SPRING 2014
Households that receive more than one Andover magazine are encouraged to call 978-749-4267 to discontinue extra copies.
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161 ISSN 0735-5718
SPRING 2014
COED@40 Periodicals postage paid at Andover MA and additional mailing offices
Seniors Michael Lata and Bryan Ackil unload a pile of metal fence posts for recycling. Earlier in the day, a group of students removed chain-link fences from an empty lot where Lawrence Habitat for Humanity will build a house this summer. The entire Phillips Academy student body participated in a Non Sibi Weekend activity or event in April (see story, page 43).
then & now
2014 March 26
End of Tuition Day! Everyone is a full scholarship student from this day through the end of school
$70,000
Approximate annual cost to educate an Andover student
55
%
Portion of cost covered by tuition
+
=
“It turns out the strongest schools, the schools that thrive over time, are ones where everyone pitches in.”
Making It Big with Daze
Kelley Tialiou
This spring, artist Chris “Daze” Ellis (far right) guided students in the creation of a mural in the Elson Art Center. “We jumped right in, planning the entire mural with Daze’s help in just two class periods and then attacking the wall with large brushes and sponges,” says Kay Xia ’15. “We wanted the mural to celebrate our boarding school experiences and Andover’s rich history while conveying our desire to make Andover better now and in the future,” adds Zoe Chazen ’14 (see story, page 17).
—John Palfrey Head of School
45%
Portion covered by philanthropy
100
“This scholarship has been a blessing. It has given me an opportunity that I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and I’m grateful for it.” —Avery Jonas ’16
%
Percentage of students supported by the generosity of alumni, parents, and friends
Your gift helps ensure that an Andover education remains accessible to youth from every quarter. We hope you’ll give today! Thank you for your participation.
Online: giving.andover.edu By phone: 978-749-4247 By mail: Phillips Academy Office of Academy Resources 180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161
C on te nts
F E AT U R E S
24
38
46
29 Retiring Faculty Gallery PA bids farewell to seven beloved faculty members: Maggie Jackson Don Barry Doug Kuhlmann Peter Drench Tony Rotundo Roxy Barry Chris Gurry ’66
DEPARTMENTS 6 From the Head of School 7 Dateline Andover 18 Connected Learning 21 The World Comes to Andover 22 Sports Talk
32 Coeducation: Then & Now
24 On Course
What leaders had to say about coeducation in the 1970s —and what John Palfrey has to say today
26 Philanthropy Highlights 46 From the Archives 50 Connection
38 Non Sibi for Life
56 Andover Bookshelf
Three alums give back in big ways
58 Class Notes 120 In Memoriam
44 Talking Toilets
126 Tales Out of School
Toilet Hackers kingpin John Kluge ’01 takes on a daunting challenge
CLOSE-UPS 77 Nathalie Taft Andrews ’59 Preserving a
46 Still Getting to the Root of It
Kentucky museum
Charles Tansey ’69 responds to “Kemper and the Unkempt”
85 Jim Grillo ’66 The evolution of a veterinarian
YouTube
Andover Alumni App
Linked In
SmugMug
PA Mobile
Andover | Spring 2014
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FROM THE EDITOR SPRING 2014 Volume 107 Number 3 PUBLISHER Tracy M. Sweet Director of Academy Communications EDITOR Kristin Bair O’Keeffe Director of Publications DESIGNER Ken Puleo Art Director ASSISTANT EDITOR Jill Clerkin CLASS NOTES EDITOR Jane Dornbusch CLASS NOTES DESIGNER Sally Abugov CLASS NOTES COORDINATOR Laura MacHugh CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alessandra Bianchi, Leslie Hendrix ’73, Janine Ko ’14, Sara Livermore ’45, Amy Morris, Adam Roberts, David Treadwell ’59, Charles Tansey ’69, Sarah Zobel PHOTOGRAPHERS Keziban Barry ’02, Tom Cone, Chris Conti, Neil Evans, Jen Hout, John Hurley, Deborah Latta, Gail Mansfield, Michael Malyszko, Tim Mullen, P’14, Russell Munson, Steve Porter, Jenny Savino, Donald Slater, Tracy Sweet, Gil Talbot, Kelley Tialiou, Yuto Watanabe ’11, Alexandra Westfall ’15 , Dave White, Lucius Xuan ’15 © 2014 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. 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. 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
As we finally shift into spring after a blustery, protracted winter, big questions are blossoming: What will be the vision of our new Strategic Plan? (See page 7.) What’s happening during the planning phase of the Andover Institute? (See page 18.) How do we reach beyond traditional classroom boundaries to collaborate with dynamic institutions and people around the world? How do we help students become engaged, knowledgeable global citizens? How do we help students understand differences and embrace diversity? (See “Telling Their Stories,” page 7.) After 40 years of coeducation, what more can we do to ensure that girls and boys are building the skills they need to be strong leaders and empathetic young adults? What magic will Judith Dolkart, new director of the Addison Gallery, cast upon us? (See page 16.) Even as big questions are unfurling, answers are popping up all over the place. In his Material Culture class, history instructor Nile Blunt defines and models what it means to make the most of the spectacular resources we have right here on campus (see page 24). In early April, during the Coed@40 Spring Forum, graduates of Abbot Academy engaged current students in powerful conversation about coeducation, gender issues, life at Abbot, female leadership, mentoring opportunities, and much more (see page 50). And finally, Amy Morris’s winter 2014 article, “Kemper and the Unkempt,” revisited a tangled issue that many had either forgotten or, perhaps intentionally, repressed. Phone calls and e-mails poured in from men who had been deeply affected by the events that transpired in the late 1960s and early 1970s, both on and off campus. Don’t miss Charles Tansey ’69’s profound response to the Kemper piece on page 48. But big questions are not the only things blossoming around here. Students are readying for prom and graduation. Seven beloved faculty members are retiring and moving on to new adventures (see page 29). And as I type, the cherry tree is in full bloom (see page 4), reminding us that no matter how hard the winter, spring eventually arrives in all its glory.
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
Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
Follow Andover on Twitter: @AndoverMagazine
Front cover: As Abbot and Phillips academies moved toward a merger during the late 1960s and early 1970s, leaders of both academies wrote about their beliefs, aspirations, and fears. Words on the front cover were pulled from the archival pieces about coeducation included in “Reframing Education in a Changing World,” as well as John Palfrey’s response (see page 32). Artwork by Ken Puleo.
25%
Cert no. SW-COC-002508
TO T H E EDITOR
Dear Editor, When I received the Claude Moore Fuess Award at PA soon after the merger, I was handed an object that thanked me for “his contributions to....” As an avid feminist activist, I read it with great glee to the audience, which responded with laughter, applause, boos, etc.
—Lucy R. Lippard ’54 Galisteo, New Mexico Dear Editor, The article on the hair was interesting. The late ’60s and early ’70s were a rough time. PA wasn’t sailing along either. Liked the article about the sports. I remember Miss Ritchie. I was terrible at apparatus and tumbling, and I remember going back to Reunion after the merger and having her tell me that they thought of me when they were working on the program and eventually eliminated gymnastics. I really liked the quote from Carina K. Elgin ’76 (p. 36). I can relate to that walk out to the field in the fall, except I don’t think we even had cleats, certainly not very fancy.
—Nancy Donnelly Bliss ’54 Brunswick, Maine [Editor’s note: Several e-mails arrived from alums in response to Amy Morris’s winter 2014 article “Kemper and the Unkempt.” We have printed as many as fit on the page; visit www.andover.edu/ magazine to read others.]
think, as a consummate teacher, he was interested in seeing all students, no matter how scruffy, succeed.
—David Short ’70 Montague, Massachusetts Amy Morris’s terrific piece in the last magazine, “Kemper and the Unkempt,” sure brought back a lot of memories, and I’ll bet it touched some raw nerves too. John Kemper was an estimable person in many ways and did a lot for the school during his time as Headmaster, but he wasn’t the most approachable person I ever met. As a matter of fact, in my four years there, I think I met him only twice. I was surprised to learn that he did commit a substantial amount of time to speaking with students about the length of their hair. The world was changing quickly then and many institutions felt threatened by those changes. Andover was no exception. Ms. Morris’s article deftly captures the tenor of the times. The effort to crack down on hair length looks pretty silly in retrospect, but it had real consequences for some students. Whatever nonsense students had to put up with from an administration desperately trying to hold onto the past, the faculty at Andover during that time was spectacular and for the most part eager to engage with students on more meaningful issues; the education we received there has benefited us throughout our lives; and the door that cracked open then led to a school that still provides a worldclass education, but with a much more humane, enlightened, and inclusive ethic.
Macro Mystery Can you identify the campus location of the photo below?
If you think you know, send your answer to: andovermagazine@ andover.edu
Congratulations to the winners of the winter 2014 Macro Mystery:
—James M. Shannon ’69 North Reading, Massachusetts
Dear Editor, Many in the Class of 1970 have considered ours the class that PA would rather forget. In an assembly the spring of our graduation, Mr. Kemper explained the new dress code, which permitted the wearing of jeans, sort of. Bob McNitt [’70], whose photo is the first in your article, rose to address the Headmaster during the question period. “Sir, you say we can wear jeans that are white, or green, or tan, but I don’t understand why, if the school’s color is blue, we cannot wear blue jeans.” The assembly was dismissed. My American history teacher was Fred Harrison [’38], whose dissatisfaction with the appearance of the student body was stated in your article. To call my own appearance at the time scruffy would be a compliment. My performance in that class was calling into question my graduation status. Also having trouble in history were my roommate, Nick Leone [’70], football and track captain, and Mr. Harrison’s hockey captain, Ted Thorndike [’70]. Fred Harrison initiated the after-hours tutoring for the three of us that allowed our graduation. His motivation to help Nick and Ted, to me, was obvious. Perhaps his motivation with unathletic me was to not have to see me on campus another year, but I rather
Dear Editor, This reminds me of the creative ways in which people tried to circumvent the problem, Don Weinberg’s “worldly pleasures” being my favorite memory. As I recall, I began to grow my sideburns back as soon as the Dean made me cut them off at the beginning of the year. My short hair did not, however, rescue me from my Probation for “Attitude.” Glad those years are far behind us!
—Fred Peters ’70 New York, New York Dear Editor, I think now I may have a little more insight as to why I was not “Invited to Return” for senior year. Not that my locks were any longer than any one else’s, but Jack Richards (asst. Dean of Students?) and I did have a couple of blowouts about my attitude...and then there was the girl I brought into Commons for a couple of meals who was snowed in at the Andover Inn after the Winter Weekend….
ERRATA Winter 2014 On page 3, we misidentified Richard Bell ’50 in the 1949 football team caption. Bell, who wore #32, is first row, second from right. On page 49, George Rider ’51’s class year was incorrect. And the photo on page 54 dated 1955 should have been dated 1947–1948.
—James Quimby ’70 Plantation, Florida
Dick Lux, Faculty Emeritus (first correct answer) Bob Muldoon ’77 Peter Gilbert ’72 This engraving is on a granite pedestal at the center of Pythagorean Arbor, the landscape sculpture designed in 1985 by Gary Rieveschl ’61, PA’s first Edward E. Elson Artist in Residence. Rieveschl planted 74 Golden Arborvitae in a version of the classic diagram that illustrates the Pythagorean Theorem (a2 + b2 = c2). True to the spring term theme at the time—“seeing and signifying space”—the formula only works if one counts the spaces, not the trees. Now more than 30 feet tall, the grove is located just south of Cooley House on Route 128.
Please share your thoughts with us Andover, the magazine of Phillips Academy welcomes your comments, suggestions, and involvement. Letters may be edited for length, grammar, and style. Please e-mail andovermagazine@andover.edu or call 978-749-4677.
Tom Cone
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Gil Talbot
From the Head of School along the corridors of Elson; or a Tumblr packed with edgy fashion photography. Perhaps the voice is the quiet, reassuring tone that a proctor or prefect finds to calm a first-year student going through exactly what she had gone through not so long ago herself.
Voice Lessons
I originally wrote the following as a foreword for Out of the Blue, an extraordinary form of community expression organized by students with the guidance of Linda Griffith, dean of CAMD, and Susanne Torabi, international student coordinator. Students, faculty, and young alumni wrote passionately—at times, painfully— about issues ranging from gender and race to spirituality and sexuality. I encourage you to read the entire book and take part in our ongoing conversations (see story, opposite page).
Out of the many possibilities for what an Andover education is all about, one seems universally to hold true: the process of finding a voice. Students who come to Andover leave with a stronger and clearer way of understanding who they are and, in turn, are able to express themselves in new, more evocative ways. These voices are shaped by place, time, teachers, experiences, and most of all, interactions with other students, themselves trying on and trying out their own voices, steeped in diverse pasts and aiming toward exciting new directions.
The concept of “voice” reaches every corner of our Academy, including the pages of this magazine. This issue brims with alumni, student, and faculty perspectives. We introduce you to our copresidents on page 9. Throughout the electoral process, each candidate— using multiple forms of selfexpression—showed remarkable leadership, confidence, and care for fellow students. Their arguments were cogent; one pair clearly articulated why they changed positions on a particular topic, something even veteran politicians find difficult to manage. They also showed ambition to tackle problems as serious as those related to mental health. I was heartened by the clarity of their proposals and their openness to new ideas.
Voices found in the high school years take many forms. For some, the voice that emerges is literal: now able to sing an aria, perform a declamation, or convince a teacher of a strong position in an analytical essay. For others, the newfound voice is expressed through the arc of a soccer ball struck at just the right angle; a line drawing hung
Ninth-graders in When Strangers Meet, Christopher Shaw’s history class, took their voices from paper to MP3. After reading parts of Boccaccio’s The Decameron, students crafted their own stories, evoking elements of Boccaccio’s work: the moment (plague in the city); the age (onset of
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Humanism); and the people (teenagers musing on their lives). Students wrote, then read and recorded their essays to make their points even more persuasively. Dr. Shaw set the example by doing one himself. The class also started a blog to share their work. English teacher Lou Bernieri is so passionate about “voice” that he has started a movement spreading far beyond Bulfinch Hall, via Andover Bread Loaf. PA’s outreach program to enhance writing skills in public schools was recently featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy for “helping students find their voices for 27 years.” Our faculty—all 220—deserve deep credit for helping students navigate this complex journey toward finding voice. Projects like Out of the Blue and each of the examples above remind us that learning to express oneself can be, at once, intimidating and liberating. This is important work. We have seen profound results—whether that means a student raises a hand more often in class, publishes an op-ed on a controversial topic, or stands tall to address 1,129 fellow students at All-School Meeting in Cochran Chapel. As Lou Bernieri said in the Chronicle, “They have a voice, they believe in their voice, and they’re comfortable in a world where literacy is key to everything.”
John Palfrey
D ate lin e an do v er
Telling Their Stories Their stories speak to struggle and strength, humanity and humility. Their questions are unvarnished: “Am I part of an emerging group of young African women bound to make a difference in the world? Or am I just another suburban ‘Oreo’ trying to survive high school? Why can’t I be part of both…?” Their statements about life at Andover, and life more broadly, are bold: “Confronted with degrading stereotypes, unreasonable expectations, and judgmental and misunderstanding peers, many of us choose to exchange our cultural backgrounds in hopes of better fitting into the society.” These are just two examples from more than 90 current and recent Andover students who share a piece of themselves in Out of the Blue, a book project focused on the diverse identities and perspectives of the Andover community. Sponsored by the Abbot Academy Association, the first edition was released in late 2013. The writers, who remain anonymous, express themselves in chapters on class, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, geographic origin, and (dis)ability. “What began with an idea and a goal to spark dialogue and change developed into an anthology of stories intended to create a campus culture that emphasizes critical thinking, reflection, and understanding of other people around us,” says Susanne Torabi, international student coordinator, who initiated the project. “We wanted to sidestep the dangers of narrow stereotypes and show that Andover is the composite of many stories.” Linda Griffith, dean of Community and Multicultural Development, says she is extremely proud of student leaders for dedicating themselves to this important
work and of every author who shared a personal experience. “It takes guts to put yourself and your story out there.” What began for Devontae Freeland ’15 as a literary opportunity to express himself turned out to be much more. “I took this on freshman spring and I wasn’t aware of issues surrounding identity. But through our training and reading individual stories, I opened up to see others’ lives more fully.” Thea Rossman ’15 linked the book’s lessons to PA’s mission to attract youth from every quarter. “To be truly committed to [that mission], you can’t just shove a bunch of people from different backgrounds onto one campus and expect anything to really come from it,” she says. “Out of the Blue both celebrates diversity and tackles issues that inevitably come from it.” Rossman and fellow project coordinators discovered that stories have the power to bridge gaps that can divide a community and, ultimately, create stronger bonds that draw it closer. To purchase a copy of Out of the Blue, please e-mail outofthebluebook@ andover.edu. —Tracy Sweet
Strategic Planning
Community Rallies Around “White Paper Socials” The ebb and flow of ideas, survey research, and campus discussions continue to inform the evolutionary process that will lead to Phillips Academy’s next Strategic Plan. To date, upward of 2,000 faculty, staff, alumni, students, and parents have contributed to the process and, therefore, the plan’s early contour. Throughout the spring term, members of the Strategic Planning Task Force facilitated discussions on how Andover’s founding values, such as non sibi, might help shape our pursuit of excellence in a contemporary context. In addition to discussing strategy at “30,000 feet,” faculty also considered the tangible aspects of teaching, learning, and campus life. A series of “White Paper Socials” resulted in a collection of reports and recommendations to guide the school’s future direction. More than 50 papers were
submitted by individuals and groups on topics including homework and the life of the mind; interdisciplinary collaboration; the daily schedule; sustainability; learning and pedagogy; recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty; athletics; community service; diploma requirements; and college counseling and advising. In his own white paper, Head of School John Palfrey proposed three specific aspirations for the community
to consider in greater detail: • The redefinition of excellence and support for all PA students • The exploration and experience of life in a complex, global society • The exploration, development, and application of new methods of teaching and learning “These three areas of focus find deep roots in our founding principles—non sibi, youth from every
quarter, knowledge with goodness, educating the minds and morals of our students—grounded in a time of revolution and unprecedented change in America,” he wrote. “Through these ideas, we can embrace the most promising aspects of our interconnected, often chaotic global present and prepare our students to manage the inevitable challenges they will face.” While not the topic of a white paper itself, the Andover Institute will play an integral role in the execution of the Strategic Plan, particularly those goals associated with pedagogical innovation. Testing potential elements of the Strategic Plan while meeting with alumni and parents around the world, Palfrey looks forward to the task force’s continued work this summer. He will present a final plan to trustees at their November meeting.
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For the Record
Winter Trustee Meeting Highlights
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in grades 7 through 12. Modeling college-style seminars, classes meet at least twice a week and are conducted in realtime using Web-based video technology. The Stanford team came to campus at the invitation of Trustee Chien Lee ’71, who chairs the PA board’s Education Committee. Ravaglia and Goldsmith also spoke with additional faculty members that evening at a dinner that included a special announcement of the Edward S. Harkness Instructorships. Dean of Faculty Pat Farrell presented awards to the following faculty members: • Christopher Jones, History and Social Science • Kathryn McQuade, English • Emily Trespas, Art • Mark Cutler, Spanish
Linking the day’s events, Board President Peter Currie ’74 thanked the Stanford team for sharing their vision of technology as an important resource and offered praise for exceptional teaching. “There is no substitute, there can be no substitute, for teachers,” he said. “To the four of you in particular, thank you. You epitomize the essence of what goes on at Andover and what will continue to go on here with such wonderful success.”
In other business: • Trustees approved the foundational components of next year’s budget, including 2014–2015 tuition rates (boarding $48,850; day $38,000). The board also approved a financial aid
“You epitomize the essence of what goes on at Andover and what will continue to go on here with such wonderful success.”
allocation that preserves needblind admission. • Updating the board on major initiatives, Larry Muench, director of facilities, reported that the Sykes Wellness Center is nearing the end of the design phase. Preconstruction work is expected to begin this summer, with groundbreaking on track for September. • Rachel Skiffer, dean of policy and strategic planning, provided an update on the Strategic Planning Task Force’s work and faculty engagement, including campus “white paper” efforts. In her discussion of major themes, Skiffer emphasized the role of the Strategic Plan as “integrator,” meaning that recent and ongoing faculty work in the form of committee reports and recommendations (e.g., Access to Success, Faculty Workload, Athletics, and Health Education) is feeding into the strategic planning process (see story, page 7).
Tracy Sweet
Teaching—both high talent and high tech—was a centerpiece of the trustee meetings held February 6–8, 2014, with topics on education innovation and awards for exceptional teaching headlining Friday’s programming. Trustees were joined by members of the Academic Council and the Strategic Planning Task Force for a lunchtime discussion on innovation and pedagogy. Presentations by Caroline Nolan, director of the Andover Institute, and representatives from Stanford University Online High School provided perspectives on emerging modes for teaching and learning. Nolan set the stage with an update on a planning year marked by enthusiasm and early seed funding from the Abbot Academy Association and the Head of School Venture Fund. Concentrating on the Andover Institute’s inaugural thematic areas— connected learning, global citizenship, and innovations in outreach—Nolan is developing an operating model, engaging faculty in new and existing initiatives, and soliciting fellows and project proposals. Head of School John Palfrey said the institute remains poised for a public launch in late fall 2014. Following Nolan’s presentation, innovation topics turned to an alternative mode of education for approximately 550 high-achieving students worldwide. Ray Ravaglia, associate dean and director of Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies and founder of Stanford University Online High School (OHS), emphasized that technology is but one tool in the programs’ learning system. He was joined by Claire Goldsmith, Stanford director of enrollment and instructor in history, who spoke about online classroom dynamics, diverse learning styles, and the importance of creating a sense of community among faculty and students. Founded in 2006, Stanford University OHS (ohs.stanford.edu) serves academically talented students
Faculty members Christopher Jones, Kathryn McQuade, Emily Trespas, and Mark Cutler were awarded Edward S. Harkness Instructorships in a special announcement at the trustee dinner in early February.
New Charter Trustee Named
PA Welcomes Thom Lockerby
Tamara Elliot Rogers ’70 will become the newest charter member of the Board of Trustees on July 1. As vice president for alumni affairs and development at Harvard University, she oversees alumni engagement and the university’s $6.5 billion campaign. “Tamara has been a wonderful supporter of Abbot and Andover, and we are delighted that she has agreed to serve as a charter trustee,” said Board President Peter Currie ’74. “Her professional insight on matters of institutional planning and advancement will serve the school well, especially as we set out to achieve the goals of a new strategic plan.” Rogers is a 1970 graduate of Abbot Academy and a 1974 graduate of Harvard, and her loyalties to both institutions run deep. The merger of Abbot and Phillips academies in 1973 has only strengthened her enthusiasm and fondness for her high school alma mater. “I am deeply honored to become a charter trustee,” said Rogers. “Abbot was a powerful inflection point in my life. Serving as a trustee of Phillips Academy is an extraordinary opportunity, uniting my intellectual and professional interest in education, a profound belief in the Academy, and a heartfelt desire to serve.” Over the years, she has remained connected to fellow alumni/ae and grown increasingly engaged in the life of the school. Rogers’s volunteer roles include service as a board member and then president of the Abbot Academy Association (1996–1998), a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (2002–2007), and a member of the Alumni Council (1995–2000). While serving as president of the Alumni Council from 1998 to 2000, she also was an alumni trustee. Recognizing her exceptional volunteer leadership, Andover honored Rogers with its Distinguished Service Award in 2005. A resident of Cambridge, Mass., Rogers has spent the majority of her professional career at Harvard. Prior to assuming her current position, she was associate dean for advancement and planning at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study from 2001 to 2007.
Thom Lockerby, vice president of development and campaign director at Boston College, will join the PA community June 1 as the next secretary of the Academy. His appointment follows a national search that yielded more than 150 candidates for the position, which oversees the Office of Academy Resources (OAR), including development, alumni engagement, information services, and communications. Lockerby will succeed Peter Ramsey, who has served as secretary for 17 years and has led the Academy through two comprehensive campaigns, among numerous other OAR strategic initiatives. Ramsey will be leaving PA to become a senior consultant at Marts & Lundy (see story, page 26). Lockerby most recently led BC’s $1.5 billion Light the World campaign, the largest fundraising effort in the history of Jesuit Catholic education. He joined BC in 2004 and was instrumental in the campaign planning phase leading up to a public launch in fall 2008. In addition to managing strategy for all fundraising areas, Lockerby also oversaw the development division. Previously, Lockerby was director of gift planning at Dartmouth College. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and worked for six years in the university’s development office. He also held key positions at PG Calc Inc., a provider of planned giving software, and Kaspick & Company, an advising and asset management firm. “We are delighted to welcome Thom to the Andover community,” said Head of School John Palfrey. “His record as an outstanding fundraiser, skilled manager, and team leader, coupled with his success representing a top-tier university with deeply loyal alumni, will serve Andover extremely well.” Lockerby said he is “deeply honored” to join the Academy at this important time in its history. “I have long had great admiration for Andover. I look forward to working with John Palfrey to extend the incredible tradition of engagement and support that has been developed through Peter Ramsey’s leadership.” “Two campaigns, both of which exceeded their goals, remind us of Peter’s successful leadership,” said Palfrey, “and that engagement and philanthropy are key reasons why Andover is able to think ambitiously about our future. With the good work of the OAR team and the support of trustees, alumni, and parents, Andover is well positioned for continued success.”
All Hail the Copresidents
Lucius Xuan ’15
The final two sets of candidates for next year’s school copresidents debated at All-School Meeting on March 26. Later that day, a record 88 percent of the student body cast votes. Shortly after 10 p.m., David Gutierrez ’15 and Rebecca Somer ’15 learned via e-mail of their victory. Somer is the first female to serve as a copresident and the first female at this leadership level since 2003. A “copresidency” was first implemented in 2013–2014. This year’s election process began with 10 sets of candidates; multiple rounds of voting winnowed the sets to two. One of Gutierrez and Somer’s main campaign platforms was to increase mental health awareness and make it easier for students to get help for themselves and their friends. Andover | Spring 2014
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Free for All
A Ton Less CO2
—Amy Morris
Gil Talbot
More than 235 years of Abbot and Andover student and alumni publications are now online—available for free to anyone, anywhere—thanks to the January completion of PA’s largest digitization project to date. An Abbot Academy Association grant to Archives and Special Collections covered most of the cost of the digitization, done by Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, which now hosts the content online. The following nearly complete collections—and more—can be viewed at www.noblenet.org/paarchives/?page_id=315. • Alumnae Bulletin, 1923–1973 (AA alumnae magazine) • Phillips Bulletin, Andover Bulletin, and Andover, 1906–2013 (PA alumni magazines) • Circle, 1900–1973 (AA yearbook) • Pot Pourri, 1893–2013 (PA yearbook) • The Abbot Courant, 1873–1972 (AA student literary magazine) • The Mirror, 1854–1991 (PA student literary magazine) • Course catalogs from AA (1832–1965) and PA (1822–2014) “These materials are of interest not just to students and alumni but also to scholars and historians,” notes Academy Archivist Paige Roberts, who oversaw the project. Her priority was to get the information online quickly; glitches will be fixed in the months ahead. In a separate project, Boston Public Library, with state funding, catalogued and digitized several old PA campus maps and plans, which can be seen at www.noblenet.org/paarchives/?page_id=888.
Director of Facilities Larry Muench, Sustainability Coordinator Debra Shepard, Head of School John Palfrey, and EcoAction head Sarah Cornelius ’14 sampled freshly made Vietnamese spring rolls as part of the “Green Plates” initiative, which emphasized vegetarian, local, and organic menu options.
Student dedication and creativity during the 2014 Green Cup Challenge (GCC) helped the PA community achieve a 2.2 percent overall reduction in electricity usage, avoiding more than 2,000 pounds of CO2 emissions. Approximately 300 schools across the country participated in the annual fourweek competition to reduce energy use. “The Green Cup Challenge is always good for raising awareness of sustainability issues on campus, and many students take the good practices they establish to heart,” says Charlee Van Eijk ’14. Eaton Cottage won PA’s dorm-versus-dorm competition—organized and led by the EcoAction Club—with an astounding 34.7 percent reduction in electricity usage. House counselor Shawn Fulford attributes the dorm’s success to shutting off the Christmas lights earlier in January, unplugging laptop and cell phone chargers, and making a big effort to turn off lights in unused rooms. “To expand the students’ impact, PA will purchase 100 percent green power for Eaton Cottage for an entire year,” says Sustainability Coordinator Debra Shepard. Eaton Cottage also will be recognized for its commitment through EPA’s Green Power Partnership program. “The main theme of the GCC is empowerment—providing individuals with the knowledge to make environmentally responsible choices in their day-to-day lives,” says Shepard. “Our focus moving forward will be to reinforce these habits throughout the year for lasting change.” The Green Scandal, PA’s entry in the 2014 Green Cup Video Competition, can be viewed on YouTube. —Jill Clerkin
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Legacies of the Civil War
Neil Evans
Tracy Sweet
As part of “Lest We Forget,” the town of Andover’s ongoing commemoration of the Civil War, Phillips Academy sponsored a special event featuring Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust and awardwinning filmmaker Ric Burns. Faust, a renowned historian of the Civil War and the American South, is the author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, winner of the Bancroft Prize in 2009 and a finalist for a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Burns, a writer, director, and producer, recently released Death and the Civil War, a historical documentary based on Faust’s book. The event began with a powerful clip from Burns’s documentary. Then Faust and Burns, seated before the 1,000-plus audience in Cochran Chapel, discussed the Civil War’s staggering death toll and the impact of the estimated 750,000 casualties—approximately 2.5 percent of the population—on the psyche of the
“The Civil War asks, ‘What does it mean to be a nation?’” said Drew Gilpin Faust, seated at left. Faust and Ric Burns (at right) spoke in Cochran Chapel on April 15.
American people. “Ours was a nation in mourning and uncertainty for decades to come,” said Faust. “There was no closure afterward.”
Burns, who described death as “generative,” spoke of how “a new nation-state emerged with new responsibilities.” The audience comprised Phillips
Academy students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the Andover Historical Society and numerous Andover townspeople.
Sculpture Barn Raising
SYA Celebrates 50
Mathematician and sculptor George W. Hart (back, left), who lectures and exhibits worldwide, conducted a “barn raising” of two of his sculptures in Morse Hall in late April. More than 60 students, faculty, and staff assisted in the four-hour assembly process, during which Hart explained the mathematical and physical principles of his designs. This challenging and fun event was initiated by math instructor Joel Jacob and made possible by an Abbot Academy Association grant.
Schoolboys Abroad, the precursor of School Year Abroad (SYA), was conceived in the early 1960s by Wilbraham Academy teacher Clark Vaughn, who, due to funding issues at his school, brought the idea to PA Headmaster John Kemper. Spanish instructor Ed Harris, SYA’s first executive director, nurtured and directed the program from the basement of SamPhil. In September 1964, a dozen Wilbraham and PA 11th-graders and three teacher-chaperones clambered aboard the SS Aurelia and departed for Barcelona, Spain, for the program’s inaugural year overseas. Phillips Exeter joined as an SYA cosponsor in 1965, and St. Paul’s signed on in 1968. To date, nearly 550 PA students have participated in SYA programs in Spain, France, China, and Italy, and numerous faculty members have taught English and math classes at its various locations. In 1994, Ni Xiao-Min, former PA instructor in Mandarin, was instrumental in helping launch the SYA China program. Faculty Emeritus Hal McCann, executive director from 1976 to 1986, recently called the program “the best ‘course’ PA ever created.” Now a separate entity, SYA is headquartered in North Andover, Mass.
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MLK Jr. Day 2014 “We do not take the day off, we take the day on,” declared Head of School John Palfrey at the January 20 All-School Meeting, expressing his pride in how Andover celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Linda Griffith, dean of Community and Multicultural Development and organizer of the 24th annual event, spoke of the origins of PA’s MLK Jr. Day celebration and then introduced Out of the Blue (see story, page 7). The recent student publication is filled with personal stories that Griffith believes “will help the PA community learn more about our histories, differences, and similarities.” The keynote was presented by award-winning journalist and NPR anchor Maria Hinojosa (pictured at right). “You are the frontline of the next civil rights human rights movement,” she told students. “The issue today is immigration and the unheard voices of these immigrants.” Thousands of parents came to this country to make a better life for themselves and their children, she explained, “and now their children—Americanized, but without papers—cannot go to college, and their parents live in constant fear of deportation. “Part of what this day is all about is being able to see yourself in the person most unlike you and to make the invisible people visible. See yourself in these undocumented immigrants.” Hinojosa’s visit was funded by the Rogers Fund.
“See yourself in the person most unlike you.”
MLK Jr. Day included a play, film screenings, and 18 workshops that explored discrimination and celebrated diversity. Presenter Janani Hariharan ’14 (left) teased out the gender and cultural stereotypes in popular children’s movies such as Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, and Toy Story. “Anything that shapes your childhood this much deserves a really close look,” she said.
Above: Many people feel that individuals with physical, mental, or developmental disabilities cannot function as full members of society. Here, students learned to focus not on what disabled people can’t do, but rather on what they can do.
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Photos by Gil Talbot
Right: Using clips from the 1950 biopic The Jackie Robinson Story and excerpts from the 2013 film 42, Ashley Scott ’16 (pictured at right) and Mark Sullivan ’14 examined racial discrimination in sports.
Above: The library’s Freeman Room was abuzz with talk about the definition of the “American dream,” the hopes of immigrant parents, and cultural differences and pressures, led by Pin-Shin “Stephanie” Huang ’14 and Nicole Navarrete ’15 (pictured). Right: In his fast-paced one-man show for juniors, titled You Don’t Know Me Until You Know Me, actor Michael Fowlin slipped in and out of nine characters that “shared their stories” about discrimination and its many hurtful forms.
Above: In Devontae Freeland ’15’s Masculinity in Pop Culture workshop, film clips and stories from Out of the Blue ignited a lively coed discussion about the nuances and effects that prescriptions of masculinity can have—inside and outside of the Andover bubble. Below left: Hip-hop music has a negative cultural impact? Wrong, said Connecticut College professor David Canton, who proceeded to set the record straight via charts, statistics, and other research. “There is no connection between music and behavior,” he contended. “Hip-hop is just an easy target that reaffirms stereotypes.”
Above: “Art can be a tool for hearing oppressed voices,” transgender poet and activist Miles Walser told a rapt audience. His candid, funny, and moving presentation wove spoken-word performance into his personal story, as he urged the crowd to “be trans allies and advocate for transgendered people you know.”
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Tim Mullen, P’14
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Coach Mo Tackles New Challenges Yes, Leon Modeste will continue as head football coach in the fall, but as of July 1, he also will become—for the second time—Andover’s athletics director and chair of the Department of Physical Education. The appointment of the “legendary coach, teacher, and advocate for students
and student-athletes alike” followed a lengthy national search, said the announcement from Head of School John Palfrey and Dean of Faculty Patrick Farrell. “It is a challenging yet exciting time,” says Modeste. “I feel blessed to have both of my predecessors
[Mike Kuta and Martha Goudreau Fenton ’83] on hand and a wonderful cadre of coaches, dance instructors, trainers, and staff and the Athletics Council to provide guidance and wisdom for this journey.” Modeste pointed to staffing and space as the department’s biggest
challenges moving forward. “We need to decide where we are heading programmatically and then how we are going to staff, maintain, and sustain the program. We will also be looking into a new facility and what should be in that new building.” Along with serving as athletics director from 1990 to 2000, Modeste, who joined PA in 1986, has been a physical education instructor and house counselor and has coached football, basketball, and lacrosse. In November 2013, he was honored with the Independence Teaching Foundation. “The many of us who have worked with Leon over the years know he is passionate about our efforts to educate the whole student,” said Farrell. “He’s been an inspirational leader on the field and in the classroom and a staunch advocate for our athletics program throughout his tenure.” In their announcement, Palfrey and Farrell expressed their gratitude to Kuta, outgoing athletics director, for his seven years of leadership.
An AndoverExeter Tragedy?
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Steve Porter
Phillips Academy’s Department of Theatre and Dance, in conjunction with the Department of Music, presented Henry Purcell’s tragic opera Dido and Aeneas. The original choreography, by dance instructor Judith Wombwell, placed the singers among the dancers and used the Andover-Exeter rivalry as a replacement for Carthage and Troy. Participating in January’s two Tang Theatre performances were the school’s student dance ensemble, the Andover Dance Group, directed by Wombwell; the Fidelio Society, directed by music instructor Christopher Walter; a select a cappella choir; and several student musicians. The production of Dido and Aeneas highlighted PA’s dance program and Fidelio, two popular legacies of Abbot Academy.
Aeneas (Graham Johns ’14) tells Dido, Queen of Carthage (Emily Ewing ’14), that the Gods have decreed that he must leave her. Belinda (Sophie Landay ’14 as the singer), Dido’s best friend, stands behind her and comforts her. Singer Aeneas (Adam Brody ’14) is in the background.
Asabe Poloma Is New Leader of IRT
Keziban Barry ’02
“I am excited to uphold and advance the legacy of Dr. [Kelly] Wise to promote authentic and intentional diversity along the educational pipeline by
cultivating and nurturing a network of high-achieving, aspiring teachers committed to the same ideals,” says Asabe Poloma, who became the new executive director of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) on February 1. She served as IRT director for six years. Founded in 1990 by Kelly Wise (see story below), the IRT prepares rising college seniors and recent graduates—more than 2,000 to date—for graduate school and careers in schools and universities. The outreach program’s goal is to increase the number of teachers and administrators of color and other scholars committed to diversity to better reflect and serve a diverse student population. “I have utmost faith in Asabe,” says Wise. “With vision and tireless
commitment to the mission of the IRT, she will guide the organization in new, exciting, and productive ways.” “In seeking to address a critical need of our country’s education system—educational equity and broader diversity among classroom teachers and administrators—Asabe has brought together traditional and innovative methods to ensure that IRT programs have the greatest possible impact and reach,” says Head of School John Palfrey. Poloma’s new IRT initiatives over the past few years include the launch of an online student application system, the use of social media to facilitate alumni networking, and the production of “EdTalks,” a video series that documents important issues in education. She also has used
research and data to more effectively communicate IRT’s success stories and advocate for financial support. “Fortunately, the IRT is well known, so the position drew nationwide interest,” says IRT Advisory Board Chair Stephen Frank ’81, who also chaired the interview committee. “Asabe distinguished herself in a field of outstanding candidates.” Prior to joining Phillips Academy, Poloma held several positions in higher education, private foundations, and nonprofit organizations. She holds an MS degree from Columbia University and an MA from Old Dominion University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in higher education administration at UMass Boston.
Photos by Keziban Barry ’02
Thank You, Kelly Wise More than 120 faculty, friends, and former students gathered at Manhattan’s New York Times Building on April 8 to celebrate the long and distinguished Andover career of Kelly Wise, who retired as executive director of the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) in fall 2013. The event, emceed by Head of School John Palfrey, was hosted by Bruce Wilson ’77 at the offices of Covington & Burling LLP. Victoria Kataoka ’93, Drew Guff ’79, Faculty Emeritus Phil Zaeder, and former IRT director Chera Reid offered tributes. Guff and Dan Algrant ’76 presented Wise with a rare copy of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, which they had discovered while searching for just the right gift. Amazingly, tucked inside the old book was a personal letter from the great author addressed to “Mister K. Kelly Wise.” Guff read the congratulatory note aloud “with proper Dostoyevsky accent.”
John Gillepsie ’71 and David Winton ’71 presented Wise with a second book that he also will surely treasure— one that included photos, anecdotes, and reminiscences from students, colleagues, and family members. Then, to resounding applause, Stephen Frank ’81, IRT Advisory Board chair, announced that more than $700,000 had been pledged to the IRT in honor of Wise’s 47-year career and formative contributions to countless students. Wise, who joined PA as an English instructor in 1966, wore many hats over the ensuing decades, including those of cluster dean, English department chair, and dean of faculty. In 1990, Wise founded the IRT at the Academy to create a broader pipeline of talented educators of color and
other scholars committed to diversity to all levels of the U.S. educational system. To date, more than 250 IRT alumni have earned PhD degrees and another 824 former students have earned master’s degrees; most now teach, counsel, and serve as administrators at schools, colleges, and universities from coast to coast. Wise was succeeded as IRT executive director by Asabe Poloma in February (see story above).
Top: Guest of honor Kelly Wise is joined by former students Jennifer Bassett Sherman, Kelley Hicks, and Elyse Cowgill, all Class of 1997. Bottom: Head of School John Palfrey thanks Kelly Wise for his many years of leadership and service.
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Spring and Summer at the Addison
Meet the Gallery’s New Director
Loisaida: New York’s Lower East Side in the ’80s April 12–July 31 The decades leading up to the 1980s, which included the Vietnam War, the Kent State shootings, black power initiatives, and New York City’s fiscal crisis, were a time of ferment and unrest. This set the stage for what avant-garde collector John P. Axelrod ’64 has called “a roiling environment for the emergence of new and exciting art forms.” Loisaida, a uniquely American expression, has captured Axelrod’s most recent collecting enthusiasm. The works in this exhibition were selected from his personal collection. “Loisaida” is the colloquial Latino pronunciation of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the area where this diverse group of artists concentrated their activity. Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by the Morris Tyler Fund.
Martin Wong, Stevy, acrylic on linen, 28 x 36 in., collection of John P. Axelrod (Class of 1964), courtesy of The Estate of Martin Wong and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York
Street Talk: Chris Daze Ellis in Dialogue with the Collection May 3–July 31 Chris “Daze” Ellis began his career tagging subway cars alongside Crash, Seen, Lady Pink, and Futura. He has become one of the most successful graffiti artists of his generation to make the transition from street to studio. Daze’s large-scale paintings, which capture the energy and essence of the urban scene, are a provocative blend of spontaneity and control, abstraction and representation. In Street Talk, his recent works are juxtaposed with a group of paintings, prints, and photographs chosen by the artist from the Addison’s permanent collection.
© Chris Daze Ellis, Kiddyland Spirits, 1996, oil on canvas, courtesy of the artist
Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by the Mark Rudkin Fund.
POP! Selections from the Collection
In late March, Head of School John Palfrey announced the appointment of Judith F. Dolkart as The Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper Director of the Addison Gallery of American Art. Dolkart currently serves as deputy director of Art and Archival Collections and Gund Family Chief Curator at The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. She will begin her new role at Andover in July. “Judith is an accomplished curator and educator who believes deeply in visual literacy, cross-media learning, and the power of art to engage, persuade, and provide transformative experiences,” said Palfrey. “Her knowledge of art and art history, combined with a commitment to making art accessible to audiences across all ages, experiences, and backgrounds, make her a superb choice for the Addison, a teaching museum committed to excellence in scholarship.” Sidney R. Knafel ’48, chair of the search committee and chair of the Addison Board of Governors, remarked: “Judith stood out among an exceptional group of candidates from across the country. She will bring a global perspective to the Addison’s renowned collection of American art and will lead the Addison to an enhanced international position both as an art museum and as an educational site for Phillips Academy.” An expert on the art and culture of 19th-century France, Dolkart’s work has extended to artists as diverse as Frank Stella ’54, William Glackens, Ellsworth Kelly, and British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Dolkart joined the Barnes as chief curator in 2010. “I am deeply honored by this appointment,” said Dolkart. “The Addison—with its important collections and exhibitions, talented staff, and the wonderful Museum Learning Center—offers tremendous opportunities for creative curricular collaboration at Phillips Academy. I am excited to begin work with the Addison staff, Andover faculty, and students.” Dolkart succeeds Brian Allen, who is now museum director and vice president of the New-York Historical Society.
May 3–July 31
Be sure to visit www.andover.edu/museums/addison. 16
Andover | Spring 2014
Lorna Simpson
Fall 2014
Characterized by bright, explosive, and accessible imagery, Pop Art emerged in the United States in the early 1960s, a time of unprecedented economic prosperity. Artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, and Andy Warhol blurred the lines between art and commodity in humorous, witty, and often ironic works. POP! includes prints, sculptures, paintings, and artists’ books drawn from the permanent collection, many never before exhibited at the Addison.
Sept. 19, 2014–Jan. 4, 2015 A retrospective spanning 30 years of the work of conceptual artist Lorna Simpson (b. 1960)
Dwight Tryon and American Tonalism Sept. 13, 2014–Jan. 4, 2015 A selection of Dwight Tryon paintings within the context of tonalist works from the Addison’s collection
“I loved working on such a large surface and being able to let loose and paint so freely.” —Kay Xia ’15
Photos by Neil Evans and Kelley Tialiou
Discovering Their Inner Artists
Prior to the opening of his Addison Gallery exhibition (see opposite page), Chris “Daze” Ellis collaborated for more than a month with art classes from Phillips Academy and nearby Lawrence High School (LHS). “Their confidence built with each class,” says Daze, the Addison’s spring 2014 Edward E. Elson Artist in Residence. “In the beginning, students seemed unsure of their abilities, but then they really got into it. Both groups discovered their capabilities as artists.” Above: Based on their own imagery, PA students, guided by Daze and art instructor Emily Trespas, created a floor-to-ceiling mural in the Elson Art Center (see inside front cover for more). Art instructor Therese Zemlin's class worked with Daze on a separate mural in the Gelb Gallery. Below: Under Daze's guidance in Abbot Hall, a dozen LHS students created three large canvases, which now hang in the Addison’s rotunda in conjunction with Street Talk. Thrilled to be working with a famous artist, LHS student Nestor Hernandez learned from Daze that “putting your own style and personality into what you create is important.”
“We want to inspire the people who see our paintings and want them to know how beautiful Lawrence is.” —Bianca Rodriguez, LHS student Andover | Spring 2014
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Wade Zahares
“Connected learning” at Andover means that we focus on the interconnected learning experience of our students in a vibrant, diverse residential community. We encourage students to learn both from teachers in traditional classroom settings as well as from the many communities with which they engage, online and face-to-face—peers, mentors, sports teams, global communities, those involved in public service—and to draw meaningful connections between and among these experiences.
J-School Concepts in a Click
The Andover Institute: First Projects While the Andover Institute continues in its yearlong planning phase, a handful of innovative projects are already under way. Some, like those listed below, are more fully developed, while others are still in the exploratory stage. “We’re very excited to be working with faculty members on a range of early efforts that feature a variety of disciplines and approaches,” says Director Caroline Nolan. “These projects will help pave the way for future experimentation and collaborative opportunities.” • Online BC Calculus Class—The Andover Institute has been working closely with Bill Scott, Chris Odden, Pat Farrell, and other members of the math department, in addition to Sarah Varsinek, a partner from Brighton Area Schools, to develop an online BC Calculus course. Throughout the spring, elements of the course were taught and refined in Math 560, with PA students offering feedback. In fall 2014, mathematics instructor Lisa Joseph will lead the first implementation and remote instruction of the course for (MS)2 outreach program students, with an emphasis on exploring the appropriate balance between the independent use of online resources, remote instruction, and peer teaching. • Hybrid Courses in Water Resources and Greek—The Eight Schools Association (ESA) is exploring the development of hybrid, collaborative courses across a variety of domains, including summer enrichment, languages (Greek and Arabic), and an interdisciplinary course on water resources. The goal is to create courses that can be taught by multiple teachers with a mix of in-person and online components. During this first stage of development, science instructor Anna Milkowski and Classics instructor Josh Mann, along with collaborators in their respective departments, are supporting Andover’s contribution to the planning and design phases of the water resources and ancient Greek efforts.
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Gil Talbot
• Web-Based Forum for Astronomy Research for High School Students— With a state-of-the-art observatory equipped with a computer-controlled 16-inch telescope, a scientific camera, and a full set of photometric filters, PA students have pursued a variety of research projects, most notably asteroid rotation studies. This summer, physics and astronomy instructor and PA Observatory supervisor Caroline Odden will explore and map possibilities for developing a Web-based forum for facilitating astronomy research and networking among students and researchers, practitioners, and other potential partners.
Students in English instructor Nina Scott’s journalism class have long enjoyed Scott’s informative textbook, Journalism 101, created expressly for PA. “I love how it’s written,” says Connie Cheng ’13, pictured above. “Her tone is warm and casual and engaging.” Now Scott’s textbook is available to students anywhere in the world, thanks to CK-12, a nonprofit that creates and aggregates content for students and teachers. That content may include textbooks (or “flexbooks,” as CK-12 calls them), audio and video materials, interactive components, and more— all provided online at no cost to users. “We’re all about access and equity,” says Juli Weiss, science leader and editor for the CK-12 Foundation. Scott met Weiss at a technology conference last spring; she was “blown away” by Weiss’s presentation about CK-12’s model. “It’s revolutionary,” she said. And when Scott learned that Weiss is the mother of former student Meta Weiss ’05, that Andover connection sealed the deal: Scott offered Journalism 101 to CK-12 for publication. (Find it at http://bit.ly/1fb5R0c.) During the 2012–2013 school year, journalism students had revised the book as a final project. One of those students was Cheng, who continued to work with Scott as she prepared the manuscript for publication. The two met with Weiss at CK-12’s Palo Alto headquarters, and Weiss ended up offering Cheng a gap-year internship. That experience has been eye opening. “I was surprised at how similar CK-12’s mission was to Mr. Palfrey’s goals at Andover,” Cheng says. “Coming here and seeing that play out and making progress toward those goals—it was inspiring.” —Jane Dornbusch
And the Most Requested Alumni Speaker Is… morally wrong? Is inaction OK sometimes, too? Does it depend on how ‘inactive’ you actually are? These types of questions were thought provoking and encouraged me to take a deeper look at moral issues in my own life.” —Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
Right: Chris Hughes ’02 answers a flurry of questions from students during a gathering in the Mural Room of Paresky Commons. Below: Following his All-School Meeting talk in Cochran Chapel, Hughes pauses for a photo with students.
Tracy Sweet Steve Porter
Chris Hughes ’02, publisher and editor in chief of The New Republic, returned to campus on April 22 and 23 at the invitation of Head of School John Palfrey. Cofounder of Facebook and creator of President Obama’s grassroots online organizing platform, My.BarackObama.com (MyBO), during the 2008 campaign, Hughes has been influential in myriad ways since graduating from PA just 12 short years ago. Thus, it wasn’t surprising that Palfrey, while introducing Hughes at All-School Meeting, pointed out that Hughes was the current student body’s most requested alumni speaker. While on campus, Hughes was generous with his time and attention. He worked with the Phillipian staff, joined Chris Jones’s History 310 class, shared his reflections on his PA experience during a heartfelt All-School Meeting talk, did a Q&A at Paresky, and lunched with Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) members. In addition, he taught a master class with Palfrey focused on “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship,” an essay by Hannah Arendt. Of the class, Alysandria Wayne ’14 says: “Mr. Hughes dictated a great balance between facilitating conversation with helpful questions and simply allowing the conversation to go to insightful places on its own. Important lifelong moral and ethical issues were discussed, including certain things about thinking and acting that had never crossed my mind. Yes, we all have a responsibility to think about what is right and what is wrong, but is thinking enough? Should a course of action always be taken when faced with a situation that is, in fact,
Math Magical To celebrate Math Awareness Month, Ethan Brown ’17 costarred with Dr. Arthur Benjamin of Harvey Mudd College in “The Mathemagicians,” an April 17 Google Connected Classroom event. Billed as an online “interactive magic show,” Brown and Benjamin worked live with students at Fireside Elementary School in Phoenix. Students provided multidigit numbers, and Brown wowed them—and online viewers as well—by instantly squaring and multiplying those numbers in his head. He also created mind-bending “magic math squares”—squares in which the figures in each vertical, horizontal, and diagonal row add up to the same value. When a young student asked, “How do you do the magic squares so fast?” Brown emphasized the importance of work and practice. “When I first learned how to do magic squares, it took me probably three or four minutes to solve one. But I just kept on creating examples for myself and wallpapering my house with the pieces of paper I did magic squares on, and eventually I was able to get faster at it,” he said. Brown has performed his mental math show at conferences throughout the United States and India, as well as at schools and libraries up and down the East Coast. To see Brown in action, visit http://bit.ly/1jv0DcG.
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Translating a Maritime Mystery
Photos by Neil Evans
It happened 70 miles south of Nantucket in April 1944. Forty German submariners who had abandoned their sinking U-550 swam frantically toward the nearby USS Petersen. But the destroyer abruptly pulled away. Did its coldhearted captain simply leave the enemy to drown? That decades-long presumption is now in question, thanks to four students in instructor Lisa Johnson Svec ’81’s German 600 class. Conflicting accounts of the 70-year-old event, gleaned from their painstaking translation of several historical documents, suggest that the captain may well have been protecting the lives of his own men. How did this advanced German language class get so deeply involved with history?
“Eighty percent are facts we already know,” says Josh Murphy ’15 of the often tedious translations, “but every document has about 20 percent new information that’s really cool.”
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Collaborating on a project to translate a series of documents related to a scuttled WWII German submarine are, from left, Liam Fortin ’14, German instructor Lisa Johnson Svec ’81, Josh Murphy ’15, English instructor and author Randy Peffer, Jack Elliott-Higgins ’14, and Kade Call ’14. A three-part answer: The scuttled German submarine was discovered in 2012—after decades of searching—by the deep wreck diving crew of the aptly named Tenacious. In 2013, Randy Peffer, PA English instructor and author of several historical marine novels, was asked by the funder of the search to write a book about the recovery of the U-550. Recognizing the value of student participation in a real-life translation/research/ history project, Peffer asked Svec if her winter term students might be interested in helping translate some important materials. All were on board. Recent interviews with two of the 13 U-550 survivors rescued by the USS Joyce—the vessel whose fire actually crippled the sub—are among the many documents being translated, as are older interviews with the U-550 engineer and recent German media accounts of the 2012 discovery. The translation process is done as a group. And it can be slow. Sentence by sentence, students suggest their interpretations. The group weighs in, considers other word choices, angles, or options, and eventually reaches agreement. Svec sums it up as “translation, interpretation, and bartering.” “It’s an art to keep the intended meaning but also to have the translation make sense to English readers,” says Jack Elliott-Higgins ’14. “The way Germans phrase things, the idioms—you have to
find comparisons in English.” “I don’t know a lot of the nautical terms in English, so in some ways it’s like learning both languages at the same time,” adds Kade Call ’14. But what really fired up the group was the translation of an interview with the U-550’s Captain Hänert. “His account of firing a torpedo as his wounded sub was surfacing—told to the Germans after his release from prison—totally surprised us,” says Liam Fortin ’14. Peffer explains: “While interrogated in prison camp, Hänert had told the British that none of the torpedoes had fired, because the doors were stuck. This changes the dynamics. Could the Petersen have moved away to avoid further attack from a possible second submarine?” “This project is real, helpful, and interesting,” says Svec. “And it already has stirred a whole new set of interests, including scuba diving.” While fine-tuning their German, students are immersed not only in a historic event, but also in a contemporary mystery of sorts. The scuttled submarine—its location a carefully guarded secret—has not yet been fully explored. This summer, divers will check the number two torpedo tube to determine which of Hänert’s accounts is true. Peffer’s Diving the Last U-Boat will be published by Penguin Group in 2015. —Jill Clerkin
The Wo rld C o mes To andover
Catherine Steiner-Adair Clinical Psychologist, School Consultant, and Author Technology offers teens benefits and challenges. “Dr. Steiner-Adair’s talk [was] much needed in the Andover community,” says Bryan McGuiggan ’15. “Technology In her Wellness Week speech at the January 29 All-School Meeting, Catherine Steiner-Adair has become an integral part of our lives in a way that is described the impact of social media on teen deeply dangerous to our social well-being and intellectual culture and discussed ways to develop a development.” thoughtful approach to technology use in Author of The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age, Steiner-Adair taught school and in life. She also cautioned students against a psychology class and was a Graham House counselor at technology abuse, suggested how they Andover in the early 1980s. Today she is a clinical instructor could better connect with one another by in Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry and an associate psychologist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. “unplugging,” and had several students share passages about harassing The Dean of Students Office sponsored her visit. behavior they’d seen on the Internet. —Carlos A. Hoyt, associate dean of students
Louis Boorstin ’77 International Consultant According to the World Bank, globally 2.5 billion people live without access to improved sanitation, and 1.1 billion people practice open defecation. On January 14 in Kemper Auditorium, Louis Boorstin ’77 provided a real-world perspective on strategies and operations related to the sanitation sector. In addition to emphasizing the complexity of the players involved— including governments, corporations, NGOs, and foundations— Boorstin talked about the importance of involving local community members in any sanitation project and discussed the difference between technical and adaptive leadership. Formerly the deputy director of the Water, Sanitation & Hygiene program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Boorstin currently advises organizations on effective approaches to international development and impact investing.
—Rajesh R. Mundra, instructor in biology Claire Messud Novelist What role does gender play in society and what challenges do female artists face as a result? These topics were the focus of Claire Messud’s visit on January 24. Messud is the author of six celebrated novels, including The Woman Upstairs. After visiting a creative fiction class taught by Writer-inResidence Paul Yoon, she discussed gender in literature over dinner with students at the Brace Center for Gender Studies. Later, in Kemper Auditorium, she discussed what it means to be a female artist. A Q&A and book signing followed her presentation. Emma Kukielski ’15 read The Woman Upstairs and was grateful she could tell Messud how much the story affected her. “The book, discussion, and reading inspired me to make choices for myself, not to sacrifice my goals to please others,” she says. Messud’s visit was sponsored by the English department and the Rogers Lectureship.
—Kevin T. O’Connor, instructor in English Junius W. Williams, Esq. Civil Rights Leader The PA community was invited to the Underwood Room on February 14 to hear attorney, musician, and educator Junius W. Williams, Esq., give the keynote speech that kicked off Af-Lat-Am’s Black Arts Weekend celebration. In his talk, Williams recalled how participating in segregation resistance efforts prompted him to join the civil rights movement and eventually become a leader in championing the rights of the lowincome, underresourced, and homeless populations in Newark, N.J.
In January, Williams released his first book, Unfinished Agenda: Urban Politics in the Era of Black Power. His visit was made possible by an Abbot Academy Association grant and the Office of Community and Multicultural Development.
—LaShawn Springer, associate director, College Counseling Rennie Harris Puremovement Hip-Hop Dance Company Tang Theatre pulsed with hip-hop energy when Kayden Guest Artist Rennie Harris and his dance company, Rennie Harris Puremovement (RHPM), performed February 19. The show began with a series of flirtatious dances called “Something to Do with Love,” which was followed by an excerpt from “Rome & Jewels,” Harris’s acclaimed hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet. To close the show, each dancer performed solo while encircled by other dancers. A Q&A followed the performance. Earlier that day, RHPM taught a master class for students and attended a Community and Multicultural Development (CAMD) open house. Graham Johns ’14 says the events played an important role in his dance education. “It’s all too easy to push hip-hop aside as an unstructured dance form,” he notes, “but in our master class, the RHPM teachers gave students a historical perspective on the dance form and taught us, through dancing, how the form has evolved.” RHPM’s visit was funded by the Bernard & Mildred Kayden Fund, with additional support from an Abbot Academy Association grant and CAMD.
—Judith T. Wombwell, instructor in theatre and dance Sunita Williams NASA Astronaut and U.S. Navy Officer Having observed our fragile planet from space not once, but twice, Sunita Williams was especially qualified to provide the Earth Day All-School Meeting address and share the insights she has gained. Chosen as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1998, Williams launched into space in December 2006 to work as a flight engineer on the International Space Station and in July 2012 to conduct research and exploration aboard the ISS. Known for her athleticism, she ran the 2007 Boston Marathon on a treadmill during her first mission and competed in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon, using the station’s exercise equipment, during her second mission. A Needham High School and U.S. Naval Test Pilot School graduate, Williams received a BS degree in physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MS degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology. She currently serves as the director of operations in Russia. The Dean of Students Office sponsored her April 16 visit.
—Carlos A. Hoyt, associate dean of students Andover | Spring 2014
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S P O RTS TALK
The Road to Division I Athletics by Alessandra Bianchi If you don’t make D-I, blame your parents. That novel piece of advice is offered by longtime PA football coach and incoming athletics director Leon Modeste, referring to Division I sports teams, the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the 1,300member National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He jests not. “Unfortunately, many parents think there’s a clear linear progression: If my child does X, Y, and Z, then he or she will be chosen.” When Modeste suggests the fault lies with parents, he does not mean with their Herculean efforts and sacrifices to provide the best training and opportunities for their offspring, nor with the choice or cost of camps, travel teams, 22
Andover | Spring 2014
and private coaches. He is referring to their DNA. The road to becoming a D-I athlete is incredibly sport-specific, and it’s therefore almost impossible to generalize. But regardless of sport, it’s paved with hard work, savvy coaching, opportunity, luck, athleticism, intelligence, and genetics. And the most important of these, says Modeste, is genetics. Author Malcolm Gladwell’s emphasis on the 10,000-hours rule notwithstanding, the truth is that genetics trumps hard work. “Every coach loves that hard-working kid,” concedes Modeste, “but if the lazy one does all the scoring, guess who’s going to get picked? College athletics is a meritocracy, one based on how you perform.”
Much like today’s overheated college admissions environment, playing at the D-I level is a question of numbers—student-athlete applicants versus available spots. Of the NCAA’s three divisions, D-III has the most member schools (approximately 439), followed by D-I (346) and D-II (291). But D-I is the proverbial big leagues of college sports, comprising all of the major collegiate athletic powers, with larger budgets, more elaborate facilities, and the most athletic scholarships. According to number-crunching firm scholarshipstats.com/varsityodds, only about 7 percent of all high school athletes compete in any NCAA division. And when you consider that those who play at the D-I level constitute
On a more sanguine note, the NCAA—as well as the governing bodies of each sport—publishes detailed guidelines about eligibility, recruitment timelines, rules of correspondence, and GPA and standardized test requirements. Included are helpful framing questions prospective athletes should ask themselves (e.g., If I were injured, would I be happy at this school?). A useful place to start is the NCAA’s “2013–14 Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete.” Carter Marsh Abbott ’93, a veteran D-I soccer and lacrosse player (Princeton), D-I lacrosse assistant coach (Harvard), and current high school girls’ lacrosse coach (Pingry School), suggests another resource. “A good high school coach can absolutely impact your recruitability,” notes Abbott, who serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of US Lacrosse (USL). While club and camp coaches may have multiple vested interests, high school coaches can serve as an athlete’s “advocate and advisor,” she says.
Based on her 30 years with the PA athletics department, athletics instructor and scheduling officer Karen Kennedy offers two of her own observations. Despite the prevalence of highlight videos and long recruitment courtships, “D-I coaches love to get kids that no one knows about,” she says. “If you’re the real deal, you will be noticed.” According to PA graduates who have made the D-I leap, an Andover diploma doesn’t hurt. While the NCAA requires a minimum 2.3 cumulative GPA for all players (“2.3 or take a knee,” announces its slogan), good grades can “open doors,” says Abbott.
What’s more, the pace and rigor of the typical PA student experience turns out to be perfect training for life as a D-I athlete, says Tony Pittman ’90, who had an undefeated D-I football career at Penn State and made Academic All-American while there. Succeeding in D-I “takes a lot of the things that PA instills in its students—the ability to set priorities, to focus on what you want to achieve, and to operate in many dimensions at once,” says Pittman. “When people think of D-I athletes, they think they don’t have to Terrell Ivory ’00, who recently became be well rounded,” he says, “but you assistant dean of admissions and head have to apply yourself in the classroom varsity basketball coach at PA, is a strong or you can’t have the athletics.” advocate for his student-athletes, no Closing thought for students and matter which college they choose. parents: Yes, there’s considBut as a former D-I basketerable merit to that old ball player (Davidson) lottery slogan “You can’t and coach (Colgate and Only about 7 percent win if you don’t play.” Davidson), he has no of all high school athletes But bear in mind there doubt that PA can train compete in any NCAA are many definitions of certain players for D-I division. competition. “I would winning—and hundreds never have left my college of places to play.
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“Many parents think there’s a clear linear progression: If my child does X, Y, and Z, then he or she will be chosen.”
job had I not thought PA was an amazing place to groom D-I athletes,” he says.
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just half of that—around 3.5 percent—the air gets rarified in a hurry. Just 1 to 2 percent of college players receive athletic scholarship money, and the concept of a full ride has all but vanished.
dli ne
2014 NEPSAC Champions: Boys’ Varsity Swimming & Diving, breaking 6 school records, 3 of which are New England records (200-Yard Medley Relay (1:31.82) and 400-Yard Freestyle Relay (3:03.27), seniors Joe Faller, Scott Simpson, Michael Camarda, Tim Wynter; 100-Yard Backstroke (48.73), Tim Wynter) Girls’ Varsity Swimming & Diving (2014 NEPSAC runner-up) broke 5 school records, 2 of which are New England records (200-Yard Freestyle (1:50.03), Danielle Liu ’14; 400-Yard Freestyle Relay (3:29.36), Katherine Sweetser ’17, Danielle Liu ’14, Kaitlin Simpson ’14, Amy Zhao ’14) Prestigious Robertson Award: Won by Amy Zhao ’14 at NEPSAC championships for outstanding athleticism and contributions to the league Division II High School National Champions: Girls’ Varsity Squash Division III High School National Champions: Boys’ Varsity Squash Coach Honored: Varsity wrestling coach Chip Dunn will be inducted into the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in November Inaugural Honor: Anoush Shehadeh ’15, named Gatorade’s first Massachusetts Girls’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year Named All-American: Wrestling cocaptain Christian Vallis ’14, earned at the Nationals at Lehigh University 17-Year-Old Eastern Championship Record Broken Twice: 100-Yard Backstroke (49.09; 49.08), by Tim Wynter ’14 Named All-New England: Nordic skier Olivia LaMarche ’16, during the NEPSAC championships Named NEPSAC Class A All-Star: Girls’ basketball player Cara Cavanaugh ’15 Drafted by New York Lizards: Duke’s Luke Duprey ’10, 4th pick overall in the 2014 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft
Andover | Spring 2014
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ON C O U R SE
History SS565: The Material Culture of Early America, Instructed by Nile Blunt
Where Learning Happens by Kristin Bair O’Keeffe
In Nile Blunt’s The Material Culture of Early America, seniors learn about Early America between 1607 and 1812 by way of objects: maps, furniture, silver, gravestones, portraits, and more. By tracing and analyzing stuff that once was used, held, sat on, admired, polished, and passed down from generation to generation, they are able to chart our country’s transition from attempting to achieve a specific British identity to the birth of a uniquely American identity. Stuff, because, as Blunt puts it, a chair is not just a chair. “A chair can speak volumes when you know its historical context, and we can understand so much about the expectations, experiences, hopes, and dreams of people who built, purchased, and used this chair. For instance, we can
learn so much about Thomas Jefferson not just from reading one of his letters or treatises, but also by examining the objects that he lived with and used in his daily life.” While students also look at photographs or renderings, as well as read, discuss, and give presentations, their primary work is analyzing various objects housed in the Addison Gallery of American Art, the Academy Archives, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology. “We’ve got mind-blowing resources right here on campus,” Blunt says. “The idea for this course was born out of my deep interest in our cultural institutions. I wanted to create an elective that is focused on working closely with the educators in those places and really using those resources.”
Photos by Neil Evans
Each week students visit one of these three places to examine, discuss, and hash out how specific objects may have been used, who might have made them, what they symbolize, what hints they offer about the social milieu of that time period, how they relate to other objects and historical events, and much more. Each session unfolds like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, as Blunt provides little or no information about the objects at hand. Instead, he encourages students to sharpen their observation skills, consider what they know about a particular time period, analyze, and speculate. Deftly led by Blunt and at least one educator at each location, students learn to put objects into historical context.
Seniors Jisoo Chung and Olivia Cabral study the “wine quart cann” made by Paul Revere (c. 1770).
Addison Gallery of American Art | Silver During their initial visit to the Addison Gallery, students studied four pieces from the silver collection, including a “wine quart cann” made by Paul Revere (c. 1770) and the Jacob Hurd teapot (c. 1750). The wine quart cann impressed many students, including Olivia Cabral ’14: “What grabbed my attention was definitely seeing REVERE, one of Paul Revere’s maker’s marks, engraved on the first silver piece I sat down in front of. It was definitely a ‘wow’ moment.” As the items were being examined, the students, Blunt, and Jamie Kaplowitz, Addison education associate and museum learning specialist, discussed a series of questions, including: • What information do we have about the person who created this object?
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• What kind of object is this, and how might it have been used? • What is the style, and what aspects of its form/design indicate this style? • What do the materials themselves tell us about the consumers and their societies? Each question deepened the discussion and moved students closer to the answers (or, in some cases, further away; a few students misidentified a pair of sugar cube tongs as ice cube tongs). Afterward, many appreciated the impact of being able to engage directly with an object. “I am much more likely to remember what I learned about Paul Revere and his silver through my own personal experience viewing it as opposed to reading about it,” said Cabral.
Melanie Oliva ’14, Dan McGurl ’14, and Nile Blunt (right) discuss the subtleties of the Magnalia Christi Americana.
The Archives | Rare Book The rare book session with Blunt and Paige Roberts, director of PA’s Archives and Special Collections, took place in a small room on the second floor of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library. The room was brightly lit, the air was stuffy, and bookshelves lined one wall. It was an appropriate spot to study Magnalia Christi Americana by Cotton Mather, which was printed in 1702 and part of the Phillips family library. “The extraordinary thing about this copy of the Magnalia,” said Roberts, “is that it is signed ‘Samuel Phillips’s 1820.’ This allowed the class to explore interesting questions and issues of provenance. It is unclear which Samuel Phillips this is. Did
Samuel Phillips himself sign the book? If so, why did he sign his name that way? Samuel Phillips Jr., who founded Phillips Academy, died in 1802, so who wrote his name in the book and why?” Kavan Canekeratne ’14, who, prior to this class, had never been to the archives, was amazed. “The Magnalia Christi Americana was one of the most influential texts of its day. The chance to work with such an important piece of history was one of the best in-class experiences I have had at PA,” he said.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology | Gravestones
As students analyzed various gravestones in pairs, Slater laid out three important points that, in fact, extend to all objects that students studied throughout this course: 1. All styles change; it’s the nature of material culture.
