News From Friends | Fall 2009

Greena n n u a l r e p o r t i n s i d e

fn fNews From FrieNds Fall 2009

Issue

The

News from Friends is published by the development office at Friends seminary two times each year (spring and fall) for alumni, parents, grandparents, and friends of the school. The fall issue will include the annual report. The mission of News From Friends is to feature the accomplishments of alumni, while capturing the school’s remarkable history, values, and culture. each issue will have an underlying theme, such as (but not limited to) the sciences, the arts, athletics, history and literature, and service. Additionally, the magazine will give insight into recent events at Friends seminary.

The photograph above, titled

Djenne Pilgrim, was captured

by Peter Bogardus '84. The

photograph along with several

other images by Bogardus were

on exhibition during the Alumni

Art show on may 16, 2009. The

show also featured the works

of Arthur Fink '64, susan shaw

'69, deirdre donchian '74, Kim

moser '84, Katherine Kiviat '94

and Charles Koegel '99.

djenne Pilgrim | mali, 2002Photogravure printed on Japanese paper, mounted on wooden panel 17” x 21”

Peter Bogardus '84

Development Office

selena shadleDirector of Development

Valerie delaineDatabase Manager

Amanda eisnerDevelopment and Special Events Manager

Katherine FarrellDirector of alumni Relations

John GalaydaDirector of Communications

Jennifer NicholsDirector of annual Giving

Lyn TraverseCampaign Director

Please forward address changes to:

Friends Seminary

Development Office

222 East 16th Street

New York, NY 10003-3703

John GalaydaEditor

Thea Kennedymichele LeeDesigners

Photographs by John Galayda unless otherwise noted.

Features

20 Green AlumniMeet a group of environmentally conscious alumni: Barry Benepe ’45, Jennifer Padgett Orser ’88,

Alexandra Zissu ’92, Peter Brandt ’80, Chris Stoneman ’81, and Ely Key ’03.

30 A Greener FriendsToni Daly, Chair of the FS Sustainability Committee, reflects on two decades of green practices at the School.

The Green IssueNEWs From Fr IENds

Departments04 message from the PrincipalPrincipal Bo Lauder previews what lies ahead in this joint edition of News From Friends and the 2008-2009 Annual Report.

06 Graduation 2009FS graduates its 223rd class.

10 spoken wordMaria Fahey, Chair of the FS English Department, speaks about re-creation and the curious part that imitation plays in creative acts.

15 reunion 2009Alumni celebrate graduation years ending in 4 and 9.

32 Class NotesRead the latest in alumni news.

48 Notes on silenceElizabeth Parish Eames ’64 hears the ocean without the shell to her ear.

mission

diversity

Service

SCHOOL MISSION

DIVERSITY MISSION

COMMUNITY SERVICE MISSION

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Mission

Friends Seminary educates students from kindergarten through twelfth grade, under the care of the New York Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Through instruction and example, students follow their curiosity and exercise their imaginations as they develop as scholars, artists and athletes. In a community that cultivates the intellect through keen observation, critical thinking and coherent expression, we strive to respond to one another, valuing the single voice as well as the effort to reach consensus. The disciplines of silence, study and service provide the matrix for growth: silence opens us to change; study helps us to know the world; service challenges us to put our values into practice. At Friends Seminary, education occurs within the context of the Quaker belief in the Inner Light – that of God in every person. “Guided by the ideals of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity, and by our commitment to diversity, we do more than prepare students for the world that is: we help them bring about the world that ought to be.”*

*This last sentence is adapted from Faith and Practice: The Book of Discipline of the New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious

Society of Friends (1974).

Service is integral to Friends Seminary’s educational mission, along with the disciplines of study and silence. Our Community Service Program strives to instill a sense of stewardship of the school community and respect for and responsibility to our urban neighborhood and beyond. By providing opportunities within the curriculum and in other relevant activities for students to witness and understand the needs of others, we hope to prepare them for a life that includes service. Our goal is to integrate knowledge and understanding with compassion and social responsibility. Only through reflection and understanding the need to put our values into practice will students be able to grasp the importance to ourselves of the gift of caring for each other, for all humanity, and for the natural world.

The Society of Friends is founded in the belief that there is that of God in every person and that truth emerges as new voices are heard and incorporated in our understanding. We believe that the quality of the truths we know is enriched and deepened by welcoming people with diverse experiences of the world into our community.We want to foster a community that addresses the challenge of valuing difference and making every individual feel welcome, supported, and safe: a community in which each person is asked to make the rigorous commitment to recognize the Light within every other, to hear that piece of truth each person brings to the continuing dialogue which is the foundation of our community. We want our daily interactions to demonstrate that maintaining respect and pursuing the hard work of understanding difference creates strength as we work to define and move toward common goals. Our mission as an educational institution is to prepare our students to participate in an increasingly interdependent world and, by graduating an increasingly diverse group of students, to help build a more effective citizenry and representative leadership for the future. We seek to develop the skills and discipline necessary to communicate effectively and to learn from a rich variety of experiences and points of view. This work is central to valuing diversity, to the purpose of education and to the Quaker ideals of integrity, peace, equality and simplicity.

In a world in which people continue to suffer profound inequalities of opportunity, we dedicate ourselves to stretching what we have and are capable of: to working to become a community more representative of the city in which we live and to improving our ability to support a diverse student body. The gap between our ideals and the possible creates struggle to which we commit ourselves with energy and joy.

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Mission

4 FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Message From the Principal

dear Friends,

everywhere you look, there are valiant attempts at saving and sustaining the world around us. For many schools, “going green” once meant turning out the lights after leaving the classroom, filling the recycle bins, and celebrating earth day. Not anymore. Today, “going green” means so much more, and it is only fitting that sustainability be the theme of this issue of News From Friends.

in the following pages, you will read stories about Friends seminary’s ongoing green initiatives, along with stories spotlighting our alumni working in the field of environmental sustainability.

in the 2008-2009 Annual report section of this magazine, you will read about ongoing financial sustainability initiatives that the Friends seminary community has undertaken. You will read about our successes over the past year—the many record-breaking fundraising efforts that continue to secure the financial well-being of the school.

i am very proud of what we have accomplished in the face of a threatening economy. in an incredible display of generosity and teamwork, our community banded together in march to support the Friends is Family Fund, which provides special emergency tuition aid for current Friends families in need. in addition, we have seen record fundraising support from our community in regards to our Annual Fund and Capital Campaign. it is gestures like this that make me so proud to be part of this special community.

Again, i thank you for your support and pledge my continuing best efforts. Together, we can open the door to our future—one of shared stewardship, dedicated work, and thankful celebration.

sincerely,

robert “Bo” LauderPrincipal

5NEwS FROM FRiENDS Fall 2009

Message From the Principal

6 FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Graduation 2009

The 27 "lifers" of Friends seminary's Class of 2009.

Graduation day

On June 8, 2009, Friends Seminary graduated 69 seniors during a

ceremony in the Meetinghouse. The Class of 2009 was comprised of

27 graduates who attended Friends since kindergarten.


Graduation 2009

College Acceptance ListClass of 2009

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY8

Graduation 2009


From Le f t to Right :

Francesca Acocella Wellesley College

Zaid Aftisse George Washington University

Gabriella Ansah U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

miles Arntzen New York University

Carter Berry St. John's University

Travis Bogosian Brown University

John Bohorquez Bowdoin College

Alida Borgna American University of Rome

Claire Brennan Connecticut College

eric Brest Syracuse University

Victoria Brewster Syracuse University

Lauren Chin Vassar College

Claire Clayton Barnard College

Benjamin Cohen Syracuse University

Ariel Cruz Syracuse University

Uwingablye Cunningham Hampton University

Jo-sar davis-dacio Morehouse College

Julia dratel University of Chicago

Thomas Fagin Vanderbilt University

Jordan Feinstein Oberlin College

sophia Fox-dichter Washington U. in St. Louis

Clayton Fujimura Bucknell University

Harper Gany-Beitler Hamilton College

dyllon Gibbs Morehouse College

sophie Golomb Brandeis University

samantha Hansen Yale University

Allison Hartel Cornell University

Alexandra Heimann U. of Southern California

steven Heller U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Jacob Hiss Wesleyan University

Joel Hochman Wesleyan University

mardet Homans Barnard College

d'meca Homer Barnard College

Takuya ito Washington University in St. Louis

Nicholas Kokkinis Wesleyan University

Nora Kostow Grinnell College

Henry Lachman Binghamton University

Gabrielle Lampert Kenyon College

Cristian Lopez-Balboa Columbia University

Alexander Lumey University of Pittsburgh

emma maitland American University of Paris

Lia mcCaffery Mount Holyoke College

Tyler mcCully Syracuse University

dylan mcdougle Purchase College

Josephine messer Barnard College

renata mittnacht Columbia University

desiree mitton New York University

samuel Nebel Wesleyan University

Titus ogilvie-Laing Bard College

Forrest Petterson U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

matthew Phillips Oberlin College

william robinson Wheaton College

Alix eve schram Kenyon College

samuel segal Columbia University

erica silverstein Brown University

Tanya singh University of Pennsylvania

Valerie smosna Haverford College

Neo sora Wesleyan University

Zachery sosa Brown University

robert stabenau Arizona State University

samantha Tharler University of Delaware

Jemana Grady Theis Reed College

dillon Torchia Purchase College

marielle Torres Columbia University

Faye Tsakas Cornell University

Gregory Venech State U. of New York at Albany

sarah Vogelman Swarthmore College

emma weinstein Skidmore College

Nicole Zenker Colgate University

Graduation 2009

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Spoken Word

The First Anecdote.After Bob dylan left his childhood home in minnesota, he spent a single year at college in minneapolis before dropping out and hitch-hiking east. dylan had stolen from a friend’s house a collection of rare folk records—among them a number by woody Guthrie. He memorized Guthrie’s songs; when he got to New York, he played and sang them in the Village. People remarked that the young dylan seemed to channel Guthrie, whose songs, dylan felt, could “teach you how to live.”

dylan made a pilgrimage to see Guthrie who, by then, was in a psychiatric hospital in New Jersey suffering from an incurable disease. A fellow musician, also a Guthrie disciple, describes having met dylan at the time. Few words were exchanged, but dylan eventually reached into his pocket and handed him a card. on it was written “i ain’t dead yet, “ and it was signed “woody Guthrie.”

This image of the young dylan carrying in his pocket an autograph defying Guthrie’s mortality as he started his own career strikes me as an apt metaphor for how students affect the artists whom they imitate and from whom they learn. students keep their artistic ancestors alive: they carry them with them. Long after his death, woody Guthrie ain’t dead yet, and dylan’s devoted study is part of how he lives on.

But Guthrie isn’t kept alive by a disciple who continued only to imitate him; he is kept alive by dylan, who went on to make songs very much his own. Paradoxically, such careful study, such imitation, begets originality.

2009 Graduation

Address

by maria Fahey, english Teacher

I want to speak tonight about re-creation and the

curious part that imitation plays in creative acts. I

shall tell three short anecdotes and shall try, in the

process, to say something about the nature of reading

and the place of poetry in our world.


Spoken Word

The second Anecdote.some years back, when studying at the Folger shakespeare Library in washington d.C., i beheld a small nineteenth-century edition of shakespeare’s sonnets. its pages were dog-eared, its leather cover stained from handling. it was a quite ordinary edition except that it had belonged to walt whitman, who had written his name on its title page. it was strangely moving to be so close to whitman’s copy of the sonnets. How many of us, i thought, have written our names in a book of poems. seeing whitman’s signature there brought vividly to mind how careful and imaginative readers inscribe the poems they read, how acts of reading can

become like acts of writing, how a great poet not only keeps another generation of poets alive, but forever changes the way future generations hear their work. originality emerges not by obliterating our ancestors, but by coming to know them so profoundly that they become part of us and, in a time-defying manner, we of them.

Visions of so many authors inscribing their names in books come to mind: derek walcott reading Homer, Toni morrison reading Faulkner, ralph ellison reading Twain, Allen Ginsberg reading whitman, to name a very few. i like to think tonight of the immense potential of all the students here who have written their names in what they’ve studied carefully. shakespeare ain’t dead yet; neither is whitman. And the graduates here before us—and some alums up there in the balcony—have helped to keep them alive. mysteriously, we write new worlds into existence by reading old worlds closely.

The Third Anecdote.The American poet Gertrude stein, while living in Paris, sat for the twenty-four-year-old Pablo Picasso, who painted her portrait. According to stein, she posed for him during ninety sittings, yet Picasso couldn’t finish the portrait—he couldn’t represent her head in a way that

This image of the young Dylan carrying in his pocket an autograph defying Guthrie’s mortality as he started his own career strikes me as an apt metaphor for how students affect the artists whom they imitate and from whom they learn.

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY12

Spoken Word

satisfied him. eventually Picasso told stein that he couldn’t even see her anymore when he looked at her, so he painted over what he had sketched of her head and soon after left Paris on a trip.

months later, Picasso returned and finished the painting, no longer with stein posing before him, but from memory. when someone complained that the portrait didn’t resemble stein adequately, Picasso is said to have responded, “oh don’t worry: it will.” Art, Picasso’s quip suggests, doesn’t only “hold the mirror up to nature,” as Prince Hamlet instructs. Art helps to make the nature of what it represents. indeed, many people know what Gertrude stein looks like from Picasso’s portrait of her, which now hangs in the met.

