nurses at Yale were fabulous. It was a total success. The only downside is that Sally’s was closed on Monday and Tuesday, although Louis’ Lunch was open.” Jodie Raccio Small says, “I made a career switch from law to college consulting a few years ago, and I am having a lot more fun! I help students and their families prepare for and navigate through the college process—some beginning their sophomore year in high school. My new business is called College Coordinators and I am based out of Madison, Connecticut.” I purchased a copy of Rewind—did you? Carolyn Tesh O’Doherty writes, “My second novel, Unleashed, comes out on September 10, 2019. The book is a sequel to Rewind, and continues the adventures of my teenage protagonists who have the ability to freeze and rewind time. Details at carolynodoherty.com. One of the unexpected delights of publishing a book is hearing from old friends (including some of you!) telling me they read it. The class of ’83 rocks!” Philip Johnson adds, “I find myself spending more time on the Hill as my son Wiley is a freshman. He’s fencing now and rowing crew in the spring. I don’t recall fencing being an option for us… nor crew for that matter. The academic rigor of Hop is pretty darn robust. It’s definitely harder and more competitive than when we went through.” Dennis Donahue shares, “I just heard yesterday
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that my law firm (now in its tenth year) has been identified by Patexia as being in the top one percent of Best Performing Patent Prosecution Law Firms. This means that out of nearly 5,000 firms that made the initial cut based on number of applications filed, we are in the top 50! I have also been named on the list of Best Patent Attorneys in St. Louis for the past four years, winning the top honor for two years in a row; I am hoping to win again this year. Our law firm is dedicated to entrepreneurs, and we are focused on our clients’ success. I figure that I had better let you know now before all of the news trucks show up to interview me… or at least my Emmy–award winning journalist daughter at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University. I will have my awardwinning fashion design daughter create me a suit when I pick up my award. The finished collection will be on view at the Kent State Fashion Show in April… My son is at Grand Canyon University—recruited to play on the lacrosse team. Finally, I could not have done it without my wife, Amy.” While pulling into a parking lot outside of Harvest Restaurant in downtown New Haven recently, my car passed another car with two familiar faces… Peter Wells and the first person I laid my eyes on at Hopkins, Wendy Kittredge-Wells, who was then the Director of Admission for the Junior School. I yelled out to them, “Mr. Wells, Mrs. Kittredge, how are you? It is Andrew Levy!” As if my name would mean anything to two incredible Hopkins faculty members who had thousands of students cross their paths. They gave me a very nice, warm greeting from a distance. It was great to see their smiling faces and they truly haven’t changed! It was a very quick encounter and in the event they are still looking at one another questioning, “Who was that?” I just wanted to say “hello” again. Diana Lawson Goldman is working in the Beantown Kitchen and “plan(t)s” to publish a book soon on preparing delicious vegan-based recipes. As a proud uncle, I have to add a brief note about two of my
nieces. Alyssa Sachs was recently crowned Miss Shoreline in the Miss Connecticut Class of 2019 and will compete in June for Miss Connecticut. Her younger sister, Serena, will be attending my alma mater, Lehigh University, in the fall, which will allow me to spend more quality time with Tom Pinchbeck (whose daughter Ellie is a current Lehigh student) during Parents’ & Uncle Weekend! Seth Stier is still not a banker in Boston. In February, however, he and his son Jared joined Lesli Greenberg, her son Zachary, my nephew Seth Kirschner and me at the Super Bowl in Atlanta. We even brought Bucky Dent along with us trying to bring some of his magic back to the fans of New England. Unfortunately, the wrong team won… again! A wonderful time was had by all. Has Isam Kaoud made a decision yet if he will be coming to our reunion last year? Stay well Class of 1983!
1984
35th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Kathleen Hager Tasonis Oogg66@yahoo.com
Nina Kruger Davis dashed off this quick note
to me: “I’m living in the southwest area of Washington, D.C., now. My place is just a quick walk from D.C. Wharf, the new D.C. United Audi Arena, D.C. Nationals Stadium, the Smithsonian(s), and the monuments on the National Mall. Feel free to look me up when you are in town. This invitation is extended to anyone from my class or adjacent classes, especially if you would like a capable wing-woman to accompany you to any of these D.C. spots.” Nina also wrote that over the last couple of years or so, she has met up with Bethany Schowalter Appleby ’85 for breakfast near the D.C. Navy Yard; with Miriam Pelikan Pittenger ’85 for an Irish Pub evening dinner date on the Washington, D.C., Wharf; and she had the pleasure of a home-cooked meal with Kimberly Wilson Nieto ’86 and her super cool family, at Kim’s home in Fayetteville,
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1985 Classmates and others got together recently, FROM LEFT: Judy Smith ’79, Kirk Kolligian, his dog Sadie, Helen DeGennaro, Cristina Benedetto, Bethany Schowalter Appleby, Marcella Hourihane, Wendy Merk, and Marice Dorsey McNeil.
North Carolina, while she was there on business. All these events, each fun and spontaneous, Nina treasures. These three women, especially, show Nina how truly excellent, successful, super intelligent, and kind the women of Hopkins are, as they go forth, ripening and growing gracefully, across the globe. Nina added, “See you, all, anyone, if you pass through Washington, D.C. It’ll be a blast. Perhaps—think about it—maybe you would like to meet up at one of our many ‘On-the-Mall’ National Protests? Just sayin’, y’know.” Congratulations to Emily Smith-Lee, who was named a Massachusetts Lawyer of the Year for 2018 by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. I hope to see all of you at our 35th Reunion, May 31– June 1, 2019! If you have not connected with your classmates on Facebook yet, please like the “Hopkins Class of 1984” page at facebook.com/hopkins1984.
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1985
Cristina Benedetto lucysmom1@optonline.net
A huge shout-out to Kirk Kolligian for making this installation of our class notes a reality. Perhaps Kirk sensed the desperation in my email as I called out for classmates to share some news with me. So he graciously hosted an impromptu brunch at his home and invited all local classmates to attend. In attendance were Helen DeGennaro, Marcella Hourihane, Marice Dorsey McNeil, Wendy Merk, Bethany Schowalter Appleby, Kirk Kolligian, and me! I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all had a great time catching up and doing a little reminiscing. Although Kirk works in wealth management in New Haven, I think he has been suppressing his creative design self for years. We gathered at what was once his family home that he has completely renovated and remodeled into a gorgeous contemporary that he shares with his partner, Laura, and their pampered pooch, Sadie. Over Bloody Marys and mimosas, here is what I learned: Helen DeGennaro, visiting from Colorado, is still running marathons and will compete in
the Boston Marathon this year. She recently started a new job as the operations manager at Mission Yogurt at Denver International Airport. Stop in and pay her a visit if you find yourself in Denver! Wendy Merk is still working for the Board of Education in Milford, Connecticut. She is single and loving life with her two dogs, Finn and Guinness. Bethany Schowalter Appleby is working as the Chief Legal Officer at Subway in Milford and just celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary in Key West, Florida. Marcella Hourihane is still living in Guilford, Connecticut, and volunteers in the Office of Admission at Hopkins. Both her sons attend Hopkins. Her elder son, Alex, graduates in June. From Heather Taylor: “Last May I left 25-plus years of working in a traditional practice as an architect to take a new role as the Campus Planner and Architect at Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New Hampshire. Needless to say, lots of memories from Hopkins come back as I watch our students. What a joy and honor to be a steward of such an amazing campus. An added bonus is that my sister, Kristi Baxter ’88, lives one town away and she is on cam-
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
pus with my niece and nephews who swim at the Exeter pool! I still have my home in Boston, Massachusetts, but have worked out a nearby living situation for now. Lastly, Marice Dorsey NcNeil recently competed in the Rock Lottery in New Haven. She participated as a singer/guitar player. Essentially, volunteer musicians are organized into bands through a lottery-based system. Now in its seventh year, the event groups musicians into bands and then sets before them a series of musical challenges. One of this year’s challenges was to create a rock opera. The bands then perform in shows before a live audience and a panel of judges. Marice’s band finished as finalists. Congrats, Marice! Hopefully we can have more of these “mini reunions” in the future and include more classmates.
