1968 50th Reunion Book

Class of 1968

Photo by Larry Van Meter ’68

50th Reunion Book Presented on Alumni Weekend 2018

Spring 2018 Dear Classmates, While one of my great privileges as Head of School has been welcoming back graduates for their milestone reunions on Alumni Weekend, I’ve never approached the event with such a mixture of emotions! It seems quite unbelievable that we are celebrating our 50th reunion together this May. Reading the biographies you have shared, and looking forward to sharing our stories in person, I am reminded of all the memories we have in common: learning from iconic teachers and coaches like Jean Ricketts, Cully Miller, Neil Hartman, Herm Magee and Floss Brudon, and growing up in what, in recollection, was a relatively more innocent time, the burgeoning South Jersey “Leave it to Beaver” suburbia of the 1950s and ‘60s.

Over the last 17 years, I have gotten to appreciate how each graduating class has a distinct profile. It’s a particular blend of personalities, talents, and friendships developed against the backdrop of the times in which we matured. For us, the late ’60s were such a tumultuous era in which to have forged our characters, against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the reemergence of Feminism.

I want to especially thank those of you who have worked both on organizing this weekend and encouraging the class to support the endowment of our Camden Scholars Program, which has been a project very close to my heart.

My deep appreciation goes out to Eric Jones, this book’s editor, Renee Kaufman, Ken Mayer, Lee McDaniel, Jay Novick, Paul Pinsky, Sue Stapler Kelemen and Jon Tomar, as well as to Laurie Mitchell who stepped up early to plan a special memento for returning classmates. Thanks, too, to Susan and Scott Kelemen for their hospitality hosting us for Sunday brunch during reunion weekend. I am thrilled that we are going to have a strong turnout, especially with so many of you coming long distances.

Congratulations, then, to us all on our 50th! I look forward to being together in person and hope that those who are unable to make it back know they will be sorely missed, and fondly remembered.

Warmly,

Seniors serenely sleeping in the upper balcony of meeting, eagerly bursting forth from class to begin the whirlwind weekend. never pausing an instant to reflect on consequences or results a senior in a mass of contradictions, a life struggling to emerge from beneath books and papers and tests and restrictions. an individual at a crossroads.

David DeCou After graduating from MFS I spent the summer on our family farm in Cherry Hill and visited the “shore� several times.

I departed to Earlham College in mid- August of 1968 to try out for the Earlham soccer team. I made the team and played alongside my youngest brother, Rolf, who was a senior at Earlham that year. That year during the Alumni Soccer game I got to play with all of my brothers for the only time in my life. Rolf and I were on the varsity and Tony and Lauren were with the Alumni. Needless to say my parents came to watch the game. The varsity won on my goal!

Oh we were younger back then. Since soon after that game I have had a beard which has not left my face to this day. It has been longer and shorter but always there.

My time at Earlham was one of fond memories and loneliness, as someone who was basically shy but stuck in the foreground by both my size and my activities. I played varsity soccer for four years as a starter and two of those years we went to the NAIA nationals. I also played two years of basketball, the last on the varsity but gave that up for my junior year because the basketball players were mostly midwestern rural boys and the soccer team was largely made up of east coast boys (from my current perspective I think of all of us as boys back then, I certainly was). During my college years the Vietnam War was coming to a head and I marched with most of the student body against the war both in Richmond, Indiana (home of Earlham College) and Washington DC. When I had originally registered for the draft I had not claimed the CO status which my Quaker background would likely have easily facilitated me achieving but during my time at Earlham I sent my Selective Service Board a letter asking for it if I ever came into the draft. Fortunately during my Junior year the governmant initiated the lottery system and my birthday was given a

David DeCou 300. I had exams the day after the first lottery and someone had told me that my number was 30 the night before the exams but in the morning I discovered the truth and went into my exam with a glow.

Between my freshman and sophomore years I traveled through western Europe on my own. That was a trip which truly developed my confidence. The last part of my Junior year I went on foreign study to England where I discovered the truth of the statement that Americans and English are two countries divided by a common language. The Cockney in London was at first incomprehensible. After that spring I spent the summer in Sweden working in an international summer camp (LPC, Luethi-Peterson Camps) which was associated with a school in the Swiss Alps (the Ecole d’Humanite).

I worked with children from Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway, the USA, England, and probably elsewhere.

Working in Sweden with the short summer nights was a wonderful experience. In the winter of my senior year I was offered a job at the Ecole d’Humanite for the following school year. So I graduated from Earlham College with a BA in Physics and went to teach at the Ecole d’Humanite (Ecole for short), on the Hasliberg in the Berner Oberland of Switzerland. Below is the dorm and part of the view from my time in Switzerland.

In retrospect I was probably not a great teacher, at least on the academic side, but I think I helped some children grow up and certainly grew up myself through teaching and parenting for two years. The Ecole was and is a boarding school so teachers also take on the role of parenting to a certain degree. The Hasliberg is in central Switzerland on the south side of a mountain range looking across the valley of the river Aare above the town of Meiringen

David DeCou (a place where meringue originated and the spot where Professor Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes are said to have fought to the death.) Above the falls from the vantage point of the Hasliberg stand the Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau and other famous mountains of the Swiss Alps. Needlees to say it was a beautiful place to live and work for two years. I learned to down hill ski and was pretty good once I left Switzerland.

Upon my return to the US, I traveled with a friend, Pavel Salz, who was a Czechoslovakian whose family had escaped from behind the Iron Curtain in 1968 through help from people involved with LPC and then living in the Netherlands, from the Chicago area through western Canada and then down the US west coast to San Francisco. (Because of this biography I searched for Pavel on the Internet and found him, we have started connecting one again!) During that trek I met my first wife, Elizabeth (Liz) Frank, on the Oregon Coast. After I returned to New Jersey, Liz moved east and we lived together while I worked on my father’s orchard in Cherry Hill. My first daughter, Kristin arrived soon thereafter in 1976. Within a year Liz, Kristin and I moved to Eugene, Oregon. I have lived in the Eugene-Springfield area of Oregon ever since.

Upon first moving to Oregon I rented an old orchard near Eugene in the area called Pleasant Hill. I ran that orchard for 6-7 years and started raising two more daughters there, Sachi (born in 1978), and Laurel (born in 1981). That orchard was an old-time orchard set up to grow apples, peaches, pears, and cherries for people who wanted to can or freeze them for the winter. We had some success, but the market was changing to people wanting not large quantities for canning but small quantities for eating out of hand or for dessert. We planted some new varieties and eventually converted the entire orchard to organic production, but it was a marginal business at best. During those struggling years my relationship with my wife Liz deteriorated and we were separated and divorced by ’82.

I then went to work for another farmer while I looked for land to farm on my own. In 1984 I bought 29 acres of excellent farmland and began to farm vegetables organically. While working the orchard I had joined up with other organic producers in the area and formed a marketing cooperative, Organically Grown Coop (OGC) for our organic produce. When I got into OG vegetable production I slotted into that marketing system and it became central to my life. Over the next twenty plus years I grew vegetables for OGC and served on its Board. There were good years and bad years, which seems to be the nature of farming. When one has an excellent crop so does most everyone else and the prices are low. When one has a poor crop, others also do, and the prices are good, but the

David DeCou volume is down. At least one had plenty to eat if vegetables were enough. At times I farmed up to 45 acres and was a respected supplier for OGC. In fact, I was one of the largest growers in more than just my stature. For a couple of years, I marketed lettuce to California because the OG production in California was not adequate. Talking of coals to Newcastle. During this period, I became heavily involved with the greater Organic Industry and I remarried. OGC was a growing organization and went through its share of tough times. It was a cooperative with a cooperative attitude throughout the business. In 1995 the staff fired the general manager because they thought he was just plain not willing or competent to move ahead. I was on the Board at the time and was the board member who lived closest to our one facility.

Suddenly I was effectively the general manager for the next 6 years and still farming full time. In that time OGC grew from a small business to one with three facilities and serving western Oregon and Washington. We were the largest organic produce supplier in the entire Northwest. Seasonally we shipped product to other parts of the country on a wholesale basis. We grew and grew but became larger than I felt capable of managing and so I stepped down and we hired professional management. OGC has continued to grow until very recently. It has transformed its structure several times over the years resulting in its current structure of a ESOP joined with grower owners. I have been able to sell my portion of OGC and that has allowed Sally and me to retire fairly comfortably in 2015.