This powerful potential of artistic representation—and of language itself—not merely to reflect but to shape our reality is not without its dangers. Can’t such power lead not only to inspired re-visioning of the world but to terrible delusion about it? Can’t we use inventive language to obscure, conveniently, the harshest realities—to shelter ourselves from our own worst acts?

more than sixty years ago, George orwell noted that most political language is invented “largely in the defense of the indefensible”: it sugars over acts of violence and war “which are too brutal for most people to face.” The language of the wars we currently wage proves orwell’s observation still relevant: enemy combatants, preemptive strikes, security measures, collateral damage, enhanced interrogation techniques, prolonged detention. what chance is there for Friends’ aspiration to plain speech in a world where such “euphemism,” to quote orwell, “falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details”? How can we keep imaginative and altruistic revisioning of the world distinct from such pernicious duplicitousness? indeed representational art, including poetry, has, since Plato’s day, come under attack for leading people away from truth. in Plato’s Republic, socrates suspects that poetry “deforms its audience’s minds,” even as he admits to having a “fascinated admiration for Homer ever since [he] was young.” socrates doubts that poets have any place in the ideal republic by arguing that even the greatest poet, Homer, could not be said to have provided anything useful—no good legal code, no crucial leadership in a war, no invention of anything practical, not even instruction in some valuable way of life. socrates concludes that although poets might be “representers of images of goodness,” they don’t have “any contact with the truth.”

How, then, can imitation—representational art—lead to knowing and expressing truths? And anyway, isn’t it a mere luxury to squander one’s time reading poetry when so many problems need solutions, so many wrongs need righting? what can a poem do in the face of pollution, torture, or hunger?

over four hundred years ago, Philip sidney—a poet as important to shakespeare as Guthrie to dylan—wrote a defense of poetry. in response to the common criticism of his day that poetry is “the mother of lyes,” sidney insists that the Poet “nothing affirmes, and therefore never lyeth.” sidney celebrates that since poets are not constrained to imitate the world as it is, they are not “captived to the trueth of a foolish world.” instead, poets imitate to teach and delight;

they “borrow nothing of what is, hath been, or shall be: but range, only rayned with learned discretion, into the divine consideration of what may be, and should be.”

The final aspiration of our school’s mission statement—that we prepare students not only for the world that is but for the one that ought to be—echoes, unwittingly, sidney’s praise of poetry—that poets range into the divine consideration of what may be, and should be. And i propose tonight that being able to imagine what may be and should be emerges from the careful observation—indeed, the memorization and imitation—of what is and what hath been.

in our closing meeting For worship this year, two students commented from the silence on the nature of meeting. A tenth grader described how he had at first been enamored

And I propose tonight that being able to imagine what may be and should be emerges from the careful observation—indeed, the memorization and imitation—of what is and what hath been.


Spoken Word

of meeting For worship because it seemed like a forum for expressing yourself but that he had come to realize that meeting wasn’t about the self. A senior later recounted how his family, not familiar with meeting, always wondered if so many teenagers really sat silently together; they asked him occasionally if he had “said” anything during meeting. This student realized, however, that the more pertinent question to ask someone who attends meeting is, “did you listen?”

i think of your years of practice listening to one another here in meeting—and in classes, on teams, in rehearsals—i think of how you have listened to the great artists and scholars who have come before you—and i think of how it is such listening that nourishes the most profound expression, how such listening is vital to your recognizing and recreating each other and our world.

may you use the great privilege of your education to continue to listen with your ears and eyes and hearts.

may close reading shield you from imposing self-centered and mistaken notions upon the world.

may you resist the idea that, in our so-called information age, knowledge may just as well reside in your BlackBerry as in your mind.

may you learn the things that inspire you “by heart,” the lovely phrase that conveys how something in your memory becomes part of more than just your mind.

may you remember that, being human, we are fated to see through a glass darkly, and may you wait upon the continuing revelation of truth.

may you carry in your pockets something that you wish to keep alive.

And may you range into the divine consideration of what may be, and should be. | f

Student Commencement Speakers

I think of your years of practice listening to one another here in Meeting . . . and I think of how it is such

listening that nourishes the most profound expression, how such listening is vital to your recognizing and

recreating each other and our world.

2009 Commencement exercises also included a number of student speakers. From left to right: Allison Hartel, sam segal, Julia dratel, miles Arntzen, desiree mitton, and Nick Kokkinis.

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Spoken Word

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school Bell rings AgainReunion 2009 brought together alumni across several generations, celebrating

those who graduated in years ending in 4 and 9.

The Class of 1959 during the Pen Pal Tea in the Friends seminary Alumni room on Friday of reunion 2009. Back row: Julie mendlow Conger, richard Casten, Anthony F. Antolini, martin Boelitz, Laura Allersmeyer werner, Keith e. Boyer. Middle Row: Celia stevens Taylor, Abigail Thomas, Abigail B. Calkin, Corrinne B. Lennox, Hilary Fleming Knatz, Frederic J. Buse. Seated: Nancy Nicoll, Constance Green raymond, elizabeth J. wolf.


Reunion 2009

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The 2009 reunion, attended by more than 300 alumni, began with seminars led by current faculty members John Byrne, Charlie Blank and Phil schwartz. Following the seminars, alums dined in the meetinghouse courtyard, where they were treated to the jazz stylings of Chris Parrello ‘95 on guitar and Evan Pazner ’95 on drums.

Following lunch, an emeritus Ceremony, honoring Frank montaturo, Joe Gosler and Jane suntken, was held in the meetinghouse and featured remarks by Judy adams anderson '66 and rich eldridge. To begin meeting for worship, Collier Meyerson '03 read an essay excerpt written by Emma Bee Bernstein '03, who passed away in 2008. To close meeting for worship, Nathan Resika '79 sung an aria with accompaniment on piano by Tony antolini '59.

A cocktail reception for all was held at irving mill restaurant, just a few blocks from Friends.

Throughout the day, an Alumni Art show, featuring the works of arthur Fink '64, Susan Shaw '69, Deirdre Donchian Colby '74, Peter Bogardus '84, Kim Moser '84, Katherine Kiviat '94 and Charles Koegel '99, was on display. special thanks to andrea Crane ’86 and martina Yamin, parent of ’83 and ’85 alumni, for curating this exhibit.

on the Friday of reunion weekend, the Class of 1959 commemorated the traditional correspondence between Fourth Grade students and the 50th reunion class with a tea hosted by their student pen pals. seventeen of the 22 members of the Class of '59 attended, many accompanied by their spouses. After meeting their pen pals face to face and catching up over dessert, the students posed questions about life in the 1950s, 60s and 70s to their alumni visitors. Later in the evening, a gathering organized by the Class of '59 reunion Chairs (anthony antolini, abigail Calkin, Julie Mendlow Conger, Robert Filene and Constance Green Raymond) took place at Pete's Tavern on 18th street. many alumni from bordering years joined the Class of '59 to celebrate their 50th reunion. | f

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY16

Reunion 2009

1. Fourth Graders (L to R) Theo schneider, mason Wise, Lucas Fenton, and matteo Boria talk with robert Filene ’59 during the Pen Pal Tea. 2. Indira Wiegand ’89 and Weston Konishi ’89 (in background) talk with friends in the meetinghouse Courtyard. 3. Anthony F. Antolini ’59 shares a letter with his Fourth Grade pen pal matteo Boria ’17. 4. Class of 2004: (L to R) mary Gaynin, rafael Hines, James sumers, Jesse mark, david Tucker, John Koenigsberg, Jennifer Conrad. seated: sarai Narvaez, rachel Hiles, Kyle Gregory. 5. Yi Zhu Wright ’84, left, looks at photos with her husband, Tom, during the luncheon. 6. Chris Parrello ’95 performs during reunion in the meetinghouse Courtyard.

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special Thanks to the 2009 reunion Chairs

Hope Franz Ligori ’44Georgiana Homer daskais ’49Clare Greenberger Freedman ’49Edes Powell Gilbert ’49Constance Black Engle ’54Judith owen Bates Lopez ’54 Anthony Antolini ’59 Abigail Calkin ’59 Julie mendlow Conger ’59 robert Filene ’59 Constance Green raymond ’59 Barbara Carey ’64 daniel Conrad ’69James Korein ’69 deirdre donchian Colby ’74 Ivy Baer sherman ’74 Edward Brittenham ’79Lois Perelson-Gross ’79 Alexandra Levinsohn ’84Amanda southon miller ’84 Bess Abrahams ’89 mialisa Villafane Bonta ’89 Indira Wiegand ’89 Jodyann Blagrove ’94Adam Honig ’99 Andrew m. Laird ’99Legacy russell ’04James sumers ’04


Reunion 2009

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY18

About the Friends Emeritus ProgramThe faculty and staff of Friends seminary are the school’s single most valuable resource. The school has long been blessed by teachers (and in this context we include staff members as well) whose influence and presence still reverberate through our classrooms long after their departure. The names Hunter, Wilcox, Nordstrom and Ehlers are still resonant within our community. Further, the number of educators who choose to spend the bulk of their careers at Friends is extraordinary. The depth and breadth of this service is recognized through the Emeritus Program.

Reunion 2009

Frank MontaturoFaculty Emeritus

Frank montaturo retired last spring after teaching French and spanish at Friends for the past 27 years. in contrast with his great modest disposition, Frank’s fierce wit and ebullient personality are characteristics appreciated by his students and colleagues alike. His classroom is one ever-filled with song, dance, laughter, sarcasm and friendly banter. Frank’s former students fondly recall their intellectual sparring matches in spanish and english with him. His bright personality can be summed up with a word he coined himself: "montaturissimo”

Jane SuntkenFaculty Emerita

Helping young minds come alive and develop in so many ways—this is the reason Jane suntken said she went into teaching young children. “Friends offered so many opportunities and so much support for teachers to go beyond the usual,” she said. she adds that the ability to write her own curriculum with co-teacher Judy Anderson was challenging and very satisfying. After 29 years of teaching at Friends, Jane retired in 2001.

Joseph GoslerBusiness Manager Emeritus

For over 23 years, Joseph Gosler served the school as Business manager. He also served as a Financial Aid officer and a middle school baseball coach—for a team that always had a winning season. Joe’s colleagues surely remember his common catch phrase, “i’m making this up,” uttered whenever he offered hypothetical solutions for the school. This irreverent sense of humor, coupled with his financial savvy, made him both a priceless asset to the school and a joy to work alongside.


2009 Emeritus Inductees

During the 2009 Reunion program, three past Friends Seminary employees were inducted into the School’s Emeritus Program. The 2009 Emeritus Class included:

Reunion 2009

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Green Alumni

If you’ve ever gone to a farmers’ market in New York, you owe Barry Benepe ’45 big-time.

Long before green became hip, local produce turned into a religion and hybrids filled our lovely grid, Barry revolutionized the urban landscape by bringing local farmers and their crops into the city.

Barry co-founded three farmers’ markets in 1976 (including the Union square mothership), which morphed into Greenmarket, the largest program of its kind in the United states. Today, the Greenmarket, under the purview of the mayor’s office, operates 30-plus locations throughout the five boroughs — many of which are open year-round. during the high season, more than a half million shoppers every week browse stands brimming with locally raised fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat. All told, an estimated 30,000 acres of farmland have been preserved due to the presence of the farmers’ markets.

The son of a linen importer, Barry grew up near Gramercy Park on manhattan’s east side, walking daily under the Third Avenue el to attend Friends seminary. He attended Friends seminary from Kindergarten through the Fifth Grade, and the six years provided Barry with formative experiences that made the deepest impressions.

He recalls a class trip to inwood Park where he and his classmates were shown the oldest standing tree in the city. The experience sparked his curiousity about Native American life on the island and, furthermore, the experience gave him a sense of the human race’s place on the planet. soon after the trip, Barry said he began embracing a love of the land and its

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Urban Green IconBarry Benepe ’45

Green Alumni

utilization for growing the food necessary to our sustenance.

Barry’s interest in land wasn’t exclusive to the island’s hidden fertile soil that lies deep below the skyscrapers of manhattan; his family owned a farm on the eastern shore of maryland, and by age 16 he was driving crops to market during school vacations.

Although Barry has spent most of his career as a planner and architect (he has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the massachusetts institute of Technology), his passion is advocacy and activism. in a 1993 New York Times story, journalist marian Burros labeled Barry as a “65-year-old pit bull” for his commitment to making New York City a more habitable place. Barry didn’t take issue with the description. He has championed several causes throughout the years. in the 1970s, then a resident of the Upper west side, he joined the campaign to oppose the westway Project. As a member of Community Board seven, and later, Community Board Five, he pressed for more attractive space for pedestrians. more recently, as a board member of the Union square Community Coalition and the Fine Arts Federation of

New York, he advocated improvements to Cooper square, Union square and washington square to “decrease the negative impacts of traffic and increase the delight and pleasure of people on foot.”

“when we stop and walk through this farm stand, we are walking through a community of people, not a community of cars. And this is the way cities have to be experienced — on foot. And it redefines our city as a place to live and enjoy life,” Barry said on ABC’s world News with Charles Gibson in 2007. Barry was featured as the show’s “Person of the week” for his work with the Greenmarket.

