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1973

Joanne Rubin
jrubin610@aol.com

Bibsy Nace writes, “This is my farewell column. It’s been a great pleasure serving as your class secretary, but time to pass along the baton to Joanne Rubin. She will be gathering news for the next issue of Scope.”

Terry McKee von der Heydt, co-chairing our 35th reunion with Cathy Offinger, says “planning a reunion is almost as fun as going to one.” Through e-mails, conference calls, and a meeting last August, the planners have created a reunion that they feel is appropriate to our Skidmore era and to our current lives. She adds, “Of course, it’s the people who make the reunion, so to make it really great, we need great attendance.” She and Cathy encourage classmates to mark May 29–June 1 on their calendars to be at Skidmore to renew old friendships, make new ones, and have some fun in Saratoga.

Maine resident Timi Carter worked this fall with Kate Driver ’05, who interned in the guidance office at Portland High School, where Timi is registrar. Together they “drummed up lots of interest in Skidmore.” Timi is “thrilled to be working with our energy-filled reunion committee” and hopes to see lots of classmates at Skidmore this spring. “It has been fun speaking with classmates over the phone, but an on-campus visit is so much more rejuvenating; and we all can use that!”

Joan Halpert is in her 25th year as costume designer for the theater department at Stonehill College, near Boston. A major South Shore newspaper ran an extensive article on her work. Joan worked on a fall mainstage production that took first place at the Northeast Region 1 of the American College Theatre Festival. Son Eric ’03 was married in 2006 and works for About.com; daughter Allegra attends Eugene Lang College in Greenwich Village, and daughter Olivia is a freshman at American Musical and Dramatic Academy near Lincoln Center. Joan has seen Raejean Richardson Kaplan and keeps in touch with Abbey Steer Koutnik ’74.

Diane Stone Kendall plans to attend Reunion. Her son is in high school. Her daughter, pursuing a master’s in conservation biology at Columbia, has spent two summers in Tanzania studying hippo-human conflict. Diane’s husband, Don, manages his own hedge fund. Diane still writes about technology on Cablevision’s Web site powertolearn.com. As a self-described “technology evangelist,” she admits it’s hard to see all the cyber-bullying done via technology.

Judy Mayberry has been married to Eric Sivin for 20 years. They have a 13-year-old daughter. About six years ago Judy retired from her 20-year career in banking. Eric continues running his legal executive search business. After Judy’s retirement they moved from Manhattan to Bedford, NY, and have successfully “morphed into suburban types.” Judy and her daughter spend summers on Long Island, where her daughter enjoys sailing and Judy does the driving. Lynn Faught visited them recently; it was great to catch up. Judy would love to hear from the old gang.

Anne Blodget Holberton and husband Phil went to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to see their 16-year-old play in squash tournaments and to do some sightseeing. Anne, who has worked full-time for the last 33 years, is considering retirement. She is a board member of the Boston Children’s Museum, which reopened in April 2007 after a $50 million transformation. She says their grandchildren love it.

Kathie Chwals Milligan graduated last May from the NY Studio School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture with an MFA in painting. She spent the remainder of the year teaching and is now painting and exhibiting her work. Daughter Katrina graduated from NYU last spring. Daughter Sarah is auditioning as an actress in Los Angeles, and son Matthew is a paralegal in Manhattan. Kathie spends time with actress Marcy Abad-Ronka, who is serving as a mentor for Sarah.

Trish Kaiser Niemitz spent two years in England, where husband Jeff directed Dickinson College’s abroad program for science students. Now back in Pennsylvania, Jeff was honored with the Ganoe Award for Inspirational Teaching for his 30-career as a professor of biology at Dickinson. Trish continues sharing school-nursing positions in a local district. Their oldest child, Becca, was married in 2006 and moved to Princeton, NJ, while her husband completes a master’s of divinity and plans to pursue a PhD and teaching. Becca, a registered dietitian, is job hunting. Trish’s son Matt finished a master’s in educational technology at Harvard and is job hunting in Boston. Son Ben moved to Nashville and is pursuing a dream of working in the music field; his carpentry work pays the bills in the meantime.

In Wilton, CT, Wendy Phillips Lynch has a partnership called Test-Smart, preparing students for the SAT, ACT, and SSAT. She also does math tutoring. One of her twins, Meghan, was recently married to someone she met while a student at Dartmouth; they live in Boston. The other twin, Amy, also lives in Boston and works for Fidelity Investments. Third daughter Wendy is in grad school, studying civil engineering at the University of Colorado.