2. Style change takes time. 3. Style change of material objects reflects the style change of thought and ideology. At the end of the course, it was obvious that the students “got it.” Not just the specifics of the subject at hand, but also the significance of PA’s collections and the opportunity to work with them. “For me,” said Casey Durant ’14, “the most important takeaway from this class is that there are many different and interesting ways to study history.” This pleases Blunt, as he plans to integrate PA’s collections into his teaching whenever possible—and encourage other faculty members to do the same. “These are teaching places,” he said. “They are places where learning happens.”
la te r
Although hunkering down among a bevy of headstones would have set a definite mood, Blunt and his students were unable to do so due to exceptionally deep snow in Andover’s South Church Graveyard. Instead, they attended a workshop in the Peabody Museum led by Donald Slater, museum educator, which included eerie and fascinating details about 18th- and 19th-century headstone styles, such as Death’s Head, Cherub, and Willow and/or Urn. Students also tackled seriation, Pomp Lovejoy’s epitaph, and the deconstruction of objects.
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Chris Hohlstein ’14 listens as Donny Slater introduces the various kinds of gravestones.
Andover | Spring 2014
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P H I LANTH R OP Y H IGHLIGHTS
The Gift of Peter Ramsey’s Leadership After 17 years at PA, he prepares to share his expertise more broadly by Tracy Sweet
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“The strongest components of Peter’s leadership are enthusiasm, good humor, patience, and the willingness to go out and build meaningful relationships,” says David Underwood ’54, trustee emeritus and president of the board from 1989 to 2004. “He has a remarkable ability to remember names, faces, interests, families…. Peter genuinely enjoys people, and I think that has been a hallmark of his success.” Underwood and 14th Head of School Barbara Landis Chase covered thousands of domestic and international miles with Ramsey, visiting alumni and parents and advocating for Andover’s highest priorities: academic programs, scholarship support, faculty development, capital projects, and the Andover Fund. “As a strategist, Peter excels,” says Chase. “I vividly recall meetings over a meal or sitting together on a plane, when Peter and I would pore over scrawlings on envelope backs or paper napkins. We were working hard to figure out how to succeed. It sometimes seemed we had committed to overly ambitious goals. But we were
Michael Malyszko
As Peter Ramsey likes to say, he got two bites at the apple. His 17 years as secretary of the Academy came in two parts (1995 to 2004 and 2006 to 2014), covered two campaigns, served two heads of school, and bore much fruit for Phillips Academy. “I have had the privilege of seeing the Academy embrace the concept of philanthropy,” says Ramsey. By that he means PA and the Academy Resources team have grown in partnership with a vibrant organization of volunteers and trustees, faculty and staff, who have come to understand engagement and development as vital in support of Andover’s mission. This summer, as he prepares to leave PA for a new position with Marts & Lundy, a global consulting firm focused on philanthropy, colleagues at Andover prepare to say farewell with deep gratitude and admiration. The legacy of a chief development officer is often defined in dollars, and while it’s true that Ramsey has helped Andover raise a remarkable sum—more than $550 million—financial markers alone offer an incomplete picture of his leadership.
“His successful leadership is an important reminder that engagement and philanthropy are key reasons why Andover has been able to recruit the finest students and faculty, enjoy stateof-the-art facilities, and build our future.” —John Palfrey, Head of School
determined, because we knew their attainment would fuel Andover’s highest and best dreams.” “We learned together,” Underwood continues. “I’d been around fundraising a bit, but I was in the minor leagues. Peter had been in the majors for a while, and thank heavens for that,” he says, referring to Ramsey’s previous experience as vice president for Resources and Public Affairs at Wellesley College and director of
development at Harvard Business School. Ramsey first arrived at Andover in 1995, working with Chase, Underwood, and Trustee Emeritus Richard Goodyear ’59 to achieve the goals of Campaign Andover, The Surest Foundation. After the campaign’s conclusion, he left briefly to become vice president for development at Babson College, before returning to Andover in 2006 to once again work with Chase. At that point, Oscar
Left: Assistant Director of OAR Operations Laurie Ortstein has been at Peter Ramsey’s side for every one of his 17 years and “two bites at the apple.” Below: Trustee Emeritus David Underwood ’54 and Trustee Tom Israel ’62 presented Ramsey with a “Sabbath stick” (a.k.a. Sunday golf putter) after a short tribute and lighthearted roast during the spring trustee dinner.
“He has a remarkable ability to remember names, faces, interests, families…. Peter genuinely enjoys people, and I think that has been a hallmark of his success.” —David Underwood ’54, Trustee Emeritus
transformative nature of philanthropy. “Peter is beloved for his generous spirit and especially for his commitment to Andover’s highest priorities, be they a renovated Bulfinch Hall or new boathouse, scholarships, or programs that advance our world-class school,” says Palfrey. “His successful leadership is an important reminder that engagement and philanthropy are key reasons why Andover has been able to recruit the finest students and faculty, enjoy state-of-the-art facilities, and build our future.” Knowing that Andover values engagement on all levels has made the “external work” immensely fulfilling, says Ramsey, who spins a list of supporting examples— from the volunteer who hosts an event to the young alum who pools his or her dollars with classmates to the benefactor whose gift allows a student to attend PA on full scholarship. He has always referred to the “privilege” of asking for the help of generous donors, Chase recalls, “and it always felt that way when one was asking along with Peter Ramsey.”
Gil Talbot
Tang ’56 had succeeded Underwood as president of the board and had stepped forward to lead Andover’s new campaign. The trio of Ramsey, Chase, and Tang—along with Trustee Emeritus Edward Elson ’52, Trustee Stephen Sherrill ’71, and several alumni leaders—helped drive this effort, The Campaign for Andover, Building on the Surest Foundation, to a $322 million finish. Also instrumental in the closing months of the campaign were 15th Head of School John Palfrey and current Board President Peter Currie ’74. Navigate these multiple leadership transitions and one gets a true sense of the breadth of Ramsey’s impact. Palfrey recalls seeking Ramsey’s counsel in the early days of his headship. While Palfrey was hardly a novice when it came to raising money, he was eager to better understand the culture of engagement among Andover’s 25,000 alumni and parents. He remains impressed with Ramsey’s dedication to the “external work” of the Academy and his steadfast belief in the
“At its core, philanthropy is a form of affirmation and promise,” says Ramsey, citing Andover’s move to need-blind admission in 2008 as the ultimate validation. It brought momentum to a campaign that could have languished during an economic recession. “The cause to support access for ‘youth from every quarter’ added a special dimension. Many donors, through the needblind initiative, saw PA as relevant, doing important work with its resources,” he says. When The Campaign for Andover closed on December 31, 2013, support for scholarships finished at $92 million, outpacing any other fundraising priority. The policy that admits all qualified students regardless of
their financial circumstances continues to attract generous support and no doubt will be reaffirmed in the school’s next strategic plan. Portions of that plan—including scholarships—will require new funding. And while Ramsey won’t be leading the next fundraising effort, he has confidence in its successful outcome. “A new era for Andover is under way,” he says, delighted with Palfrey’s choice of Thom Lockerby as his successor. “As in the past, those who care about the mission of the Academy will stand ready to embrace the new expression of vision and values. What a promising set of aspirations, what an exciting and meaningful adventure it will be!”
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P H I LANTH R OP Y H IGHLIGHTS
Addison Gallery Completes $30 Million Campaign Better lighting, updated security, modern climate control, and an art collection now fully stored on-site: These are just a handful of the many improvements made possible by the Addison Gallery of American Art’s successful $30 million fundraising campaign, which included $22 million for the expansion and renovation of the museum building and $8 million to strengthen the Addison’s endowment. This largest and most comprehensive campaign in the gallery’s history secures the Addison’s position as a nationally renowned
museum of American art and the only museum of its caliber on a secondary school campus. “Thanks to many hands and much hard work, Judith Dolkart, the Addison’s new director, will inherit a museum in beautiful condition and with a healthy endowment in place,” says Head of School John Palfrey. “The fantastic work of the Addison and fundraising teams gives me an exciting freedom to envision the Addison’s future,” says Dolkart. The renovation project has restored the building to
its original state, undoing some awkward past design and structural changes. It has opened doors for young people, making the collection more accessible through the Museum Learning Center—a flexible classroom and function space—in the new Sidney R. Knafel Wing. And it has brought all 17,000 pieces of the Addison collection back under one roof. Previously, part of the collection was stored in Boston. The Addison’s expanded endowment ensures consistent annual support for new and innovative projects. Building on a history
of acclaimed exhibitions, the Addison has continued to break ground in recent years with shows like Sheila Hicks: 50 Years and American Vanguards: Graham, Davis, Gorky, de Kooning, and Their Circle, 1927–1942. “Thanks are due to countless individuals, but I would like to mention in particular Oscar Tang ’56, Stephen Sherrill ’71, and Michael Schmertzler ’70, who were extraordinarily generous with both time and treasure,” notes Sidney Knafel ’48, chair of the Addison’s Board of Governors, who led the seven-year campaign effort.
Students Celebrate Generosity on End of Tuition Day of School John Palfrey in remarks to the assembly. “As a need-blind school, about half of our students receive some form of financial aid and about half do not. But as of today, that is no longer true. One hundred percent of the students in this room
are now receiving free tuition from here through the end of the school year. This is an amazing thing. School is free. Everything you eat, everything you do, it’s totally free.” Tuition covers only 55 percent of the estimated $70,000 annual cost of an Andover
Neil Evans
On March 26, students celebrated “End of Tuition Day” at All-School Meeting, acknowledging the invaluable role that philanthropy plays in making their time at Andover possible. “This is an important day on our calendar,” said Head
Following All-School Meeting , students showed their appreciation to donors by signing giant thank-you cards, held aloft here by STARs members. STARs—student alumni representatives—serve as the student body’s connection to alumni and help seniors transition to their role as the newest alumni class.
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education; the 45 percent gap is generously filled by thousands of alumni, parents, and friends. Palfrey then specifically addressed the seniors: “This is the first time of many in your lives that I will be asking you for money. This is an appeal to you to do what so many before you have done, which is to give of what they have to support future students.” Copresidents Junius Williams ’14 and Clark Perkins ’14 echoed Palfrey’s message. “This morning all of you in your dorms turned on a light switch. Then you went to Paresky and ate food. And you went to class afterward. And then you came here. You wouldn’t have been able to do those things without generosity—without the generosity of so many people who have come before us.” They challenged their fellow seniors to reach 100 percent class participation in the Senior Class Gift.
Retiring Faculty 2014 Dave White
In Gratitude for 216 Years of Inspired Teaching and Loyal Service to Phillips Academy
maggie Jackson
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associate director, Graham House Counseling Center
1983–2014
Dave White
donald t. Barry
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instructor, mathematics
1980–2014
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Dave White
douglas j. Kuhlmann
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instructor, mathematics
1983–2014
Dave White
peter l. Drench
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instructor, history & social science
1986–2014
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Dave White
tony Rotundo
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instructor, history
1981–2014
John Hurley
Dave White
roxanne s. Barry
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director, summer & gap year opportunities instructor and coordinator, PALS
1995–2014
christopher j. Gurry ’66
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instructor, history & social science
1974–2014
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Coed@40
g n i m a r Ref a n i n o i e ducat d l r o w g chang in———————————
— — — — — — ——
Coeducation at 40: Readings from the Discussion, Then and Now
It’s hard to appreciate 40 years later the degree of turbulence and societal change during the merger years. Coeducation was at the center of the educational debate, but there was also the realization that the world was changing rapidly and the evolving roles of women and men were inextricably linked to a reevaluation of the educational model demanded by the times. The following excerpts from PA’s Archives and Special Collections provide the flavor of the debate then—and Head of School John Palfrey provides a current perspective.
—Leslie Hendrix ’73
“The only legitimate basis for venturing into coeducation is the belief that only by educating boys and girls together can we give the best education to either.” —Simeon Hyde ’37
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Donald Gordon ’52, Principal of Abbot Academy
Simeon Hyde ’37, Phillips Academy Dean of Faculty
“Adolescence is a high point of ‘impressionability’: it is the first contact of the mature child with his incipient adulthood. Assumptions of a rather permanent, subliminal nature are then formed about the nature of the opposite sex, one’s own sex, relations between the sexes, and general and cultural relations. Single sex schools condemn themselves to the inculcation of often damaging myths; coed schools, well conducted, afford everyone in them a chance to replace myths with positive, organic realities that can aid men and women in their searches for personal fulfillment and beneficent ways of relating to their societies.
“Were we able to control the entire pattern of a child’s development and maturity and to determine the nature of his role as adult male or female, we could see the choice between the two kinds of schools as a design problem to be solved on the basis of our best insight into the mysteries of human development—that is, into what is at the root of human nature rather than a product of a particular culture. We can, of course, do neither of these: the student entering secondary school today is a product of values and circumstances quite different from those prevailing when segregated schools were founded, and the roles of men and women are also different from what they were, and are still changing in seemingly predicable directions.… Though we may believe we are more representative, more broad-minded, less snobbish and ingrown, and educationally more progressive than the popular image allows, honest self-scrutiny may reveal that the differences are not enough to free us from the charge of social irrelevance or to preserve our health.
“It’s the differences between men and women that make them equal, complementary. This truth has existed throughout the ages, despite the arrogant efforts of many cultures to annul them and establish crude sexual dominances and hierarchies— predominantly involving the psychic subordination of women to men—in their place. These efforts have never wholly succeeded, as many fortunate men and women have discovered. “Traditional schools have consistently said they’ve valued truth highly: why should they avoid their duty to recognize this most basic one?” “Why a Coed School Is Better” November 5, 1970
“Before we react with the defenses of hurt pride, we should try to look at ourselves with the eyes of the contemporary American public. We may then have to acknowledge that the changes we have made are superficial grafts upon the trunk of our peculiar being, which is determined more than we may realize by the fact that we remain sexually segregated communities not at all representative of the dominant educational climate. One may then conclude that rejuvenation will come only by abandoning our one abiding peculiarity. If we do not choose to do this, we must learn how to defend our persistence in a way of education at odds with national practices and trends. “If our intention is to assimilate girls in order to preserve a predominantly male institution or if we want girls in order to keep our boys happy, our position is ethically indefensible. “The only legitimate basis for venturing into coeducation is the belief that only by educating boys and girls together can we give the best education to either. This means that the boys’ school which proposes to enter into the education of girls must care as deeply about the needs of girls as it has previously cared for those of boys.” “The Case for Coeducation” Andover Bulletin, January 1971
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Coed@40
Richard S. Pieters, Chair, Phillips Academy Math Department “One aspect of coeducation which is all too often glossed over are the problems of sexual immorality, which are inevitable. It seems likely that coeducation will result in more numerous forced early marriages. “Our society today is in many ways dominated by women and their point of view. Most public school teachers are still women. It seems that a school in which boys will be taught by men and not only taught by men but in which many of their contacts outside of class will also be with men in
Donald Gordon ’52, Principal of Abbot Academy “There is no longer what we might call an ‘inside’ versus an ‘outside’ world facing students: there is only one world, namely the total social world presented in our homes via television every day. It is as if both worlds have been turned inside out and somehow turned into one. Preparation for such a world is no longer isolated, purely preparatory; it must also include practice working with that world, as well as the theory behind that practice. Students learn by being practitioners. They trust experience, not theory. Thus ‘preparation’ is competence rising out of practice-plus-theory (practice as it has been for artisans for ages, leads to theory; our modern culture has enshrined the reverse, and it has led us to this pattern of distrust). “The psychological condition of youth is different. They mature earlier. The many forces shaping them are new, rapidly changing and unprecedented in our experience. “We still go on treating the future as if it were tomorrow, when in fact it is partly here now, today. We continue prescribing for ‘present’
“…we must do all we can to ensure that a third school come into being: neither a renewed P.A., nor a masculinized Abbot…” —Beverly Floe ’41
activities, dormitory life, and athletics is of increasing importance in view of the opposite trends. “Why should Andover, as an independent boarding school, become just another high school? Here lies an opportunity to establish a way of life and a set of values not subject to the whims of passing fashion. There is a chance to establish an academic atmosphere in which real scholarship on the secondary level may take place relatively free from anti-scholastic forces.” Memo representing faculty opposed to the merger, March 12, 1971
problems, which are actually past problems lingering on in the present. For a ‘future-oriented’ country, we still have much to learn. The period around 1960 constitutes a watershed of greater significance than we have thought or appreciated: it has presented us with not so much a ‘generation gap’ as a new set of competing realities. “Schools are catalysts in a culture, not functionaries in a sterile nation-state; they must live, not just operate…. We must remember that our ends are timeless, while our means must adapt; that change and paradox are the natural order of things, not nasty exceptions to the rule; and that to stay vital we must break out of the siege. And finally we must remember that the ultimate adventure is life itself. This we must demonstrate to our students; otherwise, they’ll not have the capacity for hope, which alone will fuel their spirits and talents. Students must, while they are here, experience our belief in these attitudes; we will not build in them a better life-sense simply by giving a course on it. Our joy in learning and doing must be real, if they are to believe. Humanity is not a structure, it is attitude.” “Future Stock,” The Abbot Forum, July 1971
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Harold H. Owen Jr. ’43, Phillips Academy Instructor in English “This change is but one of many we absolutely must make if we are to survive and grow in any way. We could stumble on as we are, growing more tense and dissatisfied with ourselves, until we run out of money or become professional innkeepers. I would construe the violence of those whose opposition is violent as to some measure clear evidence of what we’ve done to ourselves by being a monosexual institution.” Memo: Random thoughts re: coeducation, c. 1971
Beverly Floe ’41, Trustee of Abbot Academy
Theodore Sizer, Headmaster of Phillips Academy
“Of course I have been thinking a great deal about the merger since our conversation. My various caveats all have given rise to a real determination that we must do all we can to ensure that a third school come into being: neither a renewed P.A., nor a masculinized Abbot, but another school, hitherto unknown,
“This decade promises to be a critical time of redefining women’s and men’s roles. Our culture and our schools are all too full of easy male and female stereotypes. There must be
“Schools are catalysts in a culture, not functionaries in a sterile nation-state; they must live, not just operate….”
—Donald Gordon ’52
and as much like the Superschool as we are able to arrange for. The means we are to use to accomplish this should be our prime study, it seems to me, from this point on. “The world of the aware foundations and the group of schools that are trying the hardest to achieve the best in education have become conscious of the extent to which Abbot has realized some of the most important goals of education. And Abbot has begun having an effect, I believe, out of proportion to its size, on the thinking at other schools.”
no room for simplistic and insensitive chauvinisms of this kind at our Academy. We here are concerned with what Samuel Phillips, Jr., called ‘the education of Youth’—now female and male—and the mind and spirit of each student deserve appropriately equal and appropriately special concern and respect.” Installation speech, September 24, 1972
Letter to Abbot Academy Board Chair Philip K. Allen ’29, August 12, 1972
Leslie Hendrix ’73 curated the historical pieces for this article from PA’s Archives. Hendrix heads the Abbot Academy Initiative Steering Committee, the AA alumnae group that spearheaded the creation of the Abbot Archives Project (see page 64).
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Dave White
Coed@40
John Palfrey, Head of School Four decades make quite a difference. It is instructive to listen in on the debate leading up to the merger of Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy, to hear the serious opposition from a mathematics instructor and the determined voice of a dean of faculty in favor. The idea of coeducation as one of a series of “whims of passing fashion” sounds quaint from this distance. I am grateful to Leslie Hendrix ’73 for her work to curate, from out of our archives, these voices from the past for our reconsideration.
positive) interaction on the ground. I love, in the class that I teach, to see the differences in how boys and girls approach a hard technological issue, how they inform one another through thoughts and provocations from often such distinct angles. I cannot imagine a faculty member working here today who would argue seriously on the faculty meeting floor that we should go back to two separate, single-sex schools, as we once were, one down the hill, one up the hill. Four decades, however, do not change everything. We still find ourselves asking many of the same questions that the community grappled with in the early 1970s. Though now one school, we remain an institution that
talented dancer, gave an inspired presentation to the community earlier this year about the stereotypes that continue to attach to dancers and their enterprise. The same goes for debates about how hard classes should be, how much homework to assign, and how much support to provide to students—all questions that both Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy were engaged with at the time of the merger. And although technology has changed, what [Abbot principal] Don Gordon ’52 said in “Future Stock” about students no longer having separate “inside” and “outside” worlds holds true today, as do the challenges we face in deciding how best to educate our students in relation to technological develop-
“We are not perfect at Phillips Academy. Our work to create an extraordinary coeducational institution is unfinished.”
Photos by Chris Conti, John Hurley, Gil Talbot, Yuto Watanabe ’11
On campus today, the rightness of Phillips Academy in its current form—a strong, vibrant coeducational institution—seems self-evident. It is hard to quarrel with the notion of girls and boys mixing in classes, sports, performing arts, Paresky Commons for dinner, and endless clubs and activities for their mutual benefit and instruction when you see and experience their (largely
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aspires to merge separate wonderful traditions, dating back centuries. We still argue over the structural forces that come with those traditions. Consider the debate in a recent Phillipian about the place of the dance program: should it be considered a “sport” or an “art”? Should a talented male or female dancer get a varsity letter or course credit, neither or both? Graham Johns ’14, one such
ments. As the voices of our own students remind us every year, we are still in the process of merging Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy. The most persuasive voice to me, looking back on the quotes from the time of the merger, is that of Abbot Academy Trustee Beverly Floe ’41. She argued that the goal of the merger is “neither a renewed P.A.,
learning community. A student who chooses to come to today’s Phillips Academy must be up for a rigorous academic program; must be willing for us to broaden their sights through arts and athletics; and must be ready to engage in hard, adult conversations Our challenge in 2014 remains to about what it means to live, work, create something that is not, to cite play, and, ultimately, learn in a diverse, Richard Pieters, “just another high coeducational environment. We push school.” As we say to students on ourselves, and our students along with their revisit days, after they have been us, to face up to the challenges that we admitted, the choice to come to Phillips share with the society at large. Academy is a choice to spend their high The interrelated concerns of gender, school years in a very particular environment. Students who enroll here will race, class, religion, and sexuality, among others, are some of the hardest come to a school that will push them topics that students will be forced to in ways that few other places will. We grapple with at Phillips Academy—and are not perfect at Phillips Academy. in life after Andover, for that matter. Our work to create an extraordinary coeducational institution is unfinished. I consider this aspect of the educaWe engage our students actively in the tion that we offer at today’s Phillips Academy to be central, and essential, work of improving our school. Phillips to what a student must have upon Academy is a distinctive place, with graduation. I couldn’t be more grateful deep moral and intellectual committhat we have the opportunity to create ments; with a past that casts a long shadow; and with aspirations to create a school—certainly Beverly Floe’s vision of “another school” but not Richard the most effective and vibrant learning environment for every student who Pieters’s fear of “just another high school”—with such ambition and such enters through our doors. wonderful potential outcomes, in the When a student accepts our offer to form of the extraordinary citizens who attend Phillips Academy, that student graduate from Phillips Academy. is choosing to become part of an February 28, 2014 intentionally diverse, open, challenging nor a masculinized Abbot, but another school, hitherto unknown.” It is that school that we have an opportunity to create today, and I am excited about our prospects as we continue to build upon two extremely sure foundations.
These events are intended to both celebrate and reflect on the historic merger of Abbot and Phillips academies, highlight some important Abbot Academy programs and traditions that continue to be embraced at PA today, and inspire further conversations about coeducation and gender. May 24—Softball Field Dedication. At 2 p.m., Phillips Academy will celebrate its 40th year of coeducation and the 40th anniversary of the advent of Title IX by dedicating its upgraded softball facility, which now includes two permanent dugouts; a new, enlarged equipment shed; new bleachers and protective screening for spectators; a dual bullpen and permanent batting cage; and a water fountain, scoreboard, and flagpole. At 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., the PA softball team will host Exeter in a doubleheader. Festivities, free of charge and open to all, are slated to include speakers, a cookout, and live music. May 31—A Contemporary Abbot Bazaar Honoring Abbot Academy history and traditions, a “contemporary Abbot Bazaar” will take place on Saturday in “the Circle” and will include a maypole dance, tours, and a screening of The Girls of Abbot: A Memoir, a documentary by Charlie Stuart ’62. June 13—Abbot Alumnae Dinner On Friday of Reunion Weekend, the annual Abbot Alumnae Dinner, held in Davis Hall (in McKeen Hall), will include a screening of The Girls of Abbot: A Memoir. June 14—Coed@40 Alumni Panel and Program On Saturday of Reunion Weekend, all are invited to the Coed@40 Alumni Panel and Program in Kemper Auditorium. For the most up-to-date information, please contact Debby Murphy ’86, director of Alumni Engagement, at dmurphy@andover.edu or 978-749-4268.
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Non Sibi for Life Three alums answer the call by Sarah Zobel
Non sibi, one of the most important mottos impressed upon every Phillips Academy student since Paul Revere engraved it on the school seal in 1782, is a concise reminder to think beyond one’s self. And while countless PA students and alumni incorporate the concept of non sibi into their lives, others have gone so far as to establish it as the tenet underlying their life’s work.
Ellos son non sibi It was a well-timed e-mail that gave Christine Balling ’86 the idea to import non sibi to western Colombia. Today, Balling and her group of teens known collectively as El Equipo Non Sibi del Tolima travel to villages separated by mountain ranges, building playgrounds, hosting youth summits, and bringing toys to younger kids. It’s all part of Fundación ECCO, which Balling established to engage youth in the democratic process while teaching them to be leaders.
In Villarica, Tolima, Colombia, Christine Balling ’86 and members of El Equipo Non Sibi de Colombia make their way to the front of their “March for Peace” parade, organized by the community as part of the Non Sibi playground’s inauguration activities in March 2013.
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Colombia certainly has had its share of troubles, with the government mired in a half-centuryold confrontation with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), although the two sides currently are brokering a peace agreement. Balling, a native of Lee, New Hampshire, had spent time working in the finance and tech industries in Manhattan, as well as doing some screenwriting in Los Angeles, before moving to Colombia a halfdozen years ago. Touring as an assistant in a Senate campaign in the department of Tolima in 2009, she was approached by members of a youth group who wanted to talk about some much-needed improvements to their mountain
village, Villahermosa. It’s accessible only by a four-hour ride on a bumpy single-track dirt road, and for starters, they said, there wasn’t even a safe playground. Balling was unsure at first how she could help, but on the long drive to the village she suddenly recalled that just the day before she had received an e-mail from Andover about alumni non sibi–based projects. “I was rumbling down one of those scary roads, and it just sort of clicked,” says Balling, who then easily convinced herself that “maybe building a tiny little playground up there” was feasible. Community service was nothing new to Balling, who had served as a candy striper in
a Boston hospital during her years at PA, as a Big Sister to a young Dominican girl in Harlem while at Barnard, and as a Red Cross volunteer after Hurricane Katrina.
turmoil. The summit gave them a safe place to discuss the issues.
“For these kids, it was extremely significant, because no one had ever asked them what they Her one requirement was that the Villahermosa think,” says Balling. youngsters use the democratic process to Another venture was Operation Non Sibi, a decide where to install the playground, so it joint project with the Colombian Air Force, wouldn’t just be a “one-off gift.” With kids as Army, and police. Participants, including young as 6 participating in the decision-making Balling, traveled by helicopter to Santiago process, a location was chosen; residents of all Perez, a village in southern Tolima, where they ages pitched in to clean, paint, and construct delivered to peers 1,000 soccer balls (all labeled the new playground. A designated inauguration non sibi) and 1,000 teddy bears. day included the installation of a specially built wooden sign engraved with “NON SIBI.” The foundation’s only employee, Balling says the bulk of her funds go to transporting proPiggybacking on the success of that project, gram participants; she has received some fundBalling brought a group of Villahermosa teening from USAID and from private donors. Her agers who’d been involved with the playground goal is to find the funding to keep the foundaconstruction to a town farther south in Tolima a tion operating and to keep growing the network couple of months later. There, they taught a new of young people, some of whom have been with group of kids how to do the exact same thing: site and build a playground. Those teenagers then did the same in another village, and so on. To date, Fundación ECCO has been behind the construction of 11 playgrounds. For the youth involved, it’s also a chance to get to know peers —Christine Balling ’86 from another part of Tolima they otherwise never would have met.
“At the end of the day, it’s the kids doing it themselves. They own it.”
Participants, who keep in touch via a private Facebook page, collaborate on other activities as well, wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the words Yo Soy Non Sibi—“The kids care for them like they’re a uniform,” says Balling— while organizing medical brigades, peace marches, and youth leadership and democracy summits near each new playground. The most recent summit, in November 2013, was held just as the Colombian government was beginning negotiations with the FARC; participants established a mock advisory committee. The conflict, says Balling, is very real to the majority of them—some have family members in the FARC while others have been displaced by the
Balling and her young team gather in June 2013 to inaugurate the new Non Sibi playground built in Morales, Cauca, Colombia.
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her since the beginning. Many of the kids have branched out, undertaking their own non sibi works and raising any associated funds needed. One group repainted their village’s paved soccer field; another put on their T-shirts and lit 1,000 candles in their town’s center to celebrate Día de las Velitas (Day of the Candles). “At the end of the day, it’s the kids doing
it themselves,” says Balling. “They own it.” Although they are a long way from Andover, they have grasped the concept behind the Academy’s motto. “All they know is ‘No para sí mismo, sino para los demás,’” says Balling, reciting the group’s full Spanish translation of non sibi. “And that’s what it’s about.”
Looking back, moving forward Surrounded by Incan and Mayan ruins, Larry Coben ’75 discovered that by teaching people in impoverished countries around the world the basics of entrepreneurship, he could inspire them to preserve their cultural heritage sites. He also realized that simply by providing local people with mentors and preliminary financing, he could positively affect their lives while empowering them to care for irreplaceable fragments of their history.
As part of a ceramic cooperative at the archaeological site of San José de Moro in Peru, these young men make replicas and other products using the motifs of actual excavated artifacts. Julio Ibarrola (second from left), a master potter, cooperative leader, and teacher, trains the young men.
Coben attended Yale as an undergrad and went on to Harvard Law before realizing he didn’t want to become a lawyer. He cofounded one of the country’s earliest providers of renewable energy before, in succession, establishing a medical waste disposal company; being named CEO of Bolivian Power, a NYSE–traded company; and forming an asset-acquisition group. Coben, a native of Livingston, New Jersey, then decided that rather than founding another startup, he would nurture a longstanding interest in archaeology. Returning to school, he earned a PhD degree in anthropology with a focus in archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania. He conducted his dissertation research at Incallajta, an Incan site in central Bolivia some 100 miles from the nearest major city, and was alarmed to discover that the site was being used to grow crops, play soccer, and graze cattle.
how important it is, but if you can’t eat your history, you’re not going to preserve it.” In an area where per capita income averages $100, Coben needed to find a better motivator. He offered to install a gate across the sole road in, charging foreign tourists $10 to visit the site. Locals would be allowed to pass free of charge, and Coben would pay a month’s wages for someone to supervise the gate. Total cost to him: approximately $50. He was met with skepticism, but in the first week four tourists passed through the gate; the second week, three more came, by which point, the project already had achieved a 40 percent return. Suddenly, the populace developed a new attitude toward the site.
“They realized it wasn’t just an intangible asset of their past,” says Coben, “but that it had some relevance to their present, and that it would be much better to put it to a nondestructive, sus“I tried all the traditional methods that academtainable economic use: tourism.” The income ics generally try, which is to tell people how was immediately used to buy out the grazers important their own patrimony and past are,” and build a soccer field in a more appropriate says Coben of his efforts to help the locals reallocation. ize the significance of the ruins. “It really has zero impact, of course, because people know Based on that success, Coben established the 40
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“…if you can’t eat your history, you’re not going to preserve it.” Sustainable Preservation Initiative (SPI). Its approach is unique—though there’s plenty of ecotourism, Coben hasn’t found anyone using an archaeology-based paradigm.
—Larry Coben ’75 Local community women, with help from Larry Coben ’75, paint iconographic symbols from the site of the temple of Pachacamac, near Lima, Peru, on a newly constructed artisanal center.
“It gives people a way to utilize the past to create a future,” he says. To date, SPI has stepped in at sites in Peru and Guatemala and is looking into locations in Haiti as well. Employees—not of SPI, but of locally formed cooperatives—are natives, and the range in number per site is 12 to 40; they’re a mix of heritage and business people whom Coben pairs so they can learn from one another. His long-term goal is to be in sites in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa by 2015. Before the crisis in Syria, SPI was ready to go to Jordan, but because tourism has fallen in the region, Coben says it would be something of a false promise to the Jordanian people to set up anything now. That’s a reflection of SPI’s venture capital approach: Coben doesn’t want any location to grow too quickly and fail. The newest SPI project is Pachacamac, Peru’s most visited site after Machu Picchu. Based there are 35 women who otherwise would have had few economic opportunities; they have
been newly trained in business and artisanal skills. Yet Coben is quick to note that SPI is not an aid organization. The women’s success is their own responsibility, he says, referencing Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus’s observation that it does no good to teach a man to fish if he can’t afford a rod. “There are plenty of organizations that teach people skills, but then neglect the business side,” Coben says. “We’re trying to give people the same chance an entrepreneur in the United States would have. These are extraordinary people. They just need extraordinary opportunity.”
From seeds, a vine Rabbi Everett Gendler arrived on campus in 1977 as part of a move by then-Headmaster Theodore Sizer to transform the structure of the school’s chaplaincy to a Catholic-Protestant-Jewish tri-ministry. Although Gendler had been trained in the conservative movement, he had always been, according to daughter Tamar Szabo Gendler ’83, “deep down, an ecumenical practitioner of religion.” So he led services for Jewish students and organized a Hebrew table at lunch, but also taught classes on non-Western religions while serving as an advisor to all students, regardless of their religious affiliation—or lack thereof. The Gendler house—which also included Naomi ’85 and Gendler’s wife, Mary—was open to all students, many of whom dined with the family at Friday dinners. It was a welcoming, open approach that tied in with
his Judaism, which, says Tamar, is really “a way to understand the universalities of the human experience.” So although Gendler, who has been a vegetarian since his youth in 1940s Iowa, established on-campus marks of religious ritual
In summer 2013, two campers at Camp Solomon Schechter in Washington release ladybugs into a garden to serve as natural predators of bugs (like aphids) that nibble on tomatoes. Andover | Spring 2014
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that were welcoming to students for whom they were tradition—a sukkah, or hut, for the harvest festival Sukkot and a mandala in the center of campus—they also appealed to students who were less familiar with them. And everyone appreciated the jack-o’-lanterns with which he decorated the synagogue at Halloween. But perhaps what stood out most, says Claudia Kraut Rimerman ’84, was an intentional awareness of the planet that Gendler shared with all students, a recognition that “God is creator of the planet; it was all about understanding God’s creation in a very accessible way.” That focus led his daughters to spearhead the establishment of The Gendler Grapevine Project, a six-year initiative that will combine funding and support for groups within the Jewish community that promote social justice and environmental action through 2018. Gendler retired in 1995 and has since kept busy traveling with Mary to India for two or
“We wanted to carry forth in the next generation the seeds of what [Rabbi Gendler] had planted in those who are now in their 40s.”
three months every year, meeting with Tibetan exiles to educate them in nonviolent struggle. His 80th birthday fell on August 8, 2008—80 on 08-08-08; “For someone who stopped the car when his odometer hit a palindrome, that’s about as exciting as it gets,” says Tamar, laughing. But five years later, there was no such interesting pattern, and his daughters searched for an appropriate way to honor the man, a gesture that would be a celebration of his legacy. The Gendler Grapevine was born. “The idea was to tie the values of the Torah together with concrete actions that will have meaning and are geographically spreadable,” says Rimerman. “So we’ll find clusters of people who can do something about the environment in a Jewish context but then also spread it to others outside of their communities.” Each year, a new kind of recipient will be chosen—in year one, that was Jewish summer camps; in year two, it’s rabbinical schools— with multiple grants offered, in amounts ranging from approximately $5,000 to $10,000. The first year, 10 summer camps shared $75,000 in gifts from board members and others. With the money, they built organic gardens, installed low-flow toilets, and hired fellows to teach campers about the environment. This year, the board hopes to double that amount.
—Tamar Szabo Gendler ’83 “We wanted to carry forth in the next generaExecutive committee members of the Gendler Grapevine include (back row, from left) Rachel Loeb, David Weil ’80, Naomi Gendler Camper ’86, Tamar Szabo Gendler ’83, Emily Loeb, Tajlei Levis ’85, and Claudia Kraut Rimerman ’84. Mary Gendler and Rabbi Everett Gendler are seated. This photo was taken at Rabbi Gendler’s 85th birthday celebration in Western Massachusetts.
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tion the seeds of what he’d planted in those who are now in their 40s,” says Tamar. The selection of recipients is not arbitrary, she says, explaining that board members look for high-leverage, low-cost projects. So the camps reached some 10,000 kids directly, but the campers then took the ideas home, for a net reach of perhaps 50,000 people. Another component of the Gendler Grapevine is a website that’s an archive of all of its namesake’s works, both articles he wrote and articles of which he is the focus. It’s a way to preserve Gendler’s teachings for all time, and even after his 90th birthday (which will be the sixth and final year of the funding project), the website will remain accessible. It also offers “Great Ideas
for You to Try,” suggestions for low-cost ways to and they’re hoping to hear from anyone who make environmentally sound changes around would like to be involved in some capacity. That the home. has been an unexpected gift. One of the most compelling aspects of the Gendler Grapevine is that Tamar and Naomi reached out to former PA classmates and other alums whom they knew had had some connection with their father during their years on campus, inviting them to be a part of the project. Rimerman was one who signed on; others are David Weil ’80 and Tajlei Levis ’85,
“For us, the reconnection has been extraordinary,” says Tamar of the PA alumni who are part of the project. And of her father, she says, “Each year, his birthday present is that he gets to give. It’s quite a legacy.” Sarah Zobel is a Vermont-based writer of profiles and features, primarily on health, wellness, and education.
PA’s Non Sibi Weekend Debuts More than 1,100 students, 200 faculty, and dozens of PA parents, staff, and alumni took part in the Academy’s recent Non Sibi Weekend and experienced a revitalized approach to one of the school’s core values. Held April 25 and 26, Non Sibi Weekend is the new model for Non Sibi Day, which was founded in 2007 and involved campus, local, and worldwide service projects. “The Community Service Office created several new developmentally appropriate learning experiences, provided participants with a strong educational context on the social issues involved in each program, and offered background information on community partners,” explained Monique Cueto-Potts, Community Service Program director. “Reflection activities—so important for lasting impact—were incorporated into every project, and we sponsored a special evening opportunity for interested participants to gather for further reflection.” Students also attended sessions with speakers or panels, viewed and discussed documentaries, and engaged in various activities with community partners. Off-campus opportunities, such as volunteering at the Greater Boston Food Bank, helping at Lawrence Habitat for Humanity, or clearing trails in the town of Andover’s conservation areas, were offered both days. The April 30 All-School Meeting featuring Biz Ghormley ’00 was devoted to a discussion of the Academy’s overarching non sibi values.
John Hurley
To view Non Sibi Weekend photos, visit www.phillipsacademy.smugmug.com and click “Student Life.”
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Talking Toilets A Q&A with “Philanthropunk” John Kluge ’01
Photos by Alexandra Westfall ’15, The Phillipian
The Clutch Collaborative, a student organization that promotes social entrepreneurship, hosted its annual conference in April. Guest speakers were Sam Worthington ’76, copresident of InterAction, which works to unite and coordinate international NGOs; Heather White ’76, who premiered her documentary on the Chinese electronics industry; and John Kluge ’01, cofounder of Toilet Hackers, a nonprofit committed to providing access to dignified sanitation to the 2.5 billion people worldwide without toilets. Janine Ko ’14, Clutch cochair, sat down for a chat with Kluge. Following is an edited version of their conversation.
ized that they had better facilities and access to what we take for granted—clean water and toilets—than the local villagers. I wondered why. But the turning point really came a few years later when I wanted to build a fund with some friends Kluge: There are few issues in the world that have the potential to invest in sanitation entrepreneurs. When we didn’t find to positively transform almost every other issue. In that many businesses, we had to ask why. We realized that it’s an way, sanitation is a catalytic opportunity. If you care about underserved market and a hugely neglected opportunity. education, if you care about global health, if you care about That became, in many ways, an impetus for action. the environment, if you care about jobs, if you care about national security, sanitation is where it’s at.
Ko: As chief disruption officer of Toilet Hackers, you’ve put yourself at the forefront of the movement to make toilets and basic sanitation accessible to all. Why?
Ko: In an interview with Ashoka [www.ashoka.org], you said it took you 10 years to find your cause. What was the turning point with toilets and sanitation for you?
Ko: Toilet Hackers has a humorous approach to marketing and advocating. Are there ever any questions or challenges when using humor?
Kluge: [laughs] Well, I know if no one laughs at some of our jokes, then we’ve reached a dead end. We hope we don’t push it too far, but if you try to tailor your messaging to Kluge: It started, maybe, in 2008, while visiting a refugee camp make every constituent comfortable and happy, you’ll never in Central African Republic, on the border of Darfur. I realbecome effective at communicating or advocating on behalf 44
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of a neglected issue. You have to stick out your neck and take the risk that someone may not like. In which case, generally, you find out.
Ko: As one of the guiding hands of the toilet team, have you become a toilet connoisseur? Do you check out toilets wherever you go? Kluge: All the time. [laughs] At the end of the day, my favorite toilet is the one that I’ve got at home, because it’s private. I think all people want their own toilet.
Ko: What is the best toilet you’ve ever seen? Kluge: For me, the best toilet is one that is safe and waterless, that is not polluting its environment, and that is being used by its local community.
Janine Ko ’14 and John Kluge ’01 share a few laughs during the interview.
Ko: You refer to yourself as a “philanthropunk,” a philanthropist with a punk rock sensibility. What does that mean?
that is tough, and there are days when it feels impossible— your funding disappears or your project fails…. In those Kluge: I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as a philanthro- moments, you have to fall back on that attitude that’s pist, although sometimes I get pegged as one. “Philanthrogoing to get you through it. Maybe that attitude is fueled pist” typically means you’ve got lots of money to spend—at by your love of something. Maybe it’s fueled by anger, and least in the Western, traditional sense of it—which is not the you’re pissed off about some issue. Whatever that is, that’s case for me. Most of my family’s resources are dedicated to the emotion that will help get you through those tough other philanthropic things, not sanitation. I consider myself moments. And that’s the attitude and the spirit of punk more of an entrepreneur or social entrepreneur. rock. It’s being a rebel, in a way, rejecting the status quo or rejecting a problem for existing. Being a rebel with a cause. Philanthropy’s Greek root, philanthropia, means “love of humanity.” You can check it out with Mr. Kip [PA Classics Ko: How did Andover’s non sibi motto influence you when instructor]. The combination of love of humanity and you were a student here, and is it influencing you now? punk—philanthropunk—is about the methodology of doing the work I do. In punk, you’ve got qualities that are Kluge: Non sibi was definitely in my consciousness and necessary for social entrepreneurs. One, you’ve got DIY. became more and more important when I left school. The You need to have the ability and desire to do things yourself, more I was able to focus on other people, the more I was because oftentimes people won’t do them for you or you’ll able to find greater confidence in myself and the work I was get let down. Two, you need to be highly collaborative. doing. When I left college, I volunteered for a small think Three, it’s dangerous, so you’re probably going to get poked tank in Washington, D.C., picking up food from cafeterias in the eye, elbowed, kicked in the shin, and bloodied up. It’s at government buildings, like the Library of Congress, and a bit like a mosh pit. You need to be fearless. feeding people at local shelters. Now non sibi is what I do. The other piece is attitude. Building a business is hard enough, but solving a wicked problem while trying to do
For more information, follow @ToiletHackers on Twitter or visit www.toilethackers.org.
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F r o m the Archiv es
Still getting to the root of it… Note from author Amy Morris… We received many letters in response to “Kemper and the Unkempt,” which ran in the winter issue of Andover. Drawing upon news reports, interviews with alumni, and documents from Andover’s Archive, I had pieced together a portrait of Phillips Academy at a time—the late 1960s and early 1970s—when students and faculty found themselves at odds over myriad issues, including whether boys should be allowed to wear their hair long. It is evident that, in many ways, the debate over hair was a proxy for larger issues of race, class, and identity. Though intergenerational conflict was a hallmark of the time, this conflict was uniquely heightened at Andover, where, thanks to the progressive vision of Headmaster John Kemper, the student body had never been more diverse— but the boys were forced to operate within the confines of what was still, at heart, a highly traditional institution. A letter from Charles Tansey ’69 (pictured at right) neatly captures the turmoil felt by many on campus.
“As the school year was ending, the simmering outrage over Andover’s hippie set reached a rolling boil. On May 25, 1969, a fight broke out behind Cochran Chapel between a PA student and a U.S. Marine on leave from Vietnam. Police broke it up with pepper spray. The widely reported incident allegedly started after PA students, wearing ‘peace’ armbands, passed out pamphlets opposing the Vietnam War at the town’s Memorial Day parade.” —from “Kemper and the Unkempt,” by Amy Morris Andover, winter 2014
Charles Tansey ’69 writes: I am that PA student who got in the fight with the Marine. Does that make me a hippie, and/or the high point of the rolling boil at Andover in 1969? The facts of that event have actually never been documented. That’s because I was never asked by the media to explain what happened and, as far as I can tell, nor was the Marine. And frankly, over the years I preferred to just let it go. Well, I’ve changed my mind: I’d like to set the record straight. And while I’m at it, I’d also like to say something about John Mason Kemper, Freddie McClendon, and the Andover school year of 1968–69. First, the facts about the fight: • I had helped make the peace armbands. I carved a peace sign on a bar of soap, and stamped it on strips of torn bedsheets.
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• A number of PA students were wearing armbands with peace signs that day, including my younger brother (Joel Tansey ’71). • I did not wear an armband that day. • I did not hand out pamphlets either. In fact, I had not heard of any pamphlets being handed out. • During the morning, the word got around PA that there was a group of 5 to 10 or more young men from the town of Andover who were ranging the parade route and ripping off the peace armbands. They were also shoving and hitting the students who wore them. One PA student (it was later reported) was sent to the hospital with a concussion. • I’d been sitting out by Rabbit Pond when I heard about it.
• The word was that the Andover police were standing back and not intervening. • I went to my room in Stearns House, put on a cup I used for karate class, an old pair of black Levi’s, and some thick-soled black leather shoes. • Then I went out to see what could be done. • I encountered what appeared to be the group from town about 30 feet southwest of the left corner of the front portal of Cochran Chapel (on the PA campus).
• The one who responded, however, responded immediately, taking his wallet out of his back pocket, and handing it to a friend.
• All of a sudden, I heard a lot of swearing. I couldn’t make it out for sure, but it appeared the cop had left.
• Immediately after that he lunged at me—grappling me around the midsection. I turned, and he went by me and fell down forward. I lost balance and fell on top of him.
• Not that I cared: my adversary kept pushing up, so I had to keep pushing down.
• He tried to get up. I tried to keep him from doing so.
• Moments later there was a quick glimpse of another cop—or maybe two—and there was another warning: “Stop, or I’ll Mace you.”
• He was heavier, I was taller, but it didn’t make any difference: we were too close to each other to do any bodily harm.
• Again, my adversary didn’t stop, so I didn’t stop.
• The members of the group were dressed in Levi’s, Levi jackets, T-shirts, sleeveless sweatshirts, boots, and that sort of thing. None of them was in uniform.
• After a few moments I heard a warning. I got a brief peripheral glimpse of a cop. You could hear him above the crowd noise. He said he would Mace us if we didn’t stop.
• I walked up to the group and told them to knock it off.
• But we didn’t stop: my adversary kept trying to get up, so I kept trying to hold him down.
• When I opened my eyes— which could only be done for nanoseconds—my adversary was sitting next to me with his head in his hands. Sitting next to him was a cop who also had his head in his hands.
• Only one of them responded (fortunately).
• Then we got Maced. I quickly sat on the ground, and so did he.
• I figured out later that the cop who was sitting there was the first cop Andover | Spring 2014
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He was from around Andover. He was on leave, which is why he wasn’t in uniform. He had just come from Vietnam and would be going back in a matter of weeks. He was based in Da Nang. He had seen a number of buddies injured and several killed. He had enlisted because he was given no choice: he had been on the wrong side of the law in town and had been told by a local judge that the only way to stay out of prison was to enlist. He joined the Marines. • He was 17 at the time he joined up. Now he was 19, less than a year older than me.
to reach us—the one who had disappeared. He had Maced himself.
• He asked me where I was from, and I told him, California. That got the conversation started: he had seen some part of California on his way to the war. At the end of a period of time (not sure if it was long or short), we had shared quite a bit.
• We were put in a squad car and taken downtown to the Andover jail. We were put in two jail cells. I think they were the only two jail cells in the building. The bars were flat and painted greenish, and the two cells were right next to each other.
But it was the events
• We didn’t say anything for a long time. My adversary finally broke the silence and offered me some gum.
changes took place, fundamental
• I waved him off. I’m still not sure whether it was lack of courage on my part or just a lack of decency.
we thought about
• A lot of time went by and then he started talking—as if he didn’t care whether I responded or not. • Here’s his story: he was a Marine.
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inside PA, among us—we students ourselves—where the greatest
changes in the way ourselves, about the world, and about our place in it.
• Then the VFW came and released him. We shook hands, not because we had to, but because we had achieved some sort of—I don’t know how to describe it—vague level of peace that we both wanted to preserve. I actually felt for the guy. And I liked that he didn’t seem to think I’d behaved as stupidly as I was beginning to think I had. • PA came a few minutes later, and then I was out. • That was it—not much of a story—but Andover magazine now has the truth from somebody who was actually involved, something the Boston Globe, WBZ, and the other media outlets didn’t consider necessary. John Mason Kemper. Of course, it wasn’t over. After getting out of jail, I had to walk back up the hill and go—first thing—to see the Headmaster. Andover was not known for being sentimental about bad behavior. Members of my class had been expelled for committing a fraction of what I had just done. And John Mason Kemper was a West Point man. Though nobody knew that afternoon what a big deal the press was going to make of it, I was pretty sure I was going to get the boot—two weeks before graduation, with matriculation to Brown in the fall at risk. That prompted another thought—one that hadn’t occurred to me before: if Brown wouldn’t take me, I would lose my 2S student deferment from the draft, which meant I would get classified 1A. I could be headed to Vietnam too—along with this Marine—and everybody else who wasn’t deferred. Here’s what happened: • It was still Memorial Day, so nobody was in GW—not even Dickie [Thiras].
I grew older I would learn many things, much as I had today, and that I would learn to exercise better judgment.
Russell Munson
• That was that. Freddie McClendon. First of all, thanks for the focus on Freddie McClendon and the other African American class presidents. Here’s how I remember Freddie: he competed for the Draper declamation prize in the fall of 1968. That’s where you get up in front of Headmaster John Kemper the whole of the PA student body in GW Hall—at 10 a.m. or so in the morning—and deliver, onstage, a • Though I’d never been in his office, literary piece that you have memorized. I knew where it was, and went in. It is a venue specifically designed • He was sitting behind his desk and to provoke the creative audience gestured me to sit in the chair in responses of a Holden Caulfield or front of the desk. He was smoking. his buddy, Edgar Marsalla. Freddie In fact, there was a lot of smoke. chose the passage from Ralph Ellison’s • He said that he was aware I’d been Invisible Man, which begins, “I am invisible…” OK, at this distance in some trouble and that this in time this might not sound like a trouble might bring disrespect to the Academy. He would like me to great breakthrough kind of dramatic moment—but I for one, have never explain what had happened. read the book and I still remember • I explained it—pretty much those lines—and Freddie standing as above. up there by himself in the middle of the GW stage saying, “I am invisible.” • While I was talking, I noticed Looking for what happened that year? that the smoke would occupy his There’s a good start. gaze from time to time, as if he were trying to find some sort of Finally, about the Andover school year algorithm to explain how it moved 1968–69. I entered Andover in the fall through space. of 1967 as an upper. I came back in the • When I was done, there was a fall of 1968 as a senior. In the space of long quiet. that one year, the mood at Andover had • The Headmaster had these incred- changed utterly and completely. The first year, I felt like I had arrived at the ibly penetrating gray-blue eyes. top of the world—and quite frankly, And there was a kind of deviltry there was no question about it—I had. in them—as if he might dispense a sardonic quip at any moment— The second year, it was like the top of the world had just disappeared. I one that would level the planet. don’t think it can be explained entirely • He finally leaned forward, and by the events that occurred outside looking down at his ashtray and the institution: as devastating as the then at me, he suggested that as assassinations were and as charged
as everything else was, you could still get your arms around them and comprehend what the impact was and why. But it was the events inside PA, among us—we students ourselves— where the greatest changes took place, fundamental changes in the way we thought about ourselves, about the world, and about our place in it. I think that these changes altered the Andover experience—and altered it permanently. Granted, it’s just conjecture. The fact is, I’ve never been able to put my finger on what these changes were. The article on long hair, etc., is a step in the right direction—and many thanks for publishing it! I am sure there is much more to be said on this topic among the alumni of the time—insights and experience that could help piece it all together—what happened, and why everything changed for us. But I also suspect that many—perhaps those who know best—found it distinctly painful and would prefer to just let it go. Editor’s note: Patrick Lenfest, the Marine involved in the scuffle, honorably served from July 1967 to June 1970. He passed away in November 1999. After Brown, Charles Tansey went to Chase Manhattan Bank. He spent 20 years in corporate banking and finance, and 20 years in community development finance. He was a Clinton appointee at the SBA and was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Recently retired, he is married with two children.
This letter has been lightly edited. To read other letters received in response to “Kemper and the Unkempt,” please visit www.andover.edu/magazine.
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C ONNE CTION 1
Spring Forum Marks 40 Years of Coeducation To mark the 40th anniversary of coeducation and encourage discussion about gender, race, leadership, and social equity, PA hosted the “Coed@40 Spring Forum,” which launched on April 2 with a student-led panel discussion about race and gender. The forum heated up on April 4 with a keynote speech by educator, coach, and best-selling author Rachel Simmons and, throughout the weekend, offered numerous opportunities for students and Abbot Academy alumnae to share their stories and discuss mentoring opportunities and leadership
issues. A strong turnout of both current students and Abbot alumnae made for a weekend rich with meaningful exchanges and lots of laughter. Nancy Donnelly Bliss, Abbot Academy’s Class of 1954 secretary, sent a letter to classmates who were unable to attend the forum. In it, she wrote: “Know that the weekend was exciting and that I left with a good feeling about the present students as well as believing that the PA community has a better, valid picture of our special Abbot Academy. Our history will not be lost.”
“I spoke to some women about the culture of Abbot Academy around the time of the merger, and their descriptions made me want to turn back time and attend Abbot in 1973.” —Rani Iyer ’15 2
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4
Photos by John Hurley, Steve Porter, and Tracy Sweet
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“Having come of age during the early days of the women’s movement and having been put to the test in the very male environment at PA, I found it heartening that so many young women at PA are once again looking critically at what it means to be female. I applaud and was impressed by the attitude of exploration and selfanalysis I saw at Andover.”
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—Mary F. McCabe ’71
1. History and social science instructor Kathleen Dalton chats with Justine Wang ’15.
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2. Nancy Bliss ’54 is interviewed by Benjamin Yi ’14 during the oral history session in McKeen Hall. 3. Rani Iyer ’15 addresses the crowd during a special dinner with Abbot alumnae. 4. Head of School John Palfrey visits the opening reception for What Artists Study, an alumni art exhibition in the Steinbach Gallery in G.W. Hall. From left: artists Chris Fitch ’83 and Thayer Zaeder ’83, Palfrey, artist Angela Lorenz ’83, PA art instructor Peg Harrigan, and visitor Theodore Jyck. 5. Educator and best-selling author Rachel Simmons (blue dress) gathers with PA students and Coed@40 coordinators Tracy Ainsworth and Jenny Elliott for dinner in the School Room. 6. Students gave keynote speaker Rachel Simmons a standing ovation. She addressed topics such as leadership, strategies for better communication between girls and boys, and healthy risk-taking. 7. Current students joined Abbot Academy alumnae in McKeen Hall to hear firsthand what it was like to be an Abbot student. 8. Mary McCabe ’71 and Alex Tamkin ’14 share a laugh during Saturday’s oral history training. The Coed@40 Spring Forum was organized jointly by the Coed@40 Committee, Abbot Academy Association, Department of Art, Office of Academy Resources, and Department of Theatre and Dance.
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C ONNE CTION
Photos by Deborah Latta
“Andover family” on hand to congratulate Becky Dowling Calder ’94 ( fourth from right) in Annapolis, Md., included, from left, Calder’s sister Mollie Dowling ’97, former coach Karen Kennedy, former basketball teammates Heather Brown Lewis ’93 and Laurie Coffey ’95, sister Jennifer Dowling Champlin ’93, former basketball teammate Tammy Sanchez ’91, and former assistant coach Lisa Joel ’88.
Another First for Becky Dowling Calder ’94 She made history in 1998 by becoming the first female pilot to graduate from the U.S. Navy’s elite “Top Gun” Fighter Weapons School and then went on to fly F/A-18 Hornet jets with distinction. On January 11, Becky Dowling Calder ’94 achieved a first of a different sort when she became the first player in Navy women’s basketball history to have her jersey retired. Calder was a key player in the first era of successful Navy women’s basketball teams in the Patriot League and a member of the graduating class of 1998 that established a Navy record with 80 career wins. Also an outstanding athlete at PA, she was inducted into the inaugural Andover Athletics Hall of Honor in 2008. Calder opened her speech at the U.S. Naval Academy ceremony
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by expressing gratitude to, among others, her “Andover family”: coaches Karen Kennedy and Lisa Joel ’88, athletic trainer Kathy Birecki, and Andover teammates Tammy Sanchez ’91, Heather Brown Lewis ’93, Laurie Coffey ’95, and Abby Harris ’96. “Awards are not necessarily for you,” Calder said, “but for all those around you who supported you and who helped you become the best version of yourself. “My basketball career started at Andover, and to have my coaches and teammates and friends come to Annapolis to share this event with me was truly overwhelming,” Calder wrote in a recent e-mail. “I wouldn’t have received this honor if Karen [Kennedy], my soccer and basketball coach, didn’t push me to strive to
play basketball for a Division I school. She encouraged me and helped me through four years of sports and, more importantly, life. She was a true mentor and friend.” Both humbled and proud to have her number retired, Calder said that knowing she won’t be the last makes her the happiest. “There are so many women who are just as deserving,” she said, “and it makes me feel good that what happened today will lead to others receiving the same honor.” “Becky led by example, inspiring teammates, opponents, officials, sportswriters, and many others,” says Kennedy. “Still to this day, officials and local sportswriters recall her as one of the best female basketball players to ever
graduate from a Massachusetts high school. “Her combination of humility and humor is still evident. During her address at the event, she asked, ‘Are they sure? Did they actually check the record books?’—to a roar of laughter. This is just another one of her great successes, raising the ceiling for girls and women. It was a privilege to share a portion of her journey, to acknowledge her accomplishments while at Andover, and to revel as she gives forward to the next generation of girls.” —Jill Clerkin
Photos by Steve Porter
A Fallen Alum Remembered Praise, tribute, and non sibi were the order of the day on a crisp, clear April evening when the Andover community gathered to honor the memory of Lt. Cmdr. Erik Kristensen, USN, SEAL, PA ’91. Kristensen was killed in 2005 while leading an operation to rescue four fellow SEALs as part of Operation Red Wings in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan. The evening began with a service at Memorial Place near Borden Gym. Among the many in attendance were Erik’s parents, Adm. Edward and Mrs. Suzanne Kristensen. “When I come up from D.C., I normally bring snow, but today I bring sunshine,” said Cmdr. Robert Patrick ’88 as he opened the service. “Erik demonstrated the profound impact one person can have on so many.” Erik rowed crew while at Andover, and members of boys’ and girls’ crew were out in force to pay their respects. “We’re just
so humbled right now. There’s a lot to live up to, following in his footsteps,” remarked Auguste White ’17. “Friends have come from Tokyo, Virginia, Seattle, all over the globe to be here tonight,” said trustee Tom Beaton ’73 to the military brass, students, alumni, and distinguished guests who packed 10 long tables in Paresky’s upper left dining hall following the service. “For me, Erik’s legacy is in the students that join us here tonight and in those who will come here for generations to come.” Students presented special Andover Veteran pins and commemorative T-shirts, proceeds of which go to the Erik Kristensen Scholarship for Summer Session. Beaton also had a surprise for the Kristensens—renowned portraiture artist and sculptor Chas Fagan ’84 will sculpt a bust of their son as a tribute to his sacrifice.
“Gangly, goofy, way too tall to be in high school. It was impossible not to be happy around Erik,” read Mrs. Suzanne Kristensen from a letter written by Melinda Page ’91. Adm. Edward Kristensen then read a letter by Navy SEAL Ben Smith: “This school produces history. This is not a requiem or memorial to Erik, but proof that he still lives on in our hearts.” A bagpiper led the assembled guests to Cochran Chapel. Prior to a screening of Lone Survivor, which is based on Operation Red Wings, Head of School John Palfrey presented letters from Presidents George H.W. Bush ’42 and George W. Bush ’64. Erik’s parents also spoke.
questions from the audience. “I was crying uncontrollably throughout the service, and I know I was not alone,” said Jamie Chen ’15, editor of The Phillipian. “He is a role model and hero to all of us in the Andover community.”
Following the film, five SEALs took the stage and answered
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C ONNE CTION
the Buzzzzz
z
On a snowy January night, left wing Chris Kreider ’10 and the New York Rangers blew past goalie Cory Schneider ’04 and the New Jersey Devils in a 7–3 victory in an outdoor NHL series at iconic Yankee Stadium… Attorney Matthew Caffrey ’84 has been named chair of Lawrence General Hospital’s board of trustees…
Actress and activist Olivia Wilde ’02; newly elected Boston mayor Marty Walsh’s chief of staff, Daniel Arrigg Koh ’03; and online food entrepreneur Ali Rosen ’03 were named to Forbes magazine’s 2014 30 Under 30… Yale professor and climate change economist Bill Nordhaus ’59 has been elected president of the American Economic Association…
Peabody Advisory Committee member Daniel Sandweiss ’75 has been elected to the board of the Society for American Archaeology…
With a record 28 national singles titles, Jay Nelson ’59 has been named to the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame… Bunky Carter ’61 took first place and Geoff Gratwick ’61 came in third in the senior/masters division of the 2013 Head Of The Charles Regatta… Peter Palandjian ’82, chair and CEO of Intercontinental Real Estate Corp., was named one of Boston Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEOs—Small/Midsized Companies”…
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Jennifer Cecere ’69 will soon begin work on a suspended sculpture for Little Italy–University Circle station in Cleveland, to be installed in 18 months… Rob Patrick ’88 has been selected as deputy executive assistant to the chief of naval operations at the Pentagon—and he is ranked number one on the Pentagon squash ladder…
In an essay in Defining Ideas: A Hoover Institution Journal, political scientist Amy Zegart ’85 argues that the notion of an American foreign policy grand strategy in the post–9/11 world is a relic of Cold War thinking… After a four-month search, the Randolph, Mass., School Committee selected Thomas Anderson ’89 to head the town’s public schools, identified as “underperforming” by the state since 2006…
The American Ornithologists’ Union bestowed its highest honor, the William Brewster Award, on James V. Remsen ’67, aa natural-science professor at Louisiana State University and leading expert on neotropical birds…
At the Helen Hayes Theatre in April, Carrie St. Louis ’08 made her Broadway debut in the lead role of Sherrie in the hit musical Rock of Ages…
Isabel Ritchie ’05’s band the Strumbellas won the best “Roots & Traditional Album of the Year— Group” award at the 2013 Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys) for their album We Still Move On Dance Floors… As chief operating officer, Rob Bohorad ’90 is helping to bring back Yuengling’s Ice Cream after a 30-year hiatus (the Black and Tan—a swirl of rich Belgian chocolate and salty caramel ice cream—sounds especially delicious)… Bill de Blasio, New York City's mayor, named Tom Finkelpearl ’74 the city’s cultural affairs commissioner…
Playwright/screenwriter Victoria Stewart ’88’s comedy Rich Girl played at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston this past April…
Violinist Arianna Warsaw-Fan ’04 and cellist Meta Weiss ’05’s classical music ensemble duoW successfully crowd-funded a short film based on a track from their acclaimed first album Entendre…
In April, The Supreme Price, based on the life of Hafsat Abiola ’92, was screened at the Independent Film Festival Boston. The film chronicles Abiola’s return to her native Nigeria to establish a women’s democracy initiative following the assassination of her activist mother and mysterious death of her imprisoned father, the former president of the country…
New York City
Photos by Jen Hout, Gail Mansfield, and Jenny Savino
Los Angeles
Hallowell, Maine
Phillips Academy Alumni Events, May–September 2014 National & International Events June 27 Mumbai
Hong Kong
Andover and Exeter Alumni Gathering (with Niswarth students and faculty visiting from PA and PEA)
July 26
Martha’s Vineyard With Dean of Admission & Financial Aid Jim Ventre ’79
July 27
Nantucket
With Dean of Admission & Financial Aid Jim Ventre ’79
Aug. 10
Berkshires
Tanglewood Concert & Brunch, hosted by Don Shapiro ’53
Aug. 24
Boston
Seattle vs. Red Sox
Sept. 4
New York
Yankees vs. Red Sox
Sept. 6
Washington, D.C.
Phillies vs. Nationals
Sept. 13
New York
Fourth Annual Todd Isaac Memorial Basketball Game
Sept. 25
Boston
Tampa vs. Red Sox
Campus Events Jupiter, Fla.
Vero Beach, Fla.
May 10
Grandparents’ Day
May 24
Softball Field Dedication
May 31
A Contemporary Abbot Bazaar
June 8
Commencement
June 12
Reunion Weekend Begins
June 13
Abbot Academy Alumnae Dinner
June 14
Coed@40 Alumni Panel and Program
For the most up-to-date listings, visit the Office of Alumni Engagement event calendar at www.andover.edu/alumni.
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a n d o v e r BOOKSH ELF
The Idea of Him by Holly Peterson ’83 William Morrow Allie Crawford has it all: glamorous job, lovely children, Manhattan apartment, and desirable husband in the form of hotshot magazine editor Wade Crawford. But when Allie learns some unsavory secrets about her husband, her tidy universe collapses. Set in the glitzy world of New York intelligentsia, The Idea of Him explores deception and, more pointedly, self-deception: What happens when our notions of those around us prove to be merely convenient illusions? Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater by Eddie Shapiro ’87 Oxford University Press Theatre journalist Shapiro, demonstrating an impressive degree of access, presents candid interviews with 20 female Broadway stars. The list reads like a theatrical who’s who, stretching from Carol Channing to Kristin Chenoweth. Readers will be hooked from the moment Shapiro sits down to tea at the Carlyle Hotel with Elaine Stritch, who tells him, “I probably did drink too much, but I was never drunk on the stage in my life.” Writing with the Master by Tony Vanderwarker ’61 Skyhorse Publishing The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock by Tanya Selvaratnam ’88 Prometheus Books A writer, producer, actor, and activist, Selvaratnam spent her young adulthood blithely assuming that she could postpone parenthood until the perfect moment. She was far from alone in this. “Society has evolved to encourage women to delay motherhood, but our bodies have not evolved to allow for that delay,” she writes. The Big Lie, says Selvaratnam, is that “women can do what they want on their own timetables,” and that the hard-won gains of feminism can supersede the limitations of the biological clock. In her journey through the maze of infertility, Selvaratnam learned otherwise. Married at 37 and pregnant two months later, Selvaratnam underwent a series of devastating miscarriages. Then, in the course of pursuing in vitro fertilization, she received a cancer diagnosis; later, her marriage disintegrated. But Selvaratnam is an optimist at heart, and her wrenchingly honest book is hardly a plea for pity. Part memoir, part manifesto, part self-help manual, the book is full of information the author wishes she had had at the outset. She implores women to educate themselves about the realities of their reproductive capacities—while at the same time exhorting them to uphold feminist principles and pursue professional goals. It’s a fine line to walk. “I will share my story,” she writes, “so that others can avoid my mistakes—and make better decisions about their own futures.”
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Tony Vanderwarker was given a priceless gift: After penning seven unpublished novels, he accepted a pal’s offer of writing help. The pal was bestselling author John Grisham, and Writing with the Master documents the illuminating, sometimes painful experience of working under Grisham’s brutally honest tutelage. The process resulted in two books: this one and Sleeping Dogs, a thriller that Vanderwarker wrote with a little help from his friend. How to Prepare a Standout College Application by Alison Cooper Chisolm and Anna Ivey ’90 Jossey-Bass Must students earn stellar grades and top test scores to win today’s ultracompetitive college-admissions race? The authors reject that model in favor of a more holistic approach: An outstanding application, they say, tells a story and captures a student’s passion, talent, initiative, and impact. That might sound harder to convey than grades and test scores, but the authors demystify the process and make it seem eminently doable.
Rush to Gold: The French and the California Gold Rush by Malcolm J. Rohrbough ’50 Yale University Press Among the throngs who raced to California after gold was found at Sutter’s Mill in 1848 were 30,000 French citizens. Unrest and sweeping change in France made emigration particularly attractive to many in that country, especially after tales of fantastic wealth began to filter back to Europe from California. This fascinating and littleknown chapter of Gold Rush history is recounted in detail in Rohrbough’s definitive work. New Water by Anthony Robinson ’49 Bluestone An unwelcome encounter on a ski lift. An impromptu road trip that ends in a tangle with petty bureaucrats. A neighbor with a noisy dog. A battle that pits professor against snapping turtle. These are some of the situations and characters readers will encounter in this new collection of short stories. The surfaces seem ordinary enough, but in Robinson’s world, something unexpected always lurks just beneath.
