Class of 1967 Alumni & Reunion Page

In order to obtain the most news for this column, we try to maintain up-to-date contact info for as many classmates as possible. While searching for email addresses, either ones we have never had, or ones that have become outdated, we sometimes come across some unsettling news. When emails to Jeff Hooker started being returned as undeliverable, we made the sad discovery that Jeff passed away in January of 2019. His obituary can be found here: https://www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/dignitymemorial/191286454"www.legacy.com/amp/obituaries/dignitymemorial/191286454.
If you have stopped receiving, or have never received, emails from Donna or Dana about these class notes, please send us your preferred email address.

Will Melton continues to perform with two groups, L’Esperance Mandolin Ensemble in Providence and Sweet Mandolins in the Connecticut valley. Vermont’s Lake Raponda Association elected Will to lead them in transforming the property-owners group into a watershed protection organization, an endeavor that has proven more time-consuming than expected. Will credits wife Eliza Childs with being their art guide during a two-week autumn trip to Venice and Padua. Eliza edits an occasional book, is an active gardener, and remains a devoted correspondent, in spite of neglect on the part of their children and the collapse of hard-copy mail habits by almost everyone else. Will and Eliza had a delightful dinner last summer with NMH ’67 cousins Jean McBean Koenig and Jim McBean at the McBean family farm in Dummerston, Vt. Will’s 70th birthday present was a Red Sox game at Fenway attended by all their children, as well as MH roommate Tom Hanna, who was able to offer insight from his knowledge of the game.

Will also sent in a clipping from the Daily Hampshire Gazette, containing a glowing review of the latest book by Steve Billias. Here’s a brief excerpt: “Billias has written seven science-fiction/fantasy novels as well as a number of screenplays. He knows how to keep his reader involved. His book juxtaposes humorous stories against tragic tales. And he winds up the collection with a field of fireflies. These glowing creatures symbolize nature and hope and friendship.” The full review can be found here:

Steve is not the only published author from our class. The latest book by Bill Hicks, “Discipleship and Discipline: Second Edition,” has been published by Westbow Press, a division of Zondervan, a publisher with a D.L. Moody connection.

And Debby Buhrman Topliff has published Rescue: a Visual Memoir that includes 32 paintings of experiences in her life with accompanying narratives. Debbie’s website debbytopliff.com has been updated to include these personal paintings along with her biblical paintings. If anyone wants to purchase a copy they can contact her through the website. Besides publishing her book, Debby has been doing a lot of studying, painting, and teaching.

Besides attending baseball games with Will and Eliza, last June, Tom Hanna merged his law firm with a boutique northern New England environmental/land use law firm. The new entity is BCM Environmental & Land Law, with offices in Concord and Keene, N.H. and Portland, Maine.

Tina Dobsevage celebrated her birthday babysitting her toddler grandson, Oscar Hanan Heitner House, commonly known as Ozzie. Tina still works full time as an internist in Manhattan, sharing an office with her husband, Jonathan House, MD, a psychoanalyst and editor/translator/publisher of the English translations of the works of famous French psychoanalyst, Jean Laplanche. Jonathan's position as a member of the Conseil Scientifique of the Fondation Laplanche, provides an excuse to go to Paris every few years. After this year’s visit, they planned to take a longer vacation in northern Europe in July. Their daughter is an immigration lawyer at Take Root Justice, an immigrant rights organization in lower Manhattan. Their son is a lab manager at Rockefeller University in Manhattan . Sadly,Tina’s mother died in November, following a decade of dealing with several chronic illnesses.

Bill Johnson was excited to return to his collegiate alma mater, Colby, for the Alumni Swim Meet. It was slated to be the last splash in the pool that was new in Bill’s freshman year but scheduled for demolition with a new Athletic Center set to open. During his senior year, Bill received Colby's first Letter in swimming, so it is appropriate that he will be one of the very last to compete in that pool.

Wendy Alderman Cohen has a healthy new granddaughter! Son Peter, Lisa and big sister Alex, age 3, welcomed Olivia Cohen just before Thanksgiving. Wendy and husband Jeff have been enjoying their year-old rescue dog, Lucy, adopted last summer. They also enjoy visits from any classmates visiting Cape Cod. Bonnie Parmenter Fleming stopped by last summer en route to music camp from her current home in Ocala, Fla. A fall highlight was lunch with Donna Eaton Mahoney and Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy. The Kennedys also welcomed a second grandchild. They visit their family in Berkley, Calif. as often as they can. Donna tore herself away from her home on the Cape to spend a week in the Orlando area and Dana Gordon drove up from his snowbird outpost in Boynton Beach (and took a really round about way to get there) for an enjoyable afternoon catch-up. Unfortunately, no other members of the Florida contingent could make this get-together, but there will be others.

After a full year of recovery from a broken shoulder, Maddi Lenagh was happy to get back to active photography. She traveled to India, photographing wildlife, including tigers, at Bandhavgarh and Kanha National Parks. Then, it was back home to the Netherlands, where she finished work on a long-term project photographing the Biesbosch Wetlands for a feature in the mid-January edition of On Landscape, a UK-based photography publication. That was followed by a second big trip of the year to South Africa where she photographed wildlife in Witwater Wildlife Reserve, Kruger National Park, Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary (Swaziland), and iSimangaliso Wetland Park. Her work can be seen on her website lenagh.nl. A few months later, Jean Walker and Mollie Lininger Alkan also visited Kruger National Park for what Jean described as the trip of a lifetime.

Maddi was disappointed she wasn’t able to meet up with Patricia Watson Bartlett, but she waved from the plane as they flew over Tanzania. Trish and husband John continue their trips back and forth to Moshi, Tanzania and despite some difficult times are delighted to see their Tanzanian friends and colleagues and Mt. Kilimanjaro. In the fall they took a two week trip to Namibia and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the completely different landscape of the country, which is primarily desert. They climbed one of the big dunes in Sousselvei (Big Daddy) and but their success was tempered by injury when Trish fell after running on the rock floor of a dry river bed and broke her wrist. Trish is grateful that the group of Moore-Daly classmates has remained in touch since their get-together in Bermuda at Kathy Cole Gibbons’ beautiful house. They’re already talking about doing it again.

We may be getting older, but certainly not less active. Sheila Morse completed her term as Chair of the Board of Selectmen in Guilford,Vt. and she and husband Dick Smith then began touring the country in their RV.

Will Ackerman continues his whirlwind schedule. His quartet FLOW has released their second album and did a short tour, ending with their now annual concert at Carnegie Hall in September. He then went on tour in Colorado and New Mexico with The Four Guitars (Will, Trevor Gordon Hall, Todd Mosby, and Vin Downes). He is wrapped up a country-wide tour in Napa, Calif. with Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice. He reports booking two different flights hoping that weather would not stop him from getting home to Vermont for Christmas.

John Cartledge's lifelong interest in flags of all kinds has caused him to be a regular attendee and lecturer at the biennial International Congress of Vexillology, held last summer in San Antonio, Texas. Attending the event brought him to the United States for the first time in almost two decades, and provided him and his wife Bronwen an opportunity to take up invitations to visit various US-based friends and relations, from California to Connecticut. They traveled nearly 4000 miles on Amtrak, sampling the variegated scenery and the company of fellow travelers along the way. Back in England, one of John’s current projects is running, on behalf of the town council, a competition to design and select a flag to represent his home town of Elstree and Boreham Wood.

Tom Myers has been sobered by a late-in-life divorce, one more cliché of work winning out over home life, prompting a new examination of what ‘legacy' means. Tom is still working full-throttle in the manual therapy field, having taught in Russia, Germany, and Japan, with further plans to head for Australia, Thailand, UK, Iceland, and Italy, as well as the US and Canada of course. Tom was pleasantly surprised to see his book, Anatomy Trains, translated into its 14th language – Turkish.

Alex Ives was visiting his daughter and grandson in Illinois when, by chance, he encountered Linda Hoff Irvin at Chicago Botanical Garden. They recognized each other despite not having been in the same place for more than 50 years. Linda had another reunion when her roommate Carol Coleman visited while in Chicago for her son’s engagement party. They had not seen each other for forty years but promise to get together much sooner next time.

2019 was a big year for Lissa (a/k/a Mary) Perrin. She retired and turned 70 in March and immediately thereafter spent a week at Esalen Institute in Bug Sur, Calif., something that had been on her bucket list since the 1970's. She had a wonderful big party to celebrate both life events with lots of folks from many different areas of her life. Then in June, Lissa married her sweetie of six years, Dale Johnson. Besides their adult children, Lissa's childhood and Northfield friends Carol Ball and Jill Hirth Belnap celebrated with them. After the wedding, travels followed, starting with North Carolina, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, and culminating in a big trip for a month to Kerala in south India and Bali. Although Lissa loved her work as a therapist, she is really enjoying retirement and is surprised that she doesn't miss working.

Deborah Wiggin Neff took advantage of layoffs and reorganization to retire from her analyst position at A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children in the Health and Prevention Services division. While she hadn’t planned to stop working, she enjoyed her first summer off since college, completing yard work and planting, and was thinking of turning to work part-time in order to have the flexibility to travel.

Also enjoying retirement is Bill Hall. He studied sculpture at Franconia College in New Hampshire but spent most of his career as a contractor. After Michigan and the Adirondacks for short periods, he lived in a loft in Tribeca for 30 years. For 20 years, he was the co-chair of the Lower Manhattan Loft Tenants, which involved lobbying in Albany and New York City. He and wife Stephanie, a painter, retired three years ago and now live in Jersey City. Bill sculpts six days a week in an industrial space in Newark. His work can be seen on Instagram under williamhallsculpture.

In her retirement, Carol Bullard-Bates has become a local Washington D.C. chaplain organizer of the United Covenant Union, which forms auxiliary congregations of disenfranchised people who work, pray and, act together for justice. She's working with the Empowerment Faith Center, focused on people who use the local church soup kitchen, and starting to gather neighbors living on the street into a new auxiliary congregation. They envision yet another auxiliary congregation for returning citizens to support each other after getting out of prison.

Since retiring from the California Department of Health Services in 2018, Jonathan Prince has continued to indulge his passion for travel. Last year, he journeyed to Mexico on a spring break trip with 20 friends from his church to assist a community in Baja. They did construction work for several families, and shared in food and fellowship with community gatherings. More recently, he went to Mississippi where his daughter was completing an Air Force training course. Jonathan had a chance to meet her friends and attend her graduation ceremony, prior to her next assignment. While there, they took a three-day trip through the Delta region, visiting sites significant in the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement, and the history of the blues. Besides seeing the gravesites of Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, and B.B. King, they went to a number of blues and music museums, clubs, and even the Jim Henson museum in his hometown in Mississippi. Jonathan also traveled to San Diego and Seattle to visit friends and family. Besides spending time with his girlfriend and playing guitar in Sacramento, Jonathan does volunteer work at Juvenile Hall and a mental health facility.

The Traveling Jean Skirt continues its odyssey. So far, it has visited with Mary Briggs, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Janice Martin, Helen Fowler, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Lois Robinson Eddy, LaMarian Hayes-Wallace, and Melinde Hatheway Kantor. Let’s try to get it to as many classmates as possible before the 55th Reunion. The Traveling Jean Skirt has its own Facebook page: Sisterhood of the Traveling JeanSkirt. Feel free to join (Northfielders and Hermonites alike), and get the skirt sent to you (sorry, guys, Northfield only). Stay up on mini-reunions, celebrations and other happenings, including the comings and goings of the Jean Skirt, by visiting our class Facebook page. If you are on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Fall/Winter 2019 Edition:

By the time this issue of the magazine reaches your mailbox and you read this, we will be about halfway between our unforgettable 50th reunion and our 55th. To fill the void, several groups got together to celebrate our collective 70th birthdays. The largest gathering took place in June in Cape May, New Jersey. Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Donna’s sister Wendy ’72, Marty Ratcliff Rix, Robin Whyte Reisman, Jean Walker, Mollie Lininger Alkan, Mary Briggs, Becky Parfitt and Vin Kennedy, Chris Warden Malley and husband Ed, Sheila Morse and husband Dick, Helen Drew Stowe and husband Larry, Sylvia Kuhner Baer and husband John, Mark Eluto, Jay Garbose, and Dana Gordon spent a long weekend reminiscing, sightseeing, bird watching, eating and drinking, enjoying live music, and even seeing the famous “Poet Tree” in the front yard of Sylvia and John’s charming cottage.

At our class 70th birthday celebration in Cape May, Sylvia presented a denim jean skirt with a mission. The goal is to have the skirt visit each Northfield ’67 member within the next year. Each classmate will take a photo with the skirt, submit it to Sylvia and send it on to the next classmate. Mary Briggs had the honor of being the first to submit a photo with the skirt. The project even has its own Facebook page. Search "Sisterhood of the Traveling JeanSkirt" or click on this link Sisterhood of the Traveling JeanSkirt and join the group. Although the skirt is being passed among the Northfielders, both men and women are encouraged to join the group.

Meanwhile, Kathy Cole Gibbons and husband Grant hosted Kori Hedman Calvert, Trish Watson Bartlett, Cindy French Pasackow, Linda Hoff Irvin and Ritchie Davis Dow at their home in Hamilton Parish, Bermuda for four days that included historic and botanical walks, boat rides, and lots of time to talk, relax and reminisce. Trish observed that maintaining and growing our connections is the most important purpose and benefit from these gatherings. They look forward to future get-togethers of their Moore-Daly group and hope Claudia Stanley Moose and Carol Coleman can join them next time.

And at the same time as these other two mini-reunions, Eliza Childs celebrated her birthday in Boston with Helen Fowler present, providing a Northfield connection. Of course, Will Melton was there, as well.

Helen reported the official adoption of her 2-year-old grandson by daughter Sarah, who had fostered him since he was 9 days old. Helen looks forward to many visits to and from them, as well as with son Chris and grandchildren, 9-year old Josh and 5-year old Hannah. Helen’s lifelong dream of traveling around the world continues to be fulfilled. In February she lived a dream trip to Kenya and Tanzania, taking daily forays in Safari vans. She was delighted to spend several days with Trish Watson Bartlett and her husband John, who showed her a very different side of Tanzania. Before visiting Africa, Helen took another bucket list trip to Peru, Ecuador and Galapagos, and more recently she went to Bulgaria. As if that globetrotting were not enough, Helen became a snowbird with the purchase of a condo in North Naples, Florida.

The partying continued for Wendy Alderman Cohen as she went from our class 70th birthday celebration in Cape May right to the NMH campus where she once again attended reunion as a volunteer. She described it as the most beautiful summer weekend she had ever spent on campus, with deep blue skies providing a background to all that beautiful space. BUT she declared our 50th reunion was still the best party ever on campus! Those two events were the culmination of a very busy three-week stretch that began with the graduation of daughter Laura from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government with a Master's of Public Administration. Wendy’s son Peter, his wife Lisa, and Wendy’s 2½-year old granddaughter were there to cheer Laura on. If that weren't enough, Laura's husband Jose became an American citizen the same week, with his family flying in from Bogota, Colombia and California to witness the occasion.

Debby Bates is grateful to be living back home in Portland, Maine for the past two years. She feels the absolute call of the wind, woods, ocean, and granite rocks that are in her bones. She is blessed to be close to and catch up with sons Owen and Keith who each visited. She is still doing her Clairvoyant readings and healings and is thrilled to love the work she does. Debby had her own mini-reunion with roommate Jennifer "JJ" Meehl and husband Toby when she visited them in Vermont in February.

Stephen Billias writes that he lives not far from NMH in Deerfield with his wife Bela Breslau. Their daughter Sophia finished her first year of law school at Case Western and headed off to Geneva, Switzerland for a summer internship at the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). Steve works part-time, and is always writing, fiction mostly. The exciting news in that arena is that Odeon Press is publishing my latest book, A Book of Fields: Tales from the Pioneer Valley. It’ll be available on Amazon in mid-September. We’re having a book launch party to celebrate, at the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, 595B River Road in Deerfield, on Saturday, October 19th from 2:00-4:00 p.m. Music by The Green Sisters. Should be lots of fun. One and all are invited, especially any of you that live in the area.

Ellen Cooper Gill no longer has to deal with her lengthy commute through Connecticut. In June, she retired from the Capitol Region Education Council, where she worked with families who have children with hearing loss. So far, she has no specific retirement plans yet, other than to enjoy it.

Rick Buzan sends greetings from Indiana. Although he learned a lot and grew a lot at Hermon during sophomore and junior years after his father had died from his third heart attack, Rick decided to forgo his senior year when farming became his passion, and attending an eastern prep school was not necessary to gain admission to Purdue University. He met his wife there and raised a son and daughter who have blessed them with three grandchildren. He eventually left farming to join Edward Jones Investments for an exciting and rewarding 30 year career. With his encouragement, Rick’s wife became Indiana Principal of the Year. Rick says, “With gratitude for my Hermon experience, I have been a modest financial supporter almost every year since graduating from college.”

While classmates have been reveling in retirement, grandchildren, and birthdays, Judith Hull has been very excited that her 23-year old has gotten her first adult job (at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston), and that Judith has returned to the workforce. She has a part time job as the Master Gardener liaison in Grafton County, NH, and will be teaching a course on Renaissance Art at Plymouth State University. She is happy to be doing these things and learning through them in various ways.

Tony Peters and wife Suzanne experienced the adventure of a lifetime when they went to Australia for the Dave Koz Jazz Cruise. In addition to seven days of non-stop jazz music by some of the top performers in the world, they visited were five ports of call including Tasmania. They scaled the Sydney Harbour Bridge, with its bird’s eye view of the iconic Sydney Opera House, and also took a swim with the sharks and stingrays to "jazz" things up a bit. The couple ventured into central Australia to see the big red Ayers Rock and get a little aboriginal flavor. Camels ferried them to the base of Ayers rock, where they enjoyed dinner served under the stars where the clear, dark skies made it seem they could see the entire universe. It was so dark and clear.

Stay up on all the min-reunions, celebrations and other happenings by visiting our class Facebook page, which has grown to nearly 150 members. If you are on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership. And if you do not already receive occasional class-specific emails, send a message to mounthermon1967@comcast.net and get added to the mailing list.

Spring/Summer 2019 Edition:

Not wanting to wait an entire five years for our 55th reunion, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, and Donna Eaton Mahoney hatched a plan to celebrate our collective 70th birthdays with a long weekend class get-together in Cape May, New Jersey in mid-2019 with high hopes for a big turnout.

Carole “Ducky” Drake Chamberlain lives in Ferrisburg, Vermont where her husband built a primitive log cabin on a nearby hilltop nearby. In summer they love to get away to enjoy a wood fire, candle light, and water from the rain barrels. But when the Vermont weather gets cold, they really get away, escaping to Mexico for the winter. After nearly giving up hope, the pair was excited to await their first grandchild.

In September 2017, U.S. Naval Institute Press published a book Will Melton edited of his late father's memoirs about life aboard Liberty ships fighting the Germans and the Japanese, Liberty's War, An Engineers Memoir of World War II 1942-1945. Will was also guest curator for an exhibit about the story at the American Merchant Marine Museum in Kings Point, Long Island. Mark Eluto attended a talk Will gave about the book in nearby Port Chester. In December 2018, Will's Rhode Island-based mandolin ensemble L'Esperance produced an album of Celtic music Uisgei Beath, Water of Life. Will and Eliza Childs were among those hoping to attend the gathering at Cape May.

After 44 years as a clinical social worker working as a psychotherapist with adults in several mental health clinics, Lissa Perrin decided it was about time to retire. She and her fiancé, Dale Johnson, planned to celebrate her 70th birthday at a five day program at Esalen in California, something that’s been on her bucket list since the late 60's. If that were not enough, they also planned a June wedding.

Trish Watson Bartlett had three major events, starting with the birth of grandson Alex Reeves Smith in April, 2018. The following month, Trish’s daughter Katrina Rose Dideriksen married Jacob Davidoff. And in November, a less festive event: spinal fusion surgery. Amid all these events Trish and husband John continue their back and forth travels to Tanzania where they looked forward to Helen Fowler's visit to their little community in Moshi.

Dr. Bill Johnson was pleased to report his new granddaughter was doing well after having been born seven weeks premature last June. Although retired, Bill is still working part time with various tasks that he has loved, including serving on the Ethics Committee at the hospital. He also continues to go on medical missions such as working in Columbia with refugees passing through from Venezuela.

In the last three years Willy Hermann been blessed with three grandchildren. He and his wife have re-discovered the wonders of the first year of development as well as the joys (?) of diapers and feeding schedules. Two are close by, and the other is just a one-hour flight away.

After many years of retirement, many years of the same roles in community politics, and no grandchildren yet, Sheila Morse organized a party in December for more than eighty friends and four generations of family members at which she and Dick, partners for more than a decade, got married. The fact that Tina Dobsevage, her friend since 1964, along with her husband, was part of this celebration made it all the more wonderful. Sheila is still chair of her small town’s select board, tackling all sorts of local issues. Sheila and Dick didn't do a lot of traveling this year, having celebrated one of her son's weddings as well as their own, but they went from a twenty-five foot motor home to a forty foot (BUS!) motor home with the intention of getting to more of the US this year. They also planned to travel to Istanbul, Portugal, and Tuscany. Sheila had rotator cuff surgery right after the wedding, and Dick had a hip re-replacement (yes, you read that correctly) four weeks before.

Jonathan Prince started 2018 by retiring after 30 years working in Sacramento for the State of California in a number of departments: General Services, Justice, Motor Vehicles, CalTrans, and Health Services. During the last ten years at Health Services he was an administrator in the Medi-Cal program, overseeing managed care programs in various counties in California that were getting federal and state Medicaid money to coordinate medical services to low income residents. Retirement has been a nice change of pace, allowing him to get some work done on his house, see old friends, and do some traveling. Jonathan kept busy for much of the year painting houses, which had been a side business for years, but turned into almost a full time job during the spring and summer as happy customers kept referring him to their friends. In July he took a trip to the Far East, visiting his brother and his wife in Vietnam where, their sister also joined them. After a week in Hanoi and Ho Chi Mihn City, Jonathan went to Manila, in the Philippines and then on to China, where he met up with his girlfriend and spent time in Shanghai and Nanjing. Fortunately, they had friends in all these places who spoke the language and acted as tour guides. Jonathan also made it to southern California to see old friends, and in October attended a reunion in the San Diego area of about 200 fellow Christians who lived in various communes in northern California in the 1970s during the Jesus movement. On the home front he still keeps active, learning new songs with fellow musicians as he plays acoustic guitar at the county Juvenile Hall and a mental health facility on a volunteer basis. Jonathan reports his two daughters, one in the Air Force, and the other teaching in Sacramento, are doing well. He hopes to make back to New England in a few years, maybe for another reunion.

The English-Speaking Union, which sponsors the exchange program that brought British students to Northfield and Mount Hermon each year, recently held a reunion in London for alumni of the program. John Cartledge attended and had hoped to see his Northfield contemporary, Joanna Shawcross at the event. Unfortunately, Joanna, a distinguished palliative care doctor, had to drop out on short notice, but John was pleased to meet, for the first time, several people who'd attended NMH under the same auspices in other years. John’s fox terrier Teddy's love of country walks has led him to publish a collection of his favorite routes, with information about points and places of interest to be seen along the way, under the title Teddy's Trails. It is hosted on the website of the local town council, which is keen to promote walking as a valuable form of exercise that requires no special equipment or facilities. Sadly, Teddy passed away last summer, but his Trails are an enduring memorial to one small dog's endless enthusiasm for exploring the countryside around his home.

Bill Hicks has joined the list of published authors. His two books, Discipleship and Discipline: Second Edition and Sermon Outlines and Study Guides: Simple, Self-Directed Instructions on Being a Disciple (from the perspective of the pew), are available from Amazon.

The work of talented photographer Madeleine Lenagh continues to gain recognition. She has been published in Wild Planet Photo Magazine and two of her pictures were selected for the 2019 Netherlands Edition of National Geographic Calendar.

Deborah Mayberry died in September 2018. She had been living in her hometown of Northfield where she was active in the Garden Club and organized the Northfield Farmers Market.

For most of the past fifteen years, Dana (a/k/a/ Lee) Gordon has taken a week’s vacation in South Florida toward the end of winter and used the occasion to organize annual mini-reunions attended by fellow vacationers, full-time Florida residents, and snowbirds. Now, with the purchase of a home in Boynton Beach, he has become one of those snowbirds. The mini-reunions will continue, with perhaps a bit more scheduling flexibility, and a guest room ready for visitors.

Stay up on all the min-reunions, celebrations and other happenings by visiting our class Facebook page, which has grown to nearly 150 members. If you are on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership. And if you do not already receive occasional class-specific emails, send a message to mounthermon1967@comcast.net and get added to the mailing list.