1986
Jennifer Hulford Odell jhodell2@yahoo.com
Hello class of 1986! Our class notes have been looking meatier… I always aspire to have them be as good and informative as Drew Levy’s for the Class of 1983. I was not even in that class, but I really enjoy reading all that he and his classmates have to share. Thanks so much to everyone who wrote in. I am in the throes of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) Committee duties, with five major events going on at our kids’ school between January and March. It’s very exciting, as our committee has grown from four parents who wanted to have a science fair to more than 30 participants, including administrators, teachers, parents, universities, organizations, and community members, all volunteering to increase and improve STEAM in our school. We just hosted our Middle School Science Fair. Next up is a Salmon Release Party with salmon that middle school students have grown through the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; STEAM Olympics, a two-week hands-on session for
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students and professional development for teachers where students explore scientific inquiry and the engineering and design process; Women in STEAM Career Day, a day during Women’s History Month in which women in the STEAM fields spend the morning in a station set up for K–8 students to explore and interview; our Elementary School Science Fair; schoolyard restoration projects with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership; and a new program called Wind and Oar Boat School, where our middle school students will be designing and building a full-sized boat, with mandated math and science curricula/skills integrated in the process. We are hoping to take the boat (as long as it floats!) and auction it off at our annual school auction, to wrap the funds back into our STEAM budget in order to participate again the next year. And it’s winter wet weather, so snow play time in the mountains and mud in the horse paddocks and on the trails. Good for our kids to toughen them up! Maisie is off to high school next year and just signed up for her first courses. She had more than 40 electives to choose from, many of which offer college and AP Credit, as a freshman. Fia is 10 and will be in middle school next year, though our school is a K–8 so no change there, which is great. Will is 23 and living ten minutes from here in northwest Portland, Oregon, taking classes and working at a high-end pizza joint. And my husband, Turner, continues his daily bike commute, rain or shine (we call him the postman) to work for Portland State University for the Oregon Consensus program, doing mediation focused on natural resource issues: salmon, lamprey, dams, forests, coastline, rivers, water issues, wolves, sewage infrastructure, etc. We all converge weekly at our house on Friday nights for Dungeons and Dragons or some other game, and dinner with Will and his amazing artist girlfriend, and it has been a great way to stay connected as a family. Lastly, I spoke with Kim Wilson Nieto the other day. It was great to catch up
with her and hear about all the amazing things she and her family are doing. Hope everyone has a great winter and spring! Nushin Ghofrany Sayfie writes, “I am still a judge in Miami, Florida, serving in the Circuit Court Criminal Division. I still enjoy my job, but the thought of retiring is not as daunting as it once was. My kids are all in college. Janna is 20 and at the University of Texas at Austin. She just left for a semester abroad in Spain, and I’ll be visiting her in the spring. My twin boys, John and Alex, just turned 19 and are freshmen at Boston College. They are adjusting to the weather, slowly. My sister, Shieva Ghofrany ’88, is still in Connecticut. She’s an OB-GYN in Stamford. She and her family live next door to my parents in Rowayton, so I get to Connecticut pretty regularly, but rarely to New Haven unless we are on a pizza run to Modern. Finally, I’m happy to report that Kim Hart, Gillian Doyle, Beth Maher Leonard and I are planning a belated 50th birthday girls’ trip in the spring, just in time to celebrate 51… Looking forward to the next reunion after missing the last because of Janna’s graduation. Wishing everyone good health and happiness, and please let me know if you are in Miami!” Dean Engle writes, “Greetings from sunny San Francisco, California, which the polar vortex thankfully avoided! Our eighth grader is in the throes of high school selection, which has been lousy for her and great for me. Great because I felt like my creative writing major from college was serving no use whatsoever. Now, here I am writing essays again… I mean editing my girl’s brilliant work! I’m divorced and Heather and I have a blended family so we’re either alone or with four girls—our eighth grader, a seventh grader and two sixth graders—yes, middle school rocks and Heather is president of the middle school parent association since no other family would be crazy enough to manage the middle school challenges she faces. We’re in the middle of a move to another San Francisco neighborhood, so a ‘normal’ day
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involves running from office to house to choose between wall panel radiator styles and back to the office again. Paul Haydu and I reconnected a couple of years ago and talked shop (he’s still running his own architecture firm here in San Francisco and by the looks of it, creating beautiful designs), and we just reconnected again yesterday over some ideas on a kitchen redesign. He seems to be doing well and keeping busy. I hear occasionally from Murat Sinanoglu Armbruster, who’s over in the East Bay with his growing family, but I missed the holiday Hoppy Hour he hosted back in December. Hopefully I’ll get to see him at his next event, or at my (gosh, this is hard to admit) 50th birthday later in April.” Dean then wrote back a few days letter and reported the following exciting news: “I just saw Paul Haydu again yesterday. Big news: he and his partner, Melissa, are awaiting their first child in early March! He looks no different than in 1986. Julie Polka Zellner writes, “Working hard in Connecticut as a speech-language pathologist. Happily married to Scott Zellner for 21 years. My three children are thriving and the oldest is off to college next year at Alfred University. Please say prayers for our classmate Kim Wilson Nieto, as she is having health issues. Be well everyone! Sharon Silverman writes, “I am still in the same job, as a child psychiatrist at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. I continue to work on the inpatient adolescent unit, and can’t believe that I have been there for 16 years so far! A new program has been added, the Young Adult Partial Program for those ages 10 to 26. It has been great to help a program get started. The young adult age group is a particularly vulnerable time, when patients have aged out of adolescent care, but have not yet been firmly established with adult providers and we deal with kids having a difficult time transitioning to college. One of the models of treatment is called Acceptance and Commitment therapy, helping kids to find out what is important to them and what they value. My son,
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Benjamin, is 10 years old, enjoying fourth grade, ski club, and learning to play the baritone horn. He also enjoys scouting activities with my husband, Gary, who is a very involved volunteer and is helping out at the World Jamboree this summer. Gary has been very busy building an addition on our house and doing much of the child care. I am so grateful for doing work that I love and having a great family. My mom has recently retired after 50 years of dermatology practice, and she is enjoying spending more time with my dad.” Alex Lewin writes, “Here’s a brief update and a highlight. I’m living mostly in Oakland, California. By day, I program computers, which I’ve been doing since college. By night, I think about food, health, sustainability, plants, and especially fermentation—controlled spoilage of food. I’ll be participating in the 2nd Annual Congreso de Fermentación Oaxaca, October 17–20. It’s open to the public, so if anyone is interested, please ask me about it. I’ll post links etc. in our Facebook group. I think in order for us to get the human species back on track, we need to get back in touch with the plant and animal worlds and the world of microbes. Our current program of sterilizing the planet will not end well. Speaking of fermentation, I see Murat and his growing family regularly. He works across the street from my apartment. Sometimes we hit the gym together. He and I are collaborating to advise Dr. Hops, a company that makes high-alcohol kombucha (kombucha is fermented). Also this year I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Mike Fawcett not once, but twice. The first time was in the Netherlands, where he and his lovely family live. (Maybe he’ll share something about what he’s been doing.) The second time was in Oakland and San Francisco, when he and his family came to visit, and we went on a pretty aggressive urban hike with Kristen Demir Wilson, and part of her lovely family, who live in Oakland, just down the street from me. (So I have the pleasure of seeing them a little more frequently, including at
my birthday party, but not as often as I’d like to. A few years ago we did a fermentation workshop at their house.) Anyway, we all had an awesome day together. Food, walking, ice cream, light tourism, and lots of conversation with the grown-ups and some impressive teenagers. I was struck by a sense of how many awesome people were in our class, and the extent to which I often took it for granted and/or didn’t appreciate it. I appreciate it more now. Looking forward to hearing more stories from our class.” Chris Kenna writes, “Good to hear from Hopkins folks! I know I don’t often chime in on these things, but as some of you may know, I am an entrepreneur and business consultant up here in Maine, and one of my new clients is Patrisha McLean, ex-wife of American Pie singer/songwriter Don McLean. You might recall reading about Don McLean’s arrest for domestic abuse and violence a few years ago. The publicity from his arrest, and his subsequent guilty plea, thrust his wife Patrisha and their abusive marriage into the spotlight. Patrisha is now using that light to break the silence of domestic abuse by telling her story, and the story of other domestic abuse survivors, in an interactive exhibit which will be traveling around New England, beginning its journey here in my hometown of Camden, Maine. If you’re somewhat local, drop by and see it or visit the website at FindingOurVoices.net, which will go live on February 14. ‘Finding Our Voices’ is a striking exhibit, full of power, courage, and sisterhood, and when I received your email, I thought to say hello and share this with you all. In other news… fellow Mainer Sarah Crosby Vokey and I are headed to Europe in celebration of turning 50 (our birthdays are only seven days apart), and my amazing daughter, Sydney, is now a freshman in college. She’s at my alma mater making me proud on a daily basis. If any of you all find yourselves Down East (mid-coast Maine), give me a shout!” Michelle Gottlieb writes, “Funny small-world story. I was meeting with my daughter, Talia, and her
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
guidance counselor, to discuss college applications, when I was distracted by a Hopkins pennant on the wall. Suddenly, I realized that Ms. Rebecca Bagnall ’09, whom I have known for a few years, was probably related to Don Bagnall! Poor Talia did not have another second of college advising that hour, as we made all the Hopkins/Woodbridge connections… Soon we were on speaker phone with Rebecca’s mom, Willa Ridinger ’80, talking about Hopkins and Beecher Road school teachers etc. It was a fun connection to make here in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where I have no New Haven area people nearby. In other news, son Sam is a sophomore at Colby College; Talia is awaiting college news but plans to study and swim at a D3 school. Pretty soon it will be me, my husband, Dan, and 10-year-old Asher, at home. I am the Director of Organizational Change and Learning for the nonprofit Health Care Without Harm (noharm.org) and serve on Marblehead’s Board of Health. I still smile remembering our great 30th Reunion, and can’t wait for the next milestone. Visitors always welcome to come kayak with us in the warm months!”
1987
Megan W. Holbrook meganwh@gmail.com
Hello fellow classmates—hope you’re all warm in this wintry weather! We midwesterners seem to have survived the cold: Martin Asis brings “GrrrGrrrGrrreeetings to all. As many of you heard, a blast of Arctic air hit the Midwest in January. The temperature was –28 degrees Fahrenheit in Minneapolis, Minnesota, without wind chill. That’s throw-boiling-water-into-theair-and-watch-it-freeze-before-it-lands cold, burn-your-hands-on-the-gas-pump cold and feel-the-burn-in-your-lungs-walking-toyour-car cold. So what do most of us hearty Minnesotans do when it gets like that? We stay inside because we are not stupid. In
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Nicky Weinstock ’87 and Ben Stiller attend the Critics’ Choice Awards on January 13, 2019, in Santa Monica, California.
Matt Black ’87 and Kaitlin Hickey ’14 at Rock U. in Paris, France. Kaitlin and Matt both live in Paris.
reality, the bitter cold was passed in the comfort of a heated home playing Risk with my sons. It was a great time and it looks like we are in for a few more rounds. Bring it! Polar Vortex Schmortex!” Chicagoan Dan Tamarkin writes, “No news here ’cept the snow.” Christopher Hayes writes, “I continue to live in the Bay Area. My oldest son is a freshman at Colorado College and my daughter is a sophomore in high school. I got divorced about two years ago and have started seeing a woman with whom I had had a previous 25-year friendship—it has been absolutely wonderful. I’m working as a math teacher and a school administrator. I continue to go to every Grateful Dead (and any associate band) and Phish show within 200 miles of me. As my 50th birthday rapidly approaches, I remain remarkably lucky with good health and a loving family and girlfriend. Overall life is good. I look forward to hearing about my classmates in the next installment.” Lorrice Burke Grant writes, “Really busy year last year. My daughter took me to Tanzania for three weeks to celebrate my 50th. My oldest daughter became a homeowner. My son married the love of his life in Jamaica. This year my husband and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage in September.” Out in Los Angeles, Nicky
Weinstock recently produced the Showtime
miniseries Escape at Dannemora, with Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette, which has won Golden Globe and Directors Guild of America awards. His next production will be the series In the Dark, on the CW, as well as a bunch of upcoming movies. With a daughter now at Vassar College, he is hoping to get to the East Coast more and see his old Hopkins friends. Monika Reti is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon, with her delightful redheaded daughter, Lucia. She’s about to turn 10; time is flying by. Monika’s been running Hipcooks Cooking Schools for 15 years now, with seven locations on the West Coast. She’s food blogging and cookbook writing and on the search for a COO for her company (looking for a great MBA candidate, hint, hint!). Matthew Carrano writes, “Max is now 6 months old, and a remarkably good-natured baby so far. With his red-blond hair and blue eyes, he leaves the Carranos awaiting the appearance of his Italian genes. Diana and I were almost back at work, after each doing a stint at home taking care of Max, when the government shut down… but now we’re really back at work. Diana works in the Smithsonian’s National Anthropological Archives, and we’re excited that her first book comes out this spring (From Extinct
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Dan Applequist ’87 (LEFT) with Miles Johnson ’11 in London
Monsters to Deep Time). I am almost done with our giant paleontology exhibit renovation (opening in June) and looking forward to the end of this very long project. Still, you often only get to work on something this big and long-lasting once in your life, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity.” Risa Schulman is “enjoying life with our 4½ year old who recently told us he’d like to live in Frosting-ton or Bomb Beach, but we’re going to be staying here in Passaic, New Jersey, for the time being. We make frequent visits to the Liberty Science Center and the zoo and started our little guy on hiking last summer, which he loved, much to the gratification of his Mommy. Grown-up activities include… ummm… work. My creative energies get funneled into cooking, which I do a lot of. Waiting not-so-patiently for better weather but loving the fireplace until then. Work (my consulting business, Tap-Root) has actually been a lot of fun as I am getting involved in the investment/acquisition side of the healthy food and dietary supplement market. It’s nice to have been in the space for 20 years now and to know many of the players like old friends.” Jen Chernock Howland writes, “A sliver of time and energy has opened up as I have gotten off the night shift and sent one off to college. I am now work-
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ing in the cardiac catheterization lab. Oh, to be a new learner after 20 years of nursing, both wonderful and exhausting. I have also obtained my certification in gerontological nursing and plan to sit for the cardiovascular exam this year.” Mike Iaccarino writes, “Hope all is well with the class of ’87. Still living in Trumbull with my wife, dog, and four kids. Traveling a lot for Dell Technologies, but I get myself back home enough to catch my son’s Hopkins basketball games. My oldest son is a sophomore at Hop, while my oldest daughter will be heading off to college at Ithaca in the fall. My two youngest are still in the halls of middle and elementary school and a likely future Hop grad for one of them. I catch up with Bill Jaffee and Rob Schatz periodically at Sally’s, and often see some familiar faces around the Hill. I connected with Nick Weinstock to congratulate him on his great series on Showtime, Escape from Dannemora. That’s it from me… just boarding my flight as I type this. Wishing everyone a great new year.” Matt Black writes, “I’m still having a great time living in Paris with my wife, Becky, waiting for the other shoe to drop… but still not homesick after 14 years. However, I’ve had some more chances to spend time back in New Haven recently, since my daughter Sabrina is now a first-year at Yale. I’m grateful to Michael Thomas ’86 and Bruce DelMonico for checking in on her once in a while and making sure she’s not buried under a pile of laundry. Meanwhile here in France I’m having a great time growing my rock performance school, Rock U., where I recently had a chance to collaborate with another Hopkins grad—Kaitlin Hickey ’14, who is teaching English nearby—on ways to bring together music and teaching English for our local communities. It’s been really fun to see so many classmates from Hopkins here in Paris over the years (including you, Megan), so let me know if you’re ever coming over (mattblack321@gmail. com)!” Dan Appelquist writes, “I met up with another Hopkins alum also now living in London, England—Miles Johnson ’11—to
offer some help and support about living (and working in tech) abroad. We arranged for me to give a lunchtime tech talk at his office, ThoughtBot, in February.” Bill Jaffee: “Recently met up with Rick Mangi, Dan Van Der Aue ’91, and Warren Jaffee ’21 in New Haven for a Rubik’s Cube contest.” Life for me, Megan Holbrook, seems to be all politics these days. I was recently accepted into the 2019 Wisconsin Emerge class for Democratic women interested in running for political office, and I get to shadow our Senate Minority Leader, Jennifer Schilling, and our Secretary of State, Sarah Godlewski. I’m also co-leading a grassroots canvassing and phone banking organization called MKE Democratic Action. Eric and I celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in May, and then I turn 50 in June. Wow, how time has flown by! I hope classmates will share how you have spent your 50th year next issue.
