Class Note 1986
Issue
I’m in mourning for the first love of my life—Farrah Fawcett. Though I trashed most everything else from high school (or burned it—yes, I am one of those pyro boys), I kept my Loomis Chaffee School notebook because I had carefully adorned it with Farrah photos. The burnt-orange bathing-suited Farrah poster hung in the basement rec room beside two other 1970s toys: the pinball machine and the Atari. Anyone remember Pong? or the 27 versions of tank Combat? No mourning here for Michael Jackson, but my prediction is that 10 years from now he will rival Elvis in imitations and sightings.
I made freshman-year roommate Sam Hartwell my first LinkedIn contact. After 23 years I learn Sam is in Kenya! He is CFO and treasurer of KickStart International, a nonprofit enterprise headquartered in San Francisco. KickStart develops and markets new technologies, which are bought by entrepreneurs. The mission is to help make impoverished Africans more productive. Sam is based in Nairobi and has oversight for engineering projects throughout South Central Africa.
Ellen Rafshoon just completed her first year of teaching for newly formed Gwinnett College, near Atlanta. She is a professor of history and she is in charge of the history curriculum.
And Greg Nerland writes of himself and Lynne Nerland: “I am an attorney, self-employed, in Walnut Creek, California. Lynn is city attorney for Antioch, California.” Now, the earth-shattering news (beware, street riots could ensue): “This has been an eventful year for the Nerland family. We have the same jobs as last year, live in the same house, enjoy the same activities (but have aged a year) and our boys Zachary and Matthew are now 17 and 13 instead of 16 and 12. We did, however, acquire a Jack Russell Terrier named Chloe.” I pried and tried to elicit more of the “you, your world, and how you make it better,” but only got more on the terrier: “She is very cute, but some days cute is all she has going for her. The dog means I wake up at 5:30 a.m. to watch her pee, poop, eat and, some days, go back to sleep, while on others want to go for a long walk up and down hills.”
I don’t want to take away from news solicited by John Marchiony for the upcoming (mailed) newsletter. So you can expect to read about Macri, Hueston, Hastings and Gillespie without me as a conduit. See photos too! I can relay from Laura Gillespie that she is in Hanover year-round and spends a lot of time with classmate and “co-party planner extraordinaire” Dawn Carey. Laura plans to see David Beach and his 10-month-old daughter in Hanover over July 4th weekend. That’s two mentions of Beach in a row. If a third comes my way, then Beach gets to write the next column.
—Mark Greenstein, 20 North Quaker Lane, West Hartford, CT 06119; msg@ivybound.net
Sept - Oct 2009
I’m in mourning for the first love of my life—Farrah Fawcett. Though I trashed most everything else from high school (or burned it—yes, I am one of those pyro boys), I kept my Loomis Chaffee School notebook because I had carefully adorned it with Farrah photos. The burnt-orange bathing-suited Farrah poster hung in the basement rec room beside two other 1970s toys: the pinball machine and the Atari. Anyone remember Pong? or the 27 versions of tank Combat? No mourning here for Michael Jackson, but my prediction is that 10 years from now he will rival Elvis in imitations and sightings.
I made freshman-year roommate Sam Hartwell my first LinkedIn contact. After 23 years I learn Sam is in Kenya! He is CFO and treasurer of KickStart International, a nonprofit enterprise headquartered in San Francisco. KickStart develops and markets new technologies, which are bought by entrepreneurs. The mission is to help make impoverished Africans more productive. Sam is based in Nairobi and has oversight for engineering projects throughout South Central Africa.
Ellen Rafshoon just completed her first year of teaching for newly formed Gwinnett College, near Atlanta. She is a professor of history and she is in charge of the history curriculum.
And Greg Nerland writes of himself and Lynne Nerland: “I am an attorney, self-employed, in Walnut Creek, California. Lynn is city attorney for Antioch, California.” Now, the earth-shattering news (beware, street riots could ensue): “This has been an eventful year for the Nerland family. We have the same jobs as last year, live in the same house, enjoy the same activities (but have aged a year) and our boys Zachary and Matthew are now 17 and 13 instead of 16 and 12. We did, however, acquire a Jack Russell Terrier named Chloe.” I pried and tried to elicit more of the “you, your world, and how you make it better,” but only got more on the terrier: “She is very cute, but some days cute is all she has going for her. The dog means I wake up at 5:30 a.m. to watch her pee, poop, eat and, some days, go back to sleep, while on others want to go for a long walk up and down hills.”
I don’t want to take away from news solicited by John Marchiony for the upcoming (mailed) newsletter. So you can expect to read about Macri, Hueston, Hastings and Gillespie without me as a conduit. See photos too! I can relay from Laura Gillespie that she is in Hanover year-round and spends a lot of time with classmate and “co-party planner extraordinaire” Dawn Carey. Laura plans to see David Beach and his 10-month-old daughter in Hanover over July 4th weekend. That’s two mentions of Beach in a row. If a third comes my way, then Beach gets to write the next column.
—Mark Greenstein, 20 North Quaker Lane, West Hartford, CT 06119; msg@ivybound.net