Class News

If you have news to share with the class, email Ned Groth or Carl Sharpe and we will see that it gets posted promptly! Photos are welcomed--send them along.

Ned Groth writes: A few weeks ago Anson Perina called to say he and Bev were going to attend a realtors’ convention in Jacksonville, FL in April. Anson was going to drive up to NC to see a cousin, and since Sarah and Ned live in Watkinsville, GA, sort of on his route, he wondered if he could stop in for a visit. (Full disclosure, something Ned has tried to do whenever he’s been in the vicinity of Fort Collins.) Bev had to stay in Jacksonville and do realtor stuff, so Anson would be on his own, but we love seeing him, and said “Sure thing!” and offered him our guest room for the night.

Ned then contacted Peter Gorday, who lives in Athens (quite close to Ned) and Chuck Arundale, who lives in Kennesaw, GA (about two hours from Athens), to let them know Anson was coming to visit, and suggest we all get together, have a mini-reunion. Everyone loved the idea. So on April 15 we all met at Ned and Sarah’s house for wine and cheese (a Groth vineyards cabernet sauvignon, 2019 vintage, you can Google that), then we went out to a local restaurant for dinner. The photos are from the restaurant. Left to right around the table, in the top photo, Virginia Gorday, Chuck, Sarah Ward (Ned’s wife since June 2023), Peter, Ned, Dianne Arundale, and Anson.

There’s been plenty of news about Anson in these chronicles of late because of his fabulous birthday parties, the last of them his 80th in Fort Collins last year on Memorial Day weekend. As he approaches 81 Anson needs a new knee but otherwise is still vigorous and vibrant and curious about all sorts of complex philosophical and social issues. Peter and Virginia had retired and left Atlanta to live in their second home in northern Georgia a few years ago, but found they needed to be back somewhere with all the amenities closer at hand, so they had just moved back to Athens a few weeks before Ned moved (from San Francisco) to Georgia to be with Sarah last year, as we discovered to our mutual delight, so we old roommates can now get together easily. Both Peter and Virginia (and Sarah) have had cataract surgery in both eyes (!), one sign of our age demographic, but otherwise they’re going strong, as smart, active and funny as ever.

The real news here is about Chuck, whom no one from our class had seen (as far as I know) since our graduation day 62 years ago. (He/they almost made it to a couple of our more recent reunions, but life had intervened in various ways.) It was a real delight catching up with him and meeting his wife, Dianne; they were who married four years ago (after meeting online, really.) There was a whole lot of history, and we were drinking wine, I wasn’t taking notes, but here’s a sketchy outline of what I remember he said. (Chuck can always correct and amend the record!) He started at Susquehanna College in PA, transferred to Penn State after a couple of years, and was expelled for hitting the dean with a water balloon (or getting caught doing that). Looking around for a career, he thought, “Why not drag racing?” For several years he designed, built and drove dragsters, until he came to the realization that if the speed didn’t kill him, the lifestyle would. So, he transitioned on the boat building business, speedboats naturally. Eventually that came to an end, and somewhat at loose ends, he walked into a construction office and presented himself as a carpenter, talked himself into a job on a home-building crew (relied on help from friends and his innate talent to pick up the skills he needed quickly). Pretty soon he was a crew chief, not long after that he started his own company building luxury homes, mostly, in Texas. Somewhere in there, he lived on Cape Cod, I missed the specifics on that stage of his life. I gathered that his construction company lasted quite a while and earned him a good living. At some point, he was recruited to manage the historic Frank Lloyd Wright house, Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is owned by a foundation and quite an operation – tours, classes, interns, community service, etc. That was his last job (as far as I know) before he “retired.” He admits he still feels as if he needs to be “doing something” every day, but he no longer “works for a living.”

Chuck has been married four times (I mentioned at least two of our class who I think can top that), and he has four adult kids. (In fact, Howdy Davis found Chuck, Jr. via an internet search about 20 years ago, who helped us get Chuck off the “lost list.”) Once Chuck and Dianne found each other, he resettled in Georgia. They bought a motor home, a top-of-the-line Tiffin (you can Google that, too), and they travel widely in it. In fact, they drove it over from Kennesaw and spent the night in a nice RV park here in Watkinsville. After dinner we went over there and got a brief tour of the Tiffin (wow). And met their two cats, very cute and very pampered. They are heading down to Key West soon, in their home-on-the-road. Chuck says it drives like a car—a 40-foot-long car with an actual car in tow, that is…

Chuck and Denny Hopper should compare motor home stories. Meanwhile we had a wonderful evening catching up with old friends, and vowed to do it again soon (certainly before another 62 years has passed). Lang, Griswold, Haden and anyone else who might be passing through Atlanta or this part of Georgia, give us a holler and we can have another get-together.
Meanwhile, here are those photos:

On April 7, Frank Phillips and Carl Sharpe joined Ned Groth for a most enjoyable lunch in Boston. The fact that we were all dressed in blue was sheer coioncidence. One would think it was the Class of '62 official color...

Our own Dave Griswold is now a published author. His book is entitled Outside the Box, and is published under the name of David H.W. Griswold. His own description of the book as it appears on Facebook: "Here is my book that tells my story from schools, sports, Vietnam and business having deviated slightly from family plans and traditions." I imagine that "deviated slightly" might be an understatement and might account for what is bound to be a great read.

The book, listed as Outside the Box: An American Journey, is now available on Amazon, and can be purchased there, where you can also find much longer and inviting descriptions of the book: Outside the Box

Getting back to the States was not all that easy for Frank and Ellie Rosenberg during the coronavirus pandemic. We received the following from them via email, sent from home where they are in self-quarantine:

Last night, Ellie and I made it home safely after 40 hours of traveling from Perth. For the most part, our journey went smoothly with a bit of drama added when, upon landing in Sydney, we found our flight from San Francisco to Denver had been canceled. We had visions of having to quarantine in California for two weeks. Fortunately, we were able to be booked on a later flight to Denver in time to make our original connection. Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, our house has the supplies needed for our self- quarantine for the next 2 weeks. We thank the Lord for our safe travels and good health.

More in the continuing adventure of Frank and Ellie Rosenberg, now in Tasmania. They are at Cradle Mountain. Here is the very interesting description Frank sent...

Cradle Mountain is definitely a must-see in Tasmania and if you are as fortunate as we were, you may get to see it on a sunny day, something of a rarity we are told. It is both wild and beautiful. Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is one of 19 national parks the total of which covers around 40%of Tasmania. At 1,545 meters above sea level, it is the sixth-highest mountain in Tasmania and is one of the geological links between Australia and eastern Antarctica. Cradle Mountain is an igneous rock that was formed about 170 million years ago to break up when Gondwana began to break up. Weaknesses in the earth's crust let magma to intrude into sub-surface cracks where it cooled and turned into dolerite or congealed basalt lava. The area was glaciated during the last ice age (about 10 000 years ago) when a huge 6 km ice cap formed and glaciers flowed from its edges carving the landscape and forming Dove Lake at the foot of Cradle mountain.

Ellie and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

Frank and Ellie Rosenberg continue their Australia-New Zealand odyssey. They sent the two pictures below (among many others) recently from Queensland. You can follow their exploits on Facebook, here. We will, though, continue to post a photo or two every so often. Their plan is for a six month's sojourn. If you haven't seen the posting below, check it out.

Frank and Ellie Rosenberg are off on an extended trip around the Pacific Rim. They boarded a cruise in Seattle and have made stops up the Alaska coast, across the Bering Strait, and down the Russian coast of Kamchatka, encountering scenery, history and lots of wildlife. The cruise will take them down along the rest of Asia, through the South Pacific and eventually drop them off in Australia. They have purchased an RV there and will spend several months driving around that country, then go over to New Zealand for more of the same. Frank takes a lot of excellent photos and has been posting them on Facebook. All along the way they will be collecting rocks and minerals and (I imagine) shipping them back to Colorado. Below is one of his photographs of the Kamchatka peninsula. The view is dominated by the 11,572 ft Kronotsky Volcano.

By odd coincidence, Terry and Anita Duvall were also cruising up the coast of Alaska at the very same time Frank and Ellie were doing that. Different ships, different itineraries but the two ships possibly passed in the night. The Duvalls' tour emphasized the scenic and wildlife attractions of the Inside Passage--glaciers, ice floes, whale-watching. They stopped at multiple ports and were able to hike in (as much as 6 miles one day) to get right on top of a glacier, or to look for wildlife. (They spotted one bear--it was a little too early in the season for the peak salmon run with bears fishing.) Terry also posted pictures on facebook and his reports convey a sense that this was the trip of a lifetime for them. below, a whale of a tail caught on camera.

Llew Haden has been splitting his time between Atlanta and Steamboat Springs, CO. He and Erin have spent most of this spring/summer in the Rockies, and plan to spend January-February there too. Llew still works (11 days a week as he put it) and enjoys it a lot, although it entails "commuting," if you can call it that, back to Atlanta and Nashville for face time with clients. Erin teaches and consults and has arranged to do that all online for the winter quarter so she can do it from Steamboat. Llew says the dogs love the mountains in summer and he expects they will learn to like the snow. He is regularly in touch with Soutendijk, Lang and Perina, still enjoying ancient friendships. Says he is healthy and still enjoys an occasional beer and frequent sex. (Or maybe it was the other way around....either way, a lucky man). Below, bears dumpster-diving in Steamboat!

Four photos from Ned's most recent trip to Darrow (See "Status Report: Peter Gorday's Book," below)...

The Dairy Barn has been fully refurbished and the new "campus center" is taking shape.

As previously reported, Peter has begun working on a book about the history of the school. For a few days in early May, P.J. was on campus, going through old records, meeting and interviewing current staff, re-familiarizing himself with details (past and present) of school buildings and grounds . He and Virginia also spent a day over at the Shaker Museum and Library in Chatham, talking with the curator there about the many links between Darrow and the museum, and reviewing Shaker history and the period during which the school came into being.

Peter found troves of information everywhere, he was diving deeply into the richness of records and will eventually have to decide what (a lot) to leave out. The school has no organized archives, just boxes and boxes of papers stored here and there. The school staff were happy to guide Peter to the materials but it is going to be mostly up to him to figure out what he finds there.

I traveled out to Darrow on Thursday at P.J.'s request, to spend a day walking around campus, sharing memories, figuring a few things out. When I arrived, Peter was busy copying materials. He is focusing on the 1930s at this point, the establishment of the school by Austin D. Haight and a group of area leaders, then its sale to Mr. Heyniger in 1938. This is obviously the first of multiple times Peter will be visiting the school and collecting data.

We were gifted with a lovely spring day and walked around the campus and south up the road to "The Abode of the Messenger," the Sufi commune that is apparently still thriving in the cluster of buildings the Shakers called the South Family, then over to Joe Face's Pond. After exploring sufficiently to satisfy ourselves, we went back to the resort at Jiminy Peak (where we were all staying) and I enjoyed an hour or so chatting with Peter and Virginia.

The school is going to publish a notice in the next Peg Board announcing Peter's project and encouraging alumni or others with information to share to contact him. I am happy to report that the effort is well under way. He hopes that by our 60th reunion he may have a book to autograph for us.

Kerri Wright, from the school's development office, got a picture of us two old fogies for the Peg Board, and I got a shot or two of Peter with Simon, and with Virginia.

Though he's not there yet, when Peter gets to our years, he will no doubt want to hear form any of you with good stories to share. You can start taking notes now if you're open to that.

Tom Bird recently sent in some news (his first contribution ever to this web site!) He included a flyer from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation about the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey, which now belongs to the Commonwealth and is berthed in New Bedford. For more on this historic vessel, see https://www.mass.gov/locations/schooner-ernestina-morrissey.

Why is Tom interested in the ship? It turns out that his father, Junius Bird, signed on as a sailor on the Morrissey in 1927, at the age of 19, and was a member of its crew until 1934. In that final year, his new bride, Margaret, Tom's mother, was also an integral part of an expedition to Labrador. The Morrissey explored the Arctic, coming within 578 miles of the North Pole, still the record for a sailing vessel. As ships often do, she changed careers often, serving variously as a fishing schooner, a US Naval ship in WWII, and a Cape Verde packet ship. She brought immigrants to the US, and has been lately used by the Commonwealth of Mass to train sailors. The ship fell into disrepair but was restored (and renamed Ernestina) in 1982 by the Republic of Cape Verde, and was presented as a gift to the people of the US and Massachusetts. She is a National Historic Landmark and has been described as, "perhaps the most significant surviving sailing vessel, after the USS Constitution, in our nation's history."

Partisans of the Peking, berthed at South Street Seaport in NYC, on which our own Charles Brodhead sailed around Cape Horn in 1929, might take issue with that last claim. But the connection with Tom's (and Harry's) father does give the Ernestina-Morrissey a special connection to Darrow and '62. As most of us know, Junius Bird did not remain a sailor. He became an archaeologist and when we knew his sons he was a leading explorer for the American Museum of Natural History, responsible for acquiring a great many of their Central American artifacts. AMNH was also one of the sponsors of the Morrissey's Arctic explorations.

The memorial service for Frank's wife Jenny was held in Concord, MA on Friday, September 7. About 300 people attended, including Frank and Jenny's extended family, a U.S. senator, a member of Congress, a former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, a noted historian, a Hemingway scholar, and dozens of people whose lives Jenny had touched, and changed. Among the attendees were five from Darrow '62 (six, counting Frank)—Carl Sharpe, Peter Golden, Dave Griswold, Joe MacLaren and me (NG). Joe, who is Frank's cousin and was close to him growing up in the Philadelphia suburbs, hadn't seen any of us (and vice versa) since 1961. He came all the way from his home deep in the mountains of SW Colorado, and his sister Lisa came from Milwaukee.

The heart of the service was remembrances from people who described what one person called Jenny's "eight or so careers." She was trained as a nurse. She and Frank spent their first married years in Africa, in the Peace Corps. When they came home, their children were born, and as they grew, Jenny went back to school and got a degree in psychiatric counseling. Then she got another in Cultural Anthropology. She was interested in everything, passionate about social justice, and when she set her mind on something, unstoppable. Virtually every speaker said, you could not say "no" to Jenny. One person suggested that if you tried, "you were road kill." Many of her remarkable achievements are summarized in the obituary from the Boston Globe, which is incorporated here.

Her sudden and unexpected death two months ago left everyone stunned and wishing they'd had some more time to spend with her. That mood was perfectly captured by the uplifting service, and the good fellowship of the reception that followed.

Left to right, Golden, Griswold, Sharpe, MacLaren, Groth (photo by Carl's wife, Patricia). Below, Frank sharing his memories, a few other photos, and the Globe obituary.

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Five years ago, Anson had a HUGE party for his 70th birthday, 200 people attended, blending groups of his family and friends from half a dozen parts of his life. This year, Bev said "Well, let's see if we can top that!" And they (she!) did.

This time there were closer to 300 people. Great weather, great food and drinks, a good time was had by all, under about 20 tents spread around their back yard in Fort Collins. Anson's sons, Anson Jr. and Carl, came from Colombia and Oklahoma, respectively, with their wives and children (one of each per son), as did Anson's daughter, Jennifer, and her kids. And Anson's sisters and their kids, and cousins and nephews and nieces. Lots of old rugby buddies. Plenty of folks Anson and Bev have known and worked with in their decades in FC. At least one guy who went to school with Anson at Morris Prep, before he came to Darrow. And of course, seven members of the Class of 1962 (Benson, Griswold, Groth, Hoon, Lang, Perina and Rosenberg), plus three spouses.

Part of the fun is meeting and getting to know a bit about people from other parts of Anson's life, and there are far too many stories of that ilk to include here. But I learned a few new things from Anson, including this. He spent four years at Morris Prep, but didn't get a diploma, because he couldn't pass Algebra II (despite multiple tries). He was dyslexic, and he thinks his problems with math derived from reversing numerals. Although he wasn't graduating, they made him attend commencement, because he won the History Prize. At Darrow, Lester Henderson somehow managed to get Anson through his math class (at last), so Grendel got a diploma—and he won the History Prize!

I got many more photos, but Carl is learning to use new web-design software, so we won't impose too hard a burden on him this time. Enjoy! (P.S., in the group photo, we're each holding a duck decoy carved by Anson—one of his many hobbies. Darrow Ducks….get it?)

Ned had lunch with Huib Soutendijk in Bronxville a couple of weeks ago. Huib was hobbling around on a cane...yes, he has two "new" knees, but old ligaments, and one of the ACLs got torn when he was walking the dogs on an icy street a few months ago. He is on the mend, slowly. Since he can't walk the dogs til he is all better, he drops them off for a day at a "doggie play date" site. Businesses that did not exist when we were kids....As a couple of retired guys with no grandkids to entertain us yet we traded stories about how we keep busy. Huib volunteers as a driver for the VA out in Northport, taking vets to their medical appointments. He mentioned that Kathy also volunteers for an organization called Glass Boots, in Newark, it trains inner-city kids to make glass. She's often driving over there for board meetings, etc. Ned of course organizes our Darrow reunions and has also been getting involved with his Princeton class's quite active Boston-area group. We'll see Huib (not Kathy though) at the reunion.

Ned, Sharon and Sarah recently took a trip to New Orleans, just for fun. For those of you who use Facebook, Ned posted a couple of dozen pictures there. For the rest of you, here are some of the local individuals they encountered.

Llew Haden probably won't be at this reunion, though he'll be only 150 or so miles away, in Cambridge. MIT's commencement is the weekend of our reunion and Erin's daughter is getting a combined MPA and MA. They are justifiably proud and planning to spend the weekend enjoying celebrating her accomplishments. Huib reports that it's four years now that Llew and Erin have been together and they are "very solid," good to know. Llew is still busy with his business, was driving to Nashville to meet a client when we spoke. We all mourned the death of Eugene Lang, the I-Have-A-Dream guy, last month (at 97, but still), with whom Llew was long involved.

Llew posted this on facebook, along with a photo of the cover of the program for the Commencement of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Averill is his partner Erin's daughter and he told me last week she was getting a combined MA/MBA. Congratulations are in order!

Below, Erin and Averil.

CLASS NEWS 5/30/17

Never shy about taking a long shot, Ned called R.J. Brandes about the reunion, reached him immediately. R.J. was about to fly off to Argentina on a soccer-related errand, and told Ned he stays incredibly busy with the huge new soccer facility he has built in Orange County (see earlier reports in Class News). R.J. said he'd think about the reunion, he could still surprise us. When Ned pointed out that we may not have too many of these gatherings left, R.J. swore he is planning to live to 100, so he still has plenty of chances to come. He sounded energized and happy and enjoying thinking about his Darrow connections.

Peter Deri with son Chris and granddaughter Ryan at her graduation (we are not sure where) last week.

Ned Groth, Frank Phillips & Carl Sharpe had lunch on April 28. One of us (who shall remain ananymous) was so disoriented from his trip into the city from Mattapoisett that he flirted outrageously with the utterly charming Irish waitress. A good time was had by all (including the waitress.)

When the holidays roll around Ned often hears from classmates. This year, most of the news is good, or even happy. (People notably avoided political topics!) One recurring theme is new body parts.

Terry Duvall (who also sends out a weekly news report to those lucky enough to be on his mailing list) finished 2016 with two new hips. In addition to pain relief and enhanced mobility, his surgeries (one hip at a time, spaced a few months apart) opened a window into modern "medical miracle" technology: The surgical procedure was minimally invasive, on an outpatient basis; he was up and walking within hours and fully functioning within a week or two each time. This year Anita became a certified yoga instructor and has been extra busy teaching. They purchased an adjacent property and have spent a lot of time rehabbing that lot (clearing trees, cutting wood, leveling soil, removing rocks, planting grass, scavenging materials from an old structure). As the first snow fell they seemed all set for the winter with a supply of cut wood laid in. They are still enjoying the rural lifestyle, traveling around (sometimes on the Harley, sometimes by more conventional conveyance) to visit Hua Hua or the Apple store down by Philadelphia, or to eat at one of their favorite Asian restaurants around Towanda. They hope to see us at our 55^th.

Joe and Laurie Coffee send out a holiday newsletter each year, by long family tradition in "good news/ bad news" format. On the "good news" side, the experimental stem cell implant Joe had on his knee late last year (to help rebuild lost tissues and avoid a knee replacement that probably would have ended his softball career) apparently was successful. They have done a lot of traveling, both as a couple and Laurie with her " old girlfriends." Laurie turned 70 in April and their marriage turned 48 in October. Joe's and Colleen's mother, Florence, is still alive and has moved back to Princeton, where she lived most of her life, after some time near Colleen in Florida. Grandkids are growing up; Jordyn finished high school and started at Mansfield College, Aidan is in 7^th grade and into sports and showing entrepreneurial talent. Jack and Nick are playing soccer (their dad, Dave, is their awesome" coach, although he never played much soccer himself.) On the "bad news" side, so many of those trips were for softball tournaments that other things (family, friends) often felt crammed in; not every softball outing resulted in a win for Joe's team; Jordyn is taking a break from college after one semester; and the word "old" keeps coming up in so many contexts. On the other hand, as one of my college classmates recently observed, we are still on the right side of the grass, and if the Coffees are showing any signs of slowing down they aren't obvious from this distance. They're planning on seeing us at the 55^th and we can judge for ourselves.

I exchanged several emails around the holidays with Gib Manchester., after we heard that Bill Hudnut (whom we both knew as a fellow Darrow alum) had passed away. Gib reports that he and Margeau are in fine health (given our ages) and enjoying spending time with their 11 (!!) grandchildren, his 9 and her 2. They are also getting ready to sell their home on Mount Desert Island; having 3 residences "cries out for simplification," as Gib puts it. If/when it sells, they'll be down to their old house in Salem, Ohio and a condo in Naples, FL, where they will be from 26 Dec. to sometime in April. They bike and hike and try to stay fit in all three current locations, and will do their best to get to the reunion, Gib's guess at this time is, yes, they'll be there. He mused about having retired from practicing law in 2001, "It's hard to believe I haven't had any earned income in 15 years. Shows what you can do when you are truly miserly." He observed that "Seems like Simon is doing a fine job at Darrow. The older I get in this crazy world, the more I appreciate the experience and growth ( no pun) I had there. I am very grateful that my parents had the foresight and the means to send me. Has anyone heard anything from R.J. Brandes?" On that latter quest, the answer is Yes (see next item), and with a little help from Llew maybe we can help Gib and RJ reconnect.

Llew Haden sent this Christmas photo of RJ Brandes and his wife, from Facebook.

I asked Llew, who has been in touch with RJ, over the years, for more details, such as, is she his 5^th wife (I though I might have lost count), what is her name, what else do we know. Llew replied:

"Adrienne, a/k/a #5, has an interesting back story." www.behindthebadgeoc.com/?p=20135

You really should read the story. The quick summary: Adrienne is now a real estate agent handling high-end properties in Orange County, but when she was younger, she was a cop—on the LAPD, no less. She was one of the first women on the force and became something of a poster child for gender diversity in law enforcement, before changing careers and following a path that eventually crossed RJ's.

With any luck maybe Llew and Gib will persuade RJ that he can actually survive a reunion and we will get to catch up with him and meet Adrienne at the 55^th.

