Charlie Bronson
chasbronson@gmail.com
Sally Keating ’72 (second from left) and her husband, Michael, visited their daughter, Clare, and son-in-law, Ryan, in South Africa.
Bob Stockman
stockman@groupoutcome.com
A message from Sally Keating: “My husband, Michael, and I were fortunate to be able to make a trip to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in December to visit our daughter, Clare, and South African son-in-law, Ryan, who live and work north of Durban. They are our ‘tour guides’ and birders extraordinaire, allowing us to ‘bag’ (in binoculars and some in photographs) over 250 species of birds, including the stunning bearded vulture. The diversity of flora and fauna in Southern Africa is mind-boggling and heartening.”
Alden Stevens
ahs472@optonline.net
A note from George Ohrstrom: “I’m very involved in natural resource protection at both a state and regional level in Virginia. Married 35 years, no kids, live on a farm in the last bastion of country in northwestern Virginia. Lots of orthopedic issues, but still walking a couple of miles a day with six dogs. After I graduated from UVA, I couldn’t find any work that involved an English degree, and became a cabinet maker’s assistant. I built cabinets and furniture for 25 years and during the last five years of that, I also got very involved in natural resource protection.”
Chris Rulon-Miller
chrisrulon@mac.com
A reminder that on June 1, we will be celebrating our 45th reunion. We had more than 70 alumni back for our 40th and hope to get close to that for our 45th. We are promising excellent entertainment and an open bar. There is also a golf tournament on Friday morning at Concord Country Club. We already have 15 formmates signed up for reunion, so go the the website at www.sps.edu/1974, check out the details, and sign up now. You can also see who else is attending.
Matt Dallett checks in with this news: “My goddaughter, Sophie Wondolowski (daughter of Mitchell Wondolowski and Laura Herhold) was married to Robert Cross in June 2018, in the lovely garden of Mitchell and Laura’s house in Hamilton, Mass. Rick Witsell and his wife, Denise Kearns, were also part of the lively party.”
(L to r.) Rick Witsell ’74 and formmates Mitchell Wondolowski and Matt Dallett at the wedding of Mitch’s daughter, Sophie.
Blaine Carter ’75 (second from l.) and Greg Love ’76, with their daughters, Nina and Kathleen, at the Summer Club Rowing Championships, Camden, N.J.
Carl Lovejoy
clovejoy2@gmail.com
My wife, Cari, and I welcomed our third grandchild – another girl – to the family. Born on September 22 in Summit, N.J., Quinn Avery Lovejoy is the daughter of our eldest son, Ben, and his wife, Avery.
From Blaine Carter: “My daughter, Nina, recently participated in the Summer Club Rowing Championships in Camden, N.J., Nina rowed in the five seat of her eight (I rowed in the five seat of the legendary SPS 1975 eight), and rowing in front of her in the six seat was Kathleen Love, daughter of Greg Love ’76 (who rowed in the six seat of the 1975 SPS eight). What a small world. What serendipity!”
Jim Tung
jcptung@gmail.com
Catherine Lievens Gallagher writes: “I ventured across the country to visit family and friends, and even take a tour of the SPS campus. I stopped by to visit with Jon Panek and his lovely wife, Jessie. Decades have passed and experiences abound, but we had fun realizing we’re still the same basic people we were back at school.”
Meg Ziegler Ferguson and Harry Ferguson send a joint update: “We will be spending more time in the Boston and New Hampshire areas, as Ellie Ferguson McLane ’06, Alex McLane ’06, Jeff Ferguson ’10, and Jeff’s fiancée, Sarah Cunningham, are now all living in Boston. Otherwise, we continue living in Baltimore, where Harry is leading efforts to create the new software to get discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope and Meg is an attorney for the Baltimore County Police Department. Very happy to report that Harry has fully recovered from his surprise heart bypass surgery.”
Isabel Nieves Salaman ’78 returned for her 40th, accompanied by brother Severo Nieves, Jr. ’76.
Cathy Gallagher ’77 stopped to see formmate Jon Panek during her cross-country road trip.
Nora Tracy Phillips
noratphil@aol.com
Jon Sweet
Jsweet1000@gmail.com
Nora Tracy Phillips was given the experience of a lifetime, having been chosen to play an extra in several scenes of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming film adaptation of Little Women. If her image doesn’t wind up making a slippery, soft covering for the floor of some Hollywood cutting room, it might be the makings for a pretty fun drinking game.
