April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

Williams 

PEOPLE 

April 2012 

getting 

together

REPRESENTING THE ALUMNI BODY 

As I wind down four years of Society of 

Alumni leadership—two as vice president and 

then as president—I thought I would try to 

answer a question many alums have asked 

me: What exactly is it that you do? 

In some ways, the position is symbolic, 

with inspiring duties such as welcoming each 

graduating class in to the Society of Alumni at 

Commencement and presiding over the annual 

meeting of the society at Reunion Weekend. I 

also attend trustee meetings as a non-voting 

member and can affirm that the board is 

deeply attuned to Williams’ governance and to 

the thoughts of alumni. And because alumni 

leadership is represented on presidential 

search committees, I was honored to represent 

you on the team that brought us President 

Adam Falk. 

Since Williams enjoys one of the most loyal 

and engaged alumni groups in the world, I 

also preside over the three meetings each year 

of the society’s executive committee, which 

works with the alumni relations office to 

connect alumni with each other and our alma 

mater. The executive committee works with 

regional associations, class officers, affinity 

groups, reunion volunteers and other alumni 

seeking to engage with the society as a whole. 

In recent years, the executive committee 

has taken a special interest in students. 

Williams is now home to an increasingly 

diverse group of undergraduates, not all 

of whom may be prepared for the college 

experience. While Williams has a fantastic 

support system in place, we believe that 

alumni—many of whom may have been in 

similar situations—can help ensure that every 

student can take advantage of all our college 

community offers. From career mentoring to 

offering a sympathetic ear, I have found that 

alumni across the world are eager to help. 

That so many of you voiced concern and 

support after the campus racial incident last 

November clearly demonstrates how important 

students are to you. My friend, Alumni 

Relations Director Brooks Foehl ’88, describes 

at the end of this issue some of the actions 

taken by President Falk. I would also direct 

you to an event planned well before this 

awful crime took place: Now in its fourth 

year, Claiming Williams Day is the result of 

a student-driven movement to challenge the 

campus community to face difficult questions 

of inequality. Please take a moment to look 

over the wide range of events that took place 

on Feb. 2 at claiming.williams.edu. Fellow 

alumni who have done so have expressed 

great pride in this initiative. 

I’m glad to end this overview of my last 

four years with this story about current 

students. They are an amazingly diverse and 

thoughtful group of young men and women, 

and I am proud to have witnessed first-hand 

the dedication that President Falk, the faculty, 

staff and of course alumni have shown in 

shaping these future leaders. 

Christopher F. Giglio ‘89 

President, Society of Alumni 

Brooks L. Foehl ’88, Director of Alumni Relations, 

shares an update on campus events here

118 

CONTENTS 

4 

Class Notes 

PEOPLE 

April 2012 

109 

Williams 

114 

121 

123 

Editors 

Jennifer E. Grow 

Amy T. Lovett 

Student Assistant 

Rose D. Courteau ’14 

Design & Production 

David Edge 

Click on text and photos to jump 

to the corresponding page 

Editorial Offices 

P.O. Box 676 

Williamstown, MA 01267-0676 

tel: 413.597.4278 

fax: 413.597.4158 

e-mail: alumni.review@williams.edu 

http://alumni.williams.edu/alumnireview 

Address Changes/Updates 

Bio Records 

75 Park St. 


tel: 413.597.4399 

fax: 413.597.4178 

e-mail: alumni.office@williams.edu 

http://alumni.williams.edu 

www.facebook.com/williamscollege 

twitter.com/williamscollege 

On the Cover 

José Pacas ’08 and Martha 

Rogers ’07 celebrate their 

May 29 wedding in Minneapolis 

with a host of Ephs. 

1932 • ‘36 • ‘37 • ‘38 • ‘39 

1940 • ‘41 • ‘42 • ‘43 • ‘44 • ‘45 • ‘46 • ‘47 • ‘48 • ‘49 

1950 • ‘51 • ‘52 • ‘53 • ‘54 • ‘55 • ‘56 • ‘57 • ‘58 • ‘59 

1960 • ‘61 • ‘62 • ‘63 • ‘64 • ‘65 • ‘66 • ‘67 • ‘68 • ‘69 

1970 • ‘71 • ‘72 • ‘73 • ‘74 • ‘75 • ‘76 • ‘77 • ‘78 • ‘79 

1980 • ‘81 • ‘82 • ‘83 • ‘84 • ‘85 • ‘86 • ‘87 • ‘88 • ‘89 

1990 • ‘91 • ‘92 • ‘93 • ‘94 • ‘95 • ‘96 • ‘97 • ‘98 • ‘99 

2000 • ‘01 • ‘02 • ‘03 • ‘04 • ‘05 • ‘06 • ‘07 • ‘08 • ‘09 

2010 • ‘11 

Wedding 

Album 

Births & 

Adoptions 

Obituaries 

47 

Williams magazine 

(USPS No. 684-580) is published in 

August, September, December, January, 

March, April and June and distributed 

free of charge by Williams College for the 

Society of Alumni. Opinions expressed 

in this publication may not necessarily 

reflect those of Williams College or of the 

Society of Alumni. 

Periodical postage paid at 

Williamstown, MA 01267 and 

additional mailing offices. 

Postmaster: 

Send address changes to 

Bio Records 

75 Park St. 


Volume 106 Number 6

CLASS NOTES 

1932 

We learned just before Williams 

People went to press that John 

English passed away on March 6 

in Yarmouth Port, Mass. He was 

the last living member of the class 

and the oldest known Williams 

alumnus. John was secretary of 

the Williams College Society of 

Alumni and director of alumni 

relations from 1960-75. Upon his 

retirement he took on the role of 

class secretary, serving for more 

than 36 years and receiving the 

Thurston Bowl (1982), among 

his many Williams awards. A 

detailed obituary will appear in 

the next issue. 

1936 

Richard U. Sherman 

Friendship Village Dublin 

6000 Riverside Drive, Apt. A109 

Dublin, OH 43017 

1936secretary@williams.edu 

1937 

REUNION JUNE 7–10 

Please submit notes to 

Williams People, P.O. Box 676, 

Williamstown, MA 01267 or 

alumni.review@williams.edu. 

1938 

George McKay 

2833 Wind Pump Road 

Fort Wayne, IN 46804 


1939 

Roger Moore 

39 Boland Road 

Sharon, CT 06069 

Bruce Burnham celebrated his 

95th birthday at the Red Lion 

Inn in Stockbridge, Mass. He is 

in relatively good health, cooking, 

housekeeping and building 

a grandfather clock on his own, 

but “living on the edge” as he 

guesses most ’39ers do. 

Harry Gottlieb sends wishes to 

all classmates for a happy and 

healthy 2012. 

4 | Williams PeoPle | aPril 2012 

Charles Cleaver sends news 

that he is still driving and playing 

some golf and that Patty is 

doing well despite some joint 

problems. 

From Maud Robertson comes 

the sad news that Thorndike 

Williams passed away Nov. 3. 

Marilyn and Alex Carroll are 

well. They celebrated the arrival 

of his grandson, Williams Class 

of 2011, as a teacher at “their” 

charter school. 

Gene Smith writes she has 

moved into a retirement home 

in St. Louis, near her daughter. 

She continues to enjoy traveling, 

playing bridge and following 

the pursuits of her grandchildren. 

Holly Silverthorne sends 

greetings to everyone; she 

continues to show the spirit of 

out great class. 

Doris and John Alstrom report 

the winter in Wilmington 

has been mild thus far. They 

planned to “bail out,” however, 

EPHCOMPLISHMENT 

In January William W. Steel ’37 received a certificate of appreciation for 

20 years as a volunteer tutor at Mount Greylock Regional High School in 

Willliamstown, where he had been a teacher at Pine Cobble School. He and 

his wife Miriam live in Sweetwood retirement community in Williamstown. 

in March, for a house they 

rented in Hollywood, Fla., 

which is near family. 

Karl Mertz sends news they 

have had the most wonderful 

fall, with 47 days of sunshine. 

He is very pleased to see Forbes 

Magazine put Williams first 

on the liberal arts college list, 

ahead of Princeton. 

Welcome to all you ‘ninetyfivers.’ 

’39 will not mind. 

1940 

Please submit notes to 

Williams People, P.O. Box 676, 

Williamstown, MA 01267 or 


1941 

Wayne Wilkins 

240 South St. 

Williamstown, MA 01267 

Pete Parish 

6350 Sheffield Drive 

Hickory Corners, MI 49060 


Submitted by Wayne Wilkins: 

Pete Parish was in town to 

attend the Winter Study course 

that son Will ’75 was teaching, 

“Environmental Education, 

What, How and Why.” We 

were delighted to have Pete and 

Barbara stay with us. Pete has 

been nominated for the Michigan 

Aviation Hall of Fame. I’d be 

happy to share with you the 

actual nomination statement. 

Here is an edited version: 

Preston S. Parish, military pilot 

and aviation executive, was 

born in Chicago. He was a U.S. 

Marine Corps machine gun 

company officer during the South 

Pacific campaigns including 

Guadalcanal and Peleliu, He was 

awarded the Bronze Star Medal. 

Parish was accepted into Naval 

Flight Training and awarded 

Naval Aviator wings in 1984. He 

was vice chairman of the Upjohn 

Co. Board and helped establish 

the Upjohn Aviation Department 

and select its first aircraft. In 

1972 he became a principal 

owner of KalAero, and in 1977 

he co-founded the Kalamazoo 

Aviation History Museum, now 

the Air Zoo. He is authorized by 

the FAA to fly all types of highperformance 

piston aircraft and 

has 9,500 hours of pilot time. 

He has served as president of 

Warbirds of America, trustee of 

EAA Foundation, and treasurer 

and chairman of the National 

Business Aircraft Association. 

His election should be a shoein. 

The only other news is taken 

from a story on the Williams 

website written by Dick Quinn, 

the director of sports information. 

Pete Parish has done the 

editing. News of ’41 must be 

hard to come by when I have to 

write about myself! Here it is, in 

the third person as written. 

“On Fri., Dec. 16, two Eph 

football and baseball players 

met and talked about their third 

common bond—the Boston 

Bruins. Meeting for the first 

time were current standout wide 

receiver Darren Hartwell ’13 and 

Dr. Wayne Wilkins, who had seen 

Hartwell perform for the Ephs 

and is a dedicated Eph football 

fan and member of the Williams 

Sideline QB Club. The Bruins 

connection comes from Wilkins’ 

past association with the NHL 

team as their team doctor from 

1969 until 1984. Hartwell 

covered the Bruins in January 

as part of the ESPNBoston staff 

for a Winter Study independent 

study project. Hartwell decided 

in the fall that it might be fun 

to broaden his sports writing 

résumé under the auspices of Joe 

McDonald of ESPN. Wilkins 

went on from Harvard Medical 

School to the Massachusetts

General Hospital, joining the 

Bruins as team doctor just when 

Bobby Orr brought the Stanley 

Cup back to Boston in 1970. 

There Wilk got to see and know 

one of the all-time greats in the 

NHL. ‘There are two things I 

remember about Bobby Orr 

that stood out,’ Wilk offered. 

‘One, he was unbelievable as 

a player. He could shoot, pass, 

rag the puck and defend with 

anyone.’ His ability to rush the 

puck remains the best of all time. 

‘Two, he was a fantastic person, 

a great humanitarian.’ Wilk 

recalled a call in his early days 

with the Bruins from a doctor at 

the Boston Children’s Hospital 

wondering if Wilk could get Orr 

to visit a 12-year-old who had 

had a leg amputated because 

of a bone sarcoma, thus ending 

his hockey career. Wilk replied 

that he would ask Orr. He 

agreed with one condition—no 

publicity. ‘I told Bobby I had one 

condition, too; that I go with 

him.’ In three hours at the ward 

Orr visited with every young 

patient, boy and girl, athlete and 

non-athlete, and all of the kids 

responded very positively to the 

Orr visit. One of the veteran 

nurses commented to Wilk: ‘I’ve 

only seen this kind of reception 

once before—when Ted Williams 

came to visit.’ Orr was only 21! 

When Orr scored the overtime 

goal to win the cup, Wilk was 

on the bench; son Wayne ’79 was 

sitting in his seat with Suki. It 

was his 13th birthday. 

“Wilk had enjoyed Hartwell’s 

breakout game as a sophomore 

against Trinity when he caught 

consecutive 80-yard touchdown 

passes right in front of Wilk. 

‘It was amazing to see him run 

right by the defenders.’ He has 

had great respect for the wide 

receiver wearing number 1. 

Wilk told Darren to say hello 

to Don DelNegro, the Bruins 

head trainer and former director 

of sports medicine at Williams: 

‘He’s my last connection to the 

Bruins.’ Wilk loved Darren’s final 

comment to Quinn: ‘I hope I’m 

as active and energetic as he is 

at 92.’” 

SENDNEWS! 

Y our class secretary is 

waiting to hear from you! 

Send news to your secretary at 

the address at the top of your 

class notes column. 

1942 


Thurston Holt 

4902 Willowood Way 

Norman, OK 73026 


“She is a woman, therefore 

may be wooed. She is a woman, 

therefore may be won.” 

—William Shakespeare, from 

his play Titus Andronicus. This 

was a favorite passage in a discussion 

I had with Ben Schneider 

Jr., who had taught English 

at St. Lawrence University. 

He believes Hamlet is partly 

autobiographical. 

Was Hamlet strong? Ben 

thinks only near the end when he 

returned to England with a “now 

I must act” determination. 

Did such luminaries as the Earl 

of Oxford, Ben Jonson or Francis 

Bacon really write the plays and 

sonnets rather the rustic bard 

of Stratford-Upon-Avon? Ben 

declared, “Shakespeare really 

wrote them—and I can prove it!” 

Ben is living at Goddard 

House, a retirement community 

in Brookline, Mass. “My wife 

Kaye died, my right knee is bone 

on bone, but this is a fine place 

to live, and the food is good,” he 

reported. 

Phil Hammerslaugh Jr. and I 

went back to our freshman days. 

Soon after the Class of 1942 

arrived on campus, the college 

had a meeting for all freshmen. 

President James Phinney Baxter, 

Class of 1914, greeted us. 

Later, the dean, Hafdan 

Gregerson, was introduced. He 

said, “Williams has a bunch of 

rules and regulations, but you 

don’t even have to know what 

they are if you bear in mind just 

one thing: Be a gentleman.” He 

left after having spoken for only 

about a minute. 

I told Phil how much that 

impressed me and how valuable 

it has been through the years. 

We didn’t all follow it that fall. 

During a Halloween celebration, 

one of us got the fire hose of a 

hydrant going. When the dean 

arrived at the freshman quad to 

see what was going on, the guy 

with the hose aimed it at him 

and soaked him. 

Phil recalled the fall hurricane, 

a hurricane that didn’t have a 

name except “The Hurricane of 

1938.” It knocked out the bridge 

over the Greenfield River from 

Williamstown to North Adams, 

so Fred Tompkins swam across it. 

n 1932–42 

Phil went back to his boyhood. 

When he and Bruce Sundlun went 

to a camp one summer, they 

became co-winners of the Best 

Camper award. Phil kept the trophy 

for six months, then handed 

it off to Bruce for six months. 

Later, Phil emailed me, “David 

Brooks of The New York Times 

once ran a column about some 

people who stay in one job 

all their lives, and others who 

change almost every seven 

years like the itch. I’m one of 

the latter.” Is he ever! I’ll cover 

highlights of his whirligig career 

in the next issue. 

When I called Olivia Woodin, 

widow of Raye, she told me, “I’m 

holding my own.” She’s living 

in Burlington, N.C., at Asheville 

House, a retirement community, 

and writing a weekly column, 

“Ripples from the Pond,” for 

their newspaper, The Village 

Voice. Among her subjects are 

profiles of new residents and 

the grand outdoors, including a 

great blue heron that fishes in the 

pond, which has a fountain in 

the middle, and sunsets that turn 

the pond golden. 

Raye’s father, also Raye Woodin, 

was Williams 1898, then came 

our Raye, then Olivia and Raye’s 

daughter Eliza Lovell ’72. Who’s 

next? 

F. Thomas Ward said to me, 

“The presence of Dottie and 

Fred Rudolph in Williamstown is 

wonderful. Taking in women is 

the greatest thing Williams ever 

did.” 

I told Tom I share his enthusiasm 

for coeducation. Quite 

soon after Deerfield Academy, 

where I was class of ’37, finally 

went co-ed, I was thrilled to see 

the cover picture of Deerfield 

alumni magazine: a smiling 

young woman baseball catcher, 

crouched behind home plate, 

mitt out, ready for the next 

batter. 

Tom and his wife Cornelia 

live in Sedona, Ariz., and keep in 

shape hiking at Flagstaff. 

Joan Larned, an honoree, has 

an apartment in NYC and a farm 

in Kent, Conn. “I’m selling blueberries 

and giving away apples,” 

she says. 

I told her an old story about 

Jack Larned that I didn’t think 

she’d heard. He lived close by 

when we were growing up. 

When he was about 7 years old, 

at our house one day my father 

asked him what he wanted to be 

when he grew up. “A bishop,” 

he answered. “I hear there’s good 

money in it.” (His father was a 

bishop.) 

aPril 2012 | Williams PeoPle | 5

CLASS NOTES 

Mary Boyd Carreau Timberlake, 

widow of Shelby “Shell,” who 

has taught watercolor painting 

and been active in a theater club 

and the philharmonic, is thrilled 

to have a great-granddaughter. I 

told her I particularly appreciated 

her having said at a 

Williams reunion, “Thursty, you 

look so rested,” because I’d had 

bags under my eyes since I was a 

teenager. Still do. I quoted band 

leader Duke Ellington referring 

to his as “valises of accumulated 

virtue.” Mary has a milestone 

coming up this year, to be 

revealed in the August issue. 

Art Richmond is living at Ginger 

Cove, a retirement community 

of about 300, five miles from 

the Naval Academy “yard” at 

Annapolis, Md. 

“I’m fine,” he said. “Walking 

without a cane.” 

I said, “There’s a splendid 

song called ‘Without a Song.’ 

“Without a song the day will 

never end.” “Maybe you can 

compose a song called ‘Without 

a Cane.’” 

His creativity was instant. 

“Without a cane! Can feel no 

pain.” 

Art recalled that at Williams 

football star Herb Holden gave 

him help and encouragement, 

but after he broke his jaw 

making a tackle, he decided he 

was too diminutive to continue 

football, so he switched to running. 

He said, “Even though I 

was only the sixth runner on our 

cross country team, we won the 

Little Three meet at Amherst a 

month before Pearl Harbor.” 

While in the Army during the 

war, he was engaged in transfering 

Japanese prisoners from New 

Guinea to an Australian POW 

camp, and in Sydney he met 

Australian Eugenia Philomene 

“Phil” Hobbins. 

At the end of the war he 

had the good fortune to be in 

the Philippines, so he went to 

Australia and married Phil at 

Brisbane in October 1945. After 

raising three children with Phil 

and a career in teaching, Art 

joined Phil playing golf on visits 

to New Zealand and Australia. 

Being evenly matched added 

to their enjoyment. “About all 

we saw in New Zealand were 

golf courses,” Art related. “We 

played there 44 times and a few 

times in Australia. We did see the 

beautiful city of Christchurch, 

N.Z. It was such a tragedy when 

an earthquake destroyed it in 

March 2011.” He ended with, 

“I frequently correspond with 

Dottie and Fred Rudolph.” 


Phil died in 2008. Now all 

three children live within an 

hour’s drive of Art. 

The polar bear met the 

purple cow on Oct. 15 when my 

grand-niece Lindsay Steinmetz, 

Bowdoin ’03, married Matt 

Haldeman ’02 at the Wilson 

Memorial Chapel, Ocean Point, 

Maine, in a service officiated by 

the Rev. Rick Spalding, chaplain 

of Williams. Lindsay’s grandfather 

was Rymund P. Wurlitzer ’44. 

At our 55th reunion Wiliams 

honoree Mary Raynsford (her 

husband Jim having died) presented 

each of us with an elegant 

engraved letter opener made by 

Oneida, the famed metalsmith. 

It was inches from me on my 

desk when I called John Tuttle, 

who had been publisher of the 

Oneida Dispatch, a small daily 

paper. Unfortunately Mary is no 

longer with us. Jim had worked 

for Oneida (Indian name). John 

told me of the demise of Oneida. 

I lamented the demise of another 

famed company, Steuben Glass, 

a U.S. maker of handcrafted 

crystal for more than a century. 

When we talked about John 

and Charlie’s son John Jr. having 

moved to Paris, married a 

French woman and become a 

translator of books and letters, I 

recalled how at a United Nations 

day at the University of Maine- 

Orono, when several of us were 

counseling a student gathering 

on possible international careers, 

I suggested translator. Bruce 

Stedman, a former assistant 

U.N. secretary-general, agreed 

it would be a fine career, then 

added, “To be a really successful 

translator you have to be able to 

dream in a foreign language.” 

John had a short foreign career. 

As Bruce Sundlun described it in 

the August ’08 Williams People, 

during WWII, “He graduated 

from college, then tried to enter 

the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, 

Army and Air Force but was 

rejected by all those services 

because of bad eyesight. In frustration 

he then went to England 

and enlisted in the British Army 

as an infantryman. He saw 

combat service in Italy and in 

the fighting the British infantry 

did up the boot of Italy after the 

invasion of Anzio, which was 

tough, and there were many 

casualties. But John escaped 

without injuries.” John and 

Charlie have been married 64 

years and are happily living in 

North Palm Beach, Fla. 

In Memoriam: A tourist in 

Maine approached a man sitting 

on his front porch. 

“I’m trying to get to the 

Widgery Jordans.’ Do you know 

them?” he asked. 

“Ayah, I do. They got a big 

house. Well, you drive straight 

on out to the third crossroads. 

Come to think of it, you take the 

fourth crossroads. Go left theyah. 

Jordans’ is the fourth house 

on the right. No, it’s the third 

house.” 

“You seem a little confused.” 

“But I aren’t lost.” 

On another occasion a tourist 

asked a Maine native how to get 

to Calais. 

“Theyah’s lotsah roads out 

theyah that’s crisscrossin’. You 

can’t get theyah from heeah.” 

These were two of the 

downeast stories, with which 

the late John Daly would regale 

a wide audience, including 

Williams reunioners. Where did 

he pick up the knack? From a 

friend in Maine who was an 

expert on telling stories in dialect. 

Do you remember any of them? 

If so, send them to me, and I’ll 

include them in these notes. 

Here are a few details in addition 

to the write-up in December. 

Jack was a star football player, 

served in the Navy on an aircraft 

carrier, was the head linesman 

at the Sugar Bowl, the Army- 

Navy game and the Harvard- 

Yale game, and was Northeast 

regional manager for Kelvenator 

Corp., a manufacturer of 

electoral appliances. Jack was 

a widely known football and 

hockey official. Among his many 

honors, the annual Jack Daly golf 

tournament at the Sandy Burr 

Golf Club in Wayland, Mass. 

Sarah Brower, wife of Bruce— 

no obit available. 

Helene Hirson and her husband 

Miles, who died in 1987, had a 

daughter and two sons. Helene 

lived most of her life in Rye, 

N.Y., where she was a member 

of the Apawamis Club for almost 

40 years. From her obit: “She 

attended Marymount College 

in Tarrytown, N.Y. She was 

employed as a showroom model 

by Hattie Carnegie Co. in NYC. 

Mrs. Hirson was a vibrant and 

fun-loving woman who loved 

to travel and play tennis and 

bridge. Her enthusiastic spirit will 

be missed.” Surely she enjoyed 

the picture on p. 156 in our 

50th reunion book of Miles and 

Hank Kaldenbaugh clowning in 

jodhpurs. 

Margaret “Maggie” McCann, 

wife of Ted—no obit available. 

Carol McGill loved living in 

Darien, Conn., 56 years. During 

some of her last outings, she

Bill Brewer ’43 welcomed daughter Anita Brewer-Siljeholm ’75 for a visit 

at his Galesville, Md., home in February. 

would exclaim, “What a beautiful 

town this is!” She married 

Don during WWII, when he was 

a Navy officer. Don was decorated 

for his bravery as a PT boat 

commanding officer in the South 

Pacific. Carol had a patriotic 

role during the war as a Red 

Cross volunteer. According to her 

obit: “She also worked for the 

Office of Civil Defense in close 

proximity to Eleanor Roosevelt, 

whom she greatly admired.” As 

an only child Carol’s dream was 

to have a large family. It turned 

out to be four children, and “she 

adopted a few stray children over 

the years.” 

Don and Carol had two Eph 

sons: Sandy ’73 and William ’83. 

Among her extensive community 

activities Carol was 

“especially fond of STAR, the 

Society to Advance the Retarded, 

where she devoted countless 

hours to advance care for the 

handicapped.” 

Barbara Aldene Morse was born 

in Cambridge, Mass. In 1948 

she married Robert E. Morse, and 

they had five children. A member 

of the Daughters of the American 

Revolution, “Morse served as 

director of volunteers at the 

Redlands Community Hospital, 

volunteering 4,000 hours when 

‘Pink Ladies’ were in existence. 

Morse is described by her family 

and friends as having great vision 

and artistic talent.” She was passionate 

in her support of the arts 

and local artists. 

Joanne Morse, a daughter, 

whose great-grandfather invented 

the Morse Code, emailed Liz 

Hannock, “Mother loved that she 

was kept informed and included 

as an honorary member of the 

Williams Class of 1942 after my 

father, Robert E. Morse, passed 

away in 2007. I would be happy 

to carry on the connection with 

Williams in honor of my parents 

and my grandfather (Class of 

1909) if that’s appropriate.” 

It certainly is. Thanks for your 

enthusiasm. 

Barbara and Robert were married 

59 years. 

Lenore Ott, who reached 

the age of 97, graduated from 

the University of Denver and 

received a master’s degree in education. 

Then she taught kindergarten 

in Denver public schools 

for 30 years. From her obit: 

“She was an enthusiastic and 

expert mountaineer and skier. 

Together with her husband Allen 

W. Greene she climbed all 54 of 

Colorado’s depth peaks. She and 

Allen also climbed extensively 

out of state: Mount Rainier and 

Mount Baker in Washington and 

the Grand Teton and Gannet 

Peak in Wyoming, volcanoes in 

Mexico and peaks in Peru.” 

Of course this Daughter of the 

American Revolution belonged 

to the Colorado Mountain 

Club. She supported Goodwill 

Industries, the Colorado 

Symphony and the Lamont 

School of Music. After her first 

n 1942–43 

husband died, she married Roy 

Ott, who predeceased her. Her 

son Benjamin Rhodes lives in 

Grosse Point, Mich., and her 

daughter Susan Brown lives in 

Williamstown. 

Coming to our 70th reunion: 

Mary Anderson, Leslie Beran, 

John Gibson, Phil Hammerslaugh 

Jr., Liz Hannock, Thurston Holt, 

Janet MacDonald, Dottie and 

Fred Rudolph and Bill Sammons. 

Maybe: Byron Benton, Mary 

Bartlett Reynolds and Felix Smith. 

Here’s hoping the maybes 

convert to yeses and we add even 

more. Watch for a 1941 Buick 

convertible joining the ’42 section 

of the Alumni Parade. 

1943 

Fred Nathan 

180 East End Ave., Apt. 22G 

New York, NY 10128 


Malcolm MacGruer, our energetic 

president and substitute 

class secretary for the last three 

issues, contributed a great first 

two paragraphs for this issue of 

class notes: “My notes are mixed 

with happiness and sadness at 

this juncture. Happiness because 

Fred Nathan has resumed the 

duties of class secretary. McGurk 

is delighted that he has picked up 

his quill again. Sadness because 

we have all lost a dear friend 

and leader in December, Doc 

Phillips. He ran almost everything 

while at Williams: head of 

Gargoyle and of Phi Beta Kappa, 

editor of the Record, JA, honor 


A Columbian mammoth skull, unearthed by Brainerd “Nip” Mears 

Jr. ’43 in 1961, has been on tour since 2009, with a stop at the Field 

Museum in Chicago, where it was cleaned and repaired. The fossil, also 

nicknamed “Nip,” will be on display at museums around the country 

until March 2014 before heading back to the University of Wyoming’s 

Geological Museum. Mears was a professor of geology at University of 

Wyoming and found the skull near Rawlins in Carbon County, Wyo. 

system, Chapel Committee, Tyng 

Scholar, assoc. editor of Purple 

Cow, Class Day Committee 

and a number of lesser jobs. 

And following graduation he 

distinguished himself as an outstanding 

lawyer, ’43 class agent, 

VP and loyal reunioner. His 

prize-winning needlework (see 

Westminster Abbey and King 

George’s Chapel at Windsor), his 

bridge playing and his counsel 

and guidance are only a few of 

the characteristics for which we 


CLASS NOTES 

will all remember and miss Doc. 

We send our heartfelt condolences 

to his wife Marty.” 

McGurk also reported that 

the construction of his weekly 

crossword puzzle keeps his 

“brain hard at work, active 

and stimulated.” He invites any 

interested classmate who is a 

puzzle aficionado and an email 

receiver to inquire about the 

possibility of getting on his list 

by emailing semper.eph@att.net. 

Finally, McGurk performs yet 

another duty: The Alumni Fund 

report shows there are 44 class 

members on the solicitation list 

(down from 248 in September 

1939), and as of this writing 50 

percent had contributed, many of 

them in memory of Doc. By the 

time these notes are published 

we’re hoping for a donation level 

of 80 percent. 

Al James, Doc’s good friend 

and fellow Deke and a co-leading 

light of our class, wrote: “1943 

has lost one of its most illustrious 

members in the passing of our 

friend and leader Doc Phillips. He 

came to Williams with a good 

mind and left it with powerful 

intellect, social graces and 

a sense of community. Indeed, 

in my view Williams shaped 

Doc as much as any one influence. 

Little wonder then that 

he graduated owning the most 

prestigious prize the college 

can confer on a member of the 

graduating class. Phinney Baxter, 

Class of 1914, co-opted Fred 

Nathan, Dave Brown and me to 

serve as a board to select the 

winner. In a matter of minutes 

we unanimously picked Doc. 

In him the college had one of 

its most devoted alumni. We 

may, as Macaulay wrote, have 

‘bitter tears to shed,’ but they are 

not so bitter when we can give 

thanks for a life of the richness 

of Doc’s.” 

Al has sent off his latest Henry 

James oeuvre to the University 

of Virginia Press. Al is one of the 

longest-term and most prolific 

“literary lions” in our class, 

which has an extraordinary 

number of lions. 

Our treasurer, Walter Stults, 

commented on the magnificent 

SENDNEWS! 







job that Doc did as our class 

agent and as a leader for almost 

70 years of our class’s activities. 

Jean and Walter are dividing 

their time between Chapel Hill, 

N.C., and Georgetown, Maine, 

except for one or two trips a 

year, mostly cruises “as befits our 

years.” Last year they took a trip 

up the Amazon, and by the time 

this issue is printed, they will 

have taken one up the coast of 

South America. 

Len Eaton, another literary lion, 

recalls Doc as a “lively contributor 

to the memorable senior 

seminars in American history 

and literature” (as does your 

secretary). 

Joan and Bill Wilson’s move to 

California “caused a big shakeup” 

in Bill’s life. He is glad that 

they have retained their contact 

with the East through their camp 

at Old Forge, N.Y., where they 

“will spend a good part of next 

summer.” 

Ivy and Nip Wilson report from 

Fort Myers, Fla., that their own 

news was scarce until he found 

Sallie Soule (Gardner’s widow) 

being interviewed on a local TV 

station about her collection of 

approximately 140 international 

Santa Claus objects. “I may be 

the only one here who calls her 

‘Senator’ in recognition of her 

service for Vermont.” Nip also 

reports that he seems to have 

battled his thyroid cancer to a 

draw and plans to outlive it and 

regain his normal speaking voice. 

Ken Moore, who is bedridden, 

was reading a book that Doc 

sent him when he managed to 

lose it (in his bed) before he 

could finish it. “C’est la vie,” 

writes Ken. 

Brainerd “Nip” Mears Jr.’s wife 

Anne reports that Nip supervised 

the disinterment of a fossil mammoth 

skull in Rawlins, Wyo., 

in 1961. It has been nicknamed 

“Nip” and is on tour across the 

country, including Chicago and 

New York. On its return, “Nip” 

(named after Mears, not Wilson) 

will be ensconced in a place of 

honor at the newly renovated 

University of Wyoming Museum. 

Brainerd’s “last hurrah” was to 

rescue this part of the museum 

from being “axed for budgetary 

reasons.” He is now at the 

Laramie Care Nursing Home, 

P.O. Box 447, Laramie, Wyo. 

82073. 

Nick Fellner writes: 

“Recognizing that 90 has come 

and gone, we’ve put our house 

on the market and have moved 

to Edgehill” (122 Palmers Hill 

Road, Stamford, Conn. 06902). 

He quickly found two other 

alums there. He is relieved that 

his doctor has restricted him 

from driving “for only one 

week.” 

Martha Tolles recalls a story 

that her late husband Roy (a 

founding partner of the law firm 

that has represented Berkshire 

Hathaway forever) told about 

an event where Doc and Marty 

were playing bridge with Marty’s 

parents. Reaching under the table 

to pat Marty’s knee, he patted 

the wrong one. Doc handled his 

mother-in-law’s surprised reaction 

with his characteristic calm 

diplomacy. Martha is happy that 

she is still writing stories for The 

Los Angeles Times, the last one 

for the children’s page about the 

Civil War. 

Renee Hills, whose husband 

Don passed away last Aug. 4, 

writes, “Don talked about his 

days at Williams College often. I 

think it was the happiest time in 

his life before he was drafted into 

the Army.” Renee still belongs 

to the Williams Club, although 

“It’s not the way it was on 39th 

Street—but then what is?” 

Also a nice note from Phyllis 

Blair, Tom’s widow, mourning 

Doc’s death. And a nice 

note (and a check to Williams 

College) from Mary Stine, John’s 

widow. Mary is also a sister 

of Len Schlosser ’44 and has a 

nephew and a grandson who 

attended Williams. She writes, 

“It is a privilege to keep up with 

what’s going on at Williams” 

through the Alumni Review and 

Williams People. 

As we have been previously 

advised, all Williams deaths are 

now recorded toward the end of 

these publications and will not be 

mentioned in this column unless 

we have special information or 

class comments. 

Your secretary attended a preview 

at the Century Association 

on Jan. 10 of Crazy Horse, 

the latest of 39 documentaries 

by Fred Wiseman ’51 (Yale 

Law ’54) and had an interesting 

talk with Fred afterwards. 

Wiseman is arguably the greatest 

and certainly the most prolific 

documentary film producer. One 

of his earliest and best known 

films, Titicut Follies (1967), so 

vividly described a Dickensian 

insane asylum in Massachusetts 

that a wave of reform followed 

its release. Crazy Horse deals 

with a Parisian nightclub that 

is the leading presenter of nude 

ballets. This film opened the following 

week (at “art theaters,” 

not your local movie house) and

is reviewed on the front page of 

the theater section of the Jan. 18 

New York Times. See this film, 

if you can find it. Your secretary 

did—with a receptive audience 

of about 100 distinguished men 

and women, average age over 

60. During the question-andanswer 

period afterwards, Fred 

described his techniques, which 

include taking (in this case) 150 

hours of film and then spending 

approximately a year cutting 

and editing it. He does not start 

or end with a point of view but 

tries to give a clear, fair, apolitical, 

carefully-organized and 

entertaining report, including 

the geographical and historical 

background. He succeeded. 

Fran and I expect to be in 

Williamstown with son Fred Jr. 

’83 and his family on commencement 

weekend in June. We hope 

to see Helen and Ralph Renzi 

and any ’43ers who let me know 

where I can find them. 

1944 

Hudson Mead 

8 Stratford Place 

Grosse Pointe, MI 48230 

Trusting most everybody had 

a good Christmas holiday. I 

never say “vacation” anymore 

because there is hardly a working 

stiff among us, unless you count 

Uncle Miltie, who is always 

busy—from meeting the famous 

(Ken Burns) to taking over from 

our late and dear class agent Jim 

Lester. If there is anybody who 

will have done a good job it is 

Milt Prigoff. It is in the nature of 

the beast. 

I had a reasonable response 

from my last-minute plea. Percy 

Nelson sent his annual family 

photo. The changes in appearance 

appear mainly in the 

young—keep up the appearances, 

Percy. 

Those of you who were lucky 

enough to get Mary and Hank 

Flint’s Xmas card enjoyed 

the view of The Hopper on 

the northern flank of Mount 

Greylock. He says, “We are 

fortunate to be living in such a 

serenely beautiful part of this 

tormented world.” Ahlsay! 

Helen Corroon wrote in early 

November that Bob’s and her 

daughter (Class of ’84) ran the 

Paris to Versailles marathon, 

did very well and plans to run 

the NYC one in November. I’ve 

got one of those, Helen, my 

daughter-in-law Diana, whose 

daughter’s graduation from 

eighth grade this coming June (it 

is quite a ceremony at her school 

in Denver) caused her to scrap 

her plans to fly to Sweden to run 

in a 20-miler. Ah, youth! 

I quote Shep Poor’s note in full: 

“I cannot believe that anything 

that happened to me recently 

is of the slightest interest to 

anyone else. This includes having 

a pacemaker installed, which 

should keep me going until I join 

you 90-year-olds next August.” 

So nice to see you young folks 

coming along. 

Another chap who alludes to 

his health is Ross Macdonald. (It 

is better.) Still busy, taking time 

off from his scientific studies for 

the publishing of three papers to 

get into genealogy of one of his 

relatives. Ross should be pretty 

good at this when you consider 

he has eight grandchildren who 

have graduated from college and 

who are now in graduate school 

at Yale, Miami and Chicago as 

well as the law school of U.C. at 

Boulder, Colo., and another at 

Georgetown and still another at 

Bucknell. The prize, though, is 

Worth ’11, who is planning to be 

a professional golfer. How about 

that! 

The Whit (Bob, that is) was 

spending some time in Florida 

as well as St. Simon’s Island in 

Georgia before retiring back 

to the hills of Franconia, N.H. 

Speaking of New Hampshire, I 

see where there has been quite a 

political stir in them thar’ hills— 

just finished before these notes 

were written. That photo of Mitt 

Romney and his family of 15 on 

the front page of The New York 

Times evoked a memory of meeting 

Romney himself with all of 

his siblings at his father’s house 

when he was about 15. I was 

deeply involved in father George 

Romney’s campaign for governor 

back in 1962. 

That “dabbing” came naturally, 

as my own father, Harry 

H. Mead, was no dabber but 

was engrossed in politics on 

the way up the ladder of the 

practice of law. With him it was 

a case of always a bridegroom 

and never a bride; he ran all of 

the campaigns for public office 

of his friend from law school, 

the late Justice Frank Murphy, 

but when he tried it himself in 

1933 and ran for mayor he did 

not make it. Murphy’s record 

caught President Roosevelt’s eye: 

Recorder’s Court and mayor of 

the City of Detroit and finally 

governor of Michigan—the 

first successful and the second 

not. Lucky for Frank 

Murphy. Roosevelt appointed 

n 1943–44 

him attorney general. Murphy 

immediately decided to go after 

the gutter politicians who ran the 

big cities on it its merits, let us 

say, in addition to his inordinate 

ambition—forgetting that it 

was the gutter politicians who 

produced the Democratic votes. 

He was relieved of his crusade, 

not like Joan of Arc, but by being 

appointed to the Supreme Court 

of the U.S. Actually, to Murphy 

that was almost worse that the 

fate Joan suffered: Murphy was 

disappointed because as far back 

as the University of Michigan 

law school he had let it be 

known that he, Frank Murphy, 

was going to be the first Catholic 

president of the U.S. Well, you 

can’t win ’em all. My source 

for “the rest of my story” on 

Murphy is, needless to say, my 

father. James McGregor Burns ’39, 

take note! A bit of history not in 

the books—or is it? 

Jack Talbot slid into the 90s via 

a family birthday party Sept. 4 

(So did mine, Jack, same day in 

Denver—I called it my “anticipatory” 

birthday party with a 

candle wish to make the real 

thing: Dec. 16.) I was honored 

then by a limerick composed 

and delivered by a good friend, 

Jack Renick, at Prismatic Club: 

“Getting old can be kind of 

cruddy/but not when you are 

going like Huddy/He is not a bit 

fragile/He’s smart and he’s agile/ 

And we’re glad to call him our 

buddy.” Thanks, Jack. 

Bob Luttrell observed his 

90th birthday on Nov. 22 and 

retired from the practice of 

psychiatry on Dec. 31. To spare 

Roberta from having to cook 

Thanksgiving dinner he took the 

whole family to the Dominican 

Republic for a week. There were 

27 in the party, all of which 

evokes a line from Tom Lehrer: 

“Doing well while doing good.” 

Tom Buffinton has a problem 

not likely to be encountered by 

his classmates: He lives someplace 

where the deer, if not the 

antelope, play, and that means, 

“Look out for Lyme disease!” 

Tom did—he took a pill and had 

a severe reaction. He survived 

and recalls how he started out 

with his dear wife 63 years ago 

with no money, a job that paid 

next to nothing but the hope that 

things would work out—they 

did! He and Sally carry on! 

A word from another of our 

ladies: Ruth Buck, who turns out 

to be another world traveler: 

Istanbul. Her daughter Cathy 

accompanied her mother—something 

she has been doing since 


CLASS NOTES 

she was born, the first baby born 

to a member of the Class of ’44. 

Right on! 

Herb Bell keeps in touch 

with family at Chapel Hill and 

Charleston and avers, “I still 

drive some, but my vision is not 

great.” That comment evokes 

Milton’s sonnet on his blindness—remember? 

“—that one 

talent which is death to hide, lost 

from me useless—.” 

Marty Oberrender favored 

me with an Xmas card with 

a photo of their cute (Sorry! 

That’s the only word for it!) 

retirement house in addition 

to their unfairly (to the rest of 

us) handsome grandchildren. 

A granddaughter Eliza Noyes 

was accepted to Williams. How 

to go! 

John Royal has died, a resident 

of Haskins, N.Y. 

Milt Prigoff’s email, a la Paul 

Revere, is signed “Special 

Agent,” so I shall be careful to 

use the correct appellation. He 

laments the decline and fall of 

the U.S. and alludes particularly 

to Detroit, which is outside the 

“close”: Grosse Point. Yes—but 

Milt. Chrysler, which has a 

plant a few miles down the main 

drag into town from us, has 

just announced plans to make 

another line of cars at that plant 

(Jefferson-North), which means a 

lot filled with 1,000 cars at a time 

(a beautiful sight) awaiting transshipment, 

all of which means 

more jobs and steady work. The 

auto show is in progress as I 

write, and it holds great promise 

for the industry this year. Never 

mind that our previous mayor’s 

prison term is about up—brace 

yourself—and the owner of the 

international bridge to Canada 

is in jail for contempt of court. 

Yes, the Ambassador Bridge here 

in Detroit is not an international 

bridge. It is privately owned. 

That, too, is the subject of great 

controversy and swirls around 

whether to build a second bridge, 

and, if so, its ownership. Stay 

tuned. 

1945 

Frederick Wardwell 

P.O. Box 118 

Searsmont, ME 04973 


The October minireunion 

produced a very pleasant time for 

the six classmates and three wives 

who attended. Presentations by 

recipients of our class fellowship 

program were greatly varied and 

intellectually very interesting. 


Nine students described their 

several weeks in foreign countries 

studying everything from the rise 

and fall of squash in Pakistan to 

Palestinian graffiti, memories of 

WWII in Japan, domestic abuse 

in Egypt, discrimination of Afro 

descendants in Central America 

and more. Yanie Fecu ’10, this 

year’s Florence Chandler Fellow, 

spoke of her year’s study of the 

power and purpose of choral 

music, and it was remarkably 

interesting. This all took place 

Friday afternoon and was followed 

by a dinner out at a new 

place, name now forgotten, but it 

was very social and good in every 

way including the mathematical 

issues in determining who was 

to pay for what and how much, 

since the bill, not small, was 

oversimplified and designed for 

debate. 

Saturday a.m. was taken up 

by a fine lecture put on by the 

college on how our converging 

interests in South America are 

affecting our foreign relations 

and the p.m. by a football 

game against Tufts in which 

Williams barely prevailed. Fred 

Scarborough and wife Gay had 

the whole group for cocktails 

and dinner after the game, with 

a class meeting, the telling of 

stories and reminiscences of some 

good and some sad times—all 

in front of a lovely fire in the 

fireplace. In attendance for most 

of all this were Gil Lefferts, Mary 

and Stu Coan, Ed Bloch, Dave 

Goodheart, Dick Morrill, Gay and 

Fred Scarborough and Ann and 

Fred Wardwell. 

Ed Bloch, wife and daughter 

had just returned from China 

in time for our mini after a 

remarkable two weeks there. 

His trip was more or less to pay 

penance for having his Marines 

shoot up a Chinese village while 

simultaneously cooperating with 

but disarming Japanese troops, 

all immediately after the Japanese 

surrender. Apparently his guys 

didn’t shoot straight, for he was 

given a hero’s welcome, asked 

to speak at two universities and 

several clubs and was overfed at 

several dinners. After some 66 

years of feeling guilt, he was on 

top of the world. 

Stu Coan is delighted to report 

that the dizziness that led to a 

fall was not a stroke but was 

simple vertigo, and that he has 

now improved enough to put the 

cane aside. 

Annette, daughter of June 

Bremer, widow of Bill, wrote that 

her mother plays bridge twice a 

week, takes classes in politics and 

film and lives at 5 Wood Lane in 

Locust Valley, N.H. Annette and 

husband visit weekly and find 

their stories of Cambodia very 

interesting to June. 

Bud Edwards apparently never 

slows down. He reports playing 

tennis twice a week, swimming 

in the Bowdoin college pool three 

times a week and, given reasonable 

weather, using his motor 

and sail boats. He and Sue have 

kids all over, and they all seem 

just fine. 

Harold Gilboard says life is great 

in Laguna, Calif., and that he is 

not getting back to New England 

very often. One supposes he likes 

to get a tan. 

Sad last-minute news that Gil 

Lefferts’ wife C.C. died in early 

January. She was a great addition 

to the group, and I think the class 

will sorely miss her enthusiasm 

and cheer at Williams events. 

Strother Marshall excused his 

difficult handwriting as being a 

function of a stroke, but he is 

living alone, albeit with help. He 

thinks California is the place to 

be and loves the weather most of 

the time. 

Mary Elizabeth McClellan, 

widow of Bruce, wrote just before 

Christmas that her mother-in-law 

advised that every Christmas is 

different and that you have to 

decide what not to do. She has 

many kids and grandkids, really 

too many to enumerate here, but 

they are writing books, teaching, 

camping and doing about everything 

you can think of. Mary Liz 

and Bruce went to Lawrenceville 

in 1950, he as headmaster, and 

now she has been voted an 

honorary member of the Class of 

1960 there, so she can attend a 

new 60th. 

Pete McNerney reported from 

Lincoln, Mass., that Newt and 

the Tea Party drove him to distraction, 

but the book The Great 

Disruption by Paul Gilding is a 

must-read for your children and 

grandchildren and that it ends 

on a somewhat optimistic note 

and a very important message. 

He has a self-published book 

just coming off the press, based 

on his years of journal keeping, 

and he claims that those 

who have looked at it are very 

complimentary. His daughter 

Caroline ’85 helped with some of 

the grunt work. 

Art Nims and Nancy have quit 

DC and moved to the retirement 

community of Fox Hill 

in Westwood, Mass., and he 

says he loves being fully retired. 

Daughter Lucy and family live 

nearby in Needham.

Parker Smith died in October 

after several tries at overcoming 

his bladder cancer. 

Bill Snyder is adjusting to losing 

his wife Challis after 63 years but 

will stay in Vero Beach, Fla., for 

the winter, though Bronxville, 

N.Y., is still headquarters. He 

finds it hard to think that Pearl 

Harbor was 70 years ago, but 

maybe that is why he is beginning 

to prefer nine holes to 18. He is 

contemplating a retirement community 

but keeps putting it off. 

Arthur Stevenson says he 

and Margaret are plugging 

along at Rivermead, a wonderful 

retirement community in 

Peterborough, N.H., but he finds 

his eternal optimism hard to 

maintain when the thought of 

our government’s performance 

comes up. He is very concerned 

about the federal deficit but less 

so about holding his own in the 

local duplicate bridge club. 

Don Potter in Clinton, N.Y., 

had finished many years’ work 

putting together the 150 years 

of his family’s history and is 

now hooked on sesquicentennial 

celebrations. He is writing the 

history of St. James Church in 

Clinton, covering the years 1862- 

2012, and says it is far from 

mundane. 

Tim Tyler’s wife Nancy died 

last June, but he claims to be 

surviving nicely in Denver with 

the help of his family nearby. As 

of January he felt the snow in the 

mountains was building up nicely 

and hoped to be skiing soon. 

Ann Traylor, Dave Traylor’s 

widow, fell and broke her neck 

almost two years ago and in 

the process killed the nerves in 

her left ear, thus impeding her 

balance control. The upshot was 

that she sold her beautiful condo 

and now has an apartment in a 

dandy retirement home in Essex, 

Conn., and feels that this is the 

way to go. She didn’t miss many 

reunions and regretted missing 

our last two minis. 

Barclay Trippe passed away last 

June, according to wife Nancy, 

after a nasty bout with cancer. 

Nancy is still living in their old 

house in Easton, Md., with 

daughter Nancy next-door and 

three other daughters away at 

school. She and Barc had 60 

good years together. 

Nat Wilmot says he is not listed 

as a serial killer and that he and 

his third wife, Dorathea, have 

been married for over 30 years. 

He retired 21 years ago as a VP 

of Textron Corp., and collectively 

he and Dorathea had five kids 

and 11 grandchildren. He didn’t 

say whether they were all in 

Niskayuna, N.Y., or not, but if 

so the town must be larger and 

better. 

Katy Winant, widow of Jake, 

has published a book since Jake 

died, titled One Washcloth, One 

Towel, hoping it may help others 

to adjust to the loss of a spouse. 

It can be accessed on www.northshire.com/printdemand. 

Type in 

“One Washcloth.” Katy is still 

living pleasantly in Williamstown 

but says attending class reunions 

is hard. 

We have sustained more losses 

than listed above, namely: Don 

Brumbaugh, Don Davies and Dave 

Nash. Their obituaries are in the 

last section of this edition of 

Williams People. 

And so as to not end on the 

note of obituaries, I will note that 

Ann and I (Fred Wardwell) have 

just spent a hectic Christmas visiting 

with kids in Wellesley, Mass., 

and Mont Vernon, N.H. So far 

this winter I have not needed to 

test the new snow blower, and I 

hope tomorrow to join friends 

ice boating nearby. Ann will be 

happy to not join me but will 

instead hunker down with the 

large pile of books we were given 

for Christmas. Life is very good. 

1946 

Gates McG. Helms 

5 Troon Court 

Maplewood, NJ 07040 


Dear fellow survivors of the 

Great Class of 1946: The obituaries 

from Williams are coming 

in to me at an increasing rate of 

late, I’m sorry to report. The one 

that will impact many the most 

is that of George F. Pieper, whom 

you will remember was the class 

scribe for well in excess of 50 

years. I have this to report thanks 

to Bill Shellenberger, who is my 

most reliable reporter on the 

doings of classmates, especially 

in the Delaware area. It seems 

that George had a bad fall on 

concrete that broke his back in 

n 1944–46 

three places. They were able to 

repair his back surgically, but 

apparently he lost his ability to 

swallow. He was in hospice care 

for a couple of weeks, but that 

did not please him very much, 

and his passing away was really 

a mercy. George hooked up with 

the space program, as did Jack 

Townsend, who passed away just 

two weeks before George. Their 

obituaries appear in the back of 

this issue of Williams People. 

Shelly spoke to Mase (Stan) 

Babson, who sounded well. 

He still lives in his house but 

expected to move soon. He 

wanted to go to Harbor Island 

in January “to get warm.” Shelly 

writes that he had lunch with 

Wally Thompson, who still has 


The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education selected 

Daniel H. Case ’46 to receive the 2012 Seymour Preston Award for his 

exceptional leadership as a trustee of the Punahou School in Hawaii 

from 1970 to 2000. Case, who is of counsel to the law firm Case, 

Lombardi & Pettit, played a leadership role in four of the school’s 

campaigns and as trustee emeritus belongs to the planning committee 

for Punahou’s 175th anniversary. 

his own power wheelchair that 

enables him to get out and about. 

Wally has a coterie of widows 

pursuing him. Tom Hyndman and 

Shelly try to have lunch together 

once a month, but Mary is not 

well at all, and this has him quite 

tied down. Shelly concluded his 

Christmas card by saying he 

will try to make it one way or 

another to next fall’s reunion. 

“I’m on a cane, and Barb pushes 

me around in a wheelchair at 

museums, etc. I still walk the dog 

and go to exercise two to three 

times/week.” 

I have a letter from Larry Heely 

in which he writes that he and 

Susan have sold their house in 

Greenwich, Conn., and moved to 

New York full time because that 

is where “everything important, 

like our doctors and the liquor 

store, are handy.” He writes 

that Steve Rowan is mentoring a 

bunch of American Indian tribes 

in western Canada. Steve will 

ever be remembered for having 

ordered a cord of wood freshman 

year, which was delivered 

on to the macadam drive in front 

of his entry. Steve had had no 

idea the huge amount of wood 

that was in a cord. He went 

on to drive ambulances for the 

American Field Service during 

WWII, because his poor eyesight 

disqualified him from serving 


CLASS NOTES 

in the armed forces. Larry also 

speculates on our 70th reunion, 

which he figures “will probably 

be our last big one.” He goes on 

to hope that: “We can prevail 

upon relatives, friends, anybody 

we can think of, to drive us … 

to do the work.” Bless his heart, 

Larry also offers some advice 

to those who are downsizing, 

in moving from a house to an 

apartment, for example. “The 

worst things to get rid of after 45 

years are not the big stuff, but 

the knick knacks.” 

I would like to call your attention 

to the mailing from Dick 

Debevoise, our class president, in 

which he outlines the plans for 

our minireunion the weekend 

of Sept. 28-29, 2012. You will 

remember that Dick sent each 

of us a letter in which he asks 

that we respond with an indication 

of our intentions to attend 

a minireunion. Dick was not 

overwhelmed by the response but 

figured it was enough to warrant 

going ahead with the plans. 

A few months ago, Alberta 

and I were just leaving the dining 

room in our continuing care 

retirement community, having 

finished our dinner, when for no 

good reason I looked behind a 

large stone pillar and spotted Art 

Silverstein having dinner with 

his wife Bobbie. Well, we pulled 

up a couple more chairs and 

had a wonderful, long visit. I got 

the impression they would like 

to move in here with us, if they 

could sell their house on Long 

Island. They have a granddaughter 

who graduated from Williams 

this past June and a son-in-law 

who is a trustee of the college. 

It seems like only yesterday that 

Art was worried that his son-inlaw 

Eric Cochran ’82 wouldn’t 

make partner at Skadden Arps 

Slate Meagher & Flom, which 

of course he did. Their daughter 

Stacy Silverstein Cochran ’81 was 

in the business of making movies 

and is still at it. Art had a couple 

of adhesive plasters on his face 

and allowed that he is keeping 

his dermatologist from the poor 

house single-handedly. 

Just the day before the deadline 

for submitting copy to Jen Grow, 

I received a phone call from Toni 

Brinton to let me know that Jerv 

has been awarded an honorary 

degree as a Doctor of Laws by 

Bloomfield College that will be 

conferred upon Toni at their next 

commencement in May of 2012. 

That is a very nice bit of news, 

though it is too bad it couldn’t 

have come during his lifetime. 

I have a lot of information from 


Selim Zilkha about his biomass 

project and a new undertaking 

called Zilkha Black Pellets. This 

Black Pellet is a patented process 

he and his son Michael have 

bought that turns wood into pellets 

that weigh about half of what 

untreated pellets would weigh, 

are waterproof and will generate 

a lot of heat when burned. These 

are more economical to transport, 

because they weigh less than 

wood. Cheaper to store, because 

they are waterproof, etc., etc. A 

plant in Alabama is under construction 

to make these pellets. 

And so it is adieu for now. 

Please, please bear in mind that 

I desperately need to hear from 

you in order to have something 

to write about when Jen Grow 

emails me with the new deadline 

for these notes. 

Your devoted class secretary, 

Gates. 

1947 


John C. Speaks III 

33 Heathwood Road 

Williamsville, NY 14221 


1948 

John A. Peterson Jr. 

5811 Glencove Drive, Apt. 1005 

Naples, FL 34108 


Wink Halsted wrote me last fall 

with a good thought. “While 

cleaning out old stuff we occasionally 

come across Williamsrelated 

items from 60-plus years 

ago that might be of interest 

to the Williams library, and it 

might be a good idea to remind 

classmates to think of the Chapin 

when they are clearing out their 

attics & basements.” 

I received a note from Cue 

Kellogg: “I’m now the elder 

statesman of the 18-piece band 

I play in but hanging in there 

enjoying every time we meet. 

It’s a real thrill to play with such 

talented young people.” 

Re: my request in the August 

2011 edition of the notes where 

I asked for info on those in the 

class who were related to three 

or more generations of Ephs, 

here are a couple more replies. 

Etsy Foster writes: “Please note 

an unforgivable omission from 

my last email. There are two 

more Foster family members to 

include: brothers Charl and Reed, 

both distinguished members of 

’54. I’d be doing penance for 

the rest of my life if the text 

were not corrected!” And Harry 

Dewey said: “In my family there 

are five successive generations of 

Williams trustees—nine generations’ 

connection through trustees 

and graduates.” 

Sadly, I report two deaths: Dr. 

Robert L. Nelson, who died last 

August; and Jim Heekin’s widow 

Jane, who left us in November. 

Their families have our deepest 

sympathy. 

Joel Carr asked me to mention 

our 65th reunion in 2013. 

So Sandra and I have already 

booked ourselves into the Maple 

Terrace. 

1949 

Chuck Utley 

1835 Van Buren Circle 

Mountain View, CA 94040 


Wally Barnes has the honor 

of letting us know all about 

last October’s minireunion in 

Williamstown. “I can report that 

the weekend was a great success, 

thanks to the advance planning 

by Emily and Charlie Jarrett and 

superb implementation by our 

embedded agent on the ground, 

Dick Wells. 

“In attendance were Lisa and 

Ed Maynard, Donna and Herb 

Cole, Sheila and Joe Dorsey, Tay 

and John Thoman, Ann and Dick 

Wells plus Mike Robbins and 

Wally Barnes. The weather was 

gray, overcast and on the chilly 

side, but that didn’t matter. 

Sharing the Taconic Golf Club 

location for the Friday night 

dinner with the Class of ’50 was 

great, as we knew many of them 

and it was quiet enough so we 

could actually talk across the 

table. Ann and Dick Wells sprang 

for the drinks and wine, which 

was a very generous “priming of 

the pump” so to speak, and our 

class table was having so much 

fun that most of us didn’t even 

notice that the Class of ’50 had 

left until they were long gone. 

Williams beat Tufts handily, and 

most people enjoyed the two faculty 

speaking sessions. Only one 

or two of our more conservative 

classmates found them provoking 

as opposed to thoughtprovoking. 

The Saturday evening 

dinner at Mezze Bistro was a 

successful replay of last year 

and again no one wanted to 

leave. We started the evening 

with a toast to President Charlie 

Jarrett and his chief of staff,

Emily. Fervent hopes were 

expressed that they can be with 

us in person next year.” Dick 

Wells provided an addendum to 

Wally’s report by writing from 

Vero Beach, Fla., that the decision 

was made to schedule this 

fall’s minireunion the weekend 

of the Trinity game, Sept. 28-29. 

“We will once again ‘reune’ with 

1950 at the Taconic Golf Club 

for a buffet dinner. The following 

night, after celebrating our victory 

over Trinity, we shall dine 

at Mezze Bistro again, which is 

the former Le Jardin restaurant. 

El Presidente Charlie Jarrett will 

advise the class where housing 

has been arranged for the 

weekend. I am still swinging the 

golf clubs, a few more times than 

previous years. Just received my 

year-end handicap and noted that 

I had played 118 rounds in 2011. 

Get to play every week with Bob 

Kingsbury ’58 both here in Vero 

Beach and in Williamstown. 

Vero Beach is sometimes referred 

to as ‘Williamstown South.’ 

Chet Lasell ’58 runs the alumni 

group of about 35 here, and 

there are quite a few affairs 

held with college speakers. The 

Williams Reunion Jazz Band was 

scheduled to play at the Indian 

River Club in Vero Beach March 

20, and the alums planned to 

host the Williams golf team the 

following week for rounds of 

golf at three courses with lunch 

to follow at the Bent Pines Golf 

Club.” At that point, our golfcentric 

classmate signed off with 

the admonition that he didn’t 

want to spoil your humble correspondent 

with too much news 

all at once. 

Alec Clement notes, “Things 

are in pretty good shape healthwise. 

Had wonderful time at the 

Octet reunion in Williamstown— 

audience was terrific, and mixing 

with the younger crowd was a 

treat. Video of the performance 

is available. Made our annual 

stop on the way home at the 

Davenport Maple Farm on the 

Mohawk Trail to pick up my gallon 

of maple syrup. In October 

Jack Hornor ’51 provided a wonderful 

lieder recital at his new 

digs at Brookhaven in Lexington, 

Mass., and dividends were realized 

in seeing some additional 

old friends there. Christmas 

dinner was pleasant—both my 

boys and the grandchildren 

joined the festive board. My 

daughter and my Episcopal priest 

son-in-law were tied down in 

Alexandria, Va., with his church 

schedule, but we hope[d] to see 

them early in 2012. Carolyn and 

I wish all our Williams friends 

the best for this new year.” 

A short report from Dr. Joe 

Takamine in LA strikes a positive 

note, although he did close his 

medical office last year after 52 

years of practice: “I’m not retired 

but enjoying life. Had an 87th 

birthday Dec. 6. Am blessed with 

good health and truly grateful 

for every day. 2012 should be 

an interesting year. Blessings to 

everyone.” 

Jim Geer: “I don’t know where 

the years go. … It seems like just 

yesterday in 1974 when we were 

celebrating our 25th reunion at 

Williams the same time that my 

father Joseph White Geer ’14, 

was celebrating his 60th. Now, 

in 2012, it is almost three years 

after we celebrated ’49’s 60th 

reunion. Even though 63 years 

and over 1,000 miles separate 

us from Williams, it is still very 

much a part of our life. Our 

daughter Suzanne Delight Geer 

’07 was home for Christmas with 

us on Boca Grande in Florida. 

The day after Christmas, the 

daughter of Hank Estabrook, Liz 

Hatfield, and her husband Bob 

were nice enough to spend the 

evening with us. Each Thursday 

on Boca Grande I have lunch 

with a group that includes Bill 

Snare ’51 and Joe Albertson 

’54. Lucy and Jim Stanton ’40 

live right next to Our Lady of 

Mercy Catholic Church on Boca, 

which we attend, and we often 

see Lee Comfort ’66 at church. 

Dr. Thom Ervin ’68 is also an 

island resident. The parents of 

Stephen Christakos ’77 and John 

Christakos ’87 live just across 

the street from us, and their 

grandson Jack Sessler ’07 was 

in my daughter Suzanne’s class 

at Williams. For a very small, 

seven-mile-long island in Florida, 

Williams College is very well 

represented.” 

In a separate update, Wally 

Barnes sent along interesting 

bio notes about a friend from 

the Class of ’47 that probably 

belongs in their Williams People 

column. But it’s worth including 

here: “Barbara and I spent 

a week over New Year’s at 

Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Mass., 

exercising, eating less and sleeping 

more. Great way to get back 

on the right track healthwise. 

Missed seeing him this time, but 

Bob Mills ’47 is a legend in his 

own time here, where at 88 years 

young he is the oldest (by far) 

full-time outdoor guide. He leads 

parties on snowshoe and cross 

ski trips and hikes up Berkshire 

trails including the challenging 

n 1946–49 

Roaring Brook Trial up Mount 

Greylock. I can personally testify 

that the pace he sets is challenging, 

and often people 60 years 

his junior lag behind. Following 

25 years at General Electric, 

he retired to become a ski 

instructor at Butternut Basin in 

Great Barrington, Mass., before 

moving to Canyon Ranch. An 

article about Bob in the Pittsfield 

Berkshire Eagle a few years ago, 

headlined ‘Leading an Ageless 

Lifestyle,’ reads, ‘He enjoys his 

Canyon Ranch job very much, 

and the resort’s fully equipped 

exercise room offers a vast array 

of equipment he can use. Because 

he gets considerable lower body 

exercise on the job, hiking several 

miles a day, Mills concentrates 

on machines and free weights for 

upper body workouts three times 

a week.’ The article adds, ‘Mills 

is often asked by clients about 

his trim physical condition. He 

says that keeping involved and 

physically and mentally active 

helps him stay healthy.’” Wally’s 

closing comment: “He’s an inspiration 

and great role model to 

geezers, teenagers and all those in 

between.” 

Giles Kelly writes that he 

expects publication this April of 

a coffee table-type book called 

The Diplomatic Gardens of 

Washington, which he and his 

wife Ann Sevens created over 

a three-year period for Schiffer 

Books. The book features Ann’s 

photographs. (Giles’ news nicely 

coincides with publication of this 

issue of Williams People, and is 

being hyped solely at the discretion 

of your class secretary.) 

That’s the good news. The bad 

news is that Giles “jumped ship” 

onto a dock last November and 

messed up his ankle. Since then 

he has been trying to get rid of 

the limp that is spoiling his image 

and canceling his tennis. He also 

commented that during the last 

Christmas season he was “pleasantly 

surprised at how fast his 

five grandchildren have grown 

into interesting adults.” 

Ed Maynard adds, “It’s been a 

busy year celebrating the bicentennial 

of the Massachusetts 

General Hospital. I was given 

a pin recognizing 55 years on 

the staff and even had a video 

interview. Truly a great place to 

work for so long. And Harvard 

hasn’t made me emeritus yet, 

so I’m about to start another 

semester of teaching. At 85, my 

only complaint is being unable 

to reach those drop shots on the 

tennis court.” 


CLASS NOTES 

1950 

Kevin F.X. Delany 

3143 O St., NW 

Washington, DC 20007 


A highlight since we last 

communicated was the now 

traditional fall hijinks known as 

the minireunion. It is an October 

ritual where otherwise out-ofshape 

homebodies with a little 

extra time and loose cash head 

for the Berkshire hills to tramp 

around campus and Weston Field 

to root for the alma mater until 

hoarse or frostbitten, whichever 

comes first. 

By all barometers, this year’s 

fandango was a huge success. 

Twenty-three stalwarts were 

in attendance, including such 

worthies as Chuck Alberti, Judy 

and Bud Blakey, Sandy and Doug 

Coleman, Larry Fitch, Mary and 

Tom Hodgman, Morgan Murray, 

Nancy and Bill Riegel, Claudia 

and George Razook, Ellen and 

Pete Thurber, Katie and Norm 

Olson plus Edna Lomas, their 

able (and very strong) health 

aide, your scribe and of course 

class president Stan Roller and 

fair wife Mary. Also, but hardly 

least, among those present were 

Kitty Simpson and Eli Reynolds. 

Their presence really added 

much to our weekend, and we 

hope more widows will join us in 

the future if they are able to. 

Among the features of our 

weekend stay were several 

faculty seminars: history professor 

Scott Wong spoke about 

immigration and its discontents. 

The following day James 

Mahon, professor of political 

science, concentrated on how 

the U.S. and Latin America are 

becoming more like each other. 

On Saturday morning we had 

our usual class meeting over 

breakfast at the Williams Inn. 

Stan Roller led off with some 

upbeat comments in his annual 

State of the Class Address, 

followed by brief remarks by 

Peter Thurber re: class gifts, by 

treasurer Tom Hodgman on class 

finances (yes, we are solvent) 

and Doug Coleman on admission 

policies, particularly relating to 

foreign students. The meeting 

concluded in plenty of time to 

head for Weston Field and the 

Tufts football game. Fortunately, 

the Reunion Jazz Band was on 

hand to warm up the crowd 

with some red hot Dixieland on 

a nippy weather day. (The game 

was a pretty easy romp for the 

Ephmen.) 


Wally Bortz ’51 and his wife Ruth Anne celebrate after the San Francisco 

Marathon last July. 

The minireunion participants 

were treated to some fine dining 

over the weekend, starting with 

a Friday night dinner at the 

Taconic Golf Club and Saturday 

evening at the always popular 

Mezze restaurant. There were a 

brief few moments of excitement 

at Mezze when one of the wives 

in our party had some difficulty 

digesting her steak dinner. Pete 

Thurber, moving quickly, deftly 

applied his Heimlich knowledge, 

and peace returned to the dining 

room. Pete and Ellen may 

find themselves to be popular 

dinner guests, at least in the 

near future. The evening and the 

weekend were nicely capped off 

by some late-night jazz at the 

Faculty Club. 

On the downside, Chapin 

Breer Weed died in Flat Rock, 

N.C., on Nov. 23. Chapin 

served in both WWII and the 

Korean conflicts. In WWII, he 

was a decorated flight engineer/ 

gunner on B-17 aircraft. On 

two occasions, Staff Sgt. Weed 

saved crew and B-17 aircraft 

by flying damaged planes back 

to base after both pilot and 

co-pilot were killed. Chapin 

attended Rectory School and 

Kent school before entering 

Williams. He was a member 

of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. 

A widower, he is survived by a 

daughter, Patricia Ann Taylor 

of Dallas, Texas, and a son, 

Peter Capin Weed of Fletcher. 

Our sympathies go to several 

classmates on the painful loss of 

a spouse. Gerda Lanes, wife of 

our VP Fred Lanes of Newton 

Center, Mass., died on Dec. 29 

after a long bout with pancreatic 

cancer. Fred and Gerda had been 

married 58 years. 

On Oct. 25 Karin Roach, wife 

of Dan Roach, died quietly in 

their Buffalo home. Dan and 

Karin had been married 59 

years. Survivors include their 

children Molly ’78, Dan Jr. ’79, 

Kate ’87 and Michael ’88. 

1950 now numbers 204 strong. 

1951 

Gordon Clarke 

183 Foreside Road 

Falmouth, ME 04105 


Some wise person once 

observed: If one wants to learn 

about a gentleman, get to know 

his barber. That bit of wisdom 

applies equally to class secretaries. 

I have my own problems 

with my computer, Word, email, 

URLs and the like. I am also 

on the receiving end of our 

classmates’ problems and get 

rather cranky when I can’t help 

out. Keep trying, guys; every day 

we get better and better! Now, to 

business. 

Don Gregg forwarded a letter, 

published by the Washington 

Post on Sept. 28, 2011, in which 

he expressed some of his views. 

This is not the proper forum for 

a political discussion, but the 

title assigned by the Post is a fine 

summary of Don’s views: “GOP 

candidates are too small for 

Reagan’s shoes.” 

Dave Fischer writes from New 

Haven that he is busy working 

three days a week at a new and 

rapidly growing Yale cancer 

center. Along with his other 

activities, he is writing a history 

of the cancer program at the Yale 

School of Medicine, with which 

he has been associated for 49

years. Always positive, he claims 

the best of all worlds: a Williams 

and Harvard education and a 

Yale professorship. 

Bill Paton and Renis are “enjoying 

pretty good health … playing 

tennis and enjoying vigorously 

biased political discussions” with 

their Florida neighbors. Bill’s 

comment about Destiny of the 

Republic, a new book about the 

last days of President Garfield, 

has prompted me to order a 

copy. 

It took Tom Kent and me seven 

pages of Internet gibberish to 

sort out the mischief caused by a 

typo on an email address. Suffice 

it to say that the Kents are well. 

Stan Hazen and Sheila live in 

Charlottesville, Va., but they 

didn’t spend much time at 

home last year. Starting with 

our 60th in Williamstown, 

their itinerary included trips to 

the Berkshire Choral Festival 

with stops en route; a day trip 

from Charlottesville to Poplar 

Forest and Appomattox; 

Seattle and environs using 

accumulated airline miles for a 

family visit; and, finally, back to 

Boston on Amtrak for a family 

Thanksgiving celebration. 

Along with keeping in touch 

with Pete Fisher, Stu Duffield ’50, 

Bill Sperry and Bill Rodie, Pete 

deLisser is the newly elected commander 

(and one of the youngest 

members) of his local VFW 

Piermont Memorial Post 7462. 

One of his members turned 100 

in November, and several served 

in WWII. I had hoped to be able 

to announce the electronic publication 

of his second book with 

this submission, but so far I have 

heard nothing. Stay tuned. 

Tim Blodgett wins the “Oh by 

the way…” award for this issue. 

After recounting the typical family 

holiday visits with children, 

he continued: “Incidentally, in 

Washington we had a tour of the 

West Wing of the White House 

at 9:30 p.m. on Friday after 

Thanksgiving, given by a young 

man who worked on the Obama 

campaign in Minnesota for Jeff 

(Tim’s son) and now works on 

the White House staff. We were 

surprised at how small the rooms 

are, including the Oval Office. 

We observed the (closed) door of 

the vaunted top-secret Situation 

Room.” Tim also reported the 

death of Renee, widow of Earle 

Spencer. On behalf of the class, I 

extend condolences to their three 

children and three grandchildren. 

In an email from Sarasota, 

Fla., Bob Griffin reports that he 

is mostly occupied at “writing 

a book, with constant revisions 

… a return to the days that I 

enjoyed my freshman creative 

writing class at Williams.” He 

has been fascinated following the 

careers of Fred Wiseman, John 

Frankenheimer and Joe McElroy 

and keeps in touch with Paul 

Shorb, Chuck Halleck and Jack 

Cremeans ’50. Bob still breaks 90 

on the golf course, not bad for a 

man who has been married for 

57 years, has two children and 

five grandchildren and a sore 

back. 

Finally, President Dick Siegel 

writes enthusiastically about 

our “small but most enjoyable 

minireunion the weekend of 

Oct. 21-23.” He extends special 

“thanks to Linda (Conway) and 

Sigrid (McWilliams) for hosting a 

cocktail party at Sigrid’s home 

Saturday evening.” As for his 

own life, he writes: “I haven’t 

been this busy in decades. In 

June, the week after our 60th, 

I resumed commuting to NYC 

after a 14-year absence to work 

on the liquidation of Lehman 

Brothers Inc. for a former 

partner of mine who had been 

appointed liquidating trustee. 

The PATH train and the subways 

are as ‘delightful’ as ever, but my 

back and knees are not. Then, at 

the end of October, the trustee 

also was appointed SIPA trustee 

for the liquidation of MFGlobal 

Inc. (John Corzine’s adventure), 

and he asked me to do double 

duty. I couldn’t say no, and 

although at times it can be a bit 

enervating, it has been fascinating 

and most enjoyable.” 

1952 


Alec Robertson 

3 Essex Meadows 

Essex, CT 06426 


Well, most of us weathered the 

fall and the Amherst game and 

have had a good go at life. Most 

importantly, please sign up for 

and get your room reservations 

for the Gala 60th Reunion of 

the Really Great Class of 1952 

in Williamstown June 7-10. 

This is going to be a unique 

and excellent event. Nicky and 

Paige L’Hommedieu and Susan 

and Jim Henry have put together 

a fine program for us all. They 

had already received over 80 

positive responses as of the end 

of December. We are hoping 

you will be among the lucky 

ones who have made the big 

n 1950–52 

commitment. It is amazing that 

we have 80 already. 

The minireunion at the Tufts 

game on Oct. 22 was excellent, 

with cocktails at John Hyde’s on 

Friday evening, lunch at The 

Log and an excellent dinner at 

Ann and Doug Foster’s home on 

Saturday evening. Elliott Bates 

reaffirmed with great pleasure 

his return to his natal Class of 

1952, Marigold and Bob Bischoff 

were in good form and looking 

forward to another opera season 

at the Met. Ann and Duke Curtis 

looked just fine. Joan and Paul 

Doyle and I stayed as usual at 

the Berkshire Hills Motel with a 

bunch of other Williams returnees. 

The Williams Octet sang on 

Saturday night—their fifth year 

in a row—at the Fosters'. Edwen 

and President Fred Goldstein 

appropriately pushed attendance 

at our upcoming 60th reunion, 

where we will have events and 

meals like no other class before. 

Susan and Jim Henry—co-chairs 

of the reunion—laid out plans 

for fun. Unfortunately, the 

Henrys’ plans for a bumper crop 

of wine this fall were dashed 

by the excess rain, but Jim has 

alternative sources, so his still 

will be busy. Sam Humes was in 

attendance, while Rick Jeffrey 

left Fran at home to take care of 

the move to Florida. Emily Kraft, 

who with Ann Foster will be 

shouldering Saturday night at the 

reunion, looked swell in a couple 

of new outfits. Marylin and Art 

Levitt looked great, and Art had 

just been quoted with words of 

wisdom in an interview in the 

WSJ concerning the desirability 

of corporations changing their 

rating agents every five years so 

things would not get too cozy. 

Nicky and Paige L’Hommedieu 

were their usual cheery selves, 

although Nicky had to be taken 

to the hospital in Springfield on 

Saturday night, putting a cramp 

in their level of enjoyment. She 

is fine now. Jim Manning left 

Joan and his tie at home with 

a houseful of painting ladies. 

Fortunately, after some heckling, 

Jim bought a splendid new tie at 

Goff’s to save the class reputation, 

arriving for dinner Saturday 

night looking sartorially superb. 

Jacquie and Don Martin hit the 

late-night spots after Saturday 

dinner and are looking fine. Jane 

and Bill Missimer came over from 

their new farm in Blandford, 

Mass. It sounds like they have a 

lot of work on their plate. Swifty 

Swift was in great form, and 

Betsy and Ted Taylor are enjoying 

their new CCRC in State 


CLASS NOTES 

College, Pa., where the football 

stadium holds 114,000 people! A 

little bit bigger than our modest 

grounds in Billville. Also they 

receive more national coverage. 

Betty Ann and Rick Wheeler 

are trying to get their home in 

the Massachusetts Registry of 

Historic Places. 

Ed and President Fred Goldstein 

chimed in as follows: “Not much 

to report other than seeing Nicky 

and Paige L’Hommedieu for 

theater and dinner in New York 

on a regular basis as well as the 

92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists 

Series. Joan and Jim Manning 

came over for dinner with us, 

and we had a great evening, even 

if my soufflé didn’t rise as high as 

it should have. I talked to Peter 

Ochs in Vienna early in January 

and was glad to hear that he is 

recovering well from a serious 

illness. Have been in touch 

with our great 60th reunion 

committee, Nicky and Paige 

L’Hommedieu and Susan and Jim 

Henry, and they are doing a terrific 

job. Everyone should have 

a wonderful time at reunion. We 

are looking forward to seeing all 

in June.” 

“I plan to attend the 60th and 

really enjoyed the mini last fall,” 

reports Art Levitt. “We are at our 

home in Stuart, Fla., for most 

of the winter but came up to 

NYC for the Xmas holidays. We 

saw several shows and movies, 

but the highlight was the New 

Year’s Eve premier presentation 

of a new opera, The Enchanted 

Island. I have fond memories 

every time I go to the Met of my 

roommate Ted Withington’s love 

of opera.” (Ted and wife Robin 

still do.) 

Got a nice note from Becky, 

stating: “Joe Bumsted doesn’t 

have anything noteworthy to 

share as he continues to be challenged 

with vascular dementia, a 

result of his long-term diabetes. 

He will not be attending the 

60th reunion, which is sad for 

both of us, as those gatherings 

are always great fun. With Joe’s 

blessing, I’m joining the Williams 

trip to Holland and Belgium in 

April and look forward to seeing 

all those beautiful tulips.” (If 

you want to contact Joe, you 

can do so through Becky’s email: 

BBBum1415@aol.com. He will 

appreciate it.) 

Bob Huddleston happily 

reported, “After two and a 

half years as deputy assistant 

secretary of defense for policy 

(Africa), Vicki resigned as of the 

end of December and is now 

back in Santa Fe.” 


Bill Missimer happily reports 

that he and Jane “were married 

on Dec. 29 at a little church in 

Newfields, N.H. Other than 

that it’s been a quiet holiday 

season. Life as a married couple 

is wonderful. We plan on making 

Newmarket, N.H., our 

headquarters, with time spent at 

the farm in the Berkshires and at 

our hideaway in the Florida Keys. 

We’ve volunteered to help the 

Henrys and the L’Hommedieus 

with the Big 60 celebration and 

look forward to seeing classmates 

there.” Also on the nuptial front, 

Ray George announced that he 

has some news: “BIG NEWS. 

Betsy E. LaMotte of Winnetka, 

Ill., and I were married in Florida 

on Dec. 29, and I am looking 

forward to introducing her to 

you all in Williamstown this 

June.” (I wonder if the Georges 

and the Missimers knew they 

were getting hitched on the same 

day! Who knew?) 

Pete Gurney reported: “Molly 

and I took all eight of our grandchildren—and 

their parents, of 

course—to Mohonk Mountain 

House, near New Paltz, N.Y., for 

the Thanksgiving weekend. I recommend 

the experience heartily, 

though my checkbook showed 

considerable reluctance." 

Bob Rich, sounding in good 

form, wrote from Annapolis: 

“This fall was busy for Joan 

and me. On Oct. 15 my 

granddaughter Leila Wendler 

was married at Bisby Lake, 

Old Forge, N.Y., and on Oct. 

29 Joan’s son was married in 

Charlotte, N.C.” Bob also mentioned: 

Mary and Jack Ordeman 

have a “beautiful” new grandson, 

Thomas Wells Foster, who 

arrived in September. Jack also 

reports a glorious Thanksgiving 

when the whole family came 

to Nassawadox to celebrate 

son Lee’s 50th and Mary’s 80th 

birthdays. Bob recommends 

Jack’s latest book, The Art 

of Milton C. Weiler. “It is a 

beautiful, thoroughly documented 

and superbly illustrated 

treatise of the life and work of a 

talented artist-sportsman.” 

Bob also shared the sad news 

that his friend Bob Johnson 

passed away last July. 

Betty Ann and Rick Wheeler 

announced: “Starting with the 

annual ‘Holly Harvest,’ which 

united our family in the process 

of boxing and shipping over 

three quarters of a ton of my 

grandfather’s wonderful holly, we 

had a lovely family reunion on 

Christmas and a fun gathering 

on New Year’s Eve. So the clock 

is ticking now for our grand 

reunion in June, and we both 

look forward to being together 

again. In closing, we mourn the 

passing of Henry Catto and will 

always remember the many ways 

in which he served our country.” 

Mimi and Hank Norton 

chimed in to say that they are at 

Hillsboro Club for the winter, as 

are the John Montgomerys. Hank 

said they are signed up for the big 

reunion. 

“After a busy September—a 

wedding in Chicago and a funeral 

in Maryland, we hunkered down 

here while Nancy had a second 

ankle replacement in October,” 

writes Bob Kimberly. “The first 

one wore out after nine years. 

I’ve been chief cook, bottle 

washer, house maid and chauffeur. 

Currently we are thinking 

of a vacation for both of us in 

Scottsdale and sunshine for a 

couple weeks, but we haven’t any 

plans yet.” 

Bob Riegel announced with 

regret: “My granddaughter will 

be graduating from high school, 

so our trip will have to be to 

Florida rather than to Williams. 

At the end of May I will officially 

retire from full-time parish ministry 

(56 years is long enough). 

Keren and I plan a two-week trip 

in April to Berlin and Prague. 

Sorry to miss the big 60th—hard 

to believe! (Congratulations!)” 

Pat and Bill Hatch had a 

nice Christmas with all the 

kids for one day in Cleveland. 

Just enough cold and snow to 

remember what it was like in the 

old days. They have both their 

houses here and in Chagrin Falls 

up for sale, but real estate is not 

moving well in either location. 

“If we sell up north, we have put 

money down on a lovely little 

home in a retirement community 

like Essex Meadows just out of 

Chagrin Falls and could move 

right away. We have reservations 

at the Berkshire Hills Motel 

for the reunion, and Pat and I 

are looking forward to being in 

attendance.” 

Good news came in from Don 

Wyman in Marblehead, who says 

he will be at the 60th. 

Betty and Howie Martin 

returned happily from a New 

Year’s weekend in Williamsburg, 

Va., with their family. “New 

programs since our last visit 

30-plus years ago helped make 

history come alive again, plus 

our five grandchildren (ages 

23-30) make interesting travel 

companions. Happy to report 

two are employed and three are 

taking graduate work.”

John Phillips reported he was 

sorry to read about Ted Canfield 

in the last People. “He was one 

of my freshman-year roommates. 

We did not have much 

in common, but he did help me 

to break the smoking habit in 

that first year. He and my other 

roommate always smoked my 

cigarettes, so if I wanted to have 

money for Viagra, I had to quit 

smoking. The retirees at the old 

folks’ home always have wonderful 

stories and notions to share at 

the dinner table. One fellow from 

the Middle West, exasperated 

with his wife, said, ‘You can lead 

a girl to Vassar, but you can’t 

make her think.’ Later on he 

said, ‘She’s a vegetarian. When 

I first saw her she was grazing 

in her back yard.’ One night an 

85-year-old lady got angry at 

her husband during dinner and 

shouted at him, ‘Why don’t you 

put your teeth in backwards 

and bite yourself to death?’ Still, 

most of us enjoy it here. As one 

female octogenarian put it: ‘I’m 

as happy as a flea who owns his 

own dog.’ Also, one other elderly 

fellow said that he likes living 

in a community with few if any 

virgins on the prowl. As a youth, 

his father had told him, ‘Don’t 

waste your time with them—let 

Captain Kirk go where no man 

has been before.’” 

“I have spent lots of time trying 

to water my garden,” stated 

Thaddeus Up de Graff Jr. from 

LA. “Three or four years ago 

our house filled up with water 

because of a broken pipe. The 

plumber lowered the water pressure 

and much of my landscaping 

has died. Good exercise in 

repair, but sad aftermath. Right 

now my wife and I are hanging 

on. No problems, except those 

of being over 80 years old. Two 

daughters and five grandchildren 

keep us thinking—and busy.” 

News from Swifty Swift: 

“Robbi and I spent three weeks 

in California over the holidays 

visiting my two daughters and 

one granddaughter, two sisters 

and their families and several 

other relatives. This included my 

nephew David Phinney, whose 

winery—Orin Swift—has a 

wine—‘Abstract’—in the worldwide 

top 50 by Wine Spectator 

and Food & Wine magazines! 

His ‘Prisoner’ has also drawn top 

kudos. We loaded up (thanks to 

the family discount) at his place 

in St. Helena and enjoyed great 

wines doing holiday gatherings! 

Spent a day in San Francisco 

doing museums and fine dining 

and Xmas week in Grass Valley 

(in the Sierra foothills), but I 

missed my skiing—no snow! Oh, 

plus in Sept. a new granddaughter—Isarah—number 

six, but 

no grandsons yet! Back in cold 

Maryland now, missing the daily 

mid-60s we loved in the Bay 

Area and Napa!” 

Jay McElroy volunteered the 

good news that they plan to 

come to the 60th and wrote, 

“We continue our travels. Last 

year we started in Hong Kong 

and visited several cities in 

China, including Shanghai and 

Beijing. We went to one port 

where we saw three Chinese 

nuclear submarines. We ended 

the trip in Seoul, which we had 

never visited before. It was hard 

to believe we were 30 miles from 

North Korea. This spring we 

are going from St. Petersburg to 

Moscow on Viking River cruises. 

This is the third time we have 

gone with them. It is an easy way 

to travel. We continue to spend 

time in Martha’s Vineyard. On 

the business side, I continue serving 

on three finance committees 

and one charitable board.” 

I am sad to report that our 

esteemed classmate and friend 

Henry E. Catto Jr. died at 81 at 

his home in San Antonio, Texas, 

following a long battle with 

chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

Henry was tapped by four 

Republican presidents for highprofile 

jobs, including director 

of the U.S. Information Agency, 

chief Pentagon spokesman and 

ambassador to Britain and El 

Salvador. In his time as ambassador 

to Britain, Henry brought 

a homespun atmosphere to 

Winfield House, his stately official 

residence in London, serving 

Tex-Mex food to dignitaries 

and placing a Texas state flag 

and a four-foot-high wooden 

Hereford steer on the lawn. His 

wife Jessica Catto died in 2009. 

Henry is survived by two daughters, 

Isa Catto Shaw and Heather 

Catto Kohout ’81; two sons, John 

and William; and 11 grandchildren. 

His obituary will be in the 

next issue. 

n 1952–53 

We also lost Rodney Skutt of 

Denver, Colo., who died Sept. 

21. He is survived by three 

children and eight grandchildren. 

He was best known for his salesmanship 

and his love of flying, 

hunting and fishing. 

Furthermore I have little information 

about Perkins “Perk” Bass 

of Poulsbo, Wash., who passed 

away Sept. 9 and is survived by 

his wife Anne Lawrence Bass. 

Thanks to all who contributed, 

and I look forward to seeing 

everyone at the reunion in June. 


Bill Miller ’53, a senior policy scholar with the Woodrow Wilson 

International Center for Scholars, received a Common Ground Award 

from the D.C.-based Search for Common Ground last October for helping 

to free two American hikers imprisoned in Iran for 26 months. Miller, 

ambassador to the Ukraine under President Clinton, shared the award 

with Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Episcopal diocese of Washington 

and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington. 

1953 

Stephen W. Klein 

378 Thornden St. 

South Orange, NJ 07079 


Bill Miller received a Common 

Ground Award in DC along with 

Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop 

Chane for his role in freeing the 

American hikers held in Iran. No 

mention was made of the ransom 

money or how it was paid. 

Attending the Snowbird 

Special minireunion organized 

by Mike Lazor on Oct. 7-9 

were Dudley Baker, Barbara 

Weedon, Sandy and John Beard, 

John Dighton, Marianne and 

George Hartnett, Polly and 

Chuck Hebble, Barbara and Bob 

Howard, Tess and Derry Kruse, 

Mike Lazor, Daphney and Bob 

McGill (whose house was the 

venue for most activities), Karen 

and Jim Truettner, and Bobbye 

and Bob Tucker. As reported by 

Bob Howard, four gatherings, all 

involving food, highlighted the 

mini, and there was the discovery 

that the Williams football team 

is not invincible, losing as they 

did for only the third time in 26 

years of play against Bates. 

The officially authorized mini 

was held Oct. 21-23 under the 

expert organization of Happy 

and Todd Mauck. Present were 

John Allan, Susan and Peter 

Connolly, John Dighton, Lucy and 

Pete Fetterolf, Carol and Dan 


CLASS NOTES 

Fitch, Joy and Walter Flaherty, 

Barbara and Bob Howard, Tess 

and Derry Kruse, Mary and Jack 

Merselis, Sally and Harry Molwitz, 

Anne and Charlie Mott, Judy and 

Art Murray, Peggy Norwood, Liz 

and Bob Ouchterloney, Granthia 

and Fred Preston, Bob Sillcox and 

Sheila Thompson, and Nancy 

and Peter Sterling. In addition, 

Ted Potter appeared at the 

tailgate tent before the game. 

