NMH Magazine 2017 Fall

NMH Magazine Northfield Mount Hermon FALL 2 017

At home with poet and literary pioneer Lawrence Ferlinghetti ’37

NMH Magazine FALL 2017 Volume 19, Number 1

Editor Jennifer Sutton P’14, ’21 Design Lilly Pereira www.aldeia.design Class Notes Editor Kris Halpin Class Notes Design Harry van Baaren P’16, ’18, ’21 Print Production Pam Lierle P’17 Contributors Sharon LaBella-Lindale P’17, ’20 Tekla McInerney Susan Pasternack Emily Harrison Weir Director of Communications Stephen Porter Head of School Peter B. Fayroian Chief Advancement Officer Allyson L. Goodwin ’83, P’12, ’14 Archivist Peter H. Weis ’78, P’13 NMH Magazine Northfield Mount Hermon One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354 413-498-3247 Fax 413-498-3021 nmhmagazine@nmhschool.org Class Notes nmhnotes@nmhschool.org Address Changes Northfield Mount Hermon Advancement Services Norton House One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354 413-498-3300 addressupdates@nmhschool.org Northfield Mount Hermon publishes NMH Magazine (USPS074-860) two times a year in fall and spring. Printed by Lane Press, Burlington, VT 05402

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Looking west from the High Line in New York City, through the eyes of architect Sarah Williams Goldhagen ’77 PHOTO: CAROLINE VOAGEN NELSON

CONTENTS

NMH Magazine FALL 2017

F E AT U R E S

18 Portrait of the Artist as a Hero NMH’s Peter Fayroian meets poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti ’37.

24 Power Ball

NMH lacrosse players build trust, tenacity, and a future.

30 Look Around

Your “built” environment changes how you think and feel.

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34 L et’s Talk About Money A primer on NMH’s past, present, and future finances.

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DE PARTME NTS

ON THE COVER Lawrence Ferlinghetti ’37 at home in San Francisco PHOTO: RACHAEL WARING

2 Postcard 5 Leading Lines 6 Connect 8 Lamplighter Way 14 In Class 16 First Person 17 A Conversation With ...

40 Alumni Hall 46 Class Notes 96 History Lesson 97 Giving Back

A A SNA SNA P P SH SH OT OT FROM FROM CAM CAM PUS PUS

POSTCARD

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Joy on the Pitch Buoyed by adrenaline and quad muscles, a pair of varsity soccer players took to the air to celebrate a successful shot during the first home game of the season against Buckingham Browne & Nichols.

Eddie Trutayev ’20, far left, scored the first of the team’s four second-half goals, and triumphantly collided with Noah Jackson ’19 while Liam Dillon ’20 and Clint Son ’18 looked on. “A deep bench and aggressive subbing eventually wore down a well-organized opponent,” said coach Charlie Malcolm.

PHOTO: GLENN MINSHALL

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It’s a stretch. And a jump. Maybe even a twirl.

NMH students are pushing themselves in science, math, and humanities just as they do in dance. Our chemists can opt to code. Our coders can opt to learn Latin. And our dancers can do it all. Growing of this magnitude is made possible by your gift to the NMH Fund. Go to nmhschool.org/give, call 1-866-NMH-GIVE, or send a check today.

Rachael Waring Photography

Growing good lives.

L ET T E R FROM P ET E R B. FAYROIA N, H EA D OF S C H OOL

LEADING LINES

Between Thoreau and a Smartphone

On the scales of technology, where should we find our balance?

“For God’s sake,” goes a short poem, “Let us be men / not monkeys minding machines / or sitting with our tails curled / while the machine amuses us.”

This isn’t a poem written recently about smartphones and computers, but one composed in 1929

by D.H. Lawrence, who was one of many critics of industrialized society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lawrence believed that new technologies (for him, it was the telephone, radio, film, and the gramophone) inhibited people from interacting with one another. Lawrence preferred to live without the urban household conveniences of the day, and he wrote, “Every time we turn on a tap to have water, every time we turn a handle to have fire or light, we deny ourselves and annul our being.”

I have to disagree with Lawrence. I’m a fan of a long, hot shower, and, like many of you, I rely heavily on my phone. But I’m also a fan of Henry Thoreau, who echoed Lawrence when he wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life.” All of us should experience this once in a while: living simply, deliberately, without technology, without our tails curled while the machine amuses us.

At NMH, we have dedicated millions of dollars and thousands of hours to harnessing the potential of myriad technologies, discerning which tools are essential for our institution as a whole and for educating students. It’s absolutely necessary that we do this. It’s also a constant struggle to make sure we are harnessing the creative powers of technology and resisting its destructive powers.

On one hand, the way we lived decades ago, without smartphones or social media, might have served our students better. There was always time to put

disappointments or setbacks into perspective before calling home, because that call could only be made while waiting in line for the payphone down the hall.

There was always bullying and harassment and plagiarism and cheating, but it happened in real time, in the open. It was easier to do the right thing because it was harder to do the wrong thing. Students couldn’t hide as easily behind distractions and shortcuts, and even video games were social, rather than private, events.

But it’s clear that technology, whether in our hands or on our desktops or in the Cloud, gives us instruments that do good. Technology allows education to reach people who otherwise would not have that opportunity. It gives us access to critical information that helps overthrow brutal regimes, coordinate rescue efforts after natural disasters, cure diseases, and solve humanitarian crises. On a personal level, it allows our children to interact with grandparents when they’re hundreds of miles apart.

If all this information, education, and opportunity is available right in our pockets, why do we come together at all? Technology has compelled us — much more so than when I began teaching in boarding schools 30 years ago — to emphasize the experience here. We are privileged to have both these incredible machines at our finger-tips and the time and space to be together.

So yes, let us be women and men who use technology wisely, not monkeys with our tails curled while the machine amuses us. Let us learn from and about one another by talking, face to face.

Let’s remember to disconnect from the internet and connect with each other, and when we do turn our smartphones on, let’s use them smartly — with humanity and purpose. [NMH]

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CONNECT

@NMHschool Join the Ukulele Club — and many others — at the Student Activities Fair!

FINDING HIS VOICE Keshawn Tyriq Bostic (“Stay Woke,” Spring ’17) sounds like someone we’ll be hearing more about in years to come. Kudos to him for finding his voice early and for opening the eyes of white kids who will owe him a debt of gratitude. I am proud to support an alma mater that welcomes and nurtures a leader like him.

Rev. Kate Spelman ’02 Western Springs, Illinois SHORT GUY, LONG SHADOW I’m running in the mountains outside Boulder, Colorado, and I hear the footsteps of a runner coming up behind me — surprising, since, at the time, I’m running a six-minute-mile training pace. A short, gray-haired old guy appears, and I look over and do a doubletake: It’s Frank Shorter! (“Born to Run,” Spring ’17). We run together, talking about Mount Hermon. His words glide as smoothly from his mouth as his legs glide over the road. After a mile, he says, impishly, “Thanks for the memories, but I gotta finish my workout,” and he proceeds to run away from me.

Bruce Mendelsohn ’86 Arlington, Massachusetts

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Don’t forget to breathe! Counselors used balloons to remind a ninth-grade health class of the importance of taking time to breathe so they can balance the demands of a busy #NMH day.

Students in an #NMH acting class get a lesson in improv theater.

SCIENCE, NOT CONTROVERSY A writer in the Spring ’17 issue (Letters) begged readers to show tolerance for dissent on climate change, and asserted four fronts of controversy: whether climate change is new, whether man is the cause, whether climate change is destructive, whether man can do something.

Climate change is not a matter of opinion; it is a matter of physics. Doubting the physics of climate change is comparable to questioning the law of gravity.

The physics of gravity dictates that a dropped rock will fall to the ground. The physics of greenhouse gases dictates that carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere will trap heat and cause global temperatures to increase.

Katie Whitehead ’70 Chatham, Virginia

Tolerance of dissent is fine, but not a campaign to discredit science and scientists in a deliberate attempt to prolong business and profits as usual. It’s the same way the cigarette industry prolonged its profits by at least 10 years by telling the public and lawmakers that there was scientific uncertainty about the links between cancer and smoking.

Richard Sparks ’60 Elsah, Illinois

PHOTOS: GLENN MINSHALL

L ET T E RS/ EMA IL /S OC IA L M E DIA

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LETTING GO I have been judicious about sharing my journey since January 2004, when the decision was made to consolidate the Northfield and Mount Hermon campuses. My role as trustee and cheerleader has meant being positive, enthusiastic, and supportive — reassuring the Northfielders who felt angry, hurt, and betrayed.

Last May, I returned to Northfield, where the president of Thomas Aquinas College accepted the gift of the Northfield campus from the National Christian Foundation (“A

New Owner for Northfield,” Spring ’17). As he spoke of the gratitude and humility with which he accepted the beautiful campus, I let go of my fears, uncertainty, and heartbreak. I heard his homage to the heritage of place, his enthusiasm for the physical plant, the college’s commitment to stewardship, and the importance they place on their student work program. I am deeply convinced of the “rightness” that has finally settled on Northfield’s purple hills.

Barbara Tweedle Freedman ’66 Speer Fellow Hanover, New Hampshire

GET IN TOUCH We’re trying something different in our “letters” department: featuring excerpts from correspondence as well as a sampling of social media posts. Full text of letters and emails can be found at nmhschool.org/alumni/publications/nmh-magazine.

Correspondence will be edited for length, clarity, and grammar, and should pertain to magazine content. All views expressed belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies and positions of NMH. Reach us at nmhmagazine@nmhschool.org.

Summer Session June 30 to August 4, 2018

Earn credits to advance in school.

Build skills and accelerate academic progress.

Sample boarding school life or come as a day student.

nmhschool.org/summer One Lamplighter Way, Mount Hermon, MA 01354 413-498-3290

summer_session@nmhschool.org

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LAMPLIGHTER WAY Alyssa Maymi ’18 (center) with fellow NMH Upward Bound students.

Opening the Door NMH’s Upward Bound program celebrates 50 years of helping students get to college.

B Y JENNIFER SUT T O N

Sisters Abigail and Alyssa Maymi are ambitious NMH seniors from Holyoke, Massachusetts, a city that Abigail Maymi says “doesn’t have the best reputation.” This fall, they’ve been applying to colleges like Tufts, Yale, and Northeastern, but three years ago, they were freshmen at Holyoke High, a school the Massachusetts Department of Education calls “chronically underperforming.”

Their parents were determined to see them go to college.

That’s where NMH’s Upward Bound came in.

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NMH Magazine

Upward Bound is a federally funded U.S. Department of Education program that helps low-income high school students navigate the college-application process and gain the skills they’ll need to succeed in higher education. “We are not here to save anyone,” says Sharon Gralnick, director of NMH’s program. “Upward Bound students have identified themselves as people who want to go to college, and we believe they deserve that opportunity.

We just help them get there.”

Launched in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Upward Bound now has more than 800 satellite programs around the country, based mostly at colleges and universities. NMH’s program, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is one of only two based at boarding schools.

Howard Jones was president of Northfield and Mount Hermon in the 1960s, and he saw Upward Bound as an extension of D.L. Moody’s goal to provide education for students from all economic and racial backgrounds. He established the program at NMH in 1967.

“That’s one of the things that makes our Upward Bound program unusual — it’s so tied to the original mission of our school,” says Head of School Peter Fayroian.

Although the Maymi sisters enrolled at NMH, most of NMH’s Upward Bound students attend public schools in Springfield, Holyoke, and Greenfield, Massachusetts. They come for a six-week summer academy on

STORIES/N EWS FROM CAM P US

“ One of the things that makes our Upward Bound program unusual is that it’s so tied to the original mission of the school.”

at NMH, Gralnick and Fayroian share a vision that still aligns with the one Howard Jones had half a century ago. “We want these kids to feel excited about academics and curious about the world,” Gralnick says. “That curiosity can help them make the leap to college — a leap that, for many of them, is vast.”

the NMH campus, with classes, sports, dorm life, cultural activities, a social justice conference — all of which “help them prepare for what college will be like, what it means to be away from home,” says Breyana Roman, assistant program director. Upward Bound advisors also meet weekly with the students at their home schools, guiding them through the maze of standardized tests, college visits, and financial-aid forms.

The students come from lowincome families or are the first in their families to go to four-year colleges, but they are otherwise “quite diverse,” Gralnick says.

“The number of languages spoken among them is amazing — Greek, Moldovan, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish.

Some of them were born in refugee camps. It’s not unusual for us to have students who have seen war.” But they all come to Upward Bound “with this fire in them,” says Gralnick. “They want opportunities to learn about the world beyond their hometowns.”

This fall, as Upward Bound celebrates its milestone anniversary

P H O T O S : M I C H A E L D W Y E R , C O U R T E S Y O F G R E T E L S C H AT Z

Abigail and Alyssa Maymi feel confident they’ll make that leap.

At the same time, their hometown of Holyoke remains one of the ways they define themselves. Abigail Maymi says, “Upward Bound helped me understand how not to let go of my roots and how to be more aware of my identity — and all the things I’ll be able to do with it.”

DRUMBE AT

Last summer, students and faculty members traveled to the coastal village of Kopeiya, in Ghana, West Africa, for a 10-day workshop at the Dagbe Cultural Institute. The group learned traditional West African and Ewe dance and drumming techniques, and collaborated with the institute’s teachers and local students in a performance. “They helped us grow both rhythmically and technically,” says Ella Bathory-Peeler ’20.

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LAMP LIG H T E R WAY

Lab Girl

From Cutler Science Center to the U.S. Chemistry Olympiad’s top echelon.

Michelle Lee ’18 loves chemistry. She’s good at it, too — so good that last spring she was one of the top 20 scorers in the 2017 U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad, a competition for high school students sponsored by the American Chemical Society.

That honor earned Lee, who is from Seoul, Korea, a spot at a two-week academic training camp at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado in June. Lee and 19 other students from across the country studied chemistry with faculty from the academy and other colleges and universities — lectures, four hours in the lab every day, assessments — with the goal of being chosen one of four students to go on to the International Chemistry Olympiad.

Lee wasn’t one of the four, and she’s not sad about it, she says. Her goal was to get to that study camp — “to be immersed in chemistry, all day every day,” she says.

“It’s the process, the work, that is so much fun for me.”

Last year, Lee was the top finisher in a regional New England Olympiad; then she placed in the top 15 percent of students who took the national Olympiad exam.

This year, after Lee scored in the top 2 percent of students who took the national exam, NMH chemistry teacher Michelle Hurley, Lee’s mentor, reported that Lee “worked incredibly hard” for a “huge accomplishment.” Both the regional and national exams are

formidable, Hurley says, especially the lab components. “Students have to think for themselves, decide what methods to use, and devise their own solutions,” she says.

Lee is almost philosophical when she talks about chemistry. “After learning how chlorophyll makes leaves green, when I look at trees, they’re not just ordinary trees anymore,” she says. “There is so much happening that we can’t see, and that drives me to zoom in until I get to the bottom of everything. And I want to share this amazing feeling I get from studying chemistry with many people.”

E C L I P S E Last August’s eclipse was the perfect opportunity for science teacher Andy Corwin to test NMH’s two solar telescopes in preparation for his astronomy class this fall. Corwin outfitted the equipment with a cellphone camera and a tripod, and drove to Greenville, South Carolina, where he documented the eclipse in the path of totality. “It was surreal,” he says. “You look up at the sun and you see what looks like a black star.” Back at NMH, Corwin’s students use the telescopes to study sunspots, prominences, and other features of the sun. They’re excited, Corwin says, “to see the sun ‘live.’”

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PHOTOS: SHARON LABELLA-LINDALE, ANDY COR WIN

L AM P L IG H T E R WAY

Fit to Print An art class goes old-school.

After art teacher Lauren Scott Corwin taught students in her digital design class how to use Adobe Illustrator software, she turned them loose with an assignment to create vintage-style tourism posters for NMH. “It was a friendly competition,” she says. “I told them, ‘You are your own design firm. You’ve got two hours. Go.’” The students took photos around campus or dug into their own personal collections, went back into the studio, and developed these and several other samples. The school shared them on social media, and the response was enthusiastic. “I want one! Or two or three!” one person posted. “Sell them as cards, posters, or notecards,” suggested another.

Despite the success of the project, Corwin hasn’t turned the class into an ad agency. Yet.

Posters: Sophie Jones ’18 (bottom left), Ross Damon ’17 and Jordan Rowlette ’17 (top left), and Sam Calman ’18 (top right)

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LAMP LIG H T E R WAY

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L AM P L IG H T E R WAY

What Does “Sustainability” Really Mean, Anyway?

When people hear the word “sustainability,” they typically think of the environment — recycling, composting, “going green.” But Becca Malloy, Northfield Mount Hermon’s director of sustainability, challenges us to shed that preconceived notion. A sustainable future means investing in ecological, social, and financial resources, she says — a “triple bottom line” of people, profit, and planet.

“People’s well-being is just as important as ecological well-being, and the institution’s financial well-being is just as important as the other two,” she explains. “All of them working together creates a flourishing system.” We’ll illustrate specific aspects of this “system” in future issues; here, we introduce NMH’s broader landscape of sustainability.

Check out the power plant on the map: NMH’s conversion to biofuel for heating campus buildings is an example of Malloy’s triple bottom line: “We’re taking better care of our workers, whom we don’t want to be exposed to a nasty chemical; it’s cheaper to use biofuels; and using vegetable oil takes our carbon footprint down to almost nothing,” she says. Other examples of how the school is devoting time, leadership, and strategy to this approach include sending the dining hall’s food scraps and used paper napkins to a local farm to be composted — that’s caring for the environment. Ten percent of NMH’s academic courses focus on sustainability, an example of social investment. And the NMH Board of Trustees fosters financial sustainability by committing to raising an additional 27 percent above the cost of every new building to cover maintenance and upkeep.

“It’s really about stewardship,” Malloy says. “We’re taking care of what we have.” — Tara Jackson

ILLUSTRATION: JESSICA MCGUIRL

Welcome to Town When faculty members Seth Montgomery and Rachael Abernethy (below) went before the Gill, Massachusetts, Selectboard last February to propose that the town become a “sanctuary city,” they thought it would be a one-meeting commitment.

But it wasn’t until five months later that the selectboard voted “yes” — to “enhance the trust of the immigrant community in our law enforcement” and “ensure that all citizens receive the highest level of public safety.”

This means the Gill Police Department will not ask about any person’s immigration status, or honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests to detain undocumented immigrants for prolonged periods of time.

Cities and towns across the country — including the Massachusetts cities of Holyoke, Springfield, and Northampton — have taken similar steps, as a response to the executive orders on immigration that President Trump issued soon after he took office in January.

Gill residents spent several meetings debating the proposal. Opponents worried that becoming a sanctuary city would lead the U.S. Department of Justice to withhold the town’s federal funding, an action Trump had threatened to take. (A federal judge in a California court case ruled in April that such an action would be illegal.)

Others felt that the resolution was unnecessary because it would not change the town’s existing policies.

As Gill residents, Montgomery and Abernethy believe the “sanctuary city” status will have “a very real impact” on people coming to the town and to Northfield Mount Hermon, which is located in the northern part of Gill and is home base for dozens of international students and teachers. Abernethy says, “This lets people know that Gill is a place where they’ll be welcomed.”

PHOTO: SHARON LABELLA-LINDALE

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IN CLASS

Discere et Vivere A dead language lives.

B Y JENNIFER SUT T O N

Guilt. Sorrow. Bravery. Justice.

Crushing rebellions. Spearing people in the thigh.

It sounds a lot like “Game of Thrones,” but it’s actually an AP Latin class finishing up a translation of Virgil’s epic poem Aeneid, which traces a man’s violent, fateful journey from Troy to Italy more than 2,000 years ago.

“Duty, promises, vengeance — these things were really important to the Romans, and anyone who stood in the way of that was going down,” says NMH Latin teacher Tom Bloom. “‘Should I be merciful? No. I stab you, the end.’ That’s Rome in a nutshell. There was no lovey-dovey.”

The blood and guts and drama pleases Yuna Kim ’17, who’s now a freshman at New York University.

She’s been interested in Latin since she discovered Greek mythology as a kid. The fact that the language is spoken nowhere in the world outside the Vatican doesn’t bother her.

“The culture and the stories behind the language are what’s interesting,” she says.

That’s a hint at why Bloom likes Latin, too — why he started teaching it in the first place. “Latin packs multiple subjects into the study of one language, and it makes your brain work in different ways,” he says. There’s no predictable word order in Latin sentences, he explains, so translating a passage is almost mathematical, like solving a

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puzzle. Students at all levels read and analyze literature, like an English class. And the history of Rome — all the valor and betrayal and sacrifice, all the societal norms that strike students as a little strange — is right there in every text they read, Bloom says.

“You wouldn’t think that you’d be talking about people’s moods and gender roles in your language class,” says Kim. “But that’s what we did when we learned that the Latin words for courage and valor are masculine, and the words for emotion and hysteria and craziness are all feminine. That’s how the culture was back then.”

As an actual language, Latin is notoriously difficult to learn, with dozens of different noun cases, verb tenses, declensions, and gendered words — intricate grammatical structures that are often inconsistent. Word endings, not word order, determine meaning. “You might have your subject at the end of a sentence, the verb at the beginning, and a direct object somewhere in the middle,” says Ransly Familia ’17, now a freshman at Denison University. “Making sense of all the details is really hard at first.”

Like his classmate Yuna Kim, Familia doesn’t particularly care that Latin is considered a “dead” language — no longer evolving — because the complexities of Latin led him to a better understanding of English grammar. Meg Eisenhauer,

who teaches Latin and English at NMH, says that’s because Latin students “have to really understand how pieces of a sentence fit together, how they build upon each other.”

A perfect example, she says, is one sentence of Cicero, the Roman writer and politician.

“This guy could build clause upon subordinate clause in an incredibly artful way,” Eisenhauer says.

“You have to pull it apart in order to understand it. It’s like breaking

A scene from Virgil’s Aeneid : “The Meeting of Dido and Aeneas,” oil on canvas, by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland (1735–1811)

“ Latin packs multiple subjects into the study of one language, and it makes your brain work in different ways.”

down a mathematical equation.

Think of algebra, or derivatives in calculus.”

As in any language study, there’s plenty of memorization in Bloom’s and Eisenhauer’s classes, especially in the beginning. It’s akin to learning the times tables in math — students establish “a well of knowledge they can go back to,” Bloom says. But he and Eisenhauer introduce their students to classical authors early on, sometimes in adapted or abridged form.

P H O T O : TAT E , L O N D O N ; W I K I M E D I A C O M M O N S

As students break down sentences and struggle over declensions, they’re also considering how stories, poems, and speeches written thousands of years ago relate to the modern world.

“Students can connect with a satirist like Horace, because they’ve all watched ‘Stephen Colbert’ or ‘Saturday Night Live,’” Eisenhauer says. Or with the poet Catullus, because “he writes incredible love poems, but also the best breakup poems of all time.”

And then there are the political connections, Bloom points out.

“Students can literally see how the arguments we’re having in the U.S. and the world today about populism and sectarianism and oligarchs were had in Greece in 400 B.C.,” he says. “And in ancient Rome, there was Caesar, a populist, going against the old established senatorial class. The parallels are so clear.

The guys writing back then had some important universal truths in their stories.”

That’s essentially how Natalie Foster ’20 explained her beginning Latin I class to her friends last spring. “They’d say, ‘It’s a dead language, why take it?’ but to me, it’s like a giant history lesson that you happen to be learning in a different language.”

And Kim suggests that once students get past the density of the language, with all its complex formations, they’ll understand its appeal. “Latin,” she says, “makes me feel like a scholar.” [NMH]

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FIRST PERSON

Those People Are Us

We need more color and languages and difference, not less.

BY BE A G A RCIA

“ We can give in to fear, or we can embrace otherness.”

Bea Garcia is assistant dean of the faculty and a Spanish teacher.

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There are days when I miss the sound of my language. I miss who I am when I speak my language. I miss the smell of the “R’s” and the taste of the “A’s.” I miss the rolling of the tongue and the words that only make sense in Spanish. In English, I struggle to express my feelings with words that are not mine, that I borrow, that sometimes do not respond to my command. They come to me in pieces. I wrestle with them. Sometimes they win.

Sometimes, the world only makes sense in English. I get upset with not having a Spanish word like “nuance,” because matiz, let’s be honest, is not so elegante.

There are days I wake up in English and those are different days, more predictable.

I am another person en inglés, and sometimes I miss the sound of this other language that is not mine but that gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Then there are days — busy, frenetic, thrilling days — when I think, “If I could only tell you in Spanish!” Then you would be very aware of how dramática the situation is. My hands help me speak to you in Spanish, as does the tone of my voice, my other self. You feel the pasión and the urgency, the exhilaration and the fun.

But many times, I have to settle for my English-speaking self to talk with you, and I keep my Latina inside, waiting for the opportunity to show up and help me be my whole self. I used to think I didn’t fully belong anywhere, but now I realize, as poet Gina Valdés says in her poem “Where You From,” that I’m “from here and from there.”

PHOTO: GLENN MINSHALL

I came to this country 16 years ago, and this year I’ve felt the most unwelcome that I’ve ever felt. Americans have been talking a lot about immigration, and immigrants, and homes, and borders. Some people approach these conversations with empathy, humanity, and a sense of inclusion; others discuss walls or fences, borders and security. It doesn’t make sense to me that we would try to get rid of “those people” — “the immigrants.” They — we — are among the most resilient people I know.

We are the masters of code switching: We have learned how to translate a gesture, a handshake, and a smell. We have one foot here and one somewhere else, but we keep our balance most of the time, and we bring colors and music and accents wherever we go. I know, we are different. We smell different. We not only speak with an accent, we live with an accent. And we don’t want to change that.

These days our humanity has been threatened. We, as immigrants, are afraid.

Afraid of being stopped, profiled, humiliated, kicked out. But we are not going to be silenced. We will speak up, we’ll make noise. You will hear what we have to say.

We can’t do it alone, though, so here is my plea to you. Lend us your voice so we can speak louder. Lend us your privilege so we can better keep our balance. We need more immigrants, not fewer. We need fewer borders, not more walls. We need more color and languages and difference, not less. We can give in to fear, or we can embrace otherness and become a better version of ourselves. It’s our choice. [NMH]

A CONVERSATION WITH …

Joel Lowsky

Director of Academic Technology Ask Joel Lowsky to describe his work, and he says, grinning, “I create problems and I solve problems.” Since he set up shop in Schauffler Library in 2013, Lowsky has introduced faculty, staff, and students to new technologies and pushed to make NMH’s existing systems better.

THE NITTY-GRITTY Lowsky brought Google Apps for Education to NMH, as well as the Canvas learning management system for faculty and students. “Plus a thousand other smaller projects,” he says — such as creating a scanning system for the Mail Center to track the 24,000 packages it receives every year. Lowsky likes the fact that that he’s one of a handful of NMH employees who get to work with every department. He says, “Someone will come up to me and ask, ‘Is this project possible?’ My answer is almost always yes.”

DOCTOR, DOCTOR Lowsky’s doctoral dissertation title was “Mining Helpdesk Databases for Professional Development Topic Discovery.”

Translation: When people are asked to evaluate their own tech skills in the workplace, they tend to exaggerate so their knowledge gaps aren’t seen as a weakness. Their calls and emails to their office’s “helpdesk” tell the real story, which helps pros like Lowsky offer more relevant guidance.

PHOTO: CHATTMAN PHOTOGRAPHY

BACKSTORY Canadian citizen, English lit major, corporate computer programmer, newly minted doctor of education. But Lowsky says one of his professional turning points wasn’t a paid gig: In 2007, he volunteered as an IT advisor at an HIV community center in Walvis Bay, Namibia, where 25 percent of the population was infected with the disease. He beefed up the center’s tech processes, taught classes on how to use a computer, and wrote a textbook for future training groups. The goal was to give people skills they needed to get a better job. “That meant they had more money to get the medications they needed — because a quarter of their family had HIV.”

HE’S A PATIENT GUY. Lowsky works with teachers who are passionate about teaching and experts in their fields, but not all of them are techsavvy. “Everybody’s got a different skill set, and it’s my job to increase everybody’s skill set at least a little bit — to make sure each person can get something out of the technology we offer.”

“ I like to tell people, ‘I’m a tool.

Use me.’”

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STORY B Y PETER FAYR OIAN PHOTOS B Y RA CHAEL WAR ING

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST

A visit with poet and literary pioneer Lawrence Ferlinghetti ’37

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NMH Magazine

THIRTY YEARS AGO,

I entered a small, oakpaneled room at Cranbrook Schools to teach the first class of my first teaching post.

Waiting for me were eight students prepared to devour a semester of literature — or their new teacher. The English department’s curriculum dictated an initial unit in poetry, and 30 minutes into the class, my students and I were discussing Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s sweet little poem “Constantly Risking Absurdity.”

It describes “the poet like an acrobat” standing on “a high wire of his own making” while above him, “Beauty stands and waits / with gravity / to start her death-defying leap.” The poem closes ambiguously: And he a little charleychaplin man who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence

AS A HERO

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ime embellishes, but I distinctly remember my students breaking down the metaphor and, perhaps for the first time, waking up to their ability to appreciate writing and reading verse. They were hooked on poetry, and I was hooked on teaching.

On an auspiciously sunny afternoon in San Francisco just last winter, when the orange-red Golden Gate Bridge, the green of the surrounding hills, and the blue of the Pacific startled the eye, I sat on the steps of a North Beach apartment building, preparing to meet one of my literary heroes.

My wife, Rachael, walked our children to a local park while I gathered my thoughts. Later, she told me, “I have never seen you so nervous before meeting anyone.”

I had good reason. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, acclaimed poet and painter, was the main publisher of the revolutionary writers known as the Beat Generation — Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, among others. After serving in World War II, Ferlinghetti founded the City Lights Bookstore and publishing house in San Francisco, and his publication of Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems in 1956 got him arrested on obscenity charges. His historic trial attracted national attention and set a First Amendment precedent for publishing controversial writing with redeeming social importance.

Now, after a yearlong correspondence, I was about to meet one of the world’s greatest living poets and an NMH alumnus whose history with the school has its own literary quality.

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ON AUG. 10, 1934,

Mount Hermon headmaster Elliott Speer wrote to the admission committee, describing his meeting on campus with an “old lady” by the name of Mrs. Pressley Bisland of Bronxville, New York. “She came,” he wrote, “about a boy of 14 whose name is Lawrence Monsanto.”

Mrs. Bisland, it turned out, had a decade earlier hired a maid who had an adopted son. “They took

ARCHIVAL PHOTO COUR TESY OF CITY LIGHTS BOOKS

the boy into the family,” Speer wrote. “They found the child rickety, ill treated, and cringing.”

When the mother turned out to be “not sound mentally” and “inefficient as a maid,” Mrs. Bisland discharged her, but kept the child.

The boy's birth name was Lawrence Monsanto Ferling.

His father had shortened the family name after emigrating from Italy, but Lawrence adopted the original as as adult.

Left: Ferlinghetti in 1959, at City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, which he founded in 1953.

Below right: with Peter Fayroian.

I read Speer’s letter aloud to Lawrence, who had greeted my family at his front door in his trademark cap, and led us — sprightly, for a 97-year-old — up a flight of stairs and into his modest apartment. Books and papers covered most of the flat surfaces, but the place was tidy and plants craned toward half-open windows.

He offered my children cookies, and then he and I sat at his small kitchen table and talked.

Upon hearing Speer’s letter, Lawrence held up his hand and protested, “She was the governess, not the maid.” Yet he was delighted to learn of the legendary headmaster’s role in his admission to Mount Hermon. He told me he’d coincidentally arrived on campus to begin his education on a terrible day in the school’s history — the day of Speer’s murder. “I got off the truck from the train station and there was much commotion and people running about,” Lawrence said. “We didn’t learn about what happened until much later.”

Speer’s interest in young Lawrence’s application was unusual. While Speer’s premature death prevented him from seeing the boy’s promise fulfilled, I like to think that he recognized the potential for future greatness. His notes from meeting with Mrs. Bisland describe how she and her husband had had a son named Lawrence who had died, and because they pitied their employee’s young son, “they have taken care of him ever since he came to them. She says he is a bright boy and well worth helping … She consequently wanted him admitted to Mount Hermon.”

Two weeks later, a letter signed by “Lawrence Monsanto” arrived

“ I ’M MOST GRATEFUL FOR THE KIND, ALMOST PARENTAL CARE GIVEN ME IN MY STRUGGLES AT THE SCHOOL. FOR A FATHERLESS BOY, IT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD.” at Mount Hermon, in which the young man expressed his “wish to attend Mount Hermon to gain a better education, as well as for its exceptional opportunities for boys who [need] help in securing an education, as I do.” He described himself as an Eagle Scout, “healthy, active, and athletic,” emphasizing that he does not smoke, is “quite good at cross-country running,” and plans to be a journalist. “I think,” he closed, “I am the best at English composition.”

A self-proclaimed “rapscallion” as a youth, Lawrence’s

application materials contained only one blemish: his apparent membership in an informal “Crime Club,” in which he and other boys picked pockets and stole candy in Bronxville. Mount Hermon’s dean, T.E. Elder, was wary. He did not recommend admission for Lawrence, writing in his interview notes that he found Lawrence “very difficult to talk straight,” and that he “doubted the boy would do over well.” But in the end, he advised the admission committee to leave the matter to Speer — who clearly had a different hunch.

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“ H IS WORK SEEMS QUITE REMARKABLE TO ME AND I AM WONDERING IF HE HAS THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A GENIUS. THERE CERTAINLY SEEMS SOME TH ING THE MATTER WITH HIM.” In early September, the following telegraph was sent: Wired Mrs. Pressley Bisland, Bronxville, N.Y. Laurence [sic] Monsanto accepted. Should arrive Monday next. — T.E. Elder, Dean It was clear to me, and to Rachael, who was snapping occasional photographs, that this was an emotional moment.

Lawrence wasn’t familiar with Elder’s alleged involvement in Speer’s murder, so it’s not that the telegram resonated for him; it was simply that I was guiding him back to a bittersweet time in his life, when his future hung in the balance. I could not have been more honored to serve as his Virgil. His path to Mount Hermon, like those of his classmates in the early 20th century, was filled with hardship, and both during our meeting and in our correspondence, he has expressed deep appreciation for his experience on campus. “I’m most grateful,” Lawrence wrote recently, “for the kind, almost parental care given

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me in my struggles at the school.

For a fatherless boy, it made all the difference in the world.”

When I asked Lawrence about the nature of these struggles, he was quick to acknowledge the men and women who helped curb his “rapscallion” nature. “They were hard on me,” he said, “but in ways that made me a better person.” He waxed — poetically, of course — about milking cows on the farm (“something all young people should do”), and hours spent going beyond the expected work requirement because of various transgressions noted in his file: “lack of punctuality,” “inattention in Study Hall,” “taking popsicles from the West Hall ice box.” Apparently, young Lawrence also took up smoking at Mount Hermon.

Academically, he was that undisciplined student with tremendous promise whose “failure,” in the words of his dormitory master, “is due more to his general attitude toward his work than to lack of ability.” At the end of his junior year, his teachers’ comments were consistent in their admonition that he take more responsibility for his studies.

Like Lawrence’s teachers, his guardian, Mrs. Bisland, had hoped he would grow out of his rebelliousness, his restlessness, and lean into his academic talent. Noting all the teachers’ comments on his fine, albeit undisciplined, mind, Mrs. Bisland made her case to the new headmaster, David Porter, to keep Lawrence as a Mount Hermon student. She sent him an essay Lawrence had written. It “quite astonishes me,” Mrs. Bisland wrote.

Titled “The Forest and the Lake,” it is, indeed, quite

astonishing, not just for its poetry, and not only for its youthful hand; it is, I believe, young Lawrence setting his feet firmly in the wilderness of his turbulent life and reaching for beauty’s “fair eternal form / spread-eagled in the empty air / of existence.” One of his lines was: “Silence — not a sound, not a whisper, no wave lapping the shore, no human mumbling, no noise at all — it was unearthly.

But, now, a screech of an owl — a lonesome soliloquy, indeed.”

“His work,” Mrs. Bisland remarked to Porter, “seems quite remarkable to me and I am wondering if he has the eccentricities of a genius. There certainly seems something the matter with him.”

SITTING

with me at the kitchen table that day, Lawrence was a fine sport as the afternoon — and my children’s patience — waned. But I wanted to follow up on Mrs. Bisland’s musings. He had gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree at the University

of North Carolina (“too easy, by comparison to Mount Hermon,” he says), a master’s at Columbia University, and a doctorate at the Sorbonne, so what, indeed, “was the matter with him?” What was the matter with this submarine officer-turned-pacifist, renowned poet and painter, tireless activist, and Hercules of American letters? “Nothing,” he responded with a smile, “that Mount Hermon couldn’t fix.”

Those 90 or so minutes with Lawrence will remain a highlight of my professional and personal life. I’m tickled by the thought that one day my children might open their English textbooks and remember — or at least think of the story that I will inevitably tell them again and again — how they ate cookies at this legend’s table. I wish I could bring him back to campus, to dig once more into a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, of which he spoke so fondly. I would bring him down to the farm to hear the warm squirting of milk into cans, to watch students walk from maple tree to maple tree with heavy pails of sap creasing their palms.

Much has changed since he left campus 80 years ago, but much remains the same, and I’m proud to say that thought heartens him immensely.

To say that Lawrence Ferlinghetti is humble is to say that the Grand Canyon is big.

A few weeks after our visit, I sent him one of the photographs Rachael had taken. “Portrait of the Artist as an Old Fool,” he wrote back, but not before expressing his gratitude. [NMH]

THE FOREST AND THE LAKE I

BY LAW REN CE FER LIN GH ETT 18) OR (WR ITT EN AT AGE 17

d the It was twilight. Before me stretche lay the twinkling waters, and behind me g near. darkening forest. Night was hoverin hest The sun had buried itself in the fart had sudpar t of the woods, and the moon after having denly attained a pale brightness, zon while hovered indeterminably on the hori well. the sun took its oft-described fare n A darkness was setting down upo the wilderness, and all around I could hear the subdued echoes of nature, and a sense of the oncoming night overwhelmed everything.

The forest behind me was forebod ame but a black maze before ing, and even as I watched, it bec out from it — onto the lake. me. The night seemed to sweep shake off an evil in the Quickly, I turned away — as if to water stretched forth into darkness. I stared at the lake. The s of the trees. Above, the night, from beneath the shadow the lake seemed a dull mirthe heavens were darkened, and hes rippled to the shore and ror of the sky. Light and dark patc ome silent. The darkness back again. But the lake was bec over the last clew of light. was a pestilence, slowly creeping and there the stars shone The sky was growing black. Here they were reflected. through the inky gloom. In the lake htly overhead, their tops The nearby pines were swaying slig g the shore, the trees overlost in the darkness. Stretching alon . The skyline was etched in hung the lake in towering masses t glow of the moon. Tall, slender, trees against the phosphorescen s, the pines reached upward straight, crowned with clustered bow rter trees formed a blurred mass into the night. The countless sho med grotesque and unreal.

— the horizon. Nearby objects see per, no wave lapping the Silence — not a sound, not a whis e at all — it was unearthly. shore, no human mumbling, no nois a lonesome soliloquy, indeed.

But, now, a screech of an owl —

PHOTO: COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVES

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LACROSSE PLAYERS BUILD TRUST, TENACITY, AND A FUTURE.

POWER BALL

BY DAVID PETRIE

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acrosse has been called the fastest game on two feet. The Northfield Mount Hermon girls’ varsity team proved this true on a warm Saturday last spring. In a game against Cushing Academy, they unleashed a stunning rapid-fire run of unanswered points on Thorndike Field.

It was one of the final games of the season, and the stands were filled with a raucous crowd of parents and students.

The first goal came 18 minutes and 9 seconds into the game. Emerson Younger ’17 of Hagerstown, Maryland, who’s now playing for the 2017 NCAC Champion Denison University, charged the Cushing net and fired the shot.

Younger followed that goal with another, just a minute and a half later, after Isabel Laubach ’17 of Austin, Texas, used her possession of the ball to draw defenders before passing off to Younger.

Taylor Zuberer ’17 of Tampa, Florida, was up next, after only 16 seconds of play. “I saw an open lane and went to the cage,” she says simply. Jaycelyn Lazore ’19 of Hogansburg, New York, followed Zuberer with her own run down the field, scoring as the clock read 20:04.

Again, just 16 seconds had elapsed since the last goal.

Hailey Harms ’17 of Portland, Oregon, drilled the next two goals less than 30 seconds apart, with assists

NMH Magazine

from Laubach and Ellie Fellows ’18 of Westport, Massachusetts.

At this point, NMH had scored six goals — three of them assisted — in 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

And the run still wasn’t over.

While the spectators in the stands looked on with amazement, on the sidelines, Head Coach Francesca DenHartog P’14, ’17 stayed focused on the next play. She pointed out later that the assists are important to note. “This means they were playing team ball,” she says. That’s her objective: to get a group of incredibly talented individuals to work as a team, which seems like a given, but which many players and their parents say is unique in the world of elite lacrosse. Will Eggers ’84, P’17, ’19, whose daughters Olivia and Cate have played NMH lacrosse, says, “Both of our girls have been part of successful teams where the coaches set players against each other. They appreciate this team’s community, the tenor set by the team.” DenHartog is firm: “This is not an individual sport.

The players feed each other. A team that spreads out scoring opportunities is hard to defend against.”

That philosophy is helping NMH players launch themselves onto Division 1 college teams and other high-achieving programs. This year, Zuberer joins Division 1 Stetson University in Florida, and Harms is now at the Naval Academy, which played in the NCAA Division 1 final four last year. Goalkeeper Sophie McLaughlin ’18, of Keene, New Hampshire, has committed to play at Division 1 University of Vermont.

And during her second season

“ THIS IS NOT

AN INDIVIDUAL SPORT. THE PLAYERS FEED EACH OTHER. at NMH, Lazore committed to Dartmouth — after turning down the perennial D-1 national champion North Carolina — even though she still had two years of high school to go. “With the tenacity of these girls on the field, this is athletics at the highest level,” says NMH Athletic Director Kevin Klein.

I

n women’s lacrosse, play starts with what is called the center draw. Two opposing players are positioned in the field’s center circle, each with one foot toeing the centerline. They hold their crosses (the lacrosse stick) so the heads are back to back. Outside the circle are two more pairs of opposing players, so a total of six players are set up to vie for the ball. The umpire places the ball between the players’ crosses and backs away; the players remain motionless, applying pressure against their opponent’s crosse to keep the ball in place.

When the whistle blows, the opponents draw their crosses up and away, the ball sailing over their heads and into the field of play.

PHOTOS: MICHAEL DW YER, GLENN MINSHALL

For the uninitiated observer, the draw can look like an uncontrolled fling. It is anything but.

Teams that win draws win games.

The player who “takes” the draw needs to have explosive power, and Zuberer, in her senior year, became NMH’s draw specialist. (A massive knee injury forced her to miss the recruiting season during her junior year, but three surgeries and thousands of squats and box jumps later, she was showing Division 1 scouts her mettle.)

“I came in to NMH knowing basic techniques, but I learned so much,” Zuberer explains. “Some opponents try to push the ball forward to their teammates, so we’d practice boxing opponents out and communicating whether I’m letting my opponent take the ball.

Depending on the team you’re playing, you can push the ball to your offensive line, or other times you take it yourself. The players taking the draw, we’d do 50 repetitions before anyone else took the field.”

In the Cushing game, those repetitions were paying off; NMH

Hard at work: Olivia Eggers ’17 (above) and Indigo Pellegrini de Paur ’17 (top, center); Head Coach Francesca DenHartog (opposite).

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From Thorndike Field to Division 1: Taylor Zuberer ’17 (left) now plays for Stetson University; Hailey Harms ’17 (opposite) plays for the U.S. Naval Academy.

“ IT’S EXCITING

TO WATCH A KID GROW INTO HERSELF, GAIN CONFIDENCE, AND THEN PLAY HER BEST AND CRUSH IT.

was winning draw after draw.

Lazore scored again. Twenty-five seconds later, it was Harms. The game was turning into a blowout — a fun blip in a season filled with tougher competition. Polly Painter, Will Eggers’s wife, observes that the team’s “approach is really healthy, win or lose. On the way home [from away games] on the bus, they discuss what was bad, or what was good, what did they learn, and then they move on.”

N

MH’s focus on preparing athletes for competitive college programs is no different from other prep schools, but DenHartog understands more than most what it takes to succeed on the biggest stages. Recruited by Harvard 35 years ago in part for her ambidextrous stick handling, DenHartog became a two-time All-American

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for the Crimson and a two-time Ivy League player of the year. Five of her Ivy League records remain unbroken. Her coach at Harvard, Carole Kleinfelder, has said that when people watched DenHartog play lacrosse at Harvard, they were watching the future of the game.

DenHartog went on to play with the U.S. Women’s National Team and on three medal-winning U.S. World Cup teams. In her last World Cup, DenHartog was one of three players who attacked England’s goal in sudden-death overtime for the final-round win — and gold.

In 2010, she was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame, the highest honor in the sport today.

DenHartog’s coaching résumé is just as impressive. At 23, she was hired as Yale’s head coach, at one point leading the Bulldogs to a national No. 7 ranking. In 1994,

the University of Massachusetts recruited her to rebuild their women’s Division 1 team. She took a seven-year break from the sport and opened a successful retail business in Northampton, Massachusetts, but returned to coaching in 2009. She arrived at NMH in 2011, as an associate director of admission and coach of field hockey as well as lacrosse.

The enthusiasm DenHartog felt while developing her retail business is something she has applied every day as a coach, with every player on her team. “I love building things,” she says. “It’s exciting to watch a kid grow into herself and gain confidence. She figures

out what her strengths and weaknesses are, and what she can bring to the field. And then she plays her best and crushes it.”

Denise Pellegrini of New Canaan, Connecticut, whose daughter Indigo Pellegrini de Paur ’17 is now playing for Wesleyan, says of DenHartog, “She told us where our daughters fit on the team.

Where they might want to go academically. She knows all the college coaches and they trust her.”

D

espite the proliferation of youth travel teams and skills camps in sports such as hockey and soccer, lacrosse is still a sport that an athlete can start in high school and reach a high level of play within a short period of time, DenHartog says. Laura Rollins ’15 can attest to this. She’s currently playing for Hobart and William Smith, where the women’s lacrosse team is a perennial champion in its league and played in the NCAA quarterfinals last spring. Rollins was already deep into ice hockey when she got to NMH but had never played lacrosse. “Francesca approached me one day and asked if I played a spring sport,” Rollins explains. “I thought playing lacrosse would help me keep in shape for other sports. But Francesca got her athletes excited about the game. Every detail.”

