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Walking in the Footsteps of Heroes Ten students, led by faculty members Judy Wombwell, Allen Grimm, and Damany Fisher, took part in Andover’s inaugural American Civil Rights Movement Immersion Program in June. During the 10-day, four-state trip, the group visited iconic sites (including Martin Luther King Jr.’s boyhood home and the Tuskegee Institute) and worked with youth at the Sunflower County Freedom Project, which assists low-income families. Students had deep context for the terrible news they heard on June 17, the day before their trip ended: a young man had opened fire at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine African Americans. Funded by an Abbot Academy Association grant, this powerful new program is one of numerous Learning in the World programs supported by the Tang Institute at Andover.
“Dr. King’s legacy is unmistakably at the core of Montgomery’s pride, and there is no better way to experience firsthand the profound, everlasting impact of Dr. King on the people of the South— and the nation as a whole— than to talk with those who have been personally impacted by his leadership during the Civil Rights Movement.” —Haley Suh ’16
“Our mission was three-pronged: to walk in the footsteps of the heroes of the historical Civil Rights Movement, to relate historical events to current human and civil rights issues, and to provide a partnership opportunity during which PA students could connect with students from a dramatically different region in the country, the Mississippi Delta.” —Judy Wombell, Group Leader
C on te nts
F E AT U R E S
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20 In Memory: David M. Underwood ’54
The Andover community mourns the loss of a former board president, generous benefactor, and true blue friend. 22 Caring for the Whole Student, at Andover and Beyond
DEPARTMENTS
A mandate of the Empathy and Balance pillar of the 2014 Strategic Plan, progressive health and wellness programming takes top priority.
6 From the Head of School 7 Dateline Andover 16 The World Comes to Andover
28 New Athletics Complex Takes Shape
The 96,000-square-foot field house, due to break ground next summer, is designed for multiple sports and activities, rainy day practices, and more.
17 Connected Learning 18 Sports Talk 40 From the Archives
30 Blue Duo Rocks the NHL
42 Philanthropy Highlights
Friendly adversaries Cory Schneider ’04 and Chris Kreider ’10 collide on the ice—and join forces for charity.
44 Connection 51 Andover Bookshelf
33 Faint of Heart Need Not Apply
52 Class Notes
Alums find challenge, balance, freedom, and joy in varied agricultural endeavors.
121 In Memoriam 124 Tales Out of School
38 High-Flying Philanthropy
Volunteer pilot Jim Platz ’67 takes care and compassion to new heights.
Close-Ups 74 Barbara Rugen ’63 Retiring to a most unusual destination
111 Alex Bois ’05
Rolling in dough in Philadelphia
YouTube
EverTrue
Linked In
SmugMug
PA Mobile
Access these sites at www.andover.edu/intouch. Andover | Fall 2015
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FROM THE EDITOR FALL 2015 Volume 109 Number 1 PUBLISHER Tracy M. Sweet Director of Academy Communications INTERIM EDITOR Jill Clerkin Director of Publications DESIGNER Ken Puleo Art Director MANAGING EDITOR & CLASS NOTES EDITOR Jane Dornbusch CLASS NOTES DESIGNER Sally Abugov CLASS NOTES COORDINATOR Laura MacHugh CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Audrey Doyle, Emma Kelley ’17, Joe Lemire ’01, Corrie Martin, Debra Samuels, Paula Trespas, Sarah Zobel PHOTOGRAPHERS Richard Amster, Julia Beckwith ’17, Wayne Boardman, Janet Century, Skye Chalmers, Jill Clerkin, Gabriel Amadeus Cooney, Kristin Dillon, Peter Drench, Bill Eichner, Neil Evans, David Flash, Rich Graessle, Debbie Hannam, Icon Sportswire, Historic New England, John Hurley, Lawrence History Center, Chris Messinger, Alan Brian Nilsen, Perkins School for the Blind, Stephen Porter, School of Visual Arts, Tammy Skwierczynski, Gil Talbot, Bethany Versoy, Claudia Wessner, Dave White © 2015 Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
I am delighted to introduce the new editor of Andover magazine, Allyson Irish. Allyson succeeds Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, who stepped down in May as she and her husband and daughter prepared to travel to China to adopt 2-year-old Yao. Kristin and family are happily back home in Andover and, as you can imagine, keeping very busy. Allyson joins us from Simmons College, where she served for 16 years in a variety of positions, including editor of Simmons magazine and senior director of marketing communications. In addition to embracing a multimedia approach to her work, she has overseen two magazine redesign efforts. Also active in several professional organizations, including CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) and the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), Allyson recently moderated a CIC social media panel and looks forward to sharing her expertise as we define Andover’s multimedia presence. She holds a BA degree from Assumption College and an MS degree from Simmons. Class notes editor Jane Dornbusch’s name will be familiar to our more than 150 class secretaries and numerous alumni authors whose new works have been featured in Andover Bookshelf. Jane was recently promoted to managing editor of the magazine. Along with continuing to serve as class notes and bookshelf editor (please do keep sending her your books!), Jane will take on day-to-day management of the magazine. She holds a BA degree from Brown University and has extensive writing and editing experience. Her work has appeared frequently in Andover as well as in publications such as the Boston Globe, Yankee, and Cooking Light.
Andover, the magazine of Phillips Academy is published four times a year—fall, winter, spring, and summer—by the Office of Communication at Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover MA 01810-4161.
Tracy Sweet
Main PA phone: 978-749-4000 Changes of address and death notices: 978-749-4269 alumni-records@andover.edu Phillips Academy website: www.andover.edu Andover magazine phone: 978-749-4677 Fax: 978-749-4272 E-mail: andovermagazine@andover.edu Periodicals postage paid at Andover MA and additional mailing offices. Postmasters: Send address changes to Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161 ISSN-0735-5718
CREATIVITY & INNOVATION
EQUITY & INCLUSION
EMPATHY & BALANCE
Follow Andover on Twitter: @AndoverMagazine
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Cert no. SW-COC-002508
Cover illustration by Fred Lynch
TO TH E E DITO R
Dear Editor, I just read the spring issue of Andover and feel compelled to express my discomfort at the extremely doctrinaire, “politically correct” tone, particularly as exemplified by the “Diversity Glossary.” I am a fair-minded person in favor of recognizing and accepting diversity of all kinds, but it appears that the school administration has made this a crusade. Which causes me to wonder if this “our way or the highway” approach to student social life also applies to academics. Is diversity of thought still valued and encouraged in the classroom? I sincerely hope so.
—Joan Synnott Ardrey ’59 Greenwich, Conn. Dear Editor,
—John Ordeman ’48 Nassawadox, Va. Dear Editor, Andover magazine regularly describes Phillips Academy pursuing a progressive path within its traditional educational structure.
These designations are unsound. Heterosexuality is the world’s “normal” sexual orientation (normal both in statistical and functional terms). And, one’s sex is “recognized” not “assigned” at birth with gender dysphoria (transgender’s authorized name) signifying a disorder of self-assumption with an ominous prognosis. A campaign to impose these new expressions threatens to silence moderating voices that must exist within the faculty, student body, and alumni. Fearing social ostracism, these people may wait to hear from others what they’d like to say themselves. Consider, from a friend, a radical proposal. Perhaps there’s just too much talk about sex and gender for a high school. Sex is for adults and tough enough for them. Adolescents have their own developmental tasks and their own thought world wherein to man-
ERRATA Spring 2015 Seeing red! Mike Moonves ’62 alerted us to a shock of red ink in the spring issue: a gaggle of Exeter golfers somehow flew beneath our proofing-radar and landed on page 61. Our apologies to the Andover golfers who attended the annual A-E Golf Day in Jupiter, Fla. in March.
Dear Editor, The spring issue of Andover says the trustees abolished PA’s scholarship work system in 1965 [see timeline, page 34]. Not being informed of this I continued to work my five hours per week scholarship job junior year, delivering mail and making myself marginally useful in the athletic office.
Macro Mystery Can you identify the campus location of the item below?
As a lower, I worked in Commons every third week, serving desserts, filling milk dispensers, cleaning tables, and putting (most of) the unused butter in a container for midnight re-molding by Bob Leete. I returned to Commons as a waiter in the faculty dining room the next year, Dr. Grew believing I should have been able to perform my duties at least as adequately as a mediocre Parisian waiter. I did not. Since it now comes to light my services were not required to earn my scholarship, it seems reasonable they should have been paid for; therefore, a debt is owed to me by the Academy. A back-of-the-envelope calculation using minimum wages, ordinary tax rates, inflation, etc., puts this at $5,130. Seems like a pretty good deal for three years at PA. I’ll tell you what—toss it back into the scholarship pot and save me the trouble of figuring it out on my taxes next year.
—Rick Stewart ‘69 Cedar Rapids, Iowa [From the writer: My apologies for faulty reading of a dissertation. PA eliminated “scholarship jobs” and instituted campus-wide work duty in September 1968, not in 1965. You’ll be happy to know that PA tries to ensure that today’s scholarship students are not treated any differently than full-pay students. —Amy J.M. Morris ’92] Dear Editor, Thank you for a memorial tribute to Valleau Wilkie Jr. (spring issue, page 128) and his long, distinguished career, which began as an instructor at Andover. In my senior year, I was scheduled to take a survey course in U.S. history from the legendary Fritz Allis. When he was called to Washington on short notice to work in the Eisenhower Administration, Wilkie was asked to take the class. We weren’t sure what to expect. The first day, he began by describing the experience of a young airman shot down over Europe in WWII and forced to endure the rigors of a German concentration camp. When Wilkie told us he had been that airman, we were “hooked.” That was the start of a fascinating and demanding year of study that helped influence me to adopt U.S. history as my major at Harvard.
If you think you know, send your answer to: andovermagazine@ andover.edu
Congratulations to the winner of the winter 2015 Macro Mystery: Richard Ira ’16
(first correct answer)
Dave White
The spring issue on Equity and Inclusion, however, suggests things may have gone a bit too far over matters tied to sex and gender. What began as an enterprise in tolerance seems to have turned into a campaign of thought control. One can choose from several examples, but note how the closing “diversity glossary” (akin to a drill book in Orwellian Newspeak) characterizes “heteronormative” as “a worldview that naturalizes heterosexuality as the normal or preferred sexual orientation” and “transgender” as “people whose gender identity…differs from… the sex they were assigned at birth.”
*See Editor’s Note below
—Paul McHugh, MD, ’48 Baltimore, Md.
Jill Clerkin
I want to distribute the information on Equity and Inclusion to several schools at which I served as headmaster. Would you please send me four copies? They will be put to good use. Congratulations.
age them. Better leave the adult thought world to their future while they garner the strengths to meet it.
The clock sits above the door at the southwest corner of the Dole Reading Room in the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library. Formerly the main lobby, the room was endowed in 1989 through a gift from Alexander W. Dole, Class of 1920. For many years the Dole Reading Room housed circulations; today it is used for instruction and collaborative study.
—Fred Fenton ’53 Concord, Calif.
*EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the publication of this letter, the editorial staff has been part of several meaningful discussions on campus. While we welcome diverse opinions in the letters section, the views expressed in this particular letter are inconsistent with our institutional values of equity and inclusion and we regret the decision to publish it. Our letters policy states: “the opinions expressed in letters to the editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial staff or those of Phillips Academy.” Moving forward, we will make this policy explicit by printing it in every issue of the magazine.
Raring to go Following Faculty Convocation in early September, new and returning faculty members gathered on the steps of Cochran Chapel.
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John Hurley
Andover | Fall 2015
Dave White
From the Head of School
Mind & Body
The spirited intellectual exchange that characterizes most faculty meetings came to a grinding halt on September 2, about midway through our first gathering of the school year.
signals our fundamental belief that academic excellence is directly linked to a student’s positive social, emotional, and physical well-being.
Imagine 220 Andover teachers sitting in silence. Our eyes were closed and our attention was tuned to the prompts of Dr. John Denninger, who guided us through an exercise in mindfulness. We had nothing to say for several minutes. I thought to myself: this is good for us, Andover.
Excited as we are about the Sykes Wellness Center, this effort is about far more than a new building. We have been hard at work on new collaborations and programming, thoughtfully researched and planned with input from faculty, staff, and students. We’ve launched a number of initiatives, including some that began before the first day of classes. One example Just prior to this exercise, Denninger, a Harvard professor is Mentors in Violence Prevention, a bystander training and researcher at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body program. A number of student-athletes were first to enroll, Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, shared research with the idea that they will go on to train other students on on brain function in adolescents and health risks associated campus. with prolonged exposure to high levels of stress and anxiety. High blood pressure, obesity, and cardiac issues are among I am deeply grateful to our new Dean of Students, Jenny the most serious risks, some of which may not emerge until Elliott ’94, and the entire student health team for helping later in life but can be linked to habits formed early on. This us design age-appropriate programs on healthy relationis not breaking news, yet we as educators continue to treat ships and sexuality, matters so important to us that we have the topic less urgently than we should. devoted All-School Meeting and Faculty Meeting time to discussing our values as a community and our approach to We have chosen Empathy and Balance as this year’s faculty preparing faculty. development theme. The Empathy and Balance pillar of our Strategic Plan asks us to “prioritize mutual understanding Last spring, the Brace Center hosted a gender-based harassand individual well-being as essential to a thriving comment- and violence-prevention conference, which attracted munity.” Dr. Amy Patel and Dr. Carol Israel have taken the dozens of educators and led to a set of recommendations for lead to create a comprehensive multiyear health curriculum, our own campus. In May 2016 Andover will once again host incorporating a heavier dose of social-emotional teaching peer schools, this time for a summit to discuss best practices and learning across our educational program. and unique issues in adolescent health and wellness in the independent school setting. Please do not misinterpret this focus: Andover has not “gone soft.” In fact, it is because of our commitment to rigor and I am proud of our faculty for their non sibi approach to this unwavering expectations of excellence that we must address crucial work and for recognizing that we must continue to these issues head on. Kids report that they find certain grow our own knowledge in this area. Not only do we stand periods of time at Andover to be highly stressful, particularly to enrich the Andover experience for all students, we also as the college process kicks into high gear. Our goal is to give will set them on a positive course for college and beyond. our students—and our adult colleagues—the tools to manFinis origine pendet! age the stress that is part and parcel of life. The opening of the Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center in November 2015 marks a new era of rigor in health and wellness education. Its location in the heart of our campus
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John Palfrey
D ate li ne an d o v er
For the record
Spring Trustee Meeting Highlights • Tang Institute Panel: A lunch session with trustees and the Alumni Council featured the work of Tang Institute fellows and students. Caroline Nolan, Currie Family Director of the Tang Institute, announced that a new group of fellows had been named for the 2015–2016 academic year, as had “spark grants” for early-stage ideas with potential to develop further. The projects under consideration for Tang support, said Nolan, should be able to deliver tangible educational tools or strategies and/or outcomes that advance education more broadly.
• Finance: Because cash reserves covered a large portion of the costs associated with last winter’s snowfall, Chief Operating and Financial Officer Steve Carter was able to report good news as Andover neared the close of Fiscal Year 2015. He said the Academy budget remained on track to finish in the black, thanks to disciplined resource management across campus. Trustees approved the FY16 budget, which preserves need-blind admission and includes boarding tuition of $50,300 and day tuition of $39,100.
• Athletic Facilities Proposal: Following a presentation by architects from Perkins+Will, the board considered design options for a new field house and squash center. The board voted to approve the $40 million project for formal design. Fundraising has begun, with a goal of breaking ground in late summer 2016 (see page 28). Trustees noted that the new complex will begin to address deferred facility needs and will be transformative for the athletic program.
• Admission: Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Jim Ventre ’79 crunched the numbers on the 2015 season, which included a 14 percent admit rate and 84 percent yield during this eighth year of need-blind admission (see page 14). He thanked all who contributed to another remarkable outcome. “The demand for an Andover education continues to increase as evidenced by our 3,026 applications from 50 states and 96 countries,” he wrote in his board report. Ventre described the months-long admission process as a “community endeavor.”
• Campus Master Plan: The team from architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle presented an update on plan proposals. Offering snapshots of their research, they shared examples of assessments of academic and administrative buildings, studying structural condition, energy efficiency, accessibility, function, and historic/cultural value, among other factors. The campus steering committee continued to work with BBB throughout the summer to develop various master plan proposals for community discussion in the fall.
• Academy Resources: Secretary of the Academy Thom Lockerby led a presentation aimed at setting the stage for Andover’s next comprehensive fundraising effort. With several program and capital priorities in the queue and others yet to emerge as the Strategic Plan matures, Lockerby shared early research on the Academy’s donor base, as well as potential capacity at various giving levels. He said that he looks forward to further analysis of the data, robust trustee discussion at future meetings, and broader alumni and parent engagement over the next several months.
Big Blue Rowers at Henley
Debbie Hannam
In late June, for the first time in PA history, both boys’ and girls’ crews traveled to England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Women’s Regatta. Upon hearing that PA’s crews had qualified, parents, alumni, and friends of the program quickly rallied to raise funds to cover the cost of the trip. Sam Darby, P’07, and Cathy Rasenberger, P’15, spearheaded the effort, with former PA crew coach John Dent, who lives in England, providing logistical assistance. Coaches Dale Hurley, Stewart MacDonald, and Richard Kennelly accompanied the 28 Andover students to the United Kingdom. The girls’ eight boat competed fiercely and made it to the semifinals, where they were bested by eventual champion Headington School. Despite a valiant effort, the boys’ boat fell to Westminster on day three of the competition. Andover | Fall 2015
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Number One in the U.S.! Nearly 400 apps from 28 countries were judged in the 2015 Technovation Challenge, brought to campus by math and computer science instructor Maria Litvin with support from the Tang Institute. Andover’s WoCo & Co. team made the top 10 and presented Praise Pop at a two-day World Pitch Conference in San Francisco in June, taking first place in the United States and second worldwide. WoCo team members Qiqi Ren ’15, Moe Sunami ’17, Jenny Huang ’16, and Sloane Sambuco ’16 (pictured at right) created Praise Pop to promote kindness and inclusivity.
New Trustees Join Board David Corkins ’84, of Denver, will serve a six-year term as a charter trustee. He is a cofounder and president of Arrowpoint Partners, an $8 billion investment firm headquartered in Denver, and an advisor to the Meridian Funds family. Prior to founding Arrowpoint, he served as executive vice president and portfolio manager at Janus Capital. Corkins has served PA in a number of volunteer capacities. He has been a member of the Alumni Council and the Andover Development Board, as well as the Financial Aid Task Force during The Campaign for Andover (2008–2012). His support of PA’s need-blind admission initiative has helped fund a number of scholarships. Corkins holds a BA degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA degree from Columbia University.
Misty Muscatel ’01, of New York City, will serve a two-year term as an alumni trustee, as well as president of the Alumni Council. Raised in Andover, she holds a BS degree from Carnegie Mellon University. She has worked at Google since 2005 and is currently regional client lead for the Americas on the Global Client & Agency Solutions Team. Muscatel has served as class secretary since her graduation. She has been a coclass agent since 2008, has served on the 20/20 Advisory Board, and was an active member of her 10th Reunion committee. She joined the Alumni Council in 2011 and has served as vice president of the council and chair of the Class Secretaries Committee since 2013.
Lee Westerfield ’86, of Greenwich, Conn., will continue as cochair of the Annual Giving Board, in addition to his two-year term as an alumni trustee. He is CFO of The Orchard, overseeing finance and strategy activities worldwide. Based in New York City, The Orchard is a leading global technology and analytics platform serving independent music labels, artists, filmmakers, studios, and other media and entertainment content owners. He earned a BA degree from Yale University and an MBA degree from Columbia University. As a member of the Alumni Council, Westerfield is an enthusiastic advocate for alumni. He has served as a head class agent and as a member of the 20/20 Advisory Board. Westerfield is also a proud Andover parent: daughter Avery is a lower.
Fitness Center Refresh
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Neil Evans
It began with new flooring. But then someone noticed that the Rosenau Fitness Center really needed a new coat of paint—and wouldn’t it be great if the space were more colorful, more Andover? A committee was formed, community members weighed in, et voilà: a cool color and graphics scheme with Big Blue spirit, an inspirational Vince Lombardi quote, and equipment thoughtfully rearranged to create additional dynamic workout space. Thanks to wall graphics and a new drinking fountain funded by Board President Peter Currie ’74 and quick work by members of the Office of Physical Plant, the space reopened in late August.
Meet the New Dean of Students and Residential Life
With 1,130 students, 835 of whom live on campus, the Dean of Students role is not a solo act. How is your team composed? Supporting students absolutely takes a team effort. We all love thinking about what we can do to make their experience as positive as it can be. Raj Mundra, assistant dean of students, and I support each other in the day-to-day work, and we work closely with five cluster deans—who often operate as their own dean of students for each cluster. It’s a way to make a large school feel smaller and a way for kids to have a consistent adult presence in their lives. There are also thousands of caring and concerned parents out there. How do you approach those relationships? I’ve always found that our work is more productive and effective when we partner with parents—when kids feel like the adults in their life care about them, are communicating with each other, and are on the same page. Parents should feel confident that the adults in their kid’s life know them, value them, and understand what makes them tick, what helps them thrive, and how to support them when they’re struggling. How does technology affect the parent-student dynamic? Because of the ability to communicate so rapidly, parents are often well informed about their child’s bursts of emotion or specific events. I’ve spoken with parents who were worried because they received a text from their child about a test score or a hard conversation with a roommate. And parents aren’t here to see their kids process that event. A house counselor or an instructor can offer a perspective that their children are OK;
Gil Talbot
A graduate of Dartmouth College and the joint Lesley University/Shady Hill School master’s program, Jennifer Karlen Elliott ’94 joined Andover’s history and social science faculty in 2010. She has been a cluster dean and house counselor; she teaches, coaches, advises, and mentors countless students. Meanwhile, she and husband Grant are raising four young children of their own. Elliott is passionate about issues of wellness, leadership, and vital communities. She offers thoughts on her new role. that yes, they received hard news and they’re slowly moving through that. We are trying our best to figure out how to support families through those moments. What is your philosophy on discipline? Our kids don’t always make terrific choices, but I love that Andover’s discipline process is committed to education. It’s based on an acceptance that kids make mistakes and they will learn from their mistakes. We have great faith in our kids, and we will support them through those hard moments. I approach discipline from an optimistic place. I enjoy the role I play in supporting kids in those harder moments and convincing them that I’m also going to be there to celebrate them afterward. You are incredibly plugged in to campus life and the issues facing students. What worries you most? Coupled with adolescence and their changing perspectives on life, I think our students face unique pressures, whether it’s the college pursuit or the high expectations that our kids set for themselves. That can lead to some hard stretches, and at times, an unhealthy level of stress. That type of stress can convert a student who is high-functioning, super-motivated and ambitious to someone who feels like a skeleton of him or herself, who’s really struggling and is unsure how to start or continue. How are you and others attempting to help ease these pressures? Our Strategic Plan pillar of Empathy and Balance provides an excellent framework to guide our thinking on these matters. We are resolute in our efforts to better identify and support kids when they’re struggling,
Dean of Students Jenny Elliott ’94, center, with Hannah Burns ’15 and Wei Han Lim ’15 especially when they’re not asking for help. We are getting much better at recognizing these situations and have come to rely on the team of adults in a student’s life to pay attention and intervene as soon as possible. Non sibi means not for self, to put others first. Why do you encourage some students to put themselves first? I like to talk with students, seniors in particular, about how, in order for them to effectively take care of anyone in their dorm or on their team, they have to take care of themselves first. It’s like the airplane oxygen mask model. When I was a new parent I didn’t understand the thought of putting an oxygen mask over my own mouth before my baby’s. But I understand it now, and I see kids who are doing that. They are getting enough sleep, spending time with friends, doing something fun and not feeling guilty about it. Those kids are able to thrive in the classroom. They are our
greatest leaders on the athletic fields and in the theatre. They’re able to wake up on Monday ready to go. What do you admire about Andover students? I teach history, and I joke with my students that the thing that binds us is the fact that, since we were little, we loved school. Maybe we were teased for it when we were 6 and maybe our siblings didn’t understand it when we were 9, but it’s something that’s always defined us. I joke that I know when they’re in the library studying, when they find the perfect document, they are doing a little dance in the stacks. And we laugh, because as different as our backgrounds may be, this is something that we all absolutely understand in each other. I admire our kids’ commitment to their studies— their curiosity and amazing range of interests, their ability to dive into something so deeply. It’s absolutely inspiring. —Tracy Sweet
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Raising questions, seeking answers
Forum on Student Disability Policy Disability policy in school settings can raise complicated questions, as administrators will readily attest. It was with the goal of addressing some of those questions, as well as creating an opportunity for discussion and an exchange of ideas, that Carrie Ingerman ’15—along with Pat Davison, Andover’s coordinator of student disability services—organized a colloquium on student disability policy, which took place in May on the Abbot campus. At the outset, attendees were asked to share thoughts on what students, with or without disabilities, need to be able to do; answers included “function with independence and safety,” “live cooperatively and respectfully in a dorm,” and “attend class.” A lively conversation, informed by in-thetrenches experience, ensued. And while the questions may be complex, said Ingerman, the bottom line is clear: “You have to have fair guidelines for every student. You have to have a consistent approach.” —Jane Dornbusch
Photos by Jill Clerkin
Carrie Ingerman ’15, at left, was one of the organizers of the Forum on Student Disability Policy. About 25 representatives from independent schools around New England met to discuss such topics as defining essential elements, documenting disabilities, and addressing temporary disabilities.
ABL Leaders Honored
Numerous state and local dignitaries, parents, and students paid tribute to Lou Bernieri and Rich Gorham ’86 at a special awards dinner hosted by the Lawrence History Center. From left are Bernieri and Gorham, Lawrence mayor Dan Rivera, and Susan Grabski, executive director of the Lawrence History Center.
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Courtesy of Lawrence History Center
On June 18, Lou Bernieri and Rich Gorham ’86, Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) director and associate director, respectively, received the Lawrence (Mass.) History Center’s 2015 Eartha Dengler History Award for their role in developing a writing program that inspires young people, teachers, and community members to discover and draw on their own strengths. “These two exceptional teachers allow others to achieve their full storytelling potential by understanding that everyone has a story to tell,” said Fernando Alonso, director of Phillips Academy’s outreach programs. “Thanks to their shared enthusiasm, vision, and passion, the ABL program continues to expand to communities worldwide.”
Four Extraordinary Alumni Receive Award On Tuesday, November 3, the Alumni Council hosted a dinner to honor this year’s recipients of the Andover Alumni Award of Distinction (AAAD). Julia Alvarez ’67 received her award at All-School Meeting on October 21; the other three awards were presented by students at All-School Meeting on November 4. The AAAD recognizes and honors alumni of Phillips Academy or Abbot Academy who have served with distinction in their fields of endeavor and whose accomplishments and contributions embody the values of their alma mater.
Richard Amster
Gabriel Amadeus Cooney
School of Visual Arts
Bill Eichner
Julia Alvarez ’67
Maro Chermayeff ’80
Tracy Kidder ’63
Marvin Minsky ’45
Author, educator, humanitarian Julia Alvarez is a gifted writer whose prose and poetry have been greatly influenced by her experiences as a Dominican in the United States. With partner Bill Eichner, she created Alta Gracia, a farm-literacy center in the Dominican Republic dedicated to environmental sustainability, literacy, and education worldwide. She later founded Border of Lights to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Haitian Massacre. Alvarez’s many awards include the National Medal of Arts in 2014. She is currently a writer in residence at Middlebury College.
Filmmaker, humanitarian Emmy Award winner Maro Chermayeff has written, produced, and directed several powerful documentary films and television programs that have aired and toured nationally and internationally. President and cofounder at Show of Force, Chermayeff leads a team focused on projects that empower women and girls. She also is the founder and chair of the MFA Program in Social Documentary at The School of Visual Arts in New York City and a former faculty member of New York University’s Graduate School of Film and Television.
Literary journalist, author Covering topics ranging from corporate America to the global AIDS crisis to his involvement in the Vietnam War, Tracy Kidder’s books illuminate the power of humanity and ask difficult questions about society. Kidder’s talent as a storyteller has earned him a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, among numerous other literary prizes. Kidder’s most recent book, Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction, cowritten with Richard Todd, is a guide for experienced and beginning writers alike. It was named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews.
Cognitive scientist, inventor Regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of artificial intelligence, Marvin Minsky also has made numerous contributions to the fields of cognitive psychology, mathematics, computational linguistics, robotics, and optics, many of which have earned him prestigious awards. An MIT faculty member since 1958, Minsky cofounded the institute’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In 1985, he became a founding member of the MIT Media Lab, where he was named the Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and where he continues to teach and mentor.
Alumni are invited to submit nominations for future consideration to the Office of Alumni Engagement at www.andover.edu/forms/aaawardofdistinction.
Lost Art File under What I Did On My Summer Vacation: physics instructor Mika Latva-Kokko traveled to Croatia in June to participate in the World Trail Orienteering Championships as a member of the U.S. team. In trail orienteering, competitors must navigate to checkpoints while staying on readily traversable trails, and thus, says Latva-Kokko—who is currently ranked third in the country— it can be enjoyed by both the able-bodied and those with mobility restrictions. Attending the world championships (in which the U.S. placed 13th out of 20 international teams) was, he says, an “amazing experience from a professional development and international education perspective.” Latva-Kokko coaches orienteering for Andover’s Outdoor Pursuits program and would love to see more students involved with the sport: “Every PA student ideally would graduate with the essential life skill of being able to navigate with a map.” Latva-Kokko (far left) is pictured at the world championships with Finland’s Antti Rusanen, one of the world’s top trail orienteers. Andover | Fall 2015
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D ate li ne an d o v e r
Fall at the Addison Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol LeWitt September 12, 2015–January 10, 2016 This exhibition celebrates the close friendship between two of the most significant American artists of the postwar era: Eva Hesse (1936–1970) and Sol LeWitt (1928–2007). While their practices diverged in innumerable, seemingly antithetical ways—LeWitt’s art is associated with ideas and rule-based conceptual art and Hesse’s with the body and her own hand—Converging Lines highlights the crucial impact that their association, lasting more than a decade, had on both their lives and their work. Converging Lines: Eva Hesse and Sol LeWitt is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art and made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, Lannan Foundation, Agnes Gund, Jeanne and Michael Klein, and the Dedalus Foundation.
Words in Air: Jennifer Caine and Rachel Hellmann in Collaboration
Sol LeWitt, Run I, 1962, Oil on canvas and wood, LeWitt Collection, courtesy of the Pace Gallery, New York © 2015 The LeWitt Estate/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
September 12, 2015–January 17, 2016 Throughout the summer, Jennifer Caine and Rachel Hellmann worked on a new site-specific installation at the Addison. Inspired by the visual configuration as well as the sounds and rhythms of poetry, the artists created a piece composed of suspended paper panels that are cut, folded, and painted to create a wall of light and color that subtly changes throughout the day in response to a combination of natural and artificial light. Caine and Hellmann returned in the fall to interact with students from Phillips Academy and other Massachusetts schools.
In Tandem: Inspirations and Collaborations September 1, 2015–January 3, 2016 The exchange of ideas with mentors and peers—fellow students, friends, studio mates, travel companions, or collaborators—has long been a significant source of inspiration for artists. Encounters often are formative for those who meet in their youth and transformative for others who cross paths later in life.
WINTER 2016
During the 20th century, as art movements and styles gradually lost momentum, forming associations with fellow artists became even more important to artists in the development of their practice and outlook. More recently, collaborative artists’ projects have emerged as a significant thread of contemporary art; Lee Friedlander and Jim Dine’s portfolio Photographs and Etchings, for example, embodies the interpretive possibilities of pairing the sensibilities of two artists working in different media or assuming different perspectives yet exploring similar visual motifs. Regardless of the specific nature of the associations of their makers, the works in this exhibition are examined in the contextual framework of collaboration and influence.
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Jennifer Caine and Rachel Hellmann, Words in Air (detail), 2015
Winslow Homer, Casting, 1897, watercolor and graphite on wove paper, Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, gift of anonymous donor
Laurie Simmons: In and Around the House This exhibition celebrates the Addison’s recent acquisition of a complete set of Laurie Simmons’s In and Around the House, 1976–78. With this pioneering series, Simmons pushed the boundaries of photography into the realm of conceptual art.
Andover | Fall 2015
Be sure to visit www.andover.edu/museums/addison.
Understanding the Power of Privilege On May 16 and 17, Andover hosted its first Social Justice Institute Conference, an event that explored the issues and far-reaching effects of privilege—specifically, how privilege is bestowed on various segments of society due to race, class, gender, and/or sexual orientation. Sixty students, including approximately 35 visitors from peer schools, attended workshops, activities, and simulations on how privilege affects life in boarding schools and in America generally. Thea Rossman ’15 and Devontae Freeland ’15 collaborated with a team of young-adult activists from Boston Mobilization to plan the conference, which was sponsored by the Office of Community and Multicultural Development and funded by an Abbot Academy Association grant.
Wayne Boardman
Chris Messinger
Lani Silversides, math instructor and girls’ varsity basketball coach, is on a personal mission, with the goal of inspiring girls and women to “be proud of their strong, athletic, tough, often messy selves.” She’s doing so through a newly self-published book, My Strong is Beautiful, and through her website, www.mystrongisbeautiful.com, which features activities for children, along with her photos of girls having fun on the field, in the gym, and at the track. “My objective is to empower girls who love sports and playing hard to be proud of their bodies and to dream without limitations,” says Silversides, an avid photographer. Silversides (pictured at left) believes that picture books are powerful tools for modeling behavior—and that too many of them reinforce gender stereotypes. “Through illustrations and the use of language, children’s picture books define standards for masculine and feminine behavior,” she explains. “I realized we needed more books around us modeling all that our girls can do and be—and become!” Andover | Fall 2015
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D ate li ne an d o v e r
Admission by the Numbers
‘Class Rebel’ In its August issue, Town & Country magazine profiled Andover’s “young, iconoclastic” head of school, John Palfrey. The article, written by Richard McGill Murphy ’83 and bearing the headline “Class Rebel,” describes the cultural, technological, and academic changes overseen by Palfrey, highlighting his efforts to bring PA into the digital age. “Ultimately,” writes Murphy, “Palfrey seems called to meld the old Andover ethic of public service with the modern hacker ethos of reinventing public institutions.” Read the story at http://bit.ly/1LQOHTn.
Andover’s 238th Incoming Class With Phillips Academy’s need-blind admission policy* entering its eighth year, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Jim Ventre ’79 announced in April the results of another successful admission season. Ventre credited the hard work of faculty, staff, students, and alumni for the strong year, noting how the admission team extends “far beyond the walls of the Shuman Admission Center.” completed applications received from 50 states and 96 countries
3,026 347
boys (173) and girls (174) admitted from 30 states and 24 foreign countries
84%
yield (percentage of those admitted who chose to attend Andover)
25th
anniversary of Richard J. Phelps ’52 Scholarship for Student Athletes (see page 42)
In late 2014, Phillips Academy became the first of the Eight Schools to install an electric vehicle charging station, thanks to many months of planning by the Office of Physical Plant (OPP). The Level 2 station, located behind the Andover Inn, draws 240 volts and can fully charge a typical electric car in about four hours. A related sustainability project—atop the Phelps House garage—was completed in mid-April. A solar array now provides a portion of the electricity used in the head of school’s home and also will offer learning opportunities as energy usage data and solar production metrics are posted on Gunga Data, the Academy’s energy dashboard. Three additional roof-mounted solar arrays and two solar parking canopies are being considered at peripheral campus locations.
Furry Friends Lend a Paw
financial aid scholarships awarded to new students
152
of entire student body receives financial aid; 13% receive full financial aid
$39,400
Average annual scholarship award for a boarding student
*Andover is the only private secondary boarding school in the United States to have maintained a full need-blind admission policy since 2008. By fully meeting the demonstrated financial need of each student, the policy allows Andover to admit deserving students regardless of their families’ ability to pay tuition.
Andover | Fall 2015
Claudia Wessner
47%
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Leading the Charge
Assessment week is notorious for provoking stress, so it’s no surprise that in the final days of spring term the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library was abuzz with nervous energy, sleep-deprived students, and… wagging tails? Yes! Thanks to volunteers from Tufts Paws for People, several affable dogs were on hand to accept hugs, fur rufflings, and tummy rubs and provide students with a smile-filled study break. Research shows that interaction with pets causes a drop in blood pressure and increases one’s sense of mental well-being, among other health benefits. “It was a nice way to de-stress and take some time away from the craziness of finals week,” said Laura Bilial ’17. —Emma Kelley ’17
Little Shop of Horrors Andover’s May staging of Little Shop of Horrors wowed audiences with its visually stunning set and dynamic performances. Cast members also raved about the experience: “While I was able to perform in a fantastic musical, I was also able to learn so much from my peers and directors,” said Jack Twomey ’17, who played Skip Snip and Mrs. Luce in the science-fiction-meetsromance production.
Stephen Porter
Dance Open for Everyone
Julia Beckwith ’17
In May, the Department of Theatre and Dance presented its annual unstructured performance showcase, Dance Open. The stage of Tang Theatre was graced with more than 50 dancers performing pieces in various styles and genres, created by 12 student choreographers. Director Marion Kudla ’15 helped fellow students “find their creative voice through the medium of dance,” said theatre and dance faculty mentor Erin Strong. —Emma Kelley ’17
Andover | Fall 2015
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Th e Wo r ld C o mes To andover
Gregg Gonsalves Educator and AIDS Activist For more than 20 years, Gregg Gonsalves has worked on HIV/AIDS and other global health issues with groups such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and the Treatment Action Group (TAG). On May 22, Gonsalves spoke in Kemper Auditorium about the legislation, medical research, and treatment brought about by ACT UP, which he formerly headed, and his current work as a codirector of the Yale Global Health Justice Partnership. Particularly riveting was his discourse on the 1980s AIDS crisis, which was featured in How to Survive a Plague, the Oscar-nominated
Franny Choi Writer, Performer, and Teaching Artist Longtime spoken word poetry fans as well as those new to the genre gathered in Kemper Auditorium on April 24 for a performance by Franny Choi. WORD, Andover’s spoken word club, opened for Choi, whose visit coincided with PA’s celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The following day, Choi conducted a student workshop in the Office of Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD). A teaching artist with Project VOICE, Choi received the Poetry Foundation’s Frederick Bock Prize, was a finalist for the 2014 Ruth Lily Poetry Fellowship, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was a finalist at the three largest adult poetry slams in the United States. Her visit was sponsored by the Asian Society, CAMD, and WORD, with funding from the Hosch Fund.
—Kevin O’Connor, Instructor in English Anya Kamenetz Author and Education Blogger Are children taking too many standardized tests? On May 18, PA parents and local educators convened in Kemper Auditorium to hear Anya Kamenetz speak on standardized testing and the future of education. The best-selling author and NPR lead education blogger also addressed the need to preserve space for self-directed learning and development and ways to nurture the non-academic qualities children need to succeed. Kamenetz is the author of The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing—But You Don’t Have to Be. She also has written books on the cost and quality of higher education and has developed free Web projects on self-directed learning. Her visit was sponsored by the Office of the Head of School.
Edward Ayers Historian, Educator, and Author Not only was the Civil War more complex than it is portrayed in history books, but the cause for which the Confederacy fought is often misrepresented, according to Civil War expert and University of Richmond president Dr. Edward Ayers, who spoke at All-School Meeting on April 29. Despite the stories told in textbooks, said Ayers, the Battle of Gettysburg did not end the war and the Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves; he urged students to read the letters, diaries, and newspapers of the time to learn the true story. Ayers concluded by connecting these events to the riots and protests occurring in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. Recipient of a National Humanities Medal in 2013, Ayers has written several books on U.S. history.
Max Michelson Holocaust Survivor “Overnight, civilization for us disintegrated, and we were no longer human. We were caught in the streets and dragged from our apartments…” With those words, Max Michelson, one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors, recalled to a hushed Cochran Chapel audience the Nazi invasion of his hometown of Riga, Latvia, on June 22, 1941. Michelson, who lost his entire family in the Holocaust, survived three concentration camps before being liberated in 1945 and moving to the United States. He said he believes he survived to serve as a living testament to the capability of humans and to ensure that the memory of those who died will never be forgotten. The Jewish Student Union sponsored Michelson’s April 17 visit in commemoration of Yom HaShoah, the international day for remembering the lives and heroism of Jewish people who died in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945.
—Christopher Jones, Instructor in History and Social Science Lawrence Lessig Educator and Author The importance of reducing political corruption in America’s voting system was the subject of Lawrence Lessig’s All-School Meeting speech on May 6. Focusing on the influence of funding in public elections, Lessig discussed Tweedism, a political structure named after a corrupt 19th-century New York politician, in which the wealthiest .02 percent of the population involved in the primary election create a biased filter on what can happen in the general election. According to Lessig, to combat Tweedism the general public must have a greater role in financing elections. Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, and author of Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress—and a Plan to Stop It. His visit was sponsored by the Office of the Head of School.
—Rabbi Michael Swarttz Compiled by Audrey Doyle
Andover | Fall 2015
—Amy Patel, MD, Medical Director
Tracy K. Smith Educator, Author, and Poet A poet and creative writing instructor at Princeton, Tracy Smith read from her works and described the inspiration behind them to students and faculty in Kemper Auditorium on May 15. She began with selections from her 2012 Pulitzer Prize–winning book Life on Mars, which draws from sources as diverse as David Bowie and Stanley Kubrick, and then explored questions about family, faith, race, and literature through “A Dialect of the Soul,” a poem from Ordinary Light: A Memoir. Smith is the author of two additional prize-winning poetry collections: Duende and The Body’s Question. Her visit was funded by the Sandra Isham Vreeland Fund.
—Aya Murata, Advisor to Asian and Asian American Students
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documentary detailing how he and his ACT UP and TAG colleagues helped turn AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition at a time when the disease was widely misunderstood, feared, and untreatable. A professor of global health at Yale, Gonsalves gave his talk as part of the student-run Andover Global Health Initiative speaker series. Gonsalves's visit was funded by an Abbot Academy Association grant.
C on n e cted Lear n in g
A Year in the Ideas Lab Experiments and Explorations In its first year, the Tang Institute at Andover welcomed dozens of ideas from faculty and students, embraced a range of novel approaches to teaching and learning, and continued to expand its Learning in the World partnerships and programs—now operating in 19 international and domestic locations. “We are designing the Tang Institute to be an ideas lab that helps turn innovative thinking and practices into tangible projects and transformative experiences,” says Caroline Nolan, the Institute’s Currie Family Director. “Specifically, we aim to provide faculty and students with time, support, space, resources, and access to a network of educational partners to test their big ideas. We then help bring what works into the classroom or into real-world learning environments.”
Innovation Starts Here How can Phillips Academy prepare students for an increasingly complex, interconnected, technological world? The answers are certainly varied, but Tang Institute pursuits are grounded in Andover’s commitment to connected learning, an educational approach that makes learning relevant to real life, work, and our digital age and global society. “Connected learning is a set of possibilities,” says Head of School John Palfrey. “What I want most is for our faculty…to be engaged in testing, exploring, assessing—really carefully assessing. Asking ‘Does it actually work? What works? What works better?’ Because ultimately, what we’re trying to do is to serve our kids better.”
Strength in Numbers A partnership that began in 2013 between the math department and Khan Academy, a leader in K–12 online education, developed further in 2014– 2015 with support from the Institute. The blending of online and traditional classroom learning, it was discovered, was a valuable learning model. Ninety-three students participated in hybrid AP calculus classes. When surveyed, they overwhelming felt that PA should—and must— continue using hybrid approaches. Students especially appreciated instant feedback; at any hour they were just a click away from answers carefully written by PA faculty members. And faculty learned a few things, too. “I had been planning to tell a particular student to try harder, but when I looked online I could see he had been the number one user of study materials,” says Bill Scott, chair of the math department, who led the effort. “Instead, I figured out exactly what he was struggling with and planned a lesson accordingly.”
External Partners, Diverse Audiences
In August, a group of Andover students and faculty visited Khan Academy headquarters in California to discuss the development of an online AP Statistics course. From left are John Schiel, Lawrenceville math instructor; Tyler Lian ’16; Daren Starnes, Lawrenceville School math department chair and thought leader in the AP Statistics community; Samantha Lin ’16; Karin Knudson, PA instructor in math, statistics, and computer science; Matt Lisa, Tang Fellow and PA math instructor, who is leading the effort to plan and create content with Andover colleagues and students; and Khan Academy’s Justin Helps, a leader of the statistics project.
Global Interaction In 2014–2015, Carmen Muñoz Fernández joined the Institute as Learning in the World (LitW) coordinator and Tang Fellow to lead outreach efforts and strengthen the connections between LitW experiences and other Institute programs. New programs in summer 2015 included the Berlin History, Culture, and Language Week, built upon an interdisciplinary course supported by the Institute and launched by the German and history departments, and the American Civil Rights Movement Immersion Program, which takes students through the American South to engage them in the complex history of oppression and the fight for social justice. Students returned from these and other travels abuzz with stories of meaningful firsthand experiences.
Eric Roland, the Institute’s Precourt director of partnerships, describes this past year as one in which both the ideas the Institute supports and the concept of what the Institute represents have evolved and grown in exciting ways. He cites Tang Fellow Noah Rachlin’s involvement of the PA and broader educational communities in his “Learning Disposition” project and a visit from psychologist Carol Dweck as highlights. He also says that engaging external partners and diverse audiences remains a core focus for the Institute: it invites new perspectives to Andover and brings Andover into a larger conversation on innovative teaching and learning.
Looking Ahead Among the Institute’s exciting collaborations planned for the year ahead: • With plenty of input from students and faculty, Mike Barker, director of Academy research, information, and library services, will further develop PA’s Makerspace, where students can roll up their sleeves and create with both low- and high-tech tools. • A hybrid-learning pilot with middle-schoolers will be led by David Rea, the Tang’s visiting scholar in connected learning. • International and domestic LitW programs will be further expanded. • Tang Fellows will work on new and continuing projects, with topics ranging from mindfulness to the reimaging of Chemistry 250. The Institute is also bringing back its lunch and discussion series, providing community members the opportunity to engage with fellows and other thought leaders. For more about Tang Institute programs, visit tanginstitute.andover.edu. Andover | Fall 2015
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SP ORTS TALK
Andover Athletics Hall of
Honor
To date, the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor has recognized 74 individual members and two teams.
Bethany Versoy
The eighth annual Andover Athletics Hall of Honor induction ceremony was held on June 13, 2015. Mike Moonves ’62 and Meredith Hudson Johnston ’01, cochairs of the Alumni Council’s Athletics Committee, welcomed the large audience of family, friends, and former teammates and introduced the inductees, who shared anecdotes and memories of their time at the Academy and insights into their life and career choices. Head of School John Palfrey provided closing remarks. This year’s inductees are, from left, Cory Schneider ’04, Todd Harris ’95, Momo Akade ’00, Ford Fraker ’67, Hee-Jin Chang ’05, and Ed Quattlebaum ’60. Ted Thorndike ’70 was honored posthumously. Nominations for 2016 can be submitted at www.andover.edu/alumni/hallof honor.
Aimionoizomo O. Akade ’00
Hee-Jin Chang ’05
Ford M. Fraker ’67
An outstanding member of the girls’ varsity basketball and outdoor track teams all four years, Momo Akade was captain of both teams when they won New England championships her senior year. In 1999, she set the PA girls’ outdoor track record for the 200-meter event (25.6 seconds), a straightaway record that still holds today. After earning a BA degree at Yale, where she studied architecture and history, Akade taught history and coached basketball and track at Choate Rosemary Hall and the DwightEnglewood School, served as dean of students at Prep for Prep, and earned an MEd degree from the Learning, Design, and Technology Program at Stanford University. Her background in teaching and technology came together when she founded GigaBryte, which uses wearable technology to introduce children to programming. Akade is an alumna of Silicon Valley startup accelerator programs Imagine K12 and StartX.
While on the PA swim team, Hee-Jin Chang achieved All-American status in seven events and helped lead the team to its fourth straight New England championship. She holds the New England Prep record in the 50-yard freestyle and school records for the 50and 100-yard freestyle events (23.19 and 50.57 seconds, respectively). After PA, Chang became a varsity swimmer at the University of Texas. In 2008, she competed in the Summer Olympics in Beijing for her native country, South Korea (she also competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics). During her senior year, she won a Big 12 championship title in the 50-yard freestyle and broke the Big 12 record. Chang graduated from UT in 2009 with a BA degree and earned an MA degree in public policy from Georgetown. Currently she is completing law school at the University of Houston while working at Foster LLP, a firm specializing in immigration law.
Along with playing on Andover’s legendary 1967 hockey team, Ford Fraker lettered in football, baseball, and soccer, and as a senior was captain of the varsity baseball team and a member of All-Prep Hockey. He was awarded the Schubert Key, Yale Bowl, and Aurelian Honor Society Prize at Commencement. Fraker played hockey for Harvard before graduating in 1971 with a BA degree. After holding banking and finance positions at various organizations with connections to the Middle East, he founded consultancy firm Fraker & Co. and cofounded investment banking firm Trinity Group Limited. In 2007, President George W. Bush ’64 appointed Fraker U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fraker’s current positions include senior advisor for the Middle East for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, president of the Middle East Policy Council, and vice chairman of the board of trustees of International College.
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PA
rs
A h
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let th
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Rare feat: 12 varsity letters earned by Kinsey Yost ’15 (4 soccer, 3 winter track, 3 lacrosse, 1 Nordic skiing, 1 spring track); receives All-Region New England for soccer
Todd A. Harris ’95
Cory F. Schneider ’04
Phelps Scholar Todd Harris played varsity baseball and football all four years at PA and was voted to the league All-Star team for baseball every year and for football in his upper and senior years. Harris was also a three-year starter on PA’s varsity basketball team and, as an upper, captained the football and basketball teams and was named Male Athlete of the Year by the Eagle-Tribune. During his senior year, he was a captain of all three teams, led the baseball team to the Central New England Prep School title, and was awarded the Yale Bowl at Commencement. Harris started and lettered in baseball his first three years at Harvard. He graduated in 1999 with a BA degree, and in 2010 he earned an MBA degree from UCLA-Anderson. Today he is senior product manager for Direct to Consumer Planning Technology at Nike.
Andover’s varsity hockey team goalie as a lower, Cory Schneider became captain his senior year and led the team to the New England semifinals. He was awarded the Yale Bowl at Commencement and received the coveted John Carlton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually by the Boston Bruins. In the first round of the 2004 NHL draft, Schneider was selected 26th overall by the Vancouver Canucks. Recognizing the importance of a solid education, he opted to play hockey for Boston College instead. He began playing with the Manitoba Moose, the Canucks’ minor league affiliate, in 2007; was named AHL goaltender of the year in 2009; and received the Jennings Trophy in 2011. Schneider was the Canucks’ starting goalie during the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs; today he is starting goalie for the New Jersey Devils. (See story, page 30.)
Edwin G. Quattlebaum ’60
Theodore B. Thorndike ’70
Ed Quattlebaum played varsity basketball, ran varsity cross-country, and was involved in several clubs, including Student Congress and the Phillips Society. Class president his senior year, he was awarded the Morehead Scholarship to UNC, the Aurelian Honor Society Prize, and the Bierer Prize. Quattlebaum went on to study at Harvard, where he was recruited by legendary crew coach Harry Parker. His rowing team went undefeated his senior year, won the Eastern Sprints title, and competed at Henley. Following graduation, Quattlebaum taught history and coached crew at St. Paul’s, and in 1972 he earned a PhD degree from UC-Berkeley. He returned to Andover in 1973 to teach history and social science and serve as department chair for five years. In addition to coaching Andover crew for his entire 36 years, Quattlebaum coordinated the Andover-Exeter Washington Intern Program and coached JV II basketball.
In his senior year, Ted Thorndike was captain of Andover’s varsity hockey and baseball teams. In 1969 the hockey team won the consolation division in the Lawrenceville School Invitational Hockey Tournament, and in 1970 the baseball squad ended the season with a 10–3 record, the best of any Andover nine since 1960. At Harvard, Thorndike played three years of varsity hockey. After graduating in 1975, he became a member of the U.S. National and Olympic hockey teams; the U.S. team finished fifth at the 1976 Olympics. After the Olympics, Thorndike worked for a design and construction firm and coached high school hockey in Woodstock, Vt. He also worked in real estate. In 1985, following a one-year appointment at Milton Academy, he began teaching and coaching at St. Sebastian’s School. Tragically, he passed away in 1987 at the age of 34.
Softball: Undefeated (18–0) for 2nd time in program history; repeated as Big East Invitational Tournament champions Baseball: 2nd place at Central New England Prep Championships; Matt Hosman ’15, Thomas Lane ’15, Jake Nelson ’15, and Taylor Beckett ’17 awarded All–Central New England honors Girls’ Lacrosse: Caroline Garrity ’15 and Eliza Quigley ’15 named New England Prep School Women’s Lacrosse All-Stars Boys’ Lacrosse: 14–1 record with 5 overtime victories; national honors received by Tim Bulens ’15, U.S. Lacrosse All-Academic Team; Foster LeBoeuf ’15, U.S. Lacrosse AllAmerican; and Ryder Garnsey ’15, Under Armour All-American. Girls’ Tennis: 11–1; de Villafranca Tournament champions at Kent School; repeat 2nd place finishers at New England Team Championships Boys’ Tennis: New England Prep School Invitational Tournament doubles title winners were Jonathan Jow ’16 and William Way ’17. Crew: Girls’ G1 boat won gold medal (4th place for team), and Boys’ B1 boat won silver (2nd place for team) at NEIRA Championship; both crews competed at Henley (see page 7) Girls’ Track & Field: 2nd place at New England Championships Ultimate Frisbee: 3rd place at Amherst Ultimate Tournament; tied for 3rd at NEPSUL Championships. Jack McGovern ’15 selected for Massachusetts High School Ultimate League Division I All-Star Game. Olivia Coffey ’07 won gold in the women’s four at the 2015 World Rowing Cup II in Varese, Italy, in June. Peter Lee-Kramer ‘11 and his Tufts University teammates won the NCAA soccer championship in December.
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“I have served on several boards, I have led various organizations, but nothing can ever match the experience I have had working with Andover.” Andover mourns the loss of
David M. Underwood ’54
Former board president and storied benefactor leaves legacy of philanthropy and service by Tracy Sweet
T
rustee Emeritus David Underwood ’54, whose extraordinary service to Phillips Academy has had a dramatic and lasting impact on the school’s campus, community, and culture, died August 30, 2015, in Houston, following a long illness. He was 78. “Andover has lost a distinguished leader and legendary benefactor, someone who personified our school values of goodness and knowledge in his life’s work,” said Head of School John Palfrey. A native Texan, investment banker, and generous philanthropist, Underwood served as a charter trustee from 1983 to 2004 and was president of the board from 1989 to 2004. As board president, he chaired Campaign Andover alongside honorary chair President George Bush ’42, who wrote to Underwood’s wife, Lynda, upon his passing: “We remember the joy with which David lived his full and meaningful life.” He was, recalled the president, “a leader and a doer. A caring friend who helped others. And a bandit on the golf course.” 20
Andover | Fall 2015
In addition to Underwood’s belief in the school’s academic mission, his gifts to support campus facilities speak to his appreciation of the iconic. “There is no place on campus that wasn’t touched by David’s efforts,” said Board President Peter Currie ’74. “The expanded Cochran Chapel, the expanded Oliver Wendell Holmes Library, and the comprehensive planning that led to the construction of Gelb Science Center are just a few examples. “David loved his time as a student,” noted Currie. Fittingly, his first major gift to the school established the Underwood Room, which opened in 1963 and to this day provides a welcoming place for students and faculty to gather. As chair of Campaign Andover (1996–2002)—at the time the largest fundraising effort among secondary schools—Underwood supported a number of building and program initiatives. As honorary cochair of The Campaign for Andover, which closed in 2012, he was instrumental in helping raise over $322 million. “David was deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve as president of
“Andover has lost a distinguished leader and legendary benefactor, someone who personified our school values of goodness and knowledge in his life’s work.” —John Palfrey, head of school
“The Academy’s traditions and history moved him profoundly. Yet, David remained open to new ideas. In his mind, Andover’s best days always lay in its future, and he led the board to make that aspiration a reality.” —Barbara Landis Chase, former head of school
the board,” said Currie. “He led trustees through many decisions and was perhaps proudest of his appointment of Barbara Landis Chase, who led the school so successfully for 18 years.” Chase called it a privilege and a blessing to work with Underwood through the first decade of her tenure. She described him as a masterful leader who made leadership look effortless. “David accepted responsibility courageously, shared credit freely, and enjoyed working with others,” she said. “The Academy’s traditions and history moved him profoundly. Yet, David remained open to new ideas. In his mind, Andover’s best days always lay in its future, and he led the board to make that aspiration a reality.” Underwood’s intellect and sharp wit served him well in the boardroom, where, Currie said, “he led with empathy, care, decisiveness, and attention to the school’s founding principles. After encouraging debate and dialog from all trustees, David would bring a discussion to a close, with the issues better understood and the direction clear. ‘I think we chewed all the sugar out of that gum,’ he would say.’”
“[David] led trustees through many decisions and was perhaps proudest of his appointment of Barbara Landis Chase, who led the school so successfully for 18 years.”
“We remember the joy with which David lived his full and meaningful life. [He was] a leader and a doer. A caring friend who helped others. And a bandit on the golf course.”
—Peter Currie ’74, President, board of trustees
—President George H.W. Bush ’42
because there weren’t enough seats in the chapel. Perhaps his boldest political move came in 1999 when, under his leadership, trustees implemented a policy change allowing same-sex couples to serve as house counselors. The decision, which preceded legal recognition of same-sex marriages in Massachusetts by five years, was controversial at the time, but Underwood remained steadfast in his representation of the board, saying: “We make decisions that are the right decisions to make. We don’t make them for other reasons.”
support for Andover teachers, students, and places, he was recognized for his service to hospitals and health care systems in the Houston area. Underwood’s message to his classmates on the occasion of their 50th Reunion in 2004 perhaps reflects best what Andover meant to him: “I have served on several boards, I have led various organizations, but nothing can ever match the experience I have had working with Andover. I have on occasion been asked why I devote so much time and have enjoyed it so much. The answer is that every time I go back to campus I am reinvigorated by the students, the faculty, and my fellow trustees. Nowhere could I find a more constant source of inspiration for me. I would not have traded it for anything….”
A Phillipian editorial followed. “Our intrepid captain, David Underwood, showed how skillfully he can navigate our ancient ship and showed that he understood the principles that have guided it for centuries—that virtue and piety are far more important than prac- Underwood is survived by his loving tical concerns and that morality and wife of 50 years, Lynda; their chilMoved by the idea that iconic spaces goodness are the surest foundation.” dren, David M. Underwood Jr., should sustain and invigorate a comCatherine Underwood Murray, and munity, Underwood funded the new Underwood’s commitment to Andover Duncan Knapp Underwood; and nine Cochran Chapel balcony in 1997. Prior earned him the school’s highest grandchildren. to the expansion, some students had to honor, the Claude M. Fuess Award, in view All-School Meeting via simulcast 2003. Along with his half-century of Andover | Fall 2015
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Empathy & Balance
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Andover | Fall 2015
by Corrie Martin
Fred Lynch
quipping students with the knowledge and skills to make lifelong healthy choices is central to realizing the Empathy and Balance pillar of the school’s strategic plan, Connecting Our Strengths: The Andover Endeavor. According to today’s standard of care, schools have a responsibility to educate and empower students to make informed, positive choices about their health and value their own wellness. In fact, the National Association of Independent Schools considers “health literacy” a fundamental interdisciplinary skill for the 21st century that schools should be teaching, right along with global awareness and civic, financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial literacy. “We are focusing on health and wellness because it is important and because these are life skills that kids need now and in the future,” says Carol Israel, PhD, Empathy and Balance Implementation Committee cochair and director of the Graham House Counseling Center (which will soon relocate to the Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center).
Andover’s New Standard of Care for Lifelong Health and Wellness
Overseeing the new wellness center project and cochairing the Empathy and Balance Implementation Committee with Israel, PA Medical Director Amy Patel is equal parts health educator, advocate, and physician. As envisioned by the proposal to the Board of Trustees, the overarching goal of the new wellness center is to rally the entire campus community “to provide and exceed current best practices, and to implement a model that is the new gold standard in independent school health and wellness delivery and education.” This new model goes far beyond seeking to control illness and treat injury; it actively promotes health and wellness through campus-wide collaboration and the dissemination of knowledge about a wide range of issues.
John Hurley
Beginning in September, Phillips Academy introduced facilitated conversations (in small groups and campus-wide), training for faculty and students, and other opportunities for learning about various aspects of health and wellness. Even before the new wellness center officially opens in early December, an unprecedented era of innovative wellness programming will have begun to take shape on campus, involving students, faculty, and staff alike.
Dr. Amy Patel, medical director, and Carol Israel, PhD, Graham House Counseling Center director, are cochairs of PA’s Empathy and Balance Implementation Committee.
life. “We aim to infuse health and wellness into every activity, every area of campus, every facet of what we do. This work will not be ‘owned’ by the wellness center,” says Israel, “but driven by us as we help coaches, house counselors, advisors, and teachers all become effective promoters of the well-being of their students.”
New Curriculum Will Reach All Students
Jenny Elliott ’94, Andover’s new dean of students (see page 9), believes educating and empowering students to develop lifelong health and wellness skills should be a central feature of the Andover experience. To ensure that every student receives timely, developmentally appropriate information and opportunities for dialogue, she is working closely with Patel, Israel, and others, including current and former students, to restructure and expand PACE (Personal And Community Education) from its current format. Currently a one-term, 10-hour seminar for 10thgraders, PACE will be transformed into Patel and Israel are working to integrate an ambitious annual 30-hour course this programming throughout campus requirement for all students.
The projected four-year health and wellness curriculum will educate students about stress management, sexual health (and healthy relationships in general), substance use and abuse, nutrition (see page 27), and the importance of sleep, among other topics. On the need for such an extensive program, Elliott says, “It’s really important to me that when a student is ready to think about a specific topic they have access to those conversations in meaningful ways, and so I am committed to offering an age-appropriate, four-year program for all our students that covers a full range of health issues.” The Class of 2020 will be the first to complete the full multiyear program, which Patel, Israel, and Elliott hope to launch in stages beginning in fall 2016. The portions of the ninth-grade curriculum that were completed this past summer are being tried out and refined in other venues throughout this academic year. “Until we get this new class off the ground, there is no freestanding health and wellness program available to ninth-graders,” Israel points out. The new annual courses, customized Andover | Fall 2015
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“We aim to infuse health and wellness into every activity, every area of campus, into every facet of what we do.”
“We need to get at the underlying reasons for risky and unhealthy behaviors and not just treat the illnesses.”
—Dr. Carol Israel
—Dr. Amy Patel
for each grade, will ensure a comprehensive and coordinated approach to delivering essential age-appropriate information. As the new Empathy and Balance program is being phased in, other opportunities to educate the PA community about health and wellness have already debuted on campus and will continue to develop over the current school year. One example is enhanced programming for Wellness Week in January 2016, during which all students will be required to participate in four to five hours of education chosen from a menu of events. Also, more instructional time has been allotted to wellness center staff, enabling them to deliver health education in this year’s PE classes, comprising mostly 10thgraders. Even more impressive strides have been made in addressing stress management, sexuality, and sexual health education.
incessant social networking, both of which can contribute to their making unhealthy choices. A 2015 Pew Research Center national study found that “ninety-two percent of teens report going online daily—with 24 percent using the Internet ‘almost constantly,’ primarily facilitated through the convenience and constant access provided by mobile phones.”
It seems that a new level of stress has become part and parcel of adolescence. The American Psychological Association’s “Stress in America” survey reports alarming rates and levels of stress and worry among our nation’s youth, particularly in relation to school. “Our own students today seem much more easily overwhelmed by stress than in the past,” observes Israel, who has worked in Graham House since 1985, when she arrived on campus as a newly minted PhD from the University of Chicago. “Interestingly, the environment at PA is probably more Stressed Out in America competitive, stressful, and anxiety Historically, PA students have struggled producing—and simultaneously much more supportive—than ever before,” with (even while many of them also she says. seem to thrive on) high academic, extracurricular, and social expectations, Israel cites a May 2015 article in the and the exigencies of adolescence and New York Times explaining that the family. Today’s students also contend burgeoning mental health crisis among with pressures from mass media and college students is due in part to their 24
Andover | Fall 2015
high school experience. “Because of escalating pressures during high school … students arrive at college preloaded with stress,” the article argues, also contending that many are “accustomed to extreme parental oversight” and thus are “unable to steer themselves.” Noting that the number of students seeking counseling at Graham House has doubled over the past few years, Israel agrees that many need help developing fundamental life skills—including resiliency, or the ability to bounce back from failure and disappointment and persist when faced with a challenge. Tang Institute Fellow Noah Rachlin, a PA history and social science instructor, doesn’t view resilience as a “builtin” personality trait but rather as a skill that can be learned—and one that educators can and should help students develop. To that end, Rachlin created a curriculum and pedagogical strategies that colleagues in any discipline can use to help their students develop a “learning disposition” that embraces and overcomes difficulty or failure. In addition, Israel and Patel are developing educational and awareness programs to help students: • Understand the varied sources of stress, including family, finances,
The long-awaited opening of the Rebecca M. Sykes Wellness Center is scheduled for early December; a dedication is planned for spring 2016. The Academy is grateful to all alumni, parents, and friends who have supported this important new facility for Andover students. Heralded in 1912 as PA’s passage into the modern era of health care, Isham Health Center will be repurposed as faculty apartments and dormitory space.
academics, peer pressure, the college application process, and the effects of racism, classism, and sexism; • Learn effective techniques for managing stress, such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, gratitude, and empathy; • Identify unhealthy responses to stress, such as eating disorders, substance abuse, and depression; • Increase their awareness of the resources and support available for changing risky and unhealthy behaviors. With Empathy and Balance as the faculty development theme for the year, programs and resources also are being created to help faculty manage their own stress and overall health and wellness. Patel and Israel are looking into how to use technology, including apps and videos, to deliver some of this information to supplement structured adult and peer conversations. A team of wellness educators is available to facilitate conversations in varied settings—such as dorms, advising groups, sports teams, and classrooms—on sleep and time management, stress management,
and healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms, including alcohol, drug, and tobacco use.
community, and I am eager to partner with and support them as energetically as I am able,” Elliott said.
Where Adults Often Fear to Tread: Sexual Health and Education
Head of School John Palfrey set the tone for the year at the September 22 All-School Meeting, talking openly to students about healthy relationships and safe choices. “While I suppose it has not been often that heads of school have talked about sex in this chapel, it is a topic fully in step with our mission as a place of teaching and learning,” he said.