Linda Richards writes that she is thrilled to have left the NYC rat race and to have settled into a lovely restored farmhouse in the New Hampshire Lakes Region. She says that she is looking forward to building up a QuickBooks consulting practice and to attending more events in Millville.
Anne Bartol Butterfield reports that “2018 was the year I got into shareholder activism through Rachel’s Network and As You Sow. Along the way, I got to meet shareholder activist rock star Natasha Lamb of Arjuna Capital. I had read her quotes in journals and seen her YouTube, and there she was, coming up to meet me at the annual meeting of a huge company we invested in (nothing quite like hearing the director of a major pension fund opine on how to move a major company during a lunch that she arranged on the fly). Curious about this activity? Reach me at Annefarr45@comcast.net. Also, if you’re in Maine in August, stop by Prouts Neck (aka Millville by the Sea) and say hi.”
Thor Thors writes that he and his wife are so glad that Tiffany and Jon Sweet are spending more time on the East Coast. “It gives us more chances to get together – in astonishment, as our kids will be in college soon.”
A recent New Canaan Winter Club House League hockey game featured former SPS hockey greats Bancroft Jones ’88, Joe Zorumski ’95, Mason Wells ’80 and Pete Bostwick ’74, along with Delphian third-line sniper Jon Old.
Anne Bartol Butterfield ’78 with Natasha Lamb.
Former SPS hockey greats (l. to r.) Bancroft Jones ’88, Joe Zorumski ’95, Mason Wells ’80, Jon Old ’78, and Pete Bostwick ’74.
Jon ’78 and Tiffany Sweet enjoying an evening out with Melissa and Thor Thors ’78.
Liz Robbins
lizrobbins325@gmail.com
Kedron Barrett sends this note: “Recently I had the privilege of curating a family exhibition, the opening show at the new Crumpacker Gallery, followed by a week at the School as visiting artist. That, too, was a privilege. It had been 30 years since I had last seen the School, and I must admit to a certain inclination not to return at all, lest all the changes that have taken place in the interim somehow get in the way of memories of growing up on campus and of my years as a student. Nothing, of course, could have been further from the truth.
In fact, all the changes – and there are many – are for the better. Even the building I will probably always refer to as Hargate, part of my childhood (as my parents spent nearly as much time there as they did at home) and a focal point of my student years as well, serves the community admirably in its new role as student center. The academic campus now achieves a genuine grouping of the arts, humanities, and sciences. And the students? I felt immediately at ease with them; the atmosphere was in many ways recognizable, as if the students of the 1970s weren’t that far removed from those of today. Yet they seemed more considerate of one another than I remember in my time. In Chapel, students honor fellow students for acts of generosity. Even though I was only there for a week, I was regularly greeted by students on the paths, in Chapel, or in line at the dining hall, telling me how much they’d enjoyed my talk, or that they’d told a friend about the class I did the other day. I’d like to think I told my teachers how much I appreciated their classes back when I was a student; perhaps I did, but I can’t recall it.
As far as the daily schedule is concerned, a recent change is Chapel at 8:30 a.m., one I wish had been made 45 years ago. The quality of dining is exceptional and enhanced by the absence of trays, a decision that has apparently saved significant amounts of waste. Seating in the main dining hall seems to follow the same unwritten rules of more than 40 years ago, which made me think of how liberating Seated Meals could be. I understand that a majority of students would favor increasing the number of Seated Meals from the present level, which is next to nothing compared to my student days. (Then again, having had faculty parents, I recall their lack of enthusiasm for that institution). There are more changes than I need list here. What prevails is the familiar, also in the broader sense of the word. The only thing I couldn’t quite get used to was being addressed by students as ‘Mr. Barrett.’”
From Anne Benning: “After 16 months out because of a fire, we finally moved back into our house in October. Once again I got to cheer on several SPS friends at the Head of the Charles, including Charlie Andrews. I see Liz (Robbins) and Chrissie (Wood) periodically. Liz and I attended Lessons and Carols at the School in December, which brought back nice memories. Sadly, they have dropped singing “Adeste Fideles” in Latin. My current favorite running playlist is Dave Ross’s Low Sparks Songs for the Form of 1979 Evening, which works well with my slow pace of somewhere between turtle and snail.”
Sarah Bankson Newton writes from Concord, Mass.: “Not much going on except Chase graduated from the University Miami in December. Now only two kids in school.”