Fall/Winter 2018 Edition:

Since the last column, we lost our class teachers Elaine Rankin ’55 and Carroll Bailey. Memorial services were held them at Christ Church in Andover, Massuchusetts, just across the street from the quaint Rose Cottage, where the Baileys lived from 1997 through 2012. Representing the class at those services were Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Bobbi Burdge Rosenquest, John Rosenquest, Pam Crawford, Robin Whyte Reisman, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Chuck Streeter, Dana Gordon, and Tom Hanna.

Kori Hedman Calvert and husband Scott ’62 were on a trip to Southeast Asia following a week in Myanmar when Scott was hospitalized in Bangkok and diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. They were medically evacuated back to the States in what Kori reports being a walking ad for travel insurance. Three weeks into his treatment, Scott died on March 16th. Kori was comforted by the NMH classmates who attended beautiful memorial services in Oregon and DC. She was able to spend time with Kit Williams Krentz and Carol Coleman while she was in Washington.

News of the death of Peter Henwood had escaped the notice of fellow British exchange student John Cartledge until he spotted it here on the class website. John remembered Peter was as an entrepreneurial free spirit, to whom he was indebted for his skills as a matchmaker on Saturday nights. Their politics were poles apart, but their expatriate status brought them together. Because he already held a pilot's license when he was a student, Peter was able to take John aloft in a tiny two-seater plane one afternoon and they spent a happy hour or two buzzing the campus, an experience John has neither forgotten nor ever repeated. More recently, John took advantage of a nephew's posting to Cairo as a diplomat to visit Egypt and immerse himself in several millennia's worth of temples, tombs, pyramids, mosques, churches, citadels, museums, souks, camels and the like. He traveled up the Nile valley to Luxor and Aswan by train. John’s interest in flags has not flagged, and he recently contributed an article to the Journal of the North American Vexillological Association entitled "Oh say, can you see ...?", exploring references to flags in the lyrics of national anthems.

On one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, you may spot a beautiful wooden boat that looks like a Chris Craft, and it literally is, having been hand built by Chris Crosby from original plans for a 1939 Chris Craft Barrel Back. The construction took two years and was his third maritime project. Previously, Chris had restored a 1940 Chris Craft and a 1952 Shepherd, but he says building a boat from scratch was actually easier.

Ritchie Davis Dow was named Volunteer of the Year for Partners for World Health, a non-profit organization based in Maine which distributes serviceable medical devices to programs in need and organizes medical missions in developing countries. This is one of the groups that helps support the work of John and Tricia Watson Bartlett in Tanzania.

Tina Dobsevage joined the ranks of proud grandparents with the birth of her grandson in March.

Sheila Morse continues to serve as chair of Guilford, Vermont select board, but is finding that her position takes a toll emotionally and in terms of time available to travel. Many classmates have benefited from Sheila’s hospitality at her large home near NMH, but as her household shrinks with her 17 year old nephew leaving to do his gap year, the house is on the market, and she plans to build a smaller place nearby.

Judith Hull celebrated her daughter’s graduation from college as a public health major. Judith is living in northern New Hampshire where she is reclaiming her ruinous terraced gardens one weed at a time. She loves the snow with its variations and drama and does not mind the cold, ruinous terraced gardens, one weed at a time. She does miss DC and the urban energy, however. Prior to their move north, Judith and her husband Dennis had a reunion with Elizabeth Moore O’Meara and her husband Tom.

Will Ackerman reports he had never even contemplated the idea of retirement, but thought things might slow down a bit. That is not the case as he continues to tour in three different formats (Windham Hill’s Winter Solstice, FLOW, and Four Guitars.) across the country and beyond. FLOW is a quartet featuring Will and three artists he has produced over the years. Their 2017 debut CD won Album of the Year at the ZMR Radio convention in March. They plan to release another recording in 2019 following a second Carnegie Hall appearance in September. Will toured Japan in July. He was honored to be the first non-Japanese musician to play for the latest incarnation of the Nara Kasuga Shrine. Four Guitars will release their first album this summer and tour for three weeks in December. Check Will’s website, www.williamackerman.com, for tour dates.

Linda Hoff Irving gained a publishing credit when her essay “Lord, Make Me a Babe” was selected for inclusion in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Empowered Woman. The article is based on Linda’s reflections after an NMH reunion.

The past year started well for Madeleine Lenagh with the birth of her granddaughter Cato and trips to New Zealand and Iceland, but came to a screeching halt in November when she tripped while birding and smashed her shoulder on the tarmac. Rehab has been a long, slow process, taking the good part of a year. To compensate for not being able to go on a photography trip this year, she spent a week with her son and his family in the Canary Islands, just relaxing, reading and splashing in the pool. In April, Maddi enjoyed a day with Marty Ratcliff Rix in Utrecht. She would love to see other classmates if they are in the area.

Judy Boice hosted a Florida Gulf Coast meet-up at her home in Longboat Key in February with Carol Bullard-Bates, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney and Dana Gordon. Ann Haigis Banash had to work that day, but met the group for dinner the night before. Jean Walker was to co-host but could not attend due to illness. Jay Garbose checked in with Face Time when back pain prevented him from making the cross-state trek. A month later, however, Jay was able to attend the annual South Florida get-together in Delray Beach. Also there were Jay’s brother Dan Garbose ’65, Kirsten Besanko, Brad Waterman, Buddy Levine, Dana Gordon, and Will “Winks” Whitaker, who traveled from Tennessee and spent a few days as the houseguest of both Brad and Jay.

Four Moore-Daly friends got together in June to keep the promise made at our 50th to reunite every year. Kathy Cole Gibbons, Linda Hoff Irvin, Cindy French Pasackow and Trish Watson Bartlett met in NYC where they visited the Met and Governor’s Island and saw the musical “Come from Away” and the movie “Book Club.” Most of all, they enjoyed each other’s company and catching up over morning lattes made with Tanzanian beans supplied by Trish, wonderful dinners, and fine wine.

Plans are underway to celebrate our collective 70th birthdays in 2019. We will keep you posted via email, and you can stay up on all the happenings by visiting our class Facebook page, which has grown to nearly 150 members. If you are on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to www.facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership. And if you do not already receive occasional class-specific emails, send a message to mounthermon1967@comcast.net and get added to the mailing list.

Spring/Summer 2018 Edition:

As we submit these notes, our 50th reunion still remains fresh in our minds. As you read this, we are already 20% of the way to our 55th. Will Eddy was one of many who had a great time. He and his wife Anna followed up with a December trip to Boston to see their daughter-in-law Jessica in the BEDLAM production of “Sense and Sensibility” at A.R.T. Rick Eastwick and wife Maria joined them at the show. Will was counting on Rick to remember anything from their year together in Crossley under the care of Rudy Weber. Boston was but one stop on the Eddy itinerary. They also traveled to Mexico, Israel and France last year. All were fabulous but Paris was special and boating down the Soane with just one other couple was spectacular. Brought some vinous memories home to share at Thanksgiving with family and friends. Much for which to be thankful this year as always.

John Cartledge expressed his pleasure that the 50th reunion was such a success. Although he couldn't make it in person, from half way (well, a quarter, anyhow) around the world, he was with us all in spirit, at least. Officially, he retired from "wage slavery" a few years ago in order to concentrate on other interests, such as researching and promoting a network of walking trails in the countryside around his home town (http://www.elstreeborehamwood-tc.gov.uk/index.php/yourtown/teddy-s-trails), and serving as a trustee of an educational charity that promotes the study of elections and electoral systems. John also presented a paper at the 27th International Congress of Vexillology (the study of flags) this year. John's successor as rail safety adviser to London TravelWatch and Transport Focus has gone on sabbatical leave, so he finds himself unexpectedly co-opted back into gainful employment. It's comforting to know that one hasn't been forgotten, and that we seniors still have our uses when need arises.

Known to her classmates as "Ducky," Carole Drake is retired, living in Ferrisburg, Vermont for 45 years now. Living close to Lake Champlain and the mountains over the years, Ducky has skied and boated a great deal, but she has become less enamored of the cold winter so she and her husband spend the winter in Mazatlan, Mexico and she highly recommends it. Ducky was a French teacher for years but is now learning Spanish.

Lissa Perrin (formerly known as Mary) shared some happy news. She and her significant other of the past four years, Dale Stewart Johnson, recently became engaged. They plan to get married in the summer of 2019, after Lissa retires. She thinks it feels funny, at our ages, to say we have a fiancée, but they are both very happy.

Bill Johnson's second grandchild, Miles Louis Johnson arrived in August. Bill calls him a great blessing. Bill very much enjoy his once a week "doc" gig that his hospital has allowed him. He also put his skills to work on a brief medical mission.

Fall 2017 was very busy and bittersweet for Jay Garbose. After evacuating for Hurricane Irma with his Mom, her caregivers, and his dog, Jay got a beautiful weekend in New York City, sort of the calm before the storm. Will Ackerman and his group named FLOW debuted their New Age album with a concert at Carnegie Hall. Jay was invited to their after-party and got to meet Will’s wife, Susie, and many hugely creative Grammy level music people. NMH friends’ gatherings have been numerous and staying in touch electronically with many more. Prior to the concert, Sylvia Kuhner Baer and husband John hosted Holly Taggart Joseph and John Keller, and Jay for a swanky luncheon at the NYC Yale Club. Tina Dobsevage made time from her incredibly busy medical practice and joined Jay for Sunday. However, not long after, Jay lost his mom. Helping to offer some comfort, Maureen and Chuck Streeter made a home-cooked dinner at their timeshare in Palm Beach. Jay credits our 50th Reunion with helping bring him together with old and new friends.

Congratulations to Sylvia Kuhner Baer who was named a Yale Fellow. She has been chosen as a leader in her profession, an honor in the world of academia. The selection was especially meaningful to Sylvia who was told 50 years ago that she could not attend Yale because she was a woman.

Max Millard didn't send any news about himself, but he wanted to be sure we mentioned "Broken Places," the book written by Les Petrovics (https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-87113-359-5).

Wendy Alderman Cohen hosted a lobster dinner for classmates in September at her home on Cape Cod. The feast was thoroughly enjoyed by Becky Parfitt and Vin Kennedy, Laura Thompson, Bonnie Parmenter, and Donna Eaton Mahoney. Les Petrovics had planned to attend but was winging his way back to Budapest after spending three months on the Cape following reunion.

Many more mini-reunions are in the planning stages around the country. Stay in touch through the class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Fall/Winter 2017 Edition:

In June, it was our class’ turn to be the guests of honor at reunion, as we celebrated our 50th. Will Ackerman, Kurt Adams, George Alexander, Molly Lininger Alkan, Jim Archibald, Karilon Babbit-Grainger, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Jim Baldwin, Carol Ball, Ann Haigis Banash, Gary Barnes, Joel Bartlett, Trish Watson Bartlett, Debbie Bates, Faris Bennett, Judy Boice, Mary Briggs, Carol Bullard-Bates, Bruce Burnside, Kori Hedman Calvert, Eliza Childs, George Christodoulo, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Chris Crosby, Nancy Crothers, Szarka Davenport, Tina Dobsevage, Lance Dow, Ritchie Davis Dow, Rick Eastwick, Lois Robinson Eddy, Will Eddy, Mark Eluto, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Art Gager, Jay Garbose, Kathy Cole Gibbons, Ellen Cooper Gill, Brand Ginsburgh, Beth Gordett, Dana Gordon, Cap Greene, Tom Hanna, Gene Harmon, Reggie Harrington, LaMarian Hayes-Wallace, Tink Head, Nancy Hemmerly, Pam Crawford Irving, Linda Hoff Irwin, Irmis Simonsuri Jarvinen, Bill Johnson, Jim Johnson, Holly Taggart Joseph, Mindy Hatheway Kantor, Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Vin Kennedy, Dan Kerkhoff, Kit Williams Krents, Jim Ladzinski, Jeff Leighton, Linda Richardson Lowman, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Chris Warden Malley, Fred Margeson, Ross Mason, Jim McBean, Katie McCorkle, JJ Meehl, Will Melton, Marlee Meriwether, Dick Metafora, Max Millard, Claudia Stanley Moose, Sheila Morse, John Mudge, Janet Fleming Mulwitz, Tom Myers, Deb Wiggin Neff, Cindy French Pasackow,Tony Peters, Les Petrovics, Dick Powell, Robin Whyte Reisman, Marty Ratcliff Rix, Bill Rokicki, John Rosenquest, Ruth Anderson Rowles, Pete Savas, Sam Schreiber, Storm Scott, Paul Shekleton, Dave Siegfried, Jim Smolen, Chuck Streeter, Wendy Syer, Roy Taylor, Laura Thompson, Debby Buhrman Topliff, Bob Turner, Nan Dodd Uhl, Bill Walker, Jean Walker, Skip Walker, Brad Waterman, Charlie Watt, and Bill Whitaker spent all or part of the long weekend on campus, enjoying each others’ company, reliving old times, renewing friendships, and remembering departed teachers and classmates. In addition, eight or ten brought their spouses, and a few others brought offspring, all of whom seemed to enjoy themselves, as well.

There were some notable absences, too. Helen Fowler served on the reunion committee and participated in the planning for several years leading up to the event, but underwent spinal surgery just a couple of weeks earlier. While she recuperated, she was able to keep up with reunion happenings via the class’ Facebook page.

Maddi Lenagh had the best reason imaginable to miss our 50th reunion. Her granddaughter Cato was born on May 29th. She’s the picture of health and a sweet, placid baby. Siblings Sara (age 7) and Stan (age 5) adore her. Maddi also says she “followed the reunion via the photos on Facebook and pored over the wonderful reunion yearbook. I do wish I had been there; it looked like so much fun! The organizing committee did a wonderful job. I have to admit; I got way too much credit for the photo editing in the yearbook. During the critical period of the workflow, I was in New Zealand for a month. So the lion’s share of the credit goes to Joel Bartlett. It’s been fun to collaborate with him and to share our love of photography. Hopefully, I can join you all in five years.”

Mark Blaisdell also had a major family event demanding his attention – his daughter’s wedding. Mark and his wife Nancy celebrated the marriage of their daughter Amy at a seaside ceremony in coastal New Hampshire with weather as glorious as that which we enjoyed a week earlier on campus.

Lissa Perrin’s reason for missing the reunion was she had just returned from a three-week trip to the Sacred Valley in Peru with her partner Dale. They went to a healing retreat outside Pisac for two weeks doing shamanic journeying and other healing practices, then had nearly a week on their own to spend at Machu Picchu and ruins outside of Cusco. A couple of years ago the pair went to India for three weeks as well. Lissa is grateful to have these travel/cultural opportunities at this time in her life.

Jonathan Prince has lived in Sacramento for the past 40 years, and plans to retire soon from the State of California where he works in health services, managing a number of health plans they coordinate with the Medi-Cal program. He has two daughters in their early 30s. Since he already had plans to travel east during the summer to see one of them in the Air Force in Florida, as well as to attend a memorial service for his mother who passed away at age 100 in Maine, a second cross-country trip to attend reunion just wasn’t in the cards. Jonathan has been playing acoustic guitar for a few years. He started out playing for kids at his church, and has branched out into sharing gospel music at a rest home and the county juvenile hall every week. He reports his health is still good enough to paint an occasional house in town, something he used to do regularly years ago.

Max Millard’s experience was different from previous reunions, which were dominated by practicing and performing with the Led Balloon Jug Band. This time he especially enjoyed hearing a lot of other people's music and having the opportunity to connect and reconnect with so many classmates. But what Max believes he will most remember is the memorial ceremony, in which we rang a chime for those who will never return to the campus and commemorated their lives with flowers.

Among those being memorialized at the ceremony were Peter Henwood, whose wife sent word that he had died in November of 2016 and recalled that he often spoke about the time he spent at Mount Hermon. And we learned of the death of Lenny Rankin, just a few weeks before reunion, on April 21, 2017.

Former faculty offspring Robin Whyte Reisman, Jim Baldwin, and Jim Archibald were invited to cut the ribbon at the dedication of Northfield House at 67 Mount Hermon Road, the faculty residence donated to the school as a reunion gift from our class.

One of the highlights of the reunion was special concert performed exclusively for our class and a few invited guests by Will Ackerman, with the able accompaniment of Jim Baldwin. Will is a renowned musician, but it turns out he is also a skilled raconteur. His between-songs repartee was as enjoyable as the music itself. He even elicited an audible gasp of delight from Sylvia Kuhner Baer when he mentioned Cape May, NJ, one of several places Sylvia and her husband John happily call home. During the show, Jim told this story: “At our reunion twenty-five years ago, Will, my roommate from junior and senior year, handed me our 245 North Crossley room key, saying, ‘Here. You keep it for the next twenty-five.’ I saw the key in a drawer from time to time and eventually it made it to the glove compartment of my truck. In March, I had dinner with Will when he was in town for a recording session and a concert. Once we were seated, I pulled the key out of my pocket and handed to him. ‘Your turn,’ I said. After a few moments of laughter over this extended game, we agreed upon a shorter period going forward. Flirting with both optimism and pessimism, we landed on 5-years.”

Among the terrific events at the reunion was the NMH Golf Tournament, held on Friday at the Crumpin-Fox Club near campus. Bob Turner and Gary Barnes represented the class of 1967 and teamed with Casey Vollinger (Alumni Office) and Kevin Klein (Athletic Director). The scramble format kept the play very relaxed and the Alumni Staff had it well organized. Assuming they have the event at the next reunion, Bob says anybody who likes golf should put it in their plans. This was Bob’s first time back for reunion and he found it to be a wonderful weekend that he was really pleased to be able to attend.

“Boy it was so good to return to NMH and spend time with the old gang,” exclaimed Ross Mason, while admitting he recognized only a handful of the guys and NONE of the women. Reminiscing was the order of the day during meals in Alumni Hall with Jim Johnson and Will Melton, among others. Ross enjoyed the thirty-mile bike ride was fun but felt the competition was lacking. Even the young guys had trouble with the pace set by a 67-year old Hermonite. For the 55th reunion, Ross thinks they need to find a few guys from the classes of 2007 and 2017 so the pace will be a bit quicker.

Sheila Morse had fun facilitating the "Rewired, Not Retired" discussion on reunion weekend. With lots of good stories, questions, and ideas and observations, it seemed that the discussion could have gone on for a couple more hours. She wonders if, perhaps we should consider continuing it on another occasion. “Good conversations and encounters throughout the weekend! What a great group of people. And so many inspiring moments, particularly at convocation.” Sheila mentioned to her partner Dick Smith that, other than wishing to be done with a mortgage and to not experience the vicissitudes of an aging body, between a great family, wonderful friends, lovely home, engaging community and local political scene, terrific opportunities to travel and otherwise enjoy life, and the good fortune to have the wherewithal to be able to do so, there's nothing she would want to change.

Before heading back to Tanzania, Trish Watson Bartlett and husband John took some time to put the slides and commentary from their reunion presentation on combating AIDS in Africa into a short paper. Trish reports having had rich experiences and many with people she had not seen or really known before, and feels we are very lucky to have such a fantastic class.

Lois Robinson Eddy observed that many classmates were in professions helping under-served populations such as special education and social work. Lois retired in May from supervising student teachers from Syracuse University. She is still working as the director of Women’s Life Ministries for her church, helping to organize Bible studies and mentoring groups. She and Bob have three daughters and four grandchildren and they enjoy spending time with them in the summer. They spend a week at the Cape Cod National Seashore. Bob recently retired and they are still trying to decide what direction their post-retirement will take.

Irmis Simonsuri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon loved the reunion and the many powerful emotional connections for both of them, reconnecting with old friends, talking with Head of School Peter Fayroian, meeting and talking with current students and teachers, and the topper: the greeting we Class of '67 members received as we marched into Memorial Chapel for convocation. Following reunion, Irmis and Gene drove from Brattleboro to Waterbury, Vermont, then over to Gorham, NH and south to Bretton Woods. They took the Cog Railway to the top of Mt. Washington under sunny skies. Then it was on to the home of Bonnie Parmenter Fleming before flying to Helsinki and on to Irmis' summer home in the Baltic.

Nancy Crothers and Nancy Hemmerly recently renewed their East Gould friendship and traveled to reunion together from their respective homes in DC and PA. Nancy H reported that they had an unforgettable time. She especially enjoyed getting to know Ann Haigis Banash and hearing about her service to the Greenfield and Gill communities. She thanks Jeff Leighton for his sensitive discussion about caring for an aging parent. After caring for her former husband until his death last year, Nancy is now caring for her 90 year old mother. Her joy is her six grandchildren and three children who have grown into quite interesting adults.

Judy Boice found the reunion to be an unforgettable weekend and has been caught up in the movement to keep it going until our next official reunion in 2022. She has offered to host a mini-reunion on Florida’s Gulf coast in February, to go along with the get-together that annually takes place on the Atlantic side each March. To be kept up to speed on either Sunshine State gathering, drop a line to Dana Gordon at mounthermon1967@comcast.net.

Jean Walker has volunteered to co-host the Florida Gulf side mini-reunion with Judy. Getting up to speed with Jean’s life since Northfield, after two years at St. Lawrence University, Jean transferred to the University of Arizona where she earned degrees in English and secondary education. She taught junior high school for five years before marrying and moving to the Detroit area and working for a series of department stores as a buyer and assistant branch manager. After losing her job in a corporate takeover, she did outplacement testing, which revealed her true calling was accounting. She then moved from Florida to Connecticut and studied for her CPA but never took the exam because the job she loved was as a financial analyst. Her employer transferred her back to Florida in 2010. When her division closed two years later, she worked as a membership associate for Selby Gardens. In 2014, she retired to have a total shoulder replacement. She has since had a knee replacement, second shoulder replacement, and is scheduled for a hip replacement. She divorced “ages ago” and lives in Sarasota with her two kitties who are her “children.”

During a break in reunion activity, Dana Gordon and Donna Eaton Mahoney took a brief side trip to Cameron’s Winery in Northfield, where they encountered Debbie Mayberry who is director of the Farmer’s Market there. (If you happen to be in the area, Cameron’s limited-edition blackberry chocolate-infused wine is worth a stop.

John Mudge summed up our 50th this way: “What a great reunion. I am now back on my hillside in New Hampshire looking out at the deer and turkeys in my field. It was great seeing and catching up with classmates at reunion, and it was great seeing and learning about NMH today. Fifty years ago we graduated from two good schools. From what I learned about NMH at the reunion, NMH is today one very good school. Now to prepare for the 55th reunion.”

We plan to carry the success of our reunion onward. A challenge has been issued to have more of us present for our 55th than the Class of 1972 can assemble for their 50th. Clear your calendar for June, 2022! Being the go-to place for posting and viewing reunion pictures (thanks to Kendra Davis ’14 for her invaluable assistance) helped grow our class Facebook page to nearly 150 members. If you’re on Facebook and don’t already belong to the group, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Spring/Summer 2017 Edition:

Will Eddy’s son Max married Jessica Frey in August. They honeymooned in Montauk, N.Y. and unexpectedly in Maine where she was filming. Will and wife Anne were excited about visiting him in Pittsburgh to see his performance as Happy in Death of A Salesman at the Public Theater, but not before escaping the cold with a family trip to Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

Dr. Bill Johnson is semi-retired. He had planned to be fully retired, but he continues to work one full day a week for his old practice, as a crisis in primary care medicine rendered them unable to replace him. He also took a fall road trip to Florida for his daughter's destination wedding in Sarasota at the Mote Marine Laboratory, a unique venue that fit into her passion for ocean conservation. Bill visited a med school classmate in Pinehurst, N.C., as well as reconnected with a 40 year ago partner in practice from the Indian Health Service during his time at Pine Ridge Indian reservation.

Gary Barnes says he has no real news to report, other than he is alive and kicking, still enjoying some golf, and hoping to someday return to the cockpit

as a private pilot. Gary is one of the stalwarts who regularly attends our annual South Florida mini-reunions in early March in the Ft. Lauderdale-Delray-Palm Beach area. Anyone who is interested in being kept up to speed on these gatherings can email Dana Gordon at mounthermon1967@comcast.net.

Eliza Childs reports she and Will Melton are the proud and delighted grandparents of identical twin boys, Elias and Garrett Melton, born in October to Will’s son Cooper and wife Wendy. The boys join older sister Lucille, age 6.

Wendy Alderman Cohen also celebrated the birth of a grandchild, Alexandra to son Peter and his wife Lisa. Wendy and husband Jeff are enjoying the special delights of being first time grandparents to an adorable little girl.

The. Stork continued to be busy in November, bringing her first grandchild to Melinde Hatheway Kantor. Mackenzie Jean was named in honor of Melinde's mother, Biology teacher Jean Hatheway. The following day, Donna Eaton Mahoney welcomed her first granddaughter, Frances Quinn Lavalle.

