1970s Class Notes

From the Winter 2006 Andover Bulletin

Penny Snelling Sullivan

972 Summit St.

Lebanon PA 17042

717-274-0498

sullivan@mbcomp.com

Sandra A. Urie

38 Prospect St.

Winchester MA 01890

781-729-4480

surie@cambridgeassociates.com

ABBOT From Miami, Alexis “Lexi” Anderson wrote, “Hurricane Wilma is providing a retrospective of all my past lives!” Living without electricity for two weeks, she was “reminded of architecture school in the ’70s: designing a survival pod for living off the grid; living on a boat 25 years ago; on a remote island in the Bahamas 12 years ago; and now, in an urban environment in the 21st century with a human-powered generator.” She kept busy playing a baroque guitar she built, reading several novels, burying a much-loved 14-year-old cat, coping with the loss of all her Japanese koi and a hive full of bees. Thanks for the update, Lexi, and we’re glad you’re OK.

Sylvia Joseph Galambos runs her own company, Language Enterprises, which specializes in providing Spanish, French and Italian classes for children and adults. Her daughter Andrea is a senior at Duke University, and son Alec is a freshman at Emory University. She lost her husband eight years ago to cancer, but has had the good fortune to meet a special man, whom she has been seeing the last four years. Sylvia also reported on two other classmates. H.E. Susana “Susie” Gun de Hasenson of El Salvador is ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Israel and South Africa. Visit the embassy Web site, www.el-salvador.org.il/index.php. Congratulations, Susie, you make us proud!

On a sad note, we’ve learned that our classmate Karen Giesemann Luffman, originally from Guatemala, lost her life to breast cancer several years ago.

Jo Jayne Swift Soule, after moving about with corporate America, is now living in northern Delaware with husband Richard ’68 and a golden retriever. She teaches at the Aletheia Christian School nearby. Her married daughter, Andrea, age 25, is a teacher living in Seattle. Jo Jayne and her husband look forward to living in the same zip code as Andrea and her husband before long.

Jo Jayne is looking for Carla Johnson Williamson, if anyone knows how to reach her. Long-lost classmate Paula Lynn Waller Stellings e-mailed with news that she is a real estate broker in Raleigh, N.C., after retiring as a director for Headway Corporate Staffing three years ago. Her daughter Carrie is married and has a son on the way. Paula’s son, George, lives in the area and works for a logistics company. She is thankful, like most of us, that the college tuitions days are finally over. Yes!

Anne Smith responded to my e-mail with an update. She is a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. Her research involves aspects of the chemistry and physics of the upper atmosphere, using numerical models and satellites. She is happily married to another scientist and they have a son who is a senior at Pomona College. Great to catch up with you, Anne, after 35 years. You make us proud.

Marcia Rickenbacker wrote that she and her husband of 30 years, Doug, celebrated their anniversary in Bermuda last June. Her daughter Libby, age 24, received undergraduate and master’s degrees from U.Va. Libby is employed as an assistant dean of admissions at Hofstra University and is planning a June 2006 wedding. Marcia’s son Dave is a fourth-year student at U.Va. and plans to take a fifth year at the School of Education to graduate with a master’s degree in teaching. Marcia and her children are ice hockey players. After many years of transporting her kids to games, Marcia joined the “Hawks C team” in 2001. She travels to Lake Placid, Canada, and more local venues for games. Wow, who would have thought?

Congratulations to Tamara Elliott Rogers, who was recently honored at Andover with the Distinguished Volunteer Service Award. Thanks, Tammy, for all your hard work. See Alumni Notes for more information on the Distinguished Volunteer Service Awards. —Penny

Peter Williams

3070 Shamrock North

Tallahassee FL 32309

850-893-3342

Petewilliams1@hotmail.com

Frank Herron

712 Lancaster Ave.

Syracuse NY 13210

315-424-3824

Fherron1@twcny.rr.com

PHILLIPS Bernie Kreilinger checked in electronically from Germany. The first sentence of his e-mail was discouraging. He claimed there was “not much news.” Fortunately, there was enough material that, with a little filler, it could cover some distance. Bernie writes that his son Hermann has completed his studies (which may be more than can be said for a number of us). Hermann concentrated in economics and law. Now he works for McKinsey & Co. Bernie didn’t say where. If Hermann’s in Germany, he could be connected with any of a number of offices run by the consulting firm. (McKinsey is in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne and Dusseldorff, according to the Vorld Vide Veb, aka VVV, aka WWW.) Meanwhile, Bernie’s two daughters are still in school, where some of us likely wish we were.

