2022 Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter

Spring

2022

SPECIAL ALUMNI NEWSLETTER EDITORS NOTE: I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane. It has been an honor to gather all your memories and create this hard copy newsletter to be enjoyed especially, by the digitally challenged. It has been requested that you NOT copy and upload to any websites. The idea is to keep it just for us. Our Buxton history.

Gratefully, with hugs, Smokey Minot ’62

1954 Alan Salisbury The Short Hills era! Writing for myself and my brother, Wade “47.

Both Wade and I went to Buxton in Short Hills. Wade went to the “Upper School” where he was #11 on the sixman football team and among Mrs. Sangster’s many “favorites”! Of course, the class was so small they were all her favorites. (In their graduation year book, each member of the class was given a Shakespearean quote by Mrs. Sangster. For Wade, she selected, “He hath eaten me out of house and home.” Wade went on to be an epicurean and amateur chef.) I remember walking up the hill from the Lower School to the big house that was the Upper School on occasion.

One of the highlights of Wade’s years was travelling to Tennessee to put on the play, “The Great Big Doorstep,” for a local audience. They had also done, “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Following graduation, Wade studied accounting at Rutgers Newark in a work-study program, interrupted by the Korean War in 1950, which saw him enlisting in the Air Force. Trained as a weather observer, he was sent to Germany for three years. Following the Air Force, he returned home (we lived in Maplewood) and completed his accounting degree at Rutgers. With a high recommendation from one of his professors, he was recruited and joined Price Waterhouse (forerunner of today’s PWC) where he began his career as a Junior Accountant in the San Francisco office. From there to Sacramento as a Senior Accountant, and then, promoted to Manager, was sent to open the first PW office in San Jose. There he excelled in building the audit practice, bringing in some small (at the time), but promising new client companies, like INTEL and AMD. Right time, right place, right man. He was made Partner at a young age.

Next on to Dallas/Ft. Worth and finally to Los Angeles. For a number of years, Wade was the Partner in Charge of both the Emmy’s and the Academy Awards, appearing regularly on stage as “The man from Price Waterhouse” bringing the sealed envelopes with the names of the winners.

Wade retired to Austin, Texas with his second wife, Mary. He passed away in 1999, leaving a son, Bill Salisbury of Los Angeles, and a grandson,

Jonathan Salisbury. He was predeceased by another son, Jonathan P. Salisbury.

I can also report that Bruce Bohrman, also class of ’47, aka “Boofus,” is living with family in Maine.

Bruce and Wade were extremely close friends and I was delighted to reconnect with him several years ago. He turned a hobby of knife-making into a hobby-business producing artistic knives.

Bruce’s wife, Judy, passed away in 1996. He attended Buxton, Short Hills, from Chatham, NJ where, as I recall, his father was publisher of the Chatham Press local newspaper.

I identified myself as Class of ’54 which is my actual year of high school graduation, but not from Buxton. I attended Buxton from first grade through sixth grade which I completed in 1948.

That was the year that Ellen Gear Sangster, after inheriting the property in Williamstown, moved Buxton to Massachusetts. The lower school remained but was sold by Mrs. Sangster to the group that rebranded it as Far Brook Country Day School, which continues to thrive today as a progressive private school. I have visited it a few times in recent years and was amazed to find that most of the buildings that I remember so well, are still there, well refurbished and cared for. The Upper School house is long gone. So many of the traditions I recall remain intact and there are many new ones as well. The Far Brook Song Book is filled with songs I remember from Buxton.

I left Buxton at the end of sixth grade and integrated into public schools, attending Maplewood Junior High School (now Maplewood Middle School), and graduating from Columbia High School in 1954. In what turned into a life changing experience for me, I received an appointment to West Point where I had a commitment to serve in the Army for three years, following graduation in 1958. I was commissioned into the Signal Corps (communications and electronics) where I found myself on the ground floor of bringing computers into the Army. Three years turned into thirty years. Along the way, the Army sent me to Stanford twice, for a total of four years of graduate school, first to get an MSEE and then teach at West Point, and later to get a Ph.D. in computer engineering and computer science. My last assignment was as a Major General, commanding the Army’s Information Systems Engineering Command, a world-wide organization with 4600 professionals.

After retiring in 1987, I spent twelve years in industry with Contel Corporation (President of the Technology Center Division); the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp (MCC) (EVP/COO), and Learning Tree International (President). In 2011, I founded the Code of Support Foundation, a non-profit supporting service members, veterans and military families, where I remain active as a board member today. I married my wife, Florence, in 1971. We

have two daughters living in Raleigh, NC and Summit, NJ, and have four grandchildren. alanbs58@aol.com

1959 Frosty Puestow Montgomery After 52 years in New York City, and in the midst of the pandemic, I escaped to the Berkshires. I left just 2 days before the city closed down. I thought it might be for a few months but as we all know, it turned out to be one and a half years.

During that time of walking the dog and hibernating, I realized that Lenox, MA was the perfect setting for me going forward, so I bought a condo in a nice community and by last May, I was packing up boxes to journey up to the Berkshires, for my permanent residence going forward.

New York is a great city and I had a good ride, for all those years.

As my first love was the theatre, this was the town in which I needed to be. In order to afford my arts habits, I needed to find myself gainfully employed. I have had a number of careers, starting in the publishing world with Time-Life, as it was originally called back in 1969.

First, I was at Life International in the promotion department and then later I moved over to Sports Illustrated, still in promotion. From there, I moved into industrial film making, which was great fun and I learned a lot about what is involved in making a film.

Later, I became a freelance producer in multimedia and joined up with VisualScope, where we produced movies and multimedia for some of the people with whom I had worked, at Time-Life, as well as moving into the networks to produce promotional material for NBC, ABC and CBS. That was really a lot of fun!

Ultimately, I left the world of multi-media. For the last 25 years, I was a real Estate Broker in residential sales, first at Corcoran and then Brown Harris Stevens. I hit that market shortly after the city recovered from the recession of ’88, and it was a great ride for most of that time, until the end. All of that allowed me to catch a lot of theatre among other things.

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

My love for the Berkshires, which is now over 60 years, came from my years at Buxton. On weekends off campus, we would head down to the city to see theatre. What a blast for a young lady trying to figure out the world! Virginia was a great support for my love of the stage.

After Buxton, I went to Bennett College for two years, then to France, for a year abroad. I lived with a lovely family whose husband was a film director! That was a great year of independence and learning. I traveled a bit, saw a whole world that I had not experienced before, and resolved that travel was going to be an important part of my life going forward.

When I return to the US, I enrolled at Lake Forest College, in Illinois. I majored in Art History and minored in Political Science. How’s that for different worlds! I worked briefly in Chicago at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, but then I came back to New York City. Couldn’t stay away.

I feel fortunate I have had such a full and varied life and have been able to incorporate so many interests into my lifestyle. Aside from work and the arts, I have been lucky enough to travel to many continents and have learned so much from those experiences: Europe, Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand), East and West Africa, Argentina, Chili, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica.

How lucky I am.

Now, I am back in the Berkshires, where I started and am still unpacking and thinking about my next endeavors, which will be in the non-profit sector, more specifically working with the immigrant community here in the Berkshires, as well as in affordable housing, which this beautiful part of the world needs badly. It’s time to give back.

I also look forward to spending time in the gardens. I have been thinking about this topic for a long time.

So that pretty much sums up my years since leaving Buxton, which were some of the most important years of my life. It was more than I had expected and the quality of care and learning was very special. I was lucky to have found this school during my research at the town library, looking for a school I would like. In addition, I was fortunate that Ellen Sangster and Ben Fincke invited me into the community on what was very late notice.

I am forever grateful to them and the others I met there, who gave me such a rich and varied education.

Frosty.montgomery@gmail.com

Steve Kellner At age 82, I am still in good health. I live with my wife of 56 years in Middleton, WI in a house on land which we purchased in 1984. After getting out of the Air Force, I worked for over 40 years (1968 till I retired last year) in the medical field, specifically neurodiagnostic. First, I worked in sales and service, then as an applications manager and also in product development. I also did a lot of customer training. After a lifelong interest in electronics, I had no idea I would be teaching myself neurophysiology and loving every minute of it.

So far life has been good to me and my wife, Angela. We both enjoy traveling. She likes to visit her family in Greece every year, but the virus has prevented her from traveling there for over a year,

now. We just started traveling again with our first trip via Amtrack to Winslow, AZ and Las Vegas, NM. The next train trip will be through Alaska on the Alaska Railroad. We have already done an Alaskan cruise. In the past we have taken multiple trips through Asia including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Thailand. As I am a little wild, two years ago I rode my motorcycle from WI to Washington (state) and then up into the Canadian Rockies, going down the Ice roads highway, then back across Canada and home. This September I will be joining a group of motorcyclists on a ride around Lake Michigan. Angela will not get on my Harley with or without me.

I am still an active model railroader and have been the treasurer of a local N scale club for over 20 years, now.

We both like art and the walls of our house are covered with painting, lithographs and prints from artists all over the world.

As I said, life has been good to us and we don’t know what adventures life has in store for us, but I am sure we will enjoy them. steve@kellner-llc.su

1960 Eva Selek Greetings from Cairo, Egypt, from one alumna, Class 1960.

As I am sitting here to write a few words, I am flooded with memories of classes ’59, ’60. ’61, ’62, and ’63. I remember most of you from those classes, as our lives intertwined often, whether in a class, work duty periods (cleaning the grounds, or cooking on weekends) or during social occasions. We were a great generation of giving, understanding, accepting both the new and the old, building values and societies instead of tearing down everything, just because. In 2012 I had a visit with Smokey in Vienna. Felt as if we had just been, together.

My all-time favourite time in the US was at Buxton, where diversity was not a concept, it was a way of life, without any hiccups, other than the normal disagreements. We did learn from one another, we shared our customs and culture openly, and all was received with open arms. And I will be ever so grateful to our Ellen Geer Sangster for providing such an opportunity to learn to be open minded, accept what you can’t change and change that what you can.

Building remained in my blood, and I’m proud to say that at the grand young age of 80, I am starting a new development of a new city, in Egypt.

What a fantastic journey life has been; starting in Budapest, Hungary, arriving to the US when I was 15 years old, living 50 years in the US, getting married and raising a family of two wonderful daughters (they are now having their own families), then moving to the Philippines, then to China, then to living between Austria and

Hungary, then moving to the UK, where I met my Egyptian husband 20 years ago, and finally settling down in Egypt.

In closing, I wish all my friends, classmates, school mates and all Buxtonites of today and of the future, much success in your lives, good health and friendships. chairman@seft-leasing.com

Hetty Jo Brumbach I graduated from Buxton in 1960. I loved Buxton, but it was not the happiest time of my life: my mother died a few weeks before graduation. After a year of college, I went to Italy to visit friends and stayed for a few years. I loved Italy and in the early 1960s it was a great place to be.

By the later 60s, I decided it was time to get organized and do something else with my life. I returned to the States, went back to college, and in 1968 graduated with a major in archaeology and anthropology. I started work at the New York State Museum. I loved this job. A great job but, after a few years I returned to college part-time, to get a graduate degree in anthropology while still working at the Museum. Graduate studies took longer than I expected, but I finally got a PhD in Anthropology, specializing in Native North American archaeology. My dissertation research centered on the subsistence ecology of a multicomponent seasonal settlement in Schuylerville, NY, a short distance from the Hudson River, and about 10 miles east of Saratoga Springs (I think some Buxtonites are familiar with this place, or at least the racetrack). The site was re-occupied several times; the major settlement was radiocarbon dated ca. 100-200 years B.C. After graduate school, I left the Museum and went looking for a university job. I worked at several short-term positions, including a year-long appointment at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which was a fabulous experience. I moved back to upstate New York when I was hired by the University at Albany. I like living in upstate New York. It’s beautiful.

Over the past 40 or so years, I’ve taught both undergraduate and graduate students at the University, and led a number of field and research projects. I went back to Alaska for a research project and even had the opportunity to work in western Siberia.

But recently, I’m not doing much. I retired from the University and for the past two years, like everyone else, I’m locked down, masked, and socially distanced due to the Covid epidemic. Bob, my husband, and I live on a remnant dairy farm in the hills about 20 miles southwest of Albany. This is a rural area and I socialize more with the deer and the turkeys than with people (other than Bob).

Maybe some of the other Buxtonites live in upstate New York, or adjacent Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Vermont? I’ve been to Buxton several times, since I graduated, once for the Buxton reunion weekend a few years ago, and several other times just to look around, when Bob and I visited the Clark Institute. I’d love to hear from other Buxton people.

My is landline is 518 872-1794; mail address is 96 Remley Lane, Westerlo, NY, 12193; I don’t tend to use a cell phone much due to the very poor (almost nonexistent) service here in the sticks.

Contact me. hbrumbach@albany.edu

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Jim Stockman After Buxton, I went off to study Forestry at Paul Smith’s College, after 1 semester changed my major to Liberal Arts.

Graduated in 1962 with an A.A. Degree in Liberal Arts. Was one of the founders of an extra-curricular drama club. The next 2 years I went to Windham College in Putney and studied Art and was one of the founders of another extracurricular drama club. In the fall of 1964 enrolled in a new MFA (Master of Fine Arts) program connected with the Department of Speech at UMASS Amherst. My area of study was primarily Lighting and Scenic Design and Technical Direction, though did some acting and directing too. Met my first wife on stage in 1964 at UMASS. Spent my summers working and studying at various summer theatres in the Northeastern US many are no longer in existence, Melody Fair in Latham NY, Saranac Summer Theatre and the Nutmeg Summer Theatre at UCONN. After receiving my MFA proceed to get jobs at various Colleges and Universities for the next 10 years in the following order: Colby Junior College for Women, New London NH [one academic year] Buffalo State College [2 academic years] I was Technical Director for Melody Fair in North Tonawanda NY, Miami-Dade Junior College, South Campus [3 years] and finally California State College, California PA [5 academic years] During this time we welcomed 4 children. At California State College I branched out of the Theatre program and started teach courses in Industrial Safety. In 1977 I retired from teaching as an Associate Professor and returned to Northern New England so my wife at the time could be closer to her elderly parents. We bought a Hardware store located in Cape Porpoise, Maine actual in the Town of Kennebunkport, and started to learn about how to run a retail business. We lasted for 3 years making probably every mistake one could make including buying the wrong inventory and certainly not understanding a seasonal resort town during the gas crisis. While owning the store I also set out find jobs as a consultant to industry in safety, lighting design projects and finally became a Manufacturer’s Representative in the Architectural and Lighting industry.

My first wife and I welcomed our 5th child during this time. On selling the store I had to focus all of my attention on raising my young daughter since my wife became ill was hospitalized for the next 5 years so I became a Lighting and Theatre Consultant so I could work out of my house. My company has had a couple of names over the years J & M Associates and now J & M Lighting Design, Inc. I am an Emeritus member of the Illuminating Engineering Society, NFPA and a member of the American Society of Theatre Consultants ASTC. Three years after my first wife passed away I remarried and we are still together 33 years later. Her name is Cornelia.

Besides our 5 children, we have 5 grandchildren ranging in age from 6 to 18. I joined the local volunteer Fire Department at this time and have spent 45 years responding to calls when the alarm sounds. About 14 years ago my Fire Company was absorbed into a new entity: Kennebunkport Fire Department of which I am the department’s Safety Officer. My other public service volunteer

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

job is as President of the local non-profit ambulance company called KEMS. Jmlight2@roadrunner.com 207-967-5223

combination of administrative assistant to our head teacher, parent participation coordinator, nurse and all around wearer of many hats. I loved my work.

Robert (Bob) Brown

After being so deeply involved in education, it seemed natural to continue my own education after I retired. Classes at S.B. City College included art, English and French concluding with a trip to Paris. I went on to Antioch Santa Barbara getting my BA degree in Communications. I continue to learn with classes in art (thank you Magda), dancing, cooking and poetry (remember Mrs. Sangster’s early morning tea and poetry writing gathering?).

Mellow for the moment.

We sold the house/villa in Nice about five years ago and bought one in northern Westchester.

We call the house In front of a Yayoy Kasama pumpkin on Naoshima, Setu “Durst Castle” because Inland Sea, Japan it’s where Robert Durst murdered his wife. The house is “pied dans l’eau”, but Mrs. Durst was nowhere to be found in the lake. We moved our gallery to nearby in Ridgefield, CT, where we are phone and email only. Our clients are museums and well-heeled collectors, with one of our favorites being a Parisian finance fellow who is building a museum in his wine bastide outside of Aix-en-Provence. I hope we can travel again soon to see it. Otherwise, we have a preference for countries or regions that excel in seafood. Nonetheless, we did visit Los Angeles twice last fall for the exhibition of my mother’s archive at the Getty Center. The title is “Fluxus Means Change”, which included Dada and Surrealism. reinholdbrown@gmail.com

1961 Carol Davis Preston A brief history of life after Buxton…

First stop college in New Jersey. I looked for community and joined a small independent sorority some interesting friends but not the community I hoped to find. I moved back to Connecticut and went to work for a creative advertising agency. I found some like-minded people and was introduced to my husband-to-be by my boss. We married (Pru Grand ’61 was my maid of honor), had two children named Hal and Alicia and by 1972 decided to move to California.

