January 2023 Edition
Holiday greetings, ’73 Ephs,
Here’s an early stocking-stuffer, with the non-typeset e-version of the CLASS NOTES that will appear in the January 2023 print edition of the magazine.
Steve Harty and other Reunion leaders have shared with me the inspiring news that more than 50% of our class say they are planning to travel to Williamstown for our Golden Reunion celebration June 8-11, 2023. Check out the current roster: https://www.williamscollege73.com/.
With our June 2023 Reunion in prime focus, I’ll begin this edition with a report from Jim Stedronsky, like me a ‘72er turned ‘73er: “I’d like my adoptive class to know a takeaway I got from visiting the reunion of my birth class, ‘72. During that weekend I slipped into the Saturday class lunch. Nobody had changed much. Marriages, kids, careers. All that and still the same group I knew back then. One classmate joked that he spent half his life chasing women and drinking; the other half he wasted. Like those of us who’ve spent the last 50 years with family and careers, he agreed that life has treated him well. And that’s a good take-away. As we are now getting obits about our deceased classmates, there is a common thread. We’ve been largely fortunate to have lived full and meaningful lives with our family, friends and careers, and in our own ways, made a difference to others and our communities. So, if you’re on the fence about attending the reunion, please do make plans for it. Williams has been quite good to all of us and it’s good to see that in the faces and lives of our classmates. You’ll be reassured that you’re not the only one who is still pretty much the same. Re-kindle some lost friendships. Make a couple of new ones. And this may be the last time you will see some of your classmates. Again, please put the reunion on your calendar. If we didn’t know each other back then, it’s an opportunity to do so now.”
To Jim’s encouragement to connect or gather together before it’s too late, we learned, sadly, this period of the death of our classmate, Andrew Mtetwa, a distinguished Zimbabwean diplomat and historian. Andrew, one of only three Africans in our class, majored in History and English and lived in Prospect for both his first and second years. Immediately after graduation, he headed to Northwestern University where he earned his PhD in African Studies in 1984. Andrew was eulogized by Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa who acclaimed ‘An eminent scholar and historian, the late Ambassador Mtetwa belonged to the pioneering crop of black Zimbabweans who joined the civil service in the early years of our Independence in the 1980s…he was a change agent upon whom we relied to transform a predominantly white minority-dominated civil service in order to give it a new look reflecting the majority dispensation under the First Republic. He will be remembered for his diligence and hard work as one of our longest-serving career diplomats.’
Throughout past months it’s been rewarding to hear from classmates planning to attend the 50th, --among them Bill Tarter, Tommy Brewer, Greg Groves, Mary Baird, John Loeffler, Lynne Lewitt. Many have shared photos and content with webmaster Peter Pierson. Go visit: williamscollege73.com. As he did for our last Reunion Book, Field Horne is spearheading the 50th’’s, directing and collecting general essays and encouraging autobiographical pieces. Cecily Stone rued the loss of her 25th Book and wondered might those contents be put online; who wouldn’t like to reflect on the changes in our lives since then? Many communications have filled your inboxes; they are worthy of your attention and responses: Tom Lee and team’s work on the Class Gift; the anonymous Class Survey overseen by Bill Simon; Julian Beckford’s ongoing mission in support of the Alumni Fund; and, finally, irreplaceably as ever, President Steve Harty serving as ringmaster for us all.
Building momentum, we are. Mary Schendel wrote “As a reunion warm up, I hosted lunch in September for female 73 Ephs who live in, near, or were traveling by, Southern Maine. We ended up with 7 attendees including: Chris Moore Ferland, Jackie Oliveri, Dodie Jones, Cheryl Bailey, Sue McFarlan and Sally Shipton. Covid kept others away and conflicts confirmed that there is NO perfect date. Our small group laughed over our 10th year survey results. Back then, Fitch house responders weighed in as “not believing in God,” yet the class as a whole was recorded as “hardworking and Godfearing.” Since then, Thomas M. Hyndman IV’s wedding (yes, that’s Tom’s eldest son) drew us to LA where Phil and I connected with my senior year roommate Barbie Pierce ’74 and her author husband Bill Remple. It had only been 50 years. I was encouraged by Scott Hopkins to reach out to find Gail Stuart –who is alive and well, living not far from me, and Taylor Morrison Briggs, also living in Maine--to urge them to join us in June. On the personal front, Phil and I are among the only people we know who haven’t yet had Covid. We hope that shoe doesn’t drop next week as we had back to Italy and Montenegro for a month.”