During the 2014–2015 school year’s lively conversations about changes to dormitory room visitation policies, some students used the parietals issue as a springboard to espouse the need for increased campus-wide dialogue, education, and training on sexuality, sexual health, and sexual assault prevention. Elliott, dean of students and residential life, was quick to welcome the inclusion of unabashed student voices in conversations about sexual health and consent, an arena where many adults fear to tread. Elliott noted last year’s national “It’s On Us” sexual assault prevention campaign, as well as PA’s student-led forums, the creation of a student-run feminist magazine called Boss (with its own health section), and a slew of Phillipian editorials, letters, and articles—including a January 2014 report and interactive website devoted to the state of (and attitudes toward) sex education at Andover. “Student leaders continue to spearhead efforts on campus to promote a healthy and safe
“It is our job as adults in your life to help you make safe choices and to ensure that you know where to turn for support.… The bottom line,” said Palfrey, “is that everyone has a right to feel safe and respected on this campus, regardless of your age, your gender, your sexual orientation, your moral perspective, your faith.” This year Andover also is rolling out dormitory and advising discussions around healthy relationships, respect for self and others, and consent, and providing training for faculty and students. One example is Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), a nationally renowned education program that teaches that every individual can be a leader in building a campus of mutual respect and safety.
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Gil Talbot
A few of the many PA community members who will be involved in health and wellness education and programming going forward are pictured in the wellness center’s Fitts Memorial Garden, given by Dick Wolf ’64 in honor of English instructor Dudley Fitts. Seated, from left, are Sarah Robinson (nurse practitioner/ wellness educator); Amy Patel, MD (medical director/ codirector of wellness programming); McKenna Montenegro (administrative assistant/wellness programming coordinator); and Maria Rivera (physician assistant); standing are Debra King, RN; Christine Pontuso, RN; Patricia Melia-Wholey, RN; Suzanne Heon (psychological counselor); Aggie Kip (nutrition counselor/ sports dietician/wellness educator); Max Alovisetti, PhD (psychological counselor); Jenny Elliott (dean of students); Sandra Lopez-Morales (psychological counselor); Diane Griesbach (nurse practitioner/director of clinical services); and Catherine Golas (administrative director).
Already, students—both new and returning—have taken part in powerful new programming and received strong, clear, and consistent messaging about Academy policies and expectations. • More than 50 tenth-grade volunteers attended the first MVP training session, where they learned bystander intervention skills for confronting, interrupting, and preventing peer-to-peer violence. • New students were involved in a discussion about creating and maintaining a respectful community, which addressed questions about how to make safe and healthy choices, particularly around relationships and sexual intimacy.
A Moral (Not Just Medical) Obligation While the challenge of teaching the building blocks of health and wellness is daunting, Patel and Israel hope that by expanding the health curriculum to a four-year program and addressing topics essential to adolescent development, they will “provide every student with the critical knowledge and skills they need to address the underlying reasons for risky and unhealthy behaviors.” Recognizing the tremendous power of peer-to-peer interaction, Patel and Israel plan to train students as coteachers and peer health educators.
The momentum is building. PA will host two conferences this academic year. The first will take place December 4–5, 2015, when Nancy Clark, registered dietitian and sports nutrition • For the first time, The Blue Book, counselor, will deliver a talk titled in its “Community Expectations” section, states principles of healthy “Nutrition for Sports, Exercise, and Weight Management: What Really relationships and clearly defines standards of respect and consent in Works and Why.” The second, scheduled for May 2016, is an on-campus relation to sexual activity. 26
Andover | Fall 2015
multidisciplinary Independent School Health and Wellness Summit that will discuss best practices and unique issues in adolescent health and wellness. Thanks to an Abbot Academy Association grant, former PACE leader John Gorton ’15 was able to collaborate on curriculum development with Patel and Israel this past summer before heading off to Columbia University. He was excited to contribute ideas and a student perspective on the process. “The role of health and wellness in the student experience at PA should be all-encompassing,” said Gorton. “An Andover education should be one that prioritizes wellness and healthy living as much as it prioritizes the development of scholarly practices and attitudes because, fundamentally, health is important beyond one’s life as an academic.” Freelance writer Corrie Martin is former director of the Women’s Resource Center at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., and a current PA faculty spouse.
Gorilla Tactics
PA Power Eating Is All About Teamwork Next time you’re in Paresky Commons, don’t be put off by the colorful gorillas with the dorky names. In truth, AntiDrain, ProBrain, Maintain, Regain, and Sustain are superheroes on a mission to boost PA students’ physical and cognitive performance. How? By helping students make informed food and beverage choices.
PA Power Eating is all about good food that tastes good. “Our goal is to offer delicious and varied menu items, dispel the mysteries around healthy eating, and help students do their very best at whatever they do, whether it’s playing the violin, taking SATs, staying more focused in math class, or practicing crew,” explains Kip. Designed in cooperation with Paresky Commons’ food service professionals, PA Power Eating menu selections incorporate cutting-edge nutrition science from Stanford, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Culinary Institute of America.
An exercise enthusiast and longtime healthy eater, Kip walks the walk. Her 35 years of living “holistically” among This past summer, Kip received seed PA students as an Isham staffer, school funding from the Tang Institute to nutritionist, house counselor, and yoga broaden and deepen the impact of her instructor inform her desire to tailor PA Power Eating pilot program. “Aggie the program to the rhythms of the is just the person—and personality— students. “We want to hit them where to talk with students of all backgrounds they live,” she says. about smarter eating,” says Medical Director Amy Patel, MD. “Her empaKip emphasizes that the program is thetic and knowledgeable coaching nonjudgmental. “Too many issues
Gil Talbot
Team Gunga is part of a new health and wellness initiative called PA Power Eating, spearheaded by Aggie Kip, PA’s longtime nutrition counselor and sports dietitian. “It’s no secret that eating well is the foundation of living well,” says Kip, “but even smart kids can get confused about optimal nutrition. Healthy foods don’t just offer longer lasting energy, they displace hundreds of junk food calories.”
will help students adopt some healthier habits not only here at PA, but for life.”
Aggie Kip works closely with Executive Chef David Rossetto to offer—and create—delicious and varied menu items. One recent healthy re-do was pizza crust made from sweet potatoes and whole wheat flour. “The kids never knew the difference,” says Kip.
around food involve shame,” she says. “I want students to feel comfortable with and empowered by the changes they decide to make.” “PA Power Eating will be an important component of the nutrition segment of our wellness programming going forward,” confirms Patel.
—Alessandra Bianchi
No single food item or group can do it all. Team Gunga cheerfully draws students’ attention to nutritious menu items that lay the groundwork for optimal athletic and academic performance. Examples include:
Go Blue!
Sustain (provides sustained energy/endurance)—oatmeal, quinoa, pasta, lentils, rice, hummus, muesli
Regain (aids in repair/ recovery)—poultry, fish, milk, dairy products, soy, tofu, nuts, peanut butter
Maintain (boosts immunity/anti-inflammatory)— tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, spinach, berries, avocado
ProBrain (enhances cognitive power/alertness)—salmon, olives, extra-virgin olive oil, flaxseed, dark chocolate
AntiDrain (prevents dehydration)—all liquids, including tea, coffee, 100% fruit juices, and foods high in water content
Although packed with nutrients, sesame seeds and tree nuts are prohibited by PA’s dining policy.
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Renewal, Expansion, Flexibility
New Athletics Complex a Win for Big Blue Field House Breaking Ground in Summer 2016
Phillips Academy’s 2014 Strategic Plan, announced last fall, includes an ambitious slate of institutional directives. High on the list of priorities is a new master plan that calls for a fourstage renewal of the Academy’s athletic facilities. Working with the architecture firm Perkins+Will, Andover has developed an Athletic Facilities Master Plan that will accommodate the Academy’s full range of offerings. Thoughtfully designed new spaces will be flexible, future oriented, and energy efficient.
Gil Talbot
The updated facilities will reflect and support the Academy’s ongoing commitment to excellence and the crucial role of athletics in promoting health and wellness, developing leaders, strengthening community, and helping students find balance. Said Athletic Director Leon Modeste, “Andover students are as passionate about their sports as they are about their coursework—dedicated to every aspect of wellness, practice, competition, and sportsmanship.... Our facilities must match the excellence we expect of our people and programs.”
The first stage of the plan is the construction of a new field house, which will complement our existing—but outdated—facilities. (The Borden and Memorial gyms will be renovated at a later date, as the final stage of the master plan.) The new field house, slated for construction over the next few years as funding is secured, will capture the Big Blue spirit and improve the interrelationship between indoor and outdoor athletic facilities. A true community resource, the facility also will be used as a welcoming space for large gatherings, such as Reunion Weekend dinners and Commencement ceremonies during inclement weather. Field house details will be finalized in the upcoming months, and additional information will be available at www.andover.edu in 2016.
Renderings courtesy of Perkins+Will Draft plans as of October 2015
Existing Tennis Courts
Field House: Northwest corner
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The 96,000-square-foot field house features a 200-meter track and 12 international-size squash courts; the two main field house segments are joined by a central lobby. To Main St.
The convertible-surface track infield will offer configurations for basketball, volleyball, and tennis, as well as all-weather practice space for field sports.
The squash court area will have a viewing balcony and a special exhibition court with spectator seating.
Upper level multipurpose areas will be available for fitness classes and dance. Locker rooms, trainer and equipment rooms, and administrative space will round out the building.
To Paresky Commons
UPPER LEVEL
Athletics Complex
will be completed in four stages Field House Natatorium Performance Gym Renovation of Borden & Memorial Gyms
LOWER LEVEL To Sorota Track
To Phelps Stadium
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Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire
by Joe Lemire ’01
In
the first period of an October 21, 2014, regular-season game in Newark’s Prudential Center, Devils goaltender Cory Schneider saved a power-play slapshot taken in close quarters, but the puck ricocheted off Schneider to the right face-off circle, where Rangers left wing Chris Kreider was waiting. Kreider fired the rebound past a lunging Schneider and into the net for the game’s first goal. Two periods later, Kreider sped down the left boards and gathered a loose puck, streaking toward the net on a breakaway. When he got close, he fired a shot on Schneider aimed for the five-hole—the space between the goalie’s two leg pads—but Schneider
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closed the gap quickly, made the save, and covered the puck for a face-off. There’d be no rebound goal this time, as Schneider evened the tally against Kreider. Though these back-and-forth chances were part of a New York–area hockey rivalry, they also had an intramural feel to anyone who has frequented Andover’s Harrison Rink in the past 15 years: Schneider ’04 and Kreider ’10 are two of just a handful of PA alums to play in the National Hockey League. Although the two didn’t overlap at Andover, they’ve since forged a friendship that grew out of their shared experiences on the ice and off. Not coincidentally, both played at Boston College before joining the
NHL. Each expresses great admiration for the other’s skills. And both embody the work ethic and positive attitude PA aims to cultivate in its student-athletes.
Humility Plus Ability
“What Cory brought to the table that everybody respected was humility and work ethic,” says former hockey head coach Chris Gurry ’66, who coached Schneider his first season. “Just by his being at the school, Cory made other kids aware of what excellence was in a variety of areas.”
“Both are so humble, given their extraordinary abilities,” says When Coach Boylan took over the reins, he put Schneider Dean Boylan, Andover’s head hockey coach from 2001 to 2014. “They approached every single practice as if they were in touch with private goalie instructor Brian Daccord, a former member of the Boston Bruins coaching staff, who fighting for their jobs.” continues to work with Schneider to this day. It was Boylan who facilitated an introduction between Leading by Example the two, when Kreider was contemplating his post-PA Schneider set an example as a team leader—the rare goalie options. Kreider and Schneider e-mailed back and forth to serve as team captain—and a competitor. “He would be about Andover and their hockey experiences; the followupset if he got beat in practice,” Boylan says. “There was never ing summer they crossed paths, and Schneider ultimately a puck that he let in where he said, ‘Well, there wasn’t much convinced Kreider to choose BC, his own alma mater. The two kept in touch sporadically and saw each other off and on I could do about that.’ Even if there was a goal scored when before reconnecting at the wedding of Brian Boyle (currently he had absolutely no chance, Cory would be kicking himself, trying to think of a way he could have gotten to the puck.” with the Tampa Bay Lightning), who had been Schneider’s teammate at BC and Kreider’s teammate with the Rangers. The second contest ever hosted in Harrison Rink was the They now form a mutual admiration society. Schneider says Andover-Exeter game during Schneider’s lower year. A Kreider—at 6' 3" and 226 lbs.—probably ranks as one of the Zamboni mishap necessitated a change in venue partway NHL’s five fastest skaters. “He comes down that wing with a through the close and fiercely fought game. “It ended up 0–0 and going to overtime,” says Schneider. “Exeter won 1–0, but ton of speed, so you’ve got to be ready,” says Schneider. that was a pretty fond memory. My best memory, actually.” Kreider on Schneider: “He’s not an easy goalie to score on.” There was an indelible moment for his coach, too. Kreider would know. That rebound goal last October was the only time he has scored on Schneider in the NHL—and “At the end of three periods—and this is what I’ll never he also used to shoot on Schneider in summertime practice forget—Cory came to the bench,” says Boylan. “I looked at sessions many years ago in eastern Massachusetts rinks. him and he looked at me, and he said, ‘How much fun is this, Coach?’ A 10th-grader in that environment, that was the kind “Before he knew who I was, I knew who he was,” Kreider of attitude he had. I knew for sure he was very, very special.” says. “He was incredibly impressive back then.” Thanks to these NHL stars—who in turn thank Andover for By the time Schneider was in his upper year, NHL scouts their well-rounded preparation—there’s been a marked rise began attending games. As a senior, he saved 96 percent of all shots he faced, was named All–New England for the of the Andover hockey program in the past decade. second straight season, and was ranked the country’s top “Cory started it,” says Boylan. high school goalie. At year’s end he was drafted in the first Schneider grew up playing pond hockey in Marblehead, round by the Vancouver Canucks—but only after leading Mass., and entered Andover for his lower year. “At that point, Andover to the prep playoffs for the first time in eight years. I wasn’t thinking [college hockey], and I wasn’t thinking Schneider became a star at Boston College, where he set sevNHL, either,” he says. “It was more a chance to get a great eral school records and played with the U.S. National Junior education and play some better athletics. My dad and mom Team before joining the NHL in fall 2007—about the same wouldn’t let me play hockey unless I got good grades.” time Chris Kreider entered Andover. Schneider notes Hale Sturges, his French instructor, and A native of Boxford, Mass., Kreider was always the fastest Tom McGraw, his English instructor and Hearsey House skater on the ice, and he kept that speed through a 10thhouse counselor, as two of his most formative teachers. At grade growth spurt. He starred for two years at nearby Commencement, he received the Yale Bowl for distinction Masconomet Regional High School, entering Andover as in scholarship and athletics. Andover | Fall 2015
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Big names. Big hearts. This past summer, Schneider and Kreider—pictured here at Reunion 2015—both played for alma mater Boston College in the Comm Ave Charity Classic, an annual hockey game with cross-town rival Boston University, helping to raise funds for Compassionate Care ALS.
Bethany Versoy
draft-eligible and ready for another challenge. Although the New York Rangers selected him in the first round of the 2009 draft, Kreider accepted a scholarship to BC. Both players have made their mark in the NHL. Schneider sparred with the Canucks for two seasons before joining the team full time in 2010–2011; after three seasons in Vancouver, he was traded to the New Jersey Devils, where he has played the past two years. He has a 97–72–29 career record and, since that 2010–2011 season, he leads the NHL a lower for “a new challenge,” he says. “It was a natural proin save percentage (.927) and goals-against average (2.12). gression.” Soon after Kreider arrived, Boylan began receiving He is so valued at the net that he begins a seven-year concalls from college coaches and professional scouts about his tract extension with New Jersey this fall. new prospect. Immediately following Kreider’s junior year at BC in 2012, he “Halfway through his lower year, he started to show signs of was added to the Rangers’ postseason roster. That’s right: His being able to dominate a game,” says Boylan. “It was obviNHL debut occurred in a playoff game, and Kreider scored ous he could go on to the next level very easily.” A year later, five goals to help New York reach the Conference Finals. Kreider was named Prep Player of the Year after scoring 33 Just 24, Kreider is a rising star in the league. He has scored goals with 23 assists in just 26 games. The left wing—only 40 career regular-season goals, with 46 assists in 169 games. an upper—was ranked the top prep player in the country. The success Schneider and Kreider had at Andover and con“I learned a lot from Boylan as a coach, but also as a mentor,” tinue to have in the NHL has bequeathed Big Blue’s hockey says Kreider. “The most impressive thing about him was that program—now with Coach Paul Tortorella at the helm— he was really concerned about the guys on the team, about with a winning tradition. how they were doing personally and academically.” “I’d like to think our playoff team helped set a standard of Boylan spent extra time with Kreider studying game films, excellence,” says Schneider, who helped convince a group often rewinding the tape over and over again to absorb every of talented younger players to transfer to Andover. “Athletes nuance. “That’s when I realized how detail-oriented hockey want to go to places that have strong programs,” he adds. is,” says Kreider. “He really ingrained that in me.” “Andover set the bar and was able to say, ‘Look, we have a great hockey program and offer a great education.’ It’s a Excellence without Arrogance tough package to turn down.” Gurry ran into Kreider at a few charity golf tournaments. As the immensely talented Schneider and Kreider—the “He’s just one of the nicest kids you’d ever want to know,” friendliest of foes—continue to captivate NHL fans, they says Gurry. “What he brought to the school was an excellikely will fill the hockey highlight reels the way they filled lence without the arrogance that often accompanies it. I think that made an impact on his peers and it certainly made the Andover record books. an impact on his teachers.” Asked if he is able to keep in touch with many of his Andover friends given the rigors of the 82-game professional hockey schedule, Kreider immediately rattles off a long list of New York–area friends.
Editor’s note: Chris Gurry taught history and social science until retiring in 2014; Gurry Rink, adjacent to Harrison Rink, is named in his honor. Dean Boylan, who retired in 2015, will be honored at a special event in early 2016. Cory Schneider was inducted into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor in June (see page 18).
“I had such a positive experience at Andover,” Kreider says. “It’s such an unbelievable environment and not something that can really be re-created anywhere.” That made it hard to say goodbye, but he did—after his upper year. He was
Joe Lemire ’01 is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in USA Today, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, as well as on Grantland and MLB networks.
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Andover | Fall 2015
Out Standing in Their Fields
Alumni Find Balance in Agricultural Endeavors by Jane Dornbusch
Farming is not a career for the faint of heart. The labor is backbreaking, the economics nearly untenable, and the challenges wide-ranging. Farmers are at the mercy of forces beyond their control: weather, climate change, diseases that attack crops and animals, a fickle marketplace. They’re never off the clock, and vacations are nearly unheard of. Health insurance? Job security? A retirement plan? Forget it. But these Andover alums who’ve made the choice to pursue careers (or second careers) in agriculture say the rewards far outweigh the sacrifices. They enjoy the beauty of their surroundings, the sense of making a positive contribution and acting as stewards of their land, the opportunity
to work alongside family members and spend more time with their children, the active, vigorous lifestyle, and the intellectual challenges. As Tina Hartell ’91, who runs a Vermont maple-sugaring operation, puts it, the job requires its practitioners to be artists, economists, plumbers, engineers, weather forecasters, and carpenters. “Some of the smartest people I know are Vermont dairy farmers,” she says. “You have to be a multidimensional systems thinker to be a farmer.” Furthermore, says Maine organic farmer Alice Percy ’02, the overall Andover | Fall 2015
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bent of the Andover education helps build the mind of a good farmer. “Farming intelligently requires a broad knowledge base in biology, chemistry, geology, economics, business, and even political science, plus—above all—the ability to think synthetically. To me, the keystone of the Andover education was that skill of synthesis.” Of course, farming isn’t a typical career choice for PA graduates. Some of these Andovereducated farmers fell into it almost accidentally; some came to agriculture after following other paths. Most, faced with the financial realities of farming, are augmenting it with work off the farm, either their own or a spouse’s. But all share a passion for the pursuit, and despite farming’s many hardships, the experience of alpaca farmer Jill McElderry-Maxwell ’88 might be typical: “For the most part,” she says, “my friends are jealous of what I do.”
Jim Blackmon ’57 Lessons outside the classroom
Read more about the alumni farmers listed below at www.andover.edu. Lisa Mosca ’89 Alan Brian Nilsen
A passion for fighting hunger
Louis Rorimer ’65
Janet Century
Keeping the family farm alive
Alice Percy ’02
Kristin Dillon
A champion of farmers’ rights
Spencer Aitel ’74
Kristin Dillon
Changing the world, one gallon at a time
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Jim Blackmon (pictured on previous page) is probably the only member of the Class of ’57 (or any PA class, for that matter) who has killed a rattlesnake with a .45. He doesn’t find it a particularly impressive feat (“Some folks kill them with a hoe or a shovel, but I’m not that brave”); rather, it’s all in a day’s work for the engineering professor who took up raising cattle 20 years ago on his 285-acre spread by the Paint Rock River in Princeton, Ala., as a kind of physical, high-intensity hobby. “I didn’t plan it,” Blackmon explains. He and his wife, Tina, were living in Huntsville, where Blackmon works at the University of Alabama’s Propulsion Research Center. “I wanted to buy some land—‘acreage’ is the term they use—and just goof off, hunt and fish and hike.” But a friend suggested he use some of the land for raising cattle, and before Blackmon knew it, he had a herd on his hands.
mistakes a person can make in his second career as a self-taught farmer. “Most people think it’s nuts, but there’s something about it I like.” One aspect that appeals to him, he says, is the opportunity to broaden life’s experiences beyond what he normally does. As a farmer, he keeps an eye on the weather, finding himself attuned to the natural world in a way he wasn’t before. And he’s gained a deep appreciation of his neighbor farmers: “The people are hard-working and kind of old-fashioned. If they say they’re going to do something, they do it or die trying.”
Farming was never something that crossed Blackmon’s mind as he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Caltech and UCLA. “If someone had said, ‘Someday you’ll be living in Alabama and having a lot of cows,’ I would have said, ‘No way,’ ” he recalls. But expectations have a way of evolving: nowadays, he says, “Fun for me is getting a good, tight hay bale.” Perhaps the most valuable lesson to come out “It’s hard work, but it’s real and it’s fun—for some people,” says Blackmon, of the experience, though, is the one gleaned from those many mistakes who readily admits he’s made all the he made along the way. “If I were ever to counsel anyone young,” says “The people are hard-working Blackmon, “I’d tell them they have a lot and kind of old-fashioned. more capability than they realize; they If they say they’re going don’t have to limit their options. If it’s to do something, they do it worth doing, it’s worth doing wrong a or die trying.” few times.”
“It’s very fulfilling. Farmers don’t do it because they want to get rich. They do it because they want a rich lifestyle.”
Photos courtesy of Bag End Suri Alpacas
Jill McElderry-Maxwell ’88 Raising a rare breed The alpacas Jill McElderry-Maxwell raises at Bag End Suri Alpacas of Maine are no ordinary camelids. (Though it might be argued that no camelid—the biological family that includes camels, llamas, and alpacas—is particularly ordinary in Pittsfield, Maine, where McElderry-Maxwell is based.) Her suri alpacas are of a rare breed whose coat produces fiber that is more akin to silk. “It’s shiny. It has more luster than any other fiber,” she says. That fiber fetches a premium price and finds its way into high-end textiles. As a farmer of suri alpacas, McElderryMaxwell is herself a bit of a rare breed. Like many Andover alumni pursuing agricultural careers, she took a circuitous path to her chosen vocation. The Swarthmore graduate has “half a
doctorate” in physical anthropology and was on track to a career in academia, but left the field because of the “political stuff.” She did a bit of this and that, and then happened to make the acquaintance of a woman who owned an alpaca farm. The woman asked McElderry-Maxwell and her young son to help out with halter-training the animals; somewhat to her surprise, she says, they loved it. After working there a couple of years, she felt prepared to start up her own operation; her husband, a professor, got a job at Colby College, and in 2012 she launched the 130-acre farm, now home to a herd of some 55 alpacas. Why alpacas? “The original appeal,” says McElderry-Maxwell, “is that they are an animal that does not have to be
slaughtered to be profitable. Alpacas are wonderful animals, sweet and peaceful. And the fiber is just spectacular.” She’s so smitten with suri alpacas that she’s taken on a leadership role in the industry organization Suri Network, serving as a board member and vice president. It’s not a path the aspiring academic could have foreseen. “My poor parents,” she says with a laugh. “They say, ‘We spent all this money on your education so you could shovel crap all day?’ ” But it’s a demanding job, she says, with physical, intellectual, and financial challenges greater than those of any desk job. Not that she’d trade it for a cubicle. “It’s very fulfilling. Farmers don’t do it because they want to get rich,” she says. “They do it because they want a rich lifestyle.” Andover | Fall 2015
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Tina Hartell ’91 The accidental sugar maker Vermont winters are long and unforgiving, but the maple-sugaring season that arrives just as the cold abates is a sweet reward. “It’s a lot of work,” says Tina Hartell, describing the communal scene in many of the state’s sugar shacks during those precious weeks of boiling sap into syrup. “But it’s a giant party for three weeks.” It’s a party Hartell never expected to attend, much less host. But as proprietor of Bobo’s Mountain Sugar, a small commercial maple syrup producer in Weston, in the southern part of the state, Hartell is busy through sap season and beyond, producing about 800 gallons a year at the “tiny” 2,500tap operation. “This was not a concrete game plan, to have a commercial maple syrup operation,” Hartell admits, saying she would have laughed had anyone suggested it to her beforehand.
“We spend our days outside, walking in the woods all the time.… It’s pretty awesome to be able to do that.” 36
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But a life in agriculture was never out of the question. Hartell studied ecology in college and afterward did an intensive agricultural apprenticeship in New Mexico, gaining a good grounding in vegetable farming. Then came a graduate degree in agricultural science and policy, followed by a six-year hitch teaching environmental science at the Mountain School in Vershire, Vt., where she also worked on the school farm every day and helped with the sugaring operation. Still, when she and her husband bought land and moved to Weston in 2010, she was unemployed (and pregnant with twins). Suddenly, though, all the elements fell into place. “You look at the land,” says Hartell, “and it calls you. You have to sugar it.” She says that she and husband Skye had wanted to farm and be tied to their land in some way. “We said, ‘Let’s just kind of go for it and see how it goes.’ ” The maple-sugaring industry is changing rapidly, notes Hartell—in technology, in scale, and perhaps most dauntingly, in response to climate change. And the financial piece is
tricky: “It’s not our only source of income. Certainly, people can make a living from sugaring, but you’d have to hustle.” Few in the state, she notes, make their primary income from sugaring. But the tradeoffs make it worthwhile. She loves spending time with her twins, creating a tangible product, and being part of the vibrant local food community. Perhaps best of all, says Hartell, “We spend our days outside, walking in the woods all the time. I’m not at a desk, in front of a computer screen; I watch the seasons come and go. It’s pretty awesome to be able to do that.”
Marcus Smith ’12 A cricket in every pot? Marcus Smith has seen the future of farming—and it chirps. Smith, a student in the sustainable food and farming program at UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture, is drawn to the possibilities of insect farming. Specifically, he is interested in raising crickets for human consumption, a common practice in Africa, Asia, and Latin America for centuries. “If you look at the agriculture system as a whole, protein production is a problem,” he says. “[Insect farming] is one step toward a more sustainable solution.” For now, Smith is tackling the sustainability issue from an academic standpoint: he’s working on an independent study project on insect farming and taking an insect biology class. “I will definitely be an insect farmer,” he says of his future plans, but his broader interests in agriculture may also lead him toward policy or politics. In addition to his degree, he’s working on a certificate in applied economic research on cooperative enterprises, and he may
stay on to pursue a master’s degree in food policy. He interns at the Amherst Farmers’ Market and was recently appointed to the Amherst Agricultural Commission, an advisory board that supports agricultural activities in the town. As the only student on the commission, Smith says his responsibility is “to provide a more youthful perspective, with a much more focused voice on social justice.” Social justice has always been on Smith’s agenda—but farming hasn’t. When he arrived at UMass, he planned to study biology and biochemistry, with the possible goal of a career in public health. But when he began to study the causes of disease, he found the path led to environmental science and, for a time, that became his focus. And then he began to trace environmental issues back to their causes, and he discovered food and agriculture at the source. Following that realization,
“If you look at the agriculture system as a whole, protein production is a problem.”
he made his way into the sustainable food and farming program. Smith credits PA with this desire to get at the root of a problem. “The education there made me very critical,” he says. “Not in a bad way, but in the sense of looking at things very closely and inspecting the whole system, back to its source.” And going from that source toward a solution—in this case, not just farming insects but doing so in the best way possible. “It’ll be important to take a look at policy before insect farming becomes a really big thing. Let’s see if we can do it sustainably—not a handful of farmers with thousands of acres, but thousands of farmers with a handful of acres,” says Smith. “If we can make cricket farming sustainable, it can be extremely sustainable.” Andover | Fall 2015
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Madawaska
Auburn
Boston
New York City
Philadelphia
Flights of Hope & Healing
Volunteer pilot Jim Platz ’67 and his PALS nonprofit help thousands of patients access life-saving medical care by Sarah Zobel
By tradition, everyone who thru-hikes the Appalachian Trail is given a trail name by fellow hikers. During his own northbound trek in 2011, Jim Platz ’67 (pictured above) was known simply as Pilot. It’s a fitting moniker, given that he has flown thousands of hours in his eight-seater Cessna 414, bringing seriously ill patients from throughout New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to doctors’ appointments at major medical centers along the East Coast. A cofounder of five-year-old Patient AirLift Services (PALS), Platz has been flying since the mid-’70s and serving as a volunteer pilot for the past couple of decades. “We’re blessed to be able to help people,” he says. “It just seems like the right thing to do.” Platz grew up in a family that valued generosity and charitable acts. Andover, he says, continued to reinforce and support that philosophy. PALS (palservices.org) provides free air transportation to anyone with demonstrated need in the Northeast—west to Ohio and south to Virginia—who is receiving medical care for an acute or chronic illness. The 300 affiliated pilots donate their time, fuel, and use of their planes, plus landing and other fees, and are supported by 200 additional volunteers who serve as copilots, coordinators, and ground transport. Platz is careful to distinguish between PALS and the service offered by an air ambulance: although PALS patients may bring along oxygen on board, for example, they must be ambulatory and not require a medical attendant. 38
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Platz, who lives in Auburn, Maine, flies his twin-engine aircraft in and out of the many small airports and bumpy airstrips that dot that state’s northern half. The area is remote—it’s an eight-hour drive from Madawaska to Boston—and many of its residents face financial hardships. The region has a relatively high cancer rate, says Platz, and many of its hospitals aren’t equipped to offer advanced treatments, making it a “perfect storm of bad circumstances.” Upon being informed they have a stage IV cancer, patients may be told to go home and make the best of their time remaining, he says. “But when they look into it further, they find out there’s a treatment in Philadelphia and that PALS could fly them there once a week for six months. And that has saved lives.” As of August, 1,712 patients and 650 companions had flown with PALS. Jennie Cline, wife of longtime PA math teacher and baseball coach Andy Cline, became one of those patients in 2014, when she elected to participate in a 12-week trial at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to treat her cancer of unknown primary origin. The 10-hour round-trip drive from her home in Southwest Harbor, Maine, to Boston every other week was a major obstacle until Cline signed up with PALS, whose clients find the service largely through word of mouth and referrals from physicians and social workers. Platz was her pilot. “Their generosity is overflowing,” Cline says of PALS in general and Platz in particular, noting that Platz often pays for patients’ ground transportation in Boston because many of them struggle with the $60 round-trip cab fare between Logan Airport and the Longwood Medical Area. And Platz’s benevolence goes further: On one return flight, Platz, concerned about an engine noise, landed in Augusta. That meant Cline, still a two-hour drive from Southwest Harbor, and the other patient on board, a good four hours from his home in Aroostook County, would be stranded. “Jim landed, unloaded us, and, without batting an eye,” says Cline, “went and got his car and said he would drive us home.” Platz is married and has two grown daughters. By year’s end he’ll have logged 1,000 PALS flights (on top of the 3,000 to 4,000 charity flights he flew before PALS was established in 2010), which doesn’t leave much free time. But he’s committed to taking a break every year—usually for a long, challenging hike—to clear his head and refocus his energy. “You have to take care of yourself to be able to take care of others,” says Platz. A typical day for Platz begins with an early departure to northern Maine to pick up two or three sets of patients and caregivers at various airports. From there, his most frequent destinations are Boston, Philadelphia, and Shriners Hospital in Springfield, Mass. Instead of waiting around while the patients are at their appointments, Platz often fits in an additional round-trip flight—to shuttle even more patients—before returning to take his original passengers home.
“I’m continually amazed by the courage and positive attitudes our patients show in the face of challenging situations,” says Platz. “It’s an honor and a privilege to be a part of these people’s lives.” Freelance writer Sarah Zobel enjoys writing about health, education, housing, and homelessness. Andover | Fall 2015
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F r o m t h e Archi v es
Illuminating the
Darkness
W
hen Abbot Principal Philena McKeen announced in 1891 that Helen Keller, already world-famous at 10 years old, would visit campus on May 15, a number of students were reluctant to meet her.
Before Keller took leave to return to Boston, the students gathered to hear Fannie Marrett describe the work of the Perkins School, where Keller studied. Keller then asked Sullivan if she could speak. Sullivan agreed, but was surprised by the young girl’s initiative: she’d spoken publicly only once before.
“The thought came that it would be very difficult to talk with her, and also a pitiful and rather trying experience to see a person in such a sad condition,” student Adeline Perry later wrote.
“Dear friends of Andover,” she began. “I shall never forget this visit, and it will make my mother very happy that you have all been so kind to me. It seems to me the world is full of goodness, beauty, and love and how grateful we must be to our heavenly Father who has given us so much to enjoy.”
It had already been an exciting year for the Abbot girls. The long-awaited Draper Hall was finally open, providing spacious accommodations—no longer did the girls have to sleep two to a bed—and modern amenities such as electric lights and central heating. The Bay State Monthly called the imposing Romanesque structure “the most artistic building in America.” In what the newspaper called its “sumptuous” oak-paneled parlor, McKeen proudly welcomed Keller and her teachers, Anne Sullivan and Fannie Marrett, an 1885 Abbot grad. Having learned beforehand about the majestic new hall, Keller wanted to know “‘the story of the rooms,’” McKeen recalled, “and with permission examined the walls with her hands.” Keller later met with the students in the Drawing Room, where she “held quite a reception,” the Abbot Courant 40
Andover | Fall 2015
reported. “She seemed utterly unconscious that girls were crowded around her on all sides—behind the sofa where she sat in state, on the floor in front of her, and in a big circle all around her— and seemed to enjoy the talk as much as we did.” She explored each girl’s face with her fingers and, through palm signing with Sullivan, chatted with an erudition that stunned everyone. She spoke about the American Revolution: “Was it not so dreadful for men to kill each other so?” she asked. And on her visit to the home of the author of Little Women: “It is not beautiful, but I love it for the sake of brave, loving Miss Alcott.” And on meeting PA Professor Edgar G. Coy: “I have heard of coy maidens, but not of coy professors!” “It is pink, it’s the Catherine Mermet,” said Keller upon being given a rose. When given a tulip, she quoted a poem by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (Class of 1825): “See the proud tulip’s flaunting cup.” And finally, handed a Jack-in-thepulpit, she joked, “All the other flowers ought to come and hear Jack preach!”
“As she said these words with her sightless eyes lifted toward heaven, the eyes of all others were nearly blind with tears,” one of them would write. The principal of the Perkins School recalled, “The effect of this simple little speech upon the audience was so overwhelming that … sobs could be heard in all parts of the assembly room.” As Keller received good-bye kisses from the girls, she further astounded them by remembering the name of each of the students she met. An overwrought girl was heard crying, “Think of her being so grateful for what she has, and see what a pig I am!” Another ate dinner that night with her eyes closed “so as to be in sympathy” with Keller. McKeen remembered the event as “the day of days.”
by Amy J.M. Morris ’92
Courtesy of Historic New England
Courtesy of the Perkins School for the Blind
Left: The first page of a thank-you letter from Keller to Principal McKeen in which she writes, “How beautiful it is that when we have enjoyed something very much we can always treasure it in our memories! It seems to me that our minds are like museums where everything we have known and loved is kept for our own enjoyment.”
Top: Portrait of the Perkins School’s four deafblind students, 1891. Clockwise from upper left are Keller, Edith Thomas, Tommy Stringer, and Elizabeth Robin. Keller waged a national campaign to raise funds for her “little Tommy,” an orphan. Abbot girls collected $600 toward his tuition after Keller’s visit. Above: Frances Sara Marrett, Class of 1885. After graduating from Abbot, Marrett joined the faculty at the Perkins School for the Blind, where she taught for 45 years. She played a central role in Keller’s early development and was responsible for teaching her French.
Above: Cast room, Draper Hall, 1892. Keller passed her hands over every statue and bust. She climbed on a chair to reach the face of Jupiter, exclaiming, “It’s Zeus!” Feeling the face of Nero in his youth, she replied, “then it was when he was young and innocent.” Touching the lips of Niobe, she said with sympathy, “This is sorrow.” Left: The graduating class of 1891. This group (one senior is not pictured) hosted Keller in Draper’s Senior Parlor. All 96 students had the chance to see Keller when she joined the students for dinner and their morning chapel.
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P H I LA N TH R O P Y H IGHLIGHTS
The Heart of a Champion: Richard J. Phelps ’46 Honored
John Hurley
PA benefactor Richard J. Phelps ’46 is surrounded by a few of his deeply appreciative fans. From left are Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Jim Ventre ’79 and 2015 Phelps Scholars Tiffany Bauman ’16, Sarah Humes ’16, Anna Fucillo ’15, Kaitlin Hoang ’17, Teagan Thompson ’18, Annette Bell ’16, Taylor Beckett ’17, Camille Little ’16, Jacob Nelson ’15, Robert Whalen ’16, Robert Cerulle ’17, Phelps, Timothy Salvadore ’15, Brandon Girard ’16, Colby Lapointe ’16, Carmen Bango ’16, Ravenne Nasser ’15, Eliza Quigley ’15, Jennifer Lee ’18, and Alexa Matses ’18. On a lovely May evening, more than 150 alumni, students, parents, faculty, and friends gathered at the Andover Inn to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Richard J. Phelps Fund for Scholar-Athletes. Each year the fund supports about 20 students who excel in both academics and athletics. Since its inception in 1990—and including this fall’s incoming class— the fund has supported 185 Phelps Scholars. “Embedded in this scholarship is that moment of surprise when you realize that you belong at Andover because a man named Richard J. Phelps believes in you,” said Jim Ventre ’79, dean of admission and financial aid, describing the many young lives enhanced by Phelps scholarships. Along with student and alumni reflections, guests enjoyed a film tribute to Phelps, produced by Charlie Stuart ’62. Ever
humble, Phelps was overwhelmed by the personal stories, outpouring of gratitude, and rousing applause. A former scholarship student himself—and a PA parent and grandparent as well—Phelps has served Andover as an alumni trustee and in key leadership roles for the Parent Fund and Grandparent Fund, the Addison Gallery Board of Governors, and the Academy’s Financial Aid Task Force, which helps secure the perpetuity of Andover’s need-blind admission policy. “In Mr. Phelps, we have discovered the heart of a champion,” said Ventre in closing. “The Phelps Scholarships embody his exceptional generosity, and each year we celebrate Mr. Phelps’s continuing commitment to our students.” —Victoria A. Harnish
Deep Gratitude for a Banner Year in Fundraising
Neil Evans
Tremendously generous alumni, parents, and friends contributed $34 million in new gifts and pledges and $37.4 million in cash in the 2014–2015 fiscal year. The year’s many highlights include a new 25th Reunion gift record of $8.6 million, achieved with the help of superb Class of 1990 volunteers; a new high in participation (55 percent) reached by the Class of 2005; and strong numbers from the Class of 1945, with a record 93 percent participation and $4.5 million raised in honor of their 70th Reunion. “We are incredibly grateful to our tireless volunteers, who made Phillips Academy a living, breathing priority to their friends and classmates,” said Nicole Cherubini, director of development. The Academy received a record $11.8 million in donations to the Andover Fund, representing a 20.6 percent increase in unrestricted support over the previous year. In addition, donor count and participation rates rose in FY15 for both alumni and parents.
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All Hands-On!
Generosity Enables Makerspace in OWHL This fall the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library became home to the school’s first Makerspace, an innovative addition to its extensive collection of print and digital materials. Makerspaces—hugely popular in progressive secondary school and college/university environments—offer low- to high-tech equipment and tools along with spaces for collaboration and creation to enable students and faculty to design, test, prototype, and experiment with a wide variety of projects. The new area, located in the library’s basement, is made possible by the family and brothers of the late Walter Alexander ’53. “Walter adored Andover. It was the most important part of his educational life,” said Karen Alexander, Walter’s widow. “He was a putterer, and he liked to invent things—like a ‘tomato factory’ that would grow plants vertically to feed the apartment below you. He would’ve been the first one in line for something like this.” Mike Barker, director of Academy research, information, and library services, is overseeing the space and is engaging current students and faculty in the final design. “This space is going to be amazing for our students,” said Barker. “We have identified a few ‘must-have’ pieces of equipment to get it going and have started to think about programming that will make an impact, but we really want to stay one step behind the kids and their ideas on this. Spaces such
Karen and Walter Alexander ’53 as this work best when they are student-centered.” The hands-on opportunities presented in a Makerspace encourage “design thinking,” a highly empathetic, humancentered approach to innovation. Barker hopes experimentation will blend art and science, promote teamwork, and extend classroom learning. The space complements the work of the Tang Institute at Andover, says Barker, as well as the Academy’s commitment to connected learning, a researchbased model of study that blends traditional standards and technological innovation.
Connecting in Shanghai and London
David Flash
International alumni and parents play increasingly vital roles as Academy partners, advisors, and benefactors, as evidenced by Head of School John Palfrey’s spring visits to England and China. Seventy student musicians traveled to Shanghai in March to perform concerts alongside Chinese singers and dancers; several performances were attended by Palfrey and Board President Peter Currie ’74. Local alumni and parents were instrumental in hosting the PA contingent, providing assistance with meals and transportation and arranging a special visit to Water Heavens—a marvel of musical and architectural innovation created by renowned composer Tan Dun, father of Ian Tan ’16. Several weeks later and 6,000 miles to the west, Trustee Scott Mead ’73 hosted an event to introduce London’s PA community to the Academy’s new strategic plan, Connecting Our Strengths: The Andover Endeavor. This academic year, Andover’s international advancement team will return to Asia and Europe. In March 2016, the team will present a Future of the Endowment Conference, which will be hosted in Hong Kong for the first time. This gathering of alumni and parents from the world of finance is invaluable in helping Andover’s Investment Office stay current on market trends and strengthen its endowment.
Squash enthusiast John Palfrey accepts an aptly themed cake from Trustee Scott Mead ’73 at an Andover event arranged by Mead in London.
—Adam Roberts
Andover | Fall 2015
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C ONNE CT I ON
Reunion 2015 More than 1,000 alums returned to campus in June to reconnect with classmates and friends, share meals and memories, and catch up on all that’s happened since graduation. Beyond the traditional Alumni Parade, Celebration of Reunion, and Andover Athletics Hall of Honor induction, alumni enjoyed a variety of facultyled classes, such as “Is Capitalism Ethical?” with philosophy and religious studies instructor Tom Hodgson, and “Connected Learning” with math department chair Bill Scott. Special events included a Women & Leadership Panel, a piano recital featuring Eugen Indjic ’65, and an early morning row on the Merrimack.
Left: The Class of 1990 prepares for the Alumni Parade. Below: Steve Allen and Herb Ogden, Class of 1965
CNN anchor John Berman ’90 was on hand to help moderate a State of the Academy presentation by Head of School John Palfrey and Dean of Studies Trish Russell. Under Andover blue skies, a good time was had by all.
Top inset: Fred McClendon and Don Rollings, Class of 1970 Middle inset: Michelle Franciose and Alexandra Tuller, Class of 1985 Bottom inset: Chris Rokous, Steve Kane, and Averill Powers, Class of 1980
Above: Peter Vanderwarker, Barbara Sykes, Michel Scheinmann, and Pete Perault, all Class of 1965
Left: Katharine Lloyd, Nancy Eastman Iacobucci, and Peg Holbrook Birch, Class of 1955
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Andover | Fall 2015
Left: Matt Brennan, JeanMarie Gossard, Hee Jin Chang, and Kojo DeGraf-Hanson, Class of 2005 Below: Chanel O’Brien, Kara Daniel, Tyler Bond, Jess Siemer, Trevor Braun, Annie Pates, and Chris Kreider, Class of 2010 Above: Tony Nahas, Susan Arnold, and Charles Clark, Class of 1975 Below: Hoisting the banner for the Class of 1960
Left: Eleanor G.H. Epler, P’75, Peter Sourian ’50, and Joan Kopperl
Right: Sandy Hogg and Bruce Gelb, Class of 1945
Below: The Class of 1995 (and their families) march in the Alumni Parade.
Below: Nicole Okai and Jackie Wallace, Class of 2010 Below right: Dan Ankeles and Bonnie Oliva-Porter, Class of 2000
Photos by Gil Talbot and Bethany Versoy
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C ONNE CT I ON
Al um n i
1,500 Miles and Light Years from Home by Kelicia Hollis ’08 Standing next to two waist-high suitcases, each stuffed to the 50-pound limit, and shouldering a purple carry-on and a computer bag containing a new Gateway laptop—bought with my grandmother’s pulled-together pennies just in time for school—I waved goodbye to my parents. With love-filled hugs and nostalgic eyes, I left my home in Little Rock, and with their prayers and blessings, began my solo journey to Andover. The last in my dorm to arrive, I breathed the crisp September air, eyes wide, as my house counselors greeted me with big smiles and a Blue Key snatched my roller bags from the sidewalk and hauled them up the stairs to my room. I wasn’t just a long way from home. I was cultural norms and verbal intonations, clothing brands and Sunday afternoon collard greens and roast beef dinners away from home. But by the time the New England sun set, my verdict was clear: Maybe I didn’t drive in with parents and siblings past the “Honk If You Love Andover” signs. Maybe I carried a calling card instead of a cell phone. Maybe I didn’t know about summers on the Cape, had no visas because I had no
Kelicia Hollis ’08 in May at the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall
passport, and was beyond grateful for a modest weekly stipend (which, for a full-scholarship kid, offered the freedom of random CVS visits and delivery of my beloved General Tso’s Chicken). Still, I belonged at Andover, and I was determined to prove it. Now, looking out my window in Tianjin, China, I am reminded that another transition story is what brought me to my current research as a Fulbright scholar. I asked an international Chinese student in the United States about her experiences, and she replied, “So far, so bad.” Saddened, I imagined that everyone who knew and loved her back home yearned for someone on the receiving end to welcome and love her, too. This is the story many of us share, no matter our background. My Andover transition story was multilayered, but seeing how every smile, handshake, and hug grew into a garden of relationships rooted in acceptance and love, I wouldn’t exchange one day of it. And now I’m determined to transplant the good soil and a few of those seeds to help such relationships grow in the lives of others. As a Fulbright scholar, Kelicia Hollis is researching how Chinese students’ preparation methods, background, and expectations influence their transition experience and perceptions of success while studying in English-speaking countries. Born in Detroit and raised in Little Rock, Ark., Hollis earned a BA degree in creative writing at Columbia University and a master’s degree in higher education at the University of Michigan.
Alumni Out of the Blue features true Abbot- or Andover-related stories about issues of class, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, geographic origin, and/or (dis)ability. Please e-mail your 350-word story, a brief bio, and a high-res photo of yourself to alumnioutoftheblue@gmail.com.
Endowment Lessons from Andover’s CIO During Reunion Weekend in June, the Office of Gift Planning invited members of the Samuel Phillips & Sarah Abbot Society to learn more about how Phillips Academy uses and protects its endowment. Chief Investment Officer Michael Reist talked about the New York City–based Investment Office’s philosophy—“diversification mitigates market risk”—and presented an overview of endowment management, including: • how and why the endowment contributes 35 percent of the Academy’s gross annual revenue; • the endowment’s goal of providing reliable and perpetual support for the school’s mission; • tracking on the Federal Reserve’s actions on interest rate “normalization”; and • performance comparisons to the S&P 500 and other market benchmarks. The Samuel Phillips & Sarah Abbot Society is a leadership group that recognizes and honors alumni, faculty, parents, and friends who have remembered Phillips Academy in their estate plans through a bequest intention, life income arrangement, life insurance provision, or charitable lead trust. To date, more than 808 individuals have accepted the Academy’s invitation to join. This year, 42 new members joined the society, including Head of School John Palfrey and his wife, Catherine Carter. For more information on gift planning, contact Grace E. Curley ’81, director of gift planning, at gcurley@andover.edu or 978-749-4281.
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Big Blue Scores with Abbot Grant An incredible softball season began with help from the Abbot Academy Association (AAA). Awarded in November 2014, an AAA grant enabled the softball team to benefit from the expertise of alumna coach and mentor Lindsay Maroney ’07 during its annual spring training trip to Orlando, Fla.
Since its first grant was awarded in 1973, the AAA has funded more than 1,400 proposals by students and members of the faculty, staff, and administration, with grants totaling nearly $10 million.
Tammy Skwierczynski
When softball head coach Peter Drench created the grant proposal last fall, he could not have imagined that his team would have an undefeated season, winning all 18 games.
In only the second undefeated season in Andover softball history, the team outscored its opponents 183–19; during the four Big East Invitational Tournament games, the girls outscored their opponents 52–4.
Front row, from left: Jeanine Moreau ’16, Victoria Bergeron ’16, Colby Bere ’18, Sarah Carmichael ’18, Antonia Tammaro ’17. Middle row: Margaret Bragdon ’18, Tiffany Bauman ’16, Kristina Haghdan ’17, Miranda Nestor ’16, Eun Jae Kim ’15, Maddie Comer ’16. Back row: Doug Kuhlmann, Lindsay Maroney ’07, Madi Bradford ’17, Ali Nunes ’17, Mackenzie Bradford ’15, Kayla Thompson ’15, Courtney Erickson ’15, Jenny Kaplan ’15, Ravenne Nasser ’15, Sidney Holder ’17, Peter Drench, Ray Skwierczynski. Not pictured: chaperones Anne Ferguson and Tammy Skwierczynski Inset: Alumna coach and mentor Lindsay Maroney ’07
Peter Drench
The announcement of AAA grants is a muchanticipated event in the Phillips Academy community. Above, former Abbot Principal Don Gordon ’52, AAA cofounder Beverly Floe ’41, and AAA Board President Susie Stedman ’59 were among those who convened in Davis Hall in mid-May to hear grant proposals, 20 of which were awarded full or partial funding that totaled more than $240,000.
In addition to supporting the softball team’s spring training trip to Florida, the AAA grant also covered commemorative 1960s-era Abbot game jerseys for the team to wear on special occasions—plus a few extras for 2014–2015 AAA board members and friends. From left are Abbey Siegfried ( faculty liaison) and Elizabeth George (AAA assistant), Lee Webb ’59, Sara Su Jones ’91, José Diaz Hernandez ’88, Annie Spader Byerly ’73, Susan Goodwillie Stedman ’59, Aisha Jorge Massengill ’88, Gary Meller ’68, Chandri Navarro ’82, Lynne Moriarty Langlois ’62, Blakeman Hazzard Allen ’66, and Gregory Kimball ’01.
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C ONNE CT I ON
John Hurley
MS2 Reunion (MS)2 Class of ’95 Celebrates 20th Reunion Ten members of the Mathematics and Science for Minority Students Class of 1995—rising 11thgraders when they graduated from PA’s three-summer outreach program—returned to campus July 10–12 for their 20-year reunion. From left are Sue Damaris Rodríquez, Angele Arthur, Jamila Perritt, Christal Joy Forgenie, Marcus Austin, Jesús Beltran, George Williams, and Bernice Howse Middleton. Not pictured: Kristina Halona and Dionne Nickerson. The alums joined current (MS)2 students for a mentorship lunch; attended the program’s popular Cultural Sharing performance, during which they announced a series of fundraising goals for their class; and challenged third-year students to a volleyball match. “I loved the current students and could see myself in many of them,” said Rodríguez. “My classmates and I look forward to building a network for all (MS)2 classes and creating a fund to help the program.” Rodríguez and friends are already planning for their 25th reunion in 2020.
Alumni Trustee Election in Spring In spring 2016, the Andover alumni body will have the opportunity to elect two alumni to serve on the Board of Trustees for four-year terms beginning July 1, when the terms of Rejji P. Hayes ’93 and Marjorie Wellin King ’75 expire. The Executive Committee of the Alumni Council will nominate four alumni to stand for election, and additional alumni may be nominated upon receipt by the director of Alumni Engagement of petitions signed by a minimum of 100 alumni for each candidate. Ballots will be e-mailed to alumni in the spring and mailed to those without e-mail. For more information, please contact Dick Howe, associate director of Alumni Engagement, at 978-749-4280 or rhowe@andover.edu.
Six Honored for Distinguished Service Andover’s 2015 Distinguished Service Award honorees were applauded by family, friends, and members of the PA community at a special luncheon on May 2. The award is presented annually by decision of the Academy Resources Trustee Committee to volunteers whose services to Andover have been distinguished by commitment, uniqueness, and effectiveness. Their efforts on behalf of the school provide an inspiring example for all Andover volunteers.
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John Hurley
From left are Lisa and Tom Rauh, P’07, ’10, ’14; Doug Adler ’70; Head of School John Palfrey; Kitty Sides Flather ’59; Mimi Won Techentin ’79; and Mae Concemi Bradshaw ’62 (see inside back cover). Alumni Council President Tom Beaton ’73 (far right) welcomed guests and assisted in the presentation of awards.
Washington, D.C.
Phillips Academy Alumni & Parent Events, November 2015–February 2016 National & International Events
Palo Alto
Chicago
Nov. 16
San Francisco
With Head of School John Palfrey
Nov. 19
Los Angeles
With Head of School John Palfrey
Dec. 8
New York
Winter Holiday Party with Head of School John Palfrey
Feb. 6
Paris
With Head of School John Palfrey
Feb. 6 Sarasota, Fla.
With Dean of Studies Trish Russell and Tang Institute Fellow Carmen Muñoz-Fernández
Feb. 6 Naples, Fla.
With Dean of Studies Trish Russell and Tang Institute Fellow Carmen Muñoz-Fernández
Feb. 7 Palm Beach, Fla.
With Dean of Studies Trish Russell and Tang Institute Fellow Carmen Muñoz-Fernández
Feb. 8
With Head of School John Palfrey
London
Feb. 8 Vero Beach, Fla.
With Dean of Studies Trish Russell and Tang Institute Fellow Carmen Muñoz-Fernández
Feb. 22
With Head of School John Palfrey
Miami
Campus Events
Chicago
Nov. 3 & 4
2015 Andover Alumni Award of Distinction Program
Nov. 5
Alumni Council Weekend Begins
Nov. 11
6th Annual Veterans Day Program, with Adm. Charles S. Abbot ’62
Nov. 14
Andover-Exeter Fall Athletic Contests
Feb. 27
Alumni Hockey & Basketball Games
For the most up-to-date listings, visit the Office of Alumni Engagement event calendar at www.andover.edu/alumnievents.
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C ONNE CT I ON
the Buzzzzz
z
Evangeline, an opera by Gwyneth Walker ’64, premiered in Hammond, La., in March. Based on the Longfellow poem, the work dramatizes the forced exile of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in the 1750s. In August, a second round of performances of Evangeline was presented in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, former home of the exiled Acadians. Ben Beinecke ’02 and fiancée Sharon Madanes are commissioning artists to create site-specific works for empty billboard spaces around New York. Various well-known artists already have transformed eight billboards through this program. Mike Bor ’92 started CarLotz in 2011, a new kind of used car marketplace where private sellers are matched with buyers conveniently and transparently. CarLotz now has six locations, and Mike and partners are preparing to take it nationwide.
Deer Hunting in Paris, a memoir written by Paula Lee ’82, won a 2014 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for best travel book. Kayce Freed ’76 joined the advisory board of the School of Leadership Afghanistan, the country’s first boarding school for girls. Osteria Francescana, the restaurant of Lara Gilmore ’86 and her husband, was ranked second in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The eatery, in Modena, Italy, also rates three Michelin stars.
Leif Dormsjo ’93 is the director of DDOT, the transportation authority of Washington, D.C. Inspired by Vermont’s simple, understated elegance, Ashley Harmeling Wayman ’00 launched Petit Peony, a “spirited” children’s clothing company, with business partner Kate Bowen. Sung Nam ’98 has been working with Bryan Miller ’66, Sam Kim ’81, and Theo Novak ’01 to launch the Singapore AndoverAbbot Club. If you’re in Singapore, contact them!
Sally Poole ’06 spent May and June biking 1,000 miles across the UK, from Land’s End (England) to John O’Groats (Scotland), to raise money for a cat shelter in Maine. She entered veterinary school at the University of Glasgow this fall. Tenor 13, also know as Shipley Munson ’76, just celebrated his fifth anniversary with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Jennie Engstrom Fancher ’86 was appointed mayor of Avon, Colo. Terri Stroud ’88 participated in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Former PA English instructor Robert Rennie McQuilkin, recently named Poet Laureate of Connecticut, published Going On, a book of new and collected poems.
PBS journalist Alexander Heffner ’08 was named Fitzwater Fellow in Residence at the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University. His appointment will last through the 2016 New Hampshire Primary.
Tenured Harvard professor Jenny Hoffman ’96, mother of three, won last fall’s USA Track & Field National Championship 24-Hour Run with a distance of 127 miles; she raised $10,000 for Special Olympics.
Pablo Mozo ’89 and his sister Corinna ’86 opened La Cubana, a restaurant with two locations in Toronto.
Matador, Todd Lubin ’92’s production company, has launched multiple series on seven networks, including numberone hit Lip Sync Battle, hosted by LL Cool J on Spike TV. Todd and his partner are on The Hollywood Reporter’s Reality TV Power List for 2015.
Amy Carr ’93, who directs lighting design for concerts and events, spent the summer touring with the show she designed for jazz bassist and performer Esperanza Spalding. In early 2015, Gus Quattlebaum ’93 was named the Red Sox organization’s assistant director of professional and international scouting. Connell Cloyd ‘99 and wife Yuki got hundreds of thousands of YouTube hits on a video of Yuki dancing “Tootsie Roll” through labor. They appeared on the Ellen show, and DeGeneres gave them a new car.
Please e-mail BUZZ suggestions to andovermagazine@andover.edu.
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a n d o v e r B OO K S H E LF
Race on the Move by Tiffany Joseph ’00 Stanford University Press The pattern of migration from Brazil to the U.S. and back offers a unique lens through which to view how racial identity is formed and transformed, as recounted here. Sociology professor Joseph, whose research led her to live in Brazil for more than a year, found that race relations in the two countries, once very different, are becoming increasingly similar. Two Awesome Hours by Josh Davis ’92 HarperOne We’re all trying to cram more activity into less time nowadays, but in Two Awesome Hours, Davis offers the counterintuitive suggestion that to maximize efficiency, we really need to be less, not more, busy. His suggested strategies for creating two hours of peak productivity a day, rather than trying to fill every waking minute, will surely be welcomed by the chronically overcommitted. The Power of Ideals by William Damon ’63 and Anne Colby Oxford University Press
Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos ’96 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Most young-adult dystopian novels feature a futuristic world that’s undergone a catastrophe. The resultant social landscape is a savage and unthinkable variation on our own. Material Girls isn’t quite like that. Yes, an economic crisis has made it necessary for young people to enter the workforce at 16, and yes, the teens are sorted and their professional futures determined in a highly charged public ceremony. But author Dimopoulos’s dystopian world—one in which fleeting fashion and pop music trends rule—is much like our own, simply viewed through a critical lens. Teenaged fashion designer Marla and pop singer Ivy encounter challenges that force them to rethink the superficial values they’ve been taught. Marla in particular comes to reject the wastefulness of fashion fads, and here Dimopoulos sends a real-world message: she cites statistics on how many pounds of clothing are discarded each year, paints a picture of the sweat-shop conditions that make mass-produced clothing possible, and even includes an appendix with resources for information on sustainable clothing. But the novel is no dry polemic. Dimopoulos creates a convincingly amusing world dominated by teen sensibilities: characters watch TV shows like Playground Crime Scene and Clone Valley and end conversations with the exhortation “Stay young.” The author has said that since writing the book, she thinks harder about where her clothing comes from and where it eventually goes; her readers will undoubtedly do the same.
Husband and wife authors Damon and Colby, both Stanford professors, take on no less a subject than morality in this slim but weighty volume. Cynicism may be all the rage, but morality, say the authors, will always hold sway in the end; after all, as they write and convincingly argue, it is morality that “makes civilized life possible.” The Québec Affair by Charles Brodhead ’53 (writing as Robert Penbrooke) Promontory Press In this Cold War thriller, John Thurmond is a CIA agent born in Canada who becomes an American citizen during the Vietnam War era. Years later, his Canadian roots draw him into another conflict, the Québec separatist movement. Penbrooke weaves a web of intrigue as Thurmond takes on a new mission and struggles to lay his personal demons to rest.
—Written by Jane Dornbusch Been published recently? Please send your book to Jane Dornbusch, Office of Communication, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161. After your book is announced, it will be donated to the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library. Autographed copies appreciated! Regrettably, due to the high volume of books written by alumni, not all books will be featured in the Andover Bookshelf. Selection is at the discretion of the class notes editor.
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1973
1950s
1960
We’ll get by with a little help
1970s
1973
1980
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1979
www.andover.edu/intouch
Cl ass Not es
1890
1935
1973
ABBOT
1965
Doris Schwartz Lewis 250 Hammond Pond Pkwy., Apt. 515S Chestnut Hill MA 02467 617-244-7302 doss123@webtv.net
1936 ABBOT
[Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Clara Holland Chase passed away on May 5, 2015. Please see the In Memoriam section for her obituary.]
1970s
1937 PHILLIPS John Foskett 4694 Rue Bayou Sanibel FL 33957 239-472-1726
1938 ABBOT & PHILLIPS Dana Lynch ’68 P.O. Box 370539 Montara CA 94037-0539 650-728-8238 Dana.h.lynch@gmail.com
1940 ABBOT Nadene Nichols Lane 125 Coolidge Ave., No. 610 Watertown MA 02472 617-924-1981 1970s
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stay connected... PHILLIPS Blake Flint 1762 Bay St., No. 401 Sarasota FL 34236-7751 941-955-9396 cbflint@comcast.net
Walt Curley writes, “[Wife] Taitsie and I are fine, living in Manhattan and on the west coast of Ireland. Our children are well spread out geographically, as are seven grandchildren. One, Nina Curley, lives and works in the Middle East—which does not put us at ease. The other grandchildren are in California, Colorado, and New York. I still go to my office in Manhattan, and we run a sheep-ranch operation in Ireland: it ain’t Texas-style, but it almost pays for itself.” Don Voss writes, “I’m still in my house, although I wonder how much longer I’ll be able to stay here. The house has two stories and a cellar— stairs are a big problem, though one I can cope with. Yes, I’ve joined the cane brigade. I’ve given up travel but still put in some time at the National Arboretum Herbarium two days a week—a retired economist and intelligence analyst playing botanist. Have you heard about Washington area traffic? The 18 miles to the Arboretum takes me 1 to 1-1/4 hours.” Dave Thurston is living in Tucson, Ariz. A widower, he gets around with a walker, lives independently, and has help come in every day. He says he is fairly healthy, living comfortably, and taking his meals in the dining facility next door. Rowland “Doc” Freeman died on Nov. 29, 2014. Doc served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1979, retiring as a rear admiral. He was appointed by President Carter to be the administrator of the General Services Administration from 1971 to 1981. He then became a corporate vice president of McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) from 1981 to 1987. During WWII he served in the Pacific as a Navy night fighter and the torpedo bomber from the aircraft carrier USS Wasp. He was shot down over Okinawa and rescued by a U.S. submarine. For his service he was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merit medals, and two Distinguished Flying Cross medals, in addition to Air Medals, various campaign ribbons, and unit awards. Doc spent his retirement years in Williamsburg, Va. He is survived by Dorothy, his wife of 57 years. Charles Kessler died May 11, 2014. Charles will be remembered as a member of our class from 1936 to 1939. He and his wife, Charlotte, lived in New Paltz, N.Y., where he was professor of art history at SUNY New Paltz for many years. He was an avid reader of books and loved classical music. Charlotte predeceased Charles in January 2013. R.I.P.
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1942 ABBOT
Ann Taylor Debevoise Pinnacle Farm 222 Daniel Cox Road Woodstock VT 05091-9723 802-457-1186 Ann.T.Debevoise@valley.net
PHILLIPS Robert K. Reynolds 185 Southern Blvd. Danbury CT 06810 203-743-0174 rreynolds06@snet.net
Five of our 45 remaining classmates have provided news for this edition of the class notes. I’m happy to report that the documentary film Enough To Live On: The Arts of the WPA, in which I appear, had its premiere in New Britain, Conn., on May 14 at the New Britain Museum of American Art. It wasn’t exactly the Oscars, but close enough. Anyone who lived through the Depression of the ’30s, and that includes all of our class, would find it interesting. Larry Eccles sent a nice letter with many thoughtful comments on the state of the union and the world. Too many to publish here, but he strongly believes that better education and affordable health care are the keys to solving our problems. He wrote, “To get there, we’ll need money, effective government, and a magic gift from K Street. Cut the number of manned foreign bases from 739 to 300, or maybe 150. Cancel F35 fighters. And put Congress on Social Security health care, after removing their self-anointed $30,000 raise.” Dudley Batchelor, whose first wife, Margaret, died in 2006, has since gotten remarried, to Constance Roeder. Despite undergoing a liver transplant 18 years ago, he reports that he is in good health, although he gave up tennis several years ago. Re: the state of the union, he favors smaller government, because the world is so complex that there aren’t enough smart people to run it well. He reminisces that the Andover senior American history printed notebook remains the best part of his education. Steele Blackall reports by phone that he is alive and well and enjoying winters in Boston (although that’s hard to believe, with more than nine feet of snow there this year) and summers at the shore in Westport, Mass., enjoying the salt air. Thruston “Sledge” Hammer reminisces about our time at Andover. For example, he asks, who got better grades: Bernie Welch or Lincoln Clark? Who was the better tennis player: Carl Badger or Bill Saunders? The best athlete: George Bush or Jim Reilly? Best pitcher: Ed Machaj or Elly Vose? He still marvels at the
beauty of the campus, the green grass, the majestic trees, the timeless architecture of Bulfinch, the Bell Tower, even Draper Cottage, where it all began for him. He’s still at Old Sturbridge Village after 29 years—three days a week as minister, storekeeper, head broommaker, and driver of the riverboat. Walks a mile a day, but no more tennis or baseball. We’ve lost four more classmates. Donald Herbst, retired financial officer, WWII P-51 pilot, and 30-year cattle farmer, died on Jan. 22. After graduating from Princeton, he married Barbara Ayers, who survives him, along with four children. Don was an executive with the F.W. Woolworth Co. and J.C. Penney. Lindsay Hanna died on Feb. 4 in Carmel-bythe-Sea, Calif. After service in WWII with the U.S. Army in Germany, he graduated from Yale. His entire business career was spent with Cigna, in Bloomfield, Conn. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca; three daughters; and four grandchildren. John Power died in Port Charlotte, Fla., on April 10. He graduated from Yale after serving in the Navy during WWII as a radio operator on the aircraft carrier USS Kalinan Bay. He married Lenore Jewett in 1944, and they raised nine children. John enjoyed a long and successful career in the ink industry, starting with International Printing Inks and retiring at age 70 from Van Son Holland Ink. A lifelong boat owner and fishing enthusiast, John sailed or motored his vessels through all the waterways of the East Coast. Lucius Horatio Biglow passed away on June 8 in Seattle. “Loosh” distinguished himself in academics, in the military, and in his business and personal life. At Andover he was awarded the Sullivan Prize for greatest improvement in scholarship in his class. He entered Yale in July 1942, but by 1944 he had enlisted in the Army, where he participated in the Battle of the Bulge and, during the Occupation, managed a hotel in Berchtesgaden, Germany. After the war, he returned to Yale, graduating in 1948. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1952, he married Nancy Wheatland. He practiced law first in New York and then in Seattle, where much of his life revolved around St. Thomas Church in nearby Medina. His real love and passion was singing. He sang in the choir at Andover and Yale, managed the Yale Glee Club, and was a member of the Whiffenpoofs. He is survived by his wife, Nancy, four children, and four grandchildren.
