extended edition  winter 2014 617-520-5260
www.shs.org 12 Happenings 18 Gathering STEAM for the Future 41 Class Notes 133 Remembering Marjorie Gatchell
Shady Hill School | 178 Coolidge Hill | Cambridge, MA 02138
2 Full STEAM Ahead
integrated learning for the FU TUR E
board of trustees 2013 – 2 014 Jane Moncreiff ’76 Chair Chuck Longfield Treasurer Nima Eshghi Clerk David Altshuler Bob Crowley Pam Dickinson Maria Choi Fernandopulle Jeanne Fitzgibbon Melissa Hanenberger Alyssa Haywoode Jake Hopkins TTC ’01 James Houghton Scott Matthews Jeanne McDermott Rory Morton ’78, TTC ’87 Erik Ramanathan Alex Sacerdote Karl Sims Suzanne Siner ’83 Mark Stanek Head of School Lenore Gessner Travis ’63 Ralph Wales John Wilson By invitation: Kimberly Kubik Director of Advancement Elizabeth Reid ’74 Chief Financial Officer Nina Coslov Co-Chair, Parents’ Council Allison Webster Assistant Head of School
This issue of the Shady Hill Magazine focuses on one of the key elements in the Strategic Plan, STEM/STEAM program and facilities. I hope you will enjoy reading and learning more about these initiatives and catching up on news from alumni. We look forward to focusing on other elements of the Strategic Plan and about other aspects of Shady Hill life in future editions.
alumni board 2013 – 2014 Isabel Black ’02 Kathryn Dingman Boger ’94 Kip Brown ’84 Andrew David ’98 Hilary Johnson ’01 Vera Zieman Garibaldi ’91 Mary Ellen Grossman ’62 Melinda Margetson ’76 Jeita Phillips ’94 Kathryn Bailis Phillips ’90 Emily Hart Reith ’89 Caroline Simonds ’95 Lenore Gessner Travis ’63 Julia Vance ’10 Frederick A. Wang ’65 Charles Wyzanski ’59 communications of fice Catherine D. David Director of Communications Erik Smith Communications Assistant
Welcome to a new format for the Shady Hill Magazine! An important part of our Strategic Plan is to strengthen our communication about Shady Hill’s unique identity to internal and external constituents. Two years ago, a Mission and Identity working group (Nima Eshghi, Sue Hallowell, Alyssa Haywoode, James Houghton, Rory Morton ’78 TTC ’87, Jeita Phillips ’94, Anne Scribner, Kim Walker, Allison Webster and myself ) was formed as part of the strategic planning process to address the different interpretations and understandings of Shady Hill’s mission in the 21st Century. After several months, the working group reaffirmed Shady Hill’s timeless mission for today’s learners. Additionally, the group interviewed several firms and hired one to partner with Shady Hill to enhance the messaging of our mission and pedagogy. Over the last several months our administrative team, including Catherine David, Director of Communications, and Cassie Firenze, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, have been working to implement their recommendations. In the coming months, we will be taking exciting visible steps in achieving some of our strategic communication goals: a new admissions view book, an updated website, and grade-level “almanacs” that distill and articulate Shady Hill’s distinctive identity and methods. For those wondering, our new graphic identity does not replace our traditional school colors and logo for athletics and other events and celebrations. As with any timely communications program, our approach is intentionally designed to improve alignment between internal and external understandings of our school and to simultaneously convey and protect the timeless value of a Shady Hill education. Warmly,
alumni notes coordinator Kyra Travis ’00 Director of Alumni Relations alumni notes editor Nancy Cahalane Data Management Coordinator photography Porter Gifford ’79/Porter Gifford Photography and the Shady Hill School Archives
OUR MIS SION Shady Hill School wants children to be joyful, active learners who develop the intellectual discipline necessary to become contributing, ethical citizens. To accomplish these ends, we believe in the primacy of exploration and discovery, we advance the mastery of skills, and we help students shape meaning from knowledge.
Mark Stanek, Head of School
LE T TER FROM THE HE AD OF SCHOOL
STEM/STEAM is not a new initiative for Shady Hill. Rather, it is an enhanced way to build on our tradition of integration of disciplines and to foster creativity, critical thinking and teamwork.
Pick up any newspaper in the last month or review top Google searches and you will find a plethora of STEM articles explaining the necessity to better prepare students to enter STEM-related fields. Here are a few highlights of what I have read: “STEM education is the Key to U.S.’s Economic Future.” www.usnews.com; “1.4 million computer jobs will be in demand by 2020.” www.code.org; “7 out of the 10 fastest growing jobs are technology positions requiring skills in developing software and mining data.” www.mashable.com
Full STEAM Ahead Mark J. Stanek HE AD OF SCHOOL
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The United States media has always had an obsession with critiquing math education, but now a new emphasis on science, technology and engineering is similarly elevated as a critical educational need for immediate attention. STEM is the acronym used to define these four disciplines and “STEAM” is sometimes used to incorporate arts. What I find most frustrating about the various institutes and government officials is their focus on encouraging students
to pursue STEM programs in order to fill jobs and to help the US remain a global innovation leader. Even President Obama has entered the dialogue by setting a goal to recruit and train 100,000 new teachers in the field of STEM. All of these areas are important, but what is often lost in this discourse is the focus on what skills, attributes, and habits of mind are needed for our students’ life-long success. A key element of Shady Hill’s Strategic Plan is focusing on STEM/STEAM programming and facilities. Last year, I hosted several roundtable discussions to tap the expertise from current and past parents, alumni, and educators who are working in STEM/STEAM-related fields. I posed the following questions to participants: • In what ways did Shady Hill or your elementary experience influence your career path? • What are the skills necessary to be successful in your
current field of work? • What skills are lacking in candidates applying for jobs in your field? These roundtable events were rewarding as I gained many insights into the impact of a Shady Hill education and the critical skills needed to be successful in STEM/STEAM-related fields. Creativity, critical thinking skills, and teamwork were the top three characteristics/skills named most frequently. At Shady Hill, we provide opportunities throughout Central Subject and the arts, as well as in science, technology, and math, for students to practice and harness these skills. Last year, faculty, using Rube Goldberg for inspiration, collaborated on a Grade IV and V project to create simple machines to move a ball through a complex series of chain reactions. This December, students learned how coding is used to problem-solve and a number of grades participated in an “Hour of
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Code” to create solutions through simple computer programming. Every day I see how students are using their creative problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, especially in Central Subject. In Grade III, students grapple with the complex tasks on a whaling ship, exploring how individuals contribute to the group’s success, and vice versa. In the Middle School, students wrestle with challenging questions about ferreting out historical truths. How does land shape culture and culture shape land? Does a society need rules? Through experiential learning, Shady Hill students have the opportunity to access and apply knowledge, practice communication skills and think through complex issues. We also encourage students to take intellectual risks and embrace failure as part of the learning process.
In these roundtable sessions, I also learned what professionals see as the traits lacking in college graduates. I was surprised to learn that working as a team, taking initiative, and learning from failure were often lacking. At Shady Hill, we encourage students to take initiatives to problem solve and strengthen community. Last year, a student sought to make a change in the milk varieties available at lunch. She used her research skills to analyze the nutritional value of chocolate milk compared to regular milk. After interviewing a physician and analyzing her research, she prepared a proposal to recommend making chocolate milk available for our middle school students two days a week. As we look ahead to implementing strategic STEM/STEAM initiatives, we have thoughtfully considered how best to expand our commitment
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to interdisciplinary curricula. Last year, a STEM/ STEAM working group was formed as part of the strategic planning process to investigate ideas that build on our tradition of integrated learning and creative and innovative pedagogy. Teachers discussed how we currently integrate learning at Shady Hill and articulated the barriers to further integration; these included curriculum, space, and time. These educators also visited other elementary, middle, and high school programs (public and private), as well as colleges and universities like MIT, Tufts, and Olin College of Engineering, to learn about the work they were doing in these fields. Additionally, we have held yearlong program reviews on math and science to reflect on best practices, alignment of standards, and innovative ideas. All of this work will allow us to take a thoughtful approach to providing an even more enriching learning experience for our students. In the coming months, we will designate increased time for planning interdisciplinary projects, fusing humanities, arts, and STEM topics. We have already offered our first design elective that allows students to create prototypes using a 3D printer and laser cutter. We are currently exploring more ways to incorporate engineering and computer programming into our B-VIII curriculum. We will need to look thoughtfully at providing space for kids to tinker and for teachers to provide an integrated program. Lastly, I would like to appoint a STEM/STEAM coordinator to investigate partnerships in the Boston area and to coordinate STEM speakers to share their creative ideas and innovative work with our students. STEM/STEAM is not a new initiative for Shady Hill. Rather it is an enhanced way to build on our tradition of integration of disciplines and to foster creativity, critical thinking and teamwork. This continued focus will allow us to implement thoughtful change that is aligned with our values and mission. We will continue to foster joyful, curious learners and ethical citizens who will be prepared to thrive in an ever-changing world.
It is a typical morning choice time in Kindergarten. A couple of souped-up tops are spinning wildly and two kindergarteners are rapt, watching to see how long the whirling will last and whether or not their fancy spinners will soar right off the round table. Eyes are wide, and voices chuckle and cheer. Suddenly, a piece from one top flies off across the room with a zing . . .
Penguins In Space, Kid-Bots, & More In the Lower School Serena Wilkie Gifford LOWER SCHOOL HE AD
“Whoa! Did you see that?!” one of the kindergarteners exclaims, looking excitedly at me. “Now that was unexpected!”
After a shared giggle, we talk for a few minutes about what might have sent the piece flying. The kindergartener speaks animatedly about his spinning creation, built with K’NEX parts, explaining that he had added a few special pieces to an ordinary top “to see what would happen . . . Maybe it would go faster?” Soon, the time for conversation is over and he is back to his tinkering, absorbed in trying to make an “even better” toy. Across the way, a group of children is intensely focused on an intricate block structure and immersed in a discussion about what to add next. “If it’s a rocket,
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Serena Wilkie Gifford, Lower School Head
it needs thrusters,” says one child with the decided confidence of a NASA engineer. “OK, let’s put the thrusters on . . .” says another, and more blocks are added in a flurry and without hesitation. “And now, put the penguin space guys inside the cockpit!” Soon enough, six tiny plastic penguins waddle aboard just in time for blast off, guided by the small hands of a kindergartener. To observe five-year-olds playing with K’NEX, a plastic construction toy system, or building with wooden blocks is to watch young people problem solve and explore fundamental concepts related to simple machines, cause and effect, gravity, proportion, and spatial relations, to name a few. The children actively and contentedly develop academic skills while also honing interpersonal skills such as collaboration, sharing, and listening. At Shady Hill, creating and supporting opportunities like these for meaningful learning of an integrated and sophisticated nature is at the heart of our program. Our long-standing intention to offer curriculum that is rich with interdisciplinary connections is alive and well. We are well known for our humanities-based “central subject” methodology and the Lower School curriculum is evidence of how we also have integrated elements of math, science, and the arts with our thematic and central subject studies. Current trends in education are rife with enthusiasm for STEAM initiatives and it is reassuring to see that our program reflects the integrated principles of the STEAM paradigm. The same is true of a new educational methodology called “design thinking,” a problemsolving mindset that is not so different from the way in which we encourage children to approach problem
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solving in all areas of their days at school: ask, imagine, plan, create, test, and improve. Both STEAM and design thinking confirm the value and timeliness of our current practice and, in many ways, the current cultural interest and focus on STEAM and design thinking helps us at Shady Hill to reinforce and make more explicit our curricular goals and aspirations. At the same time, these principles serve to guide us in setting a course for future interdisciplinary curricular development in ways that will allow us to preserve our educational philosophy while also staying current and progressive in our approach to learning. Always running parallel to our academic curriculum and of equal if not greater importance is our affective curriculum. Developing and supporting the social and emotional wellness of Shady Hill children has always been fundamental to our mission and it is our goal to integrate the two essential threads, academic and affective, starting in Beginners and continuing through Grade VIII. A recent article in The New York Times by Nicole Perlroth, “Solving Problems for Real World, Using Design”, articulates well the exciting ways in which academic and affective integration is happening through design thinking, albeit at the college and graduate level. She reports that students at Stanford University’s d.school Institute of Design are ” . . . developing what David Kelly, one of the school’s founders, calls an empathy muscle.” According to Perlroth, “The students are taught to forgo computer screens and spreadsheets and focus on people.” d.school students are charged with spending time beyond university walls with people in order to observe their daily living, identify problems, and then design solutions to ease lives. How marvelous to recognize and identify the affective
Current trends in education are rife with enthusiasm for STEAM initiatives and it is reassuring to see that our program ref lects the integrated principles of the STEAM paradigm.
element as being central to the principles of STEAM and design thinking! And, how fitting for our elementary school, anchored in its commitment to interdisciplinary learning and social and emotional wellness, to do the same as we consider ways to grow and enrich our curriculum guided by central subject, STEAM, design thinking, and affective education. So far in the 2013–2014 school year, the Lower School is replete with evidence of interdisciplinary curricular projects, some tried and true and some brand new, that reflect robust and eclectic manifestations of not only the academic and affective sides of our curriculum but STEAM and design thinking as well. It is an exciting time to be a Lower Schooler at Shady Hill! Beginners spend much of their year learning about what it means to be members of the Shady Hill community. Active, guided investigations of the campus where they are asked to collect data and represent their findings in words and pictures are one way that children learn more about their school and its unique, natural setting. In Kindergarten, children have been introduced to robotics through explorations with Bee-bots, programmable robots designed for young children. In addition, they have had opportunities to become
robots themselves, a.k.a. “kid-bots,” and experience being “programmed” by their classmates. After studying insects and spiders in Grade I, children used LEGO WeDo sets to build and program some little “monsters” modeled after insects. Grade II children recently built Charles River-worthy motorized water vehicles out of LEGO, and later in the spring they will learn about the variety of bridges along the river and try to replicate their construction with wooden blocks in the classrooms. In Grade III, the in-depth study of whales is highly scientific and mathematical (What is salinity? How do the sizes of different whales compare?), and a highlight of the school year for all was this fall’s Whale Assembly, complete with original whale paintings, themes of whale conservation, songs, and theatrics. Children in Grade IV took on a “Tiny House” project. The challenge was to design and build a 3D tiny house that was both innovative and strong. Children were given design parameters and a limited budget for raw materials, and then they constructed their original tiny homes. Since the beginning of the year, children in IV-Mackay have been involved in a service-learning project focused on the nature area in the back playground behind the current Grade II building.
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Krista Demas MIDDLE SCHOOL HE AD
Learning Knitting / Knitting Learning As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to learn how to knit. I envied the people I knew who gave me handmade baby hats and blankets. I touched the soft fabric and pondered the time and patience it must take to create something so beautiful and intricate. I’m not sure if I thought it was too complicated for me, or what, but until this winter, I never made the effort to learn. Last fall, my daughter who is in fourth grade at Shady Hill, began to knit a hat like so many fourth graders before her. She would come home, sit on the couch and knit away. She looked so content and happy. I was inspired. One day in passing, I mentioned my desire to learn knitting to a colleague and voila – she gave me a hat that she’d begun for me. The day we left for Thanksgiving break, she taught me the knit stitch and I was on my way. As the days went by, I worked on the hat until it seemed that I needed to start decreasing it to fit my head. I took a picture of my progress with my iPhone and sent a text to my colleague who within minutes replied with a basic pattern and then directed me to YouTube. She said I could find all the answers to my knitting questions there.
It took me a while to find a set of videos that I liked. There were so many. I looked for a person whose voice I liked and whose camera was close enough so that I could see what she was doing. I watched the videos over and over, yet I never quite got the hang of it. In retrospect, I know it was because I lacked confidence in myself with a new skill. On the other hand, my daughter, a digital native, watched the video for casting on a few times and then was able to teach me! I learned better from her. Almost all of the people who know me well are surprised that I like to knit. I’ve never been described as a crafty or artistic person — more likely a geek or a gadget person. I not only love, but also rely upon technology in my life. I think that’s why, for me, learning to knit has become a metaphor for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) at Shady Hill.
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our students are growing up in a new age of information and digital access. we have a responsibility to teach them how best to navigate the ocean of data at their fingertips and the ethics related to the use of technology.
STEM and STEAM are on many educators’ minds at the moment. Shady Hill has always had a commitment to integrated learning in our central subjects; while this continues to be true, learning from grade to grade and subject to subject is now also beginning to incorporate elements of the STEAM fields. In our classes, you’ll find art in math, math in science, technology in CS, etc. In this year, alone, I have seen shining examples of integrated STEAM work: •
A playground project in seventh grade math that required groups of students to collaborate in order to design and create a prototype for a playground following certain geometric and size parameters.
•
A seventh and eighth grade arts elective that used software in conjunction with our 3D printer and laser cutter to design unique and beautiful objects.
•
Seventh grade human biology students who used technology to design experiments to test human reaction time based on a chosen variable: Would exercise affect reaction time? How about listening to music?
•
Fifth grade science students studied the quality of the water in our campus wetlands and then designed and prototyped water filtration devices based on their findings
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All of these examples involve the integration of academic domains and are open-ended, relevant, problem-solving exercises, a STEAM requirement. Each project also directly involves the 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. One of the challenges in schools today and in the future will be to shape curriculum in a way that cultivates these skills with the recognition that students have access to a vast and virtually limitless amount of information and learning at their fingertips. If they so choose, our students can learn about anything, so with that in mind, how do we proceed? What do we teach? How do we teach? When I think about Shady Hill’s mission and values, everything comes into focus. In 1955, Ernest Hocking, one of Shady Hill’s founders, wrote about an exchange with a worried parent that occurred in the early days of the school: “I told her that it would have been possible for us to inform the children in an hour about the arrival of the white man in this world of the Indians; but — and here is the truth she helped me to realize (and she happily joined me in seeing) — information is not education. If we are to educate these children, it is life we must give them, not a few informing facts about life.” Our students are growing up in a new age of information and digital access. We have a
responsibility to teach them how best to navigate the ocean of data at their fingertips and the ethics related to the use of technology. We must also continue to do what we do so well — help children to become creative thinkers and learners who can communicate and collaborate with others. We need them to balance the use of technology with other learning, and to see and explore the beauty in the world around us. This brings me back to knitting. It was my Shady Hill human connection that fueled my learning. The connection and the conversation spurred me on and I discovered that knitting connected me to others in a way I hadn’t known before. I learned how to do something new, but, really, that’s not the point. The point is that I needed, and I believe we all need, the relationships and connections around us to learn and grow. At the
essence of life, it really is compassion, empathy, support, and love that keep us curious, engaged, and willing to push forward — stitch to stitch, one at a time.
Krista Demas, Middle School Head
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happenings B L A C K H I S T O R Y A S S E M B LY
top Grade V students reciting Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech at the Black History Assembly on Friday, February 14.
This year’s Assembly also included a video of African American leaders and mentors from within and outside the school, a tribute to Nelson Mandela, other songs, poems, and dances. L O W E R S C H O O L M O V E M E N T A S S E M B LY
middle left Grade I students showing off their movement skills dancing to a mix of popular music.
news briefs LUNAR NE W YE AR DUMPLING PART Y
Diversity at Shady Hill (DASH) hosted the fourth annual Lunar New Year Dumpling Party on Tuesday, February 4. Nearly 200 parents, children, faculty, and staff attended the event in the Assembly Hall. The guests enjoyed chicken and vegetable dumplings, rice cakes, salad, fortune cookies, Popsicles, and a number of games and art projects. Many thanks to SHS parents Eriko Dowd, Julie Yao Cooper, and Joellen Gavin for organizing this party, to school chef Maggie Casterline for coordinating the food, and to all the parent volunteers who helped. Head of School Mark Stanek and 140-140 Co-Chair Chris Klaehn toasting the success of the drive. PARENT S ACHIE VE SPECTACUL AR SUCCES S IN THE
Beginners through fourth graders shared dance, gymnastics, juggling and other skills at this year’s Movement Assembly on Friday, February 7. All students, teachers, parents, and guests were invited to do the Wobble Dance.
14 0 -14 0 A N N U A L F U N D C A M P A I G N
Current Shady Hill parents celebrated one hundred percent participation in this year’s Annual Fund campaign at an event held in the Assembly Hall on Tuesday, February 11.
G R A D E V II C O L O N I A L FA I R
middle right Black Beard and a naval officer discussing terms of surrender. In a longstanding tradition, seventh graders spent time researching events and personalities from the Colonial era and then wrote skits to represent what they had learned. Each of the seventh grade classes performed their skits throughout the week of February 10. GOLD ORCHESTR A PERFORMANCE WITH THE BOS TON PUBLIC QUARTE T
bottom Shady Hill’s Gold Orchestra, under the direction of music teacher Erika Markou, performed a concert at Lesley University with the Boston Public Quartet on Tuesday, February 11.
Volunteers helping parents and children at a dumpling-making table at the Lunar New Year Dumpling Party.
B O Y S ’ VA R S I T Y B A S K E T B A L L T E A M W I N S M I D D L E S C H O O L TOURNAMENT
Shady Hill hosted five other schools at a basketball tournament on Saturday, January 25, and the SHS Boys’ Varsity team finished in first place. The win marks the first boys’ tournament championship in recent history. The team was impressive with wins over both Beaver Country Day (31–25) and Carroll (27–15) to advance to the Championship Game. In the final, the team used excellent defense and a fast-paced offense to defeat a tough Belmont Day team (45–34).
The 140-140 Campaign brought the everyday life of the school to parents’ attention through Twitter postings each day from the start of school to the end of the calendar year. The postings included milestone acknowledgments, photos, and videos. The goal was to inspire each family to make a gift or pledge to the annual fund by December 31, at which point the 140-140 challenge families would donate an additional $140,000 to the 2013–2014 Annual Fund. The 140-140 campaign was brilliantly led by parents Chris Klaehn and Jeanne Fitzgibbon and the daily tweets were coordinated by Associate Director of Advancement Siobhan Clune. Although the 140140 Campaign has ended, we encourage friends of Shady Hill to follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/ shadyhillschl) to see more of our postings.
Congratulations to the team’s players and coaches!
The performance was made possible by the Arthur and Jann Little Family Foundation.
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Innovation Evolution On the first floor of the Beehive, in the northeast corner of the building, there is a room that served as a math classroom for many years. In time, it became a computer lab with computers set up in a traditional teaching lab configuration. Reconfigured and renamed the “Learning Lab” a few years ago, the school is now beginning to think of the space — and the space it can become — as Shady Hill’s Innovation Lab.
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The evolution of the room reflects the evolution of our use of technology. Originally a room that drew classes that wanted to do simple computing tasks such as word-processing, the space was reenvisioned after a shift in the school’s approach to educational technology made a traditional lab unnecessary. In 2007–2008, Assistant Head of School Allison Webster and SHS parent David Altshuler co-led the Shady Hill Tiger Team that worked with a dozen teachers to test new technologies. The Tiger Team became a catalyst for technological change, testing new approaches and ideas, including laptop carts, color printers, a wireless network, and online educational software. Following the success of the Tiger Team, in 2008–2009, the new technologies were expanded to include the entire school, bringing laptops to all grade levels.
space’s flexibility of use. The Technology Department staff, Cindy Dobe, the school’s Chief Information Officer; Will Borden, our Academic Technology Director; and Kelly Wilbur, our Academic Systems Specialist began exploring the concept of a maker-space and design thinking. In the fall of 2011, a committee made up of the tech department and classroom teachers visited maker-spaces such as Sprout in Somerville, MA, NuVu Studio in Cambridge, MA and Nueva School’s Innovation Lab in the San Francisco Bay area to explore how other spaces functioned. The group members came back with ideas and questions about how some of the things they saw could be implemented at Shady Hill. As initial steps in this exploration, the school purchased a MakerBot, the school’s first 3D printer, and a laser cutter.
With shared laptop carts now located in classroom buildings and computer use a part of daily instruction, the purpose of the computer lab space shifted. The lab’s workstations were replaced by a laptop cart that could provide laptops for use in the lab or could be scheduled for use by any classroom on campus. Tables with wheels were added to maximize the
As part of the school’s recent strategic planning progress, Head of School Mark Stanek established several Teaching & Learning groups to consider aspects of Shady Hill’s program. Two of the groups looked at technology: one led by Cindy Dobe and science teacher Barbara Bratzel looked at science, technology, engineering and math space; the other led by Will Borden, PE teacher PAGES 14 + 15
design-thinking in the lab through our arts electives. We continue to think about the Innovation Lab space and how we can configure it to serve the needs of students and teachers. The size of the space is limited, especially for simple, but critical, things like storage. We would love to have spaces for small groups of students and teachers to sit and talk about these kinds of projects, maybe with some kind of digital screen to share ideas. In many cases, the best ideas are sparked by these kinds of collaborative conversations.”
tech talk: Stephanie Travers, and Grade V gradehead Tracy Eisenberg looked at program. As an outgrowth of thinking by these groups, this past spring, during the Faculty Professional Development Day in March, teachers had the opportunity to delve more deeply into thinking about technology and the tools that have been added both in the Innovation Lab as well as in science and engineering classes. David Sengeh from MIT’s Media Lab came to speak with teachers about his work in biomechatronics, and teachers had a chance to experiment with different tools and software (Scratch, MaKey MaKey, 3-D printing, iPads, and the school’s laser cutter). The goal was to encourage teachers to consider how they might incorporate some of those activities into their curricula. A Rube Goldberg project during Flex Week in 2013 was an outgrowth of teachers’ thinking and experiences during that Professional Development Day. Will Borden is excited to encourage teachers’ thinking in this area: “People are really using technology effectively in the classroom — but what’s the next wave that we should be exploring? This is an exciting era that we are living in where tools, which were once reserved
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for manufacturing or for graduate schools of engineering and architecture, are now accessible to kids. The pace of change is incredible and we must continually ask, ‘What are the new technologies and advancements that best support student learning and creativity?’” This past fall, Kelly Wilbur taught the school’s first Design class. She describes it as a bit of an experiment. “We wondered what would happen if we put tools, such as our 3-D printer and laser cutter, in the kids’ hands.” The first class included eight seventh graders and two eighth graders who used digital design programs to create 3-D objects. The results were impressive and the class was such a success that the elective will be offered again this spring. Leading the thinking about the school’s use of technology, Cindy Dobe said, “The issue of whether these kinds of projects grow out of a classroom teacher’s daily curriculum, or are part of a STEAM-focused class is something we are in the process of figuring out. A mix of the two is our current approach: teachers have ideas for projects that grow out of their daily curriculum which are supported by the tools we have in our lab and we are exploring teaching
• Laser Cutter: Originally used in industrial applications, laser cutters are now being used by schools as an element of project-based learning. • MaKey MaKey: These kits allow users to turn electrically conductive objects into touchpads that can connect to the Internet. It is based on research at MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten Group. (www.makeymakey.com) • MIT Media Lab Founded in 1985, the Media Lab “encourages the most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas. It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges, pioneering such areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces, and affective computing. Today, faculty members, research staff, and students at the Lab work in more than 25 research groups on more than 350 projects that range from digital approaches for treating neurological disorders, to a stackable, electric car for sustainable cities, to advanced imaging technologies that can ‘see around a corner.’ The Lab is committed to looking beyond the obvious to ask the questions not yet asked — questions whose answers could radically improve the way people live, learn, express themselves, work, and play.” (www.media.mit.edu) • 3-D Printer: Also originally used in industry, these printers use digital designs to create three-dimensional items by laying down successive layers of liquid, powder, paper, or sheet material. • Scratch: Scratch is programming language that allows users to program interactive stories, animations, and games to share with others. It is also a product of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. (www.scratch.mit.edu)
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rushika fernandopulle is a physician, a primary care doctor by training. He currently runs a company, Iora Health, that’s building new primary care models of delivery. He has three daughters who have gone to Shady Hill. One has graduated and gone on to Milton; the other two are still at Shady Hill.
STEAM: On SCIENCE
Gathering STEAM for the Future
Current Shady Hill parent Rushika Fernandopulle and Shady Hill alumnus Bart Horn ’99 represent Science.
bart horn '99 went to Shady Hill from Beginners through Grade VIII. After Shady Hill, he went to Commonwealth School and then to Harvard where he majored in physics and mathematics. He studied theoretical physics in graduate school, earning a Ph.D. at Stanford University in 2012. He’s now at Columbia University as a post-doctoral research associate doing research in theoretical physics. Bart describes his current work as looking at “the intersection of high energy theoretical physics — which deals with very small subatomic scales and the intersection of that with cosmology, the very largest scales — specifically the period of the very early universe where these two scales would have interacted when the universe was at temperatures and energies far above what we’ll ever be able to create in a laboratory today.” He explains, “A piece of what I do is motivated by experiment and by data, and a piece of it is very mathematical in nature and is about checking the consistency of various theories. There is an aspect that is very much motived by precision data and questions that are amenable to experiment, in particular there are certain parameters that if we were able to observe them in the sky would tell us something about the physics of the very early universe. “But a piece of it is not so much data-driven, as more about mathematical structure. In particular, one of the tool kits that we use is string theory. String
STEM/STEAM curricula is on the minds of many in education. Shady Hill’s ability to create natural connections among disciplines, as evidenced by our central subject teaching methodology, makes us feel particularly well poised to expand that methodology into the science, technology, math, engineering, and art areas. We are very much looking forward to expanding our thinking and our teaching along those lines. As we plan for the future, we wanted to talk with a few alums who grew up in this environment and who are now in STEAM fields. Some of the alumni participated in conversations with current parents who are also in those fields and others were interviewed by Director of Alumni Relations Kyra Travis ’00.
Dr. Rushika Fernandopulle
We are pleased to present these conversations and interviews on the following pages. Bart Horn ’99 in a class at Columbia University. SHADY HILL SCHOOL WINTER 2014
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theory is very much a mathematical framework. It deals with energy scales far beyond what we’re ever going to access in an experiment. It could be the theory that unites gravity with particle physics in our universe, but it might not be. It’s going to be hard to check that without some piece we haven’t thought of yet. There’s still a hope that we might be able to exploit some of the structure of the theory to make connections and perhaps use it as a tool kit for understanding other things or for saying ‘we don’t know if string theory is the theory that operates in our universe, but maybe it’s robust enough that it can tell us something we didn’t know about gravity or about what cosmology could be like at very early times.’
Dr. Fernandopulle asked what drew Bart to his profession. Bart replied that it’s something he’s been interested in for a long time. “I can’t say I decided to do this when I was back at Shady Hill. It came more into focus in high school and then in college. A piece of it was really enjoying learning about these things. I get to work with some really fascinating people. A piece of it, too, could also be that there’s a very long line of teachers in my family: both of my parents work at Shady Hill, but a number of my aunts and uncles are teachers, as were two of my grandparents. I’ve gone into a field where research and education are both parts of what the field is about and what I do. Maybe this is my way of joining the ‘family business.’”
Dr. Fernandopulle asked him to explain the applicability of his work: “An obvious question from a lay person is, on one hand this sort of work sounds like it’s really interesting in asking big question about how things got created, but is there a potential practical use for it — or does that not matter?”
Dr. Fernandopulle asked Bart to talk about the skills required to be good at his work. Bart said, “There’s no one single way to be good at it. It’s important to enjoy it. Tenacity is very important. In grad school, in particular, you become the world expert in an incredibly specific topic, and if you’re lucky there will be a half-dozen or a dozen people who understand it as well as you do. You have to be willing to stay with something a very long time. You have to get used to the idea that when something breaks or goes wrong, there isn’t going to be a recipe for fixing it again.
Bart explained, “Practical applications definitely come out of this kind of thing, but it’s hard to predict what they’re gong to be. It’s not like trying to develop a new drug where it’s very clear what the clinical applications will be, but a lot of the technology that’s been developed for studying high-energy physics has proven useful as a spin off for other things. “The actual format of world wide web was first developed as a system for sharing data at CERN, a laboratory in Switzerland and France where the world’s largest particle accelerator is running. Another example is MRI machines: It’s not that high-energy physicists were directly working on MRI, but when they were building the Tevatron in the 1970s at Fermilab there was a need for a large amount of superconducting wire to build the magnets that would steer the particle beams. Because of that they had to invent a way to mass-produce what they needed. From that they were able to bring the cost of superconducting wire down by several orders of magnitude, As a result, the cost of a single MRI machine went down from a few million dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, so every good-sized hospital could have one instead of having only a few centers around the country.”
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“It also requires being able to step back and look at a problem in many different ways. Being able to communicate with others about your work is another important skill. A fun thing about what I’m doing is all of the other doors it opens. I got to go on a trip to Washington, DC as part of an advocacy group that talked to various government offices about the importance of investing in the physical sciences.” When Dr. Fernandopulle asked him if there were things that he learned at Shady Hill that helped in what he does, Bart replied, “Well, Ms. Bratzel’s Physics by Design class set me up pretty well for high school. Teamwork is very important in the kind of thing I do. Ms. Bratzel’s class was a good example of a situation when working on a project team was very important.”
STEAM: On TECHNOLOGY An interview about Technology with current parent Pattie Maes and Shady Hill alumnus Deneb Meketa ’88.
Pattie Maes
Please tell us what you do. Pattie: I’m a professor at MIT in the Media Lab. My background is in computer science and my main field of interest is designing new interfaces to interact with the digital world. Deneb: I’m a Senior Software Engineer at Pixar Animation Studios. I’m not responsible for any Pixar movie content, but work on a variety of programming projects — things like how a data format gets from point A to point B or solving bugs for artists who are trying to animate. Right now, my big project is a lightweight version of the final audio for films, which our animators need. It’s a sound tool that’s integrated into our animation tool. Pattie: I have to ask: Do they record the sound first and then do the animation? I’ve always been curious about that! Deneb: You can do it in both directions, but from what I can tell it’s easier to do the sound first. When you’re using voice actors it’s a one off process, but it’s hard to be exact about it — it’s an inherently human thing. When you animate it’s an extremely painstaking, technical process where time is very much frozen and stretched out in front of you. It’s easier to do the sound first and the animation second.
Deneb Meketa ’88
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The other thing is that when you’re using voice actors, you want them to be free to speak their lines without having to match up with a video loop. How did you get into the technology field? Pattie: I majored in computer science as an undergrad in Belgium. I wasn’t necessarily drawn to it that much as an 18-year-old. I couldn’t make up my mind between biology and architecture, so I decided to study computer science, instead. The reason I made that choice is basically, computer science is a tool. You can use in whatever area you’re interested in. If you’re interested in animals, you can use it in work related to animal behavior or biology. It’s a universal tool. I was never excited about computer science for the sake of computer science. I really got interested in it when I started the seeing possibilities of how you could relate computer science to fields that have more to do with people — like human/computer interaction, which is all about designing for people and designing new types of computer experiences for people. Artificial intelligence, which I studied for a long time, is all about using the computer to model people and people’s intelligence. Deneb: For my part, I have always been a generalist in education. I hopped around from thing to thing. I enjoyed schools that had lots of different things to offer, so Shady Hill was right up my alley. I chose a high school and college that weren’t highly specialized institutions. I loved everything from English to dance to a lot of different kinds of science classes. As a kid, I was actually kept away from computers, which is probably one of the best things my parents ever did for me, because they could tell I was a nerdy kid and if I were given free access, I would probably not do anything else. As a result, I got outside and had friends. Then, when I got to college, I realized that it was finally legitimate to be studying computers as a real topic. Programming suits me particularly well because I love craft. I’m really not an artist, but I do love craft — making things without being so concerned
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about being original or beautiful; it’s about being suitable for some purpose. The same way I love cooking or preparing things around the house, I love programming because it feels creative, you get to build something complicated and interesting and get to watch people use it and enjoy it. I totally echo what Pattie said about computers being a tool. In particular, as I’ve worked with software for a number of years, I stopped seeing software as something that’s really just for the machine. It’s easy to have that perspective when you’re starting out: here you are sitting in front of a computer, not talking to people for most of the day, and just being concerned with the internal logic of the program. But, the bigger picture always has to be that software is made by people for people. People often think of software as having a personality, and there’s a reason for that: it reflects the thinking of the people who wrote it.
As a kid, I was actually kept away from computers, which is probably one of the best things my parents ever did for me, because they could tell I was a nerdy kid and if I were given free access, I would probably not do anything else Pattie: I completely agree with your thoughts that computing being kind of a craft. We often use the term “design” — we’re designing things, building things, which is what attracted me to this whole profession. We’re being creative and inventing new things, taking the ideas that you have in your head about the way things could be and making them come alive; making tools that can change people’s lives. Deneb: One of the most interesting parts of the process is making a version of something, having a picture in your head of how it’s going to be used, and then watching actual users use it, and completely turn that on its head, do something totally unexpected, then coming back and trying to refine the software in a way that better suits the needs of the users.
How have you seen STEAM/STEM integrated in your work?
Can you share some ideas about teaching science and technology in an integrated way?
Pattie: Even though I didn’t go to Shady Hill, my three boys have gone there, so I’m very familiar with the curriculum. What I really value highly in the curriculum is that it is so integrated. The kids realize that all these fields are all connected. In my daily job, I don’t just do computer science — I’m doing psychology, design, engineering, math, physics — it’s all related and I think that SH gives students a better sense of that than almost any other school. It’s not compartmentalized, it’s all connected, and when you work on a project or problem, you realize how all these things come together.
Deneb: Large projects are not only great training for integrating a lot of skills, but they’re training for doing large, long-term projects. One of the hardest things for me as a student was writing essays: they were an enormous commitment of time and you couldn’t do them last minute, so to learn early in education the process of putting in work over a long period of time is valuable. And particularly working in groups: you can view education as a series of integrations and disintegrations, where for a little while, kids are very confident at the level that they’re at, then all of a sudden they get a little older and they’re facing challenges that they are not at all prepared to meet. Working in groups during this time is especially great. When you can be exposed to a lot of different ideas, especially in a group that is well coached by teachers, it can be a great learning experience. Participating in a big project like that is also a great opportunity to show students a glimpse of the application of the work that they’re doing.
Another thing I appreciate about Shady Hill’s curriculum is that there are lots of opportunities for hands-on building and designing, rather than just studying a particular field. It gets kids excited in the curriculum if they can understand the materials by building with them and using them in something that they’re creating. Deneb: As we’re looking at schools for my fouryear-old who is about to enter kindergarten, I am remembering a lot about what was good about Shady Hill. There’s an expression that schools use now to describe how they construct a curriculum, which is “spiral curriculum.” You are essentially coming around to the same topics over and over again, but each time you are going a little more into depth and working a little harder. By and large, you are reviewing familiar materials, but always pushing your knowledge a little further out. I think that’s a beautiful way of thinking about how you learn about the world — not just that you spiral within physics or computer science or whatever it is, but that you move from topic to topic and that the more different perspectives you have on a problem, the better you’ll be at solving it.
If you go to maker faires, you will often see kids of middle-school age making world-class machines, in some cases. I’ve seen robotics demonstrations that rival the best stuff out there. It’s a real testament to how exciting it can be for kids and how advanced they can get, if they are willing to put a lot of time into it. Pattie: One reason why it’s interesting to do that with younger kids, is that it helps kids understand that knowledge is actually in flux — that they can create new knowledge or technology or prototypes — that they can be contributors, not just consumers, of knowledge.
It is true that your day in a tech job is not all technology: it is a lot of psychology and interpersonal relations, and there’s actually a lot of writing. Shady Hill’s emphasis on writing skills and the mechanics of language is very useful in daily tech work.
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I came to Gillette a few years ago and I work on integrating chemistry into the creation of male and female shaving razors, like the Fusion, MACH, and Venus brands. Did your Shady Hill education help to shape your career choice? I think the core values at Shady Hill around fostering a love of learning and curiosity are at the foundation of it. I think it plays out in the central subjects at Shady Hill and carries through in math and in science, as well. I think that Shady Hill prepared me well for Concord Academy and that both of those schools prepared me well for MIT. I think the way that math and science are taught at Shady Hill is very engaging and interesting. One of the key barriers to getting people excited about STEM is making it interesting and compelling. I think some of the teachers that I had, like Mr. Horn, Ms. Bratzel, Mr. Evans, and Mr. Lawler, fostered that in me. Joia Spooner-Wyman ’93
STEAM: On ENGINEERING Director of Alumni Relations Kyra Travis spoke with Joia Spooner-Wyman ’93 about her career in Engineering. Please tell us about your work — I work at Proctor and Gamble in Research and Development, so what we do is make new consumer products. I have worked in this industry for 13 years. I came to it from a chemical engineering bachelor’s degree from MIT. What drew me to being a chemical engineer in the first place was a desire to apply my math and science background and to add social value to create new products that can add value to people’s lives. It felt like engineering was very applied and it felt like industry, rather than academia, would be a place where I could make a difference. That’s turned out to be pretty much true.
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The Shady Hill common denominator around curiosity and the approach to learning — how you pose a question, how you collect data to answer it — helped to spark my interests and my ability to take AP-level classes in high school and ultimately matriculate at MIT. Do you see an integration of arts in the work that you do? Absolutely. I think that the design of our products is a key aspect of the experience that people have with them. Consumers are first attracted to a product on a shelf, so there’s a lot of packaging engineering that’s about getting their attention. Once they stop at the shelf and look at the product, their interest must be held, and they ultimately must choose to touch or pick up that product. After that, they make a purchase decision and then use and experience the product in their home. So at every step the design and art of that product is driving those moments of attraction.