1988
The Alumni/ae office would like to thank Lisa Goldbecker for her time and help in gathering the class notes. If anyone is interested in taking on this role, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
1989
30th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Curtis Groves curtis.groves@gmail.com
Bob Mann is still running around America.
In October, Bob finished his 44th marathon, continuing his quest to complete one in every state. This one was in Des Moines, Iowa, where Bob saw fellow marathoner Burch LaPrade. Burch said Bob’s on track to hit fifty states within a couple of years. The mere concept of running farther than 90 feet—which in my prime I could do in seven seconds flat—is foreign to me, but not to many of us, including Tara Courtmanche, who in November ran the New York City Marathon. Tara’s oldest son, Paul, is a fresh-
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Sondra Lender ’89 alongside Paul Gagliardi, son of Tara Courtmanche ’89
man at Syracuse University, where last fall he saw Sondra Lender at the dedication of the Lender Center for Social Justice. Tara also is mom to a high school sophomore, John, and eighth grader Matthew. Stan Ades also visited with Sondra in early 2019, as well as with Jake Weinstock and Scott Wich. Stan’s three kids are busy with musical theater productions, sports, and choirs, and Stan continues to run Pacific Shaving Company (small but mighty). Jake and I work and live close to one another in Washington, D.C. We’ll catch up over lunch from time to time, but never at a restaurant as good as Missy Robbins’ restaurants in New York City. Jake, his parents, and his brother Luke Weinstock ’93 recently had a terrific meal at Missy’s newest restaurant, Misi, and spent quality time with the chef. Steve Possick continues his cardiology practice at Yale. Steve and his wife, Valeria, an anesthesiologist in Branford, will dance salsa and raise money in March at Donate Life Connecticut’s annual gala. Donate Life supports organ transplant awareness, and by the time this column goes to print we’ll know how the Possicks
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fared dancing against nine other teams in front of 600 people. For what it’s worth, I’m more likely to run a marathon… Keith Hirokawa teaches law (more my speed) at Albany Law School, focusing on environmental law and local government. Keith and his boys spend their time in the woods, and they plan to get more serious this summer about backpacking. Our condolences to Laura Marks, whose father passed away in December. Laura reports, however, that she has connected with a younger brother she had never met, and that her new business, Homestead Bookkeeping, is doing well in western Massachusetts, where tax season will keep her busy. Pam Paulmann was happy to see Cynthia Carroll over the winter holidays at a wreath-making party… At press time, Andy Tamarkin was at home in Media, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two kids, waiting for pitchers and catchers to report and “hoping Manny signs with us,” leading to concern that Andy has become a Phillies fan. Phil Noto is devastated by his loss to another Phillies fan, Phil Piazza, in the final of the Hopkins Pigskin Invitational fantasy football league. “The Other Phil”—now Dr. Phil, after finishing his doctoral degree at Southern Connecticut State University—will be at Hopkins this spring watching his son play freshman baseball. Phil, I hope he throws straighter than you, or that his first baseman jumps higher than I. Brendan Foley plans to hit the road soon in his new camper. We’re looking forward to hearing about Brendan’s (mis)adventures. Congratulations to Gillian Blake, who recently became Editor-inChief at Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Jessica Brooks spent time in February “looking out at the rooftops in Boston imagining solar panels on every single one of them.” Jess is trying to make that happen with Sunwealth, a small solar investment company that helps with investments in small-scale, local renewable energy projects. Jess says, “It’s fun to be building a business that makes money fighting climate change and bringing solar energy to places
it otherwise wouldn’t be. It’s also really fun climbing up on roofs and having my kids refer to all of our installations as ‘Mom’s solar panels.’” Scott Fisher also is keeping the world safe from climate change. Scott works for an electric vehicle charging technology company, Greenlots, leading the eastern North America region. In January, Scott writes, “Our little company was acquired by Shell, and I’m excited to be a part of next steps. I also continue to be an Adjunct Professor at Columbia’s Earth Institute, where I have been teaching a course on clean energy finance since 2011.” Scott and his wife, Kate, live in the Princeton, New Jersey, area with their kids, Alex (15) and Claire (12). “Now that my son has started high school,” Scott said, “I’m reminded of the amazing education I was lucky enough to get at Hopkins. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in New Haven at our reunion.” Yes, our 30-year reunion will be May 31 and June 1, and we hope classmates from near and far will come back to Hopkins. See you then.
1990
Brock Dubin bdubin@ddnctlaw.com
1991
Jessica Roberti jessicaroberti@msn.com Jonathan Ross-Wiley jrosswiley@gmail.com
I, Jon Ross-Wiley, am happily writing to you from Greenwich, Connecticut, where I have been since 2012 with my wife, Sahar, and our two children. Our daughter, Soraya (12), is in sixth grade at Greenwich Academy, and our son, Zia (10), is in fifth grade at Brunswick. Both love school. I’m gearing up for another obstacle course race season and am proud to have been selected to the 2019 Altra Red Team. Altra is the company that makes all of the shoes I wear for training and racing, so it’s been awesome to get to formally
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represent them! Amy Caplan writes, “I don’t know what’s weirder: that we’re in our mid40s or that my twins are now 13… and all the highs and lows that come with both of those facts! Looking forward to reconnecting with more classmates in 2019.” Geoffrey Tanner is currently an assistant professor in residence at the University of Connecticut. His wife, Tasha Hawthorne (Hopkins faculty 1997–1999), is a professor at Berea College in Kentucky, which means a lot of travel. Geoff is co-chairing the 2019 NEURON (Northeast Undergraduate Research Organization for Neuroscience) conference at Quinnipiac University with Adrienne Betz ’94 and with Nim Tottenham ’92 as keynote speaker. Geoff added, “It promises to be very exciting!” Becca Miller Anderson and Adam Anderson wrote, “Our daughter Olivia recently celebrated her bat mitzvah in West Hartford, Connecticut. Sue Naci, Debbie Rocco Johnson, Laurie Saft Ginsberg, and Becky Nelson ’89 all attended. It was a wonderful mini-reunion, especially since Laurie traveled from Valencia, Spain, where she is living for two years, and Becky made the trip from London, where she now lives. It’s hard to believe we have a 13-year-old because Junior School doesn’t seem that long ago!” Chris Hays was in touch to say, “In August, I became very happily married to Carly Crouch, who is a graduate of Scripps and Oxford and also my fellow chair in Old Testament here at Fuller Seminary. I’m still living in the Pasadena, California, area and we’d be genuinely delighted to see any Hopkins alums passing through—or even host them in our ‘guest wing.’” Scott Magrath wrote in from Vermont, “This is my twelfth year at the Long Trail School as the director of college counseling. I love being the dad to two great daughters, aged 6 and 9. Skiing remains a focus of our family life and you can usually find us at Bromley Mountain November to April. Please let me know if/ when any of you might be coming to southern Vermont for skiing. I hope to see other ’91 lacrosse players at the game in June.
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1992
Sam Ozeck samhome@juno.com
Lots of academic news this time around. Cori Gabbard is thrilled to announce securing a faculty position at Lyon College in Arkansas. Cori visited with me during a recent work trip to Washington, D.C., and is loving putting her years of achieving her Ph.D. to good use. She invites anyone in or near Arkansas to visit—she would be glad to see a friendly face—and encourages them to bring a beverage if they do because the town is dry. Avid readers may recall that it was not long ago that Nim Tottenham received tenure at Columbia University, and now she is celebrating her promotion to full professor. Nim was in touch with Walt Miller, who is also doing some teaching on a sabbatical from his foreign service duties at the United Nations. Congrats to all those who followed in the footsteps of our great Hopkins teachers! Mark Kohn is also in New York City and continues to succeed at Wells Fargo Securities. Definitely our furthest reporter, Gavin Becker moved to New Zealand more than four years ago. Morgan Carroll was excited to attend the CES conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this year and check out the latest trends. Continuing our travel theme, Monica Brenner and her family traveled to Israel for the bar mitzvah of her oldest son last year. Monica attributes her devotion to her own strong Hebrew School experience, including her Hopkins classmate Alexis Tenedine Kasowitz. Our whole class appreciated the pictures in the last Views from the Hill of Billy Mack and his family as they celebrated his mother, Deena’s, retirement from Hopkins after many years of service in the alumni office.
1993
Tara Cook-Littman taracook.littman@gmail.com
Thank you to everyone who responded with updates! It’s great hearing from so
many of you and I look forward to hearing from more of you next time. Tara Fernando Bishop returned to the Hill on February 11 as a 2018–19 Hopkins Fellow. An Associate Clinical Professor at Cornell Medical School and Chief Clinical Strategy Officer at health insurance startup Bind-on-Demand, Tara spoke at an all-school assembly about her career trajectory since graduating from Hopkins and the joys and challenges of being a working mom. Scott Viscomi is living in Walnut Creek, California, and loving being a dad. Scott’s son, Will (who he describes as “crazy”) is 13 months old, and is keeping Scott and his wife busy. Scott works for a global MMA company, and his wife, a pediatric clinical psychologist, recently started a private practice for autism and behavioral disorder intervention. In true Scott style, he says that “life is wicked awesome” and “hopes everyone is doing well!” Courteney Fornal welcomed Carter Elizabeth Henry on January 17 to their family just before her big brother John turned 3 on January 19. Courteney shared that they “are having a great time with her and John is loving being a big brother.” Courteney and her family live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where they enjoyed a visit from Christina Corso shortly before Carter was born. Phyllis Wallitt has been in Westport, Connecticut, for 11 years with her husband, Dan, and her kids, Evan, 12, and Brooke, 9. She is the General Counsel at Priceline, which is based in Norwalk where she has worked since moving back to Connecticut. Phyllis says, “It has been a lot of fun helping people experience the moments that matter by saving money on travel, and solving lots of different interesting legal issues for the business.” Phyllis also mentioned that she ran into Ted Lundberg in Westport and that their daughters are in the same class this year and play basketball together! Lauren Lawrence-Riddell said that her “two kids are growing up fast.” I know so many of us can relate to that! She continues to teach first grade and she says that twenty-three 6- and
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
7-year-olds keep her on her toes! Lauren and her husband just helped run a family community event for Martin Luther King Day in Northampton, Massachusetts. Lauren also recently ran into Clara Barnhart ’94 and said it was great to catch up with her.
