1965 Class Notes

After dropping out of college and working as a lab technician for several years, I matriculated at UConn and obtained my B.S. in chemistry in 1976 and an M.S. in chemistry in 1979.

In the summer of 1979, I bicycled across the country on the TransAm Trail with Bikecentennial (now Adventure Cycling Association) alongside my future husband, Frederick Su (Ph.D., physics, UConn). It took us 80 days, carrying all our own gear, from Williamsburg, Va., to Eugene, Ore. The toughest challenges—both mental and physical—were the Appalachians (steep and long grades) and the Missouri Ozarks (hills, heat, and humidity). The Rocky Mountains and Cascades, while higher in elevation, had grades that were less steep. Looking back, that trip was one of the greatest achievements in my life.

We moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., in the Fall of 1979, where I went to work at Upjohn as a chemist. I married Fred in 1981, and we moved to Washington state for his job at Boeing, living in Federal Way (suburb of Seattle). While in Federal Way, we spent a lot of free time hiking the trails of Mt. Rainier National Park and in 1984, backpacked the 90-mile Wonderland Trail circumnavigating the mountain. Next, we moved to Pullman (home to Washington State University), where Fred taught physics as a visiting assistant professor for one year. We finally settled in Bellingham in 1985, where I worked as a chemist for Georgia Pacific for 13 years plus some short stints at Western Washington University teaching chemistry labs.

I retired in 2001. Since then, we have been busy bicycling 3000-3500 miles a year, and with a new Chow Chow puppy, we are now also walking 900 miles a year. My husband pulls our 60-pound (and still growing) Chow Chow in a bicycle trailer. Our breeder said he should only weigh about 50-55 pounds as an adult dog. Well, she was wrong. We love it here in Bellingham, with lots of bike paths and trails, between the mountains and the Salish Sea. (Yes, it can rain a lot, but the worst winter weather is the occasional high winds that roar down from the Fraser River Canyon in British Columbia.) We will try to adhere to an active lifestyle for as long as possible as we creep into old age.

As for my experiences at Hamden Hall, I still remember how to properly open a new book! I have fond memories of my science classes with Mr. Russ and math with Mr. Osborn. I also remember going to many football games to support our team. Sorry, I probably won’t be able to make the reunion. But I wish you all well. 50 years went by much too quickly!

 

ROBBE DELMONICO BROOK 1965

“Hamden Hall prepared me very well for college and graduate school,” says Nina Talalay Callahan 1965. “It laid an excellent foundation for what I did later on!” Nina completed her undergrad work at Chatham College (now University) in Pittsburgh majoring in sociology and anthropology with a minor in psychology. She then earned an MED at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland.

During her sophomore year in college, her family moved to Ohio where her mother was one of the founding directors of the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCHA). Once she completed her degrees, Nina worked as a special education teacher for pre-school age children for over a year. Then an opportunity came up in the Massachusetts Department of Education, working with and evaluating institutionalized children. She also evaluated special education programs that were being used in institutions and both public and private schools.  

Nina has many happy memories of Hamden Hall, and she has very warm memories of her close friend and classmate Karen Jacobsen Arthur who passed away a few years ago. Nina muses that she and Karen did almost everything together, including “chasing boys at Yale.” Nina speaks fondly of her language classes with the “wonderful” Mrs. Westerfield and Mrs. Butterworth. Her yearbook page states that she is “Always Without: shoes,” and Nina says she still prefers to be barefoot!

Although Nina is enjoying retirement from her position with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the last three years, she keeps very busy with her own specialty soap business. She also likes travelling throughout the United States and Europe with husband of 29 years, Eddy. And she especially loves going on her “sisters” trips with her two siblings, one of whom is Kathryn Talalay 1967. In fact, one of the reasons she may not be able to attend her Hamden Hall 50^th reunion is that she may be in Paris. All in all, Nina says, “Life is good!”