Ritchie Davis Dow retired from engineering in 2013, but continued working on an as-needed basis for a couple of years. While she does almost no engineering now, she decided to do some tutoring on-line with a company called tutor.com. Ritchie helps students with various math subjects (algebra, algebra 2, pre-calculus, trigonometry, geometry) and also with essay. She enjoys doing that because the hours are completely flexible, it is rewarding and she can work from home. Husband Lance Dow worked as an electrical designer but got out of that field in the 90s, and has worked in various fields since then. He is now fully retired. Ritchie loves retirement, is a five-year breast cancer survivor, and values every day that she’s in good health. She focuses on being as physically and mentally active as possible, so she and Lance play pickleball at the Y and go on long walks. The tutoring keeps mentally alert and I enjoy reading all kinds of books. In an effort to become more involved as a citizen, Ritchie has taken several steps, including volunteering in two local organizations: Partners for World Health (PWH) and Portland Housing Authority (PHA). PWH collects unused medical supplies that would have been sent to landfills and they ship them to physicians/hospitals in countries in need. PHA serves a diverse community of immigrants and people of all backgrounds. Her role there is to help in their study group through tutoring and assisting with learning. If all that were not enough, she is in the beginning stages of co-authoring a book with her sister-in-law.

For six years, back in the 70s, Paul Shekleton lived in Barcelona, where he met his wife Clara. They now live in Manchester, Conn. and have three grown kids -- Elena in Aurora, Colo., Mark, up the road in Vernon, Conn., and Alex in Chicago. So far there's just one grandkid. He spent most of his career rehabbing, repairing and maintaining rental units around Hartford. Now retired, Paul spend sa few hours a week at the local community kitchen. He’s part of the West Hartford Fiction Writers group, producing somniferous short fiction. He also teaches Biblical history courses, off and on, at the church they attend. Paul says, “I am officially el chacho around the house while Clara brings home the bacon.”

Charlotte Hord Valliere checked in from St Andrews, NB, Canada where she spends half weeks with her mother, Lois Borden Hord, N'40. Charlotte reports a sense of freedom by not having a cellphone, television, or Facebook, but finds herself at a disadvantage when she tries to use those tools. At press time, she was debating between attending the reunion or walking the Camino in Spain.

Lorry Gresham Kenton has recently retired after 40 years in nursing. She and Marc, her husband of 33 years, have two sons. Ante is a Ph.D candidate in chemistry and Steve, recently married, lives in Seattle. Lorry spends her time volunteering at her church and various community organizations. Marc, an engineer, continues to work at his own business. They have lived in Hanover, NH for19 years, moving from Chicago where they met.

Wendy Kimball Pirsig is the grandmother of two from her daughter, who graduated from NMH in 1999. Wendy will be unable to attend the reunion due to her husband's health issues, sends a hearty hello and warm wishes.

We recently learned of the August 2013 death of Betsy Eckfeldt from cancer. Betsy attended Northfield for sophomore year. She graduated from Middlebury and became a preschool teacher in Waitsfield, VT. She also taught yoga and mindful meditation to children.

Each year, in addition to the one held on campus, there’s an off-campus performance of Christmas Vespers that alternates between Boston and New York. In December 2016, the venue was Boston and, as has become customary, a group of ’67 classmates got together to attend. Before the service, Peter Savas and his wife Jane hosted a reception at their Beacon Street home. Enjoying the hospitality were Wendy Alderman Cohen, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Vin Kennedy, Bill Johnson and his wife Pat, Dana Gordon, and Jen Williams ’87 of the NMH Alumni Office. They were joined at the church by Dick Bautze. Following the service, the school held an after-party at Tico’s Restaurant and Bar, which was attended by Peter, Wendy and Dana. Also in keeping with tradition, the trio outlasted all other classes, both older and younger, and were the last to leave.

Many of the above listed classmates are among the 120+ members of our class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Fall/Winter 2016 Edition:

For the fourth time in the last five reports, we begin with sad news. Chris Guida died in January of '16 from complications from surgeries he had just before Thanksgiving. According to his wife, it looked like Chris had once again cheated death as he was making good recovery at home. His wonderful sense of humor had returned and he was enjoying entertaining and cheering up his many friends who came to visit. When the time came he went incredibly quickly and painlessly and while he was far too young it is just the way he would have chosen to go. Here is a link to Chris’s obituary:
Chris Guida Obituary
The page dedicated to all deceased members of the Northfield and Mount Hermon Classes of 1967 can be found here: Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Writer and editor Roger Hahn has been living and working in New Orleans for nearly two decades, having previously spent long stints as a magazine editor at Washington University in St. Louis and as a communications manager with Chevron Corporation in the SF Bay Area. Most recently, he has been working with the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities on KnowLA.org, an online cultural encyclopedia, and is the author of The Sounds of Louisiana: Twenty Essential Music Makers, an illustrated, comprehensive overview of Louisiana's rich musical heritage published last February.

Jack Osborne accelerated his plan to move to the wilds of Maine when his house in NY sold just three weeks after being listed. And he says he could not be happier. Jack looks forward to seeing everyone at our 50th reunion.

Wendy Syer spent her senior year at Tufts University in Germany, and wishes she were still fluent in German. She served in Peace Corps in Uganda (briefly, before being evacuated) and Malaysia. This led eventually to a career in international education. Wendy earned a Masters in Intercultural Communication from the University of Minnesota before moving to The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1985 to work in international student and scholar advising. And there she has stayed. Over the years, her job has evolved from education and communication to immigration law. She retired this year. Wendy and husband Dick Trowbridge, a fellow Peace Corps volunteer who owns a custom woodworking business, have a 29-year old son who’s an environmental activist. Wendy plans to attend our 50th.

Carlos Castellanos and his wife have stopped living in foreign countries and “traveling like lunatics,” and are spending as much time as possible at their home in Vermont when not in New York. Carlos also plans to be at the reunion.

Bob Turner has spent a lot of time on the high seas, sailing his boat from the Caribbean to South Florida to Charleston, SC to New England and points in between.

Debby Buhrman Topliff has another book on Amazon. This one is a novel entitled Hiding. Debby's book on Amazon

Cynthia French Pasackow retired from teaching at Champlain Valley Union High School in Vermont in 2013. She is really looking forward to our reunion next summer.

Also in the Green Mountain State, Sheila Morse is happily retired, living in the rural Vermont town of Guilford after having lived and worked all around the US and in many places overseas. She remains deeply involved in community politics and life; and happily immersed in managing a multi-generation household, which is always open to friends and families. Steve Myerhans and wife Marilyn have over 100 acres of tree fruit and organic vegetables under cultivation in central Maine but in the spring he took a reprise from farming and traveled to Honduras with a human rights delegation to investigate and document the murder of Berta Caceres, who was admired around the world for her passionate struggle in defense of her people and their ancestral lands from rampant mega development projects. They visited her family, several human rights organizations and met with officials of the U.S. Embassy to express solidarity with the indigenous people of Honduras. Steve’s work in Honduras over the last 18 years has been a truly rich, rewarding and educational aspect of his life. Steve and Marilyn also took a 2-week vacation to Colombia, which included a fantastic four day trek into the jungle to the Lost City of the Tayronas.

Former exchange student John Cartledge has retired as Head of Policy and Research at London TravelWatch, but still serves on a number of official advisory bodies. He received an honorary degree from the University of Plymouth for services to railway safety, and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual London Transport Awards ceremony. Retirement has allowed him to take up a number of other interests that were on hold while earning a living took precedence, such as being a trustee of a charity that promotes the study of elections and electoral systems. John has revived his childhood enthusiasm for flags, and recently gave a paper on the history of the red flag as a symbol of rebellion to the 26th International Congress of Vexillology, held in Sydney. At the invitation of the local council in his home town of Boreham Wood, near London, he and his fox terrier housemate Teddy have researched and published a network of 18 walking trails through the countryside around the town. John would be very willing to escort any classmates along one if they have a day to spare when next in London.

After graduating from Lafayette College, Bill “Winks” Whitaker joined the Peace Corps and taught chemistry in a boarding school in Uganda until the atrocities of Idi Amin prompted their departure after a year. Winks returned home and later joined ICI, a British Chemical Company, which sold off a business that became Lucite. He retired in June after 43 years of service, most recently as Business Director of their acrylic resins business. Winks, his wife and daughter, who’s been Executive Director of two chimp sanctuaries in the US, planned a fourth trip to Kenya where they’ve worked with a Methodist hospital in an AIDS orphan empowerment program, as well as his first return visit to Uganda, primarily for a gorilla trek

Coincidentally, an email request for Class Notes news generated an automated response from Bobbi Burdge Rosenquest saying she was in South Africa with a Wheelock College service learning trip.

Much to her surprise, Pam Crawford Irving moved back to Northwest Connecticut, where she grew up. She’s happily married to a man she dated one summer way back when but hadn’t seen for about 45 years, then reconnected at a party for her brother. Between them they have six children, two grandchildren and two on the way. Pam works part time for a non profit that enables elderly and disabled people to stay in their homes. She also has a garden maintenance business and has been practicing yoga for almost 20 years. Pam is hoping to see some fellow Merrill-Keepers at the reunion.

Now that he’s retired from his TV Chief Engineer job, Ross Mason has more time for his biking adventures, including a week of cycling in the Alps. Ross and his friends cycled 440 miles in six days with 62,000 feet of climbing some of the greatest Tour de France routes.

After graduation from Northfield Lorry Gresham Kenton (formerly known as Mary) graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville with a degree in nursing, worked as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Hospital for four years, then left to attend the University of Colorado in Denver, where she received a master’s degree in nursing in 1976, all the while focusing on care of the elderly. Next, it was on to Chicago to work as a nurse at the Bowman Center at Rush University. In the Windy City she met Marc Kenton. They married in 1983 and had two boys. As Lorry spent ten years as a full time mom, Marc’s work was analyzing severe nuclear reactor accidents, including Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. In 1996 the family moved to Hanover, NH where they’ve been ever since. Lorry did part-time nursing in the area schools, started a parish nursing program in their church and spent seven years developing and growing that. She retired in 2012 and now spends her time volunteering in a variety of places and traveling to visit family and friends. Older son Nate did a PG year at Mt. Hermon. and is now a Ph. D. candidate in organic chemistry at Ohio State. Younger son Steve is finishing an MBA at Hult International Business School in Boston and plans to be married in Portland, Oregon.

After retiring a few years ago, Rick Eastwick and his wife have been doing some traveling, most notably leading a tour that included 32 high school students to Berlin and Munich,. With a focus on Nazi genocide, they visited many WWII sites as well as two concentration camps – Ravensbruck near Berlin and Dachau near Munich. At each of the two sites they toured the museums and had a service of remembrance in which the students participated with readings, prayers, and the saying of the names of some of those who perished. This was the sixth time they’ve led such a tour and they find it deeply meaningful and rewarding. No only do the Eastwicks plan to attend the 50th reunion, they have already made reservations at a bed and breakfast in Greenfield.

George Alexander spent 25 years as a journalist covering the upheaval of the printing industry caused by the rise of desktop publishing and printing on demand. When that industry eventually started to collapse, he tried various occupations, ultimately finding his niche as a marketer. The combination of analysis and writing suits him and he expects to keep at it for a few more years before retiring. George and wife of 43 years, Jan, have two children and participate in various musical activities, in particular, an a cappella quartet, The Trolley Stoppers (check them out on YouTube).

Gerry Sherman reports he started late, but is the very proud father of 2 daughters, now 20 and 23. He continues to work as a management consultant, with no intention of retiring and tells people what a great experience he had at Mount Hermon, although he did not realize it until he was 27.

During the past year, Kathy Cole Gibbons and husband Grant have presented their passports in Shanghai, Angkor Wat, Singapore, Cartegena, United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway. Grant continues in his position as Cabinet minister in Bermuda, where he has led attempts to reform the energy sector. Kathy serves on the Hospitals Board working on healthcare reform. The Gibbons are very active in hosting the America’s Cup and whether Kathy will make it to the 50th will depend on her obligations to the race. She invites classmates to Bermuda to enjoy the festivities.

Maybe it’s the white beard. For the past couple of years Dana (a/k/a Lee) Gordon has been Santa Claus on iHeart Media’s North Pole Channel, the most popular of their internet Christmas music channels.

In June, members of your 50th Reunion Committee attended reunion weekend on campus as observers. Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Chuck Streeter, Peter Savas, and Dana Gordon shadowed the class of ’66 and took in other reunion activities to glean ideas to make our 50th the best reunion ever. One thing that will contribute to that effort will be if we can break the record of 127 participants. With just shy of a year before the event, more than 100 classmates had already indicated they planned to attend, hoped to attend, or were seriously considering it. They include Will Ackerman, Kurt Adams, George Alexander, Tracy Ambler, Mollie Lininger Alkan, Jim Archibald, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Jim Baldwin, Carol Ball, Anne Haigis Banash, Joel Bartlett, Patricia Watson Bartlett, Deborah Bates, Farris Bennett, Janet Blair, Dan Atlan, Mary Briggs, Gretchen Reed Burnham, Bruce Burnside, Kori Hedman Calvert, Carlos Castellanos, Eliza Childs, George Christodoulo, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Chris Crosby, Nancy Crothers, Rich Dickinson, Tina Dobsevage, Ritchie Davis Dow, Rick Eastwick, Donna Eaton-Mahoney, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Helen Fowler, Art Gager, Jay Garbose, Kathy Cole Gibbons, Ellen Cooper Gill, Brand Ginsburgh, Beth Gordett, Dana Gordon, Tom Hanna, Gene Harmon, Jill Heathman, Nancy Hemmerly, Willy Hermann, Bill Hicks, Peter Higgins, Pam Crawford Irving, Linda Hoff Irwin, Alex Ives, Bill Johnson, Walter Johnson, Holly Taggert Joseph, Melinde Hathaway Kantor, Dave Keene, Becky Parfitt Kennedy,Vin Kennedy, Lorry Gresham Kenton, Jean McBean Koenig, Joanne Kolkebeck, Kit Williams Krents, Jim Ladzinski, Maddi Lenagh, Ross Mason, Margaret Maxwell McLaughlin, Will Melton, Marlee Meriwether, Steve Meyerhans, Tom Myers, Max Millard, Steve Miller, Claudia Stanley Moose, Sheila Morse, John Mudge, Janet Fleming Mulwitz, Deborah Wiggin Neff, Laurie Norton, Jack Osborne, Cynthia French Pasackow, Lissa Perrin, Robin Whyte Reisman, Martha Ratcliff Rix, Mike Rogers, Bobbi Burdge Rosenquest, John Rosenquest, Peter Savas, Samantha Schreiber, Gerry Sherman, Irma Riita Simonsuri, James Smolen, Chuck Streeter, Wendy Syer, Roy Taylor, Laura Thompson, Debby Buhrman Topliff, Bob Turner, Nancy Dodd Uhl, Jean Walker, Skip Walker, Brad Waterman, Charlie Watt, Bill Whitaker, Anne Barrus Zeller.

Many of the above listed classmates are among the 120+ members of our class Facebook page, where you should find an even more up to date roster of attendees. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Spring/Summer 2016 Edition:

Once again, we start with some sad news. In September health problems including a pulmonary embolism and stage 4 cancer claimed the life of Dick Upson. According to his daughters, he put up a valiant fight right up to the end. Will Melton and Jim McBean represented the class at the memorial service held at the church in Providence where Dick’s late wife Jeri had been church secretary. Here are Will’s recollections: “{former faculty members] Ann and Dave Burnham got the Upsons to become church members. Dick’s daughters and two brothers Tim and Terry ’56 were among the speakers. Dick was the son of a MH grad (Warren Upson ’22). When I lived in RI, Dick and I spent time playing music together (sometimes performing with the McBeans) and talking about the blues. He ran a jewelry industry show in Providence for ten years and worked in radio. Dick was a naturally funny man and much loved by students at Roger Williams University where he taught film, the sixties, and popular music and was advisor for the radio station. We once performed together on his show “Blues With A Feelin’” A gifted writer, he finished several unpublished screenplays and sci-fi stories, and a blog that’s archived at bluessoulrocknroll.blogspot.com. During Dick’s service, I couldn’t help but weep at the loss of a long-time friend, but the beautiful stained-glass Tiffany window of a waterfall landscape that lay behind the pulpit of Dick’s church was a comfort. Dick and I talked about the window at his wife’s funeral 12 years before Dick’s and I knew it held meaning for him. Me, too.”

On a more positive health note, Kip Story is doing well following heart surgery last summer. And after being briefly sidelined, Helen Fowler was able to resume the traveling she loves after recovering from back surgery.

One of the highlights of 2015 for Madeleine Lenagh was a July trip to New England. It was a sentimental journey to all childhood haunts. And, of course, Northfield was on the list. The trip to the States from the Netherlands provided the impetus for a two day get-together in Northfield in July. Maddi was joined by Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Robin Whyte Reisman, Ann Haigis Banash, Eliza Childs, Sheila Morse, and Dana Gordon for activities that included lunch at the Farm Table in Bernardston where the group met up with Carol Ball who works there.

They toured the Northfield campus on their own the first afternoon, and Maddi was relieved to see that the upkeep was better than in recent photos she’d seen. The next day, included a visit to the NMH campus where they were taken around by two students. Maddi had been a bit ambivalent about the consolidation and move to the Mt. Hermon campus, but this tour put her doubts to rest and strengthened her resolve to return for the 50th reunion.

Martha Ratcliff Rix and Mollie Lininger Alkan took advantage of Jean Walker's visit from Sarasota, FL to meet for dinner in New York and report they had a great time. Marty recalls the experience as being like time travel; they felt 16 again.

There were also mini-reunions on the west coast. When Jim Baldwin’s band Domestic Harmony played a gig at the Fenix in San Raphael, Calif., Gene Harmon stopped for a chat and Skip Walker and his wife Ann stayed for the whole show. A few weeks later, Gene did more socializing when he got together with Max Millard and his wife Salve in San Francisco. This time, Gene was accompanied by Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen, a/k/a “Irmis.” The story of the rekindling of the romance of Gene and Irmis has been chronicled in previous editions of this column.

He is retired from his railroad logistics company in 2013 and she still works part-time as an advisor for the University of Helsinki and has written and edited several books in Finnish. Irmis stays in touch with Bonnie Parmenter Fleming whose family was her host family during her Northfield days,

While dealing with Medicare and Social Security paperwork, John Mudge wonders if anyone in our class was thinking of such things back 1967. He is happily living on his N.H. hillside with a view into Vt. About 35% of his electricity comes from solar panels and most of the heat for the winter comes from a wood stove. And when there is a power outage, there’s a generator for backup. Having been self-employed since 1989 and being a business of “me and myself,” retirement really means saying to people that "I'm not taking on new clients." John hopes to have more time to do some research and writing in the coming years, with two book projects in the rough stages under way.

Melinde Hatheway Kantor and husband Jack still live in the home they built in Calais, VT 35 years ago. They spend time in the summer at their cottage 10 miles away and in February escape to Amelia Island, Fla. Melinde has a web business designing dance and skating costumes, while Jack does residential appraisals and housing development. They visit their daughters in Santa Monica, Calif. and Washington, DC as often as they can. Melinde would love to hear from NMH friends.

Patricia Bartlett Watson and husband John continue to travel back and forth to Moshi, Tanzania to work with a project linking Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center and Duke University. Trish is in charge of linking community to the HIV-research efforts in the form of a Community Advisory Board. Two years ago she facilitated a Youth Community Advisory Board so that they could talk about issues that seemed more pertinent to them. Trish and John have two granddaughters and enjoy coming home to see them and spending time at their cabin in the mountains of N.C.

Debby Buhrman Topliff has been working to put her various projects into finished form. Last January she published a book about her process of visual Bible study, And the Word Became Color. She’s also busy getting three novels into final form. The first one, Hiding, is ready and she hopes to finish revising the others soon. All are self-published through Amazon. She’s also looking for a publisher for Squirrel Tales, a children’s story. Debby has been calling classmates from Marquand to encourage them to come back for our 50th reunion and has gotten positive responses from Faris Bennett and Beth Gordett who, in turn, has encouraged Ann Shafmaster and Helen Drew to consider coming back.

Alex Ives is happy to have begun broadening his horizons again, doing a bit more traveling than he had in recent years. His journeys have included festive weekends in Ann Arbor, Mich., time along the Atlantic at Topsail Beach N.C. with family, and more family time in Anacortes, Wash.

No more full-time teaching for Laura Thompson. She’s semi-retired at last, but continuing with her part-time job, pouring wine in the tasting room of a local vineyard. She also substitute teaches in her local school, working with small children, rather than high school students with special needs. Laura is happy to have traded her previous 60 minute commute for a seven minute one and the option of saying, "sorry, not today!" She’s started to work on long neglected projects such as de-cluttering her house and taming her yard.

Les Petrovics got a job in distant work as neuro-psychologist researching Alzheimers. This will probably allow him to make the trip for our reunion and to share info on new meds with classmates who are interested. His son, Daniel, graduated from University of Groningen in Holland, and traveled in Asia after his semester abroad in S. Korea before applying for grad school in Sustained Development.

Will Eddy says he’s retired, but you can still occasionally see his face on a TV commercial. Capzasin HP (That's Will, no longer strugling with the pickle jar.) He and his wife Anne Nathans have been doing quite a bit of traveling and enjoying the some of the world’s great variety of food and wine.

Meanwhile, Peter Savas was giving some of his wine away. Peter donated approximately 1,080 bottles of vintage American, French, Spanish, Italian and Australian wines from his wine cellar to be used for special events or selectively auctioned. We can only hope there will be some left for us to enjoy at reunion, although Peter reports the oldest wines are from the 70s; nothing from ‘67.

We now have an official date for our 50th Reunion. It’s Thursday, June 1 through Sunday, June 4, 2017. Classmates who have said they plan to attend or are giving it serious consideration include, Will Ackerman, Kurt Adams, George Alexander, Tracy Ambler, Mollie Lininger Alkan, Jim Archibald, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Jim Baldwin, Carol Ball, Anne Haigis Banash, Joel Bartlett, Patricia Watson Bartlett, Janet Blair, Daniel Atlan, Mary Briggs, Cindy Bruins, Gretchen Reed Burnham, Bruce Burnside, Kori Hedman Calvert, Eliza Childs, George Christodoulo, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Chris Crosby, Nancy Crothers, Tina Dobsevage, Donna Eaton-Mahoney, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Helen Fowler, Jay Garbose, Dana Gordon, Tom Hanna, Gene Harmon, Jill Heathman, Nancy Hemmerly, Willy Hermann, Bill Hicks, Peter Higgins, Pam Crawford Irving, Linda Hoff Irwin, Alex Ives, Bill Johnson, Holly Taggert Joseph, Dave Keene, Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Vin Kennedy, Lorry Gresham Kenton, Jean McBean Koenig, Kit Williams Krents, Maddi Lenagh, Ross Mason, Margaret Maxwell McLaughlin, Will Melton, Marlee Meriwether, Tom Myers, Max Millard, Claudia Stanley Moose, Sheila Morse, John Mudge, Laurie Norton, Jack Osborne, Lissa Perrin, Robin Whyte Reisman, Martha Ratcliff Rix, Peter Savas, Samantha Schreiber, Irma Riita Simonsuri, Jim Smolen, Chuck Streeter, Wendy Syer, Laura Thompson, Debby Buhrman Topliff, Bob Turner, Nancy Dodd Uhl, Jean Walker, Skip Walker, Brad Waterman, Charlie Watt, Anne Barrus Zeller. If your name is not yet on the list, we hope you’ll let us know to add it.

Don’t forget to fill out and send back your reunion yearbook questionnaires, and if you’re interested in working on any aspect of reunion planning and execution, don’t hesitate to volunteer.

Many of the above listed classmates are among the 120+ members of our class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join by going to facebook.com/groups/nmh1967 and requesting membership. And add yourself to our interactive map: https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1410259 . If you have more than one residence, add them all.

Fall/Winter 2015 Edition:

We start with some sad news. Gretchen Christol Langdon passed away unexpectedly in March. Gretchen is remembered for her sense of humor and her dream to become a biologist whose work would improve the world in some small way. Through her work in global health care, she made that dream come true. Claudia Stanley Moose had been in touch with Gretchen in recent years and represented the class at the funeral.

Madeleine Lenagh is enjoying life in bucolic Brabant, Netherlands. Maddi’s plans to travel to the US to participate in an Audubon camp on Arts & Birding in Maine were the impetus for a mini-reunion in Northfield in July. Her first book, Passage of the Stork: Delivering the Soul, published in April, is selling well and getting great reviews in the US, UK, and Netherlands. The book is autobiographical and one scene is set at Northfield. Even though she had set up a counseling practice to have something to do after retiring, Maddi finds herself more drawn to writing, photography and art these days. And she still has plenty of time to do the things that she loves, including attending son Jules’ wedding in the UK and having fun with son Alan’s kids (age 3 and 5) in the Netherlands. Maddi can’t promise she’ll make it to the big reunion but will try.

Staying on that side of the pond, Ann E. Beardsley is still living in Bath, Somerset, UK. She’s mostly retired from community arts and community mediation, but keeps her hand in both with a few odd commissions. She also does some proofing of audio books, which is pretty much her ideal job. Annie always loved being read to ever since she was a child; now she even gets paid (a little) for it. About ten years ago she took up jewelry making and silversmithing, and now exhibits in a few gallery shows, art trails, and craft fairs local to Bath. Annie probably won’t be making the trans-Atlantic crossing for the 50th reunion but you can keep up with her at www.anniebeardsley.com.