The Organic Industry has a trade association called the Organic Trade Association (OTA). During the 2000s I served on the Board of Trustees of the OTA for nine years. We went through some hard times in that period because it was soon after the Organic regulations were implemented by the USDA. Many issues needed to be worked out with input from all over the place. We also were being attacked by conventional agriculture and conventional agribusinesses. A trade association primarily supports its larger businesses who fund the organization, so as a small farmer (6’ 5�, 285) I spent a great deal of time pushing for support of the farmers over the processors and retailers. I was able to hold the line for awhile, and the attacks from the outside forced us to pull together, but the Organic Industry is now often a big business in its own right. Still some of the best food around to eat and for the planet!

In the mid-2000s I further involved myself more into the organic industry by joining the Board of Directors of the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). Within a year OMRI had gone through difficulties with its executive director and I was asked to step in on an interim basis to manage the organization. The interim basis became long term and I took OMRI from 5 employees to over 18 over the next 5 ½ years. Then I was suddenly fired by the Board. In retrospect I should have seen it coming but it

David DeCou was a shock to my system back there in about 2010. Close to retirement and with my back telling me not to go back into fulltime farming. I had been part of the Board, but the membership of the Board had changed over the years. At one point I was serving on three boards, I used to describe myself as thoroughly BORED! I met Sally in 1987 at a fourth of July party at a friend’s house. We hit it off all evening and kissed as we departed separately for the night but both of us were dating other people at the time. About a year later Sally called me up out of the blue and we found that although now she was no longer attached I was, but it took a full hour to conclude that conversation. One Sunday the next spring I was driving a tractor to do some field work on some fields that I leased from that same friend of the party and drove into the friend’s driveway to borrow a wrench. Lo and behold a car followed me in the driveway. Out of the car popped Sally and asked me if I remembered her name. I did, and we began another long conversation which still goes on. Our friend watched as Sally got out of the car and said to his family, “finally, they seem to be getting it together”. He had been thinking that we would be good together for years.

In 1990 I married Sarah (Sally) Colburn (now DeCou) and we remain happily together through the present. Sally is now a retired primary school teacher with interests in watercolors, traveling, and me. We both joined the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene as she was about to retire from teaching in the early 2000s. She realized that most of her friends and thus her community were her fellow teachers and that upon retirement that would be gone. We enjoy being involved with a liberal religion and a community both supportive and challenging. About the same time, I was finding that although I really care for the organic community it was not often very immediately supportive because we were all scattered over hundreds of miles. The church community has filled that void to a large degree.

After leaving OMRI a friend of mine from the Organic Industry asked me to start working for her at her organic certification company located in Indiana. So In 2010 I learned and started working as an organic certifier. The organization’s name was Indiana Certified Organic but with six months it was purchased by on of the largest organic certifiers in Europe, Ecocert. So, I was soon working for Ecocert ICO over the last stage of my working life. Ecocert did not continue the employment of most of the original employees and brought in a great deal of modern technology but kept me. So for the last few years of my career I was working from Oregon for an organization in Indiana with farmers scattered over the Midwest on computer servers in the south of France. Unfortunately, they never flew me over to France for meetings, but I did spend considerable time communicating with French people periodically.

Eventually I retired in the spring of 2015.

Of course, as I retired I was the president of the Board of Trustees at church. Then the treasurer quit so I retired into almost

David DeCou fulltime work as both President and Treasurer for the first few months. Only in the summer of 2017 did it feel as if I was truly retired. My time is now my own and it often feels awkward to not have anything much to do that makes me feel worthwhile. I am getting over that feeling but only slowly. I have scheduled visits with friends and am taking a photography class to put some value in my time. When I am well I am happy and content. In the Winter of 2017 I had pneumonia and that is something I hope to never experience again.

Now I spend most of my time with Sally, taking care of the yard, traveling and visiting our children. Sally has two sons and I have my three daughters. They are scattered over the US – Maryland, New Mexico, California (2), and Portland, Oregon. Last summer we gathered all of them together on the farm, probably for the last time as in the next couple of years we plan to sell the farm and move into town where we can have less to take care of. Here are all of us last summer. Sally and I in the middle back, five children, five spouses/partners, and nine grandchildren and a nephew in-law.

Wallace DuBois Bachelor of Arts in Biology 1972, Taylor University, Upland, Indiana Enlistment into U.S.C.G. 1972 1st Class PO Degree in Mortuary Science, AAMI March 1974 (American Academy) Licensed Funeral Director 1974-2018 Membership Audubon Lions Club Membership American Legion Murray Trout Post Membership Gideons International Member of Audubon Board of Education 1989-1995 Ocean City Fishing Club Owner & Proprietor of DuBois Funeral Home LLC, 1988-2018

Phillip Elbertson After graduating MFS, I went to Lafayette College and earned a BS in Chemistry which I’ve never used. My favorite outside activity at college was working at the school’s radio station, mostly as the music librarian. This would prove to be most beneficial to my future career. I spent 3 months at Fort McCullen in Anniston AL to fulfill my ROTC commitment and joined an Army Reserve unit in Camden. I started my retail music career in April 1973 at the Franklin Music in Echelon Mall. In August 1974 I moved to Altamonte Springs FL to open a new music chain Wide World of Music where I was assistant manager. I adapted quickly to the Florida climate and lifestyle and bought my house the following year. I went from retail to wholesale in Nov. 1977 and became a salesman for RCA Records. My territory covered all of north Florida which meant lots of travel and dodging tourists. I attended many concerts and met musicians whose careers were just starting or reaching greater heights. Following the death of my mother I decided to leave Florida and returned to my family home in Blackwood in 1984. I tried a career change from 1985 to 1989 working for a small commercial printer as a salesperson and later typesetter and graphic artist. But retail came calling again and I helped start Stars Music and Video, an entertainment concession department within select Sears stores. I managed 5 different locations within the Philadelphia area between 1989 and 1996 selling CD’s and VHS movies. Fortunately, when our parent company decided to close these departments Best Buy was moving into the Philadelphia market. I became the media supervisor for the Mays Landing store in August 1989 managing the CD, video and video gaming departments. I was transferred to the Mount Laurel location in January 2000 in the same capacity and remained there until my position was eliminated in 2011. Anderson Merchandisers became my next stop from 2011 to 2017 representing numerous national products in various retail locations most notable Wal-Mart. When this job became unbearable last year, I was lucky to return to the Best Buy in Mt Laurel where I currently work as part of the merchandising and inventory team.

With my job history I’ve witnessed the evolution of home entertainment and electronics. At MFS it was records, console TV’s, slide rulers and pay phones. Now it’s streaming music, large flat screen TV’s, computers and cell phones all connected to the “cloud”. I have all my record albums from back then which have since been repurchased on CD and now downloaded to computers. The two guitars I own sit mostly untouched in their cases. I still play at golf, but not often enough, so my scores have increased with my age. As a season ticket holder for the Philadelphia Eagles since 1984 my loyalty was finally rewarded this past February with their Super Bowl win. My most recent interest has been visiting the many new wineries and breweries here in South Jersey. Whenever I want to head to the shore I just visit my family. Sister Kim and brother-in-law Scott have lived in North Cape May since 1988. Oldest niece Jennifer and husband Brian are in Rio Grande outside Wildwood. Youngest niece Jessica and husband Josh and their two children live in the Villas along the Delaware Bay. There’s always a beach nearby. I’m an active member of

Phillip Elbertson the First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood where I currently serve on the Board of Trustees and have been the Financial Secretary for 33 years.

Five years ago, I was invited by Steve Zakroff to visit and tour the MFS campus. It was interesting to walk the halls of the upper class building and see how the classrooms have been repurposed since our time there and the many new courses and opportunities being offered. With the Among Friends magazine and the Facebook page it’s easy to stay informed about life at MFS. I’ve been to most of our reunions and look forward to celebrating our 50th and honoring Larry.

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Karl Foord Following MFS: I attended Oberlin College.

