Class Notes - December 2025
Mary Schendel writes that Jackie Oliveri, known for her Ruth Bader Ginsburg portrayal, starred again in a solo performance in our local community theater. This time she was Margaret Chase Smith, one of Maine’s renowned Senators, who served during the McCarthy hearings. Her “Declaration of Conscience” helped put an end to that nonsense. Phil and I, with Tom and Laurie Hyndman, gave Jackie Purple High Fives for a fine performance of this rags-to-political-prominence story.
During our Williams Women’s reception in NYC we learned of Lucy Calkins’ recent engagement. The surprise was learning that her fiancé was an Oberlin classmate of my husband. Lucy and husband Steve Mayer visited us in Maine on a brief swing earlier this fall.
In June Phil and I had swung by Southampton spent a few delightful hours over dinner with Dede Gotthelf and her husband Terry Moan at her Southampton Inn. Her business is a loyal supporter of “Pianofest” in the Hamptons, a summer festival of study and concerts by young pianists selected by audition.
Otherwise, we (finally!) have two grandchildren, aged 1.5 years and seven months. They are, of course, perfect. We are in mid-downsizing mode, having sold our house and living temporarily in a rental while our cottage is a nearby retirement community is being built. The process is not for the faint of heart. Luckily we remain healthy as we embark on our new phase.
Connie Rudnick reports that on a chilly day in early December, 17 members of the Class of ’73 and spouses trekked to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to be treated to a curator-led tour of Homer’s watercolors. Other attendees were Marta Rudolph, Marilyn Marsh, Dottie Pitt, Margaret Bradley, Win Quayle and Deb Manegold, John Reed and Helen Hollingsworth, Dave and Sue Butts, Jim Hearty, Molly (Quinby) and Jeff Eberle, Katie (Jacobs) and Bob Eyre ’71, and Polly (Keller) and Jerry Vanesse. See the classy photo of this artistic assembly! Marta braved the end of a blizzard to get to Boston from Northampton, and the event brought Marilyn from NYC and Margaret from RI.
Following the tour, seven participants went to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum for lunch and six then joined a museum guide for a tour of the Allan Rohan Crite exhibit. Crite, an African American Boston-based artist, is known for his street scenes of the South End and Roxbury in the ‘30s as well as religious-based works, some of which still hang in Boston churches. Attendees reported a unique and inspiring exhibit.
Class officers are interested in doing more art-based adventures – so classmates with ideas, and ones willing to convene such activities, please contact Connie (Rudnick) Grayson.
Field Horne mentioned that his most recent publication is Saratoga’s Black Heritage, an illustrated booklet of 64 pages containing 30 profiles of Black residents and visitors from 1700 to recent years, testimony to the city’s climate of opportunity. It was grant-funded and distributed free by the Saratoga County Historical Center, where he is a trustee.
Field has gotten Milton Grenfell involved with designing an addition to connect his Richard Upjohn parish church (late 19C) to a Greek Revival stone house (mid 19C). Working with two such handsome and important pieces of architecture has been a grand privilege and pleasure. Spending time with Field in his handsome (if he says so himself, Grenfell Architecture designed!) house has made the job nothing short of a delight.
Jon Lawson is still chairing the non-profit friends group Calvert Vaux Preservation Alliance, a 501(c)(3) organization working on saving, restoring and re-purposing The Point, an 1855 country estate on the Hudson River designed by Vaux that has been abandoned since 1963. We are commissioning a feasibility study to explore turning the site into a campus for architectural preservation skills training. A recent NYS grant is helping us to stabilize the main residence from the ravages of time and weather. Take a look at our website, www.calvertvaux.org.
Rob Cella writes: twice in the last three years, I’ve encountered Dave Polk in or around the Old Course in St. Andrews. In 2023, I walked onto the second green to find him approaching the 16th pin on the double green. We enjoyed a sunny day on that occasion; and we ran into each other a few days later at Elie, a little further down the coast. This year, I met Dave and his wife while walking behind the 18th green. A member of the Royal and Ancient, Dave goes over each September for the Annual Meeting.
For several years, I’ve been taking Tom and Mary Lee’s advice regarding a proper Scotland golf trip. I start in the Inverness area with Dornoch, Nairn and a couple of other courses, cross the country east to Cruden Bay and then work my way down to St. Andrews. My 2023 and 2025 trips were father-son affairs; in 2024 I went over with Paul ’71 and Heidi Lieberman. We started in the Troon area, spent a day and a half in Edinburgh, and then went on to St. Andrews. The highlights of this year’s trip were an eagle on Carnoustie’s 10th hole and just missing shooting my age on the Jubilee Course at St. Andrews.
When home, I spend a good deal of time at Taconic during the golf season. In the winter, I’m part of a “senior day care group” at Jiminy Peak, where I also organize and time alpine ski races. I go out to Big Sky annually with my son’s family and take a second trip with friends or my daughters if they are not too busy. This year we plan to ski at Schweitzer, Fernie and Whitefish. Thank goodness for total joint replacements.
Pete Farwell is still tracking the men’s and women’s cross-country teams. He traveled to southern CT to watch them compete in the meet to qualify for Nationals – and both succeeded.
Peter Franklin and his wife went in September to a Bob Dylan concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA and sitting right behind them was his freshman roommate, Mike Zients! It was fun to catch up. Boy, Bob Dylan looked old! He sat behind a piano with a hoodie and only stood up for us to see him for a few minutes, sparking a rumor that he had died and this was a look-a-like!
Win Quayle writes that his pediatrician daughter Katie ’08 just completed her second residency and is now a child psychiatrist in Idaho – too far away for their parents’ taste. Son Will ‘12 just completed his psychiatry residence and son Peter his emergency medicine residency. Thankfully both Will and Peter are working in Maine.
In October he attended the 50th anniversary of the Gaudino Fund with Paul Peterson and many others. The materials included a booklet, Uncomfortable Learning by Randy Thomas, and the showing of a documentary by Paul Lieberman on the Gaudino Scholars and their projects and students. He was blown away by a panel discussion during the weekend about a course offered by Williams at the Berkshire House of Correction which was half Williams students and half “internal students” there. Very inspiring.
Emlen Drayton is, for the most part, enjoying his 70’s. His most meaningful activity of late was celebrating his Mom’s 100th birthday in Boca Grande, FL. She has outlived three husbands so the event had quite a crowd, relatively speaking (pun intended) -- four generations adding up to 38 direct relatives. Deedee is still “very with it,” surviving three days of festive partying – including a golf cart party with 100 close friends dropping by replenishing their cocktails, a packed church tribute, and a final celebration with song.
Steve Kimberley has “been building my dream home, a little late but what can I say. From my deck I can see Autzen Stadium, (football), Matt Court (basketball) and Hayward field (track), all of which are within two miles, along with two billion dollars of Phil Knight projects! The house is larger than I had imagined, but my acre lot needed something commensurate with that scale! My "boys,” who are now full-grown men, will help paint etc. as things come into focus. I stay in touch with old buddies, Dan Schwartzman, Peter Klejna, and Scott Hopkins, and they fill me in on any news from the Eph community.