Berkshire Bulletin Centennial Issue

B E R K S H I R EB E R K S H I R ESUMMER/FALL 2007

B U L L E T I N

S P E C I A L C E N T E N N I A L E D I T I O N , V O L . I

O P E N I N G S H O T

A note on the typography Please note that the names of living alumni are BOLD-FACED,those of deceased alumni are CAPITALIZED, and those of living former and current faculty and staff members and trustees are in upper and lower case and bold-faced.

For Parents of Alumni Only If this issue is addressed to your daughter/son who no longer maintains a permanentaddress at your home, please notify the Alumni Office with the correct mailing address. Email [email protected] phone 413-229-1240.

B E R K S H I R EB U L L E T I N

S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 0 7

B E R K S H I R E

able in my The Buck who stopped here.

He is our Lincoln: a man of vision,integrity, courage, and, in the words of a colleague,“wide-ranging sympathies.”And soit is no accident that this issue, the first of twoBerkshire Bulletins to mark the school’sCentennial, celebrates not only the school’sfounding, but its founder as well.

Seaver Burton Buck, known to friends asBurt or Burtie, overcame a hardscrabblechildhood in rural Maine to earn a Harvarddegree at the age of 29 and become a seniormaster at the Hackley School in Tarrytown,N.Y. When his hopes for the headmastershipthere were dashed—N. Horton Batchelder,Mr. Buck’s Hackley colleague and futureheadmaster of Loomis School, writes that Mr.Buck “refused an offer of parents to petitionthe trustees that he be made headmaster, say-ing his record was already known; and whenhe resigned he made no announcement ofplans until after Hackley graduation”—hefounded his own school in a house and sever-al farm buildings on the country estate of afriendly Hackley parent in the Berkshires.

In his introduction to Mr. Buck’s autobi-ography, Batchelder writes:“An anxiousfriend asked [Harvard] Dean Briggs if theschool could succeed, and received theanswer, ’All Buck’s life has been overcom-ing obstacles, and no obstacle can seem tohim insurmountable.’”

Bachtelder adds that upon Mr. Buck’sretirement in 1942—he would die eight yearslater,“gray, but keen-eyed and eager to thelast”—Colgate conferred the degree ofDoctor of Letters upon “a graduate with highhonors from the School of Adversity, andsummarized his career, ’The high standard ofachievement he set for the school, his ruggedidealism, and sympathetic understanding ofhis boys, and his skill in administration placehim in the worthy tradition of the great NewEngland schoolmasters.’”

2 From the Headmaster

3 From the Head of School

4 Reaction / Round Up the Usual Suspects

5 Under the Dome

12 Bears at Play

14 Odd Jobs

15 CentennialEyewitnesses to History p.16 • Coast to Coast Toast p. 26

The Case for Kirstein p. 32 • Event Preview p. 36

Berkshire Bonds p. 38 • Ten from Twiggs p. 30

Alumnames p .47

48 Faculty Flash

51 Building a Better Berkshire

58 Networking

60 Googling Alumni

62 Student Voices: Ritt and Me

64 Reunion Gallery

72 Class Notes

96 Former Faculty & Staff News & Notes

99 In Memoriam

105 Myers Mystery Photo Contest

HANS CARSTENSEN ’66President, Board of Trustees

Michael J. MaherHead of School

John E. OrmistonDirector of Developmentand Alumni Affairs

KEIRA MCKENNA HOLBROUGH ’92Director of Alumni Affairs/Class Notes Editor

C. TWIGGS MYERS HON. ’57 Archivist

Editor:James HarrisDirector of [email protected]

Class notes:[email protected]

Photo Credits:Tucker Walsh ’08,James Harris, Frank Barros,BILL SPALDING ’65

Design by Julie Hammill,Hammill Design,www.hammilldesign.com

Printing by Quality Printing Company,Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Published twice a year by Berkshire School’s Office ofDevelopment and Alumni Affairs.Third-class postage paid at Sheffield, MA.

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B E R K S H I R E S C H O O L • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 0 7

From the Headmaster School opened on October 1st, with eleven members, and in the two intervening months has fairly

started upon its course. Since then the number of boys has been increased to fourteen. Meantime wehave formed an Athletic Association, and the hockey squad comprises nearly the whole school. Fourdays a week were usually given up to practice in shooting the puck and, before the ice was safe, tofierce games of land hockey. Lately there has been hare-and-hound runs on Saturday afternoonswhich have proved to be splendid exercise and good fun.

The spirit of the school is good, but it could be made better if certain points were clearly under-stood. Firstly, this is a new school and has no standard or reputation to live up to, and therefore wehave to make that reputation and that standard for ourselves and our followers to support. Everyschool has to start by being small, and the first boys have the say, in a large degree, whether it shall begood or not good.

If the first boys of the school start with a spirit of good fellowship, leading clean straight lives andrendering absolute obedience to the faculty, that school will in all probability be a success. If, on theother hand, the first boys of a school are continually quarreling and have little or no respect for theirmasters, that school will not be a good one. For what whatever spirit or tone a school begins it willtend to maintain that tone or spirit. Now, since we are the first boys of Berkshire School, we areentrusted with its future and surely we wish to prove ourselves worthy and to make the school some-thing to be proud. In this we can succeed if we realize that not only what we do and what we are upto here, but also what we are and do at home will make the school what it is going to be. Let us,therefore, try, during the coming vacation, and during all the vacations which are to follow, to behavein such a way that the school will have that reputation for gentlemanly behavior, trustworthiness anddeference to elders, that it should have. Let us have so great an interest in the school that if at anytime we wish to do something, no matter how trivial, which, if known, would hurt the school’s repu-tation, we should refrain from doing it. Even if one of us should not happen to care, at least let himbe generous enough to think of those who do care and who are trying to give the school a good start.Each and every one of us represents the school and whatever we do is taken as the sort of thing that isgenerally done by Berkshire School boys. So let us have all that we do above reproach, that we mayearn a truly fine reputation for Berkshire School—for our school.

The other point is rather more definite and has to do with unity. The old saying,“A house dividedagainst itself shall surely fall,” is applicable to a school also. For if a school is to be a success, it mustnot be split up into cliques and groups of twos and threes, with each group for itself and caring not atall for the others. Let it be one whole unit and then it will prosper. Of course it is more agreeable tobe with our special friends than with those about whom we do not care so much; but it is the schoolthat we must think of and not our individual selves. We do not wish to say that it is wrong to havespecial friends. Nothing is more valuable than a good friend. But we do say that it is bad for theschool if we go with those friends exclusively and all the time. So let us unite,“go” with everybody,join in everything—be part of the school!

(from the first Dome, 1907)

From the Head of SchoolSeaver Buck’s message on the opposite page rings as true at Berkshire today as it did one hundred years

ago. I share his belief that our students are primarily responsible for their experience and that they deter-mine more than anything else the school’s reputation. Mr. Buck sought out students who were honest,hardworking, and respectful to adults and each other. We look for these same qualities today, and theyare the pillars supporting our character-based admission policy. I am particularly intrigued by Mr. Buck’sbelief in unity as the basis for a strong community. Berkshire continues to be one of the most sociallyintegrated school communities that I have seen. Students have their own groups of friends; however,they generally include all students in their activities. I am especially proud of the spirit of mentorship thatexists here. Older students take their responsibilities as role models very seriously and treat younger stu-dents with respect and dignity.

Mr. Buck’s vision of Berkshire School is very much alive in other ways. We still believe deeply in foster-ing a respect and appreciation for the outdoors. We have more students on the mountain for recreationaland academic purposes than ever before. We share Buck’s commitment to developing the individuality ofeach student. No student is anonymous at Berkshire, and we have the opportunity because of our smallsize to get to know each student personally. Mr. Buck took great pride in knowing the students well. Thisis still the case today. When seniors walk across the stage on graduation day, I know each student’s storyand usually played some part in it. But above all things, Seaver Buck believed that his school’s main mission,and the most important responsibility of its faculty, was to develop a curiosity in children so that they loveto learn—not only at Berkshire, but also in their endeavors beyond. Our students graduate with an under-standing that they have an obligation to use their education here to make the world a better place. Ourcommitment to life-long learning and to service, which distinguished the school at its founding, continuesto be the primary mission of our school today. Let it be our focus for the next one-hundred years as well.

MICHAEL J. MAHER,

HEAD OF SCHOOL


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Mike Maher joins the prefects in presenting a

Berkshire birthday cake to students before the

Coast to Coast Toast on October 11.

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For Peter

I recently learned that PETER CULKIN ’82 had died (Fall’06/Winter ’07 Bulletin). I’m certain that this picturewould bring back some fond memories to those whoknew him.

BRIAN BARTON ’83

[email protected]

R O U N D U P T H E U S U A L S U S P E C T S

Correction from the last issue of the Berkshire Bulletin

The caption for this photo of the Berkshirecontingent at the wedding of David and SARAH

CUSHWA DIVINE ’99 in the summer of 2006 washopelessly scrambled last issue, so let’s try it again.From left are former Berkshire English teacherProctor Smith, EVIE ULLMAN ’99, MICHAEL

GUTENPLAN ’99, EVE BRUNEAU ’00, MARANNIE

RAWLS-PHILLIPE ’00, TIMUR PAKAY ’98, ADRIAN

CUSHWA ’04, the bride, BROOKE BEEBE ’00,

and JOHN BEEBE ’06.

Letters to the Editor:Berkshire Bulletin, 245 North Undermountain Road,Sheffield, MA 01257-1019 [email protected]

*

More who serveEditor’s note: “Seven Who Serve,” the cover story of the last issue of the

Bulletin, prompted news of other alumni who are making the world a better

place, including:

KAREN WIBREW ’87 is director of planned giving forTennyson Center for Children at Colorado ChristianHome. Tennyson Center for Children at ColoradoChristian Home was founded as an orphanage in 1904.When the orphanage system was abolished,TCC/CCHbecame a residential and day treatment center for abusedand neglected children.

For the past three years, RJ MOON ’04, now a senior at St.Lawrence College, has organized a group of volunteers tohelp the owners of an organic farm near campus.The proj-ects they’ve completed include pouring sixty thousandpounds of concrete in walks between the house and variousplaces on the farm so one of the owners can get to thegreenhouse and barns in her wheelchair, building a newbarn so the size of the herd of pigs could be increased, andbuilding a second new barn for other animals on the farm.As a senior at Berkshire, RJ and classmate DUNCAN

MCFARLAND raised nearly $10,000 for the Make A WishFoundation by going on a five-day hike from Kent,Connecticut, to Berkshire School in the middle of winter.

PETER CULKIN ’82 (second from left) at the 1982 seniorprom with Head of School James Moore, faculty member John Toffey, and JOE MIAZGA ’83.


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A new look at leadershipBy David Newman, sixth-form dean

With our Centennial celebration year comes myriadopportunities to try new and exciting adventures. TheLeadership Experience for the sixth form is no excep-tion. The focus for the class of 2008 this year is tobond as a class while simultaneously developing cooper-ative team building and leadership skills.

In late September, over one hundred sixth-formersand nine faculty members traveled to Fishkill, NewYork, to spend two days with the Mountain Workshopgroup (www.mountainworkshop.com). Throughout theweekend, students were able to confront personal obsta-cles such as a fear of heights, to lead a group of theirpeers, and to learn how to follow directives as part of ateam trying to accomplish a specific task. Whether itwas canoeing on the Hudson River, building rafts andgo-carts from pieces of PVC pipe, or facing the chal-lenges of both the high and low ropes course, the stu-dents put forth their best effort.

Sixth-formers set out on the historic Hudson River during a Leadership Experience workshop.

This year’s experience differs from those of the recent pastin that it focuses more intently on the experiential aspect ofleadership and team building skills. In addition, the subse-quent experiences throughout the year will build upon thefirst weekend spent in Fishkill. The lessons learned by thestudents over the course of that first weekend will be vitalto revisit as their personal limitations continue to be tested.

The sixth form will work with Mountain Workshopthroughout the remainder of the Leadership Experience forthe 2007-2008 school year, on campus and in other localvenues in order to highlight the opportunities that theSouthern Berkshires provide. True to life, the overall successof the program depends upon the willingness of the studentsto think and act outside of their comfort zones. Welcomingpersonal challenges and pushing to learn more about theirindividual identity will yield invaluable skills to tackle life’schallenges that lie beyond Berkshire. This Centennial yearprovides the opportunity for the class of 2008 to not onlybe a part of Berkshire’s history, but to start a new chapter inthe history of the school’s second century.

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Berkshire Bloodlines

Top row, from left: Cindy Sperl ’10: sister Suzanne ’06; Kimberly Scala ’11: sisters Suzanne ’07, Laura ’05,Stephanie ’03, Jen ’00; Clara Murfey ’09: sister Libby ’02, father Skip ’67; Katie George ’08: sisters Caroline ’03,Christen ’01, father Michael ’77;Taryn Blume ’08: sister Meghan ’04, mother Honor ’80; Liza Muhlfeld ’08: sisterEmilie ’05, father Rich ’69; Lindsay Harnett ’10: mother Jennifer ’81; Jack Morrison ’10: brother Brad ’08, sisterThea ’06; Meredith Fulco ’10: sister Tara ’07, father Tim ’78; Sierra Labonte ’10: sisters Jacqueline ’05,Ashley’02; Brad Morrison ’08: brother Jack ’10, sister Thea ’06;Tim Staino ’08; brother Dan ’05, grandfather RobertDoyle ’49; Matthew Kong ’09: sister Allison ’06; Middle row, from left: Elizabeth Harris ’11: brother Charles ’01;Tammie Kong: sister Allison ’06; Jack Lee ’10: brothers Josh ’06, Chris ’94; Ansley Flanagan ’08: brother Liam’05; Erica Ginsberg ’08: sister Lauren ’06; Elise Casey ’08: father David ’75; Kim Hungerford ’08: sister Kelsey’06; Robson Anderson ’10: father Davis ’68; Noah Dunn ’10: brother Adam ’07; Marjorie Simpson ’10: broth-er Trey ’02; Bottom row, from left: Lexie Altman ’08: brother Matt ’07; Ian Tarrant ’08: father Kevin ’78; LauraBishop ’09: brother Ian ’06; Juan Pablo Perez-Calva: brother Francisco ’09.


Top row, from left: Keith Veronisi ’10: father Steve ’80; Jules Clark ’08: sister Amara ’02, brother Galen ’99;Cori Alexeiff ’08: sister Danielle ’05; Ed Ronveaux ’08: sister Brigitte ’04; George Martinecz ’09: sisterMolly ’06;Annie Cheng: brother Johnson ’05; Marshall Wade ’08: brother Levi ’04; George Haydock’09: sister Sarah ’07, father George ’77; Kang Liu ’08: sister Annie ’03; Philip Wu ’08: brother Christopher’07; Dillon Kollmer ’09: sisters Courtney ’06, Kat ’05,Taylor Foss ’11: brother Ryan ’07; Joel Halpern’10: father Jon ’81; James Coenen ’10: brother Peter ’04;Theo Friedman ’11: brother Nick ’06; MarjorieSimpson ’10 redux: brother Trey ’02; Jack Hughes ’11: grandfather former Headmaster Jim Moore. Bottomrow, from left: Ann Kelley PG: grandfather Del de Windt ’39, great-grandfather Delano de Windt ’11;Maddy Geisler-Mesavage ’09: brother Gabriel ’05; Grace Choe ’08: brother Dan ’07; Isabelle Cho ’09:brother Andrew ’06;Ali Blanchard ’11: brother Ryan ’06; Kathryn Smyth ’10: brother Logan ’05, moth-er Katherine ’74; Margaux Kriegel ’10: brother Wilson ’94, sister Isadora ’93; Matt Haupt ’09: sisterJessica ’06, grandfather Erik ’50.

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HeadshotsAn oil portrait of former interim Head of

School HAWLEY ROGERS ’56 now hangs in theJohnston Common Room with those of hispredecessors. Portrait painter Dean Paules, whodid the honors earlier this year, is currentlyworking on a portrait of former Head ofSchool Paul Christopher which will com-plete the set.

Below: Third-former Jack Hughes joined post-graduate Ann Kelly this fall as a legacy of aBerkshire headmaster. Jack stands in front ofthe portrait of his grandfather, James Moore(1979-87), while Ann poses beneath the por-trait of her great-grandfather, DELANO DE

WINDT ’11 (1943-51).


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New On Board

Berkshire’s Board of Trustees wel-comed new member Margo Ward,parent of Matt Ward ’10, at its fallmeeting in October. Mrs.Ward, whoholds a bachelor of arts degree fromBucknell University, a masters degreein education from the University ofVermont, and a masters of businessadministration from New York University, has taught mar-keting at the University of South Carolina and has held var-ious human resources positions in the retail industry. Shealso serves on the boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs ofChicago and the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago. Mrs.Ward and her husband, Jonathan, live in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Also joining Berkshire’s board in October were two othercurrent Berkshire parents, David Puth (Colin ’10) andJohn Stout (John ’10). A graduate of Tufts University, Mr.Puth is a senior advisor for the private equity firm J.H.Whitney in New York City. He and his wife, Leslie, live inBrooklyn. Mr. Stout is co-principal of Pointer ManagementCompany of Chattanooga,Tennessee. A graduate of thatstate’s university, he and his wife, Leslie, live in LookoutMountain,Tennessee.

Third-former Sam Carey of New Canaan, Connecticut, found the

Mets’ collapse too hard to take. Since he goes to school deep in Red

Sox territory, he didn’t get much sympathy.

He’s been giving toBerkshire ever since...

STEVE NORMAN started supporting Berkshire’sAnnual Fund when he graduated in 1960.And as alongtime volunteer, he has encouraged his classmatesand others to join him in sustaining a strongBerkshire by likewise contributing to this critical sup-port of annual operations and special needs.

Steve also recognizes the importance of planningand providing for the future—both his family’s andBerkshire’s.That’s why he is establishing a deferredcharitable gift annuity with a low-basis stock he hasheld for a long period. Because he will not drawincome until a future date, the annuity will havetime grow, and the set percentage payment that hewill receive will be appreciably larger than it wouldbe if he began receiving it today.

Steve’s careful and thoughtful planning will helpprovide financial stability for him and his wife whileproviding a wonderful future gift for his School—anda wonderful example for others to follow.

A deferred charitable gift annuity is just one of many waysyou can augment your annual giving with a gift that bene-fits both Berkshire and you. For more information, contactJohn Ormiston, Director of Development and AlumniAffairs, at (413) 229-1237, [email protected],or c/o Berkshire School, 245 North UndermountainRoad, Sheffield MA 01257.

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Above: Under the auspices of the Ritt KelloggMountain Program, five students and program direc-tor Frank Barros climbed Kilimanjaro last June, thenwent on safari in the Ngorongoro Crater andSerengeti Plain. (See the Beyond the Mountain pageon the RKMP section of Berkshire’s new Web site:www.berkshireschool.org.)

Right: RKMP teacher Mike Dalton puts the fin-ishing touches on a trail map of the Mountain madeby his Back Country Skills students.The four-foot bysix-foot plywood map, encased in a stand made ofDouglas fir and covered by cedar shingles, sits at thefoot of the Elbow Trail and is a rough interpretationof one made by former faculty member BenjiKagan, now Sinclair.

Climbing Hemingway’s mountain…and mapping ours.


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Danny Licker ’08 of New Rochelle, New York, has pro-posed that Berkshire install energy saving vending “misers”on the vending machines. Sixth-former Ben Bowden ofLocust Valley, New York, cleared an area for composting andset up bins and an area in which to store composting mate-rials. Clay Cohen ’09 of Westport, Connecticut, worked tostop the mailing of magazines being sent to past faculty.Finally, Michael Middelburg ’10 of Riverside, Connecticut,wrote a thorough article on all the environmentally sustain-able practices being included in the construction of theschool’s new athletic center.

The students are directly involved in the implementationof Berkshire School’s climate action plan, working with themaintenance crew in day-to-day operations, talking withvendors who can help them with accurate cost analysis,dealing with the frustrations that come with trying to getan entire school to use its natural resources more responsi-bly. Their progress will be directly monitored by continuingdata collection for the school’s emissions inventory.

Student engagement is the key to Berkshire’s conserva-tion push. With this system, Berkshire School will emergeas a great role model for other schools that wish to be moreenvironmentally responsible.

The headline of this article is abold statement, but one I thinkBerkshire can make with confi-dence. Environmental stewardship iscertainly not new to our school:Teachers have been using ourmountain as a classroom for onehundred years, and our connectionto our natural resources is a strongone. Now we are taking our collec-tive experience and funneling itconstructively to address a very seri-ous global problem.

Students, faculty, and staff mem-bers of the school’s ConservationCommittee set the foundation forBerkshire School’s efforts by writinga climate action plan, a compilationof strategies which will reduceBerkshire School’s greenhouse gasemissions. The plan, fairly new to secondary schools, alsoincludes an emissions inventory that categorizes and quantifiesthe school’s greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 to 2007.Finally, the plan explains how strategies will be implemented.

In short, the Conservation Committee recommendedthat in order for implementation of the plan to be success-ful, Berkshire School would need a way to educate thecommunity about conservation and then a way to makesure people do what they are taught. The education of thecommunity has been happening through environmental sci-ence classes—thanks to longtime science teacher and ardentconservationist Peter Kinne; through the Third FormExperience, in which all freshmen learn the importance ofconservation (a program that received national recognitionfrom the National Wildlife Federation); and, in perhaps themost innovative aspect of the plan: through the sciencedepartment’s Conservation Studies elective.

There are many interesting stories to share just from thefirst few weeks of class. For instance, sixth-former MelissaFogarty of Sheffield had local book vendors come take oldlibrary books that would otherwise have been thrown away.Tucker Walsh ’08 of Mystic, Connecticut, saw his proposalto exchange all 60-watt bulbs with 15-watt CFL bulbs pass.

R K M P R E P O R T

Environmental Stewardship at Berkshire School:Leading Independent Schools in Addressing GlobalClimate Change

By Frank Barros, director of the Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program

Members of the Conservation Studies elective in class, bearing 15-watt CFL light bulbs, surrounded

by recycling bins, and in front of piles of magazines and books to be recycled.

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B E A R S AT P L AY

Thirds were firstThe School’s hottest soccer team this fall was boys' thirds soccer, coached by Norm Merrill and STUART

MILLER ’97. The team beat Hotchkiss (a first for Dr. Merrill in over a decade of coaching), Kent, and a Taft teamthat had been unbeaten. The team finished with ten wins, three losses and one tie.

Former Berkshire soccer MVP BEN

ARIKIAN ’07, pictured here in action last year,now plays for the University of Massachusettsand was voted to the Atlantic 10 All-RookieTeam. The Minutemen upset top-seed BostonCollege on November 28 in the second roundof the NCAA playoffs, with Ben earning anassist. One newspaper called Ben “a freshmanwho plays like a senior.”


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Before the fairer sex arrivedto liberate a school deprivedof hockey fields and what all else,when Godman ruled with measured smiles,a twelve gauge gun, and aging labthat kicked up grouse and smokers, too,when Berkshire was part hunting camp,part playing field, and notebooks shutat one o’clock, or earlier,the Head drove in his Buick grayfrom field to field on each spring day.

“You teach these boys a silly sport,”so Godman said. A stick of ashwhich at its higher end was bentinto a net of gut and hideand woven loose like fishing net,as if the kids could fish for stars.This crosse, they called it, like a tree,it formed a schoolboy canopy in hard fought games, as if the woodsbecame the plain—a joy to see.

If some look up, then some look down,and find their love beneath the groundThus, oil wells! Who could complain?And politics is not our game.

But plastic comes from oil, right?And plastic crucified our crosse.We transubstantiated wood:an ashen stick to S T X™.So much for native heritage;Lacrosse was in a mighty fix!

But Ross, though you’re a raconteur,historian and traveler,the keeper of our local lore,romantic to the first degree,you also know that balls and pucksbelong in goals. You’ve got to shoot,for life’s no cozy back and forth.Surprise and speed with strategy and industry transcend the stickof ash, titanium, or glass.

And that’s your alchemy, the mixof hot and cold, that teaches kids:You take the test with any stick.

Hilary RussellJanuary 13, 2007

Remembering the Early Days of Berkshire School Lacrossefor Ross Hawkins

A 1970’s era lacrosse team with coaches Russell (far left) and “The Hawk” (far right)

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O D D J O B S

Hot Dog!By CHRIS DRAKE ’06

Top Dog, College Tuition Hot Dogs, LLC.

After my first year of college, my father and I discussed ideasfor summer jobs.After a lot of brainstorming and throwing outchimney sweep and rapper, we decided on hot dog cart vendor.The Southside area of Pittsburgh has a main street that is hometo many alternative and funky small shops and stores, and barsand nightclubs dot the main strip. On weekend nights thestreet transforms into a wild party scene; the sidewalks are lit-tered with people walking to and from different bars. But therewere no street vendors, just small pizza places and burritoshacks that stayed open late.

My father and I saw this as a perfect open market for a sum-mer job, a gold mine: unlike a normal hotdog vendor, wewould sell dogs at night, from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m.

We wanted to give the business an original name, somethingwitty and funny. Since some of this money would help pay forcollege, we came up with names like Wishin’ For TuitionHotdogs, but finally decided on the more basic, to-the-pointCollege Tuition Hot Dogs.We created a logo, bought the cart,put into motion the documents to get through the red tape ofcity government. By July we were ready to hit the streets.Thevendors would be my younger brother, Lee, and me.

We opened in July and immediately noticed that peopleloved the idea of a hot dog vendor on this street at night. Thename also got a lot of positive attention.And we were making agood profit: $200 a night.Then we came up with another idea:my brother would wear a hot dog costume and dance to musicto draw even more customers to the cart. Not only were wethe only ones vending on the street with an original brandname, but now we had a mascot, a dancing hot dog called theWigglin’Weiner.

Our Wigglin’Weiner became an instant celebrity inSouthside. Drivers honked their horns, pedestrians danced withhim and had their pictures taken, and we were selling more hotdogs. Every weekend was a new experience: conversations,laughs, encounters with different people—and new dancemoves for the Wigglin’Wiener.

The summer came to an end and it was back to school. Ican’t wait to get back in the game next summer. It was, and is,the perfect summer job.

Chris Drake ’06 is a junior at Hobart College and the son of BILL DRAKE ’73.

Also last summer, Mary Pace ’08, operated Pace Hot Dogsin the center of Weston, Massachusetts. She and her sister, Lichele, were open forbusiness weekdays from 11 to 3 and averaged $500 a week.Mary says: “Years ago my grandfather owned all the hotdog stands on Cape Cod. I wanted to learn to work on myown and not to go to my parents for money 24/7. It wasone of the funniest and best learning experiences of mylife!” Mary hopes to attend the University of Vermont orSt. Michael’s College next year.

It’s Centennial

Time!

The Class of 2008 got into the Centennial spirit in Buck Valley one

morning this fall. More formal celebrations began with a Coast

to Coast Toast on October 11 (see pages 26-31), and more events

and festivities are planned next semester (see pages 36-37). The

following section serves up a random sampling of Berkshire eras

and alumni, with more to follow in the Winter/Spring 2008 issue.

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As Centennial project researcher, Bill Spalding ’65 spent the schoolyear 2005-06 gathering an oral history of Berkshire School. OnOctober 18, 2005, Bill Spalding sat down for lunch at Woods HoleGolf Club with 1928 Berkshire graduate Fred Peters, then 96, andturned on the tape recorder. Some of his reminiscences, unfiltered:

E Y E W I T N E S S E S T O H I S T O RY

Berkshire’s oldest living alumnus tells all.

Faculty visits to the shacks. At one point, Fred chides Bill for referring to student-built structures on the mountain as “cabins.” “It’s a shack. You keep calling it a cabin. It’s not good enough to be a cabin.”

They had some young teachers there—one named [A. Gorden] Grove, ayoung man, easy to bond with him.We also had [Howard] Corning, justbarely out of Harvard. He would come up to the shack. Incidentally, I have afeeling Mr. Buck had said to Corning,“This shack business, why don’t youjust drop in on these boys once in a while to make sure everything is okay,and socialize with them?” So he would come up and see us every so often.

On the school postmaster, who also taught history and Latin.

Mr. [Frank] Crawford. “Black Pete,the terror of the hills.” He was incharge of the mail and cashing checksand he kept a little bit for himself.

Life in the country

We were really isolated. Youcould get permission to go to townbut then you had to figure out howto get there which was hitchhike orwalk or bicycle. The thing is it wascountry and we were allowed towander around. We could go outat night and walk all the way toSheffield and back on skis, maybefive or six of us.


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“The Bird”

We had to takeLatin. Mr. Stevens.The Bird. The best teacher you ever had. Hehad a deck of cards. He had your name on acard and he’d shuffle the deck and cut thedeck and turn up the first card and call onyou. And you’d better know the answerbecause he had acid wit. He could turn thewhole class into laughing at you, which hedid with great pleasure. After he called on afew people he’d take the deck and reshuffle itand maybe you got it again. The other thinghe did: Virgil was full of references to theLatin and Greek gods. Mr. Stevens knew thewhole business. Every time we got to one ofthese people he’d give us the background.No teacher does that. He was terrific, but wedidn’t like him. He was an awful bastard.

On Mr. Buck and an imitator—a delightfulanecdote about the school’sstone-faced founder.