NMH prepared Rollins well for college, she says. She learned to manage her time because sports kept her so busy, and she says, “I learned to have a more professional relationship with my teachers and coaches.” Even so, when she arrived at college, she was expecting to be one of the worst players. “But I found that I could do things other

players couldn’t,” she says. “Now my coach [at HWS] is asking me about players coming out of NMH.” Hailey Harms says NMH lacrosse has helped her feel ready for college, too, giving her skills she can apply on and off the field.

“I can take on leadership roles.

I know how to deal with pressure,” she explains. “There’s community dynamics. Learning how to speak up. Being able to address things in the right manner. Holding people accountable.”

“These girls are leaders on and off the field, and active all over campus,” Athletic Director Kevin Klein says. Last year, several of the lacrosse players participated in an NMH Service Learning trip to the Joybells Orphanage and School in northern India, where they tutored young children for five weeks. Pellegrini’s daughter was one of them, and when she went straight to a lacrosse recruiting event upon returning to the U.S., “the feedback was that coaches were very intrigued that she had

done this other thing besides just playing lacrosse,” Pellegrini says.

“I don’t think these players realize how sophisticated they’ll be going into college,” DenHartog adds. “They are leaders. They have grit. And NMH has been integral, the number one or two factor with players getting to their next place.”

That grit was on full display on Thorndike Field last spring, as the NMH team ended up beating Cushing 19–1, with an insane scoring run of eight goals in 3 minutes and 13 seconds in the middle of the game.

Despite that victory, the 2017 season wasn’t perfect. There were losses, and several team members struggled with critical injuries. But NMH won its next game, too, in a much more balanced match-up against Berkshire School. The final score was 13–12, in overtime. The NMH girls had to battle back from a five-goal deficit. They played poised and patient team ball, and on the sidelines, spectators agreed: That was the game to see.” [NMH]

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LO O K A

In her book Welcome to Your World, architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen ’77 says your environment changes the way you think and feel.

STORY B Y ABI GAIL MEIS EL PHOTOS B Y CA ROLINE VOAGEN N E L SO N

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R

O

SARAH WILLIAMS GOLDHAGEN gazes quietly up at a canopy of birch trees, the light dappling through their branches. The scene could be part of the western Massachusetts countryside where she went to high school, but no, this particular bit of verdure stands in the midst of one of the most densely populated cities on Earth. The miniforest marks the southernmost tip of the High Line, a public park built on the skeleton of an old elevated railroad trestle on Manhattan’s far West Side.

“The psychological and emotional effect of nature is immediate.

It actually slows your pulse rate,” says Goldhagen. “Most people have heard of the mind-body relationship, but that’s not the whole story.

What we really need to consider is the mind-body-environment relationship.”

For Goldhagen — an award-winning architecture critic and scholar who lives in East Harlem — the High Line serves as a prime example of the human-centered design she champions in her new book, Welcome to Your World: How the Built Environment Shapes Our Lives (2017). According to the architecture website ArchDaily, Goldhagen’s book “is nothing less than a meticulously constructed argument for completely rethinking our way of looking at architecture.”

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Left and opposite: The High Line, a park in New York City that Goldhagen calls “visually interesting.”

“

uilt environments B should nurture, not diminish, the people who inhabit them.”

—

GOLDHAGEN maintains that buildings, landscapes, and urban areas — what she calls the “built environment” — are often designed in a way that ignores the internal wiring, physical health, and psychological needs of the humans who inhabit them.

“Architecture and design are central to human health and social interactions,” Goldhagen says. “Yet every day, buildings and public spaces are created that can actually harm [people’s] well-being. The spaces we’ve built with the intention of helping patients heal, children learn, or workers be productive can actually do the opposite.”

In Welcome to Your World, Goldhagen writes, “We have seen that placing a postsurgical patient in a hospital room with a pastoral view, rather than one facing a brick wall, will result in a speedier and less painful recovery.” Yet most patients, she points out, recover in white rooms with harsh lighting and no fresh air.

“This is unfortunately the standard,” she says. “We are either ignoring the importance of environment or actually putting people in the exact opposite of the environment they need because it’s more convenient or cheaper.”

IN HER WRITING, Goldhagen has argued for a new approach to architecture, one that moves beyond style and imagery and into the realm of cognitive science. Welcome to Your World draws on neurocognitive research to, in her words, “demonstrate the centrality of design to well-being.”

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For example, she explains, what we see in our environment actually stimulates a physical response. If someone sees an abrasive wall texture, they instinctually retreat from it. Sharp corners, large surfaces, and low ceilings can trigger a sense of unease.

“We have evolved to respond to our built environment in ways we don’t really register consciously,” Goldhagen says.

People find the High Line an inherently friendly environment, she explains while walking north through the park, because they see a long path they can easily navigate. The linear organization puts people at ease because it provides a cue about which way they should move. Yet the architects also added curves in the pathway, creating blind spots that pique visitors’ social curiosity.

And because the High Line doesn’t follow the grid of the city, people get “oblique views of buildings” and glimpses of the Hudson River. “This makes the experience of walking ahead more interesting visually,” Goldhagen says.

The park’s building materials add to the peoplefriendly design — a combination of “colors and textures that retain the railroad trestle’s industrial grit” and small gardens that soften the hard edges, says Goldhagen. She also points out how some of the paving blocks are narrow and tapered; among the plantings, they resemble a hand digging in a garden. “When we see the concrete of the paving blocks juxtaposed with the soil and plants, we have a positive sensory response, and it is calming,” Goldhagen says.

Unfortunately, the serenity of the High Line may be short-lived. The big buildings that are under construction all around it will eventually block the views of the river and cast shadows over the park’s plantings.

Goldhagen laments that profits are coming before people, as builders cash in on the prestige and popularity of the park. Several luxury developments have already risen nearby and more are in the works.

GOLDHAGEN’S APPROACH to architecture and design grew from her belief that society must, first and foremost, benefit people — an awareness that began when she was at NMH. “Northfield Mount Hermon has a strong sense of social justice values.

Students were encouraged to work toward creating a better community,” she says.

She also credits NMH with helping her “step up my game,” she says, and build a foundation of selfconfidence that eventually enabled her to buck traditional views in her field. She remembers coaches who taught her the importance of hard work and discipline — she ran track and was a Nordic skier — and teachers who encouraged her creativity. Louise Schwingel, her sophomore-year English teacher, “convinced me that I was smart,” Goldhagen says.

She also traces her first exposure to architecture as an academic discipline to an NMH art history course that covered architecture from the Pyramids to the Renaissance. “I was fascinated.”

Today, her work has placed her in the pantheon of leading architectural scholars and critics. “Sarah has mapped out new terrain,” says Richard Roberts, a longtime admirer of Goldhagen and the commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development from 1997 to 2000.

“She challenges us to approach building in a new and different way.”

Besides Welcome to Your World, Goldhagen’s books include Louis Kahn’s Situated Modernism, a study of the post-World-War-II American architect; and the widely cited essay collection Anxious Modernisms: Experimentation in Postwar Architectural Culture.

Currently a contributing editor at Art in America and Architectural Record, Goldhagen also taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for 10 years, served as the New Republic’s architecture critic from 2006 to 2014, and has written for The New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Design Observer, and the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians.

In Welcome to Your World, Goldhagen emphasizes the social and cultural contexts of architecture, one of which she calls the “theatricality” of public space.

On the High Line, she points out, performance is everywhere. Groups of singers entertain around the park’s cafes; it’s “a social space where people are looking at other people,” she says.

This idea of public social spaces can be seen in historic buildings such as the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, where a majestic entrance and grand staircases once served as “a public stage of selfpresentation as the antecedent to the spectatorial stage of the theatrical performance,” she writes.

Similarly, on the High Line there is a small wooden amphitheater that creates a “breakout space” where people can sit and experience the spectacle of other visitors as well as the city at large.

Places like the Whitney and the High Line mold who we are, Goldhagen believes, because they determine how we move throughout the world.

“Buildings constitute our very sense of identity, in part, because our long-term memories are invariably associated with something of the place in which they were formed,” she says — like the picture window in a first classroom, or the sloping eaves of a grandmother’s house.

Yet our mind-body-environment connections are more tenuous than ever, as massive new residential and commercial construction projects are underway in burgeoning cities across the globe, particularly in China and India. In Goldhagen’s view, the shoddy materials and user-unfriendly designs that are all too common will create environments that harm people’s physical and emotional health, not to mention stifle their creativity.

“I’m not giving prescriptions for design,” Goldhagen is quick to point out. “Right angles can be pleasing.

But the construction of built environments should always begin with the same goal: to nurture — and not diminish — the people who will be in and around them.” [NMH] Abigail Meisel writes for The New York Times and the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught writing at the University of Mississippi.

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IT’S BEEN A DOZEN YEARS SINCE NMH CONSOLIDATED ON ONE CAMPUS, AND A DECADE SINCE THE 2008 FINANCIAL CRISIS CUT THE SCHOOL’S ENDOWMENT BY A THIRD. WHERE ARE WE NOW?

C OMPILED BY J EN N IFE R S UT TON ILLUS TR AT IO N S BY DAN IE L FI S H E L

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NMH Magazine

LET’$ TALK ABOUT MONEY

TRUE OR FALSE:

❑ Some students used to pay one dollar to attend NMH. ❑ School founder D.L. Moody thought endowments were a lousy idea. ❑ In 1985, tuition was onetenth what it is today.

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ccording to NMH historical records, each of these statements is true. And each one has something to do with the school’s finances today. As NMH turns 138 years old this year, school leaders are constantly planning and shaping the institution into one that will last another 138 years. They balance the necessity of envisioning the future with deepening their understanding of the past. Stephen Fuller ’58, chair of the NMH Board of Trustees, says, “The bones of our heritage are one of our distinguishing values — and the prologue to everything that comes afterward.”

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THE BACKSTORY

D.L. Moody founded Northfield and Mount Hermon to provide a Christian education to students who couldn’t afford to go anywhere else. In the earliest years, tuition was $50, half of what other private schools cost. Applicants had to prove they were poor. If they could only afford to pay a few dollars a year, that’s what they paid.

Because he was a well-known evangelist, Moody attracted wealthy Christian philanthropists who were eager to help him pay his bills and expand the two schools.

He started endowments for both Northfield and Mount Hermon, but unlike the businessmen who had founded other boarding schools, he didn’t put much faith in the idea.

He thought endowments were lazy.

He believed schools should have to prove themselves over and over.

Fifty years later, Northfield and Mount Hermon began modernizing under the leadership of Princetoneducated Elliott Speer, who wanted the schools to focus on preparing students for college. He improved residential facilities for faculty and students, established interscholastic sports teams, and encouraged more interaction between female and male students. But even later, as the two schools joined the coeducation trend and merged in 1972, it was evident that NMH was different from other institutions.

“The vision of becoming one school was complicated by being on two campuses, and that complication was expensive,” says Head of School Peter Fayroian.

“We had double the infrastructure, double the costs, plus enormous transportation costs as we kept the two places connected.”

NMH Magazine

NMH'S FINANCIAL-AID BUDGET RELIES ON ALUMNI PAYING IT FORWARD.

THE BUSINESS MODEL

Like all nonprofit independent schools, NMH operates like a business: revenue comes in, expenditures go out. The product NMH sells is education, with a round-the-clock range of services.

There’s a fee for that product, but the fee — tuition — doesn’t cover what it actually costs to make and deliver the product. Even if every student’s family paid full tuition, there would still be a gap.

So NMH starts out operating at a loss, and must look for other revenue sources to close that gap.

Meanwhile, there are two kinds of expenditures, or costs: fixed and variable. Fixed expenses include salaries and benefits, and maintaining the physical campus.

“We don’t have a choice whether we can pay our faculty and staff.

They deliver our product,” says Seth Alvord ’89, former trustee and chair of the board's financial policy committee. “And when the roof leaks, we’ve got to fix it.”

The school’s main variable cost is financial aid. “That’s the one dial we can turn up and down and see meaningful changes,” Alvord says.

Revenue comes mostly in the form of tuition, which is supplemented by the NMH Fund (7

percent of the operating budget), and by drawing from the endowment (13 percent). The challenge for NMH, and all independent schools, is finding the right balance between expenditures and revenue, all while providing an excellent education, achieving a diverse student body, and paying the bills.

WHY IS TUITION SO EXPENSIVE?

NMH is among the most expensive boarding schools in the country, and that fact can be traced back to Moody’s mission to be what Fayroian calls the “Statue of Liberty of great boarding schools.” It was a noble cause — educating the have-nots, who could hardly pay any tuition, instead of the scions of moneyed Northeasterners — but perhaps not the best business model. In the late 1800s and well into the 1900s, those scions were enrolling at more traditional prep schools, becoming generous donors to their alma maters.

Today, tuition is set by determining how much NMH actually pays to educate students, and then adjusting that figure to the

market — what families can and will pay. Compare the 2016–17 tuition fee of $59,500 to the “true cost” per student: between $74,000 and $75,000. That’s what was spent to staff the school’s smaller, longer classes and extensive academic- and social-support systems with highly skilled adults; keep up with rapidly evolving technology; and maintain and build facilities. All that is what the boarding-school market and NMH’s mission demand. “Often, people don’t realize how expensive education is because they’re surrounded, in their communities, by a public education system that seems free, even though roughly 50 percent of local taxes in most communities goes to local schools,” Fuller points out.

HOW MUCH FINANCIAL AID DOES NMH GIVE OUT?

It sounds like a lot: more than $9.6 million in 2016–17, which includes grants for 160 students as well as tuition remission for students who are children of NMH employees. The grants range from 10 percent of the full fee to 100 percent. Trustees and administrators wish those numbers were higher, but recognize that “it’s a balancing point,” says Josie Hart ’74, former vice chair of the board of trustees. “In our desired mix of students, some are capable of paying full tuition and many are not.”

For decades, even into the 1990s, NMH was giving out more financial aid awards than it could afford, valiantly trying to hang onto that “Statue of Liberty” tradition. It was easier to rationalize that practice in, say, 1985, when the cost of attending NMH was $6,000, roughly a tenth of what it is now. Today’s higher tuition

fees have led the school to adjust its strategy, offering larger grants to fewer students. What would it take to boost that number of grants? More dollars in the NMH Fund, the school’s main fundraising tool, would help. But “the only way to go beyond our current aid level — without bankrupting the school — is to build a bigger endowment,” says Justin Wai ’02, a current trustee and co-chair of the board's investment committee.

WHAT’S THE STATUS OF NMH’S ENDOWMENT?

Moody saw to it that Northfield and Mount Hermon each had an endowment by the 1890s.

Today, NMH’s endowment stands at $136 million. By comparison, Loomis Chaffee's endowment is $180 million, Berkshire School’s is $117 million, and Deerfield’s is $532 million.

Again, history provides context.

In the early years, NMH was slow to build its endowment because Moody lacked enthusiasm for the idea. And roughly a century later, when Northfield and Mount Hermon consolidated in 2005, school leaders decided to build new facilities on the now-single campus to accommodate the move.

They funded the construction of two dorms, an arts center, and an admission building with the endowment and long-term debt.

Then the stock market crashed in 2008. NMH lost a third of its endowment, which fell from $167 million to $113 million. The school immediately adopted a more conservative investment approach.

“We really had to protect what we had,” Fuller says. “It was the right fiduciary thing to do, but as a result, we never fully participated in the recovery market.”

2016–2017

$35.7 MILLION

Operating budget

$136 $49.1 MILLION

Endowment

MILLION

Expenditures (includes tuition remission, capital budget, debt payment)

$40 MILLION Revenue (tuition and auxiliary programs)

$9.4 MILLION

Revenue subsidy (NMH Fund and endowment)

$74,762 $59,500 $40,500 $9.6

Expenditures per student

Tuition for boarders

Tuition for day students

MILLION

Financial aid provided (including tuition remission for employee children)

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A BRIEF FINANCIAL HISTORY 1879: EVANGELIST D.L. MOODY ENVISIONS NORTHFIELD AND MOUNT HERMON AS CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WHO CAN’T AFFORD TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE.

1930: UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF PRINCETON-EDUCATED ELLIOTT SPEER, NORTHFIELD AND MOUNT HERMON MODERNIZE, FOCUSING ON PREPARING STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE.

WEALTHY CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPISTS WHO FLOCK TO HEAR MOODY PREACH ARE ALSO EAGER TO HELP HIM EXPAND HIS SCHOOLS.

1970S: NORTHFIELD AND MOUNT HERMON MERGE INTO ONE COED INSTITUTION AND INVEST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SHUTTLING STUDENTS BETWEEN THE TWO CAMPUSES FOR 35 YEARS.

2005: THE TWO CAMPUSES CONSOLIDATE, SAVING MONEY IN THE LONG TERM. BUT THE SCHOOL GOES INTO DEBT TO BUILD TWO NEW DORMS AND A NEW ARTS CENTER TO ACCOMMODATE THE MOVE.

2008: WHEN THE STOCK MARKET CRASHES, NMH LOSES A THIRD OF ITS ENDOWMENT.

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NMH Magazine

Today, Fayroian characterizes NMH’s investments as “balanced” and “cautious.” He says, “We’re a little less cautious today than we were during the recession, but we’re still cautious. We have to be.”

If the size of NMH’s endowment determines how much financial aid the school can offer, then one of its challenges is also one of its biggest sources of pride: its tradition of being an “opportunity school” — of educating people who aren’t all wealthy. NMH, like all private schools, straddles a gap between its greatest educational vision and what it can afford to do. And although NMH has a stalwart group of alumni today who are able to support the school in extraordinary ways, the school’s history means that there are simply fewer of them.

DIDN’T THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE TWO CAMPUSES SAVE MONEY? Yes and no. Yes, because the school was on a course that was unsustainable. “Had that

two-campus model continued, NMH could very well be out of business today,” says Alvord. “It was a hard emotional decision to make, but it was a matter of survival. Look at how the school has evolved. The flexibility we have today is drastically different.”

And no, because to make the consolidation work, the school took on debt to build several new buildings. NMH is also still paying to maintain faculty housing it owns on the edges of the Northfield campus, and to operate the East Northfield Water Company, which it has been trying to sell for more than a decade.

“Even though the consolidation was the right financial thing to do over the long term, the shortterm benefits have been limited,” Wai says.

Before, during, and after the consolidation, school leaders have pointed out that the decision wasn’t driven only by financial need, but also by the educational vision that NMH aspired to.

“Going to one campus allowed us to redefine ourselves,” Hart says. At half the size, and in one unified community instead of two, “we can take better care of students.”

NOW WHAT?

Today, the school is balancing cautious optimism with full speed ahead, say NMH trustees and administrators. “We’re constantly trying to find ways to do more for students — it’s in our fabric, our history — but we also need to do it responsibly,” Alvord says. “That’s the tension that surrounds us. But it’s absolutely where we want to be.”

Growing the endowment and the NMH Fund is job No. 1. That will mean more relief for tuition, financial aid, and operating expenses.

On one hand, that goal doesn’t make NMH unusual. Hart says, “The challenges we face about financial stability and the sustainability of the school are the same ones that all independent boarding schools are facing.”

On the other hand, NMH’s strategic plan, student-centered programming and coursework, and facilities — including a new science and math center that’s in the works — have helped the school develop “a real sense of entrepreneurialism that feels special and unique,” Fuller says. That’s what he and his fellow trustees want to build on. “We have our own particular history and challenges, and we’ve accomplished so much with a comparatively lean machine. I’m excited about our future. I think our potential to serve students is going to be unparalleled.” [NMH]

2017: NMH IS PREPARING TO RAISE $75 MILLION FOR ITS REBOUNDING ENDOWMENT AND BUILD A NEW STATEOF-THE-ART SCIENCE AND MATH CENTER.

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ALUMNI HALL

The phone rings half a dozen times before dropping into voice mail; A’Dorian Murray-Thomas isn’t picking up. Twenty minutes later, she’s on the line, apologizing for the delay: “A young girl came into my office needing something and I had to help her out,” she explains.

It makes total sense. A native of Newark, New Jersey, MurrayThomas is the founder of SHE Wins, Inc., an organization that serves 10- to 15-year-old girls in Newark who have been affected by violence within their families. Her day job is in the Newark Public Schools’ Office of Student Support; after-hours, however, she can be found surrounded by girls who are seeking social, emotional, or academic guidance, often because of the loss of a close family member.

Murray-Thomas knows how jarring that experience can be; her own father was murdered when she was just 7 years old. She survived because of her relationship with her mother, a public-school special-education teacher and social worker who “instilled strong values and taught me through words and actions to push through whatever challenges came my way,” Murray-Thomas says. “I saw her in the trenches, believing in people when they didn’t believe in themselves.” Years later, as a young adult, Murray-Thomas realized she could aid other girls in the same way. She launched SHE Wins in 2014 — when she was a junior at Swarthmore College — with a

NMH Magazine

PHOTO: WINNIE AU

The Power of SHE A’Dorian Murray-Thomas ’12 gives girls a boost.

B Y LOR I FER G USO N

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Murray-Thomas with members of SHE Wins: “I want them to learn to advocate for solutions instead of being overwhelmed by the problems.”

focus on leadership, community service, and social and emotional development.

Since then, Murray-Thomas has connected with hundreds of girls through after-school and summer programs, workshops, and this year’s inaugural “EmpowerHer: SHE Wins Girls Summit,” which was held in Newark last May. With the help of two regular volunteers and a handful of summer interns, Murray-Thomas offers field trips and community service projects that encourage the girls to invest in themselves and their community. In 2015, Murray-Thomas escorted a group from SHE Wins to Washington, D.C., to lobby for the Girls Count Act, and she regularly takes SHE Wins members to serve meals at shelters or to read to elementary school students to promote early childhood literacy.

Since the program’s early days, counselors, teachers, and community members have referred girls to Murray-Thomas. “In those cases, I sit down with the family, discuss their circumstances and needs, and then get the girls enrolled in the program,” says Murray-Thomas.

Soon, however, other girls, who didn’t share the story of violence, were approaching Murray-Thomas directly. She welcomes them all.

“We’re not in the business of turning anyone away,” she says.

As SHE Wins expands, MurrayThomas hopes to hire a part-time staff, but for now she works alongside her volunteers, dividing her

time between SHE Wins and her public-school job. “Being immersed in educational administration is helpful,” she says. “I’m able to best support the kids when I stay on top of the challenges they are facing day to day.”

Word of Murray-Thomas’s program has spread. She was honored last summer in the BET network’s “Black Girls Rock” event, and in 2016, she was chosen as one of Glamour magazine’s “College Women of the Year.” She also was recognized as a 2016 White House “Champion of Change,” and met with former presidential senior advisor Valerie Jarrett ’74 in Washington, D.C. Murray-Thomas is determined to leverage this awareness of SHE Wins into alliances with other groups seeking to effect change for young girls in Newark. She has already collaborated with Rutgers University’s law school, which provided space for SHE Wins summer programs; and with Wells Fargo, which offers financial-literacy workshops to SHE Wins members and also helped sponsor the EmpowerHer conference.

“It’s important that we find community partners who can offer support where we need it,” says Murray-Thomas. “In a city like Newark, which has many challenges, you’re constantly being told ‘your city needs saving.’ My goal is to empower young people to save themselves. I want the girls to see how they can be the change that makes their city better, stronger, safer, healthier. I want them to learn how to advocate for solutions instead of being overwhelmed by the problems.”

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For details: nmhschool.org/plannedgiving Jeff Leyden ’80, P’14 Director of Capital and Planned Giving 413-498-3299 · jleyden@nmhschool.org Sue Clough P’06, ’08 Senior Associate Director of Planned Giving 413-498-3084 · sclough@nmhschool.org FA L L 2 0 1 7

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A LUMNI H A L L

Jonas Clark on the Tuckerman & Co. factory floor in Fall River, Massachusetts.

JOINING THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Getting Dressed, Pesticide-free Jonas Clark ’00 likes a good shirt. But a few years ago, he was having trouble finding high-quality, sustainably made clothing he could wear to work.

His solution, with his wife, Amanda Rinderle, was to start an online clothing business, Tuckerman & Co., featuring dress shirts made from 100 percent organic cotton.

It was the summer of 2013, right before Clark and Rinderle started business school at Yale, when they came across a shocking statistic: cotton occupies only 2.5 percent of the world’s total crop land, but conventionally grown cotton uses 11 percent of insecticides and 24 percent of pesticides worldwide. When these

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NMH Magazine

toxic chemicals leak from farmland into water sources, they contaminate drinking water and harm people and aquatic life.

At Yale, the couple spent close to a year planning.

They launched Tuckerman & Co., named after one of their favorite hiking trails in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in 2014, calling it a “Patagonia for the office.” “If you couldn’t wear rock-climbing gear into the office, it would be nice to have options you felt good about,” Clark says.

Each organic cotton Tuckerman & Co. shirt, he says, saves nearly a pound of pesticides from being used.

Clark didn’t grow up entrepreneurial. As a day student

at NMH, he played baseball and was drawn to the study of world religions — he even went to Harvard Divinity School after finishing his undergraduate degree. When he was in his mid-20s and working as a resident dean of freshmen at Harvard, he started helping his dad with a bamboo fly-rod business and realized he had a talent for entrepreneurial problem-solving. He and Rinderle headed to Yale with the specific goal of starting a company that would have a significant social impact.

These days, while Rinderle manages the day-to-day operations of Tuckerman & Co. in Fall River, Massachusetts, Clark spends much of his time helping “bright young founders tackle big problems,” both at Brown University, where he was brought in to help develop the new Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, and at Quarterdeck Digital, a software development company he co-founded, where he passes along his hard-earned knowledge about digital business strategy. Joking that it’s the “grown-up version of playing with Legos,” Clark says he likes building things — companies, products, software — and being able to stand back and see tangible progress.

— Tara Jackson

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‘NMH Gets Into Your DNA’ A standard-bearer steps down from Alumni Council.

As a student at Northfield Mount Hermon 40 years ago, Caroline Niederman ’78 was a self-described jock who played a varsity sport every season and was captain of “Stiller’s Killers,” the nickname for Coach Nancy Stiller’s powerhouse girls’ basketball team.

Niederman championed that team approach while she served as president of the NMH Alumni Council for six years, and says she’ll continue to do so even after having stepped down from that position earlier this year.

As council president, Niederman was also a member of the NMH Board of Trustees, and worked to boost collaboration between the two groups. Although it was time to move on from the Alumni Council presidency — two three-year terms is the maximum — Niederman was asked to remain on the board of trustees. She anticipates a role in strengthening team bonds within the 29-member board, between its

committees, and with the Alumni Council, faculty, and staff.

“We wanted to be accountable and reliable for the school,” Niederman says of her time leading the Alumni Council. She worked with the council’s executive committee to empower council members to help the school in meaningful ways, such as conducting 78 prospective student interviews for the admission office last year.

Niederman also raised Alumni Council giving to 100 percent participation, says Chief Advancement Officer Allyson Goodwin ’83, P’12, ’14. “Carrie digs in and makes sure she leaves something better than she found it. She’s a standard-bearer.”

Niederman is a veterinarian who has operated a mobile equine dentistry practice in Texas for 20 years, but before coming to NMH, she wasn’t academically focused — “not college material,” according to the public school she attended. At

Caroline Niederman ’78

NMH, that changed. “Those were the years that made a difference — college was simply a continuation of what started at NMH. It gets into your DNA pretty quickly,” she says.

Niederman’s successor as Alumni Council president, Molly Goggins Talbot ’93, P’21, has volunteered on behalf of NMH since her graduation and is a passionate advocate for the school. “Molly is terrific, and she’s got a great team. I look forward to seeing what they do next,” says Niederman.

NEW BOARD OF TRUSTEES + ALUMNI COUNCIL MEMBERS 1 Alison S. Elliott ’71 Current city: Menlo Park, Calif.

Profession: Retired, technology marketing Education: Vassar College, Stanford Graduate School of Business

2 Audrey G. Kubie ’68, P’94, ’97 Current city: New York, N.Y. Profession: Retired Education: Syracuse University (B.A., M.P.A.), New York University

3 Molly Goggins Talbot ’93, P’21 President Current city: Brooklyn, N.Y. Profession: Teacher Education: Trinity College (Conn.)

4 Kate Hayes ’06 Vice President Current city: New York, N.Y. Profession: Director, Echoing Green Education: Northeastern University

5 Tanya Luthi ’96 Nominating Co-chair Current city: Jersey City, N.J. Profession: Structural engineer Education: Princeton University, University of Texas at Austin

6 Andrew Ness ’04 Strategic Advisory Co-chair Current city: New York, N.Y. Profession: Management consultant, aerospace industry Education: Columbia University, Duke University Fuqua School of Business

7 Nicole Dancel ’09 Young Alumni Chair Current city: Los Angeles, Calif.

Profession: Entertainment marketing and events specialist Education: Skidmore College

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A LUMNI H A L L

’17 REUNION

PEACE, LOVE, AND GENEROSITY Members of the Class of ’67 showed their sense of community and service last June, with a 50th reunion class gift of $2,819,712. They also raised more than $250,000 for NMH to purchase “Northfield House” (top), a faculty home at 67 Mount Hermon Road, currently occupied by English teacher Meg Donnelly and retired Outdoor Program director Glenn Minshall, parents of Mac ’18 and Robbie ’96.

REUNION INDEX

$5,199,866 Total dollars given by reunion classes

1972 The class with the largest NMH Fund gift:

$120,515 182 Reunion volunteers

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A LUM N I H A L L

ALUMNI AWARDS

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD Patricia Alice Watson Bartlett ’67

LAMPLIGHTER AWARD Dorothy Krakower Susser ’56

LAMPLIGHTER AWARD Alan Burnett ’62

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD J. Lucinda Kidder ’62

COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD A’Dorian Murray-Thomas ’12

WILLIAM H. MORROW AWARD Cecile DeLa Cruz P’16

YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD Elizabeth S. Donald ’07

ALUMNI CITATIONS Roland W. Coates ’47 Joyce Judith Moore Arthur ’57 Lloyd E. Mitchell ’57 Richard C. Linthicum ’62 Donna Eaton Mahoney ’67 William F. Melton ’67

JOSIE RIGBY SPIRIT AWARD

BRING ME MY ARROWS Former trustees Betsy Compton ’72 and Bill Shea ’72 established the Thousand Arrows Challenge in celebration of their 45th reunion and the school song “Jerusalem.” They pledged to donate $100,000 to NMH if at least 1,000 alumni made a gift to the NMH Fund by the end of reunion weekend. Their aim was true: 1,233 members of the reunion classes participated in the challenge.

Kit Gattis ’87

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CLASS NOTES

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2017–18 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

ask us. (I just say, “I’m good!”) Names of 120 classmates are still on the combined NMH ’44 list. • I’m “flying solo,” like most of the rest of us, in a pleasant ground-floor apartment on Bainbridge Island. “B.I.” is both an island and a community — 30 minutes by ferry across Puget Sound from Seattle, here on the Left Coast. The remaining members of my generation in our family are on the Right Coast (on Casco Bay in Maine). Three of my four middle-aged children and their families are here in the Northwest. • Let’s “return now to the days of yesteryear”…

Here we are in our senior year in the middle of World War II. Hermonites trudge through the winter cold, five miles over and five miles back, across the icy “Connecticut so grand,” just to dance for an hour to the Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey band on 78 rpm records at Northfield. Or to stroll as slowly as we can from Wheaton to Center Gould to Merrill Keep, holding hands to keep warm. Dating Northfield/Mount Hermon couples cheer the champion Hermon footballers, team captain and class president, Pete Leyden, along with Ken Kolkebeck and Charlie Young — all starring on the greatest gridiron team in Hermon history. Undefeated, untied, and, only once by Williston, scored upon. • Christmas Vespers 1943: the “Sing We Noel” processional into the Hermon chapel. Northfield choristers include Persis MacLean, June Baker, Class of ’44 President Nancy Bartram, Jean Domin Knapp, Shirley Gray, Dotsie Erskine, Bev Grove, and Mary Jo Hatch. • May 1944, on the patio at the Chateau: Carolyn Coleman and I are together for the 1944 Senior Prom. Dimpie Reynolds and Bob Davidson are, as they say, already an item.

Likewise Mary Lighthall and Bill Compton.

The Hermon Knights, led by Bill Welliver, are serenading us with a fond farewell.

President — Molly Goggins Talbot ’93, P’21 Vice President — Kate Hayes ’06 Secretary — Wendy Alderman Cohen ’67

Northfield Arlene Finch Reynolds arlenerey@aol.com

Northfield Elizabeth Jane (B.J.) Smith Johnson robert.johnson53@comcast.net Lois Borden Hord passed away on 6/12/17 after a brief illness. Lois loved her Northfield years, especially choir. She obtained her B.A. and an R.N. at McMaster University, in Ontario, Canada, where she met her husband, Harris.

They were engaged before he went to serve overseas in World War II. In 1951, the family moved to Honduras. Lois started the first Brownie and Girl Scout troops in Honduras, taught nursing, and wrote a booklet, El Nino Sano, to promote breastfeeding and the use of fresh local produce for improved nutrition for disadvantaged children. After 20 years in Honduras, Lois and Harris moved to the seaside town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. There she continued with choir, nursing, and volunteer work with groups promoting cultural events.

She was a founder of Meals on Wheels and Charlotte County Hospice. Loiswas the beloved mother of four daughters, including Charlotte Valliere Hord ’67 and Marjory Hord Mendez ’69.

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Northfield Dorcas Platt Abell sabell3@nycap.rr.com Louise Pfuhl Darby has been having heart problems — vertigo and dizziness — and is now at an assisted living residence. Write to me if you’d like Louise’s contact information. • I (Dorcas Platt Abell) am plugging along (almost 93) and had a lovely trip to Kennebunkport, Maine, to visit my daughter and her grandkids. I stayed at Harbor Inn, a great bed-and-breakfast, now owned and run by my granddaughter, Lisa, and

A L U M N I C O U N C I L

her husband, Bill Dries. Bill made me breakfast from his fresh eggs from their hens at Triple L Farm and sausage from his pigs. I highly recommend the place.

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Mount Hermon Carleton Finch zeke137@aol.com

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Northfield Cora Lee Gethman Gibbs coraleegibbs@aol.com

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Mount Hermon Loren Bullock mlbullock9@gmail.com I remember several of us walking over to Northfield on Saturdays in the fall, kicking leaves on Gill Road on our way to Parlor Dates at the Seminary. Sometimes, Mr. L’Hommedieu would pick up boys in his convertible, but I was never so lucky. We’d walk around campus holding hands with our dates, dance to Glenn Miller in Gould Hall, and then walk the five miles back to Mount Hermon. A few years later, I married my Northfield girl, Polly Kidder. Wonderful years.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Charlton R. Price charltonrp@gmail.com From Charlie: It’s almost three-quarters of a century since we left the “banks of the Connecticut so grand.” “How are you?” people

Advancement Committee chair — Brendan Mysliwiec ’04 Awards Committee chair — Thomas Baxter ’59 Communications Committee chair — Camille Kubie ’94 Diversity Committee co-chair — Courtney Fields ’06 Diversity Committee co-chair — Tracy Korman ’81 Nominating Committee co-chair — Carolyn “Ty” Fox ’59 Nominating Committee co-chair — Tanya Luthi ’96 Reunion Advisory Committee chair — Stephen Green ’87 Strategic Advisory Committee co-chair — Andrew Ness ’04 Strategic Advisory Committee co-chair — Stuart Paap ’93 Young Alumni Committee chair — Nicole Dancel ’09 Ex Officio staff liaison — Rennie Randrup Washburn P’12, ’13

ROPEPULL: THE CLASS OF ’69 STAR TS TO SWIM. PHO TO COUR TESY OF NMH ARCHIVE

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Mount Hermon Pete Devenis ingadevenis@aol.com On the drive to Innisbrook, Fla., we stopped at Bluffton, S.C., to have dinner with Cal Swan and Eugene Dix (with his wife, Ann). Cal still enjoys gardening and golf. Gene played on hockey and lacrosse teams at Mount Hermon and started lacrosse at Middlebury College with six other Mount Hermon graduates. • Bob Dorr wrote, “I was not in the Gateway because I left at midterm to join the Navy, preferring the Navy over being drafted into the Army. I retired from IBM

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in 1991, having served 35 years as customer engineer.” Bob and his wife, Dot, have two children and four grandchildren. • Bob Hamilton, who was my roommate during our junior year, was a teacher in Newton, Conn. He attended Yale Divinity School and preached many sermons at various locations. • Since my last notes, eight more class members have died. The class list is reduced to 35 from the 138 who were listed in the Gateway. There are six class members who are alive who attended Mount Hermon for three years: Tony Arrott, Bob Buker, Ed Golden, Bob Hamilton, Colin Selley, and Dick Towne.

• Jack Marsland passed away in Spicewood, Texas, on 2/8/16. Jack graduated from Wesleyan University and was an Army veteran. He was a volunteer for the Algonquin Area Library for many years and an early president and coach of Palatine Celtic Soccer Club. • Charles Roveto passed away in Merced, Calif., on 8/31/16.

He graduated from West Chester University (Penn.) in 1949 with a teaching degree, and received his master’s from Fresno State in 1960.

He was a teacher and later superintendent of the McSwain School District in Merced. At Mount Hermon and in college, he played varsity football and golf. Charles was past president of Merced Golf and Country Club, Rotary, and For decades, Roland “Roly” Coates ’47 California Teachers Association. • Ernie Groth has returned to campus for Sacred passed away on 11/30/16 in Killingworth, Concert to share his passion for music Conn. He graduated from Wesleyan College with audiences and because, he says, in 1949 with a B.A. in economics. Ernie joined “I enjoy singing with the kids. They’re family-owned Spring Brook Ice & Fuel Co. and beautiful people.” Although the drive to Service, selling ice in Hartford, Bridgeport, NMH from his home in Peterborough, and Waterbury. He served as chairman of the New Hampshire, and the demanding board of the National Ice Association, and was rehearsals can be taxing, the 89-yearpresident of both Rotary International and old keeps coming back for the joy and New Britain Fuel Oil Dealers Association. Ernie camaraderie of the event. “Who can bought a summer camp in Berman, Maine, resist the glorious sounds … the spirit, which he enjoyed with his wife, children, and the togetherness,” he wrote in a poem many other relatives. Ernie was a member of about Sacred Concert. the National Ski Patrol and past patroller for 32 years at Connecticut’s Stonington Mountain.

Coates sang as a child — he was once • John Dayton passed away on 12/11/16 at a boy soloist at Trinity Church in Boston Riverside-Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester, — and joined every possible vocal group Va. He was living with his wife, Julianne, in at Mount Hermon. He continued to sing Hallieford, Va., at the time. • Leland Simons in college and while raising five children passed away on 1/7/17 in Glen Allen, Va. He was and running a management consulting a World War II Navy veteran. After a career in business. Last spring, he was awarded the aviation industry, Leland retired to Sparta, an Alumni Citation at his 70th reunion Va., where he was an active member of the for his volunteer service and his particiUnited Methodist Church. Son Ward wrote of pation in Sacred Concert year after year. his father, “In addition to me, my brother Peter, Choral Director Sheila Heffernon says, and sister Ann, the three loves of his life were “In the last 30 years, many members his Mount Hermon experience, joining the of Concert Choir have been blessed Navy, and being married to my mom, Sharon, for through singing with Roly. They have 63 years, before her passing in June 2016.” Ward listened to his stories, heard his corny sent me a large Mount Hermon velvet banner jokes, seen his affection for his fellow that Leland had kept all these years. • Paul choir members, and learned that one can sing for a lifetime, with joy.” Canada passed away on 2/4/17 in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. At Mount Hermon, he was voted

— Tara Jackson

Singer, Storyteller, Corny-Joke Master

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third as Class Socialite. Paul was a graduate of Dartmouth College and served in the Navy during World War II and in Korea. He retired after 23 years as Navy Commander. Paul worked in sales at IBM, started three companies, and retired as vice president of a management consulting firm. He attended many Mount Hermon reunions and entertained us with stories from his Navy days. He is survived by his four children and seven grandchildren. • J. Parker Bogue passed away on 2/15/17 in Killeen, Texas. Parker earned his Ph.D. in U.S. history at University of Maryland. He taught American history at Odessa College in Texas, Pratt Junior College in Kansas (where he was also dean of students), and at Central Texas College, where he was professor emeritus.

He was a member of First United Methodist Church, active in many aspects of church life. • Paul Carver passed away on 4/30/17 at Hartford Hospital. He had been in an assisted living home in Farmington after a fall at his house in West Hartford. After earning his bachelor’s in civil engineering at Cornell University, Paul served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He returned to Cornell after the war to earn his M.S. in sanitary engineering and hydraulics. He married Phyllis in 1958 and had four children. A good friend, Paul and I worked together on various civil-engineering projects spanning a term of 50 years at the Maguire firm, from which we both retired as vice presidents.

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Northfield Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Meredith Cushman Ransohoff mransohoff@aol.com • Anne Hardman Allen ahafma@yahoo.com From Meredith: Barbara Taggart Kent has been living in a retirement home in Winchester, Mass., for 11 years. She has seven children and nine grandchildren. Her wonderful husband died 11 years ago, just after they had sold their family home and made the arrangements to move into the retirement home. A daughter lives nearby. • Josephine Taylor Roberts and her husband now live in Alexandria, Va., near their daughter, Elizabeth Salgado, and her husband and three children (two boys, 11 and 9, and a girl, 6). They moved to Alexandria from Charlottesville, where they had lived for 47 years. Josephine’s husband worked for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville. They lived in California before moving to Virginia. Josephine’s father had driven their family to California immediately after our graduation! She taught school there

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and met her husband, who earned his Ph.D. in astronomy at Berkeley. She hasn’t been teaching recently, but is doing volunteer work.

Over the years, she has kept in touch with our classmate Dotty Kerr Jessup. • From Anne: Joan Colt Hooper, who lived in Rhode Island during our Northfield days, now lives in Marblehead, Mass, where she has lived in the same house for 52 years. Her husband died, but she has three children who live nearby. Joan, a member of the Society of Marine Artists and numerous other art organizations, has worked in oil, watercolor, and other mediums, winning many prizes for her work. Her enthusiasm for her art is so infectious, I could understand why her book club members decided they wanted to learn to draw, and so became her art class! You can view her artwork at jhooperart.com.

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Mount Hermon Charles A. Kennedy chask@myfairpoint.net (603) 223-0731 Our 70th reunion was celebrated somewhat sedately when compared with the young alums, who had a loud party at Overtoun on Saturday evening. Leon Carapetyan and wife Shelly, Roly Coates and wife Liz, Ev Wright and daughter Judith and her husband Larry, and yours truly had a great time around the table in Alumni (West) Hall for meals and during visits to various interesting programs presented by alumni.

• Roly Coates received an Alumni Award during the Convocation on Saturday in recognition of his long years of participation in the Sacred Concert Alumni Choir. Not surprisingly, he composed a poem for the occasion, “Group Singing”: Over the years I have thought/This is my last year/The drive is long and hard/The rehearsals demanding and long/An exhausting sing for one/As old as I/But who can resist the glorious sounds/From students, alumni, and orchestra/The spirit, the togetherness/But last year was my last year/What are we singing next year? • Tom Hurlburt heard of the passing of his roommate, Dwight Marsh, last November.

Tom and Dwight continued as roommates at Yale after graduation, so they shared many memories. Tom also gave me the background on the NMH Magazine’s spring 2013 cover of an Afghan student. Tom’s cousin was one of the student’s sponsors. • Shortly after reunion, Brad Bond sent me an email with notes on his roommates (including me), Jack Ridgeway ’48, and Ted Jenifer ’48. Brad swears he had nothing to do with the painting of Senior Rock, so the mystery remains. • At Convocation, we remembered 31 members of our class who have passed away in the past five years. This leaves 78 of us alive and kicking, so keep me posted on your activities and share with classmates.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Mount Hermon Jim Hanchett jch46@cornell.edu • David Durham dedur@aol.com From Jim: Bev and Paul Jaques, and perennials Paul Rikert and Roly Coates ’47, sang with the Alumni Choir at the Sacred Concert this year.

Paul says he was “glad to see that the Northfield campus will finally get used for educational purposes. Folks on campus seemed very pleased after returning from Sacred Concert, where we had about 13 hours of rehearsals before the concert. Bev and I had three concerts the following weekend with the Pemigewasset Choral Society in New Hampshire. It’s a habit that I acquired at Mount Hermon and Bev at Mount Holyoke.” • Don Mayhew has “been better,” he observed, but went on to add “a little stronger.” He recalled his operation from “a couple of years back,” when he “bounced around hospitals until we got it washed.” He continues his computer repair hobby of 30 years. • Word of the passing of Leon “Buster” Farwell came from his best lady, Sheila Tukey, a few days after Valentine’s Day. He had been in physical rehab for years, mostly in longterm care at Maine Veterans Home in Augusta after retiring from South Portland (Conn.)

Youth Center, where he worked with troubled youths. After graduating from the Ohio State University, he spent four years as an air traffic controller in Germany. If you check out our 1949 Gateway yearbook, you’ll see he left his mark as Best Looking (third behind Whitey Heist and George Byers), Class Operator, Class Lover (third after Bob Bahrenburg and Ron Murray), and Chief Lounger (second to Don Mayhew). A Gateway contributor was moved to offer, next to Buster’s photo, “Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed.” Buster’s loyalty to the BoSox remained with him, although he was impressed with the Yankees’ Derek Jeter, about whom another Hermonite, Buster Olney ’82, wrote for the New York Times and covered Jeter Night at Yankee Stadium for ESPN in May. • Hugh Barbour wrote, “Eva and I aren’t getting any younger, that’s for sure. But we are both blessed with relatively good health and have each other.

I ran into my doctor and he gave me good news: Next year I get my last colonoscopy. After age 88, they stop that unpleasant procedure. I won’t miss it. We sold our publishing business 20 years ago and have been involved in real estate

since. We love it. Baby boomers are pouring into Florida looking for housing. Our daughter is a real estate broker and son a general contractor — a great team. One of my most meaningful blessings was a great four-year experience at Mount Hermon. Many happy memories and a great education.” • Peg and George Byers have been married 66 years. “We have been blessed in many ways and grateful that we were together to cope with the loss of our son, Don ’72, last June. We are both cancer survivors, but in general our health has been pretty good. Have slowed down and, like people our age, we have the usual aches and pains. Just had an ankle replacement. Thankfully, we traveled in Europe and the U.S. while we were able. We stay busy with our families and spend many hours volunteering at our Methodist church.” • Fred Glotzer (Norwalk, Conn.) has been an accountant for 61 years. He fell and broke his neck in February, but returned home after nine weeks in hospital and rehab. By mid-May he was “slowly getting stronger.” During his three years on the Hermon hill, he played soccer and tennis, wrestled, and sang in the choir, glee club, and a cappella. This year, being a truly time-tested accountant, he “did not miss tax season.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Janet-Marie Fitzgerald Whitley janwhitley@aol.com Lois Seekamp Dole gardens and practices tai chi.