I played varsity soccer as a freshman but tore my ACL the following spring, ending my soccer career. Following graduation at Oberlin I traveled to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and worked on a vegetable farm for two years. Then I worked on a communal farm in central Kentucky. Discovering this was not my style I returned to New Jersey and got a degree in Horticulture from Rutgers University. Pursuing plant improvement, I went to Davis, California receiving a PhD in Genetics. After receiving the degree, I worked with a biotech firm located in the San Francisco Bay Area for 8 years. This work included a significant amount of foreign travel. I worked predominantly in Egypt, Pakistan, India, and Northern Mexico. It was a great way to see the world as a working person rather than a tourist. That being said, I was given the opportunity to visit a number of European cities on my return to the states. I mostly explored art in Rome, Madrid, Paris, and Amsterdam.

The company failed at the marketplace whereupon I moved to Minnesota took a job with the University of Minnesota Extension Service and married a Minnesota woman. I worked for the University for 23 years, teaching adults on horticulture topics. I emphasized the visual aspects of learning with a focus on insect pollinators. I realized a dream to photograph insects in flight with a high-speed camera enabling one to observe the wing motion of dragonflies, butterflies, and various species of bees. I retired last fall but am continuing the pollination work in terms of visual tools aiding identification of bee species, and capturing insect pollinator behavior.

John Harrison My quote: “Moorestown Friends was the toughest school I ever attended!”

After 10th grade, I went to Westtown School, then George Washington University, Williams College and finally the University of Pennsylvania. Since then I have had many careers: first, working at numerous motorcycle shops, second, buying and renovating old houses, third, working in behavior psychology correcting nocturnal enuresis and bruxism, fourth, designing renovation projects and doing the spreadsheet costing and sales for a construction company. During that time, I got married three times, first to my high school sweetheart, duration 14 months, second a woman I met at Penn, duration 14 years, and included two children Eric in 1984 and Maggie in 1985, third my present wife, Lydia Lehr with whom I adopted my daughter Ashley when she was 17 years old in 2002.

I’m retired, while Lydia continues to teach art at Atlantic Cape Community College. We live on a 9 acre farm originally started in 1870 and I’ve been rehabbing it for 10 years and am finally done. I grow flowers and contribute to Liberal causes and protest Trump a lot! My hobby is caring for many English Mastiffs for 35 years. I feel extremely fortunate as my three children are all happily married (from what I can tell) have great spouses that I love and careers and great prospects. I have been further blessed with good health and my mother, Diana L. Harrison is still alive and kicking at 92.

Di and I are retired, Paul is 63 and working at Middlesex School in Concord Mass for 41 years! Now he’s left teaching and moved to Development. Pamela married Chris Musulin and manages his law firm and the baby, Suzie, is 53 and applying for a job at Penn Charter in hopes of returning to the East coast!

It’s a chilly, sunny, February afternoon at the farm and I’m reading Robert Morgan’s excellent biography of David Boone and remembering some great MFS teachers like Mona Darnell, Harrie Price, Carolyn Hedges and on and on. Weren’t we, and aren’t we lucky!

Love, John

Eric Jones Summer 1968: Right after graduation I landed a “summer theater internship” at the Playhouse in the Park in Philadelphia.

The job was billed as a “start at the bottom of the business” position with an opportunity to “work your way up” if you got a lucky break. The “bottom” part involved long days of building and painting sets -- typically in the blazing heat -- and working at night as a stagehand. Two lucky breaks happened – I was tapped to drive the company “limo” to pick up and deliver the guest stars to their hotels and to the theatre, which led to my getting to know and work with some wonderful theater legends and some still to-be-discovered talent in theater, film and TV. The second lucky break came when I was cast as a soldier in Peter Ustinov’s anti-war play, “The Unknown Soldier and His Wife,” directed by Anthony Perkins. I was 18 years-old, the exact age the role called for… and the character had to sing. As luck would have it, I was the only intern who could sing the part! Coming right out of MFS, I drew on my still emerging understanding of Quaker values in our cast script readings and through some very poignant staging discussions with our director.

Looking back, being a part of this production at such an early age really was a foundation for a lifetime of professional and personal experiences centered on creating and producing dramatic and “factual” content. This led to a passion for forming media ventures to get content broadly distributed as new delivery channels continued to be born.

During one phase of this journey, I met my wife Dori, an award-winning journalist and factual program producer. Together we have worked for over 35 years as a creative team and as business and life partners.

Far outshining anything we may have created professionally is our daughter, Dominique, a recent graduate of Columbia College who is about to enter Columbia Law School in September. Her milestones in life are taking shape and we can’t wait to see where they lead.

Here are highlights of my journey.

College: While pursuing a teaching degree in Theater from Glassboro State Teacher’s College, (now Rowan University), I was cast in a once-in-a-lifetime USO tour performing “The Fantasticks” for US troops stationed in Greenland, Iceland the North Pole and Europe. Thank you Roger Shoemaker for helping us with our MFS production. I learned so much!

Summers throughout college: Cape May, NJ hotel manager; helped set up the “historic” trolley and walking tours -- still used to this day in town.

Eric Jones Work/Life Experiences Theater: McCarter Theater, Princeton, NJ: A total shift away from performance into theater management, and producing. My “roles” over one year moved from Box Office Manager to Assistant Business Manager to Assistant General Manager. Of note: incorporating McCarter Theater into the business structure it still operates under; working with Sam Sheppard and Tennessee Williams; moving an “original run” play to Broadway, and then to PBS; and starting an exchange of productions between our theater and the Guthrie and Annenberg regional theaters. That was the day job. On most evenings, I helped manage our series of popular rock concerts featuring up-and-coming legends like Billy Joel, Genesis, James Taylor, Cat Stevens, Bruce Springsteen, as well as productions of touring dance companies and classical music groups.

Theater to Television: After four years of intense theater management – I took a train to LA for a vacation to visit a college friend who was cast in “Welcome Back Kotter”. During my visit, I got to meet a number of producers, which led to an interview with Westinghouse Broadcasting. I was offered a management job to take part in shaping new programing and rebuilding most of their old programs.

The Mike Douglas Show: part of the management team in Philadelphia that moved the show to Los Angeles.

Evening / PM Magazine, San Francisco: managed the development and national launch of this program.

“The World of People,” Sausalito, CA: co-created and ran this daily national afternoon program.

Serendipity Productions: In 1982, joined with a business partner to create programing for both home video and broadcast markets, which included: “The Video Wine Guide,” hosted by Dick Cavett.

Traveled to the wine regions throughout Europe, California and New York. The program was featured in a special series on the “Today Show”, (which included a “grand” tasting of a 1900 Chateau Margaux with Cavett at the Windows of the World restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.)

Other Program Creation: “The New American Revolution,” PBS, hosted by Mariette Hartley “The California Wine Esperance,” PBS, hosted by Robert Foxworth “La Familia de Hoy,” Univision Television Network featured 300 short programming segments on family life and health-related health issues.

“Videotours,” of America’s top destinations, including Universal Studios, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Mystic Seaport and Busch Gardens.

Eric Jones “The Esquire Success Series,” in partnership with Esquire Magazine. One-hour programs featuring things such as the art of public speaking, cooking, wine appreciation.

“Infant Development” and “Infant Health Care” for Johnson & Johnson - two series on the first year of life, featuring child development specialists T. Berry Brazelton and Stanley Greenspan.

New Media Ventures: “Special Report Television.” Created and launched this long-running doctor’s waiting room network now called “Accent Health.”

Channel One: (New York and Los Angeles) Oversaw the original creation, launching and producing of the daily national news program in partnership with Reuters and NBC News, (eventually broadcast to over 8 million students in 10,000 middle and high schools in the US.) Espresso Education, London: Helped develop this curriculum-centered interactive broadband educational content and news service delivered to more than 2,000 UK schools and its future roll-out in the US. Now owned by Discovery.

Channel One 2.0 New York Created and launched two new Internet-delivered “interactive” versions of Channel One Network’s news programming in partnership with CBS News. Now owned by Houghton-Mifflin.

The Business Channel, PBS: Transitioned the PBS’ satellite-delivered Business Channel to a desktop training company.

Pearson Broadband Television Group, London. As Executive Vice President, oversaw mergers acquisitions and business development activities. As a member of Pearson’s “China Committee,” directed The Financial Times, Pearson Education and Penguin Publishing in dealings with China’s Broadcast, Publishing and Education Ministry.

Penguin Television, Ltd., London. Executive Vice President, worldwide television production, sales, and distribution, including expansion into China.

Eric Jones Publishing and Digital: EdGems and EdGems Math, LLC. LLife is full of twisting plot lines. I am now the co-founder and CEO of a textbook and digital educational content platform with its first series called EdGems Core Math just rolling out in schools in NJ, California, Oregon, and Washington state.