Bernie also touched on politics. It might interest readers to know that he has not tatooed President George W. Bush ’64’s name inside a heart on his left bicep. We draw that startling conclusion from his statement: “I do not tell people any more that I went to the same school as a man called George W. Bush, because he is not looked upon as a likeable man in Germany.” Now, Germany may not be the best litmus test for the “likeability” of political leaders, but Bernie’s point is well taken.

Bernie adds that his e-mail filter had a fairly low opinion of my e-mail to Germany. His server/provider/checker considered my note to be “spam.” Well, close enough. That word does have “PA” within it.

Fred Peters also wrote an e-mail, while acknowledging that it’s been “years” since his last update. (Really, we aren’t keeping track.) Fred is president of Warburg Realty in Manhattan. He’s been running the firm, which has about 140 employees, since 1991. For a look at the company, and for a nice up-to-date photo of Fred, go to www.warburgrealty.com. The Web site also has an interesting collection of news articles relating to the firm’s work. I liked the one from the New York Observer of June 1, 2005. Fred is quoted. (And, shockingly, the article also mentions Syracuse as a typical not-New York location: “But what plays in Peoria, Miami or Syracuse may not play here.”) The article suggests that the real estate bubble in Manhattan is made of iron, not soap film.

Fred took a second to recall his bubble-riding time at Andover: “Although I feel no fonder of the institution than I did 35 years ago, the memory of my friends at both Andover and Abbot and the things we did together is still close to my heart.” Also close to his heart, not surprisingly, is Donald Weinberg. Fred reminds us that Donald has been dead for more than 20 years. “Hard to believe,” he adds.

Fred adds that he continues to support new music and the composers who create it. Fred and wife Alexandra are now full-fledged members of the Empty Nest Club. Daughter Clelia, age 27, is a human rights monitor who lives in Brooklyn. Son Jack, 24, is a teacher in Denver. Fred’s sentiments might resonate as his words echo off many of our thatch-and-string-filled nest-walls: “I miss the kids, but I have to say life has been good to us so far.” —Frank

ABBOT

Sarah Gay Stackhouse

315-536-9482

sarahg14478@yahoo.com

Dory Streett

207-666-5960

dory@keagriver.com

PHILLIPS

Christopher J. Brescia

314-963-9978

bres@aol.com

Julia Gibert

Hedges, Summerside

Buckland, Faringdon

Oxon SN7 8RB

England

juliagibert@btInternet.com

011-44-136-787-0267

ABBOT Half of my pleas for news brought in two-word replies: “Happy Holidays,” which will sound strange when you read them just before spring.

Nevertheless, Missy Baird, Elizabeth Hall, Maud Lavin and Lynn Graham Goldberg wish you happy holidays. I had an “out of office” auto reply from K.T. Nourse and some jokes from Linda Rawson, but I bet they wished you happy holidays, too. Lynn and her husband, Tom, celebrated their 50th birthdays and their 25th wedding anniversary last year. Lynn is deciding what to do next, since her math tutoring is only part time. She tried volunteering with the Legal Services of Connecticut (she still lives in Westport), but there was a limit to what she could contribute since she is not a lawyer.

Lynn wonders what Kathy Snowden, Liza Webster and Meredith Keller are up to now. She mentioned, as did Ginger Chapman, that Marna Parke Borgstrom, formerly vice president and chief operating officer of Yale New Haven Hospital, became president and CEO of the hospital on Oct. 1, 2005. Marna has an M.A. degree in public health and a B.A. degree from Stanford, and she and her husband, Eric, have two sons. She can fill us in on the rest if she ever has five minutes.

Brett Cook wrote and mentioned an infamous exploding pen incident with a math teacher who is as unmemorable, apparently, as the quadratic formula, but she was sure it was a man—meaning I can narrow it down to instructors David Tower, Bob Laurence or Jim Lynch. It seems, anyway, that the exploding pen was enough to convince both Brett and teacher that math was not for her. But Brett is delighted, though a little daunted, that her 13-year-old daughter Julia, whose ambition is to become a genetic counselor, has different ideas. Julia chooses to do extra math at 7 a.m. and gets superior grades. (The subject of Brett’s e-mail was “math envy.”) Her son Miles is almost as proficient, but, like his mother, he doesn’t see the intrigue and looks forward to giving it up. Brett has not revealed whether or not she has supplied Miles with the requisite pen for nuclear teacher disarmament.