Her son, Andrew Dole ’84, will soon attain full professorship at Amherst College. He teaches in the religion department and is father to her only grandchildren, George (10) and Genevieve (7).

Andrew’s wife is co-pastor of First Churches in Northampton. • Jean Cook Glidden’s husband, Dick, has stage IV lung cancer (as of June).

Their three daughters are surrounding them with love and moral support. Jean plans a donation to NMH upon his passing, in remembrance of him and the spiritual learning she received at NMH that is helping her through this stressful time. Dick is also brother-in-law to Skip Cook. • Joan Bliss Wilson and husband Tom spent three days in Venice in April, flew to Dubrovnik, then boarded a luxury 27-passenger yacht for a seven-day cruise that took them along the Dalmatian coast. • Ruth Grant Rugh and her husband, John, turned 85 in February. She is still playing and teaching duplicate bridge to keep the cobwebs out. • Barbara “Bobby” Bolger Collett sustained fine fractures to two of her ribs while cleaning a bathtub. She says this seems the time of life for accidents. Total agreement, Bobby. I broke four toes slipping and falling on a wet floor. Her first great-grandson, Ryker, born 11/14/16, joins two great-granddaughters, Alaina and Olivia. Bobby says twin brother, David Bolger, is doing well. •

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Sadly, Bill Usher passed away on 3/28/17. We have also lost classmates Harriet Baldwin Bryan, Daniel Olsen, and Ann Worcester Walsh. • Harriet Baldwin Bryan passed away on 1/1/17 in Whitefish, Mont. After graduating from Wellesley, she taught school in Essex, Conn. She then married Kirk Bryan and moved to Cambridge, Mass. During Kirk’s postdoc in Sweden, their first child was born. Their second child was born upon their return to the States.

Harriet became active in the League of Women Voters, where a referendum for public housing was achieved. Later, she represented the League on the Princeton Community Housing Board.

She remained an active member for over 20 years. In 2009, in recognition of her work, Elm Court Extension was renamed Harriet Bryan House. In 2003, she and her husband moved to Stonebridge, a retirement community in Montgomery Township. In addition to her husband and two children, Harriet leaves two grandchildren. • Ann Worcester Walsh died in her sleep on 8/25/16 after living with multiple sclerosis for the past 10 years. After graduating from Northfield, she met her husband, Daniel Walsh, at University of New Hampshire. They married in 1951 and spent the next 30 years traveling around the U.S. and Europe. She is predeceased by her husband and is survived by daughter Susan, son David, and four grandsons.

• Daniel Olsen passed away in Winston-Salem, N.C., on 6/5/15. I was unable to locate an obituary for Daniel. • BettyJane “B.J.” Graves Porter’s year so far has been daunting. She was hospitalized for COPD and spent a month in a rehab center, followed by in-home therapy. This is an ongoing condition for B.J. She’s also had severe intestinal problems but, fortunately, no colon cancer. Her eldest son, Chip, retired from the Navy and has a private neurological practice.

Son Jeff always wanted to live in Alaska, so when his wife passed away a few years ago, he moved to Kotzebue near the Arctic Circle to be a math teacher. Son Eric retired from the Marine Corps and is currently a deputy sheriff in Lake Placid, Fla. • Diana Bond Holtshouser planned a Minneapolis trip to see her sister, Midge Bond Nagus ’51, in June. Sadly, a week before the trip, Midge passed away. Diana visited Midge two years ago in a nursing home.

Our condolences, Diana. I know the pain of losing a little sister. Diana hopes her son and family will take her on a “sentimental journey” to celebrate her 85th birthday to places she has lived: Deerfield, Greenfield, and Northfield. Son Bill went on a Nepal trek in the Himalayas. In honor of Diana and her sisters, he carried a picture of them all the way from Lukla to base camp and back. Diana lived in India prior to going to Northfield, and India is next to Nepal, as we know. She talked to Betsy Decherd Lane,

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who is widowed and lives in a senior facility in Middleboro, Vt. She told Diana she feels as if she’s in boarding school again. • Judith Meyers Shinn’s family decided it would be best if she not continue living in her home after falling down a flight of stairs last July and arriving at her grandson’s wedding somewhat black and blue.

She has since moved into a retirement home. • Constance Streeter Reilly attended a joint 60th birthday party for her daughter and her daughter’s husband. One of their sons and his wife traveled from Pittsburgh. A 90th birthday party for Constance’s husband is planned for Labor Day. Her other son, from Oregon, will be in attendance. Constance plays bridge with Jean Cook Glidden’s husband, Dick. They have lived in Homestead Village for 12 years. She will start a term on the Village’s board of directors this summer, and she is still playing golf. • Patricia Lawrence Schwartz still has fond memories of sailing and snorkeling last Thanksgiving. She’s had three hospital trips earlier this year for bouts of diverticulitis. Hope you are much better, Pat. • After graduating from Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) in 1955, Jim Lacey joined the Magnavox Co., Government & Industrial Division, where he worked as an engineer on U.S. Navy anti-submarine projects.

He then worked with RCA, Surface Communications Division, in Cambridge, Ohio, as an engineer working on military audio products. He also worked on the Lunar Lander Ground Test Console and at General Radio in Concord, Mass., as a senior quality engineer for incoming inspection. Jim has finally moved to Paris, Tenn., to be close to his younger son. He has two sons. • Roy Meeks expects to open his new “Doubletree Hotel by Hilton” in August.

He tore down his old hotel, the Hourtime Restaurant, and a water park called “Buccaneer Bay” to construct this new venture. He still mourns the passing of his wife in January 2016.

• Fred Monett spent the winter recovering from a total knee replacement. He still travels on business trips year-round, and went on a cruise in July with the John Hagee Ministries. Fred is also contemplating another trip to Israel in 2018. • Dan Hopkins and his wife still live full time in their RV. They wintered in Florida, taking a leisurely trip to Elephant Butte, N.M., with stops to visit grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They four-wheeled for a month, then summered in Buena Vista, Colo.

You have a great life, Dan. Hope you will continue to enjoy this for years to come. • Retired Major General William Usher, USAF, passed away in March in Arlington, Va. He leaves his wife, Frances; two sons, William III and John; and a grandson, Andrew. During his distinguished 31-year military career, he served in a broad range of Air Force, Joint Staff, and

command positions. He flew over 100 combat missions in the F-4C aircraft with the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing in Vietnam, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the Air Medal.

He had a successful career in business following his retirement from the military in 1985. He was a senior executive with the Lockheed Martin Corp. and chairman of the board and CEO of Core Software Technology. He graduated from Yale in 1954 and Harvard Business School in 1960. We are very proud of our outstanding classmate and those who served with him, and send condolences to his family. • Dick Whelan has spent many years lifting weights and biking 60 miles a week, basically abusing the body for 84 years, and his body took revenge in January.

The lumbar discs went flat, there was no cartilage in the right knee, and 10 percent cartilage in the left. Jet packs, cortisone shots, RFI procedures, and lots of pills have him going again. He’s up to 12 miles on the bike and made it to his trout club to terrify the rainbows.

Summer plans include Hilton Head and environs. While he hasn’t seen any guys from Mount Hermon, he plans to go to Conneaut, Ohio, to see Arnulf Esterer, who owns Markko Vineyard. Arnie and his late partner started the vineyard in 1968. To do this he had to give up a 17-year career as an industrial engineer. This venture was one of the first serious attempts by an Ohio winemaker to grow European Vinifera grapes. • Walter Hirsch took a fall walking his dog in February and spent some time in hospital and two weeks in rehab then back in hospital for an infection in his hand that went to the bone. Fortunately, his wife was a nurse and gives him the injections. He’s grateful for the support of his retirement community and their church. • Thank you to all who responded to the matching gift challenge earlier this year. We met the challenge! • The Whitley family had its share of problems this year. Gene took a bad fall on Easter Sunday and, four days later, I slipped on a wet floor and broke four toes. We are enjoying our seven great-grandchildren. Daniel, the eldest, turned 14 in May and moved from outlaw kart racing to Legend cars. He’s the youngest racer among adults, making a name for himself.

I am still in business as Whitley Farms with son number two. We grow and sell top-quality rye grass, red oat, and alfalfa hay. Understandably, I do none of the physical labor — just the leases, spread sheets, etc. I admit that writing this column is getting more difficult, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel, so not to worry. I just need more help from all of you for the “fodder.” Consider thinking about our 70th class reunion in 2020. I realize it’s a way off, but, at our age, plans take longer to formulate.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Pat McCormick Hoehing sylv.snail@bex.net 7125 San Benito Drive, Sylvania, OH 43560 • Frederick W. Miller fwcemiller@sbcglobal.net From Pat: Mary-Ann Efird Higgins met with her brother, Jack, during a summer trip to Norway.

Husband Al Higgins ’50 continues to deal with medical issues, but has settled into the memory unit of a retirement community in Orono, Maine. Mary-Ann has adapted to living alone in Winter Harbor and appreciates the help of kind neighbors. She keeps busy on the Town Budget Committee, as a board member of a nonprofit cancer resource center in Ellsworth, Maine, and on trips to visit Al. • Rae Pullen Alexakos celebrated a joyous yet sad occasion last November. Most of her family and many friends gathered in Puerto Rico for the dispersal of a portion of Leo’s ashes. A lovely memorial service was held at the church in which they were married. Leo’s final internment took place this spring at the Bourne National Cemetery in Massachusetts. Four graduations of grandchildren in May kept Rae busy as she proudly watched the ceremonies and enjoyed the family gatherings. Rae summers in Quechee, Vt., and returns to Sarasota, Fla. in the fall. • Adrienne “Jonni” Audette Feige and husband Norm traveled to Alaska for the high school graduation of their granddaughter, Sidney, who now attends Michigan Technological University, studying materials engineering. The event allowed Jonni to reconnect with family and friends. The Chickaloon area of Alaska is a favorite Feige destination, albeit far from southern Indiana. They enjoyed revisiting familiar places, including the Matanuska Glacier, near their son’s home. • Marilyn “Skip” Smith Noll shared, “Walter passed away peacefully with family around him on June 6. In addition to his internationally acclaimed accomplishments in his field of mathematics, and strong friendships with many of his colleagues, he was an example of kindness and goodness throughout his life.”

• Diana Bond Holtshower ’50 reported the death of her sister and our classmate, Marjorie “Midge” Bond Nagus. She had been in failing health for some time and was in a nursing home near her daughter in Minneapolis. Midge is survived by another sister, Barbara Bond Nutt ’47, a daughter, and two sons. • Sadly, Carol Fleckles White died on 5/21/17, surrounded by her family and caregivers. Carol married her husband of 63 years, Carter, in 1954, and in the following year received a degree from Smith College, where she was a member of the Smith College Chamber Singers. While raising her children in New York City, Carol volunteered

As she is remembered, Carol Fleckles White ’51 passed away in May 2017.

for the NY public school system, and the American Museum of Natural History. She and her husband later owned and operated Alliance Editions Inc., a silk-screen clothing company based in North Adams, Mass., until 1986. Carol was then a realtor for 15 years until retiring in 2011. A gifted and prolific craft artist, horticulturist, and chef, Carol produced hundreds of artworks over the course of her lifetime.

She is survived by her husband, her son, her two daughters, and four grandchildren. • Last February, I drove back to our former home in western New York with Susan Hoehing ’75. It was fun catching up with past friends and being a part of Sue’s reunion with her school friends from years ago. Herb and I are looking forward to a bus trip to Mackinac Island, Mich. After being treated to a luncheon at the historic Grand Hotel, I plan to sit in a rocker on that beautiful, expansive porch and wave royally to all! • I would love to hear from you. Since some of you may not have an email address, please send your news via snail mail. • From Fred: After 46 years of service as a judge in the District of Columbia, the Hon. Theodore Roosevelt (Ted) Newman Jr. “fully” retired last October. He had served six years on the Superior Court and 40 on the Court of Appeals, including the first eight as chief judge. Ted wrote, “I split my time now between St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C.” A one-year man at Hermon, Ted came from Tuskegee, Ala., played football, sang in the choir and glee club, and was a member of the debating and current events clubs. He earned his A.B. in 1955 from Brown University and his J.D. in 1958 from Harvard Law School. He served three years with the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate in France. He later served as a trustee at Brown University from 1978 to 1983 and a trustee emeritus from 1983 to the present. • Sydney Chapin of Hull, Mass., passed away on 9/2/14. At Hermon, he participated in soccer, basketball, and baseball.

His sister, Patricia Chapin Perez ’53, survives him, as do three sons, two daughters, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Sydney grew up in Massachusetts, served in the U.S.

Army in Korea, and taught science in public schools in Pine Plains, N.Y. Upon retirement, he moved to Baker, Fla., where he was active in the American Legion and the Herpetology Association. He returned to Massachusetts to spend his final years. He always enjoyed attending St. Nicholas United Methodist Church in Hull with his family. • John Hart of Hamden, Conn., died on 10/12/14. Born in Bridgeport, he was a one-year student at Mount Hermon, earned a letter in football, and played basketball and baseball. John later graduated from Amherst College in 1955. After graduating college, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea.

John was the general agent for 25 years at John Hancock Insurance Company, owned the successful Bailey Employment Agency, and worked until his retirement as a consultant at IMI in New Haven. He was a past president of the New Haven Country Club and of Easter Seals Goodwill Industries. Many say they “broke the mold” with John — he was compassionate, possessing a big personality and a great sense of humor. Most of all, he loved being at home with Patricia, his wife of 62 years. • John Nye Field of Barnstable, Mass., died on 1/26/17. He is survived by Maeve — his wife of 36 years, his children, grandchildren, and a great-grandson.

John earned varsity letters in football and skiing at Mount Hermon, was on the church membership committee, and served as a student deacon.

He earned a B.A. from Middlebury College, where he played football and ran track. After college, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy.

He spent a long career as a commercial banker in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, where he was president and CEO of Green Mountain Bank of Vermont. Upon retirement in 1998, he and Maeve moved to Cape Cod. John was a lifelong sailor, a past commodore of the Pettipaug Yacht Club in Essex, Conn., and a trustee and past commodore of the Hyannis Yacht Club in Massachusetts. An accomplished artist, John had a passion for painting through his college, professional, and retirement years.

Most recently, Cape Cod was his canvas and a sailboat often his subject. • Dorsey Holappa, widow of Harold Holappa, wrote, “As always, Hal’s spirits permeate our home. His daughter, Dr. Lynn Holappa, was the first Holappa to have a scientific paper published worldwide by Harvard. Harold would have been so proud.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Julie Taylor Clemens jtclemens@cs.com Steve Waters shares his impressions of our 65th reunion: “What are those elements of character and experience that bring us back to this campus time and time again? Twenty-nine members of our class returned for our reunion

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in June. The campus reception was friendly and efficient. A battalion of golf carts with recent graduate drivers were immediate and consistent in taking us wherever we wanted to go. This was a huge benefit for those of us no longer eager or well-conditioned to charge up and down the hill. Deidra Dain ’72 presented her film, Saving Place, Saving Grace, an inspiring account of how ecology meets theology at a monastery. What emerged for me was an example of sustainability, of particular interest when thinking about the sustainability of mankind and our planet. In our second morning session, four writers from the class of ’72 shared their experience of maintaining the writer’s discipline. Grandin (Camp Hall, as we remembered it) is now equipped with comfortable stacking chairs and electronic equipment for presentations. Our class shared a common room in Hayden for meetings and get-togethers. But for the class dinner, we were assigned space in the east wing of Alumni Hall — a welcome retreat from the din of the large dining space. It was here we enjoyed wonderful food complemented by many stories and experiences, old friendships rekindled and new ones formed. Sybil Benton Williamson chaired our class session at which Jean Munro Bedell and Mimi Brewster Hollister shared their extraordinary experiences and professional contributions in India and Africa. As a memorial, Sybil read the names of our departed classmates, followed by a moment of respectful silence. We also attended sessions in the chapel, full of too many loud voices, some cherished and familiar, but some difficult and unfamiliar hymns, a raucous alumni convocation, a largely unintelligible Sunday service, and a faulty sound system. Events were either not carefully planned or not carried out with the same degree of excellence and respect that building has always engendered. Our times in Rhodes and Bolger held opportunities to see some of the contributions our class has made to an improving physical plant — the admissions dean’s office, a practice room, the Hayden entry space — along with a chat with four members of the class of ’47. The weekend was lots of fun and very rewarding. It included numerous interactions with upper-class and recent students. The chance to spend moments with students gives real hope for the future and a sense the school continues to do a first-rate job of educating the new generation. Jane Waters (Steve’s wife), Russ Broad, and I ended our weekend with a drive around the Northfield campus, revisiting Sage Chapel. The doorway greeted us with a welcoming banner from NMH and a second one from Thomas Aquinas College, the new owner. Julia Bachinski Wiggin ’81 greeted us and introduced herself as the director of the Moody program to preserve and enhance the

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heritage of D.L. Moody. The college will develop its East Coast campus with a freshman class of 40 students beginning in fall 2018. Sage will be reconfigured as a Roman Catholic Church with masses. Hearing Julia, a feeling of excitement, renewal, and anticipation for a bright future was palpable.” • Steve ended his report with kudos to Mel Smith for his role in preserving our class of ’52 spirit through other reunions, mini reunions, and our news. Steve also thanks class scribe Julie Taylor Clemens for maintaining this column as a means of promoting class communication. Thank you, Steve. • When I, your scribe, could only spend three hours at reunion this year, it was important to have attending classmates ready to share some stories and happenings. Diana Armen Cowles was willing to also do this, so that was a great help. A few days after reunion, she spent an hour on the phone with me, recounting those stories with great delight.

Diana completed nine years as a trustee at the Concord Museum, which teaches local history to schoolchildren. She is active in the museum’s fundraising. • Carol Adsit’s estate book collection found its way to Thomas Aquinas College with the help of Carol’s friend, Gail Myers Pare ’64. This seems appropriate, since Aquinas is a “great books” college. • Shirley Bryant Mitchell visited the States from Manchester, England, spending two weeks in Maine with family and attending our 65th. Her life is immersed in music, which she plays, leads, and sings. • It was fun to see Sybil Benton Williamson’s photo of a mother bear and three cubs in Hanover, N.H. Sybil not only remains active as a museum docent, but she also spends time helping the NMH class of ’52 remain viable as our class president (though she would defer to anyone else anxious to take her place). • Spending her winters on the west coast of Florida and returning to Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in summer is Anne Scovel Fitch. • Jean Munroe Bedell has been a nurse in India for 35 years.

She and her husband (a physician) helped establish an orphanage for girls who were the daughters of prostitutes. Jean has also worked in other countries, including Mexico, Haiti, Belize, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, and spoke of her experiences during a class panel discussion at reunion. • Mimi Brewster Hollister also spoke at reunion, discussing her ministry outreach in various global communities. She decided to pursue the ministry at age 50. The daughter of missionaries, Mimi brings people together across the globe by pairing American churches with some in Zimbabwe. She stressed the need to be global citizens, with more humility and less “America first.” • Your scribe received word from Mary and Dave Hartman, who were unable to attend reunion, although they have been active at annual mini gatherings. Dave feels that

Alums like you frequently say, “I wish I could do more.”

You can.

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With that simple act, you can have an impact on NMH students for generations to come.

Call 413-498-3084 or go to nmhschool.org/plannedgiving

“given our consistent commitment, personally and financially, [and] for decades, we should be respected more” as the NMH class of ’52.

• Three friends from Lakefield, Conn., came together to Northfield as freshmen and lived in Revell. They had talked with an older Northfield student, and their parents felt this would be a good place for them. Who were they? Nancy Stuart Philippi, Faith Wagner Schacht, and Marcia Ottey Raushenbush! They were deep into old-home stories when I sat down at their table in the dining hall at reunion. • George Bissell and Stan Brown were in Cottage 2 during the first year at Mount Hermon, which George fondly remembers. • Bill Fivaz continues to be active in numismatics (coins), buying and selling collections. Of class mini reunions, he wrote, “The biggest difference between this (65th reunion) and our minis was the absence of several lunches and dinners for our group off campus, which were always fun and allowed us to mix more freely and tell true stories we had just made up. This and the now-in-the-past lobster extravaganzas were the highlights of the minis and the camaraderie was undeniable.” • Bill’s account is a big reason to come to the next mini,

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to be held in October 2018 (no mini in October this year due to our recent 65th). Details will be sent to you next year. Mel Smith needs someone to help him do the big job of arranging; he can no longer do this alone. Step up, classmates, and let Mel know you want to help (Melskee33@ gmail.com)! • Several classmates who had hoped to be at our 65th were Bruce Holran, Carol Kiger Allen, and Stape Roy. Classmates were disappointed at the low attendance, but June is the busiest time of the year for weddings, graduations, and travel. • NMH Magazine’s class notes section does restrict the news length, and if you are without computer access for the numerous online class notes, do write to your scribe (Julie Taylor Clemens, 7125 Bingham Lane, Apt. 307, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023) and a printed account will be mailed to you. ‘Til we meet again …

Fondly, Julie.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Will Lange will@willemlange.com • Abby “AJ” Nicholson Hodges ajhodges@comcast.net From Will: I hear from my old roommate, Stewart Crawford, at least once a week, usually with arcane but fascinating news about old automobiles. He and his wife, Nelva, are still in Southern California and showing no signs of moving. I think they’ve sold their condo in Panama. • Holly Goodhue VanLeuven is a Facebook friend. She and her good friend, Bert, are constantly posting photos of themselves from distant (and very desirable) places. • Aileen and Bob Chutter are still having problems with knees, replacement, and therapy. Aileen had a bad fall last year, and Bob didn’t “sugar” this year. (I’m still using the last jug of syrup he gave me a couple of years ago.) • Gus White is not only publishing at his usual pace and receiving prestigious awards; he’s now presenting an award that’s named after him! I don’t know how you top that. • I frequently run into Charley Phillips ’54 and Art Chickering ’44 at the gym.

They’re both regulars in the locker room, and Art’s still playing tennis — doubles, in deference to his age, which I reckon to be 91. I’m trying to talk both of them into joining me at the Pie Race this fall. • Ida and I have had our problems for the past year or so. She’s got a cancer they can’t treat properly until she gets stronger, and she’s recently grown even weaker. She’s been home with health care aides a couple of times, but I’m visiting her twice a day at the hospital or nursing home. Meantime, our otherwise quiet house has been invaded by a new rescue puppy from Texas: a long-handled spaniel named Kiki, who keeps me hopping. And in an almost absurd anomaly, I traveled to Boston this summer for the annual New England Emmy awards. Our

public television show, Windows to the Wild, has already won several.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dennis Kelly dskelly1935@gmail.com • Be Jay Froehlich Hill bhill24@juno.com • Dan Fricker dcfricker@videotron.ca From Dennis: We are saddened by the passing of our classmate, Peggy Einsel (5/21/16). Peggy was from Cleveland. While at Northfield, she lived in both Moore Cottage and Center Gould, and was a student officer. Peggy is survived by her sister, Betty Einsel Libby ’53. • Sadly, two guys who ran with me in my junior year on the Mount Hermon cross-country team have passed away: Bob McDade ’53 (3/17/16) and Brian “Bo” Olsen ’53 (12/23/16). As I recall, they were both good athletes and fun to run with. • Dave Jansky is one of our fundraisers and speaks with our classmates in his fundraising calls. He lives in Sunbury, Penn. • Chris “Kip” Broughton went to the University of Arizona. He has retired and moved to Mesa, Ariz., and does woodworking as a hobby. • Jim Fannin and his wife (Concord, Mass.,) specialize in the restoration of old cemeteries. He has been in the business for 29 years and loves it. He promises to return to our 65th reunion in two years. Jim went to Dartmouth and later earned his master’s from Columbia.

He was a hospital administrator, but gave it up to follow his restoration passion. • Wayne Friend went into the computer business as a programmer for Blue Cross in New York City. He currently lives in Monroe Township, N.J. • Dex Jones is in good health, but uses a hearing aid.

He lives in Logansport, Ind., and is a big Notre Dame football fan. • Debby Brown Boots lives in a nice independent living facility on Hilton Head, S.C. She has become an expert at the local flora and fauna. She’s also written a book: Cattail Cakes & Chickweed Snake: A Gourmet Wild Foods Cookbook. • Susie Craig Hastings also comes down to Hilton Head Island in the winter months from her home in Hanover, N.H., and rents a place near me. Susie’s oldest son, Jeff, was elected to the Skiing Hall of Fame for his ski-jumping skills in the Winter Olympics some years earlier. Susie swims frequently in Hanover and goes to the gym in Hilton Head.

• Ed Snyder lives in Tucson, Ariz., and would love to come east next winter to visit us in Hilton Head. Ed had a recent health scare and found himself with little or no energy, but has since recovered. Ed’s son, Zack, who lives in Pasadena, Calif., is a big-time Hollywood movie producer and recently gave Ed a brand-new Subaru Forrester SUV. • Susie’s old roommate, Cathy Olney Irzyk, also came down from her

home in Dunstable, Mass., to stay with Susie for a week and fell in love with Hilton Head.

I had them over to my place for cocktails and dinner, topped off with some homemade “adult” ice cream from one of Toni Browning Smiley’s recipes. • Gwen Judd Furmark was struck down by a severe case of encephalitis at the age of 41 in her home in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., leaving her paralyzed from the neck down and unable to speak. She now lives in Milford, N.H., which is only 30 miles from Cathy Olney Irzyk’s home, so Cathy visited Gwen in the spring. Gwen was very happy to see her, wanted to know everything about Northfield, and would love to hear from any of her Northfield classmates. If you’d like to write to Gwen, please contact me for her mailing address. • Curt Ormond of Colorado has been elected to his old high school’s Hall of Fame in Zanesville, Ohio, as well as receiving an Ohio Wesleyan Distinguished Alumni Athletic Award for his lifetime athletic skills. He was not only a great track-and-field athlete in college, but also a terrific swimmer, getting as far as the 1960 Olympic trials in the breast stroke. In Washington, D.C., Curt joined a water polo team that finished third in the 1968 Olympic trials, and joined the 1975 Olympic Sailing Team in a two-man sailboat called Flying Dutchman. He continued to win 25 out of 26 Colorado State Sailing Championships. At age 47, Curt started to compete in triathlons and has entered over 150 running events in Colorado. He currently holds the record for the over-75 age group in the Garden of the Gods running event. Curt has also spent a lifetime of volunteer work, raising $500,000 for his local YMCA, and has been a member of the local Rotary since 1973, serving as president in 1976. • I have been trying to help Fred Rice sell his 38-ft. motor yacht. I have put Fred in touch with a local yacht broker, and he and his lady friend, Teresa, came to Bay Head in June to scout out several marinas where he could keep his boat and be more convenient to prospective buyers. Fred was roommates with Bill Russell at Ohio Wesleyan College and has remained close friends ever since. Bill spent his career in the insurance industry in Hartford, Conn., and has retired to Arizona. He was a member of our informal “After Dinner Club” at Mount Hermon and promises to be back for our 65th reunion. • Bill Young had some serious medical issues not long ago, but they have stabilized and he is now up and playing golf again. He lives in Scituate, Mass., near Boston.

Bill was our varsity golfer at Mount Hermon and played throughout college at UMass. He set the nine-hole course record at the Northfield Golf Club under the coaching of Jack Baldwin, our beloved English teacher. Bill then took a Northfield girl out to dinner that night and kissed her, but he did not reveal her name. Don’t

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worry, I’ll get it out of him. • Stan Peck lives in Glen Rock, N.J., and spent much of his financial career as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. Wife Nancy’s sister lives in the adjoining town of Mantoloking. We strolled over to the Bay Head Yacht Club for a delicious lunch when they visited me in May. • Eileen Higginbottom Simon is downsizing from her house in Cambridge, Mass., to a condo. When she was at Northfield, her family lived in Manhattan, where her mother was a noted artist. One summer, Eileen’s mother painted a portrait of Toni Browning Smiley, who was staying with Eileen’s family at the time. Toni, her daughter, Sim, and her niece, Roxanne, toured Sicily in the spring, enjoyed a kite festival at a beach resort, and did some genealogy research with the help of some friendly local people. • Your loyal scribe is still practicing as a marine surveyor and delivering yachts. As you know, I have a rental house on Hilton Head Island and would love to have you visit. Phone or email me, and we’ll set a date for you to visit. • Thank you all so much for your generous contributions to the McVeigh Scholarship fund. The fund is now approaching $200,000. Let’s try to make it exceed that sum by our 65th reunion. Stay healthy, eat wisely, get plenty of exercise, and we’ll meet again a year from this coming June. That would be June 2019 — our 65th! Save the date!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Lisa Tuttle Edge etedge@aol.com • Don Freeman d.freeman4@verizon.net From Lisa: Lynn Graves Mitchell and husband Dave traveled through the Panama Canal on a three-mast sailboat and up the Pacific Ocean side of Costa Rica. They stopped at national parks, hiked in tropical jungles, and swam off tiny islands. While visiting Italy with friends in April, they discovered new aspects of Rome before boarding a small ship to sail down the coast, through the Messina Straits, and on to Malta. They also visited small villages, meeting many locals with their outgoing Sicilian guide. In Sicily, they hiked into lava caves and had lunch with a family in a small hill town, learning about refugees seeking escape from Syria in Italy and Malta. An art trip to Los Angeles allowed Lynn to fulfill a 56-year wish: to visit the Watts Towers, an amazing city block showing a unique art structure created over a 34-year period by Simon Rodia in the early and mid-20th century. Lynn’s trips to the East Coast are usually focused in Connecticut, where her brother, Charlie Graves ’56, lives with his wife of 57 years. Lynn and Dave also go to New York City and enjoy the musicals and museums. This summer, they will attend a weeklong series of

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operas in Santa Fe, N.M., where their daughters and grandsons reside. • Denise Shea Backus writes that her husband, Dick, died five years ago. She decided to stay put and has learned to live alone happily. After 24 years, she continues to practice tai chi three times a week, takes an intro Spanish class, leads a book club, gardens, and both founded and volunteers for one of the villages of Falmouth, Mass. Denise’s daughter lives nearby; she visits her son in Burlington, Vt.; and she sees her husband’s children and grandchildren when possible. She has traveled to Costa Rica and has planned a trip to Cape Breton. “Two new hips and a recurrence of lung cancer leave me feeling very lucky and ready to face the 80s,” said Denise. • Barbara Zschiesche Cooley has moved to Camphill Ghent, a senior housing community in Chatham, N.Y. It focuses on environment and nature, simple living, the arts, and spirituality, and is wonderfully nonmaterialistic and non-techie. Barbara spends summers in Vermont experimenting with her Airbnb. • Suzanne Rowan Sachatello spends winters in Florida caring for her grandchildren, Sedona (5) and Bridger (2), while their ER doctor parents cover shifts in the emergency room on Amelia Island. “Traveling some,” wrote Suzanne, “went to France last year. Always wanted to see the beaches of Normandy. It was most impressive and a very emotional experience. This year, I’m planning a trip to the Holy Land. When not on the road or in the air, I spend summers in Kentucky. I miss the Northfield campus. God willing, I’ll be back for our 65th reunion. I order their maple syrup and have great memories of the sugaring off every fall when I was at Northfield.” • Lisa Tuttle Edge and Don have signed up for a tour of Greece in October. Lisa was last there in 1962 when her Olympic Airlines flight blew a tire upon landing in Athens, and she spent the day and evening

A portrait of Toni Browning Smiley ’54, painted by classmate Eileen Higginbottom Simon’s mother, during Toni’s Northfield years.

running around to see the sights, eating lamb and sipping ouzo in a taverna with other passengers until they were picked up for the continued flight to Turkey. Those were the days. • From Don: Classmates, let’s hear more from you!

We were visited in May by Jenny and Reverdy Johnson, who were on a grand tour of the “Right Coast” from their spread in Pope Valley, Calif.

The Johnsons and Svein Arber joined us for a weekend. • Bill Kolb wrote, “I have a smart grandson and am quite proud of it. It seems the boy, Matthew, who lives in Olive Branch, Miss., recently received an award. [He] was presented with a symbol of recognition for having been on the ‘Principal’s List’ every grading period this past school year.” • Larry McAtee has begun another four-year term as an Oklahoma City councilman (he was first elected in 2001).

He and Jo Ann stay busy with three married daughters and 12 grandchildren, doing biblical leadership consulting, and promoting his book, Rebuilding Your Financial Wall God’s Way. Two of the grandchildren are college graduates and married, four are in college, one has just graduated from high school, and the other five are in high school or junior high.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Nelson Lebo nlebo@nmhschool.org • Kim Buck skimball1682@gmail.com From Caro Woolley Peterson: Gail Whitehead Kagler lives in Vero Beach, Fla. She brought

her grandson and granddaughter to Japan for two weeks this spring as a graduation gift for her grandson. They visited some of the places her late husband, Bill, spent time in while in the military. • Ann Carpenter Holbrook lives independently and happily in the Kendall Community in Hanover, N.H., near her daughter and grandchildren. Three years ago she left her home in Raleigh, Va., which she still misses.

She continues her repair work on Oriental rugs.

Ann, like many of our classmates, is part of the planned giving program. • Dede Lawrence Smith has been widowed and is still in her home in Jensen Beach, Fla. She writes, “I enjoy my gardening. I have a wonderful group of watercolor painting friends with whom I socialize, and I totally enjoy the companionship of my Welsh corgi, Pete. Had a great return trip to the Netherlands last June with daughter, Tori, but a fall trip to New England was cancelled in favor of a new hip.” Dede hopes to visit New England later this year. • Elaine “Lanie” Tetreault Smith is a liaison through her church to Family Promise of Sarasota and was involved in a large grant to this program that works to address the needs of homeless families. In addition to funds, they supply baskets full of personal care

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items and pillows to welcome new families to the program. • Pattie Pelton Lanier’s daughter, Kate, and Kate’s family live in London, and Pattie loves to visit. When in London, she shares her love for and knowledge of music with her grandsons — one a vocalist with guitar and the other studying violin and piano. Over their piano hangs a portrait of Pattie, their musical muse. Thank you, Northfield. • Karyl “Carola” Allen Condit’s youngest daughter, Andrea, was married in May in Cambridge, Mass. The Quaker ceremony was deeply moving and meaningful. A Quaker wedding is a silent worship service, with people standing to speak when they are inspired. There were songs, poems, and many shared personal experiences with the couple. • Susan Djorup Reilley, who died on 5/8/17, was a dear Weston roommate and lifelong friend. Sue, Ann Carpenter Holbrook, and Karyl had a mini reunion in Raleigh, N.C., five years ago, which remains a very sweet and cherished memory. Sue was a vibrant and loving person. Our condolences go to her husband, Andrew, and her family. • Caro Woolley Peterson has downsized and moved into a brand-new manufactured home in South Meadow Village in Carver, Mass. She and her husband, Peter, continue to enjoy winters in their manufactured home on the coast in Venice, Fla. • Evelyn Walsh Stevenson wrote, “My husband and I spent a wonderful day at NMH’s Alumni Reunion cheering on our classmate, Dorrie Krakower Susser, who received the Lamplighter Award.

For those who may not have seen Dorrie, she still is a tiny size of ebullient energy!” After the Convocation, we had dinner in the front southeastern dining room of West Hall. • Suzannah Chandler is dealing with great hospitals in New York City and is feeling stronger after two falls and a couple of leg breaks. She is enthusiastically doing aquatic therapy. Although she wishes she had been able to come to NMH, she was thinking of everyone in mind and heart. • Jan Mitchelhill Leas is still looking for the right buyer for her stone house in Stone Ridge, N.Y. She enjoys gardening and keeping the property looking fantastic. Sadly, Jan’s oldest son, Wayne (age 56), died of a massive heart attack. He was living with his new wife in El Salvador. We all send our condolences to Jan and her family. • Please send your class notes updates to your new class “scribe,” Kim Buck—who wants to hear from you! • From Nelson: Harlan Baxter was on campus for commencement weekend to watch his granddaughter, Shannon Duffy ’17, receive awards at Class Day exercises and her diploma at graduation. As some of you will recall, Shannon was the recipient of the Class of ’56 Scholarship for the last four years (our third recipient) and will attend Colgate University in the fall. • At this year’s reunion, a small group

of Northfield and Hermon classmates returned to campus for our 61st reunion and to celebrate Northfield classmate Dorrie Krakower Susser as recipient of the Lamplighter Award (the school’s highest alumni award) at Convocation.

We then gathered to chat, reminisce, and eat dinner. Dorrie, husband Bob, and some of her family; Northfield classmates Benita Pierce, Evie Walsh Stevenson, and Caro Woolley Peterson; and Hermon classmates John McClintock, Bruce Zimmerli, and I attended. • Bob Putsch and his wife, Poo, live on a small ranch in Canyon Creek, Mont. They celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary in 2015 with a trip to Europe.

Bob retired from seeing patients as an internist and University of Washington medical school faculty member in Seattle. He spoke last year in Brussels at Belgium’s 25th-anniversary celebration of their cultural mediation program in health care. Reflecting on Mount Hermon, Bob said, “I’ve often thought that Mount Hermon was responsible for the fact that I survived Yale.

I didn’t have a clue how to study until hitting Hermon. Getting up in time for the earlymorning milk crew and having someone make sure I was in bed by 9 p.m., along with heavy class work, solved that problem. I’m forever grateful to Mount Hermon for the year and for lessons learned.” • Neil Sheeley wrote, “I retired in November 2016 and am currently taking an online course in planetary science given by Caltech. I think the course is a great success, not only for learning the material, but also for interacting with others with the same interests and contacting old friends. Maybe NMH should think about something like that.” • Jack Gleason is hard at work on his autobiography, I’ve Seen the World and It Sucks. “That’s just the working title,” said Jack, “and it probably won’t pass muster with our publishing lads.” Jack retired around 2004 having spent the previous 12 to 15 years wandering from Amman to Warsaw, dealing with international telecommunications matters. “About three years ago I was in the hospital for what was advertised as pretty routine surgery,” Jack said. “Ended up with sepsis.

Damn lucky to be alive and very happy to still be around, loving every day just reading, walking the dog, and spending time with my wonderful wife and kids.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon

Jeanne Schwartz Magmer jeannem57@gmail.com

In June 1957, there were 179 Northfieldites and 166 Hermonites who walked across separate stages on separate campuses to collect our diplomas, ready to use their heads, hands, and hearts to make a difference in the world. In June 2017, 16 Northfieldites and 18 Hermonites gathered together on the now single campus to

share equally in our 60th reunion celebration as a combined class. • We elected our new class officers: Chuck Streeter (class president), David Williams (vice-president), Jeanne Schwartz Magmer (class editor), Lloyd Mitchell (class website secretary), Steve Springer (65th reunion chair), and Joyce Moore Arthur (assistant 65th reunion chair). • We held a memorial service on Round Top on the Northfield campus to remember the classmates we lost during the past five years. Our memories included 35 Northfield and 43 Mount Hermon classmates, and Joe Harrington’s wife, Diethild, who died on 5/9/17. All of these classmates’ names and dates of death are listed on our class website: classcreator.com/Mount-HermonMassachusetts-Northfield-MountHermon-1957. • We cheered at Convocation when Joyce Moore Arthur and Lloyd Mitchell were awarded alumni citations, Joyce for her “extraordinary ability to bring people together ... inspire classmates to stay connected to each other and to the school”; Lloyd for chairing the Alumni Council Diversity Committee for six years (2008–2014), serving on the Strategic Advisory Committee since 2014, serving as chair for our 55th reunion and co-chair for our 60th reunion with Sarah Drew Reeves, and for designing and maintaining our wonderful interactive class website. • We held the first-ever alumni conference calls to talk with a number of our classmates who were not able to attend the reunion: Northfieldite Barbara Tuttle in Austin, Texas, and Hermonites Chuck Streeter, Paul Reyes, Vic Cino, and Ed Abbott. • We listened attentively to Malcolm Peck’s insights on Islamic terrorism and countering its threats based on his years as a Middle East expert for the U.S. State Department. • We enjoyed meals together in Alumni Hall with great conversations that often lasted past mealtimes and at dinners that included a new reunion feature: NMH-provided wine and beer.

• Our 60th reunion adjourned after a memorial service for former faculty member Sam Greene.

It was continued on September 19–21 at Maine Madness, hosted by Bob and Judi Mansfield. • Northfieldites attending reunion were: Joyce Moore Arthur, Phebe Townsend Banta, Cynthia Stevens Brabson, Anne Boothby Dickens, Sarah Drew Reeves, Susan Tower Hollis, Joy Goddard Knightly, Virginia Roe Lang, Linda Shemwick Lindquist, Jeanne Schwartz Magmer, Judith Wagner McKernon, Gail Minault, Marianne Severance Parris, Eleanor Gross Pendleton, Joyce Cutler Shane, and Thalia D. Verros. • Hermonites attending reunion were: Walton Butterworth, Bradley Cook, Darrell “Coop” Cooper, Roger Day, Michael Doudoroff, Marshall Greenspan, David Hamilton, Joseph Harrington, H. Aaron Henschel, Nelson Hulme, Bruce

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Gang’s all here … the class of ’57 at their reunion.

Johnson, Robert Mansfield, Lloyd Mitchell, Bruce Nystrom, Malcolm Peck, Stephen Springer, Jonathan Staley, and David Williams. • Kudos go

to Sarah and Lloyd for co-chairing an outstanding reunion event, and to Coop and Joyce for their diligence in tracking down as many of our classmates as possible. Coop heard from Ray Paris, Andy Aldrich, Bill Bertsch, Steve Webster, Eddie Olsen, and Bruce Turner; and Joyce heard from Cyndi Chutter Kahn, Renee Ryter Mueller, Priscilla Young, Nancy Hartman Rodney, Peg Wilson Taylor, Norma Darden, Judith Rosenbloom Hodges, Janet Bairstow Kokoszka, Linda Patterson Perkins, Peggy Johnston Quinn, Joan Kendall Hyer, and Robin Foster Spaulding.

Many other Northfield alums were contacted by dorm callers. Thanks to all of them. Since it is not possible to include all of our news in this column, we posted the conversation notes on our class website. • Cyndi Chutter Kahn and husband Ed celebrated their 50th anniversary last summer with a family raft trip on the Green River in Utah. Retired from law, Cyndi is currently helping Denver Public Schools (DPS) treat homelessness as an urgent educational issue. “We have about 2,500 homeless students in DPS, and after four years, we may actually build some 100 units of family housing on vacant school property. We will also house some new teachers and retired school staff,” Cyndi reports. • Robin Foster Spaulding missed the reunion because she was at Carnegie Hall to see her grandson receive a special medal from the Arts and Education Foundation for a sculpture he did, called Flight. • Marti “Betty” Welsh Goldstone is still holding on to her starter house in Washington, D.C., even though the city has changed dramatically since her move there in 1970. She writes, “My household is diminished with the loss of my husband and youngest son. I enjoy living in Maine during the summer, visits to the grandchildren on Cape Cod, and occasional jaunts to Portland, Ore., to visit my son and have lunch with Jeanne Schwartz Magmer.” • Aldie Howard, a regular at Maine Madness, missed summer 2016’s gathering, but was there in September 2017. Aldie lives in

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Oregon and winters in Florida. • Peter Stone is an advocate for keeping public parkland in Tallahassee, Fla., and not selling it for private development. He also is writing a technical book on materials science for architects. Peter says he is very active professionally and is staying fit. • Terry Allen is still holding forth in Ferrisburgh, Vt. He would like to know classmate John Shu’s whereabouts. There is no current record for John at NMH or the college both he and Terry attended. He’s not listed as deceased, lost, or removed by request in NMH files. Does anyone know where John is? • Many thanks to David Williams, who, as class secretary for 35 years, faithfully met every class notes deadline. From David: “It has been a long journey, keeping in touch with my Mount Hermon classmates and, more recently, with a few Northfield classmates. It was especially helpful as many of you joined us at our Maine Madness gatherings each summer or fall. The bonding as we celebrated at our 60th reunion will bring more of us together even as some of our classmates cross the bar! That is leading me to encourage those who have not been in touch with classmates nearby or not been with us in Maine to seriously consider hosting a regional gathering or join us as we plug along toward our 65th reunion. As I close my class notes responsibility, I want to thank you for the honor and privilege you have given me to share your stories.” • Finally, two stories surfaced at “Reunion 60.” Do you remember that winter morning when we arrived for breakfast, all the trays on which the waiters so proudly delivered our meals were missing, gone, nowhere to be found, hidden in a snowbank? It wasn’t until supper the next day that the waiters could strut again. Talk with Bruce Nystrom and you will get the rest of the story. • And do you remember that early-winter Sunday afternoon when several cross-country runners set out to run across the river and on to the Northfield campus to meet their girlfriends and/or deliver notes from non-runners to their female friends?

Ignorant as they were about many things, they actually ran on roads on the west side of the

Connecticut River and crossed the river on the high rusty railroad bridge and were then intercepted just short of the Northfield campus.

That previously unnamed faculty person delivered them back home to our side of the river without reporting them, and that silence probably kept the students from being dismissed from school. I sure would like to know who they were, so we can hear “the rest of that story” ! • Our ’57 faculty advisor, Marilyn Zajan Kellom, and her husband, Dick Kellom, were guests at our reunion class dinner. Marilyn told us the story of how, at 19 and freshly graduated from Barnard College, she was assigned to be our faculty advisor. We also heard the story of her romance with Mount Hermon chemistry teacher, Mr. Kellom, including how she broke her leg skiing on their first date. The Kelloms were on the NMH faculty through all the years of transition. Hearing their stories mirrors our own journey as alums that have brought us to this place of being one class, one campus, and completely coed as we look toward 2022 and our 65th reunion.