Williams was victorious over 

Tufts at Weston Field. 

Mike Lazor received a long 

letter from Mike Puffer bringing 

him up to date on many of his 

activities over the last number 

of years. Puffer has a sizable 

Christmas tree farm outside of 

Saginaw, Mich., that he plans to 

turn into a site for homeless veterans 

and old race horses. (My 

feeling is that Puffer would be 

a valuable addition to the Mets 

2012 pitching staff.) 

Greatly aided by Boine 

Johnson’s $25K legacy, adroitly 

steered to the ’53 Alumni 

Fund by Kathleen Piagessi, 

Pete Sterling advises as of early 

January the 2011-12 goal was 

exceeded. Pete however was 

hopeful that a good showing 

from recalcitrant classmates 

significantly boosted the class 

participation percentage. 

Tony Butterfield attended 

the memorial service for Dick 

Salladin and mentioned that 

although he saw no fellow Dekes 

or Ephmen, there were a great 

number of lawyers in attendance. 

Phil Ingwersen died on Sept. 29 

following a period of declining 

health. Phil is survived by 

his wife Jean, a daughter, a son 

and three grandchildren. John 

Judge died on Nov. 6. John was 

a banker and a sailor and was 

inducted into the Herreshoff 

Marine Museum Hall of Fame 

in Newport, R.I. Dan Fitch and 

Harry Molwitz attended John’s 

memorial service in Larchmont, 

N.Y. John is survived by his wife 

Mary Francis, two daughters and 

five grandchildren. 

1954 

Al Horne 

7214 Rebecca Drive 

Alexandria, VA 22307 


We lost two more classmates 

since our last installment. 

In December Dave West died at 

his home in Wolfeboro, N.H. He 

served 25 years in the Air Force, 

including two years in Vietnam, 

and retired as full colonel with a 


chestful of medals, including the 

Silver Star and the Distinguished 

Flying Cross. After retiring, he 

worked in Florida for Lockheed- 

Martin as manager of quality 

assurance for the Patriot missile 

program until 1997. 

In February we lost Fred Joss, 

at a hospice in Pittsburgh. Jim 

Carpenter, sophomore year 

roommate, had kept in touch 

with Fred and reports, “He had 

been in failing health for several 

years.” Fred worked for Alcoa 

from 1958 to 1976, including 

five years in Brazil, and then 

spent 12 years with the Dravo 

Corp. as chief financial officer 

and VP for engineering and 

construction. After retiring, he 

taught at private and public 

schools in the Pittsburgh area. 

Wendell Elmendorf and Mildred 

Jorgensen Pelrine tied the knot in 

October and are now snowbirds, 

splitting their time between 

Riverview, Fla., and Remsen, 

N.Y. Here’s Wendell’s account of 

how all this came about: “Mil 

and I were classmates in fifth 

to eighth grade in Schenectady, 

N.Y., and became reacquainted 

in early September of 2010 when 

she read a letter I wrote to the 

editor of our local paper, recognized 

my name, Googled me and 

then emailed me. After a week or 

two of email exchanges I invited 

her out to lunch, then she invited 

me to dinner two times and on 

Oct. 5 left for her winter home 

in Florida with these parting 

words: ‘If you come to Florida to 

visit your sister again this winter, 

be sure to look me up.’ I said to 

myself, ‘I really wasn’t planning 

to visit my sister, but I sure will 

now!’ I did. Before and after my 

March trip to Florida, we continued 

emailing each other almost 

daily. About a month after she 

returned to New York State last 

spring we began planning an 

October wedding. Millie was a 

nurse while raising her five children. 

In 1984, after her husband 

died suddenly of a heart attack, 

she went to Syracuse University 

Law School and became a lawyer 

and is now retired.” 

Here’s another piece of happy 

news, from David St. Clair in 

Colorado Springs: “Gail and 

I celebrated our 50th wedding 

anniversary with a family 

reunion on Cape Cod this past 

summer. All three of our children 

and their families were there: 

Son David, with Julie, Alex and 

Peter, flew in from Konstanz, 

Germany, where David works 

as an engineer for a German 

company. Son John flew in from 

Nairobi, Kenya, where he works 

for a research company in global 

finance. Our daughter Susan, an 

emergency medicine physician 

here in Colorado Springs, her 

husband Jeff and their children 

Teddy and Gabi flew with us 

from Colorado to the Cape for 

the reunion. We spent Christmas 

in North Carolina with the 

Nairobi gang: John, his wife Kelli 

and their children Ainsley, Jack 

and Eliot.” 

From Atlanta, meanwhile, 

Bob Larkin reports: “I have just 

completed the process of going 

through a divorce from my second 

wife of 10 years and am living 

alone and loving it. Applying 

for a reverse mortgage to get 

some equity out of my home and 

be able to live here as I have for 

the last 25 years. I still am in the 

wine brokerage business— 

represent one winery from 

Oregon. Just celebrated my 80th 

birthday and fooled ’em all!” 

And here’s an update from Joe 

Usatine in The Dalles, Ore.: “Life 

still goes on here in the Pacific 

Northwest, but a little change 

has taken place. We’ve bought a 

house in Arizona City, Ariz., and 

now we’re spending about four 

to five months in the sunshine, 

abandoning our overcast, cold 

winter here. Lots of golf—not 

very good, but enjoyable. 

Martha’s well, but I’ve been 

dealing with a health issue which 

isn’t very pleasant. A couple of 

years ago I was diagnosed with 

blood cancer. My marrow is 

unable to manufacture sufficient 

hemoglobin. I’ve turned down 

a transplant; too many risks 

involved. So I deal with chemo 

infusions every month. These 

keep me pretty active and feeling 

well, but there will be no end to 

them. Great clinics, both here and 

in Arizona. Prognosis is good as 

long as I follow the protocol. I’ll 

be preparing a few tax returns for 

longtime clients, but my practice 

is not much anymore.” 

From Philadelphia, Harry 

Rieger reports: “We are currently 

enjoying the so-called 

Golden Years. However, they 

too have pitfalls. Both Didi and 

I had some issues with macadam, 

leaving her with a broken 

pelvis and lots of pain. (All 

better there.) I just recently had 

a similar meeting with blacktop 

and did a beautiful cosmetic 

face mess, now 90 percent back 

to normal. The perpetrator was 

our 60-pound Standard Poodle, 

who is quite active and tends to 

not understand the basic word 

‘No.’

Roger Friedman ’55 (middle) received “Peter’s Coat and Tray” given 

annually in honor of the late Pete Pelham ’55 and his widow Isobel for 

service to Williams and the class. Classmates (from left) Norm Hugo, 

Whitey Perrott, Merce Blanchard and Sandy Laitman joined Friedman to 

celebrate on Homecoming Weekend in November. 

“We enjoyed 10 years in 

Savannah but returned to Philly 

in 2005, as all three children 

live within 40 minutes, and 

with seven grandchildren it 

made sense to return to familiar 

grounds. Katie Rieger ’12, our 

oldest (Glenn’s daughter) is a 

senior at Williams as a math 

major and enjoying it. We have 

reunited with Harry Montgomery 

and Audrey, with some most 

pleasant visits. His Billsville 

home is beautiful and spacious.” 

From Mexico, Steve Livingston 

sends “just a little piece of 

Williams lore”: “The Club 

Rotaract of Williams College 

picked a small nonprofit here 

in San Miguel de Allende to 

assist—one in which I am a volunteer. 

It is Computadores Por 

Jóvenes, or Computers for Kids. 

We solicit used computers— 

mainly from the U.S.—clean 

them, install Spanish programs 

and give them to needy schoolchildren 

in our town (about 

150,000 people—most under 

18). The group in Williams was 

instrumental in writing a user’s 

manual, which we can distribute 

with the computers, and several 

of us had the job of translating 

the manual, adding some material 

as required and distributing 

it. The manual is a great hit, and 

we owe a great debt of gratitude 

to the students at Williams that 

participated—particularly Laura 

Villafranco ’13, who grew up 

here in San Miguel.” 

Closer to home, Russ Carpenter 

reports from Williamstown: 

“Spent Christmas with son 

David and family in Brunswick, 

Maine, which gave us the 

opportunity to visit with Audrey 

and Beatty Smith in Topsham, 

the next town over, where they 

moved last year to a splendid 

community. As usual, Beatty 

remembered some stories from 

our years together in the Zete 

house that I had long forgotten. 

Santa gave me a Nook, which 

apparently would counter my 

aging eyes and finger dexterity, 

but turning pages by a weak 

finger tap is a new challenge.” 

And here’s some more oneon-one-reunion 

news, from 

Paris via Dan Tritter in New 

York: “Jacqueline and I had the 

pleasure of dinner in Paris in 

late September with Scorp Craig. 

We missed Penny, who was off 

in the country administering 

discipline to their new caniche 

royal (Standard Poodle to you 

anglophones) with the intriguing, 

recession-busting name of 

Gatsby.” 

As for the class’s official 

minireunion in Williamstown 

in October, our president Hugh 

Germanetti reports that along 

with he and Nancy, those 

attending were Sonnie and Bob 

Murdock, Bill Stott, Miriam 

and Ted Irwin, Emily and John 

Miller, Harry Montgomery and 

Audrey Clarkson, Dan Tritter and 

Jacqueline Laroche, Pokie Kalker, 

Annaick and Buzz Eichel, Wendell 

Elmendorf and Mildred Pelrine. 

“Wendell and Mildred,” Hugh 

says, “originally planned to be 

married that weekend. They 

put their marriage off until the 

following weekend so they could 

attend our mini. By the end of 

n 1953–55 

another delightful and boisterous 

dinner at the ’6 House we all 

wanted to attend their wedding 

the following weekend. Alas, 

they had planned a small, private 

affair, but we almost talked them 

into expanding it.” 

1955 

Charley Bradley 

103 Meadow Road 

Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510 


Greetings in the New Year and 

thanks to all who were able to 

provide updates of your lives. 

Thanks particularly to Norm 

Hugo for sending the following 

news of so many classmates: 

“George Kesel thriving 

in Missoula, Mont., having 

moved to be closer to one of his 

sons,” he writes. “They closed 

an upscale fishing and sporting 

goods store earlier, so George 

has time to enjoy the beauty of 

his town. Mac Fiske has moved 

back to Denver and still enjoys 

tooling around in his vintage 

TR3. Has had some offers to 

sell it, but his son has already 

laid claim to it. Rick Smith is as 

busy as ever with a new book 

coming out shortly. Can’t wait. 

Jim Weber is retired from his 

architectural practice and living 

the good life. His old Milwaukee 

buddy Ted Gerhardy has moved 

to Denver and is enjoying the 

Rockies. Larry Frank is writing 

another critical book on Charles 

Dickens and is acknowledged 

as one of the world’s experts on 

Dickens. Sandy Fargo continues 

his year-round residence in 

Florida and looks forward to 

all visitors. Tsuneo Tanaka has 

personalized the devastation of 

Japan in his emails. It will be 

years before full recovery. Tery 

Canavan continues his active life 

with family in Savannah and 

‘micro-loans’ to small startups. 

Al Lazor suffered a stroke in late 

fall and is successfully rehabilitating. 

Billy Pogue has retired 

from active practice (radiology) 

but entertains and cheers 

hospitalized kids by playing a 

clown. David Lindsay was one 

of our first classmates to be 

in the computer world—right 

after graduation—and has been 

plagued with a bad back—eats 

all his meals standing up. But he 

is as cheerful as ever and enjoys 

life. Sent a couple of computergenerated 

holiday cards, which 

were beautiful.” 

Loretta and Walter McLaughlin 

wrote greetings in January from 


CLASS NOTES 

their home in the “snow (sort 

of) country” in Colorado, noting 

that “our winter recreations, 

skiing and snowshoeing, are in 

abeyance until La Niña awakens.” 

They were looking forward 

to spending March and April 

in San Miguel de Allende, a 

historic city in the high plains of 

Mexico. “It’s safe,” he assured, 

“off most traffic routes … with 

a vibrant cultural life, both local 

and imported, including a good 

classical musical scene and excellent 

restaurants, from genuine 

Mexican to European.” 

John Newhall planned a 

February jaunt through India 

and Nepal, “thanks to the 

thoughtful remembrance of 

my prior interest by Williams’ 

erstwhile tour director, our 

president, Bob Behr.” The 

trip, led by former Williams 

President Frank Oakley, was to 

include Tink Campbell ’56 class 

president, his wife Paula and 

Bill Montgomery. Meanwhile, 

Deere and Melville Bearns traveled 

to Tokyo in late November, 

visiting friends of Deere’s before 

joining a Williams-Smith tour 

group led by Peter Frost, former 

Williams professor and “master 

of all things Japanese,” Melville 

writes. “We were a most congenial 

group of 20 which included 

Margot and Bill Moomaw and 

Peter’s charming wife Marnie.” 

I can’t do justice to their journey, 

except to relay Melville’s 

particular recollection of a day 

seeing temples and shrines in 

Kyoto: “By the end of the day, I 

felt as though we had surely seen 

them all, and the old cerebral 

hard drive was full to overflowing 

with unforgettable images of 

timeless grace and beauty.” 

For each that tells of his 

travels abroad, two more write 

of life on the home front. “Just 

like the bulk of our classmates, 

Cecile and I have not climbed 

Mount Everest or broken into 

Ft. Knox,” jokes Al Ogden. “We 

are just doing the usual old 

folks, grandparents stuff—having 

a good time and enjoying 

reasonably good health,” though 

they did enjoy a cruise along 

the Dalmatian Coast and Greek 

SENDNEWS! 

our class secretary is 

Ywaiting to hear from you! 





Bill Merizon ’56 (fifth from right) and his wife Martha hosted seven 

classmates and their significant others in Sun Valley, Idaho, last October 

for the Sun Valley Jazz Festival. 

Isles—“Very laid back and 

enjoyable with a refresher, crash 

course on Greek politics, ancient 

history and mythology, most of 

which we had forgotten or never 

knew.” Martin DuBois continues 

practicing medicine in Great 

Barrington, Mass., “though it 

will soon be less,” and has this 

to say about Mass Health Care: 

“It is nice to practice in a clinic 

where 98 percent of people have 

basic health care insurance. The 

ones that do not live in New 

York!” Outside of work he 

and Sharon “see Martin Deely 

and his wife Jesse in Lee,” and 

he recently went to the top of 

Mount Greylock—for the first 

time! 

“We’ve sold our house in 

Weston, Mass.,” writes Ted 

Bower. “Vero Beach is our 

regular residence, and we’re 

looking at options for this 

summer and others beyond in 

New England.” (In his numerated 

email, however, he first 

mentioned Exeter’s victory over 

Andover in November. Some 

things never change, no matter 

where one lives.) Eugene Latham 

and wife Gloria are also “happy 

to report that we will be moving 

back to the U.S. permanently” 

this year, having ended their 

“daily relationship” with the 

NPH orphanage and helped 

form its new board of directors. 

“Our seven grandchildren and 

10 great-grandchildren living 

in the U.S. are pulling us home, 

as Mexico’s increasing violence 

makes it ever easier to leave. We 

are both retired, and Gloria, a 

Mexican citizen, will soon apply 

for a green card, which will 

allow her to reside permanently 

in the U.S.” He describes the 

approval process as an “international 

Catch-22” but says 

they look forward to spending 

summers in Rhode Island and 

winters in Denver, “where we 

hope to make contact with some 

Williams friends.” 

Across the ocean, Ted Oviatt 

describes his life is “in a holding 

pattern as 2012 begins,” parenting 

13-year-old daughter Angel, 

who is “doing very well in 

school,” as Marilyn pursues her 

law degree. The older children 

are also doing well: Son Peter is 

still running marathons— 

following in the footsteps of 

his father!—and coaching track 

club in Bellingham, Wash.; 

Ted is “serving up Starbucks 

in Westlake, Calif.”; Jill is 

communications director for a 

health research firm in Seattle; 

and Wendy has ushered all but 

her last child to college. “I love 

my life in the Philippines,” Ted 

writes, “and thank God for my 

health, even though I complain 

that back injuries have slowed 

me to a non-competitive runner. 

I’ve stayed busy this semester 

tutoring an IB French lit course 

for a French boy of 17. Majored 

in French at Williams but 

haven’t taught it for 30 years— 

so I’ve been working hard … 

and enjoying.” Erwin von den 

Steinen is also “regrouping 

after having a joyful houseful 

of young grandsons over the 

holiday period.” Erwin reflected 

the shock at Ned Reeves’ death 

that many mentioned in their 

letters. “It shows again that life 

is as fragile as it is robust,” he 

writes. You can find an obituary 

for Ned in the back of this issue.

1956 classmates (from left) Walter Jensen, Tom May and Bob Buss 

enjoyed the sunny weather of Napa, Calif., in November. 

1956 

Vern Squires 

727 Ardsley Road 

Winnetka, IL 60093 


I have one sad note with which 

to commence this report. Jim 

Innes passed away in August 

of 2011. Jim practiced internal 

medicine and gastroenterology 

in Greenwich, Conn., from 1965 

to 1997. During these years he 

held multiple leadership positions 

in local, state and national 

medical organizations while 

enjoying his passion for travel, 

golf and skiing. Jim is survived 

by Eleanor, his wife of 56 years, 

and many members of their 

extended family. 

My apologies to Bill Kerr for 

not incorporating his nice note 

in my last article. It became a 

victim of the column’s space limitation 

rules. However, definitely 

better late than never because it 

is so interesting. Bill expressed 

his regrets for not attending the 

55th last June, but he had a very 

good reason: That was also the 

weekend for his 50th reunion 

at Johns Hopkins Medical 

School. Moreover, Bill was in 

Williamstown the preceding 

weekend for the graduation of 

his grandson Connor Olvany ’11, 

son of daughter Kendra Olvany 

and son-in-law John Olvany, 

both Class of ’82. Bill noted that 

at the baccalaureate service an 

honorary Doctor of Letters was 

awarded to Bruce Russett for his 

work in conflict resolution while 

a professor of political science at 

Yale. So a belated “congratulations” 

to Bruce. Bill recalled that 

during the Williams years he 

and Bruce and three others 

majored together in political 

economy. Bill met Bruce at the 

Faculty House and emerged with 

much information. Bruce is now 

emeritus at Yale but still working 

hard. He thanks Professors 

Fred Schuman and Emile Depres 

for launching his career and 

credits a year in Cambridge for 

opening vistas beyond the world 

of North Adams (his hometown) 

and Williamstown. Bruce and 

his wife, also a professor at 

Yale, have four adult children. 

International assignments have 

conspired to keep him from 

many of our reunions, but 

let’s hope the 60th will find 

him and many others back in 

Williamstown. 

I had a nice note from Clarke 

Sperry, but he felt that (contrary 

to my own belief) he really had 

nothing to relate. So I will insert 

a memory of Clarke: playing 

first base on the baseball team of 

1956 under the watchful eye of 

coach Bobby Coombs. 

A great letter arrived from 

Wally Jensen that related several 

items of interest. In November 

Wally and Carolyn joined with 

Martha and Tom May and 

Bourne and Bob Buss to stage a 

Class of ’56 minireunion in the 

Napa Valley. As Wally related, 

“We reestablished friendship, 

enjoyed wonderful dining and 

of course drank fabulous wine.” 

Tom and Martha capped off 

a great luncheon by bringing 

two bottles of their classic 1990 

Martha Vineyard Cabernet 

Sauvignon. Wally concluded his 

letter on a nice philosophical 

note: “Again I was reminded 

of the privilege given to us in 

attending Williams. The breadth 

n 1955–56 

of knowledge possessed by Tom 

and Martha bespoke of the 

power of the Williams College 

liberal arts education. It instilled 

in us a curiosity about the workings 

of the world. And somehow 

it bred character, or was that 

something Fred Copeland ’35 

detected in those he chose to 

enter each class?” Thanks, 

Wally, for the reminder of how 

fortunate we were. 

Kay and Wayne Renneisen have 

joined the list of classmates who 

have said a goodbye to their 

longtime residences in favor 

of downsizing. After 48 years 

in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., they are 

now in a small apartment in 

Wynnewood, Pa. However it 

was not a far move, geographically. 

As Wayne noted, 1.5 miles 

and six traffic lights. Wayne 

has retired from his position as 

chairman of the board of trustees 

of the Wetlands Institute but 

remains a member of the board. 

Paula and Tink Campbell 

participated in a fall trip, 

described by Tink as “fantastic,” 

to Thailand, Vietnam 

and Cambodia. The Thailand 

component was just about the 

time of the terrible flooding 

around Bangkok, but they were 

fortunate to escape it. Tink had 

a couple of interesting side notes. 

He encountered not a whisper 

of the war, now more than 35 

years behind us. And he found 

many of the local people not 

only friendly but quite fluent 

in English. (Note to Tink: The 

Wall Street Journal of Dec. 22, 

2011, reported that a current 

hot investment in Vietnam is 

buying a membership in a golf 

club. “Buying a membership is 

better than putting cash in the 

bank, better than putting it in 

the stock market, and better 

than putting it into gold,” said 

Do Dinh Thjuy, a 48-year-old 

management consultant.) The 

next big trip for Paula and Tink 

will be a journey to India in 

which the head docent will be 

former Williams President Frank 

Oakley. 

On a personal traveling note, 

Judy and I spent the latter part 

of November on the Hawaiian 

Islands, first on Maui for the 

Maui Invitational Basketball 

Tournament (won by Duke, 

her alma mater, for the fifth 

time) and then on to Kauai for 

Thanksgiving dinner and several 

days of sightseeing, including 

a catamaran ocean trip and a 

helicopter flight over the virtually 

inaccessible sections of the 

interior of the island. 


CLASS NOTES 

An event that I know from 

personal experience is special is 

the annual October Sun Valley 

Jazz Festival. Martha and Bill 

Merizon, as Sun Valley residents, 

serve as the hosts for Williams 

classmates who come in for 

the occasion. This year they 

hosted a terrific group: Toni 

and Ken Harkness, Nancy and 

Kirt Gardner, Mary Clare and 

Bill Jenks, Ausra and Bill Kerr, 

Carolyn and Bill Mauritz, Gaysie 

Taylor and Jeff Smythe and friend 

Nancy. A great time was had 

by all, and many have planned 

to return to Sun Valley in July 

for a five-day rafting trip on 

the Middle Fork of the Salmon 

River. Bill and Martha are marvelous 

hosts for the jazz festival 

affairs, and they have expressed 

the hope that classmates will be 

in Sun Valley again when next 

October rolls around. 

It was nice to hear from Tony 

Morano. He and Mary are still 

living in White Plains, N.Y., 

where they were born. Tony has 

retired from 43 years of medical 

practice but misses his patients, 

many of whom he has known 

his whole life. He is justifiably 

proud that the White Plains 

Hospital has a wing named “The 

Anthony J. Morano MD Cardiac 

Care Unit,” clearly reflecting a 

distinguished medical career. He 

mentioned his recent correspondence 

with Steve Gilman and 

Bill Evans and their interesting 

achievements over the years. 

Tony’s letter concluded: “Best 

regards to all our classmates.” 

Vance Ludtke, reporting in 

from the U.S. Navy city of 

Pensacola, Fla., expressed his 

regrets for not making the 55th, 

but he is planning ahead for the 

60th. Vance lives close to the 

Pensacola Navy Air Station, 

which means he can watch the 

famous Blue Angels practice 

for their air shows. Although 

they fly so low that they shake 

his house, he is spared the need 

to join the massive crowds 

that gather at Pensacola Beach. 

Vance’s health is holding up 

pretty well, with his weight at an 

enviable 175 pounds, but without 

getting into details he noted 

some harrowing experiences that 

he has shared with Phil Wick. 

Like Tony Morano’s letter, Vance’s 

letter concluded with thoughts 

of his classmates: “My very best 

wishes and prayers go out to 

you all.” 

Jo Anderson has published 

a new book in collaboration 

with two other scientists. Diet, 

Nutrients and Bone Health 


consists of 35 chapters on 

bone-related topics by leading 

researchers throughout the 

world. He and Betsey went to 

New York in February for the 

annual Williams Alumni Fund 

telethon and joined forces with 

Bob Schumacher and other 

classmates. As Jo sadly noted, it 

will be hard to replace our late 

classmates Tony Fisher and Mark 

Saulnier, who did a great job for 

many years at the telethon. John 

Reeves (whose annual Christmas 

letter, entitled “The Voice of 

Atlantic Avenue,” I always look 

forward to) had lunch with Jo 

in Bar Harbor, Maine, and more 

recently Jo got together with 

Pete Brown, a fellow resident 

of Chapel Hill. Jo and Betsey 

have a wonderful trip planned 

for late June and early July: 

a Williams-sponsored trip to 

Athens, the Greek Islands and 

Turkey. Having done this trip 

several years ago (although not 

Williams-sponsored) I can attest 

that it is a winner. I am happy 

to report that Jo has recovered 

from knee surgery and is in terrific 

shape (but no longer referreeing 

football and basketball 

games as he did for many years). 

Speaking of good health news, 

I am glad to report that, after 

encountering a spot on his arm 

which naturally raised a concern, 

Jock Duncan had surgery in mid- 

January which was successful. 

The prognosis is excellent, and 

all is well. I have saved this 

paragraph for the conclusion of 

this article as it is always nice 

to be able to say “the end” on a 

high note. 

1957 


John S. Pritchard 

150 Candlewood Drive 

Williamstown, MA 01267 


Greetings from Williamstown, 

which only yesterday resembled 

late fall and today (Jan. 12) has 

become cold and snowy for the 

first time this winter. Members of 

the Greylock H.S. cross country 

ski team, including my grandson, 

have been frustrated for lack of 

snow to compete. One thing for 

sure is, come June 7, we won’t 

have these concerns for your 

return to celebrate our 55th 

reunion. President Fleming and 

Reunion Chair Tom Slonaker have 

been busy with arrangements, 

including visits to campus and 

the Dodd House complex (old 

Williams Inn), where you will be 

staying, dining and enjoying old 

friends. Ted Cobden and yours 

truly, with considerable help from 

some of you, will be in contact 

on your plans to return. We look 

forward to a terrific weekend 

together in June! 

As promised in my December 

notes, the Oct. 21-23 ’57 

Scholars and Summer Interns 

Weekend was special, with 29 

classmates and spouses attending. 

The round table discussion 

at the Saturday night dinner 

was a highlight and led by our 

scholars’ chair, Richard Miller ’86. 

Fourteen scholars and interns 

participated in sharing ideas 

concerning economy/scholarship 

issues. Dinner sponsors included 

Steve Bullock and the Cobdens, 

Driesens, Flemings, Gardellas 

and Holmans. The Class of 1957 

Scholars Fund dispensed in excess 

of $160,000 to scholars last year. 

Other highlights of the weekend 

included faculty lectures, museum 

tours and athletic events, including 

the Tufts football game. 

The Hubert H. Humphrey 

Centennial Commission celebrated 

its 100th anniversary by 

honoring several Minnesotans 

who have distinguished 

themselves in a variety of fields 

involving public service. “Arne H. 

Carlson, governor of Minnesota 

from 1991-99, was presented a 

Humphrey Legacy Award for 

his continuous work on behalf 

of improving the quality of 

governance in Minnesota. A 

blogger and frequent speaker 

in his retirement, Carlson, a 

moderate Republican, frequently 

teamed with former VP Mondale 

on a variety of issues, ranging 

from creating an independent 

panel to handling legislative 

and Congressional redistricting 

to presenting a compromise 

designed to resolve the 2011 state 

of Minnesota budgetary deadlock. 

Carlson was also honored 

in October 2011 by being named 

by the Rochester Post-Bulletin 

as Minnesota’s most effective 

governor in the past 50 years. 

In 2001 Minnesotans, in a poll 

conducted by the St. Paul Pioneer 

Press, named Humphrey, Carlson 

and Mondale as the ‘great’ political 

leaders of the 20th century.” 

Congratulations, Arne, and 

please bring some pearls of political 

wisdom to us in June. 

News from Nick Wright, who 

reports, “Joan and I were in DC 

Nov. 6 to protest the building 

of the Tar Sands Pipeline from 

Northern Canada to Texas. It is

hard to act against the economic 

interests of a friendly government, 

but the addiction to fossil 

fuels in the U.S. and the rest of 

the industrialized world has to be 

broken, and stopping this pipeline 

is a very good start. Twelve 

thousand people showed up, 

and after some speechifying in 

Lafayette Park they proceeded to 

encircle the White House about 

two to four deep, with innovative 

placards, including quoting some 

speeches on the environment 

from President Obama’s 2008 

campaign. It was a civilized affair, 

and I did not see anyone arrested. 

There were students from many 

universities as well as a small contingent 

of Williams students who 

came by overnight bus. A mock 

section of black plastic-covered 

pipe undulated around the White 

House, carried above the heads 

of some students. A few days 

after the protest, the president 

referred the pipeline proposal 

back for further review, including 

an investigation of lobbying 

tactics that may have influenced 

the State Dept. to express its 

satisfaction with the project. The 

trip gave us the opportunity to 

visit with Jane and Crane Miller, 

who had volunteered legal and 

bail services! Since none were 

needed, we instead enjoyed some 

memorable Turkish food at the 

Ezme Restaurant, near Dupont 

Circle.” Thanks, Nick, for your 

up-close-and-personal experience. 

Phil Fradkin continues to 

produce creative and picturesque 

photography, and I wish you 

could view his “Winter Sunrise 

Over Brock’s Boathouse and 

Tomales Bay.” This beautiful 

December image captures the 

spirit of the holiday season and 

serves as the introduction to 

his next creative effort involving 

images rather than words. 

“I will be sending one monthly 

for those requesting them or a 

short series of my digital images. 

For those who gave me a photo 

printer on my 75th birthday, I 

would like to make a gift of a 

signed photograph of their choice 

printed on archival paper. For 

others, unframed photographic 

prints of West Marin, Calif., and 

the American West are available 

at a reasonable price. A few are 

on display outside my office in 

downtown Point Reyes Station. 

Call or email me for an appointment: 

philfrad@earthlink.net. I’m 

not new to photography. Taking 

photos for publications dates 

back to my first newspaper job 

in 1960. The equipment I have 

used spans a century of camera 

technology. I began with a simple 

Kodak; graduated to a large 

formal Speed Graflex; a medium 

format, twin-lens Rollieflex; 

various single-lens reflex cameras; 

and finally digital cameras. Such 

photo and design conscious 

publications as the Los Angeles 

Times and Audubon magazine, 

book publishers such as Alfred 

A. Knopf and the University of 

California Press used my images 

both on covers and inside with 

my texts. A Life magazine editor 

even asked to see a sample of 

my photographs. Except for 

some freelance assignments to 

illustrate articles by such noted 

writers as Page Stegner and Peter 

Matthiessen, the images were 

secondary to my words. Now 

photos are my dominant interest, 

and they provide a quick, intuitive 

way to tell a story. I have a 

number of exciting directions 

in which I want to travel. If you 

know anyone else who would 

like to join this trek, please have 

them contact me with an email 

address. In the next few months, 

I plan to have a website for my 

photographs. Information about 

my writing life is available on my 

current website at www.philipfradkin.com 

as well as a small 

photographic component.” Many 

thanks, Phil, for your update, 

and you will no doubt be hearing 

from more classmates. 

Len Kirschner, president of 

AARP Arizona and former director 

of AHCCCS, was quoted in 

the Dec. 18 editorial section of 

The Arizona Republic in support 

of using money to help people 

in need. “In advocating for the 

extension of the 1-cent-perdollar 

state sales tax, we should 

remember the words of the wise 

people who led this country 

during our tumultuous history. 

Supreme Court Justice Oliver 

Wendell Holmes said: ‘Taxes are 

what we pay for civilized society.’ 

VP Hubert Humphrey, in the last 

speech before his death, opined, 

‘The moral test of government is 

how it treats those in the dawn 

of life, the children; those in the 

shadows of life, the sick, the 

needy and the handicapped.’ 

n 1956–57 

Finally, it was Abraham Lincoln 

who said, ‘The legitimate object 

of government is to do for a community 

of people whatever they 

need to have done, but cannot so 

at all, or cannot so well do, for 

themselves in their separate and 

individual capacities.’ If we listen 

to these three great Americans, 

we must do better.” Len, hope 

you achieved your extension. 

We lost a well-remembered 

classmate and have heard 

from several close friends, and 

especially from his wife Kathleen, 

who wrote on Jan. 4, “My 

husband Dick Ennis died on Nov. 


Arne Carlson ’57, governor of Minnesota from 1991-99, received 

a Humphrey Legacy Award for his continuous work to improve the 

governance of Minnesota. Most recently he worked with former U.S. Vice 

President Walter Mondale to design a compromise to resolve the state’s 

2011 budgetary deadlock. 

30 this past year. He had many 

good friends and memories from 

his years at Williams. He was a 

wonderful husband and father 

and is deeply mourned by his 

family,” including four children 

and five grandchildren. Kathleen 

shared Dick’s obituary, which 

appeared in the Naples Daily 

News, the Washington Post and 

in the online Bronxville paper. 

Please contact me if you’d like to 

read the full obituary. A Williams 

obituary appears at the end of 

this issue. Thank you, Kathy. 

Looking forward to June and 

our 55th. Many of you will have 

made plans to be with your classmates 

as you read this update. 

Ted Cobden, Tom Slonaker, Pete 

Fleming and others, including 

yours truly, will have been in 

touch with the reunion schedule 

and details of our weekend 

together. 

SENDPHOTOS 

illiams People accepts 

Wphotographs of alumni 

gatherings and events. Please 

send photos to Williams 

magazine, P.O. Box 676, 

Williamstown, Mass. 01267- 

0676. High-quality digital 

photos may be emailed to 



CLASS NOTES 

1958 

Dick Davis 

5732 East Woodridge Drive 

Scottsdale, AZ 85254 


Last fall was a great one for 

’58 conviviality. It started in 

September with the collegesponsored 

jazz cruise to Nova 

Scotia and back. Bob Kingsbury 

and Fred Clifford led the musical 

way; I’ll bet Clare and Barbara at 

some point supplied some lyrics. 

Marcia Schoeller was aboard, 

along with Pete Paullin and 

Ann; Joe Young and Betsy; David 

Grossman and Jill; Jim Bowers 

and Suzie; and Bill Harter. Tom 

Hayne ’59, with Martha, was 

beatin’ on the drums, and John 

Halsey ’59 tickled the ivories. 

Three other ’59ers many of us 

know, Bill Applegate, Tony Volpe 

and Bob O’Neill,were also on 

board. 

Sam Jones and Becky had lunch 

with David Grossman and Jill and 

Bill Harter before the cruise was 

under way. I understand there 

was a pre-cruise concert where 

Spencer Jones was honored for 

his contributions over the years; 

a taped solo was played. 

In October there was a 

beautiful minireunion. The following 

were there: Dave Allan 

and Connie; Ron Anderson and 

Barbie; Jim Bowers; Fred Clifford 

and Barbara; Dave Cook and 

Loy; Tom Connolly and Ann; Rick 

Driscoll and Jeanne; Steve Frost 

and Anne; David Grossman and 

Jill; Joel Greeley and Louise; 

Spence Jones and Susan; David 

Kane and Siegrun; Chet Lasell and 

Kate; Skip Martin and Nancy; 

Bruce Maxwell; Jock Purcell and 

Nancy; Dick Siegel and Pam; and 

Joe Young and Betsy. Matt Donner 

and Judy and David Sims were 

there for the “Tentgate Lunch” 

and football game. Joe Young 

reported that the seminars were 

stimulating, especially on immigration 

and movements in South 

America. The Eph gridders beat 

Tufts. The ’58-’59 joint Friday 

dinner at the 1896 House and 

the Saturday class dinner at the 

Williams Inn were first rate. Joe 

and Betsy stayed with Chet and 

Kate. We all are grateful for Joe’s 

continuing contributions. Major 

credits for the weekend to Chet 

and Rick. 

On Dec. 2, the urbane gathered 

at the Williams Club within 

the Princeton Club in New 

York. Matt Donner writes: “We 

had a successful holiday lunch 

at the Williams/Princeton Club 


attended by Brad Thayer, Dick 

Lisle, Jim Conlan, Bob Guyett, Bill 

Kaufmann, Lin Patterson, Tom 

Synnott, Rich Lombard, Joe Young, 

Arnie Sher, Dave Grossman, 

Howard Abbott and myself. It 

was an upbeat get together.” 

That was the sentiment of all I 

heard from. I’m told the waitstaff 

loves the Ephs. 

Just when you think a Texan, 

even a transplanted one, would 

be kicking back, you learn 

that Carl Vogt is taking on the 

chairmanship of the Ephraim 

Williams Society, succeeding 

fellow President Emeritus John 

Chandler. The society encourages 

testamentary and other major 

gifts to the college, and Carl 

aims to expand the universe of 

donors. Congratulations, Carl, 

on undertaking this additional, 

and major, service to the alma. 

Tex and Margrit visited 

Mongolia last summer on an 

“adventure” tour. They typically 

stayed in yurts, called “gers” 

there. It’s a huge, friendly country, 

Carl says, and something 

of a model in its distribution 

of ownership shares in mining 

enterprises to citizens. Mining 

royalties to the nation should 

cover most of the national 

budget. “The Russian influence 

is everywhere, including some 

world-class vodka. Should only 

be visited in the summer, as Ulan 

Bator is the coldest capital city in 

the world.” 

Skip Martin and Nancy were 

recent guests of George Vare 

and Elsa. They got Tex and 

Margrit up to Napa for some 

wine tasting. George and Elsa are 

looking toward slimming down 

and George is considering and 

promoting a “village” concept 

for the Napa area similar to the 

Beacon Hill village in Boston. 

George says there are 60 or so of 

these around the nation. 

Rick Driscoll and Jeanne have 

moved to a condo a little north 

of their former house. Rick says 

he is happy to be out of the 

home-owning business. The new 

address is 403 North Hemlock 

Lane in Williamstown. Rick’s 

new email address is driscoll. 

ephans@gmail.com; phone is the 

same: 413.458.8681. 

Larry Nilsen and Barbara are 

going to hold their next family 

reunion, Thanksgiving, in 

Williams, Ariz. If you’re ever 

near the Grand Canyon, spend 

a day and night at Williams, 

named for Bill, a kind of 

Mountain Man. It’s in the 

mountains west of Flag, cool in 

the summer, on old Route 66. 

Black Jack Pershing stayed at the 

old hotel there I think before he 

took on Panchovilla. Larry and 

Barbara’s son Scott and his wife 

Megan, who live in Colorado 

Springs, are expanding their 

family from four to six with the 

adoption of two young children 

from Ethiopia. The paperwork 

and vetting took 16 months. 

Larry says if anyone can handle 

the challenges, Scott and Megan 

can. 

Joe Borus and Carolyn and Sam 

Jones and Becky attended the 

50th reunion of the law school 

class of 1961 at Yale. Sam and 

others filled me in. Phil McKean 

and Deborah got to Phil’s 50th 

reunion at the Yale Divinity 

School. Phil and others recalled 

the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, 

our chaplain senior year, who 

spearheaded the Divinity School 

in those subsequent years. Phil’s 

new address is 633 Leyden Lane, 

#203, Claremont, Calif. 91711. 

They expect to be back in Maine 

in the summer to visit with, 

among many others, Charlie 

Hudson. 

George McCracken continues 

his teaching, practicing and journal 

editorship and has received 

the 2012 Maxwell Finland 

Lectureship by the Infectious 

Disease Society of America. He 

will deliver the honorary lecture 

in October. 

Peter Bogle was to retire from 

Smurfit-Stone at the end of 

January, since it was acquired 

by Rock-Tenn and moved its tax 

operations to Georgia. Peter and 

Cheryl are still raising their two 

grandsons, and Peter is starting 

a home-based business dealing 

in wellness and health care products. 

Peter’s new email address is 

peche1978@gmail.com. Pete says 

he’ll enjoy being his own boss. 

When I turned on the TV this 

morning, I turned it up to better 

hear Mohamed El-Erian, the 

Pimco CEO. When he was last 

out here the group was talking 

bonds, and Dave Cook remarked 

that in his last career, setting up 

a security system for the IMF, he 

developed a close and personal 

relationship with El-Erian, then 

still the head of the Harvard 

Endowment Fund. This in my 

humble opinion is a world-class 

financial sage. 

In the same realm Matt 

Donner audited one of Prof. Tom 

Synnott’s classes on business 

economics at Cooper Union. 

Matt notes that Cooper Union 

was rated by Newsweek in 2010 

as the “#1 Most Desired Small 

School.” It is highly selective

and all full scholarship. Matt 

said Tom’s class was highly 

stimulating. 

Matt also had lunch in 

December with Bill Harter. Matt 

says Bill has lost 60 pounds and 

looks great. Hey, nothing like 

Bill, but I’ve lost a few; Tom 

Shulman noted it last year. I got 

a shot over the bow re: type-2 

diabetes and hope to stave it off. 

I mentioned Phil Rideout’s 

and Flavia’s son Danny and his 

high position at the Waldorf. 

This astounds Phil, who teaches 

a lot of Danny’s contemporaries 

who have few if any job 

prospects. Danny is a graduate 

of Johnson & Wales, a university 

in Providence big in hospitality. 

One of Danny’s fortés is providing 

for the particularized tastes 

of the many foreign dignitaries 

who make the Waldorf their NY 

home. When the cooks cannot 

deliver, Danny cooks it himself. 

Phil and Flavia paid a moving 

visit to Ground Zero. They were 

both working two miles away 

in midtown when the attacks 

occurred. Phil also says that he 

has finished all of his work on a 

fifth edition of his Dictionary of 

American English. 

Phil said they visited the 

Ramapos after their NY visit. 

I imagined this must be some 

obscure group of North Atlantic 

islands. Nope—they are mountains 

in northern New Jersey. 

I think Ron Cullis drove me 

out there once yea those many 

years ago. Phil says they greatly 

enjoyed the relaxing visit. 

Jim Conlan said he and Virginia 

spent an enjoyable (and ocean 

swimmable) few days at Spring 

Lake, N.J., in the fall. Jim says 

this area is known as “the Irish 

Riviera.” 

Jim Hutchinson and Kay finally 

did make it to Antarctica on their 

third try in December. “Very 

enjoyable, though the Drake’s 

passage going and coming was 

rough. Back in Portland with the 

usual winter rain.” Up near the 

other end of the planet, Whitey 

Kaufmann attended a meeting of 

his University of the Arctic board 

in Fairbanks in early January. It 

was only about 5 below zero— 

practically a heat wave for the 

time and place. Whitey almost 

daily informally posts a reply to 

a conservative blog commenting 

on some of the prominent 

media op-eds. Whitey is so well 

informed and articulate that I 

sometimes wonder how he managed 

to stay out of an even more 

active political career. He’s going 

to have an active 2012. 

I’m going to give you the bad 

news about Jim Becket first. He 

had some intercranial bleeding 

and a subdural hematoma and 

underwent brain surgery on 

Christmas Day. Jim notes that 

it was just a “one hole” surgery. 

He was in Southern California 

at the time. The good news is 

that the surgery appears to have 

been very successful. Jim had a 

follow-up with the leading neurosurgeon 

at UCLA, who gave 

him a strong thumbs up on the 

denouement. Jim sent me a priceless 

blow-by-blow of the events 

and his mindset as he awaited 

this meeting and “verdict.” 

Jim earlier completed his 

“peace climb” of Mount 

Kilimanjaro with the two scions 

of the past-warring African 

legends referred to in the last 

issue. He’s currently editing and 

finalizing that documentary and 

a “horror thriller” he directed 

in July called Serenity Farm. Jim 

reports he’s feeling fine and preparing 

for a trip to the Ganges in 

India for some more production 

work. 

I was kind of hoping for an 

upper-midwest World Series this 

year after the Brewers knocked 

off our local Diamondbacks. 

Tigers vs. Brewers wasn’t to happen, 

but Sandy Hansell confirms 

that the renaissances of the local 

feral beasts, the Tigers and the 

Lions, have raised spirits around 

the Motor City. Someone is 

going to get rich writing a book 

on fan psyche. 

John Buckner and Lorraine and 

all available family members go 

dressed up in stylish Renaissance 

garb to celebrate Lorraine’s 

birthday and sent me a picture. 

I can’t say whether John looks 

more ducal or troubadorian. 

Lorraine is very much the 

contessa, ready to outmaneuver 

Catherine de Medici. John Jr. is 

very much some royalty higher 

than conte. John and Lorraine’s 

daughter Alison ’89 is either 

queenly or high-level peasantry. 

I’m not enough of a renaissance 

man to know which. 

Donna and Bill Dudley are cochairs 

for the National Maritime 

Historical Society’s Washington 

Awards dinner to be held April 

12 at the National Press Club. 

Honorees are Admiral Bruce 

DeMars, who directed the Navy’s 

nuclear propulsion program; 

innovative racing yacht designer 

Bruce Farr; and eminent marine 

artist Patrick O’Brien. Bill says 

this was to be a gala affair. You 

can reach him at billdudley@ 

starband.net. 

n 1958 

Bill Taggart and Lil were off to 

Salinas, Ecuador, in late winter; 

report to come. 

Bruno Quinson and Minkie 

had a harrowing experience 

relocating to NYC. They were 

on the Taconic in the early heavy 

snowstorm and their car conked 

out. Bruno confesses to envisioning 

some “Elderly Couple Found 

Frozen to Death” headlines. But 

he finally got the car restarted 

and limped into Poughkeepsie, 

where they got the last room at 

the Marriott. Next day, Fifth 

Avenue Manhattan never looked 

better. 

Bruno ran into John Karol at 

the annual black-tie affair of 

the Century Association in New 

York. Bruno says John is looking 

good. Not long after the last 

issue’s material was submitted 

John sent me some fine memories 

he had of our late classmate Bill 

Huckel. John writes: “I was sorry 

to read of Bill Huckel’s death. I 

have happy memories of time 

spent together with Bill while he 

was at Williams. Among others, 

I recall long discussions on the 

relative merits of Mozart and 

Bach—his passion for the former, 

mine for the latter. And when 

winter ice now clings to our trees 

here in New Hampshire, I recall 

a hike with Bill up Pine Cobble 

where the ice-covered underbrush 

chimed our way to the 

sun-dazzled summit one Sunday 

afternoon. On vacations while 

still at Williams, Bill visited my 

parents and me in Chappaqua 

and Edgartown and joined me 

for an event or two in New York. 

I heard from Bill in January 

2002, together with an appeal 

to support The Regeneration 

Center in West Palm Beach. I 

was pleased to contribute to the 

faith-based nonprofit organization 

that had rescued Bill from 

the addiction that he forthrightly 

described. ‘Brother Bill,’ his then 

moniker, joyfully responded, 

enclosing photos from the center, 

including [one] with the caption 

‘Here I am with Corey, who, at 

18, is our youngest graduate.’ At 

the time, Bill reported that his 

cancer was in remission but that 

hepatitis was taking a toll. Bill 

has come to mind many times 

over the years. Those who add 

to one’s life are never forgotten. 

If any of you are in touch with 

members of Bill’s family, I would 

be pleased to hear from you via 

karol@apertura.org.” 

Be sure to either download or 

order your copy of the “hardcopy” 

mag. 


CLASS NOTES 

1959 

Dan Rankin 

1870 Bay Road #213 

Vero Beach, FL 32963 


“I’ve noticed that the older 

and more gnarled the cherry 

tree, the greater the profusions 

of blossoms. And sometimes the 

oldest and dustiest bottles hold 

the most sparkling wine. I’m 

drawn by faces lined with crow’s 

feet, those credentials of humanity, 

beautifully lit from within.” 

As the majority of us turn 75 

this year we should reflect on 

Chaplain William Sloane Coffin’s 

thought and cherish our classmates 

who continue to do good 

works and stay active. 

Out in San Diego Cliff Colwell 

continues his medical research, 

and while he cautions his lab 

hasn’t cured anything yet, they 

have received a $3.5 million 

grant from the California 

Institute of Regenerative 

Medicine to study stem-cell 

regeneration and a possible cure 

for arthritis. He and Carolyn 

celebrated their 50th by hiking, 

biking and fishing with 

their children in Whitefish, 

Mont. Back on the East Coast 

in Virginia another MD, Alex 

Reeves, finds he’s reversed the 

clock and is gradually slipping 

out of retirement by working for 

the Department of Corrections of 

Virginia. He provides specialist 

consultations for “offenders” 

who have neurological problems. 

And while he finds this is 

a long way from the academic 

world in which he once lived, it 

is rewarding and allows him to 

pay the mortgage and buy the 

necessary and important fish 

gear he so cherishes. Across the 

pond in Scotland, Valedictorian 

Bob Gould remains active in the 

theological field as an interim 

pastor yet demonstrated his versatility 

by delivering a lecture at 

the Computer School in Spain on 

“How crystallographers survived 

before the digital computer.” 

(Right!) Bill Moomaw continues 

to fight the good fight against 

global warming by publishing 

SENDNEWS! 







major papers on nitrogen pollution 

and what steps must be 

taken in climate change negotiations. 

His 19 years of work with 

the Intergovernmental Panel 

on Climate Change concluded 

with the publication of a crucial 

report on the very large potential 

for renewable energy. He still 

teaches graduate students at 

the Fletcher School at Tufts and 

hits the road to faraway spots 

with Margot when he can— 

Spain and France this year. Joe 

Prendergast’s wife Marlene states 

that the busy endocrinologist is 

still trying to save the world. He 

remains active in his practice in 

Palo Alto and Redwood City, 

Calif., with a real expertise in 

diabetes. No matter how hard 

he tries, Jack Hyland writes he’s 

“unable to stop doing what I 

like,” which is doing mergers 

and acquisitions with three other 

partners (www.mediaadvisorypartners.com). 

He’s just completed 

another novel and spends plenty 

of time on his hands and knees in 

the garden. As antsy as ever, Jack 

traveled to Bhutan, Angkor Wat 

in Cambodia, and Borobudur in 

Java last October. Jack wins the 

battle with Marc Newberg over 

who can accumulate the most 

frequent-flyer miles, since Mark 

and Ruth only saw fit to travel 

to Patagonia on a Williamssponsored 

trip in January. And 

then there is Geoff Morton, 

who is never far behind on the 

traveling circuit, as he routinely 

flies from Cleveland to Phoenix, 

to NYC, to Palm Beach, Fla., to 

Hawaii, etc. He made sure he 

was in attendance at Madison 

Square Garden to see Duke basketball 

coach Mike Krzyzewski 

break Bobby Knight’s record of 

902 victories. Now that he has a 

new hip, Geoff feels confident he 

and Pete Willmott, who had a full 

knee replacement in December, 

will earn starting positions on the 

2012-13 Eph basketball team. 

The knee Pete had replaced is 

the one he hurt so badly playing 

basketball in 1958. 

From Raleigh, N.C., comes 

word that Stu Wallace continues 

to teach at North Carolina State, 

where he offers a six-session 

course based on Ed Ayer’s book, 

In the Presence of Mine Enemies. 

Stu marvels at how fascinating 

it is to study two counties 

(Franklin, Pa., and Augusta, 

Va.) who were so much alike yet 

fought against each other in the 

Civil War. Never one to let my 

requests for info go unanswered, 

Richard Crews writes, “The 

chickens are molting, which 

means they almost quit laying 

eggs and they look like they’ve 

been in a bar fight with a lawn 

mower. The bees spend cold and 

rainy days indoors (in their hives) 

this time of year, but Silicon 

Valley weather being what it is, 

they have lots of nice days to go 

foraging for pollen and make 

honey.” Until this recent description 

of Richard’s flock I used to 

think I could say his chickens 

crossing the road were like 

poultry in motion. (Sorry about 

that.) My Scarsdale HS classmate 

always throws me for a loop 

with his many different thoughts 

and activities. He brings me back 

to the basics of life, which are 

so important. Our class may not 

have had a diversity of ethnicity, 

but don’t let anyone tell you we 

didn’t have a diversity of interest 

and reflection. 

Dave Skaff has finally succumbed 

to the constant tug 

of the sun and has taken up 

permanent residence in West 

Palm Beach, Fla. While the 

weather warms his heart and 

soul, the success of his son in 

starting up a digital advertising 

and production company 

provides a continuing glow. Bob 

Lowden, Sam Parkhill, Jerry Tipper 

and I gathered in Brunswick, 

Maine, for lunch and to watch 

the Eph football team open the 

2011 season with a win against 

Bowdoin. Since we all arrived at 

the restaurant in separate cars, 

we left lunch to attend the game 

in our individual vehicles. Poor 

Lowds—though he’d played on 

the Bowdoin field over 50 years 

ago, he had no idea how to get 

to the game and spent the next 

20 minutes wandering around 

Brunswick, finally arriving as the 

second quarter began. Directions 

to Cambridge, Mass., were no 

problem for Jerry Tipper, who 

returned to Harvard to attend 

his 50th at the business school. 

Jerry supervised Betsy’s rehab 

after total shoulder replacement, 

and they both still escape the 

cold Maine winters to spend time 

in Florida fishing and golfing. A 

long note from Tony Distler in 

Blacksburg, Va., where Virginia 

Tech understands they have 

the quintessential Renaissance 

man in Tony. He’s described as 

“Alumni Distinguished Professor 

and Director of the School 

of Arts, Emeritus, a teacher, 

performer, director, scholar, TV 

host and producer. His production 

of Waiting for Godot was 

presented at the Kennedy Center 

for the Performing Arts as part 

of the American College Theater

Festival.” And that’s just the 

beginning—he’s been teaching at 

VA Tech for 45 years. 

From northern California, Bo 

Kirschen, Chuck Dunkel and Norm 

Cram remain excellent correspondents. 

They continue to meet for 

lunch and make sure they huddle 

up for the Williams-Amherst 

game each year. Bo vividly 

recalls taking a break from 

his studies at Yale Law School 

in November 1961 to attend 

the famous Williams-Amherst 

game. As many remember we 

were a huge underdog in this 

contest since the Lord Jeffs 

were undefeated and had not 

been intercepted all season. As 

Bo reports, the Ephs played an 

“absolutely inspired game,” 

causing him and Bill Russell ’60, 

to cheer loud and enthusiastically 

(“obnoxiously”—my word) as 

they sat directly behind some 

older Amherst rooters who had 

to scurry to find more soothing 

shelter during the second half. (I 

never thought of Bo as boisterous 

at Williams, but I guess Yale Law 

brought out his more aggressive 

personality in two short years.) 

The word is out that our good 

Navy chaplain, “Crammie,” 

knowing compassion and justice 

are companions, not choices, 

has taken up the cause of the 99 

percent in the Occupy Wall Street 

movement and has protested in 

both Sonoma and Santa Rosa. 

He reports his placard pointed 

out that Bank of America did 

not pay federal income taxes in 

2010, and the Gregorian chant 

he led was, “I pay, you pay, 

why not B of A?” He’s a strong 

proponent of Louis Brandeis’ 

comment, “We can have a 

democracy or we can have 

great wealth concentrated in 

the hands of a few; we can not 

have both.” Dick Lee writes from 

Rye, N.Y., that he and Sally 

took a wonderful cruise on the 

Danube last year; traveling from 

Passau, Germany, to Budapest. 

Their daughter Dorothy then 

descended on them from France 

for two weeks. In mid-October 

Terry Northrop and Susan visited 

David Thun and Barbara and 

proved to be perfect PR agents 

for Barbara as they notified 

their son George to check out 

Barbara’s paintings on the website 

barbarathun.com. In no time 

George bought one of Barbara’s 

paintings. David is therefore 

encouraging all classmates to 

make sure they tell their children 

about this website; however, they 

must do this soon, since supplies 

are limited. 

Though Pete Fessenden suffered 

a stroke a year ago you’d 

never know it by reading about 

his activities. From his residence 

in Santa Fe he traveled to Palo 

Alto to see friends and old colleagues 

at Stanford Radiation 

Oncology. Within two weeks 

of returning home he was off 

camping in the wild and remote 

area of northwest New Mexico, 

where he claims to have caught 

a beautiful 13-inch Rio Grande 

cutthroat trout. He followed 

this adventure with a trip to 

Nevada, where he attended the 

Las Vegas Independent Film 

Festival to see the eventual firstplace 

winning film, 40 West, 

which was directed by Andy 

Packard’s son Dana. He insists 

he challenged Wayne Newton, 

Mr. Las Vegas, to a karaoke 

competition. (And the outcome, 

Fess?) Pim Goodbody took time 

out from his rowing exercises to 

recount a little history he recently 

learned. The Williams College 

Muslim chaplain is the great 

grandson of Agnes and Harry 

(Doc) Logan, who tended to the 

maintenance of the Chi Psi (now 

Spencer) House and counseled 

the rambunctious residents during 

our years on campus. What 

Pim appreciated most was that 

Doc had the ability to prepare a 

“magic potion that cured” him 

and his buddies of heavy hangovers 

so they could quickly return 

to their partying ways. Doc may 

have originated the pun: “A 

hangover is the wrath of grapes.” 

Henry Folz and Caryn hosted a 

nice lunch in Delray Beach, Fla., 

for Tony Volpe and Amy and the 

Rankins. Henry turned ashen 

when we informed him we were 

there to solicit a major gift for 

the college, and it was not until 

we told him this was just our 

perverted sense of humor that his 

color returned. 

Fall weather in the Berkshires 

brought together 30 classmates 

and spouses for a minireunion. 

Friday night dinner with our 

special guests John and Joyce 

Chandler was held with the 

Class of ’58 at the 1896 House, 

and our Saturday night dinner 

took place at Hobson’s Choice. 

We heard two excellent faculty 

lectures Friday afternoon and 

Saturday morning, followed by 

lunch under the tent on Weston 

Field and a football win against 

Tufts. Tom Davidson directed 

a class discussion for folks to 

remember and relive moments 

during our time on campus. 

Saturday dinner proved there are 

classmates who are still at the 

n 1959 

top of their game: Bill Moomaw 

walked away with an extremely 

valuable prize for naming Robert 

Joseph Allen as the chair of the 

English department during our 

senior year. Bill Collins picked 

up the award for knowing that 

Sam Matthews was chair of 

the faculty, and Jay Hodgson 

collected gold for having the 

most grandchildren: 13. David 

Boothby’s performance was a 

bit weak when he was unable 

to identify the President of the 

Williams Concert Committee. 

Though he was still given his 

priceless prize, he’d forgotten 

that he, David Boothby, was the 

president. Once we managed 

to pull Barry Mayer away from 

telling anyone who would listen 

to tales of his fishing exploits, he 

proved again he could entertain 

the whole room as a storyteller 

par excellence. It was a nice gathering 

and very special to also see: 

John Coffin and Anne, Bill Collins 

and Ann, Bev Compton, George 

Dangerfield and Margaret, Jack 

Dietze and Maureen, Tim Enos 

and Sheilah, Nick Frost, Tom 

Hayne and Martha, E.J. Johnson, 

Jim Richardson, David Thun and 

Barbara, Jerry Tipper and Pete 

Willmott. 

I want to thank those classmates 

who toil in the trenches 

as agents for the college to raise 

money for the annual Alumni 

Fund. Under the leadership 

of Bob Lowden, Bart Robinson 

and Tony Volpe, the following 

constantly prove their loyalty 

to the college: Al Benton, Henry 

Cole, Bev Compton, Chuck Dunkel, 

Dan Fanning, Tony Harwood, John 

Kimberly, Dick Lee, Bob McAlaine, 

Hugh Morton and Ty Smith. 

Ever the voice of reason and 

remembrances, Ernie Imhoff 

writes from Baltimore and offers 

memories about our common 

denominator, Spring Street 1955 

to 1959. You must remember 

Ernie is our “townie” classmate 

and Baltimore Sun luminary who 

lived with the local businesses 

long before we arrived in the 

Berkshires. He reminds us: Mama 

Girgenti’s offered “pizza fit for a 

king”; Williamstown Ice Co. had 

ice for house parties until 9 p.m.; 

Lupos Shoe Repair was located 

at the foot of Spring Street; Steele 

& Cleary’s Garage repaired 

our cars; the House of Walsh 

and the Williams Co-op were 

there for our clothing needs. We 

could get Utica Club and most 

anything else we wanted to drink 

from Cal King’s: “Always 5,000 

cans of cold beer”; we bought 

our books at Ray Washburn’s 


CLASS NOTES 

Book Store at prices that always 

seemed exorbitant; we kept 

the pinball machines hopping 

at the Gym Lunch; and at the 

Walden Theater we could see An 

American in Paris, For Whom 

the Bell Tolls, The Wages of Fear, 

High Society and many others. 

Ernie recalls Rudnick’s Master 

Cleaners, which was run by the 

street’s unofficial rabbi, Louis 

Rudnick, a colorful character on 

the town’s board of selectmen. 

The street had two competing 

drug stores: The College 

Pharmacy on the northwest 

corner and Hart’s Drug Store 

on the mideast side. The dearly 

departed in town were often 

handled by Hopkins Funeral 

Home, which also sold furniture 

near the money changers at the 

Williamstown National Bank. 

Then there was Richard Gold, 

the diamond merchant, who 

urged students to “Come in and 

Get Stoned.” And just down the 

street from Gold was the District 

Court, where Ernie covered 

drunk driving charges and other 

sins unearthed by the town’s 

constabulary. Being a local resident 

he particularly liked the two 

stores at the bottom of Spring 

Street that in 1952 ran competing 

ads for the presidential candidates, 

one saying “I like Ike” and 

the other saying, “But I’ll vote for 

Stevenson.” Good memories— 

thanks, Ernie. 

We just received news of the 

sudden death of Richard Crews 

in San Jose, Calif., on March 7. 

Our condolences to his family. 

Please keep the notes coming. 

That’s the view from hear. 

1960 

Michael Penner 

38334 South Desert Bluff Drive 

Tucson, AZ 85739 


Joe Masino responded from 

Wisconsin while visiting his 

daughter Julie. Joe and Jackie 

now live in Kentucky. Joe reports 

he is in good health and has 

become a stay-at-home person 

taking care of their dog Gabriel, 

a miniature German Schnauzer. 

Joe has retired from selling 

products in the Midwest and is 

hoping to write a book about his 

life if he can overcome writer’s 

block. Duncan Brown reports he 

and Susan, and Susan and Tony 

Roberts, Jill and Ned Benedict 

and Nancy and Peter Berkley all 

had a great rendezvous with Phil 

Scaturro and Rey Enriquez, who 

hosted them at Casa de Campo 


in the Dominican Republic in 

November. They had beautiful 

weather and fantastic accommodations 

on the water. Golf, 

biking, hiking, swimming and 

boating were some of the 

activities, while the superb 

cuisine and excellent wines were 

frequent and abundant. Jim 

Pilgrim writes from Plainfield, 

Mass., that on Nov. 8 he had his 

left knee replaced by Dr. John 

Cluett ’96. Recovery has been 

slow, with physical therapy 

classes, but Jim hopes to be 

cleared to drive soon. Jim reports 

that his right knee now feels fine. 

He feels it’s scared to act up or it 

will be replaced also. Stew Smith 

responded early so as not to be 

outdone by that laggard, Nimetz. 

He reports that he and Nancy 

were huddled on the eastern 

shore of the chilly Chesapeake 

Bay for the solstice holidays. The 

demands of work and responsibility 

must still be met, mainly by 

schlepping more firewood and 

defending the camellias from 

Bambi and friends as they make 

sweeps through the shopping 

mall of their shrubbery. Stew 

professes no envy of those 

Prestons, Healys, Cutlers, 

Stegemans, Alfords, Browns and 

other loyal legions of our 

classmates still in Yankee land 

right now. Or even of the 

Roaches and the rest of those 

expatriates perched on a West 

Coast fault line. Harvey Brickley 

writes that he has joined the 

advisory board of the Andrew 

Young School of Policy Studies at 

Georgia State University in 

Atlanta. The school includes 

3,700 of the university’s total 

enrollment of 32,000. Initially 

Harvey will focus on the work 

being done in career services and 

using opportunities presented in 

that area to bring all the 

members of the board in contact 

with students. Harvey reports 

that Andy Young has attended all 

the meetings, bringing his 

experience as a lieutenant to Dr. 

Martin Luther King, mayor of 

Atlanta and congressman and 

ambassador to the United 

Nations to bear on national and 

international issues. I received a 

great note from Dick Holliday, 

who asked that I remind 

classmates about Alumni Fund 

season. Dick’s goal as our new 

class agent was raising our 

participation percentage from 

last year’s 66 percent to well 

above 70 percent. We all should 

thank Dick for taking such an 

important job. Dick continues to 

divide his time between the 

printing equipment business and 

several community and sailing 

organizations. Ardis maintains 

her shared studio in nearby 

Stonington, experimenting with 

new ways to express her artistic 

vision. Dick keeps in shape 

bicycling and walking with Ardis 

and 10-year-old lab Gretta. Dick 

and Ardis left the New England 

winter to visit friends in San 

Miguel de Allende in the high 

interior of Mexico. San Miguel is 

an old Mexican town with 

spectacular weather and is a 

mecca for artists and their 

patrons. The Hollidays just loved 

it, and a return trip was 

scheduled for February. Dave 

Banta reported on the minireunion 

weekend Oct. 21-23. 

Dave writes: “A relatively small 

but typically enthusiastic number 

of classmates were back for the 

minireunion weekend. The 

‘locals’ spearheaded the list, 

namely Ned Benedict, Duncan 

Brown, Foster Devereux, Jim 

Briggs, Dave Paresky and Bob 

Stegeman. We on the traveling 

squad included: Dick Alford, Fred 

Combs, Jon Gilman, Win Healy, 

Marshall Lapidus, Jon O’Brien, 

Bob Pyle, Dave Banta and Toby 

Smith. Buck Frederickson won the 

distance award—a Tebow 

bobblehead. Penny and Foster 

Devereux hosted us all for dinner 

(as they have done many times 

before) on Friday night. Some 

played golf on the upgraded, 

always challenging Taconic 

course that afternoon. Saturday 

featured lectures, tailgating and 

Tufts football, an Eph triumph. 

Saturday night the class gathered 

at the ’6 House (private room) 

for a down loose dinner. Our 

prez, Buck, welcomed all and 

posed the following question: 

What do all Williams and 

Amherst students have in 

common? Answer: They all got 

into Amherst! Toby Smith took 

the floor and told a Scottish joke 

with a burr that was worthy of 

Robert Burns. We ended the 

get-together with the following 

idea: It’s a shame for so few to 

have so much fun, so let’s try to 

double the number for next year. 

Give it some thought. After all, 

why wait for the 55th?” Thanks 

again to Dave Banta for a great 

report. I had planned to attend 

(and win the distance award), 

but an important family event 

took precedence. Our daughter 

Jane Penner ’90 presented us with 

our first granddaughter in 

October. I received a very 

interesting note from John 

Whitman. John has been engaged

Ephs gathered at the Mount Desert Island Garlic Festival in Southwest 

Harbor, Maine, last fall included (from left) Eliot Coleman ’61, James 

Thompson ’68 and Hal Crowther ’66. 

during the past year in a 

none-too-practical but very 

interesting self-motivated study 

of how difficult it is to improve 

upon the vertical accuracy of 

public topographic data using 

GPS and GIS methods. Even 

with good equipment and 

software, GPS data are none too 

accurate, particularly in the 

vertical coordinate. What’s 

worse, that inaccuracy grows 

almost an order of magnitude 

larger when trying to receive 

GPS signals under a forest 

canopy. Nevertheless, John has 

amassed data (convincing to 

him) that show he can improve 

upon the best available public 

data for his region. Since this 

accomplishment has required 

more data collection and 

processing than any sane 

individual would wish to 

attempt, John suspects that the 

most appropriate conclusion 

may be that Whitman has too 

much time on his hands. John 

does hope to present a paper on 

his work next July at the ESRI 

User Conference. John, be sure 

to report back on how it went at 

the conference. For all you 

non-science majors, aren’t you 

sad you weren’t a physics major? 

Earla Sue and Colin McNaull 

report settling into their first 

Christmas in Trumansburg, a 

suburb of Cornell and Ithaca 

College, outside of Ithaca. Colin 

has learned Cornell gives no 

senior citizen discounts for PhD 

programs, so “Sex, Drugs and 

Rock-and-Roll Eugenics, a 

Modern Retrospective” will 

probably never make it into 

print. Colin may have reached 

the limits of his desire to be a 

cowboy last fall. Seven days on a 

horse with the cows at the 

Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming 

may have been two days too 

many. Earla Sue, on the other 

hand, finished her 350-mile bike 

ride from Buffalo to Albany 

along the Erie Canal with a zest 

to do more in 2012. Spain 

perhaps? Sounds to me like 

Colin and Earla Sue are one of 

the most active couples in our 

class. Bob Stern remains active in 

the practice of law and has 

published the book Pennsylvania 

Nonprofit Corporation Law. It 

looks like a very complete 

coverage of the subject. With 

many of us retired, it’s great to 

see Bob publishing new material. 

Noelle Ho-Lam ’02 writes that 

although Tao Ho remains mostly 

bed-bound, he enjoys his 

grandchildren’s visits (Noelle’s 

2 1 ⁄2-year-old son Noah and 

11-month-old daughter Gabi). 

The noise (cries and screams) the 

children make add much life and 

joy to his daily routine. At the 

beginning of November, 

President Adam Falk visited 

Hong Kong with Geraldine Shen 

’01. Tao’s wife Irene and 

daughter Noelle had tea with 

President Falk and enjoyed 

getting to know him and hearing 

his vision for Williams. On a sad 

note, Ron Stegall reports the 

death of Lael, his wife of 44 

years, after a year of struggle 

with pancreatic cancer. Ron 

writes the outpouring of 

messages and appreciation of her 

from around the world has been 

overwhelming and gratifying. 

There was a celebration of her 

life in Deer Isle, Maine, in 

November and a similar 

n 1959–61 

celebration was to take place in 

Washington on Feb. 11 at St. 

Marks Episcopal Church on 

Capitol Hill. Ron expresses his 

gratitude for the wonderful 

support from so many of our 

classmates. 

1961 

Bob Gormley 

P.O. Box 3922 

Westport, MA 02790 


It’s mid-January of a relatively 

mild winter as I post these notes; 

it’ll be April and spring when you 

read them. So welcome to spring, 

baseball and flowers again, and 

with a cumbersome national 

election process plodding 

toward summer conventions and 

anointed candidates. One thing I 

urged when soliciting these notes 

was something on how you all 

stood on the presidential election. 

Remember that in the fall of 

1960, just before that historic 

election, as John Chandler 

pointed out in his letter for our 

50th class book, the student body 

chose Nixon over JFK by a margin 

of 59 percent to 41 percent. 

I think it’s interesting to see how 

we of ’61 stand 51 years later. 

Here follow a handful of replies 

but I hope that by September, 

when the next notes come out, 

more of you will take the opportunity 

to declare yourselves. 

John Mayher, who was editor 

of the Williams Record in 1960, 

recalls the poll back then and 

dug out his “somewhat moldy” 

copy of the paper to prove it. 

(The Record also had “an ad for 

Budweiser, two for long-gone 

Schaeffer, one for Kools and 

a ‘humor’ column sponsored 

by Marlboro.”) In the poll we 

students liked Nixon’s choice of 

Henry Cabot Lodge as a running 

mate, noting he was “far 

superior” to LBJ. But as John 

proudly points out, The Record 

officially endorsed Kennedy, and 

he and Ben Campbell wrote a 

brief that concluded: “He can 

provide the leadership we have 

lacked for the last eight years.” 

Meanwhile, George Reath argued 

for Nixon that “he has professed 

his reluctance to have government 

spending any higher.” 

Notice how much more civil 

we were in those days about 

politics. John concludes, ”I’m still 

a Democrat and ready to work 

again for Obama. Are you still a 

Republican, George?” 

Walt Henrion chimed in that 

“being on a board with Lou 


CLASS NOTES 

Guzzetti and Wally Bernheimer 

is quite the experience when it 

comes to political views, the far 

right and the uninformed left. I 

guess I make the sandwich complete, 

although I like to be on the 

unbuttered side of the bread.” 

Funny enough when Walt first 

submitted that he mixed up left 

and right and said “the far left 

and the uninformed right.” He 

quickly corrected himself but 

I liked thinking of Lou on the 

“uninformed right.” 

Van Schreiber was next in: 

“Schreiber is motivated as never 

before and thinks this election 

is the most important in my 

memory. We shall see, but the 

country is about to make decisions 

re: our future direction 

unlike anything before.” Pete 

Haeffner added: “Things not so 

bad for the Haeffners. Family 

is great. Sally and I are looking 

forward to our 50th wedding 

anniversary in 2012. Interestingly 

our three kids will also be 

celebrating milestones of 25th, 

20th and 10th anniversaries. The 

reunion was neat. We hadn’t seen 

a lot of the class over the years, 

class art contribution was great, 

tour of the college art museum 

was really good, and wish I had 

spent more time exploring this 

field than breaking rocks in geo 

lab. Quick thoughts on politics: 

If I recall the 1960 election year, 

Prof. Burns was running for 

Congress … on platform suggesting 

Congress be abolished 

(interesting concept, now).” Dave 

Farrell, who ran Burns’ campaign 

around campus, may differ on 

the last point, since Jim wanted 

reform, not abolishment, I think, 

but Marty Linsky, who headed the 

Young Republicans on campus, 

may also want to add a point. 

Pete continues: “Have you seen 

the email offered with Warren 

Buffet’s name attached, wish list 

for 2012, suggests Congress give 

up a lot of their ‘perks’ including 

their own medical and retirement 

program, join SS instead, 

etc. If you do the math, seems to 

me, a government-elected office 

is now a better paying ‘job’ vs. 

the real world, idea of service no 

longer driving force, neither is 

working together. Went to Tea 

Party rally in Vero Beach, Fla., 

held outside municipal building 

at lunch hour. Ninety percent 

of attendees were the municipal 

appointees. Rally lasted 30 minutes, 

employees were there till 

4:30. I was a Nixon supporter in 

’60, even handed out brochures 

in N. Adams. Maybe that’s why 

I get 50 calls a week from the 


GOP. You guess Hopper and I 

are still in the GOP voting ranks. 

I guess you’re right.” Thanks, 

Pete, for an honest and forthright 

response. 

Joe Low continues with this 

comment: “Judging by how well 

our reunion went, we might consider 

drafting Denne, Guzzetti, 

Bernheimer and Wadsworth 

for a run at DC. Frightening 

potential as to who will lead 

this nation next year. Even 

Wally might admit our hopes 

for Obama might have been too 

exaggerated. Enjoyed dinner 

with Lou and Joan where we 

laughed at the CD of our ‘Buddy 

Holly’ session at the reunion. 

Music does have a way of energizing 

us oldies. Also dined last 

week with Bill Penny and Marge, 

who seem to revel in each others 

company.” 

Joe ended by hoping that a 

new class travel idea will gain 

traction. Wally Bernheimer, John 

Byers and John Denne have put 

forward a future plan for travel 

based on the fun and bonding of 

the 16 classmates and partners 

who made our Oxford trip in 

2010. They sent out a survey 

questionnaire on it in January, 

so you are aware of their idea. 

The hope is that we can keep the 

good relations among classmates 

going, pick up some new people 

and travel occasionally to exotic 

places possibly led by a Williams 

faculty member and at a reasonable 

price. End of commercial. 

Back to politics and the 

thoughts of two wild-eyed 

California liberals, Bill Holmes 

and Jay Tarses. Bill begins a long 

letter with his “falling off the 

porch roof while untangling 

Christmas lights.” He’s OK 

but sworn off gutter cleaning 

and lights. After news about 

the weather and family and a 

fire in the neighborhood, he 

goes on kind of a political rant: 

“Between eight years of the idiot 

Bushies, the Norquist lemmings, 

the Obama haters and the 

Gingrich family values crowd, 

there’s not a lot to love about the 

Republicans.” That was the mild 

part. Jay is subdued by contrast: 

“By the time this is printed all 

the boring caucuses and frantic 

fundamental right-wing cackling 

will have died down some, and 

whoever invoked the name of 

Reagan the most times will be 

the Republican front-runner, 

unless I’m wrong, which has only 

happened once when I thought 

I was a shoo-in for a Rhodes 

scholarship.” He goes on to 

say how much he enjoyed the 

October weekend minireunion to 

which I’ll turn in a moment. 

Last two on the political scene 

for this go round. Fed up with it 

all, Gil Kerr sends along his New 

Year’s resolutions, in historic 

perspective: “2007, diet to get 

weight under 180; 2008, work 

harder to get weight under 190; 

2009, work new diet to get 

under 200; 2010, join a gym to 

exercise along with diet; 2011, 

work out three days a week; 

drive by a gym at least once 

a week.” Apologies to Jerry 

Remy. He has decided to view all 

politics in a historic sense and to 

include “our country” in his evening 

prayers. Al Demb leaves us 

with this warning: “If Americans 

want a taste of how dangerous it 

can be to have conservatives in 

the driver’s seat, keep an eye on 

Canada!” 

Now on the October minireunion 

with classes ’60, ’62, ’63 

and ’64. Also our famous “baton 

passing” dinner as ’62 became 

the new 50th reunion class. We 

had 30 classmates back, proving 

the success of our June festivities 

and once again topping the other 

classes in attendance. Another 

reason too why maybe the class 

travel plan should go forward. 

It is, after all, later than we think. 

George Lowe meanwhile 

proceeds with his world travel. 

I never know where he’s going 

to pop up. In September he and 

Barbara hiked 110 km on the 

Camino de Santiago in northern 

Spain, the great medieval pilgrimage 

route. He mentions the 

recent film The Way with Martin 

Sheen as a fine film. In Santiago, 

they hooked up with Fred Noland 

and Susan, who have a place in 

Salbrena, and toured through 

Portugal. Wish I were a judge 

too. 

Frank Gluck beat the deadline 

this time and reports that he’s 

still loving his voluntary teaching 

in a residency program for 

internal medicine. He enjoys 

keeping connected with young 

would-be doctors but also 

more down time for family and 

travel. He watched the Williams/ 

Amherst game in Nashville and, 

despite the outcome, enjoyed 

the socialization and especially 

the moving tribute to Mike Reily 

’64. Several others mentioned 

this to me as well. Frank was on 

the wrestling team with Mike, 

who died too young. The gang 

in Nashville also discussed Tim 

Layden’s ’78 moving SI article on 

Mike. And Frank commented on 

Clyde Buck’s reunion retrospective 

as a great memento.

Friend and sometime neighbor 

Wally Bernheimer had lunch with 

Paul Boire and Nancy together 

with another friend, a Red Sox 

exec who had worked with Paul 

in the Cape Cod League baseball 

many moons ago. Stories floated 

about funny back-room sports 

happenings, including one about 

Lou Guzzetti after a game getting 

into a scuffle with a UMass 

basketball player that led to our 

terminating basketball relations 

with them and several about Paul 

being ejected from ball games 

after throwing down his clipboard 

to protest a ref’s call in Al 

Shaw fashion. Wally also had fun 

phone conversations with Fred 

Mayer on Red Sox baseball and 

Bruce Shilling, who had attended 

a Minneapolis lecture by Wally’s 

writer daughter, Kate (Wesleyan 

’88), on her fairy tale research. 

Jack Heiser certainly caught 

my attention with his note: 

“Planning to attend a Big 

Meeting proved harmful to 

my health. I was packed and 

ready in June but ended up in a 

hospital. My doctors ignored my 

plea for emergency performance 

enhancing drugs. Eight months 

and a knee surgery, followed by 

much rehab, a total-knee replacement, 

yet more rehab, a second 

total-knee replacement scheduled 

for late March followed by 

even more rehab later, I am also 

completing an almost complete 

body rebuild with a 50-year perfect 

health expectation (more a 

guideline than a guarantee).Most 

distressing about this is the burden 

(me) on my caretaker wife. 

Much of my career has been 

spent managing stress and strain. 

Now I am the stress straining my 

wife. I hope to return to work 

in May. I look forward to seeing 

everyone at the centennial, unless 

I end up in the hospital again.” 

Lastly, on a bittersweet note, 

I would personally like to 

acknowledge that Pete Raisbeck’s 

beloved wife Peggy passed away 

in August after a long battle 

with cancer. (Peggy resisted the 

spotlight, and Pete wanted to 

respect her wishes, but I insisted 

on a notice here.) Many of us 

knew Peg from back in college 

days but perhaps didn’t know 

all that she accomplished in outreach 

over the years. She was a 

model of volunteerism, including 

Shelter Inc., finding housing for 

the poor, founding the Becklam 

Foundation to fund a number 

of projects for the underprivileged, 

being active with Loaves 

& Fishes and soup kitchens, 

tutoring mentally challenged 

kids and assisting in the Oakland 

schools, helping to settle Laotian 

and Cambodian refugees back in 

Vietnam days in Connecticut and 

looking after desperate families 

at Christmas. She was a great 

lady, and our condolences go out 

to Pete in his loss. 

Onward to September, when 

I hope more of you will emerge 

from the closet about the election. 

We are of a generation that 

votes, so take the opportunity 

to speak to the Williams community, 

whatever your stripes. 

Cheers, all! 

1962 

50 th 


William M. Ryan 

112 Beech Mountain Road 

Mansfield Center, CT 06250 


I will begin with a quick 

procedural note. Now that my 

visits and the reporting of them 

are complete, I will be soliciting 

information for future class notes 

via email. The college has email 

addresses for over 80 percent of 

the class. If you think they may 

not have yours (and you care), 

please contact the alumni office 

and provide it. If you do not 

have access to email, please let 

them know that as well, and I 

will make certain you receive a 

hard copy of all requests. 

Thirty-one classmates, most 

with partners, attended the mini 

in October. We now are the 

official holders of the baton, 

received from the Class of ’61 by 

our president Spike Kellogg at a 

first-class dinner at the Faculty 

House. In other words, it is time 

to make your contribution to 

the 50th reunion fund. It was 

a fun-filled and educational 

weekend, with several Williams 

faculty speaking to us and lots 

of athletic events taking place. 

We were entertained, amused, 

and learned much from President 

Adam Falk and former President 

John Chandler. Rufus Jarman led 

us in a stirring rendition of “The 

Mountains” (all four verses) 

at our Friday night dinner. I 

enjoyed seeing all classmates but 

especially ones I hadn’t seen in a 

while, including Bob Jackson and 

Mike Scott. 

Rufus also deserves credit for 

tracking down former classmate 

Pete Hayes and turning him into 

a current classmate. Pete began 

with us but graduated in ’63 

and was officially a member 

n 1961–62 

of that group until he changed 

his affiliation. He immediately 

wrote his bio for our book and 

will be attending the 50th. He 

and wife Melissa live in Santa 

Fe, N.M., and have a total of 

five children and five grandkids. 

If you remember Pete, you will 

not be surprised at the many 

twists and turns in his life. He 

began his post-Williams life in 

the Peace Corps in Peru, served 

as an A.P. photographer in New 

York and moved to New Mexico 

to manage a new outdoor store 

founded by friends. Then he 

started his own firm, Omniverse 

Research, of Los Gatos, Calif., 

based on inventions Pete had 

devised for a battery-powered 

MIG Welder (I don’t know what 

that is, either). “By the early ’90s 

I was exhausted with commuting 

to Silicon Valley so I took a 

job at the local Boys and Girls 

Club, helping transform ‘at risk’ 

kids into computer whizzes with 

real prospects. Utterly fantastic!” 

Welcome back, Pete. Get out 

your wallet. 

It is always special for me to 

reunite with classmates, but the 

minis are a real treat, as one can 

mingle with members of adjacent 

classes. I ran into Clyde Buck ’61, 

who asked me to contribute to a 

testimonial book he was preparing 

for former coach and one 

of my all-time favorite persons, 

Clarence Chaffee. I assented and 

now have a copy of the book. 

(John Botts is also a contributor.) 

It is an amazing tribute to 

an amazing man. Contact the 

alumni office if you would like to 

purchase a copy. 

Three weeks after our mini, 

the college staged another huge 

weekend to honor Mike Reily ’64 

and officially retire his number. 

(Too long a story to relate here, 

but read the early November 

Sports Illustrated story.) Over 

300 of Mike’s classmates and 

football players returned to 

campus, including all seven of 

the living members of our class 

who played with Mike in our 

senior year: Rawson Gordon, 

Dan Crowley, Choppy Rheinfrank, 

Price Gripekoven, Carl Davis, John 

Newton and Bruce Grinnell. (Tovi 

Kratovil also played but passed 

away earlier in the year.) Price 

and Bruce both wrote to me that 

it was one of the “most memorable, 

emotional and enjoyable 

reunions” they ever attended. 

Kudos to Ben Wagner ’64 for 

organizing the event! 

Now the sad news, which 

unfortunately is becoming a 

staple of this column. Two of 


CLASS NOTES 

our classmates have passed away 

since last I wrote, and we have 

been notified of another who 

died in 2005. John Patterson is 

the not-recently-deceased class 

member. I admit to not knowing 

John but was able to ascertain 

that he left our class during 

our sophomore year and was 

a member of the Theta Delta 

Chi fraternity. He finished his 

undergraduate work at SUNY 

Buffalo and obtained a master’s 

degree from Stanford. He moved 

to LA, where he began a most 

highly decorated career as a 

director of TV dramas, including 

13 episodes of The Sopranos. 

He was twice nominated for an 

Emmy and received the Directors 

Guild award in 2003. He is survived 

by his companion Andrea 

Makshanof and two children. 

“Bert” or “Gerry” White 

died on Aug. 17, 2011, at his 

residence at Merrill Gardens 

in Monrovia, Wash. He was 

a cowboy born into a family 

of Philadelphia lawyers, and I 

always thought of him as the 

original Marlboro man. He had 

been married to his high school 

sweetheart, Elaine, and they 

raised their three daughters in 

Vail, Colo. He and Elaine built 

the Ram’s Horn Inn in Vail in 

1967, and they were pivotal in 

the development of the community. 

An article in the Vail daily 

newspaper referred to Gerry as 

the foundation upon which Vail 

was created. Gerry suffered a 

traumatic brain injury in 1974 

when he was biking and hit 

head-on by an automobile. He 

was never quite the same, and his 

memory was seriously impaired. 

Nevertheless, he returned to 

Williams for several reunions 

and enjoyed himself immensely. 

When a classmate would come 

over to greet him, he often would 

ask those of us who knew him 

best (I was a fraternity brother), 

“Did I like that guy?” He was 

one of a kind, and I will miss 

him. Great sympathy to his 

daughters and six grandchildren. 

We lost Irv Marcus from our 

class on Nov. 14 from a series 

of complications following a 

long illness. Irv was a man of 

many talents. Among them was 

a remarkable sense of humor 

which he often expressed with 

very clever cartoons. I remember 

him sketching Robert Frost as he 

spoke at Williams. After the talk, 

Irv approached the renowned 

poet and asked him if he would 

sign the sketch, which he did, 

with the caveat: “Said to be 

Robert Frost.” After obtaining 


his Harvard law degree, Irv 

worked for 40 years at the firm 

of Lasser, Hochman LLC in 

Roseland, N.J. Irv and I were 

roommates (along with Steve 

Brumberg) during our sophomore 

year, and there was not a subject 

he was unwilling to debate. He 

is a loss in my life as well as that 

of the class. Our thoughts of condolence 

go out to his wife Harriet 

and his daughters Sarah Barton 

’89 and Miriam Karas ’91. 

It was exciting to hear from 

Graham Phipps after many years 

of silence. He wrote: “My life 

in a nutshell: Taught secondary 

school in Williamstown for 

four years, then went to UPenn 

School of Architecture and 

worked as an architect for 15 

years. Gemologist and jewelry 

store owner in Denver for five 

years and then became an optician 

for LensCrafters for 12 

years and Advanced Eyecare for 

five more. Now I donate some of 

my time to doing eyeglasses for 

the Colorado Coalition for the 

Homeless. I have been married 

three times and have two children 

and three grandchildren by 

my first wife and several stepkids 

and stepgrandkids by my other 

wives. I still ski with all the kids 

and my dearest third and last 

wife, Carol. We travel quite a bit 

and manage a couple of properties 

in Scottsdale. I have not 

been in touch with my Williams 

classmates but returned to 

Williams 25 years ago with my 

daughter Catheryn ’86, who was 

a student there. I will really try to 

attend the 50th with Carol.” A 

lot of people are hoping you do, 

Graham. 

Our itinerant actor, Ash Crosby, 

keeps on doing his thing. “After 

The Crucible and Romeo and 

Juliet in rotating rep last summer 

off-off-Broadway, I returned to 

Tennessee to do Twain, not the 

Hal Holbrook version but one 

devised for Lincoln Center’s 

‘Meet the Artist’ series. Now 

back in NYC ready to rehearse 

Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus 

Descending, which will play off- 

Broadway and on tour. My film 

Wind Jammers is now available 

on Amazon.” 

Of course Spike Kellogg will 

be at the 50th, looking forward 

especially to seeing his past 

roommates Dave Kieffer and 

Johnny Russ. He is throttling 

back on long business trips and 

was looking forward to a good 

winter of skiing in Jackson, N.H. 

Volunteer activities loom more 

prominently in his future, particularly 

the Manchester-Essex 

Conservation Trust and the U.S. 

Biathlon Association. “Next 

year marks the 100th anniversary 

of cross-country running at 

Williams. I am intent on running 

in a commemorative race in 

late September that will mark 

that milestone. I hope other 

classmates will run as well.” (I’m 

afraid I’ll miss that one, Spike.) 

Brenda and Tom Johnson will 

be attending the 50th and hope 

to see Denny Bauman, Scott 

Mohr and Stu Meyers there as 

well. Both of them stay busy 

working as standardized patients 

for the UMass Medical School 

in Worcester. In addition to 

teaching patient interviewing to 

UMass medical students, they 

travel to three Boston-based 

med schools, Tufts, Harvard 

and BU. “We help prepare the 

students to pass the oral portion 

of the National Boards on the 

final path to medical licensure. 

We continue to enjoy life in 

Worcester volunteering at local 

theaters and historical preservation 

groups. Any time left is 

spent visiting our four children 

and grandchildren. Our health 

is good, especially for me since 

a pacemaker was placed a year 

ago for a ‘sick sinus syndrome.’” 

Brenda and Tom celebrated their 

50th anniversary in 2011. 