1994
25th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Christian J. Sauska cjs.nola@me.com Adrienne Betz Oliver adriennebetz@gmail.com
I, Adrienne Betz, just moved to Woodbridge from Westville. My children have settled into the schools and we are enjoying the hiking and other fun Town of Woodbridge activities. Last year I was promoted to full professor at Quinnipiac University. I enjoy my job every day and run a robust lab with graduate and undergraduate students. I love teaching about neuroscience, traveling, and keeping in touch with fellow Hopkins alums. Joanna Garelick Goldstein has been at Wilson Elser for almost a year and enjoys her work immensely. Her family took a fun trip on board the Norwegian Escape over December break. She reports, “it was great to escape to the warmth and see my boys go snorkeling for the first time! We also bought our first piece of art which made me feel very adult. We are looking forward to a Disney vacation over February break.” Becky Russell Iacono went back to work in advertising for the last year at Meredith Corporation (formerly Time, Inc.) after a two-year break to work in higher ed publishing. Although this is great for Becky, it means that she doesn’t get to visit me at Quinnipiac University. She travels to Boston two to three times per week but is based out of her hometown, Barrington, Rhode Island. Brian Richardson reports, “My wife, Lisa, and I are co-owners of Respond Systems, Inc., in Branford, Connecticut. We make magnetic therapy and laser therapy products for the veterinary market and sell
SPRING 2019
FROM LEFT, Lisa, Rowan, and Brian Richardson ’94
and Nala, their Husky
our products all over the world. I was just in Brazil this February, and we’re developing more contacts in South America’s thriving horse culture. Vacations in the Caribbean keep us sane during the long gray winters.” I had the pleasure of running into Lisa at her Boston College Reunion this past May. Lisa, Brian, and I all attended Boston College at the same time. Thomas Moore is commuting from London, England, out to Henley-on-Thames, best known as the center (centre) of British rowing. He is managing a bond fund for Invesco. He loves it and reports, “The people are great, the work is interesting, and I’m able to do things like go for a run in the woods at lunchtime (not possible at an investment bank). All of which compensates for the longish commute. The kids are great, very English, but they have a vague sense that they are somehow connected to the U.S. My wife, Erin, remains a huge fan of Hopkins but won’t be able to make it to the reunion, in part because we are going to her 25th for Key West High in July. Hopkins vs. KWH— talk about a culture clash; both great in their own ways.” Jesse Irwin is working as a DJ,
remixer, video artist, event MC, and professional pinball instructor. He reports “life is good” and I couldn’t agree more. Chaiya Laoteppitaks is still at Jefferson University in Philadelphia and is the co-director for undergraduate medical education. Alison Apfel, first time sending in an update, reports, “I have three awesome kids and live outside of Boston with my husband, Aaron. I’m a school counselor in a middle school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, which sometimes feels like karma for all the times I was difficult in middle and high school.” Eric von Stein has been working on kids’ brands both new and retro for the past ten years. He recently co-founded a design consultancy called Bright Stripes, developing toys and DIY kits for the children’s product industry. He reports that he “loves being independent and has many exciting product lines in the works.” Thanks to everyone for sending updates!
1995
Michaelangelo Palmieri michaelangelo_44@yahoo.com Luretha McClendon Tolson lrmcclendon@sbcglobal.net
Hello everyone! Luretha and I are doing well and glad to report some awesome updates from some of our classmates. Hope this 2019 edition finds everyone in good health. Big news from Pete Scalletar: He checked in to report that he was “the executive producer and writer of a four-part documentary about Wu-Tang Clan, Of Mics and Men. Showtime licensed it right before our premiere at Sundance.” You can check the documentary on Showtime on May 10, 2019. Pete writes, “Creatively it’s a much needed departure from my time at the Bachelor franchise. If you told 16-year-old me that I’d make the definitive film on the greatest hip hop group of all time, he’d probably have some cocky response, but the truth is that it is a dream project.” Pete also writes that his family is doing great and his 5-year-old
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Eric Hersh ’97 married Danna Gurari on October 6, 2018, in the Texas Hill Country. FROM LEFT, Graham Gibson ’97, Maura Leary ’97, groom and bride, Theo LeCompte ’97, Craig Hersh ’89, Brian Hersh ‘91, and Ronnie Groves ’63 HGS P’89,’93.
daughter, Georgia, is a big Ghostface fan now, but he hasn’t had his 2-year-old, Nyah, listening to any Wu quite yet. As a die hard Wu-Tang fan myself, I was amazed to here about Pete’s major contribution to hip hop culture by producing a documentary on one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time. Congratulations, Pete! I also heard from Ed Jackson and he is doing great and still doing his music and living in Lakeland, Florida. Ed is proud to report that he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s in education from Florida Southern College. He is now teaching second grade at Sikes Elementary in Lakeland. Congrats, Ed! Neil Batiancila also checked in and reported that he just started his new position as Chief Development Officer with the Philadelphia Zoo. Neil will be overseeing fundraising operations for America’s first zoo. He said he feels fortunate to have this type of leadership role in Philadelphia. Great job, Bag-O. It is really amazing to hear from our classmates on all of your accomplishments and family updates. Please send your updates to myself
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or Luretha and we will be sure to share. Our 20th Reunion is around the corner and we’re hoping we get a big turnout!
1996
Ellyn Black ellyn@campfernwood.com
Hi from sunny Florida. We are enjoying the weather down here—lots of golf, tennis, water-skiing, and beach time. If you are ever in the Fort Lauderdale area, let us know! I was just speaking with Brooke Baran, and she said she and her husband come often to the area, so we are hoping to see them soon. Damien Rosen also lives nearby and he writes in: “I live in Aventura, Florida. I’m the proud father of a 3-year-old, 80-pound chocolate lab named Hunter who comes with me to work, sneaks into the pool numerous times daily, visits hospital patients now and then, and gets lots of attention out and about. I’m engaged to Dr. Ivette Cardelli and together we’re enjoying time in the mountains of western North Carolina as frequently
as possible when not running our daily lives in sunny south Florida. I’m celebrating 11 years as owner of my software company, and have recently launched a new safety product for hotels, to comply with the staff panic button mandate moving around the country. I’d love to meet up and (re)connect with high school friends and acquaintances.” Paul Kreitler writes in to say: “I am doing well. Currently in Columbus, Ohio. My two kids, Ellie and David, are enjoying third and first grades, respectively. I continue to enjoy my career as a consulting engineer. I have been very fortunate to work on some extremely interesting historic preservation and adaptive reuse projects around the country.” Sarah Kreiger Damelin writes in: “We moved to the Boston area about two years ago, and I recently started a new job as the director of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program at our synagogue in Needham. I’ve gotten pretty serious about baking, challah and macarons in particular, and I’ll take on almost any crafting project. We’re all doing great!” Nancy Cook reports: “My husband, daughter (who
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Members of the Class of 1998 gathered for drinks on January 10 at Empellon in New York City, FROM LEFT: Lauren Levin-Epstein Odell, Joe Cohen, Amy Levin-Epstein Weber, John Pantalena, Jordan Reed, and Mark Seigel.
Jordan Schreck ’98 and Tasha Ennis were married on November 10, 2018, at the White Barn at South Farms in Morris, Connecticut. Photo by Carolyn Vallas Photography
is 4 now) and I still live in D.C. I’m still working as a journalist, covering the White House for Politico… I still see D.C. locals/ Hopkins alums Emily Cohen Nestler and Rafi Prober.” Hope all of you are well and would love to hear from more of you!
1997
If you are interested in serving as a correspondent for the Class of ’97, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
1998
Misha Body mishabody@gmail.com Tina Chen tina.chen02@gmail.com Eamon Griffin grifbear@yahoo.com
From Eamon Griffin: The correspondents decided we want to try to profile one classmate in a few of the class notes. Misha asked that one of us be the guinea pig, and
SPRING 2019
I volunteered. Here are my answers for the questions we developed for this first go at it: Q: When you think back to your time at Hop, what do you wish you could tell yourself? A: Let it go… don’t sweat the small stuff. Q: What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since we graduated in 1998? A: I stood on the rim of an active volcano (Masada) in Nicaragua. Later on that day we were hiking the rim of an inactive volcano and tropical weather came through… hail, thunder, lightning, driving rain… felt like that was going to be it, but we all made it home in one piece. It was invigorating! Q: How did your time at Hopkins shape who you are today? A: I consider myself a lifelong learner, and I think Hopkins and its community instilled that in me. Q: What’s your fondest memory of Hopkins? A: Beating Brunswick 13–12 junior year! Q: If you had one wish for our class (past, present, or future), what would it be? A: I want everyone to be healthy, and be able to do what you are passionate about.
1999
20th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Erica Schwartz erischwa@gmail.com Allison Grady alligrady2@gmail.com
James Wood continues to live in Spain. He and his wife, Veronica, just celebrated three years together and they are the proud parents of a very spirited 2-year-old named Chloe. Yasmin Thornton (nee AbdoulRahman) married her partner, Joel Kelly, in a ceremony in southern Connecticut this past September. Jackie Corcoran served as a bridesmaid. Yasmin writes that the only thing that would have made it better would have been me [Allison Grady] being in the wedding. Nicholas Britell was nominated for an Academy Award (Oscar) for his score of If Beale Street Could Talk. He was recently interviewed on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross on NPR. Good luck, Nick! Allison Grady continues to live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She transitioned from a clinically heavy pediatric oncology practice to teaching full-time at the
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Alden Ferro ’00 and Richard Luedeman at their wedding at Edgerton Park in New Haven on September 15, 2018.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Nursing. She still maintains one to two days per week with her favorite patient population at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. When she is not working, she is spending time with her (almost) five-yearold son, Jack, and husband, Christian. I personally encourage all of my classmates to join us for our 20th Reunion on Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1. There will be family friendly activities during the day, and adult-centered food and drink and mingling in the evening. Come and join us—something must have happened in the last 20 years to talk about!
2000
Robert Curry rccurry01@yahoo.com
There were many Hopkins gatherings at weddings this summer. Lara Appleby, Abby Taplin, and Ann Verbin Parparita all had a great time at the wedding of Claire DePalma at the Bee & Thistle Inn in Old Lyme. Alden
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Ferro had a very eventful fall. In September,
he started a new job in the Office of Public Affairs at Yale Law School. Two weeks later, he married Richard Luedeman in a ceremony at Edgerton Park in New Haven, officiated by Judge Susan L. Carney. Among the guests were Bob Curry and Ian Shedd, along with Alden’s cousins, Melissa Zaffin Bender ’01 and Kyle Zaffin ’04. Alden and Richard spent two weeks in Italy on their honeymoon before returning to the real world. Junta Nakai started a new job at a big data/artificial intelligence company called Databricks, where he will be leading the Financial Services vertical. His sake brewery, Brooklyn Kura, has been open for a year now and he is expanding/building brew pub locations in Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Washington, D.C., over the next twelve months. Junta also wrote an op-ed on “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Wall Street” that was published in both BusinessInsider and Quartz.