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Northfield Mount Hermon William Hawley hawleys@acsalaska.net • Helen Engelbrecht Ownby helen.ownby@gmail.com From Helen: I would really like to have more news to print. However, my request via the NMH website fell on deaf ears ... • Carolyn Hafner Horn lost her younger sister, Janet, to suicide. Carolyn joined a suicide survivors’ support group run by the Lake Worth, Fla., Jewish Family and Child Services. She found them to be helpful and gave her much information about suicide which is a cause of many deaths in the U.S. Carolyn and husband Carl have returned from their Florida home to Cleveland, Ohio, where it’s cool and green. They spend the summer and fall with Carolyn’s son and grandchildren. Her oldest granddaughter graduated from Miami University in Ohio and Carl’s grandson graduated from Villanova in the spring. “I enjoy reading about Northfield Mount Hermon in the magazine very much,” said Carolyn. • I received a wonderful letter from Sister Prudence Allen. She had transferred back to the U.S. from England in the fall of 2014 when she was diagnosed with a meningioma brain tumor. She had surgery in February 2016 and has been well since. She is able to work on lecturing and has finished the three-volume series on the “concept of woman.” • Betsy-Gay Kraft is still working at the Blue House, South Korea’s answer to the White House. She reports that this is the Year of the Rooster — people born in this year are said to be deep thinkers and diligent and devoted workers. Her granddaughters,

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Suji and Suh-jung, are in middle school and grammar school, respectively. Suji is a big K-pop fan and she collects K-pop cards the way we collected baseball cards when we were little.

Both Betsy and husband HaWoo remain in good health. • I received a visit from Trinka Craw Greger and John Stone this spring as they were heading north from their time in Florida. They had also visited Joan Millett Walker and Steve Walker, who both want to make certain that everyone is considering returning for our 60th reunion next year. Both couples hope to have their boats on the water this summer. • Dennis and I are enjoying life on the south coast of Georgia. The fishing, shrimping, and crabbing are good … I’m currently Clerk of Session at St. Mary’s First Presbyterian Church, sing in the choir, and bake bread for communion. We’re still looking for the perfect boat. Meanwhile, we had both of our children (David ’91 and Kathy ’94) and their families home for Christmas for the first time in 10 years. It was a glorious few days. We also visited German Christmas markets last December and flew to the U.K. to tour England, Scotland, and Wales. Dennis and I both sent our DNA to ancestry.com, and it appears that we share some family about 12 generations back. • From Bill: John Stone was at NMH in June shadowing the class of ’57 at their 60th reunion. There were plenty of organized activities for all classes: the Friday-night Hymn Sing, individual class dinners/activities, the alumni classroom, and Convocation were some of the highlights. Plans for our 60th are coming together, and we encourage everyone to return to Gill and visit the “new” Northfield in June 2018. • Mini reunions will be happening in several locations between now and then, providing early opportunities to reconnect. Let’s make our own reunion weekend a truly memorable one. If you have any reunion questions, please contact me for either Trinka Craw Greger’s or John Stone’s email address and phone number. Reunion details will be forthcoming in the months ahead • Tom Chase, John Stone, Steve “Seaweed” Walker, and Norm Barstow held a mini reunion in Mystic, Conn.,

Joan Millett Walker ’58 and her husband, Steve Walker ’58, stopped by Dogfish Head Brewery last spring.

at the S&P Oyster Company. Plenty of wine and great seafood made it much easier to stretch the truth and create NMH yarns over lunch.

Much of the discussion centered on typical “yachting” stories, as Steve, Norm, and John all have sailboats in New England waters. • Don Braue and wife Donna moved into Pilgrim Place, Claremont, Calif., three years ago. It began as a home for missionaries over 100 years ago and has evolved into a retirement center for 340 religious and secular liberals dedicated to peace, social justice, and eco responsibility. Don sings with the Pomona College Choir and gives many hours of tech support to other residents on their digital devices. He’s also taking piano lessons. Donna continues to publish and lecture worldwide about philosophy and psychoanalysis. She won a Senior Fulbright Award for Austria; she’ll travel to Vienna next year and her office will be in Freud’s house.

Don and Donna continue to spend summers in Maine. • Dave Eberhardt has written a new book, For All the Saints: A Protest Primer. The old Anglican hymn that Dave recalled from his days at Mount Hermon is on the cover. The book is a recounting of Dave’s peace movement and prison experiences, and is an excellent read. Dave can be reached via Facebook. • Nan and Evan Freund are enjoying an active life after 65, not retirement. Nan continues to practice educational therapy with students of all ages, and Evan has become dedicated to criminal justice reform in Illinois, to reduce the number of poor people who are unnecessarily incarcerated. • Steve Fuller and his wife, Susan, split their time between Arlington, Va., and Georgetown, Maine, while Steve continues to work half time at George Mason University.

Steve and Susan spent a week in Key West in February to warm up, traveled to the Baltic region during the spring, visited Prince Edward Island and Quebec City in September, and are off to New Zealand and Australia in November.

Steve downsized this year, selling a condo and his 43-foot sailboat; he’s now down to a 22-foot inboard diesel-powered motorboat and four kayaks. Steve is in his third year as chair of the NMH board and, for many reasons, serving NMH is the most rewarding philanthropic activity he has ever experienced. Besides being a proud alum, he notes it is the mission of NMH that spurs him on. Steve hopes that all the class of ’58 will try to come back for our 60th; he says that if you haven’t been on campus recently, you owe this trip to yourself. • Faith and John LeBaron summered again in North Hatley, Quebec, accompanied by the newest family addition, Millicent the Magnificent (aka Millie, the dog). Their second granddaughter, Emma Rose, joins her older sister at Phillips Andover this fall, despite John’s efforts to steer her to

Walt Wheeler ’58 and his wife, Linda, enjoying baked Alaska in Anchorage.

NMH. The sisters are delighted to be reunited away from home, as are John and Faith, since Andover is only 30 minutes from their winter home. John sends his best wishes to ’58 classmates! • Howard Scheinblum took full retirement from the Connecticut bench in April. He is still adjusting. Howard’s son, who was rejected by Mount Hermon (it’s a long, sad story) and who earned an M.F.A., is completing the building of a beautiful home in Avon, Conn. • Dale Bailey attended his 55th college reunion at Colgate; he hopes to make it to our 60th at NMH next year.

• Linda and Walt Wheeler toured Alaska early last summer. Betsy and Bill Hawley met Walt and Linda for an all-too-brief reunion dinner when they passed through Anchorage. Walt is retired from active status at his fire department, but continues to create websites and works vigorously in his garden. Walt attended his 55th Wesleyan College reunion and stays active in his community. • Betsy and I (Bill) toured Singapore, Bhutan, and Nepal in April and traveled to Greenland in the summer. Greenland had not been on our bucket list, but information gleaned during our trip to Iceland last summer convinced us that its changing climate and culture would be interesting. And, as Steve Fuller says, “We have to get these trips in before we get old!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Nancy Bissell Goldcamp 2002 Chantilly Drive Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 ngoldcamp@cox.net • Ty Bair Fox tybfox@aol.com • Tom Baxter baxtg741@comcast.net From Nancy: Barbara Paresky Budnitz shared, “My husband, Bob, and I still live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’m a retired licensed clinical social worker, and Bob is still consulting but has retired from the University of California Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Our daughter lives in Brooklyn, one son lives in Vermont, and our other son is here in Berkeley

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near us. We have been happy and healthy (mostly), and I wish the same to our classmates.

The clue is to be so busy that the aging bug can’t land on you and bite!” • Karen Falb Forslund stays closely in touch with NMH school activities. “I was sorry that I couldn’t attend the honoring of the school’s day care center last May. I looked up the Moody Center and saw that they’re already planning tours and had an event in the Auditorium. It will be quite interesting to see how it all evolves and to see what the school community thinks about all this. Daughter Alison ’03 and her husband, Justin, had a very nice time at a recent Delaware NMH function.” • Sue Lawrence Anderson wrote, “[Daughter] Ina ’86 is so lovely, and I’m so very proud of her. She’s spent most of her last 20 years coping with very serious physical health challenges, and she’s now doing much better. She recently became a grandmother, making me a great-grandmother! I’m still studying twice a year at Oxford in England. An English maternal ancestor, newly discovered by my cousin, Heidi Martin Makela ’58, led me to the churchyard where our ancestors from the 1500s are buried. This church is very near Jane Austen’s home, and a Jane Austen self-identity took hold. I’m now taking an Oxford course to study Austen’s novels and letters. Oxford’s teaching methods aren’t easy, but they’re not as hard as Miss Palmer’s class!” • Carol Hall Dempsey wrote, “I have warm memories of my years at Northfield. After many years of nursing, I retired in 1967.” Carol continued working, though, at a ranger station in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. “Previously, I was married to a wonderful guy from Brooklyn named Jack Dempsey,” said Carol. “He has died, but I’m still here!” Carol sends special greetings to Gary Weale — they had dated for a while after high school, and Carol has since lost track of him.

She searches NMH Magazine for familiar names, although her memory isn’t the best. “I wish you all best regards for the next reunion,” adds Carol. “I won’t be there, but it’s good to hear how awesome we are!” • “I continue to enjoy New York City and am busier than ever,” writes Emily Tucker Dunlap. “I joined the New York Society Library, which has excellent classes and a good place to work on writing.

Last spring, I took a class on Parade’s End, the novels by Ford Madox Ford. It was most interesting and well taught and was appropriate for commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I. I continue to enjoy opera, museums, and theater. Son Alex and his family are in Seattle, and my granddaughters are now 10 and 8. Time flies!” • Sally Curtiss Campbell is still a Quaker singer-songwriter. “If you’d like to hear some of my songs, I do have a YouTube channel now, as well as a CD that I’ve been

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giving away,” says Sally. “If you’d like me to mail you one, you can reach me via email at scampfriend@earthlink.net. I have lived in the same rent-controlled apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City for 50 years — 49 of them with my husband, Chuck. I was deeply impressed by the diversity presentation at Mamie’s Spoonbread in Harlem last March. I was one of the oldest folks there! It brought back many memories, and NMH’s future plans sound like they will enrich students’ experiences there.” • “Ralph and I renovated the inside of the house last spring; this year it was the yard and patio’s turn,” wrote De MacKinnon Love from Houston. Last summer, De and Ralph took a road trip to Connecticut to visit Ralph’s brother and went to Northfield for a couple of days. This autumn, they’ll hit the road again to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone. They also enjoy visits with their kids and grandkids whenever possible. • Ginger McCann Giammattei has had wonderful visits with kids, grandkids, and Hill School alums on the East Coast and in California, and an especially welcome two weeks of rest and relaxation on Nantucket Island after Labor Day, with friends from Vermont joining them the first week. • As for me (Nancy), my husband, Bill, is still working hard on his recovery from hip surgery in the summer of 2016. He’s making progress, but it’s very slow. Rehab has been especially difficult because of his “pre-existing condition,” and we’re no longer projecting any date when he’ll be able to walk normally on his crutches. I’m most grateful for the thoughts and prayers that many of you and other friends have sent and continue to send our way. They have definitely buoyed us during this difficult time. • From Tom: Jim Newman moved his summer home from Vermont to a 55+ community in Plymouth, Mass. So delighted by the social life there, he moved his Phoenix winter home to a similar community. Jim frequently sees his children and grandchildren, sings in a glee club, golfs, and travels with his wife. He went on the D-­day tour of Normandy, where he attended Memorial Day services at the American Cemetery on Omaha Beach. Jim looks forward to our next reunion in two years. • Peter Olsen continues to work as a chaplain for a local hospice. He also spends time with two grandchildren and two daughters not too far from his home. He still writes nonfiction books, “but not best-sellers,” Peter adds. He’s looking forward to fly-fishing on Yellowstone River in the autumn — a passion of his. “Charles Wantman, Clark Peters, and I got together at Clark’s place in North Carolina,” wrote Peter.

“Looking forward, by the grace of God, to attending the next reunion on the Hill.” • Charles Wantman, Tom Bethea, Dan Poteet,

Clay Pruitt ’58, and spouses gathered for dinner in March at the Arizona Inn, sharing memories and stories. Charles, Clay, and Clay’s wife were in a course together on modern Turkey at the University of Arizona last winter. • Bob Friedman had a wonderful winter in Sarasota in his new home and has been in his Storrs, Conn., home. “We’re excited, as our son, Kent, is moving to Wilton, Conn.,” said Bob. “We will see our granddaughter more now. [Wife] Win continues to study jazz piano, and I continue to read, exercise, and try to stay physically and mentally active. Anyone near Storrs, look me up — we will remain here until late October, when we return to Florida.” • Bob Myers flew across Delaware Bay so he and I could have the chance to get together. Bob said, “It was great fun visiting with you in January. The long catch­-up lunch (trying to cover 58 years) that you graciously hosted was too short. Meeting you again in Milton, Del., with your daughter at the NMH Founders Fest gathering was a real pleasure.” • Bob Emmet writes, “I have, for the last four years, wintered in a historic Dutch pilothouse ketch in the boat­-building town of Galesville, Md., on the West River of Chesapeake Bay. Our town of 700 has Christmas Children’s Choir, and square dancing and town meetings in Memorial Hall, just like old New England. Two Hermonites live nearby: Ed Allen ’62 and Geoff Elliott ’75. Ed has been a Galesville sailor for 40 years, and Geoff helps me with my business. I manufacture and export three-­phase electrical equipment. Last summer I flew to London on delivery and spent three nights in Scotland. My extended family is St. Anne’s Parish, Annapolis — one of the original Anglican parishes from the 1692 Maryland Establishment Act. I am a trustee and head usher. We celebrated the old Scottish ‘Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan’ service, complete with

Paul Sheldon ’60 after a demonstration of civil disobedience.

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kilts, pipes, drums, and tall standards in the church. This all started at Mount Hermon and will continue ‘ten thousand years.’” • Dan Waugh is still a world traveler and now a first-time grandparent. In March, Dan gave a paper at a conference in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), and later in May at a conference near Milan. He and Charlotte extended their stay in Italy by spending time in Milan, Florence, and Rome. A highlight was a visit to Cortona, where they viewed Etruscan tombs, walked Roman paths, and witnessed a reenactment of a medieval pageant. They also attended a 200th­-anniversary performance of Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie at La Scala Opera House. Dan and Charlotte have planned an early-autumn “archaeological tour” in the Aegean, starting on Rhodes. • Tom Bethea wrote, “It sounds like the Dogfish Head event was well attended and entertaining. I wanted to make it in the worst way, but had a second cataract removal scheduled. Last year, Bonnie and I sold our Chicago and first Arizona homes and bought a year-round place north of Tucson. The way life is proceeding, June 2019 [reunion] will be here before we know it. With grandkids madly applying to colleges, the whole Mount Hermon experience recalls as if last week.” • Peter Welsh and Diane were on one of their too-infrequent two-night getaways at their favorite resort, The Haliburton. • As you read this, reunion is a year and a half away. It is going to be a great time.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Phil Allen philhallen@gmail.com From Phil: Ian Strachan wound down his consultancy work with advertising agencies in Asia and South America, so he is officially retired and living in Melbourne. As an avid mineral collector, he’s also a mineralogical volunteer at Melbourne Museum. “My passion for the art and history of the Silk Road continues, though I have not traveled on it for a while,” Ian said.

“My last trip was to the Mediterranean end, leaving Syria two weeks before the troubles started there. Sadly, much of what I saw then is now destroyed.” Last year, Ian published a visual memoir of more than 50 years of drawing and cartooning. • Paul Sheldon is finally a grandfather to Jasper. He’s still hiking and backpacking, “with all parts original and working, although reduced somewhat.” Paul retired as clerk of his Quaker meeting and while no longer teaching at Villanova, he now takes classes there. “Still civil disobedient in trying to convey the Christian message to employees at the world’s largest weapons manufacturer this past Good Friday,” wrote Paul, “and am a war taxes resister (my wife and I send tax money to additional charities instead of IRS). Attended

dedication and his empathy for the scholarship program, as well as for news that the class of 1960 is the most fully funded of all the classes (and still accepting donations!). • Thanks to all who answer the call for ’60 news. It is great to hear from you. Keep your news and photos coming!

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Shirley French Kingsbury ’61 (left) and Barbara Baldwin Joe ’61

the People’s Convention in Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention last summer. Our chickens and bees are doing well. Fran and I do a lot of this together — I am blessed with her in my life.” • Chuck Bertsch and his wife, Ana Maria, continue to live in Wayne, Penn. Chuck started his own company in 1987 after working in finance at big corporations. He initially focused on mergers and acquisitions work, but his company has evolved into business valuations. He continues to operate his business from home, but his referral sources are retiring and changes in estate taxes have shrunk his market. This suits Chuck as it leaves him plenty of time for fishing and travel. “We spent a month in Italy last fall,” wrote Chuck, “and go to Peru once a year to see Ana Maria’s family.

We have developed some of the normal health issues but, thankfully, nothing too limiting so far. I have many fond memories of my years at Mount Hermon and feel stronger ties to it than I do to my college.” • Doug Barrett and wife Sally keep busy with their 11 grandchildren, attending birthday parties, confirmations, and college graduations. “Still golfing, walking, and biking,” Doug shares, “although after a couple of crashes this winter, may have to adjust. As I have said in the past, there is no question that the carpenters of my early development were the teachers, coaches, staff, and classmates at Mount Hermon. That was the foundation of my early success.” • Sadly, we lost our classmate, Robert Olsen, on 3/29/17 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was a 1964 graduate of Brown University with a degree in international relations. He had a 44-year career in the flooring industry, working in the U.S., Canada, and England. He loved spending time with his family and being outdoors playing golf, tennis, and fishing. Rob was an active member of Salem United Methodist Church, where he served in several capacities. He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Karen, two daughters, and four grandchildren.

• Karl Radune sent us all a letter reporting on his annual representation of our class at the luncheon for scholarship students. Applause for his

Northfield Mount Hermon Alexandra Groome Scopteuolo sandis10992@yahoo.com • Craig Walley operacraig@aol.com From Sandi: Virginia Kirkmayer Slayton had a stroke nearly two years ago and is working to find what she’s here for and to re-create herself. • In March, Mary and Sherif Nada hosted a Boston mini reunion. Stu and Sue Flasch McCalley, Tom and Carol White Odell, Jack and Susan Hayden Russell, John Bryan and his wife, Wayne Magoon and his wife, Leslie Leong and his wife, and Al Simpson all attended. Carol and Graham Cole couldn’t attend due to a heavy snowstorm. Everyone had a great time. Sue Flasch McCalley says that the Boston group hopes to add others, and if anyone is interested, please contact her or Susan Russell. Stu and Sue are doing some long-awaited travel now that they are retired. Cross-country skiing, theater, and music are high on their list of interests. • Susan Hayden Russell retired and works part time in a church teaching a spirituality course, and Jack is the church’s organist. • Sue Mervine Clear has two daughters and five grandchildren.

She lives in an adult community in North Carolina and summers in Bay Head, N.J. • My (Sandi) whole family is doing well. We went on a Mediterranean cruise in July. We went last year and wanted to delve more into the stops we had. My husband’s mom was from Bomerano, Italy, and we spent extra time there and in Tuscany. I’m working with a new company, Youngevity, and went to Dallas in August for a convention. (Our 54th anniversary was in August!) Our five grandchildren are doing great, and we can’t wait to see what great adults they will become. Madisyn is at Union and Matt is at Clemson. • Don’t forget to donate to NMH! Even dollar counts, because grants are judged by the percentage of alumni who donate, not just the amount. • From Craig: The last issue of NMH Magazine reported that our classmate James Sarvis died several years ago. My best memory of James is as a C Squad cross-country runner. We had been running at the back of the pack for the first few weeks of practice when James said, “I’m tired of running back here.” He then took off and ultimately became one of the varsity’s stars. He had will power. If you read his bio in our 50th Reunion Class Book, you will see that he led a very interesting life. Rest in peace, James.

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Northfield Louise Cole Nicollet lnicollet@gmail.com “I enjoy and am thankful for every day,” shares Enid Freund Hayflick “Wonderful good health, and I take care to stay strong and fit. I go to the gym at least twice a week and take a brisk power walk (sometimes even a jog) most days, weather permitting. I am a second soprano with the Pro Arte Chorale (proartechorale.org), currently finishing our 53rd season. Music has been a lifelong joy for me. I’m also continuing to take bridge classes and try to play duplicate with friends. And there’s always birding.” Enid travels often to Southern California to visit her two children and their families in Los Angeles and Newport Beach. “My son has two adorable little girls (5 and 1),” adds Enid, “and since his wife is French and my son speaks French, the girls are growing up bilingual. When I’m out there, I speak French with them also. Fond memories of Mademoiselle Liniger (Qui sait qui bâille?) and walking back up to Wilson after class with Weezie Cole Nicollet, trying to speak French all the way!” • For Mary-Jean West Kledzik’s retirement project, she got an M.F.A. Her award-winning book, As If Wine Could Pour from Her Nipple, was published by San Francisco Bay Press in 2016. Mary Jean’s poems have been published in the Paris Review, AGNI, and Western Humanities Review. “My new project just received funding from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund,” said Mary Jean. “I’ve written an essay on the devastating impact of father-daughter incest and will be backing that up with the latest research on this silent crime.

My goal is to raise awareness. At our reunion, it was inspiring to find out how many of our classmates are continuing to do amazing work and projects with ‘the head, the heart, the hand.’”

• Our indefatigable reunion co-chair, Cindy Kidder, continues her life’s work in theater. Her latest creation, Silverthorne Theater Company (named for NMH’s Silverthorne Theater), is located in Greenfield, Mass., with the mission to “present high-quality professional theater to the

From left: Rosamond Rockwell Gianutsos ’62, Lucinda Kidder ’62, and Mary-Jean West Kledzik ’62 reviewed NMH archival photos.

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Upper Pioneer Valley by staging adventurous, thought-provoking plays … while also promoting new or unheard voices and connecting with underserved populations.” Her work founding and directing the company earned Cindy the Alumni Community Service Award, presented at Convocation during our 55th reunion in June.

During reunion weekend, Cindy led an Alumni Classroom session titled, “What Is the Function of the Arts in a Dysfunctional World?” which focused on theater and her company’s outreach to artistically underserved and economically challenged residents of the Pioneer Valley.

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Mount Hermon E. Scott Calvert scottcalvert@mac.com A small but enthusiastic group gathered on the Hill for our 55th reunion. Reunion co-chairs Jock Bethune and Cindy Kidder planned a laid-back weekend that allowed us all to reconnect while also honoring our classmates who received Alumni Awards during Convocation. • The class was well represented, with Al Burnett, Dick Linthicum, and Cindy Kidder receiving Alumni Awards. Al was the headliner, earning the “highest honor on an alumnus for outstanding service to Northfield Mount Hermon,” the Lamplighter Award, which recognized Al’s long leadership volunteer service in a wide variety of functions, and specifically for fundraising.

• Dick Linthicum received an Alumni Citation recognizing his volunteer service on phonathons and reunion planning, and also noting his establishment of a family-endowed scholarship honoring his parents — both graduates of the schools. Dick had to leave reunion early as he was off to Bermuda to watch the America’s Cup qualifiers. • Cindy Kidder received a Community Service Award. The full list of Alumni Association Awards is available on the NMH website. • Al Burnett appeared at Convocation at the last moment as he was coaching a women’s lacrosse team earlier in the day. He remains one of those people whom you would recognize immediately if you ran into him. Al continues to sail extensively on his own boat and is boathouse supervisor at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. • While retired, Bill Holbrook continues to perform executive consulting. Bill and I discovered, while discussing genealogy, that we are many-times-removed cousins from common 17th-century ancestors. • Mike Menne once again served as organist for all reunion activities in Memorial Chapel. Mike is planning a move to the West Coast later this year. • It was good to see Claire and Richard Mueller back on campus.

They are settling into their Golden, Colo., home and enjoying grandparenthood. • In summary, we ate, drank, shared stories, and went to bed a bit earlier than in past reunions. It was a

good weekend. You should join us for the 60th reunion. • John Wilson sold his boat and spends half his time in Fort Myers, Fla. • David King serves as national secretary to the American Bamboo Society. • Bill Arnold has been writing more these days with comments making their way most recently into the Wall Street Journal and an opinion piece in The Hill newspaper. He continues as professor in the Practice of Energy Management at Rice University. • While reading the New York Times last March, I noticed a “Charles Lovett” quoted in a voter opinion piece on the president’s first speech to Congress. Sure enough, it was Chuck Lovett, who moved back to Vermont after a career in management at the Department of Education. • I received little in response to my email requests for class updates.

If you want to have a column to read, you need to send me news!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Diane Sewall Chaisson diane@meadowlarks-farm.net • Willard Thomen wthomen@stfrancis.edu From Diane: Carol Waaser went on a cycling tour in the Dolomites (Italian Alps) in June, and she’s determined to keep riding until she’s at least 80. “New York is a terrific place to be retired,” wrote Carol. “I never lack for new museum exhibits, lectures and presentations, concerts, theater, and excellent restaurants.

Wish I had more time just to sit and read a book!” • Cheryl Ortstein Wilson wrote, “I spent some time with Kathy Shordt and daughter Maya in February while she was visiting the U.S. for a few weeks.” • Katie Steinmetz Dater spent two spring weeks at the beach in Westbrook, Conn. Katie enjoyed having Bob and Dee Freund Borden as well as Pam Sargent Ryley and Roger for lunch, and she hopes to do it again this year.

• In March, Molly Hogan (formerly Nancy Dorr) made another trip to Palestine to an international ecumenical conference in Bethlehem and Nazareth, with associated tours, including the Golan Heights. She also went on a short walking tour at a UNESCO World Heritage site. • Margie Attwater Mosher and her husband attended their 50th college reunion at Brown University, which is where they met and got married before their senior year. They are both doing well living with their younger daughter, and they expect to travel more.

Margie added that she “stopped in at the NMH reunion weekend to scope out possible accommodations for our 55th reunion. We will be in one of the new dorms. Class of ’62 was in MacKinnon — open floor plan, gathering room with fireplace, kitchen with granite counters and bar stools, comfy couches, and good-sized table and chairs. The beds are inner spring for

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Lydia “Lolly” Davis ’63 is doing what she loves best: playing music and singing.

our tired bones, and there’s a gathering area on the second floor. Everything is handicapaccessible with an elevator. We are looking forward to a less stressful time to gather. Put reunion on your agenda now!” • Lydia Adams “Lolly” Davis had some struggles with a bicycle and fell on her hip but did not break it. Then she was teaching a piano lesson and the piano bench collapsed — she fell on her tail but also did not break it! Lolly’s new niche in performance is called “sign and sing,” which is popular in Hudson Valley libraries in the summer. She continues with her “One Earth So Green and Round” puppet shows and songwriting adventures. Her daughter’s orthopedic health is not much improved from being hit by a car in 1994, but she got married; she and her husband live in Avignon, France. Meanwhile, Lolly shares a house with a good friend who is actually her ex-husband, Ben Seibert. • Harriet Goff Guerrero has been coordinating visits for several professional groups in Mexico, mostly dealing with public policy and business. For instance, she coordinated a group visit from the University of California-Riverside by arranging a briefing at the embassy, talks on NAFTA and the drug cartels, and a visit to an automotive plant. Last year, Harriet participated in the Partners of the Americas meeting in Guadalajara, presenting a session on diversity in study abroad and meeting people from all over Latin America, including several from Colombia. • From Will: Larry Bernstein commented with some gallows humor on our spring class notes, suggesting we start a blog of

who has had what body parts replaced or repaired. He wishes us all well. • Chris Frederick continues to enjoy the natural beauty of Cape Cod. He took a rewarding cruise from Boston to Montreal, seeing new scenic vistas of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Another cruise was from Boston to Bermuda, where he saw the start of the America’s Cup races. Concerning our Class of ’63 Scholarship Fund, Chris reminds us that it is still open for donations. The goal for our scholarship fund is to get the balance up to $1 million, which is the figure the school uses to estimate what is needed to provide a full scholarship for one person. • While traveling by motorcycle in April, John Gamel stopped in North Carolina for a visit with Holt Anderson.

After a walking tour of the Duke University campus, they compared notes over lunch about their respective heart surgeries. They are both committed to attending our 55th reunion next year, and encourage an “invasion of the campus to impress other classes and current students how the great class of ’63 gained its well-earned reputation for creativity and stubborn adherence to personal and collective values of integrity, and questioning authority when needed!” • Donald Glascoff is chair of the committee responsible for dealing with the new owners of the Northfield campus: Thomas Aquinas College and the Moody Center, which acquired the campus last May. Details are on NMH’s website.

Don was elected to a second five-year term as an NMH trustee. The trustees are working hard on their fundraising campaign; NMH is an aging campus and faces many needs. Don’s five children and seven grandchildren are a joy. He has “unretired” yet again, founding an elder-care company. While attending his 50th Yale reunion, he shared a dormitory suite with Brent Goodsell.

• After 43 years of teaching in private and public schools, David Gregory and his wife, Sandy, left the congested confines of Fairfield County, Conn., for a different pasture in Guilford, Conn.

They now live on a tidal river overlooking an Audubon preserve with eagles, ospreys, and geese. Their daughter, on Long Island, trains guide dogs. Their son, in Brooklyn, is training his phenomenal 7-year-old gymnast. David is looking forward to our 55th next June. • Having previously been a CPA and employee of such high-profile companies as Price Waterhouse and Chemical Bank, Fran Lambert has started an art-dealing business, selling principally major Renaissance works and some modern. One of the joys he experienced at “the Hill” was music.

The clarinet only comes out occasionally now, but he still sings with the Saffron Walden Choral Society. He is also chairman for the Saffron Walden croquet club, playing competitively. “Still benefiting from the strong work ethic and guidance I received during my

year with you all and intensely grateful for having received it,” wrote Fran. “It changed my life and enabled me to do all the things I have done and still do. My still-busy life with my wonderful wife, our successful children, and three granddaughters continues. I look forward immensely to seeing you next year.” • Dave Robinson lost his wife, Felicia, in April after her two-year ordeal with ovarian cancer. Dave was her primary caregiver along with Hospice during this time. In May, he sang with the alumni choir at Sacred Concert. • Pieter Terwilleger was with our class for only one year as a postgrad. Looking back, he wishes he had attended all four years. He remembers having to endure the fire and brimstone of Mr. Skib in his kitchen work assignment. Pieter also recalls the benefit of singing in the choir, as it provided opportunities to see the Northfield girls on their own campus. • Richard Weisman retired but, like most academics, it is only partial. He recently traveled with a group of Lehigh students to the U.K. to study the British situation regarding Brexit. He was also in Galway, Ireland, to help the Lehigh in Ireland summer program. He and Melody are still going strong. He now plays his trumpet in five different groups. • While attending his 50th college reunion, George Whitehead had the opportunity to see Tom Burgess. • Ricker Winsor sends greetings from Surabaya, Indonesia, and was appointed “Warden of Surabaya” for the U.S. Consulate there. He communicates information to the expat groups and is privileged to know the consulate people and

John Gamel ’63 (left) and Holt Anderson ’63 met for a walking tour of Duke University in April.

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attend their social functions. Ricker remains active producing paintings and writing. His next book will be a collection of essays, and a book of his paintings, The Painting of My Life, can be found at Amazon.com. • Diane Sewall Chaisson and I were back on “the Hill” in June for the 55th reunion of the class of ’62. We made a point of checking out MacKinnon Cottage — one of the two new dorms behind the chapel, where we will be housed for our 55th. We were impressed with the spaciousness and well-appointed lounge area, complete kitchen facilities, separate TV lounge, and comfortable beds. There’s also an elevator. Definitely an improvement over Hayden and Crossley. Diane and I will keep you posted about our upcoming 55th next June. • Editor’s note: In NMH Magazine’s Spring 2017 issue, on page 53, a photo caption of Cheryl Ortstein Wilson and Muriel Maxwe ll Nelson ’49 was incorrect. Cheryl is pictured on the right, Muriel on the left. We apologize for the error.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Robert Eastman rheastman4@comcast.net • Pamela Street Walton pawalton@myfairpoint.net From Pam: Wendy Moonan celebrated her 70th last May by having her bridesmaids (and their husbands) to Sag Harbor for the weekend. They chartered a boat for a sunset booze cruise and then had a feast at Wendy’s home.

Unfortunately, she had torn her rotator cuff and is doing physical therapy to avoid surgery, if possible. Wendy has been writing stories for Smithsonian magazine, The Art Newspaper, Christies.com, and 1stdibs.com. She is also currently writing a book for Rizzoli Publications on the “100 Most Splendid Private Rooms in New York.” • Earlier this year, Kit Andrews was a live-in grandma/nanny to her granddaughter, Eli (short for Elinor). Kit said it was an exhilarating experience to watch Eli’s development over six months. Eli resides in Baltimore with her parents, Nel Andrews ’94 and Jackie. While Kit had to miss some events closer to home, she hopes to run the 2017 Pie Race and sing at Sacred Concert in 2018. The owner of Kit’s former home of 30 years is none other than the daughter of Weegee Look Brooks!

Kit still owns a nearby condo, so Burlington, Vt., is now a destination location for both Kit and Weegee! • Weegee and Judith Bryant took a two-week anniversary visit to the Luberon mountain range in Provence, France. It was 50 years ago that they spent their junior year abroad (from Barnard) at l’Université de Grenoble, rooming together in a French boardinghouse. Their vacation was all they could have hoped for — lots of cafés and

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Pam Street Walton ’64 (left) and Nancy Corner Sutton ’64 met near San Francisco in April.

croissants, leisurely visits to medieval hilltop towns, a little painting, and wonderful laughter.

• Becky Elwell Axelrod took time to recollect her formative years, and gives credit and gratitude to Northfield for teaching her the skills and dignity that she needed to enter the workforce.

Becky lives in Essex, Mass., in her ancestral home. With this residence came lots of history and stuff to sift through — how wondrous that she has been able to read family letters from the Civil War era! But the best part of moving to Essex is that her two daughters and grandchildren live nearby … a grandmother’s dream. Singing and acting remain Becky’s avocation and, in June, she sang at the reopening of the Essex Town Hall. She also performs in plays — in January 2017, she played the Herald in a musical version of Rumpelstiltskin. • Kathy Childs Jones and Kathy Marsh got together to visit a special exhibit at the Harvard Art Museums. While they had planned to hear Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg speak at Harvard’s commencement the previous week, the cold, wet weather altered their plans. Attending Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts is another interest they share. • Barbie Keith’s band, the Stone Coyotes, celebrated the release of their new album, Sally in the Doorway, with a concert in Northampton, Mass., in May. Joining Barbie were her two sons, Doug Tibbles Jr. (lead guitar) and John Tibbles (bass). • Mary Howard Callaway wrote, “Although my husband, Jamie, and I downsized from a grand parsonage to a modest apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and gave away many boxes of books, I stubbornly kept my Northfield yearbooks and some notes from Mr. Hathaway’s Old Testament class. In December [2016], my study of ‘Medieval Reception of the Prophets’ was published in the Oxford Handbook of the Prophets. I am still teaching at Fordham, including introducing freshmen to the Aeneid, which was introduced to me by Miss Horn in Latin IV. Scholarship has changed radically, but the solid foundations and intellectual excitement are still with me.” • Sadly, Lynn Burnett Ebert’s husband passed away

a year ago. She has retired from both her positions at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and with the local Special School District, and she’s ready to venture forth. Lynn’s daughter has two children and is the head of a local high school’s foreign language department.

Lynn’s grandson is studying at Illinois Wesleyan College and her granddaughter is in high school.

• When Faye Lavrakas retired, she told us that she planned to travel … and travel she has! In preparation for a trip to Ireland and Scotland, she studied the history and culture of the countries for six months prior to her departure.

I suspect we’ll hear more about her adventure in the next class notes. • Pam Street Walton and her husband, Ken, got away from the New Hampshire weather twice last winter. They spent a month in Coronado, Calif., returned home, flew west again to San Francisco, and then on to four of the Hawaiian Islands. While on Coronado, they had dinner with Don and Sue Delaney McConchie. In San Francisco, the Waltons met with Nancy Corner Sutton, who graciously served as their tour guide. They just missed Lynne Schneider and husband Dick in Hawaii, who had just returned to the States.

Lynne and Dick will be moving full time to the Big Island! • Elizabeth Saunders Dutertre, cousin of Bill Saunders, spent time in May 2017 on her sister’s “Funny Farm” in Georgia, playing stable boy and enjoying the horses. While there, she attended her oldest nephew’s wedding. The service’s pastor was a Biblical Baptist who invited the bride and groom to braid a three-strand cord because “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). One strand was gold for God, one was violet for the groom, and the third was white for the bride.

The bride did most of the braiding, but the groom finished it and tied the knot. • We are people who do too much. And since you do so much, I hope that you will complete two additional tasks. First, think about all you do and send me a few comments that I can share in the next class notes; second, send some coinage to our class scholarship fund. If you can do only one additional task, send the money. • From Bob: Clint Smith was in London working on a human rights project and visiting friends. He and his wife moved to Michigan this year from the Middle East, where they’d been living for 47 years. • Dan Snodderly celebrated his birthday, as well as Bastille Day, in Paris this past July. • Peter Weston wrote, “I finally retired from U.S. Trust, Bank of America, after a 45-year career.

Looking forward to doing more fly-fishing, bicycling, and maybe traveling.” • Alida and David Rowe continue as co-pastors of their church in Fairfield, Conn. Their family includes a lawyer daughter in India, a daughter at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign

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Service, a son who’s an arborist, and another son earning his master’s. David will have a book of faith-based short stories self-published next year. In the past year, he and Alida have traveled to Florence, Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. • Dave Mensel provided a correction from the last issue of NMH Magazine: “Anne and I travel in our motor home, not our mobile home. There is a difference, especially here in rural Tennessee.

Had the pleasure on one such motor-home venture, into the Smokies back in April, to have lunch with Karla and Dave Roth. Both looked great and as young as ever. We are about to enter into a new phase of life as son John is marrying a delightful gal with five daughters.

This will give us six granddaughters, a delightful, if unexpected, prospect.” • Dick Ball joined a large team with UBS for additional support and eventual retirement. “Team arrangement and wireless mobile applications already allow extra time away from the office,” said Dick. “Chloe and I have our eye on the Cape for possible retirement. Exact location is a work in progress. Flying every week, mostly weekend junkets, visiting friends. Golf, reading, and the house consume most of remaining time.” • Clif Cates encourages all of us to help others enjoy the blessings of an excellent liberal education by supporting the Class of 1964 Scholarship Fund. • Phil Sargent still lives in Maine and does not see leaving to become a snowbird. He loves skiing and snowshoeing in the winter and spends most of the summer cruising the coast of Maine. He renewed his 100-ton USCG master’s license and teaches a navigation course for Yarmouth Community Services. Phil has had three arthroscopic knee surgeries in the last two years and a hip replacement in September 2016, but was on the ski slopes come January. His two daughters are married to wonderful men and he has three grandsons (ages 3, 6, and 7). Phil rented a large camp on a private island in Casco Bay last summer for a family vacation. Other travel adventures for the Sargents have included Ireland, a South African safari, and national park visits to Bryce Canyon, Zion, and

Linda Burden Tokarski ’65 (left) and Susan Brunnckow Oke ’65 at Sacred Concert weekend.

Yellowstone. • Jim Ault wrote, “Still down the river from NMH in Northampton, Mass., working on documentary film projects: [subjects include] the homeless and poor in Asheville, N.C., Esperanza’s exemplary educational work with underserved kids in North Philly, and the life of Zimbabwe’s gospel music legend, Machanic Manyeruke. Son Henry ’11 is sailing the waters of the tech industry in San Fran.” • As always, write soon and send money. — Easty

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Northfield Mount Hermon Wendy Swanson-Avirgan wsavirgan@aol.com • Henri Rauschenbach henri.rauschenbach@gmail.com www.northfieldmounthermon65.com From Wendy: Elinor Livingston Redmond shared the following tragic news, “I am very sorry to tell you about the most challenging experience of my lifetime. Our daughter, Susan ’90, took her own life on March 12, 2017. She was a beautiful, smart, loving woman, and we miss her terribly. I have found being as open as possible is the best way for me to go with this.” Deepest condolences on behalf of the class to Elinor and her family. • We also extend condolences to Linda Ames Nicolosi, whose husband, Joseph, died in March; Donna Blodgett, whose father died in June 2016, after his 100th birthday; and Linda Burden Tokarski, whose husband, Joseph, died in July 2016. • Abby Ayers Bruce and I met for dinner in April. Abby and Steve had a wonderful concert celebrating their 20th year with Con Brio; Steve is the director of Con Brio and Abby is lead soprano. They had a very successful tour with Con Brio to Portugal and Spain in 2016 and are planning an exciting tour to Croatia in May 2018. Singers and applauders are welcome to join the trip; contact Abby if you’re interested! • Susan Brunnckow Oke and Linda Burden Tokarski represented our class in the Alumni Choir at Sacred Concert. Susan wrote, “It was a lot of rehearsal, but lots of fun.

It was nice to be in the Auditorium and NMH will have use of it for perpetuity for some events. All the choirs fit easily in the loft, unlike our days.” Susan enjoyed reconnecting with Cindy Kidder ’62. • Linda Burden Tokarski’s husband died suddenly in the summer of 2016.

We send Linda our deepest sympathy. She joined in the nationwide January 2017 Women’s March and said, “Hartford, Conn., was great: 10,000 marchers — men, women, old, young, teachers, wheelchairs, walkers. Peaceful and energizing.” Other classmates who participated in the march around the country were Penny Ackley (Phoenix), Ellen Anthony (Boston), Meredith Gilbert Ellis and Barbara Lanckton Connors (Denver), Margo Margolis and Beth

Zelnick Palubinsky (D.C.), and yours truly, Wendy Swanson Avirgan (Stamford, Conn.).

About 5,000 marched in Stamford — a moving and uplifting experience and sign of hope. • Robin Burroughs wrote, “I had my first opportunity to display six of my paintings, a bucket list item since I began painting four years ago.” Robin will travel to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam for her 70th.

“Retirement has been a wonderful new chapter,” added Robin. • Esther Coe Williams, Coco Pratt Cook, and Beth Youngs Lindeman enjoyed a mini reunion in Punta Gorda, Fla., in March. • Jan Finney Schilling and her husband went on a western Mediterranean cruise in September. Back home in Tennessee, they love having their children and grandchildren live nearby. • The Schinlers are moving to Minnesota to be closer to family. Holly Gamble Schinler shares, “Son Nick and his wife, who live in Minneapolis, had a baby girl in December [2016]. Daughter Erika and her family moved from San Diego to Minneapolis in June. So this seemed a good reason to move — to see our grandchildren growing up and have two adult children nearby. Daughter Joanna and her family still live in New Hampshire. While exciting to move to a new community, it is also sad to be leaving so many wonderful friends behind.” • Perry Hay Huntington and her husband, Greg, went on a walking tour in Cornwall, England, in the spring. “I did some consulting work as an expert witness,” Perry said. “It was a very large commercial dispute, perhaps interesting only to the parties and to me, but I enjoyed it. And I’m enjoying retirement, too!” • Emily Huntington Bailey still works in a private clinical psychology practice in Cambridge, Mass. “Love my work and my colleagues,” wrote Emily, “and find it hard to imagine retiring any time soon.” Emily considers herself lucky to be surrounded by family; her grandchildren live nearby, so there are never-ending birthday parties and graduations. Emily still sings in a chorus and remains healthy, traveling when she can. She’s also in close touch with Barbara Lanckton Connors, Anne Wheelock Sedgwick, and Molly Hinchman. • Deb Kiendl McLaughlin shares, “I am currently recuperating from my fourth joint replacement. I had fun at the Founder’s Day meet-up here in Portland. Met several folks of our generation, though not in our class. Also had fun talking to some much more recent grads and hear what they are doing, including one young man who is helping Portland and other cities develop bike-sharing programs!” Deb stays active with gardening, reading, solving crossword puzzles, taking walks, and caring for her Maine coon cat. • Barbara Lanckton Connors has changed jobs from coordinator to

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From left: Beth Youngs Lindeman ’65, Esther Coe Williams ’65, and Coco Pratt Cook ’65 in March 2017.

consultant at Front Range Community College.

• Pamela LeClair-Rogers is doing a lot of caretaking of her mother and cooking for her daughter, who is pursuing her nurse practitioner courses full time. Pam spent September and October in the Little Compton area of Rhode Island. • As this is a big birthday for many of us in the class of ’65, several gathered in August at Ellen Lougee Simmons’s home in Rockport, Maine, for a mini reunion and birthday celebration, and the group included Rachel Rikert Burbank, Candace Reed Stern, and Cynthia Gilbert-Marlow. • Charlotte Lucas Small wrote, “My husband, Dale, and I are enjoying retirement in Kittery Point, Maine. We celebrated Dale’s 70th birthday last September [2016] with a trip to Scotland from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye to Orkney. Our son and daughter are admirable adults, and we have a 4-year-old granddaughter.” • Judy Mintie Scollay and Rich Scollay celebrated the wedding of son Stuart in August. Judy has been working on a bunch of quilts and vegetable gardening. She spent a week at a genealogy conference with her cousin.

Rich is still doing work for Habitat for Humanity as well as volunteering at a local library working with their 3-D printers. • For most of the winter, Bevinn O’Brien was laid up for three months with a lung infection, but she’s since up and about again and is busy selling books. She adopted two brother kittens named Simon and Schuster from the local refuge league. Bevinn had a wonderful breakfast with Beth Zelnick Palubinsky and Elinor Livingston Redmond last year, adding that it’s always fun to see them. • Judy Preble Miller wrote, “I had a whirlwind visit with Joan Milne Bischoff in the Charlotte, N.C., airport in April on my return home from a visit with a friend on Cedar Island.

Given all the security at airports these days, Joan went to a great deal of trouble to get into an area where we could meet and have lunch. It was great to see her and hear about her grandson, Oliver, and the rest of her family. I am plugging away at my usual activities: work, church, tenant’s association, concerts.” Judy took a Rhine River cruise from Basel to

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Amsterdam in early July with her college roommate and the UCLA Alumni Association. • Pris Prutzman went to Paris for her 70th! She’s teaching a conflict resolution course at SUNY New Paltz. She also had dinner with Penny Ackley and Lynne Mixner in Provincetown. • Living in Dallas for many years, Candace Reed Stern spends each summer in Maine. “It is hard to settle into life in such a big city without the benefit of a job, children, or college friends and other social connections,” said Candace, but adds, “Things finally opened up, and I’ve met some wonderful people. I want to thank Abby Ayers Bruce for connecting me with Ann, who has become a delightful friend. What kept me sane during our early years in Dallas was my work as founder and editor of Green Meadow Waldorf School’s alumni magazine (our daughter’s school). After 11 years as editor of the magazine, I turned over the editorship to a terrific new editor. Later this fall, Richard and I will travel to Japan. I send warm wishes to my dear Northfield friends.” • Peggy Tillinghast Wright plays organ in church, props up a summer home, hugs her 1-year-old grandson, and either giggles or rages at what she reads with her husband. • Ilene Fennoy was listed in the New York Times as one of the “Super Doctors” in New York. Congratulations, Ilene! • Nan Waite wrote, “I have decided to try another Macy’s parade this coming Thanksgiving — my 13th as a clown captain. And I continue to clown as Dr. Loosi Goosi at Stamford Hospital with our clown group, the Health and Humor Associates (HAHA).” Nan enjoys teaching ESL through Literacy Volunteers and works with students from around the world. • From Henri: I recently traveled to Washington, D.C., on some business and had a great dinner with our former president of the Student Council, John Stinchfield. He lives outside of D.C. and spends a lot of time up in North Country in the summers.