We traveled across country in a two-stroke Saab pulling a little tent camper, a grand adventure.

Santa Barbara, CA was a place of innovation and diversity, a forward-thinking liberal local government and opportunities to create meaningful work.

The public schools in S.B. were less than stellar at the time and I became part of a small group that founded a new small public school grades K-8, a school of choice available at no cost to families throughout the city called Open Alternative School. The school goals were similar to what I had experienced at City and Country in NYC and Buxton. We created an environment where children looked forward to coming to school, were involved in decision-making about their own education, where individual learning styles were honored and hands-on learning happened in and out of the classroom. Parent participation was an integral part of the school structure and we regularly had rousing All School Meetings with parents, teachers and children voicing opinions and voting on the issues. I remember Jake Brackman ’61 trying to establish order in our Buxton meetings, not an easy job! My job in the school evolved into a full time position, a

Have been involved with liberal politics over the years (even after McGovern lost!), feminist causes - volunteering at Planned Parenthood, marching for peace and social justice and finding people who support each other in our emotional and spiritual development. From consciousness-raising groups (remember them?) as a young mom and the extended family my family joined at the Unitarian Society to the still active women’s group formed when my husband was ill with the disease that took his life when he was 59. I value lessons learned from friends and teachers, from my wise children and from my parents whose lessons are still with me. I am a slow learner so fortunately I am from a long-lived family - my creative father lived to be 96, my amazing mother died two years ago at age 108! I expect to see you all from the class of 1961 at our 75th Buxton Reunion (The Revolution Reunion will be televised)!

Grae Fincke Sitting indoors, with my family out on the ski slopes in gently falling snow, I confronted my age. It presented itself as a reluctance to brave the cold, to push myself toward mastery of the moguls, or to risk a broken hip.

At age 15 at Buxton, in winter with gently falling snow, I would have been overflowing with excitement and out skiing no matter what the cold, doing herring bones up the Buxton hills, then tearing down the steepest I could find without concern, even with “bear trap” bindings that seemed designed to break a leg.

Yes, but I was also a dope! That is a common realization as one looks back on one’s youth: one that, in contrast to vision, grows sharper with passing years.

Buxton gave me what I needed to move from being a dope, to recognizing being a dope, to eventually becoming a lesser dope. It instilled within me an enjoyment of community life and of shared endeavor, an appetite for learning, an appreciation of the arts, and the instinctive understanding that the quality of one’s life is largely dependent on the tenor of one's relationships with other people.

How little I knew of myself, how little I knew each of you, my schoolmates, even those I was closest to. I wince with the recognition of how callow I was and how I must have been experienced by others. I am sure that

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

I caused many wounds, I hope not too deep, and owe many apologies.

What has happened since I graduated? I went to Harvard filled with excitement to learn. I took a wide range of courses. I was pre-med, but had no secure idea of what I really wanted to do. Along the way I discovered a love of science. I also came to the realization that I would feel fulfilled if I could somehow be of help to others. That was, no doubt, partly the result of having witnessed, and possibly caused, a terrible accident when I was a young child. The details of that are lost to me, but I have always felt that if I could save a life it might in some way even the balance.

I loved medicine the moment I arrived on the hospital wards. I had wondered what use I could be to people decades older than myself who were often facing terrible circumstances. I discovered that patients were immensely comforted if I simply translated the medical world around them.

That was it!

I have been devoted to medicine ever since, and have expanded from direct care of patients, to teaching, to research on healthcare delivery, to mentoring young researchers.

Though I have been in academic medicine I have marched to a different drummer. Academic advancement was not my goal, and I have always felt a bit like a square peg in a round hole. When I look back I think that I was driven by a desire to avoid boredom at all cost. In that I have been successful, having practiced family medicine in a clinic for migrant farmworkers, cared for residents in a nursing home, delivered babies, been a specialist in infectious diseases, run a number of programs and now am still doing research part time. I am the only one I know in medicine who has travelled such a varied path. I feel very fortunate.

I met my wife, Heidi Urich, when I was an intern.

She says that I fell asleep on her shoulder on our first date. I say I was faking! Then we spent an afternoon walking and talking along the Charles River in Cambridge. It was just wonderful. We married a year later. We now have two children and two grandchildren. I could fill more pages about them, but I must put some boundaries around my story. If I say that we are a happy and fortunate family I am sure you know what a big and important part of my life that is.

Heidi is Jewish. My background is Christian. We decided to raise our children in the Jewish tradition. I worried that religious differences might come between me and them. Then I realized that would depend on me. So I have kept pace with them as they have developed their Jewish identities. And I have kept pace with Heidi as she has explored her own identity by returning to her own past and that of her parents before they came to this country.

Over the years I have studied a bit of Talmud and Torah, have been a member of our Jewish congregation, partaken of my children’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. I feel Jewish, but have little idea how that might compare to the real thing.

Nothing more meaningful or important has happened in my life than to learn from Heidi in this way what life is. It is the greatest gift, I think, that can be given—in bits and pieces of slow growth over 50 years of marriage.

So the circle is closed. I have learned to connect, I have learned to learn from differences, I have grown as I have learned, I am a better person for

it. Looking back, I deeply wish I had achieved lesser dope-hood when I was at Buxton. gfincke@comcast.net

Anna’s wedding, with son Josh ‘93, on the left of me, with Heidi.

John Guenther 60 years in a nut shell, 79.5 and still going - life after Buxton Quite a lot of my post Buxton life was the result of an inexplicable decision by Ben Fincke.

Having dropped out of Columbia College NYC for probably the third time, I was working for a printing company whose major project was printing blueprints of the structures, wiring and other workings of missile silos. I was doing billing and estimating. I had recently married Pru Grand '61 and had no real idea where my life was headed. Pru and I spent most of our time hanging out with friends in coffee houses, going to parties, occasionally smoking pot, more frequently drinking (at the parties) and going to plays and movies. Then, out of the blue I received a telegram from Ben. In brief, it said "Want to come to Buxton in Sept. and teach math?" Why was this inexplicable?

Because I had never been a math person. I had gotten into Columbia in spite of failing Algebra II, because of good grades in everything else and high SAT scores, including the math one. In addition, I had only completed 2 years of college during the four years I intermittently attended Columbia. As a result of the telegram, I taught Alg. I and Alg. II at Buxton for 3 years, at which point I decided I really should get a college degree.

I applied to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and was rejected. Not being willing to accept this, I requested a meeting with the Dean of Admissions. To make a longer story short, it became clear that they didn't want me because I had been at Columbia during the takeover of the campus by students in a protest against the Vietnam War. Eventually, after a lot of back-andforth discussion, transmitted back and forth by the dean's secretary (I never actually saw the Dean) the secretary returned from one of her trips from the waiting room to his office and back again, with the message that I would be accepted, but they expected no trouble from me like that which had occurred at Columbia. The funny part of this being the fact that I was never actually involved in any of the rebellion, because of all my dropped-out time!

While at Columbia I had lunch one day with Bob Dylan and Peter Jacobson '61 and during the summer of '69 I went to the Woodstock festival. I mention these because they often gave me some cred with my students.

After teaching at Buxton, and after finishing my B.S. in psychology (and almost a major in Mathematics) at U.MA, Pru and I got involved with some others in a project to start a commune.

It began with us living together with three other

couples in a large farmhouse. During this year Pru and I had a child, Anemone '89. After a year, Pru and I funded the purchase of 80 acres and another farmhouse in Charlemont, MA. We and one of the other couples from the first farmhouse and another couple (longtime friends of ours) moved to the land in Charlemont. Commune life didn't work out well for me. Pru and I got divorced. As you might expect I went through a few relationships before finding a new permanent love, my current wife Melody. In the process I acquired another wonderful daughter, Adriene. I began working as a carpenter building houses. The person funding this business was a local man who had made millions growing marijuana instead of hay on his farm in Leyden and was now playing the gentlemen farmer. He bought an old sawmill which he had me and another employee dismantle, move and rebuild on his farm. He used the mill to cut lumber with which we then built houses. After doing this for a year, I suffered an injury. Also, at this time, while I was away for a weekend, my wife Melody and Adriene luckily escaped the burning down of the house in which we were living, on the land in Charlemont. This led to us to move to Greenfield. I also came into some money, so I started a bookstore and café. Did that for about 3 years. Anemone and Adriene were by this time in school, about 10. To be honest I hadn't felt like taking on a regular fulltime job teaching because sharing the bringing up of 2 daughters was taking up a lot of my attention. Being an involved father (But not a helicopter parent. If you doubt my restraint you can check with my kids.) was/is an important part of who I am.

But now that my kids were older and in school, when I saw a job posting for a math teacher at a local school for adolescents remanded there by the courts because they were in trouble and because their parents were either abusing them or otherwise incapable of properly caring for them I decided to take the plunge. I taught there for 2 years. This was followed by another 2 years at a very innovative alternative school (a school that didn't survive) and then a year at a very expensive private school for rebellious adolescents, who in general had histories of flunking or being thrown out of other expensive boarding schools. At this school, I had a student flunk my math course in spite of being told by his father that he would give him a Maserati if he passed. I told the father that he offered the Maserati to the wrong person.

After this I taught at High Mowing for 11 years.

High Mowing, located in the small NH town of Wilton, was kind of the black sheep of the Waldorf School movement, the only Waldorf boarding school in the U.S. and at that time only a High School. I applied for that job because I knew it was somewhat like Buxton. I had visited it on at least two occasions, I think, once as a student at Buxton and once as a teacher when Buxton took school plays to High Mowing; I think on the way to Montreal and/or Quebec.

After my 11 years there, with very low pay, I decided quite impulsively that I didn't want to retire there in relative poverty. I accepted a job at a large, in my experience, but actually, relatively, small Catholic high school (300 students) in East Boston and moved to Cambridge. This experience was for me almost as much of a cultural change as if I had moved to India. Most of the students were from very working-class families who wanted their sons and daughters to go to college, they themselves never having done so, and they were all very religious. East Boston is the home of a huge Catholic Cathedral high on a hill overlooking the city and I spent many hours at masses but ones that were designed to be student oriented,

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school spirit boosters and social bonding experiences.

After three years there I accepted the job of Chair of the Math Dept. at a school in Waltham called Chapel Hill – Chauncy Hall. Again, I had applied sort of on a whim and didn't prepare at all for the possibility I should hear back from the school.

The name sounded so hoity-toity to me that I simply assumed I'd never be asked for an interview, since I hadn't altered my resume to suit what I thought they might be looking for. As it turned out I was completely wrong about them.

When I received a call from the headmaster, and he asked me why I was interested in teaching there I simply confessed that I had no idea, and explained why. He responded by asking me at what kind of school I'd like to be teaching, and whatever I said impressed him enough to invite me to come for an interview. I wound up teaching there for 13 years, until I retired. It's a very interesting school whose philosophy is based on the work of Howard Gardner. You might want to look it up.

When Melody and I had moved to Cambridge, thanks to a small inheritance which I had received, we had the down payment for a condominium. This was luckily just before real estate prices were about to rise. After about 5 years it felt too small and due to its increase in value we were able to sell it and use the proceeds on a duplex with an unusually large yard, for Cambridge. Prices continued to rise. After 12 years of living practically free of housing costs (we rented the other side of the duplex) we sold the duplex and moved back to Western MA, near to where my daughter, my new granddaughter and Melody's mother live. This is where we live, now, quite comfortably due to retirement accounts plus the killing on selling the duplex in Cambridge.

I retired because there were more things I wanted to do. For one thing, I had been a Buddhist practitioner, a student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche for many years, but wanted to be more involved than was possible, while teaching at boarding schools. I'm, also, on the board of the local Charter School and I'm working towards an M.A. in philosophy at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David in Lampeter (online of course). In addition, Melody and I are taking a French class in preparation for a visit to England, Wales and Paris, pandemic permitting. john.guenther@comcast.net

Judith Haigh To date, two husbands, one dead and one thankfully, living. His name is Fred.

Six stepchildren and approximately 12 stepgrandchildren, none of whom speak to me, so being a second wife means saving money at Christmas and birthdays.

I’m still in close touch with Sandy/Alex Moore whom I first met on the front porch at Buxton in 1957. We shared an apartment for a while, after we had both graduated.

5cats3pots@comcast.net

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

June Henrich Williams Thinking back to the first ten years after Buxton graduation in June of 1961, I am struck by the sheer weight of that decade in the modest parade of my life’s events.

1961-1965, college, Radcliffe, with an enormous amount of schoolwork, few dates, few boyfriends, at most 6 parties/year. (Just contrasting here with what seems to be the partying expectation for higher education.) In freshman year, thanks to Buxton, I realized that to be at all happy I needed to be in a production, and so I was lucky to land the spot of bass-player in the Gilbert and Sullivan orchestra, which I enjoyed for the next seven semesters. There was also year in the HarvardRadcliffe Orchestra, which was much less of a partying organization.

After graduation I spent 8 months working as a lab tech, here and there (Dartmouth and Brown), saving money to travel to France to join the boyfriend-of-the-time who was enjoying the annual scholarship exchange with the Ecole Normale Supérieure, in Paris, definitely a good place for me to hang out for culture and croissants. He and I drove to the middle of Turkey and back, with the many unique adventures that come with trying to spend no money and having a car that broke down frequently. We camped by the side of the road, except for the one time in a hotel when I was very sick. I did not know about boiling water, apparently.

I was about to spend the rest of my life in the incredible charm of Cambridge, England when my mother somehow reached me to say that I’d been accepted to graduate school in biology at Columbia University. Knowing that this would be my only chance for acceptance anywhere, I returned “home” to New York City and began to really learn some biology. In the summer of 1968, while at Woods Hole, working in the bio labs, I met Robley Williams and it became clear very shortly that we would marry, which we did that December. He took his first job at Yale, and I transferred to the graduate program there. My academic career ended when I was booted out of the lab of my advisor, and that was OK, sort of, because all I’d ever anticipated for myself was to get married (done) and to have children.

The 1970s, then ‘80s: First child, Elliot, December 1971, second child, Ruth, November, 1974, dog January 1975. I was the stay-at-home parent and played homestead in rural Connecticut near New Haven, while young scientist Robley was working 70 to 80 hours a week. I was growing, canning, brewing, tapping maples, raising chickens. In the summer of 1976 we moved to Nashville, (Tennessee (!) shrieked the entrenched, provincial Yankee), where we very pleasantly spent the next 28 years. Robley taught at Vanderbilt, and I covered the home front, with seasonal stints preparing taxes at H and R Block, seven or eight years also supporting Ruth’s focused passion for competitive figure-skating. (How totally unlike me!) We spent the academic year ‘85-’86 on sabbatical in Boulder, CO, after which I expressed a desire to retire there, in the next century, of course.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s I became active playing viola da gamba (Renaissance origin stringed instrument, like a bowed guitar), getting instruction in summer workshops, playing gigs in groups here and there, eventually leading a onecredit Renaissance ensemble course at Vanderbilt’s music school.

Robley made the sudden decision to take his second sabbatical leave to work in a lab near Paris, for all of 1996—whoopee! Our sudden switch of geographical attention, plus the “carpe diem” example of the recent deaths of all of our parents, led us to buy a very small apartment near Paris, as a base for future vacations. (Do I dare say Versailles? Really, it’s just a small city with a great park, and surprisingly frequent fireworks.

Apologies: the apartment, from the 18th century, has never been suitable, perhaps even safe, to rent out, or even to lend. People ask.)

In 2003 Robley retired and agreed that Colorado would be a good place for the next phase.

Altitude, dry air, lots of sunshine, and both of our kids said, “Do it; we love Colorado.” In June of 2011 our son met his true love while on a week’s trip to Berlin. Within 3 months, he had quit his DC job and emigrated to live with Christina (German) in Munich. In rapid succession, he learned German from scratch, while writing in English a geek-oriented book on programming microprocessors, and the they bought a house, got married and had a baby boy, Max. All of this was done by May 2014. The upshot is that we keep going to Europe and using our place in France, at least when there is not a pandemic going on. We may get there this April, after two and a half years absence. A phone call to our neighbor this morning established for us that the apartment is still there, not re-possessed by the bailiff or something because of abandonment.

We have lived in Boulder, incredibly, for 18 years, the time passing quickly. Three years ago, our daughter Ruth, divorced and with two daughters, moved to town near us, and we are definitely involved with them and enjoying their proximity.

I’ve played music with small groups here, kind of dropping it during the pandemic, but during the last four years I have been knitting with an addictive passion. With an internet world called Ravelry and local social groups gathered around the “fiber arts,” knitting takes on a broad aspect of exploration and learning, which I love, but at base for most of us, it is predominantly a tactile pleasure. It is also a good activity for waiting while in doctor’s offices or airports, and a true distraction from pain. What? pain? Well, yes, but a hip replacement last summer fixed that. Robley took up the other quintessential retirement hobby, watercolor painting, enjoying a similar sort of social and learning experience.