INADDITION
The Last Enchantments by Charles Finch ’98 St. Martin’s Press
A Portrait in Time by Charles J. Schneider ’80 Brighton Publishing The Time Is Always Now: Black Thought and the Transformation of US Democracy by Nick Bromell ’68 Oxford University Press Why People Do What They Do by Emilio Iasiello ’87 Deerhawk Publications
This new novel from the author of the successful Charles Lenox mysteries is a decided departure. It takes place at a very specific intersection: that of 20-somethings at Oxford University in the aftermath of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Narrator Will Baker worked for the Kerry campaign; disillusioned after his candidate’s loss, he decamps to graduate school at Oxford. The city of dreaming spires proves the perfect refuge. Will leaves behind girlfriend Alison, who fears their relationship won’t weather the yearlong separation. She’s not wrong to worry: Will is quickly swept up in an Oxford social scene that involves partying, punting, and playing around—mostly, for Will, with beautiful fellow student Sophie. Will and Alison, predictably, are history before the end of Michaelmas term.
Equitable Sharing by Thomas Kleven ’60 Lexington Books
—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.
But this isn’t a story of romance gone wrong; rather, it’s a portrait of that moment when the first flush of youthful idealism begins to give way to something more pragmatic. Finch writes, “Here is something everyone starts saying to each other when they turn 26 or 27… When you’re finally a grown-up, one of the things you find out is that there are no grown-ups.” The elegiac tone may remind readers of F. Scott Fitzgerald, though these gilded youth aren’t destined for dissipation. Instead, they appear headed toward lives of conventional success, but with few regrets: “No matter how it had ended,” Finch writes, “still I wouldn’t change any of it.”
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1989 1985
Remember when?
1984
See more, page 29.
1985 1996
1996
1987
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1997
www.andover.edu/intouch CL ASS NOT ES
1935 ABBOT
Doris Schwartz Lewis 250 Hammond Pond Pkwy., Apt. 515S Chestnut Hill MA 02467 617-244-7302 doss123@webtv.net
1936 ABBOT
1987
2010
1994
2006
Lucy H. Winship Heritage Heights 149 E. Side Drive P.O. Box 350 Concord NH 03301 603-225-7109 lhwinship@comcast.net
1937 PHILLIPS
John Foskett 4694 Rue Bayou Sanibel FL 33957 239-472-1726 jdfoskett@gmail.com
1938 ABBOT & PHILLIPS
Dana Lynch ’68 P.O. Box 370539 Montara CA 94037-0539 650-728-8238 Dana.h.lynch@gmail.com
[Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Elliot S. Tarlow passed away on Nov. 18, 2013. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
1978 1996
1939 PHILLIPS
Joseph F. Anderson P.O. Box 482 Lower Hollow Road Dorset VT 05251 802-867-4119 jfanders@truvista.net
The sands of time continue to flow quite freely as it becomes increasingly difficult to reach all living classmates. The Andover records—understandably, given our ages—are quite erratic. This suggests various ways to determine the whereabouts of an Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... individual. “Bird-dogging” involves checking through the official white pages and telephone information. All too often, having succeeded, we find our classmate’s phone is no longer in service. This means, of course, that he has moved to a life-care residence or perhaps the hospital or maybe is no longer alive. Thus is the status of the Class of 1939 and its average age of 92. Many of us, fortunately, are still moving about, taking nourishment and phone calls and living fulfilling lives. Jack Castles is a good example of fortitude and perseverance at age 92. He and wife Mindy now live year-round at their beautiful home in Callawassie, S.C. Mindy is recovering—“improving steadily,” says Jack—from a fall. For his part, Jack is still hampered by a wobbly ankle. Wearing a boot, he plays golf regularly. “Eighteen holes, Jack?” “Of course,” he says. In addition to his golf, Jack recently took time to write a 95-page book, An Odyssey through Time with Ancestors and Family. He is very proud of two grandsons and their golfing prowess: Jimmy, 17, just missed the cut for a spot in the U.S. Amateur, while Johnny,19, is captain of the Caltech golf team. I had another enjoyable conversation with Win Bernhard, who lives with his wife at their home in Amherst, Mass. Win, who followed his Andover years with a Harvard degree, taught American history throughout his working life. After teaching stints at Columbia and Duke, he joined the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, where he taught for 36 years. His particular scholarly interest is early American history, with an emphasis on New England. The Bernhards have two grandchildren and a second home in the Adirondacks, near Ticonderoga, N.Y., where they spend summers. Danny Dannenbaum, a fine athlete at Andover and Yale, continues to be handicapped from a shoulder injury that occurred when he had a fall. “I’ll be on a walker for the rest of my life, but I’m quite adept with it,” says Danny. He enjoys social activities where he is able to sit down, he continues. The Dannenbaums look forward to the summer months, when they live at their home of many years in Stockton Springs, Maine. I had a most interesting conversation with Charlie Donovan, who attended Andover when his dad, Patrick Donovan, a former major leaguer, joined the school as baseball coach in 1938. Originally from Lowell, Mass., Charlie graduated from Dartmouth, and after a career that included owning his own manufacturing company, he became a management consultant. His last career move was to become an English teacher at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa., where he still lives. Herb Fletcher and Mona, his wife of 67 years, continue to enjoy life in Tarzana, Calif. “The climate is wonderful,” says Herb, who, in his work in international film distribution, lived all over the world. I asked Herb if he could recommend any good movies. His response was that he had not viewed many films recently but had heard The Butler was very good. Jack Leitch and Charlotte, his wife of two years,
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are thriving in their residence at a life-care community in Laconia, N.H. Jack, as you might remember, met Charlotte as she and two other ladies from the community were on their way to dinner. The ladies invited Jack, whose wife of 68 years had recently died, to join them, and he suggested he be the host. He not only got the check, he also found a new wife. Between them the Leitches have 17 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Quite a family and quite a story. After 35 years in Brockton, Mass., Faelton Perkins and his wife, Pauline, are moving to a condominium in Ewing, N.J. “It’s close to Pauline’s son and daughter,” says Faelton. A blood disorder concerned him for a while, but the situation is much improved, according to Faelton. The Perkins family enjoyed a great Christmas dinner, with 27 in attendance. I spoke with Lilian, Ralph Smith’s wife of many years. They met in Paris when he was in the Foreign Service. Ralph is now 92 and Lilian 90. She told me Ralph had health problems and had moved to Kensington, a Washington, D.C., health-care facility. She reports it is very nice and “keeps his mind going.” Dorie and Don Quarles, with 65 years of marriage, are living on Cape Cod, at their home located in Eastham, Mass. Both sound fine, and during my initial conversation with Dorie she told me they had met in graduate school at Yale. A graduate of Harvard, Dorie was particularly proud of carrying the banner at her 50th reunion. Don, steady as always, said his involvement with former career pursuits consisted of reading a few math journals. I had hoped to talk with Harry Anderson about his new book but was unable to reach him. I also could not reach Jack Sullivan, Tom Flournoy, or Vern Williams. If any of you have news of a classmate on whom I have not reported, please let me know. As for the Joseph Andersons, we’re here in South Carolina, braving the worst winter in the state’s history. Fortunately, however, we’re not in Vermont, where sub-zero is the norm. If the spirit moves you, please drop me a line at P.O. Box 2454, Camden SC 29020. Best wishes to everyone.
1940 ABBOT Nadene Nichols Lane 125 Coolidge Ave. #610 Watertown MA 02472 617-924-1981
I had a very interesting winter. In February I visited my daughter and grandson in London. On to Dubai for weeks to be with another daughter. Later to Islamabad, Pakistan, to be with a granddaughter and her three children. In reverse from Dubai to London to Boston at the end of April. A very interesting trip, very happy and filled with love. —Nadene Lane
PHILLIPS
Blake Flint 1762 Bay St. #401 Sarasota FL 34236-7751 941-955-9396 cbflint@comcast.net
Manny Cadenas is living in Coral Gables, Fla., and doing well. He had hoped to attend the reunion in 2013 but wasn’t able to do so; he is definitely looking forward to being there in 2014. Manny works out at a gym every day and still plays golf a couple times a week. His children come to visit and to play golf with Manny. Tracy Dickson is living in New London, N.H., and taking up golf at the age of 91! (He can no longer play tennis.) Tracy and his wife are both in good health and taking some adult courses nearby. They spent about 10 years “antiquing,” until deciding that all of us are getting close to being antiques! They travel occasionally to Tucson, Ariz., to visit Tracy’s sister and brother-in-law. They have two grandsons. One is 22 and is in Brooklyn, N.Y., and works for Nike, setting up new stores. The other is 18 and in Orlando, Fla., attending a school for motorcycle mechanics. Tracy retired in 1990 and has enjoyed every minute of his retirement years. Fred Higbie and I had a great visit on the telephone. Fred was in our class at Andover from 1937 to 1938 but finished up at Westminster. He was a Navy pilot during the war. He spent most of his life in San Francisco, where he was a partner in White, Weld & Co. It was acquired by Merrill Lynch, where he became a vice president. He didn’t retire until 2002. He is living in La Quinta, Calif., and admits to having just come off the golf course 10 minutes before I called him! Fred is most fortunate—he and his wife spent the holidays in the Bay Area, where his two daughters and three grandchildren live. One of the daughters built a villa on her property to accommodate Fred when he visits. Patrick Grove-White passed away on Oct. 28, 2012. Pat will be remembered as our gentleman from London. Unfortunately, since we just learned of his death, we do not have an obituary. However, recalling Pat’s fortitude, we know he had an illustrious wartime experience. John Morse passed away on Sept. 6, 2013, after a short illness. John retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Air Force, where he had served a full 30 years. He began his career flying B-17s in World War II and did two tours with air-sea rescue in Vietnam. After retiring, John continued flying through private instrument flight instruction at WrightPatterson Aero Club. He gave liberally of his time to church and nonprofit organizations, including a food pantry and interfaith hospitality services. Don Cole died peacefully at home on Oct. 5, 2013. Don was at Andover four years and was one of the scholars of the class, besides participating in basketball, football, and baseball. He enlisted in the Navy, where he served as a lieutenant and led landing-craft missions in Okinawa and Guam. He earned master’s and PhD degrees, and in 1947 he
www.andover.edu/intouch joined the history department at Phillips Exeter Academy. He served as history department chair and was named Robert Shaw White Professor of History and dean of faculty. He wrote 10 books, including Immigrant City: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845–1921 and Vindicating Andrew Jackson, published in his 87th year. He earned numerous grants and awards, including the Yale University Secondary School Teaching Award and New England History Teachers Association’s Kidger Award. And he and Tootie, his wife of 65 years, were rabid Boston Red Sox fans. R.I.P.
1941 PHILLIPS William D. Cochran 233 Ash St. Weston MA 02493 781-894-8067 wmdco@aol.com
[Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Jay Levinsohn passed away on Jan. 19, 2014. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
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
The arrival of spring is always a joyous occasion. Winter snow and ice have melted, and the sand has been removed from the sidewalks. The grass is turning green, the forsythia is in bloom, and robins are arriving from winter watering holes. Unfortunately, not much news has arrived from our 88 surviving classmates. This is sad, because I’m sure that among our survivors there must be goings-on that are worthy of publication. Lacking any current news from classmates, I would like to reminisce about events I remember from when we were young and in our salad days as students at PA. I arrived on campus as a senior in September 1941. Although I had already graduated from high school and had been accepted at Yale, my parents thought a year of seasoning at Andover would make life at Yale easier. Checking into my dorm, Day Hall, I noticed that not only were all of the walls wallpapered instead of painted, there were several layers of paper on each wall. I thought this
unusual, and after making inquiries I was told that a wealthy alumnus who manufactured wallpaper had died and left his entire inventory of wallpaper to Andover. There must have been an enormous amount, because almost all dormitory walls were papered. Can anyone confirm this? Are the walls still covered with wallpaper? Another reminiscence is about Dr. Claude Fuess, our headmaster. A distinguished scholar with numerous degrees, he had the respect of all the students. That is, until one day at morning assembly he was talking about comic strips and said flat out that “comic strips were created by morons and read by morons.” Most of the students were outraged, and Dr. Fuess dropped several points in our respect for him. Alice Thatcher Whitney, the school recorder and the power behind the throne, was loved by all students. A meticulous record-keeper, she continually bombarded us with notes reminding us of things we had to do. I kept many of her notes and present herewith several of them verbatim:
December 11, 1941 My dear Reynolds, On your registration blank you gave your mother’s birthplace as Danbury. Are we correct in assuming this is Danbury, Conn.? Sincerely, A.T. Whitney, Recorder March 2, 1942 My dear Reynolds, On checking over our list of C.E.E.B. candidates, we find that you have not registered for the April examination. Will you please attend to this at home? If you have not sent home for the ten-dollar fee, please send for it today. If for any reason you are not taking this April examination please report this fact to me at once. Sincerely, A.T. Whitney, Recorder April 29, 1942 My dear Reynolds, You did not see Dr. Gallagher yesterday for your R.O.T.C. examination. Will you please call my office directly after Assembly if you do not have a class. A.T. Whitney, Recorder I’m saddened to report the deaths of several classmates: Bob Siegel back in December 2011; George Gostenhofer on Dec. 24, 2013; Nelson Jesup on Jan. 1, 2014; and Gordon Small on Sept. 6, 2013. No details are available.
1943 PHILLIPS Richard L. Ordeman 619 Oakwood Ave. Dayton OH 45419 937-299-9652 mbo510@aol.com
Wendy and Jim Munro are off on another cruise! On Jan. 9, Jim reported, “We left Southampton [England] on Tuesday, and the cruise will take us
another 110 days as we sail to Japan and then back to Southampton, pretty much by the same routing east and west, with different ports of call on each run. The weather here at sea has been what most of you have seen back home in the States, bordering on the frightful but without snow. The rough seas have been bouncing us around, and the noise is more like cannon than thunder. It keeps your attention.” Sounds great, Jim, but I think I’ll still take Florida in the winter! I spoke with John Malcolm, who is still in Tarzana, Calif., and learned that last October he had a pacemaker put in. All is fine. He plays a lot of tennis and the second week of January told me he is ready to return to the courts as soon as his regular opponent gets over a cold. John’s first wife died about 10 years ago, and he has since married Ann Lynch, a longtime friend. She’s also a tennis player, and they both play a lot of bridge and enjoy travel. Their combined family of 16, including children and grandchildren, had a wonderful cruise to Alaska, and John has also fulfilled a desire to visit the ancient Greek region of Epirus. Back on the East Coast, Cynthia and Bob Coulson still live in Riverside, Conn. Bob, a winner of numerous sailing races, has written an autobiography, A Cheerful Skeptic Sailing Through Life. Edited by Cynthia, it’s an enjoyable read and a very interesting story of Bob’s life. Beginning with stories of the many schools Bob attended, the introduction provides a nice overview: “I finally graduated from Fessenden, Phillips Academy Andover, Yale, and Harvard Law School. With such a fine education I should have become a first-rate lawyer, but the bulk of my working career was spent with the American Arbitration Association, trying to provide better systems of dispute resolution. I have always been something of a skeptic, pushing back against silly rules like how I should eat my soup and against conventional notions about matters of faith and expectations as to the future. Yet I learned how to conform at boarding schools and during my wartime service. As a skeptic, I’m often on the losing side of arguments, another learning experience. I am a father with five fine children, and I am living a long and happy life. Then, too, there is sailing.” Some in our class may remember Bob was known as the “Flying Red Mole.” Bob explains, “My best moments in football came during an early-season game, when I managed to scoot between an opposing player’s legs and tackled the quarterback. And on the next play, I leapt over the same center and grabbed his quarterback again. As the result of those elusive acrobatics, I was called the ‘Flying Red Mole,’ which I took as a compliment.” Most of you would agree, I think, that having a compatible roommate can make all the difference in what kind of experience you have at Andover, and in some cases roommates become lifelong friends. Such was the case with Cliff Wright and Ted Peck. After learning of Cliff ’s August 2013 death, Ted wrote these memories of Cliff: “My senior year was made more enjoyable because Cliff was my roommate. I was surprised and pleased to have Cliff Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... stop by my dormitory our upper year and tell me he wanted to room with me our senior year. At the time I was a somewhat bashful and socially cautious adolescent. He had an open, warm, friend-making approach to everyone in the school. During the Christmas and New Year holidays of 1942–43, Cliff invited me to visit him in Cincinnati. Arriving by train, I was warmly welcomed by Cliff and his dad in a large black car. One day, we joined Tuck Asbury and drove to northern Kentucky, where there were some racehorses the Asburys owned. As Cliff and I moved through the cold air to view the horses, Tuck recited stories of their race-winning records and their lineages back to nationally famous horses. In our retirement years, I was pleased that Cliff made the effort to visit our home here in St. Michael’s [Md.]. I was fascinated by Cliff ’s stories and activities. Cliff ’s life was interesting and classy.” “How many of us are there left?” is a question I often hear from ’43 classmates. There are really two answers: If you use the 197 classmates who appeared in our 1943 yearbook as a basis, there are still 68 of us living. If you use a broader base that also includes anyone Andover counts as part of our class, regardless of how long he stayed in school, the total count of those still with us is 96. Beyond statistics, however, Phil Drake reminds our class that in 1999 we established the Class of 1943 Library Resources Fund to honor deceased classmates. Annual allocations are used for the purpose of acquiring books and other media for the library. As of June 30, 2013, the market value of the endowed fund was $33,546. Contributions to the fund are a nice way to remember fellow classmates.
1944 70th REUNION June 13–15, 2014
ABBOT
Emily McMurray Mead P.O. Box 292 Etna NH 03750 603-643-3741 Emily_mead@valley.net
PHILLIPS Angus Deming 975 Park Ave., Apt. 2A New York NY 10028-0323 212-794-1206 ademingusmc@aol.com
Charles de Gaulle famously dismissed old age as un naufrage—a shipwreck. Although our classmates may or may not share the deceased French president’s gloomy view, they do seem more aware these days of what Shakespeare called “the creeping hours of time.” Woody Stockwell, for one, sent out an electronic “Happy New Year” message (an
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“environmentally friendly greeting,” he called it) in which he described 2013 as Robert Frost might have—“a slowing-down year, with pleasant walks in Denver parks replacing the rides on bikes that hung unused in our garage.” He continued in that vein: “In February, we walked along San Francisco Bay while snow fell in Denver. We spent the summer in Vail enjoying old friends, a month of performances by Dallas and New York symphony orchestras, and visits from many of our California family. November found us amongst crocodiles and howling monkeys on the Pacific Coast in northern Costa Rica. In December we flew out again to California to visit favorite places and spend Christmas Eve on a houseboat in Sausalito Harbor, surrounded by all of our family.” (That would include five children, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, judging from the photo.) All of which led Woody to conclude, “We are amazingly blessed and thank whatever godlike spirits, evolving genes, and medical miracles have gotten us this far.” Echoing those sentiments in an end-of-year e-mail, Stan Dickey declared, “Can’t believe we’ve come this far.” But indeed we have, so let’s raise a glass to “this far.” The latest news from Sumner Milender is definitely the glass half full. Back in November 2013, on the way to the airport from his home in Tucson to take “a very long trip” to Boston, Sumner happened to be carrying the latest issue of Andover magazine with him and decided that it was time to get in touch and bring us all up to date. The result was an e-mail in which he mentioned having taken his eldest daughter to China a couple of years back and his “number two daughter” to India the following year. Last year (2013) he had begun to prepare for a Russian boat trip with “number three daughter,” only to be sidelined by the “London flu,” as he called it, evidently contracted during a theater trip to London with his wife, Edie. “My Arizona flu shot did not have the horsepower to stop [the virus] from invading me,” he said. Sumner’s immune system was compromised, causing him to come down with polymyalgia rheumatica—a painful syndrome—and obliging him to postpone the Russia trip. Undeterred, Sumner said he planned to spend two weeks in Florence, Italy, looking at paintings and sculptures with a professor of Renaissance art, then continue on to Milan for four days before returning home in time to make it to Andover for our first Old Guard reunion (June 13–15 is the official reunion date, but see the mailing from Pete Stevens for his thoughts and details regarding our own class get-together). Holding off time’s indignities is nothing new to Dick Abrons, who has capped a long and fruitful career in finance, philanthropy, and cultural and community endeavors by becoming a latter-day playwright. In an interview with the Huffington Post he described having taken up short-story-writing in his 60s, and in his 70s having tried to turn some of them into plays. One story, titled “Every Day a Visitor,” did eventually become a play, which ran for several weeks in November and December 2013 at NYC’s off-Broadway Clurman Theatre on
West 42nd Street. The play is set in a faded retirement home in the Bronx with a cast of characters who stave off boredom by pretending to be famous people of the past and present, including Fiorello LaGuardia, New York’s legendary mayor of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as John D. Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, and other luminaries. “Mr. Abrons’s premise is not only a brilliant idea for a plot but also a brilliant strategy for getting through the twilight years in less than ideal circumstances,” wrote a New York Times critic. Another proclaimed, “Richard Abrons strikes a praiseworthy blow for the elderly.” In his Huff Post interview, Dick said, “Now in my 80s, I know a bit about old age. It’s all in the play. Can you make old age, with all its infirmities and death around the corner, funny? Yes, you can. Funny and compassionate and heartfelt, with a life-goes-on beat.” We look forward to Dick’s next box-office hit. Peter Baker reports having read something in the New York Times titled “How Old is your Health?” The article in question said the Norwegian University of Science and Technology provides an easy way to determine your fitness age. The only measurements you need are your waist size and resting heart rate, which you match with a formula including sex (sex?), age, and frequency and intensity of exercise. Peter took the test. His fitness came out “older than 75,” which he considered rather ambiguous. “But,” he said, “since I’m actually 87, I guess I can take heart. I do try to get to the gym at least twice a week, but I’m sure I could do better. Wish me luck.” Keep it up, Peter, you’re only in your 80s. In a brief note, Roger Strong reports having not much news that’s “interesting and exciting,” though that may be a little self-effacing. Roger still lunches occasionally with fellow New Yorkers Whit Stevens and Dick Abrons. He remains active in Yale alumni affairs and manages to get in some travel time now and then. And he still makes it to Scottsdale, Ariz., to play golf and bask in the Arizona sunshine when it’s time to escape the winter chill in Manhattan. Sounds nice.
1945 PHILLIPS
William M. Barnum 89 Angell St. Providence RI 02906 401-861-6083 wmbarnum@hotmail.com
This came from Harry Reid. Does it sound familiar? “What do you write about when you’re 87? I have a fine dusting of hair, I’ve bested my personal record of 15 minutes in the half-mile walk. I can get out of my armchair in a minute and a half, walk upstairs (15 steps, no hands) in about the same time, shoot 50 on the front nine with an equal number of mulligans. My grandchildren speak to me very slowly and loudly as if I’m down
www.andover.edu/intouch in a well; my dear wife, Lulu, grooms me for errant food every time I leave the house; and funeral parlors check with me before they set out, lest I hold up their cavalcades. Eighty-seven crept up and, as you can see, it annoys me. What more can I say? I do have a small biographical sort of website, hbreid.com, and, if anyone’s interested, an e-mail: hbreid100@gmail.com. Happy to chat.” A call from Art Moher brought the sad news that Ken Sutherland died on September 28. Ken and Chet Homer roomed across the hall from Herk Warren and me in Pemberton Cottage lower middle year. There never was a nicer guy, with a great sense of humor and a great record collection. Ken was 87 and lived in Marstons Mills, Mass., which is next door to Oyster Harbors on Cape Cod. Ken was ill for a long time and I understand was on dialysis for a year. As many of you know, Ken went on to Dartmouth, was in the Marines, and served in Korea. He was with J. P. Stevens for 30 years. He will be sorely missed. I just received a magazine and note from Brom Ault. The magazine Matters of Conscience was founded by Brom, and he is the editor. The issue I received is about “The Rise and Fall of American Government.” This magazine and another project keep Brom very busy. He mentioned in his note how grateful he is for the American history course he took under Darling and Benton. It is nice to know one of our classmates is doing some very constructive work with his time in his mid-80s. Brom, you’re a good example! I am sorry to report that Rufus Crosby Kemper died on Jan. 2, 2014. Rufus was a very successful businessman with a family bank in Kansas City. He was also a generous philanthropist and contributed to many organizations devoted to the arts. He also contributed to organizations that were sports oriented. His obituary describes a man we can all be proud to call classmate and friend. [Editor’s note: Please see R. Crosby Kemper’s obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
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
Paul Marier, in Kensington, Conn., has contributed an interesting perspective on his time at Andover, 1942 to 1946. As a resident of Andover,
he entered PA in 1942 as a “townie” tuition-free scholarship student, a beneficiary of the Academy’s tax-free status. He was one of 10 or so that year. The total group of junior, lower, upper, and senior townies numbered 40. They had lockers and work tables in the basement of the administration building. They were bused to school, and classes started at 7:50. Because he had failed the math entrance exam and was marginal in another area, Paul took algebra over and started as a junior, a first-year student. He struggled through four tough academic years, getting progressively better marks. He played soccer and track and earned four “A” awards. He sang in the glee club and Sunday morning chapel services and had a lead in the senior stage performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. One of the great pluses of being in the glee club was sharing concerts with local private girls’ schools. Nearby Abbot Academy did have very supervised Friday night visiting, but there were also day-student girls there who, as Paul tells it, were much more fun as off-campus dates. For two summers, he was the office boy. He picked up the big satchel of mail at the post office, rode from home to the Academy on his bike, sorted the mail for the many office departments, and often delivered mail on campus to students or faculty who had not given home or dormitory addresses. For student applicants and their families, he conducted campus tours. He got to know all the faculty members, sometimes feeding pet cats and dogs and chickens while faculty families were on vacation. As graduation approached, Paul and his family were bewildered. Neither of his parents had gone to college. His father was not a high school graduate, and the expense seemed impossible. Fortunately, he had worked closely with the dean’s assistant, Ruth Whitehill. She told Paul he was going to go to Amherst, as her father did. A full scholarship followed, thanks to her. Paul found Amherst a nice continuation of Andover. After the first semester, Paul had three As and two Bs, with an average of 87. And to boot, when an alumnus asked for a student to spend the summer with his two 9-year-old sons, he got the job—living on an estate on Long Island for the summer, with beach clubs, horse riding, and so on, and he traveled through Europe for two months with this family after his junior year in college. Thanks for this retrospective, Paul; we salute you. On Oct. 4, 2013, Dick Phelps organized what might be referred to as the “Octogenarian Luncheon” at the school. Members of the classes of ’45, ’46, and ’47 within easy distance were included. Nineteen forty-six was represented by Martin Begien, Dan Anderson, Cliff Crosby, Dick Fullerton, Walter Landergan, Rick Hudner, and, of course, Dick Phelps. We were fortunate to have Head of School John Palfrey, Dean of Admission Jim Ventre ’79, Head Football Coach Leon Modeste, and Secretary of the Academy Peter Ramsey in attendance. John Palfrey commented on how diverse the school is today, compared to our time. He also stated that one should come to Andover to receive an outstanding education, not
necessarily to guarantee admission to one of the top colleges in the country. He made an interesting comment, saying that the best way for a student to gain admission to a top university is to be an outstanding athlete—not good, not very good, but outstanding. Jim Ventre’s comments focused on how the admission administrators travel the country looking for outstanding young people. He mentioned that Andover far exceeds its competitor schools in the number of states and countries that we visit and inner-city schools that we work with. It was a very enlightening commentary. Leon Modeste commented that the football team has had difficulties in the past few years but turned the corner this year and was undefeated. Peter Ramsey talked about the continuing challenge of alumni relations and fundraising. The school just completed a $300 million campaign and exceeded that goal by raising $312 million. He also cited the fact that the school continues to be need-blind. He also talked about how well the endowment has done; it’s now in excess of $880 million. And it was a treat to greet members of ’45 and ’47 who were able to attend.
1947 ABBOT
Mary Lou Miller Hart 47 Harborview Road Lewes DE 19958 302-644-9249 mlhart@comcast.net
As I write this, it’s January 2014. What a beginning—snow, rain, record chills! Joanna “Jo” Campbell Crocker writes, “I am still in the same house that I have known for over 70 years. I have a cat that keeps me company and loves to provide warmth and comfort, especially at night. Because of low vision I cannot drive, can’t read without super magnification, and have trouble writing! But I am happy and warm. Two of my young live next to me and two about half an hour away. I feel fortunate! The good thing that has happened is I got a new knee! How good does this get? No more pain and no more limp!” Ann Chandler Anthony writes, “Nothing much new: married 63 years, four children, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren, the oldest in college, the youngest age 3.” Joyce Huntington Knights reports, “Sorry you don’t know this dear family of mine, but we are thankful to have them so close in our life. It was wonderful celebrating husband Cal’s 90th with all but two present. A great holiday.” Joyce’s Christmas card pictured her, Cal, 14 members of their family, and the dog, Boomer. A card arrived from Dave and Pat Jaffer Russell with a picture of a very healthy and happy couple. Pat writes, “Guess we’re all getting older—hard to believe. We’re hanging in there, though. We’ve seen a lot of Christmases.” She enjoys reading about everybody’s doings. Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected...
Abbot Alumnae: Help Us Complete the Picture
The Abbot Archives Project
T
he newly formed Abbot Archives Project evolved from the realization that the history and memories of Abbot Academy are eroding with time. Current students are both curious and enthusiastic to learn more about the Abbot Academy education and experience, but good information can be hard to find. The current Abbot archives—part of PA’s Archives and Special Collections—house many official documents but lack the full student voice, the snippets of personal recollection that give richness and context to those records. All Abbot alumnae, as well as faculty and those PA alumni who experienced Abbot, can help its preservation by contributing original materials—including written and oral histories—to augment the Abbot archives. We seek to collect original materials that document all aspects of Abbot, especially student life (e.g., dorms, clubs, dances, etc.), as well as academics and athletics. Items may include photographs, scrapbooks, letters, journals, printed works, audio and video, and other items. Paige Roberts, director of Archives and Special Collections, is happy to talk with you about the donation process. She can be reached at 978-749-4069 or by e-mailing abbotarchives@andover.edu. The Abbot Archives Project is the first project launched by the Abbot Initiative— a new endeavor conceived by Abbot alumnae to keep Abbot’s memories, spirit, and values alive at Phillips Academy. Watch for additional information about this project and how you can help in future mailings and announcements.
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Ken and Darlene “Dolly” Sharp Fiske, plus daughters Jennifer and Diana, continued their annual trip to Wisconsin to finish up 2013 lakewater quality monitoring (and do a bit of fishing). The year-end report was published and distributed on the local and state levels. Dolly has resigned from the county Audubon Society board. She figures after serving on and off (mainly on) for 50 years, it might be generous of her to let others share in the working camaraderie. She is still very much in touch with the members and projects, and she is still involved with the beautiful Woodstock (Ill.) Opera House and its many programs. She loves her Band of Bookies book club that meets monthly (and not a straight man in the bunch). Jennifer joins her for performances of Lyric Opera of Chicago and monthly programs of the Musicians Club of Women held at the Union League Club of Chicago. Is there anyone who knows Barboura Flues’s address? Please let me know. I dislike ending news on a sad note. Jean Ritchey Ross’s husband, Wallace, died on Aug. 23, 2013. Besides Jean, he leaves two stepchildren and two step-grandchildren. Wally was one of the husbands who would join us for reunion. It was always nice to see him. I send condolences to the family from the Class of 1947. PHILLIPS Bob Lasley 1958 Cherryvale Court Tom’s River NJ 08753 ralasley@comcast.net
We’ll start by reporting the class financials, or the 2013 results of the three funds. The Reading Room is at $143,000, the Hart Scholarship is now $371,000, and the Language Learning Center is at $1,013,000, with the 2013 return/growth at 13 percent—not too shabby. As usual, no information was forthcoming from the class, so I went hunting with the telephone. First up was Charlie Summerall in South Carolina, who has quit any traveling in favor of reading history, and Persian history at that. He remains lucky enough to spend summers at Deer Isle in Maine. I then caught up with Jerry Underwood, who reports good health and having five healthy children and seven grands; he’s enjoying his 14 years retired “doing as little as possible.” Next, I reached George Henderson, who wins
first prize in unique activities as he sells off the many collections of many decades. On the health scene, he reports ankle surgery, and “eight pills a day helping to manage” his diabetes. It took several tries, but I finally managed to find Dan Lackey at home. He refuses to retire, with two days a week in his Boston office, mostly occupied with the environmental charity Chewonki Foundation. Dan has been with them for some 40 years and has built their endowment fund to $70 million. If only I’d been smart enough to turn over my meager savings to Dan. My next contact was Pete Koehler in Oregon, who is more than busy with six sons, 18 grands, and three great-grands, almost all of them fairly close. He sees a lot of his extended family and enjoys every minute. He also gets to Palm Springs to enjoy the tennis. The next connection was with Ned Yost, who relayed a whirlwind of activity: a trip to Boston to celebrate his wife’s 60th Wellesley reunion, on to PA to visit a grandniece in the Class of 2015, then a trip to Oregon to celebrate his brother’s 80th, then to a cabin in the Catawba mountains for about the 60th summer, a visit to a daughter in Richmond, and a trip to Princeton for a mini reunion of his Harvard dorm mates. Does a Harvard mini reunion at Princeton still count as official? Ned will then relax while planning his fishing trip to Cleveland, to fish for steelhead trout with another brother. In closing, the bell continues to toll. Mike Suisman tried to reach Niels Carstensen in Copenhagen, only to discover that Niels had died. No further details are available. Charlie Osborn died on Sept. 2—again, no further details. And finally, Jim Cooper passed away at home on Oct. 31, surrounded by family. He is survived by his wife, Edna, and seven children. [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Albert F. McLean passed away on Jan. 15, 2014. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
1948 ABBOT
Gene Young 30 Park Ave., Apt. 12C New York NY 10016 212-679-8931 panchogene@gmail.com
Nancy Richmond Rierson writes that she continues to guide at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, where she spends winters. This year, Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures, artfully placed among the desert plants, are being exhibited at the garden for the second year in a row. In November, Nancy attended a Garden Club of America–sponsored photography workshop in Tucson, which was “more than basic training for camera buffs.” As a result, she is entering her photos in club shows. Eleanor “Muffy” Wallis Herkness and her
www.andover.edu/intouch husband, Wayne, “a fit 96,” have moved into an assisted-living complex in Roanoke, Va. Marcy Grimshaw Bivens lived “all over” during husband Arthur’s career in the Navy, but has been settled in Fairfax, Va., for the past few decades. She stays fit by going to exercise class three times a week; Art has stayed involved with the Naval Academy. They have three children, eight grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Nadine “Toddy” Cookman Martel is chair of the collection committee of the Fitchburg [Mass.] Art Museum. The museum is diversifying into new fields such as photography and African art, and the change in direction is keeping her very busy. Jane Kenah Dewey spotted a long article about Toddy’s daughter, Nadine Price ’72, in the Boston Globe. Nadine, a lawyer, is president of New England Masters, an elite group of skiers dedicated to racing on World Cup–style runs all over New England. You go, girl! Judy Erdmann Makrianes is juggling three homes as she prepares to sell one and move into another, a cottage with her partner, Alec (see spring 2013 class notes), on the grounds of Essex Meadows, a senior residence in Essex, Conn.
PHILLIPS Robert Segal 118 Sutton Hill Road North Andover MA 01845 978-682-9317 robsegna@verizon.net
The All-School Meeting on Nov. 13, 2013, was devoted to the Lorant Fellowship for Most Earnest Endeavor and featured remarks by the winner of the yearly award. Farris Peale ’14 spoke about her summer in South Africa dealing with “the hate crime of ‘corrective rape’—in which a gay woman is raped to change her sexuality.” Her remarks were followed by the address of Head of School John Palfrey, who chronicled many incidents of earnest endeavor in his life and concluded that earnest endeavor and caring for your friends and classmates are more important than grades. Andy Lorant started something at Andover that is taking on a life of its own. The full remarks of Farris Peale and John Palfrey are available to anyone who cares to see them. You can e-mail me for a copy. The Boston Group lunched with John Palfrey in the Mural Room of Paresky Commons a week later, and conversation touched on the importance of the Lorant Fellowship as well as some other aspects of achievement, particularly that of foreign students, and the significance of these high achievers to the school and the world. We shared a hint of a new vision. Seated around the table were John Bloom, Bob Brace, Mary and Bill Engstrom, Norm Henderson, Dick Lindsay, Latie and Roger McLean, Sandy Saunders, Maralyn and Bob Segal, Brad Wellman, and Allen West. In answer to a request for a few words, Ed Biederman sent me a copy of Polar 44 Ring 5, a
novel he wrote in 2010 that was published by Elderberry Press. He comments that this book is based on facts and that he continues to write in his retirement. Ed and his wife, Peggy-Jane, live in State College, Pa. He inscribed the book “Enjoy,” and I did. Terry Buchanan was quick to point out the typo in our obit for Austin Graff. The magazine has apologized for the lapse, and we hope that those for whom we have an e-mail address received notice of the apology. Terry continued with a tale about Aus smuggling a Barnard friend into Yale’s Timothy Dwight College, only to be spotted by the diligent campus police. The friend was summarily ejected and the roommates warned that their years at Yale were in jeopardy. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and a report was not filed. Puzzled by the fact that she had received the correction notice on Austin’s obit, Edie Tucker, widow of longtime secretary Dan Tucker, remarked that it must have been some sort of computer error. “Andover in Dan’s eyes was pretty close to perfect, and I’d like to stay with that impression.” A note from Mike Hurwitz tells that Mike and wife Nancy recently had dinner with Barbara and Dick Rubin. Although a bit compromised, Mike and Dick play golf regularly and are happy to be on the right side of the grass. He would like to hear from any classmates passing through the Naples, Fla., area; e-mail him at mikenan@comcast.net. Ted Hudson, who continues to draw cartoons on request and on inspiration, said in a note that he and wife Pam have moved to St. Anne’s Residence in Miami. He looks forward to our 70th Reunion and is determined to be there. Perhaps he has the right idea—that we should think of it as a 70th and not returning as Old Guard. He finished with the observation, “It was great to see the Red Sox win the sixth game—I’m glad it didn’t go to seven games.” How’s that for Red Sox mentality? Chuck Maslin liked receiving our class notes early. He was brought back to the winter of 1944– 45 by the Weather Channel recently and recalled jumping from second-floor windows into the snowdrifts. We caught only a foot of snow this last storm, but the wind and low temperatures added another foot of misery. Chuck was brought back to Andover again by the Holiday Magazine article we circulated. He noted, “The scenes are certainly familiar. I have always liked armillary spheres and have one on our patio today.” Peter Flemming echoed the sentiment, noticing how much younger Emory Basford had gotten since ’48. Mark Hardenbergh added, “It was a pleasure to see Andover that many years ago.” Roger Hunt recognized Ros Gallagher, his mentor, who once repaired a torn tendon. Allyn Bress called to check in. He’s slowly pulling his life back together after the loss of his wife, Françoise. Charlie Reach, who recently celebrated his 60th anniversary, has sent words of support for Allyn. Bob Diefenbach also spoke of the Françoise he knew. Dan Garland pulled up the Google street view for his home and found an image of himself
standing on his lawn and gesturing at the Google survey car. He thinks there may be some merit to the position of those speaking kindly of the villain in this Snowden NSA snooping business. A late report from Bob Whitney: In February 2013, Bob took a tour of Cuba that was organized by the Grand Circle Foundation. The federal government has expanded Cuba tours to nonprofit travel agencies whose itineraries feature strong interactions with Cuban groups and activities. A few examples of the interactions on Bob’s trip are worldclass singers, a prestigious artists’ union, an innovative organic farm where workers participated in profit sharing, 4-year-old preschoolers, and a senior day center. Visiting Cuba, says Bob, is partly like taking a journey in a time machine. The streets are filled with 1950s cars. Some buildings are vintage Art Deco, albeit with crumbling facades. Sounds of Caribbean and African rhythms fill the air. Cuba, however, is not caught in a time warp. Old buildings are being restored, new buildings are being built, and new cars built in Japan and elsewhere hit the road. Capitalistic practices are being adopted, but more deliberately and slowly than in Russia and China. Cuban people-to-people tours have become very popular, and many travel agencies have been licensed to offer them. [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Thomas M. Dudley passed away on Dec. 26, 2013. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
1949 65th REUNION June 13–15, 2014
ABBOT
[Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that former Abbot class secretary Deborah Williams Troemner passed away on Nov. 14, 2013, and that Anne Dartt Leverich passed away on Jan. 9, 2014. Please see their obituaries in the In Memoriam section.]
PHILLIPS James P. McLane 28 County St. Ipswich MA 01938 978-356-4149 jpmcl@cs.com
“I am slowly floating down like a maple leaf…the first guy on the paratrooper stick...the jumpmaster. It’s the 82nd Airborne jumping into the blue dawn. Spread beneath my silk umbrella I see the ice cream cone of snow-covered Mt. McKinley.” This recollection is hard-wired into Jervie Finney’s memory. He is now of counsel, playing squash instead of trying cases, after an exemplary legal career. Go to Amazon.com and you will find Tony Robinson’s Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... five-star-rated latest book, New Water: Twelve Stories. Paul Brodeur, in his review, calls the stories “evocative, powerful, and a delight to read.” Paul, as most of you know, is best known as an esteemed New Yorker writer and author of 10 nonfiction works and some novels. All are available on Kindle. Walter Kaiser writes, “I lead a quiet, reasonably contented life in NYC, throttling down from the mean streets of Firenze. The tedium of retirement is assuaged by the delight of friends and family and the fact that there is always something to see and do. What gives me special satisfaction these days is reviewing books for the New York Review of Books (NB, not to be confused with the New York Times Book Review). Now, the Wall Street Journal has asked me onto its editorial staff. This provides a welcome occupation for me in my 80s.” Ools Lindholm and I traded prosthetic information on how to keep from falling down even when sober. He praises Trecks Travel Sticks, while I have discovered SideStix. These sticks have restored my mobility immensely. Ools further discloses the fact that he has become somewhat celebrated at Princeton for his famous Princeton locomotive cheer. He apologizes for the dismay the Andover audience showed at his reunion dinner performance some time ago. I say let’s give him another shot. Ed Packard made a thoughtful suggestion about reunion. He thought it would be interesting and provocative to do some thinking and pass along thoughts about how our thinking has evolved since ’49. George Ball commented enthusiastically on PA’s new program to teach Arabic: “Wonderful idea, but 20 years overdue.” He and wife Merry have been busy rounding up books for their store, Good Old Books in Leland, Mich., which is thriving despite the digitalization craze. He says, “My gratitude to Andover increases with time—joy and good health to all ’49ers.” Dick Collins was admitted to the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. [Editor’s note: Richard “Dick” Collins passed away on Feb. 20, 2014. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.] Russ White has the distressing news that he is battling multiple myeloma, keeping it at bay for 18 months. He is “out of the water,” having sold his boat, but has now taken up kayaking. He is teaching handling under adverse conditions, having faced and survived many of them himself and hence able to teach with experience and empathy. Th-th-th-that’s all folks.
1950 ABBOT
Nora Johnson 1619 Third Ave., Apt. 13G New York NY 10128 212-289-2097 noraj31@gmail.com
I’m pleased to have three letters today. Mary Bixby Lamb writes: “As you can see from my address, [husband Dave and I] have moved
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to Exeter, N.H., to a retirement community called RiverWoods. We have been here just over a year and love it. The time had come. We have children close by. Our home, which is on a golf course in Hale’s Location (near North Conway, N.H.), is still on the market. Real down market there. Since we’ve been here, Dave has had two major operations. How great it is to have skilled nursing and rehab available here and not a town or so away. Each day he is stronger, but he won’t be able to do what he did before. That’s life. We spend a lot of time at our gym. I keep busy with the many activities here, including duplicate bridge. I took a Russian history course given by Jack Richards, a longtime PA history teacher. It was fabulous! What a teacher! [Editor’s note: Jack Richards passed away in October 2013. Please see his obituary in the winter 2014 issue of the magazine.] If anyone would like a tour of RiverWoods, I would be happy to show you around. Exeter, like Andover, is a wonderful place to live in. Phillips Exeter Academy has much to offer us. My telephone number is 603772-6552 and e-mail is baaa.nh@gmail.com.” Libby Moss Schmidt writes, “1950 to 2013—63 years! Wow! Finally saying hello to my classmates! I remember you all well. My life’s been something of a yo-yo—born in Boston, grew up in Georgia. Four years of Abbot, one year at Wellesley, back to Georgia for 4 years, moved to NYC, worked a variety of jobs, married Charlie, three children, three grandchildren, then retirement. We moved to Sheffield, Mass., where I remain but stay busy visiting scattered children and friends. We miss Charlie, who died a year and a half ago. He worked for Morgan Guaranty in foreign banking. We had many wonderful trips; most interesting were ones in Eastern Europe. “This is as compact as I can make 63 years! Cheers to all, Libby.” A nice note from Beverley “Lee” Flather Edwards reads, “Thanks for getting in touch. I am actually not sure when I last communicated. I have been a United Church of Christ minister in various Rhode Island settings since 1976. At the moment I am serving as interim conference minister of the RI Conference UCC. This is basically a coordinating, visioning, and administrative job, which is particularly interesting because the conference is in the middle of transition. I have been widowed about two years and live in Little Compton, R.I., near two of my children. I hope all is well with you. Aren’t we getting on though! Stay healthy and have all the fun you can. Peace, Bev.” I like “have all the fun you can”—we definitely need to be reminded of that. And I always like “peace.” (But I don’t like “Have a safe trip.” What other kind would I have? I don’t even want to think about the other kind. How about—instead—“Drink water, walk up and down the aisle, wiggle your toes, easy on the alcohol, bring your neck pillow”?) So what’s fun at 81? Talking to friends. Reminiscing with friends. Talking to/playing with children/pets. Going out to dinner so you don’t have to cook or wash up. Screens in moderation.
Doing your thing, whatever it is. If you don’t have a thing, find one! There are people who find it fun to exercise— lucky them. The rest of us have to do it anyway. But whichever it is, do it. I’m getting convinced there’s nothing more important (I’m slipping away from fun and toward duty here). Also—useful fact—I read recently that depression isn’t a lack of cheerfulness or happiness, it’s a lack of energy. So you can lie around and feel contented in a mushy sort of way, but you couldn’t stand up or walk across the room for anything, and even changing the channel is too exhausting. If the thought of taking a walk is beyond horrible, do a few exercises on the rug. And don’t eat till dinnertime! Exercise makes you feel more energetic and optimistic, for some reason. I’m the last person on earth to give this sort of advice, but I know it’s true. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help me with my problem, which is that I simply can’t face having my apartment painted. I know I should. People have ordered me to, but I seem to be capable of looking at brown blotches and streaks every day without seeing them. The thought of moving stuff from tabletops and bureau tops is so awful I could cry. I think I’m definitely depressed.
PHILLIPS Eric B. Wentworth 2126 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Apt. 32 Washington DC 20008 202-328-0453 ebw@bellatlantic.net
Ivan Chermayeff was hiking single-file along a narrow African mountain trail in December when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Was it his wife, Jane, close behind him? In fact, it was an inquisitive furry teenager: a gorilla. Ivan said he and Jane enjoyed a “terrific” two weeks seeing mountain gorillas and lots of other wild animals on their trip to Kenya and Rwanda. Ivan’s collages were on the move this year: First, a January opening at the Garrison Art Center in Garrison, N.Y.; next, a March-April exhibition at the Pavel Zoubok Gallery in NYC; and then, in mid-July, the opening of a major retrospective, including his other work as well, in Bexhill, England, at the De La Warr Pavilion, which Ivan’s father, Serge Chermayeff, and a fellow architect designed 80 years ago. Ivan’s son Sam, himself an architect, designed the installation exhibiting his father’s work. Also on an African safari late this past year were Jerry Schauffler, wife Barbara, their two daughters, daughters’ spouses, and four grandchildren. Jerry wrote that they had an “over-the-top experience” visiting Botswana and South Africa: “You can imagine how our grandchildren ate up living in mobile tent camps, which were visited nightly by some amazing animals—hippos, lions, elephants, and hyenas among them!” While we can’t produce wild animals, we do expect a big turnout of classmates for our 65th
www.andover.edu/intouch Reunion, scheduled for June 12–14, 2015. Please plan on joining us to swap news and memories. Our chair, Tony Herrey, has been working on plans to make the event especially enticing and invites your inquiries and suggestions. Other global travelers this past year included John Almquist, who, with his wife, Lolly, and her sister, visited Vietnam and Cambodia and then, in December, Cuba. John reported that, while he had been out of the pistachio-farming business for several years, he still owns and manages “a small grove of the heart-healthy nuts.” Charlie Flather, for his part, sailed the Mediterranean on a square-rigger last September, visiting Malta and circumnavigating Sicily. Other classmates kept their excursions closer to home. Marv Steinberg and his wife, Delores, traveled to Denver to visit their son Jim, daughters Susan and Julie, and their families, including a newly arrived great-granddaughter. Their older son, David, is a hand surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Marv himself, now retired, enjoys emeritus status in Penn’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. He and Delores have 12 grandchildren. Ed Nowaczek and wife Carol picked up stakes in Annapolis, Md., last fall and moved to a West Side apartment in Manhattan, where they will be close to their son Charlie and his wife and three children. John Hirsch, in Chicago, said that, while he and longtime friend Natalie van Straaten had traveled to seven continents over the past quarter-century, this year they were planning only a 10-day visit to Martha’s Vineyard in September. “Otherwise,” John reported, “I’m still dabbling: a little painting (watercolors), some cooking, yoga regularly, and, when the weather allows, sculling in the lagoon between Lincoln Park Zoo and Lake Shore Drive.” Speaking of travel, you’ll be fascinated reading Seeing the Eliphant, a book Bill King commissioned, supported, and helped research, which chronicles his great-grandparents’ travails as they ventured by sea and land from Maine to California during the Gold Rush. The author is Kenneth R. Martin, and you can order the book via Amazon. Bill’s fascination with his ancestors’ saga began many years ago when he had to write a maritime history report for a course at Harvard, and his mother and great-aunt sent him to the family attic to retrieve an antique steamer trunk crammed with photos, letters, legal documents, and his great-grandfather’s journal. In our nation’s capital, I joined Dick Suisman and his wife, Ingrid, Ken McDonald and his wife, Chandley, and Tony Beilenson and his wife, Dolores, for a convivial dinner Dec. 3 at Las Canteras, the Peruvian restaurant in Washington’s AdamsMorgan neighborhood co-owned by PA charter trustee Gary Lee ’74, who guided us to several delicious dishes. The following week, we reconvened for an elegant holiday party that Dick and Ingrid hosted at the Phillips Collection. Joining us for this occasion were classmate George Beatty and his wife, Noelle ’50.
Ed Hobbie, in South Deerfield, Mass., said he still enjoys outdoor pursuits: bird hunting, trout fishing, and skeet shooting. Rachel, one of Ed’s three daughters, is a librarian at nearby UMass Amherst and lives with him. Manny d’Amonville has continued to produce handsome note cards using photos he’s taken of the natural world around his home in Plymouth, Mass. When Tony Herrey and his wife, Maria, lunched with him in Plymouth last October, Tony and Manny wrote me messages on one of Manny’s cards, which featured his fine photo of a jaunty little bird. “Sometimes they don’t forget you,” Bob Goddard wrote on a cover note when he mailed me a recent commemorative issue of Life with Liberty, the award-winning Liberty Mutual Insurance employee publication for which Bob was editor-in-chief in the 1960s. This issue included an interview with Bob, in which he recalled that he had been able “to do exactly what I wanted to create a top-notch, nationally recognized publication—which it became.” Since retirement, Bob concluded, “I’ve enjoyed spending time with my family, including my two wonderful daughters and four grandchildren.” I must share the sad news that we have lost four more of our classmates: Bob Simonton, on Aug. 31, 2013; Sam Ballard, on Dec. 5, 2013; Fred Simpich, on Jan. 5, 2014; and George Clifford, on Feb. 6, 2014. Please see their obituaries in the In Memoriam section.
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
The holidays have come and gone. The warm afterglow will last a long time. We’ll need it. Temperature 6 degrees in Essex, Conn., at 6 a.m. as I write. John Plews, in response to an e-mail I forwarded in November about the advent of winter, replied from Hawaii, “After 12 years of schooling in New England, I am content to view snow on Mauna Kea from the beach. Aloha, John.” Ed Nef’s film, Mongolia: Mining Challenges a Civilization, was awarded a first place in the documentary category at the Online New England Film Festival. Congratulations, Ed! A great quote from Tony Thompson, from his Stanford ’55 November-December class notes,
“I used to think an octogenarian was some sort of American squid. Now I know better. Happy birthday, classmates! With the possible exception of a few vets and prodigies, most of us celebrated our 80th this year.” He listed all in that category, and in a separate note to me added wistfully that the list once included George Stewart, Bob Kimball, Packy Maxwell, and Bob Barton. Jerry Schultz writes to assure classmates that he has “not slipped into a slough of despond and continues to work on three Beethoven sonatas and the Goldberg Variations, with that degree of energy allotted to me by the father of gods and men. (Pater andron te theon te.) ‘Only undefeated because we have gone on trying’ and ‘now under conditions that seem unpropitious.’ Two observations on music that I have come across in the past 60 years are worthy of note: (1) Schnabel: ‘Mozart is too easy for children and too difficult for adults’; and (2) Hindemith, in noting the extreme paucity of Bach’s output during his last 10 years, as compared to the copious early years, explains this by the phrase ‘The melancholy of potence’ (a.k.a. ‘What else is left to do?’). One other note of interest only to pianists is Schnabel’s note on the last note of LvB’s last sonata: ‘Nur ein Achtel!’ (‘Only an eighth’), the soundless last 16th rest (saying ‘Stop here!’) being an integral part of the composition. P.S.: ‘LVB’ was the ticker symbol for Steinway & Sons before it was sold to a private equity firm. I was privileged to meet Aunt Maud [Steinway Paige], one of our customers in the ’50s.” On a sad note, Dick Hueber left us Oct. 31, 2013, after a brief illness. Following Princeton, he served as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps. He later earned an MBA degree at UVa. He worked at the Young & Rubicam advertising agency in NYC before returning to Syracuse, N.Y., in 1963, where he led his own businesses. Summers were spent at the family cottage, Trail’s End, on Skaneateles Lake. He moved to New Jersey in 1991 and became an avid runner. He worked with Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic until his 1997 retirement and was also very active in many projects and activities at Princeton. Surviving are his wife, Rita Alles, sons Philip Hueber ’75 and Peter Hueber, daughter Sara Hueber Collins, and six grandchildren. Our efforts with Andover and the Military continue to grow. Please take a moment to read about it on the PA website. Our second newsletter was very well received. Editor Charlie Dean ’79 wrote an extraordinary story of Andover faculty and their military exploits: “Bill Brown ’34 at the Remagen Bridge; Peter McKee over Germany in his B-24 Liberator…and Josh Miner, Diz Bensley ’43, and Fred Harrison ’38, all with the Army in Europe.” (Those mentioned were some of the faculty around our time. Many more were cited!) Charlie adds, “Today we have the committee honoring our veterans, a website with close to 900 registered living veterans, an endowment fund, and a biannual newsletter, and, on Oct. 31, we held our fourth annual Veterans Day program and dinner on campus. Phillips Academy is proud of its veterans.” Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... On the home front, the publishing effort on The Rogue’s Road to Retirement has heated up, and I’m now working on the book jacket and cover. Due out this fall! My daughter, Jenny Rider ’86, is helping me shape up the manuscript with my editor and navigate the unfamiliar waters of publishing. My grandchildren are thriving. Graham Jr. underwent arm-lengthening surgery in July and returns monthly to Florida for checkups until April. He has gained five-plus inches on his arms. As a freshman at our local high school, Valley Regional, Graham served as the undefeated football team’s assistant equipment manager. He received his first varsity letter at the sports banquet. Seated with the coaches, proud parents in attendance, he was greeted with great applause. Bradley made both sets of grandparents proud playing fall lacrosse on the Reese Stadium field at Yale on a bonechilling early December afternoon. Tory has made travel teams in soccer and lacrosse and excels in basketball, while Duncan is equally competitive in the same three sports. Weekends around here are hectic. Never a dull moment! All four are also achieving academically. Other sports headlines: Hats off to PA coach Leon Modeste and the Andover football team on their undefeated season, capped by the stirring fourth-quarter rally over Exeter. In one of the gutsiest comebacks I have ever witnessed, they topped off the season by mounting an amazing come-frombehind victory over Brunswick in the New England playoff game in mid-November, scoring 29 secondhalf points to seal their victory. Former Andover hockey stars Chris Kreider ’10 and Cory Schneider ’04 also had great games in November. On Nov. 30, Chris, playing left wing for the New York Rangers, scored a hat trick against the Vancouver Canucks, and Corey, in goal for the New Jersey Devils, shut out the Buffalo Sabres 1-0. Housekeeping: Please update your contact information with me and PA’s alumni office, in particular your e-mail address. Stay well, and those of you with writer’s cramp, exercise with a pen in hand and send me your news! [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Harry Berkowitz passed away on March 15, 2014. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
1952 ABBOT Mary “Molly” Edson Whiteford 149 Pine Valley Road Lake Oswego OR 97034 503-636-0980 mwhiteford149@gmail.com
Several of you responded to my annual Christmas plea for news, and I hope I will be hearing from more of you as the year goes on. Everyone likes news, so please do send me yours.
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Anne Sanborn Lombard writes that she lives in Northampton, Mass., where she is active in the Five College Learning in Retirement program and Mass Audubon. She still skis, kayaks, bikes, and hikes. Her daughter Karen works for The Nature Conservancy in Boston, and her daughter Pam is a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Augusta, Maine. Anne has three grandsons who are all cross-country skiers and hikers. Anne also gets to Andover every May to place flowers at her family cemetery, which is where we took Abbot walks. Do you remember those Abbot walks—having to walk so fast to complete them on time that we barely had time to look at the PA boys, let alone talk to them? Times do change, don’t they? Cynthia Emerson Pinkerton writes of a good year, except for her macular degeneration. She is busy with children and grandchildren. One grandchild spent three months in Romania working with orphans and is now about to leave for China to teach English. Our class traveler, Connie Hamilton Greenspan, is still working at her travel agency and travels whenever she can. She was recently in Chile and spent time in Patagonia and the Atacama Desert. Karen Larson Sullivan, another traveler, went to Iceland with classmate Margie Webb. Karen writes, “It’s a fascinating country...all lava rocks, volcanic mountains, lots of sheep, and virtually no trees (except where they’ve been planted in towns and on the farms).” The language was impossible, but most people spoke English. That is all the news for now. Again, send me yours. I’ll be waiting for it—lots of it.
PHILLIPS Mike Bromberg P.O. Box 423 The Sea Ranch CA 95497 707-785-3910 mjbromberg@pbnlaw.com
Geoff Brittin is now living in Brentwood, Tenn., after stays in Fresno, Calif., and Houston. He’s still playing the trumpet, and he rehearsed with the River City Big Band while visiting an old friend in San Antonio. He was able to sight-read the second trumpet parts they were rehearsing, half of which were original Stan Kenton arrangements. Geoff has recently had successful cataract surgery, as has his wife, Jirapa. I received a nice get-well note from Don Falvey, who is now living in North Falmouth, Mass. Bill Stevens, living in New Mexico, enjoys the state’s 19 pueblos. He had lunch recently at the Saint James Hotel in Cimarron, N.M., where 24 bodies were carted out of the saloon (not during his lunch). He finds a vibrant artistic community in Albuquerque. Bill has written several books that have received good reviews and sales, including The Fitzpatrick Saga: Came the Fall.
Jack Logan wrote to me of his enjoyment of our 60th Reunion in 2012. He says that he was once again “stunned by the beauty” of the campus. Jack also enjoyed seeing old friends, including Joe Wennik, who was not only an outstanding athlete during our time on the Hill but a great coach afterward. Jack was impressed by the generosity toward the school of Ed Elson and others. Incidentally, Ed Elson has a grandson and a granddaughter at Andover, as well as another granddaughter who graduated from Andover and is now at Harvard. I’m hoping that Hugh Fortmiller and Ed Selig will be able to celebrate my 80th with us in Provence next fall. Be well, and please send me updates on your lives. —Mike
1953 ABBOT Patricia Eveleth Buchanan 9 The Valley Road Concord MA 01742 978-369-6838 pebl35@comcast.net
I had a chock-full-of-news note (actually two notes) from Sally Swayne Jennings this past fall and winter, which I’m pleased to share with you. She was very sorry not to have come to our 60th Reunion, but when you read about what she and her husband, Ted, have been up to, it’s not hard to see why she had to miss it (there’s a lot of expression in some of her capital letters!). Note number one, written in November: “Here’s what is up with us: In May we made the Big Decision to Downsize—putting our house of 30 years (with infinite storage capability) on the market, figuring out disposal of the contents of that infinite storage as well as identifying the goods and chattels overflow that children might be willing to take on. We are moving to a two-bedroom cottage in an attractive retirement community in Albany, N.Y., where many of our friends are living—it seems to be the right time, and the right cottage became available. Life was very busy all summer and included a trip to England with our church choir, which spent a week in residence at Worcester Cathedral; we’ve done this five times so far, at different cathedrals, great fun. Then somewhat complicated eye surgery for Ted—successful, thank goodness, and we were able to make our long-planned trip to India, from which we returned last night. India was spectacular, once we became accustomed to the crowds and noise and congestion and rubble and incredibly bumpy roads—and yes, we did see a tiger and the Taj Mahal and the burning ghats on the Ganges at sunrise. [It was] a Dartmouth trip, with 22 lovely companions, super faculty lecturer, and fine Indian guide—still feeling exhilarated. The Move will probably take place sometime in January.”
www.andover.edu/intouch Note number two, received in January: “Hi, Pat. Happy New Year! OK, news. We are Doing the Downsize, rather like a pregnancy, taking nine months of elation/excitement and discomfort / hard work; trust the result/new project will be a happy one. Moving Day is Feb. 6 (yikes!). The clearing out of our 56 years of accumulation is monstrous but, I guess, therapeutic—lots of nostalgia anyway—and our children are grateful that we are doing it before they have to. ‘Cozy cottage’ is the right description; many friends there seem to be happy, so we are looking forward to it.” I suggest a round of applause and several huzzahs for the intrepid Jennings family. Your secretary’s news is that last fall I again traveled to Italy to join a bevy of mushroom hunters and culinary adventurers, this time on the island of Sardinia. I didn’t actually cross the Atlantic with the group; how one gets to these particular forays is left up to the individual traveler. Being, logistically speaking, utterly inept, I arranged my flight from Boston in such a way that I had only 50 minutes to transfer from one terminal to another at JFK for the flight overseas, lugging an 18-pound carry-on duffle that had no wheels through corridors that seemed to have no end. Not sure whether I was heading in the right direction and with a growing sense of impending collapse, it occurred to me that my departure might well be by way of ambulance (or even hearse). The story of course has a happy ending—fabulous food and fungi and an array of vistas off the beaten track (Sardinia itself is rather off the beaten track), which included exploring the 3,000-year-old sites of Sardinia’s unique Nuragic civilization, whose stone towers are thought to be among the earliest precursors of the medieval castle. As for my 18-pound duffle, I purchased a set of wheels during my layover in Rome at the beginning of my journey—rather like Cinderella’s pumpkin, my dreadful duffle did a bit of shape-shifting and turned into a veritable Roman chariot. I think I hear another round of huzzahs!
PHILLIPS Bill Joseph 225 W. 83rd St., Apt. 5Q New York NY 10024 347-907-4647 (cell) wjoseph80@hotmail.com
As some of you may have noticed, in the past couple of years I have tried to reach classmates who have rarely, if ever, appeared in these pages, and reports on more of those guys appear below. But it crossed my mind that that doesn’t mean the achievements of those who have appeared often should be downplayed. Enter Divad Nosrettap (at some moment in the last 62 years Dave Patterson and I began pronouncing each other’s names backwards), who, miracle of miracles, sent me actual snail mail. He enclosed an article from a November 2013 Wall Street Journal reporting
on the annual gala of New York City Center, one of NYC’s premier performing arts venues. The gala honored the contributions of its outgoing chairman of the board of directors, our own Ray Lamontagne. Another board member, speaking of Ray’s 14 years of service, said that Ray’s “charisma and enthusiasm for the arts is infectious.” Thank you, Divad! Speaking of enthusiasm for the arts, I had the great pleasure of dinner with Suzy Watson Wright and Nort Wright in October. They were passing through NYC on their way home to the left coast after visiting Yale’s fine arts museum (I’m sure I didn’t get its name right, but what can you expect from a dyed-in-the-wool Cantabrigian?). They looked and sounded as young as ever. Dave Kaplan was kind enough to post birthday greetings on Facebook, but naturally, I couldn’t find them. Then, when I called to thank him on my cell phone, I couldn’t hear him. I am not a Luddite. It’s the machines that hate me! Speaking further of those who have appeared earlier, I tried unsuccessfully to reach Joe Mesics and Roger Donald, but I did reach Tink Thompson. The last time I talked with him he was working on a second book about the JFK assassination. He is all but finished—now working on the end notes. His most recent investigative case led to meeting many of the firemen who dealt with Building 7 in the World Trade Center disaster. Peter Damon retired in 2000 as CEO of the Bank of Newport (R.I.) but continues actively on the investment committee and as a trustee of the Rhode Island Foundation and the Preservation Society of Newport County. His recreational activities include tennis, paddle tennis, platform tennis, and court tennis. He has five grandchildren. His wife, Anne, is involved in a Smith College–based senior-support group to which George Bixby’s wife, Margot, also belongs. Skip Cole has published several books on African art and has taken up whittling wood carvings of African animals. Visit his website at koficoleart. com! His progeny includes four children and four grandchildren. Ed Chase graduated from West Point and had a 24-year career in the Army. He has three children and is up to nine grandchildren. While he and his wife miss New England, he will stay in Ft. Wayne, Ind., where four of his grandchildren and their parents live. His life in the Army, with the travel to various posts that entails, has militated against many contacts with classmates. Charlie Brodhead has four children and three grandchildren. Having retired from his career in architecture, he concentrates on writing fiction and poetry and on painting and drawing. Good news; no deaths to report! Stay well and keep those cards, letters, and e-mails coming.
