Class of 1967 Alumni & Reunion Page

From Donna: From all accounts, our 40th reunion was a tremendous success. We certainly are in great shape for being only 2 reunions away from our 50th! The Led Balloon Jug Band provided entertainment again this year with the capable additions of Deborah Wiggin Neff and Jim McBean’s wife Susan. Jim, Chris Crosby, Craig Roche, Bruce Burnside, Max Millard, Dick Upson and Will Melton arrived early and practiced long. Their 2 concerts were dedicated to the memory of Winnie Curtis who died on May 2 after a long illness. It was fun to see many classmates making an appearance for the first, but hopefully not last, time.
Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Jill Heathman, listed as lost for many years, decided to be found. Her adventures have taken her from one coast to the other. She has now settled in CT where she works as a bookkeeper and helps care for her mother. She has not lost her sense of fun.
Bonnie Parmenter Fleming is also providing care for her mother. She works as an analyst at H.P. Hood and is married to the love of her life. Our class is well represented in the field of education.
Dick Upson is a professor of Communication at Roger Williams Univ.
Marlee Meriwether is a history professor at Denison.
Wendy Syer is involved with programs for international students at UTenn.
Lois Robinson Eddy, whose husband Bob, joined us for all the weekend’s activities (brave man!), is a reading specialist in Syracuse.
Marea Beth Gordett runs a tutoring service in the greater Albany area. She convinced Faris Bennett and her childhood friend Anne Shafmaster to make the trip with her. Faris is a reference librarian in Haverhill. Her daughter and Beth’s son are the same age, born at the same hospital and are also long-time friends. Anne, mother of two, is contemplating returning east from her home in Yellow Springs, OH.
A contingent came from the DC area. Carol Bullard-Bates was accompanied by her son, celebrating his 5th reunion. Carol is a psychologist and passionately working for a peaceful settlement between Israel and Palestine. She was heading back to testify before Congress on the subject. Holly Taggert Joseph spends her time teaching ESL and assisting with immigration issues. She took the long way home by way of NH to visit Chris Bean and his wife. Her recap of the weekend reportedly left him wondering why he had not attended as well. Carol, Holly, and Kori Hedman Calvert are working on a get-together in their area to share the spirit with others who could not get to campus and are hoping to convince Brad Waterman to join them.
JJ Meehl is anticipating a reduced teaching load at Landmark College and more time to work on her painting. Her husband has already left his teaching career to restore classic cars. They both are looking forward to a trip to Korea to meet their first grandchild.
Another proud grandfather is Tom Hanna who arrived on campus twelve hours after the birth of his granddaughter. Tom convinced Dave Read to stop by for dinner with his fiancée.
Dave Allen was elected to assist Claudia Stanley Moose as class agent. They have enough in common to make a good team, as both live in KY and are the grandparents of 8!
Robin Whyte Reisman and husband Howard stopped by for lunch on their way to visit friends.
Another busy couple, Eliza Childs and Will Melton had to hurry back to RI for daughter Alice’s HS graduation. She will attend Carleton College in the fall.
Tina Dobsevage is a loyal Manhattanite. She is an internist, married to a psychiatrist, raising 2 children in the city.
We were fortunate to catch bicoastal Skip Walker on the East Coast. He catches his breath from his busy San Francisco law practice by relaxing at his new home on the Cape.
Cap Green traveled farthest, coming from Antigua. He invites those in need of rest and relaxation to visit.
Steve Kowal drove down from NH and Gerry Sherman made a brief appearance, having to get home to celebrate his wife’s birthday. (Great multi-tasking, Tank!)
The person who has had the most experiences since ’02 would probably be Jim Johnson. He has been remarried for 2 yrs to a friend his college years at Lake Forest. Laroice accompanied him for the weekend and he has never looked happier. Since their marriage, they have experienced a house fire which displaced them for 6 months. Back on track, Jim is making a career change, returning to school to study accounting.
Congratulations to Wendy Alderman Cohen who received an Outstanding Alumni citation for her long service to the school. She has also been named to the Reunion Advisory Board. She has organized all of our class reunions, and was reelected to that position along with co-chair Chuck Streeter. They were assisted this year by Linda Hoff-Hagensick who is a therapist in private practice in Chicago and somehow finds the time to run a bed and breakfast in Wisconsin, and Jean Walker who has had a busy year at The Hartford receiving yet another promotion. She promises her schedule will be less hectic soon, but I think she said that last year. Many of us participated in small group reminisences which will eventually become Northfield’s oral history. Sharing feelings and long-lost memories was a powerful experience. This project is led by Becky Parfitt Kennedy who is eager to hear the memories any alum would like to share. I believe she and Vin could safely declare NMH as their second home.
Hopefully, between Dana and myself, we have mentioned everyone who made it to Gill. If not, I apologize and we will make sure to include you in a future column. I am excited that Dana Gordon was able to assume the role of co-secretary. In the interest of space, his formal introduction will come later, but his skills as a webmaster are already in use and promise some interesting applications already.

From Dana: As I prepare to take over as Class Secretary, I would like to thank my predecessor, Max Millard, for the fine work he has done over the past five years. I had hoped to thank him personally at the reunion, but by the time I arrived on campus on Saturday, Max had headed back to San Francisco for his own graduation from the teaching credential program at New College of California in preparation for his new career as an elementary school teacher.
Speaking of the reunion, If you were not among us, I have four words for you: You shoulda been there! Several classmates finally managed to attend for the first time and all indications are that such reunion virgins as Buddy Levine, Dave Allen, and Skip Carino plan to be back in the future. We were also thrilled to be graced by the presence of several of our favorite teachers, including Al Higgins’50, Walt Congdon, Joe Elliot, and especially Carroll Bailey ’55.
Bill “Winks” Whittaker could not make the reunion because he and his wife were leading a team from his church to Maua, Kenya during the first 2 wks in June to build AIDS orphans’ houses at a United Methodist Hospital.
Jack Osborne had e-mailed that he would miss the reunion due to an appointment with an orthopedist as he recovers from a nasty encounter with a forklift that left him with several broken bones and four dislocated toes, but-lo and behold-he blew off the doctor and showed up on campus anyway. Now, that’s a man with his priorities in order.
You may have seen or read the news about the recent discovery of a giant worm-like sea creature off the coast of FL.

That sighting was made by Jay (formerly known as Jim) Garbose, who abandoned a career as a lawyer to pursue happiness as an underwater videographer, shooting footage for clients such as the Discovery Channel and the Smithsonian.
We hope to update the news as we receive it (at least a bit more frequently than the Alumni Magazine is published), so check back often.

Winter 2008 Edition:

From Donna: If the handsome model in the new Calvin Klein perfume ads looks a bit familiar, it is because he is the son of Deb Wiggin Neff.
On vacation in Napa Valley, Chuck Streeter discovered that his host at the Chimney Rock Winery was Jim Craig, former NMH staff and parent of 2 grads.
I was engaged in a heated eBay auction for pieces of Northfield Wedgewood, only to discover later that my competition was Holly Taggert Joseph. She won (and has graciously offered to share) but her price could have been so much lower! Sorry, Holly.
Catherine Royce has been fighting a long and difficult battle against ALS. After years as a dancer, she is now spending time as a writer and motivational speaker to those who share her fight. She wrote a moving piece that was broadcast on NPR's "This I Believe." It and other of her works can be accessed on the Internet. Catherine lives in Dorchester MA. Please keep her in your thoughts.
There is a very limited quantity of ’66 Vespers and ’67 Sacred Concert remastered CDs remaining. If you did not receive a copy at the Reunion and would like to have one, they are available to anyone who makes a donation to the Alumni Fund on a first-come, first served basis. E-mail me if you are interested.
Dana Gordon now officially takes over from Max Millard as my co-correspondent. After being on the air on the very first day of the campus radio station now known as WNMH, Dana went on to a career in broadcasting, spending 7 years as a DJ and another 18 as a production director. For the past 10 years he’s been a freelance voiceover announcer. Recently he provided the voice of Mr. Monopoly for an electronic version of the classic game in tended for kids as young as 4. Monopoly Town Box

He has also written for Woodcraft Magazine and recently was associate editor of The Collins Complete Woodworker, a book co-produced by Woodworkers Journal and the Smithsonian.

From Dana: Shortly after the reunion I got a call from Mark Eluto and we arranged to get together here in Hartford as he drove home to LI from Manchester NH where our mothers are still neighbors. Mark is a school psychologist and is married with 2 grown children.
Now that Tracy Ambler and wife Nancy have seen their 4 kids leave the nest they live on Cape Cod where they work, play some golf and enjoy what the Cape has to offer. Tracy reports “My old friend and college roommate Marc Solomon also lives on the Cape but although we have spoken by phone and have exchanged e-mails a few times neither one of us has expended the energy to actually see each other yet.”
Gary Barnes Will Ackerman Poster

still practices law in Burlington VT (and still working too hard) but he and wife Maureen have bought a winter home in Venice FL. Gary would love to hear from any NMH classmates in the Venice-Sarasota-Ft Myers area. Son Tyler NMH' 96 is a product manager with Burton Snowboards and a candidate for an Executive MBA from Babson. While walking past a local store window, Gary spotted this poster for a perfomance by Will Ackerman and snapped it with his handy cell phone cam.
After concluding his successful run as president of the Alumni Association Will Melton proudly pointed out that ours is the best represented class on the NMH board of trustees. Joining Will are Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy, a rare husband-wife duo on the NMH board.
Will Eddy works part time in a wine shop and continues to administrate the Directors’ Lab at Luna Stage in Montclair NJ as he finishes his MA in Theater. He and Cody, his wife of 25 years, visited the French Riviera this summer and spent a few days in Amsterdam delivering son Max to an NYU theater program.
Dave Rockwell is still teaching computers and IT to kids with special needs at RFK Children’s Action Corps in Lancaster MA. He and wife Dianne have 3 grown kids and 2 grand kids. Their only one young'n left in the nest, Ben spends most of his time at the Art Institute of Boston.
Les Plimpton began building a tree farm and contracting business in Plymouth MA in 1972. Divorced for 10 years, Les has four grown daughters who’ve made him a grandfather several times over. He credits his MH roommate Dennis Bell for encouraging his passion for alpine skiing. “When he would talk about hiking up Mt. Washington in NH for two and a half hours to get one run down I thought he was crazy. No lifts I would ask? For the past eleven years every spring I make the trek to Tuckerman Ravine to ski Mt Washington. In August I went to Chile to ski in the Andes Mountains.” Les encourages anyone heading to Cape Cod to stop by on the way to Cape Cod. He’s in the phone book.
Colin Cochran is an artist living in Santa Fe, NM. He still exhibits his paintings in several NY area galleries. A recent exhibition was reviewed in the Jan 07 issue of Art in America magazine.
In addition to the archive of his Class Notes, linked above, Max Millard's website has one other page of articles about Mount Hermon featuring two long stories accompanied by many pictures. One is about radio pioneer Lee de Forest of the class of 1893, and the other is about the history of the Led Balloon. The URL is: www.maxmillard.com/articles/mthermo2.htm

Spring 2008 Edition:

From Donna: Marty Ratcliff Rix (pictured) writes that she is employed as Assistant Corporation Counsel

for the City of NY, settling civil law suits brought against the city. She is a 33 yr resident of the city, living in Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. Marty began to learn bluegrass banjo 2 yrs ago and still sings every day. She enjoys hearing about and from those at NMH.
It was good to hear from Anne Emslie Lorge ’66, a friend and neighbor from EGould. She and husband Bernie have 2 grown sons. Anne works with young children in her home town of Scituate, MA.
Best wishes to Vin Kennedy upon joining the swelling ranks of retirees from our class. Vin left Bank of America at the end of December. Word is that he plans to hone his already impressive woodworking skills.
My leisure of late has been devoted to our newest family member. My first grand child, Wyatt Clark Proctor, arrived in Nov. and has managed to captivate my time and attention as only a baby can.

