class notes…
^
photo above
Some of the following Class Notes have been edited
for length. For the most current—and complete!—
Class Notes, visit www.thacher.org.
1950
1953
1958
1959
1966
1969
26 spring 2008
1974
CHUCK DEMUND and Janice have moved to the Charlotte,
N.C., area. They are now only a few miles from ERIN ‘94 and
her family.
john CARVER reports that his wife Sue has just had both
knees replaced. John loudly counts the number of times he
has gone up and down stairs on errands for her. He may rip
out the intercom system. By the way, the operation was successful. Timing is everything, though; this all happened while
they were remodeling a condo and readying their home for
sale. Lyn and LEE FOLLETT just got back from an incredible month in East Africa, including three weeks in Kenya. Their
group of friends were the only safariers, because the political
situation scared sensible people away. Lee continues, “TOBY
RICHARDS called me to talk about Reunion and I got to chat
with Martha as well. They will attend our 55th Reunion and
their daughter will be at the School as well for her 15th. Polly
and BILL NIGH are down to ‘only’ 11 Welsh Terriers, and one
of them is ranked 11th nationally. Even the pets of our class
do well in life! Thanks to those who have responded yay or
nay about Reunion. We’d love to hear from the rest of you.”
JOHN SANGER writes in December: “Still on the water—
rowing and circumnavigating Vancouver Island in our small
trawler this past summer.”
1976
Shana (daughter of the late NORMAN GOSS CDEP 1933)
and CHRISTOPHER HENZE celebrated their 40th wedding
anniversary in February. After a Foreign Service career that
took them to South Africa, Tanzania, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France (twice), and inevitably Washington, D.C., they are
still enjoying life together in France, where they have made
their home since 1988.
ARTHUR C. ADAMS’ son graduated from Pacific; his stepson has landed a role in a reality show.
It’s a new job for DAN GREGORY: “After 27 years at Sunset
magazine, where I was most recently Senior Home Editor, I
have taken an exciting new position as editor of Houseplans.
com, the largest online source of architectural stock plans. My
charge is to improve our offerings and develop new features,
including an editor’s blog. Meanwhile my book Cliff May
and the Modern Ranch House (not Rough House, though
there might be parallels!), published by Rizzoli, is due out this
month. I am particularly grateful to Gretchen and MARSHALL
MILLIGAN, and Betsy Grether for help with my research.”
1978
RANDOLPH HEAD: “It has been a good year professionally.
I’m spending 2007-08 on sabbatical from UC Riverside after
getting a research fellowship from the American Philosophical
Society to work on my new book, which involves my traveling
all over Western Europe to check out early modern archives.
Meanwhile, I’ve published two new books: an edited collection of essays entitled Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in Early
Modern German Culture (Brill, 2007), and a study of a man
who was murdered in 1639 (with an ax) by a guy dressed as
a bear, Jenatsch’s Axe (Univ. of Rochester Press, 2008). The
second one is aimed not just at other historians, but at real
human readers, too! And UC Riverside has also promoted me
to full professor. Personally, I’m enjoying a whole year spent at
home in New Jersey, where my partner teaches at the medical school in New Brunswick. It sure cuts my commute. We’re
still working on finding jobs on the same side of the country,
or maybe (gasp!) even in the same city, so wish us luck. And I
still get back to Ojai every few months to stop by the old family house, and usually put in a hike up Horn Canyon as well.
I’ve been glad to hear it’s finally raining this year.”
In early March DON OSBORNE writes: “This update comes
while I’m in Roatan, Honduras, waiting for 24 Penn State students who just finished a week-long series of excursions running mobile medical clinics as part of the Global Medical Brigade (medicalbrigades.com), an organization I’m proud to be
a part of. We have added some extension trips and I hope to
spend time with the Penn State pre-meds preparing them for
their application to medical school. Next, I fly to Costa Rica
to work with 16 more students in a three-day medical school
admissions retreat. Our sister organization, Global Business
Brigades (businessbrigades.com), is succeeding in its mission
to provide micro-finance and support micro-enterprise projects in both Honduras and Panama. We are working closely
with multiple orphanages, as well as a candle shop to help
battered women escape their circumstances. This is the work
I was meant to do in my life and I feel fortunate and blessed
to have found it. Opportunities abound in the organization for
all Thacher alums who wish to exercise their social responsibility muscles. (dono@inquarta.com)”
At Christmas 2007, STACEY COWLES continues to fundraise
for the Boy Scouts and Washington State University’s Applied
Sciences Lab—a contract research lab working on new materials for application in defense, manufacturing, and energy—
which could provide new jobs and incomes and more newspaper readers! JOHN STEVENSON has been living in Gainesville,
Fla. (go Gators!), for the last eight years. Neurosurgery has
been good to him but keeps him so busy we never see him!
He bumps into MAURY SMITH now and again at various neurosurgical conferences. John is surrounded by women—wife,
Beth; stepdaughter, Cassidy; and daughter, Emma!
Photos (L to R): Katie and Fred Williamson ‘79 with their children, Hilary, Hughes, and Freddie; Tad ’50 and Cici Williamson; Charles ‘10, Eleanor ‘12, Emily ‘83, Henry, and Sarah Hancock; Daphne and Chandler
‘81 Williamson, Collin, Claire, JT, Shannon, Jonathan, and Elizabeth
Williamson; Whitney ‘04 and Nori Livermore ‘66; The Gregory family:
Mary, Dan ‘69, Martha ’06, Eliza ’99; Paul ’70 and Kimberleigh Gavin;
The Hastings Family: Jamie ‘02, Liz, Newie ‘70, Shannon ‘99, Quinn
Baker; Jennifer, David ’73, and Rebecca Livermore
MILESTONEs
1979
1980
1981
1982
ROB FRANKEL: “I have been actively soliciting work as a physician assistant and as a certified home inspector, networking
through BNI. Kymberlee and I are researching an Orchid Farm
on the Big Island. We traveled there in December to look over
the books. If all checks out, we plan to buy it and take over
operations, and I’ll become an inter-island commuter for medical, surgical, and home inspection services until I can develop
enough workload on Hawaii. Theoretically the farm income
meets its costs and pays the mortgage as well.”
For the last seven years TRACEY STEVENSON GARRETT has
been the head (and only) coach for the Eagle High School
(Idaho) Girls Junior Varsity and Varsity teams. During this time,
the Varsity squad has developed into the reigning champion
dynasty! Her daughter, Lauren, a senior this year, is an outstanding player both on attack and at middy. In fact, Lauren
is being offered scholarships by a number of schools—this in
addition to her outstanding academic record, also resulting
in scholarships! Tracey’s oldest son, Tyler, is attending Boise
State University (Go Broncos!), and is in his second year playing on the lacrosse team. Neil, her youngest, is currently a
sophomore and is the consummate athlete—varsity team for
cross country, ski team, and lacrosse. This is Tracey’s last year
coaching at Eagle High School—she’s hanging up her hat!
CAROL McCONNELL had dinner with MARC MURRAY a
couple of weeks ago while he was in California for a business
trip. He is living in NYC and working for Morgan Stanley. She
spoke with HEATHER FINDLAY, who had recently returned
from visiting her sister NORAH ‘82 and her new baby nephew
in Spain.
GAYLE HEIRSHBERG MAH writes, early this year: “I am pregnant with child number three. I am due in May. My others are
Jenna, who turns 4 in March, and Ty, who is 2. So, I will have
my hands full. I’m just keeping up with the kids. I’m not presently working; my law license is on inactive status. Unfortunately, I will also have to relinquish my horse. He just doesn’t
get the attention he deserves. I hope to get another horse one
day when the kids are in school and I have more time. With
number three coming, we are looking at a bigger car and even
a bigger house. For now, we remain in Agoura—not all that far
from Thacher.” BRAD YATES tells us, “I commute two feet out
my back door to my cozy office in my backyard and talk to
people on the phone for a couple hours a day—it doesn’t get
much simpler. Well, I am taking both guitar and piano lessons,
so that complicates it a bit. I may have some big news coming up... A film is being done about the healing technique I do
(EFT), featuring interviews with Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup
for the Soul) and others, including several of the stars of the
film, The Secret, and I understand I’ll be in it as well. But I’m
not uncorking the champagne to celebrate my new fame until
I see the film.” MIKE VOEVODSKY has lots going on: “Our
Marriages
The MCCLOSKEY FAMILY: TODD ‘93, LAURA
‘93, Tom, DEVON ‘02, LAUREN ‘99, Ryan Elston,
Bonnie, DAVID ‘96 (top, left).
Mary Everett and Jeff Conarroe were married
Sept. 1, 2007. Included in photo are Joey Everett
(son of Peter), PETER EVERETT ‘90, Katy Everett
(wife of Peter), Ben Everett (son of Peter), Joan
Meister Everett (Mary’s mom), MARY EVERETT
CONARROE ‘94, Jeff Conarroe, Bruce Everett
(Mary’s dad), Katherine Everett (Mary’s sister), and
BILL EVERETT ‘92 (second, left).
This is on the North Shore of Oahu, where folks
gathered for Abigail’s marriage to Brown Cannon III
on October 27, 2007. From the class of 1995, left to
right: ANNIE JACK, ABIGAIL JOHNSON, and ANTONIA FAIRBANKS (third, left).
Edward Martin and AURIGA BORK ‘96 expatriated and moved to New Zealand to the beautiful
little town of Martinborough, much like Ojai, in
the wine-growing region of Wairapa in the North
Island. “We were married on Dec. 20, 2007 with 12
Thacher alumni, a few Thacher parents, and one current student in attendance!” (fourth, left)
SARAH LOW ‘98 writes, “I got married to Michael Cyrulnik on October 6 in Topanga, Calif., at
the Mountain Mermaid (from the Joni Mitchell
song ‘Carey’: “Come on down to the Mermaid Cafe,
and I will buy you a bottle of wine.”).
KEVIN SCHMIDT ‘01: “I still work at Microsoft,
now in Live Search (which is a competitor to Google).
I got married to Kelly Bookmiller last year on April
7 and we recently bought a house together. So life
has been very good to me.”
MICHAEL DISNER ‘01 recently returned from
another year in China and, in April, will finally
graduate from BYU with his bachelor’s. More importantly, he got married to the former Nora Elia Bair
on Dec. 28, 2007 in Los Angeles!