Will Ackerman is busier than ever, producing album-length recordings for about 20 artists a year. Taking a page out of his experience with Windham Hill Records, Will has been releasing collection CDs of these artists entitled The Gathering, which have topped the Zone Music radio charts, even winning Album of the Year at the annual ZMR convention in New Orleans. Since The Gathering has gone on tour, Will has done more performance than he has in a very long time, and he’s loving it. Will’s wife Susan is involved in organic farming, raising chickens, ducks and geese. Will builds all the structures for the creatures and says their home is beginning to look like an old Vermont farm. He’s done some surfing in Mexico as well as recreational traveling to Death Valley and Mount Whitney as well as Italy and France. Will remains close to Jim Baldwin and the two got together when they were both on campus for the dedication of a new faculty house in Jim's mother's name, honoring Alice Baldwin's prolific contributions to the schools. Will says he was happy to see Marea Gordett's name in the most recent NMH Magazine and that he hopes to make it to the 50th.

Laura Thompson is very excited to have retired from teaching (high school special ed), although she will continue to work at her other job--pouring free wine at Zorvino Vineyards. She says it’s the only gig she’s ever had where drinking on the job is expected. You have to know the product! Beyond that, Laura will be using her free time working on a long overdue de-cluttering of her house, tending her gardens, and waiting to see what else develops.

Jane Latchis Silverthorne still resides in D.C., just below the National Cathedral. She and husband Robbie enjoyed an eye-opening 3 weeks in Morocco where they were joined by son Jonathan and daughter Alexandra part of the time. Marrakesh, Tangiers, and the Festival of Spiritual Music in Fes were highlights. Although the 105 degree temperatures kept them from desert treks, they enjoyed hikes in the Atlas Mountains. The Silverthornes spend as much time as they can in New Hampshire during the summer.

Margaret Maxwell McLaughlin, also a D.C. resident, plans to join the Cape Cod contingent when she and husband Steve retire in two years.

After selling their Cape Cod house and heading out on the road in their 5th wheel trailer a couple of years ago, Tracy Ambler and wife Nancy have been across the country twice both on a northerly route and along the southern border (in winter, which was not nearly as warm as they had assumed it would be). The Amblers have seen many state and national parks, iconic landmarks and miles and miles of glorious vistas and are well on their way to having visited all of the lower 48 states. They plan to land sometime in the next couple of years, probably in the Savannah, GA area.

Linda Hoff Irvin is thrilled to be teaching two courses at George Williams College in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. The fact that it has a most gorgeous campus on Lake Geneva makes it my dream job. Doing this in addition to my practice in Evanston, Il. which makes me a very busy but happy 65 year old.

Charlotte Valliere Hord checked in from her home in St, John, New Brunswick to express her delight with our class-sponsored Northfield House at 67 Mt. Hermon Rd.

Tina Dobsevage visited Sheila Morse after a professional society meeting in Boston in May. Then, it was on to Paris on one of her annual trips thanks to a translation project husband Jonathan House began a few years ago, publishing English translations of French psychoanalysts. The trip is a welcome respite from Tina’s solo practice of medicine, as well as a chance to visit with French friends of many years. Daughter Antonia graduated from NYU Law School in May and is specializing in immigration law. Their son is taking an intensive course in Classical Greek and is applying to medical school. Tina is looking forward to our 50th reunion and hopes to see most of our classmates there.

Sheila welcomed even more visitors when she hosted a luncheon at her home in Guilford, VT before Sacred Concert, attended by Tina Dobsevage, Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Wendy Alderman Cohen, and Donna Eaton Mahoney. After the concert, they had a chance to meet up with Deborah Mayberry who lives in Northfield.

So far, classmates who have said they plan to come or are giving it serious consideration include: Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Marlee Meriwether, Claudia Stanley Moose, Jean Walker, Sheila Morse, Holly Taggart Joseph, Lorry Gresham Kenton, Kit Williams Krents, Marlee Meriwether, Pam Crawford, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Laura Thompson, Helen Fowler, Debby Burnham Topliff, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Robin Whyte Reisman, Linda Hoff Irvin, Marty Ratcliff Rix, Tina Dobsevage, Mollie Lininger Alkan, Ann Haigis Banash, Mary Briggs, Kori Hedman Calvert, Jill Heathman, Samantha Schreiber, Nancy Dodd Uhl, Ann Barrus Zeller, Becky Parfitt & Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen, Gene Harmon, Bill Johnson, Joel Bartlett, Jim Baldwin, Jim Smolen, Dana Gordon, Chuck Streeter, Chris Crosby, Tom Hanna, Ross Mason, Peter Savas, Skip Walker, Charlie Watt, George Christodoulo, Dave Keene, Brad Waterman, Tom Myers, Bruce Burnside, George Alexander, Bob Turner, Max Millard, Bill Hicks, Carol Ball, Jim Archibald, Will Ackerman, Jean McBean Koenig, Patricia Watson Bartlett, Lissa Perrin, Maddi Lenagh, Nancy Hemmerly, Janet Blair & Daniel Atlan, Alex Ives, Peter Higgins, Tracy Ambler, Mark Blaisdell, Willy Hermann, Laurie Norton, John Mudge, Nancy Crothers, Holly Taggert Joseph, Margaret Maxwell McLaughlin. It’s not too late to add your name to the list.

Many of the above listed classmates are among the 120+ members of our class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join by going to facebook.com/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Spring/Summer 2015 Edition:

Peter Higgins joined the ranks of the retired and used some of his new free time to journey with wife Jen to visit their farmer son, Rory in Grass Valley, CA. Also on the itinerary is the cottage they share with Peter’s brother and a few others in County Kerry, Ireland. Travel time is a bit shorter to visit their three grandchildren in Concord, NH, just a couple of hours north of their Cape Ann, MA home.

Wendy Alderman Cohen and husband Jeff are happily retired on another Massachusetts Cape: Cape Cod, in Yarmouth Port. Son Peter was married in Montauk, NY in June. He and wife Lisa live and work in NYC. Wendy and Jeff were exited about their February 2015 journey to the historical and beautiful "old city" of Cartagena, Colombia for the wedding of daughter Laura. She and mate Jose both live and work in Boston.

Bill Hicks, his wife Ardena and daughters Rachel and Sarah live in Chattanooga, TN, where Bill is now retired after spending most of his professional life in health care administration, policy development and analysis. Now, he concentrates on his writing, primarily about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bill encourages everyone to visit his website at www.discipleshipanddiscipline.com, which is based on the yet-to-be-published book he’s written by the same title.

One more retiree is Nancy Dodd Uhl. Nan moved from State College, PA to Durango, CO in 2003 when she left her job as director of a nonprofit that helped international students acclimate to life in central PA. In Durango, she enrolled in a three-semester program in renewable energy, learning to design and install photovoltaic systems. She says she did OK, climbing around on roofs and keeping up with those 20-somethings. Because Nan has always enjoyed teaching, she went back to teaching basic skills at a community college and an adult education center. Since retiring in May, Nan has enjoyed hiking throughout the endless places to explore in the San Juan Mountains, the high desert and the red rock canyons in Utah.

Sheila Morse is one who does not equate retirement with leisure. In addition to world travel, she has become involved in politics in her hometown of Guilford, VT. Our class has benefitted from her proximity to campus and generous hospitality as she has provided accommodations for weekend Reunion meetings and a gathering before Sacred Concert.

Not quite retired yet, Max Millard has one more year of teaching in San Francisco before he plans to call it a career. But once that happens and he has more time on his hands, Max intends to help out with the planning for our 50th reunion. All our classmates are encouraged to follow his example.

Best wishes to Faris Bennett and Tom McCraine who were married in August. Marea Gordett attended the celebration.

Aaron Newton and his wife Page spent Christmas in Cambodia where their youngest son, Seth, married his wife, Sopheap, in front of her parents in a traditional two-day ceremony. The previous time they saw the couple was when they came to Sedona, AZ from Sweden, where Seth was earning a doctorate, to attend the wedding of Aaron’s oldest son last April. Aaron has one more show to work on before being fully retired, a film being shot in Prescott, AZ about the former Highway Patrol officer who started the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Another classmate with lots of travel miles under her belt is Helen Fowler who toured Belize and Guatemala, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, Scotland, and the Cayman Islands in 2014. She also made several trips to LAX to visit grandchildren. Helen enjoys seeing her daughter Sarah somewhat more frequently, though her busy nursing job allows for precious little time off. New granddaughter Hannah was born in June to son Chris and his wife Robin, baby sister to big brother Josh who is now 5.

Linda Hoff Irvin’s son Sam recently completed his studies at Columbia College in Chicago. Linda is looking forward to his financial independence, so welcomes inquiries from anyone with opportunities for a talented aspiring songwriter. Linda reports retirement for her is on the hazy horizon but she and husband Jim enjoy their weekends hanging out in Lake Geneva.

Dr. Bill Johnson became a first time granddaddy in October with the birth of Aiden Neill Johnson. Bill says, “What an experience!”

Mark Eluto retired from school psychology June 2012, while keeping a small part time private practice. That September, he babysat one day a week for his first grandchild, a granddaughter born in December 2011, while his daughter taught as an adjunct in the graduate psychology program from which she graduated. Since then, she has made Mark the proud grandfather of another granddaughter who turned one in October. Mark’s son became engaged with plans to marry in mid 2015. Wife Barbara plans to keep teaching for one more year before retiring.

Also enjoying frequent visits to grandchildren is Bruce Burnside who has three, ages 1, 3 and 5, the offspring of his middle daughter. Bruce’s youngest daughter, a member of the class of ‘02, was married in October, and she and her new husband have been assigned to Mexico City for two years. There seem to be no creative endeavors Bruce does not dabble in. Response to some poems he wrote for his mother’s birthday was so positive, he put together a book of more than sixty of his favorites for publication. Bruce is also recording his readings of most of the poems, accompanied by musical arrangements that he wrote and arranged.

While he was in Boston last April to run the Boston Marathon, Jim Archibald had a reunion, of sorts, enjoying a chance to catch up with senior year roommate Bill Cooper.

Of course, the big reunion is our 50th, just a couple of years away. Holly Taggart Joseph expects to be there and wants to be the one to say she hopes and expects to see every one of our classmates there as well. Keep your calendars open for early to mid-June, 2017.

So far, we have it on good authority that the following classmates are planning to make Holly’s wish come true and attend the reunion. Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Marlee Meriwether, Claudia Stanley Moose, Jean Walker, Sheila Morse, Pam Crawford, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Gretchen Christol Langdon, Laura Thompson, Helen Fowler, Debby Burnham Topliff, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Robin Whyte Reisman, Linda Hoff Irvin, Marty Ratcliff Rix, Tina Dobsevage, Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen, Nancy Dodd Uhl, Becky Parfitt & Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Will Melton, Gene Harmon, Bill Johnson, Joel Bartlett, Jim Baldwin, Jim Smolen, Dana Gordon, Chuck Streeter, Chris Crosby, Tom Hanna, Ross Mason, Peter Savas, Skip Walker, Charlie Watt, George Christodoulo, Dave Keene, Brad Waterman, Tom Myers, Bruce Burnside, George Alexander, Bob Turner, Max Millard, Bill Hicks.

In addition, these classmates have said they might come, but it’s still too early to say for sure: Jean McBean Koenig, Patricia Watson Bartlett, Lissa Perrin, Mady Lenagh, Nancy Hemmerly, Janet Blair & Daniel Atlan, Alex Ives, Peter Higgins, Tracy Ambler, Mark Blaisdell, Willy Hermann, Laurie Norton, John Mudge.

We hope you’ll add your name to the “I’m Coming” list by the next time these notes come out. Many of the above listed classmates are among the 120+ members of our class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join by going to facebook.com/nmh1967 and requesting membership.

Fall/Winter 2014 Edition:

We start with some sad news that reached us more than a year after the fact. Sally Sutherland died in May of 2013. She was diagnosed in November of 2011 with Glioblastoma, a relatively rare, always fatal brain tumor". According to her husband Al Pickard, she lived with the disease for nearly twenty months, which were active, and as happy as possible. The end came very quickly, and painlessly. Throughout her life she had many fond memories of Northfield. Sally taught a total of 37 years in Tennessee, Louisiana and Illinois. Even in her last teaching assignment at Concordia, she retained an ardent enthusiasm for, and commitment to, the classroom experience. The page dedicated to all deceased members of the Northfield and Mount Hermon Classes of 1967 can be found here: Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

British exchange student John Cartledge was deeply saddened to learn, very belatedly, from the class memorial page, of the death three years ago of Dr. Deborah Krum Douglas. John recalled that Debbie his date at our graduation ball in West Hall, and his family hosted her for Christmas when she crossed the Atlantic as an ESU scholar the following year. John recently retired after a career in consumer advocacy, as Deputy Chief Executive at London TravelWatch, the official agency that represents and promotes the interests of the users of London's transport system. He now has a more time to devote to other long-standing interests including flags and elections. John gave a paper on Cromwellian insignia at the International Congress of Vexillology in Rotterdam. He is also a trustee of a charity that owns a unique library of works on electoral systems and procedures and publishes an academic journal on the subject, called Representation.

Carole Chamberlain, known during school days as "Ducky" Drake, lives in Ferrisburg, VT. This is her last year as a French teacher before retirement. So this is also her last year to take a few students and their families to visit their pen pals in a small village in the French Alps called Lus-la-Croix-Haute. Retirement also means Carole gets to spend as much time as she can wintering in her beloved Mexico! She also plans to visit her old roommate Jane England at her summer home in Nova Scotia. The two have been like sisters all these years.

Bill Johnson's year has run the gamut from the mundane, in the form of some home improvements, to the downright exciting, with the anticipation of a first grandchild. And the combination of other doctors leaving or retiring and a looming severe shortage of primary care physicians, Dr. Bill has remained very busy at work.

Alex Ives was proud to report that his daughter Amanda was accepted into the Masters program of the Jane Addams College of Sociology, in Chicago. By way of a reminder that we're all getting older, Alex notes half of his six grandchildren are no longer teenagers.

Since the last update, Bob Turner has joined the Board of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Foundation in Springfield, Illinois. It is the only presidential library that isn’t apart of the Federal Government but is a worthwhile visit if anyone is either touring presidential libraries or is in central Illinois with a few extra hours. Bob was also named Private Sector Co-Chair of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. The Alliance was created by Congress to develop a National Strategy for suicide prevention-a task now complete. The mission now is to help to better coordinate the work being done across the country by a number of groups and programs to lower the rate of suicide, to identify opportunities to share best practices and to save 20,000 lives over the next five years. The public sector is represented by the Secretary of the Army as co-chair, the Surgeon General of the United States, the head of the Center for Disease Control and a number of mental health leaders. For the first time, the data set is complete enough and the commitment is in place to make a step change improvement in reducing the rate of what is now the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S.

Tracy Ambler and his wife, Nancy, are continuing their camper tour of the US, spending much of last winter along the Gulf Coast and into TX, thinking that would keep them out of the cold. They visited with family along the way, including brother Curt '64 in Houston. They parked the camper and flew CA and CO to see the kids before continuing the TX tour and enjoying the music in and near Luckenbach. Then, it was back to the east coast and a flight to Puerto Rico before moving up the east coast to NY, then west to CO for their daughter Devon's wedding.

Always busy with his musical and artistic pursuits, Bruce Burnside started his 29th summer of concerts in the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua tent. His latest stack of 60 poems, sixty is and Bruce also wrapped up a year’s worth of work with a great cinematographer doing a historical profile DVD of the town of Cornucopia. After two years of work, Bruce's radio drama,“The Continuing Adventures of Bumpy and Squeamish, Protectors and Guardians of the Secret Pencil Stories,” is starting to shape up. Add in the usual firewood, home maintenance, fending off bears and mountain lions while listening to the calming rain and gale force winds rip through the trees.

Helen Fowler was excited to announce that granddaughter Hannah Edith Kemball was born to son Christopher and daughter-in-law Robin in June. Big brother Joshua, aged 4 ½ years, is delighted with his little sister! Helen's travels have taken her to destinations from Belize and Guatemala to Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, with trips to Scotland, Honduras, a getaway to her timeshare in Grand Cayman, another visit with family in CA on the agenda. Puerto Rico, St. John, and a lifelong dream safari in Kenya and Tanzania are also on her radar screen. Helen reports retirement has been a delightful change from all the working, raising two kids as a single parent and making college tuition payments! Spending her money on these trips is the best use of assets that she can imagine.

Having been downsized from corporate America due to recession five years ago, and not financially or emotionally ready to retire, Carol Ball has spent the last few years as a server at the Farm Table Restaurant at Kringle Candle in Bernardston – less than five miles to the entrance to NMH. The only “heavy lifting” is large plates. They periodically see NMH parents and even groups of students themselves, who Carol assumes, come by taxi. Carol has run in the Bridge of Flowers 10K race in Shelburne for the past 15 years as well as the Pie Race with her kid sister, Shel Ball ‘68 for quite a few years; Carol seems almost surprised they didn’t finish last in the 2013 race. She continues to lobby for a new category for veterans or senior masters in order to have half a chance at a pie. Carol would love to hear from any classmates who run either of these races.

Kori Hedman Calvert and husband Scott ’62 celebrated their retirements and 40th wedding anniversary with an 11 week trip to southern Africa. They traveled by truck for 56 days through 9 countries from South Africa to Uganda before returning to Cape Town for a period of relaxation. Kori notes it was truly a trip of a lifetime. The Calverts are delighted with their choice of Ashland, OR as their retirement home and take full advantage of the education and volunteer opportunities, year-round recreational activities, thriving wine industry, music and incredible theatre, as well as proximity to Portland and San Francisco.

Patricia Watson Bartlett is trying to cut down her work hours to spend more time gardening and enjoying the grandchildren. Second granddaughter Corinne arrived in June. The Bartletts spend 4-5 months in Tanzania at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center, splitting the rest of their time between their home and work at Duke in Durham and escape to their cabin in Boone, NC. Trish says “karibu sana”-all are welcome!

April brought a celebration of our recent or soon-to-be 65th birthdays by Boston area classmates hosted by Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy. Attendees included Sheila Morse, Bonnie Parmenter Fleming, Robin Whyte Reisman, Wendy Alderman Cohen, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Gerry Sherman, Will Melton, Dave Keene, Chuck Streeter, Dana Gordon, as well as Brad Waterman who was in the area visiting family and Steve Meyerhans who came down from Maine with his wife for his first reunion in 47 years. Perfect weather, good food and great company made a memorable day. Most of the aforementioned classmates were informed about the get-together through notices on our class Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook and not already a member, you can join the 115+ who are by going to facebook.com/nmh1967 and requesting membership. You can also keep up with the class at our website at www.nmh1967.com.

Plans for the 50th are well underway. Volunteers still appreciated. Just e-mail/call/write to express your interest.

Spring/Summer 2014 Edition:

Dave Keene and his wife have an 18-year-old daughter who dances with the Boston Ballet Company and had the good fortune to travel to London with the Company in July. Their son (16) is a junior at Wellesley High School and plays drums in their jazz band and center on their hockey team. One of Dave’s most vivid memories of NMH was trying to play peacemaker in an altercation between Jim Baldwin and an opposing soccer player from Worcester Academy.

After living in the Midwest for nearly 35 years, Anne Shafmaster is moving back to New England. Her destination: Newburyport, Mass. She is grateful for the help she has already received from future neighbor Faris Bennett, who lived on the same floor in Weston when they were freshmen, and now resides in nearby Newbury, Mass.

As one alum returns to New England, another one hit the road. After he retired in the summer of ’13, Tracy Ambler and wife, Nancy sold their house on Cape Cod and set out to explore the country in their truck/camper combo but after a nasty encounter with stinkbugs in Del. and Pa., they scouted out a suitable upgrade and raced to Kan. to pick it up. After that, it was back to more leisurely exploration of points throughout the South with further adventures awaiting them down the highway.

Nancy Hemmerly is still working for AFSCME, a public employees’ union in Pa but is looking forward to retirement. Nancy reports she is happily divorced and enjoys spending time with her five grandchildren.

Artist Colin Cochran lives in Santa Fe, N.M. and part time in NYC. The gallery which represents him in Santa Fe, Gebert Contemporary, has mounted a solo exhibition of his new paintings, which can also be viewed on Colin’s website, colincochran.com. Colin and long time partner, Paul Langland are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year and are pleased their marriage is now legal in the three states most important to them: N.Y., N. M., and Mass.

Judith Hull has been teaching at Emerson College for the past few years, mostly art history but she’s particularly looking forward to doing a new course on suburbia, as well as one on the 19th century. She’s also hoping for an expanded work life as her daughter heads to college in the fall. Judith’s husband, Dennis McFadden is director of the Atwood House Museum and Chatham Historical Society on Cape Cod so when you visit, be sure to let him know you are from NMH.

In November ’13, Gary Barnes accomplished something many of us only dream about. He stepped up to the tee at the Venetian Golf & River Club in Venice, Fla., took a swing, and made a hole in one! An excited Gary proclaimed, “Wow! I've seen the Red Sox win three world series, I've traveled to Africa, I've experienced the joy of my grandson, the love of my wife and family, the friendship of many old and new friends, and now I've hit a hole in one. What more does this wonderful life have to offer?”

For about a year and a half, Sheila Morse enjoyed being retired and living in Guilford, Vt., just 20 minutes from NMH. But late in ’13 she was convinced to return to work by her former employer to help manage a transition period when three senior managers were leaving. That meant a once-a-week commute between Vt. and Cambridge, Mass. While she was still retired, Sheila and her partner, Dick took her two sons (one of whom is an NMH graduate!) and their significant others to Italy and England for a wonderful vacation, touring, tasting wines, eating extremely well, wandering alleys in Venice, Pisa, and other cities, enjoying theatre and pubs in London, and are still feeling blessed that six adults traveled so well together. In August ‘13, Sheila’s father died after a long period of declining health. When she entered the church for his service, the first person she saw was Tina Dobsevage -- her “wonderful Northfield/Brandeis/life friend of 50 years.”

Tina continues her practice in Internal Medicine, in NYC, caring for many elderly patients. Her husband has a psychoanalytic practice, while publishing and teaching at Columbia University. Their daughter is midway through law school at NYU and son is graduating from City College with a major in biochemistry.

In ‘09 Barbara Bierkoe Peer got her EdD in Pastoral Counseling through Argosy University, and also finished the process of becoming a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Fla. She is now a counselor for Charlotte Correctional Institute, a maximum security men's prison in Punta Gorda, Fla., not to far from where she lives. For fun, Barbara and husband, Jonathan go scuba diving as often as they can.

After 30 years in high tech, then five years teaching technology to young ones (where he used some of the teaching ideas of '67 friend and fireworks co-conspirator Max Millard), Dave Rockwell made the smooth transition from unemployment to retirement. He loves pursuing his passions of deep sea fishing, kayaking, bass fishing, grandchildren and cooking. He frequently puts his tech skills to work, volunteering to fix computers and networks for the people around him. Dave reads a lot, makes cod jigs and fly teasers by the fire when its too cold or rough to go out. He and wife Dianne, the Cake Lady of Lancaster, Mass., have three grown up children: Chris, a diver at Sea World in Orlando, Fla., Allyson, a teacher in N.H. (on a lake with all the grandkids), and Ben, a child care counselor at Robert F Kennedy Action Corps in Lancaster, Mass, where Dave used to teach.

Ann Peckham Barrentine has been living in Bloomington, IN since 1985with daughter Tyanne, 26 and son, Max, 23. She has loved being an at-home mom, substitute teacher and doing work in special education until her retirement in 2011. She now enjoys traveling, gardening and being involved in Christian ministry. Ann says she just may make it back to the 50th.

Since 2006, Patricia Watson Bartlett has split time between Duke University in N.C. and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. While she loves the peace of Moshi, family in N.C. will always hold the trump card. You can follow her adventures on her blog at nigrilover.blogspot.com.

Our class was represented at Vespers in N.Y. in December by Marty Ratcliff Rix and Mollie Lininger Alkan. Marty reports that she found the service moving. She closed her eyes at one point and was taken back decades.

Donna Eaton Mahoney renewed a childhood friendship with Nancy Alexander Randall ’68. During a fall visit to Nancy’s home in Vt., the two traveled to the Canadian border for a visit to Due North Winery, owned by Kathy Knapp Marn ’68. Consider a stop if you find yourself in the St Alban’s area.

If you have not already done so, please join more than 110 other classmates as members of our Facebook group. Put "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the search box and ask to join the group. You can also keep up with all the class news on our own dedicated web page at www.nmh1967.com.

Fall/Winter 2013 Edition:

Jack Osborne gave his retirement notice at Brooklyn Bottling in the fall of '12 but was "invited" back to do year end inventory and asked to stay until they could find a new replacement (seems the first guy who replaced him couldn’t “cut the mustard”). The unanticipated workload not only prevented Jack from attending our 45th reunion, it has delayed his planned move to the HUD repo-1880s farmhouse he bought, seven miles from his 48 acre mountainside retreat in Phillips, Maine. The house is in relatively good shape and Jack plans to sell his place on Long Island, N.Y. and move "down East" and become the "next Stephen King" well before our 50th reunion, which he promises to attend.