From Dana: I hate to start with sad news, but Vin Kennedy's brother (Becky Parfitt Kennedy's brother in law) Chris Kennedy '68, passed away last fall. In his honor, Becky and Vin held a memorial service at their home in December. Wendy Alderman Cohen and Chuck Streeter represented our class.

Jim Smolen engages in an interesting variety of pursuits.

In addition to being a skilled photographer, Jim is a licensed pilot and, as a hobby, creates beautiful hand-made knives. Jim shapes and finishes the handle, does the inlay work, assembles the knife, sharpens and hones the blade, designs the sheath and does all the leather work, and essentially performs every step in the process except forging the metal. Click on the accompanying picture to see a larger, sharper (pardon the pun) image of one of Jim's latest creations.
Bill Johnson practices internal and geriatrics medicine in northeast CT and is active in the battle for single payer universal health insurance. Both his kids have finished school and joined the workforce. Bill has had a long involvement with Scouting and attended the last two World Jamborees in Thailand and England. He was happy to recognize several fellow swimmers pictured (above) among the attendees at the last reunion and hopes to be a first-timer at the next one.
Congratulations to Dick Upson for taking top honors in the first annual Rhode Island International Horror Screenplay Contest. In awarding the Grand Prize the judges cited Dick's entry, The Companion as a "gripping story - filled with isolation and suspense" and called it "especially compelling to our screenplay contest readers." Dick has also returned to the airwaves with a weekly radio show called Blues With A Feeling - every Sunday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on WQRI FM at Roger Williams University. It's also available in cyberspace at wqri.rwu.edu . Future shows will include guest appearances by Will Melton as well as an interview with Rhode Island's own Grammy winning band Roomful of Blues.
Tom Myers teaches and writes about treatment of the human body based upon the concept that the muscles are strung together in strings and slings. He was part of the group that initiated the first Fascial Research Conference in Boston this autumn, bringing together top research scientists in the field in front of top clinicians in the world of manual therapy. Tom's book Anatomy Trains has been published in 6 languages and last year he conducted seminars in Norway, Germany, England, Costa Rica, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and South Africa, as well as Canada and the US. Tom says, "Perhaps most interesting of all these places was Tokyo, where Tom stayed near the Tsukiji market, the mother of all sushi." Tom maintains a blog at www.anatomytrains.com/blogs/tom-myers.
While at NMH, Gene Harmon and Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen

dated and fell in love. After graduation, she returned to Finland to complete her schooling and they went their separate ways. Gene visited her in Helsinki 1970 but by then a "rather ominous looking guy" named Olli had entered the picture. While Irma-Riitta had kept in touch with her American "family" including Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, she and Gene had not had any communication until about a year ago when an e-mail appeared in Gene's inbox from Irma-Riitta (with help from former Class Secretary Max Millard). She had become a widow 17 years earlier, raised two children and earned Masters and Doctoral degrees and now works for the Finnish Folklore Society. Gene divorced in 2004, has two sons and runs his own logistics consulting firm in California. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.) Since Gene had planned a trip to Switzerland, he suggested the two get together and catch up on the last 40 years. They met in Zurich and then rode the Swiss trains. The sparks flew and they fell in love all over again! Since then Irmis (a contraction of her initials) has visited Gene and he's gone back to see her in Helsinki. Together they have traveled to Lapland and Estonia, among other exotic locales. For those of you wondering how people can manage a relationship 7000 miles apart, Gene invites you to e-mail him at geneharmon@earthlink.net and he'll share some of his secrets.
Keep checking back here as we will add more news as we receive it. And don't hesitate to click the link below to send in your own news.

Fall 2008 Edition:

From Donna: Marc Solomon is the swim coach for Tobias Work who is prepping for Olympic finals. Jeff and Wendy Alderman Cohen combined their parents of the bride duties with house hunting on the Cape. They look forward to retiring there in a few years. Wendy has been back to campus 3 times this year in her role as reunion advisor. Meta Steward Wells checked in to report that she is not ‘lost’, but well and living in PA. Ladies, please note the shortage of news from the Northfield contingent. Certainly that is because everyone is doing much. Please update us for the next issue.
From Dana: Class reunions are always a great chance to catch up with old friends, some of whom we haven't seen in a long time. Our June, 2007 reunion was the first time I saw Buddy Levine in 40 years, and also when I discovered that he spends the cold half of the year in Miami. Being the Class Secretary also provides an opportunity to catch up on the current whereabouts of old classmates. That's how I learned that Jay Garbose is now a resident of the Palm Beach area. Since I annually vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, midway between those two cities, I decided to instigate a little get-together.

As a result, the three of us spent a highly enjoyable afternoon alongside the Intracoastal Waterway in February, poring over a copy of Gateway, reminiscing about our days on the Hermon campus and our never-ending ploys to make it to the Northfield campus. At the conclusion of our leisurely 5-hour "lunch," we agreed to try to make this an annual event. And we certainly have no intention of limiting it to the 3 of us. Brad Waterman, who also snowbirds in the Miami area, unfortunately was not able to join us, but we're hoping he'll make it next time. And that goes for any other Hermonites and Northfielders in that neck of the woods -- or should I say palms? Contact Jay, Buddy or me and let us know where to find you and we'll keep you posted.
Brad reports that he and his wife Susan '68 did have a chance to get together with Kirsten Besanko whom they had not seen since school days.
Following graduation, Northfield native Aaron Newton headed west and settled in Arizona where he and Page, his wife

of 38 years, raised three sons. One son is a golf pro, so Aaron avails himself of the opportunity to get out onto the links whenever he's not traveling the world creating sets for the film industry. Aaron's move to the sunny southwest eventually inspired his mom and sisters Bea '60 and Betty '64 to follow suit.
Setting the record straight: I was just reading the nice brochure the school sent out about the naming opportunities and other information on the new Rhodes Center for the Arts. In includes a chart displaying the progress of the fundraising effort. Noted among the highlights was the very first gift that was received: $100,000 from Joel Bartlett, erroneously identified as a member of the class of '63. Unless our own Joel has a namesake who matriculated four years earlier, we know he is a proud member of the Class of '67.
Ross Mason reports that he got married in Luxembourg

in 1968 and divorced 32 years later, missed the war in Vietnam due to the birth of his first child, a daughter who got married in September '07, has raced bicycles for 24 years (pictured: this year's National Time Trial Championships) and collects old toy Lionel trains. Ross is still in touch with old cross country buddy, Brand Ginsburgh.
Doug Pineo checked in with word on what he's been up to since Mt. Hermon days, starting with a couple years spent in the Army from 1969 to 1971. Then it was back to college and a degree in civil engineering. Doug has specialized in structural engineering on telecommunications towers and now manages the engineering group of the nation's largest tower owner (22, 500 towers in the US with additional structures in Australia and Canada). He spent an interesting 6 months on a tower construction project in Sri Lanka. In his leisure time Doug enjoys kayaking and has become a relatively skilled at it. The sport has brought him to many beautiful and remote places throughout the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Since he moved to Pittsburgh, Doug hasn't linked up with many kayakers, although he did have one decent trip last summer and met some fellow enthusiasts, but then dislocated a shoulder and dropped out of the scene to recuperate.
Last October Will Melton and Eliza Childs and family held a memorial service for son McCann at The Giving Tree, the pre-school he attended in Gill, planting a tree and spreading his ashes at its base. Susan and Jim McBean came down for the ceremony to play one of McCann’s compositions with Will, son Cooper and McCann’s best friend Dave Kloepfer.
Condolences to Dick Upson whose wife Jery died in March after a long struggle with vasculitis and related complications. Dave Burnham, on the faculty when we were students, was one of the ushers for Jery’s service in Providence.
Will, Dick and the rest of the Led Balloon Jug Band are adding some new Memphis blues numbers to their repertoire as they have been invited to perform at the dedication of the Rhodes Art Center in early May ’09.

Winter 2009 Edition

Brand Ginsburgh (depicted at right in portrait painted by his girlfriend) says he's divorced again for the second time

and thinks he's "done now with that since I'm not that good at it." He's still in Annapolis working in his own version of the travel industry and sailing whenever and wherever possible. Brand's son Hickory and his wife Heather -- "some hippy culture names, huh" -- just left Maui and are headed to Redondo Beach, CA where USAF Capt Heather Ginsburgh will be posted. Brand figures to vacation in that area for a few years so he may be looking to get together with any classmates who live near there.
Buddy Levine is working to call attention to a medical condition that afflicts his grandson Ari. On October 5, 2008, Buddy, his wife Barbie, and other members of their family will be running/walking their first half-marathon to raise both awareness and funds for neurofibromatosis, a neurological disorder that Ari was diagnosed with as a baby. Buddy says this is their way of literally taking action, of moving from acknowledging this diagnosis in scientific terms to accepting its real presence in their lives. And he is asking everyone who can to help find a cure for Ari and others with his condition by making a contribution to neurofibromatosis research. Click on the link to learn more about Ari and about Buddy's fundraising efforts:
http://www.active.com/donate/nfbrooksieway2008/nfDTaub
If you know of anyone else who may feel connected to this cause or to Buddy and his family, please forward this link as well.
Holly Kaslow Harbinger, after 5 years as Associate Dean in the College of the Arts at California State University, Long Beach, has been appointed Associate Vice President for Academic Personnel. She and husband Steve have been married for 37 years and have 2 daughters: Clare, in her second year at Temple Medical School and Elane, a sophomore at UC Berkeley.
Wendy Alderman Cohen's daughter, Laura got married on Cape Cod in July. Wendy reports, "She looked beautiful, we love her new husband, and we all had a fabulous time." The newlyweds live in Boston and Wendy's son Pete lives and works in NYC.
Besides relaying her happy news, Wendy came up with an idea for all of us to ponder. Since 2009 is the year many, if not most, of us turn 60, she thought we might want to get together for a Mini-Reunion/Birthday Party at some convenient time in '09. Those of us in New England might want to get together in the Boston area or maybe even on campus. Folks in other parts of the country are more than welcome to join in or may wish to organize similar events regionally. Drop me a line (mounthermon1967@comcast.net) with your thoughts and suggestions.
Carol Bullard-Bates has made several visits to Israel-Palestine and was shocked and horrified at the fear and suffering occurring every day on both sides. She has been paying regular visits to congressmen and senators to encourage them to do everything in their power to bring peace and justice to the region and hopes her classmates will do the same.
In the Spring 2008 edition we told you about Anatomy Trains by Tom Myers. Now his best-selling (in the small world of manual therapy, anyway) book is out in a 2nd edition - full color and expanded. Anatomy Trains weaves Ida Rolf with Buckminster Fuller, giving a new, systems view of stability in our locomotor function. anatomytrains.com
Patricia "Trish" Watson Bartlett and husband John spent most of the past 4 years in Moshi, working in HIV/AIDS (Ukimwi) at the Kilimanjaro Medical Center and a non-governmental organization collaborator KIWAKKUKI (Women Fighting Against AIDS in the KILIMANJARO Region). John was the Clinical Research Coordinator for the Duke University/KCMC Research collaboration, and Trish was the Community Advisory Board Liaison for the research efforts in the region. Trish says, "For me, the return was very difficult. My comfort zone is definitely in Moshi. The slow pace, the friendships, the race neutral environment, and the unbelievable beauty of the area are simply incomparable anywhere I have ever been. The relative safety compared to the US and most other countries of Africa of Moshi is striking. Thus, despite the heartbreaking poverty, that even primary schooling is not really free (and secondary school is a minimum of $200) and AIDS and co-infections range around 7%, I was unbelievably content and happy." John will be continuing his work with the Duke Global Health Center as the Associate Director of Global Research, which will allow Trish to return to Moshi from time to time as well a to visit some of the other collaborations.
Linda Hoff-Hagensick has been exercising her creative muse with what she calls her "middle-aged lady essays." She has submitted one about her first post-divorce date to the "Modern Love" column of the NY Times and, if we're lucky, we may even get to see one in the pages of the Alumni Magazine.
And it would hardly be the Class of '67 without some Led Balloon Jug Band news. The band has been selected to perform on campus May 2 during the dedication of the new Rhodes Arts Center, which has been built on the site of Recitation and Silliman Halls. The "rhythm section" of the band ( Jim McBean, Dick Upson, and Will Melton) has been rehearsing in Providence, developing some new material and arguing about how to mount a tour that would include Craig Roche’s nightclub "Galileo"