STEPHANIE HUBBARD ‘02 says: “In the attached photo taken at my marriage to Geoff McGirt
on Jan. 26 in Albuquerque, N.M. are, from left to
right, BETSY BRADFORD ‘02, myself and Geoff,
CLAIRE MILLIGAN ‘02, LAUREL PETERSON ‘02,
LUCY MILLIGAN ‘00, LAURA NEVILLE ‘02, and
Mary Loney.” (fifth, left)
Newlyweds peter ‘97 and Maria Walker WentWORTH, with sisters Amy and LAURA ‘93 on their
left and parents Allan and Heather on the right.
(sixth, left)
engagements
News from LUCIA HALLE ‘98: “I am getting
The Thacher
School 01
married to Brad Craven on June
28, 2008.”
MILESTONES
class notes…
News from DAN RYAN CdeP ’81
via New Orleans:
I’m still here on Dupre, a block off Esplanade, up LePage from Crete
and near where Desoto and Lopez come together. Great neighborhood,
though New Orleans still is not functional. You cannot get express mail
here, some neighborhoods have off-and-on power, and I’m lucky to have
gas. (It has warmed up now, but during the winter it’s nice to have a warm
bath.) If you want to get into sociological issues...don’t ask. Nevertheless,
quoting other people: “This is the only city that ever loved you back,” and
“The only thing worse than living in New Orleans is living anywhere else!”
To me, the only thing bunk about living here is that when I see someone
with a big “T” on his green baseball hat and get excited, a second later I
realize the T stands for Tulane (or Texas or Tennessee).
Here’s a typical New Orleans story as we deal with the remains of
Katrina: The Fair Grinds Coffeehouse is located in an ancient bar/betting
parlor outside the Mystery Street Gate at the racetrack. It is owned by a
husband-wife team, Robert and Elizabeth. All last year when the major
rebuilding was going on, they remained open while they were fixing up the
place, serving as a major community center for people to gather informally
and as a host site for various groups–and the coffee was free! The story beneath the story is that, this winter, Elizabeth took a bad step and, because
all of her and Robert’s resources are tied up into getting their business up
and running again, she’s had to live with a busted knee. There are lots of
similar stories down here about people trying to stick it out. Many are far
worse off due to loss of the bulk of their customer base. A whole lot more
of the city got wiped out than just the Ninth Ward, where the media has
focused its attention.
To “grind” things out a little further, I suggest that anyone interested
check out the following film on the web (http://www.tremedoc.com/):
Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans. The film will eventually end up on PBS, but the historical significance, in regard to the birth
of civil rights, is such that I think that no person should should wait an
extra day to see the film.
As for me, I just capped off the latest season of horse racing at the Fairgrounds Race Track by entering myself into the Crescent City Classic 10K
road race, finishing in my own record time of 51.5 minutes. I would be glad
to host a post-race gathering/party for any and all alumni at next year’s
running. Call me!
28 spring 2008
oldest daughter Paule was just accepted to Thacher, Class
of 2012 (yikes!). Needless to say we are excited for her. That
makes three generations of Voevodskys at the School—fool
me once, shame on you, fool me thrice....? The process was a
bit stressful (would she make it?), so if anyone is contemplating it, I would be happy to talk to you about it. For anyone
applying to Thacher get ready for tuition-sticker shock. I now
know why donating to the School is such an important activity. Our youngest daughter Mia (11) is contemplating what life
will bring when her older sister isn’t around. She is working all
the angles on the move, being an only child, new room furniture, etc. By summer we should be moved from Phoenix to
Tucson. Therese has returned to work as the global manager
for compensation and benefits for RainBird Corp., the sprinkler irrigation company. While she has enjoyed the intellectual
challenges and is making significant contributions, she has
had a hard time being away from the girls. To make things
even more stressful, the job is in Tucson (we live in Phoenix)
and she travels down Monday morning and comes home
Thursday night, and she is living with my parents. Why!?
Good question. I have been working full time on starting a
medical device company (full-time work for no pay). We have
acquired and filed patents, assembled a stellar management
team, and are raising our angel round of funding this quarter
(Q1’08). By summer we should be funded and will move back
to Tucson (hence Therese taking the job there now) as two
of my business partners are in Tucson. Whew... long story.”
HUNTER HOLLINS: Other than missing the SAIDY family on
Sundays all is hunky dory in Alexandria. Mariette will be going
to Valley Drive Preschool in September, just two mornings a
week. She is a charger. Life is good at the U.S. Department of
Interior, although a little anxious about a new boss. I’ve heard
it can be pretty crazy when a new administration comes in
(friendly or not). Plan to go on a fishing trip with BAYARD
’84, LAWRENCE ’92, Mom, Dad, and brother Emmet on the
Gunnison in Colorado this spring, home of monster trout.”
TOM SAIDY: “I am still working in the emerging markets
investment arena. Quite a run in these markets over the past
few years. I am now working on developing a new fund that
will invest in emerging markets globally and will seek investments where our team can improve corporate governance as
a means of creating value beyond just successful operating
performance. We are just now setting out to raise the funds
so lots of work to be done. We have a great team in place and
adding more as we go. Not doing a whole lot of travel at the
moment. Stacey and I went to Spain last October for a week.
We were in Madrid for a few days and were also in the middle
of Don Quixote country and visited Toledo one day. Beautiful
place. On a local basis we take our girls, Margaux (5) and Jane
(3) to the Smithsonian museums a lot and also to the eastern
shore of the Chesapeake Bay and to the beach. I have been
doing a fair bit of duck and goose hunting down there in the
fall and winter. It can get very cold sometimes. I think back to
Photos (L to R): Andres and Eduardo, sons
of Javier Arango ’81; David, Jr., Aime, and
Lukas, children of Amanda and David Chao
‘84; The Twichell Family: Jon ’83, Sophie ‘85,
Cameron, Phoebe, and Jake; Lila and Henry
Gamble, children of Molly and Mark ‘86;
Justin ‘89 and Tracy Lombard’s two: Jordan
and Amanda
the days when it was 48 degrees on The Pergola and I thought
it could never get any colder than that!” JOHN HERZOG and
ALEX KOO met in Bangkok for a couple of nights on the town.
John was on his way to trek in Bhutan and Alex flew over
from Kuala Lumpur to meet him to paint the town orange and
green. From JOHN DAVIES: “My wife Jelena is expecting our
first baby sometime in August. I left Diamond Age at year end
’07 and started the next venture here in Moscow in the New
Year.” JILL STEVENSON is “still enjoying the environs of Boise,
Idaho! Daughter, Cameron, is now 11 years old and on her
way to middle school next year! Hoping to join the Class of
‘14! I am delighted she has a love of skiing like her mother—the
snow was superb this year whether at Bogus Basin, Brundage, or Tamarack! I have signed up for the Robie Creek half
marathon in mid-April and wondered if anyone has a travel
size paramedic kit for the occasion?! Thereafter, hoping to
finally realize the dream of participating in a marathon—this
local race is in May. Again, anyone visiting Boise and willing to donate medical services would be welcomed warmly!
And, before I forget, congratulations to JOHN DAVIES and
his wife, Jelena, on their most exciting news of a baby in August!” BRUCE BELLUSCHI writes: “I continue to live in Camarillo and direct the County of Ventura’s solid waste management efforts. When I have free time, I also love to race my ‘66
Shelby. I frequently have opportunities to see fellow classmate
SAM KIRKEBY, who is thriving in the Hollywood film industry
when not riding one of her fine Andalusian steeds. Most importantly, my 10-year-old daughter and I love to ride horses
whenever possible, especially in the beautiful hills above either
Thacher or Griffith Park.”
1984
photo/illustration credit here
1985
MELISSA MEEKER HARNETT writes: “I am head of the class
action department and a partner of the law firm Wasserman,
Comden & Casselman L.L.P. I am pleased to report that we
just secured preliminary approval of a $23.5 million settlement in a nationwide class action against the manufacturers
of the herbal supplement Airborne. We believe this to be one
of the largest settlements of its kind in the United States, and
it has received a tremendous amount of national press coverage as a result. I remain busy overseeing more than 15 other
class actions, including cases involving antitrust allegations,
false advertising, and product defect, against such companies
as 24 Hour Fitness, Microsoft, BMW, and Sprint.”
JENNIFER NIELSEN DE FOREST tells us: “After an all-toolong stint in the Northeast and South I will be returning to
California this summer. I will also happily be exiting higher
education and returning to the real world of teachers and kids
as dean of studies at Lick Wilmerding High School. I know that
for some reason CdeP 1985 produced a crop of teachers—I
hope some of you will come by for a visit!” ERIC GROSS says:
“I visited PAUL GUTIERREZ to help warm his new abode near
Stanford, where he completed his MBA. Lamentably, Paul is
not so skilled at the BBQ, despite having lived in Australia
for the past year. But more importantly, he still rocks out: his
sparsely furnished new house has more musical instruments
than furniture.” From CAROLINE HOCKADAY SCHUSTER
who lives in NYC and weekends in Southampton with hubby
Charlie: “I am still working at ESPN, focusing on classic car
auctions and the upcoming ESPY Awards in LA this July. All
in all, life is good.” SOPHIE BROWN TWICHELL had the
chance to see MOLLY (TWICHELL) PERRY recently as she
was in New York interviewing teacher candidates with Peter
Robinson. “So nice to catch up with her. I’m starting my fifth
year as the executive director of Friends of Ryerson Woods, a
conservation organization based within a gorgeous nature
preserve. New addition Phoebe d’Hamel Twichell arrived in
May 2007. Big brothers Cameron (9) and Jake (6) dote on their
sister. Jon continues at JP Morgan, and we live in Lake Bluff,
Illinois. We welcome anyone visiting Chicago to get in touch!” From MANISH BHAKTA: “Things have been pretty busy with
work and the hotel business, but I’ve been able to take some
time off. I took the whole family to India in November for the
Indian New Year and we spent some good quality time with
my uncle’s family there. The kids had a blast (literally) as they
celebrated New Year’s with fireworks, like in China. All in all,
no complaints.” SETH SHAW lives in Lakewood, California,
with wife Melissa, son Seth (7) and daughter Savannah (5). By
day, Seth is a deputy probation officer at the Compton Courthouse, working with drug cases. By night, he works on turning
his son into another Lakers fan.