We started the business dedicated to providing a rigorous middle school math curriculum for use by middle school students and teachers. I know, I can hear Neil Hartman and Grace Kennedy in a chorus of “What?” “No Way!” “You have got to be joking!”. Eric Jones and math! But it’s true.

For the past 4 years, Dori and I have been building the company to help make the math journey more promising for all levels of students. Why middle school? Because now, more than ever, middle school is the time when key pathways to the future open for those lucky enough to gain a strong foundation in the subject. My goal is to get as many students as possible from all walks of life on the best learning trajectory in math, so that they can have as many opportunities as possible to choose their life journey, wherever that road leads.

Renee Kaufman Ignoring Neil Hartman’s recommendation that, based upon my less than prodigious math skills I should pursue a career in cosmetology, I earned a BS in speech-language pathology at Syracuse University, followed by an MS in speech-language pathology at Columbia University and later a second MS in speech science at City University of New York. After almost 39 years, having used my training for clinical, research and educational activities, I retired from the VA New Jersey Health Care System where I had been the Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology.

Over the years I’ve enjoyed hiking and skiing and biking and have been lucky enough to pursue my love of travel. Since retirement I have spent my time reading, swimming, playing tennis, working with a charitable organization and most recently, participating in political resistance.

I met my wonderful husband, Arthur Cytryn, 36 years ago. Today he and I live in North Caldwell, NJ with our feisty cairn terrier, Pippin.

Lyle Manheimer 1968-1970 Attended Quinnipiac College.

1970-1976 Army National Guard.

1970-2006 worked for Public Service Electric & Gas. Retired in 2006 as Chief Electrician.

1970-1977 active firefighter Good Intent Fire Co. #3, Mt. Holly, NJ. Married from Sept. 1981-Sept 2001.

I have two children, a son, Tyler age 32 and a daughter, Dione, age 35.

I have three grandchildren, Kendra, Cru, and Keaton.

I have served as President of the Seaboard Chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America.

Since retiring, I work and/or ride my antique motorcycles more often than not.

Life is good. Retirement is better.

Kenneth Mayer I went to University of Pennsylvania and majored in psychology. Went to Northwestern for Medical School and then moved to Boston to do a residency in Internal Medicine, and then a fellowship in Infectious Diseases. I thought I’d be spending my life trying to address antibiotic drug resistance, but the AIDS epidemic changed all that. I was working in the largest LGBT clinic in New England, Fenway Health, and set up some of the first studies to understand what was going on. Thirty plus years later, I am still working at Fenway Health as Medical Research Director, and am a Professor at Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health. We are studying medications to prevent HIV transmission, vaccines, and behavioral interventions. The progress in addressing the epidemic has been gratifying, and has led me to work overseas, most recently in India and Peru. You can find out more about our work at www.thefenwayinstitute.org. I still have fond memories of MFS, where I learned how to think, developed humanistic values and met wonderful people.

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Macchu Picchu, 2016

Lee McDaniel Since graduating from Moorestown Friends and Cornell, life has been fairly consistent in that I have continued to run the family farm in Maryland. My wife Connie and I have been married for forty-two years and we have three children. Amanda is a CPA in Annapolis, Patricia is an engineer for nuclear submarine propulsion and Lee Jr. is a medical student at Georgetown. Off the farm, I have been elected or appointed to a number of leadership positions. As President of the local farm bureau, we were able to create one of the nation’s most successful agricultural land preservation programs. I have also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Harford Community College, Chairman of the Harford Soil Conservation District and President of the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts. In 2017, I completed a two year term as President of the National Association of Conservation Districts where we were able to grant three million dollars to urban districts to address food deserts to inner cities. The national association represents 3000 districts and 17,000 elected or appointed public officials in 50 states and 7 territories. I had the opportunity to visit and speak in 48 states and one territory during my time as an officer. That’s not bad for one of the quiet students in our class.

Laurie Mitchell Education: PA Academy of Art 1968-69 Moore College of Art- BFA 1972 University of Pennsylvania - Pre Medical Illustration 1973-75 University of Toronto Medical Art School 1975 Rowan University - Post Bac Teaching Elementary & Art 1994 I worked primarily in medical or scientific labs at Penn and Woods Hole Institute in the 70’s. In 1983, I moved to Portland, Oregon to take a medical art job at the Portland VA Hospital. I also started a design business in Oregon! I designed for the Made in Oregon Shops, The Marriott Corporation Hotels, Nordstroms, and Norm Thompson.

In 1992-1994, I went back to school to obtain my teaching certificate in NJ, in elementary and art. I was hired by Pleasantville BOE in 2004 as a full time art teacher in a Pre K - 5th grade school. I worked there until June 2017.

Writing and illustrating a children’s book is still a goal I have at 67 years old!

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Iris Watercolor

Laurie Mitchell

1. Hay in Kentucky Acrylic 2. Tobacco Barn in Kentucky Egg Tempera Painting 3. Chads Ford, PA Watercolor and Ink Pen Painting 4 and 5. Bladder Illustrations 6. T-Shirt Design for Marriott Co.

Lynn Mitchell Decker I have painted as long as I can remember. I moved to the Florida Keys after art college in 1973. I realize what a unique part of our country the Keys are.

I moved to Durango, Colorado in 1985. This was a ski-college town. I skiied and became a window painter which led me to do murals.

In September 2011, I moved to Crystal River, Florida. I continued my artistry and completed 7 murals. I continue to stay involved with my art business.

MFS offered me the discipline as a young person (I came in 5th grade from Merchantville) who had not been doing well in public school. I believe in my heart that my success as an artist is directly attributable to Moorestown Friends.

Ann Moser Trenka Since leaving MFS...

I spent junior high school year in Japan. Actually graduated 1968 from The National Ballet School directed by Frederick Franklin in Washington D.C. Years of additional ballet study.

Danced with Sacramento Ballet, Long Island Ballet Theater and The Frankfurt Ballet in Germany.

Long term injury prevention study - anatomy - Pilates.

Ceritfied to present curriculum from American Ballet Theater. Currently director of Cooper River Ballet in Collingswood.

Married (more than once) and divorced - Proud mother of Carina Trenka, Catholic University graduate, Assistant Director of Go4theGoal - Pediatric Cancer Organization.

Animal lover and resident of Collingswood. Love Paris and the coast of Maine. Involved in Ritz Theater productions as choreographer and actress.

Jay Novick If anyone fifty years ago would have said that I’d spend almost all of my professional career and life in Miami, Florida, I would have questioned his or her sanity. To me, the State of Florida was the Swamp, with little cultural or educational redeeming qualities. But life has so many unexpected twists and turns. A very young marriage, with a spouse doing graduate work in Florida, brought me south to law school, rather than the northeast quarter (from D.C. to Boston) where I imagined practicing law until retirement. The predictable part is that I ended up working at the fourth largest prosecutors’ office in the nation. What was unpredictable was that it was located in a sleepy southern resort city that was on the cusp of tremendous immigration, and subsequently international banking and finance growth, well beyond even the illicit drugs of the 1980’s. So, the ride in this transformational modern American city, has been more than interesting, even if bumpy, at times.

Most of my tenure at the State Attorney’s Office was under the administration of Janet Reno, eventually the first woman U.S. Attorney General under President Bill Clinton. When Janet was first appointed State Attorney by a wonderful Governor, Ruben Askew, she brought a new view to the office that had formerly been well run under a long serving powerful male prosecutor, staffed with almost all young males, with the exception of two African Americans, two Latinos, maybe a handful of non-Jews. Very quickly Janet transformed the office into one totally representative of the community and the nation, with gender equity, recruiting from law schools nationally. I, along with a small handful of my colleagues on her senior executive staff, traveled the country to bring in women and minority law graduates. She asked me to set up an award winning training program for our annual hiring class of 30-45 attorneys, to match and compete with the national white-shoe law firms then expanding to Miami, as the city matured.

Co-chairing the hiring committee coupled with my work training young recruits, in addition to my complex litigation handling high profile murder cases that involved multiple victims, or complex legal and scientific issues, created opportunities for me to teach trial practice not only at the local and state law schools (Miami, Florida, Florida State) but also on the national stage (Harvard, UNC, Emory, Hofstra, etc.). And then, those assignments led to a series of lectures to bar associations related to handling cases with cutting edge medical and scientific evidence (DNA at its forensic outset, clinical neuropsychological testimony, among other areas).