in Oklahoma City, Bruce Burnside’s recording studio in Wisconsin, and Memphis, where jug bands once ruled Beale Street. Plans for the performances will be announced on this website, so keep checking back.
Sadly, Craig himself will not be participating in these festivities. He died unexpectedly at his home in Oklahoma City on November 18, 2008. See obit below. His niece Kimberly Simpson asks that “next time you hear some great music, drink a cold beer, or see the Red Sox play, think of Craig.”
Following Craig's untimely death, numerous remembrances and photographs rolled in. We have assembled them on this Craig Roche Tribute Page.
If you look at the group picture way at the top of this page, one face and name you may not recognize is that of Joshua Spahn '72. He was invited to pose with us after being designated an honorary member of the Class of '67 in recognition of the tireless work he did remastering Chrismas Vespers and Sacred Concert tapes so that we could all have souvenir CDs to take home from the 40th Reunion. Sadly, we have learned that Joshua passed away unexpectedly. We will post more information as it becomes available. Meanwhile, you may want to sample some of Joshua's creativity by following this link AmericaN/MH Pie, a take-off on the classic Don McLean song.
Peter Henwood celebrates both his 31st anniversary and his 60th birthday on October 6. He would also like to reconnect with Kurt Adams (the adopted son of Kurt Vonnegut Jr) to send him condolences on Vonnegut's passing. Peter says, "I last heard from him about ten years ago and he was a Captain with Continental Airlines." (Ed. note: as nearly as I can determine, he still is.)
Nancy Hemmerly Knepp has worked for 16 years as a staff rep for AFSCME Council 13, a public employees' union in PA. She's the proud grandmother of four.
Jim Smolen is switching jobs at Rice University, become a Cost and Rate Analyst in central administration in mid-September. He'll be reducing his working hours (yes, semi-retirement is here) in order to pursue flying and other interests.
After spending more than 20 years in journalism, Max Millard is enjoying his new career as a teacher. He's resident musician at Bright Horizons preschool in the Lucasfilm complex in San Francisco, where most of the kids' parents work for George Lucas. He also teaches remedial reading and math at Mission Dolores Catholic School in the city's Latino neighborhood. Max recently visited the Philippines and brought back 3 more in-laws, for a total of 9 he has helped immigrate to the US since he and wife Salve were married in 1986.
A year ago Dave Rockwell reported that he was teaching computer skills to special needs kids and had two grandchildren of his own. Now it looks like he'll be leaving the teaching game and going back to working with grown-ups, "assuming anyone hires grampa's these days." He also expects a third grandchild by the end of September. Dave and his wife took the first 2 grandchildren (Zach 8.5 yrs and Emma 4.5 yrs) to Lake Tahoe for her family reunion, which he says was fun and beautiful and a good (dry) break from the soggiest 4-6 weeks in New England he can remember. It did result in good fishing and a bumper crop of tomatoes.
In the Spring 2008 issue we told you the story of the rekindled romance between Gene Harmon and Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen (a/k/a Irmis) after a 40 year hiatus. In July Gene flew to Helsinki and then the couple traveled to her cottage on Haapasaari Island in the Baltic Sea, a relaxing and simple place with outhouses and no cars and perhaps 200 people on a summer weekend but they do have high speed internet. Gene relearned how to use and sharpen a scythe to cut the long grass. After a week there they took a train to eastern central Finland to catch a bus tour and then crossed into Russia to the Solovetsky Monastery on an island in the White Sea. After years as a gulag it has been transformed back to its original purpose and is now the home of 35 Russian Orthadox monks. Students from all over Russia come to assist in the rebuilding. All of the domes and spires have been restored and many of the interior icons have been replicated. Beluga whales frolicked with their calves in the nearby sea. After returning to Finland Gene and Irmis were invited to a remote lake cottage by a couple she has known for decades. Immediately after arriving they were told the sauna was ready. Gene says, "While cooking in the sauna Irmis informed me we would be jumping in the lake after certain intervals. I looked into her beautiful deep dark blue eyes and asked, 'Naked?' 'Ya.' I told her people get arrested for that kind of thing in the states. No problem in Finland. So, yes, we jumped with wild abandon. It almost seems like we are still 18 years old."
Jay Garbose mused about strange events causing remote consequences. Discovering a weird underwater worm last year spawned a procession of unrelated benefits including a reconnection with some NMH classmates (the now-infamous 5-martini lunch is chronicled above). Mention of the "worm" in our class-notes, made alumni magazine editor Mary Seymour think shooting underwater video instead of practicing law was actually interesting enough to write about. Jay has now heard from fellow NMH'ers who also came from his hometown, too. Kirsten "Kirk" Besanko and Jeff Plotkin '68 both have kept in touch and updated him on their families. Jay says "we are hoping to have a yearly "Florida Reunion" this winter. I hope more old friends get in touch. Since all of the new contact, I am sorry I didn't attend the 40th last year. I now am flooded with ancient childhood memories. Thoughts of Rudy Weber and Judson Stent still evoke emotional responses I thought long gone." Jay's family has always stayed involved with the schools by maintaining a still-growing scholarship fund in memory of his brother David '68 who died in 1970. "The abiding principle learned at NMH during our incredible education by all of the "Garbi" (also brother Dan '65) was applying those acquired tools in helping others. It has amazed me throughout my life how the quality of those skills still serve me everyday."
Peter Higgins has been living and raising a family in Gloucester, MA for many years. All have left the nest although the youngest may still turn up for dinner from time to time. Peter says being a grandparent is quite lovely especially when you can hand the baby back at the end of the day. He would like anyone in or near “Fishtown” to give him a call. Peter has often kicked himself about not coming to the 40th reunion, but claims he simply forgot. (Ed. note: we will not let that happen again!) He says, "My memories of all have remained as we were “forever young” but alas the years creep up on all of us."
Holly Taggert Joseph attempted to organize a get-together for classmates in the DC area in early summer, but many had scattered elsewhere to escape the heat. She did meet up with (Margaret) Lynn Maxwell McLaughlin who is Chief of Programming and Training for the Peace Corps. Lynn and her husband have a retirement home in Sandwich on Cape Cod. Kwasi (Kerry) Holman is involved in the new National Harbor project in Prince George County, MD, a new community combining residential, cultural and retail development on the banks of the Potomac River.

Special Edition:

Craig Roche obituary and a picture of Craig taken by Joel Bartlett at the 2007 reunion:
Thomas Craig Roche, a resident of Oklahoma City, passed away at home on Tuesday, November 18, 2008, at the age of 59. Craig was born August 30, 1949 in Patterson, New Jersey, the son of Chester B. Roche and Betty Jo Roy Roche. Craig was raised in Gardener, Massachusetts and graduated from Mt. Hermon School in Gill, Mass. He also attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. He served his country in the United States Air Force. Craig is in partnership at Galileo's Restaurant in the Paseo District. He was actively involved in the local music and arts scene in Oklahoma City and was a huge supporter of the revival of the Paseo District. He was a big supporter of local bands and artists. Craig was also an antique and vintage car enthusiast and an avid Red Sox fan. He is survived by his wife Carol, brother David Roche and his loving family at Galileo and Isis including his Red Sox. A celebration of Craig's life will be held at Galileo Bar and Grill, 3009 Paseo, Oklahoma City at 8 p.m., Thursday, November 20, 2008.

Craig Roche Tribute Page.

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Spring 2009 Edition:

From Donna: After 4 yrs in Tanzania, Patricia Watson Bartlett and husband John have moved back to NC (see Winter 2009 Notes above) but have since traveled to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, and paid a return visit to Tanzania. Patricia is excited about being a new grandmother. Also planning to move back to the States are Ann Darcus Jackson and Ernie who plan to leave England for retirement on Cape Cod in June.
Tina Dobsevage has a busy private practice as an internist in Manhattan. She finds herself developing increasing skills in geriatrics as the majority of her patients are over 65. She shares her office with husband Jonathan House, a psychoanalyst affiliated with the Psychoanalytic Institute at Columbia University. Their daughter Antonia graduated from the U of Edinburgh in 08 with majors in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies and is attending grad school. Son Gregory is a sophomore at St. John’s College in Annapolis.
Sylvia Kuhner Baer has completed 20 yrs as a professor of English at Gloucester College. She has edited professional journals and run national poetry contests. She wrote A Passion for Life, a one-woman show based on the life of Emily Dickinson which she has performed all over the country. Her husband John is an author in the area of psychology of creativity and philosophy. His latest book is Are We Free?:Psychology and Free Will. Sylvia has recently taken up tennis and golf. She shows some talent at tennis, recently winning her first trophy ever. Golf still eludes her, although she continues to put on her shoes and aerate the course. Her daughter was married in October and lives in Boston where she develops programs for at-risk children.
Debby Bates expects to graduate in May from the CA Institute of Integral Studies with her MFA in Creative Inquiry. She received her BA from New College of CA 2 yrs ago. Her sons are both graduating this year as well-Owen from Kalamazoo College and Keith from high school. Debby moved from Evanston, IL to Santa Cruz, CA. She would like to hear from East Hall friends.
Jane England Radford and husband Tim live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They are just off the Appalachian Trail which they hike almost daily with their faithful dog, Zeus. They have a business, Cultural Communications, planning and designing museums. Jane designs the exhibits and Tim is the film maker. Their latest project is due to open in Nov 09 after 6 yrs in development. Our Land is Our Legacy will showcase 400 yrs of land use in Clarke County, VA. The Radfords celebrated Jane’s 60th and Tim’s 65th birthdays in Mexico in February where they were joined by Carole Drake Chamberlain and her husband Alan.
From Dana: Will Ackerman says "it's been a long time since my last confession" and reports he's still living in Windham County, VT and producing records. One of his own CDs, "Returning," won a Grammy in '05 and his latest, "Meditations," was nominated this year. After ten years, Will "finally wised up" and asked Susan to marry him and they began planning a June wedding in a tiny chapel in a tiny village high above Italy's Amalfi Coast. She's an avid gardner and a brilliant singer who does session work for Will's projects and others under the name of Noah Wilding. They have two pieces of land in Mexico and Will is surfing even bigger waves there, conscious of the fact that "the obituary will be a lot more to my liking if I go out in a manly fashion." Catch up on his career at www.williamackerman.com.
After twenty-some years of collecting and three years of extended research and interviewing Bruce Burnside's radio documentary "The Settlement" aired on several stations in WI and MN. It's the story of mixed

(French/Dutch/English and Ojibwe) carving out homes using the Homestead Act after the last treaty in WI in 1854. Being mixed bloods they were not part of either world. Frank Belanger (Francois Belange), the founder of this 2 mile valley, made it possible for his wife's parents and brother, two of his sisters and all of his twelve children to have land and live there. He donated the land for a church, school and cemetery. By 1900 the Butterfields, Cadottes and Vandeventers, all mixed bloods, had several homesteads. The interesting feedback has been the similarity of these peoples lives with Italian immigrants in WV, as well other ethnic clusters in the Midwest. It will eventually it will be a free download at www.forgottenwisom.com. Bruce also received a National Endowment of the Arts grant to orchestrate his Civil War stage show "Unsung Stories of the Civil War." He'll be working with the conductor of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and since the show covers some of the role of the Midwestern soldiers, it will be marketed to Midwestern orchestras for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011. Read more about Bruce's endeavors in the February 2, 2009 entry of Dick Upson's blog at http://bluessoulrocknroll.blogspot.com/
Gary Barnes was humbled to be named one of New England's "Superlawyers" by New England Superlawyers magazine, an honor for which fewer than 5% of the lawyers in New England are eligible and granted by peer nominations and polling by an independent research company. He was the only lawyer in VT so designated in his specialty, representing insurers. Gary continues to practice as "of counsel" to the Burlington office of Primmer, Piper, Eggleston & Cramer, P.C., spends winters in Florida but continues to work with the VT-based firm through the miracles of modern technology.
The Led Balloon Jug Band is not Will Melton's only musical endeavor. He also plays with and does some marketing for the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, with a repertoire that includes the works of Handel and Vivaldi and even the rock band Queen. Learn more at www.mandolin-orchestra.org.
Carol Bullard-Bates and her husband attended the Inaugural Peace Ball at the National Postal Museum on January 20. They enjoyed music and inspiration from Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory and they continue to work for peace and encourage the building of schools in places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Writing from Melbourne, Robin Whyte Reisman says she and husband Howard finally made their long-postponed trip down-under, visiting both New Zealand and Australia and they found it difficult to climb aboard the plane to fly home, especially after successfully avoiding a wintery January in Boston. She is hoping to come to the 60th birthday party in May that Wendy has dreamed up.
In March 2008 Jean Walker left her job at The Hartford and worked as a consultant in the Finance Dept at UTC Fire & Security until December when she became a permanent employee. She loves the new job and still lives in Rocky Hill, CT which is a short commute to work in Farmington.