Sue Nunley (with an assist from Felicity) sent out an end-of-year note that emphasized, of course, how much we all miss Dick. "We keep expecting him to walk in the door from the garden, make a cup of tea with some toast, and settle in with a good book." However, she went on, they are focusing on what remains the same. Sue walks daily around the Willamette View campus, always with camera in hand. Many of her photos are on display in the public spaces at the residences, and the one below adorned the card she sent out with her news. This summer, the family all traveled to Darrow and the Berkshires for a memorial service and related events (Ned attended and reported back in August). In the fall, Sue, Felicity, Pat & the kids went to Minneapolis to visit Diana and her family. Grandkids thrive: Hanna is busy with school (9^th grade) and violin, Elena enjoys dance class and friends in her spare time, Helen is in the final throes of college applications (she may have heard from her early-decision top choice by now), and Norris is acting, drawing and looking forward to a school ski trip to Glacier National Park. They don't plan to travel to our reunion, but welcome visitors if you're in the Portland area. Here's Sue's card photo:

A few tidbits came in not exactly around the holidays, but haven't been reported. Pete Loomis is doing fine out in Illinois, no news being good news there. He had a knee replaced back in February—a long-term need he attributed to playing football at Darrow. Otherwise (politics aside) a fairly routine year. Pete intends to be at the 55^th. Llew Haden passed on his own news, he finally sold his house this fall, so he and Erin are consolidated in one abode. He's unsure as yet about the reunion. Carl Sharpe had yet another birthday this year (I have advised him to stop but he finds that impractical), and reported that "my web site [that is, his poetry space] is my life." He says it's almost like a full-time job, it gives him a chance to do good, and it feels a lot like teaching. He offers that as an excuse for what he perceives to be occasional delays in getting Class News items posted, but since he and I are the only ones who even know about said "delays," I've assured him that doesn't matter, what matters is he still is pursuing his fulfilling calling. Sharon and I have not yet managed to get down there to visit with Carl and Pat (having no car here is a part of that) but we keep vowing to address that soon. We should see them at the 55^th. Among our other Boston-area classmates, Bill Gette has retired from the Mass Audubon Society, and in theory should be able to come to our reunion, but as yet I don't know his plans. And Frank Phillips, with whom I have had lunch regularly (and occasionally with Dave Griswold when he's in town, although we haven't yet been able to connect with Lang), has not taken a public position on the reunion yet, so we still have hope of moving him from "no reply" to at least "maybe." As for Lang, he's had a good year, he reports briefly, he will be at the reunion, and he'll bring the wine.

One final note, Sharon, Sarah, Daniel and I went to a play in NYC on Christmas Eve. The play (Bright Colors and Bold Patterns) was a one-man, one-act, one-scene show for the very talented and funny Drew Droege, and we enjoyed it tremendously. And I spotted a familiar name on the program--Dara Wishingrad, Darrow '76, designed the set. I've sent the program and its bio of Dara to the Peg Board. The play had a limited run of just a couple of weeks, too bad, it's a gem.

An update on plans for the reunion, with who's coming, housing ideas, etc.—should be sent out early in the New Year. Happy New Year, everyone!

The Darrow community recently lost Bill Hudnut ('51), whose obituary in The NewYork Times is linked below. On hearing the sad news, Gib Manchester emailed Ned to say that his family and the Hudnuts were acquainted, back in the day, and it was because of Bill that Gib attended Darrow, a connection we didn't previously know of. He was a fine man and an inspiring citizen-leader whom many of us met at alumni functions. His obituary is here .

N: Happy birthday, Charlotte. Hard to believe it's been 7 years since we lost the Kipster. Hope you are well and in a good place as life rolls on for the rest of us.

C: Thanks Ned. I am doing well. It makes me happy that you commune with Kip when you go to Darrow. I wish I was closer. I do have the picture of where he is and I see it every day. Hope all is well with you!

Marylou Anderson recently sent some news and photos. "I really enjoyed your class notes! Terrific photos!! Denny Hopper and you are the most recognizable. Sorry to hear about Walter Phillips. I've just gotten home from Peru, Ecuador & the Galapagos, then an Elton John concert in Johnson City TN (a celebration for one of my granddaughters' 21st birthday). I headed from there to Dallas for a week. My daughter Carey and family are in Dallas, Carey is the youngest (50!), Cate is the one living in Larchmont. Her older daughter, Grace is at Wake Forest and is here with me for the Easter weekend - leaving tomorrow (Mon). Not much change in Larz. He's lost both hearing aids, so can't hear much without loudly talking, and he's quite slow - uses a walker, and sleeps a lot."

The photos show granddaughter Sydney with Larz, Marylou with a friend she met in the Galapagos; a Christmas 2014 pose with granddaughters left to right, Ashley, Olivia, Carina, Grace and Sydney; Ashley with her dog BL (Ashley is ML's younger daughter Carey's daughter, they live in Dallas, she's finishing up her PhD in Creative writing/poetry at Texas Tech in Lubbock); and Grace (Cate's older daughter, who is a soph at Wake Forest) and ML's son Nick, who lives in Carrboro, with Marylou.

Terry Duvall has linked us up to a video of Hua Hua's "Dream of Land" trailer. You can see this a collage from this beautiful performance by clicking here.

Bob Lang wrote that he’s been in touch with Anson Perina, and the latter opines that pot shops and homeless drifters have put downtown Fort Collins “on the skids.” But Anson’s business is doing well, as Lang put it, “he’s writing so many checks he’s got writer’s cramp.” Lang was planning a trip out there to visit with Anson & Bev in April.

Pete Loomis reports, “All I have to offer for ‘news’ is that I'm having a knee replaced tomorrow (2/15). This goes back to a Darrow Football game during which I torn the meniscus (sp?) in my right knee (I remember exactly when it happened!). It wasn't bad enough to require surgery at the time (nor did it keep me out of the army) ,but it did cause increasing pain and--by the time I was in my late 20s--I had the meniscus removed. That surgery bought me another 45 years, but "the chickens have come home to roost." Too much pain and gimping around. Fortunately, medical advances have been keeping pace with my knee problems, and these knee replacements (actually knee "resurfacing") are practically routine now. I'll let you know exactly how "routine" in a week or so!!

Unless we miss our guess that sounds like the same operation Jenny Phillips is having (see below), and maybe even on the same day. What are the odds of that? We can form our own little knee replacement rehab support group.

We also heard from Jay Tanner, who writes, “On Jan 9th, I M/Ced a show of my friends( 3 Bands) from Red Hook Brooklyn .... and I played solo while they set up... At the Parkside Lounge, On East Houston street. in New york. , I was Playing Nellie Belle, My Oill can electric, and Harmonica. . I opened the show with shake Rattle and Roll.... some of you kids may remember that one. We Have been Invited back in March!.. . I am Currently Hosting an Asian Piano Prodigy in my home. He is here to choose which of three scholarships he will accept, LIU, Rutgers or the New School. He will do the rounds with me, and see what kind of music he can learn for his return trip to China... I have been invited to go there in May. . I am disinclined. I am having fun here, and I am not in great health. . other than that , I’m not sure what else you guys might be interested in. . I have a woman friend who makes me proud because she has indigenous roots here in the USa. . . Like the Asians, they have a whole different way of looking at things...: a way which feels good to me... neither care for instance how some important things are spelled. ,,,, Remember me, I was the one Mr. Bethards boasted of having giving me the lowest score in History on a 200 word theme: - 217! I didn't get above 0 until about easter! .....

Jay also noted, “I also like to take pictures ... of birds.... out my back door window...... yeah ,, still lazy after all these years!” And he sent a couple of pictures, below.

(Editor’s note: Jay may not remember Boghos Hadjian, who was at Darrow briefly during our junior year. Boghos was a native of Argentina, I believe, decent soccer payer, but English was decidedly not his first language. And I remember a bunch of us standing around outside Mr. Bethards’ classroom at the end of the first quarter, looking at the English III grades that had just been posted, and how astonished we were that Boghos had been awarded a grade of -467, for the quarter. Not just on a single theme, mind you, but his average for the quarter, combining some higher (maybe even positive) grades and some GOK how much lower. I don’t think Boghos came back after Christmas vacation; clearly he was not up to the Bethards challenge. He is on our class “lost” list, and I think he may still be living in the US or Canada, somewhere, but I can’t imagine he would have many fond Darrow memories so I haven’t made it a priority to find him and invite him back to a reunion….In any case, when I think of spectacular examples in the wrong direction of academic achievement, Boghos will always be the greatest case I have personally encountered. And I wonder, if he’d stuck around, if Mr. Bethards would have found a way to pull him through with a passing grade, as he did for most of us.)

Bill Gette has retired from the Massachusetts Audubon Society, where he has worked for decades, most recently as director of the Joppa Flats Sanctuary in Newburyport. When we learn what Bill and Marsha's plans are for retirement, we'll pass that on.

On Sunday, February 7, on the eve of this year’s Chinese New Year, Terry Duvall shared news and a link:

The International School of Beijing is celebrating its thirty-fifth anniversary this year. They have posted a video on you tube to commemorate the celebration.

Terry says, “Two former teachers, who should remain nameless, from the school have a part in the video.”

(Editor’s note: Our friends appear twice, at approximately 1:30 and 4:30 In the 6-minute video, for those not interested in all of the school’s promotional material.)

In other news, Terry reports that Anita is nearing completion of the requirements to be certified as a yoga instructor; they have made frequent trips to Boothwyn, to help Hua-Hua prepare for a show, “Dream of Land,” she is presenting at the Asian Arts Initiative (see asianartsintiative.org) at the end of February; and they have been enjoying, if that is the word, a winter of unusual weather in Towanda.

Carl Sharpe says his website has grown to 250 participants and over 700 pages. The web site is Carl’s own creative writing and editing initiative, promoting poetry; see http://www.versewrights.com/. Ah, the joys of being retired and doing what you love. Carl says ”My wife calls me ‘Mini Max,’ for Maxwell Perkins. Funny, but then again not so. If you visit the site and really spend some time there, you will be, I think, quite amazed.” Despite having what amounts to a full-time avocation with the web site, Carl still manages to run this site for our class, including posting items like these. Thanks, Carl!

Speaking of Maxwell Perkins—the original, that is—Frank Phillips has had lunch with Ned several times since the latter moved to Boston over the summer. Frank is still head of the Mass Capitol Bureau of the Boston Globe, loves the work, no plans to retire. He and Jenny traveled to Switzerland last summer, to visit their son, Maxwell Perkins Phillips (named for Jenny’s grandfather) and his wife and child, and just got back from a trip to Florida, for a meeting of the board of the foundation that manages the Ernest Hemingway estate and museum in Cuba, which Jenny and Frank were instrumental in restoring a few years back. In mid-February, Jenny was planning to have a knee replaced; here’s hoping it turns out as successfully as the procedure did for Huib Soutendijk.

Speaking of Huib, he and Carl Braun got together in NYC back in January to go to the boat show at the Javitz Center. We suspect they just looked (and maybe drooled a bit).

Frank had some sadder news: His older brother, Walter, passed away last year at the age of 76. He was a prominent attorney in Philadelphia. Many of you have probably been following the criminal case filed against Bill Cosby, charging him with sexually abusing a young woman he met at Temple University. Some of the news stories have mentioned that Cosby’s former attorney was said to have negotiated a non-prosecution agreement with the prior DA, but had since died. The deceased attorney’s name has not appeared in the news stories I’ve seen, but it was Walter Phillips. We get no sneak peeks into what really went on with Bill Cosby here--just one heck of a “small world” story.

And speaking of knee surgery—which were were a few minutes ago, before we digressed—Joe Coffee has undergone a procedure called Regenexx on his knees, in hopes of prolonging his softball career (which is probably already in record territory). This surgery involves implanting stem cells in the knee joint, to try to re-grow lost cartilage. Joe had the procedure seven weeks ago (i.e., in mid-December) and reports he is making progress, hopes to be ready to play by late March. On the other hand, Jenny Phillips had much the same procedure back in October, but after four months had not seen any real improvement, so she has opted for the joint-replacement surgery.

A few weeks ago Ned picked up a Facebook Post from John Ho. Ned had been tagged on the FB page of Carolyn Nunley Cairns; Carolyn worked for Ned at CU, years ago, and is Dick Nunley’s niece. What she had flagged for Ned’s attention (and also caught John’s, since he and Ned are FB friends) was an essay that Dick Wrote in his Berkshire Eagle column in 1980, called “Clearing the pond of cattails.” Dick and Sue’s daughter, Diana Nunley Johnson (Carolyn’s cousin), has been posting some of Dick’s writings. This one caught John’s and my attention and probably would be of interest to most of us. If you’d like to give Diana some feedback, you can reach her via Facebook.

John and Ned also exchanged some news. John is now fully retired and has begun to cultivate his inner artist, taking classes in water color painting and creative writing at a local community college. Re the latter subject, John is sure that Dick Nunley can, even after five and a half decades, be an inspiration and teacher for John’s own writing. Since he became fully retired, John and Xiaoyun have done quite a bit of traveling—Thailand, China, Europe, Toronto—visiting kids, grandkids and friends around the globe and enjoying the changes of scene. More details and photos can be found on John's FB page.

Ned and Sharon have much enjoyed their first six months in Boston and are now experiencing their first New England winter together, and Ned’s first since he shuffled off the slopes of Mt. Lebanon. They went back to Pelham for the holidays and had the whole family together there for the better part of three weeks. Ned does no work per se any more but is quite busy; with his 50th reunion coming up at Princeton in May he’s organizing a mini-reunion for his eating club, not that different from organizing a Darrow '62 reunion, and a lot of fun. Sharon’s job is interesting and mostly fun so far, although often quite a lot of work (check out www.statnews.com and see all the stories she has produced.)

Peter Deri and wife Lisa (Yes, that's right--they were married in May of last year) have just returned from a trip to Greece and Israel. "Life is good," Peter reports. He is still working a lot and enjoying it, and enjoying his five granddaughters as well. He reports that Jay Tanner is fine, and that he he has reinvented himself into a rock star playing in little venues in Brooklyn and elsewhere.

Chuck Arundale wrote to express his sadness at our loss of Howdy Davis. Chuck is the facilities manager at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ:

http://www.franklloydwright.org/taliesin-west/index.html

In that role Chuck got to know Wright's personal physician, Dr. Joe Rourke, who recently passed away at the age of 95. Dr. Joe said to Chuck, not long before he dies, that the hardest part about getting (really) old is outliving your loved ones and friends. How true that is.

Below is a link to a video about Outer Island. I have been a founding member of The Friends of Outer Island since its start in 2002 and have been to president since 2013. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to design and build the pavilion shown in the video and to remodel the former guest cottage into a marine science lab used by many colleges and schools. I got funding from an endowment for the island and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The video is now public so forward as you see fit. A retired science teacher on our board made the video.
Outer Island is a part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in the Thimble Islands off the coast of Branford, CT. It can be reached by kayak, private boat or a water taxi.

It's now official. Ned and Sharon Groth are moving to Boston and will be Red Sox fans starting on June 29. Sharon will be going to work for the Boston Globe, where, coincidentally, Frank Phillips has spent a large portion of his career (he is still there). Sharon will be part of a new initiative called "Stat" (they are still seeking a subtitle), which will focus on the biomedical/biotech industries, and the Globe is hiring about 80 people as they prepare to launch. Sharon's title will be "discoveries editor" which gives her pretty much free rein to roam anywhere within the broad subject area to find stories of interest. They have leased a small apartment in the Back Bay area of the city.

Ned recently received a postcard (shown here) from Charles Brodhead Jr. (Darrow ’57). The card depicts the cover of a novel CDB Jr. has written, under the pen name Robert Penbrooke. According to the author, “The title was changed and it has been severely edited…The story is about 2 Quebecois, one English and one French, and national security, with action on three continents. You’ll like it!” He says the book is published by Promontory Press, comes out April 1, and can be pre-ordered at a 20 percent discount from the publisher’s web site. You can contact Charlie at rpenbrooke@gmail.com, and he says if you Google the book, you will find that Darrow is mentioned in the information issued in advance of publication.

The annual holiday missive summed up the Coffees’ year in their habitual “good news/bad news” format. Iconoclast that I am, I will extract mention-worthy highlights, and intersperse a few editorial comments.

Joe turned 70 (not news to most of us!) They celebrated their 46th anniversary (hip, hip, hooray! If not the longest lasting bond among our class, surely one of the top 5!) Laurie had her 50th HS reunion (she is such a young thing!) Joe is still working (as long as he thinks he’s still doing some good…Hang in there!) Laurie volunteers at church and at Samaritan House. They traveled all over the country this past year, mostly for softball tournaments. (Yes, Joe is still playing, although another arthroscopic knee surgery looms (as long as he still thinks he’s doing some good…Hang in there!) Laurie joined a gym and works out (trying to keep up with Joe—hard as that may be.) Family travel, too—Michigan, for a gathering of Laurie’s family. A week in Florida at Easter with the whole Coffee family together, with plenty of sun, then the clan gathered for another week at Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania, with plenty of snow. Geoff and Chris (in PA) are busy with their restaurant and doing well. She ran a half marathon this fall. Dave and Stacey (in FL) are totally immersed in their sons’ school and sports activities, and she also ran a half marathon! (A little family competition going on there?) Bevin loves life in Asheville, has a job she enjoys (she loves the hours, at least) and is still selling unpaper towels. Grandkids, quickly: Jordyn, 16, driving?!; Aidan, 10, basketball and Pokemon (they still have Pokemon?); Jack, 6, reading, drawing, enthusiastic about everything; Nick, 4, just started school, funny & clever (according to his grandmother). When not traveling, J & L play a lot of bridge, and this year they adopted a new (3-year-old) German shepherd. He was named Remmie (which has a certain Teutonic ring to it); they call him Remy, i.e., they have given a German dog a French identity. What Remy thinks of all that is undisclosed, but Laurie reports that Joe is inspired to drink more Remy Martin cognac.

The item below from Reunions in June mentioned their trip to Myanmar; a photo from that trip appears below here. D & J are flanked by two Burmese women, whose necks bear the traditional rings, which are added periodically as the woman ages, to stretch the neck (a long neck presumably being more pleasing to the gods.) They also traveled to Florida in May, to visit a friend and Joan’s aunt, and experienced the “talcum powder beach” at Siesta Key. Then in December, they went on a “cultural exchange” tour to Cuba (just before the US announced a change of policy re travel to Cuba.) Joan (who as we know is not one to gush) rates the trip to Cuba tied with the trip to Myanmar for the best trips they’ve ever taken. The Cuba trip (also in a photo below) was 10 days packed with experiencing all walks of life, from private homes to artists’ studios, a coffee farm, basket and pottery factories, musical performances, and much more. They observed rampant poverty and run-down buildings. The average person gets a stipend of $25/month, and even a doctor gets only $70. Graft is rampant. However, tour guides seem to be doing very well! (Joan says their guide probably got $2000 in tips from their group, all in US currency.) Their impression was of a poor country with abundant arts—vocal and instrumental music, dance, theater and visual arts, which lend a modicum of joy to what might otherwise be a grim environment. Joan described the people they met as friendly, affectionate and hopeful about their future.

On the family side, everyone is in good health and doing the same work as last year. Joan’s mom is holding her own. Tammy, Chip and their sons Jason (16) and Tim (14) live in Bronxville, where Jason is eager to get his driver’s license and Tim is a serious competitive swimmer. Kimberly and Tres’ divorce became final last year; it’s good to have that behind them. Kim and the girls, Kaitlyn (10) and Skylar (8), live not far from D & J’s. They enjoy school and both are into baton twirling.

Which is the real Coffee family? We leave it to your own judgement...Anyway, the top photo was on their Christmas greeting for 2014.

Penguins of Madagascar? No, it's Steve, Huib and Jeff Soutendijk at a family wedding in Hot Springs, VA in October. Happy Holidays!

Ned talked with Frank Rosenberg and found out that he and Ellie are soon off on another cruise. This one is almost three months long and will take them around Africa. They will board at Southampton, then there are stops in (among other places) in Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malta, Israel, Aqaba (with a side trip to Petra), then down the Red Sea, past the Horn of Africa to the Seychelles, then on to Durban, South Africa. In Durban they will leave the cruise ship and fly to Kruger National Park for five days, staying in lodges and watching wild game, then fly to Cape Town to re-join the cruise, which will make its way up the West Coast of Africa and back to Europe. They are leaving home on Sept 24 and will be back Dec 21. Frank promises to send lots of bulletins and photos from points along the way!

Denny Hopper was honored by the school—this year, he sponsored (i.e., paid the tuition for) a disadvantaged student from his home town, something I didn’t know about until now. Denny and Joan also have done some adventurous traveling this year. Someone they know around home in CT organizes tours to exotic places, and they asked somewhat casually if they could go along on one. He said sure, and invited them on his next trip—to Burma (aka Myanmar)! They gulped and decided, why not go somewhere they’d never have planned to go? They spent two weeks there and were really blown away. Of course they have lots more details (to share with anyone who wants to ask), but the strongest impression I got from their account is that it is a country of stunning contrasts. Most of the people live in abject poverty (but they’re still happy, Denny added), while at the same time there are dozens of religious shrines (Buddhist temples, mostly) filled with gold (on statues, on building surfaces) and other treasures of unimaginable value. After traveling around Myanmar, they stopped briefly in Bangkok, and then managed to get in their regular annual trip to Maui on the way home. Of course there is plenty to deal with back home—family stuff and still some work. But they looked happy and not especially stressed out by the busy year they have had (so far!)

We have heard from Howdy Davis that he is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a lung cancer diagnosis. The doctors have told him that while this is a serious situation, they feet that the cancer is "readily controllable." We certainly hope so, and are wishing him our very best as he fights this illness--something he is doing with his characteristic courage, and, of course, humor. We're with you, Howdy.

Ned received a New Year's update from Joe Coffee, and his note appears below:

We just got back from a week in Florida with all our kids...and theirs; stopping to and from to see friends. Coming back we picked up a new dog as Baxter died last year. He is a 3yr old german shepherd name Remy. He has not had any real training so needs work but he is a real friendly dog.

Life in the Pennsylvania wilds continues to be good---when we are here. Still playing softball two tournaments already this year--South Carolina and Florida. Virginia is this month and even one in Pennsylvania..

I do seem to continue to be involved in work one way or another--although staying away from a permanent, real job. And I keep getting drawn back into my past work. My first boss has me meeting with the current director of the Federal Executive Institute to help them with ways to revitalize the organization. This will also involve other efforts I was involved with in government.

Here’s Ned’s summary of the Hoppers’ New Years newsletter, with a few editorial asides:

Denny and Joan Hopper had a busy 2013 filled with family and travel, and several ups and downs. On the up side, they spent their usual five weeks in Hawaii in Feb/March; this year’s stay featured a couple of new activities—paddle boarding and outrigger canoeing—as well as Hawaiian church services, complete with hula dancers, ukuleles and blowing conch shells. In May, they spent some time in Punta Gorda, FL with a friend who recently lost her husband. In August they had a lovely weekend in the Berkshires, having put in the winning bid for same at a local charity auction. And in September they visited Denny’s brother and sister-in-law in Denver, then flew down to Sedona and climbed the red rocks with friends. On the family side, Tammy, Chip, Jason (15) and Tim (13) [see photo] are all fine and active with sports, piano etc. in Bronxville. On the not-good-news side, Kim and Tres are getting divorced and have had some rough times but Joan writes that the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. Kim and the girls will move in with Joan & Denny until things settle down. Also, around Thanksgiving, Joan’s mother, who is 95, had a fall. She was not seriously injured but as a result of this misadventure, she is now in an assisted-living facility much closer to D&J, which seems like the best result for all concerned. Joan writes that Denny has been an enormous help with all these challenges (and a few others omitted here for brevity) and observes “What a dear man I had the good fortune to find!” (And vice versa, if we might say so!) The basic facts of their lives have not changed—Denny is still working at the law firm, which merged with a larger firm with offices in Downtown Hartford. Joan still does pastoral care work at the church. They have a “little adorable parrot” who’s been with them since mid-2012 and seems to love women—not so much men, Joan writes. Their card (reproduced here) records some of the year’s more colorful events. (I like the photos of paddle boarding surrounded by the snowflakes….)

Ned, upon congratulating Howdy Davis on his 70th birthday, received the following...

It will actually be my 71st, but I won't say anything if you don't. And, indeed, I was about 12 when my parents admitted to me that, up until then what they had been doing for all my birthdays, is re-wrapping some of the Christmas presents I had not paid much attention to a week earlier. If there are any photos that come close to flattering, I'll pass them along."

We got a holiday card from Colleen Cook, with these photos of her (and Gene's) grandchidren. And yet another dog whose name starts with a "B"--but this one seems very much alive!

Here is Ned's summary (with a few editorial asides) of Dave Griswold's holiday newsletter: Dave has developed a new pricing strategy for his business, which has worked well, and he actually made some money this year for a change. So he decided to blow it on a huge 70th birthday celebration for himself. The event, in August (You can revisit a previous posting here) drew the crowd shown in the photo below. (Does anyone else find the prospect of so many young folks carrying Dave's genes just a little, um, unsettling?) Really, though, it sounds as if it was a wonderful gathering and everyone had a fabulous time. Dave and Elaine are both still working; as he put it, just when it appears she will retire from her position at Hartford Hospital, a reason pops up for her to stay another year. Much of Dave's news concerns his kids (other photo). Jeff was having a great year, he got promoted, his wife Jen became president of their local PTA, and their kids are doing great, but then their house burned down, just before Thanksgiving. No one was seriously hurt (though Jen got burns rescuing the dogs) but they essentially lost everything. They are recovering, with help from insurance and the support of neighbors and employers, but what an ordeal. Eric is working in LA in advertising (making commercials), where his sense of humor helps him cope "when things go awry and the producers lose their minds." Laura and Josh (at the U of Ky) are doing well in their jobs and spend their free time camping and playing with their dog. Speaking of dogs, and in what seems like a theme this year, Dave and Elaine lost Bentley this year, after a long, good life. Dave says that for his last three months, the dog would not leave Dave's side, as if he had a sense that something was wrong. Which led Jeff to say: With you or him?