^
1987
TOM COLE is both the deputy director for programs with
Save the Children in Uganda, and manager of their Africa
region pastoral initiative. He took a bronze medal in discathon
at the world Frisbee championships in 2007, and continues
to seek out and document aloes in his travels throughout the
continent. His wife, Linda, has launched her NGO, Community
Action Fund for Women in Africa (CAFWA—www.cafwaafrica.
org) and works with girls and women in the conflict-affected
region of Northern Uganda. Children Allie and Tobias enjoy
the International School of Uganda (third and first grades).
Tom writes: “Allie likes art and looks forward to Wednesdays
at school because of art class. Her flowers, tomatoes, carrots,
and green beans have grown well this year in our garden. She
loved attaching the rope to our giant tree in the yard and
swinging every day. Tobias likes swimming, PE, and throwing the disc with his dad. He’s visited four national parks in
Uganda and Kenya and cites leopard, mongoose, and hyenas
as his favorite animals.” From SYDNEY FISHER BERNIER: “I
went to KIM DIAMOND’S wedding March 8. Fellow alum
KIM MILLIGAN was also there. Kim is the president of the
board of the Grass Valley Film Festival, which is now one of
the largest environmental film festivals in the world. She’s
also involved in lots of other worthwhile causes, and is now
an avid whitewater kayaker.” The Thacher School 29
1991
KRISTOPHER ZIERHUT works for Blizzard Entertainment,
working on World of Warcraft online gaming. SARAH
HARRISON-FINCHER is busy in Fort Worth, Texas, enjoying
her new house, raising Hollis, her 15-month-old daughter, and
keeping busy with her law practice. “I often think of all of you
out in the beautiful Ojai Valley.”
“Things are great in Reno, Nevada,” writes EVA BALAS
GAMES . “We are enjoying a wonderful winter with lots of
snow. Our kids, Trevor and Wyatt, just turned three and we
^
don’t really know where the time went. I had the pleasure
of showing my niece around Thacher last November. I am
thrilled that she is really interested in attending. It was a fun
walk down memory lane showing her all the places I got into
trouble! It made me a little nostalgic and I look forward to the
next reunion.”
1992
The KIRKPATRICKS
Head South:
A Message from
CAROLYN CdeP 1986
In 2007 with our 40th birthCarolyn, Liam, Colin, and Doug Kirkpatrick fell in
days looming, Doug and I decid- love with the natural beauty of New Zealand.
ed it was time for an adventure.
We quit our jobs, sold our house, took our boys out of school, packed all
of our belongings, said good-bye to family and friends, and dropped into
a place where we know barely a soul. Forget not knowing anyone in New
Zealand, we barely know anyone in this hemisphere. Sometimes I even
have to stop and ask myself “Why?” Our life in Denver, Colorado, was
more than comfortable. We had everything we needed. I haven’t calculated exactly how many thousands of miles away we are from home, but I can
feel that it is far. The distance felt especially far when our sons celebrated
Christmas without their grandparents for the first time.
Kiwis, Americans, and even the Thacher Alumni & Development Office
have asked why we immigrated to New Zealand. Our glib responses include: “We are having a joint mid-life crisis,” or “We wanted an adventure,”
or “We fell in love with New Zealand on vacation.” And, these responses
are all true. Doug and I, along with most of CdeP 1986, turn 40 this year.
On some level, I guess we wanted to prove to ourselves we hadn’t become
too entrenched in the comforts of our life to pick ourselves up and try
something new. And, we did truly fall in love with New Zealand. In the
beginning, the exquisite natural beauty of this country mesmerized us.
Then with each visit we learned more about the mix of Maori and European cultures and their interwoven histories, and our fascination with New
Zealand deepened. We found our new Kiwi friends, quite frankly, like
many of our Thacher friends. They are quick to laugh but are self-reliant,
no-nonsense people. We have been overwhelmed by the warmth and generosity extended to us, first as visitors and now as neighbors.
You can read the rest of this adventure online at www.thacher.org/
alumni. For an account of the Kirkpatrick family travels on the way to
New Zealand and anecdotes of their ongoing transition, visit their blog
at nzkirkpatricks.blogspot.com.
30 spring 2008
1993
1994
MICHAEL ZIERHUT wrote in November that he is river raft
guiding in Argentina, South America, for nine months. He has
photographed wonderful places including Patagonia. From
JESSICA BLISS: “My husband Joe and I are still living in San
Jose and I am enjoying my work as an attorney specializing in
employee benefits and compensation. I spend my free time
puttering in my garden, playing softball, and watching baseball.
Last October I discovered an inner runner I didn’t know existed
and ran in the San Jose Rock and Roll half marathon.” From
CAM SPAULDING: “My life as a migrant educator continues! I
have just returned to our alma mater for a sixth spring, where I
am coaching the varsity lacrosse team and teaching an elective
called ‘Perspectives on Nature.’ When the school year comes to
an end, I head up to the Sierra Nevada for a summer, helping
run the programs at Golden Trout Camp. After the camp closes
its doors in the fall, I head to Baja to help run a natural history
program for eighth graders in the Sea of Cortez. And when that
is all done, it’s off to Costa Rica to work on a couple of jungle
acres near Mal Pais on the Pacific coast.”
Update from ALLISON GLASS: “Not much has changed. Still
living on, and loving, Cape Cod. It’s everything it’s cracked up
to be and more. Still flying around over the ocean looking for
whales (which isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be...). I got
to spend Thanksgiving in Ojai and see the new Lower School
dorm. It’s beautiful! Can’t wait until Casa gets its makeover.
JANE CASAMAJOR is living in Boston now, so it’s been great
fun to hang out with her. Off to Fiji in a couple of weeks for a
vacation cruise with Grandpa and the family. Hopefully I’ll be
at the reunion and catch up with you all!”
In October 2007 JENNIFER KRITZ wrote: “Fall is on its way
in New England... Every year at this time, I ask myself why
I don’t live in a warm climate! But, I do love Boston! My
husband, Sam Ditzion, and I got married in October 2006 in
Santa Barbara. Toads there to celebrate with us were RIKA
HOWE TOLL, NATE TOLL, ABBY RAMSDEN, SKYE ROHDE,
DEE DONAHUE THELE ‘93, MANDY SONENSHINE ‘96, and
JASON WENZ ‘91. I started a new job earlier in May, and am
now deputy communications director for Massachusetts’s
Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Particularly
with Massachusetts on the cutting edge of healthcare reform, it’s a really interesting place to be. I’d love to hear from
Thacher folks so drop me a line: jennifer.kritz@gmail .com.”
In November MEREDITH BRESSIE wrote: “Still in SF though
moving to Sausalito. I am working at Skurman Architects in
photo/illustration credit here
1990
photo/illustration credit here
Photos (L to R): Christine Carter’s ’90 two
girls: Molly and Fiona McLaughlin; The Renier Family: Toby Maitland-Lewis, Maggie ‘92
with Lucy, Betsy, Wil ’95, Rie ’90, and Bob
Reniers; Julia, Serena, Alec ’91, Will Perkins;
Eva Balasa Games ‘91 with twins, Wyatt and
Trevor; Henry, Brian, Reid, and Helen Holmes
Gold ‘93; Brian ’94, Anne, Chris, Marilee, and
Bruce Bennett; Bill ‘94, Julia, Sonya Henricks; Seana Kendrick and Justin Stephens
‘94; Adrian ‘99, Paula, and Alexia ’96 Allen
Laurel Heights and I heard from someone here that ABBY
RAMSDEN walked behind me and I didn’t know it! Anyone
know her e-mail address? Too weird. Hope everyone is well!
meredith@bressie.com.” BRIAN BENNETT and Anne have
had a very busy year. Both have challenging careers at Time
Magazine and the National Democratic Institute. They love
living in Washington, D.C., entertaining, traveling a lot, rock
climbing, skiing, and kayaking. Brian has a new beat covering foreign affairs, which means he spends a lot less time in
Iraq! At Mardi Gras CATIE PEIRSOL-SCHIPPER writes: “I’ll be
graduating from Loyola’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program
in May of this year (at the Superdome). James will be finishing
up his second of three years in Ochsner’s general cardiology
fellowship program. He’s currently applying for international
programs around the country.” News from JUSTIN STEPHENS: “Seana is ‘prego’ with our first and doing exceptionally well! We(she) are due June 2—sex unknown. The wine
business is growing very well. I have partnered Hunnicutt with
our family’s brand and we are in the process of developing
a winery location. I spent some time with ALEX SLAWSON
last weekend. He’s the same! Our best to all of you.” MARY
EVERETT wrote: “I just recently got married to Jeff Conarroe of Aspen, Colo. The date was September 1, 2007, and the
wedding took place at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen. Thacher
Attendees included my two brothers PETER EVERETT ‘90 and
BILL EVERETT ‘92, my cousin ROB EVERETT ‘89 and bridesmaid DIANA GARCIA ‘95. “(See picture in Marriages.) Update in April 2008: “Hello All! I have finally joined my husband
for good, as I moved to Atlanta in January after four years of
a cross-country relationship. I am working in an outpatient
physical therapy clinic but considering the option of working in a hospital. I am quite honored to announce an award
I will be receiving this May. I, along with three others, will be
inducted into the Colorado College Athletic Hall of Fame as a
member of the 14th class of inductees. (Fourteen was always
my lucky number!) I am being honored for my four years of
Division III lacrosse and three years of Division I soccer. I will
be in Colorado Springs with my family and my husband’s
family for the reception. It’s very exciting!” RIKA HOWE and
NATE TOLL tell us: “We are moving to Salt Lake City by May
1. Bye-bye desert and hello mountains. Nate will be starting a
new job at Kennicott Copper Mines as Senior Hydrogeologist. I
will continue to stay at home with our two girls, Adelaide (22
months) and Josephine (4 months). We were lucky to have a
visit from pregnant ASPIN BOWERS TEEVIN ‘94, who was
expecting a girl in May. It was a treat to giggle and spend time
talking about our Thacher days and babies, of course.”
1995
ANNIE JACK writes in January: “All is well in Jackson Hole. It’s
been a great snow season so far and I’ve been getting into the
backcountry as much as possible. Apart from the sometimes
dominant recreational aspect of life in the Tetons, I’m doing
lots of non-profit consulting for Jackson-based organiza-
tions. I also work for Bainbridge Graduate Institute (a business
school in Seattle best known for its MBA in Sustainable Business), helping research the possibility of bringing BGI programs to Jackson Hole. I feel blessed to have work that engages and inspires me.” JED SIEBEL is applying to medical schools.