Even further along in the Stephen King department is Skip Walker whose sixth novel, Crime of Privilege, was published by Random House under his given name, Walter. Skip spent a good part of the summer touring the country to promote the murder mystery that Barnes & Noble, Publisher’s Weekly, and the Independent Booksellers Organization all declared “must” reading for the summer of ’13.

Continuing with a theme, Dana Gordon‘s career as a voice over professional has given him the opportunity to work on projects for a wide array of clients from ING Insurance to Daimler Trucks North America to, you guessed it, Stephen King and collaborator John Mellenkamp for whom he voiced radio and TV commercials promoting the soundtrack DVD of their musical, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.

Gene Harmon is partially retired but still involved with a start-up group working to provide solar powered passenger rail services. He needs more than a train to get together with Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen in her native Finland to continue the romance they rekindled six years ago. Both plan to attend our 50th reunion in what will be the first visit to the school for each of them since ’67.

Dr. Bill Johnson is actively involved with the Boy Scouts of America and that included working on the medical staff for the National Jamboree at Summit Bechtel Reserve, their new high adventure area for scouts in W.Va.

Ross Mason figures he’ll put in a couple more years as chief engineer of WGHP TV in Greensboro, N.C. where he’s been for 33 years. He also plans to race his bicycle as the young guy in the 65 to 69-year-old age bracket once he hits 65.

When she moved to rural Douglas County, Mo., two years ago Jean McBean Koenig thought her musical life was over but it is richer than ever. She’s playing cello in a string trio and has performed in one chamber music concerts. Best of all, she’s become involved in the Ozark String Project, a program to bring affordable violin lessons to a very poor and culturally deprived area. Jean has been writing grants for instrument donations ($500 will buy a cello set up) and making lesson plans for starting cello instruction. She and her husband continue to "rescue" their farm from neglect, adding cows and a substantial vegetable garden. Jean feels blessed to have reconnected with Eliza Childs and Anne Barrus Zeller in the past year and hopes to make it to the 50th.

Anne Johnson Wrider has been an Episcopal priest for almost thirty years. She’s rector of the Indian Hill Church, a dual-denomination church (Presbyterian/Episcopal) in Cincinnati. Her grown son lives in Mumbai, India, with his wife and designs video games for a living. Theater is Anne’s passion, something she hopes to do full-time as soon as she can figure out a way to retire.

While some classmates contemplate retirement, Aaron Newton seems headed in the opposite direction. He brought his set building and behind the scenes technical expertise to the newly updated version of Carl Sagan’s PBS series Cosmos. When asked if he’d met series host Neil deGrasse Tyson, Aaron replied, “Dr. Tyson was as interested in our part of the series as we were in his. He was on location before the ‘spaceship’ was built, before the lights were hung, and before the green screens were placed. He had lunch with the crew and gave us a tour of the stars.”

As she was about to leave home to settle a dispute between neighbors in a village outside Bath, Somerset, UK, where she’s lived for around 40 years, Ann E. Beardsley wrote to say she’s been mediating for about 25 years and combined that with a career in the arts: project management, community arts and jewelry making. She’s still doing the jewelry making and had a small exhibition in Bath last summer, but other work is slow, and she’s in the mood to wind down a bit and spend more time in the allotment and her garden. Annie has been married, separated, divorced, and is now single and living in a cottage on the edge of the city. Her son, Jack, is a producer and works mainly in London mainly. She and Jack are planning a travel adventure to India for the month of January.

Kathy Cole Gibbons reports 2012 was a year of change for her family. Husband, Grant, became chairman of Colonial Insurance. Son, Graham (26), is working at Burrows Lightbourn as a marketing assistant and account manager for Samuel Adams beer and has been drafted by the Bermuda Regiment, the island nation’s tiny "defense force.” Son, Andrew (25), had worked for a year in private banking at Capital G before moving to South Korea, where he is a teacher. Kathy continues to edit a local cultural magazine, as well as work with the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art to produce catalogs and text for their exhibits. Her passion for tennis has not abated, although her aging joints are not quite as enthusiastic as they used to be. She also spends a fair amount of time in New York, and remains active in Bermuda politics.

Melinde Hatheway Kantor is still the Montpelier, Vt. area but has moved to a new home there. She’s still into traditional music (flute, fiddle and piano for figuring out tunes) and loves gardening, reading, and hiking, as well as fishing, canoeing, and snorkeling at the family’s camp on Nelson Pond. Her work continues designing and making costumes for skaters and dancers, primarily through her website, customskatewear.com. Her engaged daughter, Chelsey, is a jewelry designer living in Los Angeles, and married daughter, Shona, is an audiologist living in Washington, DC. Melinde would love to hear from her Hibbard friends and anyone else.

Working at The Farm Table Restaurant at Kringle Candle in Bernardston, Mass., a hop and a skip from the NMH campus, is a third career for Carol Ball. It follows a stint in the Peace Corps and teaching ESL in the 70’s, and then almost 30 years in group insurance and employee benefits. She endeavors to stay “young and fit” by running in small local races with her sister, Shel Ball ‘68. Carol wonders if anyone in our class wants to run in the annual Pie Race. She’s lobbying for a special category for people more than 40 years removed from school who should get a pie just for running the race.

Ever the multi-talented artist, Bruce Burnside began his 27th season under the canvas Chautauqua tent on Lake Superior in Wis., had book signings for his collection of poetry and short stories, The Artist's Guest, debuted a new stage show called Stories For The Water, and had his original music by a combination of musicians from the Blue Canvas Orchestra and Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. He also began a humorous, imaginative radio download series called The Continuing Adventures of Bumpy and Squeamish, Protectors and Guardians of the Secret Pencil Stories, and is producing a radio/DVD documentary on the nearby little town of Cornucopia, settled in the 1890s as a Russian fishing community.

Debby Buhrman Topliff and her husband wrapped up their 12-month "gap" year in St Andrews, Scotland. She highly recommends you try taking a break from the status quo to study, pursue a passion, experience a different culture, and make new friends if at all possible.

Sylvia Kuhner Baer is still teaching college literature, and still performing the one-woman play she wrote, A Passion for Life--Emily Dickinson all around the country. Meanwhile, she’s started several workshops and programs to teach poetry-writing in schools and communities. Also, I've continued my research and programs in children's literature. Sylvia even appeared on the NPR program, American Icons talking about Disney's effect on our cultural landscape. And she continues to chase little white balls around golf courses and slightly larger yellow balls around tennis courts, and her new found fun sport is paddle-boarding.

After concentrating on family matters, lawyer turned underwater videographer Jay Garbose finally got back in the water, trying out some new gear after a year’s hiatus. He looks forward to shooting new videos in the near future. Jay is pleased to have been able to re-establish contact with classmates including Les Petrovics, Marea “Beth” Gordett, as well as a group that gets together in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Area pretty much every spring. This year’s marathon bar meet included Jay, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Buddy Levine, Gary Barnes, Dana Gordon, and first-timer, Chuck Streeter.

Back in June, Tracy Ambler signified that he and his wife plan to spend lots of time boating, traveling, and enjoying life by making the following change under “Career” on his Facebook Timeline: “Retired.” If you have not already done so, you can join Tracy and more than 110 other classmates as members of our Facebook group. Put "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the search box and ask to join the group. You can also keep up with all the class news on our own dedicated web page at www.nmh1967.com.

Spring/Summer 2013 Edition:

Cleaning up the last bit of post-45th reunion news, Janet Fleming Mulwitz and husband Paul have been married for 42 years, and their "children" all have 4 feet and fur. After living all over the US because of Paul's various computer engineering jobs, they settled in WA near the OR border 20 years ago. They’re mostly retired, but Jan still works a few hours a week at the local yarn shop, teaches knitting, and accepts the occasional interesting commission. Paul just finished building a two seat airplane, and Jan is excited to be able to fly with him. This was her first NMH reunion ever and she says it was complete joy to see old friends, including her first roomie, Becky Kennedy, meeting some of the "boys" for the first time, and seeing Bruce and Chris after all these years. Being asked to call Miss Curtis "Sally," and seeing the Baileys were two other highlights, along with meeting Claire and Timothy Burnside, Bruce's daughters. Before heading back home Jan attended another “Northfield reunion” of sorts – a family reunion also attended by her mother, Jean Morrow Benson (N '44) and her stepmother, Barbara Hodge Fleming (N'46). Jan looks forward to our 50th.

Other 45th reunion attendees included Holly Taggart Joseph, Chuck Streeter and Linda Hoff-Irwin and husband Jim.

Bonnie Parmenter Fleming returned for another weekend. We were saddened to hear that her husband Bill had died shortly after we saw her last. Bonnie continues to work as an accountant for H.P. Hood.

Unfortunately, Kit Williams Krentz had to cut short her visit to spend time with her father who was ill in CT.

Arriving just in time for dinner on Saturday were Steve Billias, Jim McBean and wife Susan. Also there to honor class teachers Elaine and Carroll Bailey and enjoy the Saturday festivities were Sheila Morse, Tina Dobsevage, Robin Whyte Reisman, Gary Barnes, and Dave Keene.

Claudia Stanley Moose recently had a visit from Deborah Burnham Topliff. They were hoping to present at Alumni College this year, but had to cancel because Debby was busy packing for Scotland. She is heading to St Andrew’s University for a year to study for an M.Lit. in Theology, Imagination and the Arts program where she hopes to focus on the technique of studying the Bible visually. Her husband will continue his publishing strategies work via Skype between rounds of golf. Debby reports that she is planning to be at the 50th.

Reminiscing their swim team days, Jim Smolen and Bill Johnson spent some time in the pool. This was also Bill’s first reunion. With encouragement and assistance from Donna Eaton Mahoney, Bill and Jim Johnson joined the class Facebook page, sending our membership over 100. The nostalgia continued for Jim when he was upgraded to a snappy Inferno Orange Chevy Camaro at the rental agency.

Unfortunately, there were those who wanted to be at the reunion but could not attend. One of those was Rick Stoller whose treatment for prostate cancer left him with too little energy to make the trip across the state from Boston. Besides his well-known interest in photography, Rick has several other passions including music. Due to his medical condition he has done considerable research on cancer and prostate health and is more than willing to share his information with fellow classmates. Rick lamented that people often act differently or avoid contact altogether when they learn a friend is suffering from cancer, particularly an aggressive type such as his. He would be delighted to hear from any of his old school friends at poorrixalmanac@yahoo.com. He's also not ashamed to admit that his medical ordeal has been a drain financially. He wonders how many other classmates may be in similar circumstances and if there could be some mechanism through which those who are willing and able could provide a helping hand to those in need.

Bill Cooper also had his up and downs but is pulling his life together. After being a "hippie English major" at Stanford, then a cook, carpenter and Boston cab driver Bill began thinking about life and working at his arts of neigung and taiji. He was blessed with a new partner, became a nurse assistant and then a massage therapist.

Sadly, we have lost a classmate since our last report. Carolyn “Lynn” Klyce died on 4/9/12. The page dedicated to all deceased members of the Northfield and Mount Hermon Classes of 1967 can be found here: Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

After 35 years of an academic anesthesiology practice Peter Freund has retired as professor emeritus to enjoy his island home on the NW coast of WA. He also continues to work on his cabin in NW MT. High on his bucket list is to gain some advanced knowledge and cultural/travel experience stimulated by his Mt. Hermon education.

For the second year, Tony Peters and his teammates were first in the USTA Eastern Region Adult Men’s League, defeating 25 teams and 400+ players. Tony reports that making that distinction once in a tennis career is an achievement; twice is rare. They missed the Nationals by a mere 2 points.

No sooner did reunion wrap up than Wendy Alderman Cohen, newly retired from teaching, headed back home to spend her last few weeks in Medfield before she and husband Jeff packed up and moved to their new home on Cape Cod.

Can’t remember what became of your old yearbook? Our editions of Gateway and Highlights are now online at http://www.classmates.com.

If you’re on Facebook and are not yet a member of our class group, you are invited to join. Just put "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook search box.

And if you no longer have anything to play your old Hermon Knights records on, you can thank Brad Waterman’s son-in-law for digitizing all four albums from our era, and Brad for posting them online here.

About a month before our 45th reunion there was a special event at another New England secondary school

At the beginning of the 2011-12 academic year, Jim Clements announced that it would be his last as headmaster of Tilton School. On May 1, 2012 appreciative students and faculty surprised Jim and wife Bev by declaring the day in their honor. To mark the occasion everyone wore specially commissioned gold baseball caps emblazoned with "Clements Day" on the front and Jim's motto "Work Hard, Play Fair, Have Fun" on the back.

In July, 2012, Kwasi Holman was named Economic Development Director for Charles County, MD, responsible for managing and directing all economic development activities for the county. You can read all the details in this news release.

Will Eddy put his acting chops to work in this commercial for Newsday. Did you catch him? (Hint: he’s about our age and has a beard.)

Kirsten Besanko passed along the sad news that cancer has claimed the life of Jane Weed on 9/1/12 after a year-long battle against the disease. Kirsten reports she was fortunate enough to spend four days with Jane in late July and that Jane retained her dignity, sense of humor, intellectualism, and loving, caring demeanor to family and friends. Here is a link to her obituary. The page dedicated to all deceased members of the Northfield and Mount Hermon Classes of 1967 can be found here: Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Fall/Winter 2012 Edition:

By the time you read this report, several months will have passed since our 45th reunion but we're filing it just over a week after the event. By all accounts, everyone who attended had a magnificent time. It was especially gratifying to see several first-timers. One of those was Ross Mason who, after a bit of prodding, finally relented and returned to the campus where he never really wanted to spend his high school years. Being back and seeing so many old friends and teammates made the good memories finally begin to eclipse the bad ones. Ross has already decided he'll be back for the 50th.

It was also the first reunion for Peter Savas but not his first time back to campus. His son Perry and oldest of 5 daughters Elizabeth attended NMH where Perry swam and they both played soccer and rowed crew, the first male and female legacy rowers. Peter revealed that during his time at school he was inspired to take up music after being impressed by performances of the Led Balloon Jug Band and in particular, Bruce Burnside. So it was especially fun for him to join Bruce, Will Melton, Jim Baldwin and others for the impromptu Saturday night jam session in Hayden lounge. Pictures and video courtesy of Jim Smolen and Claudia Stanley Moose were furiously uploaded to the class website and class Facebook page by Dana Gordon. To say Peter was enthusiastic about his first reunion is an understatement. He not only plans to return for the 50th, he volunteered for the reunion committee and immediately began generating ideas.

Bruce Burnside was back on campus for more than just the music and fellowship. He also brought distinction to our class as the recipient of one of the school's highest honors, the Community Service Award, which "recognizes an alumna/us who has been of service to a particular community in either a volunteer or a professional role, thus acknowledging the value an NMH education places on service to others throughout one's life." The citation from the honors convocation program reads:

BRUCE BURNSIDE '67 came to Mount Hermon with a guitar in hand and a love of music in his heart and soul. He was the kid always lugging a guitar case across campus. He founded the Folk Music Society and single-handedly willed the Led Balloon Jug Band into existence, an ensemble that has continued to play at class reunions and other school events over the years. Today, Bruce describes himself as: "the father of three grown daughters, a student of American musical and fretted instrument history. My tax return claims I am a musician/educator. In truth, I love music, but I am a teacher at heart."

Bruce attributes his love of teaching to Mount Hermon, where he remembers "the complete dedication of the faculty and administration, which has reassured, comforted, and strengthened me all these years." While several faculty members had a lasting impact on Bruce, none was more influential than Carlton L'Hommedieu, who taught Latin but was also the school's preeminent organist. Bruce remembers him as a teacher who "conducted the classroom with the same heart and passion he brought to the music he so beautifully played."

After Mount Hermon, Bruce completed a degree in English and, in an age of psychedelic rock music, found himself fascinated with a musical fad that had swept universities and colleges across this country, albeit in 1885: the banjo orchestra. Nineteenth-century music was to become Bruce's passion and the foundation for his life's work. He returned to college to get a degree in education and, through a Duluth Outreach program, combined his love of music and teaching by conducting song-writing residencies in small schools across northern Minnesota's iron range. Shortly thereafter, Bruce created a nonprofit organization, Forgotten Wisdom (FW), to combine his two passions: creating new works founded on the preservation of historic American styles of music, and bringing music and music education to children in rural schools in Northern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.

Bruce's many accomplishments over the last several decades include conducting hundreds of in-school song-writing residencies with children in the third grade through high school. As part of Wisconsin's celebration of its Sesquicentennial, Bruce also worked with students from Northern Wisconsin high schools to write and perform songs about the history of their hometowns; and developed and staged an original production, "Unsung Stories of the Civil War," about Wisconsin's role in the Civil War, comprised entirely of original period music and songs that Bruce composed, scored, and arranged. Over 10 years, 250 performances and 70 residencies were conducted in schools and communities across the region.

Since 1984, Bruce has also been a principal performer in the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua. He has written and performed 12 stage shows related to the history and music of the period during and immediately after the Civil War and he has recorded and released eight albums of original music, the most recent of which is titled: "Head, Heart and Hand."

Since his graduation from Mount Hermon, Bruce Burnside has indeed embodied the values of "Head, Heart and Hand" by making the musical traditions of America's past a living and relevant presence in the lives of children and communities across the upper Midwest.

Through the generosity of the Harold A. Knapp Jr. Foundation, each recipient of the Community Service Award receives a prize that goes to an organization designated by the recipient. Bruce Burnside '67 has chosen to direct his honorarium to the Sea Turtle Rescue Program at the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston, SC. The prize is given to honor the memory of Harold A. Knapp Jr., a great community activist who was closely connected to NMH through many family members who attended the school.

Bruce was not the only classmate honored that weekend. Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy received the Lamplighter Award, "the highest honor the Alumni Association can bestow for service to the school, this award goes to an alumnua/us whose work on behalf of the school shines before the entire NMH community and makes a differencefor current and future students." Becky accepted the award for both of them as Vin had to miss a reunion for one of the few times while recuperating from knee replacement surgery performed earlier that week. The citation from the program reads:

REBECCA CAMPBELL PARFITT KENNEDY '67 is well known to NMH for her incredible leadership in bringing to publication Lift Thine Eyes: The Landscape, the Buildings, the Heritage of Northfield Mount Hermon School. It was a project of love stemming from her three years here, and Becky brought to it what she learned as a student: respect for the value, satisfaction, and potential of hard work. She captured the pleasure, peace, and spiritual provocation that draws us all into our history. While a student at Northfield, Becky was particularly influenced by Miss Powell, Miss Buckmaster, and Mrs. Branford, who helped her to find her voice, value her work, and learn what it means to be part of a community.

Becky has enjoyed a varied career. She received her bachelor's in education from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1971; her MBA from Simmons Graduate School of Business in 1995, and her master's in clinical mental health counseling, specializing in holistic studies, from Lesley College in 2011. In her early years of teaching, she worked in the Federal Follow Through Program in Rhode Island and taught English and social studies in Philadelphia. Becky became a corporate trainer for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Greater New York and Bank of Boston. After earning her MBA, she continued consulting in human resources for small and mid-size companies. Currently, she is an in-home therapist and outreach clinician in the Boston area. In her spare time, Becky is involved in her church's religious education, ministerial relations, and singing in the choir.

VINCENT KENNEDY '67 credits his student years with helping him learn the "importance and necessity of actively soliciting different perspectives" and the "dignity of a job well done, particularly manual labor." He credits Tom Donovan with teaching him how to communicate effectively and Don McGann with this important value: "I shall, and you should, never ask anybody to do anything you have not done yourself, particularly if it is either boring or dangerous."

Vin served in the U.S. Army as an intelligence officer focused on POW and county narcotics affairs. Afterward, he worked in commercial banking, where he was a systems analyst, a relationship manager, and a risk management executive in the areas of credit and special assets. Vin received his bachelor's in history and economics from Norwich University in 1971, and his MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in 1973. In his spare time, Vin enjoys cabinetry and Tae Kwon Do.

Becky and Vin have given back to NMH in many ways. Becky is currently a trustee. She was a member of the Northfield Stewardship Committee and after the sale of the campus, when the committee was dissolved and replaced by the Northfield Legacy Committee, she became chair. She is also chair of the History Projects Committee, which produced Lift Thine Eyes. Becky serves on the Committee on Trustees, the Committee on Diversity and Equity, and the Committee on Buildings and Grounds. As a trustee, Vin was an important financial advisor to the school. He served on the Investment Committee, the Financial Policy Cornmitee, the Annual Fund, and he helped facilitate the smooth transition to a new head of school. Becky and Vin have served on the Parents Council and as co-chairs of the Annual Fund. They have steadily and quietly given in true NMH style: They see something that needs to be done and they roll up their sleeves, jump in, and leave it better than when they found it.

Will Melton reports that he very much enjoyed the 45th reunion and the chance to hear Jim Baldwin "rock out" for the first time. Will left Scripps Research Institute in May for the College of Natural Sciences at UMASS Amherst and the chance to live in one of his favorite places in the world, the Pioneer Valley. He and Eliza Childs endured a spring and summer cacophony of dust, noise and their fair share of disagreement as they renovated their circa 1937 home in South Hadley.

Just days after the reunion Will and Eliza joined Tom Hanna and wife Elke for dinner at a restaurant near campus where they encountered Carol Ball. After almost 30 years in the employee benefits world of group insurance her compliance job was eliminated in 09. Realizing it would be impossible to find a similar position in the area Carol embarked on a new career at The Farm Table at Kringle Candle in Bernardston. Being in the hospitality industry made it impossible for Carol to sneak away on a weekend to attend reunion, despite her proximity. When she does have spare time she enjoys running and has managed to win her age category in some local road races.

Laura Thompson had a wonderful time reconnecting with old friends and getting to know some she did not know well back in the day. She and reunion roommate Helen Fowler explored the school's working farm where they produce what Laura described as the best raspberry ice cream she's ever tasted. After a taxing year teaching special needs kids in an economically challenged town she was more than ready for a relaxing summer of gardening, enjoying her pool, de-cluttering her house and preparing for retirement in '15. Helen has sold her large house and moved across town to a condo. A year filled with medical issues has not stopped her from her love of travel. She had just returned from exploring national parks in the western US. Now retired from TD Bank, Chris Crosby spent many days at the ballpark over the summer with an all-access pass to Target Field, home of the MN Twins but he didn't see that much baseball. That's because he was working on a book that delves into everything that goes on behind the scenes on game day, all the action other than what takes place on the field.

Another class author, San Francisco-based attorney Walter “Skip” Walker is having a novel published in the spring. It has been 13 years since his last book appeared.

Spring/Summer 2012 Edition:

Will Ackerman spent a couple of months in Australia last fall producing two piano recordings, touring and diving with wife Susan in the Great Barrier Reef then returned to the US with a parasite that it took a doctor in a dusty little village in Costa Rica to cure.   Susan’s ever-expanding organic garden at their home in Vermont kept the Ackermans pretty close to home for the spring and summer where Will had nine recording projects to produce in the studio in 2011. Fall brought trips to Canada, Lake Placid and then a couple of weeks of concerts and radio shows in Spain. But the big news is Will is doing the soundtrack for Clark Peterson’s film adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

Storm Scott reports youngest son Alex, a skilled pilot, is working hard to help get Sarasota wholesale pizza and lasagna business, Gluten Free by Beverly, off the ground. Daughter April is also doing well in the food service industry Sarasota. Her son Sebastian is a first year student at Full Sail in Winter Park, FL and loves it. April is impressive because she is a single parent and has single-handedly raised the boy and gotten him into college with car, apartment and all! Last summer Storm and Alex visited other son Adam and his wife Nicole and daughter Jane in London where he does financial analysis. While in Europe the Scotts spent the better part of a week at the home of Janet Blair and Daniel Atlan in Nancy, France. Storm says, “One evening over one of the fabulous French dinners Janet and Daniel had prepared, we happened to be talking about our birth places, and to our surprise, Janet and I had been born within about 6 weeks from one another in the same hospital in Cooperstown, NY! Her father was an intern there, and, of course delivered Janet there. After talking with my mother upon our return, found that he delivered me as well!”     The Atlans have spend about half the year at their "winter"home in Valdosta, GA where a lot of Janet’s family lives. She also has a sister who lives down the road from Storm in Nokomis, FL. Janet adds, was mind boggling to meet up again with a friend we hadn't seen in some 40 years and then found out how similar our beginnings were. And then find out how close we are geographically now. We'll definitely be seeing more of each other in the future!”Janet is now retired from teaching English in a French university and Daniel is retired from human resources in the steel industry. They have a son in Chicago with 2 kids and another son also has 2 children and has been working in the Middle East for a number of years. Janet’s father passed away last June so he never got to hear the story about delivering Storm but she’s sure he would have loved it, especially because, like both Janet and Storm, he also went to Brown. The Atlans will be back in France in June so won't be at the reunion but send best wishes to all who will be there.