I still love to dig in the dirt, hoping to grow some veggies and flowers in the yard, but it is an uphill effort in our dry climate, and especially when I leave the country for nearly two months in the spring and summer. We return to surprising color combinations of self-seeded weed-flowers, some edible weeds, well-fed honeybees, and I am thankful that our yard is completely behind fencing, unseen by neighbors or passersby, or we might have Codes come down upon us.

The aforementioned fence now needs much repair after the fierce and erratic winds of December 30th, which spread the devastating fire that destroyed a thousand homes about 6-8 miles south of us. Friends, a couple in their 80s, lost everything (except for important documents and a

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

few flutes in their fleeing cars). Could I, as materially rooted as I am, pull out of such a disaster? I can’t imagine.

Well anyway, here we are, and I am really looking forward to what other Buxtonites contribute to this alumni publication and wish all the best to you all. junewilliams312@yahoo.com

1962

60th Anniversary

Adele Jeanette Cooper Ahanotu (Jeanie) 1,153 miles from Tuskegee Institute, Alabama to Williamstown, Massachusetts.

I traveled by train in 1959 with my mother, dressed in a two-piece suit made by my mother, with matching bowler hat, white gloves, stockings and beginner heels to a school my mother found in her beloved New England (my mother’s bias was based on her having worked one year in Massachusetts and, subsequently, falling in love with the area).

Later, some Buxton students told me they looked at me with curiosity when I first arrived at Buxton dressed in a suit, etc. They thought I was a rich kid. I laughed to myself. No rich kid. Just a kid whose parents were public school teachers, armed with a scholarship for a high school in the Berkshires.

How did it begin? My mother’s search began when I came home during my freshman year in high school repeatedly complaining about being bored. And my boredom just happened to ‘coincide’ with the rage at that time of many of my peers going off to private high school.

Exciting and terrifying! First time away from home; first time in a school setting that was not segregated. 1,153 miles to a school I had never heard of before that had a total enrollment of 60 students---less than the size or my freshman class at Tuskegee Institute High School. Mild panic when my mother left Buxton School after getting me “settled”. I was on my own to have the Buxton experience. How did I go over at Buxton?

Again, later, one of roommates told me the students in my Beginning French Class were amused hearing French spoked with a southern drawl. I was at a school where students called adults by their first name!!!!

It was a journey—math, history, English, physics (my downfall), with teachers that included English with Bambi, French with Mr. Sears, Music with Jerry Bidlack (I studied piano and was introduced to the cello and viola), creative writing with Mrs. S; Headmasters Mrs. S. and Ben Fincke; Magda Fincke, Lessie Melvin, Bessie, Dot & Ralph Martel; meals and study hall in the main dining room, devotional services on Sundays in the pines, SNOW (I tried ice skating! Even skiing!), school trips, work study program, drama with Virginia Hall Smith plays “Dial M for Murder” (the look on my mother’s face of complete SURPRISE as she sat in the front row when she saw me on stage!!!), Gilbert & Sullivan with my classmate Smokey Minot in the lead, soccer (there were sports other than football and basketball??),

schoolmates from Liberia, Dolly Barnes, Nathan Barnes, Yvonne Barclay; classmates from Liberia, Eli Simpson and Ora Cooper (I often wondered if we were related), Achinee from Thailand, my classmate sidekicks Gary McKinstry (in photo with me) and Harton Wolf, Ed Wohabi from Egypt, Eva Selek from Hungary (now Cairo), John Afasi and Seth Day from Ghana. Through it all--- I remained the one student from the South.

From Williamstown, Massachusetts to Appleton, Wisconsin Music Conservatory at Lawrence College (later Lawrence University). I was admitted to Oberlin Music Conservatory, but was advised at Buxton that a small conservatory would be the better choice for me. Freshman year at Lawrence in the conservatory, I majored in piano and minored in cello. Also, that first year, I took a history class and got “hooked”. My sophomore year, I changed my major to Modern European History and had many wonderful history classes with Professor Charles Breunig. I noted that Professor Breunig was always smiling when he taught. I don’t remember my parents smiling so much when they talked about teaching in Alabama.

Also, the summer following my freshman year at Lawrence, I put myself on a regimen of eight hours of piano practice a day (grueling!!). At the end of summer, I was spent (and not just from the Alabama heat!). Music performance as a major was not something I could sustain!

While at Lawrence, I took an African History class and an African political science class and got “swept up” in the fervor at the time of African Studies programs starting to be offered at colleges and universities in the United States. It was the ‘60s and African nations were declaring independence from colonial rule. From Lawrence University, I crossed country to Los Angeles, California to UCLA. My first day of orientation as a new graduate student, I met a fellow student from Nigeria, just graduated from Berea College in Kentucky, who was also a first-time graduate student in the African Studies program. All the way back to the dorm (my parents had insisted for safety sake, I live on campus), a fellow new graduate student (who was from Birmingham, Alabama, no less!) teased me about the student from Nigeria. She announced to me in no uncertain terms that she was in graduate school to get a husband and she assumed I was too. Little did she know that when I closed eyes, I saw my hard working parents with “get your education” stamped on their foreheads. Many southern black parents had these expectations of their children.

I did get my Masters from UCLA and a year later I did walk down the aisle (before my coed friend from Birmingham did so) to marry the graduate student from Nigeria, Austin Ahanatu. My coed friend from Birmingham must have known something I refused to see.

The subsequent journey has been 45 years of marriage (widowed since 2014), three sons and seven grandchildren. Yes, this grandson is TALL! Another part of my journey is my work history which began at UCLA in the School of Education; then Berkeley, California at the University of California Office of the Vice President of

University Relations, UC Berkeley Personnel Office, Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley and culminating at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley where I headed the Foreign Visitors Office.

Organizations and programs I have and/or currently volunteer with: Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, Oakland, California; Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program (minority mentoring program); NAACP Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) Program (minority achievement mentoring program), Young Musicians Program at UC Berkeley (minority mentoring program); volunteer study participant at UC Davis Alzheimer’s Research Study group; UC Davis Health & Wellness Program ”The Good Life Path” (cardio exercise, Pilates), Naija Book Club (American women married or engaged to be married to men from Nigeria), Co-chair of the Older Adult Ministry at Downs Memorial United Methodist Church, Oakland, California.

60 years later (who’s counting) and I am still on a journey that started with a 1,153-mile train ride to Stone Hill, Williamstown, MA. The growth has been and continues to be tremendous! shorter6@hotmail.com

Alexandra (Sandy) Moore Hello classmates, I hope that you are all well and I think of you always. I am still connected to my best friends from school. I am blessed. My life in a nutshell. Drama in New York, lots of dancing, 3 babies, 5 grand babies, 2 husbands and then animals all over the place!

Love to you all.

Grandchildren: Ian, Kat Hallowell ‘16 and Alma Hallowell ’18

At Kat Hallowell ’16 graduation, with Alma Hallowell ’18

'Cindy' Childs (née Cynthia Farnsworth) 60 YEARS SINCE Buxton Can it really be 60 years since our graduation? As Virginia (Hall Smith, Drama) once called her, our class's 'Paul Revere' (aka Smokey), has reminded us adding a plea for a personal biopic, of our lives

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since then, from former students in all classes.

It is hard to believe that, at the time of our own graduation in 1962, Buxton was a mere 34 years old! Our class, and those before and just after us, were lucky to have enjoyed the education imparted by its Founder, Ellen Geer Sangster (Mrs. S.) and her Co-director, Ben Fincke and his wife, Magda together with a dedicated group of teachers and staff.

Buxton was – and I'm certain, still is – a family of students from many cultures whose coming together remains an enrichment to be cherished for a lifetime. The Buxton Experience went far beyond the classroom lessons and other activities.

Of equal importance to iterating a mantissa or reading Chaucer in Middle English were the life skills and character building that developed throughout our Buxton years.... I am forever grateful and pleased to remain in touch with so many classmates and friends.

After graduation, I returned to Bermuda and employment in the Medical Records Dept. of the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. Then, after a year in secretarial college, I returned to undergo on-the-job training prior to proposed further education at the Royal Infirmary, Halifax, Nova Scotia later on.

The wages were abysmal; making ends meet was a constant struggle! When the opportunity arose to more than double my meagre salary, I jumped at the chance to join what was then Pan American World Airways. During my years at Pan Am in Bermuda, I was co-author of a 'Passenger Services Manual'. This was published and adopted by all Pan Am's Latin American stations. I was also privileged to meet many famous and interesting people!

In my spare time I enjoyed amateur dramatics and many years in the Bermuda Philharmonic Orchestra playing the flute and representing the orchestra on the Philharmonic's executive committee.

I stayed in Aviation until my departure from Bermuda in 1972 and arrival in London a year later. In 1975 I moved, with my first husband, to Bahrain and then to Liberia before returning to London. At each station I was co-author of yet another manual – now based on aircraft handling and engineering rather than passengers.

The return to UK brought the opportunity to embark on another career – this time in the Marine Industry where I remained for the next 28 years running the Secretariat for the Assoc. of British Sailmakers.

Instead of a manual on aviation procedures, this time it was a 5-year apprenticeship training programme in sail making.

At the same time I had a private printing business which is how I met my second husband who, sadly, has recently passed away.

I have one daughter and 3 grandchildren who live

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

in Scotland. Twice widowed, I remain here in Hampshire, a County on the South coast of England, in our little bungalow which I share with our cat, 2 tortoises and a friendly family of foxes who come to dine every evening!

to my love of writing and wrote several books on local history. Last summer, I completed a biography of poet, Hart Crane, which should be published, later this year. I also have had a monthly column in our local paper, for about 20 years.

I have continued to sing, had a blues band for many years, released several CD’s (remember them?), and I also D.J.’d at local clubs, once again, had a radio show, and have appeared in a few independent films, so I’m busy!!

cindyaolden@icloud.com

Ellie Simpson Ellie is living in GA. This photo was taken when visiting in Washington, DC in 2015.

She’s standing next to a table of jewelry from Dolly Barnes’ (’61) company NAABLA. The jewelry, one of a kind, is made in Liberia, sent up to Dolly and she sells it and then returns the money to Liberia.

Frank (Dutch) Weddell Let me first say that the faculty and staff at Buxton, in the year of my attendance, were not workers, they were my extended family. They raised us, listened to our problems, bandaged our bloody knees and disciplined us, when we misbehaved. On our school trip to Washington, DC in 1960, I remember Mr. Sears comforting me, while I lay on the floor of a bathroom at George Washington University, after eating bad fish at the YWCA in DC. I remember how we all walked out of a Greyhound terminal (and diners), en masse, because our black students were refused service. We’d never experienced racism, before.

Rollins College, which I attended for four years, continued my growth as a person. I became involved with the theatre, there, and appeared in a number of productions, including Bernstein’s “On the Town”, and “Anthony and Cleopatra”. I also “took to the air waves” and had my own radio show for several years.

While there, I took over as the head of folk music entertainment and organized “Hoot Nite” at the student union. I also performed in local coffee houses and did concerts around Florida, and later NY & Boston. I continued honing my writing skills by contributing to the college paper, literary magazine and the Orlando Sentinel.

Following college, I taught for many years in both private and public schools. I also worked with emotionally disturbed and “pre-delinquent” youth.

Later, I taught incarcerated teens. It was, perhaps, my most rewarding experience.

After this, I spent five years working with the Western Connecticut University music department. I followed this my spending many years restoring and marketing old- time films and radio programs. During the same time, I returned

I’m quite active with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Sherman Historical Society. I have also run a property management business for 20 years, with my partner, which cares for a number of estates in the area, as well as all the Historical Society properties in town.

I bought a cottage in Williamstown about 10 years, ago, which I enjoy, immensely.

Ironically, I seldom go over to visit Buxton. MY Buxton is in my heart and in my memories.

I have spent all of these many years trying to help young people who are dealing with Autism and other emotional issues. It has been a very rewarding experience. I am also an advocate for the Hispanic community in Western Connecticut.

I owe this all to my years at Buxton, which taught me that it was alright to be different. It was alright to reach out to others, of a like mind. fewsan@aol.com

Gary McKinstry (written by Smokey Minot ’62) Greetings, fellow alums. It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that Gary died on April 22, 2022 of Alzheimer’s disease. I know he would want to be included, so here I am writing for him. After Buxton he went to Colby College, and followed this by working in retail (Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Jordan Marsh) from Boston to NY and Miami. He followed this by working in printing/framing stores in a couple of places in Northern CA and in Nyack, NY. Lastly, he moved to Sarasota, FL and got into Real Estate. NOW he found his great love and was very successful in this career. He loved to travel, especially with Crystal Cruise Lines. Every evening he could be found in the cocktail lounge playing the piano for people and having a great time. I was lucky to have him visit me here in Santa Monica, and I saw him twice in Sarasota.

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

He also made it a habit to visit Virginia in Santa Fe for her birthday, almost every year. Sadly, he was not able to join us for her 90th in 2017. He will be cremated and have a military funeral (he was Air Force), at his request, and his urn will be placed in the wall at the National Cemetery in Sarasota. We love you, Gary.

Harton Wolf After graduating Buxton in 1962 I went on to Ripon College, in Ripon WI, and graduated with a BA and a major in Economics.

College was a fast 4 years and then into the Army. I was commissioned through ROTC as a 2nd Lt. in the Army. I immediately went on active duty, got married and after a year of various trainings, I spent a year in Viet Nam, coming home the night Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. When I came back, I was convinced we should not have been there. I was fortunate not to have pointed a weapon at anyone. I was involved with relationships between the military and the local Vietnamese, both governmental and civilian. My lessons from the experience have helped me understand the various international encounters our country has had, the good, the bad and the ugly.

We moved to NYC where I worked for 1st National City Bank (now Citi Bank) and then managed several McDonald restaurants before moving back to Pittsburgh to help with the family jewelry business. In NYC was the birth of my first daughter and it was time to leave and find a better place to raise a family. After my father passed away, we closed the business and I moved to Richmond, VA with my wife and two daughters, Beth & Heather. I stayed in the jewelry business with one firm for 24 years. I then moved back to Pittsburgh and have been with another jewelry firm for the last 19 years. I have reduced my work time down to 3 days a week and may fully retire soon, or just keep working as a hobby.

I had no intentions of joining my family jewelry business, but fate pointed me in that direction. If you have ever worked in a family business, you know the good and bad. Besides learning the business aspects and the technical parts of the business I came to appreciate how each of our customers were individual and had their own stories. Customers became friends and I was as much a part of their lives as they were of mine.

This was part of the Buxton influence. By furthering my education in the jewelry field also gave me the opportunity to travel. Again, making more friends, mostly in the jewelry industry. While still in Pittsburgh my second daughter was born.

My time in Richmond was one of personal growth in the jewelry industry, but more importantly watching my two daughters grow up. I had the opportunity to see wonderful and beautiful gems and jewelry. The company I worked for, at one time, was the Tiffany between Washington DC and Atlanta. Not only did I learn merchandising,

finance and advertising/ marketing, I again had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the country as well as overseas. The transition to Pittsburgh was a natural because I was back home.

The company I now work for has grown from a smaller firm into a major firm in the Pittsburgh jewelry market. I have worn many hats in the time I have been here but slowly transitioning my responsibilities so I can come in and “drink coffee and read the paper”.

During my move to Pittsburgh my wife of forty years and I realized we had grown apart and we went our separate ways. There is always a silver lining. My daughters and I have grown closer and they have become the most important part of my life. Watching them succeed and accomplish what they have is my most gratifying accomplishment.

The grandchildren are wonders, one in the 3rd year of med school and one ready to graduate college.

This past weekend I was at my grandson’s wedding; a big smile on my face and a few snivels and tears because I was so proud. Enjoy the journey to the destination: sometimes it more important.

How important was Buxton? Not only do my classmates stay in touch, but on a long-distance basis, we are still part of each other’s lives. At the time, we were friends but I didn’t realize how important those friendships were. From my point of view, we were not judgmental. This is a trait that has carried forward and has helped me look for the good in people instead of the bad.

Appreciating how much Buxton would be an influence on my life was not something I was smart enough to perceive at the time.

If you are ever in Pittsburgh, please give me a call and we can get together. hartonwolf01@gmail.com.

C: 412-519-5941.

Meg Hasenoehrl I will start by saying that I do not have a great amount to say other than this…the four years I spent at Buxton were the best years of my life. Between the students in the class of 1962 year and the staff, IT WAS FUN!

With Cindy Childs

Here are some special memories: - Climbing the mountain behind the main house and getting threatened by the "townies" when coming back down.

- A great party at Mrs. Sangster's house…getting nailed by an engineer’s boot during a game of soccer- oh such fun!!!

- It actually WAS fun learning to do all of chores of the Work Program around the school - kitchen duty, clean up of grounds, those types of jobs.