Mr. Buck was great. He was stern and all that. Hehad certain mannerisms. Pete Miller, a couple of class-es before me, later became editor of the paper up inPittsfield [Berkshire Eagle]. Pete was a born mimic. Hecould imitate Mr. Buck exactly. Not only that, butMr. Buck thought he was funny. Every so often theywould install Pete up there at the head desk and Mr.Buck would sit off to the side and Pete would pretendhe was Mr. Buck and do all the lessons.

The ten percent solution

It was a small school.That meant that they hadspecial privileges for anyone among the top first tenin school. That’s ten percent of the whole school.So I could get on the first ten with the greatest ofease. That meant you didn’t have to go to study hall,I could go back to my room.

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In the summer of 1969 technology, politics, and pop cul-ture were changing the very fabric of society in dramaticways. July had seen Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk onthe moon, and in August nearly 500,000 people flocked tothe Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. So it was only fittingthat in September, Berkshire School became, overnight, avery different place than it had been for its previous sixty-two years.

The 266 young men enrolled that year were joined by ninegirls, all day students. They were part of what the school haddescribed to their parents as an “experiment” or “pilot pro-gram” in coeducation at Berkshire. It was to be a year offirsts—some very successful, some not so much— for all con-cerned, and part of a learning curve that was to become thefoundation of the coeducational school that is Berkshire today.

Eight of the nine girls were from local communities,although we did not all know one another. Most of us hadsome kind of previous association with the school. MARY

JANE ANDERSON and MINDY BROOKS had brothers whohad graduated from Berkshire. SANDY BRUNEL’s brother wason the faculty. KATHY PUTNAM’s father was also on the fac-ulty, her mother was on staff, and she had grown up on cam-pus. PAT DAVIDSON, Mindy, and LINDA MATSON all hadolder brothers who were enrolled with us in 1969. Several ofus had had wonderful experiences as younger kids collectingmaple sap with Mr. Chase in the spring, attending variousathletic events when the schools we attended scrimmagedagainst Berkshire teams, skating in the hockey rink, orbabysitting on campus for faculty members. We all knew alittle something about Berkshire. But none of us were pre-


Pioneer spirits.Some trials, tribulations and triumphs of the first girls at Berkshire.

By CAROLE MAGHERY KING ’72

The author, second from left, with her fellow trailblazers.

pared for the experience we were about to have.I recently spoke with several of “the original nine” and

asked them to recall the highlights (and lowlights) of thatfirst year at Berkshire.Their responses varied. However, onecommon denominator was the degree to which we felt asthough we lived in a fishbowl. There were so many boys,and so few of us, that we were constantly watched as if wewere being studied under a microscope. As flattering as thatcould be to a certain extent, it served to make us consider-ably more self-conscious than we might have been other-wise. Walking across Buck Valley was particularly challeng-ing in terms of maintaining one’s composure, as boys wereguaranteed to anonymously yell something to us when wewere in plain sight of Berkshire Hall and two dormitories.Most of it was playful or mischievous, and occasionallymean-spirited. We came to expect it and learned how toignore it, for the most part.

One female classmate I spoke with mentioned the safehavens we had on campus—places where we couldn’t bewatched. The school had provided us with what I think wascalled the “Day Girl Lounge” in what is now Dean House. Itwas a quiet place where boys were not allowed, and closeenough to Berkshire Hall so that on blustery cold days wedidn’t have to walk too far to get to our classes. (We woremicroscopic short skirts in the dead of winter.) Aside fromthe oversized ladies room in Memorial where we would con-gregate before each meal, it was the only all-girl refuge oncampus, and we loved hanging out together there.

Some homework, a fair amount of snacking, and a wholelot of gossiping about boys went on in those little rooms.Thevarsity soccer team was undefeated that year and everyone, itseemed, was enthusiastic about supporting them. Because wehadn’t been at school long enough to know the players byname (most of them were upper classmen, and, therefore,“older men”), we referred to them by their jersey numberswhen we gossiped about them. (Some of what we did, andexperienced, that first year at Berkshire was clearly “businessas usual” for high school girls!)

On the other hand, PAULA PEVZNER recalled that we hada decal for NOW, the National Organization for Women, onthe door of the Day Girl Lounge, and she wondered aloudwhether any of us would have been quite so aware of thenewly-formed feminist organization had we not been in suchan imbalanced gender environment. We were very often theonly girl in many of our classes, particularly Mary Jane, who


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was the only girl in the entire junior class.We were testedregularly, by both students and the predominantly male facul-ty, with somewhat sexist jokes and comments—most ofwhich were harmless in nature—and we had to learn how tofield those situations as gracefully as possible. In fairness, allof the faculty and the vast majority of the male student bodyhad chosen to be at Berkshire at least in part because it was aboys’ school, so to a certain degree we respected the fact thatnot everyone was thrilled we were there.

Providing athletic opportunities for the nine girls proved tobe a significant challenge for the school that first year. Withso few girls to participate, most team sports were out of thequestion. The faculty and administration were very support-ive of any suggestions we came up with to fill this void.They weren’t always sure what to do with us, but they triedvery hard to make it work.

I’m pretty sure I’m personally responsible for what wasindisputably the worst debacle of the first year of “the experi-ment.” I was the daughter of a football coach, and I hadspent the first fourteen years of my life certain that life didn’tget a lot better than being a varsity football cheerleader. Iconvinced several of the other girls that we should have acheerleading squad and—bonus!—that everyone would makethe team! (Mindy wisely opted out, as did a couple of theother girls.) The school outfitted us with beautiful uniforms,provided an advisor of sorts, and scheduled times for prac-tices. What we didn’t realize was that cheerleading simply“wasn’t done” in prep schools in the late 1960’s, and we were

MARY JANE ANDERSON SHANNON ’71. Although in her senior year

she was joined by JEAN RUNYAN MONTOYA ’71, she is Berkshire’s offi-

cial first female graduate by virtue of being one of the “original nine.”

“There were so many boys,and so few of us, that we

were constantly watched asif we were being studied

under a microscope.”

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jeered and booed everywhere we went. By the second foot-ball game of the season, I was consciously trying to fall downthe two flights of stairs at my parents’ house just to injuremyself so that I wouldn’t ever have to be a cheerleader again.It was awful.

The very best sports story from that first year of coeduca-tion has to be the squash “team” that winter made up ofPaula Pevzner and Linda Matson. (I was completely unawareof this team until recently). Evidently the two girls only hadone squash racquet which they had to share. (Why do I thinkthey never mentioned this to the poor, unsuspecting first-yearfaculty member who was assigned to be theirchaperone/coach? He apparently thought that they were fineon their own.) Linda laughed and said that it went like this:Paula would take a turn hitting the ball, then they’d sit cross-legged on the floor of the squash court and talk for a while,and then Linda would get up and hit the ball. When I con-firmed this story with Paula the next day, she laughed, too,and added that she doesn’t remember ever hitting the ball; shethinks they just sat and talked—“or maybe Linda hit the ballonce in a while.” Okay, so two steps forward, and one back.We didn’t get everything right that first year!

In addition to those athletic follies, we did manage toplay volleyball and tennis (although not, of course, onorganized teams) in the spring, join clubs like the BridgeClub, participate in the school play that winter, and three ofthe girls were asked to be managers for the boys’ basketballteam. We had plenty to do.

We had a challenging situation to deal with socially, for sure,and there were obvious limitations to the opportunities for usin the way of athletics. But in the classroom, the playing fieldwas level. I think that on some level we knew that if we weregoing to prove ourselves “worthy” of being at Berkshire—tothose conducting “the experiment,” to those who made usfeel as though we didn’t belong there, or just to ourselves, inmoments of doubt—academics gave us that opportunity. A

All dressed up and nowhere to play: With no competitive sports program of their own in place, seven of Berkshire School’s first nine female students were relegatedto the role of cheerleader, statistician for boys’ teams, or both. Pictured are, front row from left, NANCY MACDONALD (HECKER) ’72, MARY JANE ANDERSON(SHANNON) ’71, LINDA MATSON (HEYES) ’73. Back row, from left: KATY PUTNAM ’74, CAROLE MAGHERY (KING) ’72, ALEXANDRA BRUNEL ’72,PAULA PEVZNER ’73. The school’s other female pioneers were MELINDA BROOKS (BELTER) ’73 and PATRICIA DAVIDSON (SHERMAN) ’73.

What we didn’t realize wasthat cheerleading simply“wasn’t done” in prepschools in the late 1960’s


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male classmate asked me recently if there was any “dumbing-down” among the girls in order to fit in. On the contrary: Ithink we worked twice as hard as the average guys in ourclasses because we literally had something to prove.

After that first year, things began to change very quickly.During the school year 1970-71 we grew to a group of sixteengirls, and Mary Jane Anderson became the first female graduateof Berkshire School in the spring. She was, not incidentally, inevery way our mentor. She was brilliantly creative, bright,funny, and fearless. To a person we admired, enjoyed, andrespected Mary Jane. How appropriate that such a special per-son should be the first woman to graduate from Berkshire.

In the fall of 1971 female boarding students arrived, withEipper designated as the first girls’ dormitory, and our numberwas twenty-nine. In two eventful years the experiment hadtaken root. Girls had become an integral part of every aspectof campus life. Kudos to Mr. Godman, the much-respectedheadmaster whose last year at Berkshire was 1969-1970, for hiscourage and insight in embarking on “the experiment.” It was,in my entirely unbiased opinion, an excellent idea.

While some of us bear a few scars from our unusual experi-ence, or regret that we didn’t have the thrill of playing on achampionship team of one sort or another as did some of ourmale counterparts, we were afforded a tremendous opportunity

to break the ice, to create something new and exciting, and tochallenge ourselves as individuals. I can’t speak for everyoneinvolved, but it has been my experience that the long-termbenefits far outweighed the negatives, and today I feel blessed tohave the community of Berkshire friends that I have. I’ve hadclassmates as clients, colleagues, and, most important, goodfriends, over the last thirty-five years.

Last week, as I worked in my office, I received a call froma classmate who flies and sells corporate jets. He was takinga prospective client on a test flight, and he would be flyingover my office within the hour. He told me to listen forthe unique sound that this particular plane’s engine makes.So, there I was, standing in the parking lot at work, staringat the sky on a beautiful fall day and listening for his plane,thinking about how much a part of my life my Berkshirefriends have been. He literally did a fly-over, and I realizedthat the “pilot program” proposed to my parents so longago had somehow come full circle.

A graduate of Middlebury College, Carole Maghery King is themother of four children and the founder and owner of Details, Inc.,an interior design firm in her native Sheffield. She served as atrustee of Berkshire from 1986 to 1991, the first of the school’salumnae to do so.

CAROLE MAGHERY KING at her thirty-fifth reunion last June with, from left, GLENN PATRIDGE ’72, BEN CREED ’71 and JOHN SHERMAN ’72.

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The 1970’s: called the “slum of decades” by sociologistDavid Frum and “the greatest revolution since 1776” byothers. It doesn’t matter what tag one applies to thoseyears; they became the defining era for who we were thenand what we are now—they were the good, the bad, andthe ugly, and a perplexity for those who had to deal withthe times.

What were the 70’s like at Berkshire? I may not be theright person to ask, even now, for I was too busy puttingout fires—in two cases, literally—to contemplate it objec-tively.To reduce the complexity of the era to the simplestand tritest of terms, it was the best of times and it was theworst of times. There was hardly a headmaster in the

United States who did not use that Dickensian opener for acommencement address during the 1960’s and 70’s.Asheadmasters then and always, we were expected to have allthe answers. Some foolishly and arrogantly thought theydid; all I had were questions. I still do.

During that decade many institutions, belief systems, andstructures were questioned, dissected, and torn apart, leavingshards to be scooped up and discarded as anachronistic, mean-ingless, and useless, while others were tenderly resurrected andlovingly reassembled to be made stronger and more comfort-able to the needs of the times. Too dramatic a synopsis of anera? For those of us who lived those times, I think not.

You know the toy with a multi-faceted dragonfly lens


When cultures collide.Berkshire’s fifth headmaster reflects on a turbulent time inAmerica—and under the Mountain.

By Robert W. Minnerly

Bob and Sandra Minnerly with daughter Sydney, born at Berkshire in 1973.


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meant to develop a sense of discovery but only confusingthe viewer? Thirty years later, trying to recapture the histo-ry, the pathos and ethos of the 70’s at Berkshire is like look-ing at the horizon through such a lens. And that is how Ifeel, reflecting on my time as headmaster at Berkshire: manyimages, perhaps little understanding. Many of us in educa-tion hope that we did more than just survive in copingwith those confusing times, although at the time that isexactly what we appeared to be doing: attempting to sur-vive as a school in the face of staggering economic, social,and cultural pressures—and to educate the young as westruggled. (Sounds almost Promethean, doesn’t it?)

As a response to a variety of those pressures, everythingwe taught and did demanded our closest scrutiny, assessmentand evaluation, and then to do it all again. Mistakes madein innocent ignorance might have consequences of greatermagnitude than we could foresee.Thirty years later, I stillquestion what the realities of that time at Berkshire were.What did we really achieve? Pro vita non pro schola discimus?Or did we all merely survive? Naturally, I prefer the firstpremise. It is my earnest conviction that not only didBerkshire survive the 70’s when other schools were closing,we emerged from the turbulence as a stronger school withan identity and self-awareness cast in a mold of its ownmaking, not needing to emulate other independent schools,a confidence to be what it is. And through it all, I couldnot have asked more of a faculty coping fairly, responsibly,and tirelessly in carrying out its responsibilities.

In the late spring of 1969, Headmaster John Godmaninvited me to his house for a visit. After that meeting and awhirlwind interview process with the Board of Trustees, atage thirty-five I became Berkshire’s fifth headmaster, eager,earnest and untrained. Intrigued by the mystique and pres-tige of leading a private boarding school filled with bright,obedient young men who wanted to learn, who loved theopportunity to be away from home, whose energies weremanifested on the athletic fields, I accepted the appointment.That was the fifties and early sixties concept. Ah, the halcyondays of being a boarding school head in New England!

Then we got hit right between the eyes with the move-ments of the late 60’s and 70’s. If we were as bright as wethought we were, we should have seen the collision of cul-

tures and different social forces coming directly at us. Wedid not. We were unprepared for the changes to come, andcome they did. The 70’s truly were a pivotal point in defin-ing the role of independent schools in a different world.Blazers, rep ties, and khakis were replaced by a new uni-form: flannel shirts, corduroy or tattered blue jeans, andmountain boots worn by both boys and girls.The composi-tion of the student body became more diverse. Student par-ticipation in governance became essential and practiced tovarying degrees on different campuses. I was headmaster atBerkshire for only six years, and yet I felt I compacted alifetime of learning into those years. It became too appar-ent to me that for Berkshire to survive, we had to respondto new and different student needs, using the Berkshire ofthe past as a guide, not a prescription.

The pressure of maintaining enrollment during the turbu-lence was a major economic concern.“Wheel appeal” waskeeping many students at home. Parents were unwilling tosend their sons off to some school where they assumed drugswere more readily available than at home. Some studentsenjoyed more freedom at home. Students attending boardingschool were giving up their privacy and individualism tobecome part of an institution. In the minds of the young theword institution conjured images of cold, uncaring adultsexercising unlimited power, sending chills up and down thespines of teenagers who had warm blood and rampaging hor-mones flowing through their systems.The concept of “unlim-ited power” was as much a myth then as it is now. The oldBerkshire tapestry was torn from the walls and rewoven as theacademic, cultural, and social structure took on more vibrantcolors and a richer context than we adults might have beenwilling to admit as necessary and to accept at the time.

The passing of time should allow me more objectivity,and yet it hasn’t.There are some observers who see no bestof times then, only the worst of times: times of confusion,suspicion, cynicism, narcissism, a thirst for instant gratifica-tion. I felt otherwise and still do. In spite of many negativefeelings about the decade, I have concluded that I wouldhave missed one of the most challenging and greatest learn-ing experiences of my life, one that challenged the best inme, especially my belief in students. Thankfully there wereenough examples of positive stuff happening to pull me outof my negative funks.

Ask me if I enjoyed those times? No, I did not. Would Iwant to do it again? Again, no. Did I value the experienceand appreciate my personal relationships with most of thestudents? Yes, I did. (I made the mistake of telling anotherformer headmaster that I missed the 70’s. He was incredu-lous. “You mean masochistically, like when you stop hittingyour head against the wall?”)

But to me, it was vital that students—students who wereconfronted with life-altering decisions I would not want toconfront or to make—were thinking, and not satisfied withsimple answers to complex issues.This demanded in returnour best thinking and power of reasoning and understand-ing. It took me a long time to understand that in life there

“It is my earnest convictionthat not only did Berkshiresurvive the 70’s when otherschools were closing, weemerged from the turbulenceas a stronger school...”

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would be some people always making good, well reasoneddecisions, others making lousy decisions, and most makingsome personal, unique combination of both. I just hopedall would survive. Some did not.

No longer was Berkshire School securely isolated andinsulated from the outside world. We were immersed inour micrcosmic world, like it or not. Our challenge was todeal with it.And although our best may not have alwaysbeen good enough to solve immediate problems, we werein the trenches together, and somehow we as a faculty, stu-dents and school found something that sustained us, thatcarried us on, that perplexed us, amused us, thwarted us,encouraged us—something that, years later, manifested itselfin young adults returning to campus as artists, photogra-phers, legislators, judges, economists, conservationists,authors, athletes, community leaders, all tested in the cru-cible under the Dome, the tempest of the 70’s.

Why was it the worst of times? As was the case at mostother boarding schools of that era, the use of drugs andalcohol by students, and, allegedly,“recreationally” by somefaculty, obscured so many of the good things happening ornot happening,The threat of chemical abuse consumed toomuch of our valuable time, thoughts, and energy.The easytrust between faculty and student that was so much a coreof Berkshire past was eroded by suspicion and doubt. Astudent could not have a runny nose or red eyes withoutbecoming suspect. To counteract the infusion of illicit druguse, we had in-service training, instituted individual coun-seling, visited other schools, held convocations, did every-thing to stem the tide. But we were emptying the ocean

with a tea strainer. The potential for serious damage topeople was high.We were fearful for what could happen tothe kids and to our school.

Then there was the students’ questioning of authority, thebreakdown of their confidence in adults and their lifestyles.Institutions that once afforded bedrock stability were them-selves exposed as harboring hypocrisy. Loyalty was to self,above all, then to friends. Never trust anyone over thirty.How could one depend on anything else? The seeds ofmistrust were planted in the 60’s, but we did not realize thefull harvest until the early 70’s. “Because I said so,” or“because I am the teacher,“ were no longer adequateresponses to questions that really did demand answers.

I once turned to Jack Stewart, then dean of students, andasked why we were being pushed and challenged in all areasof student life. “How many more of these confrontationscan we expect?”

Jack smiled and quoted a comment I had made at a convo-cation. “As a student, you are always to question and chal-lenge.They’re just doing what we are teaching them to do.”

As for the best of times, the advent of coeducation, socio-economic and racial diversity, and curricular changes allcombined to forge a stronger and more modern Berkshire.The first and one of the best things to take place was therapid transition in our becoming a coeducational school.Wewent from 16 girls in 1970 to 115 in 1974. Needless to say,making such a transition was not an easy one for the youngwomen, or for our school with some sixty years tradition asa boys’ boarding school. Were it not for our female pio-neers, faculty and students,coeducation would not have

Bob Minnerly during his first year as headmaster with, from left, DAVE DEMING ’71, GEORGE COYNE ’71, and TIM SALTONSTALL ’71.


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emerged as solidly as it did. SANDY BRUNEL, KATHY

PUTNAM, PAULA PEVZNER, LINDA MATSON, MARY JANE

ANDERSON, CAROL MAGHERY, and many other youngwomen who followed really were heroic and strong. Theydid more than simply “fit in.” They helped us to learn, albeitclumsily and slowly, what a truly coeducational school mustbe. While we thought we were prepared for the transitionfrom a boy’s school to a co-ed school, we came to learn itwas more than simply pulling urinals off the bathroom wallsin the girl’s dorm. They wanted and needed leadership roles,to compete equally in athletics, to have all the choices theboys had in activities.They did not demand more than whatthe boys had, but they certainly did not want less.

The numbers of women faculty increased and their rolesexpanded. French teacher Marianne Stein became thefirst female department chair, Jan Shaw the first women’sathletic director, school nurse Nancy Jo Jander the firstfemale certified interscholastic varsity trainer in NewEngland. (Coaches could not believe their eyes when sherushed out to tend to an athletic injury, but they learned tolisten to her when she told them to step back and what todo with an injured player.) Sarah Kennedy distinguishedherself in the science classroom and Susan McMichaelsproved to be even more demanding then the great Chaff[English teacher Tom Chaffee].

Our reasons to diversify were noble, our methods andimplementation of process clumsy and unsophisticated. Here,too, we must look back and applaud those young people ofcolor who accepted our offer to attend Berkshire, not know-ing really what to expect or being provided with adequatecounseling support to make them successful: FREDDIE

WILLIAMS ’69, JAY WASHINGTON ’72, SKIP MASON ’74,

KAREN CHATMAN ’75, BONNIE JACKSON ’73, and, yes,some who did not make it but who helped us to learn what itwas like to be a black kid in a previously restrictive whiteenvironment. It would be wonderful to say that our black stu-dents were accepted unreservedly by both faculty and studentbody. They were not. The unfathomable equation of main-taining reasonable academic expectations of students of colorwhile compensating for their adjustment difficulties in a whiteman’s world, the independent boarding school, was not easilyderived. But no birth or change comes without pain. Ourschool suffered occasional confrontations, accusations, andintolerance, but with concern and effort, faculty and studentspatiently forged the type of school strength necessary to adaptto a new societal order.

Perhaps the single most significant reaction to the 70’swas the realization that our academic structure had tochange. By the 70’s many of the faculty agreed, with orwithout pressure from our clients, that our curriculum andsome of our practices had to change to attract the type ofstudent we wanted. True, we had our share of advanceplacement achievers, that our Achievement Test Sores aver-aged twenty points higher than our aptitude scores, and thatour students were getting into Ivy League colleges and werequite successful. But Berkshire was competing for studentsin the academic world of other independent schools, and

our curriculum had to be just as, if not more, attractive thanthose of the competition.We were to prepare our studentsfor college, and because students would have to makechoices there, we started with elective courses in English,then history, and finally the sciences. Independent studywas offered for students who had a passion in a specific aca-demic area. Pass-Fail opportunities were made available forthose who wanted to try something different withoutimpacting their grade point average.

There are three events that held special meaning to me asa headmaster. The first is really a series of events: gradua-tions; each student who received a Berkshire diploma wassymbolic of the combined effort and success of the facultyand the student. The second event was a New EnglandChampionship soccer match between Berkshire andSuffield. It was a wonderful blue-green crisp autumn day,the crowd positive and recognizing the value of spiritedcompetition between two schools. And the third was thevery first Arts Festival held on the Berkshire campus in1971. (The appearance of a folk singer—I think it was EricAnderson or James Taylor, each of whom who was verypopular in those days—a big name.) Our students asked ifthey could host it and invite other New England schools.They guaranteed that they would make it a success, keep itstraight, and that I could trust them to carry it out. I didand they did. Those were the types of things that sustainedus, and me, as we attempted to cope with the 70’s.

When I was asked by the Board of Trustees to resign inthe fall of 1975, I made the last of my many trips to theSeaver Buck Rock just up the hill from Glenny House,which had been my family’s home. Its plaque read:

I will look up mine eyes unto the Hills,from whence cometh my help

Psalm 121:1

I spent a lot of time at that rock, a sanctuary when Ineeded solitude and tranquility and an understanding ofschool and self as Berkshire’s fifth headmaster. I knowSeaver Buck would have understood. I wonder if AlbertKeep and Del DeWindt questioned as I did, for they tooeach had difficult times to deal with. Did I meet JohnGodman’s vision for the school, and for me? Just as formany students, the hills and woods of Berkshire School pro-vided me comfort and help. No doubt that during theCentennial celebration next May, many alumni of all eraswill once again make their own pilgrimages up the moun-tain in search of the very same things.

A native of Yonkers, New York, and a graduate of BrownUniversity, Robert W. Minnerly taught English at Berkshire for sixyears before serving as its headmaster from 1970-76. He was laterheadmaster of Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma,Washington,from 1986 to 1996, after which he was executive director of theR. Merle Palmer Minority Scholarship Foundation. Bob and hiswife, Sandra, have three children—sons SCOTT ’76 and JOHN ’79

and daughter Syd, born at Berkshire in 1973—and four grand-

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Coast to Coast ToastOn October 11, 2007, nearly 800 alumni, faculty, family and friendsgathered at receptions across America and in London to celebratethe one-hundredth anniversary of the founding of Berkshire School.

Peter Bragdon, headmaster emeritus of Governor’s Academy and pasttrustee of Berkshire School, with STEPHEN PIATELLI ’06

TATUM VITTENGIL ’96 and SAMANTHA GOLDFINGER ABDULLA ’96

Raising the flag for Berkshire are, from left, MELISSA HIRD REA ’93, MANDY WONSON

’93, ALEC NOBLE ’95, BRAD HUNT ’95, and KATY MAGEE KENNEY ’93

BOSTON Host: Hans Carstensen ’66 and Jim Hooper ’69


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From left: JONATHON “BIFF” COOK ’62, CORY PERSON ’95,

parent of alumnus Terry Vayda

From left: TED JENNINGS ’48 and Sally Jennings, MARK MORITZ ’81,

Ted Von Seggern

Gladys and HAROLD “CLANCY” STANNARD ’38

JEFF HORTON ’86 and JACK HERGER ’74

From left: DOLLY ADAMS HIGGINS ’88, DEBBIE CRISPIN DURYEE ’92,

SUSAN TIEMEYER HORTON ’86, parent of alumnae Kathy Crispin

CAPE ELIZABETH Hosts: Debbie Crispin Duryee ’92 & Burr Duryee ’92

Former faculty and mother of alumni Nancy Duryee withMONICA MARTIN ’84

BRADENTON Host: Heather Steck Von Seggern ’85

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CLEVELAND Host: Skip Murfey ’68

Back row, from left: MEGAN STECK BERG ’87, PETER HOUSTON ’84,

BETSEY MORAN BELL ’88, LIBBY MURFEY ’02, JASON ICE ’97, Berkshireparent Bill Batcheller, SKIP MURFEY ’68. Front row, from left: BETSY STECK

WRIGHT ’90, parent of alumnae Pam Burke, DEL DEWINDT ’39 and MarydeWindt , BILL WIGGLESWORTH ’63, SUSIE ROSE ’80, Berkshire parentCarolyn Batcheller, Marion Murfey

From left: BETSY STECK WRIGHT, BETSEY MORAN BELL ’88, PETER

VANDEN BROECK ’79, SUSIE ROSE ’80, LIBBY MURFEY ’02

Ann and WILL BORDERS ’88 with daughter Vera, and ERRRETT VAN

NICE ’88 and wife Julia

CHICAGO Host: Davis Anderson ’68

Berkshire parents Jackie Anderson and DAVIS ANDERSON ’67

with daughter Chase

CHIP PERKINS ’73 withclassmate DAVE WALKER.

FAIRFIELD Host: Chip Perkins ’73


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From left: JOANNA SHEA BACKUS ’90, SID SMALL ’48, FRANK KIRSCHNER ’75, DAVID

BLOOM ’82, CHARLIE DUCHARME ’93, CHUCK DUCHARME ’58, TANIA STAYKOVA ’95,

NICK DANCEY ’01, ADAM ORLEY ’98

DETROIT Host: Kathryn Duff Rines,parent of alumna

Standing, from left: TERRY BAUM ’93, MATT

CROWSON ’05, DAVID ROSS ’92 Seated,from left: TENLEY REED ’93, AVERILL

OGDEN ’88, ERIKA MORRIS ’88

LONDON Hosts:Tenley Reed ’93 &David Ross ’92

LOS ANGELES Host: Susie Norris ’79

From left: JEREMY SAXTON ’92,

MICHAEL GUTENPLAN ’99, JEFF

FOLLERT ’73, AL LAUBENSTEIN ’66,

SPENCER WILLETS ’72, LEE JESTER ’67

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JOHN KUHN ’82 and TONY SAXTON ’85

NEW YORK CITY Host: John Kuhn ’82

From left: John and LAURA NEFF REAPER ’83,

current grandparent Mims Hackett Jr.

From left: STEVE HORD ’86, MATT MATTSON ’92, DAVID

LOUDON ’84, PETER HAMMETT ’62, BOB SCHOR ’64, JOHN

KAESTLE ’73, RICK PABST ’64

SEATTLEHosts: Prudence & Peter Hammett ’66

From left: LEE WEIL ’44C, Liz and MURRAY BODINE ’74, andERIC JONES ’74

SAN FRANCISCOHost: Rennie Spaulding ’55

CHRISTIE EVERY ’82 and CELINDA SHANNON ’84

MICHAELA ROMANO-MEADE ’92 and ALLISON ZELLMAM ’02


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Former history teacher and coach Tom Young, surrounded by MIMI

RAMOS HARNEY ’91 and STEPHANIE DISANTIS ’92

SHEFFIELDHosts: Mike and Jean Maher

TIM BROOKS ’71 with former French teacher Marianne Stein Hubert

From left: Berkshire parents Randy and Rita Staino with Rita’s father,BOB DOYLE ’49, and GEORGE CHURCH ’48

From left: DR. BOB ADESON ’48, STEVE HASSETT ’76, Jenni and SCOTT

GORDON ’99, KIM LEWIS THOMAS ’80

WASHINGTON, D.C.Hosts: Kim Lewis Thomas ’80 & Bob Thomas ’79

Standing, from left: BOB THOMAS ’79, KIM LEWIS THOMAS

’80, Meghan Slipka and JASON RANO ’98, PHILIP GALLMAN

’58 and Minnie Gallman, GARDINER EVANS ’95, Berkshire par-ents Ellen and Bill Rydell, BOB ADESON ’48, BOB KILLEBREW

’85, BEN SCHLUTER ’03 and Amanda Wood, MATTHEW

SPOSITO ’02, TREY SIMPSON ’02. Seated from left: ALEX

KELLEY ’06, JOHANNA BECKER ’05, SCOTT GORDON ’99

and Jenni Gordon

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Berkshire School numbers countless alumni/ae who havegone forth from the Mountain and made their school proud.But who among them is the most eminent the school has pro-duced in its one hundred years of existence?