What advice do you have for Shady Hill as it builds its STEM/STEAM program? I have a few suggestions: 1) I think the school needs to invest in a new facility. 2) I think it will be important to integrate STEM/STEAM into all of the central subjects. When I was a Shady Hill student it was very separate: I did my central subject classes, then I did my science and math. I think there are ways to integrate the STEM ideas and questions into the central subject curriculum. Take, for example, the need and the scarcity of good water in developing countries. Water, water purity, and microbiological aspects of water are part of the success of every culture over time. You could have a whole unit on the microbiology of water, linking that to history or wars that are fought. 3) We should tap into the wealth of current parent, past parent, and alumni experiences in these areas. From what I have heard recently, there has been more parent and alumni involvement in exposing students to STEM fields. Without that kind of exposure, young kids don’t get a sense of what’s it’s really like to be in a STEM career — it’s hard for them to get a sense of it. Going to a lab or being part of a robotics team makes it more real. Then their interest is sparked. Do you have other thoughts about STEAM in the workplace and in education? I work every day with all kinds of STEM professionals and my use of technology in my personal and professional life continues to increase all the time. I think the problems the world faces are complex. We need all kinds of voices in the conversation about how to solve them. I think Shady Hill has a responsibility to prepare future leaders and members of society who can be part of that conversation and can help address these challenges.
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Chris Frost with some of his work.
Wendy Klemperer ’72 with some of her work.
STEAM: On ART A conversation about Art with SHS parent Chris Frost and alumna Wendy Klemperer ’73.
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Wendy Klemperer ’73 has been an artist for the past 15 years, but her career path didn’t start off in that direction, “I actually went to the University of Rochester and then Harvard and studied biochemistry. My parents are both scientists, so I had a strong encouragement to go into science. But I was always interested in art. I was always fascinated by animals, particularly horses, ever since I can remember. When I got to college, I took some biology classes and loved them, and it seemed that was a way to understand what life was about, so I dug into that and ended up being a biochemistry major — but I was always taking art classes and thinking about art. When I transferred to Harvard I studied with Dimitri Hadzi. He was a great teacher and that was a turning point for me. It showed me what you could do as an artist. It was also my first college-level sculpture class.” After she finished her degree in biochemistry, she moved to New York and went to art school at Pratt, where she studied both painting and sculpture. Her main work is outdoor sculpture made of welded metal, but she also creates small-
scale work in different materials. Chris Frost is a sculptor and has also been creating art for quite a long time. Much of his work is casting-based – he casts in metal and concrete. He says he does both representative and abstract pieces and that his recent works include a lot of color. His most recent show included abstract pieces of painted wood with elements of cast metal that was nickel-plated. He also teaches at Brandeis University, and is the father of a Shady Hill alumna, who is currently a student at Concord Academy, and a daughter in seventh grade here. Chris commented that he has a connection with the Museum of Science and that STEM/STEAM is of great interest there. “The Museum of Science would say that the fields of science, engineering, mathematics, and technology are fading away in some ways — there are fewer students going into those fields as in past decades.
There’s a push to make students and educators aware of how absolutely important these disciplines are. One of their ways is to explain how interrelated they are.” Wendy said that for her, science is a fundamental way to understand the world around her and a philosophy of life. She adds, “As sculptors, we both have a background in casting and metallurgy. The subject matter of my artwork is based in natural history, but the making of my work has a lot of technical features that I’ve learned over the years. A lot of what I do is based in very ancient processes: bronze casting goes back thousands of years. What’s fascinating about working with these materials is that you learn about the nature of them. I’ve learned a lot of chemistry and physics through working with casting and welding and in teaching welding. I’ve learned about the natures of steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and cast iron in my PAGES 26 + 27
work. Another thing is that as a sculptor doing public art, I hand-fabricate much of my work. Chris asked about the use of technology in her work: “Think of the difference that computers have brought to artists in the last 10 years! A number of artists use computers as part of their design work. Everything is digital and everything is accessible. That process has transformed everything. It’s made our lives so much easier. “If I was going to generalize about technology and the arts, I have to say I’m seeing a lot more collaborations not just between artists – and artists and musicians, and artists and performers. It’s easier now to integrate ideas from these different fields. We are digitally connected and it’s easier to integrate everything.” Wendy agreed that it has been a huge transformation: “I use the computer a lot in a very basic way, printing out images, putting images into the computer and making changes. The computer has become another tool in that way. I divide technology into two areas in my head: the production of the work, the other is the connection and promotion of the work. Social media has been a powerful tool for a lot of artists.”
of them than my high school or college friends. “I remember painting and jewelry making there. I remember loving shop — my shop teacher was Mr. Mapel. It was pretty progressive in my day that girls could take shop. I remember science being fun and particularly enjoyed the lab work. “One of my favorite things at Shady Hill was sports. I loved the program and Jane Hardy. I saw her at a Shady Hill event in New York a couple of years ago. I couldn’t believe it when she recognized me.” Chris finished the conversation by talking about his observations of STEM/STEAM at school: “Shady Hill makes it so easy – Central Subject brings topics together. Students already feel like subjects are connected. The school is thinking more and more about it, but they’re already set up to do it well.”
learn more about their art: Wendy Klemperer : http://wendyklemperer.com
As sculptors, we both have a background in casting and metallurgy. The subject matter of my artwork is based in natural history, but the making of my work has a lot of technical features that I’ve learned over the years. A lot of what I do is based in very ancient processes: bronze casting goes back thousands of years. Chris asked Wendy about her Shady Hill experience. She replied that she loved Shady Hill. “I started in B-1 and went through ninth grade, with one year away when my family was in England. I didn’t learn how much I loved it until my other educational experiences. I had a particular fondness for SHS — part of it was the small class size and going up through the years with the same group of people. I have stronger, clearer memories
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STEAM: On MATHEMATICS Talking about mathematics with Lloyd N. Trefethen ’70.
After Shady Hill, Nick Trefethen ’70 attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard College as an undergraduate, and Stanford University for graduate school. For the past 17 years, he has been a Professor of Numerical Analysis at Oxford University. He has also spent the past few years as President of the Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), which is based in the US. Nick says that the organization cares a great deal about STEM. “In my case, my career has been very much about mathematics and writing. And it’s all about Shady Hill, you know, because Shady Hill encouraged writing. I love to write. When I do mathematical research, it’s very bound up with writing a paper. I’ve written a number of books about mathematics, so, for me, it’s a beautiful interplay. It comes from a father who was an engineer and a mother who was a literature person. It’s been a very happy synthesis of the two. You know, most mathematicians probably aren’t that interested in writing or other arts, but Shady Hill, in my day, encouraged a lot of writing.”
Chris Frost : http://www.christopherfrost.org
Nick Trefethen ’70 teaching a class at Oxford.
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In a conversation with Director of Alumni Relations Kyra Travis ’00, Nick shared a perspective on mathematicians, “On the whole, mathematicians are a conservative lot. I think we believe that you’ve got to study mathematics before you start mixing it with other things. I think a number of mathematicians might be a little skeptical about STEM: we may believe in all the pieces, but we may be skeptical that you can teach them all at once. ” “One of the fascinating polarities about mathematics is that traditionally one goes into it because of being attracted to its purity, its austerity. That seems very narrow — it can’t be the only entrance into the field — but at the same time, it remains a big part of what’s so appealing to some people. Somehow we have to find a way to make it broader, while preserving that purity. Maybe STEM is the answer.” After talking with Kyra about some of Shady Hill’s central subjects, the topic of integrating STEM into CS came up. Nick said, “When I think of Shady Hill’s third grade central subject of whales, I hope students get a sense of the fact that the weight of something is proportional to the cube of its length. That’s an incredible fact! That this idea is written as a formula, is really a pretty central idea to science.” Nick fondly remembers working on advanced mathematics under the supervision of math teacher Bob Lawler. He admits that his own teaching is very different than the elementary/middle school focus at Shady Hill: “I am heavily involved in teaching undergraduates and graduate students. My kind of mathematics is problems that can’t be solved on paper, but have to be solved on a computer. He acknowledges that technology plays a major role in learning and life today: “The thing that impresses me is interactive learning, where you get quick reinforcement from computers. I‘m very impressed with young people these days. They learn effortlessly because they know how to find information on the web.” “I see math as the core of STEM. It is true intellectually; it is true culturally. If you study math, you can move in any direction. It’s been a happy life for me. I love mathematics and it’s led me in all sorts of directions. The only thing I know to tell kids is that you’ve got to do what you love, and if you love it enough, it will take you places.”
This Is Philanthropy! by Kimberly Kubik, Director of Advancement
Every day at Shady Hill is a panoply of: voices, laughter, song, running, sitting, dancing, talking, meeting, teaching, learning, and reflecting. In the mix of all of this output, there are also a variety of inputs that include tuition dollars, gifts to the annual fund, and draw from our endowment. While many of us know this on an intellectual level, there are still, and often, questions about how philanthropy, your giving, and the giving by others makes a difference at Shady Hill. These are excellent, thoughtful questions, questions that deserve clear and thoughtful answers. To that end, in Shady Hill publications moving forward, I hope to share stories and insights — and together we can celebrate philanthropy here at Shady Hill School.
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“The relationship between coach and teacher must be open, transparent, and intended solely for the teacher’s development. If implemented properly, coaching can help turn good teachers into great ones.”
Life Long Learning
balancing act of planned and unplanned tasks. I’ve often described myself as a hound dog: I pick up a scent and follow it for a while until a new scent comes on the breeze. I’ll be out observing an individual student in different contexts when I hear, “Hey Monica can you help design a modern dance class?” That’s my favorite part of the job. I’ve realized that I don’t have to be an expert in every curricular area to bring a level of understanding about teaching and kids to the conversation.
Recently, Kim Walker, Director of Special Projects, sat down with veteran teachers Cheryl Brunn, lower school gradehead for 29 years, and Monica Chrambach, science teacher for 20 years, to reflect on their new roles as Shady Hill’s first official faculty coaches and their charge of encouraging, challenging and enriching their colleagues.
I’ve also done some more directed curricular work helping teachers think about materials or innovative approaches or anticipating pitfalls in a new lesson, so when they do take that risk they are as prepared as they can be for the unexpected. The unexpected is inherent in the kind of teaching we do here; it is not always the safest teaching since we embrace risk-taking.
KW: In what ways have you been supporting faculty in your respective divisions this fall?
CB: The other thing that comes to mind is making connections for teachers. With a big campus like ours and with teachers very invested in their individual classrooms, as they should be, they don’t always know
- Atul Gawande
Strategic Initiatives Every independent school is unique, with it’s own mission statement and set of values. Leading a school is a team effort, and at the head of that team here at Shady Hill is Mark Stanek. A crucial part of Mark’s work, each and every day, is using a virtual compass to gauge if the work we — he — is doing is in line with the stated mission and values of Shady Hill. At the same time, a crucial part of what informs decisionmaking is Shady Hill’s Strategic Initiatives, identified via a two-year process, and culminating first with Mark presenting these Initiatives and his vision to the Shady Hill community, followed by a mailing from Mark outlining these same initiatives in writing. These Strategic Initiatives identify and clarify Mark’s vision for Shady Hill and provide both a “map” of where we hope to be as a school, as well as acting as a guide for the decision-making process, whether as a Board, an Administrative team, a Faculty, or as a Head of School.
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One of these stated initiatives, in support of faculty and staff, states as our goal, “Shady Hill has a long tradition of supporting a culture of excellence in teaching. To sustain this tradition, we must provide faculty, staff, and administrators with competitive compensation and enriching professional development experiences for years to come.” During this school year (2013-2014), and in keeping with the Strategic Initiatives and his vision for Shady Hill, Mark Stanek has appointed two teachers to work as Faculty Coaches. As the year progresses, you will hear more about this initiative to enhance excellence in our classrooms, an initiative that involves layering faculty professional development, enhanced classroom experience for students, and exploring excellence in teaching. As a way to give you a more hands-on sense of this initiative, here is an excerpt of a recent conversation involving our faculty coaches, Cheryl Brunn and Monica Chrambach.
CB: I have been involved in working with the fourth grade team of teachers on developing some additions and revisions to their reading curriculum and that has been really interesting. I think we hit on a new formula for doing that. They have come up with an idea that they want to infuse into their curriculum, and Docia Reed, Lower School Learning Specialist, and I have come in to give feedback on what we are seeing. We’ve provided materials for the team, we’ve done research, and I check in with the IV team to see how this new curriculum is going. One of my favorite parts of my role is the unplanned, when a teacher just grabs you on the path and says “Can you talk for a few minutes?” or “Could you watch me do this?” It is more on the fly, but you can tell by the teachers’ reactions that they really appreciate another set of eyes in the classroom and getting direct feedback. They react so positively when you give them feedback, and even when you challenge them and question them around best practice and what is good for kids, they are fired up about it and want to figure out a different way to do something. It has been a great start. MC: I agree with Cheryl that this job can be a
what is happening in other classrooms. I think that we are able to provide a view. I can go into a class and see something going on and I can say, “Did you
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alumni happenings
know in third grade they just talked about something similar? You might want to get together and share some information.” We are trying to make their jobs easier on some levels, giving them resources, suggesting something like “maybe you want to go see the shop teacher and see if she has this piece of your plan.” It is exciting to me that we get to do that. I know as a gradehead that was always something I wanted to do more of but didn’t have time. Having another set of eyes on campus seeing what is happening and being able to report to other teachers about it is a really important piece of our work. KW: What are the surprises and challenges of your role? MC: I feel truly grateful for the degree to which faculty have knocked on our doors and said “Come on in, observe a class, design a class with me.” Every time a faculty member solicits my help in one area it models a kind of help that I can offer to another colleague. The faculty themselves are helping to define our jobs. CB: Teachers have been incredibly welcoming. When you walk in and a teacher makes you feel you are part of that room, the collaboration is so engaging and meaningful to both teacher and coach. Teachers seem to really want someone in their room on a regular basis to give affirmation, feedback, and support to what their work is all about. KW: How do you see your work impacting children in classrooms? CB: I’m hoping that we continue to develop a real comfort in talking about the art of teaching and what is considered best practice. I would like us to be open about everything we are doing so we can look at what
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is working and not working in a very open, relaxed way. I feel like these coach roles have the potential to open these doors, where teachers are talking about what they are doing without worrying about being judged and talking about it in a way where we are all going to grow and provide what is best for kids. The faculty has been working hard to develop a common language through our “Learning and the Brain” study this year. Being in classrooms looking at what is happening day-to-day in real time is creating this larger, wonderful discussion and a lot of learning on everyone’s part. MC: Working as a faculty coach has afforded me a fresh perspective, and from this vantage point I can more fully appreciate how rich every day is for our students. Going from woodshop to Mandarin to jewelry-making to programming a robot in science to practicing really funny grammar sentences in CS allows me to absorb an incredibly full day at the hands of adults brimming with interesting ideas and practicing a nuanced craft. This conversation between Cheryl, Monica, and Kim took place this fall, as the Faculty Coaching program was getting underway. As a new program, there is both much to try and much to learn. We look forward to sharing more about this incredible professional development effort that, each day, is working to enhance excellence in teaching at Shady Hill.
A L U M NI C O O K IN G C L A S S Shady Hill’s Alumni Board hosted an Alumni Cooking Class, featuring JJ Gonson ’82, owner of Cuisine En Locale, a Somerville-based company that caters events and produces healthy meals using local ingredients. A dozen or so alums and friends attended the class on Thursday, January 23, in the Assembly Hall. After a delicious buffet of cheeses, homemade biscuits, fruit,
and vegetables, along with a selection of wines and craft beers, the group got down to cooking sweet potato puree, roasted butternut squash, kale salad, and an apple crisp with maple brown sugar. Attendees enjoyed eating the dishes, all made with locally produced ingredients, and were able to take leftovers home.
Y O U N G A L U M NI R E U NIO N On Wednesday, November 27, alumni from the classes of 2013, 2012, 2011, and 2010 were invited to return to the school for the Thanksgiving Assembly, followed by the annual Young Alumni Pizza Lunch. Nearly 100 young alums returned to visit with each other and to catch up with faculty members.
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grandparents’ day It was a delight for the school to welcome over 350 grandparents to Grandparents’ Day 2013 on Wednesday, November 27. Guests enjoyed breakfast at School, and heard remarks from Head of School Mark Stanek and Grandparents’ Committee Chair Phil Burling. In addition, the Gold Chorus and Orchestra performed for the attendees. During the breakfast, grandparents were invited to write special notes to their grandchildren; hundreds of messages were then sent from the school to the children. After breakfast, parent volunteers escorted grandparents to classrooms, where students and teachers eagerly awaited them. Grandparents then joined in a variety of activities with their grandchildren and their classmates. Some classes worked on math activities, some interviewed grandparents about their own school experiences, others shared current class activities, and, in the younger classes, some organized games for grandchildren and grandparents to play together. At the conclusion of the classroom visits, grandparents walked to the Gym, where they saw dozens of sixth graderdesigned turkeys in the hallway on their way to the Thanksgiving Assembly. This year’s Assembly included annual favorites — singing We Gather Together and Thanksgiving Day and watched the Beginners’ Turkey Gobble along with other poems and dances. During the Assembly, each of this year’s Student Board Presidents shared thoughts about Thanksgiving in their families and in our community.
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the winter sports corner
B O Y S ’ VA R S I T Y B A S K E T B A L L The Shady Hill Boys’ Varsity basketball team has proven to be a force to be reckoned with this year. The roster consists of 11 eighth graders and each member of the team has contributed to the team’s success. A highlight of the season was winning the 2014 Middle School Invitational, which Shady Hill hosted on Saturday, January 25.
GI R L S ’ G O L D B A S K E T B A L L The Girls’ Gold basketball team has done an amazing job this season, and has improved in many aspects of the sport. The team saw many individual and team successes. The girls worked together and pushed themselves to improve daily.
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GI R L S ’ VA R S I T Y B A S K E T B A L L It was a busy season for Girls’ Varsity basketball, with a strong focus on teamwork. The team always encouraged and supported each other when working on their skills and strategies. The girls played in a mid-season tournament at Nashoba Brooks and began to really come together as a team. This season was filled with learning opportunities, skill work, and definitely a lot of fun.
BOYS’ BLUE BASKETBALL The Boys’ Blue team focused on developing individual basketball skills during the season. They worked on dribbling, shooting technique, passing and footwork drills during practices. The emphasis during the second part of practice was on playing as a team and learning both manto-man and zone defense.
ICE HOCK E Y The Ice Hockey team had an outstanding season. Consisting of 18 players of varying skill levels, everyone worked together to get the job done. The effort paid off, with the team earning wins against Dedham Country Day, Derby, Park, and Carroll School. Everyone really stepped up their game on the ice and continued to improve with each game.
BOYS’ GOLD BASK ETBALL The Shady Hill Boys’ Gold team started off this winter with great excitement. In their first game, the boys played well and did a great job implementing lessons from practice. There next few games came right down to the wire. The team went on to have a great game against the Fenn School and dominated from start to finish.
V II - V III P E VII/VIII PE was filled with activities that the students enjoyed. We began with fitness classes, then transitioned into a successful badminton unit, including two matches against Belmont Day School’s badminton team. The group had a Zumba session, played Ping-Pong, traveled to Central Rock Gym in Watertown for rock climbing, and went to the Charles Hotel for outdoor skating.
Fifteen students chose to spend this winter in the first-ever Grade VI Fitness Club. The students spent the first three weeks of the season going through strengthening and conditioning exercises designed by their coaches. They then created three separate workouts from all the exercises they learned in the previous weeks.
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CLASS NOTES 2014 E A R LY C L A S S E S The Alumni Office collects news for the Classes of 1935 to 1943. Edwin Cohn ’35 writes, “I recently returned from a month of travel by car on my own in France with special reference to smaller towns and villages and Romanesque architecture.”
V I GI R L S ’ G O L D B A S K E T B A L L The Grade VI Girls’ Gold basketball team had a great season. Once they had a grasp of essential skills, the team began working on offensive and defensive strategies. Their games helped the girls improve tremendously in understanding the rules and implementing skills and strategies.
VI-BOYS’ BLUE BASK ETBALL The Grade VI Boys’ Blue basketball team enjoyed a fine inaugural season. The team played two interscholastic games and had a record of 1-1. They beat Carroll School soundly in their first game, and narrowly missed an impressive comeback against a Milton Academy squad. They have also learned how to play both man-to-man and zone defenses.
From the son of Russell Peck ’36: “It is my sad duty to inform you of the death of Russell H. Peck ’36 on November 18, 2013 at Belmont, Massachusetts. He was 92. A widower, his children are Charles ’60, Nicholas ’62, Sabrina ’63, and William ’68. He left three grandchildren: Henry Peck, Emma Birur, and Alice Peck. Mr Peck’s brother George ’42 and sister Jane P. Alexander ’38 predeceased him. “He came to Shady Hill shortly after it had moved from the Shady Hill estate to Coolidge Hill. Russell was shaped by his experience at Shady Hill. He embodied its gentle, curious, truth-seeking ethos. His mother once remarked that she sent him to Shady Hill to learn goodness, and then sent him to Exeter to learn how to lie, cheat, and steal. In those particular fields, however, he did very poorly at Exeter. “In World War II he was in the US Army in North Africa and India repairing small arms. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1951, worked in the administration of Harvard Law School and later was Clerk of the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts. In the 1970s, he designed, manufactured and marketed an improved solid fuel stove called ‘Amity.’ There was much, and there were many he loved, but above all he loved fishing, cars, and his wife.”
VI-BOYS’ GOLD BASK ETBALL The Grade VI Boys’ Gold basketball team had a great season. Working hard on both their individual skills and team strategy, the boys proved that hard work pays off. They improved tremendously throughout the season and had a great time learning and competing.
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V I - GI R L S ’ B L U E B A S K E T B A L L The VI Girls’ Blue basketball team had a great season filled with both fun and excitement. The girls did a great job encouraging each other during both practices and games, helping to build the team’s collective confidence. Through practice, the team’s shooting, dribbling, and passing skills increased tremendously as the season went on, and it really showed in games.
Joan Carey Cunningham ’38 reports, “This year, Trinity Farm has not been as busy as in past, but still active. Our last wolf died of pulmonary cancer, the end of a 36-year enterprise of 36 animals, both pure and diluted with a bit of dog. The Afghans continue
to fill our days. They could not be more faithful, more affectionate, or more trusting. Shasta brought back two blue ribbons from a show in Springfield, IL.” Joan Smith Zebley ’38 writes, “I am very fortunate to be quite healthy and living happily here in North Carolina. My four children and spouses and four grandchildren are all busy and doing well. Shady Hill days seem long ago and then like only yesterday, right?” Bob Baldwin ’39 reports, “Twenty plus years of retirement following a life span as headmaster of an Oakland, CA co-ed prep school marks my comings and goings these past several decades. Retirement seems to involve supporting a crew of local doctors who help mitigate the realities of old age. I lost my dear wife of 67 years, Joyce Fuller, in 2012 to Alzheimer’s. I remain with 9 grands, 4 daughters, and 4 great-grands. And Sweetie Pie, my cat.” Kay Muller Bullitt ’39 wrote about former classmate and Class Correspondent, Betsy Day Moulton ’39: “She had such a distinguished career. We all thought of her as our Renaissance Woman, whose talents were expressed in her writing, her water colors and her organizational skills — which she devoted to her past as long time Secretary of the Class of 1939. Some of us
The Class of 1939 at May Day.
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many congenial friends, which is amazing for this time of life. We have five married children and thirteen grandchildren, and most of them are living on the East coast, although several prefer San Francisco. Will retired finally from working as a neonatologist. I retired from part-time work as a clinical social worker ten years ago.” Nancy Baldwin Gorham ’41 writes, “Love reading news of others. We are doing okay in North Carolina, but did not get to Maine last summer for the first time in 64 years — health and airline problems too much to tackle! Had a great family reunion here in October.” Members of the Class of 1939 at their Olympic games.
knew her when she entered first grade as a 5-year-old from California, and in her distinguished academic performance through school and later life. She was surrounded by a group of fortunate friends who benefited from the thoughtfulness and consideration she brought to us all.” Betsy’s obituary was published in the Boston Globe on July 28, 2013. Sally Chamberlin Cook ’39 wrote, “Hard to lose Betsy. She held our class together for so long — a dear friend.” Constance V. R. Dexter White ’39 reports, “It’s been fun and illuminating going on tours. One gets super lectures, good company, and many experts to answer all questions. Nowadays I am starting to lag behind on the sightseeing. My last foray might be a look at polar bears. Imagine an inn on wheels and northern lights for a week. All family members are well. Isabella lives in Rio Rancho, NM; Alex lives in Cohasset. Now a grandmother to 2 girls, Adele (5) and Violet (3). Edith lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil where two seasons exist — sunny and rainy! Her son, Felix, is now in Bahia working in a museum.” Betsy Myer Dunn ’40 writes, “Newspaper at breakfast and the PBS news at supper tells me what is happening in the world. Family news is that the first greatgrandchild arrived — and the two generations between him and me are taking life’s journey with all its ups and downs.” Marybelle Herman Cochran ’41 reports, “Will and I have moved to Brookhaven which is a retirement home in Lexington. We are enjoying it a lot and have made
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Roger Wales ’41 reports, “I am in relatively good health and continue to enjoy such simple activities as hiking in the woods, growing vegetables, playing tennis and being with family and friends. I despair over how we have polluted our earth, air, and waters; and I hope it’s not too late to reverse this destruction.” Pierre d’Archambeau ’42 writes, “Thinking about Shady Hill School makes you happy, having been a student in that wonderful school! Since then I made a whole career as a concert violinist in Europe, the Middle East, and USA. I still give solo concerts and live with my wife Antoinette on beautiful Cape Cod.” Calvert Magruder ’42 writes, “In June, after thirty years of service, I retired from the choir at the Christ Church, Cambridge; but continue with active involvement in parish life. I keep in touch with people and events at all three of the schools I taught at over the years: Fessenden, Maumee Valley, and Sewickley Academy. I strongly support President Obama’s valiant efforts on our country’s behalf.”
singing in various choruses. Count my many blessings every day.” John Cobb ’43 writes, “I recently connected with Peter Dale Scott, who joined Ann Thorpe’s seventh grade class of 1940–1941. Peter is a poet and philosopher. He has served as a professor at Berkley and as a diplomat in Poland. He remembers SHS as the best school years.” Sherman Hill ’43 reports, ““Judy and I attended my 70th class reunion in June. I particularly enjoyed sitting at a desk in the same room where I spent my 4th grade year 75 years ago and listening to 4th grade teachers. We were the oldest in class at that reunion. Over all these years I have watched my class news rise to the first page of alumni news. I still return several times a year and walk through the school grounds and remember.”
Peter Dale Scott ’43: “Back East to appear in a UConn classroom that was studying my long poem Coming to Jakarta, I was able, thanks to the professor who knew us both, to stay with my Grade VII classmate Jack Cobb, whom I hadn’t seen since 1941. My first words on seeing him, white-haired as he was, were ‘You haven’t changed.’ And I believe he said the same.” Polly Brown Snow ’43 writes, “I traveled to New England and went to my 70th reunion — 3 of us made it back — Sherman Hill, Barbara Beatley Anthony, and me. We had a lovely lunch at the Head of School’s garden and a great time reminiscing.”
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Jim King ’43 reports, “86 and still cooking along. Been an Alaskan resident for 65 years. Cambridge seems to get farther and farther away so doubt I will be dropping by. Our ten grandchildren are all on the west coast. Greetings to all.”
2014 70th Reunion Class Biz Storer Paynter 74 Sunset Road Weston, MA 02493 biz@paynter.com
Margaret Hoag Myer ’43 reports, “Jack and I remain at Kendal at Hanover. Jack is in The Health Center with Alzheimer’s disease. I have moved to a small apartment with a lovely view and close to the health center. I visit my — our — children often. Two are in Cambridge, an architect and a dancer with a thriving company. Another
Barbara Carpenter Fleischman thanks SHS for helping her recognize that God is love and Almighty. “We mortals in return are to obey Him by loving and helping others. In the Stephen ministry, I am one of the ‘Care Givers’/counselors to women. The Stephen ministry is a combination of Biblical God-centered Christianity plus counseling.” Malcolm Frazier reports, “Connie an I are fortunately still healthy and active. We still live in our own home here in Winter Park and go two weekends a month (sometimes longer) to our beachfront condo in St. Augustine. Every year we come back to Massachusetts for Xmas with our daughter and grandchildren. Every year we realize why we moved to Florida. Love to all.”
Thomas Ragle ’42 reports, “Two of our daughters flew us to England in July, where we exchanged houses for a fortnight with friends in Oxfordshire. A last hurrah! In September I published a collection of poems, Take This Song, under my pen name Lee Bramble. It is available on Amazon.” Debbie Perry Clark ’43 reports, “’Eider and I are enjoying our move to a small house, a mile from our old one — built in ‘39 (old one built in 1600s). Don’t plan to enter the email world any time soon. Continuing
is in New York where she is a museum director.”
Holly Forbes Leon and Gon had a wonderful trip to very northern Scotland last June, staying with some old English friends. Members of the Class of 1943 at Reunion 2013: Sherman Hill, Polly Brown Snow, and Barbara Beatley Anthony.
Ann Landis McLaughlin wrote her eighth novel, Amy and George, which came out in September. References to Shady Grove School might interest some. She is
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also working on another novel and still teaching at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda. She spent a happy time vacationing with her son and his wonderful family (including two grandchildren — 6 and 4).
on August 21, 2013. She was a proud member of ‘44 and enjoyed the news from Shady Hill.
Barbara Miller Nelson writes she is “soldiering on — a little grayer, stiffer, and grumpier! Grandchildren count continues to rise — 12 at last counting and one great. My activities diminish as do my abilities — still doing recorder — have just enough puff to do so.” Leo Opdycke included his update in the Fall Newsletter, where he talked about his time at Shady Hill and schools in general. Jean Fairhurst Packham writes, “I am looking forward to being a great grandmother next spring. Time creeps up on you, doesn’t it? Dogless by choice having lost both my dogs earlier this year. I tried looking after other people’s dogs but the behavior of some of them rather put me off the whole thing.” Binda Payson Parra writes, “I’m still in the last century. Ashamed to say I’m still email illiterate. Otherwise, I am up to date working for all sorts of good causes; decent health care, clean water, and to shut down our ancient wonky local nuclear power station.” Biz Storer Paynter says, “If you want to pat a 500 lb. baby gray whale from a rubber raft or scratch its 50 ft. mother’s back, go to the Sea of Cortez in February/ March . . . it is an unforgettable experience!” Betsy King Platt writes, “My most interesting news it that Bernard is serving on the National Academy of Sciences and National Research Council Committee to review NASA’s Human Space Flight Program and make recommendations for the future. In contrast, my focus is on a very close future. I am determined to leave housework of all kinds until later in the day and retire to my study right after breakfast to write or paint or read for at least two hours. A contrast in lives.” Sue Steinert Poverman reports, “At the end of March 2013, I moved to Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford, MA. It is a residential dwelling for retirees who are very healthy, as is Cornelia Perkins Zinsser, and those who
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Members of the Class of 1944: Sue Steinert Poverman, Jane Williams, Binda Payson Parra, Pat Ross Pratt, Holly Forbes Leon, Betsy King Platt with Biz Storer Paynter and Cornelia Perkins Zinsser (standing) having lunch at Carleton-Willard where Sue and Cornelia now live.
need assisted living, as I do, and skilled nursing for those who need that. It turns out to be a very active place with lots to do and many worth knowing. The eight members of our class had our semi-annual luncheon here, which seemed to please every one. All is well with my family, grandchildren, and grand-dogs.” Pat Ross Pratt will be participating in the 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28. Gay Elliot Scott is still in her house and teaching piano, though feeling a bit creaky she has cut back somewhat. It it with great sadness that James Stelson reports that his mother, Helen MacLachlan Stelson, passed away
Elinor Hegemann Taylor writes after a long silence that she is still living and painting in a solar home outside of San Miguel de Allende. “The difference is that I have put this place on the market and am having a wonderful time redoing a much smaller house and garden on the other side of town where I will have neighbors and modern conveniences, like town electricity and gas heat and garbage collection. Not that any of these things are important to me after living on solar power for so many years, but I am ready to live among friends, and I appreciate the compactness of the new house. And I love the challenge of change. Other than designing and planting the new garden, and painting walls of the new rooms, I sing in a chorus two days a week plus the occasional concert, and enjoy the company of those people brought together by music.” Jane Williams has a new novel, The Invasion, set during WWII in an affluent New England town much like Cambridge, where generations of Yankees have dedicated themselves to high moral purpose and everyone knows his or her place. But anxious times bring changes to the Parker Farm/School community that reveals a darker side of prejudice and bigotry beneath the surface of comfort and security, and lead to the loss of innocence and a tragic death. In the aftermath, does anyone tell the truth? “It’s been lots of work, but great fun to complete this book — which is available on Amazon. You’ll recognize the setting and some circumstances. It has been a busy year. John got a new knee but is whizzing along again.” Cornelia Perkins Zinsser lives at Carleton-Willard, as does Sue Steinert Poverman, and enjoyed showing the six of us who had lunch there all the facilities. “It was a really great time, featuring superbly vivid memories. I especially appreciated Betsy King’s referring to herself and others as ‘hooligans’ in their SHS days.”
C L A S S O F 19 4 5 The Alumni Office collects news from the Class of 1945. Members of the Class of 1944 performing Trial by Jury.
Dorothy Silberman Altman writes, “I sold my house
on Gibson Street after 52 years and moved to one of the wonderful old red-brick apartments on Memorial Drive. One of my friends calls it Mt. Auburn Prep. I have been auditing courses at Harvard to keep the mind active. Last summer, the whole family stayed together on Gill Pond, Wellfleet, for many weeks and it worked!!” Alan Carpenter writes, “Finally retried from volunteer teaching of Stanford medical students after 20 years. Enjoying the atmosphere at The Sequoias Portola Valley CA, a ‘Life Care’, CCRC. SHS introduced me to Gilbert and Sullivan, which has been a blessing. Thanks SHS.” Kit Eaton Dreier reports, “Still singing with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus — as are SHS grads Anne Sturgis Watt ’52 and Toby Fairbank ’60.” Ellen Guild Moot writes, “I’ve moved out to Concord to a retirement outfit named Newbury Court, just off Route 2, to find a bunch of SHS graduates or ex-parents already in residence. We had an SHS alums party a while ago. It was well attended. I’m pleased with this experience; though really miss my Cambridge pals and activities. Though I’m auto-less, I do get into Cambridge fairly often to meetings — for fun, for promoting various ‘worthy orgs’, to catch up with the Real World. I do now get to read both the Globe and the New York Times thoroughly every morning, an unknown luxury, also to watch the Sox, Bruins, and Celts occasionally, and to attend the 350 every week. Also to read books, happily. Both my kids, Amey ’77 and Alex ’79, are local and often encountered. I go to NH as usual in the summer, but not to ski anymore. Cheers to all.”
C L A S S O F 19 4 6 The Alumni Office collects news from the Class of 1946. Nancy Read Coville’s husband, Stanley, died last year. Nancy is still living in the same house in Tamworth, NH. Nancy Newbegin Feldman and Paul drove cross country last summer to attend a family event. Jane Lothrop Gardiner and Charles have been living in a retirement home for almost a year. It is close to their old home.
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Frank Kennedy reports, “Sylvia and I still feel very fortunate to have moved back to River Woods in Exeter. All offspring are on the west coast but we are able to visit them fairly regularly. All’s well in NH.” Joan Forbes Koponen’s husband died recently. She spends time doing lots of puzzles. She rather doubts that she will be taking a trip to Martha’s Vineyard next summer. Jim Leamon writes, “Although retired in 2000 from the Bates College history department, I still continue my work as an academic historian with the publication of The Reverend Jacob Bailey, Maine Loyalist (University of Massachusetts Press, 2012) and most recently the self-publication of a booklet entitled, The Military Art of J. Thomas Leamon. J. Thomas — or Tom — is my older brother, a wounded WWII veteran and later an artist and book illustrator whose sketches, cartoons, dioramas, and paintings relating to war I have collected and, with the aid of a skillful web designer, published as a booklet. One can see promo adds for both books at www. jamesleamon.com. This may sound like a commercial — and guess what? It is.” Peg Morton writes, “My main news is that my book about my life was finally published, and I am getting appreciative reports. It is: Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Adventures and Reflections of a Quaker Activist. You can purchase it from my daughter at Cedar Row Press, $15 plus $3.50 shipping and handling. Make check to Cedar Row Press, 2809 Shirley Street, Eugene, OR 97404. You can also purchase it at Amazon.com. Questions? dmstauber@mail.com. Or call me at 541341-2914. I’d love to talk to you! Other than that, I’m doing ok. My oldest granddaughter, Emily, had a delightful wedding celebration in Seattle this summer.” I. Gillis Murray writes, “I wish we might have another reunion. One of my collages was chosen for an allFlorida traveling exhibit. (Thank you Mrs. Stout!) SAW Publishers published a book of my cartoons in 2013. Come and see us if you’re traveling in the area.” Longtime class correspondent Blair Weille died on February 12. His affection for his classmates and for Shady Hill School was a gift to us all. He will be missed
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by many Shady Hill friends.
CL A S S O F 19 47 Joanna Bailey Hodgman 64 Monteroy Road Rochester NY 14618 joannahodgman@frontier.com Nat Bowditch writes, “We have moved from Philadelphia to Kendall at Longwood, 139 Kendall Drive, Kennett Square, PA 19348, tel.1-610-388-2780. We still live six months in Hancock Point, Maine. Peggy and I are fine.” News from David Clarke: “Mary and I continue to be blessed with good health and are able to carry on all our activities — perhaps at a slightly slower pace. (How did I find time to have a teaching career?) I spend time working on the Concord trail system and am getting ready for a production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Daughter Ann has adopted a six-year-old, Nathaniel, so we are busy catching up with him. This brings us a total of four grandchildren. All the best. See you at the 80th. ’47 forever.” Richard Eliot reports, “Marcia and I have moved from Lyndonville, VT to Rockport, MA so we can be near our daughter, Anne, and her family. Not as much cross country skiing but more kayaking.” News from Cornelia Fuller: “I highly recommend the Smithsonian’s Art of the Hudson River Valley cruise up to Albany and back to NYC that I took this October during the fall foliage season.” Donata Coletti Mechem says, “The major news when you are 81 and your husband 88 is that you are still alive, relatively healthy, and haven’t lost too many of your marbles. He is still writing music, choral commissions, and has a book being considered by a publisher. We exercise three times a week, strenuous water aerobics for me, swimming for him. Last summer I was twice in the Adirondacks, the first weekend visiting my granddaughters at camp, the second a huge family gathering to celebrate my sister, Mimi Coletti Dow ’48’s 80th birthday. I keep out of mischief practicing the violin.”
Harriet Robey Myers reports, “My main news is that my husband, Bill, died last year on March 8, 2012. We were married for 59 years. So now I live the widow’s life, which at times is lonely and at other times it’s somewhat liberating. Since Bill’s death I’ve traveled to places he never wanted to go to. Last January I went on fabulous trip to Tanzania to see the wildlife of the area. With the rate of killing elephants for their tusks and rhinos for their horns, those animals may well be on their way to extinction . . . unless somebody does something about it. And a few weeks ago I went with a friend to Churchill, Canada to see the polar bears, another animal that may not last into the next century because of global warming. Will the naysayers ever listen? “As for my kids and grandchildren . . . well, everything is fine with all of them. I won’t go into it all as it would be boring to anyone else. Basically, everyone is happy and well . . . and that goes for me too.” Alicia Gardner Sinclair reports, “I know a couple who lost health and job, and then their house on August 31. They were promised a house and yard in Lexington, one of many driblets of hope. That fell through so they planned to live in their van. I took them in as I had a tiny room and bath on the third floor. They have fixed everything in my building, and helped clear the attic and cellar. As volunteers they painted a two-floor factory which may be turned into a community center. Another woman injured her knee, the store she worked at closed, and she lost her apartment. She finally got public housing on the ninth floor — erratic elevator, roaches, no one else speaks English. She cried every night. I am sure other cities are at least as bad. Everything is needed, especially food and warm clothing.” Bob Weiss writes, “With my continuing work at CBS Radio in Boston, I often think about, and use, geography lessons from the fifth grade.” Thanks to all who wrote, and greetings to all classmates from your secretary (Joanna Bailey Hodgman). And now, a bonus from our anonymous contributor of quotations. From Henry IV, Part I, Act II, Scene 3: “Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.”