  

*It is with sadness that we share the news of Carol's passing on May 14, 2015. We are grateful that we had the opportunity to talk with Carol in April. She shared the following update with us:
Carol Morrison Currie 1965 shares that words are hard to find to express how wonderful her memories are of Hamden Hall. “It was a pure and structured culture that we carried with us through life.” Carol used the study and research skills she learned in high school as she pursued an education degree at Wheelock College in Boston and the American Christian Academy. While working toward a master’s degree, she learned that there was no exam that related directly to her program about the great diversity in six developmental phases of children. Carol loved spending time in the cabin and travelling with Mr. Beaupre. She remembers the trip to Switzerland well. They were walking down from a mountain, she recalls, each student holding a candle, with no other illumination. “This gave me the understanding of how we can affect change, one person at a time. One little candle seems insignificant in the dark, but when you share it with another person, you can really make a difference.” Carol and her husband, Jerry, who have two daughters and four grandchildren, have lived in Naples, Fla., since 1988. When they returned home from a Florida vacation to a very bad snow storm that year, they decided it was time to move away from New England! Carol worked in the Title industry in Naples for some time, but she found another calling. The Hamden Hall “lifestyle and focus of education changed my outlook on what I could give back and influenced my decision 10 years ago to get involved with Early Steps.” Early Steps, funded in part by the Americans with Disabilities Act, is an in-home educational program that focuses on teaching social, emotional, and language skills to children up to 3 years of age, some of whom also face physical challenges. Carol finds this work “quite rewarding” as she helps the parents of her clients with some of the same skill sets. Carol’s motto has always been to “live a simple life without expecting anything in return, and surrender to God, walking in the unforced rhythm of His grace.” Due to a health concern, Carol no longer flies airplanes or goes surfing, two of her beloved hobbies. She will also not be able attend Reunion 2015 festivities. Her wish for her classmates: Examine the potential you have to live a rich and rewarding life – don’t waste a precious moment!

 

Hamden Hall was a family affair as Carol Buckingham Dallaire 1965 graduated just three years after brother, Robert Buckingham 1962. She earned an associate’s degree from Cazenovia College and a bachelor’s degree from Southern Connecticut State University, both in Early Childhood Development. Carol used that knowledge wisely as she and husband Russell, whom she married in 1970, raised their two daughters. One of the girls inherited her mother’s prowess on the basketball court and received an athletic scholarship to play the game at Mitchell College. Her other daughter studied the arts at UCONN. After working 22 years as a teacher’s assistant, Carol retired to an even more demanding and rewarding career—that of grandmother. She keeps very busy babysitting her five grandchildren, and watching the older ones (including a set of 12-year-old triplets) compete in basketball and lacrosse. Carol’s yearbook page indicates a desire to visit London’s Buckingham Palace, and she realized this dream in early adulthood. While another engagement will prevent her from joining her classmates at the 50^th Reunion, she sends everyone her best.

 

Rogers Dennett 1965 enjoys travelling for education, business, and pleasure. Rogers graduated from Union College with degrees in chemistry and biology. He also studied at the University of California at Sacramento and took some business courses at the University of Hartford. Rogers worked as an insurance underwriter for the Travelers Insurance Company and has held a number of other positions from working as a waste water treatment plant operator and lab tech, to serving as a substitute teacher in South Miami. Thanks to an inheritance from a “spare” grandparent, Rogers bought a sail boat large enough to live on and spent 10 years sailing the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas. Rogers currently works as a CDL driver in the Boston area. He plans to be “back home” for reunion in October.

Sally Grant Grave 1965 started Hamden Hall in fourth grade. She has fond memories of the dining hall with Mrs. Bernard in the kitchen. Although she usually brought her lunch to school, Sally said others purchased a hot meal, and they all ate together. Sally recalled that lunch time was especially fun because “students could talk more freely than in class.” She said Hamden Hall “was a special place where the student body was small enough that every student could find a place to stand out—athletically and academically.” She added, “It was nice that you could be friends with kids in other grades.” Sally was involved in all the sports, including field hockey and cheerleading, and was named the “Hop Queen” as a sophomore. (Jeff Clark was the king as a freshman!) Several Hamden Hall classmates stand out, including Wendy McDonald Gordon with whom Sally got caught playing hooky, going to the beach instead of class! Mr. Beaupre and Mr. Brooks were great teachers. She also remembers receiving the news of President Kennedy’s assassination at school, as well as watching President Lyndon Johnson’s motorcade wind its way down Whitney Avenue.