Here is Ned's summary (with a few editorial asides) of Joe & Laurie Coffee's holiday newsletter:

They have had a happy and healthy year filled with family and travel. They're settling into their new home in north central Pennsylvania (Troy). Joe is semi-retired but has set up the Mid Atlantic Center for Law and Public Saferty at Mansfield University--which he sort of runs but doesn't get paid for. They bought a second home in Asheville, NC, which Bevin currently lives in and manages. They spent June in Russia on a river cruise with two other couples, and "travelled all over the continent," which in context appears to mean North America. They found Niagara-on-the Lake uncrowded in February (perhaps Howdy could explain why). Some of their travels have been to softball tournaments, as Joe is still playing. In February, he'll turn 70, and two leagues--the over-70s and the "kids" (over-65) are currently fighting over which he should play for (Maybe he needs an agent--Llew? Gris?). Geoff, Chris and their two kids live nearby in PA and Laurie is astonished (or something warranting a "!!!!") that Jordyn will be driving in 2014. She (J) is also a competitive cross-country runner in HS. Her brother Aidan will be 10 this month. David, Stacy, Jack and Nick (as well as Bevin) live much farther away, but J & L spend as much time with them as they can. Bevin has a new business; see www.theunpapertowel.com. Joe & Laurie will be celebrating their 45th anniversary later this month (which might go a ways toward explaining why Jordyn is approaching driving age), in Maui, which may not be as uncrowded as Niagara in February. And they'll be getting a new dog next year; their loyal German Shepherd Baxter died this year.

Denny Hopper celebrated his 70th birthday (November 10) with a small catered dinner at home. They brought a bunch of people who didn't know each other together, successfully he thinks. Denny and Joan have been very busy with family stuff, looking forward to the holidays.

Carl Sharpe celebrated his 70th birthday at the rolling parade in Boston, celebrating the Red Sox World Series championship. He enjoyed the day with his daughter, grandson Alex and Patricia. To the left is Alex, who celebrated after all of the festivities were over. Go figure.

John Ho writes, on the eve of his 70th birthday (Sept 27), "We are going to spend my birthday quietly at a Lake George log cabin resort. Just the two of us. The Chinese has a traditional belief that avoiding a big celebration for birthdays when one reaches an older age tends to prolong life. So I am going traditional. But I will take some pix of Xiao-yun and I and share them with class news."

Terry and Anita Duvall have been getting psyched all summer for a motorcycle trip this month along the Blue Ridge Parkway, ending with the famous "Tail of The Dragon," a winding mountain passage down in NC that is a Mecca of sorts for bikers. Unfortunately, just a couple of days into the trip, Anita slipped and fell in a parking lot and broke her arm. After she underwent surgery at a nearby hospital in Virginia, they have retreated back to Towanda. The Class all wishes her a speedy and complete recovery, and as Terry said, somewhat ruefully, "The Tail of the Dragon will wait for another time."

Bob Lang and his fiancee, Pat Roclaw, have been renting out Bob's farm in Salem, NY, as a guest house, when they are not staying there. Keeps the place occupied and generates a little income. They have created a brochure (photo, left) and a facebook page (Hilltopper Guest House) to help promote the business. From his own visit there in June, Ned confirms that the place is as advertized--well, he didn't try the beds, but the farm and its amenities are all that the brochure promises. Class members looking for a weekend getaway spot could do a lot worse (or of course you could arrange to visit for free when Bob & Pat are there!) Bob would be most grateful if you'd spread the word and let him and Pat know of places they might drop a few brochures.

Just for fun, I snapped some pics right behind our house which show how we are surrounded by corn. Almost all of the corn around here is "field corn" --used for everything from corn syrup to ethanol. But our farmer/neighbor always plants a some sweet corn (free for friends, neighbors and basically anyone who wants to pick it!) and you can see the difference in the picture. The sweet corn is not nearly as tall as the field corn. And look how much he planted--8 rows about 300 feet long!

Ned has learned from Melanie Van Vliet that her (and Damon's) father passed away last year; he was 100. (Their mother, who was long divorced from their father, died a couple of years earlier.) This obituary can be found online:

http://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2012/04/15342/david-van-vliet/

Frank Phillips remembered Mr. VV well from the days when he roomed with Damon, and visited him a few years ago in Concord. Melanie says she is now busily cleaning out her mother's home in Connecticut, and although she's now an orphan (later in life than most of us), she's doing well.

Ned had lunch with Huib Soutendijk recently, and reports that both he and Kathy are fine. He is now working for/with Llew Haden, as the NY rep of Wales Business management, which advises/mentors pro athletes and others (rock stars) on managing their finances, which a lot of them need. Huib says it has given him a new appreciation of Llew, how smart he is and good at what he does, as well as something interesting and fun to do in his retirement. He doesn't know if it will lead to much business for Llew but there is now a "NY Office" of Wales, based in Huib & Kathy's home. And Huib's having fun.

By the way, Huib and Kathy had earlier in the year sent Ned a New Year's card, along with their new address: 154 Chatfield Road, Bronxville, New York 10708.

Ned Groth writes of Hurricane Sandy: "Here in Pelham we lost power for a few days but came through otherwise unscathed at home. For Sharon and Sarah, who both commute into NYC, getting to work has been an adventure for several days, but that is slowly returning to normal.

Carl Braun writes of the hurricane: "All is well at my home - lost a few trees but nothing to complain about - they missed everything coming down - have been out of power since the very beginning of storm - we do have generator and have to conserve - getting gas in NJ is awful - gov office is trying to help. No power at terminals - so back in fuel business not fun - the jersey shore as you knew it is gone - ocean has wiped away an unbelievable number of homes not to mention land - more later."

Terry Duvall writes from PA: The storm only produced a few high winds and a little rain here in PA. We got up the morning after it hit and drove to Philadelphia. There were no problems. A few people in the county, mostly in the higher elevations that were without electricity for a few hours at worst."

Carl Sharpe writes from the MA coast: "We had winds up to 70mph on the coast. The greatest surprise of the storm for all of us is that we never lost electricity and there was only minor cleanup. My next door neighbor, however, lost part of his rather large dock."

We have received the following news from Terry Duvall by e-mail: "I have started applying for jobs in Vietnam. I have gotten back some replies and some have shown interest. We are planning on returning in November if all goes well."

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Llew Haden was visiting Huib Soutendijk for the past few days, and yesterday Ned drove out to Sagaponack for the day and for a nice dinner. We took Huib’s “girls”—three purebred stabyhouns (a Dutch breed, you can look it up!) plus the half-breed daughter of one of them—for a long beach walk, then relaxed and chatted afterward. At left, Huib with the magic lure—chunks of cheese—that keeps the dogs from straying too far. Below, Llew demonstrating his expertise at the relaxing phase. We’re all looking forward to getting together again in June!
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$Description: C:\Users\Ned\Desktop\scan0004.jpg$ $Description: C:\Users\Ned\Desktop\scan0006.jpg$ In the past couple of days, Ned has had a “Win some, lose some” sequence in his efforts to track down lost and long out-of-touch classmates. On the positive side, we recently found Robin Humphrey, left, on facebook. Robin was originally in our class, but graduated with the Class of 1963, and has been listed as ’63 ever since (appropriately we guess). He roomed with Dave Benson and Ned Groth freshman year, and they wanted to invite him to our upcoming reunion, so Ned tracked him down (the school had no current address). Ned and Robin are now facebook friends, and have exchanged e-mails. Robin is healthy and happy and living in Florida; he won’t be able to make the reunion, but we are in the process of catching up with him and may have more news there soon. In the “small world” department, Robin’s son Randy, whom Ned spoke to in the process of locating Robin, lives in Okemos, MI. So does Barry Komisaruk, right, who attended Darrow for one year (our junior year) and has been on the “lost” list pretty much ever since. We’d found his address, but no phone or e-mail. Randy is planning to go knock on Barry’s door and invite him to get back in touch with us.

$Description: C:\Users\Ned\Desktop\scan0007.jpg$ $Description: C:\Users\Ned\Desktop\scan0003.jpg$ Still in the “wins” category, Ned got an e-mail from Mike Gwinn. Mike (left) was at Darrow for our first two years, then departed. He’d been living in Alexandria, VA, but recently retired and moved to Pinehurst, NC, where we had an address but no phone, so Ned sent a letter, and Mike e-mailed in response. He also doesn’t expect to be able to attend the reunion, but he provided a little news of his life. After Darrow, he said he attended several schools—making him “a member of so many classes of 1962 that I don’t know where to start!” He had a simpler time in college, getting through “in one stop” at GWU, which is how he ended up in the DC area. Since January 2009 he and his wife have been living in Pinehurst most of the year, summering in Maine. We have another long-out-of-touch classmate, John Hamwi (right), who also lives in Pinehurst; like Mike, John was at Darrow our first two years, and sat next to Mike in chapel! John has been hard to reach, and probably isn’t interested in our reunion, but Mike is planning to drop in and say hello.

As Confucius famously said, however, you can’t win ‘em all. $Description: F:\NED'S PHOTOS\Darrow '62\Classmates\Underwood\scan0001.jpg$ $Description: F:\NED'S PHOTOS\Darrow '62\Classmates\Underwood\earlymoench.jpg$ On the “lose some” side, Ned finally heard back from David Underwood, the owner of the Underwood Guitar Studio in San Antonio. We found his web site and the photo of him dating from the late 1960s near (near left), and he looks remarkably like our classmate (far left). Ned sent him several e-mails and lately made several phone calls, leaving messages. At long last, the San Antonio David Underwood called Ned back, only to say he’s sorry, he’s not our David Underwood. The messages he’d been getting hadn’t made much sense to him, so he’d ignored them, but he finally did get in touch. Ned e-mailed him the pictures you see here, then we spoke again. Guitarist David went to Robert E. Lee HS in San Antonio, graduated in 1961, and didn’t attend his 50th last year. He has been in San Antonio his entire adult life, and teaches guitar at Trinity University, as well as to private students. He grants that there is a a physical resemblance, but insists he ain’t our guy. And we take him at his word. Which means we’re putting our own David back on the “lost” list, and will resume the search.

Here are two photos of our own Jay Tanner (sent to Ned), playing in a band at the Red Hook Star Theater in Brooklyn.

Since Ned joined facebook, I think he has been looking at a lot of photos of families of our class, so he suggested I send some pictures of my grandchildren and myself for our class website. Attached are some photos ...

I have a grandson, Koa, by my daughter, Christina and her husband. They live in Hawaii where a recent photo shows Koa with his surf board. A photo of Koa and I was taken at the Rockefeller Center when he visited NYC at six months of age. My daughter is expecting another son this September.

My second son. Lawrence and his wife have two daughters, Evelyn, 3 and Cindel, 5 months, and they live in Singapore. Attached are a photo of his family and I and a photo of Evelyn and I taken two years ago when I visited them in Singapore. Also a current photo of my two granddaughters, Evelyn and Cindel whom I have not yet met face-to-face.

Finally, a photo of my first son, Jonathan, who is a firefighter for NYC, ladder 8 in Tribecca, Manhattan. No kids. Too busy putting out internal fires in very hot ladies!

Thanks, best regards, and see you soon at our 50th.

John Ho

Ned received this photograph from Huib Soutendijk, who is clearly satisfied with his catch of the day. The photo was taken in Montana in September of 2011.

Ned recently reconnected with Joe MacLaren, shown here in our sophomore class yearbook photo. Technically, the school may consider Joe a member of a different class; Ned is trying to clarify that. But he was one of us for Sophomore and Junior years, so it feels like he belongs here. Joe has been living out in Mancos, CO, for many years. Ned’s main reason for calling him was to invite him to the reunion, so he didn’t collect a lot of past history. Joe has a heavy travel schedule coming up and can’t make it to this reunion; his son is graduating from Gonzaga Law School in May, then his daughter will graduate from Bennington College on June 2. On the same trip back east for that, Joe will stop in the Philadelphia area to pick up some stuff that was put in storage when his mother died – at the age of 100, about a year ago. It’s a major trip and one he probably can’t repeat so soon after. But let’s think positive. Joe said he lives pretty strongly in the present, doesn’t dwell on the past much, but we did share some memories of friends and events, and maybe one day a reunion might appeal to him. If you want to get in touch with Joe, Ned can give you his e-mail or phone number.

Ned received the following note from Bill Hanna, our recently "found" classmate. You can read about Bill by clicking here.

This is just great! I'm so glad you located me. Looking at the class photo and the names, it all comes back. I remember you and nearly everyone else. I roomed with Mike Gwinn, Huip and Pete Loomis, and remember a single great year. I am not sure how much, or memorable an impact I made in just one year, but I certainly remember Darrow and the fellows in a very positive way.

Damon Van Vliet was my neighbor in Weston and we had great times in the late fifties. My sister was a friend of his sister, and our parents knew each other. As I recall, Damon attended Darrow on the recomendation of my parents. It was too bad that he and I did not attend Darrow together, I lost contact with him a year or so after my leaving the east. I had heard about his passing.

My family moved to Newport Beach California the summer of 1959 and I attended high school there until graduation. It was a considerable culture shock in a great many ways. Having sun tanned girls in the classes was kind of a challenge, let alone not having to wear a tie and coat.

After high school, I attended the University of Arizona where I graduated with a BS and my wife of 46 years. I spent a year in the Mekong Delta "camping out in the rain," and then came home to business and raising a small family. We have one daughter who is married and living with her husband and our grandson in a small town north of Brisbane, Aust.

Hoping to sell my position in the business in a year, and attend reunions, etc, at will.

I am very sorry not to be able attend this year. My Father is 97 and living in Brunswick, Me. I have built a business trip around visiting him, and I am afraid it is set. I'm still tall, but have put on the weight to even it out I guess. Knee replacment, collesterol medication, all the usual stuff, but no complaints at all.

Feel free to pass any of this along, and thanks again for finding me.

All the best, Bill

Ned called Ron Wright, just to catch up and to invite him to the reunion. Ron was a bit hard to reach--they spent several months of the winter down in Florida, but they're back in Saratoga now. Ron says they bought an RV, and they'll be using it to see more of Maine, the Adirondacks and other scenic places this summer. He's greatly enjoying

being retired; "Best decision I ever made," he says. As far as the reunion goes, Ron hasn't been to one yet. Ned asked whether it was because Ron's Darrow experience wasn't a particularly happy one, and Ron said that definitely was true for him. Like a lot of us, he was a little bit lost during adolescence, and being sent away to boarding school felt like punishment to him. He says he's getting over it, gradually. Ned told him there will be 30 or so of his oldest if not dearest friends at Darrow in June, and that if he could make it over, we'd give him a hug and welcome him as a long-lost brother. Ron seemed to think it might be worth a day trip, and he said he'll probably drive over on Saturday. Hope he makes it; we'd really love to see him. The picture (of Ron, Ned and Joe Coffee horsing around junior year, when they and Frank Rosenberg (who took the photo) roomed together) will have to do, since we have nothing recent. Let's hope we can get a bunch in June!

John and Marilyn Cavallo can't make it to the reunion (family wedding that weekend), but sent us this photo (left), so we could see how busy their kids and grandkids have been keeping them down in Florida. Quite a family!

Steve Foote checked in with Ned to claim the last available room at the Inn, and said he's planning quite an Odyssey in May and June. First, he'll spend a week in Bermuda, where his niece is getting married. Then, a week in Washington, DC, visiting family. After that, he heads up to Connecticut, where more family members live; and finally, he'll arrive at our 50th. He is looking forward to seeing us all and catching up on the last 30 years or so. Steve lives in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina; he said he's lived in a lot of places, and this is the one he loves the best. He'll try to send Dave Benson a photo for our reunion album but admitted that he relies on his kids for "internet stuff...."

Ned e-mailed Peter Gorday to let him know that Nancy Wolf will be in Atlanta next month, and an e-conversation ensued, in which it emerged that P.J. has a new book out. He describes it as “beautifully set up and produced,” and says it’s “a biography and treatment of the spirituality of one of my favorite characters, Francois Fenelon. It's the first entry under my name on Amazon.” Here’s a link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Gorday
The book has not been released yet, but you can pre-order it. Let’s see if the Class of ’62 can give Pete a sales spike!

After receiving the latest Peg Board, Ned sent this e-mail message to Dave Benson:

I was bemused to read in the Peg Board that you and Karen "announced that you are engaged to Nancy Wolf." Last time I checked, Nancy was married; so how does this work, a 3-way? I imagine Bob must be one of those eastern liberals if he is OK with it. Maybe the long-distance aspect makes it easier to sort out. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the Peg Board writer doesn't understand proper punctuation (RLB would have taken off at least 50 points), and meant that you announced, to Nancy Wolf, that you are engaged TO EACH OTHER! That would be news, although it still alarms me when I see an old friend rushing into something like this. I think maybe you should take a while longer and get to know each other better.

But seriously...Congratulations! That is also one of the best pictures I have seen of you.

Thank you. Karen & I got married in July. We have only been together for 15 years now so I guess it is not too hasty.

Ned spoke with John and Marilyn Cavallo, and the bad news is they won't be able to make it to the reunion, but there is plenty of good news: all three Cavallo sons and seven grandkids are living nearby in Florida now, and they have everything they need in the way of family, recreation and climate. All are in good health, and they rarely if ever find a need to travel to the North any more--especially not in the winter! They love visiting our class web site, look forward to pictures of our 50th, and may send some family pix and maybe some from the wedding in June for us to post.

Ned has sought out and re-connected with Jonathan McCann, our classmate, who was at Darrow for his sophomore year. In his letter, Jonathan had much to say about Darrow and his lost friends there, which you can read on the "Found Classmates" page by clicking here.

Ned visited Des McCracken on February 28. You can read his account, along with two pictures, on the Faculty News Page.

John Ho caught Ned up with his family while conversing on Facebook (That's right, Ned is now on Facebook). John reports that he now has three grandchildren and ten grandnieces and nephews!

Jack Loveland has yet to retire completely, working 26 hours each week for a fuel company in Maine. He is still not sure if he can make the 50th reunion in its entirety, but is hoping to come by for at least part of the weekend. He plans to let us know, and promises to keep in touch.

Christmas greetings from the Soutendijks: Huib & Kathy’s boys, Steve and Jeff:

Here’s a Christmas greeting from Steve Jones and family. Note that Steve is hoisting Patrick Evans’ favorite brew….

Joe and Laurie Coffee have sent along a family photo for the Holiday season. Looks like a happy Group!

With the holiday season come cards and photos from many of our friends and classmates. Here’s one from Colleen Cook, surrounded by Shannon, John and her grandchildren. Is it just a coincidence that everyone’s wearing Nittany Lions blue? It is hard to believe that Gene’s been gone for 11 years now. Thanks, Colleen, for staying in touch.

Mike Terry called Ned to catch up and to say he will be at our 50th! Mike has been hard to reach of late because he's had disaster upon disaster to cope with. First, his house burned to the ground, and he lost everything--four dogs, family heirlooms, furniture he bought in China decades ago. He was lucky to get out alive (yes he had a smoke alarm) and while he was standing there watching the conflagration, something exploded and he was hurled across the driveway. He's found a new place to live but the hassles with the insurance company go on and on....Then three weeks later, he was in an auto accident. His old pick-up took most of the brunt of the crash but its old seat belt failed, and Mike was ejected from the vehicle. He can joke (now) that he landed on his head, "so damage was minimal," but he was unconscious for several days and has had a long, slow recovery. He says he was a wreck for a while, kind of came unglued, and who can blame him. He sounded pretty good on the phone, though, says he is basically healthy again and feeling much better. He is enthusiastic about the reunion and certain he'll see us there--he's booked a room at the Inn. His son, Jim, is living with him now, and that has been a big help, having him around. Mike still doesn't use e-mail or own a computer, but Jim--who's 47, but still of a younger generation--does. So we have at least some hope of eventually connecting electronically with Mike.

Gib Manchester called Ned to say he and Margau are coming to the 50th, and he really wants to see RJ there! When he called, they were in Maine, getting ready to go back to Ohio next month (most of their assorted kids and grandkids are there). They'll spend January to May or so at their Florida condo, then back to Ohio for the late spring, then back to Maine for the summer, stopping at the reunion en route. Both are healthy and happy and looking forward to our party!

Jim Mithoefer is working as a PA at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Emergency Department. They have a small sheep farm in Manchester, Vermont, with about 20 (+) breeding ewes for lambs for the restaurant market in New York City and Boston. Jim is still unsure about attending the reunion next summer, but is hoping to find a way.

We were getting a little concerned about Peter Golden, as our reunion bulletins kept bouncing back because his aol inbox was full. This seemed out of character, so Ned gave him a call. Soon had Pete on the line with an update on what's been happening in his life. He is fine, but his aol account "got hacked by a Viagra distributor," and is no longer available. (We'll soon have a new address for him.) He does not consider himself a historian but he's an avid amateur antiquarian, and he's been doing research and writing on a variety of site-specific historical issues. He told me (I hadn't known) that the Shakers got into the herbal medicines business because of their close bond with the local Native American tribes when the Shakers settled in New England. Pete also suggests we Google "peter golden natick" to see some of the stuff he's done on the community in which he lives.

Pete said the biggest news probably is that their younger daughter, Danielle, who'll soon be 30, is carving out an impressive career for herself in the military. As a 1st Lt in the Mass National Guard, she has been deployed in Haiti, rebuilding water systems and the like. Pete said with some pride that his daughter is quite a "hardass," physically powerful, confident and capaple of taking command of situations. Her boyfriend, also in the MNG, is deployed in Iraq.

Pete remembered Ron Emery fondly as "one of the two people who encouraged me to write." He said he has just recently "found out who I am:" He's a "Cicerone," a personality type common among orators. (You could, I assume, Google it.)

He is looking forward to our 50th ("I'll be there") and extracted a detailed report on the Class of '61's recent gathering. He sends his regards to the rest of our class.

I am now mostly retired, with a small counseling practice as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Atlanta. I did a final stint of parish ministry at the Church of the Incarnation in Highlands, NC, for two years. The place is beautiful! I spend much of my time now working on manuscripts. I'm presently contracted for a biography of an important religious figure from the French seventeenth century. Otherwise, I do a good bit of outdoor landscaping work (Hands-to-Work heritage!) at our second home up in northeast Georgia. I am as much of a hockey fan as ever, and continue to read the Latin and Greek classics, as well as contemporary neuroscience.

Virginia still works fulltime as senior VP for operations at the Atlanta Market Center-- a big wholesale shopping complex. In this sesquicentennial year we have both become civil war addicts, and travel around to sites and do genealogies.

Son John, still single and eligible, lives in NYC, qualified as a paramedic with the FDNY, then decided there was more money to be made in the business world and now works in sales at Saks Fifth Ave and is doing very well. Anyone shopping in NY is welcome to look him up!

Lawrence Klein at Darrow has informed me that Patrick Evans, who taught Latin during the 1960-61 school year, is planning to attend Reunions next month (June 17-19).

In case the Class of 1961's 50th was not a big enough draw, some of us -- those who took Latin, or lived in Neale House, at least -- now have another reason to attend this year.

For those who'd simply like to get back in touch with Patrick, his e-mail address is patrick.evans@wanadoo.fr

Hope to see some of you in June!

Jessica Prentiss (John's younger) and her husband Matt Nifield are living in the San Francisco Bay Area and are recent parents of twins. Ned e-mailed Jennifer and Jessica when his son, Daniel, moved out there and was job-hunting. Jess responded initially, then asked several months later how Dan was doing, and apologized, saying "I’m sooooo sorry for not getting back to you sooner! Having twins is quite a lot of work, and the first thing that went was my BRAIN. I can barely remember how to get dressed in the morning, let alone who I owe emails to!" Jess is on parental leave now from her job teaching writing at a private middle/high school (putting her law degree to good use), and confessed that she has been sleep-deprived since the first trimester!

