June 2002

Greetings to all - It’s been over a year since the last newsletter. Sorry for the long delay, but in fact I have had precious little to report. I guess if the newsletter were more frequent it would stimulate inputs, so I’ll try to get back on a six-month schedule. Fortunately, several people responded to a recent e-mail, so we do have some news and happenings. So…

Well, actually, let’s start with one from outside the country. Beth Porter, still happily living in England, has all sorts of things going on in her life and business. She continues to be involved in a variety of enterprises, the latest of which is writing a novel. She wrote that it’s "a family saga which was inspired by the amazing stories I discovered when I researched my family tree." She will also be meeting Princess Anne in July. The princess is interested in some work Beth has been doing in association with the Avon Youth Association. Beth has lots more to tell us, and those of you on-line can access it on the "In the Meantime" page.

Lydia (Lockridge) Morrongiello spent some time with Cathie Smith recently in NY City while Cathie was there for a trade show. Lydia and Sandra (Donham) Garner and Reid Reynolds have also had several get-togethers in Aspen. Sounds like a good spot for a mini-reunion. On a somber note, Lydia’s husband Charlie was diagnosed in March with pancreatic cancer. He is recovering well from surgery and has completed radiation therapy, but must now face an aggressive chemotherapy regimen. Our prayers are with Charlie and Lydia.

Cathie Smith, after 37 years in California has transferred to her company’s home office in Illinois. She is still Director of Marketing, but now gets to do it all at the home office. She reports that she enjoys experiencing Spring again. She also promises some pics of the get-together in Aspen. Hopefully you will be able to view those on the “In the Meantime” page once Cathie gets all unpacked. Her new address is 2025C North Main St., Wheaton, Illinois, 60187 and you can email her at smith@perrygraf.com.

Gay Mayer and his wife recently became grandparents. The little girl, Julia, was born three months early and weighed in at 1 lb. 9 ounces. She was in intensive care for six weeks, but is doing fine and weighs 9 pounds now, and, according to Gay, "has all the right moves for a little girl."

Ascher Sellner retired in March, on his 60^th birthday. He is still busy as President of the Wilson’s Disease Association and as a board member of the National Organization for Rare Diseases. His kids are doing fine, as is wife Carol, who is an internationally recognized doll artist.

Just back not so fresh from 40th reunion of class of '62. a great time was had by all. Many teachers came back. Our news: Satchel Davidson born 7/11/00 is our new pride and joy. I am a very fortunate "Franma" to be able to watch him 2 days a week and build a wonderful relationship with him as has his "Bampa". Love to all, Fran

Sandy (Wallin) McGinness sent a very moving note outlining her battle with breast cancer. She was diagnosed 3 and a half years ago, and is doing fine now. She has a lot of words of encouragement to all the "girls" out there about early detection and regular mammograms. Space prevents me from including it all, but the full text is available at "In the Meantime."

Doug Weiss and wife Marianne have moved to Sarasota. He says he hasn’t retired yet and they are both working out of the home, just as they were in Redding. He does however see a fishing boat in his future. They live on Siesta Key, on the canal, so he says both the fish and the other boaters better start watching out. Hmm… my mom doesn’t live far from there…. Doug’s new address is 552 Commonwealth Lane, Sarasota, FL 34242.

Fitzhugh news: In addition to holding the line against commercialization of the Smithsonian by its new director and running the Dept. of Anthropology (again), Bill is doing archaeological fieldwork in Mongolia this month and Gulf of St. Lawrence after that. As for me, I am happily reverting to my nest-building and even pre-adolescence (tree-climbing, brook-damming) stages--remodeling and landscaping our wonderful new mountaintop house in Fairlee, VT, with our one-year-old mutt Mikki. We still live in Washington, DC, but since I have finally cut the last ties to my fundraising career, I hope to spend a lot of time here writing the next book. Come visit! We've got hiking trails, killer White Mountain/Lake Morey views, skiing, the most amazing assortment of birds and wild berries, Dartmouth College, lots of Fitzhughs and old friends scattered around, and at the bottom of the hill, swimming, sailing, golf, and tennis. Sound like heaven? It's close enough for me!

Lois (Schrader) Wolcheck celebrated her 60^th in style. The family rented a house on Isle of Palms in South Carolina, and her three children and four grandchildren were all there. It was the first time in 15 years they were all together. They will all gather together again in August when son John gets married in Connecticut. On a sad note, Lois wrote that her dad passed away last summer at the age of 90. Lois’s parents were married for 61 years.

Nick Bowen visited here a few months back and we had a great time catching up and making music together again. Nick had hurt his finger, so didn't bring his guitar, but with him on

harmonica, and me on my dad's old guitar, we played a lot of the old songs we used to do together. What a great time and great memories!

Izzy Miraco continues her killer pace with outdoor activities. Her recent canoe and kayak trips have included the Smith River in Montana and she will be doing the Dease River in British Columbia this summer. Izzy got together in May with Bill and Joan (Kather) Henry at their new home on the Olympic Peninsula here in Washington State

And Liz (Lewis) Usborne wins the "Coincidence of the Year" award. She and hubby Roger met a fellow at the Dartmouth reunion who had lived in Chappaqua. As they began comparing notes, it turned out that this guy had bought and lived in her old house back in the 70s when her dad retired. Small world.