1954 60th REUNION June 13–15, 2014
ABBOT
Nancy Donnelly Bliss 31 Cluf Bay Road Brunswick ME 04011-9349 207-725-0951
Marti Belknap and husband Bill are well and continue to keep active with their various interests and some travel. Marti reported in her Christmas letter, “2013 saw us finally returning to visit Colorado, which we hadn’t seen since 2010, shortly before the wildfire that ravaged our old neighborhood. Our former home in Gold Hill now has its third owner, a former close neighbor who lost her home in the blaze.” Marti teaches English as a second language to women from Japan, Iran, and Colombia. Marti wrote, “They are competent students, and we have interesting discussions about our diverse cultures and traditions.” Marti also takes classes in art, music, poetry, and yoga. She and Bill enjoy hiking in the mountains and walking on the nearby beach. Valjeanne Brodeur-Paxton has plans for a trip to northern Scotland, the Hebrides, and Iceland in early July 2014 and will be unable to attend our reunion in June. Griermoen Catledge writes periodically and reminisces about her time spent many years ago in France, Northern Africa, and New Delhi. Griermoen had some very interesting experiences and now has memories to hold on to, since she is not able to travel. She sends best wishes to her classmates. Suzanne Kent Evans continues to write for the local newspaper and has written articles on water purification and on rescuing a dog at a shopping mall on a scorching hot summer day. Her last tip in the article about caring for animals in severe heat: “If it is too hot for you to walk barefoot on the pavement, don’t make your dog do it.” Marion Badoian Emmanuel enjoys hearing about her classmates and wishes that she were able to attend the reunion. However, she does not travel East that often. Marion wrote, “I would love to see the Abbot classmates again, God willing. Thank you, Nancy, for keeping me in that loop. So many of you left an impression on me that has served to strengthen my life. I wish I could thank you all in person.” Paula Prial Folkman hoped to attend the performance by the Andover Dance Group and Fidelio of Dido and Aeneas in celebration of Abbot Academy’s legacy and in recognition of the 40th year of coeducation. Paula remembers singing some of the music with her Abbot music teacher, Miss Tingley. As Abbot grads we appreciate the efforts the Academy is making to recognize the Abbot legacy. Jackie Wei Mintz wrote that she and husband Sid have moved to a retirement community in Maryland near the Washington-Baltimore area. The arrangement sounds ideal, as Jackie describes Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... 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 alumni-records@andover.edu
●
Call 978-749-4287
●
Send a note to: Alumni Records, Phillips Academy,
180 Main Street, Andover MA 01810-4161
it. Broadmead sits on a beautiful, large campus and provides all the amenities one would need, plus a program of courses and classes and chamber music concerts. Sid and Jackie have their own cottage; Jackie is happy to have a space for a studio where she can pursue her love of painting. She writes, “Worked my way from classical realism to nonrepresentational abstract painting.” Jackie continues to enjoy traveling and had a wonderful trip to Ireland in August, “touring, painting, and meeting charming Irish people.” Bev Gramkow Triff wrote that she would not be able to attend the reunion, as she continues to have difficulty walking after sustaining a back injury some time ago. Bev enjoys her family and especially her three granddaughters, who seem to Bev to be growing too fast! It will soon be time to pack for your trip to Andover for our 60th Reunion. We look forward to seeing you in June, when we can gather, renew our friendships, and present our reunion gift to the Brace Center for Gender Studies. We appreciate Edie Williamson Kean and Peggy Moore Roll for their
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efforts on behalf of our reunion gift campaign for what we believe to be a very worthwhile program offered by the Academy and housed on the Abbot Campus in Abbot Hall. As always, I thank you for your calls, cards, and e-mails that help me keep you connected. I look forward to gathering with you in June for our 60th Reunion. Love, Nancy
PHILLIPS W. Parker Seeley Jr., Esq. Seeley and Berglass 855 Main St., 5th Floor Bridgeport CT 06604 203-366-3939 ext. 483 wps@seeleyberglass.com
Despite a number of direct e-mail pleas, again there has been a dearth of material since the submission date for our last class notes. No report yet from Jud Sage re: the status of his preparation of those two books, one about a
baseball player who leads a colorful life outside the game as he works to become a lawyer after his playing days are over, and another, The Irish Connection, about an American politician who has a relationship with an Irish woman he met while studying at Trinity College in Dublin; she has connections to the IRA, which comes back to haunt him. You can contact him at hsage@cox.net. Bill Blunt reports that his novel, A Dangerous Marriage, has received some great reviews on Amazon, and he is not seeking a conventional publisher. Do not hesitate to contact him at wblunt@ verizon.net. Ted Seager writes from Millis, Mass., that after 40 years as an actuary for John Hancock in Boston, he opened a bookstore in Medway and ran it for 10 years, but “there were too many Kindles,” so he closed it four years ago and is now “vegetating.” We hope he will emerge from that state and amble over to our 60th Reunion in June. From Juno, Fla., Roger Whitcomb wrote that, as appointive chair of his condominium committee, he has been able to use his long career as an architect to make a real contribution, as the condominium looks to repair and replace items and install hurricane protection. “Old folks have difficulty believing a retired architect knows much about it,” he says. They are lucky to have you, Roger. Hugh MacMillan has completed an updated 1954 class list for our 60th and sent it to Andover, so its records will be as current as possible. Hugh now has as close to a definitive list as we believe possible, although there are still a handful of missing classmates. Paul Keaney, Ken MacWilliams, and several others have helped immeasurably in this effort to search for missing classmates. Hugh was writing a letter to all classmates to be sent by the end of January (so you likely will have received it by the time you read this column), to kick off the drumroll for our 60th Reunion. If anyone knows the correct address for (or any information about) the following classmates, please let us know (machugh@gmail.com or wps@ seeleyberglass.com): John Crosby (last address: Minneapolis, Minn.); Kenneth Michael Day (last address: New London, Conn.); John C. Dimick (last address: St. Augustine, Fla.); Jose Dubon (no address); William J. M. Gilbert (no address); Donald C. Marzullo (last address: Los Angeles, Calif.); and Hector A. Valencia (last address: Coronado, Calif.). Peter Behn writes from a house he and his wife, Pam, built on 10 acres outside Park City, Utah, where he has been retired now for 10 years. He looks south at all three ski areas, Deer Valley, Park City, and Canyons Resort—and the Utah Olympic Park. He has chickens, rabbits, a garden, a really well-equipped woodworking shop, and a ceramics studio, and he and Pam build furniture. They are almost off the grid: With their photovoltaic system and wind generator, they have an average power bill of less than $30 a month. Are we envious of you, Peter and Pam! He and Pam love the outdoors and sent some wonderful pictures of
www.andover.edu/intouch them in hiking gear. He invites all of us to stop by if we are in Utah. Tom Cushing writes that he is living about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C., but spends most of the time in and around Shepherdstown, W.Va., across the river from the Antietam battlefield and a few miles from Harper’s Ferry. He says Shepherdstown is quaint, like Andover, and a college town (Shepherd University), “looking like a survivor from the ’50s,” notwithstanding the many Civil War–buff tourists he sees. He and his wife, Diane, see Stephanie and Chuck Fagan as they drive through from time to time from Bedford, Pa. This is the last class notes before the 60th Reunion, but please do not hold back “class news,” irrespective of whether you are planning to come to reunion—and we hope all of you will come. [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Oliver M. Whipple passed away on Oct. 23, 2013. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
1955 ABBOT
Nancy Eastham Iacobucci 17 Wilgar Road Etobicoke ON M8X 1J3 Canada 416-231-1670 n.iacobucci@bluelink.andover.edu
It is January 2014 as I write this; sadly, I have received almost no Abbot ’55 mail since my last column. However, my most loyal Christmas correspondents have come through again, and I thank them very much! Christine Maynard never fails to send a card and write a wonderful note about her life. She reported that she spends two-thirds of her year in Andover and one-third in Wolfeboro, N.H., at her place on Lake Winnipesaukee, and stays very busy at both. She wrote about her Christmas preparations, which this year included decorating her own wreath as part of a garden club initiative. It sounded very festive and artistic, with gold cones, green and dark blue grape bunches, and a light green bow. She had hoped to go to Wolfeboro to join their garden club in making and decorating boxwood trees, but the weather did not cooperate. Each year she has a theme for her other decorations, and this year it was nutcrackers. She said it took three trips to the attic to locate them all and bring down all the boxes, and she was looking forward to discovering just how many nutcrackers she has! She added that she goes against the tide as to when to put up and take down holiday decorations: Unlike the majority, who put everything up right after Thanksgiving and take everything down right after Christmas, she decorates just before Christmas and keeps everything up as long as possible, even into February. Therefore, she is still enjoying the holiday as I write this. Eleanor Easton Flaxen also sent a wonderful
update with her card. She was in Melrose, Mass., when she wrote, visiting her daughter Sophia and her family. After Christmas she was heading to Washington, D.C., for the birth of the first child (a girl) of her daughter Clare and son-in-law Pablo. Unsurprisingly, she was very excited about that event! She and husband David spent a busy autumn traveling. They had spent a wonderful three weeks on a small ship visiting archaeology sites from Istanbul, Turkey, to Venice, Italy, including Greece, Albania, and Croatia en route. Also, as mentioned in the winter issue of class notes as a “coming event,” she then went with her London chorus to Berlin for a week of rehearsals with a German chorus for a joint performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in the Konzerthaus Berlin. She describes this experience as “exhausting but great fun!” I looked up the Konzerthaus on the Internet, and it is an enormous place; I think it would be fabulous (although intimidating!) to sing there. Good for you, Eleanor! For many years, my husband, Frank, has been attending a seminar at Yale Law School on global constitutionalism, with judges from around the world and Yale faculty. Out of that connection came the opportunity to co-teach a short, intensive comparative constitutional law course with a professor at Yale each fall. I have accompanied him to the seminars, but during his teaching time, I have visited old friends in New England. Again this year, I went to Cambridge, Mass., to stay with Kathy Lloyd for a few days. Since her broken wrist (reported a year ago) was healed, she was back to her usual activities, and I had fun tagging along. After a lovely supper with a choir friend, I went to their choir practice (very impressive director!); another day, she and I went walking with another friend in the Mount Auburn Cemetery (a fabulous park!). Kathy no longer has her dog but was dog-sitting for a friend. We enjoyed taking Maggie for walks, including to an unofficial off-leash area by the river where we loved watching elderly Maggie have fun chasing balls with the younger dogs. My visit with Kathy, as always, was splendid but too short! The year 2013 was special for my family, as we delightedly welcomed another granddaughter in February, Emily Joyce Iacobucci. Our older son remarried in 2011, and the joined family had “almost twins”: Andrew has a son and Kristin has a daughter, both born in 2005. Thus they had “his and hers.” Now they have “theirs,” and what a bonus Emme is! Of course she is wonderful in every way (say the proud grandparents). In August we took all the family (eight adults and eight grandchildren, including Emme at six months) for a marvelous week in southern Italy (Calabria). We stayed at a lovely hotel in Amantea, on the Tyrrhenian Sea (part of the Mediterranean), near the village where Frank’s mother grew up and where several cousins still live. We had a wonderful visit with the cousins in their village, and they also joined us at the beach, the sea, and the hotel swimming pool, and for many delicious dinners. Now I end as usual: Please write!
PHILLIPS
Tom Lawrence 1039 1/2 Sweetzer West Hollywood CA 90069 323-654-0286 323-804-4394 (cell) yogi@earthlink.net
Our class lost one of its creative forces when Dan Blatt died after a battle with pancreatic cancer last Oct. 9, in Los Angeles. [Editor’s note: Dan Blatt’s obituary appeared in the winter issue.] After Andover, where he was a member of the Phillips Society and played football and golf, Dan attended Duke University, and just as I left Northwestern University for New York, he came there to study law. Law degree in hand, his first mission was representing Freedom Riders and civil rights protesters in Jackson, Miss., in 1964. About the time I left New York, Dan came there to join the legal department at Palomar Pictures, where he eventually served as vice president from 1970 to 1975. He oversaw the making of Sleuth (1972), The Heartbreak Kid (1972), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), and The Stepford Wives (1975). When he caught up with me and came to Hollywood, his first crack at producing was a rescue effort; he saved The Howling (1981), which had exhausted its budget and was in danger of not being finished. The climactic lupine transformation had to be done all in close-up; it was shot in Dan’s office because there was no more money to build sets. The result is still a cult favorite. Dan had executive producer credits for I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), Cujo (1983), Let’s Get Harry (1986), and The Boost (1988), but he found his forte in movies made for television. Coproducing Raid on Entebbe in 1976, which aired a scant six months after the daring Israeli rescue operation, put an Emmy Award on Dan’s mantel. Dan’s other fact-based TV movies included Common Ground (1990) about the less-than-peaceful school busing plan to desegregate the Boston public schools; Kissinger and Nixon (1995) starring Ron Silver and Beau Bridges, respectively, in the title roles; A Brother’s Promise: The Dan Jansen Story (1996), about the ill-fated Olympic speedskater; and Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story (1996), starring Anthony LaPaglia as the legendary basketball coach. But Dan’s most widely seen effort was probably V: The Final Battle (1984), a three-part science fiction epic about an alien invasion in which, if you were watching very carefully, you might have seen your class secretary (as one of the aforementioned aliens) dispatched by the hero’s ray gun. A search of Dan’s online IMDb file will reveal even more treasures, including two Christmas TV movies. His last credit was the Lifetime telefilm Twist of Faith (2013). In our Pot Pourri class poll, Dan’s name appeared but once, as the most “pure,” a questionable virtue among hormonal 18-year-old voters. I like to think that what we saw and didn’t then quite understand was idealism—with a capital I...Y. Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected...
Nort Wright ’53, center, and wife Suzy Watson Wright enjoyed dinner with Bill Joseph ’53 when they passed through New York last October.
At a June 2013 fundraiser in Boston for then-congressman Ed Markey, Richard Phelps ’46 and grandson Matt Jacobs ’14 met President Obama.
1956 ABBOT
Anne Woolverton Oswald 7862 East Greythorn Drive Superstition Mountain AZ 85118 480-374-4281 317-502-0339 (cell) Woolvie56@gmail.com
Greetings from sunny Arizona. I know you living in the East had a very cold period over and after the holidays. My husband, Bob, and I were in Chicago for Christmas and had an evening in the Loop where we saw zero on the thermometer. Pales in comparison with what you experienced, but it was a validation of our decision to locate full time in the Southwest. From Marjorie Orr Stein’s Christmas card: “[Husband] Paul and I returned from a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with the family, who gathered at daughter Lynn and [son-in-law] Jim’s in Washington, D.C. Jim is a terrific chef and Lynn a super baker. The rest of us set the tables and did the dishes! “Jim’s restructuring firm keeps him very busy, while Lynn continues to design and sell jewelry and metalware. [Their daughter] Johanna is a freshman at Dartmouth and Natalie just finished her college applications when we were with them. “Valerie (Paul’s daughter) and [husband] Lorenzo lost one of their beloved vizslas this fall and are awaiting a new puppy to keep Titus company. Valerie is teaching at two sports clubs, while Lorenzo is in the business of executing bankruptcy settlements. [Paul’s] son Paul G works at the Weather Channel.
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Last December, Ruth Fleischmann-Colgan and Audrey Taylor MacLean—both Class of 1953—met for lunch in Houston.
“Daughter Betsy, [her husband] John, and [their daughter] Christina Neiva will be traveling to China to join [Betsy and John’s] daughter Isabel, who is in Beijing for the school year with the School Year Abroad program. She is living with a Chinese family and loves everything about the experience. Christina is a high school sophomore and is looking forward to spending part of the summer in Spain. Betsy and John are both teachers, John at St. Joseph’s University and Wharton and Betsy at The Philadelphia School. “Paul and I had our usual spring break in Antigua, which is always a treat. In September, we had a wonderful trip to China, where we caught up with Isabel for dinner one evening. Listening to her speak Mandarin was amazing. I can’t imagine ever learning to read the characters, let alone speak the language. Nevertheless, we loved China and would like to go back.” Eleanor Rulon-Miller York was in Maine for two holidays and is now back in Florida. At this writing, she was awaiting the birth of her first greatgrandson, due in mid-March. Her Uganda family is in the U.S. and will be here until June. Susan Wickham Maire is looking for good health in 2014. Her granddaughter, Savannah Trees, who plays basketball for DePauw University as a point guard, was recently honored as “player of the week” by Scoutware. I received a nice note from Margaret Oliver Hedeman, in Savannah, Ga. Special joys in 2013, she says, were visits from each of her children’s families; cruising in the Minicoy (an atoll off the southern tip of India) with her brother; frolicking on the beach in Maine; and a fabulous trip to Colorado and Utah at the peak bloom of golden aspen. While there, she saw her nephew, who is a
kicker for the University of Colorado football team, in a game setting. What did she do for her 75th?A hot-air-balloon ride! In addition to Christmas in Evanston, Ill., with daughter Jane and family, husband Bob and I celebrated the New Year in Arizona for 10 days in the company of three couples with whom we have been sharing that holiday for more than 30 years. Each year we meet at one couple’s home, and this was the year to be in the Southwest. Good thing, too, as the others are in Michigan locations that range from the south almost to the northern peninsula. Sydney Lewis Henriquez Glover has been placing her mother’s oil paintings in top museums from coast to coast. So far these works by Doris Lindo Lewis, America’s first female surrealist, have been accepted by Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Washington’s Corcoran Museum.
PHILLIPS Phil Bowers 322 W. 57th St., Apt. 30F New York NY 10019 212-581-0538 philbowers@verizon.net Philip R. Hirsh Jr. 59 Union Run Lexington VA 24450-6040 540-464-5202 prhjr@rockbridge.net
Following up on our Berlin trip report, Jon Reiff wrote, “I was totally unaware Julian [Herrey] and Toby [Schwartzburg] were there [in Germany]
www.andover.edu/intouch
Berlin, Germany, was the setting for a Class of 1956 mini reunion. Several classmates, many with their spouses, made the May 2013 trip. Here, the group is pictured in front of the Charlottenburg Palace.
when I was, ’61 to ’64.” Jon was stationed in Germany when Berlin was closed, on Aug. 13, 1961. He was told to go immediately to Berlin, and when he asked how, his CO responded, “You have a car, don’t you?” He had 30 minutes to prepare, then drove the autobahn, “making S-curves under the guns of the Russian tanks stationed to block traffic.” Later, he was instructed to get a “priority sticker” for a colonel’s car so he could drive in the Queen’s birthday parade. While he was at it, Jon helped himself to an additional sticker, thinking it might get him a better parking spot. “Come parade day, driving up there with my girlfriend in my red Volks wagen, suddenly the military police were whistling at me, directing me into the line of cars carrying all the generals. I was terrified I’d be arrested and shot as an example. When we got to the reviewing stand the MPs opened the door and my girlfriend proudly got out to the playing of American ruffles, and I the mere driver tooled off and hid the car.” He also participated in the famous Allied forces confrontation with the Russians at Checkpoint Charlie, “with our safety off,” he writes, “ready to blast our way through.” Fortunately for Jon and the rest of the world, the Russians backed down. We have lost another classmate. Peter Knipe died suddenly on Oct. 7, 2013, while on a visit to California. Apparently in fine health, his sudden death “came out of the blue,” according to his sons. Peter was winding down his law practice and just two weeks before his death had told the family the time might be right to consider downsizing. Peter grew up in Princeton, N.J., and after Andover, went on to Yale, then Yale Law School. He returned to Princeton, where he practiced entertainment law. He was also active in charity and community projects, including work with Children’s Medical
Relief International and the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Recently, he was elected to the Association of Yale Alumni and was about to join its executive committee. Peter was a writer, and he helped many film and print authors negotiate contracts for their work. His funeral, held in Sea Girt, N.J., was attended by Toby Clark, Dan Catlin, Phil Bowers, and Philip Hirsh. After the service, we were able to get together and share our memories of Peter, a gentle, wise, and generous friend. Later, I had the chance to talk with another of Peter’s close friends, John Pitts, again with a mix of sadness and nostalgia. John reports that he has largely overcome the protracted despair he has been fighting since the death of his wife, Freddie. He describes himself as “reemerging,” and laughingly said his initial dating experience was awkward. “Freddie and I were school sweethearts. I never had a date with anyone else,” he said. Another of Peter’s old friends, Henry Cannon, knew him from their days at Princeton Country Day School. Now retired from his computer consultation business, Henry and his wife, Kathleen, live in Alabama. At Andover, Henry was active in the Phillips Society and has always maintained its spirit of commitment to public service. He is a member of Kairos (ancient Greek for “opportune moment”) Prison Ministry, whose members go into prisons for intensive three-day spiritual programs—exhausting but rewarding work. Henry’s most recent concession to aging is giving up his chain saw and wood pile in favor of a gas log fireplace. Stephen Truog has apparently not given up his chain saw. In spite of living in an urban setting in Michigan, he and his wife have mastered the art (and joy) of self-sufficiency. They heat with wood and raise all their own food in garden and
greenhouse. “There’s nothing like a fresh tomato in February,” he says. No argument there. When we were together in Berlin, Toby Schwartzburg told us about his exciting new Tesla electric automobile. Ed Tarlov was intrigued, and we recently heard from Ed and wife Suzanne as they were driving from California to Boston in their new Tesla, loving every mile. Says Ed, “Like sailing, it requires planning. You have to work out the logistics of battery charging, and I’m learning a lot about amps.” Mac Blair is retired, “going slow,” and enjoying his two great-grandchildren. “Best of all,” he says, “you can spoil them and walk away.” Mac is the first classmate to mention great-grandchildren. I wonder how many others are experiencing this tectonic aging signal. Mac also collects antique cars, particularly old Mercedes-Benzes and 1932 Buicks. When asked why ’32 Buicks, Mac said, “Because I can’t afford Duesenbergs,” though a little research revealed these classic Buick beauties were industry game-changers, with OHV straight-eight engines, synchromesh transmissions, and dual taillights. Joel Murphy reports he is having “too much fun to quit practicing law.” He calls himself a “courthouse dinosaur operating at one-tenth of what I used to do.” His ongoing enthusiasm is clear from his upbeat manner. And where did we catch him at noon on New Year’s Eve day? At the courthouse, of course. Louis Brownstone is still active in the longterm-care insurance industry and not even thinking about retirement. He also reports taking one of Stanford’s “Classes Without Quizzes,” a course on Greek philosophers presented by Marsh McCall. “Marsh had so much fun doing this, he got totally worked up, and led such class cheers as ‘Lead On, Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... Socrates!’ extolling what these icons have taught us. It may have been the most upbeat class I have ever witnessed. What a performance!” Jesse Barbour sent a note about Peter’s death, saying he remembered him well and was saddened by his passing. He told the story, with an accompanying picture, of playing “Taps” over the grave of his first band director. “Oh, the memories,” he wrote. It’s true, and each loss hurts, but it’s reassuring to know that 77 percent of us are still kicking, investing energy in community service, learning, and enjoying our ever-evolving families. —Phil Hirsh
1957 ABBOT 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
News from Libby Horan Edgerly: “Still living in Providence [R.I.], working mostly by remote in Boston. In 2013, I had the luxury of spending a half day with Louisa Birch in Boston and of a 24-hour visit from Jody Bush. In 2014, I am working half time and hope to do more visiting with friends. I’m also supposed to be weeding out my house, but when given the choice of friends or weeding, friends win out. “I am glad I had the opportunity to stay with my research through our latest acquisition (by MSCI in 2010) and experience the globalization of our company. The team members I work with are in Manila and now two more in Beijing, with only three of us in Boston. Most extraordinary. This has involved mostly e-mail, and a few teleconferences at 6:30 a.m. or sometimes 9 p.m., but I must admit that I have not made the 10 p.m. teleconferences.” News from Mimi Ganem Reeder: “As you know, I belong to HILR (the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement). I love the organization! It’s really a community, and opportunities abound— peer-led courses (the catalogue each semester is amazing), plays and musicals, guest speakers, research projects, and more. I’m also writing, mostly memoir, in a group from HILR. It’s an environment that celebrates learning, friendships, and creativity. It’s fun! Otherwise, I’m happily busy with my family. Children and grandchildren remain life’s prize.” News from Lynne McLaughlin Moughty: “Have no travel plan as yet for 2014, but last year was good on that score: San Francisco in May to celebrate my daughter-in-law’s graduation from divinity school (PSR in Berkeley), South Dakota and Wyoming tour in June, and three weeks in France
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in October. The last trip included a visit with my daughter Beth and family in Lyon, where they are spending a sabbatical year. Children (Nico, 12, and Marina, 9) are going to the public schools and getting pretty proficient in French. Beth and I had four wonderful days in Paris before we parted company and I embarked on an eight-day Rhone River cruise. Would like to get over to France again before they come home in July and am looking at another river trip or perhaps a walking tour. “Indoor winter activities here in Wolfeboro, N.H.: cribbage, puzzles (picture and crossword), table tennis and regular tennis and occasional horseback riding. Snowshoeing and x-c skiing are great fun when the weather cooperates. Will probably not do any more downhill skiing, though every time I’m up in North Conway I remember our senior trip to Cranmore and am tempted. Walking at the Brewster Academy indoor track with friends is another option to get out and work off those pounds that seem to accumulate in the winter. A weekly knitting group and singing in my church choir are other things I really enjoy.” News from Anne Boswell: “I am back from Hong Kong after a visit to see family. My oldest grandson in first year of med school. His younger sister eager to visit colleges. They and their parents took me with them to Kyoto and Hakaba, Japan. We stayed close to Mt. Fuji and skied in marvelous powder snow.” News from Josephine Bradley Bush: “The highlight of the past year was having one active and usually inattentive 15-year-old completely to ourselves in Italy for 10 days. Husband John and I lucked out and spent 90 minutes alone in the Uffizi with Duccio to Leonardo and 40 minutes with Michelangelo’s David at the Accademia; our granddaughter paid attention. We are living in New Haven, and John, now working for a nice young man who has bought his firm, will retire at 85, in two years. And then who knows? We are currently in Argentina, learning the tango and then going fishing in Patagonia. I love seeing Lulu [Cutler] and Dinah [Hallowell Barlow] from time to time. Dinah and I see Dede Michalopoulos up in North Haven, Maine, in the summer. She is Emily Meyer Michalopoulos’s lovely daughter, of whom Emily was very proud.” Sally Lawrence Kauder passed away on Nov. 14, 2013, of melanoma. Sally is survived by her two daughters, Nancy Kauder Schreiber of Baltimore and Carol Kauder of Boulder, Colo.; her grandchildren, Camilla and Sam Schreiber; and her brother, Wally Lawrence of New York City. I (Lulu) continue to love being with my family: seven grandchildren, ages 12 to 17. I continue to enjoy watercolor painting, bridge, and lay caring ministry and cancer support group at my church. I did not spend the entire winter in Vero Beach, Fla., but enjoyed being the Abbot host at a PA luncheon for local alumni in the Vero Beach area on Feb. 13 at the Riomar Country Club. Anne Boswell and I love receiving any news you may have to share. Cheers from both of us.
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
In what, alas, is a familiar plaint for many of us nowadays, Leo Ullman writes that he and wife Kay “have been confronted and ‘dissed’ mercilessly by our kids and grandkids that we are no longer ‘with it.’ ” Leo’s response was an amusing New Year’s letter in which he pledged, among other resolutions, no longer to use correct grammar, full sentences, or complete words (“U will C, how gr8 it will B”); get rid of picture albums and store photos and memories in a cloud; eat only food free of gluten, hormones, fat, salt, minerals, and artificial coloring; forswear libido-enhancing drugs for fear of undue excitement lasting more than four hours; pay bills with bitcoins; and stop reading books and newspapers in hard copy. “2 U all,” Leo concluded, “we extend LOL & hope U’l have a 1derful NU Yr.” On a more serious note, Leo reports that he cosponsored an exhibit on the evils of Nazi propaganda that drew a record 1.6 million visitors to DC’s United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In their holidays note, Phil Olsson and wife Diane speak of a roller-coaster 2013. The year started on a high: Son-in-law Andrew Bujalski’s documentary, Computer Chess, took a top prize at the Sundance Film Festival. But no sooner had they finished celebrating than Phil took a bad spill on the ski slopes, requiring a pin-and-screws repair job on his hip, followed by a total replacement a few months later. That wasn’t the end of it. While recovering from the operation, Phil tripped on his patio and broke his femur. On the good-news side, Phil and Diane gave away a daughter in marriage, and she soon provided them with their second grandchild. Their son tied the knot as well. John McConnell and his wife, Diana, sold their Wilton, Conn., home of 18 years and moved to a condo in Heritage Village, a retirement community in nearby Southbury. John is an active member of the American Legion and a stalwart in the woodworking shop. Ever the dedicated sailor, he’s working on a radio-controlled model boat for racing on local ponds. Patsy and Lance Odden celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by taking their son and daughter, their children’s spouses, and their four young grandchildren to Costa Rica. After a week of surfing, zip-lining, and monkey watching, their 5-year-old grandson toasted them by saying that they should make it an annual event. “An exhausting
www.andover.edu/intouch consideration,” Lance notes. For 29 years, Lance served as headmaster of the Taft School, retiring in 2001. After a short pause, he went back to work, at a firm that manages endowments for charitable organizations. He also serves on several boards. “All this keeps me busy in the non sibi tradition,” Lance writes. “However, it no longer keeps the ravages of age at bay.” Bill Dial took his first golf lesson when he was 12, but it took him 59 more years to make a hole in one. Then, suddenly, he scored another one last year. “With this kind of luck, I figured I might as well buy some lottery tickets,” he writes, then adds, “In case Grabo [Keator] reads this, I haven’t hit a jackpot yet.” Happily retired from the practice of law, he derives great satisfaction from volunteer work with the Alternatives to Violence Project, training California prison inmates to handle conflicts in a nonviolent way. Bill says, “I am constantly amazed at the wisdom and humanity I find in men who have been incarcerated most of their adult lives but now want to change.” Elon Gilbert doesn’t jet around the developing world as much as he used to, but he’s still doing “a fair amount” of mentoring of young farmers in the U.S. and abroad as a volunteer in USAID’s Farmerto-Farmer program. He’s also been helping resolve longstanding and bitter disputes over water rights between homesteaders and Indian tribes on the Flathead Reservation in Montana. That, plus keeping up with four children and seven grandchildren, does fill up his day. Tom Bissinger has chronicled his unconventional career, at least the first half of it, in a memoir, The Fun House: Memory, Magic, and Mayhem. The publisher’s blurb describes it as a “rollicking tale of coming of age in the ’60s and ’70s.” It takes Tom from a San Francisco childhood to Bishop South and Stanford and on to Paris. He describes his theatre career in New York and Philadelphia, along with marches in Selma, love affairs and drugs, and life with Samoan families and in an aborigine settlement in Australia. The book ends in 1977 as he and wife Kristen and their 2-year-old come back from a Hindi retreat in Sri Lanka and settle down on a farm north of Philadelphia, where they still live. You can purchase The Fun House on Amazon, or send Tom (tombiss@gmail.com) $23 and you’ll get an autographed copy. By day Karl Milde is a patent lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., but in his off hours his imagination takes flight. He’s penned a series of children’s books (Jason and the Detectives) and three thrillers for grown-ups. The latest, The Road Ranger, features a trucker who is ambushed and left for dead after hauling a suspicious car to Niagara Falls. Rescued by a Canadian border guard, he feigns his own demise and sets out incognito to find his attacker. It’s also available on Amazon. “My big news is that a year ago, via Facebook, I reconnected with my high school sweetheart—and we’ve became engaged,” Bill Bayfield writes. “So, at age 75, we are planning a second marriage for both of us.” A Savannah resident and an ardent golfer,
Bill likes to mentor young players and officiate in tournaments. Bill Sterling underwent successful pituitary gland surgery. He planned to treat the weeks of his convalescence as a “reading vacation” of Old English classics. Before checking in at the hospital, he penned his customary class letter, which you’ll find on the class website (www.andover57.ning.com). Good luck, Bill. Or, as Beowulf might say, Éadig béo þu. —G
1958 ABBOT
Parry Ellice Adam 33 Pleasant Run Road Flemington NJ 08822-7109 908-782-3754 peaba@comcast.net
Sandy Bensen Calhoun writes, “Sorry I missed reunion, but Bob and I were driving to Banff, Canada. We were blocked by floods from leaving to the south, but the 400-mile detour crossing and recrossing the Rockies was scenic.” She spent a week in March with Jane Christie in Hilton Head, S.C. She also keeps in touch with Joanne Shanklin via e-mail. And, directly from Joanne in Brazil: “My oldest granddaughter graduated from Wellesley in May. She’s now living in New York City and works in a bank. Her dad gave her an apartment in Soho, and now she’s spending some days in Aspen, Colo., with her mother and their whole family. My daughter just bought a small apartment in NYC also. All four of her girls want to go to college in the States, and the two oldest don’t want to come back to live in Brazil. My son and his family still live in Geneva and have been there for a while. They have a place up in the mountains where they all go skiing every weekend. I’m the only one still here in Rio. I really don’t like the snow and cold.” Susie Tidd Augenthaler received a card from Shirley Ritchie. Our former teacher doesn’t drive anymore but is hanging in there. Susie was also sorry to have missed reunion but had planned a family get-together far in advance. She is glad to be back in Florida after surviving an ice storm in Dallas, where she went to bed every night in flannel PJs, socks, and sweatshirt. She reminds us of a winter at Abbot when the temperature got to 20 degrees below zero for a week and we were allowed to wear ski clothes to class. When the temp got to zero, everyone started to take their coats off. Susie added, “Liz Artz Beim and I lived in Homestead that winter, and we put our rugs from the floor over us at night to keep warm.”
PHILLIPS Dermod O. Sullivan Morgan Stanley 590 Madison Ave., 11th Floor New York NY 10022 800-468-0019 dermod.o.sullivan@ms.com
Gil Bamford writes that his has become that rare three-generation family at Andover: His son Mark graduated in 1981, and grandson Zachary ’14 is currently doing a PG year at Andover. Zachary will attend the University of Chicago next year. Tom Gildehaus can also claim a multigenerational distinction, but more. His father-in-law Langdon Quimby ’32 and grandfather-in-law both went to Andover, as did three of Tom’s sons, Tom Jr. ’80, Charles ’82, and Chris ’84. Now Charles’s son Arthur is an upper, Class of 2015. [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Tom Gildehaus passed away on March 10, 2014, after the submission of these notes. Class secretary Dermod Sullivan sent an e-mail in March to his list of classmates concerning this sad news.] On Oct. 29, 2013, some 350 members of the Andover family came together at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, to celebrate the accomplishments of the Peabody Museum. The Peabody was on the verge of closure in 2002; now it serves as a vital educational resource at the Academy. This renaissance is importantly due to the unflagging financial support and buoyant encouragement of our own Marshall Cloyd. Marshall was celebrated in a tribute delivered by his daughter Trudi Cloyd ’03. The evening also honored David Hurst Thomas, curator of North American archaeology for the American Museum of Natural History, who sits on the Peabody Advisory Committee, and the late Linda S. Cordell, longtime member of the Peabody Advisory Committee. Among the attendees honoring Marshall were Head of School John Palfrey and Board of Trustees President Peter Currie ’74. Classmates present were Bruce Kaplan, Bill Stiles, Charlie Brennan and wife Rosemary, and of course Marshall Cloyd and wife Robin. Charlie Brennan described the evening as first class all around: beautiful surroundings complete with ceiling-suspended whale and jousting dinosaur skeletons; good food; and well-to-do well-wishers. It is my sad duty to report that retired United States ambassador John “Jack” Leonard of Bonita, Calif., died peacefully at home May 13, 2013, after battling lymphoma. [Editor’s note: His obituary appeared in the fall 2013 issue of the magazine.] After graduating from Harvard, Jack served in Army Military Intelligence in Korea and joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1965. Jack served with distinction in the U.S. Foreign Service for 34 years, notably in war-torn Nicaragua leading up to the 1990 elections there. He also served as ambassador to Suriname and as deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... affairs. In a 1990 personal letter to Jack, President George H.W. Bush ’42 said, “Your intelligence, diligence, and perseverance under extremely adverse conditions and your endless hours of work contributed mightily to reaching this day of democratic transition in Nicaragua. ... You have exemplified the best in service to country.” In 1999, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright honored him with the Department of State Career Achievement Award. In our 50th Reunion book, Jack wrote a very interesting account of staring down T-54 tanks in Managua, Nicaragua. I recommend that everyone read this narrative. Jack grew up in Larchmont, N.Y. Two surviving brothers also attended Andover, Anthony C. Leonard ’55 and Richard W. Leonard ’63. Jack is survived by his wife, Norma, and his children, Yeardley Leonard Reed of New York, N.Y., and Christopher B. Leonard of Boulder, Colo. In early December, Jack Clymer called and said he was coming to New York, and could we get tickets to a play? As aspiring highbrows, we selected the Bard’s Twelfth Night for the occasion. I personally went over to the theatre box office, to get the best seats possible. The optimal choice seemed to be “on stage”—for this performance, the equivalent of front row grandstand at the Globe Theatre in Elizabethan London. At one point, an actor leaned over the rail to us and said, “My name is Alden. Are you enjoying the show?” The performance by the visiting British troupe was masterful, but it required much study and preparation so I could (1) follow the British accents and (2) understand the Shakespearean dialogue, within the constraints of my diminished ability to hear. It would have helped my Andover grade transcript if I’d put in that amount of work for my English classes in Bulfinch. I had a particularly rich 2013. Early last summer, I went to Quebec for three days of salmon fishing on the Matapédia River. I was skunked, but my mate in the canoe caught a beautiful 30-plus pounder, which we released. In July, sons Conor and Griffin and Griffin’s girlfriend, Katie, spent a week visiting Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna. The trip went something like this: “Let’s first go see the museum and have a beer.… then let’s go to the palace and have a beer.… after, we’ll end up at the castle and have a beer.” In late October, I was invited driven-pheasant and -partridge shooting in England. Our group was taken in, almost as family, to a lord’s estate, for formal dinners under portraits of dour ancestors. During the day, we were treated to two days of the most sporting shooting, high driven birds, at two neighboring large estates. Midday break featured sherry and hot soup in the field. It was a most elegant occasion, a matchless experience I hope to repeat. In December, Griffin’s girlfriend became his intended, with a wedding scheduled in Boston in 2015.
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1959 55th REUNION June 13–15, 2014
ABBOT
Nathalie Taft Andrews 2407 Ransdell Ave. Louisville KY 40204 502-459-5715 dulcie@iglou.com
Susie Goodwillie Stedman spent a glorious five weeks in Italy and France, “beginning with a dreamy visit to Cortona, in Tuscany, and the quirky, charming home of Deborah Hayes Gillette, and ending on the Left Bank in Paris, where Deborah also has a charming flat on Rue de Poissy. Deborah and her beau, Charlie, are delightful, gracious, generous hosts (D is also a superb cook) and they enchanted my time in Paris. In between Cortona and Paris, I accompanied a darling 19-year-old Australian lass, as we explored Florence, Venice, Nice, and Provence with dear friends who live in Bonnieux...a dream trip!” Debbie Hayes Gillette wrote, “Well, Susie has written about our wonderful meet-ups in Italy and France. My house is looking like an épicerie/flower shop in the wake of her passage, when she lavished all sorts of goodies on me. We certainly overate, as per French custom over the ‘hols,’ but got our ‘cultcha’ quota in as well. Now back to my new career of babysitting for my granddaughter, which is delicious but exhausting; factor in that I also serve as cafeteria supplier for the three (ma, pa, and 2 1/2 year old), not to mention housekeeping service and laundress. Off, across town, with my backpack full of goodies, to take up my day’s work. Hugs aplenty.” Tina Savell Treadwell reports her thrill of the year: “Older son Ed Barker Jr., at the ripe old age of 46, has become betrothed to a lovely woman whom he met in June last year! They are getting married in July, and I am over the moon!” Missy Iams Kittredge was having a wonderful winter in Cincinnati. “The little house I bought, a five-minute drive from daughter Aveling, is pretty warm and cozy, although still needing lots of work to endure the snowy winter.” She intends (ha ha) to wrap up things in Panama. “I still have all my stuff, farm, pets, friends, life, and abiding love for the tropics. Will keep you all posted so as to avoid leaving my oldest and dearest hanging breathlessly awaiting the next chapter. Which will probably sound pretty much like this one.” Laura “Missy” McGehee McCloy sold her house in Greenwich, Conn., and moved to Vermont for the time being. “Will probably buy something in Florida to escape from the bitterest days up here,” she says. Dorothy Henry Pazereskis warns, “What I’m about to write is not, in the cosmic scheme of things, very important, but we’re pleased. Our dog, Tommy, is the proud sire (he actually does seem proud) of
a litter of 10 beautiful standard schnauzer puppies. The pups have all been placed and will shortly be traveling to the East Coast, the West Coast, Canada, and points in between. Hurrah for Tommy!” Eve Hooper Dalmolen flew to California to celebrate St. Nicholas Day with her two grandsons, Van, 4, and Noah, who at nearly 5 months has learned how to sit upright by himself. She spent Christmas in Binghamton, N.Y., with son Hans and granddaughter Sammy. Sammy, only 5, skates like a pro and scored two goals at the ice hockey party. Eve writes, “It is not dramatic, exciting news—but don’t we wish for normal, uneventful lives in our senior years?” For Diane Gerros Cecca, last year brought “an odd combination of wonderful travel (Santorini, Rome, the Amalfi Coast in spring and Key West, Fla., in winter) and unpleasant health issues (total shoulder replacement). Ouch. Still working hard in PT but happy the worst is behind me. My husband had rotator cuff surgery, so we are determined to make 2014 the year of being healthy.” Joan Synnott Ardrey says that she and husband Jim “are in Boca Grande, Fla., for the winter, doing the usual happy retiree routine. No news there. Our two sons and their families are living their lives, no news there. The only tidbit I can offer is that I wrote a book published on Amazon this past November, which was the culmination of several years of research into the life of Jim’s great-grandfather, Alexander Calhoun Ardrey, who had an extraordinary Civil War record with the 21st Mississippi infantry in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The book is ‘A .C.’: The Remarkable Life of Alexander Calhoun Ardrey. I’m on to another biography project soon!” Bob and Connie Laurence Brinckerhoff are in New London, N.H. Connie writes, “I am still working at Dartmouth, doing research on melanoma. Times are tough: NIH research dollars are hard to come by. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary last June on Martha’s Vineyard, where we have a house. We have eight grandchildren, ages 15 to 5. And we just spent a total of four hours shoveling the snow off the deck in anticipation of the rain that will come tonight!” Gale Barton Hartch and husband Tom have the same routine year after year. She writes, “Little has changed. Tom is still full time at his law firm… and I am the typical grandmother, helping with five grandchildren here in Greenwich, Conn., and visiting three in Richmond, Ky. We still play mixed doubles. Oil painting is my hobby, but time for art is difficult to set aside. I average three paintings a year, usually of microscopic, cellular structures. Biology and religion fascinate me, and I search for books that combine the two.” No news from Kitty Sides Flather, but she wants us all to come to our 55th Reunion, June 13–15. “Nice dinner Saturday night either at the Peabody or the Lanam Club. Wow, those five years went by fast, but we need to stay connected more than ever,” she writes. I agree and hope to see you all in June. Let’s make it one to remember.
www.andover.edu/intouch Nathalie Taft Andrews ’59 PHILLIPS David Othmer 4220 Spruce St. Philadelphia PA 19104 215-387-7824 davidothmer@aol.com
Our 55th Reunion is but a few weeks away—it’ll be a lot calmer than our 50th, but just as stimulating and fun. We’ll hear from each other, of course, and also from Head of School John Palfrey, now two years into his tenure, get to go to some classes, eat great food—in short, a grand weekend. Join us! Lots of news—including a few that were mistakenly left out of previous notes—a failure of my filing (electronic) system or, more accurately, operator failure, not a system failure. Most important, Judy and Tom Kukk were among those awarded Andover’s Distinguished Service Award for 2012. The award is given to alumni and occasionally parents for their long and deep service to the school. Tom and Judy qualified as both alum and parents—congratulations to both! Ed Benson wrote that he “went to Al Killilea’s retirement bash from URI, with 300 colleagues, students, deans, family, and friends. Al’s students from his 40 years there spoke movingly about his impact on their lives. In particular, in addition to writing a couple of books and introducing legions of students to the rhetoric and history of political science, Al’s Mentor/Tutor Internship, founded with eight students in 1997, has grown to 150 students per semester, who mentor and tutor local high school students at risk of dropping out of school. We all had a swell time.” G. Gregory Gates died on Nov. 10, 2012, after a battle with cancer. Greg graduated from Dartmouth College and Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. After he was discharged from the Army, he worked for 25 years as a pathologist at Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso, Ind., before retiring and moving to Scottsdale, Ariz. A memorial service was held in Montana last summer. In more recent news, congratulations to Bill Nordhaus—Yale professor and expert in the economics of climate change—who has just been elected president of the American Economic Association. Mike Bassett and wife Jung have been doing a ton of traveling of late: to Banner Elk, N.C. (golf); Billings, Mont. (family); Yellowstone, Idaho (scenery and wildlife); and most recently, Kauai, Hawaii, for a family wedding, all interspersed with becoming first-time grandparents in August, when their second daughter had a daughter! Daniel Reiff chimed in with news of both his dad and children. Dan has written a book about his dad called Teacher, Scholar, Mentor: Dr. Harry Reiff of St. Lawrence University. Dan’s father was sent to work at 13 but wound up with three degrees from Harvard and was Phi Beta Kappa; he went on to be a noted teacher and scholar and, as an expert in
A Heroic Devotion to Historic Preservation
T
he advent of steamboats on the Mississippi occurred simultaneously with the development of Portland, Kentucky. The town was situated at a bend in the Ohio River, which was then used as a major shipping route. As a result, Portland’s wharf flourished. Now officially a part of Louisville, Portland retains a sense of independence and a claim to historical significance. In 1978, five teachers at the Roosevelt Elementary School decided to start a museum to highlight the history and heritage of the neighborhood of Portland. Nathalie Taft Andrews ’59 knew these teachers through her association with the Louisville Community Design Center. Because she has a graduate degree in curatorial science, the teachers asked her to type up a grant proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities to start the museum in a room in the school. They got the grant, the Portland Museum was opened, and Andrews was hooked. Three years later, the museum got its own home: a historic Italianate building purchased for $30,000. For the past 35 years, Andrews has devoted her heart and soul to preserving and showcasing the history of Portland. The museum, with Andrews as executive director, has grown steadily over the years, thanks to her sharp vision and steely determination. In the process, she has personified Andover’s non sibi (not for self) philosophy. Today the Portland Museum introduces visitors to Louisville’s river heritage through vivid dioramas, life-sized characters, an automated sound track, and documentaries. It sponsors art exhibits, heritage events, and educational programs for teachers, students, and the public, and its collection includes drawings by John James Audubon, the renowned ornithologist, naturalist, and painter. The museum’s Beech Grove Press features antique letterpress equipment with which children and adults can create handmade editions of broadsides and chapbooks. Through tireless fundraising efforts, Andrews has managed to build up a small endowment for the museum while still managing to cover operating expenses every year. This achievement is remarkable, considering that the Portland neighborhood is one of the poorest sections in the entire state of Kentucky. But why? What keeps her going? “Art gives a spark to a community, a sense of aliveness,” says Andrews. “This museum serves as an anchor, a source of pride. The job is always interesting; there’s a surprise around every corner.” Andrews has been to Washington twice (“I’ve met both Mrs. Bushes”) to be recognized for her work on behalf of the revitalization of Portland, which has been named a “Preserve America” community. As for the future, Andrews plans to lead the museum until a successor can be found. “I like to think the museum will last,” she says.
—David Treadwell ’59
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stay connected... international law and treaties, was involved in setting up the United Nations in the ’40s. Dan writes that his older son, Nicholas, “spent two years in Kabul, Afghanistan—living in the city itself—with a freight-handling company. Then he moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where he set up a business, and to South Sudan (during 2011 to ’13) and traveled extensively in Africa (including to Eritrea and Libya). Then he and his fiancée (who worked in Afghanistan, Kenya, and Somaliland with NGOs) resigned their positions and went off for two months of traveling and trekking in South America (Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Argentina). Last August, they were married in her hometown (Fossano, Italy). Now, they are in Thailand.…It’s a different world!” Amen to that! Also in the what-our-kids-are-doing category, Ralph Johanson sent an article about Chet Crocker’s daughter Bathsheba. Sheba Crocker, now the principal deputy director in the U.S. State Department’s Office of Policy Planning, has been picked by President Obama to be assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, following in the footsteps of her father, who was an assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the 1980s, under President Reagan. Sheba has served in the UN and on the National Security Council during President Clinton’s administration. Both Chet and Sheba were referred to by former senator Jesse Helms at a confirmation hearing for Chet (whom Helms opposed, and when Sheba was 13); Helms said, “I’m sure when you go home at night that your wife and children are glad to see you, and your dog wags its tail, but I have some questions about whether you are the man to carry out the president’s policies.” David Harris is still “in love with Saint Petersburg, Fla.” Chris Costanzo got another shout-out for his book, My CIA: Memories of a Secret Career, from Scott Thompson, who said, “Not only a good read but the best-informed book on the CIA of the hundreds I’ve perused. You won’t get names—but something far more important: how it all works.” Finally, for those of you not on my e-mail list (please send me your e-mail if you’re not), here’s a repeat of great news from the sports world. Jay Nelson has just been named to the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame! He was one of just two inductees for 2013. Jay has won 28 national singles titles, the most ever by anyone. Jay got interested in squash after trying out for the basketball team and having BB coach Deke say, “Have you ever thought about squash?” Later, squash coach Lou Hoitsma said, “Jay, I think you can be pretty damned good at this sport.” A quick note about digitization of PA and AA documents. Many of the school’s documents—all issues of the Bulletin, all editions of Pot Pourri and Circle, all the Phillipians, course catalogues, and much more—have been digitized and are available at http://bit.ly/1jRJzPD . It’s a great way to while away an afternoon or two! See you all June 13–15!
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1960 ABBOT
Lynne Furneaux Clark P.O. Box 1087 Manchester Center VT 05255-1087 802-362-1744 puffinplace@aol.com
Many thanks to all of you who contributed for this issue, including several photos I could not squeeze in. Amelia Comas O’Brien reported that her husband, Robert, suffered a stroke from which he has mostly recovered and that she was scheduled for knee surgery in March. She is one of several classmates reporting the physical and health problems that appear with age. Susan Lothrop Koster described travels across Canada and to Australia, plus wonderful quality time with children and grandchildren. Sara Jasper Cook reports that all is well in northern Westchester, N.Y., after an anxiety-ridden autumn. Her disease (CLL) came roaring back worse than it’s ever been; husband Fred endured vascular surgery followed by rougher surgery to excise a malignant melanoma on the top of his head. She is now on a new med, and Fred is recovering rapidly from his surgeries. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family, tennis, and golf. Sara is looking forward to a spring reunion with Peter and Margaret Elsmore Sipple. Jill Kohler reports that, after house hunting for over a year, she has found a new place in Barrington, Ill., on a lake nearby. I hope she can visit Vermont and her sister, Vicki, soon so we can get together. Kathy Stevens reports that her grandchildren are close enough to visit regularly. She and her husband are pushing back old age with medications and replacement parts. Lindsay Knowlton survived a horrible ice storm; she also underwent a successful knee replacement. Brenda Walker Swords had a wonderful trip to Cuba. Sally Foote Hubby visited not only Cuba but also Costa Rica and the Panama Canal. Hannah Jopling spent last Christmas in Washington, D.C., and is now permanently in New York. Her book is now finished. Your class secretary and her husband, Dave, have also been coping with medical and health problems, which have limited our mobility. As of this writing we are surviving another “polar vortex.” By the time you read this, we’ll be a little warmer here on the mountain and, we hope, enjoying a better 2014.
PHILLIPS Dick Bourne 1503 McDermott Road Pylesville MD 21132 410-836-1100 rbourne@ubalt.edu Class website: www.1960pa.com
Illnesses are not often reported in this column, but I feel obliged to let you know that our faithful class secretary, Dick Bourne, has been sidelined with pancreatic cancer and that I have been called up from the minors to substitute for him. Dick would appreciate hearing from classmates at the address above. My contact information is below. Last October, Tom Campion and his daughter Berit ’92 visited PA in order (as he put it) “to check on our first Johnson Scholars. We established these scholarships for athletes from the Rocky Mountain west—terra incognita for PA.” (In February 2013, the Helen K. and Arthur E. Johnson Foundation of Denver established up to 12 scholarships for students from Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. The scholarships are for a maximum of $50,000 each. The first two Johnson Scholars are Haley Avery ’16, of Ft. Collins, Colo., and Tevis Vitale ’16, of Bozeman, Mont.) This handsome gift by Tom and his daughter is what Joe Biden would call “a BFD.” While in Andover, Tom met with the new head of school, John Gorham Palfrey, who impressed him quite favorably. Tom also dined with Nick Kip, who reports that he will retire from the PA faculty in 2015. Speaking of Nick, when traversing Italy this past fall on a Verdi tour (celebrating the maestro’s bicentennial), I met a woman whose daughter had studied Greek at PA under Nick’s tutelage and won a national competition for secondary school students studying that language. She spoke very highly of all Nick had done for her daughter. Tom Campion has spoken occasionally with David Edgerly, who now divides his time between London and Greece. Tom also reports that during their traditional fall sojourn in Italy, he and his wife spent a weekend with David Olivetti at his home in Ivrea. Jeremy Wood announced that in June he will marry Catherine Thompson, a recently retired librarian who resides on Martha’s Vineyard. They have been seeing each other for more than a year and a half. The wedding is slated to take place near her home in Chilmark. During the fall, Jerry and Catherine attended three openings of solo shows featuring paintings by his son Jonas: at New York’s Anton Kern Gallery in Chelsea, at the glass-enclosed lobby of New York’s Lever House on Park Avenue, and at Chicago’s Shane Campbell Gallery. Joining them at one of the New York openings was Laird Smith, who came down from his home in Connecticut. While in the Chicago area, Jerry and his brideto-be trekked out to Grayslake, near the Wisconsin
www.andover.edu/intouch border, to break bread with Wally Winter and his partner, Ellen Ewing. Upon returning to Massachusetts, the happy couple enjoyed a daylong working visit with Susan and Charlie Bradford in Marshfield. Once again Laird Smith joined them, and all three helped the Bradfords do their best Abraham Lincoln imitation, splitting wood for the winter fuel supply. (Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, I continue to teach about the Railsplitter at the University of Illinois Springfield, where I spend the winter-spring semester. The rest of the year I reside in Mystic, Conn., with my fiancée of 26 years’ standing. Before tying the knot, we decided to wait for the infatuation stage to pass so that we might obtain a more realistic view of our long-term prospects. We’re still waiting for it to pass.) Jeremy sees a lot of Nick Danforth, who joins him and Tony Lee for an occasional lunch in Wayland, Mass., where Tony lives. Tony and Wally Winter, who so ably spearheaded our 2010 reunion, are busy organizing their 50th Yale reunion. They have dragooned Jerry into helping them cajole Yale classmates into attending. Wally has also been active in the Transition Town movement, which promotes grassroots initiatives to foster community resilience and self-reliance to cope with the challenges of global warming, economic hard times, and the eventual exhaustion of oil supplies. Wally is helping his environmentally sensitive community of Prairie Crossing in Grays lake reduce its carbon footprint. Al Fox reports that he, Tom Campion, and Bill Sherman (our class agent) have been thinking about ways to promote awareness of the Class of 1960 Fund. They may be sending out a letter alerting classmates to the existence of the fund, which was set up shortly after our 50th Reunion. Thanks primarily to the generosity of Bill Ziegler and Dean Heerwagen, it already has a bit more than $50,000 and will ultimately become a scholarship fund. Small World Department: Last spring I gave a talk in Mystic, after which a woman of roughly our vintage introduced herself as the daughter of Porky Benton, whose Latin 1-2 class I barely survived in our junior year. An Abbot alumna, she married an Andover grad who had also taken a course with Benton. She regaled me with stories of the good old days from the perspective of a faculty brat, and her husband (who did poorly in Porky’s Latin class but went to MIT and became a rocket scientist with NASA) chimed in with reminiscences of his days on the Hill. Wally Winter wants us to start thinking about our 55th Reunion. He realizes that many of us are, like him, preoccupied with upcoming college reunions, but he urges classmates to realize that our 2015 get-together needs to be planned and organized. He says he will be glad to help but cannot take the leadership role he assumed in 2010. I suggested to Wally that we might want to have a panel about writing memoirs, featuring two classmates who have written excellent examples
of that genre: John Darnton, author of Almost a Family: A Memoir (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), and Gerry Shea, author of Song Without Words: Discovering My Deafness Halfway through Life (Da Capo Press, 2013). Speaking of authors, John M. “Tex” Daniel’s latest novel is Hooperman: A Bookstore Mystery (Oak Tree Press, 2013). Tex has worked in eight (!) bookstores since leaving Andover Hill. —Michael Burlingame (111 North Sixth St., Apt. 301, Springfield IL 62701; office: 217-206-7364; cell: 217-299-9306; e-mail: burlingame@snet.net)
1961 ABBOT
Carolyn “Cally” Butler Dow 44 Spruce St. Portland ME 04102 207-899-4178 Callydow365@gmail.com
Life hums along here in Portland, Maine—or at this time of year, I should say, “slides along/ slops along.” The temperature gauge swings wildly between 10 degrees and 50 degrees. In October, I spent two weeks in Rome and Florence. My feet hardly touched the ground as I floated from café to café, piazza to piazza, trattoria to trattoria, museum to museum, cathedral to cathedral. Trying to find words to describe the feelings upon seeing Michelangelo’s first Pietà, completed at age 15 (!), is downright impossible. No surprise that he was called Il Divino by his peers. Am already dreaming of my next trip: Paris! At home here, I get greatest joy from spending time with my three grandchildren, ages 10, 8, and 6. And in order to keep up with them—good luck with that one!—I do a daily yoga practice, beginning with “Breathe, smile, go with the flow,” hoping to stay on a healthy road to aging, a phenomenon that is still quite a mystery to me. Andrea Lynch Cole reports from Florida, “Happily, we are in the land of sun instead of snow so are currently enjoying the weather. [Husband] Carlton and I made four trips this year. First in January to New York City to hear a Miami friend speak to the American Friends of the Louvre and enjoy the incredible Roentgen French royal furniture show at the Met. Also saw Dan Stevens (Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey) in The Heiress. Next came Annapolis, Md., with older son Andrew and family; then Highlands, N.C., with younger son Edward in July; and finally London and Bath in October. November brought Karyl Charna Lynn to Miami to write about the Florida Grand Opera. She stayed with Carlton and me several days and took me as her guest to see Mourning Becomes Electra. Look for her writings in Opera Now, published in London. I continue to work at the University of Miami and am enjoying that. David Weaver ’61 is on the board of trustees here. I also continue as a volunteer guide at Vizcaya, a Gilded Age home built by James Deering of International Harvester.”
From Seattle, Jane Paffard Nichols writes, “I am now an official resident and am spending lots of time with daughters and grandchildren, which was what I dreamed about and which I am finding vastly rewarding. “My news, and what I did not dream about, is that I am in the process of being trained to become one of the Room Circus team of clowns that goes into Seattle Children’s Hospital, where my daughters, Lila and Ana, both work. As grown-ups. Saving lives. I shall be there in a somewhat lesser capacity, although I like to think that, as clowns, we are saving souls. So at 70, I have still managed to avoid maturity. And retirement.” Judy Draper Cottrell says: “Just had my 70th birthday this past week—gleep!—which my beloved son, Patrick, insisted on making a ‘state occasion’ despite my discomfort with people making a fuss over me. Glad he did, as it was a most joyful occasion. I’m just so grateful that I’ve made it this far, and I appreciate every single day! My family, center of my life, all thriving, and I’m acutely aware of all the manifold blessings I continue to reap.”
PHILLIPS Paul Kalkstein 42 Doubling Point Road Arrowsic ME 04530 207-443-5675 pkalkstein@gmail.com
“I just had my first mammogram,” writes Leslie Stroh. “I had a large and tender lump in my left breast. This was of concern because I understand male survival rates are not good. For the rest of you, you know that cast aluminum squeezer you have in the bar drawer for limes. Well, I empathize with the lime. “I found out that medicine works the same way as Adam Smith’s description of making a pin, except the cost goes up, not down. After a mammogram and an ultrasound—neither positive— the final check was a biopsy. On the farm, I put up ‘Posted’ signs on boundary trees with a heavy-duty stapler. Well, a biopsy sounds just like stapling a sign to a tree. I didn’t watch. “The result was definitively not cancer, but I have a lump in one breast, twice the size of the other one. I quickly felt a distinct lack of interest in what it was, once they knew what it was not. “The oncologist suggested that the reason men have such bad survival rates is that they wait too long. When I go every three years or so for my annual checkup, my doctor waves his proctological finger at me and says he is glad to see me come for my annual. I expect I will again empathize with limes.” Thanks, Leslie. Does anyone else have a cautionary tale for us? Diane Covington-Carter posted the following about her husband, whom we know as Bunky Carter: “After taking the gold at the Henley Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... School of Music at University of Miami, where I will soon celebrate my 30th year on the board of trustees. I’ve become a real music groupie and have just returned from a week of camp-following Gloria and Emilio Estefan, as Gloria has made her triumphal march through Europe celebrating the release of her fantastic The Standards/Live.” OMG.
1962 ABBOT
Kathrin Krakauer 240 Columbia Drive Hubbardton VT 05732 802-273-2548 kkrakauer@shoreham.net
From the archives comes this photo taken at a 1962 Abbot/PA dance, featuring student band the Satans. Pictured, from left, are Charlie Stuart ’62, Dwight Stephens ’63, Carl Jacobs ’62, Andy Goodwin ’62, Al Gordon ’62, Marty Wishnatsky ’62, and Carl Corey ’62.
Masters Regatta in Henley-on-Thames, England, in July, Landon went on to become the world champion in his age group at the World Masters Games in Torino, Italy, in August. It was thrilling to see him achieve his goal of becoming the world champion again (he was world champion once before, in 1996).” And in October, our class had a top-level finish in the senior/masters division of the Head of the Charles Regatta. Bunky took first, pursued by Geoff Gratwick, who came in third. Responding to a listserv e-mail that contained a picture of Andover’s jubilant girls’ volleyball team, Cy Hornsby writes, “I continue to enjoy an active retirement. Re: the student life pictures—of course, the presence of girls would have enriched our lives. More fun for alums would be your summary of the dorm visitation rules for each of the four years. Enlightened education in its best sense—far different from the in loco parentis we experienced.” Ah, yes. Well, I cannot summarize those room visit rules, because they seem to change irregularly. But I assure you that they exist, as classmates with recent PA graduates can testify. It is always good to hear from a cheery soul like Mike Bragg. Mike writes, “I am doing well, as I approach hitting the big 7-0 on the day before Thanksgiving. I am now totally [prostate] cancerfree, and I am otherwise in terrific health. Since losing 70 pounds in 2011, I have maintained my weight in the 185- to 190-pound range by spending three hours a day, five days a week, at the local wellness center here in Blairsville (Ga.), swimming just over three miles a day. I am out of bed by 4:30 a.m., in the pool no later than 5:30 a.m., and home by 9:00 a.m., ready to do whatever I want for the rest of the day. So life is still good here in the North Georgia mountains.” Good on ya, Mike! Following a discussion about our Andover years on the class listserv, I had a call from Andy Johnson.
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Like many of us, Andy felt that his years at PA were valuable and formative. He was puzzled about a number of negative comments from classmates. In a follow-up e-mail, Andy wrote, “I lived in Seattle for almost 40 years, where I was a librarian at the U. of Washington. One of the main reasons I stayed was the sailing available to me. In fact, I still have a 35-foot sailboat up there that I do up and use in the summer.…Ned Cabot’s death hit me really hard, not only because I was involved with crew as a cox, as was he, but because he and I had talked sailing several times over the years.” Ned’s passing reminds us there are some events one cannot get over. But, really, friends, at age 70 or so we should be long over any resentments about Andover. The times, the place, have changed, and “that was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead.” Not that there were many wenches around then—but occasionally, at the movies, looking up at the balcony, one could dream. I am exhausted after reading this from David Weaver: “I’m still working pretty much full time (will probably never stop…nor can I imagine Hornsby ever admitting to retirement) and am still having fun, along with many challenges, trying to get our energy management software company up, running, and profitable. “I have gotten pretty conscious about eating smart and exercising. It’s amazing to experience the impact on mind and body of paying at least minimal attention to both of those. I’m a grandfather with five wonderful grandchildren ranging from 2 months to 10 years of age. [Wife] Dorothy and I have this goal of following the sunshine, spending as much time as possible in Maine and Boston during the summer and shoulder seasons and the rest in Florida. But business travel cuts pretty deeply into those times. “My musical roots…have come full circle and I’m chairing the campaign for the future of the Frost
When not spending time with her seven grandchildren, Susan Mallory Dunn is involved in the San Francisco Bay Area theatres. She is currently the historian and events chair of the Altarena Playhouse in Alameda, Calif., and was the anniversary chair for the theatre’s 75th anniversary in 2013. Caroline Thomas wrote in her 2013 Christmas letter that she has turned vegetarian; that her son, his wife, and her two grandsons still live in Dubai but will return to the U.S. when her son has completed his doctorate; and that her daughter is nearby, studying creative writing at Hunter College. Karen Grant McWhorter wrote in her 2013 Christmas letter that she and her husband, Jack, have enjoyed their first full year of retirement in Hancock, N.H. Karen and Jack travel to London to visit son Alex, his wife, and their grandson and granddaughter. Alex is in charge of Citigroup’s risk regulatory affairs for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa and risk management for the United Kingdom. Son Keith works at IHS CERA in Cambridge, Mass., and is engaged to be married. The photos of Karen and Jack indicate that they have found the secret to eternal youth—they look exactly the same as they did in the ’70s. If you have not been following Anne Ripley’s yearlong around-the-world adventure, please log on to her blog at http://grabbingthewave.blogspot. com and have a read. She took an amazing solo trip to South America and then to China, where she contributed her skills as a nurse and as a teacher. Her nearly weekly blog started in February 2013, and I believe she will have returned home by the time you read this. I will not repeat any of her adventures, so that you can enjoy them for yourselves in her own words and pictures. But suffice it to say, her courage, enthusiasm, curiosity, and spirit are extraordinary to view and a wonderful example to all of us of what a positive spirit can experience and contribute, especially at age 70! Anne, thank you for letting us vicariously join in on your extraordinary adventure. I retired and closed my medical writing business as of Dec. 31, 2013, and by the time you read these notes, I will have moved from Massachusetts to Hubbardton, Vt. Please see the new contact information above, and do come visit. In the late 1990s,
www.andover.edu/intouch my husband and I built a dream retirement home on the shores of a small lake in central western Vermont. I have called it “Elysium,” a reflection of how I feel about that tiny piece of the universe. I am looking forward to all of the changes retirement has to offer, including a serious redefinition of a very ingrained identity. We’ll see how well that goes! Send your news!
PHILLIPS Vic Obninsky 1101 Navarro St. Santa Rosa CA 95401 707-230-2271 707-843-5784 (fax) vpobninsky@comcast.net
We have survived another year and have reached or will reach the age of 70 in 2014. We all deserve congratulations for this feat; I must also thank the medical profession for its collective efforts on my behalf. Plans for the 52nd reunion are really starting to move rapidly. It will start on Mon., Sept. 8, and break up after breakfast on Thurs., Sept. 11. This is the result of unscientific polling procedures through our mailing list as well as by a majority of the 52nd Reunion Junta. It will be held at Chalet View Lodge in Portola, Calif., in the High Sierras; members of the Phillips Academy Class of 1962, spouses, girlfriends, partners, descendants, and pets are all welcome. Share yourself as a post-adolescent and your high school companions with those close to you. Lake and wild river fishing, as well as golf, will be available. The lodge is best accessed by car; Reno is a 45-minute drive from the site. Some 20 to 25 classmates have already expressed a strong interest. The planning junta is Archie “Buzz” Andrews, George Andrews, Al Blum, Chris Armstrong, Hobey Birmingham, Mike Davey, Jeff Hill, Tom Israel, Dan Jenkins, Mike Moonves, and myself. Larry Ehrhart still lives in Chicago and is semiretired. He and Diane are raising her 14-yearold grandson, thus recalling Larry’s days at the same age with Bobby Lane (not the Detroit Lions QB) at Pemberton Cottage. He still is interested in finance and programming but has “left the corporate rat race.” Tony King is a neighbor of mine living in Freestone, Sonoma County, Calif. He is a wonderful artist and has had a number of shows throughout the country. I had admired his landscapes with local subjects, but Tony has also done custom work, such as an enormous painting of the varied American bank notes in different colors. This was done for an Arizona bank and is apparently quite well known. He has two grown sons and greatly enjoyed having them home for Christmas. Al Reiter is enjoying retirement in Seattle. He and wife Sue just spent a month in Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand). It was their second visit to Angkor Wat; there is still an ongoing problem with ambient land mines. Al is retired from
commercial flying but has built an experimental plane for his own use. Here is an e-mail from Dave Partridge: “Two years ago, following my retirement from teaching, I enrolled in an intensive two-week course in basic woodworking at a school in Rockport, Maine. Since then, I have put together a decent workshop in my N.J. barn, where I have been fashioning a variety of furniture pieces. What has made this endeavor especially satisfying is that I am using lumber from our own trees—cherry, maple, and ash—harvested from our family property in upstate N.Y. The best of my work is an eight-foot-long cherry trestle table that resides on a summer porch in that upstate house. How cool it is that the wood for that table spent its entire prior life 300 yards away, on a hillside behind the house. On a scale of 1 to 10, my skill and proficiency levels are somewhere around a 3 but steadily inching their way up. Everything in the shop, including me, is a work in progress. Hopefully, my grandchildren may come to enjoy this pursuit; Zoe, my oldest, worked with me over Christmas to make a present for her sister. “On another note, [wife] Missy and I took a river cruise in May 2013 on the Seine, from Paris to Normandy. I had long wanted to visit the American cemetery there, ever since my tour of duty in the Navy ended, but it took 43 years to make it happen. After walking through those rows of white crosses and then, down below the cliffs, across the sands of Omaha Beach, all I can say is that if you have never made this trip you owe it to yourself to go. Put it on your bucket list; you will not be disappointed.” I am delighted to say that our class number has held steady since our 50th Reunion. This alone is cause to celebrate at our 52nd reunion. Seriously, please consider attending with your family and/or pets. Our PA classmates e-mail group now has more than 70 members. Contact me to sign up; there will never be a request for money or reports of deviationist thoughts. Happy spring! God willing, we will all party in early September.
1963 ABBOT
Cynthia F. Kimball 7 Thoreau Road Lexington MA 02420 781-862-6424 cynthiakimball@earthlink.net
Communication among some of our class members has continued to flourish, including mention by several of hopes that there really will be an Abbot Bazaar in May 2014. I had a wonderful letter from Lucinda Hannon written in October 2013, chock-full of news. Lucinda wrote, “Cindy Sorensen and I went to the opening of James Prosek’s show at the Addison (which was delightful, wonderful, stimulating, and more) and also to an afternoon at Sturbridge Village, where we rode in a stagecoach and took a little riverboat tour—lots of
fun. While I was in NYC for a benefit for the New York Aquarium, I had a very nice visit with Carol Humstone and am looking forward to seeing her again before long. By telephone I’ve connected with Danica Miller Eskind, whose mother died this fall and who was getting ready for her son’s wedding. I hope she sends photos. I’ve also spoken with Jonell Briggs Safford, who sounds like she’s full-steam ahead starting a new baking business. In November, Freddie Moxon Heller and I will attend the annual meeting of Physicians for a National Health Program in Boston. It’s just what its name suggests. I became involved with the organization back in the early ’90s, and I think Freddie will find it interesting. I’m looking forward to the Abbot Bazaar—I think it will be on Saturday, May 31. It will be fun to try to recapture some of the old fun and nonsense— beanbag throws, kissing booth, sack races, etc. I hope we can turn it into a mini reunion, and maybe even get the old PA classes to return. Let’s pick up on Betsy Cadbury’s idea for this. It is part of a string of events for celebrating 40 years of coeducation.” Thanks, Lucinda, for so much news! I hope the Bazaar does take place. In the meantime, please continue to write and share your news.