Hamden Hall is a family affair of sorts for the Graves as her husband Ted attended ninth grade, as did one of their two sons. Ted’s brother and one sister were also students at the school. After graduating college, along with classmate Robbe DelMonico Brook, Sally earned a degree in occupational therapy from Columbia University, and she made that field her life’s work. She and Ted both retired in 2006 and have enjoyed spending eight to nine months a year boating. Sally would like to attend the reunion, however, she and Ted may be making their way to Florida at that time. Sally would really enjoy catching up with personal visits, so if anyone lives along the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW), just let her know. The door will be open! 

Charleen Herlinger Hamilton 1965 met her husband, Joe, at Atlantic Union College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology. Her love of that subject started at Hamden Hall under the tutelage of Ernie Russ who also taught chemistry. Charleen remembers that Ernie would give each student a vile of an unknown substance that they had to accurately identify. She also lovingly remembers her eighth-grade math teacher, Ms. Callahan, who would tell the students to “step lively” (get to their seats quickly) before starting oral multiplication drills each day. The Mikado stands out in her mind and making costumes with other students at the Tarantino residence. Hamden Hall is a family affair for the Herlingers. Dad, Ernst Herlinger, managed the purchase of all supplies as well as the janitorial staff at the school. He also taught eighth-grade geography and Connecticut history. Charleen recalled that her father always treated her like any other student in the classroom--there were no references to "daughter" or "dad." Ernst, by the way, is doing well living on his own at age 93. Brothers Rick and Gary also attended Hamden Hall.

After graduating college, Charleen and Joe worked at Union Springs Academy, a grades 9-12 boarding school in New York. They retired together in 1997 and “moved on faith” to Georgia, living near one of her brothers. There Charleen cross-trained in nearly every aspect of the commercial real estate firm at which she spent eight years. Seeing her potential, one of her clients hired her to work in her dental office where Charleen managed a golf tournament that supported dentistry for the developmentally disabled, a position she enjoyed for four years.

“Hamden Hall served me in very good stead. It taught me how to think, how to put things together, analyze things, synthesize information to solve an answer.” Charleen, who hasn’t been to campus since the 1960s, hopes to visit family during her trip “north” for reunion.

 

Evelyn A. Herzog 1965 tributes her love of Sherlock Holmes to her days at Hamden Hall where she enrolled in sixth grade as a scholarship recipient. After graduation, she studied Latin at Albertus Magnus College and earned a master’s degree from Fordham University. In 1991 the Baker Street Irregulars, an exclusive international Sherlock Holmes fan society, invited her to join as one of its first female members. It was at a Sherlockian meeting that she met her husband, John Baesch, also a classics scholar. She admits, however, that neither of them can make out the engraved inscriptions on old buildings any longer! Evelyn and John live in Baltimore. Retired in 2005 after spending 30 years as a legal secretary, Evelyn now devotes much of her time to her passion for all things regarding Sherlock Holmes, and she enjoys the new Sherlock movies for what they are (essentially Iron Man with Holmes’ treasured pipe and tweed jacket.)

Evelyn remembers that the transition to an independent school was difficult, but the people were so kind! Hamden Hall was so welcoming, “always emphasizing us as individuals” rather than as a part of a social class. The uniform helped to blur economic lines. Her yearbook blurb closes with the Latin phrase nuda genu, meaning “bare kneed.” She found the term amusing when used as a descriptor in classical verse, but the bare knees were also a pivotal aspect of the 1965 dress code of high socks and a plaid skirt. While all of her Hamden Hall teachers were “splendid,” Mrs. Westerfield in particular springs to mind. “I see that eager, eager face,” Evelyn says. She also recalls Cushing Hall with nostalgia for its various nooks, crannies, and passageways—like something out of an Arthur Conan Doyle novel. “But time marches on,” Evelyn understands. The adopted family home was since been razed. Evelyn is looking forward to seeing her classmates at 2015 Reunion!