Ned gave her the good news about Dan's job (see item below), then asked, "Tell us more about the twins!" Here is Jess's reply:

Hi Ned,

Gwyneth (“Gwen”) Morgan Nifield and Madeleine (“Maddie”) Ceridwen Nifield, fraternal twins, were born at 29 1/2 weeks on Thursday October 28 at 3:40 and 3:41 p.m in Santa Clara, CA. (I don’t think it actually took them a minute to pull Maddy out after Gwen, but the docs rounded, I guess.) Their due date was officially January 10, 2011, but I guess they just didn’t want to miss the holidays. They spent about 6 weeks in the NICU and came home in time for Christmas. Their dad Matt and I “worked” two 12-hour shifts for the first couple months, but for the past month or so we’ve been able to “reunite”--the girls have been sleeping through the night and don’t need a whole TWELVE hours of supervision. (They’re big sleepers, like their mom and dad both are.) Matt works from home and has been absolutely great with the girls. I’m off until August, when the next school year starts, so we have lots of time to spend with our special bundles of joy. :-)

Baby stats:
Gwen: 3.17 pounds, about 16 inches in length (40.5cm).
Maddie: 2.985 pounds and about 15.5 inches in length (39 cm).

The most recent photos of the twins can be seen here (or by clicking the photo above), and earlier photos here.

Bob Lang tells us that his grandson, Daniel Herren, will be attending Darrow next September. The only other thing we know about Daniel (other than his exceptional discernment when making educational decisions) is that he is on Facebook. To the left, a Facebook profile picture of Daniel.

Carl Braun, retired from his previous business, has now begun a new career in the real estate business in the Manasquan River area of New Jersey. To see his brochure, "Deep Roots and Strong Connections," click here.

Ned Groth reports that his wife, Sharon Begley, has "retired" from Newsweek. It was a little more complicated than that--her job was essentially eliminated in the revamping that is going on. For those not following the play-by-play, The Washington Post, which owned Newsweek for almost 50 years, sold it in 2010 to Sidney Harman, a wealthy industrialist (Harman-Kardon stereo, etc.). Harman then worked out a merger with The Daily Beast, a web-based news enterprise owned by Barry Diller, and Beast editor Tina Brown became the editor of Newsweek. During this fairly chaotic period most of the Newsweek staff were bought out or let go; Sharon was one of the few still there, and ultimately, she also decided it was time to go. She started at Newsweek right out of college in 1977. She was there for 25 years, rapidly rising to become Science Editor, which she was when I met her in 1982. She left to write a science column for the Wall Street Journal in 2002, but was wooed back to Newsweek again, five years later. Now, that's all in the rear view mirror. She really enjoys being home all day and not having to commute. She will still be working--Newsweek would like to hire her to do stories now and then, and lots of other publications would work with her on a free-lance basis. How busy she'll be will be largely up to her. We may have some time now to go take some of those adventures retired couples (such as Frank and Ellie Rosenberg!) like to go on.

Meanwhile, our son Daniel has settled in out in San Francisco. He decided he'd like to live out there, so last sumnmer, a couple of months after he graduated from Lafayette with a BS in math, he and a bunch of college friends drove across the country, camping in national parks, the canonical post-college road trip, destination Palo Alto, where one friend was starting grad school at Stanford. Dan found a place to live (in a house with three other guys) in San Francisco, and started looking for work last fall. He finally found a job, doing the kind of data analysis he had hoped to do, last month, in Mountain View. We are delighted that he is now employed, even though he's so far away. He seems quite happy out there and we hope to get out to visit him before too long. Sarah, our elder child, is still living with us and working for a plumbing company here in Westchester County. Her reptile collection in her third-floor suite has become quite impressive. She'd love to be a reptile caretaker at the Bornx Zoo but that would require a college background in animal science--she majored in English. For now her lizards and snakes keep her amused--and keep her mother out of her room!

Seems as if Frank and Ellie Rosenberg just got back from New Zealand, but there they go, off on another adventure. Frank called Ned to say they are leaving Colorado in a few days to drive to Fort Lauderdale, FL. They'll stop en route in Oklahoma and Arkansas to do some mineral-hounding, then spend a day or so in the Atlanta area visiting Ellie's relatives there (Frank hopes to be able at least to call P.J. Gorday while they're there). After a stop in northern Florida to visit with family, it's on to Ft. Lauderdale, where they will board a cruse ship for a 30-day trip. They'll cruise through the Panama Canal to Peru, with stops in several countries along the way, three days in Lima, then more stops in Central America, back through the canal, up the Caribbean coast of Mexico, and on back to Ft. Lauderdale. Frank said they've always wanted to go through the Panama Canal, and now's their chance, while they're still young enough to enjoy it. Ned asked about a side-trip to Macchu Picchu or the Galapagos. Frank said the three-day layover didn't really give them enough time, but they want to do that trip separately, before too long. Since Ned also wants to make that trip, we may get a gang together for it. But that will have to wait. Meanwhile, look for photos from Frank from various stops on their current itinerary.

From Ned: The photos below are from Lawrence Klein, the Associate Director of Advancement at Darrow. He and Curriculum Coordinator and Director of the SEC Craig Westcott recently took a road trip to Colorado and Arizona, where they met (one-on-one or two-on-two) with several of our classmates and friends. In the photos below are shots of Klein and Westcott with Dave Benson and Frank Rosenberg; with David Hoon; and with Anson Perina (the other fellow in the photo with Anson is Arno Niemand, a former trustee who was on the board when I was in the 1980s, and now lives in Fort Collins.) The other photos include people we also knew at Darrow--Steve Isom '61, Grant Bowry '63, and my brother David Groth '65.

We report with sorrow that Margaret Tanner, Jay's wife, passed away last year. Margaret was an editor and a serious water-color artist, who took lessons and exhibited at various Brooklyn venues, selling the occasional piece. Many of us met her at our 45th reunion, when the Tanners and Deris hosted a brunch for the class at their shared summer house in Lenox. Margaret and Jay were married for over 30 years, and have a son, Isaac, to whom she was quite devoted. Margaret also introduced Peter Deri to his current partner, Lisa. For more than 20 years, Margaret suffered from a non-malignant brain tumor, but one the surgeons could not completely remove, so she had to endure repeated surgeries, followed by radiation to try to slow regrowth. It was probably cumulative debilitation from radiation damage, more than the tumor itself, that caused her death. Peter says Jay was "incredible, in being there for her in every way.” Our hearts go out to Jay and Isaac, and we mourn their loss.

Speaking of Peter Deri, he e-mailed Ned to say he appreciated the memorial for Lester Henderson, and to report his news. He is still working "full tilt" at his NYC and White Plains offices, and is realizing that he was correct in prognosticating, years ago, that shrinks become more venerated as they get older--one of the perks. He has no plans to retire but is trying to write more now, and still finds it a struggle, as he did at Darrow. He wonders how Loomis could write those essays so easily! (Wop, you can tell him it wasn’t as easy as it looked.) Peter and the aforementioned Lisa recently moved in together (they have only been seeing each other for 10 years, I cautioned him about rushing headlong into things, but wild horses could not restrain this kid.) Lisa is an editor and marketing director at Public Affairs, which Peter describes as "a somewhat left of center publishing house which does wonkish but interesting stuff." Ironically, her main claim to fame is editing (and the requisite handholding) Scott McClellan's book about Bush. "Her other claim to fame," Peter says, "is that she gets and puts up with me." They live in a big old upperwestside apartment on Riverside Drive near Columbia, and spend a lot of time in Lenox, too. Ned and Peter plan to get together for lunch “sometime soon.” Pete is thinking about a "why I'm coming" statement for the 50th Reunion page, but needs to "civilize" his thoughts first.

Our big news this weekend is that we have FOUND Chuck Arundale. The school had not had a valid address for Chuck since the 1960s; he never even got any of the old class newsletters. This week, Howdy Davis took up Ned's request for help tracking some of our lost classmates, and he found Chuck in about 30 seconds. (See the "Found " page for a photo and brief biographical details.) Ned followed up and called Chuck the next day. He, Chuck, is delighted to be back in touch. He has been thinking more and more about his past, as we all do when we get to this age, and Darrow was a large part of his younger life. He has good feelings about the school, remembers Mr. Heyniger with admiration, and a variety of passionate teachers who taught him to succeed, academically. He was not hiding from Darrow (or us), but from the toxic aftermath of a failed first marriage, in the form of an ex-wife who had continued to harass him, his second wife, and even his kids, for decades after the split. He's moved around quite a bit, spent a lot of years in the Houston and Galveston areas, owned a house he built right on the beach in Galveston. (His career has been designing & building houses.) After Texas, they lived on Cape Cod for a while, then moved to Arkansas to be near his wife's family, and are now in Phoenix, which is a center of gravity of his kids and grandkids. With the ex now tamed, finally, they can live out in the open, which explains why Howdy had such quick success. Chuck finds himself wondering how the rest of our lives turned out, plans to spend some time on the class web site, catching up. We'll add him to the class e-mail list, and some of you may be hearing from Chuck directly. With any luck, we'll see him at our 50th. And between now and then, we'll keep in touch. We've got some catching up to do.

John Ho wrote this e-mail today to Ned, along with the little supplement which follows it, catching us all up with John and his family:

Hi Ned,

Want to thank you for writing the recent articles on Kip, Brodhead, and Bethards. Along with the sadness of their passing, your words also bring back fond memories for me. You are such a persistent, caring and loyal person. I admire your dedication.

So I am updating you a bit about me.

I am still happily married to Xiao-yun and living in Flushing, New York, where we have the best Chinese food in the entire country. San Francisco is fine with Cantonese food, but Flushing has at least 10 different authentic provincial Chinese restaurant types. My Chinese language skills have improved, both because I need to keep Xiao-yun happy and also because I am still working full time with Chinese speaking only patients in nursing homes in the greater NYC area. I have a monoply. I did not realize I am one of only two or maybe three psychologists in NYC who can speak three dialects of Chinese, along with English taught by Bethards and Nunley. With the latter, I am sure I am one of a kind.

After a seven years' estrangment with my three children after my divorce from Josie, their mother, I was finally invited by my second son, Lawrence, to his wedding, where I was also reunited with his older brother, Jonathan, and sister, Christina. Well, after all, Lawrence graduated from Harvard. He must be a little wiser than some of us.

For the last two years I have maintained regular contact with all three of my children. I am so very grateful I have been given this second chance by them. Lawrence has a daughter, Evelyn, who just turned one. He is married to a Chinese-American woman originally from Taiwan. They received their MBA's from Columbia at the same time. They live in Singapore now, where he works for VISA and his wife for Chase. Christina, who now lives on Oahu, Hawaii, is a special education teacher after travelling the world for several years, teaching English in Spain, Africa, etc., has a two and half months old son, Koa. She is married to a native Hawaiian who is a professional surfer (euphemism for beach bum... ?) Actually his family manufactures surf boards mostly exported to Japan. Wonder if Kazu is still fit enough to learn how to surf if he doesn't already know how to. Snow boarding, surfing and even skiing have many carry over benefits.

We have bought a condo in Kunming, Yunnan, China, Xiao-yun's home town. Kunming is a mile high city like Denver, but temperatures are spring-like all year round, like San Diego. It is the southern-most province in China with borders to Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. Not too far from Tibet and the Himalayas. I have been there several times. Some parts of Yunnan are totally unspoiled and the mountains are much like the Rockies. For Americans of our age, you may know Kunming, Yunnan because that's where the Flying Tigers were stationed during WWII.

I am very fortunate to have both parents reasonably healthy, who are in their late eighties and early nineties. They live in Riverdale, right next to Tommy Bird, for the last 50+ years. So I cannot quite pick up and retire part time to China yet, where social securities alone, at least at this time, can offer one an upper middle class life style. Well life is unpredictable often.

Hope this finds you well. Again thank you for your diligence and commitments over the years in keeping our class together. Without you things would be very different.

Best,
John

Forgot to add Anne Collison's memorial to the list of memorials you wrote recently. I actually remember Aunt Coll treating me for a very painful sprained ankle from soccer. She soaked it, wrapped it in an ace bandage, and sent me right back to Brethren's Workshop. I have a slight spot of arthritis in that ankle now. Turning left on the ski slope is easier than turning right.

Neglected to say a word about number one son, Jonathan. He is a NYC firefighter with Ladder 8 in Tribeca, lower Manhattan, lives in Brooklyn, recently divorced, and actively dating. You know those heroic and macho types, they don't make very good hsubands. But his company recently saved three Chinese immigrant souls in a big fire in Chinatown.

John

Just working and traveling. We were in Bali and Wakatobi this spring. Excellent time and some great muck diving. We went to Oslo and then up to Svalbard with Linblad / National Geographic in July. Excellent: 48 Polar Bears, a heap of Walrus, and other wildlife. Ocean and Ice in the land of the midnight sun.

The last few mass e-mailings had bounced back from a defunct address for Dave Hoon, so Ned called him up. The phone number still works! Dave was sitting on his front porch, reading the morning paper, making plans for the day. He retired, officially, on August 1 this year. He actually quit work in May, using up some accrued medical leave to get his knee replaced. The operation went well (Dave was very grateful to Huib Soutendijk for the advice he provided) and, although he still is doing exercises to regain full strength in the leg, Dave feels a whole lot better. He walks a mile a day, works out at a health club, and feels great. Getting away from his job also has given him a new lease on life. Budget stress had led to his transfer, for his last few months, to work in the county unemployment office, processing claims. That wasn't much fun. He says his friends tell him he looks younger, and he feels happy all the time. Diane is still working, part time. Dave putters in the yard, relaxes. He plans to get involved in some community service work, but hasn't decided yet what he wants to do there. When I mentioned our 50th, he said "I definitely want to be at that one," and recalled how they just missed out on our 45th, when the car he borrowed from his mother conked out on the NY State Thruway. Ned encouraged Dave to catch up on reunion plans and other class news by checking out this web site--and solved Dave's problem deciding what he'd do today!

Spectacular, Ned. I stand in awe of your narrative and stylistic skills. I only knew Bethards from a distance but recognized his energy, sparkling intelligence and gravitas. In reading your recollection it became apparent he not only was a great teacher, but also made a substantive contribution to national and world culture through his government assignments. Most notably, the scale of his efforts and the incredible exertion of energy and intelligence they represent must stand as his true memorial. He was, briefly and to the great benefit of Darrow students, our teacher. But to the nation and the world he was an incomparable resource.

Here's to Bethards for a life lived to the full and to his disciple, Ned Groth, for memorializing him with such fidelity. Meanwhile, I never benefited from his instruction and for that I am most grateful. My one year in Ron Emery's English classes did not result in any substantive gain in my ability to diagram anything other than the floor plan of my room at Ann Lee House. Given my fragile psyche, Bethards would have croaked me and even worse, in light of the wild dyslexia that pervades my physiology even to this day, probably persuaded me that I should never to lift a pen for any reason other than to sign my name.

Meanwhile, Bethards (via Ned) has left me an unexpected legacy: Kittredge & Farley holds real promise. For while I have made a modest career as a writer, I remain woefully ignorant of the finer points of English grammar, having qualified myself over the years as the world's worst student, at least until left to my own devices to assume the role of an autodidact and shameless apostate.

Kittredge, or course, was George Lyman Kittredge, who in his time was arguably the most formative influence in American higher education in Elizabethan drama, with special regard for the Bard of Avon. Lesser known was his role as a collaborator with his teacher and mentor Francis James Child in editing and shepherding the canonical "Child Ballads," subsequent to Child's death in 1896.

I can only imagine Bethards' choice of a grammar, whatever its limitations as perceived by Darrow juniors in 1961 and its apparent strictures and rote aside, carries the spirit of the English language in written form to all who encounter it... Or maybe it is still just as boring dross, but what a treat to dig it up and see what I have missed.

That's it for now, Ned. Back to a series on Native Americans in the Early Settlement Period in the Bay Colony, an ad for a home repair company and a consulting assignment on the biography of a Japanese actor who toured American in 1900. Darrow still lives in memory and in the spirit of the season and that which I gained in that old Shaker village on the edge of the Lebanon Valley, please allow me to offer this short poem in Richard's memory.

Leaves tossed among the smoke
Issuing forth from autumnal fires
Shining remains of light-filled summers
Like finches cling to white church spires.

Hi, Ned--

Just catching up on the website and all your collection of memories. Currently in Salem NY at the farm, wish I had paid attention to Scott and learned how to drive a tractor earlier in life. Planning on having breakfast with the Wolf's in Vermont this weekend as their house is about an hour from mine.

Still selling insurance in New Jersey and trying to spend more time in Fl; Florida in the winters, the snow shoveling days were spent at Darrow and I just lift weights not snow.

My daughters, two of them, are still in Dallas with the grandchildren. My grandson has been to Darrow twice and with any luck he will be at school next fall. (i.e. if the grandparents can finance it.) I am spending less time at the track this summer and more time learning the art of growing Christmas trees, my new IRA.

Take care,
EROCK

Ned just recently heard from Dave Benson, who reports that he was in Norway, where on the island of Spitsbergen he saw some four dozen polar bears and a large number of Walrus. He further tells us that he was diving in Wakatobi (Indonesia) in April. This is rather coincidental to say the least, since Terry Duvall also dove in the same place recently. If you have not been following Terry's Asian experience, you can read about this dive adventure here, and see pictures of the dives here (Go to the bottom of the album).

Jack Loveland was a member of our class, and attended Darrow for his freshman and sophomore years only. Ned is hoping that he will come to our fiftieth. Ned provided the e-mail below, with an explanation as to why he received it (and is sharing it with us).

The back story to this e-mail is that when I was researching Charles Brodhead, for the memorial I am writing, I came across the fact that his mother's maiden name was Fanny Loveland. Charles was born in Kingston, PA, in 1906. Jack Loveland's "real" name is Charles N. Loveland III. On the Links page you will see that I had earlier discovered that a man named Charles N. Loveland (Jack's grandfather, as you'll see from the message below) was mayor of Wilkes Barre, PA in the 1930s. Kingston is right next to Wilkes Barre. It thus occurred to me then that CDB's mother might have been a sister or cousin of Charles N. Loveland, Sr. It turns out Jack's father, Charles N. Jr., was born in 1906, the same year CDB was. So Jack's father is a cousin of Charles Brodhead, I was pretty sure. I e-mailed him to ask, and got the reply below.

Hi Ned,

Sorry for the delay in answering your Email regarding Charles Brodhead. I know my Dad was a distant cousin of his when I started at Darrow in 1958. I did not know him until I went there. My sister has a family tree regarding the Loveland family and I will have to ask her about him. My grandfather was named Charles N Loveland and he was the mayor of Wilkes Barre Pa during the 1930's. In fact I have a campaign brochure while he was running. My Dad was Charles N.Loveland Jr. and he was born in 1906 in Wilkes Barre. I have been to Wilkes Barre several times in my lifetime. My grandfather and uncle were lawyers in Wilkes Barre. My Dad passed away in 1995. Both my Dad and Mom are buried in Pittsfield as my mom grew up in Pittsfield.

Last night I picked up my daughter and grandson at Logan Airport from Sweden. They are here in the states for three weeks. I believe I had told you that my other daughter is married and lives in Clifton Park, New York. I have four grandchildren. Last time we went to Clifton Park was last fall. Sometimes when we go there we take a side trip to Route 20 and drive into Darrow. Time goes by too fast.

Haven't thought about the 50th reunion seeing I only attended Darrow my freshman and sophomore years.

We are heading to Boston tomorrow to see the Red Sox. As I am sure you can remember I am an avid sox fan.

I retired in June of 2008 from a fuel oil heating company here and in September I went back to work for the same company three days a week. I enjoy the work.
Hope you have a great summer.

Best regards,
Jack

Terry Duvall was recently in need of an MP3 of the "Jiffy Mixer," a dance which allows participants to get to know each other by changing partners. After putting out a request, a 1962 classmate was able to find it and get it to him. His response appears below. If you haven't been following Terry and Anita's experiences teaching (and living) in Vietnam, you can read the weekly installments here.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your incredible response! Many of you put in lots of time trying to help, and I appreciate all of your efforts. I now have the MP3 of the Jiffy Mixer, thanks to a former high school classmate.

I appreciate all your efforts. WOW! I have an incredible network of people out there. YOU ARE ALL FANTASTIC!

THANKS!

Terry

Hello, Ned, et al

Just a quick note to let you know today is my last here at the work force, and maybe the last day of work before I retire. The plan is that I’ll be off next week and knee replacement surgery (if approved) Friday the 28th of May. I’ll be recuperating for 6-8 weeks (with 38 ½ years at Colo Dept of Labor have a lot of sick leave) and will try to retire from home. It’s kinda bureaucratic and has to do with timing my retirement for Social Security part B to kick in. What I’ll do afterwards, well, who know what?? Maybe work pt or volunteer or just dissipate into self-fulfillment!

I especially thank Hubie for his moral support to help me get my nerve up to go through the surgery; it pretty much has gone so far as he said it would.

I’ll be there for our 50th for sure.

Take care,
David

Ned recently received the following note from Kip Smith's wife, Charlotte, after an inquiry as to how she was getting along.

I have been meaning to do this for so long. Please forgive me. Thank you, Bob, for going to so much trouble to find me. I can't believe you remembered the name of my school! I had forgotten to let you know about the change in my email address. I bundled my DSL with my wireless and home phone with ATT&T in my never ending quest to simplify my bills. I did put your names in my address book before my old address was cut off. You might notice that my web address has my maiden name. Any combination of Smith was already taken.

I am doing OK. Actually better than that considering what I have gone through this past year. Keeping up a demanding school schedule and having to do all the things I took for granted that Kip took care of, which was everything, pretty much sapped my energy. At the same time I seeing to completion a lighting job at a Houston Galleria parking lot that Kip signed in Dec. 08 that didn't start until Nov. 09. A lawyer friend told me that because Kip was doing business under a DBA, the Simon Co. could go after me if defaulted, and also a lot of people were depending in it if I didn't carry through. This meant using what was left of his business account to keep up all the Workman's comp and additional liability insurance payments, among other things. I had to file a 2008 tax return in October, which I had never done. In fact, I had never paid any of the bills before and didn't even know what they were. I got out of the lighting business, of which I knew nothing about, in December. All of Kip's outstanding bills were paid off and taxes paid. I am debt free now, which helps me sleep at night. One good thing is that I have lost about 25 pounds; the negative being that I have had to replace my entire wardrobe.

After going through all this stress, I decided to retire at the end of this school year. I don't know what the future holds, but at least I have the time to figure that out and move on with my life. After 32 years of teaching 10-12 year olds, on May 28 it will be lights out on the classroom. Needless to say, I am looking forward to it. I plan to stay in my house in Houston, but who knows? Reid lives in Austin and wants me to move there, and I still keep up with my friends in New Orleans. It will be nice to not have to travel around a school schedule, but I have nothing planned at this time. It is heartbreaking to think of all the places Kip and I planned to go after I retired. I miss him every day, and we were great traveling partners.

Ned, I have been keeping up with the Darrow '62 website. I noticed that there have been no more memorials. I hope all of the '62 class are still living, and I hope all the work you put in for Kip's memorial didn't sour you of that endeavor. What you did was a tremendous testament to him, and I am profoundly grateful for all your efforts. I have shared it with many people that loved him.

Dave, What you wrote was so heartwarming, and I don't think I ever thanked you for it. When cleaning out Kip's office, I came across a copy of the speech you gave at one of the reunions recalling Bob pitching to one of your macho classmates. I laughed so hard, and it brought back memories of the three of us sitting at a bar in New Lebanon at the '87th? reunion, and laughing so hard at your stories. One thing about Nunley, he sure did produce some good writers.

Bob, You helped me out in my dark days when I was so scared. Your gift was deeply appreciated, and you'll never know how much I appreciated it. Hey, the next time you are in Texas, let's actually connect!