Mike Scott wrote: “There have 

been some important changes for 

me in the past six months. On 

the Sunday at the tail end of our 

minireunion in October, I got a 

chance to lecture to the Williams 

pre-med interest group. Can you 

believe it? Sunday, 2 p.m., and 

the lecture room in Griffin was 

full! The students were a delight, 

interested and attentive and full 

of questions and comments after 

the talk. It was simply a thrill 

to be there with them. I stepped 

down as chair of our pediatric 

neurosurgery department at the 

end of October and right now 

am working only three days a 

week and operating only one 

day—certainly the most relaxed 

work schedule I have ever had as 

a doctor. We have a new chief of 

the department, recruited from 

the Rainbow Babies’ Hospital 

in Cleveland, whom I know 

extremely well (my wife Susan 

was his scrub nurse when he 

was in Boston years ago), and 

the leadership transition has 

been a smooth one. I now get to 

forward all of the administration 

emails regarding new directives 

and policies to him without the 

burden of actually reading and 

enforcing them—perhaps the 

best dividend from the change. I

eceived a wonderful award from 

my peers at our annual meeting 

in Austin, Texas—the Ingraham 

Medal for distinguished service 

to pediatric neurosurgery—and 

was given a surprise party with 

our current faculty and many of 

my previously trained fellows in 

attendance. All of this was like 

getting a chance to read your 

obituary before the event itself! 

Best of all, I got a chance to play 

jazz piano three nights in a row, 

the last night at The Stage on 

6th Street as an opening act for 

the blues singer Jimmy Vaughn. 

Susan and I will be there for the 

50th and are looking forward to 

seeing everyone.” 

Jeanne and Andy Hero will be 

at the reunion, and Andy notified 

me of a new role undertaken by 

Mike Keating, chairman of the 

board of the Boston Foundation. 

Mike filled me in. “The Boston 

Foundation is the largest community 

foundation in New 

England and the 10th largest 

in the country. Our principal 

activities are to make grants to 

worthy nonprofit organizations 

in the Greater Boston region. 

Last year we made grants of 

approximately $90 million, with 

resources drawn from an endowment 

of approximately $850 

million. In addition to our grantmaking, 

the Boston Foundation 

is a leading advocate for many 

significant public policy issues in 

this area, particularly in the fields 

of urban education, public safety 

and employment opportunities. I 

chair a board of 23 persons who 

have significant positions in both 

public and private organizations 

in the Boston community. Peter 

Hero ’64, Andy’s brother, headed 

a similar community foundation 

in San Jose.” 

Rufus (Ed) Jarman is staying 

very busy, as he is chairing 

a study for the NYC Bar 

Association on country of origin 

disclosure laws. It revolves 

around, as best I understand it, 

how products must be labeled 

based on the amount of their 

foreign content. That is, “Made 

in the USA.” may or may not be 

used properly depending upon 

which agency—FDA, customs, 

FTC, defense—is doing the labeling. 

“It’s a real hodge-podge, in 

my opinion. We hope to produce 

a report with recommendations 

for change that will be forwarded 

to Congress and the president.” 

He travels a great deal, much 

of it following his daughter 

Georgia’s operatic career. Most 

recently he attended her performance 

of Lucia di Lammermoor 

in Atlanta and will be going to 

London to see her in The Tales 

of Hoffman. His son Baird and 

daughter-in-law Susannah, both 

’92, have a 14-month-old child, 

Rufus’ first grandchild, and live 

in Minnesota, where Baird is an 

art history professor at Carleton. 

Elsie and Ed Cordis will be at 

the reunion, but it was touchand-go 

for quite a bit of last year. 

Elsie was bitten by a tick while 

at their summer home in Niantic, 

Conn., and developed babesiosis, 

a disease caused by a tick-born 

parasite that eats red blood cells. 

She spent many weeks in several 

hospitals but finally recovered. 

Meanwhile, Ed developed blood 

clots in his legs, a condition 

called DVT, which he battles 

constantly and, lately, successfully. 

So the couple that has been 

married the longest in our class 

will be with us again. 

Alan Hood is coming in June 

and promises that he will bring 

no more than 100 photos of his 

two new (and only) grandchildren. 

Linda and Doug Haley will 

be with us. Their much-beloved 

15-year-old Dalmatian, Dudley, 

recently died, and they are again 

free to travel. Win Satterlee 

will return and hopes that Lou 

Benton and Bill Sommerfeld will 

also. Eugene Cassidy is coming. 

He would be a good one to talk 

with, as he has no grandchildren. 

Gil Leigh crossed paths with 

Steve Telkins at the Arlington, 

Va., library, where Gil volunteers. 

Both are planning on the 50th. 

Leon Lane spends most of his 

time with a group of 120 retired 

men in a variation of “camp,” 

i.e., playing poker, bridge, 

cooking lessons, book clubs and 

monthly bus trips out of Atlanta. 

He’s coming and looks forward 

to seeing Choppy Rheinfrank and 

Mike Ebert. Dinny and Barney 

Shaw will be there and hope that 

Ann Hill will, also. He said it’s 

even OK for her to bring Paul. 

Carl Davis is planning on the 

50th. Last Christmas he decorated 

a tree in the Beaufort (S.C.) 

Festival of the Tree contest. His 

was a Williams tree complete 

with many banners and purple 

cows. Barbey and Ned Dougherty 

celebrated their 50th wedding 

anniversary last summer under a 

starry Maine sky with 125 family 

members and friends. They will 

join us in June, and Ned hopes 

that Tin O’Leary, Larry Daloz, Jim 

Wick and the “elusive” George 

Downing will also. Art Palmer is 

coming and looks forward to 

seeing what 50 years have done 

to and with us. Since retiring 

n 1962–63 

from teaching, his geology field 

work and writing have occupied 

most of his time. Steve Huffman 

is delighted that his son Mark 

’88 and his family have moved 

back to Sacramento and hopes 

to see Linda and Bob Nevin, Julie 

and Bill Penick, and Shannon 

and Jim Evans in Williamstown. 

Steve Brumberg is coming and 

wishes to see his grandchildren 

the most. (Son Joshua ’92 will be 

celebrating his 20th.) Jane and 

Bill Vaughn are coming. Archie 

Palmer continues his part-time 

ministry work, while wife Lynne 

has embarked on a career as a 

watercolor artist after retiring 

from 35 years in social work. 

“She’s good,” says Archie. 

They need some persuasion to 

get them to the reunion. Get to 

work, folks! 

I have begun the final editing 

work for our 50th reunion book. 

It is early January as I write, 

and if this work is successful 

you should have had it before 

you read these notes. I am very 

pleased with it, mainly due 

to your fine efforts. About 80 

percent of our class submitted 

autobiographies, which ties the 

modern record. Many spouses, 

relatives and classmates wrote 

about deceased classmates, so 

our book will have more biographies 

than ever before. And that’s 

the way it should be! 

See you in June. 

1963 

Jim Blume 

23 Vicente Road 

Berkeley, CA 94705 


At the outset of these notes, I 

will briefly describe the delightful 

and extremely productive events 

that took place at our class’s 

minireunion, which was held 

Oct. 21-23 in Williamstown. 

While the attendance was somewhat 

disappointing, I can attest 

that those who gathered had a 

SENDPHOTOS 

W illiams People accepts 

photographs of alumni 









CLASS NOTES 

wonderful time, replete with class 

cocktail parties followed by dinner 

on both Friday and Saturday 

evenings, a football game in 

chilly, overcast weather which 

was offset by the Ephs’ triumph 

over the Bantams of Tufts, several 

scintillating lectures, meetings 

of both the reunion planning 

committee, ably chaired by the 

visionary Bill Burnett, and the 

reunion gift committee, chaired 

by the ever-competent Lenny 

Bernheimer. Both of the committees 

made remarkable progress 

in planning for our gala 50th 

reunion celebration in June 2013 

in Williamstown. I encourage you 

all to place the reunion on your 

calendars. Without question, it 

will be a memorable weekend. 

In attendance during the weekend 

were Winston Wood, Roy 

Weiner, John Bell, Gordy Prichett, 

Lenny Bernheimer, Phil Kinnicutt, 

Bill Burnett, Stu Jones, Rick Berry, 

Clay Davenport, Rich Goodman, 

Bill McDaniel, me and Bonnie 

Knight, Woody’s widow. Most of 

us brought our spouses, which 

in contradistinction to our years 

at Williams, brought richness, 

warmth and gentility to the 

gatherings. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t 

describe our class’s next planned 

gathering. Williams creates a 

fabulous week at Oxford a year 

prior to our actual reunion. The 

positive reviews from previous 

classes have been extraordinary! 

The Oxford week presents us 

with a chance to re-create our 

academic prowess among longtime 

friends. A slew of classmates 

have already indicated that they 

are attending. I urge all to attend 

this remarkable event, if possible. 

After my promotional pleadings 

for class events, in keeping with 

my responsibilities as scribe, I 

will update you on the doings of 

several members of our class. 

I received a touching note from 

our former president, the illustrious 

Dick Potsubay. Unfortunately 

the Bay, who has been a class 

stalwart, will be unable to attend 

our 50th. 

Recently, Bay had a deep vein 

thrombosis of his ankles, which 

was secondary to the removal of 

a chondrosarcoma from his right 

shoulder. Thus, he is unable to 

travel but is otherwise in good 

health. Dick wrote, “I spend 

time listening to Hayden, Liszt 

and Chopin with Ormie played 

by a visiting pianist among other 

entertainment coming regularly 

to the grand lobby south at 

Regency Oaks (in Florida). I 

have finished acrylic/watercolor 


artwork and mounted a year’s 

worth in a scrapbook, incorporating 

a small portion of the art 

in a private memoir for family 

to spawn their writing of our 

family tree.” 

The Bay exercises regularly and 

then meditates outside “in a comfortable 

chair peering through 

Spanish moss drooping from a 

live oak tree to view bougainvillea 

flowers in the distance.” He 

further noted that one of his 

children and their family (including 

grandchildren and great 

grandchild) would be with them 

for Thanksgiving. Two other children 

and their families celebrated 

Thanksgiving in a cabin in North 

Carolina. His sons Richard and 

David live in Seattle and Las 

Vegas, respectively. 

Politically, he has moved to the 

right, subscribing to a rightof-center 

philosophy which he 

claimed was “consistent with 

most Americans.” 

I should also note that Bay’s 

relatives have cut a wide swath. 

John Bell and his family have been 

deeply involved with the Bay’s 

sister, Susie Symons, who with 

her husband John are renowned 

ceramic artists. In addition, 

Dick’s niece Amy Symons long 

ago taught seventh-grade English 

to my son Zach. 

In re-reading the fall class notes, 

I realized that there was an item 

worthy of mention. At our class’s 

recent San Francisco luncheon, 

four (Stu Brown, Alan Schlosser, 

Wood Lockhart and Bob Binder) of 

the nine attendees were members 

of Phi Beta Kappa. I ask you all 

to ponder the implications of this 

statement. How is that a disproportionate 

number of academic 

achievers settled in the Bay Area? 

I await explanation from anyone 

who is able to make sense of this 

phenomenon. The most cogent 

explanation will win the keys to 

Goddard’s 6-year-old Saab for 

our 50th reunion weekend. 

And speaking of Schlosser, I 

don’t know how many of you 

read The New York Times 

series about high school seniors 

cheating on the SATs in order 

to enhance their chances of 

college admission. The reports 

focused on Great Neck North 

High School, which Alan, Frank 

Simunek and I attended. The gist 

of the articles revolved around 

one student who was paid by 

several others to take the exam. 

The unfolding series of articles 

has finally provided me with the 

opportunity to reveal a secret 

which I’ve kept under cover for 

over 50 years. It may surprise 

many of you, but it is now time 

to set the record straight. I actually 

took Alan Schlosser’s SAT 

exams for him. 

The next commentaries are 

about three classmates: John 

Davis, Bill Holmes and Steve 

Thomas, who are all in the medical 

profession. 

John Davis, who lives in 

Phoenix, retired from a private 

practice in 2007, “driven out by 

the escalating cost of regulations 

and compliance.” He then 

took a position with the Indian 

Health Service, providing otolaryngologic 

services to Native 

Americans. He and two other 

physicians are the “ultimate 

referral source for the tribes of 

Arizona and Southern Nevada.” 

John and his wife Teri have 

three married daughters: 

Kathleen, Jeanne and Cassie. 

Cassie, the youngest, who resides 

in Connecticut, was married on 

Sept. 4 in Newport. The older 

daughters live in proximity to 

John and Teri in Arizona. They 

have three grandchildren—two 

boys, Gavin and Thor, and one 

girl, Mia. Gavin is a budding 

horseman, which leads me to 

John’s passion, his horse. 

Until he was 67, John rode 

competitively. Even now he 

remains engaged in other riding 

activities, primarily three- and 

four-day horse camps and rides. 

He also rides as a volunteer for 

the Maricopa County Sheriff’s 

Mounted Posse. “Arizona is a 

beautiful state, but the best parts 

are accessible only to hikers and 

horsemen,” John exclaimed. 

Financially, John has been hurt 

by the Great Recession, but he 

has not changed his lifestyle. 

Politically he remains more conservative 

than his cousin, Gordon 

(really!). He mentioned that Teri 

chides him by saying that she 

wouldn’t have dated him if he 

had been so conservative when 

they met. 

Bill Holmes wrote that he retired 

from his private practice in suburban 

Philadelphia some years 

ago. He subsequently retired 

from a corporate medical practice 

in Kansas as well as the U.S. 

Naval Reserves and the Mayo 

Clinic. He is ] living in quasi-rural 

Wyoming, where he and his wife 

Mary Ann stay active in summer/ 

winter physical activities. He also 

volunteers for the county health 

department and does a little 

cooking (a newfound hobby), 

while serving as an elected official 

for the county health department. 

Mary Ann and Bill married 

in 1979 and have raised

six children, three of hers and 

three of his. Bill exclaimed that 

“the kids have matured into 

all wonderful and mature and 

successful citizens of life.” Their 

kids have produced 14 grandchildren, 

most of whom live in the 

East. Bill states that the time he 

spends with his grandchildren is a 

“treasure on demand.” 

Age has made him more 

reflective. He noted that “clinical 

physicians perhaps see their 

fate reflected in the travails of 

their patients throughout their 

careers.” He added that “the 

recent celebration of Mike Reily’s 

’64 life hit me particularly hard 

as a meaningful life experience 

at Williams.” Bill related that 

he hasn’t participated in “class 

events for other unstated reasons, 

although it has not dissuaded me 

from following news and class 

events with more than casual 

interest.” In the political arena, 

he expressed concern about 

“the sense of entitlement, class 

differentiation and obdurate 

political stances on both sides of 

the aisle.” He considers himself 

an independent/conservative who 

voted for Obama, about whom 

he expressed disappointment. 

After his revealing exegesis, I 

hope that Bill will see fit to reengage 

with classmates. 

Steve Thomas has been a 

professor emeritus at the 

University of Cincinnati College 

of Medicine since 2000 but 

continued to work full time in 

the Department of Radiology, 

Medical Physics, until 2007. He 

remains active with the American 

Board of Radiology, where he 

was a trustee in medical physics 

from 2001-05. He then became 

associate executive director for 

medical physics. He is planning 

to fully retire this spring. 

Steve and Ingrid have been 

married for 41 years, and he 

indicated that “sainthood is on 

her side.” Their daughter Kristin 

’98 works at Genentech. Steve 

and Ingrid are making plans to 

attend our Oxford adventure. 

As many of you have surely 

realized by now, the information 

in the class notes is often dated. 

Let me explain why: I write 

the notes from material I have 

gathered in the quarter prior to 

their submission to the Williams 

People; then after editing and 

other prep work, they are sent to 

you about three months after my 

submission. Hence, frequently, 

the information you receive is as 

much as six months old. 

This explanation segues nicely 

into my next news item, which 

is, indeed, six months out of 

date because I didn’t have 

enough space to include it in my 

last notes. Dave Lougee wrote 

that he and Carolyn “indeed, 

had a great summer—I played 

(he and his tennis partner) the 

U.S.T.A. National Hardcourts 

in early June and got to the 

quarter finals, spent a couple of 

great weeks with Jill and Gordy 

Prichett in Lyon, the Macon 

and Burgundy and then spent 

a couple of family weeks in the 

Sawtooth’s and at Tahoe.” Loug 

also spent a week trout fishing 

in Alberta and then traveled to 

visit with his family of origin in 

Maine. 

Mike Gehrhardt commented 

in November: “People ask how 

I get my jobs. The answer is 

simple—my great network of 

knowledgeable people. (Sixteen 

assignments at 15 separate agencies 

in 12 years.)” Evidently no 

position surfaced this year, so he 

and his wife Doree have escaped 

Providence to the warmer climes 

of Tucson for a short jaunt. 

My ex-roommate Bernie 

Wruble sent his annual holiday 

update, which detailed his children’s 

impressive exploits. His 

youngest and only male child, 

Austin, is a senior at Choate, 

where he is captaining both the 

wrestling and tennis teams while 

awaiting college admission. Mati 

’14, Bernie’s next oldest child, 

is at Williams, where she “had 

a smoking year eclipsing family 

GPA.” Since I’m well aware of 

Bernie’s academic record, Mati’s 

accomplishment is not surprising, 

but I assume the reference was 

really to the academic prowess of 

Bernie’s wife Jill ’83, or daughters 

Vanessa ’96 and Alexis ’99. 

Alexis, his third oldest child, 

ran her first marathon in Boston 

and finished in the top third. 

Vanessa’s year “began in Sierra 

Leone and there focused on 

developing www.okayafrica.com, 

a website that combines “music 

with news coverage, dedicated 

blogs, feature stories and concert/ 

events highlighting the best coming 

out of Africa.” 

Bernie’s oldest daughter, Justine 

and her husband Peter live in 

Hanover, N.H. Justine is the 

mother of two boys and a girl. 

She teaches yoga and is an active 

runner. 

Alas, no information about 

Bernie, but Team Wruble seems 

to be really outstanding! 

In the process of casting for 

his holiday show of Peter Pan in 

Colorado Springs, Murray Ross, 

stage director par excellence, 

n 1963 

fantasized about an ideal cast 

consisting of classmates for the 

production. 

He dreamt about Gordon 

Davis in the role of the dark and 

sinister Captain Hook, whose 

gigantic brain was obsessed 

with good form. Murray stated: 

“Misguided man, though he was, 

we may be glad, without sympathizing 

with him, that in the end 

he was true to his traditions of 

race. His shoes were right, and 

his waistcoat was right, and his 

tie was right, and his socks were 

right—of course he will also bite 

in close quarters.” 

Alan Schlosser was cast as 

Bo’sun Smee, Hook’s right-hand 

man, a non-conformist who 

plied “his sewing machine ever 

industrious and obliging.” The 

Crow noted that Smee has the 

best lines, including, of course, 

“Captain I have often noticed 

your strange fear of crocodiles.” 

As for the role of Peter Pan, 

Ross cast the original puer, David 

Larry, “for reasons too obvious 

to be enumerated but including 

an early brilliant audition 

in the fall of 1961 when he and 

Gordon reportedly swash-buckled 

with foils across the Williams 

campus.” 

John Davis, the nemesis of 

all left-leaning pirates (cousin 

Gordon), king of the desert 

reptiles, was to be cast as the 

crocodile. 

Charlie Pratt, the defender 

of gender switching and the 

oppressed, seemed ideal to 

Murray for the role of Tiger Lily. 

Bobby Seidman would make 

a natural Tinker Bell, “small, 

compact, fiery, loyal and inclined 

to stream of talk and babbling 

words.” Roger Warren, a judge 

who, in Ross’ fantasy, assumed 

the role of Tootles, rescuer of 

the heroine at a crucial moment. 

Jules Quinlan could assume the 

role of Nana, since he has “longer 

and better experience with 

great dogs.” 

Bill Whitney, Geoff Howard, 

Bill Boyd, John Kifner and I will 

have to fight our way for the 

remaining roles in the production. 

Murray also cast himself as 

the neverbird, who sits on eggs in 

brood and floats in the hat lent 

to him by Peter Pan. 

To me, it sounds destined to be 

a smash hit. If Bill Burnett will 

produce the play and Murray 

agrees to direct this grand 

production, perhaps Peter Pan 

can be staged as part of our 50th 

reunion celebration. 


CLASS NOTES 

1964 

Martin P. Wasserman 

13200 Triadelphia Road 

Ellicott City, MD 21042 


Classmates, this is the first 

opportunity there has been to 

write following the extraordinary 

Mike Reily special weekend in 

November, and I want to devote 

this issue to describe that time 

to you. Perhaps Quentin Murphy 

expressed it best: “Only at 

Williams College could such an 

event as the Mike Reily Memorial 

Banquet have taken place. Susan 

and I were amazed at the amount 

of organization, planning and 

perfect execution involved. The 

Lasell gym truly resembled a 

banquet hall. The entire affair 

was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, 

with so many classmates, 

former teammates and friends 

there. Mike’s family seemed truly 

moved. It was a WOW (Williams 

Original Weekend).” This truly 

was Williams at its finest! Kudos 

to Ben Wagner, who performed 

most of the heavy lifting for the 

event, although he is far too 

modest to accept the compliments. 

But it was certainly Ben 

who provided the inspiration, 

leadership and drive to make 

this all happen. More than 270 

people attended the Saturday 

evening event, which spanned 

classes from 1952 to 1988 along 

with three generations of the 

Reily family plus friends, managers 

and coaches from the 1960s. 

It became something even more 

special because so many friends 

came from those classes which 

surround our own—friends 

whom we don’t normally see 

during typical reunion events. 

So many people signed up for 

the celebration that the original 

venue for the events was changed 

from the Williams Inn to the 

beautifully decorated and transformed 

Lasell gym. You would 

hardly have recognized that 

this was the same arena where 

we could taunt our adversaries 

by nearly sitting on court with 

them! 

Classmates and spouses who 

attended the events include: 

Lisle Baker, Martha and Larry 

Bauer, Jack Beebe, Jack Beecham, 

Polly and Steve Birrell, Peter 

Buttenheim, Bill Chapman, Bob 

DiForio, Mabel and Dan Ellis, 

Terry Finn, Jane and Bill Frado, 

Jay Freedman, Sarah and John 

Foehl, Janet and Bob Furey, Nick 

Goodhue, Hope and Al Hageman, 

Ginny and Tim Goodwin, Dick 


Hubbard, Chris Hagy, Peter Hero, 

Karen and Tom Howell, Steve 

Hyde, Dave Johnston, Muffy 

and Peter Johannsen, Sandy 

Kasten, Jack Kuehn, Polly and 

Dave Macpherson, Mary and 

Gay Mayer, Jack McWhorter, 

Jim Moodey, Susan and Quentin 

Murphy, Walt Nicholson, Joel 

Reingold and Coro Gorriti, Pam 

and Bill Riley, Caroline and John 

Romans, Craig Schelter and Liz 

Nill, Jeff Silver, Andrew Smith, 

Susan and Peter Stanley, Abby 

and Bob Summersgill, Jamie 

and Tom Todd, Sandy and Ben 

Wagner, Barbara and Marty 

Wasserman, John Winfield and 

Leigh Callahan. It was fun to get 

to see so many classmates really 

into the warmth and inspiration 

of the life and passing of 

an extraordinary young man. 

I hope I did not overlook any 

other classmates who might have 

attended. 

Others recognized the importance 

of, and were touched by, 

this event as well. Ben Wagner 

received a note from David 

Jaffrey, who wrote that he had 

“just instructed our fund at the 

Boston Foundation to contribute 

$1,000 to Williams for Mike 

Reily Recognition. It must be 

satisfying to you to have orchestrated 

such a heartfelt tribute to 

your old friend and co-captain. 

All of us who knew Mike 

appreciate what you have done, 

Ben.” David helped with the 

production of the video Tackle 

by Reily, which was played at 

the beginning of the event and 

really set the stage for the entire 

evening’s activities. As Ben commented, 

“We accomplished our 

purpose—to honor and remember 

Mike in a suitable way. There 

are many final tests for how 

we did, but the expressions of 

appreciation from Mike’s brothers 

and their families have been 

nonstop, genuine and effusive. 

There is more purple and gold on 

the streets of New Orleans than 

ever before!” 

Peter Buttenheim writes, “I 

am still floating on air about 

the Reily weekend. That was 

one fine thing we did to honor 

Mike. Ben gets 90 percent of the 

credit to be sure, but I think that 

the class did something for the 

classes around us, the college and 

ourselves by having such a glorious 

and kind event, even though 

it took 50 years to occur. I feel 

extra special being a member 

of the Class of 1964.” And Tim 

Goodwin adds, “I was blown 

away by the weekend! Ginny 

says I was on a high the whole 

time. Not only were we able to 

properly honor Mike’s memory, 

but we were able to include his 

family and friends in the celebration 

and at the same time have 

a reunion for guys from five 

classes from ’61 to ’66. We have 

Ben to thank for much of this, 

but I think it took the hand of 

providence for all the pieces to 

successfully fall together the way 

they did. I just wish there could 

be other opportunities to convene 

with such a broad selection 

of classes. Many of the attendees 

I had not seen for years and will 

probably not have the chance 

to ever see again! On the plane 

back to Houston all I could think 

about were conversations I wish 

I had been able to have with a 

lot of these guys. The weekend 

just went too fast! Maybe we 

can figure out ways to have more 

multi-class reunions in the future, 

but time is getting short! At any 

rate I am so thankful for the 

weekend and again congratulate 

Ben and all who helped for such 

an enjoyable and meaningful 

time!” 

Jay Freedman, one of the 

originators of the event, said, 

“This was one of those times 

none of us will ever forget. I 

have had many people ask me 

how the weekend turned out, 

and I have not yet come out 

with the right superlative!” Both 

Tommy Todd and Tom Howell 

reminisced about many things at 

a gathering following the event, 

but Tommy kept “reminiscing 

about the wonderful weekend 

that we all had recently spent 

in Williamstown. Everything 

about the weekend made me 

feel good inside: good that I had 

chosen Williams, good that I had 

had the privilege to know, live 

with and play with Mike, good 

that people like Ben and many 

others would spend such an 

enormous amount of time and 

effort seeing that the right thing 

was done, good that so many 

parts of the Williams community 

not only embraced the effort 

but came together to celebrate 

it, good about The Game, good 

that the Reilys got to see why 

Mike wanted to spend his last 

months back with ‘his friends,’ 

good that they and we had an 

opportunity for closure after 50 

years and, most of all, good to 

be part of a celebration with my 

friends that Mike would have 

really enjoyed.” Can anyone put 

it better? 

Steve Birrell, former director of 

alumni relations and development 

for the college, commented:

“Through years of Williams’ 

events and countless alumni 

dinners, I’ve never experienced 

anything like the Reily weekend. 

The most satisfying aspect was 

to witness its powerful impact on 

members of Mike’s family … his 

brothers Patrick, Tim, Jonathan 

and Stephen, along with several 

of their children and grandchildren 

and other friends of the 

Reily family. This was a very 

emotional weekend for them all; 

the entire family was grateful to 

Williams for holding this event to 

honor Mike. Particularly moved 

were the youngest generation of 

Reilys, who knew very little if 

anything about Mike. They now 

carry his legacy with them.” 

I had a chance to speak with 

several members of the Reily 

family, each of whom was very 

appreciative for the opportunity 

to hear about Mike from his 

friends and coaches and most 

important for the family to heal 

from the loss of a member so 

young, so long ago. As Steve 

remarked, “The most satisfying 

aspect was that this occasion 

brought a measure of closure to a 

family tragedy that had lingered 

for years.” 

As you may know, several very 

special occurrences took place 

during the weekend. Mike’s 

jersey, number 50, was retired— 

the first and only number ever 

“officially” retired by the college. 

If you were able to read “The 

Forgotten Hero,” the wonderful 

article by Tim Layden ’78 in the 

Nov. 7 Sports Illustrated, you 

will remember from the story the 

fact that Mike’s jersey actually 

had been “unofficially retired” 

for generations by the Williams 

equipment managers: “For five 

decades Williams College kept 

the number 50 jersey packed 

away in a box, unofficially retiring 

it even though the school 

did not retire numbers. No one 

remembered who had last worn 

it or why it was not given out. 

Until last year.” See http://bit.ly/ 

zkmJNq for the entire article. 

During the evening, a beautiful 

bronze plaque was unveiled 

honoring Mike. It now resides 

outside the office of football 

coach Aaron Kelton. The plaque 

was created by the Matthews 

Foundry, which, according to 

Ben, “underpromised and overdelivered 

on the artfully created 

sculpture.” Ben’s contact at the 

foundry dealt sympathetically 

with Ben, who “was extremely 

nervous about spending a king’s 

ransom for an irreversible and 

unchangeable end product that 

would not be seen until the day 

before the big event. You would 

never believe how much time 

was spent making sure that the 

two apostrophes were facing 

the same and correct direction. 

My sole comfort was knowing 

that Matthews had performed 

extremely well for the Major 

League Baseball’s Hall of Fame 

for a long time.” 

And, finally, there was the 

creation of the Michael Meredith 

Reily ’64 Award to be presented 

to the football player selected by 

his teammates who best captured 

the essence of Mike. It was 

presented for the first time at the 

conclusion of the annual football 

banquet. Ben was there, so let’s 

hear him describe this remarkable 

evening: “Coach Aaron 

Kelton started the presentation 

talking about Mike, his short 

but remarkable life and how 

important Mike’s values are 

to Williams and the football 

program. Coach asked me to talk 

about Mike’s award and how 

it ensures that Mike’s legacy is 

passed on to future generations 

of Williams student athletes. 

Then coach handed me the 

handsome crystal cup with Dylan 

Schultz’s ’12 name engraved on it 

to be presented to Dylan, whose 

teammates selected him to be 

the first recipient of the Michael 

Meredith Reily ’64 Award. To me, 

Dylan is an extremely worthy 

recipient. I watched him play 

four times over the past two 

seasons. He played the middle 

linebacker position with the 

intensity and effectiveness that 

reminded me of Mike. He served 

as a captain of both last year’s 

team and this year’s. … After the 

presentation, Dylan told me that 

he was particularly moved by 

Mike’s story, that he was greatly 

honored to receive Mike’s award 

and that being its first recipient 

made it even more special.” He 

seems like a fine young man, 

who is very well spoken … and if 

he tackles like Mike did, then he 

is a bone-crusher as well!” 

The only thing that placed a 

blemish on the weekend was 

an act of racism that occurred 

on Saturday but was little 

known by any of the attendees 

until we returned home and 

received a notice from President 

Adam Falk. I wrote him a note 

thanking him for the leadership 

he displayed in canceling 

classes on Monday and making 

a special effort to demonstrate 

zero tolerance of such behavior. 

I also thanked him for speaking 

with the class and to say how 

n 1964 

much we all enjoyed the Reily 

events. His response, which I 

can share with you individually 

if you’d like, affirmed the fact 

that although President Falk 

did not come from Williams, 

he has quickly understood the 

“Williams way” and will be a 

fine leader for the next generation 

of Ephs! 

And with those words in mind 

I want to close by reminding 

everyone that our 50th reunion 

is fast coming up and that we 

should hold the dates: June 

11-15, 2014. There will be many 

events leading up to this very 

special long weekend. One of 

them is the special presidential 

colloquium in Williamstown, 

Thursday through Saturday, 

April 19-21, 2012, to which 

all class members are invited. 

We want to do everything we 

can to encourage attendance at 

this event, which will be held 

primarily at the beautiful Mount 

Hope Farm in Williamstown. On 

Friday we will have the opportunity 

to hear about admission, 

curriculum, campus life and the 

finances of the college. President 

Falk will join us for a reception 

and dinner that evening, and 

there will be a final breakfast on 

Saturday. 

As promised at the outset, this 

is in honor of Mike Reily. It is 

fitting to close with this tribute 

from Tim Layden’s ’78 article 

in S.I.: “Reily could not have 

imagined the ways he would 

endure in memory. He could not 

have known what older men 

learn: that friends and teammates 

are never really forgotten, and 

those who live largest and die 

soonest are remembered in the 

most poignant way. He could 

not have known that nearly half 

a century after his death, those 

who knew him best would still 

be haunted by his absence. He 

could not have known that men 

who served in combat would 

recall his courage in the face of 

death and compare it to bravery 

in battle.” 

We all were privileged to 

witness the college at its very 

best, except, perhaps, for the 

football loss to Amherst! Kudos 

to Ben Wagner for an absolutely 

amazing job of providing the 

inspiration, leadership and drive 

to make this all happen. 

Be well, and remain inspired 

by the extraordinary life and 

legacy of Michael Meredith Reily. 

—Marty 


CLASS NOTES 

1965 

Tom Burnett 

175 Riverside Drive, #2H 



Secretary Burnett reports: The 

highlight of last fall was the 

Amherst homecoming weekend, 

which included the salute to Mike 

Reily ’64. Many of our classmates 

came back to participate 

in the events. While the Amherst 

victory left a bad taste in one’s 

mouth, the class participation 

was impressive. Some 30 classmates 

attended all or part of the 

various activities, which included 

formal tailgating before the 

game, the Mike Reily events and 

a warm and friendly evening at 

the home of Alice and Joe Small. 

Classmates with homes in the 

area include Jim Worrall, Dusty 

Griffin, John Jay, Phil McKnight, 

Dave Wilson, John Storey and, of 

course, Joe, all of whom were 

there. The reunion class gift 

committee, under the leadership 

of Mike Brewer, met after the 

Amherst game and narrowed 

the choices. More information 

about gift ideas and proposals 

will be forthcoming. Joe wanted 

to single out the contributions 

to the Saturday dinner at his 

home from Elizabeth and Lenny 

Gibson, who provided a bounteous 

selection of fresh vegetables 

from their garden in Vermont. 

Joe, Dusty, Dave Coolidge and 

John Storey all deserve citations 

for their contributions to the 

dinner and the weekend. I stayed 

with Jack Foley, Diane and Ron 

Kidd and Tim Reichert at Dorm 

Worral, where hostess Priscilla 

prepared a sumptuous repast for 

us on Friday night. Jim’s legendary 

skills at tailgating were tested 

and praised; no one went hungry 

at halftime. Space considerations 

prevent my listing all the attendees, 

but I particularly remember 

chatting with Max Gail, who did 

not want to miss the Mike Reily 

remembrance. Neil Peterson 

joined us at the Worralls’ for dinner 

Friday as the weekend coincided 

with a business trip back 

East for him. He recently was a 

finalist for the position of director 

of the MTA in New York but 

lost out to a politically connected 

local choice. It was also a treat 

to catch up with Irene and Julian 

Gladstone, who came up from 

the Philadelphia area with their 

charming daughter Alexandra, 

a recent Amherst graduate 

(nobody’s perfect). In all, some 

12 percent of the available class 


attended the weekend festivities, 

and the spirit and genuine friendship 

among participants was 

evident throughout. 

Jim Worrall referred a Dec. 11, 

2011, front-page article in the 

Boston Globe to me about the 

efforts of Norm Spack to treat 

patients with transgender issues. 

The article was very flattering to 

Norm and his leadership efforts 

in this field. In his reference to 

me, Jim wrote that reading the 

article made him proud to be a 

member of the Class of 1965. 

On Dec. 12, 2011, the Hospital 

for Special Surgery in NY 

announced that Steven Goldring 

had been appointed the first 

chief scientific officer under the 

Richard L. Menschel Research 

Chair at the hospital. Steve will 

seek to translate basic research 

into new therapies for patients 

with mobility disorders with a 

focus on expanding the hospital’s 

osteoarthritis initiative. 

I had not heard from Ted 

Barlow in many years, so it was 

good to learn that he and his 

wife Meriel took a long leave 

in Australia and toured Canada 

and the U.S. While in the East, 

he returned to Williamstown and 

spent time with the Worralls, 

the Storeys and the Wilsons. 

Speaking of John Storey, he and 

Martha have been spending time 

in Westport, N.Y., near Camp 

Dudley and its girls’ camp affiliate 

Kiniya. They acquired the 

girls’ camp six years ago. It turns 

out that Peter Erwin’s son and 

Ron McGlynn’s grandson attended 

Camp Dudley last summer. 

Sally and Henry Lum have 

been busy. Last year they visited 

Prague to be with their son 

Zach ’91 and his wife Liana and 

granddaughter Sabina. Liana 

is with the U.S. embassy in 

Budapest, and Zach commutes 

to Vienna, where he works for 

General Dynamics. During the 

summer, all the family gathered 

on the Cape. Children Silas ’97 

and his wife Pamela, also ’97, 

Rosy (Kenyon ’02), Hannah ’07 

and Daniel ’99 were able to join 

them. Daughter Kaimi ’94 lives 

only 20 minutes away with her 

husband Josh. She is the associate 

editor of the Provicetown 

Banner. Silas is an attorney in 

NYC, Rosy is an energy reporter 

for a trade publication in NYC, 

and Hannah recently relocated 

from Chicago to Providence 

to work in an upscale restaurant. 

Sally is likely in her final 

year of teaching English at 

Nauset Regional High School, 

and Henry is a supply chain 

consultant for domestic and 

foreign-based manufacturing 

companies. 

The annual Jean and Sam White 

letter this year did not include 

photographs, as the family has 

become too dispersed to count 

on a single photo opportunity. 

Sam traveled widely in Asia to 

Singapore and mainland China 

to participate in conferences and 

study groups concerned with 

water purification and resource 

allocation. Jean and Sam now 

have two grandchildren, but the 

White boys are now spread out 

in Madison, Wis., San Francisco 

and Connecticut, so they relish 

the time in the summer when 

the family can reunite. Sam’s 

research and teaching activities 

continue, but he and Jean would 

like to enjoy more international 

travel, and that time is 

approaching. 

Hunt Hawkins sent a helpful 

email message. He is currently 

a professor and chair of the 

English department at the 

University of South Florida. He 

has been there since 2006, after 

a 28-year career at Florida State. 

His specialty is Modern British 

literature (Joseph Conrad) with 

an avid interest in African material, 

an interest he developed 

after teaching a year in Tanzania. 

He met his wife Elaine Smith at 

graduate school at Stanford, and 

she also teaches (American studies) 

at USF. His daughter Molly 

’08 works at the Urban Institute 

in DC. His son Sam went to 

Emory and is now enrolled in 

the PhD program in computer 

science at USF. 

A personal highlight last fall 

for Harriet and me was the opening 

of an exhibition of vintage 

19th century photographs 

from my collection at the Art 

Museum of the University of 

New Hampshire. The works by 

Felice Beato date from 1864-73 

and cover the period of Japan’s 

opening to the outside world 

along with the transition from 

rule by the Shogunate to the 

restoration of the emperor. The 

curator of the museum is on the 

UNH faculty, and she arranged 

for the show and the 64-page 

catalog accompanying the exhibition. 

The opening was a thrill, 

especially since Jim Leitz, Dennis 

Holland, Fred Ohly, Jack Foley and 

Art Wheelock all took the time to 

attend it. Except for Kathie and 

Jim Leitz, Durham, N.H., is not 

that easy to get to, and I really 

appreciated everyone’s effort 

to make it such a special event 

for us.

1965 classmates gathered at the University of New Hampshire Art 

Museum in October to celebrate the opening of an exhibition of Felice 

Beato’s 19th century photographs of Japan, part of the personal collection 

of class secretary Tom Burnett (center). Also pictured (from left) are 

Jim Leitz, Fred Ohly, Jack Foley and Art Wheelock. 

1966 

Palmer Q. Bessey 

1320 York Ave., #32H 


John Gould 

19 Nahant Place 

Lynn, MA 01902 


It looked as though it would 

be a quiet season for news. But 

life, of course, does not stand 

still, and we had some additional 

news from the time of Reunion 

XXXXV. 

Toward the end of the year, 

we learned of the death of Peter 

D. Gallagher from esophageal 

cancer in October. He majored 

in poli sci and had an artistic 

bent. He was president of Zeta 

Psi and active in the AMT, usually 

doing tech support or scene 

design. He joined the Navy 

after Williams and retired in 

1989 with the rank of commander. 

Along the way he got a 

degree in architecture. He was 

from California and returned 

there with his wife Susan and 

their children. The write-up the 

college sent described him as a 

gracious, welcoming host and 

neighbor. That fits with how I 

remember him: upbeat, energetic 

and funny. He never sent in 

news for the notes, at least not 

during my tenure, and I thought 

he may have soured on Williams 

because of the fraternity business. 

I had thoughts of trying to 

make contact and enticing him 

back East, at least for the 50th, 

but I hadn’t gotten to it yet. 

Jim Harrison filled in the gaps 

for me from reunion. He and 

Karen still live in the DC area, 

where he is actively engaged in 

economic consulting. Their son 

Jay ’90 lives in Hong Kong with 

his Italian wife and their two 

children. Babysitting or even visiting 

the grandchildren is quite 

a trek. Daughter Kathy (Kenyon 

’92) lives closer by in Fairfax 

County, Virginia, where she 

works as a foster care placement 

coordinator. 

At the time of the reunion, 

Dave Batten had recently begun 

a new venture: corporatizing 

some intellectual property from 

MIT and the Mass Eye and Ear 

Hospital. He had retired in his 

50s to go sailing but couldn’t 

stay away. The downside is that 

he will spend this year commuting 

between New York and 

Berlin, where Evi has found an 

apartment so that Alexis and 

Lydia can go to a German- 

French school there to solidify 

their German, which, according 

to Dave, is good but not great. 

Dan Cohn-Sherbok sent a 

Christmas card. That from a 

professor of Judaism, drawn 

by the rabbi himself and sent 

electronically via BlackBerry 

of Orange, seemed to me to be 

contemporary and ecumenical 

enough to capture the spirit of 

the holidays at the end of the 

year for all. We tried to forward 

it to the class but apparently 

without success. Dan reported 

that he has published his 86th 

book: Introduction to Zionism 

and Israel: From Ideology to 

n 1965–66 

History (Continuum, 2012 and 

also available on Kindle). 

Stuart Simon and Betty (and 

Brandy, their 13-year-old dachshund) 

live in Aptos, Calif., where 

he practices emergency medicine 

full time with no plans to retire 

for now. They had planned to 

follow up their Israel trip last 

winter with a trip to visit their 

daughter Lisa, who was on an 

archaeological dig on an island 

in the Ionian Sea, where she was 

digging up skeletons from the 7th 

century BC. But there were riots 

in Greece at the time. They reconsidered 

and spent three fabulous 

weeks in London and Scotland 

instead. 

Joe Hardy sent news from Wells, 

Maine, where he lives with his 

wife Alice just down the road 

from their daughter and her 

family. He retired last fall after 

17 years with Maine’s Mediation 

Service. Though slowed down by 

arthritis, he still hoped to cross 

country ski in the winter, if they 

got enough snow. He also devotes 

time to the Sierra Club, helping 

them with issues surrounding 

global warming. His home gets 

100 percent of its electricity 

from solar panels. He stays in 

touch with John Rugge and Keith 

Salsbury. 

Andy Burr and Ann wrote 

enthusiastically about the marriage 

of their daughter Alexandra 

at their farm in Worthington, 

Mass., on the weekend of 

Hurricane Irene. All the guests 

enjoyed the reception in the barn, 

but eight of their “beloved tractors” 

had to sit out the festivities 

in the deluge. Happily, they all 

started right up in the next couple 

of days. The bride and new 

son-in-law are both architects, 

as are Andy and Ann. And their 

younger daughter is now in architecture 

school. 

Mike Katz retired from 

Middlebury College a year 

ago and is emeritus professor 

of Russian and East European 

studies. He was also named a 

Mellon Foundation Emeritus 

Fellow, which is a generous 

grant to support his research on 

Tolstoy’s controversial novella 

The Kreutzer Sonata. Mike and 

his wife Mary are traveling: 

Egypt and Jordan last January; 

Spain and Portugal in October; 

and to England and Germany 

this spring. Life is good, and he is 

looking forward to Reunion L. 

Ron Worland decided to close 

his plastic surgery practice in 

Medford, Ore., after 35-plus 

years. He says it has been a 

great run, but his heart is in 


CLASS NOTES 

international humanitarian 

missions. He enjoys the travel 

and the work and has found 

the changes in U.S. health care 

increasingly frustrating. He has 

trips already planned this year to 

India, China and Benin, Africa. 

Lisle Dalton continues to practice 

obstetrics and gynecology at 

the University of Kentucky. He 

and Kathy have a new interest: 

a grandson, Reilly Lisle. Lisle 

also finds time for fox hunting 

and ski trips, so he can zip down 

the black diamond trails. Who 

says you can’t be active after hip 

replacements? 

Bill Ewen, though retired from 

teaching math, continues to 

coach racquet sports. He is in 

his 44th season of coaching boys 

varsity tennis and sixth season of 

varsity squash. 

Bailey Young was discovered 

last summer by Belgium Public 

Television (RTB). They were producing 

a documentary on castles 

in Wallonia (French speaking 

part of Belgium). A crew spent 

three days filming the excavations 

at Walhain Castle that Bailey 

directs with colleagues from the 

University of Louvain-la-Neuve. 

They were so intrigued with the 

idea of an American professor 

and students coming to Belgium 

to dig in the dirt and excavate 

a castle most Belgians do not 

know exists that they followed 

him back to Charleston, Ill., to 

film the American backstory. The 

piece is scheduled to be aired in 

May. 

In December, Ron Bettaur spent 

a week in Vienna for meetings 

of the board of the U.N. 

Register of Damage Caused by 

the Construction of the Wall 

in the Occupied Palestinian 

Territory. (See www.unrod.org.) 

This happens quarterly. For the 

rest of the time, Ron is a visiting 

scholar at George Washington 

University Law School and the 

policy officer for the Section 

of International Law of the 

American Bar Association. For 

now, he and Raija are off on a 

trip to Southern Patagonia. 

On Feb. 2, the annual Class 

of 1966 NYC Dinner with No 

Special Agenda took place. This 

year it was held at the Williams 

Club at the Princeton Club in 

Midtown. Twenty-one living 

worthies of the class attended 

(tying the record for attendance) 

along with three from the alumni 

office. Lance Knox was again the 

genial host and had negotiated 

the arrangements. The ambiance 

was jovial. The food was palatable, 

though noticeably more 


heart-healthy than in years past. 

Those attending were all robust 

and appeared well, though two 

had already dealt with prostate 

cancer and several were managing 

diabetes. 

Co-secretary John Gould rode 

into town on Amtrak from 

Boston and Lynn, Mass., where 

the winter had been more typical 

of DC than New England: rain, 

moderate temperatures, brown 

grass, only one snowfall of any 

measurable amount. Dreary, 

but it kept him inside to plan 

his “Through Syntax to Style” 

course that he will teach at 

Bennington in April and May. 

John was in NYC to see his son 

Gardy, who was about to head 

to LA for the completion of the 

filming of Life of Pi, for which 

he is the assistant film editor. 

John sent in this report about 

his memories of the class dinner: 

“I sat next to David Corwin, an 

attorney who is now beginning 

a stint working for Legal Aid, 

assisting people who are trying 

to deal with the housing crisis. 

And I chatted with many others. 

Jody Dobson is still living in 

Philadelphia, where he continues 

to practice his educational consulting 

business. Dave Kollender 

looks extraordinarily fit; he does 

contract work for a number of 

spooky governmental agencies— 

NSA, FBI and so on. If I told you 

any more, he’d have to kill you. 

I can say that his daughter is a 

struggling actor in California, 

working her way up the acting 

food chain. Bob Rubin told me a 

hilarious story about dealing with 

Ronald Reagan and his cabinet, 

and if I told you any more about 

that, he’d have to kill me. Rusty 

Haldeman has recovered from 

cancer surgery and looks terrific. 

Jim Meier was preparing for 

another 100-mile ski race across 

Canada. (He is disappointed that 

the age record for swimming the 

English Channel just went up to 

71, so he’ll have to wait till he’s 

72 to reset it!) Jim makes me 

proud to know him, without in 

any way wanting to do the stuff 

he does. All in all, it was a great 

evening.” 

Others attending included John 

Carney, who had come in from 

Cleveland, and Punky “Ed” Booth 

from Arizona, who was on his 

way to visit his daughter. Wink 

Willett and Bill Bowden joined the 

alumni office folks in speaking 

about the beginnings of plans 

for our Reunion L. Other locals 

included Karl Garlid, Dave Tunick, 

Ned Davis, Dave Batten, Alan 

Rork, Jon Linen, Mike Burroughs, 

Bob Krefting and me. Next up 

is the Class Dinner in Boston 

in April or May. Details will be 

forthcoming. 

John and I managed to meet 

with Peter Koenig in London the 

next morning via Skype for initial 

discussions about the class book, 

which will come out shortly 

before Reunion L. After some 

technical difficulties, we were 

able to chat and watch flickering 

images of each other. Happily we 

each have tech-savvy sons, and 

with their tutelage things should 

go more smoothly next time. Be 

warned that we will be asking 

you for a biographical reflection 

(not a CV) about where you’ve 

landed a half century down the 

road and how you got there. 

There are many stories out there 

that are not the ones we imagined 

in 1966. We all want to hear 

them. We also will be looking for 

other materials—artistic, literary, 

photographic, philosophical— 

that you would be willing to 

share. 

Later that morning, several of 

us met with Chris Robare, Mary 

Richardson ’91 and Lew Fisher ’89 

from the alumni office to begin to 

flesh out some of the planning for 

Reunion L. That rag-tag group 

will grow some in the next several 

months, and you will all hear 

from them between now and 

June 2016. Many of you have not 

been able or inclined to maintain 

close connections with our class 

or the college. There were no 

doubt good reasons for this, but 

we hope you will think anew 

about it all in the next few years. 

A half century is a big share of 

a single lifetime. Fifty years out 

of college is a notable milestone. 

None of us has come through it 

unscathed, but we did share time 

together in Williamstown. 

In that regard, John Gould 

recommended a book called 

Rerunning, written by Jonathan 

Stableford ’67, who was a colleague 

of John’s at Andover. This 

is a terrifying and ultimately 

happy account of his near-death 

experience with a particularly 

fast-acting and virulent form of 

pneumonia. “It’s fodder for all of 

us post-60 guys. His coming back 

from this precipice is a fascinating 

and heartening story.” 

And this shameless late news 

is just in from Bob Mitchell. “My 

wife Susan is an artist, and I am 

a novelist. We both love what we 

do very much. But as the Italians 

say, ‘Non ci son rose senza spine’ 

(’There are no roses without 

thorns.’) Because accompanying 

the joy of art and writing is the

1967 classmates Bill Taylor (left) and Steve Watson got together in Vail, 

Colo., in September. 

pain of shameless self-promotion 

for survival purposes. Susan now 

has her new artist website up and 

running. It is located at www. 

susanellenlove.com.” Check 

out Bob’s novels, Match Made 

in Heaven and Once Upon a 

Fastball at www.bobmitchellbooks.com. 

“Do forgive me for 

all of the above, but understand 

that this is what we artists are 

sometimes compelled to do. 

Susan and I both hope that you 

all have a fantastic 2012!” 

And so do your secretaries. Be 

well, and keep in touch. 

1967 


Kenneth A. Willcox 

178 Westwood Lane 

Wayzata, MN 55391 


In this final edition prior to our 

big reunion we’ll first spotlight 

some of the retirements unfolding 

among us. 

Leading off is Ron Bodinson, 

who we thank for orchestrating 

the very clever design for 

our class reunion button. Ron 

has retired from 38 years of law 

practice in Kansas City and will 

be relocating to the Connecticut 

coast. That will put him closer 

to three daughters: Sara, a 

Smith grad and now a director 

of MoMA; Lily, in her second 

year at McGill in Montreal; and 

Maya, who graduates from high 

school in West Hartford and may 

be heading to Tulane. 

Mark Piechota is enjoying his 

retired status. He and his wife 

made the decision to move 

into a co-housing community 

committed to sustainability. It is 

located in EcoVillage at Ithaca. 

The village has been a pioneer in 

co-housing and sustainability for 

20 years. 

Bryan Hickman finally completed 

the sale of his bus-building 

business and is now looking for 

the next challenge. He’s considering 

either another business 

turnaround or doing something 

in the public sector. He and Beth 

are planning to be at reunion. He 

found the last one relaxing and 

fun just visiting with everyone. 

Jeff Bowen says he likes retirement 

more each day. Among 

other interests he’s pursuing is 

writing for fun with no deadlines. 

His wife Hilary is retiring in June. 

With that they look forward 

to vacationing at untraditional 

times and “doing stuff together 

on whims.” 

Leslie and Jeff Modesitt became 

great-grandparents a year ago 

to Coltyn Cash Walker. With 

a name like that Jeff figures he 

should be a country western 

singer or bronc rider. For a few 

years Jeff has been involved in a 

project in Argentina. He wishes 

he had paid closer attention in his 

Williams Spanish classes. They 

like Buenos Aires but particularly 

enjoy the southern Mendoza 

area, the slower pace of the countryside 

and, of course, the wine. 

He invites visitors to the Denver 

area to call and enjoy some of his 

Argentine wine inventory. 

Gregg Meister had another 

busy year. Much of it involves 

the organization Foundation For 

Peace and focuses on the needs 

of the poor in the Dominican 

Republic and Haiti. He writes, 

“It is important to keep the 

n 1966–67 

hurting and the helpless, the 

hopeless and the homeless, close 

to my heart. It is with these 

people I believe Jesus especially 

lives.” Miriam is closing in on her 

PhD in neuroscience, and Gail is 

anticipating a well deserved sabbatical 

this spring. 

Valerie and Rick Williams spent 

the holidays in their second/ 

third home in Texas to be with 

their daughter and her family, 

which includes grandkids 27 

months and 8 months old. Their 

son Christopher was also there. 

Last year he was commanding 

a USMC forward patrol base 

in nowhere Helmand Province, 

Afghanistan. Back in the civilian 

world he is now employed as a 

computer network consultant. 

They hope to spend some more 

time this year in their home base 

in the Florida Keys. Many family 

events last year, including the 

death of Rick’s mother-in-law, 

meant that they seldom spent 

more than two months in any 

one place. 

Jonathan Vipond has no 

retirement plans. He cites both 

temperamental and financial 

imperatives. He still practices 

law at Buchanan Ingersoll & 

Rooney PC, where he co-heads 

the 50-person Harrisburg 

office. He was recently named 

regional health care lawyer 

of the year by Best Lawyers 

in America. He and Tim 

gathered a mostly Williams 

’67 group in Pittsburgh last 

September in accordance 

with their 2006 pact to do 

so. Attending were the Bents, 

Comforts, Olsons, Gillepsies, 

Turner Smiths, Covingtons, 

Hawns, Shafmasters, Thrashers, 

Lampheres and siblings Sharon 

and Jimmy Vipond ’71 and Linda 

Vipond Heath ’73. 

Although Chuck Glassmire 

left academic administration, 

he returned to his first love and 

is teaching chemistry again. 

Last November he and his wife 

Eileen spent a fun afternoon with 

Mebuccel and Paul Atkinson at 

the new Glassmire townhouse in 

Worcester, Mass. Their youngest 

daughter is doing a sophomore 

year abroad, the fall in Hong 

SENDNEWS! 







CLASS NOTES 

Kong and spring in Netherlands. 

In between semesters she is 

traveling in southeast Asia. After 

reunion Chuck will leave for 

northern Georgia to begin the first 

half of a trek of the Appalachian 

Trail. He will do the southern 

half this year from Georgia to 

Pennsylvania, then from northern 

Pennsylvania to Maine the following 

summer. He hopes to 

have each of their four kids do a 

section of the trek with him. 

Sally and Ted McPherson are 

looking forward to our reunion. 

Trips to Phoenix, Pensacola, 

Salt Lake as well as visitors in 

Gettysburg before then. He was 

honored to be asked to say a 

few words to the current men’s 

basketball team at Williams just 

prior to the start of the season. 

Dave Nash continues to cut a 

swath through the international 

tennis circuit. Last November he 

and three teammates led the USA 

to first place and a gold medal in 

the Britannia Cup international 

competition for men 65 and over 

held in Antalya, Turkey. The 

competition features 500 players 

representing 35 countries, playing 

in various age groups. Well done, 

Dave. 

Bob Conway begins his comments 

with great praise for Rich 

Bernstein’s accomplishments in 

the 1650 Masters swimming 

championship. As a former competitive 

swimmer himself, Bob 

states that Rich’s technique and 

conditioning must be impeccable. 

He thinks the achievement is a 

great credit to both Rich and to 

Coach Bob Muir. Bob expects to 

be at reunion but may arrive late. 

He will be in DC for the opening 

of the George Bellows retrospective 

at the National Gallery 

that Thursday night. He says, 

“Working on that show has been 

a wonderful experience, which 

I interpret as proof that some 

things get better with age.” 

Hank Grass enjoyed a great 

Christmas skiing vacation in 

Central Oregon with his children 

and grandchildren. He says 

his skills as a psychiatrist and 

psychotherapist seem intact and 

in some ways still benefit from 


accumulated experience. He 

hopes to be at reunion, which, he 

is embarrassed to say, would be 

his first! 

Bill McClung and his wife have 

returned to the U.S. following 

his yearlong sabbatical in 

Ludwigsburg, Germany. Their 

older son Andrew has started his 

doctoral program in quantum 

physics at CalTech, while their 

younger son Charles is in his last 

year as a philosophy major at 

Macalester College. Next year 

they will own their home and 

won’t be paying tuition, so he can 

think about retirement. However, 

he still enjoys teaching computer 

science, so he may postpone that 

a bit. His heart operation seems 

to have fixed things, so he hopes 

to see us all at reunion. 

That’s it for this segment. The 

good news is that with reunion 

just a few weeks off, you won’t 

need to wait for the next edition 

for an update. You can get it in 

person. Remember, the place to 

be is Williamstown. Dates: June 

7-10. Do please be there. 

1968 

Paul Neely 

P.O. Box 11526 

Chattanooga, TN 37401 


From London, John Murray 

writes: “We are now about 

three-quarters through the 

construction project we started 

in December 2010, which is 


Dave Nash ’67 and three teammates helped the U.S. win the title at the 

Britannia Cup at the 31st International Tennis Federation Super-Seniors 

World Team Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in October. Nash, who 

played tennis and basketball at Williams, has won more than 19 national 

tournaments and five World Team Championships over the past 20 years. 

designed to turn our farmhouse 

in the rural Wiltshire countryside 

into something, well, bigger. The 

happy ending is coming into 

view and in anticipation of a 

new pattern to our lives, Jenny 

and I are evaluating various 

dog breeds, keeping in mind the 

English adage that Labradors are 

born half-trained while spaniels 

die half-trained.” 

John claims to be cutting back 

on time devoted to business 

but then adds that he has just 

taken on a directorship of a 

BlackRock investment fund that 

invests in “frontier” markets 

like Nigeria, Kazakhstan and 

Mongolia. “I have also invested 

in—and become a director of—a 

company that is opening lowcost 

gyms across Britain. Since 

I have never been to a gym, I 

bring a unique perspective to the 

deliberations of the board.” 

Orthopedist Bob Stanton traveled 

to Jakarta in January as a 

guest speaker at the Indonesian 

Hip and Knee Society. “Flight 

through Hong Kong is about 

24 hours. We have a supply of 

Ambien. Medical degree is worth 

something.” He and Debby 

also managed to fit in a side trip 

to Bali without any speaking 

engagement. 

Jeff Brinn reports “no classmate 

sightings but several great 

conversations with those on 

my associate class agent’s list. I 

highly recommend such activity 

for all those who have not yet 

had the honor of serving our 

class in this manner. Larry Levien 

can no doubt arrange it.” 

Michael Yogman, in his double 

role as physician and board 

chair of the Boston Children’s 

Museum, writes: “It has been 

a busy fall working to create 

an advocacy coalition for early 

childhood, pulling together neuroscientists, 

educators, business 

leaders, psychologists, pediatricians 

and policy makers. We 

(the Academy of Pediatrics, the 

Children’s Museum and others) 

ran a well-received early childhood 

summit in November at the 

Mass Medical Society. We will 

kick off the 100th birthday of the 

museum in April of 2013 with a 

second summit and symposium. 

I am using all my Williams colleagues 

to network.” 

Geoff Connor writes: “I retired 

as a partner of Reed Smith and 

was lucky enough to get an 

adjunct professor teaching job at 

Bloomfield College, New Jersey’s 

‘other’ Presbyterian college, 

the one you’ve heard of being 

Princeton. This fall I taught a 

senior honors seminar entitled 

‘American History and its Legacy 

of Diversity.’ We started with 

American Indians and went right 

up to the war in Vietnam. Loved 

my hard-working, smart students. 

And I learned more than 

they did. Although otherwise 

retired, I’m still on the board of 

directors of The Provident Bank, 

NJ’s oldest bank (1839).” 

My fellow Tennessean Sherman 

Jones checks in from 100 miles 

away: “Still working, sort of, as 

a lecturer on the MBA business 

school faculty at the University 

of Tennessee, as an insurance 

agent/financial advisor with

Bankers Life Insurance and 

Casualty Company and at the 

usual nonprofit board and advisory 

committee stuff. I especially 

enjoy serving on the board of 

Knox Heritage, our historical 

preservation nonprofit. I tried for 

two years to get a charter school 

approved here in Knoxville, but 

east Tennessee is not very receptive 

to charter schools.” 

And Bill Perttula has a plan: 

“I took the fall semester off at 

SFSU and made a 20-day trip to 

Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, 

all new to me. I gave lectures 

on Internet marketing at the 

Romanian American University 

and Valahia University, both in 

Romania. I spent a few days in 

Transylvania, and while teaching 

I spent several nights in a hotel 

next to Hotel Dracula.” Bill 

planned to go back to Europe 

in March, “giving a two-and-ahalf-day 

seminar for graduate 

business students in Aix-en- 

Provençe. After teaching the 

spring semester at SFSU, I will 

retire after 36 years and play 

with my two grandsons.” 

1969 

Richard P. Gulla 

287 Grove St. 

Melrose, MA 02176 


Bob Whitton has kept up with 

several classmates in recent 

months. “Mike Himowitz and 

I had lunch in Baltimore in 

September and did lots of 

catching up. Andrea and I met 

Peg and Spike Riley for brunch 

in West Cape May on Labor 

Day weekend. Irrepressible and 

primed to become grandparents 

again. In November we 

met Rich Pollet and his special 

friend Ginny for the Amherst 

game. Game was forgettable, 

but weekend was very pleasant: 

again, much catching up. 

And I speak with Mike Morrison 

by phone two or three times a 

year. He is deeply invested in a 

humanitarian awards program. 

Andrea and I enjoyed a Williams- 

Westchester get-together and 

lecture in Bedford/Pound Ridge 

(in N.Y.) all about Andalucia 

and Cervantes, which convinced 

me to download and read 

Don Quixote on the Kindle. 

Dynamite Williams professor led 

the session. Work (media and 

communications consulting) is 

cyclical. Consulting last year was 

excellent, but now the pipeline is 

back to ‘the new normal.’” 

Also connecting with Mike 

Morrison was Dick Peinert, who 

is “still healthy and still working” 

as a physician and surgeon 

north of Boston. Dick adds that 

Mike is living on City Island in 

the Bronx and is a practicing psychologist, 

specializing in addiction 

treatment. “Brief call turned 

into an hour,” said Dick. 

Steve Brick in California “continues 

to enjoy his assignment in 

a civil complex trial department 

of the Alameda County Superior 

Court. Twenty eight years as a 

trial and appellate lawyer were 

great preparation for this assignment. 

Although the California 

budget is threatening the quality 

of justice as well as education 

and health care, for the moment 

we are getting by in our court 

without serious impacts on the 

timeliness or thoroughness of our 

approach to cases.” Steve says 

Wynne Carvill ’71 and Jon Tigar 

’84 are also on the court. “My 

guess is we’re the only court 

outside the Northeast with three 

Williams grads.” 

Steve’s better half, Ann, “who 

some will recall is the bride I 

came back with from Christmas 

vacation of our senior year,” 

retired two years ago from her 

legal career that consisted of 

private practice, being the first 

woman partner of Howard, 

Rice and, for the last 19 years, 

a staff attorney with the ACLU 

of Northern California. “She 

is thoroughly enjoying retirement 

and proves that there is life 

beyond the law for those who 

seek it.” Steve’s daughters are 

also making their mark. Kate is 

finishing her second year as an 

analyst at the Migration Policy 

Institute in DC, and daughter 

Rachel is in her fourth year of 

teaching first grade in the NYC 

public schools. 

Also extolling the achievements 

of his daughters, Craig Walker 

reports his younger daughter Liz 

is now a Harvard graduate and a 

professional dancer with the Los 

Angeles Ballet, and older daughter 

Dana is in graduate school 

at Columbia. Craig is maintaining 

the homestead in Stamford, 

Conn., and having his co-op 

renovated in New York. 

Fletcher Clark, in his small 

town of Lockhart, Texas, near 

Austin, is “engaged in cultural 

composting. I produce and host 

a monthly series of presentations 

by singer-songwriters at our Dr. 

Eugene Clark Library in tandem 

with concerts across the street at 

our community Gaslight-Baker 

Theatre. For many, this kind of 

direct presentation from creative 

n 1967–69 

artists is unfamiliar cuisine and 

decidedly an acquired taste. 

Last year’s inaugural season 

emboldened me to book a more 

robust schedule, and in spite of 

my adherence to the entrepreneurial 

constraints voiced by the 

market, I have garnered a bit of 

noblesse oblige to pay honoraria 

so my library guests can realize 

something other than their CD 

sales.” Fletch also continues as a 

managing partner in Armadillo 

Records, “with our latest 

release being a live recording of 

The Cobras made in 1979 at 

Armadillo World Headquarters.” 

Rob MacDougall is still at the 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

in DC and at last report was 

“wrapping up a guidance document 

on radioactive material 

security now more than 300 

pages, for which I earned a rare 

award, though it’s financially 

almost invisible to the naked 

eye.” Melinda is in her third 

year as an in-house attorney at 

Holy Cross Hospital. Children 

are busy, with Lindsay in her 

last year of acupuncture school, 

Catlin focusing on writing and 

Ian experiencing his senior year 

at Barrie, a private school in 

Maryland. “We now seem to be 

working harder than ever with 

less down time than our advancing 

age requires. By the time 

we can afford retirement, we 

probably won’t even know we’re 

retired.” 

Francis Moriarty, who’s working 

for Radio Television Hong 

Kong and reporting on the presidential 

election from Taiwan, 

attended the alumni gathering 

for Williams President Adam 

Falk while he was in the Far 

East. “He’s certainly impressive 

and an excellent ambassador for 

Williams.” 

Recently retired librarian Jim 

Barns in Charlottesville, Va., is 

experiencing a local minireunion 

of ’60s Ephs. At the local 

Williams/Amherst broadcast, 

Jim met Steve Bartholomew ’67 

and Jim Kramer ’66, two people 

Jim had never met but wrote 

about for the Record some 45 

years ago. Jim says they, along 

with Jesse Winchester ’67, who 

has had a successful career as 

a songwriter and performer, 

have all moved to the area and 

are catching up on Williams 

memories. Jim has also started 

writing a blog, Around the Bend, 

on www.c-ville.com, a website 

about life and events in and 

around Charlottesville. 

Sandy Smith took advantage of 

a three-month sabbatical offered 


CLASS NOTES 

by his employer, Cambridge 

Associates, and made the most of 

it. “Highlights included a month 

at our family’s rustic lakeside 

cabin in Maine, a trip to Oregon 

to visit the last living first cousin 

in my father’s generation at 

her retreat at Camp Sherman, 

and the icing on the cake was 

a solo trip to New Zealand for 

a week of guided fly-fishing, 

which began at the Lake Rotoroa 

Lodge on the South Island and 

ended in Turangi on the North 

Island. I returned to reality—and 

work—the Monday following 

Thanksgiving. Family is doing 

well, as daughter Samantha ’09 

is a third-year medical student 

at the University of Chicago, 

and son Trip is a senior at Colby 

and heavily into winter training 

for the men’s crew team. Sally 

continues her performing and 

teaching career, notably having 

been hired as adjunct professor 

at Queens College for the spring 

semester to teach a course in her 

specialty, Baroque performance. 

So life is good. Hope everyone 

else can say the same.” 

Marty Lafferty wrote that the 

second annual Content in the 

Cloud Conference within the 

2012 Consumer Electronics 

Show, which was conducted 

by the Distributed Computing 

Industry Association, where he’s 

CEO, was standing-room only at 

the Las Vegas Convention Center. 

Marty says “cloud computing 

is off to an auspicious start for 

another year of unprecedented 

and explosive growth.” On the 

volunteer service front, Marty 

completed advanced piloting in 

December, a key boating course 

offered by U.S. Power Squadrons, 

and is on deck to become executive 

officer of District 5 in March. 

“If memory serves,” writes Jim 

Sicks, “and it serves less and less 

as the years pass, it’s been 11 

years since I last checked in, so I 

guess I’m due. A few milestones: 

In 2001 my marriage of 30 years 

broke up. I licked my wounds for 

a while, but, as the saying goes, 

it gets better. In 2003 my son Will 

graduated from Williams, and his 

years there gave me a chance to 

reconnect with the school after 

years of ambivalence about the 

place. He and my daughter Cathy 

are both married and, as of May, 

will be living here in Philadelphia. 

I have a grandson. … In 2004, I 

met Katie Day, and we were married 

a year later. She’s fun, energetic, 

beautiful and smart. We live 

on the campus of the Lutheran 

Seminary in Philadelphia, where 

she has taught for 25-plus years. 


I also got two stepchildren, Julian 

and Molly, in the deal—both in 

college now—and a smattering of 

pets. A second round of raising 

adolescents took its toll, but all 

is good now. In 2006 I fulfilled 

a decade-long ambition and quit 

the practice of law, went to South 

Africa for a couple of months 

with Katie and her kids, and then 

came back to find a job in the 

nonprofit sector. A lot less money 

and a lot more satisfaction. 

“My steadiest Williams connection 

over the years, other 

than my son, has been my old 

roommate Jon Moore and his 

wife Barbara. We manage to get 

together a few times each year, 

most recently at his daughter’s 

wedding in October. A trip to 

Seattle included a wonderful 

dinner with George Scarola and 

his partner Aldo—our first get 

together in about five years. I’ve 

also had sporadic contact with 

Fred Gramlich and Jim Asumano 

over the years. Greetings to all.” 

Rick Corwin met up with Julie 

and Linc Merwin after Christmas, 

taking his two grandsons Jacob 

and Jordan to see them in their 

new home in Doylestown, Pa. 

Linc is still at the Buckingham 

Friends’ School there, and their 

younger son, Matt, is a highly 

accomplished artist in woodworking. 

Rick discovered that 

George Wardman is a trustee of 

Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, 

across the road from where Rick 

now resides, and hoped to meet 

up with him after a trip with 

Beth to the Galapagos and the 

Amazon River Basin in February. 

Gordy Bryson and wife Liz 

are “retiring from our longtime 

places of employment. I leave 

Hawaii Preparatory Academy 

and private high school teaching 

after 42 years, having been 

there for 34 years as principal, 

department chairman of English, 

and coach. We have a place 

in Baltimore and will relocate 

there in June. We look forward 

to being near our friends and 

family. I’m not looking forward 

to the heat in Baltimore, but the 

house we have has central air 

conditioning, and I intend to 

spend time in the Enoch Pratt 

Free Library. I hope to teach 

teachers in Baltimore, but nothing 

is set yet.” 

Finally, in an experience 

that spans the generations and 

decades, 31 years to be precise, 

I had the pleasure of doing 

some media work with Andrew 

Morris-Singer ’00, a Harvardtrained 

primary care physician 

and the founder of Primary Care 

Progress, a grassroots community 

effort to promote primary 

care medicine and change how 

it’s delivered. Andrew was a 

guest on a TV program for 

patients produced by your 

humble scribe. The topic was 

medical literacy—the ability of 

patients to understand health 

information and make good 

decisions. A great adventure in 

lifelong learning. My thanks to 

those who write and keep this 

space filled, and keep the news 

and notes coming. 

1970 

Rick Foster 

379 Dexter St. 

Denver, CO 80220 


To begin, there is some very 

sad news to report. In January, 

Carri and Gerry Stoltz’s son 

Zach died in South Carolina at 

age 26. Many from the DC area 

and some from as far away as 

Denver attended the memorial 

service in Virginia. Paul Miller 

wrote: “It was probably one of 

the saddest things I have ever 

been involved with. Zach was 

by all accounts an exceptional 

young man and incredibly close 

to his parents. Gerry and Carri 

were devastated yet welcoming 

to all who came and unbelievably 

strong in their ability 

to deal with everything. My 

admiration for them was always 

high. I don’t think it could possibly 

be measured now. I hope 

that the affection and support of 

classmates and friends will help 

them in the days ahead, and 

I encourage everyone to be in 

touch with them.” 

Ken McCurdy was the first to 

respond (almost immediately, 

via Blackberry) to my email 

missive on Dec. 13, advising 

me that he had just had dinner 

with Scott Miller, Bill Loomis, 

Ken Richardson, Andy Maier (all 

class of ’71), Paul Isaac ’72, Dale 

Riehl ’72, all former residents 

of Fort Hoosac House. They 

toasted the two favorite “Joes” 

of Fort Hoosac, Joe (“Chubby”) 

Daniels, the house man (who, 

at mail time, always announced 

that “checks are in” and when 

asked “What’s up, Chubby?” 

would mysteriously reply, “At 

my age, only the windows”); 

and Joe Florini, our fantastic 

chef and the former proprietor 

of Florini’s Italian Garden in 

Adams or North Adams. Joe 

Florini taught Ken how to 

break an egg with one hand,

Skip Kotkins ’70 (right), chairman of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber 

of Commerce, met up with Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn ’82 at the 

chamber’s annual public officials reception Dec. 8. 

one of the few things he learned 

at Williams and still retains. 

Ty Tuttle replied that the main 

high point of an otherwise pretty 

awful year for him was his 

son’s June wedding in the lovely 

Aveyron region of France. Ty 

didn’t give details on what made 

at least part of the year awful, 

but I suppose it’s likely we all 

have some reason for hoping 

that 2012 will be a better year. 

Richard Wendorf’s latest book, 

Director’s Choice: The American 

Museum in Britain, is to be 

published in London this spring. 

He reports that he has survived 

the museum’s 50th anniversary 

year and is looking forward to 

enjoying himself a bit more in 

Bath, long known as “the graveyard 

of ambition.” Chip Baker 

wrote to say that after three years 

in New Orleans he and his wife 

Lynne moved to Roanoke, Va., 

where he took the job of chair 

of surgery at Carilion Clinic and 

professor of surgery at the new 

Virginia Tech Carilion School of 

Medicine. Chip says that he and 

Lynne love living in Roanoke (a 

lot like the Berkshires) and that a 

few days before he wrote to me, 

John Hitchins (who lives a half 

mile away) showed up on Chip’s 

doorstep. The two enjoyed catching 

up with each other. 

Ray Kimball suffered a bad 

bicycle accident last fall that 

he described to Paul Miller as 

follows: “I’m recovering and 

not in much pain. Basically, I 

did a swan dive on pavement, 

known in the cyclist trade as 

a ‘face plant,’ when my front 

brakes grabbed and seized up. 

Advice to all: When replacing 

your smoke detector batteries 

and contributing to the Williams 

Alumni Fund annually, please 

also replace and maintain your 

front bicycle brakes. … The doctor 

says I will recover completely. 

The injuries were serious, but let’s 

talk about pleasant things. Doing 

OK under the circumstances. I’m 

trying to decide between Brad 

Pitt, Dave Strathairn or Stoltz for 

the plastic surgery.” I did email 

Ray for an update shortly before 

submitting these notes and got 

an out-of-office reply, which 

included the following: “I will be 

out of the country through Jan. 

15 and will not be answering 

emails. Thank you for all your 

wonderful wishes for my speedy 

recovery. I’m doing fine.” 

When he wrote to tell me about 

Ray’s accident, Paul also said, “I 

wanted you and the rest of the 

class to know what an incredible 

asset Kevin Austin and Chris 

Williamson have been to this 

year’s fundraising efforts. The 

best part of the exercise has been 

getting to know them better. It’s 

been great fun and so far very 

successful.” 

Chris Williamson wrote to say, 

“Peggy and I are enjoying our 

three granddaughters, twins 20 

months and singleton 17 months. 

We get to see some or all about 

once a week, and so far their 

parents haven’t told us we aren’t 

welcome! Oldest daughter Abby 

’98 finished her PhD at Harvard’s 

Kennedy School last May. (She 

also celebrated her twins’ first 

birthdays that month!). She has 

accepted a dual appointment 

in political science and public 

policy at Trinity, so they won’t 

be moving too far away from 

us. Younger daughter Sarah and 

n 1969–70 

husband are still in Brookline. 

She earned her MSW at BC and 

is now the inaugural school 

counselor at Meadowbrook. We 

plan to watch them run by in 

the Boston Marathon, running 

for Dana Farber cancer research, 

while we watch their daughter. 

Son Tom is in the finals of a singing 

contest, but it’s not, unfortunately, 

American Idol. We are 

in our seventh year at Applewild 

School, a delightful K-8 school in 

Fitchburg. Any of you wanting to 

recreate the road trip to Boston 

from Williamstown, stop by! 

Despite the economic challenges, 

we’re successfully concluding a 

capital campaign and building a 

much-needed new dining hall. I 

always enjoy seeing Pat Bassett 

when our paths cross at independent 

school functions, and 

I am very proud that so many 

Williams alumni have chosen to 

make contributions as educators 

or serve on education boards. 

My hunch is that at least in part 

that results from our appreciation 

of the excellent teaching we 

experienced at Williams. It has 

been a pleasure to reconnect 

with Kevin Austin and Paul Miller 

while working on the Alumni 

Fund—and to talk or email with 

so many classmates too. You are 

an accomplished group!” 

Jim Kirkland, who hasn’t 

appeared in these notes for a 

while, sent a long email including 

more well-deserved kudos for our 

longtime class secretary Jeff Krull. 

Jim reported (a little late) that in 

2007 he and Noreen “surprised 

ourselves wandering through Ft. 

Wayne while driving non-expressway 

from VA to IL, and so I 

surprised Jeff with a call—I’d told 

him at several reunions I hoped 

to see his library someday. He 

was available mañana and gave 

us the cook’s tour. Two matters 

of timing added to the pleasure: 

First, the library had just finished 

a four-year expansion that 

doubled its size to a large city 

block and made it incredibly state 

of the art. Second, I was smack 

dab in the middle of creating a 

family history website, and his 

library turned out to have one of 

the five top genealogy collections 

in the country. I had no idea of 

either. Jeff said he’d be disappointed 

if any classmate coming 

through town with time didn’t try 

to call. We were so glad we did, 

and caught him.” Jim attached 

to his email a photo of Jeff standing 

in his library in front of the 

entrance to a large art gallery. 

Over the entrance was the room’s 

name: “Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery.” 


CLASS NOTES 

Jim also participated in a couple 

of Williams-related events last 

summer. In June Rob Hershey, 

headmaster of the Episcopal 

School up the street from Jim, 

invited him and several classmates 

in the area—Pat Bassett, 

Gerry Stoltz, Harvey Levin Paul 

Miller, Dick Ginman and others— 

for a round of golf and dinner at 

Alexandria’s country club, Belle 

Haven. Rob humbly led off the 

two threesomes with an eagle 

on the first hole. Along with 

available spouses, the six finished 

with dinner on the clubhouse 

patio overlooking No. 18. Jim 

described another summer 

(this one in August) Williams 

event as follows: “I joined five 

alumni (one a woman), from 

the classes of 1982, two from 

1987, 1990 and 1999, in a relay 

swim from Port Jefferson, N.Y., 

to Bridgeport Conn.—15 miles 

across Long Island Sound—in 

the annual St. Vincent’s Medical 

Foundation’s Swim Across The 

Sound fundraiser. We—the Angry 

Fish (though angry at no one)— 

are several former swimmers for 

Carl Samuelson, Williams swimming 

coach from 1966 to 2000. 

Carl tipped me off to the group 

in 2010, and with a few emails I 

was welcomed. Swimming alongside 

a motorboat, we six rotated 

15-minute swims over seven 

hours. A post-race picture of my 

teammates holding me up was in 

the December class notes for the 

Class of 1987. I knew none of 

them before the race. We had a 

blast, and except for making one 

sharp right turn toward Maine, 

provoking a frenzy of “come 

back” signals from the boat, I 

may have held my own enough 

to be invited back.” 

Don Berens wrote to say, 

among other things, that in 

June, he, his wife Maureen and 

daughter Kate ’04 traveled with 

their church choir to Bavaria, 

Austria and Prague, singing in 

five cathedrals and abbeys in 

Salzburg, Melk, Vienna and 

Prague. In August the three of 

them, joined by son Tom, cruised 

from Rotterdam to six Baltic 

ports. In late September Don 

began a 1,600-mile supported 

group bicycle tour from Maine 

to Florida, which ended in 

mid-October in Daytona Beach. 

His band of 25 bicyclists was 

joined in that city by 100,000 

Harley riders in town for 

Biketoberfest, making for one 

of the noisier bike rides Don has 

done. In November Don walked 

daughter Kate down the aisle at 

St. Stanislaus Church in Buffalo, 


N.Y., where she married Craig 

Bucki. Other Williams folk in 

attendance were Ken McCurdy 

’70, Don’s sisters Liz Berens ’71 

and Julie Berens ’75, Julie’s son 

Bob George ’04 and Kate’s friend 

Daniel Rooney ’06. 

Having had so few replies from 

the rest of you (no doubt preoccupied 

with writing your annual 

checks to the Alumni Fund), I 

am reduced to supplying the 

following filler material about 

myself. Julie and I took some 

time off from our law practice in 

October to go on a bike trip in 

the Dordogne region of France. 

This was our third European 

bike trip, but the first not part 

of a group and therefore a little 

daunting. But the weather was 

great, we saw very few tourists, 

faced little traffic on country 

roads and, most important, had 

no bike breakdowns. Biking past 

the literally hundreds of castles 

and chateaux in the region of 

France where the Hundred Years’ 

War was fought was a wonderful 

experience. Highlights were the 

Caves of Lascaux, Rocamadour, 

Les Ezyies and La Rocque 

Gageac. Well, that’s all, folks. 

Thanks for the memories. 

1971 

John Chambers 

10 Ashby Place 

Katonah, NY 10536 


Last time around we had a 

farm report, a reunion retrospective 

and purposes, pleasures and 

perils as seen by members of our 

class. This time contributions 

from classmates lead us to the 

arts, to acts of service and a set 

of milestones. Thanks, as always, 

go to contributors, along with 

apologies to those whose news I 

mangle or misrepresent. What is 

good here comes from all of you. 

The Arts: Paul Lieberman tees 

off first; he has gone Hollywood. 

They will roll out the red carpet 

for him and Heidi in October at 

the premier of a film he describes 

as “based on my seven-part 

narrative (for the LA Times) on 

the LAPD’s secretive Gangster 

Squad, which in the years after 

WWII had the anything-goes 

job of driving Eastern-linked 

mobsters—particularly Mickey 

Cohen—from the supposed City 

of Angels.” Well, maybe the red 

carpet is not just for Paul and 

Heidi, given the names in the 

cast: Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, 

Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma 

Stone, Nick Nolte. Paul explains, 

“The project has gotten a lot of 

hype, and you’ll be hearing/seeing 

more leading up to its release 

next October. I’m a ceremonial 

executive producer.” He is now 

at work on the book version, 

hoping to create a fund for future 

greens fees. 

Remember the photo of 

Gordie Clapp in the last edition? 

Following up, he wrote he 

was to “be back at the Acorn 

Theatre in New York in The New 

Group’s World Premiere of David 

Rabe’s An Early History of Fire. 

Performances start on March 

21. Come on down! We had a 

wonderful four-week run of This 

Verse Business at Merrimack 

Rep in Lowell in October. The 

word is getting around, and we 

hope to shop it extensively during 

2013, the 50th anniversary of 

Frost’s death.” Taking note of 

that start-of-performances date, 

and realizing that the publication 

of these class notes is April, let us 

hope for a long run. 

David Kubie reports further 

on the New York theater scene: 

“Audrey and I were pleased to 

welcome Kathy and Peter Wege 

and Linda and Jim Tam to NYC 

this December. The Tams were 

coming to attend the opening on 

Broadway of the show Lysistrata 

Jones. Their son Jason has a 

leading role in the play and was 

great, as usual. When the Weges 

heard that we were gathering in 

New York, they decided that it 

was high time for a visit themselves. 

We enjoyed a great few 

days together highlighted by a 

few shows and a tour of parts of 

Brooklyn, including a great lunch 

in Park Slope.” 

Acts of Service: Wally Schlech 

continues to be an exemplar: 

“Four months of the year on ID 

and Gen Med services keeps me 

reasonably sharp for my trips to 

Uganda and, now, Nigeria, for 

teaching/research/clinical work. 

… Was able to spend some time 

with Mary and team at Tabiro 

village in April to help with construction 

projects at the school 

(i.e., hauling bricks!). Yearly 

team visits through Navigators 

are now the norm, and the 

project(s) are going well—check 

us out at www.ugandaventure. 

com.” Wally claims to be semiretired, 

but just reading about 

family weddings (Walter F. 

IV—aka Bo—and Miss Eimear 

O’Loughlin of Portmarnock, 

Ireland, at Barberstown Castle, 

Co. Kildare) and the exploits 

of the rest of his and Mary’s 

offspring left me breathless. In 

between all this, Mary has fallen

David Kubie ’71 (second from right) and his wife Audrey welcomed 

classmates Jim Tam (left) and Peter Wege and their wives for a visit in 

NYC in December. The Tams were in town from Honolulu to see their son 

perform in Lysistrata Jones, which opened that week on Broadway. 

in love with Celtic fiddling and 

takes the fiddle along on all their 

travels. 

Even as these notes are written, 

Bob Eyre is also doing something 

good, but with typical modesty: 

He took a brief surgical mission 

trip to Haiti and says it “might 

be more interesting to reflect on 

the trip rather than just anticipate 

it.” Let’s do both, and hope for 

more from Bob next time. 

Peter Clarke is going even farther 

afield, to Bhutan. “I am taking 

four students (and Cushing 

Academy) to the Himalayas 

for three weeks in search of an 

enduring partnership with a 

small nation (whose king graduated 

from the academy) that is 

trying to transform itself into 

a vibrant, modern, democratic 

society without losing its cultural 

soul, a tall order for any people. 

At the heart of this journey is our 

desire to help them in any way 

we can to create a world-class 

educational system rooted in 

Buddhist principles. For a school 

like Cushing, seeking to engage 

students in the challenges of the 

21st century, what better place 

for a real-world, educational 

expedition than Bhutan?” Does 

it sound like Peter is channeling 

Bob Gaudino? 

Mark Pearson (that’s Rev. 

Canon Dr. Mark Pearson in 

certain circles) has been busy out 

of the country the past several 

months—England, France, 

Canada, Spain, Estonia—teaching, 

preaching, playing church 

organs. Mark and his wife Dr. 

Mary Pearson run a holistic wellness 

center called New Creation 

Healing Center on an eight-acre 

property in southern New 

Hampshire; according to Nick 

Tortorello, “This entity combines 

medical care, counseling, massage 

therapy and Christian spirituality 

in a whole-person way.” 

Remember David Albert’s 

update in the last class notes—his 

first in 40 years? He follows up 

by offering a further glimpse of 

his housing and water projects 

and other adventures, at 

shantinik@blogspot. com and 

www.friendlywaterfortheworld. 

com and signs off with, “Yellam 

Seyalkoodum! (’Everything is 

Possible,’ in Tamil).” 

Milestones: Lucky 13? 

According to executive director 

Steve Lawson, the “Lucky 13th” 

season of the Williamstown 

Film Festival turned out to be a 

prophetic slogan: “Nearly three 

dozen guest artists, premieres 

of 29 films ranging from family 

fare to late-night risqué shorts, 

a Bollywood seminar, a tasting 

with restaurateur Danny Meyer 

and a salute to cinema legend 

Sidney Lumet (marred only by 

that weird October blizzard)— 

this year had something for 

everyone.” Among ’71 attendees: 

Perennials Karen and John 

Ackroff and Sue and Steve Brown, 

Arria and Jack Sands, Jori and 

Steve Latham and first-timers 

Laura and Mike Foley and Mary 

and John Untereker. In 2011 

Williams alumni made a record 

60 contributions to WFF, with 22 

of these coming from our class. 

Check out www.williamstownfilmfest.com 

for a fun slideshow 

of snapshots from the season. 

Landmarks: Bill Rives is 

now your secretary’s favorite 

n 1970–71 

classmate, thanks to his note 

from Paris commending the 

“spirited, agreeable style” 

of these notes. So much do I 

respond to flattery that I hope the 

editor will include a photo of Bill 

in front of Notre Dame. Of the 

cathedral, Bill says, “Victor Hugo 

liked it, and so do I.” He sent 

another photo from a day at the 

races, saying, “Degas liked it, and 

so do I!” No classmates among 

the horses or jockeys, but take 

the hint, classmates, and send 

photos, even without the flattery. 

But wait, you say, Rives was in 

Singapore, not Paris! Right you 

are, for half of our 40 years since 

graduation, “but this fall was in 

France on a replacement contract 

teaching at the American School 

of Paris. A stimulating change of 

pace.” 

Mark Ruchman is traveling, 

too, “to Brazil, Uruguay and 

Argentina with Barbara and 

Jock Kimberley ’67.” But Mark 

has other milestones as well: 

“Sharon’s fourth CD has just 

come out and was favorably 

reviewed in Fanfare Magazine, 

the go-to publication for classical 

music enthusiasts. Check out 

www.sharonruchman.com. Julia 

’02 is writing for Covert Affairs 

on USA networks, and my medical 

practice continues to delight.” 

Fifteen years of cyber-sales? I 

tried to get a comment on the 

success of online marketing 

behemoth Amazon.com from 

Jane Gardner, since she was 

instrumental in their early media 

campaigns around the time of 

our 25th reunion, but she politely 

refused to take the credit for their 

success. 

Retirement? Mike Rade says, 

“I won a Lifetime Achievement 

Award from the American 

College of Surgeons. I think they 

are trying to tell me that I’m 

really old and it’s time to retire.” 

Nice award, Mike, but you’ll 

have to wait for retirement— 

remember you have med school 

tuition to pay for your son Matt 

’04, following in old dad’s professional 

footsteps. 

Grandchildren: A first grandchild, 

Tyler James Azarow, was 

presented to Nick Tortorello by his 

daughter Kerry Ann. Nick had 

other milestones, too: “After battling 

prostate cancer last year and 

recovering from umbilical hernia 

surgery, I am trying to lose weight 

and get myself a little healthier.” 

What else does he do to get 

healthy? “I ran for town commissioner 

in Upper Chichester, 

Pa., last November and lost by 

57 votes.” So what does it mean 


CLASS NOTES 

that Nick could get elected as our 

class president but not as town 

commissioner? 

Annual luncheon? Joe Fitzgerald 

reports, “Jim Heekin, Bob Miller 

and I had a nice Christmas lunch 

in NYC in late December. The 

engineer’s report revealed no 

structural damage to the restaurant. 

We sure did laugh a lot. I 

think there is a 50/50 chance it 

may happen again next year.” 

If Joe had sent a photo, I would 

have hoped to include it, because 

he, too, had kind words for the 

secretary. 