National teaching and lecturing, then led to serving as chair of the national bar association for lesbian and gay attorneys, now a wing of the American Bar Association, a task in a civil rights movement I never sought or ever imagined I’d be a part of.

Jay Novick Towards the end of my litigation career, I expanded my homicide case load to add public corruption cases. Prosecuting corrupt public officials was a lot less stressful. I was trying death penalty cases, some of which took a year in jury trial, when there were multiple defendants or multiple homicides. My final trial of thirteen months, the John Doe gang, became exhausting and totally took over my life. And that was enough difficult jury trial work for me. It was time to retire and take care of my mother who had been diagnosed with cancer. This life calling turned out to be equally important and rewarding as the career I chose and relished for so many decades.

If someone asked what accomplishments have meant the most these past fifty years, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the dozens of murder cases successfully prosecuted for the community and the victims’ surviving families. But what brings smiles to my face, are the many civil rights achievements I’ve been a part of during this lifetime and the small part I had training hundreds of talented, wonderful young attorneys to be skilled, ethical practitioners, many of whom are superb trial and appellate judges now, as well as some of Florida’s and the nation’s best trial bar. And having made so many professional friends, of all ages and backgrounds, along the route, has personally enriched me.

So, currently I’m enjoying being retired. No more jury trials; no more Florida Supreme Court committees or bar disciplinary committee meetings to chair. I spend six months at my New Jersey Shore condominium, with NYC and my beloved theaters and museums close by, as well as Philadelphia, with my equally beloved Philadelphia Orchestra every Thursday evening in the fall and late spring, when I’m not on the beautiful, peaceful turquoise ocean right off downtown Miami, on the island of Key Biscayne, where I bike and swim laps daily and train in Pilates bi-weekly to stay fit, although sadly not as trim as my teenage years.

It’s been a long journey from Moorestown, but there is no question that I could not have achieved this level of professional success in Miami’s diverse, competitive environment, without the verbal and quantitative skills taught at MFS and guided by the ethical values of community participation ingrained early in Friends’ education. For that, I am grateful to the intelligent foresight of both of my parents as well as to the hard work of so many superb teachers like Anne Paul, Jean Ricketts, Cully Miller, Wilbur Carr, Victoria Starr, Neil Hartman, among others. May they rest in peace knowing they did a pretty damn good job. I am forever grateful to them and to those classmates from whom I learned so much.

Jamie Oliviero I am sure that all of us remaining from the class of ‘68 have stories to tell, goals acheived, accomplishments made, and wisdom gained. My story is pretty simple. Upon graduting I made it through a year and a bit at Earlham College as a biology major, before my ‘game plan’ totally disintergrated. I ended up finishing school out at the end of Long Island, N.Y., with no clear sense of what to do next. At that moment karma kicked in and I was introduced to an actor from N.Y.C. who was looking to put together a theatre company to bring creative dramatics (theatre games, improv) into the classroom to animate curriculum. The first afternoon I walked out of a school, was the first time I felt like I had done something worthwhile. This past Friday, 45 years later, I walked out of a school feeling the same way. The last almost 40 years I’ve lived in Canada. I work as a traditionally trained storyteller in school here and other parts of the world. And that is pretty much it except for one thing.

Some time back I began to realize that in my work there were underlying themes of community building, conflict resolution, social and environmental responsibility, as well as a commitment to building a sense of ‘peaceableness’ in the world. I stopped and asked myself, “where did all of this come from”? Then I looked behind me. There through the dim mists of the past, rising up on a hillside, was MFS. Time spent in the silence of Meeting, in classes under the influence of people like Neil Hartman; it was all there inside me just waiting for the right moment to make its presence known. I’m sure that when people gather together for the reunion and share their stories, it will be easy to see the common thread that still binds us together after all these years.

Paul Pinsky Fifty years later. Amazing.

In hindsight, my three year sojourn at MFS, however brief, helped shape my values and character as much as it shaped my learning. Whether attending meeting or the required religion class or the ethics that were infused with much of the school’s instruction, all contributed to my development.

Obviously, some relationships, though short in formation, were also meaningful.

Not surprisingly, the classmate who was among the most in welcoming me was Larry Van Meter. When Larry and I connected every few years after we graduated, whether in the mountains of New England or at his home on campus, we reconnected right where we left off. And it was always with warmth and caring. Observing his school leadership from afar, it’s been clear to me that this warmth and caring have marked his long tenure at MFS. After MFS and college – and for much of my adult life -- I’ve actually engaged in two careers: education and public service. In education, I served as a high school teacher (and coach), an advocate for both teachers and teacher quality, working for an affiliate of the National Education Association, and more recently, as a national consultant on educator effectiveness for the Southern Region Education Board (SREB).

I have also had the honor to serve in the Maryland State Senate for the last twenty-four years after spending two terms in the House of Delegates. My focus has been social, economic and environmental justice, including passage of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act and the Healthy Air Act and promotion of Health Care for All and the closing of corporate tax loopholes. I’ve also authored numerous bills that have radically reformed both K-12 and higher education. And finally, in 2016, I served as the co-chair of Maryland’s Bernie Sanders delegation to the Democratic convention.

Paul Pinsky An interest in writing, forged by my brother’s successful journalism career, has led me to author op-eds in The Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and, a long time ago, in The Nation and The New York Times.

On the personal front, I live with my wife of thirty-plus years in University Park, MD in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, next to the University of Maryland. Our two grown daughters, one working in public education policy and with a law degree and another working in the private sector, serving as a political liaison to Congress, live nearby, gratefully, in downtown Washington, D.C. My pleasures, though not so guilty, include reading, movie-going, running and tennis. And for those who have retained really sharp memories, some occasional basketball.

Elizabeth Raymond Boxer I have been a nurse for 46 years - 20 as an LPN and 26 as an RN; working full time for the past 15 years in the Philadelphia Prisons.

I am the proud mother of three beautiful adult children; all married - Dana Cameron Dilks - a hairdresser; Clifford Edward Boxer III - a control operator (only 50 in the country) for PSE&G at the nuclear power plant in Salem, NJ. He is married to Sydney, a chemical engineer.

Melissa Ann Chew is my third child and she runs a doctor’s office in Pennsville, NJ. I have two great granddaughters who are seven months apart. Dana & Ed’s daughter is Ava Cameron who is 14 and an excellent dancer. Melissa & Jason’s daughter is Hunter McKensie, also 14. She is into sports. They spend a lot of time with me, especially in the summer in my pool! I was married to my children's father for thirteen years and never remarried.

I have been to Europe 8 times - Italy twice/ Germany twice/ England/ France/ Greece/ Turkey/ Austria/ Spain/Morocco/ Portugal and Switzerland. My 15 minutes(!) (claim to fame) involves one of those flights.

I was called to first class by the stewardess (they obviously listen to your conversations and knew I was a nurse) to attend to this boy in his early twenties from Georgia Tech who was going to be an exchange student in France complaining of stomach pain for 2 days, but now he was scared. I determined it to be appendicitis vs. gastritis, leaning toward the former. I was called into the cockpit to speak with their hookup which was the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. I was given complete power to abort the flight as soon as we hit land mass if I thought it was necessary. I determined we could reach Germany as long as they had an ambulance waiting upon exiting the plane, and that is what happened. The pilot took pictures and gave me a bottle of wine!

All of my family meets at the Outer Banks in North Carolina every summer for vacation and have been since 2005. My first introduction to OBX was in 1985 when I flew down with a friend in a small plane he had built - a BD4 - and I have been going back every year since 2000.

These are a few of my favorite highlights of my life that I have been happy to share.

Dana Scott Cornelius I graduated from Green Mt. College in 1970 and spent one semester at the University of Colorado. I graduated from Glassboro State College with a degree in Elementary Education. I was fortunate to get a job teaching in Lacey Township, N.J. I taught 5th grade, 4th, 3rd and Basic Skills for a total of 38 years.

I married Mike Cornelius in 1972 who was also an educator. He taught US History at Toms River High School North.

Barnegat Bay.

We learned to sail and spent many days racing and sailing for pleasure on

Our son, Jared was recently married and lives in Manahawkin, NJ. It is just across the bay from Long Beach Island. He works as a police officer in Surf City.