1943 PHILLIPS
Richard L. Ordeman 619 Oakwood Ave. Dayton OH 45419 937-299-9652 mbo510@aol.com
Good to hear from Bobbie Jordan, widow of Bob Jordan. Bob did that beautiful cover for
www.andover.edu/intouch our 50th Reunion class book and the painting Andover Campus, which our class gifted to the Addison Gallery at the reunion. Unfortunately, Bob died two weeks before the reunion. However, Bobbie and two daughters are honoring his memory by establishing a website to show his art and share his paintings with classmates and others (www.robertjordanpainter.com). Bobbie writes, “We plan to keep it current and, if there is any interest, make paintings available, as well as provide notice of current showings. Take a look!” Susan Faxon of the Addison tells me the museum has five of the studies Bob did in preparation for the finished painting we gave. They are used as documentary evidence of the workings of an artist, which is especially important to the Addison’s role as a teaching museum. John Randolph and his wife, Kathleen, moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., 25 years ago. Their daughter, Emily, and family live nearby. Emily writes children’s books. Son Whitney lives with his family in Maine. He’s an emergency physician in Camden. John notes, “It’s easier to fly to London than to Maine! As a result, he has to visit us, rather than the other way around.” In February, Dick Harshman again hosted the Class of ’43 annual Naples reunion, serving up a delicious lunch. Besides Dick, seven other classmates were on hand: Dick Baird, Bill Chipman, Phil Drake, Skip Ordeman, Art Sherrill, Bard Smith, and Dave Thurber. Also enjoying the event were Martha Ordeman and Artie Moher ’45. Good to see Dick Baird, who missed last year’s event due to an automobile accident. The Bairds’ daughter, Christina, is a managing partner at Goldman Sachs. Their son, Gordon, is working on a new venture. Sue and Phil Drake will host the 2016 Naples reunion. Congratulations to both of them on celebrating their 66th anniversary in January and to Phil, who passed the 90-year mark in June. Driving to the bus terminal after the reunion, I asked Bard if he had thought of writing an autobiography. He answered in the negative, but said if he ever did, it would be titled Expect the Unexpected, which seemed appropriate as, arriving at the bus terminal, we found his bus to West Palm was three hours late! The winter issue of Andover magazine carried a feature headlined “Turning Back the Clock,” in which graduates shared stories about experiences at Andover that had lasting impact on their lives. Nick Stoneman ’78 wrote a beautiful tribute to Audrey and Diz Bensley that ended, “Of all the great experiences I had during my years on campus, the time spent under their tutelage unequivocally had the most enduring impact.” Sadly, these notes must report the loss of three classmates, George Sweeney, Dick Meryman, and Phil Kemp. Another loss to our class was the passing of Eason Cross’s wife, Diana, after 65 years of marriage. Our class extends its sympathy to the family and friends of those who have left us. George Sweeney Jr. died Jan. 15. George
Brad Murphy ’40 returned to campus for his 75th Andover Reunion as a member of the Old Guard.
attended MIT and received a BS degree in engineering in 1947 and a master’s degree in chemical engineering practice in 1948. As a chemical engineer, George traveled to more than 50 countries, evaluating new ammonia projects for governments and lenders. During his schooling and travels he became fluent in five languages besides English: French, Spanish, Egyptian Arabic, German, and Chinese. While working in Egypt, he discovered his passion for flying and soaring, logging more than 400 flights and 100 hours of glide time in sailplanes. In 1985, he retired after 30 years with Arthur D. Little Inc. George is survived by two children and five grandchildren. Richard Meryman died in New York City on Feb. 5. Dick graduated from Williams College and was an All-American lacrosse player. During WWII, he served in the Navy. Dick was hired as a novice writer for Life magazine in 1949. He went on to become the magazine’s first human-affairs editor, writing profiles of extraordinary people, including, among others, Ingmar Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Horne, Paul McCartney, Laurance Olivier, and Elizabeth Taylor. His interview with Marilyn Monroe appeared in Life on Aug. 3, 1962, two days before she died. The eight-hour conversation at Marilyn Monroe’s home became the basis of a 1992 HBO program titled Marilyn: The Last Interview. Dick worked for Life until it ceased publication as a weekly in 1972. He then focused on books, including a biography of Andrew Wyeth called Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Life. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; two daughters from his first marriage, to Hope Brooks, who died in 1975; two stepsons; and six grandchildren.
Philip Kemp died peacefully at his home in Omaha, Neb., on Feb. 8. During WWII, Phil served with the Seabees in the South Pacific. He was a graduate of Yale, where he pitched for the 1947 and 1948 Yale teams that played in the finals of the NCAA baseball tournament. His business career included serving as vice president of production at Henningsen Foods Inc. and later assuming the same role at Data Documents Inc. Later, he was president of two firms he purchased—one involving the distribution of school supplies, the other the distribution of musical instruments and supplies. After selling the companies, he retired in 2000 to concentrate on his family and golf. Phil is survived by his wife, Emily, seven children, and 12 grandchildren.
1944 ABBOT
Emily McMurray Mead P.O. Box 292 Etna NH 03750 603-643-3741 Emily_mead@valley.net
We are a class of “tough old birds.” Would you please send me a note to share with one another? From Elinor Cahill Georgopulo: “Great to hear from you—I’m doing reasonably well, except for some weakness in my right foot, due probably to trauma that happened 60 years ago! I wear an orthotic, which is cumbersome and uncomfortable. “My daughter, Katina, son-in-law, Ted, and Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected...
The Old Guard (largely represented by the Class of ’45) made a strong showing at reunion. Front, from left: Jack Lee ’45, Charles “Cy” Chittick ’45, Bill Barnum ’45, Brad Murphy ’40, John Thorndike ’45, Artie Moher ’45, and John Ryan ’45. Middle row: Brewster Conant ’45, Jack Moffly ’45, Bob Beach ’45, Rosalie Benton Lee ’45, Jean Mulvey Friedmann ’45, Mac MacLellan ’45, and Dave Space ’45. Back row: Bruce Gelb ’45, Ace Shealy ’45, Lee Siskind ’45, Jack Horner ’45, Walter Morrison ’45, and Alexander Hogg ’45.
their kids live nearby. We get together often, and I am very well looked after at Edgehill retirement community, with good friends and many activities. “Fritzi Lange and I used to speak on the phone often, but she passed away last year, so I miss her a lot—hopefully, her daughter Millie may be visiting this summer. “My sister-in-law Clara, whom you remember from Barnard, is doing very well. After eight kids, I don’t know how she does it. “I hope to see Priscilla Stevens Rutherford this summer when she returns to New Canaan [Conn.]. “Meanwhile, let me hear from you—and thanks for keeping in touch.” From Anne Stockman: “I was very glad to receive your postcard. Not that I have any great news, but it’s nice to know some of us are still around. I’ve just moved into a retirement community in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Ponte Vedra is about 40 miles southeast of Jacksonville, on the ocean. I’ve been in Ponte Vedra since 1990. Before that I lived in Yakima, Wash. Before that I was in Honolulu, and before that in the Virgin Islands. I still play nine holes of golf and lots of bridge. Do my needlepoint every day. Enjoy the HD live Metropolitan Opera productions. What a great format that is. My children are in Atlanta, so I see them quite often. Hope all is well with you and that you get many responses to your card.” Martha Koerner, Ann Koerner’s daughter, wrote, “Unfortunately, my mom has Alzheimer’s and cannot correspond or even remember she
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went to Smith. It is very sad, because she had such fond memories of her time there and all the Smithies.” Jeffrey Spurr, son of Cynthia Holmes Spurr, wrote, “Thank you for your recent postcard trying to reach my mother, Cynthia. I thought I should let you know that she passed away several years ago, predeceased by my father, Gregory W. Spurr Jr.” Shirley Rhodes Lowe wrote, “[Husband] Bob and I recently celebrated our 65th anniversary. Where have the years gone? Our apartment is classified as ‘independent’ living, although I need a cane to hobble around. We have four kids, plus their spouses, and seven grandkids. Recently we have added two great-grands, and many more are to come, I’m sure. For an ‘only’ child, I have done well. Appreciate your keeping the class together.” Alma M. Strabala wrote, “I, too, am still going strong. I celebrated my 90th birthday recently with lots of parties and friends. Everyone is younger than I am, but I play lots of tennis (four times a week), ice skate, bike, and ski—plus lots of bridge and gardening. I’ve traveled extensively, but this year I’m concentrating on local activities and catching up at home. I have wonderful grandchildren. Two, the girls, are juniors in college. One of the boys is running the family business; the other is in the Navy’s nuclear program, soon to finish his six years.” I am in excellent health and am surrounded by many loving friends and family. Love to hear from everyone else.
PHILLIPS Angus Deming 975 Park Ave., Apt. 2A New York NY 10028-0323 212-794-1206 ademingusmc@aol.com
I’ve recently been the grateful recipient of a number of letters from classmates—some of whom we’ve seldom heard from before. Here’s what they’ve been up to lately. First comes Eli Lauterpacht—more formally, Professor Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, CBE, QC, LLD, our British-born classmate, who attended Phillips Academy for three years during World War II and then returned to England, entering Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated with a law degree and subsequently embarked upon an extraordinarily distinguished career in international law and academics. His legal practice—he is now retired—was largely devoted to resolving complex international issues, such as territorial disputes; he frequently appeared before the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague. He taught and lectured for years at Cambridge, and in 1983 he founded a research center there, now called the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. In 1970 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel (QC) and in 1989 was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was knighted in 1998, following in the footsteps of his father, Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, who was knighted in 1956. “It’s been
a very busy life,” Eli wrote. “There was much travel in it, including a number of visits to the USA, but none of them sufficiently leisurely to enable me to make contact with old friends, save on one occasion when, holidaying in Florida, I ran into Wheels Whitney. But I never saw him again.” There’s also news from Norman E. McCulloch Jr., who still goes by “Sandy,” his nickname in Andover days. Sandy considers himself lucky in many ways, including good health and his marriage of 65 years to his wife, Dotty, whom he met in 1948–1949 during a junior year in France program. He still drives almost daily to his office in Providence, R.I., where he oversees his family foundation, devoted to public school education reform. He’s on two charter school boards and a third at an independent school for kids with learning issues. A couple of years ago, he stepped down after 43 years of almost constant involvement at Dartmouth—chairing the board, setting up an international institute, and chairing a selection committee for the college’s 15th president. Balance problems have forced him to give up downhill skiing and tennis, but he and Dotty enjoy “geriatric” snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing at their winter retreat in North Conway, N.H. On a humorous note, Sandy says he still remembers participating in a “ragtag band of brothers” to greet Stan Dickey’s weekend prom date in April 1944. “We had half the band and marched gaily down to the railroad station to help Stan make his date feel at home,” he recalled. (If you still have your 1944 Pot Pourri yearbook, you can find a full-page picture spread of this caper on page 152.) “Memories of PA are still uniformly positive,” he wrote, “notwithstanding the 12 weeks of probation I was put on by [French instructor] Guy Forbush for smoking in my room.” In a couple of letters, Harry Hall, who lives in Sharon, Conn., having retired from Domino Sugar after 43 years as chief engineer and vice president, looks back on Andover with somewhat mixed feelings. He writes, “As a timid country kid uprooted and transplanted at Andover, snowed by the sophistication of the school and those who attended it, I always felt a bit like an outsider. My goal was to survive and be accepted.” Now, despite a sore knee and bad balance, he enjoys life and looking back. The most fun, he says, has been writing a memoir: “Not because I expect to publish it, but because I find it helps me reflect and examine. It’s much better than golf or tennis or weeding.” He adds, “I am cheerful and am grateful for the two years I spent at Andover.” Drawing on his years as a professional fundraiser, Pete Stevens, who lives in a retirement community in Beverly, Mass., has been leading a drive to raise $1 million as an endowment to support the Chorus North Shore conductor’s chair; the current conductor is 80 and seeks a successor. As of March, Pete and his colleagues had come up with gifts and pledges totaling $450,000. Meanwhile, Pete’s granddaughter, Sera, has been accepted at Yale and plans to join
There was a great turnout for the Class of ’45’s 70th Reunion. From left: Artie Moher ’45, Bunny Carvalho, Bob Beach ’45, Jack Horner ’45 with wife Linda Castle, and Charles “Cy” Chittick ’45.
the freshman crew for races on the Housatonic River. Another grandchild, Yale grad Henry, is in the cast of the touring company of the Broadway hit Pippin. Meanwhile, Roger Strong proclaims, “There is light at the end of the tunnel: grandchildren!” He now has three of them in college: Sarah (Yale), Nick (also Yale), and Catharine (Colgate). He’s recovered from his fall last year and no longer walks with a cane except in snow or rain—when, he says, “a cane usually helps get me a seat on a bus.” Roger still lunches occasionally with fellow New Yorker Whit Stevens, who, he reports, still displays his old enthusiasm. Finally, Mort Dunn, a lifelong baseball fan (he was a star third-baseman at Andover and Harvard), wrote on April 6, “Today major league baseball begins another season. Hope springs eternal!” He recommends the advantages of living in a retirement community, as he and wife Sylvia have for a number of years in Hartford, Conn. “We are about to go down to our exercise room to work out,” he concluded. “It is not too strenuous but keeps us reasonably fit.” Stay well, everybody.
1945 PHILLIPS
William M. Barnum 681 River Road Westport MA 02790 508-636-6025 wmbarnum@hotmail.com
Certainly our 70th Reunion was the highlight of this past year. It was great to see so many classmates, and wife Kit and I enjoyed every minute of our time on the Hill. As we move on in
Rosalie Benton Lee ’45 and Jack Lee ’45, married since 1948, made the trip to campus for their 70th Reunion.
years, it is always sad to hear of beloved classmates who have passed on. For those of you who might not know, Ed Mead died in March 2015. An athlete, yes, but Ed was so much more. I know we all feel grateful that Ed was our classmate. He will be sorely missed. Art Moher was kind enough to send me his obituary, and it certainly is impressive. A life of publishing was the background for the many ways in which he reached out to people and endeared himself to them. He loved Erie, Pa., and the Erie Bar Association presented him with the Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Liberty Bell Award in 2014. Ed had three children and six grandchildren. It is my understanding that after the 70th, there are no more class-specific reunions, so isn’t it nice we had such a fine one? Those who attended the reunion are Bill Barnum, Bob Beach (gets the long distance prize, coming from Walnut Creek, Calif.), Cy Chittick, Brewster Conant, Bruce Gelb, Sandy Hogg (gets the other long distance prize, coming from El Granada, Calif.), Jack Horner, Jack Lee, George MacLellan, Marvin Minsky, Jack Moffly, Wally Morrison, Bill O’Shea, King Pfeiffer, John Ryan, Austin Craig Shealy, Lee Siskind, Dave Space, and John Thorndike, plus nine wives and lady friends. A few planned to come but did not: Don Dunbar, Jim Herman, Henry Hyder ’47, John Little, and Hal McInnes. With all good wishes from your classmate, and God bless you. —Bill Barnum
1946 ABBOT
Sarah Allen Waugh 441 Pequot Ave. Southport CT 06890 203-259-7640 SallyAW@optonline.net
PHILLIPS Richard R. Hudner 24 Merrill St. Newburyport MA 01950 978-462-0103 rickhudner@gmail.com
Much of the news here is gathered by classmates getting together (maybe by phone) and “chewing the fat.” For example, Dick Phelps and Frank Harrington had dinner and discussed the great Super Bowl win. The football deflation scandal and the punishment were not yet topics. John Macomber visited friends in the Palm Beach, Fla., area, so they were able to chat about their college reunion in May. Dick also talked with Jim Kurtz and Martin Begien about attending their Yale reunion. Dick Fullerton’s daughter lives here in Newburyport, Mass., and he lives close by in Marblehead, so we were able to lunch together here. Dick Phelps has engaged an artist, Chas Fagan ’84, who is painting a portrait of my brother Tom ’43 (known as Lou at Andover), to be hung in the wardroom of the USS Hudner, which is being built in Bath, Maine.
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1947 ABBOT
Mary Lou Miller Hart 47 Harborview Road Lewes DE 19958 302-644-9249 mlhart@comcast.net
Nancy Scripture Garrison, 85, writer and graphic designer, died at her home in Cohasset, Mass., on April 5. She was the widow of the late Frederick Garrison. She leaves three children, 10 grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Nancy’s ashes will be scattered at sea in a private family remembrance. Nancy Garrison was born in Boston, the daughter of Ralph E. and Helen (Eglee) Scripture, and grew up in Cohasset. She graduated from Briarcliff Junior College in 1949 and received a BA degree in English, summa cum laude, from Curry College in 1994, at age 64. In 1996, she received a master’s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in American history from Simmons College. Following her graduation from Simmons, Nancy returned to Curry College as a guest lecturer in women’s studies. In 1999, her Civil War history, With Courage and Delicacy, was published. Nancy Garrison was active in her community and a supporter of the arts. She served the South Shore Art Center as an advisor, the South Shore Conservatory as an overseer, and the Cohasset Garden Club as a member of its board of directors. She was also a longtime board member of the Ladies Dog Club and the Golden Retriever Club of America, and a member of the Cohasset Historical Society and the Cohasset Committee on Town History. The class sends condolences to all of her family. [Editor’s note: Class secretary Mary Lou Miller Hart passed away on June 22 after the submission of these notes. The Academy is very grateful for her long years of service. Mary Lou’s son and daughter, Dave Hart and Nancy Moore, sent along the following message: “It is with great sadness that we report that our mother, Mary Lou Hart, passed away on June 22. As I am sure you know, her health had been declining for some time. Although her body had failed her, her mind stayed quite sharp up until the last couple of weeks. She lived her last days as she had hoped: in her own home and with her family close to her. She met her biggest goal, which was to see her grandson return from deployment in the Middle East. They spent a delightful afternoon together on June 5, but she declined very quickly after that. She cherished many years of friendship with her Abbot classmates. We hope that you will remember her fondly.” If any member of the Abbot Class of ’47 would like to take on the role of class secretary, please contact Laura MacHugh at lmachugh@ andover.edu or 978-749-4289.]
PHILLIPS
[Editor’s note: Bob Lasley, class secretary since 2012, passed away on June 5. The Academy is very grateful for his service. If any member of the PA Class of ’47 would like to take on the role of class secretary, please contact Laura MacHugh at lmachugh@andover.edu or 978-749-4289.]
1948 ABBOT
Gene Young 30 Park Ave., Apt. 12C New York NY 10016 212-679-8931 panchogene@gmail.com
In 2013, a student-led project called Out of the Blue was published, containing stories from recent and current Andover students relating to their experiences in seven areas: class, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, geographic origin, and (dis)ability. To further that theme and spirit, Andover magazine hopes to include similar alumni stories on a regular basis. These testimonials may be a reflection of your current life or a tale that you were not yet ready to tell as a student but are now courageous enough to share. It is hoped that these articles will be healing, educational, and inspirational. Submission guidelines: Please send 350– 400 words in a Word document, and include a short bio line. Anonymous submissions will be considered. Include a hi-res current photo, if the submission is not anonymous; it will run along with your yearbook photo. Please note that not every submission will be published, and that all submissions will be edited for length, accuracy, and grammar. E-mail your story to alumnioutoftheblue@gmail.com.
PHILLIPS Robert Segal 118 Sutton Hill Road North Andover MA 01845 978-682-9317 robsegna@verizon.net
We opened 2015 with a note from Shelby Coates, who chronicled his post-Yale and OCS years with a taste of his Navy experience as SOPA (Senior Officer Present Afloat) aboard the destroyer Preston. In particular, he talked about how Harry Flynn and George Rider ’51 joined the Preston; the three shared a tiny compartment with triple bunks and formed the Andover mafia. Shelby included a piece from the ship’s bulletin about them and pictures of the trim and crisp threesome. I copied the material and sent it along to Harry,
www.andover.edu/intouch who answered, “Thank you for mentioning me in your column’s item about me and George Rider arriving on the same destroyer, USS Preston, along with Shelby Coates, who was also in my first wedding, in 1955. The three of us were pictured on that ship in a bulletin around that time. The reunion didn’t last long, as George transferred to the Abbot. Shelby got out, and I went to the squadron staff when the whole staff was transferred to the Pacific fleet in the spring of ’56. The transfer gave me the opportunity to move to California, where I worked in the entertainment industry for the next 50 years. The Navy continued to be part of my life after my seagoing days ended. I made documentaries and training films for the Naval Reserve Mobil Photo Unit until I retired, in the ’80s. After retirement, my wife and I opened our own public relations firm, which lasted 30 years. One of my favorite memories of those years was coordinating the Bob Hope Christmas shows to entertain the troops in 1983 and ’87.” Charlie Treuhold called attention to a column on doctor-assisted suicide written for the January 23 edition of the Wall Street Journal by Paul McHugh. Even with the help of WSJ expert Dan Garland, I was able to uncover only part of the article. It was relevant and thought-provoking. Allen West received this note from Bill Breed, who in turn had received it from Harry “Mac” Dunlap’s only child, Bill: “Hello, friends and family. It’s with a heavy heart that I’m writing to inform you my mom, Barbara, passed on Ash Wednesday.” Bill Breed continued, “Ironically, my wife, Judy, and I are currently in Arizona, where some of our activities brought back remembrances of some of our travels with Mac in Colorado and Arizona.” Terry Buchanan was prompted by Barbara Dunlap’s passing to check in. Mac was one of his closest Andover brothers. Terry and wife Fran were just back from a tour of Italy that included Florence, Venice, Verona, Bologna, Siena, and San Gimignano. Charlie Maslin signed in to admire the group picture at Fenway Park [in the winter issue]. We harvested some news from the Yale Alumni Magazine. In New Haven last November, Dick Coulson met with Jonathan Holloway, the newly appointed dean of Yale College, to discuss final plans for the dean’s visit to the Bahamas, where he planned to conduct research as a professor of African American studies. During Dean Holloway’s visit to the Bahamas, Dick arranged for him to meet with the president of the College of the Bahamas in connection with its effort to attain the status of a university. And Dick’s daughter, Amanda, director of the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, set up a radio talk, lecture, and museum visits for the dean. Dick’s memoir, A Corkscrew Life, continues to do well on Amazon. My wife, Maralyn, and I caught the last flight from Boston to Sarasota in January before the snow started and didn’t return until the snow had all melted in April. We had time to meet Nancy and Mike Hurwitz for lunch harborside
in Punta Gorda. They look great and play lots of golf. They report that Barbara and Dick Rubin are pleased with their new quarters and enjoying good health. We traveled to Fort Myers to enjoy the hospitality of Ruth and Bob Diefenbach at their high-rise apartment, where the Diefenbachs greeted local alumni, along with Thom Lockerby and Diane Glynn from the Academy. Anne and Dick Kimball were there. Dick still asks that you excuse his memory, but he seems to be doing well. Two members of the Class of 1947 attended with their wives: Judy and Bob Lasley and Cindy and Dave Adams. Bill Miner tells me that the Kimballs planned a trip to Penobscot Bay for the summer. Bill and wife Judy enjoyed a coastal tour of France this spring. They had mostly good weather, and who can deny the wines of Bordeaux? We met Joan and John Monsky in Winter Park, Fla., for pleasant company, interesting museums, and good food. Joan has backed off from chairing a list of functions, but she is still vitally involved in Jacksonville life. John continues at the same pace in the finance world. The Diefenbachs visited Sarasota later in the season; we were pleased to share two performances of the Sarasota Opera. And it seems there is always a new restaurant to be tried in Sarasota. The Boston group met in May. Phil Aronson, Bob Brace, Norm Henderson, Sandy Saunders, Bob Segal, Allen West, and Betsy Farber (Allen’s friend) attended. We could count three canes, a walker, and a new valve, but the conversation extended into the afternoon. We were saddened to learn that Bob McCoubrie passed away on Dec. 30, 2014. We have no details.
1949 PHILLIPS
James P. McLane 28 County St. Ipswich MA 01938 978-356-4149 jpmcl@cs.com
Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes. (Go to the end of the section if you need help in translation.) Just the other evening I remembered my dunderhead performance in Latin II. Professor “Porky” Benton presided, leaning his girth dangerously back in the tilting spring-loaded wooden desk chair. He pronounced the dreaded word, “Next.” I fumbled and stumbled through the passive periphrastic minefields of Caesar’s Gallic War. At the end of the semester he called me in for a conference. Surprisingly, he enquired about whether I had any plans to pursue a career in Latin study any further. Flattered at first, I confessed that I had other academic fields to conquer. He then said, “In that case, I will give you a pass.” He didn’t want to inflict me upon any other Latin teacher. I was reminded of my predicament when I came
across an article in the New York Review of Books written by our classmate Walter Kaiser, in which he reviewed a new book, Chasing Lost Time. Walter tells of his post-Andover studies at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire, England, where he spent most of his time translating Greek to Latin and vice versa. As Walter tells it, the final assignment before entering a program of higher education was (warning—information ahead may be disturbing) this: “We were asked to translate the last act of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra into Greek or Latin tragic meter, in the style of Aeschylus.” OK, guys, now take a deep breath. Back in the real world on the mean streets of Savannah, Ga., Ools Lindholm reports an exclusive power lunch with an impressive cast of characters consisting of Messieurs [Harvey] Zarem, [Bob] Weber, Lindholm, and [Bill] Rhangos. A number of sobering medical insults to the body were covered. The Lindholms are planning a trip of a lifetime: Savannah to Prague, cruise down the Danube to Budapest, then on to Copenhagen and the last leg, aboard the Queen Mary to New York. Hard to imagine. Art Doran and Bo Polk both have grandsons at Andover, carrying on a wonderful tradition. Bo is planning a Bermuda holiday fiesta for his whole clan. Bob Brown brought us up to date on his life. He lost his wife some years ago and has now mostly given up his law practice, at which he was a great success in the negligence and liability fields. He still keeps his hand in with a small practice. He is the admissions rep for Andover in his part of Missouri and is highly impressed with the caliber of today’s kids. He keeps up to date with Artie Doran and Stu Ingersoll through frequent telephone talks. He feels the secret to a good life for us old gaffers is to stay busy and involved. Buddy Linn and wife Lynn reported their desire to visit Washington during cherry blossom time. Awful weather destroyed the blossoms, so they made the best of things and visited all the memorials new and old and took a complete rubberneck tour of the city. Hank Wood (in the words of Ted Torrance, “the new earthly and spiritual leader of our class, to whom we will be looking for advice and guidance”) organized a lunch with Ted and Jim Cartmell in Vero Beach, Fla. Bill Fleming has retired from his medical practice and continues the enviable life of a motorhome nomad. Kath and Carl Shaifer are happy to have their first and third sons return to their happy nest to brighten the lives of the old timers. Wrestling, lacrosse, and soccer keep everybody busy but happy. Give the Buzzer [Buzz Tilton] a buzz at tiltsbuzz@msm.com. I received the sad news that we lost another good and great classmate, Bill Millager. Ave atque vale. (Translation of opening line: If you can read this, you have too much education.)
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stay connected...
Tony Herrey ’50 and Dorothea Herrey ’85 enjoyed a father-daughter moment at reunion.
Enjoying Reunion Weekend’s fine weather were Pim Epler ’50, Dick Bell ’50, and Angela and Frank Lombardi ’50.
1950 ABBOT
Nora Johnson 1619 Third Ave., Apt. 13G New York NY 10128 212-289-2097 noraj31@gmail.com
PHILLIPS Eric B. Wentworth 2126 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Apt. 32 Washington DC 20008 202-328-0453 ebw@bellatlantic.net
Thanks mostly to the efforts of our indefatigable chairman, Tony Herrey, our 65th Reunion in June won kudos from all quarters. A grand total of 47 class members showed up, and with them came 40 spouses, partners, adult children, and even grandchildren. While most had signed up for the entire program, some could come for just one day or for a few events. The weather was delightfully warm and dry throughout. Many who did not attend in person were with us in spirit. Some who wanted to join us had overriding family priorities on their calendars, such as weddings and grandchildren’s graduations. A few others who yearned to come were sadly thwarted by personal health problems. We missed seeing them. In particular, we missed the 36 deceased classmates whose deaths had been reported since our 60th Reunion in 2010. Our program got off to a festive start Thursday evening with a reception and elegant buffet dinner with special guest John Palfrey, just finishing his
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third year as Andover’s impressive young head of school. While viewed as a leader in advancing students’ digital literacy, John reassured old-timers like us that he still espouses time-honored values and teaching methods—using Socratic dialogue in the American history class he teaches and correcting the grammar of clueless students. Friday morning, David Chase, husband of former head of school Barbara Chase, led us outdoors for a history lesson about Andover’s campus and its distinguished architecture. Our program continued after lunch with two sessions in the Tirana Room, a new multimedia classroom in refurbished Bulfinch Hall. Charlie Platt led off the first session, moderated by Paul Kopperl, on “Lives of the Class of 1950.” Charlie described the New 42nd Street Studios, the award-winning performing-arts complex that he, with his New York–based architecture firm Platt Byard Dovell White, had designed, collaborating with a lighting designer, to help restore a once-sleazy block west of Times Square. Next, Chris Weatherley-White told us about his long involvement in Operation Smile, the global health organization that dispatches surgical teams to remote communities to treat children with cleft lips or palates and related afflictions and described some of the logistical issues these teams have confronted. George Beatty, who successfully argued a complex corporate tax case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982, traced the history of oral arguments before the Court. He described the courtroom setting and how justices pepper lawyers with questions as they try to work through their tightly timed arguments. Peter Sourian talked about the devastating genocide inflicted on his Armenian forebears a century ago by the Turks. Peter has visited
Armenia and been honored there as a distinguished Armenian-American author. Jim Fletcher, former CIA officer, talked about efforts to gather intelligence against the Soviets through bugging meeting rooms, tapping phones, and partaking in other activities behind the Iron Curtain in the Balkans and described how political considerations could take precedence over such operations. In the following session, “Now It Can Be Told,” moderator Ken McDonald, flanked by Dick Bell and myself, invited classmates to recall various memorable moments from our campus days involving teachers, housemasters, or fellow students. One wonders what campus life would have been like in those days if we had had smartphones and could produce YouTube videos! Will Watson opened the Saturday morning festivities with an erudite comparison of today’s Andover curriculum—a gourmet smorgasbord of 389 listed courses this past year—with the simpler meat-and-potatoes curriculum of our time. Will had created for the occasion a “peacock diagraph” handout showing the course credits required for a diploma in each era. Joining him for this session were PA’s current dean of studies, Trish Russell, and our classmate Caleb Woodhouse, a veteran classroom teacher. Trish stressed that today’s faculty members collaborate across disciplines and focus more on helping students gain maturity and become future community builders than on serving them gobs of information. After we joined the traditional reunion parade and attended the Alumni Association annual meeting, tennis players Herrey, Beatty, Dick Suisman’s wife, Ingrid, and Tucker Gordon took to the courts to swat tennis balls in the afterlunch heat. Later, we gathered for a memorial service in Cochran Chapel for recently deceased
www.andover.edu/intouch
It was a great day for a parade; Jim Fletcher Jr., Dudley Yost, and Alex Pausley, all Class of ’50, crossed the Great Lawn with their classmates.
Andover and Abbot classmates. The service was organized by Dick Bell with the Reverend Beverley Flather Edwards ’50. Caleb Woodhouse and Noelle Blackmer Beatty ’50, George’s wife, read from scripture, and John Lincoln provided music on the piano. Linc, bass player Phil Brooks, and clarinet player Dud Shepard performed as a jazz trio during the course of the reunion, including at the final dinner Saturday evening in one of the Paresky Commons dining rooms. A highlight of the dinner was to be class poet Ralph Blum reading a reunion poem on which he’d been laboring for months. Heeding the call of nature just before he spoke, Ralph, in notably nontraditional attire, headed across the hallway into the ladies’ room, where he surprised at least one occupant. Finding himself trapped inside a stall, Ralph said he had to escape by crawling under its door. Exiting into the hallway, he encountered John Palfrey and hurriedly recited the poem’s invocation to him at close range. Finally back in the dining hall, Ralph proceeded to read his poem, with invocation, to his assembled classmates. As he had done years ago for our 50th Reunion, Bill Drake curated a special class exhibit for our 65th in the Elson Art Center—this time featuring class members’ personal memorabilia as well as creative works. On the gallery walls were four outstanding photographs taken by Bill himself on visits to Havana; photos of Tony Herrey’s real estate projects; collages by Charlie Platt; magazine covers by Fred Burrell; a display of watercolors and other small pieces by Gil Murray, who, sadly, died back on January 9; two small pieces by Ivan Chermayeff, who also designed our 65th Reunion logo; two larger watercolors by me; and articles about Lloyd Aiello and his pioneering work in laser eye surgery for diabetes sufferers.
Coincidentally, on the eve of our reunion, Lloyd was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Elsewhere in the gallery were a video about Spencer MacCallum’s discovery and sponsorship of a remarkable Mexican potter, which led to the revival of an ancient ceramic art and for which Spence was honored in May by the Mexican government; a Skip Schaum video; displays of memorabilia from Bill King, Pim Epler, and Skip (including Skip’s new autobiography); and books and articles by George Beatty, Dick Bell, Ralph Blum, George Jacoby, Ed Nowaczek, and John Ottenheimer, as well as a book on the renowned Dutch drawings collected by George Abrams and his late wife, Maida. While most of us would be returning home after the festivities, Charlie Flather had a more adventurous itinerary: he told some of us he would be heading for the North Pole aboard a Russian nuclear icebreaker. Class members who didn’t attend our 65th because of family commitments include Charlie Austin, who wrote, “It’s another year of graduation trips for us, with grandsons graduating from the University of Michigan, Stanford, and Central Washington University, and from Curtis High School in University Place, Washington. We’ll be on the road a lot.” Another reunion absentee, Bill Wright, said he and his wife, Mary, had just recently returned from Anchorage, Alaska, where Mary had been honored along with other former presidents of the Northwest Public Power Association. With a Sunday brunch bringing our 65th Reunion program to a close all too quickly, we exchanged goodbyes and “see you next times,” as we have done at past meetings. As always, we hope to see everyone again on future occasions, but from here on out, we would necessarily be a little less certain.
1951 ABBOT
Connie Hall DeNault 37 Green St. Marblehead MA 01945 781-631-9233 dkdenault@comcast.net
PHILLIPS George S.K. Rider 22 Curiosity Lane Essex CT 06426 860-581-8199 ridercrawford@gmail.com
We mourn the loss of David West, Lloyd Cutting, and Hal Higgins since the last writing. With our 65th Reunion less than a year away, I hope the fond memories of friends and good times gone by will spark a record turnout. John Scheiwe commented about Lloyd Cutting: “Sad news indeed! ‘Cuts’ was a compatriot, as both of us became momentarily lost in anarchy during our PA final semester. ‘The sun takes a reasonable time in setting, but set it does!’ ” Jerry Ward writes, “It was ludicrous to think of myself as a jock on the ’51 lacrosse team, at 5'10" and 142 pounds soaking wet. I waited six decades and have been rowing in a training scull in the Santa Barbara, Calif., harbor twice a week for the past eight months. I have loved every minute on the water.” He sends greetings to our classmates. Nick Thorndike reports all is well. Since retiring, he and wife Joan enjoy spending more time at their place in Dummerston, Vt. Their Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... two sons and their families, including five grandchildren, visit frequently. In 1960, Nick, Bob Doran, and two friends started an investment firm and through a merger assumed its name, Wellington Management Company. They retired, turning it over to younger partners who had been rewarded with ownership along the way. The firm continues to thrive and is currently one of the largest in the United States. Nick also served as trustee of Massachusetts General Hospital and became chairman for five years before retiring. He remains on the boards of a number of nonprofits and was a director of a number of companies. Alex “Sandy” de Lahunta is among 17 class members on the long list of Andover notable alumni. Here’s how he’s described on the list: “Neuroanatomist in clinical neurology; author; James Law Professor of Anatomy, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.” In a great note to me about my book, Alex states that what he has read about Andover—the school’s accomplishments, present status, and future goals—leaves him impressed and proud to be an alumnus. He retired in 2005 after 45 years on the faculty at Cornell and moved to Rye, N.H. He grew up in Concord, N.H. He spent his first few years editing and revising textbooks he had written, including third and fourth editions of Veterinary Neuroanatomy and Clinical Neurology. He was involved in establishing the specialty of veterinary neurology in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in the mid-’70s. Since 2011, Alex has traveled the country lecturing in numerous continuing-education programs on cases and topics included in his books, which has afforded him the opportunity to reunite with many of his former students. Alex captained the ski team at Andover. He played varsity hockey as a lower and upper and ran crosscountry. In 2013, his lower right leg was amputated due to arteriosclerosis. (He is not diabetic.) He is now very mobile and uses an upright bike at the local Planet Fitness. Hallelujah! Bob Barton is back! In the spring 2014 notes, I quoted a poignant note from Tony Thompson, Stanford class secretary, who said, “I used to think that octogenarian was some sort of American squid.” He wished each of us who had reached the magic number 80 a happy birthday! He then listed those PA/ Stanford classmates who had passed, including George Stewart, Bob Kimball, Packy Maxwell, and (incorrectly!) Bob Barton. The mix-up was brought to Bob’s attention and voilà: Resurrection. A note from Bob: “George, thanks for raising me from the dead (Tony, a tad speedy with the shovel, no?).” This oddly reminded Bob of a perversely proud event in his past: Being unanimously elected president of the California Flunk Club at lunch one day in 1950, with five Californians, including George and Packy. All fared poorly, but Bob took the proverbial cake by flunking all subjects. The powers that be decreed that he drop philosophy (McCarthy) and take
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public speaking instead (Brown). According to Bob, they then sent him to a “rather droopy, cigarette-puffing shrink who then told me I seemed to be OK.” In February, Billy Lee wished us a happy Chinese New Year of the Ram. Included was a picture of him as a frowsy miniature blonde poodle-mix, draped in a fancy red shawl, prompting responses from Ralph Shoffner (“Be of good cheer! There is now scientific proof that old dogs can learn new tricks”), Bill Gilland (“It’s strange how New Years keep coming faster every year!”), and Norm Allenby (“Hope all is well in the Southwest. Do not blow away in the dust storms or die of thirst!”). Norm’s response came as we Northeasterners were being buried with record snowfalls. The “Rogue” is doing well. Recent happenings with my book, The Rogue’s Road to Retirement: a great blurb by David Friend, Vanity Fair; a TV appearance on WTNH in Connecticut; book signings at Evergreen Woods Retirement Community (North Branford, Conn.), Fairfield University Bookstore, Enfield (Conn.) Senior Center, Essex Yacht Club, and R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn.; plus plum reviews in Andover magazine, Islip (N.Y.) Bulletin, New Haven Register, and Shoreline Times (Conn.). Readers have also given the thumbs-up in reviews on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart. Many more events planned. Second book on the way! Thanks, all, for the congratulations. Wife Dorothy, son Graham and his wife, Paulette, and daughter Jenny ’86, plus my four weasels, are all fine. Stay well! —George
1952 ABBOT
Mary “Molly” Edson Whiteford 149 Pine Valley Road Lake Oswego OR 97034 503-636-0980 mwhiteford149@gmail.com
PHILLIPS Mike Bromberg P.O. Box 1997 Morristown NJ 07962 973-889-4225 mjbromberg@pbnlaw.com
Bert Shaw, living in Bearsville, N.Y., writes that he was president of his own business-to-business advertising agency, Shaw-Elliott, for a number of years. For the past 40 years, however, he has worked as a spiritual counselor. Bert and his wife, Moira, created a process known as The 50/50 Work©, to help people on their evolutionary journey to become “utterly and merely human.” Bert published a collection of poetry, Pond Poems, Etcetera. In December 2014, he and Moira
published a children’s book, Bully Big Mouth: A Fishy Thriller, an environmental tale of survival, change, and evolution. And, of course, about defeating a bully! Hugh Fortmiller and Ed Elson, members of my spy network, have reported to me about Fred Sharf and his work for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as well as for numerous other philanthropic organizations. Fred and his wife, Jean, have established the Jean and Fred Sharf Visitor Center, which is the heart of the MFA. They have given hundreds of artworks to the museum, including late-19th-century Japanese prints, American folk art, drawings by fashion designers, jewelry, architectural renderings, and concept drawings for automobiles. Fred, a board member of the museum, has been fascinated by transportation—planes, trains, and most of all, automobiles. Fred was described in one Boston Globe story as the “multimillionaire owner of a sports marketing company.” He has also curated exhibitions at the museum—a practice, says the Globe, “so unheard of for a trustee at a major museum that the MFA can’t say if a board member has ever served in that role before.” Fred and Jean reside in Brookline, Mass.; New York City; and Palm Beach, Fla. Jean, a cancer survivor, and Fred are also trustees of the DanaFarber Cancer Institute, also a beneficiary of their generosity. Dick Sagebiel visited Boston from California with his wife, Daisy, in the spring and went to the MFA with his old roomie, Hugh Fortmiller, and Hugh’s wife, Francie Nolde ’54. They went through the Sharf Center and lunched at the MFA. I am sad to report the passing of C.H. “Hunt” Holladay Jr. of Pasadena, Calif., in February. He obtained a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1956. He began his career in the oil industry, working for Mobil Oil and Baker Oil Tools in the U.S. and South America. In the 1970s, he settled in Newport Beach, Calif. Hunt was active on the boards of the Society for the Prevention of Blindness and the Associates of Caltech, serving terms as president of both organizations. He also served with the Friends of the Huntington Library. Hunt was an active golfer and member of the Santa Ana Country Club. Hunt is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Janet; three children; and three grandchildren. [Editor’s note: Please see the In Memoriam section for Hunt Holladay Jr.’s obituary.] Wife Lisa and I are spending most of our time back at our home in Morristown, N.J., as increasing age has made it inadvisable to live on the beautiful California coast, two hours from the closest hospital. I remain anxious to hear from you guys. Please, please send an e-mail or letter immediately upon closing this issue of the magazine. As ever .—Mike
www.andover.edu/intouch 1953 ABBOT Patricia Eveleth Buchanan 9 The Valley Road Concord MA 01742 978-369-6838 pebl35@comcast.net
PHILLIPS Bill Joseph 225 W. 83rd St., Apt. 5Q New York NY 10024 347-907-4647 (cell) wjoseph80@hotmail.com
John Snider e-mailed, “I enjoy reading about us, and nostalgia sets in. With the sun out and the ice breaking up on our lake, which connects to Lake Michigan, it is a day to be thankful. My wife of 57 years and I continue to reside in the same home where we have passed 44 years. We are fortunate that our three children have all returned to Michigan’s sunset shore. Lake Michigan in the winter is as beautiful as in the summer. While I no longer actively practice law and gave up playing hockey about five years ago, I am active on a number of for-profit and not-for-profit boards. During my time as a county commissioner, I became involved in mental health problems of the incarcerated and now spend a lot of time working in the area, attempting to integrate substance-use disorders and mental and physical health treatment. I still have time to enjoy my grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. I continue to enjoy the outdoors and nature during all seasons, including our cold and snowy winters. This morning I counted nine deer on our shore and two eagles in a tree on the shore. That said, we are looking to get to one floor, as I need both knees replaced.” Ray Oliver e-mailed, “I live between Berkeley, Calif., where we have a divorced son who’s a lawyer, and Sewanee, Tenn., where we have a widowed daughter who has two children and teaches French at the University of the South. We also spend a lot of time in France. I write short, careful poems in strict forms; have been exploring prose, redoing a marvelous old tale from a new point of view; and play with foreign languages. All verbal, thanks to PA German teachers Hasenclever and Lohnes and English teachers Paradise and Basford.” John Poppy e-mailed, “I’ve been missing seeing you. Don’t know when we’ll get to NY, so that isn’t likely to change soon. But I’ve been thinking it’s about 50 years past time I offered something for class notes. You might or might not want to use anything from the letter I’m attaching; I just wanted to let you know I want to stay in touch.” John attached a brief summary of John Ratté’s history of Loomis Chafee. It was worth including, but I am beyond electronically challenged, so was
unable to copy/paste. However, I will be happy to forward it to anyone who asks. Turhan Tirana e-mailed the following concerning Charlie Brodhead, author of The Quebec Affair under the pen name Robert Penbrooke: “He started the book in 1970, two years before he was licensed as an architect, but dropped it and picked up writing it again 11 years ago. He calls it a spy-mystery. The publisher is Canadian. “Charlie was a commercial architect for 32 years, working for eight years in New York City, where his boss was the nephew of J.P. Morgan.” I spoke briefly with Skip Kimball, whose wife is suffering from several ailments. I forwarded our class’s hopes that her ills are alleviated and assured Skip of our support. I spoke with Joe Mesics, who, with wife Sandi, was planning a trip to New England for a grandchild’s graduation and a visit to Rockport, Mass., to see Gerry Golden, Dick Golden’s widow. Tom Brown is retired. He is enjoying golf and his six children and eight grandchildren. Mike Chapman has retired from his career as a filmmaker. He and his wife of 40 years, Amy, divide their time between LA and Martha’s Vineyard; they have four children and four grandchildren. Skip Cole is retired from his career as a professor of art history but still lectures and writes about African art and has almost completed his third book on that subject. He has remarried and has a daughter in Napa, a son in Brooklyn, a son in Africa, and a stepson who is a biochemist. He continues his avocation as a wood carver. Tink Thompson is well and happy, working on his second book about the JFK assassination. We rehashed old times carousing (or attempting to) with Mike Kohler on West 52nd Street the night before returning to PA after vacations. Nat Dickinson is retired after varied careers including high school and college teaching, helping establish an Indian tribe, raising grant money for county government, and working on a law-enforcement radio network. He continues to enjoy mountain climbing, hiking, and skiing with his wife. They have several sets of grandchildren. Roger Donald had an operation on his back, relieving some of his pain, and celebrated his daughter’s wedding here in NYC. Dave Norris reports that he is still doing church work in Connecticut, sees a few parishioners for therapy, and has been designated a “missional priest.” His son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter live nearby, affording easy visiting access. In memoriam: Skip Purcell passed on Feb. 12. Skip was an outstanding achiever in every aspect of his life. He won several national interscholastic sailing championships for Andover and, later, several international ocean racing championships for America. He was an academic star as a student at UVa Law School, practiced law for many years, and was active in charitable causes. Dave Patterson wrote, “We remained good friends over the years, and he and his wife, Connie, are
really something special.” Our condolences and sympathy go to Skip’s family. For a more complete account of his accomplishments, please see http:// shar.es/1WXFY9. [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Henry E. Riggs passed away on June 10. Please see the In Memoriam section for his obituary.]
1954 ABBOT
Nancy Donnelly Bliss 31 Cluf Bay Road Brunswick ME 04011-9349 207-725-0951
Debbie Huckins and husband Morgan spent six weeks in Australia and New Zealand this past winter. Deb particularly liked the people and vistas in New Zealand. The tour included trips on trains, planes, helicopters, ships, and boats. We are grateful to Paula Prial Folkman, who learned of Louise Coffin’s 100th birthday and organized us to send “Miss Coffin” birthday greetings. Some may remember that Miss Coffin was our biology/science teacher. Miss Coffin sent an appreciative note to Paula, thanking her for our good wishes. Sending 100th birthday wishes is very appropriate for our class, since our motto is a quote from The House at Pooh Corner: “Promise you won’t forget about me, ever. Not even when I’m a hundred.” [Editor’s note: The Academy received word that Louise Coffin passed away on Aug. 2, 2015. Please see her obituary in the In Memoriam section.] Sandy Liberty traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., this past winter and was able to connect with her Abbot roommate, Gail Husted Ehrhardt. Gail and Sandy had lunch and a wonderful visit, including much reminiscing. Judy Prior Blair continues to enjoy life in Florida as well as extended time spent in Atlanta with her son and his family. Judy chaired a tea for her garden-club members, where they enjoyed all the features of the gracious living that we remember from the ’50s: china teapots and teacups, fresh flower arrangements, and delicious homemade food, including English cucumber sandwiches with fresh dill. Interestingly, Francie Nolde followed suit when she hosted an elegant luncheon for nine classmates on a gorgeous day in early May. It was a joyful occasion as we celebrated being together in such pleasant surroundings. Francie set an elegant table with a linen tablecloth, silver and crystal, and lovely spring flowers for the centerpiece. The big surprise was having Linda Jones Matthews, who had come East to visit her daughter, join in the festivities. Jane Munro Barrett, Paula Prial Folkman, Joan Wheeler Kaufman, Sue Larter Lingeman, Maris Oamer Noble, Patti Skillin Pelton, Peggy Moore Roll, and I were able to attend. Many thanks to Francie and to her husband, Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Hugh Fortmiller ’52, who lent a helpful hand, for sharing their lovely home with us for a special gathering. Our gathering and pictures shared have generated much conversation and are helping keep us connected. We hope to gather again in the fall, when Peggy has offered to host a luncheon. I commend Francie for her efforts in working on, she says, “a two-town solar initiative. It’s an effort to increase the use of solar power to benefit residents and businesses and guide the two communities toward a more sustainable environment.” It is exciting that classmates continue to engage in worthwhile endeavors, sharing our gifts and talents. I was pleased to be on the Abbot campus in late April to attend a steering committee meeting of an ad hoc committee of the Alumni Council, called the Abbot Engagement Committee. I am happy to be a part of a group of Abbot women who are dedicated to keeping Abbot alumnae involved in the life of the Academy today as well as preserving the legacy of Abbot for future generations. The Abbot Archives initiative is one way to accomplish this goal. Our class continues to remain active and connected by e-mails, phone calls, cards, and visits. I am most appreciative of the responses, updates, and support that I receive as I enjoy maintaining our friendships and sharing the thoughts and news from the Class of ’54. “Oh Abbot, as we strive on through the years, your spirit will e’er remain.” —Nancy
PHILLIPS W. Parker Seeley Jr., Esq. W. Parker Seeley, Jr., & Associates, PC 855 Main St., 5th Floor Bridgeport CT 06604 203-366-3939 ext. 483 wps@seeleyberglass.com
By the time this is read, the Class of 2019 will have registered. Hard to believe those in our class who came for four years were doing that same thing 65 years ago. David Green writes that he retired 13 years ago as director of the library at the General Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in Manhattan and has turned his part-time translation work into a challenging and full-time post-retirement career: translating some 30 books (mostly on theology) from German into English—capitalizing, he says, on his year in Germany, 1952–1953, as an exchange student. David is now enjoying work on Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Early Modern Era, taking him outside his “usual theological field (‘double-entry bookkeeping,’ ‘chemical bonds’).” Nick Janus writes as he approaches his 80th birthday that in 1990 he was working in Heidelberg and Berlin for the U.S. Army as a technical contractor when Desert Storm began, and he would have been required to relocate back to the U.S. He chose to retire and return to his
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birthplace, Paris, but in 2003 he came back to the States to be close to his family. “So here I am,” he writes, “in Fishkill, N.Y., still ‘sound of mind and memory,’ just enjoying life at its fullest.” Neil Henry expected to make a trip to North Andover sometime this summer to see his siblings, and he looked forward to “walking around the campus.” Hope he did not miss the memorial Skip Elsas tree in front of the Gelb Science Center. Dave Knight, George Shapiro, and Park Weaver have been working on the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library Book Fund in memory of Skip Elsas with Skip’s wife, Nancy, and their son, Jake. There is still an opportunity to add to this fund; contact dknight@davesworld.net. A few years ago, Phil Hudner was asked to join the board of the Marine Museum at Fall River (Mass.), which, he said, “needed an infusion of new blood.” He was asked to chair a committee to update the bylaws and to write a monthly article for the Herald News. His articles were so successful that they are now accessible through an app (developed by his son) one can install on an iPhone or iPad. Now there are 80,000 visitors a year at the museum. Congratulations, Phil! Tim Hogen took his Christmas vacation touring and fact-finding in the western half of Iran with a guide in an old Peugot. He was not allowed to socialize with Iranians, but, he writes, “I observed enough to conclude that theirs is a very sophisticated culture with a unified identity. The man on the street definitely wants to be re-admitted to the Western world. I observed absolutely no animosity to the U.S.” Tim leads a monthly luncheon of his Yale classmates at the Yale Club of NYC and has been told that it is the largest continuous Yale class meeting. Classmates show up from all over the world. Steve Wilson has a new website, LetsFixThisCountry.org, an online journal of national and foreign affairs that he operates from Hendersonville, N.C. Jud Sage notes that his eight novels are available through Amazon Kindle. Some are available as paperbacks and can be accessed via the print-ondemand at Lulu: www.lulu.com/spotlight/hjsage. Dan Woodhead writes that he is still living in San Francisco a block from the Bay, looking west to the Golden Gate Bridge. His book, Modoc Vengeance, is listed on Amazon. His grandchildren hold youngest-age distance records for swimming in San Francisco waters (the Alcatraz swim, the Golden Gate swim, and the Tiburon Mile swim). He is still trying to get Lefty O’Doul his “long overdue place in Cooperstown.” Natalya and Ken MacWilliams covered many miles on their peregrinations over a recent sevenmonth span, first in Europe and then across the United States, sending those of us who have the VCR electronic access to a daily log and many pictures of places and classmates visited, as well as some wonderful pictures after the trip was completed. They went at a comfortable pace with
no set itinerary and never got tired. In Ken’s words, “We felt free as birds.” Paul Keaney sent a note about a special award that I failed to get into the last class notes. He received a game ball, signed by all of the coaches and players, at a football banquet at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Dover, N.H. Paul has spent the past four years analyzing practices, games, and thousands of game clips. His team is 32 and 10 over the past four seasons, finishing as high as second of the 22 teams in its division. I am sad to report the passing of Jay Wilson. There was a large reception in NYC, attended by Dave Mackenzie, Tim Hogen, and Spike Bragg, who came all the way from Long Beach, Calif., just to be there for his Andover roommate. Spike spends 60-plus hours a week spreading the truth to new-car shoppers, providing a customer-centric service that he says nobody else is providing. He writes that 35,000 folks buy or lease a car every day, so there is a great need for his life’s work. We also learned in April the sad news that Mike Harvey passed only five months after his induction into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor in June 2013. We all wondered about him at our 60th, in June 2014. Please keep the news coming.
1955 ABBOT Nancy Eastham Iacobucci 17 Wilgar Road Etobicoke ON M8X 1J3 Canada 416-231-1670 n.iacobucci@bluelink.andover.edu
Just three of us (Peg Holbrook Birch, Nancy Eastham Iacobucci, and Kathy Lloyd) arrived on Friday afternoon for our 60th Reunion on the Andover campus. We were happily roomed together in a central dorm, though not so happily on the third floor, as Kathy found the stairs hard going. The schedule sent us to the Abbot campus for drinks, dinner, and a movie on Abbot history, all in McKeen’s beautifully renovated and redesigned former gym. Tables draped in pale blue cloths, candles, flowers, crystal—it was a lovely setting. All the Abbot reunion alumnae were there together, and we enjoyed the chance to share memories and hear the lively young archivist speak about the Abbot Archives project. She is receiving many varied mementos, and there is a real sense of a renewed appreciation of the Abbot legacy and its potential for study by current students. It was early to bed for us, but not for the energetic younger classes; the party tent festivities and music went until 2 a.m., leaving us a little sleepdeprived the next morning. Saturday was all about mingling. Off we went to different classes offered
www.andover.edu/intouch
Several Abbot ’54 classmates met for lunch and conversation in May. From left are Linda Jones Matthews, Jane Munro Barrett, Paula Prial Folkman, Sue Larter Lingeman, Francie Nolde (who hosted the gathering at her Boxborough, Mass., home), Nancy Donnelly Bliss, Peggy Moore Roll, Maris Oamer Noble, Joan Wheeler Kaufman, and Patti Skillin Pelton.
by PA faculty—always a satisfying exercise of the brain. Next we led the Class of ’55 in the parade, holding Abbot blue umbrellas we had found at the Andover Bookstore table. The annual meeting was held in the magnificence of Cochran Chapel, and besides a tolerable level of speeches and announcements, included an impressive Bartók piano performance by a recent alumnus. The weather was hot but fine, and a cookout lunch was served under the trees. At 4:30, we attended the famous Abbot Tea, held in the old Abbot chapel (now called the School Room), and were delighted to have Kathy Sterling Dow visit with her son. Then on to the Class of ’55 social hour at the Addison Gallery (no red wine), where Peg enjoyed a comprehensive stroll around the exhibits with a PA friend. What an excellent collection, plus a visiting exhibition of the work of Alfred Maurer (1868–1932), who seems to have tried his hand at every school of modernism. Dinner was back at Paresky Commons. To the dismay of some, ’55 was seated with several of the older classes, whose reunion groups were small. No opportunity for after-dinner speeches and entertainment. We sat with PA friends and enjoyed the chance to talk, despite the noise level. After dinner, too early for bed, Kathy persuaded us to visit the observatory in the Gelb Science Center and queue for a glimpse of the rings of Saturn. We finished by talking together in the dorm in our PJs, wishing more classmates had turned up, and though we made a list of suggestions re: reunion to pass on to the school, we decided we were glad we had come. The weekend is a two-part experience: The Abbot parts are the “reunion,” with people and places evoking memories of the past.
The “Andover” part is a visit to an amazing place, beautiful, impressive, and focused on the future. It is worth a visit. Plan to join us (we three plan to return) for our 65th! (Maybe they will house us on the first floor or in a dorm with an elevator.) —Peg Holbrook Birch
PHILLIPS Tom Lawrence 1039 1/2 Sweetzer West Hollywood CA 90069 323-654-0286 323-804-4394 (cell) yogi@earthlink.net
Our 60th Reunion is in the books. Roll the credits. Gerry Jones, with wife Emily, did a masterful job of organization and served as a buffer between the school (which pretty much takes a “keep the old guys busy and don’t bother to give them a headquarters where they can just veg and visit” approach) and 30 of those old guys, who tended to grumble about too much itinerary and no togetherness time. Next, thanks to the Weather Gods, who have been so perverse at past reunions (mud baths at the Log Cabin, fording creeks to reach the Andover Country Club) but who produced ideal conditions, and the Office of Physical Plant, which had the campus looking like one of those old National Geographic photo spreads that would take our breath away and make us wonder if such a beautiful place was real. Art Kelly, in attendance with wife Diane; Fred Byron; and Jon Weisbuch, with wife and fellow health-care activist Mary Ellen Bradshaw,
delivered an informative presentation on issues and trends that will impact our children and, more particularly, our grandchildren. Art held forth on current trends: China and its plans for the 21st century; Islam and the future effects of its troubled history; and the U.S. economy and the national debt vis-à-vis the historical consequences in other countries. Time constraints prevented coverage of technology and, one presumes, hacking and privacy issues. Before the hemlock could be distributed, Fred discussed the state of education in the U.S., and Jon gave an animated presentation on public health and the historical foundations for the Affordable Care Act. The Q&A session was canceled in favor of fresh air as we fled the un-air-conditioned bowels of Bulfinch Hall. Fred Byron then presided at a memorial service in the nether regions of the chapel for deceased classmates. Most of us found the venue. Belinda and Steve Kaye came bearing gifts. The floral arrangements at the class dinner at the newly remodeled Andover Inn were just the right touch for a spectacularly generic room. The dramatis personae: Herb Woodward is still working full time and loving it, as a contractor and consultant for Kaiser Permanente. His DevOps activities are helping to keep the huge health-care corporation at its technological best. Judy and Beez Morton are enjoying retirement by traveling and reading history. Susan and Tony Leonard are enjoying their move from Albuquerque, N.M., to Guilford, Conn. Proximity to two younger generations and volunteer work with the local library are pluses, and singing with the Yale Camerata was more than that Harvard man could resist. Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected...
John Adams and Perry Lewis III, both Class of ’55, caught up at a reception at the Addison Gallery.
Doug Fisher and his partner, Joann Buckley, are anticipating publishing their joint effort, 104 African American Physicians in World War I. Starting with the records and papers of Doug’s grandfather, who commanded more than 2,700 men in a black combat division, plus hours at the National Archives, Doug and Joann will soon turn this little-known piece of history into a book. David Steinberg, in attendance with wife and recording artist Joan, is also at the keyboard in Glen Cove, N.Y., penning the first half of the history of Long Island University. Ironically titled A Preface to the Future, it traces the lofty hopes of prexy Admiral Richard L. Conolly, who died in a plane crash in 1962, the subsequent chaos that beset colleges nationwide, and how LIU escaped selling itself and ceasing to exist. Dave’s tentative subtitle: How Did We Survive? Mary and Art Hotchkiss invited me to accompany them to the Gelb Science Center observatory Saturday night to see Saturn after the Paresky Commons dinner, which was shared with two other classes. We finished dessert and then scattered like dead leaves to be possibly raked up in five years. That celestial interlude was just what I needed after a “Why did we come here?” moment. Art is still putting us all to shame with his physical prowess—top ranked in racquetball, 75-plus division. The Hotchkisses romped up scores of stairs to the featured attraction, while I followed and narrowly avoided a 911 call at those heavenly heights. We found the elevator on the way down. Jane and Boxley Cooke, whom we would all have loved to hear entertain as at past reunions, are enjoying travel perks while Boxley serves as the “honorary” chairman of the board of his daughter’s e-mail investment and travel company in Baltimore. Boxley still pilots his Cessna 172 and has promised to play in 2020 if we have a headquarters with a piano. David Haartz and his
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Steve Clarkson ’55 and wife Mary Claire wore Andover blue at Saturday morning’s Alumni Parade.
wife, Marilyn Fingerhut, are adding to their world travel record. There likely are natives on remote, undiscovered islands who are plumping up the pillows for their inevitable visit. Don Oasis, there with wife Ellen, still gravitates to racing season in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and is honing his skills as a raconteur. Joanna and Jack Doykos, arguably the earth parents of our class, were there for the major events and have perfected the graceful exit before the anticlimax. Jack, responsible for generations of dental health in northern Massachusetts, is enjoying retirement. John Adams, still working at his investment company, was anticipating a dose of culture shock with son Nick in rural Montana this summer. Geoff Beaumont continues to curate and manage his father’s oeuvre; Arthur Beaumont was commissioned to paint the great ships of the U.S. Navy, and his amazing work as the official naval artist is definitely Google-worthy. Geoff convinced his old Bishop South roomie Tom Fisher to be at reunion. Laura and David Driver retired to their 28-acre farm in Chester, Vt., after he sold Atlantic Alloys, a company he founded in 1972. They keep chickens and bees, volunteer for the local Unitarian Universalist church, and entertain five grandchildren. Walt McLeod made a slightly tardy appearance due to a late impulse and a train trip from South Carolina, where he has become a fixture—amazingly, a Democratic one—in the state legislature. Walt was surprised at the allschool cookout when a campaign sign appeared in our midst on the stately PA vista. Doug Fisher fessed up. Walt Levering and his wife, Carolyn Ruschp, are enjoying retirement and left the reunion for a three-week fishing trip in Idaho. Basha and Perry Lewis traveled from Ridgefield, Conn., where he retains an investment banking office but says he
manages mostly his own affairs. His extensive art collection also keeps him busy. Mary Claire and Steve Clarkson move between New Hampshire, Maryland, and Florida as grandchildren and the climate dictate. Steve claims to be still learning how to swing a golf club. Ellis Levine and wife Rhonda Kirschner traveled from NYC, where he still works full time as an attorney for Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, primarily representing literary agents. Ellis was for many years the lawyer for publisher Random House, until the firm was sold. Judy and Willis “Whit” Whittlesey quietly celebrated 56 years of wedded bliss during Reunion Weekend. Whit stays busy fishing and researching his family history; he has taken care of the family future and has 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren to prove it. Anne and Bardyl Tirana, Lee and David Page, Kirk and Bob Ferguson, and Elaine and John Guthrie round out the cast of our geriatric follies. A final full-screen credit goes to a pretty lady named Jane Dornbusch, who appeared magically in the night on a white golf cart to offer encouragement and solace. Thank you, Jane…Y.