Claire DePalma ’00 and Christopher Beaudro at their wedding at the Thistle Inn in Old Lyme on October 14, 2018.
2001
Marissa Black blackmarissa@gmail.com Daniel Zlotoff zlotoff@gmail.com
Alex Harrison shared, “My husband, Max,
and I adopted a rescue dog in 2017 (named Teddy) and closed on our first home in 2018—a one-bedroom condo in East Boston, Massachusetts. I continue to work for the state at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, and in 2018, I began teaching yoga around Boston and Cambridge—alumni are welcome to drop in to one of my classes.” Sophia Nadel wrote in for the first time and shared a few major moves: “Vermont for four years, China for eight and Portland, Oregon, for five and counting!” Sophia, Eric, and their two boys, Simon (5) and Herbert (2), are happily reunited with her Oregon roots. She’s had a few Hopkins visitors and especially enjoys seeing her neighbors to the north, Marissa Black and Isaac Pattis. A special encoun-
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Zoe May, born to Arielle Traub ’03 and husband Ethan Prosnit in September 2018
ter was seeing Sarah Mansourian and her daughter, Emilia, in London in 2018. Ben Rubenstein wrote in with news of two major milestones: “Our daughter, Willa Rubenstein, was born on March 28, and I sold my second company in October when Realtor.com purchased Opcity.” Lesley Heffel McGuirk emailed, “I am still in my purple house with the husband and dogs. Things are going well here in New Haven. I actually started a cool new job this fall as the Data Strategy Manager for the Yale Alumni Association, which is new for me and also for this organization. It’s been interesting figuring everything out… and there is seemingly an endless number of projects I can work on. So: job security!” Liz Kinsley shared, “I finally left New Haven in 2011, taking a break from undergraduate admissions to do a Ph.D. at Northwestern University. Now I’m back in admissions at Northwestern, where I also get the chance to teach a college seminar on race and gender in popular adaptation. Our first kiddo, Ida Bell KinsleySkidmore, arrived on August 28, and we’re loving the ride so far. And my first book, Here in This Island We Arrived: Shakespeare and Belonging in Immigrant New York, will be published by Penn State University Press in March 2019.”
SPRING 2019
Kurt Padilla ’03, wife Kathleen Frey, and daughter Neave Mary Padilla, born in August 2018
2002
Aaron Zelinsky Aaron.Zelinsky@gmail.com
2003
Courtney Hart courtneyleigh.hart@gmail.com Arielle Traub arielle.traub@gmail.com
Hearty congratulations to both Kurt Padilla and Teo Ifrim: Both welcomed adorable babies in August 2018. Kurt writes, “As of August 7, 2018, I am the father of a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Her name is Neave Mary Padilla. She was a little bit late, so I missed last summer’s update deadline by a few days.” Check out the picture above of Kurt, his wife, Kathleen Frey, and sweet baby Neave. In addition to taking on fatherhood last year, Kurt also started working as a mechanical engineer at Acrison, Inc., in Moonachie, New Jersey. As for Teo, he is still living in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Marci. They welcomed their first child, Sebastian Xavier, in August. And, your class secretary also welcomed a beautiful baby girl last year! She writes, “Arielle Traub and her husband, Ethan Prosnit, were thrilled to welcome their daughter, Zoe May Traub Prosnit, on September 19, 2018. Big brother
Teo Ifrim ’03 and son Sebastian Xavier, born in August 2018
Caleb is loving his new role.” Mazel tov, Arielle, Ethan, and Caleb! And, welcome to the world, Neave, Sebastian, and Zoe! Andrew Soberman has gone west, marking a year in Oak Harbor, Washington. He’s now stationed as a search and rescue pilot, supporting the EA-18s and local communities until November 2020. He’s spending as much time outdoors as possible and shares, “The weather is great, I have awesome access to the Olympics and Cascades for hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing, and quality of life is pretty great… Hoping this summer to explore the mountains and parks more, and perhaps purchase a kayak so I can go paddle with the local pod of endangered orcas that have made the San Juan Islands their home. Other than that, just doing my thang.” Keep at it, Sobie. We’re jealous of your views. And speaking of the great outdoors, Aaron Silidker is living the #vanlife (or, as others might call it, the dream). Aaron, his girlfriend, Lindsay, and his dog, Eli, are currently traveling the country in a camper van, skiing almost every day this winter. Aaron joked, “Mid-life retirement? Whatever you want to call it. Something I’ve wanted to do for years.” Kudos to you for pulling it off, Aaron. Pretty rad! We love hearing what you’re up to. Keep sending your news!
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Andrew Soberman ’03 explores the mountains in Oak Harbor, Washington (LEFT). He is now a search and rescue pilot in Oak Harbor, Washington (RIGHT).
2004
15th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Erin Johnson erin122@gmail.com Kimberly J. Lewis kimberlyjlewis@gmail.com
Happy spring, Class of 2004! A reminder that our 15th Reunion is set for May 31– June 1, 2019. We hope to see many of you there! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this edition of the class updates. Over the winter holidays, Erin Johnson was happy to reconnect with classmates Abigail Gillis and Julie Mao for a mini reunion in New Haven while Julie and Abs were both visiting from Washington, D.C. After spending a decade post-college working for Yale, Erin relocated to Chicago in October 2018, where she is pursuing a master’s at Northwestern. Despite missing the Elm City—especially during Chicago’s –50 temps caused by January’s polar vortex—Erin is excited to be launching this new chapter in her life. If you’re in or visiting Chicago, don’t hesitate to reach out. Thomas Lipp and Leland Milstein met up in Park City, Utah, in February. They heard the skiing was wonderful, but they wouldn’t
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actually know because they spent the weekend enjoying the Sundance Film Festival. They had such a great time that they plan to go back next year. So, mark your calendars— if you plan to be there, too, they would love to have a Hopkins Sundance reunion! Jess Kaufman updates us from across the pond, where she is busy with all things theatrical. Her play, Mathilda and the Orange Balloon, is touring England this spring after a London premiere. She is also co-artistic directing “Beyond the Wall,” an annual binational festival at the U.S./Mexico Border Wall, as you may recall from previous columns. Jess writes, “My collaborators and I build 15-foottall puppets with local teens and bring them to the Wall to make a play-based intervention. The project is growing so quickly that I took on an intern: current Hopkins student Tyler Eveland ’22! We’ll be bringing the puppets out of the Border this year for the first time, running a week of workshops at the Prague Quadrennial in June. When I’m not traveling, I’m at home in New York working on my musical and trying to get someone to produce it.” Another classmate showcasing her artistic talents is Rebecca Pollak, who is happily living in Brooklyn with her partner,
Brooks, and their cat, Kevin. As a published freelance lifestyle photographer, she specializes in interior design, travel, and food imagery, both locally in New York and across the globe. Steven McDonald, meanwhile, is holding things down as a first-year attending physician at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City. He frequently sees classmates Alex Teicher, who lives locally, and Barrie Segal, when she is in town. Over the past few months, Steven has connected with many Hopkins classmates including Tori Adkinson, Jo Kinsley, Lynn Horowitz, and Alejo Cabranes. He says, “Don’t hesitate to be in touch if in New York City!” Finally, back at home in Connecticut, Kelly Ruby shared exciting news: “Jeff Musante and I welcomed our daughter, Evelyn Ruby Musante, into the world on May 12, 2018. Evelyn made it to her first Hopkins homecoming in October, where she enjoyed watching the football game in the pit. She also met Martha Royston and her son, Connor, while up on the Hill.”
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
2005
Courtney Yakavonis courtneyyakavonis@gmail.com Pamela Soberman pamela.soberman@gmail.com
Aaron Rosenberg married Lydia Carmichael on September 2 at Kingsley Pines Camp in Raymond, Maine. James Gallagher, Dave Rose, Alex Zackheim, Andrew Giering, Emmet Smith, Salil Mehrotra, Seth Halpern, Craig Cooper, and Chuck Swirsky ’99 attended the wedding. Dan Sperling moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to New York City to take on a new role as the Director of Philanthropy for Daniel Loeb. He often runs into Mike Schwartzman, who works in the same building. After several years in private practice, Andrew Giering joined the Federal Defender Office for the District of Connecticut, where he represents indigent clients charged with federal crimes. Ken Jacobi started a job in New York City as a risk manager for Traxys, a metals trader. He lives in Norwalk. After nine years in the nation’s capital, Seth Halpern and his partner said goodbye to Washington, D.C., and hello to the sun and warmth of California’s Bay Area. Taylor Greer Balisciano is still a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital on Labor & Birth. She moved this year to Bethany, Connecticut, and bought a house with her husband, Jeremy Balisciano ’02. She also took a trip to Disney in February with her daughter (4 years old) and son (2 years old). After spending three years in New Haven training in Pediatrics at Yale, Dan Glaser relocated last summer to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Emma, and their 10-month-old daughter, Madeline. He is in the first year of his fellowship in Pediatric Rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Anna Padilla is living the dream and slowly saving the world one human at a time. Kara Bolles is celebrating her eighth year as the New England Sales Representative for a high end, Americanmade line of upholstery called Wesley Hall. In 2018, she also started her own company,
SPRING 2019
called Curly Llama LLC. Curly Llama helps retailers bring effortless flow to their sales process through merchandising strategy and curated sales training. Curly Llama aims to have fun, while also increasing sales for our retail partners. Ben Zlotoff still lives in Boston, Massachusetts, with his wife, Sarah. Courtney O’Brien Yakavonis moved back to Connecticut from Boston in September and welcomed the arrival her second daughter, Mary, in December.
2006
Corey Briskin cbrisk01@gmail.com TiffanyAnn Johnson tiffanyannjo@gmail.com Lucas Kelly-Clyne lukekellyclyne@gmail.com
Corey Briskin continues to live in Brooklyn
with his husband and two French bulldogs. Corey’s work at the Manhattan DA’s office keeps him busy, but he has recently found some time to travel to the Galapagos Islands, Israel, and Jordan. Post-Wharton’s MBA/JD program, Ben Vinograd is back living in New York City and serving as Vice President at Northern Swan Holdings. Also in New York, Matthew Carpenter is an associate at law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York. Darius BittleDockery is in the fifth year of his Ph.D. in anthropology and MPH in Behavioral and Community Health Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Zoe Black is enjoying life in New York City as Senior Director of Marketing at ShareThis. Luke Kelly-Clyne is living in Los Angeles, California, where he’s President and Executive Producer at Big Breakfast—a TV and film comedy production studio. Annie Svigals is just a bit farther north, living in San Francisco, California, and working in Business Development & Strategy at IDEO, Design for Food. John Lockwood is a Strategy Advisor at Ohio Health in Columbus, Ohio. Zoe White is living in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood
with her husband, Andrew, and happy to be working as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology at New York University.