In addition to working his regular job at Pomona-Pitzer as the
assistant athletic trainer, he works behind the Genius Bar at
one of the local Apple stores on weekends. He’s also taking
some extra science classes to bolster his applications, and is
volunteering in the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital of
Orange County two mornings a week.
1996
ALEXIA ALLEN STEVENS is still living in Woodinville, Wash.
She has a new job this year as an instructor at Wilderness
Awareness School. She worked in their office before this. She
enjoys her vegetable garden, orchard, and assorted farm
animals. In November of last year, Edward Martin and AURIGA BORK expatriated and moved to New Zealand to the
beautiful little town of Martinborough, much like Ojai, in the
wine-growing region of Wairapa in the North Island. “We
were married on Dec. 20, 2007 with 12 Thacher alumni, a few
Thacher parents, and one current student in attendance! We
had 70 Americans in all come over for the wedding—what a
treat! In attendance were: CATHERINE PINKERTON KEELING
(with her mother Susan and husband Travis), LEYLA ABOUSAMRA, LAUREL BRAITMAN (and her mother Lynne), JAKE
BRAITMAN ‘00, ASHLEY THAYER, BRITTANY SANDERS,
MILESTONES
Births
Phoebe Twichell, daughter of JON ’83 and SOPHIE ‘85 (top, left).
SARAH HARRISON-FINCHER’S ‘90 daughter
Hollis in the bath (second, left).
NATE and RIKA TOLL’s ’94 second daughter,
Josephine Bella, arrived Dec. 16, 2007, joining big
sister Adelaide.
Rowen, son of SEAMUS SARGENT ’95, born November 7, 2007 (third, left).
MICHELE WEBER HUNT ’96, Brian, and big
sister Rachel welcomed a new baby boy, Aaron Justin, into the family on Feb. 6, 2008.
PEYTON HOLMES ’96 and daughter Bea, born
Jan. 7, 2007. (fourth, left).
A son, Breydon Cole, was born to Maria and
RYAN KURLINSKI ’97 on Oct. 10, 2007.
Kate Munzig Dachs ‘92 and Eric Dachs ‘94
welcomed Anderson into the world last fall. Evidently, sister Charlotte likes him too! (fifth, left)
The Thacher School 01
class notes…
BROOKE LEVASSEUR with her husband ROB HOUSDEN ‘93,
QUINN KANALY and her alumni husband MAX STEPANIAN
‘95, STEFANIE WARREN, MARIA BANMAN BARRELL (and
husband Tyler), and KELLY-JOY BROWN LEWIS ‘09! We have
just returned from a two month honeymoon ‘adventure’ to
India. Being in India was like a roller coaster ride—certainly a
good place to go to learn the value of what we all too often
take for granted. We are overjoyed to be back on the farm,
where Edward will begin to learn the inner workings from
his father and become (with his younger brother) the eighth
generation to work the land. I hope to begin work in featurefilm production in the booming Wellington film industry this
fall. Alumni are welcome to e-mail me if they would like a
wine recommendation from the region or possibly even a
‘trade’ care package if they are lucky!”
1997
1998
32 spring 2008
1999
LISA VOGT writes in November: “Singing with the Lesbian/
Gay Chorus of San Francisco; they have a new show called
‘Autumnal OUTing.’” News from RYAN KURLINSKI: Maria has
applied to veterinary schools while he is feverishly working on
his doctoral dissertation.
SARAH LOW writes, “I got married to Michael Cyrulnik
on October 6 in Topanga, Calif., at the Mountain Mermaid
(from the Joni Mitchell song ‘Carey’: “Come on down to the
Mermaid Cafe, and I will buy you a bottle of wine.”). We live
in Topanga (a canyon between Malibu and Santa Monica),
tucked away in the woods, living in a hobbit-hole with a
carved, wooden, blue door. We have three cats and a horse
(she’s pregnant, so we’ll have two horses pretty soon).”
ETHAN C. CHUTKOW is in Longmont, Colo., running a studyabroad program and teaching Spanish and French. News from
LUCIA HALLE: “I am getting married to Brad Craven on June
28, 2008. He works for the federal government and we are
currently living in Columbus, Ga. I teach ninth-grade English
at Carver High School and am also pursuing a master’s degree
in education. Prior to moving to Georgia, Brad and I lived in
Anchorage, Alaska, where I taught science to kids of all ages
at The Imaginarium. We are the proud parents of a new puppy,
Moose, and Brad has a 6-year-old son, Michael, so I am working up to earning the title of stepmom. We’re looking forward
to seeing everyone at Reunion before our wedding this summer!” BRONWEN HALSEY is “just writing with an update
that I am living for the next six months in the Pohangina
Valley on the north island of New Zealand with my partner
Mickey. I am apprenticing home birth midwives and he is apprenticing farmers and beekeepers. When we come home at
the end of July we will be living on his farm in Bolinas, north
of SF!” KELLEY COLLIER tells us: “I am teaching physics and
astronomy and coaching cross-country at a small private
high school in downtown (Austin, Texas), The Khabele School.
I really love it. The summer is hot, but there are a lot of great
swimming holes.“
2000
2001
ADRIAN ALLEN recently passed his paramedic exam and is
working on getting further experience and certification. He is
still a firefighter in Fort Myers, Fla. He is now coaching a high
school lacrosse team, which requires a lot of time, effort, and
organization. He also plays lacrosse and soccer. Lee County
firefighters won the gold medal in the Florida Firefighters Soccer Championships for the second year in a row. The soccer
fields are smaller than usual, which makes it a lot more fun to
watch. KIM CAHILL is in her clinical third year at UCLA med
school and Matt graduated from USC law school, passed the
bar, and has been clerking for a federal district court judge
in L.A. Lacrosse and swimming continue to be their stress
relievers. CHRIS HOLLAND writes: “Hey all! As an update
I wanted to fill you in that I recently started a new job as a
project designer at an ecological firm that deals in mitigation
and conservation of land. I’ll mainly be focusing on wetland
design of vernal pools, but getting to cruise around on ATV’s
and do site construction as well. Outside of work, I’m playing
soccer three times a week and enjoying the mountains around
Lake Tahoe, with side trips to Napa and San Francisco whenever I can. Give me a call at 916-207-7330 if you’re ever in the
Sacramento area.” PETER HOCKADAY has some news for his
class. He moved to San Jose recently from Casper, Wyo., after
getting a job working for the online news division of the San
Jose Mercury News. He’s very happy to be back in the California sun. “I’m working for the website as a news producer,
meaning I write a lot of headlines and create online projects.”
LAUREN FRAIM finished her masters in Nutritional Sciences
at San Diego State University last May, and started a dietetic
internship with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in September.
“I enjoy working with the high-risk, special-needs population
there and am thriving in the supportive environment.”
ERIN HAFKENSECHIEL, currently with the Hewlett Foundation, granting to environmental programs from Alaska to
China, will be off to China again in June for a whole year! She
is hoping to watch her Cal classmate row in the four-woman
boat for the USA team in the Olympics. KEVIN CAHILL is in
his clinical third year at USC med school. He is actively attempting to do a 720 or was that a 900 (?) on skis. He actually
bought a car this year (and yes, he still has his motorcycle).
From KEVIN SCHMIDT: “I still work at Microsoft, now in Live
Search (which is a competitor to Google). I got married to
Kelly Bookmiller last year on April 7 and we recently bought a
house together. So life has been very good to me.” MICHAEL
DISNER recently returned from another year in China and, in
April, will finally graduate from BYU with his bachelor’s. More
importantly, he got married to the former Nora Elia Bair on
Dec. 28, 2007 in Los Angeles! He was very happy to see a few
Thacher friends there. Post-April? Who knows...
2002
photo/illustration credit here
2003
From STEPHANIE HUBBARD: “I have attached a picture
(SEE MARRIAGES) of some of the Thacher alumni who were
at my marriage to Geoff McGirt on Jan. 26 in Albuquerque,
N.M. CLAIRE MILLIGAN was my maid of honor and BETSY
BRADFORD was a bridesmaid. NICK HUBBARD ‘07 was a
groomsman. LUCY MILLIGAN ‘00 and MARSHALL MILLIGAN ‘69 also attended, as well as LAURA NEVILLE and
LAUREL PETERSON. Buck Wales came from Santa Fe and
Mary Loney came from the beautiful Ojai. I am now formally
Stephanie Louise Hubbard McGirt and we live in Albuquerque,
where Geoff works for Sandia National Labs and I work in a
law firm and take classes to prepare for application to med
school.” SETH KURLINSKI continues to be a mountain man
in Big Sky, Mont. He watches over the Big Sky family lodge
while pursuing his love of restaurant management and poetry
writing.
HUGH GORDON wrote in December: “I just returned from
an 80-day NOLS course in Patagonia. I was totally cut off
from communication during the time. I graduated from
Columbia in May. I spent the summer with some friends in
Barcelona, living the good life, and studying Spanish. It was
spectacular. Then I moved on down to Patagonia, Chile, to
learn mountaineering and kayaking skills with NOLS in one of
the most beautiful, rugged places in the world. It was amazing, and the camping skills that I learned at Thacher more
than prepared me for what NOLS terms as one of their more
difficult semesters. I started a job with Google in New York
City on Dec. 17.” CHRIS CAHILL graduated from Dartmouth
and is on the island of Majuro in the Marshall Islands (a tough
spot to find on the map. Find New Zealand and then draw
a line straight north until you’re about nine degrees above
the equator) teaching math and English to ninth and tenth
graders and physics and biology to eleventh and twelfth
graders. He is now ‘Mr. Cahill’. IAN WHITTINGHILL graduated from the University of Southern California with a BS in
Aerospace Engineering in May of 2007. “Right now, I’m still at
USC working on a MS in Aerospace Engineering. I am also the
director of the USC Rocket Propulsion Labs (www.uscrpl.com).
This lab is a group of 28 undergrad and graduate students
working to design, build, and test the latest rocket propulsion
technologies. We’re hoping to be the first university group
to design, build, and launch a rocket to above 328,000 feet,
which is the internationally recognized boundary of space.”
KYLE DUMONT graduated from Cornell in May with a double
major in Biological Engineering and Entomology. For the time
being he is still in Ithaca and is working as the chief science
officer for the startup company FiberShield LLC. KATHERINE
BECHTEL has “left the protective walls of Stanford and
am working as a product developer at Ariat International (in
Union City, east of San Francisco), designing and developing
equestrian apparel.” EMERY MITCHEM is teaching AP Environmental Science at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii.