Our class now has its own Facebook group with 20+ members so far. To take a look or to join, log on to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.
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Fall 2009 Edition:

Back in the Winter 2008 edition we told you about Catherine "Kit" Royce's valiant battle with ALS. Sadly, on March 30, 2009 her struggle reached its inevitable conclusion. From her obituary in the Boston Globe, "The options and possibilities that age and responsibility seem to curtail in any life could have evaporated for Catherine Royce as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) slowly took away her ability to walk, talk easily, and breathe unassisted. Left instead was a daily decision. 'Every day I choose not only how I will live, but if I will live,' she said in an essay National Public Radio broadcast in December 2006 in its This I Believe series." The book Kit wrote about her struggle with ALS, Wherever I Am, I'm Fine, is available from, among others, Amazon.com
You can read the entire obituary here: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/04/02/catherine_royce_60_documented_travails_triumphs_in_als_battle/ as well as an earlier Boston Globe feature on Kit here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/04/a_dancers_final_turn/.
Penny Pappas

Now we have also received word that Penelope Pappas Mahon of West Hartford, CT passed away on July 4, 2009 with loving family at her side. Most recently, Penny was Assistant to the President of the University of Hartford. She is being remeembered as an exceptional cook, avid gardener, a vibrant part of many communities, and a strong, loyal friend and mother to many apart from her own children, Adam Mahon of Boulder, CO, Alexis Mahon of Philadelphia, PA, and Andrew Mahon of West Hartford, CT. Donations in Penny's memory may be made to the American Association of University Women at aauw.org or to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Penny's obituary is available at this link: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/HartfordCourant/obituary.aspx?n=Penelope-Pappas-Mahon&pid=129354614

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

On to happier news. On a beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon in May, a host of dignitaries descended upon the campus for the dedication of the new Rhodes Arts Center. Among those invited to provide entertaiment for the occasion was our own Led Balloon Jug Band, who dedicated their performance to founding memeber, the late Craig Roche. Surviving band members Chris Crosby, Bruce Burnside, Will Melton, Sam Schreiber, Dick Upson, Max Millard, Jim McBean, as well as Jim's wife Susan and guest washtub bassist Matt Snyder put on a tour de force performance, which was witnessed by an enthusiastic audience that included Craig's wife Carol and his brother David. Also on hand to cheer on the band, celebrate our collective 60th birthday, and make the actual dignitaries scratch their heads and wonder "who let these people in?" were classmates Becky Parfitt and Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Tom Hanna, Chuck Streeter, Carol Ball, Storm Scott, Joel Bartlett and his wife Wendy, Jennifer "JJ" Meehl and her husband Tony Lambert, class correspondents Donna Eaton Mahoney and Dana Gordon, and chief organizer Wendy Alderman Cohen. Carol, by the way, was making her first trip to campus in decades, despite living only 10 miles down the road.
The swine flu scare kept one classmate away. Fortunately it was not because he had the disease but because Peter Henwood risked nullifying his health insurance had he made the trip from the UK to the US as he had planned. Kurt Adams had hoped to renew acquaintances with Peter but ultimately couldn’t attend either despite living only about 20 minutes from campus. After 27 years flying for Continental, Kurt has retired. He and his wife of 30 years have two sons, one entering grad school, and one finishing up film school at Emerson in Boston.
Carlos Castellanos and his wife live in the Cayman Islands but also have a home in Vermont and had likewise hoped to be at the ceremonies but had to postpone at the last minute. In the 80s and 90s Carlos collaborated with arts center benefactor Bill Rhodes and other bankers to restructure the external debt of Latin America. Here is a small gallery of photos from the day's events. (Clicking on an image should bring up a larger version).

Believe it or not, there are even more pictures to see. Will has posted them all on a website at this link: http://gallery.me.com/will.melton#100009/ . Click the "My Gallery" button and you should find it.
You can also read Dick Upson's account of the festivities on his blog: http://bluessoulrocknroll.blogspot.com/ .

Meanwhile, Jay Garbose, Brad Waterman and his wife Susan '68 couldn't join us on campus but did get together for dinner in Port St. Lucie. FL. (Unfortunately, Susan "disappeared" when the camera came out.)

Jane England Radford and Carole “Ducky” Drake Chamberlain celebrated Jane’s 60th birthday by taking a trip to Puerto Vallarta.

Tina Dobsevage checked in from vacation in Paris to report she’s in private practice in internal medicine in NYC where she shares a.5th Avenue office with psychoanalyst husband Jonathan House. Daughter Antonia graduated from college with honors in '08 and is headed to grad school at NYU. Son Greg is a junior at St. John's College in MD. Tina also teaches residents and interns at Lenox Hill Hospital and for many years has been a member of Physicians for a National Health Program.
Also practicing medicine in NY is Glenn Schwarcz, a psychopharmacologist teaching at Columbia and NYU schools of medicine and medical director of Rockland Psychiatric Center. As if his private practice, wife, 8 kids, and 18 grandkids don’t keep him busy enough, Glenn also roller blades 10 miles daily, kayaks twice a week, and skis all winter.
Sheila Morse continues to work in Cambridge as Deputy to Ambassador Swanee Hunt and Director of her family office. Sheila spends 3 nights a week with her sister and brother-in-law and the rest of the time in Guilford, VT where she hopes to retire “sooner rather than later.” She devotes part of her time tending to her extended family's needs, particularly a sister-in-law who is dealing with brain cancer and the resulting paralysis. Sheila’s 2 sons (one an NMH '05 grad) just finished their 3rd year in college, one in FL and one in NH. Ten years after her divorce Sheila is happily thriving in a relatively new relationship.
Madeleine Lenagh lives in the Netherlands where she works hard as a project manager, trainer and counselor. She claimed she had no news, but when confronted with evidence to the contrary in the form of the beautiful photos of her many vacation trips, she acknowledged that being alone for the past 5 yrs has given her the opportunity to travel to the places she has always wanted to see. In 2005, she went to Costa Rica which she said was “fantastic” despite pulling her Achilles tendon and ending up on crutches for 4 months. In 2007, she spent almost a month in Java and Bali and would happily have stayed longer. This year, she ventured to South Island, New Zealand where her sister recently moved. Madeleine is thinking that she could easily live there after retirement. She’s an avid photographer and invites all to visit her albums on Facebook where she is one of more than 35 members of our growing class group. To take a look or to join, log on to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.
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Spring/Summer 2010 Edition:

Alex Ives has been serving his community, first as a volunteer and then as Coordinator of the Wilmington office of the Ohio Benefit Bank, an organization that offers services to those in need, including food stamp, job search and weatherization assistance. After completing his AmeriCorps training he became a VISTA volunteer and continued to work with the Benefit Bank in that capacity while also recruiting more Counselors for the Bank.
Also involved in community service, Carol Bullard-Bates is president of Bethany Inc., an organization that assists the homeless in Washington DC. Among the fundraising efforts she coordinated was a walkathon in November. If you'd like to help with a donation or otherwise, go to www.helpthehomelessdc.org
Best wishes to Linda Hoff-Hagensick and Jim Irwin who were married in September.
Nancy Hemmerly Knepp is a staff rep for the public employee union AFSCME in Harrisburg, PA. Son Ben is a librarian at Michigan State U, daughter Ellen is a mom of 2 in Durango, CO and daughter Susan is a Pilates instructor and mom of 3 in Mechanicsburg, PA. Nancy's husband Randy is retired and fighting Hodgins lymphoma.
Since the Led Balloon Jug Band performance and mini-reunion in May 09 Will Melton has seen Dick Upson on a regular basis and also visited MH roommate Tom Hanna in Keene NH and jug band songbird Sam Schreiber in Naples FL. No stranger to the Sunshine State, Will has made more than 80 trips from RI to Scripps Florida biomedical research facility where he served as VP of their Office of Philanthropy. Eliza Childs attended a reunion of former Wilson Hall residents in December. Before moving on to the next challenge, Will and Eliza planned to enjoy an art-drenched excursion to Venice. (Ed. note: as of 11/10 that trip to Italy had not yet materialized.)
Reading the entire Health Reform bill would be a daunting task, so several dozen voice over artists including Dana Gordon joined in a massive volunteer effort to record each version of the bill including amendments and post all the audio recordings on the website www.hearthebill.org where they can be listened to online or downloaded.
Nancy Crothers spent just a bit more than a year at Northfield but still has fond memories. Single again, she is a senior analyst for the Government Accounting Office and has lived in Washington DC since 1977.
Ellen Stepleton has been working as a preparator in vertebrate paleontology for the past 22 yrs, first for the National Park Service and currently at the University of Nebraska.
Painting Revelation by Debby Topliff