1956 ABBOT
Anne Woolverton Oswald 7862 East Greythorn Drive Superstition Mountain AZ 85118 480-374-4281 317-502-0339 (cell) Woolvie56@gmail.com
Husband Bob and I had a nice visit from Ellen Welles Linn, who stopped to visit on her way to Tucson. Our only regret was she did not
www.andover.edu/intouch stay longer. We planned to visit Ellen while renting a home near Linn Lodge in Idaho in August and hoped to see Louise Day Cook in Dubois, Wyo., on that same jaunt. Please find time to watch the film The Girls of Abbot on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/111536251). It is so interesting! How things have changed through the years. Jane Sweetsir Ferguson writes, “I was one of those whom Mlle Arosa tutored outside of class. She repeatedly told me that my accent was so bad that it offended her ear and put everyone else off. So I was not to open my mouth in class. When I went to Paris with my Aunt Frances after graduation from Abbot, I had to telephone Arosa to arrange a get-together, and it was one of the more terrifying times of my life. She did catch us (me and Grace Callahan Hagstrom), not raiding the kitchen but studying in our closet after lightsout. We were punished, of course! I did study hard and was as ready for class as I could be. “I remember Mlle Baratte (painfully thin and always accompanied by Le Petit Prince). I saw a photograph of her years later in an art exhibit, her gentle, soulful face so full of pain. I remember that she had been active in the Resistance in WWII and had served time in a Nazi camp. “I remember Miss Goodwin and her endless patience tearing out our mistakes in the argyle socks we were knitting for brothers and fathers. I doubt that was in her contract as a math teacher! “And Miss Hearsey, whom Grace’s dad always referred to as ‘the unclaimed treasure,’ which angered us. She was always so thoughtful and dignified. She reminded me of my great-aunt, who had also devoted her life to education. I remember her dismay when the PA boys had been on campus and had tossed rolls of toilet paper into the trees. She was ruefully observing the results the following morning. “Many more memories come up. I, too, was homesick. I was a very young 14 and had gone to Abbot somewhat reluctantly, as the best option from an educational point of view. Still, I think I suffered from lack of exposure to boys in an informal way. The calling hours and tea dances were a weird way to interact, especially when it was the only way. My mother saved all the letters I wrote home the first couple of years, and sometimes I wrote twice a day! I read them all a few years ago and was struck by how happy I seemed.” Marjorie Orr Stein wrote a thanks for alerting her to the Abbot film: “It is very well done, and there were some things that amazed me, e.g., the Alpha Beta Gamma rating system. I think hearing Genevieve Young ’48 and her roommate chatting, and Betsy Parker Powell was terrific, too! I will have to watch it again.” From Carol Kelton Ryland: “A very quiet winter here. Snow from January through some day in April. Mostly all stayed home and shoveled walks and roofs. Very little socializing, as streets and drives were so snow plugged that there was no
place to park. As of May 5, when I write this, we are getting warm weather and things are beginning to show up in the garden.” Please send along your comments and remembrances. Other contributions of news are appreciated as well. —Woolvie
PHILLIPS Phil Bowers 322 W. 57th St., Apt. 30F New York NY 10019 212-581-0538 philbowers@verizon.net Philip R. Hirsh Jr. 106 Body’s Neck Road Chester MD 21619 prhjr@rockbridge.net
There was a time when a 30-mile buffer zone around a large city like Atlanta offered ample protection from the disruptions of urban life. That principle worked well for Henry Simpson, giving him many peaceful years of traditional living on his family’s farm in McDonough, Ga. But recently, voracious development fueled by land greed and lattes has replaced surrounding farms with gated communities freighted with hordes of faceless people imagining themselves to be living the country life. “We used to have 300 head of cattle across the road. Now there are 600 houses. Not much of a swap,” says Henry. When he and wife Anita get too “fed up,” they hitch up their trailer and drive to Alaska, a 15,000-mile round trip but worth every refreshing mile. Ted Bartlett is having better luck with his neighbors. He lives in a condo on the beach in Venice, Fla., and his front yard is the Gulf of Mexico. “It’s breathtakingly beautiful all year around,” he says. His never-fail view is supplemented by a lovely beach recently rebuilt and expanded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ted, formerly a professor of philosophy and an organic farmer, is now “fully retired, with plenty of time to enjoy our 11 grandchildren.” Ernie Latham is back in the news. He and his wife, Ioana, decided to go for the wedding hat trick, adding a formal Episcopal wedding in Washington, D.C., to their previous civil wedding in DC and High Romanian Church wedding in Bucharest. We attended, along with Alec Sutherland. He and wife Mindy flew in from Rochester, N.Y., on one of the coldest days of the winter. Incidentally, the expression “takes the cake” was invented for Ernie, who, after warning celebrants to stand back from the wedding cake, unsheathed a ceremonial sword, swooped down on the defenseless confection, and with several deft strokes diced it into bite-sized pieces. Ernie is also busy on a new writing project. The Romanian government has given him access to the records of the Securitate, Nicolae Ceausescu’s venomous secret police, an organization comprising tens of thousands of agents in a country
of 22 million, where about one in 30 citizens was an informant. It is an enormous undertaking, and already Ernie has seen reference to his own activities, as well as those of his fellow diplomats. Very creepy to be reading about what the secret police imagined you to have been thinking and plotting. Remember the final Obama/Romney debate in October 2012? It was held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., and the hands-down winner was Lynn University. Steve Snyder, vice chairman of Lynn’s board of trustees, reports the media left behind miles of fiber-optic cable, countless routers, and millions in financial support and publicity, an enormous boost for an emerging institution already gaining national recognition for its academic and technological sophistication. “Admissions have gone through the roof,” Steve reports. He and his family are tireless supporters of every aspect of Lynn’s development. More than that, he says, “I’m having fun. Too many of my friends have retired and melted away.” Clearly, that’s not happening to Steve. Sadly, we missed the news of John Cook’s death at the end of 2013. His Houston Chronicle obituary began, “John Taylor Cook III parked the John Deere one last time on Monday, December 9, 2013.” I imagined this to be the Texas way of saying he died, but not so, his wife, Judy, told me. John was a total Texan, loved his horse and tractor equally, and lived a wide-open rancher life, coupled with dedication to his family and community. He loved Andover, was proud to have been in the Marine Corps, and was passionate about his many years of work with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He began work there as an assistant bartender and eventually became a life member of the executive committee. He was generous to a fault, something all of us who attended the 50th Reunion saw in the way John took care of his friend Bob Clark, who, despite being terribly ill, was determined to make it to the reunion. John drove from Texas, picked Bob up in Connecticut, and saw him through every minute of the entire event. Bob died two weeks later. The first time Bob and wife Carolyn visited the Cooks in Texas, John was horrified by their preppy New England dress. He took them to his favorite clothing store and told the manager, “I’m giving you two Yankees. When I come back, I want to see two Texans.” And he did, down to the belt, boots, and hat. John is buried on a hill in the middle of his ranch. Says Judy, “He’ll always have a 360-degree view of everything he loved.” Finally, Julian Herrey wrote to say Jon Reiff is bringing his family to visit Berlin: “I wish I could find an excuse to see everyone before the next reunion. I enjoy these visits very much, and if anyone else gets the idea, they are welcome, and I would be glad to show them around.” Take him up on his offer. Julian and wife Sabine will take you on a far more intimate and revealing ride through the city’s history, art, and music than anything Fodor’s could suggest. —Phil Hirsh Andover | Fall 2015
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Anne Boswell 5 Choate Road Hanover NH 03755-1701 603-643-5043 aboswell@valley.net Lucinda “Lulu” Cutler 267 Legend Hill Road Madison CT 06443-1881 203-779-5859 lucindacutler@gmail.com
Judith Medwed Stahl passed away in March. She was formerly a state legislator in New Hampshire and a senate staffer. She roomed near Lulu Cutler and me senior year. I remember her as a very gentle person but know that she became a devoted and persuasive advocate for issues within the state. We had a brief reaquaintance two or three years ago when she came to watch her grandson play rugby at Dartmouth’s field. I remember her great pride and eagerness to see her grandson in that game. These years bring a fulfillment of so many dreams. —Anne Boswell
PHILLIPS Stephen C. Trivers 151 South Rose St., Suite 611 Kalamazoo MI 49007 269-385-2757 Stephen@StephenTrivers.com Gregory Wierzynski 4426 Klingle St., NW Washington DC 20016 202-686-9104 gregor@wierzynski.com Class website: www.andover57.ning.com
This spring marked the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. For those of us born there, this milestone brought back bitter memories. For me, they include the Warsaw Uprising, followed by the arrival of Soviet troops in the city. For Leo Ullman, they are the years spent in hiding from Nazi occupiers in Holland. Leo marked the occasion by returning to Amsterdam in April and holding a gathering for his Dutch cousins and the families of those who provided hiding places for him and his parents. He has chronicled his Dutch childhood and arrival in America in a book, 796 Days, available on Amazon. For Ole Faergeman, they were a streetcar ride with his father on May 5, 1945, the day after the German surrender, to join a jubilant crowd at the Copenhagen city hall, cheering the arrival of Field Marshall Montgomery. Now retired after a distinguished career in medicine, Ole lives on a small farm in Denmark, where he raises sheep.
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Back in this country, I stopped in May in Gettysburg, Pa., to have a look at the Civil War battlefield. By the entrance of the visitors’ center, an imposing plaque lists the names of major contributors to the center’s renovation; Dave Remington’s was near the top. In 2002, Dave joined the board of the foundation that, together with the National Park Service, runs the center. Over the next few years, he helped raise some $100 million to build a new center and museum. “It was less than six months after 9/11 and I, along with everyone else, was infused with patriotism,” he explains. “I was never in the military, and this was an opportunity to do something very small but on point.” The new complex, which features a dramatic 377-by-42-foot cyclorama of the battlefield, opened in 2008. The New York Times called it “stunning.” Dave is now writing a history of the foundation. Some classmates found exotic ways to ease the rigors of winter. Joan and Alan Reische spent a month in Vietnam and Cambodia. Starting in Hanoi, they worked their way down through the highlands and the Hmong villages to Hoi An and Saigon, guided by a former Viet Cong. “He’s now very much a devotee of free enterprise, as are his countrymen,” Alan reports. In Cambodia, temples were the highlight of the journey. Montana residents Susie and Elon Gilbert spent the winter in Malawi, where Elon, an agricultural expert, had a USAID gig. He said, “I feel like I have entered a time warp that takes me back to my days in West Africa in the ’60s and ’70s.” As of late May, Anne and Gary Hammond were jetting off to the Dalmatian coast and Turkey. “We do not plan on going near Syria,” Gary wrote. “But if we get grabbed, I told the kids to offer $5 and not a penny more for our ransom.” Tom Packard was headed to Burlington for the 50th reunion of his medical school class at the University of Vermont. Tom, a pediatrician, resettled in the New Mexico town of Las Cruces a dozen years ago. There, among other activities, he sings in the Mesilla Valley Chorale. Tom Bissinger spent the winter at his Pottstown, Pa., home, carving totem masks and figures from slabs of wood, painting, and making photo collages. “Making art is a great way to still my mind and discover,” he explained. “Most fun I’ve had in years.” From Falmouth, Mass., Grant Willis writes that after 30 years of small-town law practice, he’s taking down his shingle, “so that I can relax even more, if possible.” Bob Darnton announced his retirement from his post as Harvard librarian. He says, “Aside from the children and grandchildren, travels, and stops to smell roses, I will continue research and writing. Susan and I hope to live happily ever after in our apartment in Cambridge. I will remain active as a board member of the Digital Public Library of America, and I will try to contribute to the cause of open access at every opportunity.” A service was held in Norfolk, Conn., celebrating the life of Frank Bell, who died on Feb.
16 of this year. Alan Blanchard was there and sent this report: “Gerrit Keator, Bill Sterling, and I spent a deeply moving Saturday. Frank, along with Gerrit and Dale Lindsay, was my Yale roommate, and he was Bill’s roommate at PA. The event served as a powerful reminder of Frank’s gifts to us all. Two of Frank’s nieces, daughters of Frank’s brother Michael ’59, who died in 1997, described Frank as a ‘larger-than-life, loving uncle’ and, I suspect, surrogate father. Frank’s daughter, Marian, recalled how Frank’s spontaneous acts of generosity enriched the lives of others. More than 50 people sent notes to Frank during his final illness. Marian quoted a thank-you note Frank sent to Bill and others: ‘You have no idea how wonderful your notes are.… The most moving ones are from people on whom I made a positive impact. That was an important life goal.… I can never thank you enough.’ ” In his class letter, Bill Sterling muses about the California drought, ailments that come with age, and an unexpected benefit from his carpal tunnel syndrome: “Yvonne, my wife, has determined that the loss of sensitivity in my right hand precludes me from washing dishes.” As usual, you’ll find the full text on the class website. —G
1958 ABBOT
Parry Ellice Adam 33 Pleasant Run Road Flemington NJ 08822-7109 908-782-3754 peaba@comcast.net
Vickie Kohler writes, “I’ll bet I am the only person in the Northeast who loved this winter and hoped it would never end. Skiing was great, and I am a cold-weather person. However, I missed the last days of Stratton [Ski Resort] being open when I flew off to Bhutan for 17 days at the end of March. It was a weaving and craft tour, and although I am not a weaver, it was really interesting. I had been there 21 years ago, with the same leader (we couldn’t believe how many years had passed), and the country and people are still as beautiful and wonderful as back then. Not much has changed, except that since I was there they got TV into the country and, later, the Internet. Needless to say, now everyone is walking around with a phone in hand or ear. We drove in from India, to the far east of the country, and all the way across to the other end of their road. There are a few other dirt roads in the country, but one, mostly paved, is about it. In addition to visiting lots of craft and weaving villages and homes, we saw our share of dzongs (medieval fortified monasteries) and monks, a wonderful festival of dancing with unbelievable costumes, lots of beautiful Himalayas, 12,000-foot mountain passes, flowers and trees, etc., etc. It really is quite a spectacular country. “So meanwhile, back here in Vermont, we went
www.andover.edu/intouch from winter to summer. Unfortunately, the black flies are out and biting, and I am ready to move to the Yukon. Instead, I am now in a marathon gardening mode to finish off spring cleaning before driving out to Wisconsin at the end of the month. I’m off to Africa for all of August. That would be winter there, and I get relief from at least one month of summer.” Betsy Gardner Riley and husband Gil celebrated their 54th anniversary in April. Two weeks later they found that each needed a new left hip! Betsy’s father, brother, sister, and eldest son, Bart, have all needed new left hips. She and Gil are waiting in line for the hip surgeon, the only one in Maine who performs the surgery with no post-surgery restriction. Both are still busy—a bit slower with limps and receiving physical therapy to get in shape for their reconstruction. Annsi Cole Stephano and I had a most delightful luncheon visit in New Hope, Pa., in midMay. We had been meaning to do it for years, and it was great.
PHILLIPS Dermod O. Sullivan Carlton House, Apt. 3-L 35 North Chatsworth Ave. Larchmont NY 10538 315-750-0385 or 914-834-6816 dermod58@gmail.com
Dane Smith writes, “Judy and I spent five months in Nicaragua in 2014 as visiting professors at the Universidad Evangelica Nicaragüense, Martin Luther King Jr. Judy taught English, and I taught a course in Spanish on Christian models of peacebuilding and lectured on human rights and democracy. We also taught seminars in Matagalpa, in the coffee highlands, and Bonanza, in the Northern Caribbean Coast Autonomous Area, a center of the indigenous Miskito and Mayagna peoples. The experience was something of a shorter replay of our experience as Peace Corps volunteers in Eritrea fifty years ago.” Dane retired from the Foreign Service in 2000. After retiring, Dane spent several years as president of the National Peace Corps Association, a private association of former Peace Corps volunteers. Using my personal e-mail list of classmates, I forwarded a picture of John Murphy fly-fishing in California. Loops of line were tangled at John’s feet, in a shape that generations of hapless fishermen have called a “bird’s nest.” This sparked a response from Chris Wadsworth: “Thanks for the photos of John Murphy. That can’t be a bird’s nest. We have to assume he was shooting line in a new way. I just returned from New Zealand, where I spent eight days chasing trout. It was tougher fishing than when I was there some seven years ago, but still lots of fun. Largest we caught (not I, but my fishing partner) was 11.5 pounds.” I’m impressed that Chris gave the credit to his partner; fishermen are expected to fib, and who, I ask, would contradict
a New Zealand fish tale? Speaking of fishing, your secretary and Al Griggs spent an enjoyable two days fishing at our trout club in Vermont in May. I repeat my offer to add classmates’ e-mail addresses to my personal list. This column cannot reproduce the photos of Murph fishing, but if I had your e-mail address, I could send out not-to-be-missed pictures. Murph is also included in a handsome picture of five California settlers: Blitz Fox, Lawry Chickering, Murphy, Roger Mackenzie, and Phil Makanna. (See page 71.) Einar Westerlund had an encounter with a Kent alumnus, and it sparked their recalling a crew race our upper year. At the time, crew at Andover was barely into its third year but was making progress, notwithstanding hand-me-down shells and modest facilities on the Merrimack, rented from the Lawrence Canoe Club. The initial race against Kent at the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) competition in Worcester would be a progresscheck against Kent’s decades of crew tradition and championship reputation. It seems likely that classmates Marsh Cloyd, Monty Bissell, and Mal Salter would have been PA ’58 members rowing in first boat for the 1957 NEIRA showdown. Rusty Romanoff ’57 was captain. As for the race itself, as replayed by Kent sources, some seven crews were jockeying for position at the start. A fraction late in getting off the line, Kent was jumped by Andover and three other crews. By about the three-quarter mark it was “race over” for all but Andover and Kent out front. At that point, Kent was self-proclaiming victory. Andover, though rowing at a higher beat entering the final sprint, was down by two positions. Andover shifted into a 38-beat power-stroke, but could not ward off Kent when it upped its beat to 42 for the sprint. In the end, Kent triumphed by three-quarters of a length. The 1958 finals had many parallels, including the same close 1-2 finish. Andover ’58 classmates on the crew senior year consisted of Cloyd (bow), Salter, Bissell, Westerlund, Jack Clymer, Bob Meehan, Frank Hammond, Dave Dexter, Dan Rowland (stroke), Sam Back, Jem Minard, and Bob Powers. Marsh was captain our senior year. In the 1958 NEIRA race, Andover fell behind after a slow start, but slowly and steadily gained and eventually pulled ahead. As in the prior year, Kent upped its stroke in the final sprint to a level Andover could not quite overcome. Einar concludes, “Despite the setbacks versus Kent across the two seasons, in bringing the race down to a competition between just two boats and falling just short at the finish, I know all of us rowing at Worcester departed feeling an enormous sense of pride in Andover crews and total confidence that our day would come in the near future.” Einar states that the finishes both years felt like identical recollections, a pair of near misses, before Andover began its subsequent string of NEIRA victories a season later.
I regret to report that Bill Jenkins died unexpectedly on Feb. 27. He graduated from the University of Maine in 1962. In ROTC, he served several years on active duty, including two years in Vietnam, where he earned two Bronze Stars. He later retired from the Army Reserves with a rank of lieutenant colonel. After Vietnam, he attended George Washington University School of Medicine, graduating in 1982, followed by residency at Brown University’s Pawtucket Memorial Hospital. Bill opened a private practice in the Katahdin, Maine, area in 1985. He was Maine Family Doctor of the Year in 1999. For the past several years, he traveled with Vets With a Mission (VWAM) to Vietnam to provide medical care. Leslie Lynn (Peterson) and Bill were married in 1974 and celebrated 40 years of marriage last June with their sons, Mark ’96, of Phoenix, and David, of Boston. Bill was extremely proud of both of them.
1959 ABBOT
Nathalie Taft Andrews 2407 Ransdell Ave. Louisville KY 40204 502-459-5715 dulcie@iglou.com
Sue Calnan Bates is still running around the agility field with a golden retriever. Since her champ got cancer and had her leg amputated, Sue is down to running one dog. Sue is also involved with a group starting a village for seniors, based on a village on Boston’s Beacon Hill that helps seniors stay in their homes as long as possible. Sue adds: “Going up to Maine in June to help a friend get to her place near Belfast and will be going by way of Martha’s Vineyard and Andover, where my daughter and family live. Then in August we go to Cape Cod with our entire crew of kids, grandkids, and dogs. Not terribly exciting, but there you have it.” In spring 2015, Eve Dalmolen took a cruise to the French and Italian rivieras and then added a nostalgic extension to Torino and Lago Maggiore, where she’d gone on her honeymoon. There, she met her late husband’s best friend. She says, “Jurg introduced us and, on our honeymoon in 1972, drove us down the Rhine to Lago Maggiore as a wedding gift. We became friends while writing our doctoral dissertations on related topics. We visited each other over the years and exchanged professional papers for comment.” Eve leads a busy life at home, where she is the elected chair of the Chatham (Mass.) Town Democratic Committee, serves on the board of Pleasant Bay Community Boating, and volunteers as a docent at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center and at the Godfrey Windmill. She is also assuming the duties of membership chair for the Nauset Newcomers singles group. Andover | Fall 2015
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Larry Butler ’60 and son Adam Butler ’90 met in front of Sam Phil during reunion.
Tina Treadwell is a new grandmother again. In May, her son and daughter-in-law, Ed Barker and Sarah Kurz, welcomed Phoebe Emerson Barker to their family! They live in Cambridge, Mass., where Ed is the executive director for a land trust community farm in Weston, Mass., and Sarah works for Merrimack Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge. Tina has another son, Andy; two stepsons, David and Jon; and now eight grandchildren. “Each of our sons is engaging his passions, and we are grateful for that!” she says. “I am aging a bit but still manage to enjoy the community I live in and the books I have stacked on my table. Bowdoin College is close by, and [husband] David and I take full advantage of lectures, theatre, and sports activities. We also participate in a ‘host family program’ to connect with students interested in knowing a local family. We have some great young friends as a result! I still hate housework as much as ever, and, sadly, my house shows it! But I tell myself that there are more important things. We feel very blessed.” And now for the very best kind of news: After many months in Massachusetts General Hospital, Winkie Ward Keith reports that she is cancer-free. She was admitted in December with leukemia. “Am finally home. Hope to go to Norway on a cruise in October. Rough winter,” writes Winkie. And here is my bit of news. Last week I made the cover of three local newspapers in one week. I was named a “West End Connector,” along with a bunch of others chosen out of a pool of 600. Connectors are people who connect other people, ideas, and projects for the good of the community. The West End in Louisville is west of 9th Street, a divide created in the age of race riots that now presents an obvious set of economic, social, and cultural barriers. So here’s to the Class of 1959! Wishing you all happiness and good health. Let’s get together!
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Mike Burlingame, Wally Winter III, and Jeremy Wood helped represent the Class of 1960 in the parade.
PHILLIPS David Othmer 4220 Spruce St. Philadelphia PA 19104 215-387-7824 davidothmer@aol.com
Ned Grew has lived in Finland since 1967. He shared the following: “David [Othmer] asked me to write about my experiences living as an American for most of my life in another country, and in a weak moment I agreed. The long shadow of Andover loomed over my shoulder, however: In my junior year Jack Hawes ’28, my housemaster and English teacher, wrote my parents, saying, among other things: ‘Let’s face it—Ned is never going to write the Great American Novel.’ This has always been in the back of my mind, intimidating me in writing endeavors, even though I have never attempted, nor will I ever attempt, to write the Great American Novel. “Andover probably set in motion a penchant for making choices that ended up determining how I would spend most of my life. It started with Dr. Grew’s (my father’s second cousin) course in French using the direct method. Total immersion. I spent the summer of my upper year in France, being a counselor at a summer camp on Lac d’Annecy, which exposed me to life in another country. I went on to spend my senior year of college studying in Paris at the Sorbonne and l’Ecole du Louvre. More foreign exposure—and I feel in hindsight that it most certainly paved the way for my choice to stay in Finland after spending a Fulbright here in 1966–1967. First it was a year at a time, but after five years I found that it would be very difficult to return to the United States and fit in with the lifestyle there. “Living in Finland as an American in the late ’60s and ’70s was not all that easy. [There
were] a lot of un-American feelings about the Vietnam War and a general anti-capitalist mindset at the time. “I had always tried to downplay my Americanism. In Paris, although sharing a room in a French household with an American from Harvard, I insisted on speaking French. The summer before the Fulbright to Finland, I studied Finnish at Berlitz for a month and then studied Finnish for foreigners at the University of Helsinki. I was really trying to fit in and on a certain level trying to prove myself different from the stereotypical American. “I would never be able to pass as a Finn. Although my working language is Finnish, I have a detectable non-Finnish accent and make grammatical mistakes while speaking, to say nothing of the hopeless situation in which I find myself when I have to write Finnish. “My wife is Finnish but is Swedish-speaking. Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish. Eva is part of the six percent Swedishspeaking minority. We speak English together, she speaks Swedish with the children, and I speak English with them so that at the dinner table we have two languages going. This multilinguistic situation gives me enormous joy! “We are good friends with two other couples here and do a lot together. One of the couples is a Swedish-speaking journalist husband and Finnishspeaking journalist wife. He and I speak English together. The other couple is a Swedish-speaking wife and a German-speaking husband. He speaks English to his wife, German to his children, and English with us. When we get together our conversation is in Finnish, English, and Swedish, and everyone understands each other. I love what happens when we sit in a restaurant and nobody looking at us can comprehend the situation. “We have a house in Southern France where we spend about four-plus months of the year. My
being a foreigner is not limited to living in Finland. I have talked with Alan Albright about living abroad. He has a theory of wearing various hats. When I am in Finland I put on my Finnish hat; in France, I put on my French hat. “In writing this I have become aware of how my attitude toward being an American living abroad has changed over the years. I have come to appreciate and treasure certain things American: there is a certain enviable openness in Americans. I deplore Tea Party and discriminatory redneck attitudes, but I appreciate easy daily communication: small talk, if you wish, but a certain grease making social interchange easier. This social openness is missing in the Finns. I admire the spirit of entrepreneurship in the U.S., but deplore the attitude toward affordable health care. ‘Socialized’ medicine is a red flag, but I have had four hip operations in Finland at a very affordable $1,500 apiece. I am willing to be taxed highly (about 50 percent) on income for good, virtually free education and good, affordable health coverage. “Generally speaking, I am more at home with my Americanism now than in the ’60s. Being able to wear several hats has made a difference. Although I most often say I am a Finnish citizen while traveling, playing down the fact that I also have an American passport, I enjoy being an atypical American, and I seem to be accepted as such. “I guess the bottom line is I enjoy disproving people’s prejudices (about typical Americans), thrive in a multicultural environment, and am able to make contact with different people in four languages, but still miss the immediacy of using my native language. I love visiting the U.S. and speaking English, but after three or four days I long for the silence, cleanliness, back-to-basics attitude, and tranquility found in Finland.”
1960 ABBOT
Lynne Furneaux Clark P.O. Box 1087 Manchester Center VT 05255-1087 802-362-1744 puffinplace@aol.com
PHILLIPS Mike Burlingame 111 North Sixth St., Apt. 301 Springfield IL 62701 217-206-7364 (work) 217-299-9306 (cell) mburl2@uis.edu
In June, two dozen members of the class gathered in Andover to celebrate our 55th Reunion, organized through the heroic efforts of Wally Winter, Al Fox, and Tom Campion.
A group of classmates from PA ’58 living on the West Coast regularly convenes in California. At one recent such gathering, Blitz Fox, Lawry Chickering, John Murphy, Roger Mackenzie, and Phil Makanna met for lunch and conversation at Lawry’s Stinson Beach home.
The opening event on Friday featured Dick Masland (professor of ophthalmology at Harvard) teaming up with Solange Brown ’85 (professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins and daughter of our own Bill Brown) to present “All about the Brain: Current Findings in Neuroscience” as part of the Back to the Classroom series open to all reunion classes. Dick began with a “small world” story about his experience as a member of the Harvard faculty. Contradicting the notion that connections and networking account for so much success in life, he explained that Solange had been his student for a couple of years before he realized that she was a PA grad and a daughter of one of his PA classmates! They both employed layman’s language and helpful PowerPoint slides to describe significant advances in their field, making the material easily accessible to nonscientists. Bill Brown and his wife were justifiably proud of their daughter’s presentation. The large, appreciative audience listened raptly and peppered the speakers with questions after their presentations. It was a stimulating kickoff to a sunny, memorable weekend. Saturday afternoon we had our own class presentation in the back-to-the-classroom mode: “Reflections of a Published Memoirist and an Incipient Memoirist Who Wants to be Published,” with Gerry Shea and your humble scribe. The original plan was to have Gerry paired with John Darnton, whose important memoir, Almost a Family, appeared in 2011, but John had a scheduling conflict, so I was pressed into service as a pinch hitter. As you doubtless know, Gerry recently wrote a remarkable memoir, Song Without Words: Discovering My Deafness Halfway Through Life (Da Capo/Perseus, 2013). A French translation was just released: La Vie Malentendue: J’étais Sourd et je ne le Savais Pas (La Librairie Vuibert, 2015). Typical of the rave reviews the book has received was the
one that ran in the Washington Post: “A brilliant and thoroughly engaging, if often painful, account.... Throughout Song Without Words, the author candidly describes his dark, even catastrophic moments of perceived failure—failure to hear, failure to understand and interpret correctly, failure to connect, failure to keep up—but despite all this, the book sings a long, clear note of success. It is not a complaint but an exploration, not only of one man’s unique path to self-knowledge but also of the nature of communication itself.... To read Song Without Words is to appreciate the poetry and clarity of Shea’s language, resonant with hard-won experience, wisdom, and stunning courage.” Gerry eloquently summarized highlights of his book and fielded numerous questions. I then described my plan to write a memoir of my experiences as a historian, dating back to our junior year, when I was in Kenneth Minard’s ancient history class. Tentative title of the memoir: Lincoln’s Slave. Earlier on Saturday afternoon we gathered beside our class tree, located next to the wall paralleling Salem Street, near the Bell Tower. Wally Winter and I had just purchased, as it were, naming rights to that tree, in order to honor deceased classmates. Our contribution was part of a fundraising campaign to help support the tree-renewal program necessitated by a fluke October 2011 snowstorm that toppled more than 50 deciduous trees and damaged many others. The money will help cover replanting costs. (Remember how we used to joke that we wound up at Andover because “Mother liked the trees”?) In the absence of a certified clergyman, Wally and Nick Danforth took charge of the informal service of remembrance by our tree. A faithful Quaker, Wally suggested that we follow his denomination’s practice of having people speak up when the spirit moved them. Several took advantage of this invitation by sharing memories Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... of some of the nine classmates who had died since our last reunion: Peter Beck, Dick Bourne, Ned Evans, Roger Levin, Terry McMullen, Jim Okie, Mickey Ostrom, Gerald Sedam, and John Winebrenner. [Editor’s note: Please see the In Memoriam section for Peter Beck’s obituary.] Gary Fuller added a reminiscence about the charismatic chaplain who served during our junior year, William Sloan Coffin ’42. Gary recalled how he often sat in chapel services next to Coffin’s new wife, daughter of the eminent pianist Artur Rubenstein. That triggered memories of the Bible class that Coffin taught. I was amazed at how easy the final exam was at the end of the first term. It turns out that Coffin wrote it on the train en route to his wedding in New York! Rumor has it that Rubenstein objected to the match, protesting to his future son-in-law that his family did not want to have a Billy Graham join it. Coffin allegedly replied that his family did not want to have a Liberace join it! The memorial service ended with reading of poetry chosen by Nick (Emily Dickinson, Alfred Lord Tennyson) and the singing of “Amazing Grace.” In an impressive ceremony, Ed Quattlebaum, along with six others, was inducted into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. The presentation to him read: “For 36 years, Ed Quattlebaum brought wisdom and compassion to his Phillips Academy classroom in his role as instructor in history and social science. For many students, however, their most enduring memories of Quattlebaum were made on the Merrimack River. A legendary coach of crew, Quattlebaum served on the coaching staff for nearly his entire time at Andover. As an Andover student, Quattlebaum played varsity basketball, ran varsity cross-country, was a member of the Aurelian Honor Society, and was elected class president his senior year. It wasn’t until he arrived at Harvard, however, that his interest in crew blossomed. He rowed JV his junior year, eventually working his way up to varsity by his senior year. Under newly appointed coach Harry Parker, who would go on to become one of the most well-regarded crew coaches in Harvard’s history, the Crimson not only went undefeated that year but also won the title in the Eastern Sprints.” Ed’s acceptance remarks were witty and gracious. At our class dinner on Saturday, Gerry Shea stole the show, climbing atop a table in Paresky Commons to sing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ ” and do his best JFK imitation. These scheduled events occupied less of our time than we spent reminiscing and catching up with friends. Those conversations called to mind Woody Wickham’s comment that when men of our age get together, the conversation soon becomes an organ recital. Thom Chirurg and I bemoaned what has happened to the teaching of American history, as reflected in the controversial proposed Advanced Placement exam guidelines for secondary school teachers. On a more positive note, Jim Turchik
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and I reflected on how our affection for the school had grown quite powerful. Dorsey Gardner and his wife, Ni Rong, joined Gary Fuller, Nick Danforth, and me for a tour of the faculty cemetery, where many of our favorite teachers lie buried. We were surprised to discover a large obelisk marking the grave of Harriet Beecher Stowe! Ni Rong acted as the unofficial class photographer, taking many photos that she plans to post online. Nick Kip and I vied for the Andover Shop award: Nick in an orange and black toga and I in a madras jacket. Allen Ward was actually the best dressed. He and his wife will be moving into a new house, which Allen is designing. He has retired from the University of Connecticut and will not be doing another edition of his book, A History of the Roman People (currently in its sixth edition). Jerry Wood and his wife, Catherine, celebrated their first wedding anniversary during the weekend. Tom Campion was glad to be able to obtain a room at the Andover Inn. Five years ago, he was miffed that Mike Scharf had been able to find lodgings there when he could not. On Sunday, Tom and Gerry Shea lunched at the Andover home of John Kimball ’49, who taught biology and coached track in our day. Another resident of Andover, Charlie Kendrick, has generously agreed to serve as class agent. He and I, being the tallest of the gang, were assigned the honor of holding our class banner for the formal photo shoot. Others attending the reunion included Dayton Datlowe, Tony Lee, Ward Wickwire, Handley Stevens, Larry Butler, and Oliver Egleston. See you in 2020 for our 60th!
1961 ABBOT
Carolyn “Cally” Butler Dow 44 Spruce St. Portland ME 04102 207-899-4178 Callydow365@gmail.com
Sherry Craig Lowe writes, “Life is busy with four grandchildren under 6, all boys, and one on the way—a girl! My travels are mainly to Bozeman, Mont., and Nantucket, Mass. My sisters and I still run a small cottage rental business there. Other current interests are punch-needle rug hooking (using 100 percent wool rug yarn), mah-jongg, my book group, golf (it’s never too late!), and a bit of knitting.” Ann Fahnestock Cody’s big adventure last fall with hubby Jerry was a month’s half-land, half-cruise trip throughout Asia. She reports, “So much history, culture, architecture to absorb—old wonders of the world spanning several thousand years including Terracotta Army (buried for 2,300 years), the Great Wall of China, and Angkor
Wat in Cambodia with its enormous stones, most with carvings several stories high, abandoned and buried under vines for a few hundred years. Mindboggling are the millions of hours of human labor required and thousands of deaths that occurred during those constructions. This year we plan to relax in our home in central Florida, with side trips to Grand Haven, Mich., and Charleston, S.C., plus the annual few months in rural Madison, N.H.” Judy Draper Cottrell has been retired for eight years, living in Eugene, Ore., and still loving it. She writes, “I started going to church again after many years and am happily engaged in a small, progressive Episcopal church. My determination to ‘keep showing up’ and to let go of disbelief in some dogmas is having the effect of deepening both faith and a sense of community. I maintain my quiet routine of walks with my also-aging dear dog; do the daily NYT crossword; read a lot; and manage the various ravages of aging that, so far, are not life-threatening. My son Patrick, a political science professor at a small liberal arts college (let’s hear it for that!), has a book coming out from Cambridge University Press this summer. My daughter-in-law, Erika, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University, is part of a big multi-institutional grant focused on gathering data on patient experience to improve health-care policy and practices, which ultimately could also reduce costs. My two granddaughters, now ages 11 and 9, continue to enchant me totally as they grow. Tempus fugit! They thrive in school, play team sports, participate in children’s theatre, especially musicals, and love doing art.” Sybil Smith’s husband, Don, had successful quadruple-bypass surgery in April. Says Sybil, “The surgery seems to us nothing short of miraculous and promises to be life-extending.” Hooray for modern medicine! Here in Portland, Maine, hooray for gorgeous weather, after a very wearisome winter. I continue to work at a community clay studio, building inventory for a weekly summer craft fair, more of a social event than a money-maker. I am also writing a children’s book and trying to keep up with the boundless energy of a Labrador puppy. I spend most of the summer at my rustic cottage on East Penobscot Bay. How blessed I feel to be in reasonably good health, with wonderful friends, residing in one of the 10 most livable cities in America. I want to extend copious thanks to the contributors to this column. It’s always wonderful to stay in touch with friends from way back when—that “when,” of course, being a euphemism for that ridiculous five-decade span of time since we shared the mysteries of adolescence. Not that being a senior citizen doesn’t have its mysteries. Still, I’d rather be a seasoned 72 than a sophomoric 17, no question about that!
www.andover.edu/intouch PHILLIPS Paul Kalkstein 42 Doubling Point Road Arrowsic ME 04530 207-443-5675 pkalkstein@gmail.com
A question from Tom Pollock: Who remembers Virginia Belle at the burlesque in Scollay Square on the way to or from Logan Airport for vacation travel? (Good thing we belong to the pre-PC generation.) An article about Jeb Bush ’71 led Jim Rubin to compare his Andover and college days. He wrote, “It’s interesting that I loved Andover (and still do), whereas I was actually very socially (not academically) unhappy at Yale. For some reason, at Andover I was oblivious to the sort of social hierarchy [at Yale] described in the article, and I was not shy about whom I talked to, based on social class or family. At Yale, it all came home to roost, along with anti-Semitism, which—naive boy that I surely was—I never once even thought about at Andover. (It was something that only happened in other countries.)” What have you done since our 50th? Jim has published a couple of books and says, “I’m still going strong with teaching and have three major projects in the proposal stage, another book, an exhibition, and a conference. I’m as busy as I’ve ever been and loving it.” Hmmm. My life has veered, not unpleasantly, in a quieter direction! Jim sees Dennis Cross and Leslie Stroh often. If you have a bunch of grandchildren leaping about, as we have, you might want to help ensure their literacy. A wonderful tool for this is the vocabulary exercises from Jan and Carey Cook. Many of them are free, and all are interesting. The topics change each month, and include root-word lessons, various subjects, word lists, even test prep. Jan has done a fabulous job of building the site: www.myvocabulary.com/. It’s a bastion against the texting language that intrudes into too much of our lives. Check it out; pass it on. You’ve got to read this (at least, I have to): Tony Vanderwarker’s third book. Tony describes the plot of Ads For God, a comic novel about advertising, published in February: “God’s market share is down, so he comes down to Earth and hires a guy to do a campaign for him.” Some family news from Tony, too: “Son Vandy, who’s the chef de cuisine at the Ordinary in Charleston, S.C., won the top prize on an episode of the TV show Chopped. Daughter Krissy is directing a play at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago, and son Bryan just celebrated the fifth year of his Chicago branding firm, Seedhouse. Good year for the Vanderwarkers.” Although these notes appear too late to take advantage of this, Diane Covington-Carter sent an invitation to join her and husband Landon “Bunky” Carter in Bali: “Landon will be leading the personal development portion of a 28-day
yoga-teacher training in Ubud, Bali, Oct. 11 to Nov. 8. Students will not only receive 300 hours of yoga teacher training, they will transform their experience of life, love, and relationships.” A chance to change your life—not so many of these for us anymore. Are we living in a time when intolerance and incivility are on the rise, or is it just the Congress? Here in Maine, state senator Geoff Gratwick wrote in an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News about the need to speak up in the face of intolerance: “The difficulty lies in the quiet moments of yesterday and of tomorrow when we stand alone, when the hurtful message we hear is not obvious, when it is coded, cloaked in laughter, when the insult to the dignity of another is woven into the subtle undercurrents of our language. The casual racist, sexist, hurtful remark, the slur hidden by humor, the offhand ethnic or religious putdown—that is the challenge.” How are we doing? Mike Bragg was hoping to see Bernie Boone at their Colgate 50th reunion. On his way up from Nashville, Mike hoped to see Jon Charnas in NYC. I hope you all had fun at your college reunions. I was sorry to miss mine, but if you’ve lived through one Princeton reunion, you’re good forever. In February, Bill Drayton hosted Peter Huvelle and Jim Sprague at brunch in DC. They recollected a seminal trip, as described here by Jim: “In 1963, Bill organized a trip to India with Dan Saks, Peter, and me, Andover and Harvard classmates, to study the development of democratic institutions at the village level. We purchased a VW bus in Munich with the idea of driving it across Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan to get to Calcutta. We were strongly advised not to drive through Iran and so detoured south from Turkey through Syria, where Peter stayed behind to heal an ear infection. Bill and I drove from Damascus, across the desert through Jordan to Baghdad and then south to Basrah. Peter joined us, and Bill went on by air to meet Dan in Karachi. Peter and I took a ship down the Persian Gulf to Karachi and met Dan and Bill. We then drove north to Lahore, then south to Delhi. I stopped for a week in Chandigarh—two days to find out that my possible appendicitis was in fact food poisoning, and then five days to recover from the water they used in the hospital.... At the end, we shipped the VW home, crossed India by train to Bombay, and flew home. Dan went on to be an economics professor at Vanderbilt but developed leukemia and died in January 1986.”
1962 ABBOT
Kathrin Krakauer 240 Columbia Drive Bomoseen VT 05732 802-273-2548 kkrakauer@shoreham.net
Kitty Grant Galaitsis still lives in Lexington, Mass., and is active with the garden club and French sister city group; she particularly likes looking after the town 1775 herb garden. She and her husband, Tony, are modest supporters of and judges at the American Indian Science and Engineering Fair for 5th- through 12th-graders. For the past three years they have donated an award for environmental science projects. This year one of their award winners, a Navajo girl, was a finalist at Intel and went to the White House as a science fair winner. If any classmates might be interested in this fair, let Kitty know. Kitty’s son, Alexander, and his wife were expecting Kitty’s third grandson in June 2015. Kitty’s daughter, Stephanie, a water engineer, works at the Stockholm Environment Institute office on the Tufts University campus, focusing on California water problems with a group at UC Davis. Stephanie and her husband live in Somerville, Mass. Mae Concemi Bradshaw wrote that her dad passed away in winter 2015. Our sincere condolences to Mae on her loss. This is sad news to all the day students who have fond memories of Frank Concemi from our many parties at Mae’s house during our years at Abbot. Mae loves her law practice and is not ready for retirement. She remains very active as chair of the Rye (N.H.) Heritage Commission and a member of the Historic District Commission. In early 2015, a “Save Town Hall” campaign was launched. Mae also participates on a number of Rotary committees in Exeter, N.H., and for District 7780 and planned to attend the Rotary International 2015 Convention in Brazil. We congratulate Mae on being a recipient of one of the six Distinguished Service Awards from Andover, which was presented to her on May 2. Sue Mallory Dunn is a founding member of a small opera company that performs in Alameda, Calif., with singers from San Francisco Opera. Marcia Hill lives part time in Berkeley, Calif., but NYC is still her base. Marcia took mandatory retirement at 60 but never had a moment of regret. She says she has found it difficult to be 70, although she still swims competitively and plays tennis! Abby von der Heyde Summersgill wrote that her three grandchildren are now ages 3 to 8. She is writing little vignettes of the funny experiences she has with them and, so far, she has more than 150 pages! Following a successful fundraiser in California, Frederica Muller Aalto’s project to support Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected Barbara Rugen...’63 “Retiring” to Namibia
I
n September 1961, two events occurred that would significantly shape Barbara Rugen’s life. One would have immediate impact: she entered Abbot Academy. The other would not affect her for decades: the passage of the bill that established the Peace Corps. Since then, more than 190,000 Americans have served in 139 countries as Peace Corps volunteers. Rugen is one of them.
At Abbot, Rugen studied piano and was involved in theatre. Given the choice of attending Oberlin to study music or Smith College for theatre, she chose the latter, where she pursued a double major in theatre and English and relished, Barbara Rugen ’63 and her friend Belinda, one of the women employed by Karas Huisen Crafts. she says, the same kind of nurturing, empowering, and intellectually stimulating environment she had so enjoyed at Abbot. At NYU, where she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in drama, it was a different story. The discriminatory attitudes toward women she encountered drew her to the feminist cause. “I joined NOW, picketed for abortion rights, joined sit-ins, and even joined a guerilla theatre performance to ‘liberate’ Wellesley women,” she says. Finding college-level teaching jobs was difficult in the sluggish economy of the early ’70s, so Rugen applied abroad and was hired as an instructor in theatre at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. When the university temporarily closed during the Yom Kippur War, Rugen volunteered on a kibbutz, where she met her future husband, embraced Israel as her home for seven years, and had two children. She resumed teaching, first at Hebrew University and later at the University of Haifa. Eventually the family moved to the States, and Rugen was hired at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. In 1996, after being denied tenure, she left the world of academia and made a career shift. She founded her own market-research firm, Audience Impact Research, and led the company until her retirement, in 2014. Her first marriage having dissolved back in the ’80s, she has been married to Steve Link for 20 years. “When Steve retired in 2013 as director of Link Executive Search, we discussed devoting our retirement years to international service,” Rugen says. “The Peace Corps made sense.” In July 2014, they were posted to Namibia, in southwestern Africa. Rugen and her husband work as business advisors to would-be entrepreneurs and struggling businesses in one of the most impoverished regions of the country. “They need a lot of help,” she says. “The business failure rate is very high, and the unemployment rate is a whopping 23 percent.” One business client is called Karas Huisen Crafts. The organization employs women with HIV/AIDS or TB who live in the poorest part of the city of Keetmanshoop. Trained in traditional Namibian arts, crafts, jewelry making, and needlework, these skilled craftspeople create items that are sold around the world. The business, says Rugen, empowers women to support themselves and their families and to overcome the sense of helplessness created by the gender-based violence, illiteracy, unemployment, disease, and unwanted pregnancies that are endemic in their community. The Peace Corps experience has been so rewarding, she says, that the couple may “re-up” and continue volunteering, next time in the Far East. Says Rugen, “You get more than you give.”
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—Paula Trespas
women’s reproductive health in Afghanistan is up and running for 2015 and plans are to continue the program in another province. If you are interested in supporting this, you can contact Fredericka at 264 Driftwood Lane, Trinidad CA 95570. Caroline Thomas was the subject of the inaugural program for a new online, in-depth interview show called New York Real, created by one of Caroline’s acting students. The link to this interview is http//t.co/nGo4m2unL0. Also, see Caroline’s essay in “Tales Out of School” in this issue of Andover magazine.
PHILLIPS Vic Obninsky 1101 Navarro St. Santa Rosa CA 95401 707-230-2271 707-843-5784 (fax) vpobninsky@comcast.net
By the time you read this, it will be a short time until we meet at our 53rd reunion. Our committee unanimously voted to change the location from Cape Cod to the Adirondacks, at Ridin’-Hy Ranch in Warrensburg, N.Y. We will be playing stickball, staying fit in the fitness center, fishing in lakes and streams, golfing, riding horses, roping calves, and quaffing unlimited draughts of beer. We will be dancing to the music of a live band playing the sounds from the golden era of rock ’n’ roll. If you need more information, please call me or any one of the following: Danny Jenkins, Jeff Hill, Sam Caldwell, Mike Moonves, George Andrews, Tom Israel, Mike Davey, Woody Boynton, Jack Fabiano, or Ace Lake. The body blows our class received in January are painful and will never be forgotten. Jim Riley and Rick Malone ably represented us at the memorial services for Tom Gilbert and Tone Grant. This has given us further energy to proceed with our resolution for our annual reunions to continue. The size of our class will not grow, and get-togethers serve as a chance to reminisce, to share our experiences in life, and to allow those significant people in our lives to meet a group of septuagenarians joyfully acting as if they were still teenage boys. This article will be an expression of my personal philosophy, and in year number XXVIII as your class agent, I want to share my thoughts. I have been involved in many groups, but our class excels because of its members, its unity, its accepted obligation to others. I believe this is the end product of Phillips Academy’s plan for our evolution from callow youths to civilized young gentlemen. We sustained a lot of bumps in the process, but we came out all right and have generally done quite well.
www.andover.edu/intouch 1963 ABBOT
Cynthia F. Kimball 7 Thoreau Road Lexington MA 02420 781-862-6424 cynthiakimball@earthlink.net
In the spirit of our fantastic 50th Reunion, Iris Beckwith has organized a mini reunion to take place in Maine this September. It’s splendid that our class has started having regional mini reunions to keep us in touch. Details of the mini reunion will appear in the next Andover magazine. At the end of April I went to PA to hear Jon Turk ’63 give a talk, “Exploring Deep Wilderness,” with a focus on the first circumnavigation of Ellesmere Island, occurring in 2011. After I asked him how he had gone from his initial professional path to becoming such an explorer, I realized I would really enjoy hearing from my classmates about what factors had led them to change careers or direction at some point, or at various times (with more than one direction or career path). Please write in and let me know! I am about to retire from my job as a pediatric occupational therapist, but I don’t plan anything major in the near future. I know many of us are dealing with the issue of impending or ongoing retirement, so it would be good to hear from you on that topic also. Do write in, please!
PHILLIPS John C. Kane Jr. 28 Puritan Park Swampscott MA 01907 781-592-4967 Jkane2727@aol.com
Joe Belforti, an inspiring leader on the athletic field during our years at Andover, has lived a quiet life of inspiration since. He reports, “All is well at my age, 71...and with all my doctors’ help I’ve survived this far. Although I made my 45th Reunion, I missed my 50th; I am anxious to attend my 55th. I was visited by four or five of my classmates, but due to a brief illness I did not follow through with their kindness. Frank Hekimian, Al Taylor, Joel Caron, and I went out to lunch and had a great time. Many years have passed since my graduation, but Andover friends have remained dear to me. I will always remember my two years at PA. I have had many ups and downs throughout my life, but now I am on the upswing. I keep quite busy with exercise, the Italian Club, the Lions Club, and seeing friends. I have little time to be depressed. I often go to Kennebunkport, Maine, and to Atlanta to see my favorite baseball team, the Atlanta Braves. My neurologist, H. Richard Tyler, has been my doctor since Andover. My current doctor is Dr. Massacoy, also a very good doctor. I’ve had two recent MRIs and hopefully they turned out OK. I want to thank
everybody for caring, and I hope to stay on the road to relatively good health. See you all soon.” Joe, you were missed at our 50th, and we are counting on you for 2018. Neil Macneale sent a wonderful picture, framable quality (but sadly not reproducible in this context), showing him ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, surrounded by his wife, Ellen, and two further generations, daughter Kate ’90 and Kate’s daughter. The occasion? Says Neil, “I’ve been writing the 2 for 1 newsletter for over 18 years and, as of January 1, 2014, the index created from my newsletter portfolio has been calculated and published by the NYSE. The bell-ringing ceremony last December was to celebrate the listing of the Stock Split Index Fund (TOFR) created to track my 2 for 1 Index. Going to New York to ring the bell was sort of the formal recognition of my third career makeover; that would be from general contractor to field superintendent to home inspector to financial guru. It’s the perfect situation because it’s a oneman band, and I can do it from home in Menlo Park, Calif., or from my deck overlooking Lake Tahoe, or from Seattle, where both kids and the four grandchildren all live. Life is good. I hope the same for all of you.” By invitation of the Andover Explorer’s Club, Jon Turk, our intrepid classmate, was on campus in April. Several of Jon’s comments appeared in The Phillipian of May 1 (you can access the whole article online). He said, “What I learned from my education is [that] I don’t do the science I was trained to do [Jon has a PhD in organic chemistry]. I learned how to think—and think for myself— and have confidence in myself. I think [Andover] gave me the ability to think and the ability to feel confident in myself.” Jon continued, “We live [on] a very, very beautiful, magical planet. ...Today, there is no deep wilderness, because we’ve lost it out of our minds. We can try to get there, but we will never have the minds that we have lost. We will never have that deep wilderness.” As reported by The Phillipian, “Turk told students who are unsure of what they want to do in the future that they should choose something that makes them happy. ‘Each person is different. I’m me, you’re you, and we each have our own different internal selves. If you’re lucky, you’re able to separate what makes you happy...from what society thinks you should be. If you can separate those peacefully, and follow who you are at all costs, whatever the cost, find yourself and go there.’ ” It is pretty clear that few in Jon’s audience will go on to have his remarkable life experiences. His upcoming book is titled Crocodiles and Ice: A Journey into Deep Wild. And some personal thoughts relating to Jon’s advice to the students. I am a David Brooks fan; I have read much of his work and have twice seen him speak in person (including during his visit to Andover a couple of years back). His current book, The Road to Character, I read to take issue with “[c]ommencement speeches that are larded with the same clichés: Follow your passion. Don’t
accept limits. Chart your own course. You have a responsibility to do great things because you are so great.” Brooks labels these as “the gospel of self-trust” and asserts that higher purpose is found outside, not within, ourselves (non sibi, anyone?). And he differentiates between what he calls “resume virtues” and “eulogy virtues.” I for one am no longer building a resume and am actively constructing my eulogy. I suspect I am in the majority of our generation on that front. With that, the larder is empty, the well dry. Replenish me. Replenish yourselves. Your scribe is listening.
1964 ABBOT
Allis Brooks Hanley 206 Sioux Place Loudon TN 37774 865-458-8872 dhanley@bellsouth.net
Kristina “Kit” Jones Prager writes, “I am in full kitchen/laundry/breakfast-room remodel. Fun, but exhausting. Last remodeled when we moved into our house in 1987. Since then, choice selection has grown exponentially. “[Husband Allan] and I will be in Japan for two weeks at the end of May, which is when everything will come together in the remodel, and we would preferably be here to supervise. We will pass that responsibility to our daughter, who lives around the corner. “Amy Shlossberg Wolfram, husband Mike, and son Brad will be with us in early July on their way from Seattle, where Brad has just finished his medical residency, to LA.” Susie Localio writes, “At this moment, we are deep into the gardens— both veggie and other stuff. I just ran outside (after dinner) to transplant spinach. [Husband Daniel] and I manage to stay busy with grandkids. In June I fly back East with my nephew for his fifth year at Camp Treetops, to which I remain a faithful alum. Treetops, with its emphasis on organic gardening and getting out into the wilderness and working as a community, shaped my life in many ways. Abbot seems a long time ago. Daniel and I head out again in early September for a five-day backpack in Olympic National Park.” Nancy Poynter Sandberg writes, “[Husband] Malcolm and I escaped a long, harsh New England winter for three weeks by exploring the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southwest France. We wound around through tiny medieval villages and vineyards, enjoying lovely wines and cheeses with another couple from Durham, N.H. Back home now, we’re delighting in being outdoors and getting ready for sailing in Maine this summer. Would love to see any classmates any time.” Joan Harney Wiles writes, “[Husband John] and I have just returned from a trip to Barcelona and a cruise in the Western Mediterranean. Our Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected...
Numerous members of the Class of ’65 sported a distinctive tie-dyed shirt for the occasion of their 50th Reunion. From left are Malcolm Brown, David Ward, and John Jameson.
son, Christopher, came with us, and we had a wonderful family vacation. Christopher starts medical school in August and will be occupied for some years to come, so it was a special treat to have this time together.” Lucretia Bingham wrote, “I have just come back from leading a Connecticut Audubon trip to Peru. It was magical, exhausting, knee-boggling fun. Will be leading another trip in 2017. My first novel, The Talcott House, has been holding its own on Barnes & Noble and Amazon. If anyone wants to buy it, they can go to my website, TheTalcottHouse.com.” Gwyneth Walker’s new opera, Evangeline, premiered in Hammond, La., in March. This work, based on the Longfellow poem, dramatizes the forced exile of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in the 1750s. Many Acadians found their way down to Louisiana, where they became know as “Cajuns.” The lead roles in the Louisiana performance were Cajun descendants. In August, a second round of performances of Evangeline was presented in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia, former home of the exiled Acadians. Mary Travers Munger writes, “While in Florida, [husband] Craig and I went to several open houses. Our house in Canandaigua, N.Y., survived the extended below-zero temperatures without us, so we feel it will be OK to leave it for a longer period next winter. To that end, we bought a little golf condo in Florida.” Laura Stevenson writes, “My book of linked short stories, Liar From Vermont, is coming out in July. Just before that, I’m going to spend two weeks visiting family in England, with a side trip to Spain, at the end of June. Otherwise, I’m just keeping up the garden, babysitting grandchildren, and finishing a murder mystery.”
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Head of School John Palfrey welcomed the Class of ’65 to Phelps House for cocktails on Friday evening. From left are Jack McLean ’66, Susan Hackley (wife of Paul Henry), John Palfrey, and Paul Henry ’65.
PHILLIPS Ken Gass 2107 Evening Star Lane Bellingham WA 98229 360-393-2612 (cell) agassk@aol.com
The Peter Schandorff PA ’64 China 50th Reunion Tour was held April 14–29, to universal rave reviews by the following 19 classmates, significant others, and friends in attendance: Nancy and Steve Calderwood, Randy Elkins, Francie and Ken Gass, Maria and Prescott “Buck” Little, Ames Nelson and Maddie Hunter, Alicia and Chuck Rounds, Carolyn and Logan “L.E.” Sawyer, Steve Spare and Sue Taylor, Faye and Dana Waterman, and Earl and Lynn Freeman (friends of L.E.). Peter was discharged home just one week before the tour, after a 134-day, complication-filled hospital stay for spinal fusion surgery, and still faces weeks of rehab. Peter was ever present, however, in the marvelous Chinese guides he selected and in the attention to detail and our comfort throughout the trip. Steve Calderwood, who had to leave two days early to direct a conference back home, summed up the magic of the tour: “It was a wonderful trip, made so great not just by the places we saw, but by the opportunities to get to know each of you and hear about your lives and families since Andover.” Speaking of connections, we managed to download a copy of “Royal Blue” on Spare’s iPad, send it via Bulgarian e-mail to our cruise director, and print it out on our American-owned cruise liner motoring down the Yangtze River. As L.E. Sawyer recalled, “We practiced ‘Royal Blue’ at the stern of our ship on the Yangtze and later that night sang on stage under spotlights in front of about 200 Chinese passengers. As well received as we might have been, there’s no
doubt our spouses stole the show when they followed with a rousing rendition of the hokey pokey! We hope and believe we will continue the extraordinary harmony and good times by getting together again each year. Looks like Tucson this December for Steve Spare’s 70th birthday will be our next opportunity.” A link to highlight pictures and videos is http://1drv.ms/1Bo2dWv. After our last dinner together in Shanghai, we called Peter in St. Louis and sang “Royal Blue,” with Peter joining in. “I feel good,” reported Peter, ever the happy Buddha. By pure guesstimation, approximately half of our class is still going to work. Steve Burbank enjoys the stimulation of teaching and writing as a long-tenured faculty member of the UPenn Law School, yet admits, “It helps that I will be on a year’s sabbatical starting July 1, spending most of the summer and fall on Cape Cod, and the spring in Berkeley, Calif., writing a book with my co-author and avoiding another winter like the last one.” Mike Cathcart, in the drawn-out process of ending his career in construction litigation, has landed the perfect retirement gig as president of the Valley Hunt Club in Pasadena, Calif. He reports, “It’s a 126-year-old family club, the founder of the Tournament of Roses. One of my duties will be to have the family ride with me in a horse-drawn carriage during the Rose Bowl parade.” Mike has contacted Peter Schandorff for insights into spinal fusion surgery, set for Mike in May. Howard Cutler has reported in from Seattle on his full, arts-imbued life in retirement. After 18 years together, he and Ann Senechal married at the end of 2014 in a small church near Andover. While in the area, they visited the Addison Gallery, where Howard was inspired again, as he was as a PA student, by the collection and the fine arts program. Back home he plans to make time for easel painting. Meanwhile, he says, a music-recording project, The Mighty-Fine!, with
www.andover.edu/intouch
Barbara Sykes ’65 and Katherine Staples ’65 donned their shades for Saturday’s bright sunshine.
“a number of talented musicians all around the country, [has] been as much fun as any project I’ve ever undertaken.” He continues on the boards of two empowering nonprofits, to be found at planusa.org and fearlessideas.org. Another theme of these notes is hanging in there to the finish, à la Peter Schandorff, no matter how hard and how different you imagined it would be. John Bemis ran in his “one and only” marathon, the Boston, this April, to honor the fighting spirit of his wife, Jamie, in her recovery from a 2011 stroke and to raise money for the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Charlestown, Mass., instrumental in her recovery. Despite rain, temperatures in the low 40s, and gusting winds, says John, he crossed the finish line with “not as much pride as I had hoped, but for sure a terrific feeling of relief and thanks for the support of so many friends.” As these notes are being written over Memorial Day weekend, it is timely to remember and thank our many classmates who served our country and the even greater number of our fathers who did. Randy Hobler pointed out the May 7 New York Times piece on the death of Jeff Garten’s father, Melvin, one of the most decorated combat veterans of his time; his honors included no fewer than five Purple Hearts and many more awards for heroism earned in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Jeff recalled, “My dad came to address an Andover assembly in 1963 after he came back from a top-secret mission to Africa to rescue some Americans who had been kidnapped in the Congo. I can’t remember what he talked about, only that I hadn’t seen him in months because of his clandestine activities.”
In honor of their 50th Reunion, a number of classmates from PA ’64 took a trip to China in April. Pictured here, practicing “Royal Blue” on a Yangtze River cruise, are, from left, Chuck Rounds, Ames Nelson, Buck Little, Steve Calderwood, Dana Waterman, Ken Gass, Steve Spare, L.E. Sawyer, and Randy Elkins.
1965 ABBOT
Karen Swenson 20100 SW Peavine Road McMinnville OR 97128 503-472-2988 chezkren@gmail.com
Thirty classmates attended the 50th Reunion: Katherine Abler Harvey and husband Julian, Janet Barker, Joan Brazer Walker and husband Thomas, Carol Couch, Emily Davis, Barbara Dow White, Liz Eder McCulloch, Melanie Fales Davis, Robin Gamble Freeman, Laura Halford Sparrow, Susan Harney Lathrop, Toney Hopkins and partner, Jim Jones, Ellen Huntington Slade, Langdon Learned Holloway, Sarah Massengale Gregg, Anne McDermott, Martha “Lee” Mock Ryan, Kathryn Platz Zox, Anne Rahilly Crawford, Becky Reynolds Zielinski and husband Gene, Martha “Tunket” Spaulding, Katherine Staples, Kathy Stover Holian, Babara Suhr White, Barbara Sykes, Susan Voorhees, Maggie Warshaw Brill, Sarah Watson DeCew, Mary “Heidi” Wilson, and myself. Various committees put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to contact classmates, publish the reunion book, schedule events, and plan meals. Thanks to all who worked so hard to make this wonderful weekend happen. The schedule included two dinners, Thursday and Friday, at Davis Hall in McKeen Hall on the Abbot Campus (where we used to stage our plays, sing our concerts, and hold dances). Also, an Abbot ’65 Talking Circle, facilitated by Ellen, and an Abbot Tea were held on the third floor of Abbot Hall, where we attended chapel during our time at Abbot. All the other events were held on the main Andover campus, which presents interesting
challenges to those of us unfamiliar with Andover’s buildings. Yours truly almost missed the Abbot ’65 photo while searching for the right location. Several classmates returned who had not been back to a reunion for many years, if at all. By Sunday morning, when it was time to say goodbye, they were vowing to be back for the 55th! Susan Harney Lathrop, Katherine Staples, and Lee Mock Ryan had all not been back in years, attended with some trepidation, and really enjoyed themselves. Susan works for Swarthmore College in development and is an avid gardener. Katherine came from Austin, Texas, where she has recently retired from college teaching. She continues to import folk art and crafts from her many travels and wore some lovely examples of her imports. She had planned a trip to Florence, Italy, but decided to attend the reunion instead. I was so happy she made that choice! Her wry sense of humor and literary phrasing kept me laughing every time we talked. Lee was convinced to attend by neighboring Virginian Sarah Massengale Gregg, and it was a pleasure to visit with Lee as she reconnected with Abbot classmates in a heartfelt way. Sarah is enjoying a newfound sense of independence and provided an affirming influence on all of us. She helped Ellen Huntington Slade with a project during the reunion, beyond the call of duty. More on that will be revealed in the next issue. Anne McDermott was only able to attend one day. She was preparing for her daughter’s wedding. Others arrived on Thursday and left Sunday, enjoying lots of activities and many opportunities to talk with classmates. Katherine Abler Harvey and husband Julian came from their home in Chicago on their way to their home in Antibes, France. Katherine is very interested in the Abbot Archives project. Liz Eder McCulloch arrived from Gainesville, Fla., where she has retired from teaching law. Liz is active in helping and advocating Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... for the homeless community in her area. She continues to write her blog, which you can read at thefeministgrandma.typepad.com, while raising her teenage granddaughter. Liz enjoyed discussing music, another of her passions, with Julian. Emily Davis arrived towing her camper, Aretha, with her truck topped by her dinghy, Tina. Emily was a vibrant, positive force at the reunion; she also cut a rug on the dance floor Saturday night (as did Katherine Staples). Emily spends part of her summers in Maine and was traveling from there to her home in South Carolina. Her Southern courtesy and charm were ever present, as she greeted and thanked every staff member and server she encountered. Carol Couch spoke with enthusiasm about her work with the Job Corps, a federally funded program providing job training to at-risk youth. Carol also shared with us the challenges of being a day student who lived on the Andover campus. Her father was on the faculty there. She loved coming down the Hill to Abbot, a place she considered a “safe haven.” Maggie Warshaw Brill is another former day student who just recently started attending reunions. Maggie also had interesting thoughts about being a day student. The only meal day students attended was lunch, and they spent much of their time in the day student room on campus. Maggie became good friends with Sarah Watson DeCew, thanks to the alphabetical seating method Abbot used. Maggie and her husband, Nick, are celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary this year. Robin Gamble Freeman was both a day student and a boarding student, and she also had remembrances of those two different experiences. She lives in rural Vermont and is concerned with the changes she sees happening there. Laura Halford Sparrow and Heidi Wilson were great examples of friends and roommates attending the reunion. Laura arrived from her home in Michigan and shared with us some of the highlights of her long and happy career in teaching as well as her love of working with teenagers. One of the very thoughtful things Laura did was to bring her Abbot yearbook from 1965 and ask all of us to sign it. Many-time reunion attendee Toney Hopkins was there with her partner, Jim. Toney and Jim are in the process of moving to Framingham, Mass., to be closer to Toney’s mother. They are happy to be relocating to an area with many cultural opportunities. They both enjoy art, and it is a telling fact that the first thing they moved, very carefully, to their new place was their artwork! Jim is a great observer and has written some wonderful pieces about Abbot women from his reunion experiences. They are a delightful couple. Before my word limit expires for this issue, I need to mention the tireless work of Melanie and Tunket on behalf of our class for our 50th Reunion. Melanie has just retired, and she was on a Women and Leadership panel that took place on Saturday. Both she and Tunket have been integral in bridging
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the gap between Abbot and Andover. Tunket, with her calm and positive demeanor, made a point of reconnecting with each of her Abbot classmates. They both spent countless hours to ensure what was a fabulous experience for all attendees. There are more kudos to deliver and reunion memories to share, but those will be forthcoming in the next issue.