^
Eliza Gregory and Ryan Meyer ‘98
ELIZA GREGORY CdeP ‘99
on her latest
photography exhibit…
After learning a bit about refugee issues while working at the
International Rescue Committee’s Tanzania office, I moved to Phoenix
where my boyfriend, Ryan Meyer CdeP 1998, is working towards a Ph.D.
in Science Policy at ASU. Many refugees who receive resettlement status
from the U.S. government are sent to Phoenix. This means they are given
a small amount of money and a loan for a plane ticket, and a handful of
agencies like the IRC assist them to find jobs and housing for the first few
months they are here. Then, they are on their own. Naturally, this is quite
a challenging scenario for individuals and families who have fled violent
conflict in their home countries. On the one hand, they have gotten a
chance to relocate to a place that will, in theory, be safer than the one they
have left. On the other hand, they have to find ways to build a community
for themselves within an entirely new cultural and social system, often
without being able to speak English, read, write, or provide proof of education already completed. I began to volunteer as a literacy tutor with a family who moved here
from Liberia in 2004. Through their generosity and warmth, I got to learn
a lot about their life and their experiences here. By teaming up with a local
non-profit organization named COAR—Community Outreach & Advocacy
for Refugees—I initiated a project to make portraits of a variety of refugee
families now living in Phoenix. The halfway point of our project is being
marked by a show at the Arizona State University Museum of Anthropology, which features portraits of people from Iraq, Bosnia, Sudan, Somalia,
Liberia, Burundi, Hungary, Congo, and Burma. A second show of the work
will be presented at the eye lounge artist’s collective in downtown Phoenix
in September. Starting April 3, a virtual version of the first show, complete with audio snippets from interviews with the subjects, will be available at www.coarweb.org/fuse.
Although I miss the ocean, the desert is growing on me. In addition to
working on independent projects, I work for the Office of the President at
ASU, doing odd jobs and writing about new educational initiatives at the
University. I’m also the photographer for the “Community Camera” newsletter that my office puts out, which chronicles mutually beneficial partnerships between ASU and the community. You can take a look at: http://
community.uui.asu.edu/features/history.asp.
The Thacher S
class notes…
2004
2005
34 spring 2008
MATT STENOVEC writes in November: “Hi guys! So, occasionally I like to toot my own horn so here it goes. Right
now I’m working on a book project with a research biologist
on Hells Canyon. There are eight of us on the project, and my
chapter is all about grassland restoration. We will be looking
to get published next spring; author Terry Tempest Williams
will be doing the forward for the book. Also, I was voted one
of three captains for the men’s lacrosse team here at Whitman. Yay club ball.” LAUREN FISKE is a senior at Northwestern University, writing a Senior Honors Thesis which focuses
on the allocation of scarce healthcare resources and issues of
aging in our culture. She is a philosophy major and a global
health minor, and spent last summer studying in Mexico City
at the Universidad Panamerica in their medical school, focusing on public-health issues. The experience in Mexico City
was wonderful; she came home having made new friends
and feeling quite fluent in Spanish, including in a healthcare
context. She continues to be a counselor for Project Wildcat
at Northwestern, leading freshmen on a week-long pre-orientation backpack trip in September each year. After graduation
next June, she is contemplating staying in Evanston to take
courses to complete her pre-medical studies, as well as seeking a fellowship position. Her interest and studies in bioethics
have been supported by wonderful faculty mentors. WHITNEY LIVERMORE will be graduating in June with a double
major of American studies and Chinese, and will spend the
next academic year studying in Taiwan.
ED CAHILL is a junior at Middlebury, majoring in physics.
As wingback for his rugby team, Ed and his teammates took
the New England Championship this past fall. He heads for
the land of rugby, New Zealand, this spring for his semester
abroad. BEL LEPE writes about his new (ad)venture: “I’ve
been on leave from Stanford for the last couple of months
working at a company (Ooyala, Inc.) that I co-founded after
leaving Google with some of my other Googler friends. We
were funded late last year and are growing very quickly. We’ve
grown to a size of about 28 employees in a little under a year,
have offices in Mountain View, Calif., and New York, and are
continuing to grow at an aggressive rate. You can learn more
about our company here: www.ooyala.com/blog. As for me, I
head up the infrastructure and video processing teams as lead
engineer for the company. It’s fun but also a lot of hard work.
And, while the hours are long, we are building a very disruptive technology that it is sure to cause some waves.”
2006
2007
KATHERINE ORRICK writes: “I am in my spring semester of
Colby College, which has been extremely hectic due to CWL,
Colby Women’s Lacrosse. Right now we are 4-2 and have an
exciting game against Middlebury coming up. This January
I went down to Belize (where I believe Mr. Haggard is now)
and spent a month with a group of students and two teachers studying tropical ecology. The experience, needless to
say, was mind-blowing. We hiked through rainforests, swam
through underwater caves, snorkeled, went SCUBA diving, and
a lot more. I am also enjoying living in the green dorm on
campus, where we organize green events around campus to
make Colby more environmentally aware. This next semester,
the fall of my junior year, I am going abroad to Namibia and
working with the Save the Rhino Trust. Basically I will be living out of a tent for four months with limited water and food
supply, traveling the Namib desert and doing field work. I am
extremely excited and cannot wait to go. Till then I get to bask
in the glorious weather of 15 degrees and watch the snow fall
from the sky even though it’s technically spring.”
^
JULIA FISKE writes: “Hi Mrs. Mully! I’m in India right now
(Varanasi to be exact) on my year off, and I just got a big pit
in my stomach missing Thacher. So I went and checked to
see what was happening on the Thacher website and found
familiar and comforting descriptions of cheese dip, chocolate
chip cookies, and pumpkin carving at Open House. It was
wonderful to see and know that despite all that is going on
here, Thacher is more or less just how I left it! I am having
a wonderful time...I’ve been here two months and have one
month left. I just got back from a week-long silent Buddhist
meditation retreat which has done wonders for my mind
already! Tonight I returned ‘home’ to a host family I’ve been
living with for a month so far. I am studying yoga, Hindi, and
women’s issues in India, and I am volunteering at a hospital
and an orphanage. I also spent two weeks trekking in the
Himalayas, which was absolutely breathtaking! Anyway, I just
wanted to let you know that the website you put so much
time into is reaching halfway across the world and bringing
me a little taste of home. Please say hello to Mr. Mully for
me, and I hope everything is going smoothly in the beautiful Ojai Valley! Namaste.” In November ALEXIS JACKSON
photo/illustration credit here
“Life is good.” SHAYLA COOKE writes: “I have graduated from
Amherst College, and am currently a special education teacher
at Navajo Middle School in Navajo, N.M. (about 15 minutes
from where I live). I am with Teach for America, and am loving
being back on the Reservation. I am also the head volleyball
coach for the middle school, and have 19 girls on two different teams.” And JACKIE AU is going to grad school at the
London School of Economics in their Masters in Management
Program. LAUREL BACK graduated from Claremont McKenna
College in May with a dual degree in psychology and Spanish.
She recently finished an internship at Ventura County Hospital
and is currently enrolled in a post-bac pre-med program with
the hopes of attending med school in a few years. She is also
volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and
has a 12-year-old little sis. JESSIE SUE LIU recently graduated from UCLA with a BA in Graphic Design/Media Arts, and
is currently a graphic designer at FLIGHT 001 headquarters in
New York City.
Photos, left to right: The Fiske Family: Chuck,
Erik ’02, Julia ’07, Lauren ’04, and Karen; The
Oxley Family: Will ‘05, Sondra ‘09, Marganne
’78, and David ‘79; The Gal Family: David ‘02,
Robin, Yoav, and Dana ‘05; Lilly Heilveil ‘07,
Maddie Ignon ‘05 — Dancing for Gallia in
Italy!; Anna ’07 and Patrick ‘11 Teague
writes: “I’m living at home, seeing as it’s much cheaper that
way. Plus I get home-cooked food instead of mass-prepared
food. My school e-mail is ajackso1@poets.whittier.edu. I think
I’ll be visiting up there soon either for alumni weekend or for
a visit with my sister who will be applying. But for now I’m
just moseying along doing homework and such.” JEDIDIAH
HARRIS’S wrote about his ‘reality’ in February: “I am a maintenance database systems administrator/analyst for CH-53E
heavy helicopters. I basically oversee all the maintenance
for helicopters in my squadron. I work in an office with six
Marines. I recently purchased my first car, an Audi A6. I am
up for promotion to lance corporal in April. I just got back
from visiting my family back home. They are doing well. I am
taking CLEP exams to test out of the majority of my freshman
college classes in order to start as a sophomore in the fall of
this year, so I am busy studying for those tests now. My mom
still wants me to go to the Naval Academy, but I am loving the
fleet right now and cannot leave the many Marines who have
become my comrades. I flew for the first time yesterday. It
was pretty exciting.”
Why do you support
The Alumni Fund
of The Thacher School?
community
photo/illustration credit here
hope
investment
nostalgia
gratitude
When you make your Alumni Fund gift
this year, tell us why you give.
Donate by June 30, 2008 to be included
in the 2007-08 Alumni Fund donor list.
www.thacher.org/giving
John and fellow Amherst grad, Andrew Rubenstein, adorned in gifts of
traditional gowns during their farewell feast.
what The Heck Is A Bongofish, Anyway?
or Practical IdealismReflections from
JOHN BABBOTT CdeP 2003
I was in Sierra Leone for about three months with two good friends
of mine, working in three small agrarian villages in eastern Sierra Leone,
10 miles from the Liberian border. An Amherst College alumnus from the
mid-1980’s, Jeff Hall, had served there in the Peace Corps, leaving just
before the outbreak of the Rebel Wars that lasted from 1991 until 2002.
The country was ravaged, and the villages were burned to the ground.
When resettlement began, Jeff returned on his own clock and dollar to
see what he could do. He started small and simple, with zinc roofing material (no roof is a killer in the monsoon season when your house is made of
mud), and has since expanded his homespun aid operation, including new
pump water wells, school buildings, latrines, and a secondary school and
college scholarship program. In addition to these, Jeff had recently begun
a crop-buying program whose goal was to break the serf-like loan and debt
cycle in which most villagers struggle for their entire lives, as well as the
haphazard beginnings of a business micro-loan program to attempt to
broaden the villages’ economies and diversify sources of income. In short,
an effort heavy on idealism and light on organization and oversight. All
we knew was that I was going to be working in “education,” and my friends
in “micro-loans.”