A true gentleman! • Speaking of North Country, John Stinchfield again joined Peter Barber, Peter Ticconi, Tom Lemire, and Mark Boeing in the wilds of Canada for a week of fishing at Reserve Beauchene. They followed John Clark into the woods. Stinchfield caught the biggest bass, Lemire the largest lake trout, Ticconi the widest walleye, Barber the prettiest pike, and Boeing the most splendid splake. • Warren Ayres, our class historian, has decided it’s not such a great idea to simply retire, so he is phasing out over a five-year period. He hopes to travel more with his wife and work at the piano.

Warren says, “Only three more years to the 55th!” • Jamie Bennett lives on a hobby farm in Ojai, Calif., and is the president of the Ojai Music Festival. • Norman McLeod is retiring as rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock, Vt. He and his wife will move to

Newport, R.I., where they hope to write. • David Stone is now our class advocate. His role will be to keep our class informed of news at NMH, plans, and projects. He will be in touch with all of us through email.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jean Penney Borntraeger Wheeler theinn@ferrylanding.com • Frank Sapienza sapienzafc@cdm.com From Jean: As our reunion committee was updating contact information, we discovered that many of our classmates are not regular users of electronic media. So it is especially important for you, dear classmates, to send me the news of your lives to put in the wonderful print edition NMH Magazine! I always look forward to having it arrive in my mailbox on my island. • Our Reunion 50 Weekend last June, many stories were of the transitioning of our lives from one phase to another, often career changes or retirement that is rewiring for another life challenge. • As Anne Zimmerman and Barbara Tweedle Freedman’s Cornucopia Journeys grows, they have been having a wonderful time planning trips for NMHers from the class of ’66 and other alumni. Mallory and Dave Agerton were the first classmates to contact them for planning their trip to Tuscany in the summer of 2014. The Agertons stayed near Siena, where Mallory painted and explored Tuscany and Florence. In 2015 Anne and Barbara planned a wonderful trip to Tuscany for Barbara Hazard, companion Lynn, and two friends. They stayed in the Chianti countryside and drove the back roads to find perfect painting and photography opportunities. They made it to Anne’s house in Mugello, north of Florence, for a memorable lunch under the gazebo. Lois Lake Church and husband Allan also made it to Anne’s for lunch during their journey through Tuscany in July 2015. After having spent time in Florence and Chianti, they made time to take in Mugello with its wilder mountainous terrain.

• Fresh from a few months at their orphanage in Tanzania, Susie Rheault and husband Gil

Chris Taylor ’66 (left) and Steve Ollove ’66 play golf almost every week.

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Williams hiked and biked through Puglia and Salento, the heel of Italy’s “boot.” • Katie Aldrich and her husband, Rick Lind, traveled to Italy in September, starting in the Cinque Terre, continuing to Siena, and crowning their trip in Florence. • Visit Cornucopia Journey’s website, cornucopiajourneys.com, to find out what services Anne Zimmerman and Barbara Tweedle Freedman offer in their personalized travelplanning business. (Italy is not the only destination they organize — they also arrange cultural activities and travel to Greece, Crete, France, Budapest, and even New England.) • Jim Weiss planned a family gathering at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire in July for his 70th birthday. The festivities included his two grandchildren, Cabot and Olivia, along with two daughters and sons-in-law. Some of us joined Jim for a hike at Acadia National Park 10 years ago to commemorate his 60th. Time has flown! Some of us are remaining in that seventh decade for a while, and others are entering their eighth — a perfect time to keep in touch with those old friends from Mount Hermon and Northfield. • Chris Anderson has been spending time at a vineyard in the Napa Valley —the one where her son, Aaron, is a consultant. My husband, Gerald, and I planned to visit when we were in California this May visiting our son, Justin Borntraeger ’98, but the days filled up, and we drove to and from Oregon along the coast instead! Sometime soon it would be fun to have a gathering of NMH ’66 in San Francisco. Anyone willing to work on that idea? • Many of us were touched by the realization during reunion last year that we are wonderfully comfortable with those old friends who shared our lives in dorms, classes, sports, and music, our teenage growing up, our joys, our angst, our discovery of ourselves, and our growing toward our futures. We found that we are involved in our communities and devoted to making the world a better place, following the examples set for us by our dedicated Northfield and Mount Hermon teachers and staff, who were led by the mission set out for the schools 150 years ago. • From Frank: A merry contingent consisting of Jennifer Stevens Dunmire and husband Steve, Suzie Steenburg Hill and husband Clifford, Jack Clough and wife Ann Steiner Clough ’65 all attended the Founder’s Challenge Victory Party hosted by alums Sam Calagione ’88 and Mariah Draper Calagione ’89 at Doghead Brewery in Milton, Del. A tour of the brewery and great food and beer were enjoyed by all.

• Lois Lake Church and Suzie Steenburg Hill attended and sang in May’s Sacred Concert. • Dave Edsall had a serious neck injury, but is fortunately recovering well. He writes, “I broke my neck — three bones on a cross-country ski trip. I went into a tuck and my pack shifted, throwing off my balance. My head took the full force of

Awards competition. Congratulations, Yusuf! • As for moi, Frank Sapienza, I skied the Aiguille du Midi on Mont Blanc in France with nine other guys and one woman. Our guide roped us together for the first 300 feet and kept us away from crevasses. Quite an adventure.

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From left: Suzie Steenburg Hill, Jean Penney Borntraeger Wheeler, Jim Weiss, and Barbara Hazard caught up last year at class of ’66 Reunion 2016.

the fall. I tore my dura (cover around the spinal cord), but fortunately no spinal cord damage.”

He expects to fully recover and was hoping to still swim in the World Masters Championship swim in Budapest. Dave’s daughter, Kysa Edsall Crusco ’94, had placed second in this event with a one-hour swim of 4,790 yards (40–44 age group). Bob Bruce also swam this event and placed fifth, with 4,275 yards (65–69 age group).

• Chris Taylor and Steve Ollove play golf almost every week. They discovered that they had houses two blocks apart in Tucson. • George Glassanos is also up for some more golf and would like to get the guys together for another round at the Crumpin-Fox. If George’s golf drive is anything like his slap shot, watch out.

• Jim Weiss and wife Nancy moved from their spacious Victorian with adjoining quarters to a condominium and are making the adjustment.

Hopefully, Jim will continue to make those delicious chocolates we’ve enjoyed at reunions.

• Hugh Bache had a serious heart valve issue.

As of this writing, the doctors will be operating on Hugh soon. We’re all pulling for you, Hugh. • Peter Fulton, always entertaining and a great leader of our class, wrote, “I’ve finally decided what I want to be when I grow up. I’m a member of the board of the Actors Studio of Newburyport and writing verse dramas for its black box theater. Many thanks to NMH, Jim, Jean, and all of you who have helped me over the years to get here. I would not have made it without you.” • Bill Douvris is retired and quite prolific in Facebook. He has a ski lodge in North Conway, Mass. I’ve been meaning to stop by and visit. • Two works of fiction by Yusuf DeLorenzo have been published by online literary magazines: “Nat Rat Anthems,” published by apt a literary journal (apt.aforementionedproductions.com), and “Following Ravi Shankar,” published by Right Hand Pointing, issue 11 (righthandpointing.net). Both of Yusuf’s works are still available to read online. Yusuf continues work on his series of historical crime novels set in Algiers—three of them have been selected as semi-finalists in the Royal Palms Literary

Northfield Mount Hermon Donna Eaton-Mahoney dmeato@outlook.com • Dana L. Gordon mounthermon1967@comcast.net In June, it was our turn to be the guests of honor at reunion as we celebrated our 50th. For a complete list of ’67 attendees (107 names), visit www.tinyurl.com/NMH67Reunion. • There were some notable absences, too. Helen Fowler served on the reunion committee and participated in the planning for several years leading up to the event, but underwent spinal surgery weeks earlier. • Maddi Lenagh had the best reason imaginable to miss our 50th reunion. Her granddaughter, Cato, was born in May. Maddi said, “I have to admit; I got way too much credit for the photo editing in the yearbook. During the critical period of the workflow, I was in New Zealand for a month. So the lion’s share of the credit goes to Joel Bartlett.

It’s been fun to collaborate with him and to share our love of photography.” • Mark Blaisdell also had a major family event demanding his attention: the wedding of his daughter, Amy, at a seaside ceremony in coastal New Hampshire. • Lissa Perrin missed reunion due to a three-week trip to the Sacred Valley in Peru with her partner, Dale. They went to a healing retreat outside Pisac for two weeks doing shamanic journeying and other healing practices, then had nearly a week on their own to spend at Machu Picchu and the ruins outside of Cusco. • Jonathan Prince has lived in Sacramento for the past 40 years and plans to retire soon from the State of California, where he works in health services. He has two daughters in their early 30s. Since he already had plans to travel east during the summer to see one of them in the Air Force in Florida, as well as to attend a memorial service for his mother, who passed away at age 100 in Maine, a second cross-country trip to attend reunion just wasn’t in the cards.

Jonathan has been playing acoustic guitar, and performs for kids at his church and plays gospel music at a rest home and a county juvenile hall weekly. • Max Millard’s Led Balloon Jug Band had prevented him from attending past reunions. But this year he came and enjoyed hearing other people’s music while connecting and reconnecting with so many classmates. Max said that he will remember most the class memorial ceremony, in which we rang a chime for those who will never return to the campus.

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Among those being memorialized at the ceremony were Peter Henwood, whose wife sent word that he had died on 11/15/16, and Lenny Rankin, who died on 4/21/17 — only weeks before reunion. • Offspring of former faculty Robin Whyte Reisman, Jim Baldwin, and Jim Archibald were invited to cut the ribbon at the dedication of Northfield House at 67 Mount Hermon Road, the faculty residence donated to the school as a reunion gift from our class. • One of the highlights of reunion was a concert performed by Will Ackerman, with the able accompaniment of Jim Baldwin, exclusively for our class. Will is a renowned musician and a skilled raconteur. His repartee was as enjoyable as the music itself. During the show, Jim told this story: “At our reunion 25 years ago, Will, my roommate from junior and senior year, handed me our 245 North Crossley room key, saying, ‘Here. You keep it for the next 25.’ I saw the key in a drawer from time to time and eventually it made it to the glove compartment of my truck.

In March, I had dinner with Will. Once we were seated, I pulled the key out of my pocket and handed to him. ‘Your turn,’ I said. We agreed upon a shorter period going forward. Flirting with both optimism and pessimism, we landed on five years.” • The NMH Golf Tournament was held at the Crumpin-Fox Club near campus during reunion. Bob Turner and Gary Barnes represented the class of ’67. The scramble format kept the play very relaxed — the alumni staff had it well organized. This was Bob’s first time back for reunion and he found it to be a wonderful weekend. • “It was so good to return to NMH and spend time with the old gang,” exclaimed Ross Mason. Reminiscing was the order of the day during meals in Alumni Hall with Jim Johnson and Will Melton, among others.

Ross enjoyed the 30-mile bike ride, but felt the

competition was lacking. Even the young guys had trouble keeping up with a 67-year-old Hermonite. • Sheila Morse had fun facilitating the “Rewired, Not Retired” discussion at reunion, which included good stories, questions, ideas, and observations. “Good conversations and encounters throughout the weekend! What a great group of people. And so many inspiring moments, particularly at Convocation,” said Sheila. • Before heading back to Tanzania, Trish Watson Bartlett and husband John took some time to put the slides and commentary from their reunion presentation on combating AIDS in Africa into a short paper. Trish had rich experiences at reunion, and many with people she had not seen or really known before, and feels we are very lucky to have such a fantastic class. • Lois Robinson Eddy retired in May from supervising student teachers from Syracuse University. She is still working as the director of Women’s Life Ministries for her church, helping to organize Bible studies and mentoring groups.

She and Bob have three daughters and four grandchildren, and they enjoy spending time with them in the summer at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Bob recently retired, and they are still trying to decide what direction their post-retirement will take. • Irma Simonsuuri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon loved reunion and the many powerful emotional connections for both of them, and the topper: the greeting we class of ’67 members received as we marched into Memorial Chapel for Convocation. Following reunion, Irma and Gene drove from Brattleboro to Waterbury, Vt., then over to Gorham, N.H., and south to Bretton Woods. They took the Cog Railway to the top of Mount Washington under sunny skies. Then it was on to the home of Bonnie Parmenter Fleming before flying to Helsinki and on to

The class of ’67 remembered deceased classmates at their reunion’s memorial service. Photo: Liz Savas ’10.

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Irma’s summer home in the Baltic. • Nancy Crothers and Nancy Hemmerly recently renewed their East Gould friendship and traveled to reunion together from their respective homes in D.C. and Pennsylvania. Nancy H. especially enjoyed getting to know Ann Haigis Banash and hearing about her service to the Greenfield and Gill communities. Nancy H. thanks Jeff Leighton for his sensitive discussion about caring for aging parents. After caring for her former husband until his death last year, she is now caring for her 90-year-old mother. Her joy is her six grandchildren and three children, who have grown into interesting adults. • Judy Boice has offered to host a mini reunion on Florida’s Gulf Coast in February 2018, to go along with the get-together that annually takes place on the Atlantic side each March. Jean Walker has volunteered to co-host the Florida Gulf side mini reunion with Judy. To be kept up to speed on either Sunshine State gathering, drop a line to Dana Gordon at mounthermon1967@comcast. net. • Catching up on Jean Walker’s life since Northfield: Jean earned degrees in English and secondary education from the University of Arizona. She taught junior high school for five years before marrying and moving to the Detroit area, where she worked in department stores as a buyer and assistant branch manager. After losing her job in a corporate takeover, she did outplacement testing, which revealed her true calling was accounting. She then moved from Florida to Connecticut and studied for her CPA but never took the exam because the job she loved was as a financial analyst. Her employer transferred her back to Florida in 2010. When her division closed two years later, she worked as a membership associate for Selby Gardens. In 2014, she retired to have a total shoulder replacement. She has since had a knee replacement, second shoulder replacement, and is scheduled for a hip replacement. She divorced “ages ago” and lives in Sarasota with her two kitties, who are her “children.” • During a break in reunion activities, Dana Gordon and Donna Eaton Mahoney took a brief side trip to Cameron’s Winery in Northfield, where they encountered Debbie Mayberry, a director of the farmer’s market there. If you happen to be in the area, Cameron’s limited-edition blackberry chocolate-infused wine is worth a stop. • John Mudge summed up our 50th: “It was great seeing and catching up with classmates at reunion, and it was great seeing and learning about NMH today. Fifty years ago we graduated from two good schools. From what I learned about NMH at the reunion, NMH is today one very good school. Now to prepare for the 55th reunion.” • We plan to carry the success of our reunion onward. A challenge has been issued to have more of us present for our 55th than the

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Harriet Scott Chessman ’68 (left) met Bob Schwartz’s (’68) widow, Elizabeth, at a New York City reading of Harriet’s novel, The Lost Sketchbook of Edgar Degas.

class of ’72 can assemble for their 50th. Clear your calendar for June 2022! • Being the go-to place for posting and viewing reunion pictures (thanks to Kendra Davis ’14 for her invaluable assistance) helped grow our class Facebook page to nearly 150 members. If you’re on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/ nmh1967 and requesting membership. You can also keep up with the class at our website, nmh1967.com.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Kris Alexander Eschauzier pkeschauz@maine.rr.com • Peter L. Eschauzier pkeschauz@maine.rr.com • Mark G. Auerbach mgauerbach@gmail.com Our 50th reunion is just around the corner!

Becky Bright Freeland exclaims, “As our reunion grows closer, I hope you are becoming as excited as your committee is to see everyone and share the atmosphere and spirit that we knew so well as teenagers. Our reunion looks to be one that will supply the head, heart, and hands with everlasting memories. Please plan on joining us June 8–10, 2018!” • Reunion co-chairs Becky, Mark G. Auerbach, and Gary Hopson returned to campus in June for Reunion Weekend with committee members Pam Beam, Dave Hickernell, Nancy Alexander Randall, and Jay Ward to plan for next year. The following weekend, Mark and our 50th yearbook coeditors, Cliff Dodge and Hillary Johnson, returned to campus to plan the publishing of a keepsake for all of us. David Wells, our other co-editor, is pulling together your photos and memorabilia for the yearbook. • In other news, Gary Hopson is still with NASA, nurturing and promoting Federal Railroad Administration-sponsored risk-reduction programs, and joined a group of brilliant young inventors as an advisor for developing and marketing safety and medical devices. He and Shelley recently visited Napa Valley; San Diego; San Francisco; Los Angeles;

Essex, Conn.; Marco Island; and the Grand Canyon. “All my friends and brothers and sisters who are part of Northfield and Mount Hermon, please join us for our reunion next year. All the greatest folks will be there, so you must attend to make it complete,” wrote Gary. • Mark G. Auerbach returned to radio as producer and host of a new Arts Beat program on public radio station 89.5 fm, WSKB. • Steve Cole’s wife, Chris, his brother, Graham ’61, and son Andrew ’12 returned to NMH to visit the Cole Family Faculty House and to dedicate a bench placed in Steve’s memory on Chapel Hill. “We gathered on Saturday morning near the bench,” said Chris. “We all shared a story or memory about Steve at NMH. Jay Ward talked about Steve’s time as a member of the class of ’68 and Peter Fayroian spoke about him as a trustee. Andrew then scattered some of Steve’s ashes. We ended by singing the ‘Northfield Benediction.’” • Jean Davis and Susan Donaldson James were among a group of Moore-Daly alums who gathered to celebrate their dorm days. • Cliff Dodge wrote, “After spending some time at NMH working on our reunion yearbook, I was joined by about 25 members of my extended family and friends at our vacation home in Bend, Ore., from which we traveled to Madras, 45 miles to the north, to witness the full eclipse of the sun and celebrate the event with a barbecue.” • James Kiberd starred in the New York production of The Crusade of Connor Stephens (thecrusadeofconnorstephens.com). • Audrey Goldsmith Kubie was named an NMH trustee. She, Adrienne Faison, Lillian Tang, and Ruth Stevens gathered in New York for their annual Hibbard dinner.

• Harriet Scott Chessman toured nationally with her new novel, The Lost Sketchbook of Edgar Degas. In South Hadley, Mass., Harriet was introduced by NMH archivist Peter Weis ’78; Mark G. Auerbach, Jean Davis, and Richard Compton joined Harriet after the event. Ruth Stevens hosted a reading in Manhattan, which was attended by Harry and Alison Ely Barschdorf and Deborah Sliz and husband Alan. Other classmates and spouses met up with Harriet

From left: Adrienne Faison ’68, Ruth Stevens ’68, Lillian Tang ’68, and Audrey Goldsmith Kubie ’68 gathered in New York for their annual Hibbard dinner.

during her tour, including Elizabeth Schwartz and Susan Donaldson James. Harriet also wrote the libretto to Jonathan Berger’s opera, My Lai, which premiered in Palo Alto and Chicago with the Kronos Quartet. Jane Dorer deMilo caught a performance in California. The production moved to New York’s BAM Next Wave Festival in September, and performances are scheduled in Los Angeles and San Francisco next year. For details, visit harrietchessman. com. • Richard Staples was recipient of the 2017 Leadership Rhode Island (LRI) Volunteer Award. “Richard’s dedication to Leadership Rhode Island’s mission is exemplary,” said Mike Ritz, LRI’s executive director. “The last four Core Program classes know him as our talented volunteer photographer. This award is well deserved!” • Ruth Stevens ran into Rick Smolan at a marketing conference in New York City, where Rick was a guest speaker. Ruth made a visit to Easter Island before teaching for a week at San Andres University in Buenos Aires in June. She returned to Hong Kong to teach for the fall semester. • Becky Schrom Lamb writes, “Larry and I went to Africa for three weeks at the end of June. We are looking forward to NMH 50!” • Visit our “NMH68 Alumni” Facebook Group for up-to-date class postings.

It’s a closed group, so only NMH ’68 classmates can visit the page. Join more than 100 classmates who have access.

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Northfield Sue Pineo Stowbridge sue.stowbridge@gmail.com This year’s NMH graduation and reunions are history, as is a mini reunion at the home of Alice Wimer Erickson in Marblehead, Mass. As we head toward our 50th, please drop me a note if you gather with old friends, and get in touch if you would like to know how to find “old girls” in your area. • I heard from Martha Blankinship Ide, who says they still enjoy life in the “NEK” (Northeast Kingdom) of Vermont. She is semiretired but, “This term makes my family and friends roll their eyes.” She dabbles in part-time contracts, fulfilling her commitment to community nursing. Despite many years in her school-nursing career, Martha enjoys part-time employment in other areas of nursing, volunteers at their small gem of a library, and serves as a trustee on their hospital board. She is happy that these things keep her local. “No more statewide/national work!” Husband Rob is very busy as commissioner of the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, but finds balance meeting the needs of their 12 acres, utilizing the many features of their large Kubota tractor. Martha reports children, Jake (41) and Betsy (39), are married to amazing partners and are both living nearby. Jake’s girls are 9 and 7, and Martha

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spends a few days a week with Betsy’s baby son.

Beyond fun with the family, they like to travel, including getaway beach time in the winter and visiting Maine seacoast island property.

Last summer, Martha spent some time with Sheryl Powers Kropp and says, “It felt like we had never been apart — a blessing to enjoy ‘us’ and a 52-year friendship.” She and Rob welcome visitors, adding, “Reconnecting with old friends is a great way to entertain.” • Congratulations to Jacqueline Caldwell Finch for being awarded the 2017 Woman of Faith Award by the women of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. • After a Maine snowstorm in early April, Chris Fleuriel was reminded of Jacqueline Caldwell Finch “asking if it would snow after spring break in 1967, and then we had snow on May 25!” Chris was the guest on a radio program (WERU) in early March, speaking about how to find reliable health information online.

She received the Cairns Distinguished Librarian Award from the Health Sciences Libraries and Information Consortium due to that appearance, plus an article in the Portland Press Herald. Daughter Shoshana graduated from Syracuse and is planning on grad school in Israel to study counterterrorism, and son Sam still lives and works in Burlington, Vt. • Margie Hord Mendez reports that her dad, a World War II veteran (RCAF radar technician), died at the age of 95 last year. Though her parents lived in New Brunswick, his ashes were buried in Ontario on his birthday in June 2016, next to his parents’ graves, with a Scottish bagpiper playing. A year to the day later, her mom died this June after only a day in the hospital. Lois Borden Hord ’40 was 94 years old. • Travel keeps Jean Kirkpatrick Lederer and her husband, Gary, busy now that they are retired. When she wrote, they had recently returned to Florida from a trip to California, where they visited their younger son and his wife, as well as the John Muir Woods National Monument and Yosemite Park. • Still working long hours as vice president of business development for RipeConcepts, Mary Moebus Yedlin expects to work another two or so years, but says retirement looks pretty interesting.

Daughter Schuyler graduated with her R.N. from Westminster College in Salt Lake City and works in the ICU of a children’s hospital taking care of the wee ones, following her passion, and horseback riding in her free time. Kenzie is a senior at Middlebury with a neuroscience major, art history minor, and an ongoing interest in dance. She is thinking about later pursuing a Ph.D. Mary usually visits with Marty Deevey Bodach in Barre, Vt., after dropping Kenzie off. • Loving retirement and life on Cape Cod, Sheryl Powers Kropp traveled to NMH in May to attend the dedication of the Bolger Early Childhood Center. Torrential rain did not dampen spirits

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as the group viewed the facility and playground, spacious and well suited to the nurturing of “little ones.” Sheryl reports that NMH Head of School Peter Fayroian thoughtfully mentioned that donations had been made in memory of Sheryl’s husband, Peter — a former thirdgrade teacher, and near the center’s entrance is a framed list of donors, many of whom are classmates, friends, and family. “Peter would be very pleased,” said Sheryl. Children of faculty and staff, as well as some from the community, attend the preschool, which has been in existence since the 1940s. “Faculty Brat” Dottie Bauer and her brother were among the attendees. Sheryl says that NMH’s commitment to the heads, hearts, and hands of its students, faculty, staff, their families, and its community is strong.

• Becky Rounds Michela finds herself busier than ever, but not because she has retired.

Family, church, school, and interests in Maine keep her thinking and moving. • Becky Shafer Tuuk’s father passed away at 106 years old in November 2016. He resided in assisted living an hour away from Becky, so she was able to spend time with him and enjoy his humor on a weekly basis. He was blessed with a sharp mind right until the end. Since then, she and her husband, Roger, have traveled to Texas, New York, and North Carolina. They’ve enjoyed camping, kayaking, hiking, biking, and geocaching in Michigan, but if all goes according to plan, Becky will soon report on Alaska travels via local ferry services with their two kids. This will be the 49th state they have visited. “Hawaii is in our future,” said Becky. When they’re home, Roger works with a committee coordinating bike path development, and Becky serves on the board of their local Promise Zone, providing students with a free two-year community college degree. Meanwhile, their son teaches the electrical portion of a mechatronics course at the local intermediate school district and is in charge of the FIRST Robotics team. His team has gone to the world competition for several years now. Their daughter is working many different jobs to make ends meet, and is in grad school at University of Denver, working toward a master’s in social work with a concentration in sustainable development and global practice.

Meanwhile, Becky hopes to attend our 50th reunion and welcomes visitors, but be sure to give them some warning! • After a lovely family trip to Hawaii to spend time with daughter Sarajane, MarthaJane Tippett Peck reported that life was hectic with their daughter-in-law, Ania Korpak, receiving her Ph.D. in biostatistics and their granddaughter, Allie, graduating from preschool. Meanwhile, MarthaJane and husband Rob were bouncing back and forth between the graduates’ home in Seattle and their own home in Port Townsend, Wash., and dealing with

various medical issues. • I trust that by the time this column is in print, you will have enjoyed a pleasant summer. It’s easier than ever to reach out to people you remember, so why not put that on your bucket list for the fall? I have enjoyed recent connections through Facebook, having given up swimming against the Facebook tide. Meanwhile, it’s less than two more years until our big party in Crossley Hall. (Check out the clever campus map at nmhschool.org if you don’t quite remember Crossley.)

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Mount Hermon Roland Leong rl99@me.com Joseph Fischbach writes, “The last interesting thing was the birth of my grandson two years ago, Aiden Noah, who has the most interesting gene mix: One-quarter British, one-quarter Iraqi, one-quarter Japanese, and one-quarter Jewish. Other than that, I have completed my five years post-traumatic brain injury recovery, and I’m doing much better.” • Bruce Plotkin sent this, “I returned recently from a trip to British Columbia, where a group of friends climbed and skied in the backcountry for a week.” • John M. Fitzgerald continues to work for the betterment of the environment. He emailed, “I continue to coordinate a challenge in court (visit savethetrail.org) to a $6 billion above-ground commuter train project that would be run largely by dirty coal-fired electricity, clear cut 48 acres of trees, displace the most popular trail in Maryland connecting the D.C. area’s two largest national parks, and unearth 229 hazardous materials sites requiring evacuation plans and routes. We have been successful so far as of early May, but the litigation continues. My domestic partner, Christine, and I were in Paris this spring for a time of family transition, as her mother passed away.” • John Grode writes about issues he’d had with flooding … “Have a new nickname: Flood.

Last year I bought a new 25-year-old beach house in Palm Coast, Fla. Spent the year remodeling to spend my winters there. Came back from Montana to move in October 2016 and, wham, four days later: Hurricane Matthew. The

Bruce Plotkin ’69 in the mountains of British Columbia.

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ocean came in the front door and flooded us out.

About a month later, while I’m still cleaning up from Matthew, I get a call from Montana — it was so cold [there], the pipes burst and flooded my first floor, which promptly froze solid like a skating rink. Don’t know what I’ll find, but I know it won’t be good. On the way to Montana, I stopped outside St. Louis for the night — mainly because of driving rain and guess what?

Local flooding. Found a KOA [campground] on a little creek. Lo and behold, a tributary to the Mississippi less than a mile away. Woke up in the morning to — guess what? Water coming into my RV ... flood! Outside of these little watery mishaps, life is good.” • Rick Stone has been busy developing new story-based programs for health care and businesses. He’s launched LivingStories (visit livingstoriestraining.net) with Novant Health in North Carolina.

The program’s focus is on positive reminiscence with patients, which has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety and enhance coping. Rick loves living in Decatur, Georgia. On the artistic front, he continues to explore digitally designed art, and is now working with HIAS, an organization that assists refuges around the world by offering prints of Rick’s work for free if the purchaser pays for the printing and makes a donation to HIAS. Learn more about Rick’s work at his website, richardstoneart.com. • From Canada, Bill Johnson wrote in June, “The skates are now hung up for the season, finishing off the officiating with a 20-plus-hour weekend of three-on-three hockey for a charity tournament on the last weekend of April, and finishing off the hockey playing in the Big Pro tournament with our local lawyers’ team against teams of accountants, chiropractors, dentists, high school teachers, and doctors in the first week of May. But I am now doing lots of walking and into lots of physical fix-up work around the house, which is keeping me in shape in the ‘off season.’

In retirement, I am now becoming a bit of a Mr. Fix-It around the house, as I do all sorts of repairs, upgrades, and jobs that I should have done long ago in preparation for the wedding of our daughter and all the out-of-town family and friends that will be coming to town. And I am on a special diet to lose at least 20 pounds in preparation for anticipated double hernia surgery sometime this summer. So far I have lost over 10 pounds in a week. I am imagining I will look like a shell of my former self. Fortunately, the double hernias have not affected my physical abilities or activities but the double hernias are becoming more pronounced in appearance.”

• Eight classmates got together in February 2017 in Wellington, Fla., for a long weekend hosted

by Steven Shapiro and his wife, Ellen. Attendees were: Walter Lowe, Brian Bauer, Bob Linderman, Roland Leong, Don Hodgkins, Jon Strongin, Mike

Aisenberg, and Faith Goodwin Hodgkins. • Our 50th reunion is about two years away: a long time away if you’re going to show up, but a short time if you are interested in actively participating in the planning process. A core reunion team has been communicating and meeting since the 45th, but is now hoping to pick up the pace by extending an invitation for more volunteers. If you would like a more prominent voice in making our reunion the best ever, please get back to us with your ideas and the degree in which you are interested in participating. As the diminutive psychic in Poltergeist once said, “All are welcome.”

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Northfield Katherine Truax katetruax@aol.com Always wonderful to hear from classmates!

Remember to check out our Facebook page, “Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) Class of 1970.” Lots of posts and photos! • Carol Ramsey visited with the president and leaders of Thomas Aquinas College, the new owners of the Northfield campus, and was thrilled with what she heard. “They are serious people who are ready to make the investments of time, treasure, and talent to use the campus in a way that honors the original intent and aspirations of Dwight Moody.” The college will operate a Great Books College at Northfield and a Moody Center incorporating the Birthplace, Roundtop, and the Homestead as destination places.

Investments have already begun in the repair and upgrades to the campus buildings. The Auditorium will continue to be used for traditional concerts. As Carol glowingly remarks, “O, Northfield Beautiful!” • Martha Nace Johnson started a new job in New York City as president of a nonprofit, American Corporate Partners (acp-usa.org), which does career mentoring for post-9/11 veterans. The organization manages nearly 3,000 mentorships. Martha stays in a small apartment in the city during the week, where she has set up her quilting studio, and heads home to Annapolis for the weekends to maintain her gardens! • Debbie Putnam Stillman wrote, “Hello to all of you! After raising my three children and owning my own Montessori school, I have been spending the last 35 years between Delray Beach, Fla., and Sun Valley, Idaho.” Debbie has two beautiful granddaughters, Sophia and Ava, living in Idaho, and spends much of her time there. Most recently she opened a small boutique called The Lady with the Alligator Bag, which specializes in alligator handbags! “I have been collecting alligator handbags for 40 years and have now decided, after collecting over 500 bags, to share with the world!” • Sylvia Marshall Bailey and her husband, Dennis, joined friends on a fabulous

trip to Vietnam and Cambodia in February.

“Dennis had been there in 1970 as a flight nurse with the Air Force, so this was a great time to revisit and reflect.” Sylvia was amazed at the growth of the countries, the friendliness of the Vietnamese people, and the wonderful food.

“The Hanoi prison and the War Remnants Museum in Saigon were tough tours — quite emotional — but a must-see.” In January, she and Dennis welcomed their fifth grandchild, Oliver. • Claire Schmidt Jones and husband Richard have traded the congested traffic of Los Angeles for the tranquillity of St. George, Utah, close to the spectacular rock views of Zion National Park and less than two hours from Las Vegas. Claire is a customer service manager and plans to work for a while longer, since her latest assignment includes travel. She was in Denver in May, where she connected with Michael Wilson. Claire asks anyone traveling to Vegas to please connect with her! • Sadly, Linda Jameson writes that her father, William Noel Jameson ’40, passed away last fall. His memorial service was held in Amherst, Mass., in November 2016.

Linda is thankful that her father believed in a Northfield education for both her and sister, Deborah ’67. In spring, Linda had an enjoyable lunch with Morgan Groves in Madison, Wis. • As for Louise Rothery, she is one very active lady! “I thought I was going to retire in January of 2017, but the new job, house, boat, and, most importantly, a new relationship have kept me busy! As executive director of the American Driving Society (horses and carriages, folks — not cars), I am deeply involved in competitive driving from the administrative side, although I do travel to competitions fairly regularly.” In March Louise managed a ski trip to Kitzbuhel, Austria, and then was in a sailing mode, worked on house projects, and finished the summer with a trip to Spain. • Martha Seely is very involved in designing beautiful pieces of jewelry (of which I am a proud owner of a few!).

Martha shared, “With everyone retiring and spending time with grandchildren, I feel out of step since I am just building my business. But I am now getting awards and finding new and unique customers and partnerships.” Martha hopes that when a woman wears a piece of her jewelry, it makes her feel strong, powerful, and beautiful. She and husband Jon celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in October, and will travel to San Francisco and Sonoma to decide if Sonoma Valley would be a good place for the two to settle. Jon, co-founder of Convergent Dental, created a dental laser that replaces the drill, and he travels extensively within the U.S. and Europe promoting it. • Although retired, Enid Sodergren Oberholtzer shows no signs of slowing her pace; she is wrapping up a nineyear term as president of the Choir School of

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Hartford board of directors. The school will be in residence at Ely Cathedral, England. She has led the project through fundraising, tour details, and rehearsing the choir’s repertoire. Enid’s herding lessons are going well for dog Pepper, who loves her geese and is learning to help them follow a course. Enid is halfway finished with a crazy quilt with screen shots from live safari drives in South Africa. Lastly, she writes, “Enjoyed five days with my grandson and stepdaughter at Harry Potter World, complete with casting spells with my wand!” • Kimberly ChaseAdler and her husband, Thomas, are pleased to announce that their youngest daughter, Fiona, married Fabrice Schlegel on Memorial Day, 2017, in Bonnieux, France. The entire family, including their two older daughters and their husbands and five grandchildren, all stayed together for a week in a beautiful villa — the setting for the evening garden wedding overlooking the valley. The groom’s immediate family stayed with them as well, and everyone from the U.S. dusted off their French. The couple live and work in technology in Cambridge, Mass. • Julia Auerbacher Bergstrom welcomed a granddaughter in December 2016 in Milwaukee. • I believe there have been some birthday mini reunions held this year! I would love to hear from you so that I can add this news to our future column. And mark your calendars for our 50th reunion in June 2020.

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Mount Hermon Neil Kiely neil@marketinginmotion.com Peter Huntsman traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to attend a Change of Command Ceremony for his son, Army Captain Andrew Huntsman, who assumed command of the 501st Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Explosives (CBRNE) Technical Escort Company. Andrew is the third consecutive generation of the family to serve. Congratulations to Peter, and thank you for your service, Andrew. • Howard Gilson has been living in Bethesda, Md., since 1994.

During the first eight years there, he worked in the recruiting business; placing professionals in sales and marketing and commercial construction. In 2002, he joined Southwest Airlines and worked at both Baltimore and Dulles airports as a customer service supervisor. In 2006, he appeared on the A&E reality show, Airline, and left SWA in 2010. Howie now volunteers at a local hospital in Bethesda and recently purchased a beautiful home on Cape Cod. It currently serves as a vacation home and summer rental, but will become their permanent residence once his wife, Bernadette, retires. • John Hirsch and wife Susan have downsized once again, selling their home and moving into a loft apartment in a revitalized old mill complex in

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Pawtucket, R.I. • Ever get to Tucson? If so, Skip Hansen would love to hear from you. Although

Tucson sounds like a place you go to retire, Skip insists that is not the case. He is looking forward to revisiting the NMH campus at our 50th reunion. • Eugene “Geno” Ward, the leader of our successful and still-growing mini reunions, has completed a solo 50-mile rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service closes access to the North Rim at the end of October for the winter. Since he hiked over from the South Rim, he was the only soul on the North Rim. Winter was already looming as nighttime temperatures dropped into the 20s.

“All I could hear was wind in the ponderosa pines, the coyotes, and the voices in my head,” said Geno. • Collins Lein has been recommended for an honorary doctorate from Covenant Theological Seminary for his achievements over 33 years of ministry work, the founding of their local church, Christian musical recordings, training of music teams, and other accomplishments. Collins and wife Cheryl continue to work together as a pastoral team. And they are now first-time grandparents. • Collins, Steve Chiasson, and Jim Eckert have been working on a commemorative music CD. As you may recall, Collins and Jim performed at our 40th reunion and attendees were interested in purchasing a copy of the recording. Poor recording quality and royalty issues prevented that from happening. But at our 45th, Steve provided a much more professional recording of another wonderful performance. Songs We Used to Sing CD is now available for purchase. The CD is meant to promote interest in and excitement for our 50th reunion and as a fundraising incentive for our reunion gift. Listening to this CD will quickly bring you back almost 50 years, and you will love it! • Richard Popper was elected chair of the board of governors of the American Contract Bridge League and will serve a twoyear term. • Steve Row is now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Haverhill, Mass., and substitute teaches full time. He’s also pursuing a degree in astrophysics at the University of Southern Maine. He hopes to write a research paper on “quantum loop gravity and its philosophical implications on our understanding of space and time,” according to Steve. • Jan May is the executive director of Legal Counsel for the Elderly (LCE), a public service, nonprofit law firm providing free and reduced-fee legal services to low- and moderate-income older people who live in the District of Columbia. Jan joined LCE as the only staff attorney in 1977, and served many years as managing attorney before becoming executive director in 2002. Upon graduating from Northfield Mount Hermon, he attended Brown University, then Antioch School of Law. • It is sometimes difficult to

recognize classmates who show up at reunion after many years, but add significant weight loss to the equation and it gets even more challenging. Well, be forewarned, as Rajan Batra has lost 55 pounds. Nice job, Rajan! • Mark Carta tied the knot with Darcy McAlister on June 17 at a beach club in Fairfield, Conn. Among those in attendance were Alex Lotocki de Veligost and wife Susan and Dave Ericson and wife Karin.

Congrats, Mark and Darcy! • The 2017 NMH Commencement speaker was 1972 Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter ’65. He had not been back to campus in many years, but agreed to return after being contacted by Alex Lotocki de Veligost. He was a huge hit with all in attendance. • I just completed six years serving on the Alumni Council (Reunion Advisory Committee). It was a wonderful and fulfilling experience that I will miss greatly. It gave me the chance to connect and work with classes on either side of our own, and to share what has and has not worked in our own reunions over the years. I’ve worked with several classes but was most excited to work with the class of ’72 this year. I spent time with John Witty, who was on campus for wife Ellyn Spragins’s (’72) 45th reunion. • I wanted to say how sorry we all are to hear of the passing of Derek Cavanaugh on 1/16/17. He was a great guy, whom I, unfortunately, reconnected with fairly recently because we shared losing a child to suicide. Derek was looking forward to attending our 50th reunion, which makes it even more difficult to process his untimely passing. • You should have received a letter from Carol Ramsey and Alex Lotocki de Veligost about our 50th reunion.

There will be lots to do — the more we have involved, the less intimidating the tasks. Let me know your willingness and availability to get involved, to any degree! Thanks in advance.

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Northfield Cathy Shufro cathy.shufro@yale.edu If you didn’t receive my email seeking news, it’s because I don’t have your current address.

Please send it if you want class notes reminders, and notify NMH of your address change by emailing: addressupdates@nmhschool.org. And you’re invited to join the “N-MH 71” Facebook group. • Leigh Hansen and Janet Bruggemeyer Wilson spent time together on Sanibel Island in the spring. Leigh wrote, “We talked about our 50th reunion and our desire to do something special on the Northfield campus. After all, we are the last 50th [reunion] class.” They hope that everyone will reach out to five classmates on Facebook and encourage them to attend.

Unfortunately, Leigh fractured her hip in early February when she took a misstep and landed on a cement floor. “I’m still working — now for

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IBM Watson — strategy, planning, and marketing for life sciences solutions for outcomes research.” She’s also silversmithing and printmaking while “exploring my artsy side.” • From Waterbury, Vt., Betsy Douglas Ainsworth is an R.N., working with children and helping parents to raise healthy children. Her daughter runs a stable for a therapeutic riding group and has three sons. And Betsy’s son runs the landscape and construction business started by his father. Betsy was singing with the church choir eight years ago when the choir got a new music director, who sings opera professionally.

“I worked up my courage to ask for singing lessons, and a whole new world opened up. I have fallen in love with opera.” She now sings in Gilbert and Sullivan productions and solos in church. “Something I would not have dared to do 10 years ago,” said Betsy. “I have mentally thanked Mr. Raymond many times.” She has been to Italy twice, escorting two girls there to join their mother at a school that works with Americans learning opera. • Becky Drew Guerra lives in Jamaica Plain, Mass., where she is the dean of middle school at Boston Trinity Academy. Becky shares, “I am particularly troubled by the polarization taking place in this country. Reasonable dialogue is becoming difficult around hot topics.” Becky visited Joann Thomas in Atlanta in April, where she saw Joann’s new house and heard all about her grandchildren. A “foot-note” from Becky: “I cannot wear high heels any longer if I want to walk the next day — I finally got rid of all the beautiful shoes that were clogging my closet and crippling my feet.” • “Life is rich with children and grandchildren, here and in China,” wrote Julianne Steuart Johnston. “We are living and working in Boston. I am using all the musical skills I learned at NMH as a working musician, teaching and performing on flute and sax. We got a little cabin in northern New Hampshire, right next to my favorite NMH roommate, Catherine May, and near Anne Winter Forsyth ’65.” • Ellen Bernstein traveled to Spain and Andalusia in May with four students. “I am

Julianne Steuart Johnston ’71 (left) and Catherine May ’71 enjoyed the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

really interested in how folks are thinking about their lives as some of us move into a different stage relative to work,” said Ellen. “I’m eager to throw myself into a new kind of project — hopefully environmental in nature. I’m interested in hearing others’ journeys, and hope we can support each other in this transition. It’s so weird to be seen as old when I feel pretty much the same as when I was 40.” • Claudia Istel retired from teaching last year after teaching math at the local high school in New Hampshire for 30 years. “I don’t miss the 55- to 60-hour weeks, the stress, the politics, or the pressure, but I do miss the students and my colleagues,” says Claudia. She continues with volunteer work and is becoming more politically active. “It’s wonderful to be able to do things that my work schedule prevented, such as attending a 50th reunion planning meeting and singing in the Alumni Choir at Sacred Concert.” Claudia worries about “the negative effects of climate disruption; the lack of respect for journalists and teachers; the increased incidents of hate crimes, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and anti-LGBTQ; and increased economic inequality. On the other hand, I’m amazed by good deeds, good work, and good ideas that are making positive changes in the world.” • Susan Hirschmann attended the Climate March in D.C. in April. She writes, “My kids, all grown now, are very politically aware and not very happy about the outcome of the latest election, so it was really thrilling for them to be in some way a part of history. Since I’m a firm believer that every drop counts, it was wonderful to be part of an ocean of peaceful, dedicated marchers. The girls fell in love with D.C., the weather was perfect, the museums are all free, the Metro is fast and fun, and since I lived there for several years, our visit gave me a chance to share some of my former favorite haunts.” • Carla Clark Liberatore celebrated her 33rd wedding anniversary with husband David in June. She has two sons: Louis (28) and Robert (24). She has spent the last 23 years as a wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch in North Carolina. “I’m a fan of dachshunds,” Carla writes, “and I have two — Buster and Otis — who bring me great joy.” • Penny Weigand Morgan is an executive assistant and grantwriter/coordinator at Bethedsa Hospital in Florida. “We’re a nonprofit hospital, so the grant and fundraising side is quite important given the current state of health care reimbursement,” Penny wrote. She was elected president of the Handweavers Guild of America and spends most of her spare time working on projects for the Guild. “We have a biennial conference, ‘Convergence,’ which moves around the country,” she explains, “We’re scheduled to be in Reno in July 2018. I still enjoy my own

From left: Merrill Mead-Fox ’71, Becky Gohmann Bechhold ’71, and Alison Elliott ’71 gathered at the wedding of Becky’s daughter in West Virginia.

weaving projects, doing some weaving instruction, and working to keep the art alive.” • Jane Merrill Berube is still living near Olympia, Wash., where she and her husband, Vic, care for their 36-year-old son; their son had brain cancer at age 5 and has been affected by the radiation treatments he had then. Since suffering a stroke three years ago, he has needed nurse-level care, 24/7. Jane writes, “Hubby retired in May 2014, luckily — otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to care for our son at home; the nursing home was horrible.” Their daughter loves her career as a physical therapist in the Denver area. “I still teach dance (amazing since I still recall freshman year when Ms. Nabhan called me up to the front of the class to ridicule a dance move I was doing). Anyone who wants to keep up with me can find me on Facebook, and my dance troupe, Mas Uda Dancers, is there as well.” • “After an aggregated 86 years in Washington, D.C., my husband and I are moving to Portland, Ore.,” wrote Laura Lester. “We are looking forward to hiking, being near the coast, and volunteering in the Japanese Gardens.