LINCOLN KIRSTEIN ’26 is a leading candidate. His cre-dentials for fame? Bringing George Balanchine to Americain 1934. Founding the American School of Ballet and theNew York City Ballet. Writing fifteen books and manyarticles on dance and other arts. Helping shape LincolnCenter in New York City. And receiving the Medal ofFreedom—the highest civilian honor awarded in the UnitedStates—from President Reagan in 1984.

A former Wall Street Journal dance critic wrote ofKirstein,“As writer, critic, man of letters, administrator,fundraiser and general gadfly, Mr. Kirstein in a real sense isthe unsung hero of American ballet.” Adds Michael

Kimmelman in the New York Review of Books,“Kirsteinendorsed or otherwise was linked with seemingly everyonewho mattered in the arts before mid-century.”

As it happens, Kirstein is also celebrating a centennial thisyear, and the occasion has received much attention in themedia, capped by Martin Duberman’s acclaimed biography,The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein. Yet Berkshire School gets rela-tively short shrift in Duberman’s biography and, in Mosaic,Kirstein’s memoirs, derision from the author—who was acranky 87 when he wrote them in 1994. In Mosaic, most ofthe chapter on Berkshire School is devoted to describing abizarre relationship between Kirstein and two other stu-dents—neither of whose names can be found in the school’srecords—and, in the footnotes of his book, Dubermanwrites that “there’s reason to distrust much of the chapter inMosaic about the Berkshire School.”

The case for KirsteinThe life of the student Seaver Buck called “a boy of unusual promise” is celebrated during his own centenary year.

The 1923-24 staff of The Dome, with contributing editor Lincoln Kirstein third from left.


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In fact, a visit to the school’s archives and a look atKirstein’s alumni file there sheds more light on the youngLincoln Kirstein at Berkshire, starting in the summer of1922—a decade before he met Balanchine in Paris. Theson of Louis Kirstein, a wealthy executive for WilliamFilene’s Sons department store in Boston, the boy had justbeen dismissed from Exeter and had another strike againsthim: he was Jewish.

July 5, 1922. Seaver Buck receives a letter from W.A.Neilson, an old friend and the president of Smith College,where Kirstein’s older sister Mina was a young Englishteacher. He wrote: “The boy is the son of a Jewish familyof brains and breeding and may, I gather, have some difficul-ty in getting placed on account of the present movement toexclude Jews….I can speak for the boy on the ground ofpersonality, as I know that he is not only unobjectionableand unaggressive, but extremely attractive…”

July 10, 1922. Mr. Buck replies that Berkshire admitsJewish students,“their entrance being determined on pre-cisely the same basis as that of other boys.”

July 13, 1922. Mina Kirstein writes Mr. Buck requestinga school catalog.

July 16, 1922. Mina applies foradmission for her brother, telling Mr.Buck that young Lincoln “is in someways rather different than other boys...”

July 22, 1922. After a visit toBerkshire with her brother, Mina writesMr. Buck: “I can’t tell you how muchwe enjoyed our visit with you or howenthusiastic Lincoln is at the prospectof coming to so beautiful a school.”

July 27, 1922. Lincoln Kirstein isaccepted for admission as a sophomoreat Berkshire School.

October 10, 1922. Mr. Buck writesLouis Kirstein that Lincoln has had apain in his abdomen and back. Lincolnreturns to Boston for an appendectomy.[Duberman writes that Lincoln’s moth-er, Rose,“went into a panic at thethought of her boy going into a hospi-tal, and insisted that a surgeon theyknew perform the appendectomy onthe family dining room table.”]

November 8, 1922. Mr. Buck writesthe convalescent of the “remarkableproduction here at school last Saturdayevening by our Dramatic Club, of’Julius Caesar,’ followed by the appear-ance of ’Pavlowa’ in her latest, and Iassure you, most extraordinary dance.The mighty Julius appeared clad in hisB.V.D.’s, draped with a sheet, and wear-ing on his head a derby hat. ’Pavlowa’was adorned in hockey tights.”

December 5, 1922. Louis Kirsteinwrites Mr. Buck that Lincoln’s letters “indicate that he is verymuch happier since his return to school and he seems verymuch interested in some dramatic affairs that are going on atthe school.”

February 20, 1923. After his first visit to Berkshire, LouisKirstein writes Mr. Buck about Lincoln,“I feel that he ishappier now than he has ever been at school. I earnestlyhope he will be able to make his fair contribution to thefine spirit which seems to prevail at the school.” Louis hadbrought along Lincoln’s younger brother, George:“Georgehad a bully good time and was much impressed with the

“The mighty Julius appeared

clad in his B.V.D.’s, draped with

a sheet, and wearing on his

head a derby hat. ’Pavlowa’ was

adorned in his hockey tights.”

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An artist’s awakening at Berkshire

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY, AS ALWAYS, BECAME “HIS

ROCK AND…REDEEMER.” WITHIN DAYS OF ARRIV-

ING AT BERKSHIRE, HE HAD DEVOURED SINCLAIR

LEWIS’S BABBITT AND THOUGHT IT THE MOST

ENJOYABLE BOOK HE’D EVER READ. SOON AFTER, HE

DISCOVERED WILLIAM BLAKE AND BECAME “PAR-

TICULARLY CRAZY ABOUT HIM…I NEVER SAW ANY

DRAWINGS WHICH HAD SUCH MARVELOUS

STRENGTH AND DOUBLE ENERGY.”

LINCOLN DID MAKE AT LEAST A FEW FRIENDS OUT

OF SOME 125 CLASSMATES [IN FACT,THAT WAS THE

ENTIRE POPULATION OF BERKSHIRE; LINCOLN HAD

30 CLASSMATES];THEIR FAVORITE PASTIMES WERE

COMPARING VIEWS ON BOOKS AND POETRY,WALKING

IN THE “GORGEOUS” COUNTRYSIDE, AND LISTENING

TO CHOPIN RECORDS ON THE ROOF OF THE DORM.

…LINCOLN DOESN’T SEEM TO HAVE BEEN GENER-

ALLY REGARDED BY HIS BERKSHIRE CLASSMATES OR

TEACHERS AS EITHER AS A SNOB OR SOME SORT OF

WEIRD OUTCAST. HE INDULGED IN THE REQUISITE

NUMBER OF ROUGHHOUSES AND PILLOW FIGHTS,

DESIGNED AND PAINTED SCENERY FOR SCHOOL

PLAYS,WENT TO AT LEAST SOME OF THE DANCES (“I

LIKE DANCING EVER SO MUCH,” HE TOLD HIS PAR-

ENTS),WROTE ASSORTED PIECES OF THE STUDENT

PUBLICATION,THE DOME, AND WAS ELECTED ITS

ASSOCIATE EDITOR. AT LEAST ONCE HE TOOK THE

HEROINE’S ROLE IN A SCHOOL PRODUCTION, PER-

FORMING IN BLACK WIG AND HEADDRESS, AN

ORANGE-AND-RED SWEATER SUIT COVERED WITH

FLOWERED “EGYPTIAN” CHIFFON LACE, AND GOT TO

KISS THE HERO “DELICATELY ON HIS SMALL FAT NOSE

IN THE LAST ACT.” HE WAS UNSELFCONSCIOUS

ENOUGH TO ALLOW HIS FATHER AND BROTHER TO

SEE THE PERFORMANCE; LOUIS PRONOUNCED IT

VERY WELL DONE, DESPITE THE HEADDRESS FALLING

OFF T ONE POINT AND LINCOLN MISSING A CUE

WHILE CHATTING BACKSTAGE.

From The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein, by MartinDuberman (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007)

“He is thinking of so many

things beside his work that

the immediate job of mere

academic frivolities sometimes

gets forgotten.”

school and the fellows.”March 14, 1923. Louis Kirstein asks Mr. Buck permission

for Lincoln to leave school early for the summer “so as tocatch the Steamship ’Homeric’….this is his first trip abroadand he will have to go alone and I am rather keen on histaking this boat because I know the Captain commanding itvery well and he will take sufficient interest to see thatLincoln is taken care of.”

June 1923. In an undated letter on stationary with themasthead “On Board S.S. HOMERIC”, Lincoln Kirstein,who in fact made the crossing to Europe with youngGeorge, writes Mr. Buck. “The weather has been veryrough, and Wednesday night—a week after my Latinexam—in the midst of a gale—I dreamt father was talkingto me up at school—in that little room leading to yourhouse from the dining room. He told me I had flunked myexams which was more than cheerful news—Luckily alldreams—don’t come true….George joins me in wishingyou a very happy summer.”

June 25, 1923. Seaver Buck informs Louis Kirstein thatBerkshire School has accepted “Master George” for admis-sion. GEORGE KIRSTEIN ’28 would later become publisherof The Nation magazine and a loyal Berkshire alumnus.

July 9, 1923. Seaver Buck tells Louis Kirstein that his sonfailed his final algebra exam with a mark of 45, writing: “Itwould be to his advantage were it possible to have a com-plete review of the Algebra this summer, with the idea ofpassing our examination in the fall. This would place himsquarely in third year, so that he would have no conditions.Should he attempt to do this, the work should cover:Theory of Exponents, Radicals, Quadratics, SimultaneousQuadratics, Ratio, Proportion,Arithmetical andGeometrical Progressions, and the Binomial Theorem…Ihardly need tell you that we have found Lincoln a delightfulboy, and a most interesting one—a boy of unusual promise.”

August 1, 1923. In a letter to Seaver Buck, Louis Kirsteinsums up his son’s first year at Berkshire: “I was very gladthat you found Lincoln interesting and of some promise.AsI have written you, he was very happy at the school andboth Mrs. Kirstein and I were delighted that he was able toget some prizes, and I think that when we consider that he


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Lstarted with what might be called a handicap [Lincoln’sappendectomy in October of 1922] that the school hasdone a great deal for him.”

December 20, 1923. Just as algebra before it, geometryproved to be a bane to Lincoln. Seaver Buck to LouisKirstein: “It is my belief that Lincoln ought to tutor inGeometry until he gets a grip on the subject….It looks asthough they were going to ask him to take a part in ourplay this year, and if he is to do so he must show betterresults in his lesson.”

March 24, 1924. Lincoln’s mid-term progress report—which is unsigned, but the sarcasm suggests Latin teacherFrank Stevens—reads:“As usual, one of our most interestingboys. He is thinking of so many things beside his work thatthe immediate job of mere academic frivolities sometimesgets forgotten.”

September 12, 1924. After the Kirstein family returnsfrom another summer trip to Europe, Louis informs Mr.Buck that Lincoln will not return to Berkshire for his sen-ior year: “…George is getting ready and eagerly lookingforward to returning to school… Lincoln has set his hearton entering Harvard next year and he feels that if he canstay here in Boston and have such tutoring as is necessary,that he can pass the examinations in one year. Anothercompelling reason for his desire to remain in Boston is thathe is very keen on learning how to draw…We have consid-

ered the matter very carefully and have arrived at the con-clusion that it is best to encourage Lincoln in what hedesires to do…I want to assure you that we very muchappreciate how much you have done for him and the greatbenefits he has derived from the school.”

September 13, 1924. Mr. Buck replies to Mr. Kirstein: “Iappreciate thoroughly his desire to express himself as theindividual that he surely is….He is a gifted boy, and a thor-oughly fine boy. I confidently expect him to have a distin-guished career in due time.” (In the same letter, Mr. Buckswitches to a fundraising mode and suggests that he and Mr.Kirstein get together “about certain business problems con-nected with our enterprise, on which I feel sure your counselwill be helpful.” Mr. Buck ends the latter with the postscript,“Mrs. Buck is quite distressed that Lincoln is not returning.”

September 16, 1924. Louis Kirstein tells Mr. Buck that “ifI can be of service in helping in any of your business prob-lems, I shall be happy to do so…I know Lincoln is verygrateful to you…he genuinely appreciates that he has gottena great deal from the school….He is devoted to Mrs. Buck,whom he feels has been almost a mother to him.”

March 13, 1925. In a letter written from his family’s apart-ment on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, Lincoln Kirsteinapologizes to Mr. Buck for not having written sooner, thenasks for a book back: “Some time ago, I think you borrowed abook from me called ’Come Hither’ by Walter de la Mare. Iwonder, if you are finished with it—could you give it to mybrother to bring home…please give my very best love to Mrs.Buck. I hope to come up to visit you sometime in the nottoo far distant future…Goodbye—I hope the remainder ofyour year will be very pleasant.” (For all his private tutoring inBoston, Lincoln Kirstein fails to qualify for the Harvard examsin June of 1925 and fails again that fall. However, in June of1926, the third time is the charm, and Kirstein enters Harvardas a freshman in the fall of that year at the age of 19.)

There is no record of any further correspondence or con-tact between Lincoln Kirstein and Berkshire School untilhis death at 89 in 1996—but, according to all the evidence,not because Lincoln bore ill will toward the school or cer-tainly the Bucks. George Kirstein, who at his death in 1986left Berkshire a sizable gift in his will, had advised theschool that his brother wouldn’t follow suit.

“I sent Lincoln’s address to the alumni office, but I warnyou in advance that a less loyal alumnus never existed,”George wrote music teacher Frank Beattie in 1957, “Thisdoes not only apply to Berkshire, but to Harvard as well,and the reason is not any lack of appreciation but rather alife on his part which is concerned on making the best pos-sible ballet, which he has done.”

Prof

ile w

ith C

ats:

Lin

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Ker

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by M

icha

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eona

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Pro Vita Winter Session: February 25—March 1, 2008

By Paul MacKenzie, program director

During the last week of February, Berkshire School willstep away from the normal academic curriculum to engagein a week of specialized courses and experiential learning.As part of the school’s Centennial celebration, and in fulfill-ment of our motto to learn for life, not just for school, stu-dents will participate in Pro Vita, a week-long winter ses-sion. Students will have the opportunity to take week-long“mini-courses” covering areas of specific interest or abilityamong the faculty. An exciting aspect of Pro Vita is theinclusion of alumni, parents, trustees and other friends ofthe school in the program. Many outside visitors will par-ticipate as teachers, presenters or guest lecturers.

What will set Pro Vita apart fromwinter term or inter-session programsat other schools is the academic rigorof our program. Students will betaking two academic courses duringthe mornings, then have a chance toparticipate in more experientiallearning courses in the afternoon.Thus, while mornings might be spentstudying the poetry of Bob Dylanwith English teacher CathySchieffelin, or philosophy teacherClay Splawn’s class considering thenature of happiness and the meaningof life, the afternoon offerings includehands-on courses such as baking withSage Food Director Mike Ramella orbuilding a scale-model trebuchet, atype of medieval siege weapon withscience teacher Mike Dalton.

Environmental Symposium: April 22, 2008

By Peter Kinne, program director

Students and faculty will spendthe day exploring critical issues inenvironmental stewardship withrenowned naturalists and educators.The program aims to examine issues ofenvironmental stewardship and sustain-ability through diverse, interdisciplinary classes address-ing matters of local, national and international scope.

The program will include conservation experts andnaturalists as well as scientists, writers, artists and advocateswith the goal of inspiring students to take an active respon-sibility in the stewardship of both their immediate and

greater environs by gaining an apprecia-tion for the important connectionsbetween local and global processes as itrelates to sustainability.

Fifteen different classes, ranging from“Environmental Toxicology” to“Conservation Education and Outreachin Third World Societies” to “LocalInvasive Species and its Effects,” will beoffered, of which students will select four.

Attendees include representatives fromthe Nature Conservancy,AppalachianMountain Club, the Orion Society,United States Representative Olver’soffice, Berkshire Community andHolyoke Community Colleges, ProjectNative, and various other science educa-tors from the area.

You’re only 100 once!The Centennial celebration continues with these upcoming events.


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April 25—27, 2008: Spring Parents Weekend

By Nannie Clough, Centennial coordinator

This is the apex weekend of the Centennial celebrationfor current students and their parents, faculty and staff. Thetraditional spring parents’ weekend will be augmented. Weare honored to welcome Clark Randt, U.S.Ambassador toChina and Berkshire parent ofCLARK RANDT JR. ’02, tocampus on Saturday morningto address the community. Inthe afternoon, athletic teamswill compete at home andartists and dancers will presenttheir work in exhibitions.Saturday evening will feature agrand gala under a tent on thefootball field. To prepare for anight of dancing, the entirecommunity—students, faculty and staff—is taking a series ofclasses in East Coast Swing throughout the school year.Even current parents took a turn on the dance floor duringFall Parents’Weekend. The theme for the night—in hom-age to the popular Berkshire tradition of house parties heldtwice a year in the early 1950’s—is a Black and White Ball.Guests are encouraged to wear festive attire in black and/orwhite. This weekend is highly anticipated and we urge par-ents to make lodging reservations early.

May 16—18, 2008: Centennial Weekend

By Nannie Clough, Centennial coordinator

For our Centennial year, we invite all alumni—not just thosecelebrating a reunion anniversary—to come back to campusfor a fantastic homecoming event. This weekend, whichreplaces the traditional June reunion weekend, will offer alum-ni the opportunity to see old friends from classes spanningtheir time under the mountain and to reconnect with faculty.The weekend kicks off with a festive “Taste of the Berkshires”dinner on Friday night, a tasting menu of the best local farepresented by renowned area restaurateurs. On Saturday morn-ing, David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning his-torian and author of 1776 and John Adams, will address alumni,students and faculty under a massive tent on the football field.After a lovely luncheon, alumni can cheer on the Berkshireteams as they compete around campus throughout the after-noon. Student artists will also present their work in the visualarts and ceramics studios, and the dancers will present theirspring program in Allen Theater. Alumni are also invited on a“hard hat” tour of renovations of Berkshire Hall or the newathletic facility. On Saturday night, we urge alumni to hop onthe Berkshire shuttle bus, which will make repeated loopsthroughout the night to area hotels and inns, and join friendsunder the grand tent on East Campus across UndermountainRoad for cocktails, dinner and dancing. Vince Giordano andthe Nighthawks will play throughout the evening, and thenight will be capped with a champagne toast and fireworks.Finally, on Sunday morning, we invite alumni to come tobrunch in Benson Commons, play in the alumni baseballgame, join students for a guided hike to South Pinnacle orBlack Rock, or play a pick-up game of softball. The weekendpromises to be wonderful, and we urge alumni to make lodg-ing plans early. It is imperative that alumni mentionthat they are coming to the Berkshire School celebra-tion when making reservations. We have held all the arearooms until shortly before the event (30—45 days, dependingon the hotel/inn) and there is no availability for those who arenot affiliated with this event. A list of area hotels and inns canbe found on the school Web site in the About Berkshire sec-tion, as well as links to their sites. Please make plans now torekindle Berkshire friendships at this important milestone inthe school’s history.

Berkshire’s new Web site includes useful information andlinks to detailed schedules and registration forms forCentennial events. You will also find interesting facts aboutthe school’s history, photographs and stories from teachersand classmates. Finally, if you have a story or photograph toshare, contact Nannie Clough at [email protected] so we can be sure to share it with theBerkshire community.

Author David McCullough, who will speak at Berkshire's Centennialcelebration in May, was cited by Yale University as a historian who"paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live,breathe, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage,achievement, and moral character."

Clark Randt

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In 1890, Seaver Buck applied for a job as a master at theAllen School in West Newton, Massachusetts, run by hisfuture father-in-law. He writes in his autobiography: “Irecall my first arrival at ’The Lindens’—James Allen’s housewhere I was to live. For the first time since leavingEllsworth [Maine], I had the feeling that I was among theright people. That was of course where and when I metyour mother, and I well remember the first time I saw her.I was standing in the front hall and she came running downthe long steep carpeted stairs—and I mean running. Shedid not dream, nor did I, what trouble she was runninginto. She was not yet eighteen, and I was twenty-one.”

Ten years later, on September 6, 1900, they were, in thewords of a colleague, “united in a long and happy partner-ship.” Mr. Buck wrote the following poem to his wife ontheir anniversary in 1946. He died four years later, fourmonths shy of their golden wedding anniversary.

Above: Seaver and Anne Buck with sonsAllen (standing) and Seaver Jr. and daughterCaroline… Below: in 1946, the year hewrote this poem to his wife.

B E R K S H I R E B O N D S

Seaver Burton Buck& Anne Allen

Editor’s note: Berkshire Bonds usually features alumni couplesfrom Berkshire School. Seaver and Anne Allen Buck may nothave graduated from Berkshire, but they spent 43 years heretogether—and that’s enough for us. If you’ve connected for lifewith a fellow alumnus or alumna, please send your story [email protected]


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Berkshire School in 1953, the place I fell in love with when I first sawit. The campus still contained relics of the agriculture past: the barn,the two farmhouses on either side of the driveway [Spurr and ChaseHouse], the meadows, with hedgerows, along the driveway.”‘‘

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Ten from TwiggsFavorite photos of Berkshire’s senior master emeritus and archivist.


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‘‘This 1943 photo of Berkshire’s faculty and staff, taken in what is nowthe Johnston Common Room, would indicate that women were onthe faculty here long before the advent of coeducation. And, whileyou’re at it, look at the saddle shoes, the bobby sox, and that hat!”

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‘‘My favorite Berkshire School picture.In 1960, movies in Berkshire HallTheater were the high point of theweek. Can’t you tell?”

‘‘“My favorite picture of the man who hired me: John Forbes Godman, afterMr. Buck Berkshire’s greatest headmaster. What else is there to be said?”

‘‘At an alumni gathering,Art Chase and LYMAN

BULLARD ’73, the third generation of one ofBerkshire’s most loyal and supportive families. Arthad a wonderfully mischievous quality and sense ofhumor, which shows in his expression here but isnot captured in many pictures. Can’t you see thathe’s about to come out with a bon mot—or maybejust delivered one?”


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‘‘Mrs. Buck as she looked when I first met her. She was garrulous, sharp as a tack,and loved to entertain. She played no formal role, but her influence was enormous.When they finally hired a school nurse, Mr. Buck said that it was so that Mrs. Buckdidn’t have to look after the health of the students as well as everything else.”

David Campbell Eipper: the quintessential teacher atwork. When I came to Berkshire he had been here forforty-three years and was to complete a fifty-two-yearteaching career at Berkshire School. He and FrankStevens had known each other for forty years and yet Inever knew them to refer to each other by anythingother than Mr. Stevens and Mr. Eipper. Mr. Eipper wasa man of enormous integrity and a teacher whosedemands were fair but of the highest standard.”

‘‘

Marjorie Sweet was secretary to HeadmastersDel de Windt, John Godman and BobMinnerly. A woman of great sensitivity, intelli-gence, energy and strong character. She wasoften here at six o’clock in the morning, whenreports were going out, and nothing was everlate. She ran the place.”

‘‘

‘‘The kid in the center looks like he died and went to heaven.All hail to coeducation!”

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‘‘“This is a picture of [longtime English teacher] Tom Chaffee laughing, whichyou don’t often see. Mr. Chaffee, pictured here with Headmaster JohnBlessington, had a wonderful sense of humor and could be a very funny guy.”

AlumnamesChances are, no class in Berkshire’s history will ever claim a morefelicitous trio of names than 1969’s Charlie Brown, Jimmy Dean and John Wayne. And the very same class spawned Chip Copper,Jack Bloodgood, Bob Ensign, Steve Hope, and Steve Thistle.

Knowing that it’s impossible to top Westcote HerreshoffCheseborough ’25, several senior or past faculty members submitted their favorite Berkshire nomenclatural classics:

Apichart Wanglee ’88 Buff Montana ’65Crocus Bever ’80 David Orefice ’92

Dort Bigg ’75Don Savery ’71

Ennals Berl ’81 Handi Fang ’02

Jack Bacon ’72Ludlow North ’78Noah Fischel ’94

Octavia Diamond Ocean ’07Pakkapon Vivadhanakasem ’01 Peter Alternative ’68

Silas Marder ’96 Tempe Pinkham ’83

Vixen Peare ’85Sam Finger ’07

Leigh Leathery ’87

Zach Pack ’96Whit Foote ’70

Sam Goldfinger ’96


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As I sat in my mother-in-law’s kitchen listening to my wife,Kristina, and her mother, Margareta, speaking about what allSwedish people talk about—köttbullar och kanelbullar (meat-balls and cinnamon buns)—it came to me: I need to learnSwedish, if only to learn what is so funny about meatballs andcinnamon buns. Since I was also required to have a proficiencyin a foreign language for my graduate work, I could not thinkof a better way to fulfill that requirement. I would come tobetter understand the culture of my wife and her family and, atthe superficial level, earn the necessary credits for school.

But where to find a Swedish language course? I know, Iknow, with Swedish being poised to become the dominantlanguage in the world theater, who would think that it wouldbe a problem to find such a course? But it was. I was onlyable to find courses in Minnesota and the state of Washington.And, to be honest, I did not see the benefit of traveling evenhalfway across the Untied States to learn Swedish, so I tempo-rally abandoned the idea of learning the language.

After briefly considering taking Spanish again—a languageI have not spoken since my junior year in high school; lossientos, Sr. Ibanez—to fulfill my graduate school require-ments, I quickly returned to the idea of Swedish and beganto look for courses in Sweden. Eventually, I found a courseoffered at the University of Uppsala, Sweden’s oldest. Theone-month program consisted of room and board, six one-hour classes each day of the week, and guided tours ofSweden on the weekend. Perfect: I would be able toimmerse myself in the Swedish culture and not only learnpart of their language, but their history as well.

But, as with all aspirations, I needed to find the money,money for the flight to Sweden, tuition, and other expendi-tures. Then, like Ed McMahon himself, the image of ClaySplawn, chair of the Professional Development Committee atthe time, came knocking on my door:“There is no requestthat the committee will not consider. Approving it is anotherstory, however.” So, with that in mind I decided to submit arequest to the PDC and hope for the best. After speaking withClay on several occasions about particulars and confirming thatI would in fact receive graduate school credits in the UnitedStates for the class in Sweden, the PDC granted funds coveringthe cost of tuition! And to cover the remaining cost of theflight and other costs, I applied for and received a scholarshipoffered by the Swedish program (UISS). My entire one-monthtrip to Sweden was paid for. I could not have been moreexcited or surprised!

The time I spent in Sweden learning its language and cul-ture had far exceeded my initial expectations. Not only am Inow able to carry on a conversation in Swedish—albeit at thelevel of an eight-year-old—and have fulfilled the properrequirements for graduate school, I also came away from myexperience with a better understanding of what it is like to bea student in a classroom where the language is not your own,and how to better integrate grammar into class activities.

Most importantly, however, I learned that the meatballsand cinnamon buns I thought my mother-in-law and wifewere talking about in the kitchen were not exactly that—there was a bit more to it:Titta Kristina! Stuart har köt-tbulle söm sitter fast i hons tänder.

FA C U LT Y F L A S H

Professional Development:How Swede it is.

By STUART MILLER ’97

Thanks to Berkshire’s Professional Development Program, severalBerkshire faculty spent last summer diving deeper into their disci-plines at such places as Wesleyan University, George WashingtonUniversity, Bowdoin College and Harvard University. But no onedid it in more exotic fashion than English teacher Stuart Miller.The husband of KRISTINA THAUTE MILLER ’97, Mr. Millerhopes to earn his master’s degree in English from the StateUniversity of New York in New Paltz next June.


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Welcome back!Second-year math teacher, dorm parent and coach Francis Chapuredima received a warm welcome from students fol-

lowing his return in October from his native Zimbabwe, where he had been waiting for a new work permit since March.

New facultyand staff

New faculty and staff members joining Berkshire this

fall included, top row from left: Dan Yaverbaum (science),

DEVON O’ROURKE ’02 (science), Bill Bullock (histo-

ry). Middle row, from left: Nick White (Academic Support

Program), Kate Garbutt (math), Ray DeMartino

(Academic Support Program), Michael Bjurlin (math).

Front row, from left: BEBE CLARK BULLOCK ’86 (eng-

lish), Nicole Mandras (Academic Support Program),

Jackie O’Rourke (activities director). Mr. O’Rourke

and Mrs. Bullock join English teacher STUART MILLER

’97 as the only current faculty members to have graduat-

ed from Berkshire. (Representing the staff are TIM

BROOKS ’70, TIM FULCO ’78, KEIRA MCKENNA

HOLBROUGH ’92, and KRISTINA THAUTE MILLER

’97.) For profiles on Bekrshire’s new faculty members,

visit www.berkshireschool.org.

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FA C U LT Y F L A S H

Big Hopes for the Little Dome

By Vikki Sheppard ’08

Berkshire’s enthusiastic new science teacher DanYaverbaum, who teaches physics and astronomy, isalso the new director of Dixon Observatory.“It’s oneof the reasons I took the job,” says Mr.Yaverbaum,who hopes to have the facility—now closed due toconstruction of the new multi-purpose indoor ath-letic center—functioning by winter.The teacher,who writes an astronomy column for newspapers innorthwestern Connecticut, has a longer-term goalfor the observatory: to have an interface through theWeb, which would allow pictures to be taken by thetelescope itself and posted online.