PHILLIPS John C. Kane Jr. 28 Puritan Park Swampscott MA 01907 781-592-4967 Jkane2727@aol.com
In my 70th year, the mind slows, the organization wanes, and the memory is clear (but only longterm). It is possible, therefore, that I have overlooked or mislaid your cards, letters, and e-mails. Possible but, sadly, unlikely. My suspicion is that your minds likewise are slowing, organization(s) waning, and impulses to communicate suppressed. Please remedy (preferably by e-mail to jkane2727@aol. com). As you are about to experience, the sound of my self-rumination is not endearing even to the self-ruminator. My contract with the Academy provides that, for me to receive the big bucks, each column must mention four (4) classmates in boldface print. So, Jim Brown and wife Tish recently celebrated their 45th anniversary, favored by a brilliant reminiscence delivered by their son Hayden on my behalf, in which I described Jim’s hours thoughtfully studying on the Newman House toilet during upper year, allowing me to sleep well in our one-room “double” en route to a 60 in Ed Hammond ’40’s geometry class. Dick Clapp and I enjoyed a Donald Ross bifecta in September, golfing at George Wright, a neat and scenic Boston municipal course, and Hyannisport. Johnny Bilheimer arranged a wonderful lunch in Washington, D.C., in December with two of the 12 African-American members of my Yale class of 1967—one a former law-firm colleague of Johnny’s in Little Rock, Ark., who, like Johnny, had experienced 1950s school desegregation Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... firsthand. And Louis Wiley and I attended our first same-sex wedding, more on which below. There, that box is punched (and nothing in my contract says the word “I” can’t appear in proximity to each boldface name). Between Nov. 2 and Dec. 21, I had three occasions to visit Andover, and each left a lasting and warm impression. The first was to receive an Andover Distinguished Service Award. I was accompanied by two students from KIPP Academy Lynn Collegiate High School with whom I have worked since 2009, and in my brief remarks I was able to connect Andover and KIPP through the recently announced initiative whereby Andover makes its calculus curriculum available to the KIPPs of the world by arrangement with Khan Academy. Listen to founder Sal Khan’s words: “Our mission is a world-class education for anyone anywhere, and when people think of world class, they think of places like Phillips Academy.… We are working with their math department to develop rigorous adaptive exercises appropriate for a first-year course in calculus. We see this as just the beginning of a fruitful partnership and look forward to scaling the Philips Academy teachers to the world.” The gift of Khan Academy, and Andover’s expertise through Khan Academy, to students like mine at KIPP is priceless, and another manifestation of the non sibi spirit. Two weeks later, I was back on campus as a first-time observer of an Abbot Academy Association dinner meeting at which students and faculty made oral presentations of their grant proposals. Not surprisingly, the students were well prepared, articulate, and, in most (though, I gather, not all) cases, persuasive. The association fosters the legacy of Abbot through generous grant-making to a wide variety of groups and activities. Its board is a healthy mix of Abbot graduates, male and female Andover graduates, and representation from classes over a wide and inclusive span of time. It is a true gem. Then on Sat., Dec. 21, my wife, Susie, son Matt ’03, and I, along with Louis Wiley, witnessed the marriage of Addison Gallery Director Brian Allen and Steven Horsch in Cochran Chapel. It was a late-afternoon service, reminiscent of the Christmas vespers services conducted during our years—dark and chill outside, warm and peaceful within. Mike Ebner ’70, former Academy chaplain, officiated. His parts of the service, from the welcoming remarks to his official acts, affirmed the solemnity and joy of the event. Traditional religious texts recited by five readers were interspersed with beautiful music, much of it performed by the young cellist and pianist who performed at our recent reunion, along with their mother. In fact, everything about the service, including the palpable love of the principals for each other and the congregation for them, was traditional. How well and far we have traveled. The reception, appropriately, was at the Addison, where Brian’s legacy and contributions will be long felt and remembered.
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Finally, present at all three events was John Palfrey: officially (along with Alumni Council president Tom Beaton ’73) at the Distinguished Service Awards lunch, but quietly at a side table for the first hour of the Abbot Academy Association meeting and unobtrusively toward the back of the chapel at Brian and Steven’s wedding. He seems to have an almost intuitive sense of how to relate in just the right ways to the remarkable range and diversity of our beloved institution. From my perspective, the Palfrey years at Andover are well and truly begun. We are fortunate to be experiencing them. Looking forward to replacing “I” and “my” with “[insert name],” boldface. RSVP!
1964 50th REUNION June 12–15, 2014
ABBOT
Joan “Whippie” Whipple Trimble 16 Baldwin Lane Cape Neddick ME 03902 207-251-5554 whippie@maine.rr.com
Pat Morrill reports that her executive search firm, Morrill Associates, celebrated 30 years in business. The firm focuses on recruiting investment bankers with experience in corporate finance and M&A. Pat lives in New York with her husband of 18 years, Ed Riegelhaupt, and they enjoy weekends at their log cabin in Western Mass. As part of the reunion committee, Pat and Ed plan on attending our 50th. Laura Stevenson writes, “My main news is that my dearly beloved husband, Franklin D. Reeve, died last June. I have spent the second half of 2013 gradually adjusting to the empty spaces in the house and in my life—and dealing with the welter of administrative material that seems to accompany becoming a widow.” Laura has a daughter, Meg, in Vermont with two girls and a daughter, Kate, in Cleveland with two boys. Her travel destinations include Ann Arbor, Mich.; England; and Prague, Czech Republic. She has written a book, Liar from Vermont, which comes out this summer. Janie Proctor Taylor lives on Cape Cod yearround. She spends time enjoying the natural beauty of the Cape while playing harp music for patients at a nursing home, where she is on the hospice staff. When Carol Guilford and her husband, Gary, attend the reunion in June, they will use the opportunity to travel around Boston and New England. Carol says, “I am looking forward to seeing everyone who is able to come to the reunion and to walking around the Abbot campus to see what might have remained familiar.” Dale Thomson Milne recounts, “I retired from teaching at Proctor Academy over five years ago and have been so busy with hiking (in New Hampshire, Utah, and Colorado), skiing, gardening, volunteer
jobs, family, and friends that I haven’t had time to miss work for a minute! [Husband] Jeff ’63 and I have four children and two grandchildren. The oldest son, Tom, an alpinist now working for Remote Medical International, lives in Seattle and has two children. Jeb lives in Summit County, Colo.; Malcolm lives in New Hampshire; and Jessie is in Aiken, S.C. Jeff and I plan to be at Eaton’s Ranch in Wyoming in June with our grandchildren. It is possible that I may be able to make it to Andover on Friday.” Diana Kiarsis Mayer, part of the 50th Reunion committee, lost her mother in May 2013. The family celebrated her life on May 10, 2013, and was together on Mother’s Day. Diana escaped a two-car accident on Route 93 two weeks after her mother died and then attended a talk by Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon and author of Proof of Heaven. We are enthusiastically looking forward to our 50th Reunion June 12–15, 2014. Along with the previously mentioned classmates, we have a partial list of those reputed to be 50th Reunion attendees: Sukey Stafford, Mary Travers Munger, Jackie Meyers Eby, Joan Harney Wiles, Lee Porter, Lee Clark Hoehn, and possibly Sue Trafton Edmunds, Barbara Hugon Edge, and Martha Foley Stackpole.
PHILLIPS Bob Marshall 846 Lilac Drive Santa Barbara CA 93108 rpm@marshall846.com
Who needs class notes when you have more than 150 classmate biographies sitting on your desk or your bookshelf as you read this? Well, there are a few who, for whatever reason, didn’t submit a bio but couldn’t hide from reporters Ken Gass, Randy Hobler, and, in a rare burst of initiative, myself. Bob Nahill has been living in Plymouth, Mass., in the same 260-year-old house with the same wife, Beth, working at the same job for 32 years. Bob started the pulmonary department at Jordan Hospital in 1982 and now has his own practice, managed by Beth, consisting of three pulmonary/ICU physicians and three nurse practitioners, with a sizable internal medicine practice as well. Bob’s group has thrived, but, he says, “Just as solo practice proved to be unsustainable in the past, it is now seeming that a small independent medical group may have difficulty surviving in the medical climate of the future.” In contrast to Bob’s “same,” Ray Liddell has taken an Odysseus-like route to a position as part-time professor of literature, writing, and publishing at Emerson College in Boston. A master’s degree in classical and Near Eastern archaeology from Bryn Mawr and a stint with the Atlantic Fleet Combat Camera Group during the Vietnam years eventually led to assistant director positions at the Museum of Broadcasting, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Archaeological Institute of America, followed by years of teaching, writing art criticism, and curating. Even more like Odysseus, Ray plans to cut loose
www.andover.edu/intouch from academia to live and travel among the antiquities of Europe and Asia. After earning an architecture degree from Penn, Bob Stults spent 10 years at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center in California, working on something called “rich media systems.” Back East, Bob designed systems for industries from telecom to surveillance to health care. Bob is now consulting from his base in the Hudson Valley, with the online handle “calmbob.” After Harvard, Jeff Donat attended medical school at Yeshiva’s Einstein College of Medicine in New York then moved to Canada, joining the academic staff of the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan. Jeff now has a private neurology practice in a small city just across the border in British Columbia. When I was looking for Bob “Sun God” Kelley, one of the Cathcarts—Pat or Mike, who can tell them apart?—referred me to the website for TheatreWorks, “the nationally acclaimed theatre of Silicon Valley.” Founded in 1970 by one Robert Kelley as a workshop for teenagers and college students, TheatreWorks soon became known for its production values and its commitment to diversity on the stage. By 1984, it was recognized as a major regional theatre and by 2012 it had a staff of 41, a $7 million budget, and 8,000 subscribers. Not only is Kelley artistic director, he is directing four of this season’s five productions. While we are reuning, he will be putting on a Sondheim musical, Marry Me a Little. Speaking of reuning, I will close with a plug for someone who did contribute to our 50th Reunion book. On Dec. 9, Duke’s Dick Brodhead was one of four university presidents featured in a full-page ad in the New York Times announcing the Carnegie Corporation’s Academic Leadership Award, a halfmillion-dollar grant to their institutions in honor of “vision and an outstanding commitment to excellence and equity in undergraduate education, the liberal arts,” and a few more good things. Those of us in Andover on June 14 will have a chance to hear Dick talk about some of those things in conversation with Head of School John Palfrey. That’s just one of many reasons you should register now, if you haven’t already, for our 50th Reunion. It’s almost here!
1965 ABBOT
Karen Swenson 20100 SW Peavine Road McMinnville OR 97128 503-472-2988 chezkren@gmail.com
I was very happy to receive this informative note from Heidi Wilson: “My update will have to cover 14 years, since I don’t think I’ve been back to Andover since our 35th. At that point I was finishing up my dissertation on Greek epic, having chucked 20
Several alums, some with their spouses, met for dinner at the Andover Inn last November. Seated, from left, are Emily Maitin (wife of Don Shepard), John Samp ’65, Calico Perry, Tim Perry ’65, and Penny Carnevale (wife of Mark Carnevale). Standing, from left, are Mark Carnevale ’65, Don Shepard ’65, Craig Scanlan ’65, Susan Hackley (wife of Paul Henry), Morrison Bonpasse ’65, Peter Dennehy ’65, Paul Henry ’65, John Levine ’65, Bill Chamberlin ’65, Lowell Turnbull ’65, Jim Grew ’65, Doug Woodlock ’65, Brock Baker ’65, Tom Doherty ’65, and Eddie Samp ’65.
years as an investment economist and gone back to my first love. I did get the degree and taught a bit at Northwestern and at Dartmouth, but it was really done as a labor of love. In the past several years, I’ve set myself to learn the craft of fiction writing and am working steadily on a mystery novel. Naturally, the heroine is a woman of a certain age who tends to take charge. Must have gone to Abbot. “My husband, Ted Eck, is retired but still working with many organizations in the energy industries as a consultant, while taming 1,000 acres of semineglected N.H. woods into a working tree farm and pleasure park. At the moment, he’s also recovering from an accident in the woods that detached his quadriceps tendon, but otherwise we’re both in good health and happy as clams. We’re also great-grandparents of Hannah and Mason Eck, ages 4 and 2.” Katherine Abler Harvey writes, “My husband, Julian, and I had our annual long weekend in Paris (round trip from Chicago) mid-December, which was great, and are now in Antibes for three weeks, happily not in Chicago with the snow and belowzero temperatures; we continue to spend half the year here, which works out well. We will go to Hobe Sound, Fla., in February to visit friends, which we do almost every year, then back here. I have just had a set of six haiku about birds in Antibes published in the regional (Alpes-Maritimes) magazine of art and poetry. I am still active on the women’s boards of Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lyric Opera.” Katherine and I are planning to be on the registration greeters committee for our 50th Reunion. Barbara Dow White sent an e-mail with some news and added a lovely Christmas letter with pictures. She says, “I retired in October 2012, most of
At the 2012 Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum in Columbus, Ga., Andy Marks ’65, right, and wife Barbara Marks met up with former President George W. Bush ’64, who was one of Andy’s PA baseball teammates.
my career spent as a computer programmer except for a brief dalliance with reporting for my local paper when my children were young. Son Greg is now 34 and recently married; daughter Elizabeth is 31 and the mother of my grandson, Kunio, who is 5. I moved to Falmouth, Mass., to be near Elizabeth and her family. I’ve been living on Cape Cod since 2003. I see my sisters, Carolyn ’62 and Marilyn ’69, more now that I am retired. We are all going to Hawaii in April for Carolyn’s 70th birthday. Carolyn and I spent two weeks driving around Scotland after my retirement in 2012. I have many friends to travel with but very much miss my husband, who died unexpectedly in 2009.” In her Christmas letter, Barbara noted how much of her time was taken up with downsizing from a much larger home with barn and shed to a smaller house. She added, “I feel hundreds of pounds lighter: college and work papers gone; furniture left behind or dispersed; bags of books and clothes donated.” Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... Sue Harney Lathrop sent an update. She taught elementary school for a few years, was involved in public horticulture for many years, and now works at Swarthmore College, in Leadership Giving. Sue has two sons, five grandchildren, and no dogs or cats, but, she writes, “A raccoon ate my goldfish. I borrow my Pennsylvania son’s dog now and then and gladly return him after a few days of continuous Frisbee and tennis-ball throwing. My California son and family live near San Diego, and I get out there twice a year for a week of R&R (more recreation than rest).” During her years after Abbot, Sue lived in Holland, Norway, Pakistan, and Japan, where she taught English. She currently lives in the Philadelphia area, but touched down in California, Oklahoma, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. As her avocations, she lists “gardening, reading, music, bird watching, walking, and, late in life, discovering the joys of lifting weights (light ones). I never thought the words ‘my personal trainer’ would pass my lips. Wrong! I have the most amazing personal trainer, who specializes in people with some wear and tear on them.” I have had to condense somewhat due to the imposed word limit. Thank you, classmates, who responded so generously.
PHILLIPS Nick Marble 10674 North Osceola Drive Westminster CO 80031 303-439-7819 nick.marble@yahoo.com
Lots to relate this time, so let’s get it started. Lou Rorimer confirmed that Matt Damon starred as his father, James Rorimer, in The Monuments Men, a cinematic account of a WWII operation to preserve, protect, rescue, and recover priceless architecture and artworks in German-occupied Europe, while the bombs were still falling. Terrific movie. Back here in Colorado, I caught up with Henry Snavely, who, like many of our classmates, is an avid (as in very long distances) cyclist (road bike). I lent him my copy of Jack McLean ’66’s Loon. We’ll get together for some self-propulsion in the coming year. Incidentally, Jack was at the side of retired history teacher Jack Richards, whom he described as “a giant in my life,” when Mr. Richards passed away in October. Pete Gangsei works with the cognitively disabled, coaches tennis, and enjoys the woods that surround his home. Stu McLean and wife Lindsay (married 43 years) are first-time grandparents (Joan is the newest McLean). Stu committed to being at the 50th. Their three sons, Lachlan (married last year in Mexico), Ian, and Will, live in LA, New York, and Cincinnati, respectively. Also committing to reuniting in 2015 is John Fox, who is actively engaged in bringing theater to primetime television. Google the website www.onstageinamerica.org for deets. Paul Henry checked in from Boston and reminded me that he and I were next-door neighbors in
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Rockwell, sometime back in the Cretaceous Period. You might want to send long-overdue condolences (to Paul, of course)! Kirk Hamilton continues to teach health-care design at Texas A&M, while he pursues a doctorate at Arizona State and edits a quarterly scholarly journal. Whew, I’m tired just thinking about all that, so I’m gonna take a nap! Rusty Laughead runs Latin America sales for Gulfstream. He and fellow former Iowan Rick Boydston continued their tradition of phoning each other for birthday greetings and an annual reminder of how much older the other guy has gotten. Rusty and wife Christi also traveled to Israel after Christmas. Kit Meade will be reuniting (reuning?) in 2015. Kit and I together formed a significant contingent of the few (eight), the proud (not really), the suckers (trust me) who drew the short straw and labored over Greek 1 and 2 from fall ’61 through spring ’63. Don’t ask why. I’ve never read any more Xenophon. The other six scholars prefer to remain anonymous, or at least to respond only in that funny alphabet. Closer to home, and more up-to-date, Vaho Rebassoo did a cultural tour in Cuba. For me, that would involve rum and cigars, but I’m sure that Vaho found more valuable matters to explore. Sam Alberstadt had a November date with an “orthopedic sturgeon [sic].” Sam was considering a career switch from the “misanthropic misery of patent litigation” to the thrilling world of teaching math and physics in Baltimore and “Abblapolis [sic].” Quoting Sam’s missives and malaprops sends my spellchecker into a frenzy. Smoke is pouring out of the laptop. Another career changer, Carl Herrmann, has joined Morgan Stanley in Boulder, Colo., which some of us locals consider the Amsterdam of the Rockies. Over in the real Amsterdam, Birch Mansvelt Beck responded to birthday greetings from (who else?) Eddie Samp. If he makes it to our 50th, Birch will be a strong contender for “came the longest distance.” Randy Evans (Tokyo) might beat him to the podium, however. Alex Sanger chairs the International Planned Parenthood Council. Alex’s three sons all live close to him in NYC. Now, there’s planned parenting! Herb Ogden and wife Cathy beamed as Herb officiated at the wedding of their daughter, Hannah. Connecticut attorney Roger Valkenburgh has a new daughter-in-law and is writing a family history and thinking about retirement. Also sez our 50th sounds “close to irresistible.” Chris Harte (committed for 2015) is now chairman of Harte Hanks (marketing services, B2B and B2C) and is working on the Maine gubernatorial campaign of Eliot Cutler. Washingtonian (state, not DC) Nick Phillips’s son Sanje has graduated (Western Washington U.) and presumably flown the coop (although we empty-nesters know that the coop/nest does not always remain unoccupied). Older son Brooks is a University of Washington grad. Nick is heavily involved in Buddhist studies, retreats, and meditation in Bellingham. Bob Horvitz invited all to a London exhibition of seven of his drawings, which were part of Reflections
from Damaged Life: An Exhibition on Psychedelia. Hmmm. Mike Sheldrick and his wife visited London for the umpteenth time. Don’t know if they took in any psychedelia. Tom Doherty kindly provided moral support while I was having a neck problem last year, and I thank him for that. Now fully recovered, I plan to raft in the Grand Canyon in May. Eye doctor Mark Melamed has two kids still in the Ivy League, so he’ll be working ’til (and here I paraphrase) someplace warm freezes over. Andy Marks swapped baseball-team memories with George W. Bush ’64 at a gathering in Columbus, Ga. Andy and his wife, Barbara, have three kids and five grandsons. Red Sox fans Cap Potter, Doug Pirnie, Eddie Samp, yours truly, and many others went nuts in October and hope for more in 2014. Kevin Rafferty has updated his DVD, Regular Guys, with subtitles for easy identification of all the sexagenarians. Your 50th Reunion committee met in late October and shared many good ideas. Mark Carnevale and wife Penny hosted me for two nights, highlighted by Halloween treats and the final game of the World Series. Ed Samp organized a class dinner at the Andover Inn in early November. Other ’65ers attending were the Carnevales, Tom Doherty, Paul Henry and wife Susan Hackley, John Samp, Lowell Turnbull, Craig Scanlan, Morrison Bonpasse, Pete Dennehy, John Levine, Brock Baker, Bill Chamberlin, Jim Grew, Doug Woodlock, Tim Perry and wife Calico, and Don Shepard and wife Emily Maitin. Just a small preview of the fun we’ll have in June 2015. Be there.
1966 ABBOT
Blake Hazzard Allen 481 School St. Rumney NH 03266 603-786-9089 603-359-0870 (cell) blakemanallen@gmail.com ballen@plymouth.edu
Greetings from the depths of a New England January, with snow, rain, sleet, and ice providing daily excitement but with an upcoming return to Pakistan ensuring early spring. Last November, Phillips Academy celebrated a spectrum of leadership when honoring alumni and other members of the Andover community. The weekend served as a reminder of the power of female leadership, very much in accordance with the dual roots of the Abbot-Andover merger and of the reformulated “new” school, now at the 40-year point. Two of the extraordinary women recognized included Nigerian human rights activist Hafsat Abiola ’92 and Rebecca “Becky” Miller Sykes, former associate head of school and now president of the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation. Barbara
photos by Alonso Nichols/Tufts University
Landis Chase, former head of school, added to the female galaxy when she spoke movingly of Becky’s many contributions over a 40-year span. Female leadership is a current hot-button topic for many Andover girls—and for Abbot and Andover alumni and global society. The Abbot Academy Association reflects female leadership as well, a legacy established with the Abbot Academy endowment to fund innovations in education: http:// bit.ly/1n9T4OK. Our current board of directors includes four Abbot alumnae, who provide a strong Abbot voice. As we fast-forward into our 50th Reunion year in 2016, each woman in the class has contributed to the collective female identity, either while at Abbot or as part of alumnae continuity. Our class represents a transitional period in the 1960s of mixed messages. As we all navigate baby-boomer “bonus” years, share experiences, and come together—in clusters of friends or in larger groups—those personal narratives resonate. Traveling from Stonington, Conn., to join the November festivities was my French House roommate Barbara Timken, one of the “young” mothers in the class with son Nick at Tabor and daughter Anna developing her career as a photographer. Ruth Sisson Weiner provided local hospitality while waiting for the birth of two babies to PA son David ’97 and his wife, Sloane ’97; daughter Rachel ’01 joined the Alumni Council. Marty Wies Dignan checked in from York, Maine, and Peigi Donaghy Huseby from Portland, Ore., with news of three joyous wedding celebrations: Marty’s daughter Sarah and Peigi’s two sons, Conor and Devin. With Marty now retired, she enjoys all that York offers, including paddle tennis with honorary ’66er Lee Sullivan ’68 and volunteering in her darling grandson Cole’s classroom. Besides rich family time, Peigi continues to
www.andover.edu/intouch Jim Grillo ’66 A Doc on the Wild Side
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ike many medical professionals, Jim Grillo ’66 begins his day with rounds, getting up to speed on what’s happening in the hospital where he works. He checks the surgical schedule, visits patients, sets aside time for unforeseen emergencies. Unlike most medical professionals, Grillo sees patients that are furry, feathered, or scaly; four-legged or two-winged, with horns and whiskers and tails; and unable to tell the doctor what’s ailing them. Grillo is an associate veterinarian at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans—a dream job for someone who, from earliest childhood, loved nature and animals. But Grillo’s path from young wildlife enthusiast to zoo veterinarian was not a straight one. A personal epiphany prompted a dramatic midlife career change: Grillo enrolled at Tufts’ veterinary school at 53, after a long, successful career in New York as a head and neck surgeon, treating cancer patients. Grillo fell into that first career, more or less. “I really hadn’t been on a medical track at all,” recalls the low-key doctor. “Even at Andover and in college [at Yale], I was a lot more interested in music and math than anything else”—so interested that he completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theoretical math. But he ultimately rejected the notion of a career in academia and opted for medical school at Dartmouth. As a young intern in New York, Grillo headed to the Bronx Zoo on his first day off. Says Grillo, “I introduced myself to the vet there, Emil Dolensek.… He was the best person I ever met, and the most influential.” Soon, Grillo was spending all his free time at the zoo, watching, learning, and eventually serving as a consultant. Meanwhile, he’d launched his medical career. “I was in practice and I loved it. I had very close relationships with my patients, since I was in an oncological specialty,” he says. And then, at the end of the ’90s, he found himself on the other side of the doctor-patient relationship. “I got Hodgkin’s disease, and it was pretty advanced,” he says matter-of-factly. “I had to go through chemo, and in that year off, I thought, ‘You’ve been thinking about [vet school] for a long time. You either do it or you don’t.’ ” He did it. Returning to school at 53 was, he says, both difficult and wonderful in unexpected ways. “I had to do an awful lot of work,” he says. “The last time I’d looked at a biochemistry book was literally 25 or 30 years ago.” On the other hand, after 25 years as a surgeon, doing stitches came easily. Today, Grillo is happily dealing with monkey bites, rhino fights, and raccoon infections. But he’s not just an animal doctor; he also believes zoos have an important role to play in preserving the natural world. “Zoos need to educate and instill a sense of wonder; if they don’t, there isn’t much hope for the environment,” he says. Or, to put it another way: “Animals are cool,” says Grillo. “Way cool.” —Jane Dornbusch Andover | Spring 2014
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A well-attended mini reunion of the Abbot Class of ’67 took place last October at the Craigville Conference Center on Cape Cod. How many alumnae can you name? Class secretary Catherine Petros reports that a good time was had by all.
provide mental-health advice and care management for patients. She also serves as a volunteer advocate in court for children who are in state custody due to abuse. A second French House roommate, Lucy Thomson of Alexandria, Va., acts as a motivating force, even on the water as she sails in Chesapeake Bay races. Lucy practices law at her Livingston PLLC law firm. She also serves as consumer privacy ombudsman in federal bankruptcy cases in which the sale of “assets” involves personal records (including 33 million records of an online dating service that were ostensibly not for sale). Lucy is another international traveler, presenting cuttingedge work on privacy; she’s also been sharing information with PA Head of School John Palfrey about preventing data breaches. With all best wishes for a harmonious and healthy remainder of 2014. —Blake
PHILLIPS Ray Healey 740 West End Ave., Apt. 111 New York NY 10025 212-866-8507 drrayhealey@gmail.com
In October, Random House published The Letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., edited by Andy Schlesinger and his brother Stephen. Andy is also the author of Veritas: Harvard College and the American Experience and previously was coeditor with brother Stephen of their late father’s Journals:1952–2000. Those of you who were watching C-SPAN’s show Book TV might have caught a dandy program in which Andy and Stephen participated in a panel discussion about The Letters with Jon Meacham, executive editor of Random House, and Tom Brokaw, the former NBC Nightly News anchor. To catch the show now, here’s the URL: http://cs.pn/1n9XBAK.
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The New York Times Book Review ran a story about The Letters on Dec. 22; the writer, George Packer, noted, “The best letters—and there are many—come from the typewriter of the public Schlesinger, the fighting liberal, especially when he’s jousting with a provocative antagonist like William F. Buckley (‘You remind me of my other favorite correspondent, Noam Chomsky’) or, even better, arguing a matter of principle with a friend at the breaking point.” Andy tells a story on the TV show about how his dad, who frequently jousted with Buckley, was asked by WFB in the 1990s to write a blurb about WFB’s novel featuring a character modeled on the notorious Senator Joe McCarthy. Schlesinger politely declined, Andy recalled. This correspondent received a gratifyingly enthusiastic response to the survey I circulated seeking stories and reminiscences about summer vacations from the recent or distant past, and I’ll share as many of those stories as I can below and in future columns. Meanwhile, here is news that came onto the radar screen. Ric Redman reports that Topper Lynn has earned his first elective office: “Topper was elected (by acclamation) to the board of directors of the Homeowners’ Association for the Fairways South at the Mauna Kea Beach Resort. There are 35 (vacation) homes in this association; my wife, Heather, and I own one, and Topper and his fiancée, Janice Fortune, own another.” Ric adds that the only way he contributed to Topper’s ascension was by “not saying a word about him,” particularly about “the incident involving the football helmet and the goat.” [Editor’s note: See another note from Ric on the inside back cover of the winter Andover magazine.] Peter Brand reports that Warren Baker was a guest lecturer on entrepreneurialism at the Draper University of Heroes in San Mateo, Calif., a boarding school founded by Tim Draper ’76, who attended Andover, Stanford, and Harvard Business School before becoming a highly successful venture capitalist.
And here are some excerpts from your summervacation memories. Gary Ahrens recalls, “My father was a carpenter and summer was his busiest time, but he never took vacations, anyway. After my lower year I went to work with him and four uncles. We initially worked 55-hour work weeks. I mixed, wheeled, and finished concrete. Applied every kind of roof. Built houses and farm buildings. Put up and took down windmills. In other words, lots of vigorous outdoor activity. Now I spend most of summer—actually, whenever the ice is out—in sculling boats.” Gary adds, “Whether it’s nature or nurture, the world is divided into people who have a summer cabin—here in Wisconsin ‘up north’— or visit the same place every summer and those who always go to a new place. Patty and I are in the latter group but enjoy nearly annual visits to a relative’s summer house in Chatham, Mass., on Cape Cod. That said, we are moving to Princeton, N.J., in the spring and hope to re-create for our grandchildren from Philadelphia and Brooklyn some of the pleasures of being a child in a small town in summer: camping in the backyard, catching lightning bugs, gardening, bike riding, etc.” Ed Adler recalls, “We lived a few hundred yards from the Long Island Sound and had access to a beach and dock; summers were lazy and unstructured. When I was about 11, following a summer storm, a classic Dyer Dhow (a dinghy about 12 feet long) washed up on a local beach. It went unclaimed for weeks, so a cousin and I restored it, and our parents purchased new rigging and a sail. We sailed it several days a week all over the western L.I. Sound and by our teens moved up to a Pearson Resolute, a heavier 19-foot keel boat developed as an unsuccessful competitor to the Rhodes 19. We taught about a dozen of our younger cousins how to sail over many years. Not much has changed. I live just several miles down the coast from where I grew up, and sailing and swimming still predominate as summer activities. I’m now teaching my
www.andover.edu/intouch 6-year-old granddaughter to sail. From time to time, I race my Sonar in the Manhasset Bay fleet.” Ric Redman remembers, “Until 1959, our summer vacations were in the San Juan Islands of Washington state. In 1959, my parents spent $3,000 for a log cabin on 125 feet of waterfront on Hood Canal (an arm of Puget Sound). We spent weekends there, too. This is where I became a distance runner. The cabin was out in the countryside, and the waterfront included, at low tide, a firm, flat sand beach several miles long. Of course, we also fished—using hand lines, not rods and reels—and dug the giant local clams called geoducks.” Scott Perry recalls, “As a youngster I spent my summer holidays in Punta del Este, Uruguay, or on an uncle’s farm in Argentina,” and the favorite summer sports were “fishing, surfing (body board), and horse riding.” He adds, “Strangely, I hardly sailed as a youngster; sailing is a very big part of my life now. On a volunteer basis, I am a vice president of the International Sailing Federation and president of the Pan American Sailing Federation, and, in the past, I have sailed in the J24 Worlds, Soling Worlds, and endless other competitions and classes. I now sail a 1947 classic sloop that, in its time, won its class in the Newport Bermuda Race.” Adios, amigos. Keep writing, e-mailing, and texting. —RFH
1967 ABBOT
Anstiss Bowser Agnew 21 Canoe Trail 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
The highlight of fall was an off-year reunion in Craigville, Mass. Herculean work was done to organize the weekend, with Weezie Huntington and Linda Sullivan leading the charge. Nearly 40 of us gathered at the Craigville Conference Center on Cape Cod Friday, Oct. 25, and spent the weekend catching up on one another’s lives—family, careers, travel, and aspirations for this next phase of our lives. We had a walking tour of Craigville led by local resident Alice Robertson Brown (who’s married to Steve Brown ’67), a rug-hooking demo by Weezie, walks on the beach, and plenty of time to relax and talk, talk, talk. We even anonymously filled out a questionnaire designed by Nancy Howe Erdmann about life and family that would be fodder for quite the sociological study. One evening we took a 50-question trivia quiz designed by Priscilla Howes Harris on our Abbot years. It was amazing what we did and did not remember!
We are now awaiting the printing of a photo book, orchestrated by Nancy Porosky Harris Frohlich, commemorating this wonderful event with our astoundingly wonderful classmates. So we send our heartfelt thanks to those who orchestrated, those who attended, those who brought all the marvelous treats and libations, and those who were unable to come but renewed contact with all of us through an amazing stream of e-mails throughout the summer and fall.
PHILLIPS Joseph P. Kahn 28 Gallison Ave. Marblehead MA 01945 781-639-2668 jkahn@globe.com
Citing his lifelong dedication to research and teaching in the field of neotropical ornithology, the American Ornithologists’ Union bestowed its highest honor, the William Brewster Award, on classmate James V. Remsen, a natural-science professor at Louisiana State University and leading expert on neotropical birds. Not only has Van published several seminal papers on the subject, the organization noted, but many of his former LSU students hold curatorships at museums across the USA and South America. “I came in as a junior (upper? I can’t even remember the lingo) and didn’t form the long-term bonds that keep a lot of you in touch with each other,” Van wrote in an e-mail, “but I do hear from time to time from Harvey Kelsey and Rob Smith.” Van also coedited the recently published The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World, 4th Edition, Vol. 1. The award, he added, was “minor recent news, a.k.a. stuff to brag about.” Minor, no. Brag-worthy? Absolutely. Walt Mintkeski’s always-entertaining holiday missive included news of a dinner he had during a Colorado skiing trip last year with John Swartz, now a real estate broker in Breckenridge, Colo., followed by a Caribbean sailing excursion aboard Derick Gates’s 53-foot ketch, which Walt helped pilot from St. Lucia to Antigua. In other news, Walt hailed the arrival of grandchild number three (Lydia) and reported that life back home in Portland, Ore., includes conservation work, yoga, and sailboat racing. Paul Hertz likewise delights in having welcomed a second granddaughter (Amelia) into the world. Also, PA’s Addison Gallery has acquired several of his artworks, among them prints from his Deadpan, or, the Holy Toast and Field Studies series. Paul’s work also appeared “in several curated shows that happened on the Internet—openings were typically in chat rooms,” he reports. “A free software application I wrote for my students in 2013, GlitchSort, has become very popular in online glitch art subculture.” (Google it.) While teaching art history and studio courses at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute, Paul, who occasionally sees University of Wisconsin professor and renowned composer
Stephen Dembski, has taken up jazz piano. Paul travels with his wife, Paula, to far-flung places like the Canary Islands, where he recently discovered a group of friends he’d made 36 years ago. “Kind of astounding, after the passage of so much time,” Paul notes. “Despite the artifice of alumni associations, the same holds true for PA.” Attending last December’s campus memorial service for the late Jack Richards were Steve Kellogg, Fletcher Chamberlin, and David Arnold, worthy class representatives all. Dave recently penned a Boston Globe travel piece about diving with great white sharks off the South African coast, accompanied by his son Colin. Not on my bucket list, but a grand (if nail-biting) adventure nonetheless. Most important, no Arnolds were harmed in the making of the story.
1968 ABBOT
Annette Davis Esteves 848 Brickell Key Drive, Apt. 1604 Miami FL 33131 305-377-2027 aedesteves@yahoo.com
PHILLIPS Gordon Baird 27 Fort Hill Ave. Gloucester MA 01930 978-283-0390 Gordon@rampartsfarm.com
One fine day last year, Tom Weiss was visiting Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his old stomping grounds and hometown, and caught up with his old bud Gary Meller. They had lunch and hashed thru old times and new. Tom lives in Knoxville, Tenn., where he is a developer and owns a restaurant, the Grill at Highlands Row. You can see a video greeting at http://bit.ly/PhCUnV. Tom asked about several guys who we have not heard from, Rick Kirkpatrick and John Tomassi in particular. To which Henry Hart’s lightbulb went off: “Rick?! Very nice guy, great squash player, haven’t seen him but absolutely, hands down, the messiest room in the history of Andover, which is saying a lot, particularly coming from me. The fact that I would even have noticed (or remembered 45 years later) is a testament to the unkemptness of that room. Not a single item of clothing in a drawer or in a closet. Everything for the past six months just on the floor somewhere.” To which Stan Crock screeched on the class-notes car brakes and volunteered, “You apparently never saw Bob ‘Mad Dog’ Laurier’s room in Stimson. I remember he had borrowed an album from me, and a few weeks later I wanted to hear it, so I asked for it back. The vinyl record, cardboard album cover, and paper cover for the record were not visible to the naked eye amidst the pile of rubble on the floor. The items were in Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... separate places, but Bob knew exactly where each was and within 30 seconds had all three in hand. I have seen similar organization in the midst of disorganization elsewhere and don’t know what the syndrome is called.” Mr. Packard had a label for that syndrome when Mad Dog shuffled late into Latin first period every morning: “Down from the frozen tundra!” he would bellow to shake up Laurier and wake up the rest of us. It usually worked. But Ward Flad thinks, “My daughter was awarded an unequivocally adjudicated first prize in this all important ‘Messy Room’ category. As a sophomore, she was living in Nathan Hale when the Andover Fire Department made a routine inspection of the dorms. Upon seeing the vast accumulation of ladder fuel, up to six inches deep in her shared dorm room, they immediately ordered all inhabitants out of the dorm and closed it as a cited fire hazard. A quick cleanup allowed the kids back to sleep in their beds, but no actual learning took place. When I came to pick her up at semester end, I found pizza boxes with receipts dated from September, buried deep within the strata.” Coming full circle, class statistician John Buchanan reminds us that he, the aforementioned Mr. Kirkpatrick, and Phil Buttenfield were all from Pittsburgh, Pa., so of course, that explains everything. In the meantime, Ernie Abbott joined Baker Donelson’s disaster recovery and state public policy practices this past year as counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. He concentrates his practice in the areas of emergency management and disaster recovery, particularly eligibility for federal disaster and mitigation assistance, the coordination of federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private sector responders in catastrophic events, and the National Flood Insurance Program. Need I say more? Perfect field for an Andover education: disaster and catastrophe in DC. Ernie is well versed in FEMA’s administrative appeals process and arbitration process as a former general counsel of FEMA, where he managed all regulatory development and coordinated the legislative program for all FEMA agencies. In the “angst memories” journal, Neal Rendleman recalls authorship of a survey “that showed a substantial difference in grade averages between scholarship students as a group, compared to those without scholarship jobs. Given that admissions were not need-blind (in other words, we scholarship students were possibly more capable as a group than those who paid full fare), this reflected the loss of possible study time. Given also that scholarship kids often lacked the cultural and academic advantages of wealth and private school, we had a lot more catch-up to do. We didn’t get any help from the school. I remember many long, sunny weekend days when I crammed biology, while the more privileged played their sports. Those grades were crucial for us if we were to break out of the welfare and life traps we were headed for. Recall the little ‘ghetto’ they created at Andover Cottage in junior year? Each of us disadvantaged boys brought
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in to provide diversity was neatly matched up with a Phillips archetype. Unfortunately, [our] housemaster seemed completely unequipped to deal with my homesickness—he advised me to withdraw—or many of the other special needs we had there that year. We banded together and helped one another. I did get some real bonding with some superb teachers, especially [Nat] Smith in sports and [Harper] Follansbee. So the scholarship kids and the diversity we brought facilitated some major and necessary changes that have continued and made the school ready to go into the 21st century. But we did it on our own and even in spite of the atmosphere at the school. I know I felt the contempt of the Andover Shop crowd, with their sharply creased yellow and red slacks, who lounged outside the library while some of the other scholarship boys and I were catching up at those long bleak tables. I know many of us scholarship kids learned lessons of class and mathematics that weren’t taught in Allis’s class or Banta’s. So we fixed it so that everybody got to scrape mashed potatoes off the plates and went on, many of us, to work for social change in a range of spheres, where we employed lessons we learned at PA that PA never intended for us to learn. And I’m glad to read on the ’68 Yahoo site that you learned some of it too.” Till next time . . .
1969 45th REUNION June 13–15, 2014
ABBOT Madelon Curtis Harper 529 Poppy Way Aptos CA 95003 831-345-9111 (cell) madelon@madeloncurtis.com
As you enjoy whatever weather you are in right now, don’t forget that I’m writing this in the midst of the polar vortex! We are in countdown mode to our 45th! Mary Schiavoni, our fabulous, hard-working reunion chair, contacted me to discuss gearing up for the reunion! She writes, “Dear Friends: Save the date! Our fabulous reunion will be June 13–15, 2014. More classmates are joining us at each reunion to reconnect and reminisce about our Abbot days. We lived them, they are ours! Last reunion, sitting outside on the beautiful PA greens on Saturday afternoon enjoying an old-fashioned box lunch was totally peaceful and enjoyable for chatting with former roommates and classmates! No pressure on anyone...informal and FUN is what we go for. Come time-travel with us. ... As your Abbot liaison, I am open to your suggestions! So, please send to schiavonime@gmail.com or call 207-252-6385.” Mary’s Chewy Tubes brand products are now being distributed in India, South Africa, and Ecuador. She says, “I enjoy brainstorming with therapists
and teachers around the globe, sharing strategies to improve lives and grow communication skills.” Carolyn Cain Ware had fun over Christmas vacation visiting her daughter and family in Berkeley, Calif. “We went ice skating in Union Square and skipped the skiing at South Lake Tahoe due to the drought they are having out there now. I had two weeks of glorious sunshine with them. My son-in-law just got a PhD from UC Davis and is doing a postdoc there now. They might move back to the East Coast if he finds a job here. Lane, my 6-year-old grandson, is very into drawing and has the best handwriting in his first-grade class. Lila, 3, dresses in her tutu every day and practices her ballet constantly.” Carolyn still plays lots of tennis and takes classes at Old Dominion University, where she found world literature very challenging. Katrina Moulton Wollenberg made me laugh with this: “Ah, it seems like just yesterday that I had injections of Botox and Juvéderm. My, how the time flies. Forty-five years ago seems like yesterday. Or is my memory failing? Will we have name tags at our reunion? Will that help? And what school was it again? In Minnesota, right? OK, when I find my paper calendar I will put the reunion on my calendar. You said March, no? Any special date in March? And is that for this year or next?” Katrina, believe me, I’m sure you are not the only one who is forgetting on a regular basis! She adds, “Good thing I spent the holidays with my mother, sister, and nieces near Concord, Mass. They remember me (and better still, I remember them), and we all had a blast. I got my required two hours of snow. Great to see, fun to leave behind and return to Dallas. My oldest son and daughter-inlaw are in California. He is developing a new baby carrier. Just on the brink of going public with it, so I can’t say any more for now. My youngest son and his wife have two little girls, so I get to buy dolls and dresses for a change.” Sara Gray Stockwell hopes to be at the reunion. She and husband Bill have purchased a condo at Sunday River ski resort in Newry, Maine, and adds, “We plan to put our farm on the market in the spring. We will spend winters at Sunday River and summers at our camp in Waterford, Maine. I still love teaching snow skiing and kayaking with Maine Adaptive Sports and have had a wonderful time watching my grandsons, ages 3 and 7, learning to ski.” Some of you may have already seen this on her Facebook page, but Jennifer Cecere has a new project under way! She writes, “Excited to begin working on my suspended sculpture for Little Italy–University Circle station in Cleveland, Ohio, to be installed in 18 months. The Little Italy–University Circle station is located at the junction of two dynamic neighborhoods. Little Italy is one of Cleveland’s most ‘Old World’ neighborhoods and remains traditionally Italian. University Circle is home to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Case Western Reserve University, The Cleveland Institute of Art, MOCA Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic, and University Hospitals.”
www.andover.edu/intouch As for me, life in Aptos, Calif., is quite full, brimming with good things. One downside is that I don’t get as much time with my Abbot friends spread across the country and globe. I do keep in touch with Gali Hagel, who lives in the Bay Area. If you’re longing for more connection with your Abbot classmates, please consider writing in to tell your news! Does anyone have contact info for Marilyn Dow? Please let me know; my e-mail to her bounced back. Thanks, and I hope to see everyone in June!
PHILLIPS Hugh Kelleher 12 Atwood St. Newburyport MA 01950 617-448-8073 hughkelleher1@gmail.com
June will come round just about the time that many of our classmates will be in a position to describe their retirements. It is an odd though predictable fact that more of us seem to be entering that category each month. Pete Olney of San Francisco has just finished a long stint working for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on the West Coast. Pete is certainly too vigorous a fellow to retire! And so it is good to report that he may have some other plans in his back pocket. Meanwhile, his son, Nelson, philosophy graduate of UCLA, has entered the electricians’ union apprentice program in LA. Reminds me: Did you know that one of the most highly regarded skilled craftsmen of the Worcester, Mass., plumbers’ union is none other than a son of Nat Winship? Men, I have to tell you, there is something satisfying about being in the trades. I have been blessed to have worked there for over 30 years now and have made many worthy and intelligent friends. Recently I had the honor of being named to the board of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials. This was an appointment that derived in part from the good graces of my friend and former boss, former congressman Jim Shannon, who still retains a fair amount of influence in the world. Jim says he, too, is planning retirement later this year. Like Peter Olney, Brian Mooney retired, and then didn’t. Last year he left the Boston Globe as one of its star political reporters. Brian took a little time off before being named the communications director for UMass Lowell. The university is rapidly becoming an educational powerhouse in the fields of technology and engineering, so Brian has good material to work with. Jeff Kilbreth and his wife, Gail, are who-knowswhere these days: traveling the world, or at their place on Vinalhaven off the coast of Maine, where Fred Strebeigh spends his summers. Fred’s New Year’s e-mail was great—a shot of Half Dome in Yosemite, where he and his significant other, Yale professor Linda Peterson, were doing some winter hiking.
Pretty wintry out there—just as it has been here in New England, where, one assumes, Vic Henningsen was enjoying his first cozy retirement winter in Vermont. Has he run across Kevin Gardner, who sometimes does commentary for Vermont Public Radio? Was Gordon Beck spending his winter in Maine? Come to the June reunion and maybe Vic, Kevin, and Gordon will be there to tell us. I’m hoping that lawyer Tom Kroesche will come from California and let us know what he’s been up to. And maybe we can get Charlie Kittredge, president of Crane & Co., to be there. Did you know that Crane makes the paper not only for the U.S. Treasury, but also for the bank notes of 40 other countries? A fascinating interview with Charlie ran about a year ago in the New York Times. It wasn’t about paper so much as Charlie’s interests—which are remarkably broad. Charlie, we hope you will be there. Bring along your across-theborder pal from Vermont, Mark Snelling. My buddy Howie Murphy called with bad news. He, Fred Adair, Rob Gardner, and I had been getting together once or twice a year, when Rob came through town on his way to and from his summer gig as PGA pro in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Rob visited in October and stayed at my place in Newburyport. A few days later, Rob died of a massive stroke on a golf course in Pennsylvania. Rob lived hard and large, and if there is any comfort in this deep loss, it is that he went out with a golf club in his hands. Another dear classmate is gone. Tom Allen, who was the number-one student during our junior year at PA, has passed away. Tom had some tough middle years, when he had to deal with the affliction of schizophrenia. Yet in recent years, meds helped enormously. Last I saw him, he was succeeding at studies at Northeastern. There is, on the other hand, the sweet news that more of our classmates are becoming grandparents. Anki and Larry Gelb have a truly beautiful grandson, offspring of their son, Richie. Our dutiful class agent, Bill Schink, who has done so much for the school over the years, is now living in Greensboro, N.C., where he and his family are renovating a home. He and fellow Greensborian Sid Stern had a recent dinner at which the discussion turned to the question of PA ’69 team captains. Sid apparently had more experience in the athletic world (he was a champion wrestler, and PA beat Exeter thanks to him and others, such as Bill Holland, Jim Conlin, Ken Chan, Jim Murphy, Andy Cook, Sandy Close, Tom Mesereau, and captain Bob Gailliard). In any case, the final question came down to: Who was our football captain? Bill hesitantly offered the name of the aforementioned All-New England lineman Pete Olney. Close. But the correct response was a highly respected fellow whose initials are R.R. and whose son several years ago married the daughter of E.T. Solutions to these and other significant quandaries will be addressed at our gathering in June. We hope you will be there.
1970 ABBOT
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
It was very nice to hear from a couple of classmates who have not shared news for a while. Amy Baldwin Bratten wrote in with a quick and informative update from Atlanta, where she has lived for the past 14 years. She and her husband, John, have been married for 40 years this August (way to go, Amy and John!). She now has two darling grandchildren—one in Chicago and one in NYC—and she keeps busy traveling to see them frequently and also traveling to California to visit her father, who turns 90 in May. Amy is still working as a nurse but plans to retire soon. Su Johnston Peyton and her family had a banner 2013. Her daughter, Meredith, gave birth to twin girls, Dakota and Brooklyn, in May, so Su is now “Mimi.” Su’s son-in-law, Delane (the baby daddy), exceeded his annual sales goal for the year, earning a trip for two to Cancun (and hence Su and husband Rob had their first babysitting gig in Oregon booked for February). Her youngest son, Geoffrey, became an employee of Google when Google bought Boston Dynamics, the robotics company where he worked. Her daughter-in-law, Julie (married to Geoff), graduated from BU’s law school and then passed the N.H. and Mass. bar exams. Her oldest son, Thomas, is part of the cinematography team on Deadliest Catch, which won an Emmy this past fall for its work. Su and Rob had the great joy of having the whole family visit them in North Carolina in both August and December. And to top all this off, Su is painting again and working designing websites on a contract basis. All in all, she says that life is busy and very good. It certainly sounds as though it is— wonderful to hear so much good news, Su. Adelle Nicholson dropped by to visit Sandy Urie in early December 2013. Sandy reports that Adelle has taken up power walking in Florida and that she looks very fit and trim. Adelle visited Anne Smith in Colorado and Ptarmigan Teal ’71 in Seattle earlier in the year and said her travels inspired her to focus on getting fit. Nan Quick continues to write her Diaries for Armchair Travelers, with the latest entry being on Hudson River Valley Gardens. You can catch up with this column as well as earlier ones at www. nanquick.com. They are great introductions to interesting places. Many thanks to all who sent in news. Please keep it coming. —Sandy and Penny Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... 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
When plans surfaced in January 2014 to honor Kelly Wise in April upon his retirement from PA’s Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, David Cohen leapt into action. He wanted to find fellow 1970ers who had been taught by Mr. Wise. He said his search led to very fun and positive conversations with, among others, Charlie Wyman, Jim Steinberg, Tony Carroll, and Steve Pieters. And Jon Michals reports that he planned to attend, too. David enjoyed recalling a special moment during a discussion of (we’re pretty sure) Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon. A certain word appeared in italic type. At least one student—Joseph Yount— did not know what it meant. He was, however, smart enough to seek an answer. He whispered to a neighbor, hoping that classmate knew the word. The answer stunned Joseph. He couldn’t hold it in. He excitedly blurted loudly—for all, including Mr. Wise, to hear—the English translation of the Spanish word cojones. The room erupted. A great moment in the history of Andover classrooms! David mentioned that he, too, is facing retirement. For the past eight years, he has been executive director of the AFL-CIO’s Department for Professional Employees. He considers this his fifth career. “It has been so much fun,” he says. He and his wife, Ruth, live on Broad Branch Terrace NW in DC. David has called it home since the fifth grade. It’s where he and Ruth raised their four children—Alison, Susanna, Benjamin, and Jeremy. The District and his job have suited him well. Among other things, he mentioned enjoying hearing Steve Samuels’s son play jazz guitar and having lunch with Doug Adler. David likes being near a bookstore and a Metro stop and within the orbit of numerous deer, foxes, and rabbits. No wildlife was in sight in New Haven in January, when Sandy Urie ’70 and Frank Herron headed there for the opening of Yale’s new building for its school of management. Says Frank, “We ran into Ken Colburn at the event and had a glass of wine with Don Celotto at the bar of the Study hotel.” The word from Houston is that Rob Christie and George McLellan (a ninth-generation Texan) were very happy to meet Head of School John Palfrey. In Rob’s words, “We felt it our responsibility to ‘represent’ the unique spirit of the Class of 1970, and George rose to the occasion by weaving a Hunter Thompson/Andrew Dice
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Clay-esque tale of college debauchery.” John reportedly handled it well. Also from Rob: “We found [John] to be courageous, thoughtful, and well spoken in addition to being positively received by those present in Houston. ...We felt the Academy is in good hands.” Rob gets to New England fairly often, to visit his daughter Margaret (Wellesley ’16) and his New Hampshire house. He stays in touch with Bill Chamberlin, who lives in eastern Washington state and whose oldest son is beginning the collegesearch process. By e-mail, while relaxing far from Houston—in Aruba with some Havana Club rum at hand—the aforementioned George McLellan reported in November that he stays in touch with Donald Rollings, who (remember, this is from the rumsipping George) struck a Faustian deal: Don told God he would give up drinking if He would let him complete his Grand Slam in sheep hunting (Dall, Stone, bighorn, desert bighorn). George says Don got his wish. The sheep did not. The classy woodworking landscape in Western Massachusetts now looks very different. David Short announced early in 2013 that he had closed his Amherst Woodworking. The most difficult thing was putting about 30 people—some of whom had worked with David for three decades—out of jobs. “It is also not the end I had in mind for this business that I built from just me,” he says. On the good side, his stress level has “dropped like a rock.” David mentioned he got a text and photo from Nick Leone in December. Nick, who was on campus for the memorial service for Jack Richards, sent a picture of the room he and David shared in Bartlet Hall. David recalls, “Great room, working fireplace, illicit bacon & eggs on Sunday morning.” A report from the Raleigh News and Observer of Dec. 11 gives an update on the trial of Charles van der Horst, who was found guilty of trespassing charges at the North Carolina State Legislative Building. A few months earlier, he had joined demonstrators. The focus of the protest: The legislature had decided not to accept the federal government’s plan to expand Medicaid as part of federal healthcare law. Charlie, a widely known AIDS researcher, gave three reasons for his protest: (1) his Hippocratic Oath; (2) his immigrant parents’ belief in the Constitution; and (3) his clinical experience since the restrictive decisions were made by the legislature. Charlie (and another defendant) appeared before Judge William Lawton. While announcing his verdict, the judge praised Charlie, saying that he “has a passion I wish all doctors have.” Nicely stated. As reported by Bill Roth: One name too long absent from these pages, John Sibal, bought Mark Kelly, Tony Carroll, and Bill Roth lunch in NYC in late 2013. John, who runs a commercial mortgage firm in New Orleans, was in town to receive the Class of ’70 Grandparent Prize for the oldest (18-year-old Scott Baker, if you count stepgrandchildren; 9-year-old Luke Baker, if you don’t) and most (five, including Emma Baker and Olivia and
Ian Sibal) grandchildren in the class. Assisted by his wife, Lisa, and son, James, formerly an executive chef who is still involved in the food business, John kicked off the planning for our 65th birthday dinner in New Orleans in 2017 and will try to get daughter Allison to come down from Baltimore for the occasion. Want to know more about John? Says Bill, “All you have to do is take a look at your yearbooks, boys, because John looks exactly the same.”
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, Lucy Pope’s travel trailer is marooned in her yard, swamped in a sea of snow near the seashore on Cape Cod. Lucy and her husband, Mark, typically head to Florida to escape the snow, but this year they didn’t leave in time to beat a huge New Year’s nor’easter. That same storm turned Cait Owen Hunter inward, to tend fires and goats rather than venture forth to sell her awardwinning goat cheese at winter farmers’ markets on the Maine coast. Shelby Salmon Hodgkins is now also living in Maine. She says, “We have now cut the travel time to our home in Lake Placid in half from when we lived in Michigan—a blessing as we get older.” She and her husband have retired to coastal Brunswick to be close to their newest grandchild. They have three grandchildren under the age of 3—Eloise, Ada, and Ethan—with a fourth expected in 2014. Debra Sammataro-Hutchins provided us with “a snapshot” of her family’s life. She continues to live in Austin, Texas, with her husband and 14-year-old stepson, Elias; her psychotherapy practice keeps her busy and fulfilled. Debra also had a chance to hang out in the LA scene when her husband, Billy, received an Emmy as executive producer for best children’s show, The Haunting Hour. Debra’s adult children are pursuing diverse and exciting endeavors. Tynan was named by Time magazine as having one of the “50 Best Blogs.” Taylor is in college in Utah, training to become a helicopter pilot. Youngest son Devon is in Austin, working as a photographer and videographer, primarily in the BMX world. Finally, Debra’s daughter, Kelsey, is an associate designer for a design firm in San Antonio. Peggy Haskell Moss is celebrating her first pension check, now that she is retired. She has a 2-year-old granddaughter and another expected in
www.andover.edu/intouch 2014. Peggy reports that her parents’ Tamworth Inn in New Hampshire was bought by a company associated with Quaker City Mercantile. Part of it was preserved as an historical site and part was taken down to build a distillery. “That’s a partial success for historic preservation, and actually better than I had hoped for,” she says. Mary McCabe writes that she, Mary Anna Sullivan, and Nancy Cohen keep planning a mutual 60th birthday party, but it hasn’t quite happened yet. Mary will be attending a reunion of her junior year abroad classmates from the University of Edinburgh in May-June in Edinburgh, Scotland. Daughter Anna is doing fantastically, attending Berklee College of Music to pursue her singing and songwriting career. Mary attends every performance, be it at a seedy little barroom in Haverhill, Mass., where Anna sang a couple of jazz classics with a bunch of old-timers, or Anna’s performance as Sandy in the Camp Fatima performance of Grease. Mary does admit to having a hard time seeing her daughter in a tight, slinky catsuit like Olivia Newton-John’s in Grease! This past fall, Lucy Pope and Abby Johnson did a Northeast driving tour. In addition to visiting Abby’s ailing relatives and retracing the Berkshire territory of their post-Abbot bicycle trip and wild early-1970s summers, they landed at the home of Carol Kennedy McCarthy and husband Dave in Binghamton, N.Y.; Carol’s daughter Maeve and son, Owen, also live and work in Binghampton. Carol and Dave are fully engaged grandparents to Owen’s three kids. Carol and Boston-based daughter Beven joined Lucy and Abby for dinner in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood with Beatriz McConnie Zapater. After some beach time on Cape Cod, Abby headed to DC on business, just in time for the government shutdown. Instead of the (closed) monuments, Abby explored the Newseum and enjoyed a Chinese potsticker dinner with Lexi Freeman ’70 and her family. Dory Streett will pull up stakes in Shanghai in June and head to St. Catharines, Ontario (20 miles from Niagara Falls), for a year. Dory will help revamp the university counseling program at Ridley College, which is a secondary boarding school. As we know, Dory and her husband, Dave, have had placements all over the world in the past few years, which has expanded their professional expertise and allowed for extensive traveling and exploring. Some of us armchair travelers have thoroughly enjoyed living vicariously via these class notes and various Facebook posts from Dory. Dory promises that they will continue to travel the world even when they retire, so the rest of us can remain cozy in our armchairs if we so choose. We guess that if notable publications such as the New York Times can admit and list their mistakes, so can we! We apologize to Linda Hynson, as we misidentified the school where son Nick received a master’s degree. It is Villanova.
PHILLIPS Frank duPont 8 Nichols Drive Hastings-on-Hudson NY 10706 914-478-7818 dupont@wdfilms.com
“Semiretired”: I like the phrase. It seems to be cropping up more often these days in conversations with classmates and has the benefit of covering myriad different situations. But whether we’re still working, semiretired, or fully retired, the challenge seems to be the same—being fully engaged. I got in touch with Sam Walker in Athens, Ga. He’s covered a lot of territory since PA. After graduation Sam went to West Point. His military career included a tour of duty in the first Gulf War. Sam says he was “an aviator by specialty. Served in a special unit…flying little attack helos off the back of Navy frigates and destroyers in the Persian Gulf. We were in there…before the war began. Very exciting, one of the most satisfying experiences of my career. Not good for the family, though. I spent over 18 months gone out of a two-year assignment at Ft. Bragg.” Sam has been married for 35 years to June, a flight attendant for Delta, and has two children, Benjamin and Charlotte. Ben was fourth generation at West Point and became a ranger, serving five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s getting married this year. Charlotte married recently and is working for the state of Colorado in human services. While in the Army, Sam got a master’s degree in education. Since retiring in ’96, he has been teaching and coaching in the Atlanta area. Over the years Sam has seen Dana Seero, who contacted Sam back in ’81 when he enlisted, Ernie Adams, Stan Livingston, and Kurt Kuchta. Ernie, after leaving the New York Giants (in 1986), was helping the Army coach break down football film. Kurt stays in touch with Sam and enjoys bonding over their shared experiences as lacrosse coaches. Kurt also reports recently connecting with Charley Schaff, who’s living in Palo Alto, Calif., and seeing Pete Sachs occasionally. Pete, who continues his architecture practice in Newton, Mass., reports spending a few days over the Christmas holidays skiing with Chris Gardella and their families—Pete with his three kids and wife Tracy, Chris with his daughter, Katerina. Pete, who rents a house at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, N.H., has all three of his relatively young children totally dedicated to freestyle skiing. I had a great night recently with Stewart Crone and Pierce Rafferty over steak and drinks in NYC. A lot of stories. Stewart is funny and iconoclastic as ever; Pierce still the sharp, sardonic observer of human nature. Stewart has recently retired for health reasons from a career in graphics. When not working on his 1840 house and playing with Photoshop, he’s traveling—planning a trip to Spain and Languedoc, France, this spring with his wife, Peggy. Dave Andrews reports attending Harry Chandler’s daughter’s wedding in December in
NYC. Dave continues his work in neuro-oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, while Harry, semiretired, pursues his third career, in painting. Vernon Barksdale got in touch from Arizona, where his work as the corporate medical director for Recovery Innovations focuses on using disciplines like meditation to advance inner peace and a sense of connection with ourselves and the lives around us. Vernon recounted returning to PA a few years ago for the 40th anniversary celebration of the Af-Lat-Am Society and giving a workshop about spiritual awareness to a receptive audience. “I’ve been presenting and working with integration of the best of science and spirituality for some time. …Too often we forget about such an important aspect of our being when caught up in the race for recognition.” Nils Finne writes from Seattle that, along with staying in touch with Bill Gardner (in Nova Scotia), he’s had two encounters over the past couple years with PA classmates, Michael Carlisle in NYC and Jameson French in Seattle. Nils comments about being “struck by how much of who we now are can be traced back to Andover, yet the stories are naturally so much more varied and unexpected due to the intervening years.” David Gravallese reports getting in touch with Chaiya Wongkrajang, with whom he hopes to connect the next time he’s in Bangkok. David joined the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State in 2012 after many years at EPA, where his last position was assistant general counsel for international environmental law. David reports he is “having great fun” and is “constantly challenged working on topics that range from protection of the ozone layer and the oceans to Arctic and Antarctic affairs to trade negotiations.”
1972 ABBOT Julia Gibert 300 Banbury Road Oxford OX2 7ED England + 44 0 7766 022832 juliagibert@gmail.com
There’s been a lot of virtual wringing of hands— mostly from the men—on the AA/PA ’72 Facebook page about our 60th birthdays, which most of us will celebrate (or mourn) this year. I, for one, have decided to go the celebratory route and have declared 2014 a party year. My first birthday party was at Sam Butler ’72’s house in New Hampshire, where he and Walter Maroney ’72 hosted those of us from both schools hardy enough to brave the February cold and snow; from Abbot that meant Nancy Pinks Bennett, Amy Broaddus MacNelly, Brett Cook, Elly Mish, and me. The class notes deadline comes too soon for me to be able to report that great fun was had by all, but I am sure it was. Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... Linda Gilbert Cooper also began the new year in a party spirit, though for a different reason. Her son, Kevin, married his fiancée, Lauren Brophy, on Jan. 11 in a spectacular setting overlooking New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty. Both Kevin and his bride are completing their third year of law school, and both are already set with positions when they graduate. Among the wedding guests were Kevin’s aunts, Sally Cooper ’73 and Dana Halsted ’75, his sister, Anna Cooper ’98, and our own Joy Beane Brieant. Jessica Straus wrote to say that she couldn’t join our New Hampshire party because she was headed south instead, to Peru to install an exhibition with fellow artists from Boston Sculptors Gallery at the Saint Dominic Priory Qorikancha Museum in Cusco. Jessica is taking carved and painted ears of corn to this former Incan temple, which originally housed a life-size field of corn made of gold, alas subsequently melted down by raiding Spaniards. Linda Calvin has been partying in Washington, D.C., in an altogether more genteel way. To celebrate the start of a new season of Downton Abbey (!), she got out her best china and invited friends to an English tea party. Alice Sweeney Miller came along, which was just as well, because someone has got to keep up standards. Lady Miller scoffed at a Harrods cookbook’s suggestion that whipped cream could be served with scones and sent Linda out for the proper clotted stuff, enjoyed by all. Linda also mentioned that she had seen Chris Pollard ’71 last fall. She and Chris grew up in the same little U.S. Steel company town in Venezuela, and they met at a reunion held regularly in Orlando, Fla., for those who lived in the town when the mine was operating. Chris is now a lawyer, living in Texas. If all this party talk has got you in the mood, then start thinking about September, when Missy Baird is hoping to organize a much bigger version of our February get-together, probably in or near Andover. Date and details tbc, but let Missy or me know if you have any ideas of how we can carry on celebrating together the end of our sixth decade on Earth.
PHILLIPS Tom Rawson P.O. Box 1361 Eastsound WA 98245 206-632-8248 tomrawson@spamcop.net
No doubt the passing of Jack Richards, dean of students during our tenure at PA, will be covered extensively elsewhere in this journal. It merits a mention in this column. Much has been said over the years about the trials we faced attending Andover at a turbulent time in its history. Perhaps not as much attention has been given to the challenges faced by the educators who were charged with helping us keep our moral compasses aimed at true north while society at large could not agree on what qualified as moral. Mr. Richards had the unenviable
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task of bringing the social and academic structure of student life at PA into line with late-20th-century America while simultaneously keeping a check on our adolescent impulses. He performed these thankless duties with grace and compassion. Tony Hewett attended the memorial for Mr. Richards in December and sent the following account: “The chapel was packed, and the service featured some of the great luminaries of our time. Carroll Bailey looked good but definitely slowing down a bit. Joe Wennik ’52 and wife Inga both looked like they could run a marathon. The highlight for me in terms of our years was seeing Hale Sturges. He and Jack Richards shared strikingly parallel lives: both were sons of boarding school teachers, both attended Harvard, both ran track, and both taught at PA for four decades. Hale gave the remembrance, and in his very perceptive remarks referred to our years as the ‘protest’ years, during which ‘a dean of students was to the student body like a fire hydrant is to a dog.’ The place exploded in laughter. Other members of the Andover community spoke, as did Jack’s wife, children, and grandchildren. All in all, a wonderful event. I especially wanted to attend because ‘Jack Dick’ is one of the few people in my life whose true wisdom in decision making I can truly say had a profound impact on my life—meaning that early in spring term our senior year, after an unidentified individual had been spotted walking across campus with shopping bags full of beer, there I was in Dean Richards’s office, a proctor at Will Hall with a mustache and long hair that made me look about 23 years old, literally sweating bullets… because he knew I had bought the beer and I knew he knew, but he had the wisdom not to throw out of school an immature 17-year-old kid just trying to be ‘cool.’ My only regret the day of the memorial was missing a chance to catch up with Sam Butler— just as the service started I saw him on the other side of the chapel but couldn’t find him before I left.… That’s the way it’s always been for me with Sam— he’s always just a step ahead of me.” Big thanks to Tony for chronicling this event. Our condolences to the Richards family and our gratitude to Jack Richards for his service as dean, history instructor, and track coach. Doug Westberg reports from Vancouver, Wash.: “Had an unbelievably perfect Christmas party with all four kids and their partners. Between this and my 60th birthday party, I’m feeling like Jimmy Stewart in the last scene of It’s A Wonderful Life. No exaggeration. I don’t know what God’s name is anymore but I know there is one and I’m grateful to her.” Doug is empty-nesting with longtime partner and relatively new wife Carol Holden, is currently working on a career as a freelance writer/editor, and has written several books, including The Depressed Guy’s Book of Wisdom. He hasn’t abandoned his musical ambitions and would take a regular little piano-bar job in a heartbeat. Checking in from Woods Hole, Mass., Toby Lineaweaver tells me he has recently reunited with his one true love, Penikese Island and its school for troubled boys. Penikese closed in 2011, temporarily
forcing Toby in another career direction—battling on the front lines of the opiate addiction epidemic— while Penikese’s board entertained various suitors to partner with and get Penikese going again. In early 2013, Penikese successfully entered into a relationship with a top-notch New Hampshire–based nonprofit, Becket Family of Services, to repurpose Penikese as a substance-abuse treatment program for adolescents and brought Toby back to kick the island back into gear for an April 2014 reopening. While all this hectic stuff is going on, Toby continues to raise and adore his three sons, play his signature brand of porous goal in hockey, and quest for the meaning of life, just like the rest of us. In other PA ’72 hockey goalie news, Bruce Poliquin hopes to join the United States Congress as the representative from Maine’s 2nd district. He is running for the Republican nomination for this open seat. The National Republican Congressional Committee sees the race as a rare opportunity for the GOP to pick up a seat in blue New England. Bruce is one of 36 candidates nationwide listed as “on the radar” by the NRCC, and his campaign is generating much interest with Republican groups both in and out of Maine. Bruce served two years as Maine state treasurer, and he is well known and admired throughout the state. After running for governor in 2010 and senator in 2012 (when he just missed getting the GOP nod), Bruce is hoping that the third time is a charm for the June 10 primary. I know I speak for many PA ’72ers across the political spectrum in wishing Bruce good luck in his race and success in helping to break political gridlock if he is selected by the voters of Maine to represent them in Congress. So, if you’re in Maine—or anywhere else—don’t forget to vote. Democracy works when we all participate. I learned that from Mr. Allis.