C L A S S O F 19 4 8 Martha Bliss Safford 7 Drumlin Road Rockport, MA 01966 martha@saffords.com Edward Ginsburg reports, “Celebrating fifty years of marriage by taking whole family, including two Shady Hill daughters, to Puerto Rico for Christmas holidays. Honored by Red Sox at Fenway Park last July for Senior Partners for Justice project. Over a thousand volunteer lawyers represent the indigent. Quite a ‘post retirement’ project.” Sandylee Weille Maccoby reports, “I am hoping to get up to Boston sometime in the spring. I have a grandson at Harvard so I plan to see him also. Right now I’m working on my second novel. It’s fun!” Anne Carpenter Robertson writes that she and Bruce and their son, Peter, went to Yosemite Valley, then over Tioga Pass to Lee Vining. “It was fabulous to climb Lembert Dome and another day up to 11,000 feet to Conness Lake. That high country gives me an all time high. Another day we went to Saddlebag Lake, took a boat across and climbed 5 miles around the high country below Mt. Conness. “In September, we, along with Bruce’s son, James, went to Amsterdam, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, and The Hague. Then Paris, Giverny, and Zurich with a Road Scholar group. It was a wonderful trip. Thanksgiving was spent with Diane, James, and Peter. We missed our other children but they live so far away. The highlight not mentioned is that we go to about nine operas a year, ten symphonies, and eight ballets. We see my brother Alan ’45 and Betsy about once a month, which usually includes a musical or ballet event. My brother John ’51, who lives in Michigan, has a new granddaughter, Leonare, in Victoria, Canada. We continue to have loving friends and family and enjoy life to the fullest.” Anne adds that she read Jamie Goodale’s book and says we should all read it. Martha Bliss Safford reports, “Nick and I are going to Nick’s 60th Amherst Reunion in May. He still keeps in touch with many of his classmates. I have my reunion at
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Cornell next year. My sister, Susan Bliss Alden ’51, lost her husband Peter this past September of a long and sad case of Parkinson’s disease. It was all the sadder because he knew the progression of it, being a doctor. Susan and her family gave a memorable Memorial Service in Burlington, Vermont and invited our whole large family. We all stayed in a large block of rooms at the nearby Sheraton Inn Hotel where we also met after the church service. Sue had arranged a sumptuous feast in the gathering area of the hotel. We took photos and talked far into the evening. “I recently was reminiscing about Katharine Taylor and how she didn’t think ninth graders should wear lipstick . . . so she called the girls to her office, and told us so, because some of us were doing it lightly!!!” Kathryn Shohl Scott reports, “I continue to enjoy world travel. Spring of 2013 I visited the Baltic states, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, with a cruise on the waterway — St. P. to Moscow. In late summer I joined a Lindblad/National Geographic expedition to Greenland and Northeastern Canada. I wrapped up my voyages in October with a trip around the Peleponnese and Crete (one of the guest lecturers, Cynthia Shelmerdine ’63, is also a SHS alum — we shared memories of Greek games). In between trips, I thrive on the Washington, DC area cultural scene and visits with family (5 kids and 10 grandkids). Alas, no summer mini-reunion in NH, formerly organized by Debbie Cary.”
C L A S S O F 19 4 9 2014 65th Reunion Class Jim Barton 130 Appleton Street Cambridge, MA 02138 redwing1986@hotmail.com Marjorie Forbes writes, “My life as an amateur chamber player keeps getting better and better! Am playing in a coached quartet with me (on oboe), a flute, a cello, and a piano. Having a wonderful time playing music I never dreamed I’d get good enough to play (like Bach Sonatas!). It really is quite thrilling.” During 2013, we lost Nancy Aub Gleason, another
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Members of the Class of 1949 at nap time in 1940.
very talented class member whose career was long and productive. I quote selectively from the Boston Globe’s eloquent obituary: “She has just been an amazing contributor in just every way: an adviser, a counselor, a leader. She really was kind of the heart and soul of Planned Parenthood. A social worker whose career spanned decades of vast changes for women in the work place and the accompanying court decisions that affected everything from sports to reproduction, Mrs. Gleason had also worked for many years at Wellesley College’s Stone Center Counseling Service. Mrs. Gleason was also was a longtime violist, bringing family and friends together over the years to perform chamber music. She had lived in Beacon Hill for many years, and kept a vacation residence in Francestown, NH. Mrs. Gleason also was a senior fellow and former board member of the Salzburg Global Seminar, which brings together well-known intellectuals to exchange ideas.” Marina von Neumann Whitman visited Shady Hill on October 2, 2013 to read excerpts from her autobiography, The Martian’s Daughter. See “News and Events” at www.shs.org (not “edu.”) for photographs and introductory remarks by Head of School Mark Stanek. Jim Barton and Genevra Osborn Higginson attended, and appear with Marina in a photo. Genevra remembers Marina from SHS. Jim remembers her from SHS also, but dimly. He recalls meeting her as a member of the Radcliffe Class of l956. Jim was Harvard, l956. Marina graduated from Radcliffe summa, having inherited her father’s intellectual brilliance. Marina explained that her father, John von Neumann (19031957) was a member of a group of Hungarian refugee scientists including Leo Szilard and Edward Teller who
Members of the Class of 1949 in their ninth grade play, H.M.S. Pinafore.
contributed greatly to the United States war effort in the l940s. A look at just John von Neumann’s mathematic and scientific accomplishments alone would be sufficient to justify thinking of the group as supernaturally gifted. In addition, their war work was highly secret because it included the atomic bomb. And they spoke Hungarian among themselves — an “impossibly difficult language,” Marina called it. Because of all this, Marina added, the group appeared to their colleagues to have come from some other place. They became known as “The Martians.” Marina herself has had a distinguished career as a university professor, economist, member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and executive at General Motors. She is currently Professor of Business
Genevra Osborn Higginson and James Barton with Marina von Neumann Whitman (center) when she read at Shady Hill.
Administration and Public Policy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, as well as the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
C L A S S O F 19 5 0 Monique Chamberlin Spalding 15 Gurney Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Jeff Freeman writes, “I am enjoying being part of an advisory committee that’s generating ideas for the Shady Hill Centennial celebration during the 2015–2016 school year. I continue regular telephone and email contacts with members of our 1950 class, and wish there were more face-to-face get-togethers. Pat Elvebak’s July 2013 visit to Gloucester afforded Pat, Niki, Joel, and me the chance for lunch in Cambridge. With earlier planning this year, maybe we can attract others? Landa and I, with son Peter and spouse Sharon, have plans for travel in January 2014 — three weeks in ‘usual suspect’ cities in southeastern Australia. It’s terrible to have to be there in the middle of their summer and miss out on January storm-dodging in CT. ;-) Trip will be history by the time we all read this . . . maybe a postscript picture of four of us on the Sydney Harbor Bridge in the Winter 2015 Shady Hill News?” Lee Ginsburg Herbst and Art continue to live in
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Chicago spending winters in Tucson. Their days are filled with educational projects and they enjoy watching their grandchildren grow. John Horvitz sends his greetings to all and promises to invite Phyllis and me (Niki) for lunch on his next visit to Boston in the spring. David Kaplan writes, “This has been a somewhat bittersweet year. My dear wife of 52 years, Nancy, is now living in a skilled nursing facility for patients with advanced Alzheimer’s in Dedham. She seems happy not knowing where she is but still recognizes me and her two sons. Little else, however, is there, and she has forgotten how to walk or feed herself, hence the skilled memory unit. Obviously it’s very sad for all the family but life must go on and I take great pride and joy in the accomplishments of my three granddaughters, 20, 15, and 14, and, of course my two boys. I spend some time in the winter in Longboat Key (Sarasota area), but fly back and forth every other week to visit Nancy and see my family. It’s not as difficult as it sounds as recently Jet Blue has one non-stop a day between Boston and Sarasota, which cuts down on my travel time considerably. Sounds like Shady Hill is doing wonderfully under its new leadership and for that I’m happy. I wonder how many of us will be around for our 65th reunion in 2015 — let’s hope we all will be.” Harriet Woodworth Koch continues her labors on her father’s biography. We are impatient! She and Al had quite an adventure in Turkey last spring. They cruised the “Turquoise Coast” in a gullet (a wooden sailing yacht), and spent the night with a Turkish farm family. Ellie Jones Rogers Luopa writes that she is busy with family events and gatherings. Three grandchildren have finished college and one is married. Two others are in college and two in school. Ellie promises me a visit if she comes to Cambridge. Helen Cutter Maclennan followed the Red Sox from London and recalls 1946 when we hung around the maintenance building to hear the radio reports. Autumn is busy in London with concerts, plays and parties. I always look forward to Helen’s visit during the summer.
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Faith Rohrbough has been living in Saskatoon for the past seventeen years where the winter weather is bracing. She spends time occasionally on the North Shore visiting her siblings. A year ago she traveled again to Ethiopia and South Africa — places that have particular meaning to her.
C L A S S O F 19 51 Janet Green Vaillant 35 Belknap Street Concord, MA 01742-2401 janetvaillant@verizon.net
David Sears still spends August at Lake Winnipesaukee. He is working full time and has recently published the second edition of the Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. He has also completed a research book: American Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism. His youngest daughter, Meredith, is working on her PhD dissertation in clinical psychology.
Susan Bliss Alden writes, “Our dear Peter died in September 2013, at 80, after five years with Parkinson’s, and then dementia. It slowly robbed this dedicated physician, family man, and outdoorsman of so much, and then took his life. Our children and grandchildren have been wonderful coming often to see him and help me . . . so have our neighbors and friends. I count my blessings having spent 56 years with him.”
Life at 15 Gurney Street is much the same for me (Niki Chamberlin Spalding) with a busy schedule of Bed and Breakfast guests from around the world. Jeff once again drove all the way from Connecticut to have lunch with Patty, Joel, and me at the Changsho noon DimSum. Let’s have a bigger group next year. The menu is delectable.
Bob Cleary writes, “Life has been wonderful and, thank God, very busy. We have moved from the big house to a 2-bedroom condo at 680 South Ave. in Weston. The big news is that our daughter, Meghan, who teaches at Nobles, just had her second boy while our son, Andrew, just had his first son. It gives my wife, Annie, lots to do before we go to Jupiter, FL in January for the winter.”
Tom Stout is selling his house in Rhode Island and moving to Rockport, ME. We are both anticipating the release of the film about his father called The Monuments Men.
Maisie Goodale Crowther reports, “The highlights for 2013 included a trip to Minnesota to see family and friends at the 55th reunion at Carleton. Since we had been arranged alphabetically in class, there is more opportunity to know those with surnames M-Z at these gatherings. We are not just books on a shelf, however, and discovering new friends is heartwarming. I had a 50-year ‘retrospective’ watercolor exhibit in January. Still enjoying singing with small choruses, reading, writing and exercising. Maintaining a small patch in Ipswich, and plan to visit our California family in 2014.”
Joel Wechsler and Joey look forward to more skiing this winter. His grandson graduated from Colorado College in May and Joey, with a bad back, watched it live from home on streaming video. Afterwards, Joel investigated a new remote and beautiful resort in far western Colorado called Gateway Canyons. Mundie Kuehn Williams retired in May 2012. She misses the activity and her fellow employees but she has family nearby and she enjoys the freedom and the time to pursue new projects. Many of us read with interest the New York Times obituary of Ken Wilson. We take great pride in him as a classmate with such remarkable accomplishments and wish that he had shared some time with us at reunions. Our deep condolences to his wife Alison Brown and to his family.
Fletcher Davis writes of his enjoyment in catching up with Shady Hillers at the 60th SHS reunion after 61 years (he left after eighth grade). “It now looks as though Elizabeth and I will be moving back to Massachusetts next spring or summer, hopefully to Applewood in Amherst. It will be good to be back and be near our grandchildren. Meanwhile, we are both in excellent health, full of energy, love of volunteering in support of the environment. We live in a spectacular spot on an island north of Seattle looking across Puget Sound at the perpetually snow-clad Olympic Mountains, and also enjoy our apartment in Seattle for cultural and
educational adventures. We look forward to seeing more of you soon.” Paul Dodson writes of his great summer in Maine. “Liz and I hiked in Cornwall and met up with friends for a bareboat charter on the Canal du Midi in France. We started with a 3-day visit to Carcassonne and then navigated 43 locks toward the Mediterranean, ending up in Narbonne on the 100th anniversary of native son Charles Trenet’s birth. We listened to an unusual organ recital of Trenet’s popular music on the St. Just Cathedral’s magnificent organ. “We have decided to down-size homes, and have purchased a condo in Falmouth Foreside, Maine, across the street from the Portland Yacht Club, where Nick Grace ’52 and I delivered a Casey Cutter from Padanaram in 1961. We plan to move there from Wiscasset in the fall of 2014.” Florence Hammond Phillips reports, “I have finally moved through my nearly two years of an M.A. in Orthopedic Experiences and am carefully tiptoeing back into minor (professional) theater projects, music, family, friends . . . freaked out over Cindy Kennedy Sam’s showing Tom Gregg’s photos from 1951!! WE were adorable! And clearly had a Wonderful SHS.” Cindy Kennedy Sam reports, “B&B business this year has been constant and good, with any number of friendly, interesting international & out of state guests. Been deeply involved in delivering PowerPoint
Maisie Goodale Crowther and Cynthia Kennedy Sam at Maisie’s house in Ipswich.
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presentations regarding my maternal grandfather, eminent American sculptor, Bela Lyon Pratt (www. belalyonpratt.com). Most involving centennial celebrations for original dedications of his sculptures (H.W. Longfellow, New Bedford Whaleman, Ashburnham ‘Schoolboy of 1850’.) One fun, special event was organized in Wellesley by close pal classmate Kadie for an organization that sponsors high school kids to go to college. Have enjoyed several evenings at Symphony thanks to Gabrielle Meyer, whose season’s tickets are the same night as those of Lanny (haha) Steinert whom we glimpse of from time to time. Sister Elisabeth (Lee, Class of 1954) has treated me once again to a fabulous mid-winter cruise, this time up the Mississippi! How fortunate am I to have such mutual sister love and appreciation. Am in the waiting period for next month’s blessing of a new great-grandson (the first, Jacob Drew, is almost 8!) Whew! Now, doesn’t that put us in a truly senior category!” Sandy Coit Stephen writes, “Now that I’ve got the lamb stew marinating, and Stanley (my wood stove) crackling — it is only -17 here, about zero degrees F — I guess I need to say hello and am still ‘perking along’. A few months ago I got a full knee replacement which laid me low and still is a nuisance but what can I say, was never a runner, hoping to be able to move on the tennis court enough to hold my own?? I may try this out in February in Phoenix where my daughter has a condo, with court and swimming pool! “Your note came while I was in Vancouver attending my granddaughter’s graduation as a Master of Physiotherapy. Great kid, wonderful city! Otherwise it is pretty much same old . . . you know, a little exercise class, some bridge playing, hauling wood for Stanley, some playing of Scrabble, but no snow to shovel as yet which is a bad thing as this cold is very hard on the snow-less garden and plants. I do have fun with a large garden in the summer lots of weeds, but now a cool room full of potatoes, turnips, cabbage, beets, some onions. The peas were good this year but there are enough of us around that they all got eaten. And so it goes. Missed my usual trip to Rockport last summer, hoping to make it in 2014. Greetings to all.” I, Janet Green Vaillant, know that Charlie Forbes
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is well and playing a lot of music and that Penelope Wheeler Pi-Sunyer is also well and playing lots of oboe in chamber music. She has also been co-teaching a course on Dante (sic.!) for a group of fellow-retirees. I have been enjoying music too by singing in a choir and at the Berkshire Summer Festival where we sang the Bach B Minor Mass. Quite a stretch for me! Henry and I visited Rome for the first time with our son’s family who was spending the spring semester in France. There were enough of us to rent a large apartment on a side canal in Venice. The putt-putt sound of commuters revving up to go about their business was magical.”
CL A S S O F 19 5 2 Anne Sturgis Watt 15R Sargent Street Cambridge, MA 02140 annewatt99@gmail.com Hal Churchill reports, “I retired from clinical medicine in June 2012 but am still doing some teaching. Having more free time is a pleasure. I am still exploring how best to use it.” Len Clarke writes, “Latest enjoyment has been the Maine fiddle group, Fiddlelicious, with strings, harps, guitars, and accordions. We learn and practice fiddle tunes all year long then perform at four venues in the fall. Recorder playing continues as well. Piloting a ‘barge’ down la Petite Saone and a week each in Provence and Paris was both a delight and an opportunity to practice my French. Daughter Andréa just took a new top management job at The Jerome in Aspen — so, my son George’s family and I are grabbing our skis and heading West for Christmas vacation. George is deeply involved in removing the dams on the Penobscot so that the salmon (and other species) can spawn and thrive. Come visit me in Maine (Robin was here). Art, music, the outdoors, much goes on here.” Dennis Corcoran and his wife Marie are maintaining a happy life style, spending time at their house on the Cape and their Newton condo. He adds, “Three granddaughters and their parents, our daughter and son and spouses, joined us for a summer festival vacation in late summer. Our excitement for the year was a two-week concert tour to the Baltic region with the
Yale Alumni Chorus. The Baltic region has a fascinating history in the WWII and Cold War years as well as a rich history over many centuries. 110 singers and 30 accompanying spouses and friends visited Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, performing Morten Lauridson’s Lux Aeterna plus a selection of spirituals and folk songs from our host countries. We were warmly received at all of our concerts, SRO events. All in all a wonderful cultural and musical experience.” Anne Wallace Elvins and John Sebastian Grace write, “It was such a treat to see so many of you at our 60th Reunion! In all the bustle at our house, we never took note of who took our class photo. If anyone has one, could you send it to us at elvins@aol.com? Thanks in advance! After the reunion, we celebrated our 75th birthdays and our 5 years together, and life is still wonderful. Anne is still teaching at Longy, and John is still weaving his luscious bedside rugs. “Our big event this year was the wedding of Anne’s oldest daughter, Lisa, a widow for 16 years, to her high-school sweetheart, Tom Van Camp, whom she knew for only one year at the Augsburg American Military High School in Germany at the age of 16. (Sounds familiar?) The wedding took place on May 11, 2013, in Colorado Springs, where they live. That was also the third birthday of the Flower Girl, Lisa’s granddaughter (and Anne’s great-granddaughter), Samantha. “There is always a downside to being our age, so in addition to John’s wife Carolyn’s decline, there is that of Anne’s brother Jim ’56, for whom she has been the care-taker for the last year and a half. After his latest fall and broken hip, he is back in his home on Coolidge Hill with round-the-clock care. We are grateful for our good health and happiness and tentatively hopeful for better things in the world at large. We hope you are all doing well, too!” Happy Barker Esty reports, “We are currently in the midst of a major transition, having recently sold our treasured house in Sausalito, CA and purchased an apartment in an expanding retirement community, now under construction, and ready for our occupancy in November. Spring Lake Village is situated on beautiful land in Sonoma County, an hour north of us, and we
move out of this home on February 1. So what to do for the next nine months? We have just purchased a used, inviting, cozy, camper van. In mid-February we will leave the San Francisco Bay area, head south in CA, see blooming deserts, linger in L.A. and then move across AZ, NM, and TX. We will stop to see many of the countless beckoning sites and friends along our zigzag route. On to New Orleans and a bit more of the deep south including FL. Ahead, Atlanta, the great Smokies, NC mountains, Blue Ridge, Skyline & Shenandoah Drives, Eastern Shore of MD, several stops in PA, Metro NYC, and upward & onward into the familiar northeast. “We have 55th college reunions at Smith and Amherst in late May, and then will circulate among old friends & families in familiar regions of New England. Somewhere we will park the camper van and our trusty Dachshund Luke for most of September as we head out of the country. Back in October to begin our meandering way west across the northern states we have traversed several times in the past.” Jean Magoun Farnsworth reports, “Retirement is good! Lots of duplicate bridge, reading and some travel. Children in London, Vermont and Austin TX — all good places to visit. Son Ward, Jr., left BU Law School last year and is now Dean of U. of Texas Law School. Boston to Austin = quite a change! Hope all is good in your world. Cheers to all.” Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski writes, “Anne, many thanks for your e-mail and for asking me for information for the class at the Shady Hill School. I like to send a message to you, because I very much enjoy remembering the beautiful days of our 60th reunion. At the airport in Boston the customs official asked me: ‘What you do in the USA?’ I answered, that I come to 60th reunion of my class. He only said: ‘Welcome back Home!’ and let me through. This was extremely kind and impressed me very much. The border controls are usually unfriendly and the process lasts usually much longer. ‘Welcome back Home’ also had a special meaning for me. I had first come from Europe into the US, to Cambridge. I had lived with Anna Thorp, our class teacher, the greatgranddaughter of the famous American poet Longfellow, there on Brattle Street in the Longfellow house. In our lessons Miss Anne Thorp taught us about the
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development of democracy in the USA. She read us the Bill of Rights. She also read the story of the dangerous white whale Moby Dick to us in the afternoons. “We were brought up in the democratic traditions of the USA. This democratic tradition was particularly important for me after the experiences of fascism destroying all humanity in Germany. Therefore it hurts me and other Germans, if today we experience the USA losing its symbolic power. Instead of listening to Whistleblowers like Bradley Manning and Andrew Snowden people see them as traitors. But Manning and Snowden have uncovered undesirable developments, war crimes and global spying. “According to the formal right both are probably traitors in the eyes of most Americans. However, one should learn that war crimes or worldwide spying undermines the positive image of the USA. These whistleblowers are patriots, they wanted to serve their country and they carried out their work in the spirit of the democratic traditions of the USA. So we can’t think any more in the categories of the formal right or of the normal morals. We now have to apply higher moral principles and a higher level of law — taking into account the significance for the future history of the world. As the famous philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel already said: ‘World history moves on a higher ground than this one is where morality has its real place, where is the private interested, the conscience of the individual, their particular will and their behavior.’ I greet you and all schoolmates of the Shady Hill School.”
L to R: Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski ’52, Fred Shima, Gerhard Fuchs-Kittowski (1/2 standing), Sabina (Klaus’ wife), and Betsy Moizeau Shima ’52.
David Goldberg writes, “Retired real estate lawyer; keep up my books: Transfer and Mortgage Recording
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Taxes in New York Title Closings and Real Estate for the General Practitioner. Volunteer writing tutor at Brooklyn College; member of CERT — Community Emergency Response Team — sort of like Minutemen for the Elderly!” Nancy Proger Kaplan reports, “At the moment, I am very involved with Wellesley Neighbors, which is part of the Village movement, like Cambridge At Home. I also am teaching English through a volunteer program at the Wellesley Library, and playing bridge. I am still involved as a volunteer with the Rashi School and Tufts Medical Center. Life is more leisurely than ever before, and I am enjoying that.” Sally Kuhn reports, “I am enjoying partaking of a tiny fraction of the overwhelming cultural banquet offered in ‘The Big Apple.’ Am auditing some classes at Columbia University (filling in a few of the chasms in my premiere education) taking courses such as ‘Chinese, Japanese and Korean Art’ and ‘The History of Finance’. Also, doing some traveling (Asia last November, Europe this spring, maybe Cuba in January), and am always happy to see classmates who come my way. My very best to everyone.” Ibby Ellis Kurzon writes, “I’m enjoying helping adults with English through the Cambridge Library ESL program. I am keeping up with a few classmates. Sally Bender Wulff and I have for years audited Harvard Extension courses in literature and art history; Sally Kuhn and I keep up with visits in NYC as well as Cambridge, where Charlie and I enjoy getting together with Anne Sturgis Watt and John. Tom Plaut reports, “My granddaughters are back in school and so I’m reduced to occasional public lectures on Haiti and training medical services providers for cross-cultural work. My greatest blessings are my wife of 42 years, five kids and 14 grandchildren — all of whom are doing well. We have six grandkids close by and we love accompanying them to their soccer and volleyball games, cello concerts and plays. I am increasingly amazed at life, it’s complexities and the gifts we have been given to experience it. “There have been some ‘lasts’. A last article community organizing for public heath is being published in a text
for providers in the summer of 2014. My last triathlon was completed in August (I won my age group because I was the only person in it . . . which was a bit unnerving). I hope to go to Haiti for the last time (?) in April 2014. “Every year the Appalachian Studies Association, made up of colleges, universities, and community organizations across 13 states, gives an award recognizing an individual for service to the peoples of Appalachia. Last year, very surprisingly, it was me, which I owe in good measure to Shady Hill for instilling the values of inquiry, work, and service and the curiosity to explore and commit to spending my life in ‘The Other America.’ “I am enjoying my partial knee replacements, but miss seeing the likes of you and other Hillites. I trust you are doing well.” Debbie Smith Roberts reports, “I’m just returning from a great holiday break in New Hampshire with the families of all three children and four dogs! Now it’s time to change gears for the final dress rehearsals in my 3 Musical Theater Workshops at the School of Performing Arts in Tenafly — a Sound of Music, a Little Mermaid, and a Little Shop of Horrors. Does it keep me young or just make me feel old? I wish you all a great 2014.” Betsy Moizeau Shima reports, “Last April we fulfilled a pledge I made to Klaus to visit him in Berlin. Though Europe had had a hard winter we managed to have balmy weather spending time with Klaus, Sabine, and Gerhard. They took us on a well worthwhile boat tour of Berlin on a Sunday afternoon, which pulled together nicely the disparate sights we had already seen. Our side trip to Dresden included attendance at the Semper opera with the locals. Of course all of this was in a beautiful setting. A stop over in New York on the way home allowed us to admire the drifts of tulips in bloom there.” Judy Grace Stetson writes, “I have just come from a family party at Old Farm, our grandmother’s place in Milton where our class had many parties and games during our Shady Hill years. Since our grandmother’s death in 1956, the property has been jointly owned
by various family members. They all loved it enough to keep up with its essential maintenance, but it was no longer anyone’s real home. And that makes a great difference. Then, HURRAH! a cousin in the next generation down from us bought it with her husband and brought it back to life. In fact they brought it forth to a wonderful new life. They have kept its gracious beauty, but its 19th century inconveniences have been utterly transformed into an imaginative and very welcoming 21st century home. Some of our classmates may be reminded of The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home by George Howe Colt. Our grandkids are growing up (too fast) in the house our son-in-law built on the property 16 years ago. “My other news is of Tom and my continued aging in place in Falmouth on Cape Cod with sea and sand all summer, and a heady mix of town politics and cultural events in the winter. Falmouth is in the throes of deciding what to do about the two enormous wind turbines we bought with State encouragement and only later discovered were far too big for the location we had chosen for them. They are, to borrow a phrase, Too Big To Fail, with all that implies in physical and fiscal torment.” Anne Sturgis Watt reports, “I’m actually enjoying this task of being class correspondent now that all your emails are in my system! This has been a ‘year out’ for me with total ankle replacement surgery last March, which is just beginning to turn the pain corner now. Dates back to the Haystack ski accident of 1977 when 17 chairs fell from the cables. It gave me time to become the editor of John’s just published book, Saving Lives in Wartime China. And for the first time all three of our daughters are working, and in jobs they really like!” Anne will be participating in the 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28. Jonathan Weisbuch writes, “I am glad to share a short note to the Shady Hill School News, and to my long ago friends of that era. Things have not changed too much in the past 12 months, but my older son, Joshua and his wife Erika have had their first son, Manny (and our second grandchild) nine months ago. If they stay
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in Boston and he grows up as bright as he now seems, I would hope that Manuel Weisbuch might enter the Shady Hill class of 2029 (is that right?). My other grandson lives in Columbus, Ohio and is probably not a SHS candidate. I do hope, however, that Andover might be in their future. “Over the past year, my wife, Mary Ellen, and I have spent a fair amount of time in upstate NY, just 10 miles from Pittsfield and Tanglewood, in Canaan, NY where we have a summer house (now turning into a fall and winter house). We are staying a few extra months because we have some continuing business in this area and in Boston, but will be returning to Phoenix in December. If any of the class of our vintage ever get to Phoenix, I would hope they would give a call, 602528-3850, and let us take them out to the best Persian Restaurant on the planet outside of Tehran (and a lot safer, too). Please pass on all my hellos and regards to those in the class who still remember Jonny Berman before we went off to New York in 1946.”
C L A S S O F 19 5 3 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1953. Heidi Gerschenkron Dawidoff writes, “Was retirement meant to be so hectic? How come I’m not sitting around eating bon bons with a cat and book in lap? Instead, I’m all too active leading my study group (most recently in literary works of Venice), getting Democrats elected whenever possible (we did superbly in 2012), working with a craft group connected to my church, and, most lovely of all, enjoying two new grandchildren for whom I am really much too old (they’re one and three). My children are both writers, and my son’s fifth book, Collision Low Crossers, has just been published. My daughter has a play in production.” Mary Hill Gilbert Harris writes, “A major highlight of 2013 was our 60th reunion, and thanks to Tare Newbury and Sue who hosted the class dinner (and to everyone who made the effort to get there). It was good to see you all, and to be in communication with some of you since. I’ve been wondering whether other graduates from the early ’50s (or at least, the girls) remember the wonderful Lanz dresses from the Window Shop? Capezio ‘flats’? Quilted skirts, cinch belts? Pity the
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classrooms where project-based learning is prominent, and students are involved in engaging experiential learning’ would make Dewey salivate in his grave. This is good news because we are going to need a lot of young Deweyans if we are ever to recover from the disaster that the last 30 years has wrought on our democracy. As for me, my present concern is to discover the origin of a Christmas carol I swear I learned from Miss Abbot at Shady Hill: ‘We’ll journey to Egypt.’ Not only do all my classmates deny ever having heard it, web searches and entreaties to various music archives have not turned it up. Can anybody help?” Hilary Smith and Kitsy Winthrop (standing) and Mary Hill Gilbert Harris and Bruce Denny-Brown (seated) of the Class of 1953.
Window Shop (at least) is no longer around . . . ” Hilary Smith writes, “Nothing much new but still enjoying Vermont. I’m currently revisiting the past as I work with a colleague from Asia Connection to produce a history of Minh Quy Hospital (Kontum, Vietnam) where I worked during the war years. Stirring stuff! Loved seeing everyone at our 60th and greatly enjoy our occasional e-chats.” Nicholas Thompson writes, “I was pleased to see in the Shady Hill News that the current principal confirms my recollection that I got a Deweyan education at Shady Hill. That the outside visitor saw ‘a school that believes in teaching practices that cultivate student voice, in
Kitsy Winthrop and Mary Hill Gilbert Harris of the Class of 1953 with Reed Cherington of the Class of 1958.
Del Merrill Welch writes, “I am once again spending four winter months out in Oregon with my youngest daughter, Shandy, and her family. I do miss the New England winters but the weather is a lot milder. Highlight of last year was our 60th reunion dinner at Tare Newbury and Sue’s. What a gift to see most of my classmates again.”
Above and below: Members of the Class of 1954 in their ninth grade play.
C L A S S O F 19 5 4 2014 60th Reunion Class John Wheeler 201 Alden Washburn Drive P.O. Box 169 Chocorua, NH 03817 jwheeler61@roadrunner.com Trina Hanson Avery reports, “I have nothing much to report, as usual, except that turning 74 seems to have been more of a shock than I’d expected, and than is reasonable. I look forward to reunion and seeing again a lot of people in the same boat!” Tom Bever writes from Arizona, “I love hearing about your lives, especially those of you who have retired and are now doing Good Works and enjoying life. You may recall that I was always pretty serious (at least so I thought), and this has not changed: retirement is not in my genes, at least so long as I have new ideas and enough research support to pursue them, never mind students who still seem to learn enough from me to ask me to teach classes. My current excitement is a megagrant ($1 million/year for five years) from the Russian government, on a program to bring Western science back to Russia. I am the principal investigator on this,
and if it comes through (it will eventually), I will be in Moscow for 4 months a year. This makes sense because my wife of ten years is Russian, and we have relatives and friends in Moscow. Tom W. will recall that we both took Russian as sophomores at Harvard: as usual Tom got straight As, and I got struggling Bs, but it is amazing to me how much Russian I retained 50 years later. The topic of the grant is the genetics of language and cognition, my ongoing research interest.” Debbie Ellis Bigelow passes on, “Still painting, exhibiting, teaching, and living in DC area. Saw Corinna a couple of times last summer/fall and enjoyed crossing paths with her at the Head of the Charles weekend where her son Jay (my godson) coached a mighty competitive high school team from Pittsburgh. (We can all thank Darcy for that occasion — and I loved my years of senior rowing here, and many
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McMahon, and John Wheeler — which is lovely!”
Members of the Class of 1954 in their ninth grade play.
Head of the Charles spectator days.)” Jim Bowditch reports, “We’re doing well; not working anymore, but willing if there are adjunct teaching jobs out there. I have just come off a busy year, being president of our Rotary and our YMCA. Felicity and I have six grandchildren, two for each of our children. We still live in Camden, ME, but I come down to Boston for a city fix every 2-3 months or so, frequently for Symphony. We are in good health and looking forward to our 60th SHS anniversary in May.” Peggy Baker Christie writes, “Congratulations to Tom Bever on his splendid grant. He is fortunate, as well, to have taken in his youth the language important to him now. I struggle to learn Spanish since we are annually in Colombia visiting a son living there. Words and idioms fly out of my head as fast as I stuff them in, whereas that pesky French from high school and college is always at the ready. A second new interest for me is landscape design. Plants and I have long sustained each other. It is that more artistic part of the brain that is a frontier for me now. Finally, a comment on the landscape of the retired: There seems to be a focus on the art of real friendship among many, who perhaps missed this during the working years. It couldn’t come at a better time,
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Lee Kennedy Laugesen has traveled several times this year. “Cynthia ’51, my sister, and I took the Queen of the Mississippi cruise from New Orleans to Memphis with some stops along the way. For me it was the tour of Vicksburg that amazed me — seeing an actual area preserved from the Civil War. That was in March. In June I traveled to New Bedford, Mass. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the installation of my grandfather’s, Bela Lyon Pratt, statue ‘The Whaleman’. Cynthia, Frank, and Nat with families were there. Great fun. In September I traveled to Ashburnham, Mass. to celebrate 100th anniversary of the installation of my grandfather’s ‘SchoolBoy’. Outside of that, nothing is new. Still playing tennis, bowling, and actually am helping out maybe 1-2 days a week at Hamilton Middle School where I worked for 25 years. Now I am volunteering my time. It is also a great time for watching my grandchildren grow.”
when, as a 95-year-old woman said recently to her 70-year-old son, ‘You are now entering the land of the leaving.’”
D’Arcy MacMahon stepped down in February 2013 from his position as executive director and CEO of the Lloyd Center, after nine years at this great organization.
Ben Cox and Dagmar live part of the year in Munich and try as often as possible to visit their son and his family in Rome where he teaches school. Ben is still singing and playing tennis and enjoying old friend’s company (like Harriet). He adds, “Hope the rest of us ‘54’ers are healthy and wealthy.”
Mike Magruder got to Chocorua only once this summer and reports he saw me (John) on my tractor. He writes, “I am retired, and have been for several years, and am doing some volunteer work (various church activities), and am about to commence an article on my grandfather at the request of the Maryland Historical Society. He was a Maryland lawyer and judge and had an interesting career. My health is good, except for stenosis in the neck, which is not keeping me from tennis and golf, which would not please my orthopod.”
Kit Gregg writes, “Nothing new — but fully retired and not doing much. Did travel to Antarctica in December. Still singing with chorus North Shore but quieter and slower.” Harriet Parker Hofheinz reports, “It’s been a full couple of years! Though in my 7th year of retirement, I find myself busier, but with tasks I more enjoy! I have 5 grandchildren ages 14 down to 8 with one stepgrandchild who is 6. Lots of fun — all of them. I am now able to continue my ceramic endeavors, potting here in Cambridge at a studio. Also am devoting much of my time to land conservation in Chocorua, NH as president of the Chocorua Lake Association. I see from time to time Ben Cox, Michael Magruder, Darcy
Carl Pickhardt is still at it: “Still mining the endless perplexities of parenting adolescents — in blogs, books, talks, and counseling. Continuing to draw each day for my own enjoyment. All four kids are well partnered and finding their fulfillments in rewarding ways. Irene still at the helm of science education for the state and loves the challenge. We continue to ‘nourish’ our spirits in the great outdoors.” Connie Rohrbough emailed, “On September 11 had a spinal fusion. I am doing wonderfully. I am completely
mobile and self-sufficient. Since the surgery I have been pain free and believe me it is a wonderful thing. Needless to say, I am no longer able to take part in the organizations that I have been working for and with (Rockport Music, Cape Ann Animal Aid, and Thacher’s Island Association), so have taken the year off. I still have my five cats who run the house and I just take orders.” I (John Wheeler) am still enjoying Chocorua, NH, taking care of my family’s properties, including refinishing floors, mowing fields and plowing snow on occasion. Gail and I try to get in some dancing — contra, square, and ballroom, including a weekend in January at UNH. We will be going to Sorrento, Italy in late July for a week of contra dancing and touring around there. We have found contra dancers to be good company so far in trips to Scotland, Hawaii, the Czech Republic, and St. Croix since 2000. Gail has had a hard year dealing with her father’s failing mind, requiring many trips to the Dallas area — a problem many of our generation have had to deal with. Many thanks again to all who responded to my pleas for information. 2014 will be our 60th!
C L A S S O F 19 5 5 Ross Hall 38 Braddock Lane Harwichport, MA 02646 rosshall@comcast.net Angela Clifford Absher writes, “Greetings to my classmates. I’m hidden away in the mountains of Colorado doing a traditional 3-year Buddhist retreat in a very untraditional way. That is to say, I’m too old to get no sleep and I don’t speak or read Tibetan as everyone else here does. I am, however, overwhelmed with the magnificence of the experience. The universe is definitely an active force. I hope that everyone is well and that we will be together again soon.” Ellen Corcoran writes, “Nothing ‘newsworthy’ to report, but I did want to send a personal hello from the southernmost point. We are well down here, particularly since we have had a hurricane-free season, at least so far. Now if only we could make the waters stop rising!”
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is good news.” Heddy Fairbank Reid writes, “Trip and I have just celebrated our 50th anniversary, a staggering achievement. Unthinkable that we should both be active and (relatively) sentient as we climb the ladder of life (LOL, right?). I write (and sometimes publish) poetry, diet, and volunteer, but not enough. Trip is an active reader, learner, and volunteer. Our two sons and grandsons live relatively near us, and they are a joy.”
Isabelle Houghton ’13 with her grandmother Maisie Kinnicut Houghton ’55 on graduation day last year.
Ross Hall reports, “We continue to enjoy our involvement in the Revels programs throughout the year, and #2 son Alex sang and folk-danced in the 2013 Christmas show — 16 performances in Sanders Theatre.” Anstiss Hammond Krueck writes, “Hi to everyone from cold gray Chicago. Now I finally understand why folk of a certain age move to warmer climes. Hoping to see you all at our next reunion, for I can’t tell you how often Shady Hill and our experience there enter my thoughts. Love to all!” Ellen Zetzel Lambert reports, “I’m still teaching highschool English at Dalton in NYC — feeling blessed to have a job I love this much. I do find continuing pleasures and surprises in working with adolescents. I’ve been writing a book about my experiences, a chapter of which has recently been published in the quarterly journal Raritan. My starting point in this essay is a tragic student-suicide that took place at the school a few years ago — an event which led to the banning of suicide-related literature from our high-school English curriculum. Thinking that some of my Shady Hill classmates might be interested and want to read this piece, I’m sending you the link: https://www.dropbox. com/s/2ivkds62uvrf91d/Lambert_RaritanXXXIII1. pdf. I also feel blessed to have a husband I love to come home to every day, and that we have between us seven grandchildren, who are all very much a part of our lives.” Kaky Gilbert Lidz reports, “Nothing new here. I’m still working, relatively healthy, enjoying myself. So no news
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Clarke Slater reports, “Helen and I are both still very active in the local musical world, mostly playing but also I do a bit of admin., trying to keep the main orchestra I play in solvent. I am still doing some science, which now involves occasional enjoyable trips to Switzerland in a consulting capacity. Otherwise we are still in the old stone house in the small village in the north east of England where we have been since 1975 (Google ‘Ebchester’ and look for the house with the tennis court at the ‘bottom of the garden’ if you’re interested). Both our kids remain in the USA: Ben combines his work as an engineer for Wyoming Public Radio with a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and Jess is nearing the end of a PhD in auditory neuroscience at Northwestern, looking at the effects of music training on the ability of the brain to analyze sounds. Talk about a family of eternal students!” Miriam Kellogg Truslow will be participating in the 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28.
her doctorate in Ocean Engineering recently and is working as a postdoc at U. Washington in the Ocean Physics department. Paul is working in a research lab and will continue his studies next academic year. They held their wedding at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, in a strictly ecumenical ceremony, which was magnificent. “I’m now a granddad twice over, as son Seth and daughter-in-law Emilie (‘Millie’) had their second son last year. I continue to do volunteer work for the Seattle Habitat for Humanity affiliate, mainly repairing all sorts of hand and power tools. Keeps the brain sharp!”
C L A S S O F 19 5 6 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1956. Betsy Barker Abbott will be participating in the 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28. Mary Morison Winby writes, “2013 was a great year for our family. I am working on contract at Cisco; my husband, Stu, is consulting to the top health organizations assisting with the transformations anticipated in healthcare. My stepdaughter and stepson are working at startups that are either going IPO or downsizing! I continue with music (cello and flute) and have enjoyed some recent travel to Europe and Israel.”
