Class Notes

Haven’t kept all of your Midd Mags?

Wondering what your classmates have been doing since graduation?

Below are your Class Notes from the last five years—now, you won’t be lacking for ice-breakers at Reunion! (And, when you're done perusing the notes, here's a piece on the most effective way to read them.)

Inspired to submit a class note of your own?

Fall 2007

How did you spend your summer vacation? Russ Christensen (70-something) was to set out in mid-June for a 700-mile march from Chicago to Washington with a posse of Univ. of Chicago grad students (20-somethings) to urge the impeachment of the gents occupying the office of president and vice president. Russ, a war vet himself, warmed up for the two-month trek with 135 miles of antiwar marches in ’05. • Watch for Mary Roemmele Crowley’s upcoming children’s book. She has written and beautifully illustrated a book called I Love to Visit My Grammy. It’s a simple story of love and peace; available in bookstores and at www.revolutionbooksellers.com. • If you saw a silver-haired classmate with no known athletic experience pounding through the streets of Chicagoland this summer, it was our own Gerald Patrick Noonan, who was training for the Chicago Marathon on October 7. Gerry was running for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society in honor of his and Suzanne’s grandson, Keegan, who died last September. “Thanks to many of you, the donations piled in, which made it all so much easier for me to face those morning runs—boring, yes, and tiring too—but all for a great cause!” • Ken Milner checked in from Madrid, Spain. “Learning that fraternity brother and classmate Clyde (Sonny) Wilder was swinging through Madrid Easter week, we spent two evenings together along with his attractive and very personable wife, Pat. I hadn’t seen Sonny for 49 years but he looked terrific: tall, slim, a full head of slightly graying hair, and no wrinkles! The chemistry was great and I thoroughly enjoyed being with them. We, of course, agreed to meet again next year in Middlebury for the big 50th reunion. I gave Sonny a dedicated copy of my book, Appointment in Madrid, recently published in London. Sonny read it the next day and nice man that he is, ordered three copies of it from Amazon for Middlebury friends when he arrived back in the States. I am now looking for a U.S. publisher for my second book, Tim Moreno.” • Speaking of our 50th, be sure to mark your calendars for reunion weekend, June 6–8, 2008!

Class Secretaries
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Summer 2007

Vansel Johnson writes that he has moved to Bellingham, Wash., for more opportunities in ballet and modern dance. He took two of his horses with him. • Joe Mohbat played the title role in the Brooklyn Heights Players presentation of Da, the semiautobiographical play by the Irish dramatist Hugh Leonard, winner of the 1978 Tony Award for best play. Da is short for Dad, and the play begins with his coming home from his own funeral to lodge himself in the mind of his reluctant adoptive son. The role takes Da from his late 60s to his 30s and into his senescent 80s. The show ran for nine performances in March, to good reviews—but your secretary prudently retains his day job. • Speaking of senescence, do mark the dates for our 50th next June. All those codgers we’ve watched coming down the chapel aisle to wild applause is now us, as Pogo might say. You’ll want to be there, so continue with the broccoli regimen.

Class Secretaries
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Spring 2007

Janet Miller McKee recently took a trip to NYC and Washington, D.C., with Bonnie Mairs, John ’57 and Ginny Havighurst Middleton, Debby West Zipf, and Lucy Carpenter Freeman to celebrate 70th birthdays. • Len Colt has gone into semiretirement but remains a director and part owner of a sales and marketing company specializing in organic products. It’s a new company that’s growing rapidly due to the terrific growth of the organic industry in this country. • Retired human rights lawyer Russ Christensen drove from Maine to Washington, D.C., in January to participate in a demonstration against the wars our country is taking part in. In addition he wrote an open letter to Congress and an op-ed piece voicing his opposition to the government’s handling of our foreign affairs. Russ served as a lieutenant in the Korean War. • Stephanie Eaton has decided to step down as class secretary for our class. We deeply appreciate her years of service.

Class Secretaries
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Winter 2007

Shirley Whitney Juneo writes that last year her daughter and sisters surprised her with a “Red Hat” 70th birthday party at the Waybury Inn. One of the reasons it was such a surprise was that the party happened in July and her birthday is in November! Midd friends who attended were Adrienne Delaney ’57 and home economics teacher Pat McCarthy Whitney. Various townspeople, friends, neighbors, and high school buddies came as well. “Daughter Jenny commissioned Sabra Field ’57 to do a picture of our view overlooking Lake Dunmore with Moosalamoo in the background. (We are fortunate to live on the site of the old Lake Dunmore Hotel, a.k.a. the North 40.) Needless to say, I was blown away! Bob and I also celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at a five-star resort in Canada. All-in-all, it was a banner year!” • In November, Dr. Donald Booth was inducted as a fellow of dental surgery into the Royal College of Surgeons of England in a formal ceremony at the College’s London headquarters. He says, “It is a special honor for me to be elected to this organization whose origins date back to the reign of Henry VIII in 1540.” The College has elected just four American oral and maxillofacial surgeons in its history. Don is a professor and chair emeritus of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Boston Univ. School of Dental Medicine. He served as department chair from 1970–2001 during which time he oversaw the initiation and growth of the resident training program in oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msncom), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Spring 2006

