Class Notes - Late Summer 2025
Catherine Burton writes: “I became officially ordained as a Unity Minister through the Unity Church of Hawaii and Unity Worldwide Ministries on May 4th, having become a Licensed Unity Teacher, then Minister, and now Ordained Unity Minister. It felt like the next big stage after completing my 25-year private practice as a clinical psychologist, for which I am always grateful to Williams for the great psychology classes I had that led to my career choice.
I currently serve as the Minister for the midweek service on Wednesday evenings filled with upbeat New Thought Music (e.g., see Steve Angrisano’s “Go Make A Difference” Bing video) and an “Interactive” sermon where attendees share their views on the topic of the night taken from the Unity Daily Word. For example, the question on June 11th was how do you experience or achieve Inner Peace -- and we shared how we and humanity could apply that Inner Peace to our current world situation.
I also greatly enjoy hosting my bi-monthly Health and Wellness Class where we have discussed five books and applied the latest research findings that point to the benefits of a vegan diet for greater health and wellness. Check out the Vegan Society of Hawaii website at https://www.vsh.org and the VSH lectures on-line under the tv schedule. Consider reading The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living like the World’s Healthiest People by Dan Buettner.”
In terms of recommended books, Peter Harnik is “resisting the temptation to nominate Lucky Loser by Russ Beutner and Sue Craig of The Wall Street Journal and instead go for Outlive by Peter Attia. I’m also a fan of football’s GOAT Tom Brady and the overlap of what Attia espouses and Tom’s approach is interesting, especially at our age. For all our sakes, I do hope the Loser stays lucky.” Jeff Seitelman recommends anything by Tim Snyder. Edward Ford says his favorite book to teach was The Odyssey (“epics do stand the test of time”), which he’s about to read again – “the greatest love story ever.”
Seitelman also mentions that this son Rob ’01 will be appearing as Puck in the Marin Theater’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Ford also commented that “the reunion left me fulfilled but for one misgiving: my failure to join Lennie V. and Kent Hoffman on the green on Saturday. And I wish I had spent more time with Chris Filley, the only member of ‘Cradle’ to attend the ’73 bash. To those I DID reconnect with, thanks for sharing great memories.”
Julie Kaufman writes: “I’m not sure I wrote about helping to make the feature film ‘Lilly.’ The film is a political drama about Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama Goodyear Tire factory worker who for nearly 20 years was paid just over half what the men in her supervisory position were paid. Her lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court, where she lost on the technicality that she had to bring suit within 180 days of the first offense; she was 19 ½ years too late. She was encouraged to lobby Congress to get the law changed, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the first piece of legislation that Obama signed in 2009. I am a producer of the film, which has enjoyed success in film festivals this year and is now available to rent or own on all streaming platforms. I have learned that our kids’ generation knows nothing about Lilly Ledbetter or gender pay equity, so it’s a great movie to encourage your grown kids to watch.”
Milton Grenfell is “still practicing architecture since I don’t know what else I’d rather be doing. Field Horne procured me for a project with his Episcopal church parish, which has given me the opportunity to visit with him, spend time in lovely and now bustling Saratoga Springs, and be just over the hills from our alma mater.”
Bill Simon thanks classmates and other Ephs for their well wishes on the impact of the CA wildfire. “It has been a tumultuous couple of months since January when much of Pacific Palisades was destroyed. Our house was spared but lots of smoke damage. We hope to be able to move back in by early fall.” He added that Cindy and he attended the wedding of their nephew on a beautiful island in South Carolina where Cecily Stone spends time and had the welcome chance to catch up with her.
Camille Douglas “wanted to report that I have moved on to a new chapter that I am enjoying immensely. At the end of 2024 I resigned my full-time position at LeFrak, where I had been for the last 15 years, focusing on their expansion into the South Florida market, and shifted to an advisory role. I have taken up teaching at Harvard Business School as well as in a new Real Estate Master’s Program at the Graduate School of Design. It’s fun to be back in Cambridge, adding a lifetime of perspective both in and out of the classroom. When I’m not teaching, I divide my time between Palm Beach and my beloved farm in Rensselaerville, NY, not too far from our old haunts in BIllsville and where there are cows in the fields and the mountains often take on a purple hue. I remain forever grateful for my year at Williams as one of the ‘original’ 12 exchange students. It was by far the most impactful year of my entire education.”
In February Mark Donahue “ruptured my Achilles tendon. I wish I could brag that I injured myself like Kobe Bryant and Jason Tatum, but . . . I was rolling a garbage can up our driveway when my feet got tangled, and I went flying. I had to wait until Julie noticed me on the ground in front of our house. The good news is that I didn’t need surgery; the bad news is that the recovery process has been daunting – initial Flat Boot, followed by Hard Cast, followed by scary-looking Vacoped Orthopedic Tall Boot! All had to be worn night and day. Although I’m now out of the fancy footwear, the process is still grueling: visits to the orthopedic surgeon every few weeks, physical therapy three days a week, and multiple daily exercises like difficult heel lifts. I hope my classmates are all spared this kind of injury.
Scott Hopkins finished his third year as JV lacrosse coach for the Lincoln-Way (IL) girls’ lacrosse team, coaching girls one fifth his age. He has recruited players from ice hockey as the games are so similar the learning curve is minimal. He also has updates on several classmates: he stayed with Frank and Amy Chapman on the way to his wife Nancy’s 50thReunion at Skidmore in late May. He brought the Chapmans some special purple irises that actually smell PURPLE. Scott and Nancy went on to Saratoga Springs and met up with Bruce and Janice Richards (Janice was a roommate of Nancy and Bruce was one of Scott’s). Steve Kimberley is building a new house in the Portland area. The foundation now looks bigger than he had thought, so he’ll need company to come and visit. Spike and Deborah Booth survived the CA fire but say areas of LA look like a desert. Spike had been traveling to both coasts and Sun Valley, and Scott assumes he will go to South Dakota for pheasant hunting this fall. Joe Hamilton emerged from a mystery illness and is feeling much better. Joe and Scott are thinking about making a run at the 2026 Alumni-Guest golf tournament.