Linda Calvin wrote me a long and thoughtful e-mail about her recent trip to China as part of a U.S. Department of Agriculture mission. She spoke of the inevitable frustrations of being part of a bureaucracy, but also of the excitement of finding China surprisingly modern and of talking to farmers and representatives of exporting firms, for whom, she thought, the pace of change must be strange and bewildering. Linda wrote, “I worked for two weeks, which was really a challenge, and then my husband, Jim, came over for 10 days of wonderful vacation. China is a great place to visit as a tourist, but working there is much harder. Translation was very rough, and we weren’t quite sure what we were learning. We went to many banquets and were served a bewildering array of odd foods. I was served scorpions, but I didn’t try them—same for silkworm cocoons and sea slugs. I have a friend who goes to China quite often and eats everything placed before her. Her philosophy is that nothing can be worse than hot dogs. On the work front, the highlight of the trip was giving a lecture to Chinese students on the economics of food safety. I had been told they wouldn’t understand U.S. institutions very well and to keep it pretty general. Those students were so sharp! They knew all about food safety in the United States and asked lots of very good questions. I’d like to go back and give a series of lectures.”

Finally, just in case class secretary Bob Pfeiffer ’72 is slumped over his pumpkin pie long enough to miss this deadline, I will add that Sam Butler ’72 has been off on a Wild West reading tour to promote his first novel, and John L. Koch III ’72 (son of John L. Koch Jr. ’45) took a road trip of a different kind, fleeing Hurricane Katrina for Birmingham, Ala. When last heard from, John and wife Mimi were safely landed there, and young Amelia and Jack Koch duly enrolled in the local school, joining several cousins. Robert “Punch” Olivier ’72 also wrote to say that he had left Fleet Boston Financial and its successor Bank of America and was now setting himself up in the business of securing health insurance for small businesses and sole proprietors. His daughter is in the B.F.A. acting program at Emerson and he, sweetly claiming to be inspired by my London Marathon, has taken up running. I am pretty sure I shouldn’t let this inspiration go to my head. “I never thought of you as a jock,” he wrote, and, since there aren’t many weeks left to top that, it is going to be my personal nomination for the understatement of 2005.

By early 2006 I will throw off old-year melancholy and be full of new energy and promise and a certainty that any of us can do all manner of extraordinary things—as no doubt you will. Don’t forget to write about it.

PHILLIPS

Bob Pfeiffer

770-434-5234

rspfei@bellsouth.net

Marion R. Irwin

320 East 53rd St., Apt. 6A

New York NY 10022

212-758-0940

mirwin@speakeasy.org

Robin Waters

P.O. Box 32

Hotchkiss CO 81419

970-872-5904

suntravel@earthlink.net

ABBOT Last Friday I met with Kathleen Reardon Murphy for breakfast at a local New York hotel. Kathleen was my roommate at Hall House in our junior year and braved the Andover Hill with me for our first coed English class. I still have two really cool gifts she brought back for me from her home in Bangkok—a little stool and a dragon weight used for measuring opium. No, we didn’t use the weight; it’s just a totem to me. We last met when our children were in Snuglis, and I met her daughter Julia, and she met my son Homer. Now our kids are looking at colleges. I figured out where the time had gone when I donated Homer’s chapter books to our old elementary school, P.S. 59.

Kathleen has the same beautiful eyes. She has made a career of municipal arbitrage sales and is a managing director at R.B.C. Capital, which gives her more time at home. She doesn’t attribute her ability to play with the big boys to her time at Abbot or Andover, but just having to wrangle with her brothers and father. In any case, she’s beginning to think about what to do with her retirement. Her husband, Stephen Murphy, is art department chair at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill. (considered one of the best public high schools in the country!). He teaches advanced photo (traditional and digital) and video art, after a career in filmmaking, and really loves his work. He was recently asking her about the class she took with Ted Sizer because of Sizer’s current work with public school education. We had a lovely breakfast, then Kathleen went on to her business, and I went on to a PTA training class. We are going to meet again soon.