Debby Buhrman Topliff seemed pleasantly surprised that her 45-minute DVD Painting Revelation was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the top ten religious videos of the past two years. In the video she introduces and discusses the last book of the Bible while standing in front of her large painting depicting 29 scenes from Revelation. Debby has since painted the book of Acts in 100 scenes and started working on Mark's gospel. You can take a closer look at www.paintingrevelation.com
More underwater video by Jay Garbose has been featured on TV, the internet and in print. He and dive buddy Connie Gasque discovered a football field sized patch of endangered coral off the shore at Palm Beach FL. Jay wrote down some recollections from his years on the Hill: "So many are gone. I can remember, significantly, that I was working off a room point for not making my bed properly freshman year. I lived in Room 6, Cottage One. My window looked due South at the Chapel and senior rock. I had to clean classrooms for an afternoon in the Silliman Science Lab building (the one that burned during the MH-Deerfield football game...Is it true that NMH football lost every game this year?). Someone had a radio on, and, at about 2:30 p.m., we heard the first radio report of President Kennedy's shooting in Dallas. We all laughed initially thinking it was a radio station hoax. Within minutes, all of us were gathered around that little am radio in shock. Once it was confirmed that he died, we were told to put away our tools and allowed to go back to our rooms. It was, of course. Friday, November 22, 1963. Friday night chapel was unbelievably comforting. Rev. James Kelly knew JFK, I think, and with his Irish booming voice, he brought us all together, as they used to say: "600 strong"! I will never forget that day. The world was never the same. Meanwhile, back in the present, Jay has "immersed" himself in more than just the Atlantic. Wife Leigh Tucker and her sister Karen have opened Tucker & Tucker Protravel International and the 3 have had to bone up on PR, networking and advertising.
George Christodoulo travels throughout the US as part of his corporate merger and acquisition law practice in Boston. He and wife Pam, a college administrator and professor in Andover MA, have two children. Recently married son Peter does private equity work in London and daughter Thayer has put her MBA to work as a strategic planner for AMEX in NY. Both offspring attended Phillips Academy while Carroll Bailey, Elaine Rankin and David Cobb were on the faculty. The Christodoulos get away to their Cape Cod retreat whenever possible and George reports his golf game would not be so terrible if he played a bit more.
After Hermon Roy Taylor spent 3 terms at Tufts where he "aced English and French, flunked Chemistry and Calculus, left after 3 terms. Before leaving learned poker, drinking games and managed to play soccer, and scored a lot on frosh lacrosse team. Did a part time semester at Conn College before they went co-ed, lost my deferment, had a crummy draft lottery number, enlisted, learned Russian for a year, went to Berlin for two years as a translator with military intelligence (there’s an oxymoron for you). Played for Armed Forces volleyball team and soccer. Got out in ’72, Conn College Russian Studies major ’74 (more soccer plus b-ball and golf), Columbia marketing MBA ’76 (rugby club). 10 years with Pfizer: one in NYC, 3 in Belgium selling bulk pharmaceuticals to the USSR (been to Moscow 50 times, other SSR’s and all over the East Bloc before and after the wall came down), back to NYC for the animal health division, then St. Louis for hybrid seeds and plant genetics. 3 years with chemical subsidiary in south of France working in flavor and fragrance extracts for the perfume, cosmetics and food industry. The factories I supervised were the biggest processors of French rose and jasmine flower petals in the industry (and of course, more soccer, volleyball and petanque, a French bocce ball game). Back to NYC, jumped ship to a corporate HQ gig for US operations of a French conglomerate based in New Jersey, moved over for 3 years on business development staff of an ag/animal pharmaceutical and feed company outside Chicago (ran their East Europe operations on the side). Company down-sized so I bailed and became an independent international marketing consultant for a few years. Used my severance and sales commissions to buy the rights to a bioplastic technology from Iowa State." Roy's company Soy Works www.soyworkscorporation.com has been developing bio-based plastics from soy and other plant materials. Roy has been married to wife Nina, a physician and breast cancer survivora, for 20 years. Daughter Amanda is in 8th grade and son RJ is in 11th.
That the Hobby Lobby underwrote the purchase of Northfield was of special interest to Claudia Stanley Moose. She runs a summer art camp for children in Kentucky and Hobby Lobby is her source of supply. She is pleased that the money she spends might be going to preserve the campus.
Ross Mason is still racing bicycles and collecting vintage electric trains. He is VP of Engineering at WGHP TV8 in Greensboro NC and was excited about becoming a first time grandparent courtesy of the older (40) of his two daughters. Ross is pleased to have reconnected with old classmates including Alex Ives and Jack Osborne thanks to Facebook. Our class group has grown to well over 50 members.

Fall/Winter 2010 Edition:

(top)Carroll Bailey & Elaine Rankin (bottom left) Storm Scott (bottom right) Charlie Watt

Pam Crawford reports that she, Storm Scott and Charlie Watt had a wonderful time at a surprise birthday party for Carroll Bailey, arranged by his wife Elaine (Rankin) at their winter home in Siesta Key, FL. Around 50 friends, relatives and former colleagues were on hand to celebrate Mr. Bailey's 80th birthday, swapping stories, toasting the guest of honor, and enjoying each other's company. Pictured: (Top) Carroll & Elaine; (Bottom left) Storm with one of Elaine's cousins; (Bottom right) Carroll with Charlie (back to camera)
In mid-February the Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast of their weekly program Tent Show Radio, (aired on around 50 stations in 10 states around the country, usually at 7PM, after Garrison Keillor's A Prarie Home Companion) was one Bruce Burnside wrote, produced, directed and herded cats off and on called Lincoln's Living Legacy. Says Bruce, "The band, singers and narrators all did a good job as well as the audio recording crew and editing and mixing department. I'm proud of this work; all the songs (a few you'll hear), the message and the presentation. I hope you get to enjoy it." If you missed the initial broadcast, you can download the show by going to www.prx.org and looking under "Tent Show Radio."
For many of us, our names have changed over the years, some more than others. Of course, as is customary, many Northfielders assumed the surnames of their husbands upon their marriages. Some of us discarded old nicknames or acquired new ones. The musician millions of fans recognize as William Ackerman is a guy we knew as George. Jay Garbose used to be called Jim, although he apparently never liked it. The list goes on. In my own case, everybody I've known since before I graduated from college calls me Dana Gordon but to those I have met after 1971 I am Lee (I answer to both). However, few classmates have experienced the identity transformation undergone by the one we remember as Leslie "Les" Petrovics. Returning to his native Hungary he restored his first name to its original Laszlo, but he went further. When is parents were honored at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as rescuers of Jews in World War II he adopted the surname Ofner in tribute to his mother. The story is chronicled in his semi-biographical novel Broken Places, published by Grove Atlantic in 1990. The man now known as Dr. Laszlo Petrovics Ofner is currently living in Budapest and working as a journalist and psychoeducator.

Melinde Hatheway Kantor lives in North Montpelier,VT with Jeffrey, her husband of 30 years. They have 2 daughters. Chelsey lives in LA where she works for a jewelry manufacturer/designer. Shona is finishing her internship in audiology in DC. Melinde stays busy with a web business she started 10 years ago designing costumes for performers. She enjoys traditional music and recently started composing tunes using Mozart software. She plays flute, penny whistle and fiddle in the VT Fiddler Orchestra. Other interests include gardening and drawing. She would love to hear from Hibbard classmates or friends from anywhere. If you have read any good books lately, she is soliciting suggestions.
Kori Hedman Calvert is doing her best to revive the travel industry. One of the last to celebrate her 60th, she did it in style in DC and then in NYC. During the summer, she was off to Cuba. In early September, she and her foodie friends were sampling the cuisine in Santa Fe. She and Scott '62 planned a scouting mission to Oregon, trying to decide if that’s where they’d be content to retire.
Donna Eaton Mahoney recently celebrated her first anniversary of retirement, sure that the decision to leave her career in child welfare after nearly 38 years was a good one. She spent the first 6 months traveling and renovating before those social worker instincts exerted themselves. Donna is currently working one day per week at an addictions treatment center and thinks that is an ideal schedule.
When Will Melton and Eliza Childs visited Minnesota to attend their daughter’s lacrosse games at Carleton College, they took a detour to visit Led Ballooner Chris Crosby who has moved back to St. Paul after retiring from Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto where he was one of the only executives who did not rise through the ranks as a banker. Now he’s building a classic Adirondack guideboat, playing his Fender Telecaster and keeping in shape on his awesome road bike. Chris and wife Kate have two sons and a daughter. Will also spent time with another Led Ballooner, Michael “Max” Millard during a trip to San Francisco for the NMH Trustee meetings. Max has patched together several teaching jobs to enable him to use his love of music and performing to work with children. He and wife Salve live on the west side of Nob Hill. They met in the Philippines, where she grew up and where they still own property.
Tracy Ambler is still lawyering solo on Cape Cod. He and wife Nancy completed an eight-day course at the Offshore Sailing School in St. Petersburg, FL. Starting with basics, they ended up for the final 24 hrs alone on somebody's lovely Hunter 49 (Tracy suspects Offshore leases the boats from unsuspecting owners). Tracy says it was a, "Nice trip despite the intense schooling and practice involved. Now we just need a boat."
The romantic adventure of Irma-Riitta "Irmis" Simonsurri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon, first mentioned in the Fall 2008 edition, continued in May when Gene made it to Switzerland only to learn that the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull had kept Irmis from flying from Helsinki to Italy where they had planned to spend some time in Florence and Siena before returning to Finland.Quickly altering plans, Gene booked the last berth in a sleeper to Stockholm with a 12 minute connection in Copenhagen, which he missed and had to talk his way onto a sold out train but only because he was willing to sit on a bag of potatoes in the diner. Once the couple finally connected they traveled to the medieval city of Tallinn, Estonia before returning to Irma-Riitta's island summer home in the Baltic. Summer plans include a trip to Gottland and then back to the island summer home.
In 2009 Colin Cochran married his partner of 36 years, Paul Langland. They divide their time between an apartment in NYC's Chelsea section and a new house in Santa Fe, NM. Paul is a full time professor of dance at New York University and Colin's art career continues to flourish with many gallery exhibitions over the years in NYC, Hudson NY, and Santa Fe. His paintings have also been featured and reviewed in magazines such as Art in America, New York Arts and Art and Antiques. Colin find Santa Fe to be a very nurturing and stimulating location to work as an artist.

In June, Mollie Lininger Alkan celebrated her 22nd year with New York Life Insurance Company International. Based in NYC she enjoys business travel in their Asian and Latin American markets, having recently visited Mexico, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bali, Malaysia, Phuket, Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore. Mollie has kept in touch with Martha Guernsey Hoffmann and Jean Walker.
In anticipation of reaching mandatory retirement age in her work as a project manager Madeleine Lenagh has opened her own practice as a coach and counselor, giving it time to grow gradually so it will be ready to do fulltime (well, almost) when the time comes. As always, she extends a welcome to anyone traveling anywhere near the Netherlands. Most importantly, Madeleine celebrated the birth of her first granddaughter, Sara Leila Louise, on December 23rd. Says Madeleine, "She’s as cute as a button and I finally understand why grandparents are so happy about being grandparents!" Not surprisingly, Madeleine has posted baby pictures on Facebook. I have taken the liberty of lifting one to post here. You can see more on Facebook where, incidentally, our class group has grown to more than 70 members. If you are not already one, go to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.
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Spring/Summer 2011 Edition:

The Spring 2010 edition of the Alumni Magazine contained the sad news that the classmate we knew as Peter Harsanyi had died. Here is a link to his obituary.
Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Brad Waterman and his wife Susan '68 have sold their house in the Baltimore-Washington area and now spend June through October in Waterbury Center, VT although Brad still maintains his law office in DC. During the colder weather, the Watermans continue to snowbird it in FL.
Also in the Sunshine State, Alex Engelsted (you knew her as Sandy) is captain of Danmark a charter sailboat in Naples, FL.
Gerry Sherman was recently elected to the Board of the Community Development Corporation of New England, a provider of loans for the acquisition of commercial real estate under the Small Business Administration 504 lending program. Since 2006 Gerry has also been on the board of Diamond Business Credit, an asset based lending company with offices in Boston, Philly and Pittsburg.
After 27 years with Continental Airlines Kurt Adams is enjoying retirement. He's been doing lots of woodworking in conjunction with his wife's painted furniture business as well as finishing a year long restoration of his 1946 Piper J3 Cub. Between that and traveling the west coast to visit the kids and tending to a real estate venture in Panama, Kurt can hardly find time for his favorite activity: napping!
Tom Myers lives on a saltwater farm in Maine and continues to promote 'practical holism' in manual therapy, offering workshops around the world. Back in ’08 we told you about his book Anatomy Trains. It’s now in a 2nd edition and has been, or is being, translated into 9 languages. His second book Fascial Release for Structural Balance has been published by North Atlantic Books and he has a chapter in another North Atlantic book: Hope Beneath Our Feet, in which a number of writers answer the question: "In the face of our environmental crisis, how should we live now?"
Jean Walker reports that her company, UTC Fire & Security, is relocating its headquarters to Lakewood Ranch, FL so she's moving to Sarasota. Jean expects to be in her new condo by the end of November and would love to hear from anyone who currently lives in the Sarasota/Bradenton area (Tampa Bay, too). You can write her at jean.walker@att.net.
On these pages we have chronicled many of the creative efforts of Bruce Burnside including having his Civil War stage show Unsung Stories of the Civil War orchestrated. Project completed, they had two performances in April and another at the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua in August. Bruce had great fun singing with and hearing the 26 piece Eau Claire Chamber orchestra perform his work. Ivar Lunde, the arranger and conductor, has become a good friend. Bruce has found it interesting to hear how Lunde's international credentials and classically trained ear worked with original material in the American folk song tradition.
In addition, Bruce is working on a CD of the stage show he wrote on Lincoln. It will be drawn from several live performances. And with close to 60 unheard songs and tunes to chose from, he's recording yet another CD. As an example of how some of the songs are being arranged for the recording, Bruce plays one new one with a fretless banjo with African drumming and a small "choir" to sing it. Another uses a mando-cello, a Wiessenborn (1920 Hawaiian) slide guitar and electric lap steel guitar. In June he also finished a half hour radio documentary entitled Growing Up In Red Cliff. Red Cliff is a Ojibwa (Anishanabe) reservation 14 miles from his home. It's taken Bruce thirty years to learn enough and become known as a trustable, dependable individual and to have tribal friends who contributed to the production. It's been aired on WOJB, WTIP, and KUWS. The WI Public Radio Ideas network is looking at broadcasting it state wide.
As if that weren’t enough, Bruce has written a children’s book and is optimistic he has found the right illustrator. His own kids are doing really well. Eyleen made him a grampa twice in 18 months, Timothy's last project at the Smithsonian on the Apollo Theatre has gone on tour, and Claire trains people who are going to Afghanistan to rebuild.