Also in 2007, the rockefeller Foundation awarded Barry the Jane Jacobs medal, a leadership and lifetime contribution award recognizing visionary work in building a more diverse, dynamic and equitable city through creative uses of the urban environment.

Although he retired from the Greenmarket in 1998, Barry is a regular and frequent visitor, especially to Abingdon square, the location nearest his home in manhattan’s west Village. michael Hurwitz, the Greenmarket’s current director, said he occasionally

When we stop and walk through this farm stand, we are walking through a community of people, not a community of cars. And this is the way cities have to be experienced — on foot. And it redefines our city as a place to live and enjoy life.

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Green Alumni

consults Benepe on issues related to the Greenmarket.

“Barry is still seen as a pioneer, and his ideas and commitment are as important today as they were 32 years ago,” Hurwitz added.

Looking back at the early days of the market, Barry recalls that it was equally difficult to persuade farmers that the effort would be worthwhile as it was to convince city officials. educating consumers about the advantages of seasonal produce also proved a challenge.

“People used to love coming when the market opened in may, but they were looking for oranges when there really wasn’t anything except lettuce,” Barry said. “People didn’t understand seasonality.”

Hurwitz added, “Part of Benepe’s legacy is that people have come to appreciate a regional, sustainable food system and its positive impact on the environment. They also better understand its connection with health and wellness.”

As for the future of the Greenmarket, Barry said he’d love to see

some of the current marketplaces become dedicated pedestrian environments, “so when the market is not there, it’s an inviting public place.”

“The future of the market is connected with urban space,” he said. “we need kinder urban spaces.”

And, as for advice for Friends students and young alumni who may be interested in working in the environmental sustainability field, Barry said, “Follow your deepest instinct, your heart/mind direction, your inner voice. The green initiatives will make themselves known.” | f

Story compiled from information provided by the Williams College Alumni review and an interview conducted by reporter Alexandra Zissu ‘92 for a story she wrote about Barry for the July 5th edition of Time out New York.

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Looking back at the early days of the market, Barry recalls that it was equally difficult to persuade farmers that the effort would be worthwhile as it was to convince city officials. Educating consumers about the advantages of seasonal produce also proved a challenge.


Green Alumni

Enviromentalstewards

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY24 FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Green Alumni

Co-Founder of EcoMom

Jennifer Padgett Orser ’88

Jennifer Padgett orser ’88 is a Ceo and an artist. she is also a mother.

And as a mother, she’s part of a powerful demographic—a demographic which, if marketed to correctly, can change the way companies across the world produce, package, and sell their goods and services.

“Consumer behavior can affect change in the global environment as well as in the health and well-being of our family, our home and our immediate surroundings,” Jennifer said. “it can also dictate change in terms of manufacturing processes and products.”

enter ecomom.

The ecomom Alliance, founded in 2006 by Kimberly danek Pinkson, is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and empower women to reduce global warming and propel an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable future. Today, the Alliance, based in san Francisco, has 300 chapters worldwide and roughly 5,000 total members.

in support of the ecomom Alliance, and aiming to broaden the depth and scope of the message of sustainability, Jennifer spearheaded the formation of ecomom incorporated in 2008. she recently became the Ceo of the for-profit corporation. The

hybrid company of ecomom inc. and ecomom Alliance operate in partnership underneath the umbrella name, ecomom. ecomom.com supports its global membership with a vibrant online site for moms to connect, learn, and buy ecologically responsible goods. All proceeds from market sales, corporate sponsorships and strategic partnerships with ecomom inc. directly support the non-profit Alliance and its many initiatives.

“mothers are the most powerful consumer base,” Jennifer said. “They are responsible for $2.1 trillion in Us consumer spending annually. Furthermore, women are responsible for over 85% of domestic household purchases, as well as having influence over 95% of goods and services.”

After the birth of her first daughter, Jennifer said she became acutely aware all the toxic products that were a part of her everyday life. Her awareness, her effort to educate herself and to share what she learned with others, and her unrelenting quest for transparency were instilled in her at Friends, she said.

“many of the Quaker tenets regarding education, activism, and social responsibility have directed me in forming our hybrid company,” Jennifer said. “Friends instilled an undeniable responsibility in me; service is an imperative part of life. i’ve always taken steps to be involved in my community that are larger than me, my family, and our immediate needs or concerns.” | f


Green Alumni

Alexandra Zissu ’92

Environmental Health Writer

Going green and living simply is not very simple these days. For consumers, the green message can be overwhelming at times. Luckily, amidst the whirlwind of excitement and confusion, there is Alexandra Zissu ’92, an accomplished author and journalist who offers sound (and in many cases, shockingly simple) advice on how to to live a green and organic lifestyle.

Lexy is the co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy, a bible for many mothers and mothers-to-be, and her next book, The Conscious Kitchen, a comprehensive guide to green and sustainable kitchens, is due out in spring 2010. Additionally, she writes the “Ask An organic mom” column on ThedailyGreen.com, blogs about healthy eating for Giggle.com, and contributes to PlanetGreen.com. she has also written about green living for The Green Guide, Plenty, and Cookie, among other publications. she has worked—writing about many different topics—at New York Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Lifetime and Details magazines, The New York Observer and Women’s Wear Daily. But it wasn’t until the birth of her daughter, Lexy

said, that her environmental health reporting and writing really came to the surface. it’s a topic—and a community —that reminds her of her time at Friends: “There’s a sense of working together for a greater good, and real room for anyone to make an impact—young or old,” she said. “it’s clearly the future, and so it’s also very fast-paced and exciting.”

Attending Friends, Lexy said, there was so much focus on developing a world view that involved seeing a big picture, being a member of a community, and helping out when you see there is a need for help. “All of that is very much a part of my work,” she said. “it’s why i’m so keenly focused on making people aware of environmental health issues, and pushing for better legislation to help people who aren’t aware. we have all inherited quite an environmental legacy and there is so much work to do on all fronts.”

Visit www.alexandrazissu.com for news on her latest book and other projects. | f

26 FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Green Alumni

Peter Brandt ’80Chief for Intergovernmental and Community Affairs and Deputy Director for Public Affairs of the EPA’s Region 2 Office

deep in the urban landscape of New York City, Peter Brandt ‘80 found a unique crossroad. A crossroad he describes as endlessly fascinating—the place where his love for the environment meets his love for politics.

An office building sits at that crossroad in Lower manhattan, the location of the environmental Protection Agency’s region 2 office. The office serves not only as a headquarters, but a place for Peter to regroup, as he travels regularly around New York state to inform the public on issues and environmental actions the agency is taking, and how such actions may impact them.

He also travels over the river to New Jersey to do the same. But the traveling only begins there, as region 2 is responsible for two other diverse locations: Puerto rico and the Virgin islands. Peter also travels to washington, d.C. to brief politicians and committees on the regional office’s actions and initiatives.

“i’ve always had an interest in the environment and politics,” Peter said. “Global and local awareness were emphasized at Friends seminary and this had a great influence on me. mrs. (mary) Fisher-Northrop, my Fifth Grade social studies

teacher, was among the most challenging teachers i had and sparked my interest in the political world.”

early in his career, Peter served as a special assistant to the New York City Parks and recreation Commissioner. He describes the job as the first political/environmental crossroad he discovered.

After working for the Parks department, he graduated from New York University with a degree in Political science. Today, as the regional Chief for intergovernmental and Community Affairs and deputy director for Public Affairs, Peter is a “firefighter” of sorts. He deals with the press, government affairs, environmental education, and community relations.

“it’s a very technical place with very sophisticated scientific language,” Peter said. “it’s our job to translate this information for the public and make sure they understand how it may impact them.”

“The ePA touches all parts of your life,” Peter added. “it impacts the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the ground you walk on—and that’s just the beginning.” | f


Green Alumni

Chris Stoneman ’81

Policy Advisor for the Environmental Protection

Agency

whether it is a large urban area trying to be more sustainable or a small town that wants to reduce its wood smoke pollution, Chris stoneman ‘81 and his office are helping communities meet their goals and reduce their air pollution.

Chris, a policy advisor, works at the ePA’s office of Air Quality Planning and standards in research Triangle Park, North Carolina. in his position, he works with state and local governments, industry, and community groups in starting new programs aimed at decreasing air pollution.

“we put local people in the driver seat and support their locally-based efforts,” Chris said. “we provide them with our technical expertise.”

in 2007, Chris and his office entered into a three-year partnership with the City of dallas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments to promote sustainability within the city via voluntary programs which emphasize

air quality improvements. The initiative, called sustainable skylines, has provided a framework that, when implemented in other locations, will achieve measurable emissions reductions and promote sustainability in urban environments.

Chris’s office is also working on a wood stove changeout campaign, where consumers receive financial incentives to replace older stoves with either non-wood burning equipment, pellet stoves, or ePA-certified wood stoves. Approximately 10 million wood stoves are currently in use in the United states, and 70 to 80 percent of them are old, inefficient, conventional stoves that pollute.

once an initiative is put into motion, Chris is responsible for preparing reports on its success. He also provides recommendations on how to improve the initiatives.

“we want to get real reductions,” Chris said. “we want to improve quality of life and improve the environment.” | f

28 FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Green Alumni

Ely Key ’03 Sustainability Consultant

From organizing site logistics in reforestation efforts in sudan to managing the construction planning of a 5.5-acre solar panel unit in rural California, ely Key, 24, has been involved with some impressive projects since graduating fromFriends seminary in 2003.

After graduating from Friends, ely attended the University of michigan and majored in organizational studies, focusing on social entrepreneurship. Through a school-sponsored trip after graduation, he traveled to Hong Kong and shenzhen to study industry there.

Following that trip, ely was hired as special Projects manager at the California-based Limoneira Company, a leading sustainable grower of lemons, avocados, pistachios, and specialty citrus. one of the larger projects he undertook at Limoneira was organizational construction planning of Limoneira’s new 5.5-acre Leed (Leadership in energy and environmental design)-certified solar orchard, which produces a full megawatt of clean, renewable electricity for powering the company’s citrus processing plants. The 6,400 photovoltaic modules absorb the sun’s rays and convert them into enough electricity to light 200 American homes. The company uses the energy primarily for its refrigeration warehouse and packing facility.

Before construction could begin, ely and a solar landscaping team had to devise a construction plan that would adhere to a strict set of standards that promote sustainability and minimize environmental damage. rather than pave the field under the solar panels, ely collaborated with a landscape designer and a solar company to devise a plan that would allow grass to be grown underneath the panels. Through these unorthodox construction efforts, the company achieved a 99 percent recycling rate for the project’s waste. The success of the project received a lot of attention, and the Pacific Coast Business Times named ely one of the “Top Ten People to watch in the Green movement.”

This past summer, ely moved back to New York City, where he is a sustainability consultant looking to expand his clientele in the green business. Currently, he is working with a communications firm on sudan’s Village reforestation and Advancement initiative. The initiative is focused on planting forest breaks several miles in length, each one consisting of about 30,000 trees, to stop the incessant creep of the desert, protect villages, and restore arable land. eighty percent of the darfur population is dependent on agriculture for subsistence; restored forests and water tables will provide a solid and necessary foundation for the people of darfur to rebuild their lives. | f


Green Alumni

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY30

moving Towards a Greener state of mind

A Teacher Reflects on a Two-Decade Evolution of Green Practices at Friends

By Toni daly, Chair of the Friends Seminary Sustainability Committee

A Greener Friends


A year earlier, in 1988, The New York Times reported on the concepts of global warming and the greenhouse effect after the hottest summer on recent record. The summer of ’88 also saw the burning in Yellowstone Park. And since 1999, eight of the ten hottest years ever have occurred. Now we are all acutely aware of extreme weather events, hotter summers, melting ice caps, rising seas.

Amidst the abundance of New York City, many felt insulated from these ecological anomalies. At Friends as elsewhere, the initial alarms were silent as the indications of change emerged. our food supply was still flowing plentifully, paper was not worth a thought, and energy was consumed by conventionally inefficient appliances. You may recall the greedy, noisy air conditioner window boxes in the main building classrooms!

As you read this, you may also remember years back when students took advantage of permission to smoke just outside the school building. By today’s health and air quality standards, this is a shocking and amazing practice. one day, someone cast the teen smoking scene as “enabling” a bad habit, and a movement was launched. instituting the four-block-radius rule hopefully made lighting up too inconvenient.

And more recently, as hydration became a popular health requirement, individual plastic bottles became de rigueur. But then, we learned of toxic BPA in plastics, so the current accepted standard is stainless steel water bottles, another revolution.

You may also recall a number of additional new practices emerging at Friends over the past few years: conserving paper and printing on both sides, turning lights and air conditioning off in empty rooms, removal of junk food and soda machines, separating trash, recycling of paper, and then of bottles and cans; cab and subway rides replaced by a commute to school via bicycle.

in the mid ’90s, a twice-weekly environmental studies course was started at Friends. i remember teaching students in the old building about water, air, land and energy issues. many students deeply embraced the newly-defined concepts of ecological footprint, zero emissions, carbon-neutral, and environmental justice. Nearly 15 years later, the environmental studies class has expanded into a full-time niche. There is almost a generation of alums who has carried on the

environmental lessons of what is now mainstream conversation. many are even key players in today’s sustainability movement.