Hollis Connor Gabriel writes, “My family and I left New Orleans Sunday morning before Katrina arrived. Our house took in four feet of water and the mold and fungi are rapidly growing in the incubator created in our house by the humidity and high temperatures. We decided to relocate to D.C., because we lived here in ’93 and we have friends and family nearby. We are living in a friend’s basement, but have found a place to rent starting in October. The situation is surreal, and our future is up in the air. I am very upbeat and am trying to take full advantage of being in D.C. My son, Connor, is attending a private school in Maryland, with tuition waived. He really misses the public school he went to in New Orleans, but is adjusting pretty well. I plan to come to New York sometime this fall and would love to see Abbot alums who are living there. Who is in D.C.?” Her e-mail is: holliscgabriel@yahoo.com.

Marcia McCabe kindly hosted an Abbot lunch at the New York Athletic Club a couple of weeks ago, so we had the opportunity to meet Abbot women of other classes, hear about Andover’s curriculum changes and meet some of the faculty. Mindy Feldman, Dee DeLucia, Nina Rutenburg Gray ’74 and Betsy Gootrad ’74 attended.

There is a memorial fund drive for Caitlin Cofer Rotchford ’74. The goal is to provide a complete scholarship for a student at Andover. Caitlin was such a lovely woman, and I know that many in our class knew and loved her, so please keep this in mind whether in checkbook or spirit.

Robin Waters, Connee Petty Young and Catherine Armsden did a wonderful job getting the California reunion organized and under way. We have a ton of pictures, and we all had a wonderful time. Check out the Web site or write me to join our Yahoo group.

I apologize that the Midwestern and Northeastern reunions have not yet come to pass. Anyone with a place to meet or an idea for a venue, please let me know, and we’ll do our best again next summer. —May

Stephen J. Sullivan

642 Woodside Way

Woodside CA 94062

650-475-0143 (Work)

ssullivan@skylineventures.com

PHILLIPS I had the pleasure of lunch with Trip Gabriel in N.Y.C. in October, and this is his response: “Classmates, take warning. Our secretary invited himself to lunch while on a business trip to New York and put the arm on me to contribute news to this column. It could happen to you. In fact, the lunch was a pure pleasure. Steve was on his way to Parents’ Weekend at Andover, and I took the opportunity to pump him about what it takes to get a kid in these days. I have twin sons, eighth-graders, and these are the years when I am raising my contributions to the annual fund. Just a coincidence, of course. When I mentioned a much-read Wall Street Journal article this summer about a decline in boarding school applications because baby boom parents want closer ties to their children, he sputtered, ‘Wimps!’ Exactly. This is the news: We live in Pound Ridge, N.Y., a countrified suburb with a hardware store, one barber and a wine shop. What else do you need? I am in my 11th year at The New York Times, where I edit the ‘Sunday Styles’ section and its recent spin-off, ‘Thursday Styles.’ I take the train home most days after long hours at the office, but I learn through my sections what it is like to dress up and stay out all night. I’m looking forward to a visit from my roommate, Seymour House, whose son Martin now attends the Putney School in Vermont.” Finally, Trip noted he would like to hear from Mike Castro, Bill Crawford, Ken Ehrlich, Clint Fisher, Mike McLaughlin, Peter Stevens and Ben Thompson.

From Rick Romeo in Colorado: “After receiving two degrees in music performance I ended up in that refuge of the humanities major: law school, Ohio State in this case, where my wife was pursuing a Ph.D. in music education. I have parlayed the J.D. degree into a career as an elder law attorney in Boulder, a practice and a locale I greatly enjoy. Karen and I have two biological kids, ages 24 and 21. Fearing the “empty nest,” we embarked upon a second family and have adopted three children from Ethiopia over the last six years. They are ages 5, 7 and 14. I highly recommend our adoption agency, AFAA or Americans for African Adoption (www.africanadoptions.org), for anyone considering adoption. These kids are healthy, bright and have no attachment issues. And, of course, the need is tremendous in Africa. So, it looks like I’ll never retire, what with all those college bills looming. Anyone in Colorado wishing to make contact with me can find me at rromeo@elderlawcolorado.com. I’m still singing and acting, just as in Andover days.”

Ned Hayes reports, “I live in Colorado with my wife, Paz, and three children, Carolina, Clara and Lucas. (None are likely to go to Andover unless we win the lottery.) I work on prevention of mosquito-borne viral diseases for the Center for Disease Control, play guitar absolutely no better than I did at Andover (about four songs), get to go white-water kayaking once in a while (still have the kayak I made at Andover, but I broke it too many times to use anymore) and am still under the ridiculous delusion that I can do anything I put my mind to. But, with a few exceptions, I keep getting distracted by something interesting.”