In spring 2005, Sandy Van Zandt and wife Sidney traveled to Cornwall, England, to finalize the sale of their yacht Sequel to a young Australian they had met while cruising in Indonesia in 1994. Sequel was designed by Sandy, built by them, and had been their home for over 14 years. They sailed over 90,000 miles, including a circumnavigation (1990-1996) and four trans-Atlantics, the last one in 2003 from Noank to Ireland. They cruised with the new owners and their baby (4 mos.) for a month from England to Ireland to Scotland, transited the Caledonian Canal, and sailed across the North Sea to Norway. They left the new owners and Sequel there and continued on via land and sea travels to Denmark, Holland, and England, visiting old friends along the way. "This closed out a very exciting period of our lives, but we are happy the boat is in extremely good hands and will continue on its adventuring ways. We have recently purchased a Rhodes 18 for day sailing the waters of Fisher's Island Sound." Sandy is busy in his shop doing metal and mixed media sculpture, while Sidney continues her involvement in protecting open space and our water resources. • Don and Sue Daniell Phillips wrote at Thanksgiving time from the sunny South, "where we have just eaten too much turkey, as usual." They "had a wonderful visit in October from Ken Milner, wife Rian, and their son, Kenny. We had visited them twice in Madrid and they finally reciprocated. We reviewed our yearbook and the 25th reunion book as we got caught up. At the time of our 25th, Ken reported that he had written a book, still unpublished. As he left Charlotte, he presented us with a copy of the now-published book Appointment in Madrid. It was published in England, author K.W. Milner, but is available on Amazon. I wonder who else in the class has had a novel published?" Sue and Ken both agreed that the 50th is a must!

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msncom), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Winter 2006

Bonnie Mairs retired on July 1, after 35 years with the YMCA's international programs. She continues to work half time on special projects. Last spring she visited YMCAs and the U.S. Embassies in South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt. • Mary Nahley Jones writes that she and husband Rick are "settled into our little corner of North Carolina. It's wonderful to be close to the ocean and to live in a more temperate climate than New England offered." However, she was keeping fingers crossed that hurricanes stay far, far away. • Don Lawton and wife Jean recently observed their 45th anniversary. Don continues to work part time at the Watertown [N.Y.] Daily Times, where he was a reporter for 12 years and a copy editor for 25 years. Jean retired in 1997 from her nursing career. Don was the 1967 recipient of the Israel Shapiro Award as Watertown's citizen of the year. • Russ Christensen took a long walk last spring to protest the war in Iraq. According to the Lewiston (Maine) Sun Journal, he was walking to draw attention to his stance that the war has little to do with democracy and more to do with controlling oil reserves in the Middle East. A retired human rights attorney, Russ walked about two miles per hour, collecting roadside trash along the way. • Dinny Rogers Riegel writes that she's now living in Cedarburg, Wis.: "Our countryside is very like Middlebury. Still own a Morgan horse and enjoy riding him when I'm able." • Ann Alvord Groves traveled by air and ferry to Grand Manan, on the Bay of Fundy, in July. She and Steffi Eaton "joined Ralph Smith's watercolour class for six days on the island, where Ralph's 87-year-old, distilled message is 'color is everything!' The more vibrant, the better. The more light and dark placement, the better! It was a poignant gift. Of course, the sea's bounty of scallops, lobsters, halibut, and haddock treated our tummy palettes, too!"

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msncom), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Fall 2005

A long, hilarious weekend in June was enjoyed by Mary Roemmele Crowley, Linda Mayer Horkitz, Barbara Bang Knowles, and Ann Ormsbee Frobose, who gathered at Ginny Davis Irwin's condo in Aspen, Colo. For Saturday dinner, they were joined by Aspen resident Mary Stein. Absent in body but not in spirit: Joseph Mohbat. • At the same time, Californian Carolyn Dwinnell Calhoon was visiting her daughter and had a reunion with Mary Bachman Wright. • May these congenial gatherings be a reminder to all of you of our historic 50th reunion only three years away in '08. Keep your calendars clear.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (aspof@sbcglobal.net), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msncom), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217

Summer 2005

Jean and Don Lawton recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. • Any more news out there?