“How is food an environmental issue?” was a final exam question in the late ’90s. in those years, under Paulette wisdom, cafeteria food started to include local green market vegetables, a variety of whole breads and a full salad bar. Now, in a new era at Friends, stephan davenport supplies the cafeteria with close to 100% organic foods and less meat. we’ve had “trayless” days and have measured the wasted food to show children how uneaten food on their trays adds up.

when the 15th street Annex opened in 1998, Friends had many reasons to be proud of a sustainable, green renovation. with the support of an informed architectural team, a scaled down HVAC system was installed, along with energy efficient and motion-sensor lights, true linoleum flooring, recycled wall boards. Paint with low volatile organic compounds was also used. during the renovation, there was a great effort to sort and recycle the demolition materials from the masonic Hall, rather than add them to the waste stream.

And thanks to last year’s senior Class, the sustainability move-ment at Friends gained more momentum. The Class of 2009 helped create a fund for sustainability curriculum, as well as an energy audit for the entire campus. in addition, this school year marks Friends’ first as a member of the Green school Alliance, an international organization that unites schools in sustainability education. in joining, we pledge to lower our energy footprint by 30% over five years. what a daring, courageous and responsible step Friends has taken toward participating in a greener future.

This year’s senior class includes Hillary saunders and emma Vasta-Kuby, who were selected this past summer to attend the inaugural National student Climate and Conservation Congress in shepherdstown, VA. They were selected based on their demonstrated leadership, commitment, and personal initiative on the Friends campus as stewards of our environment. As U.s. Green school Fellows, Hillary and emma worked side by side with national experts to examine the interconnectedness of the economy and the environment. They developed personal action plans that they could implement at Friends, as well as recommended national actions that would stimulate green jobs, grow the green economy and help mitigate climate change. so, adapting Garrison Keillor’s heartfelt words, “Be well, do good environmental work, and stay in touch.” | f

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since I attended my first graduation at Friends in 1989. I remember the deluge of rain that June evening, necessitating an indoor, yet still joyful, reception.

A Greener Friends

Class Notes

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY

Class Notes

32

CS · Class Secretary

CA · Annual Fund Class Agent

Class Notes

33NEWS FROM FRIENDS FALL 2009

1930With sadness, we report the death of Eleanor Beach Fitchen. Please visit the Tribute section to read more.

1931No Class Representative. Contact the Alumni Office.

1932With sadness, we report the death of Mary Schuster Jaffe. Please visit the Tribute section to read more.


1934Joan Howson Clarke (CS)

1935Richard Hanau (CS, CA)


1937Edward Chasins (CS)


1939Barbara Valentine Hertz (CA)


1941Barbara Kugel Herne (CS)

J. Richard Hunter (CS)

Barbara “Bobbi” Kugel Herne writes that she has moved from New York to Los Angeles to be near her daughter, Mary. She added that she misses all the activity of New York, but enjoys the beauty and weather of Southern California.

1942Margaret Dorkey McCormick (CA)

Richard Scully (CS, CA)

FRIENDS SEMINARY

Class Notes

34

living in California. I retired in 1993 and fled from California to Arizona. My wife of 46 years and I live comfortably in Prescott, Ariz. with our three horses and two dogs. We have two sons: one in Paulden, Ariz. (with four horses and one dog) and one in Franklin, Tenn. (with one dog). I am 80 years old and in reasonably good health, so we live a quiet life.” Suzanne Henderson MacLachlan writes: “I have moved a few times since I left Friends in 1945. I subsequently moved to California where I lived one year until the War ended. I then moved back East and completed my education at Bryn Mawr. Since then, I have lived both in NYC, and in Wellesley, Mass. I have two grown daughters and six grandchildren (three of whom are step-grandchildren). My memories of Friends are as bright and happy as ever.” Geraldine “Gerry” Jones Rhoades writes: “I am enjoying my retirement here in Titusville, Penn. where I live by myself, with my daughter and her family here in the same town. My husband died in 2000. This is the 200th anniversary of oil being extracted from the ground successfully for commercial use right here in Titusville. A huge celebration is being planned for August 29. I travel a little to visit my two sons, one in Georgia and one in New Mexico, but that is about it for travel. I volunteer at church and enjoy my friends. I call it the quiet life. I will keep in mind the 65th reunion next year and maybe try to attend.” Barry Benepe reports that he alternates between living in an old farmhouse in Saugarties, NY, and in Greenwich Village.

With sadness, we report the deaths of Paul Avila Mayer and Jean Dono Rothnoff. Please visit the In Memorium section to read more.

1946Sylvia Farny Skewes-Cox (CS)

Stuart Robinson (CS)

1947Jean Taylor Kroeber (CS)

Jean Taylor Kroeber reports: Sybil Smith Downing keeps active. She is still writing a monthly column for the Denver Post, has a new book coming out in the fall, and is working on another book set in South America. Jane Lancefield Hersey went to France last fall to visit her son, Doug, and family.

1948Anne Codding Tonachel (CS)

1949Jean Allen McCardell (CS)

Edes Powell Gilbert writes: “Georgiana Homer Daskais and I enjoyed our day at Friends Reunion very much. Clare Greenberger Freedman could not join us as she had some surgery on one of her hands, which made it awkward to travel. The School is thriving and growing as it should in 2009 and yet, at its heart, it is still the same school that we all went to. I continue to enjoy consulting with Boards of Trustees at schools, other not-for-profit organizations and a charter school. My volunteer commitments include Friends, Teach for America and Theatre Development Fund. New York is fraught with its infinite variety, and I am finding life to be full and interesting. During the summer months, I perch on the rocky coast of Maine, where family and friends gather often. Two granddaughters are in college and one grandson is almost 4 and a happy student at Spindlewood Kindergarten in Maine. We have the full range of age and educational opportunities in our family.”

1950Henri Caldwell (CS)

Henri Caldwell writes: “I am presently enjoying myself on the Good Ship ‘Retired’. My two children, Ron and Tricia live in New England. They both have two children. Ron and his wife Susan (both engineers) live in Vermont and both work for IBM. They have two boys Dan: an engineer, who works as a computer software designer, and Greg, who is just starting his freshman year at the Univ. of Michigan. Tricia and husband Ralph (both engineers) live in Massachusetts, and Ralph also works for IBM. Needless to say, I have some IBM stock. Tricia at present is a homebody taking care of Joey, who is 12, and Sara, 10, who is definitely the apple of grandpa’s eye. I live in Holyoke, Mass., which is about equidistant from the two above families, which permits many get-togethers. That is a brief recap of my status. I am lucky as my health is OK.” Ivan Chermayeff writes: “I am now in the 51st year of my graphic design partnership with Tom Geismar. Our firm is engaged primarily with the design of identities for major corporations and non-profit institutions. The past work of Chermayeff & Geismar includes Mobil Oil, Xerox, Dictaphone, Showtime, MoMA, the National Aquarium, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Cornell University and iconic symbols and trademarks for several hundred other businesses. Within the past year, our firm has designed graphic identities for the Library of Congress, Armani Exchange, the MacArthur Foundation, and several companies in Turkey, Korea, and elsewhere. My three daughters are the mothers of my five grandchildren. The eldest, Catherine, is the founder of i2i Photography, a photo agency; Sasha, in the middle, is a painter, and Maro, the youngest daughter, is a documentary film producer and director. My wife Jane and I live in New York City, and our son, Sam, is an architect currently working with SANAA in Tokyo.” Patricia Masterton Drew writes: “Don and

1943Eugenie Grey Laidler (CS)

1944Hope Franz Ligori (CS, CA)

Hope Franz Ligori writes: “To mark our 65th anniversary I called Madge Morse Muckenhaupt (could not attend due to back trouble), Theodora Oakes O’Hara (recovering from a broken hip), Helen Sonnenberg Tucker (busy serving on two boards), Mary Ann Willson Logue and Mary Benjamin Arnstein, who lives in Hamden, CT. I spoke to Timothy Foote and learned that Audrey Chamberlain Foote is in poor health. I spoke to Albert Burlen’s wife Georgia and sad to say Al is also in poor health. I spoke to Eleanor Fuchs Hoeffler, happily settled in Florda, and to Joan Hitchcock, who had hoped to come in from Lyme, CT. I called Adele Kostellow-Morrill, Martha Muse, Gerald Weinstein, and Arline Cinamon Mirantz, but did not reach them. A letter from Eric Sokolsky, who attended Friends in the ’30s spoke of seeing Suzanne Solomon de Brantes in France in 1954. Janet Davidson Caulkins missed the reunion because she was going to be in France, and I hope she spoke to Sue! My reward for my efforts? I enjoyed speaking to everyone and Jean Haney Hoagland and I enjoyed the luncheon together with her husband John. Happy 65th!”

1945Marion Hausner Pauck (CS)

Walter “Andy” Knittle writes: “Briefly, after Friends ‘45 and Yale ‘48, I spent 45 years engineering ballistic missiles, rockets, and satellites. This included 40 years

NEWS FROM FRIENDS FALL 2009

Class Notes

35

Compiled by John Schwartz: Ira and Amy Ross are happy to report that their son, Spencer, is starting his freshman year at Guilford College, Ira’s alma mater, thus keeping the “Quaker Tradition” alive in the family. Following many years as a Wall Street economist and portfolio manager, Ira has begun a new career as an investment advisor. There must be something in the Rhode Island air this year: Liz Lynes Hollander in Providence is celebrating the birth of her first grandson, Sebastian, while David and Penelope Wartels in Westerly are delighting in Winnie, their first grandchild

1958Nicholas Etcheverry (CS)

Thomas Munnell (CS)

Thomas Munnell writes: “I have more or less retired. Eizie and I spent three months renting in

I will celebrate 57 years of almost daily wedded bliss in December. That seems like a lot of years and it really is, but we live it one day at a time and almost always enjoy each day. We have been mostly retired for about ten years, except for some politics and property rights activity. We help our non-computer friends solve their problems and assist family with financial record-keeping, so life is not entirely boring. The stock market problems quenched our travel plans so local car trips have replaced the cruises and overseas adventures. We have seen a lot of these United States. No health problems now that Don’s arterial blockages have been fixed, thank you, Medicare.” Peter Bart reports that he is the VP and Editorial Director of Variety magazine, where his opinion pieces include a weekly column.

1951Hazel Fay Davis (CS)

Charles Woodford writes: “I began Masters Swimming three years ago and have been a medalist in four competitions.”

1952Martha Manheim Green (CS)

1953Nora Palen Roberts (CS, CA)

Joan Parker Wofford (CA)

Nora Palen Roberts writes: “All is well in Florida! We live near Siesta Key. If anyone is coming for a visit, let me know.”

1954Constance Black Engle (CS)

Judith Owen Bates Lopez (CS)

1955Jackson Bryer (CS)

Gail Richards Tirana (CS)

Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr. reports that Westview Press published a ninth edition of his Concise History of the Middle East in June 2009. Ellen Friendly Simon writes: “Ever since our 50th reunion, Sara, Anne and I have been meeting for dinner. It has been wonderful to renew our friendships. There are

so few people with whom one can share both a common past and a common outlook on the present and the future.”

With sadness, we report the death of William Lewis. Please visit the In Memoriam section to read more.

1956Peter Filene (CS)

1957John Schwartz (CS)

David Wartels (CS)

Wendy Weil (CS)

Alumni pose during a gathering in Boston in June. From left, Linda Baer ‘85, Jeremy Yamin ‘88, Jarell Spears ‘07, Catherine Valentine ‘88, Keith Smith ‘83, Michael Schindlinger ‘84, Emily Tobias Shumsky ‘85, Tanya Vysotsky ‘84, Ralph Menapace ‘85, Cory Diamond ‘88, Katrina Yamin Yolen ‘85, and Margaret Dorkey McCormick ‘42.

FRIENDS SEMINARY

Class Notes

36

about 5' 2" and weighs 110 lbs., this is a formidable achievement. She likes beating up on the opposition. Once the nest is really empty, Maggie and I are looking forward to some travel. How many of you have had similar plans? How many of you have carried them out? Any suggestions are welcome.” William “Billy” Tandler writes: “Life continues to be good to us even though the economy certainly makes things ‘interesting.’ We have just received the gift of our first grandson, Sean, from our son, Julian, and also a delightful new son-in-law thanks to my dear daughter, Iliana. I made it up to the 10,600-foot peak of the Three Sisters in the High Sierra a few weeks ago. I work when I can on restoring an 18th century plank-on-frame British Admiralty ship model in my little workshop, and have the pleasure of watching my ‘girl’ (wife), Sandy, become an expert hammered silver and bead smith. All this brings back memories of the many hand-working and art rooms I was so happy to see at Friends during our 50th reunion. May we give our children much to create with their hands, not only with their brains, so that the world does not collapse in a heap of electrons jitterbugging in cell phones and computer game boards. Thank you, Friends, for all your gifts; may you continue to do much good.”