Even upIndian Mountain School cross-

country coach BRIAN GULOTTA

’97 evened the score against fatherBill Gulotta at one apiece whenhis harriers beat Berkshire’s JVsquad this fall. Brian also happensto teach history as well, but nocompetition is scheduled betweenthe two in that area.


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Building a better Berkshire.The school’s master plan comes to life.

Workers on the new multi-purposeindoor athletic center “fly the beam.”

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Those who spent last summer watching construction on the new athleticcenter saw dirt—and lots of it. But one man’s dirt is another man’s soil, andthere are as many as twelve categories of it, according to Project ManagerLouis Rosenblatt. For instance, structural fill maintains the bearing capacity ofthe building. Free-draining fill allows water to seep to the bottom into thedrainage system, thus relieving the hydraulic pressure against the structure’sretaining walls. Sand base materials are yetanother composite of soil, used for under-neath the hockey rinks. Road-based materialssupport the installation of bituminous product(asphalt)—a denser aggregate for the binderand a smaller aggregate that makes up the topcoat. Finally, good old topsoil is screened forconformity and used for landscaping.

Topsoil is stripped andmaintained in a separate pile.

Above Last summer, the 20-acre construction site of

the athletic center and Young Field projects dominated

the view from South Pinnacle. Head of School Mike

Maher called the area “the Marne,” after the site of the

World War I battle.

The summer of dirt.Photos by Lewis Kostiner, father of Tess ’08, and by James Harris


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Fabricated rock and soil, used

for free-draining material

Crushed limestone

The “crushing plant,” rock being

turned into gravel for the road (left)

and sand for under the rinks (right)

Processed road-based material on the left, top soil on the right

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Berkshire Hall next fall!Resetting and polishing the crown jewel on campus.

Above: Trustees and Advisory Board members toured the gutted Berkshire Hall during their October meeting. Back row, fromleft: HANS CARSTENSEN ’66, current parent David Puth, Head of School Mike Maher, BRIAN FAHY ’82. Third row, fromleft: current parent John Stout, TOM BOEHLAND ’81, parent of alumni Kim Schappert, DAVE RONDEAU ’78, parent ofalumna WOODY HANCOCK ’67. Second row, from left: parent of alumna Kathy Rines, MARC MASSARO ’98, DAN MORRIS

’98, Lance Odden, JOHN ELWOOD ’61. First row,from left: parent of alumnus Roger Gorden, NINA

BRADLEY CLARKE ’90, current parent and parent ofalumna SKIP MURFEY ’68, JASON RANO ’98, parentof alumna and current parent Thomas Peterffy,TWIGGS MYERS HON. ’57, parent of alumna JIM

SHELDON-DEAN ’69, current parent Margot Ward.

Right: The former Berkshire Hall Theater will beknown as the Great Room, a two-thousandsquare-foot room used for functions, presentations,or simply study. (Computer animation byAnimagic, Inc.)

FOR UP-TO-DATE CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS, VISIT WWW.BERKSHIRESCHOOL.ORG.


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Above: With just a touch of chagrin that he’llnever study again within it, sixth-former AlexHenderson of Rumson, New Jersey, shows offthe once and future Berkshire Hall.

Below: The student prefects, the senior leaders of the school, got into theact as well. Standing, from left: Tom Smythe, Chris Buonomo, Cam Miller,Katie Cahill, Bubba Sainsbury, Randi Schock,Taryn Blume, Caitlin Ward,Kayla Arsenie,All-School President Mary Pace, Kyu Lee Han. Sitting,From left: Project manager Tammy Zerbe,Tom Regan, Justin Holmes.

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“It really was no miracle, what happened was just this: ”The Arthur Chase Sugar House was moved this summer to a temporary spot across the road until its permanent site was cleared, after which it was moved again. No witch was killed in the process.

Centennial HallLocated behind the athletic center on the site of the DavenportTennis Center, the modular classrooms, seen here under constructionthis summer and in use this fall, were named Centennial Hall by the students.

FOR UP-TO-DATE CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS, VISIT WWW.BERKSHIRESCHOOL.ORG.


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Everything but luxury boxes.Scheduled to open next spring, the Thomas Young field, pictured before and after, will feature a new scoreboard inright field and two bright yellow foul poles standing thirty feet high. (The left field pole at far left in the bottomphoto is 360 feet from home, the right field pole, 300 feet.) Among the field’s other new features are an infiltrationsystem in the outfield and an irrigation system in the infield to help control mass flooding of Glen Brook caused byrunoff water. Behind the new backstop will be a retaining wall covered with fieldstones.The new diamond will nowface northwest rather than southwest, welcome news to infielders. During the fall season, a new soccer field will bepositioned in the outfield area, while additional areas for track and field events will be to the north of the new field.

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By KAT KOLLMER ’05

After finishing a semester at the London School ofEconomics, I accepted an internship with Perkins FundMarketing in Southport, Connecticut. PFM is a leading place-ment agent for institutional and accredited high net worthindividuals within the alternative investment universe.

During this time, I worked on a variety of projects relatedto the research and discovery aspects of the manager selec-tion due diligence process. (Unlike most interns, I was notstuck doing clerical work!) Every day was different. Somedays I went to New York City or Boston to meet withhedge fund managers, while other days were spent in theoffice meeting with prospective managers there. I was trulyinvolved in these meetings and afterward would write upreports giving my reasons for marketing or not marketingthe particular fund. I would also often call up previouslyrejected managers to check up on their funds’ performance.

This experience provided me with a chance to learn more

about different opportunities in the financial industry. I wasable to see the analyst/hedge fund side by meeting with thosemanagers as well as see the sales side of finance, and I was ableto see how marketing was done. This internship provided mewith an amazing experience that I hope to leverage throughoutmy professional career. At Perkins, I formed professional rela-tionships with people such as DAVID RONDEAU ’78 and CHIP

PERKINS ’73 that I know will provide a solid basis for men-toring on a go-forward basis. I am very grateful for Berkshire,the opportunities Berkshire has provided me, and for Chip andhis company as I continue my educational experiences. Pro VitaNon Pro Schola Discimus!

Kat Kollmer, a junior at Wheaton College, majors in economicswith a minor in management. She is currently in our nation’s capi-tal with Wheaton’s Washington Semester Program and next semes-ter will study in Sydney,Australia, as part of Boston University’sInternational Business and Economic Policy program.

N E T W O R K I N G

Young alumni get down to business

The Advisory Board Internship Program, designed to get young Berkshire graduates into the marketplace, got off to a flying start thissummer. In addition to the two case studies below, MORGAN GOING ’98 interned for Merrill Lynch in Jersey City last summerand was hired by the company at summer’s end. The new networking initiative was the brainchild of Advisory Board Co-ChairDAVID RONDEAU ’78, who says several members of that body, as well as some Trustees, have signed onto the program.

Berkshire graduates Kat Kollmer and David Rondeau on campus this fall.


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By ORI GOLDMAN ’05

This past summer I had the opportunity to gain invaluablereal-work experience in the finance/marketing industry as anintern for Arrow Partners, an independent sales and marketingfirm in Westchester, New York.Working for Arrow gave me anew perspective on how the hedge fund industry works. Ispent the majority of my time there helping Arrow perfect itsfund database, which is key in raising capital for newlylaunched funds.We worked on streamlining the fund discov-ery process, and I was fortunate to be there at a time whenbusiness was booming so I could see how new clients werefound and millions were raised.Arrow principals Ken Rogersand Steve Rubenstein were very helpful to me and showed agenuine desire for me to not only help the firm, but also tolearn something in the process. I’d like to thank Berkshire forits continuing support and would strongly recommend thecontinuance and expansion of this program.

Ori Goldman is majoring in financial economics and mathematicsat the University of Rochester. Ori is a member of the varsitysquash team and previously played varsity tennis for theYellowJackets. Ori spent considerable time traveling around theworld, with stops in Japan, Israel, and Spain as well as Zimbabwe.

Ori Goldman earlier this year in Zimbabwe. During his time in Harare, Ori

noted the resiliency of Zimbabweans in the face of economic collapse and

their adaptability and resourcefulness in dealing with the effects of hyperin-

flation, currently running at nearly 15,000% a year.

In honor of our Centennial anniversary, berkshireschool.org has a whole new look.Surf the site and see for yourself!

Current parents and alumni: If you haven’t received log-in information to access the Parent and Alumni portals via e-mail, contact Webmaster Kelley Bogardus at [email protected].

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Francis Van Wyck Mason (November11, 1901—August 28, 1978, Bermuda)was an American historian and novelist.He had a long and prolific career as awriter spanning 50 years and including65 published novels.

L I F EMason was born to a patrician Boston family which

traced its roots on the North American continent back tothe 17th Century. His early life before he started writingwas filled with adventure. His first eight years he lived inBerlin and then Paris where his grandfather served as U.S.Consul General.After a few years in Illinois he left forEurope in 1917 while still a teenager to fight in World WarI. Like many future writers, he was an ambulance driver fora while. He then managed to enlist in the French Armywhere he became a decorated artillery officer. By the end ofthe war he had worked his way into the U.S.Army, rising tothe rank of Lieutenant.After the war he went to prepschool before attending Harvard where he received hisBachelor of Science (SB) in 1924.At one time in his stu-dent days, he was mistakenly arrested for murder. Havingborrowed a dinner jacket, he was wrongly identified for awaiter who at the time had committed a murder.

His hopes of entering the diplomatic corps were thwart-ed after the death of his father and he started an importingbusiness instead. He spent the next few years traveling theworld buying rugs and antiques before getting married andsettling down. His travels were extensive and includedEurope, Russia,the Near East, North Africa (9 weeks withown caravan), the West Indies, Central Africa, and a rideacross Central America on horseback. He lived in New YorkCity and was in a famous Cavalry division of the NationalGuard and played quite a bit of polo.This set the tone forhim as he continued to travel and indulge his interest inhunting the rest of his life.

By 1927 he was getting ready to settle down and getmarried when a chance meeting with one of his collegeprofessors, John Gallishaw, encouraged him to take a stab atwriting. He took Gallishaw's course in short fiction on thecondition that he pay for the course out of future sales.[1]He married socialite Dorothy L. MacReady in New YorkCity in November of that year and by May 1928 he had hisfirst story published. He enjoyed immediate success sellingto the pulp magazines and sold 18 stories before his firstrejection.The magazines paid well at that time and he wassoon able to build a comfortable home outside ofBaltimore, Maryland. In 1930 he published his first bookThe Seeds of Murder which introduced Captain Hugh

North, a detective in Army Intelligence and the hero in along series of "intrigue" novels.

By 1931 he had settled into a career as an author ofbooks as well as short fiction, publishing two more CaptainNorth novels and his first historical novel, Captain Nemesis,which was republished from an earlier pulp serial.The his-torical novel apparently did not sell well because he wentback to the mystery/intrigue books, publishing a dozen orso over then next 7 years. He developed his Hugh Northcharacter, who was Mason's alter ego, in these books. Northwas a prototype for James Bond in that he was a smooth,capable spy, as well as quite a lady killer.This series of booksalso seemed to predict actual military events before theytook place, including a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

Mason was still selling historical stories for the pulps duringthis period and in 1938 returned to the genre for a majornovel,Three Harbours, about the early phases of the AmericanRevolution. By this time Mason was doing very well indeed ashe was able to split his time between Nantucket, Bermuda, andMaryland.When delivering the manuscript from Nantucket, hewas caught in the middle of the New England Hurricane of1938 and had many close calls which may have ended hiscareer right there.[2] Fortunately the manuscript was a longone and he was able to use it as a defense against flyingdebris.[3] He made it to New York and the book turned outto be very popular and changed his focus to historical fictionfor the rest of his career, though he would continue to writeHugh North stories until 1968.

He wrote two more companion books to Three Harbours,Stars on the Sea and Rivers of Glory, as well as three moreHugh North mysteries in the years leading up to World WarII.These books all did very well, especially Stars on the Seawhich was a top 10 bestseller for 1940, and Mason was in hisprime before the war interrupted his writing for a time. Hereenlisted at the beginning of the war and suspended hiswriting career though he did manage to write some youthoriented war stories during the war under the name FrankW. Mason as well as publishing a couple of reworked pulpserials under the name Ward Weaver. During World War II heworked as Chief Historian serving on General Eisenhower'sstaff. His main responsibility was to document the war forfuture generations but he did lend a hand to write thefamous communiqués which announced the activities of D-Day to the world.As part of his duties he followed behind orwith advancing troops as they worked their way into enemyterritory and was one of the first into some of the concentra-tion camps including Buchenwald.

After the war he settled into a more leisurely pace of alittle more than one book per year, which he was to main-tain for the next quarter century. His style was well refinedby this time and he was able to publish a string of fairly

G O O G L I N G A L U M N I

F. Van Wyck Mason ’20:Polo player turned pulp fiction writer turned novelist


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popular books. He finished his American Revolution serieswith Eagle in the Sky in 1948, wrote a popular novel aboutthe famous buccaneer, Henry Morgan called Cutlass Empirein 1949, and started a trilogy on the Civil War in 1951.

He rewrote more of his pulps for the paperback marketduring the fifties and had a successful youth book calledThe Winter at Valley Forge in 1955. He would continue towrite historical novels for the youth market after that as partof his mix. He also moved to Bermuda from the Baltimorearea during the ’50s. His wife was ill during this period andfinally died in 1958.

He was soon remarried to Jean-Louise Hand, his long-time secretary. He spent the rest of his life in Bermuda,writing historical fiction for both the adult and youth mar-ket as well as several more Hugh North novels. He drownedoff the coast of Bermuda in 1978 after having finished hisfinal novel,Armored Giants, about the battle between theMonitor and Merrimack, which was published posthu-mously in 1980.

W R I T I N G S T Y L EMason's writing style was colorful though straightforward.

He seems to use his own voice in telling these stories in thethird person, though he only lets a little of his personalitycome through as narrator. His stories usually revolve arounda heroic gentleman character.This hero is usually a littlerough around the edges and may be forced to extrememeasures by circumstances, but in the end, comes out ontop. Based on his own life which involved extensive travel,his stories are usually either set in exotic locations, as in theHugh North stories, or involve main characters who aregetting about quite a bit. His historical stories nearly alwaysinvolve some kind of warfare and frequently include navalbattles.While one may learn a little history and geographywhen reading his works, the main point of his stories is theexcitement provided as he first makes the reader care abouthis main characters and then puts them into dire circum-stances where they have to fight for their lives.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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S T U D E N T V O I C E S

Ritt and MeBy Joe Cohen ’08

Last June marked the fifteenth anniversary of the deathof RITT KELLOGG ’85 (above) on the eastern slope ofMt. Foraker in Alaska, seven years after he graduatedfrom Berkshire. The Ritt Kellogg Mountain Program(RKMP), founded in his memory in 1992, has sincebecome a vital part of Berkshire life. Joe Cohen, whotraveled to Africa last summer with other RKMP partici-pants, is a four-year student from Darien, Connecticut.The following is an excerpt from his college essay.

As I climb higher and higher on the slopes of Mt. Everett,the sweat starts to bead on my forehead and I wish my hairwere a whole lot shorter and my pack much lighter—itnever feels the same when it’s just dead weight. I push on,knowing that if I can’t motivate myself to get up this 3,000-foot hill, I’ll never make it up Kilimanjaro. I only have twomore weeks before I leave for the trip. I start to think, as Ido when I hike, on a time in my life when I would havejust given up.

The difference now is that I have a driving force behindme, and, despite my never having known him, Ritt Kelloggis my spiritual guide. Ritt died when I was only two yearsold. But his legacy of leading by example and loving theoutdoors lives on at Berkshire through the RKMP. Likeme, he enjoyed frolicking in the woods behind BerkshireSchool and sharing his love for Mt. Everett with others.

As a kid I tried the traditional sports for enjoyment, butfootball and basketball never seemed to fit. I always had a


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passion for the outdoors, but never had the opportunity toexercise that passion until I was introduced to BerkshireSchool. Searching for something more than the sprawl andconformity of my suburban town, I was immediately drawnto the School’s setting at the foot of Mt. Everett. I firstheard Ritt’s name uttered on my tour in a brief mention ofthe RKMP, but when I arrived as a student I realized thatRitt himself would mean much more to me than just thename of a program. I quickly found that Ritt, although nolonger alive, was someone with whom I could relate. I readIn the Zone by Colby Coombs, the lone survivor of the ava-lanche that killed Ritt; I surfed the Web for any informationI could find; I asked the older teachers for anecdotes of histime at Berkshire. But I only got a limited sense of who hewas. It was the mountain behind the School and my con-nection to it that really gave me insight into Ritt Kellogg.

As I participated more and more in the RKMP, it gaveback to me equally. Winter Mountaineering andBackcountry Skills taught me teamwork, leadership, andbasic survival and outdoor skills. I became more confident,more outgoing, more sure of my place in everyday life. Justas the mountain might have changed Ritt twenty yearsbefore, it was doing the same to me.What meant even moreto me than the outdoor instruction was the time I spentalone on the mountain: hiking, swimming at Guilder Pond,

climbing at the Oil Fields, or reflecting as I enjoyed theviews from Black Rock, South Pinnacle or Mt. Everett’sglorious summit. I was able to center myself in a way that Inever had been able to before, and this ability to thinkabout what was on my mind without the distractions ofeveryday life helped me mature by leaps and bounds.

I know Ritt would understand it.There is a picture ofhim in the Mountain Room where we store our gear andmeet for practice. Underneath the picture is an excerptfrom an essay Ritt once wrote:

“In conquering a problem…clear your mind, getdetermined, carry through.When you are sixty or sofeet in the air, your problem of getting to the top ofthe cliff becomes much larger in your head.Youbegin to panic, clench the rock and waste all of yourenergy in panicking. If you stop and take a long,deep breath and realize actually what you are facedwith, you may start to climb slowly, one step at atime, eventually reaching the top.” (Ritt Kellogg,Outward Bound—A Personal Essay)

The natural environment obviously challenged Ritt, andit challenges me in the same way.

As my love of the outdoors increases, Ritt Kellogg con-tinues to direct me. I realized that if I enjoy the naturalworld so much, then I should devote my life to it. So I havefully immersed myself in this new direction in which I amsuccessful and happy. Now, my motto is W.W.R.K.D.:WhatWould Ritt Kellogg Do?

Now almost all of my time—from rock climbing andmountain biking to making maple syrup to participating onthe Conservation Committee to spending summers inAlaska and Ecuador—is devoted to the outdoors. I evendevote my summers to teaching kids how to kayak andmountain bike at a camp in Maine. But it’s more than that.I’m teaching them about character and how to love theoutdoors.

I now know something that many people my age do not:what I want to do with my life. Thanks, Ritt.

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Reunion Gallery

From the Class of 97, clockwise from left: KATIE SCHNECK, AMANDA

WHEELER, ALEISHA CABANIOL, KRISTINA MILLER, JULIE RUBINSTEIN.

1977 classmates STUART BROWN and DAVE WEST bicycled to seeTWIGGS MYERS HON. ’57 at his house on Berkshire School Road.

Celebrating their seventy-year reunion—count ’em, seventy—wereHOWARD JOHNSTON, with his wife, Priscilla, and BILL

JOHNSON and wife,Anne.

Lois Case, wife of DICK CASE ’57, stopped by the Kellogg Alumni Center tosee the oil painting of old Allen House by her late brother, DENNIS KIMBALL

’63. Well known for his art at Berkshire, Dennis also played the organ for chapelservices.After going to Franklin and Marshall College, Dennis produced indus-trial shows, worked in summer stock, and, in 1984, realized his dream of buyinga pub in England. He died a year later at the age of forty.

After attending fifteen straight reunions together, 1947 classmatesAL SHAW and KIM KIMBERLY finally snapped.

Nina Blaicher, wife of BRAD BLAICHER ’92, with daughter Sophie.


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It won’t be long before there are more Duryees going to BerkshireSchool, to wit: Piper, Crispin and C.C., children of 1992 classmatesBURR DURYEE and DEBBIE CRISPIN DURYEE. Former fac brat Burris the brother, nephew and cousin of Berkshire alumni. (Lest we forget,Debbie is the sister of an alumna.)

1977 classmates PATTY DELGRAND and HILARY HUNTING-

TON with JOHN HARRIS ’82.

Looking like they belong on an album cover from the sixties are Class of1992 members, from left, JOSH TRAEGER, RUDI EHRLICH, MICHAEL

EISENSTADT, and PHIL MUTARELLI.

DUNCAN SMITH and BOB MUSTARD from the Class of 1967 took homea portrait of a former president of Bennett Junior College. The portraithad been kicking around Berkshire’s archives for no apparent reason. SeemsBob’s sister is an alumna of the now-defunct institution.

TOM CONWAY ’57 hadn’t set foot on Berkshire School soil since graduat-ing fifty years ago. He pleads not guilty due to “parental responsibilities:” heand his wife, Nancy, have eight children, whose June graduations and wed-dings kept him away from reunions. Tom is president of CommonwealthVenture Funding Group, a private equity investment company he founded in1993. The Conways, now grandparents of eight, live in Concord,Massachusetts, in the former home of a Minuteman and one that was visitedfrequently by Henry David Thoreau.

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STEPHEN E. MALAWISTA ’50

2007 Distinguished Alumnus

In the winter of 1947, Headmaster Delde Windt wrote the following note tothe parent of certain third-former atBerkshire School:“Friday afternoonStephen skied in the meadows and fell.We brought him back to the infirmary,soaked his foot in hot packs and had thefoot x-rayed.There is no pathology, andSteve is therefore being released from theinfirmary today. He apparently enjoyedhis stay at the infirmary tremendously, forMiss Hall puttered over him and fed himhis meals on a tray. All is well.”

Three years later, assistant headmasterArt Chase wrote this comment about thesame student, now a sixth-former: “Hisperformance as the German doctor wasone of the high points of ’Arsenic andOld Lace.’”

Can it be said, then, that between hislove for the infirmary and his stage roleas a doctor, the medical career of Steve Malawista began atBerkshire? Perhaps. But one thing is for certain: Rarelyhas the winner of Berkshire School’s distinguished alumniaward been as distinguished as this year’s recipient.

Just two months after turning sixteen, Steve graduatedfrom Berkshire and headed for Harvard College, where hegraduated magna cum laude with a degree in experimental

GORDON KELLAM ’97 with his parents, former English teacher andlegendary lacrosse coach Bayard Kellam and former counselorSuzanne Kellam.

psychology. Four years later he earned hisM.D. from Columbia University’s Collegeof Physicians and Surgeons. He wasrecruited to the Yale faculty in 1966 andhas remained there since, except for fivesabbatical years in France.

From 1967 to 1988, Steve Malawistawas chief of Yale’s rheumatology section.He has held three fellowships, includingone from the John Simon GuggenheimFoundation.The many honors he hasearned include the Gold Medal from theAmerican College of Rheumatology…anhonorary degree from Universite RéneDecartes in Paris…and a symposium heldin his honor at Yale University. He is amember of several professional societiesand has published 151 original articles inpublications such as Science Magazine andthe New England Journal of Medicine.

But it is for a major medical discoveryhe made in 1976 that Steve Malawista is best known.Thatyear he and a Yale colleague,Allen C. Steers Jr., were chiefinvestigators for a mysterious ailment afflicting those livingin heavily wooded areas in Connecticut. The disease, origi-nally called Lyme arthritis, is of course now known as Lymedisease, of which, in 2005 alone, 23,305 cases were reported.(from remarks delivered by Head of School Mike Maher)

STEPHEN E. MALAWISTA ’50 getscomfortable in his new BerkshireSchool chair after being named theschool’s 2007 Distinguished Alumnusby Head of School Mike Maher.

Head of School Mike Maher congratulates 2007 Kellogg Volunteerof the Year JIM HOOPER ’69, who was awarded a school lamp forhis service as trustee, charter member of the Advisory Board, unoffi-cial school photographer, and all-around good guy.


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Breaking ground for the baseball field named for him is longtime Berkshire coach Tom Young, along with his former shortstop GLENN PARTRIDGE

’72, Head of School Mike Maher, former Berkshire library director Susan Young, and varsity baseball coach Jason Gappa. Young Field will opennext spring, at which time the mezzanine in Geier Library will be dedicated in Mrs.Young’s name.

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Class Photos

1957 Back row, from left: DICK CASE, JEFF WINEMAN, JOHN DELAMATER. Third row, from

left: TOM MCNAMARA, JIM COHEN, PAUL TOMPKINS. Second row, from left: WALT

HENRION, BILL KIRTZ, TOM ANDERSON, BRUCE SHIELDS, FRANK MONAHAN.

Front row, from left: SPIKE BILLINGS, MAC ODELL, TWIGGS MYERS, PETER

KATZENBACH, KEN JOHNSTON.


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1967Back row (pointing finger): JEFF

CLIFFORD. Second row, from left: MAC

WOOD, BUMPY PALMER, DAVID

MCADOO, BOB MUSTARD. Front row,

from left: DAVE FELL, ALAN HOLE,

DUNCAN SMITH.

1972Back row, from left: LOCK SWIFT, JOHN

SHERMAN, MARK MURDOCK. Second

row, from left: JANINE BACON, JACK

BACON, JAN D’ANGELO, GLENN PAR-

TRIDGE, STAN BRIDGES ’69, JEFF

MILLER. Front Row, from left: Tom

Young, Susan Young.

1977Back row, from left: STEVE CARRELL, HILARY

HUNTINGTON, DAVE WEST, CHAS AUDET ’76,

HARRISON WEISNER ’75, MARK LUSSIER, JOEL

SOROFMAN, EDDIE SAMPSON. Front row, from left:

MIKE OVERTON, LUCY WARD HARRIS, SHELBY

HOFFMAN, KIM NORTH HOFFMAN, PATTY

DELGRANDE, JAY ROLSTON, HILLARY FAMOLARE ’78.

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1982 Back row, from left: ALEX SUMNER, BLAKE ADDISON, DENNIS LEEDOM. Third row, from left: ANTHONY

ADDISON, GEORGE RIOSECO, GAYLE SACKS, WAGS BERL, BRIAN FAHY, CRAIG VACHON, JOHN

KUHN. Second row, from left: LAUREN BROOKS, PETER MCCURRACH, JOHN HARRIS, MARIA MALAGUTI,

DEAN WILLIS, JAY OVERBYE, SCOTT HARWOOD, MICHAEL GILLIGAN. Front row, from left: Bayard

Kellam, JACKIE SMITH WIDAY, ROSEMARY FITZGERALD, HOWARD WALLACH.

1987Back row, from left: BILL

PATTERSON, RICH SCHREINER.

Third row, from left: COLIN SMITH,

SAM ROCKWELL, SCOTT

SENIOR, JOHN MULLALY,

GRAHAM GOFF, JANNA KLYVER

CORD. Second row, from left: ADAM

TWEEDY, JEN NICHOLS REED,

WYNDAHM LEWIS, JOE

ROLAND, ALEX RABY, SARAH

KLOMAN, TESSA DEMOVELLAN

WOHL. Front row, from left: CHRIS

KATZENBACH, JEN JENNINGS,

KRISTEN GRAY, IONA BRIGHAM.


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1992Back row, from left: CLIFF BENHAM,

TRUMBULL BARRETT, BRAD BLAICHER,

JOHN ORLANDO, TAIT GERMON, DAVID

MANCHESTER, ETHAN GEE, JON

NEUMAN, JOSH TRAEGER. Middle row,

from left: JOSH MEGERMAN, JOE DOLDO,

RUDI ERLICH, BURR DURYEE, PHIL

MUTARELLI, MIKE EISENSTADT, DREW

MCMULLEN. Front row, from left: KEIRA

MCKENNA HOLBROUGH, DEBBIE

CRISPIN DURYEE, WHITLEY BOUMA

HERBERT, STACY SCHEER BRANNING,

MEGAN TIERNEY.

1997Back row, from left: NED DEBARY, SAM

HINDELS, GORDON KELLAM, MEGAN

JARVIS, TOM HUNT, AMANDA SOPER

HEMING, EVAN KELLEY. Second row, from

left: BILL FIKE, BOB GOING, MAC

CERUSSI, GABE SEIFTER, JEREMY

GOLDSTEIN, STUART MILLER, SARAH

KUHN CAMPBELL, PETE CAMPBELL.

Front row, from left: ERIN YOFFE, EDDIE

KOLLER, KATIE SCHNECK, ALEISHA

CABANIOL GIBBONS, AMANDA

WHEELER, JULIE RUBENSTEIN, PIA

DIMM, KRISTINA THAUTE MILLER,

BRETT OBLETZ, CAITLIN RUSSELL,

NADINE PROCTOR.

2002Back row, from left: KATE DAIGH, ALLISON

ZELLMAN, MELISSA JUBINVILLE, LAU-

REN LUCAS, JEFF PIETRASIAK, JILL

MEYER, COURTNEY PIERCE, JULIA

HANSEN. Third row, from left: JONATHAN

PEREZ, LILLY BECKER, CHRIS SCHULZ,

JOHANNE KESTEN, JERRY CALLAHAN,

ALEX WATTS. Second row, from left: JAMIE

CARROLL, JACLYN BRANDER, DEVON

O’ROURKE, MICHAELA ROMANO-

MEADE, HANNAH DELONG, MICHAEL

LALKA, TIM ROTOLO. First Row, from left:

COLEY PARRY, BRIAN MORNAGHI.