- For ME, the worst time I spent at BUXTON was during MUD season - not snow, just the 6 weeks of MUD. - Every year we went on a WHOLE SCHOOL trip where we would perform a play. Most of the trips were great, but the year we came to Washington, DC (my home space), there was a group of townies who wanted to cause trouble. Luckily, myself and I think 5 other students were having dinner with my parents, so we were lucky to miss out on all the FUN????????????????

-

For me, the trip where we went to Quebec, was a very informational trip. We needed to have our birth certificate TO GET BACK TO GOOD OLD USA and I discovered that my family had been celebrating my birthday a day earlier than it really was (I was adopted).

Oh well, there is not much difference between 8/8 and 8/9. Ever since then I have celebrated it on the correct date.

Like our lives, there are good times and some not so good. I was lucky to have a great group of friends to connect with. How can you not have a great time when you share rooms named: Tucket, Mucket. Bucket - you can use your imagination for the name of the 4th room - yea, you are probably right.

I don’t want to forget to mention my total love of all animals, especially cats (as Virginia loved them). I know this will sound crazy or stupid, but I need to have all of your prayers for my "girl Iris”, right now. I live in Silver Springs, MD and do not DO email (also like Virginia).

Though I made lots of friends over my four years, my very best friend (and roommate) is our very own Birthday Bunny, Smokey.

THE FOUR YEARS THAT I SPENT AT BUXTON WERE THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE!

Smokey Minot YIKES! 60 years is a long time!! So to the fact filled years after Buxton.

I attended Oberlin College as a Voice Major and graduated with a B.Mus. During Spring of my Freshman year I appeared at Cleveland's Hanna Theatre in a split week of Gilbert & Sullivan's "HMS Pinafore" & "The Mikado" with Martyn Green's G&S Co. (earning my Actors Equity card). This led to a summer touring such theatres as: Goodspeed Opera House; Westport Country Playhouse; Tappan Zee Playhouse, etc. I moved to NYC in 1966 and met my actor/husband Terrence Beasor in March 1968 doing back-to-back shows at Equity Library Theatre (me in "Redhead", he in "Enemy of the People"). We married that December and the following summer moved to Concord, MA (my mother lived here, and I knew we wouldn’t starve!). We had 7 years there of academic music & theatre, including teaching at The Fenn School (I even directed Steve Carell in the title role in The Mikado), plus directing musicals in Concord, Sudbury, Acton & Maynard.

While my husband got his MFA at Brandeis, I taught singing in their Theatre Department and was Musical Director for “The Cradle Will Rock”, starring Dick Shawn. We moved to LA in 1976 (with no jobs, no money and no place to live!!) to pursue TV/Films/& Commercials, and built solid resumes, becoming vested in SAG & AFTRA. In addition, I taught singing, privately, for 40 years.

In 1997 I started (Owner/Producer/Performer) Mysteries en Brochette, a "musical" Interactive Mystery/Dinner Theatre Co. based in Marina del Rey. This ran for 13 years (until the recession).

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In 2012 I returned to studying classical singing with Armen Guzelimian, an internationally renowned Opera coach and accompanist. We gave 2 big recitals, one in March 2015 and then another recital at the Santa Monica Library Auditorium in September 2017. I sang 10 arias in 3 languages at age 73!!! Terry and I have been married for 53 years. We’ve been lucky enough to travel extensively through Europe (fabulous “musical Blue Danube” cruise & a Baltic Sea cruise, along with much land travel) , Great Britain, Greece and the USA. We feel so very lucky to have still been working and living our dream, until Covid hit.

We’ve lived on the beach in Santa Monica for 45 years. It’s been wonderful.

Our travels allowed me to connect with Cindy (Farnsworth) Child in London on 3 occasions (pic on L) and Eva Selek in Vienna (she actually lives in Cairo), while on the Danube River cruise. USA travels had me visiting with Gary McKinstry in Sarasota, Alex (Sandy) Moore in NH, plus Judy Haigh. Many grads have passed through LA and stopped by: Jim Stockman, Jonathan Leavy, Jeannie Cooper Ahanatu, & Harton Wolf (2X). As you know, I stayed very close to Virginia and visited with her in Santa Fe on many occasions, including hosting her 90th birthday in 2017.

Anyone interested in more of my professional life can find me at: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/murielminot Big hugs and love to you, all, ALWAYS, Smokey murielminot1268@gmail.com

1963 Linda Hoe Palmer I am now retired after being an elementary school teacher for nearly 50 years, a profession that I truly loved. I am living in northeastern Vermont where the air is clean, the population small, and I can ski at Burke Mountain and swim in Willoughby Lake, to my heart’s content. I was married for 20 years and have been divorced for 30. I have two daughters, one of whom attended Buxton, and is married to a Buxton graduate (Erica Palmer ‘97 & Hawk Thompson ‘95). They live near Worcester, MA and have one daughter. My other daughter lives nearby, with her husband, Mike, and has a blended and expanded family of seven children aged 7-26. I have been involved with several arts associations, children’s theater, figure skating, etc.

I keep busy with sewing quilts, clothes, origami, beading, embroidery, knitting, reading, doing jigsaw puzzles, and childcare. I also stay busy with lots of walking, swimming, skiing, kayaking, etc.

My sister Vaughn ’59, lives nearby in Danville, VT. She is also a retired schoolteacher and spends

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

a lot of her time helping out with her 3 grandchildren and rug hooking. Her daughter, Devon Mann ‘93, went to Buxton as well. My brother, Jimmy (Buxton ’66), died a few years ago, after living his life to the fullest and on his own terms.

He was a free spirited artist living on Martha’s Vineyard. lpalmbts@yahoo.com

Stephen Lee Saltonstall I retired in 2014 from my public interest law practice and live in Tucson, Arizona. There, I drive a water truck for Humane Borders, an organization dedicated to saving the lives of undocumented migrants making the ultra-hazardous journey on foot across the Sonoran Desert, many of whom die from dehydration and exposure.

(During the last two years, 450 bodies have been discovered in the Tucson sector alone.)

I’ve written a book about my time as a lawyer, which the University Press of Kansas is publishing this November, titled Renegade for Justice: Defending the Defenseless in an Outlaw World. My victories during my career include a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision declaring the death penalty void under the state constitution, a federal court order stopping the U.S. Forest Service from clearcutting critical black bear and neotropical songbird habitat on the Green Mountain National Forest, and the leading federal case in the states of Vermont, New York, and Connecticut on freedom of speech in public schools, upholding the constitutional right of a middle school student to wear a T-shirt in class that characterized president George W. Bush as an alcoholic and drug addict bent on "world domination."

In my book, I look back with fondness and appreciation on my two wonderful years at co-ed, racially diverse Buxton, after being expelled from the Phillips Exeter Academy for anti-war activity, an education that enabled me to gain admission to Harvard College. slsaltonstall@gmail.com 11861 E. Calle de Coronado Tucson, AZ 85749 (802) 558-6589 (cell)

1964 Jill Machol Shorthand version: married, divorced, in a committed relationship for 40 years, two Master's degrees, no children, but a wonderful God-daughter whose children (16 and 14) are my grandchildren.

In terms of career, I have been an administrator in a variety of organizations - many non-profit, have degrees in social work and in organizational development, led a lot of different training programs, and ended up in human resources as a compensation specialist in a small urban hospital

that was part of a large national healthcare system.

I am now retired, so I knit, and volunteer doing administrative work at Washington National Cathedral.

I've lived in Washington, DC since 1975, now in the Cleveland Park neighborhood in an historic building - lots of windows, separate dining room and - until last year - an original 1929 Otis elevator, brass gate and all. My cat allows me to share the apartment. I exercise a lot: swim, walk, work with a trainer - and my Fitbit keeps me honest about how sedentary I am. I sang (as a tenor) in two different church choirs - the most wonderful was three years in a volunteer choir at Washington National Cathedral, an extraordinary place to make music.

I have spent much of the past year caring for my friend/partner/significant other who has had some major health-related issues. For the past 20 years, we have had what we consider to be the perfect relationship - he lives in his apartment and I live in mine - although he did live with me for five months last year.

In 2019, I spent five weeks in Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Tibet on a trip with my God-daughter, her husband, and my grandchildren, an amazing experience. The other memorable trip was many years ago now, when I went to see Virginia Hall Smith in Santa Fe. She was still in her house with the unbelievable view and acting with the local theater group and we had a wonderful time.

Buxton is the school - of all that I attended - that had the most impact for me and I am forever grateful for the three years I spent there. jill.machol@gmail.com

Leslyn Campbell Randazzo I graduated from Buxton in '64. I then went to Dean Junior College (as my father put it “to learn a skill”) until I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up. I learned Secretarial Skills.

I returned to Mountainside, NJ after graduating from Dean and started working at a bank in Westfield, NJ. I worked there for about 6 months and became very unhappy. My sister visited from Dayton, Ohio for Christmas and I went back to Dayton with her.

I became secretary to the National Sales Manager of the Automotive Replacement Division of Dayco Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. The National Sales Manager was a wonderful man who became a mentor and friend as well as a fantastic boss. I met my husband, Jasper James, in Dayton, Ohio and we were married on my boss' patio on a beautiful Saturday morning in June 1970. In 1973 Jasper was transferred back to the Los Angeles area when I was 6 months pregnant. Our son Jasyn was born in 1973, shortly after we were able to move into a new home that was still being finished, as we moved in! Our daughter, Cristlyn, was born in 1976 while we were living in Norwalk, CA. While California had nice weather, I really

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missed the seasons. We lived in California for about 5 years when Jasper was transferred to Kansas City, MO. That is where he had started his life, so he was almost going back home. I was glad to have family around for the children.

Our children grew up in Kansas City. Our daughter headed out of the nest at 16 to help on her uncle's farm. He needed help as he had had a heart attack and Cristlyn just wanted out of the city! She took her horses with her. Thankfully, she frequently invited me down to ride with her. We also went on trail rides. On one week-long trail ride (in Eminence, MO) she bought me my first horse!!

Our son went to University of Missouri in Rolla, MO, renamed Missouri University of Science and Technology since he graduated. He and Cristlyn both loved the Ozarks area and kept saying Jasper and I really needed to leave Kansas City and move into the Ozarks; finally we did. Then, when Jasyn graduated, he couldn't find a job in this area in his field of expertise so he ended up going back to Kansas City.

Cristlyn and I continue to trail ride whenever our schedules work out. I am retired but do volunteer work with The Friends of the Lebanon Laclede County Library and at our local Mercy Hospital. I am also a member of the Back Country Horsemen of America. Jasper and I both do the “Y” fitness program and I also try to do Yoga when I am able.

Cristlyn and her husband have just presented us with our first grandchild as of April 29, 2021. So much has changed in the years since I had babies!

Wow! This is a whole new learning experience!

Thank Heavens I have a close relationship with the library...I have books, lots and lots of books!

My hobbies are horses, trail riding, quilting, sewing, reading and crocheting. I am so very happy to be in a delightful and generous small rural town, in a small house surrounded by woods.

Woods continue to give me true peace. I am always reminded of the 'church' we used to have in the pines behind the main house at Buxton. I still remember the peace I felt there. Trees and woods continue to be truly inspirational for me. lesterlou202@gmail.com

1965 Greg Prestopino Carol Locatell and I married at the Little Brown Church of the Valley in 1980. My friend Jon made the chocolate cake shown in our wedding photo, and I had hair!

We lived in Manhattan from 1987 until about 1994. We kept an apartment there until 2003.

Carol worked in three Broadway shows (she's an actor) and I spent many hours on planes to L.A. and Nashville, because the creative end of the music biz (not musicals, obviously) pretty much left NYC in the late '60s to move to Los Angeles.

That was when a number of the Brill Building writers moved out West. Then all the West Coast pop rock started and that was it. All but one or two of the great NY recording studios closed, which really put the icing on it. Needless to say, NY didn't work for me professionally, and L.A. is

really my home. I've always loved living here. I mean hell, where else in the States can you live in the middle of a vital, cutting edge city and have a backyard full of fruit trees?

My professional life reads like this: Songwriter, Producer, Publisher, Singer. I’ve been a working member of the music business for many years.

I’ve written hits for and had my songs recorded by various artists, such as: Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Puff Daddy, Matisyahu, Aaron Neville, Bette Midler and Natalie Cole. In addition, my work has appeared in film and TV. I’ve also produced records for Warner Brothers, Elektra, Atlantic, and others. A list of my collaborators includes: Andrew Gold, Brock Walsh and Matthew Wilder with whom I wrote "Break My Stride". Most recently, I finished helming ufemizm music/elliptic songs, a publishing co-venture with Windswept Holdings, where I developed several artists and directed an investment in the musical “Avenue Q”. I worked as a producer with Mr. Walsh on a musical. I’m currently writing songs with and recording several young artists and working on a third and fourth album of my own material. ufemizm@gmail.com

1967 Don Hennington After graduation I tried college and found I wasn't ready to do that. So, I bummed around, Colorado, Cape Anne, back to college, where I met my future wife.

Susan and I were married in October 1971. I worked as a clockmaker for two years. We had a son, Christopher, in 1972. In 1973, I joined IBM as a Field Engineer repairing electric typewriters. We had a daughter, Brooke, in 1975. We relocated from Rochester to Middletown CT in the 80's. I was able to go back to college at the local community college and took an Assoc. degree in Computer Science.

The degree led to other opportunities within IBM. We relocated to Hyde Park, NY where I worked as mainframe systems software programmer. The children attended Dutchess Day School and then Berkshire School. Since we hadn't moved in over 6 months, we relocated to Raleigh, NC with IBM. Eventually, I had an opportunity to provide IT support for the PC Company worldwide, supporting manufacturing in Scotland, Mexico, China and the US. While I was doing that, I went back to college and got my bachelor's in Organizational Development from Mt. Olive College in Mt. Olive, NC at night.

I retired from IBM in December 2005 after 31 years. We moved to Arizona to be near our daughter, who had graduated from Arizona State and married her high school sweetheart. Our first grandchild was born in July 2004, so we were only a few months late. Our son went to the University of Georgia and worked at IBM in the PC Company for about 10 years. He eventually left IT and worked as a carpenter in the Pittsboro, NC area. Once in Arizona, I found that unless you were printing money in the basement (and there are no basements in AZ), I should probably go back to work. In 2006, I found a job in Gainesville FL as the IT Director for the City of Gainesville.

Then, my mother fell at Christmas time, was hospitalized and died. At that time my dad was in a nursing facility in NY, and since he needed someone to be near him, we relocated to NY. I was fortunate to find a job as the VP of IT for Mutual of America, a mutual pension and finance company on Park Ave in NYC. After my dad died in 2010, we decided that the grandchildren should really take priority. I retired in 2012. I was able to find something with the State of Arizona as their Chief Operating Officer managing services, IT delivery, and the State Data Center. The team managed service and server delivery for more 100 State Agencies, LAN/Network services, disaster recovery, etc., for the State. I retired from the State after outsourcing the Data Center to IBM Consulting in 2015.

So now Susan and I melt during the summers and love the no snow winters. We actually enjoy rain and cloudy days since we have almost 280 days a year of sunshine. Yes, I'm working on a tan, but only partially successful, it does get up to 120 some days, over 100 for 100 days or more, so if you ever wondered what a turkey feels like at Thanksgiving…!!!

We spend most of our time with family. Our grandchildren are very active. Brooke has an 18year-old son, and twin 15-year-old girls. The girls have left their gymnastics activity due to it no longer being fun, and they left as level 8 - which is 2 levels away from their gym mate who took gold at the Olympics - so they were pretty good. The oldest plays hockey - his HS team are State champions this year and his travel team looks like they will take All State by the end of the month.

He's accepted a tender offer with the Anchorage Wolverines and will play Juniors for the North American Hockey League next year, so college deferred. dlhenn3@yahoo.com

Robert (Bob) Levy Buxton introduced me to literature, music, art, theater, soccer, and work program. I enjoyed them all and carried these interests on to Middlebury College, where I was active in theater, English literature and soccer. I traveled in the summer of 1968 with the Middlebury soccer team, playing matches in Europe and behind the iron curtain. While in Poland we toured Auschwitz, and later that same day while traveling by bus along the Polish border, we witnessed Russian paratroopers invading Czechoslovakia.

Upon graduating from Middlebury in 1971, I started my first job as a management trainee in the Human Resources Department of the First National Bank of Boston. Human Resources management became the central focus of my professional career. That same year I married a Middlebury classmate, Margaret Rothschild, who recently retired from the practice of law. We’ve been together for over 50 years.

I entered night law school at Suffolk University Law School in Boston in 1975, obtaining my JD in 1979. During my law studies we moved to Providence to take a more senior HR position at Industrial National Bank. After graduating from Law school I remained at the Bank, transitioning from HR to the Corporate Legal Department.

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After several years of practicing banking and corporate law, I took a position with a global HR consulting firm in Boston. This experience led me to founding my own HR consulting firm in 1988, Levy & Associates. To supplement my consulting practice I founded a second company, HR Technology Solutions to support clients’ HR management technology needs. I learned to design software and obtained a patent for a web-based software tool that analyzed an organization’s workforce and valued its human capital for the purpose of increasing operating efficiency.