Ned got a call from Frank Rosenberg to update us on his and Ellie’s “plan,” and what a plan they have. Come September, they will depart from Seattle on a cruise that takes them to four spots in Hawaii, then to Fiji, New Caledonia, and eventually, to Auckland, New Zealand. Once there, they will buy or rent an RV and explore the country, traveling where the spirit leads them. They expect to be there for at least three months, perhaps as long as six, and will probably get over to Australia as well. As they prepare for departure, they’ve put their house on the market. Buyers are in short supply (and few seem interested in their 1970s-vintage five bedroom), but in theory they might sell the house before they go. (If they don’t sell it, Jenny will probably move back home and house-sit while Frank and Ellie follow their wanderlust.) Frank didn’t get into where they will live when they return, but it’s empty-nest time and they’re ready to downsize. For now, they are focused on New Zealand. As Frank put it, “We figured why not now? If we don’t travel now, when would we?” They are both retired now, and with Ellie’s new bionic knee feeling great, they are ready to ramble. It should be a marvelous adventure, and Frank promises to send lots of pictures, of course. But he admitted that he’s been so busy—planning this trip and trying to sell the house—that he hasn’t gotten around to sorting out the pictures from their trip to the Mediterranean and the canary Islands, back in November-December, which they enjoyed a great deal. That’s on his “to-do” list before they leave for Seattle.

Frank filled me in on the rest of their brood. Nancy, Jenny’s twin, is remarried and her husband joined the Navy, and they are stationed up in Bremerton. She’s splitting custody of her son with her ex, three months at a time. Aimee (who’s now 30! Wow, time flies….) is working in Denver for a payroll-services company. Ben is a social worker in New York, lives in Manhattan, works in Queens, does counseling during the week and tutors Spanish-speaking kids on weekends; his proud papa says Ben loves NYC, “He’ll never leave.” Frank was up in Breckenridge a couple of weeks ago and visited with my brother, David; and he and Ellie had dinner on St. Patrick’s Day in The Springs with Dave Benson and Karen, who are “off scuba diving somewhere for pretty much the whole month of April.”

It’s unlikely that they’ll be able to travel east for reunions and the Joline memorial in June, but they’ll be with us in spirit. And when autumn rolls around, I hope we’ll start getting regular and well-illustrated travelogue reports from “down under.” Wish we all could go along!

Ned had lunch again with Huib Soutendijk this week, and reports that Huib is looking healthy and happy, seems fully recovered from his cancer surgery a year ago. Kathy has opened her second gallery, in Sag Harbor, and they’ve been putting a lot of time and energy into getting that up and running, with pleasant results so far. Their house in Sagaponack was flooded during the recent deluges here—three feet of water in the basement—so Huib has been dealing with insurance adjusters, furnace repairmen and the like, has no shortage of hassles. After lunch he headed off to Home Depot to pick up some materials for the ongoing DIY project that is their second home. We’re hoping for a 3-way lunch next time Llew Haden is in town.

Carl and Patricia Sharpe are now grandparents. Alexander Lawton Matthes was born on March 25, weighing in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces. Daughter Heather and her husband Peter are both doing well. Alexander, as you can see from the photo, is just fine.

Ned Groth and Sharon Begley traveled to Istanbul in January, when Sharon was invited to take part in a conference there. Ned writes, “Neither of us had been to Turkey before. We spent four days there, but the weather was cold, rainy and windy most of the time. We did have one good weather day, and we got out and walked around the city, wandering through neighborhoods and shopping districts. We went to the top of the Galata Tower, a 1500-year-old landmark, and the view was spectacular. We hiked across the Golden Horn, into the old city, and visited the major must-see attractions—the Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Topkapi Palace—all in one afternoon. We then took a tram—very modern and efficient—back to our hotel, and gave our legs a rest. The next day was rainy, but we broke out our umbrellas and trekked over to the Dolmabahҫe Palace, which was near our hotel. It’s the Turkish version of Versailles—ostentatiously huge and ornate, over-the-top with gilt, crystal and amazing furnishings. I was struck by the friendliness of the Turks we met—shopkeepers, waiters, hotel staff, people on the street. Near the Aya Sophia, a man approached us after hearing our American accents. He had spent a year or so in the US, had traveled around a lot here, loved it, and enjoyed talking with Americans. He offered to show us through the Blue Mosque, and proved an enthusiastic if not highly accurate guide. Sharon, who is more xenophobic than I am, was giving me “I wish you’d get rid of this guy” looks, figuring he must be working some angle. And in fact, when we finished in the mosque, he did invite us to visit his carpet store. But we said no thanks, it was all very low-key, and I saw no harm in being friendly. The conference Sharon spoke at was held at modern art museum right on the Bosporus. Unfortunately, it was snowing that day, and for a while we had doubts about whether our flight the next day would be able to get out. But the weather cleared up, and we made it home more or less as scheduled. Istanbul was a very interesting place, and we liked it. If you get a chance to go there, do so—probably in Spring or Fall would be best!”

Above, the Blue Mosque, and at right, inside the mosque, with our new good friend and guide, Serkan, who, if you want to buy a Turkish carpet….

The “view” from the museum where the conference was held. Our hosts said they get about five snowy days a year, usually in late February….

Frank Rosenberg reports that Ellie's Knee replacement surgery went very well. Her doctor reported that everything went according to schedule. Ellie will be recuperating for 4 to 6 weeks.

Carl Sharpe and Patricia are slowly getting ready to move from Boylston, Massachusetts to Mattapoisett in the same state, but by the ocean. Patricia is retiring in June when they plan to make the move. While she is still working, Carl is readying the Boylston house for sale in March and is going through 40 years of trash and treasures. Quite an experience. Anyone need a doll bassinet that the mice have called home for a few years?

Ned and Sharon had dinner a week or so ago on Sunday with Huib and Kathy Soutendijk, at a French bistro in Pelham. Good food and great company, not dampened by the rain. Spirits were dampened later on that evening when the Giants failed to hold off the Eagles, but that’s another story…

http://gallery.me.com/abdiii/100927/IMG_2160.jpg?derivative=medium&source=web.jpg&type=medium&ver=12606925360001

Some of you have no doubt been reading Terry Duvall’s weekly bulletins from Vietnam, where he and Anita are now teaching. At left, one of terry’s photos, of frangipani in bloom. Ned asked Terry what the holiday season is like over there, and terry replied that there is a strong Christian presence, a remnant of the French colonial period perhaps. Although people can be persecuted for their beliefs, the churches are strong and growing, with Roman Catholics most prominent. He reports that Ho Chi Minh City is “decorated to the hilt” for Christmas (look for pictures on their web site at http://gallery.me.com/abdiii). In response to Ned’s query, Terry said he hadn’t seen any menorah’s or evidence of Chanukah celebrations, though he was sure there must be some Vietnamese Jews somewhere. It may be a little hard to get in the mood for Santa Claus when the daytime temperatures range from 70 to 85, but they’re adjusting. They have a holiday that began on the 19th, had planned to go scuba diving on the west coast of Vietnam, but learned the hard way that more advance planning was required, so they will instead be exploring HCMC over their Christmas break.

The annual holiday letter from Joe and Laurie Coffee has arrived, chock-full of news as usual. Joe is still playing softball, with mixed success (one championship team, one last-place finish, this year), and another injury to add to his collection. Joe won a “Sisyphus Award” for starting a non-profit institution that is still thriving after 15 years; Sisyphus, as you’ll recall from our class with Ed Wilkes, was the guy whose eternal punishment was to roll a huge round stone up a hill, only to have it roll right back down, forcing him to repeat the task. Joe’s mother has moved to Florida, and now lives near Colleen. Now that Laurie’s retired, they travel a lot to visit with their kids and grandkids: Geoff, Chris, Jordyn and Aidan in western PA; Dave, Stacey and Jack in Florida. Bevin is still in Asheville, NC, loves the area, is trying to build up a photography business. Both of their sons’ restaurants are thriving—which means the grandparents do most of the traveling. They all managed to get together for Easter in a condo in Florida; at Thanksgiving, they had an on-line gathering via www.oovoo.com, which let them “meet” Bevin’s friend Tony, at least in a virtual way. Laurie quips that they know now that Dave is really staying down there in Florida—his father-in-law gave him a fishing boat for his birthday! They closed the letter with a wish for better financial times for all of us in the new year.

Christmas always brings news. This card arrived from Colleen Cook, with grandchildren, Jack (7), Madeleine (6), Braedon (4), Conor (2) and Henry (1). Gene must be looking down proudly on this brood. If you’d like to get in touch, Colleen still is at their old address, P.O. Box 91, Furlong, PA, 18925.

Ned had lunch with Huib Soutendijk this week, a relatively rare occasion considering that they live about three miles from each other. Huib has had an exciting year, and not in the good sense. In April, he had surgery for stomach cancer. It was caught early--Huib describes it as at "stage 1.5"--and he has had it treated aggressively: first the surgery, which removed 3/4 of his stomach, followed by chemotherapy and radiation. Despite all that, he looked hale and hearty. His hair has thinned some--thank chemo for that--and he has lost most of his sense of taste, for the same reason. He also has lost a whole lot of weight--he was carrying 235 pounds a year ago, now is at 190, which looks really good on him. The other main effect is that he now is supposed to eat six small meals a day--which he descibes as the way we all should eat anyhow. He said cancer has a way of focusing your mind on what's important and living well in the time we have left, whatever it may be. He says he used to pinch pennies, but has now learned to spend some of his hard-earned savings and enjoy the pleasures it can bring. He is enjoying retirement in many ways. He works out for an hour a day now--something he never had time to do when he was a banker. He enjoys working with his hands, and has been making furniture for their summer house out in Sag Harbor. Huib reports that Llew Haden was in town about three weeks ago, and Huib & Kathy persuaded him to take the train out into the 'burbs, where they had dinner at a restaurant near the Tuckahoe station. Kathy's business is doing very well-despite the state of the economy. She's had several successful shows this year and is going to open a second gallery, in Sag Harbor. Their sons are both good; Steven is in commercial real estate in Manhattan, and Jeffrey is in the insurance business, with Swiss Re, and is about to move into a Manhattan apartment. Huib and Kathy went through a similar process regarding their house as Ned & Sharon did: When they became empty-nesters, they thought about selling and moving to someplace smaller, with lower taxes. But the timing wasn't right, and they have decided to stay where they are, in Bronxville, and have invested in upgrading the house--recently added forced-air central air conditioning. All in all, Ned reports, it was great seeing each other, and they plan to do it again more often, and hope to get together with their wives for dinner soon.

Huib mentioned that he had talked to Dave Hoon a few months ago about knee surgery. Hoon had sent an e-mail to the class asking if anyone had experiences with knee replacement surgery to share. Huib has--he had both knees replaced a couple of years ago, says it was a great decision, he is pain free and delighted with his new knees. He called up Hoon and had a nice chat with him. He never heard back, so he doesn't know if Dave followed up and had the surgery, or is going to have it, or chickened out. If dave is reading this, perhaps he'll let us know!

Ned had a nice phone chat with Frank Rosenberg, who informs us he and Ellie are taking a month-long vacation trip, starting November 21. They’ll fly to Barcelona, then board a 12-day cruise with stops at Rome, Athens, Turkey, Alexandria and Malta. In Egypt, they’ll take a side trip up the Nile to see the Sphinx and the Pyramids. After returning to Barcelona, they’ll spend a few days in Madrid, then fly to Tenerife, where some friends have a vacation home and have invited them for a visit. They’ll spend a week relaxing in the Canary Islands, then fly home on December 20, just in time to get caught up in the Christmas frenzy (and maybe if the Broncos keep it up, the NFL playoffs frenzy). We’ll expect a full report, with great pictures (I want to see Frank on a camel!) around the end of the year.

On October 21, Ned and Sharon attended a Darrow gathering at the home of Bob Warner ’60 in nearby Mount Vernon. (Bob and his wife, Allaire, live just two blocks away from Ned and Sharon’s old home, on the same street.) Nancy and Bob Wolf plus the development staff were there from the school, Jim Brooks came down from Connecticut to visit his classmate, and we met a variety of parents of past and current Darrow students. Both Bob and Jim are retired now, enjoying life. Bob and Allaire were about to fly to San Francisco, where both their daughters and their grandchildren now live. Jim is planning their 50th for this coming spring, and I hope they set a new record for attendance at a 50th—so we can break it I 2012. There’s a photo album from the gathering on the Darrow web site—check out Jim and Bob (with me, in one photo—clearly the same lively guys they were 50 years ago. Anyone who has an opportunity to attend one of these regional gatherings should definitely do so—you get a very good sense of what’s happening on campus (which btw seems to be very positive this fall), as well as the chance to visit with old friends and make new ones.

Hi, Ned. I'm always grateful that you keep the flame burning. Not sure what follows is all that newsworthy, but here's what a personal blog role might look like if I had time to do one.

Danielle, our younger daughter, was recently commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Now attached to the 125th Quartermaster Corps out of Worcester, Danielle's first command is of a water purification unit.

A veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, Danielle spent a year on the Iraqi border in Kuwait managing ground operations programs for a helicopter group. While finishing up her undergraduate degree at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Danielle manages a unit at MCI Framingham, a medium-security women's facility. She plans to pursue graduate studies leading to a masters in public administration.

Our older daughter, Rachel, is the world's best mom, as demonstrated every day by our sparkling granddaughters, Ella - 6 and Sasha - 4, who are the joy of life for Tina and myself. Our son in law, Andy, is a regional manager for the Uno's Pizzeria chain and has ten locations under his direction.

For my part, I continue to write for the Op Ed section of the MetroWest Daily News, mostly on the economy and politics, as well as local publications like Wellesley Weston Magazine, where recent features have covered everything from fox hunting and the Charles River to local historical library collections and the birthplace of Henry David Thoreau.

Currently, I am about to do pieces on the Mass senate race, a new idea for a world's fair and alternative transportation strategies.

My marketing communications and public relations business has slowed a bit, which allow me to do writing work I find rewarding. I am also working on a program called "Historic Natick - The future of our community is in its past," which links the social and environmental history of my town with a variety of heritage tourism experiences.

As an active Rotarian I am on the board of my local club, which supports benevolent initiatives in Kosovo and Uganda as well as in our home community. Tina continues her work as an early childhood educator, an area in which her 30+ years of teaching and leadership experience continue to benefit scores of little ones.

I did get out, briefly, to Chip Detwiller's wonderful home in west Sudbury for an alum event last spring, but otherwise don't hear much from the old crew. Having spent only a year at Darrow (in 59/60), my ties with old classmates are limited, to say the least. But coming back to school two years ago for the first time since then was a treat. I talked too much, ate too much and danced like a fool with someone else's wife, but at this stage of the game I take my pleasures (and occasional impositions) where I may.

Regards to all, and may everyone's 401K that became a 101K in what I've been calling “The Great Finomic Disaster of 2008” in my articles soon become a 401K once again.

Hats off and bent elbows to Emery, Beaver, Henderson, Mrs. Hotaling and the memory of the Boss, and may the pure and enduring light of Shaker spirit that infuses the Darrow campus continue to illuminate the days of all who pass through it.

Cheers! - Peter Golden (who put one-fourth of the time in required to be part of the class of '62)

Last month, Ned had lunch with Carl Braun at a restaurant in Englewood, NJ that’s sort of halfway between their locations, so they’ve taken to meeting there occasionally. Carl is happy and healthy, and has begun thinking about retirement, pending being able to get all the financial and other essential ducks lined up. We may soon have news on that front. Til then, Carl would welcome hearing from classmates who have made the transition from working to not.

Ned Groth and Sharon Begley each had a business meeting in Washington during the first week of August, so they made a mini-vacation of it, stayed a couple of nights in nice hotels at someone else’s expense, and visited several of the nation’s art museums. They both enjoyed the remodeled and recently-reopened National Portrait Gallery and were quite impressed with the insights into US history one acquires by seeing the faces of, and reading the accompanying information about, the many individuals who literally made that history. FYI, it is a huge museum, and half a day was not nearly enough!

Ned and Sharon also got together with Joe and Laurie Coffee one evening for dinner at the Coffee’s house out in the Virginia suburbs. They are actively enjoying semi-retirement. Laurie retired from the school district three years ago, but still tries to substitute teach when she can, and tutors the occasional student. Joe is trying to wind down his company, working less (apparently not enough less), still traveling quite a bit. He is also playing on three softball teams, fighting off old age by playing a young man’s game. Two of the teams are in local senior leagues, and one is a traveling team that plays in tournaments around the country. (They played in the Senior Games in Utah in the recent past.) Joe plays shortstop, mostly, and has not lost much of his hitting talent. He admits to a few injuries—a pulled hamstring, then a ruptured muscle in the other leg, which cost him large parts of two seasons. But his enthusiasm for the game refuses to wane.

Joe and Laurie have three grandchildren now; Geoff and Chris have a daughter, Jordyn, now 11, and a son, Aidan, 6; David and Stacey have a son, Jack, born last year. Both sons are in the restaurant business; Geoff and Chris bought a steak house in western Pennsylvania, and David is managing an establishment owned by his father-in-law in Florida. Bevin, still single, is working as a photographer and living in Asheville, NC. Joe’s mother, now 87, has moved away from the Princeton area and lives in a condo in Florida, close to Joe’s sister, Colleen, and her husband. Baxter, Joe and Laurie’s German Shepherd, is an awfully nice dog but can’t quite make up for their three dispersed children.

With the family scattered, they do a lot of traveling! To be near Geoff, Chris and two of their grandkids, they bought a house on a lake in northern Pennsylvania, half an hour away from the family (they have named it “Higher Grounds”….get it? Coffee? Grounds…). Bevin created a beautiful photo-essay book with pictures of the house and family (maybe Joe or Laurie can ask Bevin to send us a couple of the nicest shots for posting.) They try to spend as much time as they can up there; Ned & Sharon were lucky to catch them in DC the days they were there.

During dinner, when discussing how much we’ll all miss Kip Smith, Joe mentioned that he’s also been diagnosed with prostate cancer, joining at least two other members of our class. It’s a non-aggressive form of the disease and the doctors have prescribed “watchful waiting” at this point, rather than more aggressive treatment. That option creates a bit of anxiety, but they have put their faith in their physicians.

A day after getting home from Washington, Ned flew to Kansas City then drove home, over the next three days, with their son, Daniel. Dan, about to start his senior year at Lafayette, spent the summer as an intern at the Ewing Marion Kaufmann foundation in KC. It was a great job, nice people, using his math skills (he’s a math major) in a stimulating work environment. He enjoyed living away from the NYC area for a change. Dan insisted that he had to have his car out there to have a bearable summer; Ned and Sharon’s price for agreeing to that was that Dan had a road trip with his dad, both ways. It was an opportunity for male bonding, all that good stuff. Ned discovered that he

actually likes Dan’s taste in music. They stopped along the way in Louisville, KY to visit Ned’s cousin Louann and her husband Paul, shown here with the two wandering New Yorkers at brunch. Ned and Paul (and maybe Daniel) are talking about hiking the John Muir Trail in the Sierras some summer after Paul retires in a couple of years. Watch this space for further bulletins. (Shown below, Ediza Lake in the Sierras, just off the JMT.)

Llew Haden sent an e-mail that he had to see a client in Denver and wanted to come down to have lunch. It had been a long time. We went to a small restaurant in Manitou Springs for a nice light lunch and talked of old times, Darrow, his "new" business and a little on diving since he is also a diver. Hopefully he will get back to go skiing and give us a call.

Let me say I hope any of the class will call if they come out this way. Frank Rosenberg and I are both here in Colorado Springs and we can usually get away for lunch or dinner.

Take care.

I talked to Frank Rosenberg on Saturday. He and Ellie came back east for a memorial service and the burial of his mother, Agnes, in Connecticut this week. Agnes died back in January, after a long and full life, but apparently they don't have burial services in the winter in Connecticut, because people can't attend in the snow. Frank and Ellie drove from Colorado Springs, stopping en route in Herkimer, NY, to mine some gem stones (apparently Herkimer is famous for this, Google it for more details). This is one of their hobbies--collecting precious minerals, and prospecting for them with a group of like-minded hobbyists back home. While here, they visited with their son, Ben, who is working at a social services center in the Bronx, with Spanish-speaking clients, and loving it. We had hoped to get together while they were in this area, but my family and I were in Boston when Frank and Ellie passed through here. They have rented a trailer to haul Agnes's stuff (or that part of it not claimed by Frank's sister, Peggy, who also lives in Connecticut) back home with them. Frank says they are both currently out of work--each was laid off in the recent economic contractions--but it's not all that bad. They were thinking of retiring in any case, and had saved judiciously for that eventuality. Although Ellie would like to continue working at least part-time (and may find a new contract to do so), they also want to travel, and cruises are really affordable at the moment. In December, they'll fly to the Canary Islands for a cruise around North African and Mediterranean ports of interest. I told Frank we'll expect a report with lots of photos.

Went up to Chip and Carly (Detwiler's) in Sudbury (MA) last Thursday in hope of seeing you, but no luck. Pretty much status quo around here with one exception. Grandkids Ella and Sasha are the light of our life and our older girl, Rachel and her husband, Andy, are just wonderful parents. The exceptional news comes from our younger daughter, Danielle, who is in her senior year at U. Mass Lowell. Along with running a unit at MCI Framingham - Danielle is working her way through school as a correctional officer and majoring in criminal justice - separately, we anticipate she'll be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Mass National Guard in early August. Danielle is a Gulf veteran (rotary aircraft ground support) and looking around for masters degree programs. I'm still writing for magazines (in the middle of a feature article on fox hunting) and serving as editorial consultant on a book about an obscure but highly influential Japanese actor and theatrical impresario from the pre-WWI period...How's by you? - Pete - PS - Saw my state rep this morning on local business. In passing, he mentioned Mass tax collections are off by 33% on a year-to-year basis! Think about that one!

While Sharon was busy all week as a Media Fellow at Harvard med School, Sarah and I played tourist—the Aquarium, a whale-watching trip, the Franklin Park Zoo, a Red Sox-Indians game at Fenway (Cleveland 9, Boston 2, which made Sarah, a Yankees fan, far happier than the reverse would have), and the Fine Arts Museum. I also presented a seminar on mercury poisoning among high-end fish consumers at the Harvard School of Public Health. In among all that other stuff, I got together with the three members of our class who live in the Boston area, including two I had not seen since our graduation day in 1962.

On Tuesday, Carl and I met for dinner; our wives each had other things scheduled, and Sarah opted out—not wishing to sit and listen to two old farts reminisce, as she gently put it. Here you see your web team enjoying dinner at Legal Seafoods. Since the class is pretty much up to date on news from the two of us, this evening was just for fun, not a news-generating event. The food (and beer and wine) were excellent, and the company was most enjoyable.

The next day, I met with Frank Phillips for lunch. Frank has been in touch, more or less without interruption, for the past 47 years, but hasn’t attended a reunion, and few of us have actually seen him over that interval. Here is proof that Frank is alive and well. We met outside the State House, next to Boston Common, where Frank’s office is located. Frank took me to lunch at the Parker House nearby, where many of the patrons and staff greeted him with words of relief—the Globe had just reached agreement with its labor unions to continue publication, staving off a threat by the New York Times Co., which now owns the Globe, to close the paper down if they could not achieve major cost savings. As one greeter put it, “live to fight another day.”

Over a very pleasant lunch, Frank recalled how he got to be in his current situation. After Darrow, he went to Washington College in Maryland, where he says he was a very political student—active in the civil-rights and anti-war movements, but finding few like-minded students on campus. He says he spent a lot of his time in Washington. Frank and Jenny were married in December of 1966, and after he finished college in the spring of 1967, they spent two years in the Peace Corps, in Lesotho. Frank wanted to write about politics, and they wanted to live in the Boston area (where her family and his mother are from). So when they returned from Africa, he found a job as a political reporter for the Lowell Sun. He later moved to the Boston Herald, then eventually to the Globe. Overall, he’s been doing the same job for 40 years—covering state politics and working at the capitol. (In the picture below, taken in front of the State House, Frank’s office window is just to the left of the shoulder of the player on the Celtics banner, up under the eaves.) He’s very good at it, loves doing it, and is not ready to retire, and the prospect of losing his job—had the Globe been closed—was disconcerting, to say the least.
Software: Microsoft Office

We talked a while about how print journalism is a dying industry—something that affects Sharon as well as Frank. Where the Globe used to have six people in their State House bureau, they now have three—but there is still just as much important business to cover. I asked Frank if, were he to leave the Globe, he couldn’t cover the same things as a free-lance blogger. He said working for the Globe gives him clout and access he could not have any other way, so he hopes his work can continue.