Kit (Thomas) Weiss recently returned from a week-long family reunion on Cape Cod. There were 65 (count them, 65) Thomases there! Her daughter, who is in the Air Force (yay!) came all the way from Turkey and won the prize for "came the furthest." Kit and hubby Ralph celebrated their 40th during the reunion as well. Kit is writing a historical novel about the Mayflower and was in England not long ago doing research at the new Mayflower Museum. She has lots of other interesting things to report, and I have the whole text of her message at "In the Meantime."

Brian and Becky (Beckworth) Walsh continue to do well. Becky recently received her PhD. in counseling from Loyala University. Brian's company was acquired by CACI in November, and Brian says "somehow I was made a vice-president." They have a second grandchild, Nicholas, born in February. He and Becky are building a log cabin in western Maryland. Brian says it is rumored to be near a lake. Ready for visitors in September.

Will Risley is still teaching Spanish and Portuguese at University of Wisconsin, and as of July has managed to make that full-time, instead of having double duty between the Department of Languages and Department of Liberal Studies. He also reports the following:

If I recall correctly Ann Bliss did her law degree here at UW-Madison. She'd be interested to see how a renovation has expanded the law school out toward the sidewalk on Bascom Hill, the most revered part of the campus, and has ended the former nice alignment of the buildings along Bascom Mall. And work has begun on a $99,000,000 expansion of...the football stadium. Ah, Progress!

In March one day, I received, out of the blue, an e-mail from Lorraine (Price) Muth. She was with us through 10^th grade, and then went away to school and to college in the west. Lorraine is an RN at a hospital in Kalispell, Montana and also works as a nurse for the ski patrol at Big Mountain in Whitefish. Husband Bob teaches 6^th grade (I like him already) and they have two children and grandchildren. She and Peggy Dickenson have stayed in touch and in fact Peggy will be visiting there in July. You can contact Lorraine at lauriem@cyberport.net.

Steve Walsh is about 90% completed building a new home in the Jacksonville area. They will transition down there over the next couple of years. He also mentions that he will be getting together with Swede Murphy and Peter Kilburn and their families in July at the Murphy summer residence in Little Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire, at which time they will all celebrate their 60^th birthdays.

Well, that seems to be the theme of this letter. This is the year just about all of us turn 60.It seems like when we were kids 60 sounded awfully old. Now that we are there, it doesn’t feel old at all. I have noticed however, that the things kids learn in school about "History" are often things we learned as "Current Events." At the ’93 reunion, Allan Campbell spoke of many of the momentous events we had seen since high school, and I can’t help but think of them now, too. We watched, and in some cases, participated in, armed conflict in Korea, Viet Nam, and the Persian Gulf, and other places. We saw the beginning, and end, of the Cold War, and it dominated our lives for many years. The Berlin Wall went up in ’61 and down in ’89. We saw a president assassinated, another forced to resign, and yet another impeached. We read in disbelief when the Russians "beat us" into space with Sputnik, in 1957, and then watched the whole space program unfold before our eyes, culminating with men walking on the moon in 1969. The space shuttle changed the space program, and we watched on horrified when the Challenger exploded in 1986. The whole computer revolution happened after we were teenagers and even now the Internet continues to change our lives. Speaking of things that changed our lives, remember your first TV? Our nation grew from 48 states to 50 while we were still in school. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legalized segregation and the systematic disenfranchisement of Blacks. The role of women has changed drastically since we were kids. Of course, the horrific events of last September and the war on terrorism dominate the news now. And through it all, as America rolled on like an army of

locomotives, the one constant was baseball! Yes, Ray, baseball…. oops, wait a minute, that’s from Field of Dreams. Sorry, I got carried away. Well, I’m sure there’s other things you might want to add, but it sure is a lot of "History" for kids to learn. And while we may not be old yet, we sure are, well… experienced!

And, if you were born between Feb. 15th 1942 and Feb. 4th, 1943, here is the Chinese interpretation, courtesy of Carlos Ballantyne. Those born between 15 Feb 1942 and 4 Feb 1943 are born in the Chinese Year of the Horse. 2002 is also a Horse year which portends transformations of all kinds for its denizens. Some idea of the types of changes that could occur for Horses during this year can be found by looking back at previous Horse Years : 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990

As many of you know, Carlos is a well-known photographer, and often sends samples of his work. I just posted one on the "In the Meantime" page, and it is worth a look!

AND FINALLY - If you are interested in what’s happening back at Greeley, you can access the school paper online now. The URL is www.greeleytribune.org and it’s worth a look. There are even archived versions of back issues available. It’s a quality product, and the current issue has a cover story about the remodeling effort underway. It also has a very interesting opinion piece entitled "Headed in the Wrong Direction" that deals with some local events that made the news not only in Chappaqua, but nationally as well. Might be worth a look.

Well, once again, be sure to send me any information you want to share with classmates. I’ll try to do a better job of getting this thing out more regularly. The time just seems to go by so fast.

"Life is like a roll of toilet paper – the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."