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B E R K S H I R E S C H O O L • S U M M E R / F A L L 0 7

30Mr. Charles H. Delamater98 Noyes Neck RoadWesterly, RI 02891-5437(561) 747-2279

31Dr. Philip C.White159 Pheasant Hollow RoadBurr Ridge, IL 60527-5050(630) 654-3072

35Mr. Chester A. Bentley, Jr.54 Linden AveBranford, CT 06405(203) [email protected]

37Mr. R. Howard Johnston, Jr.3575 Hamilton AvenueFort Worth,TX 76107-1744(817) [email protected]

JACK SUTPHEN writes:“HowardJohnston has done a good job of keep-ing those of us still around up to date. Ihear another hockey rink is in theworks at Berkshire. To think that DickFaxon, Del deWindt and I played ongrass with snow and ice on it andShields Pond when our rink melted!Dick was a wing and I was the centerand we traded captainships, hockey andbaseball each year.”

JOHNNY JOHNSTON reports that heand BILL JOHNSON, along with theirspouses, attended Alumni Weekend 2007and thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. Hereports that he and Bill met Mike Maher,Head of School, and agreed thatBerkshire is in excellent hands.As the old-est alumni in attendance, they led theprocession at the gala dinner on Saturdayevening.The following weekend heattended the 65th reunion of his NavalAcademy class and in early September heattended the 53rd National Conventionof the U.S. Submarine Veterans of WorldWar II.

In September, BILL JOHNSON took atwo week golfing tour in England withBritish friends of some 41 years withwhom he has played golf every year since

44PARKER HANDY writes:“Sally and I

have sold our home in Lyme and,unable to find suitable replacement ineither Lyme or Old Lyme, we are rent-ing in Essex, Connecticut, to allow timefor further exploration. I celebrated my81st birthday on March 17th onHarbour Island in Eleuthera, Bahamas.”

WES GOURLEY writes:“Reggie andI are in our Florida home a little earlyfor attention to a couple of medicalproblems by doctors in whom we havecome to have a great deal of faith.Thenback to Suffield, Connecticut, forChristmas with our two sons and onedaughter. Our older granddaughterearned a master’s degree in animal sci-ence two years ago from UConn and isteaching at Rockville High School inConnecticut. Her younger sister,KRISTEN TRONSKY ’03 is living inBoston, is employed by the ChristianScience Monitor, and has already recog-nized the need for a master’s degree ofher own. I understand she will startthat course this winter.

“Our older son, Chris, has his ownspecialty welding business outside ofCheshire, Connecticut, and as time andphysical stamina allow, he shoots fireworkscommercially for town celebrations.Younger son, Scott, is living in WestHartford in his own apartment, workingpart time in a large food store and learn-ing to live without Mother and Dad.

“Time has been good to theGourleys. Reggie and I have extensivecruising experience behind us - rela-tively short excursions. In January, weembark from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, fora so-called Grand Voyage around theworld. Panama Canal, South Sea Islands,New Zealand, Philippines area, China,Singapore, Bombay, India, Salalah,Oman, Suez Canal,Alexandria, Egypt,Istanbul,Turkey, Sevastopol, Russia -that’s in the Black Sea - then Santorini,Greece,Venice, Italy, Split in Croatia,Tripoli in Lybia, Gibraltar, MadeiraIsland in the Atlantic en route across toBermuda, New York and finally back toFt. Lauderdale on April 27.The entiretrip is one week short of four months.

“Such an odyssey requires good recordkeeping, so in preparation, a new laptopand digital camera are driving me nuts

1980 in England, Scotland,Wales, Ireland,Sweden, Portugal and France, along withcourses in the U.S. and Canada.

JACK SUTPHEN reports that he haswritten a book, Messing Around in Boats,which will consist of many photos ofhis sailing days accompanied with shortstories relating to the photos.There willbe a forward by Dennis Connor. In2005 Jack was inducted into theAmerica’s Cup Hall of Fame.

39Mr. Jay H. Rossbach, Jr.251 Dunbar RoadPalm Beach, FL 33480-3714(561) 832-7090

San Jose Mercury News published thisitem about BOB KIEVE, whose EmpireBroadcasting owns KLIV and KRTYradio stations:

“A speechwriter for PresidentDwight Eisenhower in the 1950s,Kieve came to San Jose and establisheda reputation over a 40-year period forsupporting various civic and culturalcauses including the Tech Museum ofInnovation, Symphony Silicon Valleyand the United Way.

“That’s why it’s no surprise that theSilicon Valley Leadership Group will behonoring Kieve’s four decades of commu-nity service with its first “CommunityCornerstone Award.” The award was pre-sented to Kieve on Sept. 26 by LeadershipGroup Chief Executive Carl Guardinoand San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed at theannual Silicon Valley Projections summit atSanta Clara University.

“I am amazed that a gentleman —and Bob exemplifies that term — whois in his 80s, has more energy tenacityand thirst for knowledge than almostanyone I know,’ Guardino said.”

43BOB RICHE writes:“A chapbook of

my poetry, Eternity and Other MundaneMatters, was published this summer byFoothills Publishing. Go [email protected] for afree sample.”

Class Notes C L A S S N O T E S E D I T O R : K E I R A M C K E N N A H O L B R O U G H ’ 9 2

trying to master them. I’ve never been afast learner. Hopefully, I’ll have somerecords and pictures when we get back.

“My class of ’44A was rushed throughfor early graduation before most of uswould be drafted for WW II service. Iended up in the Navy as an airport trafficcontroller in Pensacola, Florida. I’vealways been thankful for the time I had atBerkshire. Seaver Buck was the headmas-ter.The first time I shook his hand I wasbeing interviewed for scholarship admis-sion. He was in his seventies, and oncrutches, having suffered a skiing acci-dent. He was one great guy, and in myopinion, the only successor who cameclose to filling his shoes while I was there,was Del deWindt. Others of that erawhom I remember, were Eipper, Stevens,Beattie and Dean. Looking back, fourhappy years of my life.”

From the small-world department:Shoshana Wolf, the granddaughter ofTOM WOLF, spent five months workingfor LARA SCHEFLER MCLANAHAN’86—and didn’t discover the Berkshireconnection until well into her employ-ment. Says Lara: “Shoshanna was oursummer cook and nanny, and is really afantastic person. We all loved her!”

45Mr. Philip W. Goodspeed3506 Eagle Bluff Drive NEGrand Rapids, MI 49525-4567(616) [email protected]

46Mr. Gerald B. O’Connor975 South Windsor StreetSouth Royalton,VT 05068(802) [email protected]

47Mr.William F. Kimberly, Jr.56 Lexington Avenue, Apt.ABuffalo, NY 14222-1808(716) [email protected]

On June 8th, 2007, KIM KIMBERLYwas honored at a roast in the FlickingerPerforming Arts Center for his 50 yearsof service to Nichols School.The head-master of Nichols, Richard Bryan, andseveral colleagues and students spokebefore a large audience, and a special song

a busy year at sea. My youngest daugh-ter, Sharon, is now a sophomore atSwansboro High School in NorthCarolina. My wife teaches there.Never a dull moment with a 15-year-old, a Labrador retriever and a goldenretriever in the house.”

Former head BOB MINNERLY reportsthat at the Brown Reunion Weekend inJune he saw JIM HARMON and JIMMCCURRACH, whose son James attendedBerkshire while Bob was there. He saysSTEVE ROTHSTEIN ’67 jumped out ofthe line of march to say “hello” as well.

Speaking of Jim McCurrach: “Hellofrom JIM MCCURRACH. I am stillteaching and, indeed, have expanded myefforts to include several new tutoringassignments. So far, so good! My newstudents are in elementary grades so, onthe one hand, I’m teaching history tohigh school students while also workingmulti- subjects with younger kids. Nowlet’s just hope that my health holds out.”

COURTY BRYAN writes:“The mostastonishing news is that my 1976 non-fiction book, Friendly Fire has beennominated by the New York UniversitySchool of Journalism as one of the 100most important pieces of journalism ofthe past CENTURY! Yikes! Plus, I’mwas married at Niagara Falls onOctober 2, 2007.”

54Dr. David W. Sauer103 Silo RoadLandrum, SC [email protected]

Mr.Alexander E. Simpson605 Aldean PlaceNewport Beach, CA 92663-5408

55Mr. Stephen V. R. Spaulding947 Green Street, #2San Francisco, CA 94133-3601(415) [email protected]

TERRY TWICHELL writes:“As havemost of my classmates, I turned 70, anage when I was at Berkshire we allthought was very old. I want to tell youthat it truly isn’t so bad. I now have sixgrandchildren, ranging in age from threemonths to eight years old. I spent aweek in Colorado with all the grand-children, their parents, and my wifeunder one roof, and lived to tell aboutit.The life of a retiree is even better

was composed for the event. During hiscareer at Nichols, Kim taught 5th

through 9th grades in a variety of sub-jects, including history, English, French,developmental language, and performingarts. He also coached soccer and hockeyin the Nichols Middle School. Kim con-tinues to work at Nichols as the schoolphotographer and has his office in theNichols Development Office.

48Mr. George Church III14 Easton AvenuePittsfield, MA 01201(413) 448-6199

49Mr. Robert W. Doyle, Sr.308 Norfolk RoadLitchfield, CT 06759-2517(860) [email protected]

50Mr. Charles K. Elliott, Jr.1928 Omni BlvdMount Pleasant, SC 29466-8861(843) [email protected]

JERRY VERMILYE writes:“I am happi-ly retired after 31 years as writer-editor atTV Guide magazine, but haven’t sloweddown. NYC’s best kept secret,TheAmateur Comedy Club, keeps me busy asactor, writer and producer. I have anotherbook nearing publication: Buster Crabbe.”

51Mr. John B. Hull IIIPO Box 5493 Pleasant View DriveGreat Barrington, MA 01230-0549(413) 528-1528

53Mr. John G. Cluett222 Stourbridge Street, #R2Versailles, KY 40383-1357(859) [email protected]

TONY AUSTIN writes:“I have writtentwo scientific proposals for research intotrapping of Black Sea Bass in the SouthAtlantic Fisheries Management Area.Both were funded by NMFS. I will have


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than I dreamed it would be. Golfing,hiking, grandchildren, pro bono work,traveling and reading take up most ofmy waking hours. Life is great! May thisbe the best year yet for Berkshire!”

56Mr. John F. Consolini2699 Princeton PikeLawrenceville, NJ 08648(609) [email protected]

Mr. Hawley Rogers46 Saint Andrews CourtPalm Coast, FL 32137(386) [email protected]

TIM AUSTIN writes:“I am still man-aging, and often participating, in archerychampionships.This year 6 national, 3sectional, and 11 state level, plus a fewlocal. I am the competition managerfor archery at the National SeniorGames in Louisville, Kentucky.

57Mr.Walter S. Henrion3922 Windsor AvenueDallas,TX 75205-1745(214) [email protected]

58Mr. James B. Kimberly934 San Andres StreetSanta Barbara, CA 93101-6334(805) [email protected]

THOMAS CORWIN writes:“I amsemi-retired from England Financial,and we have moved further east onLong Island to be closer to our grand-children.”

Last June, BENJAMIN J. ROSIN, wasone of two recipients of the Kathryn A.McDonald Award, named in honor ofthe former presiding Judge of the NewYork City Family Court and presentedannually for excellence in service to theFamily Court.The Honorable Judith S.Kaye, Chief Judge of the New YorkState Court of Appeals made the pres-entation to Ben on June 11 at the NYCBar Association. Ben is a resident ofBriarcliff Manor and has been a familycourt attorney for more than 30 years.

59Mr. Richard H. Elias39 Manfield AveMerrick, NY 11566-3915(516) [email protected]

60Mr. Jay OdellThe Pacific Club8180 Manitoba Street, Suite 340Playa Del Rey, CA [email protected]

Mr. Eric Schmidt131 Dumbarton RoadApartment CBaltimore, [email protected]

HARRY MACLEAN writes:“Afterleaving Berkshire at the end of mysophomore year, I attended ShattuckSchool in Faribualt, Minnesota. Fromthere, I attended Lawrence College inAppleton,Wisconsin, and went to theUniversity of Denver Law School inDenver. I worked as a trial attorney forthe SEC in D.C., a magistrate in juve-nile court, an adjunct professor of law atDenver University, deputy attorney gen-eral for the state of Colorado, and gen-eral counsel for the ACTION Agency(Peace Corps and VISTA) in D.C. Forthe past twenty years I’ve been inDenver working as a labor arbitratorand writing books. My first book, InBroad Daylight, was a bestseller and wasmade into a movie. My second book,Once Upon a Time: A True Story ofMemory, Murder and the Law, was a NewYork Times Notable Book. I’m current-

JOSEPH SALEMBIER ’60 writes:“Greetings from Arizona! Brother Charles ’58 and I are lookingforward to his 50-year class reunion in May and hope to see some of our classmates. Some oldtimers mayremember the day that the bell clapper on top of Berkshire Hall went missing. Every morning the bellwas rung at seven o’clock as our wake up call. But this particular day, the only day in the school’s history,the bell was silent.The student body applauded. Rumors flew. Headmaster John Godman pleaded for theclapper’s return. It was, and at the reunion, secrets surrounding those events will be revealed…

“In other news: I have retired to enjoy grandkids, hobbies and traveling. My 43-year career includednew products development, ad agency management and hotel marketing and advertising. I ran my ownbusiness, Summit Communications, for 18 years.

“We recently returned from Norway where we cruised fjords and visited charming towns fromOslo to Bergen and Trondheim to Tromso.The photo was taken near Kirkenes close to the Russianborder, above the Arctic Circle.

“Sadly, my mother Emmy Lou Salembier died in 2006.We last visited Berkshire in 2000 and had dinnerwith TWIGGS MYERS HON. ’57. My father, Bernard Salembier and his brother Dave Salembier graduatedfrom Berkshire in 1936 and 1938 as I recall.They kept an old Ford hidden in the woods near the school anddrove it to New York City on weekends. How they managed to sneak in and out are mysteries to this day.”

ly working on a book about the trial ofrace murders from the sixties inMississippi. I would love to hear what’sbecome of my old classmates.”

61Mr. Peter R. Kellogg48 Wall Street, 30th FloorNew York, NY 10005

MICHAEL WALKER writes:“This is myfifth year teaching English 101 and tutor-ing part time at Holyoke CommunityCollege. I wake up almost every morningwith a ’let-me-at-’em’ attitude and havenever been happier. I recently bought asmall, 21-year-old Toyota RV and plan toto drive to California to visit my two kids,Curry and Mike, in San Francisco andSanta Cruz. Wish me luck!”

JOHN ELLWOOD writes:“Our firstgrandchild, Katherine McNight, wasborn on February 15, 2007 to mydaughter, Emily Wyner. Katherine isnamed after her great grandparents.Mother and child are doing very welland the grandparents are ecstatic!”

62Mr.Andrew S. Berkman90 Riverside Drive Apt 4BNew York, NY 10024(212) [email protected]

“I remember being scared of the ironlung and not so much of the disease itself.Cause and effect were not yet prerequi-sites of childhood when I was growing upin the early ’50s in a small do-nothingtown in western Massachusetts.” Sobegins a book review of Warm Springs:Traces of a Childhood at FDR’s Polio Haventhat appeared in the New York Times BookReview of August 5 by KIT COMBES.One presumes that Kit, an editor atThe New York Times Magazine, wasreferring to his native Pittsfield andnot to the do-a-lot town ofSheffield.

63Mr. Peter V. K. Parsons10 Emerson Pl Apt 20hBoston, MA 02114(617) [email protected]

KIM DOGGETT writes:“HARRYSALO and I have become members

manages Potomac Portfolios(www.portmacportfolios.com), whichmanages a trio of multi-manager invest-ment funds in the global managedfutures and forex world. Tom reportsthat he has kept up with TEDKRATOVIL, PETER KENNARD, DAVELANMAN, and BRUCE BLAISDELL overthe years. Tom’s email is [email protected] and said he would welcomenews from classmates. He asks:“RICKMARSI...where are you?”

JOHN VAN DEREN writes:“I don’tsee retirement coming any timesoon...we still have one daughter of ourfour children left in college (School ofVisual Arts, NYC). My daughter, Jess,got married in July (she is director of

admissions at a college in NewHaven); son, John, is off to China forsix months to teach English and takephotographs; step-daughter,Annie,works for a head-hunter in NYC.My wife, Jane, is a psychologist andcontinues her practice in Montpelier,Vermont. I’m still running a pro-gram for young children with devel-opmental delays and riding mymotorcycle as often as I’m able (it’smy therapy). I stopped by for our40th reunion with JIM POWERS ’65on our bikes but wasn’t able to stayfor the evening festivities. I hope allhad a great time. Hopefully, I’ll beable to make it for our 50th!”

of the New England Steering Committeefor the Barak Obama campaign. Werecently had Barak here in Chatham,Massachusetts for a very successful fundraiser. Very exciting. If anyone is inter-ested in joining our effort, please contactus: [email protected] or [email protected].

“I retired in June, and Toni and I havemoved to Chatham.We now have sixgrandchildren. I had dinner here withPeter Kellogg earlier this summer. It wasgreat to see him after many years!”

BURDETT LOOMIS writes:“AlthoughI continue to teach at the University ofKansas, my wife, Michel, and I are co-owners and developers of a 20-unit luxu-ry inn, Las Posadas of Sedona, in Sedona,Arizona (sort of a B+B on steroids). Fora faculty member at a state school, withtenure, the ups and downs of the privatesector have proved stimulating, frustrating,and largely enjoyable. Check outwww.lasposadasofsedona.com. We proba-bly won’t be there, but the scenery is gor-geous, the suites are comfortable, and thebreakfast fare delicious.”

1964Mr. John R. Hendrie40 East Main StreetMerrimac, MA 01860(978) [email protected]

TOM LOTT and his wife, Barbara,continue to live in Washington D.C.,although their two boys are now up inthe Big Apple, both working atBlackRock. Tom’s decade at the WorldBank was followed by a decade in pri-vate equity (creating HQ, theHeadquarters Company) followed byyet another decade in the alternativeinvestment industry. Tom currently

With Berkshire ever present, DAVID

MCADOO ’67 celebrated a second reunion this

year, with the gathering of his three children in

Sarasota, Florida. He and his wife, Denise

enjoyed a relaxing week with David’s daughters,

Erin and Elizabeth and son David, enjoying the

beautiful Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay.

KIM DOGGETT ’63, pictured here with

wife Toni and Barak Obama


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65Mr. James T. McKinley827 Mediterranean LaneRedwood City, CA 94065(650) [email protected]

66Mr. Hans L. CarstensenPO Box 15932 Arrowhead DriveNorwell, MA 02061(781) [email protected]

67Mr. and Mrs. F.Woodson Hancock III351 East 84th Street,Apt 3ENew York, NY 10028-4455(212) [email protected]

68Mr. L. Keith ReedPO Box 934Far Hills, NJ 07931(908) [email protected]

69Mr. Kent S. Clow III113 West AvenueGreat Barrington, MA 01230-1811(413) [email protected]

DOUGLAS MARTIN writes:“I soldthe last of my three college bars aboutten years ago. I had a great run, but itwas time for something else. I am nowemployed as a food service broker, trav-eling through upstate New York. I amclose to retiring, though, and parkingmyself on the beach.”

ROB DWELLEY writes:“The Bulletinhas inspired me to supply my owninformation to my classmates, mainlybecause it is fun to read about whateverybody is doing. I am building full-time, mostly focusing on zero-energybuilding. Not always attaining it, butgetting closer all the time. I teamed upwith local architects who are intent onthe same goals.The project for this yearis a seven-patient hospice house that Iam building with my wife, Sarah, who isdirector of the mid-coast hospice inMaine. It is a life’s project for both of us- Sarah, because her passion is hospice

70Mr. Robert L.W. McGrawPO Box 873Sheffield, MA 01257(413) [email protected]

71Mr. Richard H. Rose6420 Stoneridge Mall Road, #M103Pleasanton, CA 94588-7310(925) [email protected]

Russell Boardman checks in:“Flying the B-777 on long haul inter-national trips and building houses in theAshville/Black Mountain area in NorthCarolina.”

72Mr. James L. Field11801 SW Riverwood RoadPortland, OR 97219(503) [email protected]

Mr. John R. Sherman III2198 Secoffee StreetCoconut Grove, FL 33133(305) [email protected]

W. Clark Brown writes:“My two lit-tle boys, ages six and two, are having agreat time growing up in sunny southern

and me, because my passion is building.In my spare time, I teamed up withWooden Boat Magazine to launch theNational Boatbuilding ChallengeCircuit: a full tilt, professionals only,competition for cash prizes. We’vebeen doing it in a couple of places for10 years or so and are now expanding.I would love to know if any alumni canhelp me expand the circuit.”

JIM SHELDON-DEAN writes:“I’vebeen busy trying to forget I’m in theinformation security business and focuson more important things, like playingthe bass more than ever before, andhelping coordinate the triumphantreturn of Stevie Starlight and the De-Lites (STEVE MORGAN, JOHN WAYNE,JOHN HERMANS, RICH MUHLFELD,BUN BUNNELL, and a cast of thousandsmore Berkshire musicians) at theCentennial Reunion in May. Anyalumni(ae) rock-and-rollers who wouldlike to help bring back the 60s shouldlet me know so they can get in on thesong list in advance and be ready torock on at the big event!”

JOHN HERMANS writes:“My firstgrandchild was born in July to Jake andRobyn Hermans of North Charleston,South Carolina. Like me, he is namedJohn Luther Hermans, but will be calledJack. I saw BILL KEENEY at his place inClayton, New York, in August, andMarty and I recently had lunch withAnne and GORDON HUNT.”

ROBIN MCGRAW and BUZZIE HAYES MCGRAW show off Black Rock Farm, their new home

on Jug End Road in South Egremont, Massachusetts. Lord and Lady McGraw threw a big bash to cele-

brate their new manse, which took 547 years to build.

California near the beach. Yes, I had tostrive mightily to have them both beforemy 50th birthday; and I succeeded with10 days to spare. I can’t imagine theteenage meltdowns I am going to surviveat 65 years old; but, hey, 65 is the new 25.Robert, my spouse of 21 years, and I arestill holding down the home front; justyour boring, ordinary nuclear family liv-ing in the hills of LA with a view of theocean and Getty Villa (we did make surethe cat and dog were girls—too manyboys in the house!) I have “retired” fromlitigating (hence the available time towrite this) and am now general counselfor the LA County Bar Association.Keeping those greedy lawyers in line is atough job, but someone has to do it.Thinking fondly of those beautiful crispspring and fall days that only Berkshirecould produce. I wonder what a season ofcold winter nights at the foot of theMountain would actually feel like thesedays. I would love to sample some again.All the best for 2007 to you who arebuilding our stock for our emergingtomorrows. Berkshire does a wonderfuljob, as far as I can tell.”

JACK BACON recently appeared inScientific American’s “Ask the Experts”web and print column, discussing thetechnical issues of space bases for satel-lite repair. He continues to work asthe Mission Analysis and Integrationlead for the International Space Stationprogram at NASA in Houston, and hehas a worldwide speaking calendar,traveling in 13 countries in the last 12months.

ALEX BRUNEL is happy to announceher marriage to Mark Yakes.The coupleis currently residing in Edinburgh,Scotland.

SPENCER WILLETS writes:“My son,Peter Jeremy attends Loyola HighSchool in Los Angeles and plays on thevarsity lacrosse team as a sophomore. Heis hoping to attend an Eastern collegeupon graduation. Halowe is graduatingjunior high and will be attendingLouisville High School for girls nextfall. She captained her school volleyball,basketball, and softball teams as well asthe school’s academic decathlon team.Jennifer and I are very proud of bothchildren (oops, young adults).”

JAN D’ANGELO writes:“I recentlyattended the Asian Aerospace Expo inHong Kong, where I was promoting theAdam A700 Very Light Jet.This as theresult of a 50-aircraft order I receivedfrom China.”

25 years to Martha (we met in Vermont).Martha is studying at Texas A&M, whereshe is earning a Ph.D. in communications.I earned my Ph.D. from CornellUniversity in 1995. I taught for nine yearsat University of Nevada, Las Vegas, beforemoving to Houston. In addition to myjob at UH, I am on the executive educa-tion faculty at Cornell University. This isa great position, as it brings me back toIthaca every summer. In addition, it hasenabled me to travel the world teachingexecutives. (I never come to reunions, as Iam often in Europe teaching.) Teaching isa wonderful profession, as you know. Icount my blessings every day. AlthoughMartha and I never had children, I havebecome a mentor to many of my studentsand cherish this relationship. I often thinkhow wonderful you were to me atBerkshire and I try to instill the same senseof values in my students. I will even some-times say to my students, ’Take out a pen-cil and a piece of paper, please.’

“The Shoemaker family is well.Donald lives in Birchrunville with hiswife and two daughters, who are in 8thand 11th grade. My twin sister lives inAlabama. She has two boys – one whograduated from University of Chicagoand the other still in college. My parentslive near my sister and recently justretired. We are all in good health,thank goodness.

PHIL CAREY is a senior land useplanner for the Maine State PlanningOffice.

ARTHUR GREENE writes:“I am mar-ried with two kids, living happily inAnn Arbor, Michigan. I’ve been doinglots of piano performing and teaching.Berkshire feels like nine lifetimes ago!”

JAY WASHINGTON writes: “I had anenjoyable dinner with CAROLMAGHERY in Avon, Connecticut,where I am working on a new residen-tial project. Carol being an interiordesigner and me an architect, we sharednumerous war stories and reminiscedabout Berkshire days.Where did theyears go? Also, I met with WHITNEYHUBER ’69 to discuss architecture.Whitney lives in Essex, Connecticut,and has a very successful architecturepractice there.

73Mr. and Ms.William J. Drake103 Spencer LaneSewickley, PA 15143-8725(412) [email protected]

STOWE SHOEMAKER wrote toTwiggs Myers:“I am now making a livingas a marketing professor at the Universityof Houston. I have been married almost

JERRY WEIL ’73 came to campus with daughters Lilly and Charlotte this fall for A Day at Berkshire.

Other Weils who have spent a while at Berkshire include LEE WEIL ’44C, CAREY WEIL BARNETT ’78,

and BEN WEIL ’06. Come on, girls: keep the connection alive!


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“You may wonder why, after all theseyears, I am writing. I wanted to finallythank you for everything you did for mewhile I was at Berkshire.As I mentionedabove, by giving to others, I realized howmuch others have given to me.Thankyou. I also wanted to tell you that I amrunning again and recently completedtwo half-marathons; one in Houston andthe other in Austin. I try to run aboutfour days a week and have found a won-derful running group. I am not that fast,but time keeps coming down. I average11:59 per mile in Austin compared to12:38 in Houston. Just the other day, I ran3.5 miles at 10:37 pace.When I recentlyran in a 10 mile race, it was the first timeI had run 10 miles since Berkshire. Mygoal is to run a half marathon in under 2hours and 30 minutes. I remember thosefall days at Berkshire.And yes, I alsoremember being lapped in the two-miletrack race. People love that story.

“I am also the author of a textbookon hospitality marketing that was pub-lished by Prentice Hall this fall.A jun-ior-college version of the same book isat the publishers now and will be avail-able this fall. Berkshire was a specialtime and I credit Berkshire for helpingme get to where I am today.WithoutBerkshire, I might have just disappearedinto the crowd.”

JAMIE BARTHOLOMAY NIEMIEwrites:“I live in Albany, New York, andwork as a contributing editor to MajorLeague Baseball.com and as a child advo-cate in the foster care system. I am themother of five, parent of eight, grand-mother of one. I see SUSIE PECK andLOUISE BROOKS ’72 fairly often andenjoy seeing those who show up at theAdvisory Board meetings at Berkshire. Iwould love to hear from any old friends!”

74Mr. Peter B. Griffin, Jr.406 Main StreetNew Canaan, CT 06840(203) [email protected]

Mr. David C. McFaddenPepperidge RdTuxedo Park, NY 10987(845) 351-5012

JOHN OLINSKI is still working as afood broker. He lives in New Market,Maryland, with his wife, Carol. He hasbecome very competitive in cycling andlast fall competed in the El Tour de

from people if they are in Orlando.”DAVE PECK writes:“In May, I com-

pleted my collection of fourteenantique books written by noted authorGeorge W. Peck (my great great grand-father). Peck was Governor ofWisconsin 1890-1895. During myresearch, three ’Peck’s Bad Boy’ moviesturned up. The earliest is a 1921 silentfilm. No one in my family had everseen these films before I located them.“I also recently authored a series of

adventure articles in Outside BozemanMagazine titled ’Chronicles of RiderDave’. I teamed up with my sister andillustrator, ADAIR PECK, who producedsome fabulous artwork for the maga-zine. Adair is an award-winning artistand attended Berkshire for one year.“Last year, I founded the Montana

Off-Road Series.As a volunteer, I coor-dinate a cross country and downhillmountain bike race series.”

76Mr. Stephen H. Hassett2513 Bridge Side PlaceVirginia Beach,VA 23455-1366(757) [email protected]

Mrs. Marlee Wallingford1150 Lincoln Avenue # 8Walnut Creek, CA 94596(925) [email protected]

DAVID DOYLE writes:“I’m enjoyingthree months in Bolinas, Californiaresearching building a house on someold family property. I love the TaosMountains, but the California surf iseven better!”