Though our activities for the first month were, in a sense, constructive
and necessary, we had nothing to show for it. Learning to communicate,
avoiding dysentery, bilharzia, etc., precluded all else, and it took a while
to reconstruct our scaffolding for daily existence. Jeff had given us a list
of possible objectives to pursue, information to gather, and programs to
patch up—patch-ups which turned into complete overhauls. It became
clear after a couple days that our function in the villages was not to follow
instructions, but to figure out what to do for ourselves.
Realizations you struggle into by yourself are forehead-smacking good,
and you learn them through to the bone. Plus, if you know nothing beforehand, there’s nothing to unlearn. The resulting contrast between how we
learned to approach problems and how we observed larger programs’ functioning showed us just how much stands to be improved in how the First
World goes about helping people.
Check out the rest of John’s incredible experience online at
www.thacher.org/alumni.
The Thacher School 35
01
faculty, staff & friends…
Emily McCarren had her baby Feb. 9, 2008. Her name is: Hope Etchells McCarren and she weighed eight pounds, 10 ounces, and measured 21 inches. Eileen
McGuire took over the Development Office role of leadership giving manager
for Andrea Brooks, who moved back to Wahoo, Neb, to be near her family and
run a Catholic bookstore. Other news is that Development/Alumni Office Manager
Peggy Whyte is retiring after 15-plus years in that role. Michelle Castelo now
works as the college counseling administrative assistant, a position held by Ann
Whitney for the last several years. Ann returned to her homeland of Australia to be
closer to family. Also in the College Counseling Office is Kara Hooper, who works
with students seeking athletic scholarships in college. Ben Farrell will leave his
position as assistant director of admission and Upper School dorm head to pursue
graduate work in education at Columbia University; Andrea Breau is also leaving
to pursue graduate work in women’s studies at the University of Ohio. The second
E.E. Ford Scholar, Maggie Lam, will begin her academic career in the Bay Area,
teaching mathematics and Chinese. As GREG HAGGARD and his family return from
a sabbatical year in Bali, Belize, and El Salvadore, AUSTIN and ALISON CURWEN are
preparing for their sabbatical year in England. On May 2, Megan and Jason Carney
welcomed their third child, a girl, named Taylor. Mom, Dad, big sister Riley, and big
brother Rob are thrilled she’s here. With “absolute glee and exhaustion,” Brian and
Blossom Beatty Pidduck (both CdeP 1992) announced their twin girls, Adeline
Moon and Daisy May, born May 27. David Oxley CdeP 1979, who has worked
as horse camping director and barn manager for the last two years, is returning to
his ranch in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Susan and James Ockerman (sabbatical
replacement director of music) will be leaving at year’s end as the Haggards return.
Our thanks to them both for their care and concern for our students, especially in
the performing arts. Wedding bells will ring on August 2 on the Big Island of Hawaii for math teacher Theana Hancock and English and Latin teacher Aaron
Snyder. After eight years at Thacher, Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving
David V. Babbott has accepted a position with Morgan Stanley in Burlington,
Vt. He will join a global wealth management team that will design and implement
financial plans for charities, foundations, and individuals. David has been a relentless
and enthusiastic traveler, working with Thacher’s extended family to encourage their
current and long term support. While on campus, he has helped coach a variety of
tennis and soccer teams. David and Nancy’s three sons all graduated from Thacher.
Jack Crawford, former history teacher and lacrosse coach, led his Loyola Dons
lacrosse team to victory once again this spring. The Dons are the first team in Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association’s A Conference history to win back-to-back
crowns.
in memoriam…
JOHN WESCOTT MYERS CdeP 1929
John W. Myers, a business executive and renowned test pilot during World
War II, whose extraordinary flying skills earned him the nickname “Maestro,”
died in his sleep at his home in Beverly Hills on Jan. 31, 2008. He was 96.
John was born June 13, 1911, in Los Angeles. His father, Louis W. Myers,
became chief justice of the California Supreme Court and co-founder of the
Los Angeles law firm O’Melveny & Myers.
While at Thacher from 1925-29, John was a member of the Orchestra, Bit &
Spur, Gymkhana Ten, Track Squad, the baseball team, the Upper School Forum,
and the Glee Club. In the Archivero it is mentioned that, “John rose to great
heights of constructive genius when he invented a glorified yo-yo which could
be operated by careful handling on John’s part from the Upper School roof.”
After his time in Ojai, John graduated from Stanford University with a
bachelor’s degree in political science in 1933. From Stanford, he proceeded to
graduate from Harvard Law School in 1936, when he joined O’Melveny & Myers and initiated the firm’s entertainment law practice, whose early clients in36 spring 2008
cluded Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, Edgar Bergen, CBS, and Paramount Pictures.
John’s passion for flying began in 1930 while he was still an undergraduate
at Stanford. He learned quickly: After a flying instructor gave him a ground
course, he made what was both his first flight and first solo flight in a twocylinder, single-engine airplane. John left O’Melveny & Myers in 1940 to become assistant general counsel at Lockheed, where he began occasionally ferrying planes to New York and New Orleans for overseas delivery. In 1941, he
became chief engineering test pilot at Northrop, for which he became senior
vice president and director after the war.
In 1954, John became chairman and principal stockholder of Pacific Airmotive Corporation, which adapted conventional aircraft to turbine power
and which he later sold to Purex. In 1970, he formed Airflite, a fixed-base aviation services facility at Long Beach Airport, which he sold to Toyota in the late
1980s. John owned an 18,000-acre cattle ranch outside Merced in Central
California, and was known as a passionate outdoorsman, an environmentalist, and philanthropist who donated 5,000 acres of land in the Merced area to
the Nature Conservancy. He also provided a portion of his Flying M Ranch for
the development of UC Merced and made the campus’s first $1 million contribution. His philanthropy extended to numerous organizations, including
Pomona College, The Thacher School (including the Huyler-Myers Friendship
Barn), St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, and the National Air and
Space Museum, for which he was a board member.
John’s wife, Lucia, died in 1999; their son, Louis W. Myers II CdeP 1960,
died in 1993. He is survived by his daughter, Lucia “Lissa” Myers Wolff, and
three grandsons, including Luke Myers CdeP 2003 and Wes Myers CdeP 2001.
PAUL HOY HELMS, JR. CdeP 1934
Paul Helms, Jr. passed away on Feb. 28, 2008 at the age of 91. He and his
wife had recently celebrated 70 years of marriage in December 2007. Paul, or
“Spike,” as he was affectionately known at Thacher, was baseball team captain,
a member of the soccer and track teams, in the Glee Club, Dramatics, and active in the Committee of Ten, Outdoor and Indoor Committees, Tennis Ten,
Bit and Spur Club, and Pack and Saddle Club. He was also a prefect. In 1965,
Paul renewed his involvement with Thacher as president of the Alumni Association until 1967.
Surviving Helms are his wife Caroline; daughter, Suzanne Schaefer, and
son, Paul Helms III CdeP 1957; nine grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren;
and his sister, Mrs. Robert Helms “Betty” Adams, honorary trustee of The
Thacher Shool.
ANDREW DOWNEY ORRICK CdeP 1935
Andrew Downey Orrick died on Jan. 27, 2008, at his San Francisco home. He
was 90. As a member of a prominent San Francisco family of lawyers, and a former member of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Downey spent his legal career with the firm now called Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, founded
in 1885. His father, William Orrick, headed the firm, and a brother, also named
William CdeP 1932, was a federal judge who died in 2003.
While at Thacher from 1931-35, Downey captained the first baseball team
and became a member of the Cabinet, Committee of Ten, and Outdoor Committee. According to the 1935 Archivero, he was described as “never content to
wait passively for opportunity to come his way, he goes right out and by sheer
strength of character brings opportunity to his own threshold.”
After attending Thacher, Downey graduated from Yale University in 1940
and served in the Army during World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He
attended UC Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. Active in Republican
politics, he was San Francisco chairman of Citizens for Eisenhower in 1952,
during Dwight Eisenhower’s first run for president, and a decade later was
Northern California chairman of Richard Nixon’s unsuccessful campaign for
governor of California. Downey became regional administrator of the SEC
in San Francisco in December 1954 and was appointed to the commission by
Eisenhower five months later. In 1960, Downey returned to the law firm but
made a moral choice to get out of the field of securities law, one of the firm’s
specialties, said his nephew, attorney William Orrick III. “My uncle was a very
ethical guy,” he said. “He decided he would not practice in that area because he
thought he would be using influence he had gained as a result of his governmental position in a way that would be unethical, so he became an estates and
trusts lawyer. Today it would be shocking for anybody to do that.”
Downey remained with the firm and was a partner when he retired in the
late 1970s. Always athletic, he hit what was then the longest home run in the
history of Yale’s baseball team and spent much of his retirement golfing and
gardening, dividing time between San Francisco and a home overlooking the
12th hole of the Pebble Beach golf course.
Downey’s wife of 47 years, Marjorie Soule, died in 1999. In addition to his
daughter, Didi Orrick Magee of Phoenix, he is survived by four sons: Andy Orrick of San Francisco, Winsor Orrick of San Rafael, Murray Orrick CdeP 1977
of Corte Madera, and Sam Orrick CdeP 1979 of Phoenix; eight grandchildren;
and numerous nieces and nephews including: niece, Marion Livermore, wife of
Norman Livermore III CdeP 1966; nephew, Walter Harcourt-Palmer, Jr. CdeP
1963; grandnieces, Laurel Peterson CdeP 2002 and Katherine “Kaggie” Orrick
CdeP 2006; and grandnephew, William Per Gustaf Peterson ‘08.
ROBERT DANA WOOD CdeP 1936
Dana Wood spent his senior year at Thacher and established himself as an athletic phenomenon. “The fastest
man in school, in fact the fastest man Thacher has seen
for some time,” according to the 1936 Archivero, “he was
chosen Track captain, showed the first Baseball Team
some mighty fancy pitching, and was the mainstay in the
backfield on the Soccer Team.” He also joined the Bit and
Spur and served on the Indoor Committee. He matriculated to Yale University
and graduated from Pomona College. If you have information on Dana’s passing and history, please contact the Alumni Office.