Kori Hedman Calvert could also most miss the reunion as she and her husband may be in the middle of moving to Oregon.

One classmate who’s looking forward to attending his first reunion is Jeff Neuberth. Schedule conflicts with major sailing regattas have kept him away up to now. The only classmate he’s had any contact with in the recent past has been Charlie Watt. They were colleagues in the same firm for 2-3 years.

Ross Mason is also planning to come for his first reunion from his home in Jamestown, NC where he lives with canine best friend Layla whom he rescued from a dumpster 13 years ago. His two daughters have moved on to Philly and LA. Ross has spent more than half his working life at WGHP Fox 8 TV in High Point, NC. Now a grandfather, Ross still races bicycles but tries not to enter any races with the "younger" (under 45) guys.

Another likely reunion first-timer is

Steve Billias who now finds himself living in nearby Deerfield. He and wife Bela moved east from California in ‘04 and built the Shintaido Farm, a center for the practice of a type of Japanese body movement and martial art. See pictures at www.farm.shintaido.org. Besides their own practice, they rent space to other groups for dance, Tai Chi, meditation, etc. and a farmer grows organic veggies on their front acres. Steve has a full-time job as a communications writer for Health New England. Over the years he’s had a few books published in the fantasy genre, and sold a couple of ideas to Hollywood that were never made into movies. Steve is working on another book in a different genre.

Former Deerfield resident Lissa (Mary) Perrin has lived in Ann Arbor, MI since 1972 when she moved there for grad school at the U of M. Since earning here MSW in ‘74 she’s been a clinical social worker doing psychotherapy with adults in a variety of mental health settings. Lissa was married, divorced and has two grown children Rachael Norris (30) and Josh Sholder (27). Her most recent excitement has been the birth of first grandchild, Liam, to Rachael and her wife Janel in NC. She stays in touch with Deerfield childhood friends Gillian Hirth Belnap and Carol Ball.

Another first time grandparent is Brad Waterman with the arrival of grandson Jake in April ‘11.

They’ll have some catching up to do to keep pace with Glenn Schwarcz who figures to be the class leader with 26! One of Glenn’s sons just made partner in a CPA firm in Manhattan, another is a rabbinical student and a third is a manager of a major institution in Chicago. Most of his 5 daughters work as pharmacy aides. Glenn is still medical director at Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, NY, running the Columbia U geriatric psychiatry fellowship there. He recently published 2 articles describing the novel use of a synthetic cannabinoid stimulator (yes, a man-made version of the active ingredient in marijuana) to treat refractory schizophrenia. He also continues his evening private practice in psychopharmacology and general medicine where his wife is his office manager. He still kayaks all day once a week, roller blades an hour each day, jogs, bikes, and skis.

Kathryn Cole Gibbons is still working part-time as an editor and writer in Bermuda. Husband Grant is a Member of Parliament and both are actively involved in local politics. She is currently working on developing a healthcare strategy for the One Bermuda Alliance, an alternative to the government plan. They’re finishing several years of renovations to their 1923 house, and escape to their New York City apt as often as they can. Both sons graduated from college last year and are working in Bermuda, and like most of their generation, are living at home. If any classmates travel to Bermuda, Kathy says to look her up.

John Mudge is thinking green. He can look across his field to a hill in VT from the NH house he built in ’07. He mostly heats it with wood, and 33% of his electricity comes from solar panels. He makes his living from writing and consulting. John’s home office companion is his dog who spends the day sleeping at his feet beneath the desk or on the sofa.

    Another writer, Max Millard self-published a book, "In the Black World: 1907-1932," co-authored with the late Thomas C. Fleming, the nation's oldest black journalist when he retired in ‘05 at age 97. The 190-page book has four sections, which tell of Fleming's early life in Jacksonville, Harlem, and Chico, California, and his years working on West Coast ships and railroads. The title comes from Fleming's memory of growing up in Jacksonville, FL: "You knew you couldn't go to the same schools as whites. You knew that you had to sit in the Jim Crow section at the theater. You knew you couldn't go in any restaurant unless it was all black. You were completely separated, even in the hospitals. So you just lived in a black world." A PDF of the book is available free at www.maxmillard.com.

It was like “Wild Kingdom” when Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri visited Gene Harmon in CA. They encountered tarantulas while hiking on Mt Diablo; a fox sauntered by Gene’s home in Walnut Creek; they spotted a humpback and a school of orcas in Monterey Bay and elephant seals at Big Sur. En route to Hearst Castle, they noticed zebras through the spyglass, descendants of specimens from Hearst’s menagerie. Driving to The Pinnacles National Monument they came across the rare sight of a flock of wild turkeys being herded by two coyotes intent on lunch. Despite all these wildlife encounters, the couple was not stung, bitten, chased or eaten.

Bill “Winks” Whitaker spent a year in the Peace Corps teaching chemistry in a boarding school in Uganda before beginning a sales job with ICI a British Chemical Co. He just completed 40 years at Lucite International where he’s currently a Business Director, managing their global resins business. He lives outside Memphis, TN, arriving there via Atlanta, Wilmington, DE and St Louis. As he gets closer to retirement, he’s focusing more on the important aspects of life such as spending time with family including his 3yo grandson. Bill’s son is an art director with a major ad agency in Memphis and his daughter is a director of a chimpanzee sanctuary in Louisiana. Bill and wife Cathy, a teacher, have led 3 teams in the past 5 years to Maua, Kenya to work at a Methodist hospital and the surrounding community, to help empower AIDS orphans and to build housing for them. For the first time since the MH cross country team, he started running competitively 12 years ago and has run a number of marathons including Boston where he had an opportunity to talk to Frank Shorter '65. If family commitments keep Winks from the 45th reunion, he’ll certainly plan to hit the 50th.

Melinde Hatheway Kantor lives in Calais, VT with her husband of 35 years, Jeffrey. Their two daughters Chelsey and Shona live in Topanga, CA and Wash. DC respectively with their partners. Chelsey does jewelry design and Shona is an audiologist who is engaged to be married in June. Melinde is thoroughly immersed in the arts. Her business is designing costumes for performers. She plays traditional music with the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra and its subsets. Selling one of her paintings gave her encouragement. And she does colored pencil and watercolor drawings.

Roy Taylor and wife Nina, a staff physician at Northern Illinois University student health services, are proud of their A-student kids. Amanda, 15, is a sophomore into theater and choirs, voice & dance lessons, and trying to get enough wheel time to get her driver's license. RJ, 18, is a freshman at St. Louis U in International Studies, Honors Program, pre-law, 6th year of Spanish, starting Chinese & French, with a little Ukrainian on the side. Roy is finally making some progress with the bio-plastics business, still welcoming investors, and feels 2012 will be the make or break year. He’s gotten back into singing with the church "Contemporary Choir" which does a lot of modern arrangements of old hymnal standards. Next up may be some community theater come summer. Roy hopes to be at reunion.

Retirement for Wendy Alderman Cohen comes three weeks after Reunion. Between them, Wendy and husband Jeff have taught for 67 years and are looking forward to moving to Cape Cod where Wendy anticipates lots of volunteering at NMH and a new church and whatever else may come her way. She is looking forward to seeing many classmates in June.

Martha Ratcliffe Rix has settled into her retirement and has never been in a better space. She was heartbroken to learn Saab was going out of business, having owned three spanning from 1968 to last year when she retired her last one which had served her for 12 yrs. She wishes joy and prosperity to all classmates.

Mark Blaisdell retired in December after spending over 40 years in the insurance industry. He and wife Nancy will do some traveling starting with a trip to HI from their home in southern NH. Daughter Amy is back home while writing her master's thesis for a degree in world health promotion from the University of Bergen (Norway).

Tom Hanna remains unretired (or pre-retired) with no plans to change that status, although he takes lots of vacation and plans to take even more as time goes on.

The semi-retirement that Jim Smolen liked so much has ended. Following the departure of his immediate supervisor in the Controllers Office at Rice University, Jim has taken over her position on a full-time basis. He’s also joined the Rice Masters Swimming Club and started swimming competitively again. The workouts are very similar to those at Hermon and in college. Jim has competed in the 50 yard freestyle, 50 butterfly, 100 freestyle, and 100 individual medley. He urges everyone to attend the reunion this year.

Those who say they plan to be there include Skip Carino and Patricia Watson Bartlett.

Last June Jean McBean Koenig and husband Steve bought a farm in southwestern MO. They spent the summer settling his parents and sister into the farm house while building a new home half a mile away.  The incredible view of the Ozarks more than compensates for the long gravel lane and the distance from civilization. Steve works part-time, mostly from home, as Executive Director of the Poultry Science Association leaving him afternoons to reclaim the land in preparation for raising beef cattle. Jean helps care for his parents, gardens, cooks and plays cello in the So. Ozarks Chamber Orchestra. Daughter Kate 30, husband and two grandsons live in Denver, son Will 28, wife and one grandson live in KC but will soon transfer to Denver and son Dan 27, is in Corpus Christi. Both boys work for Kiewit Corp., one of the largest North American construction and mining companies. Will is in their Central Division and Dan works for their Offshore Division. After being in limbo for several years since the divestiture of Steve's company by Mitsui USA, they feel incredibly blessed to have found what seems to be an ideal situation for everyone. Jean’s mom and brothers are still in VT so she may combine a trip home with reunion.

In September class teachers Elaine and Carroll Bailey hosted a mini reunion at their beautiful 18th century home in Andover, MA. Wendy Alderman Cohen, Robin Whyte Reisman, Donna Eaton Mahoney, Vin and Becky Parfitt Kennedy, Chuck Streeter, Peter Higgins, Dana Gordon and Aaron Newton enjoyed the hospitality. Aaron reports that his only news is that he is planning to be at Reunion. He is, as usual, being modest. He was able to attend the mini-Reunion at the Bailey’s because he had traveled to western MA to donate his considerable skills to repairing the homes of two families that had been severely damaged in the devastating late summer storms.

Another mini-Reunion took place in December in Sarasota, FL when

Judy Boice and Jean Walker met for lunch and shopping. They picked up as if 45 years had not transpired since their last meeting and both report a great afternoon.

Last year was one of mixed blessings for

Kit Williams Krents. Her grandson Charlie, born 2 months early, is thriving. His father, Jamie, is a marketing executive at the Verve label of Universal Music in NYC. He also plays bass guitar in a very successful wedding band (www.dexterlakeclubband.com) which has had several gigs in DC and frequent visits with Kit. Son Will was married in ‘10. He lives in Shanghai where he works for WR Grace, buying up chemical factories in India and China. Her youngest, Michael, recently received his JD/MBA from U of MD and is looking at following his father and grandfather in a law career. Sadly, Kit’s husband, Milton Gwirtzman, died last July from metastatic melanoma. He had been a lawyer, author, advisor, and speechwriter for all 3 Kennedy brothers and others. Kit feels privileged to have shared his life for 14 years. As many may recall, her first husband, Hal Krents, died in 1987 and she doesn’t find that widowhood gets easier with practice. Kit’s career as Administrative Director at the DC law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen and Hamilton LLP keeps her hopping and she has rediscovered tennis with a vengeance. She walks her golden retriever Buddy while listening to audio books and can’t understand why she’s not the slimmest woman in America. She enjoyed a visit from Eliza Childs last year and hopes to make it to Reunion.

Elizabeth (Moore) O’Meara sends greetings from NC where she and Tom, her husband of 41 years, moved in ‘99 after happily working and raising their 2 sons in ME and VT. Liz retired in ‘10 from teaching pre-K through 4th grade, Reading Recovery, and academically gifted. She highly recommends the freedom she is now enjoying. Her current project is training their mini-golden doodle as a therapy dog which will keep her working with both children and the elderly. Tom still works as a family practitioner. They enjoy sailing and travel and have taken barefoot cruises to a variety of locations. Son Michael is an architect in Manhattan and son Matthew , an engineer, owns a custom woodworking business in San Diego where he lives with his wife and their only grandchild. Liz has a great appreciation for the education, experiences and memories she carries from those years at Northfield. She was last at NMH in ‘01 to attend Sacred Concert weekend with her mother, also an alum.

Sheila Morse traveled with boss Swanee Hunt to the desert in Rajasthan, India to camp, ride camels, and shop, then returned to Delhi to attend a conference convened by the Dalai Lama. She’d never been in such a luxurious hotel as the Taj Palace in Delhi nor anyplace as surprisingly cold as the desert. Later they were asked to set a five-year agenda to work on alleviating world poverty, a goal perhaps too ambitious even for the Hunt Alternatives Fund (www.huntalternatives.org) A high point for Sheila was when two Women Waging Peace Network (story) members were among the three recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Another high point was finalizing plans to retire at the end of June ’12 and enjoy more of their VT home, spend more time with partner Dick, and return to travelling to Italy and Israel more frequently. Sons Joshua and Jonathan traveled to S. Africa to visit their father in late summer. While there, Joshua proposed to girlfriend Alyssa. Jonathan returned to the East Coast and is now employed at Hunt as well, making Sheila a very proud mama on both accounts. She’s looking forward to spending time with NMH friends in June. Their home is 20 minutes away and they have extra bedrooms if anyone needs accommodations.

For the first time in 31 years Bruce Burnside and his three daughters weren't together for Christmas. They spent Thanksgiving together but for Christmas spread out to meet families of possible future significant others. Bruce fine tuned his main recording studio before recording any more of the fretted instruments and vocals for his orchestrated Civil War CD. He commissioned a new banjo has written several songs for that project. He’s also been thinking about writing a book on the life of Dan Emmitt,19th century composer of such standards as “Old Dan Tucker” and “Dixie.” All he needs is an interested publisher. Bruce will probably also go back to the drawing board to illustrate his book "If I Had A Friend".

One never knows what precipitates a classmate contact. Liz Schoen Burgess ’66 wanted to return a hole punch she had borrowed from Wendy Syer over 45 yrs ago. Wendy is the Assistant Director of International Education at the U of TN in Knoxville. She would like to trade the stress and work to travel the world, but reports she is still happily married and trying to encourage her 25 yr old son to become independent.

Lawyer -turned -underwater videographer Jay Garbose says sea conditions were less than optimum for a while so his wetsuit stayed dry longer that he would like but he put the free time to use re-landscaping the yard, replacing a bathroom sink and faucets, and 2 electrical boxes for outside lighting, dug a 20-foot French drain for the outside shower and surfaced the front entrance with marble pavers -- not skills he learned at NMH. Jay says he has no excuse not to attend the 45th Reunion and he enjoys the contacts with classmates through Facebook. Join him and nearly 100 others by entering “Northfield Mount Hermon Class of 1967” in the Facebook search window.

Fall/Winter 2011 Edition:

We are saddened to report the death of Dr. Deborah Krum Douglas on December 10, 2010, one day after her 61st birthday, at her home in Hudson, OH. At Northfield Debby was a Class Committee volunteer. A graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, she specialized in anatomical and clinical pathology. Prior to moving to OH, she had been associate professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins and in 2005 was named chief of the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. She came to Hopkins from Blue Ridge Pathologists in Fisherville, VA. She also practiced in Roanoke, VA and was previously medical director for hospital transfusion services at Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento. Debby is survived by daughters Kate Douglas Burgin and Charlotte Douglas, grandson Alexander Burgin, brother John '77, sister Katherine Krum Cordier '72, and parents John and Marcey Krum. Memorial donations may be made to Alzheimer's disease research, c/o Robin Blass, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Adelbert Hall Suite 403, Cleveland, OH 44106.

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Brad Waterman elaborated on the snippet we included in the previous edition of Class Notes, saying wife Susan (Smith) '68 designed and oversaw construction of their new home in VT and also handled he sale of their place in Northern VA. Brad proudly reported on the marriages of both daughters, Kerry to Michael Epstein in Oct 09 in Boston, and Lauren to Andrei Kallaur in April '10 in Brooklyn. Brad's son Brendan lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Brad was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of a select group of tax lawyers whom taxpayers should engage "when the IRS calls," based on peer review.

After 37 years with two different law firms Gary Barnes set up his own solo practice and is really enjoying it. He still represents CPA firms defending malpractice claims and pro-actively advising on risk management and also enjoys the occasional gig as a neutral mediator or arbitrator. Son Tyler NMH ’96 lives with wife Meghan and Gary’s grandson Maddox in CT.

We also heard from two Beths. Beth Goodman Kiendl works part-time as a nurse at Brattleboro Retreat. She's also into singing, being outdoors and traveling when possible. She has a new knee, a great husband, 2 very cool kids and lots of friends and enjoys liviving in VT "where there's some hope of sanity."

Beth Gordett is expanding the educational business she started in upstate New York a decade ago. Big Mind Learning runs programs and tutors in all subjects, specializing in math, science and writing. One exciting development is a blending of writing and yoga called Saga Yoga that she runs with son Daniel. One of the organization's goals is to help students of all ages develop skills in emerging technologies and clean energy. Check out their website at www.bigmindlearning.com.

Linda Hoff Irvin visited Moody Bible Institute to meet with their Dean of Counseling and found it to be a very nostalgic experience. They have a Northfield room and a little DL Moody museum and their church is very much like the Northfield Auditorium. Linda says it's worth a visit if you're in her neck of the woods (i.e. Chicago).

In the Spring 2010 Edition we told you about Debby Burnham Topliff's website. It now has a new name that should be pretty easy for you to remember: www.debbytopliff.com

Since retiring from teaching 4 yrs ago, Helen Fowler has been fulfilling her travel dreams. She’s studied poetry writing on the Cote d’Azur and art in Florence as a member of Boston-based Teachers as Scholars and taken other trips to Italy, Mexico, Alaska, England, Costa Rica, Paris, Greece, Spain and Morocco, as well as toured the western US National Parks. Son Chris is doing post-doctoral studies in viral immunology at Scripps in CA and daughter Sarah recently completed nursing school. Helen is thrilled that she has been able to visit with grandson Joshua in CA about every 3 months. She enjoys many and varied volunteer activities and is glad to continue to make a difference in the life of others. Helen has missed the last 3 reunions due to conflicts, but looks forward to connecting with long-lost friends next year.

Martha Ratcliff Rix is thoroughly enjoying retirement, taking formal saxophone lessons and finally actually learning to read music. She has a house in East Hampton that she gets to every other weekend.

Still not retired, Sheila Morse has been quite busy, working in behalf of Charles Ansbacher, husband of her long-time employer Ambassador Swanee Hunt and founder of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, to create The Free for All Concert Fund, an organization attempting to raise a $20 million endowment to support free high-quality classical music for all in the greater Boston area. Sheila is pleased to report they raised nearly half of the endowment goal before Charles died from brain cancer in Sept '10. This job was in addition to her two others: director of the Hunt-Ansbacher Family Office and deputy to Swanee.

Sheila and her partner Dick took a second road trip in 2 years from VT to Yellowstone in September, then on to UT for a nephew's wedding, traveling with her parents who are in their mid-80s and unable to fly. Less than a week after returning to VT they flew to HI for another nephew's wedding! And the day after Christmas Sheila headed to India with Swanee for a shared 10-day vacation and the the opportunity to observe 2 days of meetings with the Dalai Lama to: "explore and implement innovative initiatives, through a series of intimate dialogues, that help alleviate suffering among the very poor, especially those in the Indian sub-continental India and Africa. The discussions will possibly focus on education, empowering girls and women, and fostering social entrepreneurship..."

In past issues we’ve told you about the HIV/AIDS research Patricia Watson Bartlett and her husband have done, shuttling between Duke U in NC and Tanzania. For more detail and pictures, visit her blog: www.ngirilover.blogspot.com. Trish’s daughters Christina and Katrina are actresses in NYC. Son Isaiah just earned his MSW from NYU and is working in Somerville, MA. Their granddaughter and her parents Michelle and Lexton live near the Bartlett’s home in Durham, as do step-daughter Julia and her husband. Brother Rick Watson ’63 is newly retired and working on a family genealogy. Brother Jim Watson ’66 is also in NC and continues his old time and bluegrass music with his groups The Ramblers and Green Level Entertainers. The Watsons also have a cabin in Boone, NC. Karibu Sana (most welcome) to anyone who’d like to visit any of their 3 homes and put feet up for a while.

After 30 years of self employed doctoring Bill Johnson became an employee of the hospital in April and despite some adjustment it’s going ok. He’s still very active in scouting, serves as camp doc for a large scout reservation, and looked forward to the 30,000 strong World Jamboree in Sweden. Bill is a deacon at church and helped push through a vote to become an Open and Affirming congregation of the UCC. Bill’s son got married in June ’10 and to Bill’s delight, moved from San Diego to Boston. His daughter left a job at State Street in Boston to swing a chain saw with Americorp in the wilds of Nevada.

The saga of the relationship between Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon that began in '67 and resumed in '07 continues. This time they met in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to meet her son and daughter-in-law, attend a wedding, and enjoy romping around Melbourne's tea rooms, parks, art museums and tram lines. They also made it out to "Puffing Billy," a circa 1920 narrow gauge steam railway line that runs through the hills east of Melbourne. And they made plans for their next get-together in Helsinki, then on to Finland's western coastal villages before heading to the Baltic island of Haapasaari.

Anne Barrus Zeller and husband Bill have 4 grandchildren and enjoy motorcycling, paddling and hiking. They split time between home in Dunbarton, NH and volunteering at Red Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ. They also have a cabin in Greenville, ME where their only bathtub is the lake. Anne says “if any of you would like to photograph moose up close, Bill is a registered Maine guide; come visit us!”

To commemorate the Civil War Sesquicentennial, Bruce Burnside recorded the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and released a new Civil War CD featuring songs from Lincoln's Living Legacy, a stage show he wrote for the 100-year celebration of Lincoln's birth. Bruce is also recording a new CD of original songs about history, make believe and the need to care for the planet and its inhabitants.

After retiring and moving back to the US from Canada Chris Crosby has found adapting to life without traditional work a breeze. Returning to the highly partisan American political environment has been more difficult. High point of the year was a trip to Tanzania to experience the "great migration" across the vast Serengeti. Chris spent 2 weeks in a Land Rover following tens of thousands of zebras and gnus, as well as thousands of elephants, giraffes and gazelles, watched a pride of lions attack zebras at a watering hole and spent a day in a Masai village. According to Chris, "a life changing experience."

Vin Kennedy reports busy times with wife Becky Parfitt Kennedy graduating with a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lesley University, daughter Meaghan NMH '01 graduating UVA Law to work with Weil, Gotschal & Manges in NYC, and son Peter NMH '06 returning home from a year of playing, teaching, and coaching lacrosse in Manchester, England. Daughter-in-law Jaclyn Thomas-Kennedy NMH '00 completed her writer's fellowship with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and has been named a MacDowell Fellow with residence at the Colony in NH. Vin and his partners decided to liquidate their "distressed loan" investment portfolio so he has therefore re-retired and now looks forward to completing a 2 yr cabinet and furniture making program at Boston’s North Bennet Street School. He continues to practice/teach Tae Kwon Do and occasionally lectures on restructuring and turnaround management.

While Asia is still very much part of life for him, Dick Flagg has settled back in the USA in Park City, UT and embraced the local religion: skiing! He'd love to welcome any classmates who are ski or board buffs to visit and experience the "Best Snow on Earth" in winter, or discover hiking, biking, and camping in the Wasatch and Uintas mountains during the beautiful summers.

Charlie Watt is living in Sarasota, FL doing financial planning and writing. His first book, a coming-of-age tale (with plenty of Mt Hermon inspired stories) was an FWA 2010 finalist for memoirs. He expects to have it published this year and would happily accept an introduction to a traditional NY publisher or agent.

Meanwhile, Pam Crawford has moved from Sarasota to her childhood home in CT. She is engaged to a wonderful guy she dated as a teenager. Son Luc and daughter April are happy living and working in FL. Grandson Sebastian is off to college. Pam has had recent visits with Chris Anderson ‘66 and Betsy Cassell Randall ‘66. She and Betsy were reminiscing about a talent show in which they did a Sonny and Cher routine and wonder if anyone might have pictures.

Laura Thompson is a high school Special Ed teacher in a small, economically depressed town in NH. She also works in the wine tasting room at Zorvino Vineyard, the perfect counterpoint to Special Ed and the only job she’s ever had where drinking is part of the job description! Laura is enjoying good friends, good health, a wonderful son, & a cozy home in the woods.

Sylvia Kuhner Baer is still professoring at Gloucester College in NJ including some on-line teaching with a few courses. She absolutely hated it at first, but now finds the discussions more interesting on-line when folks have time to think about ideas, rather than in class where the pace is faster. She’s still playing tennis (and became part of a 4.0 team), golf, loving both yoga and Pilates, enjoying performing her Emily Dickinson play “A Passion for Life” around the country, but mainly, she and her husband adore hanging out with their 2-year-old grandson. Daughter Heather entered him in an online contest and now he’s on a best-selling Hallmark card. And a sibling is on the way.

