September 2022
1973 [50th] Reunion June 8-11
Dan Farley, 2385 Ridgegate Row, La Jolla, CA 92037; 1973secretary@williams.edu
Classmates, a quick preface: We did complete our family move, so if you are thinking of sending gifts, please note above my change of address. LOL.
By the time you read this, it will be 10 or 11 months until ’73’s Golden Anniversary reunion. No better person with whom to start than Steve Harty: “It’s now less than a year to our 50th, June 8-11, 2023. There are indications of a great turnout, driven not only by classmates who’ve enjoyed some of the nine earlier ones but also some folks who are headed back to Williamstown for the first time. There’s plenty of class activity before then. Field Horne and his team will be inviting you to pen an essay for our Class Book (“pen” having now become a metaphor). Julia Parker will continue to lead women’s Zoom programs. Bill Simon is heading up a class survey. Robert Koegel and Tim Geissler are cooking up an amazing Reunion Weekend program. If Covid permits, in advance we’ll have some local gatherings plus a minireunion in Williamstown. We’ll be making progress on our transformative class gifts. The talented Peter Pierson has a vibrant class website up and firing away. And Scott Hopkins will find new ways of gathering us in front of our laptop cameras for Zoom conversations ranging from the nostalgic to the refreshingly existential. The whole shebang is a continual work in progress. Jump in! Your presence, virtual or otherwise, as well as your essays, will enrich all of us in this unique moment in our lives.”
Steve also wrote of Facebook updates from Dave Rutledge, sailing along the Alaska coast with his wife Dale Yee and with Karl Machata crewing; and, he told me of Charlie Fox meeting up with Nan Elliott in Hawaii. Charlie provided the firsthand reporting: “Having done a bit of reuniting of late, I feel duty-bound to report in. In April and May we were finally able to get off the rock and jet back to the States. This was a trip meant to happen after my retirement in 2020 but delayed because of the pandemic. Wife Sawako and I were able to spend a month with our first grandchild, born this past October, in Long Beach, where both my sons live. We became ‘used’ grandpeeps, which was a kick, and while there were visited by old friend Jeff Hanes, who’s been more of an uncle to my sons over the years than my own brother even. Recently retired himself, Jeff came down from Eugene, Ore. While in the LA area we hustled up one day to the Oxnard-Ventura area to catch a ride on Dave Rutledge’s newest passion, his 25-foot pilot boat, the Storm Petrel. Dave has become an avid sailor and a quite accomplished one. We rode out to the Channel Islands National Park and along the way saw sea lions, a school of dolphins and myriad pelicans in addition to the islands themselves. We later had lunch with Dave and his wife Dale, who is well on her way to recovery from a major health scare. That was all great, but then the icing on the cake was a trip to the Big Island in Hawai’i on our way home to Japan. Son Masa and his girlfriend joined us, and in Kona we met up with old friend from the Eusden Zen Winter Study and beyond, Nan Elliot. We all shared a rented condo for a week and thoroughly enjoyed one another’s company as we swam, discovered hidden beaches, scrambled over old (and some not-so-old) lava flows, cooked meals together and then searched out fantastic gelato stands. It was also seven days of nonstop storytelling (and Nan’s one of the best) and a chance to catch up after way too many years apart.”
Field Horne updated me on another classmate, then provided his own news: “Amy and Frank Chapman now own a house in Cleveland Heights, so, in mid-May, we met halfway at Letchworth State Park (‘The Grand Canyon of the East’) for one night of hiking and a great dinner at the historic Glen Iris Inn. In March I released my latest book, one of interest to a very small audience—Farmer Boys to Merchant Princes: The Field Family of New York. It’s 354 pages hardcover, 200 illustrations, Smyth sewn, in a small edition of 162 copies, but it is the culmination of a decade of research. Included are Adam von Trott of the Anti-Hitler Plot of 1944, Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving of the Metropolitan Museum and Elizabeth Field, Princess Brancaccio. A fascinating trip.”