Speaking of Scott, he reported in detail from the Mini Reunion in Billsville. “Steve Harty rounded up a motley crew, drawn from both coasts, and even the Midwest. Surprise, the couple traveling from the farthest West was not Robyn and Tom Geissler or even Bill Bodenstab from San Diego, but Amy and Frank Chapman from Lund, BC. Nancy and I left home 4 AM Thursday by car to pick up Frank and Amy in Cleveland where they were there visiting two of their daughters. Friday, we checked in at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance (formerly the Adams Memorial Theatre), took a walking tour of Horn House (our base for reunion), Spring Street, and the new Williams Inn. Later we caught the balance of the first faculty discussion on “Creative Thinking and the Origin of Big Ideas.” At the cookout behind the football field, we met up with the balance of the ’73 posse, Mary and Peter Pierson, Rob Cella, Karen and Bob Gross, the Geisslers, Bodenstab, Steve Harty, Steve Hauge, Mary and Bob Koegel, Dick Tavelli, Jay Nawrocki, Judy and Ned Carmody. Then, our crew did the normal thing and headed to The Log, taking over the front room and outlasting the last of the short-ball students, and closing the place down. Saturday, Field Horne joined us in time for the meeting with Maude and three other administrators. Following, a class Zoom with presentation from the staff of Planned Giving, Tom Geissler and Bob Koegel on Reunion weekend schedule and plans in the making, Field Horne on the 50th Reunion Book and status of personal essays, and then off to pre-football soccer cookout. Tufts won the football game, X-Country men won their meet and the women X-country finished 2nd, women’s soccer beat Amherst and men’s soccer tied Amherst. Shopping followed and then off to the Pass the Baton dinner at which Peter Farwell joined. Sunday, we convened at the Williams Inn for breakfast. Brother Peter ‘74 and Wendy ’72 joined us. Finally, back in the car, dropped Frank and Amy in Cleveland and pulled in the driveway in Chicago at 11:00 PM--at least I know that I can still roadtrip….”
Bob Gross had written me at the beginning of the weekend, “Karen and I are sitting in the Purple Pub thinking about you. I told her that you were going to Morocco and she said her mother almost got bitten by a monkey there, so watch out for the monkeys!! It was a nice drive over from our house in Northampton. Luckily, our Florida house dodged the hurricane last week, but the west coast of FL was hit very hard. Still working. I am on the ballot for merit retention this November, my last election. Let’s talk when you get back from your trip.”
Well, Kara’s and my 30th Anniversary trip to Morocco exceeded expectations….a beautiful, welcoming country. Saharan dunes. Cedar-forested mountains. Narrow gorges with ribbon-like oases in their depths. Kasbahs and Medinas. Warm hospitality from a culture accustomed to the diversity of Berber, Arab, Jewish, African and Mediterranean influences.
From anniversaries to births, it was great to hear from Bill Simon, “The big news on our front is that our daughter Lindsay aka Lulu is expecting our first grandchild in January and Cindy and I are beyond excited. Lulu lives with her husband Jason in New York City so expect to be spending lots of time in the Big Apple in 2023.”
Phil Dodd served as invaluable sweeper for content from classmates, ““Fran and I are still enjoying life in Montpelier. Our daughter Eliza, son-in-law, and two granddaughters are also in town, which works well for everyone involved. Since retirement in 2014, we’ve traveled, including to Italy (twice), New Zealand, Florida (most years), and the western U.S., but that activity was quashed by the pandemic. I’m still skiing and sailing, though in a down-sized boat. Much of my volunteer time involves managing, writing for, and fund-raising for a nonprofit community newspaper that I helped start in 1993 and re-engaged with after retirement. About 1,800 local newsrooms in the United States have closed in the past 20 years, so keeping a local news source alive seems like a most worthwhile effort! Earlier this year I made contact with former roommate Randy Perry, after a gap of 44 years. We’ve exchanged emails and caught up via Zoom calls. Since 1981, Randy has been living in Munich, Germany, where he sees Mack Stewart, also a Munich resident. Randy is working as a translator of legal and business documents for Siemens, but spends a lot of his free time helping refugees, many from the Middle East and now from Ukraine, learn English and German. He’s chair of the Munich English Language Teachers Association. For a decade, Randy and his partner Joan, who is Irish, have gone to Ukraine for a week once a year to teach English. He keeps in touch with many of his Ukrainian students, and he forwarded to me some of the heartbreaking emails from them as they hunkered down during the Russian invasion. The influx of war refugees and the energy shortage will make for a very challenging winter in Germany, Randy expects. I also recently spoke by phone with Bud Ruf, who is enjoying his work as a professor at Georgetown University in the Theology and Religious Studies Department, going so far as to say he finds it “fun.” Bud, author of three books, is working on another book, and is in a degree program in Psychoanalysis with the Contemporary Freudian Society, which he plans to finish in 2025. Between work and family (he has 12-year-old twin daughters at home), Bud says he does not have time for much else. Yet he somehow fits in a lot of travel, which in 2022 included trips to Helsinki and another to the Baltic States with regular traveling companion Jim Clemons. Bud has also made a practice in recent years of hiking on historical pilgrimage walks, including one trip with Jim in Italy and a 200-kilometer walk in Portugal with his grown daughter, who lives in the D.C. area. His son and his family live in Boston. Bud, who plans to attend the 50th reunion, said in addition to Jim he stays in touch with fellow classmates Jack Reed, Al Palevsky, Win Quayle and Rick Reckman.”
