Class Note 1980
Issue
July-August 2021
The pandemic has brought us a year of radical change. Some of us have lost loved ones. David May reports that his parents died, but he couldn’t be there because of Covid. On the other hand, he has a new grandchild and reports that he “will never lose the joy from this blessing that just keeps giving.”
Some of us have relocated. Jeffrey Demers writes “My wife and I moved—not to a warmer climate, but to one that is snowier. We moved to Sharon, Vermont, just a short trip down a dirt road to Hanover. We wanted to get away from the congestion that exists around Boston and move to a quieter environment.” John Clark and his wife, Becky, now live in Grafton, Vermont. “We managed to settle in the safest state in the union as far as Covid is concerned.” To distract themselves from the chaos on the news, Becky took up knitting and quilting and John took up nature photography. “After almost a year of learning photography, I upgraded my camera, and a whole new world of possibilities has opened up.”
Tom Bartlett lives in England with his wife and has two grown kids. He works in prison reform and prisoner resettlement and is applying for dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom. “After 30 years on this island, it’s about time.” Sean O’Keefe’s third novel, Phantom Money, was published in March. “The story is about an L.A. lawyer who is forced to launder $100 million for a drug cartel while he is being investigated by an FBI strike team. Writing novels on the side makes the practice of law endurable. I’ve been participating in author readings on Zoom.
“I enjoy hearing other authors share their work and reading from my short story collection, Toxic Cookout, channeling such characters as a world-weary truck driver and a spoiled, snarky 17-year-old girl.” Marc D. Feldman writes that he may be the only member of the class to have surgery on another member of the class—in this case, someone with whom he took P.E. as a freshman. “Carter Harsh, a neurosurgeon, performed a very successful cervical fusion a couple of years ago that cured me of serious arm pain,” he writes.
In response to my question about new undertakings, Elisabeth Lilly writes, “I took up tennis! Then I fell on the court and sprained my wrist.” Laurel Smith learned a new sport last winter—skating with Nordic blades on frozen New Hampshire lakes. After quitting piano lessons at the age of 10, Kristin Lord started playing again seven or eight years ago and now takes virtual lessons with a regular teacher, but Covid has kept her too busy to practice as much as she’d like. Carol Krensky Huston writes, “Not much. Just graduated from law school, passed the New Jersey bar, and became a lawyer. Ho hum.” (Slacker! Just kidding!)
—Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net; Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage, 8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com
Some of us have relocated. Jeffrey Demers writes “My wife and I moved—not to a warmer climate, but to one that is snowier. We moved to Sharon, Vermont, just a short trip down a dirt road to Hanover. We wanted to get away from the congestion that exists around Boston and move to a quieter environment.” John Clark and his wife, Becky, now live in Grafton, Vermont. “We managed to settle in the safest state in the union as far as Covid is concerned.” To distract themselves from the chaos on the news, Becky took up knitting and quilting and John took up nature photography. “After almost a year of learning photography, I upgraded my camera, and a whole new world of possibilities has opened up.”
Tom Bartlett lives in England with his wife and has two grown kids. He works in prison reform and prisoner resettlement and is applying for dual citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom. “After 30 years on this island, it’s about time.” Sean O’Keefe’s third novel, Phantom Money, was published in March. “The story is about an L.A. lawyer who is forced to launder $100 million for a drug cartel while he is being investigated by an FBI strike team. Writing novels on the side makes the practice of law endurable. I’ve been participating in author readings on Zoom.
“I enjoy hearing other authors share their work and reading from my short story collection, Toxic Cookout, channeling such characters as a world-weary truck driver and a spoiled, snarky 17-year-old girl.” Marc D. Feldman writes that he may be the only member of the class to have surgery on another member of the class—in this case, someone with whom he took P.E. as a freshman. “Carter Harsh, a neurosurgeon, performed a very successful cervical fusion a couple of years ago that cured me of serious arm pain,” he writes.
In response to my question about new undertakings, Elisabeth Lilly writes, “I took up tennis! Then I fell on the court and sprained my wrist.” Laurel Smith learned a new sport last winter—skating with Nordic blades on frozen New Hampshire lakes. After quitting piano lessons at the age of 10, Kristin Lord started playing again seven or eight years ago and now takes virtual lessons with a regular teacher, but Covid has kept her too busy to practice as much as she’d like. Carol Krensky Huston writes, “Not much. Just graduated from law school, passed the New Jersey bar, and became a lawyer. Ho hum.” (Slacker! Just kidding!)
—Rob Dinsmoor, 14 Rust St., South Hamilton, MA 01982; (978) 269-4069; dinsmo@earthlink.net; Wade Herring,P.O. Box 9848, Savannah, GA 31412, (912) 944-1639; wherring@huntermaclean.com; Meg Coughlin LePage, 8 Brookside Drive, Cumberland, ME 04021; (207) 791-1382; mlepage@pierceatwood.com