 

Stephen Horne 1965 studied English and drama at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he received the award for best collegiate actor in the state of Nebraska in 1967. He credits this feat to his mentor, Jeff Goldman 1964. At Hamden Hall, Stephen played in The Merry Widow and other shows. He served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a machinist mate aboard the USS Long Beach, “blowing quarter-million-dollar holes in the sky” above the Tonkin Gulf. His last four months in the Navy were spent aboard the USS South Carolina in North Africa, Italy, and Spain. Stephen left the service in 1978 to work at a nuclear energy company based in Danbury that transferred him to South Carolina. That is where he met and married his own southern bell, Joann, in 1980. Joann brought two daughters to this marriage, and Stephen soon became a grandfather at age 37. He now has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Stephen, who has four commercial nuclear start-ups under his belt, has also worked for the Department of Defense and trained and audited nuclear organizations. Since his retirement, he has delved further into Greek Mythology, astrology, and poetic injustice, such as the following limerick: “Atlas in a toga festooned / noticed Venus on a planet marooned. / As she seductively disrobed, / He cast off his load / And that’s how the earth was first moved.” He has fond memories of Hamden Hall history teacher, Mr. Brooks, and Nick DeFelice, the track and football coach. He remembers many nice people at Hamden Hall. Unfortunately, Stephen won’t be able to make the 50^th reunion due to his wife’s illness. He welcomes correspondence from his classmates.           

 

Having completed her undergrad work at Vassar and a master’s degree in developmental psychology at Columbia, Elizabeth “Betsy’ Katz Hundt 1965 furthered her education with a second master's and a doctorate from the California School of Professional Psychology. Betsy works as a clinical psychologist in Maryland where she and her husband Reed raised three children. Betsy says that her Hamden Hall Latin teacher, Mrs. Westerfield, was a great inspiration. She fondly recalls her instructor's "tremendous zest for life and learning." In high school, Betsy served as president of both the infamous Belly-Button Club and the Teeny-Weeny Bladder Club. In her 1965 Hamden Hall yearbook, Betsy writes how she, "Loves to run through her hair barefoot." Betsy had very, very long hair at the time, which she says is much shorter now. In her spare time, Betsy enjoys reading, swimming, running, music, and visiting art galleries. Betsy returns to Connecticut occasionally as she and her family are renovating her father's home in Bethany. Betsy noted that as Reed celebrates his golden anniversary from St. Alban's this year, she plans to attend her Hamden Hall milestone 50th class festivities.

KATHLEEN JOHNSON 1965

Kathleen Johnson 1965 attributes Hamden Hall with opening her mind, emboldening her to take chances, inspiring her interest in the world, and expanding her appreciation of the interconnectivity of all things. After graduating from Georgetown University, Kathleen earned her master’s degree in psychiatric-adolescent nursing and went on to attend Suffolk Law School. Having passed the Massachusetts Bar in 1981, she worked as an attorney until her retirement. Kathleen now lives in Cambridge, Mass., where she enjoys photography and being involved with local environmental nonprofit organizations such as the Friends of Urban Wildlife, which monitors water pollution in natural habitats.

Her courageous attitude is why Kathleen still rescues captive birds with which she lives in what she describes as a “flock.” Although she is generally against the domestication of birds, she maintains that our feathered friends “will always have a wildness about them.” (Kathleen makes an exception for birds born into captivity.) Kathleen has fond memories of the Belly Button Club at Hamden Hall wherein members compared and scrutinized one another’s navels. “We were adolescents,” she explains. Kathleen recalls her first stage experience at the Hamden Hall performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado. While she never thought she would be a performer, she now enjoys singing with a community chorus. Kathleen hopes to join her class for reunion in October.

 

Laurence Levine 1965 moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1979, and he still resides there today. Larry has many fond memories of his high school teachers, many of whom inspired his future endeavors.

 

Selling his wholesale textile business 21 years ago, Richard “Dick” Marvin 1965 got tired of the snow in New England and “sort of threw a dart at the map.” The dart landed just outside Orlando, so he moved to Wintergarden, Fla. A back injury ended his college football career early, but he continued to play amateur golf tournaments for some time. After three back injuries and a hip replacement, he no longer participates in athletic competitions. Dick never did become a history teacher as he aspires in his yearbook blurb. He does, however, read a lot about history, and he’s going through a WWII phase at the moment. Now that he’s retired, Dick travels the world with his wife, Ginger, with whom he has a daughter and two grandchildren. They’ve visited Hawaii, Alaska (where they flew a plane over a glacier), San Francisco, and they have a Mediterranean cruise planned for next year. According to Dick, the coolest thing they did was go up in a hot air balloon in Arizona. He also enjoys taking his assisted living dog to the local library where children practice their reading skills with eager canines. The pressure free environment facilitates the learning process. Dick has fond memories of the senior cabin, Miss Stewart, Ernie Russ, football coach Nick DeFelice, and basketball coach Jack Garrity. Dick has not been on campus since his 35-year reunion, and so he’s looking forward to the milestone 50^th in October. In fact, he’s already got his plane ticket!