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 10 W. 66th St., Apt. 22B New York NY 10023 917-796-1594 mbmg55@gmail.com
Last year was a year of reunions! Catherine “Cathy” Armsden shared news of a West Coast mini reunion in December. Cathy, Molly Prescott Porter, and Cornelia “Connee” Petty Young
www.andover.edu/intouch hosted Loraine Washburn, Robin Waters, Susan “Sue” Wheelwright, Marion “May” Irwin, Amanda Cobb, Leslie Hendrix, Anne Weisman Hogeland, and Lissy Abraham ’74. Cathy says “[We] spent most of our time eating, laughing, doing a little dancing, and getting down to what we do best: talking. We realized that at Abbot, we knew little about each other’s lives before/outside of school and that, for many of us, Abbot was a warm and happy refuge, and it was apparent just how much our time at Abbot had bonded us. We had a blast! We’re looking forward to another mini reunion in New England in August.” Kim Grecoe Sherwood, Barbara Contarino Tomkins, and Dianne DeLucia frequently get together for dinner. Kim is a transition consultant for dental practices and dabbles in local politics. She and her husband just celebrated their 35th anniversary and have three daughters. Ellen Hoitsma writes, “Last summer’s reunion was a powerful thing for me—being on campus for the first time since my dad’s death three years ago, seeing the places and people that were there all together at such a pivotal time in our lives. There is a magic in this teaching thing I’ve been doing for 30-plus years, and it helps me to understand my father better.” Ellen loves teaching third grade in Baltimore and singing in her church choir. She met Mary Clements Michelfelder and her husband for a week in the Adirondacks. Jenifer McLean Cooke teaches elementaryage English-language learners and is finishing up a master’s degree. She lives in Andover with her husband and daughter, a Princeton graduate who works at a law firm and plays professional hockey. Their son works for a Boston startup. Jenifer saw Abbie Owen Read, Katy Gass Walker ’74, Peter Lindsay ’73, and Tom Walker ’73 at a School Year Abroad reunion in Maine last September. Anne “Annie” Spader Byerly loves being a new member of the board of directors of the Abbot Academy Association. Annie teaches kindergarten at the Brearley School. Daughter Lily teaches in Wellesley, Mass., while daughter Maisy is a junior at Oberlin, presently studying in Beijing. I often see Elizabeth “Bets” Kent, who has worked for 24 years as an investment consultant at Cambridge Associates. She frequently travels to Michigan to visit her boyfriend and hopes that soon they will share the same zip code. Leslie Hendrix studies Arabic and is working on a project to landmark Tin Pan Alley on 28th Street in New York. Edith “Edie” Wilson-Fleming is an engineering manager at Omnicell in Mountain View, Calif., and a consulting professor of designs for manufacturability at Stanford. Edie had lunch with Marcia McCabe in NYC in October followed by dinner with Lori Goodman Seegers. Elizabeth “Liz” Rollins Mauran, Lori, and I spent July 4th together. Liz is the vice regent for Rhode Island at the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, working in preservation and development, and is on the board of the Providence Zoo. Mary “Mimi” Kessler found a perfect little
Several members of the Class of ’73 enjoyed a December mini reunion in San Francisco. Kneeling, from left, are Leslie Hendrix and Catherine Armsden. Standing, from left, are Amanda Cobb, Anne Weisman Hogeland, Connee Petty Young, Loraine Washburn, Molly Prescott Porter, May Irwin, and Robin Waters.
house in Durham, N.C., and is happy to have all her worldly possessions in one place. Elizabeth “Betsy” Coward Miller and Amanda Cobb met for dinner recently. Betsy teaches tech to grades K–3 and computer science, games, and mobile app development at a community college on Cape Cod. She is taking graduate courses in instructional technology. Julia “Julie” Horowitz lives in South Norwalk, Conn., and works for the Westport Board of Education as a staff social worker. She is busy with family and proud of her stepdaughter Jessica Alexander, whose book, Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid, was released this fall. Catherine “Cathy” von Klemperer Utzschneider, Anne Hogeland, and Jane Demers have met up several times this fall at Cathy’s home in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Cathy is married with two children and is busy as a masters’ athlete, running coach, professor, speaker, and author of two books. Sue Wheelwright, her husband, and three cats live in California; she loves being a social worker conducting assessment interviews with people with developmental disabilities. Molly Prescott Porter is married with two children and has worked for 25 years for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., where she develops educational programs about the Kaiser Permanente integrated delivery model for health-care leaders from other countries. She enjoys the job’s foreign travel. Loraine Washburn is working as a conservation botanist and lab manager at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in California. May Irwin is married with two children. She recently moved from Manhattan to Whitney Point, N.Y., and is working in real estate and getting used to dealing with snow again. For more connection and fun, join the Abbot Rabbits Facebook page!
PHILLIPS Pete Morin 41 Border St. Scituate MA 02066 pbmorin@comcast.net www.facebook.com/pete.morin2
In preparation for this quarter’s news, I sent a “guilt missive” out to a dozen or so who were missed at the reunion. A healthy number replied. So here’s to them! (Note: Column length limits are in force. For unabridged news, e-mail me.) The elusive Seymour House responded immediately. He left Scotland long ago and is now dean of the graduate school of theology in a Roman Catholic seminary (Mount Angel) housed in a Benedictine abbey in western Oregon. He says, “Not terribly challenging academically since our only requirements for admission are an XY chromosome set and a BA in philosophy.… Happily, I’m still in contact with my PA roommate Trip Gabriel. I publish…boring historical theology, sit on the board of our local Greenbelt Land Trust, edit for two academic journals, and split a lot of oak from our property here in Oregon (Brooks Bloomfield has been to visit). ... I am on no medications other than Scotch. We travel abroad as much as possible (often by bike) and live in a huge old house with more bedrooms than heads.” He invites everyone to visit him. A long-scheduled, long-overdue family vacation kept Bill Gifford from the reunion. He wished to pass along his own fond memories of Steve “Sully” Sullivan: “I can only hope that someone else recalled some of the hijinks that Sully and I were involved in: the midnight efforts to hit 9-irons over Sam Phil…the Frisbee golf games…” Statute of limitations is up, Bill. In 1996, Bill and his family moved back to the Winston-Salem, N.C., area, where he and his wife Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... spend a lot of time in the western North Carolina mountains, drinking red wine and eating good food. Between meals, Bill runs, plays some golf, hikes, and bird watches. He sees a few Andover folks in town: Bill Wilson ’72 and Thatcher Townsend ’76. He talks to Myles Standish a few times a year; Myles has moved over to the Raleigh area but spends half of his time in Idaho managing his business. Alan Senior had a family reunion, too. “Not hiding under a rock or running from an angry wife, but still operating out my offices in Bellevue, Wash., and New Castle, Del.,” he wrote. From the mouth of the Dancing Bear: “There are many things that put a smile on my face, but joining the Andover reunion team creates a stupid grin and brings back great memories. So getting ready for the next one, the big 4-5, I should warn everyone that I’ve discovered religion, given up drinking, hate to have fun, and I’m boring as s***—all not true.… I’m the same Big Al, have all my hair, most of the teeth, and 50 percent of my brain cells and love to watch football, hockey, lacrosse, and Duck Dynasty.” Peter Fernberger also had a proper excuse for missing the 40th. His daughter, Emma, was about to get married and the prep was building up. From Peter: “I recently returned to Andover for Jack Richards’s memorial service. Thankfully, it was an event not without humor, especially from the two boys, one of whom described Jack’s little-recognized love of speed, especially, in this case, driving fast.” Peter lives/works in NYC—a producer/ director/cameraman for television promos and commercials now. He writes, “Previously, I spent 15 years in TV production on shows like The West Wing, Third Watch, New York Undercover, etc., as the director of photography of the location unit (DC for West Wing) or action unit (car chases, gunfights, high falls, stabbings, drug deals)—you know, exactly what our Andover education prepared us for, tactical police drama.” Greg Hammer checked in, too, with a lot of cool news. “I have had get-togethers with Artie Winter, Peter Shanholt, and Lawson Fisher. Since I am a physician at Stanford…I did get to spend time with Sully and his wonderful family before and after he was admitted here. Great to read Ray Stecker’s book and then talk to him on the phone for an hour afterward several months ago. Otherwise I have to settle for workouts with a few alums (from other classes) at the local Equinox. I got married to a wonderful woman in August…. Life is pretty utopian in Stanford.” Ken Ehrlich must have been under a deadline, as his response was unduly terse. Ken is a partner at Nutter, McClennen & Fish, where he is one of the nation’s leading lawyers in banking and financial services (I got this from the website, not him). He says, “My third child will graduate from college in May, and that just leaves one more, who’s in high school.” James Rydell called me from Beaverton, Ore. After a health scare, he retired from the brokerage business to the fresh air of the Pacific Northwest and is taking care of his father and still following the market. He sounded great.
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Greg Hatton is burning up the civil dockets in southern California, an authentic answer to Melvin Belli. In October, I joined Will Schutte for a trip down to Monterey to participate in the Sully Memorial Golf Tournament. Hanging out with Sully’s brothers was a blast, as was rubbing elbows with Silicon Valley’s crème de la crème. Unfortunately, I missed the annual trip to Ekwanok, in Vermont, with John McDonald and Dave Donahue, where we join Steve Rooney for golf and frivolity. No worries; Dave Swanson proved to be a robust fourth. Instead, I took Gene Dallago and his wife, Julie, on a “leaf peeping” tour, and we shared a delightful lunch. Gene’s eye surgery was a big success; he continues to show great improvement and vigor. After teaching high school math for many years in his hometown of Red Oak, Iowa, Swanson retired and relocated to the Boston area, where he is an adjunct professor of math at several area colleges. That’s it. Contact info above. Don’t make me find you.
1974 40th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Jack Gray 80 Central Park West, Apt. 20F New York NY 10023-5215 212-496-1594 jackgray@BlueLink.Andover.edu
Writing in early January as winter has its way with Manhattan and holiday laze snaps to this year’s objectives, thoughts turn to summer. Specifically, the second weekend in June. The harvest of holiday cards included beaming Robin and Ted Maynard, with daughter Sophie in full high-school-graduation regalia. Bruce Fleming and his wife (and college sweetheart), Mary Beth, included (along with sardonic empty-nest commentary) a picture of their two sons gamely posing for a family portrait. The young men even appear to enjoy the ritual, no longer just tolerating the annual event but owning it too. The main story this time (I’m sorry to say) is another loss to death—this time Laura Richards’s father and our old friend, mentor, and sometime antagonist Jack Richards. PA ’74 was well represented at his memorial at Andover in early December. That Saturday morning I met Tony Armour at Logan Airport, where we rented a car and pointed it north. Tony drove—he knew the way well from visits to his son, a lower at PA. On arrival, there were Tom Mitchell, Keith Kloza, and Scott McIsaac. All three were friendly, serious, and appropriately cheerful on the occasion of this celebration of a life well and fully lived. We recalled some old times (Keith’s innovative use of a wide-angle lens
while photographing from the sideline of a football game in 1973), reviewed the recent past (Andover golf-team stories circa 2010), and planned the near future (our next reunion). John MacWilliams, who has recently assumed a big job at the U.S. Department of Energy, in Washington, made the trip to comfort his friend Laura. Bruce Bacon, Charlie Nadler, and Kevin Retelle joined us as we took our places together in Cochran Chapel as it filled to capacity. The service touched on courage, work, and fun. It prompted reflection on big questions like the legacy of work and the nature of love. A memorable recollection was of a high-speed automobile tour of a (fortunately) deserted New Hampshire byway, piloted by Jack’s son Chris Richards ’81 when his father was too weak to drive (very fast, his default mode) himself. Former dean of students Richards enjoyed that particular rule violation. Both legacy and love came to my mind as I heard that anecdote. Though certainly some of us will disagree, I think that (based on my own experience at Andover) Jack Richards knew that the application of PA justice also required compassion to be fair. Perhaps his appreciation for risky thrills played into that. Hale Sturges spoke of working closely with Jack Richards for most of both their lives. His demeanor, as much as what he said, communicated the fact that he was having a difficult time grasping the gap now opened in his company of close friends. Laura remembered her father with a passionate reading of Maya Angelou’s “When Great Trees Fall.” Laura’s daughters, nieces, and nephews stood proud and brave and read scripture to the crowd. Wendy Richards (still called “Mom” by many of us) summoned the strength to speak, though she had not planned to. At the lunch afterward, Peter Currie mingled in the gathering that was Andover at its best—a community of students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, and volunteers there to support a bereaved family, one of our own. Like George Ireland, Betsy Evans Hunt, and many others there, Peter wears several of those hats. Watching him move through the room with the seriousness the occasion demanded, born of the loss that we all felt, was an impressive show of leadership. After lunch, Tony Armour and Duke Burnham met their boys (Duke also has a son at PA), and we watched a hockey game with Doug Greeff. Doug and I noticed that when we ignored the game to catch up with each other, Andover scored, but when we paid attention, the other team did. As for me, that day I almost didn’t go at all. I’d had enough of death. An encouraging e-mail from Tony prompted last-minute travel plans, and there I was. When I saw Laura, my friend and reunion colleague, just before the service, I thought I could help. We hugged for a long time and cried a little. We talked about loss and what she would do in the next hour. Sometimes, non sibi is pro sibi. See you soon.
www.andover.edu/intouch
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
The year 2014 has opened with wild swings in weather across the country and, thankfully, a whirlwind of news from many PA ’75s, some of whose names haven’t graced these pages in quite a few years. Paul Penniman has checked in from Washington, D.C., where he has totally immersed himself in running a nonprofit that provides tutoring and mentoring for very low-income students. He says he’s learning a lot from students and calls it a “lifechanging experience.” “What better way to shake off the midlife blues than to run off the side of a 3,000-foot mountain and fly thermals over a beautiful city (Santa Barbara, Calif.) suspended by a few Kevlar strings?” writes Andy Craig, who just earned his P-2 paragliding pilot’s license after 65 solo flights. Andy, who claims to have more than 30 boats behind the trees on his property, says that his other insane hobby is buying old boats, fixing them up, and reselling them—and that he “blames Charlie Clark” for turning him on to sailboats. Jody Harrison reports enjoying her “single life and quiet lifestyle” in Vermont, despite all the snow and cold; she also loves her job at a women’s boutique, Ruby Sparks, she recently opened alongside the Harrison Gallery, www.theharrisongallery.com, in Williamstown, Mass. In warmer weather, Grandma Jody (yes, her son Andy and his wife, Leah, had a baby, Liv) enjoys logging miles on her motorcycle. Her son Mike is coaching lacrosse at Williams College, her daughter Mari (yes, named after our beloved classmate!) is in Boston working for a startup Internet art company, Turning Art, and her daughter Julie is in Denver working for a high school as a dropout-prevention counselor. Yogi Pappas, now in Toronto working for a Canadian pension fund, traveled to Oregon last October to hunt and fish with John Bishop and John Kingery. Apparently they had a wonderful time, but regarding his Oregon-based classmates, Yogi lamented, “They were great hosts but not good enough fly-fishing instructors to let me actually get
a fish hooked. I think they just wanted to save the catches for themselves!” Out of the blue came the good word from Daniel Darst, who works at Neuberger Berman in NYC (not far from me at Merrill Corp.), that he had just signed a contract for Merrill Connect, a fulfillment-related service of ours. Small world! “Propelled by Jack Richards’s right, or perhaps left, foot, at the end of junior year some 42 years ago, I left Andover somewhat hurriedly,” writes Eric Bacon, Tabor Academy ’75, who recently attended Jack Richards’s memorial service. Eric also reports that about six years ago he wound up, much to his surprise, in the same men’s dinner club as Jack and really enjoyed their conversations “over many wonderful dinners.… We talked all about the turbulent period that turned the school inside out. It was so interesting to hear Jack’s perspective about what it was like to be dean of students during that time. Even though the term ‘fire hydrant’ was used to describe the dean’s life in the early ’70s, talking about it to him was more like hearing an athlete discuss a short stretch of losing seasons. Guess what—while we thought we were the ones learning, he was too!” David Briggs shared the happy news of his marriage in October to his partner of seven years, John McCormack, at the waterfall at the Loch and Ravine in Central Park, NYC. He also just completed his first season as supervising sound editor for the Sundance Channel series The Red Road, scheduled to air in February 2014. Now living in Jersey City, N.J., after moving from Harlem almost four years ago, Derrick Wallace recently celebrated his 34th year with BNY Mellon, where he loves his work in compliance training. Derrick also continues to enjoy serving as an Andover alumni rep, interviewing prospective students in NYC and working closely with PA admission staff. Chris Auguste ’76 and Derrick work with the Wadleigh Scholars Program, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014, to identify students of color and assist them in applying to PA and other boarding schools. The word from Frank Lavin in Hong Kong is that Peter Cohan planned to bring his MBA class over from the U.S. to visit in January. Frank, who runs Export Now, which helps U.S. firms sell their products online in China, expected to speak to Peter’s class about the startup and development of Export Now and what he calls two of the biggest business trends in the world: the rise of e-commerce and the rise of the Chinese consumer. Like many of us, Rich Pietrafesa is still trying to get all of his kids through college, but he’s also been funding (and loving) a master’s program for himself at MIT in Cambridge; he’ll graduate in June and also celebrate his 35th Harvard reunion then. Rich is developing a couple of small hotels in the Northeast, serving on the National Ski Patrol, and spending time on Nantucket. Jay Finney, chief marketing officer at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., writes that the museum is well into a $500 million-plus
capital campaign (one of the largest such campaigns for a cultural institution in state history) to support increased endowment, facility enhancement, and programs. At the same time, Priscilla Perry Danforth, PEM’s director of exhibition planning, has helped bring extraordinary shows, from Turner and Calder to avant-garde Japanese fashion, to the Boston area. P2P Cash CEO Tom Meredith is excited about the growth of his young company, which he says will soon allow “release of prepaid minutes virtual currency: BitMinutes…better than Bitcoin! Stay tuned to this station.” Tom is even more excited about the fact that he recently passed with flying colors his one-year checkup after open heart surgery. Writing from a family vacation on Maui, Margot Kent Timbel said she planned to retire in February 2014 after working 35 years with two companies doing oil and gas exploration. She says she will first “decompress and then decide what captures my attention.” Back in October at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, Andover hosted a wonderful celebration of the Peabody Museum, which is now a real gem and a much more integral part of PA than in our day. I was fortunate enough to enjoy the fine company of classmates Tony Pucillo, Mari Wellin King, Michael Boldt, and Michael Galvin over drinks and dinner in the famous “whale room.” Please stay in touch—Roger, Mari, and I greatly appreciate our connection with all of you! —Peter Wyman
1976 Ruben Alvero 7875 S. Wabash Court Centennial CO 80112 303-358-8739 ruben.alvero@ucdenver.edu Lisa Barlow 530 9th St. Brooklyn NY 11215-4206 lisabnyc@gmail.com
I begin this column with the very sad news that Pam Richards passed away unexpectedly last summer, just five weeks before her beloved dad, Jack Richards. Laura Richards ’74 writes, “Pam was a kind and generous sister, a great mother to Julia and Emily, an avid cyclist and kayaker, author of two cookbooks, and I still can’t imagine life without her in it.” Our hearts go out to Laura; her brothers, Chris ’81 and Tim ’81; her sister C.C. ’82; her mother, Wendy; Pam’s daughters; and the rest of the family. One day in Mr. Richards’s European history class serves as an example of the synergy that can happen between a great teacher and an exceptional student. Our midterms were being returned to us, and we had all done a passable job discussing the Prussians or the Hapsburgs, but one person had written so succinctly and eloquently that Mr. Richards mimeographed her bluebook for the rest of us to read. Andover | Spring 2014
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“This is a perfect essay,” he said. “You can all learn from it.” The essay’s author, Sue Chira, went on to become a celebrated writer, chronicling history in the making. Writing to us now, Sue says, “After nearly eight years as foreign editor of the New York Times, two years ago I moved into a job as assistant managing editor for news, in which I help oversee the news operations of all departments of the paper. Our daughter has been working as a journalist for the past year and a half (recently at Capital New York, where she writes about education in NYC), and our son is a freshman at Oberlin. My husband (who is a journalism professor at Columbia and is working on a startup called The Big Roundtable to offer new opportunities for long-form nonfiction narratives) and I had a lovely trip to PA this fall to speak on a panel organized by Joey Salvo ’14, the son of my classmate Joe Salvo. Joe and I were joined on the panel by Jon Alter ’75. It was great to catch up with them and to see Nina Kimball, who kindly drove up from Boston to grab some time together.” Al Cantor writes, “I was honored to be one of the ushers at Jack Richards’s memorial service at Andover. It was a beautiful service, worthy of the man. I saw many friends from our era at PA, though I hesitate to name them, because I will no doubt overlook several. That said, I was delighted to spend some excellent time at the reception with David Gilmour, who was in from California (also visiting his daughter, who lives in Massachusetts). Dave looks exactly the same. Exactly. I also saw Rob Middlebrook, Tim Dempsey, Jack Shoemaker, Phil Hueber ’75, Bill Cohan ’77, and Lisa MacFarlane’75. Otherwise, all is well. I continue to love running my own consulting company working with nonprofits as well as doing a lot of writing and speaking on the issues facing the nonprofit world.
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And we hit 2014 being grateful for the good health of everyone in our family—no small consideration as we age.” Chris Bensley writes in to say, “Took a few years longer to have kids, but my wife, Christy, and I are about to send them off to college. Ian is 18, got in early decision to Union, and Alex is one year behind. Still just down the road from PA. Went back to a full-time job from startup to keep bills paid, but am hopeful startup Tripzon will take off this year. Any classmate who comes to Andover is welcome to stop by for a visit.” Louise Aitel Koutavas is also in the startup business. Wordstro, a game she invented with her husband, is now in the App Store. It runs on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. “The game is beautiful and intellectually challenging...so I think y’all will like it!” she says. Carina Kjellström Elgin reports from Middleburg, Va., that her husband, Dean, their three daughters, and “way too many animals are all doing well. Oldest daughter (and clone), Kaki ’09, graduated from Princeton in spring 2013 and is working in Washington for an NYU-based think tank, the Center on International Cooperation.” Carina recently traveled to the San Francisco area to get a new service dog for her middle daughter. “At SFO airport, we were thrilled to be greeted by Sarah Gates Fitzgerald ’75. We had reconnected through the wonders of Facebook.… Sarah’s three children are also starting to make their ways in the world, with son Chris recently graduated from the University of Oregon and working for a technology company in Silicon Valley. Son Matt graduated from West Point in May 2013 and is doing officer training in Fort Benning, Ga., before being posted to an infantry unit in Hawaii. Daughter Katie graduated from UC Berkeley and is in Ukraine with the Peace Corps for a two-year assignment teaching high school. Wow!” While at Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, Carina was also able to catch up with Ted Lemon. Ted and Carina went to elementary school together in Bedford, N.Y., so they go way back to the kindergarten playground. Carina writes, “Ted is now a highly acclaimed vintner in Sebastopol, Calif., owning and operating Littorai Wines with his wife, Heidi, while raising their three boys. Littorai Wines is a family-owned and -operated winery producing world-class vineyard-designated chardonnay and pinot noir. Ted credits his experience with Andover’s School Year Abroad for spiking his interest in wine and getting his French fluent.” Liza Parker Migliorelli and her husband, Frank Migliorelli, were my guests in Mexico for a week last spring. As always, laughs and riotous retellings of Andover antics prevailed, as did cervezas and tequila. Passing through Austin, Texas, before Thanksgiving, I reconnected with Robin Chotzinoff ’75. Robin, the author of two books, is running a landscape design company. Closer to home, I enjoyed running into Brian Rivers, Mike Cannell ’78, and other friends at Andover’s party honoring the Peabody Museum
and its forthcoming restoration. The site of the party, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, is also the site of my son Henry’s first job. Henry, who majored in geology at Oberlin, runs the museum’s imaging department. His sister, Caroline Towbin ’06, also at the party, works for an NYC Internet advertising company and loved reconnecting with her classmates. We all had so much fun that the museum repeatedly dimmed its lights as our cue to leave. PA knows how to party! Ruben Alvero and I send our best to you. May 2014 be healthy, happy, and prosperous for all. —Lisa
1977 Buck Burnaman 222 Nod Hill Road Wilton CT 06897 203-834-9776 bburnaman@msn.com
Not exactly a surplus of news from that great Class of ’77, but here goes. Harry “Bone Crusher” Jewett wrote to tell me that after 25 years in Colorado and California, he’s moving back to the Northeast. Left me wondering three things: Where in the Northeast? Does this mean he’s going to make it to our next reunion? And does he still have that wicked New England accent that, to my (at the time untrained) ear, made his speech sound vaguely similar to English while remaining incomprehensible? Brian Loughman wrote with regards and added this update: “I continue working for the Ecom Group in the coffee division and make frequent trips to Latin America. Please pass on to Jorge Virgili that, despite the wonderful art scenes in Madrid and Barcelona, Medellín and Bogotá in Colombia are giving Spain a run for its money as centers of creativity. And when Jorge is next in NYC, he should revisit the Hispanic Society of America to see the Sorrolla murals depicting Spain. They were a big hit at the Prado when they were on exhibit a couple years back.” Brian mentioned that he had visited both Jim Wang and Majed Tomeh in the past year and that “both Jim and Majed are thriving in Massachusetts, surrounded by their teenage daughters.” Finally, Tom French shared pictures of himself and his now very adult-looking offspring crosscountry skiing in what looked like Antarctica but was, I believe, Quebec. Tom looked happy, healthy, and fit while icicles formed on his eyebrows. Took me back to the blizzard of ’76. Do you remember? Let me know. P.S. After filing these notes, I learned that our classmate John Meehan passed away on Feb. 6, 2014, after a long illness. Several classmates shared memories of John, and I will include them, along with any others you send to me, in the next set of notes. Please keep John’s wife and two daughters in your thoughts and prayers. Please be well. —Buck
www.andover.edu/intouch
1978 Jeff Strong jstrongnyc@gmail.com Jamie Clauss Wolf 514 Ribaut Road Beaufort SC 29902 843-694-7443 Jamie.wolf@thestartover.com
Chris Prenovost moved to Ottumwa, Iowa (home of M*A*S*H’s Radar O’Reilly), to work at a coal-fired power plant. His “possibly politically incorrect work involves installing scrubbers and baghouses to capture the pollutants that come from coal burning.” While college expenses are a burden, his four kids are not. Courtney Walsh has lived and worked in Italy for 20-plus years in financial journalism, radio, and TV and now covers the Vatican for Fox News Radio. Courtney and hubby Michele have three kids and a small farmhouse/inn in southern Tuscany. She’d welcome any PA classmates (perhaps at a special PA ’78 rate) at www.locandatoscanini.com. You can find Courtney on Facebook “and in the Rome phone book” (remember phone books?). Courtney ate breakfast with Bill Vandeventer in Seattle last summer. BVD’s summer adventure involved rescuing Mike Cannell’s family cat, Bella, from the smoky wildfires raging around Ketchum, Idaho. Details remain sketchy but involve a dog needing root canal surgery and a hidden flask of bourbon. Fortunately, BVD’s architecture biz in Seattle is picking up. John P. Margolis’s architecture firm outside Boston turned 20. He “celebrated middle age by losing 25 pounds in 10 weeks and placing in a fitness competition.” Nobu Ishizuka still works for Skadden Arps in Tokyo, though he “spends as much time as possible with daughters Megumi ’08 and Midori ’11 at home in Madison, Conn.” Nobu vacationed with Paul Heimann in Maui last year. Paul pilots jets for NetJets. (Contact Paul for another special PA ’78 discount, perhaps.) Nobu also rows with a men’s crew and raced against Jamie Tilghman at the Head of the Charles. Jamie runs his architecture firm in the Washington, D.C., area, working for clients such as NASA. Jon Belinkie attended his daughter’s Andover graduation last June “with no small amount of nostalgia and another real reminder of aging.” Jon still works in insurance in Maryland and has daughters at GW, Holy Cross, and Cornell Law. Dan Weld still lives in Seattle; he’s a computer science professor at the University of Washington. “Did a sabbatical two years ago in Brisbane, Australia, with the family—wonderful! My oldest kids— twin boys—are finishing their college applications. How can so much time have passed?! (And man, colleges seem much, much harder to get into!)” Lori Yarvis and hubby Ty Burr celebrated with Shady Hartshorne and wife Laurie Ellis at their
double birthday party in Boston. Lori’s daughter Eliza loves Skidmore; sister Natalie’s looking at schools. “We were recently in Istanbul with friends and some Boston chefs for a foodie tour—spectacular city,” said Lori. Ty’s latest book, Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame, is a great read and was recently mentioned on Facebook by hipster icon James Franco. Jeff Savit lives in Needham, Mass., with wife Lori and two daughters. “After 18 years as a trust/ estate attorney and four years as a geriatric social worker, I became the president/CEO of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island three years ago and continue to happily fulfill my life ambition to run a nonprofit fundraising/programming agency.” Jeff also notes, “Although Joe Tatelbaum has lived in Shanghai for 32 years, and I have never left eastern New England, the two of us still remain tied at the hip. Go figure!” Speaking of the infamous Joe T., he was recently spotted vacationing in Jamaica with Charlie Schueler and family. Joe proudly posted a photo of wife Grace on Facebook getting her hair braided. Unfortunately, Joe couldn’t get his hair braided (not quite enough there), so he thought about doing his eyebrows instead. Lee Apgar boasted that son Alex ’17 received his first penalty in high school hockey (and enjoyed the indoor warmth of the penalty box in PA’s current cushy hockey rink). Ron Ryan had a senior moment trying to remember how many Blue Book rules he broke at PA—and still wonders “how college counselor Robin Crawford got me into college with my SAT scores.” Mr. Crawford, retired, was recently spotted by Cosmic Ed Hill ’79 in Portland, Ore. Jamie Wolf moved to Beaufort, S.C., three years ago; she says, “Given the sub-zero temps elsewhere, it was a wise decision! Husband Pete is retired from the military and my daughter is considering pursuing a dual degree in public health and law while working full time! I’m entering in the IsaBody challenge, 16 weeks of goal setting for health, weight, fitness, and overall wellness. Wish this nonathlete luck!” Go, Jamie! Rachel Blain says she is “emptying the nest: two in college and one in boarding school. My parents live nearby, and I’m being helpful to them. My husband has headed the Eaglebrook School in Deerfield, Mass., for a dozen years; I teach and offer my opinions generously. Eaglebrook has brought me into contact with some great folks, including Beth Garrity-Rokous ’79, Abigail Jones Feder ’80, Martha Phipps Maguire, and Bill Ughetta.” Bruce Conklin lives in the S.F. Bay Area and continues running a lab at UCSF “focusing on human cardio/neurogenetics using engineered stem cells.” His kids are at Claremont and USC. He and wife Bonnie are enjoying being empty nesters. George Mostoller lives in Philly, works at the UPenn library, and “plays music under the name Hawk Tubley.” David Sternlieb still lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with wife Nancy and daughter Sonya, who’s
applying to college, and son Theo, a high school freshman. “I’ve spent 14 years at The Atlantic Philanthropies, a nonprofit group with a strong commitment to social justice. Recently, I became Atlantic’s chief operating officer in addition to serving as general counsel. It’s fulfilling work. Middle age has its woes—parents fading and joints creaking—but I’m happy.” Gustavo Tavares “continues living in Santo Domingo [Dominican Republic]. I got divorced in 2012, so I’ve been single this past year. Oldest son Gustavo ’09 will graduate from Tulane in May, so I will visit New Orleans then. Son Carlos is class of ’15 at Wentworth Institute of Technology, and my daughter, Nicole, a high school senior, is currently filling out college applications.” Bill Mudge lives in Mesa, Ariz., and is producing a film on solutions to antibiotic resistance. Look for War in Our Bodies: Can We Win? in 2015. Jeff Strong (your correspondent) remains in Brooklyn with wife and twin high-school seniors. (I don’t remember it being this much work/pressure for smart kids from the Northeast to get into college!) After a long career in ad agency account management, I’m working as a marketing/advertising consultant for a variety of nonprofits and creative types—check out redballproject.com for an interesting, artsy sponsorship opportunity for your city/company!
1979 35th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Amy Appleton 2201 Hall Place N.W. Washington DC 20007-2217 202-338-3807 Applta9@aol.com Rick Moseley 7703 McCallum St. 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
During the polar vortex this past winter, classmates remembered stormy days when we were at Andover, especially the blizzard of ’78. Now, spring has sprung, and we have our reunion in June! Rachael Horovitz remembers a creative solution to being snowbound during the great blizzard: “I hope everyone remembers my ‘disco in the snow’ party that night—speakers in Day Hall windows—featuring The Commodores’ ‘Brick House.’ ” We sure do remember that storm. It was mighty, mighty! Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... Bill Schultz recalls living in Will Hall, where they were “cut off ” during the blizzard. Classes were canceled, but, he says, “We had to go out and shovel snow so the fire hydrants were visible, even though no truck would make it over the roads.” After 10 years living outside the U.S., in the Philippines, Mexico, and Germany, Bill—who’s with Coca-Cola—and his family are spending 2014 in Atlanta. “Anyone passing through Atlanta should look us up,” he says. Bill hopes to attend our 35th, as it will also be his daughter’s fifth. Elisabeth Tolmach Burch and her semiretired husband sent their twins to college—one to Elisabeth’s alma mater, Duke, and the other to Wake Forest. She and her husband have moved out of Baltimore and are now splitting their time between Crested Butte, Colo., and Sailfish Point in Stuart, Fla. “Both places are adult playgrounds with tons of sports and cultural activities,” she writes. Elisabeth’s sister, Susanne, was PA ’80 and has a daughter who is a lower at Andover. Charlie Dean and Didi Schweitzer Dean are quickly approaching their 29th anniversary and happily living in Shrewsbury, Mass. They have two sons, Charlie and Nick ’10. Charlie writes, “I am now editor of PA’s military veterans newsletter, the Blue Guidon. Andover and the Military, an organization within the span of the alumni engagement office, with pages on the school website, has more than 900 registered living Andover veterans and an endowment to help students, the school, and our veterans’ children.” Charlie says it’s an honor to celebrate these graduates and their predecessors “who provided or are providing today non sibi military service to our nation, including a number of our classmates who served in the Army, Navy, and Marines.” Don Thomson has prevailed through some rough times. His wife, Brenda, has been battling MS and, recently, Lyme disease. His children, Nick and Jessica, have overcome various health challenges and are both doing well. Through it all, Don has maintained a positive attitude and encourages others who are facing challenges: “I’ve often thought that the measure of a man is not the hardships he goes through but the dignity with which he endures them. You have the strength to get through your challenges! But don’t be afraid to take advantage of any resources you might need.” Bill Miles is thrilled that his youngest child, Cameron Miles ’17, began at Andover last fall as a junior. Bill admits, “She surprised me with her interest and took it upon herself to apply—I never really thought I’d be a PA parent!” Bill is still shooting commercial photography and video, but he’s also starting a new venture, a cause-marketing agency called Alchemy ( www.alchemycreative group.com), to help build brands through social impact. Bill is living in Woodstock, N.Y., where he enjoys “cycling by summer, skiing by winter— life is good!” Carroll Bogert observes, “We’ve reached a stage where our own lives don’t change very fast but our kids’ do, which makes it tempting to
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write about them.” Carroll continues: “I still work at Human Rights Watch, still travel frequently to lots of unappealing countries, and still live in New York.” Her daughters are both seniors, “one poised to leave Stanford and head out into the wide world, probably to Kenya; the other going to Carleton College in the fall (saints praise early decision!).” Carroll’s daughters are “now roughly the age that we were when we all knew each other. It’s such a great time, full of possibility, though a little scary too. If only we’d been more self-aware. But then, when we’re 90, we’ll probably say that about age 52: ‘If only we’d been more self-aware...’ ” Ranie Crowley Pearce had a fabulous year. She went to Ireland and swam from Cork up to the northeast corner at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. She says, “I swam four to six hours a day and went about 100 miles in a three-week vacation. It was cold, and there were tons of jellyfish, but it was a magical trip.” Ranie says she met amazing people along the way and, thanks to Facebook, had people in every town and city who showed her where to swim and eat and who offered a place to sleep. This was all preparation for a successful attempt at the Catalina Channel last September. She says, “This summer, I plan to swim around Manhattan Island (after the reunion). Life is good. My 50s are the most fun decade so far!” Tad Flynn chimes in, “My New Year’s resolution is to be in as good a shape as Drew Guff and Ginny Selden Gray, who both look better than they did in ’79.” Dan Ryan’s most vivid storm memory at Andover was not the blizzard of ’78, but rather the freak snowstorm on May 10, 1977. “I was a lower at Newman House. I remember helping to clear broken limbs from trees near our dorm. I climbed a tree next to the gym, and I was using a chain saw to cut the broken limbs of the tree. At one point, I overreached with the chain saw and lost my balance. The blade of the saw came about two inches from my leg as I scrambled to pull it out of the path of the voracious, spinning chain! It was a close call. I suspect that nowadays students wouldn’t be allowed to climb trees under any circumstances and certainly not while operating a chain saw!” Dan’s son, Alex Ryan ’07, completed his service in the U.S. Army and is back in college. He deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Third Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment. Dan writes, “I’m very proud of his service and very grateful that he made it home OK. My hat goes off to Alex and all veterans who have risked so much and made such great sacrifices in service to our country.” All the snow has long since melted, barring another fluke spring storm. Let’s hope for Andover blue skies at our upcoming reunion. Until then, see you in the notes! —Amy
1980 Kate Thomes 158 Commercial St., Apt. 2 Boston MA 02109 katethomes@gmail.com
It is Jan. 8, 2014, and I am writing these notes a tad last-minute. I don’t have anything to say. I can give you the list of holiday greetings I received from our classmates, but I mention their names all the time. I have not received any e-mail updates and have been reluctant to send an e-mail around asking, “What is new with you?” I get those e-mails from other class secretaries, and I don’t want to tell them what is new with me: “I have a head cold, I took 10,453 steps according to my Fitbit, I like my job, I need to lose weight, I hate the gym, I watch Homeland, I have spoiled my niece Violet Kate to an unhealthy degree, but love doing it.…” I am a lousy secretary. I may have to pass the torch because there are all these interesting people in our class whose stories need to be told. So in place of interesting classmate stories, here is my list of favorite things from 2013: Favorite movies: American Hustle, Enough Said, Blackfish, Blue Jasmine, Fruitvale Station. Favorite books: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink; Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever by Vanessa O’Connell and Reed Albergotti; A Story Lately Told by Anjelica Huston. Favorite television: Modern Family, Broadchurch, House of Cards. Favorite products: Shinola watches, Fitbit, Sonny Angel figurines, PhotoCard app.
1981 Warren Jones Houston Texas 281-450-6457 wcjonesllc@gmail.com Stefanie Scheer Young New York NY 917-287-6111 stefanie.scheer@gmail.com
From the Deep South, Bo Calhoun writes, “I am living back in Mississippi and practicing cardiology in Tupelo. Being the birthplace of Elvis, it’s not uncommon to see impersonators (the politically correct term is ‘tribute artists’) walking around. Other than the occasional wild card who gets arrested for sending homemade ricin letters to government officials, the majority of them are pretty nice folk. If anyone wants to visit down here, I’ll be more than happy to show you the top floor of the hospital that is closed off. It is where we keep the real Elvis alive on life support (but don’t
www.andover.edu/intouch tell anybody). Living in the hinterland, it has been difficult to make it back to PA, though I did go back last month to take my 13-year-old daughter to look at the school. We had a great tour, and afterward, I took her down to Pine Knoll to show her Fuess House, where I had lived. During my time there, I had considered it very modern, yet all she said was, ‘It looks so old.’ Both the dormitory and I felt the pain. I guess it was 33 years ago. My 11-year-old son went with us, and the following day, he talked us into skipping the Boston Freedom Trail tour and watching the Red Sox World Series parade. My 9-year-old son did not make the trip as he is on the family temporary no-fly list because of misbehavior. Both boys are most likely to organize a party at the Holiday Inn their senior year at PA. I have been in touch with several classmates. Jon Ernst was working with International Paper out of Memphis, Tenn., before being transferred to Europe. We had been trying to get together a bird-hunting trip but will need to wait until he gets back. I had dinner with Alan Lewis in San Francisco last year, and it was great catching up with him. My wife and I plan on going back this coming fall; Alan just does not know it yet.” Chris Arnold sent us an e-mail: “In case you are fans of the artist Banksy and wonder what happened to some of his street pieces from his monthlong residency in New York, I work with a gallery, and we ended up with several of the street works, which we took down to Art Miami.” Chris did a television interview segment for Al Jazeera. We got a kick out of it, but unfortunately the video link is expired now. Here’s an excerpt from Al Jazeera’s print story: “The real star of this year’s show—at least judging from the security arrangements—isn’t Cindy Crawford or the other celebrities milling about. It’s a 6,000-pound slab of concrete and brick attributed to the graffiti artist Banksy. ‘Banksy is a very well-known British street artist,’ said Chris Arnold of the Keszler Gallery. ‘He started out with small street pieces in Europe, and he’s become very hot.’ “A big part of the Banksy mystique is that you never know where he’ll turn up. In cities across the globe, he has left a trail of graffiti art, usually done under cover of darkness. Banksy never photographs or reproduces the work. His works are oneof-a-kind and fixed in the public spaces that Banksy chooses to bless. Months ago, Banksy popped up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. “His simple image of a heart-shaped balloon became an overnight sensation. People lined up around the block for a moment of communion. It was a sudden, unexpected gift to the community, and for the owner of the building, a winning lottery ticket. Almost as quickly as the balloon work appeared, it vanished. Enter Chris Arnold and his gallery. “ ‘To move a canvas, you need some bubble wrap and a car,’ he said. ‘To move a piece of street art, you first have to drill 25 holes around it, put steel bars around it, then you have to support the ceiling, put a metal frame around it, get all kinds
of forklifts, put it on a truck without the truck breaking down, take it down the road, and put it in an art show. I didn’t sleep for three days until this got here!’ “It’s estimated that Bandage Heart will fetch several hundred thousand dollars. Arnold brought the work to Miami to drum up interest, and his plan seems to be working. “Arnold doesn’t believe he’s violating the spirit of Banksy’s work by ripping it from the wall. In fact, he thinks it was Banksy’s intention. Banksy’s a savvy guy, he says, and knew that balloon in Brooklyn would be quickly discovered and removed. “ ‘In anticipation of the New York auctions in November, he came to New York and spent the month of October creating street pieces,’ Arnold said. ‘Crazy gallery people like us take it down and show it; he gets all this PR. His “official” pieces have a spike in value from the PR. It’s the process of the publicity behind a series of street works that drives his auction prices up.’ “Besides creating street art, Arnold notes, Bansky also sells officially sanctioned pieces at auction. “Has the street artist abandoned the principles of his craft? Should public art be torn from the open air and placed behind glass? If Banksy graced your building, would you remove the wall and sell it for half a million? Perhaps if people paused from asking these questions for a moment, and listened hard enough, they would hear Banksy laughing all the way to the bank.” We sure hope Chris is laughing too, right about now. —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 parkerlq@yahoo.com
Pulling up the rear of your new corresponding trio, I submit the few updates below and solicit contributions from the class for our future efforts. We appreciate these, and I look forward to them as an opportunity to reconnect with classmates. Through this means I have learned that Derrick Harris has ended what he describes as the “nomadic” phase of his career and has found his calling in Atlanta. There, he founded a staffing
company recently honored by Inc. magazine as among the 500 fastest-growing companies in America. Congratulations, Derrick! Dorothy Bisbee e-mailed Parker Quillen after his recent contribution to our class annals. Reporting from beside a wood stove in Concord, Mass., while in the company of her daughter Sophie, 8, and Boston terrier Remington (age unreported), Dorothy informed us that she had recently seen Linda Heuman in Providence, R.I., where Linda writes for a living from “an old Victorian on the East Side,” and Pamela Webster, who is living in southern Rhode Island. Dorothy reports that Pam works for a cancer registry in Boston and that her husband studies weather patterns. I’m sure there’s a great deal more to it than that, but by its description his career sounds like a fine retirement plan to me. Exempt from this request for data submissions, however, is Robert Tuller. I share frequent correspondence with Robert, most often in the form of incoming photos of spectacular creations from his kitchen. Last night’s photo of a golf-ball-size truffle and the ingredients that would accompany it into a cream sauce was impressive. I assume I would receive these less often if we did not live on opposite coasts, as Robert knows from experience that if he were close enough for uninvited guests I would hit the road rather than the reply button. I’ve learned a lot about cooking from Robert, including how to use a fire extinguisher properly when cabinetry has been ignited. (Move the sauce off the stove first, and only then employ the device.) Robert now lives in San Francisco with his wife and sons, Mason and Rex. Those of us who attended our 30th Reunion will have met these boys and seen much of their father in them, both genetically and sartorially. In time, we’ll see if they share their father’s passion for ultra-long-distance running. Robert met the first Wasatch 100 that he did not complete this past summer after finishing an astounding 14 times in previous years. (Twelve if one bothers to note official time limits, but I would not short the man his due on account of a few minutes overtime after running 100 miles in the Utah mountains.) Matthew Weatherly-White has shared these long running trails with Robert. Their reports are great fun to listen to, particularly if one is prone, as I am, to enjoy Matthew’s vivid descriptions of Robert’s deep and medically worrisome suffering in the later miles. Matthew travels widely, and the tales he brings home make for wonderful entertainment. He lives in Boise, Idaho; I recently passed through and had the chance to visit with him, his wife, Andrea, and their young daughter, Larken. Matthew owes the world a book about mastering the work-life balance, as he seems to have this well in hand. Impressive indeed is his gear closet and its collection of skis, bikes, climbing equipment, camping supplies, etc., all arrayed for quick access and showing signs of frequent use. I had the pleasure of hosting Matthew in Southport, Conn., last year. My children’s babysitter asked how we knew each other, and in the explanation Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... we discovered the coincidence that she is the niece of Devin Adair Mahoney. Alerted that Devin’s sister lived nearby, I was less surprised than I might have been to run into Devin at a party soon after. I had a very enjoyable lunch with Devin and learned that she lives in LA and works in the entertainment industry. She described a number of exciting film projects, one of which is a documentary being produced with a colleague of mine. This is no coincidence, as I introduced them with the hope that Devin might bring some needed West Coast expertise to a naive East Coast film effort, and I’ve been impressed while watching her do just that. I’ve been glad to have these visitors passing through Southport, as the town has recently lost a key part of its spiritual base with the departure of Rev. Nicholas Porter. Nick’s house was a bright social center for many, and I’ll miss his good company. In particular, I will miss the regular evenings of backgammon that he and I enjoyed and that somehow seemed to come down to the last roll every time. I like backgammon because it doesn’t interfere with conversation, and conversations with Nick were a great way to spend an evening. These evenings could be (and occasionally were) improved upon, however, with the visits of Stuart Kensinger from his home in Houston. Stu has been a supporter of Jerusalem Peacebuilders, Nick’s efforts to foster peace through a camp for Israeli, Palestinian, and American youth that he runs in Vermont. Nick and Stu’s shared passion for this project brought Stu to Southport a number of times. It is to further dedicate himself to this worthy project that Nick has moved to Brattleboro, Vt. Nick can expect occasional visits to Brattleboro from the Barton family. I am enjoying teaching my two children to ski, and we pass through now and then. Last winter they had lessons courtesy of Jeff Hunt’s three children, who share their father’s amazing athletic talent. Their example served my children well, if humbling was a goal. We enjoyed a weekend of skiing, and I thought it would be appropriate to cook a meal for our families from Ming Tsai’s book Simply Ming. Jeff, Ming, and I were all residents of Fuess, and Ming’s presence, if only in the form of the smiling face on his book cover, gave it something of the feeling of a reunion. Back then, I did not know that Ming’s talents extended beyond ramen. I have since learned otherwise. I last saw Ming some time ago in Southport. He had generously made the trip from his home in Wellesley, Mass., to support Nick Porter’s peace camp by hosting a cooking demonstration. Ming, FYI: While still representing it as your creation, I adapted your kung pao chicken recipe by adding diced red peppers, jalapeños, and pink peppercorns and switching from peanuts to cashews. I hope that’s cool. Robert: The fire extinguisher was unnecessary on this occasion. —John Barton
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1983 Andrew L. Bab 170 East 83rd St., Apt. 6F New York NY 10028 212-909-6323 albab@debevoise.com
Hi, Class of 1983! I will be taking over the reins as secretary of our class and look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible. I promise not to write anything embarrassing! Susannah Hill and Blaise Zerega are a formidable act to follow, and they deserve enormous credit for the excellent, painstaking job they have done over the past years, both in keeping in touch and in keeping the rest of us informed and up-to-date in their inimitable, delightful style. I hope to live up to your now high expectations! Thanks in advance to all of you—I know you’ll be sending me interesting news about yourselves and our classmates.
1984 30th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 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
Greetings. First and possibly best, Rachel Mercy-Simpson followed through on my dare and actually texted in her regards from altitude while skydiving! Pauline Lim was invited to emcee the inauguration for Mayor Joe Curtatone of Somerville, Mass., and her art grows wild with abandon…and recognition! Fellow scribe Alexandra Gillespie reports having eaten, drunk, and made merry without serious incident over New Year’s. David Little and wife Beverly moved to sunny Puerto Rico from cold and foggy New England. Amy Tai is back in the States after 11 years in Cusco, Peru. She recounts the beauty of ice skating at Bryant Park in NYC on Christmas Day and how nice it was to see Joy Clendenning and Christine Kim at William Thomas’s memorial service at Andover last June. The service was deeply moving, and the music was exquisite, Amy reports.
Rachel Bacon writes in as follows (excerpted): “Did: Live half of my life in the Netherlands. Didn’t: Decide yet which country to move to next. Did: Get married. Didn’t: Stay married. Did: Become an artist doing projects in public space and making drawings, sculptures, and installations (please see the show in GW Hall organized by Angela Lorenz ’83) while also doing some teaching at the Royal Academy of Art in the Hague. Did: Become a second-degree black belt in aikido. Didn’t: Train much last year, as I injured my knee while escaping from five men attacking me with swords. Did: Meet up last year with Adam Simha and Bill Seeley after many years and really enjoyed it.” Geoff Wagg, whose son Henry is in Bill’s daughter’s homeroom, notched his first two sledding calls in January as headmaster of Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, extending winter break an extra four days. Bravo, Geoff! Bill and his wife, Christine Doris-Keller, met up with John Chaisson and his family, who were in Maine visiting John’s folks (John’s father is Joe Chaisson ’64) for a post-Christmas shindig. John and family are living outside Philadelphia. This edition’s no-shows (despite my best efforts within the boundaries of good behavior): Jason Bochinski, Paul Vrana, Al Griffin, and Asmira Halim. Please be in touch, you four—we’d love to hear from you! Finally, sage Jim Reische writes that patience is a growth industry and pizza is best eaten day-old and cold in the persistent prairie wind.
1985 Chris McCarthy 8 Wilkie Terrace #09-05 228031 Singapore +65 9864 7918 chrismccarthy@gmail.com
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! As I write this, it’s mid-January, and I hope everyone had a great holiday break. I always have visions of long naps, deep talks with my siblings, and tickling my nieces and nephews. I had no rest but had a lot of talks, and the kids are way too old for tickling! Now for a little news. Somehow, I missed writing
Reunion News! about Jennifer Quinlan Chinburg’s new yoga studio in Newmarket, N.H. She launched Newmarket Mills Yoga in December 2012. According to the website, “Jen was a part of the original development team of the Newmarket Mills property and has loved being a part of this remarkable space. Attracting a yoga studio was part of her original vision. Sitting in the current studio space, with its beautiful big windows, warm brick, and great feel, the decision to open Newmarket Mills Yoga became clear.” Congrats, Jen! Liz Collins wrote in with her first update since leaving Andover. Thanks, Liz! She writes, “After almost 10 years on the faculty at RISD in Providence, R.I., I am now living and working full time in NYC as a multimedia artist and designer of clothing and textiles. See www.lizcollins.com for more info. “I have an enchanting 4-year-old son named Winter, whom I coparent with my former spouse, Julie Davids, and spend my days in all sorts of ways, from doing large-scale, site-specific art installations in different parts of the world to teaching knitwear design at Pratt. “I have managed to stay in touch beyond Facebook with a few PA alumni friends: Tad Beck, Tanya Selvaratnam ’88, and Susan Cross ’85—all people involved in the art world. I’d love to connect with more PA folks in NYC and beyond, and am dreaming of the day when I’ll show my work at the Addison or do a big installation and performance there.” Speaking of Tad Beck, he had a reception in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center in December. Congrats on your art success! Christine Yoo’s film, The Wedding Palace, premiered recently. While Christine was having a blast in NYC, thanks to a few of our classmates, I watched the opening in Irvine, Calif. Chris wrote that it was “one of the most memorable and fun nights I’ve had in...well, forever. Not just because of the movie opening, but staying up almost all night and being ridiculous with people I love. We were with [physically and in spirit] Istvan Szent-Miklosy, John Claflin, Hella Winston, Ed Choi, Jennifer Amstutz, Debby Burdett Murphy, Benjamin Kuo, Kristen Harol, Eunice Lee, Caroline Langston Jarboe, Kathleen DiPaolo, Matt Lyman, Kelly Amis, Ted Carleton, the list goes on and on and on, you know who you are! The film is now available on demand across North America, through cable TV providers and online on all the various platforms and DVD for everyone to see!!” Here are the iTunes links: http://bit.ly/1cO25Sa (US) and http://bit.ly/1ddQfqE (Canada). To buy the DVD on Amazon, go to http://amzn.to/1bRucUV. Ariel Hubbard wrote that she submitted a grant application recently to study pro-social behavior and its effect on Millennials. She says, “Will find out in April if I got it. Will go on with the project anyway.” Good luck, Ariel! Thomas Takoudes enjoyed watching a Harvard-at-Yale men’s hockey game with Jim Israel.
www.andover.edu/intouch
www.andover.edu /Reunion Phillips Academy has created a new reunion website with lots of exciting features to help make your upcoming reunion the best one yet. You can register for reunion quickly and easily through the website; you’ll also find a slide show, class pages, schedules, messages from your class reunion chair, and much more. Information will be updated on an ongoing basis. Please visit www.andover.edu/Reunion for all the latest reunion news.
Matthew George was training for Team Parkinson for the LA Marathon, raising funds for Parkinson’s disease research. He writes, “First outdoor run a disaster—tanked at 13.23, walking in last two. Must fuel and pace smarter.” Better than I can do! Lastly, Caroline Langston Jarboe went to the wedding of Windsong Hollis ’85. I know she graduated a year earlier, but we started with Windsong, so I am claiming her for our class. Congrats! —XO, Kath Campbell DiPaolo
1987 David Kopans 2 Princeton Road Arlington MA 02474-8238 781-646-4515 617-947-2454 (cell) dave@kopans.com
Welcome spring, fellow ’87ers! Lots of fun info from far and wide so let’s get to it. John McDonough and I had an incredibly inspiring and enjoyable e-mail exchange back in the fall, which in and of itself would consume two issues of class notes. Here is the quick summary: Recently named a colonel in the U.S. Marines, John, his wife, and their four children (all year-round lacrosse players) currently live in Colorado Springs, Colo. John’s been an infantry officer in the Marines since 1992 and recently returned from commanding an infantry battalion in Afghanistan. The McDonoughs’ next duty station will be Camp Lejeune, N.C., in June 2014. John still maintains close ties with a few folks at Andover, principally Tom McGraw in the English department, whom John—rightfully, in my opinion—calls “a superhuman.” Randall Kempner recently completed his first solo paragliding experience, jumping off a perfectly good cliff in Santa Barbara, Calif. Randall reports that, unlike his friend who went before him, his radio actually worked, and as such Randall could hear the trainer giving instructions on how to land. Randall reports that the landing was still scary—and incredibly exhilarating—although maybe not as dangerous as trying to make it down
the icy path to Stearns in the winter. Infinitely more fun, however. Jason Fry set up shop as a full-time writer/ editor a few years back, after a lengthy career with the Web arm of the Wall Street Journal. Since then, he’s written a lot of Star Wars books (seriously, we’re talking more than two dozen) and has just written the first book in his own series, The Jupiter Pirates. According to Jason, “It’s about a family of space pirates, and the elevator pitch would be ‘Star Wars meets Treasure Island, with a side of (believe it or not) The Sopranos.’ ” HarperCollins is publishing the series, which is for kids ages 8 to 80. You can find the first book, The Jupiter Pirates: Hunt for the Hydra, in bookstores or online now. Here is the link to the series’ website: www.jupiterpirates.com. I ordered the pre-release version for my eldest daughter, Aliza, 10, and the book looks like fun! Jason also writes in that his wife, Emily Bernstein ’86, is still at CBS Eye Productions, where she’s supervising producer for My Grandmother’s Ravioli, with Mo Rocca, airing on the Cooking Channel. Their son, Joshua, is 11 and has a head of hair that makes his cue-ball father weep with envy. Toby Rodes reports in from the wilds of Cambridge that he trekked over to Bob and Annie Gatewood’s home in Newton, Mass., for dinner. In fine parental form, the three of them spent much of the evening looking for “the” song that made them feel 17 again. According to Toby, only one wine glass was broken and no one slept on a couch, which Toby terms “a middle-age measure for success.” As for songs, apparently Bob found a bluegrass version of Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Gin and Juice” that seemed to wrap up the evening. Anne, for her part, reported in separately about that dinner but instead focused on Toby’s time spent sailing his wooden sailboat off the coast of Maine last summer. Interesting difference in reporting takes. Anne also wrote in about her good fortune in seeing Melissa Morton and her three kids during Morty’s annual East Coast summer visit. On the not-so-good-fortune side, but still a pretty cool situation, Anne and daughter Julia were in Zambia again this summer but missed seeing Elizabeth McPhillips Stringer by a day. No reported Snoop Dogg listening for Jenny Lim. However, she and her kids did hang out last Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... summer in Asheville, N.C., with Elizabeth Schulte Roth and her beautiful daughter, Caroline. Jenny reports, “It was great fun to watch our children together as they listened to Schulte and me banter about our Bancroft days!” In the fall, Jenny attended the Washington, D.C., evening with Head of School John Palfrey, along with Melissa Hardin and Holly Milton. Also in attendance were Sarah Perkins ’88, Sid Smith ’85, and Rafael Lorente ’86. Eddie Shapiro also continues to churn out the books. No Star Wars here, but rather a return to Broadway. Eddie says, “It seems that all of the time I spent imitating Carol Channing in Commons while others looked on with abject pity finally had some payoff!” The title of his new book is Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater. Check it out on GoodReads (http:// tinyurl.com/PAShapiro), where the review says, “If you are into the theatre, this is an excellent and fascinating book.” Emilio “Mimmo” Iasiello also reports big news on the publishing front with his collection of short stories, Why People Do What They Do. Find it on Amazon at http://amzn.to/1gq5Y3O. Laura Kane Rock continues working as an intensive care doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and teaching at Harvard Medical School. She’s also working hard on her Spanish in preparation for teaching a medical simulation course in Spain this summer. She considers herself lucky to be able to hang out with Laura Bewig Chritton, who just got back from a year living in Rwanda with her family. Janet Davis relays her good fortune in spending time each winter with her dad, Steve Clarkson ’55, and several of his Andover friends down in Florida; in particular, she enjoyed a nice dinner with Chris Gurry ’66 and John Doykos ’55. In the summer months, annual visits with Patti Doykos Duquette ’82 and Mae Doykos Dayton ’86, as well as their sisters Bernadette Doykos ’00, Christina Breen ’89, and Juli Doykos McDonough ’81, round out a year of great Andover connections. Finally, Chris Whittier continues to entertain us with his great adventures. The latest was a gorilla veterinary emergency in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) that caused him to get stranded in Douala, Cameroon. But apparently ’87 is everywhere, and Chris thus had the good fortune to reconnect with his old Andover roommate Tom Stiles and Tom’s beautiful family (wife and two daughters) in Cameroon. According to Chris, the vet emergency and getting out of the CAR just before the coup is a whole other story. Thankfully, while still holding a partial position at Smithsonian, Chris has finally relocated back to Massachusetts and is now on faculty at the veterinary school at Tufts (another alma mater) in Grafton. I for one am looking forward to hearing that second story in person one of these days. Be well, Class of ’87, and enjoy the crocuses.
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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 1203 Constitution Ave. NE Washington DC 20002 202-365-8593 mattlavindc@yahoo.com Heather Ross Zuzenak 16 Essex St. Medford MA 02155 781-874-1747 hrzuzenak@yahoo.com
Greetings and salutations, Class of ’88. We have a lot of ground to cover so I’m going to dive right in. Try and keep up: Andy Mercy reports from the Galapagos that his family spent an epic Christmas holiday with Britt Lewis’s family near Ancud, Chile. Alex Tynberg and family showed up on New Year’s Eve, and they all rang in 2014 together with rollicking versions of AC/DC and Clash songs, as is apparently the custom in that part of the world. Nick Hofgren lives in London with his wife, Sophie. They have two amazing teenagers: Coco and Felix. They spend most weekends at a small country house near Marlborough. Most of Nick’s business is in Asia, the Middle East, and Russia. Meanwhile, Nick Rosenkranz, who teaches law at Georgetown, endowed the Rosenkranz Shakespeare Fund at Andover. There was a profile on it in the winter issue of this magazine, on page 22. Steve Nezhad is getting things done: He was married on New Year’s Day in Vieques, Puerto Rico, to his gorgeous bride, Aimee, who was due with their first child in February. Exciting! Paula Rand Hornbostel combined business and pleasure in Oregon last year. She rode with 7,999 others in the World Naked Bike Ride (!) and was invited to lead a group of Andover alumni through an exhibit she organized at the Portland Art Museum. This past fall she hosted K-K Smith and daughter Abigail on Long Island and then bumped into Tina Kukk Gulliford and family at a Broadway show. Allan Reeder and his wife, Ginna, live in Arlington, Mass., with their son, Jesse, and daughter, Maisie. After decades as an editor and then a teacher of creative writing at Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Mass., he has launched a new business, Hillside Writing, which provides coaching to writers of all ages.
Darnell Moore missed reunion as he was in Hawaii celebrating seven years of marriage with his wife, Yesenia. This past year he was promoted to senior member, technical staff, at Texas Instruments in Dallas, where he develops 3-D cameras for surveillance and future self-driving vehicles. (Cool!) Tory Stewart moved to LA with her husband, Cory, and their two children, Silas and Madeline. She’d love to find other Andover alums in the area. Her new play, Rich Girl, was performed at the Lyric Stage in Boston this past spring. Also, her play for children, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, was performed at the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, Calif., in March. Kristin De Vivo moved to California after 10 years in NYC. She is the new executive director of GLEF research for the George Lucas Educational Foundation. Sarah Perkins is still in DC with her husband, Koro, and their two kids, Sofia, 10, and Kadin, 9, working in grants and development at the Chinese immersion charter school, Washington Yu Ying PCS, attended by her children. She met up with Jenny Lim ’87 and Lerothodi Leeuw, who was in DC for an astronomy conference. Lerothodi lives in Johannesburg and teaches at the University of South Africa. Moby Parsons checks in from near Exeter, N.H., where he practices orthopedics. His kids are now 13, 12, and 9, and he has gotten into ski mountaineering and ultra-trail racing to stave off the “middle-age rolls.” (His words!) Dave Goetsch lives in LA with his wife and two kids, ages 4 and 1. He is a writer on The Big Bang Theory and teaches at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Jed Gore plays hockey for the Greenwich Winter Club. When not playing hockey, he works at Millennium Partners. His kids, Gigi and Grady, are now 8 and 6. He planned to be in Andover in February for the alumni hockey game, of course. Cheryl Coutre Kellond writes from Manhattan Beach, Calif.: “Our oldest, Corey [Rateau Jr.], lives in Hyde Park, Ill. Ben is a high school freshman, Grant is in middle school, and Anna is rockin’ it in the third grade. I completed my first Ironman this year and am signed up for a second. And after two long years, my company, Bia-Sport, is about to ship its first products.” Miguel Sancho looked at reunion photos and realized he needed to lose 30 pounds. After months on a treadmill, no booze, and a monastic diet, he’s lost the love handles and moobs. He’s also taken up mindfulness meditation, which he often finds to be an exercise in boredom, albeit a beautiful one. Jose Diaz’s family has a new addition: Penelope Sofia Diaz Curbelo was born in September. (Beautiful name!) Mark Carrie got married last year. He also left the legal world and became the congressional lead for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. He has enjoyed relocating to California from the DC area. Jim Dand and family moved to a new house in
www.andover.edu/intouch Scarborough, Maine. He’s near the beach and has lots of room, so look him up if you are in the area. Ty Alevizos says: “I’m coming up on 20 years in the software industry. I’ve worked for four companies and have gone through three IPOs and one M&A. This year I watched the bell ring on the floor of the NYSE while Tableau Software went public. My two sons are 15 and 13, and we are all happy and sane up here in Seattle.” Justin Blake is a veterinarian living in Maine with his wife, Danielle, 4-year-old twins Kennedy and Olivia, and baby Alexis, 1. He saw Tim Alperen at a Michigan vs. UConn game and spoke recently with Tsune Watanabe, who is living in Hawaii with his wife and two children. Notorious underachiever Rob Patrick lives in Alexandria, Va., and works at the Pentagon. This spring he was expecting to be promoted to captain and become commodore of a maritime patrol wing. The job will have to wait, however, because he has also been selected to become deputy executive assistant to the chief of naval operations, a posting that will last a year. Oh, and he is ranked number one on the Pentagon squash ladder. As for me, Matt Lavin, I hang out in the District with Terri Stroud sometimes so our dogs can bark at each other. About once a week I let Rob Patrick beat me at squash. And I recently received a $25 Starbucks gift card at my office’s white elephant holiday party. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. Happy spring!
1989 25th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Emily Muldoon Kathan 18 Laurel Terrace Somerville MA 02143 emily@kathandesign.com Christian Parker 11 Berkeley Place, Apt. 3 Brooklyn NY 11217 cparker39@nyc.rr.com Gina Hoods 400 Chaney Road, No. 1024 Smyrna TN 37167 423-892-7140 404-667-4939 ghoods@yahoo.com
I do not have much news to share with everyone this time around. In the era of social media, the good news gets shared pretty rapidly. I want to offer congratulations to Miranda Frances Spieler, associate professor of history at the American University of Paris. She has been selected as the winner of the 2013 J. Russell Major Prize and 2013 George L. Mosse Prize for her book Empire and Underworld: Captivity in French Guiana
(Harvard University Press, 2012). The J. Russell Major Prize is awarded annually for the best work in English on any aspect of French history. The George L. Mosse Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding major work of extraordinary scholarly distinction, creativity, and originality in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since 1500. Both prizes were awarded during a ceremony at the American Historical Association’s 128th annual meeting in Washington, D.C., Jan. 2 to 5, 2014. I also wanted to share a reflection offered by Sam Royal, starting with lyrics from a song by Whodini: “‘Friends. How many of us have them? Friends. Ones we can depend on.…“Friends” is a word we use every day. Most of the time we use it in the wrong way. Now you can look the word up, again and again, but the dictionary doesn’t know the meaning of friends.’ “Despite the distances between us and the years and circumstances that have changed, the Class of ’89 manages to stay connected. I am truly amazed and fortunate to be able to still call some of the best people in the world my friends. Unfortunately, we lost one of our classmates (Tammie Simon), but she will never be forgotten. Her loss is a testament to how short life really is. “I will continue to cherish the memories of our times together and look forward to making more memories with my Andover friends.” I look forward to seeing you all for the best reunion ever! —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
Can you believe our 25th Reunion will be next year? For those über planners, now is the time to let us know if you want to be a part of the reunion committee. Alexandra Radocchia Zealand has returned to her artistic roots of late. Alexandra was commissioned by the New Republic to create an “ampersand” image out of film for an article commemorating late film critic Stanley Kauffmann in the Nov. 11, 2013, issue. And when we last heard from her, she was preparing an installation for an exhibition at Gettysburg College. Regina DeMeo was happy to feature Meredith Persily Lamel on her TV show, Making It Last, this past winter. One of Meredith’s projects in DC, Working Mama, helps new moms find work-life balance so they can excel both in their careers and
at home. This segment is now on Gina’s YouTube channel, GenXSmartie. During the holidays, Gina also heard from Lynne Langlois Hunter, who is juggling two little ones while managing her PR business in Massachusetts. Gina ended her year with the honor of being named one of the best lawyers in DC by the Washingtonian, and although the reception was postponed due to weather, she celebrated with her son, Preston, by going snow tubing at Ski Liberty on New Year’s Eve. —Gina & Tom
1991 Hilary 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
Greetings, Class of 1991! I hope everyone is well and had a great fall and winter. As usual, there is much to report. Shafika Khayatt is back in the U.S. after spending the past four years in Cairo. She is now working in development at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Work travel takes her frequently in and out of Boston, where she sees Mike Day and his family. This summer she spent a week on Martha’s Vineyard with the Days and Brendon Guthrie and his family. They all had a great visit with former PA faculty member Bobby Edwards, who was in the neighborhood and stopped by. Sounds like I missed a great trip! Elena Giammarco has been equally busy. When she is not keeping after son Roman, who just turned 4, and 2-year-old daughter Vivian, she can be found at Moët Hennessy. She was recently promoted to Northeast region marketing manager, where she focuses on the Chandon and stillwine products. She also recently celebrated her 40th birthday with Hilary Driscoll Price, Mara Raphael, Ali Fitzgerald Dodwell, and their families. Sounds like she was trying to re-create a hotel party that never actually took place in Cambridge around spring 1989! Erin Eggert Brenner also has her hands full, as she and her family are relocating to Versailles, France, for two to three years. She just started a new position leading the development and commercialization of a new product within GE Healthcare’s women’s health business. Juliet Sorensen Jones reports from Chicago that work and life with Sophia, 8, Hugh, 4, and Thea, 1, keep her on her toes. She is grateful for the wonders of Facebook in keeping up with so many from our class. Still in Brooklyn, Lucie Flather seems to have Andover | Spring 2014
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Gathered in New York City to celebrate the wedding of Gene Park ’92, second from left, were PA classmates Taek Kwon, Ken Lee, and Larry Shin.