Yet another musical classmate is Jim Baldwin. He and his band Big Dog Trouble play in and around Jim’s home base of San Rafael, CA. You can check out their website at http://bigdogtrouble.com or look them up on Facebook. While enjoying his first sabbatical in 34 years of teaching Jim spent a few weeks in Newfane, VT. Will Melton and Eliza Childs also happened to be in VT at the time and Eliza ran into Jim and his wife Jean Marie at the Brattleboro Food Co-Op.
Eliza also told us of several instances of grandparent news. In addition to celebrating the December birth of Lucille Almeda "Celia" Melton, the first child for Will’s son Cooper and his wife Wendy, she reported that Jean McBean Koenig (below) welcomed a 2nd grandson when Blake David Burgess was born to daughter Kate in CO.
Kit Williams Krents gained both a 2nd daughter-in-law with the marriage of Ali to son Willie and a first grandchild, Charles Bon Krents, courtesy of son Jamie & his wife. As a member of the Dexter Lake Wedding Band Jamie provided music for his brother's wedding. And Willie and Ali have returned to Shanghai where he works for W.R. Grace.

After her retirement, Helen Fowler got to spend more time doting on her new grandson, Joshua Charles Kemball, in CA.
Gary Barnes checked in to say he and wife Maureen are thrilled to have joined the ranks of grandparents, having been presented with Maddox Noah Barnes by son Tyler ’96 and his wife Meghan.
And Donna Eaton Mahoney welcomed her second grandchild in March.
Robin Whyte Reisman has qualified to be a tutor of ESOL, “English to Speakers of Other Languages,” now the preferred designation.
Dick Barclay lives in Lansing, MI and has a home in Frankfort, MI. To those who know that the map of the lower peninsula of Michigan is like palm of your right hand, Lansing is in the middle-lower palm, right next door to Michign State University and Frankfort is near the tip of the pinky by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. Lots of opportunity for outdoor recreation, which Dick enjoys year around. For example, Lansing is a metropolitan area of around a quarter million people, and yet there are 20+ miles of urban and rural off-road jogging/biking trails out the front door of his house. Dick left his job as “policy wonk” for the Michigan legislature a few years ago and has been working as Director of Research and Policy Development for the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association so he spends a lot of time reading about climate change, cap and trade, renewable energy standards, electricity reliability, smart grid, etc. Kids are grown and mostly flown. And, yes, Dick enjoys spending time with his grandchildren. He’s pleased that more familar names, if unfamilar faces, are showing up on Facebook (around 85 in our class's group at last count). If you are not already a member, go to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.
You may have to log in or join Facebook to access the page.

Fall/Winter 2011 Edition:

We are saddened to report the death of Dr. Deborah Krum Douglas on December 10, 2010, one day after her 61st birthday, at her home in Hudson, OH. At Northfield Debby was a Class Committee volunteer. A graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, she specialized in anatomical and clinical pathology. Prior to moving to OH, she had been associate professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins and in 2005 was named chief of the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She came to Hopkins from Blue Ridge Pathologists in Fisherville, VA. She also practiced in Roanoke, VA and was previously medical director for hospital transfusion services at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. Debby is survived by daughters Kate Douglas Burgin and Charlotte Douglas, grandson Alexander Burgin, brother John '77, sister Katherine Krum Cordier '72, and parents John and Marcey Krum. Memorial donations may be made to Alzheimer's disease research, c/o Robin Blass, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Adelbert Hall Suite 403, Cleveland, OH 44106.
Memorial Page for Departed Classmates
Brad Waterman elaborated on the snippet we included in the previous edition of Class Notes, saying wife Susan (Smith) '68 designed and oversaw construction of their new home in VT and also handled he sale of their place in Northern VA. Brad proudly reported on the marriages of both daughters, Kerry to Michael Epstein in Oct 09 in Boston, and Lauren to Andrei Kallaur in April '10 in Brooklyn. Brad's son Brendan lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Brad was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of a select group of tax lawyers whom taxpayers should engage "when the IRS calls," based on peer review.
After 37 years with two different law firms Gary Barnes set up his own solo practice and is really enjoying it. He still represents CPA firms defending malpractice claims and pro-actively advising on risk management and also enjoys the occasional gig as a neutral mediator or arbitrator. Son Tyler NMH ’96 lives with wife Meghan and Gary’s grandson Maddox in CT.
We also heard from two Beths. Beth Goodman Kiendl works part-time as a nurse at Brattleboro Retreat. She's also into singing, being outdoors and traveling when possible. She has a new knee, a great husband, 2 very cool kids and lots of friends and enjoys liviving in VT "where there's some hope of sanity."
Beth Gordett is expanding the educational business she started in upstate New York a decade ago. Big Mind Learning runs programs and tutors in all subjects, specializing in math, science and writing. One exciting development is a blending of writing and yoga called Saga Yoga that she runs with son Daniel. One of the organization's goals is to help students of all ages develop skills in emerging technologies and clean energy. Check out their website at www.bigmindlearning.com.
Linda Hoff Irvin visited Moody Bible Institute to meet with their Dean of Counseling and found it to be a very nostalgic experience. They have a Northfield room and a little DL Moody museum and their church is very much like the Northfield Auditorium. Linda says it's worth a visit if you're in her neck of the woods (i.e. Chicago).
In the Spring 2010 Edition we told you about Debby Burnham Topliff's website. It now has a new name that should be pretty easy for you to remember: www.debbytopliff.com
Since retiring from teaching 4 yrs ago, Helen Fowler has been fulfilling her travel dreams. She’s studied poetry writing on the Cote d’Azur and art in Florence as a member of Boston-based Teachers as Scholars and taken other trips to Italy, Mexico, Alaska, England, Costa Rica, Paris, Greece, Spain and Morocco, as well as toured the western US National Parks. Son Chris is doing post-doctoral studies in viral immunology at Scripps in CA and daughter Sarah recently completed nursing school. Helen is thrilled that she has been able to visit with grandson Joshua in CA about every 3 months. She enjoys many and varied volunteer activities and is glad to continue to make a difference in the life of others. Helen has missed the last 3 reunions due to conflicts, but looks forward to connecting with long-lost friends next year.
Martha Ratcliff Rix is thoroughly enjoying retirement, taking formal saxophone lessons and finally actually learning to read music. She has a house in East Hampton that she gets to every other weekend.
Still not retired, Sheila Morse has been quite busy, working in behalf of Charles Ansbacher, husband of her long-time employer Ambassador Swanee Hunt and founder of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, to create The Free for All Concert Fund, an organization attempting to raise a $20 million endowment to support free high-quality classical music for all in the greater Boston area. Sheila is pleased to report they raised nearly half of the endowment goal before Charles died from brain cancer in Sept '10. This job was in addition to her two others: director of the Hunt-Ansbacher Family Office and deputy to Swanee.
Sheila and her partner Dick took a second road trip in 2 years from VT to Yellowstone in September, then on to UT for a nephew's wedding, traveling with her parents who are in their mid-80s and unable to fly. Less than a week after returning to VT they flew to HI for another nephew's wedding! And the day after Christmas Sheila headed to India with Swanee for a shared 10-day vacation and the the opportunity to observe 2 days of meetings with the Dalai Lama to: "explore and implement innovative initiatives, through a series of intimate dialogues, that help alleviate suffering among the very poor, especially those in the Indian sub-continental India and Africa. The discussions will possibly focus on education, empowering girls and women, and fostering social entrepreneurship..."
In past issues we’ve told you about the HIV/AIDS research Patricia Watson Bartlett and her husband have done, shuttling between Duke U in NC and Tanzania. For more detail and pictures, visit her blog: www.ngirilover.blogspot.com. Trish’s daughters Christina and Katrina are actresses in NYC. Son Isaiah just earned his MSW from NYU and is working in Somerville, MA. Their granddaughter and her parents Michelle and Lexton live near the Bartlett’s home in Durham, as do step-daughter Julia and her husband. Brother Rick Watson ’63 is newly retired and working on a family genealogy. Brother Jim Watson ’66 is also in NC and continues his old time and bluegrass music with his groups The Ramblers and Green Level Entertainers. The Watsons also have a cabin in Boone, NC. Karibu Sana (most welcome) to anyone who’d like to visit any of their 3 homes and put feet up for a while.
After 30 years of self employed doctoring Bill Johnson became an employee of the hospital in April and despite some adjustment it’s going ok. He’s still very active in scouting, serves as camp doc for a large scout reservation, and looked forward to the 30,000 strong World Jamboree in Sweden. Bill is a deacon at church and helped push through a vote to become an Open and Affirming congregation of the UCC. Bill’s son got married in June ’10 and to Bill’s delight, moved from San Diego to Boston. His daughter left a job at State Street in Boston to swing a chain saw with Americorp in the wilds of Nevada.
The saga of the relationship between Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon that began in '67 and resumed in '07 continues. This time they met in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to meet her son and daughter-in-law, attend a wedding, and enjoy romping around Melbourne's tea rooms, parks, art museums and tram lines. They also made it out to "Puffing Billy," a circa 1920 narrow gauge steam railway line that runs through the hills east of Melbourne. And they made plans for their next get-together in Helsinki, then on to Finland's western coastal villages before heading to the Baltic island of Haapasaari.
Anne Barrus Zeller and husband Bill have 4 grandchildren and enjoy motorcycling, paddling and hiking. They split time between home in Dunbarton, NH and volunteering at Red Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ. They also have a cabin in Greenville, ME where their only bathtub is the lake. Anne says “if any of you would like to photograph moose up close, Bill is a registered Maine guide; come visit us!”
To commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial, Bruce Burnside recorded the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and released a new Civil War CD featuring songs from Lincoln's Living Legacy, a stage show he wrote for the 100-year celebration of Lincoln's birth. Bruce is also recording a new CD of original songs about history, make believe and the need to care for the planet and its inhabitants.
After retiring and moving back to the US from Canada Chris Crosby has found adapting to life without traditional work a breeze. Returning to the highly partisan American political environment has been more difficult. High point of the year was a trip to Tanzania to experience the "great migration" across the vast Serengeti. Chris spent 2 weeks in a Land Rover following tens of thousands of zebras and gnus, as well as thousands of elephants, giraffes and gazelles, watched a pride of lions attack zebras at a watering hole and spent a day in a Masai village. According to Chris, "a life changing experience."
Vin Kennedy reports busy times with wife Becky Parfitt Kennedy graduating with a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University, daughter Meaghan NMH '01 graduating UVA Law to work with Weil, Gotschal & Manges in NYC, and son Peter NMH '06 returning home from a year of playing, teaching, and coaching lacrosse in Manchester, England. Daughter-in-law Jaclyn Thomas-Kennedy NMH '00 completed her writer's fellowship with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been named a MacDowell Fellow with residence at the Colony in NH. Vin and his partners decided to liquidate their "distressed loan" investment portfolio so he has therefore re-retired and now looks forward to completing a 2 yr cabinet and furniture making program at Boston’s North Bennet Street School. He continues to practice/teach Tae Kwon Do and occasionally lectures on restructuring and turnaround management.
While Asia is still very much part of life for him, Dick Flagg has settled back in the USA in Park City, UT and embraced the local religion: skiing! He'd love to welcome any classmates who are ski or board buffs to visit and experience the "Best Snow on Earth" in winter, or discover hiking, biking, and camping in the Wasatch and Uintas mountains during the beautiful summers.
Charlie Watt is living in Sarasota, FL doing financial planning and writing. His first book, a coming-of-age tale (with plenty of Mt Hermon inspired stories) was an FWA 2010 finalist for memoirs. He expects to have it published this year and would happily accept an introduction to a traditional NY publisher or agent.
Meanwhile, Pam Crawford has moved from Sarasota to her childhood home in CT. She is engaged to a wonderful guy she dated as a teenager. Son Luc and daughter April are happy living and working in FL. Grandson Sebastian is off to college. Pam has had recent visits with Chris Anderson ‘66 and Betsy Cassell Randall ‘66. She and Betsy were reminiscing about a talent show in which they did a Sonny and Cher routine and wonder if anyone might have pictures.
Laura Thompson is a high school Special Ed teacher in a small, economically depressed town in NH. She also works in the wine tasting room at Zorvino Vineyard, the perfect counterpoint to Special Ed and the only job she’s ever had where drinking is part of the job description! Laura is enjoying good friends, good health, a wonderful son, & a cozy home in the woods.
Sylvia Kuhner Baer is still professoring at Gloucester College in NJ including some on-line teaching with a few courses. She absolutely hated it at first, but now finds the discussions more interesting on-line when folks have time to think about ideas, rather than in class where the pace is faster. She’s still playing tennis (and became part of a 4.0 team), golf, loving both yoga and Pilates, enjoying performing her Emily Dickinson play “A Passion for Life” around the country, but mainly, she and her husband adore hanging out with their 2-year-old grandson. Daughter Heather entered him in an online contest and now he’s on a best-selling Hallmark card. And a sibling is on the way.
After selling his retail business in 06 and retiring Willy Hermann ended up with a cottage industry repairing Nakamichi cassette decks. Check out his website at www.willyhs.com. Hard to believe anyone still uses them but there is quite a number of people who are still dedicated to the cassette format. Both sons have graduated from college and are employed – and in the fields in which they graduated!
Madeleine Lenagh’s practice as coach and counselor is well underway and she now has gradually expanded the English content on her website www.lenagh.nl. She still works part-time for the City of Utrecht, managing a citywide program to improve and innovate public services and improve digital access for all clients.
Joking that all the running he did at Mt Hermon may have taken its toll Ross Mason finally gave up the sport in favor of cycling. He even got his picture in an “old guy magazine” after competing at the National championships.
Will Melton wrapped up his assignment at the Scripps Institute in FL and has moved on to a new challenge at UMASS in Amherst. He and Eliza Childs were proud to visit another Northfield (MN) for their daughter’s graduation from Carleton College.
Have you seen the name of a Northfield classmate in the Facebook group or elsewhere and asked, "Did I know her?" The confusion comes about, naturally, because many of those women, through marriage, divorce, re-marriage or other circumstances, have adopted names other than the ones you may be familiar with from our school years. To help you sort out who's who, we have assembled a handy cross-reference chart. It is in two sections. The first part is arranged alphabetically according to the surnames they used "back in the day," and the second part is alphabetical by their present day surnames. You can find it by clicking here.