From Dan Lasman, whom I met on the sidelines of a PA JV football game: “Son Ben is graduating from PA, and he and I will be very happy when he does. I think he is really ready to move on. Phil Kemp has moved to an affiliate of Jeffries & Co, raising money for private equity firms, and it sounds like it will suit him well. I saw John McDonald recently. Two members of the Class of ’77 organized a scholarship fund in honor of faculty emeriti Carroll and Elaine Bailey, and some of the donors to that scholarship fund met at PA to surprise them with the news. The Baileys were enormously touched. In addition to Mac and me, John Rogerson and Steve Rooney also contributed.”

Dan concludes, “Otherwise, life is pretty good. The house is done, and my family is loving being back in Massachusetts and especially being on the coast near some wonderful spots for walks and boating. My other son is a high school junior, so we have him with us for another two years, and then he’s out, too. Work-wise I am with a very good group of folks at Roseview Capital. We are focused on advising and raising capital for privately owned and family owned businesses.”

Jack Gray

80 Central Park West, Apt. 20F

New York NY 10023-5215

212-496-1594

jackgray@BlueLink.Andover.edu

We have welcome news this time from several classmates whom we have not heard from recently. Dave Zelon’s production of the movie Into the Blue, starring Paul Walker and Jessica Alba, opened this fall. Dave writes, “It’s an underwater action/adventure film with lots of bikinis and board shorts on tan young actors. We shot it in the Bahamas last year.” By the time you get this, it will be out on DVD!

Mark Tay saw Bill Cunliffe last spring during reunion weekend at Andover performing Tom Chapin ’75’s music in Tom’s memory, with Arthur Kell ’75 on bass. Mark writes, “Bill’s performance was magnificent. He is teaching at Temple and performing regularly.” Mark reminds us that Bill has played with such greats as Buddy Rich and Frank Sinatra. He urges us to check out www.billcunliffe.com, raving about Bill’s new CD.

David Canty has been representing migrant workers in wage and compensation cases in South Carolina. In a recent jury trial he won the acquittal of an indigent Latino mistakenly arrested for cocaine trafficking. Evidence in the case “suggested the narcotics detectives promptly realized their error and decided to frame him,” according to David.

Robin Eason Panico has been working for a year now assisting school districts, teachers, administrators and parents with the education of students learning English in New York public schools. She is the facilitator of local Hispanic student leadership programs and parent forums developing involvement in their children’s education. Her letter to us is peppered with abbreviations used in her work—ELL, ESL, HYLI, PLI. Indeed, she writes: “My family says that I speak only in acronyms now!”

Tony Hobson replied to an urgent plea for news via e-mail with this: “The ease of this reply is the reason for my first correspondence to our class notes. But let us not stand in judgment of the rationale, but be happy with the results. All is great here in Cincinnati. My oldest child has started her second year at the University of Virginia, my two boys are in high school, and my youngest has begun eighth grade. My question: Where are all the grown ups? … I am welcoming visitors.” PA ’74 standing in judgment? No way!

In a similar vein, in response to the same missive, Gordon Billheimer sent this: “If you are desperate, then I have no significant news to report.” Gordon is associate general counsel of Leggett & Platt, a Fortune 400 manufacturer headquartered in the small town of Carthage, Mo. He reports, “My children are attempting to tip me into bankruptcy (i.e, they are both in college). Jeremy is an electronic and computer engineering major, and Jessica is a pre-med biochemistry major. We have five horses here at Pleasant Creek Farm for any PA ’74 classmates who want to come play cowboy or shoot Yankees. (We do Civil War cavalry living history.) But to tell you the truth, I’d rather be back in Day Hall, eating Edam cheese and writing poetry with Cliff Flamm, or spooking around the campus at night with Marlin Johnson.”

As he prepared to drive his youngest off to college in Chicago, Mark Efinger wondered if the thought “Life begins when the last kid goes off to college” applied to high school teachers. He’s finding out now.