2007
Becky Harper bharper@hopkins.edu Eric Emanuelson eric.emanuelson.jr@gmail.com
Hello Class of ’07! As we all crash headlong into our third decade on the planet, many of us are earning new degrees, starting new jobs, new families, or new shows on Netflix. Jane Baldwin finished her Ph.D. at Princeton in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences last spring. She is continuing working at Princeton University this year and is looking forward to moving to the Big Apple next fall, where she will be starting a postdoctoral fellowship at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (part of Columbia University) researching aspects of hurricane risk. Don’t worry though, Jane is far from all work and no play: she somehow has started going to Burning Man and expects to go for the third time this summer, where she will hopefully help work on a larger art piece. For all you festival skeptics out there, she can confirm Burning Man is “way better than the Fyre Festival (though thankfully I did not go to that).” After jumping from the U.S. to Mexico, and then eventually to Canada over the past five years, David Botwick-Ries is thankful to finally become a Canadian Permanent Resident last August (coincidentally, the same date his wife became a permanent resident back in 2007). David is a full time “digital nomad” who works 100% remotely from Washington, D.C., and Toronto, sharing his experience with the gig economy to help add value to both employers and employees alike (we assume, in between choruses of “O Canada”). He and his wife are also the proud owners of a 6-month-old cockapoo puppy named Ruffino who, yes, has an Instagram account—but David does not. Dennis Briggs
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is continuing his quest to “earn more degrees than a thermometer” and will start an MBA program next year. Speaking of degrees, Alex Brockwehl graduated from Princeton with a master’s degree in public policy and has moved back to Washington, D.C. Alex recently started a new job working on the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, but we all expect him to announce his 2020 run any day now #brockhimup. Alex recently remembered that Eric Emanuelson also lives in D.C. when the two met up for dinner at a great spot near the National Zoo. Eric is excited to graduate from law school this May, but not as much as he is looking forward to start studying for the bar exam the following morning. Joshua Goldman reports that he, his wife, Julie, and his son, Jason, will be moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in July so he can start a pediatric hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Michigan. Jake Graetz married his soulmate, Christina Bittar, last fall. The wedding was a mini–Class of 2007 reunion with best man Alex Brockwehl, C.J. Metz, Matteo Gomez, Ali Iannotti, Josh Gudjohnsen, Will General, and Eric Emanuelson all joining together to celebrate in Maryland. Jake and Christina continue to live in Washington, D.C. Josh Gudjohnsen caught up with Zach Nussbaum ’08 and his brother Jon Gudjohnsen ’08 over way too much pizza at Sally’s in New Haven. Josh is settling into a new home in Canton, Massachusetts, and he has started a new position as a product manager at Devoted Health, an early-stage healthcare company in the Medicare Advance space. Katia Kuc is currently in a master’s degree program for psychology at Harvard Extension School and is excited to be training for the Rock ’n’ Roll Seattle Marathon in June. Finance guy David Mesham ran into Erin Johnson ’04 at a beer festival in Chicago, Illinois. David is graduating with an MBA from the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University
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this June, after which he will join Deloitte Human Capital Consulting in Houston, Texas. Carly Osborne is finishing up a master’s degree in environmental management at Duke University. Her master’s project is focusing on recycling produced water in the Permian basin of west Texas. For those of you who, like your columnists, have no idea what “produced water” means, it is water that is the result of fracking for oil or gas. At the time of this writing, we were unable to determine if Carly has succumbed to the south and developed an accent. Phin Palmer and Jordan Voloshin recently took Robin Warner and a friend out for a “wild” night at Dave & Busters in Los Angeles, California. Phin reported more about that night, but we have exercised our editorial discretion and declined to publish that information here. John Peck is living in Boston, Massachusetts, with Margo the Bouvier (read: big fluffy dog). He has struck out on his own as an attorney specializing in personal injury and employment law, and we believe the only reason he was not included on a “30 under 30” list is because, well, he is not under 30. John also reports that he recently spoke to his former Hopkins English teacher Ms. Harlow and says “she’s still fantastic.” Over the winter holidays, your columnists were able to catch up with David Lister, who agreed to give us the most comprehensive update we have received to date. Remember him? Well, David moved during high school and graduated from another school in Texas (but he still gets letters from the Hopkins alumni office). David’s typical day starts when he wakes up around 7–7:15 a.m. (unless it is the weekend, then he has been known to sleep in). After he eats breakfast—some yogurt and fruit, though if it is a #treatyourself kind of day, maybe steak, eggs, and home fries—he commutes from his apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to his office in the financial district of Manhattan, where David works for a recruiting firm specializing in hedge funds, asset managers, and banks.
His typical workday usually lasts from about 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If David doesn’t just go home, then he is probably either getting dinner or drinks with friends/co-workers or playing soccer in a year-round men’s league. Outside of that, David enjoys taking advantage of the different activities the city has to offer (concerts, sporting events, comedy shows, etc.). David estimates that he typically gets a workout in anywhere from four to five times per week, often in the middle of the day (which is nice, because he probably would not go as often if he had to wake up earlier or go after work). He watches a good amount of Netflix and Amazon Prime and claims to have read Dreamland by Sam Quinones last month (upon further questioning, he concedes it was more than a month ago). Have a great spring!
2008
Marguerite Paterson margueritewp@gmail.com
Ben Sperling has recently transitioned out
of his staff role with his organization, Next Generation Men and Women, and onto the Board of Directors. He’s gearing up to move back to the northeast this spring and return to school for his MBA. Jay Brett has recently settled into Honolulu for a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Hawaii Manoa, working on how climate change will impact biological productivity in the ocean. Erin Hall Emmanuel is finishing a degree in Clinical Social Work at Boston College and also running her own personal training business. Emily Carroll lives in New York City and will be doing a chief resident year at Mount Sinai. Gigi Clark loves living in Jersey City and is working at MLB Network and NHL Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Some highlights from the last year included attending the first ever Stanley Cup Final game in Las Vegas, Nevada, the three World Series games at Dodger Stadium, and the MLB All-Star events in Washington, D.C.,
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
where she met up with Ben Watsky for the All-Star Game. She was also nominated for two Sports Emmys and won one—the social media team at MLB Network was nominated for Outstanding Social TV Experience and their flagship program won for Outstanding Studio Show—Daily. Kate Smith married Mitchell Newman in August of last year at a chateau in France. Adam Arthurs and his wife, Siran Cao, were Kate’s “bridespeople,” and Adam planned the bachelorette party, a duty that Kate reports he took very seriously. Kate also began a new job at CBS News in New York as a reporter covering immigration. In December, she passed the first level of her Court of Master Sommelier certification. Courtney Woolston married Kevin Infante in Larchmont, New York. They were introduced by Clark Maturo ’07, a former Hopkins student who became friends with her husband when they attended Hotchkiss together. A highlight of my fall includes Emma Fox’s wedding in September in Southwest Harbor, Maine. It was great to catch up with Victoria Robinson, who is in her third year at medical school at Duke. I also had dinner with Liz Peters and Ale Lee; Liz is in her third year teaching English in the Boston Public School system, and Ale is finishing up medical school at Yale and will be traveling to Ghana, Korea, and Thailand this summer.
2009
10th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Allison Lyons lyonsal@sas.upenn.edu Rajeev Mehrotra rmehrotra@wustl.edu
This is an exciting year for the Class of 2009! Our 10th Reunion is being held on May 31 and June 1, 2019. We encourage everyone to attend and reconnect with classmates, chat with old friends, and reminisce of good times on the Hill. Ahead of our reunion, here are some updates from members of the
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Class of 2009: Alana Friedlander decided to make some changes in pursuit of a longtime dream. She quit her job in marketing, and in July of 2018, after having spent a few months traveling, couch-hopping, and being a nanny around the country, she began a Doctorate in Psychology (PsyD) program at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. Kavan Reddy, meanwhile, is completing his final semester at Columbia Business School before returning to Deloitte Consulting. Before he graduates and returns to working life, Kavan spent this past year in pursuit of adventure: from road tripping down southern Italy to exploring Cuba with family to visiting the Philippines with classmates. We hope to see everyone at our 10th Reunion, where we can all share even more about what we have been up to since graduation!
2010
Allie Briskin alliebriskin@gmail.com Molly Levine mollyhl@gwmail.gwu.edu
Ryan Healey is still happily living in New
York, where he works as the Director of Marketing for Momofuku. As of July, his roommate is Jessica Cohen. They have a comfortable couch should a fellow Hilltopper ever need it. Molly Levine is working in Brooklyn, New York’s DUMBO neighborhood as a senior campaign manager for Creative Brand Communications agency, Manifest New York. Currently, she resides in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and is a proud plant mom to a healthy and happy fourfoot-tall Birds of Paradise plant. In her spare time, she partners with Sam Dailey, throwing art parties @readymadecollective. At age 26, Sam Dailey has moved back in with his parents. He is taking a job with DHL in Germany this summer, and afterward has no clear plans. He also throws art shows in Manhattan @readymadecollective with Molly Levine. Allie Briskin is currently in her
second year at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. When she graduates in May, she will spend the summer traveling before joining the JP Morgan Private Bank as an Associate in the New York City office. Jessica Cohen recently joined Egg Strategy as a Senior Strategist in the lifestyle vertical. Hayley Grunebaum is currently working for a global brand consultancy called Prophet, which specializes in growth strategy and digital transformation. She recently moved to West Hollywood, California, with her fiancé and is excited for a new adventure on the West Coast. Alex Pack lives in San Francisco, California, and recently founded a U.S.-China venture capital fund, Dragonfly Capital Partners, focused on financial technology and cryptocurrencies (announced in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal). Anna Carolan works in social media and digital communications at Bloomberg Philanthropies, and is currently living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Alice Bradley completed her 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate at Quails Springs Permaculture in the Cuyama Valley, California, last April, and is currently working as a School Garden Educator and Grant Writer in Santa Barbara, California. Jill Stadterman is in her second year at Fordham’s Clinical Psychology doctoral program. She is currently finishing her master’s thesis, which looks at the impact of a western diet on the hippocampus. Jill is enjoying graduate school so far and loves living on the Upper East Side with her border terrier, Olive. Ashley Reidy has been selected to sell a new boutique luxury condo development in Hudson Yards, with 66 units. She also just entered the lottery to run the New York Marathon, with fingers crossed that she’ll be selected. This year, Gopal Kodumudi will be graduating from medical school and starting residency with a specialty in anesthesiology. He will find out which state and program he’ll be in by March.
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2011
Matt Pun poonee_11sbcglobal.net Cailin Gillespie cgilles1@nd.edu
2012
Luke McCrory luke.mccrory@yahoo.com Amanda B. Fath amanda.fath.16@tfacorps.org
The Hopkins Class of 2012 continues to have exciting adventures across the globe, and they are looking forward to an eventful 2019. Lucas Hausman is living in Israel, playing professional basketball with Maccabi Haifa. Robbie Emmet is adding a new project to his Ph.D. studies, modeling survival of American black ducks with partners at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Nicole Marzziotti was recently promoted to branch manager for M&T Bank and was asked to participate in a business banking boot camp, a training program for M&T’s market. Luke McCrory is living in Chicago, Illinois, with Brian Astrachan and working in the Restructuring group for FTI Consulting. He spent most of 2018 working on the Claire’s Stores bankruptcy. Amanda Fath is continuing her Fulbright research in Barcelona, Spain, while continuing to soak in as much of the Spanish culture as she can.