Before moving, we took a long-anticipated trip to Cuba in January and loved it. I had worked on various Democratic campaigns for the previous 18 months and did not want to be in town for another fur-coat-and-limo inauguration. It was wonderful to have the chance to interact directly with Cuban families, counteract stereotypes, and be in what, for me, has always seemed a mythical place. Though I am fluent in Spanish (and grammatical, thanks to Miss Gilbert!), if you stick to the popular cities, you’d probably be OK with a few basic phrases.” En route to Portland, accompanied by their standard poodle, Ben, Laura and her husband planned to visit Songsri Chang Wong in Connecticut and Aimee Philpott ’72, then take in the “East Coast bucket-list sites” — Bay of Fundy, Prince Edward Island, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Ottawa, and Toronto. • Speaking of Canada, Sally Atwater has been living in New Brunswick for 10 years. “When my husband retired, we talked about going home,” says Sally,

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Theology, Meet Ecology Film producer Deidra Dain ’72 has given voice to a group of monks committed to silence, in the form of a documentary titled Saving Place, Saving Grace, which aired earlier this year on public television stations around the country.

The one-hour film, which Dain calls an “intersection of ecology and theology,” chronicles the environmental turnaround that took place at the Virginia-based Holy Cross Abbey, home to the Catholic Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.

A decade ago, the Abbey’s land was in trouble. Cattle trampling in the fields — which had been treated with pesticides — were sending sediment into streams that fed the Shenandoah River.

Meanwhile, the number of monks was declining and concern was growing about the future of the Abbey.

In 2007, a connection with the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment resulted in a revitalization of the Abbey’s modest business ventures. They started using energyefficient ovens for the baked goods they sold; secured conservation easements for their land; and launched a popular “natural burial” service on the property.

Dain, who’s also from Virginia, worked with several others to develop the film.

“It truly took a village,” she says.

Read more about Saving Place, Saving Grace at picturefarmerfilms.com.

— Kris Halpin

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“wherever in the States that might be (‘home’ means the Southwest to him, but New England to me). Then, last November, we began getting calls and emails from friends who seemed desperate to move up here. Did something happen down there? They all said we were lucky to be in Canada, so I guess we’ll stay.

Besides, I’m almost acclimated to the cold.” • In December 2014, after more than 30 years of operation, Ann Macartney and her husband sold their Adirondack business, Lapland Lake Nordic Vacation Center, to “a wonderful couple” who had been customers for more than 20 years. Ann writes, “The sale was an amazingly positive experience, and the new owners have become very good friends.” The Macartneys have relocated to Canaan, N.Y., and are living in a great home on 20 acres with mountain views, near everything the Berkshires has to offer. “It’s also an easy train ride to our daughter, an interior designer who works for an architectural firm in Manhattan. Would love to hear from anyone living in the vicinity!” • Jane Linker traveled to California with her husband, Terry O’Leary, visiting friends, museums, and Yosemite National Park, which, according to Jane, was beyond outstanding! • Here’s an innovation for our class: an anonymous space for what’s on our minds. Thoughts for this round: anxious about climate change and seeing fewer birds of fewer species; happy to have left full-time office employment before cell phones and the 24-hour workday; concerned about the debt our children have taken upon themselves to attend college and graduate school; worried about the new Gilded Age; why are young people fighting for rights that I thought our generation had won, such as raising children and having a career, and women controlling their bodies?; disappointed that people lack knowledge of and appreciation for the lessons of history; dismayed by the move away from diplomacy and reconciliation to solve problems; wish people cherished nature more.

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Mount Hermon David C. Eldredge d.eldredge@verizon.net Thanks to the initiative of 50th reunion committee member Bill Parker, the class of ’71 had the largest class turnout at Sacred Concert in May. Nan Close Browne, C. John Townsend, Marilynn Acker Ezell, and Claudia Istel returned to campus to join the festivities. John was in the audience while the others sang with students. Claudia recommends to others that they not wait as long as she did to sing at Sacred Concert; she had a terrific time. She enjoyed the variety of music, the use of a practice room in the Rhodes Center, hospitality shown by faculty who let her stay with them, singing in

the Auditorium, and time spent with classmates.

• Bruce Cobb is living in New Hampshire and blowing beautiful glasswork. He supplies his glass to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen shops, and for other shops as far as Hawaii. Bruce also fiddles, playing for contra dances and English and Scottish dances in Watertown, Mass. His partner, Evelyn, is an accomplished photographer and videographer, and the two share a website, jawsa.homestead. com. There are many links to photos, info on music events, and a portal to Bruce’s business, Cobb Glass. • I urge all to visit Bruce’s website — his glasswork is impressive, indeed. In the meantime, please stay in touch, and keep feeding me news!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Karen Beshar Zakalik karen.zakalik@gmail.com Facebook.com/Groups/47624874849 • Tom Sisson 1972NMH@gmail.com From Tom: More than 45 classmates went back to the Hog to celebrate reunion. Check out all the pics and stories on Facebook; search for “Northfield Mount Hermon Class of 1972.” The Shea Family Cottage was a most fitting place for our class, having been donated by Bill Shea and his brother, Ned. Bill and Betsy Compton received the Head’s Award, which was established in 2017 by Head of School Peter B. Fayroian. The award honors alumni, parents, or friends of Northfield Mount Hermon whose philanthropy has had a significant impact on the life of students, faculty, and staff — now and in the future of the school. Thank you, Betsy and Bill, for all you do for NMH. Save the date for our 50th reunion: June 2022. • On Friday at Reunion 2017, the class of ’72 produced three separate alumni classroom presentations by filmmaker Deidra Dain, statistician and scholar Eric Van, and a panel of writers that included Elizabeth Corcoran Murray, Robert Riesman, Ellyn Spragins, and Robin Smith-Johnson. Thanks to Dee Dee Higgins Nuanes for organizing this! • Deborah Henderson lives in Bow, N.H., and is a preschool teacher at the Woodside/St Paul’s School Children’s Center in Concord. • Rett Reed still lives in Salisbury, Md., and is an aircraft dispatcher with Piedmont Airlines, which is now owned by American Airlines. As a dispatcher, Rett works to safely move 2,500–3,000 passengers to their destinations every day. • Steffani Bennett Vogt lives half the year in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. “My husband, Jay, and I are going on a five-month trip around the world beginning December 15,” said Steffani. • This fall will be the beginning of Will Matthews’s fifth year as an adjunct professor of finance at Northeastern

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University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, where he teaches entrepreneurship to incoming first-year students, micro- and macroeconomics, and real estate finance to both undergrads and graduate students. • Hope Kaltenthaler Belanger moved to Savannah, Ga. In August, she began her 33rd year with the same firm, CDM Smith. Work keeps Hope busy, which includes lots of travel. • Dave Terrie has been married to Linda since 1984, with two grown and healthy kids, and he’s been retired for three years. Dave and Linda have lived in El Dorado Hills, Calif., since 2001. Dave hiked the John Muir Trail to the top of Mount Whitney in August. • Hilary Herrick Woodward and husband Eric are looking forward to his retirement from 35 years of designing homes on Long Island.

They did a retirement “practice run” in 2013 by cycling across the U.S. from Washington State to the east end of Long Island. For four months and 4,000 miles, they carried everything they needed and their only responsibility was to find food and a place to sleep every day. Loie Williams and her husband, Wayne, joined Hilary and Eric for a week in Montana. • Nick Biddle lives in Brattleboro, Vt., with Gayle Weitz, mother of Naomi Weitz ’12. They own the art gallery Artrageus1, in downtown Brattleboro. Nick and Gayle spend three months a year in Ecuador, tending a house and avocado farm. • Sieg Freed is still practicing ophthalmology in Colorado.

She is a senior scientist on research teams at the University of Chicago and MIT. • It was great for Steve Whitney to catch up with classmates at reunion and see what is going on in their lives.

It reminded him how much he missed by not being more active with alumni affairs. • Toya Doran Gabeler thought it was wonderful to see some old friends — in particular, Becky Sydney Collette, who hasn’t been back since our 25th!

Toya spent time traveling in Argentina and Peru earlier this year. Toya’s summers are spent between Mattapoisett, Mass., and Los Angeles.

This fall, she is considering a trip up the Amazon and to Edinburgh, Scotland. • The last five years have been challenging for Christina Schoen, which have included the deaths of both of her parents, handling their estates, going through the college-selection process with her daughter, the complete renovation of her house, trying to finish the landscaping, and changing jobs. So, the next five years hopefully will be more fun! • Tom Riegelman and his wife made the decision to move closer to their kids, who were both living in the Denver area. So, they put their Indiana home on the market, Tom left his position, and they purchased a beautiful piece of land in Golden, Colo., in April 2015. Their daughter, Claire ’02, lives a bicycle ride away, and they will again see their Australian son, Alex, at Claire’s wedding in the fall. • “The fact

that I’m 62 years old seems radically ridiculous, not to mention that Trump is currently the president,” wrote Bonnie Schwarcz Kurtz. “I remember like it was yesterday being 13 years old back in 1968, leaving for Northfield Seminary for Girls, the sister school to my brothers’ boarding school, with eager anticipation. I met my husband back in college, but NMH followed me there as well! Steven still remembers the first time he saw me on campus with my short dungaree skirt and long hair.”

Bonnie spends her days with her adorable integrated special-education pre-K class, and husband Steve heads an amazing team out of New York City, helping children with severe anxiety issues. • Jim Keller lives in Brooklyn and runs a music publishing and management company, working with Philip Glass, Tom Waits, and others. He continues to play regularly with whatever band of local New York players he puts together. Over the years, Brian Winthrop, Nick Biddle, Margaret Sieck, Crispin Philpott, and David Eldredge ’71 have attended Jim’s music gigs. • Chuck Powers serves as a ruling elder and organist/pianist for Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Schenectady, N.Y., and as rehearsal pianist for Burnt Hills Oratorio Society. By day, he is still a project manager for New York State’s Information Technology Services. • After working in social work for 20 years, Elizabeth Corcoran Murray returned to school for her passion: writing. She teaches writing at Seattle Central College and does book signings around the country for her memoir on personal transformation herding goats in the mountains of France, A Long Way From Paris. • Ken Bartlett is captain of the 40th-anniversary all-star Division 1 University of Vermont lacrosse team. He and his wife, Kim, have become “empty nesters.” • It has been an eventful year for Frank Brewer, with multiple visits to the cardiac/cath lab, trying to stay out of there for the rest of the year. He is still volunteering with the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association, National Fallen Firefighters Association, and Wreaths Across America. • Gwyneth Jones Radlof still enjoys retirement on Baltimore’s harbor and volunteers at the National Aquarium, sings in a choir, plays hand bells, and participates in two book clubs. Her younger daughter, Chrissy, organized a family tour of Salt Lake City and various national parks and canyons, culminating in the Grand Canyon.

During the summer, Gwyn was preparing for her oldest daughter Katie’s wedding in Savannah, Ga. • The private equity group that Dwight Bowler manages, Black River Partners, has been acquiring, operating, and selling hydroelectric plants since 2005. The company acquired several plants in Wisconsin this year; they annually produce enough power to light

about 25,000 homes. • Richard Wanlass has written Bouncing Back: Skills for Adaptation to Injury, Aging, Illness, and Pain, published by Oxford University Press and available on Amazon. He continues to enjoy his rehabilitation neuropsychology work at University of California-Davis Medical Center, but not quite as much as he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren. • Lee Goodman retired from the Navy and Raytheon. He has one grandbaby, and three kids at Columbia grad school, Washington University grad school, and William and Mary. Lee volunteers at an animal shelter and at the local hospital oncology floor. • Margery Stick McCrum recovered from some long-overdue surgery that put her out of work in integrative medicine for 10 weeks. She also teaches and sings professionally, most recently as soprano soloist in Brahms’s Requiem. • Arthur Motch spends time between New Orleans and Cincinnati with a new fixer-upper cabin on Orcas Island, Washington State. • Ben Hansbury and his wife, Deborah, live in Mattapoisett, Mass. After a 35-year career in sales and marketing, Ben is looking forward to retirement and spending more time on his yacht in Florida.

• Even though Robin Dawson only spent her senior year at NMH, she still remembers Tom Sisson’s blond hair and boyish smile. (“I haven’t changed!” — Tom) • Richard Taylor retired as superintendent of Grand Isle County, Vt., public schools. Since then, he has been consulting and enjoying his family (five grandchildren) and life on the lake in Vermont. • Stansfield Smith has three daughters and two grandchildren. He taught English as a second language for years to immigrants, and spent a great deal of time working to free “the Cuban Five” political prisoners, whom President Obama freed over two years ago. Stansfield is now retired and works to publicize the exemplary gains made by the people of Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, and Bolivia. • Channing Harris shares the good news that the “class of ’72 broke all our records with a Best-in-School first place: Class Gift to the NMH Fund of gifts and pledges totaled $171,257, $46,000 above our goal. Deep and heartfelt thanks to the more than 90 of you who gave!

This kind of support can help the school in a meaningful way.”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Heather Blanchard Tower smtower@comcast.net • Bill Stewart billstewartnmh73@gmail.com From Heather: Next summer is our 45th reunion, so start making plans to return to reconnect with classmates and the beauty that is Northfield. • Sacred Concert was very moving this year. In the midst of all that has

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happened in politics, there is still hope that we can live together in harmony. We just have to work harder now and be open to all sides of the issues. The students sang beautifully, bringing this hopeful message to us. The alums joined in with their hopes as well. If you haven’t come back before, consider next year as a preparation for reunion. • Mark DeGarmo continues to make his mark in the New York City dance community, as he carries on his tremendous outreach to students and adults. He still dances himself and is a force in the arts community. • I’m still looking for more from you! It’s time to keep us all up to date with your lives, so we can reconnect in meaningful ways next June. • From Bill: Sheila Woodson Horine wrote, “Our three daughters are working on being fully independent. My husband is looking forward to retirement, and I am just keeping on with volunteer work, mostly raising money for philanthropic efforts in land conservation, improving the lives of women and girls, western North Carolina, and for NMH through our class.” Sheila and her husband took a trip along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Miss., to Nashville, Tenn. • Tom Schmidt’s daughter, Mary, will graduate from Cleveland State in December. She had previously earned a two-year degree from Brigham Young University. Mary hopes to study abroad for her graduate work in psychology. Tom has decided to retire from private industry and run for a seventh term as Twinsburg Township (Ohio) trustee. “I would like to devote all my time to public service,” said Tom, “and to help develop programs locally to increase Head Start school attendance and job retraining for adults. I plan to cruise back east often to visit Messrs. Moss, Voos, Campbell, Peter Allenby ’74, Barnard, Goelz, Scott, Acker, and others. I hope NMH alumni will look me up in Ohio if they visit this area for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Pro Football Hall of Fame. See you at reunion!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Peter Allenby peterallenby@gmail.com As many of you know, I (Peter Allenby) have landed the plum assignment of ’74 class notes scribe for a couple of issues of NMH Magazine.

Stephanie Gerson will be back soon, I promise!

• Lyn Tranfield Bennett’s son, Christopher, graduated from Drew University in May with a degree in theater. Now that there are no kids left in school, Lyn feels gratitude for her children’s achievements and for no longer having a college tuition bill; of sadness for no longer attending plays, musicals, and concerts in which either child performed; and reflection for what is next on the horizon. Her daughter, Vera, is working for Design Negative as a special-effects coordinator. In the move to what is next, Lyn bought

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a road bike and hopes to get into a routine, reaching 100 miles. • Meredith O’Dowd Adams and husband Ed live in Middletown, R.I., and went sailing in Bermuda last spring. Meredith wrote, “Two hairy fronts with 6-to-9-foot waves gave us little sleep in our little 39-foot boat. But we made it!” Stormy weather offshore was no match for Meredith and Ed, thankfully! • Ned Craun, also living in Rhode Island, got together with Tom Howes as they caught up on their kids’ comings and goings. Ned also ran into Dave Jones at last year’s Christmas choral concert in Newport, where Dave was a guest vocalist.

“I’ve been in touch with a bunch of folks from the ’70s, trying to drum up interest in the new [NMH] boathouse project,” said Ned, “and it’s been great to hear what they’ve been up to.”

Doug Creed spent his summer in Vienna as a visiting Fulbright professor, and Guy Hutt is enjoying numerous outdoor activities in the Rockies. If anyone would like more information on the boathouse project, please feel free to contact Ned at nedcraun@gmail.com.” • Everett Smith lives in Connecticut, has been married for 35 years, and has three grown children.

For the past five years, he’s been building a successful investment firm, GoldenSet Capital Partners (goldensetcapital.com), which invests in sustainable infrastructure. “We focus on clean energy, waste, and water-related projects and assets,” explained Everett. “Lots of fun and keeps me way too busy.” Everett added that he was sorry to lose his old roommate, Bob Scott, last year. • Carolie Parker lives in Los Angeles and teaches art history and humanities at L.A. Trade Tech, a large community college in central Los Angeles. In 2016, Carolie published a collection of her poetry, Mirage Industry, through What Books Press; the volume is available on Amazon. Poor Claudia, a digital journal out of Portland (poorclaudia.org), published a selection of Carolie’s poems in spring. • George Kiefer and his wife, Wilma Bachinski Kiefer ’75, live in Grand Rapids, Mich., and love spending time with their grandchildren — their mother (their older daughter) lives nearby. George and Wilma’s son lives in Los Angeles and their younger daughter lives in Washington, D.C. Wilma is a retired teacher and still works with young students via Montessori Model United Nations, while George leads an avionics business segment for GE Aviation and has retired from the Navy Reserve. They love island-time getaways and have traveled to such places as Bonaire, Honduras, and Cozumel. “We get back to the East Coast periodically to see Wilma’s family in Northfield and look forward to seeing the NMH campus again,” wrote George.

We’ll see you both at Reunion 2019! • Writing from Florida, Anne Lawrence Sallee shared, “In late April, I wrapped up our Excellence

in Education Gala, the eighth annual, for our chapter of the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association! We hosted 500 members of the local hospitality community for an entertaining evening, where we gave out scholarships and awards to worthy students, teachers, and schools. In our local community, I partner with the county school board administration, 24 high schools, and an average of 5,550 students per year, planning their next step into a possible career in some aspect of the culinary and/ or hospitality world. While all this excitement was keeping me occupied, our gaggle of grandchildren grew to six thanks to two new additions in February! We have decided to leave south Florida and head a bit north. This will put us closer to our Florida kids and grands, and provide a bit of additional incentive for our Yankee family members to come see Poppie and Mia, and visit Mickey!” • From Natick, Mass., Ginger Hinman McEachern writes, “I am one of three artist/owners of Five Crows Gallery and Handcrafted Gifts in Natick Center. The shop is in its 16th year and represents the handmade work of 150 regional and national artists.

When not in the store, I continue to grow as a watercolor painter and mixed-media artist.”

Ginger’s husband continues to work 9-to-5, but retirement is “on the horizon, and we can’t wait.” Her elder daughter, Molly, lives in Boston and is employed by her alma mater, Lesley University. Like her mother, she is also an artist.

Ginger’s younger daughter, Sarah, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from St. Lawrence University and studied for a semester in Australia. • Kevin Cunningham is a lawyer in public finance in Philadelphia, and although he likes the work, he plans to retire in a few years. His son, Nathaniel, lives in New York and is an equity analyst for a securities firm. Kevin’s daughter, Rachel, graduated from Tufts in the spring, and daughter Emmy is a junior at Penn. “I like to get to Block Island now and then for vacation,” wrote Kevin.

“Hope to see some NMH friends at our next reunion.” • Gail Doyle Ratte of Ridgefield, Conn., wrote, “Having ‘graduated’ from a career in the pulp and paper industry, I am looking to launch my own business either later this year or early 2018. It will be focused on helping seniors (classically defined as age 55 and older … sorry, team … that includes us!) downsize and move (called Senior Move Management). In the meantime, I am recovering from a hip replacement in late March, which my kids blame on too many years spent mowing my own lawn. Hoping to make it to Nantucket this fall for an annual reunion of friends with whom I have historically played in a Labor Day all-doubles tennis tournament.

The weather is always unpredictable, which adds to the spectacle. Regardless, surfcasting for bluefish is always entertaining, and dinners are

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nothing short of epicurean magic.” • In the summer of 2016, John Dimeo underwent surgery for a skin tag removal, and a biopsy revealed cancer.

A week later, the surgical site hemorrhaged, requiring a four-hour emergency surgery. A month later, John began chemo and radiation.

John is fine. However, he would like to consult with an attorney concerning his surgical care and asks that anyone with connections to a competent injury attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area to contact him (please email Peter Allenby for John’s email and phone details). • “It has been a year of physical and emotional challenges,” shares Cricket Swenson Perry, “My husband passed away on 2/12/16. The day before he died, I fell in my house, breaking my shoulder in two places. I was in the hospital for five days, and then seven weeks in a rehab center. I didn’t find out about my husband’s death until three weeks later and the funeral was over. I am learning a lot about upkeeping a 19th-century house by myself, and my dogs continue to provide much company. I always was a country girl at heart.” Cricket, our hearts go out to you! Your classmates send you much love and support.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Veronica Froelich Adams veronicafadams@gmail.com From Carrie Roantree Ahlborn: After raising two children in Baltimore for several decades, Claudia Desantis is now in Westchester, N.Y., near to where she grew up in Manhattan.

She was a writer for many years, mostly for women’s magazines, but she has been teaching English, Latin, and Ancient Greek for the past 20 years — first at Gilman School in Baltimore, Md., and now at Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y. She says she would love to get in touch with Sarah Phillips Pember and Catherine Chermayeff if they happen to read this! • Rob Farley wrote to us from Pembroke, N.H., that his wife of 23 years lost her battle with cancer in 2005. He remarried, to Gail, in 2011. He said that having three daughters of his own was not enough, so he married into two more, and now has five beautiful daughters (along with a couple of grandchildren), who are spread all over the globe. Rob and Gail bought a 1780 (non-working) tavern, and learned that it was formerly a stagecoach stop and part of the Underground Railroad. Rob retired in 2014 after 25 years of public safety service with the State of New Hampshire, but he serves in his former role doing special projects on a part-time basis. He is also happily testing the limits of his woodworking skills. Rob and Gail also enjoy their family vacation home in Nantucket, Mass.

• After retiring after 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and then a few years working in casinos, Wally Womble moved on to the Department of

Energy in Las Vegas. He now works for the Air Force as a civilian and is the postmaster at the Air Force base in North Yorkshire, England.

His older son is a motivational speaker with CoolSpeak and a dream director with The Future Project, currently assigned to the Bronx Collegiate Academy in New York. His younger son is a substitute teacher in Las Vegas and will graduate in December with his M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction, with a concentration in social studies. Wally and his wife of 34 years are enjoying their fourth tour in England before retiring (again) to their home in Henderson, Nev., in a few years. • Kate Hamlin Wehrle is still working in politics. Currently, she is the district director for a New York State fifth-term assemblywoman, working out of the Watertown, N.Y., office. • John Robinson completed his Ph.D. in communications last year, and the last of their four kids is off to college in the fall. John and his wife recently finished placing their latest litter of springer spaniels. • After graduating with a degree in photography and journalism, Ruth Lapin began her career as a video producer working primarily in fashion and cosmetics and as the co-owner of Chelsea Garden Center in New York City. In 2000, she also founded Ruth Lapin Events. She loves planning events of all kinds, particularly gay and lesbian weddings.

Given all of her experience in video production and the garden industry, it was a logical transition after planning all of her children’s bar mitzvahs and the weddings of family and friends. Her business initially focused on corporate events all over the world in places such as Oslo, Tokyo, New Orleans, Berlin, and San Francisco. However, following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, she traveled to Haiti twice to bring food and supplies and helped to raise much-needed funds for several organizations focused on alleviating the suffering there. She continues to produce at least one event a year to help NGOs that benefit the children of Haiti.

Ruth is very connected to New York City and she writes a column about New York City for Israel’s largest financial newspaper. • Ruth and Ilene Feldman Steele had a blast in London with their husbands. Ilene has her own company, Ilene Steele Jewelry, which launched a line of unique and very distinctive rings and earrings.

You can find more info on her jewelry business on Facebook.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Susan Loring-Wells susanloring@me.com • Joe Mcveigh joe@joemcveigh.org From Joe: My son, Nathaniel (13), is an eighthgrader who enjoys running, fencing, and playing in his middle-school jazz band. For the first time in many years, I managed to make it back to campus to sing in Sacred Concert in May 2017. It was great to be back in the Auditorium and hear a mix of alumni and student voices raised in song. Dave Belletete and Matt Kennedy were also there to hear their daughters, current students. Dave and Matt are active on the NMH Parents Council. • Although it was not our year for reunion, Nina Tufts Seidman came back to NMH for reunion weekend to hang out with friends from the class of ’77. • After NMH, Terry Allen attended Bard College, but left before completing his degree and served in the Navy from 1980–1984. Terry became a member of the Catholic Church in 1998, for which he blames (or credits) the writings of G.K. Chesterton. He has worked in a number of blue-collar jobs, including 15 years driving long-haul 18-wheeler trucks. Like many of us, he has taken time off to care for aging and infirm parents. Quoting the Grateful Dead, Terry says, “What a long, strange trip it’s been!”

He currently resides in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. • Here are some greatly abbreviated highlights from Peter Parker’s voluminous posting on our

Adam Saffer ’76 diving in the Red Sea in Egypt.

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Mark Bidwell ’76 racing at Steamboat Springs, Colo.

class Facebook page. Over the 20 years after graduating from NMH, Peter has lived all over the U.S. He wrote, “The gypsy gene suddenly went dormant, and since then I’ve lived in Fair Oaks, Calif., with my wife Rosalie (married 32 years).” Stepson Phaelen and his wife, Crystal, live 20 minutes away with 1-year-old granddaughter, Sierra Maria. Daughter Sharma, husband Alex, and grandchildren Maya (10), Fiona (7), and Aidan (4) are even closer. After starting off in radio, then pursuing clinical psychology, Peter trained as a Waldorf teacher and taught elementary school and art for 11 years.

In 2000, he ventured into sales, becoming a realtor, and is working on extending his business. He hopes to be the “Newman’s Organics” of real estate, using profits for good. Visit our class Facebook page to read more of Peter’s musings. • Mark Bidwell skied in the giant slalom championships of the National Standard Races (NASTAR) in Steamboat Springs, Colo., in March. Up against some stiff competition, he finished 13th overall in the team competition for his age group. Mark wrote, “I didn’t come back with any hardware except for a bronze in the Friends Team Competition. I did, however, come back with some amazing memories.” Mark competes regularly during the winter for the Onondaga Ski Club near his home in Syracuse, N.Y. • Adam Saffer and wife Alison are working for the United Nations in Egypt, focusing on developing the country’s agricultural export sector. Adam is learning more than he ever thought he would about fresh and processed pomegranates, artichokes, strawberries, and the big kahuna — tomatoes!

He’s is also doing a lot of diving in the Red Sea, playing squash, and playing guitar in a couple of rock bands. Adam and Alison welcome NMH visitors, so if you are passing though Cairo, let them know! • Chris Kraus has rekindled a friendship with Melissa Totten on Facebook, where they’ve reminisced about rowing, Moby Dick, and other things. As Chris’s parents both approach their 94th birthdays, she’s doing more and more driving up and down Route 91 to be with them. Daughter Eleanor has finished her

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first year at Haverford and spent the summer with a paying internship at the library there.

• After 12 years at Westat, David Bernstein has left to start his own evaluation consulting firm.

Daughter Jia attends the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. David lost his father last year at the age of 92. • Mark Anair shares news that his 14-year-old son, Victor, received two fouryear hockey scholarships from the University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University.

Mark’s son, who trains in hockey every day, is fast on his way to U.S. hockey leagues, international tournaments, and, perhaps one day, the Olympics. • James Norton died on 11/13/16. He was leading an overnight Boy Scout hike on the Appalachian Trail in the White Mountains when he suffered a heart attack. James left behind a sister, Laura Agarwal; his wife, Jamie; sons Christopher (21) and David (17); and his mother, Bettina diStefano Norton ’54. James worked as a construction supervisor and served in the Marines for four years. He and his family lived on a 13-acre plot of land in Acton. He was proud of the fact that they were able to live off the grid, having a natural love for the outdoors and wildlife. In addition to scouting, he was active with the Acton Minutemen, who represent the town in parades, battle reenactments, and civic events. His sister remembers him as someone who quietly showed kindness in a very loving way. • Robert Tischler died on 3/3/15 in Ann Arbor, Mich. He grew up in Durham, N.H., and received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of New Hampshire. He later moved to Michigan in 1993, and worked to receive his M.B.A. from University of Michigan.

He is survived by his wife, Tammie; children Dannielle, Justin, and Alden; along with grandchildren, a brother, and his parents. He was described as a kind and gentle man. Robert took great joy in working with his sons on restoring his Lotus Elan, a 1960s-era sports car. • Kimberly Moulton died on 12/28/14. She lived in Chatsworth, Calif., and taught martial arts in a studio owned by her husband, Ken Nagayama, in Burbank. Kimberly held black belts in karate and tae kwan do, which was unusual for a woman in the 1980s. She was fearless, focused, and hard-working. With her infectious smile, Kimberly inspired her students to work hard and strive for excellence on and off the mat. • We would love to stay in touch with you. Please make it easier for us by making sure we have your current contact information. Send NMH your current email and postal address by emailing addressupdates@nmhschool.org; consider opting to make your information sharable on the NMH online community and on the NMH Connect mobile app; and join the NMH Class of 1976 Facebook page. We are happy to help you connect with old friends — just email us and if

we’ve got their contact info, we’ll be glad to pass it along. • We would love to see our class make a difference to the school of today by increasing our financial giving. Many thanks to all of you who respond generously to those letters, emails, and phone calls to help us meet our goals for dollars and participation. Keep it up!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Anne Howson ahowson@rics.bwh.harvard.edu Our class celebrated its 40th reunion on campus in June. It was a wonderful weekend! For all of you who could not make it, you were missed!

• From those who came to reunion — Neil Johnson shared, “So happy to see all the folks that decided at the last minute to show up, even just for an hour or two. So many others I would love to have seen. Did the Pie Ride with Sarah Clarke Stuart, Fred Trefeisen, and John Spence, and ended up meeting a bunch of folks from other classes while out. Great new tradition; I’ll be back just for that. Let’s get together again soon.” • Joanie Kaplan Williams wrote, “Reunion was great, and we all decided that five years is too long to wait to get together, so we have to set up interim mini reunions. Thanks to all who have been sharing the pictures, and thanks to Paul Crowder for scaling the tree before Grace and I went up. Thanks to Judge for being the most prolific picture taker! My only request for five years from now is to get us a cottage instead of third floor Crossley! Who will dare take us on in softball?” • From Jeffrey Aliber: “Our 40th reunion was a love fest of sorts, celebrating a time when we 14- to 16-year-old teenagers left home for NMH boarding school to arrive in a place where, depending on the day or week, we were friends, siblings, classmates, lovers, and rivals in competitive sports, academics, and more. It wasn’t the big marker reunion of 25 or 50 years, yet we felt compelled to reassemble.

Amazingly, each celebration finds our numbers growing and our conversations changing. Gone is any sense of the divides of long ago that sprang up between campuses (Northfield vs.

Mount Hermon) or the ‘cool’ crowd (Hayden

Roommates 40 years ago and now: Carol Hills Brewster ’77 (left) and Sarah Clarke Stuart ’77.

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dorm vs. everyone else). There was little talk of spouses or significant others, careers and money, or material accomplishments. Instead, conversations ranged from spirituality, love, and children, to the impact the school and values of NMH founder Dwight L. Moody have had in our lives. We expect the number of reunion attendees to grow in the future, even as we process the increasing loss of classmates. But our mini reunions are already being planned.

We have all come to recognize the importance of community — a place where your home does not denote a country, a city, or even a campus, but the people and values you have embraced.” • Adam Handler was thrilled to see so many return to the 40th reunion: “Balancing the merriment was our experiencing a Circle of Remembrance, a poignant reminder of all those who have passed away from our class, where we shared our memories of them. On Saturday night, 3:20 a.m., I was pleased to help close down the dance floor with ‘Young Folks Party’ with Mike Chou near Overton.” After closing his ad agency, Adam is now consulting and freelancing with advertising, marketing and development communications, and creative direction and strategy — everything from renaming/branding a major nonprofit to launching a Midwest commercial real-estate group. He also sings in a Danbury, Conn., madrigal group. Adam encourages the rest of us to please try to join a committee and/or contribute to our next reunion in 2022. • And from those who were not able to come to reunion: Sarah Williams Goldhagen was bummed to miss the class reunion. She published her new book, Welcome to Your World, in April. She and her family have been preparing for a yearlong trip around the world, which she says promises to be an incredible experience.

If you want to follow Sarah and her family’s adventures, she will be posting on Facebook and Instagram fairly regularly. • Max Hartshorne was also sorry to miss the reunion. “I have been enjoying life as a travel editor for Gonomad.com, where I am publishing people’s travel stories every day and working with great interns from the University of Massachusetts. This year I spoke at two major travel conferences on travel writing and visited Washington, D.C.; Denver; Japan; Manchester and London, England; Grand Manan Island in Canada; and lots more.

My daughter, Kate Hartshorne Cosme ’98, got married in the big house she bought in Northfield, Mass., so I’m getting to know that small town better when I visit my grandchildren (8 and 11).” • Bill Elliott had to miss our reunion due to a trip to Niagara Falls with his family.

He and wife Nancy bought their dream condo in Tierra Verde, Fla., near a hidden lagoon on waters of the Gulf of Mexico — they have two or three families of manatees that visit each

Beth Graden Rom ’78 met the Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain and ice hockey star Sidney Crosby and his Stanley Cup.

morning. There is plenty of kayaking, bicycle riding, swimming, playing tennis, and going to the beach! “We still have an extra bedroom, all ready for guests,” says Bill, “so if anyone needs a place to set up camp, let me know!” • Christine Simpson moved to Savannah, Ga., for her husband’s new job — and she loves it!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Carrie Niederman thedoc@txequinedentist.com • Cathy Abraham Hopkins cathy.hopkins@gmail.com Greetings from north of the border! This will be the last class notes update you’ll receive before our 40th reunion in June 2018. I hope you’re going to come and celebrate ’78 and all that we were and are. • Guy Clark survived a brain tumor in 2004 and as he learned to walk and talk again, he slowed down and reevaluated his life. He retired to upstate New York and worked on an old stone house while helping to rescue horses in need. In 2010, Guy starred in a reality show in Sweden, which can be seen on YouTube (Allt för Sverige, series one)! It proved to be a hit and also led to Guy discovering lost Swedish relatives, getting product endorsements, commercials, an internet talk show, and a TV Christmas special in 2014. “It was a very odd experience that turned into a never-ending blessing!” In 2015, Guy married fashion designer Harrison Morgan and they moved to Palm Beach, Fla. Guy continues to do some interior design in New York City and Palm Beach, and you can catch him on NBC’s Open House. He looks forward to our big reunion next year. • Paul Montague and Edna Armstrong Montague have settled into life on the Big Island, Hawaii. They produce most of their own fruit and vegetables and have installed a solar electrical system, with their house now totally off the grid. Paul continues to work for the Kahalu’u Bay Education Center. He wrote,

“Edna is doing the lion’s share of caring for my mother, Claire (former NMH faculty). Claire is doing well and still plays her violin with a local band here in Ocean View. Our son, Jim ’08, is about to finish his Ph.D. We won’t make it back for reunion, but would love to see anyone visiting Hawaii!” • Peter Lubeck retired from the U.S. government last December after 30 years of service. “I spent the last 20 years working for the U.S. Department of State as a special agent in the Office of Inspector General,” wrote Peter.

“In January 2017, I started a business — PAL Trading — where I buy and sell antiques and collectibles. I have a lovely wife, Sue, and two children, Matt (21) and Allyson (17). I look forward to attending the 40th reunion next year.” • I’m so grateful to our beautiful Beth Graden Rom for organizing another epic mini reunion this past April in Sewickley, Penn. — her neck of the woods. Beth shares, “Since our 30th reunion, several of us decided we didn’t want to [wait to] see each other every five years. We have met once, sometimes twice, each year. I was thrilled that Cathy Abraham Hopkins, Brooke Laffan Ciraldo, Wendy Mauser ’79, Lesley Snelling, Joe Sternlieb, Richie Miller, and Kyle Warendorf visited Sewickley. It was great fun being together, lots of laughter and love; our longtime bond simply grows stronger. We will carry on with this tradition, maybe to Asheville in April 2019, where George Pappas can host us. For now, we look forward to being all together for our 40th.”

• Unfortunately, I won’t be at reunion, but I’m going to try to Skype in at some point. I will be running my eighth Comrades Ultra Marathon in South Africa on 6/10/18, and am so sad that I will miss everyone. I set a goal of running at least 10 Comrades, and 56 hot, hilly miles doesn’t get any easier the older I get, so I need to keep at it.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Paige Relyea Lehman Paigerelyea@Yahoo.com • Cary Liebowitz Bonosevich Bonosevich@Hotmail.com From Caryn: Brad Will and his wife, Sari, have been living in their Kingston, N.Y., 1900 Victorian house for six years. Their two foster children, Haylee (10) and Kevin (7), have lived with them since December 2016 and have been “an absolutely amazing addition to our family,” said Brad. “We don’t know how long they will be with us. Even when they leave, we will always be their second parents and hopefully experience the joy of following their journeys through life.” Brad ended his brief career as a city alderman. His company, Ashokan Architecture & Planning, has been busy in upstate New York designing an eco-hotel, an Irish cultural center, several churches around the Hudson Valley, and a bagel shop and wine

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bar. Brad joined a fun mini reunion at Dave Ehrenthal’s place in Concord, Mass. • After

spending almost two years in the U.S. and experiencing some great adventures, Seth Longacre is now looking for work back in Africa. Some of Seth’s adventures have included visiting national parks in the Southwest, being trained as a wilderness rites-of-passage leader, visiting family and friends in Florida, visiting friends on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, learning to build Earthships (a type of passive solar house made of natural materials) at the Earthship Biotecture Academy in New Mexico, and later putting his new skills to work building a demonstration Earthship in Indonesia. Seth also cycled 555 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles as part of AIDS/LifeCycle ride in June.

• Jennifer Baker Warren opened a coffee shop, The Coffee Wheel, in Santa Fe, N.M., while still keeping the “day job.” Her daughters spent most of the past year traveling the world — including 15 countries. “I don’t get back east often, and when I do, I’m usually visiting family, but I think of my years at NMH with great fondness and am looking forward to our reunion in 2019,” said Jennifer. • Mark R. Wetzel wrote, “I recently finished my term as a member of the [NMH] Board of Trustees and am happy to tell you that the school is in good hands with Peter Fayroian and the current administration. The school has tremendous momentum in the marketplace and many exciting projects in the works. I encourage you all to reconnect with the school and see all the great things that are happening.” • Speaking of reconnecting, put the first weekend of June 2019 on your calendar for our 40th reunion! Join our Facebook page, Northfield Mount Hermon Class of 1979, to stay connected and receive reunion updates as the time nears. • As for me, Caryn Bonosevich, I moved to Rhome, Texas.

It is so good to see my husband, Len, every day instead of a few times a year!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jack Farrell jack@jackfarrell.org • Antony Pang aa1105@yahoo.com • Lynelle Kucharski lynelle@lynellekucharski.com • Kristin Kellom kkellom@nmhschool.org From Lynelle: Hi, fellow centennial class graduates! Over the summer it looks as if we were all doing a lot of traveling; watching our kids, nieces, and nephews graduate from high school/college; and even seeing some of them marry! This I gather from Facebook posts and brief conversations with people. Of course, send info anytime to me, Jack Farrell, Kristin Kellom, or Antony Pang, so we have more great

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stuff to write about! • John Mason walked the El Camino Francés in Spain toward the goal of Santiago de Compostela, all the while sending back fabulous photos of the trail! • Janet Weed Breen visited Greece and then followed her musical idol, James Taylor, with Bonnie Raitt on their ballpark tour: Nationals Park, Wrigley Field, and Fenway. I had plans for Fenway, too, since it happened to fall on my birthday, and I planned to meet with Janet and Karyn Ginsburg for a gathering. • I saw Jae So again in D.C., where she graciously hosted me and made Bossam — a Korean dish that was the bomb!

We are trying to gather the 1980 France group together, so contact me if you went to Arcachon that year! • I was also lucky enough to get out to California during the summer to visit college friends, but next time I go, I’d love to see any of you NMH folks who might like to get together!

• Looks like Anne Shepard’s been doing a lot of great mountain biking; Chris Lindstrom Schaeffer continues to take beautiful photos; Jane Cunningham got to spend her birthday with Catherine “Cuppy” Howe Gordon this year; and Ann Titcomb has been running various road races! • If you didn’t already know, Lydia Perry Weis now works in the advancement office for NMH, along with Jeff Leyden and Kristin Kellom.

And I’m sure they’d love to hear from us, too!

Wishing you all the best fall has to offer!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Frank Chandler frank@thechandlers.com • Marina Colman marinacolman727@yahoo.com • Lilian Blacken Hannapel lilhannapel@gmail.com • Class of ’81 Website: www.nmh81.us Gordon “Chip” Cantley wrote, “I currently live on Shelter Island, N.Y. Moved back with my son, Gordon Z. Cantley, almost four years ago.”

Chip had lived in Winter Park, Fla., for 25 years, where he raised his two children, now in their twenties. Married twice, he was widowed by his second wife, Kristienne, in 2009. “As we all know, life has to go on,” said Chip, “so I packed it up from Florida [and] moved to Shelter Island, where I grew up.” He is now a headhunter in the financial advisory field, and for fun in the summers, he works on a couple of boats off Montauk and has become a professional tuna fisherman. Chip adds, “Life is short. Be happy; money is highly overrated. Being happy is where it’s at. Shoutout to all my friends: Owen Jande, Tom Poole, Eric Ladd, Kate Notman, and Peter Freeman (God rest his soul).” • We have an NMH Class of 1981 Facebook page and over half of our classmates are members of the group. If you haven’t joined the group, please do. If you haven’t been there in a while, please visit again.

I hope you all are well, fighting the good battle every day and feeling like each day you move a little farther along the path of life. I hope to see you all soon.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Martha Holbrow Sandler martha.sandler@gmail.com • Michael Rickard mrickard330@cox.net From Sally Willis: Seventeen of us made it back to campus over the course of reunion weekend.

Friday evening saw many of us hanging out on Crossley steps, reminiscing about all things NMH and critiquing the student golf-cart drivers on their driving abilities. Saturday morning saw ’82 well represented in the Pie Ride (Larry Baker, Peter Stull, Ben Pease, and Sally Willis).

Ben had the most memorable ride … first time on a bike in decades, 30 miles of roads he traveled in school, and a pair of split pants for his walk through the Rhodes Arts Center after the ride. At lunch, we were challenged to a game of softball by the class of ’77 (thought we were done with softball at reunions) and despite not having enough classmates to field a team, we won. Mary Peck Castle’s fantastic catch in the outfield was the clincher for us. After a fun dinner at Alumni Hall, we had a class meeting back at Crossley, where I passed the reins of class secretary on to Martha Holbrow Sandler.

It’s been an honor getting to know everyone via email exchanges and notes submissions. With the class meeting finished, we jumped into various cars and made for the Northfield Creamie.

A great way to end the evening. • And from our new class editor, Martha Holbrow Sandler: Thank you, 1,982 times, Sally Willis, for your 15 years of service to our class! The torch passes, and I’m looking forward to learning more about you all, connecting with old friends, and making more. Marian Vaillant Wrobel and I day-tripped together to reunion from our respective Boston suburbs. We stopped by the Northfield campus first, and wandered there for a while … the empty buildings full of memories. Then we headed to the official reunion gathering. The Mount Hermon sign has changed — you can’t take the “M” out any more — and the science building that looked modern 35 years ago now looks old and worn. Chapel was scintillating as ever; key difference is you can leave early. Saw some dear people there, and more lounging at Crossley, and at dinner in West Hall. Reunion is a beautiful thing, with no agenda except to love the children that we were together. • Ben Pease lives in San Francisco with his partner of 25 years, Shiz Zeigel. Shiz’s three kids have kids of their own, so Ben answers to “Grandpa Ben,” despite never having been a “Pa.” He’s a freelance cartographer, working with a mix of

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guidebook maps, academic books, and for local park agencies. His four self-published Pease Press trail maps are selling well. “I don’t hike as much as I’d like,” wrote Ben, “but Shiz got me going to the Y for Zumba and, lo and behold, I can dance. Mom retired from San Francisco to outer Cape Cod, so I’m east a little more often.

Dad (Robert Pease ’57) passed away six years ago. I enjoyed conversing with ’82, ’57, and everyone in between this reunion.” • Mary Peck Castle is living and loving in colorful Colorado.

She weaves in winter and gardens in summer. • Tarik Sivonen and family are enjoying the coast of Maine. Daughter Brigit is 12 now, attending seventh grade. And Tarik’s wife, Laurie, is excited about the successful start of her social work practice. • Amy Price Lutz married Clyde Waggoner in June 2016. “Took his kids, grandchild, and my two girls on a cruise to the Mediterranean,” wrote Amy, “where we were married at port in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

We enjoyed several ports in Italy before ending in Barcelona.” Amy is still marketing project manager for a higher-education consulting firm. • Sarah Richardson Kelley shared, “I’m a school social worker at Swampscott High School (Massachusetts). My older daughter is a chemical engineer in Burlington, Vt. My younger daughter graduated from Northeastern with a degree in history and is living in Boston.

My husband, Mark, is a software engineer in Somerville. We live in Brentwood, N.H. Mark and I have long commutes, but love our home in New Hampshire. Lots of room for anyone traveling in the area.” • “I am happily married, with two fabulous daughters,” wrote Marian Vaillant Wrobel, “one in high school, one in college. I was pleased to see old and new friends at reunion and to storm the Northfield campus with my best friend, Martha Holbrow Sandler.”

• Claire Rodman has been singing more, with regular residencies at restaurants in New York City, such as Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread, owned

by Norma Jean Darden ’57 (also Claire’s Sarah Lawrence sister), and Chez Josephine. Claire also participated in the street fairs for the National Night Out for Safety — a police and community event that takes place nationwide every summer, and even wound up introducing New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in an impromptu visit during her gig! Claire said, “I attend Christmas Vespers whenever it comes to NYC, which is every odd year, and having the excuse to get together with friends who travel in. I always have an extra bed for those who do! Facebook has been a boon for keeping up with folks, as has living in NYC, since everyone comes through here sooner or later, and I get to see them. Some friends traveling through New York City whom Claire has visited with over the past few years have been

Toby Green, David Perrotta, Shirley Eng ’90, Barbara Salthouse Massoudi, Gene Ward, Carrie Worthington, and Jim Bailey, to name a few. “It

was also fun to come up for the Pie Race last fall and have Jim’s daughter, Anna, take her NMH tour and show her Northfield,” wrote Claire.

“Hope to see you all on our class Facebook page.