Mike and I have enjoyed our retirement doing some traveling, staying active and caring for our 11 year old chocolate lab, Jettey.

Joanne Schneider Shoemaker My first years post MFS were in DC, at George Washington University, where I shared an apartment and so many, many adventures with our classmate Annalee.

After a couple of years teaching, Roger and I headed north to Hartford, CT where he joined the theatre faculty at Trinity College. Our two daughters, Amanda and Abby, were born in Hartford and while I cared for them, I also took classes in Trinity’s art department, photography classes at Hartford Art School, and weaving classes at a local studio. Juggling family and a long distance commute to Boston I completed an MS Ed at Wheelock College in Infant Development. Soon after, we packed up our two daughters and relocated to Newton, MA, just outside of Boston. Roger accepted a position as Dean for the Arts at The Walnut Hill School and I joined the faculty at Wheelock College. My academic teaching area was infant development, my interest and consulting focus became the design of play environments and educational materials for young children.

I caught the entrepreneurial bug and started up a little company, First Step Designs, and a lifestyle catalog for families with young children - Hand in Hand. The company grew and moved from our 3rd floor attic into corporate offices near the Children’s Museum in Boston, with a sales and fulfillment center not far from LL Bean in Maine. My day to day work was mostly involved with graphic designers and photographers on the creative aspect of the catalog production as well as merchandising, sourcing and developing products throughout the US and Southeast Asia. It was mostly amazing, exhausting fun and after about 15 years I sold the company.

My product sourcing had taken me to Southeast Asia. Like so many, I was completely captivated by Bali, Indonesia - its culture, artisans, fine craft, and textiles. I built a house on Sayan Ridge outside of Ubud to serve as a base and started up a little import company specializing in fine craft and home furnishings.

This I’m currently winding down.

Right: 1. Daughter Amanda, son-in-law Lou, Lucy and Neil 2. Roger with Lucy on our Cape Cod pond

Joanne Schneider Shoemaker Roger and I live year round on a small pond on Cape Cod. My mom, 95, lives a few miles from us. We’ve added two delightful sons-in-law to our family as well as two grandchildren. To visit all of them we triangulate from the Cape, to the Poconos, to the DC area. We are mostly retired now.

Although Roger resists and has been developing the theatre arts program at our local high school where he teaches part time. For the last few years I’ve been studying with a fiber artist/master weaver here on Cape and now spend much of my time at one of several looms. We kayak, enjoy the beach, friends, and family especially our two young grandchildren.

Though guilty of not keeping up, I have so many wonderful memories of classmates and experiences at MFS. I learned to follow my interests which has taken me in some surprising directions over the years.

Wishing everyone good health and continued adventures. I hope everyone will take a moment to remember Annalee.

Above: 1. Me with granddaughter Lucy and grandson Neil 2. Daughter Abby and son-in-law Eric 3. Foosball champ and my mom, Betty Schneider at 95.

Barbara Sherrard Cawley For the last 21 years I have been working with autistic individuals in the Childrens’ Day Program of Developmental Disabilities Institute, Huntington, N.Y. After graduating from the College of N.J. in 1976 with a Bachelor of Art in Graphic Design, I married John Cawley an Advertising Designer. We moved to Mamaroneck, N.Y. and I worked in NYC as a graphic artist for a greeting card company. My next venture was Marketing Showcase, a printing and marketing firm creating couponed ads.

Lastly, I spent three years at Thermopatch, an industrial uniform producer designing logos and emblems for clients.

During this time we raised two sons and are on the verge of becoming grandparents.

Over the years, I have served as a deacon or choir member in Presbyterian congregations in Larchmont, Babylon and West Islip, N.Y.

Barbara Shirley Bear Briefly in the 50 years since graduation, I graduated from college with a BA in Economics, spent 16 years in banking both in Philadelphia and Montana, married three times, had two children and have lived in Montana for the last 35 years. The most traumatic event in my life was the death of my first husband, Peter Benson.

We were flying to Vermont to visit his parents in a small plane piloted by his best friend, Spencer Hall, (this was our second trip on this plane) when we ran into a storm over upstate New York. Ultimately we crashed into the mountains of Vermont where my husband and Spencer were killed and the pilot’s wife, Susan, and I spent the night holed up in the fuselage awaiting rescue. At day break the next morning we were rescued by the Coast Guard out of Rhode Island and air lifted to Glens Falls, NY. Susan and I were pretty banged up with various broken bones but came out whole. I have never forgotten that night…

Later I married Carl Bear, the father of my children, who took me to New Zealand to fly fish. This trip was the impetus to our moving to Montana. I have never looked back. In Montana I spent 12 years as the Controller of a specialty travel company (Off the Beaten Path) and most recently, 14 years at Montana State University where I am the Fiscal Director of the Energy Research Institute. Carl and I divorced 25 years ago and Mack and I have been married for 10 years. Kaitlin and Zach moved back to Bozeman after he completed his residency in Denver and Alec and Nora live in Brooklyn, NY. An interesting aside: while Zach was in medical school at Drexel, Kaitlin applied to teach at MFS. During her interview with Larry she related that she was the daughter of one of his MFS classmates and that her father-inlaw, Bob Hesse, had attended Hamilton with him! (Kaitlin and Zach both attended Hamilton.) She taught lower school science for four years at MFS. I am an avid golfer, which is a pretty short season here in Montana so I play a lot during the summer and get away to Phoenix at least once during the winter.

The other nine months I ski and play platform tennis (paddle ball) which is played outside on a metal court that is heated and the snow is swept from (we’ve had 254” of snow this year!) It is invigorating.

Left: Family Christmas Photo

Mary Shoemaker Sommerio After graduating MFS, I attended the University of Pennsylvania and obtained a B.A. degree in music theory which launched the first of two separate careers.

The first career was in the music industry working for The Wurlitzer Music Company.

It was there that I met my husband, Nickales Sommerio. I also furthered my education taking Dale Carnegie courses where I graduated first in my class.

My husband and I shared a dream of opening our own music company providing music education to motivate and ignite the passion of music which we shared, along with selling musical instruments. Over years our business grew to four locations. After twenty years we sold the business which opened the way to a new career tranferring the skills established from the first.

My second career was also in the arts, however more visual. I recognized the need in the jewelry business for a higher standard of selling ethics and product knowledge which prompted my returning to school getting a degree from the Gemological Institute of America (G.I.A), the leading laboratory that studies and grades gemstones. For the next 20 years I sold, taught sales ethics, and managed departments working with high-end gemstones and design work for three jewelry companies: Mayor’s Jewelers, Tiffany and Co. and Neiman Marcus. I retired from all retail two years ago. I must add that the foundation for raising the standard of sales ethics was created from our MFS values. I am proud to say that those I taught are sharing those same values today for the next generation.

Today my family is my pride and joy. Our four children are married, so now we have eight children. They have graced us with nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. While our children were not musically inclined, we have several grandchildren who are quite musically accomplished. Some are composers, others are performers in musical theatre, and others play a variety of instruments and tour worldwide.

My husband and I are blessed to be an integral part of their lives as they all reside near us in the state of Florida.

Just a note of interest, (pun intended), I recently joined the Orlando Bach Festivale Chorale, “Young at Heart�. This group is made up of retirees that prove that great musicianship can be exercised at every age.

I speak often of our Quaker values and my indelible happy memories of Moorestown Friends School.

Please know that I am with you all in spirit this weekend in May and value our long and happy friendships!

Mary Shoemaker Sommerio

Above: 1. Mary Shoemaker Sommerio and Nikales Sommerio then 2. Mary and Nikales now 3. Ania Sommerio Bennys (daughter) and Mary 4. Mary and William Bennys (Grandson, 15) 5. Almost the whole Sommerio Clan 6. Mary and Colleague, Cheula Moore, Presidents Club Award

Linda Sieg 1968-2018 After flirting with a “career” as a perpetual grad student for longer than I care to recall, I returned to Japan in 1983 and the following year secured both a real job with Reuters as a journalist and a husband, Shunsuke Yoshizawa (not necessarily in order of importance). We started our family with the birth of our son, Shunichi James, two years later and our daughter, Emily Almira, was born in 1990. It’s hard to pick just a few highlights but being a “soccer mom” for both kids for a decade or so surely rates high.

While writing about news from Japan for three-and-a-half decades - mostly before the term “fake news” became popular - I developed a fondness for Japan’s Emperor Akihito and a passion for plum blossoms, which bloom in February when it’s still wintry cold.