Katy Gass Walker wrote us this: “I spent a nostalgic weekend in September with Jeanne Nahill Kempthorne and Priscilla Martel at Priscilla’s lovely home in Chester, Conn. Priscilla is editing another exhaustive cookbook for aspiring chefs, and Jeanne continues with her new career representing people unjustly convicted. I know it keeps her up nights and, after hearing her stories, I know why. As for me, I’m still in Lincoln, Mass., running my private environmental consulting practice, married to Tom Walker ’73, raising (or trying to) our three kids: Sam, Hilary ’07 and Louisa, and chairing our local land conservation trust.” Katy described how last summer she and her family were “stumbling off” a long flight from a hiking trip in northern India and ran into George Ireland just after coming off the plane. George was headed off to look at some mineral holdings in Northern Canada. Tom and George had traveled to Nepal and India in 1973 with Tony Hill from PA.

Finally, this “sartorial update” from Sara Wedeman: “Hair style has taken a disturbing turn—I’m calling it the “Billy Idol” phase (sans sneer—at least I have some control over the look on my face) … I am under strict orders from my hairdresser to sit on my hands and not do anything rash until it gets long enough for him to cut it.” Her recovery from breast cancer continues and she is feeling much better.

Mari Wellin King

1884 Beans Bight Rd. NE

Bainbridge Island WA 98110

206-842-1885

mariwk@aol.com

Roger L. Strong Jr.

6 Ridgeview Circle

Armonk NY 10504

914-273-6710

roger.strong@hbo.com

Lethargic from a Thanksgiving tryptophan overload, I was jolted by an e-mail from Andy Craig, whose newly renovated boutique hotel (The Creole Gardens Guesthouse) in the Lower Garden district of New Orleans was mentioned in the last column by Mari Wellin King. His account of the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina is captivating: “When we pulled in front of the hotel (after a two-day drive from my home in Fredericksburg, Va., with my wife, Els), I had mixed emotions. Clearly, the hotel had not been flooded or looted, but The Creole had taken a severe beating. The courtyard was full of trees and debris. Pieces of the annex building were in the street four blocks away. The roofs of the historic 1849 mansion and slave quarters were blown apart and hanging over the courtyard, and part of the back wall had peeled away and landed on the building next door. Despite this damage, we found that we had lost only five of the 26 rooms.”

After clearing debris, chain-sawing trees and restoring the hotel’s office, Andy was able to reopen after five days with a skeleton staff. “By day 10, we were half full of Katrina victims and emergency workers. By day 20, we were full. It was time to drive to Natchez, Miss., to pick up our hotel van, which had been abandoned behind a church by a honeymooning couple fleeing the storm.” A construction crew from Texas helped Andy rebuild the property, putting an entire roof system back on within two weeks of his arrival and completing renovations to the last damaged guest room on Nov. 15.

“New Orleans will come back,” Andy wrote. “With each new day come more cars, more open stores and more choices at the stores. Our high-speed Internet service is back up and running. As one of our homeless hotel guests put it, it’s simply a matter of time and money.” Andy closed with this upbeat invitation: “See you at Mardi Gras.”

After 18 years, the hospitality business has lost its appeal for Susan Vernon-Rios, who reports that she wants to sell Casa de las Chimeneas Inn & Spa, the beautiful eight-room inn she owns in Taos, N.M. “I’m looking to try my hand at teaching. I’m the ‘science mom’ in my daughter’s second-grade class. We are studying Ph right now, and it is so cool to watch these kids just eat it up! It dawned on me that I love their energy and interest and that my time spent in the classroom is the highlight of my week.”

Jon Tweedy reportedly plans to open another restaurant, but it is unclear whether it will provide him a personal venue to showcase his own musical talents. Louise Kramer is writing for The New York Times not infrequently. Baltimore-based Jennifer Bishop has a Web site worth visiting at jenniferbishopphotography.com. Rather than attend our 30th Reunion last June, Sylvia Wolf and Charles Miers met in Venice (Italy, not California), where they supposedly hobnobbed with the serious art world.