But better than the kind words 

are the laughs, the news items 

and the inspiration that come 

from all of you. Each time I 

gather these notes, I come away 

awed by our class. Please keep 

the bulletins coming, especially if 

we have not heard from you in 

too long a time! 

Respectfully submitted, John 

Chambers 

1972 


Jim Armstrong 

600 W. 115th St., Apt. 112 


David Webster 

596 Arbor Vitae Road 

Winnetka, IL 60093 


You will be reading these class 

notes shortly before our 40th 

reunion in Williamstown, June 

7-10. For those of you who 

are still undecided, we hereby 

provide some of the most common 

excuses for not attending a 

reunion, and rebuttals to those 

excuses. We ask that you read 

them in the spirit in which they 

were created: in the hope that 

lots of the members of the Class 

of 1972 will indeed choose to 

return to Williamstown for a 

few days of … well, for want of 

a better word, camaraderie. 

1. Excuse: “None of my 

friends will be there.” Response: 

Even if the classmates with 

whom you were closest can’t 

make it, we guarantee that you 

will renew a forgotten friendship 

or make a lasting new one. 

This has happened at every one 

of our previous seven reunions, 

and it will happen again this 

time. Trust us on this. 

2. Excuse: “Frankly, I had no 

love for the college when I was 

there, and I have no love for the 


college now.” Response: This is 

a Class of 1972 reunion, not an 

encounter group with the college. 

We attend reunions to be 

with each other. 

3. Excuse: “It’s too expensive. 

I can’t afford to come.” 

Response: If money is a serious 

problem, please get in touch 

with Class President Harry 

Kangis on a confidential basis, 

explaining the situation. There 

are some funds (admittedly 

limited) that are available to 

help classmates, particularly 

those who have never been to 

a reunion before. All inquiries 

will be kept strictly confidential. 

We very clearly hear what you 

are saying and want to help if 

we can. 

4. Excuse: “I’ve put on a few 

pounds (or lost a lot of hair, 

etc.) over the years.” Response: 

Oh, please. Who hasn’t? Each 

one of us will be 40 years older 

than we were when we graduated—and 

all that that implies. 

5. Excuse: “It’s going to be 

like a fraternity party weekend, 

with lots of rah-rah pep talks 

and bacchanalian binges.” 

Response: Again, this is a weekend 

of, by and for our class. 

We have some truly fascinating 

classmates, and many of them 

will be at the reunion. The parties 

are fun, not frivolous. Heck, 

we’re getting a private concert 

from Livingston Taylor on 

Friday night. Most of all, you 

will be among people who like 

you and care about you, and 

that’s the whole secret about 

reunions. 

6. Excuse: “If I show up, I’m 

likely to get assigned some onerous 

duty or position involving 

the class.” Response: Wrong. It’s 

the people who don’t show up 

who get stuck with such things. 

7. Excuse: “I’ve never been 

back and would find it difficult 

to walk into some cocktail party 

where everyone there knows 

everyone else. I’d feel totally 

left out.” Response: It sounds 

silly, but reunions can be quite 

magical. Yes, it may take a while 

to get in the swing of things, 

especially if this is your first time 

back, but at noon on Sunday on 

Reunion Weekend, when everyone’s 

packing up to head home, 

it’s pretty rare to hear people say 

they had a bad time or wish they 

hadn’t come. On the contrary. 

8. Excuse: “I won’t be able to 

make up my mind about attending 

until the last minute, and 

by then it’s always too late.” 

Response: Contact reunion cochairs 

Carter Peterson and John 

Brewer if you need an extension 

of any deadline to register or 

show up. 

9. Excuse: “I’m worried that 

somebody will put the arm on 

me at one of the class functions, 

when I may be emotionally vulnerable.” 

Response: Just say no. 

10. Excuse: “I hate listening 

to windbag speeches and other 

boring class lore.” Response: 

Harry Kangis is president of 

the class, and “Brevity” and 

“Focus” are his middle names. 

10a. Excuse: “I don’t accept 

the legitimacy of Harry B.F. 

Kangis as our president; I 

want proof he was born in 

Massachusetts.” Response: He 

has promised to release his birth 

certificate at Friday’s dinner. 

11. Excuse: “I can’t make 

it for the entire weekend.” 

Response: Talk to the reunion 

co-chairs, who can come up 

with a pro-rated package to 

meet your needs. 

12. Excuse: “It’s the same 

old crowd that comes to these 

things—never anybody I really 

know.” Response: Actually, 

there is no “same old crowd.” 

Each reunion is unique and 

has a fascinating blending of 

classmates who have been to 

(1) every reunion or (2) some 

reunions or (3) no reunions. If 

you are interested in helping 

shape the weekend, talk with 

reunion co-chairs. There is every 

opportunity for anyone willing 

to become involved to leave his 

or her imprint on the reunion. 

13. Excuse: “The annual 

alumni meeting is a drag. We 

don’t win trophies anymore, so 

why bother?” Response: We’re 

in a tricky spot concerning 

trophies, because the so-called 

younger classes have many more 

members than we do, and older 

classes can more easily obtain a 

high percentage of contributors, 

given their diminished ranks. 

Besides, let’s face it, 1972 is a 

very unusual class. We’ve never 

really fit the mold, a fact for 

which many of us are profoundly 

grateful. Bottom line: 

We don’t need any trophies for 

it to be a successful weekend. 

14. Excuse: I understand that 

the Class of 1972’s Saturday 

night party typically goes on 

so long that the Williamstown 

police are called in to break it 

up. Response: Guilty as charged. 

Blame (or, rather, credit) John 

Kincheloe and his band. By the 

way, it’s always the younger 

classes who call the police 

because of the noise. (Hint: 

they’re jealous.) No one has yet

een arrested, and if that were 

to happen, bail will be available 

… probably. 

15. Excuse: I’ll be washing my 

hair or doing my laundry that 

weekend. Response: Understood 

and accepted. The Amherst 

Class of ’72 reunion will likely 

have vacancies, where, as an 

inducement to attend, we understand 

they supply shampoo 

and detergent to all returning 

classmates. All eight of them. 

16. Excuse: (Fill in the blank) 

Response: Please bear in mind 

that reunions exist both for 

attendees to receive something—typically, 

fellowship and 

enjoyment from being with the 

unique and finite body of people 

who knew you when you were 

19 years old—but also to give 

something. It may be hard to 

imagine this, but your attendance 

will make someone in the class 

very happy. We guarantee this. 

Unequivocally. You—you—being 

around, visiting with, talking 

with others will enrich their 

experience and often their lives. 

If you don’t come, the experience 

of those who do will be the lesser 

for that. Contribute your presence. 

The rest of us will be very 

glad you did. And so will you. 

And since these are class 

notes, we end with some news 

from and about some of our 

classmates. 

Congratulations to Bob Gordon 

on his re-election to the New 

Jersey State Senate in November. 

The geography of Bob’s district 

was heavily changed during reapportionment, 

turning his race 

into what was widely acknowledged 

to be the most competitive 

one in the state. 

Dave Martin sends in this 

update: “Since March 2011 I 

have been working in the newest 

country in the world, South 

Sudan, helping the Ministry of 

Finance develop procedures to 

prepare a budget. The country 

has a long way to go to 

recover from half a century of 

civil war, which destroyed the 

roads, schools, hospitals and the 

economy. It is exciting to work 

in a country where leaders are 

ready to implement reforms, but 

progress will be slow. I had few 

visitors in other countries where 

I worked (Georgia, Moldova, 

Uzbekistan and Jordan), and I 

am not expecting many in South 

Sudan. I am writing this note in 

January from snowless Vermont, 

where I had hoped to crosscountry 

ski on the Catamount 

Trail before my return to South 

Sudan.” 

Michael Pitcher’s son Quinn is 

in his freshman year at Williams. 

Michael notes that Quinn is 

“third generation: I was ’72, 

my brother was Class of 1971, 

and our late father was Class of 

1937. My son Casey is currently 

a junior in high school and is 

eyeing Williams as well.” He 

adds that “after 30 years in the 

newspaper business, I went over 

to the dark side seven years ago, 

as my newspaper friends tell 

me. As director of communications 

for the Suffolk County 

Legislature, I am now applying 

the spin rather than removing 

it.” 

Ken McGraime has been at 

HSBC for almost 10 years and 

manages the corporate banking 

team for New England out of 

Boston. He writes: “Judy can’t 

seem to totally retire from teaching 

and has taken a part-time 

position teaching French in the 

Lexington public school system. 

Our two daughters have long 

since fled the nest, but we have 

two strays, Scruff and Jasper, 

who never question our judgment 

and provide unconditional 

love. My main passion in the 

community is the Make-a-Wish 

Foundation of Massachusetts 

and Rhode Island. I’m on the 

board and have served as chair. 

Judy and I are currently teaming 

on granting a young child’s wish, 

which is incredibly fulfilling. We 

enjoyed Columbus Day weekend 

down in Bay Head with Janet 

and Thad Russell, who are both 

doing well.” 

“My wife Carol and I are 

chugging along in suburban 

Philadelphia,” reports Chip 

Young. “She has her own business 

designing kitchens and 

baths, and I am general counsel 

at Airgas Inc., a public company 

that manufactures and distributes 

industrial and medical 

gases. The last couple of years 

were professionally challenging 

as Airgas fought off a hostile 

takeover attempt. It’s been more 

fun watching our four kids, two 

each from previous marriages, 

grow into young adults. Son 

Matt rowed and studied his way 

through Harvard and after three 

years in New York is applying 

to business school. His brother 

Brian, also a rower, is finishing 

up at U Penn and aspires to be a 

collegiate rowing coach. Carol’s 

daughter Rachel is a psych major 

at Delaware, and her sister Aly 

is studying comparative religion 

at a favorite haunt from long 

ago, Skidmore. We enjoy the 

occasional visit with Martha and 

n 1971–73 

Dore Griffinger when they are 

in town to see their daughter, 

and we traveled south last 

fall to catch up with Ann and 

John Searles when they came 

east for parents’ weekend at 

Georgetown. Life is busy, and we 

look forward to jumping off the 

track long enough to enjoy the 

40th this spring.” 

Lastly, the Office of Donor 

Relations of the College has 

announced that it has established 

a fund in memory of Rex 

Krakauer. Appropriately, it is 

called the Rex Krakauer 1972 

Asian Experience Fund. Its purpose 

is to support Asian Studies 

programs, including scholarships 

for students who want to travel 

to Asia. Donations can be made 

to the fund in memory of Rex. 

Donations can also be made to 

the Alumni Fund in his name 

or in the name of any of our 

deceased classmates. 

1973 

Cole Werble 

2540 Massachusetts Ave., NW 

Apt. 204 



The “Climb High, Climb Far” 

spirit keeps emerging from the 

deep collective soul and sinews 

of the Class of ’73. Another 

amazing mountain trek highlights 

the notes (for the fourth time 

in a row). This time Fred Harris 

reports a bike trek from deep 

in Tibet to Nepal (Lhasa to 

Kathmandu). Fred says the desire 

for the trip long preceded his 

exposure to Greylock. “For my 

60th, I accomplished a goal I 

have had since the eighth grade 

and visited Tibet.” However, 

staring at the Berkshires and the 

climbing exhortations must have 

had some impact on this obsession 

sending so many classmates 

back to the mountains. These 

are not soft, pampered outings. 

Fred bicycled 670 miles in the 

mountainous region in about 

three weeks. He carried GPS 

equipment that recorded an 

astounding array of data. One 

day near the middle of the trip, 

he biked 47 miles in five-and-aquarter 

hours, gaining 3,294 feet 

in vertical height and burning 

2,827 calories. Sounds like the 

regimen of a graduate of ’93 or 

’03, not ’73. 

Meris Delli-Bovi kept up a 

frenetic pace of travel in an 

extended pre-60th celebration. 

As she explains, she decided 

that “constant motion” was the 


CLASS NOTES 

perfect antidote to the 60 event. 

Constant motion it certainly was. 

At first, I had a hard time figuring 

out when these travels took 

place. Maybe in the 37 years 

since graduating from Williams? 

No, it turns out in a two-month 

period from the end of summer 

through mid-fall. Meris started 

by heading west from her home 

in Colorado to “the gorgeous 

wedding of my nephew Noah at 

my sister Jan’s place on the water 

at Whidbey Island, Wash.” She 

stayed for a week with her sister 

“in Coupeville, catching up, 

hiking and feasting on massive 

amounts of stone crab and oysters 

(a fantasy for Coloradans) 

pulled every couple of days from 

the bay.” 

Then to the East Coast 

for another wedding (niece 

Catherine) “on Cape Cod at her 

dad’s 50-acre horse farm.” Then 

to the Southwest and Austin in 

September “to see my ‘daughter’ 

Joanna, Rob and their four 

kids” (ages 4-14). The eldest is a 

dancer, and that allowed Meris 

to experience the extravaganza 

of Texas high school football 

“with a halftime that made Glee 

look like amateur hour. There 

were literally hundreds of band 

members, dancers, cheerleaders, 

etc., on the field for a production 

that was far from the 

humble offerings I grew up on 

in Connecticut.” Meris tactfully 

did not dare compare the Texas 

show to the unique experiences 

of Weston Field. 

Then back to the East Coast 

and NYC “in early October to 

officially celebrate my 60th with 

my sister Jan, who flew in from 

Washington. We had a great time, 

including breakfast with Bill Finn 

’74, who is still working on his 

Little Miss Sunshine musical. 

They also got the chance to tour 

the Metropolitan Museum at 

“a leisurely pace” on one of its 

closed days “with nary a soul in 

sight.” Then back to Colorado to 

drive back to the North Carolina 

mountains for more celebration 

and the southern version of 

Berkshires foliage. Meris says 

she is recovering as 2012 begins 

and planning to start to cut 

back on work at the business 

she runs, Flatirons Marketing 

& Communications, “which 

provides community relations, 

technical writing, proposal 

management/writing and editing 

to engineering and environmental 

firms as well as nonprofits.” She 

says her enjoyment of the travel 

around her “seminal birthday” 

and the realization that “we are 


all not getting any younger” is 

leading her to think about cutting 

back a bit on work. Suggesting 

that getting older and acting 

older are different events, Meris 

follows that statement with plans 

to spend next July in Venice and 

study Italian for a month. 

After continuing to receive 

these tiring reports of adventurous 

athletic and travel feats 

(exhausting to read if not to 

experience), I was relieved to 

finally come across a note about 

an actual retirement. 

Barbara Smith Mitchell writes 

that Wylie “decided it was time 

to retire as the dean of admissions 

from Bates after 33 years.” 

Alas, retirement comes hard to 

this Class of ’73. Barbara notes 

that the retirement lasted “all of 

a couple of weeks until he joined 

the admission staff at Bowdoin 

as the Distinguished Visiting 

Dean of Admission.” From 

emeritus to visiting dean sounds 

like a nice, active inversion of the 

traditional emeritus pattern. One 

of the first people Wylie ran into 

at Bowdoin was Gil Birney ’72, 

“now Bowdoin’s rowing coach.” 

Barbara notes that Wylie is “also 

doing some consulting at the 

Waynflete School in Portland and 

putting all of his years of experience 

to work doing some private 

college counseling. He’d love 

to hear from any of you who 

still have kids facing the college 

admission process.” 

Dave Butts went west from his 

dental practice in the Virginia 

suburbs of DC and visited Steve 

Hobbs “in the Bay area as well as 

up the Sonoma coast. We were 

able to visit with his two daughters 

as well.” Dave also noted 

the next-generation education/ 

career progress of his son David 

’06 and Larry Shoer’s son Joseph 

’06. Both recent graduates, good 

Eph friends, completed PhDs in 

engineering: David at MIT and 

Joseph at Cornell. David started 

work at Draper Labs at the start 

of 2012. 

Bill Eyre just had to walk the 

streets of New York, where he 

“literally bumped into” John 

Loeffler in early December and 

expressed amazement that John 

looks the same as at Williams. 

I can vouch for that, having 

run into John at a high school 

graduation six months earlier. 

Bill reports that his daughters at 

Williams have graduated, and 

his “youngest is in college at 

Princeton playing number two 

on the women’s squash team.” 

One classmate has discovered 

the ability to enjoy mountains 

by looking up at them without 

scaling to the top. Linda Vipond 

Heath writes, “My husband and 

I took a trip to Hawaii for our 

shared 70th and 60th birthday 

celebrations. We didn’t scale 

any major mountains but did do 

some scuba diving and hiking 

in the Volcano National Park.” 

Linda reports, “All three children 

are out of the nest; my youngest 

just went off to Occidental 

College.” Linda also notes 

(literally) that she has returned to 

singing, joining “a local women’s 

a cappella group. Not having 

sung a cappella since my Ephlats 

days, I am finding it challenging 

but a lot of fun. We sing in 

nursing homes and at community 

events in Greenwich.” 

Milton Grenfell reports a 

significant milestone for Antonio 

Lulli Almenara, who “has finally 

become an American citizen.” 

Milton feigns shock “to think 

I was harboring an alien in my 

Bryant House suite for three 

years!” 

A number of classmates are 

adventuring into the wilds of in 

town apartment living. Chris Pitt 

reports: “Dottie and I sold the 

house in Milton and moved to a 

condominium in the old Baker 

Chocolate Mills in Dorchester, 

and I started a one-year term as 

president of the Massachusetts 

Real Estate Bar Association.” 

John Vestal has made a similar 

move to a downtown apartment 

in Dallas. One son, Andrew, was 

married In September; another, 

Charles, is to be married next 

September. 

At the Art Institute in 

downtown Chicago, Suzanne 

Folds McCullagh advanced to 

become the chair and curator 

of the department of prints 

and drawings. Suzanne has 

been in the prints department 

at the Art Institute for over 

35 years. The museum says 

she has “acquired some of the 

most significant works of art 

held by the Department of 

Prints and Drawings” and has 

curated “dozens of exhibitions” 

including one for this spring on 

“Capturing the Sublime: Italian 

Drawings of the Renaissance and 

Baroque.” 

I have another tidbit to add 

to the continued success of the 

Williams art mafia. My daughter 

Kate Werble ’02 was featured in 

The New York Times Sunday 

arts section in October as one of 

New York’s new leading contemporary 

gallerists for her gallery in 

Chelsea, Kate Werble Gallery. 

Several classmates weighed

in on the varying reminiscences 

raised in the last two issues by 

Bill Cunningham and Jay Haug. In 

addition to her lively account of 

her birthday travels, Meris also 

shared her fond memories of 

Professor Stocking as “a marvelous 

teacher who knew how to 

make the American Renaissance 

come alive.” She recalled being 

called in for a conference with 

Stocking after a successful paper 

on Thoreau so that he could 

point out the “humorous undertone 

that ran through Walden.” 

Meris points out, “I love a 

teacher who would worry that a 

student might miss some of the 

joy in a literary masterpiece.” 

Meris adds that Stocking “was a 

free spirit and had a right to his 

own feelings on religion. It didn’t 

seem to affect his teaching of a 

time when religion was a main 

part of how people viewed the 

world.” 

Steve Hauge said he enjoyed 

the sharing of memories and 

opinions from different points of 

view and suggested some topics 

to try to stimulate more active 

discourse in future class notes. 

Steve and his twin brother have 

combined to create a website 

(www.truetheatergoer.com/) to 

create a community of theater 

goers and “to promote theater 

on Broadway and in DC by 

providing an enriching collection 

of information on current shows, 

topline reviews and ratings.” 

Steve welcomes “reviews from 

any classmates who have seen 

any of the shows posted.” 

Field Horne reports that a large 

contingent of our class turned 

out for a memorial service for 

Peter Klejna’s wife of 31 years, 

Margo Reid Klejna. The list of 

classmates at a service in late 

October: Mike Barry, Vanessa 

and Chris Brown, Carrie and Tracy 

Brown, Field Horne, Alice and 

Sandy McGill, Dan Schwartzman, 

Put Smith and Bill Teitler. 

1974 

Jonathan W. Fitch 

5 Cedar Hill Road 

Dover, MA 02030 


Alas, I begin with a farewell to 

our cherished classmate Ronnie 

Krauss, who died of cancer in 

November. Heidi Jerome, Peter 

Talbert, Ed Ryan and Gates 

Blodgett visited with Ronnie, 

her husband Paul and sons 

Eric and Brett at their home in 

Irvington, N.Y., shortly before 

her death. Gates writes, “We 

had a relaxed time watching 

football, eating great food and 

telling tall tales from our days 

at Williams and specifically the 

endless adventures from Water 

Street, where we lived during 

1973-74. Ronnie was clearly 

on her last legs, but her sense of 

humor and wise view were fully 

intact. We were all lucky to have 

known her, a truly remarkable 

person. Heidi was especially 

helpful to Ronnie during the ups 

and downs of treatment over 

the past years, a great friend and 

remarkable in her own right.” 

Ronnie was a seven-time Emmy 

Award-winning TV producer 

and writer. Her creative brilliance, 

wit and warmth were 

expressed in the many projects 

she completed, including those 

as head writer of Nate the Great, 

a comedic mystery series for 

WNET/PBS; as producer/writer 

of What’s Going On?, a global 

documentary series produced by 

Showtime/RCN Entertainment 

in cooperation with the UN; as 

supervising producer/executive 

story editor of Out of the Box, 

a Disney Channel preschool 

arts and imagination series; 

and as producer/writer of 

Reading Rainbow, the nationally 

acclaimed series hosted 

by LeVar Burton. Ronnie also 

wrote scripts for shows such as 

Cyberchase, The Magic School 

Bus, Stanley, I Spy, Dragontales, 

Really Wild Animals, Sesame 

Stories and many others. She collaborated 

with Nobel Peace Prize 

recipient Elie Wiesel in creating 

a video based on his Passover 

Haggadah. Ronnie also authored 

14 children’s books and was cocreator 

of the first board game 

ever designed for grandparents 

to play with their grandchildren, 

“To Grandma’s House We 

Go!” As one of the pioneering 

women of ’74, Ronnie transferred 

from her beloved Vassar 

to Williams, where she majored 

in English and graduated at the 

top of our class and Phi Beta 

Kappa. I found a long, glowing 

professional recommendation 

for Ronnie on a website, which 

ends with the simple statement, 

“Really, you couldn’t ask for 

better.” I’d say that about sums it 

up. Our sympathies to Paul and 

Ronnie’s sons. 

The well-traveled Class of 

’74 has seen the world, in part, 

thanks to the junior-year trips 

abroad our children have taken. 

Nancy and Larry Peltz had an 

amazing trip to Cameroon, 

where their daughter Haley, 

a senior at Hamilton, was 

n 1973–74 

studying. Larry writes: “It is 

quite an amazing country, very 

long in the north-south axis 

and so contains many different 

ecosystems. We first went 

to Kribi, on the ocean, where 

people stop you on the beach 

offering to take their boats out 

for fish and shrimp for your dinner 

on the sand. The accommodations 

were spartan but quite 

reasonable for such a beautiful 

place. You just have to get there. 

From there, we took a bus to 

Douala, where we got a plane 

to Maroua in the extreme north. 

Mainly Islamic, the city has a 

much more low-key feel than 

the other major cities, Douala 

and Yaounde, the capital. We 

constructed a tour with a young 

guy we met at the airport and 

hoped for the best. This turned 

out to be mostly a good idea, 

as renting a car and driving to 

the mountains on your own is 

almost impossible—at least for 

me at this stage. I had been in 

Cameroon in 1982 and at that 

time there were no paved roads 

in the entire country. Now you 

just need a professional driver to 

navigate them. The landscape in 

the extreme north is extremely 

rugged, and our planned threeday 

hike through villages was 

shortened to returning to our 

hotel for dinner. However, our 

guide and friends we met were 

quite supportive and funny about 

our limited conditioning. The 

greatest thrill was getting around 

the country with Haley, whose 

ease and skillfulness with the 

people were great accompaniments 

to my half-assed French. 

We finished in Yaounde, hosted 

and feted by Haley’s family, professor 

and friends. It was a real 

eye opener seeing middle class 

homes without running water. 

We also went to a soccer game 

that ended in a tie but eliminated 

Cameroon from the Africa Cup 

tournament. In the ensuing 

riots, six people were killed. The 

disappointment of their team’s 

inability to score apparently 

goes quite deep.” Larry’s note 

also mentioned a minireunion in 

Cambridge. “Nan Elliot ’73 was 

visiting from Alaska, and we had 

a great visit. A bonus was getting 

to hang out with David Dryer ’72 

and Martha Bedell at their beautiful 

Cambridge house where Nan 

was staying. And I even got to 

see photos of that handsome 

John Dryer and his beautiful 

girls.” Larry is a therapist in 

NYC and is working on a book 

on the subject of mindfulness 

and addiction. 


CLASS NOTES 

Here’s some news from two of 

the nearly 100 lawyers (yes, that 

is correct) in the Class of ’74. 

Joyce Gorman writes, “I am still 

a capital markets partner with 

Ashurst LLP, a London-based 

global law firm, in its DC office 

and often traveling to NY and 

elsewhere representing Wall 

Street clients, which has been 

a challenge in the financial 

markets and with the uncertainty 

of changing regulations. It has 

been very interesting to be with 

a global firm, though, to witness 

first-hand the worldwide financial 

issues that we read about in the 

paper. My husband Joe Fanone 

(Georgetown ’71, JD ’74) has 

been named managing partner 

of Ballard Spahr’s DC office. 

Our son Peter Fanone graduated 

from Georgetown Prep in June 

and is a freshman at Georgetown 

University. He released his first 

album, which is available on 

iTunes and at amazon.com (just 

search for his name), is very 

involved in acting and has been 

inducted into the Chimes a cappella 

group. Stepson Michael 

Fanone and his wife Hsin-yi gave 

birth to a baby girl on Christmas 

Eve several hours after leaving 

our annual Gorman family 

Christmas party (the timing could 

not have been more perfect!), and 

stepdaughter Kathleen Fanone is 

living in Baltimore and working 

at Johns Hopkins hospital. So 

everyone is busy and productive 

and starting to make plans for 

2012!” And from Minneapolis, 

Peter Reilly checks in saying, “I 

still practice PI law at Schwebel, 

Goetz & Sieben, and Patsy is still 

the senior VP of government programs 

for Blue Cross Blue Shield 

of MN. … Our daughter Sarah 

(Bowdoin ’06) has been awarded 

a Forte Fellowship to obtain her 

MBA at the Carlson School of 

Business here at the University 

of MN. The Forte Foundation 

is sponsored by many major 

national corporations, including 

PIMCO, Pfizer, Exxon Mobil and 

Goldman Sachs and has as its 

goal the promotion of women in 

MBA programs. Needless to say 

we are very proud of Sarah for 

achieving this honor. Patsy and 

I are also celebrating our 30th 

wedding anniversary with a trip 

to Germany this summer and will 

be visiting Williamstown this fall 

as I am a national board member 

of the American Board of Trial 

Advocates, which is holding its 

fall meeting in Boston.” 

Thanks go to Jeff Elliott for 

once again organizing the 

Annual Class of ’74 Holiday 


Lunch, which took place at the 

new home of the Williams Club 

in NYC. As the historian of 

the event, Jeff reports that the 

turnout was the largest ever. That 

is a good thing, and we hope 

that next year (on the eve of 

our 40th reunion!), many more 

will gather with us in NYC. 

Those present this year from 

our number were: Tom Cohen, 

Lusyd Doolittle, Phil DiMauro, 

Fran Doran, Tom Douglas, Jim 

Edwards, Audrey and Jeff Elliott, 

Bill Finn, Tom Hut, myself and 

wife Deb, Jeff Johnson, Jerry 

Kapp, Bob Kaus, Matty Levine, 

Carol and Rich Levy, Jenny and 

Dave Maraghy, Skip March, Chuck 

Mitchell, Janet Keyes O’Connell, 

“Grace (x2) Paine Terzian,” Bob 

Rothman, Bruce Sheehan, Tom 

Slattery, Shellie and Rick Unger, 

Iris Wolisnky and Betsy Howard 

from Williams. Some tidbits from 

the good cheer of this excellent 

annual tradition: Rick Unger is 

energized by a transition in his 

legal career; he has moved from 

his solo practice to the large 

national firm, Duane Morris, 

where he began his career (and 

stayed as partner for a number 

of years) and he is now acting 

as special counsel for business 

development. Jeff Johnson is back 

to work in NYC as executive VP/ 

general manager of Cramer- 

Krasselt, the second largest 

independent marketing and 

advertising agency in the country. 

Tom Cohen, another consummate 

New Yorker, is enjoying work 

as an investor in media and new 

technologies. It was good to 

meet first-time attendee Tom Hut, 

an accomplished architect, who 

has worked, for instance, with 

the Guggenheim Museum on 

projects in NYC (in Soho and on 

the Frank Lloyd Wright project 

uptown) and on the design and 

construction of the Guggenheim 

Museum in Bilbao. Grace times 

two? Grace’s daughter Gracie, 

a UVA undergrad, was in NYC 

for an internship with Saturday 

Night Live: Flaming hair, 

winning smile, and Southern 

charm—well, Grace’s daughter. 

Deb and I ran into Grace later 

at a production of Follies (by 

Stephen Sondheim ’50) that Bill 

had recommended. Richard Story 

could not make our lunch, but 

Dave Maraghy wrote that they 

were able to enjoy lunch together 

the following day. 

Julie Scandora is picking up the 

pieces following a devastating 

fire in her home in the Seattle 

area. She says, “I took it all 

pretty well. Really, what can one 

do but move on? So I’ve been 

having a wonderful (usually) and 

frustrating (once in a while) time 

redesigning and reconstructing 

my house. Meanwhile I continue 

to edit book manuscripts for 

a local publisher and love the 

variety, the challenges and helping 

the many good authors that 

come my way. As for my watercolors, 

the fire destroyed almost 

all of my artwork, and I must 

rebuild my inventory. I haven’t 

even had time to get art supplies. 

My published books went the 

same way—all gone—as well as 

the illustrations I had done for 

my next children’s book. So I 

have a lot of starting over to do 

this year. 

My family is doing well. My 

son and oldest daughter and her 

family live nearby, and I get to 

see them often, which is especially 

good since two grandsons 

are part of the mix. All in all, life 

is good, balanced with time for 

friends, family, outdoors, intellectual 

activity, creative endeavors 

and uninterrupted peace.” 

1975 

Julia Berens 

22 Sperry Lane 

Lansing, NY 14882 


As I write this, Upstate New 

York is experiencing the winter 

that wasn’t; 53 degrees during 

the first week in January means 

a lot less salt on one’s car and no 

possibility of local cross-country 

skiing. Breaking news is that I 

have just agreed to climb back 

into the saddle (and out of retirement) 

to teach the senior class 

in Lansing, N.Y., for the entire 

second semester while a teacher 

is on maternity leave. 

Becoming China’s Bitch 

and Nine More Catastrophes 

We Must Avoid Right Now is 

the (admittedly) provocative 

title of Peter Kiernan’s newly 

released book examining “why 

we are frozen as a nation, and 

10 problems we must have the 

courage to face.” Peter’s intended 

audience is neither Republicans 

nor Democrats but Independents, 

“the largest and fastest growing 

political segment.” Somewhat 

less jarring is the title of K.K. 

DuVivier’s book The Renewable 

Energy Reader, a sourcebook for 

U.S. renewable energy law. Jeff 

Thaler ’74 is using the book as 

a text for his renewable energy 

class at the University of Maine. 

K.K.’s daughter was married in 

November, and her son received

an NSF grant for grad work 

on solar panels at UC Santa 

Barbara. K.K. and fellow geo 

majors Mike Wilson and Ben Duke 

try to see Professor Bud Wobus 

whenever he is in Denver. 

Two classmates spent January 

in Williamstown as Winter Study 

instructors. Will Parish taught 

“Environmental Education: 

What, How and Why?” Will’s 

wife Julie won an award for her 

fundraising efforts on behalf 

of the National Parks in San 

Francisco. Chan Lowe co-taught 

“Editorial Cartooning and the 

Art of Propaganda” with E.J. 

Johnson ’59, who addressed 

the art history side while Chan 

taught students how to draw and 

communicate. Last fall, Chan 

was inducted into the Oklahoma 

Cartoonists Hall of Fame in 

recognition of nine years he spent 

working for Oklahoma newspapers 

and his work as a Florida 

journalist. 

After five and a half months, 

Chuck Chokel reports that he has 

recovered from his 2011 bike 

injury. He and Naira alternate 

between their New Hampshire 

and Arizona homes with plenty 

of domestic and international 

travel as well as triathlons to fill 

in the gaps. 

Dede and Tony Brown traveled 

to New Hampshire to welcome 

Tony’s third grandchild, 

Thatcher, born Dec. 3. Hermien 

and Phil Less love living in Rhode 

Island and celebrated their first 

year back in New England since 

1975. Bobby Kittredge is stateside 

after two and a half years in 

France. His wife found the 

perfect job in Sacramento, and 

Bobby is “better suited to English 

and optimists” and is still changing 

diapers. He recommends 

watching the 20-minute lectures 

in the EphNotes emails, which 

are helping him “stop flunking 

out of Williams in my dreams.” 

Margaret Stuhr checked in from 

Chicago, where she and husband 

Tim Quinn ’77 celebrated the 

marriage of their daughter Katie 

Quinn ’08 to Bryan Eckelmann 

’09 in July. Janean Abbott and 

husband Tracy Slack came from 

Oregon to join the festivities, 

which sounded like a massive 

Ephfest with alumni from the 

’70s and ’80s as well as current 

students including Margaret and 

Tim’s son Andy ’13. 

Always a source of ’75 news, 

Anton Bestebreurtje watched the 

Williams/Amherst game with 

Bob (Milt) Morin, Gene Frogale, 

Lucy and Bob Beck and Larry 

Patent ’74. Anton provided this 

report: “Milt has retired from 

his administrative position at 

St. Elizabeth’s but maintains 

his private psychology practice. 

Gene opened a sideline for their 

lumber business that caters to 

custom builders and is always 

nice enough to offer Redskins 

tickets to Milt and Anton. Lucy 

continues in an internal medicine 

practice. Apparently Bob felt 

that dealing with preemies as a 

neonatologist wasn’t enough of a 

challenge, so he’s about to get an 

online MBA from UMass. Larry 

is in private practice after retiring 

from the U.S. government.” 

Sam Bronfman, living in 

Barcelona for the school year, 

reports that his Spanish is 

improving slowly and that he is 

becoming a fan of international 

“football.” Bonnie Harris had a 

fabulous holiday in France to celebrate 

her husband Larry’s 60th 

birthday. I guess after 30-plus 

years in Sydney, every day 

doesn’t seem like a holiday in 

the Land of Oz. Amy and Allan 

Ruchman took an online course 

through Princeton on “The Art 

of Engineering” (greatest hits of 

buildings and bridges over the 

last 150 years), and Allan continues 

to sing with the Greenwich 

Choral Society. He reports that 

Tully Moss is alive and well 

and visited Connecticut before 

returning to the Philippines, 

where he is doing management 

consulting and teaching management 

education courses for 

various companies. 

Polly Smith and her family rang 

in the New Year with Liz Titus, 

who looks forward to attending 

the ordination of Barnaby Feder 

’72 into the Unitarian ministry 

in 2012. Liz writes, “Thanks 

to an enduring friendship with 

Professor Roger Bolton, I had 

the opportunity to write a book 

review that will be in the Journal 

of Regional Science.” Liz is 

fortunate to have the inspiration 

of her parents’ “vim, vigor and 

60 years of marriage!” 

Ned Reade spent a week last 

summer working at an orphanage 

in Haiti and found the 

experience to be transformative. 

Bottled water was readily 

available, but electricity and 

other “necessities” were spotty, 

if available at all. It sounds as if 

Ned believes that a jolt to one’s 

perspective can be a good thing. 

My request for news elicited a 

lengthy response from Gene Falk, 

who has decided after 10 years of 

working with mothers2mothers, 

the last seven of them in Cape 

Town, to step down as m2m’s 

n 1974–76 

CEO and return to the States 

in 2012. Ten years ago, after 

visiting his college roommate 

Mitch Besser ’76, who had just 

launched the very first Mentor 

Mother program in Cape Town, 

Gene was hooked. He writes, 

“One mother at a time, the 

Mentor Mothers battle stigma 

and discrimination, confounding 

expectations of what it means to 

be a woman living with HIV and 

becoming important role models 

for personal and economic 

empowerment.” Kudos to Gene 

for his tireless work for one of 

the most successful grassroots 

programs on the planet whose 

aim is to improve people’s lives. 

The fall included two noteworthy 

experiences for me. The first 

was meeting and “chillin’” with 

Bill Murray (of SNL fame), clad 

in his pink pants, at the Cornell- 

Harvard football game. Unless 

someone can introduce me to Sir 

Paul, I have probably maxed out 

as far as celeb encounters go. The 

second and far more worthwhile 

and enjoyable experience was 

spending an October afternoon 

with Sage F classmate Akua Lezli 

White at her house in Corning, 

N.Y. Lezli is wheelchair-bound 

due to transverse myelitis, but 

there is nothing “bound” about 

Lezli’s spirit, energy and humor. I 

brought my 40-year-old copy of 

What’s What (with all our high 

school senior pictures), and we 

laughed and reminisced about 

many of you. We both learned 

things about Williams from 

1971-75 that neither of us had 

known before. 

Just a reminder that what you 

see as your ho-hum existence is 

very likely of great interest to 

your classmates—so please send 

along a report of how 2012 is 

shaping up for you! 

1976 

Jane Ray Kell 

4 Spring Lake Place NW 

Atlanta, GA 30318 


Hello, everyone. I have sad 

news to report this time. George 

Powell Jr. passed away on Nov. 

12 in Tampa, Fla., where he 

lived for 28 years and worked 

as an economic development 

manager at Boone, Young & 

Associates and as a program 

director at Central City Family 

YMCA. He is survived by his 

mother Leonarda Powell and 

daughter Garvey Powell. The 

funeral was held in Tampa, 

and the burial at Laurel Grove 


CLASS NOTES 

Cemetery in George’s hometown 

of Savannah, Ga. 

I heard from Don Firke in 

October, just after sending in 

the last edition of notes. Don 

is upper school head at the 

Potomac School in McLean, 

Va., and is enjoying his position 

very much. “Great school, great 

colleagues,” he writes. “Feels like 

I’ve found a home. My kids are 

in college. My son will graduate 

from Wesleyan in May with a 

degree in English and government. 

He thinks he might like to 

work in new media (he blogged 

and tweeted for the Department 

of Education last summer), 

but he may go into teaching. 

Time will tell. My daughter is a 

sophomore at Swarthmore, and 

she thinks she’s interested in science. 

She’s taking a lot of biology 

classes and is enthusiastic about 

the subject. I think the closest 

I came to a science class at 

Williams was ‘History of Science’ 

with Donald deB. Beaver, but 

she really likes it. My wife Lisa 

continues her web design business, 

but she is taking advantage 

of our move to diversify a little. 

We have been able to make an 

art studio for her, and she has 

opened up a little shop on Etsy 

to sell some of her artwork.” 

Glad things are going so well for 

you, Don! 

Susan and George Evans spent 

their sixth winter in Florida after 

an October trip to Europe, where 

they visited Normandy, Brittany, 

Paris, Amsterdam and the 

English Cotswolds. Son George 

’04 is a second-year associate at 

Goodwin Proctor in NYC, and 

younger son Tim ’06 is the production 

manager at the Brooklyn 

Brew Shop in Brooklyn, N.Y. 

George Sr. has launched a business, 

OnDeckBioTech, with his 

two sons and a nephew to provide 

an online marketplace for 

small pharmaceutical and biotech 

companies. Susan and George 

had a bittersweet Christmas as it 

was the first since her mother’s 

death in January 2011, but they 

are doing well and continue to 

enjoy living in Bradenton, Fla. 

“My father, C. Gorham “Doc” 

Phillips ’43, died on Dec. 8 

SENDNEWS! 







John Bell ’76 (left) visited classmate Masaharu Kohno, who is Japan’s 

ambassador to Italy, on trip to Rome in November. 

after 90 years of wonderfully 

full life,” writes Tacey Phillips 

Carroll. “He is the main reason 

I went to Williams, although 

he was an impossible act to 

follow. At Williams he was 

president of Gargoyle Society, 

chairman-secretary of Phi Beta 

Kappa, editor-in-chief of the 

Record and associate editor of 

the Purple Cow in addition to 

being a JA and Tyng Scholar and 

who knows what else! As one 

of his good friends, Malcolm S. 

(McGurk) MacGruer ’43, wrote to 

me: ‘We will all miss dear Doc, 

leader, friend, advisor, example 

setter, humorist, classmate. 

Without his advice and counsel 

my books could never have been 

written and my sense of humor 

kept active.’ Ditto, McGurk!” 

Susan and Tacey are not the 

only classmates who have lost 

parents this year. My mother, 

who had been ill for several 

months, died unexpectedly on 

Dec. 13, and Susan Collings lost 

her mother on Nov. 30. Despite 

the sad news, Susan also had 

happy news: Her niece Lindsey 

Vandergrift was recruited for the 

Williams women’s soccer team 

and got the “early decision nod” 

that she will be a member of the 

Class of 2016. “My daughter 

and other nieces and nephews 

have covered a ton of great 

schools—Swarthmore, Yale, 

Dartmouth, Middlebury—but 

Lindsey is the first to choose my 

alma mater, so Williamstown 

will be seeing more of me at 

women’s soccer home games 

starting next fall!” Susan was 

planning a trip to Beijing and 

Shanghai at the end of January, 

“a super bargain trip on a 

Groupon” and preparing for The 

Art Connection’s signature event 

on March 24, “Art Bingo,” in 

Boston. 

Ellen O’Donnell reports that she 

has been living in the DC area 

for the past two decades, working 

as a technical writer/editor 

in the medical field. “For the 

past 12 years, I’ve been with the 

National Institutes of Health’s 

center for alternative and 

complementary medicine, a fascinating 

window into the world’s 

healing traditions. I spent a 

year in the Library of Congress’ 

Office of Strategic Initiatives, 

working on the preservation 

of cultural treasures in digital/ 

digitized forms. Just moved into 

a great house in Silver Spring, 

Md., and am busy getting up 

my art and music studio. Hope 

to retire from the government 

in four years, moving on to new 

adventures. Enjoy hearing from 

Williams folks.” 

DC Dugdale writes that his 

daughter Emily ’14 was involved 

in the Williams Record’s reporting 

of the campus events of the 

fall, including the hate crime that 

occurred. “It was great to see her 

passion for working on reporting 

things accurately.” Emily enjoyed 

a Winter Study journalism course 

and was “trying to arrange a 

study abroad program for her 

junior year. It gives me nostalgia 

for Winter Study, when we could 

study at ‘half speed’ surrounded 

by a great environment and our 

friends!” DC’s younger daughter 

will be entering college next year. 

Deb ’77 and John Hoover 

enjoyed having their family home 

for Christmas in Ohio. Catherine 

’09 is working at Mass General 

for a clinical trial team after 

spending two years at Worcester

1976 classmates Sandy and Kristi Bragg (far left and fourth from right, 

respectively) celebrated their son’s October wedding in Vermont with 

Ephs from the Classes of 1969 through 2012. 

Academy teaching biology and 

chemistry. Jack ’15 lives in Sage 

D and is studying Arabic and 

economics while rowing for the 

JV crew team and serving on the 

Williamstown fire brigade. John 

is U.S. CEO for Export Now 

Inc., a startup based in Akron, 

Ohio. The company helps U.S. 

consumer product manufacturers 

export and sell items in China 

on Taobao Mall, the largest B2C 

e-commerce site. Deb is president 

of the Burton D. Morgan 

Foundation, which supports 

entrepreneurship in Northeastern 

Ohio. She also is on the advisory 

board for the Norman Rockwell 

Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., 

and is taking classes toward 

her PhD in art history at Case 

Western University. John and 

Deb planned to spend Masters 

weekend in Georgia with Barney 

Ireland ’77, Bill Goodell ’77 and 

Chris Vogelsang ’77 and their 

significant others. 

Deb Nelson was looking 

forward to a weekend in Boston 

of “Frozen Fenway hockey, 

Prince Pizza, Lenny Clarke 

comedy and Patriots football! 

Vinny McLoughlin will be in town 

along with Gus Nilson, his son 

Matt and wife Cheryl. Other 

participants will include Paul 

Nelson, Steve Castraberti, Patti 

and Mike Capone ’75, and rumor 

has it there may be an Al Skene 

’77 sighting as well! Should be a 

great time!” 

“In mid-October 2011 I elected 

to retire early at the ripe old 

age of 58 from People’s United 

Bank after almost 22 1 ⁄2 years as a 

portfolio manager in their wealth 

management and trust department,” 

writes Alex Rosten. “Of 

course my wife Susana gave me 

her blessing, albeit with some 

reservations. I am now a ‘stayat-home’ 

investor, glued to the 

computer screen watching the 

stock market and CNBC and 

Bloomberg TV. Dark suits and 

business casual attire have been 

replaced with sweat pants and 

Williams sweatshirts. It’s been 

wonderful thus far.” 

Alex, Susana and daughter 

Amy, a high school junior, went 

to Williamstown in January for a 

basketball game and dinner with 

Alex’s twin brother Mike Rosten 

’75, his wife Margie, Sunny and 

Steve Piltch ’77, and Pat and Tom 

Carey ’77. Alex’s oldest daughter 

Jessica ’08 and boyfriend Tyler 

Auer ’07 drove over from Boston 

and were joined by Jamie Rosten 

’13 and Matt ’12 and Ali Piltch 

’14. The weekend included a surprise 

visit from Harry and Connie 

Sheehy, both Class of ’75, who 

drove down from Dartmouth 

College. “Seventeen people representing 

nine different Williams 

classes broke bread that night at 

Hobson’s Choice,” writes Alex. 

“It was a lovely evening and a 

testament to long-term college 

friendships. I hope my kids will 

do the same with some of their 

Williams friends when they are 

old and wrinkled.” 

“After two years living in 

South Bend, Ind., Rick ’77 and 

I have returned to the Boston 

area,” writes Chris Woodring 

Siegrist. “We are happy to be 

‘home’ on the East Coast near 

family and friends. Rick is back 

to doing what he loves, teaching 

and working on two startup 

companies. As I have in the past, 

I am working with him on the 

n 1976 

startups as director of finance 

and all-around detail person. I 

am very lucky to be able to manage 

my work schedule so that I 

can also play lots of tennis! Rick 

is teaching at Harvard School of 

Public Health and working part 

time as chief innovation officer 

for Press Ganey Associates, a 

patient satisfaction survey and 

performance improvement 

company. So we are very busy 

but also have lots of flexibility 

in our schedules. Our children 

are grown. Tracey, 28, is living 

nearby and working as a senior 

data analyst for Press Ganey (no, 

Rick did not get her the job). 

Ryan, 25, is back in school doing 

an MBA at UNC.” Chris and 

Rick missed our reunion due to a 

flight cancellation in South Bend, 

but they plan to attend Rick’s 

reunion this year. 

“2011 was a year chock full of 

wonderful Williams connections, 

and that beat went on right into 

the New Year for our family!” 

writes Ellin Goetz, who visited 

with Cappy Hill and Kent Kildahl 

at Vassar last spring and “really, 

really loved sleeping in those 

presidential digs.” Ellin and husband 

Mike Watkins ’75 “finagled” 

a Vermont summer dinner with 

Theresa and Paul Shiels ’76, 

who are proud new grandparents, 

and the “always elusive” 

Mark Sinclair ’75, his wife Boo 

and their two sons. Ellin and 

Mike’s three kids, two of whom 

attend Williams and the third, 

Hamilton, also joined them. Also 

during the summer, Ellin and 

Mike celebrated the Cornell hotel 

school graduation of Marcia and 

Bruce Humphrey’s ’75 youngest 

daughter Emily at their home in 

Norwell, Mass. They also barbecued 

on Labor Day with Harry 

and Connie Sheehey, both ’75, at 

their “splendid new spread” in 

Hanover, N.H. “I am stunned by 

how quickly green has overtaken 

purple in their world!” writes 

Ellin. 

The end of the year brought 

a reunion with Mark and Jan 

Goldman Carter, who joined Ellin 

and Mike for “a sunset beer or 

two together at the newly renovated 

Beach Bar” at Mike’s business, 

the Naples Beach Hotel. 

“That Beach Bar scene continued 

to rock on into the New Year, 

with Vin McLoughlin ’76 sporting 

soft pastel cashmere sweaters in 

his attempt to fit into the local 

scene, along with Andy ‘the Bear’ 

and Suzanne Peterson, both ’75, 

from Colorado, and their savvy 

daughters Betsy and Katie ’08. 

Some stories were told during 


CLASS NOTES 

that eve of our New Year about 

times at Williams that sent the 

Peterson and Watkins kids howling 

into the night, aghast at our 

Boomer generation! Who knew 

that climbing dorm walls was an 

extracurricular activity back in 

the day? Just goes to show that 

some selective rule breaking can 

be really, really fun, and here’s to 

more of it in 2012!” 

Finally, I am told that we had 

a great turnout for the Class of 

1976 fall tailgate in October. 

Among those present were Deb 

and Paul Nelson, Chris Oates, 

Jody Hale Norton, Ray and Karen 

Bliss, Peter and Joanie Shainman 

Zegras, Chris and Rick Siegrist 

’77, Steve Castraberti, Liza Fraser, 

Steve Hein, Dan Yeadon and Vinny 

McLoughlin. If you haven’t yet 

seen the photos, check them out 

on our class Facebook page. 

Well that’s it for this edition 

of class notes. I hope you will 

write me with your news in the 

spring so I can continue to keep 

everyone up to date. Until then, 

best wishes for a great start to the 

New Year! 

1977 


Daiva (Garbus) Gasperetti 

401 East 74th St. #5C 



Dear classmates, I would like 

to take a moment to remind you 

that our 35th reunion will be here 

before we know it! The dates are 

June 7-10, and I hope you will 

make it back to Williamstown for 

a fun weekend of good company, 

a broad range of activities plus 

several hearty repasts and libations 

to suit all. If you have rarely 

(or never) attended a reunion, this 

is the year to come back, expand 

your circle of Williams friends 

and enjoy all that the Purple 

Valley has to offer. Why not call 

a fellow classmate and book 

your trip together? If you’d like 

to be involved in any of the planning, 

please contact our Class 

President Patty May Thomsson at 

p.thomsson@comcast.net, or find 

her on Facebook. Register for the 

reunion online today! 

Now for the news. We are 

honored to boast two classmates 

as presidents of institutions of 

higher education: Fred Lawrence 

and Clayton Spencer. 

A lawyer with civil rights 

expertise, Fred Lawrence has been 

met with accolades as the new 


president of Brandeis University. 

According to an article in The 

Jewish Daily Forward, “To many 

students and faculty, Lawrence 

has practically achieved rock star 

status.” Formerly a dean of The 

George Washington University 

Law School, he became president 

in January 2011. According to 

the article, Fred is not planning 

to lead a building boom; 

rather, he will focus primarily on 

improving programs and building 

relationships on campus and 

abroad. “He is well aware that 

he is leading a university that 

has a unique history. Founded 

in 1948, Brandeis describes 

itself as the only nonsectarian 

Jewish-sponsored university in 

the country.” In tune with the 

school’s heritage as well as its 

diversity, one of his plans is to 

expand the university’s programs 

in India. According to Fred: “The 

genius of this place is it’s both 

an open nonsectarian institution 

and a school that has deep roots 

in the Jewish community. … I do 

not see that as a paradox. … You 

always embrace your strengths.” 

The Bates College Board of 

Trustees “unanimously and 

enthusiastically agreed that 

Clayton Spencer is the best 

possible choice to lead Bates 

at this key time in the college’s 

history. She is a true national 

leader in higher education, and 

she understands Bates in a very 

personal way, endorsing its innovative 

approach to the academic 

curriculum and its unpretentious 

ambition for excellence 

in all aspects of the liberal arts 

experience in the 21st century.” 

Currently, Clayton is VP for 

policy at Harvard University and 

will become the eighth president 

of Bates on July 1. A graduate of 

Yale Law School, Clayton served 

at the national level as chief education 

counsel in the U.S. Senate, 

working for the late Sen. Edward 

M. Kennedy. For the past 15 

years Clayton has worked with 

four Harvard presidents to shape 

key initiatives. She is widely 

regarded as an extraordinarily 

collaborative and effective leader 

in higher education. In Clayton’s 

words, “I am honored and 

humbled to be asked to serve 

as the next president of Bates 

College. It is such a privilege to 

be invited to join this very special 

community—on campus and 

beyond—and to imagine our 

work together as we write the 

next chapter in the life of this 

remarkable institution.” 

Bruce Orkin, MD, chief of 

the division of colon and rectal 

surgery, was appointed vice 

chair of academic affairs in the 

Department of Surgery at Tufts 

Medical Center. Bruce and his 

wife Ethel are now enjoying 

their third year in Boston, having 

moved there after 20 years in 

DC. Last summer they drove 

from Boston to Chicago to visit 

their son Daniel, who recently 

graduated from Brandeis. They 

made a stop in Williamstown, 

Ethel’s first after hearing about 

it for 30 years. It was a gorgeous 

day in the Berkshires, and even 

Ethel, a graduate of UCLA, had 

to admit that Williams is a stunningly 

beautiful place. Of course, 

she didn’t have to deal with the 

long winters or that fifth season 

between winter and spring—sleet. 

Deb DePorter Hoover is looking 

forward to our reunion 

and the opportunity to catch 

up with classmates. She was in 

Williamstown last fall, visiting 

son Jack ’15, a freshman living 

in Sage D. He is very happy and 

volunteers with the Williamstown 

Fire Department. Those of you 

living in the Northeast will 

remember the enormous freak 

snowstorm that hit late last 

October. As luck would have 

it, Parents’ Weekend took place 

at the same time. According to 

Deb, “We had the full Berkshire 

experience during our visit!” 

Daughter Catherine ’09 is living 

in Boston and works at Mass 

General. While in Williamstown 

Deb enjoyed seeing Martha 

Pritchard, whose daughter Emma 

’15 is a freshman as well. 

All is well with Rich Remmer. 

He has been working with a 

local “Friends Group” to help 

the state of New York preserve 

the Connetquot River State Park 

Preserve. The projects include 

the restoration of an 18th 

century grist mill that is perhaps 

the only surviving horizontal 

grist mill located east of the 

Mississippi and the refurbishing 

of the historic 19th century 

trout hatchery, along with the 

design and construction of a new 

environmental education center. 

Daughter Meredith is in her third 

year at NYU Medical School and 

loving it. Son Max is a project 

manager with a large construction 

firm that specializes in NYC 

waterfront projects. Last summer 

Rich and his wife Kathie enjoyed 

dinner with Chris Vogelsang and 

his fiancée Karen. “She is a truly 

wonderful lady. I can still visualize 

that classic Vogelsang smile 

when he introduced us!” Rich 

extends an invitation to any classmates 

visiting Abaco, Bahamas,

in April to stop by and say hello. 

The bonefish are always biting! 

Sending a “short report, big 

news,” Ed Bacher wrote to say 

that he was laid off in January of 

last year then offered a new job 

with Google in June. So after 10 

years in New Hampshire he was 

on his way to California. Enjoy 

the Google amenities, Ed! 

Steven White continues to 

publish. His most recent work 

is an ecocritical study, Arando el 

aire: la ecología en la poesía y la 

música de Nicaragua (Plowing 

the Air: Ecology in the Poetry 

and Music of Nicaragua). 

The Nicaraguan Ministry of 

Education is distributing the 

book to public high schools 

and universities throughout the 

country. 

A brief note from Tim Hester 

announced that he has been 

elected to serve a second fouryear 

term as the chair of the management 

committee of Covington 

& Burling. “Covington is a 

firm of about 800 lawyers with 

offices in DC, New York, San 

Francisco, Silicon Valley, San 

Diego, London, Brussels and 

Beijing—so this position is endless 

entertainment!” 

Sending season’s greetings from 

Pennsylvania, Rick Bartlett wrote 

that he continues to work as an 

OB/GYN physician as well as 

an instructor at his hospital’s 

residency program, where 1,000 

babies a year are delivered. He 

and wife Valerie have three 

children, Henry, Lincoln and 

Emily. Last May Lincoln married 

Jaime Miller. Ed and Art Wilk, an 

oral surgeon in Guilford, Conn., 

remain in contact. Art and wife 

Nancy have two daughters, Ellen 

’07 and Nancy. 

Jim Ford finds that “our children 

continue to help us stay in 

touch with classmates.” Last fall 

Jim and his wife toured a bit of 

Washington before visiting their 

daughter for Parents’ Weekend 

at Whitman College. In Seattle 

they enjoyed a great evening and 

dinner with Jane Lester and her 

family. Later, while waiting in the 

airport for their flight home, they 

ran into Mary Burton Nelp! Small 

world. 

In December, Rich Spicer played 

in six harpsichord performances 

for the Candlelight Christmas 

Stroll at Strawbery Banke 

Museum in Portsmouth, N.H. 

He also managed to pass the 

qualifying exams for his PhD in 

early December, “confirming that 

you can indeed fool some of the 

people some of the time!” 

Joel Scheiman wrote to share 

some practical advice from 

Newsweek for those of us interested 

in maintaining stellar cognitive 

functioning as we age: learn 

a second language. Joel recently 

lunched with Newton Davis 

’12, who was in Tokyo doing 

a Winter Study project on the 

Brazilian community in Japan. 

So that’s all for now. Remember 

to sign up for Reunion Weekend! 

1978 

Jeff “J” DeLisle 

538 Bloomingrove Drive 

Rensselaer, NY 12144 


It’s a bit early for spring break, 

but the dockside sun in Naples, 

Fla., under which I compose 

this column, has me channeling 

all the youth, impetuosity 

and unbidled optimism of those 

midterm two-week road trips 

of yore, c. 1976-78. By now my 

significant other of nearly four 

years, Julie Zelman, has heard all 

the Jocko-Smitty-Rex-Larry-Tex 

stories a dozen times. Still, she 

smiles as I recount vignettes from 

the 28-hours-stop-only-for-gas 

trips from frigid Williamstown 

to the doorsteps of Jocko Rainey’s 

parents, where, amazingly, we are 

welcome in spite of the previous 

year’s antics. We were rowdy and 

looking for mischief before the 

first Bud can was cracked, and 

what with the powerful thirst we 

worked up in the Naples heat, 

well, that’s the stuff from which 

Legends are Made. 

This is my first vacation as an 

empty nester, though my beagle 

Clyde might object to the use 

of that term to describe our 

situation. Mallory, my youngest 

daughter, has left for school at 

SUNY Morrisville, majoring in 

office management. She aspires to 

be a secretary, which is to say, the 

Real Boss. Her Russian biosister 

Olesya has her own apartment 

and is waitressing and sitting for 

a handicapped child. My middle 

son, Derek, graduates this spring 

from Columbia, with a combined 

degree in mathematics and 

computer science. My daughter 

Phoebe, Virginia Tech ’09, works 

in human resources at Celerity, 

a consulting firm in Arlington, 

Va. My oldest son, Dewey, has 

earned a master’s degree in 

applied behavioral analysis and 

is about to sit for his licensing 

exam. He works for the New 

England Center for Children— 

the world’s leading center for 

autism—as a residence manager 

and, now, recruiter. 

n 1976–78 

Yes! Yes! Yes! After months 

of excruciating anticipation, 

Kate Stone Lombardi’s book 

The Mama’s Boy Myth (Avery/ 

Penguin) hit the shelves on March 

15. Kate writes, “The basic 

theme is in the subtitle: ‘Why 

Keeping Our Sons Close Makes 

Them Stronger.’” You can read 

an excerpt on www.mamasboymyth.com 

and look for it at your 

local bookstore or download it 

for your Kindle. 

Gordon Hardy and Alice Dunn’s 

older daughter, Molly, came back 

East after five years in Vancouver, 

B.C. She has enrolled in the 

Cambridge School of Culinary 

Arts in the professional chefs program. 

She is already a “helluva 

chef.” (I think this is a rather 

strong remark for a Unitarian 

minister.) The younger, Laura, is a 

sophomore at Hofstra University. 

Gordon nearly advised her to follow 

in his footsteps to be an Am 

Civ major, then, as quickly as his 

mouth opened, he stopped himself. 

He expects she will major in 

psychology. 

John Gilbert had described 

himself as “happily retired” from 

the practice of environmental 

engineering, having sold his business, 

GeoInsight Inc., to his staff 

three years ago. But, wait! He has 

embarked on a new endeavor, 

working with leaders of for-profit 

and nonprofit businesses on 

strategic operations assessments 

and realignments. John finds it 

fascinating that in spite of the 

diversity of clients, the core issues 

they are facing are the same. John 

volunteers as chairman of the 

New Hampshire Water Council, 

the Governor’s Commission on 

Water Sustainability and the 

New Hampshire Center for 

Nonprofits. John’s two oldest 

children are now college graduates, 

and, to his great delight, 

both are employed. His daughter 

Emily graduated from Franklin 

& Marshall in 2008, and Allison 

from Pratt Institute in May 

2011. His son Matt is a junior 

at St. Lawrence University and 

planned to spend spring semester 

in Kenya. John gets together with 

Pete Tuttle, who is still on the 

faculty at St. Paul’s School. Both 

of Pete’s sons are in graduate 

school, one in hydrogeology and 

the other in veterinary school. 

Jim Little took his family hiking 

at Big Bend National Park in 

West Texas. The big news is that 

his daughter Amy, a junior at UT 

Southwestern Medical School, 

is engaged to Nate Jones, who 

has just completed his divinity 

training at Duke. The two met 


CLASS NOTES 

as Duke undergrads. Ever the 

responsible father, Jim checked 

Nate’s sports credentials and 

found them to be solid. (Big 

Duke sports fan, was its football 

equipment manager.) He has 

given his blessing to the union. 

Jim’s younger daughter 

Sarah is a first-year at UT 

Southwestern, and, so far, so 

good. 

Jim and Cathy continue to be 

well. He likes his work at the 

VA, where the residents push 

him, but make no mistake, they 

can’t get anything by the old 

man—not a “pimp” question 

on rounds nor a forehand smash 

on the tennis court. His Little 

League team made it all the way 

to the league championship, 

only to fall in the last game. Jim 

also noted he is “about halfway 

through my stent” as deacon of 

his Presbyterian Church. (When 

I first saw this I thought it was 

a typo, but maybe not.) Cathy 

divides her time between being 

a practicing pediatrician and 

serving on the board of El Buen 

Samaritano, which helps out 

immigrant families in Austin. 

Jim Norton gave an update 

from Santa Fe, N.M. He 

completed an eight-year stint as 

director of the Environmental 

Protection Division for New 

Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. 

He is now teaching biology 

and physics at the Gonzales 

Community School. His wife 

Katie (sister of Todd Jebb) is 

also a teacher, in the Santa 

Fe Public Schools. They have 

two kids in college: Molly, a 

senior at the University of New 

Mexico; and Jebb, a sophomore 

at Middlebury. Jim still plays 

hockey every Sunday (along with 

John Bessone) for the Santa Fe 

Old Timers Hockey Club, which 

he founded 12 years ago. 

Bill Schultze, chair of the 

management department at 

University of Utah, has seen 

enrollments up and a rise in 

his department’s ranking to 

number 16 nationally. Bill is 

bullish on new approaches to 

entrepreneurship, particularly 

The Foundry, which has received 

a nice bit of attention in the 

press. Essentially a community 

service, the Foundry takes a new 

approach to teach students how 

to rigorously develop, validate 

and test business ideas. They 

don’t charge fees, or take equity, 

or give them any money. In the 

past 18 months, the students 

have worked on 114 business 

ideas, market tested 69 business 

concepts, incorporated 


and launched 53 companies, 

of which 43 are active and 22 

revenue-positive. Total sales 

(for all companies) exceeds $8 

million, and 75 (and counting) 

jobs have been created. One of 

the companies that came out 

of Bill’s five-week MBA class 

last fall, ipadenclosures.com, 

makes kiosks for ipads. The 

company was recently chosen as 

the sole provider of kiosks for 

Macworld! Bill exults, “They’re 

knocking it out of the park.” 

The Foundry has already gone 

international. Recently some 

of Bill’s kids went to Armenia, 

where they ran a Foundry bootcamp 

for women entrepreneurs, 

and they are already up and running. 

Another group is headed 

to Ghana in the spring. Another 

half-dozen universities have 

established Foundry programs. 

Bill was in Denver and had 

Thanksgiving with Richard and 

Maggie Luck, among other folks. 

The Lucks are doing terrific and 

spent most of last summer leading 

hikes in Rocky Mountain 

National Park. 

Susan Beebe is still working as 

an art instructor in Rockland, 

Maine. If the fancy strikes, you 

can take one of her workshops 

at the height of the summer season 

up there—Aug. 3-9—where 

she will give a class on en plein 

air oil painting. Check her out at 

coastalmaineartworkshops.com. 

Glenn Shannon and his wife 

Lori joined newlyweds Miranda 

Heller and Mark Salkind 

for brunch in San Francisco 

and then went to see David 

Mamet’s play Race, featuring 

Kevin O’Rourke in the role 

of Charles Strickland. Glenn 

notes a number of his friends 

described Kevin’s performance 

as superb: Starting as a rich, 

white, arrogant and completely 

unsympathetic figure, by the 

play’s end he was still rich and 

white but emotionally shaken 

and somewhat sympathetic. At 

the show they ran into Anna 

Waring, and afterward they went 

with Kevin to meet up with Edith 

Thurber and their sons Charlie 

and Peter. 

Well, the column is done, and 

I think I’ve earned a beer and 

the right to indulge my sweet 

reverie. Ah, those spring breaks! 

If the moral and educational 

development of a Williams 

undergraduate’s four years can 

be likened to a kind of Pilgrim’s 

Progress, those Naples trips 

didn’t quite fit that kind of journey. 

No, they were more like our 

own Canterbury Tales—by turns 

funny, ribald, even shocking 

and not to be discussed in polite 

company. Too bad—um, I mean, 

thank goodness—no one ever 

wrote them down. 

1979 

Barbara H. Sanders 

3 Stratford Road 

White Plains, NY 10603 


Well, it was a very pleasant 

and welcome surprise to hear 

from Peter Sachs: “It’s been a 

really long time (since about 

1979) since I wrote. I have 

been wonderfully married for 

28 years. Hilary and I have an 

amazing 21-year-old son, who is 

a computer science and physics 

major in his junior year at the 

University of Chicago. Hilary 

and I spent 24 years in Cleveland 

raising Jacob and working—neuroscience 

research at Case School 

of Medicine (Hilary) and radiology 

department at University 

Hospitals (Peter). Two years ago 

we left the suburban Cleveland 

life and moved to Denver. We are 

both working harder than ever, 

Peter as section chief of thoracic 

imaging/vice chair of informatics, 

and Hilary in a vibrant and busy 

neuroscience lab working on MS 

research, both at the University 

of Colorado, Denver. We live in 

an old schoolhouse in the city 

and are reveling in the outdoor 

lifestyle here. Three-hundred days 

of sunshine and easy access to the 

mountains makes every weekend 

seem like a vacation!” 

Donna Staton and her new 

husband Richard Tedlow are 

enjoying life in Los Altos Hills, 

Calif., since he has taken a job 

at Apple. Donna is devoting her 

time to many global health projects, 

including work in Liberia. 

She visited with Martha Constable 

in Westport, Conn., and both 

enjoyed the chance to catch up 

on each others’ lives. 

Brad White sends greetings 

from the “green hills of Africa, 

in Bomet Kenya. My original 

plan was to be able to retire from 

orthopaedics (after 22 years) in 

2011. Well, that time has passed, 

and since that momentous occasion 

I have been mixing things 

up a bit. This winter I did a onemonth 

stint at Tenwek Hospital, 

a mission hospital just west of the 

Great Rift Valley. Unfortunately, 

in 2007 cheap bikes flooded the 

Kenyan market, and since then 

the number and severity of road 

traffic accidents has skyrocketed—a 

common problem

1979 classmates (from left) Lisa Russell O’Shea, Bruce McElvein and 

Dorea Ferris caught up at a holiday party in December for the D.C. 

Williams regional association. 

throughout the developing world. 

Maybe someone in our class (or 

reading this) is a public health 

guru who can work on this issue? 

Anyone know a good neurosurgeon 

who wants to travel?” 

Bill Couch writes from his home 

base in Baltimore but has spent 

considerable time in Dallas and 

Richmond on various projects. 

“I am working with IBM, both 

Will and Chan are home with 

us (post-college) and applying to 

various military services. They 

are still works in progress, and as 

a parent I worry but am proud 

that they want to make that 

commitment. Can’t judge otherwise 

since I spent 14 months in 

Baghdad worrying them and the 

rest of the Couch clan!” 

Jas Dembinski writes that he 

rode a bicycle from Paris to Brest 

to Paris (1,200 kilometers, or 

750 miles) in under 90 hours 

this past August—along with 

4,000-plus other cyclists who 

participated in an event that’s 

been a part of bicycling culture 

since 1891. If there are any other 

alumni who have ever ridden 

“Paris-Brest-Paris,” he would 

love to hear from you. 

Clint Willis has been “surfing 

a bunch in Maine (cold) and 

down in Costa Rica (warm). I 

have a writing business, and my 

wife Jennifer teaches yoga and 

makes pottery. Our sons Abner 

and Harper have formed a band 

by the name of ‘Two Lights,’ 

derived from twin lighthouses 

near Cape Elizabeth, Maine, 

where they grew up. The band, 

based in NYC, will be on tour 

this year.” 

We received some upbeat 

news from Ken Hollingsworth: 

“As you know, my dad (Bud) 

had the Reading High football 

field named after him. At the 

October ceremony, Mark Eckert, 

Stan Parese and Bill McCalpin 

all surprised Don Rice and me 

by showing up to see my dad. 

It was an awesome effort by 

all of them to be there, and my 

dad was so appreciative. I later 

asked my dad where he would 

like to go to watch a college 

football game. He said that he 

had always wanted to go to 

Notre Dame to see live action on 

the gridiron, so Don, my sons 

Scott and Eric, my dad and I all 

went to Chicago to stay with 

John Svoboda, Jill Simon ’80 and 

their family for a weekend in 

November. ‘Boda’ took us to 

the Notre Dame game Saturday 

afternoon, where we also met 

up with Greg McAleenan (and 

made obnoxious phone calls 

to Kid Collins, Mark Eckert and 

John Dell’Erario). Being at Notre 

Dame and standing in front of 

‘Touchdown Jesus’ was a surreal, 

out-of-body experience for all of 

us. We then went to the Chicago 

Bears game Sunday afternoon 

and then came home for a great 

dinner that night, which also 

included spending quality time 

with two of the Svoboda children, 

Sam and Lucy. Throughout 

n 1978–79 

the weekend, Boda showed us 

all around Chicago. I think that 

maybe he should have been the 

mayor of Chicago! What an 

absolute thrill it was, and I will 

never forget how much fun we 

had. My dad said that it was one 

of the best weekends of his life! 

Needless to say, Jill and Boda 

were the consummate hosts.” 

Ken added, “Last but not 

hardly least, I had a brief visit 

with Phil Shuman, who was in 

New Hampshire to cover a presidential 

primary for FOX News. 

It was fun to see him in action!” 

For those of you residing in the 

LA area, hopefully you have seen 

Phil, who is the weekend anchor 

on KTTV. Several months ago he 

did a live interview with Dr. Troy 

Elander ’81, ophthalmologist, 

medical expert and president 

of the LA County Medical 

Association.” Phil has included a 

beautiful picture which includes 

Troy, his wife Diane (Grimes) 

Elander ’83 and himself. 

AlIan Macdonald continues 

to teach family medicine to 

residents and medical students. 

“However, after six very good 

years teaching in Florence, S.C., 

I have taken a position in the 

Greenville Family Medicine 

Residency Program in the 

beautiful upstate South Carolina 

area. Greenville Hospital has 

just started a new medical 

school—the only new med 

school accredited in 2011—and 

our residency is proud to be part 

of this new effort! I teach ‘womb 

to tomb’ family medicine with 

special interests in maternity 


Outside magazine ranked Mark Tercek ’79 ninth on its list of 25 most 

influential people in the “world outside.” Tercek is CEO of the Nature 

Conservancy and has been credited with transforming the world's 

biggest conservation organization into a more global, sustainable 

enterprise. 

care and children’s health. Our 

kids are all growing up. Our 

oldest is married to a wonderful 

young woman. He is head of 

graduate school web development 

at Clemson University, his 

first job out of college, and she is 

pursuing a master’s degree there. 

Our middle son just received his 

bachelor’s degree in history, and 

we are very proud of him! My 

wife continues to home school 

our youngest, who has many 

challenges in life but who is very 

brave and extremely determined. 

We are now in the ‘waiting-forgrandkids’ 

stage. Seems like only 


CLASS NOTES 

yesterday we were all very young 

adults, with marriage and children 

way off in the future!” 

Bill Webster dropped a line, 

saying that “’the wife’ (Diane 

Hughes) and I shared a house in 

Williamstown with Pat Strong 

and her husband John Owens 

for the freshman drop off as well 

as for Parents Weekend. Pat, her 

daughter Jessica and I squeezed 

in a day at the U.S. Open, while 

Pat extended her stay on the 

East Coast. If Pat casually asks 

you if you’d like to play her in 

tennis, beware! In November I 

had lunch in New York at the 

Williams Club with Tom Mierswa 

and Clinton Loftman, and both 

are doing well. The next day 

I meandered my way back to 

Billsville for homecoming (it 

was a good excuse to descend 

on my son David ’15 yet again). 

Despite the loss to Amherst, it 

was a great day. Pete and Laurie 

Thomsen hosted a wonderful 

dinner at their Williamstown 

home, where I saw Long Ellis and 

his wife Catherine Buckley Ellis 

’78, Kristen Johanson, Lydia and 

Mario Chiappetti, Tom ’78 and 

Betsy Balderston, Jim Trapp and 

others. Looking to the south, I 

heard from Ken Gilbert, husband 

of Donna (Smith) Gilbert. Donna’s 

life has really gone to the dogs. 

She is now president of the 

Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club of 

America!” 

In NYC, radiologist Mimi 

David was honored by the Bronx 

County Medical Society with 

a “Peer to Peer Excellence in 

Medicine Recognition Award.” 

As director of women’s imaging 

at Jacobi Medical Center and 

assistant professor of radiology 

at Albert Einstein College of 

Medicine, she was also honored 

at a gala as one of the medical 

center’s “Precious Jewels,” a 

distinguished group of clinicians 

and caregivers whose brilliance, 

dedication and commitment to 

healing are instrumental in its 

mission to serve the needs of its 

patients and community. Mimi 

says that her daughter Hannah 

Gray ’07 and Rowena Ashan ’07 

changed the world at Williams. 

“Together these women from 

totally different backgrounds 

were instrumental in introducing 

kosher/halal dining options at the 

college—an incredible Williams 

story! We are headed off to 

Bangladesh, as Hannah is participating 

in Rowena’s wedding!” 

We received a note and picture 

from Lisa Russell O’Shea—“I 

had a wonderful time with 

Bruce McElvein and Dorea Ferris. 


Phil Shuman ’79 (left), weekend anchor of KTTV in LA, interviewed 

ophthalmologist and president of the L.A. County Medical Association 

Troy Elander ’81 last year. Also pictured is Diane (Grimes) Elander ’83. 

We all saw one another at the 

holiday party sponsored by the 

Williams alumni association 

of DC. It was great to see both 

and to catch up on their lives. I 

still live in Baltimore but commute 

daily to DC, where I am 

senior director of development 

at the Association of American 

Colleges & Universities. It is the 

national curriculum think-tank 

advocating for all college students 

across the nation. Our own 

president John Chandler headed 

the organization after he retired 

from Williams. Both of my kids 

have graduated from college. 

I’m still seeing lots of good blues 

music in the area and hope to get 

back to New Orleans for Jazz & 

Heritage Festival this spring— 

any ’79ers headed there?” 

It’s always nice to read what 

others are up to. But if you 

haven’t written in a while (or at 

all), we want to hear from you, 

too! My contact info is above, so 

send your news soon. Until 

next time, take care. 

1980 

Laura Pitts Smith 

1828 Old Yellowstone Trail S. 

Emigrant, MT 59027 


As the January sun shines down 

in Montana, we are painting 

the new siding on the chicken 

coop that a poultry crazed bear 

destroyed last fall. No mittens, 

no coats, certainly no freezing 

temperatures. By the time this 

is published, the remainder of 

this astonishingly warm winter 

may have ended differently for 

us all. At present, however, we’re 

scouring shaded canyons for 

enough snow to support skis and 

watching shaggy livestock bask 

in balmy temperatures. 

As usual, impressive accomplishments 

are lingering in our 

midst. Susan von Moschzisker 

Morse published The Habit, 

which Nina Girvitz ’77 describes 

as “so sly and funny and painful 

and everything a good book 

should be.” Kate Schwartz spent 

her birthday in Philadelphia with 

Susie. The pre-Halloween ice 

storm there dropped a branch in 

the driveway, extending her visit. 

Kate spent a good part of a day 

“laughing out loud like a lunatic 

(lolll),” reading Susie’s book. 

Julia Talcott let me know that 

Wendy Jacob was awarded the 

Maud Morgan Prize for 2011, 

which “honors a Massachusetts 

woman artist who demonstrates 

significant vision, creativity and 

contributions to contemporary 

art in the Commonwealth.” 

Check out Wendy’s new installations 

in the MFA when you’re in 

Boston. 

Bruce Kneuer masterminded 

and completed a daylong, 

12-peak run through the Belknap 

Range last August. Beyond 

the physical prowess, the race 

reflected years of conscientious 

trail maintenance. 

Anyone enjoyed a Joia? I can’t 

locate one in Montana, but 

you might have better luck in 

the upper Midwest, where Bob 

Safford is successfully marketing 

this organic soft drink. This 

is according to Bill Wickwire, 

who is enjoying an annual (13th 

or 14th) pilgrimage to Aspen 

to ski with Bob. Bill learned to 

kiteboard last fall in the Yucatan

1980 classmates Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart (left) and Linda Hansell 

spent 10 days together while visiting Taggart’s daughter in Copenhagen, 

Denmark, in October. 

and continues his work with the 

National Ski Patrol, despite knee 

surgery in October. He claims to 

be a dermatologist, but I’m not 

sure when he has time to work. 

For the second time since graduation, 

Paul Tratnyek returned to 

campus to give two seminars. It 

was a nostalgic drive in, retracing 

the route from his ski team 

training days. Paul states, “The 

chemistry talk was about my 

current, main area of research: 

‘Reactivity of Iron Nanoparticles: 

Spectroscopy, Electrochemistry, 

Kinetics and Environmental 

Implications.’ It was presented in 

the (renovated but) same hall we 

all took large chemistry classes 

in.” Well, I certainly wasn’t part 

of the “we” there, but I remember 

well the Friday lunches at the 

Log, sponsored by the Center 

for Environmental Studies, 

which is where Paul gave the 

second lecture, with a friendlier 

title, “From Green Chemistry 

to Emerging Contaminants: 

Are We Getting Any Better At 

Engineering New Materials That 

Are Environmentally Safe?” Paul 

says Larry Kaplan, Ray Chang 

and Anne Skinner remain as 

faculty, and the current chair is 

Jay Thoman ’82. It’s still 10 years 

away, but Paul is wondering if 

one of his daughters might be 

interested in Williams. 

David Beardsley tipped me off 

on Fred Thys, who was too busy 

covering the New Hampshire 

primary for NPR to correspond 

directly. Exciting times for Fred! 

Tim Sager is trying to start 

a charter school just north of 

Philadelphia. It is a fascinating 

endeavor based on the 

premise that smaller enrollment 

numbers can be better for 7th- to 

12th-graders, particularly in light 

of the fact that online curriculum 

can provide the variety of 

options that were formerly only 

available in larger schools. Key 

components include Internetbased 

instruction, small group 

discussions, individualized learning 

plans and flexible schedules. 

Tim’s son is a freshman at 

RISD, and his daughter was just 

accepted at Trinity. 

Tim was impressed with 

Bert Snow’s company Mussy 

Lane software, which created 

online software for Middlebury 

Interactive and is turning heads 

in the online curriculum world. 

Tim says, “Bert used a gaming 

platform to create the software, 

which includes perfect renderings 

of streets in Paris and other 

places. Students develop an 

avatar and they walk the streets 

of France, talking to people on 

the street, going into restaurants, 

etc.” 

Mary Ann Sondrini Taggart 

and Linda Hansell traveled to 

Copenhagen to visit Mary Ann’s 

daughter, who was studying 

abroad from Davidson College. 

Mary Ann’s son was to graduate 

from high school in January and 

was preparing to study abroad 

in New Zealand. She and her 

husband are excited about the 

first three months alone in 20 

years. 

Ann Oberrender Noyes and 

Nick ’79 are also anticipating 

the empty nest. Their youngest, 

Eliza, was accepted ED to 

Williams and plans to play ice 

hockey. Their older sons are 

settled in at the University of 

Richmond and Dickinson. 

n 1979–80 

James Meigs and Julia Talcott, 

still in Newton, Mass., are 

sending their twins off next fall, 

leaving their nest empty, too. 

Julia claims it was a crazy fall, 

visiting colleges with two very 

different kids. She reports, “I see 

it as the bookend to the craziness 

that begins by having two babies 

at once. Isabel found out she 

was accepted to Reed College in 

Portland, where she will be able 

to bond with James’ relatives 

when not ‘studying like her life 

depended on it’ (sic Fiske Guide 

to Colleges). Stoddard’s college 

will be revealed in the next few 

months. Stod rowed at the Head 

of the Charles last year and will 

continue to row wherever he 

goes.” Julia saw Bert Snow and 

wife Leigh at the HOC, watching 

their son Eric row for Vassar, and 

rumor had it Beth Geismar was 

there with her club team from 

Ashland, Ore. James is still at 

Mass General doing research in 

the area of diabetes. He’s been 

golfing with Phil (Guido) Adams 

and fishing with Nick Noyes 

’79. Julia teaches printmaking 

workshops in her studio. Their 

oldest, Ramsey, is on a Fulbright 

scholarship in Germany after 

graduating from Colby. They are 

hoping to visit him in April. 

Ruth Wells was waiting up (for 

a long time, as this rendition of 

her words is cropped!) for her 

son to return safely from a NJ 

Nets-Miami Heat game and 

filled me in on all sorts of people. 

She reports, “This past spring I 

was on a college tour with my 

younger son, Lyndy, and we 

stayed with Carrie Brown Wick 

and family. Carrie is exactly the 

same, working as a biotech consultant, 

living in Hillsborough, 

and while we were there her 

youngest, Catherine, was getting 

college acceptances. She is spending 

this academic year in Europe 

to pursue her passion of equestrian 

vaulting (basically gymnastics 

on horseback) and will go to 

Bates next fall. Her middle son, 

John, is at Trinity, and her oldest, 

Will, just finished a stint in the 

Army with, I believe, two tours in 

Iraq and is now back in school. 

Our last night there Carrie had 

a fun dinner party that included 

Anne ’81 and Greg Avis as well 

as Cora Yang and Suzanne Kluss 

Noe and their spouses. Everyone 

looked great, and all are leading 

interesting lives. Janet Allaire’s 

son Mike graduated from the 

Air Force Academy last spring 

and is in Texas for the year 

getting trained in some special 

intelligence that will keep us all 


CLASS NOTES 

safer. Her daughter Lauren is a 

junior at Middlebury, and I had 

thought only a star ice hockey 

player, but Ann Oberender Noyes 

sent us an update last fall that she 

was the NESCAC field hockey 

player of the year (or something 

like that). Never knew Janet 

had such athletic genes; maybe 

her husband Marc helped. They 

have their dental practice in 

Portsmouth, N.H., and travel 

to many Middlebury sporting 

events.” Ruth continues, “In 

late September I had lunch with 

Brooks Tanner. He is living in 

Manhattan and very proud that 

his daughter has made it into 

first grade and is thriving at her 

school. I also saw Rick Walters at 

a Williams alumni meet-and-greet 

with President Falk. He seems 

happy, has two children, lives in 

NJ and works at Merrill Lynch 

aka Bank of America. We went 

into NYC and had dinner with 

Missy McMahon and her husband 

Jon Kramer. Missy looks exactly 

the same, although she has finally 

started to wear drugstore reading 

glasses if the print is too small. 

Their oldest, Tommy, graduated 

from Colgate and has been working 

in NY, contemplating applying 

to law school. Younger son 

Matt is a senior at Northwestern 

and has a job lined up in Chicago 

after graduation, no small feat 

these days. My sons and I had 

dinner at Elizabeth Laurent’s 

home with her family. She is 

doing well, married to Larry 

Dame and has twins Edward and 

Rebecca, soon to be 16. Elizabeth 

is curator of Girard College in 

Philadelphia as well as an active 

volunteer and board member for 

several Philadelphia institutions.” 

Ruth concludes, “For me, I am 

still a self-employed architect 

but have had little (paid) work 

the past year or two due to the 

economy. I am in the process 

of trying to assess how to do 

more of the creative problemsolving 

aspect of architectural, 

development, master-planning 

and design work on a consultant 

basis both for private clients as 

well as nonprofits. I just finished 

a two-term stint on the board of 

Princeton Academy of the Sacred 

Heart, and I chaired the buildings 

and grounds committee, which 

during my tenure built a gym 

and library, completed a facilities 

audit, did a master plan and 

started work with architects on 

a build-out of the master plan. I 

have been volunteering weekly at 

the area food bank for about four 

years. … My oldest son, Patrick, 

is a freshman at Colorado 


Wendy Jacob ’80, recipient of the 2011 Maud Morgan Prize from the 

Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), poses with Joseph Thompson ’81, 

director of MASS MoCA, on one of her two installations at the MFA. 

College. Younger son Lyndy is a 

senior at Princeton Day School 

and will hopefully be looked 

upon with favor by an admission 

office for his creative wit, 

intellectual ability and academic 

potential despite the fact that he 

hates the busywork that would 

have pushed his transcript to the 

4.0 needed for any college these 

days.” 

Gus Nuzzolese reports, “Pat 

Nuzz got into a bunch of colleges, 

so now we start road tripping. 

Our three girls were home 

for Santa, and it was wild fun. I 

got a panini griddle, so I spend 

a lot of time making hot paninis 

with whole-wheat flatbread, 

heavily oiled sundried tomatoes, 

smoked turkey, pepperoni, pesto 

and provolone … then nappy 

time. Mike Curran got married to 

Lucy, so they have six kids, and 

it’s heavenly. We plan on seeing 

a lax game with a total of our 10 

kids, enough for one team!” 

Betty Keller lives in Vermont 

with her husband Jonathan 

Lynch. She’s been home with 

kids for 14 years, volunteering 

in media for social change and 

active in seeking universal health 

care for Vermont residents. Their 

youngest is a junior in high 

school, so she’s thinking about 

professional pursuits. The oldest 

graduated from Tufts, and the 

middle one is a freshman at the 

University of Vermont. Jonathan 

works in alternative energy systems. 

They were hoping to make 

it to Italy for a bike trip in April. 

Chip Oudin “spent much of 

2011 traveling overseas, helping 

Anadarko develop a West 

African oilfield, but as the year 

wore on, I realized that there 

were parts of me that were 

wearing out.” He had a full 

hip replacement in November. 

Ed Bousa better watch out, as 

Chip claims there is now “more 

titanium in my golf swing.” 

Chip and his wife Julie remain in 

the Woodlands, with daughter 

Jeanie ’08 living in Houston and 

working for Wood Mackenzie 

and daughter Jessica performing 

as a violinist with the Atlanta 

Symphony Orchestra. Chip is 

hoping to travel more in 2012, as 

the airport metal detectors will be 

more entertaining. 

Kathleen Kelliher had another 

Williams alum stay with her in 

the fall. Ali Tozier ’09 helped out 

while applying for law school. 

She worked for HERA, a charity 

that helps trafficked women 

start new businesses. Kathleen 

has been in touch with Jean 

Dexheimer Dudex (Smith ’79 

exchange), whose daughter will 

start at Smith next September. 

Rebecca Webber’s life will get 

slightly less busy next year as half 

her brood takes off for college. 

Daughter Lucy was accepted at 

Bowdoin (where the ski coaches 

will allow her to compete in both 

XC and Nordic), and stepdaughter 

Alana will be off to Boston 

College. Rebecca broke a long 

series of Bowdoin grads in her 

family when she chose Williams, 

so maybe Lucy’s decision will 

return her some chance of inheritance. 

One of Rebecca’s cases this 

year involved a government fraud 

case, the Department of Justice, 

the FBI and the illegal sales of an 

epilepsy drug, resulting in $26 

million in penalties plus criminal 

charges. There is balance in her 

life, however, as she tracks down

owners of loose Holsteins on 

her runs, shoots a gun well and 

navigates snow conditions transporting 

her skiers to the far-flung 

corners of Maine. As she puts it, 

“It’s a liberal arts existence.” 

Jim Holmes and Jean Dugan 

Maritz shared some time and 

perhaps some tears on the sidelines 

this past fall as their boys 

competed together in the state 

championship football game. Jim 

reports, “A Williams connection 

was made on every offensive 

play as Jean’s son Jack hiked the 

ball to Davey.” Davey earned 

All-State honors as quarterback, 

but that final game ended in a 

heartbreaking loss in the final 

seconds. Jim’s daughter Katie ’13 

left her duties as JA in Williams A 

to watch her brother. 

Michele Corbeil is still hoping 

to sell her home and move to 

Boston. Her daughter had a 

spinal fusion for scoliosis over the 

winter, which Michele expected 

would involve a long recovery 

period that, along with her bag 

business, would keep her busy. 

The Cart family sold their Ohio 

home and are official residents 

of the Florida Keys. All fishing 

visitors are welcome. Son James 

’05 and wife Ashley ’05 had a 

daughter, Courtland, in August. 

Ben’s company is busy now that 

oil and gas are in the news again. 

I heard Williams students 

recently described as “hearty 

souls who work hard and play 

hard.” Nothing new about that! 

Keep on working and playing, 

and, like Chip, replacing the 

parts that break. Here’s wishing 

titanium worked everywhere. 

1981 

Alexis Yoshi Belash 

1466 Canton Ave. 

Milton, MA 02186 


I am sitting here surrounded by 

dragons, pussy willows and red 

banners. Kuala Lumpur is getting 

ready to celebrate the Chinese 

New Year, the auspicious year of 

the dragon. With a population 

made up of large numbers of 

Muslims, Hindus and Christians, 

Malaysians celebrate the holidays 

of all three traditions. It makes 

for many short weeks and a lot 

of eating. As a full participant 

I find that I have to go to the 

gym five days a week and coach 

middle school rugby just to keep 

in shape. 