On December 16, 2010 Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Vin Kennedy and Dana Gordon met for dinner in Boston and then proceeded to Emmanuel Church to attend Christmas Vespers. During the dinner table conversations, Eliza provided even more information about some of our classmates who have recently welcomed new grandchildren. Those new details have been appended to the accounts that appear under "Spring 2011 Edition" above. (And one more we'll mention here: Donna welcomed second grandson, Emmett Proctor, on 3/9/11.) Much of remainder of the dinner conversation focused on our upcoming 45th reunion. Your class officers are continuing the planning by observing the Class of ‘66 celebration in June for ideas. But your input is also important. Please mail, e-mail, or Facebook any suggestions and plan your schedule around the second weekend of June 2012. We are hoping for record attendance. This will be our last warm-up before the 50th!!!

Spring/Summer 2012 Edition:

Will Ackerman spent a couple of months in Australia last fall producing two piano recordings, touring and diving with wife Susan in the Great Barrier Reef then returned to the US with a parasite that it took a doctor in a dusty little village in Costa Rica to cure.   Susan’s ever-expanding organic garden at their home in Vermont kept the Ackermans pretty close to home for the spring and summer where Will had nine recording projects to produce in the studio in 2011. Fall brought trips to Canada, Lake Placid and then a couple of weeks of concerts and radio shows in Spain. But the big news is Will is doing the soundtrack for Clark Peterson’s film adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.
Storm Scott reports youngest son Alex, a skilled pilot, is working hard to help get Sarasota wholesale pizza and lasagna business, Gluten Free by Beverly, off the ground. Daughter April is also doing well in the food service industry Sarasota. Her son Sebastian is a first year student at Full Sail in Winter Park, FL and loves it. April is impressive because she is a single parent and has single-handedly raised the boy and gotten him into college with car, apartment and all! Last summer Storm and Alex visited other son Adam and his wife Nicole and daughter Jane in London where he does financial analysis. While in Europe the Scotts spent the better part of a week at the home of Janet Blair and Daniel Atlan in Nancy, France. Storm says, “One evening over one of the fabulous French dinners Janet and Daniel had prepared, we happened to be talking about our birth places, and to our surprise, Janet and I had been born within about 6 weeks from one another in the same hospital in Cooperstown, NY! Her father was an intern there, and, of course delivered Janet there. After talking with my mother upon our return, found that he delivered me as well!”     The Atlans have spend about half the year at their "winter"home in Valdosta, GA where a lot of Janet’s family lives. She also has a sister who lives down the road from Storm in Nokomis, FL. Janet adds, was mind boggling to meet up again with a friend we hadn't seen in some 40 years and then found out how similar our beginnings were. And then find out how close we are geographically now. We'll definitely be seeing more of each other in the future!”Janet is now retired from teaching English in a French university and Daniel is retired from human resources in the steel industry. They have a son in Chicago with 2 kids and another son also has 2 children and has been working in the Middle East for a number of years. Janet’s father passed away last June so he never got to hear the story about delivering Storm but she’s sure he would have loved it, especially because, like both Janet and Storm, he also went to Brown. The Atlans will be back in France in June so won't be at the reunion but send best wishes to all who will be there.
Kori Hedman Calvert could also most miss the reunion as she and her husband may be in the middle of moving to Oregon.
One classmate who’s looking forward to attending his first reunion is Jeff Neuberth. Schedule conflicts with major sailing regattas have kept him away up to now. The only classmate he’s had any contact with in the recent past has been Charlie Watt. They were colleagues in the same firm for 2-3 years.
Ross Mason is also planning to come for his first reunion from his home in Jamestown, NC where he lives with canine best friend Layla whom he rescued from a dumpster 13 years ago. His two daughters have moved on to Philly and LA. Ross has spent more than half his working life at WGHP Fox 8 TV in High Point, NC. Now a grandfather, Ross still races bicycles but tries not to enter any races with the "younger" (under 45) guys.
Another likely reunion first-timer is
Steve Billias who now finds himself living in nearby Deerfield. He and wife Bela moved east from California in ‘04 and built the Shintaido Farm, a center for the practice of a type of Japanese body movement and martial art. See pictures at www.farm.shintaido.org. Besides their own practice, they rent space to other groups for dance, Tai Chi, meditation, etc. and a farmer grows organic veggies on their front acres. Steve has a full-time job as a communications writer for Health New England. Over the years he’s had a few books published in the fantasy genre, and sold a couple of ideas to Hollywood that were never made into movies. Steve is working on another book in a different genre.
Former Deerfield resident Lissa (Mary) Perrin has lived in Ann Arbor, MI since 1972 when she moved there for grad school at the U of M. Since earning here MSW in ‘74 she’s been a clinical social worker doing psychotherapy with adults in a variety of mental health settings. Lissa was married, divorced and has two grown children Rachael Norris (30) and Josh Sholder (27). Her most recent excitement has been the birth of first grandchild, Liam, to Rachael and her wife Janel in NC. She stays in touch with Deerfield childhood friends Gillian Hirth Belnap and Carol Ball.
Another first time grandparent is Brad Waterman with the arrival of grandson Jake in April ‘11.
They’ll have some catching up to do to keep pace with Glenn Schwarcz who figures to be the class leader with 26! One of Glenn’s sons just made partner in a CPA firm in Manhattan, another is a rabbinical student and a third is a manager of a major institution in Chicago. Most of his 5 daughters work as pharmacy aides. Glenn is still medical director at Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, NY, running the Columbia U geriatric psychiatry fellowship there. He recently published 2 articles describing the novel use of a synthetic cannabinoid stimulator (yes, a man-made version of the active ingredient in marijuana) to treat refractory schizophrenia. He also continues his evening private practice in psychopharmacology and general medicine where his wife is his office manager. He still kayaks all day once a week, roller blades an hour each day, jogs, bikes, and skis.
Kathryn Cole Gibbons is still working part-time as an editor and writer in Bermuda. Husband Grant is a Member of Parliament and both are actively involved in local politics. She is currently working on developing a healthcare strategy for the One Bermuda Alliance, an alternative to the government plan. They’re finishing several years of renovations to their 1923 house, and escape to their New York City apt as often as they can. Both sons graduated from college last year and are working in Bermuda, and like most of their generation, are living at home. If any classmates travel to Bermuda, Kathy says to look her up.
John Mudge is thinking green. He can look across his field to a hill in VT from the NH house he built in ’07. He mostly heats it with wood, and 33% of his electricity comes from solar panels. He makes his living from writing and consulting. John’s home office companion is his dog who spends the day sleeping at his feet beneath the desk or on the sofa.
    Another writer, Max Millard self-published a book, "In the Black World: 1907-1932," co-authored with the late Thomas C. Fleming, the nation's oldest black journalist when he retired in ‘05 at age 97. The 190-page book has four sections, which tell of Fleming's early life in Jacksonville, Harlem, and Chico, California, and his years working on West Coast ships and railroads. The title comes from Fleming's memory of growing up in Jacksonville, FL: "You knew you couldn't go to the same schools as whites. You knew that you had to sit in the Jim Crow section at the theater. You knew you couldn't go in any restaurant unless it was all black. You were completely separated, even in the hospitals. So you just lived in a black world." A PDF of the book is available free at www.maxmillard.com.
It was like “Wild Kingdom” when Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri visited Gene Harmon in CA. They encountered tarantulas while hiking on Mt Diablo; a fox sauntered by Gene’s home in Walnut Creek; they spotted a humpback and a school of orcas in Monterey Bay and elephant seals at Big Sur. En route to Hearst Castle, they noticed zebras through the spyglass, descendants of specimens from Hearst’s menagerie. Driving to The Pinnacles National Monument they came across the rare sight of a flock of wild turkeys being herded by two coyotes intent on lunch. Despite all these wildlife encounters, the couple was not stung, bitten, chased or eaten.
Bill “Winks” Whitaker spent a year in the Peace Corps teaching chemistry in a boarding school in Uganda before beginning a sales job with ICI a British Chemical Co. He just completed 40 years at Lucite International where he’s currently a Business Director, managing their global resins business. He lives outside Memphis, TN, arriving there via Atlanta, Wilmington, DE and St Louis. As he gets closer to retirement, he’s focusing more on the important aspects of life such as spending time with family including his 3yo grandson. Bill’s son is an art director with a major ad agency in Memphis and his daughter is a director of a chimpanzee sanctuary in Louisiana. Bill and wife Cathy, a teacher, have led 3 teams in the past 5 years to Maua, Kenya to work at a Methodist hospital and the surrounding community, to help empower AIDS orphans and to build housing for them. For the first time since the MH cross country team, he started running competitively 12 years ago and has run a number of marathons including Boston where he had an opportunity to talk to Frank Shorter '65. If family commitments keep Winks from the 45th reunion, he’ll certainly plan to hit the 50th.
Melinde Hatheway Kantor lives in Calais, VT with her husband of 35 years, Jeffrey. Their two daughters Chelsey and Shona live in Topanga, CA and Wash. DC respectively with their partners. Chelsey does jewelry design and Shona is an audiologist who is engaged to be married in June. Melinde is thoroughly immersed in the arts. Her business is designing costumes for performers. She plays traditional music with the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra and its subsets. Selling one of her paintings gave her encouragement. And she does colored pencil and watercolor drawings.
Roy Taylor and wife Nina, a staff physician at Northern Illinois University student health services, are proud of their A-student kids. Amanda, 15, is a sophomore into theater and choirs, voice & dance lessons, and trying to get enough wheel time to get her driver's license. RJ, 18, is a freshman at St. Louis U in International Studies, Honors Program, pre-law, 6th year of Spanish, starting Chinese & French, with a little Ukrainian on the side. Roy is finally making some progress with the bio-plastics business, still welcoming investors, and feels 2012 will be the make or break year. He’s gotten back into singing with the church "Contemporary Choir" which does a lot of modern arrangements of old hymnal standards. Next up may be some community theater come summer. Roy hopes to be at reunion.
Retirement for Wendy Alderman Cohen comes three weeks after Reunion. Between them, Wendy and husband Jeff have taught for 67 years and are looking forward to moving to Cape Cod where Wendy anticipates lots of volunteering at NMH and a new church and whatever else may come her way. She is looking forward to seeing many classmates in June.
Martha Ratcliffe Rix has settled into her retirement and has never been in a better space. She was heartbroken to learn Saab was going out of business, having owned three spanning from 1968 to last year when she retired her last one which had served her for 12 yrs. She wishes joy and prosperity to all classmates.
Mark Blaisdell retired in December after spending over 40 years in the insurance industry. He and wife Nancy will do some traveling starting with a trip to HI from their home in southern NH. Daughter Amy is back home while writing her master's thesis for a degree in world health promotion from the University of Bergen (Norway).
Tom Hanna remains unretired (or pre-retired) with no plans to change that status, although he takes lots of vacation and plans to take even more as time goes on.
The semi-retirement that Jim Smolen liked so much has ended. Following the departure of his immediate supervisor in the Controllers Office at Rice University, Jim has taken over her position on a full-time basis. He’s also joined the Rice Masters Swimming Club and started swimming competitively again. The workouts are very similar to those at Hermon and in college. Jim has competed in the 50 yard freestyle, 50 butterfly, 100 freestyle, and 100 individual medley. He urges everyone to attend the reunion this year.
Those who say they plan to be there include Skip Carino and Patricia Watson Bartlett.
Last June Jean McBean Koenig and husband Steve bought a farm in southwestern MO. They spent the summer settling his parents and sister into the farm house while building a new home half a mile away.  The incredible view of the Ozarks more than compensates for the long gravel lane and the distance from civilization. Steve works part-time, mostly from home, as Executive Director of the Poultry Science Association leaving him afternoons to reclaim the land in preparation for raising beef cattle. Jean helps care for his parents, gardens, cooks and plays cello in the So. Ozarks Chamber Orchestra. Daughter Kate 30, husband and two grandsons live in Denver, son Will 28, wife and one grandson live in KC but will soon transfer to Denver and son Dan 27, is in Corpus Christi. Both boys work for Kiewit Corp., one of the largest North American construction and mining companies. Will is in their Central Division and Dan works for their Offshore Division. After being in limbo for several years since the divestiture of Steve's company by Mitsui USA, they feel incredibly blessed to have found what seems to be an ideal situation for everyone. Jean’s mom and brothers are still in VT so she may combine a trip home with reunion.