Frank looked fit, and I asked how he stays in shape. He plays tennis almost daily, rides a mountain bike, and in the summers, wind surfs down on Cape Cod. He said he does have lots of other things he’d like to do, if he were to stop working. Jenny has a very full life with several careers—she is a therapist, and still sees patients for 20 hours or so a week. Her movie about Buddhist meditation among prisoners, The Dhamma Brothers, and the related effort to promote meditation programs for prisoners, continues to generate new work, and she is currently consulting with Mayor Corey Booker as Newark, NJ, tries to set up a program. Their restoration of Hemingway’s house and library in Cuba is still in progress, and they are headed down there again next month.

Their 40-year-old daughter and her husband live in Concord, and have two children, 9 and 6-1/2 years old, whom Frank loves spending time with. Frank and Jenny just returned from a trip to Europe—a few days in Malta to relax from the demands and stresses of their lives in Boston, and then a wedding in Belgium: their son, Max, now 30, married a French woman and they are living in Brussels. Max is completing a PhD at the London School of Economics (where he met his wife), is an accomplished linguist, speaks Urdu and Hindi, I think Frank said, and will be working on developing economies of central Asia. Frank says Max is a “very serious scholar.”

Frank told of meeting a minister named Guthrie Speers at a wedding on Cape Cod not too long ago—struck by the name, Frank inquired, and found that he was a grandson of our 1958-59 chaplain, T. Guthrie Speers (see the links page for more details). And the man Frank met at the wedding has a son—Timothy Speers—who went to prep school with and became good friends with an inner-city kid from Boston, Deval Patrick, who grew up to be the current Governor of Massachusetts. So Frank occasionally runs into the younger Speers around the State House. We mused on how Darrow ties lead to many small-world stories. As far as his own ties to Darrow go, Frank feels he is not the same person he was 47 years ago (umm, who among us is?), and was unsure if he’d make it to our upcoming 50th reunion. Much may depend on how his work life / retirement issues sort themselves out. If, three years from now, Frank is making the transition into life after a long career, he may find talking to the many among us who have gone through the same changes is just what he needs.

On Friday of our week in Boston, Sarah and I drove up to Newburyport to see Bill Gette. Bill works at (I gathered he is the director of) the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Joppa Flats Nature Center there. The center is on the bank of the Merrimack River and adjacent to a national wildlife refuge, and they get a lot of visitors, school groups, interns and the like. They offer bird walks, and also organize whale watching cruises, and provide conservation education programs. Bill and Marsha live just a few blocks down the street, so he walks to work—a great advantage, but also a disadvantage in that there is never a time when he can’t make it to the office. From comments he made, I gathered Bill is at work at least some part of the day, seven days a week. The center is in several ways a demonstration for ecologically-sound resource use, with a roof full of solar panels that generate a large share of its electricity, and a new water-catchment system under construction.

One of Bill’s jobs is to lead nature tours, both in the local area and farther afield. He leads numerous outings along the northeast coast and in New England, and makes three or so international trips a year. In June, he’ll be heading for Costa Rica, and he was recently in Belize. The trips typically involve volunteers (who pay to participate) who get training in conservation, and are coordinated with organizations in the countries visited, with a goal of building the capacity of those organizations to carry on the conservation work.

Bill is another classmate who has been in touch over the years, but not involved in class activities. He reminded me that after Darrow, he went to Hobart, graduated in 1966, then spent three years in the Army, serving as an MP in Okinawa. He worked in the computer industry for the next 27 years, was a manager, and he enjoyed it. But in 1996, he got an opportunity to do something else—his present job—and he has enjoyed this new career very much. Those of us who knew him as a budding naturalist at Darrow are not surprised in the least. Bill has no present thoughts of retiring, and says his father worked right up until his 80th birthday. He is clearly in his element, and loving what he is doing.

As for our 50th, well, if it is on a weekend in June (as they always are), Bill is likely to miss it, since he is almost always leading three-day tours every weekend at that time of year. But maybe if we hang on, he’ll be there for our 75th….Bill does have very fond memories of Darrow, says it was the right school for him, is delighted that it has survived intact over the years, and happily recalls a great many classmates. He sends you all his greetings, and we hope he can find a way to join us at a reunion in the future.

I've already had a busy year.

In January, my mom passed away after developing pneumonia from an operation. She was 93 and had led a very full life. Fortunately, she did not have to suffer a long dragged out illness.

I was able to visit with her the week before she passed away.

I wound up flying east the last week in January. When I got back to Colorado, I was laid off from SuperFlow because of the severe drop in business (I had already been working part time since Thanksgiving).

The first week in February, I flew east again (this time with Ellie) for the funeral.

Ellie and I got back to Colorado just in time to pack for our cruise to Antarctica. We celebrated our 40th Anniversary.

Last week, we just got back from our 16 day cruise from Buenos Aires, Argentina to the Falkland Islands to the Antarctica Peninsula around Cape Horn and up to Santiago, Chile.

Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Frank

After Frank sent out the e-mail and pictures above, he called Ned and they had a nice long chat. Among the further news gathered: Ben has finished an MSW degree at Columbia and is now working with Hispanic students at Yeshiva U. in New York (he speaks fluent Spanish). Ben "loves NYC and is never goning to leave." Their grandson, Cameron, lives with Frank & Ellie, along with Cameron's mother, Nancy, and her boyfriend, John, so they have a lively, multi-generation household. Frank promised to send us a picture or two of Cameron. Ellie is out of work at the moment, too; she was working on contract as an IT specialist for Verizon, but by law cannot be employed as a consultant for more than two years, so they had to release her. She is hoping to be re-hired when the law permits (after a year). But they also want to travel, have managed their savings so they feel OK, despite recent events, and are both old enough to be on Medicare and start collecting Social Security soon, so not having jobs is OK. They had planned to retire later this year, anyway. Frank says they had dinner with Dave Benson & Karen last week, and they see each other often. He told me more about his mother, Agnes. She lived quite independently in a retirement community in CT, and she had traveled all over the world. She had been to China, cruised up the Danube, gone on an African safari, been to the Khyber Pass. She took up whitewater rafting in her 70's and was quite active until her final illness. One of her friends described her as a "hippie" at heart. She led a good life.

Frank and Ellie will be back East in May to collect some of Agnes's stuff and visit Ben, and Ned and Sharon are hoping to see them then.

Frank Phillips had lunch a few weeks ago with Damon van Vliet's father, David. Mr Van Vliet lives in Concord, a mile from Frank's home. Frank says he is a fine gentleman and incredibly healthy, considering that he's about to turn 98 and, as a Christian Scientist, has never been to a doctor. Frank hopes to see him again.

Ned recently received this letter from Bill Anthony, catching us up on news from the past year:

Hi Ned,

Happy New Year. Here's a bit of update on the last year.

Missed the end of the 75th as we had headed out West. We took our van, tent camper, kayaks and mountain bikes for a 10,371 mile seven week trip to California and back. Along the way we took in Memphis, Santa Fe, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Minneapolis. In between we stayed at Mesa Verde NP; Moab, UT ( Arches NP & Canyonlands NP); Capitol Reef NP; Bryce Canyon NP; Zion NP; Grand Canyon NP; Sequoia NP; Yosemite NP; Grand Teton NP and saw Yellowstone anf Badlands NP's. We kayaked on Lake Powell in UT, Moro Bay and Monterey Bay in CA; Jackson Lake and the Snake River in WY and the Mississippi River in Minneapolis/St Paul. Don't ask about the cost of fuel. The National Park Golden Age Pass, however, saved the day.

Below is a bike photo outside of Arches NP which was our Christmas card. The other photo is on Lake Powell.

March will see us camping again in the Florida Keys and Ft Desoto Park outside of St Petersburg. Plenty of kayaking and loafing in out of the way Tiki bars.

I am still busy on several boards. With Flanders nature Center & Land Trust, we struggle to keep our buildings going with grant money. For The Friends of Outer Island ( off Branford, CT) which supports the US Fish & Wildlife Service, I Have designed a timber frame pavilion and will be project managing that and our education building remodeling this summer. With the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, I have been busy developing a water trails program for Connecticut with help from the National Park Service's Rivers and Trails Program.

Joan will stay another year at Westover School which celebrates its centennial this year.

Bill

Huib and Kathy Soutendijk sent out this holiday card with a photo of their two sons, Steve and Jeff.

Joe & Laurie Coffee's annual Christmas letter was full of news. Heading the list was the birth of their third grandchild, Jack, to younger son David and his wife, Stacey, on March 12. Daughter Bevin moved to Asheville, NC in April. J & L spent some time with Geoff, Chris and their other two grandkids, Jordyn (10) and Aidan (5), at their lake in PA, and Jordyn spent a week with Joe & Laurie in July, doing Washington touristy stuff. In August, they had a family reunion (Laurie's side) at the lake house.

Joe's organization, the National Partnership, continues to grow, and keeps him busy. He still plays softball--on three teams--and is now eligible for the over-65 travel team. Laurie has been indulging her love of theater and seeing lots of plays, working as a volunteer usher at Shakespeare Theater. They've each done a lot of traveling this year, individually and together, including two trips to Mexico--a week in Puerta Vallarta in March, with Laurie's brother and his girlfriend, then a trip to an island off Cancun in October, to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Joe's mother is healthy and active at age 86. They are planning to stay home and watch the inauguration on TV. If any of you decide at the last minute that you absolutely must be there for this historic event, check with the Coffees--they may still have a bedroom available!

In a recent e-mail to Ned, Bob Lang reports that he got a "clean bill of health" regarding his cancer. He now says he as to "invest in new hair growth meds." Bob is in Florida, driving people to chemotherapy and "learning to play tennis."

From a recent communication from Ned Groth: Our daughter Sarah has lost her job (got the axe on Dec 7th, fittingly), her 1st job out of college. It wasn't a great job, though it was within walking distance of home; being out of work is not the end of the world exactly, a chance to pause and figure out what direction she wants to go. Newsweek is in serious belt-tightening mode, ratcheting up Sharon's anxiety level (and mine). Daniel is dealing with the more mundane and predictable travails of junior year in college, final exams, etc. I am staying calm while everyone else is freaking out about the financial crisis, which probably means I don't know what's going on.

Sorry to hear of the passing of two more [classmates]. Didn’t hang with them but can, as always, clearly remember their looks (and the sound of their voices--isn’t that strange?), even though it’s nigh on 46 years?! I’m still hanging in there at the Colorado Department of Labor at the Denver workforce center, and will hit 37 years this Thanksgiving. Need to screw up the courage to get my arthritic knee replaced (I’m a medical coward), use up sick leave I can’t cash out, and then retire!!!!! Have any of our classmates gone through this (and survived) who can encourage me?

I went to M. D. Anderson Thursday and will have another biopsy on November 17th. The consulting urologist and radiologist said the prostate cancer is small and is contained in the prostate. They are putting me in a test group to monitor the cancer on a yearly basis--PSA blood tests every 6 months, biopsy yearly. They recommend doing nothing now and if the cancer grows they'll probably treat it with low-level radiation.

PS: Bob Lang e-mailed the other day and said he was coming through on December 20th and would take Charlotte and me out to dinner! The last time I got a call like that, Bob called from the airport and said he was "headed our way." Charlotte had prepared this fabulous New Orleans shrimp creole dinner and was very excited to see Bob (we hadn't seen him in quite a while--he came though to see his daughters all the time). We waited and waited and waited. I called him a million times on his cell phone--no reply. We called his daughters in Beaumont--nothing. We ate alone but well. I did not hear from Bob for more than a year and never really found out what happened to him!

Frank Rosenberg was recently at the Colordo National Monument, and sends along these pictures with the comment: "This is why I have no desire to move back to New York! Regards, Frank."

Ned, to make a long overdue reply to your inquiry, I had open heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic last April 11. So far , I am fine and fully recovered. It was quite a time at the Clinic, 8 days altogether, and a month or so recovering from the surgery. I have a 10 inch scar, an artificial splice in my aorta and an artificial aortal valve. Taking lots of pills every day, a real pain in the tail. But I have great energy and am told that all this new stuff in my chest will outlive the rest of me! So, Margeau and I are back to full speed workouts, biking, kayaking, etc. So there you go, I'll be the first to heed your request # 1. We'll be here in Ohio until the winter gets unbearable. Gib.

We learned from the school today that Chuck Romack has died, in September. We don't have any details yet.

Ned last spoke to Chuck in the spring of 2007, calling our "lost sheep" about our 45th reunion. Chuck was delighted to get the call but couldn't make it to the reunion. He said then that his health was failing, and his death does not come as a complete surprise. Chuck lived in Tucson for more than 30 years, where he had his own swimming pool construction business, from which he had retired because of disabilty a few years ago. He was one of our more isolated classmates--far away, and never came to a reunion or submited news for the class newsletter, back in those years when we had one. But we always knew where he was, Ned reached him on the phone now and then, and he was always glad to hear from us. The class extends its heartfelt sympathy to his family, including his brothers, Howie '61 and John '66.

Ned will begin preparing a memorial. Please share any of your personal recollections of Chuck with Ned.

Kip Smith sent Ned a Maureen Dowd column humorously comparing the USA and the ancient Roman Empire, sprinkled with pseudo-Latinisms, and said it made him think of Dr. Wheelock. Kip then mentioned that he's been diagnosed with prostate cancer, very early stage, confined to the prostate, and expects to undergo treatment with low-dose radiation. Ned told Kip (who, we recall, missed our last reunion) that he's got company among the class; he, da Wop and E-Rock can form a little '62 PSA-checkers support group. Kip closed with "Go Barack!" If anyone would like to participate in a class poll, tell Ned which candidate you're planning to vote for, and we'll see if we can predict anything.

Carl Sharpe and Patricia Hogan are now married. The ceremony took place at their new Home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. The wedding was a small one, with only twelve present, including Carl and Pat and the minister and his wife. Pat's two daughters attended with their significant others, as well as Carl's daughter Heather and her new husband Pete. The couple who introduced them four years ago rounded out the list.

If you want to view a slide show of the wedding, you can visit Carl's Web site at http://carlsharpe.net/

Howdy Davis reports on the birth of two twin grandaughters on July 5. On the left is Kelsey Faith at 6 lbs. 3 oz, and on the right is Catie Rose at 6 lbs. 2oz. Holding the new additions is proud big sister, Hailey. The last we knew, everyone is doing great!

Gib Manchester writes to Ned about his recent surgery and his summer: "Surgery was pretty rough, ended up with new aorta section, new aortal valve, and a patched hole. On Coumadin now for the duration. But I feel great and really am completely recovered except for being a little out of shape. And, of course, I have quite an ugly scar. We are up in Maine for the summer now and having fun. Last fall we converted a '99 Mercedes to run on waste vegetable oil, so now we are scrounging restaurants,etc. for oil, filtering, storing and pouring. Went 2000 miles last month between diesel fill-ups. Feels good. Hope all is well with you. I am gratefulto be here. Gib (and Margeau)"

Pete Loomis reports that his latest PSA test results came back with a zero. He says, "It's kinda nice to take a test and hope you get a zero!"

News from Howdy Davis: "I've been meaning to share this with you guys for some time. I personally feel my younger daughter Erica is a becoming pretty decent writer. She's currently working at Yale--as a backup to what she calls her real job, sitting in Starbucks writing the first great American novel of the 21st century.

She was in a pretty serious auto accident just over a year ago and the link below is a blogged recollection of her recent deposition. If nothing else I'd call it great therapy to help her overcome a most traumatic event.

Meanwhile we're all waiting for Morgan to issue forth with Hailey's twin sisters, Catie and Kelsey. The ETA is July 14th but best estimates say there is a strong tailwind that could make it within the next few weeks.

BTW, Jerrie and I have tendered our resignations from Holiday Retirement effective Aug 3. 70/80 hrs a week ain't cuttin' it. Besides, we found a real buy in a 3 bedroom, all-brick ranch on the edge of the Daemen College campus--about 1000 yards from the house where I grew up (or where I got bigger anyway)."

Carl Sharpe reports that he and Patricia (Hogan) are getting married on July 25 at their new home in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. The plan is to marry on the beach there or in the back yard. You can see the house (and generally catch up with their lives) at his web site at http://carlsharpe.net/

Meanwhile, this past weekend, his daughter Heather was married on a beautiful day in the local church. She and Peter are now enjoying some well-earned rest in Antigua.

Ned called Frank Phillips last month when Ned and Sharon were planning a trip to Boston. It turned out Frank and Jenny were about to leave on a trip to California, so he and Ned could not get together this time. But Frank had lots of news. First, he was very much saddened to learn that Damon Van Vliet had died; Frank said he knew Damon well at Darrow and they were good friends. Ned will be getting back to Frank soon to collect some reminiscences for the memorial we are writing for Damon. Second, Frank explained that the reason for the trip to California was that a film Jenny had produced was being shown in a film festival there. The film, called The Dhamma Brothers, tells the story of how prisoners in a maximum-security Alabama penitentiary learned Buddhist meditation, with sometimes transformative results. Jenny runs a program of services for prisoners, and first brought meditation to this prison in 1999; making the film, Frank said, was something of an afterthought. But the film has been shown all over the country, has received great reviews, and has made Jenny a bit of a celebrity. Things we didn’t know about Jenny: She has a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology and is an author and a practicing psychotherapist; she has worked with prisoners in Massachusetts (I wonder if she and John Spencer ever worked together); she has published articles in professional journals and is also writing a book about the Dhamma Brothers experience. Please see the new links posted under Phillips on the Links Page for a trove of additional information about the film, Jenny’s career, and more. The review from the New York Times (second link) is especially worth reading.
Phillips and Prisoners

Here’s a photo of Jenny with two of the death-row prisoners who learned to meditate.

Among other things I learned from a Google search is that Jenny and Frank have been working for years to restore Ernest Hemingway’s home outside Havana, and they have traveled to Cuba several times. As readers of our newsletter from years ago might recall, Jenny’s grandfather was Maxwell Perkins, Hemingway’s editor, and of course their son Max is named after his great-grandfather.

Frank and Jenny were planning to spend about two weeks in California, where Frank said he’d never been before. After a few days in San Francisco, they were going to drive down the coast, to Monterey and Big Sur. Ned may get more details on the trip when he catches up with Frank again. Frank continues to cover Massachusetts state politics for the Boston Globe. He said he may soon be facing either retirement (as he approaches the “magic” age), or one of those buyouts that are sweeping through the newspaper business these days. He wasn’t happy with either prospect; he still enjoys his work a lot and would like to keep doing it. We’ll try to keep you posted as events unfold on that front. Meanwhile, go check out those links about Jenny and the Dhamma Brothers.

Bob Willock sent the school a change of address, reporting they had moved to Winfield, Illinois. Ned queried Bob about the address change and got the following news: "Will change it again in the fall. We are building a place in Wheaton, IL. We lived in Chicago in the early 70's. We are back to support our daughter who has a special needs child. We also have other kids and grandchildren between CHI and MPS. That's the end of the story. Chicago is a great area."

Carl talked with John Cavallo in Florida recently. He and Marilyn are doing well and still helping and loving their special needs granddaughter, Bella. You may recall that she has Chiari malformation, and not long ago they returned to Florida after yet another operation in Boston. John tells us that she is one of the great loves of his life, and that she is really doing well. We reminisced a bit and recalled how one night we snuck into the dining hall and removed several boxes of Oreos, which we hid in the stairs of our room in the Brethren's Workshop. If I am not mistaken, we sold some of those cookies, in a sort of twisted version of Darrow Enterprises.

In any event, John and Marilyn are definitely planning on attending the 50th at Darrow. It will be great to see them.

Damon Van Vliet passed away September 12th of 2003. He last lived in Manchester, New Hampshire. His mother, Mona Van Vliet, still lives in Weston, CT, and his father David lives in the Boston area. Ned is preparing a remembrance of Damon for the Web site, and needs help from the class. Most of you have received an e-mail to this effect, so if you can help, please get in touch with Ned.

I realized just this morning none of you had been included in a virtually-global email I sent back in January. Mea culpa.

Synopsis:
Shortly before Christmas our daughter Morgan, son-in-law Thom and granddaughter Hailey came from Buffalo to have an early Christmas with us in CT. [You'll recall we'd been managers at the Holiday Retirement community in Rocky Hill for about a year.]

We were on duty in the office when the kids arrived and we noticed that 2-1/2 year-old Hailey was wearing a T-shirt declaring "I'M GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!"
Needless to say, squeals of delight and surprise emanated from the otherwise austere office -- for what seemed like several minutes -- until Jerrie asked Morgan, "When are you due?"
"July 14th is the targeted due date," she replied. "You want to see the sonogram?"

"My God, It's TWINS!!!. I'm moving back to Buffalo," Jerrie said to me. "You can drive ...if you want to come with me."

Fast forward to late January:
An opening occurred at the western NY Holiday facility -- only two miles away from the house we sold two years ago. The company paid for the move and here we are, watching Hailey complete the 'terrible 2s' -- and sure to be on hand for the arrival of her two sisters, Catie and Kelsey.

Incidentally Mom and the girls are doing splendidly; meanwhile Thom is building a man-cave in the garage. Stay tuned--

Our very best to all of you,

Howdy and Jerrie Davis

Sharon and I spent a long weekend in North Carolina, visiting old friends from my grad school days, Bob and Marge Grossfeld. We both gave talks on Monday at NC State University. (Sharon talked with the University Scholars Program about science journalism; I talked with the Food Science Program about risks and benefits of fish consumption.) We spent the weekend at our friends’ house in the mountains, and did some hiking (photo at right). The photo below, taken around sunset, includes four deer in the meadow, for the sharp-eyed.

On Sunday night we and Bob Grossfeld got together with Jim and Peggy Wright, who drove over from Durham to join us for dinner. I didn't get a picture of them, but they still look like they do in the photo a few items down below. It was great to see them again. Jim reminded us to come visit them in Searsport, Maine in July if you're in the vicinity, and they are gearing up to make it to our 50th reunion in 2012. Planning to make it, this time!

We just got back from 2 months in Fla., where we were sans computer. Now I have about 200 emails to review before my surgery, scheduled for April 11.

Amazing pre-op. schedule has me going to Cleveland all this week as well as the 8th and 10th and probably won't get out until the 18th! You asked. Recovery takes 6 weeks, during which I am not allowed to drive a car.

I had a great visit with Dave Griswold on his whirlwind business trip through San Antonio and then to Houston. We had a riotous time talking about the attendees for the 45th and about Darrow memories and life in general. The visit was much too short as we tried to pile 45 years into 2 1/2 hours. I'm really looking forward to the 50th and will obviously have to visit Darrow a couple of times between now and June, 2012, just to prep for the Event.

Charlotte and I are going to The Netherlands, Belgium, Paris, etc. in early June. I have a Dutch cousin who lives in The Hague and thought going to Holland would be a great excuse to see him and some other nearby areas of Europe I have not been to.

For a Valentines Day gift to ourselves, we flew to Belize City on 2/11/08 and took a water taxi to Caye Caulker - the boat only broke down three times.

Caulker is a very nice island with good people who are outnumbered by the tourists, but they are quite willing to share their island and are quite warm and hospitable. Some excellent food. One of the favorite tourist spots was at the "cut" in the island which was the home of the LAZY LIZARD - "A sunny place for shady people". It has a two story open bar at the swimming hole (see photo). We only made four dives (see photo of Karen) as the visibility was poor and the area has been overfished. We did see a couple of octopus and the usual small tropical fish.
Software: Microsoft Office

With the diving so poor, we cut our time on Caulker short and went to Belize City so we could see some Mayan ruins and do the usual tourist shopping. Booked a day trip up the river to the Lamanai Ruins which were begun in 100 BC. Of the three main temples, I climbed the 33 meter temple (see photo) which is one of the largest Preclassic structures in the Maya area.
Software: Microsoft Office

I took pictures of many beautiful flowers and birds while on Caulker, in Belize City, and at Lamanai (see picture). All in all we had an excellent time despite several small problems returning to Colorado on 2/22/08. We’re getting ready to go dive the Solomon Islands at the end of April. [Hopefully the trip in April will yield many more interesting underwater photos.]

According to Ned, Denny and Joan Hopper are off to Hawaii for their annual stay there, and as Ned puts it, "Try not to feel too sorry for them."