From left, Sam Royal ’89, Sam’s son Cameron, and Jose Ahedo ’89 soaked up the sun last June in Honolulu, where the Royal and Ahedo families vacationed together.
no problem keeping herself busy. Apparently unable to stop being an architect outside of the office, she is in the final stages of finishing a scale replica of the Memorial Bell Tower made out of blue and white Legos! Also, after seeing old hockey buddies Alison Wheeler Kennedy ’93 and Amanda Adams ’93, Lucie has decided to get the skates out of storage and hit the ice. She also had a great time catching up with Uche Osuji and Tiffany Corley at the New York PA holiday party. Lucie reports that Sasha Kipka just moved two blocks away and that they enjoy being “neighborhoodies.” Thank you for the news, and I look forward to staying in touch. All the best. —Matt
1992 Allen Soong 1810 Burnell Drive Los Angeles CA 90065 allen.soong@bluelink.andover.edu facebook.com/allen.soong
As I write this, we have just turned the page on 2013, and Baby New Year is/will be in good company. Agnes Nagpal Cantre and Julio Cantre welcomed baby Benjamin Cantre in the final month of the year, joining big sister Paloma. Justin Lattanzio and his wife, Hillary, planned to introduce baby Celia to their two boys Luke and Samuel in May, and Dylan Seff and his wife, Jordan, will begin several months of eternal twilight with the arrival of their twin girls. I remember being simultaneously awake and asleep for most of the first half-year with my twin girls,
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Avery and Penelope. Happily, I can attest from personal experience that, while it is absolutely true that twins are more than twice the effort, they’re much more than twice the reward. Good luck, Dylan! From his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., Justin writes that he owns and manages a custom crush winery, Vinify Wine Services (www.vinifywine. com), and also makes a small amount of pinot noir and chardonnay for his own label, Lattanzio Wines. He invites any and all to come visit his small tasting room at Vinify and sample his products. If you’re a little too far from Sonoma County to swing by, you can place an order at www.lattanziowines.com. Tricia Riley Terlep also now has three kids. Daughters Lucy, 5, and Penny, 3, became big sisters to baby Charlie, born in the early months of 2013. Tricia keeps up with her growing brood’s needs as an audiologist in private practice in Maryland. Speaking of private practice, imagine my surprise on a flight to Seattle when I picked up the Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine and found Justin Piasecki’s grinning mug and bulging biceps staring back at me, from a full-page ad for Justin’s plastic surgery practice. Looking good, big guy! Last November, Gene Park married Young Choi at a quintessential Manhattan wedding in Bryant Park. The black-tie affair was replete with family and friends, including Bishop Southers Taek Kwon and girlfriend Akane Fuji, Ken Lee and wife Rebecca, and Larry Shin. The event was topped off with a sparkler send-off for the happy couple. Many of you may recall Darryl Cohen’s skills on the wheels of steel from the last couple of reunions; Darryl, another former Bishop resident, DJed the Todd Isaac memorial basketball game last September in NY, where he ran into Anthony Aime and Gene Park. Along with his live DJ gigs, Darryl is now hosting an Internet radio show called Legacy Radio on itsfreshradio.com every Friday from 7 to 8 p.m. EST. Darryl’s side job for the census bureau is parsing data that informs just about every major policy decision in Washington; Christian Lentz arranged for Darryl to speak at a February seminar for the geography department at UNC Chapel Hill, where Christian is a professor. Supermom and product designer extraordinaire Heidi Newell crashed at my house on her way to running the Death Valley Trail Marathon after Thanksgiving. (That’s one way to work off the turkey
dinner, I guess!) Bad enough it was below freezing when the race started, but the route had also changed at the last minute because of the weather, quadrupling the planned elevation change from 2,500 feet to a knee-buckling 10,000 feet. A quick recovery swim at the Inn at Furnace Creek the next morning, and she was motoring through the Eastern Sierras, back in the Bay Area in time to do ballet pickup and cook dinner. Our class definitely seems to have more than its fair share of endurance athletes. Daphne Matalene and Anant Raut and their obsession with the number 26.2 have been mentioned in these notes before; perhaps you may not have known that Matt Cahan continues to compete and raise funds for charity in marathons and triathlons, 10 years after major surgery on his ankle and knee. Nicole Quinlan, no stranger to triathlons herself (including the infamous Alcatraz), planned to run the Boston Marathon with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute team in April to raise money for cancer research. And finally, in case you might not have already heard or read, in November, Hafsat Abiola received the Andover Alumni Award of Distinction for her advocacy work to end violence against and create opportunities in public life for women in Nigeria. Hafsat spoke at All-School Meeting on Oct. 30 as an exemplar of the Andover motto finis origine pendet; you can stream a recording at http:// bit.ly/1dIwToc. In that inimitably soft and tranquil voice of hers that belies the strength and determination within, Hafsat shared with her young audience how her time at Andover prepared her for both the triumphs and the tragedies to come. When she was young, her father called her “supergirl”; later in life, Hafsat would have to be truly superhuman to face the challenges in her home country as well as her own household. At Andover, she found a safe place to explore and define her values, teachers who encouraged and believed in her, and, in her history classes, inspiration from real-life superheroes like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. If you can spare a few minutes, please watch the video. It is a heartfelt and funny (even cheeky) reverie that vividly reminded me of how special a place it is that we all shared. I’m sure Cochran Chapel has rarely felt so intimate. [Editor’s note: See the winter Andover magazine for more about Hafsat Abiola.]
www.andover.edu/intouch
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
The adage “the more, the merrier” definitely applies to this class secretary job. Your four class secretaries are enjoying this collaboration immensely! You can help make it even more entertaining by sending us news about yourself and any other Andover alums. Chris Keady and his family moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where Chris is on active duty as a logistics planner for Marine Corps operations and security cooperation in Europe and Africa. Chris invites anyone passing through southern Germany for some schnitzel and beers. Alicia Eastman wrote from Lake Tahoe, where she hosted a New Year’s Eve event that was attended by Joe Fowler and his wife and their two kids, Stella and Evan. During Thanksgiving, Alicia hosted Elizabeth Gill, who brought some serious culinary skills to the kitchen. Alicia has been in Hong Kong for 13 years, though she spends most of her work time in Saudi Arabia, Mongolia, and India with private equity and a little financial consulting/ merchant banking. She sees a number of Andover alums frequently, including Gage McAfee ’61 and his children Dallas ’98 and Zach ’97, Scobie Ward ’84, and all of the Asia Council. Alicia is now serving on the Andover Development Board, where she has gotten to know Nat Furman ’91, who is living with his family in Connecticut. Lauri D’Agostino Doody is living in Ellicott City, Md., relocated from Baltimore, and enjoying having a permanent parking spot in the way of a garage and driveway, plus a yard complete with pool and swing set for her son, Ryan. She has been working at T. Rowe Price for the past two years, after being with Legg Mason for 13-plus years. About her newfound love of running and working out, Lauri said, “This from the girl who complained about a lap around the field during softball practice with Mr. Drench!” Lauri’s son had a ball playing with Jessica Hatfield Guaragna’s sons, Tyler and Ashton, during reunion. After almost two years of seducing a hefty percentage of humanity as it gathered in the world’s megastadiums, Merritt Lear is now back in LA, writing songs for a new project and casting her gaze through the haze to Mexico. Merritt reports that Doug Schlemmer “got married to the adorable
Lauri D’Agostino Doody ’93 and husband Tim Doody, foreground, hosted a brunch last summer for alums and chums at their home in Ellicott City, Md. Back row, from left, Dave Goodman, Kate Kennedy ’93, Kathryn Henderson ’93, Jessica Glasser Kaufman ’93, and Jason Kaufman.
and lovely Emily Guth in a pastoral Pennsylvania museum. Their wedding was gorgeous.” Chris Hawley sent a note from an airport boarding area while he waited for his flight to Brazil, where he was headed to play a second round of shows. After that, he was going back to LA for one show, a residency on the outdoor patio of an old Victorian house that is now a happening Santa Monica speakeasy, where he’s been playing for happy hour every Tuesday for three years. The mini tour was due to end with a week of shows at the Sundance Film Festival. He’s hung out with Bill Langworthy and Dan Marks ’95 at Sundances past, and he wrote, “It really energizes and inspires me for the rest of the year.” Jon Buono also wrote in close proximity to a flight. He had just escaped a gnarly winter storm on the last flight out of New York and was relaxing in South Florida for the winter at his condo. After living in Manhattan for two years, Bryan Power returned to San Francisco last summer. He had been working at Google for eight years, but he joined a startup called Square in San Francisco and he’d love to have any classmates look him up when traveling to the Bay Area. Elizabeth “Betsy” Bissell Miller was appointed to serve on the reader’s board of the Columbia Missourian and to several other academic and nonprofit boards. She is also serving as ambassador to the Timbuktu Libraries in Exile project. Rejji Hayes and his wife, Celeste, and son, Hunter, welcomed new baby Harper in October. Ramona Gittens Morgan and her husband visited Susannah Smoot Campbell and family in Atlanta, where they took in a performance and installation art festival, ate at restaurants specializing in locally sourced food, and toured the city. Both ladies gabbed about entrepreneurship during the weekend. Ted Sterling spends most of his time in the Missouri ecovillage where he resides with his family
doing natural building, growing food for his eating cooperative, cooking, brewing, fermenting, and participating in the village and its governance at various levels. He hopes to get started on a treehouse this year, complete with rope bridges and a zip line. Heather Brown Lewis wrote with anticipation of attending the ceremony honoring Becky Dowling Calder ’94 at the U.S. Naval Academy. Becky is the first Navy women’s basketball player to see her number (32) being retired and her jersey being lifted into the rafters. As Heather wrote, “I’ve read the press release a few times, and each time I’m blown away by all that she has done.” Becky’s sister Jen Dowling Champlin and PA coach Karen Kennedy were planning to be there as well. Having settled in Reading, Mass., with his wife, Maria, and their two children, Reid, 3, and Garrett,1, Ryan Morgan wrote to say that he has been with Harvard Management Co. for 14 years and has become more involved in philanthropy as a board member of Hospitality Homes, www.hosp.org. Like many of us, he was saddened by the passing of William Thomas; Ryan had a wonderful experience as a member of chorus and cantata while at Andover, and he encourages others to join him in contributing to www.FirstAfricanFoundation.org (a project very dear to Mr. Thomas) in his memory. Victoria Kataoka planned an event honoring Kelly Wise on the occasion of his retirement from the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT). Victoria said, “The event was organized to honor Kelly’s contribution to his beloved IRT as well as the wider impact he has had on the countless lives of his Novel and Drama devotees, dorm wards, and many, many students and friends.” If you haven’t already, please consider joining the Phillips Academy Andover Class of 1993 page on Facebook. As fun as we hope these notes are, there is a long lag time between their creation and their publication. The Facebook page is faster and a little, ahem, looser. Andover | Spring 2014
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1994 20th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Moacir P. de Sá Pereira +1 774 473 9856 Google Voice moacir@gmail.com
This is a pretty special edition of the class notes, since I’m writing them literally in the air, as I fly toward Chicago to defend my dissertation. It’s kind of a big deal for me, and though I try not to talk too much about myself in this space, the paucity of news from other classmates gives me an opportunity to spread my wings, toot my horn, etc. After the (I hope successful) defense, I will return to Vilnius, Lithuania, until at least June, when I hope to join you all at our 20th Reunion. In the meantime, I’ll be doing what I’ve been doing all along: spending half of my time working in IT (programming Rails Web applications for the University of Chicago) and the other half teaching (Lithuanian language and culture to exchange students at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University). Maybe the summer will bring some fundamental changes in terms of geography, or maybe I’ll stay in Vilnius longer. It’s too soon to say. Christian Bateson, who began his PA career at the same time and place as I did, just a few meters away in the same first-floor pod in Stuart South, took it upon himself to write me between deadlines, without my cajoling him over Facebook or e-mail. As he noted, it had been a very, very long time since he’d written, and he had a big update. After 14 years, he has finally escaped from NYC and lives in Southern California with his wife and two boys, who certainly appreciate the new backyard after living in a confined Manhattan apartment. In short, life is grand in the Bateson household, and Christian still works in finance. Currently, his main task is to ensure that Randy Perry accompanies him to our reunion. I hope the task is a successful one and that we see each other in June! Other rare voices were heard this time around as well. Jack Cardwell wrote from Austin, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Emily, and two sons, Jackson and Conger. Jack started a private equity firm, Greenridge Investment Partners, two years ago, and he has been enjoying nurturing a project he began from scratch. Cancer surgeon Jon Nelson lives in Houston with wife Katy and children Caroline and Will, and the Cardwell and Nelson families get together often and travel together. Rachel Rivkind wrote to announce that she began 2014 at a new job as general counsel for Bank Leumi USA in New York. Rachel’s facing a new commute, as she also recently moved out to Jersey City, N.J. Tim Newton, who I believe last wrote in when he was still a rock star with Wilson Lihn, got married in September. Ben Rymzo and wife Isabel Arrillaga-Romany ’95 were in
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attendance, as was Tim’s brother, Tyler Newton ’91. Tim is living in Brooklyn, still rocking out with a band called Circus Life, and is certain that this year he will complete his novel. Aaron Sharma sent an update about his twin boys, who recently turned 1. The pregnancy was a risky one, and Aaron and wife Andrea drove from upstate New York to Philadelphia every week to ensure the health of their sons. The boys are doing well, and the lengthy commute meant that Aaron would run into Woody Sankar, who is a pediatric orthopedic specialist in Philadelphia. Aaron Flanagan sent an update about his son, Silas, who attended his first Andover-Exeter football game this fall, watching our boys stage a fourth-quarter comeback. Jessie Clyde gave a bit more information about her daughter Annecy, who was born last summer. The name comes from one of Jessie’s favorite vacation spots in France, so now she and Annecy will always have an excuse to return to France to celebrate her name. Jessie asked if the scheme was brilliant, and I’m here to say it is. Meanwhile, Caroline de Oliveira Burgess’s 1-year-old daughter has joined her mother and father in a move to Northampton, Mass., from Brooklyn, N.Y. Caroline is now telecommuting full time while working as a human resources software consultant at Mercer. Bryan Seabury is completely stumped as to what to name his second daughter, who is on the way (daughter one: Scarlett). He’s still working in drama development in CBS and wanted to mention a felicitous PA connection in that he recently bought the pitch for Tigers, a legal drama developed by Meredith Philpott ’97. Meredith’s working on the script for the pilot and will know soon if a pilot ends up getting made. Bhak Tanta-Nanta wrote in to let me know that Garo Gebenlian is touring India with his wife for his birthday and that Julia Kahr is doting on her 2-year-old daughter, Olivia. Ryan McGee also dropped a line to let me know that he’s falling into a new career doing data research, programming, and a few other things for MFS Investment Management. He often sees Mike Koehler on the train to work, and Ryan also continues to write about television as a freelancer for websites like The A.V. Club. Finally, Marta Rivera Monclova is back in the U.S., living in the Boston area. She’s started a group for people with PhDs to get together to discuss ways they can handle the alternative academic (that is, non-tenure-track) marketplace. She got the idea from the group The Versatile PhD, and the hope is to reframe one’s PhD skills for new lines of work. There’s talk of expanding this into persuading human resources managers to reconsider the knee-jerk reaction of automatically binning any resume that has those three intimidating letters— “PhD”—on it. Well, the plane landed ages ago, and now I’m in a fancy studio at the University of Chicago, so I’ll stop the update here. As always, please consider joining our class’s page on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/pa94fb.
1995 Lon Haber P.O. Box 4501 Rollingbay WA 98061 323-620-1675 lon@lonhaber.com Margot van Bers Streeter +44 077 393 77700 margotstreeter@gmail.com
We can generally count on hearing from you guys about a few events—marriages, promotions, and births being the top contenders—and this quarter’s news is no exception to that rule. First up? Galen McNemar Hamann, whose update ticks all three and adds an impressive extra we haven’t seen before. Her 2013 highlights: Celebrating five years of marriage to her wife, Jayme, the achievement of her provisional license as a professional boardcertified chaplain, and son Jackson’s first birthday. Galen writes that Jackson “has Andover gear that he proudly wears,” which, frankly, is nothing less than we’d expect, and also mentioned that she’s teaching at the Moses Brown School and working per diem in some Providence, R.I., hospitals. And, as an aside, that the Boston Women’s Flag Football League team she and her wife play on were the league 2013 Superbowl champions—which we think is pretty awesome. Next up, congratulations to Anne-Marie Anagnostopoulos are in order. A cardiologist living in Boston with her husband and her daughter Alexandra, Anne-Marie welcomed a son, Theodore, last June. In more news from the East Coast, Dave Koller wrote in to tell us that he married Sara Hayes in Cork, Ireland, last June and that he and Sara are now living in NYC—Dave working as a legal officer with the United Nations and Sara as a radiologist at Sloan Kettering. Over in Brooklyn, Shirley Fan (who opened her first-ever report for class notes with a cheery “Greetings from the polar vortex!”) wrote in to tell us that she, her husband, and their son have moved back to Brooklyn after almost five years in Chicago. A Food Network kitchens veteran, she has been working as a food writer and launched her own cookbook in May 2013. Called The Flying Brownie and published by The Harvard Common Press, according to Shirley, it’s “all about making care packages.” And that’s all she told us. Modest thing. A bit of research, however, clued us in to the fact that to write it she had to cobble together and test 100 recipes over the course of only three months— which, at certain points, meant making, tasting, and perfecting six recipes a day. While seven months pregnant. Shirley is currently working on two other books—which we hope will be a bit less grueling to complete—so keep your eyes peeled (as it were) for them both. Lon Haber has expanded his horizons by making a move to Puget Sound, Washington. Although
www.andover.edu/intouch his office’s headquarters remain in the Los Angeles area, he is still actively running his ever-expanding film and entertainment PR firm, which has opened up environmental and marine divisions. Lon is furthering his acting career, spending a good chunk of time on a magical forest island, and enjoying peace of mind. He looks forward to reconnecting with alumni in the Seattle area, including Monica Duda, who is an attorney for Microsoft, and Alicia Robbins, who is a fellow at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. The Class of 1995 sends loving wishes to Christopher Walter and family on the occasion of Carmel Rodríguez-Walter’s passing, on Dec. 23, 2013. [Editor’s note: Please see her obituary in the In Memoriam section.] She will be sorely missed, but the positive impact Carmel had on so many of us will live on for all time. Lon wrote a poem, excerpted here, that was read at Carmel’s memorial service at Cochran Chapel in January: “With a mother’s love / You spared no kindness at all / Treating us as kin. / Made our strengths well known / While helping us to blossom / Growing from within. / Fortunate are we / Who had the chance to revel / In your love and grace.” Leaping to the People’s Republic of China, Yash Katsumi wrote in to tell us that he, his wife, Meg, and their son, Oscar, are living in Guangzhou and planning a four-year stint in Beijing, beginning in July. With days spent, writes Yash, “taking care of my son, working out, and keeping up with friends on the old Internet,” his schedule sounds pretty chill—but coming as it does after nine months of intensive Mandarin study at the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., his dose of mellowness also sounds very well deserved. Yash tells us that he, Meg, and Oscar have also made a concerted effort to “[take] advantage of [their] location to visit Vietnam, Thailand, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, and other parts of China,” which has meant seeing some familiar faces, including those of Christopher Woo and Yan Jin. So what are Christopher and Yan up to? We hear that they’re both “very successful, happy, and enjoying life on this side of the world” and, though our correspondent is “not sure what either does for a job,” he believes it has “something to do with money and mergers and crap like that.” (We wholeheartedly cheer the first part, are thrilled we’re not the only ones who have no idea what most of our friends actually do for a living, and found the career summary absolutely hilarious.) From the rest of the note, it also sounds as though Christopher’s main passion in life right now is traveling and that he has gone to some incredibly remote and “mysterious” places— incredibly remote and mysterious places that he will no doubt be writing in to tell us all about at some point very, very soon. Clearly. Ahem. Yan, whom Yash met up with at “a very cool unmarked café in the hilly hills of Hong Kong island,” is based mainly in Beijing but constantly travels between the two for work. Word on the street is that Yan and Yash were supposed to meet at the Killers concert in Hong Kong rather than at said
cool café but that Yash “chickened out because of a typhoon that was coming in that day.” For those of you wondering how this exciting tale ends, Yan “ended up going with his girlfriend, and [Yash] missed a ridiculously awesome concert.” Boo. Still, a dramatic end to a great set of updates, no? Many thanks to those who wrote in, and here’s hoping that we hear from even more of you next time around! And with that, as the lovely Checka Antifonario signed off in an e-mail she sent us in January, “Non sibi, namaste, and happy 2014.” Onwards and upwards!
1996 John Swansburg 349 Adelphi St., Apt. 2 Brooklyn NY 11238 john.swansburg@aya.yale.edu
One the most beloved novels in French history, Alain-Fournier’s Le Grand Meaulnes, is little known on these shores, though its influence on English and American literature is far from insignificant. Consider a few titles that were staples in the wood-paneled classrooms of Bulfinch Hall. In On the Road, Jack Kerouac places a copy of Le Grand Meaulnes in Sal Paradise’s knapsack, though the rambling man never does find the time to read it. F. Scott Fitzgerald, for his part, likely nicked the title of his most famous work from Alain-Fournier, and there’s more than a little bit of François Seurel— Alain-Fournier’s young narrator—in The Great Gatsby’s Nick Carraway. John Fowles, whose novel The Magus was a fixture of Kelly Wise’s Novel and Drama course, called Le Grand Meaulnes a “poignant and unique masterpiece of alchemized memory.” Set at a provincial boarding school in the late 19th century, Le Grand Meaulnes is further removed in place and time than the texts we tend to press into the hands of precocious youngsters packed off to prep—The Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace, a dog-eared DVD of Dead Poet’s Society. And yet Alain-Fournier captured, in his titular hero, an essential boarding-school type, one that has persisted into the present. Augustin Meaulnes, known to his classmates as “le Grand Meaulnes,” possesses a preternatural charisma; his peers instinctively follow him, drawn to his easy confidence, intrepid spirit, and informal relationship with the rules. His story—set in motion by a horse-drawn joyride, during which he discovers a mysterious estate and a beautiful young aristocrat with whom he falls in love—is from another era, a pastoral lull before the mechanized depredations of the Great War (which would claim Alain-Fournier’s life, leaving Le Grand Meaulnes his only completed work). But the grandness of Meaulnes, his longing for adventure and power to inspire devotion in his classmates, is timeless. There was a Meaulnes or two in the Class of ’96, though none grander than Michael Krupp, the first Andover school president, according to historian
Michael Beschloss ’73, to set his stump speech to the tune of “I Have a Little Dreidel.” I mean no disrespect to Mike’s campaign platform, whatever it was, when I say we were voting less for his policy positions than for some ineffable quality we saw in him, a je ne sais quoi Alain-Fournier would surely have recognized. I’m happy to report that the power of Mike’s magnetic personality has not weakened with age, as is evident from the constellation of ’96ers still locked in his orbit. Herewith, a briefing from the former president and current owner of the top-notch Area Four pizzerias in Cambridge and Somerville, Mass.: “Jesse Kean just came out to visit me in the Berkshires this past Labor Day; we drank beers and played Legos (we built a spaceship!). I also kicked his butt repeatedly at Ping-Pong and rummy. I did the same to Allen Stack when he and Jesse visited my cabin earlier in the summer for what was supposed to be our annual camping trip. It poured, so instead of going camping we just stuck around and did silly things that probably should not be mentioned in the class notes. Let’s just say it was a lot like high school, only with go-karts and shotguns. Stack needed to blow off a little steam as he was preparing for his latest child—that brings the number of children living in the Stack house (in Alexandria, Va.) up to five! “This time Jesse came solo, leaving his two kids and one wife (Dawn Sticklor ’95) at home. He works as a lawyer in NYC and has a ridiculous picture on the Sidley Austin LLP Web page. “We also went to the Columbia County Fair, in Chatham, N.Y., where I ran into Hamilton Simons-Jones’s sister and dad. I saw Hamilton in Scotland for my 35th birthday last May. He brought his wife, Annette, and their brand-new baby, Selah. She has already met the Dalai Lama. “Also joining me in Scotland were Ting Poo and her husband, Casey. Ting lives in sunny Santa Monica, Calif., and is a commercial film editor and yoga instructor. You might not know it, but you have definitely seen her work. “Quincy Evans just had a second kid and is moving to Philly [secretary’s note: the baby’s name is Kendall Jade Evans; Quincy moved to Philadelphia to work at the financial firm Susquehanna International]. Hannah Pfeifle Harlow is leaving Somerville just as I open restaurant number two literally around the corner from her, relocating to Ipswich with her two kids and husband, Jason; I think it’s because Jason has been coming in for latenight beers and pizza too much. Fortunately, Chris Flygare and his wife, Caroline, also live around the corner and will be keeping me company—as will Meredith Smith, the pizza-slice editor of Serious Eats Boston. Colin Asquith has been known to grab an after-work pint or two at my Cambridge restaurant. He and I plan on riding motorcycles sometime soon. Alex Burns and I just rode motorcycles through the Berkshires and Vermont. To add to his manliness, he has become a judo instructor in NYC. Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... “Speaking of manliness, I have three words: Dale Jenkins III. Dale is still kicking butt and taking names as a Massachusetts state trooper. His twin girls just turned 4. He has many more guns and motorcycles than I do, but I am still much more handsome and more fun to be around.” Hail to the chief.
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
By the time all of you read these notes, we’re hoping you will have somewhat thawed out from this winter’s mind-numbing polar-vortex coldness. And maybe it’s because of this crazy winter that everyone decided to hunker down and hibernate rather than dish on your or your fellow classmates’ good news. It’s cool. We get it. Just know that the next two rounds of notes will have a ton of baby updates as a result of the aforementioned hibernation (which we will genuinely be happy about!). Several of you ended 2013 and began 2014 with incredible news, from album releases to baby adoptions to kids singing the ABCs. All wonderful feats. So let’s dig in. The second half of Erik Limpaecher’s year was filled with a new son, Tyler, and some serious cycling from Concord to Topsfield, Mass., making stops at Andover along the way. Time in the saddle allowed Erik to reflect on what Andover looks and feels like 17 years after graduation…and to also receive a “strange look” or two from current students as he “zipped through the West Quad in Lycra.” As one of us lives in biker heaven, we’re going to say they just wanted to make sure your kit matched completely, all the way down to your socks, Erik. Nothing strange about that! Hannah Weiner and Kenny Weiner ’96 welcomed a baby girl, Cora Dare Weiner, into their family in November. Kenny and Hannah made the journey to Kansas City, Kans., for Cora’s arrival and brought her back home to Illinois a week later. The best news was received two days before the New Year, when the Weiners finalized the adoption. Hannah reports that older brother Evan loves his new baby sister and everyone has settled in well. Still living in Hong Kong, Alice Chan and her family welcomed their second son, Declan Wang. He’s a cutie—already smiling in the baby photos— and brother Cameron looks pretty excited to be a big brother. Congrats! Pete Robbins released his seventh album on Jan. 28, 2014, on his Hate Laugh Music label. Pete
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also held an NYC release concert on Feb. 1 at the Cornelia Street Café. The album features MacArthur “genius” grant–winner Vijay Iyer on piano and Pete on alto saxophone (as well as bass and drums). The first track is “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” which can be nothing but phenomenal, given Pete’s talent. If you want to learn more, check out peterobbins.com. Olga Massov not only bought an apartment in Brooklyn with her husband but is working on two more books! Both are due out in 2015: one with Chopped judge chef Marc Murphy and another with the people behind Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. Seriously, folks, Olga has worked on some solid cookbooks over the past two years. Time to make sure you have a few on your shelves! Anna Post is currently working on a book about wedding etiquette with illustrations by Happy Menocal ’98. Socrates Kakoulides happily reported a roommate reunion took place on New Year’s Day over lunch. Brandon Stroman was in town from LA, catching up while Socrates’ wife, Jill Otto ’98, and sister, Maria Kakoulides ’98, were able to reminisce too. Socrates and Jill were also lucky enough to escape the NYC cold for some vacation time in Brazil. Also vacationing in warmer climes was Heather Barry, who set out to explore Croatia with her sister, Keziban Barry ’02. Comfort Halsey Leckerling happily settled into rural Vermont life after a yearlong sabbatical stint at Stanford. Her children—Rowan, 6, and Cedar, 4—are loving learning and hanging out with the students at the Mountain School. Comfort is enjoying being back in the classroom, teaching Spanish and, when time allows, studying West African dance, playing guitar, and singing. She also hopes many of you attended Anne Zuerner’s show, Light House, in Brooklyn in April. Kevin Cline continues to love life in San Francisco, where his daughter, Finley-Ray, was about to turn 2 at the time of this report. Kevin happily reports Finley-Ray is singing her ABCs, and as a result, he’s hoping for “some super-genius, DoogieHowser-level intelligence.” Having met Finley-Ray, we’re pretty sure she surpasses even Doogie Howser! Kevin also caught up with Bear Witherspoon in San Francisco following Bear’s incredible motorcycle trip throughout South America. And there you have it! Best wishes to everyone, and we’ll talk with you soon.
1998 Zoe Niarchos Anetakis 75 Waltham St., No. 4 Boston MA 02118 781-475-9772 zbniarchos@yahoo.com
As promised in my last column, there is an amazing amount of baby news to report. This past December, I was thrilled to give a big holiday welcome to quite a few new additions. Amy Mueller Christodoulo
and Peter Christodoulo welcomed a son, George Mueller Christodoulo. George and big sister Daphne are quite the pair, and I love fawning over both of them. Lindsey Heller Lohwater and husband Justin welcomed their second daughter, Blake Caroline. Blake is beautiful, and big sister Peyton is beyond thrilled. Adding to the “twos,” Emily Porter and husband Ryan also welcomed their second daughter, Helen Claire Morrissey. Helen joins big sister Margaret, 18 months. With two under 2 in the Morrissey house, I think Emily’s expertise in the hectic and fast-paced world of emergency medicine will probably come in handy. There were a couple of additions in the firstborn category as well. Mary Laura Lind and husband Leslie Thomas welcomed Corrine Genevieve Thomas last fall. Biased or not, I think Miss Corrine is perfect. Just perfect. Grace Dingledine and husband Michael Puckett recently welcomed Francesca Victoria Woods-Puckett. Grace gave birth at home, and Francesca was quite happy with the environment, as she allowed her mother 23 hours of labor before making her arrival. I mentioned previously that Grace and Michael were married last summer. What I didn’t mention is that they had a ton of Andoverites in attendance. Attention must be paid! Gillian Goldberg, Alexandra Mulvey, Kieran Fitzgerald, and Zack Waldman joined in the fun, along with Leah Willis, who also served as wedding coordinator, and Charlotte Latham, who stood as Grace’s maid of honor. Mike Gutner and his wife, Becca, also welcomed their firstborn, Sadie Jane, last June. After 10 years at Google, Mike took some time off to enjoy Sadie’s first months and has relished the role of dad. He told me, “It’s a storybook of clichés, wonder and amazement over and over again.” Ain’t that the truth. Mike reports that Miss Sadie is tough as nails. I love this description and will love it even more when she tries to climb out of the crib that Mike built her—from scratch. Did you know Mike does some furniture building as a hobby? I think maybe we should keep that to ourselves, lest we make other new dads feel like slackers. More recently Mike has dipped his toe back into the tech scene, hunting around Boston startups. I’m excited to see where he lands! I know that life is not a competition, but if we’re counting progeny, you should know that Nicholas Olmo recently welcomed his third son. That’s right, folks: In the time it has taken many of us to have none, Nick had three! Nick and his wife, Johanna, have moved to Kissimmee, Fla., to be closer to family (read: closer to free babysitting services). Nick works for Gabriels Technology Solutions, the company that powers the technology behind the New York Times and Boston Globe real estate sections, Sotheby’s International Realty, and Christie’s International Real Estate, among others. Nick sent me lots of good news to report, for which I am indebted. He single-handedly saved me from Facebook stalking this time around. So here it is: Ahmed Khan works as a financial advisor and had his third child, a boy, last summer; Juma Waugh
www.andover.edu/intouch works in the legal department of JP Morgan Chase and welcomed his first baby, a girl, last summer; Luis Bello has two daughters and is the director of the multimedia group at Columbia University’s law school; and Anthony Morales teaches English at El Puente Academy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. What I affectionately call Smartfest continued into its 15th year this past winter as Moses Kagan (with wife Lucy), Jake Berman (with wife Annika), Max Ventilla (with wife Jenny), Danny Addison, Dan Sloan, and Greg Chase all reunited to celebrate the New Year. The crew ventured to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico this year, which sounds dreamy. The blissful vacation was made even sweeter with the addition of Max and Jenny’s children, Sabine, age 2, and Leo, age new. Baby Leo joined the Ventilla family last summer, just as Max was gearing up to launch his new startup, AltSchool. Speaking of which, one of Max’s investors, First Round Capital, puts out an amazing yearin-review video celebrating its entrepreneurs. If you want to witness Max lip-synching in a unicorn costume, now’s your chance. Nik Divakaruni is also, like Max, in the S.F. Bay Area, where he runs sales for a software company. He recently married the lovely April Worley. April runs marketing for an education company. Nik and April are living the newlywed dream, having enjoyed an eight-week honeymoon to Asia, where they visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, and the Maldives. Chances are good that all of you with children are drooling right now. Ali Ghaffari and family have recently moved to California, to the place where Ali and his wife, Mary, met. Ali is still in the Navy, and with the move, is back to one of his original stations flying F/A-18E Super Hornets. When I think about Ali’s job, the words “intense,” “white-knuckled terror,” and “airsick bag” come to mind. But Ali insists it’s a ton of fun. Another classmate having a ton of fun in his career is Dario Collado. For the past five years, Dario has worked at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he created the Latino Leadership Initiative and built it into an award-winning leadership development program for hundreds of college students from across the country. He recently moved on to the Boston Children’s Hospital Trust, where he serves as a corporate development officer responsible for the hospital’s Latino affairs and fundraising efforts, to include the Milagros Para Niños starstudded gala. Over a third of Boston Children’s Hospital patients are Latino or Portuguese, and Dario is excited to take on the task of supporting the health-care needs of this growing community. I’m happy to end this edition of the notes with Dario’s news, because his grace, kindness, and enthusiasm are all to be admired. Dario told me, “Andover taught me the power of non sibi and helping others. For that, I’m extremely grateful.” As I start my 11th year as class secretary, I too am grateful for our alma mater and for this opportunity to stay in touch with all of you. As always, keep writing.
1999 15th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Marisa Connors Hoyt marisaconnors@gmail.com
After 10 years of serving as class secretary, I am sad to say this will be my last time writing the class notes. It has been a pleasure staying in close contact with so many of you over the past decade. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’m sending a huge thank-you to all our classmates who submitted news over the years and also to everyone in the alumni office, who were so lovely to work with. Kirsten Lewis Riemer has offered to take over as class secretary after our reunion in June, and I know she will do an amazing job! Kirsten’s mailing address is 72 Connecticut Ave., Greenwich CT 06830, and her e-mail address is kirstenriemer@gmail.com. We have lots of updates this time, so on to the news. Rob Ramsey married Patricia Wessels in San Francisco in January 2013. Many Andover graduates were in attendance, including Robert Ramsey ’81, Taylor Harmeling ’98, Bryan Bishop, Halsey Coughlin, David Dugan, Drew Gallagher, Patrick Sheehan, and Margaret Ramsey ’03. On another happy note, Rob and Tricia welcomed their first son, George Robert Ramsey, last June. Drew Gallagher married Kyla Aki at the Lodge at Koele, on the island of Lanai, Hawaii, last August. Just as at Rob’s wedding, Andover was well represented, particularly by the PGs. In attendance were Robert Ramsey, Patrick Sheehan, Halsey Coughlin, Justin Gallagher ’03, and Brendan Gallagher ’06. Drew and Kyla are currently residing in Honolulu, Hawaii. Heather Collamore married Ari Skalet in NYC on New Year’s Eve. Jennifer Seo married Anthony Del Rio in Atlanta in March. Andover classmates Yuan Wang, Yuko Chitani, and Yoko Iwaki were all bridesmaids. Noah Orenstein finished his prosthodontics dental fellowship at UConn last July and became board certified. Noah, who works at a specialty practice in East Longmeadow and Northampton, Mass., lives with his wife, Diana, in West Hartford, Conn. Drew Baldwin was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards were created in 2008 by Drew and Joshua Cohen, along with leaders from the digital entertainment industry, to honor excellence in original online video programming and those who create it. Drew also hosted a fundraiser for Seth Moulton ’97, who is running for Congress. Many Andover alums were in attendance, including Priscilla Fraser, Kristy Wiehe, Marc Hustvedt ’97, Tom Balamaci ’96, Brandon Stroman ’97, and Stephen Matloff ’91. Elena Bayrock Sapora and husband Andy welcomed their second son, Isaac “Ike” Bayrock Sapora, in December. Tiffany Horne Noonan and her husband, Joe, welcomed a baby girl named Tessa Rae Noonan in October. Tessa joins big sister Keira and
arrived just a few months before the family moved from Massachusetts to California. Tiff, Joe, and their family now happily reside in Mill Valley, Calif., and are thrilled to have traded New England winters for a milder California climate. Jazmine Leon-Wing and her husband, Tisun, welcomed a new addition to the family. Aidan James Wing was born in Austin, Texas, in August, on his father’s birthday. Although both of his parents are native New Yorkers, Aidan is definitely an Austinite, as shown by his cheerful, laid-back disposition. Victoria Upson has spent the past few years working on a master’s degree and passed the boards to be a psychiatric–mental health nurse practitioner in September 2012. After working in a community health center primarily focusing on psychotherapy for children, teens, and adults, she finally landed her dream job prescribing psychiatric medications at an outpatient clinic in Boston full time; she mentioned, “I certainly can thank my Andover teacher Mr. Maqubela for turning me on to chemistry and getting me into this field!” Nick Johnson is still working full time as a drama professor at Trinity College Dublin and will come up for tenure review in a few months. Nick has been working on his adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov for the past five years and was thrilled to see it staged at the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Dublin this past January and February. Russell Sticklor e-mailed and said he’s “living in Mexico these days, working with the International Water Management Institute. I’m researching sustainable agricultural practices and water conservation, a subject I’ve been involved with for the past seven years. On the side, I have been working with the Brooklyn-based record label Nomadic Wax, which specializes in international hip-hop and uses hip-hop music as a tool for social, educational, and political youth empowerment in the developing world. Working with the label has been a great way to connect with artists overseas, and I’ve been staying busy working on collaborative projects.” Charlene Chen is still living in Kenya but quit her job at KickStart and then embarked on a sixmonth soul-searching sabbatical, which included two weeks of trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal and a three-week overland tour of southwest Africa. Highlights included visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, going on safari in Botswana, and skydiving in Namibia. Earlier last year, Caitlin Berrigan had the great pleasure of living in LA and was able to catch up with Jessa Sherman and Sara Bright. Caitlin reports Sara is also an artist, and they continue to share creative ideas and feedback. Last May, Caitlin attended Adam Berg’s beautiful wedding in Washington, D.C., and in February 2013 participated in an exhibition at Harvard, where she saw friends including Margo Lindauer, Tony Lawson, and Tiffany Joseph ’00, as well as Rebecca Uchill ’96. Caitlin is currently on a yearlong artist fellowship in Berlin with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and would love to hear from anyone passing through! Sherri Stevens Williams and her husband Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... also recently moved to Berlin. She reports, “After living in Montreal for a decade we were both at a transition point in our careers, so we decided to shake things up and live in Europe for a few years. It’s definitely been a challenge, especially because I didn’t speak any German when I arrived, but well worth it. So far I’ve learned a fourth language, met lots of amazing people, continued teaching English, became an entrepreneur developing bilingual German/English workshops for startup founders and job seekers with a German colleague, and fell in love with this vibrant, young, creative city.” And with that, 10 years come to a close. I’ll certainly miss writing the notes but am looking forward to catching up with everyone at our reunion in June! Hope to see you there!
2000 Jia H. Jung 550 11th St. #4R Brooklyn NY 11215 917-589-5423 (cell) jiajung@alum.berkeley.edu
Marriages and babies dominated the news for this spring season. Christina Chaplin wed Mikel Vitoria Carrero on Sept. 7. The wedding took place near San Sebastian, Spain. Andover guests included bridesmaid Cari Shiffman and Philip T. Chaplin ’73, proud father of the bride! Andover townie Scott Woodbury was also there; although he didn’t attend PA, he was a close friend to many at Clement House. Last October, Dan Ankeles and his wife, Catherine, had their firstborn son, Samuel Nicholas Ankeles. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces, and has continued to grow. The Ankeles family is happy and healthy up in Brunswick, Maine. Dan has been serving as a legislative aide in the Maine House Majority Office and recently discovered that his boss, Rep. Seth Berry ’87, also attended PA; now, that’s a small world. Berry represents the towns of Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Richmond, and Swan Island and serves as house majority leader. Thayer Meicler and her husband, Philip, welcomed their baby girl, Zoe Sophia Meicler, last December. She was born three weeks early and a welcome surprise to the new parents, who are still residing in San Francisco and loving it. Mark Turetsky rang in 2014 with his engagement to Elizabeth Oldfather, a doctoral student in English literature at Rutgers University. Mark and Lizzie live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, having taken full possession of their lovely brownstone apartment after a long chain of wayward subletters. As the icing on the cake, Mark was also named one of AudioFile magazine’s “Best Voices for Children and Family Listening” for 2013. And the newest news of all provided by our class for this issue comes from Praveen Kankanala, who was intent on putting these words in print: “Praveen Kankanala has moved to NYC to hang out.”
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Actually, the gravity of this statement is completely unironic, since he spent the past year or so leading a virtually untraceable life in more than 30 international cities. The Big Apple is honored to have you here for a bit, Praveen. All the best to our class, whether we be engaged, married, traveling, moving, or shaking. I know there will be plenty of wonderful news next time as well!
2001 Misty Muscatel 203-569-9713 mistina.muscatel@gmail.com
Lots of news this issue—’01ers are staying busy! James Shin married Janet Lee on Jan. 19 at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs, Calif. In attendance were Mark Kawakami, Carter Bacon, Jim Cunningham, and Nakul Patel from the ’01 side. Also attending were Eric Sherman ’98, Danforth Sullivan ’02, Anthony Bitz ’02, Jeremy Hersch ’99, and Morgan Swett Hersch ’00. After the wedding, Jim and Mark met up for drinks and dinner in LA with Kareem Tabsh, who is doing well and working hard as an OB/GYN in Bakersfield, Calif. Julie Papanek recently joined Canaan Partners, a global health-care and tech venture capital company, after graduating from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She has seen Andrew Smith and Will Chan a few times at concerts in the Bay Area and hopes to catch other classmates as they pass through town. Erin Winkler is joining the ranks of ’01ers in San Francisco. She accepted a job with Google in a newly formed group, Leadership Research. Erin is excited to reconnect with other Class of ’01 and Andover friends in the Bay Area. Michael Paa and his wife, Jessica, are still living in San Francisco; they recently bought a condo in the city. Michael visited Ian Cropp briefly in November and continues to stay in touch with him weekly. Liesl Beecher-Flad completed a PsyD degree this past fall and has moved from the West Coast to Maine for a one-year fellowship with the VA. She caught a few ’01ers before leaving San Francisco, including Shanna Bowie and Tara Rachakonda. Along Liesl’s cross-country road trip to Maine, she was very thankful to Larisa Vaysman and husband Jeff (who recently welcomed their first child) for giving her a place to crash in Cincinnati. Since being back East, she’s met up with Andrea Daley Merin and Allison Colbert and traveled to NYC for Christine Lee’s birthday party. James Kenly, who started an MBA program at the University of Denver in September, told me that Alex Bradley joined the engagement crew of ’01, which is exciting! Down in the nation’s capital, DC continues to be a small world for ’01ers. Just before the holidays, Carly Rockstroh and Colleen Kennedy found themselves at the same game night. Turns
out Carly planned to run in a Ragnar Relay in Key West in February with one of Colleen and Rachel Robinson’s good friends from their studies in Spain. John Pearson recently spent time in Miami with Hans Hertell and family and in DC with Kat Conlon ’04, Jon Adler ’02, Adam Arguelles ’02, and Becca Wexler ’02. Hans and his wife had their second daughter, Anna Pilar, last July. Down in the Philly area, Raquel Moreno, Ella Hoffman, and Marion Read reunited at a holiday brunch. Raquel’s book, La Nena’s Kitchen, is available at Amazon.com and the Kindle store. Marion lives in Wilmington, Del., and is clerking for Judge Kent Jordan on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Last fall she traveled to NYC to celebrate my birthday as well as Sarah Kline’s. Frank Brodie is graduating from an MD/MBA program at Penn this spring. Brian Cloonan and Alex Finerman are both in his class. Frank is going into ophthalmology and matched for residency at UCSF. Meredith Hudson Johnston and sister Marissa Hudson ’04 are training for the 2014 Boston Marathon as part of the Mass General Hospital Marathon team, which raises money for the pediatric cancer center. Please follow all of their training and fundraising progress at hudsonstrong.wordpress.com. Katy Nassberg got a new job as an analyst for a tech market-research firm in the Boston area called VDC Research. Also in Boston, Smita Singh and her husband, Gaurav Upadhyay, welcomed Ishaan Singh Upadhyay to their family in December. Ishaan has met several ’01 aunties, including Paige Austin, who is enjoying her job as a public defender in Boston; Paige loves getting to see Caitlin Henningsen, Tina Valverde, and Smita frequently. Ira Renfrew is finishing up at HBS and recently welcomed his wife, Rihab, to the U.S. after a long wait for her green card. After getting his degree, he’s planning to find, acquire, and run a small company. Luke LeSaffre and Isaac Taylor attended Game Six of the 2013 World Series together. Isaac is another handsome ’01 man who is officially off the market as he, too, recently got engaged. Luke filled me in on other ’01 news: Austin Arensberg is moving to South Korea to start working for Samsung after finishing an MBA degree at INSEAD in Singapore. Rob Coleman’s biomedical research company, which he cofounded with two colleagues, is working on a synthetic flu vaccine that promises to allow for rapid production. Deb Linder is in her first year as faculty at Tufts University’s veterinary school. She’s started an obesity clinic for animals. Her current research involves the impact of therapy dogs on children with cancer. Deb gets to see Mara Meyer Epstein, as Mara works at UMass Medical School, and the two schools collaborate on projects frequently. Abroad, Franny Ritchie is still living in England with her husband, Ian; she is working at a consulting firm in London, and Ian is at Microsoft Research. They saw Adrea Lee at a wedding in November.
www.andover.edu/intouch By the time you read this, Franny and Ian will have welcomed their first child, expected in March! Wedding bells are ringing all around for ’01ers, including Liz Edmonds, who got married this winter; Elizabeth Lotter and Alex Coppock ’02 were both in attendance. Amanda Barash and her fiancé, Ahmad Odetalla, who is also a teacher, plan a June wedding. Amanda rocked an ’01 brunch when Liesl came to NYC, with Matteo Natale, Ehi Oviasu-Kahn, Christine Lee, and Elka Gruenberg at Greenwich Project. Desiraé Simmons got engaged in October and will have Matteo Natale by her side in her bridal party. Farah Peterson and Eugene Sokoloff ’00 welcomed their first son, Serge Peterson Sokoloff, in August. Farah wrapped up a law clerkship and is now back at Princeton, working on her dissertation in American history. As for me, I’ve been staying busy with Andover involvements, including my first year serving as vice president of the Alumni Council. I’m still cranking away at Google, leading a newly formed team managing Unilever’s business, which has me working long hours but has been really exciting. I’ll be traveling a lot this year so will be hitting you up in every city I go to. I’m actually typing these notes on a plane to San Francisco, where I’ll be heading straight to dinner with Susie Dickson and Erin Winkler. Go Big Blue!
2002 Paul Crowley 919-724-5868 Skip.crowley@gmail.com Lauren Nickerson P.O. Box 2118 Volcano HI 96785 Lauren9@gmail.com
Hey, Class of 2002! I hope you are all doing well. Here are your updates! Nadeem Mazen was elected to Cambridge City Council after running on a social justice, education, and affordable housing platform. His companies are doing well, with danger!awesome expanding into 2,000 square feet of education space in downtown Cambridge. Madeleine Fawcett recently became engaged and is planning a wedding for next December in Palm Beach, Fla., with several Andover alums in her wedding party, including Courtney Gimbel Bardo, Christie Checovich, Olivia Wilde, and Mariel O’Brien ’01. In December, Madeleine hosted her annual Christmas party, which brought Wills Hapworth, Jarrett Wetherell, and Matt Dougherty ’01 to Dumbo, Brooklyn. Travis Pantin appeared on the Today Show on NBC in early December, modeling winter clothes. Sam Spears graduated in May 2013 from Harvard Law School, where he was in the same firstyear section as Paige Austin ’01 and Emily Ma ’04; in November, he moved to Los Angeles to start
work at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where Baolu Lan is also working. Sam has been hanging out with Andrew Fenlon, who also moved to LA recently. Lillian Kingery is living in LA as well and worked as the props coordinator on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is currently in post-production and was scheduled for release in spring. She hosted a Thanksgiving feast in her apartment; Libby DeLacy and Kelsey Seipser were in attendance and had a wonderful time. Cassie Kaufmann got married in October to Tom Quick. Joining them at the wedding were Sam and Luke Spears, Tisse Takagi, Jess Duffett, Leanna Boychenko, Emily Selove, Michael Mueller, Ryan Coughlan, Lucy Greene ’00, Mike Mueller, and Kate Elliott. Tom O’Rourke and Farrell Curran got married June 15, 2013, in Marion, Mass. Joining them at the wedding were Tim Daniels ’01, Nat Carr ’00, Jack Judson, Ethan Liebermann ’00, Matt Kelly, Chloe Lewis, Pat Linnemann, and Freddie Martignetti. Adam Arguelles and Megan Eidman got married in May in Vermont, and “everything was absolutely perfect,” Adam reports. Andover attendees included Craig Ferraro ’03, Stephan Chischportich, Cranston Gray, Jim Gray ’66, Rachel Higbie, Tony Bitz, Eric Newman ’01, and John Pearson ’01. Adam has also gotten together with Jon Adler, Becca Wexler, Dan Cote, Annie Lowrey, Malik Lewis, Kate Dunn, and Kate Bach in DC a few times over the past few months. Emily Kumpel was married in December to Jay Taneja. Tisse and Natalie Ho celebrated with her. Emily roomed for two months in Nairobi with Gowri Vijayakumar and Josh Williams ’03. Derrick Bass and his wife, Shekhinah, were expecting a baby boy in early April to join their 3-year-old daughter, Saniyah. Alan Katz and his wife, Sheryl, were expecting a baby boy in March. Alan recently started a new import-export company in Miami. Jung-Eun Shin and her husband welcomed their second baby! Jung-Eun is occasionally holding art exhibitions in Singapore and Korea and is training to be a volunteer guide at the Singapore Art Museum. Lauren Nickerson moved back to Hawaii from DC. She is living on the Big Island with her boyfriend. They just bought their first house, and Lauren is running her own tutoring company. Jack Judson is living in Tucson, Ariz., teaching high school English and loving it. Sara Kitaeff joined a family law firm in Boston and is enjoying litigating. She hung out with Kwadwo Acheampong in Chicago in September. Keziban Barry produced a shoot and video at the Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC; she also traveled to Croatia with her sister, Heather Barry ’97, to celebrate her 30th birthday and to Spain for a photo and video shoot. She recently had her first solo photography show in NYC at the Norwood Club. Sean Mansfield hung out with Kwadwo at an Andover Chicago event with John Palfrey. Sean was accepted into Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and will be starting this year. Also
starting graduate school is Nilsen Miller, who entered a PhD program in statistics this past fall at Rutgers and saw Tisse Takagi at a party with a few of their college friends. In November, Roxanne Beinart defended her dissertation (deep sea biology) and started a postdoctoral position at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod in December. She and her husband, Andy, were also expecting a baby girl in March! Anna Barensfeld completed an MBA degree at Babson in August and moved to Boulder, Colo., last fall for a business development position at Skratch Labs, an active nutrition startup. After earning an MBA degree from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in June, Joanna Banks moved to Dallas to work as an analyst at ExxonMobil. Greg Martin started a new job as an assistant professor in the political science department at Emory University in Atlanta this past fall. Thanks, and I hope to hear from you soon, especially if your name wasn’t included above! —Paul
2003 Will Heidrich wheidrich@gmail.com
To kick things off, Pat Kinsel and his wife, Jill Ozzie ’05, welcomed a son in 2013, Edward Kinsel, adding to the ranks of our class’s children. The family lives in Boston, where Pat is active in the tech and startup communities and currently works for Polaris Partners. There were a lot of class reunions in the S.F. Bay Area this past winter. I kicked off the holidays with Matt Lindsay, Michael Ruderman, Margaret Ramsey, and Janis Rice for San Francisco’s annual SantaCon in December. Most of the same group also welcomed Tara Gadgil back to the Bay Area for a visit. After graduating from Stanford’s business school last summer, Tara moved to Boston for a new job. A couple of ’07 alumni also organized an all-class party, where ’03 had a strong showing, including Kanyi Maqubela and his lovely fiancée, Martha Muna, Krys Freeman, Tara Anderson, Erik Trautman, Morgan Intrator, and James Chou, among many. I visited NYC this past fall for work and caught up with my college roommate Andy Hattemer, who has settled into Brooklyn and who’s attended many of the Andover NYC functions. Also in NYC, Claire Reyner hosted a holiday brunch and caught up with old friends Matt London, Mari Ono, Lirra Schiebler, and Molly Hauptman. Matt and his wife, Jordan, visited San Francisco for Thanksgiving, where they caught up with longtime pals Janis Rice and Seb Benthall. The group met up with Erik Trautman at Dave Beyer’s Thanksgiving party, and with Sam Beattie and his fiancée, Julie Taylor, for Tara’s birthday party. Matt’s novel, The 8th Continent (the first in a planned series), will be published by Razorbill, a division of Penguin, in 2014. Phil Caruso and Kaitlin Ainsworth Caruso Andover | Spring 2014
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It was a true Andover wedding when Audrey Deguire and Stephen Turro, both Class of ’04, got married on campus last summer; the bride and groom met on their first day at PA in 2001.
wrote from Portland, Maine, on their way to meet up with Matt Longley and his wife, Shaalini Ramanadhan. The longtime pair joined Phil and Kaitlin as a classmate couple when they married this past fall! Phil is currently in Chicago, finishing graduate school at UChicago, while Kaitlin is on a posting for work in Maine. The two have stayed close to fellow Chicago resident Tom Oliphant, who is finishing graduate school at Northwestern. Tom has also kept up with Yuki Watanabe, who now lives in Schaumburg, Ill., just west of the city. On a business trip to San Francisco this past fall, Yuki also connected with Justin Ko, James Chou, Seb, and Erik for some drinks. Chris Skipper is also in the Midwest, carrying the ’03 flag in Detroit and keeping tabs on his former Stearns buddies Tom, Greysen Carlson, and Phil. Nate Meltzer reported from Asheville, N.C., where he has been submitting research and presenting at industry conferences for outdoor education. During the day, Nate is an instructor for both the National Outdoor Leadership School and United World College USA. While in New England over the holidays, he caught up with several classmates, including Gardner Gould, Liz Vazquez, and Molly Hauptman; he also reconnected with Emily Guerin ’04 when she traveled through Asheville this fall. In some exciting news, Rashid Galadanci married his Dartmouth sweetheart, Christina Douglas, in Southampton, N.Y., last summer. They enjoyed celebrating with longtime friends from ’03, including Bob Yamartino and fiancée Denise Tsai, Zach Cafritz, Nick Ingaciola, best man Dave Hill, and Dave’s fiancée, Lirra. Other PA classes were well represented by Kristina Guild Douglass ’02, Sam Levenback ’04, Hadi Husain ’00, Ben Heller ’05,
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Christina Chaplin ’00 married Mikel Vitoria Carrero near San Sebastian, Spain, last September. From left are the groom and bride, father of the bride Philip T. Chaplin ’73, and bridesmaid Cari Shiffman ’00.
and Ben’s wife, Kaylea Nelson ’04. After a welldeserved honeymoon to Italy and France, Rashid and Christina have returned to NYC. Bob is preparing for a great 2014: He and his fiancée, Denise Tsai, are wedding planning, after getting engaged in 2013. The day after the Galadanci wedding, Bob also graduated from UConn’s law school, where his class selected him to speak on the big day. After passing the Massachusetts bar, he and Denise moved to Boston, where Bob started as an associate at Sullivan & Worcester. The two are excited to be back in the same city as Bob’s good pals Alex Minasian and Evan Panich. Meg Coffin married longtime boyfriend Nate Kellogg ’05 in June in Kennebunkport, Maine, cheered on by many classmates and Nyssa Liebermann as a bridesmaid. Nyssa graduated from Harvard Business School last summer and has joined Lucy Keating and Tony Pucillo in LA, where she is working for Bain. That’s it from here. Stay safe, and stay in touch!
2004 10th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Emma Sussex 214 Court St., 3rd Floor Brooklyn NY 11201 702-378-6695 emmajcsussex@gmail.com
Hi, everyone. I hope this edition of the class notes finds you happy and healthy! Thanks to so many of you for writing and letting me know what you have
been up to. Lolita Munos Taub left IBM last year and traveled to Burkina Faso with the Peace Corps, but she had to return to the States due to illness. This year, she and her now husband, Josh, took a trip that covered Southeast Asia, India, a little bit of the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. They volunteered at an AIDS women’s community center in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania; she says seeing people help with so much heart and passion was life-changing. After returning home from Africa, Lolita and Josh moved from Los Angeles to La Jolla, Calif., married, and started new jobs; Josh started his own online business, and Lolita took a new job as Cisco Systems’ tribal gaming and hospitality account manager in Southern California. Laura “Lily” Kelly and her husband, Dan Adamsky ’06, along with their two cats, have made a westward move to Oakland, Calif. Lily is still working with Global Green USA but now supporting the organization’s S.F. Bay Area activities and continuing her work on packaging recycling alternatives. Ian Hafkenschiel is living in Santa Cruz, Calif., four blocks from the ocean, and working with a lawyer and entrepreneur on insurance litigation and a rooftop agriculture startup. His funk band, Shamma Mama, plays shows in town and recorded an EP this January. Ian’s event-publishing startup, theWimzy, is still bootstrapping and chugging along. He sees Jason French whenever Jason is not extremely busy working on his game business, Fantasy Hip Hop, and Ian recently ran into Brent Vale in line to buy snacks at the movies. Rohit Acharya is starting a new whiskey company called Workhorse Rye, which will be based in San Francisco. The company will age rye in red-wine barrels so that it has the color and the nose of red wine; it’s also coming out with bitters,
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Several PA alumni attended the October 2013 wedding of Matt Garza ’04 and Kaila Ramsey. Front, from left, are Anthony Roldan ’04, Susannah Gund ’04, Saidi Chen ’04, Matt Garza, Emily Guerin ’04, and Maria Russell ’04. Back, from left, are Zach Cafritz ’03, Thatcher Clay ’04, Sam Levenback ’04, Sam duPont ’04, Dave Morse ’04, and Alex Limpaecher ’04.
one made with coffee and another with pumpkin, which they have been aging for two years. Additionally, Rohit started working for a startup, using cell phone data to predict the creditworthiness of microfinance borrowers. The business is expanding throughout Africa and hopes to reduce by half the rates charged to borrowers. Will Scharf is working as a commercial litigator at Bryan Cave LLP in St. Louis. Sophie McCoy graduated from the University of Chicago this winter with a PhD degree in ecology and evolution. In the spring, Sophie planned to move to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in Plymouth, England, to take a Marie Curie Fellowship. She will continue to study the effects of climate change, especially ocean acidification, on coastal seaweed communities. Sophie is excited for her two-year stint across the pond but hopes that she will make it back for our reunion to do some much-needed catching up. Sophie recently met up for lunch with Natasha Pakravan, who is in her first year of veterinary school at Tufts University. Taylor Yates will graduate from MIT Sloan this spring with an MBA degree and is starting a job as a technology consultant in Boston. He and his wife are looking forward to remaining in Boston. Uzoma Iheagwara just received a PhD degree in immunology from the University of Pittsburgh and is returning to school to finish up his remaining one and a half years. Clem Wood is in the second year of a PhD program in classics at Princeton, which he is enjoying. Clem recently had lunch with Sam duPont, who is pursuing a master’s degree at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. Last December, Clem was honored to officiate at Tom Barron’s wedding in NYC. Tom has been helping
In May 2013, Rashid Galadanci ’03 married Christina Douglas in Southampton, N.Y. Many PA friends and alums were in attendance.
Livy Coe settle into his new home in Southern Pines, N.C., at the edge of Fort Bragg. Livy is glad to be spending time on land and in the States. He will be stationed in Southern Pines through the summer as a Navy liaison. Alexandra LaMela is graduating from medical school and getting married this May. She and her husband plan to spend a month in Greece before they return to the States and Alexandra begins her neurology residency. Rachelle Brignol earned an MBA degree from NYU Stern. She has parted ways with Estée Lauder and is now working for the Edrington Group, a spirits manufacturer. She is planning to head to Scotland in 2014 to visit the company’s distilleries and learn a bit more about Scotch. In addition, Rachelle got engaged and has asked Johanna Marmolejos to be her maid of honor. The wedding is set for June. Gordon Hoople got married to Amanda Ries in Phoenix last October. Amanda is finishing medical school, and Gordon is in the middle of a PhD program at UC Berkeley. The two are hoping that Amanda’s residency will bring her back to California. Mariah Russell reunited with a group of PA alums for Matt Garza’s wedding in Franklin, N.C. Ali Schouten was in New York this past November, just in time to celebrate Olivia Oran’s engagement to Greg Beaton. The two got together with Jenny Wong for dinner over Thanksgiving weekend. Sadly, I was out of town during Ali’s visit, but I look forward to celebrating with Olivia and the rest of the girls this year. I am still living in Brooklyn and working in the commercial real estate group of a firm in midtown. The big highlight of my winter was a girls’ trip with my mom to Hawaii in February to celebrate her birthday. Thanks to all of you for keeping in touch. I look forward to seeing you at our June reunion!
2005 Matt Brennan matthew.s.brennan13@gmail.com Alex Lebow alexlebow@gmail.com
Hey, ’05ers! As always, thank you for sending in your updates. It’s always great to hear what you’re up to! First things first. Jill Ozzie and Pat Kinsel ’03 welcomed baby boy Edward into the world in December. Erin Coleman married Georgetown sweetheart Dave Shevlin last Aug. 23 in Boston. Kaia Lubanko married Justin Kessler in January; Nikki Crocker was a bridesmaid, and Maya Lucaci-Vashee was in attendance. Peter Accomando got engaged to girlfriend Cara Cadigan. Congratulations to all! Nikki is currently living in Houston and working toward a master’s degree in geology at the University of Houston, while Maya is living in Austin and working toward a master’s degree in school psychology at the University of Texas, Austin. Also in Texas, Danny Lee is finishing medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and interviewing for residency positions in emergency medicine. Angela Tenney moved from San Francisco to Houston, where she works in petrochemicals consulting, has met up with Hee-Jin Chang a few times, and bumped into Hee-Jin, Nikki, and Marcella Viktorin at an Andover event a few months back. In New York City, Billy Doyle, Grant Yoshitsu, Steve Sherrill, and Mac King meet for touch football and beers semiregularly—and invite any Andover | Spring 2014
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2006 Jeni Lee 18228 Mallard St. Woodland CA 95695 925-846-8300 jeni_lee@bluelink.andover.edu Paul Voorhees 345 West Berwicke Common, N.E. Atlanta GA 30342 404-402-4869 pauldvoorhees@gmail.com
For Non Sibi Day last October, several PA alums volunteered at the San Francisco Food Bank. Front, from left, are Alan Wesson ’07, Olivia Pei ’07, and Andrea Coravos ’06. Back, from left, are Murrey Nelson ’80, Hisun Won ’83, Laura Bauschard ’89, Will Heidrich ’03, Erik Trautman ’03, Dan Quinlan ’04, Laura Minasian ’07, and James Watson ’06.
other ’05ers in the area to join them in the future. Mac also recently went out with Nate Scott and Kyle Kucharski to meet Nina, Bill, and Tess Scott ’06. Billy and Mac also attended Sherrill’s birthday party with Chloé Hurley. Steph Krant is living in Brooklyn Heights and working as e-commerce merchandise manager for SoulCycle. Besides enjoying the perks of daily cycling classes, she’s managing the current online retail boutique and retail editorial, and she’s looking forward to launching the company’s new site soon. Jason Duffett is living the dream in Brooklyn, where he works as a freelance lighting technician, balancing his time between commercials and indie films. He enjoys cold brews with Charlotte Steinhardt and Jessica Duffett ’02, as well as former Angkst all-stars David Billingsley and Peter Mistretta, on a regular basis. Dan Harris keeps the Boston connection alive, popping up in the Big Apple from time to time. Natasha Midgley saw Joshua Barclay and Jennifer Meacham ’06 on a January visit to New York, and she also had an awesome lunch with Pat Shannon and Nate Scott in Washington, D.C. Nina Beinart Kunkes splits her time between New York and Maine for work. At Thanksgiving, she caught up with Amy Sticklor, Laurel Sticklor, and Alex Doty in Andover, where they enjoyed a nostalgic stroll through campus. Also on campus, Matt Brennan, Sarah Donelan, Laylah Mohammed, Chris Zegel, and Meg Scarborough shut down the Andover Inn a few days after Christmas. Meg and Chris got engaged in August and are planning a 2015 wedding. They live in Boston, see Natalie Exner frequently, and ran into a passel of ’05ers (15 in all) at Peter Accomando’s holiday party in December. Matt
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also grabbed drinks at the Andover Inn with Ben Hoerner, who’s finishing law school at the University of Pennsylvania and preparing to move back to Boston after graduation. Dan Hackney is finishing his final year at Brown University, with a major in computer science. After graduation, he plans to move to California to work at Google’s Mountain View office. Vic Miller reports that his favorite PA moment from the past few months was grabbing a drink with John Tincoff in Menlo Park, Calif., while John was in the area on business. Harry Goldstein moved to Singapore in October (after spending time in China) and will be there for roughly two years. He recently hung out with Jen Graham ’04, who was visiting from LA for a brief stint. Patrick Jiang recently started a new job at Skadden Arps in Hong Kong and hears that there are many Andover alumni there. So far, he’s met up with Abby Hoglund ’08 and encourages anyone who finds a chance to come visit. Here in New Orleans, Zach Sandman, Christian Vareika, and Greg Feldmann visited post New Year’s Eve to catch some who dats in action and visit a few of New Orleans’s finest establishments. Matt Brennan and Alex Lebow hosted Nathan Kellogg, Meg Coffin ’03, and a dozen others for Thanksgiving dinner in their French Quarter courtyard, rang in the New Year with a DJ in their living room, and were looking forward to breakfast on Fat Tuesday. Matt still writes and teaches at Tulane, Alex still works for Mayor Landrieu and serves on the board of a local nonprofit, and both invite any ’05 visitors who want to enjoy festival season in the Big Easy to come down. Much love, PA ’05. —Matt and Al
Hello, 2006. Can you believe it’s only two years until our 10th Reunion? It’s never too early to get excited. But until then, these updates will have to suffice! In November, Emily Pollokoff and her daughter, Hazel, went to Boston and stayed with Marysia Blackwood. Marysia notes that Hazel is superadorable, not even 2 years old but already recognizing letters! With Jasmin Baek, visiting from Korea, the group drove up to Newburyport to visit former dean of students Marlys Edwards, their house counselor in Samaritan House. They also hung out with Max Parsons and Rachel Isaacs, who are more or less Marysia’s neighbors, in addition to Patrick Jiang ’05 and Chris Blackwood ’12. Marysia and Emily also met up with faculty emeritus Ed Quattlebaum for lunch at the Biscuit in Somerville. Marysia is in the third year of a PhD program at Harvard, focusing on the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan in the 1920s and ’30s. In November, she delivered her first-ever lecture to an audience that included Dr. Quattlebaum! She spoke about historical memory in Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism; funnily enough, she had written her first real history paper in History 340, almost exactly 10 years earlier, about the Katyn Massacre, which she also discussed in the lecture. Marysia translates a monthly column for the New York Times, so if you look in the Opinion section, you can see her name in print! Marysia often gets to see Dina Burkitbayeva, who is in her first year at Harvard Business School. Dina had Marysia and Emily over for dinner. Marysia occasionally visits New York to see Eunice Hong, a 1L at Columbia Law School. They celebrated the end of Eunice’s finals by seeing Sleep No More, at which Lady Macbeth stole Marysia’s coat-check ticket. Marysia and Anne Renner went to see Orlando Bloom as Romeo on Broadway, which she says was hilarious! Thomas Gebremedhin has been working at Vogue magazine since moving to NYC last June. Greg Pucillo moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with his girlfriend and now works as a real estate salesperson with the Corcoran Group in Brooklyn. He ran into Jeff Bakkensen, Tobey Duble, Merit Webster, and Justin Yi at the American Museum of Natural History at an Andover event celebrating the Peabody Museum. Kevin Olusola and a capella group Pentatonix began the first half of 2013 on a sold-out tour, as well as writing and arranging for group’s album,
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Classmates from ’06 spent time together catching up last November in Boston. From left are Jasmin Baek, Max Parsons, Marysia Blackwood, Rachel Isaacs, and Emily Pollokoff (with daughter Hazel).