1959Helen Davis Chaitman (CS)

1960Elizabeth Lyons Stone (CS, CA)

Derek Van Hoorn (CS)

1961Barbara Hertz Burr (CS)

1962Jean Seligmann (CS)201 East 83rd Street, #14DNew York, NY [email protected]

1963David Lowry (CS)

1964Barbara Carey (CS)

Susan Localio writes: “We are now in our own house in Port Townsend, WA. It is tiny and has a nice backyard from whose trees we just harvested many, many pounds of cherries. Apples are on the way. It is lovely being near our granddaughter and also nearer my youngest sibling, Dave, who never went to Friends. I see Bill Localio ’64 and Russ Localio ’65 at least once a year, if not more. I just unpacked the book, On Charley Clark’s Farm, that Mrs. Shipman gave me for reading a lot of weekly readers in Second Grade. I also still have the butterfly wings that Jonathan and Addison made for me to wear in a play in Eighth Grade. I am not actually a collector at all, but some things cannot be thrown away.”


1966 Anne Shapero Adler (CS)

Patricia Rosenfield writes: “My daughter, Victoria Shuster, is a sophomore at Johns Hopkins and loves it. I have been directing the Carnegie Scholars Program on Islam and the Modern World. I’m always grateful fo thet spirit of inquiry imbued in me from FS!”

1967Pierre Lehu (CS)

Pierre Lehu writes: “In order not to risk that some of the Class of ’67

Charleston this winter. We also have sold our co-op in Boston, and have moved to our summer home in Marion, Mass. Abigail “Abby” Thomas ’59 loved her reunion, she e-mailed. Sally Taylor Brewster ’60 sold the house of the couple that bought our co-op on Beacon Hill. I met Connie Green Raymond’s ’59 sister Pat (Patricia Green Prioleau ’51) in Charleston along with John Avalon ’60 and one or two other Friends Alums.” Peter Valente writes: “Last Summer, after our reunion, my wife and I met with Peter Krulewitch and his wife at Fire Island for about an hour and a half and spoke of old times together. We hadn’t seen each other in fifty years.” Nicholas D. Etcheverry writes: “I retired from doing psychotherapy two years ago, just in time to catch the recession full in the face. Signs are good, though, that the markets are coming back, so those of us on fixed incomes can breathe again. Meanwhile, I’ve been helping my son, Dan, apply to 11 colleges, nine of which said yes, and two offered partial scholarships. He has decided to go to Hartwick, which is fairly progressive and just over the New York border. It’s a four-hour drive. He is looking forward to going there the last week in August. Daughter Kate is heading into her senior year at Drew in Madison, N.J., where she’ll be the captain of the womens’ rugby team. Given that Kate is only

Corrinne Lennox '59 and Celia Stevens Taylor '59 hug during Reunion 2009.

From left, Martin Boelitz '59, George Raymond '58, Keith Boyer '59, and Fred Buse '59 greet one another during Reunion.


Class Notes

37

wouldn’t make it to our next year-ending-in-zero reunion, we decided to celebrate a joint 60th birthday party in June. A bus from LI Wine Tours picked us up in Manhattan; we visited two North Fork wineries, and then after back- to-back cruises on the Shelter Island ferry, found our way to Ken Wang’s Southampton abode to lounge by the pool and eat, drink and be merry. (And Ken wasn’t even there, as he had to go to Paris to be at his sister Vera Wang’s actual 60th birthday party. Ken, you’re the best in-absentia host ever!) So who was there? Mary Jane Grossman Anderson, Alan Antopol, Bill Berry, Janice Baum, Ken Dodge, Ellen Ferguson, Janet Fink, Rick Kelly, Susan Taylor Martin, Leslie Rahl Horowitz and your class representative/party planner Pierre Lehu, along with assorted family members, so that we were 17 in all. We imbibed, ate, shared memories and gossip, imbibed, danced to ’60s music, and swam. Did I mention imbibe? That, too. Hey, if our shindig was any indication, it’s looking like our 60s are going to resemble the 60s. Groovy! And now a word from our sponsor: Come November be sure to go out and buy my latest tome, Fashion For Dummies .

1968Penny Craven (CS)

Barbara Kates-Garnick (CA)

1969Michael Beckerman (CS)

Kurt Hoss is living in New York and working as a Technology and Imaging Consultant (www.kurthoss.com). Kurt and wife Susan Shaw won an AVA Gold award for the music video, “The Mermaid Parade,” which they produced. The video is a close-up of Coney Island, New York’s Mermaid Parade held every year during the summer on the boardwalk.

1970Belinda Broido (CS)

1971Mindy Fischer (CA, CS)

Laurence Seegers (CS)

Laura Ward (CS)

Laura Ward writes: “I had a chance to visit with Matt Muller recently. He was in New York attending to family business in June. I could not remember the last time I saw him. Once we got talking, it was as though no time had passed. Unfortunately, his father passed away this year and Matt was dealing with his father’s apartment. Matt looked great. While in New York, Matt saw Melissa Green ’74 and her daughter. Steve Nellissen reported that, sadly, he and his brother Chris Nellissen ’73

recently lost their mother to lung cancer. But on a positive note, Steve wrote that he and his wife Amy are ‘super busy teaching bridge and running duplicate bridge games in Franklin Lakes, NJ.’ Their oldest daughter, Emily, starts Ramapo College in September. The college is a 25-minute walk from their house, but she is living on campus, ‘by mutual choice!’ Mindy Fischer is moving from New City back to New York City. She is looking for an apartment on the Upper West Side. I look forward to having Mindy closer. I am now a grandmother. YIKES. My stepson’s wife gave birth to, if I do say so myself, a beautiful baby girl, Emerson Grace Smulian, on May 1. Also in May, I had the pleasure to host former Friends faculty member Paul Reeder, who attended the Friends Seminary reunion with my sister, Carolyn Ward ‘74. It was great to watch Paul reconnect with some of his students. Although Paul is 80, Carolyn and I had trouble keeping up with him.”

1972Jay Goldman (CA)

Emily Medine (CS)

Robert Day ’65, left, and Harlan Hurwitz ’65, right, photographed in a classroom in 1964.

(From left to right) Front row: Janet Fink, Leslie Rahl, Susan Martin, Mary Jane Anderson, Jan Baum, Ellen Ferguson. Back row: Pierre Lehu, Alan Antopol, Rick Kelly, Bill Berry, Ken Dodge.

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time between her apartment in Peter Cooper and her house in Southampton.” Emily Medine writes: “Several old ‘Friends’ have become new friends again due to their children. Susan Cohen Belardi and I reconnected during Susan’s trips to Pittsburgh to visit her son, Brian, at Carnegie Mellon University. Craig Evans and I discovered our children Justin Evans and Jessica Schwartz both attended George Washington University, and our families were able to connect during last year’s parents’ weekend. Now Craig and Nancy Machles Rothschild can do the same as Jennifer Evans and Seth Rothschild are both attending Syracuse University. Tamar Shelov is busy planning the November 2009 wedding of her daughter Sarah Dillon to Walker Allen, classmates from Friends Select in Philadelphia. Ronni Gordon recently won a competition with her blog, www.runnerwrites.blogspot.com. Check it out. Ronni’s son, Joe, is a junior at Bates College in Maine and Ronni is wondering if there are any other Friends’ children attending Bates at this time. Ronni’s oldest son, Ben, is the Assistant Sports Editor at The Trentonian in New Jersey and Ronni’s daughter, Katie, is entering her senior year in high school.

1973Barbara Michelson (CS)

Lisa Ernest Mierop (CS)

Barbara Michelson writes: “The class of ’73 enjoyed a mini reunion at Pete’s Tavern in late spring. Lou Rowan was the moving force, since he had missed our 30-year reunion while off promoting his most recent collection of stories and had offered a rain check. While he was in Brooklyn visiting his offspring, we were able to enjoy his great company. In attendance Amy Goldfarb, Anita Brandt, Dan Greenbaum, Anthony White,

Aimee Telsey, Jessica Amelar, Barbara Michelson, Matthew Atkinson, Jay Goldman ’72, Peter Jenkins ’74 and his wife, Mary. David Wertheimer continues his work as a Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, overseeing the foundation’s family homelessness strategy and grant-making. He and his husband (at least in Canada!) of 17 years, Paul Beaudet, divide their time between Seattle and Guemes Island. Friends Seminary alums in the region are welcome to give a call!”

1974Kenneth Grossman (CS)

Ivy Baer Sherman (CS)

1975Francesca Bruno (CS)

Cella Irvine (CS)


1977Suzanne Gluck (CS)

Ruth Pomerance (CS)

father was famous. Jay, Laura and I also had a poignant conversation with Martha “Marti” Kustin Liebman’s lovely daughter, Samantha Liebman ’94, a Friends alumna, and a reporter at NY1 in New Jersey. It might be fitting for us to plan something for Marti, so any thoughts are welcome. Keith Korman’s ’74 new book, Banquo’s Ghost , was just published, and is terrific.” Lynda Godkin writes: “Our younger daughter, Rachel, 19, and I met Tom Rosenfield in Coppet, Switzerland in January while we were visiting my cousin, Lillian. This was the first time Tom and I had seen each other since graduation day at Friends! Rachel currently is studying at Oxford University. Ken (my husband) and I will go over to meet up with her in England at the beginning of August and then head off to Ireland. Rachel will then return to Memphis where she will be a junior, majoring in Biochemistry at Rhodes College. Meanwhile, our elder daughter, Sarah, 26, just became engaged to Christopher (Chris) DeLucia, 29, an equity analyst at UBS. Sarah has deferred acceptance to the University of Chicago for a Masters in Public Policy, focusing on the environment, for a year. She currently is an editor at Lightbulb Press. Chris and Sarah, who live in Manhattan, will be married in Connecticut on May 8, 2010. For those of you who remember my mom, Vera, she’s going strong at 90. She splits her

Pamela Perkins (CS)

Pamela Perkins writes: “Laura Levine and Jay Goldman and I enjoyed the class reunion of 1973; the highlight for us was Mr.Schwartz’s lecture on Homer. We sat next to Val Wise, Mr. Schwartz’s brilliant and beautiful wife; they met at CUNY Grad School. The three of us were furiously taking notes. I said to someone, “He’s the reason Laura and I are teachers.” Laura corrected, and said, “No. He’s the reason we’re both poor.” Anyway, if our teaching is a tenth as great as ”Mr. Chips’” is, then we are doing not only what we love to do, but we are doing it well. Pam even uses the same Web site when teaching Humanities and Homer as Mr. Schwartz had. The lecture was not only brilliant, but affirmative of what Laura and I aspire to do…. Amazing, a teacher’s eternal legacy. We also were thrilled to see [former faculty member] Mr. (Paul) Reeder, who was a veteran of the Korean War, which we did not know, [former faculty member] Bill Elliot, and the class of ’73, some of whom I knew in childhood, such as Scott Swinton ’74. Scott and I recalled a doorman in Scott’s building who twenty years later saved me from a crackhead. I also worked briefly at the Associated Press, where Scott’s

Jon Holtzman, '74 and former faculty member Bill Elliot, right, during Reunion 2009.


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39

Helen Reavis (CA)

Ruth Pomerance writes: “Lisa Marcus Carthy, Jennifer Miller-Antill and I decided to celebrate our big birthdays together. We spent a fun weekend in New York City for a girls-only celebration. Lisa flew in from Georgia and Jennifer came down from Mass. I schlepped to our hotel in Times Square from my apartment in Gramercy Park, where we had a pajama party. Our kids and husbands remained home to fend for themselves. We had dinner and breakfast with Suzanne Gluck and it felt just like old times. We’ve pledged to make it an annual event! Jennifer’s son, Greg, just graduated from Brandeis and her son, Sam, just graduated high school. Both boys are going to California for grad school and college, respectively. Lisa’s boys and my sons are still in middle school. We have high school looming for our oldest kids.”

1978Barclay Palmer (CA)

Antonia Torres-Ramos (CS)

Jennifer Polshek reports that she just finished her tenth year as the Library Director at the Shady Hill School (Pre-K-Grade 8) in Cambridge, Mass.

1979Darcy Flanders (CS)

Victoria Wightman Pierce (CS)

1980Karen Gross Fittinghoff (CS)

Michael Golden (CS)

Sarah Edmunds Goodwin (CS)


1982Elizabeth Baer (CS)

Sarah Halley Finn (CS)

Marc Rachman (CA)

1983Matthew Annenberg (CA)

Martha Ehrenfeld (CS)

Keith Smith (CS)

Compiled by Martha Ehrenfeld: Those still living in New York were challenged by the incredibly wet spring and summer. Brett Miller

writes: “We are building an ark since it has been raining so much in New York lately. Actually, it has been a nice summer—going by too fast. I have been traveling a lot to London for work. We are trying to go to Europe at the end of the summer. That should be fun. Amanda Sathon Miller ’84 continues to be involved in fundraising for Friends and stays very involved in the school events.” Back in the land of sun, Marc Raboy writes, “I have a beautiful son who is almost 3 named Roman. I live in LA, which I can’t believe, being a die-hard New Yorker. I am a director (music videos, commercials, a feature starring Ice Cube, and most recently a stand-up comedy special for comedian Mike Epps). Only now do I really appreciate what those silent meetings offered us... some quiet time! Currently I’m getting ready for a photo show of portraits I did in Ethiopia at my older brother Doug’s wedding there in 1999. I’ve seen a couple of our classmates who live out here, and next week Kipp Stroden and I are meeting up for the first time in over twenty years!” Jason Ablin writes: “I have been living in Los Angeles for over 16 years now. I am married (Lisa Bellows Ablin) and have two awesome daughters, Kayla Danit, 11, and Noa Sarit, 6. I have been in education now for 18 years, and I am currently the Head of School for Milken Community High School in Los Angeles, a rather large pluralistic Jewish independent school (Grades 7-12). I recently reconnected with Marc Raboy in Los Angeles and have kept in constant contact with Adam Ware, also out in Los Angeles.”