 

Elizabeth Michel 1965 graduated from Yale Medical School after attending Wellesley College. She and her husband did their residencies in the San Diego area, and they “just stayed in California,” where she has worked as both a physician and a writer. A desire to publish her own poetry eventually became a reality for both her rhymed and unrhymed verse. At one point, she "sort of switched to prose," and then went on to "more professional" writing such as medical literature. She now enjoys penning articles about weaving. Although she notes in her yearbook that she is always with a tuna sandwich, she now confides that she has switched to salmon! Elizabeth enjoys spending time weaving and caring for her household. "Stop sneezing in Latin," Elizabeth writes in her yearbook just before noting that she is a philosopher or a lover of knowledge. She thinks a lot about her foreign language classes—she took five years each of Latin and French! Elizabeth remembers fondly that she and Elizabeth Herzog were the only two students in Mrs. Butterworth’s French 5 class their senior year. Now that she lives so close to the Mexican border, however, Elizabeth admits that she “can speak Spanish better than French today.” Elizabeth and her husband of 42 years, Arnold Markman, have two sons and four grandchildren. They both work with Survivors of Torture International, an organization that helps refuges who have survived the trauma of torture around the world, and Elizabeth served on that board for six years. They fostered a neighbor from Guatemala, helping to facilitate bringing his family to the U.S., getting them established in the area, and making sure they were on the right educational track. Elizabeth and Arnold consider the five children of that family their grandchildren as well. Travel out of the country in September will most likely prevent Elizabeth from joining her classmates at reunion. She sends her best to everyone.

 

When Constance Hemenway Mitchell 1965 left Hamden Hall, she attended the University of Hawaii and then graduated from Western Connecticut College, majoring in math. She spent some time in New Hampshire before moving to Pennsylvania in 1975 where she received a match for her residency term. Connie and her husband since 1982, Walter Mitchell, still reside in Pennsylvania. Connie has one son, one stepson, and six grandchildren. The seed for Connie’s love of math was planted by Mr. Osborn and Mr. Welch at Hamden Hall. She has worked as a high school math teacher and a computer programmer, and she’s held various other positions as well. These days she substitutes in a high school, teaching any subject that is needed. She likes playing bridge in her off hours, but Connie especially enjoys “entertaining the grandchildren.” Although Connie only went to Hamden Hall for three years, she made many fast friends and held several leadership roles, especially in field hockey and basketball. She remembers fondly classmates Carol Buckingham Dallaire, Kathy Wheatley, and Wendy McDonald Gordon, whom she hopes to see in October. “So many memories,” Connie remarked. She used to tease about being “down on the farm” because she lived in rural Northford, seemingly so far away from Hamden at that time. Connie’s yearbook speaks to her singing prowess. Husband, Walter, is quite the thespian, so when she was asked to perform in Fiddler last summer, she quickly accepted the role. She learned, however, that acting in adulthood “is not as fun as it was in high school!”  Connie looks forward to the 50^th reunion and rekindling old friendships.

After Hamden Hall, Barbara Horton O’Connor 1965 earned a fine arts degree from Cazenovia College. She was also the first woman to graduate from Dartmouth with a baccalaureate degree in philosophy. After working as an assistant advertisement executive in New York, she decided she “wanted a clothesline,” and accepted a job as assistant art director at Yankee magazine in New Hampshire where she still lives. At Hamden Hall, she edited the 1965 Yearbook. Barbara married John O’Connor in 1993, and she has one stepdaughter. Barbara retired two years ago, and now enjoys gardening and weaving. Mr. Beaupre, her Hamden Hall French teacher, stands out as especially inspirational. Hamden Hall was a wonderful experience, as Barbara recalls. Her class, which was very diverse as the kids were not identical, was the second class to enjoy the benefits of “The Little Cabin.” She absolutely plans to be at the 50-year reunion.