PHILLIPS Ely “Terry” Kahn 243 West 60th St., Apt. 7D New York NY 10023 917-575-1514 ejkahn3@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: Following this issue, Nick Marble will be stepping down from his role as class secretary. The Academy thanks him for his service. He will be succeeded by classmate Terry Kahn.] Well, guys, we did it. We made it to 50 years post-Andover. In a nutshell, it was and will remain a very memorable three and a half days. It was at times uproarious and at other times poignant beyond words. I will try to go beyond the nutshell. First, some highlights. There was golf organized by Colby Snyder (who attended reunion with wife Kim); a showing of the film Regular Guys (with helpful captioned names) by Kevin Rafferty; rowing for the more mobile among us; classes with no tests (!); and more cocktail receptions than I could count. Ellen Huntington Slade ’65 went way beyond the extra mile to give us the lowdown on life at Abbot in the 1960s. For those of us who never climbed the fire escape at Draper Hall to see what went on half a mile down the Hill, her hilarious delivery was the eye-opener to end all eye-openers. On the other side of the emotional scale was the simple, eloquent, and moving tribute to our fallen classmates, organized by Lowell Turnbull (attending reunion with wife Randi Greenwald) and conducted by Dan Warren and Mac McCabe. Our own classical pianist, Eugen Indjic, performed at that ceremony and again the next day to a huge audience and several standing ovations in Cochran Chapel. We are fortunate beyond description to have Gene in our class. Mac also facilitated many lively afternoon discussions on life at and after Andover. The traditional Saturday parade of the classes went off without a hitch and found us resplendent and eminently recognizable in our tie-dyed blue polo shirts. They are sure to be collector’s items. Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly. A quick word here: The weather each day was perfect—blue sky, a few puffy clouds, a light breeze. The Class of ’65 is getting closer to the Old Guard with each passing year (only 20 more and we’re there). That’s when we get to ride in the golf carts, and we “march” the longest distance in the parade. Later that same day, Head of School John Palfrey delivered the annual State of the Academy address. I needed a nap, so I skipped that one. However, I can tell you that,
based on my observations, the school seems to be doing just fine. A billion-dollar endowment, a dedicated faculty and staff, a hard-working facilities crew, and the support of a generous alumni/ alumnae base will do that. Saturday night found us in the Mural Room in Paresky Commons for cocktails. There is an imposing, nearly life-size portrait of a formidablelooking woman named Bertha Bailey on the east wall. Bertha kept us all under control. She reigned over Abbot for about 23 years, from 1912 to 1935. Then, it was on to a terrific dinner (you read that right: a terrific dinner in Commons), followed by more cocktails and dancing (under Bertha’s watchful gaze) until midnight (I bailed at 11). Mark Carnevale (attending with wife Penny) found a super DJ who even did a decent Elvis imitation. For those of you who could not make it, and for those who did attend but did not have a chance to get around campus as much as I did, I’d like to offer a few observations. First, the campus is still drop-dead beautiful. The Elm Walk is making a comeback from the loss of many trees several years ago. The classroom buildings and the dorms no longer appear to be on the verge of settling into the earth. There is a new science building, Gelb Science Center (complete with an observatory), to replace the then-new Evans science building where we studied biology, chemistry, and physics. A new wellness center is under construction between Benner House and Bulfinch. The library has undergone expansion and updating. The interior of GW is almost unrecognizable from our days at PA. Rest assured, however, that George continues to maintain a watchful eye over the comings and goings of the student body. You can run, but you can’t hide. Another very moving campus addition deserves special notice. Across Salem Street which goes past Bulfinch, and just south of Hardy House, stands a semicircular brick wall with about a dozen broken columns on top. It is perhaps four feet high and 20 feet from one end of the arc to the other. The structure is a tribute to the Andover grads who lost their lives in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the more recent conflicts in the Middle East. Their names are inscribed on plaques that line the memorial. Like so much else on the campus, the memorial is simple, understated, and poignant. The reunion could not possibly have succeeded without the work of many classmates over several years. A special shout-out goes to the PA members of the reunion committee: the aforementioned Mark Carnevale and Lowell Turnbull, Paul Henry (with wife Susan Hackley), Doug Pirnie (with wife Roxanne Edwards), Eddie Samp (with wife Kathy), John Samp (with wife Lynda), Steve Seeche, Don Shepard (with wife Emily Maitin), and Pete Vanderwarker (with wife Richie Vanderwarker). However, if no one shows up, the efforts of the committee are like dust in the wind. The school graciously furnished the attendee list (and the
www.andover.edu/intouch spelling of each name). If I omitted anyone who attended or included anyone who did not, or misspelled a name, well, let’s just say I tried my best. In addition to those named previously in this column, here goes: Eleanor and Sam Alberstadt, Steve Allen, Karen and Rob Arras, Elizabeth and Brock Baker, Dick Barnum, Barbara Fallon and B.J. Bernblum, Jay Bond, Molly Kauffman and Bill Bonnett, Leah Sprague and Morrison Bonpasse, Alba Briggs, Sandra and Jud Brown, Patricia and Malcolm Brown, Stephanie Baas and John Browning, Andjela Kessler and Pete Burkhard, Bill Chamberlin, Nancy Barrett and Peter Clapp, Claire and Skip Comstock, Jeanne Circosta and Pete Constantineau, Pete Dennehy, John Dineen, Tom Doherty, Jim Eller, Lynn and Randy Evans, Todd Everett, John Fox, Kathryn and Tony Gibson, Wendy and Tom Hafkenschiel, Pete Haley, Chris Harte, Cynthia Foote and Ward Hinkle, Mike Hudner, Mickey Jako, Beverly and Jay James, John Jameson, Ben Jerman, Terry Kahn, Doug Karlson, Wendy and Bud Kellett, Arnie Koehler, Christi Myers and Russ Laughead, Elissa Carlson and John Levine, Allen Liu, Jack McLean, Lindsay and Stu McLean, Ted McLean, Tim Mahoney, Joe Magruder, Carolie and Kit Meade, Mark Melamed, Mark Moore, Gilda Garcia and Jim Munroe, Roger Murray, Catherine Thomas and Herb Ogden, John Patrick, Nancy and Pete Perault, Valerie and Geoff Perry, Calico and Tim Perry, Linda and John Phillips, Jeff Pidot, Diane and Rick Platt, Jon Rairigh, Maura O’Neill and Vaho Rebassoo, Angela Perry and Stew Reed, Jock Reynolds, Greg Richards, Savery and Louis Rorimer, Darrell Salk, Danny Samuels, Alex Sanger, Craig Scanlan, Brigitte and Michel Scheinmann, Franz Schneider (accompanied by Sally Fine and Ellsworth Fersch), Charlie Sheldon, Pamela and Mike Sheldrick, Kathleen Hursh and Jim Shuey, Hank Snavely, Annsley and George Strong, Ralph Swanson, John Twineham, Roger Valkenburgh, Dave Waud, John Whisnant, Elaine and Tom Witherspoon, Mike Wood, Patty and Doug Woodlock, Konnie Yankopolus, and Cindy and Phil Young. I’m now bowing out as class secretary. It has been tons of fun keeping in touch with you guys, and it has strengthened my connection with the school and its mission far beyond what I could possibly have imagined at the outset. Thank you to all who shared their thoughts with me and who from time to time made helpful suggestions on how I could better do this job. And thanks to my wife, Kerry, who provided guidance with some of the “mechanics” of contacting classmates and organizing the notes. Terry Kahn has graciously agreed to succeed me. Your class notes will be in his most capable hands, and I wish him the best as he takes on this responsibility. Sadly, our ranks continue to thin, and I regret to inform you that Stu McAfee passed away earlier
this year. I’m sure we remember Stu as a friendly guy with a wonderful voice and a quiet demeanor. We will miss him greatly. We’ll be reuniting again in 2020. We’ll undoubtedly and inevitably be even fewer in number, but let’s try to keep the enthusiasm high and make the effort to attend. Eddie Samp will be our reunion chair. If he calls you, don’t hang up. There are always ways to help and to be a part of a fun and rewarding endeavor. See you then. —Nick Marble
1966 ABBOT
Blake Hazzard Allen 481 School St. Rumney NH 03266 603-786-9089 603-359-0870 (cell) blakemanallen@gmail.com pakistan.partnership@gmail.com
While writing for a fall issue, greetings from an early May morning. With our reunion year of 2016 fast approaching, please return in June in celebration, exploration, and remembrance. Class narratives capture the rich texture of our baby-boom generation and serve as benchmarks of connectivity. So please come celebrate that June day in 1966 when we marched forward into an uncertain future. Share stories accrued in 50 years, use reunion as respite, or return to relax and renew on a vital Abbot campus. Although the Abbot and Phillips merger took place in 1973, Abbot at Andover remains. Please come explore Abbot’s powerful legacy on campus. Tour the Abbot and Andover archives virtually and in real time: www.noblenet.org/paarchives/. Besides serving as a repository of historical documents from Abbot, Andover, and the merged school, the archives provide PA students with opportunities to integrate past and present through research projects. The Abbot collection gives students a fascinating lens on a remarkable history of female education. Add to that legacy through the Abbot Archives Project: Alumnae Preserving Abbot’s History, http://bit.ly/1OP3sFX. Reunions also entail remembrance. Julia Alvarez ’67 shared the following profound loss: “Our beloved Mauricia ‘Maury’ Alvarez— mother, sister, friend—passed away on February 27 in her home in Conway, Mass. Noble-hearted, generous to a fault, larger than life, she cast her bread upon the waters and kept us all in the steady supply of her affection, her attention, her gifts, her warmth, her zany humor, and her sense of fun. For many years she worked in community health, including spearheading programs in Latino mental health in Boston, where she spent most of her professional life. She taught
at Harvard Medical School and was a senior staff psychologist at Cambridge Hospital, specializing in services for immigrants and refugees. After her parents’ return to their native Dominican Republic, she moved there to provide loving, devoted care to them in their last years. Friendship and abounding compassion were always her guiding stars—she never held back when a friend needed her, and when there was someone in need, they instantly found a friend in Maury. Tellingly, the subject of her doctoral dissertation was ‘The Constructing of Friendship in Adulthood.’ But Maury needed no institution to teach her this deep-seated gift in her nature or degree to certify she was a genuine friend. We ask in lieu of flowers or donations to a specific cause—and she had many she championed— that those who want to preserve her legacy cast their bread upon the waters, wherever they find themselves. That will be her true legacy to those who mourn her and admired her.” With the loss of classmates as a reminder of all that is important, as we approach our 50th Reunion, please return to celebrate our past, explore Abbot roots, and remember those no longer with us.
PHILLIPS Ray Healey 740 West End Ave., Apt. 111 New York NY 10025 212-866-8507 drrayhealey@gmail.com
When Bill Littlefield, Chas Phillips, and I were growing up in Montclair, N.J., we played a variety of sports. Montclair had a plethora of parks, packed with baseball diamonds, basketball courts, football fields, and tennis courts, and great places to play were a short bike ride away. Chas was a gifted athlete, a fine tennis player who routinely won the town tennis tourneys in Mountainside Park, and he also excelled as a catcher on our Little League team (and often a pitcher). He was a natural, as they say. Bill and I played Little League and plenty of tennis, but Bill particularly distinguished himself as a golfer. Both of our families belonged to the Montclair Golf Club, and I remember the day we teed off in the junior club championship. I hit a passable drive that was lucky to stay in the fairway. Bill displayed his singular form: He had a big, arcing swing, and he could routinely boom his drives 250 yards—but he also possessed a highly eccentric “banana-ball slice”; on that first tee he swiveled his hips way to the left (looking as if he were going to bash his drive to the far side of the ninth fairway), then lashed at the ball Arnold Palmer–style, and we watched in wonder as the ball went into a singular orbit, flying majestically over the full extent of the ninth fairway and then soaring all the way across the first fairway, landing on the far side, just inside the rough, dead solid perfect. In those halcyon days, we each had our boyhood dreams. Chas imagined growing up to Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... be Rod Laver, I wanted to play first-line center for the New York Rangers (a dream more realistic for the likes of Jack Turco, Chris Gurry, or, say, Jack Morrison ’63), and, although I’m not sure what Bill’s boyhood dream was, I know that he has realized a childhood fantasy many of us probably harbored at one point or another: Yes, my old buddy Bill Littlefield grew up to be a sportswriter. As jobs go, it doesn’t get any better than that. If you want visible evidence, follow this link to a Web page of the Boston-based NPR station for which Bill has been a sports reporter and correspondent for many years, WBUR: http://bit.ly/1h5GXB6. There you will find a 1990 photograph of our man Bill interviewing legendary sportswriter Roger Angell in Fenway Park, right before a Boston Red Sox game. Getting to do that as part of your day job is pretty close to nirvana. To provide a quick update on Bill’s felicitous career, here are some excerpts from his bio on the website of NPR. org (http://n.pr/1LRGAFU). “Bill Littlefield, nationally known author and veteran sports commentator, hosts NPR’s Only A Game, produced by NPR station WBUR in Boston,” a show syndicated to more than 230 NPR stations nationwide. “Littlefield has been a commentator for WBUR and NPR since 1984. He is the writer-in-residence at Curry College in Milton, Mass., where he has been a professor in the Humanities Division since 1976. He taught writing courses at the Harvard University Summer School and in Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Summer Program for Masters Candidates from 1981 until 1987. Littlefield has written two novels, Prospect (for which he also wrote a screenplay) and The Circus in the Woods. He published two collections of his radio and magazine work, Keepers and Only A Game. He collaborated with photographer Henry Horenstein on Baseball Days and wrote Champions, a collection of profiles of remarkable athletes for young readers. He was the guest editor of Houghton Mifflin’s The Best American Sports Writing, 1998, and his column reviewing sports-related books appears every other month in the Boston Globe. Only A Game and Littlefield’s commentaries have won numerous Associated Press Awards, and he has been celebrated by the associates of the Boston Public Library as one of Boston’s ‘Literary Lights.’ ” Bill edited a new book earlier this year, a collection of the best sports writing by W.C. Heinz, a famous sportswriter who wrote for the New York Sun for several decades after WWII. Bill compiled this collection for Library of America, and it’s called The Top of His Game: The Best Sportswriting of W.C. Heinz. In a review of this book in the March 16 New York Times, Mark Kram wrote, “Mr. Littlefield does a fine job pulling the stories together for this collection…which is far more comprehensive than two previous compilations of [Heinz’s] work. Reading him here once again packs the power of a one-punch knockout.” In 2014, Bill wrote a book of sporting poems, Take Me Out. One of them, about auto racing,
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is inimitable Littlefield, and I include it here. It’s called “What Racers Do.” Racers race. That’s what they do, / And they are fast, and noisy, too. / (Of quiet they are quite bereft, / Driving fast and turning left.) / Through headphones, as they speed along, / They hear instructions like a song / Screeching in the treble clef: / “Keep driving fast and turning left!” / Precisely where it had begun, / The race will end. It will be won, / For someone opposite of last / Kept turning left and driving fast. Adios, amigos. Keep writing, e-mailing, and texting.
1967 ABBOT
Anstiss Bowser Agnew 46 Goodwives River Road Darien CT 06820 203-912-5264 aagnew@forestdaleinc.org anstissa@aol.com Catherine Hoover Petros 25119 U.S. Hwy. 40 Golden CO 80401 303-526-5202 chpetros@msn.com
Anstiss Bowser Agnew just held the annual benefit for Forestdale, Inc., the child welfare organization based in Queens, N.Y., that she has run for the past nine years. She has set a retirement date of Dec. 31, 2016. Anstiss’s kids are 31 and 28. Her son, Chris, lives close by, and is a terrific support and her chief cheerleader. Her daughter, Lizzie, is in San Francisco and has cofounded an e-commerce clothing company, www.modern-citizen.com. Theda Braddock just published the fifth edition of her third book, Washington Environmental Law Handbook, and is still teaching at the University of Washington Tacoma. Dorsey Green is still working as a psychotherapist and adjunct clinical instructor at the University of Washington. Dorsey’s older son and his wife have three boys and have settled in Seattle, only six minutes away. Her younger son and his wife moved to Seattle in August and are expecting their first child this fall. She is thrilled to have all of them so close! Jean Haley Hogan is still running her interior design business, specializing in architectural restoration and high-end interiors of older properties. She is a trustee of the Concord Museum. Jean lives an hour north of Boston in an antique house on eight acres, gardens when her back allows, and travels as time permits. She just returned from a month in Southeast Asia. Diana Bonnifield Hill reports, “I’m on the brink of retirement (but may change my mind), due to Jockey’s closing of its fashion business. Strangely, I felt it as another loss. My energy has been increasingly devoted to my 87-year-old mom,
who lives at home on the opposite end of the continent. Having lost my dad and my in-laws in the past nine months, I’ve become more conscious of our mortality and the passage of time. On the other hand, our six grandchildren (ages 4 to 14) have added great fun and color to our lives. ‘To everything there is a season.’ ” In May, Catherine Hoover Petros and her husband, Ray, went on a hiking trip in Tuscany with a Colorado College group and then traveled to Slovenia to see the sights in Ljubljana and the Julian Alps. While in Slovenia, they spent time with some cousins on Ray’s mom’s side of the family whom he met when he was there about 25 years ago. Louisa “Weezie” Huntington and her husband are starting to take separate vacations—he goes on Road Scholar hiking trips, while she participates in photographic workshops. She is still hooking rugs and invites anyone nearby to attend the Hooked Rug Festival at the Mill Oct. 3 and 4, 2015, in Stockton, N.J., which she is installing (www. rugfestival.com). In May 2014 Weezie moved into an active 55-plus community and loves it. She is definitely looking forward to seeing everyone in October at the get-together. Linda Sullivan moved her business, WORDsmart, to her home last July, so going to work is a lot easier. On April 10, she had a wonderful Indian dinner with Jane von der Heyde Lindley, Judy Hannegan Sherman, and Judy’s significant other, Lise. Judy and Lise were in New York to go to the theatre and to watch the Red Sox play the Yankees, a game that lasted 19 innings. Linda and her husband, Michael, recently went to a NASCAR race in Bristol, Tenn., driving down via the Blue Ridge Mountains in western Virginia. Roxy Wolfe and husband Jeff are doing well, managing to fight off advice that they “should” retire. Roxy was recently named a fellow of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, a major professional honor!
PHILLIPS Joseph P. Kahn 28 Gallison Ave. Marblehead MA 01945 781-639-2668 617-515-7553 (cell) josephpkahn@gmail.com
As many of you know, Ford Fraker was inducted into the PA Athletics Hall of Honor this past June, a fitting salute to one of ’67’s outstanding multisport athletes. Ford earned nine varsity letters during his Andover career, starring in hockey, football, baseball, and soccer—quite a feat in itself—before matriculating to Harvard, where he skated for the Crimson icemen. Ford joins former Harvard teammate Joe Cavanagh (AHoH Class of 2010) as our only class inductees, at least so far. Meanwhile, Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and president of the Middle East Policy Council, was
www.andover.edu/intouch a go-to commentator on the surprising ascension last spring of Prince Mohammed bin Salman to a top Saudi leadership position. (Presumably not ice hockey commissioner, though.) Ray Bird checked in by phone from his home in Point Pleasant, N.J., where he’s now retired from a 36-year teaching career, the last dozen spent at Lake Forest (Ill.) Academy. Upon his retirement, the school established a $2.5 million Dr. Ray Bird Master Chair in English. Retirement finds him writing a poetry collection and a book on teaching. His waterfront townhouse is located in a Jersey Shore area ravaged by Hurricane Sandy two years ago but now bouncing back, according to Ray. “Privileged to spend two months a year near Lucca, Italy,” he penned in a follow-up e-mail. “Playing tennis on two new hips. Life is good—reading and writing all day, with a few glasses of wine. Really hope that old friends can join us down on the Jersey Shore or in Lucca.” A brief e-mail from John Bassett arrived while he was headed from New Hampshire to northern New Mexico to babysit his two grandkids, ages 5 and 3. Hoping to play golf with Charlie Collier and me sometime soon, Hound wrote, “I need help with trying to figure out how to get people to give for the 50th [Reunion].” Not being much of a fundraiser myself, I feel for him. So step up and give the man some sage advice. Any and all suggestions welcome here. Following up on my last post about Steve Gardner and his e-book memoir of his late son Graham: Jabberwocky is now available for purchase at www.ghgpublishing.com. It’s both moving and inspirational. In my own semiretired phase of life, I’m now combining two interests, nonprofit work and youth sports, in becoming a strategic advisor to an urban baseball program called The BASE (www. thebase.org). Headquartered in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood, it combines rigorous baseball training with academic prep work, opening a costfree path to college for dozens of black and Latino youths each year. If you, too, find yourself engaged in interesting post-retirement work, let me know. I’ll do my best to share it here.
1968 ABBOT Karen Seaward 659 Kendall Ave. Palo Alto CA 94306 klseaward@att.net
The big event for us in April 2015 was our mini reunion in Naples, Fla. Here are the notes that I wrote on the plane back to San Francisco. Um, I would normally have pestered all of you for news, especially those of us at the reunion, but I was remiss about the class notes deadline in May, so,
Stay in Touch!
Visit our “one-stop Web page” that consolidates all the various ways of connecting with Andover friends and classmates. At www.andover.edu/intouch, you can link to Alumni Directory, Andover’s Facebook page, Notable Alumni, and lots more. Of course, you can still update your records in the traditional ways: ● Visit
www.andover.edu/alumnidirectory, and log in to update your information
● E-mail ● Call
alumni-records@andover.edu
978-749-4287
● Send
a note to: Alumni Records, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161
with my apologies, here is what I submitted in haste—my recollections of the reunion. They say that good fortune is all about time and place. This was so true for those of us who traveled to our mini reunion. We arrived at the Park Shore Resort in Naples, plucked from the Internet, to be delighted by the peaceful setting, with rooms surrounding a small lake and suites with comfort and amenities beyond expectation. Crowning all of this was getting to know one another again. Betsy Handy McCormack, Cary Cleaver, and I were roomies; Jackie McGinty joined Susan De Forest Barton and husband Roy (a brave man); and the one-night roomies were Annette Davis Esteves, Lynn Trenbath Key, and Betty Briggs Robinson. The early arrivers went on a bicycle tour of Marco Island, south of Naples. This was filled with a detailed history of the area, from the indigenous peoples (seven feet tall!) and the huge shell mounds they left to the extensive canals and waterways providing waterfront to many homes. A number of manatees were spotted in the canals, and the endangered burrowing owl was seen protecting its space. The following day, a larger group of us walked the quiet side of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. In the larger swamps we passed, there were a few alligators. This was a big deal for most of us. However, three folks on mountain bikes coming in the opposite direction stopped to tell us of their encounter with an area that was home to around 500 alligators. We did not pursue
this. Our last group sport activity was a walk to the beach and some swimming on a rather hot day. All of us were together for a Saturday night dinner and later gathered at the Park Shore gazebo for extended libations and confessions. Sunday morning we gathered for breakfast in one of the suites, where we were prompted by Annette to describe our passions, each in turn. Without giving away too many secrets, I can report that being in nature was a passion many of us shared. Those of us with children remained very involved with family, and those of us without had interests in horses and horticulture, small molecules and big molecules, helping others and finding personal limits. That said, catching up and chatting and eating and drinking and being in or on or near the ocean were passions shared by all!
PHILLIPS Gordon Baird 27 Fort Hill Ave. Gloucester MA 01930 978-283-0390 Gordon@rampartsfarm.com
From our intrepid in-the-field reporter Bruce Hearey: “It was a cold, sunny day in early January when several members of the Class of 1968 were honored to be present for the swearingin of our classmate Rob Barber as the ambassador to Iceland. Al Alessi took the train down from Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Woodstock, Vt., John Barclay and his wife, Wendy, drove up from Winston-Salem, N.C., Murph Yule flew in from Boston, I came in from Cleveland, and John Buchanan provided local representation. The ceremony was in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building immediately adjacent to the White House, and guests had to go through a gauntlet of security measures and be in their places a full hour ahead of time. There was great anticipation in the room, and eventually the two U.S. Senators from Rob’s home state of Massachusetts, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, appeared. The Andover contingent all sat together amid an intimate gathering of Rob’s colleagues, family, and friends—and were entertained during the wait by Murph’s story about his lost luggage. Only an hour earlier, he’d wound up in a Brooks Brothers store at Reagan National Airport, buying a shirt, tie, pants, a sports jacket, and shoes. Finally, out came Rob (beaming in his Andover tie) and his family: wife Bonnie and their three sons, Nicholas, Benjamin, and Alexander. A couple minutes later, Vice President Joe Biden arrived, and he led off the swearing-in with some remarks about Rob’s years of service and his impressive legal and community-activist career. Rob himself, after the official swearing-in, thanked all sorts of people in a very heartfelt way, talked about the importance of Iceland as an ally and friend of the U.S., and appeared more than comfortable in his new role as the top American in Reykjavik. “There was a reception afterwards at the tony Metropolitan Club, a few blocks away, where Rob relaxed a bit and his old Andover friends shared stories and basked in Rob’s reflected glory. It was a proud and special day for our class, and all who attended were very glad they had made the trip. Rob has extended an open invite to any classmates looking to visit Iceland, so feel free to take him up on it.” Former Arutz Sheva blogger Tzvi (Ken) Fishman has entered the race for the Ophir Award, Israel’s version of the Oscars. Could his new feature film Stories of Rebbe Nachman, starring the famous Israeli actor Yehuda Barkan, win the top prize and subsequently represent Israel in the Best Foreign Film category of the annual Academy Awards? Will the diehard Zionist Fishman, who unnerved many Arutz Sheva readers with his “no-future” blogs about the diaspora, be heading back to Hollywood? He says no: “For a film to be considered for the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, it can’t be in English, and our film is in English. So even if Stories of Rebbe Nachman places first at the Israeli Ophir Awards, the number-two film will be sent to Hollywood in its place.” Among the obstacles, he says, is that the film, based on four famous, fairytale-like stories of the Hasidic master Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, was made on a shoestring budget, 15 times less than typical Israeli feature productions, which generally benefit from hefty grants from the Israel Film Fund. Fishman explains that the fund gets its money from the government to foster Israeli filmmaking.
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According to Israeli film law, passed by the Knesset, only films in Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish, Amharic, Ladino, or Russian are considered Israeli films.“To me, it’s absurd,” the former Hollywood screenwriter turned baal teshuva maintains. “Beyond the insanity of considering a film in Arabic as Israeli, English is the language all Israeli kids have to learn in school in addition to Hebrew—not Arabic or Yiddish or Russian. I am thinking of taking my complaint to the Israel Supreme Court as a clear case of prejudice. Why shouldn’t an oleh [immigrant to Israel] from America be able to receive a grant to make a movie, just like an immigrant from Ethiopia or Russia?” Fishman says he made the film in English because the fables of Rebbe Nachman, with their messages of faith and joy, are universal in their meaning and appeal, for Jews and non-Jews alike, and English, he says, is still the universal language of films. “Also,” he says, “there are millions of Jews in America who have lost contact with Judaism completely, and there is a magical power in these stories to bring them back.” In addition, he says, he dreams of making a big-budget movie of the Chanukkah story, and to attract investors, it was important that his first, showcase film be in English. A note from P. Baxter Lanius: “Skip Jensen sent me the sad news that Chips Outerbridge died in early January of this year. I don’t have any real details—just a very short obit in the Bermuda Royal Gazette. My memories of Chips on Deke DiClemente’s soccer field were of a guy with a floppy head of blondish hair digging deep to make a left-footed cross into the center to allow Bruce Hearey, Dito Staley, or a surging Paul Brown to score the goal. Another memory: a housemaster’s knock on our Fuess House door and Chips coming to the door, opening it with cigarette casually cupped behind the door, and asking, ‘What’s up?’ A sad and reflective loss.”
1969 ABBOT
Sheila Donald Millington 5271 West Boniwood Turn Clinton MD 20735 smilling192112@yahoo.com 301-868-1631
[Editor’s note: Following this issue, Madelon Curtis Harper will step down from her role as class secretary. The Academy is grateful for her service. The new class secretary for the Abbot Class of 1969 is Sheila Donald Millington, whose contact information appears above.] Hi, ladies! I hope this column finds you well and happy. I didn’t receive much input from you this time around. Yes, I know Andover magazine is less timely than we would like, and I only get a limited word count, but I hope you will still write! I heard from Katrina Moulton Wollenberg,
one of my most trusty sources for input. She writes, “In March I took my youngest son, daughter-in-law, and two granddaughters on a Disney cruise. It was a blast, but I was very tired following the glorious week. Am learning bridge—part of my brain-expansion plan. Am considering dieting. Would much prefer to create some magnificent and mouth-watering meal for guests who come to our table to talk and feast. I am champing at the bit to get back to water aerobics and golf.” Carolyn Cain Ware said, “My daughter, Catherine, her husband, Patrick, and their two children moved in with us in August 2014! They wanted to be closer to both families, and it’s worked out great. They both work full time, telecommuting from our third floor, so I am the after-school caregiver. They have two children. We feel so lucky because we haven’t been able to see them much for the past seven years, while they’ve been in California.” Wendy Ewald writes, “Greetings from Tel Aviv! I’m part of an exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. My new book, This is Where I Live, published by Mack Books, came out in June. Brendan Doyle ’69 and Larry Kirkland have agreed to host a book party in DC, and there was another event at the International Center of Photography on June 16.” Keeping us up to date was Mary Schiavoni: “Our Chewy Q line of developmental teethers and oral exercisers for babies is being distributed around the world! Our R&D department is busy designing new products.” I also heard from one of our classmates, Maureen O’Hagan Steed, who had left Abbot before we graduated. She wrote, “I’m going to be retiring in a couple of months and don’t want to lose touch. I can be reached at mohagan1454@ att.net. I’m excited to be entering a new chapter in my life, after working as a computer programmer and systems analyst for the local community bank for almost 30 years. I started there in 1986 but can’t wait another year to make it an even 30 years before I retire! My husband and I will continue to live on our 20-acre place down in a canyon outside Ukiah, Calif. (two hours north of San Francisco in Mendocino County), which we bought five years ago; we are blessed with a creek that feeds our pond and a well, so we are weathering the California drought in good shape so far. It’s rural, but not as extreme as our last place, where we lived off the grid up in the hills north of Ukiah. I plan to attend the next reunion (50th!) in 2019.” As for me [Madelon Curtis Harper], I’m busy with my ballet and Pilates instruction as well as my acting pursuits. I am anxiously awaiting the release of the film I was in, which now is titled Caged No More. Husband Stephen ’69 and I had a nice lunch with Mike Ebner ’70 in Palo Alto, Calif., recently. He performed our wedding ceremony in Cochran Chapel in 2002. We ate at St. Michael’s Alley, which, we found out, was owned by Mike Sabina ’82. It was like a mini reunion!
www.andover.edu/intouch PHILLIPS Hugh Kelleher 12 Atwood St. Newburyport MA 01950 617-448-8073 hughkelleher1@gmail.com
Start out in California, where John Hosken holds an annual pilgrimage with his son Cameron into “the desert and forest somewhere between San Diego and Palm Springs.” This year he met up with architect John Malick at the Dream Machines event near Half Moon Bay. One of the dream machines in question was none other than John and Cam’s Humvee, which they had used to conquer the wilds. For kicks, they had the vehicle marvelously decorated with what looked like exceptionally large bullets. Fortunately, John is a very peaceful man. Paul Tittmann has spent most of his working life in China and other parts of the Far East. Recently he visited Larry Uhl and sent along a photo of the two of them at the wonderful Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena, Calif. Paul splits his time between China, Las Vegas, and Detroit, helping international investors purchase U.S. real estate. There’s a great Facebook photo of attorney Charley Donovan with his crew at a Giants baseball game in SF. Charley’s daughter’s band, Diamond Heights, just released its first EP. An SF music magazine described it as “combining lush, atmospheric arrangements, danceable grooves, and powerful lead vocals, courtesy of singer Martine Donovan.” Congrats, Charley! Another father-daughter story, courtesy of Jim Farnam, who writes, “With mixed emotions I report that my daughter chose Choate as a day student over Andover in the end—the pull of family and community was too great.” Jim sent along pictures of the remaining foundation of Will Hall, the late, great (maybe not that great) home of many classmates during junior year. Phil Santucci, former football star turned operatic tenor and instructor in Switzerland, visited Massachusetts with his family this summer. They spent two nights here with me in Newburyport before heading off to Andover. Phil is encouraging his two young kids to consider PA. Also here in Newburyport was a recent gathering of Jim Shannon, Dave Tibbetts, myself, and our highly esteemed local vet, John Grillo. Having a classmate visit my home seems only fair, since my son, Cam, and I just returned from a week occupying the Stockholm apartment of my former roommate Larry Gelb and his Swedish wife, Anki, who live most of the year in Tiburon, Calif. Their place in Södermalm was the best. We stopped for a couple of days in Iceland, where we visited another old friend, new U.S. ambassador to Reykjavik Rob Barber ’68. Iceland is an amazing country, and we learned a lot about the place and the landscape during our visit to the embassy.
Leaving a prominent government position is David Ensor, who spent the past few years as head of Voice of America, one of the most challenging jobs imaginable. David explains that there is always tension between reporting candidly about America and appeasing those who would prefer the Voice to present a purely shiny vision of our country. In the fall, David and his wife, Anita, will move to Cambridge, where David has a fellowship at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Had a great lunch recently with Fred Adair, who still looks—I am not exaggerating—like he could be the lead scorer on the Andover varsity basketball team. Fred’s evident vitality may have to do with his becoming a world hiker. Two years ago he hiked Bhutan and Tibet. This fall, he heads off for a long workout in Patagonia. Fred gets together with Charlie Kittredge, and they discuss the inimitable Per Bro, who is living down in South America—I believe in Chile—and working as a mechanical engineer. Before discussing Hubert Crouch’s latest novel, let’s mention that Hubert stays in touch with Rob Reynolds and recently got an e-mail from Tom Swain, who was a great PG track star at PA. Hubert’s second novel, The Word, is about religious fanaticism, women’s rights, and a fictitious First Amendment case. He writes, “I was fortunate to have K. Kelly Wise as a professor. He was inspirational! It took me 15 years to write my first novel and two to write my second.” Congrats, Hubert. Your book is getting fantastic reviews. Nate Cartmell wrote to tell me how much he had enjoyed Hubert’s first effort, Cried For No One. Johnson Lightfoote was also a big fan. Attorney Jamie Kaplan of Brunswick, Maine, is retired and loving it. He is reconnecting with many childhood friends and also stays in touch with John Clark, Tom Sperry, Joe McGhee, and Dave Sedgwick. He admits to being pretty handy with home-improvement projects. “Our house is now in as good shape as when we had it built in 1993,” he says. Alex van Oss recently had an NYC get-together with our class’s Pulitzer Prize–winning author, Mark Stevens. Following a lunch at the Century Club, Mark proceeded to show Alex some of the club’s priceless artwork. Mark and his wife, Annalyn Swan, won the Pulitzer a few years ago for their book on Willem de Koonig. They are now working on a biography of the most wonderfully disturbing Francis Bacon. It was with regret that I read in the New York Times that Jamie Murphy’s mother, Margaretta “Happy” Rockefeller, had passed away. Jamie’s mom led a vigorous life and had once been the second lady of the land, when her husband, Nelson, was the vice president. The many of us who have lost parents in recent years send along our thoughts and condolences.
1970 ABBOT
Adelle Nicholson 851 Three Islands Blvd., Apt. 118 Hallandale Beach FL 33009 954-456-4312 (home) 305-785-5153 (cell) Penny Snelling Sullivan 972 Summit St. Lebanon PA 17042 717-274-0498 sullivan@mbcomp.com Sandra A. Urie 38 Prospect St. Winchester MA 01890 781-729-4480 sandraurie@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: Penny Snelling Sullivan and Sandy Urie will be stepping down as class secretaries after the next issue of Andover magazine. The Academy thanks them for their service. Classmate Adelle Nicholson will be succeeding them.] Several of us attended our 45th Reunion on the Andover campus in June. Present over the course of the weekend were Adelle Nicholson, Marcie Rickenbacker, Tamara Elliott Rogers, Penny Snelling Sullivan, Nan Quick, Francine Amore Koris, Janet Cohen Miller, Sarah Bowen Blades, Cindy Niziak Hazard, Diane Anton Wilmot, and Sandy Urie. Penny Snelling Sullivan is now retired and had just returned from a trip to Scotland with her friend Jim Snell and her son, Tripp, who works in NYC at Nomura. Tamara Elliott Rogers reports that it was a pleasure to attend the 45th Reunion. She is still happily employed at Harvard, leading the university’s development efforts, and is in good health and grateful for family and friends. Nan Quick is a writer, photographer, and “itchy-footed” traveler. These days, she wanders through England and Italy and up and down America’s East Coast, in search of stories about architecture, gardens, and history. Her travel diaries are published on www.nanquick.com. Diane Anton Wilmot is an independent business owner in the skincare industry. Her website is www.DWskincare. myrandf.com. Diane has two children; her son lives in New York, and her daughter, whom she adopted from Russia at the age of 6 months, will be a high school senior this year. Her husband is a semiretired advertising executive, and together they have traveled around the world with his job, residing for several years in Germany, England, and Canada. Diane planned to return to Andover to celebrate her father’s 90th birthday in the summer. Janet Cohen Miller has just retired from her position with the Dade County school system in Florida, where she worked for 30 years. She plans Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected...
Abbot classmates reunited for dinner in Davis Hall on Friday night of Reunion Weekend. From left are Sandy Urie, Penny Sullivan, Tamara Rogers, Adelle Nicholson, and Marcie Rickenbacker, all Class of ’70.
to take time to relax with family and is looking forward to doing that. Marcie Rickenbacker returned to reunion with lots of Abbot and reunion paraphernalia and old photographs to share. Those of us at the Abbot dinner on Friday evening had great fun looking over the Circle, our 1970 yearbook, the “Facebook” from our senior year. Adelle Nicholson continues her teaching job in Florida. Scuba diving is one of her hobbies, and she recently took a dive trip to Mexico. She has taken up distance power walking in memory of her dad, who died in August 2014, and she recently completed her first 5K. Francine Amore Koris celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary in June 2015. She continues her career as a lawyer and takes care of her husband, who suffered a stroke six years ago. She has two children. Her daughter is a clothing designer, and her son works in wealth management at Morgan Stanley. Sandy Urie continues as chairman and CEO of Cambridge Associates. She was recently honored by Institutional Investor magazine, winning its Lifetime Achievement Award; she was also recently honored by the YWCA Boston with 2015 membership in its Academy of Women Achievers. Margaret Cheney and Sandy Urie got together in June in Newport, R.I., while attending different conferences at the same hotel. Margaret is now one of three commissioners for public utilities in the state of Vermont. Her husband, Peter Welch, continues as the U.S. congressman for Vermont. All three of Margaret’s children are in graduate school. Her oldest, recently married to a Middlebury graduate from the Philippines, is working toward a PhD degree in ethnomusicology, splitting his time between Ann Arbor, Mich., and Brazil; her daughter just finished a master’s degree program at the Institut d’etudes politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris; and her younger son recently graduated from Haverford College and is starting a PhD degree program in cognitive psychology at Yale.
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As the Class of 1970 prepared to walk in the Alumni Parade, the banner was hoisted by Fred McClendon and Adelle Nicholson.
In preparing for the reunion, Adelle Nicholson and Sandy Urie reached out to many classmates by telephone and by e-mail. Here are quick updates collected from our classmates. Pam Huttenberg was not able to attend reunion as she was just coming off her daughter’s wedding and said she was recovering from all the festivities. Suzy Rowen’s mother passed away in April and Suzy was not able to join us at the reunion. We send our sympathy to her. Pam Mallen Carlson and her daughter visited Pam’s mother-in-law in California, which conflicted with our reunion dates. Sandy Murray Collier is an accomplished horsewoman and she had a big show over Reunion Weekend, but she promises to attend our 50th in 2020. Wendy Underhill continues to be very busy with her counseling practice and says that she has no plans for retirement. Stephanie Dantos is an executive recruiter in North Palm Beach, Fla., and loves her work. She enjoys swimming and snorkeling. She and Melanie Rosen Brooks stay in touch. Lisa Doyle Duerr reports that the first of June is when her family migrates from Memphis, Tenn., to Pawley’s Island, S.C., for the summer. All her children and grandchildren—at this writing, she had four grandchildren, with another due in June 2015—join them there, and it is a time for family, birthdays, beach, golf, tennis, and taking the kids to summer camp. Dorcas “Corky” Chisholm traveled to Sicily with Anne Gares. Tobi Solomon Gold moved to Florida in October 2014. She teaches yoga there and enjoys it a great deal. Her son, Ben, moved to Palm Beach, Fla., where he works at a Chrysler dealership. Gay Luster Sawabini recently started a career in real estate. Maura Markley Pollak is very involved in her work, which takes place in a semirural mental health clinic. Since there are only three clinicians on staff, she was not able to take time off to join us for reunion, but she expects to be retired by the time of our 50th. Betty Huhn resides
in the greater Atlanta area and continues her work as a software developer. She had recent good news on the health front, when her doctor used the “c” word to mean “cure.” Nina Salam asked me to relay her greetings to her Abbot classmates at the 45th. Many thanks to all who spent time sharing news at reunion, via telephone conversations, and through e-mails. It was wonderful to hear from so many of you. Mark your calendars now for our 50th Reunion, scheduled for the second weekend in June 2020. We all agreed that we should start planning now, so don’t be surprised if you start hearing early and often about those plans—you will be surprised at how quickly the five years will pass. Finally, many thanks to Adelle Nicholson, who has agreed to take on the class secretary role for Abbot 1970. Penny Snelling Sullivan and Sandy Urie have promised to assist, as we have so enjoyed being your co-class secretaries over the past 10 years.
PHILLIPS Peter Williams 3070 Shamrock North Tallahassee FL 32309 850-893-3342 Petewilliams1@hotmail.com Frank Herron 38 Prospect St. Winchester MA 01890 617-852-0126 ffherron@gmail.com
A high point for the XLVth Reunion weekend? For many, it likely involved something that took place at about 8:24 p.m. Saturday in what many witnesses agree was the lower left dining hall of Paresky Commons. After hearing the dulcet tones of various showtunes over dinner and after
A large contingent from the PA and Abbot Classes of ’72 took a trip to DC to pay a call on a classmate, Congressman Bruce Poliquin. From left are Jon Atwood, Clem Hearey, Jim Mayock, Walter Maroney, Chris Herzeca, Peter Klosowicz, Bill Boak, Sam Butler, Bijan Amini, Nick Hadley, Dan Burd, Louis Tenenbaum, Tony Hewett, Congressman Bruce Poliquin, Dick Green, Russ Perry, Nancy Bennett, Amy MacNelly, Rich Darner, and Doug Bigwood.
clapping to some fractured karaoke, Alex Donner got ahold of the microphone. To the amazement of all—including a handful of orthopedic surgeons and circle of yoga enthusiasts—he climbed onto a wobbly chair. From there, he gingerly stepped onto the top of a dining table, already groaning under the weight of good Commons fare. Through it all, he never missed a beat or word while belting out Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.” (“Well, they said you was high-classed; Well, that was just a lie....”) It brought down the house. And it almost brought down the pats of butter that some swear they can still see on the ceiling, tossed up circa 1969. When the applause from numerous classes subsided, we quickly booked him for the 50th Reunion. If we’re lucky, it will be at 1970 prices. The entire resources of Alex Donner Entertainment will be at our disposal. And the music is good. As the New York Times noted about Alex’s entertainment operations in 2013, “Alex Donner is as Manhattan as it gets.” Manhattan? You bet, even in a Commons dining room. Alex climbed his chair and table with the gusto of King Kong scaling the Empire State Building. Alex was not the only one who went above and beyond in the physical-exertion category. Consider Jonathan Michals. On Saturday he took to the pitch to compete in a “friendly”—the alumni soccer game. If the group photo he shared was taken after the game, he looked both none the worse for wear and nowhere near twice the age of many of the other players. We applauded his effort, from the sidelines—with gentle clapping designed to preserve the rotator cuff. Jon did acknowledge the postgame might have been a bit more of a challenge than the game itself. He happily reported that his recovery time “only took four or five days.” No recovery time was needed for those who played some golf on Saturday (Jim Shea and Mark Swanson, at least). Nor was it needed for those who enjoyed strolling around campus, which
looked spectacular. A small group clustered around John Palfrey on Friday evening (Chuck Willand, Rod Goldstein, Don Rollings, and others, I think) enjoyed hearing his genuine awe at the work of the buildings-and-grounds crew. We, too, thank them. One building—the Addison Gallery—did not escape the notice of Elmer Rynne and Bill Roth (and not just because it was the site of the Saturday evening cocktail party). Amid the splendor of the collection (truly worth a visit), Elmer’s thoughts turned, not all that surprisingly, to art. He mentioned to Bill that he was nearly done reading Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (biographers of Jackson Pollock) and tried to convince Bill to give it a whirl. It was a conversation that any of a number of former faculty members would have loved to overhear. Bill reported after the weekend that he is seriously thinking of picking it up. He even went so far as to Google the authors. A word of warning: Just holding the book is a task. (Value the rotator cuff, OK?) Its shipping weight is 2.8 pounds. The odds are high that he has ordered it by now. And probably read it. Another building that got some use, perhaps in anticipation of a certain upcoming reunion, was the nicely refurbished Andover Inn. We had a welcome cup of hot coffee with California anesthesiologist Freddie McClendon, his wife, Pamela, and friend Janet Washington (widow of Willie Washington ’69) in the lobby on Saturday afternoon. Many made it to Kemper Auditorium for an emotional posthumous induction of Ted Thorndike into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. And then there was a building rarely visited by PA students in 1966–1970: Abbot Hall. There, Andy Wexler gave a fascinating (and illustrated) presentation about his work with pediatric facial reconstruction surgery through Operation Smile
in places such as Kenya, Morocco, Ecuador, the Philippines, and Cambodia. Random conversations reveal that many are at interesting nodes of life. Steve Senft continues some exciting work in sensory physiology and behavior (think cuttlefish and squid) at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass. Jim Shea, in addition to his work as chairman of Baltimore’s Venable law firm, is busy attacking (did you get that lacrosse allusion?) the challenges as chair of the board of regents for the University System of Maryland. Rob Christie has chosen to stop his formal working career. His last stint was as a registered nurse in Houston city schools. Now, he says cheerfully, “[I am] more retired than I can afford to be.” Thanks to all those who attended, some with spouses and friends and children. Among those who came and are not mentioned above (due mostly to available space—apologies) were Chip Boynton, Mike Ebner, John Healey, Bill Hudson, Mark Kelly, Peter McCallum, and Peter Williams. The Sunday brunch at the home of Sandy Urie and Frank Herron was well attended and a welcome calming wrap-up to the festivities. For some attendees, the first hours after the reunion could have been better. Right after the brunch in Winchester (which attracted about 25 classmates and spouses), Chip Boynton and Peter Williams headed to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox play the Blue Jays. The hometown nine fell, 13-5. Meanwhile, Houston resident Rob Christie made a quick jaunt up to Lancaster, N.H. (about 22 crow-flying miles north of Mount Washington). There, he had to deal with a couple of poplar trees that had fallen across his driveway since his last visit. Ahhhhh. Chop. Chop. Life goes on. Clear all calendars for June 2020, a year we can see much more clearly now. Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... 1971 ABBOT
Sara Ingram 500A E. 87th St., Apt. 12D New York NY 10128 212-879-4665 sara-ingram@earthlink.net Abby Johnson 1983 Maison Way Carson City NV 89703 775-885-0612 saged183@gmail.com
As we write these notes, Ruth Raser Timbrell reports that her daughter, Margaret, is expecting twins in October. By the time you read this, Ruth will be a grandmother for the first time. Ruth notes that her oldest, Clayton, is going great guns with his contracting business. Her son James is in Fresno, Calif., working at the public defender’s office. And George—Ruth’s NYC boy—has been spending time in Texas ever since the securities firm he works for merged with a company there. Romance is in the air in Carol Kennedy McCarthy’s family. Carol’s youngest, Beven, was married in June on Cape Cod to her St. Bonaventure University sweetheart of eight years. All three of Carol’s children are now married, and she has four beautiful grandchildren. Not to worry, though: despite being a grandmother, Carol is as hip as ever and still rocking it at concerts like Steve Miller and John Prine. Debbie Huntington finds herself in a transitional phase of life, beginning to think beyond parenting and engulfing work. After living 20 minutes away from her home in Brooklyn, one (and possibly both) of Debbie’s sons is settling in Colorado. As a result, Debbie and her husband are making plans to sell their home and relocate to something smaller in Brooklyn. Debbie is also changing to part-time status at her job in January, after almost 17 years in administration at NYU School of Medicine. Finally, Debbie and her family took a cycling trip from Prague to Vienna over the summer. Shelby Salmon Hodgkins’s Mother’s Day present this year was her sixth grandchild, Jillian. All six grandchildren are age 3 or under. Shelby reports that they were a very busy household when they all got together in Lake Placid later over the summer. Dory Streett took some time out from her globetrotting to check in and give us updates on her comings and goings. Son Andy married his sweetheart, Gabby, in Fort Collins, Colo., in June. They live an “outdoor lifestyle” with their dog, Heike, in Denver. Dory’s husband, Dave, lived a different kind of outdoor lifestyle when he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail for six months this year. Dory’s son Kit is still happily living and working in Shanghai, although he was able to join Dave on the
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trail for a couple of weeks. Dory has completed her first year at Ridley College, a boarding school in St. Catharines, Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls. Dory will be retiring in the near future and looks forward to doing other interesting things, starting with skiing a lot more than she has the past several years. It has been fun for Dory to live and work in Canada, and as always, there’s a lot to learn when living in another country. Dory thought she knew a lot about Canada and the country’s obsession with hockey, but apparently she wasn’t even close. Within half a kilometer of her house, there are five full-size hockey rinks, in use almost all the time, year round. Also, in this proud land of immigrants, one can watch Hockey Night in Canada, Punjabi edition, with its own commentators. Many thanks to Sue Dampier King-Irwin, who reminded us of the 40-minute documentary The Girls of Abbot: A Memoir. “What a wonderful trip down memory lane!” says Sue. “Our own Mary McCabe is featured, among approximately 20 other alumnae. Mary is very articulate about our feelings about the merger and about Abbot life in general.” The film is recommended viewing in advance of our—brace yourselves— 45th Reunion in 2016.
PHILLIPS Frank duPont 8 Nichols Drive Hastings-on-Hudson NY 10706 914-478-7818 dupont@wdfilms.com
Jim Bakker sends greetings from Provincetown, Mass., where Hillary Clinton was visiting that summer afternoon. “Mind you, I said only very nice things about Jeb [Bush] to that reporter!” says Jim. After several years as director of the Pilgrim Monument & Provincetown Museum, Jim opened his own gallery and auction house. “This will be our third season,” he says, “but we’re celebrating 30 years of fine art auctioneering.” For those interested, here’s a link to Jim’s website: www.bakkerproject.com. Jim mentioned that a few years ago he did a benefit auction, Bid on Blue, with Matt Noyes ’96 at PA and sat at a table with Steve Sherrill! He’s currently serving as the president of the board of trustees at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum (100 years old last year). If you couldn’t get to Cape Cod this summer, Jim suggests catching him in a documentary, Packed in a Trunk: The Lost Art of Edith Lake Wilkinson, which premiered on HBO in July. “Of course,” he writes, “nothing compares to the films I made in film class with Steve Marx on Fuji 8mm, like duPont in Z Land!” Speaking of Hillary and the political scene, Linc Chafee has announced that he is running for president on the Democratic ticket, making two individuals from our class—Linc and Jeb—now contemplating the nation’s highest office. Few would handicap his chances in the same category
as Jeb’s, but Linc seems intent on prompting a foreign policy debate among Democrats in the run-up to the nomination. I finally made it down to Harris Todd’s place in Charleston, S.C.! It’s ridiculous how long it had been—about 19 years. He’s recovering well from quintuple bypass surgery and enjoying life after Merrill Lynch. When he’s not fixing up his old cars and motorcycles or riding around on his mega lawn mower, Harris spends time with his brother John Todd ’73 and John’s family. Harris also stays in touch with Steve Lindsay. Prompted by an e-mail exchange, Andy Rutherford writes, “Mr. Maynard did leave a mark. Some of his jokes took a while to register, though. I didn’t find out who Buxtehude was until 1983 (Jim Bakker would’ve gotten that one). I continue to build lutes and related obscure musical instruments; I’m working on a Renaissance guitar with a sea monster head.” Bakker came back with a comment about having a wonderful Rutherford drawing from 9th grade and then shared it! A surreal drawing of a man’s head floating above a futuristic car contraption, titled “Man of the Future.” Picking up on Andy’s comment, Alec Chessman responded, “I almost moved from guitar to lute in my teen years. Maybe I could have bought a lute from Andy, if, in that alternate universe, I could have afforded it. I love to hear about paths others took. It makes my life truly richer.” Dana Seero enjoyed the exchange “from classmates we haven’t heard from in awhile.” He just wrapped up a four-year stint on the Alumni Council in June, though he remains on the Andover and the Military committee. His daughter Elizabeth ’18 entered PA this year as a lower. Wife Jennifer wrote on behalf of Fred Johnson, sending their regards from “steamy Shanghai,” where they were attending their daughter Blaine ’08’s graduation from a master’s degree program at Fudan University. “We’re amazed at her Mandarin, to say the least!” wrote Jennifer. Doug Buxton writes that he’s been married to Diana since 2005, living happily on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. “I established the Jorge N. Buxton Microsurgical Education Foundation, an educational foundation for postgraduate ophthalmic microsurgical training that sponsors courses for young ophthalmologists to hone their surgical skills. As part of the foundation, we help maintain a world-class training facility at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mt. Sinai in Manhattan and travel annually to Zimba, Zambia, on a two-week surgical and medical eye mission. Most rewarding and challenging thing I’ve ever done, and that includes Mr. Maynard’s math class!” Speaking of paths taken, I just spent a great weekend with John Gillespie and his wife, Susan, at the wedding of his son Jay. Dave Winton and wife Charlotte were there. Jay, whom I know as a young filmmaker and longtime collaborator (he worked with me on the PA Vision Film project), is a wonderful guy and has found a stellar partner,
www.andover.edu/intouch Gabrielle Sheinberg. Great rehearsal dinner at John’s house upstate, with the wedding ceremony held high in the Catskills. John is the entrepreneur-in-residence in a new teaching/mentoring program at UCLA and is contemplating writing a new book. Dave is looking to hand over the reins of his board president role at the San Francisco Film Society and return to film a project with KQED about tech start-ups in Silicon Valley. And finally, back to our e-mail thread. Bill Gardner responded at one point, “That Andy Rutherford has stayed so true to the Andy Rutherford I remember gives me great joy.” Which reminds me: Spring 2016—not too far away now—is the time for our class to reconvene.
1972 ABBOT Julia Gibert 300 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED England + 44 0 7766 022832 juliagibert@gmail.com
Our class report for the summer of 2015 is all about love, adventure, and connection—so, not a lot of change in 40-plus years. Since feeling is first, I’ll begin with love: Maud Lavin and her partner, Bruce, entered into a civil union in Illinois in June, and Nora Kyger, with her partner, Bill, was there to celebrate. Maud is, as ever, active in culture and feminist studies, and she spoke at the Asia in Motion conference in Taipei in June on issues in gender, art, and popular culture. Nora is executive vice president and partner at Ter Molen Watkins & Brandt, but I bet she still drums. And long-lost Laurie Camosy McKinney turned up gorgeous and engaged to her partner, Morgan Pearsall, with a September wedding planned. Which brings us to adventure. I had a newsy letter from Lila Wills Bronson that just missed the deadline for our last class notes. Lila was recently back from study in a spiritual eco-village in northern Italy. Lila retired in 2014 from a 37-year career in education and has started her own educational consultancy in Los Angeles. Since retirement, she’s also had more time to spend on her 40-year astrology business. Somehow she also manages to find time for three daughters, three stepdaughters, her sweetheart of 14 years, her grandchildren, and traveling. Jessica Straus’s adventure was an artistic tour of the ossuaries of Europe. She wrote a wonderful blog about it, and you can find the blog, Quirk, and all her photos at https://jessicastraus. wordpress.com/, or by searching her name with the word “ossuary” (a “chest, box, building, well,
or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains”). Joanie Lichtman’s adventure is extraordinary in a different way. I hope to have more information on this in the next news, but for now, all I know is that Joanie is in Cambodia as a psychologist volunteer working with traumatized families—with grim ossuaries in the background. I also know that Joanie is an amazing, brave, and strong woman. Non sibi may be the PA motto, but it is equally embraced by Abbot. And that brings us, finally, and cheerfully, to connection—and we don’t need much excuse for that. Since we have long informally agreed that we are one class with PA ’72, we enthusiastically joined the tour of Congress hosted by Bruce Poliquin ’72, the representative of Maine’s 10th District, and the rooftop dinner hosted afterward by Russell Perry ’72. (See photo, page 85.) Nancy Pinks Bennett, Amy Broaddus MacNelly, and Missy Baird were all there. Elly Mish also hoped to attend, but because she looks after her elderly mother, it proved impossible. Nancy and Amy shared a hotel room, while Missy chose what Nancy dubbed a “protestor hostile.” Nevertheless, Sam Butler ’72 (the self-proclaimed “official tosser”) did not have to make good his threat to throw into the Potomac anyone who got political, and in the end, no one swam with the fishes. I am not sure, however, it would be wise to repeat the experiment with any other well-known candidates for the presidency. After food and merriment, Amy, Missy, Nancy, and several of the Andover men took a two-mile stroll back to their hotels together, enjoying the beauty of the Washington night and stopping for a photo op in front of the White House and then a nightcap. These notes will arrive just too late to nudge you to come to our AA/PA reunion on the Cape in September, and too early to give you all the gossip, but the message is still the same: only connect.
PHILLIPS Tom Rawson P.O. Box 1361 Eastsound WA 98245 206-632-8248 tomrawson@gmail.com
Some sad news to report: Doug Westberg’s wife, Carol Holden, died suddenly in March from complications after surgery. Carol helped Doug raise his three daughters and shared with Doug a love of musical theatre. Together they wrote and directed a cabaret musical comedy that ran for almost a year in Portland, Ore., across the Columbia River from their hometown of Vancouver, Wash. Our condolences to Doug and daughters Sarah, Eli, and Hannah. From the Super Bowl to the 2016 race for the White House, our brethren from the Class of 1971 have been dominating the national news. We did manage, however, to tag along and share a little of
the fame. An article in the Boston Globe in February reporting on the Andover years of presidential candidate Jeb Bush ’71 contained a photograph of the 1971 varsity tennis team. Pictured along with coaches Kent Allen and Dalton McBee were captain Jeb and nine teammates, including Dave McCracken, Rich Darner, Tom Raleigh, David Chase, and team manager Joe McDermott. Rich recalls that Doug Billman was also on that squad. Tony Hewett did not make the cut, and he remembers a humiliating defeat at the hands of the future governor of Florida: “I first arrived at Andover for upper year and, like many new students, I had been a somewhat big fish in a very small pond, this one called Morristown, N.J. I had played tennis all my life and assumed I could just walk onto the varsity team and easily handle all these prep-school punks. So it was a blind draw that had me paired against Jeb in the tryouts for the varsity team, and an [expletive deleted by class secretary]-kicking ensued. Needless to say, I never saw a moment of time on the varsity team.” While we don’t have a Super Bowl coach or a presidential candidate, we do have our own congressman. Bruce Poliquin, newly elected member of the House of Representatives from Maine, invited his PA/Abbot ’72 classmates for a private tour of the U.S. Capitol on June 18. The event, dubbed Bruce-a-Palooza 2015 and personally conducted by Congressman Poliquin himself, was followed by a rooftop reception at the architectural office building of Russ Perry, located near the White House and affording spectacular views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. Bill Boak was in attendance, and sent the following account of the festivities: “Bruce appeared to be thoroughly enjoying his freshman term as a Republican member of Congress, which he compared to a food fight in the old PA Commons. In vigorously representing the interests of his Maine constituents, he has asserted his views to President Obama and Speaker Boehner alike, and has jumped across the aisle and into Congressional cloakrooms in efforts to persuade other members of the House. He’s a regular in the Capitol gym, where he competes in weight lifting with Paul Ryan. Bruce regaled us on the floor of the House Chamber with inside stories of Congressional intrigues, and his enthusiasm for the place would have made PA history teacher Tom Lyons very proud. “Because we 1972ers remain strongly opinionated, we established ground rules under which there were to be no political debates for the day, upon penalty of being tossed into the Potomac River by the ‘official tosser,’ Sam Butler. Fortunately, there was no action needed on Sam’s part, as the group remained relatively well behaved and proceeded to the rooftop reception, dodging scattered thunder showers. To thank Bruce for the event, and to keep him out of trouble with the GOP leadership, we presented him with a rare red Andover sweatshirt.” Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Big thanks to Bill for this report. Other PA ’72 attendees included Bijan Amini, Jon Atwood, Doug Bigwood, Dan Burd, Rich Darner, Mark Gillespie, Richard Green, Nick Hadley, Clem Hearey, Chris Herzeca, Tony Hewett, Pete Klosowicz, Walter Maroney, Jim Mayock, and Louis Tenenbaum. They were joined by Abbot ’72ers Missy Baird, Nancy Pinks Bennett, and Amy Broaddus MacNelly, as well as Jeff Howard ’73. (See photo, page 85.) Much gratitude to Bruce for giving us yet another opportunity for some group fun. After the gathering, Chris Herzeca posted a sentiment on Facebook, no doubt shared by many: “What is it about our get-togethers? There is a certain ineffable aspect, a generosity of spirit, a seesaw of ‘I knew you’ but also ‘I want to know more, know now.’ Suspension of BS, though if it is funny, then keep it coming. Simple stuff, really, just us—warts and all. Love it.” Thanks, Chris. Beautifully said. Just two short years to our 45th. Hope to see everyone there.
1973 ABBOT
Jane Cashin Demers 43 Morton St. Andover MA 01810 978-470-1684 (home) 978-502-8733 (cell) jane.demers@gmail.com Noreen Markley 783 Wooddale Road Bloomfield Village MI 48301-2468 248-645-0536 noreenmarkley@aol.com Marcia B. McCabe 160 W. 62nd St., Apt. 10B New York NY 10023 917-796-1594 mbmg55@gmail.com
Sixtieth birthday greetings to the Class of 1973! By the time this issue of Andover magazine arrives most of us will have already or will be about to celebrate this milestone in our lives. However you chose to spend it, I [Marcia McCabe] hope you had a fabulous time! I attended two parties for Vicki Elicker Joh’s “big one.” She hosted a lovely lunch at her club in Village of Golf, Fla., and the week before, a surprise party was thrown for her by her family, so she had double the fun! She and I also spent a weekend at the Four Seasons in Miami, seeing Fleetwood Mac in concert and enjoying poolside cocktails and massages. Vicki was not able to attend, but Lori Goodman Seegers came to my soiree in Naples, Fla. It was held at my favorite restaurant, Bleu Provence, and although an unexpected blizzard on March 5 caused a few guests to miss it, it was
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magnifique! (I spent almost three months in Naples last winter, which was heavenly, too.) We celebrated Lori’s birthday seeing U2 in Chicago. She and I did a bunch of fun things last fall and winter. We saw the Eagles and Darleen Love in concert and watched several movies, including The Age of Adaline, about a woman who, after a car accident, stays 29 forever (every 60-year-old’s fantasy!). We also went to a John Palfrey event in NYC that was also attended by Anne Allen McGrath. One of Abbot’s most devoted alums passed away last winter, and I went to the service to pay my respects. Cynthia Eaton Bing ’61 was a wonderful leader and will be greatly missed. Mimi Kessler attended the spring Abbot Association dinner on campus in May. She, Leslie Hendrix, and Anne Spader Byerly were all there and had the chance to visit with Abbot’s last headmaster, Don Gordon ’52, who was a guest of honor. He and the gals had a great time, and he talked about how his years at Abbot and orchestration of the merger were the pinnacle of his career in academia. Mimi is semiretired and loves living with her two dogs in Durham, N.C. Leslie has been working tirelessly on the Abbot Archives project. With so much missing material, this important project is vital to keeping the history of Abbot alive. We all owe her a big thank-you! Thanks, too, to Connee Petty Young and Edie Wilson for organizing a mini reunion and 60th birthday bash in Healdsburg and Stinson Beach, Calif. I am writing these notes prior to the July festivities but will give a full report in the next column. Also in the planning stages is another gettogether in NYC the weekend of October 23. Lori Seegers is hosting a party on the 24th. The fun will begin at a bar on the 23rd and end with brunch on the 25th. Mimi Kessler is in charge of this, and you can e-mail her with any questions you may have: mimikessler1@gmail.com. Details can also be found on the Abbot Rabbit Facebook page. Please try to come if you can! Mindy Feldman organized a dinner at the Andover Inn on April 30. She was on campus for the kick-off of the Abbot engagement steering committee. After the meeting she, Noreen Markley Timm, Judith Webster, Aina Allen, Elizabeth Coward Miller, Dianne DeLucia, Jenifer McLean Cooke, Kristine Tomlinson, and Barbara Contarino Tomkins all got together to eat, drink, and be merry. Wishing you all a wonderful new decade, and I hope you make it to one of the special ’73 gatherings this year!
PHILLIPS Pete Morin 41 Border St. Scituate MA 02066 pbmorin@comcast.net www.facebook.com/pete.morin2
I am writing these notes three weeks after the deadline, with enduring faith that my unbroken string of reporting will not be ruined. This is the year most of us turn 60, and reports of wild affairs have popped up. Henry Mueller and his wife, Gerilyn, are doing the big celebration by traveling to Turkey. No more detail than that. Henry’s a man of few words (but more than most of you). I did mine with a blues jam at the House of Blues Foundation Room. Jim Hackett has been commuting for years from Wickford, R.I., to China, where he is involved in the mega-developments you read about. He got back in April from an architecture tour of Beijing. The class Facebook participants discovered that Mindy Feldman ’73 also went to Wharton and is involved in real estate in China. John McDonald is celebrating his 60th by buying a new boat, which he had planned to take through Lake Champlain, up the St. Lawrence River, through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, around the Keys, and up the Intracoastal Waterway. Technical difficulties demanded a change of plan. His crewmates, Dave Swanson and I, are awaiting our orders. Sometime. I hope everyone saw the great article in the spring issue of Andover about Jeff Howard’s involvement with the Civil Rights Museum. That is all this quarter. If you want to get, you gotta give.
1974 Jack Gray 80 Central Park West, Apt. 20F New York NY 10023-5215 212-496-1594 jackgray@BlueLink.Andover.edu
Last winter as my brother drove me and his family through the Massachusetts countryside, heading to their country place, we passed a woman and two young people walking in the opposite direction. A few seconds later, a spark of potential recognition ignited (this too is slowing with age), and I asked to reverse course. We pulled up just ahead of the walking party, and I leaned out the window to say hello to Katy Gass Walker. She introduced us to her daughter, the young woman’s beau, and two very large furry companions. Katy mentioned that the couple was visiting from Cambridge, where her daughter lived. The young man added that he lived there too. I asked if they were married, and they replied, a little sheepishly, that they weren’t.
www.andover.edu/intouch I thought that I had erred socially, until I caught Katy’s twinkling eye. This spring there was another, less coincidental PA ’74 gathering in NYC, this time at another of Julian Hatton’s openings at the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in Chelsea. Our local (and not-so-local) classmates turned out in numbers. Alex Stille came south from his perch teaching at Columbia Journalism School. Alex spoke of the difficulty in balancing his three primary commitments—as teacher, writer, and single father. All are demanding tasks, requiring focus and discipline, and he enjoyed the evening’s opportunity to see old friends. Ted Maynard was disappointed to see that his favorite among Julian’s new oeuvre had already been sold. Betsy Evans Hunt was in from Maine to conduct some business. She represents the estate of the photographer Todd Webb, and her New York pied-à-terre was a short walk from the gallery. Mark Harman had come from Tulsa, Okla., where his medical practice has long been based, for one of his periodic explorations. Julian’s opening kicked off an aggressive sampling of the arts (MoMA) and beyond (my favorite ramen house for lunch) over the next few days in NYC. Tom Boyle has been closely following Julian’s work for years, and he noted a new direction in the work, evident in the contrast between the earlier smaller pieces on exhibit (dense, layered) and the more recent large paintings (big, transparent washes of color) that were the product of one seminal drawing Julian made and a rearrangement of his studio, allowing for more physical distance in their creation. A few weeks later, at the closing of the show, another out-of-town visitor, Ann Hoover Maddox, got a walk-through with Julian of the show, as he explained the genesis of the work and his process. Ann’s daughter has recently moved to Chicago from Richmond, Va., and is stalking a position in marketing (contacts anyone?), while her son, in the great tradition of the tech industry, dropped out of college to learn to code and, after working in a couple of established firms, has started his own. There was one more gathering in New York of note to our class: a celebration of the success of an endowment campaign for The Phillipian as it moves with the rest of journalism to real-time online reporting. PA Trustee (and distinguished journalist) Gary Lee moderated a panel of former Phillipian editors (one a current student) who all spoke of the importance of their experiences at the paper in subsequent endeavors in and out of journalism. Particularly compelling was the story of a recent editorial miscue that manifested in the form of a cartoon found offensive (with reason— the image was withdrawn) to a significant segment of the Andover community. Gary observed that the current Phillipian editorial board in attendance at the event appeared as diverse a group as PA was capable of producing—that is to say, very diverse. He went on to suggest that having multiple points of view in a newsroom could only help in many aspects of reporting, not least in identifying our
Mingling at dinner in Borden Gym on Friday were Kim Miller Casazza, Stephanie Curtis Harman, Tom Brush, Richard Pietrafesa, and Phil Hueber, all Class of ’75.
blind spots in understanding others’ points of view. After the presentation, Margaret Downs and your correspondent enjoyed excellent Harvard Club sushi. Margaret, busy with her consulting practice, splits her time between NYC and Bedford, N.Y. Finally, I also enjoyed dining with my old friend Jonathan Meath at the Warwick Hotel—his temporary home when he was playing Santa a few years ago in a show involving the Rockettes, you may recall. Jonathan and I have known each other since we were babies (our mothers were college friends), and we spoke about being single men after long marriages. Jonathan has shorn his big beard and long locks down to a close-cropped lean and elegant ’do. He was buzzing with excitement over his daughter’s recent success in popular music; her group Sylvan Esso just played Coachella, Sasquatch, and Lollapalooza. Jonathan’s practical common sense, combined with a deep lust for life, is a tonic!