We have two sons and four grandchildren.

Matthew, our first, was born in 1978, and he graduated from Middlebury and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and three children, and is a partner at a large mid-west firm and specializes in international, M&A, and anti-trust law. Jack was born in 1980. He graduated from Bates and NYU Graduate Film School, and lives outside Boston with his wife and child. Formerly a producer at NBC-TV News in Boston, he is currently a Senior Public Relations Manager at an academic institution.

I’m retired now. My Buxton experience and recollections of students and faculty friendships are frequently in my thoughts. I deeply value the education and the relationships I developed at Buxton. I am especially grateful to the memory of Ben Fincke for our special friendship and the guidance and support he provided. robert_levy@cox.net; rlevy@levyassociates.com c: 401-480-1569

1968 Cleveland Storrs Hello! My life has been wonderful, lucky, blessed: I still have very close friends I met at Buxton! Bio, huh?

After Buxton I went to Art schools for painting then photography, finally graduating with a BA from Bard College.

Had a lot of jobs from NYC taxi driver to public and charter school teacher, Photo editor at National Lampoon Magazine and at MTV. I even got to study with Ansel Adams!

Now I have a 100-ton ship’s Captain’s license and am trying to sell cartoons to New Yorker Magazine. I never learned marketing, so I had these jobs to support my "Art" habit.

Now, I am looking for a place to house my work and archives: mostly drawing and photography (many musicians). I look forward to hearing any ideas or suggestions!!!

Please!

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

I split my time between San Diego, CA and Provincetown, MA. I look forward to reading what old pals have been up to for the past 55 or so years! Enjoy every moment, man, it goes fast! clevelandmstorrs@yahoo.com

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Peter Shepard Morgan, Jr. Here’s a few details in my post Buxton life: - Two of my four sisters graduated Buxton: Merry ’69 and Gail ’70.

- I enjoyed the Buxton reunions in 2003 and 2018.

- Found a group of alum on Cape Cod in 2004.

- Jeanne Miner Filiault and I had lunch with Lessie Melvin, in Williamstown, on a couple of occasions.

- I visited Pat Reyna in Miami once, Elizabeth Leonard Lascoutx at a 2004 NYC Republican convention demonstration and had lunch with David Costello in Freeport.

- Oliver Gumbs and I went to a Buxton performance in Atlanta when they came to town.

- I dropped in on Don Hennington “67 and Edward Stockman ’60, as I recall, to encourage participation in a reunion. That’s me keeping up with schoolmates.

- I met Eliot Fernald Morgan in 1968 on a blind date – we married in 1973.

- We have 2 children: Benjamin Eliot Morgan (1978) lives in Orford, NH with Amy. Alexander Shepard Morgan 1984 lives in Squamish, BC with Christiė Maree - Joined the U.S. Coast Guard '69 - '73 (I consider myself a draft dodger) where I marched in Eisenhower’s funeral procession. I was assigned to CGC Vigilant after Lithuanian seaman Kudirka’s attempt to defect from a Soviet ship. My duty stations were on Nantucket, in New Bedford and Providence, during the Vietnam conflict - We've lived in and engaged in activities (as a migrant worker)… o Shrewsbury, MA, on Nipmuc tribal land (with Nu-Car Carriers and others) 1973 o Strafford, Pennsylvania, Lenape tribal land (with CONRAIL) – 1986 o Our neighborhood supported a SEPTA station $5m renovation (1999) o Tredyffrin Township Police Distinguished Service Award (1999) o Our neighborhood received a Philadelphia Horticultural Society Community Greening Award (2000) - -Roswell, Georgia, land of Cherokee and Choctaw (with the Norfolk Southern Railroad) 1999 o National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2000 to present) o Million Mom March (in D.C. 2000 & 2004) o Veterans For Peace (2003 to present) o Women’s Action for New Directions o Georgia River Network -(2005 to 2011) o Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (2015 to present) - -Raymond, Maine, living on Wabanaki tribal land (in retirement) 2015 o Black Lives Matter -Maine Conservation Voters- New Gloucester United Against -

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-- -Racism-Peace Action Maine-Say No to Racism - Maine Windham Rally for Racial Equality o Women in Black 2019: Coast Guard recruits died during my basic training in Cape May, New Jersey Richard J Theriaque Jr died 22 MAR 69 Randall C G Mattson died 5 APR 69 Roger M Hudson died 8 APR 69 (I presented their names for inclusion in the Coast Guard enlisted memorialwww.cgemf.org/) We’ve done some cycling, paddling, sailing, occasional traveling and are currently living beside a lake. We’re vaccinated and boosted.

(Sad to see a progression of attrition among friends as we age.) https://www.instagram.com/sebagopizza/

2020 – from Eliot's Birthday ZOOM Amy – Ben / Peter – Eliot / Alex – Christiė Maree

psmorganjr@aol.com

Kate Fincke Some of my favorite memories of Buxton are from my early childhood. I arrived at age six and although a very anxious child who pretty much hated first grade, I was instantly transfixed and thrilled by The Big Kids and all the enticing goings-on that startled me and seized my attention.

In and of itself, the landscape alone was endlessly inviting. All the gardens and ponds and barns and chicken coops and tool sheds and corn cribs…that fairytale Glen House and then Appledore, Ellen Sangster’s childhood, pint sized, playhouse hidden in the orchard.

Of course, there was also the cast of Characters: Giovanni with his wheelbarrow who I followed around all over the property as he fed me Concord grapes or turned on the fountain or showed me medicinal herbs, Cousin Virginia (Hall Smith) who would enlist me in finding buttons for costumes or in silk screening playbills. Jerry (Bidlack) who taught me how to play the recorder.

Ellen, herself, who used to strap on her snowshoes and hike up to the Glen House in the dark after dinner. I wanted to skip over my whole life to suddenly become her age (63) and be like her, Flying off to Africa, and writing books about her own personal haunted house. And later in life when I finally turned 63, I was delighted because I had finally arrived.

In the Golf Club, where I lived, my bedroom was right above my mother’s art room where I whiled away whole afternoons making anything I wanted.

And downstairs was the room where every night my father put four boys to bed after he read me to sleep weeping over Charlotte’s Fate. When I am trying to explain to someone the unusual way in which I grew up, I sometimes say, although it’s not exactly true, that I never ate with fewer than 100 people until I was 25.

It was a shared life in which there were secrets and secret dramas to which I was not privy…but ironically, there was no privacy. Raised in this way, I have always felt most at home and most myself, when sharing.

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Whatever their myriad flaws, I always knew my parents loved me dearly. I also knew from birth, that they loved many, many other children and grownups, and loved them in ways incomprehensible to me, which made me love all those people too…even if they were much older than me and I hardly knew them myself.

It should come as no surprise then that I have spent my life as a clinical social worker treating children and adolescents and adults, or one might say, trying to comprehend them…for the last 35 years…and have done so out of my house. For years, I hung Wilson Ware’s small print of the Billiard room in my office to remind me of the origins of my vocation.

Brown (’76) was a little English school boy wearing shorts to school and performing as Sir Walter Raleigh in the school play.

The Class of 2018 50th reunion in 2018 at Buxton. Some are old friends who stayed in touch over the years; what is precious to me is how many of these young ‘uns showed up and are cherished friends today. Back row: (L-R) Pat Reyna ‘69, David Costello ‘68, Peter Morgan ’68, Baird Hersey ’68; Middle – Ruth Duell ‘69, Jon Pousette-Dart, Neville Bryan Peltz ‘69, Geoffrey Feldman ‘71, Joanie Kemsley ‘71 , Mike Rogell, Annie Archambault ‘69 , Sonja Rieger ‘71 , Ed Allen ‘67 , Kate Fincke ‘68, Wendy Harris , Valerie Friedlander; Seated: Kitty Brown ‘68, Margaret Davis ‘71, Dayle Klitzner Kellner ‘71, Cynthia Jackson ‘68, Danny Adler ‘68

As a teenager at Buxton, I remember most importantly how engrossed I was in my friendships, many of whom I treasure in memory, and some of whom remain in my life. We, who know each other still, know each other in ways that feel indescribable to me as the sources of our friendships, sort of go back to the dawn of time.

I think I got more out of my Buxton education than I did from college. College (Smith) was pretty much a bust. I spent it painting and drawing…and having bad love affairs. I developed a real infatuation with an intellectual and aesthetic life through all the cultural things at Buxton. These included the opportunities to do things like playing the oboe solo in Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. Or playing Antigone. Or sit around Virge’s (Riorden) dining room table with 5 other kids talking about European history. Or reading The Good Soldier. But it was not just the given opportunity. It was the quality of that opportunity which is now so hard to capture, but then made it all so indelibly captivating and has everything to do with mysteries of progressive education, which still elude me. A significant part of my life has been spent immersed in aesthetic and intellectual interests, I think in large measure because of Buxton.

After College, I came back to the school to see if it suited me to continue the family tradition. It didn’t. I couldn’t abide classroom teaching…unless it was life drawing. What I did enjoy was talking until 3 in the morning to the girls who knocked on my door. My psychiatrist at the time suggested I might like social work….it was that or becoming an illustrator. The artistic life seemed lonely and unpeopled (all that time alone in the studio). I chose social work.

Reading over all of this, it sounds all rather rosy.

And of course, it both was and it wasn’t. I was a notoriously anxious child…fainting dead away, left and right. My parents, each one quite a remarkable character in their own right, could also each be thoroughly impossible and dramatic. I was fortunate in my siblings, thank god, who often filled in some of the empty spaces and by the way, still do.

I left Buxton and returned to Smith to get a Clinical Social Work degree. I have devoted my working life to the practice of psychotherapy. I treat children, adolescents and adults from age 4 to age 87. For 20 years, I was engaged in various kinds of public practice in the hinterlands of Brooklyn. Places like Coney Island, Canarsie and Boro Park. In my mid-40’s, I settled into a full time private practice in Park Slope.

As I have always done, I continue to work very long hours. I do not intend to retire until the Fates corner me and force the issue. I have remained deeply fascinated and moved by the immersive nature of my profession which has the odd effect of energizing me over the course of a long day rather than tiring me. It continuously generates a magnetic hold on both my attention and my heart.

In my early 30’s, while waiting on a line at a neighborhood restaurant, I met and fell instantly in love with a man who lived up the block from me. I moved in three days later. Irwin was considerably older than me, divorced, with a young daughter. He was a toy designer. And also a remarkable surrealist painter. Actually a haunting painter…a bit magical. We lived in a large house with an office suite for me and various colleagues and a toy design studio, a painting studio, and a shop equipped with various large machines to make things like doll’s heads or kitchens. For years life was abuzz with openings, toy lines, projects, and patients, plus the raising of a child. It was both regularly funny and fun.

Irwin died 12 years ago from a long and mysterious illness. He saw the best physicians around NYC, but to no avail. Except for multiple hospitalizations, he was cared for at home. So life was hell for the better part of a decade. Since Irwin’s death, I have deepened my connection to the empathic and listening aspects of my work.

This has been especially true during the pandemic when Brooklyn went through desperate times and when, in the early months, death stalked the streets of the city. For me, the only way to remain vitally alive in the face of these adversities has been to try to help. It has been the trying rather than the succeeding which has pulled me though.

I am fortunate to live surrounded by a large extended family…some of whom actually live on various floors of my house while others live nearby. All regularly, turn up at the family homestead upstate which I inherited…for weekends, or pandemics.

So, what can I say to sum up? I guess despite the travails common to a 71 year sojourn on this planet that can unmoor any of us, I find that I am often content and always alert to life. katefincke@yahoo.com

Kitty Brown Two days after graduation I moved to London where Dad was assigned to the London bureau of Sports Illustrated and my brother Jason

In 1970 I hitchhiked with a friend to Crete and lived on Odos Theofanous, the street Zorba staggers down in the movie. My first unpublished novel is called Island Time. I returned to the States in 1971, married, moved to New Paltz NY where I still live, had two kids (she works for The Wilderness Society, he does locations for TV and movies.) In 1979 The NY Daily News Magazine published my article about Missing Children.

I met Julie and Stan Patz, Camille Bell and John and Reve Walsh. I testified with them advocating for passage of the Missing Children’s Act. Somewhere there’s a picture of me in the Rose Garden with President Reagan when he signed it.

I worked with these parents to establish National Missing Children’s Day, still recognized on May 25th, the day that Etan Patz was reported missing.

My second unpublished novel, about missing children, is called Life After Death. My third unpublished novel is still in the works. It’s based on Richard Gantz, who escaped from a maximum security prison and was found in the field behind my house.

My only published book, Mama’s Happy Dance, is for children. It’s available on Amazon. Cynthia Jackson, Annie Archambault Joanie Kemsley and Mike Rogell consider it a masterpiece.

I’ve always earned a living writing for non-profits (Child Find, Unison Arts Center) but not, as you can see, as a novelist.

I graduated from SUNY Empire State College in 1996. We were studying the Romantic Poets and one of my very much younger classmates turned to me and said “What are you doing here? You’ve obviously already graduated from college.” No, that was all Buxton.

1969 Alan Buegeleisen It is with heavy hearts we report that Alan Buegeleisen '69 succumbed to complications of primary progressive multiple sclerosis with which he lived, for 43 years. Alan was an independent, smart, funny, free spirit whose life was deprived of adventure by this diagnosis when he was 28. He was cursed by this terrible disease, but blessed with his parents Abbott and Sally Buegeleisen, who were determined to provide the best care for him at home, first in Rye, NY and later for many years in Sarasota. His sister, Monia Joblin, joined them in 2004 and helped carry on that care for his last 17 years. Alan had looked forward to a career in resource management which he planned to pursue in his favorite part of the country, under the big skies of Colorado and Wyoming. But his stamina and ability to walk were compromised by the MS. Nonetheless, he never lost his enthusiasm for nature as he would marvel in all its variety from the oceans to the stars, for food as he directed us all how to improve every meal, for laughter as he enjoyed all kinds of jokes from the political to the offensive. He would be the first to agree that there might not be a distinction between those last

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categories. He kept up with the news every day, voted in every election and continued to have strong opinions about the world to the end. He coped with his disabilities without bitterness or self-pity, bearing them valiantly and with unparalleled perseverance. In this, he was a teacher to everyone around him because to know him was to learn humility and the true value of life. His standard comment in the face of such adversity was, "Oh well..."

(Catch-22) as he overcame so many challenges over the years.

conferences overseas, for years. Today I am Honorary President of ADI and have been establishing a worldwide network to coordinate help to find the cause and cure for Alzheimer’s. I also oversee the Rita Hayworth gala dinners & fundraisers in NYC. To date they have raised $80+ million dollars for research, public awareness and chapter services for caregivers.

Alan leaves a notable legacy, namely The Alan Buegeleisen MS Research Fund which to date has raised nearly $1.5 million dollars in support of the International Progressive MS Alliance. The Alliance currently funds 19 research awards and Alan's fund also makes possible a Wellesley student's MS lab experience each summer. We continue to imagine a breakthrough in this devastating disease. Should you feel compelled to contribute the web address is: nationalmssociety.org/FLSBuegeleisenFund

I been living in the mountains of Utah since 1995.

I do travel to NY several times a year as well as to Europe to visit family.

My friendship with Dori (Dorianne Samuels) who graduated in 1971 is still, to this day, one of my best friends, thanks to our parents who put us in Buxton School. We have always had each other's back all these years. I cherish our friendship.

I've always been athletic and my favorite sports are skiing and golf.

Good luck with this 'Special Edition'. What a great idea! yasminagakhan@gmail.com

1970 David Rubin

Michael Rogell

Dear Buxton Friends. I am retired and living in Ballston Lake, NY (on the lake). I stay active with kayaking, biking, archery and music. Unfortunately my wife of 42 years passed away this year (cancer) and I am having to learn to live a single life. drubin15@gmail.com

I'm a semi-retired psychologist, living in Lansing, Michigan. I still see clients three days a week. When I'm not working, I spend as much time as I can in my workshop tackling woodworking projects.

Panya Songcharoen

I've also recently returned to writing and have started a blog, which can be accessed by going to: WritesOfPassage.us. On top of all of that, I get to spend time with my 8-year-old twin granddaughters every week.

All in all, life is good!

MRogell@microgell.com

Yasmin Aga Khan Memories: Drama teacher, Virginia Smith, was one of my favorite teachers. From Buxton, I went to Bennington College and graduated in 1973 as a Music Major. I moved to New York City from Bennington and continued with my music interest as a classical singer, until I stepped in, to become my mother, Rita Hayworth’s, Conservator. My mother had early-onset Alzheimer’s. Was diagnosed in 1981. I then moved her from California to NY and became her caregiver.

It was with her diagnosis in 1981 that I became involved with the Alzheimer’s Association in the US and Internationally. ADI (Alzheimer’s Disease International) was founded in 1984.There are now 105 member countries. I was the President of ADI in 1985 and was involved in the yearly

In 1969, I went to USA under the Thai Scholarship program to study in an engineering college.

