Class Note 1978
Issue
Sep - Oct 2018
The raising of the Class of 1978 Bunkhouse in May made for a very special week at Mount Moosilauke.
Our pirate crew included Rick Barrows, Scott Barthold, Mary Brown, Scott Brown, Pete and Lex Bundschuh, Tom DeCarlo, Paul Ehrsam and wife Denise St. John, Will Frazier, Arlo Frost, Dave Graham, Barbara Kelly Hack with daughter Olivia, David Hathaway, Chris Hughes with partner Sterling Wall, Lisa Kaeser, Mindy Kassen, Cay Wiebolt Kendrick with husband George Kendrick ’77, Helen Lukash, Tim McNamara, Bill Paganelli , Terry Ann Scriven, Ellen Meyer Shorb with husband Paul, Nick Scheiu, Rick Spier, Steve Thompson, Doug Wildes, Carol Hillman Van Dyke, Andy Welch,and Charlie Wise.We were led byan amazing crew from Vermont Timber Homes under the direction of David Hooke ’84, and benefited from the help of a few ringers, including Jim “Pork Roll” Taylor ’74 and Olympic biathlete Susan Dunklee ’08.
We quickly bonded with classmates we had never known at school. For one incredible week we were completely off the grid, together morning ’til night, focusing our attention on a single goal. We shared an intense sense of purpose and community, undiluted by everyday distractions. The world shrunk to the task at hand, and conversations were sprinkled with talk of scarf joints, kerfing, braces, beams, and plates. “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” became our byword. Even the least skilled (me) learned to derive tremendous satisfaction from shaping a mortise that is precise and square or making a saw cut that “splits the pencil line.”
We worked until darkness enshrouded us on Thursday night, and were back at 6 a.m. Friday for a pre-breakfast shift to make everything ready for the timber raising. The crane came at 9 a.m. and the pros from Vermont Timber Homes took all the posts, beams, plates, and braces we had so laboriously sawed and chiseled all week and assembled them—it was magic!
At our final dinner Andy Welch recited the following poem, which captured the feelings of many.
But now the project’s wrapping up.
I guess all good things must end.
So let’s keep forever in our hearts:
This mountain. This lodge. And these friends.
In other news, Miles LeBlanc writes from Texas: “I have not weighed in for many years about newsworthy events in my life. I neglected to report my marriage in 2012 to Debra Harper-LeBlanc, Ph.D., who is a community college dean. I apologize for that, especially since getting married for the first time at age 56 has to be some of sort of record in our class. I also failed to report that I have practiced K-12 school law as in-house counsel at the Houston independent school district since 2007.
“In an effort at redemption, I have news of more recent vintage. Last week I received official notification of my appointment as 2018-19 chair of the Texas Bar Journal’s board of editors. Of course, I was honored to accept the appointment.” Thanks, Miles, worth the wait.
Send news!
—Rick Beyer, 190 Bridge St., #4409, Salem, MA 01970; rick@rickbeyer.net
Our pirate crew included Rick Barrows, Scott Barthold, Mary Brown, Scott Brown, Pete and Lex Bundschuh, Tom DeCarlo, Paul Ehrsam and wife Denise St. John, Will Frazier, Arlo Frost, Dave Graham, Barbara Kelly Hack with daughter Olivia, David Hathaway, Chris Hughes with partner Sterling Wall, Lisa Kaeser, Mindy Kassen, Cay Wiebolt Kendrick with husband George Kendrick ’77, Helen Lukash, Tim McNamara, Bill Paganelli , Terry Ann Scriven, Ellen Meyer Shorb with husband Paul, Nick Scheiu, Rick Spier, Steve Thompson, Doug Wildes, Carol Hillman Van Dyke, Andy Welch,and Charlie Wise.We were led byan amazing crew from Vermont Timber Homes under the direction of David Hooke ’84, and benefited from the help of a few ringers, including Jim “Pork Roll” Taylor ’74 and Olympic biathlete Susan Dunklee ’08.
We quickly bonded with classmates we had never known at school. For one incredible week we were completely off the grid, together morning ’til night, focusing our attention on a single goal. We shared an intense sense of purpose and community, undiluted by everyday distractions. The world shrunk to the task at hand, and conversations were sprinkled with talk of scarf joints, kerfing, braces, beams, and plates. “Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” became our byword. Even the least skilled (me) learned to derive tremendous satisfaction from shaping a mortise that is precise and square or making a saw cut that “splits the pencil line.”
We worked until darkness enshrouded us on Thursday night, and were back at 6 a.m. Friday for a pre-breakfast shift to make everything ready for the timber raising. The crane came at 9 a.m. and the pros from Vermont Timber Homes took all the posts, beams, plates, and braces we had so laboriously sawed and chiseled all week and assembled them—it was magic!
At our final dinner Andy Welch recited the following poem, which captured the feelings of many.
But now the project’s wrapping up.
I guess all good things must end.
So let’s keep forever in our hearts:
This mountain. This lodge. And these friends.
In other news, Miles LeBlanc writes from Texas: “I have not weighed in for many years about newsworthy events in my life. I neglected to report my marriage in 2012 to Debra Harper-LeBlanc, Ph.D., who is a community college dean. I apologize for that, especially since getting married for the first time at age 56 has to be some of sort of record in our class. I also failed to report that I have practiced K-12 school law as in-house counsel at the Houston independent school district since 2007.
“In an effort at redemption, I have news of more recent vintage. Last week I received official notification of my appointment as 2018-19 chair of the Texas Bar Journal’s board of editors. Of course, I was honored to accept the appointment.” Thanks, Miles, worth the wait.
Send news!
—Rick Beyer, 190 Bridge St., #4409, Salem, MA 01970; rick@rickbeyer.net