ADOLPH WILLIAM BARKAN CdeP 1935
Bill Barkan, who was 90, died from cancer on Feb. 23, 2008. His career was
capped by the leadership role he took on as a member of Wells Fargo’s executive team in the 1970s when the bank branched out to Southern California
from its stronghold in Northern California. “I give Bill a great deal of credit
for really putting us on the map,” said Carl Reichardt, the former president of
Wells Fargo. “He was one of the most thorough men I’ve ever met and never
said an unpleasant word; a perfect gentleman.” From 1972 until his retirement in 1978, Mr. Barkan directed the bank’s operations in the south as executive vice president.
Bill’s life was filled with other stories. He was born in San Francisco to German-speaking parents, and in the months prior to World War II, was sent by
the Naval Intelligence Service to eavesdrop on the German Consulate in the
city. Bill later worked with a small team to filch a Japanese codebook from one
of the last Japanese merchant vessels to leave the Bay Area before the Pearl
Harbor attack. His son, John, recalled his father describing how he posed as a
customs official to distract the ship’s captain while another intelligence agent
lifted the codebook and stuffed it down his pants. Merchant vessels operated
in close contact with Japanese navy ships, making the codebook a valuable
military asset.
A Stanford graduate, Bill worked briefly as reporter for the now-defunct
Call Bulletin, where he covered city news and wrote up an execution at San
Quentin State Prison. After his military service, he worked in the banking
industry until stepping down from Wells Fargo after a career of nearly 30
years. His civic activities include leadership posts as a founding trustee of the
Crystal Springs Upland School in Hillsborough, executive vice president of
The Thacher School 37
the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, and a director of
Smith Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation. Bill was a devoted fisherman and
operated a rice farm in Shasta County along the banks of the Fall River, a blueribbon trout stream. In retirement, he took an active role in a number of other
private organizations, serving as president of the Burlingame Country Club
and member of the Pacific-Union Club and St. Francis Yacht Club.
While at Thacher, Bill was a member of the soccer, baseball, tennis, Gymkhana, and track teams. He served on the Outdoor Committee, Committee
of Ten, Gun Board, Glee Club, Bit and Spur Club, and was a B Camper. Bill was
known as (according to the 1935 Archivero) “the member of the Indoor Committee who brought girls all the way from San Francisco for a dance. [He] is a
most versatile athlete, equally at home on the soccer team, which incidentally
he was captain of, the gymkhana track, the track oval, the baseball diamond,
the tennis court, or the dance floor.”
Bill is survived, in addition to his son, John CdeP 1967, of San Francisco,
by his wife of 65 years, Joan, and four grandchildren, including Andrew CdeP
1998, Will CdeP 2002, and Phoebe CdeP 2003. He also leaves a sister, Phoebe
Gilpin. His daughter, Constance, predeceased him.
LLOYD BRUCE SMITH CdeP 1938
Lloyd B. ``Ted’’ Smith died Dec. 4, 2007, at age 87. Ted
grew up in Milwaukee and attended the Country Day
School (now University School of Milwaukee) before arriving at Thacher. From the 1938 Archivero: ‘“Judge not, that
ye be not judged,’ must have been the motto which Ted
took for his own when he came to the School three years ago. In all the time
that he has been here, no one can say that he has ever heard Ted say an unkind
thing to anybody, or about anyone. He has been the Chairman of every class
he has been in, and has always set the example, rather than told us what to
do. The best boxer in the School, no one has ever seen him lose his temper. Ted
couldn’t get mad if his life depended upon it. His disposition is cast iron, and
no cloud is dark enough to keep the sun from shining through. His face knows
only two expressions—a smile, and a laugh. His humor is always with him
wherever he goes. Holding down the iron-man position of center half on the
first soccer team was Ted’s major athletic contribution, where he did much
toward making the season a success. A good tennis and baseball player, at the
end of each year he astounds the School with his treatment of the punching
bag. As if this were not enough, he is an A Camper, and the secretary of the
Pack and Saddle Club.”
Ted studied engineering at Yale University’s Sheffield Scientific School and,
soon after, in 1942, joined A. O. Smith Corporation, the Milwaukee-based
water heater-maker created by his great-grandfather, Charles Jeremiah. After
serving in the U. S. Army Air Force during World War II, Ted returned to the
company in 1945 and was elected a vice president and director. One of his first
assignments was to oversee the company’s new water heater manufacturing
operations in Kankakee, Illinois. He returned to Milwaukee as president of
the corporation in 1951, the fourth generation of the Smith family to lead
the business, and served in that role until April 1967, when he was elected
chairman and chief executive officer. Paul W. Jones, current chairman and
CEO, said the company was sad to hear of Ted’s passing. ``He was a man of
the highest integrity and ethical standards, someone who believed strongly
in ‘the best people in the world,’ the employees of A. O. Smith,’’ Jones said in a
news release.
Ted served for many years on the Board of Directors of the Goodyear Tire
and Rubber Company, Continental Can Company, the First Wisconsin National Bank (now U. S. Bank), and Deere and Co. He was named a Distinguished
Life Member of the American Society for Metals in 1965, and was a trustee of
the Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility. He was also involved in
38 spring 2008
a wide range of community and civic activities, principally in the greater Milwaukee area. He served as a board member of the Medical College of Wisconsin, a director of the Milwaukee Voluntary Equal Employment Council, and a
member of the campaign advisory committee of United Community Services
and the Greater Milwaukee Committee. In 1982, he served as Wisconsin campaign chairman for the United Negro College Fund.
Ted is survived by his wife of 62 years, Lucy Woodhull Smith; his brother Arthur O. Smith, II CdeP 1949; his children Robert L. Smith, Bruce M. Smith, Roger S. Smith, Nancy Linzmeyer; 10 grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
ROBERT LANDIS KUMLER CdeP 1941
Bob Kumler, 84, passed away on Feb. 22, 2008, from
complications after two major surgeries. Bob was born
in 1923 in Albany, N.Y. Soon after, his family moved to
the San Francisco area, where he grew up. He attended
Thacher from 1938 to 1941. According to the Archivero of
1941: “Bob Kumler’s chief trait of character is his quiet versatility; he is good
at almost everything. He is one of our best tennis players, he is excellent in his
studies, he excels in Gymkhana, and he is Business Manager of the Archivero.
All these activities are carried on without fuss and excitement. The impression
that he makes is one of great dependability, whether he be riding Pysanna in
a gymkhana or engaged in the Chemistry Laboratory pursuing his favorite
study. His ambition is to be a flyer, and with his calm temperament and his
athletic ability and intelligence should be successful.”
For a term, Bob attended Stanford University, where he played on their
polo team, before interrupting his studies to serve in the Army Air Corps. After an honorable discharge, he completed his studies in electrical engineering
at University of California at Berkeley, and worked for a time for Pacific Gas
and Electric. Bob left PG&E to begin a long career in teaching mathematics
and several science disciplines at Ventura College, Laguna Blanca School in
Santa Barbara, and, finally, at Dunn School in Los Olivos, California. He took
time out from teaching to obtain a master’s degree in mathematics from Oklahoma State University in 1958.
Bob’s son, Roger, took the time to share some anecdotes about his father.
Roger wrote, “As I am sure was true at Thacher in those days (and, I hope, still
is), and most certainly was the case at Dunn, the students’ pranks were typically harmless and always showed the students’ inventiveness, creativity, and
a never-ending desire to tweak the faculty just a bit. It is rumored that my
father could walk silently across the gravel of the main quad. I don’t know if
that was true, but some students did take the defensive measure (only once,
though!) of sprinkling Epsom salts on the sidewalk outside their dorm room
so they could hear his approach. I can’t help but think that he had a good idea
about what to look for because of his own days as a student, perhaps doing
similar things, at Thacher. I’m not sure how he felt when Dunn and Thacher
played each other—he could justifiably root for both sides!”
Bob was preceded in death by his former wife, Nora Catherine Vetter;
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Fredrick Kumler; brother, Clifford F. Kumler
Jr.; and sisters, Marjorie Conklin Kumler and Gracie Smith. He is survived by
his wife, Betty Jean; children Robert Kumler Jr., Roger Kumler, Margie Valle,
Tracy Davis, Jeff Davis, and Pat Davis; six grandchildren; and seven greatgrandchildren.
John Cornelius Griggs II CdeP 1944
On April 26, John Cornelius Griggs II, of Old Lyme, Conn.,
died peacefully at home surrounded by family and beloved
wife Susan.
John was born in 1926 in Germantown, Pa., to Robert
and Margaret Griggs. He grew up in Greenwich, becoming
an avid sailor, competitive sportsman, world traveler, and entrepreneur. John
was known for his generosity, kindness, and sense of humor. At Thacher, energy and industriousness were his hallmarks, which “Jince” put to good use as
Editor-in-Chief of the “Notes.” Good at most sports, he captained the baseball
team in addition to playing soccer, track, and riding for 2nd Gymkhana Team.
He served as a Prefect, on the Committee of X, Indoor Committee, Cabinet,
and as Room Inspector. He was an A Camper, part of Bit and Spur Club, sang
for Glee Club, and acted in Pirates of Penzance.
During World War II, John served on a Navy minesweeper. He graduated
from Williams College in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy.
That same year, Margaret Rudkin (founder of Pepperidge Farm) hired John as
her first management trainee. On a 1958 business trip to Switzerland, he and
an associate discovered a product, which was licensed as Goldfish Crackers
for the American market. He also played a primary role in the development of
the original Pepperidge Farm cookie line. In 1968, he became vice president
of operations for Pepperidge Farm and in 1971, president of Godiva Chocolatier.
John leaves eight children, grateful for the wonderful life they experienced both in Pennsylvania and Connecticut: Robert CdeP 1969, Peter CdeP
1970, Charlotte, Barbara, John, Nathaniel, Melinda, and Amanda; their
spouses; and their children. Also appreciative are stepson, Richard Foote Jr.
and stepdaughter, Elizabeth Foote Treacy.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his name to Middlesex Hospice, 28 Crescent Street, Middletown, CT 06457 or to Williams College, PO
Box 676, Williamstown, MA 01267.
GEOFFREY THOMPSON TAYLER CdeP 1949
Geoff Tayler died at his Hillborough, California, home on
Feb. 10, 2008, at age 75 of renal cell carcinoma. Born in
San Mateo, Geoff was the second child of the late James D.