Back on the east coast, Susan Bronzaft Santoro works part-time as an administrative law judge for the Department of Finance. She is an avid runner and ran two half- marathons in the last six months and is busy with her daughter and son, who definitely are not into the Jonas brothers! Susan Carmody writes: “My big news—I got married last year AND learned that I was pregnant the same day! I gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Cole Carmody Harmaty two months ago. I’m taking time off from my work as an attorney and banker to be with Cole; I’m not sure what my professional future holds thereafter.” Mary Hom writes: “Jeff and I are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this September. Time flies! Our children are thriving: Laura is entering the Sixth Grade, and Kevin is 4 and in nursery school. We enjoy living on the Upper East Side. I am in my sixth year with the NYC Housing Development Corp., which works with developers and helps finance affordable housing in New York City. Jeff enjoys his job as a judge in NY Civil Court. We are happy and doing well. Please send my regards to all our former classmates.”

1984Suzanne Gottlieb Calleja (CS)

Alexandra Levinsohn (CS)

Class of 1984 during a reunion dinner.

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invitation. Am I right that he was carrying a backpack? Just like the old days! He says affirming things to us about our class spirit and our excellent Field Day, the success of which the administration had been dubious about. Taylor Burr and Anthony Robinson are here: two people we have not laid eyes upon since 1984. Adam Rabiner, who left Friends after eighth grade, is here too. Here is a list of other attendees and what they have been up to: Reunion co-chair Amanda Southon Miller is Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at Ralph Lauren; her son, Hudson, is going into Second Grade at Friends. And our other Reunion co-chair Alexandra Levinsohn, when not running the Greenwich Treehouse with her husband, is running after her 3-year-old daughter Lena Jade and also working on producing a new play by spring 2010. Rebecca Moore, class scribe, who makes the trip from London, and totally “wins” reunion attendance distance award, now lives in Huntsville, Ala. and does school communications. Danny Blum lives in Westchester with his wife and two kids. He is the Senior Vice President of White Plains Hospital and can still make that sound between his hands! Lucas Miller lives in an apartment right above where we used to party, a.k.a. his parents’ place, and is now supervising detectives in the Bronx. He is married to the lovely Jen,

who was brave enough to join us for dinner Saturday night! Taylor Burr has three kids and lives in Minnesota and is a musician-turned-business guy; we were very touched that during Silent Meeting, he spoke of Eugene Davis and Donald Bender, two teachers who meant a lot to our class. Adrienne Berman Zabriskie is a graphic artist living in Woodstock with her husband and son, Zachary. Peter Billow makes architectural woodwork and fine furniture and lives in Williamsburg with his wife and two sons. Peter Bogardus is an artist living in New York City. See the inside of the front cover of this magazine to see some of his work. Rina Rachman is a producer for an advertising company and living in New York. Craig Barnes, still Jon Hager’s stepbrother, was in attendance and still always included in our gatherings. Phil Newman, who is a guitar teacher and sister Enid Newman Melville attended. Stephen Rosenthal is a part-time stockbroker and into extreme sports. Matt Samton is an online bookseller, a man of mystery, and so damn tall. Edward Smith is a photographer in Brooklyn and has two children with his wife, Camille. Anthony Robinson is an artist, actor and musician, and also very tall. Marjorie Nass ’82 dropped in to say hello. She lives in the neighborhood. It was great to see her! Kim Moser came up from Florida with his girlfriend, Ellen.

A clear standout of the weekend was Kim’s amazing compilation of photos, which capture the look, feel and texture of Friends from 1976-84: PET computers, basketball in the courtyard, the tea dance, sitting on lockers, Powell House skits, Phil Ross (an artist in SF, sadly not at reunion) dressed up as Bob Schwartz (posing with Bob still makes me laugh), Phil Newman dressed as Eva Stengal. Kim has posted the link to the photo book on the Facebook class of ’84 group and you can see his pictures at www.kmoser.com/friends. Kim adds, “I’m still in Florida where I build Web sites and teach fencing and swing dancing. When I visit NYC, I take the occasional trapeze class.” John Byrne was invited but shamelessly CUT the cocktail party. Maybe he’ll show in 2014, but he’ll need a note! On Saturday, at Friends, we were joined by psychologist Katie Emerson Hoss (who lives near AJ in Woodstock

Amanda Southon Miller (CA)

Rebecca Moore (CS)

Compiled by Rebecca Moore: 1980-84: The Police, The Go-Go’s, Led Zeppelin, Tom Tom Club, old-school hip-hop, “Rockin’ it”, “Jam on it”, “My parents are out of town.” The perpetual purchase of cold drinks, the invention of Frozfruits, Chipwiches. “Sit dine ni!” Thrift shops, smelly vintage clothes, punks on St. Mark’s Place, Julian’s, The White Horse, subway tokens, bus passes, Civ. I, Civ. II, Ex.Ed., Nicaragua, No Nukes, John Lennon. “Party at Martha’s.” The Junior Essay, Field Day with paisley, polka dots, day-glo and plaids. Tea dance for the Class of ’83 in the courtyard. Powell House, career counseling with Mrs. Atkinson. New Year’s Eve at Phil’s house: “I’d like to propose a toast....on a stick!” We perform at holiday assembly: “Christmas is a happy time...” Class of ’85 throws us a luau. Goodbye, college, the rest of your life. Fast-forward 25 years. The Greenwich Treehouse: “Who the hell are you?” one person exclaims, but in a jovial way, to another. Charlie Blank is here. We’re psyched he accepted our

From left to right: Alexandra Levinsohn '84, Amanda Southon Miller '84, Former Faculty Member Arthur Moore, and Rebecca Moore '84 pose for a photo outside the Meetinghouse during Reunion 2009.

Michele Johnson '84, right, dances with a partner during a school social during her senior year.

Kim Moser '84 stands in front of his photographs during the alumni art exhibition during Reunion 2009.


Class Notes

41

and has a daughter named Stella), Sara Flynn Murphy, Sharifa El-Okdah, who is a writer and filmmaker, Laurie Shapiro and Stasha Hughes, who is taking some time off from teaching to enjoy her baby daughter. Yi Wright and her husband, Tom, came up from Pittsburgh. That evening, Alan Rosenberg joined an assortment of the above cast of characters for a Korean feast in the Village. Afterwards we all got completely soaked in a rainstorm. But it was worth it! We had hoped to see Neelam Al-Angurli, Kate Webber, Daisy von Scherler Mayer and David Stott: You were missed! Alex had a post-reunion lunch with Juliet Mallory Rosenbaum, who was very sorry to miss all the fun. She is busy with her three girls and loving her new job teaching Spanish. Alex also enjoyed speaking with April Lerner, who is as funny as ever and living in NY. April heard from Tanya Vysotsky,who was sorry to miss reunion and lives in Boston with her family. Amanda caught up with Melissa Drachman Zarem, Jill Delacey Galigani and Suzanne Gottlieb Calleja. Jill was en route to Nantucket. She is teaching in France, where she lives with her husband of 16 years and their two daughters. Suzanne, who lives in Miami, was on her way to a party in Connecticut to celebrate her mom’s birthday and husband Jose’s business school graduation. Suzanne works in communications at a private school that she says is similar to Friends. Jose just got his MBA and has started an online business. They have a son, 6. Rebecca exchanged notes with Michele Ashley Johnson, who is Principal of Jesse Owens Elementary in Bedford Stuyvesant, two blocks away from where she grew up. Michelle writes: “This fall will be my fifth year. It’s an intense job, but I love it.” The same could be said of reunion planning. Amanda and Alex, thanks for getting so many of us together in three places. It was a wonderful weekend. If you can’t wait until the next reunion, join us on Facebook. Until then Class of ’84....keep on rockin’ it!

1985Linda Baer (CS)

Philip Fisher (CA)

Anne Kner (CS)

Stephanie Olken Pullman writes: “We are doing well here in Southern California. My twins are turning 6. I am teaching and trying to keep my photography business afloat. Also having a lot of fun re-connecting with ‘Friends’ on Facebook!”

1986Schuyler Allen-Kalb (CS)

Nathaniel Caldwell (CS)

Rachel Shapiro Axinn (CA)

Lida Moore Musso (CA)

1987Ellen Diamond (CS)

Robin Weiswasser Markus (CS)

Leslie Werthamer Rottenberg (CS)

1988Kim Azzarelli (CA)

Cory Diamond (CA)

Alexander Kriney (CS)

Wyeth McAdam (CS)

Jennifer Padgett Orser (CA)

Eliza Siegler and husband Jonathan Salomons ’96 have moved to Montreal for about 2 years for Jonathan’s job.

1989Bess Abrahams (CS)

Catherine Valentine '88 pictured at an alumni gathering in Boston earlier this year.

Eliza Siegler '88 and Jonathan Salomons '96 with son Henry.

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1990Lateef Bost (CA)

Nicole Davis (CS)

Daphne Dufresne (CA)

Jennifer Frangos (CS)

Todd Solomon (CA)

Compiled by Nicole Davis: Hey Fellow Class of ’90 folks. Summer is almost over and I feel like it just got here. Sad. So sad. I also feel like I just wrote one of these, but since some of you were so kind as to give me updates on your lives, I thought the least I could do was

share them with the rest of you. In new and exciting baby news, Meredith Evans Raiford is due with a baby boy (her first!) in mid- November. Congrats Meredith. Sarah Lippin also had a baby boy, Sylvan, born at home March 1, joining big sister, Willamina. Sarah continues to work part-time as an exhibit designer at the Long Island Children’s Museum. Speaking of babies with names that sound like Willamina, many congrats also to Oliver Freundlich ’91 and his wife, Britta von Schoeler, on the birth of their baby girl, Wilhelmina von

Schoeler Freundlich, born July 24 to her very excited parents. Amie Steir was also one of the 12 (yes, 12) people I know who had or are having babies this year. She writes: “We are still living in and loving Venice Beach, Calif. We have a son, Burr Oak Hayes Jarvis, (3 1/2) and a daughter, Zella Danniella Mickey Amie Paz Hayes Jarvis who was born March 14, 2009. I’m still a writer and director and my husband is a partner in the advertising agency 72 and Sunny. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at our 20th reunion next year.” Kudos to Amie for writing her own update and making my life a lot easier (hint, hint to the rest of you). Susie Matthews reports that she is both ecstatic and exhausted as mom to one-year-old Peter and two-year-old Jane. Oh! And after many years I connected with Virginia Clarke-Pope,who informs me she has a son who will be starting Friends in the fall. Way to carry on the tradition, Ginny! In non-baby news, Luanna Lemor Tardio reports that she has nothing, absolutely nothing, new to update me about. She’s still in New Jersey, still married, still raising two adorable girls (I said that part, not her). She’s also a Girl Scout leader twice over, which, I have to say, makes me giggle. Matt Aulicino also claims to have nothing to report, other than living in Los Angeles and working as an architect. I think he’s hiding something (just kidding, Matt). I had dinner a few months ago with Jen Frangos, Steve Bass and Karen Jordan Sidner, which was really

Jordan Barowitz (CA)

Weston Konishi (CA)

Amy Leshanski (CA)

Joshua Wachs (CA)

Indira Wiegand (CS)

See media for a photo of the class of ’89 taken at Jordan Barowitz’s house during Reunion Weekend.

Erica Fyvie ’91 and family.

The class of ’89 at Jordan Barowitz’s residence in Brooklyn.


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quite entertaining. Lots of reminiscing and making fun of high school. A big congrats to Jen, who recently graduated from NYU’s dental school and is now studying at the University of Maryland (one of the most demanding programs in the country) to be an oral surgeon. She claims to be happy to have moved, which boggles my mind (no offense Maryland). Daphne Dufresne joins Jen in Maryland. Daphne is busy taking orders from her almost-3-year-old twins on how to run their birthday party. Apparently there are competing Minnie Mouse and cop car themes going on, but I’m sure she’ll work it out. Daphne is still adjusting to life in the suburbs and is enjoying catching up with folks on Facebook. She gives a special thanks to Nico Marcellino for posting pictures from the infamous “Italy Trip,” circa 1989? 1990? Yikes. Sam Schonzeit is back on the East Coast for now, exploring his artistic passions while subletting a place in Rockland County and coming into the city for occasional softball games and other shenanigans. He recently attended a barbecue at Tico Taussig-Rubbo’s place in Brooklyn before Tico took off to Kenya for the summer. Elizabeth Wolff recently moved to Brooklyn with her husband and five-month-old son Hugo. She now lives closer to Ariella Ben-Dov who is also in Brooklyn with her partner of 11 years, Rebecca McBride. And I think that’s all for now. I continue to enjoy the chance to update everyone on the wide and

wonderful world of the Class of 1990. And I am very much looking forward to our 20th (gasp!) reunion next year. Get ready, I’m hoping for a record turnout!