A lot of the news I covered is just a blur now but among the events that stand out are President Obama’s historic visit to Hiroshima and once standing pretty close to Bill Clinton when he visited Tokyo. I’ve covered a string of Japanese prime ministers - most of whom didn’t last longer than a year or so - and the impact of China’s rise on the region and the world. But it’s probably the times I got to hear the stories of ordinary people - like a soldier who fought during World War Two in China and spoke of how women were abused in military brothels, or a struggling single mother trying to make ends meet - that meant the most.

Lately, the importance of unbiased news reports - something I think we once took for granted - has become clearer than ever.

On the home front, where no longer have to juggle kids and work, Emily is busy as vocalist in her two-person band “Honebone” (https://www.honebone.net/) and Shunichi is contemplating his next move after several years in e-commerce, whatever that is.

We have no grandkids, but we do have two toy poodles, Godzilla and Lado, who make sure the house is never too quiet.

Emily and Shun

Susan Stapler Kelemen A few years ago I attended a Penn Humanities Forum lecture given by a visiting Princeton professor. The auditorium was packed. I sat in the back.

His lecture on Socrates’ philosophy was engaging and timeless.

The audience was rapt.

explored and experienced in my life was ever the same.

Beauty and the Soul. Beauty and the Soul.

Sitting there with these young students, remembering myself at that age, now world -weary and aching, I realized that what had propelled me throughout my life from earliest memory to that moment, what I had striven for and

Jonathan Tomar After graduating MFS with all of you – I went off to the University of Rochester for 4 years. A fairly uneventful academic career (I don’t blame MFS for that) except I was elected the Student Association President my senior year. I returned home and got a job with the city of Philadelphia. During that time I got an MBA from the Wharton School (mostly paid by the city of Phila.) and majored in Information Science.

After completing my 2 year commitment with the city of Phila. I took a job in the Washington DC. area where I have been living to this day.

Again after a few fairly uneventful jobs in the corporate world (I don’t bIame MFS for that either - didn’t seem to fit in the corporate mold) I started my own computer consulting business in 1985 which I am still running today. Well, that has had a lot of ups and downs (you see a pattern here). It went through many changes/reinventions/rethinking/ but it managed to stay afloat.

A former employee/friend recommended me for an assignment with US Agency for International Development where I worked on a software project in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union. That particular assignment really changed my life in many ways – from starting me on a career of working internationally and meeting my current wife – I will get to that shortly. So, since 1995 I have worked in over 20 countries assisting them in developing their Social Security and Tax systems. I am currently working on a long term assignment in Beirut Lebanon and will end up spending half my time over the next 2.5 years in Beirut. In fact, I am cutting my next trip short to come back for the class reunion. When I am not working internationally, I still run my domestic consulting business. At this point I have no plans to retire.

Now as far as my personal life, I met my first wife Barbara in Washington DC while working together at the same company – it turned out she was from Haddonfield and our fathers had known each other professionally for 50 years. They were both lawyers in competing law firms. In 1982 we had a son – Eli and in 1985 my daughter Louisa was born. As you can figure out – that marriage didn’t last and we separated in 1994. That’s when I met Ania my current wife while working in Poland. She moved to the US with her 3 children(Agi, Chris & Robert). Fortunately, my first wife and I had a fairly amicable split and we all lived within walking distance and the 5 kids grew up together and despite the typical fights and drama of adolescents they bonded as a family and are still close today.

Lest you think my life has been a bed of roses – we were struck with tragedy in 2008, when my stepson Chris died in a car accident at the age of 18. This is something I couldn’t imagine before and nothing I had been through prepared me for the level of despair and depression that our family would endure.

Jonathan Tomar Now my 4 children all live in the DC area – all have good jobs – and I have 2 grandchildren - Cole 3 ½ and Gray almost a year. They live nearby and I see them when their parents aren’t busy and the kids aren’t sick and I am not travelling– which means about twice a month.

Left and below: 1. Picture of Ania and me at my son Eli’s wedding in Washington, D.C. 2. Jon, Ania and Agi at Cole’s first birthday party 3. Jon and Cole 2017

Laurence Van Meter A lot of nice things have been written about me in Among Friends, and I won’t bore you, dear classmates, with a lengthy account of my MFS experiences. Suffice it to say that, as many of you will recall, I was labeled early (and accurately) as an underachiever and didn’t really hit my stride until 11th grade. I give great credit to the extraordinary patience of teachers like Cully Miller, Neil Hartman, Carolyn Hedges, Jean Ricketts, Harrie Price, Bob Johnston, Ruth Sawyer, and Anne Paul. My MFS student experience was wonderful, and it has been a great honor to serve as head of school of our alma mater for the past 17 years.

My career did not point inevitably toward educational administration. In fact, it’s pretty easy to identify three overlapping but fairly distinct threads. The first thread was working in outdoors-oriented environmental organizations, from the U.S. Forest Service to the Appalachian Trail Conference. I developed my interest in the out-of-doors from my father, a devoted hiker, and from spending summers at Harrie Price’s Flying Moose Lodge. The second thread was working in private schools, from The Mountain School, a tiny, farm-based school in Vermont, to serving as headmaster of Darrow School and MFS. The final thread was in the arts, and woodworking in particular, surely an improbable direction for those who recall that my main activity in woodshop involved throwing wooden blocks at Richard Gibbs and John Shaw (and they at me—I have scars to prove it).

I have been very fortunate on the domestic front. I met Margaret (aka Peggy), my wife of 39 years, in 1976, when we were both students in the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology. We already had bachelor’s degrees, and she had been a classmate of my sister Gretchen at Earlham (and a year behind Dave DeCou). But our getting together had nothing to do with Quaker education. A native of Longmeadow, MA, she was in the Weaving and Textile Design program and I was in the Woodworking and Furniture Design program. As was often the case at RIT, the weavers and woodworkers got together. That was certainly true for us.

Over the past four decades, we have lived in seven different states (see chart) and, when in schools, have always been on the faculty/staff together. At MFS, Margaret has taught English and art and served for 15 years as associate director of college guidance. We have two sons, Matt, who is 33 and is a professional writer based in Detroit, where he lives with his wife, Colleen, a federal public defender. He and Colleen were Russian majors at Middlebury and spent three years in Russia, including a year together in Siberia. Talk about cold! Matt, who graduated from MFS in 2003, received his MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia in 2016 (at the same ceremony where Eric Jones’s daughter, Dominique, received her B.A.). He has a contract with Little, Brown for a book to be published in 2019 on Duncan v. Louisiana,

Laurence Van Meter the final Jim Crow case to go before the Supreme Court in, you guessed it, 1968. Our younger son, Luke, 31, graduated from MFS in 2005 and was an economics major at Haverford College. He also picked up a degree in Industrial Design and, after working for the Franklin Institute and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, is enrolled in the MBA program at Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck of Business, where I received my MBA in 1988 (at 37, the second-oldest in my class). Luke was born in Hanover, about two blocks from the Tuck campus, so he has come full circle. His significant other, Ariel, is a Swarthmore grad and is currently at Harvard Business School. We expect Luke and Ariel to take care of us in our old age.

We know now, even better than we did at the time, that 1968 was a year of tumultuous events in the United States and the world. The list of tragedies and dislocations is long and familiar. Yet, what strikes me now is a comment made not long ago by our remarkable classmate Ken Mayer, who has done inspirational work in medicine and public health. Ken said that despite all of the events of that year, we graduated from Moorestown Friends with the belief that the world was ours. Through all the tumult of 1968, Moorestown Friends provided us with the enduring gift of believing in ourselves. As hard as I have worked these past 17 years, I have made only a small down payment on my debt to this very special school.

Laurence Van Meter

Right and Below: 1. School Comments by E. W. Lippincott 2. The Van Meter Family: Colleen, Matt, Margaret, Larry, Luke

In Memory of Anna Lee Berman

Anna Lee Berman, 40, a former director of the Arlington County Department of Management and Finance, died March 3, 1990 at Georgetown University Hospital of complications resulting from an operation for a brain tumor.

Miss Berman, a resident of Arlington, was born in Morristown, N.J. She came to Washington in 1967 as a student at American University, where she graduated in 1971. She then received a master's degree in public administration at George Washington University.