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (frobose@llnl.gov), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Winter 2005

Secretary Eaton reports: Contentious issues of how to spend money within the New Hampshire state budget continue to heat up wits, rhetoric, and demeanor. Common sense is elusive and often countered by a beguiling want list that goes well beyond the basic needs list. Does this ring true in your state? When asked how to bring sanity back to our spending habits, one noted economist commented that "human will isn't strong enough to accomplish a sweeping job of it. The one leveling accomplisher? A devastating depression that puts us all back to basics—a roof over our heads, heat to warm us, and food to eat." Think about it. What do you propose? And remember to send Steffi a postcard from your vacation or travels. • In August, Ann Alvord Groves flew from Blacksburg, Va., to St. John, New Brunswick, then to Grand Manan, an island in the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. She stayed harborside at the Compass Rose. During the next five days and evenings, Ann and I (Steffi) roamed the island, devoured scrumptious seafood, talked with fellow visitors, and painted in watercolors. I am grateful to Ann for bringing me out of the Dark Ages of watercolor techniques to a place of fun and creativity. My cottage is all shingled now, making it much warmer and quieter. • The Actors' Equity Foundation recently announced the Roger Sturtevant Musical Theatre Award, available to Equity membership candidates who have demonstrated outstanding abilities in the musical theatre field. The award was started by the family of casting director Roger Sturtevant, who passed away on June 29, 2003. • Best wishes to William Geenty, who had successful open heart surgery last July and is enjoying retirement in Washington state.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (frobose@llnl.gov), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Fall 2004

Barbara Bang Knowles is still director for research and training of the Jackson Laboratory. She's also codirector of the interesting new Institute for Molecular Biophysics at the Univ. of Maine, Jackson Lab, and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. "Having fun, living in a really beautiful part of the world. Come visit!" • Grace Warder Harde moved to Plainfield, N.H., "to be closer to the newly formed Aidron Duckworth Art Museum, a public nonprofit trust and 'classy' small museum of modern art works of Aidron Duckworth. Come visit!" • James Eppes writes: "We are still fixing up an old house to sell this fall/winter." • Shirley Whitney Juneo and husband Bob met with John and Bonnie McCardell at a Midd alumni gathering at the University Club in Sarasota, Fla., last January. The Juneos have the best of both worlds, living in Venice, Fla., for six months of the year and Lake Dunmore, Vt., the other six months. • Velma Rice writes that "50 has a certain mind-set: 50-year reunion out of high school, 50+4 Midd reunion, and I wish I were 50 again!" • Sandy Van Zandt was setting off in June for a North Atlantic voyage to Ireland. Wife Sidney was staying home to be near her mother, who was turning 99 in August. But she was joining him in Ireland for a cruise around the west side of the Emerald Isle or into the Irish Sea south of Scotland. They will leave their 38-foot cutter (which Sandy designed and built in the early 1980s) in Dublin for the winter, with plans to cruise the Orkneys and Shetland islands in Scotland and continue to Norway next summer. Sandy and Sidney are both members of the Ocean Cruising Club, whose membership requires a sailor to log at least 1,000 miles port to port.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (frobose@llnl.gov), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Winter 2004

More than 400 friends and admirers packed the ballroom of the New York Athletic Club for a show-biz tribute to our own Roger Sturtevant, who died last June at 66. His forever friend and traveling buddy (annual jaunts to London for theater day and night) Ginny Davis Irwin, worked with Roger's sister, Jane, and others to organize the salute. Roger's Middlebury roommate for four years, Peter Honegger, sent a written remembrance (read by Joe Mohbat), which had the capacity crowd laughing in recognition of qualities Roger carried throughout his life. ("He would use my social life to test his talent-hunting skills—a constant matchmaker.") Roger's reputation, first in the box office and later in the casting (shows and, later, commercials) ends of the business, was legend. Tributes came in from Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, and others of highest magnitude. It was, as he would have wanted it, a helluva show for "Roger Bassoon," the erstwhile cymbals-crasher of the Midd marching band. • Anne Curtis Odom curated the exhibition What Became of Peter's Dream at the Middlebury College Museum of Art this fall. The exhibition related to the Clifford Symposium Petersburg in History and the Arts marking the 300th anniversary of Petersburg, Russia. As a visiting scholar, Anne also discussed the decorative arts circa 1900. Anne is curator emerita of the Hillwood Museum and Gardens in Washington, D.C. W Jean and James Witham are now living year-round in Florida, with visits to Cape Cod during the summer months. "Last summer I had a complete ankle replacement and all is going well. However it was no fun being on crutches in July, August, and September." • We regret to report the death of Alfred Ruys de Perez in an auto accident in Toronto last Easter weekend.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (frobose@llnl.gov), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Fall 2003