Anne Luther von Rosenberg writes, “The vonRs are alive and well. Loving life up Belmont Hill at the Woodlands Condo. Good cruising last summer. Grandkids growing like weeds. Off on a Tanzania safari in February. Must admit that while I hope to make our 60th, I really got quite a start when daughter Heidi Klapinsky ’88 had her 25th last June. What?” Gus Webster writes, “My daughter Sarah was married in August to Paul, a neurological researcher who recently transferred to the University of Washington to finish studies for his doctorate. They met at Johns Hopkins U. where they were both doctoral students. Sarah received
Mary Morison Winby ’56 welcoming in the New Year with her husband, Stu.
Corky Isaacs White writes, “Just back from visiting my daughter Jennifer ’79 and her husband Richard Callaghan and daughter Meghan in London, (where I also visited Martha Rochlin Kapos) and now my son Ben arrives from LA for a few weeks. There’s much to say but for now, you all get out there and get my new/old cookbook — the reappearance of Cooking for Crowds (Princeton UP, out now) as a fortieth anniversary re-publication. Still has the great cartoons of Ed Koren of the New Yorker, still all the food that’s fit to print. And now it looks better, works better and makes a great holiday gift. What we ate then is very good for now, and the future. Teaching anthropology at BU, finishing a book with Ben, my son, on the world history of food, and moving into more food studies in the future. My beau, Gus Rancatore, owns the best ice cream store in the world — Toscanini’s. What a great time it is — back in the ’70s, if you were involved professionally in food, you didn’t talk about it at Harvard. Now Harvard is hosting the great chefs of the world. Go figure.”
C L A S S O F 19 57 Judith Zetzel Nathanson 310 Llandrillo Road Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-2319 jznathanson@gmail.com Millard Alexander writes, “I have been greatly blessed in this life. I have a wonderful wife, family, and 7 grandchildren of various ages. Four of them are at the age I was when I knew all of you so many years ago. Two attend a school in Denver (Graland Country Day), which was founded by ex-Shady Hillers. At a time when many my age are retired (or worse), I continue to have an active and richly rewarding life as an academic scientist. I still love the international travel associated with my job. Last summer (2013) I was in Bordeaux (France) and Potsdam (Germany). I’m sending a picture taken at Sanssouci, palace of the Prussian Kaisers. I am now President of the Telluride Science Research Center (telluridescience.org), which organizes workshops and conferences in the broad area of molecular science in, you guessed it, Telluride, CO. This gives me a chance to go often to this most charming of mountain mining towns now morphed into ski resorts. My health remains good, which enables me to continue with my fantastic hobby of flying my own small airplane. Last summer
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published a new book: The Hidden Lamp: Stories from 25 Centuries of Awakened Women, a collection of 100 stories and koans about wise Buddhist women from Buddha’s time to modern times, each story with a commentary by a different contemporary woman Buddhist teacher. So in the book, 100 wise women of the past meet 100 wise women of the present. It fills a gap by bringing forth Buddhist women’s teachings that have been left in the shadows.
Millard Alexander ’57
I took my daughter and grandkids out to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. What a treat to be able to do this. I have now outlived my father, which gives me the heebie-jeebies. I’m about to leave for what will be my sixth trip to China, to visit an institute in the attractive northern seaside city of Dalian. Life holds surprises. At Shady Hill I never would have suspected in my wildest dreams that I would ever go to China, let alone 6 times. I salute all of you.” Joel Cherington writes from Baltimore, “We have sold our house in Pennsylvania and moved back to Baltimore. I am working on the development of a mixed-use building near the heart of the City. The building will have underground parking, commercial space at street level and 143 apartments above. Construction will start in the spring. Carol is spending her time at our gun club and in the kitchen developing wonderful new recipes. If any of you find yourselves in the neighborhood please call. I would love to get together: 443-604-0608.” Dan Grace reports, “I joined a small group near Devil’s Tower for a balloon rally in the fall. I also participated in a promo for the local college (Casper College) OLLI program (a continuing education program). Eight of us were Soda Jerks providing ice cream to customers — I had to help tie the ties (my big brother Nick ‘53 had taught me how). Have realized that Casper, the town where I worked for 35+ years is a welcoming community. I have been asked to join the board of the Central Wyoming Senior Center, which provides lunch and a place to socialize. Think I am liable to stay here for a bit longer.”
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Dan Grace ’57 gathered with a small group near Devil’s Tower for a balloon rally in the fall.
“I also had a wonderful reunion with Judy Nathanson and Roz Zander. We spent a few days hiking (well, maybe it would be more accurate to call it walking) and kayaking in Point Reyes, north of San Francisco.”
Dan participating in a promo for Casper College’s OLLI program.
Judy Zetzel Nathanson (Class Correspondent) writes, “Many thanks to those who wrote in and greetings to all our classmates. As I sit writing this document, my two youngest grandchildren look out from either side where their picture serves as my desktop background. Although I’ve often laughed at myself for the importance I’ve attached to my time at SHS and wonder if it could really have mattered that much, when I look at these little faces in front of me so full of openness, hope, wonderment, and delight I am convinced. The years of this period of life are also full of richness and meaning.
Meg Henry writes from England, “Highlights of the past year: Our very small company, Postcolonial Films (website soon up), made a series of nine films for Save the Children Norway about their workshops in peace building skills/tools for children and youth in conflict regions: South Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America — reports, advocacy and promo pieces and a complicated training DVD. Spent delightful Wednesdays with my 3-year old granddaughter, ‘AmelieMaaa Days’. Enjoyed the relieved and easy happiness of finally being married to the man, a Sri Lankan filmmaker, I’ve been with since 2005. Will we all be meeting again on our 60th? Hope so!” Sue Ryerson Moon, writing from Berkeley (via Austin), “During the past year I got two new granddaughters — one in Austin, TX and one in Los Angeles. I also got two new knees — one in the right leg and one in the left. With co-author/editor Florence Caplow, I
“I continue to work and to enjoy what I do as much as ever; I have a wonderful husband, and two children with wives and grandchildren whom I adore and get to see often as we live near each other. I have the best friends one could ask for, and an extended family, which gets together in pieces and occasionally all together for Big Events. I have mostly excellent health, allowing me to do anything a 70-year-old should be able and allowed to do. While hardly the peripatetic traveler of many of my classmates, I’m not a total stay-at-home-slug either. For some time I have been taking piano lessons, after a very long hiatus (almost 60 years) and definitely like the practicing and the lessons a lot more than the first time around. Making music and making art books (a skill introduced by Smitty) nurture my aesthetic cravings. As many of us have observed, in one way or another, I am sometimes surprised and grateful to find myself here with so many riches all around.” Anne Thompson Vaughan writes, “2013 was relatively
Judy Zetzel Nathanson, Sue Ryerson Moon, and Roz Stone Zander from the Class of 1957.
quiet for us. We have had the fun of entertaining our dear friend, scene designer Lloyd Burlingame and his seeing eye dog for lunch every month. We tend to go from our house in New Jersey into the city every week to see a play, have a play reading at the apartment, visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc., etc. We visited the University of Vermont in September for Stuart to do his visiting professor job. This time he did a week on how young actors can create a theatre audition. I enjoyed being his assistant or stage manager, prompting and reminding the students of their blocking. We have a wonderful trail out here in New Jersey, which used to be a train track, and we keep fit by walking every day that the weather is good enough.” Susan (Soo) Whiting writes from Martha’s Vineyard, “Flip and I continue to call the Vineyard home. We bought a 26' RV two years ago, which we call the Bird Buggy, and we are traveling in it during the winter months to birding areas in the US. We went as far west as New Mexico and Arizona last winter. This winter we are renting a house with three gals who went to Marlboro College with me on Kauai for a couple of weeks. Then off to Chile and Argentina for a birding and wine trip. The Bird Buggy will get a rest until March and then we will probably go to Georgia and Florida for bird watching opportunities. I still write the weekly “Bird News Column” in the Vineyard Gazette.” Roz Stone Zander in Cambridge, writes, “I am still working on a second book that is about pathways for all of us grownups to grow further into adulthood, pretty
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much the underlying theme of my year. My partner, Hansjoerg Wyss, and I bought a house in Cambridge a block away from the home that many of you know well on Appleton Street, which my daughter Alexandra and her family will occupy, so I will happily have my grandchildren very nearby. But that will be a while, as reconstruction on the Sparks Street house moves slowly. I spent a month with Hansjoerg in Switzerland way up in the Alps, writing and cross-country skiing, a week in Mexico with my kids and their kids, Jack and Poppy, and two weeks in Spain painting with my friend Anne Peretz. In June my partner and I went to Amsterdam to celebrate Ben Zander’s new youth orchestra performing Mahler’s 2nd, and I spent the summer sharing time between Martha’s Vineyard where Hansjoerg has a house, and the island of Vinalhaven in Maine. Except for the occasional surgery, it’s a wonderful life. But I’m figuring that the occasional breakdown comes with the territory.”
C L A S S O F 19 5 8 David Ross 837 Hopkinton Road Hopkinton, NH 03229 davidross2243@comcast.net This year was our 55th reunion year, and your secretary was unable to attend, but fortunately others did. Here is the news from our class.
Walden Pond and the Sudbury River. A third grandchild was born in S. Carolina, in October, so Debi and I spent a week at my daughter’s house there. My son’s two children still live in North Cambridge.” Eleanor Earle Ferguson writes, “All is well here in Chapel Hill. Jim is still teaching (for 15 or so years) the honors undergraduate seminar in food and culture, with students still signing up two years in advance. It is a wonderfully diverse, multidisciplinary course, which is one reason it is so popular. Also, there are lots of field trips and dinners, so we get to know the students quite well. They are always bright, eager, and a lot of fun. What more could a teacher ask for? “I have passed into the next decade and was struggling a bit with being 70 — when my parents were in their 70s they were old — indeed they were old in their 60s, and my father died at age 74. However, I ski Deer Valley each winter, sail all summer, and surely do not feel I am old! “I missed seeing you all for reunion last spring — we were in New Zealand (our fourth trip) discovering yet again what a spectacular country it is. If you have been, you know. If you have not been, GO!”
Reed Cherington writes, “We had a very enjoyable class dinner last May 31 at Prill Ellis’ house in Jamaica Plain. The house has been beautifully renovated, following a fire that occurred not long after the previous class dinner was held there in 2008. Present were: Prill and her husband, Robert Crabtree; Susan Bandler Wagner and her husband, Klaus; Joan Sturgis and her husband, David Mann; Kate Hammond; and I. Prill and Robert did a great job with the dinner. We had a fascinating conversation about Kate’s forthcoming book.
Jill Harken Hall reports, “In October, we had a wonderful lunch with Prill at her charming house. My husband, Ridge, needed to be in Boston for environmental lawyer meetings so I had a wonderful nostalgia crawl, starting with lunch with Prill. The weather was beautiful so I walked all over Cambridge and Boston. The Gardner Museum brought back so many memories including singing the Messiah. It was a great time. I am sorry I missed the class gathering last spring. We have three increasingly old (I guess that makes me older) children and 4 adorable grandchildren. They are all coming to us in DC for Christmas, which will be lots of fun.”
“Apart from the class reunion, I’ve spent the past year winding down part-time employment and doing (too much) volunteer stuff. I spent much of the month of September volunteering for the Concord (MA) Land Conservation Trust in what has come to be known as ‘Walden Woods’, a vast expanse of forest between
Kate Hammond is a published author! Here is what she wrote about her book: “My news is that my book, Island of Peace in an Ocean of Unrest: The Letters of Dorothy von Moltke, came out in November, published by Nebbadoon Press. It has been a great adventure researching and writing this book for the past 9 years.
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Daughter of the Chief Justice of South Africa and married into the illustrious family of Helmuth von Moltke, Germany’s greatest military hero, Dorothy von Moltke penned frequent letters to her parents that capture the life of the elite on a large estate in Silesia, formerly part of Germany and now part of Poland. The letters poignantly describe living through World War I, the devastating inflation of the Weimar Period, and the rise of Nazism as armed militias clashed in the streets of Berlin and Hitler became der Führer. The Moltkes’ eldest son, Helmuth James von Moltke, was an important hero of the German Resistance, who founded the anti-Nazi Kreisau Circle, for which he was hanged in 1945. The Moltkes’ idealism is perpetuated in The Kreisau Foundation for Mutual Understanding on the family’s former estate, where young people learn the art of waging peace.
The cover of Island of Peace in an Ocean of Unrest: The Letters of Dorothy von Moltke written by Kate Hammond ’58.
“To learn more about this extraordinary family, please visit our website at www.DorothyVonMoltke.com and listen to my 2004 interview with Dorothy’s daughterin-law, Freya von Moltke (widow of the WWII hero), and an interview with Dorothy’s grandson, Helmuth Caspar von Moltke (Freya and Helmuth James’s son), interviewed in November 2013. (My book is not available in stores — only on the website.) Warm regards to all our classmates — sorry to miss the 50th, but I was in Poland researching this book!” Susan Brooks Morris writes, “A highlight of the year was to get a very large excavator to remove the rocks, some very large, from one of our blueberry fields to make the mower last longer. I have hit each one of those rocks at least 20 times over the years. We created a horseshoe shaped structure out of them, intended to be a windbreak, which we call the cattle pound/ wedding venue/woodchuck wedding venue/woodchuck condo. Cattle pound for short. It has turned out, quite
The “cattle pound” at the home of Susan Brooks Morris ’58.
by accident, to be not much of a windbreak but an extraordinarily special, peaceful place to sit. It has a large rectangular boulder in the middle, which is a bird bath/bee drinking pond. Come visit! E-mail: sbmorris@ midcoast.com” Robert Preer: “Retired (finally), my wife and I are enjoying the beauty of Colorado as we have for the past 20 years, now without work getting in the way.” David Ross reports, “Anne and I have finally moved out of the ‘country’ and into the ‘city’, a move of about 6 statute miles. We bought a single-family house, not entirely accessible but very snug, and rehabbed and renovated it over a period of 6 months, finally moving in at the end of October. We’re now able to walk downtown, walk to the library, gym, yoga, theatre, and, as Walter mentions in his note, to Bread and Chocolate and the Concord [NH] Food Co-op. “We were very lucky to be able to sell the Hopkinton house and close on the Concord house in the space of one week, so that chapter is closed, with some bittersweet feelings on my part — that was the home where I lived for 35+ years, raising kids, assorted pets, assorted vegetables and flowers, and where Elaine died some 11 years ago. I’m looking forward to the next installment!” Joan Sturgis writes, “Happy to say we had a lovely gathering of stalwarts (Sue B. and Klaus, Reed C., myself and David, Kate H.) hosted by Bob and Prill for our 55th (55!) reunion, with good mid-Eastern food and plenty of memories flowing back and forth. The next day some of us returned to school to re-live the 4th grade and learn more about the new project-based curriculum with a lively performance by three teachers. It was great, and I hope we see more people next time!” Sally Hooker Sullivan reports, “After 12 years as a
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social worker in a children’s psychiatric inpatient unit, six of them as Chief Social Worker, I chucked it all to go to law school. Loved the law and was a clerk in the Superior Court and then the Appeals Court. Finally landed a wonderful job as a staff attorney in the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court, drafting opinions on dispositive motions in complex commercial litigation. Think the Big Dig! It was fascinating and challenging and I worked for some of the best judges on the planet. “But all good things must come to an end, and this summer I retired to see more of my four grandchildren, two who live in Dedham and two who live outside Buffalo. We go up to Buffalo and they come here and I take care of the Dedham ones three afternoons a week. I thought I would be bored, but I don’t have time! Also, it’s nice to sleep in and not worry about the state of commuting on the Green Line. Best to all my classmates. I have many sweet memories of my two years at Shady Hill.” Walter Vincent reports, “We, too, have downsized, moving to a condo in Glastonbury, CT. Easy access to Hartford, centrally located between NYC and Boston, not too far from our summer home in Tamworth [NH], and no house to take care of. This is our last move, barring unforeseen circumstances. Thankfully everything is unpacked, and most of the surplus has been given away. Now it’s time to live! “Downtown Concord [NH] is really changing for the better with all of the renovation that’s gone on. A favorite stopping point for us is the health food co-op on Main St., and then across the street from Bread and Chocolate. (I guess they cancel each other out nutrition wise?) Still sorry to have missed the gathering at Prill’s this spring. With all the stresses of selling, buying, and moving we just couldn’t join in. Would have loved to share reminiscences together. Maybe we’ll catch up with you one day on our way through.”
S E E W H AT ’ S H A P P E NIN G @ S H A D Y HI L L : F A C E B OK . C OM / SH A D Y H IL L S C HO OL T W I T T E R . C OM / SH A D Y H IL L S C H L
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CL A S S O F 19 5 9 2014 55th Reunion Class Charles Wyzanski 75 Francis Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 wyzanski@gmail.com Herewith your humble class correspondent submits, obviously unedited, this year’s epistolary harvest. Classmates who persist in keeping their e-mail addresses secret are implored not to tempt Mr. Snowden any longer and to recognize that dispensing with the services of the US Postal Service will better preserve both the alumni office budget and the environment. Hopey Green Arns writes from Vermont, “Bob and I are doing well. Like you, we claim to be semi-retired, which in our case means we only take consulting jobs where we care about the people and find the project interesting and worthwhile. That feels like luxury to me.” Nate Bowditch writes from Maine, “New granddaughter in February; new knee this November; great cup-of-coffee meeting with Grace Harriman (a Maine neighbor I didn’t know I had); memorable get-togethers at Fenway Park, in Maine, and by e-mail with our esteemed Class Secretary, Charlie; and a first year plus of retirement in which I promised myself to make no plans. Aside from a few wonderful trips — the most special being a return to one of our former homes, Sri Lanka, after 25 years — and a little consulting, I pretty much woke-up each morning not knowing what the day would bring. It’s been delightful: I fished, worked in the woods, puttered to my heart’s content, and learned a little about lobstering and stripers in Sheepscot Bay. Now, a combination of perceived selfishness, good health & new knee, and a little Protestant ethic guilt has me wondering if it’s not time to put in place a new plan. But, oh, how I’ve enjoyed no plans!” Robert Bremner writes from Pennsylvania, “Life continues apace, but as I approach 70 I am aware that my past grows longer and my future shorter. I continue to work, and am slowly letting my son, Matt, take over responsibility for the business. I hope to go into part-time mode within two years. George and I spend time with our grandchildren (we have three and hope
soon for a fourth). My older son, Jason, spends his time traveling back and forth to Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda) running aid programs and his two children and wife live in the DC area. We went to Australia, and plan on a trip to Indonesia in February. Our health remains good, our life a pleasure. That’s all folks.” Judith Alexander Brice writes, “Well, what can I say? I have great news and difficult news. The great news is that a poetry book that has been several years in the making has just come out and I am pleased as punch. Renditions in a Palette is now available at many bookstores as well as the golden arches in the sky, otherwise known as Amazon. It has gotten some wonderful reviews and I hope you all check it out! It is published by David Robert Books, a publisher that publishes exclusively poetry. The pen name is Judith Alexander Brice. On the down side, I have been having tremendous trouble with my back, and after a year and a half of chasing the pain, I have finally found a doctor who thinks he will be able to help. I still need a couple of tests before he determines the kind of surgery he recommends. Hopefully he will have me fixed up in no time and I will be off and running and writing all over again. I send my best to all my classmates.” Betsy Chapin writes from Mattapoisett, “Still working full time for Christie’s, same job but my title keeps getting fancier or more corporate: Managing DirectorNew England Region, which really means if anything goes wrong in this area it is my fault. However as the Art Market gets more global (we now sell in Dubai, Mumbai, and Shanghai as well as Europe and America), and the areas of value keep changing (Chinese Contemporary art for example). I continue to be interested and challenged. Work and the fact that my children are not grown up yet (read ‘not married’) keeps me feeling younger than my actual years. Yes mental menopause is a challenge but there are so many new artists all the time I am not expected to remember them all. Gardening, swimming, yoga and travel are my means of recharging. Life is still sweet!” Charles Deknatel writes from Jamaica Plain, “Overtly things have not changed greatly since I last wrote in, which was probably two years ago. I still feel like I am adjusting to living in Jamaica Plain although it
Above and below: Members of the Class of 1959 from John Perry’s archives, “The Way We Were.”
approaches four years. Cath and I particularly enjoy being able to walk rather than drive to most places, in particular the remarkable open spaces planned and protected by previous generations. Cath’s (and my nonbiological) grandchildren are closer than when we were in Somerville and we see them a lot, which is great. The 27 plus years since I moved back east from Nebraska and shifted from teaching to applied project planning work have been spent working for the Commonwealth of Mass. Division of Capital Asset Management. That is coming to an end this spring when I retire. While I have many ideas and some plans I really do not know how retirement is going to feel. I look forward to it, but it also alters how these last months of work are experienced.” Michal Goldman writes from Somerville, “For me, the most important part of the past year was my trip to Egypt for two months last spring to work on my film about Gamal Abdel Nasser. Subjectively I felt that I was witnessing — and trying to live and work in — a collapsing police state, a new experience for me, and very different from the experience of living and working in the well-functioning, soft police state of Mubarak’s regime during the 1990s, when people knew pretty well
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what the rules were. In Egypt this spring, there was a daily sense of collapse and impending chaos, and a sense that no one knew what the rules were at all. Although President Morsi had won an election, he wasn’t presiding over a democracy. By the time I left in mid-May, Tamarod had already begun the petition drive that ultimately ended in Morsi’s removal from office. I’ve never tried to make a film about politics before; I haven’t really thought seriously about politics before this film. I’m fascinated by how much of what I’m seeing and learning in the present shapes the way I think about the past; in any case the history of Nasser seems seminal. Or maybe I just have Nasser on the brain. In May I’ll turn 70. Seems like a great time to visit the Grand Canyon, which I’ve never seen before.” Grace (Gay) Harriman writes from Maine, “I retired after 36 years of teaching and moved to Bath, Maine. I love living here in an old house with a strong wood stove. No surprise my days are full of what they were as a child, I seem to have retired to my earlier self — reading, writing, and walking my dogs. I am hoping to go on the Silk Road in ‘14 and would love to have any Shady Hill companions. I taught Chinese History for many years, so I can even be a pseudo guide. I think about Shady Hill so often, it was as wonderful as any school can ever hope to be. Between Edie Caudill and Ned Ryerson I learned what it meant to read for meaning and write with purpose. They gave me the gifts that have been the ground on which I walk, wander, build myself another day. My best to all of you, if you drive North stop in ‘The City of Ships’ and come on by. 75 Lincoln St., Bath.” Mark Isaacs reports, “This was a good year. Our family had good health. My 92-year-old mother-in-law came for my 70th birthday and so did many others. My lovely wife and I went several times to St. Thomas. We are about to update the kitchen area of our ‘Villa’ down there. The views are great. Until we move down there the Villa will continue to be a rental. That helps keep the property maintained. Currently. I am showing in several galleries up here and one in St. Thomas. I am the Resident Artist for a Winery here. And I now have my first artwork displayed in Paris, France. (For those who are thinking Paris, Ohio.) My family is trying to get me in this Century; I now have a mini iPad. I am
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on Corpus Christi in Temascalcingo, and the other a selection of Marc’s drawings called Birds Dancing a Fandango. Before taking a fall mini-sabbatical from Montclair State, I half-audited courses at Princeton on ‘Spanish Urban Culture’ and ‘Borges in Context.’ These proved excellent background for writing a chapter on Mexican graffiti, focused on the legal wall opposite my downtown apartment and the shift in public recognition of urban art.
An acrylic painting by Mark Isaacs ’59.
still waiting for the Scotty to beam me up App. I no longer like traveling through airports. I have modestly continued my interest in politics. You can see pictures of my paintings at markisaacslandscapes.com.” Steve Saltonstall writes from Vermont, “For some reason a couple of lines of a Richard Horvitz poem from fourth or fifth grade came to mind after reading Charlie’s e-mail: ‘Play with gadgets, Wheels and ratchets.’ That’s one way of viewing intellectual pursuits. Perhaps that’s what Richard had in mind. Anyway, in this cold and snowy part of the world, I’m still trying to save the George D. Aiken Wilderness from destruction by an industrial wind project —15 400-foot turbines, to be concreted in place on blasted-away mountaintops smack dab in what is now bear country. Blake’s ‘dark, satanic mills’ updated. In more relaxing news, Ellen and I just bought a house in Tucson, where we’re planning to move in the summer of 2015. I’ve disabused myself of the myth that New England weather ‘builds character,’ though I agree with Calvin Coolidge that Vermont winters can sometimes be ‘invigorating’ as well as punishing. The Tucson house is in the far northeast corner of the city, in an area sometimes called Tanque Verde, with beautiful mountain views, and wilderness within walking distance, something I can’t do without.” Pamela Johnson Scheinman writes from Mexico, “After completing four years on a non-immigrant visa I became a permanent resident of Mexico under new rules. Last summer had two exhibits open in separate Mexico City galleries, one of my photographs of costumed Xita dancers (‘old men’) petitioning rain
“Between doing research for a friend’s documentary Aerosol, muros y ciudad, presented at the Trotsky Museum, and translating articles into English for the online magazine Ilegal Squad, I helped build a Day of the Dead altar in memory of photographer Mariana Yampolsky, celebrated a week of pilgrimages to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and continue to record marches and rallies opposing privatization of oil, price hikes and educational reforms here — always happiest in the street.” Peter Shapiro writes from West Virginia, “Most outstanding update — I now spend 1 hour rather than 1/2 hour per day folding flat the dog ears on
the memory aid notes I take — my time writing the memory aid notes has also increased, from 1 to 2 hours daily. I hope the best for all of ye.” David Smith writes from Canada, “We are still living in Vancouver, and enjoying not shoveling snow. Suzanne has a loyal following for her Yoga class, and I am still visiting schools and conferences to talk about the world and about my books. If The World Were A Village, the first one, is now available in 28 languages, plus a school paperback edition from Scholastic, plus a forthcoming ebook. The next book, my fourth children’s book, is called IF..., and it takes imponderably large numbers and brings them down to a size we can understand (example: if the entire history of the Earth, 4.5 billion years, were a 2-hour DVD, the first human shambles across your TV screen in the final second of the video, and all of recorded history, the last 5000 years or so, flashed by in the final 1/16th of a second). Coordinates are as before — email: dsmith@mapping.com, web: http://www. mapping.com, facebook: David Julian Smith.” Gerry Storrow writes from Somerville, “For some arcane reason, I’ve been flashing on SHS of late, and
The Class of 1959 in Washington with then-Senator John F. Kennedy who signed the photo.
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that, at least, is not your doing. The Ghost-ball court, wherein was played a game I never encountered anywhere else in my peregrinations through the educational system; our Olympic games at the end of Fourth Grade, glorying in my homemade shield and chiton; the ineffable (and persistent) scent of skunk in the Assembly Hall. The piles of canned goods assembled every Thanksgiving for those less fortunate. Gilbert & Sullivan on stage. The perennial maypole. To say that these memories represent a high point in my life is to say no more than truth. As to what I’ve been doing, writing about covers it. “For the last decade or so, I’ve been assisting a good friend during the summers on Martha’s Vineyard in a workshop called ‘Writing from the Heart,’ and getting a good deal on paper in consequence. Included in a couple of anthologies and occasionally published in the local newspapers. Small frog, big pond. But rewarding nonetheless, in terms of the kind of internal exploration that seems to come with age. And that’s another thing: I’ll be 70 next year, and I never thought I’d exit puberty intact. But happily, that’s a matter of opinion. With best wishes to my coevals on this holiday season.” Lili Brooks West writes from New Mexico, “I participated in two family reunions in Spring 2013: one back east for the Brookses in Cambridge and one in the Land of Enchantment for the Wests in Santa Fe; I was gratified by all the reconnections and recollections at both events. While we were in New England, my family and I spent some time at a family place on Little Cranberry Island (near Mt. Desert) in Maine. I’ve had fun researching various family genealogies. I am also looking into the history surrounding Dámaso López, who was a trader in New Mexico and a friend of Manuel Álvarez in northern new Spain in the early 1800s. My interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question is ongoing, with a particular focus on Mary Sidney, the Countess of Pembroke (Mary Sidney Herbert) as potential author (or one of the authors) of many of the works attributed to William Shakespeare. See marysidneysociety.org for more information. “In October 2013, I attended a wonderful production of the play Twelfth Night in New York starring Mark Rylance as Olivia and Stephen Fry as Malvolio; it was played in repertory with the also excellent staging of SHADY HILL SCHOOL WINTER 2014
Richard III. Ruth Abbott, our music teacher at Shady Hill, composed her own arrangements of many of the songs we sang in the 1950s, and I remain hopeful that the tune she taught us for the Willa Cather poem Spanish Johnny will be found; we have the words, but what is the tune — I think it was a gentle waltz?” Steve White writes from North Carolina, “Joe (b. 1984) continues his musical career in Brooklyn as ‘an experimental composer’ and performer; Hannah (b.1989) is spending another year as an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, but has progressed (as she sees it) from eighth grade to second grade. Kate and I are staying for another year in Durham, NC. She’s still a freelance editor of academic publications; and since my retirement from Emory a few months ago, I’ve become a sort of freelance medieval historian. I’ve given papers in places like Boston, St. Andrews, Copenhagen, and Boone, NC and finished several things for publication, including a collaboratively written book on the Bayeux Tapestry that’s due out at the end of 2014. In the spring, we plan on moving permanently to Boston, where I hope to ‘re-connect’ (if that’s the right word) with old friends and make some new ones.” Charlie Wyzanski writes from Cambridge, “I’m in my second year of semi-retirement. I spend some time as a volunteer tutor and college counselor at nearby Cambridge Rindge & Latin (where now more SHS students go after graduation than any other school) and even more time working on an as yet ill-defined book about my father whose ‘unprocessed papers’ reside at the Massachusetts Historical Society. My progress has been steady but slow — I’m now on Box 27 of 34. Allow me to quote the esteemed former Shady Hill Overseer. It’s from a concluding paragraph in a lengthy letter to a friend, written when my father was 68, or almost exactly our present age: ‘Yet to readjust is not to forget. There always lurks a memory of youth and early manhood. I doubt if the vigor and openness of early life are really the best of life, yet they are in retrospect so appealing. We are so constructed that the present is almost always less attractive than our picture of the past or the future. Perhaps this is because time is not one-dimensional. Always that which just was, and that which is about to be, are part of that which is . . . ’
C L A S S O F 19 6 0 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1960. Andy Cook reports, “Retired and taking care of children and grandchildren and getting in some traveling and hiking. Beginning to attempt downsizing — not an easy task. Stop by and visit.”
Andy Cook ’60 on one of his recent hiking excursions.
Cary Hartshorne Flanagan wrote, “After receiving my M.Ed. in Counseling in 1987, I worked for several years with the chronically mentally ill (in residential treatment), got thoroughly burned out and began a new and much more rewarding job at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester (NH) in January 1988. I loved the work (most of the time), but after almost 17 years I just had to make a major change. I left in early 2004 and decided to work for myself once again (as I did as a full time professional potter back in the ‘70s). I had taken up quilt making around 1990 and decided to make quilt designing my focus. I created Something Sew Fine Quilt Design in June 2004 and have been successfully designing and selling quilt patterns, all over this country and around the world since then. I also published a quilt book in 2009 (Moon Dance, available on Amazon). I will celebrate ten years in business next June! I belong to two quilt guilds, have been vending with a group of five other quilt designers at quilt shows all over New England and travel at least once a year to major quilt shows around the country. I am currently working on my first novel, quilt related, of course! “My husband Ron is still working part-time at UPS
(he loads and unloads planes in the wee hours of the morning). He loves the work but also the benefits are too good to give up. Both of us are taking our social security and Ron has started taking his pension (UPS lets you work AND take your pension after age 70!), so life is good. I totally regret missing my 50th SHS reunion a few years ago. I hope we can all get together some other time. And, by the way, I credit my years at SHS in very large part for nurturing not only my intellectual abilities but also my creativity! All those years in the art department and shop, being allowed to experiment widely in different mediums — I got none of that kind of nurturing in high school, but blossomed again in college. My creative abilities are the central most important part of my life.” Steve Grossman, currently State Treasurer in Massachusetts, is a candidate for Governor of the Commonwealth. You can learn about his perspective on important issues and get more information at: stevegrossman.com. Corry Virtue Rooks reports, “In July of 2013, Jim retired from his full-time position as the executive director of the Pound Civil Justice Institute in Washington, DC. We sold our house in Georgetown, and we are now once again residents of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are now located on the side of a mountain in the small town of Wilbraham — quite a change. Even though we enjoyed living in Washington for over 35 years it is good to be back in New England again, closer to family and to our summerhouse in Maine!”
C L A S S O F 19 61 Andrew Q. Oldman 31 Kilburn Road Belmont, MA 02478 aqopbketch@aol.com Philip Cowan writes, “I continue to be well, and grateful for it. Any gripes are minor, and pretty much the usual for our demographic; a few creaks, a little rust. I’m still working at McLean’s and still enjoying it very much. Trying to save the world, one person at a time, I suppose. I have no thought of stopping at this point; I tell myself that I’ll keep doing it as long as it’s fun. Not
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the entertainment kind of fun, of course, but the kind where I look forward to it, and lose myself in it when it’s all going right. My son, Noah, got his degree from Harvard Extension last May. I was so proud I thought I’d explode. This September, he and his lady, Sydney, moved to Seattle, and he’s setting out to learn the restaurant business, which is where he thinks he wants to make his career. He has worked as a server, but now he wants to learn what they call the ‘back of the house.’ He found work quickly, at a place called Delicatus (which I hope anyone in the Seattle area will feel free to patronize) and, considering that he has no background in actual kitchen work, seems to be making a good impression and moving up. I’m amazed and also keeping my fingers crossed. I knew he was a good cook, but there’s only one way to find out if he’s a good pro chef. “I’m still contentedly in Cambridge, and enjoying a leisurely pace, overall. Still doing taekwondo (very carefully), still traveling whenever. I went to France for 3 weeks this September, which was lovely, except for the fact that, on the first, jet-lagged day, I managed to leave my backpack with my camera, laptop, phone, passport, etc. on the train when I got off in Aix. Pure spaciness, not like me at all. And — short version — I never saw them again. I did manage to come up with what I’d call Plan B, once I got over kicking myself in the ass, so I was able to write home and to take photos, two crucial pleasures of travel for me. Not to mention the minor adventure of replacing my passport. I will also testify that I continue to be grateful for Mr. Vincent’s enduring imprint on my ability to manage French. I certainly needed it. Though I’m sure he didn’t mention that there’s no central data bank for lost luggage on the railroads over there; you have to ask station by station, and hope that they’re in a good mood. Great people, lovely language, not always so good with large systems. So, notwithstanding that minor bump, life is good overall. My son is well, and is coming home for Thanksgiving. That’s far more important than any camera, computer, or passport; those are all replaceable. And I’ll probably spin good stories out of the experience. Not to mention handcuffing my next backpack to my wrist. Again, Andy, I hope you’re well, as well as all of our SHS classmates. Take care.” Andy Oldman writes, “Hi Everybody, I have had a
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busy year. One highlight was yet another trip to France (Normandie) to attend a third child’s wedding in the Pezard family, my pen pal from Monsieur Vincent’s seventh grade class. We also visited Mont Saint-Michel, and the great chateau, Vaux le Vicomte. The last week of August was surprisingly light in tourist crowding. This side of the Atlantic I continue my sail training teaching at the Wooden Boat School. I still enjoy single-handing the 36' ketch in most any weather. My favorite class takes two or three students for a week way ‘downeast’ to Roque Island and the Great Wass Archipelago. I was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Seal Cove Auto Museum on Mount Desert, Maine. It is a wonderful collection of rare early brass era cars (19001915). It is well worth a visit. We invite anyone to call in at our rustic retreat in Brooklin, Maine during the summer. You might even get a ride on a pint sized 1957 JD bulldozer I just acquired to keep the steep road down to the joint in good order.” Barbara Forbes Purser writes, “Things are going much the same for us except that we are getting older and hobbling a bit. The main excitement for the year for us is that my husband, John, has put out 3 CDs of his own music. Having spent the last 30 years promoting the music of all the other Scottish composers, we thought it high time some of his music got out on CD. If anyone is interested, they are available from his website www. johnpurser.net. You can click on ‘more,’ to get an idea of what is on each CD. John’s son, Sean, did all the design work for the covers and pamphlets. I think the music is wonderful, and of course I’m not at all biased!! There’s all types — classical, traditional inspired, quirky etc. They include some very impressive performances of solo violin and flute music, plus keyboard, an ensemble with a Gaelic singer, etc. There’s even music for replicas of Bronze Age horns and the carnyx, and a sonata for trombone and organ. I’m playing string quartets regularly, and am in our local orchestra, which consists of a wide range of ages and abilities, but well worth supporting. We have a lot of fun. “John and I have cut down our number of cows, now just three for breeding and a steer coming on for the freezer. I’m planting a smaller area of the garden as well, but we still have plenty of vegetables to see us through most of the year. We are still cutting peats for the fire, but have
central heating to back it up. This place is as beautiful as ever. I am still doing a bit of substitute teaching, but only in our local school, which has all of 18 children. Sometimes I feel guilty about being paid for having such a pleasant day!”
C L A S S O F 19 6 2 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1962. The Class of 1962 was quite quiet this year. We hope some members will send in updates next year!
Fred Ross reports, “I am enjoying retirement and the great Northwest. Cindy and I took a 10-day hiking trip to Peru in October, hiking at elevations over 9,000 ft. and up to 15,000 ft., winding up in Machu Picchu. We loved the trip and the challenge. Hope to see any classmates who travel to the north end of the left coast.” Susan Saarinen reports, “It’s cold and snowy in Colorado today, so I have an excuse not to go out and work on landscape projects. I’m hanging out with my daughter, son-in-law, and three-year-old granddaughter Ella. Grandson Kirk is working at the Discovery Museum in Fort Collins and thinking about graduate school. Granddaughter Emily is graduating next month and interviewing for graduate school in Fort Collins. (I’m there now, but I live in Golden.) Eric and I continue to work, traveling a bit less for the moment, and enjoying some time to read, visit with family. How are you all doing, and what? Love, Susie.” John Seegal writes, “Barbara and I are spending more and more time during the summer months in the house in Rockport where our family summered when I was a child. We have enjoyed visits on beautiful summer days from a number of classmates and I am hoping to reconnect with many more. While I am still practicing law in San Francisco, I feel that I am in the fall of life, and fall is a season I have always loved.” Francie Ryerson Shaw reports, “Except for a few wonderful visits from Fluffy Lyman, I have been totally separate from SHS, which is strange since it was such a big part of my life, plus being a faculty child. But I left after 6th grade and all that social stuff never happened for me. I still get an occasional whiff of something (sawdust compound, anyone) that brings in a whole word. I now live in Philadelphia where my husband teaches at U. Penn. I used to teach elementary art with ghosts of Mrs. Sproul. Now I do my own work (francieshaw.net) and enjoy family. Classmates are welcome to email me at shawfrancie@gmail.com.”
Members of the Class of 1962: Helen Loesser, Meg Grossman, Sunny Wilson, Becky Kent, and Pam Steele having her hair pulled through the window of Mr. Ryerson’s classroom.
C L A S S O F 19 6 3 Lenore Gessner Travis 62 Oxbow Road Lincoln, MA 01773 Lenore@travisresources.net Robert Alexander continues to edit the Marie Alexander Poetry Series at White Pine Press — in 2014 he will be publishing #18 in the series. “I have a co-editor to help with the heavy lifting. You can check us out online: www.mariealexanderseries.com (there are downloadable samples from all the books). I’m beginning to look for a publisher for my latest book of creative nonfiction — about America in the so-called Critical Period after the Revolution — and my wife and I continue to split our time between Madison and the U.P. Summers find me canoeing whenever the water is calm enough for solo paddling.” Denny Anderson will be retiring in February and hopes that will allow him more time for staying in touch with
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Members of the Class of 1963 at lunch during Reunion Weekend (above) and at the Cocktail Reception (below).
Alice Ross Coda was a wonderful reunion organizer and leader of our singing, which was a huge hit with all. She and Arnold continue to reside in NH.
Paul is in touch with Zanny Kaysen who continues to live in Cambridge. She is about to publish a new book, tentatively called Cambridge.
Lizzie de Rham reports, “I am cancer free at the moment — thanks to Dr. David Nathan, whose kids were at SHS starting in about my brother Rufus ’68 class, and who was a great friend of my father’s. He arranged whom he wanted me to see at Dana Farber — six weeks of chemo and radiation, then two enormous surgeries 8/5 and 8/7. So, I am on the mend with various pain challenges, but very lucky to be alive and not paralyzed, which I could well have been.”
Anne Kessler has been doing a lot of painting and has been gratified to be getting big commissions from Kaiser Permanente and other large collectors. “Big adjustments in that my partner David passed away last year but I am back to my very busy stimulating wonderful country life and it is healing me. I see Meg Oldman, my neighbor, regularly which is a joy.” Anne has also seen Linsey Grossman Grinder. Anne will be a participant in the SHS Alumni Art Show, a wonderful event to attend. The reception will be March 26, 2014 in the Assembly Hall.