Tayler and Margaret “Sally” Thompson Tayler. He attended
Burlingame High School for two years before joining
Thacher’s Class of 1949. The 1949 Archivero mentions this about Geoff: “His
greatest contribution to the School. . . is his clever cartooning. It all began
with one sub-titled ‘chemical reaction,’ and since then, Geoff has been drawing furiously for every dance. His last works are the caricatures appearing
in this Arch.” Known as “Toothpick”, he played basketball and swam on the
team. He also served on the Outdoor Committee, Committee of X, Indoor
Committee, and on the El Archivero Board.
Geoff was an architecture major at Yale University, class of 1953, where
he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and executive editor of the Yale
Record, the school’s humor magazine. Upon graduation he married Sally Fullenlove of San Francisco in 1953.
In 1954, Geoff graduated from the US Navy OCS in Newport, Rhode Island, and served as a naval officer aboard the USS LSMR 403 and at the US
Naval Schools Command at Treasure Island until his release from active duty
in 1956. He joined Tayler Products Corporation, his family’s steel distribution
and fabrication business, founded by his grandfather in San Francisco in 1879,
where he attained the office of executive vice president. He was also the president of Tayler Insulation Inc., and was a licensed general contractor in both
California and Hawaii, specializing in light-gage steel framing for residential
construction. Before retiring in 1990, he served as president of the California
Building Material Dealer’s Association, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the California Insulation Contractor’s Association. He was active in
San Francisco service organizations as a senior member of The Guardsmen, a
former member of the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the
Laguna Honda Hospital Volunteers Inc., where he served as president.
A talented artist, Geoff was a set designer and cartoonist in the Bohe-
mian Club of San Francisco, where he was a member of the List of Fifty and
served on the Club’s Board of Directors. A resident of Hillsborough, he was a
long-time member of the Burlingame Country Club, where he participated in
club shows as a set designer, actor, and tap dancer. Peter Baumgartner CdeP
1951 wrote the following in a letter to the Alumni Office concerning Geoff’s
passing: “Thacher, in those days, was known as a Yale prep school and Geoff
wanted to attend Yale in the worst way. He was very active over the years in
the Yale Alumni Association. He was a very talented man. His clever and very
funny cartoons decorate the walls of the Burlingame Club. He chaired the
Jinks Committee at the Bohemian Club with great distinction. He was a very
good friend to me —really my mentor—when I joined the Bohemian Club
over 35 years ago and ever since. He will be greatly missed.”
Geoff is survived by his adoring wife of 54 years, Sally Fullenlove Tayler;
daughter, Leslie Lucas of Rancho Cordova, Calif.; sons, Thomas Geoffrey Tayler of Sacramento and Christopher John Tayler of Foster City; and two granddaughters, Elizabeth Ann Lucas of San Francisco and Katherine Fullenlove
Lucas of San Diego.
WILLIAM McNEIL CRAWFORD CdeP 1954
Bill Crawford died in the company of his family on March
19, 2008, in Piedmont, California, after a valiant battle
with cancer. He was born Feb. 29, 1936, in Bukidnon, Philippines, on the Del Monte Plantation. As a child, Bill was
interned with his family at Santo Thomas University in
Manila during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines for much of World
War II. He attended Brent School in Baguio, Philippines, Thacher, and the University of California, Berkeley - Go Bears! While a member of the Delta Kappa
Epsilon fraternity, he met Kate Abernethy and they were married in 1959.
Bill was a consummate host, a master chef, and his home was a welcome
place to all who knew him. He was a font of knowledge both useful and
bizarre. He loved to travel the byways with his wife and faithful dog. A dedicated volunteer, Bill shared his time and talents with many organizations
including the Episcopal Church, The Guardsmen, E. Clampus Vitus, Scouts,
and any group in which his offspring were involved. He was Northern California director of the Western Military History Association and a member of
BACEPOW (Bay Area Civilian Ex-POWs). While at Thacher, Bill was involved
with the baseball team, was captain of the second soccer and track teams, a
member of the swimming team, Glee Club, Letterman’s Club, and the Masquers. He was secretary of the Letterman’s Club, a B Camper, and was known for
his “natty” dressing.
Bill is survived by his wife, Kate; children Neil, Hugh, Katherine, and
Sarah; and seven grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents, Anita
Thomas and James McNeil Crawford, and his sister, Joan Crawford Hodge.
He will be missed by his brother, Jay; and his nieces, Anne, Beth and Audrey;
and their children.
CHARLES BROADWATER WILDE CdeP 1958
Chips Wilde died on Oct. 10, 2007. In the 40th Reunion Yearbook for Class of
1958, he wrote: “Upon graduation (from Cal), married Molly Burnett, spent
4.5 years with Procter & Gamble selling Crest, Head & Shoulders, and runThe Thacher School 39
ning the first Pampers test market in Sacramento. Had two boys, Charlie and
Stephen, left P&G for the wealth and position of Wall Street with Dean Witter
(never achieved the first and found the second, at least in my own mind in a
number of capacities, most noteworthy as founder and head of partnership
investment banking in the 1970s). Lived in Moraga, coached all the boys’
teams, maintained a pretty fair golf game, and generally enjoyed life.”
After 23 years of marriage, he and Molly divorced. Ventures in real estate,
consulting, environmental technologies, and mortgage banking followed, as
well as a brief foray as executive director of the SIDS (Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome) Foundation of Southern California. Wilde remarried and lived
happily with Dori for 22 years before his death.
While at Thacher, Chips was a member of the basketball, baseball, soccer,
Gymkhana, and tennis teams. He was also active in Glee Club, Masquers, Bit
& Spur, the Student Council, the Indoor Committee, and as a School Prefect.
COLIN WILKINSON PARKER CdeP 2005
Colin Parker passed away on March 8, 2008. He attended
Thacher for two years and graduated from Mount Shasta
High School. The following comments are excerpts from
speeches given at the memorial service, generously sent to
the Alumni Office by Colin’s mother, Jacquie Parker.
From his father, Dr. Jim Parker: “For all of us, life is a balancing act. We try to
balance the goodness of life with the burdens we must bear. For most of us, the balancing act is simple. The goodness in life outweighs the bad and we go on about living
our day-to-day life. But for some, like Colin, the shadows in life are perceived to be
too great to overcome and the scales tip transcendingly deep into despair and there
appears to be no way to bring the scales back in balance. That deep hole is a place of
pain that few know about. It is not the blues, reaction to negative circumstances, or
even the loss of a loved one.
Recently, Colin’s shadows tipped life’s scales so far that I think Colin, when he
weighed the opportunities of this life against the deep darkness of future days, chose
to move on. No amount of love from family, intellect, or privileged education could
be enough to overcome the pain and hopelessness he felt. Life’s circumstances delivered Colin to the doorstep of the next world and Colin chose to step through. It is
the same door that most of us live our lives while healthy trying to avoid, but will all
pass through sooner or later… “
From his brother, Nathan Parker ‘03: “Colin was the most creative person I
knew. He started with drawings and paintings and his talent quickly evolved into
creating witty poems and beautiful songs. He developed a talent in music that he
always understated. And he was always getting better. His creativity also came
out in his homemade movies. One movie he made involved rolling the video camera
down the stairs and he called it: ‘The Human Slinky.’ When it came time to give our
parents Christmas presents, I would always opt to just buy them something, but my
brother would always want to make something special. And he was never arrogant
about his work either, he would always ask your opinion and would change every
detail if you mentioned it might be off. His sensitivity about his art was apparent,
as he was never confident of his finished project. Everything to him was a work in
progress.
Of course his creative powers were indicative of a greater general intellect that
surpasses most of ours…I believe the greatest challenge Colin’s mind undertook
was to understand himself. And I think he succeeded. He was so in tune with his
emotions and his state of mind. He tried so hard to understand why he felt the way
he did, and in doing so, learned so much about himself. His laughter was rare, but
always genuine.
Unlike many his age, Colin understood the importance of family and their love. He just often chose to ignore it. He once told me: “I am so lucky to have the parents
that I do, no one else would have put up with what I put them through.” He always
knew he was loved, and we always knew that he loved us…
40 spring 2008
So, in conclusion, I would like all of us to gain a mental image of Colin. Close your
eyes if it helps you focus. No doubt most of you are envisioning a young boy, reckless,
mischievous and raw. But I want you all to look deeper, past the superficial impressions. Take that young boy and graduate him into a man–a thinker, philosopher,
creator, a lover–the man who he envisioned himself and would have wanted all of us
to envision him.”
Colin is survived by his parents, Jim and Jacquie Parker, and brother Nate
Parker CdeP 2003.
Friends
JEROME H. “JERRY” BERENSON
Jerome H. “Jerry” Berenson, former presiding judge of Ventura County Superior Court, former president of the County Board of Education and County
Bar Association, and past President of Thacher’s Board of Trustees, died Feb.
5, 2008, at the age of 93.
Jerry graduated from UC Berkeley with majors in English, history, and
political science in 1935; he then earned his law degree from Boalt Hall. After
serving as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he
moved to Ventura County, where he lived for the next 61 years. He was city
attorney for Port Hueneme, president of the County Bar Association in 1960,
a member of the state Judicial Council and the Navy League, and founding
partner of the law firm Nordman & Berenson, where he practiced general
law. He was regarded as “the prototype of what a judge should be and how a
judge should act,” said attorney William H. Hair, hired by Berenson’s law firm
in 1962, shortly before Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown appointed Jerry
to the bench. After five years, his fellow judges elected him presiding judge.
He continued to serve in that role for 15 years, until he retired in 1982 and
opened a judicial mediation service. He received the Ben Nordman Award for
community service, and the Ventura County Star-Free Press, predecessor of The
Star, editorialized that his retirement ended “one of the most-distinguished
careers in Ventura County.” A large tapestry of the state seal in Courtroom 22
was commissioned in his honor.
Jerry joined Thacher’s Board of Trustees in 1965 and was appointed president from 1973-78. It was during his tenure as president that the School explored and ultimately decided to become a co-educational school.
Jerry’s survivors include his wife of 60 years, Carolyn; their sons Jeffrey
CdeP 1968 of New York, New York, and Craig CdeP 1972 of Los Angeles; and
three grandchildren.
JAVIER BRIONES BORRAYO
Javier Briones, who worked for Thacher’s Maintenance Department from September 1988 until March 2005, died in Bakersfield on March 17, 2008. He is
survived by his wife Josefina, and two sons, Javier, Jr., and Rene.