MICHAEL WOLFSON writes:“Aftertwo careers, one as a banker and anoth-er as a chef in Southwestern resorts, Iam opening up a home business inwhich I plan to become an optionstrading specialist. My wife, Karen, is aretail pharmacy manager.We are avidsupporters of the National WildlifeFederation,The American HumaneSociety, the ASPCA, and others.Whenvisiting our home it is easy to see thatwe love animals — our little zoo com-prises three cats and four dogs, all ofwhich we adopted from various poundsin Phoenix. Karen is currently trainingfor the P.F. Changs Rock’ N’ RollMarathon as a member of team in train-ing whose goal is to raise funds for theLeukemia and Lymphoma Society.”

Tucson, a 112-mile bike race in Tucson,Arizona.

ANNIE GOODWILLIE UNDERWOODwould like to pay tribute to formerheadmaster ROBERT MINNERLY.“Toooften,” she says,“we wait until someone isno longer with us to express our respectand gratitude. Robert Minnerly came toBerkshire School during a time of greatchange. Berkshire had recently gone co-edand there were many challenges andobstacles to overcome. I, too, was a chal-lenge at that point in my life. Mr.Minnerly took me under his wing,encouraged me to forge ahead, and sawme through my many escapades. It was hisinfluence that led me down the path tobecome a teacher myself.Thank you, Mr.Minnerly, for what you did for BerkshireSchool, its students, and for me.”

75Mr. Joe Fusco1079 Leonello AvenueLos Altos, CA [email protected]

DAVID CASEY writes:“My wife andI are looking forward to our daughter,Elise, graduating from Berkshire Schoolthis spring.When she crosses the finishline, she will be the third generation ofCaseys to have done so.”

ANN MCNIVEN writes:“I just cele-brated 10 years working for the mouse atDisney as a concierge. I work at the yachtand beach club. I’d love to see or hear

MICHAEL WOLFSON ’76 and his wife,

Karen, celebrating their seven-year anniversary.

77Ms. Susan N. Stout32 Adams WayShrewsbury, NJ 07702(732) [email protected]

CHRISTINE GELARDIN writes:“Greetingsfrom Newport, Rhode Island, where Ilive and work. Funny news from my end:I am living in a wonderful part of townnear the harbor, and had a gathering onenight inviting new neighbors.As it turnsout, one of my neighbors is a fellowBerkshire alum. He graduated in 1960and it was so much fun to hear his storiesand have a few laughs.Anyone whocomes to Newport, please feel free tostop by or call me!”

78Mr. Peter L. Hoffman42 Walnut StreetUpton, MA 01568(212) [email protected]

LILY GOODALE writes:“I got sober 6years ago! I also went back to school toget certified to teach Montessori to pri-mary level children. I now run a non-profit I started called Yokids that offersyoga to school-age children in pubicand private schools in mid-coast Maine.I have four children.Two are step-chil-dren, ages 22 and 24,Abe and Anna, andI have 2 younger ones: Jesse, 8, andAdrianna, 9.Anna is going to the 2008Olympics in Beijing as a member ofthe women’s 8 national rowing teamwhich just won the gold medal inMunich this summer. My son will grad-uate from the University of Utah withtwo majors this spring.”

79Mr. Douglas G. Hanslip3070 Mary Kay LaneGlenview, IL 60026(847) [email protected]

Mr. Robert D.Thomas809 Rivergate PlaceAlexandria,VA 22314(703) [email protected]

BOB THOMAS writes in with newsof his classmates:“DAVID GEFKE is

lacking, he set out on a personal quest todesign-built housing for what willbecome Vermont’s largest population basein the 21st century: senior citizens.”

80Mr. Steven P. Veronesi202 Coldbrook RoadSouth Glastonbury, CT 06073(860) [email protected]

KEVIN MELLOY writes:“Lookingforward to my annual visit to Berkshireon route to Vermont. Having a greattime with my site online www.kevin-melloy.com galleries next to El YunqueRain forest in Puerto Rico and home-town Wilmington, Delaware.”

GEORGE FRANCIS writes:“I hopeAlumni Weekend 2007 went well. I wasunable to attend because my wife,Chandler, gave birth to our son,Geoffrey Thomas, on June 5th. Geoffreyjoins his sisters Madeleine (7) and Sara-Kathryn (2).”

ROBERT ROST writes:“I am marriedwith two children who are in first andthird grade. I am in the natural gas busi-ness and live in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.”

engaged to his long-time girlfriend,Viv.The wedding is planned for August 8,2008. BILL FEATHER and his wife,Michelle, are expecting a baby in early2008.”

STEVE CONNEY is working withMasimo Corporation selling new medicaldevices that allow firefighters to obtaincarbon monoxide levels within patientsnon-invasively. Conney’s territory includesall the fun ski states such as Colorado,Utah, Idaho,Washington, and Alaska. Hespends most of his time jumping betweenthe hills and seeing customers and is basedin Park City, Utah.”

DOUGLAS YORK writes:“Life isgood! I live along the beach in BelleairBluffs, Florida, and consult for commer-cial real estate investments and invest-ment banking deals. I have a three year-old-daughter and am newly single. Icompleted a double major, psychologyand business, at Ithaca College and anMBA at Trinity.”

GREG BELDOCK, owner of BullrockConstruction in Shelburne,Vermont, isthe creator of the Lodge at Otter Creekin Middlebury. Scheduled for completionnext May, the 36-acre residential campuswill be Vermont’s largest adult-living com-munity. A recent feature article in theValley News of Essex County, New York,noted: “When an aging family memberexperienced memory loss over a decadeago, Beldock embarked on a personalsearch for adult-care facilities that empha-sized humanity. When he found the field

Last spring Archivist TWIGGS MYERS HON.’57 presented STEVE VERONESI ’80 in with a picture

of Steve as a hockey captain at Berkshire with Headmaster James Moore and hockey coach Jack Stewart.

Steve was on campus watching son Keith ’10 play baseball.


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81Mr. Bruce C. HullPO Box 869Great Barrington, MA 01230(413) 528-5437

ALLEN MAXWELL writes:“I am verybusy with work and my new business. Iam working on a new web page atwww.maxwellhoffmanfamily.com.There are some Berkshire pictures upthere. Hope everyone is well!”

DEAN and HOLLY HARWOODELLERTON write:“We just moved tothe Brooks School in North Andover,Massachusetts. Our daughter, Sarah, isan all-American water polo player atMacalester College in Saint Paul,Minnesota. She was 9th in the nation(all divisions) in scoring this year with92 goals. Our son,Adam, is a freshmanat Brooks. I also just heard from PATVIRNICH ’82 who is living in Singaporeand working as a vice president of mar-keting for a medical company.”

DEBBIE BOWERS writes:“I am cur-rently a partner at Physicians andMidwives, a large collaborativeOB/GYN practice in NorthernVirginia. We do 1200 deliveries a year.I am married to Mark Warren, one ofmy best friends from GeorgetownUniversity (Go Hoyas!).This fall we cel-ebrated meeting 25 years ago, and beinghappily married for 12 years. Mark is adeputy assistant secretary of theTreasury. We have two daughters -Emme (7) and Caroline (6).When Iturned 40 I started doing Triathlons andam hopeful to complete a Half-Iron this

82Mr.Anthony P.Addison470 Park Avenue,Apt. 2DENew York, NY 10022-1990(212) [email protected]

Mr.Thomas B. Fahy, Jr.2315 Blood Brook RoadFairlee,VT 05045(802) [email protected]

Ms. Rosemary G. Fitzgerald2630 Post RoadDarien, CT 06820-5027(203) 667-0988

JOHN HARRIS writes:“I am a med-ical center manager for SucampoPharmaceuticals Inc. I also have a busi-ness called Kingdom Come GospelProductions, and I coach football andbasketball in my community’s policeathletic league. I also serve as a deaconat my church.”

BRETT PUTNAM writes:“Sandra, Kate,and I moved down the road a bit inLoudonville, New York. A growing fami-ly requires a larger house, and we havemoved to a great new house at 18Princess Lane! Now, I can hear thelaughter, but you know, my daughter

year to celebrate my 45th birthday. It’sdarn lucky that 40 is the new 30...Ihave LOTS more to do!!! I was doingan open water swim this spring thatmade me think of jumping in the pondwith CHRIS PIRNIE and DAVE GRABAUwhile there was still ice in it...Hello tothe Hunts - you two are a lasting mem-ory to be sure! Madame Biber, I willbe eternally grateful for all the Frenchyou taught me. It was well used duringmy 3 months in Gabon at theSchweitzer Hospital — I will say thefuture simple has become my favoritetense!

“BRUCE BOWERS ’80, my brother,recently relocated to Opelieka,Alabama,to join a PCA church there as the assistantpastor. Uncle Brucie is a favorite at ourhouse. We will spend New Year’s withhim at home in Vermont with our folks.Here’s to Berkshire — may she havemany more years of education in her!”

DOUG MACKENZIE writes:“In addi-tion to my plastic surgery practice, Ihave been busy as a flight surgeon inthe Air National Guard and was recent-ly promoted to lieutenant colonel. Sofar I have remained stateside! I ran myfirst marathon in June and discoveredthe fun stops somewhere between miles15 and 18. I’ll stick to 10k’s from nowon. My 11-year-old son is a tennisfanatic and beats me on a regular basis.Anybody for skiing? I think it wouldbe fun to have a winter ski reunion – ifanyone is interested in meeting inColorado this season, please send me anemail at [email protected].”

DEBBIE BOWERS ’81 and family.

GEORGE RIOSECO ’82 writes:“Hey all,

I am living with my wife, Maria Jose, and

three children Katerina, 15, Nicole, 13, and

George, 5 (above), in Ridgefield,

Connecticut. I see more of my Berkshire

classmates than my college friends these days.

Funny how that Berkshire bond is so strong.”

comes first, and she really loves the name.So guffaw all you want. I can still standtall and be proud. We would love to hearfrom you, and, if you are in the neighbor-hood, please call and stop by!”

83Mrs. Karen Schnurr Secrist505 Toilsome Hill RoadFairfield, CT 06825-1626(203) [email protected]

LIBBY LAWRENCE FREDMAN writes:“I had my second child last May, LucyLouise. She and her brother George arekeeping my husband, Dan, and I verybusy.We live in Wisconsin but still lovegetting back to the Adirondacks everyfew months. Hello to all my Berkshirebuddies!”

SERGE MCKHANN writes:“I’m stillliving in Rhode Island and celebratedmy 22nd wedding anniversary this pastJuly. My son,Alex, is a sophomore inhigh school and my daughter just start-ed her freshman year at UVM! I amstill running marathons and loving it.If anyone is heading for Rhode Islandor the Cape, give me a shout.”

LAURA BATHOLOMEW GUZZIwrites:“We had a baby in October2006, Anthony Dana Guzzi-Bartholomew. We call him Dana afterhis grandfather and his uncle, BARTBARTHOLOMEW ’82.”

KEVIN DICKIE writes:“I recently cel-ebrated my 20th year at FidelityInvestments. I finally met up withDAVID BEECHER who was my hockeycoach at Berkshire. David is the head-master of the Hillside School inMarlborough, Massachusetts. I still keepin touch and get together on occasionwith my roommate, THOM LACH.Finally, I just spoke with STEVEDEFELICE to see how he and his familywere doing.”

SARAH BAKHEIT writes:“I am stillloving life in San Diego.A few shortweeks ago, I started my new job as theAssistant Head of School for La JollaCountry Day School, where I’ve beenteaching for the past eight years. I lovemy new job, and most importantly, I stillget to teach. My sophomore WorldCultures & Contemporary Problems IIclasses are awesome and never cease toamaze me. Please give my love to theGulottas, Romano-Meades, the Mahersand everyone else who remembers me

at Berkshire. I’ll see you all at theCentennial celebration in May!”

84Mr.Victor Elting IV4106 North Francisco AvenueChicago, IL 60618(773) [email protected]

STEVEN SANDERS writes:“OnJanuary 22, 2007, I was appointed as anassistant United States attorney in the U.S.Attorney’s Office for the District of NewJersey. I have joined the Appeals Division,which handles all of the Office’s criminalappeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals forthe Third Circuit, where I clerked aftergraduating law school. In other news, mywife, Jane and I are pleased to announcethe arrival of our second son,TrevorMinsoo Sanders.”

JONATHON GLUGOVER writes:“Mywife,Amanda, and I have a two-year-oldboy, Peyton, and a new little girl,Sydnee.We still live in Daytona Beach,Florida and would be happy to hearfrom any old friends.We recentlyattended the wedding of ALEXROBINSON in New York City a fewmonths ago.”

TOR ELTING lives in Chicago withhis wife and two children.

CHRISTOPHER BRUNO writes:“Greeting from Sayulita, Mexico! Overthe last 15 years or so I’ve been living inSan Francisco and self-employed as anIT/Business consultant, but also doing alittle bit of real estate investment withmy partner of 20 years. Over the years,we remodeled a few old Victorians inthe city, which we found enjoyable, butwere also looking to do something a lit-tle different. So about five years ago wepacked up the dogs and spent 5 weeksdriving as far down as La Paz in BajaSur, took the cargo ferry over to themainland, just north of Mazatlan, andeventually ended up in a small fishingvillage just north of Puerto Vallarta,where some friends had visited the yearbefore. We fell in love with the naturalbeauty of Sayulita the minute wearrived, and after a month of travelingin a beat-up old Land Cruiser on dustyuneven roads, we were just happy tofind a clean place to park ourselves withthe dogs.Two months later we foundourselves still in Sayulita enjoying thesurf, fish tacos and the other-worldlinessof being in a place with no telephone

or CNN. Just before packing to headback up north, we couldn’t resist put-ting an offer in on a small lot abovetown with the idea that we might trybuilding on it someday. However, by thetime we made it back to the bay area,our offer had been accepted and a planwas already in motion that would haveus throw all caution to the wind, sellthe house in the city and head backdown to Sayulita to embark on a newadventure. A year later, we hit the roadas planned and headed back across theborder. We broke ground about 3months after our return and have essen-tially been here hands on ever since. Itwas a very long, exhausting and stressfultwo years building Casa Brava, but theexperience was priceless, with amplematerial for a good book or even a fea-ture length film. We ended up finishingout the house ourselves and taught our-selves a few carpentry skills along theway. We bit off a bit more than wecould chew at the time (to say theleast), but have been fortunate enoughto turn our project into a nice littlevacation rental business. I’m currentlystill in Mexico but working on a newbusiness venture that will have me backin the States by December. I’ve alsosigned up to do the ’08AIDS/LifeCycle ride next June, whichis a 545 mile bike ride from SanFrancisco to LA to raise funds for thoseaffected by this horrible disease world-wide. It will be an interesting challengeto train for this, but I’m happy to take iton. If anyone is interested in seeingwhere I am in Sayulita, the website forour house in Mexico ishttp://www.casabravasayulita.comCheers to you all!”

85Mr. Lionel A. Shaw2148 Filbert StreetSan Francisco, CA 94123-3413(415) [email protected]

WENDY JORDAN writes:“I amworking at Outward Bound Wilderness.Anyone from the class of 1985, comevisit and ask about the Ritt KelloggMemorial at Hurricane Island.”

DAVID SLOAD is pleased toannounce that Evan Harrington Sloadwas born on April 30th in Dublin,Ireland. He is the second edition to theSload clan.


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STEPHANIE EVERETT HOLLANDwrites:“My husband, Justin, and I justadopted our fourth child, a son of Russianheritage, from Kazakhstan. Nicholas isthree, and a vibrant, clever, funny, littleboy! We also have three biological daugh-ters, Isabelle, age 4; Katrina, age 9; andSophia, age 13.All are beautiful andhealthy.We live in Naperville, Illinois, 30miles west of Chicago where Justin worksfor General Electric. I am a stay-at-homemom and consultant to the publishingdept of WHO.”

CHAD NEWSOME writes:“I am stillworking in Manasquan, New Jersey, forPL Custom Body & Equipment Co.,Inc., as a factory sales representative sell-ing emergency vehicles. My job has mecovering a number of counties withinNew Jersey. My wife, Carrie, and Ihave three children,Abby (9), Ryan (8)and Kate (4) and four pets (one dog,three cats). We celebrated our 14thanniversary this October! Carrie worksfor Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticalsin Montville, New Jersey.

“Just as I have done for over 20years, I am involved in emergency med-ical services work and am also the pub-lic information officer for my depart-ment, the Clinton First Aid & RescueSquad.Additionally, I have taken anactive role with the school that Iattended prior to my time at Berkshire.I am the president of the alumni associ-ation of the St.Thomas Choir School inNew York City. These two volunteeractivities take up a healthy chunk oftime, but are immensely rewardingendeavors.

“Please keep up the great work atBerkshire. I do miss the Mountain andhope to get up there soon! Happy100th! Looking forward to getting backfor my 25th in 2010! Yikes.”

86Mrs. Sandra Smith Bryant123 Blanchard RoadCumberland, ME 04021-3509(207) [email protected]

Mrs. Elizabeth Marx-Swatfigure2226 Greenfield Court SEOlympia,WA [email protected]

ROGER LEARNARD was married onSeptember 15th to Annie Duffy on thebeach in Avalon, New Jersey. MATTLEARNARD ’84 was the best man.

craniofacial and plastic surgeon and Iam a neonatologist.We both found awonderful opportunity to practice atMiami Chldren’s Hospital. I am eagerlyawaiting my move to Miami so that Ican be reunited with JULIESILBERMAN SAMUELS and ELISASILBERMAN SIMON. I am hoping thatI can entice LEIGH, JOHANNA, BILL,TIM and of course my brother, JEFFREYand whoever else ventures down to joinus for a reunion.”

KAREN WIBREW writes:“I spokewith LACEY MUDGE SMILGEN. Sheand her husband, Caleb, are planning torelocate to New York City this fall. I amworking on my masters in accountancy atThe University of Denver’s DanielsCollege of Business. I continue to serveas the director of planned giving atTennyson Center for Children in Denver,Colorado, where I also volunteer withabused, neglected, and at-risk children.Additionally, I am serving on the PlannedGiving Committee of the National WorldWar II Museum in New Orleans.”

JOHN MARSHALL writes:“I had mythird child and first girl on July 2, 2007:Tessa Christine Marshall. I do a lot ofultramarathons. I ran the Western States100 mile from Squaw to Auburn,California, in 2004 and recently for funran rim to rim to rim in the GrandCanyon. I just discovered that myneighbor, ARTHUR BECKERT ’69, is aBerkshire alumnus and we have beenliving next to each other for 11 years.We both had the same mentor, TWIGGSMYERS HON. ’57. Arthur had Twiggs

JENNA DEL PRETE ALLEE writes:“My husband, John and I just had ourthird boy in May. Finn Cole Allee joinsbrothers Jack and Will. Things are a bitbusy, but it’s great fun!”

87SHARON YAROM GUCKER and her

husband, Charles, are proud toannounce the birth of their son, HenryMichael Gucker. Henry was born onMarch 8, 2007, weighing 8 pounds 11ounces. He joins his brother,TrevorJames Gucker, at home.Congratulations, Gucker family!

NICOLE ANDERSON writes:“Myhusband, Frank, our daughters SofiaKathryn (age 3) and Maya Alessandra(Age 2), and I are relocating fromCalifornia to Miami, Florida. Frank is a

LARA SCHEFLER MCLANAHAN ’86 sent

in this photo of her children Georgia, Jake and

Brooke. For more news on Lara and her family,

see the 1944 class notes.

LEIGH LEATHERY WALLACE ’87 writes:“I am living in Cincinnati with my husband Dean Wallace

and my children Carley (12) and Connor (9).”

as a cross-country coach. We are bothstill running in the hills of MountTamalpais, just outside of San Francisco.

Next summer, GRAHAM GOFF, JOEROLAND, JOSH SCALA ’88, JAMIEWATTS ’88, and I will celebrate the 20th

anniversary of our journey across thestates and up to Alaska to Denali NationalPark with another adventure somewherein the world yet to be decided.”

JEN MARCUS is living in Napa,California, studying viticulture and enology.

KATHERINE EIFF writes:“I am sorryto have missed the 20 year reunion. Myspouse,William Makelim, and I have beenmarried 10 years.We grew up together.We have two dogs and two cats, we residein Evanston, Illinois. I have family in theRye, New York and Greenwich,Connecticut area which takes me outEast every quarter. My spouse,William,is a stock broker, following in his familyfoot steps. I broker health insurance ben-efits for individuals and small groups with2 employees up to 100 employees. I havebeen doing this for 8 years. My side busi-ness is making and selling jewelry withmy mom. Our business is continuing togrow and we have stores throughout thecountry that carry our wears.The nameof the jewelry company is Rubrical Beadsby KT Designs.”

New York and Ilha Grande, Brazil. I amcurrently working as a travel specialistdesigning luxury trips to Brazil amongother things including importing Braziliangoods and clothing. I see NICOLESCHANOVSKY and her daughter, Maya,quite a bit. I keep in touch with SUEWHITNEY, who had her first baby boy lastyear and is still in San Francisco with herhusband. I also am in touch with TONYSAXTON who lives in Austin,Texas.Would love to hear from classmates!”

KATHY ORLANDO writes:“DREWNICHOLSON is getting married on April12 in Chicago where he lives with hisson, Max. COREY CARITO is living inSan Francisco, working for Apple.”

DAVE WEHNAU writes:“I’m doinggreat. I have two kids – two and fouryears old. In June, my wife and I boughta new veterinary clinic.We’re still iron-ing out some of the wrinkles, but hav-ing a great time doing it!”

88Mr.Walter D. Long, Jr.7 Washington PlaceHelena, MT [email protected](406) 442-2389

TIM FROGGATT writes:“I am livingin Newport, Rhode Island, with mywife,Wendy, and children Alex (7) andEllie (3) and our two bulldogs. I amimporting and marketing wine fromEurope and New Zealand and enjoyingtraveling from time to time. Hope toget to Berkshire soon for a visit.”

PIETER RUIG was recently promotedto vice president at Murphy O’BrienPublic Relations, where he handles thepublic relations campaigns for hospitalityclients such as The Peninsula Hotelsworldwide, Pebble Beach Resorts, andShutters on the Beach in Santa Monica..

89Mrs. Caroline McCrady Rudolf1040 Devon RoadPittsburgh, PA 15213-3802(412) 683-2168

Mr. Samuel D. Silberman1361 Drayton LaneWynnewood, PA 19096(610) 645-0655

Ms.Amanda FabianPO Box 794Ocean Beach, NY [email protected]

JEN ROBERTS writes:“My husbandand I are living back and forth between

Sons of NOEL FALLER ’88: Sam (8),Toby (5) and Ethan (6 months).


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ELLIE GLACCUM DEBENHAM ’88 writes:“I am

still living in Unionville, Pennsylvania, with my husband,

Andrew, and kids,Will (age 9) and Isobel (age 5). I work

for Lindt Chocolate, which is tons of fun and deadly for

the waistline. I was recently at the Plantation Field

Horse Trials in Unionville, Pennsylvania, where I met

CHARLOTTE MERLE-SMITH ’00. We had a photo

take with my two children Will and Isobel age 4. I

think Charlotte ended up finishing second in the com-

petition. Maybe the Olympics someday? My best to all

under the mountain.”

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90Ms. Nina Bradley Clarke333 East 80th Street,Apt 5ENew York, NY 10021(212) [email protected]

Ms. Natalie Rinaldi12 East 86th Street,Apt. 208New York, NY 10028-0525(917) [email protected]

KENAN MINKOFF writes:“Sinceboth RANSOM BAILEY and ADAMCAREY have contacted me recently as aresult of seeing something in the info-verse about my latest play being pro-duced at The Barrow Group in NewYork (www.makeoutsession.com), Ithought I would drop a line. I’ve beendoing all sorts of entertainment-relatedthings for the past 10 years with mycurrent focus being writing. I recentlyreceived a two-month fellowship at theMacDowell Colony in New Hampshireand can’t wait to get there and spend allmy days writing. Other than that, I cansay that I have stayed in contact withTODD ’89 and LYNN PORTNOFF ’91and PHIL POTTER over the years.”

RUPERT YOUNG writes:“Recentlymy daughter, Serena, decided to startwalking on her first birthday and hasn’tlooked back since. Her 5-year-oldbrother, Grayson, thinks it is great,

weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce. She joinsher 4-year-old sister, Kyla Lynn, and 2-year-old brother, Jackson Sheppard, athome. Congratulations, Quelle Family!

CHRIS MCKHANN writes:“Our sec-ond child, Gavin McKhann, is a verystrong and healthy 25 pounds at 8months. Ella, our daughter, is 4.”

91Mrs. Sarah Kuhn Daniels4101 N 26th StreetTacoma,WA 98407-5206(253) [email protected]

Mrs. Paige Robertson Jasaitis62 Old Smalleytown RoadWarren, NJ [email protected](908) 753-0443

Mr. Jeremy C. PetersPO Box 128Cragsmoor, NY 12420-0128(530) 581-4980

Mrs. Susanne Koskey VogelPO Box 1004Dublin, NH [email protected]

MICHAEL BURNS writes:“All my lifeI’ve dreamt of becoming a master buttermaker. Last year, my dream finally cametrue when I passed the third and finalexam of the International Expert ButterMaker’s Guild. Since then, my skillshave been in high demand, and I havefound a home.”

SARAH MURPHY was married toThomas Kelleher on July 20th inCounty Clare, Ireland. ClassmateSHELBY PERKINS served as a brides-maid.Also in attendance were Dan

except when she walks over and pullsup his race track or knocks down hisblocks. Possibly inspired by her firststep, he discovered he could climb up tothe ceiling using the door jam. Hehasn’t yet figured out how to take histoys with him. I am living in the SanFrancisco Bay area, am happily marriedfor 10 years and working for the samecompany,AT&T, currently as director ofstrategic business development.”

KATE FISHER FITZGERALD and herhusband, JT, welcomed their third child,Mae Price Fitzgerald, on November 3,2006. Mae joins big sisters Grace andLila.

BEN QUELLE and his wife, Jennifer,are proud to announce the birth oftheir daughter, Elaina Grace Quelle.Elaina was born on October 15, 2006,

CHRIS MCKHANN ’90 writes:“Our second child, Gavin McKhann, is a

very strong and healthy 25 pounds at 8 months. Ella, our daughter, is 4.”

PAIGE ROBERTSON and

Jim Jasaitis are happy to

announce the birth of their

daughter, Julie Anna Jasaitis, on

1/17/07.

ALDEN, BRIGGS DAVIDSON, andTONY SAXTON ’89.

LAURENCE CONSTABLE graduatedfrom Suffolk University Law School inMay and now works for a law firmcalled McCarter & English, LLP inBoston doing commercial real estate.

BURR DURYEE and DEBBIE CRISPINDURYEE welcomed Campbell ClaireDuryee on May 24th. Campbell joins bigbrother, Crispin (4) and big sister, Piper(2). Congratulations, Duryee family!

Clovis Young writes from DownUnder:“My wife,Angela, and I movedto Sydney about a year ago to start aMexican restaurant/franchise and we arescheduled to open our first restaurantsoon. Mad Mex – Fresh Mexican Grill,kind of like Chipotle but with a moreirreverent and edgy feel and better food!In November, our first child arrived, soit has been a busy fall!”

CHRIS LONG writes:“We haverecently moved in to a new home thatmy wife designed and I built throughmy company,Wheeler Construction +Design, Inc.We also completed a housethat was shown in the local Santa Fehome builder’s tour, and we happilyreceived three awards for our efforts.”

CLARK REED writes:“I was marriedon New Years Eve and we had a babyboy, Donald Jackson Reed, in August.My wife,Whitney, is from New Hope,Pennsylvania. I own and operate ThePaddle Company and am a fireman inboth Princeton and Hopewell.”

92Mr.Abraham W. Duryee III14 Wainwright DriveCape Elizabeth, ME 04107(207) [email protected]

ANDREW LAWRENCE MUELLER ’92is happy to announce his marriage toFrancisca.The wedding took place onJanuary 2, 2006, in Yuma,Arizona,where they live.

JOE DOLDO and his wife, Dianthe, wel-

comed their third child, Brady Montgomery

Doldo, on 1/30/07.

MARIA LASHLEY ’92, CEARA PEDROTHREETS ’92 with daughter Khiara, MEDEA ANSARI

MYERS ’92 with daughter Malia, JAMINE HILL ’93 with Medea’s daughter Bria, and BRIDGETTE

CRAIG BASTIEN ’93 at a mini reunion at Bridgette’s house.

MATT CASEY ’93 was married in January 2006 to Elisabeth Paton. Pictured left to right: MATT

SKINNER ’93 (best man), BRANDI HOPPER ’93, the groom, the bride, KEVIN COFSKY ’92, PETER

KEARNEY ’01 (cousin). Not pictured but also in attendance: BEN DANHAUSER ’93.

MIMI RAMOS HARNEY ’91 and husband Paulwelcomed son Finn on February 3, 2007.


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a weekend home in the Berkshires.Caroline is living and working inWashington, DC.As for me, I am still liv-ing in the city and working as a real estateattorney. Hope everyone is well.”

96Ms. Katherine C. King203 E 76th Street,Apt 3GNew York, NY 10021(781) [email protected]

Ms. Julie A. Lemire258 15th Street,Apt. 2Brooklyn, NY 11215(617) [email protected]

Ms.Tatum E.Vittengl27 1/2 Rossmore StreetSomerville, MA 02143(518) [email protected]

JEREMY MILLER is happy toannounce his engagement to EuniceChi.A May 2008 wedding is planned.Congratulations!