After selling his retail business in 06 and retiring Willy Hermann ended up with a cottage industry repairing Nakamichi cassette decks. Check out his website at www.willyhs.com. Hard to believe anyone still uses them but there is quite a number of people who are still dedicated to the cassette format. Both sons have graduated from college and are employed – and in the fields in which they graduated!

Madeleine Lenagh’s practice as coach and counselor is well underway and she now has gradually expanded the English content on her website www.lenagh.nl. She still works part-time for the City of Utrecht, managing a citywide program to improve and innovate public services and improve digital access for all clients.

Joking that all the running he did at Mt Hermon may have taken its toll Ross Mason finally gave up the sport in favor of cycling. He even got his picture in an “old guy magazine” after competing at the National championships.

Will Melton wrapped up his assignment at the Scripps Institute in FL and has moved on to a new challenge at UMASS in Amherst. He and Eliza Childs were proud to visit another Northfield (MN) for their daughter’s graduation from Carleton College.

Have you seen the name of a Northfield classmate in the Facebook group or elsewhere and asked, "Did I know her?" The confusion comes about, naturally, because many of those women, through marriage, divorce, re-marriage or other circumstances, have adopted names other than the ones you may be familiar with from our school years. To help you sort out who's who, we have assembled a handy cross-reference chart. It is in two sections. The first part is arranged alphabetically according to the surnames they used "back in the day," and the second part is alphabetical by their present day surnames. You can find it by clicking here.

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

Spring/Summer 2011 Edition:

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

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Brad Waterman and his wife Susan '68 have sold their house in the Baltimore-Washington area and now spend June through October in Waterbury Center, VT although Brad still maintains his law office in DC. During the colder weather, the Watermans continue to snowbird it in FL.

Also in the Sunshine State, Alex Engelsted (you knew her as Sandy) is captain of Danmark a charter sailboat in Naples, FL.

Gerry Sherman was recently elected to the Board of the Community Development Corporation of New England, a provider of loans for the acquisition of commercial real estate under the Small Business Administration 504 lending program. Since 2006 Gerry has also been on the board of Diamond Business Credit, an asset based lending company with offices in Boston, Philly and Pittsburg.

After 27 years with Continental Airlines Kurt Adams is enjoying retirement. He's been doing lots of woodworking in conjunction with his wife's painted furniture business as well as finishing a year long restoration of his 1946 Piper J3 Cub. Between that and traveling the west coast to visit the kids and tending to a real estate venture in Panama, Kurt can hardly find time for his favorite activity: napping!

Tom Myers lives on a saltwater farm in Maine and continues to promote 'practical holism' in manual therapy, offering workshops around the world. Back in ’08 we told you about his book Anatomy Trains. It’s now in a 2nd edition and has been, or is being, translated into 9 languages. His second book Fascial Release for Structural Balance has been published by North Atlantic Books and he has a chapter in another North Atlantic book: Hope Beneath Our Feet, in which a number of writers answer the question: "In the face of our environmental crisis, how should we live now?"

Jean Walker reports that her company, UTC Fire & Security, is relocating its headquarters to Lakewood Ranch, FL so she's moving to Sarasota. Jean expects to be in her new condo by the end of November and would love to hear from anyone who currently lives in the Sarasota/Bradenton area (Tampa Bay, too). You can write her at jean.walker@att.net.

On these pages we have chronicled many of the creative efforts of Bruce Burnside including having his Civil War stage show Unsung Stories of the Civil War orchestrated. Project completed, they had two performances in April and another at the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua in August. Bruce had great fun singing with and hearing the 26 piece Eau Claire Chamber orchestra perform his work. Ivar Lunde, the arranger and conductor, has become a good friend. Bruce has found it interesting to hear how Lunde's international credentials and classically trained ear worked with original material in the American folk song tradition.

In addition, Bruce is working on a CD of the stage show he wrote on Lincoln. It will be drawn from several live performances. And with close to 60 unheard songs and tunes to chose from, he's recording yet another CD. As an example of how some of the songs are being arranged for the recording, Bruce plays one new one with a fretless banjo with African drumming and a small "choir" to sing it. Another uses a mando-cello, a Wiessenborn (1920 Hawaiian) slide guitar and electric lap steel guitar. In June he also finished a half hour radio documentary entitled Growing Up In Red Cliff. Red Cliff is a Ojibwa (Anishanabe) reservation 14 miles from his home. It's taken Bruce thirty years to learn enough and become known as a trustable, dependable individual and to have tribal friends who contributed to the production. It's been aired on WOJB, WTIP, and KUWS. The WI Public Radio Ideas network is looking at broadcasting it state wide.

As if that weren’t enough, Bruce has written a children’s book and is optimistic he has found the right illustrator. His own kids are doing really well. Eyleen made him a grampa twice in 18 months, Timothy's last project at the Smithsonian on the Apollo Theatre has gone on tour, and Claire trains people who are going to Afghanistan to rebuild.

Yet another musical classmate is Jim Baldwin. He and his band Big Dog Trouble play in and around Jim’s home base of San Rafael, CA. You can check out their website at http://bigdogtrouble.com or look them up on Facebook. While enjoying his first sabbatical in 34 years of teaching Jim spent a few weeks in Newfane, VT. Will Melton and Eliza Childs also happened to be in VT at the time and Eliza ran into Jim and his wife Jean Marie at the Brattleboro Food Co-Op.

Eliza also told us of several instances of grandparent news. In addition to celebrating the December birth of Lucille Almeda "Celia" Melton, the first child for Will’s son Cooper and his wife Wendy, she reported that Jean McBean Koenig (below) welcomed a 2nd grandson when Blake David Burgess was born to daughter Kate in CO.

Kit Williams Krents gained both a 2nd daughter-in-law with the marriage of Ali to son Willie and a first grandchild, Charles Bon Krents, courtesy of son Jamie & his wife. As a member of the Dexter Lake Wedding Band Jamie provided music for his brother's wedding. And Willie and Ali have returned to Shanghai where he works for W.R. Grace.

After her retirement, Helen Fowler got to spend more time doting on her new grandson, Joshua Charles Kemball, in CA.

Gary Barnes checked in to say he and wife Maureen are thrilled to have joined the ranks of grandparents, having been presented with Maddox Noah Barnes by son Tyler ’96 and his wife Meghan.

And Donna Eaton Mahoney welcomed her second grandchild in March.

Robin Whyte Reisman has qualified to be a tutor of ESOL, “English to Speakers of Other Languages,” now the preferred designation.

Dick Barclay lives in Lansing, MI and has a home in Frankfort, MI. To those who know that the map of the lower peninsula of Michigan is like palm of your right hand, Lansing is in the middle-lower palm, right next door to Michign State University and Frankfort is near the tip of the pinky by Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore on Lake Michigan. Lots of opportunity for outdoor recreation, which Dick enjoys year around. For example, Lansing is a metropolitan area of around a quarter million people, and yet there are 20+ miles of urban and rural off-road jogging/biking trails out the front door of his house. Dick left his job as “policy wonk” for the Michigan legislature a few years ago and has been working as Director of Research and Policy Development for the Michigan Electric Cooperative Association so he spends a lot of time reading about climate change, cap and trade, renewable energy standards, electricity reliability, smart grid, etc. Kids are grown and mostly flown. And, yes, Dick enjoys spending time with his grandchildren. He’s pleased that more familar names, if unfamilar faces, are showing up on Facebook (around 85 in our class's group at last count). If you are not already a member, go to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.

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Fall/Winter 2010 Edition:

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

Pam Crawford reports that she, Storm Scott and Charlie Watt had a wonderful time at a surprise birthday party for Carroll Bailey, arranged by his wife Elaine (Rankin) at their winter home in Siesta Key, FL. Around 50 friends, relatives and former colleagues were on hand to celebrate Mr. Bailey's 80th birthday, swapping stories, toasting the guest of honor, and enjoying each other's company. Pictured: (Top) Carroll & Elaine; (Bottom left) Storm with one of Elaine's cousins; (Bottom right) Carroll with Charlie (back to camera)

In mid-February the Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast of their weekly program Tent Show Radio, (aired on around 50 stations in 10 states around the country, usually at 7PM, after Garrison Keillor's A Prarie Home Companion) was one Bruce Burnside wrote, produced, directed and herded cats off and on called Lincoln's Living Legacy. Says Bruce, "The band, singers and narrators all did a good job as well as the audio recording crew and editing and mixing department. I'm proud of this work; all the songs (a few you'll hear), the message and the presentation. I hope you get to enjoy it." If you missed the initial broadcast, you can download the show by going to www.prx.org and looking under "Tent Show Radio."

For many of us, our names have changed over the years, some more than others. Of course, as is customary, many Northfielders assumed the surnames of their husbands upon their marriages. Some of us discarded old nicknames or acquired new ones. The musician millions of fans recognize as William Ackerman is a guy we knew as George. Jay Garbose used to be called Jim, although he apparently never liked it. The list goes on. In my own case, everybody I've known since before I graduated from college calls me Dana Gordon but to those I have met after 1971 I am Lee (I answer to both). However, few classmates have experienced the identity transformation undergone by the one we remember as Leslie "Les" Petrovics. Returning to his native Hungary he restored his first name to its original Laszlo, but he went further. When is parents were honored at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem as rescuers of Jews in World War II he adopted the surname Ofner in tribute to his mother. The story is chronicled in his semi-biographical novel Broken Places, published by Grove Atlantic in 1990. The man now known as Dr. Laszlo Petrovics Ofner is currently living in Budapest and working as a journalist and psychoeducator.

Melinde Hatheway Kantor lives in North Montpelier,VT with Jeffrey, her husband of 30 years. They have 2 daughters. Chelsey lives in LA where she works for a jewelry manufacturer/designer. Shona is finishing her internship in audiology in DC. Melinde stays busy with a web business she started 10 years ago designing costumes for performers. She enjoys traditional music and recently started composing tunes using Mozart software. She plays flute, penny whistle and fiddle in the VT Fiddler Orchestra. Other interests include gardening and drawing. She would love to hear from Hibbard classmates or friends from anywhere. If you have read any good books lately, she is soliciting suggestions.

Kori Hedman Calvert is doing her best to revive the travel industry. One of the last to celebrate her 60th, she did it in style in DC and then in NYC. During the summer, she was off to Cuba. In early September, she and her foodie friends were sampling the cuisine in Santa Fe. She and Scott '62 planned a scouting mission to Oregon, trying to decide if that’s where they’d be content to retire.

Donna Eaton Mahoney recently celebrated her first anniversary of retirement, sure that the decision to leave her career in child welfare after nearly 38 years was a good one. She spent the first 6 months traveling and renovating before those social worker instincts exerted themselves. Donna is currently working one day per week at an addictions treatment center and thinks that is an ideal schedule.

When Will Melton and Eliza Childs visited Minnesota to attend their daughter’s lacrosse games at Carleton College, they took a detour to visit Led Ballooner Chris Crosby who has moved back to St. Paul after retiring from Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto where he was one of the only executives who did not rise through the ranks as a banker. Now he’s building a classic Adirondack guideboat, playing his Fender Telecaster and keeping in shape on his awesome road bike. Chris and wife Kate have two sons and a daughter. Will also spent time with another Led Ballooner, Michael “Max” Millard during a trip to San Francisco for the NMH Trustee meetings. Max has patched together several teaching jobs to enable him to use his love of music and performing to work with children. He and wife Salve live on the west side of Nob Hill. They met in the Philippines, where she grew up and where they still own property.

Tracy Ambler is still lawyering solo on Cape Cod. He and wife Nancy completed an eight-day course at the Offshore Sailing School in St. Petersburg, FL. Starting with basics, they ended up for the final 24 hrs alone on somebody's lovely Hunter 49 (Tracy suspects Offshore leases the boats from unsuspecting owners). Tracy says it was a, "Nice trip despite the intense schooling and practice involved. Now we just need a boat."

The romantic adventure of Irma-Riitta "Irmis" Simonsurri Jarvinen and Gene Harmon, first mentioned in the Fall 2008 edition, continued in May when Gene made it to Switzerland only to learn that the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajokull had kept Irmis from flying from Helsinki to Italy where they had planned to spend some time in Florence and Siena before returning to Finland.Quickly altering plans, Gene booked the last berth in a sleeper to Stockholm with a 12 minute connection in Copenhagen, which he missed and had to talk his way onto a sold out train but only because he was willing to sit on a bag of potatoes in the diner. Once the couple finally connected they traveled to the medieval city of Tallinn, Estonia before returning to Irma-Riitta's island summer home in the Baltic. Summer plans include a trip to Gottland and then back to the island summer home.

In 2009 Colin Cochran married his partner of 36 years, Paul Langland. They divide their time between an apartment in NYC's Chelsea section and a new house in Santa Fe, NM. Paul is a full time professor of dance at New York University and Colin's art career continues to flourish with many gallery exhibitions over the years in NYC, Hudson NY, and Santa Fe. His paintings have also been featured and reviewed in magazines such as Art in America, New York Arts and Art and Antiques. Colin find Santa Fe to be a very nurturing and stimulating location to work as an artist.

In June, Mollie Lininger Alkan celebrated her 22nd year with New York Life Insurance Company International. Based in NYC she enjoys business travel in their Asian and Latin American markets, having recently visited Mexico, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bali, Malaysia, Phuket, Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore. Mollie has kept in touch with Martha Guernsey Hoffmann and Jean Walker.

In anticipation of reaching mandatory retirement age in her work as a project manager Madeleine Lenagh has opened her own practice as a coach and counselor, giving it time to grow gradually so it will be ready to do fulltime (well, almost) when the time comes. As always, she extends a welcome to anyone traveling anywhere near the Netherlands. Most importantly, Madeleine celebrated the birth of her first granddaughter, Sara Leila Louise, on December 23rd. Says Madeleine, "She’s as cute as a button and I finally understand why grandparents are so happy about being grandparents!" Not surprisingly, Madeleine has posted baby pictures on Facebook. I have taken the liberty of lifting one to post here. You can see more on Facebook where, incidentally, our class group has grown to more than 70 members. If you are not already one, go to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.

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Spring/Summer 2010 Edition:

Alex Ives has been serving his community, first as a volunteer and then as Coordinator of the Wilmington office of the Ohio Benefit Bank, an organization that offers services to those in need, including food stamp, job search and weatherization assistance. After completing his AmeriCorps training he became a VISTA volunteer and continued to work with the Benefit Bank in that capacity while also recruiting more Counselors for the Bank.

Also involved in community service, Carol Bullard-Bates is president of Bethany Inc., an organization that assists the homeless in Washington DC. Among the fundraising efforts she coordinated was a walkathon in November. If you'd like to help with a donation or otherwise, go to www.helpthehomelessdc.org

Best wishes to Linda Hoff-Hagensick and Jim Irwin who were married in September.

Nancy Hemmerly Knepp is a staff rep for the public employee union AFSCME in Harrisburg, PA. Son Ben is a librarian at Michigan State U, daughter Ellen is a mom of 2 in Durango, CO and daughter Susan is a Pilates instructor and mom of 3 in Mechanicsburg, PA. Nancy's husband Randy is retired and fighting Hodgins lymphoma.

Since the Led Balloon Jug Band performance and mini-reunion in May 09 Will Melton has seen Dick Upson on a regular basis and also visited MH roommate Tom Hanna in Keene NH and jug band songbird Sam Schreiber in Naples FL. No stranger to the Sunshine State, Will has made more than 80 trips from RI to Scripps Florida biomedical research facility where he served as VP of their Office of Philanthropy. Eliza Childs attended a reunion of former Wilson Hall residents in December. Before moving on to the next challenge, Will and Eliza planned to enjoy an art-drenched excursion to Venice. (Ed. note: as of 11/10 that trip to Italy had not yet materialized.)

Reading the entire Health Reform bill would be a daunting task, so several dozen voice over artists including Dana Gordon joined in a massive volunteer effort to record each version of the bill including amendments and post all the audio recordings on the website www.hearthebill.org where they can be listened to online or downloaded.

Nancy Crothers spent just a bit more than a year at Northfield but still has fond memories. Single again, she is a senior analyst for the Government Accounting Office and has lived in Washington DC since 1977.

Ellen Stepleton has been working as a preparator in vertebrate paleontology for the past 22 yrs, first for the National Park Service and currently at the University of Nebraska.

Painting Revelation by Debby Topliff

Debby Buhrman Topliff seemed pleasantly surprised that her 45-minute DVD Painting Revelation was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the top ten religious videos of the past two years. In the video she introduces and discusses the last book of the Bible while standing in front of her large painting depicting 29 scenes from Revelation. Debby has since painted the book of Acts in 100 scenes and started working on Mark's gospel. You can take a closer look at www.debbytopliff.com

More underwater video by Jay Garbose has been featured on TV, the internet and in print. He and dive buddy Connie Gasque discovered a football field sized patch of endangered coral off the shore at Palm Beach FL. Jay wrote down some recollections from his years on the Hill: "So many are gone. I can remember, significantly, that I was working off a room point for not making my bed properly freshman year. I lived in Room 6, Cottage One. My window looked due South at the Chapel and senior rock. I had to clean classrooms for an afternoon in the Silliman Science Lab building (the one that burned during the MH-Deerfield football game...Is it true that NMH football lost every game this year?). Someone had a radio on, and, at about 2:30 p.m., we heard the first radio report of President Kennedy's shooting in Dallas. We all laughed initially thinking it was a radio station hoax. Within minutes, all of us were gathered around that little am radio in shock. Once it was confirmed that he died, we were told to put away our tools and allowed to go back to our rooms. It was, of course. Friday, November 22, 1963. Friday night chapel was unbelievably comforting. Rev. James Kelly knew JFK, I think, and with his Irish booming voice, he brought us all together, as they used to say: "600 strong"! I will never forget that day. The world was never the same. Meanwhile, back in the present, Jay has "immersed" himself in more than just the Atlantic. Wife Leigh Tucker and her sister Karen have opened Tucker & Tucker Protravel International and the 3 have had to bone up on PR, networking and advertising.

George Christodoulo travels throughout the US as part of his corporate merger and acquisition law practice in Boston. He and wife Pam, a college administrator and professor in Andover MA, have two children. Recently married son Peter does private equity work in London and daughter Thayer has put her MBA to work as a strategic planner for AMEX in NY. Both offspring attended Phillips Academy while Carroll Bailey, Elaine Rankin and David Cobb were on the faculty. The Christodoulos get away to their Cape Cod retreat whenever possible and George reports his golf game would not be so terrible if he played a bit more.

After Hermon Roy Taylor spent 3 terms at Tufts where he "aced English and French, flunked Chemistry and Calculus, left after 3 terms. Before leaving learned poker, drinking games and managed to play soccer, and scored a lot on frosh lacrosse team. Did a part time semester at Conn College before they went co-ed, lost my deferment, had a crummy draft lottery number, enlisted, learned Russian for a year, went to Berlin for two years as a translator with military intelligence (there’s an oxymoron for you). Played for Armed Forces volleyball team and soccer. Got out in ’72, Conn College Russian Studies major ’74 (more soccer plus b-ball and golf), Columbia marketing MBA ’76 (rugby club). 10 years with Pfizer: one in NYC, 3 in Belgium selling bulk pharmaceuticals to the USSR (been to Moscow 50 times, other SSR’s and all over the East Bloc before and after the wall came down), back to NYC for the animal health division, then St. Louis for hybrid seeds and plant genetics. 3 years with chemical subsidiary in south of France working in flavor and fragrance extracts for the perfume, cosmetics and food industry. The factories I supervised were the biggest processors of French rose and jasmine flower petals in the industry (and of course, more soccer, volleyball and petanque, a French bocce ball game). Back to NYC, jumped ship to a corporate HQ gig for US operations of a French conglomerate based in New Jersey, moved over for 3 years on business development staff of an ag/animal pharmaceutical and feed company outside Chicago (ran their East Europe operations on the side). Company down-sized so I bailed and became an independent international marketing consultant for a few years. Used my severance and sales commissions to buy the rights to a bioplastic technology from Iowa State." Roy's company Soy Works www.soyworkscorporation.com has been developing bio-based plastics from soy and other plant materials. Roy has been married to wife Nina, a physician and breast cancer survivora, for 20 years. Daughter Amanda is in 8th grade and son RJ is in 11th.

That the Hobby Lobby underwrote the purchase of Northfield was of special interest to Claudia Stanley Moose. She runs a summer art camp for children in Kentucky and Hobby Lobby is her source of supply. She is pleased that the money she spends might be going to preserve the campus.

Ross Mason is still racing bicycles and collecting vintage electric trains. He is VP of Engineering at WGHP TV8 in Greensboro NC and was excited about becoming a first time grandparent courtesy of the older (40) of his two daughters. Ross is pleased to have reconnected with old classmates including Alex Ives and Jack Osborne thanks to Facebook. Our class group has grown to well over 50 members.

Fall 2009 Edition:

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

You can read the entire obituary here: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2009/04/02/catherine_royce_60_documented_travails_triumphs_in_als_battle/ as well as an earlier Boston Globe feature on Kit here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/04/a_dancers_final_turn/.

Penny Pappas

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

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

On to happier news. On a beautifully sunny Saturday afternoon in May, a host of dignitaries descended upon the campus for the dedication of the new Rhodes Arts Center. Among those invited to provide entertaiment for the occasion was our own Led Balloon Jug Band, who dedicated their performance to founding memeber, the late Craig Roche. Surviving band members Chris Crosby, Bruce Burnside, Will Melton, Sam Schreiber, Dick Upson, Max Millard, Jim McBean, as well as Jim's wife Susan and guest washtub bassist Matt Snyder put on a tour de force performance, which was witnessed by an enthusiastic audience that included Craig's wife Carol and his brother David. Also on hand to cheer on the band, celebrate our collective 60th birthday, and make the actual dignitaries scratch their heads and wonder "who let these people in?" were classmates Becky Parfitt and Vin Kennedy, Eliza Childs, Tom Hanna, Chuck Streeter, Carol Ball, Storm Scott, Joel Bartlett and his wife Wendy, Jennifer "JJ" Meehl and her husband Tony Lambert, class correspondents Donna Eaton Mahoney and Dana Gordon, and chief organizer Wendy Alderman Cohen. Carol, by the way, was making her first trip to campus in decades, despite living only 10 miles down the road.

The swine flu scare kept one classmate away. Fortunately it was not because he had the disease but because Peter Henwood risked nullifying his health insurance had he made the trip from the UK to the US as he had planned. Kurt Adams had hoped to renew acquaintances with Peter but ultimately couldn’t attend either despite living only about 20 minutes from campus. After 27 years flying for Continental, Kurt has retired. He and his wife of 30 years have two sons, one entering grad school, and one finishing up film school at Emerson in Boston.

Carlos Castellanos and his wife live in the Cayman Islands but also have a home in Vermont and had likewise hoped to be at the ceremonies but had to postpone at the last minute. In the 80s and 90s Carlos collaborated with arts center benefactor Bill Rhodes and other bankers to restructure the external debt of Latin America.

Here is a small gallery of photos from the day's events. (Clicking on an image should bring up a larger version).

Believe it or not, there are even more pictures to see. Will has posted them all on a website at this link: http://gallery.me.com/will.melton#100009/ . Click the "My Gallery" button and you should find it.

You can also read Dick Upson's account of the festivities on his blog: http://bluessoulrocknroll.blogspot.com/ .

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

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

Tina Dobsevage checked in from vacation in Paris to report she’s in private practice in internal medicine in NYC where she shares a.5th Avenue office with psychoanalyst husband Jonathan House. Daughter Antonia graduated from college with honors in '08 and is headed to grad school at NYU. Son Greg is a junior at St. John's College in MD. Tina also teaches residents and interns at Lenox Hill Hospital and for many years has been a member of Physicians for a National Health Program.

Also practicing medicine in NY is Glenn Schwarcz, a psychopharmacologist teaching at Columbia and NYU schools of medicine and medical director of Rockland Psychiatric Center. As if his private practice, wife, 8 kids, and 18 grandkids don’t keep him busy enough, Glenn also roller blades 10 miles daily, kayaks twice a week, and skis all winter.

Sheila Morse continues to work in Cambridge as Deputy to Ambassador Swanee Hunt and Director of her family office. Sheila spends 3 nights a week with her sister and brother-in-law and the rest of the time in Guilford, VT where she hopes to retire “sooner rather than later.” She devotes part of her time tending to her extended family's needs, particularly a sister-in-law who is dealing with brain cancer and the resulting paralysis. Sheila’s 2 sons (one an NMH '05 grad) just finished their 3rd year in college, one in FL and one in NH. Ten years after her divorce Sheila is happily thriving in a relatively new relationship.