PTX Vol. II; the new album came out November 5, while Pentatonix was on its sold-out European tour, debuting at number 10 on the Billboard 200. The band also re-released its album PTXmas with two new tracks, one of which—“Little Drummer Boy”—became the fourth-highest-charting holiday hit of all time. According to Billboard.com, “Thanks to strong streaming and sales, the song debuts at number 13, instantly ranking as one of the highest-charting holiday hits of all time. It also tops the Holiday 100.” The album itself charted high at number seven, giving Pentatonix two albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 only a month apart. Congratulations, Pentatonix! Kevin is proud to report that Pentatonix has seen great growth on YouTube—their channel grew from 400,000 to 4 million followers over 2013, with 300 million hits, making it one of the top 20 subscribed music channels on YouTube. They’ve completed press with Arsenio Hall, the Today Show, Conan, Queen Latifah, and Diane Sawyer. Tess Scott was their liaison for the Diane Sawyer project, and Tess invited the group to the office to meet Diane and sing for her. Amazing what Andover connections can do! In addition to Pentatonix, Kevin works on his cello music projects: music videos, solo concerts around the country, and playing in Germany at one of the top music festivals in Europe, the Kronberg Academy Music Festival. Kevin is putting out an EP this year, and also continuing his work in production and touring. He hopes to see more Andover people during the tours! Check ptxofficial.com for tour dates. In December, Gracia Angulo met up with Peter Kalmakis for a lunch date in Mexico City. Gracia visited Boston in February, and Rajeev Saxena met up with her when she was in town. Rajeev is in his third year in the Tufts MD/MBA program, currently doing his clinical rotations. He saw Pentatonix in concert in Boston. Rajeev got engaged last year and spent the holidays in India, wedding shopping for his summer 2014 wedding. Rajeev’s
Several alums met for a New Year’s celebration at Mont Tremblant, Quebec. From left are Larry Zhou ’09, Ishan Kapoor ’09, Dave Cuthell ’07, Eliot Wall ’07, Tahir Kapoor ’12, Jeff Zhou ’06, and Mai Kristofferson ’09.
best friend from Andover and roommate for four years, Mario Noyola, got engaged right before the holidays, so they both ended up getting engaged in the same year. Huge congratulations to you both! Derek Strykowski is now engaged to Jessica Wang, an associate content developer at Cengage Learning. Congratulations, Derek! John Lippe has been in and out of the S.F. Bay Area interviewing for jobs. Let’s hope those in San Francisco will be able to catch up with him soon. Kate Connors now works at a crisis and litigation communications firm in Washington, D.C. Thanks to last-minute business travel, she was able to spend her 25th birthday with Alison Occhiuti in Boston. Laura Ferraro visited Kate in DC while interviewing for residency programs at area hospitals. Kate, Laura, and Alison are planning a trip to visit Martha Durant, who recently moved to NYC. As these notes were being compiled, Kate reported that Laura just got engaged—congratulations! Andrea Coravos participated in Andover’s Non Sibi Day by volunteering at the San Francisco Food Bank. James Watson was also in attendance. Jamie Neuwirth helped host an Andover cocktail party in San Francisco shortly before the holidays, which drew out many San Francisco–based alumni! Andrea hiked the Matt Davis trail with Isaac Opper, who is in a PhD degree program at Stanford. Mia Kanak, currently in the midst of medical school, also at Stanford, met up with Andrea and Jeni for brunch in San Francisco. Jeff Zhou saw Justin Lee at a horserace in New Jersey in October. Before leaving Philadelphia for Thanksgiving, Jeff and Eliot Wall ’07 ran into Emma Dorsey. Jeff visited Mai Kristofferson ’09 in Tokyo for Thanksgiving as well as after the New Year and met up with Graham Miao ’08 while in town. Over New Year’s weekend, Jeff spent time with his brother, Larry Zhou ’09, Ishan Kapoor ’09, Tahir Kapoor ’12, Eliot, Dave Cuthell ’07, and Henry Frankievich ’07. On his way there, Jeff ran into Emily Brenner and her brother, Jimmy ’10, at the train station in Philadelphia.
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
Olivia Pei now works in San Francisco, where she has quite a lot of PA interactions. She’s been visited by Chris Bramwell, Thao Nguyen, and Charles Francis; Charles stayed with her for a month when he first moved to SF, and together they caught up with Allen Cai, Sarah Guo, Chris Li, Katharine Matsumoto, and Laura Minasian. Laura and Olivia volunteered with Alan Wesson at the San Francisco Food Bank for Non Sibi Day. PA alumni including Peter McCarthy also gathered in San Francisco to watch the A/E football game this fall. Back on the East Coast, a number of classmates are getting along in Boston. Stacey Middlebrook now oversees a large real estate portfolio that stretches across the U.S. and Australia; she recently went white-water rafting with Adrienne Sabety on the Penobscot River in Maine. Arielle Filiberti is a first-year med student at UMass Medical School. Lauren Johnson is completing a master’s degree in mental health counseling at Boston College and is a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve. Susannah Poland now lives in Vermont, where she contracts remotely for the National Museum of African Art (part of the Smithsonian Institution) and does development for an arts school. She recently returned from a two-month ethnographic expedition on Mount Everest, where she researched decision making in extreme environments. Ethan Schmertzler joined National Security Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... Equity Partners as a financial analyst in technology M&A and venture capital; he frequently catches up with Ola Canty. Ola took a small reunion vacation to Miami and the Florida Keys with Lindsay Agostinelli, Jack Pettit, and Michelle Nguyen— they are looking for trip suggestions for next year and welcome anyone who wants to join! Allison Callery works in DC for Booz Allen Hamilton. John Gwin works for McKinsey in New York; he spent four months of last year working on a project in New Zealand and Australia. He caught up with Becky Greenberg, Eliot Wall, Dominick DeJoy, Henry Frankievich, Yoni Gruskin, and Emma Wood at various PA events in NYC. Emma planned to move to San Francisco in March to freelance before starting an MFA program in the fall. Evan Moore is also planning to start an MFA program next year. Ale Moss has moved back to New York after eight months of work and adventure in Australia; a number of other classmates enjoyed adventures in Australia last year, including Lola Dalrymple, Natalie Kaiser, and Polly Sinclair. Morgan Broccoli is currently taking a year off from medical school, working for the African Federation for Emergency Medicine. Maura Mulroy is keeping busy down in Jupiter, Fla. When work isn’t taking up her time, Maura volunteers at the local animal shelter and helps foster dogs. Ryan Ferguson is still living in Washington, D.C., working in the statefederal relations office for Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. In DC, he frequently sees Komaki Foster. Over Christmas, Ryan met up with Steve Farquhar and the recently engaged Mike DeFilippo in Andover (congratulations, Mike). Colleen Thurman is in her second year of Tufts veterinary school and enjoying life back in Massachusetts. This past winter, she spent time in Nicaragua with her family and reports it was a much-needed break from the otherwise long winter. Last summer, Colleen completed a research project through the National Institutes of Health. She is slowly returning from a second ACL surgery, but the extra recovery time last summer allowed her to make great progress on her writing and cooking. Colleen and Katharine Matsumoto are releasing a follow-up to their first coauthored cookbook. Here’s hoping this one is an even bigger success. Katharine recently moved back to the Bay Area for her new job. She is excited to be a data scientist at Salesforce. com. Living in San Francisco has long been a goal of hers, and Katharine is even happier with longtime friend Michaella Chung. Danny Silk has been busy working in Cambridge this winter but gets to see Andover friends pretty regularly. He recently saw Brooks Canaday in Boston. Danny also visits NYC a good deal. He met up with Jocelyn Gully in Manhattan recently. Jocelyn was in town visiting her parents; the Gully family recently moved to New York, after many years as Andover staples. Their former home a few blocks from campus will always be fondly remembered.
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2008 Mary B. Doyle 327 Noe St. San Francisco CA 94114 781-439-5209 (cell) mbdoyle@gmail.com Lydia Dallett 399 River Road Andover MA 01810 508-265-1005 (cell) Lydia.Dallett@gmail.com
Biggest ’08 gathering of the season goes to Ben Schley, who hosted a mess of Andover boys in Montana in December; Foster Jebsen, Lambros Theofanidis, Zach Feldman, Evan Hawk, Edwin Muniz, Paul Joo, Zach Dixon, Steve Bury, Kevin Zhai, Oliver Bloom, Will Eastman and Chris Waskom descended on Ben and Dana Feeny’s family cabins in Whitefish, Mont. Like good Montanans, the guys divided their week between the shooting range and snowshoeing trails. Eclectic modes of transportation brought the crew together: for Bury and Dixon, the trip started with a 43-hour train from Chicago to Whitefish, and for Eastman and Feldman, redirected flights necessitated a sevenhour rental-car ride through a snowstorm, traveling from Spokane, Wash., to Montana. Back in civilization, Simone Salvo visited Tessa Pompa, Sara Ho, Alyssa Warren, and me (Mary Doyle) in the Bay Area in November. We took on San Francisco, joined by Dan Bacon ’06 and Will Hunckler, as well as Napa, where Simone toured us around the Oxbow School, where she spent Upper fall semester as part of the school’s magical arts program. Also relishing life in northern California, Hillary Baker is working for an awesome organization, EducationSuperHighway, bringing high-speed Internet to public schools across the U.S. Hugh Edmundson recently left his job at Morgan Stanley to found a company under the guidance of Y Combinator, a startup incubator in San Francisco. Two more ’08 wedding engagements to announce! Abby Hoglund, who is living and teaching in Hong Kong (where she sees John Heroy often), is engaged to her college boyfriend, Justin Shen. Alyssa Yamamoto is recently engaged as well and is living in San Francisco. Sophie Scolnik-Brower just started a master’s degree program in piano performance at New England Conservatory in Boston. Sophie occasionally goes dancing with Elena Jacobson and runs into Jess Cole on the bus. Abby Colella is at Harvard Law School and loves living in Cambridge. Lindsey Branson Crosby is starting grad school for genetic counseling in the fall; she and her husband had a belated December honeymoon in Antigua and had an incredible time! In the lovely South/Southwest: Alex Tayara is living near Dallas, writing and performing music,
working in a café, and settling into her new city. Carrie St. Louis continues to make a splash in the theatre world as the lead of Rock of Ages in Las Vegas; she’s hitting her 400th show and the rave reviews and accolades keep coming! Alix Peabody, Chad Hollis, Kiara Brereton ’09, Olivia Pei ’07, Sarah Beattie ’07, and Sara Nickel ’07 have all stopped by the Venetian to see her show. In New York, Chris Lim spent New Year’s Eve with Katherine Chen, Obinna Igbokwe, Miguel Tavarez, Bryce Frost, Ella Kidron, and Lizzy Chan. Chris is living in Richmond, Va., teaching high school physics. Paul Hsiao, Andrew Chan, Mike Zhan, and Alex Wong ’07 wished Chris Cheung farewell as Chris left New York for a new job in Shanghai. Philip Meyer visited Jonathan Adler and Lucas McMahon in New York in December. Phil is still living in LA, Jonathan is still writing for Jimmy Fallon, and Lucas is still the right-hand guy for Broadway producer Kevin McCollum. I had dinner with Lucas and Molly Shoemaker in New York shortly after New Year’s and got to watch NYC get swallowed up by a snowstorm before I jetted back to California. Margaux Cerruti is in NYC, working at Whitewall magazine, where she coordinates the Chinese edition. Perks of the gig include sponsored trips to art shows in China! Mikaela Sanders is living in Brooklyn and working at Rosie O’Donnell’s nonprofit arts-education organization, Rosie’s Theater Kids, while also attending grad school at NYU part time, in an MPA program. Liz MacMillan, Caitlin Feeney, Sarah Pucillo, and Kimbo Chang have a weekly date night in Lower Manhattan. Liz is working at a sustainabledesign architecture firm and loves it. Caitlin is a paralegal and is starting law school at Cornell in the fall. Nick Anschuetz and John Burke saw Phish at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve; it was Nick’s 65th Phish concert and John’s first. Adam Giansiracusa saw Katherine Chen, Anna Tenzing, and Joel Camacho in NYC while he visited between work in Chicago and a trip to his family’s home in Kenya. Now stay with me in Kenya, move one country to the west, and we have Kelly Lacob, who has been working with Clinton Health Access Initiative in Uganda for the past six months. With the help of private sector partners, she’s improving access to medicine that can treat pediatric diarrhea and severe malaria. Also up to amazing work is James Sawabini, who is building out Zamsolar, the Zambia-based solar energy organization that he cofounded with Thomas Smyth (who recently moved to San Francisco). One ocean away, Rajit Malhotra is working for the Parthenon Group in Mumbai, India, where he’s helping the region’s international schools become financially sustainable. For anyone who hasn’t gotten on the train already: Subscribe to Murphy Temple’s Instagram feed for lust-worthy images of the Andover campus on a regular basis. You only have until Murphy’s teaching-fellow year wraps up in June, so hurry. Blue love. —Mary
www.andover.edu/intouch
2009 5th REUNION June 13–15, 2014 Alexander McHale 30 Waterside Plaza, Apt. 29J New York NY 10010 703-786-3330 arxmchale@gmail.com Deidra Willis 550 East Holly Ave., #39 Pitman NJ 08071 347-342-7447 willis.deidra@gmail.com
It’s official: The Class of 2009 has started adulthood, with most members in new jobs and careers, traveling the world, pursuing further academic endeavors, or simply enjoying life. At the end of the summer Louise Ireland hosted a kickoff party for the Addison Contemporaries, a group for Addison supporters under the age of 40, which we encourage everyone to join. Countless members of the classes of ’07 to ’13 were in attendance including Zoe Weinberg, Alex McHale, Menelik Washington, Malik Jenkins, and Deidra Willis. Scott Dzialo and Courtnie Crutchfield enjoyed the art and caught up as well. Alex McHale bumped into John Grunbeck at a Chipotle in NYC; John now works at the Waldorf Astoria. Alex also saw both Andrew Pohly, who is now a commodities trader at Morgan Stanley, and Dominick DeJoy ’07, at Ph-D, the lounge at the Dream Hotel, on a random Monday night before Christmas. Alex spent a lot of time this summer bequeathing his Rolodex of Columbia bartenders to Max Abitbol, who is now pursuing a PhD degree in physics there. Alex also works with Vincent Jow and Sol Jin ’07 at Evercore, an investment bank in New York. A few members of the Class of 2009 went up for Andover-Exeter weekend to watch Andover crush Exeter in the last minute in the football game. (It’s good to be back on top—reminds us of our junior through upper years.) Mike Discenza and Larry Zhou stayed with Eliot Wall ’07 and Henry Frankievich ’07 and drove up to Exeter for the day of festivities. There are some ’09ers on campus, as a few of us—including Jill Kozloff and Sarah Boylan—are now teaching fellows, as is Murphy Temple ’08. Shout out to the Andover boys’ varsity water polo team on beating Exeter and winning Andover’s first-ever New England Championship! Over the Thanksgiving holidays in NYC, Larry also met up with Ishan Kapoor and Steven Lee-Kramer for dinner with family. Charlie Dong and Angelica Jarvenpaa ’11 joined them later that night. There was also an Andover Toast the Holidays event at the New York Athletic Club that many classmates attended, including Larry, Shaun Stuer,
and Max Abitbol, along with John Twomey ’08. So many ’09ers are now in NYC, and we’re sure it was great for them to catch up and reminisce. Our class rang in the new year a few different ways. Alex McHale attended a party at Jack Walker, Matt Gorski, and Andrew Pohly’s apartment, with 160 of their closest friends. “It was definitely one of the better parties [I’ve been to] in New York,” McHale writes. From Taylor Hall, Alex ran into Spencer Rice, Marvin Blugh, Graeme Clements, and Max Abitbol, as well as countless other Andover alums. For New Year’s, Larry Zhou enjoyed an Andover-filled excursion with his brother, Jeff Zhou ’06, who organized a five-day ski trip to Mont Tremblant in Quebec that was absolutely spectacular. Andover people present were Eliot Wall ’07, Dave Cuthell ’07, Henry Frankievich ’07, Mai Kristofferson, Ishan Kapoor, and Tahir Kapoor ’12. The group reports that on a day with a high of 10 degrees below zero and a low of 25 below, they planned to seek out someplace warmer for next New Year’s! It’s hard to believe it has already been five years, but our Fifth Reunion is just around the corner. Alex has begun helping out the alumni office in trying to prepare for the event and Deidra is superexcited to see everyone once again. Plan ahead! We implore all of you to attend and enjoy our beautiful campus, like the good old days. In the meantime, however, there remains an open invitation to grab drinks in New York with Alex. The same goes for anyone in the Philadelphia area and Deidra. We hope to see you all later this year and encourage everyone to stay in touch and keep sending class notes! Much love from your class secretaries. P.S. If any of your friends from Exeter are counting, 69-53-10. That’s all.
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
We want to start off with a big congratulations to all our December college graduates! Enjoy the “real world,” ladies and gents! Geoff Kwok spent the summer working in finance in Hong Kong, where he ran into Arnold Wong, Mike Ma, and Minyoung Kwon ’11. Geoff is studying neuroscience and medieval and
renaissance history at Trinity College. He also met up with Charlie Walters in NYC. Andrew Townson spent the summer in LA working at Universal Pictures in the creative advertising department, where he worked with Jeanne LeSaffre ’03. He hung out with Courtney King but, tragically, did not get to meet her dogs. Lucy Arnold graduated early from Cornell. She planned on sticking around for one more semester as a research assistant for a government professor and applying for positions and fellowships for the upcoming year. Then she’s headed for graduate school, probably to pursue a political science PhD degree. Will Brooke just finished studying abroad in Brazil and says he had a great time. He’s back at Middlebury now, and looking forward to going skiing. He’ll graduate next fall, along with Celia Cadwell, both part of a mini class of students who took a gap semester before starting at Midd. Ely Shapiro graduated from Barnard this past December with a degree in biology. She’s now working at Citi doing biotech equity research. Taylor Clarke is happy to report that she saw Mat Kelley, Avery Stone, Catherine McLaughlin, Helen Lord, Caroline Kaufman, Sam Lawson, and Tom Hamel in Andover during winter break, and that everyone’s doing well. Frederick Shepard attends Amherst College and says that he runs into his roommate from Andover, Erik Christianson, quite frequently on campus. He’s had a chance to see some friends from PA over the past two summers while he played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, a summer baseball league located in Massachusetts. He and Kristina Ballard ’11 have had the opportunity to travel a lot over the past year, visiting “Zürich, Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva, and even the Super Bowl in New Orleans!” Sam August is graduating from Penn State this spring with a double major in English and philosophy, while finishing his fourth letterman year on the baseball team. He’s applying to graduate school at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., to pursue a professional career in music. Matt Renner reports that this past year has been “a journey with many ups and downs.” He left NYU to pursue his dream of becoming a tattoo artist, and, after three long years, “It’s finally happened.” Matt is excited to report he’ll be apprenticing at Blood and Iron Tattoo in Greeley, Colo., and will be a professional tattoo artist in two years. This winter, Kelsey Lim interned part time at Corey McPherson Nash, a national branding and design firm in Watertown, Mass. Additionally, she worked as a teaching assistant for a course she cocreated that deals with election design in Rhode Island and beyond. The curriculum is based on research she conducted with a classmate last summer as part of a Maharam STEAM Fellowship she was granted. RISD’s Maharam STEAM fellows work in arenas not typically associated with art and design students and have the opportunity to effect Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected...
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
When Charlotte Cleveland ’11 took part in the Passavant Cotillion and Christmas Ball in Chicago in December, several classmates were in attendance. Seated, from left, are Elizabeth Carrolo and Carolyn Harmeling. Standing, from left, are Marilyn Hewett, Melina Prentakis, Charlotte, Elizabeth Kelly, Emily Kent, and Emily Timm.
real change in policy and practice in local and global organizations and communities. Emily Hutcheson-Tipton happily welcomed her daughter, Alice, into the world in late July 2013. She is busy being a new mom and working toward a degree in English and elementary education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Brenna Liponis reports that she hopes to graduate from Dartmouth College with a double major in economics and Chinese this spring and will work for Trinity Partners, a life-science consulting firm in Boston, starting in July. Julie Xie finished her term as managing editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian, where she’s been writing and editing since freshman year at Penn. She’s been interning for the Philadelphia Inquirer this semester and says she “has no idea what’s coming after graduation!” Mari Miyachi graduated from MIT last May and is now living in San Francisco, working for a startup. This past November, Katie Riley’s field hockey team (Bowdoin) won the NCAA Division 3 national championship, playing against Summer Washburn ’11 (Salisbury) in the finals. After the season, Katie was also named an All-American! Calista Small and Serena Gelb journeyed across the Swedish Lapland together to visit the Ice Hotel, located inside the Arctic Circle. They went dogsledding, tried cloudberries, and saw reindeer. “It was a blast,” they say. “Looking forward to 2010’s five-year reunion.” J.P. Harrington is about to graduate from Dartmouth after taking a year off from classes to work as an editor-in-chief of a campus newspaper as well as work in the “real world.” He is excited to start work in New York City next year and has large plans for the future. “More details to come next time!” he says.
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Caroline Gezon had fun seeing Whitney Ford, Claire King, Katherine Sherrill, Alex Farrell, Sophie Fourteau, Nathalie Sun, and many more fellow Andover ’10 alums at Whitney’s 21st birthday party in NYC this past December. Anne Hunter is excited to report, “This academic year has been amazing so far!” She got an internship in the development office at Smith, began her fourth year on the Smith varsity equestrian team, and got engaged! If all goes as planned, she says, she’ll graduate with a philosophy degree and head to work in the development office of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. John Turiano will graduate this spring from Fordham University with a degree in international political economy. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. He just spent the past year plus a few months living in Milan and Moscow, including a stint in the American Embassy in Moscow. “But don’t make me talk about it,” he says, “or I may have to kill you.” Kelvin Jackson is graduating this spring with a double concentration in linguistics and computer science. At Brown, he has gained proficiency in two languages, learned to program, and taken part in seven Gilbert & Sullivan shows, while “managing to come out of my shell a bit more.” Mathew Kelley is currently a senior concentrating in East Asian studies at Brown. This past summer, he met up with a bunch of Andover alums, including Liz Lavin and Nonye Odukwe, in Beijing while he was interning at City Weekend magazine. He’s looking forward to finding work in China after graduation. Sophia Bernazzani graduated from George Washington University. She’s currently finishing an internship at the Center for Global Development and hopes to stay in DC.
Edith Young 470 Park Ave., Apt. 2D New York NY 10022 edithwyoung@gmail.com
We received a handwritten note from Albert Magnell. Albert is in his third year at Oxford, as a member of New College reading for an MBiochem. Over the summer, he worked at Princeton and made a small discovery on the reversibility of the arginine deimination in histones. Albert presented his work at a poster session in front of a couple hundred people. More recently, Albert has been working at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, studying the photo assembly of the water-oxidizing complex of photosystem II in thermophilic cyanobacteria. He expects his work to get published. In addition to Albert’s strides at Oxford, the Class of 2011 took to jet-setting, as many members of our class traveled overseas this semester. Natasha Vaz studied abroad in Spain, and Chioma Ngwudo spent her time in London, but the friends met up in Ireland to do some sightseeing. Chioma then traveled to Rome to visit Jess Holley. The two enjoyed nights out dancing and savoring Italian cuisine. Nneka Anunkor is spending this school year at Yonsei University in Korea. She has loved immersing herself in Korean culture. Nneka spent some time with Andrew Cho ’12 and his family for a nice dinner in Seoul. Mike MacKay studied abroad at Oxford, where he took on some diplomatic adventures, including a trip to Warsaw, Poland, to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Matt Appleby followed suit, attending Stanford’s Oxford program in the spring. Max Queenan, Thomas Armstrong, Cal Brooks, and Jeb Roberts had a little Pease House reunion during winter break up in Vermont. Braving the minus-30-degree weather, Cal hosted the young men of Pease. The gentlemen drove through the New Year’s snowstorm and skied at Stratton Mountain in Vermont for a few days. Patrick Brady, Adam Levine, and Ben Brodie enjoyed a much-needed reunion lunch at LaRosa’s in downtown Andover. It was great to catch up and reminisce over Andover adventures. The young men reportedly “had a lot of laughs—or LOLz?”
www.andover.edu/intouch Emily Timm reports that Charlotte Cleveland participated in a formal debutante ball cotillion in Chicago, Ill. Charlotte’s entourage included Elizabeth Kelly, Elizabeth Carrolo, Carolyn Harmeling, Melina Prentakis, Marilyn Hewett, Emily Kent, and Emily Timm. At the cotillion, the girls ran into fellow ’11ers Will Adams and Mick Wopinski, dressed to the nines in tails. We are counting down the days until our Fifth Reunion! [Editor’s note: The Academy has received word that Mark Adamsson passed away on March 5, 2014. Please see his obituary in the In Memoriam section.]
2012 Kennedy Edmonds kennedyedmonds@gmail.com 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 Ryan Ramos 700 Commonwealth Ave., Box 3232 Boston MA 02215 917-841-0294 ryan.alexander.ramos@gmail.com
and saw Angela Batuure, Nikita Singareddy, M.J. Engel, and Unwana Abasi. Suzanne is living in Hawaii for two months with Max Schorr ’99, working on a startup, and will be visiting Haonan Li in Singapore. Ali Belinkie, Madeline Silva, Topher Hedley, Edward Mole, M.J. Engel, JJ Hayward, Pearson Goodman, Amanda Chatupron-Lacayo, and Andrea Hewett attended an alumni meeting in Washington, D.C. Unwana Abasi hosted Rashana Shabazz, Didi Oyinlola, Gabbi Fisher, Christopher Amendano, and Jonathan Thompkins in her dorm room at Harvard during Andover-Exeter weekend. Jimmy Hunter could not make it to Andover-Exeter but instead visited Jen Sluka and Virginia Fu in NYC. He also had breakfast with Arianna Chang and Aiganym Zhumashova. M.J. Engel and Unwana Abasi visited Alexi Bell at West Point to watch Army play Navy in volleyball. Adrienne Pisch graduated from U.S. Army Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training, earning the right to call herself an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Army Reserve. Christiana Nguyen and Erin Wong have had brunch every Saturday to get some killer Instagram photos and chat about their fellow alumni. Erin planned to start at UCLA this spring. Over Christmas break, Sam Green stayed with Topher Hedley in Vail, Colo., where they spent a day skiing with Franco D’Agostino, Maia Hirschler, Olivia Bren, and Zach Merchant. Madeline Silva and Tahera Doctor visited Jackie Murray to decorate her house. Anna Stacy played the lead, Phyllis, in Brown University Gilbert & Sullivan’s production of Iolanthe and ate fish and chips with Sirus Han.
2013
FACULTY EMERITI
MJ Engel 414-477-5563 mjengel8@gmail.com
George and Pat Edmonds 45 Martingale Lane Andover MA 01810 978-475-3193 gandp@comcast.net
Connor Fraser 9 Scotland Drive Andover MA 01810 978-857-4443 cfraser142@gmail.com Chiamaka Okorie 347-981-0429 okoriesc@ymail.com
Devon Burger is spending her gap year working as an au pair in Salzburg, Austria, and traveling in her spare time to places like Paris and Budapest. Alexandra Donovan visited her over her winter break. Gina Sawaya rushed Tri Delta, and Amanda Zhu joined a coed fraternity. Suzanne Wang worked in NYC as an intern for GOOD/Corps
As we pick up the quill for these notes, we hope to maintain the fine tradition established by Sherm Drake, Elaine and Carroll Bailey, and Jennie and Andy Cline in providing a wide variety of reports for this column. Please help us by writing, e-mailing, or phoning your news. We are “equal opportunity” editors and, over time, hope to include news from all. To guide our beginning here, we talked with our predecessors to gain their good advice and also to receive the following news from them. Jennie and Andy Cline reported, “We continue to enjoy the beauty of Acadia National Park, where Andy is now a tour guide, and the community of Southwest Harbor, Maine, where we both are active and Jennie is working to organize a food co-op. We also cherish time spent on projects
in Andy’s wood shop and in Jennie’s art studio. Despite Jennie’s having to undergo a second round of chemotherapy, we seize every opportunity to be with our children and grandchildren (now 5, 2 1/2 , and 2). We plan to spend March in the San Francisco area, where son Kevin ’97 and his family live.” Elaine and Carroll Bailey have sold their charming Rose Cottage and decided to stay in Andover in the Atria Marland Place retirement community, where they had been living, presumably temporarily, while Elaine was undergoing chemotherapy. Elaine showed her traditional spirit (and her renewed energy from what appears so far to be a recovery from cancer) by decorating one of the Marland Place floors for Christmas. Carroll, unfortunately, continues to experience declining eyesight but still has his friendly voice and welcomes telephone calls. From Middlebury, Vt., Sherm Drake proudly told us that Dottie Drake celebrated her 90th birthday in September at a family gala in Ogunquit, Maine, and that he advanced to 92 on Thanksgiving. Given such longevity in Vermont, we decided to check on other Andover Vermonters to see what the Green Mountain State offers to Andover emeriti. From South Strafford, Jon Stableford ’63 writes, “We have inevitably and eagerly settled into Vermont town life, which means volunteerism and community life, most notably [wife] Cindy as president of the library friends and I as trustee at a local town academy. We both are study leaders in Dartmouth’s continuing education program, we heat our house with wood, and by January we will have gone solar for all our electricity. We are happy and active and gladly welcome any of our Andover friends who find themselves in central Vermont.” From farther north, Nat Smith writes, “Cilla [Bonney-Smith] and I are fortunate on many counts. We live in a lovely house with a great view in the friendly community of the very small Vermont town of Greensboro. With the usual aches and pains of advancing age, we enjoy good health; we walk, ski, and golf nearby in Vermont. All seven of our children are married, with James and Phil living nearby. All seven of our grandchildren work or go to school in New England. So we ‘babysit’ and go to their various dance and sport events. This year, Cilla celebrated her 70th by joining Ruth Quattlebaum and Marlys Edwards on a bike trip in Spain; Nat won a couple of small-time golf tournaments even though the ball ‘just doesn’t go as far anymore.’ We both work with a variety of local organizations. Cilla (of course) does flowers for church every Sunday and arranges for a wedding florist in summer. She does her walking-ladies group and spends many hours volunteering for the local retirement home. Nat does not do any flowers, preferring to serve on the zoning board, golf committees, land trust, and the water department, where his engineering background gets stimulated. He wants his Morse colleagues to know that he still hasn’t spotted a logarithm anywhere in town. We very much enjoy still being counted as part of the Andover | Spring 2014
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stay connected... greater Phillips Academy family. (Can you name the two retired PA faculty members who own houses within four miles of us up here just 30 miles from Canada?)” We will offer a prize to the first non-Vermont emeritus/a to send us the correct answer to Nat’s question. We will publish the answer and will welcome further news from other Vermont emeriti. On Dec. 7, a thousand friends, former students, colleagues, and family members filled Cochran Chapel to attend the memorial service for Jack Richards. The Richards’s sons and daughters spoke, the grandchildren read from the Bible, and Wendy Richards spoke and thanked everyone for coming. In his eulogy, Hale Sturges honored Jack in two special ways. He beautifully combined a history of major Phillips Academy events Jack helped initiate and supervise with a definition of the kind of great teaching Jack exemplified. Officiating were Rev. Philip Zaeder and Rev. Edward Gammons, a longtime friend of Jack’s at Groton School. Of special interest was the singing of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” written by Jack’s great-grandmother Julia Ward Howe. A reception in the Cage followed the service. Sadly, other deaths came recently: Hilda Whyte in September; Carmel Rodríguez-Walter, Jean McKee, and Dudley Fitts’s widow, Cornelia Fitts, in December; and Helen Eccles and Suzanne Hosmer in February. [Editor’s note: Please see obituaries for Jean McKee, Carmel Rodríguez-Walter, Helen Eccles, and Suzanne Hosmer in the In Memoriam section.] Old news from us, but with an interesting Andover connection: While visiting the Pecos Pueblo outside of Santa Fe, N.M., in June, we were delighted to meet volunteer park ranger Rudy Bose, grandson of the Peabody’s own A.V. Kidder. Two other park rangers helpful to us turned out to have been at Andover as part of the Pecos Pathways program. Then, to top it off, having learned that Alma and Scott Paradise (Class of 1910)’s older daughter, Carol Paradise Decker ’4 4, lives in Santa Fe, we called her and promptly received an invitation for a glass of wine. Carol, a former volunteer ranger at the Pecos Pueblo, has written several books about native life there. As we tackle this job as your secretaries, we entreat you to help us out by sending your news.
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i n m e mo ri am FACULTY EMERITUS
FORMER FACULTY
Jean C. McKee New London, N.H.; Dec. 12, 2013
Helen M. Eccles North Andover, Mass.; Feb. 27, 2014
Jean Crawford met Peter McKee when they were both undergraduates at Middlebury College. They married and, beginning in 1947, started a life together at Phillips Academy, where Peter taught physics and eventually involved himself in every facet of campus life. Active and energetic, Jean was equally involved. In the days when the male culture at PA was dominant, she graciously and ably performed the duties expected of a faculty wife, serving as a hostess for countless functions for students, faculty, trustees, and alumni at Morehead House, the McKees’ residence; mother in loco parentis to hundreds of PA students; and a leader of campus beautification efforts. As the role of women changed over the years, Jean entered the workforce. She worked for many years in the Office of Admission as an admissions coordinator and took on other duties simultaneously, including director of admission for Summer Session, day student counselor, tennis coach, and a trustee of New York City’s Oliver Program, from which Andover recruited inner-city minority students. After four decades at Andover, the McKees retired to the New London, N.H., area, where they had kept a residence since 1952. The family’s favorite getaway was a seasonal residence on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, where Jean was a member of the Lake Sunapee Protective Association. In New London, she was active in the New London Hospital Auxiliary, New London Garden Club, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, and other civic groups and volunteer activities. Peter McKee died in 2005. Jean is survived by a son, Peter Q. McKee Jr., and his wife, Barbara Halstead, of Nantucket; two daughters, Cynthia Scott and her husband, Buck, of Charlevoix, Mich., and Patricia Halsey and her husband, Michael, of Bath, N.H.; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Marilyn Stoke of California. Memorial donations may be made in Jean’s name to The Peter Q. McKee Scholarship Fund, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161.
Helen “Skip” Eccles and her husband, Frank “Skip” Eccles ’43, were a team for more than three decades at Andover, in sync not only in name but in their beliefs—and actions—on issues of equality of education, social justice, and how to lift up those striving for a better life. Mrs. Skip, or “she Skip” as she was known, was as strong an advocate as he, whether it was outreach to the Hispanic community in Lawrence, advocating for PA programs that trained inner-city math teachers, or giving Lawrence high school students an academic leg up in a summer math program. Helen died peacefully at her home in North Andover. She was 86. The couple’s proudest educational achievement was founding, nurturing, and administering the Andover-Dartmouth Urban Teachers Institute, a summer program for inner-city math teachers held from 1982 to 1995. Helen took over as director of the institute when her husband became dean of studies. Helen also poured her energy into Lawrence. She chaired the Greater Lawrence Health Center, raising funds and managing a $3 million annual budget that provided health care for more than 10,000 Hispanic adults and children whom the system had failed. A former ESL teacher in Lawrence, she also served as a board member and volunteer for the Bread & Roses soup kitchen. In conjunction with all of her volunteer commitments, she carved out a rewarding professional life. Educated at Bryn Mawr and trained as a writer and editor—she worked at Dartmouth College’s news office and at the Andover Townsman—she was appointed PA’s director of public information and concurrently served as editor of the former Andover Bulletin. A faculty spouse who fulfilled all the many responsibilities that that “title” once conferred, she also ran dormitories and cared deeply for the students under her tutelage. Friendships with students lasted a lifetime. “One of the things people loved most about my mom,” said her daughter Isabel, “is
that she made newcomers—both students and faculty—feel welcomed and at home on a deep, emotional level.” She was known for her madcap escapades and unabashed sense of the absurd. “If Mr. Skip was a little serious,” said friend and former colleague Meredith Price, “Mrs. Skip was chock-full of good humor. In a phrase, she was fun.” In the 1960s, the couple bought a hillside farm in Vermont, where the family gathered and set down roots. Their children, Charles “Cobber” ’70, Lydia ’72, Isabel ’75, and Betsy, were at the center of Helen’s life. They survive her, as do four grandchildren. Donations in Helen’s memory may be made to Trustees of Phillips Academy, The Frank Eccles Scholarship Fund for (MS)2, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161.
A longtime resident of Andover and a devout Catholic, Mrs. Hosmer lived a deeply religious life and was an active member of St. Augustine Parish in Andover, serving as a liturgical minister, catechumen, and Bible study leader. She committed much of her time to the elderly, volunteering at a nursing home after caring for her husband’s aging parents. She was accomplished in the art of tai chi, which she and her husband practiced together. Mrs. Hosmer passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family. She is survived by her husband, Edward Hosmer; her children, Melissa, Matthew, and Stephen; seven grandchildren; and one niece and five nephews, including Howard Miller ’83.
grammar book in three editions, which continues to be widely sold more than 30 years after its initial publication. For four years she used her mastery of languages as a medical interpreter at Lawrence General Hospital, a job that she loved and for which her talents and compassion for others were ideally suited. Most recently, she composed the subtitles for an internationally acclaimed documentary about the Camino de Santiago, the famous pilgrimage she hoped one day to make herself. In 2007 Carmel and Christopher purchased a home in Rockport, Mass., where she lavished care on both house and garden. “Carmel was a vivacious and beloved member of our community,” said Rev. Anne Gardner. “She shared her many talents with hundreds of students—as an instructor, in the dormitory, and as a welcoming presence to so many of us. She will indeed be missed.” A memorial service celebrating Carmel’s life was held in Cochran Chapel on January 25, 2014.
FACULTY EMERITUS SPOUSE Cornelia H. Fitts Haverhill, Mass.; Dec. 31, 2013
ABBOT AND PHILLIPS Carmel Rodríguez-Walter Andover, Mass.; Dec. 23, 2013 Suzanne Miller Hosmer Andover, Mass.; Feb. 19, 2014 A graduate of the University of Vermont, Suzanne Hosmer taught English and philosophy at Abbot Academy from 1967 to 1972. She declined the opportunity to teach at Phillips Academy after the merger of the two schools, her son Stephen ’94 said, instead choosing to devote her time to being a wife and mother. Mrs. Hosmer was an advisor and teacher to numerous girls in the Classes of 1969, 1970, and 1971, as well as a mentor to many students in her philosophy classes. Former Abbot colleague Jean St. Pierre remembers her as “a powerful intellectual.” “Sue taught at the Pike School in Andover for a number of years,” recalls Annie Spader Byerly ’73. “I had her in fourth grade, and she was my favorite teacher. She loved drama and put us all in a bunch of plays. When I moved on to Abbot, Sue moved there as well and became my advisor. Our friendship and mutual admiration continued to grow.” “Sue played a significant role in many of our lives during some pretty chaotic years,” says Janet Cohen-Miller ’70. “Her interests in the spiritual and psychological came at a time when our worlds were changing rapidly. Her perspective was inspiring to those of us who struggled with changing values and morals. Knowing Sue first as an advisor and later as her sister-in-law, I know how well loved she was as a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.”
A devoted member of the Phillips Academy community for more than three decades, Carmel Rodríguez-Walter died peacefully after a long illness. She was surrounded by her family, including her husband, PA music instructor Christopher Walter, and her children, Sophia ’01 and William ’03. Born in Havana, Carmel left Cuba with her family in 1961. She attended French schools in Paris and Madrid before moving to the United States in 1968. In 1969, she graduated from the French Lycée in New York and moved to California for her college years, graduating with a master’s degree in French literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1974. After further studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, she began a life of teaching. From 1979 to 1987, Carmel taught Spanish and Latin American history at PA. She met Christopher Walter early on and the couple married in 1981. They spent one year in England before returning to PA, where they raised their two children. One of Af-LatAm’s earliest advisors, Carmel also was a dorm counselor throughout those years. Later, while teaching at Merrimack College and Brooks School, she assisted her husband in running Blanchard House, sang regularly in the Gospel Choir, and was a loyal supporter of countless cultural events on campus. She also worked for two years as a greeter at the Addison Gallery, an institution she loved dearly. Carmel’s talents as a linguist were extraordinary, and her innovative teaching reflected her complete immersion in Spanish and French language and culture. She coauthored Una Vez Más, a Spanish
1938 Elise Duncan Danforth Green Cove Springs, Fla.; May 3, 2006 Sophie Breckenridge Fitz-Gibbon San Rafael, Calif.; March 29, 2013 Diana Greene Helfrich Ocean Pines, Md.; Dec. 20, 2010 Mary Toohey Kruse Honolulu, Hawaii; Oct. 9, 2013 Elizabeth Garvey Murphy North Andover, Mass.; Nov. 6, 2007 Mary-Frances Godfrey Richardson S. Berwick, Maine; Feb. 12, 2014 Elliot S. Tarlow South Paris, Maine; Nov. 18, 2013 Elliot S. Tarlow died peacefully shortly after his 93rd birthday. A 1942 graduate of Harvard College, he served in World War II as a navigator on B-17 Flying Fortresses. He later attended Harvard Business School and then joined the family business, the Alden Shoe Company. In the early 1970s, Elliot and two partners established Michaelson International, a cattle exporting company. His extensive travels throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East brought him into contact with many important people; he became especially friendly with the Aquino family of the Philippines and a passionate advocate for the restoration of democracy in that country during the Marcos dictatorship. Elliot loved sailing and the sea, but his first passion was golf. Though he scoffed at his two Andover | Spring 2014
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holes-in-one as “just lucky shots,” he was genuinely proud of having shot his own age at 83. He is survived by his four children, Pamela, Linda, Elliot “Buz” Jr. ’74, and Jeffrey ’81; his four grandchildren; his sisters, Charlotte Rubin ’36 and Joan Haldenstein; several nieces and nephews, including James Rubin ’61, Henry-Alex Rubin ’91, and Delphine R. McNeill ’95; and his former life partner and friend, Elinor Lynch. —The Tarlow Family Norman F. Wiss Jr. Short Hills, N.J.; Dec. 25, 2013
1939 Marjorie MacMullen Brewer Worcester, Mass.; Nov. 22, 2013
Gordon P. Small Pittsford, N.Y.; Sept. 6, 2013
1944 Melvin L. Bergheim Alexandria, Va.; Oct. 20, 2013 George N. Buffington Jr. Santa Fe, N.M.; Nov. 9, 2013 Edward S. Cook Chapel Hill, N.C.; Jan. 13, 2014
1945
Robert A. Applegate Jr. Fort Worth, Texas; Oct. 6, 2012
1940 John H.I. Morse Sr. Springfield, Ohio; Sept. 6, 2013 1941 Jay D. Levinsohn Pacific Palisades, Calif.; Jan. 19, 2014 Jay Douglas Levinsohn, 90, passed away suddenly, surrounded by his loving family. Jay was born in New York City and raised there and in Rumson, N.J. In 1945, he graduated from Princeton University. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army (attached to the Naval Transportation Corps) and made 20 transatlantic crossings during World War II. After college, Jay joined the men’s and boys’ clothing business founded by his father in New York City. He distinguished himself as one of the industry’s leading figures for almost 50 years. Jay was extremely optimistic and lived with true joie de vivre. His passion for life, his quick wit, his genuine concern for others, and his easygoing manner endeared him to everyone who knew him. Jay was an accomplished athlete, having lettered in lacrosse in college; he also excelled at tennis, swimming, show jumping, and polo. Jay and his wife raised their family in Tenafly, N.J., where they resided for 35 years. They spent the past 14 years in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Jay is survived by his wife of 55 years, Joyce; his daughter, Sharon; his son, Ross; and his grandchildren, Skylar and Jagger. —Sharon Levinsohn Richard B. Sheffield Middletown, R.I.; Jan. 13, 2014
1942 George Gostenhofer Laguna Woods, Calif.; Dec. 24, 2013 Nelson R. Jesup Dorset, Vt.; Jan. 1, 2014 R. Robert Siegel Chestnut Hill, Mass.; Dec. 22, 2011
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R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Kansas City, Mo.; Jan. 2, 2014 Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City was filled to capacity on the morning of January 9 for the Service of Thanksgiving memorializing Kansas City businessman, philanthropist, and civic and cultural leader R. Crosby Kemper Jr. Kemper’s banking career spanned more than five decades, beginning at age 22, when he worked as a night transit clerk at his father’s City National Bank. He rose to senior chairman of the multi-bank holding company, now known as UMB, in 2001. He retired in 2004, leaving the banking legacy to the next generation: His son J. Mariner Kemper became the sixth Kemper to lead the company; sons Sandy ’83 and Crosby III ’69 were previous CEOs. One of the community’s great personalities, Kemper helped make Kansas City the vital city it is today. He founded Agriculture Future of America, the Kansas City Symphony, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Metropolitan Performing Arts Fund. He believed deeply in civic responsibility, giving of his time, influence, and financial resources, and serving in leadership positions for a wide range of community organizations and philanthropic projects. He was the Republican candidate for the Senate in Missouri in 1962 and was, according to a son, “very proud of that race.” Passionate about art both as a collector and arts patron, he and his wife, Bebe, founded and served as board members and trustees of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, established in 1994. The museum houses his and his artist wife’s extensive collection. A noted figure regionally, nationally,
and internationally in the art world, he was a major donor and supporter of the Kansas City Art Institute and also served as a commissioner of the National Museum of American Art and as a trustee on boards of several smaller art institutions. Kemper remained devoted to Andover and the Addison Gallery of American Art throughout his life. In 1981, when serving on the Major Gifts Committee for the Addison’s capital campaign, he endowed the director’s position. Since then, the director’s title has been the Mary Stripp and R. Crosby Kemper director. A founding member of the Addison Advisory Committee, he continued on that committee—renamed the Addison Board of Governors— up until his death. Kemper’s philanthropy extended to the entire campus, including major gifts to support the restoration of the Memorial Bell Tower and projects for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library and the Elson Art Center. “The Addison has esteemed Crosby Kemper for many years as one of its most ardent supporters and advisors,” said Susan Faxon, interim director of the Addison. “His knowledge of American art, his affection for the museum, and his generous support and gifts of art have immeasurably enriched the Addison. We will miss his wise counsel as we chart the museum’s future, but his many gifts will remain treasured parts of the collection, and his wisdom will guide us as we uphold the goals and mission he embraced.” “Dad loved Andover,” said his son Crosby III, “and he always felt it was the making of him.” He is survived by his wife, Mary “Bebe” Stripp Kemper, and seven children from his marriage to her and to his former wife, Cynthia Warrick Kemper, who died in 1987. He leaves his children, R. Crosby Kemper III, Pamela Kemper Gabrovsky, Sheila Kemper Dietrich, Alexander C. “Sandy” Kemper, Heather Kemper Miller, J. Mariner Kemper, and Mary Kemper Wolf; 22 grandchildren, including Susan M. Kemper ’03 and Madeleine C. Kemper ’16; and two great-grandchildren. He instilled in his children the importance of “doing what’s right, not what’s popular,” and he served as a role model for civic involvement, a family member said. Contributions in memory of R. Crosby Kemper Jr. may be mailed to the Office of Academy Resources, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover MA 01810-4161. Please make checks payable to Trustees of Phillips Academy.
1946 William D. Benson Jr. Stuart, Fla.; Dec. 4, 2013 Jerome H. Ferguson Jr. Houston, Texas; Dec. 24, 2013 Charles W. Smith Ossipee, N.H.; Jan. 16, 2014
1947 Niels V. Carstensen Horsholm, Denmark; Nov. 22, 2010
Joel A. Kozol Melvin Village, N.H.; Feb. 12, 2014 Albert F. McLean Naples, Fla.; Jan. 15, 2014 Dr. Albert Forbes McLean attended Andover from 1943 to 1947. A member of AGC fraternity, he was manager of hockey, served for three years on the editorial board of The Phillipian, and, in 1946, was a Means Essay finalist. One summer during the Andover years, he and brother Roger ’48 headed West and worked on the wheat harvest before camping several weeks in the National Parks. Al graduated cum laude from Williams College in 1951, where he was manager of varsity football and president of his fraternity. He received an MA degree in history and a PhD degree in American civilization from Harvard University. His publications include William Cullen Bryant and American Vaudeville as Ritual, used in college courses across the country; his poetry was included in Best Poems of 1960. Al was the academic dean at Point Park College in Pittsburgh, where he guided the transition from a two-year business school to a four-year liberal arts university. He was also a professor of English there from 1969 to 1989, teaching courses in American literature and film history. He previously had served as a faculty member at Tufts University and Transylvania College. Al spent 12 summers in Maine at the family camp in Damariscotta running the popular Pemaquid Seminar in literature and poetry, with his academic friends as instructors. Those summers were a lakeside vacation for the family, including his beloved wife, Rev. Jean Mairs McLean, and children Stuart, Cameron, and Janet. He also is survived by seven grandchildren and a great-grandson. —The McLean Family
1948 Thomas M. Dudley Jr. Durham, N.H.; Dec. 26, 2013 Thomas Minot Dudley, 83, died in the company of his family on December 26, 2013. A graduate of Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School, Tom practiced family law in Portsmouth, N.H. His philosophy in divorce cases—to focus on the best interests of children—allowed many families to remain on good terms long after the marriage had ended. Tom loved children and brought out the best in others, practicing mediation before there was a word for it. Tom’s passion was sailing. In the 1950s, he raced his Star boat Princess on Lake Sunapee with his brother, Dick ’49. After moving to the New Hampshire seacoast, Tom sailed his succession of cruising sailboats—Viking, Right On, Celia, and Wild Hunter—from 1959 to 2013. His was often the lone sailboat on the horizon in late November; for decades he hauled his boats out only once there was snow on deck. His enjoyment of music, art, and literature and delight in conversation, humor, friendship,
and appreciation of nature were contagious. Tom loved life. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Dudley Webster Dudley; his daughters, Morgan and Rebecca; and granddaughter Lauren Dudley Hallett. —The Dudley Family Donald F. Lynch Fairbanks, Alaska; Feb. 1, 2014
1949 Richard J. Collins Andover, Mass.; Feb. 19, 2014 A legendary teacher and coach, Dick Collins passed away after a period of poor health. He was 82. “Literally thousands of kids have benefited from Dick’s tutelage in the classroom, on the playing fields, and throughout the community,” said PA Athletics Director Mike Kuta. “He inspired many to follow the non sibi path—to teach, to coach, to work with children, and to serve the broader community.” At Phillips Academy, Mr. Collins was a star on the gridiron and was awarded the Yale Bowl at Commencement. In his senior year, he scored 12 touchdowns in an undefeated season, which culminated with PA winning the New England prep school championship. At Dartmouth, he lettered in football three times. He is a member of the Dartmouth Hall of Fame and a 2013 inductee into the Andover Athletics Hall of Honor. After his military service in the Korean Conflict ended, he joined Andover High School (AHS) as head football and track coach. For more than 37 years, he guided his teams to numerous championships, including two straight Massachusetts high school Super Bowls in the 1970s. His track teams captured 37 Merrimack Valley titles and 24 All-State New England championships. He is a member of the Massachusetts football and basketball halls of fame. A few of the many honors bestowed on him include National Track and Field Coach of the Year, Eagle Tribune Coach of the Decade, and National High School Coach of the Year. Mr. Collins also taught history and social studies at AHS for nearly four decades and taught at Phillips Academy’s Summer Session. After retiring from AHS, he served five consecutive terms on the town’s school committee. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; children Carolyn Hemingway, Richard J. Collins, Jr., Edward F. Collins III, Valerie Simeone, and Jacqueline Dufresne; stepchildren Susan Flint, Laurie Brosnan, Charles Ziegenbein, and Cathy Kea; and 21 grandchildren. His first wife, Pauline, passed away in 1987.
Anne Dartt Leverich Southold, N.Y.; Jan. 9, 2014 Anne Dartt Leverich died in the early morning hours of January 9 at her home. Anne was my Abbot roommate, field hockey teammate, and tennis instructor. We have stayed friends ever since, often via mail as we each married and moved around the country. Recent years brought us within visiting range, and we took full advantage of that. Anne’s courage and faith during the three years she battled lung cancer were a poignant lesson. Her love and commitment to family and friends was an immeasurable gift. Anne will be missed sorely but will be remembered as a friend and mentor forever. She is survived by her husband, William; her children, Donald Leverich, Diane Vail, and Sandra DeLong; and seven grandchildren. —Fredericka “Freddie” Brown Bettinger ’49 Camilla L. Titcomb Belmont, Mass.; Aug. 31, 2013 Deborah Williams Troemner Lumberton, N.J.; Nov. 4, 2013
John W. Cross III Greenwich, Conn.; Dec. 25, 2013
“Debby” was a long-time class officer of Abbot ’49, who, in her friendly, quiet, and efficient way, never stopped working for the Class of 1949 or, for the rest of her life, for many important charitable organizations. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Troemner Herard; her son, Robert Wallace Troemner III; and four granddaughters. She and her husband, R. Wallace Troemner, were divorced in 1983. Most of Debby’s jobs had a strong non sibi flavor. She served as a volunteer placement officer for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Historical Society of Haddonfield, N.J. She also served as an administrator for the Friends of Independence National Historical Park. Her favorite activity was serving as a docent for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, from 1969 until she died. Perhaps somewhat unknown to many of her Abbot classmates was her extensive involvement in the integration of class functions for the two classes of 1949, which turned the Abbot and PA alumni groups into a more unified and effective class alumni organization. She also helped spearhead the class’s alumni fundraising drives for many years. These efforts culminated in 1999 when the combined 1949 alumni group raised more than $8.5 million for their 50th Reunion gift to the Academy. By that time, Debby had become vice president of the combined Class of 1949, Barry Phelps ’49 had become president, and the two had become close friends. Together, they served as coeditors of a joint 50th Reunion Yearbook, which included many photos and biographies of both PA and Abbot alumni. In 2005, in recognition of her many efforts on behalf of PA, Debby was honored with the Academy’s Distinguished Service Award. —Barry C. Phelps ’49
Philip S. Hayes Tacoma, Wash.; Jan. 23, 2014
Elinor Bozyan Warburg Hamden, Conn.; Feb. 23, 2014 Andover | Spring 2014
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1950 Samuel S. Ballard Chebeague Island, Maine; Dec. 5, 2013 Sam Ballard pursued a career in electrical engineering and enjoyed a lifelong devotion to sailing. After graduation from Harvard, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in arts and later in science, he joined the staff of renowned rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. Sam was a member of the design team for Explorer 1, the first successfully launched U.S. space satellite, and earned a personal commendation. He then spent more than three decades in New Hampshire working on defense-related electronic engineering projects. After retiring in 1999, Sam and his wife, Sally, became year-round residents of Chebeague Island, Maine, where they had spent summers and holiday vacations. Sam helped build his own ketch and trimaran and liked to take family and friends for cruises along the Atlantic seaboard. Sam died at 82 at his Chebeague Island home after a short illness. He is survived by his wife; two children; four stepchildren; and seven grandchildren. —Eric Wentworth ’50 George E. Clifford Jr. Plattsburgh, N.Y.; Feb. 6, 2014 George Clifford grew up in Pittsburgh and, after graduating from Andover, returned there to attend the Carnegie Institute of Technology. In 1953, he achieved his dream of becoming a fighter pilot like his father. He flew Sabre jet fighters for the U.S. Air Force in Europe and Southeast Asia. Upon returning to Washington, D.C., he became a White House aide during the Johnson Administration. George retired in 1973 as a lieutenant colonel and received several military honors, including a Bronze Star Medal. He settled in Plattsburgh, where he served as a volunteer firefighter and wrote a book about Lake Champlain’s old lighthouses. He is survived by two sisters and several godsons. —Eric Wentworth ’50 John E.H. Sherry Staunton, Va.; Oct. 30, 2013 Robert B. Simonton Savannah, Ga.; Aug. 31, 2013 Bob Simonton was a corporate lawyer and executive who devoted a great deal of time and energy to community service. He attended Amherst College and graduated from Columbia University and Syracuse University College of Law. His corporate career included senior positions at Bristol-Myers, CrouseHinds, and Sterling Drug. While living in Cazenovia, N.Y., Bob was at various times president of the Urban League of Onondaga County, chair of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, and board chair of Pebble Hill School. He and his wife, Tanya, and their children later lived in Westport, Conn. Bob and Tanya retired in 1990 to Savannah, Ga., where Bob volunteered with Georgia Legal Services and Goodwill and was a mentor to people with addictions or other personal needs.
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In 2012, Bob and Tanya moved to North Carolina, where he died at age 80 at their home in Charlotte. Bob is survived by Tanya, his wife of 56 years; their three children, Sharon, Bob Jr., and Scott; and six grandchildren. —Eric Wentworth ’50 Frederick Simpich III Washington, D.C.; Jan. 5, 2014 Fred Simpich, a Washington, D.C., lawyer for five decades, died at 82 of bone cancer. He moved to Washington after graduation from Stanford University and Stanford Law School. In 1965, he joined the Department of Commerce as special assistant to Secretary John T. Connor and then to Secretary Alexander “Sandy” B. Trowbridge ’47. He next served as executive assistant to Secretary C.R. Smith before becoming the department’s general counsel. In private practice, Fred served many years as general counsel to the National League of Cities. He helped launch the NLC Mutual Insurance Company and was its first administrator. He later practiced corporate, real estate, insurance, and reinsurance law with another firm before retiring in 2011. Fred enjoyed hunting and fishing, tying his own trout flies, and making bamboo fly rods. He taught Bible study courses as a member of Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Washington. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Patricia. —Eric Wentworth ’50
1951 Harry W. Berkowitz Darien, Conn.; March 15, 2014 Harry’s soft, caring demeanor and gentle voice belied the fiery competitive nature that characterized him on and off the football and lacrosse fields and in his career; it endeared him to family, friends, Andover and Princeton classmates and teammates, and everyone he met during 30 years as a retail executive at Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sakowitz, and Zale Corporation. His career was capped by seven years as president of the Yale Co-op. A Princeton class agent and founder of Princeton Project 55, Harry also was heavily involved in reunions at both Andover and Princeton, later working in Connecticut with nonprofits to provide internships for recent graduates. He was a member of The Princeton Prize in Race Relations Committee. Harry married Mary Jane “Mimi” Dreier in 1956. Mimi passed away in 2007. In recent years his life was made complete by his cherished relationship with Donna Dean. Harry is survived by Donna; his children, Ann Berkowitz, Peter Berkowitz, Edward Berkowitz, and David Young; six grandchildren; and his brother William ’54. —George S.K. Rider ’51 Richard H. Ullman Princeton, N.J.; March 11, 2014
1952 Frederick R. Dent III Shalimar, Fla.; Jan. 1, 2014 1954 Howard V. Clarke Clayton, Mo.; Feb. 17, 2007 George W. Fang Union, Maine; April 13, 2012 Charles H. Faurot Upper Montclair, N.J.; Aug. 25, 2013 Roger B. Hardy May 18, 2011 Peter Kuntz Mexico; Jan. 5, 2006 William A. Ullman New York, N.Y.; June 21, 2013 Oliver M. Whipple Jr. Virginia Beach, Va.; Oct. 23, 2013 Col. Oliver M. Whipple Jr., fondly known as “Skipper” to his men and a true American war hero, was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on January 16. He died after a brave and lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. A graduate of Yale University, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps on June 4, 1958. His long and outstanding career as a Marine included two tours in Vietnam. Some of his fondest memories, he once said, were serving with the Fox 2/7 in Vietnam and with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1988. The list of his merit awards, honors, and medals is long. Most notably, he received one of the Marine Corps’ highest honors, the Silver Star, “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy” when serving as commanding officer in Thanh Lam, Vietnam, in March 1967. While conducting a search-and-destroy mission, his platoon came under devastating enemy fire. Quickly assessing the situation, Maj. Whipple directed his men’s fire into the enemy positions. With complete disregard for his own safety and as enemy fire erupted all around him, he rushed to the side of a wounded Marine and dragged him, under a hail of enemy fire, to safety. He then directed artillery and air strikes against the enemy’s fortified positions, while exposing himself to intense enemy fire. He also was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with combat “V” and two gold stars and a Purple Heart Medal with gold star. Other significant military awards include the Legion of Merit, given for his outstanding work as assistant chief of staff/manpower in 1986 and 1987 and then as deputy chief of staff/command inspector at Quantico, Va., in 1987 and 1988. He is survived by his two children, Wendy Dahmer and Dr. Oliver Whipple; his former wife, Gail Baldwin Whipple ’55; and three grandchildren.
1955 Elizabeth Sawyer Hope Durham, N.H.; March 22, 2008 1957 Wayne L. Earl Woodside, Calif.; Oct. 16, 2013 Sally Lawrence Kauder Keswick, Va.; Nov. 14, 2013
1958 Thomas A. Gildehaus Moline, Ill.; March 10, 2014 1960 Kristianne Graham Andrews Falmouth, Mass.; Feb. 24, 2014 Roger B. Levin Sherman, Conn.; Jan. 3, 2014 M. Gerald Sedam II Morristown, N.J.; Dec. 24, 2013
1969 Thomas C. Allen Concord, Mass.; May 14, 2013 Robert A. Gardner III Naples, Fla.; Oct. 14, 2013
1970 Owen E. Hearty Jr. Bronxville, N.Y.; April 10, 2013 1971 Richard J. Drake Jr. Auburn, Calif.; Feb. 5, 2014 1977 John W. Meehan North Scituate, R.I.; Feb. 6, 2014 1979 Tonita F. Lipscomb Durham, N.C.; May 25, 2012 2011 Mark N. Adamsson Stockholm, Sweden; March 5, 2014 A junior in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Mark Adamsson died of lung and heart failure due to medical reasons while traveling with classmates during spring break in the Dominican Republic. He was 22. “Mark embodied the true nature of what it meant to be a gentleman,” said Brian Delaney ’11. “He lit up every room with his unrelenting charm and navigated each situation with unmatched grace and poise. A particularly adept conversationalist, Mark strove to gain a deep understanding of his peers through constant engagement and demonstrative
respect for all—which often was manifested in discussions extending deep into the night during his time in Stuart House.” “Mark was a thoughtful, gracious, and kind human being,” said Aya Murata, former dean of Pine Knoll cluster. “He was an outstanding leader in Pine Knoll as dormitory proctor and disciplinary committee representative. People were drawn to his warmth and wit. He was one of the most well-regarded and respected students on campus, by faculty and students alike.” In a 2011 letter of recommendation to college coaches, English instructor Greg Wilkin, Mark’s tennis coach for three years, wrote, “Mark is a remarkable young man: a brilliant tennis player, an excellent student, and, what is more, a young person of inspiringly staunch character. He is a powerful, accurate offensive player who pays attention to his footwork and can play terrific defense…. But the main thing is his disposition. He [is] a superbly determined but memorably humane young man.” Alasdair McClintic ’13 remembers his teammate: “When I was a new student, Mark took the time to make me feel at home both on the tennis team and at PA in general. He was a great mentor and a role model as to how a team captain should act. Mark showed me that leading by example is far more important than being loud. I tried to emulate his actions when my time as captain came, as I know the strong impact his kindness had on me. Mark will be sorely missed.” Classmates can e-mail memories to their class secretaries for inclusion in the fall issue of Andover. Members of the Class of 2011, in conjunction with faculty, are in the beginning stages of establishing a memorial fund in honor of Mark.
MEMBERS OF THE PA COMMUNITY Colleen E. Pelletier—Colleen Pelletier, administrative assistant for the Mathematics and Science for Minority Students program, died at home surrounded by her loving family on January 25, 2014, following a long battle with cancer. She was 32. Colleen, who was from Dracut, Mass., joined Phillips Academy in 2008. During her five years at the Academy, she oversaw thousands of student and faculty applications and selflessly supported the (MS)2 director and the program’s important work. Colleen will be remembered for her ever-present smile, her strength, and her consistently positive attitude. She is survived by her husband, John M. Pelletier; her parents; and a brother. Eugene C. Winter Jr.—Gene Winter of Lowell, Mass., passed away on February 24, 2014, at age 86. His lifelong interest in archaeology and history was kindled by a visit to the Peabody Museum when he was 11. He became a prominent figure in the archaeology of the Northeast and worked on projects with several Peabody personages, including Doug Byers, Fred Johnson, and Scotty MacNeish. A leader of archaeological societies in Massachusetts and other Northeastern states, Gene was renowned for his knowledge of local artifacts and history. He also enjoyed a long career as a public school teacher and administrator In the 1980s, Gene served as caretaker of the Peabody, and, in 2002, his quiet strength helped guide the museum’s rebirth. As honorary curator, Gene worked regularly on artifact analysis until his death. In 2013, he added his detailed history of the Pow-Wow Oak in Lowell to his long list of publications. For a lifetime of service to the field, Gene earned the Society for American Archaeology’s Crabtree Award in 2005. In his honor in 2010, the Peabody Museum and Phillips Academy created the Eugene C. Winter Award to recognize volunteerism. He is survived by his daughter, Nancy Winter; two sisters; and beloved companion Barbara Brown.
In Memoriam Protocol Please notify Alumni Records at alumni-records@ 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.
Andover | Spring 2014
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Tales out of school
Rules, Tea Dances, and Late Night Ramblings by Sara Livermore ’45 My mother applied to Abbot [for me] in an entirely clandestine way in 1942, while I was at another of the five schools in several states I had more or less attended since 1940. My civil engineer father’s War Department assignments— for the Army and Navy munitions manufacture in large installations scattered about the interior United States—were the cause of these wartime journeys. I spent usually about four months in a school before changing states and taking on a new one. Abbot apparently was moved by my distressingly irregular life and sent a test, which I took at our dining room table. I was unprepared when an acceptance letter came—along with a little Blue Book of Rules. My parents read this with poorly concealed amusement, and I, in absolute horror, was too stunned to speak. [Later this handbook was put on the infamous “Banned in Boston” list.]
Sara Livermore in 1944
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Andover | Spring 2014
of these untrustworthy males. We didn’t. And exchanged flirty remarks. In spring, sometimes on warm nights I went out alone from the library windows close above the ground. Just walked, roaming for a few hours rather as a wraith in all that country silence, only farms then and fields and orchards with nightcalling birds and the half-heard passage of an animal more hidden than the human trespasser. I never met anyone. A few dogs, and once two horses dreaming together at a fence I climbed over. Thinking about this I realize I went about with a complete sense of safety, a lack of fear not uncommon at the time.
I became grateful for the best teachers I ever had, giving me a love and respect for learning lasting a lifetime. Miss Alice Sweeney took me on as a tutee for a year, attempting to patch the great holes of a grievous past and inspiring me by her Abbot, as a physical set of buildings and trim patience toward the attitudes of a scholar. She grounds, seemed quiet and calm. But the life of required five written assignments a week together growing up is neither, though Life with Rules with rewrites of previous papers heavily scored proceeded and friends were made, some for a by red pencil. After I graduated from Radcliffe/ lifetime. I missed my old, borderless life, though, Harvard in 1956, she said she wasn’t surprised. I and the adjustment took a long time. Classes told her it was the memory of her red pencil that were small; homework, an almost new experience inspired me. She laughed. that previously had been done walking to school; I left Andover in June just after the war in the failure of all mid-term exams. Insulted, I got Europe ended. My family was going home to the idea and then began to enjoy—and that is the our own house, and my brother—after fighting word—the battle of learning. Some wonderful in the armored infantry all across Europe—was teachers, unsparing but distantly kind. expected home that summer. I found sports, in the form of field hockey, to be I was named June by the State of North Carolina, frightening. I had not been to schools where there as my parents couldn’t agree on a name. At Abbot, were playing fields for girls. Here, Abbot and I was called Skip (except by faculty). Over 30 years visiting huskies in wagging shin guards rushed ago, I changed to Sara for a great aunt I was fond of, back and forth swinging curved sticks mainly at a merry soul among a band of eccentrics in Maine. exposed ankles. After leaving Abbot, I soon married and had a son, We had no radios, phonographs, or makeup. We Tom Reid. After some years, I left the husband and wore the plaid skirts and saddle shoes of that kept Tom. I moved to Cambridge and became a time and had a good-looking Abbot blazer for student, happily all the way, majoring in history occasions. There were tea dances with Andover with Tom as great company. I taught at Shady Hill boys and a formal dance before which our dresses for four or five years, then remarried and had two were examined by faculty and a maid. Additional more boys, Adam and Peter Cvijanovic. From then, material or lace was added to prevent the boys domestic life, teaching and tutoring, and setting up from looking downward at what the maid called households and English-language lessons for many “A View.” We were told to move to the other side refugees from communist Yugoslavia and Czechoslaof the street in Andover town if we met with any via. Today, I live in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
2014 March 26
End of Tuition Day! Everyone is a full scholarship student from this day through the end of school
$70,000
Approximate annual cost to educate an Andover student
55
%
Portion of cost covered by tuition
+
=
“It turns out the strongest schools, the schools that thrive over time, are ones where everyone pitches in.”
Making It Big with Daze
Kelley Tialiou
This spring, artist Chris “Daze” Ellis (far right) guided students in the creation of a mural in the Elson Art Center. “We jumped right in, planning the entire mural with Daze’s help in just two class periods and then attacking the wall with large brushes and sponges,” says Kay Xia ’15. “We wanted the mural to celebrate our boarding school experiences and Andover’s rich history while conveying our desire to make Andover better now and in the future,” adds Zoe Chazen ’14 (see story, page 17).
—John Palfrey Head of School
45%
Portion covered by philanthropy
100
“This scholarship has been a blessing. It has given me an opportunity that I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and I’m grateful for it.” —Avery Jonas ’16
%
Percentage of students supported by the generosity of alumni, parents, and friends
Your gift helps ensure that an Andover education remains accessible to youth from every quarter. We hope you’ll give today! Thank you for your participation.
Online: giving.andover.edu By phone: 978-749-4247 By mail: Phillips Academy Office of Academy Resources 180 Main Street Andover MA 01810-4161
SPRING 2014
Households that receive more than one Andover magazine are encouraged to call 978-749-4267 to discontinue extra copies.
Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts 01810-4161 ISSN 0735-5718
SPRING 2014
COED@40 Periodicals postage paid at Andover MA and additional mailing offices
Seniors Michael Lata and Bryan Ackil unload a pile of metal fence posts for recycling. Earlier in the day, a group of students removed chain-link fences from an empty lot where Lawrence Habitat for Humanity will build a house this summer. The entire Phillips Academy student body participated in a Non Sibi Weekend activity or event in April (see story, page 43).
then & now