Connie Terry Ferguson traveled to England last summer, stopping at the Isle of Wight, Stonehenge, and Blenheim Palace while enduring not-so-perfect weather. Son Peter, 29, is a top salesman for Automated Date Processing Inc.; daughter Abby, 27, is a doctoral student in psychology in San Francisco. Retired after 17 years on the Choate Rosemary Hall board of trustees, Connie is now focusing on their $200 million capital campaign. She is also involved with the Manchester (VT) Music Festival. She and Bob have three dogs. Connie sings with an a cappella trio and does solo and duet work at church.

A visit to Dallas-Fort Worth to see son David gave Sue Garlock Lesser a chance to have lunch with Liz Tiemann Howard. David teaches French horn at Marcus High School and freelances with the Fort Worth Symphony and other orchestras. Sue attended two outdoor concerts her son played in, both of which performed Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd fabulously; “it made me feel 20 again!” says Sue. She was surprised to bump into Anne Blodget Holberton and her son at a store in Poughkeepsie, NY; they were at Vassar for a squash match.

Donna Kurkul spends most of her time reading serious nonfiction and news, staying in touch with the Kurzweil AI.net group, keeping up her geek and science chops, and working part-time at the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, MA. She also enjoys walking, gardening, birding, and taking care of her home, an aging mom, a husband, and a cat. Reunion planning, she adds, is a great opportunity to get reacquainted with classmates.

Ronda Silberberg Canter and husband Jon stay busy with their law practice near Boston. Their son graduated from Wesleyan and moved to NYC to take a job with First NY Securities. Daughter Alexis moved recently to Cambridge, MA, to study landscape architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design after graduating from Oberlin and working for Michael van Volkenburgh Associates in NYC.

Joy Collins Ziemak is a senior technical consultant for SunGard Higher Education at Fairfield University in Connecticut. Son Greg is a junior at Cornell, and Joy’s husband is a consultant in the legalized gambling industry.

Louise Linden lives in NYC and the Hamptons on Long Island. She would love to know about classmates in either area.

Ellen Hare hopes to attend Reunion and urges Binghamton, NY, psychotherapist Doris Peresk and Elaine Kanas, a school superintendent in Katonah, NY, to join her.

Connie Terry Ferguson hopes to attend Reunion, as do Raejean Richardson Kaplan, Susan Street Peterson, Barbara Feurer, and Lauri Landau. Katherine Chwals Milligan is also hoping to attend—and to convince Marcy Abad to join her.

Marc Geller enjoys reminiscing about card games played with Kris Hansen Wardwell, an attorney in Boston, and Betsy Ward Holm, of Longmeadow, MA. Kris hopes to be at Reunion.
Former Skidmore art faculty member John Reed plans to be in town during Reunion and looks forward to seeing everyone.

Cathy Offinger continues her oceanographic work and curls (yes, competitive sweeping of stones on the ice) on winter weekends.

Chris Barnstead Arneson, very busy in support of her parents and kids, hopes to come to Reunion.

Jenny Pearman Lammer’s daughter is applying to colleges this year, and Skidmore is on her list.

Debby Davis Thornton’s daughter Katherine ’07 follows in her mother’s and grandmother’s footsteps. Debby’s mom is the late Gail Parker Davis ’47. Debby is in theology school and hopes her schedule allows her to get to Reunion.

Nancy Rotenberg Peterson is a literacy specialist in the Boston metro-west area and has a high-school-age son. She hopes to make it to Reunion.

En route to her home in Denver, CO, Martha Lindsley Rill was driving through Ohio when she decided to call Joanne Rubin, whom she hadn’t seen for many years. They had a wonderful visit, remembering many happy times, people, and events from Skidmore; and Martha spent the night at Joanne’s home. Joanne was recently elected second VP of the Lucas County Bar Association in Toledo, OH.

Lauri Landau and Jane Shuman are both trying to make it back for Reunion.
More on Jane Durland, whose death was noted in the last Scope: College roommate Priscilla Mandrachia remembers a wonderful weekend she and Jane spent in Saratoga about three years ago with classmate Christine Perry Eriksen. Priscilla and Chris were fortunate to spend time with Jane during her last days.

Sadly, Maggie Moss-Tucker’s mom died in Saratoga at the end of last year. She had an amazing life and many followers. Maggie and Paul have moved to the waterfront area of Boston. Maggie has been very helpful in finding a very cool venue in Saratoga for our Friday class dinner at Reunion.
Many classmates have expressed their enthusiasm about Reunion this spring and hope many people will try to come. The excitement builds as we get closer, especially with the terrific news of great class participation in reunion giving.