Class Note 1989

So many of us have been touched by the illnesses of friends and loved ones. I suppose we can only hope to handle adversity with the grace and humor of Carla Zilbersmith, a stand-up comic who recently died of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Carla was the sister-in-law of Allison Moir Smith and the subject of a well-received new film called Leave Them Laughing. Kelley Busby Tiemens worked on the film, which won a special jury prize and was a top 10 audience favorite at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto. The film was scheduled to have its U.S. premiere in October. You can find out more at leavethemlaughingfilm.com/blog.


Jill McClain writes to share some milestones. She recently finished her Ph.D. in nutritional epidemiology and now works as a postdoctoral fellow at Wake Forest University, researching obesity and cardiovascular disease. She’s also a proud new mom. Charlotte Elizabeth Nortman was born on August 10 and Jill writes, “I’m thrilled to finally have her. I guess my milestones are more like those of the class of ’99 than ’89, but better late than never, no?” Recent news also arrived of Karla Cohen’s third child, a son named James.


Eric Rovick, who lives in England, tells of an enjoyable family trip to Enfield, New Hampshire. They spent time in Hanover playing tennis, watching fireworks on the Green, visiting the Hop and eating Ben & Jerry’s. The best part of the summer vacation, says Eric, were the Dartmouth sailing club lessons on Lake Mascoma for the whole family, including their kids, “who enjoyed capsizing the boats a bit too much!” Eric highly recommends the experience for those who get up to Dartmouth in the summer.


Sydney Williams also hit the outdoors for a summer trip to Moosilauke, climbing the mountain with all four of his children, ages 9, 7, 5 and the 2-year-old on his back. Great fun was had by his whole family, including his non-Dartmouth wife, Beatriz, during their two-night stay at the Ravine Lodge, and Syd says the summit views were spectacular. Beatriz’s debut novel will be published in the spring by Putnam. Rights to the book, called Overseas, have already sold in Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and Spain. The book is set during WW I and modern-day Manhattan. After Dartmouth Syd rowed competitively for the New York Athletic Club and worked in Berlin for the government agency privatizing East Germany. After business school he was with Deutsche Bank for nearly 11 years, half of it in London. They now live in Greenwich, Connecticut, where Syd grew up. His firm, Lyceum Associates, now in its sixth year, builds executive roundtables to share insights about the healthcare industry. He also recently chaired Deerfield Academy’s 25th reunion, a class that included Chris Pollard, Chuck Berwick, Dennis O’Connor, Adam Greenberg and Chris Bailey. Syd says much of the reunion was about supporting Chris and Deanna Emberly Bailey after the tragic loss of their boys last December.


Finally, Nancy Bernard Felix moved to London last January with her family. She’s continuing to work for Dartmouth half-time in the development office as a senior philanthropic advisor. She also published a book earlier this year called Oh My, Au Pair! A Complete Guide to Hiring and Hosting an Au Pair. Nancy says it was fun to write and hopes her experience with 14 au pairs will help others.


I’m off to Hanover in a few weeks—a full update next time.


—Jennifer Avellino, 5912 Aberdeen Road, Bethesda, MD 20817; javellino@mac.com