TOM TARANTINO 1965

Live:  Philadelphia, most of the time

Profession:  Semi-retired Bookkeeper

Education:  College - Princeton, Class of 1969

                  Trade School:  University of Pennsylvania, 1976

                                        JD/MBA/MS in Law School/Wharton

Spouse:  Barbara Markoe Scott (she kept her name and I kept mine.  She, too, is a twin)

 

Impact HH had on me:

 

Learned reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic

 

Learned how to open a book:  bend the spine front, back, front, back,

                                            from the outside in so as not to break it,

                                            like stretching before you play a game.

                                            Probably have done this ten thousand times.

                                            Thank you Mrs. Winston.

 

Learned some poems:  I think that I shall never see

                                  A Poem lovely as a Tree

 

                                  If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

                                  and treat those Two Imposters just the same

 

                                  I am the Master of my Fate

                                  I am the Captain of my Soul

and, of course,

                                  The Maid who on the First of May

                                  Goes to the Woods at Break of Day

                                  And Bathes in the Dew of the Hawthorne Tree

                                  Shall, Ever After, Beautiful Be

 

Yes, I still remember my Latin name: Epictetus, a philosopher who was born a slave...I've always rather liked that.

 

Learned about chiasmus:  Thank you B W and Coach Garrity -

                                       When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

 

Most Importantly, learned to Dive for the Ball.

 

 

Perception of Paradise:  "Playing Basketball in Payne Whitney Gym".

 

     This meant that I would have made the Princeton Freshmen Basketball Team and was playing an away game at Yale.  However, when I showed up for tryouts, the Coach, Butch van Breda Kolff, told us that there were 92 High School Basketball Captains in the Freshman Class...so, if we hadn't heard from him before, we were welcome to try out...but we probably wouldn't be around too long.  I lasted three days.

     At some point, I became an assistant Girls' Basketball Coach at a local Day School.  The Coach was a beautiful, lovely kinder woman.  There was no monkey business but, when I graduated, I told her "I hope I can find someone just like you". Thirteen years later, I did.

     Eventually, in Law School, I found my Game - Squash (Mr. Mercer had advised me to find it in College but I was a slow learner).  I've played singles, later doubles for more than forty years now and have had some success.  

     I still enjoy the game and, particularly, the after game.   The Men's

Locker Room is my "Sanctum Sanctorum" where the Sacred is Profane.

 

The Chaucer Quote:  "He was a verray parfit gentil knight".

 

     I thank Evelyn for this.  I have always been honored that she thought me worthy and amused to be more worthy than she thought.

     Chaucer wrote of the Knight as part of "some nine and twenty" who became companions on a Pilgrimage to Canterbury.  They entertained themselves by telling stories and Chaucer was one of the first to present them "in the vernacular" rather than in classic French or Latin.  Of course, where there are stories, there are other things, as Chaucer depicted:

 

                                 "Let's here decide who first shall tell a Tale

                                  And Listen, as I hope to drink more wine and ale..." 

 

The Knight spoke first, followed by an interrupting Miller:

 

                                 "And so it was, later, as the Miller told his Tale,

                                 That her face, at first just ghostly, turned a Whiter Shade of Pale"

 

Thus, Evelyn led me to my Favorite Song.  Please listen:

    

 

And, so I ask you, can not the Profane become Sacred?

 

Fifty Years is just the wink of an eye.

 

Thank you,

 

Tom

NICHOLAS THOMPSON-ALLEN 1965

 

Having developed a love of reading and writing under Ms. Stuart’s tutelage, Nancy Martens Van Sciver 1965 attended The College of William and Mary, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and French and a master’s degree in English and education. Mr. Beaupre did a great job getting her ready to study in France, although “his Canadian accent made it a bit difficult for the French people to comprehend me.” Nancy was a high school English teacher for six years in Boston, and also in New Hampshire where she has lived for 42 years. She left education for a career in commercial real estate brokerage, development, and management, and with two partners, Nancy started her own real estate firm in 1995. Hamden Hall’s Mr. Brooks influenced Nancy’s ability to look at global issues with a broader eye, looking “beyond the party lines.” In 2008, she and her husband founded Education For All Children (EFAC), a non-profit organization in Kenya. EFAC supports 300 students in an eight-year program beginning with Form 1 (9th grade) and continuing through university. Their scholarship program is supplemented with an intensive mentoring and education-to-employment program. In her spare time, Nancy enjoys skiing, tennis, sailing, reading, and travel. Hamden Hall educators had a profound impact on her life. Nancy’s children, Jed and Lisa, attended small private schools, and so will four-year-old grandson, Miles, “who is surprisingly really cute.” Nancy looks forward to catching up with classmates at Reunion 2015.