And I was very lucky to join Buxton for a year. It was the first time in my life to travel outside Thailand, and to learn about US culture. Buxton gave me all I need to know in order to prepare for further study in university level. I got into University of Michigan, Ann Arbor for my bachelor degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 1974, and got a master degree in Engineering at the University of California Berkeley in 1975.

I was back to Thailand to serve the Government until retirement, and I had set up a consulting firm on ship & yacht design from then.

Many thanks for all my classmates and friends at Buxton, especially Mike Stern who we once got an argument and ended up with kickboxing ! From then we become good friend forever. p_songcharoen@hotmail.com

1971 Dayle Kellner We had our 50th reunion last year but were unable meet in person due to the pandemic. But we did

have an amazing Zoom. I am hoping one of the participants took a screen shot!

My experience at Buxton defined the rest of my life. My values were shaped there and influenced many of the choices I made.

It is amazing to me that such a short period of time in Dorianne, Sonja, Joanie, Me life could create such a disproportionate part of one’s memories.

After Buxton, I dropped out of college, travelled, drifted around and eventually landed in Vermont with my Buxton classmate Joanie Kemsley. At 29 I went to Med School and became a Family Doctor. I spent 25 years in private practice with female colleagues in Middlebury Vermont. My patients taught me so much about life. I married a guy who taught me the meaning of true love.

Together we built our careers and raised a family, working shoulder to shoulder. We have 2 sons, now living on opposite coasts. We live in Vermont and Florida and spend time with the kids helping them where we can, as they build their own lives.

Though I can make it sound like an effortless trajectory, I had many struggles and missteps along the way. I am grateful I found my way.

Now that there is less work to do I have so much joy and fun. I ride my bike with the sense of freedom I had as a kid. I am a compulsive crossword addict, do abstract painting, knit, write and have time to put effort into new and old friendships.

Some of my closest friends (sisters, really) are Buxton classmates. I get together with Joanie Kemsley, Sonja Rieger and Dorianne Samuels frequently and we talk almost daily on our text thread. These women have walked through life with me for 50+ years. (The good and the hard) One story I want to share involves a nylon leopard skin caftan my great aunt sent me from Miami Beach while I was at Buxton. Unbeknown to me Joanie took it home after graduation. She then sent it to me on a special occasion as a joke. That caftan has gone back a forth between us for the last 50 years—there are many pictures of us getting off a plane meeting each other wearing it.

Dorianne Hutton Samuels Good day.

I’d have to say Buxton changed my life.

I was an immature 16 year old “going down the wrong path” Born and raised in New York City, I’d leave the city for weekends and holiday to Sherman Connecticut. Our neighbor was Ruth Duell, Buxton School class of 1969. I was sent there, to be out my home. A good decision for my growing.

I have remained close with friends of my class 71’ and of the class of 1969.

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

We speak almost daily. I learned acceptance, strength, community thinking and Good Will to all. My grammar still did not fully mature.

After attending University of Hartford, I worked as a volunteer at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, as it was being founded. Then the Guggenheim museum, where I helped catalogue the museums print collection. I loved the paper textures and printing methods. I went to auctions at Sotheby’s and Christies learning the print market. I had a client from Japan who asked for Toulouse-Lautrec. I showed him six pieces, I had borrowed from galleries. He said “I’ll take everything “. That was it.

I have been mostly buying and some selling of established artist since 1976. I married in 1977 and had Sasha, who has a PR firm and sells fish at the farmers’ market in Tarrytown NY. I then married David Samuels and two more children, Jenna and Noah. Jenna is a 9th grade English teacher in Harlem and Noah works at the Fulton fish market in David’s fish business.

It’s been a wonderful ride with so many good things.

Fun. Closeness Openness Lucky me dorsam6@gmail.com

Fred Allen After I graduated from Buxton I went to Harvard and majored in music. Then I decided to look for work at a magazine, partly because practically everyone in my family had worked for magazines, so it seemed natural, just as it would have seemed natural to become a cop if they’d all been cops, and partly because it seemed the perfect work for a dilettante, that is, someone who wanted to learn about things very quickly and intensely and then move right on to other things.

From 1975 to 1983 I worked at New York magazine, where I started in the mailroom and left as a senior editor. The best of the many great things about that was that I met my wonderful wife there, Erica De Mane, who I persuaded to marry me in 1988. She gave up magazine work and ended up being a cookbook author, specializing in Southern Italian cooking, so I eat fabulously well to this day.

From 1984 to 2007 I worked at American Heritage, the magazine about history, where I became managing editor and also ran a subsidiary quarterly called American Heritage of Invention & Technology.

Working there I got to make myself an expert on various things like Kentucky bourbon and the Panama Canal, and to this day I serve on the board of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, helping pick which inventors get inducted each year and even emceeing the induction ceremony a couple of times. Forbes bought American Heritage while I worked there and then sold it in 2007, whereupon I stayed at Forbes, serving as something called “leadership editor” from 2009 to 2020, when I retired.

Now Erica and I divide our time between Greenwich Village and Rhinebeck, New York, up the Hudson. I am eager to see or hear from anyone from Buxton anytime. feallen@gmail.com

Joanie Kemsley As for me personally and my bio? Yikes where to begin…?

My life has not been uneventful!

Dorianne, Dayle, Sonja, and moi

Lucky for me I have always had my friends from high school for guidance and support. My beautiful son and my lifelong friendships are certainly at the tippy top of my most cherished accomplishments. We have had intense momentsyears but have somehow emerged intact. Like the 911 audio clip of the little girl with her dad, “Yep, still breathing; So far so good!”

After sobering up in 1993, I returned to school and became a physician assistant, graduating when I was 50. I have practiced medicine for almost 20 years during which time I opened and ran a free clinic in Florida that continues to care for low income folks in one of the poorest counties there.

In 2014 my son and I rehabbed a house in that same town. I moved in and opened a halfway house for women. A handful of women were able to get and stay clean and today continue to amaze us with their accomplishments including one on track to become a commercial pilot and one on a PhD track in psychology, just to tell you a couple.

Currently I’m on the border in Arizona/Mexico doing a short bit of contract work here in support of people crossing the border.

Obviously we can’t fit 50 years into 3 paragraphs but I always think of the meme, “life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, ‘Wow, what a ride!’” That’s me!

What a fun ride!

Love and more love!

Sonja Rieger I retired from the University of Alabama at Birmingham after a 41 year career in 2020.

Looking back it is hard to believe I started at the age of 26.

It was a wonderful and rewarding time but I had no problem getting used to retirement, I think it took all of two minutes.

I have settled into my photographic career working on Dazzling, Queen on the Nile and Rally which are photographic series that investigate the history, culture and politics of the American South and more recent projects Under This Sky: Lynchings Sites in the Southern United States and Sanctuary: Finding Grace.

My 28 year old son lives and works in Birmingham, I am thrilled that he bought a house recently because that means he may stay for a little while. My 35 year old step-son and his wife are returning to Birmingham after several years of living in Chicago which is more great news.

I am engaged to a great man with who I am so happy to share my life. He is an attorney and we both are cyclists and spend as much time road and

mountain biking as we can. Birmingham is a great cycling city for both and so is the SapphireBrevard area of North Carolina where we spend as much time as possible. What else am I doing?

Cooking and baking which I love, which means I am also acquiring tons of cookbooks, taking classes, taking care of Gary’s grandkids as much as possible (he needs all the help he can get) and sleeping late. And of course texting and facetiming Joanie, Dayle and Dorianne and planning to visit with them as much as possible.

Dorianne, me, Joanie Kemsley, Dayle (Klitzner) Kellner sonja@sonjariegerphotography.com

1972

50th Anniversary

Joan Levy Hepburn The choice to attend Buxton School would prove to be a lifealtering decision.

Me, freshman year By the time I arrived at Buxton, I was already a seasoned painter. I met Willem de Kooning when he visited the school and he admired one of my paintings hanging on the wall in the dining room.

We shared an instant chemistry through painting and he became my personal mentor. De Kooning warned against the traps of academic art education. After high school, I made regular trips for a few years to de Kooning’s studio to learn from him. He guided me through accelerated college art degrees at Rhode Island School of Design and Kansas City Art Institute, and our visits and communication continued for the rest of his life. I was lucky enough to have another powerful mentor in musician, Dave Van Ronk. In order to support my way of life as a painter and musician I worked in the printing industry with a focus on color separation for publications of art reproduction for museums and galleries.

Face the Music

Color has continued to inspire new ideas in painting. I invented a way to paint stereoscopic oil paintings. And I am currently painting a series of oil paintings based on music. I have also taught art throughout the years to a wide range of students.

My paintings are in private, corporate and museum collections. And for the last 6 years I have been a guitar player and singer in the trio, The Bouchard Brothers, with two founding members of the classic rock band Blue Oyster Cult.

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

the great poets with the Poets of Nature series which we still do when there's an opportunity. We just recorded The Turn of The Screw which reminded me of Ben Fincke’s amazing English classes where I was first introduced to the story.

The Cutting Room, NY: Joan, Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), Albert Bouchard & Joe Bouchard (BOC), Ken Dashow (NY radio personality) playing “Don’t Fear The Reaper"

colordoctor@comcast.net www.joanlevyhepburn.com

1973 Lindsay Potts Gosh, this is grim. My husband of almost 42 years, Dave Beckwith, died unexpectedly last week. But...he went peacefully in his own bed soon after we'd had a great escape to a Florida beach. Our 2 kids, our foster daughter and granddaughter are all with me. Friends are enfolding us. We're feeling okay considering the circumstances. lindsaypotts@sbcglobal.net

Stephanie (Goldstein) Begen After 44 years in the field of Special Education teaching and case management, I have just recently retired. My career was long and rewarding, especially the cherished relationships I formed with students, parents, and colleagues over the years.

During that time, I married and established a home in Rocky Hill, CT. My husband, Ken, and I have two young adults (we started late!): Maggie, age 26, and Kristopher, age 23. Maggie is a Clinical Social Worker at a hospital in MA, and Kris is graduating from college this spring with a degree in Accounting. In my retirement I have become involved in Pilates, pottery, and a community-based leadership program to enhance the lives of the people of Hartford. Because of this leadership program, my fondness for Buxton and how it changed my life are fresh in my heart! sgbegen@sbcglobal.net

1978 Jason Brown I’ve been working with publishers Harper audio, Penguin, Blackstone, Recorded Books, Simon Schuster and Audible producing and recording audiobooks. There's no shortage of voice talent in The Berkshires with five acclaimed theatre companies in the area. BMA Audio is a company I started around 20 years ago creating Henry James and Edith Wharton audiobooks mainly as well as

Never worked so hard in my life but as long as there is a demand I’ll keep plugging. Living in The beautiful Berkshires sustains me certainly, except for those long cold winters. But even those have their charm.

BMA Audio can be found at bmaaudio.com.

1979 John Churchill I retired from my full time medical practice in August 2020, although I continued to do some meddling/mentoring until the following June. My wife, Robin, and I moved to Ocala FL, the horse capital of the world, where we are currently trying to get a house built on some property we own, there.

With my hopes for an extended international sailing trip on hold due to the pandemic, I took off on an alternative adventure, and completed a thru-hike of the entire Appalachian Trail in October 2021. I was able to make a stop at Buxton as I passed through Williamstown. It was good to see the place again, although in midsummer, it seemed empty without all the people that make it such a special place.

Since then, I have obtained a “6 pack” captain’s license from the US Coast Guard and crewed on two delivery trips, a new 44’ sailing catamaran from Florida to the US Virgin Islands and a friend’s new 78’ motor yacht from Annapolis to Sanibel Florida, my former home island.

Currently plotting my next adventure. grafpatrick@earthlink.net

Laurance R. Clark My wife Anne (met in college) and I have been living in Marblehead, Massachusetts for the last 30 years. Our 4 children have all graduated college and many Masters degrees and are spread out as far as Ethiopia (UN), Tampa, and Boston. Our second (Emma) got married last October. Michael Relihan (class of 79’) and his wife Mary joined us for the wedding.

I am in touch with Frank Sheed (class of 78’?) basically we play Words with Friends together continuously. We often see Susan Walker (class 76’?) and her husband Stow, who are Marblehead residents as well. Other than work, we love to go on adventures with the kids (currently writing this from New Orleans after a week of Mardi Gras with seven 20 somethings), sail, ski in Maine and visit our family place on Tuckernuck Island.

Laurance.R.Clark@morganstanley.com

1980 Jennie Kristel It’s hard to believe that I graduated 42 years ago now! So much has happened.

I went to one college, almost flunked out. I had a horrible time adjusting to a very different set of values, after being at a place like Buxton, so I transferred my second year to Emerson College. I will say my first college set the tone for me understanding other cultures and communities, outside my own. In hindsight it set the tone for me doing Diversity and Inclusion work, which I am now doing. At Emerson, I was a theatre major, as I knew I wanted to go to Lesley afterward, to study Expressive Arts Therapy. I quickly learned that being a theatre major wasn’t for me. I double majored in psychology and Interpersonal communication with a minor in theatre education.

One of the big highlights for me was doing a study abroad program. I ended up taking the Euro rail and hitchhiking across Europe. After graduating with honors (it’s amazing what can happen when you are in the right environment)I went to Lesley as planned and graduated in 1986. I studied and trained in Playback Theatre, which gathers personal stories from the audience and spontaneously reenacts them on stage. Beginning in 1989, having been introduced to it at Lesley, Playback Theatre was a natural progression.

I married in 1987. We moved to Western Mass where I worked as an art therapist in a mental health clinic, in Greenfield. Our first child, Justin was born in 1989. He later attended Buxton and graduated in 2008! I was still in Playback training, wandering around a bit like a walrus. It made for interesting drama. Also, my nephew Ian Lloyd graduated Buxton in 2008.

In 1992, we moved to California. I had never really lived outside New England, (to attend a Master’s program in deep ecology) While there we had 2 more kids…10 minutes apart! I was more of a walrus than before!

With 3 kids under the age of 3, we moved to Vermont to be closer to family and in familiar surroundings. I lived and worked in Vermont for 28 years. While raising my kids, I also had a “postpartum care” business, followed by working in Hospice care. I was studying different arts, including a deep dive into printmaking, watercolors, ceramics, and of course Playback Theatre. While working in Hospice, I was offering “living memorials” to families using Playback, while the resident was still living, as a way for the families to share their experiences directly.

A great, lasting memory. I used puppetry, and one other person and I would do 2 person enactments.

It was deeply moving. It was my experience in Hospice that brought me back to expressive therapies.

In 2001, as war drums were happening, and I was going through a divorce, I was leading a Playback Theatre troupe while beginning a private practice.

I was invited to offer a Playback Theatre training with one of the troupe members in Bangladesh.

We went in 2002 for our first trip. He led psychodrama training and I led Playback training, while getting a crash course in cultural humility

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

and awareness. 12 trips followed in which I offered courses at universities and local NGO’s. I was also asked to Indonesia, Hong Kong and in 2009 to India, offering training. In all countries I offered expressive therapies and Playback theatre training, focusing on Disability rights, trauma, and community building.

My last trip was 2019 when I went with one of my sons to India for an international Playback conference, and to work with some Playback companies.

In 2013 I was asked to co-author a book about art therapy. It is called Using Art Therapy with Diverse populations: Crossing Cultures and Abilities. With Sangeeta Prasad, I collaborated other trainings in Dubai.

I met my husband Michael through Playback Theatre. We married in 2007. We share many things including both being trauma focused therapists, artists (he too, was an art therapist), and we share the experience of having a disability (he had polio at age 7 and now lives with post-polio syndrome. I had a stroke at or before birth and have lived with cerebral palsy.) He has supported me in much of what I do. We have collaborated in owning a business (www.journeyworksllc.com), presenting at many conferences, using toy theatre, Playback and the arts, concerning issues of “othering’ and intersectionality. We have traveled the world together. We shared raising our children and support our children in raising their children (5 kids and 4 grandchildren between us!). He is retiring this winter which will shift our lives a bit.

I’m hope that he’ll spend more time in our studio.

We moved to Massachusetts in 2019, just in time for the pandemic. We wanted to be in a warmer environment, but more importantly, to be closer to my mother who is now on her own. During the pandemic I have continued teaching and advising at Lesley University and had a crash course in technology to move my private practice online.

I’ve offered multiple expressive arts therapy groups online (and was featured on Boston’s channel 5 news!). I have continued to train deeply for myself, in the area of trauma, Theatre of the Oppressed, and a new model called the Listening Hour, (www.listeninghour.com) a form of story sharing that Jonathan Fox created as a response to the Pandemic. Currently, I run monthly Listening Hour groups in Beirut, and other groups, with differing focuses. I’m a part of two online Playback Theatre troupes and perform regularly (One is with RIT and is focused on inclusion and diversity issues between students and faculty in various college settings). I’m looking forward to trying something creative, face to face, this fall.