Come out to events when you can; it’s always fun!” • Jennifer Sudarsky Lopez would love to hear from NMHers in Los Angeles! Watch for Jennifer’s Facebook throwback photos that she shares from time to time. • Jay Lochhead is sorry he couldn’t attend reunion this year. “I’ve been living in Dana Point, Calif., and competing in running, biking, and triathlon races.

Some friends got me signed up for California Swim-Run, which started out of a drunken bet in Sweden. Racers start with a run, then swim (wearing all the running gear), and alternate between the two until they finish. Well, Andrew Hewitt happens to be the head of the events in California! He competes all over the world in them. I raced at his event and it was a ton of fun!” • “Greetings from the other side of the planet (Singapore),” Chris Rowell wrote. “Sally, thank you for all of the time and effort you have put into [class notes] over the last decade and a half.” • Margaret Flaherty is a physical therapist, living in Berkeley, Calif. She was unable to attend reunion because she had six months off work due to injuring both her hands and had to save time off for her family: “Married with two cats.” Margaret’s husband, Max MacLeod, manages two properties that they rent out. • “I have been living in Colorado with Ashley for the past nine years,” said Bruce McLelland, adding, “I play a lot of music and have a real job.”

(Ashley is Bruce’s hometown sweetheart; they were reunited after going their separate ways 20 years ago). • More from Sally Willis: As reunion weekend wound down on Sunday morning, those of us who were still on campus gathered under the class tree to reflect on what a great weekend we all had. Commentary and photos can be found in our Facebook group: NMH Class of 82. Join if you aren’t already in the group to check them out. Great to see all of you!

in Brattleboro — Whetstone Station — and had a great dinner. David and his partner opened a campground with food trucks in Vermont and promises some kind of a partnership during our reunion weekend next year. Save the dates for our 35th: June 8–10, 2018! • Robin Hirshberg Jobe writes, “Meryl (19) finished her first year at University of Colorado, Boulder. She has found her home! Austine was in China for 10 days traveling with other kids from her school. Tric and I are home alone for the first time in our 20-year marriage. Strange, but good!” • Jim Husson and Laurie Smith celebrated daughter Anna’s graduation from Boston University Academy in May — Anna now attends Boston College. Jim and Laurie’s older son, Jonah, is at Northeastern.

They held a soiree to celebrate — Jim’s mother, Dorothea, was there, along with Haley Short ’14, Mark Short, and Allyson Goodwin. Speaking of graduations, Allyson and Mark’s eldest, Jordan Short ’12, is putting his freshly minted mechanical engineering degree from Rochester Institute of Technology to good use at a manufacturing company in Newark, N.Y. He also has a passion for film and minored in film studies. Mr. Batty would be so proud (Batty taught film class to both Mark and Jordan at NMH, just a few years apart.) • Paul Foster spent a week in Guatemala in June with his son, Michael (14), visiting Paul’s grandparents’ mission site, planting trees, soaking in hot springs, almost falling off a volcano, and missing a 6.7 earthquake by 12 hours. Son Abram (19) is a junior at Brandeis; he’s majoring in composing for musical theater. • David Bennett Goldman created a sustainable food industry in Brunei through his work with the Peace Corps. Search for his short documentary, Atacora Essential: Roots, Mission, Baobab and Peace Corps, on YouTube. • Andrea Jurkowski Concannon posted a great photo on our class

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Northfield Mount Hermon Allyson Goodwin agoodwin@nmhschool.org • Angela Lambert drangela@mac.com Tim Lam hosted a class of ’83 “Weston Boys” reunion in New York City in May. Mark Pollard, Dave Hiler, Jim Shoemaker, and Brian Rooney came, and according to Tim, “shared many bottles and laughs.” Tim then ventured to see the real Weston dorm in person and to visit Mark Short, David Hiler, and me (Allyson Goodwin).

We went to David’s very successful restaurant

Several ’83 Hoggers celebrated a graduation: (seated, from left) Laurie Smith ’83, Dorothea Husson, Anna Husson; (standing, from left) Jim Husson ’83, Allyson Goodwin ’83, and Mark Short ’83.

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of 1983 Facebook page; please check it out, and post your own stuff there, too! Andrea met with Elizabeth Cote Stine ’82 at Dan Manning’s (’81) father’s 90th birthday celebration.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Liz Mayers lizmayers@outlook.com Thanks to everyone who responded to my pleas for your news, especially to the first-timers! If you receive this magazine but aren’t receiving emails from me or NMH, please send me your correct email address, and your information will be updated. And it’s never too early to plan, so mark your calendars for June 2019, our 35th reunion. Hope to see you there! • Bill Lunnie is entering his 30th year as commissioner of the Old Man Hockey League in Providence, R.I. He began as a player rep for the OMHL Players Association in 1987 before he was even old.

Rick “Rudder” Barker is an active member, and there was a recent recruiting with John Mead ’85 while he was visiting his son at Providence College. Bob Kozub has snubbed all recruiting efforts despite being just 45 minutes away on Cape Cod. “Maybe we can get the ’84 hockey Hoggers together for next year’s alumni game.

It may take me that long to get in game shape.

A sighting of Bill ‘Jah’ Bronson would be worth that effort. Would love to hear from Johan Rostad, Jim Caffry, Ricardo Pokorny, Johnny Nguyen ’86, and many more.” • The teammates of Adam Tsapis would like to extend condolences to his family. A person of immense spirit and character, Adam was taken too soon and will be missed. • Bob Kozub has been living on Cape Cod since 2001 with his wife, Kelly, and two kids, Claire ’18 and Ben, after 10 years in San Francisco. Bob wrote, “I own a company called Big Picture that produces corporate events. I owe a lot to NMH for helping me discover that pursuing design and a creative path was right for me. That’s why I’m really happy to say my daughter, Claire, has decided to attend NMH next year as a PG. Since we visited the campus last year, it has definitely brought back a lot of memories from my PG year, and I’m looking forward to being closer to what happens on campus again.” • Michael Shell lives in Japan and is working on strategies to promote the qualities of the Japanese culture to the rest of the world in preparation for the 2020 Olympics.

• Harriet Wilcox shares, “Life is still great in Hong Kong even after 20+ years of living here.

Our two sons, Matt (12) and Zach (14), are enjoying playing squash, going to coding camps, and gardening! My husband, Raph, is enjoying his new career as a boat salesman. I’m still trying to improve my golf, but I’m resigned to the fact that I will never get my handicap in the single digits! We plan on staying in Hong Kong

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for the foreseeable future, so if anyone ever visits Hong Kong, please give me a call. It would be great to see any alum!” • Inson Wood was featured in an October 2016 Architectural Digest article, “5 Homes That Get Eclectic Style Right.”

In it, Inson “discusses his wide range of inspiration.” He is also author of Inson Dubois Wood: Interiors. • Debbie Nott wrote, “As most of my close friends know, I was adopted as a baby into a very kind and loving family. However, I was always curious about my genetic background, and after my lifelong search, this past January I was finally able to find and meet my birth father.

Turns out he had tried looking for me over the years but met many road blocks. (I was adopted via New York State and the adoption laws continue to be archaic.) As it turns out, I have three living sisters (sadly, one passed a couple of years ago), nine nieces and nephews, plus grandnieces and nephews! My family just expanded by 35+ people. And the resemblance is uncanny, much

Debbie Nott ’84 (center) with her new-found biological sisters, Regina and Denise.

to this adopted kid’s wonderment!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jennifer Buell Horschman jenhorschman@yahoo.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Geoffrey Locke gwlocke@gmail.com Shawn Fisher wrote from Groton, Conn., “This year has had a lot of milestones. My wife, Linda, and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. Our son, Garrett, started driving. And I celebrated my second year as a full-time pastor (a big change from my previous corporate career).

We’re working hard to feed the hungry, bring justice to the oppressed, and increase love and understanding (such as engaging in interfaith dialogues). It’s just one community of faith, but we’re doing our best to follow in the best tradition of D.L. Moody. I’m working to record and release a new album (my fourth) and to publish a book (my first) in time for Christmas 2017. I continue to be inspired by the many people from

NMH who are doing amazing things in these turbulent times.” • “Since leaving my job in July [2016],” said Bruce Mendelsohn, “I’ve been trying to start my digital communications and content development consultancy, The Hired Pen. I’ve had a couple of clients, but nothing sustainable over time, so I’m once again seeking full-time employment. Fortunately, my wife, Heather, is being very supportive. Still playing rugby, but gradually transitioning to coaching.

The mind is still able, but the body isn’t quite as accommodating ... as in many things at our age!”

• Melinda Petit ran into Nicole Belumeur Heiden at the Staples headquarters in Framingham, Mass. Nicole works for Cigna Insurance and runs the account for Staples. She lives outside of Hartford with her husband and five kids. Mel and Nicole reminisced about NMH and field hockey, as Mel was carrying her NMH water bottle, part of her reunion swag. • Dan Houghton is married with two kids: Sam (4) and Ellie (2). Dan has been working in marketing for a Boston-based health care insurance company for 20 years, and is still holding onto the old family farm in Spofford, N.H. • Ian Hill and his wife, Berit, are technical directors at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where they produce their own work. Last year, Ian and Berit’s company, Gemini CollisionWorks, was nominated for nine New York Innovative Theater Awards for three shows they produced in 2015–2016, winning five of them. Their company now consists of 18 actors and craftspeople working on their November 2017 shows: Useful Idiots, ReFuse, and Harakiri Kane. • Susea Albee had an unexpected reunion in Sitka, Alaska, with Jennifer Seavey ’87. Susea was helping with her son Jesse’s cross-country practice.

Jenn was there, too, and saw the NMH sticker on Susea’s car — she asked Jesse if he went there and he said no, but his mom did. Jenn was taking a break from her marine biology work on the New Hampshire seacoast for a seminar on marine science in Sitka. Ironically, they were at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp where Will Wilson ’87 teaches photography in the summer. And in June, Thomas Dosik is visiting Sitka to pick up his middle schooler from the fine arts camp.

Susea writes, “Small world, and this tiny corner of Alaska seems to attract NMHers regularly.”

• Matthew Andrews traveled to San Francisco from France for work, and met with Rachel Meyer ’85 at Rachel’s language school. Rachel is co-founder of ABC Languages School, with locations in New York and the Bay Area. • Will Wear and Laura Bauernfeind Wear’s younger daughter, Holliday ’20, joins her sister at NMH in the fall. She’ll enter as a sophomore and her older sister, Lily ’18, will be a senior. Will and Laura are up at the school often for sporting events and to catch up with boarding school

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dorm life. • In April, Ginny Wasiuk Lay and Trisha Suggs met in St. Louis, where Trisha was attending the funeral for her uncle, Chuck Berry. Ginny lives in St. Louis, and they reminisced about NMH and their college years at Columbia. And they have kept up with athletics despite their busy careers and foot problems!

• Amy Schwartz Saklad’s kids left for Colorado (School of Mines), D.C. (American University), and Dallas (University of Texas) in August, so she and her husband have an empty nest for the first time, with time to focus on themselves and healthy eating and exercise. “With three kids in three different time zones, I am not too sure that I will make it to New England anytime soon,” said Amy, “but I love to keep in touch with NMH friends via email and Facebook.” • Scott Whitney and his wife, Kristyn, have been living in Rhode Island since 2004 when he accepted a job at Hasbro. Scott started a new job at a U.K. gaming company, Winning Moves. His son, Callan, a high schooler, found a paying job at the Naval War College in Newport, where he builds robots. Daughter Katrina (12) enhanced her artistic talents in a summer program at Rhode Island School of Design. “I’ve been rowing for 20 years,” wrote Scott, “starting with three years at NMH, four at Cornell, and now 13 years here in Providence. While I still enjoy racing, now more of my time is spent mentoring aspiring rowers, from teenagers to older adults.” • John McCurtin and his partner moved to Lewiston, Maine, where they are settling into their new home. • Anne Bartfay Platzner bought a house in Greenfield, Mass., which is walkable to work and an easy ride to NMH, where her daughter, Lizzie ’20, is currently a sophomore. Anne has an extra room for anyone who is in the area visiting NMH. • Li Lin Hilliard Hally hosted a mini reunion in June for her Marquand sisters. Holly Bachman Bennett, Bebe Brown, Nilda Lopez, and Kendel Leet flew to Portland, Ore., for the weekend, and enjoyed lots of laughs while reminiscing and catching up. • And, lastly, I enjoy life in Northampton, Mass., also known as the “Happy Valley.” I continue to teach an advanced

Rachel Meyer ’85 (left) and Matthew Andrews ’86 in San Francisco.

clinical practice course to graduate students at Smith College, titled “Knowing, Not Knowing, and Muddling Through,” and I spend the rest of my work life practicing in downtown Amherst.

I balance that with exercise, a dog, meditation, reading, and all the complexities of maintaining one’s life. An early “Happy New Year” to everyone in ’86; I hope you will join me in remembering NMH in your end-of-year giving.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Kit Gattis kitnmh@gmail.com www.facebook.com/nmh1987 website: nmh1987.org Our amazing 30th reunion is behind us: we broke attendance records, exceeded our fundraising goals, and raised money for a memorial bench honoring Bill Goodman. • I returned to the Del Close Festival in New York with my brother, Drew Gattis ’91. I’ve been doing improv at ImprovBoston for a year now, tried my hand at stand-up, and totally love musical improv. I started studying Bharatanatyam dance in the spring, and I started dragon boating on the Charles in the summer. At some point I’ll have to start running again in preparation for the fall’s Pie Race: I need to beat the regular time, not just the “old folks” time. • Thanks to everyone who performed with Performing Dance in the Parents Weekend performance our junior year. That performance, with David Byrne in our ears and dancers oozing over the pews and transforming into birds, is what sent me onto a path I still follow today. I literally dropped out of whatever physical activity I was signed up for that trimester and switched to dance the very next day, and I am still in the habit of seeing something and then deciding to learn how to do it. Much love to all of you and our amazing class of ’87 spirit! • John Bete is a physician on Cape Cod, specializing in pain medicine. He and his wife, Robin, are raising Jack and Maris.

John is also finally learning to play guitar and is in a band. • After our reunion, Becky Booth had Marya Felenchak come back with her for three nights and hung out with Rosie ComprésNavarro. Becky’s faith in humanity is restored from reunion. She hopes to see others at our next one! • Ed Cafferty lives in the Jersey suburbs, working as a geologic engineer in New York City, dreaming of living in New England again. • Marcia Clarke Crowley had a blast with everyone at reunion! She loves being with her NMH family. She is still living in Londonderry, N.H., with her two boys: Aidan (17) and Carter (15). Marci continues to enjoy spending her time watching her boys pursue their passions. • Doug Fitts had a great time at reunion catching up with everyone. He is excited to announce the birth of his son, Andrew, who was born in May.

Fatherhood is a more gratifying experience than he could have imagined. • Jeff Fort is back living in Rye, N.H. NMH Reunion 35 was Jeff’s first reunion with us. • Alex Palmer Gormley’s oldest child, Zac, is a high school senior and visiting colleges this fall. Alex is in her third year coaching her daughter’s cheer team. Lizzie, 11, loves American Girl dolls and is not so slowly eating into her parents’ retirement fund. • Steve Green and wife Edith’s daughters, Sonya and Maya, are both attending NMH, senior and sophomore, respectively. Steve’s bike and skateboard company is still doing well in Pennsylvania, and he recently had a visit from classmate, David Kotz, catching up on old times. • Darcy Jameson loved seeing everyone at reunion. Liz Hall, we missed you! • Jen Pack Kimball is grateful for the chance to be reminded at reunion that the NMH class of 1987 is full of the most fun, generous, kind people she will ever meet. She encourages all to get in touch any time they’re in the Dirty South. • Paul McDaniel travels a lot for his medical publishing company, so he will be actively seeking mini reunions and get-togethers while on his trips to Chicago and the West Coast. He is also still playing a lot of music with his three bands. Daughter Maddie is becoming a lax goalie extraordinaire while daughter Maren enjoys horseback riding. Paul hopes all are doing well and looks forward to our class once again breaking attendance records for our 35th! • Brett Morrison moved back to Manchester, Vt., last year. His oldest, Turner, graduated high school in June, and daughter Evangeline has two more years of high school left. Son Jack, an eighth-grader, enjoyed another lacrosse season with Topsy Taylor King’s son, Ben. Local lacrosse also helps Brett stay in touch with Eric Crawford ’88, who had a great first season as the head high school coach for his older son’s team at Hoosac School. • Rosie Comprés-Navarro was pleased to see the reunion turnout, as it was double the expected number than NMH was ready for! She will push harder for our 35th by reaching out to people she may not know as well, and she gives huge kudos to Kit Gattis for keeping us motivated and excited for this wonderful weekend that comes every five years! Rosie discussed the possibilities of mini reunions leading up to the next one, to increase outreach. The first one is set in Massachusetts at Moe’s Tavern, which is owned

by Josh Cohen ’88. It would be a great way to have fun while supporting Josh and his business! • Marc Nevins is excited that his son, Alec, will be joining the NMH class of ’21. Alec looks forward to joining the wrestling team and hopes to pave the way for his younger brother, Jacob.

Marc, Stacey, and the boys live in Chestnut Hill, and Marc has a periodontal and dental implant practice in Boston. • Imran Qamar came

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Jennifer Seavey ’87 (left) and Susea Albee ’86 in Sitka, Alaska.

to our reunion right after his son’s high school graduation, catching a flight immediately after the ceremony. His twin daughters, Aleezé and Anushé, joined him. They love the school and meeting “old” friends. Imran is now living in Houston, Texas, and runs his own construction company. • Jennifer Sauer is keeping busy in northern New Jersey with her kids, Olivia (15) and Gabe (11). She also loves her job working with seniors and planning community events at the local YMCA, riding her motorcycle, and taking her kids to see Broadway shows as often as possible. • Will Sheats promises that the pyrotechnics committee will not have misfires at next reunion. • Tamson Smith continues to live in the Twin Cities area with her husband, Shannon, trying not to freeze to death during the winter (this from a New Englander).

Happily, this means she gets to spend time with Anna Meek and, when sent out on alumni functions, Jen Williams. • Deedee Sullivan is still living in the Bay Area, but has nothing to do with the tech industry. She is of no use to you when your computer is down. She thanks everyone in our class for making NMH such a special place. Always remember: “NMH ’87 — Never Convicted.” • Morgan Sturges Vaughan is executive director of a local TV and media center in East Hampton, N.Y., where she promotes local government participation, theater, film, and the arts. She lives with her husband, Tristam, and their 15-year-old son, Frankie. Morgan and her husband continue to promote their Shakespeare company and theater education. She was delighted to be able to attend reunion and hopes to see us all at the 35th. Everyone, please keep well and safe until then!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Anne Stemshorn George anastasia.s.george@gmail.com Michael Pfaue wrote, “Munich will soon be the place for great food and beer. In case someone needs some guidance, I am happy to help.” • Jennie Kent, Chip Hall, Lauren Swick Jordan, and MacAndrew Jack joined other Hoggers at the Dogfish event in late April. A good time was

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had by all (especially in the gazebo). • Check out our class Facebook page photos of Barbara Thomas and the awesome Coach Bill Batty ’59, who attended the Hall of Fame luncheon during Reunion 2017. The entire undefeated girls’ ’86– ’87 cross-country team was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Barbara read a beautiful speech written by Cara Siano Klempner, who now lives in Costa Rica and was unable to attend.

Inducted cross-country teammates from the class of ’88 were: Jackie Roberts Anderson, Sallie Cass-Pottle, Karol Dixon de la O, Meg Fitzgerald Heithcock, Katherine Ackerman Hyland, Cara Siano Klempner, Alice Mello, Michelle TulloVescio, and Elizabeth MacLachlan. Way to represent, ladies! Barbara was also on campus to observe the class of 1987’s 30th reunion. She looks forward to helping plan our next reunion!

• Kevin Fisher recently earned a master’s in academic administration and educational leadership, and will return for a 12th year of service at his high school in Virginia. He is leading a dozen students and parents on an adventure to Peru, including Cusco, Lima, and Machu Picchu. Kevin and his 12-year-old daughter are staying on in Peru to travel and for her to meet her Peruvian grandmother. Kevin’s daughter will continue her cultural journey into that side of her heritage and move toward fluency in Spanish. Kevin’s son graduated from kindergarten, and his daughter completed seventh grade with honors, as well as first place in social studies, in spelling bee, and in perfect attendance. • Alison Stern Simard is now director of communications for Los Angeles city council member Paul Koretz of the fifth district. Alison spends her evenings and weekends with her husband and two kids while advocating for environmental causes. • Peter Harris is CEO of a Beverly, Mass.-based company that builds complex robotic systems for the life sciences industry.

“The technology is pretty amazing,” said Peter, “and it is rewarding to help pharmaceutical and biotech companies deploy technologies that may very well cure diseases previously untreatable.” He is spending a lot of time between Salem and Beverly, if anyone happens to be in the area and wants to grab dinner or a drink. • Josh Cohen took his kids to see John Batty on the Cape in June. Danny Kadis visited the Berkshires with his kids. And July saw the annual Red Sox game with John Barkan, Nate Beck, and Jeremy Steinberg. Josh invites all NMH alumni to stop

by Moe’s Tavern (nocoorslight.com) in Lee, Mass. Finally, Josh, Jeremy, and Danny stayed with Ren Martyn in February for a ski vacation. Chris Sexton bought the house next door to Ren and has been listing it on Airbnb and HomeAway. Other than the Windmill Motel, he has the closest rental property to NMH. Sorry, but Lauren Swick Jordan and her family already

booked it for reunion! • John Barkan and wife Laura continue to live in West Newton, Mass., with their two sons, Jacob (15) and Oliver (12), and their Portuguese water dog. Jacob finished his freshman year at Phillips Andover.

As Oliver is a competitive alpine skier, they travel to Stowe, Vt., all winter, where he trains at the Mount Mansfield Ski Club. • Nick Reeder and his wife, Birgit, have moved back to Silver Spring, Md., after three years in Thailand. They have a 6-year-old boy, Ben, and a 3-year-old girl, Alice. He is going to try and make reunion next year, and try to motivate his peeps to do the same. • Lauren Swick Jordan loved seeing all the NMH folks at the Founder’s Day Celebration at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware. She spent time with Jennie Kent in New Hampshire at her family’s camp. Lauren continues to write about her family’s journey with autism and has sold another article to “On Parenting” at the Washington Post. • Stefanie Rummel spent time in Nashville at a conference and then Los Angeles in June. She asks, “Anyone around or want to be connected to a German consultant, trainer, and coach?” • Spencer Luckey saw Jon Gintzler and Nick Houghton ’89 in Los Angeles. Spencer also met Julio Salcedo for smoothies in New York City.

• Arash Barzegar lives in Toronto with his wife, Narges, son Arta, and daughter Ellin. Arash is the regional manager for PNR RailWorks, building railways. He would be glad to meet anyone visiting eastern Canada. • Julio Salcedo saw Mike Ladd in Paris, saying, “It was swell.” • Sergio Kulikovsky is sailing around the world with his family, including wife Tatiana and their four kids: Daniel (13), Daphne (12), Nathan (9), and Maya (4), in their own boat. They started their trip in 2009, leaving Brazil for the Caribbean, crossing the Atlantic, and sailing to Israel. They lived in Israel for six months and then sailed back to the Caribbean, where they left their boat. They then returned to Brazil to work and little Maya was born. In April 2017, they restarted their trip and intend on crossing the Pacific this year. Sergio was writing his email on their way from Panama to the Galápagos, where the kids will really enjoy nature. • Alec Coyle wrote from Jordan, where he is teaching at King’s Academy. • Christopher Brown has been named president of Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County, N.Y. Congrats! • Congratulations to Will Korman for finally joining Facebook. It has been great seeing his posts about him and his family. I just miss his big mess of hair.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Chris Roof roofsound@comcast.net • John Carroll jcarroll@nmhschool.org • Caryn Crotty Eldridge slickcke7@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Robbianne Mackin robbianne.mackin@gmail.com • Travis Lea travislea@gmail.com • Kristin Steele kaste@conncoll.edu • Toryn Kimberley Stark torynk@yahoo.com From Toryn: Mary Walling Blackburn’s first book was published in spring 2017, Quaestiones Perversas, co-written with scholar Beatriz Balanta. It is, in a sense, an experimental research poem visualizing the relationship between violence and measurement. Triple Canopy, a New York City arts organization, encourages “all interested in standardization, standardized tests, and the possibility of ‘poesis in the field of systematicity or the lust for order’ to acquire this new book. Also, a short text, Gina and the Stars, was published on Tamawuj, an online platform for the Sharjah Biennial.

This work examines U.S. torture sites, the CIA appointment of Gina Haspel, and how we are entangled in a surveillance culture. Mary will always be grateful to Mr. Batty for his constant faith in how a young person can deploy writing as a coping mechanism, testament, and literary form. Mary returned to New England this year with her partner, Rafael (an artist and teacher), and their 3-year-old, Urso.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dairo Moreno demoreno@post.harvard.edu

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jennifer Sadula deVore devorejr@msn.com • Cate Steele Hartzell cate.hartzell@gmail.com • Leah Clarkson leah.clarkson@gmail.com • Gene Ehrbar geneehrbar@icloud.com From Cate: It was fun catching up with so many of you at reunion, and I feel like most of us who were present left with a renewed sense that it’s time for us to reconnect as a class and remember what we loved about this school. Twenty-five years is a long time and so much has changed — both at NMH and to us as individuals.

We’re on a mission to track down and engage with all of our class before the 30th reunion in 2022. Please join our “NMH Class of 1992” Facebook group page. We’re also working on a class-specific website. • Tom Curley is enjoying family life with his wife, Nina, and their three boys (Jack, 11; Finn, 7; Archer, 5). While they try not to over-schedule their kids, family life definitely has them running around all the time.

Nina is vice president and chief development officer at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, N.Y. Tom begins a new position as director of curriculum and technology at Wooster School in Danbury, Conn. He is “determining curriculum choices for 6th–12th grade at a school in transition to being educationally progressive in really exciting ways,” says Tom. He adds, “Thanks to all of you who reached out about my father’s death in October [2016]. He was a kind, funny, caring, energetic man, and I know he left some really positive memories behind at NMH.” • Leah Clarkson was sad to miss the “Big 25th” reunion — the timing wasn’t right for her long trip from Amsterdam. After 12 years in Brooklyn, Leah and her husband, Karl, moved with their two daughters (Una, 9; Vera, 6) to the Netherlands in September 2013. When Leah’s not writing, editing, or trying to get her Dutch up to par with that of her daughters, she’s traveling. She has stayed in touch with, and seen, quite a few NMHers over the years.

Leah visited Victoria Newton Thomas ’91 and her husband and their two boys at their home in Warrington, U.K. Leah’s brother, Matt Clarkson ’91, is married to Farah Usmani and also living abroad with their three kids: Kinza, Kamilla, and Ely. Matt and Farah have been in Singapore since 2013. Leah and Karl are getting itchy feet again, and they expect to be moving on soon, although they’re not sure where to — but she’s open to suggestions! In the meantime, anyone traveling to Amsterdam should look her up. • Jonathan Cohen and his wife, Karin, married five years ago and live in Contoocook, N.H. John is a lawyer, running a small practice with one partner. They bought a building (one of the reasons he couldn’t make it to reunion) in Concord, N.H., a block from the capitol. John handles mainly criminal defense and also some injury and family law, and he’s active in the legislative process. • Steve Koldis is still living in Sonoma County and has three kids (Sammy, 16; Cassie, 14; Lorelei, 10) and “loves them to pieces — even the teenagers!” Steve writes to all, “Let’s redo this in five years, so I don’t feel like I missed anything! I hope everyone stays healthy and happy. No excuses; let’s redo!” • Colleen Cahill-Vieira married Vital Vieira on 8/27/16 in Chelsea, Vt. Colleen’s maid of honor, Shannon Cahill Smith ’98, traveled to the wedding from Breckenridge, Colo., with her husband and three boys. Pia Marrella Cisternino also attended with her family. • No excuses is right! The class of ’87 had a killer showing of classmates at their 30th. We still managed to beat them at kickball, so now let’s see if we can top their attendance numbers at our 30th! • From Gene Ehrbar: I’m relocating to Philadelphia with my family after more than 20 years in Portland, Ore. I’m excited to get back to my East Coast roots, and will be

Six at Sea In August 2016, Ned Crosby ’88 and his wife, Kelly, set sail with their four young daughters on a year-long, 7,500mile ocean journey. Launching their 53-foot Bristol ketch sailboat, Yankee Lady, from Osterville, Massachusetts, the seafaring family traded school, appointments, sports practices, and traffic jams for breaching whales, schools of dolphins, sea sunrises, and starry skies.

The adventure was hardly a whim. More than 20 years earlier, Crosby had delivered a 40-foot sailboat to a family on their own sailing adventure. Impressed, the Crosbys, newly married, decided that if they had kids, they would embark on a similar voyage.

Crosby comes from an eight-generation family of boat-builders, and is now owner of E.M. Crosby Boatworks in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. In the 1800s, his ancestor, Horace Crosby, designed and built the first of what would become known as the Crosby Catboat.

So in 2016, when the timing seemed right, the Crosbys arranged home-school curricula for their kids, completed an EMT course, and sold property to help finance the trip.

In July 2017, back on land, Crosby told the Boston Globe that “he felt a sense of accomplishment.” And — after having the family together for every meal for 11 months — “regret that it’s over.”

— Kris Halpin

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working on the technology and product team in Comcast’s Digital Home division. I’m looking forward to many more reunions with the lot of you! • Yahuba Garcia-Torres shares, “Living in Lowell, Mass., and sending my daughter to Green Mountain College in the fall on a full scholarship. I spent seven years on the road touring the country playing music, and eventually settled in at home while my daughter finishes high school.” Yahuba works in software and plays music around the Northeast region with a number of artists. Visit his website, pollotronik.com, to see if he’ll be playing at a music venue near you. • Margo Eddy Fraker wrote, “It was great to be on campus again for the 25th reunion! I’m so glad I made the trip from Seattle, Wash., with my youngest son, Sam (8).”

Margo works for a growing local consulting firm, Matisia Consultants. When not working, she is busy with her family and their many activities, enjoying the outdoors of the Pacific Northwest. Margo sends thanks to Megan Bathory-Peeler for hosting Margo and her son at her campus faculty housing during reunion. “It was especially wonderful to spend some quality time with Elizabeth Bard, who joined us all the way from Provence, France,” said Margo, adding, “My favorite parts of the reunion were rowing on the river for the first time with Kristen Kaschub; singing ‘Jerusalem’ in the chapel with all the reunion classes; roasting marshmallows with Joon Kang; and dancing with Megan, Cat Klebl, and many others in our reunion tent, followed by more dancing at the Tron tent with Philip Stevens, Tam Le, Elizabeth Bard, Dave Jasper, and Molly Goggins Talbot ’93.” • Jennifer Foxworth and committee did a wonderful job planning and have passed the torch to Margo Eddy Fraker as our 30th reunion chair! So you will be hearing more from Margo, along with our class secretaries, over the next five years of planning. Please send your suggestions so we can plan the best time in 2022!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Susannah Sprong Cahillane coloradocahillanes@mac.com I am looking forward to seeing many of you next June at our 25th reunion! The reunion committee is already working hard to make it our best reunion yet! Our reunion is scheduled for June 8–10, 2018 — so mark your calendars now! • Sarah Ruddy Hamilton and Patrick Hamilton were married on 8/15/16, and welcomed the birth of their daughter, Frances Margaret Eibhlin, on 10/26/16. • Bret W. Matteo graduated in May with a doctorate from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He also became a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi while attending the University of Massachusetts,

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Amherst, in 2014. • Meghan Scheck shares, “I had the best mini reunion with Sara Noel, who stayed with me and my family after going to her reunion in Boston this spring. Friends are time machines; we are 17 and 42 simultaneously.” • Congratulations to Molly Goggins Talbot, who is now president of NMH’s Alumni Association and a trustee for NMH! Molly wrote, “I’m honored to be taking on this role for NMH — especially as Hadley begins her time there. I feel really lucky to be a parent at the same time that I take on a larger leadership role for the school.” Also, congratulations to Hadley on her acceptance to NMH, and to the entire Talbot family! • My family and I (Susannah) headed to Haiti in July 2017 to work with orphans and families. Many ’93ers and NMH alums generously donated to our fundraiser to help deliver supplies to Haiti and to support projects, such as installing water filters and solar lights. We want to thank all of you who helped support our cause! You not only tremendously helped many families in Haiti, but you also demonstrated to my two kids just how loving, generous, and giving the NMH community is! • If you didn’t get a chance to share in this edition, be sure to email any updates and events to Susannah. We love celebrating all your accomplishments and fun events!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Carol Koldis Foote carol.foote@gmail.com • Dan Furlong furlongtime@gmail.com From Carol: We caught Jeremy Bohrer vacationing in sunny Ojai, Calif., where his parents moved into the house his sister, Gillian Bohrer ’96, purchased for them. Jeremy lives in Concordia, Kan., with his Australian cattle dog mix named Loni, and where he teaches math at Cloud County Community College. While he’s satisfied with life at the moment, in a couple of years he’s hoping to find a position in California.

He sends his best to all of our classmates. • We heard from Annabel Inganni, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, furniture designer Brendan Sowersby, and their 6-year-old daughter, Birdie. Annabel’s textile production line, Wolfum, has been her full-time work for the last six years. “I somewhat stumbled into the world of being a designer, but I very much enjoy the hands-on work,” said Annabel. “Although it is challenging to run your own business, it has been rewarding. We are carried in over 150 boutiques and museum stores across the U.S., and have worked with department stores ranging from Target to Neiman Marcus. We have expanded into Paris with Le Bon Marché and London and Tokyo with Conran’s. We are currently in the process of introducing a line of wallpaper, rugs, and fabric.” Regarding old

NMH friends, Annabel added, “I am in New York a few times a year and always connect with Erica Garvey, Meredith Craig DePietro, and Karyn Starr ’96 when there. Last summer we did a trip to New England and saw Susan Smoragiewicz O’Keeffe and her girls. Over the winter, I visited Santa Fe to celebrate Rachel Zell’s birthday (along with Meghan Brooks ’93).”

• Gretchen Davidsen Keneshea sends congratulations to Katie Barrows Chipps for her new job opportunity in New York City. • Wanda Vargas is looking forward to our 25th reunion, as she sees all the memories pop up on Facebook. “My family is complete with the birth of our son, Elias, on 9/1/16,” wrote Wanda. Elias joins his older sis, 3-year-old Kasey. K.T. Doud and Wanda got their crew of kids together last December; it was as if they were still roomies. • It feels as though days are long but years are short. Our 25th reunion in June 2019 will be here before we know it. Begin thinking about your plan to return to campus, so that as many of us as possible can be together. If you have an interest in being on our reunion planning committee, email George Tiggle at gtiggle@nmhschool.org.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Caroline Leonard carolinecleonard@gmail.com Hi, ’95ers! This is your new class notes collector! How has everyone enjoyed turning 40 this past year? I’m living in Rockport, Maine, with my three kids (19, 13, and 5), my partner, and various pets. I loved hearing from all of you.

Keep it up! • Tom Tucker wrote, “I’m uprooting this year from Vermont to dreary San Diego.

I’ve got three daughters and my undeservedly amazing wife, Suzanne. Alexis Hurley has been amazing (no surprise there) in helping us out during the move.” • Pilar Nadal lives in Portland, Maine, and runs a community print shop called Pickwick Independent Press. He makes fine and commercial letterpress prints and a variety of printed matter. He also teaches in the printmaking departments at Maine College of Art and Southern Maine Community College.

A throwback of Carter Evans ’95 (left) at an all-star lacrosse game in Exeter.

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• Zachary Miller says, “I graduated from the University of Vermont and commissioned into the Army as a logistics officer. I spent my first 10 years jumping out of airplanes in Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington. I got married in 2008 and have spent the last eight years living in Kansas, Germany, and North Carolina. I am wrapping up a job running the Army ROTC program at Oregon State University. I would love to hear from anyone out there, especially anyone from Wilson Hall. The best way to reach me is email (millerzt@yahoo.com).” • Marisela Ramos teaches history at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts. She lives with her spouse, Corrie Martin, and their 4-year-old kid, Marina. • Carter Evans was reminiscing about his days playing lacrosse and football.

“The football team won the New England Prep School Championship; it was the first football championship in a long time for NMH.” • “In May, I completed my Ph.D. in anthropology at Vanderbilt University,” wrote Jenn Foley. “I focused on Mesoamerican archaeology — my dissertation research was based on my excavations at the Ancient Maya site of La Sufricaya in Guatemala.” Jenn lives in Tennessee with her husband, Matt, and their three kids: Jackson (6), Tess (3), and Nora (1). • Jocelyn Leary Lavallo still lives in New York City, where she’s a lawyer developing and financing wind and solar projects. Her daughter is 6 years old, and they have “two funny little wiener dogs.” Jocelyn was glad to see some NMHers at Cam Murrell’s 40th last summer in Maine, and has had some great visits with Laura Astor Mauldin and Emily Ennis Alexander this year. • Jake Kheel lives in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. He saw Kahlil Lozoraitis ’94 for an epic 40th throw-down with live music and DJs at Jake’s house. • Mike Stone had a big year in 2016. In October, Reuters moved Mike from the mergers-and-acquisitions beat in Manhattan to cover the business of war in Washington, D.C. In December 2016, Mike married Lauren Gilchrist at a destination wedding in Sayulita, Mexico. The couple honeymooned in Myanmar. • Sophie Rousmaniere

Jenn Foley ’95, at her graduation with her family, completed her Ph.D. in anthropology from Vanderbilt University.

runs a nonprofit media company in Austin, Texas, making television documentaries. “I have a punk band called the Elected Officials,” Sophie wrote. “We finished a tour of Asia last year with the epic punk-rock legends MDC. [I’m] now developing radio for public health communication in West Africa and fighting exploitative mining operations in Portugal. Good times!”

• Win Walker sent along, “Hannah and I took our two children, Oona (5) and Hugo (2), to Thailand for a month this spring. We explored the beaches of southern islands and headed up to Chiang Mai for the Thai New Year’s festival, Songkran. Traveling with two little ones had its challenges, but the Thai people are kind, generous, and patient. We are holding it down in Oakland, where I am still working as a project manager for a green building contractor and my wife works for Greenpeace. I still have yet to connect with Judy Tong, who recently moved to our fine city; feel good just knowing she is close by. As for turning 40, I have definitely noticed some changes in the body. Grey hairs are coming through, and I’ve got a bit of a belly … such is life. I am planning a California surf camping adventure to celebrate the next decade and hope to convince Colin Clark ’94 to come and play. Life is good, but I miss the days when we were surrounded by so many good friends and when the most pressing thing on the mind was a term paper or how to escape ‘Lance’ and the rest of campus security.” • Tamika Simone Morgan Liles-Henry and Maajo Cooper-Henry ’93 celebrated 10 years of marriage. Maajo was promoted to captain in the U.S. Air Force. He and Tamika live in Miami and have two kids.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Patrick Davis patrickdavisknows@gmail.com Cliff Dyer has moved back to Durham, N.C., with his wife, Jayme, and his son, Henry (2).

• Devon Taylor Assael was unable to attend our 20-year reunion last year because she got married on the same day! She married Jarret Assael on 6/4/16, at the Guilford Yacht Club in Connecticut. Devon is now stepmom to 10-yearold Isabella. They currently live in Middletown, Conn., where Devon owns and operates her own personal training studio, as well as working full time in real estate and real estate investing. As a family, they love to run Spartan Races and other 5K and 10K races all over the East Coast. • Patrick Guarasci, along with many fellow classmates, is immersed in the politics of the moment, fighting the craziness in D.C., and working to elect progressive governors in swing states. • Kyle Smith is gallivanting around the country and was last seen hanging with the band Bon Iver at Eaux Claires Music and Arts Festival in Wisconsin. • Tom Beals is about to

Maajo Cooper-Henry ’93 and Tamika Simone Liles-Henry ’95.

have a huge life change! Ask him about the good news! • Jordan Kaplan has one of the greatest gigs of all time as the development director of the Obama Library Foundation. He’s been traveling with President Obama and working hard to pull together the funding for this transformational project. • Since both Patrick and Jordan are caught up in their day jobs, there’s a need for some folks to join the class chair team to keep engaging our fellow classmates. If you’re interested, drop a note to NMH!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Julia Cohen jmacleodcohen@gmail.com We had a wonderful 20th reunion in June, with many classmates. We hope to see many more of you at our 25th in 2022! • Andrew “Deke” Yurkewych ’96 is a ’97 classmate at heart. He flew in for reunion from San Francisco, where he works in finance. So great that he made the trip to reunite with the class that he started NMH with! • Regina Pontbriand Stanley also traveled from the West Coast — from Washington, where she is completing her master’s and working in community health. • Amelia Cushing Crimmins joined us from Columbus, Ohio, where she is staying busy with her family.

• Jennifer White and her husband, Geoff, left Los Angeles in late 2016, spent the fall and winter in Vermont with family, and are now adjusting to life in Marblehead, Mass., with their two young sons, Fox and Otto. • Anthony Febles, wife Gisele, and their 4-year-old, Veronica, came to reunion from Stamford, Conn., where Anthony has a growing immigration law practice. • Kim Kubie Harrison, husband Tucker, and their children, Callie and Milo, came north from Brooklyn for reunion. Kim is enjoying her work at New York University as a pediatric nurse practitioner. • Gianna Scorsone brought her A game for reunion from New York City, where she works in marketing and travels frequently to visit her partner, Julian, in Hamburg, Germany.

• Erin Lyman had the shortest trip — from her

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home in Wallace Hall at NMH! Erin and her partner, Craig, moved to Gill in the days following reunion, and Erin continues to work in college counseling, coaches cross-country, and more at NMH. • We enjoyed seeing Courtney Reid, who traveled from her home in Michigan, be inducted into the NMH Athletic Hall of Fame. Way to go, Courtney! • Finally, Conrad von Lilien-Waldau won the prize for longest journey to reunion: He traveled from Berlin to join us, where he lives with his wife and works in a family office focusing on finance. • Many others joined reunion for Saturday-night’s festivities of Convocation, dinner, an awesome class bonfire at Shadow Lake, and some late-night celebrations with other reunion classes. A number of classmates had a quick journey from close by, where they live with their families: Vanessa Cerillo traveled from Greenfield; Jessica Savage Dark from Deerfield; Erin Jaworski from Northfield; and Zach Rutz came up the hill from Gill. Abby Howard Greco came in from Cohasset, Mass.; Amy Ochagavia McKinley was visiting her parents in Northfield, having come all the way from her home in Australia; Jen Keech LaFortune left her two young kids at home to travel from Medfield, Mass.; Reba Saldanha brought her husband and three young kids for the evening from Andover, Mass.; and Meghan Tomb Gladstone brought newborn daughter, Lachlyn (who arrived in May), along for the festivities while her husband and two older children stayed home in New York. We’d also like to send a special shoutout to the class of 1987 for their reunion energy and awesomeness!

• Fran Bean, who couldn’t make it to reunion, is still “working as a math specialist and holding down the fort with three kids; doing organizing work, too.” • Dave LoPresti was in Scandinavia traveling for work, but hopes to attend the next reunion. We look forward to seeing you at the 25th, Fran and Dave, along with the rest of our wonderful classmates! • In closing, I’d like to thank Laurel Havas for her years as class secretary. She is trading in this volunteer duty for more time with her husband, Phil, and their daughter, Bella. Thank you, Laurel!

Amy Marks Dornbusch ’01 and her daughter, Ruby Willow.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Brian Pressman brainjpressman@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Audrey Korte aekorte@cox.net • Melia Knowles-Coursin meliakc@gmail.com • Molly Loveday chefmollyloveday@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Rose Jackman Spurgin rosejackmanlynch@gmail.com Yessy Salcedo Malave and her husband, Jared, welcomed their new son, Gabriel Maximo, on 4/18/17. They’re super-excited and very much in love.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Josh Grubman joshuagrubman@gmail.com • Christopher A Zissi christopher.zissi@gmail.com From Chris: Greetings from Washington, D.C. • Isaac Luria and his wife, Sara, celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in June and are living in Brooklyn with their three kids (Caleb, 7; Eva, 5; and Judah, 2). Isaac is a program officer at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, supporting faith-rooted social justice movements. • Nicholas Theberge finished his program in oral and maxillofacial surgery at Rutgers University.

He will be moving back to the Pioneer Valley with his wife, Amanda, and 2-year-old son, Jonah, to begin working at Connecticut Valley Oral Surgery Associates. • Meghan Flaherty Maguire sold her first book, Tango Lessons, to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (to be published in June 2018). She also got married in Donegal in September 2016, in the fine company of Nicholas Theberge and Josh Grubman. Meghan and her husband moved to Palo Alto, Calif., in the summer. • Alex Fischer caught up with Caitlin Inglehart and Ben Galuza, who were traveling together to Lisbon, London, and Oxford. Caitlin and Alex also ran into each other at the Skoll

Alex Fischer ’01 and Caitlin Inglehart ’01.

Jody Walker-Smith ’01, son Carter Levi, daughter Maya Lee, and Jody’s husband, Kyle.

World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in April. Caitlin and Ben traveled to Greece in April with Dana Inglehart ’04, returning to a few places we traveled to with our NMH group in 2001. • Christopher Mathey shares, “I got married back in February!” • Adele Tilebalieva wrote, “Who knew there’d be NMH connections all the way in Zurich, Switzerland, where Csaba Dekany and I have been in touch and hanging out since I moved here? Any other NMH alumni in Zurich should give me a shout!”

• Jemma Braun Siperstein’s son, Nathaniel, was born in October 2016. “My husband, Stephen, and I are loving being parents to this very happy baby,” said Jemma. Her family moved back to the East Coast and are living near New Haven, Conn. • Nate and I have had some wonderful play dates with Jody Walker-Smith and her little ones! Jody’s big news is: “We welcomed Carter Levi in December 2016. He joins his big sister, Maya Lee. • In more baby news, Amy Marks Dornbusch and her husband welcomed their first daughter, Ruby Willow, on 12/30/16.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Danielle Henry Beale dhbeale@gmail.com Our 15-year reunion was the most fun Rikert has seen in years. We made a raucous addition to alumni convocation (NAY!), acted like we were 18 again (sans dorm parents), and greeted the dawn from Chapel Hill. Thank you to everyone who made the trip, and if you couldn’t, know that you were missed. • Lucy Hubbard Mandarakas, Heather King Frechette, Matthew Bamberg-Johnson, Jason D. Allukian, Susie Stowbridge Simmons, Sara Stephens Wilson, Justin Fleischer, Kelvin Martinez, Zach Bruning, Alex Bambery, Isaiah Elwell, Victoria Sjostrom Merchant, Thomas Spera, Latoya Jonas, Jonathan Muehlke, Wyatt Laikind, Peter Leyden, Yvonne-Marie Sain, Justin Eli, Rob Kelly, Josiah Simpson, Djani Johnson, Devaki Huggins, Michael S. Pieciak, Anna Karefa-Johnson, Sebastien P. Bolea, Ashley Jones-Pierce, Julia Madrigan … thank you! • Josiah Simpson is working with a landscape architecture and design firm,

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Colleen Cahill-Vieira ’92 married Vital Vieira in Chelsea, Vt., in August 2016.