Field celebrates his family’s lives, and we celebrate our classmates’ lives, in memoriam. The season saw the death of Richard Muglia after a five-year battle with pancreatic cancer. Survived by his wife, Elle, a son, Sam, a daughter, Alice, and one grandchild, while at Williams Richard earned his degree in political science, was an active athlete (lacrosse and rugby), and built a cadre of friends who have remained close even since. Richard’s numerous professional accomplishments took place in the fast-paced corridors of international law, yet the true loves of his life were found in quieter moments with his family: fly fishing in the rivers and streams of western Montana, gardening at home in Chilmark, and sharing a laugh and a story over a fine glass of wine or one of his perfectly mixed gin martinis.
Dave Laidlaw died in the beginning of May from complications of t-cell lymphoma, leaving behind wife Mary, son Kevin, daughters Erin and Lizzy, and a grandchild. Biology major at Williams, then with an M.D. from the University of Michigan, “Dr. Dave’s” work was in the field of emergency medicine. His Remembrance Book acclaims his time among friends, neighbors, colleagues and, above all, family. It reported he traveled extensively and adventurously, heli- and cat-skiing both domestically and in Europe, sailing all over the Great Lakes (including the Race to Mackinac), and fishing and scuba diving the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf and Pacific.
Scott Hopkins forwarded news from Greg Williams about the son of deceased classmate Bill Murphy: “Dane Murphy, Bill’s son, is the CEO of Nottingham Forest F.C., which just ascended to the EPL in a stirring playoff win worth $150 million to the club.” A Premier League fan myself, I watched that match and am excited to see that squad back in the Prem for the first time since 1999.
Staying in the world of sports, Pete Farwell wrote, “I am still coaching cross country at Williams, with one more year to go before retirement. My wife and I live on a dirt road east of Mount Hope, where the mansion is. We are in the midst of forest, Hopper brook beside the road. Hobbies include photography, poetry, hiking, reading. And some (slow) running, tennis, biking, swimming. Looking forward to next year’s reunion.”
Pete’s knees still work; Linda Heath’s don’t. She wrote while wishing me well before I moved: “I hope your move goes smoothly. We did a downsize four years ago and have not had a moment of regret moving to a one floor smaller house. The move was in anticipation that my knees would one day need replacing, and that day will arrive on June 14. I am booked for double knee replacements; both deteriorated at the same time, so no choice. Our one-floor house is now a godsend. The recovery will be a slow, steady process, but I am told will be worth it in the end. Saw some classmates at the pre-50th weekend in April. Great to reconnect and hear about the college from faculty and administrators. The women’s Class of ’73 Zoom sessions have been a wonderful way to begin to reconnect with an amazing group of women. Looking forward to more Zoom sessions prior to our all being in Williamstown next June. My knees should be fully back in hiking order by then.”
Thankfully, Mark Donahue remains well: “Julie and I had the scariest moment of our decades-long hiking career on my birthday, May 11. We had returned from an outing in Ojai, Calif., intending to relax at the Ojai Retreat (our favorite post-hike overnight spot). Following our protocol, we planned to relax on the patio outside our room—to enjoy the afternoon sun in the mountains. For a trivial reason, we were delayed for a few minutes from getting to the patio. Thank God, because just as we were about to leave our room, an oak tree outside our room split off a huge limb. With a tremendous roar, that mass of wood slammed down directly onto our patio chairs. Were it not for our delay, both Julie and I almost certainly would have been flattened.”
Also writing from So Cal was John Alper: “OK, Dan! Congrats again on the sale of your house… Sue and I were blessed with grandson #2 in January, Marlow Young Donaghey. He’s a beauty along with his 2-year-old brother, the indefatigable Jonas Byrne. Sue is a true baby whisperer and trains up to LA frequently to help out daughter Lucy and her husband, Mike. Which leaves me to my own devices, which are adding up to a happily vigorous 70th year. Good genes, a great trainer, chiro and mentally still thinking I’m 18 all seem to be the ingredients allowing me to fulfill some lifetime fantasies. I’m surfing multiple times a week here in San Diego and recently returned from a surf trip to Cabo San Jose with Sue. My son David and I are planning a July trip to catch the summer waves. I joined The Farms Golf Club a few years ago and am blessed to have a longtime golf buddy there whom I met through work 30 years ago—still best of friends and having a blast on and off the course. My handicap recently dropped to 9.6, and while not easy to maintain, I keep working at it. I’m playing bass guitar in an all-original psych-surf-rock band, Lamont. We gig locally here in SD and hope to fulfill our dreams with a world tour sooner than later… Hey, you never know! We love life here in La Jolla and still keep up with our East Coast friends who come to visit us in paradise; we’ll be visiting them in Connecticut this June. Finally, we are working on taking in the occasional Ukrainian refugees through Ukraine Take Shelter.”
Jerry Wheellock shared from the East Coast: “We continue to cope with Covid constraints but are making sure we don’t become hermits. Last fall, we spend three months in Oxford, England, on an MIT exchange. (Anyone who can visit Oxford by the Williams/Exeter College program will love it.) The music venues were just opening up along with a two-week lieder festival, so I took in as many concerts and recitals as possible. Watching Inspector Morse gave a good preview of the town. History is around virtually every corner, so it is easy to go from Victorian Era to a Roman river crossing to an Iron Age settlement in a casual walk in Dorchester on Thames.We have a daughter at NYU Tisch in the East Village and had the interesting pleasure of moving her from a mouse-ridden apartment to a much better apartment than we ever had in our college days. I have become an IKEA assembly expert! I’ve joined the boards of a historic royal governor’s mansion in Boston as well as Wheelock Family Theater (now part of BU) and looking forward to in-person productions there. The Shirley Eustis house has an orchard and carriage house that has become my main interest. Last year we had the Boston Area Urban Gleaners harvest about 400 pounds of apples and pears. I’m getting off the board of Boston Arts Academy, where our daughter graduated from in 2020 amid the pandemic lockdowns.
“Elizabeth continues to work at MIT. Her book project in Oxford was on the ways that Putin has manipulated his public image. More chapters to come.”
Toby Goodrich’s writing rewarded my “fishing”: “I can no longer ignore your patience and persistence. Not that I have anything particularly newsworthy, but I respect your dedication to your task. I retired from teaching middle school science and English around three years ago. Yup, you heard me. Science and English. Now I’m a maladjusted retiree. I miss the kids. My grandson just turned 4 months old, and I am enchanted by the little guy. Son Buddy and daughter Carey are well and, to my great pride, have turned out to be good and kind people. Wife Linda still works part time and growls about that. Connecticut is beautiful this time of year. My best to the Class of ’73. What a time we had.” Toby cited himself proud graduate of the geology department and field assistant to Prof. Bond in the Alaska Range, summers of ’72 and ’73.
Doug Morrell delivered an invigorating update: “Greg Williams and I hosted the Carter House Zoom on June 5 at 7 p.m. for about an hour, as the Celtics game started at 8 p.m. Many thanks to Scott Hopkins for setting it up and for joining us. Others who attended were Jay Hauge, Bubba Cunningham, Peter Farwell, Chris Zook, Jim Hearty, King Carter, Rob Spencer, Dave Polk, Frank Watson, Elton Smith, Charlie Kieler and Field Horne. Also, it was good to see Dottie Carter for a minute or two at the start. Unfortunately, there was some sort of glitch, and we were not able to record it. The stories may have been a little better knowing that we weren’t being recorded. I think all enjoyed it. Bubba and I emailed after how lucky we were to be able to spend three years in Carter House with such a great group, including of course those who were not on the Zoom. Greg asked how many were still working, and I think about half raised their hand. Somebody mentioned that tuition, room and board is now $77,000, so I asked if anybody remembered what it was our senior year. The answers ranged from $2,800 to $4,000. I seem to remember a little talk about how high our grade point averages must have been.”
Even as I have but two more class notes to publish, I continue to savor short notes from classmates. Bill Bodenstab wrote: “Yes, moving is no fun. Even though we kept our LJ house (which we rent), we’ve moved a half-dozen times in the past 20 years. And it’s very possible that we’ll move back there at some point (especially if we need advanced medical care).” Daniel Lesney sent empathetic kudos on our move over the hill. And Jackie Oliveri summed it up well: “I am sending lots of ‘easy move’ vibes your way. Packing up all those years of living is a monumental task. It’s why they’ll have to carry me out of my condo. (It also helps that it’s a condo; not a house!) Be good to yourself during the move…”
To all of you, do good, be kind—to yourselves and others. And, while I look forward to seeing many of you next June, write and share with the class before that.