2013
Leili Azarbarzin lazarbarzin17@gmail.com Alex Dillon alexbaileydillon@gmail.com Eli Lustbader e2lustbader@gmail.com
Hi all! Here we are, on the far side of our 5th Reunion! We’re going east to west this time, starting in our dear old New Haven, where Brendan Donovan is spending a few months making music, writing articles, and taking
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a bartending course. He had a great time working as a producers’ assistant on a new Netflix sports documentary series, which finished in December, and has released new world bass music as Bastion (available on Soundcloud and Spotify). If anyone is in the arts and around New Haven, reach out on Facebook or at brendandonovan13@gmail. com. Next up, Aliyah Bixby-Driesen and Mike Dewar have settled in Philadelphia, after a very busy year. Mike graduated from the University of Chicago in June and spent five months campaign managing in Dayton, Ohio, while Aliyah started her Ph.D. in Linguistic Anthropology at UPenn. Since reuniting in Philly, they’ve been on the search for the perfect pretzel, the cheapest cheesesteak, and a cure for their ailing plant—if anyone else is in the area (with or without tips on those quests), hit them up! Also, they got engaged in December, which is, to quote, “pretty cool.” Shivali Gupta finished up her term of service with AmeriCorps last summer and started a Master’s of Health Science program at Johns Hopkins in the fall. She’s exploring the Baltimore food scene (I love all this food news!) and building on her calligraphy/ lettering hobby, which sounds beautiful. Hopping to the west coast, Varsha Krish has landed in Seattle and is working as a data analyst at IHME, a health data company. If you want to spend some time playing with visualisations of said data, check out vizhub. healthdata.org—especially the GBD Compare and US Health Map pages. I can confirm that they are fascinating, if sometimes horrifying, to dig into. Matt Vine lives in New York City and started at Citi Ventures last year. He has spent the last seven months in a deep dive into blockchains and quantum computing, and is excited to continue in those areas. He’d love to hear from Hopkins grads in the same career—or geographical—area. And, last but not least, I (Alex Bailey Dillon) am in the Bay Area. (And yes, I did Google the longitudes of Seattle and San Francisco,
and yes, San Francisco is approximately 0.8 degrees west of Seattle). Meanwhile, I spent the second half of last year bouncing between Edinburgh, Scotland; San Francisco; and Chicago, but I have now bitten the proverbial bullet and moved permanently to the Bay Area. I’m house hunting in Berkeley and Oakland and working at the San Francisco Playhouse, the Bay Area Children’s Theatre, and Theatre FIRST. I’m really excited to put down some roots here and have joined a synagogue and a circus gym and am having a great time at both! Since so many people who responded mentioned wanting to reconnect with other members of our class in their new cities, I feel duty bound to promote the Regional Alumni/ae events that pop up once or twice a year in any given location. At the time of writing, there are upcoming events in Los Angeles, California; Southeast Florida; Seattle, Washington; and San Francisco, California; and there are often events in Chicago, Illinois; New York City; New Haven; and Boston, Massachusetts, as well. If you get emails from Hopkins, upcoming events tend to be listed toward the bottom, and you can also find a calendar under the “Alumni/ae” tab of the Hopkins website. Go forth and be friends!
2014
5th Reunion Hopkins—May 31–June 1, 2019
Joshua Furth joshua.furth@duke.edu Jack Greenberg jbg3@williams.edu Ross Pforzheimer rossinator199@aol.com
On the eve of its 5th Reunion, the Class of 2014 is busy on many adventures they are excited to share on a beautiful June weekend to come in New Haven. Dan Brodkin is currently researching linguistic diversification in West Sulawesi, Indonesia, on a Fulbright Research Fellowship. Next year, he will continue a doctoral program, supported by the
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
National Science Foundation GRFP fellowship, in theoretical syntax at University of California Santa Cruz. Speaking of doctorates, Noah Daponte-Smith is a first-year Ph.D. student in the government department at Harvard and, true to plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, he enjoys getting to walk all around Cambridge with Max Bloom, who is studying at Harvard Law. Tilden Daniels and John Lytle can let him know if that French was correct; it’s been a few years. Michael Kravitz graduated from Middlebury College as a “Feb” in, well, February (you all should look into what Middlebury does for its midyear graduation), and is now working as an investigator for the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs in Austin, Texas, a legal agency that represents people on death row. Abigail Eberts is still working as an equity research analyst in Greenwich at Renaissance Capital and recently became a volunteer with the New York Junior League. Joshua Furth is doing some “out of this world” work as an aerospace engineer in Los Angeles (patting self on back for easy pun) while Jessica Larkin-Wells reports that she has a great shallow mucky pond behind her new house on which she and her roommates shoveled out a tricky-twisty, narrow, roundand-about course across the ice. The time to beat for the course is 1:12, and when not attempting to beat that record, she spends each and every weekend up to her elbows in dough (in various stages of dryness) to make the incredible sourdough for Atticus in New Haven. Given that I live a block away from Atticus, I am obliged to thank Jessica for her tremendous service to the Elm City. As for your humble class secretary, I, Jack Greenberg, enjoy immensely getting to bump into Hopkins people all over New Haven (even, I hate to admit it, Joe Addison) while in graduate school. It is immensely exciting to see all these Hilltoppers again, almost as exciting as our 5th Reunion this June! We are so, so, so excited to get the gang back together on the Hill; in the spirit of
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Hopkins assembly announcements, “everyone should come.” For real, the 5th Reunion usually ends up being the best attended and your presence at the event will make it all the more special. So let’s do it!
2015
Griffin Smith smithg2@union.edu
As we near four years since we graduated, many members of the Class of 2015 are planning on entering the “real world.” Whether that is applying for jobs, graduate school, or continuing other interests, everyone is accomplishing great things. Maraya Clark studied abroad in France for the entire 2018–2019 academic year, living with a host family and working toward becoming fluent. She was also able to give back to her French community by teaching English to 5- to 8-year-olds. Once she returns to the United States in June, she will get back to work on finishing her degrees in psychology and English, with the ultimate goal of attending graduate school to obtain her Ph.D. in a clinical psychology program. Alex McMahon will build off of his internship experience from this past summer in the Finance Group at Barclays in New York City. Also heading to New York City is Elizabeth Ward, who will be going back to JP Morgan full time. She is also playing club lacrosse again this spring and hopes that her team can make it to nationals for the fourth consecutive year. Michael Leone will be working at CitiGroup next year in its Mergers & Acquisitions team within their Investment Banking division, although he is currently focused on winning a championship in his intramural basketball league, which he was not able to accomplish at Hopkins. In the art world, Zenon Holowaty is working on illustrating someone’s Undertale FanFiction. Tim Squance was also lucky enough to see Clemson win another national championship in football.
2016
Eric Kong eric_kong@brown.edu Sophia C. Cappello sophia.cappello@yale.edu Emmanuel C. Chinyumba emmanuel.chinyumba@uconn.edu
The Class of 2016 was filled with some of the best and brightest individuals and that was illustrated both inside and outside the classroom and even after graduation. Emily Malison worked as a software engineer at Walt Disney Imagineering in Los Angeles, California, last summer and this summer she’ll be continue as an S.E. intern with a smaller company known as Yext in New York City. When she’s not creating magic at Disney, Emily can be found playing intramurals or as an active member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority at M.I.T. Eva Mullineaux has continued singing as a member of the a cappella group Bacchantae, at Barnard College, where Eva served as the musical director, helping arrange and teach a song, while also in charge of producing the audio for the release of the group’s first ever music video! Eva worked at a digital marketing firm this past year in New York City, but will be heading to the University of Auckland in New Zealand for the 2019 spring semester. Meanwhile, Neha Srivastava is furthering her education by majoring in economics and statistics and has an internship lined up with KPMG in New York as a risk analyst. In her free time, she can be found either working at the library or as a member of Carnegie Mellon’s specific club for spring carnival and intramural sports—“Fringe.” I, Emmanuel Chinyumba, recently began serving as secretary for my fraternity Alpha Delta Phi, am still showing off my school spirit as a tour guide and now residential assistant and will be continuing my political agenda by running as Vice President for the University of Connecticut’s undergraduate student government. Our good friend Liam Archer went above and beyond
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with his love for sports when he studied abroad last summer in London, England, and interned for a nonprofit called Football Beyond Borders, where he worked with disengaged youth. Liam currently works for Purdue University’s athletic department and writes for the school newspaper, The Purdue Exponent. Liam will be staying in Indiana this summer doing play-by-play for the local minor league baseball team, the Lafayette Aviators. Thomas Rosiello and his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and got a new dog, Fritzy. Thomas is now at Georgetown University, where he works at a local coffee shop, writes for the school paper, The Hoya, and is involved with a number of things such as the finance and chess clubs and a variety of LGBTQ organizations. Meghan Podolsky is studying economic and community health at Tufts University and has been interning for the past year at the Massachusetts General Hospital in a public health research lab that focuses on health disparities and genomics. In her free time, she volunteers for Peer Health Exchange and teaches a skills-based health curriculum. She also does some theater production stuff on the side, such as producing and props design. Meghan will be working in Boston this summer at a risk management firm. Spencer Lovejoy is playing varsity squash at Yale, where he illustrated that hard work pays off as he currently ranks #1 on the team, and his team ranks #5 in the nation. Lovejoy is training to become a professional squash player after graduation and has been traveling to different countries to play tournaments and train. Last summer, he trained in Barcelona, Spain, and got the opportunity to travel around Europe. While training requires a lot of work and traveling, he enjoys it and wants his classmates to know that he still calls New Haven his home and if anyone wants to catch up, they should shoot him a message! Concluding with more health-related initiatives, Rebecca Lee worked on a project last summer that involved her customizing
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natural language processing tools to read free-text electronic health record data (such as doctors’ notes, patient history, etc.) in order to (eventually) identify patients at risk for suicide. Rebecca was accepted as a mid-year student to Brown University and is now a member of the equestrian team after going abroad to Edinburgh, Scotland, during her semester off. During traveling and her transition, Rebecca wrote that she reflected back on her time at Hopkins whenever she felt lost or alone. This resonated with me because I, too, do the same when I feel alone or am unsure of where I’m going next. I think it’s easy for us to get wrapped up in the notion that we must have everything figured out or a plan in motion for the next set of events in our life. But the people and experiences I encountered at Hopkins illustrate that change can be a good thing, that we should continually push ourselves to learn new things, step outside our comfort zone, build perspective through new lenses, and truly follow what we are passionate about and not fall into the mainstream. To the Class of 2016 and to all Hilltoppers, always keep your head up high and do not fret over the obstacles you may face, for they are never forever—there is always a new light just around the corner waiting for you to stumble upon it and challenge yourself with a new and exciting adventure.
2017
Caroline Simon pokeysimon@gmail.com
Doug Wardlaw joined the football team at
UConn and became the Director of Career Services for the Sports Business Association. Sydnee Blanco is excited about her recent acceptance into Boston College’s study abroad program in Madrid, Spain, for the spring of 2020. Lydia McGrath, inspired by her experience with Breakthrough New Haven (renamed to Pathfinder Hopkins), became president of an elementary school tutoring club at Colgate University. Holden Turner is pursuing a career as a “professional amateur at badminton, cross country skiing, and curling” and plans to bike around Italy this June. He is also excited to be living in a dorm with a kitchen so he can bake often, and he gives his well wishes to everyone passing through the middle of college facing ambiguity and anxiety about the future! Dunia Habboosh is really enjoying competing on the Columbia Varsity Women’s Rowing team and is excited to race for an Ivy League Championship. She has also been writing for the Columbia Daily Spectator and was selected to be a tour guide. Last summer, Dunia traveled to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and is looking forward to traveling more this summer.
2018 Alumni/ae Weekend
If you are interested in serving as a correspondent for the Class of 2018, please contact Donna Vinci at dvinci@hopkins.edu.
FRIDAY, MAY 31 & SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2019
For classes ending in 4 or 9— but all are welcome! Visit hopkins.edu/reunion for details.