NAKIA HOWELL writes with severalupdates:“My first year of graduateschool for speech-language pathology iscoming to an end. My clinical intern-ship is about to start, and I’m excitedabout the challenges that lie ahead. Istay in close contact with CRYSTALMENDEZ ’98 and CYN ZUMETA ’95.Some exciting news on the alumnifront: JILLIAN JOSEPH ’97 is now amommy! She has an absolutelyadorable son named Christopher.

93Ms. Kimberly A. Friese3102 Portage Bay, PL ESeattle,WA 98102-3833(425) [email protected]

Ms.Tenley E. Reed18 Adam and Eve MewsKensingtonLondon W86UJ [email protected]

SEAN GILBERT and his wife, Randi, areproud to announce the birth of their son,Jacob Austin Gilbert, on January 9, 2007,weighing 9 pounds 4 ounces.Congratulations, Sean and Randi.

“Earlier this year, a Providence Bruinturned beat cop pulled over an acquaintancewho didn’t know his friend had joined theBoston Police Department. So when theman finally recognized the officer, he wasprobably pondering the same crack thatblazed its way around New England rinkslast winter: BRENDAN WALSH has a gun.”So began a July 29, 2007, article in theBoston Globe about Brendan’s journeyfrom collegiate player at Maine and B.U. toAmerican Hockey League player inProvidence, San Antonio,Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and Lowell to Bostonpolice officer.

RICHARD LAZALA writes:“Hello, Classof ’93. Just letting you know that I’m liv-

ing in Munich now. If any of you are intown, just give me a holler.Tel.0891607891561.”

CHUCK DUCHARME writes:“My wife,Bridget, gave birth to our second son onApril 6, 2007. Born 4 pounds 14 ounces.Our first son is two years old. I have beenspending my time between my efforts as afinancial planner for John Hancock, andworking on a contract basis for GlobalOperations at General Motors in Detroit.We are very excited to see everyone atCentennial Alumni Weekend in May. GoBears!”

94Mr. Francis A. Blair175 West 12th Street,Apt 18ENew York, NY 10011(212) [email protected]

JENNIFER STRINGHAM GAUDRONand her husband, Sylvain, are proud toannounce the birth of their daughter,Sophie Estelle Gaudron. Sophie was bornJuly 14, 2007, weighing 8 pounds. Sophiejoins her sister, Emilie, at home.Congratulations, Gaudron family!

95Mrs.Ayren Moskowitz Pfeifer25 Thomas SumterBeaufort, SC 29907(843) [email protected]

Ms. Cindy L. Zumeta-Mills500 West 177th Street, #5iNew York, NY 10033-7351(212) [email protected]

BRAD HUNT is happy to announce hisengagement to Wendy Aviette Lis.A June2008 wedding is planned.Congratulations!

ZARA FERNANDES writes:“Greetingsfrom New York City. I am here withCAROLINE COTE and JEN MELIS.Caroline was in town to celebrate her30th birthday with us and to celebrateJen’s recent marriage to Anthony Frisella.Jen and Anthony were married December29, 2006, in St. John, US Virgin Islands, sowe had a “wedding” party for them. Onhand to share in the celebrations wereVANESSA BOLGER and TOURE FOLKES.Jen is living in the city, has her own inte-rior design business and recently purchased

MATT SKINNER ’93 was married on

October 21, 2006, to Tina Kubasiac. Classmate

MATT CASEY served as his best man.

JEN MELIS ’95 and Anthony Frisella were married

December 29, 2006, in St. John, U.S.Virgin Islands.

ANDREW BARTLETT writes:“I wasmarried on June 23rd, 2007, to ArielCrohn at my parents’ vacation home inKittery Point, Maine. We had a won-derful honeymoon trip, traveling to thesouth of France, Provence, and Paris.”

98Ms.Allison M. Crawford1011 Brodie Street,Apt. 30Austin,TX 78704-4159(512) [email protected]

Mr. Jason C. Rano224 3rd Street, NEWashington, DC 20002(917) [email protected]

CRYSTAL MENDEZ writes:“I finallyfinished school! I graduated from LongIsland University in September of 2006with a BS/MC in occupational therapy.I work for the board of educationwhere I’m an occupational therapist atan elementary and high school. I justhad a party and NAKIA HOWELL ’96and JAVIER WINNIK ’96 came to helpme celebrate. I also caught up withGAMAL SMITH ’96 who is a teacher atJohn Adams High School in Queens.

MARC A. MASSARO is happy toannounce his engagement to LauraLaCasse.A February 16, 2008, weddingis planned. Congratulations.

COLIN WARD writes:“I neverthought I would become an engineerwith a job you can’t describe to people,but it happens.You can call me at (713)560-0690. I am looking forward to ourten-year reunion this May!”

JAKE GERSHEN writes:“I attendedFRANK ZOCH’S wedding in Texasalong with WHITTNEY WATTS. It wasan absolutely incredible time. I amworking for the Fire Department Cityof New York (FDNY). I am assigned toLadder 29 in the South Bronx.”

JASON RANO graduated with hismaster’s of public policy from JohnsHopkins University last May 2007. Heis currently the director of homelessmanagement information systems atBaltimore Homeless Services in theBaltimore City Health Department.Jason is living on Capitol Hill inWashington, D.C.

TIM MURPHY ’98 and LEAHMCCLURE ’99, who were engaged last

97Ms. Julie D. Rubinstein1616 West Addison St.,Apt.AChicago, IL 60613-3616(914) [email protected]

AMANDA SOPER HENNING writes:“We are living in Newport, Rhode Island,with our son, who is one.The first year ofhis life has been such a joy!”

JULIE RUBENSTEIN writes:“It was sonice to see many of you at AlumniWeekend 2007. I hope as the years goon, we all stay in touch with each otherand with the school itself. I have been liv-ing in Chicago since the middle of Juneand I couldn’t be happier. I just startedworking as a Web video producer for theBig Ten Network. It’s an all-college sportsnetwork that launched in late August. Iencourage my classmates to post updatesto the alumni class notes board or to sendme updates. It’s great to hear what every-one is up to. Congrats to JILLIANJOSEPH ’97 on her new bundle of joy!”

GRETCHEN NAREFF writes:“I amcurrently pursuing my master’s degreein ecology and wildlife managementthrough the University of Georgia. Myfieldwork takes place in coastal SouthCarolina, where I am studying shore-birds and wetland ecology.”

Congrats to the new mommy and newauntie, NATALIE HOOPER ’01.

CHAUMANIX DUTTON ’97 is finish-ing up an internship in Dallas and head-ing into the second year of her MBAprogram at University of Michigan. Mybrother, SERGEANT PHENIZE HOWELL’98, got married in June. He is in theUS Army and served two tours in Iraq.He is currently in Germany for the sum-mer and is stationed in Hawaii. I recent-ly heard from BRENDAN NELSON. He ismarried and said he might join the partyin honor of Berkshire’s Centennial.

JESSICA BENHAM MARKS and herhusband, Jared, are proud to announcethe birth of their son, Spencer GraysonMarks. Spencer was born October 6,2006, weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces. Hejoins his big brother, Kellen “KJ” Marks,at home. Congratulations, Marks family!

From JAVIER CRUZ WINNIK ’96, pictured

here with CRYSTAL MENDEZ ’97 and NAKIA

HOWELL ’96 at his solo show at SIP Coffee Bar

and Lounge in New York City: “I am the defini-

tion of a starving artist. After Berkshire I went on

to Lynchburg College, where I graduated with a

B.A. in Art in 2000 and then attended Savannah

College of Art and Design. Working for Kinko’s

also helped me to build aspects of my artistic port-

folio to the point where I can now create art in

almost any style. I now am enjoying my second

solo show. My first show in NYC was at the

Virgin MegaStore in Union Square. I currently

work for the Children’s Aid Society where I teach

kids how to draw, and am working toward becom-

ing a teacher with the New York City Board of

Education.” Some of his work is available at learn-

ingcurv.deviantart.com and www.prprogress.com.

CONOR MCKENNA ’97 and his wife, Sarah,

welcomed their first child, Lydia Gail McKenna,

on August 18th.They are settling in to family life

in Calgary,Alberta, where Conor is an environ-

mental biologist.


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summer, are getting married next July.Leah graduated from Bowdoin College in2003 and played field hockey and icehockey all four years. Currently, she isworking towards a second degree in edu-cation at the University of Maine.Timgraduated from the United States MilitaryAcademy in 2002 and played ice hockeyall four years. He is a Field ArtilleryCaptain in the 1st Cavalry Division,serving in Iraq on his second tour withthis deployment being 15 months.WhenTim returns from Iraq, he and Leah willsettle back in Tim’s neighborhood ofSouth Boston. Leah can be reached [email protected] and Tim [email protected] arelooking forward to seeing everyone at thereunion next May.

99Mr. Michael D. Gutenplan104 West 71st Street,Apt. 2BNew York, NY 10023(646) [email protected]

Ms. Sandra V. Pizarro20208 Bar Harbor TerraceAshburn,VA 20147-2742

Mr. Ji-Woong Yoon108-301 Mi-Do A.P.T. Dae- Chi2 Dong Kang Nam GuSeoul,(822) [email protected]

ANNIE CORRAO writes:“I am livingin Vermont, working in a 1st and 2ndgrade classroom, and thoroughly enjoy-ing it. I was also married this summer!My husband is actually from theBerkshires, of all places. LIZ MATTESwas my maid of honor — proof that

TIM MURPHY ’98 and LEAH MCCLURE ’99

FRANK ZOCH ’98 writes:“I got married on September 1st and

could not be happier! Had an amazing wedding with family and friends

in San Antonio,Texas. This was a special date for us as it marked the

62nd wedding anniversary of Jenevieve’s grandparents, who attended the

wedding. Jenevieve is a Texas-born sweetheart and graduated from

Ole Miss in broadcast journalism and I from Texas Christian University

in Finance. We both love the Texas outdoors and spend most of our

free time either in the Texas Hill Country or the Gulf of Mexico fish-

ing and kayaking in the rivers and sea and other activities.Whitney

Watts and Jake Gershen were in our wedding party. We had a great

honeymoon to Dubai, the Arabian Desert and to the Maldives Islands.

Incredible.We are living in San Antonio. I work in the commercial real

estate business and Jenevieve works in the travel industry.We are looking

forward to seeing you all at our 10th reunion this May!”

J.Wilk

inso

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raph

y

boarding school friendship can last a longtime!”

BECCA NEAGLE writes:“I am livingoutside of D.C. in Silver Spring,Maryland, with my husband, JohnAndreadakis. We met in college and weremarried in 2005. John is a contractor forthe Air Force and works out of thePentagon. I am working as an exportmanager for an American company namedChindex International, a distributor ofcapital medical equipment in China. I amtraveling to China twice a year for work.No kids except for our five-year-oldEnglish Bulldog, Dante.”

JUSTIN ORGEL writes:“While in Spain,ALEX CUTLER, who is living in Barcelonafor graduate school, and I ran WILLELLIOTT ’00.”

MELVIN RICHEY writes:“I’m teachingand coaching football at Miller GroveHigh School in Lithonia, Georgia. I am soproud of how Berkshire has built such awell-respected football program, and tohave Berkshire in my life. Go Bears!”

00Ms. Brooke T. Beebe556 East 6th Street,Apt #1South Boston, MA [email protected](617) 960-6357

Ms. Blair S. Kurtz4840 Woodley AvenueEncino, CA 91436(818) 929-9456

pleased to announce that they areexpecting a baby girl in December!

LAURA LYDECKER WALKER writes:“My husband John Walker and I areexpecting a baby boy in January.We weremarried January 27th and have been hav-

JUSTIN M. ROSS and Lindsay Cookwere married in Cooperstown, NewYork, on March 23, 2006.The couplelives in Cherry Valley, New York.

RYAN BREWER is living in NewBrunswick, Canada, and is teaching highschool science in his home town ofNackawic. He also coaches volleyballand is still playing hockey and volleyballhimself!

CHRIS MCCANN and his wife are

SCOTT GORDON ’99 writes:“I was married

to the beautiful Jennie Elise Gordon (formerly

Geisner) in Bishopville, Maryland on August 18,

2007 at The Lighthouse Sound Golf and

Country Club.The wedding was attended by

such Berkshire alumni as MICHAEL

GUTENPLAN ’99 and GEORGE STACKHOUSE

SCOVILLE III ’99, who was my best man.We

honeymooned in Turks and Caicos on the island

of Providenciales. Jennie just completed her

Master’s of Urban Planning and is the retail

development manager for Arlington County in

Virginia. I am a property director for Gates,

Hudson and Associates in Alexandria,Virginia, a

privately owned real estate development and

management company.We own a home, also in

Alexandria in the neighborhood of Del Ray and

live with our beautiful lab-mix, Lydia.”

ANGELA GREENLAW ’99 writes:“Life couldn’t

be better! I got engaged last year to Dr. Michael

Brodeur, and we are busy planning our wedding,

scheduled for July! My photography business,

Angela Greenlaw photography, is doing very well

and I have been able to leave my “high stress, not so

fun corporate job” to focus on shooting more! I am

living between my place in western Massachusetts

and my fiancé’s house in Westport, Massachusetts. If

anyone is ever in those areas and wants to grab a

drink or something, give me a call: 508-677-7251. I

would love to hear what everyone else is up to.”

MICHAEL GUTTENPLAN ’99 writes:“The time has come for me to make the big move out

west. I am leaving New York City and moving to Hollywood! I will miss the fun times in the city. I

have spent a lot of time with LAURA MILLER ’98 and TAMARA AZAR. I have also spent some

time with BRIAN WEINBERG ’01, JUSTIN ORGEL, SCOTT KANTOR, ANDREW BOREK,

NAKIA HOWELL ’96, and, of course, the very professional, DAN MORRIS ’98. I will miss the good

times, but am looking forward to making new memories. So if you’re in the LA area, give me a shout!”

On his way west, Michael, accompanied by Laura, stopped by Berkshire and regaled a journalism class

with his tales of the Big Apple.


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ing a great time. Now we are preparingfor our next journey.We can’t wait!”

RYAN ASCENZO writes:“I graduatedfrom Western New England College in2005 with a degree in history. I was acaptain of the football team in 2005 andearned Defensive MVP for the 2004and 2005 seasons. I was also nominat-ed as an Honorable Mention in theNew England Football Conference in2005. After graduation from college, Iworked in Boston for a year as a com-puter consultant. Somehow, that posi-tion set me up into my current role asan underwriter of insurance for finan-cial institutions at a world leader in spe-cialty insurance. I work/live inConnecticut. To top it off I was mar-

living in Atlanta for a year and recentlypurchased my first home. I am goingback to school to get another degree inenvironmental engineering, and am cur-rently working in the field. If anyBerkshire alums are in the Atlanta area,please feel free to contact me: [email protected] or (252) 305-1223. I hope all is well under themountain and send my best regards tomy former classmates.”

BOBBY DWYER received his lawdegree from Albany Law School ofUnion University in a ceremony at theSaratoga Performing Arts Center lastMay. We’re betting that, armed withthis degree and his undergraduatedegree from Yale, Berkshire’s only two-time all-school president will be inWashington in no time.

For news and a photo ofCHARLOTTE MERLE-SMITH ’00, whocompeted in the Plantation Field HorseTrials in Unionville, Pennsylvania, lastsummer, see the 1988 class notes.

ried to Erin Olson, whom I met in col-lege, on October 27, 2007. MORGANWILSON was my best man.”

JESSICA SMITH writes:“I have been

ASHLEY PARSONS ’99 writes:“My daugh-

ter, Sydney Kaelyn was born December 31st,

2006. Sydney is pictured here with me in June,

along with my sister, HEATHER WHITE class of

1993, after we cut our hair for locks of love in

honor of our 29-year-old cousin who is battling

breast cancer while raising her baby boy.”

ANNA DONAHUE FISKE ’00 and her husband,William, are proud to announce the

birth of their son,Thomas William Porter Fiske.Thomas was born on January 19, 2007,

weighing 7 pounds 12 ounces. Congratulations,Anna and William!

Marine Corps 1st Lt. JOHN BRANSON ’01 was awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Achievement

Medal, with a V for Valor, earlier this year for saving the life of a fellow corpsman during furious fighting

in Ramadi, Iraq, in December 2006. John, then a second lieutenant, and his company were manning a

new outpost in Ramadi, when they were attacked by insurgents.. A truck laden with explosives explod-

ed on the perimeter, opening a hole in the defense and blowing the truck top onto the second floor roof

of the outpost, spreading flames over the Marines on that deck. A rocket then exploded in the courtyard,

hurling one of John’s men against the wall. John gave the order to put the injured man in a truck and to

drive through the flames to the hospital. He was later credited with saving the man’s life. The battle

raged for three hours, until the insurgents broke off and fled. The Marines held the outpost.

John is shown here at his wedding in Washington in September to Karen Marchetti. To the bride’s

right is 1st Lt.Andrew Kinard, John’s friend from training school who lost both his legs while on patrol

on the Syrian border; on John’s left is Ian Schattner. ANDREW DUNNAVANT ’01 and Ian were best

men. After Berkshire, John earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from the

University of Maryland, but according to his mother, Meredith Branson Fay,“he wanted to be a Marine

since he was six years old.” She credits Paul Christopher, former head of school, and Academic

Support Program Director Barbara Kenefick as being major influences on her son while at Berkshire.

01Mr. David W. Berke1762 First Avenue,Apt. 2NNew York, NY 10128(212) [email protected]

Ms. Shannon M. Flynn25432 Sea Bluffs Drive #307Dana Point, CA 92629(949) [email protected]

ALEX BARRETT is teaching Spanish atthe Northwood School in Lake Placid,New York.

PETE DOSS graduated from theUniversity of Idaho in May and hasaccepted the position of second assistantPGA golf professional at the CountryClub of the Rockies in Vail, Colorado.

JUSTIN FAGAN writes:“I’m back inDeutschland andout of the “sandbox”.

Ms.Allison L. Zelman369 Wells Hill RdLakeville, CT 06039(860) 435-0825

COOPER FRIEND has signed a profes-sional contract with the CarolinaRailHawks, a United Soccer League.Congratulations, Cooper!

LACEY HUNTER SANTA MARIA andher husband, Flavio, are proud toannounce the birth of their daughter,Isadora Bertie Santa Maria. Isadora wasborn May 19, 2007, weighing 9 pounds 4ounces. Congratulations to the SantaMaria family!

LILLY BECKER graduated cum laudefrom University of New Hampshire lastMay. Presidents Clinton and GeorgeH.W. Bush were speakers.

ROXANNE GAUDIEL writes:“Sincegraduating from Princeton, I’ve been allover the place (or so it seems). I played

Thanks for the support. If you are inEurope and want to meet up with a warvet and kick back some cocktails, justgive me a ring. I’ll be around. Peace.”

JOSH SKLARIN will be finishing lawschool in the fall of 2008 and is approach-ing his second wedding anniversary.

CAITRIN ROESLER writes:“Sincegraduating from University of Vermontin December of 2005, I have been liv-ing life to the fullest. I lived in SouthLake Tahoe last winter and this winter Iwill continue to be a ski bum in Aspen.I am continuing to search for a positionat a boarding school as an art or pho-tography teacher while I am still doingfreelance photography. However, I’m inno rush to find a real job because travel-ing is just too much fun.”

02Ms. Michaela E. Romano-Meade245 N Undermountain RoadSheffield, MA 01257(413) [email protected]

English teacher LindaBellizzi attended theHarvard Powwow 2007last May that celebratedthe memory of DUANE

MEAT ’01. Duane, anAnashanaabe from LeechLake Reservation,Minnesota, was to graduatefrom Harvard this year butwas killed last spring. Shewrites:

Attached to the officialpowwow flag was one smallwhite feather in memory ofDuane. His mother, KathyrnFairbanks, her sister, her hus-band Ron Winters, andDuane’s brothers, BRIAN MEAT ’01 and Benjamin Meat partici-pated as dancers and singers, then hosted a giveaway in Duane’smemory.As they began the giveaway, a ritual to recognize thoseimportant in Duane’s life, the Fairbanks/Meat family calledfriends, teachers, relatives, and other powwow participants into thecircle to receive gifts. Among the first recognized was Duane’sadvisor at Berkshire, Peter Kinne.

As the giveaway continued, a sudden, prolonged gust of windturned the previously mild, sunny day ominous. Tree branches

shook, and early spring budswhipped through the air. Aminute later, the sun was outagain, the wind was gone,and the buds were caught ineveryone’s hair. Mr. Kinneoffered a simple explanationfor that lone gust of windthat shook CambridgeSaturday afternoon andsprinkled participants withtree flowers. “No questionabout it: it was Duane!”

In addition to Mr. andMrs. Kinne and me,Berkshire attendees includedBARKISU COLE ’01,MAHMOUD SOWE ’00,AKA LAUENSTEIN ’01,

CHARLES PLUNGIS ’01, STEPHEN PIATELLI ’06, and JILES

POURIER ’04. Jiles, a junior at Dartmouth College and a memberof Native Americans at Dartmouth, sang with his school’s drumgroup, danced throughout the event, and participated in a traditionaldance contest during the afternoon.

Duane Meat was an outstanding student at Berkshire andreceived the Princeton Cup at graduation for excellence in aca-demics and good citizenship. He was obviously a beloved memberof the Harvard Community as well.

Pictured at the powwow are Aka, Barkisu, Mahmoud and Charles

with Kathryn Fairbanks, who holds the medal awarded to Kathryn by

Harvard University Native American Program in honor of Duane’s

work and leadership in that program.


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“professional” women’s hockey inMontreal last year and have landed backin Florida at grad school. I am cur-rently at USF getting my Masters inPolitical Science, International Affairs.”

JULIA HANSEN writes:“I just graduat-ed from Johns Hopkins Nursing School,the accelerated program, and received mynursing license. Just moved up to Boston,and will be starting my nursing career atMass General Hospital on a bone marrowtransplant unit.”

CRYSTAL MENDEZ writes:“I graduat-ed from Long Island University in 2006with a BS/MS in occupational therapy.I’m now officially an occupational thera-pist working for the Department ofEducation in NYC. I work at PS 345 inBrooklyn treating kids in grades k-5. Ialso just got a part time job providingoccupational therapy to adults with devel-opmental disabilities in a group home set-ting. I keep in touch with NAKIAHOWELL ’96.

03Ms. Lauren D. Deeb387 3rd Avenue,Apt. 404Troy, NY [email protected]

Mr. John W. Hull14 Old Barrington RoadAlford, MA 01230(413) [email protected]

Ms. Jane B.Walker1601 Mosaic WaySmyrna, GA 30080(772) [email protected]

EMILY EISEN-BERKELEY and ALEXWENNER were married on June 30 inBridgehampton, New York. Look for awedding photo in the next Bulletin.

ASHLEY ELDREDGE finished out hersenior year at St. Lawrence playing #1on the squash team. She rooms withCrystal Connors, who has 13 goals thisyear for the hockey team, which made theFrozen Four the last two years in a row.

As a junior at UMASS in 2006, LOUPROIETTI started all 44 games for theMinutemen at shortstop, hitting a teamleading .331 average with 11 doubles,22 RBI’s, 29 runs, and 20 walks. Healso had 16 stolen bases and is 6th inthe A10 Conference. He was also ableto achieve a 3.0 GPA.“Thanks again,

Coach Gappa, for believing.”ALEC PINE will be graduating from

the University of Wisconsin and isworking as a photo journalist for ABCSports.

CHARLES BOUTEILLER writes:“I amfinishing up my studies at Saint Michael’sCollege. I will be into both Sigma BetaDelta and Omicron Delta Epsilon theInternational Honor Societies for bothbusiness and economics. I have also beenvery busy this year as a member ourStudent Association’s Executive Board.After graduating, I am going to remainaround Burlington,Vermont, so if anyoneis around, say hello.”

TIBER FALZETT graduated from St.Francis Xavier University in Antigonish,Nova Scotia last May. He won the St.

MEGHAN BLUME ’04 is a rugger every fall

and spring for Elon Universitiy. Her bumper

sticker says,“Give Blood, Play Rugby.”

On March 11, 2007, HILARY DAY ’03 was married to Zach Richards in Littleton, Colorado.

Zach is a mathematician/engineer for a Lockheed Martin/Boeing joint project.The happy couple

live in Castle Rock, Colorado, with boxer puppies Izzy Belle and Isaac Newton Richards. Hilary

writes:“The only person missing, in an otherwise fabulous day of celebration, was our dear friend,

Em Putnam, who had gone back for Irene McDonald’s memorial service at Berkshire. Zach works

for United Launch Alliance, the new company formed when Lockheed Martin and Boeing

merged. He is a flight trajectory engineer for the Atlas V Rocket program.And now we are expect-

ing a little girl to join our family!"

FX University Silver Medal, awarded forthe highest average in the final threeyears of an honors, advanced major, ormajor degree program in a bachelor ofarts degree. Tiber will be working forthe Government of Nova Scotia inCape Breton this summer and then heis off to pursue a Ph.D. at TheUniversity of Edinburgh, Scotland. Hecan be reached via e-mail [email protected].

“Hello, Berkshire! JACLYNWISMEYER here, writing to you all fromNew Zealand. Just here to spend a monthbackpacking and living in my bivi sack.Traveling with a great friend of minefrom Montana and couldn’t be moreexcited to have this opportunity! Hope allis well with all you scattered alums outthere, hope to see some of you next Mayat the centennial celebration!”

Amanda Awad graduated cum laudefrom New York University and, in thewords of her father in a class note inthe Harvard Business School Bulletin,“is threatening to support herself.” Wayto go,Amanda!

04Ms. Meghan E. BlumePO Box 142124 Cook RdSheffield, MA 01257(413) 229-5907

Miss Jillian E.A. Bowron3438 Rue Sainte FamilleApartment 2Montreal QC H2X 2K8,(514) [email protected]

Mr. Jarrett E. MathisDartmouth CollegeHinman 3833Hanover, NH 03755(718) [email protected]

ALEX MORELY is spending the year inCopenhagen with Danish Internationalstudies in architecture.

RJ MOON writes:“I am in my senioryear at St. Lawrence University andworking to finish my environmentalstudies major as well as minors in botheducation and outdoor studies. I amnow working as an intern for a localtown land planning board and fly fish-ing the Adirondack lakes and streams.”

KENZIE CANNON ’05, who was in fall and

spring crew at Berkshire all four years here, com-

peted in the 2007 NCAA rowing championships

as the coxswain of the William Smith varsity 8+

and came in fifth overall. She was also selected to

the 2007 CRCA All-American team. Kelsey,

whose brother NATE CANNON ’07 graduated

from Berkshire last May, is beginning her junior

year at Hobart and William Smith, where she is a

public policy and political science major

KATYA SODAMIN ’05 and Digby’s KATIE

HARVIEUX ’05 coaching together at Okanagan

Hockey School in Penticton, British Columbia.

JAMES RUSSELL ’05, who holds the Berkshirepole vault record (13’2”), embraces coach JerryTine after breaking the Hamilton College recordlast spring (4.55 meters). He also repeated asNESCAC champion.

05Ms. Emma K. Spielman95 Campbell RoadKeswick,VA 22947(434) [email protected]

Mr. Daniel P. Staino9 Tyler Lake HeightsGoshen, CT 06756(860) [email protected]. Clayton L.Tolman2843 Camden RoadWarren, ME 04856(207) [email protected]

BECKY ZAVISA writes:“KACEYBELLAMY and I competed with theUnited States Women’s Hockey Under22 National Team in August 2007 in athree-game series against Canada.”

KATIE JOHNSON writes:“I took asix-week field excursion to South Africato study speciation in plants from thefamily Pelargonium. It was a blast!”

MEAGAN BECK writes:“I am in myjunior year at Union College. I’m play-ing Division I ice hockey and last yearwas named the team MVP. I am major-


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ing in sociology and history in hopes tobecome a teacher. I spent last springstudying sociology/biology abroad inBermuda and Newfoundland.This year, Iplay a lot of Berkshire alumni in hockeyincluding NICKI WIART and ALI EDELL’06. I miss everyone at Berkshire and can’twait for our reunion!”

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07Ms. Frances K. Joyce22 Pilgrim RoadRye, NY 10580(914) 967-9222

Mr. Casey A. Larkins57 Echo Drive NorthDarien, CT 06820(203) [email protected]

Ms.Allison A. Letourneau917 Shawn DriveKingstonNova Scotia B0P 1R0,(902) [email protected]

Mr. Ryan L. Saltzman308 Bent RoadWyncote, PA 19095(267) 287-8427

ALLISON LETOURNEAU writes:“I’mhaving a blast running at UNH. I actu-ally just broke 19 minutes for the 5km.I ran an 18:46 which is a huge barrierto break in cross country.”The pride ofHalifax was back on campus at theBears’ football game under the lights onSeptember 22, at which time sheannounced her intention to become ajournalist.

Berkshire lacrosse legend PARKER MCKEE ’06 reports from Duke University: “Things are good here

in Durham. I got a 3.3 GPA last year and am going to major in history. I played long stick midfielder last

year, but am going to play close defense this year. As you know, we lost in the championship last spring.

Tell Mr. Bowler and Charps that I say hello.”

One year out of Berkshire, this glamorous group from the Class of 2006 was on hand for gradua-

tion last May. From left: TESS HARDCASTLE, SUE SPERL, JACQUI CLOUD, HANNAH

SHELDON-DEAN, SARAH APPLETON, and THEA MORRISON.