After months of procrastinating, Ned finally called Mike Terry again. You’ll recall that, when we saw him at the reunion, Mike had an appointment with an oncologist once he got back home, to check out his liver. Well (whew!), it turns out that was a false alarm. It seems Mike was on several different medications for a variety of conditions, and some of the meds interacted in ways that screwed up his liver enzymes. Meds adjusted; liver back more-or-less to normal, everything’s settled down. Mike says “I’m doing well, and I’ll be around for a few more years.” In fact, when Ned called, he was in Miami, to see a doctor; an orthopedist, though.

You may also recall that Mike told us a story at the reunion about how he was almost kicked out in May of our senior year, when he got caught sneaking back into campus after going over to Berkshire Downs well before dawn to work out some of the horses there. Mike recalled that his father (“The General”) spent some time with John Joline in private conversation. Mike wondered what his father had said, or promised, or paid, to get him off the hook. Mike’s dad had died and Mike had never asked him, so we decided to ask John. John didn’t make it to reunions last year, so I sent him an e-mail about it. A few months later (with apologies) John replied. He said he hadn’t a clue, actually. But he was confident that he wouldn’t have given in to either pressure or a bribe. He said he had made a habit of forgetting students’ sins, but given what Mike had done, as I’d described it for him, John said the entrepreneurial spirit of it was impressive, and he’d have found it more encouraging than anything else. John compared it to Pete Conrad’s sneaking off for flying lessons in the 1940s. Putting Mike in pretty august company….

On more mundane matters, Mike gave Ned permission to post a biography, a summary of the part of his life we missed out on while he was “lost.” (See the found classmates page.) Mike still hasn’t sent Ned the photos he promised to dig out of the shoebox in his attic to illustrate the piece, but he promised again that he’ll try to get around to it. (If we ever get ‘em, we’ll post ‘em.) And no, Mike still doesn’t have a computer, so we can’t send him e-mail and he can’t see our web site yet. That too, is on his “to do” list.

Bill Anthony was planning a trip to Florida for March, and was hoping to get together with Mike. If that comes to pass, we’ll get another update soon. (Bill: Bring back some pictures!)

Ned also called Gib Manchester, got the Ohio answering machine, which said, call the cell number. Called the cell, got Margau, who informed us that they’re in Jupiter, FL, for a while (another month or so), ‘til the weather warms up. They were entertaining friends for dinner and Gib was indisposed, but he’s supposed to call me back tomorrow. Look for a more substantive update soon.

Ned hassled Kip Smith last week about his new and cumbersome e-mail address—too long for Ned’s address book: (autolite.energy.solutions@comcast.net ). This elicited the following reply from the Kipster:

Ned Groth and Sharon Begley report that they lost Sharon’s mother, Shirley, at the age of 80, this January 30, to liver cancer, after a fairly rapid decline. Until last October, she had seemed in remarkably good health for her age. Ned reports “We’re now at the front of the line.” The rest of their lives had been on hold for the past several months, but they are looking forward to a trip to Raleigh-Durham in April, where each will give a seminar at NCSU and they’ll visit old friends of Ned’s at their cabin in the mountains.

Pierre Loomis has better news (good news in general, better than Ned’s): “I'm doing well. My follow-up visits to the doc continue to show "zero" for my PSA count--which is what we want to see. So...the long-term outlook continues to be good. It looks as if I dodged a bullet, at least, so far.” Wop reports that the shootings at NIU last week were all over the local news, and they went overboard on it, since many students from his area go to NIU.

Denny and Joan Hopper took a trip to South America in November. This report is from their family Christmas letter: This November, we took an almost 3-week cruise with very dear friends, Jim and Joann Kidd, from Rio de Janeiro, around Cape Horn and then to Santiago, Chile. It was a wonderful adventure. After Rio, our stops included Buenos Aires, Argentina; Software: Microsoft Office

Montevideo, Uruguay; the Falkland Islands, Ushuaia, Argentina; Punta Arenas, Chile; Puerto Montt, Chile; and finally to Santiago. The wildlife we saw was spectacular, from Rockhopper penguins to monkeys and huge Albatross that followed our ship. We slogged through peat moss bogs, shopped in the local marketplace and at the farm for the freshest ingredients and then helped cook lunch with a renowned chef in Puerto Mont—all the while sipping Pisco Sours (the local drink—tastes like lemonade and goes down as easily L)--and also the wonderful Chilean wine. It was a very memorable experience.

Terry and Anita Duvall give us the latest from Andros Island in the Bahamas, where they are teaching:

So ends our winter holiday. We have been spending lots of time walking on the beach these last 7 days. Monday will see us in the classroom once again.

When the cold front came through southern Florida, it continued to the Bahamas and the temperature dropped from the mid 80?s to the mid 50?s. We are still feeling the results of cooler weather. The winds were strong enough to tear one of the boats in the harbor off its mooring and put it on the shore. It is in the last batch of pictures at http://gallery.mac.com/abdiii.

Also you can find the tentacle from an octopus. I will never know whether it is from the octopus that we saw the day before when I did not have the camera. It was a real giant. I would guess that if the tentacles had been stretched out, they would have spanned more than 6 feet.

We had a barbecue on Monday, which was a real treat. We used the smoker that Bill and Alida left us. There is a picture of the machine getting fired up. Steaks always taste best if they are barbecued. The meal was actually planned for Sunday; but when all the preparations were complete, we discovered that we had no matches to start the fire.

I just finished reading Mao The Unknown Story written by Jung Chang, the author of Wild Swans. This is an incredible book. It certainly shows a side of Mao that could never have been published 10 years ago. It is probably banned in China now. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in China. It will knock your socks off!

One other picture in the gallery is of a single bush growing on an outcropping of limestone beside the sea. I call that really tenacious.

Joe and Laurie Coffee’s Christmas newsletter recounted a busy year. They’ve traveled to the Dominican Republic, Florida, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Utah, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania “as often as possible,” in the past year. Joe had such a successful “Annual National Partnership Conference” in March that they scheduled another one—in the same year—in Las Vegas in December. Laurie is subbing at Poe, her old school, as often as she can, and has gotten back onto her bicycle (no more disastrous falls—whew!) Geoff and Chris and the two grandchildren (so far), Jordyn (in 4th grade) and Aidan (4), have moved into a new house in PA, and with the move have added three dogs to the ménage. David and Stacy are expecting their first child in March, and bought a house near Stacy’s parents—unfortunately, that’s in Florida. Bevin has moved back in with Joe and Laurie for a while (in August), after quitting her job at a photography firm. She’s still doing some freelance wedding work and waitressing to earn money, which she’s saving so she can move to Asheville, NC. A hamstring injury put a crimp in Joe’s softball season last year; this year, he recovered from that but injured his leg and was out for a couple of months. Try as we may, we can’t totally defeat the calendar. But Joe & Laurie are doing a good job of staying young(ish). Now, if only the kids were not so scattered….

Here is this year’s Christmas card from Colleen Cook, with her four grandchildren, Jack, Madeleine. Braedon and Conor. If you’d like to write Colleen, she’s still at P.O. Box 91, Furlong, PA 18925.

Jessica Prentiss sent a link to a story in the New York Times, and says, “Hi Ned - Not sure if Jen forwarded this to you or not. Dad's company, Adiri, is really taking off! The producer of the Big Idea on CNBC just emailed Jen and asked her to fly to New York to be on the show!” (NG Addendum: Jen quit her previous job as a Silicon Valley lawyer to run Adiri, after John’s death.) Here is the article:

From Boutique to Big Time

Jim Wilson/The New York Times
BOTTLES R US Jennifer Morrill, left, and Beth Shvodian, displaying a new kind of nurser at a trade show in San Francisco.

Llew Haden writes, “Life just goes on. Work hard getting into the music business to complement the sports. Lots of time in Nashville and LA. Went skiing in Chili in August and will eat turkey next month in Honduras SCUBAing…PJ helped me with a client w marital issues. He hasn’t changed much. Easy guy to be with…Not getting to NYC as much as before. Just stepped down as chair of “I Have a Dream” Foundation but remain on board. That’s it from here.” The photo is from last year, when Llew, Huib and Ned had dinner in NYC. Sorry Llew, you blinked at the wrong moment…

Dave Benson checked in to report that he and Karen went to Peru in August to see Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. He describes the “very interesting old culture” and adds, “We Flew over the Naska Lines as well. They now believe that the Naska people did them to attract the attention of the gods as they needed rain. The lack of rain seems to have been the end of the Naska people as a "tribe". The people on the floating islands on Lake Titicaca are an interesting culture as well. Wild to see these people living in reed houses on reed islands and getting a little power from P.V. to have a T.V. We were lucky as the day of the quake we were in Puno and did not feel a thing. I don't know if you have been down there, Ned, I think you would enjoy it. I am attaching a shot that I like of an alpaca above the city at dusk.” Dave says he and Karen see Frank and Ellie Rosenberg now and then “but it’s been awhile.” The hope to get together again soon.

Ned has heard from a few of our classmates who were unable to make the 45th reunion, mostly with good excuses. We’re hoping with enough advance planning we’ll see them at the 50th!

P.J. Gorday has checked out the photo albums of our 45th and says a good time clearly was had by all. He has already blocked out June ’12 on his calendar and will be there. P.J and Llew Haden recently had a nice lunch and catch-up session in Atlanta, and P.J. says he has had a “delightful” series of e-mail and phone exchanges with Peter Golden.

Dave Hoon apologized again for not being able to make it, but it would have been the third round trip this year to the East Coast for him and Dianne, and he says that midlevel civil servants, while undoubtedly overpaid, find that a bit too much to afford. He has been enjoying the web site and expects to be retired by 2012, which should make it easier for him and Dianne to make it to our 50th. Dave has been in touch with John Ho by e-mail.

Bill Gette says he has many fond memories of Darrow and his classmates. He has been working for the Massachusetts Audubon Society now for 11 years—a second career for him, after 27 years in the computer industry—and he loves his job, so much that he has no thoughts of retirement. June is always a very busy month for birding, and he has not been able to get away from the sanctuary (hence, his absence from our recent reunions). But we are making some progress. He says, “Maybe in 2012.” We’ll keep encouraging him to plan on it.

Former school nurse Laurel Trahan, who remembers Ron Emery fondly from her years at Darrow (after our era) and had kept in touch with Ron since they both left the school, paid a visit to Ron recently and sent us this report. Ron and his mother are both living in the Eastern Star Home and Hospital, a retirement facility, in Oriskany, NY, a little west of Utica. Ron had a stroke a couple of years ago, and uses a wheelchair. His mother, who just turned 98, is pretty sharp but getting frail, according to Laurel. She found Ron very much himself, looking well. She says their rooms are tiny, but the place seems warm and cozy and the nurses and staff seem kind and caring, and they seem well cared for there. Laurel says it must be a big adjustment for both of them, having had to leave their home in Saratoga Springs. She reports Ron still has his sense of humor and seemed improved since the last time she saw him; they had a great visit and laughed a lot. Around the time of our reunion, Peter Golden called Ron and spoke to him at length. (Peter may have told some of us about his conversation with Ron at the reunion, but for those who didn’t get that report, I’ll weave his impressions in here with Laurel’s.) Peter said he found that Ron’s personality seemed to move in and out of focus a bit, but that he sensed that Ron still has a vital interior life. Peter recalled Ron as a man of “refined sensibilities,” and says that man was very much present in their phone conversation. As Pete put it, Ron “still knows how to soar, even with some of the engines out.” Although it’s a bit out of the way, if any of you are traveling through western New York on the Thruway, and if you have time to stop in Oriskany, you might visit with Ron and Elsa (his mom). Call first – the number is 315-736-9311.

It is time that Anita and I set off on another adventure. We are departing the Towanda area on July 27th. Our first stop will be Philadelphia. The next two days will be spent heading for West Palm Beach, Florida.

In WPB we will be shipping our worldly belongings to AUTEC School on . It is the largest of the islands, about 125 miles from Miami.

About a year ago we received a letter from a friend who worked in the library in ISB. I, Terry, taught her child in the third grade. Our friend told us that she had just been hired as the librarian of the school. When I read the letter, I immediately responded by asking how many months we could come to visit and if there were any jobs available. She encouraged me to apply to the school.

I went to visit our friends and see the school in September of last year. I met the teachers and the administration. I thought it looked like a great place to work. I sent in a resume and some old recommendations. Later in December we were asked if we could assist in the re-accreditation process for the school. We went to the school and spent two weeks working to document what we saw at the school. I was really in love with the island and the school by the time we were finished with the work. It was a sad day when we left. Anita said that she did not want to teach again, but slowly she changed her mind.

Things just sort of progressed and finally we set up an interview with board members, teachers, the base commander and the administration. After both of us had talked on the phone for more than an hour, we were sure that we were making the right choice. We got word that the school wanted us and then had to wait for the background check to proceed at a turtle's pace. (As of this writing, we are still waiting, but it will happen.)

The school is located on a military base on the eastern shore of the island. The edge of the reef is on a part of the sea called TOTO or The Tongue of the Ocean. Where the water turns deep blue, the bottom drops off several thousand feet. If you are using Google Earth, you can find the island and the base.

We will be teaching grades 6,7, and 8. We will be team-teaching the students. The student to teacher ratio is less than 6 to 1. We will be teaching all the subjects.

We would love for you to visit. Please let us know well in advance of your plans so we can make the proper arrangements. Basically you will Andy and Anita

need to get to West Palm Beach, Florida. You will need to get to the AUTEC terminal at the airport, not IN the airport. We will make arrangements for you to fly on the AUTEC plane to the island and we will meet you at the airport.

We are keeping our EPIX e-mail account open and active. We will have AUTEC e-mail addresses as well. Our address will be:

Terry and Anita Duvall
AUTEC School
PSC 1012 Box 668
FPO, AA 34058
(561) 832-8566 ext. 5498

We will have a phone and will send it to you if you think you need it. I hope to set up an internet talk program on my computer as well. I will let you know how it works later.

This latest is from Pete Loomis, who, as most of us know, has just had surgery for prostate cancer:

Hi, Fellas--

It seemed like all of our classmates asked to be kept up to date on my "situation" so here's an update on my battle against prostate cancer--with a little background:

A few months ago, I had a routine physical which revealed that my PSA count had gone up. Both my father AND one grandfather had this problem, so my local doc sent me to a Galesburg (IL) urologist who did a biopsy ( NOT FUN). The biopsy revealed that I had prostate cancer.

So...off to Iowa City (U. of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics) to meet with a urology oncologist. The upshot of that meeting was that I was scheduled for surgery. The doc uses a $2 million robot for this--which amounts to a high-tech laparoscopic surgery. But I figure I'm worth it.

Whew...what an ordeal. Surgery was on Friday, July 6th and lasted 4 1/2 hours (maybe the robot had been out drinking the night before and was tired). The doc says he first took out some lymph nodes next to the prostate to check them for cancer--and they were clear (!!!), so he proceeded with the operation. He told me that if they had found cancer in the nodes he would have stopped right there, as there would have been no point in removing the prostate. I would have then been referred to the radiation guys.

So, I woke up in recovery and the first thing I see is a cute nurse staring back at me. I think I propositioned her.

Anyhow, the first two days were no fun--all the pain, soreness and general lousy feeling that comes with general anesthesia and major surgery--plus I have this God-awful catheter in place--and have to keep it there for two weeks! I was feeling pretty sorry for myself, until I got to talking to the poor bastard in the bed next to me. He was only 32 years old and had just had a cancerous tumor the size of a softball removed from his bladder. He was in surgery for 8 hours and they had to make a new bladder for him out of part of his small intestine. Wow...

So, here I am, walking around with a bag of urine strapped to my leg--it's a good look, I tell ya'. Anyhow, the doc called recently with the results of the pathology report on my prostate. Bottom line: my prognosis is pretty good. The cancer was a little more advanced that I had hoped, but the surgeon took adjacent tissue and/or lymph nodes out in areas he thought might be a problem, and they have tested clear.

It sure was a treat to get back to good old Monmouth and in my own bed. Dorothy was right: "There's no place like home!"

Chip Detwiller ’61 reports that he and Carly had dinner in Old Lyme with Dave and Elaine Griswold, a few days after the reunion, had a very pleasant time. Chip spent some time talking with Duane Lehmann at reunions on Sunday, said he hopes we get Duane more involved with our class, now that he’s back in New Lebanon. Chip also gave Ned Kazu Sohma’s e-mail; Ned is asking Kazu to help us find Kiyo Toh, recently “lost.”

Ned and Sharon had diner at an Indian restaurant this Friday with Denny and Joan Hopper. The Hoppers were in the local area (Bronxville) taking care of their two grandsons, Jason (9) and Timothy (7), while Tammy and her husband Chip enjoyed a mini-vacation. They were on their way back to Connecticut from a few days at the NJ shore with other daughter Kimberly, her husband and their two granddaughters, They are both fit and energetic, talking about retiring or at least phasing down, but finding their services still much in demand. Denny remains the only urban planner at his law firm, and Jon juggles three part-time jobs, as a home visitor to shut-ins for their church, a job with the town, and her etiquette business. One of Joan’s shut-in congregants that she visits lives in the retirement home managed by Howdy and Jerrie Davis, and Joan reported that she played “guess who I am” with Howdy and stumped him. Huib and Kathy live only a few blocks from Tammy and Chip’s house and had hoped to see the Hoppers, but they were in the Hamptons this weekend, so we’ll all get together next time. Below, left, Joan and Denny with Tim and Jason and Hermie the hermit crab; right, four of us after a delicious meal.

Towner Lapp’s daughter Chrissie is now in medical school at Duke, at the age of 35. She decided after working for several years that what she really wants to be is a doctor, went back to school, and is now close to getting her MD. Towner’s wife, Marjorie, has retired from IBM but is still actively involved on the board of trustees of the Kent Place School, in Summit, NJ, where Chrissie went. Towner himself is working at Home Depot down in Florida and enjoying it a lot. He signed up with Home Depot in August of ’04 (they moved down there in June ’04), spent a couple of years in the paints department, and is now in floor coverings and tiles. If you were thinking about putting a new floor in that basement, you know whom to call for advice!

Bob Lang celebrated his 64th birthday on June 24, at the reunion, with the help of 20 or so of his oldest friends. Pete Loomis was hoping he’d make it home on schedule the day after our reunion; he had better have, because that was his 40th anniversary. If he made it home in time for dinner, they will have a 41st….Pete arranged to send Lynn a dozen roses before he left. Speaking of anniversaries, Denny and Joan Hopper celebrated their 40th in April. See below for more news from the Hoppers.

Huib Soutendijk also attended our 45th reunion, the first he had made it back to. He had a great time and is already gearing up for the 50th, where he says Llew Haden will make his reunion debut. Huib is enjoying his retirement from the bank. He works part-time for his wife, Katherine Markel, at her NYC art gallery, which specializes in contemporary art and is located on 20th Street. Huib and Kathy have a summer house in the Hamptons, and Huib plays a lot of golf out there, sometimes with his son. Their son Steven works for Cushman & Wakefield, doing commercial real estate deals in NYC.

Ned learned from Dan Dayton, Class of ’58, that former English teacher Bill Aiken is back living on Cape Cod. Bill had lived in Blacksburg, VA for a number of years where his wife, Jane, was a professor of environmental engineering. Jane passed away last year, and Bill has returned to Truro, where he still had a home. As soon as Ned tracks him down, we’ll have an update from Bill.

Denny Hopper hated to miss the reunion, but has been sort of swept up in life events for the past several weeks and has hardly had time to catch his breath. His son-in-law (Kim’s husband) got a new job, in the Hartford area—that’s the good news. But he and Kim, two young grandchildren and an 80-pound dog are now living with Denny & Joan while they house-hunt. Add to that a trip to Utah for a family wedding (a stepdaughter of Denny’s sister got married there this spring) and they have been running around too much. They also have rented a place on the Jersey shore and are heading there this weekend, to stay thru the 4th of July; a trip to Darrow was just too much to cram into their schedule at this point. But, more good news, their daughter Tammy, her husband Chip (Cushman) and their two kids (9 and 7, I think Denny said) now live in Bronxville, a stone’s throw from both me and Huib Soutendijk. On their way home from the shore, they’ll be stopping in Bronxville to baby sit for a long weekend, and we’re hoping to get together for a little barbecue.

Denny still works at the law firm, but says he is gradually phasing out, first to four days a week, now down to three. Also on the good-news side, Denny and Joan celebrated their 40th anniversary in April, making them perhaps the longest-wed couple in the class—is anyone married longer? (Pete and Lynn Loomis just celebrated their 40th on the Monday after our reunion.) I hope to see Denny & Joan (and get some photos) in the next week or two, and those of us who worried when they missed the reunion can relax—they’re fine, just a little frazzled for a while.

Roland Wright is back in touch after many years; he called Ned, who had called him about the reunion. He still lives in Saratoga Springs, NY, with his wife, Deirdre and son, Christopher. Roland retired in 1999, a few years after his division of GE was sold to Lockheed-Martin. As he put it, things went downhill after that, so he stuck it out as long as he could but finally packed it in. He still remembers his friends from Darrow and some of the good experiences we had there. But he expressed a feeling that his schools--Darrow and Hobart among them--could have done a better job of preparing him, and all of us, for some of the unpleasant things life throws at us. He said he has spent most of his life fighting the system, and wishes he had been given better skills for that. As far as our 45th goes, he and his family have already made vacation plans that include reunions weekend, but we might see them on Sunday, if they can make it to the Darrow area on their way home from Cape Cod. It would be great to see him again after all these years. And Ned hopes Roland will be visiting the class web site and catching up on what he's been missing, which could inspire him to make it to the 50th, "If God wills and the creeks don't rise," as he put it.

We received the following from John Cavallo: We will not be coming to this year's reunion. We had to make a decision to help Jeffrey and Kerry and their kids through the latest trials with our beautiful special needs granddaughter, Bella. She has just been diagnosed with Chiari malformation and will not only travel to Boston's Mass Eye and Ear hospital for her yearly check-up, but will also being going to The Chiari Institute in New York for one or possibly two surgeries. She has already had 13 surgeries and she is only five. This hasn't stopped this little blonde hair, blue-eyed dynamo, but it has put a strain on the finances and on coordinating childcare for the other two kids. We all try to pitch in as best we can. You can go to the Bella Cavallo Foundation for more updates and links. Please feel free to pass the foundation address on to any and all who might care to help. We will miss the wonderful DARROW spirit and fun, but God willing, we will look forward to the 50th. Give our best to all and thanks, Ned, for all you do to keep all of us in the loop.

You can read more about Chiari Malformation at this Web site of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Those of us who have made a gift to the Scott Leake Scholarship Fund received a letter this week from Nancy Wolf, telling us about the current recipient. The principal now is over $25,000, and the scholarship this year went to Michael Jolly ’07, a three-year senior from Cincinnati. Michael is an RA in a dorm, and a member of the student leadership team that planned and conducted new student orientation last fall. He plays soccer and baseball and, like Scott, runs cross-country. He was Darrow’s most outstanding runner this year. He is also a talented actor and singer who has participated in school theater productions, the Hands-to-Work prefect, and a craftsman who built his own canoe during February break. Last year, he received the Conrad Community Award, which Nancy describes as the school’s most prestigious award; he has been nominated for several awards this spring as well. He’s been accepted at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC and plans to attend there. We can all be proud that our contributions helped this fine young man benefit from a Darrow education. Nancy added a personal note saying how happy she is that she was able to meet Scott at our 40th reunion, five years ago. Class members who have not contributed (recently) to the scholarship fund may want to do so, as one of the ways we keep Scott’s memory alive and part of Darrow.

Kip Smith is recovering from gall bladder surgery (and a variety of unpleasant complications). Charlotte wrote to say she is confident he will be well enough to travel by June and that it will be a welcome change after weeks in the hospital. They will celebrate their 25th anniversary the week of our reunion and they are planning to celebrate it with us. If you'd like to send a get-well wish to the Kipper, Charlotte is monitoring his e-mail, AutoLite@houston.rr.com.

Dave Benson tells us that he will not be able to make it to the reunion in June as he will be heading to Honduras. He sends his regrets and ask us all to "stay alive for our fiftieth!" He just recently returned from Socorro Island , stating that it was a good trip, although on a "tight boat." He has now gone to Scotsdale, Arizona to tend to his property there.

Jim Mithoefer recently returned from a ten day emergency medical conference in Naples, Florida. He spent some 40 days on the east coast, most of that time at the Canaveral National Sea Shore. He says it was hard to come back to snow and having to work at Bromley Mountain. Finally, he regrets that Deb and he will not be able to make the reunion because of unavoidable work complications that June weekend.