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MILESTONES
Hopkins Community Remembers Ron Wilmore ’61 HGS February 2, 1943–January 12, 2019
Hopkins School lost a beloved member of its community this year with the passing of Ron Wilmore ’61 HGS on January 12, 2019. A 1965 Yale graduate, former Hopkins teacher, and 2003 winner of the Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award, Ron had been an outstanding scholar, leader, and athlete while a student at Hopkins—a member of the Student Council and Maroon Key, a John Davenport Scholar, a varsity basketball and National High School All-American football player who, according to several classmates, made quite an impression on the field: “He turned out to be one of the biggest backs we’d ever encountered,” said Ron’s friend and Hopkins football teammate Bob Kessler ’61 HGS. “You didn’t want to see Ron coming at you during a scrimmage. He looked like a Mack truck barreling through the line. Luckily, he played for Hopkins.” Ron set a Connecticut state record that still stands today, of seven two-point conversions in a single football game. But it was more than his athletic achievements and success as a student that made Ron stand out. Many admired and loved him for the warmth, consideration, and kindness with which he treated all those around him. “Ron had a light-hearted, good-humored and genuine way of reconnecting and interacting,” said Bob. “It’s hard to explain the impact of his passing, but it makes all the experiences and memories we formed on the athletic fields, basketball courts, and classrooms at Hopkins more enduring and that much more special.” Many would agree that Ron Wilmore personified Hopkins’ mission of “raising up hopeful youths for the public service of the country in future times.” While at Yale, he was active in civil rights, helped coordinate Freedom Summer, and lobbied for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. After graduating from Yale in 1965, he served in the U.S. Army, and later pursued a career as an educator, teaching at Hopkins, in community-based SPRING 2019
Ron Wilmore in 1961, left, and in recent years. Right photo courtesy of Jason Miccolo Johnson.
organizations, and in public schools in New Haven and Washington, D.C. He eventually took a job as Executive Director of Northwest Settlement House, a private social services agency in Washington, where for the next 21 years he devoted himself to bettering the lives of underprivileged families and at-risk youth. On May 10, 2003, Ron was presented with the Hopkins Distinguished Alumnus Award, given annually to alumni/ae who have demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment and service to their communities. During her introduction, former Head of School Barbara Riley stated: “Ron Wilmore took his idealism, his determination, and his finely trained and nurtured intelligence and sought a purpose beyond himself. For those he serves, for his Hopkins and Yale classmates, and for us at Hopkins now, Ron Wilmore is an inspiration. He is our reminder that it is possible, necessary, and richly rewarding to make compassion and justice a way of life.” Upon receiving the award, Ron delivered a speech titled “The Role of the Privileged in Helping the Less Privileged.” Though the text from that speech is not available, the following quotation, which he submitted in 2002 for the Yale alumni magazine regarding his work at Northwest Settlement House, illuminates the qualities in Ron that impressed and influenced so many: “From the very beginning, I felt that the best way to achieve my goals was to lead by example.
There was no job too little or too small for me to tackle. If it needed to be done and I was the only one available, I did it. If working long hours would help my agency, then I was going to work many more hours than anyone on my staff…” It is significant that the original notification of Ron’s passing was sent not only to the members of his own class, as is the norm, but to alumni from the classes of 1959 to 1965—as he touched the hearts of so many. “Surely, Ron realized the difference he made in the lives of those he labored for, but I wonder if he appreciated the lifelong difference he made in us,” said Bob Lee ’61 HGS. Friends and classmates went a long way to make certain that he did, establishing in 2003 the Ron Wilmore Scholarship in his honor. Since that time, income from the fund has provided financial assistance to promising students from New Haven so they can attend Hopkins. “The Ron Wilmore Scholarship has allowed me to get an exceptional education, enabling me to grow from a quiet, unspoken girl who did not like to share her thoughts, to someone who likes to speak her mind (with respect to my peers and teachers) and try new things,” stated a recipient of the scholarship. “No words can truly express the gratitude that I feel toward the scholarship and the person who made it possible for me to attend such a school as this.” 75
MILESTONES
Births
2004
2007
John Ronald Hesse ’51 HGS
Kelly Ruby Musante and Jeff
Jake Graetz and Christina Bittar
d. August 7, 2017
1993
Musante welcomed Evelyn Ruby
on September 21, 2018
Fleming James ’51 HGS
Courteney Fornal and David
Musante on May 12, 2018.
Henry welcomed Carter Elizabeth Henry on January 17, 2019.
2008
John Davis ’55 HGS
2005
Kate Smith and Mitchell
d. 2018
Courtney Yakavonis and Mark
Mary Pierce Williamson ’55 DAY
2001
Yakavonis welcomed Mary Yakavonis on December 16, 2018.
Newman on August 26, 2018 Emma Fox and Thomas Perekslis on September 15, 2018 Courtney Woolston and Kevin Infante on December 1, 2018
Ben Rubenstein and Sarah
Rubenstein welcomed Willa Rubenstein on March 28, 2018. Liz Kinsley and David Skidmore welcomed Ida Bell KinsleySkidmore on August 28, 2018.
2003
d. February 23, 2018 Theodore Yampanis ’56 HGS
d. Oct 20, 2018 Mary Lou Boorsch Vogler ’58 PHS
d. January 25, 2019
Marriages
Anita Warner Sause ’61 DPH
1998
In Memoriam
Jordan Schreck and Tasha Ennis
Marie Duffy Wootton ’39 PHS
Ronald Wilmore ’61 HGS
on November 10, 2018
d. April 11, 2019
d. January 12, 2019
Louise Guion ’42 DAY
John Peter Lashnits ’63 HGS
2000
d. August 25, 2018
d. December 6, 2018
Claire DePalma and Christopher
Stanley R. Hinckley, Jr. ’43 HGS
Deborah Monks Newton
Beaudro on October 14, 2018 Alden Ferro and Richard Luedeman on September 15, 2018
d. September 15, 2018
’65 DPH
Richard B. Abt ’49 HGS
d. December 6, 2018
d. December 3, 2018
Robert F. Schulz ’65 HGS
Janet Graham Barrett ’49 PHS
d. November 27, 2018
Teo Ifrim and Marci Ifrim
welcomed Sebastian Xavier Ifrim in August 2018. Kurt Padilla and Kathleen Frey welcomed Neave Mary Padilla in August 2018. Arielle Traub and Ethan Prosnit welcomed Zoe May Traub Prosnit on September 19, 2018.
d. March 2018
d. August 20, 2016
d. April 19, 2019
Peter Grotjan Cook ’67 HGS
2005
Frank Kurt Cylke ’49 HGS
d. January 12, 2019
Chris Hays and Carly Crouch in
d. April 17, 2019
Andrew Carson Harvard
August 2018
Alan H. Ives ’49 HGS
’67 HGS
Aaron Rosenberg and Lydia
d. December 13, 2018
d. January 16, 2019
Carmichael on September 2, 2018
Louis J. Rapuano ’50 HGS
Patricia Minaldi ’76
d. September 21, 2018
d. November 24, 2018
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:
This is my last issue of the magazine as Editor. I’ll be joining Hopkins’ other retirees—Canny, Gail, and Gena—in a new chapter. For me, that chapter will involve family, travel, and creative exploration. Over the past five years, with my colleagues, we have accomplished much—a graphic and editorial redesign of this magazine, the launch of the @HOP weekly newsletter, the website reconfiguration to responsive design to allow for mobile devices, a new emphasis on demographic digital marketing, and a market-driven Admission messaging campaign, “We Think.” It’s been a privilege to come to know the Hopkins community and I’m grateful for the leadership of the School and their unwavering commitment to every student and family. I’m especially thankful to the student and faculty leaders of S.U.R.E. and Equity and Inclusion whose programs and speakers have touched me, informed me, and changed me. —Linda Weber, Director of Strategic Marketing and Communication
76
VIEWS FROM THE HILL
Hopkins Alumni/ae Weekend 2019 Get the latest information on Alumni/ae Weekend 2019, RSVP and register online at hopkins.edu/reunion Questions? email reunion@hopkins.edu Friday, May 31
Saturday, June 1
AFTERNOON
MORNING
AFTERNOON
1:30 PM
9:30 AM
12:00 PM
DOCENT-LED TOUR OF
50TH REUNION
PICNIC FOR ALL
THE YALE ART GALLERY
BREAKFAST FOR
ALUMNI/AE AND
RSVP requested, space limited.
THE CLASSES OF
FAMILIES
1969 HGS & DPH
Enjoy a casual lunch; all encouraged to attend! Main Tent, RSVP requested
EVENING 5:30–7:00 PM ALUMNI/AE WEEKEND WELCOME RECEPTION
Kai Bynum, Head of School, hosts a cocktail reception at his home. All are welcome to attend to kick off the weekend’s festivities. Swensen House, RSVP requested. REUNION CLASS GATHERINGS
Check the Reunion Class Information page at hopkins.edu/reunion to see who’s coming and for details. Various locations
Swensen House, RSVP requested.
10:30 AM SHARING YOUR LEGACY: STORIES
1:30–4:00 PM
FROM THE WOMEN’S
FAMILY ACTIVITIES
SCHOOLS
Featuring freshpopped kettle corn, face painting, balloon animals, and more! Pratt Field
Share your collective and individual stories through video or audio recordings to be kept in the Hopkins Archives. Upper Heath
11:00 AM 7TH ANNUAL CLAY HALL RUN/WALK
Celebrating Clay’s retirement after 50 years at Hopkins. Pratt Field
11:00 AM CAMPUS TOURS
Depart from Pratt Field
1:30 PM
2:30 PM
3:30 PM
BACK TO CLASS:
CAMPUS TOURS
21ST CENTURY
Depart from Pratt Field
DEMOCRACY
Join History Faculty and Assistant Head of School John Roberts as he discusses hot topics in 21st Century Democracy, with special guest and 2018–19 Distinguished Alumnus Fran Palmieri ’79. Thompson Hall Atrium
3:30 PM DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS RECEPTION IN HONOR OF
ALUMNI/AE SPORTS
FRAN PALMIERI ’79
Men’s Baseball Men’s Lacrosse Women’s Softball Tennis Squash
Thompson Hall Atrium
1:30 PM
3:30 PM
4:00 PM HOPKINS DRAMA ASSOCIATION ALUMNI/AE MEETUP
Lovell Hall
EVENING 5:00 PM DIVERSITY & INCLUSION RECEPTION
Hosted by the Hopkins Black Alumni/ae Network and the Hopkins Office of Equity and Community. Upper Heath Commons
RECEPTION
6:00–10:00 PM
HONORING GERARD
COCKTAILS &
CASANOVA & HIS
REUNION DINNER
GIRLS’ SOCCER
Join those in Reunion classes for cocktails and appetizers from 6:00–7:00, before enjoying dinner and entertainment. Class Photos begin at 7:15. Main Tent RSVP required
HOPKINS 360:
LEGACY
A STRATEGIC VISION
Weissman Room
Hear remarks on Hopkins from Kai Bynum, Head of School. Thompson Hall Atrium
3:30 PM REFRESHMENTS & ATHLETES’ RECEPTION
Main Tent
Classes ending in 4 and 9:
Join us for your Reunion at the Hopkins Alumni/ae Weekend May 31–June 1, 2019
SPRING 2019
2
S C H O O L
Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID 04330 Permit #121
986 Forest Road • New Haven CT 06515
1
VIEWS FROM THE HILL