Madeleine Lenagh lives in the Netherlands where she works hard as a project manager, trainer and counselor. She claimed she had no news, but when confronted with evidence to the contrary in the form of the beautiful photos of her many vacation trips, she acknowledged that being alone for the past 5 yrs has given her the opportunity to travel to the places she has always wanted to see. In 2005, she went to Costa Rica which she said was “fantastic” despite pulling her Achilles tendon and ending up on crutches for 4 months. In 2007, she spent almost a month in Java and Bali and would happily have stayed longer. This year, she ventured to South Island, New Zealand where her sister recently moved. Madeleine is thinking that she could easily live there after retirement. She’s an avid photographer and invites all to visit her albums on Facebook where she is one of more than 35 members of our growing class group. To take a look or to join, log on to Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967 Facebook Group. Or enter "Northfield Mount Hermon, Class of 1967" in the Facebook Search box.

You may have to log in or join Facebook to access the page.

Spring 2009 Edition:

From Donna: After 4 yrs in Tanzania, Patricia Watson Bartlett and husband John have moved back to NC (see Winter 2009 Notes above) but have since traveled to Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, and paid a return visit to Tanzania. Patricia is excited about being a new grandmother. Also planning to move back to the States are Ann Darcus Jackson and Ernie who plan to leave England for retirement on Cape Cod in June.

Tina Dobsevage has a busy private practice as an internist in Manhattan. She finds herself developing increasing skills in geriatrics as the majority of her patients are over 65. She shares her office with husband Jonathan House, a psychoanalyst affiliated with the Psychoanalytic Institute at Columbia University. Their daughter Antonia graduated from the U of Edinburgh in 08 with majors in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies and is attending grad school. Son Gregory is a sophomore at St. John’s College in Annapolis.

Sylvia Kuhner Baer has completed 20 yrs as a professor of English at Gloucester College. She has edited professional journals and run national poetry contests. She wrote A Passion for Life, a one-woman show based on the life of Emily Dickinson which she has performed all over the country. Her husband John is an author in the area of psychology of creativity and philosophy. His latest book is Are We Free?:Psychology and Free Will. Sylvia has recently taken up tennis and golf. She shows some talent at tennis, recently winning her first trophy ever. Golf still eludes her, although she continues to put on her shoes and aerate the course. Her daughter was married in October and lives in Boston where she develops programs for at-risk children.

Debby Bates expects to graduate in May from the CA Institute of Integral Studies with her MFA in Creative Inquiry. She received her BA from New College of CA 2 yrs ago. Her sons are both graduating this year as well-Owen from Kalamazoo College and Keith from high school. Debby moved from Evanston, IL to Santa Cruz, CA. She would like to hear from East Hall friends.

Jane England Radford and husband Tim live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. They are just off the Appalachian Trail which they hike almost daily with their faithful dog, Zeus. They have a business, Cultural Communications, planning and designing museums. Jane designs the exhibits and Tim is the film maker. Their latest project is due to open in Nov 09 after 6 yrs in development. Our Land is Our Legacy will showcase 400 yrs of land use in Clarke County, VA. The Radfords celebrated Jane’s 60th and Tim’s 65th birthdays in Mexico in February where they were joined by Carole Drake Chamberlain and her husband Alan.

From Dana: Will Ackerman says "it's been a long time since my last confession" and reports he's still living in Windham County, VT and producing records. One of his own CDs, "Returning," won a Grammy in '05 and his latest, "Meditations," was nominated this year. After ten years, Will "finally wised up" and asked Susan to marry him and they began planning a June wedding in a tiny chapel in a tiny village high above Italy's Amalfi Coast. She's an avid gardner and a brilliant singer who does session work for Will's projects and others under the name of Noah Wilding. They have two pieces of land in Mexico and Will is surfing even bigger waves there, conscious of the fact that "the obituary will be a lot more to my liking if I go out in a manly fashion." Catch up on his career at www.williamackerman.com.

After twenty-some years of collecting and three years of extended research and interviewing Bruce Burnside's radio documentary "The Settlement" aired on several stations in WI and MN. It's the story of mixed(French/Dutch/English and Ojibwe) carving out homes using the Homestead Act after the last treaty in WI in 1854. Being mixed bloods they were not part of either world. Frank Belanger (Francois Belange), the founder of this 2 mile valley, made it possible for his wife's parents and brother, two of his sisters and all of his twelve children to have land and live there. He donated the land for a church, school and cemetery. By 1900 the Butterfields, Cadottes and Vandeventers, all mixed bloods, had several homesteads. The interesting feedback has been the similarity of these peoples lives with Italian immigrants in WV, as well other ethnic clusters in the Midwest. It will eventually it will be a free download at www.forgottenwisom.com. Bruce also received a National Endowment of the Arts grant to orchestrate his Civil War stage show "Unsung Stories of the Civil War." He'll be working with the conductor of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and since the show covers some of the role of the Midwestern soldiers, it will be marketed to Midwestern orchestras for the Civil War Sesquicentennial in 2011. Read more about Bruce's endeavors in the February 2, 2009 entry of Dick Upson's blog at http://bluessoulrocknroll.blogspot.com/

Gary Barnes was humbled to be named one of New England's "Superlawyers" by New England Superlawyers magazine, an honor for which fewer than 5% of the lawyers in New England are eligible and granted by peer nominations and polling by an independent research company. He was the only lawyer in VT so designated in his specialty, representing insurers. Gary continues to practice as "of counsel" to the Burlington office of Primmer, Piper, Eggleston & Cramer, P.C., spends winters in Florida but continues to work with the VT-based firm through the miracles of modern technology.

The Led Balloon Jug Band is not Will Melton's only musical endeavor. He also plays with and does some marketing for the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, with a repertoire that includes the works of Handel and Vivaldi and even the rock band Queen. Learn more at www.mandolin-orchestra.org.

Carol Bullard-Bates and her husband attended the Inaugural Peace Ball at the National Postal Museum on January 20. They enjoyed music and inspiration from Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte and Dick Gregory and they continue to work for peace and encourage the building of schools in places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Writing from Melbourne, Robin Whyte Reisman says she and husband Howard finally made their long-postponed trip down-under, visiting both New Zealand and Australia and they found it difficult to climb aboard the plane to fly home, especially after successfully avoiding a wintery January in Boston. She is hoping to come to the 60th birthday party in May that Wendy has dreamed up.

In March 2008 Jean Walker left her job at The Hartford and worked as a consultant in the Finance Dept at UTC Fire & Security until December when she became a permanent employee. She loves the new job and still lives in Rocky Hill, CT which is a short commute to work in Farmington.

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

You may have to log in or join Facebook to access the page.

Winter 2009 Edition

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

and thinks he's "done now with that since I'm not that good at it." He's still in Annapolis working in his own version of the travel industry and sailing whenever and wherever possible. Brand's son Hickory and his wife Heather -- "some hippy culture names, huh" -- just left Maui and are headed to Redondo Beach, CA where USAF Capt Heather Ginsburgh will be posted. Brand figures to vacation in that area for a few years so he may be looking to get together with any classmates who live near there.

Buddy Levine is working to call attention to a medical condition that afflicts his grandson Ari. On October 5, 2008, Buddy, his wife Barbie, and other members of their family will be running/walking their first half-marathon to raise both awareness and funds for neurofibromatosis, a neurological disorder that Ari was diagnosed with as a baby. Buddy says this is their way of literally taking action, of moving from acknowledging this diagnosis in scientific terms to accepting its real presence in their lives. And he is asking everyone who can to help find a cure for Ari and others with his condition by making a contribution to neurofibromatosis research. Click on the link to learn more about Ari and about Buddy's fundraising efforts:

http://www.active.com/donate/nfbrooksieway2008/nfDTaub

If you know of anyone else who may feel connected to this cause or to Buddy and his family, please forward this link as well.

Holly Kaslow Harbinger, after 5 years as Associate Dean in the College of the Arts at California State University, Long Beach, has been appointed Associate Vice President for Academic Personnel. She and husband Steve have been married for 37 years and have 2 daughters: Clare, in her second year at Temple Medical School and Elane, a sophomore at UC Berkeley.

Wendy Alderman Cohen's daughter, Laura got married on Cape Cod in July. Wendy reports, "She looked beautiful, we love her new husband, and we all had a fabulous time." The newlyweds live in Boston and Wendy's son Pete lives and works in NYC.

Besides relaying her happy news, Wendy came up with an idea for all of us to ponder. Since 2009 is the year many, if not most, of us turn 60, she thought we might want to get together for a Mini-Reunion/Birthday Party at some convenient time in '09. Those of us in New England might want to get together in the Boston area or maybe even on campus. Folks in other parts of the country are more than welcome to join in or may wish to organize similar events regionally. Drop me a line (mounthermon1967@comcast.net) with your thoughts and suggestions.

Carol Bullard-Bates has made several visits to Israel-Palestine and was shocked and horrified at the fear and suffering occurring every day on both sides. She has been paying regular visits to congressmen and senators to encourage them to do everything in their power to bring peace and justice to the region and hopes her classmates will do the same.

In the Spring 2008 edition we told you about Anatomy Trains by Tom Myers. Now his best-selling (in the small world of manual therapy, anyway) book is out in a 2nd edition - full color and expanded. Anatomy Trains weaves Ida Rolf with Buckminster Fuller, giving a new, systems view of stability in our locomotor function. anatomytrains.com

Patricia "Trish" Watson Bartlett and husband John spent most of the past 4 years in Moshi, working in HIV/AIDS (Ukimwi) at the Kilimanjaro Medical Center and a non-governmental organization collaborator KIWAKKUKI (Women Fighting Against AIDS in the KILIMANJARO Region). John was the Clinical Research Coordinator for the Duke University/KCMC Research collaboration, and Trish was the Community Advisory Board Liaison for the research efforts in the region. Trish says, "For me, the return was very difficult. My comfort zone is definitely in Moshi. The slow pace, the friendships, the race neutral environment, and the unbelievable beauty of the area are simply incomparable anywhere I have ever been. The relative safety compared to the US and most other countries of Africa of Moshi is striking. Thus, despite the heartbreaking poverty, that even primary schooling is not really free (and secondary school is a minimum of $200) and AIDS and co-infections range around 7%, I was unbelievably content and happy." John will be continuing his work with the Duke Global Health Center as the Associate Director of Global Research, which will allow Trish to return to Moshi from time to time as well a to visit some of the other collaborations.

Linda Hoff-Hagensick has been exercising her creative muse with what she calls her "middle-aged lady essays." She has submitted one about her first post-divorce date to the "Modern Love" column of the NY Times and, if we're lucky, we may even get to see one in the pages of the Alumni Magazine.

And it would hardly be the Class of '67 without some Led Balloon Jug Band news. The band has been selected to perform on campus May 2 during the dedication of the new Rhodes Arts Center, which has been built on the site of Recitation and Silliman Halls. The "rhythm section" of the band ( Jim McBean, Dick Upson, and Will Melton) has been rehearsing in Providence, developing some new material and arguing about how to mount a tour that would include Craig Roche’s nightclub "Galileo"

in Oklahoma City, Bruce Burnside’s recording studio in Wisconsin, and Memphis, where jug bands once ruled Beale Street. Plans for the performances will be announced on this website, so keep checking back.

Sadly, Craig himself will not be participating in these festivities. He died unexpectedly at his home in Oklahoma City on November 18, 2008. See obit below. His niece Kimberly Simpson asks that “next time you hear some great music, drink a cold beer, or see the Red Sox play, think of Craig.”

Following Craig's untimely death, numerous remembrances and photographs rolled in. We have assembled them on this Craig Roche Tribute Page.

If you look at the group picture way at the top of this page, one face and name you may not recognize is that of Joshua Spahn '72. He was invited to pose with us after being designated an honorary member of the Class of '67 in recognition of the tireless work he did remastering Chrismas Vespers and Sacred Concert tapes so that we could all have souvenir CDs to take home from the 40th Reunion. Sadly, we have learned that Joshua passed away unexpectedly. We will post more information as it becomes available. Meanwhile, you may want to sample some of Joshua's creativity by following this link AmericaN/MH Pie, a take-off on the classic Don McLean song.

Peter Henwood celebrates both his 31st anniversary and his 60th birthday on October 6. He would also like to reconnect with Kurt Adams (the adopted son of Kurt Vonnegut Jr) to send him condolences on Vonnegut's passing. Peter says, "I last heard from him about ten years ago and he was a Captain with Continental Airlines." (Ed. note: as nearly as I can determine, he still is.)

Nancy Hemmerly Knepp has worked for 16 years as a staff rep for AFSCME Council 13, a public employees' union in PA. She's the proud grandmother of four.

Jim Smolen is switching jobs at Rice University, become a Cost and Rate Analyst in central administration in mid-September. He'll be reducing his working hours (yes, semi-retirement is here) in order to pursue flying and other interests.

After spending more than 20 years in journalism, Max Millard is enjoying his new career as a teacher. He's resident musician at Bright Horizons preschool in the Lucasfilm complex in San Francisco, where most of the kids' parents work for George Lucas. He also teaches remedial reading and math at Mission Dolores Catholic School in the city's Latino neighborhood. Max recently visited the Philippines and brought back 3 more in-laws, for a total of 9 he has helped immigrate to the US since he and wife Salve were married in 1986.

A year ago Dave Rockwell reported that he was teaching computer skills to special needs kids and had two grandchildren of his own. Now it looks like he'll be leaving the teaching game and going back to working with grown-ups, "assuming anyone hires grampa's these days." He also expects a third grandchild by the end of September. Dave and his wife took the first 2 grandchildren (Zach 8.5 yrs and Emma 4.5 yrs) to Lake Tahoe for her family reunion, which he says was fun and beautiful and a good (dry) break from the soggiest 4-6 weeks in New England he can remember. It did result in good fishing and a bumper crop of tomatoes.

In the Spring 2008 issue we told you the story of the rekindled romance between Gene Harmon and Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen (a/k/a Irmis) after a 40 year hiatus. In July Gene flew to Helsinki and then the couple traveled to her cottage on Haapasaari Island in the Baltic Sea, a relaxing and simple place with outhouses and no cars and perhaps 200 people on a summer weekend but they do have high speed internet. Gene relearned how to use and sharpen a scythe to cut the long grass. After a week there they took a train to eastern central Finland to catch a bus tour and then crossed into Russia to the Solovetsky Monastery on an island in the White Sea. After years as a gulag it has been transformed back to its original purpose and is now the home of 35 Russian Orthadox monks. Students from all over Russia come to assist in the rebuilding. All of the domes and spires have been restored and many of the interior icons have been replicated. Beluga whales frolicked with their calves in the nearby sea. After returning to Finland Gene and Irmis were invited to a remote lake cottage by a couple she has known for decades. Immediately after arriving they were told the sauna was ready. Gene says, "While cooking in the sauna Irmis informed me we would be jumping in the lake after certain intervals. I looked into her beautiful deep dark blue eyes and asked, 'Naked?' 'Ya.' I told her people get arrested for that kind of thing in the states. No problem in Finland. So, yes, we jumped with wild abandon. It almost seems like we are still 18 years old."

Jay Garbose mused about strange events causing remote consequences. Discovering a weird underwater worm last year spawned a procession of unrelated benefits including a reconnection with some NMH classmates (the now-infamous 5-martini lunch is chronicled above). Mention of the "worm" in our class-notes, made alumni magazine editor Mary Seymour think shooting underwater video instead of practicing law was actually interesting enough to write about. Jay has now heard from fellow NMH'ers who also came from his hometown, too. Kirsten "Kirk" Besanko and Jeff Plotkin '68 both have kept in touch and updated him on their families. Jay says "we are hoping to have a yearly "Florida Reunion" this winter. I hope more old friends get in touch. Since all of the new contact, I am sorry I didn't attend the 40th last year. I now am flooded with ancient childhood memories. Thoughts of Rudy Weber and Judson Stent still evoke emotional responses I thought long gone." Jay's family has always stayed involved with the schools by maintaining a still-growing scholarship fund in memory of his brother David '68 who died in 1970. "The abiding principle learned at NMH during our incredible education by all of the "Garbi" (also brother Dan '65) was applying those acquired tools in helping others. It has amazed me throughout my life how the quality of those skills still serve me everyday."

Peter Higgins has been living and raising a family in Gloucester, MA for many years. All have left the nest although the youngest may still turn up for dinner from time to time. Peter says being a grandparent is quite lovely especially when you can hand the baby back at the end of the day. He would like anyone in or near “Fishtown” to give him a call. Peter has often kicked himself about not coming to the 40th reunion, but claims he simply forgot. (Ed. note: we will not let that happen again!) He says, "My memories of all have remained as we were “forever young” but alas the years creep up on all of us."

Holly Taggert Joseph attempted to organize a get-together for classmates in the DC area in early summer, but many had scattered elsewhere to escape the heat. She did meet up with (Margaret) Lynn Maxwell McLaughlin who is Chief of Programming and Training for the Peace Corps. Lynn and her husband have a retirement home in Sandwich on Cape Cod. Kwasi (Kerry) Holman is involved in the new National Harbor project in Prince George County, MD, a new community combining residential, cultural and retail development on the banks of the Potomac River.

Special Edition:

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

Craig Roche Tribute Page.

Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

Fall 2008 Edition:

From Donna: Marc Solomon is the swim coach for Tobias Work who is prepping for Olympic finals. Jeff and Wendy Alderman Cohen combined their parents of the bride duties with house hunting on the Cape. They look forward to retiring there in a few years. Wendy has been back to campus 3 times this year in her role as reunion advisor. Meta Steward Wells checked in to report that she is not ‘lost’, but well and living in PA. Ladies, please note the shortage of news from the Northfield contingent. Certainly that is because everyone is doing much. Please update us for the next issue.

From Dana: Class reunions are always a great chance to catch up with old friends, some of whom we haven't seen in a long time. Our June, 2007 reunion was the first time I saw Buddy Levine in 40 years, and also when I discovered that he spends the cold half of the year in Miami. Being the Class Secretary also provides an opportunity to catch up on the current whereabouts of old classmates. That's how I learned that Jay Garbose is now a resident of the Palm Beach area. Since I annually vacation in Ft. Lauderdale, midway between those two cities, I decided to instigate a little get-together.

As a result, the three of us spent a highly enjoyable afternoon alongside the Intracoastal Waterway in February, poring over a copy of Gateway, reminiscing about our days on the Hermon campus and our never-ending ploys to make it to the Northfield campus. At the conclusion of our leisurely 5-hour "lunch," we agreed to try to make this an annual event. And we certainly have no intention of limiting it to the 3 of us. Brad Waterman, who also snowbirds in the Miami area, unfortunately was not able to join us, but we're hoping he'll make it next time. And that goes for any other Hermonites and Northfielders in that neck of the woods -- or should I say palms? Contact Jay, Buddy or me and let us know where to find you and we'll keep you posted.

Brad reports that he and his wife Susan '68 did have a chance to get together with Kirsten Besanko whom they had not seen since school days.

Following graduation, Northfield native Aaron Newton headed west and settled in Arizona where he and Page, his wife

of 38 years, raised three sons. One son is a golf pro, so Aaron avails himself of the opportunity to get out onto the links whenever he's not traveling the world creating sets for the film industry. Aaron's move to the sunny southwest eventually inspired his mom and sisters Bea '60 and Betty '64 to follow suit.

Setting the record straight: I was just reading the nice brochure the school sent out about the naming opportunities and other information on the new Rhodes Center for the Arts. In includes a chart displaying the progress of the fundraising effort. Noted among the highlights was the very first gift that was received: $100,000 from Joel Bartlett, erroneously identified as a member of the class of '63. Unless our own Joel has a namesake who matriculated four years earlier, we know he is a proud member of the Class of '67.

Ross Mason reports that he got married in Luxembourg

in 1968 and divorced 32 years later, missed the war in Vietnam due to the birth of his first child, a daughter who got married in September '07, has raced bicycles for 24 years (pictured: this year's National Time Trial Championships) and collects old toy Lionel trains. Ross is still in touch with old cross country buddy, Brand Ginsburgh.

Doug Pineo checked in with word on what he's been up to since Mt. Hermon days, starting with a couple years spent in the Army from 1969 to 1971. Then it was back to college and a degree in civil engineering. Doug has specialized in structural engineering on telecommunications towers and now manages the engineering group of the nation's largest tower owner (22, 500 towers in the US with additional structures in Australia and Canada). He spent an interesting 6 months on a tower construction project in Sri Lanka. In his leisure time Doug enjoys kayaking and has become a relatively skilled at it. The sport has brought him to many beautiful and remote places throughout the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Since he moved to Pittsburgh, Doug hasn't linked up with many kayakers, although he did have one decent trip last summer and met some fellow enthusiasts, but then dislocated a shoulder and dropped out of the scene to recuperate.

Last October Will Melton and Eliza Childs and family held a memorial service for son McCann at The Giving Tree, the pre-school he attended in Gill, planting a tree and spreading his ashes at its base. Susan and Jim McBean came down for the ceremony to play one of McCann’s compositions with Will, son Cooper and McCann’s best friend Dave Kloepfer.

Condolences to Dick Upson whose wife Jery died in March after a long struggle with vasculitis and related complications. Dave Burnham, on the faculty when we were students, was one of the ushers for Jery’s service in Providence.

Will, Dick and the rest of the Led Balloon Jug Band are adding some new Memphis blues numbers to their repertoire as they have been invited to perform at the dedication of the Rhodes Art Center in early May ’09.

Spring 2008 Edition:

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

for the City of NY, settling civil law suits brought against the city. She is a 33 yr resident of the city, living in Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. Marty began to learn bluegrass banjo 2 yrs ago and still sings every day. She enjoys hearing about and from those at NMH.

It was good to hear from Anne Emslie Lorge ’66, a friend and neighbor from EGould. She and husband Bernie have 2 grown sons. Anne works with young children in her home town of Scituate, MA.

Best wishes to Vin Kennedy upon joining the swelling ranks of retirees from our class. Vin left Bank of America at the end of December. Word is that he plans to hone his already impressive woodworking skills.

My leisure of late has been devoted to our newest family member. My first grand child, Wyatt Clark Proctor, arrived in Nov. and has managed to captivate my time and attention as only a baby can.

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

Jim Smolen engages in an interesting variety of pursuits.

In addition to being a skilled photographer, Jim is a licensed pilot and, as a hobby, creates beautiful hand-made knives. Jim shapes and finishes the handle, does the inlay work, assembles the knife, sharpens and hones the blade, designs the sheath and does all the leather work, and essentially performs every step in the process except forging the metal. Click on the accompanying picture to see a larger, sharper (pardon the pun) image of one of Jim's latest creations.

Bill Johnson practices internal and geriatrics medicine in northeast CT and is active in the battle for single payer universal health insurance. Both his kids have finished school and joined the workforce. Bill has had a long involvement with Scouting and attended the last two World Jamborees in Thailand and England. He was happy to recognize several fellow swimmers pictured (above) among the attendees at the last reunion and hopes to be a first-timer at the next one.

Congratulations to Dick Upson for taking top honors in the first annual Rhode Island International Horror Screenplay Contest. In awarding the Grand Prize the judges cited Dick's entry, The Companion as a "gripping story - filled with isolation and suspense" and called it "especially compelling to our screenplay contest readers." Dick has also returned to the airwaves with a weekly radio show called Blues With A Feeling - every Sunday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM on WQRI FM at Roger Williams University. It's also available in cyberspace at wqri.rwu.edu . Future shows will include guest appearances by Will Melton as well as an interview with Rhode Island's own Grammy winning band Roomful of Blues.

Tom Myers teaches and writes about treatment of the human body based upon the concept that the muscles are strung together in strings and slings. He was part of the group that initiated the first Fascial Research Conference in Boston this autumn, bringing together top research scientists in the field in front of top clinicians in the world of manual therapy. Tom's book Anatomy Trains has been published in 6 languages and last year he conducted seminars in Norway, Germany, England, Costa Rica, Canada, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and South Africa, as well as Canada and the US. Tom says, "Perhaps most interesting of all these places was Tokyo, where Tom stayed near the Tsukiji market, the mother of all sushi." Tom maintains a blog at www.anatomytrains.com/blogs/tom-myers.

While at NMH, Gene Harmon and Irma-Riitta Simonsuuri Jarvinen

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

Keep checking back here as we will add more news as we receive it. And don't hesitate to click the link below to send in your own news.

Class of 1967 Alumni & Reunion Page

Northfield - Mount Hermon

Click Here for the Memorial Page for Departed Classmates

55th Reunion Class Picture

50th Reunion Class Picture

50th Reunion Video Montage

50th Reunion Pictures

These pictures were provided by Joel Bartlett or were originally posted on Facebook by Mindy Hatheway Kantor, Sylvia Kuhner Baer, Jay Garbose, Mary Briggs, Jean Walker, Trish Watson Bartlett, Marty Ratcliff Rix, Will Eddy, Lois Robinson Eddy, Cindy French Pasackow, and Ross Mason.

(If we have included or omitted you in error, please let us know.)

Click on a picture to see a larger image.

Will Ackerman Concert Video

45th Reunion Class Picture

40th Reunion Class Picture

Reunion 2007 - People

Click on a picture to see a larger image.

New Construction on Campus 2007

More Pictures

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

The Reunion before the reunion.

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

Class Notes

Spring/Summer 2020 Edition: