Class Note 1985
Issue
July-August 2021
Class of 1985 virtual reunion in June—had to lead off with that friendly reminder!
All secretaries will agree: Columns that write themselves are the best and this one is a perfect example. The only thing better would be if they typed and forwarded themselves to DAM automatically. Maybe soon. From Colleen Keller: “In 2018 I married a longtime friend and fellow aviator, David Sterling. We’d been working on airplanes, air racing at Reno, Nevada, and spending time at our local airport for the past 12 years before we decided to make a commitment. David is a 787 pilot for United and built his turbocharged Lancair Legacy, which he races in the Reno Gold Sport Class. I have owned a Cessna 177RG Cardinal for almost 30 years and I also have a Skybolt open cockpit biplane that scratches my aerobatics itch. In spring 2019 we traveled to New Zealand and spent two glorious weeks flying a Cessna 172 ‘bush plane’ around the national parks on the South Island. Based out of Wanaka, we piloted into Milford Sound, Stewart Island, Mount Cook National Park, and other spectacular venues. To cap it all off we were granted New Zealand Private Pilot licenses. This has got to be one of the most memorable things I’ve done—and I certainly recommend New Zealand to anyone. I’m still working as a Navy consultant at Metron Inc. in San Diego and hope to retire at 60 so I can focus full-time on airplanes, gardening, cooking, fitness, and travel.”
Lisa (Eisenberg) Merrill shares: “Similar to many, the silver lining of 2020 was having my adult ‘kids’ back home. Our son drove from L.A. to our Seattle-area home and worked remotely in May and December, and our daughter took the fall semester off from Middlebury to work at a local organic farm. As for Merrill Images, John and I have resumed creating visual stories for Seattle-area tourism and outdoor adventure organizations and other businesses and nonprofits. We’ve been leading small group photo workshops and doing private coaching via Zoom and are excited to restart in-person workshops with a four-day experience on Whidbey Island this June and a Vietnam photo tour in April 2022. I continue to serve as a trustee of Tiny Trees, the largest outdoor preschool in the United States, because I believe access to quality early learning is essential for children, particularly when this takes place outdoors. We operate seven joyfully muddy classrooms in public parks and are working to build the nature-based preschool movement in the Puget Sound region and across the United States.”
As our virtual 35th reunion approaches, here’s to hoping for excellent attendance. I always have this thought about reunions: When you haven’t seen someone in a long time, the image you have of them in your mind is the last time you saw them, which makes some of you still 21 in my eyes.
—John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com
All secretaries will agree: Columns that write themselves are the best and this one is a perfect example. The only thing better would be if they typed and forwarded themselves to DAM automatically. Maybe soon. From Colleen Keller: “In 2018 I married a longtime friend and fellow aviator, David Sterling. We’d been working on airplanes, air racing at Reno, Nevada, and spending time at our local airport for the past 12 years before we decided to make a commitment. David is a 787 pilot for United and built his turbocharged Lancair Legacy, which he races in the Reno Gold Sport Class. I have owned a Cessna 177RG Cardinal for almost 30 years and I also have a Skybolt open cockpit biplane that scratches my aerobatics itch. In spring 2019 we traveled to New Zealand and spent two glorious weeks flying a Cessna 172 ‘bush plane’ around the national parks on the South Island. Based out of Wanaka, we piloted into Milford Sound, Stewart Island, Mount Cook National Park, and other spectacular venues. To cap it all off we were granted New Zealand Private Pilot licenses. This has got to be one of the most memorable things I’ve done—and I certainly recommend New Zealand to anyone. I’m still working as a Navy consultant at Metron Inc. in San Diego and hope to retire at 60 so I can focus full-time on airplanes, gardening, cooking, fitness, and travel.”
Lisa (Eisenberg) Merrill shares: “Similar to many, the silver lining of 2020 was having my adult ‘kids’ back home. Our son drove from L.A. to our Seattle-area home and worked remotely in May and December, and our daughter took the fall semester off from Middlebury to work at a local organic farm. As for Merrill Images, John and I have resumed creating visual stories for Seattle-area tourism and outdoor adventure organizations and other businesses and nonprofits. We’ve been leading small group photo workshops and doing private coaching via Zoom and are excited to restart in-person workshops with a four-day experience on Whidbey Island this June and a Vietnam photo tour in April 2022. I continue to serve as a trustee of Tiny Trees, the largest outdoor preschool in the United States, because I believe access to quality early learning is essential for children, particularly when this takes place outdoors. We operate seven joyfully muddy classrooms in public parks and are working to build the nature-based preschool movement in the Puget Sound region and across the United States.”
As our virtual 35th reunion approaches, here’s to hoping for excellent attendance. I always have this thought about reunions: When you haven’t seen someone in a long time, the image you have of them in your mind is the last time you saw them, which makes some of you still 21 in my eyes.
—John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com