Kathy McCleary submits a 

(somewhat) shameless plug 

for her second novel, A Simple 

Thing, due out in July from 

HarperCollins. “I’m very proud 

of it, hope people buy it in droves 

and chat it up on every possible 

form of social media, and dream 

that Clint Eastwood will buy 

movie rights and decide to direct 

and produce (there is a plum 

role for an elderly man in the 

book). When I’m not at work 

on my third novel, which will be 

published in 2013, I’m teaching 

writing at American University 

and riding the roller coaster of 

college admissions (or gap year?) 

with my eldest daughter, Gracie, 

as well as the roller coaster of 

ninth grade with my youngest, 

Emma.” 

Valerie Colville writes: “I have 

reached my first anniversary as 

a small business owner/entrepreneur. 

CC Solutions specializes 

in supporting the administrative 

requirements associated with U.S. 

government-financed loans both 

internationally and within the 

U.S. We developed and own a 

web-based application to streamline 

the myriad U.S. government 

documentation process and 

obligations. We are fortunate to 

have won transactions in Mexico, 

West Africa and Mongolia, as 

well as domestically in Arizona, 

so we are off to a good start.” 

Valerie saw Nevill Smythe and 

his family over New Year’s, 

when Amelia celebrated her 16th 

birthday. They are all well and 

fun as always. 

My predecessor Kyle Hodgkins 

sends greetings from southern 

Ohio, “where we continue 

our quest to raise a healthy 

and happy free-range teenager 

[with] organic food, clean water, 

fresh air and a set of car keys.” 

In March they embarked on 

a spring break driving tour of 

colleges. 

Eric Widing wrote from 

Uruguay, where he and his family 

were “hanging out with Vico 

(Victor Zerbino ’79, Eric’s JA) 

and his family … spending New 

Year’s Eve with 25 of his cousins 

at a traditional Uruguayan 

BBQ.” 

Tim Williams was in New York 

in January and called former 

suitemate Jonathan David. “It 

turned out that Jon’s daughter 

Elmina was having her bat mitzvah 

that weekend, so I stayed 

for the event. The ceremony was 

magnificent, capped by Elmina 

giving a truly remarkable and 

beautifully delivered speech 

about Moses and individuals 

working for the betterment of 

society. After the ceremony, 

we enjoyed catching up and 

n 1980–81 

reminiscing about Williams and 

other old friends.” 

Marc Tayer had a wonderful 

family trip to Italy (Amalfi 

Coast, Rome, Umbria, Tuscany, 

Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice) 

late in the summer. He attended 

the Williams vs. Amherst game 

again at Yogi’s Sports Bar in 

Cardiff-by-the-Sea (north county 

San Diego). This year the room 

was segregated. An ex-boss, 

Jim Bunker’s grandson, was the 

running back star of Amherst, 

and Ken Quinn’s ’79 son was still 

at Amherst on the coaching staff 

after graduating last year, so Ken 

was apparently ambivalent for 

one last year. 

Old roommate Bill (Bolo) 

Reynolds sends greetings from 

Vermont, where it was 16 below 

zero one day and supposed to 

rain the next. He wrote, “This 

past November Matthew St. 

Onge, Steve Jenks and I traveled 

to the Outer Banks (Beaufort, 

N.C.) to fly fish for false albacore 

in the waters off of Cape 

Lookout. Some fish were caught, 

beers were drained and fish 

stories told. Despite high winds 

and driving rains, Capt. St. Onge 

managed to keep the ship afloat, 

and no one got impaled by a 

wayward cast.” 

Bill is still a lawyer in the 

Vermont attorney general’s office, 

where he has transitioned from 

criminal prosecution to labor 

and employment matters, which 

mostly involves representing the 

state before the Vermont Labor 

Relations Board and Vermont 

Human Rights Commission and 

arguing cases before the Vermont 

Supreme Court. Most of his cases 

involve wayward employees, 

including corrupt cops and sexual 

harassers. 

Shawn Burdick paid his final 

tuition bill to UVM for daughter 

Amanda; too bad son Ted starts 

college in the fall. He is excited 

to have two graduations coming 

up this spring. In addition to his 

full-time job teaching high school 

physics in Williamstown, he 

taught a semester of introductory 

astronomy to non-majors at 

MCLA. The day before school 

began, his principal convinced 

him to pick up an extra course at 

the high school this year. 

High school classmate Susan 

Rogers Moehlmann is helping 

me plan our 35th high school 

reunion. We have to coordinate 

conference calls between three 

continents! She is “a volunteer 

guide at the Royal Academy in 

London. My art history courses 

at Williams have prepared me 


CLASS NOTES 

for just about anything, until 

now. For the first time, I’ll be 

doing tours of an exhibition that 

includes iPad drawings! David 

Hockney, now in his mid-70s, has 

been fascinated by the iPad technology 

(for sketching nature, it 

is like using watercolors without 

needing to bring the water).” 

Another old high school classmate, 

Anne Ricketson Avis, was 

named chair of KQED’s board of 

directors. (Public radio and TV in 

San Francisco and San Jose.) 

Mike Hulver, who has spent 

much of his professional career 

in Saudi Arabia, introduced his 

second daughter, Ann Marie, to 

Williams. “She enjoyed the setting 

and thought the school was 

nice, but, alas, the lure of the big 

city is upon her as she fell in love 

with Boston. She was accepted at 

Northeastern University. … I was 

also able to run in the Williams 

alumni cross-country race at 

Mount Greylock High School, 

aka The Aluminum Bowl. Great 

attendance by alumni, though 

most were from post-2000 classes 

and therefore I had little chance 

of finishing in the top quarter of 

the pack! … I had a nice time 

catching up with my geology professor 

and thesis advisor Markes 

Johnson.” 

Martin Kohout news: “The 

lovely and talented Heather Catto 

Kohout and I had kind of a roller 

coaster ride in 2011. On the positive 

side, we welcomed our first 

10 residents to Madroño Ranch: 

A Center for Writing, Art and 

the Environment, our place near 

Medina in the Central Texas Hill 

Country; we successfully went 

into business selling meat from 

our herd of grass-fed bison; and 

we hosted a series of ethical hunting 

and fishing ‘schools’ at the 

ranch that proved to be a great 

success, drawing mentions in 

The New York Times and Texas 

Monthly. 

“We’ve had our share of sorrow, 

too. Heather’s father, Henry 

E. Catto Jr. ’52, died at his San 

Antonio home on Dec. 18 following 

a long illness. A number 

of Williams grads attended the 

memorial service in San Antonio 

on Jan. 7: the two of us, our 

daughter Elizabeth ’08, Heather’s 

sister Isa Catto Shaw ’87, plus Bob 

Geniesse ’51, Jim Hayne ’56, Tom 

Geniesse ’86 and Walter Hayne 

’90. It was a beautiful service and 

an apt farewell to a charming, 

elegant, good man.” 

Ann Maine: “Our oldest son 

graduated from Middlebury 

College in May. I took a road trip 

with him as far as Nevada (he 


Ephs participating in a charity bike ride in Colorado in July included 

(from left) Jim Christian ’82, John Pike ’81, Marc Johnson ’81, Dan 

Friesen ’81, Sean Bradley ’81 and Derek Johnson ’81. 

continued to California for a job 

putting radio collars on American 

Martins). We had a great time 

hiking at Arches National Park. 

… We also spent a few days at 

Great Basin National Park in 

Nevada, where we stayed at 

Silver Jack’s Inn and LectroLux 

Cafe in Baker (pop. about 30). … 

We had to plan our trip around 

floods, fires and heavy snow. … 

I finally saw burrowing owls. 

… A local archeologist gave us 

directions to a box canyon with 

petroglyphs; we had a beautiful, 

quiet, sunset hike there.” 

Ann continues, “Beth-Anne 

Flynn was here in Chicago in 

May to attend the high school 

graduation of our third son, 

Kevin. … Despite the rain delays 

and the continual rain it was 

wonderful to see all who made it 

to reunion. For the second time 

in 23 years, there were a few 

weeks when all four boys were 

gone. … Gordon and I visited 

friends in Montana and did a lot 

of hiking there and some rafting, 

which was great fun. 

“I’m running for re-election to 

the Lake County (Ill.) board. … 

I’ve been president of the Forest 

Preserve District for the past 

two years. We’ve been buying 

land (prices are excellent with 

little development action—one 

silver lining to the downturned 

economy). We oversee about 

29,000 acres in 60 different 

locations. Come on out, and I’ll 

take you to the fen, the marl, 

the kettle moraines, the kames. 

Don’t know what they are? You 

need to learn Midwestern glacier 

geology!” 

Alison Gregg Corcoran continues 

to commute from Massachusetts 

to her Toronto job with Sears 

Canada. 

Tom Rizzo was featured in an 

article about rowing in Florida 

Doctor (ask him about “bottled 

violence”). He also rowed 

in England with others from 

Williams in July and then in 

Boston in October with his son 

at the Head of the Charles. He is 

down to one child left at home, 

with three in college/grad school/ 

post-high school activities. 

Charlie Lafave spent two 

months last spring trekking at 

high altitude in Bhutan and 

Nepal, getting 1,000 feet or 

so above Everest Base Camp. 

“Trekking a long way in freezing 

temps at 18,000 feet with 

a 35-pound pack. The clarity 

of the air is spectacular at that 

elevation, and I was blessed with 

an incredibly clear day to capture 

the moment.” 

Chris Gootkind tells us, “In 

October my wife Barbara and 

I spent a great week cycling in 

Provençe, France, with Anne and 

husband Greg Avis ’80, Chip Foley 

’80 and wife Laurel Rice, and 

two other couples. We enjoyed 

great riding, wonderful food and 

fabulous wine. Riding up and 

down Mount Ventoux was one 

of the highlights. We also made 

our annual trek to Long Island 

to celebrate New Year’s at Jamie 

Parles’ house, along with … Mark 

Aseltine, Bill Lohrer ’80 and Mark 

Gennaro ’79. Jamie got married 

in October. Many Ephs were in 

attendance; unfortunately, Barb 

and I missed it, as it coincided 

with our long-ago-planned 

France trip.” Chris saw several 

Ephs at Jamie’s “bachelor party,” 

including Mark Aseltine, Bill

Lohrer, Dan Katz ’79, Bill Sprague 

’80, Jeff Seymour ’79, Warren 

Feldman ’80 and Joe Flaherty ’80. 

Malathi Jayawickrama and 

Calvin Schnure are still living in 

Bethesda, Md. Malathi is an 

economist at the World Bank, 

working in agriculture. After 

11 years working on Africa, she 

joined the Europe and Central 

Asia region and regularly visits 

Montenegro and Macedonia to 

assist them with two projects on 

agriculture and EU accession. 

After several years at the Federal 

Reserve, JPMorgan Chase and 

Freddie Mac, Calvin joined the 

National Association for Real 

Estate Investment Trusts in DC 

in April, and he loves his work 

and his bike ride to and from 

work. Malathi writes, “Our two 

kids, Nilan, 21, and Melissa, 19, 

are both at Princeton. Nilan is a 

senior; he runs track and sings 

in an a cappella group, while 

Melissa is a sophomore and in 

two dance groups. They love 

Princeton.” Malathi sees Erika 

Jorgensen regularly, as Erika also 

works on Macedonia and is very 

much into “green growth.” She’s 

also in touch with Sean Bradley, 

who also works at the World 

Bank. 

The award for brief and intriguing 

note: Nick Lyle and Jean 

Whitesavage installed 20 panels 

of their ironwork for MTA at 

the Elder Avenue Station on the 

Pelham Line in the Bronx. 

Troy Elander tells us: “Our 

oldest daughter Samantha is 

a freshman at Wake Forest in 

North Carolina. Diane ’83 and 

I have a high school junior and 

fifth-grader left at home. … I am 

serving as the president of the LA 

County Medical Association. In 

these times of health care reform 

it is especially interesting. I still 

have my busy ophthalmology 

practice, but at night I am often 

downtown at meetings.” When 

he wrote Troy had just had dinner 

with four congressmen to discuss 

approaches for Washington 

regarding health care issues. 

Tad Read reports: “Nancy 

Shapero, husband Bill and I spent 

Nan’s January birthday together 

enjoying dinner and the first episode 

of season two of Downton 

Abbey. Any Eph not familiar 

with this addictive period British 

melodrama airing on Masterpiece 

Theatre should throw all caution 

to the wind and plunge in.” 

Old entrymate Todd Tucker is 

working four hours south of me 

in Singapore. 

Kira (Mary Tom) Higgs sent: “I’m 

amazed to see from a distance 

how much Williams has changed 

and thrilled with the school’s 

direction. Life on the other coast, 

specifically in the Rose City, is 

wonderful. I’m just back from 

Hawaii, the key to surviving the 

low-hanging gray of the PNW. 

Most of my consulting in the last 

four years centers on education 

reform. It’s not a niche I targeted; 

it found me, and I’m glad it did. 

Uphill work and very satisfying. 

Monthly dinners with Margaret 

Olney are always a joy. She’s 

practicing law in Portland when 

she’s not visiting Carnegie Hall to 

see her son perform.” 

Sharon Gosselin McCormick 

lives in Durham, Conn. In 2002 

she founded Sharon McCormick 

Design, a national interior design 

firm. Five of her projects will 

be published in a coffee table 

book titled Ava Living: The Best 

Western Interior Design, published 

in China and distributed 

in Asia and Europe. She is now 

planning to go global. 

Kevin Weist is working for the 

cable channel AMC as executive 

producer of “a thing called 

‘Story Notes.’ It’s like pop-up 

trivia over their primetime 

movies. Finally found a use 

for all the movie trivia rattling 

around in my head! My lovely 

wife Katharine (Bowers) is back 

in the fashion world, designing 

for a company fittingly called 

Catherines. She and I have been 

up to Williamstown more often 

than usual because our daughter 

Madison is Class of ’15. One of 

her classmates is Tatum Barnes, 

son of Dave Barnes and Lizzie 

Halsted ’80. We’ve convinced 

our kids that their getting into 

Williams was all part of a ploy 

so we could spend more time 

together.” 

By the time you read this, Kevin 

will probably have re-lived some 

old college-ness by playing in the 

semi-annual Williams Trivia contest 

on a team with Dave Barnes, 

Will Hahn, Charlie Singer ’82, 

Mitch Katz ’79, Wayne Wilkins ’79 

and Bruce Leddy ’83. “We play as 

‘Geezers on Stun.’” 

Mary Tokar carried the flag 

for ’81 at a dinner in London 

organized by John Botts ’62 to 

allow London-based alums to 

meet Collette Chilton, the chief 

investment officer for Williams’ 

endowment. 

Rachel Duffy took up running 

last summer after a more than 

30-year hiatus. “I started running 

this summer to honor a running 

friend of mine who died suddenly 

in June and to spend time with 

his wife. I ran my first 5K in 

n 1981-82 

Waterbury, Vt., in October and 

hope to run a little bit more than 

that in the Burlington Marathon 

(just a leg of course) in May. I 

can’t believe I like running, but 

I do.” 

1982 


Will Layman 

8507 Garfield St. 

Bethesda, MD 20817 

Kolleen Rask 

55 Pine Hill Road 

Southborough, MA 01772 


You hold in your hands the 

latest edition of Lavender Bovine, 

the smallest-circulation quarterly 

poetry journal published in the 

Western Hemisphere. To those 

who say that poetry, the oldest 

form of literature, is no longer 

relevant to the lives of 21st 

century Americans, the editors 

of Lavender Bovine simply say, 

“Duh.” 

We aspire to neither relevance 

nor popularity but only to a 

delicate poignancy that The New 

York Times described as “something 

other than idiocy, though 

it’s hard to say what.” Exactly. 

This quarter’s journal ranges 

from haiku to Ginsberg-ian free 

verse. Enjoy. 

Georgia Tech Haiku by Will 

Foster 

“The Sam Nunn School of 

International Affairs 

is my future home.” 

Song of My Week (excerpts) by 

Jay Hellmuth 

1. 

I celebrate and sing myself 

and what I assume shall you 

as every atom of my Sundays 

is listed for you here— 

“Watching the morning news 

reading the Sunday NY Times 

Saturday Wall Street Journal 

Monday’s papers after 11 p.m. 

online.” 

And the multitude of sports 

Does occupy my beard and 

my soul, which are inseparable 

“during the appropriate 

seasons: 

NFL—Jets and Cowboys 

English Premier League 

MLB—Mets 

NHL—RangersStarsCoyotes 

and tennis 

and le Tour de France 

and Formula One 

and 24 heures du Mans.” 

7. 

A child said, What do you do 


CLASS NOTES 

on Saturday? 

How could I answer him? 

And then I realized— 

“I allow myself a guilty 

pleasure—a fast food lunch” 

27. 

I take part, I see the whole 

“I read 41 books this year. 

Ben Kane 

(a trilogy about ancient Rome) 

More about the financial crisis, 

The Swerve by Stephen 

Greenblatt 

about Lucretius’ De Rerum 

Natura 

which I started to read 

in Latin in high school 

and finished in college. 

“I saw 53 new movies in 2012 

The best: the Swedish 

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

trilogy. 

Action-packed spectaculars 

in the theater and 

the rest from Redbox.” 

43. 

O movement! O earth and 

boots! 

I tramp a perpetual journey 

to friend and place 

This year, “to Williamstown 

for the swimmers’ 

and divers’ reunion 

(for we are all one big family); 

To Milwaukee and Chicago 

for baseball stadiums/games 

To Long Island to drive my 

folks’ 

second car to Sanibel” 

A Florida island 

that is so unlike New Jersey. 

49. 

And as to you, Death, 

you do not alarm me. 

For though we are over 50 

“and the term ‘bucket list’ 

keeps coming up in discussions, 

I have done all but six 

(numbers 2, 5, 14, 23, 27) 

of the Parade magazine 

list of 32.” 

52. 

The spotted hawk swoops and 

steals “my list of everyone’s 

birthdays, 

so get on Facebook! It is a great 

reminder 

(ladies, you do not have to 

put in the year). 

For my tea and hot chocolate, 

I have been using a mug 

that I had since high school. 

I was hand-washing it when 

it broke. 

A loss of an old friend.” 

Missing it one place 

I search another 

It stops somewhere 

Waiting for us all. 

When Virginia drew us 

By Marian Helms Hewitt 

When Virginia drew us, 

“We, my husband Bill 


and daughter Diana,— 

for two days and one half 

did go to Colonial 

Williamsburg: 

“To a 10-year-old studying 

that period of American 

history, it was great, 

“Did we go to that other 

Williams College, 

the one that married Mary? 

“No, but maybe we will: 

in seven years 

when Diana is, 

visiting colleges.” 

The License Plate 

by chuck warshaver 

so much depends 

upon 

“my amherst friend’s 

vanity plate 

’lord jeffs’ it 

said 

so i ordered an 

’ephman’ plate 

thinking we could 

photograph 

our two arizona cars 

hahaha 

but arizona thought 

’ephman’ 

mean f*&%-man 

(really) 

that is how crazy it is 

here.” 

Techno Slam Poem 

by Anthony “AJ” Moore 

“OMG today, as I was texting 

my high school daughter to come 

downstairs for dinner, I had a 

flash of insight. My wife was 

reading her new Kindle Fire and 

our sixth-grader was checking 

her homework on her schoolissue 

MacBook when I tripped 

over the cord charging my HTC 

EVO 4G smartphone, my head 

struck a Nintendo DSi game lying 

on the carpet, and I blacked out. 

“Which is why I’ve got this 

guy Vladimir from Ukraine who 

lives on a mattress in the garage 

providing 24-hour IT support. 

Whenever one of the family yells, 

‘Dad! The Internet’s down …’ 

Vladimir bangs on our wi-fi with 

a wrench and everything’s fixed. 

“Speaking of my trade, not long 

ago I was sitting in my cubicle 

on the third floor of Building G 

at Yahoo! with moving boxes all 

around. They were about to put 

me in Building B, which means 

during my two years at the company 

(and in the San Francisco 

Bay Area) I’ve been housed in 

A, B, D and G. It’s what they do 

in Silicon Valley to remind you 

nothing’s permanent. 

“I finally attended, after 

30 years procrastination, a 

Williams Octet reunion concert 

at homecoming. They even gave 

me a ‘solo,’ reading ‘the news’ 

during ‘I Got Rhythm’ (whadda 

surprise), and believe it or not I 

included a 30-year-old joke that 

killed: the one about changing 

Winter Study to Winter Ski, 

Drink and Sex Party. Clearly 

things haven’t changed much at 

the alma mater.” 

My Three Sons 

by Bill Beres 

“My son Ryan, Hamilton ’13 

completed a six-month 

immersion 

He was kind enough to 

show me the ways 

in Beijing and Shanghai 

We made an exhilarating 

four-hour trek on the 

Great Wall 

My sons Gabe, 8, and 

Max, 5, keep Dad moving 

at full speed between 

football and Lego.” 

Bécassine 

by Annabelle Cone 

“A French comics heroine from 

the early 20th century 

Bécassine 

I started 10 years ago writing 

an article about her 

Bécassine 

Submitted to a British journal 

(European Comic Art) 

I had to change all the quotation 

marks to the British system, 

which uses single quotes. That’s 

my punishment. 

Bécassine 

Now, I hope to start on another 

comics-themed project, with a 

much needed visit to the national 

comics library in 

Angoulême 

I’m heading to France again 

with Dartmouth students 

Lyon and then Toulouse 

A side trip to the city of kings 

and comics shouldn’t be too 

difficult.” 

A Farmhouse in Southwest 

Michigan 

by Michele Gazzolo 

“I just finished a year 

of arduous renovation 

on a farmhouse 

in southwest Michigan 

and am sorely tempted 

to get a few chickens 

to prance around 

And maybe a few bonsai-sized 

cattle. 

When not contemplating 

my imaginary barnyard 

or persimmon orchard 

I am writing, blogging at 

girlwalksin.wordpress.com, 

and eavesdropping on 

my daughter’s happy chatter 

in the carpool.” 

Thanksgiving Limerick 

by Karen Keitel 

To the Macy’s parade in 

Manhattan

Dave Park ’83 (third from right) celebrated his 50th birthday in the fall 

with a Seattle Harbor cruise with classmates and friends. 

Did my family go where we 

sat in 

with the “Occupy” folks 

and saw Broadway stage jokes 

With my daughters at Williams 

and Ob’rlin. 

On the Frontier 

by Jim Leonard 

“All is good out here on the 

frontier 

We herd cattle, throw pots, 

milk goats, 

and roast green chiles, 

which makes for a messy 

homestead 

and a ‘Leonard’ smell. 

Story ’84 and I celebrated 

25 years this summer with 

a trip to Colorado 

We’ll likely mark the 30th 

anniversary of our first date: 

the Black and White party 

at Williams where both our 

daughters will be.” 

We must inform you that 

one of the editors of Lavender 

Bovine, Lorraine Driscoll, reports 

that she is reading a new book by 

a Bovine favorite, Tricia Hellman. 

A New Song, published under the 

name “Sarah Isaias,” is a book 

with interfaith themes wrapped 

in a tense thriller. Recommended 

by the editors of this journal. 

Finally, join us all at the next 

big literary event: our 30-year 

reunion this June, where we all 

but guarantee you will see the 

best minds of your generation, 

starving, hysterical, naked. Well 

… at least hysterical. 

SENDNEWS! 

Y hear from you! Send news to 

our class secretary is waiting to 

your secretary at the address at the 

top of your class notes column. 

1983 

Bea Fuller 

404 Old Country Road 

Severna Park, MD 21146 


Happy 2012 to all, as we have 

turned the page on another year 

and the days are getting longer 

again in North America—thank 

goodness! I started the New 

Year grateful for my family, 

my friends and my health and 

hope all of the same to all of 

you. Turning 50 certainly makes 

those simple things all the more 

important. For me, winter days 

and evenings are spent either in 

a tropical venue of a chlorinated 

pool for swim meets, the fetid, 

angst-ridden gyms within 90 

miles of Annapolis for wrestling 

matches or in dusty old gyms for 

basketball games, all to watch 

my boys in their winter physical 

pursuits. Of course, I love every 

minute. 

Maryam Elahi continues to 

direct the International Women’s 

Program at the Open Society 

(Soros) Foundations. She was in 

Nepal meeting with groups that 

the program supports in rural 

areas of the country. She was 

headed to Kenya in February and 

looked forward to connecting 

with some classmates along the 

way. 

Don Carlson “started a new law 

firm last fall—one completely 

dedicated to entrepreneurs, 

growth companies and the 

investors who love them. We’re 

taking space in Silicon Alley (just 

north of Union Square in NYC) 

and already hitting our stride 

with a run of VC financings. The 

model is pretty unique, as every 

n 1982–83 

lawyer is an expert in a field 

relevant to startups, and many 

work virtually and on flexible 

schedules with no overhead. It’s a 

great way for people to get back 

into the profession after a few 

years out raising families—and 

I’m proud to say we already have 

four Williams alums in our stable 

of a dozen lawyers (ranging from 

’72 to ’96). Are there any great 

’83 lawyers out there looking for 

a novel, rewarding way to practice? 

Our Latin motto is Nunc 

Exceedium Gulielmensianae 

(loosely, ‘You can never have too 

many Ephs’). I get to see Gordon 

Renneisen whenever I’m out on 

the West Coast, and my daughter 

Katie and I had the honor of 

taking part in his son Gabriel’s 

bar mitzvah. Katie and Gabriel 

were born just a few days apart, 

so naturally they were betrothed 

to one another at birth by their 

happy dads. The plan seems to 

be working surprisingly well.” 

Musician Andy Schlosser 

reflects, “I spent about four 

months in France last year, acting 

as sales manager for Fender 

France until we found a full-time 

sales manager. I spent major time 

in Paris, traveled all over France 

and visited about 60 French 

music stores with our sales reps. 

At least my French language 

skills are even better than they 

were, and I ate and drank some 

killer food and wine. Not a bad 

job, although I had to walk every 

day in order not to gain a ton of 

weight. My son Evan is taking 

some time off from William & 

Mary, and my daughter Maddy 

is a senior at Granby High 

School and is getting ready for 

college next year.” 

Diane Elander ran into Nancy 

Simms at parent orientation at 

Wake Forest, where their kids 

are both freshmen! Samantha 

and Robert have become friends 

and are enjoying the South. 

Diane writes, “I spoke with Ellie 

Gartner Kerr, who shared exciting 

news: her daughter is coming 

west next year for college. USC 

for lacrosse; that means I’ll get to 

see her and more of Ellie. What a 

great New Year’s gift!” 

Melanie-Anne Taylor writes, 

“My daughter Kate ’14 plays 

rugby and can’t get enough of 

Williams! I’ve never seen her 

happier; it melts my heart. I 

am counting down the months 

to turning 50 this summer, 

and I am hoping to launch my 

first waste-to-energy project in 

Jamaica before my birthday! My 

company is building a 300-tonsper-day 

capacity energy plant 


CLASS NOTES 

that will convert waste tires and 

biomass (by way of gasification, 

a totally green and environmentally 

friendly process), into 12 

megawatts of electrical power to 

light 41,500 Jamaican homes! 

This will be a big year for me 

and for us!” 

When she wrote, Jona Meer’s 

two older boys were home from 

college, “already eating us out of 

house and home. Our 11-yearold, 

while happy to have his big 

brothers around, wonders how 

he could go from ‘crown prince’ 

to ‘punk’ in a matter of days. 

Rascal (our 15-month-old rescue 

dog) is just happy to have two 

extra sets of hands around to 

rub his belly. I had the brilliant 

idea to pull the trigger on longdelayed 

knee surgery just before 

Christmas, rendering me pretty 

useless for many of the aroundthe-house 

responsibilities over 

the holidays. (Maybe not such a 

bad idea after all!)” 

Aytac Apadin writes, “Michael 

Brownrigg, aka Boney, and I went 

up to Seattle early December 

to hook up with Spanky (Dave 

Park), play golf and go to dinner. 

Spanky must not be working too 

much, as he is playing too well! 

I also stayed up there to watch 

Dave’s boy Phillip play … on the 

top-ranked team as goalie.” 

Sarah Weyerhaeuser shares: 

“Our youngest is an Eph—Class 

of ’15. She played soccer on the 

squad this year, and the team 

made it to the Elite 8. Our oldest 

just graduated from Williams last 

June. One of her best buddies on 

campus was Eli Bronfman ’11, 

son of Matt Bronfman ’82 and 

Fiona Woods ’81, and now our 

youngest is palling around with 

his little sister Gabby ’15.” 

Tim Curran was “heading to 

Cleveland on Christmas Day 

with the family for four days 

there and then back to MSP. 

Had some email correspondence 

with Sage D’ers Fred Nathan and 

Amy Wilbur, who had seen Bobby 

Robinowitz. No Sage D reunion 

yet on the books, however. Mike 

Nock is my info source for all 

things Apple.” I have a vivid 

memory of Mike being one of 

the “early adapters,” buying 

his own Mac computer back in 

1982 and teaching himself how 

to use it. 

Deborah Bowers Kenealy 

writes, “Our daughter Diana, 

16, a junior in high school, just 

returned from a study semester 

abroad in Paris. She had a fantastic 

time, learned lots of French, 

lived with a French family and 

joined a local swim team. Our 


son Andrew completed his first 

semester at Dartmouth and is 

very happy. He is a member of 

the crew team and rowed at the 

Head of the Charles, which was 

lots of fun. My husband Ed and 

I and our two kids did a trip of 

a lifetime this past August to 

South Africa and Zimbabwe 

which included Victoria Falls, 

many safari drives and canoeing 

with hippos and crocodiles! And 

we enjoyed the company of Kim 

McCarthy McEntee and her lovely 

family over the New Year’s 

weekend.” 

Jeanne Rougas James writes, 

“Here in Colorado we are indeed 

hoping for snowmeggedon—or 

something vaguely resembling 

that! It’s been a good year for 

those of us in the ’61 vintage, I 

believe. … I’m approaching my 

ninth anniversary as a finance 

manager for Deloitte Consulting, 

and midway through the summer 

a business trip to NYC gave me 

the opportunity to enjoy a boisterous 

dinner with Richard Mass 

and Rob Burge. In October my 

husband Scott and I brought our 

bikes to Napa for a week, and 

we had a great time visiting and 

cooking with Peter Graffagnino 

and his wife Nancy. They are 

enjoying their retirement in the 

most admirable way possible 

(exotic travel!), despite Richard’s 

comments to the contrary! In 

November I celebrated my Five- 

Oh-No in New Orleans, and if 

any classmates are looking for 

a fabulous domestic vacation 

destination, I highly recommend 

it. The food, music, architecture 

and hospitality are not to be 

missed. And for history buffs, the 

WWII museum there is superb— 

the unexpected bonus was mentally 

retrieving a few tidbits from 

Prof. Robert G.L. Waite’s history 

class! In December Cathlene 

Banker, Scott and I surprised 

Richard Mass on his momentous 

birthday in New York—the highlight 

of the evening was Cathlene 

presenting him with a Batman 

cake to commemorate the attack 

on his neck by a bat while he 

was trying to enjoy a cocktail 

on Block Island. … During that 

same weekend, Scott and I had 

dinner with Amy Withington, 

son Aidan and her parents, 

Robin and Ted Withington ’53. 

… Other adventures for us this 

year included a ski weekend in 

Telluride, mountain biking in 

Crested Butte during the peak of 

wildflower season and a weeklong 

trip to Grand Teton and 

Yellowstone National Parks. One 

of the highlights for us was a 

97-mile bike ride in Yellowstone, 

complete with an on-road buffalo 

encounter!” 

Lis Bischoff-Ormsbee, our 

fearless class agent leader, 

thanks everyone who gave to the 

Alumni Fund. “In the last class 

update there were a number of 

mentions of ’83ers having freshmen 

this year that they dropped 

off on the Williams campus in 

the fall. Well, my son Michael ’13 

was likely greeting some of them. 

He is a JA this year and is really 

loving the experience and getting 

to know these amazing freshmen. 

My parents Marigold and Robert 

Bischoff ’52 have come to all the 

reunions and minireunions that 

happen on campus. They love to 

see Michael when they are there 

(if he can make time in the midst 

of studies, JA, etc.). Williams 

means so much that they almost 

were planning to miss our second 

child’s graduation this spring 

to attend one of these reunions. 

Thank heavens they did not end 

up being on the same weekend! I 

would love to see anyone who is 

swinging through the Rochester 

area!” 

Jamie Spencer “went to a 

very nice event earlier this fall 

to celebrate the publication of 

Bruce Irving’s book New England 

Icons. As I was approaching 

the entrance of the Cambridge 

Historical Society, where the 

event was taking place, I happened 

to look over at the guy 

walking next to me and realized 

it was Drew Helene! Haven’t 

seen Drew in years and didn’t 

realize he was living on the Cape, 

so it was fun to get caught up. 

Also saw Jennifer Catlin (briefly) 

and enjoyed seeing Bruce’s wife 

Debbie and their two girls, who 

seemed very grown up. Bruce 

seemed to be enjoying himself, 

though we only chatted for a 

short time, since he was so busy 

signing books! He had a great 

turnout, and the book looks terrific. 

… I celebrated my 50th with 

a great family trip to England in 

June/July, staying mostly in the 

Cotswolds with a brief stop in 

London. Had a blast, as our kids 

are really at a great age for traveling. 

Sophie’s 9, and Tom is 13. 

Still living in Winchester (outside 

of Boston), where I often run into 

Mark Pine and Margen Kelsey, 

whose daughter is in my son’s 

class at the local middle school. 

Hoping to catch up soon with 

Marc Sopher. It’s been too many 

years of just exchanging holiday 

cards, so am trying to make the 

drive up to NH to see him after 

the New Year.”

Marianne O’Connor wistfully 

wrote: “Richard Mass threw 

himself a ‘surprise’ 50th birthday 

party in NYC in early December. 

While I had to miss the event due 

to a previously scheduled trip to 

Mexico, I heard that attendees 

from our class included John/ 

Carolyn Kowalik, Alice Albright, 

Liz Cole, Rob Burge and Mike 

Smith. Sadly, Richard’s birthday 

roast wasn’t videotaped and 

uploaded to YouTube for the rest 

of us to enjoy.” 

George Liddle “exchanged 

emails … with Marc Sopher; 

almost made it to Octet reunion 

concert but family stuff intervened. 

I did just receive the CD 

recording and today listened to 

Lyman Casey working his magic 

with Love Potion #9. … My 

oldest (Caroline) is a high school 

freshman, and the boys (William 

and Allie) are in seventh and 

sixth grades. I’m still working 

at HP.” 

Jessie Lenagh-Glue noted, 

“In June we planned a family 

Christmas at my sister’s in Utah, 

with siblings coming from Alaska 

(my brother), Netherlands (my 

eldest sister) and New Zealand 

(us). We felt it would be a good 

idea to spend Christmas with my 

father, Tom Lenagh ’41 as, at 93, 

he was beginning to show the 

years (though not as much as one 

would expect). Unfortunately, 

Dad died on Dec. 8, so the family 

gathering has been one of memorializing 

as much as celebration. 

Not to mention that Utah is 

having the driest and warmest 

December on record, so the 

skiing has been limited (although 

being an Easterner by ski tradition, 

I have to say I thought the 

skiing was pretty damn great). 

2011 was a good year for us in 

that we finally (after four and a 

half years on the market) sold 

the big farm in New Jersey and 

are now (almost) rid of property 

in the U.S. I decided that turning 

50 was a good excuse to start 

something new and went back to 

university to study law, 28 years 

after taking the LSATs. As both 

the U.S. and N.Z. systems are 

based on common law, should 

we ever decide to return to the 

U.S., my midlife crisis will not be 

for naught! I started out thinking 

that I was going to focus on 

energy and land-use law but am 

now veering in the direction of 

medical and emerging technology 

law. Don’t think I will go the 

practicing lawyer route. I cannot 

imagine being the lowly junior 

clerk at my age but am thinking 

of either consulting work 

(again, but this time with a legal 

emphasis) or perhaps academic 

research. Whatever I do choose, 

it has been gratifying to recharge 

the gray cells and realize that 

exam hell applies whether you 

are 15 or 50! Next year will be 

strange. My daughter, my husband 

and I will all be affiliated 

with the University of Otago. 

As always I would welcome any 

classmates who wish to visit the 

most beautiful place on the earth 

to get in touch should they be in 

the South Island.” 

Dave Lipscomb writes, “Deb 

and I are back in the DC area 

after five years in Jersey—though 

finding a house (we’re renting for 

now) has proven more difficult 

this time around. Trying to guess 

the future needs of a 4-yearold 

and a 6-year-old tends to 

complicate house hunting, we’ve 

learned.” 

Laura Kaiser notes, “It’s fun to 

see everyone’s kids growing up in 

the holiday letters. Jenny Weeks’ 

girls are 9 and 13 and looking 

more like her all the time! I’m 

scheduled to leave for Zambia 

soon for a short stint helping an 

AIDS-related NGO create some 

training modules.” 

Until next time… I hope everyone 

stays healthy and balanced 

as we head full steam into 2012. 

Only 14 months until our 30th 

reunion! 

1984 

Sean M. Crotty 

31 Carriage House Lane 

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 

Carrie Bradley Neves 

1009 County Route 3 

Halcott Center, NY 12430 


Greetings fellow Ephpersons! A 

new day is upon us. A new year 

is upon us. For all of those who 

made New Year’s resolutions this 

year, I got a head start. A very 

energetic dog named Taz (indeed, 

named by my 11-year-old 

daughter because he reminded 

her of the Tasmanian devil the 

instant we brought him home 

from the kennel) and two stairs 

did what all my years of football, 

hockey, lacrosse and rugby could 

not—they combined to blow 

out my right quad tendon. I of 

course fell down—cried like a 

baby— and called my roommate 

Tom Graham, who is once again 

back at the Cleveland Clinic 

doing wonderful things there 

(which he told me not to talk 

n 1983–84 

about in the class notes; always 

a private and humble man, I will 

respect those wishes. However, I 

will say that you all can Google 

him up, should you wish to 

learn of some of his most recent 

actions). When I called him, he 

first told me to “Stop crying, you 

big baby” (not really, but I am 

taking poetic license once again 

… so shoot me). The second 

thing he told me was that I was 

going to be “mending” for about 

three months, following my 

surgery. Three months. At first 

I thought, no way I can’t be out 

of the cockpit for three months. 

Then it dawned on me: Home 

for Christmas (never happens). 

Home for New Year’s (never 

happens). Home for my daughter’s 

birthday in February (never 

happens). Get to rent an electrical 

chair that moves my legs up 

automatically as I perch myself 

in front of about a thousand 

football games in the months of 

December and January (never, 

ever happens). Hmm, why didn’t 

that dog trip me years ago? 

In any event, it got me thinking 

that since I was down for the 

count for a few months, it might 

be a good time to change my diet 

and take some pounds off and 

see if I couldn’t make an overhaul 

of my lifestyle. I went on 

a three-day juice fast—not bad 

actually—and now am eating 

an anti-inflammatory diet called 

“The Abascal Way.” For those in 

a similar “rotund” condition as 

myself, you might take a gander. 

I have lost about 15 pounds so 

far and feel much better and on 

my way to better health. Thanks, 

Tom, for helping to guide me— 

and for getting me to stop crying. 

It was with great joy that I got 

a wonderful email from Steve 

Zlotowski, who writes: “Sean: A 

bit delayed response, but I was 

away when your mailing went 

out. … During the first week 

of May I meandered 270 miles 

on bike through Connemara, 

Ireland. The trip ended in 

Westport, County Mayo, and 

afforded the chance to spend 

Saturday night at Matt Malloy’s, 

which is one of Ireland’s more 

famous pubs—both from its 

namesake flute player (of the 

Chieftains) and its ongoing 

vibrant live music scene and the 

unannounced famous visitors 

such as Sting, Bono, the prime 

minister, etc. Well, the place was 

overflowing. … I felt a moment 

of destiny upon me. I … asked 

what the protocol is if you want 

to sing. ‘Just stand up and start 

singing.’ As I stood up, during 


CLASS NOTES 

a break between songs, the 

room started to quiet, and I half 

shouted: ‘I’m an American on my 

first trip to Ireland.’ With this, 

there was a loud cheer and then 

the room went quiet. So I continued, 

‘My first love was a girl 

named Katie, she was Irish and 

she was beautiful, and she introduced 

me to the music of your 

country.’ … I finished by saying, 

‘So if you’ll humor me, I’d like 

to sing a song that I’m sure you 

all know better than I. With that, 

I launched into ‘Navvy Boots’ 

… the song that had spared 

me from chugging at my first 

Williams rugby beer practice, 

when I knew not a single rugby 

song yet was beckoned as Blake 

Martin started chanting: ‘We call 

on all people wearing visors to 

sing us a song.’ … Perhaps it was 

the moment, perhaps the energy 

in the room, perhaps the pints of 

Guinness, but it went off magically, 

and I’m not sure I’ve ever 

sounded better. Partway through, 

the bodhran began to gently 

drum, then the guitar to strum, 

then the crowd to join in at the 

end of the chorus, and when on 

one refrain I hit the trademark 

falsetto note the whole room 

roared. … As I scanned the 

enthusiastic and happy faces, I 

knew that for that moment I was 

taken in as an Irishman.” 

I have decided to at some 

point take my son Ryan to Matt 

Malloy’s pub for some singing 

and pints just because of Steve’s 

notes, which I’m happy to share 

in their entirety. Steve, you 

should start collecting from the 

Irish tourist board starting today. 

Good on ya, Yank. 

Speaking of travels, Jim 

Neumann gave us an update on 

his work and rambles: “Thanks 

for the December notes in 

People. Was fun to learn about 

all the folks who are involved in 

variations of sustainable economies. 

In the last month or so I 

connected with two ’84ers whom 

I hadn’t seen in a long time. In 

November, Bill Pelosky surprised 

me at my local church—imagine 

me whispering to my daughter 

in the pew, ‘I think I know that 

guy, from Williams … maybe 

… no, couldn’t be.’ Bill was 

there in his new role as director 

of development for El Hogar, 

a small nonprofit that provides 

education for boys and 

girls in Honduras. Bill lives in 

Winchester, Mass. (next-door to 

Lexington, my coordinates), and 

we made plans to get together 

again in the new year. Then during 

my trip to San Francisco for 


Doris Beyer ’84 (left) and Jacqueline Mitchell ’86 gathered with friends 

for an “all-American Thanksgiving feast” at the Castle in Tarrytown, N.Y. 

an Intergovernmental Panel on 

Climate Change authors meeting, 

I spent a day with Jeff Mills 

and family. He has a great home 

in a very cool neighborhood of 

the city (his wife Elizabeth grew 

up in SF), two terrific kids and a 

new dog. The only disappointing 

part of the visit was realizing, 

with all SF has to offer, Jeff will 

never move back to the East 

Coast! My work with developing 

countries on adapting to climate 

change continues apace—just 

returned from Macedonia, in 

January I am off to Madagascar, 

then in the spring to Armenia, 

Azerbaijan and Georgia. Down 

the road I am looking into more 

work on the African continent, 

including a new assignment with 

UNDP, and in October the IPCC 

meetings are in Buenos Aires, so 

if anyone needs some miles…” 

If you, like Jim, are planning a 

stop in Africa, heads up for Joel 

Hellman; it seems no one is working 

in Sheboygan these days! 

Joel reports: “I have moved 

from Delhi to Nairobi, where I 

have a new job overseeing the 

World Bank’s work in what we 

call ‘fragile and conflict affected 

states,’ and what the rest of the 

world calls ‘really screwed-up 

countries.’ I hope to reassure 

some of our classmates that their 

hard-earned tax dollars on development 

assistance are being used 

reasonably well. And I promise 

to steer more good people to 

the Center for Development 

Economics at Williams.” Joel, 

now that I know you are in 

Nairobi, I may bug you the next 

time I’m on a layover. We normally 

stay at the Stanley, where 

I head to the bar and sit in the 

booth where Hemingway sat and 

wrote—well, mostly drank, but 

maybe wrote—and try and let 

the inner muse take over while 

I continue to write the great 

American novel. 

Ned Buttner writes: “Barb 

Close got married in June, and 

many of the Williams clan were 

there. Paul Peppis will be the 

incoming chair of the English 

department at the University of 

Oregon this year. Tom Malarkey 

is enjoying his job as well 

and is playing summer league 

Ultimate in the Bay Area after 

recovering from an injury that 

kept him out of winter league; 

his wife Nicole just completed 

a film about an NIH research 

team (NIHGR) working on 

rare disorders. Marya and Tony 

Rose continue their legal work 

in Indianapolis and have been 

traveling around the country 

attending Phish concerts. We all 

visited Barb’s healing center in 

East Hampton, which is lovely, 

and also her husband, Courtney, 

took us out on his lobster boat. 

After the wedding they took 

their honeymoon in Italy. Some 

highlights so far this year for 

myself include the birth of our 

third child, Mika. Also, I was 

awarded my black belt in karate 

this spring. Work-wise, I am 

still spending most of my time 

in the lab doing neurogenetics 

research. Lots of grant writing 

and preparation of manuscripts. 

However I also started seeing 

patients on the neurology service 

this summer. I saw Chris and 

Marian Williams, both ’82, in LA 

when I went there for a scientific 

conference; they were in good 

spirits.” Thanks for the updates, 

Ned, and keep them rolling in. 

Finally, it is not often that I

find myself at a loss for words. 

However, hearing of the untimely 

death of Scott Corngold, and then 

reading the outpouring of love 

and sympathy from some of our 

classmates on Scott’s Facebook 

page following his death, I’m 

still searching for what to say. 

So I’ll begin by letting our fellow 

classmates speak to you in their 

own words. 

Phillip Holmes writes: “I am 

stunned by the news of Scott’s 

passing. He was one of my college 

roommates, one of the small 

group of friends who helped 

me so much my first year, and I 

cannot believe that he is gone. 

He was passionate, hilarious, 

quirky—and he energized everyone 

around him. He should not 

be gone. My deepest condolences 

to all who knew him.” 

Bob Hollister writes: “RIP 

Rabbi Scott Corngold, my college 

roommate, civil disobedience 

partner in crime, Mont Blanc 

hiking companion and friend. 

The world has lost a brilliant, 

compassionate teacher. 

Too young, my friend, far too 

young.” 

Richard Dodds writes: “The 

lump in my chest still returns to 

a tight sadness when I think of 

Scott not being here anymore. 

Scott was such a quirky, wonderful 

suitemate at Williams. He had 

a way of looking down at the 

ground while you were talking 

to him, and I soon learned that 

he was listening and processing 

during those times. Then 

he would put his hand to his 

head or chop it up and down in 

the air as he replied (and with 

me at least, there was a certain 

amount of eye-rolling when I 

wasn’t getting his point). On one 

occasion, while visiting NYC, 

another suitemate of mine, John 

Springer, and I accompanied 

Scott to a children’s fair at his 

synagogue. As we watched Scott 

walk through the crowd, we saw 

Rabbi Corngold derive such joy 

from his young congregants. 

It was a wonderful window to 

look through into another side 

of Scott that we had never seen 

before. I will miss you, Scott.” 

Beth Grossman writes: “We 

were friends since we were 18, 

college freshmen at Williams. 

He said to me: ‘You’re Jewish 

and from California and went 

to public school—so am I. We 

are going to be kindred spirits.’ 

And we were. He brought me 

lunch every day when I was 

pregnant and on bed rest for 

weeks. Thirteen years later he 

bat mitvah’d that same daughter. 

I had a new snow globe, from 

someplace I am sure he had 

never been, for his collection that 

I brought him that Saturday. He 

was my kindred spirit, and my 

heart breaks…” 

I did not know Scott as well 

as many of you did, but I do 

remember his energy and smile. 

There was always some “action” 

around him, and that is how I 

will remember our friend and 

classmate. I have been dealing 

with some loss within my own 

family recently and have been 

reading a lot, as I tend to do 

when life ebbs away from me 

for a while. During such times, 

I know it will turn and flow 

back to me on the incoming 

tide, bringing with it new people 

and experiences to fill some of 

the holes left by those who have 

passed on. Eventually, I turned to 

Thoreau, an old favorite of mine, 

and found what I was looking 

for in the final paragraph of the 

second chapter of Walden. A fly 

fisherman since I was a young 

boy, the words have always 

struck me deeply—even as a 

young man—somehow warning 

me to not squander a good day 

of fishing, whether 10 years old 

or 70. I’ll share them with you 

now as I’m thinking of Scott and 

the other classmates who have 

passed up into the starry path 

before him. “Time is but the 

stream I go a-fishing in. I drink 

at it, but while I drink, I see the 

sandy bottom and detect how 

shallow it is. Its thin current 

slides away, but eternity remains. 

I should drink deeper; I should 

fish the sky, whose bottom is 

pebbled with the stars.” When I 

wrote the pages in the yearbook 

to our classmates who had 

passed, I told of the Sioux belief 

that when we leave this earth we 

become a point of light in the 

night sky, and that together we 

all form a starry path. While I fly 

across the globe and look up into 

the clear night’s sky, I now will of 

course also think of Scott as part 

of that starry path and remember 

that wildly wonderful energy of 

his and his quirky smile. 

1985 

Wendy Webster Coakley 

271 Pittsfield Road 

Lenox, MA 01240 


Mike Coakley and I rang in the 

New Year with a jolly group of 

Middlebury alums, including Ted 

Thomas’s older brother Jack. As 

simpatico as grads of our two 

n 1984–85 

great schools tend to be, we were 

delighted to discover another 

Eph at the party: Joel Friedman 

’57, whose son Dave was Jack 

Thomas’ hockey co-captain at 

Midd in 1983. 

Betsy Crill Robertson welcomed 

2012 in grand style by cheering 

daughter Kaya as she marched in 

the Tournament of Roses parade 

with the Mercer Island (Wash.) 

High School band. The kids had 

to practice their parade formations 

on the runway at nearby 

Boeing Field, since the streets 

in suburban Seattle aren’t wide 

enough to replicate Pasadena’s 

broad avenues! 

Many of you entered the New 

Year with new professional 

pursuits. Shannon McKeen joined 

the Keenan Flagler School of 

Business at the University of 

North Carolina as its dean of 

global corporate relations. The 

daily 90-mile commute each way 

from Winston-Salem to Chapel 

Hill has been offset by travel to 

Brazil, India and other far-flung 

destinations. 

After several years on the 

professional poker circuit (who 

knew?), Jeff Calkins switched 

gears and is now with AXA 

Advisors in midtown Manhattan. 

When he wrote me, he was in 

the process of building out a 

team, seeking career changers like 

himself. 

“Being a financial advisor is not 

for everyone, but for the right 

person it’s great: You have the 

challenges and rewards of running 

your own business but have 

the corporate backing and benefits,” 

Jeff noted. “I’ve said many 

times that I wish I had found 

this career at 27 rather than 47. I 

hope to make a recruiting trip to 

the Purple Valley sometime soon, 

and it will be interesting to be sitting 

on the other side of the table 

in the OCC.” 

I also heard from Bill and 

Susan Knapp McClements about 

their new positions. Bill is senior 

VP of corporate operations at 

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals in 

Cambridge, Mass. Merrimack is 

developing several promising cancer 

drugs, and Bill is really enjoying 

the mission and the people. 

And after many years working on 

a volunteer, part-time basis in the 

nonprofit sector, Susan has joined 

ACCESS, a Boston-based leader 

in helping young people chart an 

affordable path to and through 

a post-secondary education. “I 

feel very fortunate to be working 

with an amazing group of people, 

including some fellow Ephs,” she 

wrote. 


CLASS NOTES 

That’s not all the excitement in 

the McClements household these 

days: “We entered this fall with 

some real trepidation. In addition 

to two new jobs, all three of our 

kids are high school seniors. We 

were anticipating a holiday break 

filled with application writing, 

lots of nagging and grumpy 

teenagers. Happily all three are 

done with the process. Annie 

and Becky are members of the 

Williams Class of 2016, and Will 

is deciding between Elmhurst 

College and New England 

College. We couldn’t be happier 

for them.” 

Julie Meer Harnick sent in news 

that her daughter Jocelyn, like 

young Will McClements, started 

2012 with the happy choice 

between two early acceptances: 

the College of Charleston and 

University of Delaware. And this 

from David Gow: “I hope my 

fellow classmates will forgive 

me, but my third son will be 

attending Amherst next year. We 

will have three in college (tuition 

is not my friend) and two still at 

home.” 

David is now deep in the world 

of sports talk radio, with a local 

station in Houston, 1560 The 

Game, and a national network, 

Yahoo Sports Radio. 

Our era’s contributions to the 

Williams Art Mafia continue 

to make their mark: I spotted 

Michael Govan in the February 

issues of Vanity Fair and Town 

and Country, photographed at 

the Art & Film Gala at the LA 

County Museum of Art—where 

Michael is director—and at Art 

Basel Miami Beach. The same 

edition of T&C also featured 

Thayer Tolles ’87, a curator at the 

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

in a story about the Met’s new 

American wing, which opened 

in January after 10 years in the 

making. 

January in an election year 

means caucus season in Iowa, so 

I reached out to Rachel Stauffer 

afterward to see how she fared. 

As a registered Democrat, she 

didn’t get inundated with candidate 

mail and robocalls this election 

cycle but has been very busy 

nonetheless with the construction 

of a new house in Des Moines 

with her husband, Jim Lawson. 

“The move was awful but 

well worth it, as we love our 

new home,” said Rachel, who 

continues to enjoy her work at 

Aviva Investors. She and Jim are 

both active in the community on 

nonprofit boards and with their 

church, and will be celebrating 

their 10th anniversary in 2012. 


My deadline was too close to 

the New Hampshire primary to 

get a report from John Gregg. 

A longtime reporter on Capitol 

Hill, he’s now political editor for 

Valley News in West Lebanon, 

N.H., so no doubt got a lot of 

face time with the candidates. 

I laughed out loud while reading 

this missive from Anne Melvin 

about her mid-life crisis-averting 

adventure with husband Dan 

Sullivan ’82: “After 15 years of 

not having a vacation alone, Dan 

and I finally found time to take 

a week together joining Lizard 

Head Cycling Guides White 

Rock tour of Utah for a 350-mile, 

25,000-foot climbing, weeklong 

road biking extravaganza in the 

most deserted (and beautiful) part 

of Utah with 11 other slightly 

‘off’ souls. I say ‘off’ because, the 

week before, in telling a group 

of girlfriends over dinner about 

trying to get in 100 miles on my 

bike each weekend in preparation 

for this vacation, one of the 

slightly puzzled women said to 

me ‘Um, Anne, we don’t take 

vacations that we have to train 

for. That doesn’t sound like fun.’ 

All the other women nodded in 

agreement to murmurs of ‘swizzle 

sticks,’ ‘beaches’ and ‘cabana 

boys.’” So, why did she do it? In 

Mel’s words, “Let’s face it: We’ve 

been at this thing for 26 years 

now since graduation, and I can 

tell you down to the minute what 

I’m doing each morning between 

5:48 a.m. when my alarm rings 

and 7:06 a.m. when I leave the 

house to catch the train to work. 

I need to shake things up a little. 

What I am far too insecure to do 

in my job (namely, try something 

different and get a new one), I 

am bold to do on a bike.” Anne 

also passed along the news that 

Alec Brackenridge won’t tell her 

what he’s doing at his company, 

Equity Residential, but that he’s 

more than happy to share that 

his wife Heidi Knight Brackenridge 

’86—Anne’s former Mills House 

suitemate—teaches part-time at 

the Epiphany School in Boston 

and teaches yoga in Natick. 

“Since I’ve gotten into yoga in the 

last few years, I’m going to go try 

her class and see if I can’t make 

her break into peals of giggles 

in front of the other adults just 

by my looking at her funny,” 

declared Mel, “which, if you’ve 

taken yoga at all, you’ll know is 

very non-yogi (especially during 

shivasana) and, if you know 

Heidi, you’ll know is also very 

likely to occur.” 

Chris Varrone celebrated his first 

full year in business at Riverview 

Consulting, focused on renewable 

energy. His daughters both 

starred as Sgt. Sarah Brown 

in their schools’ respective 

productions of Guys and Dolls; 

Emilia is a senior at Choate, 

and Elise is a fifth grader in the 

local Irvington, N.Y., school. 

Meanwhile, his equally talented 

son Espen, a high school sophomore, 

toured Belgium with his 

band over the holiday break. 

Finally, thanks to Class 

President Peter Orphanos for graciously 

hosting the 1985 tailgate 

at homecoming. Classmates at 

the game included John Gregg 

and his wife Mary, Jeanette 

Hazelton Fairhurst (who was 

up for a women’s ice hockey 

reunion), Phil and Mary Nealon 

Lusardi with their pre-schooler 

Grace and older daughter Jackie 

’14 in tow (“They may challenge 

for the greatest offspring age 

spread,” observed Orph), Ted 

Thomas, Mike Coakley and Mike 

deWindt, who may challenge 

for longest distance traveled to 

Homecoming in a single day, 

having flown from and back to 

Cleveland to see the Lord Jeffs 

beat the Ephs, 31-18. Talk about 

alumni devotion. 

Also dropping by the presidential 

spread were Jay Thoman 

’82, Liz Gallun Krieg ’83, Debbie 

Bernheimer Harris ’86 (in town 

to play hockey with Jeanette and 

visit daughter Addie ’15) and former 

swim coach Carl Samuelson 

and his wife Nancy. 

“While work keeps me busy, 

I try to keep in touch with Rob 

Kirkpatick and John Peloso as 

often as possible,” Peter said. 

May the rest of you also enjoy 

many classmate connections in 

the months ahead … and write 

to me about them, of course! 

1986 

J.P. Conlan 

Tulane D-2 

San Juan, PR 00927 


At the conclusion of his first 

Hundred Days, Class President 

Mark Braude reports that he 

“was up in Williamstown for 

homecoming this fall, and saw 

Richard Miller and Ken Richardson 

perform in the Octet alumni 

concert on Saturday night. My 

son, an aspiring a capella singer, 

joined me and absolutely loved 

the performance. In a sign of how 

much things have changed, upon 

getting home he immediately 

pulled up videos of the current 

Octet on YouTube.”

Mark’ can’t help but stay 

connected. In August Mark 

ran into Martha Nikitas Stone 

and her family on a flight from 

Chicago to Jackson, Wyo., and 

in December, at the end of a 

week’s ski trip in Big Sky, Mont., 

Mark came to the realization at 

the lunch table that the one other 

New Yorker in his daughter’s 

ski class was the daughter of 

Alexandra Shapiro. 

In contrast to Mark’s successful 

ski vacation in Big Sky, former 

Class President Steve Troyer was 

suffering from a lack of snowfall 

in the Sierras. December wasn’t 

a total loss for Steve, as he ran 

into Marty Collins at a couple 

of holiday parties. “Marty and 

his family are doing quite well,” 

Steve reports. Marty is running 

corporate development at what 

Steve calls “a pretty well-funded 

green energy startup called 

Bloom Energy, where he’s been 

for a few years now.” 

Class VP Tim Faselt answered 

my call for information for the 

class notes within seconds of me 

posting to the class listserv. He 

informs me, in an email timestamped 

Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011, 

at 3:55 p.m. that he was out of 

the office. Thanks, Tim, for the 

update. I hope these notes don’t 

get you in trouble with your 

boss. 

In a hilarious post that I, 

alas, had to edit, Debbie Semel 

Goldenring reported what she 

learned from an engaging email 

exchange with her Eph-gal pals: 

“All seems well with Martha 

Nikitas Stone! From what I can 

see from her holiday card she 

and her family have recently 

returned from Stockholm—real 

jet-setters these Stones are. 

Martha is aiming to have a new 

holiday card from a different 

destination every year—so far no 

repeats! Ellenore Knight Baker, 

while entertaining guests this 

year for the holidays, has tried 

her hand at crafting! Please send 

all orders to her for personalized 

snuggies; she and her adorable 

children Cate and Graham are 

helping keep Ellie in a festive 

mood! Carolyn Walker Niles, 

celebrating her first holidays in 

Seattle where she and her family 

have recently relocated, sent a 

great holiday card—her daughter 

Grace looks so much like she 

did/does I had to do a double 

take on the photos, requiring a 

search for the ol’ reading glasses 

(so sad). Kathy Kirmayer has 

been trying her hand at cooking, 

after a 47-year hiatus. She 

decided to be an over-achiever: 

her first attempt was to make a 

Brussels sprout dish! Not even 

dunking one in chocolate could 

help! Madeline Hughes Hiakala 

is busying herself with her four 

grown children and workiing 

full time doing the lawyering 

thing in Alabama. Maryellen 

Mahoney Bissell’s house in 

Medfield is party central! She 

and husband Brad were the hosts 

to an impromptu holiday party 

visited by the always elusive 

Brian “Hoofa” Nixon ’87 and his 

family.” 

Debbie also reports that Sue 

Klein has moved back from the 

Czech Republic and is living in 

the Atlanta area, where she and 

her kids seem to be adjusting 

to the American way. Welcome 

back, Sue! 

Still living abroad in Valencia 

is Laura Gatzkiewicz, resident 

director of the Rutgers University 

in Spain program. Laura writes, 

“Every year brings me two 

new batches of college students 

coming for all kinds of reasons. 

Some come to party, some come 

to improve their Spanish, some 

come for adventure. In the end 

they end up doing all of the those 

things and growing more than 

they realize. My own two children 

are also growing fast. Julia 

is in her last year of high school 

and is applying to fine arts programs 

here in Spain, while Paco 

is finishing up primary school 

and eager to move on to the 

challenges of secondary school. 

Both of them are wonderful company 

and just all-around great 

kids. I would like to take all the 

credit for this, but I sometimes 

think they’re that way despite my 

parenting!” 

Laura hopes that this summer 

trip to Cape Cod to visit her 

parents will be the first leg of 

a road trip “out West” to the 

Berkshires. 

Soon after he completed his 

work on the class book and 

joined us at our glorious class 

reunion with only minor injuries 

to his offspring, Jeff Lilly left to 

begin a new life in Jordan, where 

he’s working “on a USAIDfunded 

project that assists 

political parties to develop and 

municipalities to govern more 

in concert with the needs of 

citizens—boilerplate democracy 

work. It’s a tough region for this 

and one that is going through 

dramatic changes as we speak 

and violent convulsions. Jordan 

has been stable, and we hope it 

is able to address grievances in 

[a] peaceful way. It’s a fascinating 

country, just about 70 

n 1985–86 

years old and a mix of Bedouin 

and Palestinian and urbanized 

Jordanians. Few resources, little 

rain but a highly educated elite 

that serves the rest of the Middle 

East as doctors, engineers, etc.” 

Jeff’s boys are “in third grade, 

learning Arabic faster than their 

parents and scrambling over 

Roman ruins whenever they get 

the chance.” 

Jeff has seen John Austin ’87, 

who is head of King’s Academy, 

the Deerfied-in-the-desert boarding 

school started by Jordan’s 

King Abdullah five years ago. 

Shelley Ball writes that she’s 

“still living in Berkeley, Calif., 

and loving my school job, which 

gives me two weeks off in late 

December.” Shelly got to see 

Libby Hoffman and her daughter 

Anna for a quick breakfast in 

Manchester, N.H., over winter 

break, as her family headed from 

Boston to northern Vermont for 

a family reunion. 

Bill Hughson married Monica 

Lee in 2005, and is raising two 

wonderful little girls: Sophia, 5, 

and Tessa, 3. In 2009 Bill moved 

to Chicago with his family 

from San Francisco to take a 

job with DeVry: “It has been a 

very interesting (read: challenging!) 

time,” writes Bill, “to 

begin a career in private sector 

higher education, but DeVry has 

proven to be a great organization 

with exceptional commitment 

to our students.” Bill’s 

responsible for six institutions, 

including American University 

of the Caribbean School of 

Medicine, Ross University School 

of Medicine, Ross University 

School of Veterinary Medicine, 

Chamberlain College of 

Nursing, Carrington College and 

Carrington College of California 

(the latter two of which focus 

on allied health professional 

education).” 

One of the many things Sarah 

Vandervoort Morgan gives thanks 

for this year “is the reconnection 

with people who matter to me 

at our 25th reunion and, yes, 

friending them on Facebook!” 

She just joined the Williams 

LinkedIn group, too, which she 

describes as “long overdue!” 

Sarah enjoyed a balmy Christmas 

with her husband Christian’s 

parents in St. Petersburg, Fla., 

where it was all college prep this 

holiday season: the number-one 

gift of the year was a foosball 

table, a thoughtful investment 

in the future that allows her son 

Dylan eight years to practice 

and Elena nine years to practice 

before they are tested for real in 


CLASS NOTES 

the Purple Valley, where Debbie 

Semel Goldenring’s son Jake, 

Debbie Bernhiemer Harris’ daughter 

Addie, Lisa Jayne Sippel’s 

daughter Mahaney, and Rich 

Miller’s daughter Lauren, all class 

of ’15, have finished their first 

semester at Williams. 

Also enjoying a balmy 

Christmas was Elizabeth 

Szatkowski, who, on Christmas 

Day, emailed me: “The kids and 

I are in Puerto Rico right now. 

We came with some friends from 

Portland and are staying near 

Yabucoa. I know it is a long 

shot but I was wondering if you 

happen to know what time the 

ferry leaves for Culebra? I do not 

have wifi here so am not able to 

access current information. The 

kids and I are hoping to go out 

for the day tomorrow. I thought 

I’d ask you since you live here 

and might have something like 

the ferry schedule to Culebra 

memorized.” 

After I forwarded Elizabeth the 

ferry schedule, Elizabeth shared 

some news worthy of congratulations: 

“One actual piece of 

information is that I was elected 

as the Region 1 repesentative to 

the Statewide Homeless Council 

which advises the governor on 

how to end and prevent homelessness. 

In 2011, we at PROP 

(People’s Regional Opportunity 

Program) and Youth Alternatives 

Ingraham unified our missions to 

form The Opportunity Alliance. 

Our new organization serves 

children, youth, adults and 

seniors; individuals, families and 

communities throughout Maine.” 

Tenor extraordinaire, Richard 

Miller reports that Carl Leafstedt 

flew into NYC the end of 

October to attend the opening 

night of Wagner’s Seigfried 

with him and Professor Kenneth 

Roberts. 

Taking time out from her 

Christmas vacation in New 

Orleans with her husband and 

three children, Elizabeth (“EBeth”) 

Skorcz Anthony writes, “My 

husband Pete Anthony ’85 and 

I, along with our buddies Ted 

Harshberger ’85 and Sharon 

Novey ’87, went to the Williamsorganized 

tour of the ‘ASCO: 

Elite of the Obscure’ exhibit at 

the LA County Museum of Art 

in November. The exhibit was 

co-curated by LACMA and the 

Williams College Museum of Art. 

It was a great evening of art and 

conversation.” 

Catching up with the Anthonys 

at the ASCO event was Andrea 

Smith, who reports that CEO 

and director of LACMA Michael 


Govan ’85 gave the opening 

remarks. Since reunion, Andrea 

traveled from time zone to time 

zone to see classmates. In July 

Andrea visited her “former 

freshman roommate, Robin 

Lorsch Wildfang, and her adorable 

daughter Leah in Cambridge, 

Mass.” Robin was back stateside 

from Denmark, where she lives 

and teaches classics year round. 

Back home in LA, Andrea 

caught up with Richard Georgi ’87 

for coffee at the Getty Museum: 

“Richard is doing well, still 

running Grove Investors Fund 

and adoring his three gorgeous 

children.” Andrea then took a 

business trip with her brother-inlaw 

to Puerto Rico to scout out 

pubs, during which time she had 

the foresight to give me a call 

and experience some of the local 

criollo fare. 

In October Andrea attended 

the art opening of the Ed Moses 

and Gwyn Murill show at Ernie 

Wolfe’s ’73 gallery. Chris Williams 

’83, his wife Marian Williams 

’83, David Garfield Roland ’85 

and Daniel Blatt ’85 all attended. 

Ernie made his famous big game 

chili—this time it included boar 

and deer in the mix, and was, 

of course, extremely delicious. 

(Vegetarians may not have 

agreed.) 

At the end of October Andrea 

and Brendan Glynn ventured to 

Brooklyn to watch Paul Boocock 

read an original piece. Brendan 

is at The City of NY Housing 

Authority “doing very important 

and rewarding work,” helping 

people in their living situations. 

“Not only was Paul’s work 

funny, accomplished and thoughtprovoking,” 

writes Andrea, “but 

his performance easily made it 

the best piece of the night.” Then 

there was a “first time ever” 

ride on the Staten Island Ferry 

to have lunch and catch up with 

“the fabulous Winnie Martin” 

(one of Andrea’s Fayerweather 

freshman floormates). Winnie is 

still busy working as an attorney 

for Legal Services NYC. Andrea 

and Winnie lunched at a Spanish 

tapas restaurant and saw the 

Richmond County Ball Park, 

the training grounds for the 

New York Yankees. Andrea also 

caught up with Abby Solomon 

’93, who returned to NYC, 

where she is busy producing 

theater, and Scott “Buzz” Koenig, 

who is teaching production at 

NYU and producing his own 

projects. 

According to Andrea, autumn 

was a very busy season for 

Williams alumni in LA. First 

there was the Williams/Amherst 

football game and then the 

monthly Ephs-in-Entertainment 

dinner run by Daniel Blatt ’85. 

Phil Walsh ’85, Lisa Mazzote ’86, 

Charlie Sena ’79, Zeke Nicholson 

’11, Susan Lai ’01 and Chris 

Zerwas ’02 were among those in 

attendance. 

On Dec. 1 there was the 

NESCAC Holiday Mixer, which 

included numerous alumni from 

the 11 colleges. Dan Blatt ’85 was 

in attendance with his classmate 

Phil Walsh ’85, along with Peter 

McEntegart ’91, Smith Glover ’00, 

Ron Moskovitz ’94, Andy Lee ’93, 

Genevieve Sperling ’04 and newer 

Williams alumni Michelle Noyer- 

Granacki, Lucas Bruton, Alex Cruz 

and Rebecca Alschuler, all class 

of 2011. 

Topping the year off in LA was 

the annual Christmas luncheon 

organized by Bill Wishard ’64 

on Dec. 22 at the LA Athletic 

Club. Andrew Doyle ’98, CEO 

of Break Media, was the guest 

speaker. “Andy spoke about his 

personal journey of pursuing a 

writing career and how he took a 

year to write a book about Irish 

boxers, and how it eventually 

lead him to his work in the new 

media business,” writes Andrea. 

“He was extremely inspiring 

to the newer alumni in relating 

how the experiences of his 

Williams education have helped 

him to pursue his goals.” LA 

Alumni President Jacqui Davis 

’87 hosted the event, and Andrea 

and Laura Kaiser ’83 assisted 

at the luncheon. Jeff Bader ’85, 

Howie March ’83, Martin Hilton 

’89, Felix Grossman ’56, Betsy 

Rosenblatt ’95 and Julia Karoly 

’03 were some of the alumni in 

attendance as well as undergrads 

Marissa Robertson, Paula Moren, 

David Michael, Laura Wann, 

Adrian Castro, Oriana McGee, 

Grant Torres, Lisa Gluckstein, 

Elana Teitelbaum and Taylor 

French, returning from Williams 

on their Christmas break. Some 

of these students spoke about 

their current Williams experience: 

“It was enlightening for us 

‘older’ alumni,” writes Andrea, 

“to hear their experiences and 

to re-connect us with the Purple 

Valley.” 

Pam Mersereau Dickinson 

explains her truancy from 

reunion, writing that “between 

her daughter’s high school 

graduation and the riots in 

Greece,” she couldn’t make it to 

Williamstown in mid-June. Pam 

nonetheless got up to the Purple 

Valley over the summer to play 

the Taconic Classic.

In addition to drawing Debbie 

Bernheimer Harris and her 

daughter Addie Harris ’15 in the 

first round, Pam met up with Lisa 

Jayne Sippel, who played with 

her mom Betsy, widow of Dave 

Jayne ’58, and Martha Amidon. 

Lindsay Brown missed reunion 

because the St. Andrew’s School 

boys’ varsity boat, which he 

coaches and in which his son 

Forrest was rowing, was competing 

at the High School Nationals. 

St. Andrew’s chance to enter 

the finals literally evaporated. 

Having weighed the shell the 

day before after practice on 

an overcast day, the boys from 

St. Andrew’s found themselves 

eight ounces underweight in the 

semi-finals, as two pounds of 

water steamed off the shell in 

the scorching heat. St. Andrew’s 

showing at the Henley Royal 

Regatta showed their true mettle 

as they finished second in the 

Princess Elizabeth Cup, beating 

the defending champions, Eton. 

The Alumni Office reports that 

they do not have an address for 

Sally Khalaf, who moved back 

to Kuwait from Jordan several 

years ago. If you have any news 

about Sally or her whereabouts, 

please pass it on. 

Blessings of peace, health and 

happiness to you and yours in 

the New Year. 

1987 

25 th 


Greg Keller 

2810 College Ave. 

Berkeley, CA 94705 

Rob Wieman 

11 Jarell Farms Drive 

Newark, DE 19711 


“The mountains, the mountains, 

we greet them with a 

song…” 

In addition to re-learning 

the lyrics of the college song in 

advance of our 25th reunion, 

our classmates headed to their 

favorite peaks in December. 

David Attisani and family could 

be found skiing and boarding 

at Okemo in Vermont over the 

holidays, and at least one more 

trip to Stowe was in the works. 

David is a trial lawyer in Boston 

at Choate, Hall & Stewart, 

where he’s marking his 20th 

year on the job. “It seems that I 

woke up one morning and a few 

decades had passed,” he writes. 

In that vein, David is still getting 

used to having a teen-aged 

daughter (Clayre, 15), who along 

with siblings Chris, 12, and Ellie, 

8, is looking forward to another 

family trip to the Purple Valley 

in June. 

Jim Reichheld reports from 

nearby Concord that life is 

“wicked good.” His family took 

a ski trip in New Hampshire 

with Keith Goldfeld and clan. Jim 

helps shuttle his kids to various 

sports and activities, coaches 

youth hockey and soccer and 

plays in an adult hockey league a 

few nights a week. In his remaining 

waking hours he manages 

a gastroenterology practice in 

Lowell (“a good place to gastroenterologog”). 

Jim adds that 

his wife Julia (Beasley) Reichheld 

’89 is “loving life” as a literacy 

specialist in Needham. 

Craig Breon has moved from 

the Monterey Coast to an 

elevation of 6,200 feet in South 

Lake Tahoe for a new job. He’s 

now the climate change project 

director for the Sierra Nevada 

Alliance, which “means I’ll be 

working on land use and natural 

resource planning throughout 

the Sierra Nevada of California 

and Nevada.” Craig did not 

mention skiing, perhaps because 

this has been one of the driest 

winters in decades for the Sierra 

region. However, he is pleased 

that his new home is within 

walking distance of the crystal 

clear lake. 

Craig is also near enough 

to Reno to catch part of Paul 

Rardin’s 2012 guest conducting 

tour. Paul has relocated from 

Ann Arbor to his hometown of 

Philadelphia and is in his first 

year of teaching choral music 

at Temple University. This 

spring he’s looking forward 

to guest conducting engagements 

in Orlando, Providence, 

Fort Wayne and Reno (aka 

“the Biggest Little City in the 

World”). These events are typically 

with high school honors 

choirs, and Paul’s come to the 

realization that he could be conducting 

some of our classmates’ 

kids. 

Monica Fennell will be making 

a temporary move this summer 

from Indianapolis to Bangkok, 

where she will be serving as 

a Rotary Peace Fellow. While 

she’s excited about the opportunity, 

she’s disappointed that 

the timing will keep her from 

attending our class festivities in 

June. “There’s only one 25th 

reunion,” she writes. 

A Google search reveals that 

Monica was previously on the 

n 1986–87 

Greencastle, Ind., school board, 

though I hesitate to report that, 

since Maureen (Ford) Miller 

asked me to clarify details from 

the fall 2011 notes. Moe is 

currently serving as president of 

the Somers, N.Y., school board, 

not the one in Williamstown—a 

statement that slipped through 

our thorough fact-checking process. 

In addition, she writes, “I 

have two kids, not three, unless 

you’re counting Rob” (Miller, 

not Wieman, that is.) Moe sees 

Sue Christenson regularly and 

was looking forward to a spring 

trip to the Baltimore/DC area, 

where she was to watch her boys 

play lacrosse and ideally have 

lunch with Li Gwatkin. 

Ethan Balk posted the following 

140 characters to the 

Class of 1987 Facebook page 

on Jan. 7: “Sarabeth’s, Central 

Park, Islamic art, Burghers of 

Calais, Temple of Dendur, Le 

Pain Quotidien, Simon Doonan, 

30 Rock, Off for drinks, then 

WD-50.—with Sheila Dacey.” I 

wouldn’t normally report on this 

type of message but did enjoy 

the reminder of how much fun 

a winter weekend in Manhattan 

can be. 

Of course, what’s appealing 

to us old fogeys is not always 

that interesting to our kids. In 

December Anne Noel (Jones) 

Dawson joined her sister-in-law 

Mandy (Dawson) Murphy ’89 and 

family to visit the new Islamic 

art wing at the Metropolitan 

Museum of Art in NYC. 

“Clearly we have hit the years 

where our 12- and 13-year-old 

daughters are not so interested 

in museums and not afraid to 

show it,” she emails. “We shall 

see how it goes on future family 

trips where we try to provide 

some educational aspect to family 

travel.” On the home front, 

Alec Dawson and son William, 

10, cheered the N.Y. Giants 

improbable run through the 

playoffs and Super Bowl. 

Kate Pugh is surrounded by 

Giants and Patriots fans since 

she continues to live in the 

Boston area, after joining the 

faculty of Columbia University’s 

information and knowledge 

strategy master’s program in 

August. She’ll begin teaching her 

second course, called “Networks 

and Collaboration,” with 

Larry Prusak, “a well-known 

knowledge management author 

and thought-leader.” Kate also 

worked with Larry in 2011 on a 

project involving knowledge networks 

and international health 

for the Bill and Melinda Gates 


CLASS NOTES 

Foundation. She adds, “I’m still 

engaged to Peter Van Walsum ’85 

and spent some wonderful (cold) 

holidays in Quebec with his 

kids Saskia, 15, Johan, 13, and 

Clarice, 8.” 

Everyone who emailed this 

round mentioned our 25th 

reunion and their plans for June. 

For those of you who are still on 

the fence about coming, Jordan 

Hampton, our class organizer 

extraordinaire, sent in one more 

plug for the big weekend. It 

will be fun, and I may figure 

out the second line of The 

Mountains song before then. In 

the meantime, courtesy of Moe 

Ford, “May all your troubles 

last as long as your New Year’s 

resolutions.” 

1988 

Britta Bjornlund 

7504 Honeywell Lane 

Bethesda, MD 20814 

Carolyn O’Brien 

241 Huron Ave. 

Cambridge, MA 02138 


Greetings Class of ’88. As 

January cold takes its toll on us, 

many of us are reminiscing about 

Winter Study in the Purple Valley 

of Williamstown. 

Mary Miller was not only 

reminiscing. She hosted a Winter 

Study group at her ranch in 

Arizona! Current Williams 

undergraduates studying the 

U.S./Mexico border region spent 

a day in January working on 

a grassland restoration project 

on her ranch as volunteers. 

This sounds far more ambitious 

than the winter “studies” we 

participated in, which included 

less academics and more social 

endeavors. 

Brian Kornfield was also thinking 

about Winter Study, what 

with his older son home from 

Georgetown for many weeks. 

He says it’s “just too darn long 

to have older teens hanging 

around your house with nothing 

to do.” Brian is still working 

for a nonprofit in finance. He 

spent Christmas weekend in 

New Paltz, N.Y., hiking, skating 

and relaxing. He writes, “I even 

rented figure skates and pulled 

off a Hamill-camel or two without 

ending up in the hospital!” 

That is something we’d like to 

see—next time please videotape! 

Laura Gasiorowski was teaching 

a “Winter Intersession” class 

at her law school alma mater, 

Tulane. She 


Ephs in the D.C. office of Morrison & Foerster welcomed Suz Mac 

Cormac ’88 (second from left) when she visited from the San Francisco 

office. Also pictured (from left): Tom Eldert ’97, Mike Fransella ’98, 

Alexandra Steinberg Barrage ’97, Andrew Smith ’87 and Nick Spiliotes ’77. 

explained that she led a weeklong 

practical skills workshop on 

criminal practice. She was happy 

to be back in the amazing city of 

New Orleans among old friends 

and colleagues and fresh-faced, 

impossibly young law students. 

Tracy Heilman was excited 

about the first real snow in 

Illinois. She attended a glam 

party hosted by Kate Kennedy 

where she also caught up with 

Katherine Wolf. 

Cindy Craig Johnson and family 

took a break from sunny, balmy 

Florida over the winter break to 

visit Utah for skiing. She reports 

that despite the complaints of 

lack of snow out west, it was terrific 

by Florida standards. 

Nils Christoffersen took part in 

a different kind of “winter sport” 

while visiting the Bay Area. He 

ran into Andy Harris and family 

playing tennis in Marin County 

and called on Kurt Oeler to take 

his son and nephew surfing in 

Pacifica. Nils also caught up with 

Britta Bjornlund, Nicole Melcher 

and Amy Searight, all government 

types, in the late fall in 

DC. Where the heck was Brad 

Roegge, they asked. 

Mark Huffman is also enjoying 

California winters, having 

moved there from the Northeast. 

He’s also enjoying a new baby: 

William Albert Coker Huffman, 

born Oct. 10, 2011, joining big 

brother Asher. Mark writes, “I 

thought I was too old for this, 

but it turns out I’m not.” Late 

nights with a colicky newborn 

are one thing, but can he pull off 

a Hamill-camel or two on figure 

skates, we ask? Congratulations 

Mark and family! 

Ashok Ashta has also relocated, 

for three months anyway, to 

Toyko. He writes that he traveled 

to Singapore, Shanghai and 

Bangkok. He planned to be back 

in Delhi soon. 

Alicia Bjornson spent 10 days in 

Cuba, studying conservation and 

cultural heritage preservation in 

tropical climates as a member 

of the American Institute for 

Conservation. She said it was a 

great experience, and her beautiful 

photos have not had us wanting 

to visit too. Unfortunately we 

cannot get visas! 

Andy Harris’ visit to NYC 

sparked a minireunion of the 

infamous “Sunday Night Beer 

League,” which was rightly held 

on a Sunday night in the fall. 

Ray George, Dekker Buckley, Jim 

Elliott, Jonny Hollenberg, Ajata 

(AJ) Mediratta ’87 and Dave Tager 

’87 were all in attendance. Ray 

also saw Ulysses Sherman in New 

York, visiting on business. 

Perhaps next time they can visit 

Robert (Pooch) Pucciariello’s band 

Sora An, which plays frequently 

in NYC. Rob and wife Maria are 

still living next to the Flatiron 

Building in New York, and he 

saw Tim Bock when Williams 

President Adam Falk spoke at 

Credit Suisse. Rob reports that 

Eric Hanson is moving to San 

Francisco to book Yoshi’s, a 

legendary jazz club. 

Also in New York, Vicki 

Fuqua saw Jeanne Cloppse and 

Katherine Wolf at a party hosted 

by Claire Marx. Claire and Sally 

Laroche and families visited 

Vicki for New Year’s Eve. Jody 

Abzug reported seeing Tim Bock, 

Catherine Eaton Coakley, Lewis

and Carrie Collins, and Brooks 

Foehl at Williams Homecoming 

in November. She says, “Chatting 

with classmates was much more 

fulfilling than watching the 

game.” Given the score, that is 

not surprising. She also met Lisa 

Buxbaum Burke with her new 

husband in his first visit to the 

Purple Valley. 

That is all the news, my fellow 

Ephs. Keep warm, and keep on 

keeping on. Peace. 

1989 

David Bar Katz 

138 Watts St., Apt. 4 


Shannon Penick Pryor 

3630 Prospect St., NW 



Graham Dougal writes, “Spend 

most of the time delivering the 

kids to their various activities 

with occasional breaks for 

work or sleep. Did take older 

daughter on Williams alumni trip 

to Nepal earlier this year—very 

interesting in a ‘Dorothy, we’re 

not in Kansas anymore’ kind of 

way—but had a great time and 

would love to go back for some 

trekking.” 

From Nancy (Titus) Johnson, 

“In August my family moved to 

Tbilisi, Georgia, in between the 

Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. 

It’s a beautiful capital surrounded 

by mountains. My husband is 

teaching sciences and high-level 

math classes at the secondary 

level, while I am teaching fifth 

grade. We just missed teaching 

our own children. Forrest is in 

sixth grade and Autumn is in 

eighth grade. The youngest two 

girls are in second and kindergarten. 

Being able to speak Russian 

is much more useful here than in 

China.” 

From Dominick Grillo, “Can’t 

say it’s juicy or gossipy, but I 

and my house came through 

Hurricane Irene OK earlier this 

year.” 

Susan Sullivan writes, “I am still 

working at the Bank of America 

despite layoffs and protests. I 

am supporting our International 

Wealth Management business 

and, as you can imagine, the 

hours are crazy. Tomorrow I am 

getting up at 4 in the morning to 

be in the office for a telepresence 

conference call with Asia and 

the U.K. starting at 6 a.m. My 

big news this year is that I have 

moved to a new townhome on 

the water in Hingham, Mass. 

Hingham is a quaint colonial 

town, and the shipyard where 

I live is the perfect blend of the 

traditional and the up-andcoming. 

The popular hangout is 

Wahlburgers, a restaurant owned 

by Mark Wahlberg’s brother.” 

From John Berger, “It looks like 

I’ve settled in to St. Augustine, 

Fla., for a while, as Sarah and I 

have been able to take advantage 

of the housing bust and bought 

our first place since I left Wall 

Street for the nonprofit world. 

I’m still traveling a lot for Made 

By Survivors and will be in 

India several times this year. I’m 

thinking of doing a short trek in 

Nepal this spring as a fundraiser. 

If anyone wants to test the effects 

of beer at high altitude, let me 

know.” 

As many of you know, David 

Gaillard died over the winter in an 

avalanche. Seth Burns wrote the 

following, which I’d like to share 

with the class: “It is with great 

sadness that I learned of David 

Gaillard’s passing. My thoughts 

and prayers go out to his family 

for such a tragic loss. I met Dave 

freshman year, as we both lived 

in Williams A. I will always 

remember moments with Dave 

at Williams: eating late night at 

the Snack Bar, joking around the 

freshman entry, rowing on Lake 

Onota, stressing out over school 

work, going on runs through 

the Berkshires… A few years out 

of Williams I lived for a bit in 

Dillon, Mont., and spent many 

weekends sleeping on Dave’s 

couch in Bozeman. Always kind 

and helpful, Dave had definitely 

found his calling and was 

clearly in his element doing the 

important work of protecting the 

greater Yellowstone ecosystem. I 

remember having many conversations 

with Dave about his work 

and was always impressed with 

his intelligent and selfless way of 

discussing the issues of protecting 

the environment. Dave had a way 

of working his understated sense 

of humor into conversations that 

I will always remember. It was 

that year (living in Montana) 

that I read the book Zen and the 

Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 

by Robert M. Pirsig. As the 

novel’s narrative meanders 

through Beartooth Pass and 

into Yellowstone National Park, 

Pirsig’s discussion of goodness 

is similar to how Dave lived his 

life. Dave moved to Bozeman 

to pursue work and a life that 

he believed in. Always purposeful, 

intelligent, selfless and kind, 

Dave was an uncommonly good 

person, and we are all blessed 

n 1987–90 

to have him enrich our lives. 

Although Dave is longer with 

us, his impact on the world will 

always remain.” 

1990 

Katie Brennan 

2018 Rosilla Place 

Los Angeles, CA 90046 


I’ve just realized that the class 

notes only come out three times 

a year! I’ve been thinking all 

along it was four and worrying 

I’d bitten off more than I could 

chew, but three times a year does 

feel manageable. Lots of news 

this time! So great to hear from 

so many of you, and thanks to 

everyone who sent in updates. 

Read on and see what your 

classmates are up to! 

Congratulations to Doug 

Barnaby, proud father of triplets! 

On the side, he’s also an emergency 

physician in Huntington, 

N.Y., and we’ll forgive the 

brevity of his message “Yep, 

triplets—it’s a blast, and they 

definitely keep me on my toes.” 

Tina Lieu wrote from 

Cambridge, where she and 

family welcomed Ellen Miharu 

Tomioka, who was born June 

10. “We’ve been so busy between 

the baby and Henry, 3, that not 

much else has been happening. 

I do get to see Gretchen 

Swanz Herault every few months 

though. I’m still working at Basis 

Technology, although now in the 

marketing department.” 

Lots of educators from our 

class continue to write in. So 

great to see the Williams legacy 

passed on in so many ways! Amy 

Whritenour Ando is a professor of 

environmental economics at the 

University of Illinois at Urbana- 

Champaign. “My grad class has 

about 20 students from many 

parts of campus (engineers and 

urban planners as well as economists). 

… My undergrad class 

has 180 students. It is designed 

to be accessible even to students 

who don’t know anything about 

economics. I feel like it’s part 

of educating the general public 

about some basic important principles 

of environmental problems 

and policies.” Amy is “still married 

to the same great guy,” and 

the main source of change is the 

kids, now ages 9 and 13, who 

keep getting bigger and developing 

new interests. 

Bob McCarthy is the humanities 

department chair at the Key 

School in Annapolis, teaching 

European and American 


CLASS NOTES 

civilization—“a combination 

of English, history, philosophy, 

economics, etc. It’s been great 

for me. I have good students and 

a lot of freedom to teach what 

and how I think best.” He had a 

chance to get back to Oxford last 

spring and stayed in the college, 

which was fun and especially 

exciting for his son. 

Nathaniel McVey-Finney has 

been teaching for more than two 

decades at public, charter (very 

briefly) and private/independent 

schools as well as coaching cross 

country at several schools including, 

recently, The Bullis School in 

Potomac, Md., and The Madeira 

School in McLean, Va. Nate 

also has a 5-year-old son in the 

second year of preschool. 

Kristin Moomaw Harder also 

started teaching right out of 

Williams and promptly met 

future husband Adam at Choate 

Rosemary Hall. She’s been teaching 

ever since, most recently at 

The Rivers School near Boston. 

Kristin teaches math, and Adam 

both math and Spanish. When 

they had children, they were 

eager for them to be bilingual, 

and this year have had the 

great fortune (and thoughtful 

employers) of being awarded 

concurrent sabbaticals. They 

have taken one-year appointments 

at School Year Abroad 

Spain, an immersion program for 

U.S. high school students. So the 

Harder family is having a grand 

adventure, centered in Zaragoza 

(midway between Madrid 

and Barcelona), with jaunts 

to Burgos, Leon, the Asturian 

coast as well as Portugal and 

Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands! 

Kristin is finally catching up 

to Adam in Spanish (no more 

secret Dad-kid conversations?!) 

and enjoying a reduced teaching 

load for the year. “Our children 

(Keagan, 5, and Keira, 8) are 

attending a Spanish school. They 

have adjusted well to both the 

language and the culture (and 

they have learned a lot about the 

Catholic religion). After just a 

few months, they are completely 

fluent.” Wishing the Harder family 

a few more months of delight 

in Spain before they return to 

Boston in July. 