Peter Gorday tells Ned the web site looks great, and Carl has done a fantastic job. PJ and Virginia have been traveling a lot for family events (reunions, graduations, birthday gatherings) and professional meetings. They have also visited NYC to see their son, John, who has been working as an EMT for a private service and is planning to join the FDNY for paramedic training. John's proud papa says he has found a true sense of vocation and considerable excitement in emergency medical work. On the home front, Peter and Virginia have a second home now (maybe a retirement home in the future), about an hour and a half north of Atlanta, where Peter has been delighting in landscaping the place, specializing in concrete, masonry and patio construction (Hands-to-Work training reasserting itself?). If any of us are in the area, they'd love to see us. Peter said he and Virginia are experiencing travel fatigue, and that combined with a long-standing business commitment of Virginia's in Atlanta in June make it unlikely that we'll see them at the reunion this year. But Ned still hopes to persuade PJ to overcome his fatigue and make a bachelor trip....

[Ned has begun his marathon effort to contact everyone in the class in the build-up to our 45th reunion in June. His plan has two components: Call those who are still uncommitted and try to persuade them to come; and try to find “lost” classmates. As the campaign goes on, news Ned gathers will appear on this page. Ned States, "My list of people to call and/or track down is long; look for sporadic updates as I work my way through it. If you’re already planning to come to the reunion, you’re probably not on my priority list to call, but feel free to call me! Especially do so if you think you can help, either to persuade a friend to come or to help find a lost classmate."]

Speaking of R.J. Brandes (as we were just below), the July 2006 issue of Orange County Home magazine features a cover story and a lavishly illustrated article about Blenheim Farms, described as “a horse lover’s dream home,” including a weekend cottage and a state-of-the-art equestrian center, with stables inhabited by retired champion jumpers. R.J. built Blenheim farms a few years ago in the style of an Argentinian country estate.

On Super Bowl weekend, Ned caught up with John Ho. Although Ned no longer had a valid phone number or e-mail for John and had to track him down by calling his family members, John denied that he was “lost;” “I knew where I was,” quipped Dr. Ho. In fact, he and Xiao-Yung have moved—about three streets over—but are still living in Bayside, Queens. John’s stepdaughter, Xiao-Yun, came here four years ago and is living with them now. Xiao-Yun is 17 and is beginning to focus on colleges, hoping to get into the honors program at SUNY, perhaps at Stony Brook, Geneseo or Binghamton. John still works as a clinical psychologist, although his patient population has evolved. A few years ago he began work at a nursing home in Queens where the patients are mostly elderly Chinese-speakers. (John speaks three dialects of Chinese). He now works at four similar facilities in NYC. It turns out he is one of just two psychologists who speak Chinese in the NYC system, and there is plenty of demand for his services. He finds working with the elderly “developmentally appropriate” for his stage (and ours) of life. John’s father still lives in Riverdale, in the Bronx, and John says that Tom Bird’s house is just down the street from his parents’ apartment. John has knocked on Tom’s door a few times when he’s been there to visit his father, but has not yet found Tom at home. John is planning to attend our 45th reunion and looks forward to seeing Tom—and the rest of us—there.

Ned also reached Chuck Romack on Super Sunday. Chuck is still in Tucson, Arizona, where he has been since college days. He’s retired now, after a career in the construction business, pouring concrete—building swimming pools, concrete floors and the like. He had to quit though, when he eventually developed an allergy to concrete. Chuck says he is paying the physical price of decades of hard labor. “I’m falling apart,” he said, and in addition to his allergy to concrete he mentioned arthritis and diabetes. But he sounded happy and laughed a lot. Said he likes to go out panning for gold in the wilderness along the border, though he packs a .45 in case he and his buddies encounter immigrant bands, which is not uncommon. Chuck reports having been bitten by rattlesnakes twice, but he is still here to talk about it. He said he’s had a variety of women over the years but never settled down—“I’m not the marrying kind.” He doesn’t use e-mail and describes himself as computer illiterate, but wrote down our class web site address anyway. (I think when I told him he could see a picture of Pete Loomis without his hair, Chuck was tempted to find some help and get into our web site.) Chuck can’t make it to the reunion—it’s too far and too expensive—but I promised to hoist a beer in his honor when we gather in June.

On Monday, Mike Terry called back in response to a message left earlier. Ned found Mike through contact with his brother Jim, who lives in Maryland. Mike is still living in Florida but has moved to Yankeetown, on the Gulf Coast, north of Tampa. He is retired, basically disabled, after years of being banged up by horses. Mike now owns a number of dogs, but is finished with horses. But he says it was a good life. When he was young, after a short time at Tulane, Mike went to Europe, and working with horses, lived in Ireland, then England, France and Italy, both riding and training. He moved on to South America and spent several years there, seeing various countries. The nomadic lifestyle had much that was appealing, but eventually Mike settled in Florida, where he’s been for 20 years or so. He reports he’s had 27 broken bones, two heart attacks, and two bouts with cancer, but he’s feeling fine right now. He (like Chuck) admits to being computer illiterate, but says he’s supposed to be taking a course later this month to learn how to use a computer, and I gave him our web site address. Eventually we may add him to our e-mail list. Mike says he is definitely coming to our 45th reunion; he just figures it’s time he made it to one. He was grateful to be tracked down and is looking forward to seeing us all again, after 45 years.

Ned has reached R.J. Brandes, who’s still living in California. After years of not having heard from R.J. except occasionally through Llew Haden, Ned had a delightful long chat. With him. R.J. will ponder whether he can make it to the reunion, and meanwhile, he and Ned hope to get together the next time R.J. visits NYC.

Tom Bird has checked in, says he will be at the reunion, barring extraordinary events mandating his presence elsewhere. Tom continues to travel in Mexico and to work at community organizing, both at home (Riverdale, Bronx) and in Central America. Tom says he’s trying to develop a project to do a documentary film about a group of Indians who defeated a proposed hydroelectric project in Mexico in 1988, taking on the World Bank, the Mexican state and federal governments and a Japanese corporation. Tom has been active in promoting the rights of native peoples in Central America, and he says it’s a family enterprise, of sorts. An important NGO in this subject area, Rights Action, was established and/or is led by Tom’s niece, Annie Bird (daughter of his brother, Bob, the brother who didn’t go to Darrow). You can visitthe Web site here: www.rightsaction.org.

Dave Hoon reports that he has now put in 35 years working for the City of Denver and plans to work for another year or so; then he’ll probably semi-retire and work part-time. Dave and Dianne have seen enough snow already this year (like me, Dave reports he has less appetite for winter weather than he used to, though he still would like to get out and enjoy Colorado’s abundant local winter recreation opportunities.) Dave’s mother, who lived in Philadelphia, passed away recently, after a long life. And while that’s sad, there may be a silver lining. The family will be gathering in early July in Vermont, to bury her there, in accord with her wishes, and to memorialize her life. Dave and Dianne plan to come east for that family event, and with our reunion in late June, they may stretch the trip to attend the reunion too. After the fiasco last time (their borrowed car broke down on the way up to the reunion, they got as close as Newburgh), they are hoping for better luck. We’ll put Dave on the “may attend” list and hope to upgrade that to “will be there” as the spring and their travel plans progress.

One classmate who will not be able to make the reunion is Dick McElroy. Dick retired after a career in the Navy and now works as a consultant, and is stationed on an island in the Indian Ocean, where he spends 11 months out of each year. I spoke with his mother a while ago, got that basic information, and was told that letters take 12 days (each way) to reach Dick. She suggested e-mail would be faster, but not having a computer herself, she couldn’t give me his e-mail address. But she passed me on to Dick’s brother Jeff, whom most of us remember as a junior at Darrow, our senior year. Jeff lives in Danville, CA, and is also retired. When I called, he was out, teaching a martial-arts class, according to his wife, Marsha, who was delighted to hear of our reunion and interest in finding Dick. She said their granddaughter (!), a ninth-grader this year, has applied to Darrow, though they don’t know yet whether she’ll get in or choose to go there. Marsha said that Dick will not be in the country in June, but she’ll pass on my message, my e-mail address and our class website address to Dick via e-mail, and I’m hoping to hear back from him soon.

Ron (Roland) Wright was not at home when I called, but I spoke briefly with his son, Christopher. They still live in Saratoga Springs. It should be an easy trip for Ron and Deirdre to come over for our reunion, if I can ever reach him and persuade him. Another Ron, Ron Emery, also lives in Saratoga Springs, and has proven equally hard to reach. But never fear, I shall be relentless in pursuing them both.

As for the long-lost, I am closing in on re-establishing contact, at least, with a couple of guys who were members of our class for just one year, our sophomore year. I called the number I had for Jonathan McCann in Florida, and the voice on the answering machine was one I remembered, amazingly enough, as his, 47 years later. (See the Links page for some clues as to what Jon has been up to.) I left a message and hope he’ll call me back. When I called Peter Golden, in Natick, Massachusetts, he was not at home; he’s on the local planning commission (see Links page), and was at a meeting of same. But I had a nice chat with Peter’s wife, Tina, who was familiar with his time at Darrow, affirmed that I had found the right Peter Golden (and seemed to think he’d be happy to hear from us). She took my message, which also directed him to our web site. If I don’t hear back from these guys, I’ll keep after them—now that I know where they are. Relentless.

Peter Golden called me the day after I’d spoken with his wife, Tina. He was delighted to hear from me and remembered his year at Darrow vividly. He described it as having been a constructive, influential year in his life, and a different experience for him. He said he had not encountered racism (the way the kitchen staff were treated) or anti-Semitism (he described a virulent encounter with Owen Kelly on the soccer field) until Darrow. Peter still remembers many of the vividly-etched personalities he met there. Some of those he mentioned included Gerry McGee, Terry Haig, Peter May, Larry Walsh, Bucky Wood, Peter Gorday, Ron Emery, Larz Anderson, Dick Nunley and of course, Lamb Heyniger. Peter said he left Darrow with a sense of academic failure, but eventually found his own solid footing. He finished up at Brookline High, went to BU (where he says, he majored in debauchery), studied theater, and initially went to work in that field, but discovered it was the wrong choice for him. He next tried journalism, was managing editor of Fusion, a magazine that competed with Rolling Stone but lost the competition and folded (more’s the pity, given where Jan Wenner ended up). He then worked as a newspaper reporter for a while, covered the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, the barricades in Paris that spring, and Woodstock; says he has some fantastic photos of those years. Next he taught high school English in Boston during the desegregation era (1971-80), eventually found that life too dangerous—not the students, or the anti-busing protesters, but a cracked-out parent whose car hit and nearly killed Peter while he was riding his bike to school. Once he had recovered, he went to New York and worked in the computer industry, where he organized trade fairs, held a management position, eventually got into marketing, which led, at last, to his true calling. Since 1984 he’s run his own advertising/PR firm, Golden PR (see the web site, www.goldenpr.com for an overview. You can also see several of his photos from the 1960's at http://www.goldenpr.com/Portfolio/photographyservices.html) He eventually found a way to make it profitable and is still doing it, not ready to retire yet. He says he works on a lot of public-service, technology, environmental and similar issues for a wide variety of clients.

We talked for a long time, and it was as if he hadn’t been “lost” for most of the past 47 years, like we’d actually seen each other not long ago. Peter has seen Frank Phillips, has had lunch with him now and then, and he mentioned Bart Soutendijk (who got his degree from BU in 1966, and I gather Peter knew him there and has kept in touch.) We talked about more people than I’ve listed here, and Peter says he—and I hope Tina, whom he said several times is the best part of his life story—definitely is planning to come to our reunion. From my initial encounter it should be great fun catching up with him! If any of you prefer to re-connect before June, you can reach Peter at his office e-mail address, pg@goldenpr.com.

Elaine Griswold writes in a family holiday newsletter that Dave is working with retired military officers, helping them find new careers. He finds it rewarding and is hoping for a government contract, which could increase his business dramatically. Dave also helps ex-prisoners find work as they try to re-integrate into society. This is a slow-building part of the business but he now has contacts with Indiana and Kentucky and is working on the same in California and New Mexico. Elaine says Dave remains positive despite certain “explosions” that “measure on the Richter scale” over “technology failures.” Elaine says she is adjusting to life in the Northeast and likes Old Lyme very much. Their kids, Eric and Laura, have pretty much grown up. Eric is about to graduate from the University of Kentucky with a major in marketing and advertising, and Laura is a junior (Elaine didn’t say where) with a “dietary” major. Both kids are active in charitable and church causes and Elaine describes them as “wonderful young adults.” Dave himself says (in a note on the Christmas card) that he’s already getting excited about the reunion!

Ned Groth’s wife, Sharon Begley, has a new book coming out in January. It’s about the synergy between what neurological scientists are learning about brain functions and what Buddhists have learned about mental discipline and training through meditation and other mental exercises. It is called “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain,” and is basically a report on research discussed at a conference in Dharamsala in 2004, hosted by the Dalai Lama, who is himself personally quite interested in neuroscience and the parallels that the book addresses. Here’s a photo of author and chief sponsor, from the jacket liner.

Update: Sharon's new book is out and is listed as the #3 best seller on Amazon.com. The listing on Amazon for the book (along with reviews, etc.) can be found by clicking here.

Howdy Davis writes that It has been about a year since he announced that he and Jerrie were packing it in career-wise in Buffalo, and that they would be heading to Guilford CT, to become co-managers (managers-in-training) of a Holiday Retirement facility.

"Well," he writes, "we've made the cut. We are getting our own facility to manage, in Rocky Hill, just south of Hartford." By now they should be settling into their new responsibilites and "hiring a co-manager couple to assist us and learn to be able to run the place by themselves -- certainly before the fourth weekend in June." Hopefully, we will soon hear how things are going for them.

Terry Duvall and Anita have been invited to participate in the reaccreditation process on Andros Island in the Bahamas. They are currently hosting a Japanese exchange teacher who works in their local high school. Anita has just completed her 500 hour yoga instructor's assignments, and Terry has recently earned his Divemaster rating in SCUBA. He says we should expect another update before too long!

John and Marilyn Cavallo have checked in to tell us that they have been blessed with another granddaughter recently. She is "lovely" as John put it, and her name is Sophia Teresa. "That totals 5," says John, adding that "We are happy to be living in Florida, rather than [in] Falmouth [MA]."

Carl Braun's father was cleaning out his attic and found this photo... taken by Stu Hemingway ' 61, in spring 1959. Carl commented on the picture that, "We don't look old enough to be in the 5th grade!"

Ned recently received this Christmas card from Colleen Cook. It shows her with her three grandchildren, Jack, Madeleine and Braedon.

Ned Groth spent five days in Amman, Jordan, participating in a regional workshop on food safety risk analysis organized by the UN FAO, then went to Seoul, South Korea for four days for an FAO.WHO workshop on food safety risk communication. He’s home now, recovering from jet lag. In Jordan, Ned visited the ruins of the Roman colony at Jerash. This bagpipe-and-drums drill team (from the Jordanian army) was practicing in a Roman amphitheater there, which after 2000 years still has perfect acoustics.

A large envelope arrived recently from Dave Griswold. Inside, these photos of “our horses.” The owners of said equines include Gris and Bob Lang, and perhaps some of other members of their families as well. The double photos below are official “winner” portraits from Belmont Park. Bob’s horse T Harry (wearing # 10) was a winner (by a nose, as you can see) in his first race there, October 6. The other horse is Noah A (# 5), described by Gris as “our horse,” and he also won at Belmont. (According to the info in the winner shot, it was a dead heat for first.) Gris says Bob has a third horse, Winning Toast, who’ll be running this month at Aquaduct. The blow-ups from the winner’s circle photos show Bob “with a friend” with T. Harry. The gang in the shot with Noah A, left to right, include Dave’s son Eric, Dave, Bob’s son Matt, Bob, and the trainer, John Kimmel. A phone call to Bob seeking more information resulted in a message left. Maybe he’ll fill us in soon.

As we were preparing to post the memorial bio of Gene Cook, Ned tracked down Gene’s family to let them know, and got an update on the six years (!!) since Gene passed away. John and Heather now live in Bethesda, MD and have two kids, Jack (4) and Madeleine (3). John is working for MHAOnline, a web-based information source for the Maryland Hospital Association. Shannon gave up her career with Verizon after about 12 years and is now completing (in December) her MS in secondary education, planning to teach Spanish. She is married to Greg Marr, a physicist at Brookhaven National Lab, and they live in Middle Island, NY, on Long Island. They have a son, Braedon, 1. Colleen, according to John and Shannon, is an “ecstatic” grandmother, is doing well, living in Doylestown, still struggling a bit to adjust to life without Gene, but enjoying her three grandchildren immensely. Shannon (who sent these pictures) promised to dig out some old family photos when home at Thanksgiving, so we can all share some additional memories of Gene.

Kip Smith writes from Houston that he is "coming to the reunion - even if it means scheduling around my 25th wedding anniversary." He appreciates the Job that Carl, Carl and Ned have done on the new site. Thanks, Kip.

Denny Hopper has been pretty busy finishing the basement of the house they had built a year ago. He reports that his fourth grandchild is due in December, and that they will then have two grandsons and and two granddaughters.

Dave Benson recently caught up with Dave Hoon, who is still working for the City of Denver. Dave (B.) and Karen recently went to see The Capitol Steps (a political satire singing group) with Frank and Ellie Rosenberg in Denver, and had a great time. Dave is not sure whether they'll make it to the reunion yet, and reports he hasn't heard from our other Colorado denizen, Anson Perina, in a long time.

Bob Willock writes: I retired in 1996. I retired on a Friday and was over not working on Monday. It has been a great ride. As the saying goes, I don't know how I had time to work, as I have been busy ever since. We have lived in three houses -- built one, major remodel to one and then got it right with the third as we only did paint and a new kitchen. We spent nine wonderful years on Hilton Head Island. In April of this year we moved to Lake Norman --- a large lake 40 minutes NW of Charlotte, NC. We left HHI due to it being so busy and made a great return on our investment.

We love the lake life, with toys. We spent 15 years on lakes in MN so it is great to be back on a lake.

Since leaving IBM, after 30 years, I have been involved in property owner associations, dredging activities and numerous committees. Our four children have given us five grandchildren, with more on the way. Of course that eats up time. We spend a number of months per year at our townhouse in Chicago where most of the kids are.

We are both well and active in all kinds of activities. Hope to get 20 more years out of this body. That's it for a quick and dirty. I am still following three rules I laid down for myself when I retired. 1. Out of bed by 7:30. 2. Shave everyday. 3. Keep moving and adding to your adventure list.

Ned Groth had a visit from his brother, David, ' 65, over the Columbus Day weekend. David lives in Silverthorne, CO (about an hour west of Denver), where he manages a Smith & Hawken store. Also home for the weekend, and shown here with David, was Ned & Sharon's son, Daniel, who is a freshman at Lafayette. In November, Ned will be traveling to Amman, Jordan and to Seoul, South Korea, to participate in food safety workshops organized by UN agencies.

Wyatt MacGaffey (faculty), who taught English at Darrow our freshman year, went back to grad school after he left Darrow, got a PhD in anthropology from UCLA, then in 1967 joined the faculty at Haverford College, where he taught until his recent retirement, pursuing research on African cultures. When contacted recently he reported still having some vivid memories from his year at Darrow. One involved Des McCracken and a sign he brought back from a trip to France; it warned tourists to slow down, supposedly in English, but it said “Chauffeurs relent!” Wyatt and his wife both remember “the view over the valley of Rt 22, which was always different every time you looked at it.” He recalls meeting Mrs. Heyniger at some kind of reception in the town of Haverford, and says they have been back to Darrow a couple of times, but during vacations, when there was nobody around to talk to. He does not expect to make it to the reunion, since they are usually in Africa in June, but was grateful to be contacted.

Jim Mithoefer has spent the last couple of years clearing land, putting in ponds, and has "sort of caught up." Now, he says, the horses and sheep will have grass by next summer, which is "good for them and also us--no feeding hay twice a day."

He goes on to report that he is still at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in the Emergancy Department Fast Track but only half time (some call this partial "retirement," he says, "but I have not been able to say the 'R' word out loud!").

John Cavallo and Marilyn are enjoying the weather in south Florida. They report that they love seeing their three sons and the four grandchildren. They promise that they will keep in touch!

Frank Rosenberg and Ellie are "ready to retire," but, Frank writes, he's afraid it will be at least three years before that can happen (when they are 66). They just got back from two weeks in Alaska and say that it was a great trip. Frank is still sorting out all of the pictures. He promises to tell us more when he gets the time.

Ned Groth is doing some consulting, mostly for WHO and FAO. He has been to Bangkok, Rome & Geneva for meetings, and is headed to Amman and Seoul in November. He also does some writing and advocacy for US enviro-consumer groups. He and Sharon have put their house on the market, now that they are "empty nesters," and have been house-hunting in the Princeton area.

Sharon writes a weekly column, plus a news story that they throw at her every month or so. While she edits a book, she is waiting for publication of another book she wrote based on a conference hosted by the Dalai Lama in which Buddhists and scientists discussed how the mind and brain work. Sounds mind-boggling!

Duane Lehmann is semi-retired and is living in New Lebanon. He plans to attend our 45th reunion. For a profile of Duane, recently retrieved from the “lost” list, click here.

Gib and Margau Manchester are now living on Mt. Desert Island, ME, at least in the summer months. This October, they will migrate to Salem, Ohio, which they now call home the rest of the year. Go to the Classmates Found Page for a detailed update.

Joe MacLaren, and his wife and kids, live in Mancus, CO, near Durango. Wids Delacour ’60 gave Ned contact information at a Darrow gathering in NYC earlier this year, and Ned is hot on the trail. Look for expanded news soon.

Jim Wright (faculty) writes, "What else [am I] doing with...'retirement'? I am chugging along...Manage to swim every day and play 18 holes of golf a week, plus play trumpet in a band, sing in a chorus, tutor 4th and 5th graders every day, sit on an IRB at Duke twice a month, play a standardized patient for students in the Med school somewhat less often, read Duke undergraduate admission folders in season and now teach a class once a week at the Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement since the teacher died suddenly two weeks ago. We're reading Sam Harris' The End of Faith. Lively discussions!

Howdy Davis is seen here with his granddaughter, Hailey Davis Krauss. Howdy and Jerrie now live in Guilford, Connecticut, (soon New Haven?) and were visited recently by their daughter Morgan, son-in-law Tom, and, of course, Hailey. Their visit was most welcomed now that that Howdy and Jerrie are "empty nesters."

Bill Anthony is "trying to retire." He has laid off his crew and is trying to limit himself to occasional consulting or short term project management. Bill says he wants more time for mid-week adventures: skiing, paddling and whatever.
He does a lot of volunteer work at Flanders Nature Center, helping with facilities and maintenance, reminding him of Darrow Enterprise days. He is also on the board of a "Friends" group which helps with an US Fish &Wildlife island refuge in Long Island Sound. The refuge is Outer Island, which is the farthest out of the Thimble Islands off Branford (Stony Creek), CT.

He also has informed us that Joan's mother died last April and in the interim they have sold their house and moved to the other side of town, having bought Joan's mother's house from the siblings. Designed and built by Joan's father the year we graduated from Darrow, it is a California contemporary--tons of glass and easy living. He finally notes that he need, however, to build a new shop.

Carl Sharpe has retired after forty years of teaching. He retired from public school teaching at Westborough (MA) high school after 28 years there, and this past semester, he retired from Mount Wachusett Community College where he taught part time for six years.

He now has a new companion, Patricia Hogan, who will hopefully be joining him when he attends our 45th reunion. Carl and Pat recently returned from Ireland, and have plans for other trips in the near future. The photo on the left was taken in Ireland on the Ring of Kerry.

Pierre Loomis is now retired. He writes, "We now have three grandchildren, thanks to my oldest son, Mike--and his wife, of course. They have a 3 1/2 year old boy and now, as of two months ago, twins--a boy and girl. It makes me tired just thinking about it!" He is still in Monmouth, IL where he has been since 1989, so it's "home" now. The plan is to stay there for the forseeable future. He finally states that he "will come to the 45th!" and wonders if "Rodent, ah, ... Frank Phillips will make it!

Bob Lang writes that he still has the farm, only about an hour from Darrow, and that he is spending his time racing horses, adding that, "We could always have more wins." He adds that he is most willing to help in organizing our 45th.