1991Nicholas Testa (CS)

Diana Sherman Whittles (CS, CA)

Compiled by Nicholas Testa: Nick Testa is living in LA with his wife and new daughter, Kira. He works at LAC+USC Medical Center, where he is both a practicing Emergency Physician and the Associate Medical Director for the hospital. In the coming years, he is desperately trying to be a better class secretary. Erica Fyvie is living in Toronto with her husband, Jay, and their two girls, Liv and Grace. She works as a freelance writer and editor and can be reached at [email protected]. Dave Borla, who currently resides in Los Angeles, and Dave Sellar, who currently resides in New York City, both got together with Chris Scianni ’89 to play with the Tangiers Blues Band at Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn. Finn Kelly has created a gaming empire that is slowly taking over the world of play. Aimed primarily

at companies wanting to take part in team building to boost their corporate culture, The Go Game has a full arsenal of crazy games that are played in the streets of cities around the world. Since its start in 2002, The Go Game has grown from a small basement operation to a multimillion-dollar company with offices in San Francisco, LA, Austin, NYC, Orlando, Toronto and London. They also do a number of non-profit games for the likes of Kiva.org, The Melanoma Society and Sports4Kids. Finn also just played a piano gig with Spencer Day (www.spencerday.com) at Yoshi’s jazz club in San Francisco and is gearing up for a few gigs in August at Joe’s Pub in NYC. Marissa McCreay Serritella is living in Los Angeles and works as a senior art producer at an ad agency (tbwa/chiat/day). She is married to Vincent Serritella, who does CGI work on movies at Sony Pictures Imageworks and is also a painter. Marissa has no kids, which is fine by her right now. Tristen Gottlieb Sturm has been living in San Francisco with her husband and two kids. She teaches second grade at The San Francisco Day School and frequently sees Justine Bellows Sears ’90, Finn Kelly, and Alex Kriney. She had a great time on the East Coast this summer where she spent her time seeing Erica Fyvie, Karen Sicher Jordan ’90, Jennifer Usdan McBride, Dave Sellar, Eli Berk, Lee Shapiro, Ariella Ben-Dov, ’90 and Oliver Freundlich. Jennifer Usdan McBride lives with her husband and nine-month-old daughter in Brooklyn. And Mike Zorawick just got a driver’s license.

1992Alexandra Zissu (CS)

1993Sandra Jelin Plouffe (CS)

Helen Rhim (CS)

Compiled by Sandra Jelin Plouffe: “Lauren Cardonsky Gretina and her husband, Chris, moved to a new, larger apartment in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn. Their first year of marriage has been bliss. Amanda Melnick Blitstein and I have plans with her to set up a baby registry! Amanda, in addition to being featured in the last News From Friends, is still at the Food Network, working on launching a new video game that teaches people to cook. She, her husband, Jeff, and her 1½-year-old, Jack, are doing great and have just returned from their annual family vacation down the shore. Amanda recently ran into Claire Richard, just before one of many failed attempts she and I have made at having lunch. I hope the big birthday bash went well and I am sorry that I couldn’t be there. Lauren, Amanda and I recently had dinner outside at Mercadito on a beautiful and breezy summer night with Helen Rhim. I highly recommend the fish tacos! Helen and I also saw each other at an alumni event in the spring. We chatted with some old favorites—Phil Schwartz, Charlie Blank, Debbie Ferretti and John Byrne. It was great to see Jessica Rovello ‘92, who was also there. She has two boys and is living in her old stomping grounds at Waterside Park. The event was a great success. Principal Bo Lauder gave us an update on the school’s efforts at helping Friends families during this economic downturn and launched the Annual Fund Alumni Matching Campaign. Tweeps Phillips is still at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission and is a member of my book club, but has yet to come to a meeting… Hint hint.”

1994Jodyann Blagrove (CS)

Dave Sellar '91 and Dave Borla '91 performing at Bonnaroo.

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www.broowaha.com. Perhaps the biggest news is that Lynne is currently a surrogate mother for her dear friends Matt Levinson and Dan Pasky. She is due in February Amanda Green ’97 writes: “I spend most of my days catering to my 16-month-old daughter, Tallulah Jamieson Green Hull. I live with my husband of four years, Timothy Hull, in our first home in the East Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Penn. I left work as the Exhibits Coordinator at the African American Museum in Philadelphia a year ago to be a stay-at-home mother (no, I can’t believe it either). I enjoyed seeing half our class at our 10-year reunion, and I’ve been fortunate to see some friends from Friends in the past year: Kenneth Burch, Liz Harlan-Ferlo, Lauren Berke, Janelle Garrett, Tin Wai (Christine) Lee, Kristen Slesar, and my kid’s godmother, Devorah Bondarin. Devorah and I had a hellish dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant this July in Queens, when her goddaughter took a break from screaming to grab my bowl of food and dump it on my lap! You can read more about my adventures in motherhood on my blog, Not Barefoot, Just Pregnant at notbarefootjustpregnant.blogspot.com.” Dana Hatfield has completed a specialty degree in veterinary acupuncture, and is happy to announce the start of her own practice, ZenVet. She still works as a full-time general practice veterinarian at North Penn Animal Hospital in Lansdale, Penn. Georgia Elrod is mid-way through the Hunter MFA program, majoring in Painting and loving it! Oshon Temple is entering her third year as a middle school mathematics teacher at the Hackley School in Tarrytown, NY.

1998Melanie Sackheim (CA)

Sam Hofstetter (CS)

Lee Rothchild (CS, CA)

Compiled by Lee Rothchild: Becky Morrison is living in Brooklyn and producing the visuals for U2’s world tour. Also in Brooklyn is Ann Boger who is living in the South Slope and working as the Director of Business Development for the Freelancers Union. Ann is due to have a baby boy in early September, possibly the first child of the Class of 1998. Also due in early September is a book by Annie Grossman. It’s called Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once Common Things Passing Us By . For more information, visit www.obsoletethebook.com. Matt Miller recently got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Jen Sapp. Andrew Sullivan is back in NYC after two years of grad school and doing communications and policy work for the Partnership of NYC. Robin McKinney has graduated from St. George’s University Medical School Magna Cum Laude. He will do his residency in pediatrics at SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

1999Adam Honig (CS)

Andrew Laird (CS)

2000David Gilbert (CS)

Lisa Hofstetter (CS)

1997Brian Davis (CS)

Janelle Garrett (CS)

Compiled by Brian Davis: Ben Karger is getting married to Kelly Ruiter on Lake Michigan in August ’09. Daniel Feiner was married to Meredith Rog in April ’09 and recently graduated from NYU’s Stern Business School. David Bowers was married to Mary Gottshall in the spring of ’09. Josh Lappin is the Traffic Manager for the recently launched Major League Baseball Network and is living in midtown. Orestes Benitez moved to Westchester and is working for Accenture. Lynne DeSilva-Johnson is moving back to Brooklyn after a brief period upstate. She is in her third year as an Adjunct Lecturer at City College of New York, where she is teaching a range of critical writing courses, as well as courses in the architecture department. She has also just completed her third year towards a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology and American Studies at the Graduate Center. She writes frequently and her work can be read on her blog, www.lunaparker.blogspot.com, and at the citizen journalism project at

Stephanie Davis Hazelkorn (CS)

Stephanie Davis Hazelkorn and husband Todd Hazelkorn welcomed their first child, daughter Eve, on May 28, 2009.

1995Benjamin Ensminger-Law (CS)

Sarah Greenbaum (CS)

Bonnie Morris (CS)

1996Sarah Cox (CS, CA)

Natalie Nymark (CS)

Amanda Green Hull '97 with husband Tim and daughter Tallulah at Great Adventure in June.


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Fred Isquith (CS)

Russell Labiner (CS)

Morgan Kaschak writes: “Currently, I work for MLB Advanced Media, the Internet wing of Major League Baseball. I am the Manager of Paid Content, focusing on services such as MLB.TV, Gameday Premium, and Gameday Audio, all of which allow you to either watch or listen to baseball games over the Internet. Earlier this year, I continued my recent exploration of South America by traveling around Argentina and Uruguay, after spending other recent vacations in Peru and Brazil. Fred Isquith, Jr. writes: “I will graduate this May with a joint degree from Syracuse University with a Masters from the Maxwell School of Public Policy and a law degree from the Law School.”

2001Ashley Herriman (CS)

Joanna Shapiro (CS)

2002Richard Barbieri (CS)

Joanna Hunter (CS)

Nicolaas van der Meer (CS)

Alex Agnant and Mary Gaynin ’04 and were married on June 26, 2009 by former Friends art teacher Yarrott Benz at The Alger House in Soho.

2003Hallie Davison (CS)

Eric Obenzinger (CA)

Daniel Willner (CS)

Compiled by Hallie Davison: Natalie Archibald has found herself working as Development Director for Immaculate Conception School in the Northern Bronx, while pursuing a masters in French Literature at Hunter College. Bon travail, Natalie! She’s also been serving as a resource to inner-city youths as well as working with the Dominican Women Development Center on their annual fundraising gala. And speaking of academic accomplishments, Henoch Derbew just finished his Masters of Public Policy program at Georgetown University, with a concentration in International Policy and Development. He’s been spotted with many a Friends Seminary alum, such as Ariel Agami ’01, Brent Chapman ’01, Akaash Metha ’01 and Tolliver Hart ’01, as well as Chris Garland ’04, Anthony Franqui ’04, Sean Mair ‘04 and Jed Bernstein ’04. Meanwhile, Eric Obenzinger continues to enjoy his PR job at Google and playing with his 1-year-old niece, Olivia, and is waiting in awe for his sister to deliver twins at any minute. He spent some of his summer vacation on a bike trip across upstate New York with Ben Tuber and is hoping to visit Stephen Yang in China in the coming months. As for me (Hallie), I just returned from a trip to Mexico City where I was exploring the sights and sounds, but mainly the tastes, of the city. I’m looking forward to my brother’s wedding in September and a beautiful (hopefully rain-free) fall in New York.

2004Jennifer Conrad (CS)

Legacy Russell (CS)

James Sumers (CS, CA)

Mary Gaynin and Alex Agnant ‘02 were married on June 26, 2009 by former Friends art teacher Yarrott Benz at The Alger House in Soho.

2005Cole Blumstein (CS)

Phillip Brest (CS)

Nusrat Chowdhury (CS)

Sam Rabinowitz (CS)

Samuel Freund ’05 reports that he graduated from Clark University with a Screen Studies B.A. in May. Next year, he’ll be back at Clark studying for the accelerated one-year Master’s degree in Film Communications. Sarah Derbew ’05, a Classics major at Haverford College, was awarded a Haverford House Fellowship. Sarah is one of six fellows selected for their commitment to social justice and community action. Sarah will serve a one-year term and work four days per week with a non-profit organization in the Philadelphia area. Haverford House Fellows dedicate their fifth workday to projects that engage the College with Greater Philadelphians devoted to a more socially just, healthy and vibrant community. Sarah describes her placement and project as follows: “I will be a

Mary Gaynin '04 and Alex Agnant '02 with former faculty member Yarrot Benz, right, on their wedding day.

FRIENDS SEMINARY

Class Notes

46

through research and field trips. Karen is about to see her home city in a whole new light. This summer, she will spend seven days exploring the historic side of New York City as a 2009 Gilder-Lehrman One-Week History Scholar. The program is sponsored by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, which promotes the study and appreciation of U.S. history. Karen is one of 50 students nationwide selected for the honor. The theme of this year’s Gilder-Lehrman program is “Lincoln’s New York.” Karen and her fellow scholars will read primary sources related to Abraham Lincoln culled from the Institute’s extensive collection, meet with local historians, and visit archives. The scholars will then create PowerPoint presentations about these sites, which will become a virtual walking tour of Lincoln’s New York. “I’ve always loved history, particularly American history,” Karen said, “and this seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about it in the company of like-minded peers and the historians who have written the books I’ve read in classes.” She’s also looking forward to learning more about a little-known aspect of New York’s past and, she says, “discovering how that history shaped the city in which I grew up.”