Spencer Lefebvre ‘10 and Macey Thomas Lefebvre ’10 were married in April 2017.

Meghan Flaherty Maguire ’01 married Barry Maguire in County Donegal, Ireland.

CELEBRATIONS!

Kasima Brown ’05 married Brian Garst at Disney World in Florida.

From left: Jeff Kwan ’08, Jooyeon Hahm ’08, and Woo-Chul Shin ’08 at Jooyeon’s wedding.

Deb Alfond ’07 (left) and Rachel Sperry ’07 (right) helped celebrate Sabrina Savinski ’07 at her wedding.

Alex Fontaine ‘05 and her husband, Andrew Hantel, wedded in Chicago.

Brenna Feldkamp ’09 married Chad Collins at Melrose Vineyards in Oregon.

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Regenerative Design Group, which designs and plans all kinds of farms. • Michael Pieciak is commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. • Anna Karefa-Johnson is a community outreach manager for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. • Heather King Frechette is a clinical psychologist for the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Mass.).

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dee Guo deedith@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Jamieson Baker jamieson.baker@gmail.com • Jane Lilly Warren janelillywarren@gmail.com • Daniela Frias daniela8_5@hotmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Donnie Blackwell ptowndon@gmail.com • Arjun Pant arjunpant@gmail.com • JingPing Zhang jingping.ellen.zhang@gmail.com “After spending many years in management consulting,” wrote Arjun Pant, “I’ve started a new job at a nonprofit called Evidence Action, which implements public health solutions in developing countries. I’m based in D.C., with travel to Kenya and other countries where their operations are based.” • Alex Fontaine married Andrew Hantel on May 28 in Chicago, where they live. Father of the bride, Rich Fontaine ’69, and maid of honor, Jade White, celebrated the couple alongside fellow Hoggers: Dana Barrows ‘69, Leah Gabriel, Danessa Watkins, Michaela Culver ’06, and Danielle France ’06. The newlyweds visited Japan, Vietnam, and Cambodia for their honeymoon. • Kasima Brown wrote, “On 11/14/16, I married my best friend, Brian Garst, at Walt Disney World in Orlando. My dad, SFC Carlton Brown ’70, walked me down the aisle, and Jaymie Testa stood by my side as a bridesmaid. The celebration was magical!”

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Northfield Mount Hermon Ramon Guadalupe rmg57@cornell.edu • Collin Lever collinlever@gmail.com

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Northfield Mount Hermon Dith Pamp dith.pamp@gmail.com The class of 2007 had a great time at our 10th reunion! We saw many familiar faces, reminisced about our times at Northfield and Mount Hermon, rowed on the Connecticut River, and

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danced the night away. We can’t wait to see even more of you in 2022! — From the 10th reunion committee (Dith Pamp, Donnie Smith, Roberta Taggart, Ayana Christie, Blisse Wilkinson Ufomata, Bill Ward, Theo Samets, Jeff Breau) • John Bleh and his wife, Rachel, live in Fayston, Vt., where John is communications manager for the ski area Sugarbush Resort. • Chazz Canney lives in Rutland, Vt., with his wife, Felicia, and their two daughters Phaedra (2) and Blythe (7 months). Chazz recently performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheater and recorded an album that reached number six for New Alternative Artists on Billboard. • Kayla DeVincentis graduated from Boston University Questrom School of Business with an M.B.A. • Corey Jarecki is living and working in Tokyo, Japan. • Rachel Sperry missed our reunion because she was celebrating Sabrina Savinski’s wedding with Deb Alfond. Rachel said, “I started college at Maine College of Art but finished at Washington University in St. Louis’ art school: Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. I lived in St. Louis for four years, but I missed New England and had to come back. Two years ago, I moved to Portland, Maine, with my boyfriend, Karl. I am the manager of a great contemporary women’s clothing store called Judith in Portland. I started a small knitwear line called Nuuform (nuuform.com) while I was living in St. Louis, and I am continuing to work on that in my spare time.” • Sara Tower shared, “My partner, Kalyan Uprichard, and I happily bought land in Cummington, Mass., in the summer of 2015 to start a nut farm. Last spring we planted over 350 nut trees, including hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, butternuts, and stone pines. This year we will be building a beautiful passive solar timberframe strawbale home. We are excited about putting down roots in Cummington and invite all friends to come visit and see all the nutty things we’re doing. Check us out at nutwoodfarm. com!” • Bill Ward is living in Brooklyn, working at a technology company. He’d love to see folks passing through New York! • Blisse Wilkinson Ufomata works for Ernst & Young in New York.

She also married Ruke Ufomata on 9/17/17.

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Emily Jacke ejacke@middlebury.edu • Sarah-Anne Tanner tanner.sarahanne@gmail.com It’s our 10-year reunion in June 2018, and I can’t wait to see each and every one of your beautiful faces there. I have been to quite a few reunions as a member of the Alumni Council, and I promise they are very fun. • Ashleigh Casey lives in Boston and works for a nonprofit called Project 351, where she recruits one eighthgrader from every city/town in the state to

participate in a year of leadership and community service. • Cody Valdes completed his M.Phil. in political thought and intellectual history at University of Cambridge, England.

Cody’s also supporting a pilot educational program in a South Asian conflict zone that is attempting to build youths’ psychological resiliency. • Meg Dolben ’06 earned her M.F.A. from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

She spent the summer as technical director for Endstation Theatre Company in Lynchburg, Va. • Althea SullyCole has been playing the kora for the last six years, living on and off in Senegal since 2011. In the past year, she’s performed at Teatro Manzoni in Milan and Royal Albert Hall in London, among other venues across Europe, North America, and West Africa as a solo artist and in various fusion projects. She finished her master’s at the University of London and has started her Ph.D. studies in ethnomusicology at Columbia. When we corresponded, she was finishing a six-week artist residency in Mexico City. • Jim Montague celebrated his first wedding anniversary in France. He spent the summer finishing and defending his Ph.D. thesis at the University of Vermont. • Emily Arena married Kevin Czepiel ’07 in July (Karissa Scano and Sarah Heist were bridesmaids, and Nick Dupuis ’06 and Jake Williams ’09 were groomsmen!). Emily lives in Northfield and is an elementary school teacher; Kevin works in NMH’s advancement office. • Kayci Wickline is also in Northfield, working at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital as a charge nurse. She completed her bachelor’s in nursing (reminder: her first career was as a professional chef ).

Kayci also has an extremely happy dog named Gunner. • Karissa Scano is finishing her second year as a police officer with the Boston Police Department. She’s able to use a lot of her NMH Spanish, given the large Hispanic population in East Boston, where she patrols, and has run into a few ’08ers while out on the job. She has a 2-year-old dog named Crossley. • Sarah Heist is a middle school mathematics coordinator at the Potomac School in McLean, Va., and is happy to get back to the independent-school world. She reconnected with Erika Loomer, who has moved to Alexandria, Va., and is doing marketing for professional sports agency, Tandem Sports & Entertainment. • I hitched a ride to Boston from NMH with George Posner, who had returned from the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race. He is living and working in downtown Los Angeles, and is “super-down” for co-adopting a dog with someone out there. Well, George, you should get in touch with David Rome, whom I know has similar desires. David moved to Los Angeles earlier this year, is dogless, and working in disability law. Or maybe Nick Clough would go in on it with you, George? He’s also living in L.A.

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and is an administrator at an upscale chophouse, enjoying free cuts of beef as a work perk, so your dog will be very well fed. Nick’s also doing some comedy on the side. • Jarad Weeks has officially begun taking over his dad’s tire business and, despite his best efforts, it’s reportedly going well. • Zoe Hastings moved back to western Massachusetts “after slumming it with the techno-fancies” in San Francisco, but continues to host and plan major events for the same internet security company. • Tanner Halkyard is an architectural designer at EYP Architecture and Engineering, specializing in high-performance design within the collegiate field. He’s played large roles in the design and construction of buildings like a dorm at Boston College, MIT’s Kresge Chapel, and the new integrated science centers at the College of Wooster and Concordia College. He continues to follow his Ultimate Frisbee passion in the Boston area, and played in a professional league for the 2016 season. Tanner lives in Medford, Mass., and travels home to western Massachusetts as often as possible to visit NMH and fish with his family on the Deerfield River.

He and Weston Halkyard daydream about opening their own architectural firm together one day. • Weston still lives on Martha’s Vineyard, working for Hutker Architects. While studying to become a licensed architect, he’s also been working toward becoming LEED accredited, which will allow him to make a greater impact on energy and environmental design aspects of residences. Apart from work, Weston went on a two-week trip to Italy. • Ben Weyers made an August trip to Ireland. He celebrated his five-year work anniversary with Geezeo, selling money management software to large banks around the country from Glastonbury, Conn. • Becky Gillig, who left Boston for good last year, spent four months traveling the world. She landed in San Mateo, Calif., and now works for the independent film-streaming company, Fandor. She and Emily Jacke caught up, as they’ve discovered they work a couple of blocks apart! • Emily is living in Berkeley, Calif., and is getting pretty good at playing Dominion and cooking tomato basil soup. She also might finally understand why people like running, and desperately wants a cat. • Liz Arthur is in her second year of business school at Boston University — fellow Hogger Matt Warshaw ’04 is in her class. • A new member of the NMH Boston Mafia is my freshman roommate, Jooyeon Hahm! She got married in December 2016, and her wedding was attended by NMH alumni Jeff Kwan, Woo Chul Shin, Jung-Min Woo ’07, So Mi Ha ’09, Su-min Rhee ’10, and Kate Hyoyoon Kim ’11. • Also in Boston, Max Mazzone works as a realtor and is studying Web development. He throws a

mean wine-and-cheese party. • Another new member of our Beantown crew is Christina Cushing, who went to an adult summer camp with her colleagues at Red Bull. She joins us in the Commonwealth after several years in Virginia, and works on Northeast business strategy for Red Bull. • Annamae Manning continues to work for LS Retail in Iceland. She delivered a presentation on licensing and partner agreements/contracts in Madrid. • Tom Fagan is based in Washington, D.C., and works for a development contractor called Palladium.

Most of his work is on the USAID-funded Health Policy Plus project, which supports financing, governance, and advocacy for health in developing countries. • Nikki Rossetti is attending medical school at Case Western Reserve University! • Renee Forcier graduated from Atlantic Veterinary College at University of Prince Edward Island with a doctorate of veterinary medicine, and moved to Virginia Beach in July to join a companion-animal veterinary practice as a general practitioner. She welcomes visitors anytime! • Back from her dream trip to southwest England, Wales, and London, Julia Mix Barrington finished a 200-hour yoga teacher training in December 2016. Her article about ghost ships in English and American literature was recently accepted for publication, and she is really looking forward to hearing everyone’s stories at reunion! • Stephanie Randall lives in Rhode Island and works for Hasbro, where she engages in office Nerf blaster battles. She also has a cat and continues to love ice cream. • Rachel Koh moved to Easton, Penn., in July to start a job at Lafayette College as a mechanical engineering professor. • Britt Lilienthal Shattuck is a manager and teacher at a donation-based, nonprofit yoga studio in Burlington, Vt. She married Steven Shattuck in Stowe, Vt., on 5/21/17. • Rebecca Young is still in Seattle, consulting in the digital analytics space. She bought a house last year, so she’s sticking around for a while! She has joined a local choir, is dancing swing and fusion, and has taken up boxing. She can’t wait to see everyone at reunion. • Tsu-Min Ruby Hsu finished her master’s degree in educational leadership last year and found a job in Shanghai, China: She’s a partnership development and recruiting manager for foreign teachers. • As for me, I’m still kicking it in Boston and am typing this on a Greyhound bus on my way back from visiting Maggie Higby in Montpelier, Vt. She’s doing marketing for High Mowing Seed Company after several years in farming and lives in an adorable apartment in a converted schoolhouse.

Eli Stiefel is my new roommate and is studying for an M.A. in law and diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. This year I’ve started

running and have done a couple half-marathons, and I’m learning to grow vegetables in my little backyard. And I got my nose pierced (sorry, Mom). I started an M.S. in speech language pathology at Emerson College in the fall, and donations to my college fund are very welcome.

I also host an ever-expanding NMH Friendsgiving on the Saturday after Thanksgiving every year, and this year is our 10th annual. You are all invited — reach out to me for details!

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Northfield Mount Hermon Daisy Letendre daisycletendre@gmail.com • Eshalla Merriam eshallamerriam@gmail.com • Pamela Chen pamchen13@gmail.com • Fayette Phillips fayettephillips@gmail.com • Anna Stevens annagstevens@gmail.com • Galen Anderson gjande01@syr.edu Mohamed “Mo” Eldib was recently promoted to partner at his family’s law firm, where he is heading the anti-counterfeiting department.

The firm has opened offices across North Africa, specializing in corporate, commercial, and intellectual property law. Mo is also working on a smartphone application that’s a social media platform based on the concept of a bucket list, and it is expected to launch this year. • Allison Hartman celebrated Thanksgiving 2016 with a bunch of ’08 alumni (Sarah Anne Tanner, Jim Montague, Rachel Koh, and Eli Stiefel). She also graduated with a Ph.D. in physics from University of North Carolina, where she will be transitioning to a postdoc position. • Brenna Feldkamp married Chad Collins on 10/15/16 at Melrose Vineyards in Oregon. • Leopoldo Toralballa is a paratrooper for the U.S. Army and is currently deployed overseas working in IT. His current duty station stateside is Fort Bragg, N.C. • Daisy Letendre began a new role as senior advisor for policy and strategic communications at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Eli Spector elishsp@gmail.com • Jed Kundl kundlj@gmail.com From Jed: I caught up with Erin Cromack at reunion as she was going about her duties for Alumni Council. A week before, Erin had returned from Bali, Indonesia, where she spent the spring teaching English to local children age 3 to 5. It was an incredibly rewarding experience for her, and she thanks NMH for introducing

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her to community service and being continuously instrumental in her life decisions. • Dante Ivy Santos is leaving Microsoft to join Freefly, a robotics startup outside of Seattle that makes camera stabilization equipment. • Jacob Aduama, a chemical engineer, is employed at Volvo in Sweden, working for better fuel economy and safer emissions while fulfilling his passion for the auto industry. • Caitlin Bryant finished flight school in July 2016 and moved to Oak Harbor, Wash., to fly the EA-18G Growler. She loves Washington State and will probably never leave.

• Spencer Lefebvre and Macey Thomas Lefebvre were married on 4/8/17! A huge congratulations to them. Macey graduated with her master’s in education from UMass this year, and Spencer is a corpsman in the Navy. They’re living in Jacksonville, N.C., and adopted a cute baby kitty named Phyllis Pancake Lefebvre.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Olivia VanCott vancott.olivia@gmail.com • Nisha Malik nishamalik92@gmail.com • Olivia Wolpe oliviawolpe@gmail.com From Olivia W.: Junius Ross-Martin abandoned his usual self-deprecating humor and is in the midst of hiking the Appalachian Trail, southbound. He’s hoping to run into Brady Ward ’09, and to “regain the sanity my cubicle so viciously stole.” • Julie McCausland is using Duolingo to learn Esperanto, which I misread as “Despacito” and made a killer (false) joke that, at the time of writing, was very current (eh) and topical (debatable). • Jordan Kreyling is currently sweaty with a nose bleed, cycling from Utah to Oregon, so we wish him good luck and Godspeed! • Garret McMullen graduated and make a crack about being late to the party, but was quickly reminded that he’s not the only one (thanks again, Jules!). • Ashley Grevelink wrote, “I’m wearin’ my kinky boots in the red light district for a few months, just dirt-bagged and fly-fished some dank rivers in Slovenia. Gonna rave my face off at Tomorrowland. Looking for a programming job and still haven’t graduated.

Hope in one year I’ll at least not still be living off my parents.” Cheers, Trashley. • As this column tends to include the same cast of characters each time, I suggest we turn this into a serialized novella, with new chapters published every six months. Thoughts? • Much love from your favorite aunt, Wolpe.

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Northfield Mount Hermon Parker Peltzer ppeltzer@gmx.com • Wilson Josephson josephsonw@carleton.edu

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

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Northfield Mount Hermon Please send news to: nmhnotes@nmhschool.org

Faculty

Please send news to: Josie Rigby jrigby@nmhschool.org Greetings! I, Josie Rigby, have recently taken over the NMH Magazine notes column from Joan Peck, and l look forward to the challenge. I will be in touch from time to time for your news, so please share with me! • Pam Allen still loves to be surrounded by books.

She traded Schauffler for Greenfield Public Library. But the difference is that Pam only puts in a few hours a week in Greenfield and not 50+, like she did at Schauffler. • Jim and Penny Block, Gayle Potter, your scribe, and about 150 other NMH alumni attended the Founder’s Day Challenge celebration at Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Del. Jim was also the honorary sheriff at Commencement. Jim and Penny now live in Chestertown, Md., and Gayle is living the high life in Bennington, Vt. • Bill Compton ’44 attended the Scholarship Lunch, dedication of the NMH day care center, and Sacred Concert. Also in attendance at the day care dedication was Margot Torrey.

Sara Pilliod was also seen at Sacred Concert. • After retiring from NMH in 2011, Marv Kelley ’60 and wife Carol remained in their home in Greenfield, where he has found ways to stay busy and “out of trouble.” He volunteers for the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, serving as secretary on the board of directors and several other committees, and serves on two committees for Greenfield YMCA. Marv also provides transportation to LifePath “Drive for Health” clients to their appointments. LifePath is the former Franklin County Home Care Corporation. He was recently named Volunteer of the Year for Hospice of Franklin County, a wonderful organization that also has Noelle Anson as a volunteer. • Debbie Kolpa became a grandmother again — Miles arrived on May

17, weighing 7 lbs. 11 oz. (mom is Heather Kolpa Hendicks ’98). Miles joins sister Maren and cousins Alexandra (mom is Emily Kolpa ’98), Julie, and Nina (dad is Bryan Kolpa ’01).

• Original faculty/staff columnist Lyn Kellom and her husband, Dick Kellom, entertained the class of ’57 in celebrating their 60th reunion in June. Lyn was class teacher for Northfield ’57.

They regaled the class with stories of how the Kelloms met, as well as NMH stories through the decades. Dick was honored several times

by Commencement speaker Frank Shorter ’65 as being one of Frank’s greatest influences during his years at NMH. Hats off to you, Lyn and Dick. • Also seen at several recent events on campus were Carol and Nelson Lebo ’56. If you have any lamps in need of repair, please be sure to contact Nelson — he’s a dab hand at fixing them. • Dick Peller and Ellen Turner are enjoying life in the New England-like town of Hudson, Ohio, reputed to have the best library in the world! Ellen is working full time in the Kenyon College admissions office, returning to a position she held for six years after she graduated from Kenyon. Dick is working part time at Western Reserve Academy, teaching two math classes. • In April, Jeanne Rees participated in a Herren Project 5K run/walk, raising more than $2,000. The Herren Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing treatment navigation, education, and mentoring programs to those touched by addiction. • Peter Snedecor lives in Amherst, enjoying woodworking, taking classes at Amherst College, and singing with the DaCamera singers (under the keen direction of Sheila Heffernon!). I see Peter quite often, as we are both swim officials; Peter is president of the Western Massachusetts Swim Officials Association. During the summer you’ll find him on Deer Island in Maine. • Pam Shoemaker is co-author and editor of Riverside — Life Along the Connecticut in Gill. The Gill historical group has sold over 375 copies. Other retirees helping with this publication are Mary Lynn Current (Howard, Ohio), Jim Cerillo (Gill), and Chuck Hamilton (Mexico). Lynn Tomb is co-author and graphic designer. This book starts with geological history along the river and continues to native encampments, riverside farming, lumber industry, and residential life until 1940.

• Now retired, Tim McCabe is looking forward to developing his interest in antiques and multicultural folk art while he and Pam spend more time at their home in Port Medway, Nova Scotia.

Tim was pleased this winter to be honored with the Inuit exhibit in NMH’s gallery (partially sponsored by 1983/84 alumni) and in the Pucker Gallery, Boston.

VITAL STATISTICS

B IR T H S 1987 Andrew to Doug Fitts and wife Liz May 16, 2017 1993 Frances Margaret Eibhlin to Sarah Ruddy Hamilton and husband Patrick October 26, 2016 1994 Elias to Wanda Vargas September 1, 2016 2000 Gabriel Maximo to Yessy Salcedo Malave and husband Jared April 18, 2017 2001 Nathaniel to Jemma Braun Siperstein and husband Stephen October 2016 Carter Levi to Jody Walker-Smith and husband Kyle December 2016 Ruby Willow to Amy Marks Dornbusch and husband Adam December 30, 2016 M ARRI AGE S 1970 Mark Carta to Darcy McAlister June 2017 1982 Amy Price Lutz to Clyde Waggoner June 2016

2005 Alex Fontaine to Andrew Hantel May 28, 2017 Kasima Brown to Brian Garst November 14, 2016 2007 Blisse Wilkinson Ufomata to Ruke Ufomata September 17, 2017 2008 Emily Arena to Kevin Czepiel ’07 July 2017 Britt Lillienthal to Steven Shattuck May 21, 2017 2009 Brenna Feldkamp to Chad Collins October 15, 2016 2010 Spencer Lefebvre to Macey Thomas Lefebvre April 8, 2017 DEATHS 1918 Raymond Miller May 21, 2006 1925 Hilda Mills Tilton March 11, 2009 1926 William Slough November 19, 2000 1927 Milton Cookson January 17, 2007

1992 Colleen Cahill Vieira to Vital Vieira August 27, 2016

Alice Duryea Kinney November 15, 2015

1993 Sarah Ruddy Hamilton to Patrick Hamilton August 15, 2016

1928 Gertrude Monell Buzzell November 27, 2005

1995 Mike Stone to Lauren Gilchrist December 2016 1996 Devon Taylor Assael to Jarret Assael June 4, 2016 2001 Meghan Flaherty Maguire to Barry Maguire September 2016 Chris Mathey to Rachel Gunter February 18, 2017

Grace Troy Vreeland February 19, 2008

Esther Wright McMillan January 6, 2010 Idella Davis Sheridan July 24, 2007 Caroline Phillips Williams January 1, 2011 1929 Fannie Fellows Henricks April 16, 2014 1930 Elizabeth Chitwood Appel September 27, 2016

1931 Helen Blossom Benoni September 28, 2006 Survived by William Wilcox ’48, Raymond Wilcox ’50, Jean Towle Reed ’55, Nancy Towle Guiles ’62, Laura Reed Goodson ’88 Robert Davies February 22, 2008 Eleanor Phillips Fisher May 29, 2006 Miriam Fuller February 18, 2007 Lloyd Marcy November 11, 2009 Survived by Brandon Turner ’97 Eunice Tufts Maynard January 3, 2007 Suzanne Shader McNeilly April 10, 2010 Lucy Rawson Prior February 2, 2006 Dorothy Nutting Smith November 30, 2006 1932 Geraldine McDaniel Fraser March 14, 2017

John Funk July 5, 2016

Lucille Faller Junk October 28, 2015

Margaret Watson Sanderson July 14, 2002

Frederic Rueckert May 1, 2017

1935 Ruth MacCallum Blanchard December 18, 2011

Nancy Noyes Sweatt March 21, 2017

Dorothy Skerritt Brewer January 9, 2016 Chester Dugdale September 29, 2010 Sylvia Hallock Hershey November 7, 2012 Jane Morgan Johnson November 20, 2012 Survived by H. Ann Quarnstrom ’38 Margaret Kennedy Lichtenstein April 28, 2013 Mary Ladd Miller July 26, 2009 Survived by Richard Starbuck ’64, Jonathan Starbuck ’69, Rodman Ritchie ’90, Andrew Ritchie ’93 Margaret Petry Smith October 16, 2009

1942 Betty Turner Byrd December 17, 2012 Hans Deutsch May 29, 2017 Survived by Peter McFarren ’71, Lisa McFarren-Polgar ’73 Paul Ehinger February 27, 2017 Survived by Robert Ehinger ’39, Nelson Ehinger ’48 Vivian Halsey Johns August 23, 2013 Sheldon Katz May 23, 2017 A. William March April 3, 2013 John Snow February 23, 2017 Survived by Gregory Snow ’54, Julian Snow ’10 Andrew Stacy July 27, 2014 Survived by Marcia Stacy Kemp ’64, Robert Henry ’77

Doris Parker O’Day May 5, 2004

Virginia Clark Wylie December 17, 2008

George Stallings November 29, 2007

1936 Jane Griswold Mensel October 28, 2016 Survived by Pamela Mensel Praetsch ’63

David Swicker March 29, 2017 Survived by Donald Swicker ’49, Banba Swicker-Lipton ’77

1937 Jean Holzworth Cornwell May 24, 2017 Survived by Carol Raynor Hornbeck ’43, Priscilla Raynor Barringer ’46

1943 Patricia Drummond Mode January 22, 2017

1933 Melanie Updegraff Adams November 2, 2014 George Closs September 23, 2006 Rebecca Mecray Dearborn July 26, 2016 Marion Shaffer Filley January 15, 2002 Lois Metterhouse Gomez June 27, 2011 Theodore Horton March 16, 2015 Survived by Donice Horton ’67 Edith Snook Lehman August 12, 2015 Ruth Lewis Messer November 14, 2003 Roderick Newell April 16, 2012 Mary Harmon Parker April 11, 2013 Elizabeth Farley Price January 2, 2010

Frances Champion Noyes February 19, 2008

1934 Marshall Bishop May 7, 2013

Frances Meloon Thompson December 8, 2011

Donald Ferguson October 13, 2016

Marion Gerstl Golden March 30, 2017 Jeannette Chute Manning April 6, 2008 1940 Lois Borden Hord June 12, 2017 Survived by Charlotte Valliere Hord ’67, Marjory Hord Mendez ’69 Dwight Martin January 4, 2017 1941 Richard Bolton March 3, 2017 Survived by Sybil Severance O’Keefe ’40, June Bolton Generous ’41, Irwin Severance ’50, Beverly Bolton Leyden ’53, Arolyn Bolton Lake ’54, Judith Holbrook Hurlbut ’59, Donna Holbrook ’61, William Porter ’69, James Leyden ’76, Jeffrey Leyden ’80, Luke Leyden ’14

Jean Lindsay Upton December 17, 2016

Grace Knapp Perkins February 20, 2017 1944 David Farnham June 27, 2017 Shirley Miller Knowles October 25, 2007 Survived by Todd Knowles ’76 Ross Mulford October 17, 2016 Anne Nelson Packard March 27, 2017 Survived by Gail Monsees White ’73, Dean Monsees ’76, Erika Monsees McCormick ’78, Lindsey White ’04, Derek White ’10 Edward Schwartz July 1, 2013 Robert Small February 5, 2017 Ruth Carroll Smith December 4, 2016

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H. Lytle Thompson March 1, 2017 H. Alan Timm January 3, 2017 Robert Whitney February 28, 2017 1945 Jesse Parker Bogue February 15, 2017 Paul Canada February 4, 2017 Survived by Paul M. Canada III ’79 Paul Carver April 30, 2017 Priscilla Chamberlin Davidson March 29, 2017 Survived by Allen Chamberlin ’49, Cynthia Davidson ’70 Anne Adams Fox June 28, 2013 Louis Gallo July 4, 2017 Joan Hull February 1, 2017 Survived by Eleanor Hull ’46

1948 Elisabeth Heidner Britland December 26, 2016 Survived by Elizabeth Fenniman Tobey ’53 Norman Crook October 4, 2011 Survived by Douglas Crook ’42, Josette L. Crook ’50 Polly Prine Herman February 26, 2017 David Keast May 22, 2017 Nancy Dearborn Knipe February 21, 2017 Survived by Stephen Knipe ’72, Penley Knipe ’83, John Knipe ’85

Harold Whitbeck March 26, 2015 1949 Barbara Hoiland Arnesman April 18, 2017

Carol Kimball Young January 22, 2017 Survived by Elizabeth Kimball Howard ’42

Leone Farwell February 13, 2017

Bruce Munro February 2, 2017 Stowe Shoemaker May 23, 2017 Survived by Jane Shoemaker Martin ’73 William Zimmerman July 16, 2017 1947 Patricia Ramsey Bailey July 21, 2016 Eugene Banta April 1, 2017 Peggy Abbott Eser May 6, 2017 John Greenwood February 3, 2017 Survived by Robert Greenwood ’51, Dana Barrows ’69, Katie Barrows Chipps ’94

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Carol Fleckles White May 21, 2017 Survived by David Fleckles ’49, Tamara White Marz ’75, Mary White Turley ’83 1952 Marcia Mills Ambrose June 1, 2016 Randall Harris June 2, 2017

1953 Robert Engvall July 24, 2017 Survived by Kenneth Engvall ’57

Lucianne Bond Carmichael November 25, 2016

Jean Cassidy Gowans May 6, 2017 Survived by Scott Gowans ’82

1958 Zoltan de Bary November 29, 2012

Edward Sherrer October 24, 2011

Edward Wyka June 8, 2015

Darragh Fine-Lalich March 23, 2017

Marjorie Bond Nagus June 11, 2017 Survived by Barbara Bond Nutt ’47, Diana Bond Holtshouser ’50

William Katz January 27, 2017

Leland Simons January 7, 2017

1946 Robert Baillie January 30, 2012

H. Franklin Nash February 6, 2010

Richard Semple September 22, 2007

Lois Paige Besanko April 30, 2014 Survived by Kerry Besanko Grindeland ’69, Kirsten Besanko ’67

Charles Roveto August 31, 2016

1951 Nancy Bullen Fischer October 19, 2016

Verna Carlson Gordon May 21, 2017 Elliott Hale July 6, 2017 Margaret Dodd Schmidt June 13, 2017 Peter Townsend September 19, 2016 Elizabeth Howe Verrill June 15, 2017 Survived by Andrew Howe ’72, Rebecca Verrill Smith ’76, Catherine Howe Gordon ’80, Lucy Howe Hersey ’83 1950 Margery Ryder Howes May 21, 2017 Survived by Julia Howes Gomez-Blanco ’89 Ruth Salmon January 16, 2017 Survived by Nancy Salmon Hubbard ’57, Diane Crater Tingue ’60, Douglas Crater ’76, Alice Pendleton-Toney ’76 Elisa Scatena April 19, 2017 Katherine Jente Siebel March 28, 2017 William Usher March 28, 2017 Survived by Betty Usher Grover ’45

Newton Gleason February 4, 2016 Joan Tarr Kemper March 9, 2017 Elizabeth Rich July 10, 2017 1954 Bruce Bradley December 22, 2016 George Hamilton May 30, 2017 Survived by Thomas Curley ’92 Burton Karp July 4, 2017 Survived by Michael Karp ’88 1955 Donna Huckabee Farnham February 25, 2017 Survived by Quincy Huckabee ’52, Gerald Huckabee ’54, Harlow Huckabee ’58 Bruce MacIntyre November 12, 2014 Survived by Sally MacIntyre Merrill ’50 1956 William Polios March 2, 2017 Survived by John Pradel ’49 Susan Djorup Reilley May 8, 2017 1957 David Amsden March 18, 2017 Anthony Blassberg September 29, 2016 Janet Collier October 5, 2013 Lucy Elton Cross June 26, 2015 Margot Adams Graves September 30, 2010 Roland Marsh July 12, 2014

Kirk Parry January 16, 2010

Astrid Lundberg Naviaux June 24, 2017 1960 Michael Miller April 2, 2017 Robert Olsen March 29, 2017 Reynolds Thompson March 1, 2017 Survived by Gail Phillips Fairfield ’61, Theodore Thompson ’62, Alison Phillips Cushing ’64, Everett Thompson ’71 1961 Thomas Wheadon May 8, 2017 1962 James Dunsmore June 30, 2016 Survived by Norman Dunsmore ’59 1964 Colin Cuneo October 15, 2014 1967 Peter Henwood November 15, 2016 Leonard Rankin April 21, 2017 1969 T. Christopher Rogers August 6, 2016 Survived by John Rogers ’10 1970 Emilie Knapp Crown February 6, 2017 Survived by Barbara Baldwin Knapp ’45, Gunnar Baldwin ’77, Kristina Knapp Schwarz ’77, Christopher Crown ’00, Daniel Corn ’02 1972 Alison Harvey Kellegher May 4, 2010 Thomas Lovejoy June 13, 2015 J. Reed Stewart July 4, 2017 1973 Anne Thruelsen June 14, 2017 1974 Gwendolyn Thomson May 8, 2017 Survived by Sandra Thomson ’75 1978 David Batroukha April 17, 2017 Survived by Nancy Collier ’51

Michael Rowe April 3, 2017 Survived by William Rowe ’83 1982 Alexis Girhiny March 17, 2010 Survived by Karen Girhiny Ntagkounakis ’80, Bart Girhiny ’82, Mark Girhiny ’83 1987 Richard Feinstein April 12, 2008 1990 Susan Redmond March 12, 2017 Survived by William Livingston ’63, Elinor Livingston Redmond ’65, Elizabeth Livingston ’88 2005 Jessica Whitney Read April 9, 2017 2012 Margaretta Potter March 8, 2017 Survived by Augustus Potter ’10 F ORMER FACULT Y AN D STAF F Joseph Elliott July 4, 2017 Survived by Joseph T. Elliott ’78, Stuart Elliott ’81, Christopher Elliott ’83 George Farr February 22, 2017 Denis Gainty April 1, 2017 Eugene Gancarz 2017 (date unknown) Gloria Gancarz ’43 John Greenplate January 17, 2017 Mary Jacobs June 15, 2017 Karen Kren July 9, 2017 Survived by Michael Kren ’99, Allison Kren ’07 D. Jeffrey Lenn May 4, 2017 George Miller July 30, 2017 Survived by George E. Miller ’83, Kathleen Miller ’84 Shelby Miller June 5, 2017 Julia Styles May 4, 2017 Survived by Stacey Styles ’76 Mary Lou Treat April 1, 2017 Survived by Stephen Cone ’68, Arthur Cone ’71, Sharon Treat ’74, Roger Treat ’75, Jessica Treat ’76, Carolyn Treat ’78, Rory Treat ’86 Kenneth Van Cor April 22, 2017

IN MEMORIAM

William Compton William R. “Bill” Compton ’44, recently of South Hadley, Massachusetts, died Aug. 22, 2017, at the age of 89.

With an NMH career that spanned more than 35 years, he was well known to generations of students, alumni, and colleagues as an honest, fair, and humble man.

“It was an honor to get to know Bill these past five years,” said Head of School Peter Fayroian.

“Bill’s affection for this place was evident in his remarkable attendance record at NMH events and gatherings, and at each one, his humility, wisdom, and grace were wonderful to behold.” Compton’s writings on coeducation, NMH’s merger, and religious life at the school are part of his legacy, Fayroian said. “I find Bill’s words helpful and poignant. His fingerprints are all over this place, in the best way possible.”

“Bill” was born in Vienna, Austria, and spent his childhood in Thessaloniki, Greece, where his father was a teacher and dean at Anatolia College. His family moved back to the United States right

B Y EM I LY W E I R

before the Second World War, and he graduated from Mount Hermon in 1944 as salutatorian of his class.

He attended Oberlin College, where he met his future wife, Mary Lighthall, then returned to Mount Hermon in 1948 to teach. He left in 1951 — to earn a master’s degree from Columbia and teach at Anatolia College for three years and at the Salisbury School in Connecticut for two — returning again to Mount Hermon in 1957. This time, he stayed.

For the next 35 years, he held many posts at the school. In addition to teaching religious studies and history,

Compton served as director of research, dean of the Mount Hermon Center (as the campus was known immediately following the merger of the two schools), dorm parent, college counselor, director of studies (academic dean), and enthusiastic promoter of all of the school’s outdoor activities. He was perhaps best known as director of the summer school, a post he held for 17 years before his retirement in 1992.

Compton kept in touch with former students as the class of 1962’s “class teacher,” and was affiliated with several other NMH classes.

The depth and breadth of Compton’s NMH connections are also reflected in his surviving relatives. They include his sons, Robert ’78 and Richard ’68, and his daughter, former NMH trustee Elizabeth “Betsy” Compton ’72.

He is also survived by his sister, Esther Miseroy ’48; and grandchildren Rose Spurgin ’00, Martha Compton ’03, and Henry Compton ’06. He was predeceased in 2012 by his wife, Mary Compton ’44, a much-admired NMH administrator and Bill’s partner in life and work.

Compton’s impact on the NMH community remains vivid in the minds of those who worked with him. Retired math department chair Dick Peller was Compton’s friend for more than 45 years, and calls him a man of impeccable character. “Bill was quiet, self-effacing, modest, and gentle,” said Peller. “He was one of the most intelligent people I have known, and even late in life, his memory remained strong. I loved sitting with him and listening to him tell stories of Mount Hermon in the 1950s and ’60s. Bill was a true lamplighter.”

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Sam Greene

In November 2016, Samuel Stanton “Sam” Greene, 89, who spent 14 years at Northfield Mount Hermon as a math teacher and was the founding director of NMH’s Summer School, passed away at his home in Brunswick, Maine.

Sam Greene was born in 1927 in New London, Connecticut, and graduated in 1945 from the Bulkeley School in New London. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Amherst College, after spending two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Germany. He began graduate studies at Brown University and eventually earned a master’s in liberal studies from Wesleyan University in 1957.

In 1952, Greene accepted a position in the Mount Hermon math department and also coached the boys’ crosscountry team. According to NMH Archivist Peter Weis ’78, P’13, Greene liked to tell his runners, “Gentlemen, people come from all over the country and the world and pay good money to view the fall colors, but you get to run in these woods for free.”

Within a year of arriving at NMH, Greene married Martha Elizabeth Payne, a Northfield graduate of the class of 1949.

Over the next 11 years, they became the parents of five daughters. Meanwhile, in the late 1950s, Greene was asked to develop a plan for a six-week summer

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school program, which began in the summer of 1961. Over the next five years, Greene continued his academic-year teaching and coaching, adding the directorship of the summer school to his schedule.

Retired NMH faculty members Lyn and Dick Kellom remember Greene as a gentleman, a demanding and respected math teacher, and a successful coach of winning cross-country teams. They say he ran a tight yet fair ship as the dorm head of North Crossley, where he would roam the four floors of the dorm in the evening, smoking a cigar.

“Sam’s omnipresence was unmistakable,” Lyn Kellom says.

In the summer of 1966, the Greenes left NMH and moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Sam became the head of Shady Side Academy for 10 years. He also served briefly as head of the Walnut Hill School, and as assistant head of the Bement School in Deerfield.

Greene and his wife divorced during this time, and Sam married his second wife, Phyllis Gansz, in the mid-1980s.

They relocated to Maine, first to Yarmouth, then to Brunswick, where they spent the last years of Sam’s life.

He is survived by his wife; daughters Meg, Georgia, Julie, Sarah, and Lydia ’82; first wife Martha; and five grandchildren, including Steven Kearns ’12.

Mary Lou Treat Mary Lou Strassburger Treat, 89, head of the library system at Northfield Mount Hermon from 1972 to 1993 and a tireless worker for social justice, died at home in Putney, Vermont, on April 1, 2017.

Born in 1927 in Steubenville, Ohio, Mary Lou earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Connecticut College in 1949. She worked at McGraw Hill Publishing Co. in New York City for several years until she met and, in 1954, married her husband, Bob, and moved with him to the Gunnery School in Connecticut, where he was director of admissions and a history teacher.

In 1955, the Treats moved to the Putney School in Vermont, where Mary Lou worked in the library. It was in Putney that her passion for social justice took hold, and in 1964, the Treats participated in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Mary Lou then served as librarian at the Barlow School, where Bob was headmaster, from 1964 to 1969. Afterward,

the family, which by then included five children, traveled across the U.S. and the Caribbean, and spent an intrepid year living in a fishing village in Spain.

They arrived at NMH in 1972, with Mary Lou Treat taking on leadership of the library system just as the school went coed. She earned her M.L.S. from Simmons College in 1974. During her tenure at NMH, she not only modernized the libraries on both campuses, shuttling between them incessantly, but also oversaw the design and construction of the Northfield campus’s Dolben Library, which replaced the outdated Talcott Library. Dolben opened its doors only a few years before the Treats retired to their home in Putney in 1993.

After retirement, Mary Lou worked as a human rights and social justice activist, mostly with Brattleboro, Vermont organizations: the Unitarian Universalist church; the Morningside Shelter; the Women’s Freedom Center; and as an advocate for civil unions and marriage

IN M E MORI AM

Joseph Elliott Jr. On July 4, 2017, Joseph Thomas Elliott Jr. died at Charlene Manor Extended Care Facility in Greenfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 88. He served as head of the music department at Northfield Mount Hermon and as the school’s organist for 28 years until his retirement in 1994.

Elliott was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in 1929, one of three children of Joseph T. and Mary Louise (Cahoone) Elliott. He was educated in local schools and attended Columbia University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1951, with honors.

Unlike many college students, Elliott identified what would become his life’s work at an early age. He began studying organ as a child, and at 11, he performed for the first time in public at the Church

equality in Vermont.

She was predeceased by her husband and is survived by her children Sharon A. Treat ’74, Roger S. Treat ’75, Jessica T. Treat ’76, Carolyn J. Treat ’78, and Rory B. Treat ’86, and their spouses; a grandson, Kai Haaland; her sister, Marjorie Anne Lowe; and several nieces and nephews.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Morningside Shelter or the All Souls U.U. Church in Brattleboro, Vermont.

B Y N O EL L E A NS ON

of the Assumption in New York City. By 14, he was working as a full-time organist and choirmaster at Saint Agnes Episcopal Church in East Orange, New Jersey. It was there that he met his future wife, Barbara, who sang in the children’s choir. While still at Columbia, he was appointed organist at Saint Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Parish in New York City in 1950.

Elliott served in the U.S. Marine Corps for two years during the Korean War, receiving an honorable discharge in 1953. (His commanding officer was Captain Glyn Jones of the Navy’s Chaplain Corps, who later served as minister at Mount Hermon.) Elliott then returned to playing at Saint Paul’s Chapel, and also taught music at two private schools in New Jersey, performed as a pianist and organist — including in Carnegie Hall and on the popular “Ed Sullivan Show” — and served as accompanist of the University Glee Club of New York City. In 1956, he married Barbara Ann Ford in Saint Paul’s Chapel, serving as organist during the ceremony!

From 1957 to 1966, Elliott served as organist and choirmaster at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Essex Fells, New Jersey, and also ran a letterpress printing business.

In 1966, Elliott joined the Mount Hermon faculty as chair of the music department, chapel organist, music teacher, band director, and printer.

He designed the pipe organ that was installed in Memorial Chapel in 1970.

During his teaching years and well into his retirement, Elliott was a musical fixture in the chapel, playing at weddings and memorial services as well as major school events. He also played organ at several local churches.

In recognition of his commitment to the school, the NMH Alumni Association presented him with the William Morrow Award after he retired, and the Joseph T. Elliott Jr. Prize in Music is awarded annually to a graduating senior.

Elliott’s outside interests included many years on the Gill Fire Department, and service as a regional 9-1-1 coordinator during the development of the national emergency communications system.

Elliott is survived by his wife; sons Joseph III ’78, Stuart ’81, and Christopher ’83; five grandchildren; a sister; and a brother. A funeral service took place in Memorial Chapel on July 22, 2017, with the Rev. Ted Thornton officiating. Memorial gifts may be made to the Northfield Mount Hermon Music Department (c/o Kristin Kellom) or to the Gill Firemen’s Association.

FA L L 2 0 1 7

95

BY PETER WEIS ’78, P’13

HISTORY LESSON

Go Figure Today, celebrities are reproduced in a variety of mediums, from chocolate to Legos to bobblehead dolls. These 150-year-old ceramic statuettes of NMH founder D.L. Moody and music man Ira Sankey remind us that the urge to create and collect is not new.

This pair was part of a tradition in Staffordshire, England, according to author P.D. Gordon Pugh, who penned Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Era. He says the Moody and Sankey figures were produced in at least four different sizes by competing factories; the largest, pictured here, are over 17 inches tall. Pugh estimates they were made to coincide with Moody’s first great evangelical campaign in the British Isles, between 1873 and 1875.

The popularity of Moody and Sankey led to immense production of these Staffordshire figures, so many survive. A Moody/ Sankey pair might fetch as little as $300, compared with the thousands one might pay for something truly scarce. A bobblehead Moody doll, perhaps?

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NMH Magazine

PHOTO: SHARON L ABE LL A - LINDALE

GIVING BACK

Being of Service The mother of Ruth P. Keating ’43 never imagined that her small-town child with a difficult home life would become a world traveler and one day bequeath almost $2 million to her alma mater. But in 1939, Mrs. Keating wrote a letter to Northfield, requesting a scholarship for her daughter, and said, “I believe if Ruth could come to your school she would make good.”

At Northfield, Keating made the honor roll and helped pay for her education by doing extra work in Hillside Cottage and waitressing during vacations.

She went off to Vassar, where she studied international relations and Russian, and then earned a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins. She joined the CIA in 1949 — one of the first women to do so — soon after the agency was established. That career move took her from Washington, D.C., to Frankfurt, Germany (where she married Earl Hyde Jr. in 1953) to Seoul, Korea, where she served after the Korean War. “She was a woman before her time, a person of integrity, character, and mettle; a quintessential Northfield girl,” says Chief Advancement Officer Allyson Goodwin ’83, P’12, ’14.

Although Keating didn’t make her first gift to NMH until 1979, she had evidently begun to consider her legacy while she was still a student. The summer before her senior year, she wrote a letter to Principal Mira B. Wilson: “I will always appreciate everything that has been done for me here.

I look toward my last year with the hope that the future may give me the chance to be of service to Northfield.”

Keating died in November 2016 at the age of 91. With her final gift of over $1.8 million, the second-largest bequest in the history of NMH, she certainly found a way to “be of service” to her school.

Ruth “Penny” Penrose (Keating) Hyde ’43

NMH

Magazine

One Lamplighter Way Mount Hermon, MA 01354

CHA NGE SER VICE REQU E ST E D PRINT ED IN THE UNITE D STAT ES

Cross-country runners enter the NMH woods.

PHOTO: D AVID WA R R EN