1975 Mari Wellin King 1884 Beans Bight Road N.E. Bainbridge Island WA 98110 206-842-1885 marjoriewk@gmail.com Roger L. Strong Jr. 6 Ridgeview Circle Armonk NY 10504 914-273-6710 strongjr@optonline.net Peter Wyman 963 Ponus Ridge Road New Canaan CT 06840 203-966-1074 peter.wyman@merrillcorp.com
Best. Tent. Ever. The impressive canvas structure positioned outside class headquarters at Adams Hall by industrious reunion cochairs Brian Burke and Felecia Elias filled to capacity on June 12–14
as nearly 80 classmates (110 people, including spouses, significant others, and offspring) partied like it was 1975 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our graduation. Friends from every quarter returned to campus for our eighth reunion weekend (do the math!) to reestablish the vibrant group identity of the Class of 1975, recapture the magic of the Andover experience, and add another set of happy memories to our collective class album. After 40 years, it’s clear that the older we get, the better we were when we rocked PA and AA in the first half of the 1970s! Attorney Jon Stein—an early Saturday morning arrival via a redeye flight from Los Angeles—affectionately summed up the wonderful weekend: “The campus was especially leafy, its classic, well-spaced New England architecture especially well-manicured; what a sight and what a setting. For those who did make it, and those who could not, reunion was a poignant reminder that we are all marching through life together. It’s a unique thing to gather every five years to trade notes on a life that is now long. Maybe getting old is the ability to hold the present in perspective against the past. But you couldn’t hope to gain perspective from a more interesting, polyglot, and unique cast and crew than our Andover class—an especially rebellious bunch.” A diverse group began assembling Friday afternoon. Reunion stalwarts Daniel Dilorati, a lawyer in Quincy, Mass.; John Florence, an investment advisor in Norwood, Mass.; and Burke, a professional real estate photographer in Foxboro, Mass., “gripped it and ripped it” on a local golf course with Dana Halsted, a marriage and family therapist in Santa Monica, Calif. Peripatetic credit market expert Geoffrey Richards, who drove halfway across the country for 15 days in late 2014 from his home in Summit, N.J., to reach his bucketlist goal of visiting all 50 states, attended a class titled “Is Capitalism Ethical?” taught by PA faculty member Tom Hodgson. Several members of the West Coast contingent showed up: lawyer Roger Kohn, financial services executive Richard King, and PA trustee Mari Wellin King from the Seattle area joined San Francisco Bay Area denizens Andover | Fall 2015
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Fern Jones ’75 attended an Abbot tea on Saturday afternoon of Reunion Weekend.
Stephanie Curtis Harman (Woodside); investment advisor Anne Wakefield Atkinson and Paul Suslovic (Menlo Park); management consultant George Cogan (Atherton); and UC Berkeley energy research scholar Tony Nahas (Berkeley). Espied in Case Memorial Cage on Friday evening were Stephen Bache, an investment advisor in Portland, Ore., where his son rows on the heavyweight crew at Lewis & Clark College; teacher and fiction writer David Updike from Cambridge, Mass.; and start-up executive Tom Meredith, whose company in the Atlanta area uses mobile payments technology to enable free money transfer to any mobile phone worldwide. Other loyal alums spotted at the buffet dinner included Thomas Brush, a management professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., who attended with his wife, Whitney, and 7-year-old daughter, Sarah; Zareen Mirza from Cumberland Foreside, Maine; software executive Matt Finnie from Basking Ridge, N.J., whose daughter Hannah ’11 graduated from Emory in May; attorney Evans Huber and wife Elaine from Wayland, Mass.; lawyer Michael Boldt and wife Lisa from Millburn, N.J.; Andrew Craig (who enjoys paragliding) and wife Els Van Wingerden from Fredericksburg, Va.; and orthopedic hand surgeon and artist Craig Newland from Vancouver, Wash., who exhibited 50 of his works in oil at the Gelb Gallery in George Washington Hall during the weekend. Classmates later relocated to the well-equipped Adams Hall tent, where cocktails, conversations
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and calypso music enlivened a long night. Many perused copies of The Phillipian from 1974–1975 and examined photos from the 1975 Pot Pourri. Recalling good times were Dennis Pratt, a former high-tech exec from Westwood, Mass.; Adrienne and Frank Skokan, who continues to act in community theatre in New Jersey; information services executive Peter Wyman from New Canaan, Conn.; star portfolio manager Lawrence Kemp from Greenwich, Conn.; and ageless Paul Murray, who has an important job at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. Possibly under the influence of Bud Light Lime and Diet Pepsi Wild Cherry (beverages stocked by the reunion committee!), sources claimed they saw the sun-kissed tresses of Donna Cameron, an attorney and owner of a world-class dressage training facility for horses in Medfield, Mass., billowing in the late-night breeze. On Saturday, we massed for the colorful alumni parade, led by the Clan MacPherson Pipes and Drums, from the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library to Cochran Chapel. John “Chip” Campbell made a sweaty appearance following a morning run; he’s an energy investor who divides his time between Tulsa, Okla., and Sorrento, Maine. Joining the march down the Elm Walk to loud and sustained cheers for the class were Charles Clark from Rockport, Mass.; attorney Tom Briggs from Fort Worth, Texas; financial advisor Fern Jones from NYC; and Susan Arnold, who works for the Appalachian Mountain Club in Strafford, N.H. Many classmates congratulated Lisa MacFarlane, former provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Hampshire, who was appointed principal of Exeter earlier this year. Speaking softly and carrying a big selfie stick, Andy Craig recorded the procession for posterity on his GoPro HERO camera. Check out the video on YouTube (https://youtu.be/mMPgejc966Y) and on the PA ’75 Facebook page to see if we look younger in HD resolution! At the Saturday cookout lunch in front of GW Hall, class ranks swelled with real estate investor Phil Welch from New Jersey; photographer Jennifer Bishop from Baltimore; Bill Bliss, a pastor from Bath, Maine; Richard Hersh, a psychiatrist in NYC; acclaimed jazz musician Arthur Kell from Brooklyn, N.Y.; Gordon Nelson from Concord, Mass.; Yogi Pappadopoulos from nearby Chelmsford, Mass.; and Rick Cotten from Austin, Texas. Later in the afternoon, Robert Thorndike from Scituate, Mass., delivered heartfelt remarks during the posthumous induction of his brother Theodore Thorndike ’70 into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. Saturday night’s event returned us to McKeen Hall on the former Abbot campus, where Cannon Labrie pulled in from Vershire, Vt., in time for the class picture on the front steps. Publishing executive Charles Miers from Bronxville, N.Y.; lawyer Joan Bozek from Old Lyme, Conn.; and businessman Steve Goldberg from Oceanside, N.Y., circulated while hors d’oeuvres were
passed and cocktails were mixed. At dinner, the spouses of Betsie Redman Bramhall (Robert) from Andover and Phil Hueber (Judy) from Chesterfield, N.H., were named “honorary classmates” for having attended all eight reunions, beginning in 1980. Shout-outs for traveling the farthest went to former diplomat Frank Lavin from Hong Kong, where he runs Export Now, a company dedicated to helping clients sell their products online in China, and management consultant and author T.W. Kang, who came from Tokyo with his wife, Yong-Jean Park. Neurologist Cathy Chapman from Newton, Mass.; PR professional Kate Rohrbach from Sausalito, Calif.; artist Tilly Woodward from Grinnell, Iowa; Ann Joyce Delano from Leverett, Mass.; Priscilla Perry Danforth from Marblehead, Mass.; Kathleen Quinn Sullivan, a nurse in Hanover, Mass.; and Pamela Yameen from Haverhill, Mass., all appeared to enjoy the festivities. Head class agent Bert Garry, an insurance executive in North Hampton, N.H., humorously thanked donors for the underwhelming 19 percent participation in the class gift, which totaled less than $200,000: “We were a very underestimated class, and we lived up to those expectations,” he said. New class president and 45th Reunion honcho Phil Hueber recalled the 18 classmates who have passed away, most recently Tony Sanders this past February. And then a much-appreciated reprise of 2010’s great “transgression confession” began, as a surprising mix of “all-pro” classmates took over the podium to describe questionable activities that could have jeopardized their graduations. Many of the hilarious stories touched on being buds, drinking Buds, and rolling buds— as well as the wonders of parietals (“I thought he was trying out for Cirque du Soleil, but it didn’t exist then,” recalled one participant). It remains unclear whether technology executive Kurt Silverman from Andover; physical therapist Wayne Darner from Fort Worth, Texas; and private equity manager George Kirchwey from Dallas admitted to anything untoward. Reminiscencing continued in the tent with horse veterinarian Michael Galvin from Mamaroneck, N.Y; Kimberly Miller Casazza from Avon, Conn.; Linda Bilkey Krainik, who works in health care in New Jersey; Mary-Jo O’Reilly Smith from Fairfield, Conn.; and Debbie Rogers Pratt from Middleboro, Mass. Also reported to be in attendance during the weekend were John Bishop from Portland, Ore., David Briggs, Peter Cohan, Daniel Darst, Tony Pucillo, and Richard Pietrafesa. If you missed this year’s gathering, please consider returning in 2020 to reaffirm old friendships and establish new ones. Anyone in or around NYC is invited to a get-together on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Arthur Kell’s bar, Bar LunÀtico, 486 Halsey Street in Brooklyn. In the meantime, let Mari (marjoriewk@gmail.com) know what’s going on in your lives for the next class notes column. —Roger
www.andover.edu/intouch 1976 Ruben Alvero 137 Sessions St. Providence RI 02906 303-358-8739 ralvero@wihri.org Lisa Barlow 530 9th St. Brooklyn NY 11215-4206 lisabnyc@gmail.com
“Empty nest” seems to be taking on a multitude of new meanings for many of us. In my case, it is my daughter who has moved home and her parents who have flown the coop. Taking full advantage of our laptops and frequent-flyer miles, husband Alan and I are happily peripatetic, traveling mostly in Mexico and Colorado. For my fellow class secretary, Ruben Alvero, an empty nest means relocating to a new state. He writes, “William, our youngest, is graduating from high school this year, so we have become geographically mobile. This has coincided with an opportunity in the medical school at Brown, where I will be on the faculty. I will also take over as division director and fellowship director in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island. While we are going to really miss Colorado, we are looking forward to catching up with all our friends and classmates who live on the East Coast.” Kris Manos has forsworn cold weather for a bathing suit in the balmy South, taking the concept of the mobile office to a new level. The best part of living in Austin, Texas, she says, is swimming every day in her pool, “something that Michigan and New England never provided. By June, both boys will be college graduates, both with full-time jobs with benefits. I’m primarily doing board work now—serving on two public boards (KeyCorp and American Capital)—and some project work when I’m inspired. I love the flexibility, and, as my husband is also self-employed, we simply work on the patio in between swims.” Farther afield, Chris Mullen checks in from Accra, Ghana, where his wife, Caecilia, is deputy ambassador for the Netherlands and where they live with their three children. “I’m working as a dealer in traditional African art and am now curating an exhibition for the National Museum of Ghana that will explore the traditional textiles of the country, what they say about the society, and how they influence modern design. I have a small gallery: Jake Mulhane Expedition Outfitters (some of you may recognize the name), where I sell old ‘art’ that I find in the bush and elsewhere. I’m on a leave of absence from Leiden University, where I’m studying for a master’s degree in African studies. So…I keep busy. We have a wonderful place right in the center of Accra (across the street from the vice president’s home) with a small guest house for wandering friends.”
Shipley Munson is now a grandfather and happily staying put in Sandy, Utah, with his wife, Erika, with whom he just celebrated their 35th anniversary. “Our five children are everywhere: Brooklyn, N.Y. (daughter Leah, UCLA ’12); Paonia, Colo. (son Chase, Reed ’08); San Francisco (son Geddes, Haverford ’06); and two more at home. The two who opted for New England boarding school chose Middlesex. Both said to me, ‘Andover is just too much work.’ ” Shipley is working as the chief marketing officer for FamilySearch and just celebrated his fifth anniversary with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, where he is known as Tenor 13. He writes, “I still get a kick when the choir gets a piece nobody knows except me, because Bill Schneider, William Thomas, Sue Lloyd, or Christine Johnston taught it to me during various choruses during our PA years. We will sing a few of them on tour in Boston this July!” Kayce Freed Jennings’s production company, The Documentary Group, continues to grow as an important engine of social change. She says, “Girl Rising, our global campaign for girls’ education, has now reached tens of millions of people through our film, our educator program, and our corporate, community, and social media outreach.” In addition, Kayce writes, “I’ve just joined the advisory board of SOLA (School of Leadership, Afghanistan), Afghanistan’s first boarding school for girls. SOLA brings girls from all the provinces to live and study in Kabul and, because it’s not yet possible in Afghanistan, prepares them to further their education abroad. There are a few dozen SOLA girls at U.S. boarding schools and colleges now…and I hope soon one of them will find her way to Andover. These girls are remarkable, and it would be PA’s gain!” Heather White’s documentary, Who Pays the Price? The Human Cost of Electronics, is nearing the finish line. You can see the trailer (and join other classmates in funding her Indiegogo campaign) at http://bit.ly/1Lfc9r0. You can also read Heather’s compelling article in last April’s Wired magazine about the poisoned workers she filmed. Trust me, after reading it you will pay a little more attention to the back stories of the personal communication devices we have all become tethered to. I’ll end these notes with news of two members of neighboring classes. I had the enormous pleasure of spending time with Jerome Buttrick ’77 and Anthony Nahas ’75 recently in San Francisco. Jerome is happily living and working as an architect in Oakland. Tony, who transplanted himself from Paris two years ago, is working as a visiting scholar in the Energy Resources Group at UC Berkeley. His Oakland EcoBlock project is a brilliant multidisciplinary approach to retrofitting the urban environment and transforming it into the lowest energy-and-water footprint possible. Ruben and I look forward to seeing all of you back at PA for our 40th in June! —Lisa
1977 Buck Burnaman 222 Nod Hill Road Wilton CT 06897 203-834-9776 bburnaman@msn.com
1978 Jeff Strong jstrongnyc@gmail.com Jamie Clauss Wolf 514 Ribaut Road Beaufort SC 29902 843-694-7443 Jamie.wolf@thestartover.com
Courtney Clonard Walsh, who works as a radio and TV reporter, mostly covering the Vatican, traveled with Pope Francis to Bosnia and Latin America in summer 2014. She reached out through Facebook, saying, “I still live in Rome with my Italian architect husband of 24 years and three kids. The eldest is finishing a BA degree in physics and will do an MA degree program in London at Imperial College; the second girl, 20, is in London studying international politics; and the youngest just turned 12 and is a major Rome soccer fan. Not sure where she gets that.” Meanwhile, the family’s nine-bedroom inn in Tuscany is on the market, they still have a small Tuscany farmhouse, and on U.S. trips, they spend time in West Palm Beach, Fla., at a family place. That all sounds positively enchanting! Courtney invites anyone coming to Rome to look her up! She says the easiest way to reach her is via e-mail, at courtneycwalsh@gmail.com. Mike Cannell writes that he attended Ben Batchelder’s book party in NYC in May and looked for [former history instructor] Gil Sewall while he was there. Ben, living in Brazil and Miami, wrote of his American adventure in Borderlands USA: Or, How to Protect the Country by Car. In it, a returning expat (that would be Ben) circumnavigates the Lower 48 to discover what it means to be an American post–9/11, over a journey that begins in NYC and also ends there, with a profound sense of gratitude. Held in the Roger Smith Hotel’s Lily’s Bar & Lounge, where a stunning exhibition by Ben’s friend Roxa Smith was on display, the reading was followed by much celebration at the hotel’s rooftop bar. Buy the book on Amazon. For almost a year now, David Martin has been the senior investigative producer for America Tonight, a newsmagazine show on Al Jazeera America. Some of his recent story subjects include Airbnb’s battles in NYC, the conditions that have led to the deaths of more than 800 greyhounds at racetracks in the past few years, and the deadly effects of antipsychotic medications on Andover | Fall 2015
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Reconnecting at reunion were Nick Mazzoco ’80, Steve Larned Jr. ’80 (with daughter Rami), and Jon Talcott ’80.
nursing-home patients. Good stuff—check it out! Merrimon Crawford earned two agility NADAC titles via video runs with her specialneeds dog Hildie. Merrimon says, “In May, I actually ran her at a trial, and she did not bolt in fear or shut down, even with all the people around the ring. Never thought we would accomplish this in her lifetime. We adopted her six and a half years ago; as a 6-month-old puppy, she was so terrified of the world that she was literally starving herself to death.” Merrimon is also a gifted artist with a unique niche: photographing mallard ducks as they grow from ducklings. Some of her beautiful photography can be found here: http://bit. ly/1G4tXkW. Bill Mudge shares that he and his partners took a classic entrepreneurial pivot on the documentary film he’s working on, which is about the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance. Shortly after our last reunion, the partners changed course to focus on solutions to the problem, a significantly more important angle on the topic. Bill says they have been researching, interviewing, and filming people in that area ever since. In just two weeks in May, they managed to raise $20,000 on Kickstarter, which funded a full rough cut of the film. As this went to press, they were hoping to raise additional money for post-production and marketing. You can follow the news on the film and more here: http://bit.ly/1G4vhEn. In a story that appeared in April, Bishop John Barres of Allentown, Pa., reflected on the basketball-faith connection, answering questions from National Catholic Register correspondent Trent Beattie about evangelization in connection with basketball, including the NCAA tournament. John was a basketball player at Andover and then at Princeton. You can read the story and see photos from then and now here: http://bit.ly/1J4AUIS. Jamie Wolf is pleased to announce that she has just made a four-year commitment to Andover, exceeding her prior three-year commitment that began when she was a lower. Jamie has been appointed to the Alumni Council for a term that
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Duncan and Aimee MacFarlane, spouses and ’80 classmates, traveled from Texas for their 35th Reunion.
will run until June 2019. Not without irony, she will be on the class secretaries committee, reminding herself that she’s behind in turning in class notes. We wish to extend condolences to the families of two of our classmates, Laura Viehmann and Jeff Gerst. Each was an exceptional human being who will be sorely missed and never forgotten. Finally, did you know we have a special Facebook page called “Andover Class of 1978ish,” with just under 200 members so far? We’d love for you to post and visit! You can find it here: http:// on.fb.me/1Sp36I9. And as always, please share your current e-mail, phone, or FB address so we can include your news in the next edition. For you competitive folks out there, some of the other classes have lots more entries than we do, so now’s the time to send us news! If you are in touch with people who don’t normally contribute, nudge them in our direction. It’s a perfect opportunity to bolster the community that is the Class of 1978. Thanks!
1979 Amy Appleton 2201 Hall Place N.W. Washington DC 20007-2217 202-338-3807 Applta9@aol.com Rick Moseley Philadelphia PA 19118 215-275-5107 rdmoseley@gmail.com Doug Segal 1556 North Orange Grove Ave. Los Angeles CA 90046 323-969-0708 dougsegal@earthlink.net
1980 Jane Shattuck Mayer 80jshattuck@bluelink.andover.edu 781-710-7532 Amy Davidsen 451 West End Ave., Apt. 14E New York NY 10024 917-545-9617 amydavidsen@yahoo.com
The Class of 1980 has still got it! A goodly number of us attended reunion—refreshing old connections and establishing new ones. Our collective thanks to Burke Dempsey, Lizzie Roth LaFarge, and Kathleen LeMaitre for planning creative activities and plenty of time to relax and catch up. Be sure to check out the photos that have been posted to the Phillips Academy Class of 1980 community on Facebook! Ten intrepid classmates arrived on campus in time to revisit a scene of youthful folly—a ropes course in the Sanctuary reminiscent of our first PA orientation. Claire Gilliatt Wade, Aimee Thorpe MacFarlane and Duncan MacFarlane, Jon Penner, Burke Dempsey, Kathleen LeMaitre, Jane Shattuck Mayer, John Furse, T McKinley, and Kevin Murphy bonded over a hands-on program of teamwork challenges modified for our present condition. Duncan duly documented the hilarity as we supported one another over a course of tight wires and clung together on a three-bythree-foot wooden square. More classmates arrived toward evening, and the dinner crowd included Ian Bond, Julian Harris, and Mimi Keon Partridge-Hicks, who all traveled from the UK to be with us. After the official festivities, we retired to our reunion HQ at Taylor Hall, a popular collecting and connecting place throughout the weekend. At our traditional crash of the Class of 1975 party, we paid the band to play a bit longer for our dancing enthusiasts, who included Averill Powers and Katie Leede ’81,
www.andover.edu/intouch Elphie Owen, Chris Rokous, John Sheppard, Sally Van Cleve Van Doren, and Holly Helliwell Fabyan. Saturday afternoon included two special “classes” in which several of us explored the digital photography lab before joining compatriots for an excellent program showing how current students worked together to curate an exhibition in the Addison art gallery. Can we even say that every one of us set foot in there during our time as students? Bill Adams, Chris Witt, Larry Harris, Lisa Posey Krakowski, Larry Siff, Amy Davidsen, Scott Murphy, Bob Hooper, David Sherman, Dianne Hurley, Doug Gollin, Jon Talcott, Casey King, Murrey Nelson, Chuck Schneider with wife Dessi, and Kate Thomes all enjoyed our official Saturday festivities, which culminated with a roster of dance music put together by our own Jamie Curtis. More fellowship at the HQ followed. Our thanks to Louis Elson for a wonderful cocktail hour in the new Elson Courtyard—the area we used to know as the dangerous brick area between GW and the art studios. Maro Chermayeff was also on hand, but if you missed her, she will be back on campus to receive an Alumni Award of Distinction in the fall. Congratulations, Maro! Sunday morning found about 30 of us encircling our class tree on the Great Lawn. “Ted,” named for both Ted Sizer and Ted Harrison, heard our thoughts and prayers as we celebrated the lives of our deceased classmates in a moving ceremony facilitated by our own clergy, Lisa Posey Krakowski and T McKinley. This final circle of the weekend echoed the final circle of our Andover days, as we passed diplomas from hand to hand in front of the Addison. Emotions ran high, as we realized the strength of the circle that connects us to the past and will keep us together in the future. This reunion was truly about connection, about the ties that bind us to one another, about experience shared rather than individualized. Now that we are 35 years post graduation, we have made a mark on the world and fulfilled the early aspects of our dreams, and are more comfortable with ourselves. We realize what’s important in life and can see through the haze of hubris, fear, self-doubt, and striving to value the core of what each of us is. This reunion brought us closer together in the realization that few have known us longer and no one will cheer us harder than the classmates with whom we started toward adulthood. So, if you haven’t come to a reunion for a long time or ever, we who were in attendance hope you will join us on campus five years hence. But more than that, we urge you to reach out to a classmate, revive an Andover relationship, or start a new one. All of this happens at reunion, but why wait another five years? There’s no time like the present to add another wonderful friend to your life!
1981 Warren Jones Houston Texas 281-450-6457 wcjonesllc@gmail.com Stefanie Scheer Young New York NY 917-287-6111 stefanie.scheer@gmail.com
Hey, gang. Not much to report, but planning has already begun for our—gulp—35th Reunion. Save the date, June 10–12, 2016, for tons of fun. Really, when was the last time you danced like you were 17 again? Best —W&S
1982 Graham Anthony 2502 Waterville Drive Champaign IL 61822 434-989-5800 grahamanthony@earthlink.net John Barton 480 Hulls Highway Southport CT 06890 203-254-7751 (home) 212-230-3235 (work) jwb@tfm-llc.com Parker L. Quillen 170 E. 87th St., Apt. PH1B New York NY 10128 917-923-7400 parkerlquillen@gmail.com
How did the man do it for so many years? Alone, much of that time without the aid of social media, Paul Hochman tirelessly produced these class notes for well more than a decade. He must have written 40-plus missives! Rotating with Graham Anthony and John “Cookie” Barton, I’ve written only two in as many years and will confess that when the magazine’s editor prompted me with the looming deadline date, I fell into something of a panic. I was near tapped out of new material on classmates (at least any that was fit to be published in a family magazine). Had it come to this? Was I so quickly spent after only two updates? Did I really have nothing more to say or pass along to my classmates? I made a crisis call to the oracle for help. “I’m thinking in one-minute bursts” was Paul Hochman’s response. I was glad for him, whatever burst thinking was, as Paul seemed so pleased with it, but his cryptic counsel wasn’t really helping me with the task at hand. I was still no closer to getting the class notes written, and desperation was kicking in. I needed something more. “No, you don’t,” he steadied my hand. “Just find out what folks are up to. I’m thinking in one-minute bursts.”
Aha—that was it: Ask around! Inspired, I made a few “What are you up to?” calls and pleaded with the Facebook group, Andover82, for some material. The response was overwhelming, requiring drastic editing to maintain the 900-word limit of these notes. One-minute bursts, incidentally, are what Paul’s company, Humongous Media, does. It takes rather complex subjects and distills them into oneminute video presentations, typically for corporate clients. He lives in the Boston area, is now married to a former Olympic skier, Carrie, and has a second set of kids, two boys ages 3 and 6. Doug Benedict and wife Meghan are now empty-nesters, with both their kids off to school (one boarding and, by the time you read this, one in college). Doug’s still involved with financing small technology companies and lives out on eastern Long Island. He encouraged all of us to look him up and pay him a visit if out on the South Fork. (Really, Doug? Are you sure about that?) From my Andover82 Facebook query I learned Paula Lee’s memoir, Deer Hunting in Paris, won a 2014 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award for best travel book. Now she is writing young adult books and is in charge of corporate sponsorships for We Need Diverse Books, a campaign that promotes diversity in kidlit. Don’t mess with Arthur Small, as he’s just received his seconddegree brown belt in Shotokan karate. He’s currently a visiting fellow at Cornell, researching renewable energy and climate risk. Having moved to Ithaca, N.Y., in May, he proclaimed it “lovely.” We’ll check back with Arthur midwinter to see how he likes it then. Courtney Starratt Zani lives in SoCal with hubby Mike and their three bairns, all of whom are into musical theatre. In fact, she’s coming to NYC to see one of them perform in a massive choir at Carnegie Hall—practice, practice, practice. Paul Gormley has moved beyond practicing law and received a doctoral degree in law and policy at Northeastern University, focusing on criminal defense issues of mentally ill defendants. He plans on plying the teaching trade in his life’s next chapter. Amy Starensier Lee sent me a great picture of herself with Ellen Nordberg, Alice Banta Ulrichs, Barry Stout Kaminer, Liz MacDonnell, and Landi Fannin all celebrating their big 5-0s in Charleston, S.C., last fall. Don’t worry, girls, it wasn’t one of the pictures from the dive bar late that night. The sent pic was very wholesome, taken on the beach with you all looking marvelous and happy! My own 50th, celebrated in East Hampton, N.Y., with a ’60s theme, also included a number of Andover alums. It was great to see Brian Henson and wife Mia, Hilary Jewett, John Barton, Celia Imrey, Will McLanahan ’83, and Warren Zanes ’83. That was a fantastic and soulful evening, notwithstanding the reprimand letter I subsequently received from my club for the behavior of certain guests. Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... I put a call into Ned Moulton. Actually, it was more of a solicitation, as I was trying to recruit him to participate in writing this very column. As with term limits for congressmen, I believe rotation in representative government and class note authorship is a healthy and invigorating dynamic—and I had the perfect incumbent for him to replace: me! “No [expletive] way, Quilly” was his unhesitant response. He was otherwise well, still financing small and midsize companies, living in LA, and like many of us, watching his kids grow up faster than expected. Well, we’re out of space, old friends. That will have to do for now. Be well.
1983 Andrew L. Bab 170 East 83rd St., Apt. 6F New York NY 10028 212-909-6323 albab@debevoise.com
Well, with everyone turning 50 this year, it seems many of you are a bit distracted and must have forgotten to send me news. So this column will be relatively short. But I do want to underscore that if we lived in base 12 like the Babylonians or base 16 like our computers, we’d only be 42 or 32, respectively. And turning 42 or 32 is really no excuse for not writing to tell me and your classmates about what’s exciting in your lives! (For the English majors, base 12 is just like base 10...if you happen to have two extra fingers.) Amy Kellogg, writing from the maternity wing in London awaiting the then-imminent birth of Princess Charlotte, recommends that we don’t avoid acknowledging the half-century mark but rather embrace it, as she did early this January. It was Laura Culbert Knowles-Cutler who helped her celebrate by organizing a very British high-tea party in London with a few girlfriends. Jeff Koffman also celebrated his 50th recently, with a week of festivities down in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Michael Posternak, Gilberto Maymi, Arturo Valldejuly, and Dan Fujii ’82 were all in attendance. Jeff ’s son, Cameron, is heading to Yale this year, and he and his 14-year-old sister, Julia, both gave touching tributes. Jeff lives in NYC and runs a company called H2O Airlines, which provides water jet packs that allow users to fly above, glide, and dive into water. Cool! Gilberto, a lawyer, and Arturo, a financial advisor, both live in Puerto Rico and would welcome any Andover classmates who find themselves in that part of the world. Michael, a psychiatrist, lives in Sharon, Mass., and has a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. How many of you are becoming empty-nesters? Jason Bernhard writes that Adèle ’14 plays on the Columbia squash team and that Helen and Alex ’19 are off to college and Andover, respectively, in the fall, so he and wife Ashley will be all alone in
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their Brooklyn apartment. Jason says his deferred dream of becoming an English teacher might finally be fulfilled! Cindy Slattery, who is chief financial officer of Holy Cross Family Ministries, a Catholic nonprofit organization, reports that her older daughter, Elizabeth, is a senior at Fairfield University and has an internship at NBC Sports. Madeline, a dancer, and Kevin, a hockey player, are both in high school, but, as Cindy says, “The empty nest is quickly sneaking up on us.” Jeff Rossman’s daughter Thea ’15 is heading off to college. At the University of Virginia, Jeff is teaching European history and the history of genocide, while his wife, Lena, teaches first grade in the Albermarle County school system. Frederick “Fritz” Reichenbach ruefully tells me that his wife read his Andover report cards to their children (one an Andover alum, another an Andover student). Apparently this completely obliterated any standing Fritz might have had to offer advice to them. Fritz is an avid supporter of Andover events, such as the Chicago “new admits” welcome party held at the end of May. Finally, Sungjun Hwang wants to know what’s going on with Samaritan House mates David Yang, Ken Morton, Fritz Reichenbach (see above!), Patrick Powdermaker, Jeff Story, and Tiffany Cobb. See, your classmates really do want to hear about you! Sungjun is practicing ophthalmology in Rochester, N.Y., where he lives with his wife and three children. OK, until next time. I’ll sign off by reminding everyone to send me news for the next column and to let me know if you are in the New York area and would like to join our monthly gettogethers in the city. You can always reach me at albab@debevoise.com.
1984 Alexandra Gillespie 52 Amelia St. Toronto ON M4E 1X1 Canada acoonpie@gmail.com William P. Seeley Department of Philosophy 73/75 Campus Ave. Bates College Lewiston ME 04240 wseeley@bates.edu Adam Simha 84 Rice St. Cambridge MA 02140-1819 617-967-3869 adam@mksdesign.com
The first hint of lazy summer humidity is upon us in Maine today. Adam Simha, Alex Gillespie, and I [Bill Seeley] come to you this time around with some sad news. Christine Kim wrote to let us know that Rosemary Casey-Toumbas passed
away unexpectedly in April. She is survived by her husband, Vasilios, and children, Angelica Rose and George William ’17 (currently enrolled at Andover). Rosemary, raised in Winchester, Mass., was the eighth of nine children. At PA, Rosemary was a scholar and athlete, excelling in soccer, lacrosse, Ancient Greek, Latin, French, vocal performance, and the theatre arts. Christine writes, “In our dorm of student reps and athletes, Rosemary extended herself to me as a fellow lover of music and the arts. It was through our shared passion for classical, pop, and standards that we connected and became close friends. I marveled at her natural, untrained singing voice and recall how she devotedly pursued vocal studies with [vocal instructor] Beda Lorenco during our time at Andover. Rosemary possessed a singular quality of simply being who she was, not trying to ‘fit in.’ I think I often felt out of place at PA and thus was drawn to her happy conviction [and] strength of character. She lived life deeply and well, without pretense and with a generous heart, especially for those around her who were experiencing difficulty or life challenges. Those of us who knew her will always remember her beaming and dimpled smile, musical laugh, and extraordinary generosity of spirit. Rosemary was a true friend, and I will miss her greatly.” We will miss her too. Betsy Biern, Phoebe Brown, Susan O’Brien Lyons, Torrance York, and I gathered on campus in May for the spring Alumni Council meeting. All are thriving! Betsy has just finished a two-year stint as a PA alumni trustee. Susan writes that her excuse for missing our 30th Reunion last year is that she and her family were in Brazil for the World Cup. She reports that all is well in Chicago. Susan graduated from the University of Chicago’s master’s of liberal arts degree program last August. Her thesis was titled “The MBA Degree: Feminism’s Final Frontier” (which she says fits the “me-search/ research” category of a lot of academic work—with a typographic wink, literally). Her children are thriving. Nathaniel, now 16, is away at (another) boarding school, and Grace, 13, is in the 8th grade at the Lycée Français de Chicago, where Susan and her husband, Doug, have been very involved over the years. In an odd twist of fate, Susan tells me that the Lycée recently relocated to a new building built on the former site of Ravenswood Hospital, where my grandfather spent his entire medical career (from 1939 to 1979). Liz Lee Hood reports that she is pursuing a doctorate degree in religion at Harvard, focusing on Islamic devotional life, literature, and spiritual ethics. She’s assisting the dean of the Divinity School in launching the Religions and the Practice of Peace Initiative, which explores how people have drawn on religious and spiritual resources to promote well-being, justice, and peace across differences and the attendant implications for leadership, conflict transformation, and efforts to solve global problems. They hope to establish an endowed faculty chair and program to advance this understudied field, so vital for our human family and its future. She writes that she is
www.andover.edu/intouch
Lisa Johnson and Peter Meyer held the banner for their class in the Alumni Parade.
eternally grateful for the global perspective, love for intercultural engagement, concern with social justice, spirit of non sibi, and quest for wisdom reinforced by mentors, peers, and programs at Andover, which remain an inspiration to this day. I haven’t heard much from Alexandra Gillespie recently. I assume she’s been conserving British thermal units and coping with the long Canadian winter as the pile of cordwood dwindles out back of her spare Ontario cabin. My other partner in crime, Adam Simha, tells me that Hans Wydler was on the train that derailed north of Philly recently. He reports that he was banged up but, thankfully, escaped OK. Finally, not to be outdone by the dry heat of a California sun, and with the hope of raising a grin out on the rolling Iowa prairie, Jim Reische recently passed along to me an item indicating that grand theft auto has given way to grand theft Iowa ribeye in the shadows of Grinnell College.
1985 Pamela Paresky P.O. Box 8878 Aspen CO 81612 pamela@ayearofkindness.com
Whit Spalding and Caroline Cannon ’87 had he best excuse for missing reunion: their twin boys were born in early July. In the weeks leading up to reunion, Chris Smith reached out with this note: “Sitting at Tom McGraw’s table on the occasion of his retirement celebration was a transcendent moment in my life. I cherished my five years on the Alumni Council and have never felt better about Andover.” If you are interested in participating on Alumni Council, contact Dick Howe, associate director of
alumni engagement, at rhowe@andover.edu, or 30th Reunion cochair Alison Smith Lord, who spoke eloquently on a reunion-wide panel about women and leadership. John Caron, whose artwork was recently shown throughout New England in an exhibit titled “A Dimple and the Deep Blue Sea,” wrote, “Graduating from Andover, and being the only member of my family to do so, was a great honor. My grandfather came to this country on a boat at age 9 from Italy, sucking on lemons so he wouldn’t get sick. He lived the American dream: to work his way out of the mills and live long enough to see his grandson graduate from Andover.” Although John and Chris missed reunion, their notes are emblematic of the tremendous gratitude that permeated the weekend. Andover was for many of us a crucible of sorts. Thirty years later, as Van Meter Pettit observed, it was good to become reacquainted with our former selves. We looked back on our time at Andover with recognition of the gifts Andover gave us—including one another. Several attendees remarked how great it was to get to know classmates we didn’t know while at PA. We kicked off the festivities with an afterdinner party at a house rented for the weekend by Alice Stubbs, Elliot Smyth Berndt, Ben Schwall, Stuart Magruder, Craig Kaufman, Tajlei Levis, and me [Pamela Paresky] and additionally hosted by Lisa Johnson and Liz DeLucia. As Liz said, it was a unique opportunity to be together without other classes, “under one roof and feeling connected.” We looked at old photos (many of which are now available on our class Facebook page) and regaled one another with stories of the craziness of Andover in the ’80s. Most of those stories are unprintable here, but here’s one I think we can print: Phillipian staffers told us that they drove a van to Cambridge late on Thursday nights to print the paper on the Harvard Crimson
presses—completely unsupervised! (If you don’t know the story of how student van-driving came to an abrupt end, post a question on the Facebook page and someone will give you the scoop.) In the wee hours Saturday morning, when all the rest of the housemates had gone to sleep, Craig Kaufman, Stuart Magruder, Sean Wood, and Sid Smith were still telling stories. Photos of Ian Watson, Harry Keates, Maureen O’Brien, Buck Durbin, Laura Obbard Brightman, Julie Chang, Alvin Wen, Okechukwu Uzoma Ugochukwu, Becca Daniels, Peter Meyer, Juan Rodriguez de Hostos, possibly Martha Fenton ’83, Hal Gillam, and Libby Lefever, along with everyone else mentioned here, are all over our class Facebook page, and it’s incredibly fun to relive the weekend (or vicariously enjoy it, for those who missed the merriment) by looking at the great photos everyone posted. (Please tag the photos!) Solange Brown, a neuroscientist, spoke at a fascinating panel (and those of us who went to the philosophy class instead kicked ourselves for missing it). Alex May and her two children gave each of us a copy of Out of the Blue, a collection of Andover narratives, including one by Tom Beaton ’73, who shared part of his moving story in Cochran Chapel at the Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association. (If you don’t have a copy, you can purchase one for $10 from the school.) And over the weekend, Ben Schwall acquired a bust of himself created by Mrs. Wilkins in Will Hall in 1984. “I’m told it haunted Bulfinch for a decade,” he says. “I’m also told I used to have hair and a thin face!” (Photos of the bust are on Facebook.) Nina Davenport brought her son, the little star of her documentary film, First Comes Love. Reunion cochair Dorothea Herrey brought her husband, toddler, and baby (and shares her dad’s reunion year, so parents attended, too); Denyse Clancy brought her husband and baby (who is even Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... What ’s new with you? Get married? Move? Change your e-mail address? Let PA know! You can update your information in any one of the following ways: ● Visit
www.andover.edu/ alumnidirectory, and log in to update your information
alumni-records@andover.edu
● Call 978-749-4287 ● Send
a note to:
Alumni Records Phillips Academy 180 Main St. Andover MA 01810-4161
younger than Dorothea’s!). Other classmates brought children, too, and for the most part the teen and preteen kids seemed to find ways to enjoy the weekend without being too embarrassed by their parents or our crazy classmates. Jeff Kip almost missed reunion because his son Peter had been hit by a car! Thankfully, Peter (who looks just like Jeff) is fine, and Jeff brought him to dinner on Saturday night. Tim Banker, Matthew Littell, and Nina Davenport were deep in conversation at that dinner, as were Katlyn Shea, VanMeter Pettit, and Seth Brooks, while Bayne Findlay, Lorne Thomsen, and Steven Lanou were on giggle duty. (See photos on Facebook.) After dinner in upper right on Saturday night, Megan Carroll rocked on over to Borden Gym with Tajlei Levis, Anna Sibley, Susan Soule Blizzard, Alex Tuller, Michelle Franciose, Rhys Dekle, Craig Kaufman, and Sean Wood, where they danced the night away. After a reunion conversation with very thoughtful classmates Bill Parsons (chief of staff for Congressman Chris Van Hollen), Stephanie Sanchez, and Carter Vincent, Sean started a Facebook campaign to have each of us submit two words to describe our reunion experience. (You can find the “wordle” created from those responses on—yes, you guessed it—our Facebook page!) Megan Carroll said that this was by far her “favorite of all PA, college, and law school reunions” (and she’s run several of them!). She was especially happy to make new friends and see friends who came from very far away. Ben Schwall (China), Rhys Dekle and Cliff Bernstein (Japan), and others came from long distances, while Peter Stark, Liz DeLucia, and Ted McEnroe (who lives within walking distance of campus)
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didn’t have far to go (Andover). After having “such a blast dancing to ’80s music in Borden Gym with girlfriends Tajlei Levis, Anna Sibley, and Susan Soule,” Megan says, “Anna and I have plans to hit the ballroom dance clubs in Boston soon! If you didn’t make it to reunion this year, please join us next time. We have such a great class!” Master woodworker Strother Purdy, who brought wife Jeannette and daughter Priscilla, agrees. “Instead of vaguely bumping into classmates, greeting civilly, and continuing in the maze,” he writes in his blog, “we connected and talked. Repeatedly. With some really interesting classmates I never knew existed. They offered genuine thoughts and genuine opinions. I listened. I offered my genuine thoughts and genuine opinions, and they listened.” A link to Strother’s blog is on our Facebook page, and you can see photos of the beautiful tables and desks he made for Bulfinch Hall and John Palfrey there, too. A desk for John Palfrey even includes blocks of wood that spell out “youth from every quarter” and “non sibi,” and a little hidden door hides Gunga! (The gorilla. You know, the school mascot. Did you think it was something else?) And if that isn’t enough to get you onto our Facebook page, artist Kiki Thompson Smith posted photos of her sculptures and paintings and information about the Verbier [Switzerland] 3-D Sculpture Park she cofounded! I hope Jeff Nordhaus and I will end up in our class reunion photo. After trying unsuccessfully to get cappuccino at the Andover Inn (ask Jeff—it’s a funny story), we wandered off for coffee and missed the photo, but as a result of Jeff ’s initiative, the photographer took a photo of the two of us and said he would Photoshop us in. After the class photo, we met for our class panel on “Happiness and the Pursuit of Meaning: From Success to Significance.” Julia Trotman Brady (a 2012 inductee into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor) spoke about creativity. Craig Kaufman, author of daddy blog Papa911.com, addressed the importance of being present in parenting, and Lorne Thomsen, Camp Deerwood director, talked about the importance of kids unplugging and being away from parents. I (Pamela) talked about the impact of our relationship to the past on both happiness and leadership, and Van Meter kicked off a post-panel discussion that led to a remarkably intimate and authentic conversation. In all, 55 of us convened to reunite. Alison Smith Lord and Dorothea Herrey did an incredible job stewarding our reunion and creating an atmosphere of connection and fellowship, and our class came together in a way we hadn’t known before. Whether sharing news, insights, or questions to provoke discussion, we all benefit from our continued conversation. We are a very fortunate class to have so many thoughtful, inspiring members. Please stay connected. We are all a bit poorer when we don’t have the benefit of your presence, whether at reunion or in the class notes. And please—don’t miss the 35th.
1986 Kathleen Campbell DiPaolo 2516 Vista Drive Newport Beach CA 92663 949-689-3314 (cell) 949-209-2043 (fax) Kathleen@kathleendipaolodesigns.com Caroline Langston Jarboe 3124 63rd Ave. Cheverly MD 20785 301-322-4241 (home) 301-379-6572 (cell) caroline_jarboe@yahoo.com
Hi, class! Thank you for all of the great news and updates. Deborah Burdett Murphy shared the wonderful news that she will become assistant head of enrollment and advancement at the Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, Mass. The sad part is that she leaves Andover after 24 years of service. She will remain living on the Andover campus in Samaritan House with her husband, Paul ’84, and their three children. That means she will get to hang out with us at the reunion next summer. Hurray! Speaking of our reunion, David Eckman is starting to plan for our June 2016 celebration! Dave writes, “I would welcome any help and support in the planning of this reunion. First great idea: Peaches & Herb to play our Saturday night dinner opening with their classic 1978 hit ‘Reunited.’ ” Dave’s e-mail is deckman@uatel.com. Dave’s exciting news is that his son, Ben ’19, will be attending PA in fall. Congrats! Lee Westerfield missed a ski weekend hosted by Ramsey Shehadeh, but Mal Galvin, Dave Eckman, Brooks Hall, Ben Brooks, and Alex Wise made it to Colorado. Lee mentioned that Jim Israel was sighted in NYC enjoying warm spring weather and having drinks and dinner outdoors with friends. David Simons wrote that he has been working at Adobe on After Effects since 1992. Here is a link to his latest project: http://bit.ly/1HSqavV. So exciting, David! Anthony Verbeck was joined by Eric Vrooman, Tony Cooke, and John Nesbett in his hometown of Doylestown, Penn., and they spent a night in NYC. There, writes Anthony, they “played a scintillating game of Wiffle ball in Central Park, saw The Book of Mormon on Broadway, and then had a fashionably late dinner in the Village. As always, it was great to catch up, tell some old stories, and create some new ones.” Jon Kukk’s home has been buzzing with trips to Andover. His daughter, Carley ’19, will be attending PA this year and, writes Jon, “We are so very proud!” Congrats! Be sure to track down our other classmates’ children. Lara Gilmore has been living in Italy full time since 1995. She met her husband,
www.andover.edu/intouch Massimo Bottura, in New York in 1993, and they opened their restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in 1995. After 20 years of hard work, Lara and Massimo’s restaurant has three Michelin stars and is ranked second in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants guide: http://bit.ly/1j9oErG. In addition to Osteria Francescana, they opened Ristorante Italia in Istanbul in May 2014. Lara handles the international press requests, marketing, and communications and curates the restaurant’s contemporary art collection. Lara and Massimo’s 18-year-old daughter is off to American University in DC this fall. Robert Creasy still lives in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and both of his kids are great downhill skiers and fantastic cross-country skiers. At this writing, Robert’s family was in the midst of spring soccer season. He says, “It turns out I’m a tad too intense to be a coach for 9-year-olds and need to learn to rein it in a bit.” I think we all have that problem! Jennie Engstrom Fancher has been living in the Vail area of Colorado since 1992. In November 2014, she was appointed the mayor of Avon, Colo. Her husband, Gil, owns and operates the Vail Real Estate Center, a company that focuses on luxury homes in Vail Village. Their children are avid skiers. From time to time she runs into Andover alumni, and she had the pleasure of skiing with Perry Robinson ’85 and his son in March. Kimberly Doggett Formisano participated in PA’s Non Sibi event with Lisa Lincoln Chioffi. “We planted lots of kale and caught up on children and jobs. I am on campus often visiting [daughter] Ellie ’17 and frequently see Debby Burdett Murphy. I am going to be moving into the role of head of the lower division at Park School, a job I have long aspired to. Thrilled I can stay at Park as I move into the role!” Congrats, Kimberly. Christine Harrington frequently sees Jahna Malitsky Gregory. In fact, their daughters (Annika Harrington, Lily Gregory, and Rachael Gregory) enjoy spending time together. Christine says, “Sometimes I think their favorite activity is making me tell them ‘funny’ stories about their mother.” Christine also sees Katie Edwards and her two children around Needham, Mass., where they both live. Mae Doykos Dayton’s nephew, Culver Duquette ’15, just finished a PG year at PA, and Mae, her parents, and her siblings had many opportunities to root for him on PA’s soccer and lacrosse fields. Fritz Brown reported that his son, Spencer Brown, would be attending PA’s Summer Session. Fritz and his wife were looking forward to visiting campus and catching up with friends and Andover faculty in the Boston area. Kim A. Bynem recently moved back to Maryland after 20 years in Virginia. He is still working in IT (government contracting). Keith Alter has put his career on hold to become a pilot for SkyWest Airlines. If you are on a smaller jet with United, Delta, American, USAir, or Alaska, he might be flying the plane! Matt Mochary is still
living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he sees Bo Lasater, Jim Kingsbury, and Dave Chung ’85. Last year, they gathered the families together at Dave’s home and enjoyed watching the next generation play together. Thanks so much! XO —Kath Campbell DiPaolo
1987 David Kopans 2 Princeton Road Arlington MA 02474-8238 781-646-4515 617-947-2454 (cell) dave@kopans.com
These notes started out with a family trip to the Big Apple Circus here in Boston. While I did not see a single soul from Andover (although I must say I thought the fire-eating dude looked a lot like Tony Gellert—upgrading from juggling red-hot cast-iron skillets at Travis Metz’s house, perhaps?), I did see a mention of one Taft Foundation as a supporter of the BAC. That, of course, led me to e-mail the only Taft I know, our classmate Woody Taft. Although apparently unconnected to that foundation, Woody did end his e-mail to me with a cryptic “Google me,” so I did. And this is what I learned, straight from the virtual broadsheet of the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Tafts would own marijuana farm.” Now, I was interested. Here are some excerpts from the story: “Two scions of the city’s storied Taft family have invested in [what would become] one of the 10 marijuana-producing farms should voters legalize marijuana in November. Woody Taft, a private equity investor...expressed support for the ResponsibleOhio ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment. ...In a statement issued through ResponsibleOhio, Woody Taft said, ‘I love this state, and I care deeply about our economic and social well-being. Our current laws are archaic and cruel to the people in Ohio who need medical marijuana. The Ohio I know is more compassionate than that.’...Woody Taft also said, ‘Marijuana is in our community to stay, but these potential tax dollars are delivered to a black market that fosters crime and violence. It’s time for Ohio to reform this failed prohibition and replace it with a safe, legal market for marijuana.’ ” Go, Woody! As you all know, I generally like to ask for class notes submissions that follow some sort of loose “theme.” So, thanks to the inspiration that Woody provided, I sent out my solicitation with the following subject line, in hopes of getting some interesting tidbits: “Andover—Legalize it?— Notes Request.” Although the quantity of responses was low, I was not disappointed with the quality. Luke Meade wrote in and educated me on one Harry Anslinger, who was the first
commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) and, as would be appropriate to the position, a staunch supporter of prohibition and the criminalization of drugs. Could have made a fine cluster dean. Luke also let me know that “life is good here on Monterey Bay [California]. I’m still working as an editor. My son, Owen, just turned 12. This year I took him to see the live shows by the MythBusters and Alton Brown, and we have tickets for Weird Al in the fall. I’m going to the 50th-anniversary Dead shows in Santa Clara in June. Owen will be with his mom for the summer, and I’m going to New Orleans in July, where I will try not to melt. Hope my classmates are doing well.” A number of classmates responded to my notes with stories on the marijuana topic but asked that their names be withheld and that said stories be printed anonymously. Unfortunately, Andover magazine’s reporting policy is such that I am unable to protect my sources. So, with apologies to Woodward and Bernstein, the associated stories will remain untold on these pages. Karl Kister, however, takes the brownie for coolest news on the topic. He just made a film about it. Really. It’s a Kickstarter-funded movie called Rolling Papers that documents the first year of The Cannabist, which is the first pot section of a major newspaper (the Denver Post) in the country. More specifically, according to the filmmakers, the movie chronicles the first-year trip taken by “longtime Denver Post star writer Ricardo Baca and his staff, a three-man motley crew composed of Denver’s most staunch and studious stoners (as well as a few non-toking Post stringers more deeply rooted in traditional reporting),” wherein “policy news, strain reviews, parenting advice, and edible recipes are the new norm on a new beat: pot journalism” and “legalization [becomes] an experiment for society and a risk for the dying industry of newspapers to hedge its bets on a new one.” Must be a good movie: At the recent South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, the worldwide rights were sold to Alchemy, a leading independent film distributor. Apparently, Alchemy represents 75 percent of all independent titles sold at Target and is the leading supplier of independent media content to digital platforms including iTunes, Netflix, and VOD. So, next time you are at Target picking up a new lava lamp, be on the lookout for the film! In the meantime, check out Karl’s smiling face at http:// bit.ly/1HcDnz0. And that is all the space this scribe has left to use. Dave’s not here, man. I had that skit on cassette tape. You? And in case you want to hear it again, here is a virtual cassette player: http://tinyurl.com/ PADavesNotHere (it’s still pretty funny).
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stay connected... 1988 Terri Stroud 800 4th St. SW, Unit N418 Washington DC 20024 202-486-4189 terri.stroud@gmail.com Laura Cox 21 Merced Ave. San Anselmo CA 94960 415-302-7709 laurajeancox@gmail.com Matt Lavin 2221 46th St. NW Washington DC 20007 202-365-8593 mattlavindc@yahoo.com Heather Ross Zuzenak 12 Ginn Road Winchester MA 01890 781-874-1747 hrzuzenak@yahoo.com
They didn’t give us much space this time (where’s the love for ’88?), so apologies in advance to submitters for my heavy editorial pen. From head class secretary Terri Stroud: “In March, I traveled to Selma, Ala., to participate in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Over the course of the weekend, I attended various civil rights–related workshops, watched and listened as President Obama honored the bravery and sacrifice of the men and women who marched 50 years ago, and, along with thousands of others, marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the site of ‘Bloody Sunday.’ In May, I joined Aisha Jorge Massengill, Heather Dunbar Lucas, and other members of the PA family at a discussion on equity and inclusion that was held at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C.” Miguel Sancho is still “living the dream” at ABC News’s 20/20—and asks that you encourage everyone you know between the ages of 18 and 49 (that demographic currently includes all of his classmates, btw) to watch regularly. He also says that he’s taken up a new hobby: moving! He writes, “Accompanied by my saintly wife and two unbearably perfect children, I now live in lovely Larchmont, N.Y.—with Cricket Mikheev. (To clarify: We have separate dwellings.) Next stop: midlife crisis, abandonment of career and all material possessions, and a new life at an ashram, aboard a Great Lakes freighter, or perhaps the circus.” Chris Sapuppo is earning degrees in building technology, construction management, and carpentry while working as a developer in Austin, Texas. He’s never been happier, and his multiple
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management and construction roles have kept things pretty interesting. Moby Parsons recently purchased two Powerball tickets and is hoping for the best. As backup, he’s practicing orthopedics in Durham, N.H. He recently took his family on vacation to Bali. He has three children, so kids’ activities govern most of his free time, but he’s enjoying the simplicity and consistency of family life—until his numbers hit, that is. Our class playwright, Tory Stewart, is still in Los Angeles. Her newest play, Rich Girl, was presented at the Old Globe in San Diego in May and then at Theatre 502 in Louisville, Ky., in June. Tory’s also been writing pilots and screenplays and just finished a new play, Ophelia Redux. Leilah Powell told her that a play Tory wrote for children, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, was being staged in San Antonio in June. Susanna Rhodes Beckwith’s oldest daughter, Isabelle ’18, just completed her first year at PA, living in Double Brick. Susanna ran into Henry Gourdeau ’89 chasing his toddler on the lacrosse field. She was disturbed to find he looks exactly the same and that while she has a 15-year-old, Henry’s child is only 2. Isabelle is in math class with Kyle Welch ’18 (Peter Welch and Lisa Welch’s son) and toured with Bart Kalkstein’s daughter on revisit day. Worlds colliding. In her free time, Susanna runs a pediatric literacy program in Rhode Island and raises two more girls, Lila and Posey. She sees Matthew Hruska and Flossie Crisp ’89 often, as their kids all attend the same school. Shannon Meyer met up with Tanya Selvaratnam this past winter in NYC, where she tried unsuccessfully to get into Tanya’s soldout show, Sorry Robot. Shannon is still living in Carbondale, Colo., and has a 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. Look her up next time you are in Colorado. Nick Hofgren and family live in London and Wiltshire. They have their hands full with new deerhound and lurcher puppies. Nick has been building a principal investment business in Guernsey and plans to expand into the UK and Ireland later this year. Tina Merrill and family spent a sabbatical living in a small village on the Otago Peninsula, on New Zealand’s South Island. Husband David did biology research, and Tina hiked remote beaches, penguin watching. They reluctantly returned home to Durham, N.C., this summer. Tahisa Paul Southwell writes that “after four years living off the coast of Belize, my husband, 4-year-old daughter, Tesla, and I moved to Mississippi and Las Vegas briefly for work but are headed back to paradise in June. Doors always open for guests!” After five years in Shanghai, Lucia Jaccaci, Tony Jaccaci ’87, and their boys are coming back to the States. In China, they opened YK Pao School Secondary Division. They are headed to Ohio, where Tony will be the next head of school at Cincinnati Country Day.
Ann Gerschefski is a realtor at William Raveis in Sherman, Conn. She also still works as an orchestra musician on Broadway, so if anyone’s at a show, peek into the pit and see if she’s there. If you want to buy or sell a house anywhere in the world, contact her at anngerschefski@raveis.com. In other news from our nation’s capital, I (Matt Lavin) hit my own personal Powerball when my beautiful and charming girlfriend, Christie, said yes to my proposal of marriage. Although I’d planned on a super-short engagement, Christie informs me that it takes dressmakers longer than a few days to stitch a wedding gown together, so, as Miguel says, stay tuned—there’s more to come. Until next time, be safe out there.
1989 Laura Bauschard 2918 Octavia St. San Francisco CA 94123 415-806-2412 (cell) lbauschard@gmail.com Curtis Eames 978-994-9015 curtiseames111@gmail.com Gina Hoods 400 Chaney Road, Apt. 1024 Smyrna TN 37167 423-892-7140 404-667-4939 ghoods@yahoo.com
Sitting at my computer on a beautiful spring day, I have a few updates to share. The age of social media makes it a bit challenging to share news that has not already been dispersed. I give to you the info freely shared with me. Gabe Wardell currently resides in Atlanta with his wife, Trin, and their two children, Gustav and Greta. He works as director of group marketing for the Center for Civil and Human Rights, while also working in the film community. He is a coproducer for the Atlanta 48 Hour Film Project, and he cochairs the film evaluation committee for the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Pablo Mozo opened La Cubana, a restaurant with two locations in Toronto, with his sister Corinna ’86. The Cuban diner/luncheonette is doing great business. Pablo’s son, Pepper, is a huge hockey fan like his dad. The family spent time this past spring driving around Iceland. Send pictures for the next set of notes! Erin O’Reilly is enjoying life in Park City, Utah, with her husband and two rescue dogs. The couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in June; they’re also running two IT companies. They are hoping for a better ski season this winter. Libby Palomeque has fallen in love with sparkle and taken up figure skating. By the time y’all read this, she will have conquered her first competition! Congrats!
www.andover.edu/intouch We extend congratulations to Atticus Lish on winning the PEN/Faulkner award for his first novel, Preparation for the Next Life. Curtis Eames, one of our fellow class secretaries, is a producer for the movie Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie, coming soon to a theatre near you. Hope y’all enjoyed the short but sweet updates. Feel feel to drop a line to any of the secretaries to share any news you would like to see in print. Remember, there is usually a time lag of three or four months from the date of submission until printing. —Gina
1990 Regina A. DeMeo 1666 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 250 Washington DC 20009 240-621-0559 reginademeo@yahoo.com Thomas W. Seeley 1572 Heifer Road Skaneateles NY 13152 315-263-0052 (cell) 315-685-3416 (work) twseeley@gmail.com
Oh, what a magical June weekend reunion was. I am still overwhelmed with emotion as I write this, 10 days after leaving campus. In the words of reunion planning committee cochair Gretchen Whittier, “We all have our own takeaways from our experiences at Andover, but there is nothing like being back on campus and laughing with dozens of ‘kids’ you grew up with to realize just how awesome the whole thing was— and still is.” Thanks to the inimitable Seth Schiesel, the reunion unofficially kicked off Thursday night with a dinner in Boston attended by more than 25 mostly out-of-towners, including Jen Amis, Terry White, Todd Hearle, Marcy Kerr Yuknat and husband David, Mike Corcoran, Erik Moody, Rob Vermylen, Chris Swihart, Kathy Huibonhoa, Michelle Pae, and Ricky Shin. Friday afternoon, early arrivals—including Jeff Yasuda, Chi-Wai Lam, and Anna Ivey— gathered on the lawn in Pine Knoll for a little Frisbee and relaxation in the sun, with music blaring. After 25 years, not much has changed. Later Friday, several of us gathered in a classroom on the second floor of Sam Phil for a phenomenal presentation on the state of journalism today by the amazing Stephanie Gosk and John Berman. Flanked by Weezie Parsons Parry, Carl Smit, Jane Gray, Meredith Persily Lamel, and a host of other faces barely changed, I half expected Jack Richards to walk in. Later in the weekend, Berman coaxed Head of School John Palfrey to admit the Class of 1990 is the
greatest class in the history of the school. (At least, that’s how I remember it.) The fabulous Friday night Log Cabin party planned and orchestrated by reunion cochair Jessica Herbster and Trustee Joe Bae, among others, set the tone for an amazing weekend. Seriously, what other class orders Harrison’s sandwiches for all? Julie Hess and I had a great time reminiscing about being the last two students to have had smoking privileges. I can’t think of a better way to have celebrated Alex Whittemore’s birthday than by having all in attendance belt out a rousing “Happy Birthday.” Hamlin O’Kelley was back on campus with his lovely wife. It was great to see him reunited with fellow Charlestonian and BFF Bobbsey Twin Laura Vinroot Poole. It was great, too, to have John Hong back on campus, as well as Jeffrey Lang, whom I haven’t seen since we carpooled together to and from PA senior year! Jenifer Foss Smyth brought the sunshine with her from Palm Beach, Fla., where the family moved last year. And when is it ever a bad time to visit with Max Caulkins, Jon Malkiel, and Whitney Malkiel? (The answer is never.) One thing we learned for sure: after 25 years, we can still all function at maximum capacity on little or no sleep, a skill surely cultivated at Andover. No one demonstrated their prowess better than the Friday all-nighter crew of Dan Lennon, Akshay Patel, and Tom Reifenheiser. After our party faded, the three wandered over to the Fifth Reunion and shut them down, too! After a weekend of little sleep and much libation, J.K. Fagan was channeling either his inner Ernest Hemingway or Zach Galifianakis circa The Hangover. Note that he still wears his Nantucket Reds and pocket squares. Yankees fans can rest assured: Susan Marcus and I have solved all of the team’s problems. If you aren’t happy with their performance, blame management for not taking our sage advice. We vied to see who traveled the farthest to get to reunion. In addition to Joe Bae from Hong Kong and J.K. from Munich, contestants include Giles Bedford and Luis Roth, from England and France respectively, and Chi-Wai Lam (also from Hong Kong) and Phil Lisio (China), not to mention Adam Butler, from Africa. Honorable mention goes to Dan Gilbert, who endured the 11-hour car ride from Charlotte, N.C., with children in tow. Can’t forget to mention Danielle Graham and family, who made it from the Pacific Northwest. Still hope we can put that Ontario class canoe trip together. Saturday started with the truly inspirational Jake Barton discussing the work his company, Local Projects, completed for the 9/11 Memorial and the Cooper Hewitt museums, among others. Kiersten Todt provided excellent contributions on the Women & Leadership panel Saturday afternoon. Jennifer Brown Hodur, Shataia Brown Whitney, Tiffany Driscoll Bonanno, Colleen Ryan, and Catherine Bryant Crocker all
made it for the weekend and shared a nice moment under the tent. Tiffany hosted Imani Moody and his beautiful family pre-reunion. Thanks to Luis Roth, Colleen may consider a career as a personal social media curator. Another thing we still have after 25 years: showmanship. Dan Lennon and Carl Smit rocked the flag-bearing duties with their rock-star wigs, while the rest of us blinged the parade and alumni meeting at the chapel sporting our class vests, silver beads, and silver scarves, courtesy of Gretchen Whittier. Loved, loved, loved seeing the Johnson North crew of Helen Dorra, Olivia Morgan, Cynthia Bing ’91, Deb Blanchard, and Liz Stites back together! (Not to take anything away from Johnson Southers Cathy Jones and Katy Burdett O’Connor, of course.) We all cleaned up for cocktails with the head of school at Phelps House, most likely our first times there since convocation at the beginning of senior year. As a token of our appreciation, reunion cochair Stacy Metcalf presented John Palfrey, Debby Murphy ’86, Bobby Edwards, and Jenny Savino with their own limited edition honorary class vests! Lovely to catch up with Kari McPhail Rodgers, Michelle Tadros Eidson, Lynne Langlois Hunter, Jen Taylor, Hillary Stern Conkling, Caitlin Callahan Gallaudet, Libby Marshall Kinnealey, and Jenn Mitchell-Jackson, however fleetingly, amid the beautiful Phelps House grounds. Great to speak with Ida Hsu and Ed Ahn, if ever so briefly. I always love my reunion moments with Brian Bradford. Brian is now in Atlanta with his wife and beautiful children. Didn’t have enough time to engage in a lengthy conversation with Andreas Buchanan and Sanders Adu, but it was so great to see their smiling faces. Late night in front of Nathan Hale proved to be the perfect venue to reminisce and work on the problems of the world with Becca Langan Bunn. I was sure I’d have more time to speak with Zenzi Gadson as well. Next time we’ll need to schedule a few more days. Had a great little moment with Mike Dixon and family in front of Andover Cottage Saturday. I loved seeing Mike, Jason Lebovidge, and Jamie Gruener. It is true that Mark Kallis has more hair than Carl Smit, but both are shaggy dogs compared with Jon Karlen and Greg Djerejian. Two words for Saturday night: dance floor. Pablo Mozo ’89 and DJ Luis provided the music and we demonstrated that 40 is the new 16! Jared Jackson schooled us all with his amazing break dancing to “Billie Jean.” I still can’t stop watching the video posted to Facebook! The lovely Sherita Gaskins-Tillett was also in the house and cutting up the dance floor! Silvia Duarte, who made the trip from Florida, proved she gives the best hugs. I think I speak for everyone in saying Grayson Powell, husband to Carrie Ann Quinn, is officially Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected...