2008Hayden Hatch (CA)

Marc Mechanic (CA)

Jackson Sinder (CS)

Alexander Winter (CS)

2009Claire Brennan (CS)

Lauren Chin (CS)

Allison Hartel (CS)

Joel Hochman (CA)

Cristian Lopez-Balboa (CA)

Post graduation activities compiled by Lauren Chin: Emma Weinstein writes: “I got my bartending certification, learned how to play frisbee from an ultimate frisbee champion, and went to a Quaker retreat in Silver Bay, NY. I also kayaked on the Hudson to see Fourth of July fireworks in Garrison, NY and highly recommend this to anyone!” Rob Stabenau writes: “I worked at a creative arts summer camp as a photography instructor. Played on an alumni soccer team and my pop’s basketball team.” Erica Silverstein went on a backpacking trip with her brother, visiting Singapore, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Dillon Torchia is interning for the Head of Diversity and the AVP of Diversity at Deutsche Bank. Alec Lumey is visiting cousins in Amsterdam and then sightseeing in Scotland. Dyllon Gibbs vacationed with the Obamas in Martha’s Vineyard, filmed a NYC street ball documentary, worked as a secretary for the Law Office of Derrick Gibbs ’72 and participated in weekly basketball games in the Friends gym. Samantha Tharler was a camp counselor at Camp Haverim at the 92nd Street Y with Sam Nebel, and went to Milan and Rome on vacation. Jo-Sar Davis- Dacio writes: “My summer has

been fun. I went to Yearly Meeting, which is a Quaker retreat at Silver Bay. There, I participated in archery, stain glass making, and I even went to Silent Meeting outdoors. In addition, I’ve been hosting at a restaurant in midtown, working on my ultimate frisbee skills, playing basketball, and I got to witness my first horse show in Vermont (Emma Weinstein’s). Lastly, I’ve been getting plenty of R&R before I embark on my journey to Morehouse College in Atlanta!” Travis Bogosian is working at Hitviews, doing statistical analysis, creating short films, writing, and doing odd jobs. Alex Heimann is working at the new Hollister flagship store in SoHo and visited her dad in St. Louis. Zach Sosa is participating in the Cashin Fellowship at the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), a community development non-profit that focuses on providing affordable housing for residents in neighborhoods across the country. D’Meca Homer fenced at a senior world cup in Dallas Tex. and summer national championships is Grapevine Tex. He medaled in his senior event, which is a big deal. Forrest Petterson worked at a day camp in Long Island for two months. Johnny Bohorquez explored the wonders of private equity and golf. Jemana Theis went to Montreal for the 30th International Jazz Festival South Africa, specifically Johannesburg, Kruger National Park (on safari), and Cape Town. She visited family in Luedenscheid and Mechtersheim, Germany; Zwolle and The Hague, The Netherlands; and Northern Portugal (near Tabua). Harper Gany-Beitler is working as an office manager at a doctor’s office. Renata Mittnacht is interning at Big Foote Music, a recording studio. Miles Arntzen’s band, Milo and the Fuzz, just recorded its new album with the producer of Albert Hammond Jr. (from The Strokes, and it will be released by the end of summer. Nikki Zenker did a petition for Richard Aborn to get him on the ballot. Cristian Lopez-Balboa traveled to Namibia and Botswana doing wildlife photography and then opened an exhibition of his photos. Tory Brewster went to Greece for two weeks, visiting Athens, Olympia,

fellow at Parkway NW High School for Peace and Social Justice. I will help facilitate and implement new and continuing in-class projects and after-school programming. I will also help students become more involved in the center and take over leadership roles within the center so that is it truly student-run. Additionally, I want to implement a student-led seminar at Haverford College, discussing an East or South African country, involving both Haverford and Parkway students. I hope to have the hard work from this seminar culminate in a trip to whichever country we study in-depth.”

2006Aaron Bloch (CS)

Zuzanna Drozdz (CS)

Cory López (CS)

Cameron McCully (CS)

2007Rachel Colberg-Parseghian (CS, CA)

Taylor Owens (CS)

Jacqueline Seegers (CS)

Karen Katz will spend a week this summer exploring Abraham Lincoln’s ties to New York City

NEwS FROM FRiENDS Fall 2009

In Memoriam

47

mycenae, delphi, Nemea and the islands of delos, mykonos, santorini, Crete and Kythira. And she has been horseback riding a little in the Hamptons. Jordan Feinstein went to rome, Florence and Venice and took an experimental theoretical physics course at Columbia where he also works in the physics research labs. Julia Dratel is interning at the Janice Ginsberg Agency, working on music licensing, organizing soundtracks for films, and listening to a lot of good music. she is also babysitting to get some funds here and there. she doesn’t go to University of Chicago until september 18 (crazy quarter system). lauren Chin was a camp counselor at summer Friends working with the four-year-olds, trained for and passed the intermediate moves in the Field Figure skating test, and spent a week in Bermuda on vacation. | f

In memoriamEleanor Beach Fitchen ’30 of Brewster, NY died at home on April 20, 2009. Born on october 9, 1912 on east 17th street in New York City, she was the daughter of Chester and eleanor Beach. she attended Friends seminary, Brillantmont in Lausanne, switzerland and graduated from Vassar College in 1934. she married Paul russell Fitchen of Albany, NY on december 29, 1934 in New York City where they continued to live. Throughout her life she was concerned about family, Friends, the community and her surroundings. she was very active in the Friends seminary PTA in the 1950’s. she also had a long-term involvement with the women’s Prison Association and was on the board of its Hopper Home—a halfway house for recently released offenders, for which she created a fundraising thrift shop. on Paul’s retirement as executive director of the New York Clearing House in 1967, they moved permanently to Brewster where she founded the Landmarks Preservation society. she actively promoted beautification throughout Putnam County. she established a program of court designated

community service for youthful offenders who worked alongside her every weekend for twenty years maintaining old cemeteries, creating pocket parts (pamphlet used to update the contents of a book), and restoring significant buildings. she was predeceased by her husband in 1990, and by her son, Douglas Beach Fitchen ’53, of ithaca, NY in 2008. she is survived by her daughters, Ellen Tappan ’56 of wolfeboro, NH and anne Burton ’61 of London, england, by eleven grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

Mary Schuster Jaffe ’32 was an early female scientist, getting more than 15 patents at Nela Park. she died in her native ithaca, N.Y., on June 26, 2009. mary was born on January 6, 1917 in New York City. Her father, edward schuster, was an international lawyer, and her mother, born mary merritt Crawford, was a pioneer woman physician and later a trustee of Cornell University. when she was 16, she enrolled at Cornell University, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 1937. mary traveled around the world in 1937-38, including an extended stay with expatriate relatives in the Philippines. Upon her return to New York, she enrolled in the Art students’ League to study oil painting and sculpture. with the outbreak of world war ii, mary returned to chemistry to aid the wartime economy. she worked at the interchemical Company, becoming an early expert in electron microscopy, and took graduate courses at New York University.After the war, mary

moved to Cleveland, ohio to work as an inorganic chemist in the Lamp division of General electric. she married Hans Jaffe, a German-American physicist, in 1947. They had two children, Ann and John. Besides her son and daughter, she is survived by her grandson, edward molleson Jaffe and many relatives and friends.

Paul avila Mayer ’45 died on July 10 from a brain tumor. He co-created the soap opera Ryan’s Hope with Claire Labine in 1975 and served as co-head writer and executive producer of the series for several years. Prior to creating Ryan’s Hope, he was the co-head writer on Where the Heart Is as well as Love of Life, both with Labine. He also served as head writer on Search for Tomorrow in the mid-1980s. He was nominated for ten daytime emmy Awards during his career and won eight times (including two - as a producer and writer - in both 1977 and 1979). Paul was predeceased by his wife of 43 years, the actress sasha von scherler, and is survived by three daughters, Rachael Mayer, Ruth Mayer ’81 and Daisy von Scherler Mayer ’84.

we learn from edward Potthoff, the son of Jean Dono Potthoff ’45, that his mother passed away in 1989 after succumbing to throat cancer. edward writes, “she passed with grace and elegance and her family around her. Further, she returned to her home in Coventry, england when wwii was changing momentum in 1944. There she met and married my father, a Lieutenant in the U.s. Army. i was the product of that union. After the war, they came

back to the U.s., my father completed his education at U. of michigan, and my brother was born. There were years of world travel dictated by my father’s profession, which culminated in our settling down in michigan in the early 60’s. my father died, too young, in 1982. my mother never got over the loss. my mother talked often of her memories of Friends and the friends she made there. she seemed well-suited to New York’s vibrant lifestyle, and carried that influence through her life. she was a most excellent complement to my father’s professional associations (consultant representing the U.s. Government). Those seeds a function of her time in NYC and at Friends. i am proud of her influence, and consequently Friends, in laying the foundation for my life.”

william lewis ’55, m.d. of Fairfield, Conn. passed away Thursday, october 23, 2008. dr. Lewis was born in manhattan, NY, a son of Grace mitchell Lewis and the late Jacques Lewis, m.d. He was a graduate of Friends seminary, the University of michigan and New York University school of medicine. dr. Lewis served his residency at the mayo Clinic in rochester, minn. and Columbia University. He practiced orthopedic surgery and sports medicine in Bridgeport, Conn. for 40 years. dr. Lewis was a team doctor for numerous secondary schools and universities throughout his career. in addition to his cherished mother, dr. Lewis is survived by his loving wife of 29 years, denise Lewis, and by his devoted children, Kimberly and michael. | f

FRiENDS SEMiNaRY48

Notes on Silence

Journey to silenceBy elizabeth Parish eames ’64

it was not a punishment, as in "sit over there and be quiet now and rePeNT," for we were all asked to do it. even the teacher was silent. And it was not simply quiet. it was something beyond quiet, since there appeared to be a destination involved, an intention to it. we were to be silent. To attain silence. To get to silence. it was a journey.

i do not remember that there was an attempt at silence in the first two years in Kindergarten. Perhaps then, it was only an attempt to have us quiet. i only remember the feelings of safety and trust that i had when i entered the red brick schoolhouse at Friends. it was astonishing to be in a world that was my size, where everything fit me. But, of course, that had been just Kindergarten, and this was First Grade, where the real business of learning began—with the alphabet and all. so now we had silence.

memory is selective, so if i say that we started every class every day in Lower school with a moment of silence, i am sure that there are some of my classmates who will say that we did not. But what i can report is how i remember it. i rested in silence before the start of every class. it was like taking a dive into a deep fountain of clear blue water. it was a shower from the inside out.

This all ended in Junior High school. i do not know if it was the rush of moving suddenly about from one room to another, or whether i had simply forgotten about silence in a burst of adolescence, but it was gone. we would have Assembly twice a week in the meetinghouse. sometimes, i would sneak back into the meetinghouse to sit quietly in the balcony for a breath of silence. The meetinghouse fortunately had, and i certainly hope it still has, hours and hours of residual silence that can be tapped in case of emergency.

Perhaps we were too "old" for silence or the practice was considered "too religious," but for some reason, i have no memory of silence as part of our daily practice at Friends outside of Assembly. i remember the anticipatory dread before our first full silent meeting. rarely during my later years at Friends did i experience the blessings of silence that had been gifted to me with the daily practice in Lower school. it is impossible to play on the varsity team without regular practice. Yet it is also astonishing what seeds grow in later life when planted early in fertile soil, such as the practice of silence, integrity, and honor.

Four years ago, i was teaching english to a group of pre-teens at a Foundation school here in the dominican republic. Their energy was out of control. i took off my watch and explained that we were all going to observe one minute of silence so that we could begin the lesson again. i had asked them before for a moment of silence, and now i said that we were going to all just sit together in silence for one whole minute to experience how long a minute really was. None of these children had ever experienced anything like this before and the first 20 seconds were spent in the best mimicry i had ever seen. Then, at about 30 seconds, something clicked and a wave of tranquility passed over us. when the second hand reached 12, i had before me an attentive group of listeners. Calm. eager. refreshed. in only one minute.

one of the amazing aspects of silence is that its growth is geometric, just like violence. This is one of the things that the Quakers have figured out over the years. even if you may feel unable to center down into silence, if you put yourself in a group of people who are also making the attempt to center down, the odds are that you are going to make it. The older one gets, the

We started First Grade in silence. Sometimes even now, 56 years later,

I am transported back there to that moment when everything stopped

for the first time, and I heard the ocean without the shell to my ear.


more debris accumulates on the surface of the fountain and the harder it is to get down to the bottom of the fountain to the silence. That is why it is so important to start early and practice regularly.

it took me twenty years after graduation to realize that i had become a Quaker. i was living in Newport, rhode island at the time, which had a very small worship group, with basically one stalwart Quaker woman who had, at one time, kept the old New england meetinghouse open on her own for three years. That meetinghouse had the very same residual silence that

Friends seminary's meetinghouse did. George Fox had actually been there once. i was easily transported home to the silence. Then on a visit to Asheville, North Carolina, i stopped at their meetinghouse and saw a meetinghouse full of children, on the journey to silence. There is nothing more seductive than children being trained to silence, so there i stayed for fourteen years, until i was called away to my new home here in the dominican republic, the noisiest country i have ever heard. | f

To read more of Elizabeth’s writings, visit www.elizabetheames.blogspot.com.

Notes on Silence

FrieNds semiNArY222 eAsT 16TH sTreeTNew YorK, NY 10003-3703

ADDRESS SERVICE REqUESTED

Wednesday, January 6Alumni & Student Networking Day

Friday, January 22Chinese New Year (off campus)

Thursday, February 11Lecture Series, Professor Jeffrey Sachs

Thursday, March 11Auction (off campus)

Saturday, May 8Spring Fair

Friday, May 14Reunion (50th Reunion Activities only)

Saturday, May 15Reunion (All Alumni Activities)

2010Tuesday, October 20

Lecture Series, Architect Charles Renfro

Saturday, October 24Alumni Community Service Day

Monday, November 23Lecture Series, Maria Fahey

Saturday, November 28Alumni Soccer Game at East River Park

Thursday, December 3God’s Love We Deliver Alumni Workshop

Friday, December 18 Young Alumni & Class of 2010 Lunch

Alumni Basketball Game

2009

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News From Friends | Fall 2009