06Ms. Courtney J. Kollmer38 Hampshire DriveMendham, NJ 07945-2004(973) [email protected]

Ms. Emily K. Lichtenberg16 Barnard AvenuePoughkeepsie, NY 12601(845) 471-1386

Mr. Jeffrey G.Wexler9581 East Maplewood CircleGreenwood Village, CO [email protected](860) 439-3026

RYAN BLANCHARD is now attendingA.I.A. in Atlanta and is majoring in audioproduction. His sister,Allie, joinedBerkshire’s third form this fall. You can con-tact Ryan at [email protected].

TOM KAIER is at University of RhodeIsland with plans to major in film. Hereports that he’s surfing off Narragansettwhenever there are waves!

CHRIS DRAKE, happy at Hobart,

reports that two classmates have trans-ferred there: CHIP SIARNACKI from theUniversity of Vermont and CHRIS HALEfrom Purdue.

Financial Considerations

The editors of The Associated Press Sunday Crossword Puzzle Book 4 called the late CHET

CURRIER ’62 “one of the best puzzle writers in the country.” Answers are on page 98.

(Chet is remembered in the In Memoriam section of this issue.)


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Before heading off to Pitzer College, ERICA LESSER ’07

enjoyed seeing Alice in Chains and Velvet Revolver in concert

at Jones Beach. She was able to go backstage before the concert

and meet Matt Sorum, Duff McKagan, as well as her idol, Slash.

“Matt was so friendly and easy to talk to; he even gave me

a peck on the cheek,” gushed Erica.“I barely said anything to

Duff and could only introduce myself to Slash and shake his

hand. Still I was ecstatic to even be in the same room as him.”

KAT MANNIX ’06 and SPENCER NOYES ’06,

inseparable redheads while at Berkshire (above), returned

to campus to watch graduation last May and assumed the

same pose (below).

Your annual gift to Berkshire Schoolshows your commitment to its current and future strength as our School beginsits second century. And giving to Berkshire has never been easier: simply visitwww.berkshireschool.org and click on Support Berkshire. Thank you!

Walter Hawley writes:“We have sixwonderful (of course) grandchildren.Ann and John Panteleos have three girlsand one boy. Lynn and Walter Garschgenhave two girls. The Panteleos family livein York, Maine, and the Garschgens inCold Springs, New York.”

Former Academic Support Programintern and would-be French teacherBenoit (AKA B.J.) Shoja lives inConcord, New Hampshire, where he isdata librarian for the New HampshireState Archives and “is increasinglyinvolved with local French and Franco-American activities.” He keeps in touchwith JOHN CRANSHAW ’04 and,while in Quebec City, ran into relativenewlyweds Jenny Panchy and MattWoodhall.

Former Art Department chair LarryValentine, a professor in the animationdepartment at Savannah College of Artand Design, write that he works withARAM COOKSON ’90, whom hetaught at Berkshire.

Phil Jarvis, former director of admis-sions, interim head of school and, most

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recently, senior development officer, isnow director of advancement atBrentwood College School in his oldhaunts of British Columbia. InSeptember, Phil escorted daughterCAITLIN JARVIS ’99 down the aisle ather marriage to Chris Previdi, with hisother daughter, MEGAN JARVIS ’97, asthe maid of honor.

Last August the North Andover,Massachusetts, Eagle-Tribune recently car-ried the following news item about for-mer math teacher Don Cameron: “Ofall the professional accomplishments Don

Cameron has accrued in his 18 years atBrooks School—head of the mathematicsdepartment, coach of the varsity cross-country running teams, most-tenureddorm parent—he’s best known on campusas a birthday cake fanatic.” The articlecontinues:“It’s something I’m nuts for,”said Cameron, 54.“But it’s funny, becauseI’ve never realized the impact of it.At analumni weekend, one girl came back forher 15-year reunion. She said one of thethings she remembered most fondly wasthat I knew she liked spice cake and bakedone every year for her birthday. It’s a dif-

Former faculty & staff news & notes

Former dean of faculty Art Charles remains his oldgypsy self. For starters, he and his wife, Sandy, walkedthe Camino de Santiago in Spain this summer:“Westarted in Pamplona and Sandy walked the first 400kilometers with me as far as Leon, and I continuedthe last 300 km to Santiago de Compostella,”Artreports. Two months later, he was at it again, bicy-cling solo from Seattle to Los Angeles and losing fif-teen pounds in the four-week process. But Art andSandy’s big news is the recent birth of their grand-child, Gabriella, in Cadiz, Spain.

Former computer science teacher Baker Franke and former development assistant DanaCurrier were married at St. Chrysostom’s Church in Chicago on September 15. Dana isthe daughter of the late CHET CURRIER ’62 and the sister of CRAIG CURRIER ’01.

ferent way to reach someone.”Former history teacher and football

coach John Callahan, who left his postas head football coach at Mount St.Joseph Academy in Rutland,Vermont,last spring after his teaching positionwas eliminated, is now head coach atMount Anthony Union High School inBennington. He also teaches physicaleducation at Mount Anthony MiddleSchool.

Math legend Rick Bellas writesfrom his new school, St.Andrew’sSchool in Boca Raton, Florida: “As Istart my third year here, I realize howmuch I miss Berkshire. However, SaintA’s has finally become my school, and Ifeel as if this is now home. Berkshirewill always be home as well. I like MikeMaher and Bill Clough so much, andI think they are good for the school.”

Speaking of Mike Maher, formerheadmaster Tom Lord, now assistantheadmaster of Vermont Academy, wrote:“I think of Berkshire often, and withgreat fondness. I was Mike Maher’s’preceptor’ at Taft. I was alwaysimpressed with him as a first-rate schoolperson, so of course I am proud that heis at the helm of a place near and dearto my heart.You all must be so busywith the centennial upon you. And itlooks like the school’s future is evenbrighter.”


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ESFormer assistant athletic director and Centennial project researcher BILL SPALDING ’65 was roasted

by fellow volleyball coach R.G. Meade at Berkshire’s annual end-of-the-year party last spring.

On March 17, 2007, former annual fund director Debi Fries and Abe Pedraza tied the knot, fittingly enough in Maryland. On hand to helpcelebrate inBerkshire style were, from left: Arthur Armstrong, longtime companion of the late Irene McDonald; history teacher R.G. Meade; the bride; BETSYHOUSEMAN ’02; the groom; formerly faculty Erica Machut; International Student Program director Anna Romano; and bridesmaid MICHAELAROMANO-MEADE ’02. Erica, by the way, will soon be the star of her own show: she recently became engaged to Tim McAnany.

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At the Coast to Coast Toast at Berkshire School, Head of School Mike Maher called forward former faculty members in attendance to join TWIGGS MYERS HON.57, who delivered the toast. Pictured are: from left, Marianne (Stein) Hubert; Susan Young;Al and Lin Bredenfoerder; ROBIN MCGRAW ’70 and BuzzieHayes McGraw; Ian Clark; Em Putnam; Mr. Myers; Jane Hansen, Seaver Buck’s granddaughter; her husband,Arthur; her daughter and Mr. Buck’s great-grand-daughter, Heidi Coutin; Jen Gaenzle; Hilary Russell; and ED HUNT ’61. Not in the picture are Fran Hunt and Tom Young.

Former director of alumi relations Lisa Salinetti Ross reports that Tyler Ross, bornin June, and big sister Ellie are all well—but the pictures told us the same thing.

Financial Considerations pg.95

LAWRENCE H. REYBINE ’30WW II vet, accomplished sailorDied November 15, 2005

Lawrence Reybine graduated with dis-tinction from Yale in 1934 and marriedEthel Field in 1935. During World War II,he served five years as a naval officer.Afterthe war, he and his family lived for threeyears in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, wherehe worked for Samples Shipyard. From1949 to 1966 he and his brother Robertowned and ran Brigham’s Shipyards inGreenport on New York’s Long Island.Thereafter, Larry was a boat measurerand yacht-building consultant. He and hisbrother were accomplished sailors whofrequently placed first in their Aage

Harvard’s Boston City Hospital,Walterserved overseas on the destroyer USSEdison as the ship’s doctor and hadattained the rank of Lt. Commanderupon his discharge in February 1946.Walter married the late Joan Hanson in1943 and after World War II continuedhis medical training at PennsylvaniaHospital (Resident in Medicine),Hospital of University of Pennsylvania(Fellow in Psychiatry), and ButlerHospital in Providence RI (Resident inPsychiatry). In 1950, he established hisprivate practice in psychiatry inStamford, which he conducted for 54years until his retirement in 2004.Walter was the medical director of what

Nielsen sloop, Paprika. Predeceased in2001 by his wife of 66 years, Mr. Reybineis survived by daughters Eleanor Mylesand Brierly Reybine; son Lawrence Jr.;and three grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. The Suffolk Times

WALTER W. KEMP, M.D. ’31WW II veteran, prominent psychiatristDied March 26, 2007 in Stamford,Connecticut

After graduating from BerkshireWalter “Walty” Kemp received his BAfrom Princeton University in 1935 withhonors and his MD from HarvardUniversity in 1939.After interning at


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In Memoriam

Reprinted from the Green and Gray, June 3, 1950

is now Meridian Foundation from 1985to 1995 and prior to that time was thephysician-in-charge of the StamfordClinic under the Connecticut Divisionof Alcoholism. He was attending physi-cian at Stamford Hospital, serving asAssociate Chief for two terms. Dr.Kemp was a Distinguished Life Fellowof the American Psychiatric Associationand past president of the Fairfield-Litchfield Chapter of the ConnecticutPsychiatric Society. He was also aninstructor of psychiatry at CornellUniversity Medical School and an assis-tant professor of psychiatry at New YorkMedical College. Survivors include hisdaughter, Gaylen Baxter; sons Sandy andGil; and numerous grandchildren, niecesand nephews. His wife, Joan, to whomhe was married for 52 years, died in1995. (Stamford Advocate)

SAMUEL P. WILLIAMS III ’31 Lieutenant commander in WorldWar II, Boys Club presidentDied May 3, 2007, in Waterbury,Connecticut.

Samuel Williams was a graduate of YaleUniversity with a degree in engineering.Sam was a Navy veteran of World War II,having served as a lieutenant commanderaboard a destroyer in the North Atlanticand Pacific Theaters from 1942 to 1945.Following his return from the war, Samjoined the family business,Williams andBrown, Inc., and retired as president in1998. He was a member of the St.Anthony’s Fraternity of Yale and laterserved as treasurer of the Grand Chapter.A former member of the board of direc-tors of Central Bank and the ColonialBank and Trust Co., Sam also served aspresident of the Anderson Boys Club andwas a supporter of the United Way ofWaterbury. He was a member of theWaterbury Club and served served twoterms as president. Survivors include son,Edward, daughter Lucy, a sister, fourgrandchildren and four great-grandchil-dren. His wife, Elizabeth, predeceased him.(Waterbury, Conn., Republican American)

GUY DE LA RIGAUDIERE ’32Pilot for GMDied March 22, 2007, in Mountain City,Tennessee

Guy de la Rigaudiere worked as acommercial pilot for General Motors.He attended First United MethodistChurch. Survivors include his wife of36 years, Helen; a daughter, CamilleMoore, and a stepdaughter, Debra

University and the University of IllinoisMedical School. For many years heworked at the National Institutes ofHealth in Bethesda, Md., becomingmedical director and chief of section ontheoretical biophysics at the NationalHeart, Lung, and Blood Institute. In1983 he became Professor ofBiomathematics in Physiology atCornell University Medical College inNew York City where he conductedresearch until retiring at age 79. He wasan early member of the Union ofConcerned Scientists, with a lifelongcommitment to peace and social justice.Survivors include his wife of 58 years,Dr. Elizabeth Stephenson; daughter DaleStephenson and sons Michael and DavidStephenso; and by four grandchildren.(Portland Press Herald)

OLIVER AMES LOTHROP JR. ’42World War II POWDied September 4 in Boston

Oliver Lothrop, a retiredWestinghouse manager who wrote ofhis four-month confinement in aGerman World War II camp, completedhis freshman year at Williams Collegebefore enlisting in the Army. Sent toFrance aboard the Queen Elizabeth,Olie was captured by German forcesduring the Battle of the Bulge andherded into a boxcar as a prisoner ofwar. He wrote that his captors loaded“sixty of us in each car with plenty ofhorse manure, and off we went withoutfood or water and not room enough forall to sleep at one time.” During the10-day trip, the British air forcebombed a rail yard, and his car wasnearly hit. Olie spent the rest of the war30 miles north of Dresden, Germany, atStalag 4-B, a prisoner-of-war camp sur-rounded by barbed-wire fences andattack dogs. He wrote that “breakfastconsisted of a cup of ersatz [synthetic]coffee probably made from parched bar-ley grain. ... I estimated that we receivedabout 500 to 600 calories of food aday.” He recounted that his group had a“forbidden radio buried under the loosebrick on the floor” which broughtnightly British Broadcasting Corp. newsof the war. His campmates made a mapof Europe and used yarn to show theadvancing positions of Russian, Britishand American troops. Liberated byadvancing Russian forces in the 1stUkrainian Army on April 23, 1945, Oliewas awarded a Purple Heart, three battlestars and the Bronze Star. After earning

Reece; sons Guy III and Richard andstepson David Atwood; and 12 grand-children and 9 great-grandchildren.(The Mountain City Tomahawk)

ROBERT D. FORGAN JR. ’34Left Madison Avenue to run fish hatcheryDied January 4, 2007, in New Hartford,Connecticut

Robert Forgan Jr. graduated fromDartmouth College in 1938 and laterserved as an intelligence officer in theArmy Air Corps during World War II.After his discharge from the military,Bob was briefly employed in advertisingon Madison Avenue in New York Cityand later moved to Marshfield,Massachusetts, where he raised his fami-ly and ran a successful fish hatchery,“The Great Pine Trout Ranch,” for 20years. He retired to Franconia, NewHampshire, and Pocasset, Massachusetts,where he enjoyed skiing and sailing wellinto his 80’s. Survivors include Bob’swife of 60 years, Dorothy BriggsForgan; his daughters Gail Forgan Myersand Bonnie Jean Forgan Doeringsfeld; agranddaughter and three great grand-children. (Hartford Courant)

RICHARD STEPHENSON ’35Practiced medicine until he was 75Died January 30, 2004, in Boca Raton,Florida

Dr. Richard Stephenson graduatedfrom Tufts University, earned a master’sdegree in botany from the University ofMaryland and his medical degree fromthe University of Illinois.After servingin the U.S. Public Health Service, fromwhich he later retired as a captain, Dickreturned to Maine and practiced sur-gery and dermatology until he retired atthe age of 75. He is survived by hiswife, Marilyn; a brother, John L.Stephenson; sons Peter, Richard, andJames; a daughter, Judi; nine grandchil-dren; and several nieces and nephews.(Winston-Salem Journal)

DR. JOHN L. STEPHENSON ’39 Biologist who worked on Manhattan ProjectDied November 10, 2005, in New York City

Dr. John L. Stephenson, was a notedmathematical biologist who started hiscareer as a young scientist on theManhattan Project at the University ofChicago and who, like many of his col-leagues, turned to the life sciences afterHiroshima. He was educated at Harvard

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a chemistry degree at Williams andgraduating from the Harvard BusinessSchool in 1953, he became a managerfor the Westinghouse underseas andaerospace divisions. His work was classi-fied by the Defense Department. Olielater worked as a business consultantand retired at age 60 because of hearingloss due to exposure to mortar explo-sions during the War. He operated avintage Ford tractor at a vegetable gar-den he maintained at a Hereford farmhe owned. He is survived by his hiswife of 54 years, the Berenice, whowrote the Bulletin:“He loved BerkshireSchool and its founding headmaster—“The Great White Father.” Other sur-vivors include daughters Louisa Affleckand Carol L. Broadbent; and five grand-daughters. (Baltimore Sun)

ROYAL S. BROWN ’42World War II vet, Eli grad and fanDied May 5 in Bridgeport, Connecticut

Royal Brown, a 1941 graduate ofNewton (Mass.) High School, wentfrom Berkshire to Yale University, wherehe was in the class of 45W. Roy, whoserved in the Navy during World WarII, loved anything to do with Yale andfaithfully attended reunions and footballgames. Roy was a long time employeeof the Chase Bag Company inGreenwich and a faithful member ofthe Chase alumni luncheon group untilhis death. His is survived by his wife,Geraldine McColgan Brown.(Connecticut Post)

JOSEPH TAGLIENTE ’43Football star for Navy, restaurateurDied May 18, 2007, in Weston,Massachusetts

Joseph Tagliente grew up during theGreat Depression, providing additionalhousehold income as a child by sellingnewspapers and shining shoes in down-town Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Joe grad-uated from Pittsfield High School in1942. After his one year at Berkshire,Joe was appointed to the U.S. NavalAcademy.While at Annapolis, he playedtackle for the Navy football team, gain-ing notoriety for blocking punts againstMichigan and North Carolina and scor-ing a touchdown against UNC in thesame play. He graduated from theAcademy as an ensign with a bachelorof science degree in engineering in1948. Joe went on to serve aboard theUSS Spokane cruiser, the USSWorcester cruiser (during the Korean

Sigrid M. Barker; son Louis A. Barker;daughters Anne Barker-McCoy andAbby. Barker-Hodge; a brother andeight grandchildren. ([Middletown, NewYork]Times Herald-Record)

ARTHUR G. MADDIGAN ’50Retail shop developerDied April 4, 2007, in Wailluku, Hawaii

Arthur “Higgins” Maddigan is sur-vived by wife Shelley; son McKenzie;daughters Elizabeth Hare, LauraTallmadge, Kia Beckret, and MaliaBotelho; two sisters; and three grand-children. (Honolulu Star-Bulletin)

CHESTER S. CURRIER ’62Financial writer,crossword puzzle creatorDied July 29, 2007, in Santa Monica,California Chester “Chet” Currier, whose stockmarket and investing stories were fix-tures in newspapers across the U.S. dur-ing a 29-year career at The AssociatedPress, also worked for BloombergNews.A prolific writer, Chet for yearsreported the Wall Street story as itdeveloped throughout the trading day,also turning out three weekly columnson the markets and personal finance:Weekly Wall Street,Ticker Talk and OnThe Money. He later launched twocolumns on mutual fund investing forthe AP. He also turned a passion forcrossword puzzles into a side career, cre-ating more than 1,000 Sunday-size puz-zles for the AP over the course of 20years. (See puzzle in this issue.) Chetreported about mutual funds before theaverage investor knew much aboutthem.“I saw my job really as, first of all,kind of educating people that they did-n’t have to keep their money in a banksavings account any longer.They hadnew choices,” he said.“Chet had a tal-ent and instinct for bringing to lifeinvesting and managing money. He tookideas and themes that other peoplemade complicated and explained themsimply, but not simplistically,” said for-mer AP business editor MichaelMillican.“Chet Currier defined theWall Street beat for The Associated Pressat a time when millions of averageAmericans were becoming stock andmutual fund owners,” said Jim Kennedy,AP vice president.“He literally openedthe territory for the general news audi-ence.” Chet covered the stock marketalmost daily from 1974 until 1992, thenbecame a full-time columnist. If a

War) and the USS Wisconsin battleship.He attended the U.S. Naval SubmarineSchool and subsequently served on theUSS Spikefish submarine before beinghonorably discharged in 1954. Joe grad-uated from Harvard Business Schoolwith a master of business administrationin 1956. In 1970, Joe opened his firstBurger King restaurant in Somerville,and within twenty years owned andoperated thirteen restaurants. Joe alsolaunched a successful independent hotelbrand in Massachusetts with the open-ing of a Tage Inn in Milford and anoth-er in Andover, and subsequently openedtwo more locations in Somerville andin Manchester, N.H. He also opened afull-service restaurant,The Gold Fork,in Franklin, in 1998. Joe supportednumerous charities, including the Boys’& Girls’ Club and St. Jude Children’sResearch Hospital. He was honoredwith many awards and honors, includ-ing St. Jude’s Distinguished ServiceAward; citations from GovernorMichael Dukakis, the MassachusettsGovernor’s Council and theMassachusetts House of Representativesfor distinguished service in support ofcommunity and charitable endeavors;and a citation from the MassachusettsHouse of Representatives for work incommunity service in fire prevention.Beside his wife Teresa, survivors includesons Joseph and Steven Tagliente;daughter Maria Teresa Marshall; andfour grandchildren, two brothers andone sister. (Berkshire Eagle)

CHARLES A. BARKER ’46Korean War vet, attorney, bag piper Died August 14 in Valhalla, New York

A self-employed attorney in CentralValley, Charles Barker attended AmherstCollege and Columbia University LawSchool. He was a veteran of the UnitedStates Marine Corps, serving during theKorean War. He was a past Master ofCornerstone Lodge F. & A.M.; a mem-ber of American Legion Post #779 inWoodbury; past President of Monroe-Woodbury Rotary and the OrangeCounty Bar Association; a member ofthe Central Valley Fire Company for 40years; Captain of the Town ofWoodbury Fire Police; a Boy Scoutleader and member of the WoodburyLions Club; a lay reader and warden atSt. David’s Episcopal Church and layreader at St. Mary’s-in-Tuxedo; and abag piper for McClouds of Cornwall.Survivors include his wife of 55 years,


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triple-digit swing in the Dow Jonesindustrials unnerved him, he didn’tshow it in the newsroom. “He was wiseand calm, able to write rapidly and inci-sively, and had a deep understanding ofmarkets,” said Floyd Norris, chief finan-cial correspondent at The New YorkTimes. In 1999, he received theDistinguished Achievement Award fromthe Society of American BusinessEditors and Writers. A graduate ofAmherst College and a U.S. Navy veter-an, Chet also wrote several books,among them The Investor’s Encyclopedia,The 15-Minute Investor, Careers in the’80s and Careers in the ’90s. Survivorsinclude his wife, Carol; son CRAIG

CURRIER ’01; and daughter DanaCurrier, a former member ofBerkshire’s alumni and developmentoffice. (Associated Press)

Editor’s note: A crossword puzzle by ChetCurrier, fittingly titled “FinancialConsiderations,” appears elsewhere on page 95.

WILLIAM T. CARPENTER III ’79Custom home designer andbuilder, Montessori trusteeDied March 10, 2007

William “Terry” Carpenter III, whograduated from The Pingree Schoolbefore doing a post-graduate year atBerkshire, went on to earn a bachelor ofscience degree from Denison University.He then began a rewarding career incustom home renovations with his firstcompany,Timber Design, Inc. In 1966he and architect Robert S. MacNeillestarted a design-build company,Carpenter & MacNeille Architects andBuilders, Inc. and founded StephenTerhune Woodworking, Inc. in 2005.Terry served as trustee and chairman ofthe board at his children’s’ school,TheStoneridge Children’s MontessoriSchool, and was a trustee at Pingree.Survivors include his wife, Mary; hischildren,William T. Carpenter IV andSarah Carpenter; his mother, JudithCarpenter; and two sisters. (NaplesDaily News)

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Berkshire like father, like sonBy CRAIG CURRIER ’01

You couldn’t keep my dad away from Berkshire School.I remember that when I was a student at Berkshire, he came up to visit

whenever there was an opportunity: Simple things like a Saturday afternoonfootball game gave him a great reason to visit me and the school he graduat-ed from in 1962.

Before coming to Berkshire, I couldn’t figure out why he was so loyal to aplace so remote and in a time so long ago.When attending Berkshire becamea reality for me in the fall of 1999, my dad was so confident the schoolwould do for me what it did for him.

I wasn’t so sure at first. But as time passed, I began to feel the same senseof comfort and connection that he did. It was amazing how similar our expe-riences at Berkshire were, although they happened almost forty years apart.Like me, my dad was an avid sports fan and played on a variety of teamswhile under the Mountain.We both had some of our finest athleticmoments—albeit few and far between—wearing the green and gray.

Berkshire was a home to us, and its courts and fields hold a lot of ourmemories both as fans and players. And when I think of Berkshire now, Ithink of my dad, and the happy times we had there.

Craig Currier and his father at Berkshire.

MATTHEW C. DAVIS ’83Served on nuclear subDied June 21 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Matt Davis, pictured above atBerkshire while on a school vacation,attended the University of Kentuckyand served in the United States Navyaboard the USS Drum nuclear subma-rine. He was a realtor withCommonwealth GMAC Real Estateand attended Porter Memorial BaptistChurch in Lexington. Survivors includehis wife, daughter Jessica, brother, John,sisters Lisa and Lezlie Stephens, andmaternal grandmother Iva Black Fields.(Ashland, Kentucky, Daily Independent)

JAMES CICERO DURHAMTaught English, coached wrestlingat Berkshire SchoolDied February 6, 2007

Jim Durham, who taught English atBerkshire from 1963 to 1969 and thenspent the rest of his career at CateSchool, died in February, 2007. Born inWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Jim gradu-ated from Carleton College in 1957,and would later earn his master’s degreefrom the University of California.Aftera brief period of service in the ArmyReserve, Jim taught English and servedas director of public relations from1960-62 at the American School inSwitzerland. He returned to the UnitedStates to pursue independent publicrelations projects and meet his muse,Pat.After their marriage in 1963, Jimand Pat moved to Sheffield, where hetaught English at Berkshire. Knownhere as “Bull Durham” for his strengthand prowess as a wrestling coach, Jimalso supervised student publications anddirected the drama department.TheDurhams’ sons, Matthew and Andrew,

JOHN E. FOX, JR.Taught French and Latin atBerkshire from 1937-41Died October 24, 2005, in Harrisburg,Pennsylvania

A veteran of World War II, Mr. Foxattended Williams College and graduatedfrom Lafayette College. After teaching atBerkshire he returned to his nativeHarrisburg and for the next thirty yearstaught English and foreign language at theMilton Hershey School, from which heretired in 1973. Preceded in death by hiswife, Katherine Fox, he is survived by twostepsons, Ross Chrisman and NeilChrisman, and by two sisters and threegrandchildren. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)

were born during this time.Throughout33 years of service on the Cate Mesa,Jim was a respected and beloved col-league, mentor, and friend. In additionto teaching and coaching baseball andsoccer, Jim advised numerous studentpublications, chaired the English depart-ment, served as director of studies andsecretary of the Cum Laude Society,directed musical theater, and wasappointed to the Board of Trustees asCate School’s first faculty advisorytrustee. Jim authored two grammar andwriting textbooks, To Write,Write:Writing and And Then Revise. Bothbooks are still in use today, five yearsafter declining health required Jim toretire from active teaching in 2002. Inaddition to his wife and two sons, sur-vivors include two grandchildren. (SantaBarbara Independent)


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Jim Durham

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Under the leadership of the legendary John Godman,Berkshire School’s headmaster from 1951 to 1970, five new dormitories, Berkshire Hall’s sci-ence wing, and the Rovensky Field House were built. Enrollment rose from 110 to close to400. And Mr. Godman crowned his career in 1969 by ushering in coeducation.

But John Godman wasn’t done when he retired. His last will and testament provided for theGodman Fund, an endowment that provides a permanent source of funding for the operatingand capital costs of the buildings, fields, and facilities on the campus of his beloved School.

Your planned gift to Berkshire can make a big difference as well.The John F. GodmanSociety welcomes those alumni, parents and friends who have made a provision forBerkshire School in their estate plans.Won’t you please join them?

He did great things for Berkshire during his lifetime.

And after it.

John Godman with Cap, his constant companion

For information on making a planned gift to Berkshire School, please contact the Director of Developmentand Alumni Affairs John Ormiston at (413) 229-1237 or [email protected], or c/o

Berkshire School, 245 N. Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA 01257

Berkshire School ArchivesC . T W I G G S M Y E R S , P R O P R I E T O R

E-mail answers to [email protected] write: Myers Mystery Contest, Berkshire Bulletin,

Berkshire School, Sheffield MA 01257

?

A N D T H E W I N N E R I S . . .

Tomfoolery!

TALBOT ADAMSON ’85, who correctly identified the cast of characters as MATT LEARNARD ‘84,STEVE GREENBERG ‘84,TALBOT ADAMSON ‘84, OLIVIA CABOT ’85 and JAYMIE BARRIE ‘85,

“coming down the roadway between Allen Theatre and Stanley Dorm—back then, there was a ‘desig-nated smoking area’ in the alleyway behind Memorial / Kitchen.We were late, as usual, to class; notice,

however, that Matt Learnard only brought his pencil, no books!” He adds the following 1980’s fashionnotes:“LL Bean Blucher shoes ‘straight laced,’ no knot….mod hair cuts and flooded pants on men…white tur-

tle necks and peals on women…and for some unexplainable reason, I’m wearing the same Beatle Boot footwear as Ms. Cabot.”Other contestants—some of whom were also correct, but Mr. Myers says “the fashion notes did it for me”—included JOSHUAFINDLAY ’85, TOM FUNKHOUSER ’86, WHITNEY KELTING ’84, BOB KILLEBREW ’85, MATT LEARNARD ’84, BOBMUELLER ’84, FARAH OSMAN NURSE ’86, CRAIG POWERS ’84, and MARY BROSNAHAN WACHTER ’85.

Berkshire School isn’t the only one having a big birthday this year. On May 31, longtime teacherTToomm DDiixxoonn—for Berkshire history buffs, the man who succeeded David Eipper—turned 70.

He pulled himself away from the merriment long enough to pose for a riddle. Can you solve it?

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Documents

Berkshire Bulletin Centennial Issue