Also living a life of adventure 

is the family of Karen Hufnagel 

and Brice Hoskins. “In May, 

we moved our family of four 

and two businesses (Montanya 

Distillers and Mountain Boy 

Sledworks) to Crested Butte, 

Colo. New school, new house, 

new community, new friends, 

new employees, new ski area, 


new mountains. You name it, we 

changed it. And we are loving it! 

In June, we all went to Ladakh 

and Darjeeling, India, for a 

three-week trip that involved lots 

of hiking (our 11- and 13-yearold 

boys made it to 17,000 feet 

in the Himalayas!) and lots 

of eating great food. We are 

ever so tired of moving boxes 

around. Sammy Rogers came 

to visit over Thanksgiving, and 

she thought we were living in a 

vacation rental because we got 

rid of half of what we owned in 

the transition, leaving not much 

to help her know she was in 

the right house. We are looking 

forward to lots of visits from 

Ephs for rum at our new facility 

in Crested Butte.” 

Yoko Hirano wrote, “I’m still at 

Pearson working as a ‘publisher’ 

(in U.K. terms), which is more 

like an editorial manager, in ELT 

material for children learning 

English around the world, 

primarily in Latin America. It’s 

a great job with fabulous people 

that I am so lucky to have! I am 

married, living in Cold Spring, 

N.Y., and have two boys (7 and 

almost 3), who are lots of work 

but so much fun.” 

Brett Babat is a practicing spine 

surgeon in Nashville, specializing 

in adult deformity and revision 

surgery. He spent a great week 

before Christmas in Playa del 

Carmen, Mexico, with wife 

Jackie and kids Zach, Sylvie and 

Lucy. Brett also reported a great 

weekend eating and drinking in 

Manhattan with Ed Wiggers last 

July. 

Timmie Friend Haskins is doing 

residential interior design in the 

SF Bay area as well as in Hawaii, 

Montana and Sun Valley. A 

splendiferous house she designed 

in Hawaii was featured in 

Architectural Digest. 

You may recall reading here 

that Michael Erard was finishing 

up a book on super language 

learners. Babel no More has 

had a fantastic review in the 

New York Times Book Review. 

Of course, you should read the 

book, but if you at least manage 

to read the review, you’ll 

learn how “shadowing” is a 

great technique to learn a new 

language, one that might involve 

making a “spectacle of oneself … 

but seems to help the beginner 

shed some of the self-consciousness 

connected with speaking a 

foreign language.” 

Whitney Wilson is a lawyer 

at Jacobson Holman, in DC, 

practicing in the patent and 

trademark fields. “I spend most 

of my spare time patrolling the 

youth sports sidelines (hockey, 

soccer, baseball and diving) with 

my 8- and 10-year-old sons and 

leading an eager group of 10 

Cub Scouts. One of my fellow 

soccer dads is Hamilton Humes 

’85. I get to see Bruce Young ’90 

pretty regularly.” 

Tim Sullivan wrote while 

recovering from his first-ever 

marathon! He wisely selected 

the Disney World Marathon for 

his debut, and wife Katie, son 

Devin, 12, and daughters Niamh, 

10, and Aoife, 4, all enjoyed 

a long weekend in Orlando. 

Otherwise, the Sullivan family 

lives in Marblehead, Mass., and 

Tim commutes to Cambridge, 

where has worked for 15 years 

at Millenium Pharmaceuticals, 

currently in environment, health 

and safety. Tim and family have 

been getting some skiing in at 

Jay Peak, including with Peter 

Millikan and family. Tim was also 

looking forward to getting back 

in touch with Rubber Band mate 

Phil Jordan ’89. 

Training for a half-marathon 

is Steve Allen. Unfortunately, 

the unseasonably warm winter 

in Moscow has been depriving 

him of the best excuse not 

to train, reducing him to “my 

legs really hurt from running 

so much, when the hell is it 

going to get cold so I can stop 

running?” Hope was on the 

horizon, though, with a promising 

10 degrees F on a day in 

January, and “with the wind chill 

it is somewhere between seven 

degrees below and 18 degrees 

below zero. A) Russians scoff at 

this. For Christ’s sake, it should 

be 20 below for two or three 

solid weeks. ‘You know, back in 

the 70’s…’ is something I often 

hear as a preface to just how 

mild the current weather is, and 

this has been the case in exactly 

17 of the last 17 years. B) There 

is no such thing as ‘wind chill,’ 

bekoz unlike amerikaans vee do 

not feel zee vind.” But can zey 

handle zee heat? 

Pam Lotke is stoic during the 

summers, and enjoys the cooler 

seasons in Tucson with her 

family, including husband Alex, 

daughter Allegra, 7, and son 

Asher, 5. Pam is keeping very 

busy working at the University 

of Arizona, Department of 

OB/GYN as well as spending 

one day a week at Planned 

Parenthood and another half 

day at the county jail. “Enough 

research to keep it interesting but 

not so I have to bring it home. 

Alex, on the other hand, could

e doing his research (physics, 

and now solar energy) 24/7.” 

Although Arizona ranks low in 

the nation for education funding, 

Pam feels lucky to have found 

a Spanish immersion magnet 

public school with some great 

programs. Hard for the kids to 

return to Spanish mode, though, 

after a winter break of ziplining 

across the back yard! 

David Becher has been living 

in Boulder and working for 19 

years at a small market research 

and city planning firm—primarily 

in the travel and tourism 

field. He enjoys hiking and cross 

country skiing as much as possible. 

Perhaps unusual for the 

West, Boulder has lots of snow 

this year. David sees John Putnam 

fairly often in town and on the 

trails. John is an environmental 

attorney with two kids and is 

active in local environmental 

efforts/boards in addition to his 

professional work. 

Jim Fogarty has been keeping 

the headhunters in business, with 

a whirlwind tour of executive 

positions, including CFO at 

Warnaco, CFO at Levi Strauss, 

CEO of American Italian pasta 

company, COO at Lehman 

Brothers, CEO of Charming 

Shoppes and now CEO of 

Orchard Brands! 

Emily Dolbear delegated Paul 

Willen to write in and “explain 

what we do with our time. 

We have two children, Joseph, 

11, and Marco, 8. Emily does 

some freelance editorial work 

but devotes most of her time to 

raising the boys. I work as an 

economist at the Federal Reserve 

Bank of Boston. I’m something 

of an expert on home mortgages, 

so I’ve been very busy the last 

few years. (If you’re bored, you 

can find out more on my website 

http://sg.sg/pwillens.” 

Chap Petersen was re-elected 

to the Virginia State Senate 

last year and is now approaching 

his second decade in the 

legislature. He also maintains 

a full-time law practice in 

hometown Fairfax City. He and 

wife Sharon have four children, 

with the youngest born last 

August and the oldest in middle 

school. Life is great, and Chap 

“recently visited with Chris 

Adams, who lives in Charlotte, 

N.C. He’s the godfather to my 

son Thomas, 6, which means 

he’s supposed to be an example 

of integrity and morality in 

adult living. That’s a frightening 

thought.” 

Keep the frightening thoughts 

coming! At press time, at least 

one birth and one wedding were 

imminent, so I hope I’ll have 

more good news for you next 

time. 

1991 

Ramona Liberoff 

34 Charlotte Road, Flat 4 

London, EC2A 3PB 

United Kingdom 


Greetings to the Class of ’91 

from London, where I’ve been 

living since 1994. This is my first 

class notes, and I am glad we get 

five years to improve both solicitation 

of news and presentation. 

My husband Garry and I spent 

much of the end of 2011 holiday 

break with BlackBerry switched 

off and a mince pie in each hand, 

so thanks to those who overcame 

turkey torpor to write in your 

news. 

I received no news of extreme 

weather, odysseys to Kazakhstan 

or emergency rescues as in Pete’s 

September notes, though everyone 

who wrote in lives impressively 

busy lives of daily heroism, 

juggling children and work, 

participating in community life, 

while maintaining a sense of 

humour. 

I have spent the last 10 years 

working in different global roles, 

and it is always fun to run into 

Williams alumni. Last October 

at a conference in Baltimore, 

Md., I ran into Chris Walker ’93 

and Stephanie Linden Seale ’96, 

working in Switzerland and 

California, respectively, on issues 

of global health and technology. 

Also in DC, I caught up with 

Greg Woods and got news of former 

class secretary Mary Moule 

and family as well as inside tales 

of the Beltway from Greg. I 

managed through decoding the 

DC Metro map to meet with 

Jessica (Baraka) Nolan and have 

a rapid-fire 37-minute coffee 

and catch-up on the last decade, 

including how she met husband 

Phil, life with a young son and 

the delights of McLean,Va. When 

in Paris, I try to catch up with 

Jennifer (Austin) Flanigan, who 

now has three boys and a girl, 

all under the age of 10, with an 

impressive command of French 

and a fine line in Franglais. 

London is a common place for 

global alumni to pass through or 

visit. Last summer I enjoyed the 

company of Deidre (Goodwin) 

Carovano, who with husband Bill 

working locally in Cambridge 

(the UK one) enjoyed life in a 

flat with their two children and 

n 1990–91 

a total change of pace from 

“normal” life in Tampa, Fla., 

with sunshine and a house in 

London in December. I shared 

an Indian dinner with Monica 

Brand, who was on a work trip 

to London and Amsterdam with 

Accion International in DC. 

My Thanksgiving dinner table 

included Sarah Peterson, who 

was in town for work, Sophie 

Muir, who lives in London, and 

Jae (Gruenke) Barnhill ’93, who 

with husband Eric is spending a 

year in Edinburgh. 

Scott Schwager, another longtime 

London resident, living with 

wife Viviane and family, met 

with Josh Kurzban and his wife 

Michelle on their way to a wedding 

in Europe. “Josh loves the 

open spaces and life in Kansas, 

where they recently moved after 

decades in New York.” 

Brian Carlson writes that he 

and his new wife Kristin were 

planning a trip to Europe in 

the spring and “are thrilled to 

have moved into a new home in 

Marblehead, Mass., my favorite 

town in the world.” Brian is still 

practicing employment and labor 

law with a boutique law firm in 

the Boston suburbs and enjoying 

the work. 

Tim Hildreth is convinced that 

London is the glittering, celebrity-strewn 

and unrecognizably 

tidy version of itself that turns 

up in films like Love, Actually 

and writes that he’s “jealous” 

that I get to spend the holidays in 

such a wonderful place. I think 

New Hampshire sounds far 

nicer than London, if terrifyingly 

filled with very fit people, 

from Tim’s description. Tim, Lisa 

Leinau and 10 friends enjoyed 

the landscape by doing the 2011 

New Balance Reach the Beach 

Relay, running 200 miles from 

Cannon Mountain to Hampton 

Beach in 36 legs. (I assume each 

runner contributed two of their 

own.) “It was a really amazing 

experience to run through some 

of the most beautiful places in 

the state, through the night, and 

run as one team across the finish 

line 29 hours after our first runner 

started.” 

I am glad to hear news from 

the “home” team, those who 

have stayed in the Northeast. Joel 

Foisy is committed to bringing 

back the Janes, a splendid ensemble 

homegrown in the basement 

of Lehman Hall in summer 1989. 

The Janes included Mike Cole on 

keyboards, Greg Woods on guitar, 

Andy Beveridge on bass and, 

of course, Joel on the drums. 

Joel writes that he now “has an 


CLASS NOTES 

electronic drum kit and is ready 

for a reunion.” If references are 

needed, “Jane Greenawalt ’90 

or Soo La Kim can provide fan 

notes of the awesome show in 

Greylock Quad.” We should 

keep an eye out for the Janes on 

YouTube or demand a live show 

at our 25th Reunion. Joel also 

visited DC in September and 

spent time with Jake Smith and 

Cliff Majersik and came away 

impressed by “how many kids’ 

soccer games Cliff planned to 

attend the next day (three).” 

Betsy Allen-Pennebaker and 

Andrew Allen are living in 

Burlington, Vt. While Andrew 

is busy growing a new division 

of his business, Betsy is 

now teaching the liberal arts 

strand at Champlain College 

in Burlington. Betsy writes, “I 

am enjoying teaching the curriculum 

because it is so varied. 

I just couldn’t face teaching 

‘der, die, das’ to freshmen. … 

Here I get to teach psychology 

and literature and this semester 

political philosophy. Classes start 

tomorrow, and I am nervous 

because the readings for this one 

are quite dry, and I am starting 

to have late-night moments of 

terror in which I see a classroom 

full of heavy-lidded teenagers, 

all texting under the desks to 

their friends, saying how much 

my class sucks.” A common 

nightmare for all faculty, Betsy, 

particularly those teaching philosophy, 

I suspect! 

Josh Becker is making sure he 

raises a next generation of Eph 

fans by bringing his son Aaron 

to watch the Williams/Amherst 

game in Palo Alto, Calif. Josh 

writes, “two members from our 

reunion entrepreneurship panel 

(at the 20th reunion in June) 

were featured in San Francisco 

Magazine: Mariam Naficy was 

on the cover for an article about 

women and entrepreneurs, and 

Eric Grosse is in the same magazine 

having taken over as CEO of 

Task Rabbit, a company that just 

raised $18 million and is growing 

rapidly.” Congratulations to 

our West Coast entrepreneurs! 

In East Coast sports news, 

Chris Mersereau is making sure 

the Red Sox have a next generation 

of fans. Chris writes, “My 

sons Jack and Pierce and I attend 

many Fenway Park games, 

and we were heartbroken by 

their September performance.” 

Chris’ own home equine team is 

doing far better: “Stoneymeade 

Farm continues to grow and 

‘show,’ with 40 horses. Last 

November we had three of our 


horses compete at the Maclay 

National Finals in Lexington, 

Ky. Fortunately our daughter 

Josie, 6, prefers horseback riding 

to baseball.” Chris also spends 

time with Ephs in Boston and 

was planning a Williams trip 

to golf St. Andrews in Scotland 

with Pam Dickinson ’86 and Paul 

Mersereau ’61. 

Michelle Sanders writes from 

Bedford, Mass. Michelle was 

enjoying her holiday break from 

her pediatric practice and gearing 

up for the busy January season. 

She was able to bid bon voyage 

to Jonquil Wolfson, who with 

husband Jeff and children Talia 

and Eliana, has moved to Stuart, 

Fla., where Jeff is the new rabbi 

for a congregation. Having seen 

photos of the family in shorts 

for Halloween, Michelle believes 

“Jonquil misses wool sweaters … 

but the family enjoys the citrus 

trees in their backyard and being 

able to use the pool for much of 

the autumn.” Doesn’t sound like 

a bad trade-off, but then I live 

in a country where sunshine is 

worthy of a special mention. 

Please do send your news 

in—to Christine next issue—and 

a happy and healthy 2012 to 

everyone. 

1992 


Stephanie Phillips 

241 Central Park West, Apt. 5A 



I’m saddened to report that 

after a two-year battle with cancer 

Elizabeth (Betsy) Carson Rupe 

passed away on Jan. 10. She is 

survived by her husband Allan 

and sons Keith, Simon and Isaac. 

The rest of these notes were written 

three weeks prior to receiving 

this news, so please excuse the 

incongruity in tone. 

Here’s the few, the proud, that 

made it in before I had to shame 

you all into contributing: Lynette 

Guastaferro bumped into Eric 

Kaye in the lobby of the building 

where her nonprofit, Teaching 

Matters, is located. In a random, 

fun coincidence he was in the 

building cutting a record with 

singers from the building’s wellknown 

choir. 

Anne (Joseph) O’Connell shared 

a comprehensive update: In 

the past five years she married 

Jamie O’Connell, had two kids 

(Evelyne, born in 2008, and 

Alexander, just born Oct. 21, 

2011), and received tenure (at 

the University of California, 

Berkeley). 

Jim Scott, whom we haven’t 

heard from in ages, was encouraged 

by his wife and kids to 

“let everyone know that I 

was honored to be selected to 

perform with the Philly Pops 

Festival Chorus with Peter Nero 

in their 2011 holiday program. 

It was a blast and brought lots of 

memories back from performing 

with the Springstreeters in 

Chapin Hall.” 

Kerr Houston rang in the New 

Year by traveling to Cairo for a 

week as part of a research project 

that culminated in a paper, 

delivered in LA in February, on 

1950s Egyptian movie posters. In 

the meantime, he also managed 

a second, briefer trip to the City 

of Angels, in order to compete 

on Jeopardy! Kerr advised that if 

you want to see him wishing he 

knew more about jazz pianists, 

tune in in late April. 

From Keith Faigin, we learn 

that “the Faigin family still 

counts themselves as one of nine 

documented families that voluntarily 

moved to the Detroit area. 

We’ve been here about seven 

years. I moved up to take the 

position of CIO of a health services 

company and my wife is an 

oncology nurse. Our daughter, 

Anabel, 12, has her bat mitzvah 

in May and is a cheerleader. She 

is the first cheerleader who will 

talk to me*. Our daughter, Eliza, 

9, is a budding drummer and 

excels in the areas of volume and 

noisiness. As for me, as a way of 

further avoiding growing up, I’ve 

gotten back into improv. *I’ve 

used this joke before—primarily 

on Alumni Fund solicitation 

emails—but, it is a good bit, and 

I feel it merits repeating.” 

And now the guilty consciences 

who felt that it would be untoward 

for our class to have really 

short notes on the eve of our 

20th reunion. 

Ivan Fermon very helpfully 

asked whether I meant “saddest 

as in depressing or as in 

pathetic?” but then provided 

no information. Thanks for the 

help, Ivan. 

Dan Weiswasser shares that, “as 

an internist/pediatrician, I am the 

director of quality and clinical 

informatics at Riverbend Medical 

Group, the largest multispecialty 

medical group in Western 

Massachusetts, i.e., we’re big fish 

in a small pond. When not seeing 

patients, I work to leverage our 

electronic medical records system 

to provide the best quality care

From left: Josh Kurzban ’91 and his wife Michelle caught up with Scott 

Schwager ’91 in London on their way to a wedding. 

on a practice-wide basis. I am 

looking forward to bringing my 

boys, Jake, 8, and Alex, 5, to 

the reunion this summer, as the 

Berkshires are practically in my 

back yard. I would like to give a 

shout out to Sage B entry-mates 

Derek Schilling, who has just 

returned from a sabbatical in 

southern France (pauvre bâtard), 

and Doug Boyce, who is the chair 

of the music department at The 

George Washington University.” 

Joan (Malamud) Rocklin shared 

that she got married to Bob 

Rocklin in 2009 and in 2011 

welcomed Sam Rocklin to her 

clan. She also sent a lovely 

picture of her wedding and a 

really cute picture of her baby 

boy. She has also co-authored a 

legal writing textbook, A Lawyer 

Writes, which is good reading 

for first-year law students or 

anybody having trouble sleeping 

at night. And Joan and Bob (also 

an attorney) are working on 

a second textbook, tentatively 

titled To Move a Court. 

We learn that Jeremiah Axelrod 

also welcomed additions to his 

family this past year: Amalia 

Serenity Axelrod-Delcampo 

and Sophie Amistad Axelrod- 

Delcampo were born on July 3 

to Jem and Lil Delcampo (Drake 

’92). The twin girls are happy 

and healthy, having completed 

their first big trip (to Tennessee 

for the holidays) and look 

forward to the Williams reunion 

in June. 

Abigail Solomon is engaged and 

plans to get married Memorial 

Day weekend on Martha’s 

Vineyard to Jason Teuscher. 

Congratulations, Abigail! If I 

recall correctly, your family has 

a lovely house on the beach in 

Chilmark. But details of that 

long-ago evening on the beach 

are hazy, except I still remember 

Will Brockman arriving late after 

finishing his thesis and running 

into the ocean fully dressed. We 

hope no one will do that at your 

wedding! 

Tony Elison moved to the 

Seattle area (as of late 2010, 

actually), and chose to live on 

Mercer Island as it is where 

Greg Hart also happens to live. 

“As a result, both of our lives 

have regressed by a few decades, 

as we hang out on weekends 

with nothing better to do. It’s 

also interesting to see the kids 

well into a second-generation 

Elison-Hart friendship. Although 

this time around it seems the 

Harts are the better athletes, 

young Charles, 7, and Catherine, 

5, seem to be preserving some 

semblance of family honor for 

the Elisons with their superior 

dance moves.” 

Louisa (Mittlegluck) Quittman 

also gets to hang out with 

Williams classmates. She is “still 

at the Treasury Department, 

trying to find ways to make our 

financial system work better 

for the 99 percent, and works 

with a number of Williams 

folks, including the famous 

Don Graves, and got to have a 

Williams intern this past summer, 

thanks to Michael Tae ’97.” 

Louisa recently caught up with 

Deborah Lee, who is preparing 

for the Episcopal seminary. 

Melinda (Varn) Pearson admitted 

she never writes and that 

“when you said it was the saddest 

ever, I felt a certain twinge 

of guilt and obligation.” She 

reports, “I now live in Ventura, 

Calif., after stints in Sacramento 

n 1991–92 

and Denver, working on various 

degrees and having fun. My husband 

Duane and I have two fantastic 

daughters, Marlo, 6, and 

Alice, 4. I am an English PhD 

dropout (yes, the pathetic ABD) 

and currently full-time SAHM 

(oh the acronyms!), but am contemplating 

returning to teaching 

English lit and composition once 

my girls are both in school full 

time. Or maybe taking up tennis? 

We’ll see.” 

Deirdre Flynn, who protested 

that she had little to tell, did a 

great job reporting on the whereabouts 

of several classmates: 

She reports: “Kate (Lee) Flynn 

and I had dinner last week. She 

is doing well in her job at JP 

Morgan, where she has nearly 

hit the 20-year mark. I can’t 

understand how it’s possible that 

we are old enough for someone 

to have been at a job for 20 

years, but apparently the math 

works. I also had lunch with 

David Willmott’s wife Catherine 

when they were in New York. 

They live in Portland, Ore., now, 

but their East Coast friends are 

assuming that’s not a permanent 

move. 

Did you know that Alison 

Bonner is now married? As I was 

enjoying a mint julep on Derby 

Day last May, I emailed her to 

wish her a good one (as it was 

this Kentucky roommate who 

introduced me to all the hoopla). 

As it turns out, she actually was 

at the Derby, where her then 

boyfriend proposed. They didn’t 

wait long before finishing the 

deal, but I have no more scoop! 

And I still live in NYC with four 

kids and a minivan.” 

Also doing an excellent job of 

reporting on classmates is Heidi 

Sandreuter. Heidi is “still at 

Pepsi. It’s been 12 1 ⁄2 years, all in 

marketing, and for the last year 

I’ve been leading the media strategy 

team for Pepsi Beverages. 

My position has allowed me to 

work closely with Matt Colangelo 

’98, who is our finance guru.” 

Heidi looked at an apartment 

shown to her by her Sage E 

suitemate Abigail Lash but had 

yet to pull the trigger. She visited 

Ashley Edgar Milliken and her 

husband Peter ’91 last fall and 

went out to San Francisco in 

October to check in on Candace 

Kelly. Candace had just returned 

from a two-year detail in DC. 

They also “bopped over to Josh 

Levenberg’s house in Hillsboro, 

where he and his wife Verna are 

raising three terrific kids.” 

And Amy Sachtleben writes that 

she was (at the time of writing) 


CLASS NOTES 

hosting Elizabeth (Feeney) Asali 

in London, as she travels to the 

GSK home office occasionally, 

and that “tonight we have plans 

to visit a purple pub.” Amy 

heard from Caitlin Mann that she 

was meeting Lloyd Alexander and 

Clint Kendall in Boston for lunch 

but had no details. 

Kristen (Hassing) Howard 

reports that in November she 

met up with Brad Behr, Jonathan 

Lindley, Jared Cumming, Karen 

Schroeder, Amy Elmore and 

Maura Gallagher along with their 

families for a weekend in Deep 

Creek, Md. “Peter Weingartner 

usually joins us but was unable 

to this year, so we hung out via 

video chat instead. We watched 

our kids perform some very 

funny skits, ate some really 

great food and found a geocache 

in Deep Creek State Park.” 

Kristen has also performed in 

two plays, Oliver! and Alice in 

Wonderland, and has started 

up with rapier sword dancing 

again (there’s something for 

you to Google!). She currently 

works for Silverchair Science & 

Communications, a company 

that designs and hosts websites 

for science, technical and medical 

publishers. 

Arielle (Kagan) Masters writes 

that she is determined to at least 

try to get in shape, and so has 

been taking classes at LA Boxing 

since October (and hopefully 

will still be taking them as of this 

printing so as to avoid the hasbeen 

embarrassment. She’s loving 

the classes, aside from the sore 

back and shoulders. 

Alison Locke Perchuk continues 

to enjoy teaching art history 

at Occidental College in LA, 

where her fellow faculty members 

include Paul Nam ’91 and 

Jeremiah Axelrod. 

Also in academia is Marica 

Tacconi. Marica had what may 

just be the best gig going: In July 

2011 she concluded a sevenmonth 

residency as a visiting 

research professor at Villa I 

Tatti, the Harvard University 

Center for Italian Renaissance 

Studies in Florence, Italy. “I was 

assigned to live in my own huge 

villa overlooking Florence and 

had a marvelous 1875 concert 

grand piano in my living room/ 

ballroom. When not playing 

and composing at the piano, I 

worked on a new musicological 

project while benefitting from 

the interdisciplinary community 

of scholars at the center. With 

a more flexible schedule away 

from my regular teaching duties 

at Penn State University, I also 


got to fit in some great trips to 

Paris and Tanzania.” 

Holly Frazier has been working 

significantly harder and has been 

very busy juggling work, home 

and school. She completed her 

PhD in educational leadership 

from University of Pennsylvania 

in 2011 and is happily married 

and the proud mother of 

three terrific kids—EJ, Nia and 

William. She continues, “People 

may be surprised to know that 

I am currently involved in a TV 

series called DanceMoms, and I 

have the pleasure of supporting 

my daughter through the world 

of competitive dance.” I have 

to admit, that sounds intriguing 

enough to break my “no reality 

TV” rule. 

Patty (Altoff) Conte returned 

to education part time in the fall 

of 2010, “tutoring at the school 

where I did my student teaching 

(17 years before!). And this summer 

I will be coaching diving for 

the first time in almost 20 years!” 

From Kent Wosepka, we learn 

John Staudenmayer did Ironman 

Louisville over the summer. 

Oddly, Kent shared no details of 

his own. 

Dan Rhode very helpfully wrote 

the following: “Dan is living and 

working in Buxton, England, 

and is hoping some more people 

in the U.S. will buy his recently 

published book on pottery 

(Introducing Pottery, find it on 

your favorite online bookseller!). 

Work includes looking after his 

two nutty children aged 9 and 

3 who are a constant source of 

bedlam mixed with fun. He is 

happy to show anyone around 

the peak district by mountain 

bike so stop by!” 

And last but not least, Christy 

Johnson writes, “I wish I had 

something exciting to send in, 

but I got nuthin’! Just getting 

excited about the reunion in 

June.” As am I. I wish you all 

safe travels to Williamstown, and 

I am looking forward to seeing 

you in June! 

1993 

Chad Orzel 

1570 Regent St. 

Niskayuna, NY 12309 


Another year, another January 

set of class notes. This time, I’m 

not writing from an airport bar, 

but never fear, I’ve found a new 

way to simulate jet lag and thus 

generate the slightly punchy 

prose you’ve come to expect: My 

wife Kate Nepveu and I had a 

son, David, in November. Big sister 

Claire (now 3 1 ⁄2) is so excited 

to be a big sister that she can’t go 

more than five minutes without 

running over to give him a hug 

and a kiss. She’s also apparently 

too excited to sleep, which means 

nobody in the house is getting 

any rest. I’m typing this at 10 

p.m. in my bedroom, hoping that 

she’ll finally doze off, but judging 

by the sounds from her room, 

she’s still telling stories to her 

stuffed animals… 

This leads naturally to 

the other new births in the 

class: Zahie El Kouri and John 

Greenman have a new son, 

Nico, born back in June, and 

Laura (Wedner) Grams had her 

third, Patton Henry, in August. 

Laura’s still teaching philosophy 

at the University of Nebraska, 

Omaha. Dara Musher-Eizenman 

and her husband Abe had their 

third, Sylvia, in April, and are 

greatly appreciative of the many 

advances in baby technology 

since their first two, 8 and 

11 years ago. Dara was also 

promoted to full professor at 

Bowling Green State University, 

which is nearly as difficult as 

having kids, so double congratulations 

to her. 

The topic of new children also 

brought in a couple of first-time 

reports, first from Rajveer Purohit 

and his wife Mamta, who have 

a new son, Shivraj. Rajveer also 

had his first co-authored book on 

urology published, sees Sandeep 

Patel and Girish Bhakoo regularly 

and attended Navin Girishankar’s 

wedding in DC. Paul Krebs also 

wrote in for the first time, to 

report the birth of his daughter 

back in April. Paul’s living in 

Atlanta, working for Coke and 

promises to write in again in 

2031 or so. 

There were also plenty of 

pre-existing child stories. Patty 

(Pennebaker) Rutins reports that 

she and husband Erik are still 

looking for their 5-year-old in 

the giant pile of Lego bricks 

from Christmas (this was in 

January, but may well still be 

true when this sees print later in 

the spring). Nadine Block is still 

working on sustainable energy in 

DC and reports that it’s gotten 

much harder to keep up with her 

4-year-old twins now that they 

no longer need training wheels 

on their bikes. Pete Putnam’s kids 

are a little older (8 and 11), so 

he and his brother John ’90 took 

them hiking to a “remote yurt in 

Colorado” in December, which 

sounds faintly ominous but was 

apparently fun. Rebecca Beavers

was looking forward to skiing 

with her 6- and 3-year-olds and 

also had a minireunion/40th 

birthday get-together with 

Sarah Platman Baird in October 

in Williamstown, where they 

supported the local economy by 

buying lots of Williams-related 

clothing. 

John Dye is doing the “Mr. 

Mom” thing for a little while, 

having just moved from 

California to Hawaii (just what 

I needed to read in January in 

the Northeast…) as his wife 

became the team physician for 

the University of Hawaii. John’s 

also studying to take his third 

different bar exam, an image 

that undoubtedly sends shivers 

up the spines of all the class 

lawyers. And speaking of chilling 

thoughts, Holly Bernstein writes 

to note that her children are 

entering the teen years, and her 

oldest recently asked whether 

she could attend Amherst (I 

recommend encouraging a more 

socially acceptable form of 

rebellion, such as a tattoo…). 

Kim Tresch reports that she’s still 

happily working as a pediatrician 

and recently took a class with 

Robb Friedman. 

Robb and Elisa Friedman ’93 

also turn up in a report from 

Camille Preston, who attended a 

New Year’s party at their place. 

Camille had a busy start of the 

year, publishing a new book 

and moving to a new house as 

well. And since we seem to have 

moved into the usual random 

encounters part of the report, 

Tom Kimbis reports from DC, 

where he manages to take the 

occasional break from promoting 

solar energy to hang out 

with Heather Rieff, Dave Barker, 

Bill Mowitt and Paul Piquado, 

who apparently has some sort 

of aircraft-based scheme for 

getting back to Williamstown 

more often. A request for class 

notes material on Facebook led 

to Claire Benson-Mandl, Chris 

Colburn and Bowen Chung playing 

“six degrees of separation” 

on my wall, though I’m still not 

sure which of them knows somebody 

who knows Kevin Bacon. 

And lest all the parenting talk 

make you feel too old, Kate Brill 

writes in from Williamstown following 

Charley Stevenson’s 40th 

birthday party, which involved 

prune wafers, walker races 

(highlighted by Tom Wintner righteously 

trouncing Brad Svrluga 

’95), walker gymnastics (by Scott 

Lewis) and traditional beverages. 

Kate writes, “It’s hard to imagine 

the next round of milestone 

birthdays being as much fun, 

although childcare will be much 

easier.” 

Kat Kollett writes in with 

a couple of years’ worth of 

updates, reporting that she’s 

now working with Blick Art 

Materials, helping run a program 

called Art Room Aid that helps 

school art teachers reach out for 

funding to support arts education. 

Oh, and by the way, she got 

married. 

Also in the art world, Allison 

Achauer and husband Tim Sellers 

’90 have (or perhaps will have 

had, by the time this appears) 

a joint show at the Future Art 

Studio in LA, featuring her photographs 

and his oil paintings. 

Kerrita Mayfield was awarded 

a grant from the Community 

Foundation of Western 

Massachusetts to do workshops 

for teachers in the Pioneer Valley 

(almost in the Berkshires). 

The unquestionable champion 

for the most shocking anecdote 

of this round of notes belongs 

to Stephan (Fiedler) Terre, whose 

house was struck by lightning 

back in October. Everybody is 

fine, which is why I feel comfortable 

introducing this with a 

dreadful pun, but as a story, 

that’s pretty tough to top. 

And that brings me to the end 

of another round of class notes 

(and the faint snoring from the 

next room suggests I will finally 

be able to go to bed myself…), 

though I do want to sneak in a 

little self-promotion, to mention 

that my second book, How to 

Teach Relativity to Your Dog 

will be published at the end of 

February and should be available 

wherever books are sold by 

the time this sees print. I highly 

recommend it for all your spring 

and summer gift-giving needs… 

And if you have any news you’d 

like to report, drop me an email 

at oilcan@gmail.com. 

1994 

Elizabeth Randolph Rappaport 

9 Killington St. 

Chappaqua, NY 10514 


Dear Class of 1994, this 

winter has been the usual slog 

toward the holidays, exhaustion, 

sick kids and then some 

restorative time off. But I’d 

say the highlight thus far was 

my kick off to 2012. I had the 

privilege of sitting on the other 

side of the podium at Williams 

for the first time—if only for a 

brief few hours for a couple of 

n 1992–94 

days—to teach a portion of a 

Winter Study class. 

I was lucky enough to help 

teach a class on journalism to 

students interested in the media. 

I was one of four alumni in the 

field to visit campus, where I 

found it remarkably easy to 

speak for two hours at a time 

about my work and my life—go 

figure. My segment was on investigative 

newspaper journalism, 

and I gave them all an assignment 

to come up with something 

to dig into. Their ideas were 

amazing, and they all devised 

creative ways to investigate and 

powerful messages they felt their 

revelations would send to the 

world. 

The experience, including the 

cold weather, reminded me of 

what I love about Williams and 

why it’s always the highestranked 

school in the country. 

Each student was so present, 

so engaged and so responsible 

about their work, and the place 

is so conducive to reading and 

thinking and taking time to do 

things. 

One element of my visit disturbed 

me, however, and I want 

to share it with the class as many 

of us have kids and the world is 

becoming ever more competitive. 

I found the students understandably 

anxious about their 

futures and their job prospects. 

Unemployment is still high, and 

the economy is still wobbly. 

But they were dramatically 

relieved and surprised to hear 

that my career path was varied 

and indirect. It struck me that 

they imagine they’d have to start 

out at The New York Times or 

The Wall Street Journal upon 

graduation to be successful. 

I was in book publishing, the 

Internet boom, grad-school. 

I wrote obituaries, for trade 

newsletters, a web site, a 

newswire and finally reached 

my goal of writing for The Wall 

Street Journal by the time I was 

35. Who knows what’s next? In 

between, I’ve gotten married, 

had two children, traveled and 

enjoyed life as New Yorker. 

It made me a bit sad to think 

that kids feel they have to 

start out at the top or they feel 

they’re failing. It’s just not true. 

Meandering a bit is healthy, and 

so is failing and getting up. One 

path always leads to unexpected 

avenues. 

I told the students that while 

I understood the pressure to 

perform at Williams, life is all 

about their own happiness and 

definitions of success. I explained 


CLASS NOTES 

that most of my classmates have 

not gone down a singular, predetermined 

path. I encouraged 

them to just go and try things 

that may seem unfathomable 

to the career office or to their 

parents. I think I’ll email them a 

reminder of all this and suggest 

they just read the Alumni Review 

for inspiration. 

Firstly, I’d like to correct 

myself. Alex Amidon is a woman, 

not a man. I mistakenly referred 

to her as a “he” in the prior 

class notes. My apologies, Alex. 

You’re kind to say my mistake 

made you “giggle.” 

On the baby news front, 

Nicole Vennell Roberts and her 

husband Brian had their second 

daughter, Clara June, born on 

Thanksgiving. No cooking for 

Nicole (nice work). 

Peggy Maher moved back 

to Manhattan after living and 

working at the University of 

Arkansas for five years. “It 

surely is great to be back in 

Gotham,” she writes, adding 

she loves her job as the associate 

dean at Columbia’s School of 

Engineering and Applied Science. 

Congratulations are in order as 

well because Peggy got married 

in December to Todd Thompson, 

who not only agreed to move 

from the Midwest to Manhattan, 

but will now root for the Mets! 

That is devotion. Peggy sees Ted 

Mason and keeps in touch with 

Tibisay Salerno here and there, 

she said. 

I hope to hear from more of 

you soon. Happy Spring. —Liz 

1995 

Anamaria Villamarin-Lupin 

535 Arabella St. 

New Orleans, LA 70115 

Nancy O’Brien Wagner 

1049 Linwood Ave. 

Saint Paul, MN 55105 


My mother, who successfully* 

raised seven kids, says that 

having the first child is an act of 

optimism, and all others are an 

act of courage. 

Joining the optimist’s club is 

Wei Lin Chang, who announced 

the birth of her son James last 

May. James was mastering crawling 

and clapping at Christmas 

time, and Wei Lin was enjoying 

full-time motherhood. Rachel 

Levinson also joined the club 

with the birth of the “super 

good-natured” Sarah Anateah 

Levinson-Waldman on June 

29. Rachel is also transitioning 


professionally and left her 

position as in-house counsel to 

the American Association of 

University Professors to join the 

Brennan Center for Justice as 

counsel to its liberty and national 

security program. 

Joining the “courage” club is 

Shelby Hallam Benton. Shelby had 

her fourth child, Sarah Katherine 

in July. Shelby is helping her oldest, 

Maggie, 13, apply for high 

schools and writes that it’s “kind 

of surreal having an infant and 

a teenager at the same time!” 

She is homeschooling Drew, 11, 

and chasing around the toddler, 

Patrick, 2. She founded a new 

Boy Scout troop and is acting as 

treasurer and managed to play 

violin with the New Bedford 

Symphony for a brief time before 

maternity leave. And if you want 

proof of her courage: “Oh, and 

we enjoyed our first family trip 

to Disney World last May. I was 

seven months pregnant with a 

16-month-old in tow. Drove all 

the way from Massachusetts 

with the three kids. Had a blast.” 

Donny Wong breaks his silence 

with some big news: He has been 

living in London for the past 

five years and has just received a 

permit for permanent residency. 

He’s seen a few classmates who 

have passed through London 

over the past couple of years 

(Kyle Roberts, Teddy Welsh, Chia 

Hwu ’96). “The other exciting 

news is that I got engaged at the 

end of 2011 and will be entering 

a civil partnership in the UK with 

my partner Chris Dicken some 

time in 2012. I invite Ephs to 

read about our trials and tribulations 

on our blog: http://www. 

gayweddingstory.com.” 

Alastair Moock sends news that 

he has been reconnecting with 

some ’95ers (and their kids) at 

his shows recently. Last fall he 

saw Marc Johnson and Sarah 

Knight in DC, Maren Reichert in 

Philadelphia, Chris Cardona and 

Catherine Sumner in New York, 

and Yvonne Hao, Jim Joy and Kate 

Lanford Joy in Boston. Check out 

his website, www.moock.com, 

and see if you can catch him! 

Check the newsstands for the 

spring 2012 issue of CBE-Life 

Sciences Education for Greg 

Crowther’s essay “Using science 

songs to enhance learning: an 

interdisciplinary approach.” 

Greg also enjoyed a dinner with 

Mark Cordes, “who still spews 

analogies like a hyperarticulate 

rapper, or like Prof. Hodge 

Markgraf ’52 used to do.” Greg 

has been teaching his son Phil, 

age five, to enjoy the chemistry 

set he got for Christmas, though 

he clarifies that “at this age, 

‘chemistry’ mostly involves dissolving 

things in water.” 

Rami Alturki sent in big news 

about his wedding to Maha 

Al-Jasser last fall. They married 

in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 

5., and followed up with a party 

in Paris on Nov. 5. Ramon Silva, 

and Naomi Hewitt-Couturier ’99 

were able to attend the Paris 

event and can vouch that the 

couple looked gorgeous and 

happy. You can check out the 

photo at the end to see for yourself. 

Congratulations, Rami! 

Flo Waldron reports from the 

parenting frontier that she has 

begun her daughter’s potty-training, 

though she has “nothing 

concrete to report.” A-hem. 

I am selfishly very happy 

to report that Chris Wells’ 

Minnesota roots just got a shot 

of Miracle-Gro. Last November, 

he was serenaded by bagpipes, 

which is Macalester College’s 

traditional signal that he received 

tenure. Chris says that the greatest 

change is the silencing of the 

niggling voice of tenure concern. 

But with 3-year-old twins and 

baby Meg (born in March) there 

isn’t much silence in the home, 

anyway. 

Paula Peters writes from 

Olanthe, Kan., that she has 

been having fun teaching writing 

classes to officers at U.S. 

Strategic Command. She is in 

the 13th year of running her 

technical writing business and 

publishes articles on the side. 

She keeps busy chasing around 

6-year-old Zack and 2-year-old 

Alexa. Paula reports that Maria 

Suro Leach is now in Japan with 

her husband Jay Leach and two 

kids through his work with the 

U.S. Navy, and that Alethea Cruz 

has moved back to Wisconsin. 

Tiraatso Tebatso Lekalake writes 

that “happiness is my daughter 

Seneo!” Seneo is 5 now, and 

joined Tiraatso on a two-week 

trip to France to catch up with 

Yetunde (Ramsey), her lovely 

daughter Anais and Hussain ’96. 

Prepare to guffaw: Maren 

Reichert reports that she sees lots 

of Bernard Prusak, as their oldest 

kids attend the same elementary 

school in Bryn Mawr. Maren 

apparently throws a mean 

6-year-old’s birthday party, as 

one of the other parents “propositioned 

me to pick up and babysit 

their daughter on a regular 

basis after school—even offering 

to pay me. I’m not sure what I 

did to suggest that I needed to 

take in stray children of parents

Jake Russin ’94 (standing, left) takes a breather with some of the 30 Ephs 

who participated in a six-mile hike he led in Virginia’s Great Falls Park 

for a Williams D.C.-area “Mountain Day” celebration in October. 

who are stretched too thin. Alas, 

I work full time (albeit in a family 

friendly law clerk position) in 

Philadelphia, where my younger 

son attends day care. I’d like to 

have someone pick up my kids 

for me too sometimes, but I’m 

not about to ask another working 

parent to do it!” 

Tony Qaiyum writes that life 

has been thrilling and exhausting 

the past few months—it was a 

record year for Smallflower.com 

and for Merz Apothecary, his 

family’s 137-year-old Chicago 

business. Tony was able to get 

away to celebrate Cory Nohl’s 

wedding to Sarah Daoust in 

Southern Vermont in October. 

Daughters Saffron and Nol 

were flower girls along with 

the daughters of Pete and Liz 

Richards. Other ’95ers celebrating 

the occasion were Chris 

Murphy, Josh Caley, Rami Batniji, 

John Streng and Jessie Price. “It 

should be mentioned that the 

wedding band was without a 

doubt the most dance-inducing 

group of all time. I want to 

become a wedding crasher and 

follow them around!” 

Tony was able to grab brunch 

with John Ruder and his wife 

Kate on Jan. 2 before they 

finished their Chicago visit and 

headed back to their new digs in 

Boulder, Colo. “They and their 

sons Wes and Quinn seemed as 

happy as can be!” 

By the end of this year, many of 

us will begin to cross into our 

fifth (ack!) decade. Classmate Ted 

Welsh confessed to some memory 

lapses related to the cheers at 

homecoming and mentioned he’d 

made it to the annual mathematics 

meetings in Boston, where 

he “saw half the Williams math 

faculty and a bunch of (much 

younger!) alumni.” They’re getting 

younger every year, Ted. 

Jonathan Eades, who is the 

head of St. Mary’s Hall in San 

Antonio, also made it back to 

Boston for a conference. After 

the conference, he and his 

wife squeezed in a road trip to 

Williamstown. They “stayed at 

the Orchards, appreciated the 

new student center, ate a pizza 

from Hot Tomatoes, reloaded 

on Williams gear at the Williams 

Shop, stopped at the new Purple 

Pub (the old one burned down) 

and learned Spring Street is now 

a one- way street!” 

Max Simian sends news from 

Saipan, Commonwealth of 

the Northern Mariana Islands 

(“where America’s day begins”), 

in remote Micronesia. He is now 

a registered professional geologist 

and works for the local utility 

company’s power division in 

their environmental compliance 

office. He is working on groundwater 

oil spill cleanup and future 

prevention. Go, Max! 

Laura Hemmeter Putnam wrote 

that her husband Pete Putnam 

’93 and his brother, John Putnam 

’90 recently took themselves and 

their sons (Ethan, 15, Tom, 11, 

and Matt, 8) camping in a yurt 

in Colorado. They had a wonderful 

time with snowshoeing, 

cross country skiing and card 

playing. Although the temperature 

dropped into the single digits 

overnight, the wood-burning 

stove kept the yurt toasty with 

temps in the 70s. Pete also got to 

feel like a heroic frontiersman by 

stoking the fire in the middle of 

the night. Laura stayed down in 

n 1994–96 

Colorado Springs and “enjoyed 

Starbucks and Barnes and Noble 

with my in-laws, and everyone 

was happy!” 

Co-secretary Anamaria 

Villamarin-Lupin shares that she 

and her husband Tim Lupin ’93 

met with Sue Le Page Wintner and 

Tom Wintner ’93 in Connecticut 

in December to enjoy a Saints 

game. Anamaria is now the New 

Orleans representative on the 

Louisiana Parenting Education 

Network’s guidance team and 

continues to supervise master’s 

level students pursuing their 

degrees in social work and counseling. 

“And when I am not busy 

with that, I continue to supervise 

master’s level offspring pursuing 

their degrees in elementary education 

and socialization.” 

*My mother’s definition of 

“successfully raising” seven kids 

meant that none of us ended up 

in jail, and I am happy to report 

that when this went to press that 

was still the case. 

Happy spring, folks! Keep the 

news coming. 

1996 

Lesley Whitcomb Fierst 

245 Dale Drive 

Silver Spring, MD 20910 


So, I get a little e-receipt telling 

me when my messages to the 

Class of ’96 list have been successfully 

distributed. I could not 

help but notice that, when I sent 

out my request for news in which 

I described my grandfather’s trip 

to the Katy Perry concert (only 

briefly), the e-receipt said the 

message had been distributed to 

441 recipients, but when I sent 

out my reminder email a couple 

of weeks later, it said it had gone 

out to 439. I immediately felt a 

pit in my stomach, thinking that 

in my attempts to be clever and 

funny in my email news requests 

and reminders, instead I had 

inspired two of you to ask for 

mercy. I am going to hope that 

two people just left jobs and so 

they lost their email addresses, or 

moved to cabins where they have 

no email access, but just in case, 

I promise my next request for 

news will be more garden variety 

so as not to potentially alienate 

folks. 

On to the news. Joan (Lee) 

Tarbutton appears to be gunning 

for her own Brady Bunch. 

“Believe it or not, I just had 

my fifth kid! Robert Augustine 

Uh-Jin Tarbutton was born on 

Dec. 18, weighing 8 pounds, 10 


CLASS NOTES 

ounces. We now have two boys 

and three girls, and it appears 

that we have more blond-headed 

kids than brunettes! Both our 

boys are blond, and one of our 

girls is fair-haired. I often get 

asked where on the Korean 

side of the kids’ family does the 

blond gene come from. Uh-Jin 

(whose name in Korean means 

‘kind and benevolent king’) 

is enjoying the attention of so 

many. My a capella music friends 

will appreciate that I now have 

enough children to form that 

SSATB vocal ensemble I have 

always wanted.” Making a rare 

appearance in class notes, Jill 

Wasserman had a few pieces of 

exciting news. “My husband, 

Stephen Devereaux, and I were 

married on April 30—the day 

after the royal wedding of 

Will and Kate. Although my 

(maternity) wedding dress was 

not nearly as chic as Kate’s, I 

managed to pull off a “tiara” 

(purchased on Etsy) and certainly 

felt as lucky as a princess. In 

addition to marrying my own 

Prince Charming, the marriage 

also came with Stephen’s darling 

10-year-old daughter Emma. I 

am trying very hard not to be a 

storybook wicked stepmother! 

And finally, our lovely twin 

daughters, Harriet McGillivray 

and Carolyn Witte, arrived just 

a few months later on Aug. 

23. Needless to say, 2011 has 

been a year of fairytale magic 

for me and my family.” Also 

new parents (again), Mary Liz 

Brenninkmeyer and her husband 

Chris Kaczmarek had a baby girl, 

Annika Elizabeth Kaczmarek, on 

Nov. 9. According to Mary Liz, 

big brothers Ian and Andrew are 

enjoying their little sister, but, 

hey, just give it time. 

Among our internationally 

residing classmates, Ian 

Graham wrote of the birth of 

his third daughter, Charlotte, 

on Dec. 14 in Bad Homburg 

(Bah Humbug?), Germany. 

“Obviously, this meant that my 

wife Priscilla and I weren’t going 

to go off and have a raucous 

New Year’s Eve, but it did give 

us an opportunity to check out 

what German TV has to offer in 

lieu of Dick Clark. The highlight 

of the night was coming across 

the ‘Silvesterstadl,’ a concert 

featuring traditional folk music 

from across Germany, Austria 

and Switzerland and complete 

with audience members dressed 

in lederhosen. Hearing the sound 

of the accordion-infused music 

brought me back to the Saturday 

morning polka show we would 


listen to after Friday night 

water polo games at Amherst. 

If memory serves me, the theory 

was that nothing can be as bad 

as the polka, so enduring it made 

the hangovers that much more 

manageable. Besides such choice 

TV options, we are still very 

much enjoying our time here and 

taking advantage of the travel 

options. The highlights from last 

year were Istanbul, Provence 

and Amsterdam. This year we 

are really looking forward to 

San Sebastian, where Kevin 

Burke ’94 will host a gathering 

of Williams alums in Europe.” 

And Kyle Downey and his family 

moved from Shanghai to Hong 

Kong a year ago, “where I’m still 

working for Morgan Stanley. I 

heard from Micah Edmond over 

the break but just missed him in 

NYC at end of 2011.” 

Living it up in LA, Heather 

(Laquer) Williams wrote, “Life 

with three kids (ages 11, 8 and 3) 

is busy and fun. I’m embracing 

my sports mom role and have 

now branched out into being a 

stage mom as well with my oldest 

daughter Caitlin performing 

as Young Louise in a 12-week 

run of Gypsy and booking and 

shooting a co-star role where 

she plays a bully named Tiffany 

on The Office that airs March 

1. I can’t really give out the 

details of who all she takes on 

and beats up, but it is funny. 

We’re big Office fans too, so it 

was just as exciting for us to be 

on set with her—never has my 

husband offered to help with set 

parent duties as quickly as he did 

for this! So now I’m attending 

premieres not only for my husband’s 

projects as a film and TV 

composer, but now my daughter’s 

projects as well. #groupie.” 

As for other Eph sightings, Kate 

Newman Jerris, her husband 

Rand and their three kids swung 

through LA, and we met up at 

Descanso Gardens so all of our 

kids could run around and we 

could catch up. They’ve been 

coming out to LA fairly regularly, 

so it’s been great seeing them and 

marking the passage of time by 

how much bigger our kids have 

gotten. And after about a decade 

of living in the same city, Smith 

Glover and I finally met up for a 

nice alfresco lunch by the pool. 

He got a taste of how crazy life 

can be with three kids as, while 

they were playing pirates, one 

kid accidentally fell in said pool. 

So if anyone is in LA, drop me 

a line, and I’d love to hang out, 

with or without pirates. Also 

out in LA and in what I can only 

assume is his iPhone version of 

a Tweet, Shing Chi Poon wrote, 

“Baby Nicole born in mid 

October 2011. Big brother Derek 

adjusting to new addition.” 

Apparently in competition 

with Strom Thurmond and Mr. 

Rogers, Teon Edwards this past 

summer passed the 15-year mark 

at her job. “Despite being at 

the same company for so long, 

my actual work has changed a 

lot over the years. Currently it 

largely involves designing and 

researching games that engage 

the players in science learning 

and that they want to play in 

their free time. A task that is 

both very fun and very hard. Jen 

(Nicholson) and Jon Todd, along 

with their daughter Julia moved 

to Newton, Mass., recently, 

so we’ve been able to see each 

other much more often. The J’s, 

plus Sarah Calvo, Alexia Rosoff, 

Jim Wilber and I met recently 

for an (almost) annual holiday 

gathering. As I’m sure all the 

parents out there know, but 

something new to this ‘Auntie,’ 

watching a 4-year-old decorate 

a Christmas tree is a truly great 

experience! Along with many 

others in the Northeast, I’ve had 

more than a few blackout days 

this past fall, between Irene, the 

‘hurricane, that wasn’t’ but that 

still knocked out my power for 

three days and flooded so many 

areas, and the freak October 

snowstorm, which took down 

my power for another two days, 

plus several more during the following 

week for ongoing repairs. 

I actually kind of enjoyed them. I 

hope both were fun in our purple 

mountain valley!” 

Hanna (Kelly) Sanoff liked my 

Katy Perry reference (so there). 

“My news is definitely not of the 

‘earth shattering’ variety. Still 

living in Charlottesville, working 

at UVA, trying to make some 

headway against cancer. I think 

my favorite thing here is our 

Friday night ‘girl parties’ with 

my 3-year-old daughters and 

one of our favorite people: Kate 

Paxton. Girl parties feature ‘girl 

wine,’ wine, cheese, dancing and 

general ridiculousness. Lest anyone 

think girl parties are exclusionary—my 

husband is invited 

too—we just rename them wine 

and cheese dance parties those 

days so he doesn’t feel left out (or 

have to wear a party dress, which 

he just plain refuses to do!).” 

Also living in the Southeast 

region, Brad Wasserman and his 

partner Scott Graves met up with 

Tracy (Weir) Marek, her husband 

David and their daughter Maria

From left: Brian Eng ’96, Elise Brown ’85 and John Goodrich ’80 caught 

up with each other at the Juice Conference, a two-day event supporting 

collaboration and connection in the creative economy, held in Camden, 

Maine, in November. 

during a trip through New York 

last June. “We walked across 

the Poughkeepsie Pedestrian 

Bridge and capped off the calorie 

burning excursion with some ice 

cream.” Isn’t that how you’re 

supposed to do it—Diet Coke 

with the brownie ice cream 

sundae? 

In the DC area, my daughter 

Aviva and I celebrated with 

James and Lydia (Vermilye) Weiss 

at their son Rex’s 3rd birthday 

party in December. Also there 

to celebrate were Jim Heyes and 

his two and a half-year-old son 

Oliver. Jim attempted to dodge 

“the press,” but being that he 

was sort of stuck there in the 

planetarium, I was able to drag 

out the details about Jim’s baby 

son, Zachary, who was born 

Nov. 4. Another of our regular 

DC-area crew also has been busy 

with a new baby: Alexis Gilman 

and his wife Michele Buenafe 

welcomed son Anson Javier on 

Nov. 1. And from Jim Heyes’ 

former teammate Andrew Feller: 

“Long-time listener, first-time 

caller. I’m still in DC, working 

for the SEC, where I’ve been for 

a little more than four years. 

2011 was a big year for me—I 

got married in May, and my 

wife Kathy and I welcomed a 

daughter in October. She was 

actually born on Oct. 17, so 

she shares a birthday with her 

dad—best birthday present 

ever! We’re part of a nice little 

WUFO baby crew, along with 

Jim Heyes and his wife Julie, 

whose second son was born in 

November, and Lyn and Anne 

(Bilby) Debevoise ’98, whose 

second child arrived in October. 

We’re looking forward to taking 

the little one to Williamstown 

sometime this spring, should it 

ever thaw.” 

Anna (Cederberg) Heard 

reported an eventful year. “We’ll 

be doing Christmas in DC this 

year, instead of the traditional 

trip to Minnesota, where my 

parents live. Miles, our older 

son, turned 2 in November and 

had fun eating chocolate cake. 

He’s in love with his new toy 

hockey set. He also now has an 

obsession with backhoes and 

gorillas and a great little book 

called Dino-Hockey. Kai, our 

newest addition, is putting his 

parents through the wringer, but 

we’re hopeful that we’ll soon 

be able to look back and say, 

see how much you’ve changed? 

I’m sort of looking for a job, 

but really don’t want to start 

working until April or May, so 

that makes it a bit tricky. So for 

now, hanging out with the boys 

is my job, and an exhausting 

one at that.” Holly (Hodgson) 

Stephens wrote, “Susan Gillmor 

and I went to see Kate Marquis 

sing in her Christmas concert 

with DC-area choir Choralis. It 

was quite professional and fun, 

and I had flashbacks to 1994-era 

Elizabethans when they sang a 

P.D.Q. Bach song. In other news, 

n 1996 

2½-year-old old Sean is potty 

trained and going to Montessori 

preschool with his big brother— 

in the same classroom! They’re 

both thrilled, and Mommy is 

thrilled to have mornings to 

herself to prep for tutoring/teaching. 

I’ve been teaching a high 

school journalism class to six 

homeschoolers. Some of them 

have already been published on 

patch.com!” 

Perhaps inspired by her 

attendance at reunion back in 

June, perhaps drawn in by my 

Katy Perry reference (all right, 

I will let it go now), Kelly Beard 

wrote in for the first time ever 

with an update. “I am back in 

the Bay State after many, many 

years in Virginia. I’m beginning 

work on an M.Div. at Andover 

Newton Theological School and 

living in Newton, not far from 

my sister. It’s a great change, and 

getting to go to my nephew’s 

ballgames is certainly a factor!” 

In November New Hampshire 

resident Megan Farkas won “The 

Future of Quilting” award at 

the Houston International Quilt 

Festival, “which is the biggest 

and most prestigious quilt show 

in the world. The award included 

travel and hotel, so I got to go 

to Houston and be a celebrity 

for a week.” And Karen (Coyle) 

Robinson is still living outside 

Boston in Norwell, working 


Megan Farkas ’96 won The Future of Quilting award at the International 

Quilt Festival in Houston in December. Her winning piece, Sakura I: 

Hanaogi Views the Cherry Blossoms, also won Viewer's Choice at the 

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival. 

and raising her three kids and 

seeing Robin (Keller) Elliott, Porter 

(Harris) May and me sometimes 

but not as much as we moms 

would like. “The boys (Jack, 

7, and Aedan, 5) are playing 

hockey, and it tends to take up 

our weekends, but it has inspired 

Libby (3) to get out on the ice 

and try to skate—she can actually 

stand up and move a little 

out there.” I am super impressed. 

My fellow Sage B’er Meg 

Barber also wrote in. “I did get 

up to Williamstown this fall with 

my husband and in-laws and I 

showed them Sage B. So many 

funny memories. This fall I got 

involved with a political campaign 

here in Holyoke, Mass., 

and served as the volunteer coordinator 

for Alex Morse, who is 

now our 22-year-old mayor-elect! 

It was thrilling to be a part of the 


CLASS NOTES 

grassroots effort that brought 

together people from all different 

parts of this community. I have 

so much hope for my city right 

now. Just last week I bonded 

with the new mayor by plunging 

a toilet together. Nothing like 

some early morning poop humor 

to solidify a relationship!” Meg 

also asked whether I had heard 

from many of our co-entrymates. 

Brings up a good point—where 

are you guys? Kudos to regular 

contributor Vanessa Wruble, but 

other than that, where are you 

guys—Polsby, Bruce, Josh Cohen? 

Mitch Howell, our head class 

agent, has encouraged a friendly 

entry vs. entry competition for 

contributions to the Alumni 

Fund (BTW, keep those donations 

coming!), but how about a 

news competition? Not based on 

quality of course, but quantity/ 

participation rate. What say you, 

’96ers? OK, gotta run. I’m off to 

a Katy Perry concert. 

1997 


Bahia Ramos Synnott 

5 South Elliott Place, B 

Brooklyn, NY 11217 


As to be expected, the Class of 

1997 is all over the map, doing 

great things… 

On the West Coast: Norm 

Anderson writes, “I'm still living 

in LA, working as supervising 

producer on a new show for 

Spike TV and developing some 

feature film projects, including 

one set in the beautiful 

Berkshires. Actually tied the knot 

on 8-9-10 in a ceremony where 

we sang and danced down the 

aisle and had circus performers 

entertain the guests.” 

Beverly Grossman Palmer is also 

in the LA area, practicing law 

and parenting two young boys, 

Tobin and Emmet. She writes, 

“We love it here. We live less 

than a mile from the beach and 

are there regularly. Our boys 

will surely surf before they know 

how to ski at this rate.” 

SENDNEWS! 







“All is well here in sunny LA. 

Just had another daughter— 

Saskia, who has a sleep ‘allergy.’ 

I was told by the preschool that 

our older daughter is ‘quite 

independent,’ which apparently 

is code for not listening to any 

of her teachers. Busy directing 

a bone and soft-tissue cancer 

program for children, adolescents 

and young adults at UCLA 

where I work very closely with 

… Dr. Jeffrey Eckardt ’67, who is 

now the chair of orthopedics at 

UCLA,” writes Noah Federman. 

Melanie Howard is practicing 

law at Loeb & Loeb LLP 

in LA in the advanced media 

and technology department. 

She writes, “My husband R.J. 

and I were blessed with a son 

(Jackson Marquis) a year and 

a half ago, and we are delighting 

in this crazy parenthood 

journey. I am actively involved in 

the microfinance sector in Haiti 

sitting on the board of directors 

of Fonkoze USA.” Melanie and 

R.J. were planning a trip to Haiti 

in April. 

“I just came off of my first sabbatical, 

during which I completed 

the first half of my manuscript 

on contemporary sculpture made 

out of string. I hope to run into 

some Ephs at the upcoming CAA 

meeting in LA,” says John Corso. 

Susan Arico saw Dana Critchell 

Beausang, a fellow Golden State 

resident, over Thanksgiving 

weekend. They swapped 

pictures of their April babies. 

Susan writes, “Mine, Matilda 

Mae Arico, came fast enough 

to become an accidental home 

birth, delivered safely by my 

husband moments before the 

paramedics arrived. Keeping 

things interesting with number 

four.” 

Julie Rapoport reports, “Bought 

a house. I can only talk about 

home repair, fruit trees and the 

fun and excitement of tearing 

down and rebuilding an entire 

room. Tom Reid finally moved 

to SF about a year ago, so I see 

him more often. I also see Bonnie 

Schulkin ’96, who also … bought 

a house. For our summer vacation, 

we decided to hike the John 

Muir Trail, which covers over 

200 miles, most above 10,000 

feet, and runs from Yosemite to 

Mount Whitney. Eighteen days, 

200 miles, 50,000 vertical feet, 

one shower. Average backpack 

weight: about 40 lbs.” 

Jonathan Botts is doing a oneyear 

fellowship in orthopedic 

sports medicine at the Kerlan 

Jobe orthopedic clinic in LA. 

His wife Evette and 2 1 ⁄2-year-old 

daughter Isla love it out in LA. 

Dave Vosburg, Kate (Hedden) 

Vosburg ’98 and their three kids 

all shaved their heads following 

a family-wide episode of head 

lice. Kate also reports, “Dave got 

to see one of his Harvey Mudd 

students get baptized, which was 

a really great experience.” 

Emily Eldredge is living in 

Tucson, Ariz., now with her 

sweetheart of three years, Paco. 

She is diligently writing a book 

about the emotional healing 

technique she created called the 

Drawing Out Process (www. 

drawingoutprocess.com). 

“Vy Bui Rossi here. … Working 

for Kaiser and living the dream 

in Denver with husband Adrian 

’95 and Great Dane puppy. 

Good wishes to all for Year of 

the Dragon.” 

“I work part time as a pediatric 

nephrologist at Seattle Children's 

hospital,” says Susan Halbach. 

The rest of my time is spent as 

a mom to my two cuties Larson 

and Cora. We have just entered 

kindergarten world this year, and 

so far it's been a hoot!” 

In the Dirty South… Eleanor 

Driver Post says, “Taking care of 

my three kids and continuing to 

paint, mostly filling portrait commissions 

but doing some of my 

own work as well. We bought a 

house in Atlanta. It should keep 

things interesting and put our 

artist/architect creative skills to 

the test. We had Kate Cardoza 

Blackwell and baby Mika down 

… in November, and Mika and 

our baby Jackie had a great time 

bonding and ‘chatting.’” 

“Greetings from Decatur, Ga! I 

am happily raising my two kids, 

Madeleine, 4 1 ⁄2, and Sam, 2 1 ⁄2. 

They are both at a cooperative 

preschool, which keeps me pretty 

busy. I also am working on 

legislation that seeks insurance 

coverage in Georgia for medical 

foods used to treat certain 

metabolic and GI disorders. … 

I’m learning how to brew beer,” 

writes Christine Soares Cox. 

“I'm loving my position as 

the Buddhist chaplain at Duke 

University and have become 

increasingly busy as the minister 

for the Buddhist Families of 

Durham (BFD),” writes Sumi 

Kim. 

New York gets its own 

category… (You can take me out 

of NY, but that doesn’t mean 

I don’t love the place.) “The 

New York Times published a 

documentary I wrote, directed, 

edited and narrated on the life 

and death of NHL hockey fighter 

Derek Boogaard, who was found

to have CTE, a degenerative 

brain disease caused by repeated 

head traumas that has also been 

found in professional football 

players and boxers. The piece 

investigated the brutal culture 

of fighting in hockey and the 

growing science of concussions. 

The piece was a collaborative 

effort with a sports reporter and 

photographer and jumpstarted 

the conversation about violence 

in hockey. Over the holidays, I 

headed to the Mekong Delta in 

South Vietnam as a volunteer 

with Habitat for Humanity,” 

says Shayla Harris. 

Ian Synnott is enjoying Ft. 

Greene, Brooklyn, and investment 

management out of Rock 

Center. “I was recently in 

London, where I stayed with Kurt 

Knuppel and Johan Kongsli ’98, 

in from Oslo, who is doing well. 

Over the holidays and into the 

New Year, I caught up with Jenny 

Keane and Jim Stanton in NYC at 

a pickle contest and bon voyage. 

Jenny was just back from a bike 

tour in New Zealand, and Jim 

is enjoying his new(ish) job in 

Stamford. I also saw Seth Morgan 

and Shayla Harris.” 

David Turner is playing Harry 

Connick Jr.’s psychiatric patient 

in the Broadway musical On a 

Clear Day You Can See Forever. 

“Everyone asks if he really kisses 

me as the lights fade in Act I. But 

I’ll never tell! Matthew Swanson, 

Christian Vainieri, Kenny Harmon, 

Penn Clarke ’96, Matt Alsdorf ’96, 

Matt Rouse and my Williams 

B entry mates have all come to 

support me!” Maria Plantilla got 

to go backstage to David’s dressing 

room. “It was so lovely to 

celebrate his success with him,” 

she writes. 

“I’m living in Manhattan with 

my wife Radhika, daughter 

Ashima and son Santosh. I still 

work at KBW in investment 

banking, covering insurance 

companies. I recently saw Peter 

Sinclair, who was interviewing 

for his new marketing position at 

ScoreBig, and Joshua Tripp, who 

was also in town for work and 

hosted me for burgers, beer and 

a very healthy side of steamed 

broccoli,” reports Seth Bair. 

“I have two daughters, Alison 

and Lauren. I am still traveling 

between NYC and DC during 

the week, working as an advisor 

for U.S. EPA Administrator 

Lisa Jackson. My wife and 

daughters have been troopers 

during the past 2-and-a-half 

years. While it has been difficult 

being away from my family so 

frequently, it has been a truly 

amazing experience, and it is 

still difficult for me to fathom 

that there are less than 4,000 

political appointees in place to 

direct policy for the president. 

I am proud of our accomplishments. 

I periodically see Ephs 

in and around DC, including 

Alex Steinberg Barrage,” submits 

Charles Imohiosen. 

Noah Harlan’s daughter 

Mazhira Dahlia Harlan—who 

goes by Mazzy—was born on 

Christmas Day. In February, the 

latest film he produced, Return, 

premiered in theaters and on 

iTunes/VOD. It was a Williams 

project in many ways, directed 

by professor Liza Johnson ’92, 

produced by Noah, starring 

Byron Wetzel's client Michael 

Shannon, photography direction 

by Anne Etheridge ’92 and coproduced 

by Charlie Birns ’09. 

“Eric Watson here. Living 

in New Paltz, N.Y., and still 

coaching soccer at Utica College. 

My wife Paola Gentry ’98 is 

working at Vassar College in 

their admission office. Aracely, 

9, and Oliver, 6, are keeping us 

very busy.” 

Edging on over to the Tri-State 

Area… “My wife Michelle and 

I welcomed the birth of our first 

child, Chloe Jane Hyland. Born 

Jan. 5 @ 4:28 a.m. We are now 

living in Wilton, Conn. I’m still 

with NBC Sports, primarily producing 

football, horse racing and 

Olympics,” reports Rob Hyland. 

Jess Bongiorno says, “My 

daughter Mia Rose Bjorkedal 

was born July 29. She is already 

displaying a great deal of my 

late Grandma Rose’s spunky 

personality! … I am still enjoying 

my career in reinsurance, heading 

up property underwriting 

for Arch Re in Morristown, N.J. 

My husband Nik and I live five 

minutes away from my office 

with Mia and her ‘big sister,’ 

Harper, our Boston terrier. We 

see a lot of Seth Morgan, since 

he is married to my sister, and he 

and Nik share a love for drinking 

grappa and playing cribbage. 

… We spent some time with 

Martha (Folley) Bullock, Bevin 

Brennan, Nancy Lee and George 

and Kari (Lampka) Watson at our 

backyard pig roast/baby shower. 

I met up with Bevin, Rosie Rubin 

and Jawad and Colette Haider 

to see David Turner in his new 

Broadway show.” 

Massachusetts has earned its 

own category as well… Matthew 

Swanson writes, “Robbi and 

I welcomed our third child, a 

little boy named August. Our 

latest book, Build Your Own 

n 1996–97 

President: 2012, is an interactive 

game that was featured on 

BoingBoing.net and rattled the 

interwebs on New Hampshire 

primary day. … It can be found 

at www.idiotsbooks.com/buildyourownpresident. 

We're on the 

verge of launching a small press 

that publishes children's books.” 

“Enjoying life in Somerville, 

Mass., with our daughter Violet, 

who has recently started walking 

and thinks she's absolutely 

unstoppable,” writes Jardayna 

Werlin Laurent. 

Michel Ohly reports, “Derek 

is still working to slingshot his 

custom bra company, Zyrra, 

to startup fame and success. 

I’m home with the kiddos, now 

2 and 4. I am contemplating 

re-entering the work force as 

a middle school math teacher, 

hoping to pass the Mass. teacher 

exams this winter/spring. We just 

moved to a new house, which we 

love. We did spend New Year's 

weekend with Kay Kamiyama 

and Josh Pierson, with their baby 

Leena, and Adam Nesbit. It was 

like old times, except our poker 

skills are now rusty, we drink 

less, go to bed early and get up a 

lot earlier the next day.” 

“I’m still living in the 

Berkshires, eight years now. I just 

passed my PhD comps at UMass 

in comparative literature, and 

I'm currently teaching a Winter 

Study at Williams—an introduction 

to Old Irish, sponsored 

by the Classics. The next few 

months for me will be about dissertation 

and beginning to look 

for a permanent academic job 

here in the Berkshires or within 

commuting distance,” says 

Shannon Farley. 

Hilary Hutchinson writes, “I am 

emerging from the first year of 

life with a second kiddo, (Abigail 

Katherine Hutchinson, born 

1/10/11). I still work at Google 

in Boston and love it. Williams is 

still representing against all the 

Stanford and MIT alums here— 

Iein Valdez, Max Ross and DeWitt 

Clinton among them. … I keep 

up with Arch Handel and Emily 

Manus in the Boston area.” 

“All is well in Boston. My husband 

JF and I are having a great 

time with our 10-month-old 

Cordelia. We try to have regular 

play dates with Ellie Sosnovik 

(daughter of Debbie Goldstein) 

and Caleb Ginsberg (son of Steve 

Ginsberg ’96). We’re hoping 

that they all become fast friends. 

I’m still practicing landscape 

architecture but have reduced 

my hours post-baby,” says Gigi 

Saltonstall. 


CLASS NOTES 

Last year Annaliese Beery (plus 

husband David and toddler 

Ronan) left sunny California for 

a neuroscience faculty position at 

Smith College. They now live in 

Northampton, Mass. 

Kate Boyle Ramsdell writes, 

“Jamie and I kicked off 2012 

with the arrival of Whitman 

(Whit) Boyle Ramsdell! He was 

born early in the morning on 

Dec. 27. What a love he is.” 

And in other New England hot 

spots… “Our third daughter, 

Georgia, was born last March. In 

June, we moved from Berkeley, 

Calif., back to a small, cold, 

northeastern liberal arts college 

town: Middlebury, Vt., where my 

husband landed a post-PhD job 

teaching economics. I’m feeling 

a lot of Williams deja-vu, except 

that now I’m seeing things from 

the vantage point of the professors. 

… Already had some fun 

visits this fall from Maria Plantilla 

and Kristin Hem,” contributes 

Faith Cinquegrana Gong. 

Susan Costanzo writes, “In 

2009 I left Best Buy with the 

help of a severance package that 

I voluntarily accepted prior to 

Best Buy’s round of involuntary 

layoffs. I visited Frank Vigorito 

in Gato Morto, Spain, in the 

Galician region. The highlight 

was when Frank and I drove to 

Braga, Portugal, to go skydiving! 

We're both afraid of heights, so 

it was an exercise in overcoming 

fear. I’ve dabbled in modeling 

and acting and working 

with certain photographers in 

Minneapolis. It makes for some 

great Facebook profile pictures, 

I'll admit. 

“I now work with FICO in the 

Marketing Solutions division. We 

serve the retail and CPG industries. 

My client is also my former 

employer—Best Buy. 

“I recently returned from a trip 

to London where I said goodbye 

to 2011 and hello to 2012. Other 

recent travels include a trip to 

China this past summer, where 

I met up with Adam Nowak ’95, 

my former JA, in Shanghai for a 

weekend. I then took the bullet 

train to Nanjing.” 

Kate Ramsdell and I have been 

working together for about 

a year and a half leading the 

agent team raising funds for the 

Alumni Fund. 

A brief stop in our nation’s 

capital… Alex Steinberg Barrage 

and Mike Tae have been lunching 

at various eateries around the 

Treasury building, rekindling the 

lazy days in Baxter where Alex 

and Amina Abrahams laughed 

with Mike. Alex writes, “I’m 


still running. Two kids later and 

somehow I’m faster. So many 

pluses to enduring childbirth!” 

Jonah Wittkamper ran into 

Dahna Goldstein at a congressional 

event on philanthropy in 

November. “She and I now run 

in similar circles, linking technology 

and giving. … I was playing 

in my front yard with my boys 

when Eli Boritz randomly walked 

by with his dogs. We have been 

living near each other for over 

four years and just discovered it. 

… He’s now working at NIH. I 

saw Dana Mason. … She’s also 

working in a similar field— 

bridge-building and mediation. 

She’s a new mom, too. I 

exchanged holiday text messages 

with Josh Solomon. I’ve been in 

touch with Francisco Alarcon. 

We will someday go cave diving 

together,” writes Jonah. 

Last April Cora Ganzglass quit 

her job as legislative director at 

a consumer protection nonprofit 

to hike the Appalachian Trail. 

She writes, “My boyfriend and 

I started April 7, 2011, down at 

Springer Mountain in Georgia. 

Over six months we hiked north 

through 14 states, approximately 

2,100 miles, seeing lots of Ephs 

along the way. I got to meet up 

with Julie Weed ’96, Emily Eakin 

’99, Gina Coleman ’90, Cammie 

Barrow and Michel and Derek 

Ohly. I also met along the trail 

another Williams through-hiker, 

Krystal Williams ’96. On Sept. 30 

we reached the northern terminus 

of the AT, Mount Katahdin. 

Since then we have returned 

home to the DC area and are 

slowly adjusting back to the real 

world.” 

Bob Feit writes, “My wife 

Preethy and I are the proud new 

parents of Nathan Ram Feit, 

who was born on Oct. 27. The 

little guy is doing well and shows 

some promise of being a ‘starter’ 

baby. He has already been visited 

by Chetan Rao ’97, Ron Alcala 

’97, Lenny Alfred ’98, and David 

Galaty ’98, who are all doing 

well.” 

And all the places in between 

and abroad… Laura Christensen 

Guthrie submits, “Trent and I 

are enjoying life in Michigan. 

Our son Quinn, 2, is too fun for 

words. I quit my job about a year 

ago to concentrate on Quinn and 

all the life stuff that needs to be 

done. Trent continues to enjoy 

his work as an orthopedic trauma 

surgeon in Detroit at Henry Ford 

hospital. We bought a house in 

the nearby city of Northville … 

and are working on plans for 

renovations before we move in.” 

Jennifer Feighner and husband 

welcomed their third child, Julia, 

in October. “She is a wonderfully 

sweet newborn, and her older siblings 

are enjoying her as well. Life 

continues to be good to us in the 

Bitterroot Valley of Montana-— 

we are building a house on 61 

acres we have christened Skyfire 

Ranch, and I was able to start up 

our hospital medicine program 

full time, with the recruitment of 

three additional hospitalists,” she 

writes. 

Dylan and Harriet (Greenwood) 

Ragozin and Charlotte and Isla 

left the Bay Area for a one-year 

stint in Basel, Switzerland. Dylan 

works for Genentech, which was 

purchased by Roche, and he is 

there leading a project related 

to the integration of the two 

companies. Harriet is taking a 

year off from work and enjoying 

being a stay-at-home mom. They 

spend their free time traveling as 

much as they can; so far, they’ve 

explored Switzerland, France, 

Germany, Croatia and Israel. 

Guillermo de las Casas writes to 

us from the 90th floor of a hotel 

building in Shanghai. “I will be 

glad to be done with a month 

and a half of traveling for work 

and vacation around Europe, 

South America and Asia. Have 

just rented my new home in 

Hong Kong. I really hope to be 

the host to some of my Williams 

classmates during my stay here!” 

Sam Sommers contributes, “I 

just published my first book, 

entitled Situations Matter: 

Understanding How the Context 

Transforms Your World. It’s a 

behavioral science book written 

for a general audience, and I’ve 

spent time promoting it on local 

radio, NPR, MSNBC and on-line 

(more details at www.samsommers.com). 

Marilyn and the girls 

are well.” 

David Monoky and I celebrated 

our Second Annual Art Basel 

Miami Random Sighting in 

December. He is enjoying his 

career as a doctor in NYC, and 

we reveled in the pleasant Miami 

winter weather. Matt Rouse and 

I shared some delicious BBQ in 

Atlanta on a quick stop over. 

And now a word from our 

president… Seth Morgan writes, 

“It’s not too early for people 

to contact Hallie D’Agruma to 

help with reunion. She is really 

working hard to make it a good 

time for everyone and could use 

the help.” 

Biggest Takeaway: Come to 

reunion. Help with reunion See 

you in June, for the big 1-5. Until 

then, be well and enjoy life! xoB

1998 

Andrea Stanton 

734 St. Paul St. 

Denver, CO 80206 


Hello, all, and happy 2012 

from Denver! Several 1998ers 

wrote in with news about how 

they finished 2011 or are starting 

2012—lots of great stuff all 

around, including a few first-time 

updates. I’m going to try another 

regional division, so… 

Starting off on the East Coast, 

Andrew Fagenholz writes that 

daughter Ruby arrived in 

October, joining older sister 

Viola, 2. They live in Boston, 

and Andrew describes himself as: 

“Slogging away at a mega law 

firm as of this writing, so work 

and family occupy all hours.” 

He notes that Evan Hornbuckle 

’99 was his “go-to tennis partner 

on the local public court” but 

that Evan recently moved away. 

If you’re in Boston and like 

tennis, you might get in touch 

with Andrew. Diana Villamarin 

writes from Connecticut that 

she married Carl Solazzo on 

Nov. 21. The newlyweds spent 

the holidays with her family, 

including Anamaria Villamarin 

’95 and Tim Lupin ’93, where she 

was also able to spend time with 

goddaughter Isabella Tarantino 

(daughter of Ken Tarantino ’97). 

Back in Boston again, Peter 

Robinson writes that he, wife 

Liz and daughter Millie had 

a great year. “We managed to 

meet up with Aaron Kammerer 

and his family regularly,” he 

writes, “most recently for my 

birthday, where we made a 

hasty retreat from the restaurant 

because, well … our kids are 2 

years old.” They also ran into 

Whit Growdon, whose children 

attend the same nursery school. 

Family adventures included 

putting Millie on skis (a hit!) 

and ice skates (deemed “scary”), 

while Pete joined the board of 

a local charity, CYCLEKids, 

“which is fighting childhood 

obesity through putting bike and 

nutritional programs into urban 

schools.” Meanwhile, he adds, 

“I am happy to report that my 

company has officially matured 

out of the toddler stage.” Lauren 

(Guth) Barnes writes that she and 

husband Tony are doing well, and 

that daughter Ariadne, 7 months, 

is “crawling and pulling up on 

anything she can get her hands 

on,” which Lauren describes as 

“both thrilling and terrifying.” 

They recently spent a weekend 

in Washington, where Lauren 

was sworn in to the Supreme 

Court Bar and heard oral 

arguments for a case involving 

the EPA. “Ariadne was a star 

throughout,” she notes, adding: 

“Like her dad, she can fall asleep 

before the plane takes off and 

not wake up until it lands.” 

Lauren also notes that she and 

Tony will be sad to say goodbye 

to Abby (Fisher) Williamson and 

family this summer, when they 

move to Hartford for Abby’s 

newly-accepted position as assistant 

professor of political science 

and public policy at Trinity 

College. “We’re sad to see them 

leave Boston,” she says, “but 

we’re thrilled for her.” 

Writing from our nation’s 

capital, Rob Watkins notes that 

he and his wife welcomed a 

son, Aire Furio, in late July. Sam 

Young writes that he attended the 

Iceland Airwaves Music Festival 

in October, a few days after running 

the Army Ten Miler—“my 

first big distance race,” he 

notes. Sam adds: “I’m training 

for the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA 

Half Marathon in March and 

taking a class on the taxation of 

financial instruments”—which he 

describes as a conversation ender. 

Micaela Coady writes from New 

York that she and Kate (Genung) 

Taylor and their families enjoyed 

a “lovely” dinner at the Taylors’ 

over the holidays. “Kate’s two 

daughters as well as my daughter 

were luckily asleep,” she says, 

“so the four of us could really 

live it up.” They’re planning 

another “somewhere on the 

East Coast get-together” with 

Liz (Mills) and Chris Little, Britta 

(Beenhakker) Mullany, Kai Collins, 

Erica Bollerud and Katie Schultz 

but note that “our group now 

includes over a dozen adults and 

eight kids, so it’s a challenge to 

find a house large enough to hold 

us all.” Jonathan (J.O.) Oakman 

writes from South Carolina to 

say: “All is well in 70-degree 

Charleston.” He adds: “The 

weather is great for the kids to 

play outside, but I do miss snow 

and pulling on a heavy coat 

every once in a while!” 

From the West Coast comes 

some of the most interesting 

travel news of this update. 

Ned Sahin and wife Nicole are 

traveling the world for a year 

while she works on a book, Ned 

“writes up my scientific papers 

and grants,” and they work 

together on a startup. We look 

forward to future updates! Jim 

Ying writes that he and his wife 

spent Christmas Eve welcoming 

n 1997–98 

new daughter Harper, who joins 

son Miles, 20 months. “She’ll 

inevitably be getting those 

combined birthday/Christmas 

presents,” he writes. After several 

years in Seattle, Jim is now in 

San Francisco, working at a 

social gaming startup. They live 

in Millbrae, but he says: “We’ll 

probably be headed back up 

the coast pretty regularly, since 

we have family in the Seattle 

area.” Brad Johnston writes that 

he spent Thanksgiving at Sally 

and Chris Bell’s house, where he 

found an Amherst alum among 

the guests—although one, he 

notes, who brought “delicious” 

contributions to the potluck. 

Chris in turn adds that he and 

Sally have been “expanding my 

life-long vegetarian palate by 

sampling freshly caught oysters 

in, logically, Oysterville, Wash.” 

Giving up on the low snow levels 

across the U.S., they headed 

up to British Columbia for a 

week of Nordic and telemark 

skiing, which Chris described 

as “getting our Norwegian 

on.” Finally, Evelyn Spence 

has rejoined the ranks of West 

Coasters, having returned to 

Seattle from Brooklyn. She’s still 

traveling, though: “I spent New 

Year’s at Mount Rainier with 

Honora Englander,” she writes, 

“and now I’m off to Mongolia 

and South Korea to write about 

skiing in Asia!” 

Moving overseas: Our woman 

in Brazil, Thais Mariz de Oliveira, 

writes that she is currently on 

maternity leave from her work 

as a headhunter with Heidrick 

& Struggles, having given birth 

to daughter Catarina in October. 

Catarina joins son Caique, 4, and 

Thais reports that she is “loving 

every minute” of her leave. 

She adds: “I had a VIP visitor 

come in for a quick visit to meet 

Catarina: Carlos Arnaiz was 

here for a couple of hours with 

Nacho (Jose-Ignacio Palma). Even 

though it was too quick,” she 

says, “it was absolutely amazing 

to reunite.” And, she concludes, 

she’ll be in Williamstown for 

our 15th reunion. Another 

1998er abroad is Reed Lindsay, 

who is working as a freelance 

journalist and documentary filmmaker 

in Cairo. After covering 

the Egyptian revolution with 

partner Jihan Hafiz, “we later 

covered the Libyan rebellion and 

did a documentary film called 

Benghazi Rising.” They returned 

to Egypt in October, and Reed 

now contributes to the Real 

News Network. 

I hope that the year ahead 


CLASS NOTES 

brings many good things for all 

of you—whether with family 

or friends, at work or at home, 

in the U.S. or abroad. I spent 

the past two months bouncing 

between presentations at four 

academic conferences and a 

faculty exchange in Vienna—so 

I’m looking forward to spending 

at least the first couple months of 

2012 in Denver! If your travels 

bring you to Colorado, please let 

me know. 

1999 

Erik Holmes 

915 East Mayfair Ave. 

Orange, CA 92867 

Nat White 

11 Interlaken Road 

P.O. Box 800 

Lakeville, CT 06039 


Well, we’re halfway between 

our 10th and 15th reunions 

(closer to 15 by the time you 

read this), and it’s shaping up to 

have a slightly different flavor. 

The biggest news flowing in 

remains new arrivals; we have 

a lot to report this time around, 

and more on the way. 

Rochester, N.Y., doctor Colby 

(Hunter-Thompson) Previte has 

used the July arrival of her 

daughter Ainsley Madeline 

Hunter Previte to simplify 

her life; as she returned from 

maternity leave, Colby switched 

from working in three hospitals 

to one. In addition to operating 

and doing obstetrics, Colby is the 

medical director of the OB/GYN 

residency clinic at her community 

hospital, and she runs the 

women’s health curriculum at the 

medical school; she has gotten to 

see and work with several Ephs 

in her latter two roles. Colby, 

Greg, Ainsley and 5-year-old 

Carter also get to enjoy the 

newfound proximity of Colby’s 

sisters Kristin Hunter-Thomson ’03 

(and her husband Malin Pinsky 

SENDPHOTOS 











’03) and Whitney Hunter-Thomson 

’07. Milwaukee-based Tim 

Stoddard and Emily Gillmar ’00 

welcomed Emma Ruth Stoddard 

into the world on Sept. 17. 

Emma arrived as Tim continues 

his progress toward being a fullfledged 

MD and Emily uses her 

architectural talents to improve 

their condo. 

Back in Brooklyn, Ted Mann 

and his wife Suzanne Miazga 

celebrated the birth of Leonardo 

Francis Miazga Mann on Sept. 

30. When they are not playing 

with Leo, Ted is an assistant 

curator at the Guggenheim 

Museum, and Suzanne is a high 

school art teacher. Ted is also 

working toward a PhD in art history 

at the Institute of Fine Arts, 

NYU. A scant four days later in 

Boston, on Oct. 2, Dan Pozen and 

Heather Garni welcomed their 

second child, daughter Tess Willa 

Pozen. Tess joins big brother 

Evan, 3, and she has already 

met Dave Willett, Courtney 

Stokes Willett, Mike Johnson 

and Danielle Kunian Wallis. Also 

in Boston, Imelda (Ramirez) 

and John Berry-Candelario 

welcomed their second child, 

Maya Ideliz Berry-Candelario, 

on Oct. 23. On the other coast, 

Leo Eisenman was born on 

Oct. 26 in greater LA. He was 

welcomed home by proud papa 

Ian Eisenman, mom Ariane Verdy 

and 2-year-old big sister Maya 

Verdy Eisenman. Leo made it 

in time to dress up as a cat for 

Halloween. Ian has finished his 

postdoc and has taken a job 

farther south in California, as an 

assistant professor at the Scripps 

Institution of Oceanography, so 

you can find them now in San 

Diego. 

We return to the East Coast 

for our next few new arrivals. 

On Nov. 6, New Yorker Taylor 

Smith and his wife Ana Aguilar 

welcomed Lucia Elizabeth Smith 

into the world. They are doing 

well, and 2-year-old Natalie 

is enjoying life as a big sister 

so far. Chris Rodriguez and his 

family moved back to his home 

state of New Jersey in July, 

when Chris started working as 

a policy advisor on homeland 

security to N.J. governor Chris 

Christie. On Nov. 11, Josephine 

Amanda Rodriguez was born 

in Princeton. Chris, Amanda, 

Josephine and 2-year-old 

Julianna are all enjoying the 

proximity of Chris’ sister Joanna, 

her husband Rik Dugan ’98 and 

their children Isabella, 7, and 

Roderik, 4. In New Paltz, N.Y., 

Marie Glancy O’Shea and her 

husband Colm O’Shea welcomed 

daughter Sufi Zoom O’Shea on 

Nov. 14. Marie’s take on the 

arrival: “When I was in labor we 

went to see Melancholia, Lars 

Von Trier’s film about the end of 

the world, and that’s when the 

contractions finally kicked into 

gear. After the credits rolled we 

walked straight from the cinema 

to the hospital, where we said 

goodbye to our own old world 

and entered a new one.” Back in 

N.J., Matt and Kathleen Higgins 

Sigrist continued to expand 

their family with the arrival 

of Elizabeth Higgins Sigrist, 

nicknamed Ginny, on Dec. 15. 