Paul Gifford writes, ”The biggest news this year for me happened right at the end — December 18 to be exact — when my father died at age 95. He was still living at Hillside Place, and had two patients scheduled for the next afternoon. The good part of it was that my brother, Ralph ’68, and I got a warning and moved our planned Christmas visit up a week. We both saw him and talked to him Wednesday morning, and Wednesday afternoon while napping he simply stopped breathing. All in all, as peaceful, pain-free, and graceful an exit as humanly possible. And clearly a long and well-lived life.”
people, and for travel. However, a number of friends have advised him he will be busier than ever! He, too, writes that he wishes there had been more time at the reunion to be able to talk with everyone. Steve Buchbinder writes, “Both of my daughters are married, and each has a child, so I am ‘Grandpa Steve’, which sounds so funny, but it’s great. My law practice has been extremely busy. I am a certified high school basketball referee (Jim Pickel will appreciate that) and I do about 30 games a season, mostly JV and Freshmen, which I love. I also play tennis twice a week in the winter and generally three times a week in the warmer weather, so for an ‘old guy’ I really can’t complain.” Deborah Brackett Carmel reports, “Retired after 25 years at Harvard. Now enjoying consulting work, my garden, dancing up a storm with my partner, and just living life to the fullest. Shady Hill remains a bright star in my youth.”
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“I’m writing this while my brother and I are at Hillside Place, starting the enormous task of emptying the house. It has always been so full of family memory and history. I’m very lucky to have my brother and his wife and two of his kids and a multitude of close friends here to help and share memories and make the time as enjoyable as it can be in the circumstances. “As to other news, Carla and I still love our house in San Francisco, and our two small Havanese dogs (Rosie and Sheba). We go to Los Angeles to see our grandchildren whenever possible. I am still working at Kaiser, and still teaching meditation at Psychic Horizons. I think we were all told to expect to retire at 65, but that’s not looking likely at the moment. “It was absolutely wonderful seeing those of you who made it to the reunion, and since I’ll be visiting Cambridge in the ongoing effort of emptying Hillside Place, I hope to see more of some of you in the next few months.”
Albert Lamb writes that he was glad to hear about the reunion, and that our class at Shady Hill turned into warm and interesting adults. “I was very sorry not to be able to be there. I’ve been stuck in England lately and couldn’t make it over, even though my heart was with you and I thought about my old classmates throughout that weekend. Life has been kind to me, but kept me obscure in various ways including that one.” David Lettvin sent in the following: “Sorry I couldn’t make it to any of the get togethers. It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I’ve had two college graduations, an operation, parental illness, 3 deadlines, etc., etc. You can stop here, if you’ve forgotten who the heck I am. Since I left after 4th grade I can barely consider myself an alumnus. If, however, you’re like the elephant’s child and full of ‘satiable curiosity, here is a bit of a bio. “After SHS I attended the Peabody School in Cambridge, CHLS, Commonwealth, Washington University, BU, and MIT managing to avoid graduating from any of them. I went to the Culinary Institute of America briefly before becoming part owner of an herb and organic food store. The best way to do this is to give you a catalog of my work record. I have worked as a: clown, short order cook, brown bat photographer, herbalist, mechanic, octopus tutor, perfumer, poet, rare book & manuscript researcher, reporter, editor, circulation manager, roustabout, singer, storyteller, tarot reader, teacher, technical writer, television station manager, tobacconist, tour guide, chicken egg handler, sea urchin egg counter,
public relations troubleshooter for a government agency, gardener, colonial America historian, web designer, usability guru, computer training materials designer . . . but mostly I write. “I have lived in: Cambridge MA, Craftsbury VT, Naples IT, Paris FR, St. Louis MO, Old Lyme CT, Milwaukee WI, Norfolk VA, Kirkland WA . . . but now I live in South Hamilton, MA. I have traveled in: The US, Canada, Italy, France. Greece, Portugal, England, Israel, Singapore, the Philippines, and spent a brief time on Diego Garcia. “I am a 64-year-old, heavily bearded, overweight, balding, vegan, atheist, heterosexual, with a proclivity for wordplay (ADD) and an unjustifiably healthy ego. I listen to jazz, world music and some rock, but mostly classical. I work in a room with 4 floor-to-ceiling bookcases and stacks and boxes of books and electronics. I have a vegetable garden in the backyard next to my wife’s flowerbeds. There are paintings and prints on every wall of the house. My wife is an exceptional artist both fine and decorative (and I do mean both her and her art). My oldest son Mo has worked for Microsoft and Google and is now at Etsy. He, his wife Lindsey and 7-year-old daughter Amelia live in Boulder CO. My oldest daughter Vin works for a social do-gooding agency and lives in Hawaii. My youngest son just graduated from MassArt in illustration. My youngest daughter just graduated from University of Washington in American Cultural Studies and lives in Seattle with her children; Haddassa (5) and Malachi (4). My father died a few years ago, and my mother currently lives in Hingham.” John Locke reports, “I spent June and the rest of the summer recovering from lung cancer surgery and the chemo that followed. Otherwise Stephanie and I are well and enjoying retirement here in Virginia. Short winters are great. Best wishes to the Class of ‘63. Shady Hill was far and away the best part of the years I spent in school.” Lizzie Hawthorne O’Beirne-Ranelagh reports, “I am still working for the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group, although it has now been re-structured and each local group is its own business (rather like a franchise), so as well as giving conservation advice to farmers I am
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now a director helping to run the company. Retirement looks a long way off! I’ve also still got my small organic farm, now running around 30 sheep and one cow in addition to the wheat growing — we had more cows but they are hard work and we sold the other three this summer. “Music has become a more and more important part of my life, and I play mandola in two orchestras, one in London and one in Cambridge. (Have you ever heard a mandolin orchestra? It’s a different and very pleasant sound — try it out on YouTube.) I also play in two ceilidh dance bands (banjo, mandolin and guitar), and am still involved in the university folk dance group, although I mainly play for them now rather than display dance — it’s getting hard to keep up with the 20 year olds! “We’ve been back in our house for just over a year since a serious roof fire forced us to live elsewhere for 18 months. We took the opportunity to undertake many repairs to our several hundred-year-old cottage; we had wonderful builders who kept a balance between renewing all the basics and keeping the character of the house. “The exciting news for us this year is that my brother (Alexander Hawthorne ’55) got married for the first time in September! His wife is also originally from Cambridge, Mass., a school friend of my sister’s (Shady Hill 1960), but they met for the first time 12 years ago. They now live in Switzerland and France, but we never thought it would happen. He just beat my nephew to it — he will be getting married in San Francisco in October next year; my niece is married and living in Cincinnati.” Meg Oldman will also be participating in the 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28. Brina Peck writes, “The reunion was fantastic. My favorite part was singing from our memories or our Shady Hill music notebooks — in Lenore’s kitchen. I never imagined that I’d be with a group of people who knew the same songs! And I didn’t remember
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Miss Abbot ever complimenting us for volume and enthusiasm. Other highlights were sitting on the bleachers with John Stendahl and Denny Anderson, talking about all kinds of things before the Olympic games began. Another: rubbing silver-looking foil with a Greek design as we learned about the current study of the Greeks in 4th grade. “My father, Russell H. Peck, SHS ’36, died on November 18 in a nursing home in Belmont. I had visited him October 25-29. My brother Will ’68 was with him when he passed away.” Jim Pickel writes, “My big news is that, after 43 years at Thayer Academy, I’m going to retire (sort of ). I’ll continue to coordinate all the foreign programs, which I have been doing for quite a long time. I’ll only be on campus two half-days a week, and even that will be flexible. I have no specific plans except that I will join a group of guys who do small projects for Habitat for Humanity, and I’ll probably officiate soccer and baseball for pin money. My oldest grandson is graduating from high school in June (how did that happen?).” Louie Postel is a Contributing Editor to New England Home, and a Contributing Writer to Showboats International. Cynthia Shelmerdine writes, “I taught Classics at The University of Texas at Austin for many years, and am now technically retired, but still doing research, and spending part of each summer on an archaeological excavation in Greece (thank you, fourth grade!). I am so glad to have moved back to New England — I live in Maine with my partner Kate, a retired astronomy professor from Whitman College, and a golden retriever. I enjoy doing agility with the latter, and playing Renaissance and Baroque music with the former on recorders (thank you, Miss Abbott!).” Brooksie Stanton gives us some of her thoughts on reunion here, and how SHS connects to her current work. More thoughts from her are below in the “reunion” section. “The reunion with classmates was heartwarming. What impressed me was the depth and solidity of connection based on the very remarkable experience we were fortunate enough to have for all our years
Members of the Class of 1963 at the Reunion Weekend dinner with Head of School Mark Stanek.
as a Shady Hill family. Regardless the paths our lives have taken since, that bond feels eternal for me. It was fun — and funny — to share memories and to learn as adults things about our personal childhood lives that we hadn’t known at school, and thus to further deepen our connection. Perhaps the most touching, spontaneous moment was when someone (Alice?) brought out her old music book and the entire group burst with gusto into collective song — words, harmonies, rounds all imprinted deeply in our collective memories. The wholeschool music gatherings we used to have in the Assembly Hall were one of the most powerful experiences I recall at Shady Hill. I can still feel the physical sensation of spiritual uplifting that was inspired by the power of collective voice. And that was what Shady Hill was all about — in depth, experiential, multi-modality, interdisciplinary, cooperative, applied learning. As a current public school teacher wresting with the standards and assessment driven focus inspired by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, it was hugely confirming during a conversation with Mark Stanek to have him support my feelings that such an exclusive top-down approach does not leave room for student (and teacher) interest and passion, which is such a vital motivator and which, thanks largely to Shady Hill, has driven and guided me for my entire life. Whenever the word ‘passion’ comes up in a staff meeting at my school, all heads turn towards me: Thanks, SHS!” Lenore Gessner Travis writes, “I spent the last year very involved with a wonderful organization, The Food
Project, which works with urban youth growing food to distribute in underserved areas. The youth who participate in the program over a period of a few years make transformative changes, and as trite as it sounds, they really will be our leaders of the future. Our family was also able to make several wonderful trips together; Ireland, Switzerland and Brazil. I continue playing tennis several times a week, and weave in a studio several times a week.” Dan Wallace reports, “The big shift in my volunteer existence is that I’ve dropped reading for the Blind and Visually Impaired at Perkins and have picked up a few more responsibilities in the Boston Meditation Center of Self-Realization Fellowship, my meditation group. We have a retreat house in North Bennington, VT and have moved our center from a rental in Waltham to our own building (formerly an Episcopal Church) in Somerville. I hope not to bore people with the practical details of committed involvement with a cherished nonprofit, but would welcome opportunities to speak with any who might be interested about metaphysical realms. “Older son Mark has launched his business building custom skis (http://parlorskis.com/), and his younger brother, after three years living in Spain, is looking to return stateside to pursue a PhD in Linguistics. Judith has two 12-session workshops underway along with her teaching (at her own studio, at Lexington Arts and Crafts, and at the Harvard Ceramic Studios). As a result, she doesn’t have as much time for her own work as she
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would like, even though she has completed a series of sewn leaves which are quite astonishing.” In addition to Class Notes, I (Lenore) compiled a “reunion report” after many classmates wrote their thoughts on our 50th. I encourage all alumni to participate in their reunion — you never know how fun it is until you show up. We had a wonderful few days, with events at both SHS and at my house for a dinner Friday night. Some people attended all events, some just a few, but we had fun being together. The we is: Alice & Arnold, Dan, Cynthia & Kate, Kari, Spencer, Deb & Steve, Pam & Rick, Lizzie, Brooksie, Brina, Denny, Louie, Sarah, John, Paul, Craig, Lenore. Several people contributed their thoughts on the reunion, and they are included below. Thanks to all for attending, and for writing! We grew into an interesting congenial group! Alice took pictures and posted them on Shutterfly. Here is the link. https://shsclassof6350threunion. shutterfly.com/#%26emid%3dsite_ sitecreated%26cid%3dSHARE3SXXXX From Cynthia Shelmerdine: “Even after attending it, the idea that we all achieved a 50th reunion is outlandish. I grew up on Coolidge Hill, and have walked many dogs over the years on the Shady Hill fields. But I had not set foot inside a school building for decades, and had lost touch with most of my classmates. What would it be like to go back? Would I recognize anyone, or they me? I was a little worried about that, and also about revisiting my younger self. “Well, it was a wonderful weekend. The gray buildings were very familiar, though everything seemed smaller. My classmates were both same and different — grown up, with lots of life behind them now, but wonderfully the same in some essential way that was a delight to rediscover. Music, so important at school, was still a connector; a memorable dinner at Lenore Travis’ house Friday night was a chance to share experiences and stories, but it ended with us singing all the old favorites, partly from memory and partly from a SHS song book
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someone had thought to bring. “We had a chance to look at the school from an adult perspective, talking with teachers and the Head, Mark Stanek, about education at Shady Hill today, and watching the Fourth Graders pull off the Olympic games in impressive heat. Saturday morning we got to revisit the Fourth Grade, in good interactive Shady Hill fashion. After a presentation by the teachers, they gave us an art project — recreate the ancient repoussé technique by tracing a Minoan design on tin foil, pressing in from the back so the lines appeared in relief on the front. And it struck me, as we sat working at our desks, that the delight of learning and making something now was exactly what it had been over 50 years before, and it was the essence of what Shady Hill taught and gave us. And we got to take our artwork home to our families too.” From Paul Gifford: “The Reunion last spring was wonderful but all too short — I’d really like a week with everyone who was there to really know what they’re up to. It remains remarkable to me how instantly I can recognize people I last saw when we were both 14.“ From Brooksie Stanton: “It remains deeply gratifying to have seen you all and mind-boggling that we in fact did converge after . . . 50 years (mind-boggling that it has been 50 years)! Those years as a Shady Hill family were so fundamental and formative, for me anyways. Though we have had more time apart than together and have each followed our own path into the world, the cords of connection remain. I can see something of the past person in each of you (it might be a face, a gesture, a tone of voice) and it was gratifying to learn things I had not known about many; things we didn’t even know about one another while we were together all those years at Shady Hill.” From Pam Fairbanks Kirkpatrick: “It was a great party and I was simply delighted to see everyone again. I have been reflecting on the state of life we were in when we were all last together. Those middle school years are tricky ones, before the blossoming happens. So it’s good to see what a jolly group we’ve become! There were a few I didn’t get a chance to talk with and I’m sorry about that. I’ll make a beeline for you at our 55th. I believe
Alice helped out a good deal in the organizing (all those phone calls!) so kudos to her as well. If any of you are in the Fall River (such a sought after destination) or Providence neck of the woods, give us a shout and stop by. Iced tea and cookies always on hand.” From Kari Laursen Shaner: “I also had a great time talking with many of you Friday night at Lenore’s house. It was a wonderful, comfortable evening. I am sorry that I didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone, but did enjoy catching up with many of you. My favorite story of the evening was when I asked if others remembered that James Taylor came to one of our dances. Some people said that they did remember this, and that they thought that I was dating him at the time. I didn’t remember dating him, but thought that was not a bad rumor to have going around. I wonder what other rumors we have. Anyway I think we should get together periodically.”
C L A S S O F 19 6 4 2014 50th Reunion Class Nicholas Deutsch 32 Windle Park Tarrytown, NY 10591-3936 deutsch.eubanks@gmail.com Marty Belin has “lots of news and no time to write: Three truths and a lie: 1) Got arrested for civil disobedience protest against our insane NC governor
and Legislature; convicted on two counts, so back on appeal in January. 2) Retiring on January 15, 2014. 3) Getting married March 1. 4) Am pregnant with twins. As you can see, I am looking forward to the next 30 years.” Holly Cheever sends this update: “My husband, Dean Sommer, and I have been married almost 34 years and have lived for 30 of them on our farm and mini-animal sanctuary outside of Albany, NY. We raised our four children here, and are grateful that they survived ‘the Holly and Dean show’ and are very loyally bonded to one another, to us, and to our home. Our son is a captain in the JAG corps of the army’s 82nd airborne division (from our pacifist seeds???), the oldest daughter is married and an archeologist in southwestern CO, the next daughter is an attorney working with Americorps to sign up citizens for Obama’s affordable health care in AZ, and the youngest daughter is in medical school in San Francisco. Dean hopes to retire from environmental law in 2-3 years, and I hope to retire from my veterinary practice around 70, if my hands and brain remain functional that long! “I remember my early SHS education and friends warmly, and bemoan that I had to leave after 6th grade due to our family’s move to Pittsburgh. I hope to come to the 50th reunion, time permitting. My best wishes to you all.”
Members of the Class of 1964.
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Unfortunately, Joel Horowitz will be unable to join the reunion as it is right in the middle of final examinations at St. Bonaventure University. “I had been looking forward to the reunion, as I have been nostalgic about the way we were. Perhaps it is the problem of being an historian and always looking back. We certainly did get a great education and I at least had fun. “Life has been good these last few years. I am still teaching, though thinking about when I can retire and where we can move. I like living in a small town (Olean, NY) but without work I cannot imagine having enough to do. I am looking for a big city with a great library. I am still planning on being an historian that I cannot imagine retiring from. I have been plugging away at my research and writing and getting down to Buenos Aires fairly frequently but not as often as would be ideal. I find it a wonderful and complex place. “Other than that my life is quiet. I have been married to the same woman for 38 years and living in the same house for 25 years. My two daughters have long since fled western NY. My eldest is a university librarian who will be working at Haverford starting in January and my youngest is a graduate student at Tulane getting her Ph.D. in Mayan archaeology. While neither is close, they have not fallen far from the tree. I send greetings to all classmates. I am sorry that I will not see you all in May.” Edie Jackson reflects, “SHS was a great school for me that I have appreciated more and more over the last 50 years (!!!), especially in light of much less wonderful schools available for my kids and now grandkids. We were a great class, too, so I plan to attend and hope to see all you people!” “Greetings, classmates,” writes Susan Martin Mahony. “This year I am excited to be continuing with violin teaching, blessedly part-time. I get to follow my students from last year. Now I have two classes of Kindergarten violinists! They remembered so much from last year. It is very engaging for me — a wonderful combination of my two loves, teaching and violin. My husband and I harvested our bountiful garden again and are trying to get realistic about downsizing our house and land. Maybe it’s time to move from our country setting to a village — enough snow shoveling and hauling firewood
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and visiting with old and new friends. I recently dropped by the farm where Suzanne Webber stables and rides her fine and sturdy horse. It was great fun to see her ride. I met Jeff Mason and members of the Mason/Nolin clan at the top of Mt. Wachusett on the occasion of Jean Mason’s 90th birthday!”
Lisa Wiesner is “still practicing pediatrics in Orange, CT, outside of New Haven, but taking more time off to travel with Fred or go to the Vineyard. We were recently in Singapore. Even to the casual traveler it is repressive, but has the most gorgeous orchid garden I’ve ever seen. My two daughters are both living in Brooklyn and working. One is a Dean at a charter school in a very poor area of East NY, and the other at the Tibet Fund, raising funds for Tibetan refugees in India.”
May Day 1964.
for the wood stove. My husband is still working and our girls are on their own, one nearby and one in California. Give a call if you are in the Burlington/Middlebury area of Vermont. I am hoping to see you at the reunion this spring!” When Niki Rockwell wrote in, she had “just returned from a month in France with my 90-year-old mum. In many ways it was a farewell tour to the place of her birth and youth, but it was also full of current friends from all over Europe. I learned a lot about her personal experience of World War II while enjoying watching the grapes being harvested from the mas we rented in Provence. I was so lucky to visit with Nora Ryerson in Santa Fe for a week last spring. We talked way into the night and had a great time just being with our memories, joys, and struggles.” Stephanie Nolin Selden sends her “best to all” and relates: “I am spending most of my time in tiny Petersham, MA restoring a farmstead which was settled in the late 1700s. There are hay fields, several streams, stone walls, and deep forests, a cabin, a cider mill cottage and now a reconstructed 1860s carriage barn, which will be a habitable home soon, I hope. Visitors are welcome. At Thanksgiving 2013, Stony Lane Farm saw all my nine grandchildren, some of whom are Shady Hillers and Shady Hill grads who were here with my daughters Sarah ’86 and Stina ’88. I frequently see John and Henry Woolsey ’69 and members of their family with whom I have joined in helping to reestablish the Country Store on the Town Common here. I split my spare time between community volunteering, land trust activities, exploring, reading, writing, painting
Webber. “Each year brings a deeper sense of community here with my fellow colleagues — I am blessed. Last winter I began the fulfillment of a life-long dream to own a horse. He lives in Berlin, MA at a beautiful farm with all-day grass turnout. My horse, Chromey, keeps me young! Much love to you all.”
Top row: Anna Bush ‘17 , Oscar Bush ‘18, Sarah Selden Bush ‘86, Lucas Bush ‘15, Christina Selden Moskow ‘88, Charles Moskow. Bottom row: Stephanie Nolin Selden ’64, William Moskow, Nicholas Moskow, Isabelle Bush ’12, and Nicola Bush ’10.
Phil Somervell sends his greetings “after what, 50 years? I’m living in Anchorage, AK; recently retired early from NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — I am, or was, an epidemiologist). Pursuing a retirement career as a counselor, making sculptures, and volunteering with the Citizens Climate Lobby. Married, no kids. I must be getting sentimental, or something; I haven’t ever contributed to class notes before, but somehow it seems like a pretty good idea. Probably the teacher I remember best is Mr. Butler, the science teacher, who was always encouraging. Get in touch if you ever find yourself in this area!” Susanna Solomon Van Leuven reports, “My big news is that I have a short story collection coming out soon. I have been inspired by sheriff’s calls entries in a local West Marin newspaper called the Point Reyes Light, so my short stories all start with these entries and go from there. It will be published soon by HD Media Press.” “I am enjoying my 31st year at Shady Hill serving as the Assistant to the Head of School,” writes Suzanne
Thanks, everyone. Hope to see lots of you at Shady Hill in May!
C L A S S O F 19 6 5 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1965. Alice Beal reports, “I am still living in Brooklyn, but somewhere along the way it went from ‘You live in Brooklyn?’ to ‘You’re too old to be living in Brooklyn.’ I still love it though. My family is all well. I am the Director of Palliative Care at the VA, based in Brooklyn, but also covering Manhattan and Queens. My husband Bill Kuntz is now a federal judge. He loves the job and can walk to work. Our son, Will, is still working for ‘The Evil Empire,’ the NY Yankees. Kate has moved back to Brooklyn for residency in Internal Medicine at Kings County Hospital and Lizzie is living in Cambridge (there had to one). She is working as a middle school librarian and earning her keep as a message therapist.” Betsy Brackett had a good year in 2013. “In April I went on a Williamsburg Virginia trip with all my four sisters: Deborah Carmel ’63, Binney Brackett ’67, Rebecca Brackett ’74 and Margaret Bailey. In July my husband Fred and I camp out with a group of friends at Bearhead Lake State Park in Minnesota. The park was voted the most popular State Park in the nation by Coca-Cola Facebook fans because of the viral videos of the Bear Momma and Cub, so with the prize money they are building a trailhead educational center.”
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Betsy Brackett ’65 at Kawishiwi Falls in Minnesota.
Nan Waksman Schanbacher was recently elected Vice President of MITS (the Museum Institute for Teaching Science), a small Massachusetts non-profit that promotes collaboration between formal and informal science education organizations and provides professional development for K-12 STEM teachers. Nan continues to serve as Vice President of her family’s Foundation for Microbiology.”
Nan Waksman Schanbacher ’65
C L A S S O F 19 6 6 Margaret Bullitt-Jonas 83 Bancroft Road Northampton, MA 01060 Now in our early 60s, we’re doing all sorts of brave things: claiming our dreams and marking our losses, deepening our creative work and tending to family members, beginning new jobs and exploring retirement. Let’s plan to get together in 2016 at our 50th reunion and to compare notes!
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Robin Alden writes, “I continue to run Penobscot East Resource Center, working in Eastern Maine to demonstrate that it’s possible to do fisheries right. Ironically, climate change is making our bottom-up, collaborative approach to stewardship of this part of the Gulf of Maine better understood and better supported. We are having an opportunity to put all of my husband, Ted Ames’ work on local fish stocks into policy. I have announced my intention to retire in four years; so much of my time is taken getting the organization ready for succession. Annie is a junior at Smith and thriving. We are, happily, all well and welcome visitors in Stonington.” Lark Batteau Bailey has launched a new adventure; “I am selling my house and moving to Paris. When I was just seventeen, while my friends had posters of The Beatles and The Stones on their bedroom walls, I had Jean-Paul Belmondo. What can I say, except that it’s about time! I’ve transformed my house and garden to look like Provence. Been singing in French all year with accordion and keyboard accompaniment. Let’s make this fantasy a reality. My Mom, who still had beautiful hands at 91, passed away in March. With the entire family crammed in the hospice room, we played guitars, banjos, violins, violas and mandolin. Sang and laughed, told stories and cried like crazy. I sang a Buddhist prayer at her feet as she passed. Blessings to all.” Letty Belin continues to work in Washington, DC for the Department of the Interior. Her son Miles (age 28) just got married, and her daughter Miranda (age 25) is enjoying her second year in med school. “I am staying on for a while longer in the Obama Administration. My newest big project has been helping to drive Obama’s initiative to save elephants, rhinos, and other species that are being killed at alarming rates to provide income to terrorist groups and other nefarious operators. At our urging, Obama issued an executive order when he was in Africa this summer establishing a federal task force to combat wildlife trafficking, and we are implementing that. In the meantime, last year 36,000 elephants were killed (there are only a total of about 450,000 elephants left on the planet), as were huge numbers of rhinos, and over a hundred park rangers. Wildlife trafficking is not a matter of feeding hungry people adjacent to the parks, but rather of providing cash to underground terrorist groups, who use helicopters, night goggles, machine
guns, and everything else to kill dozens of animals at a time so that they can sell ivory and rhino horn on the black market. One of our first major actions was to run the entire U.S. stock of confiscated contraband ivory through a rock crusher in Denver (6 tons) to make a strong statement about the problem. I guess the ‘Interior’ Department doesn’t just deal with the Interior but also the ‘Exterior’!”
Letty Belin ’66 with confiscated ivory and rhino horns as part of her work with the Department of the Interior.
Kitty Waring Block says, “My life centers around family, still! With six kids, all married (at least for the moment) and seventeen grandchildren, I still find plenty to do relating to family concerns. And I love it. Relationships are the foundation of everything else that happens in our society, I believe, and I’m grateful to have a lot of good ones. I’m especially tickled to see the commitment to adoption continuing in the next generation. Three of our children have adopted; this is not something we pushed on any of them, but something we devoted the last 30+ years of our lives to. One son is an attorney, one is a special agent on the PA police force, and one just finished his MBA. One daughter works full time as a nurse practitioner, another works part time as an ER nurse and home schools her kids, and our youngest is a staff Sergeant in the Air Force. In between times I paint, quilt, exercise, and hang out with my best buddy (married 41 years now) . . . I’m loving being in my sixties; I finally feel grown up. I wrote a book about motherhood called You Don’t Have to Go It Alone, available on Amazon or from me at kwblock@gmail.com.”
Kitty Brazelton writes from NYC, “Rosie graduates from college this year (wow). Mom (92) and Dad (95) are still going strong in Cambridge (wow). Dad wrote two books this year (wow), and loves to hear from old patients. Energy to spare (wow)! The rest of us are scrambling to keep up (whew). Last February ‘13 I premiered a baby oratorio —The Art of Memory — focusing on the dialogue between Ambrose and Augustine. I translated their words to sing, stealing thoughts from 4th-c. hymns by Ambrose and Augustine’s Confessions. I’m interested in how the words of prayers connect us across time, and fascinated by the all-one-now-ness of early Christianity. I hope to ‘grow’ the piece this spring ‘14 while on sabbatical — 5 sopranos (I play Ambrose, the father bishop), violin, electric guitar, double bass, cello, Max/MSP-processed Casio synth-continuo, sax and flute. I hope I can bring it about! My other baby is a string quartet-mit-guitar (QUIN-tet) that I hope to combine with film/video. That project is very, very baby. The first installment is coral cantata based on southwestern Hispanic/Native American pageant Los Pastorelitos and the Matachines dances for the Feast of San Lorenzo. More grown is a project I call Essential Prayers. I’ve set prayers that everyone knows — I wanted to see what it was like to listen if people knew the words in advance — in simple a cappella SATB settings that I’m hoping almost anyone can sing. You don’t have to be a pro choir to sing new in-the-now music, is my message. But how to get them out? The prayers include the 23rd Psalm, Serenity Prayer, Lord’s Prayer, Father Myke’s Prayer (Father Myke was the NYCFD chaplain who died in 9/11), a Shabbat candlelighting barucha, the Loving-Kindness mantra, and a Latin carol, Puer natus in Bethlehem, alleluia. I want to post these for free download on one of the wiki score library projects and advertise so people can find them. I’m also trying to do some plain old singing, out, in clubs and venues. Just me, my bass, and my guitarist. Not much time to make it happen when I’m consumed by teaching. But am hoping there’s more room to pursue it on my sabbatical.” Margaret Bullitt-Jonas writes, “I continue to live in Northampton, MA but after 25 years in parish ministry I decided to make a change: to leave Grace Church, Amherst, where I served happily as Priest Associate for 9 years, and to take up a new job in the Episcopal Diocese
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of Western Massachusetts. As Missioner for Creation Care (a new position that I proposed to the bishop and that I will be inventing as I go along), I plan to focus my energy on building the religious environmental movement, with a focus on addressing climate change. I relish combining spirituality and activism: I lead retreats, and recently joined the Working Board of Better Future Project, a Massachusetts-based non-profit that oversees 350MA.org and is organizing the local grassroots struggle to move beyond fossil fuels. My book of Advent/Christmas meditations, Joy of Heaven, to Earth Come Down, is now expanded and in its second printing, and I contributed 15 short pieces to a new book of 365 daily meditations for 2014, Seeking God, Day by Day. “When the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art selected works by my brother John Bullitt ’71, to show at its biennial exhibit, our family had a rare reunion that included our mother and sisters Elizabeth Bullitt ’64, Sarah Bullitt ’68, and me. My Website is holyhunger. org. Son Sam Jonas ’04 is in Thailand for five months, teaching English as a Second Language. My husband Robert Jonas, my partner for the past 30+ years, has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer, so we are embarking on a quest for healing.”
Elizabeth Bullitt ’64, Margaret Bullitt-Jonas ’66, and Sarah Bullitt ’68.
Mary-Ellen (Mellen) Candage announces exciting news: “I got married on October 6 to the man I’d been infatuated with since high school at Sidwell Friends as a junior many years ago, and it was a street wedding to celebrate the fact that we sit outside our Dupont Circle, DC apartment every night, entertaining the
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world and holding court in our ‘salon.’ Most of the guests were ‘salon’ visitors we met right here on the street, and we had a ball and it was wonderful and we are the happiest people alive right now. Other than that, we are planning to move to my house in St-Cirq in the Dordogne, France, in the next year or so, and peacefully co-exist with the remnants of Magdelenian Man and our very few neighbors in our tiny commune of 112 residents. We’ll live on foie gras and confit and drink Bergerac du Châteux Mazibert and just be the bestest, most content old couple imaginable. We’ll keep doing our life’s work as writers and editors but with a view of the Vézère Valley that is incomparable and oh so sweet. And oh, the house will be rentable (not quite yet, but after we do repairs and updates in spring of 2014 — the view from the bedrooms is glorious beyond belief ). BTW, my husband’s book, Boomer Down, is available on http://www.smashwords.com/books/ search?query=boomer+down. I wish I had a book, too, but despite years of chronicling my adventures in France, I haven’t yet put it all together, though I have thousands of pages of journals.” Michael Feldberg observes, “The elemental things are the most important. Ruth Lazarus and I have been married for 35 years (how did that happen?). Our daughter Rachel, 30, a New York City public school teacher, is married to a man she met in college. They have two daughters, two and one-half and 10 months. Our daughter Jesse, 27, a pre-school teacher, is married to a man she met on a college semester in New Zealand. Uniquely among our children Jesse hated everything about sports her whole life, so of course she met and ultimately married a kiwi professional cricket player. Go figure. Our son Ben, 24, who throughout childhood fought constantly with his next oldest sister because all he did, through college, was play sports, works for a digital sports advertising company. “We live in New York City. I have no idea how that happened. When we were kids we hated New Yorkers — they were smug and arrogant and thought they knew everything. Now I tell people I’m in the 36th year of a temporary one-year stay here to see what it’s like. The joke, if you can call it that, is getting a tad old. We are very lucky. Our kids live here, work here and amazingly enough, appear to be responsible adults, at least most
of the time. They even get along. I’m a lawyer. I try cases. I’m fortunate to be one of the handful of lawyers who actually enjoys the work. About 10 years ago I started the US litigation practice of a large international law firm, and have spent the last decade building that practice. I am surrounded at work mostly by lawyers half my age with twice my intellect. It is great fun, and I have no desire or intention to stop any time soon. I wish all of our classmates well, and hope to hear interesting stories from writers far more talented than me.” Kevin Frank continues to live in NH, where he “spent some time this summer and fall doing work on a 10-kilowatt array of solar panels to cover the usage of the buildings where we live. Ongoing Rolfing training at our studio once a month or more. Good apple year. Vowing to not take on big projects in the coming year and give ourselves a break.” Ralph Gifford reports the death, on December 18, of his father, Dr. Sanford Gifford. “He passed peacefully and gracefully as he had lived for 95 years. My brother Paul ’63 and I were at his side. He will be missed by many. As for me, I briefly retired from the government last spring and then this fall was rehired to develop a training program for our junior staff and new hires. After all this time, people have started calling me ‘professor.’ What more can a Cambridge boy aspire to?” Caty Kessler Greene writes, “Life in Apalachicola, FL (pop. 2200, on the Gulf Coast), is treating me well, if the measure is not financial. I will soon be celebrating five years as the town librarian, with a downright respectable reputation in a town that really doesn’t care for ‘Yankees.’ My second occupation, making jewelry out of oyster shells, is very well received by tourists and locals alike (Etsy shop in 2014?). Son Sam got married to wonderful Lainey Bornstein this summer in a fabulous wedding in Atlanta. Son George is hard at work being a hot commodity in the software world of San Francisco, successfully, but still single. Getting to early retirement age has certainly given me pause. I still think I’ll be off soon to Woodstock!?!?!” Heidi Grossman lives in Ashland, OR, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. “It’s a small town with lots of culture, in a beautiful environment. I had an art
Heidi Grossman ’66 in Sicily in October.
gallery for 12 years here that I thoroughly enjoyed, and was quite proud of. I had the privilege of working with Henry Isaacs, among my group of artists, and selling his beautiful artwork. Through him I reconnected with Josh Kay, and have since enjoyed several visits with him and his lovely wife, Judy, both in Ashland and at their home in Tacoma, WA. I am a very proud aunt of Nick Grinder, the son of my sister Linsey ’63, who is a jazz trombonist, living in NYC, after getting his master’s at NYU. I live a quiet but good life. Am trying to get some traveling in since I closed the gallery. My latest was a couple of weeks in Sicily in October, where it was fun to have my birthday. I’m still figuring out this ‘retirement’ time. I got diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2005, but, knock on wood, I’m doing very well, thanks to my meds. I take Pilates, enjoy lots of plays and concerts, take some classes at our OLLI, and spend some time with my mother, who moved here from the East coast a couple of years ago. She still loves music, so one easy thing to share is going to classical concerts together. I love hearing from so many classmates in the News. I welcome any of you to visit me if you’re in the vicinity — or call or write.” Henry Isaacs remarks, “It appears that we’ve moved back to Vermont from our island home in Down East Maine. Five years with fifty people on a beautiful island well out to sea was wonderful and enough. I painted, and my wife, Donna, taught the island’s dozen or so children. I continue to be a lucky artist, painting every
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day, and even getting paid to do so! If anyone is curious about the pictures, Google will get you to them, or: www.henryisaacs.com. Love and best wishes to all.” Josh Kay comments, “Like so many others, Judith & I are dealing with losses of any remaining parents we may have. Judith’s dad, James Webb, passed away on December 5, just hours within the death of Nelson Mandela and at almost exactly the same age. In as much as he was very committed to social justice issues his whole life, we thought he was in excellent company! My own father, Alan Kay, is also struggling with congestive heart failure and some cognitive loss. I’m trying to help my stepmother to think about logical next steps for him. My brothers Roger Kay ’68 and Ben Kay ’71 are doing well. Roger’s daughter is off to college next year. “My other news that is Judith has successfully recovered from open-heart surgery for aortic valve replacement. She was able to take a leave of absence from teaching for the fall semester in order to recover. Our son Jeremy continues both working at a Web tools development software company in the ‘Silicon Alley’ area of Manhattan and playing gigs on most weekends. My work at Tacoma Power as an engineering supervisor is going reasonably well, although the economy in Tacoma, WA has been slow to recover from various hits in the past few years. I’m looking at perhaps 6 more years before taking retirement. Love to all!” Anna Stendahl Langenfeld sends greetings to all. “Life here in Middleboro, MA where my husband Eric and I have lived for better than 30 years, is peaceful, healthy and blessed. We are both retired and enjoying the time and emotional space that it awards us. We are the proud grandparents of two: Tyrian, age 2, and Linnea, age 4 months. We take care of them one day a week, and it is the best part of our lives. The other days we are busy with our hobbies; cars, Tai Chi, Zumba, reading, swimming, etc. The extended Stendahl family is well, with the matriarch, Brita, soon turning 89. Will there be a big reunion in 2016? If so, see you all then.” Hannah Shoop McKee reports: “I am just finishing my first year as lead for the OT/PT services for Nashville Public Schools and have learned a lot about our city that no one would suspect: for instance, over 130 languages
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are spoken here. When we moved here 25 years ago for Larry’s job as archaeologist for the Hermitage, ethnic food in Nashville was pizza. It’s been a treat to watch this city grow and develop, influenced by a diverse community. Currently our superintendent has stated that we are going to be the best urban school system in US by 2016, which strikes me as magical thinking not unlike the No Child Left Behind Act, which declared 100% proficiency for all children in all areas of reading, writing and mathematics by 2014. But, we take it one student at a time and we are able to know our kids through the years, from pre-preschool to age 22, and few therapists can have that joy. “The rest of the family is doing great: Rosie has finally decided to go to college and is killing it! I’ve NEVER seen her engaged in learning like this and it’s amazing. Michaela and Daniel are thriving in Brooklyn and making movie after movie. Michaela has one she worked on going to Sundance this year. Larry has seen a promotion, causing him to work and travel too much. Basically all we really want to do is hang out in the garden, and spend the evenings together watching the fire in winter and watching the woods in spring and summer with the fireflies and the deer. Our cat is doing great — he has not been promoted, but he really doesn’t define himself by his work. Love to all. I really enjoy reading about everyone and hope the good news continues through the years for all.”
The Class of 1966 after their SHS graduation.
Tim Segar reports that he is “still teaching art at Marlboro College in Vermont, making sculpture, writing some, riding bikes and making time to visit my daughters (the best part).” He sent in a class of ’66 graduation photo.
Steve Wessler writes, “I live on Mount Desert Island in Maine but travel a great deal in the US and Europe in connection with my human rights work. I am teaching part time at the College of the Atlantic and greatly enjoy the students there.”
Rick Wilcox ’66
Rick Wilcox announces, “In the past year I experienced one serious blood clot and two surgeries. I am not only much better, but also I enjoy working on physical fitness. I enjoyed a very nice summer. My sister, Karen Wilcox ’68, managed my health care and personal matters, as she also did for our late mother and previously her sister-in-law during their terminal illnesses. She also works very hard. After retiring early at 62, I have begun a career in real estate sales. I am studying for the exam. In addition to machine tool sales, I also added two technical tooling & accessories product lines. For the last 3 years, I played auxiliary percussion with the 16-piece Chelmsford Community Big Band jazz Swing/Latin ensemble, and we played in three states. I am an active dancer, a community service volunteer, and, thanks to AA’s 12-steps & God, am approaching 28 years of sobriety. For interested classmates, my SHS anecdotal humor is available upon request. I am proud of my ‘66 classmates’ careers and personal accomplishments. Feel free to contact me.” From West Florida, Anne Denio Wiley writes, “My husband and I decided to see family, and travel around New England in conjunction with my 40th college reunion in May and early June. We saw one spectacular weather extreme after another: freezing
and rain for the reunion, down to the 30s that night, but amazing gorgeous weather afterward on top of Mt. Washington via the cog (since the road was closed after the 2 feet of snow), and then 96 degrees the next few days on the coast of Maine. Some of our bucket list accomplishments included going to the Norman Rockwell museum and Stockbridge, enjoying the Mt. Washington Resort and its history, stepping into Maine for the first time ever and enjoying the mail run (in which a ferry goes from island to island, delivering mail from the mainland), spending our first night in the City of Boston, and getting to the Rhode Island coast, before returning home. It was terrific seeing family and experiencing the joy of New England over a two-week period. After 40 years so far away, I felt that I had finally come home.” Richard Wulsin says, “Living in Wellfleet is great. It gets a bit crowded in the summer, but with good reason. I am working for a small law firm, Wulsin Murphy LLP, which has an office in Norwood and one in Wellfleet. We specialize in real estate tax appeals and handle them throughout New England. My sister, Anne Wulsin ’65, is the office manager. Both of my children, as well as one of Anne’s, work for the firm. It has been tremendously rewarding having my children work for me. I mean working with my children. No, wait a minute, I mean working for my children. I couldn’t ask for better motivation. I spend winters working in Arizona and staying with my brother John Wulsin ’63, and his wife, and I travel when I get the urge. I am busy, but enjoying life.”