In September class teachers Elaine and Carroll Bailey hosted a mini reunion at their beautiful 18th century home in Andover, MA. Wendy Alderman Cohen, Robin Whyte Reisman, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Chuck Streeter, Peter Higgins, Dana Gordon and Aaron Newton enjoyed the hospitality. Aaron reports that his only news is that he is planning to be at Reunion. He is, as usual, being modest. He was able to attend the mini-Reunion at the Bailey’s because he had traveled to western MA to donate his considerable skills to repairing the homes of two families that had been severely damaged in the devastating late summer storms.
Another mini-Reunion took place in December in Sarasota, FL when
Judy Boice and Jean Walker met for lunch and shopping. They picked up as if 45 years had not transpired since their last meeting and both report a great afternoon.
Last year was one of mixed blessings for
Kit Williams Krents. Her grandson Charlie, born 2 months early, is thriving. His father, Jamie, is a marketing executive at the Verve label of Universal Music in NYC. He also plays bass guitar in a very successful wedding band (www.dexterlakeclubband.com) which has had several gigs in DC and frequent visits with Kit. Son Will was married in ‘10. He lives in Shanghai where he works for WR Grace, buying up chemical factories in India and China. Her youngest, Michael, recently received his JD/MBA from U of MD and is looking at following his father and grandfather in a law career. Sadly, Kit’s husband, Milton Gwirtzman, died last July from metastatic melanoma. He had been a lawyer, author, advisor, and speechwriter for all 3 Kennedy brothers and others. Kit feels privileged to have shared his life for 14 years. As many may recall, her first husband, Hal Krents, died in 1987 and she doesn’t find that widowhood gets easier with practice. Kit’s career as Administrative Director at the DC law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP keeps her hopping and she has rediscovered tennis with a vengeance. She walks her golden retriever Buddy while listening to audio books and can’t understand why she’s not the slimmest woman in America. She enjoyed a visit from Eliza Childs last year and hopes to make it to Reunion.
Elizabeth (Moore) O’Meara sends greetings from NC where she and Tom, her husband of 41 years, moved in ‘99 after happily working and raising their 2 sons in ME and VT. Liz retired in ‘10 from teaching pre-K through 4th grade, Reading Recovery, and academically gifted. She highly recommends the freedom she is now enjoying. Her current project is training their mini-golden doodle as a therapy dog which will keep her working with both children and the elderly. Tom still works as a family practitioner. They enjoy sailing and travel and have taken barefoot cruises to a variety of locations. Son Michael is an architect in Manhattan and son Matthew , an engineer, owns a custom woodworking business in San Diego where he lives with his wife and their only grandchild. Liz has a great appreciation for the education, experiences and memories she carries from those years at Northfield. She was last at NMH in ‘01 to attend Sacred Concert weekend with her mother, also an alum.
Sheila Morse traveled with boss Swanee Hunt to the desert in Rajasthan, India to camp, ride camels, and shop, then returned to Delhi to attend a conference convened by the Dalai Lama. She’d never been in such a luxurious hotel as the Taj Palace in Delhi nor anyplace as surprisingly cold as the desert. Later they were asked to set a five-year agenda to work on alleviating world poverty, a goal perhaps too ambitious even for the Hunt Alternatives Fund (www.huntalternatives.org) A high point for Sheila was when two Women Waging Peace Network (story) members were among the three recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Another high point was finalizing plans to retire at the end of June ’12 and enjoy more of their VT home, spend more time with partner Dick, and return to travelling to Italy and Israel more frequently. Sons Joshua and Jonathan traveled to S. Africa to visit their father in late summer. While there, Joshua proposed to girlfriend Alyssa. Jonathan returned to the East Coast and is now employed at Hunt as well, making Sheila a very proud mama on both accounts. She’s looking forward to spending time with NMH friends in June. Their home is 20 minutes away and they have extra bedrooms if anyone needs accommodations.
For the first time in 31 years Bruce Burnside and his three daughters weren't together for Christmas. They spent Thanksgiving together but for Christmas spread out to meet families of possible future significant others. Bruce fine tuned his main recording studio before recording any more of the fretted instruments and vocals for his orchestrated Civil War CD. He commissioned a new banjo has written several songs for that project. He’s also been thinking about writing a book on the life of Dan Emmitt,19th century composer of such standards as “Old Dan Tucker” and “Dixie.” All he needs is an interested publisher. Bruce will probably also go back to the drawing board to illustrate his book "If I Had A Friend".
One never knows what precipitates a classmate contact. Liz Schoen Burgess ’66 wanted to return a hole punch she had borrowed from Wendy Syer over 45 yrs ago. Wendy is the Assistant Director of International Education at the U of TN in Knoxville. She would like to trade the stress and work to travel the world, but reports she is still happily married and trying to encourage her 25 yr old son to become independent.
Lawyer -turned -underwater videographer Jay Garbose says sea conditions were less than optimum for a while so his wetsuit stayed dry longer that he would like but he put the free time to use re-landscaping the yard, replacing a bathroom sink and faucets, and 2 electrical boxes for outside lighting, dug a 20-foot French drain for the outside shower and surfaced the front entrance with marble pavers -- not skills he learned at NMH. Jay says he has no excuse not to attend the 45th Reunion and he enjoys the contacts with classmates through Facebook. Join him and nearly 100 others by entering “Northfield Mount Hermon Class of 1967” in the Facebook search window.

Class of 1967 Alumni & Reunion Page

Northfield - Mount Hermon

Reunion Class Picture

Reunion 2007 - People

Click on a picture to see a larger image.

New Construction on Campus 2007

More Pictures

Click this link for Joel Barlett's page featuring more pictures from our 40th reunion, taken by Joel and by Jim Smolen.
Joel's 40th reunion page

Click this link for Jim Smolen's pictures from our 35th reunion.
Jim's 35th reunion page

The Reunion before the reunion.

Planning session for 40th Reunion, Becky & Vin Kennedy's house, February '07

Class Notes

Click this link for Max Millard's complete archive of Class Notes from September 2002 through February 2007.
Max's Class Notes

On-going Northfield and Mount Hermon Class Notes as they (will) appear in the Alumni Magazine (plus some extra material that may not have made it past the editors.)

Fall 2007 Edition:

Winter 2008 Edition:

Spring 2008 Edition:

Fall 2008 Edition:

Winter 2009 Edition

Special Edition:

Spring 2009 Edition:

Fall 2009 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2010 Edition:

Fall/Winter 2010 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2011 Edition:

Fall/Winter 2011 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2012 Edition:

Keep Us Posted

Class of 1967 Alumni & Reunion Page

Northfield - Mount Hermon

Reunion Class Picture

Reunion 2007 - People

Click on a picture to see a larger image.

New Construction on Campus 2007

More Pictures

Click this link for Joel Barlett's page featuring more pictures from our 40th reunion, taken by Joel and by Jim Smolen. Joel's 40th reunion page Click this link for Jim Smolen's pictures from our 35th reunion. Jim's 35th reunion page

The Reunion before the reunion.

Planning session for 40th Reunion, Becky & Vin Kennedy's house, February '07

Class Notes

Click this link for Max Millard's complete archive of Class Notes from September 2002 through February 2007. Max's Class Notes On-going Northfield and Mount Hermon Class Notes as they (will) appear in the Alumni Magazine (plus some extra material that may not have made it past the editors.)

Fall 2007 Edition:

Winter 2008 Edition:

Spring 2008 Edition:

Fall 2008 Edition:

Winter 2009 Edition

Special Edition:

Spring 2009 Edition:

Fall 2009 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2010 Edition:

Fall/Winter 2010 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2011 Edition:

Fall/Winter 2011 Edition:

Spring/Summer 2012 Edition:

Keep Us Posted

Click this link for Joel Barlett's page featuring more pictures from our 40th reunion, taken by Joel and by Jim Smolen.
Joel's 40th reunion page

Click this link for Jim Smolen's pictures from our 35th reunion.
Jim's 35th reunion page

Click this link for Max Millard's complete archive of Class Notes from September 2002 through February 2007.
Max's Class Notes

On-going Northfield and Mount Hermon Class Notes as they (will) appear in the Alumni Magazine (plus some extra material that may not have made it past the editors.)