Her sisters Katie and Anna 

were thoroughly excited by the 

early Christmas gift, and Matt 

is now totally outnumbered. We 

conclude this section of births 

back in Southern California, 

with my co-secretary Erik Holmes 

and his wife Shannon Reid 

welcoming their first, Declan 

Timothy Holmes, on Jan. 6. Erik 

reports that all are doing well. I 

know we’ll have more births to 

announce by the next round of 

notes, including several that will 

just miss my deadline for these 

notes, others that will push up 

against the next deadline and 

probably some in between. 

In addition to babies, our 

class continues to expand by 

marriage. Kelley Powell married 

Doug Welsh on Oct. 28 at Swan 

Harbor Farm in Maryland. 

Kelley is thrilled, and she has the 

distinction of having the only 

wedding reported in this round 

of notes. 

We have writers! In addition 

to those whose work is seen in 

popular culture, like Rachel Axler, 

and the many of our classmates 

who publish academic papers, 

Roosevelt Bowman got a mention 

in The Wall Street Journal 

(and elsewhere) for his article 

examining the decline of the U.S. 

dollar. Dayna (Kaufman) Lorentz 

has four books coming out in the 

spring: her Dogs of the Drowned 

City trilogy is being published 

by Scholastic in April, May and 

June; and the first book in her 

young adult trilogy No Safety in 

Numbers will be published by 

Dial Books for Young Readers in 

May. Dayna is enjoying being a 

mom and living in Vermont with 

Jason Lorentz ’96. 

We now shift from those 

with good reason to stay at 

home to those on the move to 

new homes. Marina (Gisquet) 

Knight, her husband Chip ’08 

and son Cedar have moved to 

Hanover, N.H., where Chip

coaches the Dartmouth women’s 

alpine ski team. Marina works 

for a nonprofit called the T2 

Foundation, which provides 

financial support to elite athletes 

and connects them with youth. 

Marina and Chip are looking 

forward to teaching Cedar how 

to ski at the Dartmouth Skiway. 

After 10 years in Cambridge 

and Somerville, Mike Heep and 

his girlfriend Ayesha Fuentes 

’03 moved to Santa Monica in 

September. Ayesha is a graduate 

student, and Mike continues to 

work remotely for PG Calc, a 

company specializing in planned 

giving software and services. 

Mike is loving the year-round 

farmers’ markets, restaurants 

and hiking so far, and he enjoys 

having Meg (Randall) and Eddie 

Park ’98 right around the corner. 

Austin Chang had a number of 

big moves to report, including 

his own. The company Austin 

founded in 2010 was acquired 

by Google in August, and 

Austin moved from NYC to San 

Francisco to join Google+. Snehal 

Patel was a part of Austin’s 

company, and he also moved to 

SF to join Google. Austin also 

reported on Albert Dang’s move 

back from Hong Kong to SF, 

where he works at Frog Design. 

Portland resident Neelay Shah 

brought his wife and two kids 

to San Francisco to visit Albert 

and Austin. A much smallerscale 

move happened in the DC 

area, where Eric Soskin and his 

wife Miran moved from their 

apartment into a much larger 

suburban house, where they are 

looking forward to hosting many 

visitors. They’re off to a good 

start, having been visited by John 

Rivera-Dirks and his wife Sheila 

on the weekend they moved in. 

Shortly after that, Zack Mully, 

Reggie Hall ’98, Haynes Cooney 

’00, Liza Murcia ’00 and Joel Iams 

’01 dropped by for a housewarming 

cookout. Eric had lots of 

other Williams encounters, too. 

He coxed for the Williams ’81 

eight at the Head of the Charles 

in October, and in November he 

and Miran went to San Francisco 

to visit Will Slocum and his wife 

Zoe and son Rory. While there, 

they joined Jason Langheier ’00 

for the 2011 Painted Turtle charity 

benefit. Somehow both Eric 

and Will found clothes that fit 

in Jason’s closet. Eric also made 

an appearance at the Palo Alto 

telecast of the Williams-Amherst 

game, where he got to hang out 

with Leigh Winter Martin. 

There may be more moves 

coming soon, as several 

classmates are finishing current 

work and looking for new 

opportunities. Cleveland resident 

Christina Williams is halfway 

through her trauma/surgical 

care fellowship, and she reports 

that she is finally searching for a 

“real” job. Astrophysicist Laura 

Brenneman is on the academic 

job hunt and finding positions in 

short supply. She has managed 

to build her résumé by giving a 

few lectures at Williams at the 

invitation of Prof. Jay Pasachoff. 

Laura reports that the alumnae 

soccer game this year was 

enjoyed by all participants, and 

she’s enjoyed the opportunity 

to pick up Williams gear for her 

son Luke. Both Laura and her 

partner Kathy have been traveling 

too much for work, but they 

really enjoy their downtime at 

home with Luke. All of Laura’s 

athletic activities have caught 

up with her; she’ll miss most of 

2012 recovering from Tommy 

John surgery. Environmental 

engineer Andrew Henderson is 

also on the academic job hunt. 

He managed to schedule a great 

trip from Ann Arbor to the East 

Coast in the fall; he visited with 

Nilesh Kansagra in New Jersey, 

staying long enough to compete 

in a Tough Mudder race. Andrew 

then presented at a conference in 

Boston for a week, before spending 

the weekend visiting with me, 

Julie Rusczek and our son Jasper. 

Julie and Jasper recently met up 

with Becky Logue-Conroy, her 

husband Chris Conroy and their 

twins Maeve and Meiris at the 

Curious George exhibit at the 

Norman Rockwell Museum in 

Stockbridge, Mass. Becky earned 

her master’s in social work in 

August, and she has enjoyed time 

“between careers” with her family. 

Chris, a baseball umpire, is 

home for the winter, and they’re 

having lots of fun together 

as a family. They went to the 

Princeton, N.J., tree lighting ceremony 

with Anazette (Williams) 

Ray and her daughter Addison, 

and they drove by Emily Eakin’s 

very well-decorated house. Becky 

drew a nice comparison between 

Emily’s decorations and those 

of Clark Griswold. Anazette 

has also seen Rebecca (Krause) 

Missonis a few times, including 

during the Williams-Amherst 

telecast, also attended by Kyra 

Williams ’98, and at Rebecca’s 

Christmas party. Rebecca lives 

and teaches history at The 

George School. 

Some of you have been all over 

the world visiting classmates. 

Roxann (Smerechniak) Blasz 

n 1998–99 

headed to Europe for work, and 

she managed to meet up with 

Jenny (Walsh) Singer in London. 

During their visit, they also 

connected with Leticia Smith- 

Evans by phone, and they shut 

the place down while catching 

up over dinner and drinks. Jen 

Hurley and her family traveled 

to Oaxaca, Mexico, in early 

November, where they met up 

with Sarah Connolly ’00 and her 

husband and baby daughter at 

the wedding of their mutual high 

school friend, Leslie Anderson, 

to Simon Maloy ’03. Jen and her 

family are doing well in Butte, 

Mont., where their grocery store 

is starting to make a name for 

itself. When she’s not chasing 

after her two kids or working on 

the family businesses or exploring 

the outdoors, Jen still dabbles 

as a part-time appellate defender. 

Rich von Bargen and his wife 

Suela ’00 took a trip to Arizona 

in November to visit with 

Aram Maradian ’97 and Tyson 

Matsumoto, who was in from 

LA. They all watched the telecast 

together, among other activities. 

Rich and Suela also traveled 

to New Orleans for an Alumni 

Fund Vice Chairs meeting and 

enjoyed some great jazz on a 

tour led by Tom Piazza ’76. Liz 

Claflin Wyderko brought her family 

to Portland for her brother’s 

wedding. While there, she got to 

catch up with Fran Monga and 

Jon Baldivieso and their kids. Liz 

learned an unfortunate lesson 

about mixing stomach flu, air 

travel and toddlers. Liz continues 

to work as a dentist, and she 

loves her role as mom to Zach 

and Leah. 

Last word this time around 

goes to Dan Nehmad, who 

continues his impressive recovery 

from a massive car accident 10 

years ago in Moscow. Dan has 

been tutoring a woman from 

Siberia in English, working as 

a writing tutor at Rutgers and 

working at a Wegmans grocery 

store. Dan is making tremendous 

progress and hoping to be able 

to continue on to some sort of 

graduate work, in a field to be 

determined. 

It’s a busy time for the Class of 

’99; stay well, and keep the news 

coming. 

SENDNEWS! 

Y hear from you! Send news to 

our class secretary is waiting to 

your secretary at the address at the 

top of your class notes column. 


CLASS NOTES 

2000 

Jon Pearson 

129 Franklin St., Apt. 218 

Cambridge, MA 02139 


Despite the fact that you’re 

likely reading this in early spring, 

I’m going to start this edition by 

wishing all of you a Happy New 

Year, because as I type this up on 

a cold day in January it still very 

much feels like the new year to 

me. One of my resolutions this 

year is to start submitting my 

notes on time (the editors will 

believe it when they see it), so 

let’s get on with the show: 

Steve Kim and his wife Susie 

moved to Atlanta in summer 

2010 and are enjoying the 

Southern life. He’s in practice as 

an orthopedic surgeon and finds 

it very gratifying. He is also, by 

the way, extremely generous 

about giving medical advice to 

friends on request. Steve and 

Susie are the proud parents of a 

beautiful little girl, Brynn Susanne 

Kim, born June 28, 2011. Steve 

says, “She’s definitely Daddy’s 

little girl, and life has definitely 

not been the same since.” 

Melissa (Vecchio) ’01 and Don 

Wood welcomed Tyler Franklin 

Wood on Aug. 9, 2011. Vitals on 

Tyler: 7 pounds, 7 ounces and, 

according to his dad, very smiley 

and pleasant. As luck would have 

it, Tyler shares the same birthday 

as his big brother Cameron; the 

birthday parties will be wild 

affairs. On the day he wrote his 

update, Don had Robert and Jess 

Adamo ’01 over to watch the 

Giants game. Don continues to 

work at Campbell’s Soup and 

was eagerly anticipating a brand 

switch to V8 Splash and some 

work on the company’s Hispanic 

beverage efforts. 

Will Darrin and his wife Tracy 

made a lot of big changes last 

year. First and foremost was the 

birth of their first child, daughter 

Autumn Marie, born right on 

her due date of Nov. 7. I was 

fortunate enough to visit Autumn 

in the hospital a day later and can 

attest that, despite looking very 

much like her father, the child is 

beautiful. The second big change 

for the Darrins was their move 

from Boston to Marblehead, 

Mass., last summer. They took 

advantage of their new abode by 

hosting Matt Levy, Anna Frantz, 

Steve Roman, Becky Iwantsch and 

me for a delightful New Year’s 

Eve soiree. 

If you’re not friends with Torie 

Gorges on Facebook, you’re 


missing one of the funniest, 

most honest accounts out there 

of what it’s like to be the parent 

of young twins. Torie, Todd, 

Andrew and Molly made a big 

move cross-country in October; 

they are now living in Northern 

Virginia, just a bit outside of 

DC. Torie works with SRI as an 

education researcher. “Things 

are going well in our new 

home, and we’re getting used to 

winter again after many years 

in California. I do not, for the 

record, highly recommend moving 

with one-and-a-half year-old 

twins, but I DO recommend 

the fantastic cooking of our 

new sort-of neighbor, Cristina 

Santiestevan, who kept us fed 

for a week while we awaited the 

arrival of our moving truck.” If 

you live in the area, Torie would 

love to get together with you. 

Jennifer Kingsley started working 

at Johns Hopkins University 

in a new academic program 

called Museums and Society. 

She assures us that “if it’s not 

obvious to you what that means, 

you’re not alone—defining how 

we are not really museum studies 

is about a quarter of my job.” 

Working in Baltimore means 

that Jen finally gets to live with 

her husband after three years 

of bouncing from university to 

university. She adds: “Two-body 

problem, I am glad to see the 

back of you at least for the next 

three years, ’til the grant runs 

out...” 

Raph Rosen knows what his 

class secretary likes: “I just saw 

a cool ferromagnetic sculpture 

at the New York Hall of 

Science. I thought that was pretty 

noteworthy.” Dan Mason takes a 

page from Raph’s book with his 

update: “Nothing’s really new 

except that we bought a minivan, 

which we call the Silver Bullet. 

The irony is not lost on us.” 

At the time of this writing, Paul 

and Allison (Jacobs) Friedmann 

and their daughter Maya had 

just returned from a holiday trip 

to Philadelphia to see family. 

While they were there, Paul spent 

some time with JA Anne Pitts 

Londergan ’98 and her husband 

Casey Londergan ’97 and their 

two kids. Anne asked after former 

Sage A-ers and was curious 

how everyone was doing. The 

Friedmanns see my former colleague 

Andrew Cloutier as well as 

Andrew Speck and Emily Simpson 

Speck fairly regularly. Paul 

writes, “Clouts and I recently ate 

an absurd amount of junk food 

at Five Guys, where I shamefully 

must say I was the worse 

imbiber.” On occasion, Allison 

and Paul also get to see Lauren 

Krisko Sweatman and her brood, 

and the couple continues to work 

hard teaching at Brooke Charter 

School in Roslindale, Mass., and 

tell me that the excellent results 

their kids have posted over the 

past few years is the payoff for a 

lot of hard work. 

Lauren (Siegel) Applebaum 

wishes you all a Happy New 

Year, and what a happy new year 

it is for her, with son Micah Zev 

having arrived on Dec. 22. As I 

read Lauren’s email, I thought 

to myself that I’ve loved writing 

class notes for almost a decade 

because of stuff like this: “We are 

all doing really well, including 

big sister Liora. But does anyone 

actually admit it if their older kid 

is being a pill about it?” She adds 

that the family is enjoying life in 

Santa Monica. Mike Hickey wrote 

about the arrival of his daughter, 

Rory, news of which appeared 

in the last class notes. I mention 

it again because, well, why not, 

and also because Mike was 

kind enough this time to attach 

a picture of the little one, who 

is about as cute as they come. 

Wrapping up the baby announcements 

this time are Phil Groth 

and Abbey Eisenhower ’01, who 

welcomed Henry Eisenhower 

Groth into the world on Oct. 3. 

Elise (Estes) Morgan had a 

“wonderful” dinner over the 

holidays with Becca Parkinson 

and Ann Brophy. Becca is the 

godmother of Elise’s daughter 

Emily, and Ann is the godmother 

of her son Erik. This reminds me 

that none of my Williams friends 

have yet trusted me with godparenting 

responsibilities, which 

speaks to the wisdom of our 

classmates. Little Emily enjoyed 

a taste of skiing at Sugarloaf over 

the holidays, “especially riding 

the chair lift.” Elise also revealed 

an exciting upcoming MLE that 

I cannot mention if I wish to 

avoid the considerable wrath of 

my humorless, MLE-embargoing 

editors. Whom I love. They’re 

the best. Seriously. 

Ruko Takeuchi Senseney has 

taken advantage of social media 

to reconnect with some former 

classmates. Facebook allowed 

her to reach out to friends in 

San Francisco when she visited 

with her two-year-old son Tyson, 

which resulted in a long brunch 

with Malana Willis and Sunshine 

Wu ’99. LinkedIn helped Ruko 

reconnect with her freshman-year 

roommate Molly (Cummins) Scott, 

and they managed to exchange 

holiday cards this year. “So nice

to get back in touch with these 

friends,” Ruko writes. Also, after 

having three kids, Ruko plans to 

pursue an MBA this year. 

Mya Fisher is a wonderfully 

thorough updater. She reports 

that she is in her final year of 

grad school at University of 

Wisconsin-Madison and is 

spending the year working in the 

Office of International Education 

at Beloit College while writing 

her dissertation. She made 

it back to NYC this fall after 

a three-year absence to see the 

production Step Show, written 

and produced by our classmate 

Maxine Lyle, at the New York 

Musical Theater Festival. Over 

Thanksgiving, she met up with 

her former summer science tutor 

Krystal Williams ’96 (who was 

newly returned from hiking the 

Appalachian Trail in its entirety) 

for a 10-state, six-day road trip 

beginning in the Quad Cities. 

“A cell phone left in a Kentucky 

hotel room, lots of songs from 

musicals and favorite films, 

winding roads of West Virginia, 

the Bossypants audiobook read 

by Tina Fey, driving by real cotton 

fields in Georgia and random 

stops in Veedersburg, Ind., made 

for an adventure worthy of 

Williams folks.” 

Mya spent New Year’s Eve at 

the home of Sam Reed, “who 

hosted a celebration complete 

with Sam’s original tasty food 

creations and a music soundtrack 

worthy of a Rice House party!” 

Also in attendance were Maxine 

Lyle, Susan Asiyambi ’01 and 

Vanessa Alvarez. Sam is back 

in the DC area after receiving 

a fellowship to spend the 

summer studying Spanish out 

in California and taking a few 

months off to work on various 

writing projects. Maxine came 

down from New Jersey, recently 

returned from a three-week 

collaborative choreography 

and drill workshop in Ireland 

with Soul Steps, the States’ first 

professional Step company, 

which she founded. Vanessa 

was enjoying a holiday break 

from her work as a medical 

resident in New York. After the 

New Year, Mya returned to the 

Midwest and made her way up 

to the Twin Cities, where she 

took in the Japan Pop exhibit at 

the Minneapolis Museum of Art 

and spent a few days catching up 

with Beth McCray ’98. 

Taking us home this time is 

Steve Roman, who, as you may 

recall, only submits his updates 

in bulleted lists. Since Williams 

People does not, as far as I know, 

print bulleted lists, this means 

I typically have to turn Steve’s 

PowerPoint-style “writing” into 

actual prose. Not this time, however. 

For your enjoyment, I leave 

you with Steve’s list, edited only 

to remove the bullets and add 

periods: “Gearing up for another 

marathon with Drew Sutton 

(LA Marathon in March 2012). 

Visited New York with Becky 

Iwantsch. Spent New Year’s 

Eve with great friends, Matt 

and Anna, our esteemed class 

secretary and Will and Tracy 

(with their beautiful daughter 

Autumn). I’m happily surprised 

that I was able to get Autumn 

to fall asleep. Visited with Brad 

Geddes and other friends on 

New Year’s Day. Brad is enjoying 

his new home and had a very 

good Christmas with the family. 

Also, on this visit I realized how 

much I missed DD. I made sure 

I had enough Boston Creme 

doughnuts to hold me for at least 

half the year. Six, I think. MLE 

planning is ongoing, and I find 

myself looking for more tastings 

to enjoy. Think I can extend the 

final OK just to squeeze in a few 

more?” 

2001 

Liana Thompson 

135 Pleasant St. 

Richmond, ME 04357 


The lag between submitting 

notes and reading them in 

Williams People is striking to me 

today. I’m sitting here in Maine 

watching the snow fall as I write, 

but I also know that by the time 

this column is published there 

will probably be crocuses coming 

up. Happy spring! 

Nifer (Knight) Hoehn wrote 

in for the first time with news 

of her marriage to Ramsey 

Hoehn on May 14 of last year 

in Waitsfield, Vt. Nifer’s sister 

Heidi (Knight) Brackenridge ’86, 

her brother Chip Knight ’08 and 

her sister-in-law Marina (Gisquet) 

Knight ’99 were all in the wedding 

party. Also in attendance at 

the wedding were her brother-inlaw 

Alec Brackenridge ’85, Heidi 

and Alec’s daughter Lexie, who’s 

been accepted into Williams’ 

class of 2016, and Kate (Flynn) 

Grant and Tom Grant, both ’00. 

Erin Troy married Ming Tung 

on Oct. 1 in Boston. Erin 

reports that she brought Ming 

up to Williams for the biology 

research reunion, and everyone’s 

first question was if he was a 

Williams grad. (He’s not.) 

n 2000–01 

Moving from weddings to 

babies, Mike Schloat and his wife 

welcomed Macrae Ross Schloat 

on Sept. 22. Mike reports that 

Macrae had a great first three 

months getting to know his older 

brother Carter and hanging out 

quite a bit with Katie (Bishop) 

Calhoun’s ’00 three kids. (Mike 

and Katie are both at Deerfield.) 

In October Julia Goren 

ventured from her home in 

the Adirondacks, where she 

coordinates an alpine stewardship 

program, back to the Purple 

Valley to visit Elena Traister, her 

husband and the newest member 

of Elena’s family, Solomon Davis 

Buddington. Julia reports that 

Sol is a beautiful, healthy boy 

who is already showing his musical 

inclination, and that Elena is 

teaching environmental studies at 

Mass College of Liberal Arts. 

Allyson Rothberg and her husband 

welcomed their first child, 

Noa Abigail Gelbord, on Nov. 

20. Just two days later, Sarah 

Rutledge-Crump and her husband 

had their second child, Louisa 

Lucia Crump, on Nov. 22. Sarah 

reports that newborns are significantly 

easier than 2-year-olds, 

but that their son Henry is being 

an excellent big brother. Sarah 

also shared the news that Kathryn 

Dingman Boger welcomed a son, 

Brady Dingman Boger, on Oct. 

24. 

Alana Belfield Levine and her 

husband welcomed their second 

child, son Noah Alexander, on 

Dec. 19. Their daughter Hannah 

is now 2. Noah (and family) have 

had visits from Phoebe Geer, 

Matt Speiser and Seth Earn as 

well as lots of long-distance love 

and support from Sara Richland, 

Melissa (Vecchio) Wood and Don 

Wood ’00, and Alana notes that 

they are very, very happy. 

We have several classmates 

who have been moving around 

for jobs recently. One is Elly 

(Spensley) Moriarty, who also 

wrote in for the first time. She 

finished her PhD in archaeology 

at Boston University in 

December, and is now living in 

Vermont, where she is coaching 

high school Nordic skiing 

and teaching a class at the local 

community college this semester. 

“Life is good!” Elly says. 

Also in the academic realm, 

Elizabeth Hoover recently 

accepted a tenure track job at 

Brown University. She has been 

at Brown since last August as a 

visiting assistant professor and 

is excited about the switch to 

tenure-track. Her appointment is 

at Brown’s Center for the Study 


CLASS NOTES 

of Race and Ethnicity in America 

(CSREA), and she is teaching 

courses in American Indian studies 

for the CSREA’s ethnic studies 

concentration as well as for the 

Department of American Studies. 

Ellen Bognar moved back to 

Charlottesville after finishing 

her clerkship in Miami and is 

now working at a law firm in 

Lynchburg, Va. Brian Connors has 

moved to Detroit and is working 

for a nonprofit doing community 

development in southwest 

Detroit. 

Carissa Carter has moved from 

Hong Kong to San Francisco. 

One of the new projects in her 

life is Scree Magazine, www. 

screemagazine.com, a new crossdisciplinary 

magazine for which 

she is the creative director. As 

I was working on these notes, 

I learned that she is spending 

January in Williamstown, teaching 

a Winter Study course on 

design. 

Julia (Cianfarini) Schmidt is 

still in DC, where she works 

for a law firm and keeps busy 

with house renovations in her 

non-working hours. She is happily 

now seeing more of two of 

her freshman year entry-mates: 

Kate Figge, who moved back to 

DC last fall, and Beth Friedman, 

who’s now living outside 

Baltimore. Julia also runs into 

Matt Wessler periodically, as he 

lives just a few minutes away. 

Verena Arnabal and her family 

visited Roshni (David) Guerry in 

Delaware, where Roshni moved 

to start a new job. Verena says 

that her daughter Maya and 

Roshni’s son Liam, both three, 

had a lot of fun playing together 

and tearing it up at the Please 

Touch Museum in Philadelphia. 

Todd Swanson Merkens wrote 

while waiting to be rescued by 

a tow truck after the exhaust 

system on his car dropped out. 

Other than car trouble, he said 

that he is doing well and is 

continually amazed watching his 

daughter, Anja, grow up. Anja is 

now (in January) 15 months old, 

and Todd says that every day 

is something new. On the work 

front, he’s still doing toll system 

planning and design work in the 


Seattle area. He’s hoping to get 

into the snow a few more times 

this winter. 

Todd and his family had a 

chance to connect with Noel 

Johnson and Lauren (Wiener) 

Johnson just before the holidays. 

Noel and Lauren moved to 

Seattle last fall. Todd also saw 

Ethan Katz-Bassett just before 

Halloween; Todd said that it 

sounds like Ethan is nearing the 

end of his PhD and had some 

exciting work and ski plans 

coming up. 


The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco, founded in 2003 by 

Jeremy Faust ’01, received a 2011 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for 

Adventurous Programming. Faust, a medical student at the Mount Sinai 

School of Medicine in NYC, continues to serve as director of the chorale. 

Judd Greenstein shared a 

happy New Year’s with a bunch 

of Ephs and their partners, 

including Todd Rogers, Matt 

Wessler, Matt Atwood, Jackie 

Stein ’00, Morgan Barth ’02 

and Deidre Fogg ’03. Judd is 

still living in Brooklyn but is 

plotting a dual-residency move 

to split time between New York 

and Massachusetts. His music 

will be all over the country this 

spring, including a big orchestral 

premiere in Minneapolis this 

March, a multimedia installation 

and performance in Scottsdale, 

Ariz., this June, and New York 

performances in May and June. 

Drop him a line if you’re in any 

of those places—he’d love to see 

you! 

Sharmistha Ray’s solo debut 

exhibition of paintings, “Hidden 

Geographies,” was on display 

at Galerie Mirchandani 

and Steinruecke in Mumbai 

from mid-January to mid- 

February. Vogue India featured 

Sharmistha’s exhibition as a highlight 

of the month in its January 

2012 issue; you can read the 

article/interview at Sharmistha’s 

website, www.sharmistharay.net, 

under “news.” 

Michael Cooper’s musical 

Sunfish received its world 

premiere in February 2011 at 

the Stoneham Theatre outside 

of Boston, and as I was writing 

this column I saw that Sunfish 

won Best Musical at a Medium 

Theater in Broadway World’s 

2011 Boston Theater Awards. 

Michael also contributed lyrics to 

the musical It Shoulda Been You 

(starring Tyne Daly and directed 

by Fraiser’s David Hyde Pierce), 

which had a successful run at the 

George Street Playhouse in New 

Jersey last October. Outside of 

the theater, Michael reports that 

he has moved into a beautiful 

new apartment in NYC and 

continues to flood Facebook with 

status updates. 

After being her husband’s first 

reader and supporter for the 

past 10 years, Tami Thompson 

Wood was very excited to see 

his debut novel published in 

2011 (No Hero, by Jonathan 

Wood). It was also a momentous 

year because Tami’s son Charlie 

started kindergarten and her 

daughter Emma began nursery 

school. Tami is still teaching family 

programs at the Metropolitan 

Museum of Art (where she’s now 

been for eight years), and she 

enjoyed bringing Charlie along 

to her programs this year. 

Last fall Tami and her family 

went into NYC for a weekend, 

where they had a picnic 

in Central Park with Noga 

(Chlamtac) Minsky and her baby 

Elinor and spent a morning 

at the Manhattan Children’s 

Museum with Lia (Amakawa) 

Morrison and her toddler Ian. 

Tami also got a chance to catch 

up with Allyson Rothberg and 

Lisa Libicki over lunch on the 

Upper West Side. 

Elizabeth (Pulbratek) Randisi 

and her husband became small 

business owners in 2011, 

purchasing the boutique estate 

planning law firm Weinstein & 

Randisi. Elizabeth’s sons (4 and 

1 ½) are now old enough that 

she can unwind with a drink 

after a long day of figuring out 

small business ownership details 

like payroll taxes. She’s also 

working on a memoir-writing 

project while her husband works 

on developing a swampy piece 

of woodlands for their someday 

dream house. 

Fumi Tosu is still based in NYC 

and is keeping busy running the 

U.S. office of Table For Two 

(TFT), a Japanese nonprofit 

that aims to simultaneously 

address the issues of malnutrition 

in developing countries and 

obesity in the developed world. 

TFT serves healthy, low-calorie 

meals at restaurants, universities 

and corporate cafeterias, and a 

portion of the proceeds from the 

food sales go to school meals 

programs in Ethiopia, Rwanda, 

Uganda and South Africa. If 

you’re curious to learn more 

about the program, see http://bit. 

ly/zCBMrV. 

Jeremy Faust is in his last 

semester of medical school at

Mount Sinai in NYC and is 

going into emergency medicine. 

He is also still active in the music 

world; the choral ensemble he 

co-founded in San Francisco 

(International Orange Chorale 

of San Francisco) won the 2011 

ASCAP/Chorus America Award 

for commitment to new music. 

The chorale remains a locus 

of Eph networking for Jeremy. 

Kenric Taylor ’00 sings in the 

group and runs its public face 

(press and web). Following the 

award, Jeremy decided to commission 

Dan Kohane ’12, a young 

composer currently studying at 

Williams, to write a new piece 

for the ensemble. 

Jeremy sees Ryan McNaughton 

for almost weekly karaoke 

sessions in the East Village and 

reports that Ryan recently took 

a job as an attorney at the NYC 

firm Paul Weiss. Jeremy also 

saw Adrienne Wiley and Grayson 

Myers recently in Seattle and 

met their son Nathaniel, whom 

Jeremy reports is charming. 

Sara (Grote) Custer is working 

as a postdoctoral fellow at the 

Indiana University School of 

Medicine, where she is studying 

spinal muscular atrophy and also 

just began a new collaborative 

project with Loyola University. 

Sara, her husband and her two 

girls enjoyed an extended holiday 

vacation with lots of family. 

Zuzana Tothova wrote in just 

hours after getting back to 

Boston from a trip home. She 

celebrated the New Year in the 

mountains of Slovakia at her 

family’s ski cabin. I also know 

that Zuzana bought her own 

little apartment in Brookline last 

summer and is enjoying life as an 

oncology fellow (even though she 

doesn’t do as much dancing as 

she used to). 

Kivlina (Shepherd) Block, her 

husband and their three kids 

rang in the New Year with 

fondue and an early bedtime. 

Kivlina looked forward to taking 

a vacation in February with just 

her husband. 

Seth Brown wrote his update 

using only four letter words, 

a linguistic challenge he calls 

“Game With Four.” If anyone is 

interested in trying to correspond 

in sentences comprised of words 

with only four letters, drop him 

a line. 

Annaliis (Abrego) Canty and her 

husband Scott Canty ’98 are still 

living outside DC. They have 

three boys and celebrated their 

youngest son’s first birthday in 

December; their older sons are 5 

and almost 4. With a 5-year-old 

in the house, they’re in the midst 

of applications for kindergarden, 

which Annaliis is finding a 

very weird concept, especially 

given the cost of tuition at 

some DC-area schools. Annaliis 

remains thankful for Facebook, 

which she says allowed her to 

reconnect with some classmates 

after our reunion last year. 

As for me, I’m slowly settling 

into life in small-town Maine. 

My husband and I have now 

been in our house for a year and 

have managed to begin far more 

house projects than we have 

completed. (I am learning that 

DIY house projects always take 

longer than I think they will.) I 

exchanged several emails with 

Charis Anderson in December, 

and we were in agreement that 

it would be really nice to have 

an entry again as a way to meet 

people now that we’re scattered 

all over the country and world. 

Short of that, I’ve joined a writing 

group to try to meet some 

people and to keep the creative 

side of my brain active; Charis 

has taken a different tactic on 

getting involved in the community 

and is in her first season 

of coaching the New Bedford 

(Mass.) YMCA’s swim team. It’s 

also great to hear what you’re 

all up to—makes me feel more 

socially connected than I actually 

am. Keep the updates coming in! 

2002 


Holly Kohler 

541 Main St., Apt. 4 

Melrose, MA 01276 


What’s that you say? You’ve 

been feeling nostalgic for 

Williams in general and the 

Berkshire Quad in particular? 

Dear classmates, you are in luck. 

Preparations for reunion 2012 

are well under way and the halls 

of Prospect, Fitch and Currier are 

gearing up to welcome us back 

in all of our (slightly more aged) 

glory during the weekend of June 

7-10. A decade is the sort of time 

chunk really worth celebrating, 

and I look forward to seeing 

many of you there! 

Amanda Gramse is so determined 

to make it to our 10th 

that she specifically scheduled her 

June 2012 nuptials around the 

event. Amanda got engaged to 

her boyfriend of seven years on 

a cloudy Cape Cod beach over 

Memorial Day weekend and is 

n 2001–02 

looking forward to having her 

wedding on her parents’ front 

lawn in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. 

Annie Weiss married Peter 

Cook on Martha’s Vineyard over 

Labor Day weekend in a ceremony 

attended by Sarah Barger 

Ranney, Hilary Hackmann, Brooke 

Ray Smith, Tenaya Plowman 

Kolar, Susan Fulmer and Rich 

Dunn. Annie is currently living in 

New Orleans, where she works 

as a clinical psychologist at Sci 

Academy, a charter high school. 

Sarah and her husband Mike 

have since had another cause for 

celebration, welcoming their son 

Jackson William Ranney into the 

world on Nov. 10—just one day 

after his mom’s birthday. “He’s a 

character, and we’re loving every 

minute getting to know him,” 

writes Sarah. 

Tenaya, her husband Nathan 

Kolar ’05 and their 2-year-old son 

Dash moved to the Sun Valley 

area in Idaho last September. 

“Though we couldn’t be happier 

up here in our mountain home,” 

reports Tenaya, “the move has 

taken us from a thriving Ephtropolis 

(the Bay Area) to an 

area slightly less populated by 

Williams alums.” 

Conversely, Sarah Philipp 

is now living much closer to 

familiar faces, having returned to 

Jacksonville, Fla., in mid-December 

after completing her deployment 

to Bahrain and Qatar. She 

is thrilled to be home and has 

“a newfound appreciation for a 

nice private bathroom and the 

ability to cook [her] own meals.” 

On the way home, Sarah spent 

10 days visiting her boyfriend 

in Dubai, where he is currently 

deployed, and at submission 

time she was looking forward 

to returning for another visit in 

March. She is still with the same 

P-3 squadron and divides her 

working time between them and 

the aviation clinic on base. 

Big changes are also afoot for 

Patrick McCurdy and his wife 

Christine, who were joined 

by their first child, Thomas 

Frederick McCurdy, on Sept. 21. 

Will and Afton Johnson Gilyard 

’05 welcomed son William Jesse 

Gilyard on Sept. 3. 

Michelle O’Brien Sisk, her 

husband Jarrod and their 2-yearold 

daughter Emma increased 

their family size on Dec. 16 with 

the arrival of Brennan Michael. 

In April Michelle will begin 

“a very part-time” position at 

a women’s wellness center in 

Manchester, Conn. In addition 

to giving monthly lectures on 

pre- and perinatal nutrition, she 


CLASS NOTES 

will provide one-on-one nutrition 

counseling to women. 

Stephanie Pirishis has also 

added to her brood, welcoming 

second daughter Iliana Lucia 

Wijpkema on Nov. 25. Last 

September Stephanie launched 

her own business: poladora. 

com aggregates local stores for 

wedding registry purposes and 

currently represents a dozen 

Chicago retailers. While in 

NYC last fall she hung out with 

Tron Wang and Ame Igharo. In 

December Laura Spero dropped 

by for a visit and caught 

Stephanie up on her latest 

Nepalese adventures. 

Tron traveled to Asia for work 

last spring and shared meals 

with Yui Tsao and Heng Cheam 

’01 in Hong Kong and Kevin 

Hong ’01 in Shanghai. Thanks 

to the fortuitous timing of a visit 

to Stephanie in Chicago, Tron 

managed to avoid “the hurricane 

that never was” in NYC. He 

hosted a New Year’s Eve party at 

his Manhattan apartment, and 

Yui stopped by to help usher in 

2012. 

In nearby Brooklyn live Sara 

Hausner-Levine, her husband Cam 

Clendaniel ’01 and their son Jack. 

Jack goes to daycare with Lizzie 

Jacobs’ ’01 son Henry, who is 

four months older. Writes Sara: 

“We like to think of Henry as 

Jack’s mentor.” 

Brooklyn Borough Hall was 

the site of Margaret diZerega’s 

marriage to Chiemi Suzuki on 

Sept. 2. 

Josh Burns married Brittany 

Raven last August in San 

Francisco. In addition to his dad 

John Burns ’70, many ’02ers were 

in attendance, including best 

man Ben Doob and groomsman 

Forrest Wittenmeier. Josh reports 

with certitude that “no one held 

back on the dance floor at the 

reception, myself included.” 

Forrest sent in news of Mike 

Gross’s December birthday 

celebration at Baker Beach in San 

Francisco, a “huge crab feed” 

attended by 25 people, including 

Maggie Clark and her husband 

Trevor Babb ’00, Ed Han, Alex 

Morrison and Eli Groban. Seven 

dogs were also in attendance, 

including Mike and his wife Anna 

Kneitel’s Newfoundland Lucy. 

Charlie and Lida (Ungar) Doret’s 

Labrador Hazey is featured in 

this year’s Atlanta Dog Squad 

calendar. Charlie and Lida volunteer 

for the rescue organization, 

which is also where they adopted 

Hazey. “In less momentous 

news,” writes Charlie, he and 

Lida met up with Kate Alexander 


and a number of other friends 

at last fall’s homecoming, an 

occasion that Charlie has never 

missed. He was particularly 

pleased to be joined by his sister 

Leah Doret ’99 this time around. 

Over the holidays, Lida and 

Charlie drove from Atlanta up to 

Massachusetts, where they met 

up with Steve Biller, his wife Julie 

and their young son Zack and 

“talked about being postdocs 

and searching for faculty positions.” 

They celebrated New 

Year’s on Cape Cod with about 

a dozen Williams grads including 

Kate, Jason Carini and Elizabeth 

(Moulton) and Darik Velez ’01 and 

their children Rigel and River. 

Reports Charlie: “I was delighted 

to learn that Elizabeth and Darik 

have purchased one-way tickets 

home from South Africa for this 

June, which will end three years 

abroad. They’re not quite sure 

what their jobs will be when they 

return stateside, but I think they 

are looking at high school teaching 

options in the Northeast.” 

Jamin Morrison spent five 

weeks in South Africa teaching 

and treating villagers as part 

of his residency. Brad Nichol 

was excited to welcome him 

to London during pit stops on 

either end of his journey. 

Dan Elsea and his partner Yung 

marked their civil partnership 

with “impromptu, casual proceedings” 

on Oct. 15 at Hackney 

Town Hall in East London. They 

took some friends down to the 

pub afterward to celebrate. 

Terri O’Brien and Brad Howells 

were married on Nov. 12 in 

Berkeley, Calif. Topher Goggin 

was their officiant “and did, 

as expected, an amazing job, 

providing a personal and humorous 

touch that [they] will never 

forget.” Brad Nichol flew in 

from London for the occasion, 

and also in attendance were 

Nathan Cardoos, Dave Glick, 

Brian Michener, Derek Ward, 

Seth Behrends, Brennan Kelly, 

Katie Sharff and her husband 

Dan Clayburgh ’01, and Laura 

Bothwell. 

At submission time, Jessica 

Ohly had just returned from a 

great weekend in Vermont with 

Dave, Seth, Mark Robertson, 

Jamin Morrison, Michelle Ruby 

and Nicole Theriault ’03. Jessica 

wrote: “I continue to enjoy 

teaching and am currently training 

to run the Boston Marathon 

for a small charity, Housing 

Families.” A little farther south, 

Michael Minnefor is training 

to run this year’s New York 

Marathon. In December he 

started a job at a small law firm 

in Manhattan. 

Another admirable runner in 

our midst is Jess Paar, who wrote 

in just hours after competing in 

the 2012 Ragnar Florida Keys 

relay race. She and 10 friends 

ran the 198.5 miles from Miami 

to Key West in about 33 hours 

as team “I Thought This Was A 

5K.” Although no Eph friends 

joined Jess’s team, “they did offer 

words and texts of support along 

the way.” 

William Davidson was in Florida 

over Christmas and the New 

Year, and he met up with Billy 

Marino at the Square Grouper in 

Jupiter “to watch the Giants dismantle 

the Cowboys and clinch 

the NFC East Championship.” 

Dana Nelson had a big finish of 

her own last August, when she 

completed her PhD program at 

Penn State. She is now working 

as a clinical postdoc at the 

University of Delaware’s counseling 

center. 

First-time contributor (editor’s 

note: Yay!) Maywa Montenegro 

began her PhD in the environmental 

science, policy and management 

program at Berkeley. 

She loves being in California 

and is hoping to focus on food 

sovereignty and sustainable 

agriculture, “ideas that started to 

percolate during my last six years 

[as] a science journalist in NYC.” 

At submission time, Maywa had 

just participated in a panel at 

Williams on science writing. 

Laura McMillian is in the last 

year of her PhD program in 

organizational leadership at the 

Chicago School of Professional 

Psychology and continues to live 

in LA. She visited with Stephanie 

Pirishis during a residency trip to 

Chicago in September 2010 and 

passed her competency exam last 

October. 

Sadaf Ahmad shared a Chicagostyle 

deep-dish pizza with 

Stephanie and Renee Robinson 

last November. Renee, who 

works for Women in Film in 

Toronto, was visiting graduate 

schools for communications policy. 

In October Sadaf joined Erika 

Beltran ’01 in DC to celebrate the 

birthday of Enuma Menkiti ’01. 

While in DC she saw Caroline 

Fan ’03 and U.S. Secretary of 

Education Arne Duncan speak at 

a conference on Asian-American 

research. Over Halloween Sadaf 

and Erika attended a Mexican 

Ballet Folklorico performance in 

honor of Dia de los Muertos. 

Morgan Barth traveled to DC 

to visit Elizabeth Hole Knake and 

her daughter Charlotte and also

made a trip out to Portland, 

Ore., to see another former 

entrymate, Josh Weinstein. He is 

hoping to catch up with the rest 

of his Williams F entry at our 

10th Reunion. Last July Morgan 

began a new job as the director 

of a charter middle school in 

Bridgeport, Conn. “After a 

three-year hiatus in elementary 

school,” he writes, “I love being 

back at the middle school level— 

reading great novels with young 

adults. If you ever find yourself 

on Bridgeport’s East Side come 

visit Achievement First!” 

Farther afield, Noëlle Ho-Lam 

wrote in from Hong Kong with 

news of President Adam Falk’s 

November visit. Over 30 Ephs 

attended the reception held at 

the Box at IFC, and Noëlle, 

her mother and Geraldine Shen 

’01 later had tea with President 

Falk at Sevva in Central. It was 

her first time meeting him, and 

Noëlle enjoyed hearing about 

his vision for Williams. Later in 

the month the Williams Hong 

Kong Alumni Association hosted 

its own version of Mountain 

Day, an occasion led by Russell 

Yeh ’79 and followed by brunch 

at Parkview. Among those 

attending were Jon Isaacs ’00, 

Bonnie Lui ’04, Fulton Breen ’03 

and Cadence Hardenbergh ’11. 

Noëlle writes that while “being a 

mother of two and working full 

time is not easy, the joy and 

laughter the two little ones bring 

is indescribable and makes all the 

sleepless nights worthwhile.” 

Sleepless nights are something 

that Alana (Clements) and Stefan 

Kaczmarek have likely grown 

used to since the arrival of 

their son Reiter on July 7. The 

Kaczmareks are being aided 

in their early “Eph indoctrination” 

by Edlyn Smith, a recent 

Boston transplant whom they see 

frequently. They’ve calculated— 

with some horror—that Reiter 

will be in the Class of 

2033. As Alana justly pointed 

out, “this is mind-boggling.” 

Stefan completed his PhD in 

neurobiology last summer and is 

now doing cystic fibrosis research 

at a nonprofit lab. Alana is a 

pediatric nurse practitioner at 

Children’s Hospital in Boston, 

where she provides primary care 

for kids with complex special 

health care needs. 

Also in Boston is Andrew 

Mitchell, who recently joined a 

funk band called The Othership 

and enthused: “It’s great to be 

playing the trombone again!” 

They have several songs up 

on YouTube and will also be 

playing gigs in the Boston-area 

throughout 2012. Check out the 

website for more details: www. 

theothership.com. 

And that about does it for the 

springtime update. I’m excited 

to collect much of your news 

in person for the next round of 

notes, which will include a full 

reunion recap. Register now for 

the June festivities, and please 

seek me out during the weekend 

to introduce all your fabulous 

new partners and progeny and 

other life projects! I’ll be the one 

wearing horn-rimmed spectacles 

and a bun as I revel in my final 

days as class secretary. 

2003 

Anri Wheeler Brenninkmeyer 

4 Howard St. 

Somerville, MA 02144 


Ayesha Fuentes wrote in to say 

that she is trying not to gloat 

about the beautiful weather in 

sunny LA, but she’s seen dolphins 

five times since moving there last 

September with her boyfriend, 

Michael Heep ’99. Ayesha is 

studying the conservation of 

archaeological and ethnographic 

materials at the Getty Villa in 

Malibu, where, in between very 

scientific-seeming projects, she 

watches hummingbirds, Monarch 

butterflies and red-tailed hawks. 

She loves her job; her focus is on 

human remains and devotional 

objects, and she gets to travel 

a lot (Chinchorro mummies in 

Chile, wall paintings in Tuscany). 

Ayesha loves being in the same 

city as Pete Van Steemburg and 

Lucas Goodbody and was psyched 

to have them over for her thirdannual 

cookie decorating party in 

December. 

Also in LA, Perry Kalmus 

met up with Saif Vagh and Hall 

O’Donnell for Saif’s birthday on 

the hipster side of the city (aka 

the East Side). Perry was hosting 

four Williams seniors as interns 

for their winter study. They will 

be thrown into the fire at his 

tech startup, DrinkCity, as the 

company goes through its angel 

round of funding. Perry roasted a 

wild boar with Marshall Dines at 

Marshall’s pad in Venice, Calif. 

They then made specialty dishes 

using different parts of the boar. 

Hitesh Walia is working for 

Cisco Systems in the VOIP team. 

He is based in the San Jose office. 

Kristen Shapiro married Antoine 

Griffin in September. Anjuli 

Lebowitz was one of Kristen’s 

lovely bridesmaids. 

n 2002–03 

Also married in September were 

Alix Davis and Andrew Weiss, 

in Lancaster, Pa. A number of 

Ephs participated in the wedding, 

including Eric Woodward, 

who served as the officiant and 

led a beautiful and meaningful 

ceremony, and Katie Saxon, who 

composed a whimsical vocal 

and flute arrangement of “The 

Rainbow Connection” that she 

and Emmy Valet performed. Also 

in attendance were Katharine 

Baker, Jen Barone, Pippa Charters, 

Sarah Nichols and Lindi von 

Mutius, who kept the dance floor 

lively during the entire event. The 

Weisses live in Philadelphia. Alix 

is finishing her graduate studies 

in art history at U Penn (she is 

slated to defend her dissertation 

in the spring), and Andrew is a 

resident in internal medicine at 

the Hospital of the University of 

Pennsylvania. 

Rounding out the wedding 

news, Randi Lewis married 

David Flaherty, a fellow graduate 

student at the University of 

Virginia. They were married 

on Oct. 22 in Lexington, Mass. 

Members of the Class of ’03 

in attendance included Robert 

Baldwin, Elizabeth Mygatt and 

Betsy Thomas. Anne Lewis ’04 

was the maid of honor. David 

and Randi live in Charlottesville, 

Va., and both hope to finish PhDs 

in American history from UVA in 

the next year or two. 

Brian Katz finished his PhD 

(math, from UT Austin) and is 

enjoying his job at Augustana 

College (in the Quad Cities). He 

hopes to use his increased flexibility 

to start an a cappella group 

on campus. 

Janet Ho completed the NYC 

Marathon for the first time on 

Nov. 6 with support and cheers 

from Brigitte Teissedre, her husband 

Luke Patterson, Linda Lau, 

Lisa Marco, Monty Silva, Jiyong 

Kim, Kevin Hseuh and Caroline 

Fan. Janet wore a “Purple Cow” 

sign on the back of her singlet but 

didn’t spot any other Ephs on the 

course. 

Faith Black is still working at 

Penguin, editing books under 

the Berkley Publishing Group 

imprint, handling mainly fiction. 

In October she was in 

San Francisco to run the Nike 

Women’s Half Marathon on 

behalf of Team in Training. It was 

a really challenging race, but the 

views were spectacular and Faith 

was happy with her time. She 

was cheered on by Liz Chase who 

came out to San Francisco for the 

occasion. Faith and Liz followed 

the half marathon with a wine 


CLASS NOTES 

tasting in Napa the following day 

with Jen Doleac and Daniel Klasik. 

Vivien Shotwell’s novel, Amato 

Bene, will be published by 

Ballantine Books in 2013 and 

translated into four languages. 

Renee Dumouchel left the 92nd 

Street Y in NYC after five years 

to become the associate director 

of external affairs for the 

Guggenheim Foundation. She is 

super excited to start this next 

phase of her journey and gets lots 

of free passes. If you’re in NYC 

and are looking for a cultural 

play day, let her know. She also 

loves teaching yoga and is putting 

together a series of workshops 

on the yoga of transformation, 

taught in the Phoenix Rising 

style. Inspired by her puppeteer 

boyfriend, Renee recently joined 

an arts collective to create new 

works combining dance, poetry 

and puppetry. She also got to 

ring in the new year with Heather 

Brubaker and Zach Yeskel ’04 and 

spent time cavorting in NYC 

with Debby Chen, waxing philosophical 

about holistic health and 

French food. 

Rob Michelin is a visiting 

lecturer at Williams in the music 

department. He also teaches 

in NYC at Arts and Media 

Preparatory Academy. Rob is 

applying for doctoral candidacy 

in cultural anthropology. 

As always, our classmates’ 

families continue to grow. 

Graeme Sanderson and his wife 

Beth celebrated the birth of their 

son Deacon Thomas Sanderson 

on Aug. 24. Matt Grunwald stood 

vigil at the hospital to welcome 

Deacon into the world. Graeme 

just completed his MBA at NYU 

Stern’s executive program. 

Anastasia (Gilman) Leyden had 

her second child, Isabel Rose, on 

Sept. 14. Anastasia, her husband 

James and Isabel’s big brother 

Patrick are all smitten. 

Bethany (Sayles) Yu and her 

husband Jonathan welcomed 

their second child on Nov. 25. 

Baby Peter joins his big sister Evie 

SENDPHOTOS 











in exploring Philadelphia, their 

new home since the Yus relocated 

in July so Jonathan could attend 

business school at Wharton. 

Tina Howe and her husband 

Brian Clites welcomed a son, 

Liam James, on Nov. 28. They 

were having a wonderful holiday 

season with him. 

Kimmie and Angus Beal are 

settled into Salt Lake City and 

had a baby girl, Phoebe, on Dec. 

2. Angus loves EM residency. 

Kimmie and Angus’ 2-year-old 

had his first day on skis, and 

they were all looking forward to 

Wasatch powder for the rest of 

the winter. 

Courtney Janney and her husband 

Ben welcomed a daughter, 

Kairi Noel Janney, on Dec. 20. 

Sarah Nichols had a busy year. 

She spent the spring semester 

teaching at Whitman College, 

then moved down to Claremont, 

Calif., to join her husband. Along 

the way she enjoyed meeting 

Ephs at the wedding of Chris 

Holmes in Chicago in March 

and catching up with Lillian 

Diaz-Przybyl ’04 and Jesse Dill 

’04 after the latter biked from 

San Francisco to LA in June for 

a fundraiser. In September Sarah 

enjoyed seeing many classmates 

at Alix Davis’s wedding. Jen 

Barone visited Sarah in October 

on a whirlwind vacation tour 

through California. Sarah is looking 

forward to her first Christmas 

in a house she shares with her 

husband after many years of 

alternating between parents 

and in-laws. She is currently an 

adjunct in the physics departments 

of several schools and 

hoping that one of them will have 

money for a full-time hire soon. 

Phil Dimon has returned from 

two years in India with the 

Foreign Service. He is now in 

DC learning Spanish. Later this 

year he will head to El Salvador 

for two years on his second 

assignment. 

Nick Nelson and Sarah Klionsky 

live in Cambridge, Mass., and 

have enjoyed meeting up with Jeff 

Garland, Ian Warrington and other 

classmates on occasion. Nick and 

Sarah had a great time skiing, 

sledding, playing in the snow and 

eating a lot in Vermont over New 

Year’s with Jordan Goldwarg, 

Bekah Levine, Malin Pinsky, Kristin 

Hunter-Thompson and Liz Mygatt. 

They also enjoyed seeing Bethie 

Miller over the holidays. 

2004 

Nicole Eisenman 

53 Boerum Place, Apt. 3H 

Brooklyn, NY 11201 

Cortney Tunis 

Box 802 

150 The Riverway 

Boston, MA 02115 


Josh Weisenbeck writes: “My 

wife and I had our first child, 

Ethan Claxton Weisenbeck, born 

Sept, 1, 2011. He’s doing great, 

and we’re blessed to have him!” 

MJ (Priest) Lanum also had a 

baby. Theodore Arthur Lanum 

was born on Nov. 17, 2011. 

MJ writes, “East 1 seems to be 

having a baby boom, with Rob 

Follansbee and Ali and Chuck 

Abba also having kids this year. 

Game on, other entries.” 

Shamus Brady is considering 

a run for Congress in the 

4th district of Massachusetts. 

He encourages his classmates 

to reach out to him if they are 

interested in the campaign. 

Chris Ryan married Ellen 

Abbott on Aug. 13 in Charlotte, 

N.C. They met while attending 

business school at Wharton, and 

they are now living in Boston. 

Chris is working for a midmarket 

private equity fund called 

Riverside Partners, and Ellen is 

working for a consulting firm 

called IGS. 

Elizabeth Just married Stephen 

Dobay ’05 on Oct. 22, at the 

Museum of Natural History 

in New York City. About 35 

Williams people attended, 

and the Octet sang during the 

ceremony and the reception. The 

happy couple spent New Year’s 

in Puerto Rico with Alex Lees 

’03, Jenny Eames ’01, Andrew 

Marks ’05, Ellie Schmidt ’06 and 

Peter Schmidt ’08. 

On Sept. 18, Liz Kaplan married 

Dan Gordon, a graduate 

of the University of Missouri- 

Columbia, in a beautiful 

ceremony overlooking the ocean 

in Ipswich, Mass. With them to 

celebrate were Sarah Godbehere, 

Mike Henry, Jen Lazar and Daniel 

Shearer. 

Jen Lazar and Daniel Shearer 

celebrated their first AND 

their 10th anniversary this past 

December. They’ve been married 

for one year and together since 

our sophomore year! Jen spent 

most of 2011 running the first 

year of the Field Academy, a 

traveling high school that she is 

founding with Heather Foran. Jen

Classmates Kam Shahid ’04 (right) and Charlie Davidson took a photo 

with Shahid’s son and Davidson’s godson, Kam Jr., before running the 

Manchester Marathon in New Hampshire in November. 

and Heather had an unbelievably 

awesome time co-teaching 

their first group of students 

alongside ’04’s Claire Samuel and 

Tim Patterson and scheming with 

Mike Henry, Maggie McDonald, 

Adam Grogg, Dani Lerro ’05, 

Brian Burke ’02, Emily Simons, 

Elliot Morrison, Sarah Godbehere, 

Emily Issacson, Shilpa Duvoor, 

Elaine Denny and various others 

around the country. 

Ally Matteodo has been 

enjoying her time back on the 

East Coast. She attended the 

Williams/Amherst homecoming 

game telecast at J.A. Stats 

in the Financial District of 

Boston and caught up with Emily 

Bloomenthal ’05 and Amanda 

Stout. Ally also attended the 

annual Williams holiday party 

at the Black Rose in Boston, 

where she caught up with Mark 

Orlowski and enjoyed the music 

of Darlingside. Since returning 

to Boston Ally has several projects 

in the works. She currently 

stars in the horror series Camp 

Halloway as bad girl Torrie and 

in the Rhode Island web series 

Red Circles as ADA Alexandria 

Jacobson. However, Ally is 

most excited about garnering 

a spot in Fireball Improv, an 

improv troupe headed by Daniel 

Phoenix that will begin performing 

in the Boston area some time 

in the early spring. 

Charlie Davidson writes: “This 

fall, Dave Rackovan hung out for 

a few days as he came through 

NYC on his way to grad school 

in Bologna. The occasional 

email and Skype conversation 

lets me know he’s surviving in 

Italy. I was out in LA for an 

art fair at the end of September 

and got to catch up with Scott 

Goldberg ’02 and Michele Kovacs 

’01 as well as my old Willy D 

entrymate and former Slippery B 

co-denizen Brendan Docherty. I 

can’t remember if Doc and I had 

burgers this time around, but 

it seems like something we do 

every time we get together. 

“In November, Kam Shahid 

and I ran the Manchester (N.H., 

not U.K.) Marathon. We got to 

stop by Wellesley on the way 

home to see Danny Follansbee, 

Rob Follansbee’s brand-new 

baby boy. He was about the size 

of a football, but judging by his 

parents, I imagine he’ll be taller 

than most of us in a week or 

two. After Thanksgiving I was 

down in Miami for Art Basel 

again and saw Walker Waugh 

’02, who was also working at 

the Pulse fair. We ran into each 

other again in December at an 

awesome Wassaic Project event 

in Brooklyn put together by, of 

course, Eve Biddle and Bowie 

Zunino and attended by Ephs 

including Eve’s husband Josh 

Frankel ’02 and Lucy Teitler ’05. 

I also got to check out Matt 

Watson’s most recent work at 

the Columbia MFA open studios 

and met up with Matt and 

Omri Bloch at a Nuru Project 

fundraiser. My classmates are 

amazing in their ability to make 

me feel like I don’t do enough 

with my time. 

“That said, Jabe Bergeron, 

Rob and my brother Will 

Davidson ’02 were all once 

again a part of the this year’s 

annual installment of the Bar 

Game Olympiad—an event that 

I organize (take that, Eve and 

Bowie)—and which saw record 

n 2003–04 

attendance this year. Bee and 

I got paired up again, but the 

teams are picked at random, so 

don’t listen to what anyone says 

about conspiracies. Anyway, we 

claimed the silver this time after 

strong finishes at the Boot Race 

(won by Jabe’s dad), Big Buck 

Hunter and Darts. Matt Rade 

was missed, but we’ll be seeing 

him for Pro Bull Riding at MSG 

this year (only a few days away, 

as of the writing of this email), 

and I’m sure I’ll be ready to see 

him back to Buffalo by the time 

the weekend is over. Jabe also 

filled in as a ringer on my ice 

hockey team for one game. We 

lost, but it wasn’t his fault.” 

Kate (Neal) Fellens moved 

away from London this year, 

though she hopes to return in 

the future. She has relocated, 

with her husband and their 

daughter Mathilde to Nairobi, 

Kenya. It’s a wonderful adventure. 

She would love to meet 

up with any other Ephs living 

out there! 

Melanie Beeck had a really 

nice time with Amy Dieckmann 

’05, and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen 

’05 who visited her in Australia 

from the U.S. They toured the 

city and at night went to watch 

Christmas carols at the park 

near Melanie’s house. Melanie 

writes, “They were expecting 

a small group and some candle 

lights. It was great to see the 

look on their faces when they 

saw the thousands of people 

and huge stage set up for a 

great night!” Melanie finished 

her second year teaching 5th 

grade in Melbourne and as 

of writing in was about to fly 

home to Brazil to get married. 

2011 has been very kind 

to Alex Grashkina’s creative 

spirits, making her think more 

than ever about abandoning 

tax law as a career field and 

doing theater and writing 

instead. She directed a Chekhov 

comedy that premiered in 

Boston and received invitations 

for performing in New York. 

Kamen Kozarev ’05 played a shy 

bachelor in the comedy. She is 

worried that Kamen will soon 

finish his PhD and move away 

from Boston leaving her with 

no one to boss around on stage. 

Alex also did a poetry reading 

of her book Migrant Words 

at the Manhattan Movement 

& Arts Center and traveled in 

Asia with her husband around 

Thanksgiving. In Hong Kong, 

she ran into Robin Hwang 

’04 and had dinner with Asti 

Khachatryan, who was an 


CLASS NOTES 

exchange student at Williams 

from Armenia in 2004. 

Seven of the “Goodrich 

9”—Josh Earn, Jamaal Mobley, 

Neil Hoffman, Jacob Scott, 

Chris Vaughan, Peter Deutsch 

and Drew Newman—met up in 

Tampa in December for a weekend 

of beach, cigars, libations 

and sports games. 

Nathan Hodas graduated from 

Caltech in the spring with his 

PhD in physics. He is a postdoc 

at the Information Sciences 

Institute at USC studying the 

dynamics of social networks 

like Twitter. Nathan also had 

his second son, Eli Joseph 

Hodas, on Sept. 20. He’s 

already best friends with his 

older brother! 

Aaron Wilson and his wife 

Stephanie moved to Dallas. 

Aaron started work with the 

Boston Consulting Group in the 

fall, and they are both loving 

Texas. 

Adam Grogg reports that 

although flatter landscapes 

and warmer temperatures 

have taken some getting used 

to, finishing up one clerkship 

in Montana and starting 

another in DC has happily 

meant many more Williams 

encounters. Adam writes, 

“Highlights include sharing 

a charming apartment in an 

alarmingly dilapidated building 

in Columbia Heights with Jack 

Nelson ’07; frequent outings 

with Steve Seigel and husband 

Justin Wilson in DC; an embarrassing 

(but delightful) four 

visits to Williamstown this fall; 

and recent New Year/birthday/ 

etc. celebrations in New York 

with our fantastic class notes 

editors Cortney Tunis and Nicole 

Eisenman Weber (and her husband 

Simon Weber), Jeff Nelson 

and Meredith Sanger-Katz ’06, 

Elliot Morrison and Maggie 

Popkin ’03, Christina Draghi 

and Will Edgar ’03, Charlie 

Wittenberg, and many more. 

Cheers, 2012.” 

SENDPHOTOS 

illiams People accepts 

Wphotographs of alumni 









From left: Amy Dieckmann ’05 and Elizabeth Van Heuvelen ’05 visited 

Melanie Beeck ’04 in December in Melbourne, Australia, where Melanie 

teaches fifth grade. 

2005 

Aron Chang 

1432 6th St. 

New Orleans, LA 70115 

Charles Soha 

2500 Wisconsin Ave., NW 

Apt. 619 



Marissa Doran is finishing her 

second year of law school and 

loving it. Fran-Fredane Fraser 

has moved back to NYC and 

joined Lillian Chang and Mark 

Hobel for tapas and is hoping 

to spot her roomie Liz Suda. 

Joanna Lloyd is in veterinary 

school and is bird-sitting five 

birds and fostering a kitten. 

Ned Hole bumped into Tim 

Crawley in San Francisco when 

he spotted Tim rocking a 

Williams College sweatsuit— 

they caught up over a Guinness. 

Wes Connors stopped by Tim’s 

Christmas party only to miss a 

broken window, burnt carpeting 

and Chinese floating lanterns 

later in the evening. 

Afton (Johnson) Gilyard had 

a baby, William Jesse, on Sept. 

3. Joyia (Chadwick) Yorgey 

gave birth to Noah David on 

Sept. 17. Noah has already 

become quite the piano player. 

Ward Bitter and his wife Jenny 

celebrated the birth of their first 

child, Mirabelle May, on Oct. 

14 and spent Christmas and 

New Year’s Eve up at their family 

home in Stowe, Vt. 

Katie Joyce and her husband 

Rob Follansbee ’04 had their 

first child, Daniel, on Nov. 

4. They’ve already had visits 

from Louisa Swain, Lindsay 

Payne, Kam Shahid ’04, Charlie 

Davidson ’04 and Matt Rade ’04. 

Natalia Romano is pleased to 

announce the birth of her first 

son, Emil Agramonte Gehlot, 

on Dec. 11 in Singapore. 

Congratulations to all! 

Lucy Thiboutot and David 

Cooperman ’02 were married 

by Williams Chaplain Rick 

Spalding in the Berkshires on 

Sept. 17, 2011. Twenty-four 

Williams alums were in attendance. 

Emily Perry got married 

in September in São Paulo, 

Brazil, to Renato Lulia-Jacob. 

Kerel Nurse married Ines Major 

’06 on Nov. 4, 2011. Phil Smith, 

who recently completed law 

school, attended the wedding 

and reports, “It was awesome.” 

Perhaps as awesome as Kyle 

Skor’s plans to build the firstever 

art gallery on Antarctica? 

Ross Smith came back to 

Boston from Sweden for just 

a couple of weeks for the 

holidays and is planning a few 

trips, notably to Portugal and 

Croatia. Any hints about where/ 

how to be a tourist in Croatia 

are welcome. 

Chuck Soha survived his first 

brushfire evacuation in Austin 

and caught a Longhorns game 

with Amy Dieckmann. He went 

to Oktoberfest in Munich with 

Andrew Leeser, and celebrated 

New Year’s in New York with 

Jay Ross. 

Jaime Hensel is halfway 

through Yale’s nurse practitioner 

program. She and Zach 

Sullivan ran a 6.66 mile race 

called the Devil’s Chase in 

Salem, Mass., on Halloween, 

and she noted that Julia Brown

lives down the street from her 

in New Haven. Carolyn (Dekker) 

Bahls had a reunion with Masha 

Lifshin. Carolyn’s moving to 

Springfield and welcomes any 

New England-based Ephs who 

can help her avoid a “madwoman 

writing in the attic 

situation” while she continues 

her dissertation. 

Noah Capurso graduated from 

Yale School of Medicine, moved 

to a new place in downtown 

New Haven for his first year of 

residency at Yale in the department 

of psychiatry and recently 

published a book on the medical 

school admission process. 

Daniel Krass returned from an 

amazing trip to Brazil with Ari 

Schoenholtz for Melanie Beeck’s 

’04 wedding. Enyi Koene was 

the maid of honor, and Sam 

Goldman made the trip as well. 

Dan is enjoying his audiology 

program at Vanderbilt’s 

School of Medicine—Ari, Jane 

McCamant and Abby Whitbeck 

visited during the fall. He 

writes, “I didn’t think I would 

begin to enjoy country music 

this quickly, but I totally dig 

the ‘Music City’ scene and even 

made my Broadway debut.” 

Micah Halsey moved to NYC 

after six years in Boston and 

notes, “It was great to see 

several ’05s at homecoming in 

November like Abby Wattley, 

Kevin Kingman, Julia Kivitz 

and Ashley and James Cart. In 

January Micah was starting 

his MBA at Columbia Business 

School, where Michelle Flowers 

was to start the executive MBA 

program. They expected to join 

Elena Bonifacio and Scott Malish 

on campus. 

Rosemary Kendrick graduated 

from Harvard Business School, 

moved to San Francisco, and 

now works at an education 

technology startup. Ricardo 

Woolery passed the New York 

Bar exam and is currently 

settling into life as a first-year 

associate at a corporate law 

firm in DC 

Hilarie Ashton lives in 

Brooklyn, where she sees many 

Williams alumni on a regular 

basis. Hilarie also started a new 

job as a senior institutional 

research analyst in NYU Office 

of Institutional Research. 

Gavin McCormick and Brian 

Hirshman ’06 found the joke 

was on them when they tried 

to get free labor to help build 

a treehouse for Emily Cooper 

’93. The pair used an old WSO 

list serve to declare the first 

Saturday in October as “West 

Coast Mountain Day,” hoping 

to entice Joe Gangestad ’06 to 

come and help them build. But 

Gavin and Brian were stunned 

to also get RSVPs from 16 other 

Ephs, including Kelly Morgan, 

Jenni Simmons, Josh and Aubryn 

Cooperman, Justin Brown and 

Amy Katzen. What started as a 

joke ended with an actual hike 

up Wildcat Peak in Berkeley, 

Calif., complete of course with 

hot cider, camping and a stirring 

rendition of “The Mountains.” 

Elizabeth Van Heuvelen and 

Amy Dieckmann finished a wonderful 

road trip on the Great 

Ocean Road in Australia. They 

also had the pleasure of having 

a local host in Melbourne when 

they met up with Melanie Beeck 

’04. Amy’s still living in Austin, 

finishing up business school and 

will be moving to Dallas next 

summer. 

Elena Bonifacio, Laura 

Futransky, Laura Kaufman, 

Litia Shaw, Abby Whitbeck and 

Karen Vanderbilt met up in 

Philadelphia to ring in 2012 

together. They ate many foods, 

drank many drinks and danced 

many dances and still had the 

energy to get up and watch 

the Philadelphia Mummer’s 

Parade...on TV. 

It appears that Jonathan 

Landsman and Zach McArthur 

have moved on from cribbage 

to other games. Zach came to 

NYC for a game of Taboo on 

Jonathan’s birthday. “He (Zach) 

was in fine form, basically the 

most attractive I’ve ever seen 

him. Zach’s the only guy I’ve 

ever known to misunderstand 

the proper use of a sand timer,” 

Jonathan said. 

JJ O’Brien is enjoying life in 

San Francisco, where he rocked 

out to My Morning Jacket with 

Drew ’06 and Emily (Welsh) 

Gottenborg, with whom he also 

enjoyed a bonfire on Ocean 

Beach along with Ben and Jaye 

(Gregory) Locke ’06, Ned Hole, 

Jake Randall ’07 and Garrett 

Collins ’04. JJ rang in the New 

Year with with Katie Shattuck, 

Lindsey Dwyer, Jon Silvestro ’06, 

Tim Crawley and Blair Coffman 

’06. 

Liz Gluck got engaged last 

week – her boyfriend Greg 

proposed while they were skiing 

at Breckenridge. The snow was 

terrible, but it was the best day 

of skiing she’s ever had! 

Eric Manchester went to 

his 10 th high school reunion. 

Williams was well represented, 

with Zach McArthur and Danner 

Hickman also in attendance. 

n 2004–06 

Melanie Kingsley moved back 

to Boston from Guatemala to 

start writing her dissertation. 

She went to see Three Pianos 

with Brittany Duncan and got 

the awesome opportunity to 

create and teach a class this 

spring at Brandeis University 

called “Archaeology in Politics, 

Film and Public Culture.” She 

has dinners with Chris Vaughn 

’04 and Lindsey Taylor, who 

graduated from Tuck this 

past summer and started back 

at Parthenon in Boston in 

September. 

Alice Brown moved back to 

the Chicago area last fall and 

now teaches middle school 

history at the Avery Coonley 

School. Zophia Edwards is still in 

graduate school in sociology at 

Boston University and has made 

some major progress toward her 

dissertation. She was heading to 

Gabon for the spring semester 

to collect data. Parlez-vous 

Français? 

Aaron Helfand celebrated 

New Year’s in Northampton 

with a number of Williams 

alums, including Jeff Kaplan ’09, 

Lindsay Moore ’09 and Kevin 

Waite ’09. He’s back in Boston 

now, happily re-settled into his 

old architecture job. 

2006 

Ariel Peters 

2070 Belmont Road, NW 

Apt. 307 



Former Morgan West entrymates 

Steve Myers and Hayley 

Wynn got engaged in November! 

Remember that photo we took 

on the science quad during 

freshman orientation? Steve 

and Hayley own a copy. (Why 

wouldn’t they?) 

I got to wondering: Exactly 

how many of us ended up 

engaged or married to someone 

in that photo? Since I make 

it my business to know these 

things, I decided I should start 

counting. Here goes! 

Will Pucillo and Sarah Connell 

(two!) also got engaged in 

November. They’re living in 

Denver and loving the proximity 

to the mountains. Sarah’s 

a resident in OB/GYN at the 

University of Colorado, and 

Will works for a private-equity 

firm in Boulder. 

Ian Bone is engaged to an 

Argentinian named Mike. 

He popped the question 

after asking Mike’s parents 


CLASS NOTES 

for permission—in Spanish! 

Following the proposal, Ian 

surprised Mike with champagne 

and a visit from his very happy 

family. 

The lovebirds also had dinner 

with Jon Brajtbord and Sarah 

Jenks ’07 (who were traveling 

across South America on 

their honeymoon) after their 

weeklong “engagement-moon” 

in Punta del Este, Uruguay. 

Surekha Gajria planned on 

finishing her PhD in biomaterials 

at UCSB last spring. She’s 

engaged to a German named 

Thorsten, a polymer chemist 

whose company manufactures 

the artificial leather used in 

Louis Vuitton bags. They’re 

looking forward to a fall wedding 

in Germany and think 

they’ll stick around for at least 

a few years. 

Angie Chien married Garrett 

Calderwood in Fort Worth, 

Tex., on Oct. 1. Taylor (Tyson) 

Haywood was a bridesmaid. At 

the reception, Angie and Garrett 

taught wedding guests Matthew 

Brown, Sarah Brooks, Courtney 

Bartlett, Erin Wagner, Nadia 

Moore, Ali Macdonald, Daley 

Kirby ’07, John Haywood ’04 

and Don Macdonald ’04 how to 

“wobble.” 

Alan Cordova attended the 

wedding of Phyo Phyu Noe to 

Lwin Mon Thant in Yangon, 

Myanmar, on Christmas Day 

with Jay Bid, Thomas Kunjappu, 

Wei Wang ’07, Ta Banchuin ’08 

and Aom Wisa Kitichaiwat ’10. 

Creston Herold’s wife Carrie 

gave birth to baby girl Charlotte 

Ruth at the end of December. 

She arrived with a full head of 

dark hair after a “near spontaneous” 

delivery. 

Christine Matulewicz was 

working on her master’s at Penn 

and eagerly awaiting the arrival 

of Christine (Rodriguez) Nieves’ 

baby girl. 

Devon and Jackie O’Rourke 

(three!) returned from Jordan 

in June and settled back into 

life in South Berkshire County. 

They never feel far away from 

the Purple Valley with the likes 

of Andrew D’Ambrosio ’10, 

Will Cronin ’10 and Julia Cohan 

’11 working alongside them 

at the Berkshire School. A few 

Ephs visited them on the Cape 

in August, and they bought a 

house in Eastham, Mass., in 

the fall! They’re renovating it 

and looking forward to future 

gatherings. 

Blake Albohm spent six weeks 

in Amman, Jordan, in the fall, 

and Sasha Gsovski (four!) left 


2006 classmates (from left) Sarah Steege, Miriam Lawrence, Cassie 

Montenegro, Elissa Hardy and Alissa Caron got together New Year’s Eve 

on Boston Common. The group also was celebrating Alissa’s visit from 

Cambodia and Sarah’s birthday. 

consulting to work on health 

policy in Senator Kerry’s office. 

Her colleagues aren’t keen on 

her choice of baseball teams, 

but this only makes her feel like 

she’s back at Williams. 

She was home in NYC for 

the holidays and had a raucous 

reunion with Jeanne Lehmann, 

Melissa Paige, Emily Casden 

and Jesse Schenendorf in the 

West Village, and she and Blake 

caught up with Jeremy Wertzer 

(a second-year at Tuck) and Ben 

Berringer (now an attorney at 

law) at the Jets-Giants game on 

Christmas Eve. She also—quite 

literally—bumped into Sally 

Dickerson in the Union Square 

craft market. And Gillian Weeks 

accompanied her and her mom 

wedding-dress shopping. 

EmCas moved into her own 

one-bedroom apartment in 

Crown Heights last April and 

turned in her thesis in May. She’s 

now Master of Art History/The 

Universe! She’s been back at the 

Jewish Museum since finishing 

her course work; she made her 

YouTube debut giving a tour of 

“The Snowy Day and the art of 

Ezra Jack Keats” exhibit; have a 

peek and help make her famous, 

“Bieber-style”! 

Blair Coffman bid the Big 

Apple adieu when Pandora 

transferred her to the West 

Coast late last year. Now she 

lives in San Fran’s the Haight; 

she misses nothing less than 

winters in Williamstown and 

NYC. As proof, she rang in the 

New Year at Ocean Beach with 

John Silvestro, Lindsay Dwyer 

’05, Katie Shattuck ’05 and J.J. 

O’Brien ’05. 

Reed and Annie Harrison 

(five!) moved out of the third 

floor of Annie’s childhood 

home; now they’ve got a home 

of their own. Reid works in 

operations management at 

Columbia Sportswear, and 

Annie is doing contractor 

training at Intel; both mentor 

through Minds Matter, run by 

Graham Covington ’64. Alex 

Chan and Emily Peinert have 

paid them a visit, and they have 

met up with fellow Portland, 

Ore., Ephs Chris Yorke and 

Joanna Westrich, too. 

Morgan West sticks together! 

In November, Anna Gunning 

and JA Matt Hoffman ’04 

visited Macy Radloff at Macy’s 

restaurant in Boston: The coffee 

and pastries were “lovely.” 

And in October Liz Woodwick 

took advantage of Macy’s sweet 

Harvard digs when she was in 

town to cheer on current and 

alumni Ephs at the Head of the 

Charles regatta. 

Liz was in sunny, summery 

Santiago, Chile, when she 

emailed me; she started her 

last semester of b-school by 

participating in a two-week 

global business program. She 

interned at Deloitte last summer 

and is excited to return to the 

Minneapolis office next fall. 

Elissa Klein is keeping count, 

too, but of Ephs at Harvard’s 

ed school. In addition to Marty 

West ’98, Richard Murnane ’66 

and Thomas Payzant ’62 are 

profs there, and Cynthia Zwicky 

’05 is getting her doctorate. 

David Butts got his PhD in 

aerospace engineering from 

MIT before Christmas and took

Rowena Ahsan ’07 (kneeling, center) celebrated her wedding to Jainal 

Chisty (not pictured) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Ephs from the classes of 

2005 through 2009. 

a month off before starting 

work at the Draper Lab. Wife 

Erika Latham (six!) loves Boston 

and is dancing tango about six 

days a week. Joe Shoer visited 

over New Year’s; he and Dave 

got started on a new batch of 

homebrew and did some sampling 

as well. 

Rachel Segretto got her 

master’s in social work from 

the University of Louisville last 

May and landed her dream 

job—she’s working for a refugee 

resettlement agency. After 

she ran into Travis Vachon in 

San Fran in early December, she 

showed him and Ellen Crocker 

(seven!) Louisville’s secret 

hipster scene (“Bet you didn’t 

think we had one!”) when they 

were in town for the holidays. 

Bars don’t close until 4 in the 

morning, and they took full 

advantage. 

Lucy Cox-Chapman finished 

her master’s in public health at 

BU and was getting ready for 

the next big thing but hoping 

to stay in Boston, where she 

regularly sees Sara Beach, Tomio 

Ueda and lots of other Ephs. A 

big group of them celebrated 

New Year’s together and reminisced 

about reunion. 

Cassie Montenegro and Sarah 

Steege flew to Boston and 

joined Miriam Lawrence and 

Elissa Hardy in greeting Alissa 

Caron on a trip home from 

Cambodia. They had a belated 

five-year reunion in her honor 

and celebrated Sarah’s birthday 

and New Year’s all in one. They 

also met up with Elissa Klein for 

some yummy Mexican food— 

something Alissa can’t get in 

Cambodia. 

Elspeth Mitchell and her boyfriend 

Greg were headed for the 

States in February after a year 

of teaching in Taiwan. She had 

an internship lined up outside 

Boston and was excited about 

getting together with Williams 

folks. 

Robin Stewart quit his job in 

November and was using his 

free time to learn aerial circus 

acrobatics. 

Andres Schabelman has been 

at Silicon Valley startup Airbnb 

since last summer; he helps set 

up and train teams in different 

offices around the world. 

He’s an elite member of several 

different airlines: “I get paid 

to travel and be myself. Life is 

good.” 

Steve Acton, Matt Teschke 

and his girlfriend Helah hosted 

former DC resident Bryan 

Dragon (now residing in Fort 

Collins, Colo.) and Aaron Reibel 

in our nation’s capital over the 

holidays. Aaron was in between 

basic training and officercandidate 

school and returned 

to Fort Benning (Evan Bick’s 

old haunt) in early January. He 

says Army life is crazy, but he’s 

really enjoying it. 

By the way, Evan Bick is married 

to Gillian Sowden (eight!). 

Adam Bloch arrived in Harlem 

in the winter where, despite a 

profound sense of alienation 

and some communication problems, 

he was welcomed into the 

local community while pursuing 

love, chasing down drug pushers 

and evading two foreign 

goons who were after him—a 

pair of Williams alums from the 

’70s named John and David (no 

last names provided). 

n 2006–07 

I’m still counting, by the way. 

Next time, Adam, you’d better 

be marrying a classmate. 

2007 


Diana Davis 

Brown University 

Math Department, Box 1917 

Providence, RI 02912 


Chris Furlong visited Chris 

Ellis-Ferrara in NYC and met 

up with Sean Hyland and Andy 

Stevenson also. Things are good 

with Furlong; he has a new job 

in multi-family underwriting 

beginning soon. 

Katie Fleming is at UC 

Berkeley, getting a master’s in 

public policy. She reports, “I am 

so glad to be back in school and 

love the NorCal lifestyle and 

food culture. I think I ate only 

tomatoes the first three months 

I lived there; it was delicious. 

I’ve been lucky enough to see 

Laura Wagner several times!” 

Jess (Phillips) Silverstein rang 

in the New Year Williams-style 

in New York City! Her husband 

Mike Silverstein ’05 got Ashok 

Pillai ’05 into town, and Anne 

Louise Ennis ’06 and Nick Perry 

’04 came downtown to enjoy 

such varied pleasures as a vintage 

rooster-shaped chip’n’dip, 

terrible SNL highlights and a 

grape-eating countdown at a 

Spanish restaurant. 

Michael Fairhurst is finishing 

his third and final year of 

law school at UC Berkeley and 

plans to start a clerkship with 

a federal judge in Jacksonville, 

Florida, in August. 

Abby Taylor is in vet school at 

Ohio State. 

Brett Marinelli is a first-year 

now at Mount Sinai medical 

school in NYC; he moved there 

from Boston in August. During 

their orientation week in the 

fall, he, Jessica Harris ’10 and 

Brittany Micham ’10 all coincidentally 

signed up for tae kwon 

do and found themselves in the 

same class! 

Pilar Macdonald is getting 

an MBA at the University 

of Pennsylvania’s Wharton 

Business School with Doug 

Holm. They are both in their 

first year. 

In November Jen Sleeper 

was hired as a production 

finance analyst at Walt 

Disney Animation Studios in 

Hollywood, Calif. They are 


CLASS NOTES 

currently working on three 

full-length animated movies; 

the first one to hit theaters is 

called Wreck-it-Ralph, and is 

to premier next November. 

Before Christmas, Ren Wei and 

Lingwei Gu met up with Jen in 

LA to celebrate Ling’s wedding, 

and Jen also met up with 

Mariama Massaquoi-Gartmann 

and Priyanka Bangard Carr, who 

came to LA for the holidays 

with their husbands. Pri is in 

her last semester at Stanford, 

Mariama is in medical school 

and Ren is in Boston, at 

Harvard. 

Ashley Overlander and 

Matthew Boggia were married 

Oct. 1, 2011, in East Hampton, 

N.Y. Many Williams graduates 

attended the wedding, including 

Ashley’s parents and sister. 

Alex Hogan and Colleen Garrity 

got married in Thompson 

Chapel on a beautiful fall day 

surrounded by many Ephs. 

Colleen says, “It was a beautiful, 

joyous day. After doing long 

distance for the past three years, 

we’re both looking forward to 

graduating from medical school 

and starting our pediatrics residencies 

together this summer. 

We’re currently interviewing for 

residencies … and looking forward 

to finally living together in 

July!” Congratulations, Colleen 

and Alex! 

Laura Lee was to marry 

Christian Ernst on March 31. 

She lives in San Diego and 

works with churches in community 

outreach and plans to 

continue doing so for the near 

future. 

Nirmal Deshpande is working 

as a strategist at SS+K, a 

New York-based advertising 

agency. He is living in Brooklyn, 

where he has “standing food 

adventures with Isaac Gerber, 

Alexis Knepp, and Zach Safford 

’09, among others.” Nirmal 

attended the wedding of 

Rowena Ahsan and Jainal Chisty 

in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was 

“a wonderful minireunion filled 

with choreographed Bollywood 

dances, late nights and lots of 

curry.” Alums in attendance 

included Thomas Kunjappu ’06, 

Jay Bid ’06, Hamaad Ravda 

’05, Ridhima Raina, Aleha Aziz, 

Julia Ramsey, Hannah Gray, 

Emily Gray ’09, Katya Prakash 

’08, Pam Vachatimanont, Liz 

Atkinson, Anna Edmonds, Allison 

Davies and Jessie Yu. Former 

Williams staff member Kareem 

Khubchandani also attended the 

wedding. 


Anna Edmonds is in Cambodia 

on a bicycle, having come from 

attending Rowena’s wedding 

in Bangladesh. She is on a fellowship 

this term, so besides 

“dissertating,” she will be training 

to race the Great Divide 

Mountain Bike Race, which is 

“a 2,785-mile, off-road, selfsupported 

race from Banff to 

Mexico along the Continental 

Divide. It starts the first Friday 

of June, sadly, the same day as 

our reunion!” We’ll be sad to 

miss you, Anna. 

Doug Hammond and Elizabeth 

Preston got married Oct. 1 in 

Syracuse, N.Y. Their wedding 

party included their Morgan 

Midwest entrymates Tyler 

Auer and Amanda Nicol as well 

as Elizabeth Bond and Zach 

Grossman. Elizabeth and Doug 

are “living in Chicago along 

with an awesome contingent of 

Ephs.” Doug trades agricultural 

options at the Chicago Board 

of Trade. Elizabeth works as 

the editor of Muse, a magazine 

that covers science and other 

nonfiction for kids ages 10 

and up. Elizabeth also writes 

a science blog called Inkfish, 

which can be found at inkfish. 

fieldofscience.com. 

A crew including Alexis 

Machabanski, Laura McCarthy, 

Abby Southard, Phil Arnold and 

Brian Carey ’06 got together to 

watch Ashley Sewell run the 

NYC Marathon on Nov. 6. As 

they looked out for Ashley, they 

got to see Chris Ellis-Ferrera and 

several other Ephs run by. Postmarathon, 

they all gathered 

at Ashley’s Upper West Side 

apartment and were joined by 

Ezra Burch, Chris Merwin, Doug 

Holm, Sally Cobb ’09, Meighan 

McGowan ’09, Steph Sewell King 

’99 and Jonathan King ’98. 

Katie Howard was promoted 

to a new sales position with 

Adidas and planned to move to 

North Carolina from Austin, 

Texas, in February. Katie, Laura 

Ellison and other Williams runner 

alums gathered to run the 

Headwaters Relay in Montana 

this past summer. 

Auyon Mukharji reports that 

Darlingside “is releasing its 

debut album over the course of 

the next few months. We could 

not be more excited about the 

music, and we will be touring 

across New England to support 

the release. So much love to our 

fellow Ephs for the incredible 

support.” 

Alison Koppe hosted Sarah 

Martin, Lauren Moscoe and 

Julia Sendor ’08 in Berkeley 

for their annual New Year’s 

reunion. Lauren reports, “We 

arrived with a splash. Berkeley 

was resplendent with botanical 

delights. One dead vole, two 

Justin Biebers and three of the 

world’s best macaroons ensued. 

Carols were at the spinet, and 

we painted with all the colors of 

the wind.” Well, then! 

Matt Kane is still working at 

Google in Silicon Valley, Calif., 

where he tries to find time to 

make rap videos about search 

tips. (Search for “Santa search 

tips rap” on YouTube; he both 

wrote the rap and appears in 

the video!) He ran another 

marathon in Sacramento in 

December, and at press time 

he was looking forward to 

cheering (not running!) as 

Lauren Philbrook ’09 and some 

other friends competed in the 

Olympic Trials in Houston in 

January. He hoped to see Colin 

Carroll and a bunch of other 

alums there, too. 

Alyssa Mack reports, “I’m officially 

esquire now! I was sworn 

in back in December, and I’m 

working as a public defender 

in Brooklyn, a job I not only 

love but which also gives me 

endless topics of conversation 

for cocktail parties. I live in 

Park Slope and see Carl Clayton 

’08 pretty regularly and had 

the opportunity to see Brendan 

Mulrain when he stopped 

in NYC from London last 

November. Now I’m planning 

a trip to Italy in April to visit 

my sister Dominique Mack.” 

Congratulations, Alyssa! 

As for me (Diana Davis), I 

recently attended the Joint 

Math Meetings conference 

in Boston, where I saw Colin 

Carroll along with many other 

mathematically-minded Ephs. I 

also ran into Chris Ellis-Ferrara 

at a few cross-country races 

last fall. My news is always 

predictable (still in grad school, 

still running) so I’d like to thank 

all of you who sent in your 

news and made this issue so 

interesting! 

2008 

Julie Van Deusen 

92 Charles St., #32 

Boston, MA 02114 


It seems as though things are 

starting to settle down a bit 

for our class, but we still have 

some exciting major life events 

to report as well as some crosscountry 

moves, new jobs and

grad school updates. 

Ryan Dunfee left his job as 

the director of communications 

for an action sports adventure 

travel company to move to Lake 

Tahoe and get more involved 

with his ski journalism career. 

He’s been writing for Powder 

Magazine and a couple other 

outlets and is hoping to get 

more involved with writing full 

time. He had a great final trip 

to Argentina over the summer 

with his former job and says it 

was definitely the most incredible 

skiing he’s ever had and an 

experience of a lifetime after 

working his way back from 

his spinal cord injury freshman 

year. He reports that he is still 

“hopelessly addicted” to both 

skiing and surfing, and they 

seem to be dictating his life 

choices as much as they did at 

Williams. Ryan saw a couple 

other ’08s over Thanksgiving, 

including Hugo St. John, Mike 

Darling (who just got engaged) 

and Nate Brevard, as well as 

a bunch of ’07s. Ryan drove 

through Aspen for New Year’s 

to party with his freshmen year 

roommate Justin Vassar as well 

as Sylvia Semper. He reports 

that it was “a wild circus of 

humanity and super fun.” He 

also saw Cooper Jones, Eugene 

Berson, Riley Maddox and Haley 

Tone ’07 in San Francisco in 

January. 

Last fall, Dani Wolinsky 

moved to San Francisco from 

Boston with Google and 

has been running into Darcy 

Montevaldo, Riley Maddox and 

fellow Googler Ben Byrne. She 

also lives with Ben Echols ’07. 

At the end of the fall, Eugene 

Korsunskiy finished his favorite 

semester of design grad school 

so far, in which his culminating 

project consisted of staying 

up for two weeks straight to 

construct a hanging forest 

of 10,000 feet of ball chain 

(eugenekorsunskiy.com). As 

much fun as grad school in Palo 

Alto can be, Eugene says it was 

wonderful to fly back to North 

Carolina to see Kate Nolfi and 

travel with her to spend New 

Year’s in New York and hang 

out with such lovely Ephs as 

Joe Song, Polo Black-Golde, 

Daniel Yudkin and David Kessel. 

Matthew McClure rang in the 

New Year with Will Parker (and 

their significant others) in South 

Beach, Miami. They attended 

a concert on the beach and 

enjoyed the people-watching. 