From 1973 to 1976, she was a management analyst for Fairfax County. She then became a budget analyst for Arlington County. In 1978, she went to the City of Rockville as a budget and research official and then to the Office of the County Executive of Prince George's County as a management specialist.

In 1983, she returned to Arlington County as director of the Department of Management and Finance, and she continued in that position until May 1989, when she resigned.

Miss Berman was a founder and past president of the Government Financial Officers Association of the Metropolitan Washington Area and a member of the International City Management Association and the Maryland chapter of the American Society for Public Administration.

Survivors include her parents, Charles Berman of Morristown and Myrtle Berman of Mays Landing, N.J.; and a sister, Judy Berman, of Springfield, Pa.

Alexandria Official Wins Finance Award Arthur Gitajn, Alexandria's chief financial officer since 1986, has been selected as the recipient of the 1992 Anna Lee Berman Award for outstanding leadership in government finance.

The award recognizes significant contributions in the field of public finance at the state or local level.

In Memory of Anna Lee Berman Memories of our Friend and Classmate by Joanne Schneider Shoemaker From our apartment on 21st Street, on the edge of the George Washington University campus, Annalee and I could see the Washington Monument. I walked to classes, she made the short drive to American University in her incredible Thunderbird. She did the cooking, I did the cleaning. She was a serious fan of Mrs. Peel from the British television series, The Avengers. We shared lots of adventures in DC and two months traveling in Europe, dragging our too heavy suitcases with kitchen sponges under the handle to minimize blisters.

She was an exceptional student, and became especially interested in city government. She first completed an internship and then worked for a time for the District of Columbia. She lived in an architecturally fascinating condo in the Cathedral area of DC. She later worked for and was responsible for developing the annual budget of the City of Arlington, Virginia. She became the Director of Management and Finance for the City of Arlington.

Her interests included theater, all sorts of restaurants, traveling, American craft and sailing. She loved her small, cape style, brick house within walking distance to her office. On the mantle above the fireplace she displayed a number of huge brandy snifters stuffed full of matchbooks from restaurants and places she had visited. She was a thoughtful honorary aunt to our children. She carefully selected wonderful children’s picture books which she brought and read aloud each time she visited.

Annalee was highly respected professionally and had a wonderful group of very close friends in DC. Her friends held a memorial service for her at one of their homes and shared memories with Mr. and Mrs. Berman and her sister Judy.

In Memory of Lewis Orchard

Memories of our Friend and Classmate

by Larry Van Meter

Lewis Orchard arrived at MFS in 8th grade.

A full-fledged member of the unofficial underachievers’ club (to which many of us belonged), he was wicked smart, particularly in math, but not particularly inclined to apply himself in other areas.

He and I became close friends throughout our years at MFS and beyond.

Some poignant memories:

- Mr. Hedges accurately identifying Lew’s standard expression as a “Cheshire Cat Grin.”

- His becoming, almost immediately, a Happy Hacker, whose membership included Lyle, John Harrison, Joe Hall, me, and a few other chronic mischief-makers.

- Going by “Ork” as frequently as by “Lew” or “Lewis.”

- His surprising everyone by taking a lead role in The Fantasticks, the unofficial Jones/Shoemaker production in the fall of our senior year.

- His adjusting the flush valves on the boys room urinals such that users would emerge with totally saturated pants. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I was his accomplice.)

- Lew’s romance with Dana.

- His breaking his collarbone at a wrestling match.

- His becoming Student Council president senior year (with no particular goals or platform--but he liked the title).

- Our both playing fullback on the 1967 varsity soccer team. That was Herm Magee’s final year as soccer coach, and our record was 6-3-1. Lew and I couldn’t run very fast, but our goal kicks routinely sailed 60 yards.

- Lew’s deep devotion to Scouting. Even today, when Philmont is mentioned, an image of Lew pops into my head.

Lewis attended Ursinus, but wasn’t happy there. He eventually received a PhD in Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Another ’68 late bloomer.

Lew and I stayed in touch through the 1970’s, and at one time we were both working for the U.S. Forest Service, albeit in different states and on different projects. We would get together a couple of times a year to trade reminiscences and ambitions.

In Memory of Lewis Orchard In recent years, Lew and his dear wife, Susan, moved from Albuquerque (where they spent a lot of time with Jim Kelemen) to Newcastle, Delaware. Lew became very active in the community, and their proximity meant that we could once again get together with some frequency. Lew loved to talk about Susan, an executive with Farmers Insurance, and their three high-achieving kids. When Lewis died unexpectedly in 2011 in response to treatment for leukemia, a number of deeply-saddened classmates gathered in Newcastle for a Quaker-inspired memorial service.

The 1968 Cupola described Lewis as “everyone’s brother.” Amen to that.

In Memory of Lewis Orchard Memories of our friend and classmate by Jim Kelemen I’ve been trying to write an “In Memoriam” for Lewis Orchard. I threw away a few. This one I better send or will be too late.

Lewis ended up in New Mexico sometime in the ’90s and we became best friends. For some reason, we could chatter with each other for hours, rearranging our rum-soaked cerebral furniture, and generally solving the world’s problems or our own. After some years he moved to Delaware, but we stayed each other’s GO TO for talk beyond the level most people would tolerate. When he checked out, he left an empty patch.

The 50th Reunion is too late. Lewis would have been a real life of the party. The brat would have jumped into every circle of chat and gossip, fit right in and added juice to it. He was for amusement and was amusement – real gift, Lewis could do deep and serious but was good at turning it all into the comedy of life.

So what was Lewis about? I think his prime directive was companion, co-conspirator and wife (probably in that order) Susan and raising his children right. Susan was probably instrumental in that remaining his prime directive since, as with lots of rich minds, Lewis’ attention could wander all over the place.

I don’t know that Lewis ever much used directly his Plant Pathology PhD, but between natural bent and education, he was resourceful. He messed with a bunch of different stuff, not really in a linear fashion, at least to the outside observer. He seemed to have really loved his period in TX as a polymer chemist.

He crawled around the molecules and made even the toxic monomers his friends. Good thing since he had a few war stories of strangely fortuitous lab events. I think he found me a chemical friend as I could usually follow his chemical babbling.

He did other stuff, not all of which I kept track of. He had a way of organizing things and directing projects, some of which I think he managed out of force of character and common sense more than deep experience. He liked having acquired enough money and ideas to either be or fancy himself a venture capitalist. I was never sure which. Lewis was good at throwing out an aura of hidden depths and competences, the frontiers of which I’m not sure he even knew. I suspect this helped in his business dealings.

This was not a fake. He would always put up. He just liked the mystique.

Lewis spanned quite a range. He was an occasional connoisseur of Raunch but also a Boy Scout. Go figure. He captained a Boy Scout troop or district in NM. I’ve forgotten details, but he left it better than he found it.

Other “accomplishments” of his vita might get to be just a list. I’m not sure which he’d value most beyond his happy, mischievous marriage and happy successful kids. I know that I value a pile of (mis-) adventures he and I had.

Even Lewis would probably say enough of this verbiage. We won’t in this life see again the likes of Lewis; I don’t think they make them anymore.

Additional Members of the Class of 1968

Ronald Adams

Craig Cosden

Richard Gibbs

Lynn Adler

Shelby Baker

Joseph Darlington

Ellen Ewer

Concepcion Gonzalez

Russell Haines

Joseph Hall iv

James Keleman

Leon Krolak

John Guertler

James Hunt

Stephen Lankenau

Additional Members of the Class of 1968

Marc Levin

Gertrude Ranieri

G. Macculloch Miller, 2nd

Monica Pawluk Hottenstein

Frederick Sharkey

John Shaw

Kayoko Shimabayashi

Tyrone Simmons

Lynne Taggart

Margaret Tomaselli

Dale Van Name

Robin Wilcox

| Additional Class Members |

Barbara Beach, Georgeann Bianchi, Joan Bradley, Alan Markowitz, Constance Perez, Diane Santor Kornhauser, Nancy Turner Suzanne Wilson

Previous Reunions

20th Reunion

30th Reunion

40th Reunion

Never Before Seen Photos: Class of 1968

Never Before Seen Photos: Class of 1968

Never Before Seen Photos: Class of 1968

Class of 1968

Class of 1968

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

Class of 1968

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

Class of 1968

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grade

Class of 1968

Class of 1968 Senior Year

Senior Class Officers

Commencement

Class of 1968: Commencement

Notes