Janie Barnett-Hanson “tremendously enjoyed” her first class reunion, and writes, “It felt like home sitting with my classmates on the steps of Sam Phil.” She was honored to join musicians Arthur Kell and Bill Cunliffe ’74 onstage in GW Hall at the tribute concert for our late classmate Tom Chapin. “I have lived in the New York City area for over 20 years now and continue to make a living in the arts—singing, songwriting, producing and freelancing in the record and jingle businesses. A theatre piece I’ve been working on with two collaborators for over five years seems to be finally headed for a production here in New York. A labor of love, it is set in the Bayou, so it seems to have its time coming. All of my writing projects bring me full circle back to PA, where I began to learn the lessons of merging intellect with expression.” Janie’s 13-year-old daughter is applying to high schools in New York and is pondering the notion of Andover for 11th grade. Bassist/composer Kell has released a new CD, “Traveller,” recorded with his quartet in Barcelona last year; he says a tour in Germany and Spain is planned for 2006. According to a review in Billboard, “The disc features nine Kell originals and every track is a winner, with plenty of variety and a laid-back mood. Kell opens up a series of musical vistas that allow (Steve) Cardenas (guitar) and (Gorka) Benitez (tenor sax/flute) a good deal of space to explore as soloists. … Kell and (Joe) Smith (drums) lay down a stellar groove and Cardenas and Benitez are way in the pocket with their solos.”

Many other Class of 1975 types are on the class notes radar screen, but this column has reached its word limit. Mari and I promise to include in the next column all the news from everyone who responded to my November e-mail.

Alan Cantor

3 Hampshire Hills Dr.

Bow NH 03304

603-230-9645

AlanCantor@BlueLink.andover.edu

First things first: We have ourselves a reunion coming up! Do your best to save June 9, 10 and 11 for fun and frivolity on the Hill. Chris Bensley has offered to help chair the event. (If you’d like to support Chris, please give Maggie Carbone a call at the Office of Alumni Affairs: 978-749-4282.) And if you’re self-conscious about looking old, make note that this is our last chance to cavort before we hit our (gasp!) 50s, so you might as well plan on taking part while you’re still young.

Joe Salvo seems to have made a head start on returning to PA. In October Dr. Joe pulled into campus in General Electric’s “Mobile Solutions Center” truck, so as to demonstrate the VeriWise Asset Intelligence System, a device he helped develop for G.E. Joe’s gizmo uses G.P.S. technology to track shipping boxes, tractor-trailers, ships—just about anything that moves—as they travel around the globe. Though Joe is too busy inventing cool stuff to send his own account of the visit, writers for The Eagle-Tribune and The Phillipian were suitably impressed—and Joe looked great in the accompanying photos.

Lee Day checked in from New York City, where he has turned to writing after a career in photography and Web site design. Lee is working on a thriller about an American in Jerusalem, and he recently returned from a research visit to Israel. He reports that Jerusalem was relatively quiet during his stay. “One night there was this big boom from fireworks (apparently), and no one even flinched. I went through 9/11 in Lower Manhattan, and I [now] flinch near construction sites when they drop metal plates.”

Marc Lewis writes that he has helped found a new global, senior-level retained executive search firm, Leadership Capital Group, working with information-based companies, from technology to financial services to healthcare. “On the personal front, I’m living in Westport, Conn., on the Saugatuck River near highway exit 17, and working to balance getting in shape with family and new business opportunities.”

Rob Middlebrook gave a thumbnail report on an impromptu Class of ’76 reunion during Parents’ Weekend at Andover this fall: “Caught up with Amy Lord Wilkinson, Jack Shoemaker, Betsy Roscoe Morin, Chris Auguste, Peter St. Louis and Anita Thomas Koolen. Did not see Shelley Slade, Tim Draper, Lisa Barlow, Laura Kramer and Steve Kent, but I understand they were also around.” Adds Jack Shoemaker, “Two observations about changes in the past 30 years: The Andover student population now matches society as a whole, that is, roughly 50-50, with slightly more females. I am sure that this has changed the general gestalt of the place for the better. And the paraphernalia of dorm life has changed. I don’t recall moving in with a laptop, printer, iPod plus base unit, and cell phone. Yet, that is exactly my daughter’s footprint, as well as her roommate’s.”

Another current Andover parent is Brooke Webster, who writes that she saw Tim Draper and Julie O’Donnell Allen at their Stanford reunion. I ran into Brooke, Chris Auguste, Richard Babson and Chris Bensley at PA during a recent meeting at Andover. All are well.

Small world department: There I was a few Sundays ago in the tiny town of Henniker, N.H., and who calls out my name but … Jim Horowitz? Jim was part of the entourage accompanying Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who was making a series of appearances in these parts. Jim, who worked for many years in banking in New York, now lives in Miami Beach, and he keeps busy with real estate investing and developing, writing and (as shown by this visit) a bit of politics. It was great to see him.