This is a snippet. I’m proudest that my kids all grew up! Two are married and all have wonderful creative lives. I would love to be in touch with other Buxtonites! jkristel61@hotmail.com

Matthew W. Roberts, Ph.D After Buxton I received my BA at Earlham College and PhD in Public Policy, Master of Public Affairs with an international focus, and MA in Political Science, at Indiana University.

I primarily lived in Washington, DC for over 20 years, while supplying technical assistance in over a dozen countries across 4 continents before moving to Austin and then Dallas, in 2018.

When I'm not perpetually hunting for a job, I enjoy gallivanting the world, meeting new people and take inspiration in the lives of famous Travelogue Producers, Anthony Bourdain and Anthropologist Colin Turnbull. mattisintexas@outlook.com

1981 Byron Elliott It is always nice to see and hear what everyone is doing. After Brad Davis’s passing, I saw a lot of names on social media that I was not familiar with or lost touch with many years ago. So, in that spirit, I will share what I have been doing for the last forty years!

After graduating Buxton, I attended the College of Wooster in Ohio, which is still a terrific school to this day (thanks Jinx Tong!). I majored in “Urban Studies,” as it was a mix of economics and political science. I had a great college experience and still keep in touch with many wonderful friends from that chapter of my life.

I moved to New York City in 1985 to work for Met Life in the marketing department. Great company, but a little quiet. After getting my Met Life ‘Stuyvesant Town’ apartment (hard to get), I moved careers into something more exciting downtown working in marketing for the American Stock exchange -- just before the 1987 crash.

During my time at the Amex, I simultaneously began my MBA at NYU Stern which, at the time, was located in the building next door! I completed my business degree in 1994 and began my career as a bond broker at a firm called Tullet Prebon where I stayed until 2014. I have been at a smaller firm called Hartfield, Titus & Donnelly since 2014 working as a team with the same people since 1994 brokering bonds or ‘broking’ as it is referred to in the industry.

I was fortunate to NOT be killed on 9/11 for two reasons. First reason, a number of my coworkers and I had been solicited to work for Cantor Fitzgerald prior to 9/11 but declined to join them.

A number of other coworkers had joined Cantor and weren’t so lucky. Second reason, I was just getting off the PATH train at WTC, many levels below ground, when the first plane struck the North tower. It was a surreal day as everyone knows, but to be running out of the building (pre collapse) with light smoke, soot and insulation coming down was an experience that will remain vividly etched in my mind forever.

I met the love of my life, Karen, in 1987 in NYC and we got married in 1989 at the Central Park Boat house (pre renovation!) We have 3 wonderful kids, two of whom attended Buxton!

James (’11) and Nicole (‘13) I have been very fortunate and blessed in my married life, with my children and with good health. We have lived in the same house in Essex Fells, NJ since 1990!

Neither my wife or I wanted to live in New Jersey, but as fate would have it, we found a wonderful little town 20 miles west of NYC that we have called home ever since. More people are familiar with Montclair, NJ which is what attracted us, but stumbled into a real fixer upper that was just a couple more miles away. And, we have sunk roots in this town for over 30 years.

I miss the beauty of Williamstown, as I haven’t been back in a few years now. But driving up the NY Thruway and turning onto Rt 2 in Troy NY and going over those beautiful mountains is also a favorite memory, not only for my wife and I, but also for each of our kids as well.

And, though I said this in my tribute to Brad, I will say it again here. Thank you to the many long time and life time faculty who made their life’s passion pouring themselves into the last several generations of young people. You are doing the yeoman’s work of bringing up the next generation in a progressive and caring manner.

I enjoy hearing for classmates and am on Facebook. byronelliott@gmail.com

Chris Tacy Update from here: I guess the big news for me (as it is for many of us these days) is that I am healthy and well and have (so far) made it through this global pandemic unscathed. That, by itself, is a huge positive and something I’m very grateful for.

The other big news is that Valerie and I have moved to Hawaii. This has been our plan for nearly 25 years and we’ve been working, saving, and hustling for all that time to make it happen.

And now it’s finally real. We bought a cute little 2acre farm property on the North Shore of Kauai at the end of 2021. Starting the year off with a move thousands of miles across the ocean, has been exhilarating and exhausting. The change of culture, place and system has been amazing. The logistics have been overwhelming. But now we’re here and it’s pretty amazing. We grow 14 different kinds of fruit (including what I believe is the best grapefruit in the world) along with purple sweet potatoes, chili peppers, and various exotics.

Growing your own food is honestly an amazing experience. We have a decent sized local ohana (family) and are establishing deeper connections now that we’re here full time. It’s a wonderful place filled with incredible people.

In sad news, last year we lost my good friend and fellow alum Reggie Jackson (’82). Reggie was an amazing person who lived an extraordinary life and was treasured by all who knew him. He will be dearly missed.

On the work side, I still love my job with boutique Growth Consultancy Mach49. I’m a Corporate Investment Partner and Board Member for a wide range of global companies. I help them with both inorganic and organic growth efforts. It’s a great

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company with an incredible CEO and founder. I hope this will be the last job in my career. They’ve been fantastic about my move to Hawaii and have supported me throughout this rather complicated process.

Valerie took a job last year as the COO of Dia&Co - an e-commerce apparel business serving the plus sized market. She’s loving the return to her entrepreneurial roots, working with great founders and investors, and being back in the growth world.

We are celebrating our 30th anniversary this summer, which is just very cool and somewhat unbelievable to me.

I guess the final bit of news is that I am, in a sense, returning to my roots. I’ve just been elected to the Buxton Board. It’s a huge honor and is a bit intimidating, if I’m honest. Buxton was not simply the high school which I attended, it was my home and where I grew up. To be asked to come back and participate in helping the school and the community thrive, to play a stewardship role in the place that truly made me who I am. It is a bit overwhelming and yet very exciting. I hope to be able to reconnect with so many of you with whom I’ve lost touch with and really look forward to the experience. chris@twiceten.com

1984 Amanda Ross Amanda C. Ross is a contemporary ceramicist and currently lives in the Berkshires. Ross’ intricate ceramic sculptures denote a nuanced and deep understanding of form and color. While some of her sculptures burst with the exuberant hues of nature, others show an absence of color, highlighting her delicate form and technique. She recently has a show at the Findlay Galleries in Palm Beach.

Her clay sculptures replicate an artistic journey inspired by the precision of hyper realistic still lifes, created by the Dutch Masters to the abstractions of Arp and Brancusi. Her approach consists of arduous hand modeling techniques using wheel and coiling techniques, then form and arrange each petal by hand.

She then glaze the stoneware and sometimes introduce color using acrylics to transform the clay into an aesthetically pleasing and permanent object. The contrast between her works handmade, heavyweight permanency and the natural, impermanent featherweight fragility of flowers creates a unique tension.

Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

Chris Briggs-Hale I haven't sent one of these updates in for...maybe ever? This spring, I'll be finishing out 30 wonderful years in public education serving as an elementary school teacher and two-time principal of two truly amazing schools and communities of children, teachers, and parents. My first principalship was in Cripple Creek, Colorado and my second was in Manitou Springs, Colorado. I then worked for Marzano and Associates, McREL, Character.org (with Eunice Kennedy Shriver), and, most importantly, taught 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades across many years. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! I encourage you all to inspire our youth to teach in public schools!

There's never been a better or more important time to deepen learning, build relationships and offer authentic opportunities to each and every child in the USA. So, now, with lots of time on my hands and a million interests, I can't wait to see what the future holds. I will be returning to nurture and fertilize an organizational leadership company I founded in 2006, Waterfall Learning, LLC - a company that comes alongside school leaders to grow everyone as Lead Learners for the benefit of children.

I think often of the beautiful work Buxton does each and every day to prepare the most thoughtful, kind, empathic, curious, and engaged citizenry. If you know of any young people thinking about getting into public school teaching or public school administration or leadership, let me know I'll be there for them. briggshale@gmail.com

Isabel C. Tifft My life post-Buxton?

Interesting, and not at all according to plan.

Went to Smith College (thanks to Chad Raphael '84's Mom) where, finally, I learned to work hard and to take non-male people seriously as agents in their own lives. Even myself.

At a certain point, I realized I could either learn what I needed to know or I could remain in the ivory tower, but not both, so I went for the former.

Was a Registered Nurse on an HIV unit in the early days, then did Emergency nursing, and branched out from there.

Nine years later, my Dad died suddenly and my already-struggling immune system called it quits for a while.

I jacked myself into a technical writing internship (once I was functional) at Borland Software, got hired on fairly quickly, and developed multiple repetitive stress injuries inside of a year... working too hard, ironically. I published a lot of work, but rarely under my name.

A few years later, after several surgeries with very weird complications and no meaningful end diagnosis, I was out of a job and learning all sorts

of new things I'd never anticipated, like surviving a worker's comp case that lasted 10 years, out“stupiding” Social Security Disability, and keeping an increasingly fragile meat sack going, sometimes much against the odds. So, that was fun.

In the first decade of being a complex chronically ill person, I'm pretty sure I worked off an amazing amount of the karma, nurses inevitably acquire.

Nearly everything I've ever had to do to someone else for their ultimate benefit, I think I've had done to me. So, that was fair.

Thirteen years on from that, I've also developed a sense of humor so wry that it's twisted. I'm not sure any of that is truly funny, but I'm cackling anyway; I've survived.

The isolation and uncertainty of the past 2 years of Covid hasn't been anything new for me. Trust me, y'all can survive this new lifestyle.

23 years into this central-pain-driven journey, things have more or less come up roses at last.

Buxton alums came through for me in spades a few years ago, and I haven't looked back since. It's too tedious to discuss, sort of tiresomely tragic, but I've never been gladder of being an alumna.

I'd have been lost without you. In addition to the lovely people mentioned below, special hugs to Allison Marshall '85 and Pilar Gale for making the right calls at the right time.

I'm living a block away from Smith College (I'm still working hard, and again unpaid for it) in lovely Northampton, in a great flat Jessica Ryan Lapinski '84 (realtor extraordinaire) found for me, 2 blocks from one of Kris Thomson 84's properties (so I see his truck and we wave wildly now and then), see Phoebe Walker '85 and Siiri Lane '85 sometimes (and think fondly of their hospitality), and -- 40 years after Bill Bennett and Stephanie Hull '84 started telling me I should try -I finally submitted fiction for publication last night, for the first time. I'm a late bloomer, to nobody's surprise, but being 40 years late on submitting fiction for publication is priceless.

Ordinarily, I'd now say what I'm working on or make some other future-oriented statements, but... nah. I'm thoroughly at home with the fact that the future is (for me, at least) a combination of crapshoot and logic riddle, and until a thing happens, it isn't real. I've got things to do and always have at least 3 projects in the works, so I'm keeping fruitfully busy.

I learned resiliency skills on the fly at Buxton, as well as being human. That skillset has become extremely well defined since then, and can be taught more explicitly. Good thing, as the timing is right on. Collectively, we need it more than ever.

I would *love* to hear from old classmates! I don't provide my email, because I limit my email input to business-y things due to attentional problems. I'm on Facebook and Instagram, as Isabel Tifft and IsyTifft respectively. I use those when I can embrace social surprises, and I hope I'll get some :)

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1986 Williams Cole Hello all - Here I am still in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a home, two kids (Atticus and Cleopatra) and a dog (Albert). I'm still producing documentaries currently one with Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple about two civil rights leaders and all the challenges during the Trump years. I think and hope it will be an important film. I'm also working on a companion to Rebel Rossa (a film I did with my brother about our revolutionary great grandfather) - but this one about our great grandmother, who is largely unrecognized (surprise) as an Irish rebel.

We see Rossa and his family in Sag Harbor and around those parts - also see Arjun Achuthan, Jamie Lawless and Nanao Anton - aka "the crew".

I'm in touch pretty regularly with Chris Reilly, Christian Parenti, Jan Chelminski, Jeremy Freeman (though he's in Tokyo), Carl Scott (in Stockholm) and Kristina Lear (LA). Tisha Pryor and I drove up to Vermont last summer and saw Siiri Lane, Sara Ortloff and Bruce McIntosh for a whirlwind visit.

Buxton gave me a lot of life-long friends and I'm grateful for it. I hope everyone is doing well out there and is safe and sound! wrossacole@gmail.com

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Through my art practice I advocate for social justice with stories about belonging, identity, equity, and social norms.

I’m often the first and only woman of color in my work and social settings.

I counsel BIPOC on navigating white spaces and code switching.

I mentor young people who are struggling with who they are, what they want to do, and how to live their life with purpose and passion.

I’m a trained facilitator on topics such as race, identity, inclusion, belonging and triumph. I’m a trained racial healing facilitator.

I live with an inflammatory disorder, depression, anxiety, ADHD and learning disabilities.

I survived multiple child sexual assaults and domestic violence.

2022 Highlights: • Recently awarded an artist residency to Mexico January 22-Feb 22.

• Stayed at the residency and travelled throughout Mexico a total of 6 weeks doing research on the Afro Mexican population.

I have 4 children: boy 32, girl 29, boy 24, boy 21 (all but 1 are artists. The one who is not an artist likes to work mechanically with his hands).

This year I have travel plans to Lima Peru (research and facilitating a women's group), Vienna Austria (my daughter lives there and Mexico (more research).

What You See/What We See expectsuccess33@yahoo.com

1987 Yeefah Thurman I’m a Black American woman.

I’m a descendant of an enslaved African who escaped slavery with his wife, and 2 children, landowners, educators, entrepreneurs, and civil rights activists.

My ancestors were often the first and only Black persons in the white spaces they moved within.

At an early age I followed in their footsteps. I launched a babysitting and odd job business with my sister at the age of 10 in our NYC city upper west side all white apartment building, our business grew large and we had to hire our friends to help. Since then I have founded and run several businesses successfully. I opened a 1 chair salon in 2020 (middle of pandemic). I am exceeding my financial expectation.

I am proud to share some of my other achievements: •

I’m an educator and curriculum creator. I’m working on two curricula. One is an art and conversation curriculum for school kids about the n-word and one is about the history of Black hair and why the appropriation of Black culture is traumatic to Black people. I’ve completed a Black haircutting and styling curriculum for cosmetologists.

1989

with a little background is jacobbarclaymitchell.com In addition, I was recently featured on the real housewives documentary “The Shah and the Shocker”.

I recently celebrated my birthday by going sport clay shooting with Buxton alums Soly Sriey ‘00, Ato Radellant ’00 and Miles Vidor ‘00.

I live in Brooklyn and split time between there and Medellin, Colombia, where my girlfriend Wendy lives. jacobbarclaymitchell@gmail.com The Law Office of Jacob Barclay Mitchell 225 Broadway, Suite 2815 New York, New York 10007 (212) 204-2574 (office)

Jo Robinson I am a school chef for one of the most respected public school food programs in the country, in Vermont. I work for the Burlington School Food Project.

Hannah Gossett (Hannah Spector)

I'm also a Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront camp director during the summer for kiddos in grades K-5. I mostly deal with behavioral struggles and social struggles.

I am an addictions counselor at a Methadone clinic in New Haven, CT. In my free time, I’m retraining a thoroughbred racehorse named Amy’sGotARacket and living in Clinton CT with my boyfriend and son. Love and miss you all! Thanks so much for doing this!! hygossett@att.net

What I try to bring in my daily interactions is a sense of recognition that there are so many narratives being presented to us in social media and in television and film and for a kiddo, those narrative lessons are overwhelming. It's hard for kids as young as the ones I work with to process all of the information they see daily, and I make it a point to keep up on it in order to build relationships and meet them in their world.

2000 Jacob Barclay Mitchell This is great! Look forward to hearing about what other Buxtonites are up to.

I am practicing federal criminal defense in the Southern and Eastern District of New York. Some cases on which I have worked that people might be familiar with are: Silk Road Case, Race Horse Doping Scandal, & Tekashi69 case. My website

I often think of the impact Brad Davis left on me, in terms of taking the time to see past the media and take in the narrative behind it. It helps shape how I interact with kids on a daily basis. Often, elementary and adolescent interests are rejected and disregarded as dangerous or silly, by adults in kiddo's lives, but they desperately want to be seen.

And I always felt that Brad saw me, and encouraged me in a way that so many didn't, because I was outrageous and awkward and emotional, in those delicate years.

I think the world lost an educator of the highest caliber, and I am grateful to have had the influence of his education in the adolescent Jello that I was, when we knew each other. jrobinso@bsdvt.org

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

That’s my short and sweet update. Big love to the Buxton Family!!