Friends and family met at Friday night’s dinner. From left are Hellen Dorra ’90, Weezie Parry ’90, Katy O’Connor ’90, Maddie Murphy ’16, math instructor Paul Murphy ’84 (father of Maddie and brother-in-law of Katy), and Caitlin Gallaudet ’90.
an honorary classmate. So great to see Carrie Ann, Margi Sharp Douglas, Amy Zimmerman, and Robin Hessman enjoying dinner together! Wonderful to visit briefly with Becca Cullen and Nicole Filosi May and to get a few moments with my Rabbit Pond Yacht Club skipper Steve James. Rejean Denoncourt has now been officially appointed the unofficial ombudsmen of these class notes. His first order of business is to banish the term “family compound.” How great was the dessert provided by Rob Bohorad’s Yuengling Ice Cream? Sad that we did not schedule a Kristin Hansen sing-along during the weekend. My oversight. I was honored to be provided with a signed copy of the Hansen Sisters’ debut album, which has kept me company on many long drives since. We will be sure to book for the 30th, along with Karen Choe-Fichte, Susan Antebi, and Evie Baron, reprising their all-female Andover band. Thanks to Ken Bower for bringing some Cardinals love and his wonderful family along! I could not have summarized the Reunion Weekend better than Wanda Mann in her reunionwithdrawal Facebook message: “What a blessing to be able to go back to a place that truly changed my life and forever links to me an extended family of amazing people. We came, we danced, we drank, we hugged, we rocked it. Xoxo.” Looking forward to the 30th, where I’ll expect to hear Tom Reifenheiser and others perform the amazing “Andover Blues,” written by our own Hamlin. See the lyrics and Tom’s performance on Facebook. In the words of Olivia Morgan, hoping our vows to stay in touch carry more weight in our 40s. Miss you and love you all. —Tom (with help from Stacy and Gretchen)
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1991 Hilary Lerner Gershman 6124 SW 104th St. Miami FL 33156 305-467-6581 hilarygershman@yahoo.com Matt Fleming 221 Edgevale Road Baltimore MD 21210 410-375-8302 Mattfleming91@bluelink.andover.edu
As yet another sign that the world is a very small place, my parents recently hosted an unknown group of older Yale Whiffenpoofs, who were in South Carolina for a reunion and with whom they had a friend in common. At the last minute, one member of the group apparently backed out, so they called in a younger “ringer” to join them; the ringer turned out to be none other than Ted Latham! Clearly this was a great decision, as Ted was the star of the show and wonderful company. In his spare time, Ted continues to be a music professor in Philadelphia, and he has two children at Andover. Lord, I feel old! Halfway around the world, in Hong Kong, Ben Cha reports that he, wife Ann, and children Owen, Casper, and Morgan are doing well. Ben started a new job covering the Asia region for the British company Grosvenor. Ben also regularly sees alums Yichen Zhang ’82, Joe Bae ’90, and Lillian Kiang ’96 as a member of the Asia Council. Continuing east to LA, Mara Raphael loves that Blair Lawson just bought a home up the street and they can now walk over for visits. Mara was also looking forward to seeing Ben Stout at a children’s birthday party. She recently saw Vicki Farley Hostin in Denver on her way back from a ski trip. Colorado agrees with Vicki, and life is good! To conclude the Smith House newsletter,
Lucie Flather reports from Brooklyn that she enjoys playing in a hockey league with former teammate Amanda Adams ’93. No mention that she does this professionally, so I assume she still has her day job as an architect. On a personal note, I just had a somewhat awkward conversation with our friends in the Annual Giving office. I was doing my taxes and called to find out why I had not yet received my donation receipt; it was, of course, because I did not give last year! The good news, I was assured, is that I had until June to clear up this oversight. To avoid suffering this same embarrassment, I would suggest everyone contribute in the same way we are encouraged to vote in Baltimore: early and often! I hope everyone had a happy and healthy summer. All the best.—Matt
1992 Allen Soong 1810 Burnell Drive Los Angeles CA 90065 allen.soong@bluelink.andover.edu
Not content with claiming the Cooley House award in 2013 for hosting several alums in his home for tea across three consecutive weekends, Anant Raut is crushing it in 2015! In January, he married Katie Schettig in Washington, D.C., and the two honeymooned in the Galápagos Islands. A few weeks later, Anant assumed his White House– appointed role as special counsel to the assistant attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division. Most significant, of course, was Anant’s appearance on a panel at a local Andover alumni gathering in April, where he held forth on equity and inclusion in school and the workplace. Among those in attendance were Darryl Cohen and Nate Pendleton ’91. In February, Susie Tong Parikh launched her online retail business, Mini Ruby, at
www.andover.edu/intouch
The Class of 1990 had its own distinctive look at reunion. Dan Lennon manned one side of the banner for his class.
www.miniruby.com. Mini Ruby offers high-end contemporary children’s wear, featuring a wider selection than found in a typical brick-and-mortar children’s boutique. A busy mom, Susie came up with the Mini Ruby concept after spending precious hours scouring the Internet for unique styles for her two preschool-age daughters. Mini Ruby is Susie’s return to the working world after leaving a 12-year investment-banking career behind for adventures in motherhood. The transition to entrepreneurship has been tough but rewarding, and Susie is currently working toward doubling her selection and inventory for the back-to-school season. Hearing of Susie’s new venture reminded me to check in with a few other classmates who have taken the entrepreneurial plunge. Back in 2013, I mentioned Todd Lubin had started his own production company, Matador, after years of working on such reality TV hits as The Biggest Loser. Two years later, Matador has launched multiple series on seven networks, making enough waves that Todd and his partner are on The Hollywood Reporter’s Reality TV Power List for 2015. Matador’s latest show is the number-one hit Lip Sync Battle on cable network Spike TV. The show, hosted by LL Cool J, features celebrity guests such as Queen Latifah, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Anne Hathaway lip-syncing with props, costumes, and backup singers/dancers. It originated as a recurring segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and has already been renewed for a second season. Not too long ago, Justin Lattanzio wrote in from the Sonoma wine region of California, where he is a winemaker. I asked Justin how he ended up in the wine business, and he wrote, “I became obsessed with wine and wine country while living in San Francisco back in the late ’90s. I used to drive up to Sonoma/Napa by myself on weekends to go wine tasting and just explore the area. In 2003, after about six years living and working in SF, I decided to quit my biotech job and move up to Sonoma.” That fall, Justin did the grunt work in the
Sharing smiles at their 25th Reunion were Gregory Djerejian, Andreas Buchanan, and Brian Bradford, all Class of ’90.
cellar during harvest. After a few years of “working hard, asking a lot of questions, and taking a lot of notes…I scraped some money together to buy a few French oak barrels and about two tons of pinot noir grapes. We made about 75 cases of Russian River Valley pinot noir for Lattanzio Wines [www. lattanziowines.com] in our first vintage. We’ve grown production a bit over the years but are still a micro producer, crafting about 700 cases per year.” If leaving a comfortable job in biotech to become a cellar hand sounds a bit daft, Justin’s parents “thought I was nuts,” he says, but they supported him nonetheless. “I wasn’t anxious at all. I had this very strange but comforting feeling that all of the pieces of the puzzle would come together... and they did!” At the time, Justin was 30 years old and had “no wife, no mortgage, no kids…it was now or never!” Mike Bor, on the other hand, decided the stakes weren’t high enough without them, so he waited until 2011 when he had the wife, the mortgage, and three kids to start CarLotz, a new kind of used car marketplace where private sellers are matched with buyers conveniently and transparently, instead of selling at a discount to a dealer or having to resort to Craigslist. Mike was a successful investment banker, opening offices for his firm in London, India, and East Asia, but in the back of his mind he had always known he wanted to be his own boss. During his many business trips, Mike would jot down ideas in a notebook and force himself to flesh them out over at least a few pages. Finally, he hit upon an idea that seemed to have legs: Shopping for another car for his growing family was like getting root canal, and Mike believed he could fix that. Four years later, CarLotz has six locations, and Mike and his partners are preparing to take it nationwide. CarLotz has also been nominated for this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award! Mike and his family have had to adjust their lifestyle, but he is much happier and actually more present in the lives of his three boys and wife Katherine. I asked Mike if he ever has doubts. “You
mean like when I wake up every other morning at 3 a.m.?” he asked. Those moments of anxiety are always pushed aside, though, when Mike and his family drive by a CarLotz. His boys can see and touch what Dad does for a living, and welcome him home for dinner every night.
1993 Susannah Smoot Campbell 301-257-9728 Susannah.s.campbell@gmail.com Jen Charat 619-857-6525 jcharat@yahoo.com Ted Gesing 917-282-4210 tedgesing@gmail.com Hilary Koob-Sassen +44 7973775369 hksassen@hotmail.com
We are 40! Or getting there, or over it by now, thank you very much. High school is a distant memory. So is college, for that matter. We notice that we’re less flexible, slower to heal, starting to forget words... OK, this is all just my feeling old. While I tackled 40 with the curmudgeonly charm of Diogenes in his ceramic tub, I hope that you, dear readers, blew out the occasion with the gala festivities it deserves. Perhaps because you were so consumed with your midlife birthday parties, you didn’t send us much news this time around. Here’s what I got. And keep in mind that it’s mid-May when I write this, so apologies for strange amalgams of future and past tenses. Susannah Smoot Campbell gathered a couple of updates: Ramona Gittens Morgan was expecting her second child this summer. Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Melissa Clapp Johnson lives in New Jersey with her husband and three kids, now tweeners! She works as a freelance editor and medical writer. Andrew Frishman writes that he and his wife, Leigh, have moved near Central Square in Cambridge. Their daughter recently finished her first year at Amigos School, a public school located just a block from their house. Andrew continues to serve as the program director for Big Picture Learning. Amy Carr writes with updates from her continued road trips directing the lighting design for concerts and events. She wrote me on her fiveyear anniversary of quitting smoking. (Go, Amy!) She spent the summer touring with the show she designed for Esperanza Spalding (a remarkable jazz bassist and performer—worth looking up if you’re not familiar). And this fall Amy is slated to bring the tour to Europe and Japan. Now here’s some stuff I learned about folks with the help of the Internet. Some of these are quick abbreviations of news stories featuring our more famous classmates, and some are taken from recent Facebook updates and online profiles. I’ve tried to include people we haven’t featured recently in class notes. Leif Dormsjo is now the director of DDOT, the transportation authority of Washington, D.C. It sounds like a big deal, and no doubt it comes part and parcel with a tall stack of politics, managing, and budgeting concerns—all things Leif mastered in his years working with Martin O’Malley and the Maryland Department of Transportation. Gus Quattlebaum continues his work with the Red Sox. Early in 2015, he was named assistant director of professional and international scouting, following five years as assistant director of amateur scouting. Morgan von Prelle Pecelli serves as the VP of institutional advancement for the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She’s got a long and rich history as a curator and producer and “occasional performing artist.” She also has a PhD degree in anthropology from Columbia. Scott Hennessey lives in Bethesda, Md., and has two adorable sons. He works with solar panel company SolarCity, where he serves as director of policy and electricity markets. Angela Cheng Matsuzawa lives in Hong Kong, where she is cofounder of a juice cleanse company called Punch Detox and raises twin boys. Max Shapiro works as a gastroenterologist in Atlanta. He’s married and has two daughters. Taro Nettleton teaches art at Temple University’s campus in Japan, and he occasionally writes book and art reviews for the Japan Times. He has a PhD degree in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester. As for myself, dear readers, as I write this I’m producing episodes of a CNN series called The Hunt. It’s a fugitive show with John Walsh, of America’s Most Wanted fame. It will air this summer—or rather, it aired months ago. You missed it. Until next time. —Ted
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1994 Moacir P. de Sá Pereira 244 Greene St. New York NY 10003 312-792-8828 moacir@gmail.com
It’s a beautiful spring day in Vilnius, Lithuania, I just gave my remake exams to the seniors who failed my course during the spring semester, and I’m eager to go outside. That’s not the reason these notes are short, however. That is more because of the paucity of information I got from my classmates this time around. Remember, dear classmates, your lives are interesting, just because they are your lives. People who went to PA with you want to hear about them. We’ll start with Emily Kalkstein Carville. She was noticeably pregnant during our reunion in June 2014, and Eleanor Elizabeth was born in September. Eleanor’s cousin will be a junior at PA in the fall, keeping the Andover Kalkstein legacy strong. Also pregnant at the reunion was infrequent contributor Beth Crowley. Son Conor Daniel McKinnon was born in October and joins older sister Ginny, whom Beth describes as “thriving.” Beth is someone we’ll be hearing from rather often over the next few years, especially now that Stuart Hee has joined her as cohead agent for our class. Also in possession of a 2-year-old is Saasha Celestial-One. She’s crossed the decade mark in her life in London, living there with her son, Nolan, and her Danish husband, Michael. Now that her European maternity leave has (finally) ended, she’s launching her second business, OLIO, a mobile food-sharing app that aims to unlock the value of food wasted in the home and community. Non Sibi Weekend occurred in April, and Hannah Sharpless Graff spent the day planting seedlings and hauling compost for the Food Project at Ingalls School Farm in Lynn, Mass. Stephanie Dixon Britz also attended, with her sister. Hannah thanks Mike Koehler for initiating the project, and she also thanks Non Sibi Weekend for keeping alumni connected both to one another and to the ethos of the school. Mike also wrote in about the Non Sibi Committee of the Alumni Council, which he cochairs with David Wartman’s brother, Jed ’97. In another Non Sibi Weekend project, Matt McGirt, Kevin Moran, and John Stubbs worked for the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte, N.C. Mike encourages people who are interested in Non Sibi Weekend to visit http:// bit.ly/1NuAARY. Jessica Lubarsky Wax is getting used to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she moved with her husband, as noted in the last edition. She’s asking anyone in the area who wants to meet up to please let her know. Down the coast, Bryan Seabury wrote from LA. He has three pilots on the schedule for this fall from CBS, including Supergirl, which he says is the biggest pilot he’s ever worked on.
His two daughters, Scarlett and Quinn, are doing well, and he was recently in London to meet up with Curren Krishnan and Juris Vitols. From Woodstock, N.Y., Jess Lunt sent some news as she prepared for her annual summer pilgrimage to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is expanding her yoga teaching, as well. Aaron Flanagan spent the snowy, snowy winter on Plum Island, Mass. He has since moved to a new home in Newburyport, Mass., with his wife and 3-year-old son. From the other side of the world, specifically Vietnam, Jason Lusk sent in some news. He is working as Microsoft Vietnam’s digital marketing lead, and he also cofounded ClickSpace, a coworking space for digital nomads, complete with café and bar. Finally, and on a sad note, Marta Rivera Monclova wrote “to fight the Facebook-esque trend of only posting good things.” She suddenly lost her partner of five years, Daniel Albright, on January 3, to multiple pulmonary emboli. She has gotten a lot of support from Andover friends, including Lilli Lewis ’93 and Sofía Echegaray ’93, who sent flowers, and Brock Savage, Lisa Larson ’95, and Justin Libby ’95, who met her for lunch. Marta is still trying to figure out what is next for her. As always, please keep in touch by joining our class’s page on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/ pa94fb. Or contact me via the myriad options listed at the top of this update.
1995 Lon Haber 2645 South Bayshore Drive Miami FL 33133 323-620-1675 lon@lonhaber.com Margot van Bers Streeter +44 077 393 77700 margotstreeter@gmail.com
This is going to be a doozy—but read through: We promise you tall tales of tent crashing, adventures in the Sanctuary, and...an engagement! Read on, dear friends. First off, our sincerest apologies. After two years of drumming up excitement in the notes and a full year of conference calls and planning sessions, that your (devoted) class secretaries weren’t able to attend the reunion was a bit of a blow. Ditto Mimi Crume Sterling, who’d put in a good bit of time helping to pull it together. Sod’s law, and all that. Still, Margot van Bers Streeter and I [Lon Haber] were definitely there in spirit, and from our respective perches in London and Miami, we watched the weekend unfold online with great interest—both of us throwing “likes” around with wild abandon. And we weren’t alone in that. From the comments flying as each new photograph was
www.andover.edu/intouch posted in our Facebook group, it was clear that quite a few others came along for the virtual ride. Three cheers for technology capable of making even the most far-flung members of our class feel a little bit closer to the action—and here’s hoping that our 25th (!) will see us all rallying ’round the Bell Tower together in real time. So, what news? Lots. For starters, word on the street is that Dave Brown, Erik Campano, and Anne Knight were superstars when it came to keeping everything going on campus (though Anne modestly insisted that her greatest contribution involved drinking Erik’s Bloody Marys). And we’d be remiss if we didn’t follow that up with a huge cheer for Todd Harris, whose accomplishments were celebrated in the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor ceremony. We’re proud of you, Todd! So who else was there—and what did they get up to? After much of the usual begging, pleading, and hand-wringing, a number of you took a moment from your time in the sunshine, propped yourselves up on one elbow in your deck chairs, and wrote in to tell us you’d had a blast—applause for the wonders of being serenaded by Ganessa James and Tiffany James and rapturous musings on Paresky Commons breakfasts topping your lists of raves. Beyond that, Erik Campano reported that he and Tom Wing arrived on Friday afternoon and saw Phil Ciampa (and his wife, Erin), Frank Georges, Catherine Chu (and her family from Hong Kong), Kevin Kwong, Justin Libby, Elizabeth Clarke Walentin, Karl Hutter (and his wife, Jen), and Rebecca Myers (with her husband, Fritz) at dinner that evening. Saturday morning dawned bright and beautiful, and we hear that a good number of classmates turned out for the procession of the classes— accompanied not only by bagpipe music but by a frothing, giggling, gloriously chipper flock of children. Really cute ones, too. In fact, according to Erik, ’95 “definitely took the record for the class with the most little kids around,” though in his view, the best classes to watch were “the colorcoordinated hippie-like Class of ’65, as well as the Old Guard.” David Brown wrote in as a special correspondent with a phenomenal account of the weekend, an exerpt from which follows: “Not surprisingly, there definitely was a family theme to the weekend. Around the time I met up with Todd Harris, I ran into Shirley Fan, who was my Abbey House neighbor when I was in Hall House; I met her son and husband, and we laughed after learning we now live a block away from each other. I also saw Margot Stiles and her husband, David. “The weather was perfect, and lunch included more great conversation and catching up to talk about work, kids, life, love, and more. There, I ran into Colin Bradley (who tried to sell me on getting out of NYC and moving to Jersey). I still can’t believe he’s got four kids. I also ran into
Melissa Ellis ’95, Phil Ciampa ’95, and Karl Hutter and his wife, Jennifer, enjoyed connecting at dinner on Friday evening of Reunion Weekend.
Tom Wing, Nicole Williamson, Pete Nilson, Frank Georges, Jake Levin, Erik Campano and his lovely girlfriend, Ariel, Judd Brackett and his cool kids and wife, Eric Ray with his wife, and Chris Barraza with his adorable little guy.” For those of you wondering why the average age in our class picture is approximately 6, David writes, “When we were asked if we wanted kids in our picture, we said, ‘Sure,’ so it’s definitely a ‘Class of ’95 and friends’ photo. I ran into Bill Pena, Rebecca Myers, Karl Hutter and his wife, Cem Karsan, Todd Harris with his wife and kids (he affectionately calls them his ‘team’), and Ali Coughlin Averill with her husband and four kids. (She was pregnant at the 15th, so it was nice to meet her most recent child.) Emily Moore was there with her wife and daughter, and Tiffany Freitas was spotted mingling with pals, having moved back to the area shortly before the reunion.” As everyone did, David absolutely loved Tiffany and Ganessa’s performance. “They were absolutely amazing,” he wrote. “Everyone stopped and was enthralled with their performance, which I believe included two songs. I mean everyone: kids, parents, the goslings near the pond. They were a hard act to follow. Fortunately, there were no more acts.” We also hear there was a long session of wine and chat on the Great Lawn, where one Vanessa White in knee-high boots was holding court with Melissa Ellis—as well as Stefanie Santangelo, with her wife, Chandra. David also tells us that he saw Dan Marks and hung out with Leevert Holmes and Gbenga Dawodu, who showed up on campus around five, which was “awesome.” Also floating around? Phil Ciampa and his wife, Stephanie Pacheco, Bill Pena, Justin Libby, Delphine Rubin McNeill, Morgan Nickerson, Laurie Coffey, Caitlin Madera Fawcett and John Fawcett, Tiffany Freitas, Yup Lee, John Lee, David Engel, Courtney Feeley Karp with her husband and daughter, Vanessa Kerry, Jessica Drench,
Sam Keller, Melissa Ciaccia, and Martin Nunnally with his fiancée, Keturah—as well as Galen McNemar Hamann and Leah Bradford, who were “all smiles.” Beyond that, we’ve received lots of off-therecord reports—and though a good portion of the contents are flatly (and hilariously) unprintable, the key takeaway, scrubbed up for public consumption, is that the Sanctuary and Siberia are still being put to excellent use for all sorts of clandestine purposes. Ultimately, love was definitely in the air over this Reunion Weekend, which is welcome news. Kevin Kwong gave massive props to the occasion: “After 20 years, I finally made the trip back to Andover, this time with my wife, Michelle, and 3-year-old daughter, Aliana, who absolutely loved it. It was great to catch up with a bunch of old friends I haven’t seen for ages—Ernest Lee ’96, Joanne Tao Cheng, Jennifer Yoon Sunoo, Liz Walentin, Karl Hutter, Yup Lee, Jane Chen Fulop, and Vanessa Kerry, to name a few; it was also great to meet people I did not get to connect with before. Now I’m really looking forward to our 25th! I want to add that flying 14 hours from Hong Kong was totally worth the trip, and anyone passing through HK, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.” Finally, we learned that the Class of 1995 deeply appreciated the time, energy, and effort the Class of 1990 put into the construction of its tent and dance floor, the selection of its DJ—and the degree to which it was willing to share all of the above. With us. It is possible that some narrowminded folk will call it reunion-crashing, but that’s an ugly term. Here in Class of ’95 HQ, we prefer to think of it as non sibi in action—set to music. All joking aside, thanks, guys; our classmates had a blast and we definitely owe you one in 2020. And last but certainly not least, congratulations to Gibby Greenway on his engagement. Welcome to the family, Natalie! Onward and upward, friends. Andover | Fall 2015
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The Class of ’95 gathered near Rabbit Pond for fun and sun. From left are Tiffany James ’95, Ganessa James ’95, Terry-Ann Burrell ’95, Isabel Arrillaga ’95, and Emily Moore ’95, holding her daughter, Alice Crutchfield.
1996 John Swansburg 396 15th St. Brooklyn NY 11215 john.swansburg@aya.yale.edu
In a recent issue of the New York Review of Books, Richard Holmes, the author of what book reviewers call “magisterial” (i.e., long) volumes on the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, writes of the pleasures and trials of biography. Holmes believes that the best biographers do not confine themselves to the hushed reading rooms of university archives; they retrace the paths of their subjects through the world. Holmes calls this his “footsteps principle.” “The serious biographer must physically pursue his subject through the past,” he writes. “He must go to all the places where the subject had ever lived or worked, or traveled or dreamed.” You can see how the Coleridge book took him 15 years to complete. One of the places Holmes visited while chasing the poet’s ghost was Greta Hall, Keswick, England, where Coleridge moved in 1800, to be near his friend Wordsworth. It was at Greta Hall that Coleridge wrote his famous work “Dejection: An Ode.” The house has since become a girls’ dormitory at a small boarding school, so Holmes asked the house matron if he could examine Coleridge’s study while the girls were out at field hockey practice. She assented. Once upstairs, he promptly climbed out a window and onto the roof, where the poet had often composed. Hoping to see what the poet had seen, Holmes instead stumbled upon a small trove of boardingschool contraband: two vodka bottles and a box of Black Russian cigarettes, left behind by the room’s present inhabitant, a student whose secret Holmes honorably kept from the matron upon
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returning from his sojourn on the roof. “Places of ‘inspiration’ might genuinely retain something of their force over time,” he writes of his visit to Greta Hall. “But the biographer should be on guard against vodka.” There’s a limit, in other words, to how far the footsteps principle can take you. The present has a way of muddying the trail of the past. Thankfully, the work of the class secretary is more immediate—my task is to report on your accomplishments in the here and now, though I suspect I could fill a column with old stories about extracurricular activities undertaken on the roofs, sills, and fire escapes of PA’s dormitories. Let’s see here. Rachel Levy has a son named Silas, a “totally awesome kid” who is now almost 1. Other than that, our news is almost exclusively of baby girls. Maggie Klarberg Kennedy welcomed daughter Elizabeth. Joshua Harnden, who recently got an MFA degree in writing from Otis College of Art and Design and is currently working on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, welcomed daughter Emily. Julia Lloyd Johannsen had a daughter, Linda Rose; she was born in May and is named for Julia’s late mother. Elaine Dimopoulos gave birth to a girl named Athena, and in May, Elaine’s debut work of young adult fiction was published. The book, called Material Girls, follows two heroines as they attempt to navigate the unforgiving worlds of fashion and bubblegum pop. Also doing the good work of supporting strong female leads is Tennyson Stead, who sent this inspiring note: “While I’ve been learning to live with Parkinson’s syndrome, a collection of symptoms imparted by a traumatic brain injury sustained in April 2013, I’ve been developing a slate of four feature films and an ongoing stream of online content with my repertory film company, 8 Sided Films. Our first feature film will be Quantum Theory, a story of two brilliant, snarky women of science who develop a prototype
Reconnecting at reunion were Sterlind Burke Jr. ’00 and Sandra Sanchez ’00.
with the power to alter reality...until it’s snatched from under them by LDI, a ruthless and powerful defense contractor. With reality itself under the control of a corporate military superpower, can Chelsea and Roe take back their technology and their world? “Including my time at Andover, I’ve acquired 20 years of stage and screen production experience and an additional 10 as a film finance executive working with independent production companies. The relationships I’ve built over that time have provided my company with the means to release our films in theatres, and our ensemble is working tirelessly to get those films through production, into theatres, and in front of a healthy, supportive audience. To recount everything I’ve learned building this company in the face of a disability like mine would devour this space, but both of these endeavors have been life-changing, and I am, in the balance, grateful.” As for IRL heroines: Rebecca Uchill just earned a PhD degree in history, theory, and criticism of art and architecture from MIT. She is staying at the school as a postdoc in the university’s Center for Art, Science & Technology. Lindsay Shaker McDermott has five children: Conor, 10, Taylor, 9, Madison, 5, Piper, 3, and Brody, 18 months—together, she writes, they consume 10 gallons of milk a week. Lindsay somehow still finds time to sit on the board overseeing the renovation of her local library in Hopkinton, Mass. Jenny Hoffman is a mother of three, a tenured professor in Harvard’s physics department, and the winner of last fall’s USA Track & Field National Championship 24-Hour Run (with a distance of 127 miles). Her participation in the race raised $10,000 for the Special Olympics. Finally, Matt Hintermeister writes with this reassuring news: “I continue to live (and sell) the dream in Telluride [Colo.].” If you’re in the market for a stately pleasure dome, please give Matt a call.
www.andover.edu/intouch
Jessica Smith, left, and Candace Douglas, right, hoist the banner for the Class of 2000 in the Alumni Parade, while classmates gather ’round.
1997 Jack Quinlan 514 S. Clementine St. Oceanside CA 92054 760-415-9054 illegalparietal@gmail.com Kelly Quinn 2538 NW Thurman St., No. 205 Portland OR 97210 919-949-0736 illegalparietal@gmail.com
Late-breaking news: Joaquin Escamille is leaving Wall Street to be a part of the Mars One project, fulfilling his dream to go to space. Say what?! Boom Boom Kambhu cautiously took a break from professionally betting on American Pharoah, Floyd, and sports to relay us this exciting news. And since Boom Boom’s first two picks won, we’re pretty sure he’s right about this. No need to fact-check, Andover! Both of us hope this round of notes find you well and enjoying life. Lots of updates to share, so let’s get to it. Owen Tripp gave us the scoop on his latest endeavor: “Grand Rounds is my second venture, and I am feeling pretty fired up about the impact we’re having on patients, their families, and the large companies who are paying the bill. We’re trying to make everybody a medical insider, so that [consulting] physicians at places like Harvard, Duke, and the Mayo Clinic doesn’t feel like a privilege reserved for the celebrities. The post-‘Obamacare’ era is going to be an important time for health tech startups, and I am glad to be capitalized in a way that will allow us to help out in a big way.” Socrates Kakoulides recently produced a movie for the UN titled Clouds Over Sidra. It’s a
virtual reality experience of a refugee camp, seen from the perspective of a young Syrian girl. The movie played at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos and at a Syrian donor conference in Kuwait. Kel O’Neill helped promote Soc’s project via one of his regular contributions to The Creators Project. Socrates also let us know that a mini reunion took place over Memorial Day weekend to help celebrate Meghan Doherty’s wedding. In attendance were Rebecca Schrage and Annie Im. And, most important, Soc let us know that he, Brandon Stroman, Neil Kumar, and Jack Quinlan are excited for U2’s new tour. Lemon pants are already picked out. It was with great excitement that we heard from Lindsay McCarthy Errichetto. After graduating with dual undergraduate degrees in psychology (BS) and social thought and political economy (BA) from UMass, Lindsay began a human services career in Western Massachusetts. After serving in various roles in the field over the past 14 years, Lindsay is now the executive director of Family Life Support Center, Inc., in Adams, Mass. It’s an agency that oversees the only homeless shelter (for families and individuals) in Northern Berkshire County, along with several other programs for high-risk and vulnerable populations. She and her family recently moved to Williamstown, Mass., and she welcomes anyone who’d like to visit. After four years in the San Francisco Bay Area, Orion Montoya reports he is returning to Boston to start grad school in computational linguistics at Brandeis. Dana Parnes Stulberg and family moved from Cleveland to Chicago this summer, as Dana’s husband took on a general surgery position at Northwestern. Ben Oyer received his Massachusetts teaching license and will begin teaching math north of Boston this coming fall. Matt Romaine took a Sunday off from building Gengo, a crowdsourced
translation startup he cofounded, to stroll around Tokyo with his wife, Sawaka, and Shirley Mills, who was visiting the city to meet with investors. Babies! So many of you welcomed future members of the Classes of 2032 and 2033. Here’s the quick introduction to all of them: Born in August 2014, Lisa Galluzzo Borgatti’s third child, son Connor, leads the group. Sara Dietschi Lowy’s son, Elian Edward, arrived last November, as did G.J. Groos’s second son, Logan Austin. Rebecca Sides Capellan’s little guy, Wesley Jacob, joined us in early December. Jonathan Hoffman’s son, Nathaniel Calvin, arrived in February. Molly Seavey Boyle welcomed son Michael Robert in March. Garth Williams’s son, Miles Harvey Williams, was born in April. Felicia Shay’s son, Ethan James, arrived in May, as did Victoria Salinas’s son, Isiah Isakow Salinas. Doctors Elizabeth Greig and Simone Thavaseelan busted the boy trend with each of their girls: Jane Extein in February and Iris Leoni Donnenfeld in April, respectively. Elizabeth is on staff at UNC, and Simone will take over as residency program director of Brown’s urology training program. Faye Golden let us know her daughter auditioned for and was accepted into Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA). Out of 480 students selected, Faye’s daughter is the only outof-county student to be offered a slot. Additionally, Faye was praying to finalize the adoption of her son this summer. Let’s send some good-luck vibes Faye’s way. Clancy Childs and Bethany Pappalardo Childs ’98 just hit their 10th year of living in London. Clancy joined Dow Jones as its chief data officer in December—but is still figuring what exactly that means. Clancy travels quite a bit back and forth to NYC and gets to catch up Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... frequently with Chris Pulling, Joaquin, Becca, and a few ’98ers. Amy Griffin Atchley recently built a chicken coop with the aid of Bob Berens, who is writing TV in LA. And Lindsay Williams Bellasi works in marketing and innovation consulting and lives in Atlanta with her husband, Santiago, and their two boys. Thank you, as always, for sharing bits of your worlds with us. We hope to see all of you soon (one word: reunion!), and until then, stay in touch. —Kelly & Jack
1998 Zoe Niarchos Anetakis 658 Massachusetts Ave., No. 2 Boston MA 02118 781-475-9772 zbniarchos@yahoo.com
The terrible, horrible, no-good winter of 2015 has come and gone, thankfully. If you thought perhaps I had gone missing under a 10-foot snow bank, you wouldn’t be totally wrong, as I did in fact miss our notes last go-round! D’oh! But I’m back at it and ready to bring you the news. Our graduating class had 352 members, so it should come as no surprise that there are always a lot of births to report, but it does seem there is a new-life-a-minute in these parts. We are a productive crew—don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Michael Nardy and wife Heather welcomed their second child, Caitlin Rose, last fall. Annie Lux Radecki welcomed Alexander Paul last summer and thereafter made the move—quite happily—from Texas to Portland, Ore. Also last fall, Samar Jamali and husband Deven welcomed baby girl Noor. I get to see Noor on my Instagram feed, and she is truly a delight. Another delicious babe I get to spy via Instagram is the lovely Lydia James, born to Caitlin Murphy Dyer and her husband, Richard, this past winter. Lydia was born at home and weighed 10 pounds at birth! Her cheeks do not disappoint, and like her parents, I am smitten with her. Mark Tompkins and wife Mary welcomed Callan Ross in January. Vanessa Ho welcomed Adrienne Leigh Towe last spring, and then the family of three moved from New York to Cleveland so that mom and dad could pursue new jobs. Vanessa continues to work in trauma, surgical critical care, and emergency general surgery. If you feel like I am late to the game on some of these recent baby reports, blame Omar Jaffer. His gorgeous son, Noah, is 2 and I’ve only just learned about him! Omar is married to the lovely Alison Beer. The family of three lives in Bellingham, Wash., on the coast of the Salish Sea between Seattle and Vancouver. They root for the Seahawks, as opposed to the “cheaters,” which is how Omar says locals refer to the New England
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Patriots; I’ll let you all do with that what you will. What’s next, after all that baby news? Well, Sunyin Tjio married Joe Tang in Boston last fall, for starters. The New Year crew of Moses Kagan, Greg Chase, Max Ventilla, Danny Addison, and Dan Sloan did not disappoint this year. They rang in 2015 in Steamboat Springs, Colo., at Max’s homestead (of sorts). There was a lot of skiing, snowmobiling, and Settlers of Catan (what did you expect?), as this crew spent the holiday as they did in 1998, sans wives and children. Don’t act so surprised, my formula is 12 years old: Let’s get to career news. Piers Platt independently published a humorous memoir about his time as a platoon leader in Iraq. It made it to the New York Times bestseller list for e-book nonfiction! Piers is keeping on at his day job in New York but continues to enjoy writing in his spare time. I can’t wait to see what he comes out with next! Ali Ghaffari continues to serve honorably in the U.S. Navy. He and his family are preparing for deployment on the USS John C. Stennis. Ali’s commitment to service is tremendous, as is the sacrifice of his wife and daughters. I hope we all keep them in our thoughts and send thankful vibes their way. Another serviceman in our midst is Pete Weddle. Pete graduated from U.S. Army flight school and now flies Apache helicopters for the North Carolina National Guard. He and Monica Cavanaugh were married in April in Raleigh, N.C. As is fitting, the troops were all around them: Pete Shin, Joe Ponti, Paul Okner, Chris and Kate Orbon, Josh Beiler, and Jim Mangan all attended the celebration. Jessica Bulen is making impressive moves on the West Coast. Jess oversees JP Morgan’s Endowments and Foundations Group, managing money for museums, school endowments, family foundations, and so on. She ran into Paul Okner on a recent business trip to Seattle. Our small world strikes again! Amelia Tseng recently completed a PhD degree in linguistics at Georgetown University and is director of the bilingual education program at American University, where she also teaches. She travels extensively, but when she’s home she gets up to no good with Tamika Guishard and stays in touch with Dave Robles, Mary Hawkins ’96, Sarah Josselyn, Hieu Nguyen, Orion Montoya ’97, and Amy O’Neal ’97. Fun! Speaking of the amazing Ms. Guishard, Tamika is in post-production on a short film called In Vivo, about a veteran with PTSD. In her day job, Tamika is a director of recruitment support for the National Academy of Advanced Teacher Education. While I was suffering through New England’s most recent winter, Sung Nam was enjoying sun and warmth in Singapore. Sung reports that he has worked with Andover alums Bryan Miller ’66, Sam Kim ’81, and Theo Novak ’01 to launch the Singapore Andover-Abbot Club. They hope to connect with the Andover community
in the region, to help drive and develop a greater presence in Asia. That’s all the news that fits, friends! For our next edition, I want all the goods, so keep it coming.
1999 Kirsten Riemer 72 Connecticut Ave. Greenwich CT 06830 kirstenriemer@gmail.com
Ninety-niners, you did not disappoint with the updates this go-round! I heard from so many of you that some news will have to appear in the next edition. Nicholas Johnson represented Ireland in a theatre festival in Fez, Morocco, this past spring. At the time, he was fresh off his first sabbatical term from Trinity College, during which he worked on an academic book about Samuel Beckett, which will be out in 2016. Campbell Bromberg lives in Paris and works as global events director for Louis Vuitton. In the spring, he was in Palm Springs, Calif., for Louis Vuitton’s Cruise Show, which took place at the spectacular Bob and Dolores Hope Estate. Sherri Stevens Williams and her husband live in Berlin. She works as a business-English trainer for companies, as well as at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. In her spare time she runs language exchange meetups, enjoys visiting the city’s historical sites and museums, and takes “urbex” expeditions to explore abandoned places in and around Berlin. Also in Berlin, Isabelle Jeinsen enjoyed seeing Natalie Otto back in February. Isabelle and her husband moved this past spring to Frankfurt, where they both work as lawyers. Charlene Chen lives in London, heading up her company’s UK/Europe operations. It’s quite a culture shock after living in East Africa for six years, but she loves it. She recently caught up with Michael Yates, who works for a biotech company and lives outside London. In April, Charlene saw Samantha Shih in Boston, where Sam is growing her custom-tailoring business, 9Tailors. After living in Barcelona for seven years, Katie Corwith, her husband, and her two daughters, Chloe and Naia, moved to Orange County, Calif. Katie works in REIT equity research in Newport Beach, Calif., and says, while she misses Barcelona, she and her family are enjoying California. John Dempsey lives with his wife and son in San Francisco, where John has worked for a mix of startups and consulting ventures for the past four years. He is currently an engineer at Instacart and is looking forward to growing the company. Between work and family, there’s never a dull moment! Shalu Umapathy and her family are also in the Bay Area, in Sunnyvale, Calif. In January, she had her second son, Jeeva, who joins his older brother, Mokshay. Shalu works in San Francisco
www.andover.edu/intouch at IDEO.org and would love to meet up with folks in the area. Rob Webb married Amanda Harvey on Pi Day (both are engineers) at Convict Lake, near Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Rob was happy that Nirav Thakor attended. They hadn’t seen each other since early 2001. Joisan Decker DeHaan convinced Sara Smith to come visit her in Mattawan, Mich., Joisan’s little two-stoplight suburb of Kalamazoo, this past spring for her baby shower. Although Sara’s stay was tamer than previous visits, they had a wonderful time catching up. After six years in California, Kalle Thompson Sousana moved back to her hometown of Charlotte, N.C., and is really enjoying having a patch of land to poke around, planting things, and just staring up at the trees and meditating. She and her husband, Jesse, have two boys, Miles and Arieh Lev, called Arie. Kalle is a full-time mom and is also a genital integrity advocate, having protested in three cities with BloodStained Men. After completing a dental fellowship in prosthodontics at UConn, Noah Orenstein and his wife, Diana, now live in Newton, Mass. Noah is currently practicing in Brookline and has been able to reconnect with Paul Penta and Emily Tompkins Karlin. He is excited to be back, now that the snow has finally melted! In Washington, D.C., Adam Berg works on Capitol Hill as deputy staff director and counsel for the Democratic staff of the House Rules Committee. He and his wife, Erika, are expecting in September. Brooke Currie is also in DC, with her husband, stepdaughter, and 18-month-old son, Owen. Brooke occasionally sees Catherine Kannam, who has a son a few months younger than Owen, and says it’s been fun sharing playdates. Brooke recently stayed with Heather Collamore Skalet and her husband, Ari, at their home in Port Chester, N.Y., and is looking forward to spending time with Bella Tonkonogy after Bella completes her fellowship at MIT Sloan. Bella is planning her wedding, after which she and her husband will move to Paris. Claire Coffey reports that the novice boys’ and girls’ crew teams that she and her husband, Zach, coach both won Virginia state championships! Claire also got to hang out with Lindsay Hoopes and Alex Mantel at a spring event for Hoopes Vineyard, Lindsay’s family winery. Finally, we have updates from our classmates in NYC. Nick MacInnis and his wife, Hillary, welcomed their son, Charlie, in February. In May, Charlie met Daisy, the daughter of John Swansburg ’96 and Happy Menocal ’98, in Brooklyn. Camille Manning joined the Plumbers Local 1 five-year apprenticeship program and is enjoying the work. Recently, Camille has been installing cast-iron pipes and has a great view of the Freedom Tower from her job site. Sarah Moulton Faux and her husband, Gordon, welcomed their daughter, Clara, in February. Sarah is doing well and was back in rehearsals for the role of Zerlina in a production of Don Giovanni
with Amore Opera in NYC two weeks after giving birth! Keep the updates coming!
2000 Jia H. Jung 550 11th St., No. 4R Brooklyn NY 11215 917-589-5423 (cell) jiajung@alum.berkeley.edu
So your own class secretary was a no-show for our 15th Reunion. Blame Kelly-Jean Elworthy for our absence, as we were instead keeling somewhere offshore of the Bronx, becoming ASA-certified sailors with the New York Sailing School. Ahoy! Heard through the grapevine and saw through social media that June brought an intimate assortment of some of our classmates back to campus. Despite not physically being there with you all, I’ve been lucky to hear news from some of our tribe, anyway. Ashley Harmeling Wayman was married in summer 2014 to Alex Wayman of Concord, Mass., at Twin Farms in Barnard, Vt. Andover alums in attendance included Ashley’s sibs Taylor Harmeling ’98, Rachel Harmeling ’04, Evan Harmeling ’07, and Carolyn Harmeling ’11, plus Joisan Decker DeHaan ’99, Roopali Agarwal Hall ’99, Laura Fitzgerald Clark, Brian Clark, Bernadette Doykos, Susannah Richardson, Anna Valeo, and Scott Darci ’01. The couple strode into their wedding tent, following bagpipers piping “Scotland the Brave” (you know, that same song that puts tears in our eyes and pride in our hearts at Andover graduations and reunions). At time of writing, Ashley and her husband were eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first child—a baby girl. Stay tuned, Andover Class of 2030! Andover native Barbara Dalton Rotundo wrote in for the very first time. “After about 10 years in film and television, I decided to switch careers—mostly to have a more civilized work/ life balance, since a 12- to 14-hour day was pretty typical on most jobs. (Though the week we spent shooting in a strip club on That’s My Boy provided plenty of extra motivation to leave.) What’s fun in one’s early 20s is not necessarily so fun in one’s early 30s,” she writes. Barbara then spent three years working as a software engineer at a game company called HitPoint Studios, which primarily makes mobile and Facebook games aimed at women over the age of 30. In June, she started a new job as MaGE program coordinator and computer science lab instructor at Mount Holyoke College. The MaGE Program is a Google-funded peer mentor program designed to increase the capacity of introductory level computer science classes at Mount Holyoke. She writes, “I live in Easthampton, Mass., with my partner and his 4-year-old son. So now, rather than starting my days arguing with actors about
which underwear they’re going to wear, I wake up to arguments about whether or not a brownie is an appropriate breakfast.” Rounding off this edition of class notes is the latest from assistant professor Tiffany Joseph, who completed her tenure as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy scholar at Harvard in 2013 and rolled right on into a tenuretrack position in the sociology department at Stony Brook University in New York, giving a talk at Andover on her research sometime in the middle of it all. In February of this year, she published the culmination of this research in her first book, titled Race on the Move: Brazilian Migrants and the Global Reconstruction of Race (Stanford Press). The book takes us from Brazil to the U.S. and back again, analyzing how migration between the two countries is changing Brazilians’ understanding of race relations. In short, the interchange between the two countries’ populations is resulting in a situation in which both nations’ contemporary race relations are starting to resemble each other, when they had previously seemed almost opposed. In discussing this effect, Tiffany provides a whole new way of seeing how race can be remade in countries with significant rates of emigration. Anyone who wants to read more about this fascinating, relevant topic and purchase the book with a 20-percent-off promo code, compliments of Tiffany, should go to www.sup.org, type in the title, then check out using the word “Joseph” (this gathered from a lovely abstract and flier that Tiffany had e-mailed to me but that sadly cannot be conveyed in the format of Andover magazine). What’s more, at the time of writing Tiffany was preparing for a sabbatical in Boston, starting this academic year, while conducting research for her second book, an exploration of immigrants’ health-care access under the Affordable Care Act. No wonder she couldn’t make it to reunion, either. We miss you, but don’t you slow down, Tiffany, unless it’s to show up at our 20th. Well, this certainly has been an example of quality over quantity, but it sure would be good to hear more from you all, no matter what you have to say. Keep on changing the world and being your good selves. ’Till next time!
2001 Misty Muscatel 203-569-9713 mistina.muscatel@gmail.com
Jenn Zicherman Kelleher graduated from MCPHS University (formerly Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences) with a doctor of pharmacy degree. This July, she started a year-long PGY-1 clinical pharmacy residency at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H. If that doesn’t sound like it’s keeping her busy, Andover | Fall 2015
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Britta Schell ’02 married Jonathan Stasiak on April 18 in Carmel, Calif.
she’s also taking flying lessons from her husband, Jeff, a flight instructor with Eagle East Aviation at Lawrence Airport. Raquel Leonard Moreno participated in a Philadelphia Non Sibi project in April with two local alumni: Jeff Zhou ’06 and Daniel LeClerc ’05. They worked with children at the Beckett Life Center in North Philadelphia, helping them prepare a delicious plant-based meal for their parents. In baby news, we have some new Andover Class of 2033 members. Andrea Daley Merin and her husband, Jonathan, welcomed their first child, Eliana Grace, just after Christmas! Jess Olans Hausman and husband Nick welcomed a baby boy, Will, in early spring. Amy Kalas Buser and her husband, Steve, welcomed their daughter, Brooke, into the world in June 2014. Amy is in her eighth year of running her private practice, Wholesome Harmonies LLC. She and her team provide music-therapy services and music lessons to children with autism and other special needs in Miami. Alida Payson and Eli Lazarus ’00 welcomed their baby girl, Marjorie Sura, on February 20 in Wales. Alida is on leave for the next few months from a PhD degree program, in cultural studies. Becky Stewart Dann Hewitt and husband Matt welcomed baby Henry, their second child, in January. They live in Portland, Ore., where Becky has returned to her job in urban planning. Hilary Farrell Prosnitz and her husband, Aaron, welcomed two new additions to their family in September 2014: identical twin girls Elizabeth and Sarah, who joined big brother David. The family moved to Massachusetts in summer 2014, so it was a
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big year with lots of changes. Wedding bells continue to ring for ’01 as Desiraé Simmons got married to Zander Fortier on June 20, with fellow ’01er Matteo Natale in her wedding party and Jadele McPherson performing an amazing musical arrangement. Just in time to escape the crazy winter, Dez moved from Boston to Michigan to take on a new job in a new department called the Center for Engaged Academic Learning at the University of Michigan. Kelsey Peterson became joyfully married to Tori Woodhouse on April 11. Ben Sprattler ’03 and his father, Tim Sprattler (former OWHL archivist), were in attendance. Sydney Freas is working for Expedia in Singapore, where she gets to see Theo Novak quite a bit. Sydney has hung out with Jeannie Kwok, who also lives in Singapore, and Katherine Chu ’02, who was visiting from Dallas. Sydney tied the knot in Vero Beach, Fla., on March 28. She had a nice showing of Andover attendees including Liz Parfit, Heather Woodin, Ife Babatunde, Devin Murphy, and Joe Mattison ’00. This past May, Greg Kimball and Kate Bartlett Kimball moved to Boulder, Colo., where they see James Kenly, wife Kristen, and daughter Emma frequently. James finished an MBA degree program at the University of Denver this summer. Greg’s work with his startups Nifti and Cinch Polls still takes him to NYC, where he’s had the chance to meet up with Charlie Alovisetti, Greg Sherman, and John Kluge, and he’s hoping to join our next ’01 event in the Big Apple! Scott Darci’s wife, Tess, has been working with
the Cinch team since December, so we’re keeping the “one degree of ’01 separation” alive. Greg and Kate miss seeing the East Coast Andover crowd, and their daughter Cora really misses her visits with Auntie Meg Blitzer, who still loves teaching and coaching at Choate. Sylvia McLean Elmer recently moved to the Boston area (Arlington, specifically) and is thrilled to be back in the neighborhood. Her oldest son started kindergarten this fall, and Sylvia is happily starting a new job teaching second grade. Deborah Linder is still in Boston and on the faculty at Tufts University, where she was recently named associate director of the Tufts Institute for Human-Animal Interaction. She received NIH funding to research the health benefits of pets. Most important, she was excited to bring Tufts therapy dogs to Andover for stress relief during their exam period this past spring. [See page 14.] Jess Watson, husband Zach Smith, and daughter Rosemary moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in July. Jess started a fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at the University of Iowa, Zach took an academic/ teaching hospitalist position at the university, and Rosemary got a big backyard. They miss living in Philly with Jess’s sisters, Emily ’04 and Julia ’07, but are looking forward to a corn maze or two in the fall! As for me, I have recently been elected to succeed Tom Beaton ’73 as the next Alumni Council president, so I have big shoes to fill and a lot of fun ahead. The role also comes with a seat on the Board of Trustees, so I am thrilled to be getting involved in this new way at Andover. If anyone is interested in getting more involved with the school, please reach out to me—we would love for every alum to participate in one way or another!
2002 Lauren Nickerson P.O. Box 711477 Mountain View HI 96771 Lauren9@gmail.com
Lots of important wedding, career, and fantasy baseball news to report, so let’s get right to it. Cranston Gray will complete his residency in the anesthesiology program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Cranston and his wife, currently living in Charleston, S.C., are looking forward to their move to New England next year. Madeleine Fawcett tied the knot with longtime love Adam Atenasio in a gorgeous ceremony in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 18. Bridesmaids included Courtney Gimbel Bardo, Christie Checovich, and Mariel O’Brien ’01. Rounding out the incredible list of alums in attendance were Jesse Bardo ’03 (Courtney’s husband), Wills Hapworth, Stevie Brock, Matt Dougherty ’01, Erin Dougherty O’Connor ’98, and Polly Fawcett ’65 (mother of the bride). Love must have been in the air that weekend because, across
www.andover.edu/intouch
Several alumni and their spouses were in attendance when Jamie Bologna ’04 married Alex Wolniak at Cochran Chapel on the PA campus, with a reception following in Andover Town House, in October 2014. From left are Karen Yates and husband Taylor Yates ’04; Tyler Frisbee and husband Travis Green ’04; Finn Donaldson and wife Amanda Green Donaldson ’04; Jamie and Alex; and Margaret Pyle ’04 and husband Laert Rusha.
the country in Carmel, Calif., wedding bells were also ringing when Britta Schell married Jonathan Stasiak. Abby Lavin and Chloe Marsala were both in attendance, as was the bride’s godfather, Steve Finnegan ’77. Tina Wadhwa is happy to announce that she married Christopher Charles Dods in a multiday Indian-English wedding celebration in Tuscany, Italy, in June. In other wedding news, Liz DeLacy was excited to be a bridesmaid in Brooks Teevan’s Maui, Hawaii, wedding in June. Christina Landolt, who is a current music instructor at our dear alma mater, mentioned that any musicians who live nearby should reach out to see if there might be opportunities for performances on campus. Also, keep an eye out for a PA Music Facebook page, where you can find information about music tours. An Andover tradition lives on! Laura Miller, Amy Galvin, Sasha Parr Corken, and Melanie Cyr saw the movie Furious 7 together. They have seen all of the Fast & Furious movies together. Bali Kumar recently purchased a condo in Los Angeles and looks forward to getting together with any classmates in the area. Kwadwo Acheampong continues to have his ear on the ground and his finger on the pulse of ’02 updates. He wrote in to share news of many classmates. He met up with Gabe Cuthbert and Greg Chang for Moroccan food in the East Village of NYC. Greg continues to enjoy his role as CEO of a tech startup called for[MD], which builds private online communities for medical societies and alumni associations. Gabe is thriving in his role with Accenture and lives in Brooklyn. Malik Lewis recently moved to Princeton, N.J., from DC, taking a role with Educational Testing Service. Kwadwo also ran into Matt Peltz at an investor conference in DC. Matt’s doing well at Trian. Finally, Kwadwo reported that he took a vacation in the Dominican
Republic. According to him, the highlight of his trip was “laying down a ill freestyle verse—in Spanish—during an impromptu street cipher… still reppin’ the Bishop crew.” Kaitlin McCann recently ended a two-year sabbatical and will be starting in a role out in California with SpaceX. The award for “least lazy two years” easily goes to Kaitlin. During this time, she backpacked through seven countries in South America, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, completed a 10,000-mile solo road trip around the U.S., and raced in her first Ironman 70.3. Whoa! For another round of my favorite game, “Where in the World is Pablo Durana?,” I received news from Chelsea MacDonald that she, Pablo, and Jordan Harris spent some time together in Bogota, Colombia, where they discovered Jordan’s incredible dance skills. Shortly thereafter, Pablo made an appearance on my home turf when he traveled to the Island of Hawaii to film a canyoneering documentary. He swung by my little bungalow for a steak dinner and some puppy kisses. Always nice to see you, my friend! Where will Pablo travel next? Speaking of global travels, Shani Hogarth Goodson and her family moved to Abu Dhabi, UAE, in August. And finally, the news you have all been waiting for: Dan Shvartsman was tasked with updating us on the latest from the Class of ’02’s very own fantasy baseball league. Brought me back to my good ol’ days as the varsity baseball manager (speaking of which, David Frisch, we never get notes from you—I’m calling you out). Because I do not understand the majority of it, I will quote Dan directly. Dan reports that “Pete Glenn has maintained his grip on everyone’s nerves by mounting a quixotic effort to make ‘It’s coconuts!’ a viral meme (nobody gets it), while Justin Eberlein has bombarded everyone with inappropriate GIFs and inappropriate trade offers
as he tries to shed his status as preeminent league also-ran. Eli Flouton and Jeremy Kellogg look primed for a race to the bottom of the league standings, though Jer has impressed league members with his continued ability to remember his account password. Zack Smotherman is lurking as a sleeper contender to knock off the unholy triumvirate of Matt Roman, Dan Cote, and Ben Chang at the top of the league, while Dan Shvartsman managed to come up with a clever punning team name [which is...? The name was not reported] for the first time in, well, ever. Andrew Tonelli reports that he continues to enjoy playing fantasy sports as a way to make charitable donations to his friends.” Keep up the shenanigans, gentleman. See? We really do take any and all updates. Until next time, ’02, go Big Blue.
2003 Will Heidrich wheidrich@gmail.com
It’s been a great first half of the year for the Class of 2003. From coast to coast, many of our classmates have reconnected over the past few months. The groundswell of classmates in the San Francisco Bay Area has continued. I ran into— literally—Alex Minasian on a run in San Francisco in April. This spring, he and his wife, Mimi Butler, moved to San Francisco, where Alex has started work for Texas Pacific Group. I caught up with Tom Oliphant recently. He and his fiancée, Dana LaMendola, are planning a wedding this fall in Northern California and hope to catch up with a few classmates along the way. Tara Gadgil visited San Francisco this spring. She and Michael Ruderman met a handful of classmates for dinner, including Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Margaret Ramsey and Matt Lindsay, as well as Matt’s fiancée, Abby Frey. After living and working in Boston for the past few years, Tara plans to return to the Bay Area this summer. In April, Tom Dimopoulos, Matt, and I got together to watch some NBA playoff games and discuss the state of junior varsity baseball circa 2001. Tom recently took a new job at an e-commerce startup in San Francisco, and Matt continues to work as an architect in the city. While seeing a movie last winter, I ran into Dave Beyer and his mother at the theatre. Dave also lives in San Francisco and continues to work in the venture capital space and advise startups. Janis Scanlon Rice and her husband, Brandon Rice, have relocated to Montclair, Calif., in the East Bay. She hosted a housewarming in May and counted many of our classmates among the attendees, including Seb Benthall, Sam Beattie and his wife Julie, Matt, Michael, Viraj Navkal, and me. Kate Cooper Sawyer wrote from Austin, Texas, her new home. She and her husband have recently connected with longtime Andover pals Brian Emery and Matt London. Caitlin Littlefield reported from Seattle, where she is pursuing a PhD degree in ecology at the University of Washington. She and fiancé Nick Neverisky recently hosted Kathryn Moore, who visited from Anchorage, Alaska. Stephen Fee has been on the road with PBS NewsHour. You can follow his work on Twitter at @stephenmfee. While living in NYC, he has stayed in touch with longtime pal Kelly Sinclair, who moved to New York last year from San Francisco. Brian Karfunkel wrote from Brooklyn, where he has been living for the past few years. Before Alex and Mimi moved West, Brian had sushi with them in the city. In early May, Brian also ran into Brian Emery and his expectant wife at the Neue Galerie. Marianna Kleyman moved to Boston this spring to work on her postdoc at MIT. She, too, endured the harsh winter but has enjoyed being back in Boston. I visited New York this spring on a work trip and caught up with my former Georgetown roommate Andy Hattemer. Andy lives in the city with his girlfriend and continues to work at Isobar. That’s it from here. Stay in touch, and stay safe!
2004 Ali Schouten 1806 Lucretia Ave. Los Angeles CA 90026 617-584-5373 AlisonSchouten@gmail.com
Congratulations to new moms Amy O’Gorman Block and Johanna Marmolejos! Steven Ronald Block came into the world weighing 8 lbs., 8 oz., and reportedly charmed every nurse in the hospital.
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Amy earned a master’s degree in public health before Steven’s arrival. Johanna’s daughter, Ariana Grace Vallés, was in a rush: though Johanna had planned on a home birth, she hadn’t planned on an unassisted one! Ariana must have been eager to share her April birthday with godmother Rachelle Brignol. Uzoma Iheagwara married Becky Bayer on April 25. Guests included Derrick Kuan, Bill Beregi, Anwell Lanfranco, and J.J. Feigenbaum. After completing an MD/ PhD program at the University of Pittsburgh in May, Uz planned to stay on at the university as a radiation oncology resident. Newlywed Jamie Bologna works at WBUR, a Boston NPR station. Also off the market is Jenny Wong, who wed Nathan Sharp in June. Jenny took a break from her new job at Tishman Speyer for a bachelorette weekend in Venice Beach, Calif. Her maid of honor, Emma Sussex, recently returned from a trip to South America, planned a wonderful weekend dubbed “sWong song.” Ellen Knuti, Jess Chermayeff, Olivia Oran, and I were on hand to celebrate. Livy Coe is still in the Navy and works at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. He recently met up with Tom Barron and Walter Haydock when Tom’s Army training brought him up from North Carolina. Jennifer Vanecek Bales and her husband are stationed at Fort Hood, in Texas. After serving 25 months of command time, Jenn is being sent by the Army to Dartmouth to earn a master’s degree in public health. Lily Kelly lives in Oakland, Calif., with her husband, Dan Adamsky ’06. At Global Green USA, she serves as senior program associate and organizes composting and recycling pilot projects. In her free time, she is learning to play the accordion. Also in Oakland, Martin Quinones works as a plaintiff ’s attorney. He recently served as second chair in a wrongful death suit against the major tobacco companies. Over in Santa Cruz, Ian Hafkenschiel works at Cityblooms, a company that does computer-controlled hydroponic farming. Cityblooms received a 2015 Acterra Business Environmental Award for its farm at Plantronics corporate headquarters. Ian’s hobbies include sailing, capoeira, surfing, and playing music. Stephen Turro and Audrey Deguire Turro have been married since 2013 and live in Brighton, Mass. Audrey recently completed an MBA degree program. Stephen is an assistant director and has worked with noted filmmakers including David O. Russell, Jason Reitman, Antoine Fuqua, and David Fincher. This summer he helped shoot the new Ghostbusters film in Boston. Also in the Boston area is Alanna Hughes, who has one year left in her dual degree program at Harvard and MIT. She sees Taylor Yates, Amy Lippe, and J.J. Feigenbaum around Boston. This summer, Alanna worked for an e-commerce startup in Luanda, Angola. Taylor is a tech consultant and lives in Cambridge with his wife. Alexandra LaMela Filippakis is a neurology
resident at Tufts. She got married last year. Will Scharf is the policy director for Catherine Hanaway’s campaign for governor of Missouri. Andrew (Henry) Watterson spent some time traveling in Europe with his boyfriend. They met up with Lydia Wallace in Barcelona and Rome, where they ate, drank, and played cards. Dorothy Voorhees and her boyfriend are moving to Minneapolis (which she affectionately refers to as “Winterfell”) after she completes her degree from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Dorothy will work for Target. Ben Hansen is married to his college sweetheart and working on a degree at Columbia Business School. At Boost Venture Capital, Adam Draper has helped back 100 startups. He describes his 11-month-old daughter, Quinn, as “awesome.” April Warren works at Abt Associates, Inc., a social research and consulting firm, where she manages a health enterprise fund that identifies and supports early-stage enterprises with innovative solutions to critical health challenges in sub-Saharan Africa. She travels for her work to Kenya and Ethiopia and, along with Mimi Hanley and Allegra Asplundh-Smith, recently took a recreational trip to Charleston, S.C., to celebrate Malika Felix’s birthday. I am in Los Angeles finishing writing season two of Young & Hungry and moving to a sweet little place in Echo Park with tons of charm and no air conditioning. In addition to being passionate about jigsaw puzzles, I recently learned to crochet, making me the oldest 29-year-old in the country.
2005 Ian Schmertzler Ian.Schmertzler.Andover@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: Following this issue, Matt Brennan and Alex Lebow will be stepping down from their role as class secretaries. The Academy thanks them for their service. They will be succeeded by classmate Ian Schmertzler.] In lieu of the usual updates from our far-flung correspondents, Al and I went “Woodward and Bernstein” in honor of the 10th Reunion, collecting stories and reporting from inside the festivities (well, as much as our memories would allow). And so, without further ado, our brief, semiauthoritative account of Reunion Weekend: ANDOVER, MA—It all began innocently enough, with Henry Manice sharing a taste of his Mighty Squirrel beer outside of Rockwell on Friday evening, but by the time the Great Golf Cart Incident of 2015 came to a close in the wee hours of Sunday morning, PA ’05 had had its way with reunion once more. “I had my runes read by a wise old sage,” Stephen Severo wrote in an e-mail, echoing several fellow revelers. “As I wandered campus on Sunday—covetous of the quiet, reflective moments I saw being enjoyed by those around
me and weighing my life choices and my heart against the feather of Ma’at—Ralph Blum ’50 stopped me in front of Bartlet/the Penis Statue. After a nice conversation, he had me draw my rune—isa, the symbol of ice. ‘Do nothing,’ he said. I pray the Harrison’s I ate shortly after, with Kenechi Igbokwe, Alex Moris, Kojo DeGraft-Hanson, JeanMarie Gossard, and Clarissa Deng, thawed the apparent ice block in my soul as it clogged the arteries of my heart.” Not everyone needed to thaw out after departing the dorms Sunday morning, however. Clare Kasemset ate amazing bread at Bertucci’s for the first time since graduation, joined by her husband, Allen Cheung, and classmates Stephanie Chan, Yaa Serwah Frimpong, and Martha Vega-Gonzales—bread that Matt Brennan can confirm is delicious, having split a silano pizza with Sarah Donelan and Laylah Mohammed and run into Jane Waterfall and Margaret Kelly ’06 at the Main Street establishment that very day. “Played on the swings outside Rockwell with Patrick Jiang, Stephanie, Martha, Yaa, and Emily Bargar; discovered the world clocks at the library, including one for the Capitol, Panem; shared poetry with a bunch of other alums at the Andover Bread Loaf writing class,” Clare wrote in an e-mail, sounding more civilized than the vast majority of sources consulted for this story. To wit, Christian Vareika, despite having managed to complete his second year of law school, win election as executive articles editor of the Boston College Law Review, and serve as summer associate at Ropes & Gray, could offer no more than a hazy recollection of “ringing in the sunrise on WQN” with Matt Brennan, Alex Lebow, Katie Hunckler, Steve Sherrill, Cassie Tognoni, Harry Goldstein, Kyle Kucharski, and Sam Kennedy. But it was not only the likes of Kyle and Mac King who may have crossed the line. (ICYMI, they performed a surprisingly romantic, PAPS-angering pas de deux to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” in the Quad for a predawn audience that included Matt, Christian, Harry, JeanMarie, Cassie, Katie, Geoff Miller, Laura Eddy, Steven Rolecek, Dave Wilkinson, and Whitney Wilkinson ’04.) In an e-mail, Hilary Fischer-Groban, who recently moved to NYC to manage operations for ABC Carpet & Home after graduating from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, called out Head of School John Palfrey. “The highlight of my reunion was listening to
www.andover.edu/intouch Alex Bois ’05 Finding the flavor in the flour
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s head baker for the High Street on Market restaurant in Philadelphia, Alex Bois ’05 boasts a career that is on the rise. He won national recognition this spring when he was nominated for the prestigious James Beard 2015 Rising Star Chef of the Year award. In 2014, Bon Appetit magazine called his bread and bagels “some of the best in the country.” Bois, 28, is currently helping to open a branch of High Street on Market in Manhattan. Believe it or not, he baked his first loaf just four years ago. Bois grew up in the Boston area, entering PA as a junior. He wrestled, studied Japanese, and, he says, “frequently found my way to the Sanctuary for peace of mind and a sense of communion with the natural world, which for me is a basic requirement of living.” His interests lay in biology and languages, and in his senior year he undertook a handful of independent projects, one related to fermentation. Before going to UMass Amherst, where he majored in biochemistry and Spanish, he took a gap year to volunteer at the Holbrook Lab for plant biology at Harvard. Along the way, Bois did a bit of cooking. In college, he worked a restaurant grill for a summer. During his junior and senior years at UMass, he spent some time cooking and cleaning in youth hostels in Argentina and Spain in exchange for room and board. But it was beer that led Bois to bread. He brewed his own for three years and had hoped to pursue it as a career—until an illness left him unable to drink alcohol. Bread baking, though, seemed to offer a similar confluence of science and cooking, and it tied in with Bois’s early interest in biology and fermentation. “Brewer’s yeast and baker’s yeast have the same origin. The microorganisms in sourdough ferment the same grains as in beer,” says Bois, who’s keenly attuned to the complex chemistry behind both products. He started out working for New York baker Jim Lahey, of no-knead bread fame (Lahey’s recipe had caused a sensation when it ran in the New York Times in 2006). Seven months later, in February 2013, Bois moved to Philadelphia and found work at the newly opened High Street. Bois’s devotion to his craft focuses on both ingredients and process. “I try to make bread as fermented as possible in order to draw out the flavor in flour,” he says. To this end, he is constantly experimenting; his favorite breads are dark crusty ryes. Much of the flour he uses comes from grains grown in the fertile soil of local farms and then ground at a mill just 20 miles away. Bois elaborates on the human ecosystem it takes to build a better bread: “Basically, it’s the beautiful quality of the raw materials that motivates us to give [bread] the appropriate respect. This is something that represents the collective care of a lot of dedicated people.” Poised to introduce Manhattanites to buckwheat cherry bread and squid-ink bialys, Bois says, “I would like to pass on the passion.” Spoken like a rising star in the world of artisanal bread.
—Debra Samuels
A vegetable-ash levain, one of Bois’s creations for High Street on Market
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stay connected...
Generations mingled at Friday night’s dinner. From left, Beau Freker ’05, Beau’s wife, Jennifer Engel, Harry Goldstein ’05, Rodney Goldstein ’70 (Harry’s father), Mari Wellin King ’75, Kyle Kucharski ’05, and Mac King ’05 (Mari’s son).