C L A S S O F 19 67 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1967. Marilyn Paul writes, “My family is living in Jerusalem this year and enjoying traveling through Israel each month. My husband and I are both working on books, and our 9-year-old is in an intensive Hebrew program. Are there other Shady Hillers living in Israel? Call me at 054-875-3088.” Andrew Segar reports, “I’m still The Lower Division Head at The Park School where I have been for 35 years. Life has been hectic since the surprise arrival of a Goldendoodle puppy on Christmas Eve! I had forgotten
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how challenging house training a puppy can be. Best Regards to my former SHS classmates and teachers.” Rob Tagiuri writes, “My 12 year-old daughter, Ana, and I are living in Cambridge. She is going to Spanish/ English school: Escuela Amigos. I am working with a business partner raising funds for alternative investment managers. I continue to dabble in cars, sailboats, and real estate. Van Cherington’s nephew is the GM of the Red Sox.”
C L A S S O F 19 6 8 Tesi Kohlenberg 93 Garfield Street Watertown, MA 02472 tesik@rcn.com George Beal writes, “If all goes according to plan, we will be moving back to Cambridge this summer or fall. The house is on Avon Hill, and we will be two blocks away from Annie and Henry Woolsey ’69.” Roger Kay reports, “Ending a busy 2013. Lots of travel, mostly business, mostly to warm places since November. Family growing, my boy, Addison, now 14, surpassed both his mother and his sister in height in the past few months. I just bet him $10 he wouldn’t pass me. It’s an unfair bet. At any point in the next few years, he could pull ahead, triggering the payoff. But at what point can I say he didn’t make it? We arbitrarily agreed on his 21st birthday, although I expect he’ll be done long before then. Meanwhile, I’m slowly dropping from my former 6' even to something more like 5' 11 ¼". It really is unfair, isn’t it? But speaking of growing family, it’s both up and out. As of late December, I’m a grandfather, finally, at 60. My older daughter, Faith, had a boy, Josef Willem Laimböck, quite an imposing name for such a small fellah. I continue to write a column for Forbes.com (http://blogs.forbes.com/rogerkay/) about once a week. There are more than 200 up there. Please feel free to rummage around in them. They’re mostly about technology, but occasionally I slip in a more philosophical one. Retirement beckons.” I, Tesi, received a Christmas card from Andrea Mason Nolin with the following updates: “Chris ’67 will have a 10-week sabbatical starting on January 1, 2014; we
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adopted a kitty; I started a new group (soundbitten.net) performing with 7 different flutes; our house has just designated by the Town of Belmont as Historical; and Alex has 1 ½ years to go on his Computer Game Design degree.” Niel Wright writes, “After close to 32 years working in Congress, mostly as press secretary for Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI), I retired in January 2013. Aside from being available full-time for my kids, who are in high school and middle school, I’m still trying to figure out how to make the best use of my free time. My days go by in a flash before I can make much progress on my to-do list. I’d be happy to hear from anybody via nwright5@cox.net.”
CL A S S O F 19 6 9 2014 45th Reunion Class The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1969.
The Class of 1969.
C L A S S O F 19 70 Joan Bulliner-Durant 873 Canterbury Street Roslindale, MA 02131 bullinerjoan@gmail.com
Dexter Bellows ’69 and daughter Shenna Bellows with William (Bill) Bellows VII-B 1964-1984.
Berit Pratt, Abby Henneman, Diana Lyman, and Nancy Shelmerdine of the Class of 1969, taken in 1963.
Ekua Holmes 72 Munroe Street, Apt 3 Roxbury, MA 02119 ekuaholmes@gmail.com Ekua Holmes writes, “Although I’m looking forward to 2014, I have to say that 2013 was an awesome year. Professionally, I continue to enjoy my work as the Director and Community Coordinator of sparc! the ArtMobile, at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Our blog is located at www.sparctheartmobile.com if you’d like to see some of the fun projects we do around the City of Boston. “In April, I was appointed by Mayor Menino to the Boston Art Commission for 5 years. Commissioners review and shepherd public art projects proposed for City of Boston property. It is a very exciting time to be a part of the Commission. Public Art policies are being written about, debated, and challenged. It’s really great to be a part of the discussion that will shape some of the City’s new policies.
“This year I was also honored to receive a Brother Thomas Fellowship through the Boston Foundation, along with 5 artists of various disciplines. The fellowship was created from the legacy of Brother Thomas, a worldrenowned ceramic artist who had a profound dream that the sale of his work would support other artists at a critical point in their career, as his friends had done for him. “In my personal life, my granddaughter, Song, continues to be a delight. She sings, dances, draws and paints with an innocent confidence in her efforts that I long to reclaim in my work. My son, Kai, also continues to inspire me with the depth of his songwriting skills and commitment to his craft. “This summer I had a small art reception and birthday celebration. Carol Robey and her husband attended and had a great time. It was so good to see them among many friends who suffered the heat and humidity to share the special day with me. Other class of ’70 folks I’ve seen this year — Rick Pinderhughes and Linda Nathan who are both doing exciting things. “Finally, when composing this letter, I am always reminded of my Mother’s independent vision and care in sending me to Shady Hill; a school that was a perfect nurturing environment for my youth and creative spirit.
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“I look forward to participating in this year’s Alumni Art exhibition (March). I hope to see some of you there in support of Shady Hill, and its Arts Alumni of many, many generations.”
house in the ancient village of Iffley, just next to Oxford. Nick’s commute to the math department now “consists of 20 minutes of biking along the Thames.”
John Hughes reports, “The book I’ve been working on for most of a decade (Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, 3rd ed.) has finally come out. Our daughter is in her first year at Swarthmore; our son is applying to colleges. I still teach at Brown, my wife still works at Miriam Hospital. Life’s pretty good.”
Emily Howe 482 Newhall Road Conway, MA 01341 emmyhowe@aol.com
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Justin & Lucy are in their mid-20s and finding their ways. Wife Kathy recently added a new dog to the home mix with very fizzy results. Colrain farmer and agrilegend C.R. Lawn quoted me twice in his 2014 Fedco Seed Catalog notes, which tickled me pink (and will hopefully shut me up for awhile). Fond Best Wishes to all you classmates.” Tom Loeser recently installed a set of three willow reading “pods” at the new Downtown Madison Central Public Library in the children’s section. It was a collaboration with willow artist David Chapman.
Linda Nathan reports, “This year I’ve moved from running schools to working in central office as the special advisor to the Interim Superintendent where I work on issues of school autonomy. So far it’s been a very different kind of job and I’m learning a lot, but I miss the daily energy of kids and teachers. My oldest son got married this fall and we had a block party to celebrate! Of course Janie Ward was there.” Carol Robey writes, “I am painting, when not at work, with a Boston School artist in Manchester NH. Both kids in Seattle: Alec a program manager at Microsoft, Nette, just moved there, looking for a job. My husband retired but very busy with Symphony NH and playing guitar. I attended the wedding of my oldest sister, Brant ’67, in Montana this September. Steve ’71 and Sarah ’69 came too.”
Members of the Class of 1971 in their early years at Shady Hill. L to R: Peter Fisher, Charlie Pratt, Jonathan Haar, and Danny Kahn.
Peter Fisher writes, “I am now commuting between New York-New Jersey and Hanover, NH as I’m now a lecturer and senior fellow at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth while continuing to work part-time at the BlackRock Investment Institute. It’s a lot easier than the commute I used to have between New York and Tokyo.” Nick Jordan reports, “Family is happy and healthy; I’ve been involved in lots of fun group projects at the nexus of food/farming, sustainability and education — feeling ever more thankful for that work and the communities in which it occurs. Have been learning some Cajun music with my music partner who fiddles in that captivating style. Warm wishes to all!”
The Robey Family at Brandt’s wedding: Steve ’71, Carol ’70, Sarah ’69, and Brant ’67.
Nick Trefethen and his wife Kate have moved into a
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Dan Kahn writes, “Am still puttering along outside Providence (featured in the film Breakfast with Curtis), working the school grants circuit for RI State Council on the Arts, growing veggies & hops, making beer & cider, hiking, volunteering & traveling when possible.
Tom Loeser ’71 with his family, standing and sitting in the willow reading “pods.”
Jane Selverstone reports, “I am still a research professor at the University of New Mexico, but also keep busy by playing in the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra, knitting, hiking, and reading. My husband, David Gutzler, just finished a 3-year stint as a lead author for the latest IPCC climate report. We spent a month last summer traveling through Tibet with friends — definitely the trip of a lifetime. The photo shows us at the start of a 3-day trek around sacred Mt. Kailash in western Tibet. Our son Ben is finishing his MS in marine ecology, and daughter Sonia is in community college. The great sadness of the year was the death of my father, Dr. Norman Selverstone, in November. My mom is still living in Maine, and I go back and forth a few times a year.” Alexandra Sheldon reports, “I am still feeling the glow from our SHS reunion almost two years ago. One son
Jane Selverstone ’71 and husband, David Gutzler, at the start of a 3-day trek around sacred Mt. Kailash in western Tibet
graduated from college and one still is in. I work hard at my art and continue to teach art. I do a ton of yoga and swimming. On the negative side, our family has been besieged by Lyme disease, probably from our long-term relationship with Martha’s Vineyard. If anyone suffers from it — call me; we have found a practitioner who helps get better without long-term antibiotics. I’m afraid this could be the new plague of our time. I have been in touch with Benny Kay and Danny’s sister Sarah Kahn ’74. Sarah is also a collage artist and we speak frequently and compare notes. I also run into Marea Wexler’s mom Susan at the gym, she doesn’t appear to be aging at all! Love to everyone out there!”
C L A S S O F 19 72 George Perkins 11 Yerxa Road Cambridge, MA 02140 georgehperkins@hotmail.com Paul Klemperer reports, “2013 was a full year. I said goodbye to some old friends, made new friends, and played a lot of music. I produced two big concerts in Austin, TX, and the video footage should be available soon on my website, www.pksax.com. They were a mix of world music, jazz, and more. I finished out the year with a wild Festivus Celebration, which was a fun way to include folks from all backgrounds. It was well received in Austin, so I think we’ll do it again next year. Come join us next December! I’ll be spending much of the summer in New England, playing and teaching music and giving a few lectures on Texas music. Onward into 2014!”
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doing fine; Rachel (24) completed her bachelor’s and is going for her MSW, and David (22) is well into his third year as a Marine, having made corporal and being transferred from King’s Bay, GA to San Diego, before being deployed abroad in the spring. After 25 years of vacationing on Block Island, we finally had the opportunity to buy a house, along with my brother Douglas ’76. The museum founded by our father, the Forbes House Museum in Milton, is having its 50th anniversary this year and is going strong; I’m currently on the board and actively involved.”
to Boston, camping in Yellowstone and riding in a helicopter over Niagara Falls, a great adventure. On the work front, daily newspapers continue their struggle, but I had a memorable reporting trip this fall to Jordan and Lebanon, interviewing Syrian refugees. I was quite surprised recently to hear from David Smith ’59, our 9th-grade teacher, who invited me out to breakfast during a visit to Sandy, Oregon. He lives in Vancouver, BC, and has written some terrific books, including one called If the World Were a Village.”
Frederick Madsen ’16 and Henry Madsen ’19, sons of Beth Brown ’73.
Paul Klemperer ’72 jamming on the sax. Photo by Carlos Austin.
George Perkins writes, “Son William ’09 has moved on to NYU and from all appearances seems to be thriving there. I am very happy to report a number of classmate sightings this year, including Paul Klemperer, Scott Payette, and John Segar who attended performances of my pop music ensemble known as Litehouse! And, the chief benefit of living in Cambridge is being able to run into Helen Hunt Bouscaren: this has been a very good year.”
Rich Read ’72 and his daughter, Nehalem, 15, at Niagara Falls, July 2013.
CL A S S O F 19 73 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1973.
Helen Hunt Bouscaren ’72 with daughter Lindsay Bouscaren ’13 and son Travis Bouscaren ’10 at last year’s Shady Hill graduation.
Rich Read writes, “My 15-year-old daughter, Nehalem, and I drove our Prius last summer from Portland
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Beth Brown reports, “All is well — I am taking a year off from teaching as Brian has a new job with a lot of travel and I did not think I could manage with a full time teaching job. Besides, I had already decided I wanted to change schools so it was perfect timing! My boys are great! They are in 6th and 3rd grade now. I took them to meet some cousins in England, and visit Mary Weld ’94 in Paris last summer. The mustaches are courtesy of Mary and the berets are from a market in the 17th near her apartment. We had a great time and they were excellent traveling companions. In August, we all celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday! The whole family was back in town and two of Brian’s older children came to Boston also. All in all I have never been happier or more appreciative for all that my life includes these days. Much love.”
Rob Forbes and Patty Spence of the Class of 1973 at Reunion 2013. The 80th birthday celebration for Frederick Brown, including his children Beth Brown ’73, Alison Brown ’74, and Kip Brown ’84, and grandchildren Nick White ’02, Oliver White ’08, and Lucan White ’14.
Wendy Klemperer writes, “Still in Brooklyn, NY, which I’m continuing to enjoy a lot as it grows and changes, and then Nelson, NH in summer. I had an artist residency at Denali National Park in Alaska in August 2013, which was a great chance to see wildlife for real in a vast landscape; quite inspirational for new work!
Ellen Campbell reports, “After 30 years in NJ, I am moving to Ambler, PA and getting married in April! Life is good!” Robert Forbes reports, “An up-and-down year for me professionally. The good news: I had two articles published and received three fellowships, including a year-long grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to work on an annotated edition of Jefferson’s only published book, Notes on the State of Virginia. The bad news: I was denied tenure by UConn. Other than that, Joanne’s medical practice is
Osprey Landing, 2011, steel, approx. 120 X 60 X 60" by Wendy Klemperer ’73.
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My sculpture Osprey Landing has been purchased by the city of Portland Public Art Collection, and will be permanently installed in summer of 2014 on the new Martin’s Point Bridge connecting Freeport and Portland, ME. I come to the Boston area every few months and would love to connect with more Shady Hill alumni who are in the area!” You can see Wendy’s work at www. wendyklemperer.com. Susannah Laskaris writes, “I am providing schoolfarm stewardship services and garden programming to four primary schools and Midwood HS, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY. In the spirit of creating accessible tools for learning (SHS), the Common Share Teaching Shed was built to host a green roof, a vertical green wall, a solar panel, a seed-sowing window (much like the beehive built into the old SHS library — is that still working?) and a rainwater harvest system. Looking forward to a good year of urban farming with the school-community.” John Muggeridge writes, “Still working in Public Affairs at Fidelity Investments and spending most of my time in Rhode Island. I have recently joined the Boards of Directors of the Rhode Island School of Design Art Museum and WaterFire Providence. A mobile app that I helped to develop called BrewGene (free download) has just reached 100,000 registered users. The app helps individuals navigate the world of craft beer in a very personalized way.” Adam de Sola Pool and his wife Kristina moved back to Cambridge, MA in August of this year after 17 years in Poland and a total of 20 in Europe. Adam started 20 companies while in Europe and is looking forward to mentoring a few US start ups in the Cambridge area. He would like to see his classmates and welcomes their e-mails to pool@eip.com.pl. He ran into Carol Bundy at the Arthur Schlesinger book launch party and immediately recognized her as she had barely changed since we graduated a few years ago. Katie Pratt reports, “After residing in Berkeley, CA for many years I have moved north to the Napa Valley. I am currently working on a book project celebrating the photographic works of Paul Child, Julia Child’s extraordinarily talented husband. Art and beverage
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discrimination towards those with disabilities. “Our son Joshua, born with Down Syndrome, now 12 years old, pretty well busts up any stereotypes that people still hold. So we try to just let him shine his light for all to see! This year he took up the tuba for the school band — a long-held dream of his — despite people telling us, ‘Oh, they usually just play drums.’ They. Ahem. We smile and keep right on going. I figure we are standing on the shoulders of giants, and it’s our turn to make our contribution to this generation and the ones to come!”
consulting and being creative with glass also keep me busy. Drop me a line if you need any food or wine tips when visiting this part of the world.” Sophie Webb will be part of Shady Hill’s 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to March 28.
CL A S S O F 19 74 2014 40th Reunion Class Amy Sommerfeld Paegel 3435 W Sagebrush Hills Ct Tucson, AZ 85741 aspaegel@aol.com
C L A S S O F 19 75 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1975. Some members of the Class of 1974.
have our house and cat). I miss snow, but it sure could be worse! I spent a great afternoon last Aussie summer with Rick Plant Pappenheimer here in Melbourne, but haven’t seen him yet this year. I’m hoping to, for sure! Otherwise not much to report. Just getting older! All the best to all!” Chris Eliot writes, “Today is my son’s 20th birthday. I survived one teenager, one to go!”
Some of the boys of 1974: (back) Alex Pratt, Jethro Pettit, Nils Nordal, Andrew Mapel (front) Lloyd Wyzard, Chris Eliot, Howard Murphy, and Orlando Williams.
Katy Aisenberg writes, “A busy summer and fall for us. My daughter, Penelope Rose has started 5th grade at SHS and is learning about China. I am also, for we never had that central subject. At work my practice is thriving as I now focus on parenting, mother-daughter relationships and on helping artists. I have a blog called MINDING at my website www.harvardsquaretherapy. com and welcome comments and referrals. I’ve recently rekindled my BFF status with Heather Bryant who is moving back to Boston in the fall.”
Sarah Kahn suggests, “If we ARE to have some cheer in our lives, and (as Amy put it), not the fake kind, then let’s plan to get together and make this a reunion year — one which as many of us attend as possible.” Your class secretary, Amy Sommerfeld Paegel, continues to fight the good fight in Tucson, AZ against
So if this is 2014, a year ending in a “4,” then it must be a reunion year for our class. I dare not do the math. Reunion Weekend is May 2 and 3; I hope to see many of you there! Katy Aisenberg ’75 with her daughter Penelope Rose Paxson ’17.
Heather Bryant Jordan tells us, “I published a book of poems, Lottery Ticket, available through the Parallel Press series at Univ. of Wisconsin!” Kate Bull is much braver than I am. She figures, “Crikey — it’s 40 years! Yikes.” Then adds, “I’m spending half my year in Australia, half in Alaska. Melbourne because my husband works full-time here; Fairbanks ‘cause I work on contract in the summers there (and
Joshua Paegel, son of Amy Sommerfeld Paegel ’74.
Katherine Gleason writes, “My book Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism (Race Point Publishing, 2103) came out last fall. I’ve participated in some promotional events in New York City and in the L.A. area. On Halloween, I got to judge a steampunk costume contest — elaborate hats, corsets,
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pocket watches, and fun!” Margaret Jackson writes, “Life in rural Vermont is beautiful, busy and full of baking. I continue to make French bread weekly for a local restaurant and otherwise have fun with my kids, partner Peter, cats, dogs, sheep, chickens, and fish.” Kate Rabinowitz reports, “Still living in East Hampton NY, teaching yoga and art, and married to Rameshwar Das. I have a son James (16) who is headed for college soon, and my daughter Anna Mirabai (14) was killed last summer while riding her bicycle in town. We are grieving, and picking up the pieces to make a new life. It is the greatest lesson, to appreciate every moment of being together, anything can happen . . . and it did. We are starting a foundation in her honor that will bring arts and wellness to underserved populations of children. Contributions can be made to Anna Mirabai Lytton Foundation, 61 Shoridge East Hampton NY 11937. Anna and James visited Shady Hill often when we came to Cambridge, and had a sense of the wonder that I grew up with there. All the best of their experiences were inspired by what I learned at Shady Hill. They had an education beyond all others, and our foundation will represent this. Anna was beautiful, fun loving, a brilliant writer and photographer and artist. We miss her more than words can ever say, and appreciate any chance to share her beauty with others.”
Sarah Churchill Silberman ’78, TTC ’89, Ann Mackey ’78, Anne Forbes ’73, and Pat Spence ’73.
CL A S S O F 19 76 Thomas Bator 78 School Street Weston, MA 02493 tebator@comcast.net Yul Anderson and his wife Brenda spent Christmas in Miami as Yul has taken a position as a Director with the State of Florida Judicial System. Who knows, maybe a run for Mayor? Yul has also held a cultural event at Fort Mose in Saint Augustine celebrating Florida’s 500-year history of African and Spanish Culture in Florida. Clarinda Pettit Arsenault is “still living in Wisconsin, now with my mom, who very bravely moved out here five years ago after a lifetime in New York and Cambridge. We love having her, and our house is full of piano music, a small pack of dogs, and the gymnastic feats of our 10-year-old daughter, Isabel. I’m lucky enough to work at a dog training school as an instructor and office gal, with my own wee doggie, Towser, at my feet all day. My husband Rick runs a printing press (print is not yet dead, thankfully), and we have a warm house and full bellies. My life is not glamorous, but it sure is sweet! My love to all of you.” As for me, Tom Bator, our eldest is engaged and living in Brooklyn. Kate ’07 is a junior at Lesley and our youngest is waiting on college applications. I am looking for a publisher for my second book, this one on the origins of The Boston Trustee, and have now graduated to the over-50 division of the Over the Hill Soccer League.” Sarah Potter reports, “I am living in Santa Fe now, after having spent most of my adult life in Chicago. My daughter Elliot has just begun college, and I am enjoying my son Adam for a few more years before he, too, flies the coop. After six years here, I am finally really gathering a wonderful community of people, and loving this remarkable, progressive, small city. With an empty nest on the horizon, and gratefulness for having been able to be a ‘Parent with Projects’ for many years, I’m on a path for discovering what I want to do and be next. It is a privilege to be able to re-invent at this point in life!” Katie Reid Koeze writes, “I am still living in Grand
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alumni books, movies, & more BOOKS Thomas Ragle ’42, writing as Lee Bramble Take This Song: Poems in Pursuit of Meaning Small Pond Press Ann Landis McLaughlin ’44 Amy and George Daniel & Daniel Publishing Jane Williams ’44 The Invasion CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Jim Leamon ’46 The Military Art of J. Thomas Leamon Self Published Peg Morton ’46 Feeling Light Within, I Walk: Tales, Adventures and Reflections of a Quaker Activist Cedar Row Press David Sears ’50 Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology Oxford University Press American Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism Cambridge University Press (June 2014) Corky Isaacs White ’56 Cooking for Crowds: 40th Anniversary Edition Princeton University Press Sue Ryerson Moon ’57 The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women Wisdom Publications
Kate Hammond ’58 Island of Peace in an Ocean of Unrest: The Letters of Dorothy von Moltke Nebbadoon Press Judith Alexander Brice ’59 Renditions in Palette WordTech Communications Margaret Bullitt-Jonas ’66 Seeking God, Day by Day Forward Movement Kitty Waring Block ’66 You Don’t Have to Go It Alone Xulon Press John Hughes ’70 Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice, 3rd ed. Pearson Education Heather Bryant Jordan ’74 Lottery Ticket Parallel Press Katherine Gleason ’75 Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism Race Point Publishing Elizabeth Ferry ’82 Minerals, Collecting, and Value Across the US-Mexico Border Indiana University Press Gene Doucette ’83 Fixer The Writer’s Coffee Shop Sapphire Blue The Writer’s Coffee Shop
Liza Klaussmann ’91 Tigers in Red Weather Back Bay Books Julia Cohen ’97 Collateral Light Brooklyn Arts Press
M O V IE S , T E L E V I S IO N , P L AY S & M U S IC Maya Forbes ’83, Writer / Director Infinitely Polar Bear Paper Street Films, Bad Robot, Park Pictures Adam Robinson ’86, Producer Car Dogs Currently being filmed Rebecca Cutter ’89, Writer / Director Besties John Branagan CEO / 3rd Steer Productions
Elanna Allen Lazar ’92, Animation Director Gaspard and Lisa Chorion, Impossible Television Conceptional Designer Sid the Science Kid PBS Jonatha Brooke ’78, Writer My Mother Has 4 Noses Debuted June 2013, Warner Theatre in Torrington, CT Ella Williams ’10, Music & Lyrics Ella Williams ellawilliams.bandcamp.com
Sarah Trautvetter ’88 Hazel’s Masquerade Milk & Cookies Publisher PAGES 9 6 + 97
Rapids, MI working part-time for a software company, doing extra-curricular good works, and dog-training our so-called hunting dog. My son, Hugh, graduated from college and is teaching English writing in Bergen, Norway this year and my daughter is a junior at University of North Carolina.” Martha Brenner Slone writes, “I continue to teach at Drumlin Farm and manage the Lexington Farmers’ Market, both of which keep me busy. My daughter is about to graduate from Cornell with a degree in entomology (who knew her fascination with ants at 2 would lead to this) and my son is a sophomore studying Industrial Design at RIT in Rochester (I did see that one coming!).” Doug Sun reports, “I’ve been in Geneva since July 2012 at the U.S. Mission to the UN. I will be here through the summer of 2015 so I’d love to hear from any ’76ers who might be passing through (perhaps on the way to the ski slopes?). Living in Europe has been fantastic. We’ve been all over neighboring France as well as Barcelona and Florence, and, of course, Switzerland. Life here is obviously very good, particularly after two years in Sierra Leone, which I still haven’t quite recovered from. Europe is a quirky, fascinating place with great food. Loving it.”
C L A S S O F 19 7 7 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1977. Lisa Lawrence Bynoe writes, “Greetings from Holliston, Massachusetts where I teach and live. I am a high school art teacher and had both of my daughters in art classes — strange but fun. My older daughter, Marissa, is graduating from Carnegie Mellon where she studies Industrial Design and runs track, and my younger daughter Jordan is a senior at the high school and plans to study business in college and, hopefully, play soccer. My husband Jimmy attended Park School (I don’t hold it against him) and currently works at Liberty Mutual. He also attended Brooks School with LJ Harrington. I am in touch with Dotty McCoy who is back in the Boston area from Atlanta and we had lunch with David Smith ’59 a few years back while he was visiting the states from Vancouver. He gave us book samples on geography. I often tell stories to my classes of seventh
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driving next year. Wow! Haven’t seen any Shady Hillers in recent years but do enjoy chatting with Porter every year. He’s very good at what he does! As the years go by, it becomes increasingly clear just how well my Shady Hill education prepared me for life! Hope others are well and do look forward to a reunion. Would love to make it down.”
Lisa Bynoe ’77 with her family: Jordan, Jimmy, Lisa and Marissa.
grade with Mr. Smith and think about how great a teacher he was; we were fortunate to have him.” Patrick Dober is living in Newton with his wife Mary Ann Hill and three teenage children. He is Executive Director of the Brookline Housing Authority. Daughter Hannah is a sophomore at the Tisch School of Performing Arts at NYU. Son Kevin is a senior at Newton South High School where he is a captain of the football and hockey teams. Son Michael is a freshman at Newton South.
CL A S S O F 19 78 Richard Jarvis 12 Standish Road Watertown, MA 02472 rjarvis62@gmail.com
Mary Webb ’78 with daughter Margaret McDonnell ’13 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
Jonatha Brooke reports, “I’m opening my new onewoman musical play My Mother Has 4 Noses at The Duke on 42nd Street in New York City! Previews start February 14, and it runs through May 4. I am incredibly excited! I also have a new CD, same title, coming out February 18. I don’t think Tom Snyder ever thought our 8th grade band, ‘Science Function’ would lead to this!! Check it out at http://4noses.org.”
C L A S S O F 19 79 2014 35th Reunion Class Porter Gifford 15 Coolidge Hill Road Cambridge, MA 02138 porter@portergifford.com
Members of the Class of 1979 in action in 1975.
Rory Morton ’78 with son Jacob ’13 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
Jacob Brown writes, “Hello Class of 79 — been a while. All is AOK in Montpelier, VT. Married, one 14-year-old boy. Everyone is healthy. Mom and Dad gainfully employed. Boy heading into high school and
Jennifer White Callaghan reports from London that everything is great, and adds, “I’m still at Allen & Overy and miraculously have a job that leaves enough time to see my husband and almost-three-year-old. Still swimming and running enough to eat well. We’d love to see any SHS-ers who are here or come through London.” Porter Gifford writes, “Slim number of reports this year, I’m afraid. Lot’s of busy folks, I suppose. So without further ado, your faithful correspondent is still alive and kicking, sleeping with his socks on now that winter is here, and hoping to see many 1979ers at our 35th reunion in May. Louise Harter will be part of Shady Hill’s 2014 Alumni Art Show. The opening reception is on March 26 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in the Assembly Hall. The show will be up from March 25 to 28. Polly Dodson Hutchison says hello from little Saunderstown, RI where she continues to farm all sorts of flowers with her husband Mike. “Just finishing up as the president of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and growing on four acres as well as designing florals for weddings and events keeps me rather more than busy, but happy. Best wishes to all.” Hal Movius, ably covering all the bases, “Still get bored easily; still worry too much. But grateful at 50 for health, wife, kids, Charlottesville, friends, meaningful work (see www.moviusconsulting.com). Miss my siblings, and old friends who are scattered far and wide. Good to see some of you on FB, even with all its shortcomings. Let’s hope we can reform democracy soon.” In February, 2013, Lizzie Zaldastani Napier attended the grand opening of the new campus of the G. Zaldastani American Academy in Tbilisi, an English language high school modeled after Exeter Academy
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that her family started 10 years ago. The celebrations were held on the eve of her grandfather’s birthday — he was a leader of the Georgian insurrection against the communists in 1924 and a national hero.
grade at Shady Hill. It’s hard to believe my time at Shady Hill is almost over (again)! I went back to work a year ago as a child and family social worker in Boston — so life is busy, but good.” Margaret White Bellefuil reports, “Still happily ensconced in Seattle where I have been at Woodland Park Zoo for closing in on 19 years. My current position is Education Business and Operations Manager — a new title and job I am still getting used to. Outside of work I spend time with my family, Tam, age 10, and Jin Ah, age 8, and my husband Steve, age not telling! Unfortunately I have been out of touch with any Shady Hillers for ages but would love to know if anyone is in the Seattle area.”
The ribbon cutting ceremony Elizabeth Zaldastani Napier ’79 attended at the G. Zaldastani American Academy in Tbilisi.
from me hopefully, it will be from my new home. The most exciting news I have is that I traveled to Tokyo and Kyoto Japan in January, started jogging (not running) 10ks, and visited Sonoma Valley in August. Japan is truly a beautiful and clean country. I visited a few shrines, and cities around Tokyo such as Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ueno, Asakusa, and others. The Hanami (Cherry Blossom) Festival is a spring event where people venture out to parks to enjoy the beauty of spring. I had the opportunity to go on a hike too. I felt safe traveling around Tokyo. The Japanese enjoy life and respect their country immensely. I had such a wonderful time experiencing their culture. “I fell in love with Sonoma. Northern California is so beautiful, with the rolling hills, nature, and hiking trails. The wine is not too bad either. Next year, I hope to travel to Fiji in June.”
Alice Reich reports, “The kids and I are well but saddened by the death of my father this summer from complications of AML. As I write this, we have just had our first Thanksgiving without him and it puts a gray tone to a season that should be happy and fun.”
Lisa Brown sent this: “Probably many of us had our 25th college reunions this year. I attended mine, and it was a wonderful time. Generally, we were all humbler, wiser, and more authentic versions of ourselves. Prior to that weekend I ran a marathon in Vermont. The good news is that I made my goal of beating the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon for my age group. The bad news is that with all the demand for entering the race after the bombing, my time was still not sufficiently faster than the qualifying time to gain a spot in the race. Alas, another year. It’s still on my bucket list. “During my visit I saw many relatives and friends including our classmates, Naomi Thompson and Katharine Klubock. My term as department chair ended June 30, and it continues to bring joy to my heart to be done. Anybody interested in climbing to the Mt. Everest 18K ft basecamp for our 50th birthday year? If so, definitely contact me.” From Stephanie Dyer Carroll: “The year seems to have flown past. Our three kids — Jack (17), Gaelen (13), and Nia (9) — continue to keep us very busy. Please look us up if anyone is in West Hartford!”
C L A S S O F 19 8 0 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1980. Jessica Aguilera-Steinert reports, “A lot has happened this past year and I am grateful to have my family close by for both the happy and difficult days. My kids are now 7 and 10 and into all sorts of mischief. They love their schools in Roslindale but I often wonder what they would be like if they went to SHS. After a difficult lay off I am grateful to have a new job at the MA Dept. of Public Health involved in an innovative initiative focused on supporting people with chronic diseases while attempting to cut costs. Luis and I will celebrate 13 years of marriage this summer and I am still happy to wake up to him every morning. I send warm greetings to all of my classmates from the class of 1980.” Holly Campbell Ambler writes, “I still live in Cambridge with my husband and two daughters. My older daughter is a junior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and my younger daughter is in the 8th
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Lael Hiam Chester ’80 with son Sam ’13 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
Nick Morse writes, “This has been a busy year for the Morse family. Eli (11) and Isaac (10) are growing quickly and consuming large quantities of food and Minecraft videos. I have left my position at Brigham & Women’s to join a 2-person urogynecology practice which is affiliated with Newton-Wellesley Hospital.”
CL A S S O F 19 81 John Wilson 139 Stafford Road Monson, MA 01057 wilson@dbit.com Yvette Anderson wrote in with this: “I still live in Ohio with my mom and dobergirl, Zoey. I plan to move to North Carolina in a few years, the next time you hear
Yvette Anderson ’81 at Hanami (the Japanese cherry blossom festival).
Patrick Bibbins writes, “Remember at SHS when almost everyone seemed to ride their bike to school? Well, I’m trying to bring that back! In the spring I was appointed to the Medford Bicycle Advisory Commission, so I’m spending lots of time making bike riding in our town safer, more useful and fun. There must be a few SHS alums in Medford, so check us out at medfordbikes.org. Another interesting project is the Mass 351 Town Geocache Challenge. My son Gavin and I are trying to find a Geocache in every town in Massachusetts. We’ve done about 45 so far, so I’m thinking of it as a long-term endeavor.”
The children of Stephanie Dyer Carroll ’81: Jack, Gaelen, and Nia.
Harold Engstrom says: “Things are good here in Lincoln. Sons Logan and Ian are a junior and a freshman respectively at Lincoln-Sudbury HS and seem well adjusted for being raised by an SHS alum. Daughter is 11 and, like all daughters, is exceptional in every way. Lynda and I run the engineering and software services company that I founded 17 years ago. I have fun coaching soccer, brewing beer, building things,
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and spending time with my family. I hope all alumni, especially ‘81, enjoy happiness and good health during 2014!” Here is what happened this year with Sarah Hadley: “I photographed a lot. Some of those photos made it into galleries and magazines. I was in a show in Santa Monica last weekend where my work hung above Henri Cartier-Bresson’s. That was pretty cool. I was interviewed for 2 online magazines. Lenscratch (http:// lenscratch.com/2013/09/sarah-hadley-mixtape/) and F-Stop (http://www.fstopmagazine.com/blog/2013/08/ interview-with-photographer-and-filter-photo-festivalfounder-sarah-hadley/). I shot a wedding in Big Sur this summer and drove from Portland to LA mostly along the coast. Both trips were spectacular. I still run the Filter Photo Festival in Chicago and spent most of August and September in Chicago. I swam in Lake Michigan a few times and caught up with friends as well. I see Margaret Harkins about once a month and she is doing great. I e-mail with Claire Hastings Dayal pretty frequently. Other than that, I have connected with lots of SHSers on FB, which is awesome. I’m very sad to hear that Kenny Braithwaite passed away.” Adrienne Pettijohn Loh sends this: “I am finishing up a 6-month sabbatical in Paris, France at Université Pierre et Marie Curie doing research on model peptide antibiotics. It has been a spectacular experience for my family and myself. Just today I got to listen to my daughter Madeline (7) singing French poems to Dvorak! I will be returning to my faculty position at U. Wisconsin-La Crosse in January.” Dominic Montagu sent the only postcard: “I took a 2-month sabbatical this past summer which was good. UCSF continues well. Children, dogs, parents, spouse all growing, barking, etc.” At 48, here is a snapshot of Ed Peterson’s life: “Married now 11 years to my honey, Candace; our daughter Isabelle is 17, sons Tyler and Elijah, are 9 and 5. I changed career directions last year by stepping out of the sales and marketing rat race (I’d been there 17 years) and stepped into a career of counseling/therapy. I have a master’s of social work degree and I am working as an addictions counselor and therapist at the Cirque
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like it was yesterday the many colors of the streamers (the right word?) on the May Day May Pole. Shady Hill School was my mother ship. It launched me into life with a love of learning and a curiosity about all aspects of life. I hope all my old friends are well. I’d love to connect again via FB or email: ed.candace@gmail.com.”
Above and below: Members of the Class of 1981 back in their SHS days.
Lodge treatment center, a coed drug/alcohol residential treatment center in Orem, UT and Sundance, UT, where I will complete my training and receive my LCSW in about one year. The facility has the reputation as rehab for the ‘stars’ but in reality our residents are 98% regular Americans like you and me. I love this work mainly because I am so intrigued by the stories we all make up about our lives and the ways in which we find meaning in a world that is often completely insane. I am a fan of Jungian psychology and cognitive behavioral therapy. We do a lot of work with families and the codependency that tends to show up in families of addiction. “I still spend as much time as possible hiking the Wasatch Mountains and/or playing golf. It is not possible that 35 years have passed since I was studying Africa with all of you in Mr. Crowder’s class in 1978. I can remember like it was yesterday: how the graham crackers and OJ smelled and tasted; playing dunk basketball on the little hoop with John Stonestreet, Troy Dinkins, Eric Wiseman, and Willy Anninger. I remember great sports times on the soccer field. I remember math with Mr. Lawler and art with Mrs. Julander. I can remember
John Stonestreet sends this: “I can assure everyone out there that SHS is alive and well. I have three children at the school (1st, 5th and 7th grade) and all their teachers are great. I find myself on the paths quite often. The Fair this year was a blast! Anyone in the area should come to the Fair next year as it is great way to reconnect with SHS.” Jessica Perera Vitrouk writes: “Our biggest news for 2013 is that we have moved from Moscow to Luxembourg. My husband has a job with Amazon and the European headquarters are here. Our daughters Polina (12) and Sophie (9) are attending the International School of Luxembourg. I am teaching Pilates classes and trying to revive my very poor high school French. I cannot remember anything about French from SHS except for giggling at Jon Teplow’s jokes and the teacher saying ‘Mon Dieu!’ a lot (which was likely uttered also in response to Teplow’s quips). We are enjoying life in a tiny, peaceful European city. It’s a far cry from the crazy pace of Moscow!” I, John Wilson, am muddling along the same as always in Western MA. My latest distraction is taking beginner’s classes in playing the dulcian (Renaissance bassoon), which has been a lot of fun. I’ve wanted to try to play one ever since reading about them in a pocket music history book I got at a library book sale at SHS around 1979.” Sarah Wyman says: “Things are going well. My eldest, Delphi, went off to Cornell just as my youngest, Clio, started kindergarten. Lydia-in-the-middle is keeping me company at various theater events around town. I am still professing at SUNY New Paltz and enjoying the Hudson Valley. Come visit!”