Dani Johnson is working 

at CVS’s strategic product 

development group (with 

Gordon Phillips). She moved to 

Providence from Boston and is 

no longer reverse-commuting 

each day. Louisa Berky is living 

in Denver, Colo., with 

Alex Horne and 10 minutes 

away from her sister Madeline 

Berky ’10. Louisa’s working 

at the Clear Creek Academy 

of Jewelry and Metal Arts in 

Denver and recently started her 

own jewelry design company, 

Louisa B Designs. Alex is in his 

second year of medical school 

at the University of Denver and 

still manages to make it up to 

the mountains for a few good 

days of skiing each winter. 

Chris Shalvoy graduated from 

law school and took a job as an 

associate with Vedder Price P.C., 

in their global transportation 

finance group. In December, 

Alexandra Letvin passed her 

comprehensive PhD exams in 

art history at Johns Hopkins. 

She spent a month traveling in 

Thailand, Cambodia and Laos 

and then returned to “Charm 

City” to begin her dissertation 

and work at the Baltimore 

Museum of Art. 

Alex Wentworth-Ping is in 

his second year at Fordham 

Law School and recently won 

a Moot Court Interschool 

Competition. He looks forward 

to working at Allen & Overy in 

New York this coming summer. 

Alex also reports that Ben Bullitt 

got in to Harvard Business 

School and looks forward to 

moving back to Boston and that 

Taryn Rathbone and Michael 

Daub plan to get married in 

June of this year. Taryn got 

a job at an equine veterinary 

clinic in the Bay Area. The job 

starts in July after her graduation 

and wedding. 

Lashonda Williams worked with 

Teach for America right after 

graduation (as a corps member 

for two years) and is now 

partway through her fourth year 

of teaching ESL. She works in 

a high school in Far Rockaway, 

N.Y., and really loves her job. 

She’s even encouraged some of 

her seniors to apply to Williams. 

Lashonda was recently awarded 

the Albert Shanker Grant to 

assist in the financial costs of 

applying for National Board 

Certification (the highest honor 

a teacher can achieve), and she 

also got engaged in the spring of 

2011. She and her fiancé, John 

Gardenhire, are busy planning 

their wedding for August 2012. 

Eric Zaccarelli is having a lot 

of fun living in Brooklyn with 

n 2007–08 

Ryan Karolak, Tom Sargeantson 

and their friend Doug Lavender. 

They have been playing and 

watching a lot of football and 

are enjoying the new year and 

hoping the end-of-the-world 

predictions for 2012 don’t 

hold true. Eric also reports 

that he recently got an iPhone 

and is pretty impressed with it. 

Corey Beverly got together with 

“Tarevina” (Taryn Pritchard, 

Eve Woodin and Marina Harnik), 

Kate Peterson and Liz Hirschhorn 

in NYC in December, which 

he says was much better than 

his previous NYC trip over 

Halloween weekend where it 

snowed all over them and their 

costumes. 

Last fall I (Julie Van Deusen) 

went out to Williamstown for a 

work recruiting event and was 

treated to a delicious homemade 

dinner with Jen Bees and Josh 

Cantor, complete with local 

vegetables from Peace Valley 

Farm. And in early January I 

spent an unseasonably warm 

weekend (originally intended to 

be a cross-country ski weekend) 

in the Purple Valley and ended 

up hiking Mount Greylock with 

Jen and Josh, where we did 

eventually find some snow (and 

a lot of ice) near the top. Over 

the holiday break I met up with 

Anne Peckham for coffee and 

caught up with her about her 

job and life in DC. I also got to 

hang out with Nancy Haff when 

she was home for the holidays 

and hear about how things are 

going at Penn medical school. 

Nancy is in her second year and 

has started her clinical rotations 

with general surgery. She 

also got together with Simone 

Levien, Dani Johnson and Caitlin 

Warthin for Caitlin’s birthday 

and Matt Neuber’s fundraiser 

party in NYC in December. 

And, Katie Quinn sent in the 

alumni photo from her wedding 

to Bryan Eckelmann ’09, which 

was in Lincolnshire, Ill., on July 

3. You can check it out in the 

Wedding Album section. They 

had quite the alumni attendance, 

although Katie pointed 

out that it doesn’t hurt to have 

a sibling, three parents, an 

SENDNEWS! 







CLASS NOTES 

uncle and friends who went to 

Williams. 

I think that covers the news 

from our class for now, and I 

look forward to hearing from 

you again soon! 

2009 

Mijon Zulu 

377 East 33rd St., Apt. 8H 



A friend of mine recently said, 

“Oh my God. There is a TV 

on my phone. I am living in the 

future.” Guess what? He was 

right. Most futuristic films from 

our childhood had ultra thin 

screens and videophones. Now 

that this is quickly becoming 

the norm, one has to wonder, 

“What is next?” If we are in 

the future, I can’t help but feel 

that we are at the end of an era. 

Currencies are crazy, the Arabs 

have sprung, Congress is trying 

to police the Internet, publishing 

is being redefined, etc. What 

lies ahead is, put simply, quite 

uncertain. However, I still see 

people continuing to invest in 

new ideas, their education, their 

careers and, most importantly, 

their family. Thus even in the 

future, we must not forget 

where we come from and who 

was there. So why are we 

checking in? We check in just 

because. 

Because they build bridges 

for tomorrow’s innovation and 

have to deal with everyone’s 

children, I begin with our 

educators. 

Jim Lowe, in Shiprock, N.M., 

left the classroom and now 

advises the Bureau of Indian 

Education on secondary science 

and math for Shiprock High 

School. In North Philly, Rashid 

Duroseau is transforming a 

historically low-performing 

school’s culture to increase 

performance and is teaching 

seventh-grade social studies. 

Mary Wilson Molen in 

Wetumpka, Ala., which is near 

the shooting locations of films 

such as The Grass Harp and Big 

Fish, is teaching seventh-grade 

social studies at Wetumpka 

Middle School. And, in Boone, 

N.C., Elissa Brown is finishing 

up her first year teaching in the 

classroom at an expeditionary 

learning public charter school. 

Next, because they are learning 

what we need to learn 

tomorrow, we turn to the 

increasingly more educated. 

At the University of Wisconsin 


at Madison, Sara Riskind will 

finish her MA in choral conducting, 

while, at the University 

of Idaho, Emily Olsen has 

finished an MS in the natural 

resources program in conservation 

social science but still 

needs to finish student teaching 

in Boise this spring in order to 

finish the teaching certification 

requirements for secondary 

science. 

In Beantown, Ed Newkirk took 

a break from his PhD in math 

at Brown and attended the 

annual Joint Math Meetings in 

Boston, where he ran into Jess 

Levitt ’08, Ralph Morrison ’10, 

Jake Levinson ’11 and Diana 

Davis ’07 before stepping away 

to catch up with Bret Thatcher. 

Also in the land of the Red Sox, 

Kari Lyden-Fortier will complete 

an MS in speech-language 

pathology at the MGH Institute 

of Health Professions. When 

not studying, Ms. Lyden-Fortier 

paints the town red with Jackie 

Berglass ’11 and, when not 

in Boston, Ms. Lyden-Fortier 

reunites with old friends like 

Rahul Bahl and his close proximity 

to South Beach in Miami. 

Mr. Bahl is clearly starting a 

trend, because he also hosted 

Brandon Halloway and Chris 

Chiang for what was rumored 

to be an absolutely epic New 

Year’s beach party. 

In Texas, Sarah Hill is working 

on finishing her MA at UT but 

spent a month back in England 

enjoying immediate family, her 

new niece, high school friends, 

her home church and the comfort 

of the English countryside. 

In Philly, Lauren Philbrook 

is enjoying a graduate school 

program in human development 

at Penn State and was looking 

forward to running the Boston 

Marathon in April with Ryan 

Ford, Beth Links, Karin Knudson 

and Rachel Asher. Last, Steve 

Van Wert and Ms. Philbrook 

have set a date for a wedding at 

Williams this June! 

Over in London, Aroop 

Mukharji started a second 

MA in war studies at Kings 

College London. During his 

holidays, Mr. Mukharji went 

to Morocco with Alex Lees ’03 

and was joined by Jake Gorelov 

and friends for more fun in 

the Canary Islands in Spain. In 

whatever free time he has left, 

Mr. Mukharji is working on 

a book about Williams from 

the 1940s till the present with 

fellow Octet alum Kevin Waite 

’81. Claire Rindlaub returned to 

the States to start her master’s 

program in New York after 

spending two months in India 

and a month in Thailand, where 

she caught up with study-abroad 

friends, including Francisco 

Bisono. Ms. Rindlaub’s new 

locale is shared by Jess Kopcho, 

who stopped nursing school and 

begun a post-bac premedical 

program at Columbia, and Jess 

Walthew, who, after completing 

her first year in her conservation 

program, will spend the summer 

in Turkey as a junior conservator 

at the ancient Lydian capital of 

Sardis. 

Because we wonder when 

we will ever get to go abroad 

for a significant period again, 

let’s hear some news from our 

travelers. 

Up north, Anouk Dey is still 

doing an Action Canada fellowship 

and was to present her 

findings to the Canadian parliament 

in March. Before the end 

of the year, Ms. Dey ski-trekked 

over La Foglietta in the Alps, 

crossing from France to Italy. 

In the new year, she will host 

Molly Hunter, Arianna Kourides, 

Riki McDermott, Helen Hatch 

and Nanny Gephart for hardcore 

adventures and encounters 

with bears and beavers for Ms. 

Hunter’s 25th in the Canadian 

North. In England, Ali Tozier has 

been living in London and volunteering 

at a charity that helps 

victims of human trafficking 

become economically independent, 

but she plans to return to 

Maine in the fall for law school. 

Outside of work, she has been 

having fun with Mr. Mukharji 

and Lindsay Moore, before Ms. 

Moore left her job working at 

U.K. Parliament and for the MP 

fo Cambridge and journeyed to 

Somaliland to teach biology at a 

boarding school. In Russia, Jon 

Earle is still a news reporter for 

The Moscow Times, an Englishlanguage 

daily in Moscow. 

Finally, Fiona Worcester took 

a break from Alaska to travel 

around Ecuador to practice 

Spanish and scale some 

mountains. Now returned, she 

has completed a 50-mile ski 

race and began training for a 

100-miler that will take place in 

February. 

Because we are now wondering 

if people still have their 

jobs, let us hear from Ephs in 

working America. 

Ted Kernan, at ExxonMobil 

in Houston, got accepted into 

the Colorado School of Mines. 

Andy Ward, in Beantown, 

announced that he landed a 

walk-on role as an extra in the

Jenny Coronel ’10 (left) traveled to Istanbul to visit Burge Abiral ’11 in 

November. The two rode the ferry from Asia to Europe and had dessert 

by the Bosphorus Strait. 

upcoming Paranormal Activity 

4 movie! Pei-Ru Ko is living 

a new life as a yoga teacher 

and therapeutic chef in San 

Francisco! And, Avalon Gulley 

is living in Durango, Colo., 

as a nanny and energy/sound 

healer. Ms. Gulley also started 

a project called Light University 

(www.thelightu.net). 

Wendy Li lives in Brooklyn 

and works at Red Line Films, 

a production company where 

she was the key production 

assistant on a Bravo show that 

premiered in December, Chef 

Roble & Co. Since then she has 

been a production assistant/ 

coordinator on a few other Red 

Line projects, including a TLC 

show about Italian-American 

men in the Bronx and an 

investigative discovery crime 

recreation show. Watch for her 

as “the nurse” in one of the episodes—they 

ran out of extras. 

Julian Mesri is working as an 

educator at the Lower East Side 

Tenement Museum giving tours 

and opening up minds about 

immigration. Mr. Mesri is also 

in the “Playwright Spotlight” 

for Magic Futurebox, a New 

York theater that will produce 

three of his plays this year. 

Visitors include Lindsay Millert, 

who stopped by NYC to 

celebrate Christine Cohen’s 25th 

birthday with friends Stefanie 

Williams, Bibi Metsch-Garcia, 

Chris Doyle, John Szawlowski 

and Meghan McGowan. NYC’s 

Naya-Joi Martin is still the 

development associate at the 

Ethical Culture Fieldston School 

and has fun with Bryant Lewis, 

Nailah Wilds, Alicia Santiago, 

David Edwards and Kelly 

Smith but planned to take some 

time off and work at the NBA’s 

Jam Session/All-Star Weekend 

in Orlando in February! 

Finally, because love is 

everything, let us take a second 

to get Victoria Williams’ take on 

becoming Victoria Stanton. Back 

in October, supported by her 

Eph bridesmaids—Lisa Sloan 

(maid of honor), Emilie Voight 

and Amanda Montano, Ms. 

Williams married her longtime 

partner, Patrick Stanton, 

University of Maine. The guests 

in attendance were Kenny Yim, 

David Edwards, Anthony Molina, 

Alicia Santiago, Morgan Phillips- 

Spotts, Josh Goldberg-Sussman 

and Amanda Santiago ’08. Good 

luck to the happy couple. Till 

the next, YCS. 

2010 

Ethan Timmins-Schiffman 

907 Washington St., Apt. GN 

Evanston, IL 60202 


Arjun Ravi Narayan continues 

to study computer science at 

the University of Pennsylvania, 

“which mostly means I get 

to procrastinate all day,” he 

wrote. When not indulging 

in TV tropes and “Wikipedia 

binges,” he teaches undergraduate 

students. “Then I feel smug 

about the quality of my undergraduate 

education, reopen the 

25ish tabs that were previously 

keeping me busy and get back 

to procrastinating.” Arjun is 

happy that his work allows 

him to travel to conferences, 

enabling him both to present 

work “that I most certainly 

n 2008–10 

did not do” and catch up with 

fellow Ephs. 

Lizzie Brickley is finishing up 

her MPhil in epidemiology at 

the University of Cambridge 

with a focus on health in 

developing countries. She enjoys 

hanging out in the U.K. with 

Asheque Shams, Leah Katzelnick, 

Ruthie Ezra, Scott Oleson, 

Nathan Benaich, Jun Liu, Susan 

Tan and Jose Martinez. 

At Nevsehir University in 

Turkey, Jenny Coronel is a 

conversational English teacher. 

Jenny teaches undergraduates 

in the tourism department 

the meanings of hip 

English colloquialisms such as 

“hands down” and “way out 

of your league.” Jenny spent 

Thanksgiving visiting Burge 

Abiral ’11 in Istanbul: “It was 

great to catch up as we rode the 

ferry from Asia to Europe, and 

as we enjoyed dessert by the 

Bosphorus Strait.” When she 

wrote, she was looking forward 

to meeting up with Ambika 

Thoreson and Gean Spektor in 

January. Jenny sends the following 

message to those visiting 

Turkey: “Hit me up!” 

Daniel Gura lives just down 

the street from Mount Greylock 

High School, in a cottage that 

faces the Waubeeka Springs 

Golf Course. He resides with 

Leah Lansdowne ’11. “We’ve 

got a meadow behind our 

house and a patio with a fire 

pit. It’s basically awesome.” In 

December Dan started working 

at the studio of Jenny Holzer, a 

conceptual artist whose work 

is featured in our very own 

Science Quad. “I spend my days 

archiving her art, prepping it 

for places that want it, filing 

correspondence and random 

documents, etc.” Dan works at 

Mezze on the weekends, occasionally 

hikes with Kelsey Levine 

and took yours truly on a hike 

on New Year’s Day. 

Whitney Hitchcock is loving 

life as a second-year medical 

student at Dartmouth. She still 

finds time to play volleyball, 

brew beer and even teach a 

yoga class. She looks forward 

to getting some chickens in the 

spring. “I wish that I could have 

a goat, but ç’est la vie.” 

Sy Schotz spends his days at 

Manda Farm, an organic farm 

in Plainfield, Mass. There he 

works with the goats for which 

Whitney yearns but also with 

many other animals. He is 

especially happy to tend to the 

three llamas and three sheep 

that he acquired in the fall. The 


CLASS NOTES 

autumn months brought Sy 

experience in nurturing the lives 

of his animals—feeding, breeding 

and providing shelter—but 

also in ending the lives of some 

his charges. He slaughtered three 

goats, explaining that he was 

careful to utilize every part of 

the animal. “I’m in the process 

of tanning the skins, and I am 

mummifying the feet to make 

decorative barn door handles 

and coat hangers.” With the 

experience that he gains from his 

current work, Sy plans on establishing 

a permaculture farm. He 

wrote his note while attending 

a workshop in traditional 

bow and arrow making. On 

Fridays, Sy works at the Heron 

Homeschool in Amherst, Mass., 

part of Earthwork programs. Sy, 

the students and their mentor 

meet at the Hitchcock Center 

for the Environment in Amherst, 

“teaching and sharing primitive 

living skills and generally enjoying 

hanging out in the woods.” 

Joanna Hoffman still lives in 

Cambridge, Mass. In October, 

she took her athletic prowess 

out of the water and onto 

dry land and ran the Chicago 

Marathon with fellow swimmers 

Jillian Hancock ’11, 

Courtney Asher ’09 and Michelle 

Kurkul ’08. “It was super fun!” 

Also in Cambridge is Erik 

Tillman, who is applying to 

graduate school. 

After completing a thesis on 

art crime—specifically, looting 

of Native American artifacts in 

the Southwest—Perri Osattin 

moved to Boston, where she 

now works at an international 

contemporary art gallery on 

Newbury Street. 

Maria Tucker lives with Kim 

Cheng, Kait O’Brien and Daniel 

Tao in the Porter Square area of 

Cambridge. “It’s been really fun 

so far because there’s always 

someone to hang out with,” 

she reported. Maria works for 

AdMonsters, where she writes 

about mobile advertising and 

coordinates the company’s 

international conference schedule. 

She looks forward to graduating 

from Harvard this spring 

with a master’s in archaeology 

of religion. Fun fact: Maria’s 

younger sister Angelica will be 

a member of the Williams Class 

of 2016. 

In DC, Bethany Baker plays 

rugby with Liz Hirschorn ’08. 

Over the winter Bethany and 

Hannah Rosenthal attended a 

national rugby tournament. 

Tyler Ware and EJ Toppin are 

holding down a “sweet bachelor 


From left: Brittni Micham ’10, Jess Harris ’11 and Brett Marinelli ’07 

became friends after meeting each other at a Tae Kwon Do class during 

orientation at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the fall. 

pad” in DC only two blocks 

from Chris Law. EJ is making 

the big decisions on Capitol Hill 

working for Sen. Blumenthal, 

while Tyler is testing his entrepreneurial 

skills by trying to 

grow his tea company (check 

it out on Facebook or at www. 

botshelotea.com). Both are 

sampling DC culture and nobly 

saving the environment by 

bicycling just about everywhere. 

“Hope everyone is doing well 

and say ‘Hi’ if you are in DC!” 

Samim Abedi is surrounded 

by too many copies of the New 

York Post “hoisted up and read 

by irritable Long Islanders” on 

the NYC trains. “All else,” he 

added, “is well.” 

Dae Selcer is still teaching 

high school English language 

arts at an International School 

in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 

where she won the dubious 

award “Teacher Who Gives 

the Most Homework” from 

the student body. She has also 

begun an MA in teaching ESL 

from Hamline University, 

which she will complete both in 

Minnesota and Ho Chi Minh 

City. Her one complaint is that 

the lack of snow in Vietnam 

hasn’t deterred anyone from 

putting up lots of snowflakeshaped 

Christmas lights: “Not 

cool, Saigon. Not cool.” 

At February’s end, Julianne 

Feder began her work at 

Spannocchia, where she is 

creating a “working master’s 

program” that involves a 

year of work on a farm, in 

the hospitality profession, in 

kitchens and restaurants, in 

food retail and with lots travel. 

Check on her status at her blog, 

thegastronerd.com. Julianne 

introduced yours truly to some 

of the finest dining Chicago has 

to offer while she was in town 

on business in October. We 

partook in oysters, the classiest 

of the bivalves. 

Kallan Wood began a dance 

program in NYC in January. 

She moved in with Sarah 

Ginsberg, one of many “cool 

kids” in the city whom Kallan is 

excited to hang out with. 

January 1 was not just the 

first day of the year in the 

Gregorian calendar, but also the 

one-year anniversary of Lauren 

Sinnenberg, Christine Jones and 

Stephanie Kim sharing the residential 

bond known as “being 

roommates.” The three live in 

Manhattan’s East Village and in 

January were very excited that 

Sarah Walmsley, Tyler Rainer 

and Annie Neil were to soon 

move into an apartment nearby 

in Alphabet City. No gaggle of 

roommates would be complete 

without specific social plans, 

though. A Hunger Gamesthemed 

housewarming party, 

Sunday night dinners and a 

new favorite board game, “Six 

Word Memoirs,” were all in the 

works. 

Cullen Roberts wrote in from 

Connor Kamm’s living room in 

Nashville, Tenn. Cullen, Nora 

Mitchell, Amanda Huey, Sam 

Jackson, Sam Blackshear, Matt 

Deady and Brian Citro decided 

to celebrate the New Year in 

Nashville. Only Corey Watts and 

Jeff Perlis were missing from the 

’09-’10 Milham House lineup. 

“It’s been a great trip so far 

with perfect weather and lots of 

awesome food,” Cullen wrote.

“As for my regular life, I’m still 

teaching at Choate and enjoying 

it a lot.” 

Caleb Balderston reports that 

his second year in Teach for 

America has been “so much” 

better than the first. “It is still 

more challenging than anything 

else I’ve ever done, but knowing 

what to expect, more or 

less, makes all the difference.” 

Caleb teaches math at Austin 

Business & Entrepreneurship 

Academy in the western reaches 

of Chicago. 

Cat Vielma is now “exclusively 

underwriting all real-estate 

investments west of the 

Rockies.” In November, she 

“ditched” homecoming to see 

Liz Pierce ’08 and Ryan Belmont 

’05 in Boston, where she also 

ran into Sammy Sawan ’06 and 

Maggie Tucker ’09. In December 

she enjoyed hosting a Christmas 

party with various Ephs living 

in the Chicago area. 

Christophe Dorsey-Guillaumin 

celebrated the New Year by 

moving to a new city: Chicago. 

Here, he works on the Obama 

campaign in the analytics 

department. “It’s super fun,” he 

wrote, noting that he enjoys the 

company of “tons of incredibly 

smart, politically well-informed 

and all-around nice people who 

really care about what we’re 

doing.” The combination of 

math and politics is his dream 

job, “and I couldn’t be more 

excited!” 

Tommy Coleman gets bonus 

points for writing in while being 

out and about in NYC with fellow 

alumni. He spent a January 

evening traversing the streets 

of Brooklyn and Manhattan 

with Vince Powell-Newman, Alex 

Mokover, Samim Abedi, Dave 

Kulik, Jim Dunn, Julia Reiser, 

Rachel Rosten, Cristina Diaz, 

Jimmy Nguyen and Jonathan 

Galinsky. Yours truly is looking 

forward to Tommy visiting 

Chicago from his current home 

in Missouri, where he is a 

PhD student in mathematics at 

Mizzou. 

Since I last wrote, I have 

thoroughly enjoyed coaching 

high school basketball with 

Maggie Scannell (formerly 

Miller) ’07. Other important 

updates include downloading 

and then listening to a Rick 

Ross mixtape, hanging out with 

Tanya Zhuravleva in Boston and 

the steady upward progression 

of my quest to make the perfect 

kale chip. 

Marco Sanchez wrote in with 

the following note: “I’m still 

in Switzerland, cleaning and 

waxing cars by day and making 

music dressed as a gnome 

by night (it’s that time of the 

season).” 

2011 

Caroline Chiappetti 

2090 Frederick Douglass Blvd., 

Apt 2C 

New York, NY, 10026 


So many of you wrote in this 

time that I have hardly any 

room to editorialize or wax 

poetic on your lives. I wrote 

most of this batch of notes at 

a coffee shop next to an older 

woman who mistook me for a 

writer (granted, I was writing) 

and proceeded to offer me some 

wonderful unsolicited advice. 

(“Make sure your editors know 

they work for you!”) When I 

told her I was in fact writing 

up class news for my college’s 

alumni magazine, she was most 

impressed I had volunteered for 

the position, so thank you to 

all of you who contributed and 

make this job pleasurable. 

To continue the tradition 

of beginning the notes with 

those who most deserve our 

recognition, Steph Berger was 

commissioned as an ensign 

in the U.S. Navy on Nov. 18. 

She is a surface warfare officer 

on the USS Pearl Harbor and 

went on deployment in early 

January. To send Steph goodies 

while she’s away, check out the 

Adopt-an-Eph program about 

which I emailed you information 

a while ago. 

Faisal Khan embarrassed himself 

on co-worker Alex Mendel’s 

first day of work on his team at 

Booz Allen in DC by asking him 

what school he graduated from. 

Otherwise, Faisal is enjoying 

DC and hangs out with the 

Williams people he recognizes. 

After spending all summer and 

fall working as a farm manager 

for her parents, Casey Lyons 

started a fellowship at the FDA 

in Bethesda. Though still living 

at home in the DC suburbs, 

Casey plans to move into the 

city soon with hopes of reviving 

her social life. Nevertheless, 

Casey has managed to see 

Candace Gibson, who is studying 

for an MA at Georgetown, Thuy 

Pham and a contingent of Ephs 

at the Keystone XL Pipeline 

protest in November, and Abby 

Martin, Laura Staugitis and Jay 

Cox-Chapman ’09 at a holiday 

party chez Chandler Sherman 

n 2010–11 

and Julia von Hoogstraten. 

Casey regretfully shared that 

her fellow Milham housemates 

Ellen Stuart, Nick Arnosti, Aaron 

Bauer and Jake Levinson see 

each other frequently in San 

Francisco without her. True to 

Casey’s word, Nick and Ellen 

spent Thanksgiving weekend 

in Berkeley with Aaron Bauer, 

Jake Levinson and Dave Moore 

’10. Nick spent two months 

this summer traveling around 

Central Europe and improving 

his German before heading to 

California, where he finished 

his first term as a Stanford 

graduate student. Ellen joined 

Nick in Palo Alto and works as 

a research assistant at Stanford 

Law School. 

Nick and Ellen also joined 

classmates Peter Gottlieb, 

Marissa Pilger, Camille Chicklis 

and Steve Rubin to watch the 

Williams-Amherst game at the 

San Francisco alumni association’s 

homecoming party. Steve 

started a PhD in computer 

science this fall at UC Berkeley. 

He reported that Camille works 

south of San Francisco, Peter 

is in grad school at Stanford, 

and Marissa and Julian Suhr live 

nearby in Berkeley. 

Also in Berkeley are Sasha 

Macko and Morgan Goodwin 

’08. Sasha works for the 

Alliance for Climate Education 

with a fellow Eph (Class 

of 2000) and a bunch of 

Middlebury alums. After a 

three-month long cross-country 

road trip, she is “enjoying 

exploring San Francisco and 

the Bay Area and running into 

random old friends from 

the East Coast who all happen 

to be out here basking in the 

mellow winter.” 

Will Slack, who is working 

in Madison, Wis., is one such 

friend who enjoyed seeing Sasha 

and Morgan as well as Diego 

Flores on a recent business trip 

to California. He also writes 

that, on a recent warmer day in 

Madison, he put on a Williams 

sweatshirt before heading out— 

the first person he ran into that 

day was a Williams ’06 wearing 

a purple hoodie! 

Sarah Dewey is still holding it 

down in Williamstown along 

with Corey Baldwin, as they 

both received teaching fellowships 

at the Pine Cobble School. 

They both live on the PC campus 

along with Sarah’s recently 

acquired dog, Gunner. 

“Still being in the Purple Bubble 

has allowed us to kick it with 

some other alums in the area, 


CLASS NOTES 

including Deborah Caitlyn 

Cain, Kevin Snyder ’09, Dan 

Greenberg ’08, Kelsey Levine ’10 

and Jim Entwisle ’10. Being a 

Williamstown native myself, it 

has been a slightly bizarre but 

awesome experience to officially 

include my parents, Dave ’82 

and Suzanne, in my social circle, 

which often includes outings to 

the Pub and the Forge, as well 

as the good old free, homecooked 

meal,” wrote Sarah. 

Katie White, another 

Williamstown native, spent the 

fall working with Professor 

Darra Goldstein on Williams’ 

international website (http:// 

international.williams.edu) and 

working at a Turkish restaurant 

in Wellesley while looking for 

a full-time job. The search has 

brought her to Boston, where 

she has seen KK Durante, Janna 

Gordon, Maddy Haff, Sarah 

Weber, Lizzy Barcay and Rooney 

Charest (among others), to 

New York, where she has seen 

Nina Cochran and Chris Serna 

and back to Williamstown, 

where she has seen Amy Nolan, 

Julia Drake, JJ Augenbraum and 

Akemi Ueda. 

Across the Atlantic, Ceci 

Davis-Hayes works as an English 

teaching assistant at a public 

primary school in Verdun, 

France. Highlights so far have 

been mountain biking in a 

deep WWI trench, eating fresh 

baguettes and stinky cheese on 

a daily basis, and playing soccer 

at recess every day with her 

10-year-old students. 

Ellen Song is still teaching in 

Madrid and has been fortunate 

enough to see Marco Sanchez 

’10 in Switzerland as well as 

several Ephs passing through 

Madrid, including Mustafa 

Saadi ’12 and Ben Kane ’12. 

Ellen spent her Christmas break 

in Turkey with Bürge Abiral, and 

the two rang in the New Year 

together by taking shots of jäger 

with Bürge’s parents and watching 

fireworks on the streets of 

Istanbul. 

Maddie Jacobs is still teaching 

in Vietnam and is currently 

washing dishes in her shower, as 

water has stopped coming out 

of her kitchen sink’s faucet and 

her bathroom sink is too tiny to 

wash dishes in. 

Asad Liaqat wrote in on behalf 

of the Pakistani Eph contingent. 

Ayesha Shahid works as a 

features writer at Dawn News, 

the oldest English-language 

newspaper in Pakistan, and covers 

cultural events. According to 

Asad, Ayesha sometimes tires of 


cultural events and writes about 

social issues, hoping her editors 

don’t notice. On one such 

occasion she ran into Asad at a 

political party’s press conference 

in Islamabad, where he works 

as a research associate at the 

Center for Economic Research, 

Pakistan. Asad has been studying 

the learning levels of children 

in conflict-hit Buner and 

as of January has been leading 

a study on the belief formation 

of pre-primary kids in South 

Punjab. “Punjab, of course, is 

where Ayyaz Ahmed is working 

at Sang-e-Meel Publications, 

where he meets with authors 

by day and dreams of a digital 

book revolution in Pakistan by 

night,” wrote Asad. 

Emanuel Yekutiel spent 10 

rupees at an Internet café in 

Goa, India, in order to send 

in his news after a day of 

parasailing. He was about to 

finish month five of the Watson 

Fellowship adventure and was 

due in Australia on Jan. 19. 

While in India he hung out with 

Bhavya Reddy, and in the UK, 

where he spent the previous 

three months, he saw Jehanne 

Wylie in Cambridge, Fhatarah 

Zinnamon and Sara Ahmed in 

London, and visited the current 

WEPO kids in Oxford. 

Also globetrotting in 2011 

was Brian Borah. After spending 

the summer studying for 

the MCAT and applying to 

medical school, Brian flew to 

Guatemala in September, where 

he volunteered in the small 

town of San Lucas Tolimán 

until mid-December. Now 

trying to figure out what to do 

with the months that remain 

before medical school, he asks 

whether “any 2011ers want to 

team up and road trip?” In the 

meantime, Brian was planning 

to join Alex Reeves and Andrew 

Gaidus for a Poker C reunion in 

Jeff Putnam’s NYC apartment 

in January. For old time’s sake, 

Brian predicted they would 

probably “listen to jams, pay 

visits to Betty and steal lots of 

[Michael Geary’s] food.” 

Fellow adventure-seekers 

Dan Walsh and Lisa Merkhofer 

spent the fall mapping rockfall 

hazards and hot springs at 

Grand Teton National Park. 

“Before that we spent the 

month of September living 

out of a Subaru Outback 

(’Bruce’) and traveling the 

Rockies from Glacier, Wyo., 

to Jasper, Canada. We also 

enjoyed hanging out with Peter 

Hick at Stanford and leaving 

appreciation messages for mysterious 

alums with Williams car 

stickers at Mount Rainer. We’re 

both now looking for new 

adventures in the U.S. or South 

America,” wrote Dan. 

Carol Tsoi wrote in on behalf 

of her Poker E housemates, 

many of whom have been 

traipsing around the world. 

Leigh Davis and David Phillips 

spent the summer WWOOFing 

in Spain and Italy, herding 

goats and making cheese. When 

David came back in August 

to start work in Boston with 

Deloitte Consulting, Sophie 

Robinson joined Leigh to 

WWOOF in the French countryside. 

Tending all of those 

animals made Leigh a prime 

applicant for veterinary school, 

and she is in the midst of deciding 

where she will matriculate 

next year. Sophie is now in 

Nashville, Tenn., working for 

a very busy family. Despite 

her long work hours, Sophie 

still finds the time and energy 

to play pickup soccer with the 

locals. Without a fixed itinerary, 

Mara Shapero is traveling 

through South America for the 

year, volunteering with different 

clinics in Nicaragua and Peru 

before applying to medical 

school. 

Stateside, Carol is an 

Americorps VISTA, serving 

at the Asian Pacific American 

Legal Resource Center and 

planning to pursue public 

interest law. Also serving the 

community is William Lee, 

who works as a hotel union 

organizer in Boston. He shares 

a beautiful house by the beach 

with Jen Rowe, Tasha Chu and 

Josh and Johannes Wilson. When 

not running outside, cooking, 

or hanging out with homeless 

three-year-olds, Jen looks for 

leads with environmental NGOs 

in Boston. Elizabeth Kalb is 

studying up a storm at Robert 

Wood Johnson Medical School 

in New Jersey. 

Nancy Dong wrote in from LA 

on behalf of our class’s Teach 

for America cohort; her fellow 

TFA Ephs include Emily Spine 

in Milwaukee, Giselle Jiminez in 

Houston, James Allison in DC, 

Gershwin Penn and Dale Markey 

in Arkansas, and Jon Carroll in 

Indianapolis. 

Meghan Rose Donnelly is 

now teaching theater classes in 

Wakefield, R.I. Her most recent 

student? Danielle Diuguid. 

Veronica Rabelo is enrolled in 

a dual PhD program in women’s 

studies and psychology at the

From left: Robert Kim ’11, Michael Ives ’11, Josephine Warshauer ’11, 

Rebecca Shoer ’13 and Brittany Baker-Brousseau ’11 ushered in 2012 

with a celebratory dinner at JoJo in NYC. 

University of Michigan, where 

she has bumped into Jake 

Levinson and Tatiana Fernandez. 

She lives with fellow rugger 

Emily MacLeary ’10, and they 

have hosted Veronica’s Williams 

roommate Mike Semensi ’12. 

Andrei Baiu and Veronica have 

switched off visiting each other 

in Ann Arbor and Madison, 

where she has bumped into his 

co-worker Will Slack. 

Abby Martin works at the 

Yestermorrow Sustainable 

Design/Build School in 

Warren, Vermont. “It’s right 

by Sugarbush and Mad River 

Glen; any ’11s headed that way 

should say hello!” 

Laura Corona lives with Ariel 

White and Ben Atkinson in 

Boston.They’re all working as 

research assistants—Ariel at 

the Harvard School of Public 

Health, Ben at Children’s 

Hospital and Laura at UMass- 

Boston. These days, they spend 

a lot of time reading on the T, 

and enjoying having their own 

kitchen and paying incredibly 

expensive cab fares coming 

home from downtown bars. 

While sending in her news, 

Laura happened to be texting 

Harlan Dodson, so she decided 

to send in an update on his 

behalf as well. He teaches 

American history and economics 

and coaches basketball at 

the New Hampton School in 

New Hampshire. 

Nathaniel Lim continues his 

PhD program in mechanical 

engineering at Boston 

University. Tina Zeng is a project 

manager at an IT company in 

Cambridge, Mass., and volunteers 

her free time at Venture 

Cafe. She has been accepted to 

Tufts Dental School and will 

matriculate in the fall. In their 

spare time, Tina and Nathaniel 

have been working on an idea 

for a website, which launched 

at ranksocial.net. They welcome 

support from fellow Ephs! 

Our trusty class treasurer 

Joey Kiernan reports that he 

had a great time with a bunch 

of members from the classes 

of 2008-11 at the Head of the 

Charles in the fall, where the 

current men’s Eph rowers beat 

Trinity by over 20 seconds for 

their third Head of the Charles 

victory in four years. Though 

based in Boston, Joey spends a 

few days a week in Chicago for 

work. 

Becca Licht started work at a 

small consulting firm outside of 

Boston in July but in January 

relocated to NYC with the 

same firm and moved in with 

Dan Constanza and former crew 

teammate Liz Zhu. As much as 

she loved spending time with 

the Beacon Hill “crew crew,” 

which includes Jenny Schnabel, 

Leland Brewster, Shawn Curley 

and Joey Kiernan, Becca was 

looking forward to a change 

from Boston, where she grew 

up. 

Fiona Moriarty works at an art 

law firm in NYC and lives with 

Nicole Ballon-Landa in Chelsea. 

Fiona and Christine Chung have 

just started a food blog entitled 

“Kiimchi + Bangers” (after 

two notorious foods from their 

respective backgrounds) which 

will give the inside scoop on 

New York’s food scene with 

sarcastic flair. 

Douglas Onyango is enjoying 

Manhattan and learning about 

machines at Columbia and also 

n 2011 

runs into random Ephs in the 

subway. Elliot Schrok is in NYC 

pursuing an MA in math and 

spent Thanksgiving with Katrina 

Tulla and Iliyana Hadjistoyanova. 

They were graced with a visit by 

Catalina Stoica as well! 

Since moving (back) to NYC, 

Evan Maltby has been lucky 

enough to land two acting 

gigs, the first a production of 

Woychek by George Buchner, 

with a small company called 

Stasz/Pruitt Productions, and the 

second an ongoing job with the 

NiteStar Program, an educational 

theater company that performs 

in schools and community 

centers all around NYC. 

As for myself, I hosted Evan 

along with Chandler Sherman, 

Clare Quinlan, Tess Bingham, 

Tommy Nelson, Lauren Anstey, 

Chris Fox, Carla Cain-Walther, 

Nathaniel Basch-Gould, Jared 

Nourse, Maya Hislop and Eric 

Koenigsberg ’10 for dinner in 

NYC on New Year’s Eve. Also, 

before starting a new job, I 

made a spontaneous visit to the 

West Coast to surprise Michelle 

Noyer-Granacki in LA for her 

birthday in January. Much 

credit is due to Lucas Bruton for 

helping organize the surprise 

and for driving me around LA. 

Finally, Will Harron is living 

in a shack in the mountains of 

North Carolina, interning on a 

farm, herding goats and mastering 

key skills that Williams did 

not teach him, including “splitting 

wood, building rail fences, 

slaughtering chickens, driving 

tractors, herding cows, goats 

and pigs (although JAing might 

count towards that).” His boss’s 

father is John Ager ’71 and Henry 

Schmidt ’14 is also related to the 

farm. He’s there until fall 2012 

and, “would love to see more 

Ephs swing by these beautiful 

mountains, although nothing 

compares to seeing Greylock 

loom over the horizon.” 

Till next time, folks. Thanks 

for writing in! 

SENDPHOTOS 











Wedding album all dates 2011 unless noted 

Margaret 

diZerega ’02 & 

ChieMi SuZuki 

Chiemi and Margaret 

(right) were married 

Sept. 2 at Brooklyn 

Borough Hall in New York 

City. The couple, who had 

mutual friends in high 

school in California and 

met again in New York 

shortly after Margaret 

graduated from Williams, 

decided to elope when 

the state passed a law 

allowing same-sex 

marriage last summer. 

anna SCholtZ ’09 & audun hePSø 


Aug. 6, Trondheim, Norway 

ViCtoria WilliaMS ’09 

& PatriCk Stanton 

Oct. 9, Hallowell, Maine

Molly SharlaCh ’05 

& keVin hoeSChele 

Sept. 4, Silver Bay, N.Y. 

eMily WelSh ’05 & dreW gottenborg ’06 

laura MaSSie ’99 & brian SPitZer ’96 

Oct. 15, Swarthmore, Pa. 

March 5, Lexington, Va. 

liZa WelSh ’06 & tiM Pingree ’06 

June 18, Swarthmore, Pa. 



alix daViS ’03 & andreW WeiSS 

Alix and Andrew (fifth and sixth from right) were married on Sept. 11 in Lancaster, Pa., in a ceremony officiated by 

Eric Woodward ’03 (fourth from left) and including a performance of “The Rainbow Connection,” arranged and sung 

by Katie Saxon ’03 (second from right), featuring flute by Emmy Valet ’03 (second from left). 

Martha rogerS ’07 

& JoSé PaCaS ’08 


May 29, Minneapolis, Minn. 

Vanea norriS ’01 

& derek turner 

June 4, Gainesville, Va. 

Jen laZar ’04 & daniel Shearer ’04 

Dec. 30, 2010, Huntington, Vt.

Jennifer hendi ’99 

& MattheW troVato 

barbara CloSe ’84 

& Courtney horbloCk 

June 18, Shelter Island, N.Y. 

Sept. 17, New York, N.Y. 

Colleen gerrity ’07 & alex hogan ’07 

kate berenS ’04 & Craig buCki 

Nov. 12, Buffalo, N.Y. 

adrienne MaSon & Peter JohnSon ’75 

Oct. 2, Audubon, Pa. 

Oct. 9, Williamstown, Mass. 



aMy Shelton ’05 

& greg laughlin 

Amy and Greg (third and fourth from right) were married on Oct. 29 in Foresthill, Calif., in a ceremony officiated by Kevin 

Bolduc ’99 (second from right), their boss when they both worked at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, where they met. 

eliZabeth PreSton ’07 

& doug haMMond ’07 


Oct. 1, Syracuse, N.Y. 

brittany raVen & JoSh burnS ’02 

Aug. 27, San Francisco, Calif. 

liSa buxbauM ’88 & brian burke 

Maggie Mcdonald ’04 

& Jon Potter 

Sept. 17, Scituate, Mass. 

June 25, Cape May, N.J.

terri o’brien ’02 & brad hoWellS ’02 

anna ludeke & daVid broWn ’07 

Nov. 12, Berkeley, Calif. 

Sept. 4, Vail, Colo. 

aliSSa goldhaber & Peter krauSe ’02 

Carolyn Skudder ’07 

& andreW PoCiuS ’06 

July 23, Falmouth, Mass. 

ineS MaJor ’06 & kerel nurSe ’05 

Nov. 4, New York, N.Y. 

July 3, Boston, Mass. 



lWin Mon thant & Phyo Phyu noe ’06 

Phyo and Lwin (center) were married on Dec. 25 in Yangon, Myanmar. Williams friends traveled from Thailand, China, 

Seattle and New York to attend the celebration, which spanned several days and included a religious service at a 

monastery, formal receptions hosted by the couple’s families and a Western dinner party. 

Caren MintZ ’01 

& JoSePh groSSMan 

liZ ChaSe ’03 & tad hodgSon ’03 

Williams People publishes photographs of weddings, commitment ceremonies and civil unions. For detailed instructions on how to submit 

your photo, please visit http://alumni.williams.edu/sendphoto. 


June 26, New York, N.Y. 

Aug. 20, Andover, Mass. 

aShley oVerlander ’07 

& MattheW boggia ’07 

eliZabeth JuSt ’04 

& StePhen dobay ’05 

Oct. 1, East Hampton, N.Y. 

Oct. 22, New York, N.Y.

WEDDING ALBUM 

1952 

Raymond E. George Jr. & 

Betsy E. LaMont, Dec. 20 

1961 

David E. Wheelock & Mary 

Harrington, Sept. 10 

1977 

William J. Feeney & Kathleen 

Marshall, June 19 

1988 

Gerald S. Kirschner & Katie 

Thatcher, April 16 

Lisa Buxbaum & Brian Burke, 

Sept. 17 

1991 

Cathleen Hanclich & Mark 

Neslusan, Aug. 6 

Brian D. Carlson & Kristin 

Simonson, Sept. 17 

1993 

Christopher M. Colburn & 

Katherine Longwell, Sept. 15 

1995 

Michael B. O’Connor & 

Kristin Philippi, July 9 

1996 

Brian Spitzer & Laura 

Massie ’99, March 5 

All dates 2011 unless noted 

Jill Wasserman & Stephen 

Devereaux, April 30 

Jennifer Morgan & James 

Zembrzuski, June 17 

1999 

Catherine Laible & Sean 

Plummer, June 2 

2000 

Craig D. Branca & Melissa 

Roberts, Sept. 23 

2001 

Kristen Lee & Robert Webster, 

Aug. 21 

2003 

Joo-Hee Suh & Yeon Jae Ko, 

April 16 

Caroline Crocker & Bradford 

Otis, Aug. 5 

Alexandra Davis & Andrew 

Weiss, Sept. 11 

2004 

Sara Gilliam & Patrick 

Lonergan, Aug. 20 

Samuel M. Arons & Magali 

H. Rowan ’07, Aug. 27 

Sumana Cooppan & Adam 

Wolf, Sept. 4 

Liz Kaplan & Daniel Gordon, 

Sept. 18 

Elizabeth Just & Stephen 

Dobay ’05, Oct. 22 

Kathleen Berens & Craig 

Bucki, Nov. 12 

BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS 

1986 

Sofia Arabel Wagner to David 

Wagner, Oct. 6 

1989 

Cordelia Mya Stanley-Hunt, 

Dec. 2; adopted by Douglas B. 

Hunt, Dec. 4 

1990 

Olivia Martine Hoff Igharo to 

Geoffrey Igharo, April 27 

1991 

Jasper Alling Clements to 

Wilson Kendrick Clements, 


2005 

Stephen Kelleher & Candice 

Corvetti ’07, July 29 

Emily C. Perry & Renato 

Lulia-Jacob, Sept. 3 

Molly Sharlach & Kevin 

Hoeschele, Sept. 4 

Emily Welsh & Drew 

Gottenborg ’06, Oct. 15 

Kathryn P. Dineen & 

Alexander W. Lawton, Oct. 22 

Amy D. Shelton & Gregory 

Laughlin, Oct. 29 

2006 

Yamilee Mackenzie & Joseph 

Colette, March 20, 2010 

Elizabeth Welsh & Timothy B. 

Pingree, June 18 

Angie Chien & Garrett 

Calderwood, Oct. 1 

2007 

David T. Brown & Anna C. 

Ludeke, Sept. 4 

2009 

Valeria Cueto & Juan D. Pava, 

July 22 

Miriam S. Foster & R. 

Grayson Murphy, Sept. 16 

Victoria Williams & Patrick 

Stanton, Oct. 9 


1993 

Kailyn Zoe Bierer to Gregory 

B. Bierer, March 5 

Michaela Moxon O’Connor to 

Rosamond Moxon O’Connor, 

March 10 

Sylvia Esther Musher-Eizenman 

to Dara R. Musher-Eizenman, 


Danica Alison Piquado to Paul 

D.A. Piquado, Oct. 11 

April 2012 | WilliAms people | 121

BIRTHS & ADOPTIONS 

1994 

Isabel Marie Almaguer to 

F. Daniel Almaguer, Sept. 13 

1995 

Lukas Eugene Schebesta to Emily 

(Sterne) Schebesta, March 15 

Dorothy Etta Macomber to 

Annie Weisman Macomber, 


1996 

Max Tristan Stuhlfaut to 

Amanda E. Jones, April 18 

Ava Abebe Margaret Wolpaw 

to Bethlehem Abebe-Wolpaw, 

June 27 

Carolyn Witte & Harriet 

McGillivray Devereaux to Jill 

Wasserman, Aug. 23 

Nicole Pui Yee Poon to Shing 

Chi Poon, Oct. 13 

Anson Javier Gilman to Alexis 

J. Gilman, Nov. 1 

1997 

Chet William Rhodes to 

Jeffrey K. Rhodes, Jan. 11 

Axel Ham to Paul S. Ham, 

March 14 

Claire Sarah Dornin to Laird 

E. Dornin, April 25 

Emmett Muise to Amy Smith 

Muise, May 10 

Katherine Anne Hynes to 

Joanna (Barnes) Hynes, Aug. 17 

Elise Georgia Classen to 

Colleen (Campbell) & Greg 

Classen ’98, Oct. 11 

Nathan Ram Feit to Bob Feit, 

Oct. 27 

August Behr Swanson to 

Robbi Behr & Matthew 

Swanson, Dec. 10 

Whitman Boyle Ramsdell to 

Kate Boyle Ramsdell, Dec. 27 

1998 

Hailey Braden Stahl to 

Laura Davis Stahl, April 6 

Nola Nemser Quann to 

Eliza Nemser, April 23 

Callan Elizabeth Dalton to Erin 

(Thelander) Dalton, April 25 

Raj Edward Jain to Amy 

Withers Jain, April 28 

122 | WilliAms people | April 2012 

Ariadne Eleanor Barnes to 

Lauren Guth & Anthony M. 

Barnes, May 16 

Aire Furio Watkins to Robert 

P. Watkins, July 28 

Elliott Shaw Debevoise to 

Anne Bilby & Lyn Debevoise, 

Oct. 13 

1999 

Callum Paul Kelleher to Robin 

Paul Kelleher, March 2 

Eli Suver to Daniel William 

Suver, March 12 

Elizabeth Cheuk Min & 

Hudson Cheuk Wai Chan to 

Christine Chan, April 13 

Ryan Sawyer Linck to Brett 

Linck, April 21 

Noelle V. Osbourne-Roberts to 

Tamaan K. & Camille (Barker) 

Osbourne-Roberts ’00, July 28 

Sawyer Brooke Hall to Peter 

J. Hall & Kate Simon ’00, 

Sept. 14 

Ranvir Singh Lamba to Vikram 

S. Lamba, Nov. 14 

2000 

Oliver Graham Cohee to 

Lauren (Singer) Cohee, Feb. 20 

Coraline Alexandra Mann to 

Julianne (Anderson) & Britton 

R. Mann, March 21 

Poppy Hache Ridd to Lisa 

(Knappen) Ridd, April 3 

Cavan O’Donnell Criqui to 

Andrew D. Criqui, May 18 

Matthew Charles Sensenbrenner 

to Joe & Jennifer (Orr) 

Sensenbrenner ’01, June 17 

Magnus Erickson Stiefler to 

Todd & Jessica (Erickson) 

Stiefler ’01, June 26 

Carleigh Grace Birdsall to 

Alexander S. Birdsall, July 12 

Reece Hyland & Cormac 

James Eckert to Heather May 

Eckert, Aug. 23 

2001 

Reina Kaye Waddell to Sonya 

(Ravindranath) Waddell, 

May 20 

Solomon Davis Buddington to 

Elena Traister, May 29 

Molly Scott Doherty to 

Amanda Brokaw & Brian P. 

Doherty, June 5 


Conner Elliott Chesterton to 

Katherine Hadley Cornell, 

June 14 

Benjamin Jay Block to Jennifer 

(Berylson) Block, July 17 

Macrae Ross Schloat to Mike 

Schloat, Sept. 22 

Willem Moses Seaton-Wisman 

to Dan Seaton, Oct. 27 

Noah Alexander Levine to 

Alana Belfield Levine, Dec. 19 

2002 

Fiona Shannon G. Stanley to 

Jessie Grandgent Stanley, 

May 11 

Nicolas Roberto Bravo to 

Jose Isauro Bravo & Isabel 

Sanchez ’03, Sept. 17 

Nicanor Bartolome Brammer 

to Gabriel B. Brammer, Oct. 28 

Nicolas Emmanuel Bradley to 

Sebastien Jerome Bradley, Nov. 8 

Ashley Chang Comstock to 

Scott Comstock, Nov. 10 

Brennan Michael Sisk to 

Michelle (O’Brien) Sisk, Dec. 16 

2003 

Lily Mae Andruskiewicz 

to Katherine (Baldwin) 

Andruskiewicz, Feb. 2 

Simeon M. Piralkov to Anna 

(Andonova) Piralkova, Aug. 21 

Deacon Thomas Sanderson to 

Graeme C. Sanderson, Aug. 24 

2004 

Noah David Yorgey to 

Brent & Joyia (Chadwick) 

Yorgey ’05, Sept. 17 

Eli Joseph Hodas to Nathan 

Oken Hodas, Sept. 20 

2005 

Mary Clare Tomooka to Grace 

(Wells) Tomooka, March 21 

Courtland Whaley Cart to 

Ashley (Ulmer) & James W. 

Cart, Aug. 10 

2006 

Charlotte Ruth Herold to 

Creston D. Herold, Dec. 27

OBITUARIES 

1932 

F. TAYLOR OSTRANDER 

of Williamstown, Mass., 

Nov. 10. Ostrander was an 

economist. He taught at 

Williams for a year and spent 

17 years working for the U.S. 

government, including with 

the Treasury Department. He 

later worked in the Marshall 

Plan regional office in Paris 

before spending 20 years as 

assistant to the chairman of 

American Metal Climax. He 

was an adjunct professor of 

international business at Pace 

Graduate School of Business 

and contributed to several 

books on economics. At 

Williams he belonged to the 

Liberal Club, Sigma Phi and 

Phi Beta Kappa. He pursued 

graduate studies in economics 

at Oxford University and 

at University of Chicago. He 

served on the executive committee 

of the U.S. National 

Commission on UNESCO 

and on numerous boards, 

including the International 

Center for Industry and 

Environment. As a Williams 

alumnus he was class president, 

chair of his class’s 65th 

reunion and president of 

the Williams Club of D.C. 

Among his survivors are three 

children and a granddaughter. 

1935 

OSTRANDER 

PRINCE H. GORDON of 

Williamstown, Mass., Nov. 

27. Gordon was a pilot with 

Pan American Airlines. At 



football and baseball teams, 

College Council and Kappa 

Alpha. He was a U.S. Navy 

fighter pilot (1941-45) and 

served in the Naval Reserves. 

He belonged to the Ephraim 

Williams Society. Among 

his survivors are two daughters, 

10 grandchildren, five 

stepchildren, 10 step-grandchildren, 

14 step-great-grandchildren 

and nephew Rawson 

C. Gordon ’62. 

1940 

ROBERT R. CAVE of Saint 

Louis, Mo., Oct. 3. Cave 

worked in estate planning 

and insurance for more than 

20 years. Previously he was 

co-owner and manager of 

The Ely & Walker Dry Goods 

Co. At Williams he belonged 

to Phi Gamma Delta. He was 

a U.S. Navy pilot (1940-45). 

He belonged to the Ephraim 

Williams Society. Among his 

survivors are his wife Betty, a 

daughter, two stepdaughters 

and two step-grandchildren, 

including Jennifer Rutledge 

Veraldi ’02. 

1942 

DAVID L. HART of Calais, 

Vt., Aug. 26. Hart was a selfemployed 

Jungian analyst in 

Swarthmore, Pa. At Williams 

he belonged to the band, 

choir, Kappa Alpha and Phi 

Beta Kappa. He was a U.S. 

Army Air Corps first lieutenant 

(1942-46). He received 

a PhD in psychology from 

University of Zurich (1957). 

He was author of The Water 

of Life: Spiritual Renewal 

in the Fairy Tale (2001). He 

was a founding member of 

the Pennsylvania Association 

of Jungian Analysts and a 

member of the New England 

Society of Jungian Analysts 

and the International 

Association of Analytical 

Psychology. He was president 

of the training board of 

Boston’s C.G. Jung Institute. 

Among his survivors are his 

wife Demaris, two children, a 

stepdaughter, two grandchildren 

and a step-grandson. 

1943 

DAVID W. HARRIS of 

Seneca, S.C., Sept. 10. 

Harris was a psychiatrist, 

chief of staff of the Veteran’s 

Administration Hospital in 

Montrose, N.Y., and previously 

assistant superintendent 

of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital 

in D.C., where he was on 

the staff for 17 years. At 

Williams he belonged to Delta 

Phi. He received a medical 

degree from University 

of Pennsylvania (1946). 

He served in the U.S. Navy 

Reserve Medical Corps 

(1947-49). He belonged 

to the American Medical 

Association and the American 

Psychiatric Association 

and was a diplomate of the 

American Board of Psychiatry 

and Neurology. Among his 

survivors are two children. 

C. GORHAM PHILLIPS 

of Vero Beach, Fla., Dec. 8. 

Phillips was a partner with the 

New York law firm Dewey, 

Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer 

& Wood, retiring in 1989 as 

chairman of the management 

committee. He was a master 

needle pointer whose projects 

included a cushion for the 

main altar at Westminster 

Abbey. At Williams he was 

a junior advisor, president 

of Gargoyle Society, Tyng 

scholar, editor of the Record 

and associate editor of Purple 

Cow, belonged to Delta 

Kappa Epsilon and Phi Beta 

Kappa and received the 

William B. Turner Citizenship 

Prize and Dewey Prize. He 

served in the U.S. Army Air 

Corps (1943-46). He received 

a law degree from Harvard 

(1948). He was on the board 

of numerous organizations, 

including Ceverceria 

Corona, Junior Achievement, 

Petroleum Tankers and 

Wiener Enterprises. Among 

his numerous civic and 


OBITUARIES 

professional activities he 

was a trustee of Kimberley 

School and the Montclair, 

N.J., Art Museum and 

chair of the New York Bar 

Association’s Section on 

Banking, Corporation and 

Business Law. As a Williams 

alumnus he was class coagent, 

VP, president, gift 

planning chair, 25th and 

50th reunion fund committee 

member and reunion 

golf chair, Alumni Fund vice 

chair, Treasure Coast regional 

special gifts chairman, Tyng 

Bequest administrator and 

a member of the Williams 

Club and Ephraim Williams 

Society. Among his survivors 

are his wife Marty, four children, 

including Tacey Carroll 

’76, 10 grandchildren, eight 

great-grandchildren, nephew 

Richard W. Hole Jr. ’70, niece 

Diana Hole Strickler ’73, 

grandniece Elizabeth (Hole) 

Knake ’02 and grandnephew 

Edward D. Hole ’05. 

1945 

DONALD E. 

BRUMBAUGH of Webster, 

N.Y., Nov. 25. Brumbaugh 

was a quality control engineer 

at Eastman Kodak Co. 

At Williams he belonged to 

the band and Delta Kappa 

Epsilon. He served in the U.S. 

Navy (WWII). Among his 

survivors are his wife Jean, 

two sons, including Donald 

V. Brumbaugh ’74, and four 

grandchildren. 

DON P. DAVIES of South 

Dartmouth, Mass., Aug. 

26. Davies was a longtime 

resident of Cincinnati, where 

he was an aeronautical engineer 

for General Electric. He 

later worked in insurance. 

At Williams he belonged 

to Zeta Psi. He was a U.S. 

Army second lieutenant, 10th 

Mountain Division (1943- 

46). He did graduate work in 

physics at Carnegie Mellon 

University. He was a member 

of the American Institute of 

Aeronautics and Astronautics. 



He was a volunteer with 

Habitat for Humanity. As a 

Williams alumnus he was a 

class secretary, member of the 

Cincinnati regional special 

gifts committee and admission 

representative. Among 

his survivors are his wife 

Mary, four children, including 

Stephen P. Davies ’72 

and David L. Davies ’77, and 

seven grandchildren. 

DAVID S. GREENBAUM 

of East Lansing, Mich., Aug. 

25. Greenbaum was professor 

emeritus of gastroenterology 

at Michigan State University 

and earlier was a physician 

at the Hunterdon Medical 

Center in Flemington, N.J. 


the band and Cap & Bells. 

He served in the U.S. Army 

(1943-46). He received a 

medical degree from Case 

Western Reserve University 

(1947). He and his wife 

founded the Better Art 

Museum Committee at MSU, 

and he was a reviewer for 

several medical journals. He 

won several teaching awards. 

He belonged to the American 

Medical Association, 

the American College of 

Physicians and the American 

Federation for Clinical 

Research. As a Williams 

alumnus he belonged to his 

class’s 50th reunion fund 

committee. Among his survivors 

are his wife Ruth, two 

children, cousin Donald Stone 

’46, nephew Robert B. Oehler 

’65 and seven grandchildren. 

DAVID H. NASH of 

Belhaven, N.C., Aug. 9. Nash 

spent a semester at Williams 

and enlisted in the Army 

Air Corps, where he was a 

pilot (WWII), earning the 

Distinguished Flying Cross, 

Air Medal with five oak leaf 

clusters and ETO Ribbon 

with four battle stars. He 

returned to Williams and 

belonged to Cap & Bells, 

Purple Cow and Chi Psi, 

graduating in 1947. A longtime 

resident of Connecticut, 

Nash was an advertising 

executive at various agencies 

and most recently secretary, 

director and VP of Dansea 

Enterprises Inc. In North 

Carolina, he was director and 

president of the Friends of 

the Brown Library and board 

member of Beaufort County 

Community College and 

Washington Arts Council. As 

a Williams alumnus he was a 

class secretary and member of 

the Ephraim Williams Society. 


wife Nancy, six children, 

including Peter L. Nash ’69, 

11 grandchildren and three 

great-grandchildren. 

1946 

JAMES M. BARRETT III of 

Fort Wayne, Ind., Sept. 22. 

Barrett was a partner in the 

law firm Barrett & McNagny. 

He attended Williams for 

one year and graduated from 

University of Michigan-Ann 

Arbor (1947), from which 

he also received a law degree 

(1949). He served on the 

board of directors of Fort 

Wayne National Bank, Fort 

Wayne National Corp. and 

Fort Wayne Philharmonic 

Orchestra. He was chairman 

of the taxation section of the 

Indiana State Bar Association 

and president of Fort Wayne 

Art School and Museum. He 

drafted the Indiana Nature 

Preserves law and helped 

found the Acres Land Trust. 


wife Patricia, three children 

and four grandchildren. 

GEORGE F. PIEPER of 

Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 12. 

Pieper was director of sciences 

at NASA’s Goddard 

Space Flight Center for more 

than 20 years. Previously 

he was an assistant professor 

of physics at Yale and 

project supervisor at Johns 

Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. 

He was a visiting scientist 

at the Max Planck Institute 

for Extra-Terrestrial Physics 

in Germany. At Williams he

elonged to the baseball team, 

Glee Club, WCFM, Gul, Cap 

& Bells, Phi Sigma Kappa 

and Phi Beta Kappa and was 

a Tyng scholar. He received a 

master’s in engineering from 

Cornell (1949) and a PhD 

in physics from Yale (1952). 

He received NASA’s Medal 

for Outstanding Scientific 

Achievement (1969) and 

Medal for Outstanding 

Leadership (1977). He 

authored many scientific articles. 

He was a member of the 

board of directors of Goddard 

Alliance Inc. and president 

of the Goddard Retirees and 

Alumni Association. He was 

a member of the American 

Physical Society, Washington 

Academy of Sciences, 

American Geophysical Union 

and American Association 

for the Advancement of 

Science. As a Williams alumnus 

he was a 50th reunion 

fund committee member, 

class secretary—for which 

he received the Thurston 

Bowl (2006)—and Ephraim 

Williams Society member. 


wife Barbara, two daughters 

and two grandchildren. 

JOHN W. TOWNSEND JR. 

of Cabin John, Md., Oct. 

29. Townsend was a rocket 

and satellite pioneer, beginning 

his career with the U.S. 

Naval Research Laboratory 

and later helping to establish 

the Goddard Space Flight 

Center near Greenbelt, Md. 

He was deputy administrator 

of the environmental services 

administration in the commerce 

department and then 

associate administrator of 

the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration. 

After more than 30 years 

of government service, he 

became president of Fairchild 

Industries Space Division, 

returning to lead Goddard in 

1987. He served in the U.S. 

Army Air Force (1943-46). 

At Williams he belonged 

to the swim team, WCFM 

and Phi Sigma Kappa. He 

received a master’s in physics 

(1949) and an honorary 

Doctor of Science (1961), 

both from Williams. He was 

a fellow of the American 

Institute of Aeronautics and 

Astronautics, the American 

Meteorological Society and 

the American Association for 

the Advancement of Science. 

Among his many awards 

and honors he received the 

NASA Medal for Outstanding 

Leadership (1962), Arthur 

S. Flemming Award for outstanding 

government career 

service (1963) and the NASA 

Distinguished Service Medal 

(1971, 1990). He was elected 

to the National Academy 

of Engineering (1975). As 

a Williams alumnus he 

belonged to his class’s 50th 

reunion fund committee and 



wife JoAnn, three children 

and three grandchildren. 

1947 

TOWNSEND 

RICHARD J. BROWN 

of Clayton, N.Y., June 27. 

Brown was a U.S. Navy 

fighter pilot (WWII) before 

entering Williams, where he 

belonged to Outing Club, 

Flying Club, Theta Delta Chi 

and the ski and cross-country 

teams. He owned Gold Cup 

Farms retail and wholesale 

cheese business. Previously 

he worked in the Sauquoit 

Valley Dairy. He was a director 

of Adirondack Cheese Inc. 

Among his survivors are four 

children, brother Martin A. 

Brown ’40, nine grandchildren, 

two great-grandchildren 

and niece Melissa Brown ’78. 

1948 

ROBERT L. NELSON of 

Tulsa, Okla., Aug. 4. Nelson 

left Williams to serve in the 

U.S. Army 10th Mountain 

Division as a first lieutenant 

(1943-46). He returned to 

Williams and belonged to the 

track and swim teams, Sigma 

Phi and Phi Beta Kappa and 

was a Tyng scholar. He was 

a geophysicist with Amoco 

Corp. for more than 30 years, 

serving as division manager 

and later exploration systems 

manager. He received 

a master’s (1950) and PhD 

(1952) in geophysics, both 

from California Institute of 

Technology. As a Williams 

alumnus he was an admission 

representative. Among his survivors 

are his wife Anne, two 

sons, including R. Eric Nelson 

’72, three grandchildren and a 

great-grandson. 

LEWIS S. SOMERS III of 

Lafayette Hill, Pa., Aug. 

30. Somers was founder 

and chairman of BioChem 

Technology and Harmac 

Medical Products. At 


crew, track and cross-country 

teams as well as the Record, 

Purple Key Society and Phi 

Sigma Kappa. He served in 

the U.S. Army (1946-48). He 

was a member of the New 

York Academy of Sciences, 

the American Society for 

Artificial Internal Organs, 

the International Society of 

Nephrology and the U.S. 

Department of Commerce 

Industry Sector Advisory 

Committee. Among his survivors 

are three children, including 

John F. Somers ’82, and 

two grandchildren. 

WILLIAM R. WESSON of 

Mantoloking, N.J., Nov. 26. 

Wesson was a U.S. Navy 

lieutenant before entering 


OBITUARIES 

Williams, where he belonged 

to the sailing team and 

Delta Psi. He also received a 

bachelor’s degree from MIT 

(1950). He was a stockbroker 

at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg and 

then Laidlaw, Adams & Peck 

and Dominick & Dominick. 

He was treasurer and tax 

collector for the Borough of 

Mantoloking. He belonged to 


Among his survivors are four 

children, four grandchildren 

and one great-grandchild. 

1951 

EDWARD CHILDS of 

Falmouth, Mass., July 3. 

Childs served in the U.S. 

Army (1945-46) before 

entering Williams, where 

he was a junior advisor and 

baseball team manager and 

belonged to the hockey and 

football teams, Gargoyle 

Society, Purple Key Society 

and Delta Psi. For 38 years 

he was a teacher, coach and 

administrator at several New 

England private schools, 

including Cape Cod Academy, 

Middlesex School and 

Salisbury School. He received 

a master’s in history from 

Boston University (1957). 

He was inducted into the 

Middlesex School Hall of 

Fame (2004). As a Williams 

alumnus he was a regional 

president and secretary. 


companion Betsy Ingraham, 

four children, including 

William Childs ’81, six 

grandchildren and a greatgrandson. 

THEODORE G. 

CONGDON of Pasadena, 

Calif., Jan. 5. Congdon was 

senior VP and chairman of 

the board of Boston Safe 

Deposit & Trust Co., later 

Mellon Bank. He began his 

career as a securities analyst 

at Dean Witter. At Williams 

he belonged to Cap & Bells, 

choir and Alpha Delta Phi. 

He was a U.S. Army second 

lieutenant (1951-53). 



He received an MBA from 

Harvard (1956). He was 

president of the L.A. Society 

of Financial Analysts and 

Friends of the Huntington 

Library and chairman of the 

American Art Council at the 

L.A. County Museum of Art. 

He was a board member of 

the L.A. Master Chorale and, 

with his wife Eleanor, helped 

found the original Music 

Center in L.A. As a Williams 

alumnus he was an associate 

class agent. Among his survivors 

are his wife Eleanor, four 

children, including Caroline 

C. Dove ’78 and Theodore 

G. Congdon Jr. ’81, and five 


JOHN F. RAYNOLDS 

of Vero Beach, Fla., Nov. 

11. A longtime resident of 

Greenwich, Conn., Raynolds 

was president and CEO of 

Outward Bound USA, Ward 

Howell international search 

firm and the National Peace 

Garden Foundation. Earlier 

he was an executive at Mars 

Inc., Butcher & Sherrard 

and Heede Industries. At 

Williams he was a junior advisor 

and belonged to Chi Psi 

and the football team. As an 

undergraduate he was a New 

England Golden Gloves boxer. 

He served in the U.S. Navy 

(Korean War), helped found 

the Navy Seals and served 

with the U.S. Intelligence 

Agency. He was on the 

boards of the International 

Executive Service Corps, the 

John F. Kennedy School of 

Government Advisory Board 

and the Shackleton Schools, 

which he founded. He wrote 

several books, including 

Leadership the Outward 

Bound Way: Becoming 

a Better Leader in the 

Workplace, in the Wilderness, 

and in Your Community 

(2007). He received honorary 

degrees from Lynchburg 

College (1991) and Green 

Mountain College (1999) 

and the Kurt Hahn Award 

from Outward Bound (2007). 

As a Williams alumnus he 

was an associate class agent, 

belonged to the Ephraim 

Williams Society and received 

a Bicentennial Medal (2009). 


wife Eileen, three children, 

two stepchildren and six 


1952 

RODNEY L. SKUTT of 

Denver, Colo., Sept. 21. 

Skutt was an account 

executive at Previews Inc. 

and The Western Corp. He 

spent three years at Williams, 

where he belonged to Phi 

Delta Theta. He graduated 

from the University of 

Denver (1953). Among his 

survivors are three children 

and eight grandchildren. 

KEVIN H. WHITE of 

Boston, Mass., Jan. 27, 

2012. White was an 

assistant district attorney 

for Suffolk County and then 

Massachusetts secretary 

of state before serving as 

Boston mayor from 1968- 

84. He was credited as 

a civil rights leader and 

with revitalizing Quincy 

Market and redeveloping 

the waterfront, among many 

other initiatives. He later was 

a communications professor 

at Boston University. At 

Williams he belonged to 

the Williams Christian 

Association, Outing Club 

and Phi Delta Theta. He 

received a law degree from 

Boston College (1955). He 

WHITE

eceived numerous awards 

and honorary degrees and 

served on several dozen civic 

and professional boards. 

As a Williams alumnus 

he was an alumni trustee 

(1976-81) and received an 

honorary degree (1968) and 

Bicentennial Medal (2004). 


wife Kathryn, five children, 

including Mark H. White 

’80, and 10 grandchildren. 

1953 

PHILIP A. INGWERSEN 

JR. of Exeter, N.H., Sept. 29. 

Ingwersen was an engineer at 

Raytheon and MIT Lincoln 

Laboratory. At Williams he 

belonged to Phi Sigma Kappa. 

He was a U.S. Navy lieutenant 

(1953-57). He received 

a master’s in applied physics 

from Harvard (1958). Among 


Jean, two children and three 


JOHN H. JUDGE of Hilton 

Head, S.C., Nov. 6. Judge 

worked for First National 

Bank in New York. At 

Williams he belonged to Psi 

Upsilon, Williams Christian 

Association, Outing Club, 

the yacht club and the hockey 

team. He was a U.S. Navy 

officer (Korean War). He was 

inducted into the Herreshoff 

Marine Museum Hall of 

Fame (2011). Among his 

survivors are his wife Mary, 

two daughters and five 


1954 

DAVID A. WEST of 

Wolfeboro Falls, N.H., Dec. 

29. West spent 25 years in 

the U.S. Air Force, including 

two years in Vietnam, retiring 

as colonel. He received a 

number of military decorations, 

including the Silver Star, 

Distinguished Flying Cross, 

Purple Heart and Air Medal 

with five oak leaf clusters. 

He then worked as quality 

assurance program manager 

at Lockheed Martin Corp. 

in Florida. At Williams he 

belonged to the lacrosse and 

wrestling teams and Phi Delta 

Theta. He received an MBA 

from George Washington 

University (1965). Among 


Dorothy, three daughters and 

11 grandchildren. 

1955 

PETER B. FARNSWORTH 

of North Salem, N.Y., Nov. 

6. Farnsworth was director 

of pediatrics at Westchester 

County Medical Center and 

later director of the Division 

of Scientific Activities at the 

Medical Society of the State 

of New York. At Williams he 

belonged to Kappa Alpha and 

the Outing Club. He received 

a medical degree from McGill 

University (1959). He was a 

U.S. Air Force captain (1963- 

65). He was president of the 

Westchester County Medical 

Society and the Westchester 

Academy of Medicine, a diplomate 

of the American Board 

of Pediatrics and a fellow 

of the American Academy 

of Pediatrics. He belonged 

to the Ephraim Williams 


are five children and six 


CHARLES F. GUNTHER 

of Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 5. 

Gunther was assistant director 

of education at the Toledo 

Museum of Art and chairman 

of the University of Toledo 

art department. At Williams 

he was a member of the 

Record, WCFM, Beta Theta 

Pi and the football team. 

He received a master’s in 

studio art from University of 

Colorado-Boulder (1958). He 

received the President’s Award 

from the Arts Commission 

of Greater Toledo (1990). 


wife Barbara, three children 

and five grandchildren. 

EDWARD D. REEVES JR. of 

Topsham, Maine, Dec. 23. A 

longtime resident of Summit, 

N.J., Reeves was owner 

and president of Templar 

Foods. Previously he worked 

for Tenco. At Williams he 

belonged to the track team 

and Delta Psi. He was a U.S. 

Navy seaman (1957-58). He 

was a member of the Summit 

Volunteer First Aid Squad and 

president of the Summit Child 

Care Center. As a Williams 

alumnus he was class president 

and belonged to his 



are his wife Ann, five 

children, including E. Duer 

Reeves III ’81, and 13 grandchildren, 

including Timothy 

K. Lengel ’11. 

1956 

REEVES 

L. TONY FISHER of Morris 

Plains, N.J., July 19. Fisher 

was a financial analyst at 

Moody’s Investors in New 

York and banker with Chase 

Manhattan Bank. He served 

in the U.S. Army (1957-60). 


the choral club and Purple 

Key Society. He received an 

MBA from NYU (1966). As 

a Williams alumnus he was 

class treasurer, associate class 

agent, class agent and a member 

of his class’s 50th reunion 

fund committee. He belonged 

to the Williams Club and 

Ephraim Williams Society. 


wife Carolyn, a stepdaughter, 

a granddaughter and niece 

Sharon Glick ’93. 


OBITUARIES 

JAMES W. INNES of 

Greenwich, Conn., Aug. 29. 

Innes served in the U.S. Navy 

before entering Williams, 

where he belonged to the 

Outing Club, Record, Flying 

Club, Sigma Phi, the football 

team and Phi Beta Kappa. 

He received a medical degree 

from Cornell (1960). He was 

a physician in private practice, 

specializing in internal medicine 

and gastroenterology. He 

was assistant clinical professor 

at Yale University School of 

Medicine and chief of gastroenterology 

at Greenwich 

Hospital. He served on the 

legislative advisory committee 

for the Fairfield County 

Medical Association and the 

public affairs committee of 

the Connecticut State Medical 

Society. In Greenwich he 

served on the Board of Ethics, 

the Board of Education and 

on the town’s legislative body. 


wife Ellie, two daughters, two 

grandchildren and brother 

John P. Innes II ’55. 

MARK M. SAULNIER of 

Summit, N.J., Aug. 8. Saulnier 

was VP at Bank of New York. 


WCFM, College Council 

and Phi Sigma Kappa. As a 

Williams alumnus he was a 

class agent, gift planning chair 

and member of his class’s 

50th reunion fund committee 

and the Ephraim Williams 


are his wife Bonnie, two children, 

including Peter Saulnier 

’83, and three grandchildren. 

THEODORE C. SLOSSON 

JR. of Santa Fe, N.M., March 

20. Slosson was CEO of 

Theodore C. Slosson Jr. & 

Assoc. management consultants. 

Previously he was 

a partner at Goodbody & 

Co. in N.Y. At Williams he 

belonged to Chi Psi. He was 

a U.S. Army first lieutenant 

(1950-53), receiving a Bronze 

Star Medal. Among his survivors 

are his wife Joyce, three 

children and a granddaughter. 



1957 

HUGH R. ENNIS of Naples, 

Fla., Nov. 30. Ennis worked 

with the U.S. Department 

of State and the CIA. At 

Williams he was a member 

of Phi Gamma Delta and 

the squash team and was cocaptain 

of the baseball team. 

He was a U.S. Air Force first 

lieutenant. He received the 

Intelligence Medal of Merit. 


wife Kathleen, four children, 

including Gregory Ennis ’93, 


1961 

F. RAYMOND DRURY 

of Staunton, Va., Aug. 30. 

Drury was VP and director 

of group sales and marketing 

for Hartford Insurance Group 

and then senior VP and COO 

of the TransGeneral Life 

Insurance Co. At Williams 

he belonged to the Outing 

Club, wrestling team and 

Phi Sigma Kappa. He served 

in the U.S. Marine Corps 

(1962-63). Among his survivors 

are his wife Pat, two 

children, two stepchildren, 

seven grandchildren and two 

step-grandchildren. 

1962 

EMIL A. KRATOVIL JR. 

of Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 

1. Kratovil was a partner in 

the admiralty and maritime 

law firm Haight, Gardner, 

Poor & Havens in N.Y.C. At 


rugby, football, sailing and ice 

hockey teams, Cap & Bells 

and Delta Psi. He served in 

the U.S. Marine Corps (1963- 

66) and in the Marine Corps 

Reserves, attaining the title 

of captain. He received a law 

degree from University of 

Virginia (1968). As a Williams 

alumnus he belonged to his 



are his companion Janie 

Barnes and two sons. 

IRVING C. MARCUS of 

Short Hills, N.J., Nov. 14. 

Marcus was a senior partner 

at Lasser Hochman. At 

Williams he belonged to 

the Record, Outing Club, 

Phi Sigma Kappa and Phi 

Beta Kappa. He received a 

law degree from Harvard 

(1965). He belonged to the 

N.J. Board of Bar Examiners. 

As a Williams alumnus he 

belonged to his class’s 25th 

reunion fund committee and 

the regional special gifts committee. 

Among his survivors 

are his wife Harriet, daughters 

Sarah Marcus Barton ’89 and 

Miriam Marcus Karas ’91 


ALBERT G. WHITE of 

Snohomish, Wash., Aug. 17. 

A longtime resident of Vail, 

Colo., White owned and 

managed Rams-Horn Lodge. 

He later worked for Coldwell 

Banker/Timberline Real 

Estate and owned Financial 

Alternatives. At Williams he 

belonged to Kappa Alpha. 

He was a director of the Vail 

Metropolitan Recreation 

District and a town councilman, 

mayor pro-tem and 

chairman of the charter commission 

and planning commission. 


are three daughters, six grandchildren 

and brother Thomas 

R. White III ’60. 

1963 

MARK L. TEITELBAUM 

of Baltimore, Md., July 

14. Teitelbaum was associate 

professor of psychiatry 

emeritus at The Johns 

Hopkins University School 

of Medicine. At Williams he 

belonged to the band, Delta 

Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. He 

received a medical degree 

from Cornell (1967). He was 

a U.S. Air Force major (1969- 

71). He was president of the 

Maryland Liaison Psychiatry 

Association. He belonged to 

the Williams Club. Among 


Sandy, two children, including

Joshua C. Teitelbaum ’93, 

and two grandchildren. 

1965 

AKISOFERI M. OGOLA 

of Entebbe, Uganda, Dec. 3. 

Ogola was a member of the 

7th Parliament of Uganda, 

representing West Budama 

South. Previously he was 

permanent secretary at the 

Ministry of Financial Planning 

and Economic Development, 

and he was a constituent 

assembly delegate, contributing 

to the crafting of Uganda’s 

constitution. At Williams he 

was co-captain of the cross 

country team and belonged 

to Delta Psi. Among his survivors 

is a son. 

1966 

PETER D. GALLAGHER of 

San Anselmo, Calif., Oct. 11. 

Gallagher was a partner with 

D. Wahler Associates and Belz 

& Associates architecture 

firms and project manager 

at Woodford/Sloan AIA 

Architects. At Williams he 

belonged to Cap & Bells and 

was soccer team manager and 

Zeta Psi president. He served 

in the U.S. Navy (1966-69) 

and in the Naval Reserves, 

retiring in 1989. He received a 

bachelor’s in architecture from 

Heald Institute of Technology 

(1976). Among his survivors 

are his wife Susan and three 

children. 

1968 

PAUL R. MUNIZ of 

Berkeley, Calif., July 27. 

Muniz was a community 

organizer for United 

Farm Workers of America, 

worked at the Nicaraguan 

Information Center and 

then was deputy counsel 

for Contra Costa County 

for 27 years, representing 

Children and Family Services. 

At Williams he worked at 

WCFM. He was a U.S. Army 

specialist (1969-72), receiving 

a Vietnam Campaign Medal 

and Army Commendation 

Medal. He received an MBA 

from University of Oregon 

(1975) and a law degree 

from University of California 

Hastings College of Law 

(1982). He was a board member 

of the Institute for Central 

American Studies. Among his 

survivors are his wife Tyche, 

five children and a grandson. 

1969 

ROBERT A. LEE of South 

Burlington, Vt., Sept. 18. 

Lee was a United Church 

of Christ pastor for almost 

40 years, working in 

Williamstown, on Long 

Island, in Willamette, Ill., and, 

most recently, for 19 years as 

senior minister of Burlington 

First Congregational Church. 

He received a master of 

divinity from Iliff School of 

Theology (1973) and an honorary 

degree from Chicago 

Theological Seminary (1986). 

He was a founding member 

of Christians for Justice 

Action, vice chair of the UCC 

Executive Council, director 

of the Justice and Witness 

Ministries and trustee of the 

UCC Pension Board. He 

published a book of sermons, 

Roads Less Traveled (2011). 


wife Donna, three sons and 

two grandsons. 

1974 

RONNIE S. KRAUSS of 

Irvington, N.Y., Nov. 21. 

LEE 

Krauss was a seven-time 

Emmy Award-winning children’s 

TV writer and producer, 

first at Lancit Media 

Productions and then on 

a self-employed basis. At 

Williams she belonged to the 

squash team and Phi Beta 

Kappa. She was on the board 

of directors of the Irvington 

Children’s Center, wrote 14 

children’s books and received 

the George Foster Peabody 

Award. As a Williams alumna 

she was an editor of her 25th 

reunion class book. Among 

her survivors are her husband 

Paul Tobey and two sons. 

1979 

KRISTIN N. DJUROP of 

Natick, Mass., Aug. 18. 

Djurop was a librarian and 

manager of library research 

and instructional services at 

Babson College. Previously 

she worked at MIT’s 

Dewey Library and Suffolk 

University’s Sawyer Library. 

At Williams she belonged 

to the handbell choir and 

choral society. She received 

a master’s in library science 

from Simmons College (1982) 

and an MBA from Suffolk 

University (1999). She was a 

board member of the Friends 

of the Morse Institute Library, 

belonged to the SLA Boston 

Program Committee and 

was newsletter editor for the 

Natick Garden Club. It is 

unknown whether she has 

any survivors. 

NINA E. MURPHY of 

South Kent, Conn., Sept. 12. 

Murphy worked in advertising 

at McCann-Erickson and 

later as VP and senior writer 

at Wells, Rich, Greene. She 

was instrumental in founding 

the Heart of the Healer 

Foundation, a nonprofit 

committed to bridging the 

gap between indigenous 

cultural traditions and the 

modern world. At Williams 

she belonged to Outing 

Club, the Record and Phi 

Beta Kappa and was swim 


OBITUARIES 

team captain. She received a 

master’s in journalism from 

Columbia (1980). She served 

on the Williams Club Board 

of Governors. Among her 

survivors are her mother and 

two siblings. 

1981 

JANE (ROTCH) 

BOISSEVAIN of Esmont, 

Va., Oct. 5. Boissevain 

worked for 20 years at 

the University of Virginia 

(UVA), including as program 

director of the Center for 

the Study of Mind and 

Human Interaction and as 

associate director of the 

Center for Global Health. 

At Williams she belonged 

to the soccer and lacrosse 

teams, the band, Lehman 

Council, handbell choir 

and Phi Beta Kappa. She 

received a master’s in public 

health from UVA (2011). 

She received the Leonard 

Sandridge Award for 

Outstanding Contribution 

to the University, UVA’s 

highest employee award. 

As a Williams alumna 

she was an admission 

representative. Among her 

survivors are her husband 

Frederick, son Jeremy R. 

de Moleyns Boissevain ’15, 

a stepdaughter and a stepgranddaughter. 


MURPHY 


1984 

SCOTT M. CORNGOLD 

of Avila Beach, Calif., Nov. 

26. Corngold worked in 

publishing and as a freelance 

writer before being ordained 

as a rabbi in 1999. He served 

at Temple Shaaray Tefila in 

N.Y.C. and Temple Emanu-El 

in Lynbrook, N.Y. Most 

recently he led Congregation 

Beth David in San Luis 

Obispo, Calif. At Williams 

he belonged to Purple Key, 

Jewish Association and Phi 

Beta Kappa. He received 

a master’s in Hebrew letters 

from Hebrew Union 

College (1997). He belonged 

to the San Luis Obispo 

Ministerial Association and 

the Association of Reform 

Zionists of America. Among 

his survivors are his parents. 

1989 

DAVID L. GAILLARD of 

Bozeman, Mont., Dec. 31. 

Gaillard was a wildlife conservationist 

with the Greater 

Yellowstone Coalition, 

Predator Conservation 

Alliance (now Keystone 

Conservation) and, most 

recently, Defenders of 

Wildlife. At Williams he was 

an Outing Club board member. 

He received a master’s 

in environmental studies 

from Yale School of Forestry 

(1997). He served on the 

board of directors of Wild 

Things Unlimited and was 

active with the Craighead 

GAILLARD 

Institute. He was co-president 

of the Irving School parent 

council, tutoring elementary 

school math and leading field 

trips. As a Williams alumnus 

he was an admission representative. 


are his wife Kerry, a daughter, 

two stepchildren and brother 

Tom Gaillard ’84. 

Other Deaths 

PIERRE LOISEL PAPIN ’20 

of St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 19, 

1964 

ROCCO D. BRUNO ’38 

of Danbury, Conn., Feb. 21, 

1988 

JOHN HARMAN 

BUSSER ’42 of Tampa, Fla., 

Jan. 24, 2009 

JOHN LIGHT II ’46 of 

Melbourne, Fla., Nov. 21 

EDWARD R. PERRY ’46 of 

Stow, Mass., Sept. 11 

JEAN E. BENNETT JR. ’48 

of Pacifica, Calif., Feb. 8 

JEFFERSON D. ROBINSON 

III of Granville, Ohio, Aug. 26 

ROBERT S. BLOSSOM ’49 

of Pacific Palisades, Calif., 

July 8 

GILBERT A. QUINTANA 

’50 of West End, N.C., 

May 6, 2008 

CHAPIN B. WEED ’50 of 

Fletcher, N.C., Nov. 13 

PERKINS B. BASS III ’52 of 

Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 23 

BRUCE M. BEATTY ’52 

of Carlsbad, Calif., Dec. 25, 

2010 

JOHN T. PATTERSON ’62 

of Glendale, Calif., Feb. 7, 

2005 

Of Note 

A photograph of 

Williamstown doctor Robert 

K. Davis accompanied 

an obituary for Robert J. 

Davis ’44 in the December 

2011 Williams People. We 

apologize for the error. 

Obituaries are written based on 

information that alumni and 

their families have supplied to 

the college over the years.

AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY 

One of the charges of the Alumni Relations 

Office is to monitor alumni opinion on matters 

relating to Williams and the Society of Alumni. 

Occasionally, we find a significant volume 

of your thoughts, comments, questions and 

observations gathering around a specific issue 

or event. November’s hate crime was one such 

case, and I’d like to share some of what we’ve 

heard from you—as well as the on-campus 

response—since then. 

As most of you are aware, in the early hours 

of Saturday, Nov. 12, the words “all n****** 

must die” were written on a hallway wall in 

the Prospect House residence hall. While much 

of the campus, unaware of the event, was 

celebrating Homecoming Weekend, a group of 

students, faculty administrators and a handful 

of alumni engaged in an initial conversation to 

grapple with the realities of this horrific act. Late 

on Sunday, the decision was made to cancel 

Monday classes to allow the community to come 

together, acknowledge the damage caused 

and listen to one another. During Monday’s 

three-hour open forum, students of varied 

backgrounds shared their personal stories of 

discrimination at Williams. 

President Adam Falk sent an email to all 

alumni that same Monday morning, informing 

you of the incident and the college’s decision to 

pause from its routine. Initial alumni response 

reflected three central themes: a desire to see 

the perpetrator(s) apprehended; opinions on the 

decision to cancel classes (a significant majority 

supported it, while some expressed concern that 

the college overreacted); and frustration that 

the Williams community was struggling, once 

again, with a racial incident. This last point was 

expressed primarily by alumni of the past decade 

and shared directly with the college via a handful 

of alumni-organized efforts and on social media 

networks of fellow Ephs. 

Two campus groups were formed in the 

aftermath of the incident and are hard at work 

this semester. One is a task force of students, 

faculty and staff appointed by President Falk 

to determine the best protocol for response to 

bias incidents of all kinds. This includes support, 

communication, investigation and other efforts 

to best serve those targeted by incidents and the 

Williams community as a whole. The second is a 

student group called Students Against Silence, 

which has overseen the formation of several 

task forces to address issues of inclusion in eight 

areas: the first-year experience, residential life 

for upperclassmen, classroom culture, curriculum, 

identity, social life, community values and public 

discussion. 

We continue to hear from you with questions 

about the incident and the climate on campus. 

Some ask why this is considered a hate crime 

(exacting federal crime definitions are clear) and 

if students really felt threatened (student fear 

was very real, which pains us all). Awareness and 

understanding of these experiences is just one 

step in creating a Williams where every member 

of this community can claim her or his place 

within it. 

Best wishes from Williamstown, 

Brooks L. Foehl ’88 

Director of Alumni Relations 

bfoehl@williams.edu 

Outgoing Society of Alumni President, Christopher F. 

Giglio ’89, talks about his term in office here

Editorial Offices 

P.O. Box 676 

Williamstown, MA 

01267-0676

April 2012 - Alumni News - Williams College

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