John Palfrey speak for the first time at the Athletics Hall of Honor induction ceremony [where Hee-Jin Chang became a member!]—and hearing how he one time had the nerve to call it ‘Exeter vs. Andover,’ ” she wrote. “Thanks so much for such a wonderful time, ’05,” Hee-Jin added in an e-mail. “Let me know if any of y’all are ever in Houston! Marcella Viktorin, Angela Tenney, Kaia Lubanko Kessler, Maya Lucaci-Vashee, Nikki Crocker Villarreal, and I will be around!” Further afield, Geoff hopes to run into any ’05ers who’ll be in the area when he and three friends drive a “beat-up” 2001 Nissan Micra 10,000 miles across Europe and Central Asia in the Mongol Rally to raise money for charity. Sims Witherspoon has been living in London and working on antitrust initiatives for Google, focusing on security and privacy. A number of sources reported efforts to extend the reunion experience beyond the campus itself. Laura Sciuto, who works as a consultant at Ernst & Young in NYC and was, at press time, planning to visit Wes Howe in San Francisco, drove to Andover with Chloé Hurley and Chloé’s pup, Ducky. (They detoured at Eddy Farm in Connecticut for a Michael J. Fox Foundation dinner to support Parkinson’s disease research fundraising efforts and Chloé’s fiancé, Sam, an MJFF staff member and “extreme adventure athlete,” per the foundation’s website.) Natalie Ho enjoyed a “very entertaining” drive back to Washington, D.C., with Lauren Seno and Kaitlin Alsofrom, stopping in Brooklyn for dinner with Andrew Heilmann and his wife, Mary. After reconnecting at reunion, Natalie planned to get together with several other DC-area alums, including Nate Scott and Nicole Amaral. Shawn Fu, who met up with Meng Tan in Beijing
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and Ryan Burke in Shanghai in the spring, hiked up Holt Hill Sunday before leaving town. “I was unable to make the reunion again, which was a bummer,” Ryan noted in an e-mail, adding that he recently relocated to San Francisco after five years in China to work on a messaging startup called Lynk, which you can check out at lynkmessenger.com. Ben Grant was also “bummed” to miss reunion, as it fell on the day of his graduation from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, where his class included Nell Beattie, Alison Wheeler, and Jed McDonald ’04. Ben is looking forward to one last summer of travel and leisure (Iceland, the Pacific Northwest, and New Hampshire) before he returns to Bain & Co. in Boston in September. Despite the thin veneer of propriety maintained through the Alumni Parade, the Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association, MeatstiK on the Great Lawn, and the Saturday-night musical stylings of “DJ Jim”—which, I can report, (literally) felled at least one member of the Class of ’10—this was, in retrospect, the calm before the storm. Sources, who declined to name the culprit(s), say that at least one perpetrator purloined a PA golf cart and the leftover booze from Saturday night’s event to bring to Marc Asch’s house for an after-party graciously cohosted by Marc’s mother. (Round of applause for PA’s Jenny Savino, who not only tracked down the golf cart and helped skirt any potential arrests but did so with immense good humor. We don’t deserve you, Jenny!) Among other highlights of the event, Peter Accomando lost a 12-yard swim race to Charlie Thornton and also lost a pair of shorts; Jon Hillman jumped off the roof into the pool; JeanMarie and Cassie Ornell threw down during a chicken fight; and Alex Lebow awoke in a dark corner of Marc’s house, phone near-dead and
party long disbanded, and somehow found his way back to Rockwell. General merriment was had by all, but it was Asch who described the Great Golf Cart Incident, and indeed our entire 10th Reunion, best: “That is,” he wrote, “quite legendary.” P.S. On a more personal note, this will be our final dispatch as class secretaries. Ian Schmertzler has generously offered to take the reins, and though we’re so grateful for the opportunity to keep in touch with y’all over the past five years, we’re ready to pass the baton. Apologies for our lateness in sending requests for updates, in general and especially after reunion, and for any stories that were, by extension, left on the cutting-room floor. We trust, knowing the ’05 spirit as we do, that the memories will suffice. It’s been an honor. Our door in New Orleans is always open. Much love, PA ’05. —Matt Brennan & Alex Lebow
2006 Jeni Lee 18228 Mallard St. Woodland CA 95695 925-846-8300 jeni_lee@bluelink.andover.edu Paul Voorhees 6200 2nd Ave., No. 210 Detroit MI 48202 404-402-4869 pauldvoorhees@gmail.com
Kevin Olusola continues working with Pentatonix, who went on on their first real world tour this past spring. They went through America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan and then toured with Kelly Clarkson over the summer. The group is also working on their first full-length original album. Kevin released his first EP, The Renegade, on March 10. It debuted at number one on Billboard’s Classical and Classical Crossover charts, and was number one on iTunes Classical for about a month! Kate Connors and Khaki Burke had a vicious disagreement over what was actually the best song from our time at Andover. Khaki’s favorite was Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone,” while Kate’s was Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack.” Khaki, note that Kevin Olusola may have an in for you. Andrea Coravos is leaving her current job and starting a five-month coding program at Dev Bootcamp in SF. She ran into Thomas Gebremedhin at her Duke five-year reunion and believes Sarah Takvorian was also there. John Lippe has surprising section and study-group mates in business school: Mark Margiotta ’05 is in his section, and Stephanie Marton ’07 is in his study group! After finishing a master’s degree program, Constantin Calavrezos moved to
www.andover.edu/intouch London this year to start working as a market data analyst for King Digital Entertainment, the maker of Candy Crush. He saw Felicity Bloom when she was in Britain for work. Mia Kanak married her college sweetheart, Andy Schrum, in Napa, Calif., graduated from Stanford Medical School in June, and will be starting residency at Boston Children’s Hospital shortly. Katherine Adams was at Mia’s wedding. Rajeev Saxena recently matched into otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ENT) for residency at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has been in touch with Julian Jacobson and looks forward to seeing Christa Vardaro after moving out to Seattle. Rajeev recently completed an MD/MBA degree program and just came back from honeymooning in Thailand. Charlie Frentz and Elizabeth Brown ’09 got engaged in April. They are still living in Hong Kong and look forward to seeing anyone who comes through. In similar news, Jeff Bakkensen got engaged to Jen Bender recently. Emily Pollokoff is still running her editing business, Greenlight Editing, working on lots of dissertations and book projects—with special rates for PA alums! Emily also added a business venture, working as coach for Go Diaper Free, which offers elimination communication and non-coercive potty training. It’s helping her connect with the crunchy/alternative community in central New York, and she is loving those locals. Emily is still doing a ton of sewing and singing with a peace and justice community choir. Her compost bin has expanded into a vermicompost operation and a few raised beds. She plans to start keeping bees next spring and upping the permaculture goodness in their yard. Her daughter Clara is 7 months and crawling, and Hazel is 3 and reading! They grow up fast. As for us, Jeni Lee is finishing up a PhD degree program at UC Davis, and Paul Voorhees is working at General Motors in Detroit. Come visit us anytime, though you may want to avoid Detroit in winter. Cheers, Jeni and Paul.
2007 M. Conner Stoldt 94 Saddle Hill Road Hopkinton MA 01748-1102 508-954-9185 conner.stoldt@gmail.com Catherine L. Crooke 61 Eastern Parkway, Apt. 2C Brooklyn NY 11238-5916 917-375-5551 catherine.l.crooke@gmail.com
Becky Agostino now lives in Philadelphia and is the principal of a high school in Camden, N.J. She sees Dan LeClerc ’05 each month, as he is a board fellow on the school’s board
Enjoying a picnic on a picture-perfect day were Laura Eddy, Eileen Manning, Hee-Jin Chang, Marcella Viktorin, and Christiana Hollis, all Class of ’05.
of directors. She also sees Katie Morris and Susannah Poland each time she goes home to Andover. Stacey Middlebrook planned to marry in August in New Hampshire (Adrienne Sabety, currently in a PhD degree program at Harvard, expected to be there!); Stacey recently started a master’s degree program in real estate development at MIT as a Samuel Tak Lee Graduate Entrepreneurship Fellow. Lindsay Agostinelli still lives in Boston and has received many visits this year from Aline DuBois, who’s been living in Montreal. Amy Fenstermacher married Sean Greeney in August and was excited to celebrate during her honeymoon in New Zealand. Devon Zimmerling and Komaki Foster both just entered the MBA program at London Business School. Ahmet Taner moved back to Turkey in September and insists that everyone visit; he spent last Christmas in Hawaii with Reilly O’Brien’s family. Reilly got married in July in Northern California; Howie Kalter attended the wedding after finishing a teaching fellow year at Andover. Maura Mulroy is moving to Switzerland, where she will be taking her skills as a triathlete. Chelsea Woods made a short film this summer as a participant in the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women. James Flynn graduated from Yale Law School in May and moved to DC over the summer. Emma Wood was married in New York in April; Catherine Crooke, Eliot Wall, Tasha Keeney, Becky Greenberg, and Evan Moore attended the wedding. Molly Ozimek-Maier’s daughter is 3 years old; Molly is now in her second year teaching preschool. Allison Callery spent the summer on the Brazil desk of the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. Sam Gould can be found climbing the ranks of the
professional squash-playing circuit. Sam recently attended a tournament in Charlotte, N.C., where he met up with Conner Stoldt. When Sam isn’t playing, he helps coach the MIT squash team and spends some time on the Left Coast. Alan Wesson is excited to announce he is getting married. Brooks Canaday recently moved from Boston to Denver, where he’ll be a freelance photographer. Alessandra Siraco got engaged to Bob McHugh, a fellow graduate of Emerson’s MFA program, and will be getting married at Cochran Chapel next year. Danny Silk is loving life in NYC, where he recently changed jobs. He frequently entertains guests from his days at both Andover and Yale. John Gwin moved to Boston this summer to take a new job in investment management. Emily Anderson recently passed the Georgia bar exam and now works at a law firm in Atlanta. Claire Voegele spent the summer working at Yale Law’s legal clinic for veterans, where she ran into James Flynn. Sarah Guo got married in May in Carmel, Calif. Steve Blackman is still alive and enjoying working for Gibson. Nate Flagg is in his second year at the Yale School of Art; he still lives with the wonderful Jacqueline Hall ’08 and recently reconnected with Teddy Teece ’09. He also keeps bumping into Evan Moore, who frequently visits Yale. Peter McCarthy spent a large chunk of the summer on a climbing expedition in the Alaska Range. Otherwise, he still lives in San Francisco, working at a startup called Quid. Andrei Manda started an MBA degree program at Columbia this fall. Lauren Jackson got married in August and now lives in Tempe, Ariz., working with college students at Antioch Community Church. Prateek Kumar is back in his hometown of Albany, N.Y., and started his own investment company. Andover | Fall 2015
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Old friends turned out by the dozens at the CAMD open house, held in Morse Hall on Reunion Weekend.
2008 Mary B. Doyle 327 Noe St. San Francisco CA 94114 781-439-5209 (cell) mbdoyle@gmail.com Lydia Dallett 319 Ave. C, Apt. 3C New York NY 10009 Lydia.Dallett@gmail.com
The Class of 2008’s past few months saw more exotic travel destinations, more leafy green graduate-school campuses, and more of Zach Dixon’s Brooklyn backyard. Megan Richards hopped over to Vietnam with Kate Farrell, Haley Bruns, and Veda Eswarappa. Kate and Veda are both working in Singapore; Haley and Megan are just taking advantage of their Southeast Asia proximity. Veda and Rajit Malhotra, both working for the Parthenon Group, traveled to dozens of schools around the world to assess the most innovative education organizations for the WISE Awards. Nkem Oghedo, Hailee Minor, Carolyn Chica, Dacone Elliott, Arianna Van Sluytman, and Britney Achin traveled to Jamaica this April, in the second installment of Baecation ’08. Sally Poole spent May and June biking 1,000 miles across the UK, from Land’s End (England) to John O’Groats (Scotland), to raise money for a cat shelter in Maine. She starts veterinary school at the
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University of Glasgow this fall. Margaux Cerruti continues to travel the world as a marketing lead for Whitewall magazine. After launching Whitewall China, Margaux is driving the launch of Whitewall’s new mobile guide to international art fairs and exhibitions. Tomas Rojo completed a master’s degree program in physics at Cornell. He lives in Madrid and is working for Indra. Blaine Johnson is finishing an MPA degree at Fudan University in Shanghai. During a snowy layover in NYC, Blaine took refuge with Lydia Dallett. Alyssa Warren is traveling the world a bit after wrapping up two years with Teach for America in San Jose, Calif. Carolina Marion was off to Italy this summer after a spring spent running into ’08ers, including Abby Colella, Britney Achin, Nkem, J.J. McGregor, Chad Hollis, Evan DelGaudio, and Sophie Scolnik-Brower. Impressive roster, Carolina! “Living our collective theatre-kid dream” (as Abby Colella puts it), Carrie St. Louis is starring as Glinda in a U.S. tour of Wicked. Abby is entering her third year at Harvard Law School after a summer interning in Washington, D.C. Rajit Malhotra is pursuing a master’s degree at Harvard’s School of Education, beginning this fall. James Sawabini moved to San Francisco to hang out with us for a hot second before starting Harvard Business School this fall. Nkem is also entering HBS, where Atima Lui is in her second year. Andrew Cox is starting medical school at
Dartmouth this fall, joining Teddy Curran, who is in his second year there. Andrew caught up with Zach Dixon, Jimmy Spang, Lou Tejada, and Marvin Blugh ’09 over many games of Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Nick Anschuetz is back on the road with his band after recording a new EP this spring. Molly Shoemaker, who ran into John Bukawyn in Hudson River Park, has two Andover minions as interns at Signature Theatre in NYC this summer, including Rachel Cohen’s younger sister, Esther ’14. Rachel is living in New York but caught up with Sara Wallace in Boston for an epic party. Caitlin Feeney finished her first year at Cornell Law School. Megumi Ishizuka wrapped up her first year at Boston College Law. Kelly Lacob concluded her gig with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Uganda this spring before heading to Johns Hopkins in pursuit of a master’s degree in bioengineering innovation and design. Jacqueline Hall is at Yale’s School of Architecture, living near campus with Nate Flagg ’07, who is at the School of Art. Paul Joo is also at Yale, where he finished his first year of law school. He worked in San Francisco this summer for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. Chris Lim is earning a PhD degree in the biological and biomedical sciences program at Yale. Chris is spearheading a new summer undergraduate program—BioMed SURF—that is focused on the retention of underrepresented minorities in the sciences.
www.andover.edu/intouch Paul Hsiao launched an online menswear store called Standard Shirt Co. He recently visited Silke Cummings and Matt Emery in Philly. Nicole Duddy continues to pursue an MBA degree at New York University’s Stern School. She started a new job at Moelis & Company. Stephanie Clegg ran the Boston Marathon— raising $7,800 for children’s medical research!— and is running the Marine Corps Marathon in DC in October. She is starting at UMass Medical School this fall. Sarah Cohan recently moved back to Boston after six months at a startup incubator in Tel Aviv. Steve Bartz, Katherine Chen, and Kevin Zhai joined Ben Schley for a weekend of skiing in Montana. Jonathan Adler, still writing for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, went on a starlight sightseeing cruise around Manhattan with Lucas McMahon. One fine day in the wilds of San Francisco, Sebastian Caliri separately ran into Kristy Spiak and Jin Lee. Kristy, working for World Affairs Council, planned to backpack through Glacier National Park this summer. Kristy, Sawabini, Schley, Lambros Theofanidis, and Mary Doyle convened for dinner in SF to discuss our Facebook invitations to Zach Dixon’s parties, which take place 3,000 miles away. Speaking of Zach Dixon: maybe you haven’t heard, but he launched a video-game social company called Players’ Lounge, mounting largescale projects at the intersection of the gaming and events industries. Dixon spread the love to hosting regular Andover alumni parties in NYC. Among those who have stopped by Zach’s gatherings are ’08ers Jonathan Adler, Sayoko Kumamaru, Lucas McMahon, Margaux Cerruti, Nicole Duddy, Paul Hsiao, Nicholas Koh, and many more! Blue love, Mary.
2009 Alexander McHale 101 NE 53rd St., No. 2714 Oklahoma City OK 73105 703-786-3330 arxmchale@gmail.com Deidra Willis 2815 Rohret Road, Apt. 201 Iowa City IA 52246 347-342-7447 willis.deidra@gmail.com
It’s been five years, 11 months, and 19 days since the Class of 2009 graduated (actually, more than that, by the time you read this). Either way, the honeymoon phase is over. For most of ’09, we’ve stepped into that unknown, almost comfortable phase of adulthood. We’ve just about all graduated with bachelor’s degrees and even some master’s degrees. For those who went straight to work after college, we’ve finally gotten over that awkward “hate your first job” feeling and are likely
settling into something more satisfying. Many are welcoming or have welcomed promotions or relocations to different cities, states, and countries. Our Fifth Reunion went by in a blaze of glory, and we’re halfway to our college five-year reunions. But amidst all that, ’09 is out there all over the world, kicking butt and simply winning. After moving to Singapore at the start of the year, Robert Buka, Kate Farrell ’08, and Veda Eswarappa ’08 hung out quite a bit and took a trip to Surabaya, Indonesia, where they climbed Mount Bromo starting at 4 a.m. and caught an awesome sunrise. Rob and Peter Ly also traveled to Siem Reap, in Cambodia, and to Hong Kong. Liz Brown is engaged, as is Danica Mitchell, and lots of ’09ers wrote in with their best wishes and excitement! Brittany Peltz Buerstedde is recently married and has a beautiful baby girl. Over the winter, Jean Fang and Steph Yu caught up in Hong Kong and shared nostalgic Stevens House stories. In Indiana, Jean met up with Chelsea Carlson to go to a wedding and got her first real taste of the Midwest. Jean is moving to Chicago this fall and welcomes any tips about life in her new city. Kwon-Yong Jin took a road trip in April. He had dinner with Jean along the way in Houston, before graduating from Yale Law School. Congratulations! Alex McHale got to have one last hurrah with Matt Gorski, Andrew Pohly, and Jack Walker at their going-away party, where Krystle Manuel-Countee, Marvin Blugh, Malin Adams, and Phil Oasis were also present. As part of Non Sibi Weekend in April, a group of nine volunteers served at the Father’s Heart Ministries, a soup kitchen in NYC’s East Village. These included Andrew Pohly, Malin Adams, Jack Walker, Marvin Blugh, Krystle Manuel-Countee, and Joel Camacho ’08. The group was assigned to different stations. Some volunteers served meals to the guests; others served beverages, reset the tables, helped seat the guests, and kept the inside line moving; and still others cleaned up the tables. A total of 601 guests were seated and served during 1½ hours of service. It was an extraordinary and enriching morning for all volunteers. Trevor Gulick-Stutz saved the day in early May and was able to host a get-together with Zach Dixon ’08 on NYC’s Lower East Side with plenty of alums from ’06 through ’10. Those from ’09 included Max Abitbol, Kiara Brereton, Anna Burgess, Sam Burwell, Malik Jenkins, Tina Kit, Jill Kozloff, Michelle Kwon, Anna Mackey, Jack Walker, Larry Zhou, Tony Zou, and lots of others that I [Deidra Willis] sadly was not able to scribble down in my notepad app. The large group ended the night on Trevor’s rooftop before splitting up for more fun. In mid-May, Mai Kristofferson and Larry Zhou were at Penn for the MBA graduation of Jeff Zhou ’06 and Jeehae Lee ’02. Katie von Braun graduated with a master’s degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and this
fall Gloria Odusote will be finishing a stint in the Peace Corps in Lesotho. Congrats all! Tiffany Li and Dan Glassberg planned to move in together with a college friend in Santa Monica, Calif., in July. Dan is starting at the distressed opportunities team at Oaktree Capital Management. Kyle Ofori is working for a mobile app development company called Detroit Labs, focusing on an app for DTE Energy and presenting at conferences, such as the Self.conference, with his team members. As for your class secretaries, Alex moved to Oklahoma City in July to work at an energy private equity firm. If any of you find yourselves in Oklahoma City, he’ll be happy to buy you a drink. Deidra is moving to Iowa City to be a systems engineer II with General Mills and promises to provide free cereal, Gushers, or Fruit by the Foot to anyone who decides to visit her in the Hawkeye State. Until next time.
2010 Sascha Strand Metcalf Hall W205 Tufts University Medford MA 02155 316-371-9053 (cell) Sascha.Strand@Tufts.edu Courtney King 343 15th St. Santa Monica CA 90402 310-984-0882 (cell) courtney.king116@gmail.com Faiyad Ahmad 978-289-3584 (cell) faiyad_ahmad@brown.edu
The Class of 2010 had a great Reunion Weekend this June. About 150 of our classmates showed up for our events, and we were lucky enough to win the reunion participation award! We’ll have the Class of 2010 engraved on the Reunion Weekend silver cup—and I’m sure there will be many more engravings of our class on that cup in years to come. Highlights included the reunion circle of our dreams, complete with words of wisdom from our head of school extraordinaire Barbara Chase, an epic reunion speech by Faiyad Ahmad, closing remarks by Charlie Walters, winning our participation award, exploring the incredible Addison Gallery (exchanging regrets that none of us went in when we were students), the shuttle/party bus to the hotel, hundreds of dollars’ worth of pizza Faiyad bought for all of us, an epic Saturday after-party hosted by Hannah Bardo, and a bittersweet Paresky Commons lastmorning brunch. I think it’s safe to say that everyone reconnected Andover | Fall 2015
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Rachel Coleman, Sarah Jacobson, Sophia Jia, Lily Shaffer, Annie Pates, Kara Daniel, and Tyler Bond, all Class of ’10, met at reunion registration on Friday afternoon.
with someone they hadn’t seen in five years and that reunions were sweet and also bittersweet, as we dispersed again at the end of the weekend to our different corners of the country, not to mention the globe. Campus will feel so empty without all of you this fall. Hope all the newly connected regional crews will fulfill their promises of hanging out in their respective cities—I’d love to hear about it! Till the next one, 2010! For those who missed reunion and those who had a hard time keeping everyone’s details straight (me included), here are updates on our classmates’ lives: Lily Shaffer graduated from Pitzer College this May with degrees in environmental analysis and gender and feminist studies. She is currently working as a birth doula and applying to graduate programs in nurse midwifery. Julia Harrington now spends much of her life on the move. During the week, she could be anywhere in the country working as a consultant (usually till quite late). Weekends, she’s either at her wonderful apartment in Queens, N.Y. (Lonely Planet’s number-one travel destination in the U.S. for 2015!), or in Wisconsin with her partner. By the way, Julia now lives with a fellow Andover alum in Queens: Raya Stantcheva. They both miss having regular dorm cleaning. Kelvin Jackson writes, “Terve! Last summer, I spent three weeks in Jyväskylä, Finland, trying to learn as much Finnish as I could in a short time (the language isn’t actually as hard as people assume). At the end of August, I started my current job at the Microsoft NERD (New England Research and Development) center in Boston.” Caroline Gezon, Ryan Marcelo, Caroline Kaufman, and John Turiano all connected at reunion and realized they were all living in DC! Caroline Gezon and Caroline Kaufman are both doing international consulting work with USAID. Caroline Gezon just returned from Côte D’Ivoire, where she helped facilitate the World Bank–IMF African Youth Forum and attended the African
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Development Bank’s annual meetings. She also reports that John Turiano is working for a law firm. Helen Lord and Mari Miyachi are both living in San Francisco and enjoying the Bay Area; they recently attended an Andover reunion hosted by Ben Schley ’08. Dylan Rhodes spent summer 2014 in Brooklyn and caught up with David Luan ’09 while working at Two Sigma Investments. He started a master’s degree program at Stanford in the fall, studying artificial intelligence, and planned to work in Stockholm over the summer. A few months ago, Jennifer Chew ran into Rachel Coleman in a Starbucks in Princeton, N.J.; they enjoyed catching up. Lucy Arnold is working in San Francisco as a product manager for a startup that develops hospital-integrated mobile apps. She lives with Chase Ebert ’09 and occasionally sees Cecchi MacNaughton. She volunteers with an antipoverty nonprofit called the Borgen Project. Meredith Rahman is completing a master’s degree program in biochemistry and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Will Lindsey is living in New York City and working for Goldman Sachs in the alternative investments division. Post-graduation, Kyleigh Keating is living in Boston and working at Edward Brooke Charter School, a public charter school in Roslindale. She says, “In my application and interview I talked about how Andover has always been my basis for what an excellent education is and that I hoped to be able to contribute lessons learned from my experiences to a very different type of school in inner-city Boston. I am working hard to give more people a chance at what Andover gave me.” Henry Metro is doing well. This fall he is moving to NYC and working for Facebook as a software engineer. Unfortunately, Henry couldn’t make the reunion because it conflicted with his graduation from the University
of Washington. Jake Romanow moved to New Jersey in August to begin a PhD degree program in English at Rutgers. Ziwe Fumudoh writes: “I am a starving artist. I write jokes for the Onion. I’m engaged to be married with my MacBook.” In Chicago, she saw Hannah Lee, who, she reports, is doing great and going to art school. Sophia Bernazzani is working in marketing for an education technology company in DC and started volunteering with a mentoring organization this summer. She also hosted Rebecca Schultz ’09 for a visit in DC this spring. Sophia was sorry to miss reunion, but unfortunately she was on a work trip to Florida. Eric Sirakian won the Louis Sudler Prize for Excellence in the Performing and Creative Arts upon his graduation from Yale and is moving to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He says he is “so sorry to have missed the reunion. I was abroad; otherwise, I definitely would have been there.” Duncan Crystal reports that he had an amazing time at reunion, had a blast in DC this summer, and has picked up rugby to “get some of my aggression out.” Ryan Marcelo is living in DC and coming up on one year as a consultant at McChrystal Group. He sees Kathryn Quijano ’08 often, and recently had dinner with Adam Tohn. Ryan says he’s hoping to meet up with Caroline Gezon and Caroline Kaufman after reconnecting with them at reunion and realizing that they live in DC, too! Kelsey Lim and Avery Stone live and work in NYC and eat tacos together often. Kelsey works for a graphic design company called HUGE, and Avery works for the Huffington Post. Riley Gardner finished her first year in Teach for America in Indianapolis, and she reports that she is “just now coming to grips with not living on the East Coast.” She’s currently teaching 8th-grade math, specifically algebra, at a charter school that’s part of the KIPP network.
www.andover.edu/intouch Will Winkenwerder, Sebastian Becker, and Paul Bloemsma recently rented a place in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and are really enjoying getting to know all the borough has to offer. Sebastian and Paul also had a great time meeting members of the Class of ’95 and reconnecting with James Poss over Reunion Weekend. Rob Stevens is living in Atlanta and working as a consultant for Bain & Company. I [Courtney King] recently met up with him at Firefly Music Festival in Delaware, where we had an awesome time catching up to Bastille’s live set. Jenn Schaffer works as an editor at Vice in Brooklyn. In February, she got engaged to Jonathan Goddard, whom she met while studying at Oxford. Jane Thomas planned to spend late August through early next June in Mexico as a Fulbright scholar, studying how forest fragmentation affects the composition of the communities of microbes living in the guts of black Mexican howler monkeys. She’s curious to find out how changes in the microbiota map onto differences in health outcomes and reproductive success. She hopes that her research will have applications in the areas of both wildlife conservation and medicine.
2011 Christopher Batchelder 4 Raymond St. Manchester-by-the-Sea MA 01944 batch@unc.edu Oriekose Idah 8 Sycamore Lane Rolling Hills Estates CA 90274 oidah0608@gmail.com Kevin Song 1 Windy Hill Road Green Brook NJ 08812 kevin@andover11.com Edith Young 470 Park Ave., Apt. 2D New York NY 10022 edithwyoung@gmail.com
This year marks the fourth anniversary of the beautiful day the Class of 2011 proudly received its blue diplomas. This spring, many were looking forward to their postgraduate lives. Manuel Fernández and his Andover roommate, Raphaël Grandeau, visited Goody Gibbins in Cambridge, England, reliving their days on the PA cycling team. At the University of Cambridge, Claire Harmange is pursuing an MPhil degree in chemical bio. At Oxford, Kerstin Brolsma is pursuing an MSc degree in contemporary Chinese studies and Thurston Smalley is pursuing an MPhil in European affairs. Jared Curtis is working with the architecture firm Ensamble Studio in Madrid,
Led by former head of school Barbara Landis Chase and Faiyad Ahmad ’10, the Class of 2010 restaged its Commencement procession and diploma circle, which were rained out and held indoors five years ago. This time, the weather cooperated.
Spain, and Mary Polk-Bauman is working at the Musée Matisse in Nice, France. Further east, Mandi Thran is studying submarine landslides at the University of Sydney, and Brandon Wright is in Japan on a Fulbright. Patrick Brady also heads to Japan to sing in the “Disney on Classic” tour. Carolyn Whittingham joined him in Japan, then started a PhD degree program in East Asian studies at the University of Toronto. Andrew Sullivan is also in Canada, attending medical school. Some are in NYC: Kemi Amurawaiye and Hunter Schlacks are working at Goldman Sachs, Peter Bang at Two Sigma, Jesse Bielasiak at Uniqlo, Dominick Chang at a recording studio (Chris Batchelder is building his own), Theodore Drake at Moody’s Investors Service, Matthew Fothergill as a sports therapist, Taylor Garden and Joann Wang at Credit Suisse, Peter Heidrich at Macquarie, John Ingram as a teacher for Teach for America, Rohan Malhotra at Fahrenheit 212, Julianna Meagher at Citibank, Christopher Meyer at Activate, Georgia Pelletier at EY, Kevin Qian at Morgan Stanley, Will Reisinger at a video studio, Natasha Vaz at Deloitte Consulting, Jeremy Hutton at J.P. Morgan, Jean Lee as a research associate at NYU Law School, and Michael Wincek at AllianceBernstein. Benjamin Talarico is finishing a degree at NYU, Amanda Howland is working toward a master’s degree in childhood education and special ed, Daniel Santamaria is finishing a degree in forensic science, and Garrett Lee is pursuing an MD/PhD degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Meanwhile, Camilla Brandfield-Harvey looks
forward to interning at Comedy Central. Jessica Weng is working at Merck in New Jersey. Marilyn Hewett is in Charlottesville, Va., along with Carolyn Harmeling, who will be a group counselor at the Discovery School of Virginia for Girls. Christopher Kent will be in Norfolk, Va., and Yokosuka, Japan, as a surface warfare officer in the Navy. Zachary Esakof is working in Portland, Maine, at Unum, and Teddy Smyth is in New Hampshire, organizing with NextGen Climate Action. The DC cohort includes Kate Bulger, Hannah Finnie at the Center for American Progress, and Aube Rey Lescure at the Carnegie Endowment. Thomas Armstrong, Calvin Zhao, and Nathan Johnson will be working as consultants. Close by, Jonathan Na will attend the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Many made a move to the New England area. Kelly Powers is at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Zachary Elder and Chioma Ngwudo are both at Parthenon, Sophie Gould is at Bain & Company, Mark Hanson is at Cambridge Associates, Kishan Patel is at Boston Children’s Hospital, Evan Segreto is at EF Educational Tours, Casey McQuillen is working as a musician, and Mariana Walsh is at EMC. Cal Brooks is pursuing a master’s degree in aerospace engineering at MIT, Theresa Faller is working toward a master’s degree in public health at Boston University, and Ambika Krishnamachar is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science from MIT. Allan Yau is attending Tufts School of Medicine. Elizabeth Kelly is pursuing a master’s degree in bioethics at Penn. Megan Robertson is at Andover | Fall 2015
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2012 Miranda Haymon 197 Clare Ave. Boston MA 02136 617-308-6252 mirandahaymon@gmail.com Lauren Howard P.O. Box 1352 Lexington VA 24450 860-682-4641 (cell) howardl16@mail.wlu.edu Sydney Keen 520 Franklin St. Reading MA 01867 781-640-3037 sydneykeen93@gmail.com
Hello, Class of 2012! The spring and summer months held exciting endeavors for our class: trips abroad, internships, and small reunions of many
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Andover alumni around the world! Emily Samson spent the spring semester abroad in Geneva, Switzerland, in the same study-abroad program as Manwei Chan ’11. While Emily was there, she met up with Brian Hanafin, who spent the spring in London. They went skiing in France, and Brian spent a few days in Geneva. Emily also got the chance to meet up with Christian Jaster on a trip to Germany. As a student at the University of Trier, in Germany, Christian traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, in March to work with students from Kenyatta University, evaluating health care in impoverished Nairobi. Also in Europe, Abigail Burman graduated from Oxford University over the summer. Congratulations, Abigail! After her graduation, Abigail planned to travel through Russia, Mongolia, China, and Thailand before heading back to Washington, D.C., in search of a job. Abigail got to see Tiana “Tia” Baheri and Peter Larner recently and had hopes of visiting Mia Dwyer before returning stateside. Tailor Dortona participated in the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship Program, received a Gilman award, and studied abroad in Chengdu, China, for a few months in the spring. In addition to taking courses at Sichuan University, Tailor worked for the Chengdu Disabled Person’s Federation, conducting research on China’s special education system for the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences. Danny Gottfried studied in Irkutsk, Russia, this spring, taking classes at a local university and volunteering in an English language classroom. He enjoyed learning about the drastically different worldviews of Russians and Americans. This summer he worked at Tufts University’s Summer English Language Program. Over winter break, Maddie Kim, Brianna Barros, and Noël Um enjoyed cupcakes together. Over spring break, Noël and Hannah Beinecke toured the streets of Paris. Maggie Shoemaker is continuing her years in Germany as an intern at Adidas, at the firm’s global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria. She works in product marketing for the women’s training apparel department. In September, Maggie began university again in Germany. She had the opportunity to visit Maddie Kim in Rome for pasta and gelato while Maddie was studying abroad. Asia Bradlee had a busy spring semester down in New Orleans. She got to catch up with Eric Meller at happy hour when he visited NOLA for a night. Asia returned to Boston for the summer, working as the digital health editorial intern for Boston magazine. Jamie Shenk finished her junior year at Princeton University, where she occasionally squared off against David Crane ’13 in intramural floor hockey and met up with Yuni Sumawijaya to reminisce about Andover. She spent the summer conducting independent research in Colombia for her senior thesis, following
some generous leads from Dr. Neissa’s senior year elective. Over the summer, Marcus Smith had internships with the Amherst (Mass.) Farmers’ Market and with Many Hands Farm Corps, which sends interns to area farms, introducing them to the farming industry. Marcus was also recently named head of sustainability for a lifestyle-brand company called Superego, LLC, which specializes in apparel made from eco-friendly fabrics. Julia Quinn finished her study-abroad trip in Cape Town, South Africa, before returning to Boston for the summer. Rachel “Sage” Hunt was also in South Africa for the spring semester. Ben Manuel also spent the spring semester abroad. After traveling around Alicante, Spain, Ben returned to Charleston, S.C., for the summer to work for a solar-farm developer. Nora Princiotti interned in Washington, D.C., this summer, covering the Nationals, golf, tennis, and football for the Washington Times and hanging out with Katie Hebb. While there, the two caught up with Leo Cohen. Last fall, Katie spent a week visiting Sammy Marrus in Paris, where they also caught up with Isabel Elson. Katie planned to work at a political strategy and communications firm in DC this summer and was looking forward to catching up with any Andover people who are there! This spring, Sammy visited Nora Princiotti in Washington, D.C., where they ran into Soo Jung “Christa” Choy while walking in Georgetown. At Wellesley, Sammy sees Kelsey Phinney ’11 frequently and is living with her this year. Sammy worked at an NYC public relations agency for the summer. Along with Katie Hebb, she visited recent alums Tessa Peterson ’15 and Catalina Feder ’15 for dinner during their senior year! Tom Palleschi spent the month of August traveling through Belgium, Holland, Germany, and England playing basketball. Sheiling Chia traveled abroad to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the spring semester of her junior year and had some amazing experiences while there (including traveling alone to the Amazon!). Coincidentally, she found herself in the same area as Marhelich Santos and Tamara Katoni. Over the summer, Shei was an intern at Rothschild in NYC. Shei returned to Columbia University this fall to share a suite with Yara Sifri. Yara and Sheiling were placed together as roommates in Stevens when they started as new lowers at Andover and now, six years later, are spending their last year of college together as well! I concluded my sophomore year at Fordham University and spent lots of time in NYC with Stephanie Colello ’09. I continued as a research intern for the Transplant Research Program at Boston Children’s Hospital over the summer. Once again, thank you to all who contributed. I feel so grateful to hear about all of your successes and adventures. As always, much love, ’12! —Sydney
www.andover.edu/intouch 2013 MJ Engel 414-477-5563 mjengel8@gmail.com Connor Fraser 9 Scotland Drive Andover MA 01810 978-857-4443 cfraser142@gmail.com Chiamaka Okorie 347-981-0429 okoriesc@ymail.com
Members of the Class of 2013 finished their first or second years of college in style and embarked on exciting summer plans—with many surprise reunions and fun visits along the way. Sirus Han and Anna Stacy double-dated with Andries Feder and Lydia Kaprelian over “too much Japanese food” in Montreal. Sirus spent the summer working again in the Barton Lab at California Institute of Technology, doing research on DNA repair pathways. Angela Leocata has been very busy with exciting research in Indonesia and India. This spring she conducted research on the experiences of schizophrenic women in India, specifically the practice of chaining patients with psychosis. Angela will continue this research into her fall semester abroad in Indonesia. Over the summer, Angela interned as a research assistant in Goa, India, studying community-based approaches to maternal depression, a continuation of her gap-year research project on the relationship between mental health and dowry for women in Varanasi, India. Cam Morose and Christopher Hedley visited David Crane and Raeva Kumar at Princeton University for a Buddhist retreat and fun night out on the town. David has particularly enjoyed his frequent online conversations with Zachary Merchant and Joshua “J.J.” Hayward, where they have debated the musical talent of Flo Rida and made plans to attend an Ariana Grande concert in the future, among other things. Devon Burger returned to Austria over spring break this year to visit the family that hosted her during her gap year, and at Stanford University, she and James Garth get lunch regularly. This summer, Devon worked at Camp Mohawk in Litchfield, Conn., her 13th year in a row at the camp. Emily Carrolo welcomed Campbell Howe ’14 into Stanford’s chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity as her “little sister.” Gabbi Fisher has hosted many Andover friends at her vegetarian cooperative house at Stanford. Justin Appleby, Devon Burger, and Anika Kim ’14 often stop by to take advantage of Gabbi’s “mad dripcoffee brewing skillz” and hang out on the house’s porch. Jay Reader lives just across the street from Gabbi, and while he is still scared of her house’s
vegetarian food, he drops by its outdoor dinners in between rugby practices. Gabbi planned to work on the privacy and civil liberties engineering team at Palantir Technologies this summer in San Francisco and to run the SF half-marathon with Suzanne Wang as well. Suzanne will be attending MakerSquare, a programming bootcamp, while in San Francisco. Over this past year, Suzanne visited MJ Engel and Rochelle Wilbun at Columbia University, to which they transferred last fall, and made time to dine with Erin Wong and Nikita Singareddy, also at Columbia, while in NYC. At Harvard University, Suzanne regularly sees Unwana Abasi, and Unwana even accompanied Suzanne to get a tattoo this spring. Erin Johnson had the good fortune to run into Julie Zhou at a local coffee shop in Northfield, Minn., and chat about Julie’s semester abroad in London and Erin’s in Russia. Erin was also looking forward to her annual start-of-summer hike with Angelo Morlani, Audrey Burnim, Gina Sawaya, Kim Sarro, Malynna Mam, and Sarah Vinchesi. Paul Turiano ran into Walter Chacón at the High Tide Ultimate Tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in March. Rory Ziomek and Ross Bendetson frequently meet up in the dining hall for a quick dinner at Tufts University. In May, Ross and Jeremy Chen stopped by Columbia to get dinner with Jing Qu. Jing planned to live in NYC with Kristin Mendez this summer while they both interned at Goldman Sachs. In April, Jing returned to the Andover campus, along with MJ Engel, Maia Hirschler, Stephen Moreland ’14, and Avery Stone ’10, to participate in a conference on gender-based harassment awareness. She also met up with Samuel Green, Nicole Ng, and Connor Fraser from The Phillipian’s CXXXV board at an event in New York celebrating the newspaper’s endowment fund. Also in April, Emily Fang visited Angela Batuure in New York to watch Big Sean perform at Columbia’s annual Bacchanal spring concert. Garrick Gu visited Michael May this spring, and he planned to work this summer on synthetic chemistry research. Mark Meyer and Sam Koffman launched the German Club at the University of Chicago to “instant success” this year. Mark also traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with his boyfriend, Nicolas Lukac, for spring break, and the two accidentally ended up lost in the jungle for a day. This summer, Mark flew to Bangkok, Thailand, to work with 20 other strategists on an as-yet-unnamed startup company. He and Andries Feder also hoped to organize a hiking trip to Capitol Peak before resuming school in the fall. Finally, Julia Kichorowsky and Lucy Frey reunited in Andover in May and planned to spend the summer “with their toes in the sand and Shirley Temples in hand.” Thanks, everyone, for your submissions, and we look forward to hearing more about your experiences this fall!
2014 Djavaneh Bierwirth 3456 Sansom St. Philadelphia PA 19104 978-933-1910 djavaneh@wharton.upenn.edu Kai Kornegay 3650 Spruce St., MB 960 Philadelphia PA 19104 609-670-6658 kaikornegay@gmail.com Cat Haseman 5400 Fielding Manor Drive Evansville IN 47715 812-204-9113 cchaseman@gmail.com
This summer, Esther Cohen worked alongside Andrew Schlager ’12 and Molly Shoemaker ’08 as the artistic intern at Signature Theatre in NYC. Kai Kornegay worked as a summer teaching fellow with the Breakthrough Collaborative of Greater Philadelphia, where she taught literature to low-income, high-achieving middle school students. This fall, she started working with Penn Anti-Violence Educators, leading bystander intervention trainings to prevent sexual and relationship violence. While she was chaperoning students attending a Model UN program in Philadelphia, Mikaela Rabb met up with Kai and Caroline Sambuco. Caroline, Meghana Jayam, and Claire Frankel all joined Chi Omega’s chapter at Penn. Mikaela is now the director of said Model UN outreach program, and this summer she traveled to China on a Yale Richard U. Light Fellowship. Claire brought her talents as an intern to Hyundai Capital this summer. Doris Nyamwaya taught “kitchen chemistry” this past summer at Kaleidoscope, a summer day camp for children, and volunteered at Lawrence General Hospital. She also visited Kenya and Tanzania in August. In May, Armaan Singh went to an alumni event that was held at a Cubs game in Chicago, where he met up with Miguel Wise and Jonathan Arone. Katherine Vega worked at Andover this summer as a prefect for the ACE Scholars program, and over spring break she hosted Emilia Figliomeni. The two of them had a great time exploring Chicago! Junius Williams worked at a real estate firm in Accra, Ghana, this past June and July and spent the rest of the summer in the New York area. He also met up with David Yoon, David Cho, Amo Manuel, Isaac Berg ’13, and Jason Jin ’15 in Seoul in March. This past summer, Natalie Kim studied history and French in Paris through a Harvard Summer School program. David Cao spent the summer working as an intern at the Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition to the usual class notes, we wanted to acknowledge the passing of our classmate Andover | Fall 2015
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stay connected... Dylan Refeld. Dylan died this past March, and his passing has been difficult for many. Though nothing will bring him back, we want to honor his memory and remember the ways that he touched our lives during his time at Andover. The note below was written by Mads Engel and Andrew Vallejos, on behalf of the Class of 2014. “Dylan Refeld came to Andover as a new lower to the Class of 2014. Though his tenure was short, he made the most of his time at Andover. As a student, he struggled as much as anyone else. As an athlete, he competed to the best of his ability. As a friend, he was always there when you needed him, whether it be to talk, to listen, or just to sit around and play video games on a dull Saturday morning. Dylan encouraged others to have a good time and always made an effort to reach out to students who were new, shy, or otherwise left out. Those who met him would agree that he was rambunctious in a loveable way. His departure from Andover during upper year was a sad moment for the Class of 2014. Dylan was a great friend, and he will continue to be missed in the years to come.”
2015 Devontae Anthony Freeland 283 Shady Oak Court Piscataway NJ 08854 732-841-1839 dfreeland@college.harvard.edu Tessa Peterson 70 Pennsylvania Gulch Road Nederland CO 80466 303-717-2764 tessa@boulder.com Kailash Sundaram 186 Rosemont Drive North Andover MA 01845 408-417-2033 kailash.s.sundaram@gmail.com
FACULTY EMERITI Pat and George Edmonds 28 Samuel Way North Andover MA 01845 978-655-4598 gandped@comcast.net
We warmly welcome retiring faculty and new emeriti Anne Ferguson, Tom McGraw, Randy Peffer, Elisabeth Tully, and Shirley Veenema and look forward to having them share their news in this column. Georges Krivobok writes, “Marilou and I enjoy our location in a very green neighborhood close to downtown Naples, Fla.” They enjoy the beach, a great library across the street, and free concerts at church and in the park. Georges
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published a book of his translations from Russian into French and English of the journals (from the 1920s and ’30s) of his father and uncle, the former landing in France and the latter in the U.S. after various military and diplomatic adventures during the Russian Civil War—a labor of love with notes and photographs for the benefit of Georges’s family and friends. From Southern California, Tom Regan ’51 reports, “Gerri and I are especially happy, at this stage of our lives, to be living within two miles of both our sons, Bill ’78 and Tim ’79, here in Coto de Caza.” Having taken up watercolor in his retirement, Gerry Shertzer, living in Brookline, paints in his Boston studio three or four days a week and has a show about twice a year. Visit his website, GerryShertzer.com, to see his gorgeous watercolors and blurb.com to learn about his new book, Watercolors. Jean St. Pierre is living happily on Cape Cod, enjoying visits to the ocean and tutoring young people in reading. She is “thrilled beyond belief ” with the outdoor classroom, adjacent to Bulfinch Hall, dedicated to her when the building was refurbished. She has been rereading Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, enjoying Marlow’s “fascination of the abomination,” and she echoes John Irving’s Garp as, she says, “I keep on moving by the open window” in her Harwichport home. Snowbound in Cornish, N.H., Al Stevens burst into nostalgia as he recalled varied personal highlights: his marriage to Marie 67 years ago at Fort Bragg, where he was a paratrooper sergeant; studying German and Russian on the G.I. Bill at Dartmouth and Yale; meeting the Russian delegation during a Soviet-American conference held at PA, coinciding with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962; leaving his 1969–1970 sabbatical base in Vienna for a trip with Marie down the Danube and then driving across the Caucasus in a Lada. In the spring, Bob Moss returned to PA to help coach the third and fourth boats of girls’ crew, as he did for many years before retiring. “Otherwise,” he writes, “I am in Chatham on Cape Cod for the rest of the year; I am on the board of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, singing in two choruses, getting ready to perform the Brahms Requiem, and continuing my cello lessons. My dream is to be able to play The Swan (Le Cygne) by Saint-Saëns before I fade into geezerhood. I relish the summer, when my two daughters and four grandchildren descend on Chatham. Laurie has lived for 13 years outside Memphis, Tenn., where she is involved in her children’s schools. Sarah is in Concord where she is a psych teacher, school counselor, two-sport coach, and dorm head at Middlesex.” “I’ll do whatever they tell me,” asserts Hal Owen ’43, still passionately involved with drama as a volunteer at the Camden Civic Theatre. Happy in this peaceful Maine village, he lives close by his son Matthew and daughter Megan. He loves
being out in the saltwater air in his sailboat, usually with someone else, for safety and for “somebody to yell at.” No idle time for Lynne Kelly in New Hampshire. At the Portsmouth Athenaeum, she and a friend lead alternating book discussions on fiction and history, and she helps organize exhibits for the Randall Gallery there. She visits and reads to elderly residents at an affordable housing community. Teaming with an Iraq War veteran, she meets with other returning veterans to have what she describes as “nonprofessional conversations.” Carroll and Elaine Bailey report that they “are both hanging in there” and happy about their move to Marland Place in Andover. Elaine has been dealing successfully with chemo treatments for her diminishing cancer and expresses gratitude for the steady support of Carroll as well as of Don and Betsy Abbott. At her 60th Northfield Mount Hermon reunion, she will be receiving an alumna citation and medal for her long service to the school. Leaving Madrid to be near her daughter, Cristina Rubio Suarez ’81, and granddaughter Natalia ’17, Cristina Rubio has recently moved to Edgewood in North Andover, where she joins many other emeriti. Living in nearby Newbury, Mass., opera buffs George and Claire Dix find it exciting to attend the “Live from the Met” cinema series and, having joined Historic New England, to visit homes the association has preserved. George has been teaching Romance languages to adults at Newburyport High School (Maggie Jackson was one of his students) and Spanish to private clients at corporations. Thanks to the investigative efforts of Anne Weld, we learned that Phyllis and Larry Powell had been living in a retirement community in Barrington, R.I. Sadly, last Thanksgiving Larry passed away, and Phyllis has since moved to another community in Madison, Wis., to be near her son, Rick. On May 9, emeriti gathered as guests of the school and of gracious hosts Debby Burdett Murphy ’86 and Paul Murphy ’84 for the annual Emeriti Luncheon. Thirty-one emeriti filled the spacious living room and porch of historic Moses Stuart House and enjoyed hearing reports about the school from Paul and Debby. To sign off, we are borrowing from Georges and Marilou Krivobok their ending: “Best wishes to all ‘ex-PAts.’ ”
in memoriam
FORMER FACULTY
Louise Loring Coffin Downs Falmouth, Maine; August 2, 2015 Louise Loring Coffin Downs, 100, died after a short illness. “Miss Coffin,” as she was known to her students, taught biology, general science, and physics at Abbot Academy from 1943 until 1957. Members of the Class of 1954 shared their memories: “Miss Coffin was tall, with braids wrapped around her head,” recalled Nancy Donnelly Bliss. “She had a gentle voice and a nice smile.” Valjeanne Brodeur-Paxton noted how Miss Coffin “strode, not walked, around campus. She obviously put the same energy into all her life activities.” “Her contribution to her students and interest in her students as people were always received warmly and with joy,” said Maris Oamer Noble. “She certainly imprinted me with the love of biology, especially anatomy,” added Joan Wheeler Kaufman. Patricia Skillin Pelton deemed Miss Coffin “a sweet and competent teacher, a pleasant Abbot memory.” In 1957, Miss Coffin met and married Rev. Frances Downs and moved to Lowell, Mass. The Downses shared a great love of travel and enjoyed sailing and entertaining at their house on an island off the coast of Maine. Ronald D. Thorpe Jr. Norwalk, Conn.; July 1, 2015 Ronald D. Thorpe Jr., a lifelong education advocate, died at home after a yearlong battle with lung cancer. He was 63 years old. Thorpe’s storied career began in 1974 when he became a Phillips Academy teaching fellow in Latin and Greek. He served as assistant to legendary educator and PA headmaster Ted Sizer until 1980, a position Thorpe credited with shaping his vision of education’s ultimate goals. His 40-year career was dedicated to supporting educators and innovating in the space of teacher professional development. As the creative force behind the Celebration of Teaching and Learning, and most recently as president and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, Thorpe created and nurtured a nationwide network of educators committed to attaining the highest standards of practice, with the ultimate goal of providing our country’s
schoolchildren with the quality education they deserve and require to be successful in life. Thorpe is survived by his wife, Margaret Honey; his daughter, Katherine Kerr; his stepson, John Honey-Fitzgerald; and his father, Ronald Thorpe Sr., and stepmother, Deborah Thorpe. Thorpe was the former spouse of Trustee Emerita Sandra Urie ’74.
1937 Janet Caldwell Klos Seattle, Wash.; Nov. 1, 2014
ABBOT AND PHILLIPS
Seymour F. Rappoport Hackensack, N.J.; June 2, 2015
1929 Gertrude Campion Soutar Swansea, Mass.; Feb. 11, 2015 1930 Malcolm C. Lang North Branford, Conn.; March 15, 2015 1932 Isabel K. Arms Shrewsbury, Mass.; June 18, 2014 1935 W. Newton Burdick Jr. Naples, Fla.; March 19, 2015
1939 J. Vernon Williams Seattle, Wash.; Feb. 13, 2015 Herbert E. Fletcher Tarzana, Calif.; July 9, 2015
1940 Marcia Wheeler Falconer Waterford, Conn.; April 15, 2015 Rowland G. Freeman III Williamsburg, Va.; Nov. 29, 2014 Richard A. Hale Bethel, Maine; May 17, 2015 Charles S. Kessler New Paltz, N.Y.; May 11, 2014 Robert P. Snower Shawnee Mission, Kan.; July 2, 2013
Jane Dawes McClennan Sudbury, Mass.; March 8, 2015
1942 Lucius H. Biglow Jr. Medina, Wash.; June 8, 2015
Christine Barnes Nelson Tucson, Ariz.; April 4, 2015
John W. Power Jr. Port Charlotte, Fla.; April 4, 2015
1936 Clara H. Chase Damariscotta, Maine; May 5, 2015 Clara Holland Chase passed peacefully at Cove’s Edge in Damariscotta. Born in Andover, Mass., to Emma Jane (Hopper) and Chester White Holland, she attended Abbot Academy and Erskine College. Before moving to Maine in 2011, Clara lived for many years in Bethesda, Md., where she was a Red Cross volunteer at the National Naval Medical Center and a member of the Burning Tree Garden Club and the Naval Officers’ Wives’ Club. She lived a long and happy life. Clara was predeceased by her husband of 65 years, Capt. Elwood N. Chase II, USN (Ret). She is survived by daughter Susann and son-in-law John Hochstein, daughter Carolyn Harting, six grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and one greatgreat-granddaughter. She was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in August. —Susann Chase Hochstein
Jeanne Bowersox Wilson Kennett Square, Pa.; April 17, 2015
1943 Janet Cooley Sloss Davidson Gloucestershire, England; June 19, 2014 John W. Fallon Nashua, N.H.; April 10, 2015
1944 Robert A. Jordan Ventura, Calif.; May 17, 2015 Cynthia Holmes Spurr Greenbrae, Calif.; Oct. 18, 2009
1945 Warren H. Bell Mattapoisett, Mass.; Jan. 5, 2015 F. Brock Fuller San Rafael, Calif.; Jan. 1, 2009
Helen O’Brien Olcott Kennebunk, Maine; Jan. 1, 2015
Roger F. Furbish Lisbon, Maine; March 16, 2013
Caroline C. Stevens Amesbury, Mass.; Sept. 13, 2014
Phyllis Hardon Gander Pleasanton, Calif.; March 1, 2015 Andover | Fall 2015
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Valentine P. Hattemer Jr. Dayton, Ohio; July 23, 2014 Andrea Lyons Shoemaker McLean, Va.; Dec. 10, 2014 Rolor E. Ray Sugarland, Texas; April 19, 2015
1946 William D. Dahling Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.; May 28, 2015 Henry M. Goodyear Jr. Thomasville, Ga.; April 18, 2015
1947 J. Cooper Blankenship Dallas, Texas; June 18, 2015 Nancy S. Garrison Natick, Mass.; April 5, 2015 Mary Lou Hart Wilmington, Del.; June 23, 2015 Robert A. Lasley Brick, N.J.; June 8, 2015 Robert T. Platka Jr. Gardnerville, Nev.; April 7, 2015
1948 Benjamin B. Blodget Bucksport, Maine; Jan. 28, 2015 Rosemary E. Jones Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; June 20, 2015 Robert S. Koop Avon, Conn.; Nov. 29, 2014
1949 William R. Millager Rogers, Ark; March 16, 2015 William C. Osgood Jr. Framingham, Mass.; Aug. 29, 2014
1951 Winthrop R. Adkins Greenwich, Conn.; July 17, 2015 Win Adkins passed away from complications after lung surgery. A quintessential “teacher of life,” Win earned a doctoral degree at Columbia University Teachers College and continued there for 30 years as a professor of psychology and education. In 1974, he founded the Institute for Life Coping Skills at Teachers College. Under the leadership of Win and his wife, Dr. Caroline Adkins, more than 5,000 staff members have been trained in life-skills principles and more than a million students have graduated from the program, which is designed to help at-risk youths and adults handle everyday life issues. Win was born in Beirut, Syria (now Lebanon), to missionary parents. As an Andover student for four years, he took to heart the school’s non sibi motto. He served on many charitable boards while focusing his life on social and economic justice. He graduated from Princeton University in 1955 and for more than 12 years served in the U.S. Navy in the ROTC, on active duty and in the reserves. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two children from a previous marriage, Jason and Jennifer; five grandchildren; his sister, Sally; and his brother, Douglas ’51. —R. Kenly Webster ’51 Lloyd W. Cutting Jr. Largo, Fla.; Jan. 5, 2015 Harold P. Higgins Groton, Conn.; March 11, 2015 John H.R. Plews Honolulu, Hawaii; March 18, 2015 Edna Grieco Thomas North Andover, Mass.; Oct. 14, 2014 David A. West Blacksburg, Va.; April 2, 2015
1952 Lawrence M. Abrahams Fayetteville, N.C.; March 3, 2015 Collis H. Holladay Jr. Newport Beach, Calif.; Feb. 4, 2015 A loving husband, father, and all-around good guy, Hunt Holladay died suddenly at the age of 81. After graduating from Phillips Academy, Hunt earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 1956. Following graduation, he married Janet Chandler and began a career in the oil drilling industry, working for Mobil Oil and Baker Oil Tools. Hunt and his family returned to California in the early 1970s and settled in Newport Beach, where he and Janet lived for more than 40 years. Hunt was very active on the boards of the Society for the Prevention of Blindness and Caltech
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Associates, serving as president of both organizations. He also was a board member of the Friends of the Huntington Library. Hunt and Janet traveled widely and played golf all around the world. He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, three children, and three grandchildren. —The Holladay Family Nancy Faraci Shionis Seabrook, N.H.; Jan. 5, 2007
1953 Henry E. Riggs Palo Alto, Calif.; June 10, 2015 Hank Riggs, past president of Harvey Mudd College, former vice president for development at Stanford University, and founder and first president of Keck Graduate Institute, died at his home following a brief illness. Riggs was an entrepreneur, professor, writer, and leader in higher education. He continually sought out challenges, and his vision fundamentally shaped every institution with which he was involved. Throughout his life, his abiding passion was for teaching, and he taught up until a few weeks before his death. After graduating from Stanford in 1957 and Harvard Business School in 1960, Riggs worked as president of Icore Industries and CFO of Measurex Corporation. He began teaching at Stanford in 1967 and joined the faculty full-time in 1974. In 1980 he received Stanford’s highest award for excellence in teaching, the Walter J. Gores Award. In 1983 Riggs became Stanford’s vice president for development and oversaw the first successful billion-dollar capital campaign undertaken by an American university. Riggs was named president of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., in 1988, a position he held for nine years. In 1997 Riggs founded the seventh Claremont College, the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, and served as the institute’s first president until 2003. Along with serving on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards, Riggs was an Andover class coagent, alumni trustee, and member of the Alumni Council; he also created an endowment in memory of his parents, Joseph and Gretchen Riggs. In his personal life Hank had two great loves: his family and travel. He and his wife, Gayle, saw much of the world from their bicycles and Eurovan. He is survived by his wife; his children, Betsy McCarthy, Peter Riggs, and Katie Riggs; and six grandchildren.
1954 Thomas H. Harvey Jr. Enterprise, Ala.; Nov. 1, 2013 David M. Underwood Houston, Texas; Aug. 20, 2015 (See tribute, page 20.) William J. Wilson Fairfield, Conn.; March 22, 2015
1955 Anthony Hilton Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Dec. 20, 2014
1965 Stuart R. McAfee Chapel Hill, N.C.; May 16, 2015 1966 Andrew A. Oliver New York, N.Y.; Dec. 23, 2014 1972 George R. Cooper III Knoxville, Tenn.; June 14, 2015
F. Macgregor Miller Morrison, Colo.; April 20, 2015
1978 Jerald D. Ball Ivins, Utah; Nov. 19, 2014
David B. Sherrill Grand Junction, Colo.; March 27, 2015
Laura R. Viehmann Cumberland, R.I.; March 31, 2015
1956 Jan A. van Amerongen Mountain Lakes, N.J.; Oct. 17, 2014
1980 John R. Olcay Lancaster, Pa.; Nov. 1, 1992
1984 Rosemary Casey-Toumbas Belmont, Mass.; April 30, 2015 W. Kendall Coor Phoenix, Ariz.; July 20, 2015
2014 Dylan S. Refeld Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.; March 27, 2015
PA COMMUNITY James A. Chamberas Chelmsford, Mass.; July 12, 2015 Douglas M. Dunbar Andover, Mass.; Jan. 5, 2015
1957 C. Michael Annis Henderson, Nev.; Feb. 15, 2014 David P. Behan Decatur, Ga.; April 8, 2015
1960 Peter K. Beck Louisville, Ky.; Jan. 11, 2015 Peter Beck, telecommunications executive and entrepreneur, management consultant, experimental aircraft builder and pilot, and U.S. Air Force veteran, died after a brief illness at age 72. Peter graduated from Harvard in 1964. During the Vietnam War he was designated USAF Outstanding Supply Officer of the Year. He retired from the Air Force as a captain, graduated from the University of Chicago School of Business in 1971, and subsequently worked for Newport News Shipbuilding; Cresap, McCormick & Paget; and MCI Communications. He later started his own company to develop new digital transmission technology. Adept at custom woodworking, he built furniture based on antique designs. He was a longtime member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and built and flew his own experimental aircraft, the Thorp T-18. He served as a volunteer admissions interviewer in Louisville for both Andover and Harvard and was a member of the Andover and the Military affinity group. Peter is survived by his wife, Kathy; his children, Melinda and Ted; and his brother, Timothy ’62. —The Beck Family
In Memoriam Protocol Please notify Alumni Records at alumnirecords@andover.edu about an alumna/us death. Andover welcomes obituaries written by family members or classmates. Submissions should be no longer than 150 words and will be edited. Please e-mail questions or submissions to Jill Clerkin at jclerkin@andover.edu or call 978-749-4295.
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Tales ou t of school
Abbot and My “Self” by Caroline Thomas ’62 Abbot got me out of the house. It’s not that my home life was terrible. The problem lay elsewhere: My mother had died when I was 4, and I was still unconsciously inconsolable. I had little access to my feelings of inadequacy and rage at being abandoned by this extraordinary “mother creature,” reputed to have been a paragon of beauty, talent, and, above all, intelligence. She was also a famous movie star, and consequently, I seemed to be the only person who hadn’t known her. Abbot was a great halfway house for me, a place where my failure at almost everything was allowed, if not encouraged. The girls accepted me, and I had some really great friends. I would have curled up and died without that. And the teachers neither shamed me nor allowed failure to corrode my coping mechanisms; there was a pervasive kindness offered in my direction. All around me, the sun shone and the rain fell upon the feeble plant I was—and in some ways continue to be. For example, my Latin teacher indulged my woeful attempts at parsing nominative through ablative while flaying alive students whose grasp of “All Gaul” was far superior to mine. In math and science, my total lack of aptitude was rewarded with passing grades. I fancied myself rather talented at understanding books and writing—although I actually was unable to compose a decent sentence until I reached the age of 40. When I was separated from my beloved English teacher—the one who taught the more advanced class—and stuck with the one who had the temerity to suggest that I write about the things I knew, my father wrote an indignant letter. Abracadabra: I was reunited with my idol.
Elissa Landi, Caroline Thomas’s mother, was an international star of stage and screen in the 1920s and 1930s.
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But the talent I always assumed I would possess—and the one I’d spend my entire life gripping and being gripped by—was acting. Oh, there was one other: I fancied myself something of a singer, although I couldn’t hear a harmony to save my life. Thank goodness I was a soprano! But again, I was valued beyond my gifts by the Abbot powers that were. My
annoyance and sense of being invisible when not assigned a seat at Chapel turned into joy and pride at being told I had been selected to sing in the choir. Actually, those were my happiest moments—warbling at Chapel, being excused to attend choir rehearsals, and participating in the occasional musical outing. But the crowning achievement of my Abbot tenure was playing the title character in Henry V. Now that was really something— particularly the little pointy black boots I got to wear and the fact that, in spite of almost terminal stage fright, I remembered all my lines. All the ones I got to speak, anyway. I never got to say the famous St. Crispin’s Day speech, from Act IV. Nope! The whole thing got cut because Andree Conrad [’62] came rushing on ahead of cue! There was a lot of snickering, and I was actually relieved. Acting was something I “did,” not something I “experienced.” Like everything in my life then, it was governed by how close or far away I sensed my existence in relation to where my mother might have been, had she been alive. Abbot was kind and cradled me until I could strengthen my heart to accept the pain of separating from the impossible, unconscious dream of living up to my mother and bear my “self ” into the world. I dedicate these memories to one who was not so lucky—classmate Louise Getzman, now deceased, who was gay. If only “equity and inclusion” had been more vigorously advocated many decades ago. Caroline Thomas spent two years at Barnard College and five years in France, and later graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She performed in plays at venues such as La Mama, Roundabout Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater for the New City; she also worked with Jerzy Grotowski (Teatr Laboratorium) in Poland. In 1989, she founded Total Theatre Lab, where she has taught, coached, written, and directed for the past 25 years.
Abbot Alumna Practices What She Preaches M
ae Concemi Bradshaw ’62, an estate and trusts attorney on the New Hampshire seacoast, knows firsthand the value of tax-smart charitable giving. Fortunately for Andover, she practices what she preaches. Mae has established a number of planned gifts for Phillips Academy, including a charitable remainder trust and several Andover gift annuities. Her forethought and generosity are inspired by her appreciation of the excellent education she received at Abbot Academy. An honor roll student, Mae loved studying, sports, and student government. And as one of a handful of day students, she felt she had the best of both worlds: she could live at home while attending Abbot, invite friends for home-cooked meals with her family, and, she says, go to the movies with PA boys on Saturday nights. Mae chose gift annuities not only because they eventually benefit the Academy; gift annuities are tax-deductible and also provide a fixed income stream at a favorable rate. Because she is not looking for additional income right now, Mae opted for deferred gift annuities that will begin paying in future years. The tax deduction can still be taken the year she makes her gift to Andover and, furthermore, by wisely “laddering” her annuities, each successive contract has a higher payout rate. Throughout her years as an Abbot alumna, Mae has exemplified the non sibi spirit by serving on the Alumni Council and Annual Giving Board, as 50th Reunion chair for the Abbot Class of 1962, and most recently on the Abbot Engagement Committee. Mae’s life has been one of service to various organizations in her community and beyond, including board-level leadership of the Exeter Rotary Club, Rye Heritage Commission, Rye Capital Improvements Program Committee, and New Hampshire SPCA Foundation.
Mae Concemi Bradshaw ’62 was recognized with Andover’s Distinguished Service Award in May 2015 (see page 48).
To learn more about gift annuities or other life income gift arrangements, contact Connie Pawelczak, associate director of Gift Planning, at 978-749-4529 or cpawelczak@andover.edu.
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An All-School Meeting to Remember President George H.W. Bush ’42 and former first lady Barbara Bush made a surprise visit to Andover September 30, receiving a standing ovation when introduced by Head of School John Palfrey in Cochran Chapel. The president briefly addressed students as part of a presentation by Mary Kate Cary, executive producer of the Bush documentary 41on41. The Bushes are pictured here with the president’s childhood friend and former baseball teammate Richard J. Phelps ’46 and his wife, Sally.