C L A S S O F 19 8 2 Clarence Gifford III 325 Central Park West, Apt 7N New York, NY 10025 chg7@columbia.edu Kate Movius 1116 Le Gray Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90042 katemovius@hotmail.com Jeb Berrier is living in Portland, OR with his wife Anne and son William, age 4. He played a man who turned into an owl on the TV show Grimm. He is bald and happy. Angelica Chayes writes, “I am still doing consumer and digital strategy for a wonderful makeup company, still living in the Berkshires. My daughter is a SOPHOMORE in college and my son is a junior in high school. I am still single (and loving it) and I got a wombat. Also I have become a professional groupie.” Samantha Corte reports, “Still living in Carrboro, NC with my husband and daughter (age 12), two cats, two guinea pigs, and fish. I finally finished the revisions of the middle-grade fantasy novel I started five years ago, and am in search of an agent. Meanwhile, on to writing project #2 — hope it doesn’t take as long.” Sarah Feigon is glad to be back in New England, living in Brookline and commuting to Worcester, where she works as a psychologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center. She enjoyed reconnecting with classmates at the 30th, and is already looking forward to the 40th. Brad Feldman reports, “I continue to live in Lexington, MA and to produce and announce soccer TV for the New England Revolution out of Foxborough. It was great to see everyone at reunion last year and to celebrate my daughter Miriam’s Bat Mitzvah in Cambridge this past fall with Stephen and Kenny there to join in the festivities.” Elizabeth Ferry writes, “I am living in Brookline and teaching anthropology at Brandeis. I just published a book on mineral collecting in Mexico and the
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U.S. — Minerals, Collecting and Value across the U.S.Mexico Border. I have two sons — Sebastian (13), and Isaiah (9). They are into theater and Lego, respectively (though I am sad that Lego seems to be passing out of Isaiah’s life leaving us with piles of dust-gathering Lego that occasionally goes astray and causes intense pain when stepped on in the middle of the night). We have watched every episode of Columbo with them. I am trying to decide whether to dye my hair or embrace the gray. Leaning towards the latter, for now. Love to all.” Colum Garrity writes, “As for me, I am growing increasingly short haired (i.e., bald) and am living in Washington, DC with my wife and 5-year-old daughter and am working at the World Bank, though I have moved to a new unit, called Social Development where I head a very small ‘cluster’ on knowledge, learning, and external affairs for the sector. I am still working with Haiti on issues of governance and anticorruption (though less than I was in the past few years). To any extent, if anyone happens to be visiting Washington, you are most welcome to come and stay with me!” Chad Gifford lives in NYC with his wife Betsy and daughter, Lake (9 years). Chad is a dean at Columbia University and spends time over the summers pursuing his archaeological research in Ecuador. While Chad loves living in NYC, his loyalty for Boston sports is as strong as ever. “Gooooo Red Sox.” JJ Gonson is living in Cambridge and spearheading Cuisine en Locale, a seven-year-old catering and event company that does meal delivery service of all
JJ Gonson ’82 conducting a cooking class for alums at Shady Hill on January 23.
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local cooked food to families in the Boston area. On November 1, Cuisine en Locale moved into a new home in Somerville, at the historic function hall, Anthony’s, at 156 Highland Ave. Go their site for info about meal delivery, catering, and events: www.cuisineenlocale.com. Annie Helgason writes, “I’m living in Belmont, about a block away from where Pam Auerbach and I walked to the bus stop en route to Shady Hill. I am married and have two daughters, Ruby (7) and Molly (4), and live across the street from my parents (!!). And I’m still working as an internist at MGH. A lifelong hater of running, I’ve now taken it up in hopes of staving off the demon of middle age weight gain!” Louis Jatta reports, “I’ve been trying for several years now to make it back to Boston in time for some of the reunion events but they tend to take place during the last weeks of my school year and I just haven’t been able to get away. I’m glad to see so many people made it back for our 30th, and I love to read about what everyone is doing nowadays. As for me, I’m a special educator in the public schools in the Phoenix area. I love what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else . . . for the next few years anyway. I make it back to the Boston area during summer breaks (the best part about being a teacher) and often run into old familiar faces in and around The Square or at SHS. As usual, I look forward to the next installment of the SHS news and hearing about all the things you all have been up to. My very best wishes to all of you, and I hope life is treating you well.” Charlie King has ventured into his second decade in the Pacific Northwest! Changes are abound. He reports he ran his first a marathon this past summer, his leadership coaching practice is growing, he’s in his 3rd year as a Board member of his children’s Waldorf school and loving it! Rodney Lee MSW is the Deputy Director of Foster Care in Manhattan at The Children’s Aid Society. He oversees the following: Medical Foster Care Program, Treatment Family Foster Care Program, Family Foster Care Program, Teen Foster Care and Home Making Services at CAS in Manhattan. Rodney has been with The Children’s Aid Society since April of 2004. He is passionate about working in the field of Child Welfare
and often leads by modeling quality practice. Prior to working at The Children’s Aid Society, he worked as a Director of Independent Living at Talbot Perkins Children’s Services. He worked tirelessly with young adults in foster care to develop self-sufficiency skills so that they would be prepared as young adults aging out of foster care. Rodney also was director of Home Finding. In this capacity he supervised a team of people who were responsible for recruiting, training and licensing/ opening foster homes. This involved going into the communities that children were placed in foster care from and identifying caring, compassionate, and empathetic individuals who were willing to care for children in need of foster care placement. He is happily married with a 2-year-daughter and living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Kate Movius reports, “I’m still in sunny L.A., training law enforcement in autism recognition and communication tactics, writing the occasional magazine piece and hanging out with many SHS classmates (and teachers!) on Facebook. My boys are growing like weeds and I recently got into a fight over rock music (in this case, the merits of Imagine Dragons) with my youngest, which left me feeling old and confused. I think it’s time for a mini-reunion, people!” Ace St. George writes, “I’m still thrilled every day to be living in SF. Just did NaNoWriMo for the fourth time — which means four unpublished, very draft novels — but lots of fun and creativity. Have seen Arjun a few times this past year and he’s doing great (and he took on NaNoWriMo this year too). Get over to China, Taiwan, Singapore, and now the Philippines a few times every year for my work at the UC Berkeley College of Engineering (and, BTW, the city of Berkeley is Cambridge on steroids for anybody wondering). Went to an SHS meet-up out here recently and happy to report that the school is still turning out great people!” Hannah Lefkowitz Weil Bahl lives in Vero Beach, FL and welcomes all classmates at any time.
Members of the Class of 1983 at Reunion 2013: Suzanne Siner, Carl Leguia, Tammy Ashford, Sarina Tcherepnin, and Erik Henderson.
C L A S S O F 19 8 3 Vivian Barad 2928 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94110 vbarad@gmail.com
Annie Brewster ’83 with daughter Isabel Cushing ’13 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
Gene Doucette writes, “I’m a novelist with three books out right now: Immortal, Hellenic Immortal and Fixer. In 2014, I will have two additional books published: in February, Sapphire Blue (as G. Doucette) and in October, Immortal at the Edge of the World, which is the third book of the Immortal series. You can find the books online — Amazon and so on — and pretty much wherever books are sold. I can be found online on my blog at genedoucette.me, on Facebook (because we all are, I think), on Twitter and Tumblr.”
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Maya Forbes’ feature film Infinitely Polar Bear will be released in 2014. The film stars Mark Ruffalo and Zoe Saldana.
summer my kids got to hang with Keith Mascoll at the Shady Hill Summer Camp where I also got to see him some, much to my delight. I’m hoping that Annie will send in a picture from the mini-reunion she hosted last June.” Carl Leguia reports, “We moved this year from Needham to a 7 acre place in Sudbury with a barn and pool. We can go XC skiing without leaving home! Also our daughter Isabella is now 5 and able to do more stuff with us.”
CL A S S O F 19 8 4 George Cushing ’83 with daughter Isabel ’13 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
Jill Forney writes, “Four of my five children are now SHS graduates, and the youngest has Sarina Tcherepnin as one of his kindergarten teachers (and an incredible one at that). I am solidly into my practice as a psychotherapist in Cambridge and at a clinic in Brookline, except when I’m breaking into the movie biz via Maya Forbes’ new and sure to be brilliant movie Infinitely Polar Bear due to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, January 2014. I am so lucky to continue to be Annie Brewster’s neighbor (we were a force in the annual Christmas Day Coolidge Hill street hockey game), enjoy a yearly girl’s weekend and often summer visits with Pam Lloyd, and a highlight of summer is visits with Maya (sometimes China ’85 too). This
Jill Forney ’83 with her children Jackson Gates ’10, Clio Gates ’13, Fisher Gates ’13, Colby Gates ’13, and Beckett Millner ’22 at Shady Hill’s graduation last June.
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2014 30th Reunion Class Jared Eigerman 83 High Street Newburyport, MA 01950 jaredeigerman@yahoo.com Andrew Houghton writes, “I’ve picked up the family, kids and all (oh the temptation to leave the 3-year-old behind) and moved to Washington, DC; I feel like I missed everything formative by leaving SHS before 9th grade, but for anyone in the area who’s interested, drop me an email at aah@roarmouse.org, I’d love to reconnect.”
At Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Mother’s Day 2013: l. to r.: Malcolm and Eleanor Davol (children of Leslie Taylor Davol ‘84), Finn Murray Sweeney (son of Aoibheann Sweeney ‘84), Majka Kiely Miller (daughter of Christina Kiely ‘84), Cleo Shapiro Bonnaire (daughter of Lara Shapiro ‘84), Willa Murray Sweeney (daughter of Aoibheann Sweeney ‘84), Lulu Shapiro Bonnaire (daughter of Lara Shapiro ‘84), and Milo Kiely Miller (son of Christina Kiely ’84).
Caleb Williams says “hello” from Jamaica Plain, where he’s lived for over a decade, now. In October, Caleb and his wife Cheryl Etu welcomed their new daughter Freyja. For Caleb, fatherhood is a “privilege and an honor.” He writes that classmate Quincey Simmons and her daughter Emily live nearby.
From the Archives: Members of the Class of 1984.
Jessica Zander writes, “I live in Winchester, MA with my husband and two daughters who will be 13 and 11 by the time the reunion rolls around. I have been the CFO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay since 2010. I recently re-read D’Aulaire’s Greek Myths out loud with one of my daughters. I forgot how fanciful all those stories are. What a great book. It brought me right back to fourth grade.”
Liz White was back in Cambridge in August 2013 and got together with Laurie Ginsburg, Ruth Webb, and Jessica Zander.
Ruth Webb, Laurie Ginsburg, Liz White with and Jessica Zander of the Class of 1984. Members of the Class of 1984.
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C L A S S O F 19 8 5 Alexander Dyer 34 Coolidge Hill Road Cambridge, MA 02138 alexander.dyer@gmail.com Thaddeus Davis reports, “Still happily settled in Cambridge (Central Square) and working in Boston (financial management) with two kids: Max (Grade VII) and Eliza (Grade IV) at Shady Hill. The latest breaking news is that they will be joined next year by younger sister, Grace, who will be in Beginners. I see Xander Dyer often, mostly to help me fix or move stuff; and, I recently missed out on a chance to catch up with Ivar Bazzy (practically a neighbor!), Jeff Feldman (also, practically a neighbor!) and Justin Keyes at a dinner organized by Xander. I will definitely be at the next one, if only to query why I seem to be the only one with gray hair.” Robert de Neufville wrote, “My news is that I live in Honolulu and love it. I have a garden full of tropical fruit trees and native hibiscus. I write about politics and the future (you can see some of my writing on my blog (http://anthropoceneblog.wordpress.com/). I also work with a think tank called the Global Catastrophic Risk Institute (http://gcrinstitute.org) that does research on how we can lower the danger to the global community of things like nuclear war, pandemic disease, and ecological catastrophe.”
while Sebastien (5) is having fun with his first year in Beginners. I have recently gotten together for dinner with Jeff Feldman, Ivar Bazzy and Justin Keyes. Thad Davis, Damon Banks and Troy Brown were hopefuls to join us, but were unable to make it. I did however, have a chance to see Damon at the Shady Hill Fair, where I met his twins and lovely wife. I saw Troy over the summer when he and I got together with Mike Ladd who was in town from Paris. I catch up with Thad fairly frequently over lunch, or run into him on the subway, as we both work downtown. Ben Harris was in Cambridge visiting from New York for a few days, and we were able to get together and see the Red Sox. Also visiting from NYC, Daniel Feldman and I had lunch a couple times last year, and I was able to congratulate him in person on his recent nuptials (he tied the knot in Israel). Work occasionally takes me to Philadelphia, where I have met up with Elizabeth Hexner for breakfast. She is living down there with her husband (who like her is also a doctor), and two children, Max and Daphne. I would love to see more classmates - please send me a message if you are back in the Cambridge/Boston area and we can get together.” Nick Houghton writes, “I am still living here in LA, but now with my wife Jessica and 2 year old Olivia and 4 month old Brock. I am a commercial Prop Master on ads like The Most Interesting Man in the World for Dos Equis, & Microsoft, to name a few.”
translated several excellent books, and China came over for dinner!”
C L A S S O F 19 8 6 Nell Breyer 474A 16th Street Brooklyn, NY 11215 nbreyer@media.mit.edu Nell Breyer, your class correspondent, writes, “Sadly, the class of 1986 had very little news to report. Maybe next year will prove more newsworthy? Consider inviting the next generation in your household to contribute to our class notes. Drawings, pictures, tweets all publishable. Happy 2014.” Adam Robinson reports, “I just hit my 20th year of living in Los Angeles. It’s hard to believe Cambridge has not been home for that long. My son Dillon just turned five. We have been touring a lot of potential schools that have brought back SHS memories. These places have a high bar to hit. I just finished producing a film called CAR DOGS. It was a unique experience as we partnered with Arizona State and a number of their students were able to work with our professional film crew as a class. It should be out at the end of 2014, with George Lopez, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Adams, and Nia Vardalos.”
Xander Dyer: “I am still living in Cambridge, and have two boys who are at SHS (pictured here at Christmastime). Henry (7) is enjoying first grade,
Adam Robinson ’86 with George Lopez. Brock, the 4-month-old (as of 12/13) son of Nick Houghton ’85.
Henry and Sebastien, the sons of Xander Dyer ’85.
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Mike Ladd writes, “I put out some records, got an award, and some mentions. Maya (4) started dancing, Martin (8) got karate trophies and great grades, Fanny
Have you changed your e-mail or your mailing address lately? If so, please let us know: alumni@shs.org
C L A S S O F 19 87 Emily Lloyd Shaw 28 Kirk Street PO Box 264 Houstaonic MA 01236 elloydshaw@gmail.com Oh class of 1987... we can do better then this! Next time, okay? So for now, here goes . . . and thank you to all who responded! Maia Sloss Carson wrote in: “The Carsons welcomed a new daughter Claire Elizabeth on November 26th. Since our twin boys aren’t yet two, we are very grateful that the new one is a very quiet, sleepy baby! Either that or maybe ‘just one’ baby seems easy by comparison. We are moving this week to Larchmont, and after that hopefully no more big changes for a while.” Jessica Dello Russo reports, “Completed my last round of student teaching in the SPED and ELA departments of the Tobin K-8 in Roxbury, MA last April while continuing to lead an increasingly popular series of walking tours of the Boston area for Context Travel (www.contexttravel.com). My very frequent trips to Shady Hill have now inspired a new tour of Cambridge — culminating with some flora and fauna watching at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery right next to the school! I will have yet another family member at Shady Hill next year, my niece Sophie Hope Horwitz ‘24. Best wishes to all, and please stay in touch via Class Notes or other forms of Social Media to be part of Shady Hill’s centennial in 2015–2016!” Valerie Hamilton writes, “After many years of moving around, I have finally unpacked, this time in LA, where my husband Marcus and I live by the beach in Santa Monica. As I write this I’m looking out the window at a banana tree! Lila Javan lives just down the way in Venice, and I got together with her a few times this year to catch up. She looks exactly the same and is doing well, but I’ll leave that to her to elaborate. I celebrated my 40th birthday last December (same birthday as Nat Fair, if I remember correctly) in New York attended by Abigail Snyder, Liz Sevcenko and Lara Heimert — Melanie Temin Mendez was sorely missed, especially when our karaoke symposium turned to Grandmaster Flash. I
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had a ball at the reunion and later at Erica Bouchard Rabin’s house, and I hope we’ll all turn up again at the next round, whenever that turns out to be. It was so much fun to see everyone!” Lara Heimert writes, “I’m now Publisher of Basic Books, still live in New York, and still manage to spend ludicrous amounts of time traveling. This year I biked through Croatia, went leaf peeping in Kyoto in November, and spent three weeks in Papua New Guinea, which was all fun and games until a tribal war broke out. In January I’m heading to Ethiopia to see Timkat, the Ethiopian festival of epiphany.” Melanie Temin Mendez writes, “My son is now in preschool and we are enjoying life in Arlington. I have enjoyed recent visits with Susan Antebi, Erica Bouchard Rabins and Abigail Snyder. I have continued with my ESL teaching and photography, and am very excited for an upcoming visit to Cuba.”
skiing, sledding and lots of shoveling and bundling up, which we all love. Our girls go to a Waldorf school and we love having two unplugged girls who don’t know any different. I admit, I long for SHS and how it excels at academics, arts, and athletics, but we just don’t have anything close out here, so we have gone with the closest — a school that at least has May Day, the Greek Olympics, music and art and classical academics. Our girls love it, so we do, too. I continue to have a small private psychotherapy practice in which I work with children, adults and families and am active in our small village trying to get an old school play yard turned into an official park and village green. Small town politics!”
CL A S S O F 19 8 8 Kristin Mercer 327 East Tulane Road Columbus, OH 43202 mercer.97@osu.edu Caroline Bragdon reports, “I am working full time at the New York City Department of Health and parttime at the YMCA. My son, Chandler, turns two in January. He has joined me at the YMCA day care and loves staying active. Sara Strang and I like to get our boys together to throw toys all over the floor of her apartment.”
Melanie Temin Mendez ’87’s son, Elijah, enjoying some time with Susan Antebi ’87’s son Camilo - taken last summer in Arlington, MA.
I emailed with Lila Nichols O’Mahony (who was supposed to send in official news! Nudge, nudge). She continues to live in Seattle where she and her husband are doctors. Lila is a pediatric emergency room physician at the local children’s hospital.” I, Emily Lloyd Shaw, continue to live in Great Barrington, MA with my husband and two daughters, Sophie and Willow (7 and 5 years old). Winter means
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She and her husband live in Arlington and together run their family business, Plumb Architects, in Cambridge. The news report: “Happy, happy, happy.”
Members of the Class of 1988 at Reunion 2013: Carrie Bragdon, Rachael Cobb, Apple Gifford TTC ’00, Mark Lu, Kerry Tribe, Sara Strang, Moira Demos.
TK Baltimore is still living in Jersey City, NJ, and going into her 11th year at Advance Digital (formerly Advance Internet), where she was recently promoted to Director of Technology. She enjoys her 15-minute walk to work on the Jersey City waterfront, and so far she and husband, Jay, continue to defy her parents’ wish to become grandparents.
Warner. It is unclear how long we are going to be here but we are enjoying learning about our new home together. I wish all my fellow ’88ers and the whole SHS community a happy New Year and a great 2014.” Sarah Trautvetter reports, “I live in Baltimore and am about to wrap up my third full year as a self-employed landscape architect. It has been daunting, but very rewarding, and I hope that the fact that I am still in business speaks well for the future. Last winter was a little slow, so I took advantage of the down-time and wrote and illustrated a children’s book — Hazel’s Masquerade. It is being published and will be out in June 2014. Stay tuned! I love having Sophie Hayward Hanrahan in Chevy Chase — it has been wonderful to get to know my god-daughter and to spend holidays with my best friend and her family. I hope to get back to SHS soon for another reunion, or just to stroll among the little gray buildings and hum the May Day carol.”
Members of the Class of 1989 in K-Lewis (above) and K-Segar (below).
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Chandler (son of Caroline Bragdon ’88) and Luke (son of Sara Strang ’88) enjoying a play date.
Nick McQuaid writes, “My most significant 2013 development was geographic. We — Katie, Clara (4), Jack (2), and I — moved from NYC to DC in May, where I am working at the White House Counsel’s Office and Katie is continuing to work for Time
2014 25th Reunion Class TK Baltimore 3 Paulmier Place Jersey City, NJ 10003 tk@tktv.net Lisa Hamilton 18 Hazel Avenue San Anselmo, CA 94960 lmh@lisamhamilton.com Mette Aamodt is about to have her second baby, a boy.
After several years in California, Antonia Blyth has returned to Cambridge and is enjoying all the snow and humidity with her husband and kids Ramsay (4) and Greta (2). They also see a lot of Chris Blyth ’88, at the family house in the Berkshires. Nick Burling is living in Durham, NC with his wife, Kelly, and their two children Gracy (9) and Ivy (5). He runs product management for a software startup there.
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In Rebecca Cutter’s family, baby Beatrice was born in September and welcomed by older sister Frances (4). She writes, “Marina Lang and I just had our 30-year anniversary of best friendhood (still can’t bring myself to call her by her married name), and our daughters are best frenemies.” Rebecca is keeping busy, back at work writing for The Mentalist and releasing her feature film Besties, in early 2014. Check it out on iTunes and elsewhere! Out on the West Coast, Josh Frazier writes in, “I’m proud to boast I have two healthy little girls (ages 5 & 7), a lovely and creative wife, not to mention two fuzzy dogs.” He just celebrated his 17th year in the Bay Area, where he owns a thriving fly fishing business with locations in San Francisco and Sonoma. He even teaches lessons, for those who could use some pointers. Work keeps his schedule full, but he still manages to play soccer three times a week. Also in the Bay Area is Lisa Hamilton, who is still working as a journalist covering issues around food and agriculture, and loving life with her husband and her daughter, Ada (3). This past year she cheered as Michael Breyer made a fierce run for San Francisco City Council. Betsey Geller Keeley remains in Darien, CT, with her husband and boys, Owen (8) and William (6). She recently became a yoga teacher and is teaching at her local studio, as well as giving private lessons to adults and children. She’s pleased to have family nearby, including her sister, Katie ’84, her kids, and her mother, now a private chef. She reports, “Recently I had the pleasure of running into Chris Blyth ’88 and his family. He recently moved to town and our kids play basketball together . . . his son in Celtics gear and mine in Knicks gear.” Also in the Boston area is Tiverton Smith McClintock. Her sons, Dixon and Thayer, are in 3rd grade and 1st grade, respectively, at SHS. “I am once again enjoying the whaling curriculum,” she writes, “but there is a lot of evolution of whales stuff that I don’t remember Mr. Burkholder covering. However, some stuff is coming back full force. Please feel free to call me with any of your base three chip trading questions.”
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CL A S S O F 19 9 0 Kathryn Bailis Phillips 322 West 72nd Street, #12C New York, NY 10023 kathryn.phillips75@gmail.com
forward to the cocktail party in NYC this February where we usually get to catch up with some of our classmates (Weezie, Pablo Alfaro and Dan Allen were recent attendees). I hope we get to see some of the others as well!
continue to consult independently on design and finishes for residential building and remodeling and am putting the finishing touches on a project in Portland, Maine. Hoping to make a SHS cooking class or paint night in the near future!”
Anytime anyone wants to email an update, it is always appreciated! Happy 2014 everyone as we enjoy our final year before turning 40!
Jesse Sarzana is still at BBN. He wrote me that he ran into Sam Sezak for the first time in years and “he looked great!”
Weezie Smith Goff and her husband and daughter Liesl (2) are making the move from Brooklyn back to Cambridge in May 2014. Weezie plans to find some architectural work either for a firm or on her own. Weezie has also seen Becca Straus Ravenel, who lives in Boston, and her son Silas (same age as Liesl). Weezie writes that she is hoping that the two little ones will end up in the same preschool this fall!
Daniel Zalcman reports, “My wife Laura and I welcomed our second daughter Karolina in to the world on August 27, 2012. Big sister Margartia is loving the experience!”
Jeff Kurzon reports, “I am running for Congress in New York — when elected I plan to close many corporate tax loopholes so we can invest more in education as I believe our human capital is our most valuable asset. Happy to be in touch with Sasa Cook and thanks to all my classmates who have supported my plunge into public service.”
Amelia Margolis writes, “My son Aidan John Harrison Margolis was born May 4, 2013. He has a been a total joy and his father and all of our relatives are over the moon.”
C L A S S O F 19 91 Jennie Dapice Feinstein 163 Harvey Street Cambridge, MA 02140 jdfeinstein@gmail.com Aleksandar Milosavljevic-Cook 59 Hardy Road Falmouth, ME 04105 amcmaine@aol.com Alyssa Moskos Haggerty reports, “Finnegan Stratis Haggerty joined the family on August 26 and has changed our lives considerably! Loved working with Hannah Sharpless Graff on a birth announcement. After a 10-week maternity leave, I have switched gears back into the old house remodeling world and am working for Landmark Services in Wellesley. I
Caroline Margolis ’06, Amelia Margolis ’90 with Aidan, and Annabel Margolis ’10.
I, Kathryn, am lucky enough to run into Weezie every summer on the beach in Westport, Massachusetts. This is also where I got to see Rupert Grantham and his family for the first time in years and they are also doing really well. We spend a lot of time with Jeannie Beinart Stern ’89 and her family in Boston, New York and wherever else we can get together! Jeannie’s daughters Sasha (7) and Lila (5) continue to share a great friendship with my daughter Savannah (7). I look
Alyssa Moskos Haggerty ’91 welcomed Finnegan Stratis Haggerty into the family this August.
Nathaniel Salter reports, “Living in London, see Liza Klaussmann all the time and am looking forward to an upcoming visit from Maggie Owens Moran! Check out Liza’s excellent book, Tigers in Red Weather! An excellent read and a massive success!” Pratt Wiley writes, “I have moved to DC to run the voter protection program for the Democratic National Committee. It is very exciting and we have a terrific team. Leading the SHS Alumni Board trained me well for a career in politics.”
C L A S S O F 19 9 2 Lindsay Allen 26 2nd Ave #1BF New York, NY 10003 lindsaycallen@yahoo.com I (Lindsay Allen) hope that everyone had a great year — it really flew by! Thanks to everyone who took the time to send updates and even “nothing to report” messages. It’s great to hear from all of you! I’m still living with my husband, Teddy, in New York. I worked on a feature film last spring and started a job as a producer in digital advertising this past summer. In many ways, the change has been great, but I do miss some aspects of making movies. The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, a double-feature that I worked on last year, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be in theaters this summer. Teddy continues to act in film and television, with parts this past year in Francis Ha and Now You See Me. He will be in Paul Bettany’s directorial debut this coming year with Jennifer Connolly and
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Anthony Mackie. I also made my way back on stage a couple of times for the first time in a while. I’ve had less opportunity to catch up with Shady Hill folks this year — something that I would like to remedy in 2014! I did see the wonderful Ann Karash Kimura, her husband Stephen and adorable Harper in New York City this past fall. I’ve also spoken with fellow Shady Hiller Jeff Kurzon ’91 a few times this past year because Jeff is running for Congress in the New York district that is two streets away from my own! Check out Jeff’s great initiatives at www.jeffkurzon.com! Happy New Year!” Emily Martin Boland writes, “No major life events to report this year. I live in Weymouth, MA. My husband Jim works for the Quincy DPW, and I work on weekends at McLean Southeast and spend the rest of the week at home with Ryan (2 and a half ). He’s a pretty entertaining little guy who keeps me moving. (Yes, I am including a picture!!)”
Ryan Boland, son of Emily Martin Boland ’92.
Adam Borod writes, “Nothing major to report, still in San Francisco, working in finance, etc. Have been back
Adam Borod ’92 with his nephew, Miles.
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East a bunch this summer. Attaching a recent pic with my nephew (sister Emily’s son) Miles (age 4).” Ani Nersesian Collum writes, “We just sold our condo and are currently in Cohasset, MA. I am still working at my retail consulting firm Retail Concepts. (www. retailconcepts.com)”
Ani Nersesian Collum ’92’s children, Olivia and Jack.
Alex Dunn writes, “I’m at the EcoTarium, museum of science and nature in Worcester. Working on getting more writing done this year, including co-authoring a children’s book on the Charles River with my mom. The home has grown larger by one dog and waiting on starting a family until everyone else’s kids are old enough to babysit mine! Love to catch up with SHSers whenever I can.” Alex also included a piece titled Spiral Bound: A Memory of Betsy Leahy. “First day of school. Betsy Leahy’s third grade classroom. c. 1986. I seem to remember Ms. Leahy floating into the room wearing white garments and declaring to us in a lyrical voice, ‘Today my children you will write a story!’ In retrospect she was probably wearing a sweater, speaking in a calm voice, following a thoughtfully laid plan to integrate creative writing into the year’s curriculum. At nine years old I struggled with reading, couldn’t spell my ‘neighbors’ or ‘weighs’ and slopped scripted Jays onto the page like the cardiograph of a dying man. The idea of creative writing couldn’t have been further from my world and teaching creative writing to a non-reader must have been like teaching scuba diving to someone who doesn’t like the bath. But Ms. Leahy did give us an opportunity, not an assignment, and the opportunity was simple: write and publish a story. I accepted and willingly jumped overboard.
“I’d like to think I can remember those early stories, the characters I created, the plots I penned but age has faded these memories. The memory that does remain bright in my mind is the incredible machine Betsy used to bind our finished stories. The spiral binder was a large, metal machine with a long handle that had to be pushed down with the strength one might use to sever a head. Betsy would insert the loose pile of hand scripted pages and heave the metal arm downwards and with a resounding cha-chunk the machine would cut holes and snap a green plastic spiral into our pages, binding them for life. The cha-chunk it made was the sound of completion the same exhilarating sound an author must hear when tearing the tape of the FedEx box containing that first edition and I can still hear it. “Today as both an adult and a writer I realize that Mrs. Leahy gave us the freedom to write. She gave us the tools to workshop with peers, edit, and illustrate all without the looming red-pen judgment that plagues so much of school. She offered us the space to let our wandering minds wander and the skills to keep our pencils hot on the pursuit. The gift of writing is a powerful thing and every time I click a key or scrawl a pen I thank her for it. May all our days be cha-chunked together by Betsy’s spiral binder.” Sophia Carroll Garmey writes, “Edward and I were happy to welcome our second child in September, Eleanor Hope Carroll Garmey. We just moved to Concord MA, and would love to hear from any new SHS neighbors!”
Leila Simon Hayes writes, “In August, Tommy and I welcomed our new little guy, Ezra Adam Hayes. He’s a dreamy fellow and Adina is a loving being a big sister. I’m still working at the ICA and enjoying that very much. I hope all is well with you fellow ’92ers!”
Leila Simon Hayes ’92 with her family.
Gabe Johnson writes, “I’m currently making ads for beer at a shop in San Francisco. My penchant for pinball has me playing “Lord of the Rings” with my work partner regularly. The occasional fit of creativity has me working on writing and photo projects on the side and maybe someday I’ll finish something big. Until then I’m watching the rents go through the roof and sipping on Philz Coffee.”
Gabe Johnson ’92 with Blake Griffin.
Sophia Carroll Garmey ’92’s children, Nathaniel and Eleanor.
Mike Keating writes, “I am living in San Francisco and running my electric transportation service, Scoot! (www. scootnetworks.com)”
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congratulations! Weddings: Mary-Ellen Candage ’66 & Steve Meltzer October 6, 2013 Sarah Kirchner Brown ’94 & Gary Brown Fall 2013 Erica Strang ’94 & Hans Marselis July 20, 2013 Mike Keating ’92 at his company, Scoot.
Ann Karash Kimura writes, “I am still enjoying Providence (although I’m getting the itch to move back to the Bay Area) with my husband, Steven, and daughter, Harper (3!). Harper started Montessori school this year, and in the interests of further recreating my own idyllic education, Harper and I have been visiting the Gordon School, run by none other that Mr. Wales! I spent most of my time this year diving into the wonderful world of nerdy personal data/health apps, spending a lot of time going for runs with a variety of tracker devices to research the optimal user experience. I am still heavily enamored with interactive design, Swedish mystery novels, multiple bread baking experiments, and am looking forward to getting back on a snowboard this year.”
Sarah Klipfel Wiebenson ’92 with her son Owen.
Sara Stonberg Kogon writes, “I am living in Atlanta with my husband Ross and my 3 children (Marion - 6 years, Gerald - 4 years and Morris - 2 years). I am running a marketing and sales consultancy and volunteering with an organization that I co-founded called Let Georgia Hear (www.letgeorgiahear.org) — which is working to have insurance companies in
Elanna Allen Lazar ’92’s sons, Sebastian (l) and Nico (r).
that I’m back.” Jeremy Magland (Magidson) writes, “I am a research scientist living in the Philadelphia area with my wife Eliza and our four children Tommy (4), Liam (7), Bonnie (12), and Abigail (14). This year Eliza returned to school to become a nurse and started work as a parttime lactation consultant at a local hospital . . . and Bonnie dressed up as Mary Poppins for Halloween!”
Babies: Caleb Williams ’84 & Cheryl Etu a daughter, Freyja, October 2013 Maia Sloss Carson ’87 & Michael Carson a daughter, Claire Elizabeth, November 26, 2013 Rebecca Cutter ’89 & Ben Bell a daughter, Beatrice, September 2013 Amelia Margolis ’90 a son, Aidan John Harrison Margolis, May 4, 2013 Daniel Zalcman ’90 & Laura Zalcman a daughter, Karolina, August 27, 2012 Sophia Carroll Garmey ’92 & Edward Garmy a daughter, Eleanor Hope Carroll Garmey, September 2013 Leila Simon Hayes ’92 & Tommy Hayes a son, Ezra Adam Hayes, August 2013 Elanna Allen Lazar ’92 & Andreas Lazar a son, Sebastian, August 2013
Sara Stonberg Kogon ’92 with her family. Jeremy Magland ’92’s daughter, Bonnie, as Mary Poppins.
Georgia cover hearing aids for children.”
Ann Kimura Karash ’92 with her daughter, Harper.
Sarah Klipfel Wiebenson writes, “I am still living in Zurich, Switzerland with my husband and three-year son, Owen. Over the last year I have enjoyed exploring the cultures of Turkey, Scotland and Nice, France and traveling to Kiev for my work with Democrats Abroad.”
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Elanna Allen Lazar writes, “Hi all! I’ve moved back to New York from London this year. Also my son Sebastian was born in August. Still writing and illustrating books and working in children’s television. A show I animation-directed is on Disney Channel now, Gaspard and Lisa, and a show I designed is airing on PBS, Sid the Science Kid. Saw Ethel Weld and Sarah Bruner recently! I also saw Sarah Klipfel Wiebenson and her adorable Owen in London. Hope to see more of all of you now
Jennifer Cook McCormick-Goodhart writes, “Hi Shady Hill Alums! It’s been so long since I have seen the old crew as life in Lexington, VA continues for me. My husband Seth and I now have three children — Eleanor (6.5) Ruby (5) and Peter Theodore aka Theo (1). I’m still in the parenting bubble, practicing yoga and meditation to keep my balance as best I can. Who knows what awaits when it finally bursts. I miss you all.”
Annie Barrett ’93 & Alyse Pecoraro a son, Giorgio, October 2013 Emily Hennigar Hill-Wisniewski ’95 & Henry Hill-Wisniewski a daughter, June Henniger Hill-Wisniewski, October 15, 2013 Deborah Grossberg Katz ’96 & Greg Katz a daughter, Zoe, September 2, 2013 Brad Belin ’98-8 & Sarah Belin a daughter, Madison Kikelia Belin, July 10, 2013
David Meshoulam writes, “Life has been busy this past
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year. Not sure I’ve posted everyone on our latest — after a six-month stint in Newton, we now live in Watertown and love our neighborhood. It seems as though all of our neighbors send their kids to SHS and the kids’ eyes light up when I tell them I went to school with Mr. Sen. Speaking of SHS legends, I was at the post office a few months back and bumped into Mr. Horn. Literally bumped, as my daughters (Ella is now 6 and Hanna 4) were blocking the entryway. In other news, I’m still teaching physics at Newton North High school and recently defended my dissertation in Science Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and just need to make a few pesky edits before I become a doctor.” Kabir Sen writes, “My family is well. Rebecca is still teaching science at Newton Country Day School. Eva is turning 4 on January 27th and Julia turns 2 on January 5th. They are both doing great! I’m still teaching music at Shady Hill and enjoying that work as much as ever. I teach general music to 3rd and 4th grade classes, and in the middle school I teach rock band and hip hop arts elective classes. After school I teach private lessons in piano, guitar, drums, music production and voice. My music career has been going really well — I still play a monthly show at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge (first Saturday of every month for three years running). I rap and sing in a reggae band called ‘Dub Down’ that plays every Thursday at Bull McCabe’s pub. Last summer, Rebecca, the girls and I took a trip to Colorado to visit her family, and I also played shows in Denver and Boulder. I have been performing regularly in Burlington, VT and Northampton, MA, and I also teach hip hop
education workshops at other schools and colleges. I love what I do and feel very lucky to have so many great opportunities to share my music and message.”
Annie Barrett ’93 with her wife Alyse Pecoraro, and their 2-month old son Giorgio on vacation in Puerto Rico. Grace, the daughter of Colin Thompson ’93.
Lindsay Ross, and Ezra Feinberg.” Ethel Weld ’92’s son Sebastian.
Ethel Weld writes, “Things are good! We are heading to Paris to have Frenchy Christmas with all my sibs and all spouses and offspring, which brings Weldian numbers up to mob levels. I just saw Sarah Bruner and Elanna Allen in NYC (Elanna’s baby is also a Sebastian! But more a wee-bass than a seabass). Her firstborn Nico and my Seb bonded over smashing things! Seabass just turned two and got his second haircut. I didn’t cry this time. He lost his mullet! Now he is all business. The business of mischief. My hubby and I are still completing Infectious Disease fellowships at Johns Hopkins — he is doing research on the bioethics of infectious disease/disease eradication and a new project relating to the adverse effects of prison solitary confinement. I am doing a public health degree this year and seeing patients in an HIV clinic.”
Aria Sloss reports, “I’m working on my second novel and looking forward to celebrating my daughter Edith’s first birthday this February. I see Lindsay Ross and her son Luca for play dates; he’s a few months older, so he shows her the important things, like how to change the temperature on the wine fridge. We both wish Shady Hill had a NYC satellite location . . . ”
CL A S S O F 19 9 3 Aubin Dupree Flat 81, Whitelands House Cheltenham Terrace London SW3 4QZ ENGLAND mercury@alum.mit.edu
Kabir Sen ’92’s daughters, Eva and Julia.
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And Kabir performing.
Annie Barrett reports, “My wife Alyse and I recently welcomed the birth of our son Giorgio in October. I’m an architect and we live in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn and have the good fortune to keep in touch with good friends from SHS including Emily Havens,
Edith (daughter of Aria Sloss ’93) and Luca (son of Lindsay Ross ’93) enjoying a play date.
Colin Thompson: “My wife Victoria and I had our first child, Grace, this past August. She is adorable, and we’re both smitten!”
C L A S S O F 19 9 4 2014 20th Reunion Class Kathryn Dingman Boger 40 Highland Ave, Unit 3 Cambridge, MA 02139 katdboger@gmail.com Atty Bing writes that he moved to Los Angeles for Love (and the weather) and now lives in East Hollywood, doing carpentry for television and film. He is finding this to be a fun change of pace from the exclusively residential work that he was doing in Boston. He has seen Edward Droste who also lives in LA and is in touch with the many people from the class who are in San Francisco (Noah Buffet-Kennedy, Nicole Mason, Dan Lipsitt, Josiah Bragdon, Lindsay Fauth Smith, etc.) as well as Big Zach (Davis) who is holding it down in San Diego. He was the best man in David Bailis’s Brooklyn wedding where he hung with Andy Keating and Erica Strang and the three of us reminisced about Erica’s Brooklyn wedding! Atty says that he’s always looking to have more Shady Hillers in his life and to find him in LA. Kathryn Dingman Boger is living in the Boston area (Cambridge). She is enjoying life with her husband and two year-old son, Brady, and her new job running a child and adolescent anxiety treatment program at McLean Hospital. Kathryn enjoys seeing Jeita Phillips and reverting back to their elementary school agedhumor on a regular basis when they attend the SHS Alumni Board Meetings.
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C L A S S O F 19 9 5 Caroline Simonds 1154 Green Street San Francisco, CA 94109 carrie.simonds@gmail.com Emily Hennigar Hill-Wisniewski and husband, Henry, welcomed daughter June Hennigar Hill-Wisniewski into the world on October 15, 2013. (8 lbs. 8oz, 20 3/4 inches). “Cheers and best wishes to the class of ‘95!” Alexandra Beale Schumm ’94 with her son JJ.
She attended the Shady Hill Fair this fall and had a great time — it brought back fond memories.
May Day, 1994.
Frances Tilney Burke writes, “Greetings from Fort Campbell, KY! My husband, Tom, and I had our third child, Nicholas, in March of this year. He is a joy. Mary, 5, is in kindergarten and Claire, 4, is in pre-k. Unfortunately, Tom deploys again to Afghanistan in command of a Combat Aviation Battalion at Christmastime. I am a stay-at-home-mom right now after two years as a policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in DC. Some of the best parts of my week are when I see updated photos from Alex Beale Schumm and Julia Paolitto Lee of sweet JJ and Francesca, respectively!”
Esther Freeman is in Boston, working as faculty at Harvard Medical School and as a dermatologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research is primarily in the area of HIV dermatology in Kenya and Uganda. She lives in Newton with her husband, Adam, and their labradoodle, Moose. Sarah Kirchner Brown writes, “We all still live way up in Houghton, MI at the tippy-top of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. After nine years, my partner Gary Brown and I finally got married this fall. In August I started a new job as head teacher in the Infant Room at a local Child Development center. I am lucky in that my four-yearold son Jonah has started preschool at this same center, so I get to catch glimpses of him throughout the day.”
Erica Strang got married this July to Hans Marselis. The wedding took place at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Brooklyn NY. Shady Hill classmates were in attendance from Boston, San Francisco and LA, including Josiah Bragdon, Lindsay Fauth Smith, Nicole Mason, Atty Bing, and Andrew Keating. Sara Strang ’88 (Erica’s sister), Heidi von Rosenberg Klapinsky ’88, Carolyn Bragdon ’88, and Molly Bradgon ’90 were also in attendance. The wedding happened to fall on one of the hottest weekends of the summer. The guests were also treated to quite a rainstorm in the middle of the outdoor ceremony, during which everyone ran for cover under the tent. The ceremony continued, and, despite the rain, or maybe because of it, a good time was had by all.