Tessa Robbins, MSW keeshawn7@hotmail.com

to the Berkshires! I spent five years teaching math and science at Buxton, attending numerous Buxton alumni weddings, and catching up with former classmates at reunions. In the summer of 2021, I took a break from teaching and moved to North Carolina to pursue a Master's of Environmental Management at the Nicholas School of the Environment. My partner Lindsey (who was the Buxton School Coordinator from 2017 to 2021) and I miss the beautiful Buxton campus, and would love to connect with other Buxton community members in the DurhamRaleigh area! drblues08@gmail.com

From there, I went on to become a field guide Legacy Outdoor Adventures, a clinical wilderness therapy program, where I spent over 400 days in the Utah wilderness guiding adults in addiction recovery. After Legacy, I fasted in the wilderness again, this time in Death Valley, where the vision came to me to dive into my own business. I now run my own company, Profound Purpose Coaching. I facilitate men’s groups, guide transformational wilderness retreats and ceremonies, and work 1-on-1 with clients to develop deep self-awareness, overcome outdated patterns, and step into a soul-directed life. david@profoundpurposecoaching.com

2006

2010

2019

Cora Jane Sugarman

David Raffelock

Lilly Tulloss

Just for background, after Buxton, I studied Art History, Spanish at Bard College. My big news is that my recently released song Heartbreak Rodeo,

Shortly after leaving Buxton, I heard the call to adventure. I ended up spending two years exploring Europe (and Morocco) out of a backpack, hitchhiking all around the States, spending 100 days in silent meditation retreats, and protesting at Occupy Wall Street. The quest for self-discovery took me to Boulder, Colorado, where I started studying psychology and developing a deep appreciation for the natural world. My interest in nature led me to exploring wilderness survival skills at the Tracker School in NJ. After connecting deeply to the natural world, I honored the call to go on a Wilderness Quest - a 9 day ceremony, where 4 days and 4 nights are spent fasting alone in the wilderness.

I live out of the following address with my husband: 4824 Kenmore Ave, Apartment 304 Alexandria, VA 22304

Tessa Robbins I am living in my home state of Vermont raising my two sons. I work as a Registered Yoga Instructor for 10 years and also as a Psychiatric Social Worker.

which I wrote and produced with Elias Abid, was featured in Wide Open Country. I'm living in Nashville now, and working toward putting out an EP of original music. corajane06@gmail.com

2008 David Bluestein Here is a quick alumni update.

After graduating from Buxton in '08, I studied biochemistry and secondary education at Earlham College. Having kept in touch with some friends from Buxton, I then spent a couple fun years living with a close friend and fellow alumni in Vermont, while working as a tennis pro. I then eagerly accepted an offer to join the Buxton faculty and moved back

The wilderness quest was the first moment in my life where I heard the answer to a question I had been seeking: What is my purpose in life?

While the answer did not come in a step-by-step blueprint to a career path, I knew I had the calling to guide others back to their own wisdom through nature-based experiences. I then began my journey at the Earth-Based Institute in Boulder, where I became certified as a Nature-Connected (life) Coach and a Transformational Wilderness Guide.

I would like to state in a list what I have and hold closest to me: - God { } - The Fallen Angel {°} - Togetherness (Husband+Wife)(☆ } {☆) - Sanitation (☆●}{●☆) - Reflections after Jane {☆)(☆} - Momento Mori ☆ Here is a selfie photo I took using the smartphone’s back flash facing me. I chose an image that includes the interior of my mouth, to show you I am keeping well.

We Love you Buxton Family!

Good Night!

Special Thanks This newsletter could not have been done without the generous donations of so many.

A special shout out to Jim Stockman '60 and Dorianne Samuels '71 for their extreme generosity.

Others by year: Frosty Puestow Montgomery '59, Grae Fincke '61, John Guenther '61, Harton Wolf '62, Linda Hoe Palmer '63, Jill Machol '64, Robert Levy '67, Dayle Kellner '71, Joanie Kemsley '71, and Stephanie Begen '72.

AND…a very special thank you to Deanna Dement Myers P '16, '19.

Her work made this all possible!

lilykathryn91@gmail.com

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

Where are they?

We are missing contact information for the following alumni. Please share with us with any information you have!

Send to: Development Office, Buxton School, 291 South Street, Williamstown, MA 01267.

We’ll be forever grateful. Thank you!

1938 Happy Ames Sonia D. McCready Doris Ottman Jane W. Robinson 1939 Barbara Hobson Nathalie P. Rogers Ruth Von Hofe 1940 Dorle Nawiasky Jack L. Waldron 1941 Doris San Giacomo 1942 Margret H. Aickelin Barbara H. Wilkes 1943 Anne Cassedy Warren E. Collins Priscilla M. Greene

1955 Russell Anderson Paul Glicksberg Helen Prochazka 1956 Barbara J. Adams Peter H. Hammer Sara P. Hare Carol M. McGrath M. Amanda Simpson 1957 Ann H. Cosmus Martha M. Howd Christopher Mullener Terrence B. Smith Paul Taylor Valerie G. Vaccaro Robert Volkhausen Helen S. Weil

1944 Norma Brough Alexander Farnham

1958 Karen J. Brett John A. Hamilton Barbara Harris Murray Highmiller Emilie J. Jacobs Resnick Karen Rosenberg Ingrid M. Waldron

1946 Kathryn D. Baumgardner Janet Brewster Janet Hunt Betty A. McMenemy Ann G. Rathburn Garrison Robert A. Smith

1959 William R. Berg Borgny E. Hammer Caroline L. Herrmann Suzette Holland Paul D. Noonan Philip D. Waugh

1947 Jean Cassedy Eleanor A. Hassler Robert W. Hazen Judith Lerner

1960 Yvonne M. Barclay

1949 Bruce Baker John Lilley Larimore F. Toye 1950 Penelope Knowlton Margaret Murphy 1951 Lois W. Hastings Gertrude MacEwen Vija Peterson Ruth P. Schrager Hugo Urdaneta Rubio 1952 Diane Kaye Oscar Romero 1954 Nellie Buonpensiere Kenneth G. Judson Harriet L. Koskoff Lorne T. McDonald Maria S. Van Saher

1961 Cherry D. Chapman Richard J. Rosen Scott S. Serdahely Seth B. Vagenheim 1962 Achanee Tarttongkam Barbara F. White 1963 Peter W. Boardman Vallie Brewster Linda McIntosh James C. Peck, Jr. Manna J. Stein Nancie L. Taylor 1964 J. Teresa Agee Joshua E. Bay Marta Collins Sylvia Darling Daniel B. Dowling, Jr. Carol Y. M. Gumbs Kevin M. Lawrenson Ian D. MacDonald Linda J. Stahman Roberta A. Wright

1965 Emily T. Gordon Susan Zeiger 1966 Ruth F. Ordway Debuck Frederick J. Poor 1967 Joseph S. Bruck Tanager Parke Kastner John A. Ward 1968 Pamela C. Child Roger S. Pile, Jr. 1969 Byron C. Cady Dean B. Ince Benjamin C. Morse Elizabeth C. Pickard Andrew Van Schernbeek Myra S. Zuckerman 1970 Stephen E. Bleau Lisa A. Conant Anne B. Faulkner Nancy S. Heller Solon C. Kelley, IV John S. King Jayne A. Michals Laura M. Shafiroff James M. Wild 1971 Elizabeth A. Bairstow D. Abbott Chrisman James T. McAndrew Hanna Takashige Holly C. Vance 1972 Cynthia Barnes Timothy J. Fine Deborah A. Greenberg Daniel P. Grey Wesley L. Hudson 1973 Jane Butkin Elisha Isler 1974 Jodi Allen Peter Hollender Katherine Z. Wharton 1975 Jaye Berman Elisabeth Bernard Thelma Bernard John D. Brolley John W. Crawford Douglas Keeler Kathleen E. Killian Foster Jane H. Seymour 1976 Jodi J. Adler Margaret L. Covington Raoul Jordan Stephen K. Lerner Scott D. Wylie

1977 Thomas B. Cox Stephen C. Feldman Chester A. Patterson Peter A. Schmiedeck 1978 Kenneth C. Almquist Alice A. Brown Sheila J. Coniff Susana L. Dunderdale John E. Osterman Gillis A. Sloan 1979 Genevieve S. Bartels Katrinka Choate Nikolas DeMaria Marcos Dunderdale Eric A. Liebert Theodore J. Nemeth Ethan J. Schneider Jason C. Sharpe 1980 Gregory I. Asch Ellen O. Blachly Jacques H. Johnson Emily P. Klecanda Anthony R. Nemeth 1981 Charles J. Loebel 1982 Justine S. Danowski Caitlin M. Gibbon Reginald R. Jackson David L. Reid 1984 Blair B. Collins Peter De Robles Stephanie J. Hull Jonathan A. Mezzacappa Timothy A. Owen Clare M. Weiss

1992 Jefferson Kyle 1993 Jeandele T. Frank Michael Johnson Devon S. E. Mann Alexis M. Phillips 1995 Elizabeth B. Davis 1996 Moriah B. Brown-Tirrell Alexander J. Krivosheiw Sean Lambert Paul D. Steketee Shawna M. E. Travis 1997 Bruce E. Jackson Dawn Mollins 1998 Geoff D. Coope James Haring 1999 Lila M. Webb 2000 Chris Magoon 2001 May E. Corbett 2002 Ethan I. Brody Scarlett V. Lutz-Boulting Ryan T. Wolf 2004 Hannah E. Mossop Jonathan R. Nieder 2006 Natalia P. Gomez

1986 Mark R. Sgarzi Jesse Ting

2007 Wiley J. Acevedo Ravi N. Garcia-Basu

1987 Sean A. Hicks Jennifer Wolmer

2008 Nell H. Epstein John-Michael H. O’Keefe Miriam E. Segal

1988 David A. White 1989 Keenan Hastings 1990 Meighan K. Dobson Eli E. Johnson 1991 Christopher Appel Emily K. Chino Jackson L. R. Count Eva L. Kane Jenny Long

2009 Rosemary C. Llewellyn Alfredo Martinez 2010 Jessica L. Martinez Manzano Alexis R. McCulloch-Villoldo David P. Raines 2011 Katherine B. Coughlin Sonya A. H. Sadoway 2016 Kaya Kim Sheng Wang

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Buxton School Special Alumni Newsletter, Spring 2022

In Memoriam 1934 Danforth Geer, III 1936 David L. Mitchell 1938 Anne B. Seeley Barbara Stragnell Elizabeth R. Silver Jeanne H. Whitesell Joan L. Broidrick 1939 Dorothea Marburg 1940 Barbara Bel Geddes Charles M. See Louise R. Bingham Sherman L. Black, Jr. Warren A. Pond 1941 Anne Seymour Barbara J. Pentlarge Carolyn S. Nicklaus Jane E. Wehncke Otis Kidwell Robert L. Lambert Robert Stragnell Seward V. Slagle 1942 Christian W. Slagle, Jr. Joseph H. Farnham, Jr. June S. Brogger Nancy E. Day Richard B. Doyle Sally J. Breckinridge 1943 Clarence R. Bolt John W. Carlson Julianne Sturgis Patti B. Fahy 1944 Alexander Farnham Allyn P. Kidwell Arthur F. Schroeder, Jr. Frances Cassidy Judith L. Blitzer Michael Strieby Nina Rosenfield Reginald S. Marsh Shirley S. Conboy 1945 Janet Philbrick John Tyler Richard L. Hoddinott Virginia I. Burrey 1946 Robert A. Steeber Sally T. Nelson Samuel Allen 1947 Donald B. Koons Elizabeth A. Gort Ethan Stavitsky Patricia H. Smith Stephen W. Burr, Jr. Vivian Sauvage Wade B. Salisbury

Joseph N. Meyers Laura D. Stochholm Peter Felix Philip Haff 1950 Catherine C. Schneider Fernando Rosich Florence R. Langworthy James C. Read John M. Hartwell Jose Sanchez Bonilla Mary Alice Gurley Persephone F. Adams Philip E. Kalker William M. Kitz 1951 Anna G. Peirce Diana H. Potter Gillian Adams Lilemore B. Beenhouwer Timothy Wohlforth William R. Darling 1952 Annot Leeds Elizabeth S. Lofgren William Horwitt 1953 John H. Cazale Peter C. Robertson Susan E. Wright

James D. Opton Margaret W. McGrath 1964 Nathan Barnes, Jr. Thomas M. Smith 1965 Carolyn M. Burns Janet G. Rilance John Rilance Kathryn Knights Stephen C. Peabody T. Farren Bratton 1966 Arthur J. Hoe, Jr. Georgia C. Lee Kieron Kramer 1967 Daniel A. Patelson Edmund B. Jurist 1968 Mark R. Sussman 1969 Alan P. Buegeleisen Mark A. Babeu Martha W. Davis 1970 Emma F. Segal

1954 David J. Congdon James N. Marquis Susan A. Gleaves

1971 Benjamin Ladd David B. Shorey Geoffrey C. Rieger

1955 G. Bradbury Littleton Robert C. Martel

1972 Janet A. Viggiani

1956 Simon D. Wittner

1973 Cathy G. Morgan Mario M. Cooper Matthew L. Cohen

1957 David Syrett Henry Horwitt Laurence Kenig

1974 Benjamin J. Gumbs Lisa de Kooning

1958 David M. Sears Ronald Milchman

1976 David Brin Mark Smith

1959 Bruce J. Martel Garry Kerr Paul Noonan John S. Sinclair Nancy C. Rilance Willa J. Wexler

1977 Andrew S. Rabinowitz Anne L. D. Montgomery

1960 Craig A. Senior Edward L. Perrine 1961 Cherry D. Chapman Jonathan R. Leavy Peter C. Jacobson Susan M. Draper Susan Xochitl Graham

1948 Herbert W. Park

1962 David L. McGill Gary McKinstry Michael E. Rockliff Ora E. Cooper

1949 Alfred Orsingher Evan S. Sachs I. Patricia Maus

1963 Bradford Davis David S. Burgess Dovi V. Afesi

1978 Michael S. Cantor Michael T. Canty Michael H. Rothman Sarah A. de Havenon-Fowler Victoria E. Cushman 1979 Matthew J. Tivy 1980 Anne E. Gorman Eric J. Leibovitz Nathaniel B. Edelstein 1981 David R. Roosevelt Jennifer A. Mezzacappa 1982 Christopher J. Dallett Reginald R. Jackson 1983 Laura L. Guilmette

1984 Charlotte C. Harris Ethan S. Scheuer 1986 Evelyn C. Absher Phillip Mahoney 1987 David Randall Mark Tulloss 1992 Daniel E. Caldwell 1996 Shawna M. E. Travis 1997 Anton Comparetta 2001 Anton J. Khlevitskiy Daniel Rippe Dustin P. Ziegler 2007 Sarah H. Malawista 2014 Ross K. Oparowski 2020 Owen Sweeney

FACULTY Evelyn Absher Gillian Adams William Andrus Frank Baker Jerry Bidlack T. Farren Bratton Jeanne Brownlow Stephen Burr Carroll Carrothers Willie Rae Carter Eric Caton Gerard Choquette Brad K. Davis Helen Davis Joy Anne Dewey Richard Doyle John Eusden Benjamin Fincke Magda Fincke George Finckel Ellen Geer Sangster Henry Sears Marion Sears Emily Johnson Charles Kochenour Kieron Kramer Walter Lehman Katherine Lindsley Camp Anne Marsh Charlotte Pardee Virginia Riorden Frank Sangster Virginia Hall Smith Barbara B. Tacy Joyce Ware Jules T. Williams

Bradford “Brad” K. Davis January 14, 1945 — March 17, 2022

Brad graduated Buxton in 1963, during which time he was active in all sports, orchestra, and led the Work Program on more than one occasion. He next attended Williams gaining a Master’s in Anthropology from Brown University.

He and his wife, Beth returned to Buxton for 40 years (until 2011), where he was a teacher, administrator, coach and mentor to many, as your copious “memories” have served to remind us. His teaching covered all Histories and Social Studies, plus serving as Director of Admissions, Associate Director, and as a member of the Administrative Committee. He could be found playing with the orchestra (he LOVED his French horn), or singing in the chorus. A true “Man for All Seasons”.

He and Beth raised 4 children in their 55 years of marriage: Graeme, Hilary, Andrea, and Elizabeth, all of whom attended Buxton.

Brad enjoyed gardening, music, sailing, sketching, and traveling to Europe. Many class trips that he planned (such as the one to Paris) allowed him to bond with students while sharing his love of art history. His beloved dogs, cats and even a pet goose, “Anatole”, brought him great joy.

His connection to his students in all phases of his life, during his 40 years at Buxton has had a most important impact on their lives. He was a caring and giving teacher, well beyond the walls of the classroom.

Brad was born in Boston to Helen Johnson Davis (Biology teacher at Buxton) and Robert Kean Davis (President of the Buxton Board, founder of Williamstown Medical Associates, which has been the main source of medical care within Williamstown for 50 years, plus being school doctor). In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a sister, Martha. He is survived by his sister, Barbara and her husband, George. Both of his sisters also graduated from Buxton.

STAFF Dot Martel To say his passing is a huge loss to many is weak in the Ralph Martel words. His presence was huge, and his love and generous Olga Maurer spirit beyond words. RIP, dear Brad.

Giovanni Roffinoli Maria Roffinoli Mrs and Mr Alan Robertson For more remembrances of Brad, please go to: Bessie Smith www.buxtonschool.org/brad-davis Dorothy Smith

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291 South Street Williamstown MA 01267 Address Service Requested

Ellen Geer Sangster, School Founder