Among the particular pleasures serving as Class Secretary are hearing from ‘first-time’ contributors. There were three this term: Tom Crain, Connie Rudnick, Toby Goodrich. Tom shared “I believe this is my first submission to class notes… but it was a memorable year. First, our daughter, Vanessa graduated from medical school in Krakow and began a residency in Michigan. I retired from full-time teaching/admin at Johns Hopkins after 29 years, and my wife Barbara and I spent the summer at our house in Loon Lake (Adirondacks). There, we hosted a Crain/Wickes reunion, and I was able to reconnect with cousin Wendy Jacob ’80, fresh from an exhibition of her art in Europe. Later, we met up with Mary Beth and Jeff Bowen for hiking, canoeing, and games; and with EBeth and Tom Scatchard ’72, who also have a house at Loon Lake. In August, I joined Tom briefly for a reunion of the 1972 Williams rugby team. It was fun seeing many fellow Spencer/Brooks House folks at a Zoom meeting, in preparation for the 50th. I continue to stay in touch with Mark Donahue and roomie Richard Schneider who, last I knew, was off on an animal rescue mission in the West.”
Connie echoed “I’ve never submitted anything to Williams People before; I thought it would be time to join the party first-hand. I’m happily up to my ears with the 50th reunion, as a recent addition to the Leadership Team, and before that, on the Class Book committee. My involvement as a member of the WE Lead Advisory Board, part of the Engagement Department focused on increasing the philanthropy of women alums, has also been important as we go forward with college fund raising and in my activity as a board member and volunteer at a non-profit after school program based in Salem, MA, that serves cities on the North Shore of Boston. My reunion involvement has allowed me to make new friends among classmates I did not know or know well during school, and to reunite with good friends with whom I had lost touch, most notably Janet Brown and my roommate Catherine Burton who will always be Cathy to me. That’s probably more than you need to know. “
And Toby added “I've been a nonparticipant in alumni news but am motivated by the sentiment of our upcoming 50th. Thanks for your encouragement. My news, in a nutshell: I'm a maladjusted retiree. After 20 years of do-gooder work in solid waste management and recycling I spent 25 years teaching middle school science at an independent school in West Hartford. I added 6th grade English to my schedule for my last 5 years. I coached soccer, basketball, and baseball. I created a club we called "The Renbrook Navy", and the kids and I built wooden boats. Now I spend my days pacing around the house, bumping into things, avoiding projects and chores, and missing my students.”
Scott Hibbard got in under the wire, “along with my brother and a cousin, I hauled motorcycles (BMW GS bikes) from Montana to New Hampshire in late June. Unloaded the bikes and road north to Labrador City, Labrador (big land full of trees and lakes), east to the coast, down the coast, caught a ferry to Newfoundland. Camped at Provincial campgrounds. Rode several days, primarily coastline, then ferried to Nova Scotia. Same drill, then ferried to New Brunswick and rode back to NH. Loaded up and drove home. 4,340 miles on motorcycles through the Atlantic Provinces. A long ride for fresh seafood, but the scenery made it worth it.”
Finally, Chris Curtis shared a ‘get the band back together’ photo of himself, Chris Filley, Dave Prouty ’70, and Brad Iverson ’74. They constituted most of the band “Cradle.“ Currently, they get together and play in the foothills outside Denver; they also nominated themselves for musical entertainment at Reunion.
May you each have a joyful and fulfilling holiday season and end of year. Warm regards,
Dan