June Hennigar Hill-Wisniewski, daughter of Emily Hennigar Hill-Wisniewski ’95.
Elisabeth Gutowski Munder writes, “Our big news is that we are expecting little boy #2 in February. Otherwise all the same. Still living in Palm Beach, and running my own PR/Events firm LUXURY INK.”
Matthew Rubin reports, “2013 has been an exciting year for my partners and I at OnTrend Products. Our merchandise is now sold in retailers like Walmart, Office Depot, Staples, Target, etc. We also launched our new children’s lapdesk, which can be found at www.deskeez. com and on Amazon.com. In addition to non-stop work, my fiancée and I are planning our wedding for this coming September in Nantucket, Massachusetts.”
Francis Tilney Burke ’94 with her son, Nicholas.
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Alexandra Beale Schumm is still living in New York City with her husband, Jim, and 21-month old son, JJ.
Erica Strang ’94 with her husband, Hans Marselis.
Alex Baer and Carrie Simonds of the Class of 1995 at Shady Hill’s 2013 San Francisco regional event.
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It was great to hear from Meredith Bowen Waterman. She writes, “My husband Justin and I have three boys. The twins are 4 and are named Weston and Bowe, and the baby will be 2 at the end of January. His name is Miles. I continue to work in finance for a company called Seven Bridges Advisors, which acts as an investment office for families and endowments. Our family moved to the New York suburbs (Westchester) late last year, which has been a very nice change. On the weekends I enjoy vegetable gardening, golf and spending time with my children and friends. I am lucky enough to see Alex Dowling regularly (I am really glad she is back in NYC!).”
C L A S S O F 19 9 6 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1996. Jesse Karlsberg writes, “Over the summer I was promoted to Managing Editor of Southern Spaces, a peer-reviewed online journal about regions, places, and cultures of the U.S. South and their global connections (http://southernspaces.org). My wife Lauren Bock and I are living in Atlanta where I continue to work toward a PhD in American Studies at Emory University’s Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts. My dissertation focuses on the editions of a nineteenth-century tune book for a cappella singing — still in active use — called The Sacred Harp. I go Sacred Harp singing somewhere in the South nearly every weekend. I also serve as Vice President of the Sacred Harp Publishing Company, a non-profit that publishes the most recent edition of the book, and as editor of The Sacred Harp Publishing
Company Newsletter (http://originalsacredharp.com/ newsletter).” Deb Grossberg Katz reports, “I’m working as a designer at Merge Architects in Boston and living in Cambridge with my husband Greg Katz and two kids — Noah and Zoe. Zoe was born last September on her big brother’s third birthday.”
C L A S S O F 19 9 8 - 8
The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 1997. Nadia Bartolucci has successfully just run her second ING NYC Marathon in November, and her training for the Chicago Marathon 2014 is well under way. During the past year Nadia also celebrated her second year of marriage to her husband Sam Bradford, who she met while an undergraduate at St. Lawrence University. Nadia is still working as a real estate broker in Manhattan and Brooklyn and is with Douglas Elliman. Feel free to email her at nbartolucci@elliman.com if you are thinking of buying, selling, or renting in Manhattan or Brooklyn! In her spare time, Nadia is heavily involved with fostering dogs, mentoring women who want to run their first half and full marathons, and stays active in her local Park Slope, Brooklyn, Community.
celebrated eight years of living in Ireland. I completed my PhD in English at University College Cork in 2010 and I now live in Dublin and work in International Education. My sister Emily ’95 now lives in England with her partner, Philip, and my parents moved to Ireland to retire in September of 2012, so the whole Whittredge clan is living overseas! I recently got engaged and I am looking forward to getting married in the Spring 2015. If any SHS classmates are traveling to Ireland, let me know!!”
Jesse Last 74 Gilman St Unit 4 Somerville, MA 02145 jesselast@gmail.com
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Willa Mamet writes, “These days I practice acupressure and cranial sacral work in Oakland, CA. I’m also making music, carving Judaica, and sewing quilts. I send much love to all the SHS’ers!”
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Kristen Cahalane 179 Trapelo Road Belmont, MA 02478 kcahalane@gmail.com
Matthew Meyersohn reports, “After 7+ years of running Community Relations for the Boston Celtics I just left and will be starting with the US Fund for UNICEF on January 6. In my new role, I’m responsible for Sports Partnerships for the US Fund. This summer my wife and I moved to Cambridge and live near Central Square.”
Julia Cohen writes, “I recently finished my PhD in Literature & Poetics and moved to Chicago to start a new job as an assistant professor. My second book just came out, Collateral Light. I think of all my English teachers at Shady Hill fondly.”
Deb Grossberg Katz with her daughter Zoe, born 9/2/2013, and Zoe’s big brother Noah.
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Members of the Class of 1998-9 at Reunion 2013: Bleecker Wheeler, Liz Nill, John Thurston, and Slater Brauns.
Beck Sloman 606 Driggs Avenue, #25 Brooklyn, NY 11211 sloman.beck@gmail.com
Andrew David wrote: “I am still working on my Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History at BU and TA-ing there. I’m heavily into my research and writing phase at this point and will spend part of this spring traveling to presidential libraries in the US. I spent January through June last year on a fellowship at Cambridge University, which was great. I catch up with Mat Travis whenever he’s in town.” Nick(o) Deane is living in Washington, DC, still working on Event Farm (a ticketing/guest registration software platform), and tinkering/breaking cars and other things in the garage at night! Mat Travis is about to take off to Peru with his wife Amy to study Spanish, climb some volcanoes, and scout out the next organization to which they can lend a helping hand. Ben Travis had another busy year working on the Broadway tours of Book of Mormon and Chicago. He also worked on Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball tour, which took him to 20 countries in 2013. Julia Whittredge writes, “Hi, Class of ’98! In August I
Members of the Class of 1998-8 at Reunion 2013: Katherine Wheeler, Thea Aldrich, Emlen Page, and Talya Wyzanski.
In October, a small group from the class of ’98-8 gathered a few miles from the Shady Hill stomping grounds for dinner at Central Kitchen. Brad Belin, Giuliana DiMambro, Lindsay Gittens, Jesse Last, Charlotte Lewis, Ned Morgan, and Emlen Page swapped stories and memories. Unfortunately, we were not able to get sign-off to share each person’s update for this newsletter, but based on the evening, all seem well!
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Thea Aldrich is working as a teacher in Arlington, Virginia.
Kate Remsberg successfully finished her first year as a middle school math teacher at Greens Farm Academy in Westport, CT. She adds, “I have thought of the brilliance of my middle school math teachers often!”
Brad Belin, and his wife, Sarah, welcomed Madison Kikelia Belin to the world on July 10, 2013 at 1:28 AM. Madison, or “Maddie,” weighed in at 9 lbs., 7 oz. and measured 22 inches, an impressive length rivaled only by her thick head of hair. As Brad reports, “She is a happy and healthy baby, and my wife, Sarah, and I, could not be more in love with our beautiful daughter.” Having seen the family in action, I can affirm all the above as well as the fact that Brad and Sarah are wonderful parents.
Beck Sloman and his wife Lainey also live in Williamsburg. They moved to a place there in 2012, after 5 years in Manhattan. Beck is still working as a Strategist at Redscout, a innovation consultancy, while his wife is a dean at Coney Island Prep, a Brooklyn charter school. Talya Wyzanski is in her final year of her dual MBA/ MA with Duke and Johns Hopkins respectively. This winter she’ll be finishing up in Durham before spending the spring semester at Johns Hopkins’ Bologna, Italy campus. Next year she’ll be moving to DC to do strategy consulting.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is now home to three members of the class of 1998! Steve Brock was the original colonist, moving here after college. Over this time he hosted a number of SHS’ers at a few great parties in a loft he shared with a few musician friends. This past year he completed a nation-wide tour with his band The Dukes, and has recently done some solo shows in Brooklyn and Manhattan clubs. Rad!
C L A S S O F 19 9 9 2014 15th Reunion Class Lucy Keating 8277 1/2 Norton Avenue West Hollywood, CA 90046 lucy.h.keating@gmail.com
Kasia Cieplak-von Baldegg lives in Washington DC, where she is the executive producer of video at The Atlantic magazine. She produces documentaries, interviews, and other short videos for the web, which you can view here: theatlantic.com/video.
We are looking forward to seeing members of the Class of 1999 at Reunion in May!
Giuliana DiMambro reports, “I graduated from MIT with an MBA and an MCP (Master in City Planning). I’m working for Boston Properties on their Development team and I completely love it!” Elizabeth Johnston graduated from BC Law in 2011. She then lived in Philadelphia and clerked for the Delaware Supreme Court for a year before moving back to Boston to work for Ropes & Gray. Along with Charlotte, Emlen, Lindsay, and Giuliana, Elizabeth volunteered at the Greater Boston Food Bank for Thanksgiving thanks to Charlotte’s tremendous efforts as a coordinator. Jesse Last is entering his fourth year with the agricultural investment fund Root Capital. He is blessed to travel throughout Africa and Latin America for work and when in town calls Somerville home. He made sure
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CL ASS OF 2000 Catherine Chin 10 Pondside Way Danbury, CT 06810 catherine.d.chin@gmail.com Emma Clippinger 9 Avon Street Cambridge, MA 02138 emma.clippinger@gmail.com Abigail B. Wright 19 Malden Street Watertown, MA 02472 abigailbwright@gmail.com Kate Chin helped organize a mini-SHS reunion at Daedelus over winter break. In attendance were Julia Haines, Abby Wright, Joshua Miller, Anand Jahi and Dacia Boston. Kendall Taggart is working for the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, CA. Kyra Travis is now in her 4th year working at Shady Hill. Getting to meet alumni from all generations is a highlight of her job. She also really enjoyed getting to know some students through coaching and being a field trip chaperone.
Members of the Class of 1999, this year’s 15th Reunion class, in Grade VIII.
to be around on July 10th for Maddie Belin’s birth and does his best to stay in touch with the Shady Hill crew still in the area. Megan Markey is the newest member of the Williamsburg crew! She moved to the neighborhood from Washington, DC this autumn, and will continue her real estate career in the NYC-area.
Members of the Class of 2000 at mini-reunion during the holidays. From left to right: Abby Wright, Anand Jahi, Dacia Boston, Kate Chin, Joshua Miller, and Julia Haines.
Abby Wright ’00 and her husband Joshua Ransom at Shady Hill’s Alumni Cooking Class in January.
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Abby Wright moved back to the Boston area this summer and is now attending MIT Sloan School of Management.
currently working at Paperless Post doing marketing. Susan Widdecombe also works at Paperless Post . . . they sit right next to each other!
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Evan McGonagill is living in Philadelphia and working in the Bryn Mawr College Library on a research initiative on the history of women’s higher education.
Julia Chapman 129 Bayard Lane Princeton, NJ 08540 juliacchapman@gmail.com Jeremy Finch writes, “I’m living around Inman Square. This is the first time I’ve lived independently in Cambridge. It’s familiar and different at the same time. But I like it.” Hilary Johnson writes, “After graduating from Brown with degrees in Biology and East Asian Studies, I spent a year teaching English to children in rural Japan, and I currently work at the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard. I also recently joined the Shady Hill Alumni Board, to keep connected and help give back to the school.”
Tamara Wyzanski ’01
third full marathon in Chicago in the fall of 2014.
CL A S S O F 2 0 0 2 Isabel E. Black 6 Hull Street Apt 3 Boston, MA 02113 isabelblack2@gmail.com Amelia C. Micheli 117 Brooks Street Medford, MA 02155 acmicheli@gmail.com Jocina Becker recently moved from Washington, DC to Boston. She works as a project manager at Consumer United, a start-up company in the Back Bay. She is happy to be back in the Boston area. Isabel Black lives and works in Boston at a strategic communications firm. She has enjoyed being a part of the SHS Alumni Board this year!
Hilary Johnson ’01 was a good sport and showed off her apple-peeling skills at Shady Hill’s Alumni Cooking Class in January.
Tamara Wyzanski lives in the South End neighborhood of Boston and will be graduating in May, 2014 with her master’s in Public Health from Boston University’s School of Medicine. She is hoping to land a position working at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (where she graduated from in 2005) as a sex education teacher. Apart from school, Tamara teachers yoga at Boston Sports Club and CrossFit Southie. In 2013 she completed the NYC marathon and is excited to do her
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Amelia Micheli is in her final year of a Clinical Psychology doctoral program. She is looking forward to graduating in June of 2014 and is hoping to find a postdoctoral position in the Boston area. Louisa Nill says, “I am living in DC and teaching 5th grade math, science, and China studies at the Capitol Hill Day School. I have 25 amazing students and am loving life post-TTC! Wishing everyone the best and looking forward to our next reunion.” Olivia Wheeler reports she is teaching math to middle schoolers at the Journeys School in Jackson, Wyoming. Gabe Saltzman is also out in Jackson Hole, ski instructing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Gabe and Olivia are 2013 Broomball Champions of the Teton County rec league.
Ali Martin reports she lives in New York City and is
Sommer Thomas writes, “I am currently working as the Assistant Director of Annual Giving at the Rhode Island School of Design. It’s awesome and I get to manage and work with a team of about 25 students as well as running email and direct mail marketing. I am hoping to apply to grad school next year and get back in the classroom. On a more exciting note, last March I was able to vacation in South Korea and this summer I am planning to vacation in Amsterdam. I want to travel the world! Shout out to Ms. Rivas and Mr. Langdon!!!”
CL ASS OF 2004 2014 10th Reunion Class Ana Rodriguez-Villa 37 Elm Street Wellesley, MA 02481 amr1@williams.edu Ned Horton writes, “Did research at Mass. General Hospital for a year, currently attending med school.”
Nick G. White reports he is a first year student at Harvard Business School, interested in pursuing a career in entertainment/media. His web series pilot Spicy Wit was recently recognized in EBONY Online and Huffington Post.
Lynn Edmonds reports, “I just moved to New York and am starting my first semester of graduate school at NYU, where I am studying journalism and Africana studies. I will look forward to seeing classmates in New York (or Boston)!” Kyra Ferber writes, “I recently left Promontory Financial Group to join K2 Intelligence, an investigations and intelligence consulting firm in Manhattan. I love the job and am having a great time in the new field. I recently got to spend the holidays with the many Shady Hillian members of the Ferber clan and recently caught up with Colette Perold.”
CL ASS OF 2003 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 2003.
Liz O’Brien ’04 at Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, France.
Members of the Class of 2003 at Reunion 2013: Nick Green, Sommer Thomas, Mike Johnston, Joshua Grossman.
Liz O’Brien reports, “After graduating from University of Chicago in 2012, I taught English in Normandy, France for the 2012–2013 academic year, traveled throughout Europe, and visited Southeast Asia. I now live in Chicago and work as a fundraiser for Chicago Scholars, an educational non-profit.” Luke Vargas writes, “After graduating from NYU last
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completed the pre-medical requirements to apply to medical school.”
continue to give federal funds to much needed cancer research.”
Alexandra Fenn writes, “I graduate from Eckerd College in May with a degree in human development and a focus on children. I will probably go on to get my graduate degree in deaf education, but right now I am working to promote the business I started, so if all goes well I will be running my company full time by graduation. Shameless business plug for advertising!! Check out: www.compulsivenails.com guys! I look forward to seeing what everyone else is up to!”
Yasmin Inam writes, “I’m a junior at MIT double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Urban Planning. A couple of things I’m involved with on campus include the Panhellenic Council for sorority life, a student consulting group, and a community service organization in Somerville. I’ll be in Georgia this January working at a non-profit planning group specializing in community development and growth!”
Anjali Lappin writes, “This summer I worked at the Shady Hill camp. It was a lot of fun! I’m currently studying early childhood education and I eventually would love to come back and teach at Shady Hill!” The Class of 2004.
spring, I moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn with Gerrit Thurston, and I am working as a radio reporter based at the United Nations. Recent professional travel has led me to the Syrian border and to Eastern Europe, and I am looking forward to more adventures in 2014. If any SHS grads want a peak inside the U.N. or wish to reconnect in New York, drop me a note at luke.vargas@ mac.com!”
Michael Behr writes, “I’m at MIT studying cognitive science and computer science. I’m researching how the human brain divides streams of everyday experiences into separate events in order to remember them, and I’m hoping to publish my results in a journal soon.” Jean Fang reports, “Graduated from college, now traveling the US working with Air Liquide in an engineering rotational program.” Kat Taketomo writes, “After graduating from Barnard College, I moved to Cambridge to begin the Collaborative Internship Program at Lesley University in partnership with Shady Hill. I am currently in the TTC program in the middle school humanities division. I am an apprentice in 7th grade with Hannah Jones and am still unsure where I will be placed in the spring. I am living with fellow SHS ’05 graduate, Casey Cortes, and we would love to reconnect with anyone in the area!”
Luke Vargas ’04 reporting from the Za’atari Refugee Camp in Al-Mafraq, Jordan in October 2013.
CL ASS OF 2005 Poppy Lynch 1444 Belmont Street NW Washington, DC 20009 jlynch91@gwmail.gwu.edu
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CL A S S O F 2 0 0 5 Anjali S. Lappin 15 Carleton Circle Belmont, MA 02478 alappin@lesley.edu Anna Fang reports, “I will be graduating Yale University this year with a degree in economics and having
Xana Turner-Owens writes, “I’m a Junior at Wesleyan University and I’m an AFAM and SOC major with a writing certificate in creative writing/memoir. I started a lifestyle/culture/art magazine called SOULFEED (see the fb page if you want more info) and that’s been a wonderful process. Moving to NY after college hopefully to pursue getting this magazine produced on a larger scale. That’s pretty much it. Hope everyone else is doing well.” Ella Vorenberg reports, “I took the fall off from Colorado College and worked as an intern for the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian in DC. I returned to Colorado this spring to finish my degree.”
CL ASS OF 2007
William Persampieri writes, “Survived Freshman year of college and am looking ahead to a term abroad in Barcelona, Spain!” Sarah Weichselbaum reports, “I’m at UVM as a Political Science major and Business Administration minor. I am interning for the congressman of Vermont this semester. Then in the winter I’ll be interning at Harvard Business School Publishing. I’m also on a dodgeball and intramural hockey team. I’m working at a frozen yogurt store and next fall I’ll be studying abroad in Madrid, Spain”.
CL ASS OF 2008 The Alumni Office collects news for the Class of 2008.
CL ASS OF 2009 2014 5th Reunion Class Nelson L. Barrette 112 Russell Avenue Watertown, MA 02472 nlb95@comcast.net
Eva Frieden 12 Sacremento Street Cambridge, MA 02138 blackisback101@gmail.com
Bathsheba M. Wood 15 Gibson Street, #2 Dorchester, MA 02122 shebeboppin@hotmail.com
Elliott Hamilton reports, “I declared a major in Mathematical Economics at Pitzer while holding positions on three executive boards, including one as the Advocacy Chair of Claremont Colleges Against Cancer. I have raised nearly $1000 for the American Cancer Society and have started major campaigns across the Claremont consortium that demand that Congress
Benjamin Altshuler writes, “I have elected to take a gap year between high school and university, during which I will be in Oxford, England working with classical inscriptions.” Leah Mesh reports, “I am spending one year between high school and college in Ecuador with a bridge year
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nation to have student representatives with a full vote on their board.” Check our Ella’s self-titled CD at http:// ellawilliams.bandcamp.com/album/ella-williams-ep.
Jordan Phinney ’10 second from left) in Bejing with a group of Middlesex School students and teachers.
The Class of 2009.
program called Global Citizen Year! I am currently living with a host family in Quito, the capital city, but will soon move to a more rural location to live with another host family. I will also participate in an apprenticeship with a local organization in my town. After this year, I will be attending McGill University in Montreal, Canada!”
CL A S S O F 2 010 Julia Vance 731 Somerville Avenue Somerville, MA 02143 juliavance10@gmail.com Tucker Hallowell received All-Star Honors for soccer at Belmont Hill. Martha Hoffman writes, “This summer I studied Buddhism for 6 weeks in Northern India with the program ‘Where There be Dragons’. We slept in monasteries and local families’ homes, and went trekking on the Tibetan Plateau. Thank you SHS for teaching me to be open to new cultures.” Noa Randall has been rowing and applying to colleges!
Current Shady Hill seventh grader Cole Matthews with friend Carl Reid ’09 last summer.
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Ella Williams writes, “The past few years at CSW have been absolutely phenomenal. I studied abroad in China with Confucius Project and participated at the ITI UNESCO conference in Xiamen, being the only high school group there. I also head our spoken word group, ‘Poetic Justice,’ which participated and performed at a social justice conference called ‘Deis Impact at Brandeis last February. Going into senior year, I have been elected as the Day Student Representative on the Board of Trustees at CSW, which is one of two high schools in the
never played before, and says it is such a fun sport. Sam Lazarus is currently working on various computer science projects at Concord Academy, as well as working at the software company Ipswitch as a test systems programmer. As far as the arts go, Sam is doing the mainstage theater production this winter, and is in a new men’s acapella group that just started up. The U.S. Department of State has awarded Kate McDonnell one of 65 scholarships to study abroad on the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad program. Kate will be living with a host family in Morocco, attending a French-language high school, and developing the skills necessary to be a leader in the global community.
C L A S S O F 2 011 Alice Collins 40 Garfield Street Watertown, MA 02472 accollins2@gmail.com Corinne C. Worthington 65 Russell Avenue Watertown, MA 024782 ccworthington11@gmail.com Claire Benning received All-Star honors for Cross Country at St. Mark’s School. Alice Collins is having an incredible time studying abroad in Rennes, France, with a program called School Year Abroad. She loves her host family, her classes are in French, and she is traveling all the time. She will go back to the States at the end of May, and will return to Hotchkiss for senior year. She hopes everyone from SHS is doing well! Aaron Colonnese, a student at Arlington High School, will perform with the orchestra at the Music Educators State Conference in Boston in March. The orchestra will perform the All State Concert at Symphony Hall on March 22. Caley Dickinson reports, “I started playing volleyball this fall at Noble & Greenough and I loved it!” She had
Kate McDonnell ’11
Julia Poorvu is enjoying boarding school and is doing rec swimming and is still riding horses. She has continued advocating for Therapeutic Riding and had a summer internship at WGBH Boston Public Radio. Corinne Worthington is enjoying her time at St. Paul’s. She is still rowing and hopes to qualify for the Henley Royal Regatta later this year.
C L A S S O F 2 012 Suzannah R. Gifford 15 Coolidge Hill Road Cambridge, MA 02138 zannah19@gmail.com Austin Lin won the 300-meter race at the Division 4 state track meet on Sunday, February 16. He is a sophomore at Watertown High School and was also part
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of the winning 4 x 400 relay team. Hannah Wolfberg reports, “I’m enjoying Milton. Missing all my SHS friends and teachers.”
C L A S S O F 2 013 The Alumni Office collects the news for the Class of 2013. Emily Amouyal writes, “I just finished a great field hockey season but I miss playing with the girls from SHS.”
the schedule so I’m running track on a town team. It all makes me appreciate the culture and community of SHS.” Ben Larsen reports, “I’m at Concord Academy with seven other Class of ’13 kids. I play soccer there. The teams are more competitive than SHS. The work is hard, and I’m glad about how well SHS prepared me for the workload.” Aris Paschalidis writes, “I miss Shady Hill. School is fun at BU Academy.”
Tess Avery reports she played JV field hockey at St. Paul’s School. She adds, “We played BB&N on the Shady Hill turf, it was weird! This winter I’ll be playing JV ice hockey.”
Ina Suresh is on the Robotics Team at BU Academy.
Maya Barnes writes, “I played field hockey at CWS with Gracie!”
Coco Tirman writes, “I Assistant Stage Managed on The Crucible at Beaver, and I am training to become a lifeguard.”
Lindsay Bouscaren received All-Star Honors in soccer as part of the Beaver Country Day School team.
Izzy Tils ran cross-country this year at Newton North and loved it!
Julien Toulotte is at Belmont Hill School where he’s finding the sports and academics to be quite competitive.
Sam Cabot writes, “I miss Shady Hill. School is great. I’m playing baseball and football for the first time. Miss you all!”
Kunaal Verma writes, “SHS was good. Liked it. Had fun. Thnx!”
Isabel Cushing played field hockey at Concord Academy.
Kiki Vetoulis-Acevedo writes, “I miss Shady Hill so much.”
jonathan slater, director 1989 to 1994 Marjorie was gradually turning over the reins of the TTC to Anne Snyder when I arrived at Shady Hill, and Anne had already started doing the heavy lifting. Marjorie was enormously proud of the TTC: she understood how crucial it was, and is, to the school. “I believe it’s the jewel in the crown,” she told me once in deepest confidence, but she didn’t think it was her crown or her jewel. She didn’t have that kind of ego. The TTC belonged to us all. It was a living thing that had to evolve and adapt to thrive, so she didn’t attempt to keep it exactly the way she found it or pass it on “the way it simply had to be.” Letting go is hard, but if your head is in the right place, the heart follows. Marjorie’s head was in the right place.
Remembering Marjorie Gatchell
Marjorie was extremely smart, and she seemed to know everything about teaching and about the teachers at Shady Hill. She was my patient instructor: I learned more about teaching in my first three months at SHS than I had learned in the previous twenty years. She taught me how to observe a class and how to provide useful feedback in manageable doses. I thought I was pretty hot stuff with my yellow pads and copious, if illegible, notes for the teachers, until Marjorie and I observed a class together once. I had pages of notes, and she had a few lines. I had a smarty-pants list of things the teacher might have done to improve the lesson. Marjorie looked over the list and said, “Make sure you understand what’s actually happening in the class, what the teacher is trying to do. Don’t just focus on what you think she ought to be doing.” I never observed a class the same way again. Marjorie was a mentor as well as a dear friend to Karen and me. She was an inexhaustible advocate of single payer health insurance, the Democratic Party, informed gardening, cautious spending and shrewd investing, The New York Times, “No Books, Please” book groups, border collies, and Betsy Anderson, Jane Prescott, Julia Bator, and sometimes Jack McKernan. She was right, too.
Gracie Fisher had fun playing field hockey with Maya at CWS.
If you judge her just on the number of devoted friendships she had in life, she died a very rich woman. We will miss her.
Katie Friis writes, “I go to Milton and am playing squash.”
betsy anderson ttc ’86, kindergarten gradehead
Basil Frost played varsity soccer at Concord Academy this fall. Clio Gates reports that she loves SPS. Jack Kiryk reports, “Spending my 9th grade year in southern France near Marseille and going to an international school has been quite different from SHS. Meeting everyone at this school from all over the world is great! French schools don’t incorporate sports into
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Marjorie poured love and wisdom onto things and they flourished. Her gardens, her homes, her dogs, her relationships; all are testaments to her transformational power. In her garden on Lakeview Ave., she turned pavement and brambles into a spectacularly lush and beautiful urban oasis, the placement of each shrub meticulously considered, each plant thoughtfully selected and lovingly placed into the soil. The houses she lived in over the years also spoke to her nurturing magic. She had an amazing eye; an ability to spot the “diamond in the rough” which she would then lovingly shape into a space of exquisite beauty and warmth. Even her beloved border collies were reflections of her artistry and affection. She was a masterful dog trainer, remarkably attentive, consistently firm, and absolutely unabashed in her affection. Her dogs were all impeccably behaved and each one was deeply cherished and adored.
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And then of course, there were her human relationships. As those of us lucky enough to have been mentored by her will attest, she was a graceful but powerful force in our becoming the educators we are today. Getting feedback or advice from Marjorie was like tasting educational manna. Conversations with her somehow managed to be both joyfully upbeat and intensely serious. She lifted you up as she noticed and celebrated what you did well. At the same time she appreciated your struggles and then gently guided you as you considered how you would face them. She taught us by example and her lessons remain with me to this day: be authentic, build strong and caring relationships with your students, steer them towards an appropriate amount of struggle and then do all that you can to support them through it, celebrate their successes, don’t forget to laugh a lot. Over the years, Marjorie became so much more to me than just my teacher. We shared a two-family house and she became my dearest friend; she was “Nonny” to my children. Her impact on my life has been profound. Her most recent lesson came just hours before she died. When her doctor asked her if she had any unresolved issues she needed to take care of, or if there were people that she needed to say goodbye to, Marjorie’s response was simple but powerful. “No. I trust all my relationships.” A final bit of wisdom, a last bit of love for us all.
jennifer tobin haydock ttc ’85, secondary schools advisor My life changed forever on a sunny day in April 1984 when I was 24 years old. Fate had landed me in Marjorie’s cozy office above the Assembly Hall at Shady Hill. She was supposed to be interviewing me for the TTC. Instead, my thin resume had listed Dog Trainer as one of my hobbies. Marjorie started our conversation with a question about that. I admitted I wasn’t officially a dog trainer, but that I had a Border Collie puppy I was trying to shape into a well-behaved dog. Marjorie squealed with delight and told me that she had two Border Collies at home — and we were off on the topic of dogs. I am not sure that we even talked about why I wanted to be a teacher that day. Our shared love of dogs began to form the bond that would keep us in each other’s lives for the next 30 years. Marjorie was my mentor. She applauded my instincts in the classroom and brought out the best in my teaching through her skillful observations and always-positive suggestions. She invited me to sit with the most seasoned teachers at Shady Hill in one of the support groups she helped to facilitate. We formed a book group that
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met for over 20 years, and we never discussed books. I traveled to her beloved Sheffield cabin, and I housesat in her beautiful carriage house on Preston Road in Somerville. I took care of her darling border collie, Cory, when he was a puppy, while she traveled to England. Throughout, Marjorie beamed her unconditional love all over me. She counseled me in my career decisions, and she listened to tales of romantic woes. She believed in me and filled me with a confidence that gave me courage to be myself: in my classrooms, in real estate decisions, with new puppies, in other friendships, and in life.
anne thomas mccormack ttc ’85 When talking to Marjorie’s many friends since her death, the most common comment I heard was, “There was a conversation I meant to have with her.” Marjorie had an uncanny ability to listen astutely, carefully weighing what mattered most, and then, like a magician, she would come up with the most insightful, provoking question imaginable. She would peel away the details, and pull the one string that unraveled the problem.
S H E TA U GH T U S B Y E X A M P L E A N D H E R L E S S O N S R E M A IN W I T H M E T O T HI S D AY: B E A U T H E N T IC, B UIL D S T R O N G A N D C A R IN G R E L AT IO N S HIP S W I T H Y O U R S T U DE N T S , S T E E R T H E M T O WA R D S A N A P P R O P R I AT E A M O U N T O F S T R U GG L E A N D T H E N DO A L L T H AT Y O U C A N T O S U P P O R T T H E M T H R O U GH I T, CE L E B R AT E T H E IR S U CCE S S E S , D O N ’ T F O R GE T T O L A U GH A L O T. This remarkable intuition also made her the perfect mentor teacher. Watching a class, she could sift through the students, the teacher, the apprentice, and the curriculum, assimilate it all, and find the salient point. And, most importantly, she had the patience to let people work through their own issues at their own pace, accompanying them along the way. Twice a year, Marjorie and I would sit down with tea and make “contracts.” Unlike the title suggests, a contract could be what we thought we should do, but more often than not, it was what we wanted to do — goals we had, people we wanted to see, museums we wanted to visit, things we wanted to learn. Before we made our new contracts, we each reviewed our old ones. I would read the few things I had actually accomplished, and she would rave, ask for details, and
tell me how wonderful I was. It was also perfectly acceptable to have things on the list for 5–10 years. She had two items that had been on her list for over 20 years. One was to find a place to leave her dogs if she went out of town. The second was to find another pair of pants to wear besides jeans. She put these on her contract every year, and every year, when she got to those items, she laughed her outrageous laugh, and happily admitted that she hadn’t done either, as if that too was a wonderful accomplishment. Her office and her living room on Lakeview were safe havens for so many. We went there to unload, to laugh, to argue about politics, and to refuel, but mostly we went there simply to bask in her friendship.
bruce shaw, director, 1994–2010 For nearly 100 years now, every child who has experienced the Ancient Greeks at Shady Hill knows that human beings were created in the gods’ images, though mortal rather than immortal, inevitably bound to cross the River Styx. Now Marjorie Gatchell has gone to that other world, taking her final journey as have so many other great Shady Hill icons who preceded her. Mary Eliot hired her to teach in fourth grade about those goddesses and heroes exactly 50 years ago, but I knew her only as a teacher of teachers. In this, she was no mere mortal. She understood teaching better than anyone I know. She followed her visits to my classroom in the late ’70s with insight after insight, and if I struggled with an apprentice, she knew just what to do. Warm, kind, loving, she celebrated life constantly with a dog at her side and with her boisterous, infectious laugh. In the lunchroom, the joy at her table drew you inexorably. When I returned to Shady Hill in the mid-’90s, I was overjoyed to work with her again and also intimidated: what did I have to offer in supervising someone that good? She was ready to move on from 20 years of TTC directorship, though, and asked for a single bridge year in which she could simply go from classroom to classroom to work with teachers, offering them what she could. She offered a lot, supporting with a perfect combination of clarity and kindness. Marjorie made life full and wonderful, and she made great teachers even better. In 1995, as she was leaving Shady Hill for good, she came to my office and asked me (that afternoon, I might have said ordered me) to step into the Assembly Hall. I followed her, and as soon as we entered the hall, she put her hand up and stopped to look me in the eye. “This is a sacred place,” she said. “Don’t
ever change it. Ever.” And I didn’t. To be honest, I wouldn’t have dared! She left the school that spring, but never abandoned it. When Sandy and I visited her at Kendal in NH not so long ago, she knew far more about everyone connected to Shady Hill than we did. She still cared, and though she was almost 20-years gone from the school, she wasn’t missing. When we celebrate her life in the sacred space of the Assembly Hall this spring, we will know that she has crossed the river to the other side, gracefully as always, teaching us how to do it one day ourselves.
anne waddington snyder ttc ’77 I had no idea when I met Marjorie on a cold December day 38 years ago that she would become such an important mentor and friend. I was a college senior, visiting Shady Hill in order to check out the TTC. I remember interviewing in Marjorie’s cozy second floor office under the eaves. I have no clue what we talked about, but I still recall her genuine interest, and how great her laughter made me feel. I also remember knowing by the end of the interview that I wanted Marjorie to be my guide into teaching, so was overjoyed to be in the next apprentice class. What was it that made Marjorie so perfect a leader of the TTC for a whole generation of apprentices? She had the intellect and the heart that are critical to good teaching, for one, but Marjorie’s gift was something much deeper and more personal than that. She loved being part of an apprentice’s journey. She noticed and told you what worked and what didn’t, cheering for classroom victories and putting mistakes in perspective. And she helped you see what was unique in your own teaching. Mostly, though, she was compassionate about how hard teaching is, and about what it asks of a human being. She honored the work. I was lucky to have Marjorie as a mentor about teaching; about teacher training; and as we became close friends, about so much of what’s essential in life. Marjorie will be with me when I walk at Fresh Pond, hear the phrase “single payer”, see a Pat Jehlen bumper sticker, notice the dark purple irises blooming, and feel the tug of a dog on a leash. You never forget your favorite teacher. A celebration of Marjorie Gatchell’s life will be held in the Shady Hill Assembly Hall on Sunday, April 13, at 2:00 PM. Friends are invited.
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losses Jonathan E. Diehl ’68 of Weston died on October 10, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Suzanne; two children; a brother; and a sister. Former SHS parent Richard Dober of Cambridge died on January 21, 2014. He leaves his wife, Lee; a son, Patrick Dober ’77; a daughter, Claire Dober Danaher ’79; five grandchildren; a brother and two sisters. Former Shady Hill teacher and Director of the Teacher Training Course Marjorie Gatchell died on February 8. She is survived by seven nieces and nephews, and by scores of devoted friends. A celebration of her life will be held in the Assembly Hall at Shady Hill on Sunday, April 13, at 2:00 PM.
Former SHS parent David Landes of Haverford, PA, died on August 17, 2013. He is survived by two daughters, including Alison Landes Fiekowsky ’68; a son; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Former Shady Hill teacher Elizabeth “Jing” Schauffler Lyman TTC ’48 of Palo Alto, CA, died on November 21, 2013. She leaves four children and four grandchildren. Robert Magruder ’45 of South Tamworth, NH, died on January 11, 2014. He leaves two brothers, Calvert Magruder ’51 and Michael Magruder ’54, and several cousins.
Juliana Day Franz ’33 of Garrett Park, MD, died on May 24, 2013. She is survived by two step-children and three step-grandchildren.
Russell H. Peck ’36 of Cambridge, died November 18, 2013. He leaves three sons, Charles Peck ’60, Nicholas Peck ’62, and William Peck ’68; a daughter, Sabrina Peck ’63; and three grandchildren.
Former SHS parent Herbert Gleason of Boston, died on December 9, 2013. He leaves a son, David Gleason ’76; a daughter, Alice Gleason ’78; a sister; and two grandsons.
Former SHS parent David Perry of Lincoln, died on December 1, 2013. His is survived by his wife, Deborah; a son, Todd Perry ’97; a daughter, Katherine Perry ’99; and a sister.
Former SHS parent Sanford Gifford of Cambridge, died on December 18, 2013. He leaves two sons, Paul Gifford ’63 and Ralph Gifford ’66, and three grandchildren.
Former SHS parent Norman Selverstone of Cambridge, died on November 5, 2013. He leaves his wife, Bobbie; two sons, Andrew Selverstone ’69 and Roger Selverstone ’77; a daughter, Jane Selverstone ’71; and two grandchildren.
Current SHS grandparent Joan Frasher Koerner of Pittsburgh, PA, died on September 12, 2013. She is survived by her son, current SHS parent Joseph Koerner; a daughter; a sister; and four grandchildren, including Ben Koerner ’06, Leo Koerner ’18, and Lucy Koerner ’20.
Helen MacLachlan Stelson ’44 of Roseburg, OR, formerly of Oak Ridge, TN, died on August 21, 2013. She is survived by her brother; four sons; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Ulrich Kruse ’44 of Urbana, IL died on November 12, 2013. He leaves his wife, Mary; two daughters; a son; and four grandchildren.
F. Blair Weille ’46 of New York passed away on February 12, 2014. He leaves his wife, Patsy, two daughters, and four grandchildren. Douglas U. Wilson ’39 of Brattleboro, VT, died on June 1, 2013. He is survived by his wife Mary; a brother; two children; and three grandchildren.
SHADY HILL SCHOOL WINTER 2014
the willow tree society The Willow Tree Society is an association of alumni, faculty, friends, parents, grandparents and Teacher Training Course graduates who have included Shady Hill School in their estate or financial plans. Currently, eighty-three members of the School have joined this important Society. Planned gifts offer significant benefits to a donor. Income tax savings, capital gains tax savings, estate and gift tax savings, a lifetime income stream and property maintenance relief are just some of the possible benefits. Planned giving options at Shady Hill include: • Bequest • Life income plans • Deferred gift plans • Outright gifts A planned gift may be made during your lifetime or through an estate plan. The goal of planned giving is to enable you to maximize the benefits of a gift for yourself, your family and for Shady Hill School while minimizing the cost of making that gift. Some planned gifts can be structured to provide you with income during your life. Other planned gifts provide a means to transfer assets to heirs while supporting Shady Hill School and minimizing or eliminating tax burdens. Planned gifts typically support Shady Hill School’s endowment and help ensure the School’s strength today and for years to come. Each year, a portion of endowment earnings is spent and a portion is reinvested to ensure growth and strength in perpetuity. The endowment supports a wide variety of needs including faculty, financial aid, and the upkeep of buildings. You may direct endowment gifts to existing endowment funds or you may establish a new named fund after a certain criteria are met.
“Shady Hill provides a wonderful base for children to learn and to grow. The mind remains open to all of the world’s possibilities. Children develop a wonderful sense of confidence. Teachers retain their excitement and vibrancy. We chose SHS for a final resting place for our funds. We hope others have done the same.” - Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Evans
Non-Profit Org. u.s. Postage paid Permit 2664 Boston, ma 178 Coolidge Hill Cambridge, ma 02138
upcoming events A RT SHOW FE ATURING A LUMNI A RT
March 25 – 28 (Tuesday – Friday) Opening Reception wednesday, march 26 • 7:00 – 9:00 pm Shady Hill Assembly Hall C E L E B R A T I O N O F M A R J O R I E G A T C H E L L’ S LIFE
April 13 (Sunday) 2:00 pm Shady Hill Assembly Hall
PA REN T S OF A LUMNI RECEP TION
April 30 (Wednesday) 6:30 to 8:30 pm Shady Hill Library
R E U N I O N W E E K E N D 2 0 14
May 2 & 3 (Friday & Saturday) with special activities for the Classes of 1939, 1944, 1949, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, 2004, and 2009 A LUMNI CR A F T BEER TA S TING
May 28 (Wednesday) 6:30 to 8:30 pm Head of School’s House
A L U M N I FA M I LY P I C N I C
June 8 (Sunday) noon Shady Hill Campus