As they say on the radio, the 2003 reunion was "All '58, all the time." Other classes may have attended, but it was we bland-generation '58ers who: won the Raymond A. Ablondi '52 Cup for the largest reunion class gift, more than $2.1 million; won the Gordon C. Perine '49 Award for the greatest percentage increase in class giving (from a class other than the 25th and 50th Reunions); who set a class record with giving participation of 72 percent; who provided the winner of the biggie—the Alumni Service Award. He doesn't want his name publicized, although it resounded throughout Mead Chapel at Convocation, but the initials are Dick Johnson. Those of you who have felt that arm on your shoulder over the decades will know that Dick has been the mainspring behind our class's record-setting generosity to the College. If you know his path to Middlebury, you know that he is the very essence of the concept of "giving back." Kudos, too, to gift committee leaders Linda Durfee Dean and Peter Honegger and their charges. • We also provided the entertainment centerpiece (unless you count the lecture on "Middlebury's Application of Green Certified Wood in New Construction Projects"), with the Ginny Davis Irwin-directed Ancestral Voices, a staged reading by A.R. Gurney, which pretty well filled the Seeler Studio Theatre and was enthusiastically received with the appropriate laughter and tears. Along with Honegger, Charlene Scott, Shirley Whitney Cuneo, and your secretary, Joe Mohbat, we were blessed with the appearance of Gay Nelson's nephew, Sean Nelson '02 (that's 2002, friends), in the more youthful narrator's role. • We had 49 classmates present, along with mates of various kinds. Bob '54 and Betsy Heath Gleason graciously hosted, once again, a delightful lunch overlooking the Otter on the heart-achy departure Sunday. • On a sadder note, we pause to note the death in NYC at June's end of our creative classmate Roger Sturtevant. From then 'til now, he knew every word of every song that was ever sung in the musical theater. • Comes also word of the death in Louisville, Ky., of George "Put" Metcalf, who was a leader of the Middlebury business community for a decade and was active in the tricky transition from Midd's old fraternity system. • And so, as ever, the joyous news is tempered by the sad, the coming together with the partings, as '58 moves ever closer to the front of Class Notes. Do eat your broccoli, and plan to be there in '08.

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@msn.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Ormsbee Frobose (frobose@llnl.gov), 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566

Summer 2003

News from Gale Valentine Lorenzen Flagg in Maine: "We helped the ham radio club put up a 150-foot tower on one of our hills for the St. John Valley Amateur Radio Assoc. Club. One solar panel to power it. Stan and I are both very involved in the Can-Am Sled Dog Races. The 250-mile race is an Iditarod qualifier. We are directors and officials." • Jamie Eppes writes that he sang for five years in the Boulder (Colo.) Bach Festival. In August 2002, he moved to Winchester, Va., where he's remodeling a house to sell in '04: "Am living in the Shenandoah River Valley (Civil War country)-very lush and beautiful." • Linda Shutt Salmon received the Monroe County Human Services Volunteer of the Year Award in Harrisburg, Pa., in October. The award commended her work as president of the Pocono Mountain Ecumenical Hunger Ministry, a food pantry operated by volunteers from six churches and two community groups for the past eight years. Linda is also a part-time librarian at the Monroe County branch of Northampton Community College. She missed reunion due to a month-long trip west with two granddaughters and husband Peter '56. • In Buffalo, N.Y., Mary and Chuck Rice hosted a reception welcoming new students into the Middlebury community last March. • Peter Coe writes: "Sold Aerial, sold the farm, and am now happily retired on Hilton Head Island, S.C., with spouse of 40 years Marlene. Weather is great, fishing fine, and people hospitable. Lots to do. Days are full. C'mon down."

Class Secretaries
Stephanie Eaton (stephanie.eaton@leg.state.nh.us), 243 Pleasant St., Littleton, NH 03561
Joseph E. Mohbat (jmohbat@aol.com), 551 Pacific St., Brooklyn, NY 11217
Ann Parnie Frobose, 2370 Meadowlark Dr., Pleasanton, CA 94566.

Inspired to submit a class note of your own?

50th Reunion

1958 Reunion Volunteers

1958 Reunion Giving

Who's Planning to Attend?

In Memoriam

50th Reunion Newsletter Two

50th Reunion Preliminary Schedule

Class Notes

Reunion Rideshare