 

A wooden shoe is just one of the memories that Nancy Taylor Vineburgh 1965 treasures from her trip to Holland as part of Hamden Hall’s experiment in international living. Nancy remembers "eating way too much cheese" during her visit. She cherishes the friendship established with her "Dutch sister" who attended her wedding and with whom she remains in contact today. After graduating from Hamden Hall, Nancy studied art history at the University of Grenoble in France. Returning to New York, she briefly attended Columbia University in the first years of its Restoration of Historic Architecture Program, and earned a master’s degree in counseling from St. Joseph's University. Nancy remembers riding her Rally bicycle to school. In the 1965 yearbook, Nancy writes how she was always with a different boy (never without a Yalie!), and she still remembers her many friends in the Ivy League. The yearbook note also says she aspired to marry a diplomat, but her husband, Jim Vineburgh, whom she wed in 1972, “is only diplomatic in temperament.” Nancy and Jim share a high esteem for quality education, a value they passed on to their two sons and three (so far!) grandchildren. Hamden Hall instilled this love of knowledge, and she is proud of how the school has sustained its scholarly reputation through the years. In June, Nancy retired from her jobs as assistant professor and director of public education at the Center for the Study of Chromatic Stress where she studied veteran and civilian cases of PTSD. She stays very active, however, as a member of the board at the Boys and Girls Club in of Bluffton, S.C., for which she recently chaired a 400-guest fundraiser. Nancy also recently took up acrylic painting, and she just sold her first piece of art! Nancy looks forward to reunion!

  

Katherine Wheatley 1965 and her senior prom date, Bill Kirby, married a few months after graduation and moved to New York City, and then to Bill's home town of Great Neck, Long Island. For several years they commuted to New York City where Bill worked as a musician and began making pottery and Kathy continued taking dance classes. Taking the train to the City brought back fond memories as Katherine rode the train to study dance at Julliard while in high school (and continued dancing classes as an adult!). She explains that the yearbook note “limbo girl,” refers to a beach party event. “Or, maybe we did that at Diney Weinerman's parties -can't remember.”

When their daughter turned 5, Bill and Kathie took a road trip to Nova Scotia and upper New England. There they fell in love with Middlebury, Vt., a quaint town with a great college and state symphony, and decided to make that their home. Katherine and Bill have one daughter and one son. When the kids went off to college, the parents decided it was time to finish their degrees as well, so all four of them were in college at the same time!

Katherine started her own business, Middlebury Video Productions. To her credit are her contributions to two films: Once in Afghanistan, a documentary about working as a Peace Corps volunteer, and The Vermont Story, a six-part series about the history, culture, and life in the not always so quiet New England state. While she still owns her video business, Katherine says she’s not looking for new work. She now enjoys programming shows and recording area events at a local access television station. She also likes to garden and “build and design whatever we need,” such as easels, a playhouse, a loft, pottery tables. “I just like figuring that stuff out!” She also enjoys reading and is now learning to play the violin!

Katherine remembers eating lunch outside with Nancy Taylor, and that she “never forgave Tom Tarantino for snatching my ice cream sandwich.” That didn’t stop her from dancing with Tom’s brother, Peter, though. The yearbook says that she was always “without her homework,” and she admits that she still has a problem with losing or forgetting things. Katherine says of herself, “I’m sort of philosophical person and always had a funny little saying that I took quite seriously.” One such idiom is, “All time that is lost is not wasted.”

Katherine liked spending time in the cabin and tried basketball, but “could never get the rules right.” Mrs. Winston was her favorite teacher, and she also remembers Mr. Beaupre and Mrs. Butterworth (a new Hamden Hall teacher at the time). “Kathie” plans to catch up in more detail at the reunion festivities in October.