Fortune Magazine featured Tim Draper in its Oct. 17 issue, describing him as “the hottest venture capitalist on the planet.” Tim, in a note to me this summer, seemed more excited about coming in third in a vacation-week swim race at Fire Island, N.Y. Also writing from summer vacation was Dennis Driscoll, who reports that he and his family spent a beach day on Cape Cod with Dennis Murphy and his wife and four children. “The Murphys then returned to France in early August for Dennis’s 25th year in Europe,” he reports.

I’m just back from Europe myself, as my wife and son and I visited our daughter (an exchange student in Prague) over Thanksgiving. It was my first trip outside of North America in two decades, and it made me think of the several of you living abroad and many more of us scattered throughout the country. Here’s to seeing as many of you as possible in June, and here’s wishing you all the best.

Buck Burnaman

203-834-9776

bburnaman@msn.com (new)

Editor’s note: See the Abbot ’63 class notes for information about former classmate Peter King.

Douglas Batt

34 Colonial Dr.

Mansfield MA 02048-3095

dbatt@concord.com

Nick Strauss

945 South New St.

West Chester PA 19382

infinitysw@comcast.net

ncs@alum.mit.edu

I drove up to Andover for Leaders’ Weekend, ate lunch with Jim Phelps and Bill “BVD” Vandeventer and heard inspirational non-sibi speeches, including one from Barbara Chase about putting up beds and courses for Hurricane Katrina high school kid victims. Before driving, I looked into flying my plane and taking a bus or train, and found out about the demise of the Trombly bus line. I, for one, remember Saturday day trips into Boston and Cambridge. No more—now bus service is via the MVRTA and runs weekdays only.

Marcia and Nobuhisa Ishizuka were back for Parents’ Weekend and were struck by how talented the students are and how much school spirit is around campus. Nobuhisa writes, “We feel very fortunate to have Andover as part of our lives.” Their daughter Megumi just started as a lower this fall, and she absolutely loves it. They had a very nice dinner with Chris Shaw at his house. He is as youthful as ever in outlook as well as in appearance.

Anna Durham was also back—to attend former instructor Frank Eccles’ funeral. Tom Lyons did the remembrance and really captured who Mr. Eccles was and how much he contributed in his 80 years—an outstanding job. The church was standing room only, and Mr. Lyons had them all laughing and crying. Anna ran into Lee Apgar, who was there with two of his children. She also caught up with Mr. Lux, in great shape and good humor. Anna is our new class agent and welcomes participation—contact her at anna.durham@ge.com. And more news from Anna and her long arm: Carol O’Donoghue Willett has two kids, Phoebe, a fantastic fourth grader, and Cal, who is in his third year at The Sage School, a K-8 school for gifted children. Carol does executive search concentrating on the high tech industry.

Seventeen years ago, Ellen Knox and Richard Ward reconnected at a bongo fest, fell in love, married and decided to travel around the world together. They now have two beautiful boys and live in the Netherlands. On a bright day in April a card arrived in their mailbox with a cartoon sketch of a rakish caped character on a rooftop gesturing like a spy on the run, an obvious cartoon of our beloved classmate John Moynihan. Ellen smiled, remembering John’s capers, and turned the card over expecting some words of wit on the flip side. But, no, the card had a cryptic message in Dutch, was not sent from the U.S. and didn’t even have the correct address. The postcard from the universe was a portent of the sad news of John’s early passing (received the next day), but also a poignant reminder of his style in this plane and the next. Viewing the posthumously prepared DVD of his cinematic work shows the rare genius that was John. Everyone should seek out a copy.

Chris Mastrangelo writes from Annandale, Va. His 7-year-old daughter, Alexandra, has just finished her second season as a goalie for her soccer team, and his 10-year-old Elisabeth wants to go to drama camp next summer.

Back home, in Philadelphia, I worked the Times crossword puzzle with Janet Milkman ’79. She got the ones that stumped me. When she’s not running marathons or being mom for two kids, she’s running 10,000 Friends, an alliance of organizations and individuals committed to enhancing the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians.

In November I flew five boy scouts from Troop 959 in my Cessna 150 for the annual Young Eagles charity event at our Wilmington flight test center. The Young Eagles program provides meaningful flight experience to young people ages 8 to 17. —Nick

Amy Appleton

202-338-3807

Applta9@aol.com

Rick Moseley

215-753-8809

rmoseley@doxentric.com

Doug Segal

323-969-0708

dougsegal@earthlink.net