Class Note 1983
Issue
November-December 2026
Class Note 1983. Who remembers Ogden’s Cider Mill in nearby Hartland, Vermont? I do! Okay, it closed in 1980, but the 100-year-old throwback was a marvel of olde time engineering. I’m reliving my youth this fall with a new, hand-crank cider press. What a wonderful activity to distract from writing this column!
Lisa Quirk Kaija called in. She and her husband, Kevin, live in Reading, Vermont, where they raised five children. Lisa is proud to use her art history degree by working at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, a world-class contemporary art collection (“Please visit!”) and by teaching art in South Pomfret at the Artistree Community Arts Center. Amazingly, last fall, she successfully became a living donor for a close friend in need of a kidney. It was quite a process to go through and to prove how well she fared, this June she backpacked from Hanover to Crawford Notch in eight days. Go, Lisa!
Lisa offered to help write a future column on classmates involved with agriculture, farming, or forestry. Her idea was inspired by a friend who is fundraising for the Norwich (Vermont) Farmers Market, which is looking to expand into a new indoor space on Route 5 for year-round operation.
Remember our 40th multiclass reunion in 2023? Julia (Mueller) McNeal does. She was thrilled to revisit her favorite places on campus and be reminded of its exquisite beauty. She connected with dear friends from the class of ’82, along with an exciting, unexpected super-friend reunion with Dan Gelb, whom she’d not seen since school days. She’s since visited Dan and his wife at their beautiful home in Connecticut, and they’ve come out to see her on stage in a production of Big Data at ACT in San Francisco. She continues to live in Point Reyes Station, California, while doing impactful work on stage in the Bay Area and teaching the next generation of theater artists. Her next gig will be playing Rebecca Nurse in a timely mounting of The Crucible this winter at Marin Theatre in Mill Valley, California, where she recently played the title role in the American premiere of the mythic and powerfully feminist play Yaga by Kat Sandler. Go see Julia in action—Dan did!
I regret to report on the passing of our classmate, John Weiss. I caught up briefly with Rick Stafford, a Beta brother of John’s. Rick is back working in New York City again after a brief try at retirement and “way too much golf.” For John, he shared an excerpt from a poetic ode written by a fellow Beta brother: “So here’s to you, dear John Weiss, a pint we raise in song, in every tackle, every cheer, your memory lives strong.” Look for the full ode to John in the ’83 newsletter.
Please reply to me about your news or connection to the world of husbandry or cultivation for Lisa’s column idea. Toasting you all with a lovely glass of fresh-pressed cider!
—Jim Sterling, 108 E 4th St., Apt 17, NY, NY 10003; jsterlnyc@gmail.com
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Lisa Quirk Kaija called in. She and her husband, Kevin, live in Reading, Vermont, where they raised five children. Lisa is proud to use her art history degree by working at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, a world-class contemporary art collection (“Please visit!”) and by teaching art in South Pomfret at the Artistree Community Arts Center. Amazingly, last fall, she successfully became a living donor for a close friend in need of a kidney. It was quite a process to go through and to prove how well she fared, this June she backpacked from Hanover to Crawford Notch in eight days. Go, Lisa!
Lisa offered to help write a future column on classmates involved with agriculture, farming, or forestry. Her idea was inspired by a friend who is fundraising for the Norwich (Vermont) Farmers Market, which is looking to expand into a new indoor space on Route 5 for year-round operation.
Remember our 40th multiclass reunion in 2023? Julia (Mueller) McNeal does. She was thrilled to revisit her favorite places on campus and be reminded of its exquisite beauty. She connected with dear friends from the class of ’82, along with an exciting, unexpected super-friend reunion with Dan Gelb, whom she’d not seen since school days. She’s since visited Dan and his wife at their beautiful home in Connecticut, and they’ve come out to see her on stage in a production of Big Data at ACT in San Francisco. She continues to live in Point Reyes Station, California, while doing impactful work on stage in the Bay Area and teaching the next generation of theater artists. Her next gig will be playing Rebecca Nurse in a timely mounting of The Crucible this winter at Marin Theatre in Mill Valley, California, where she recently played the title role in the American premiere of the mythic and powerfully feminist play Yaga by Kat Sandler. Go see Julia in action—Dan did!
I regret to report on the passing of our classmate, John Weiss. I caught up briefly with Rick Stafford, a Beta brother of John’s. Rick is back working in New York City again after a brief try at retirement and “way too much golf.” For John, he shared an excerpt from a poetic ode written by a fellow Beta brother: “So here’s to you, dear John Weiss, a pint we raise in song, in every tackle, every cheer, your memory lives strong.” Look for the full ode to John in the ’83 newsletter.
Please reply to me about your news or connection to the world of husbandry or cultivation for Lisa’s column idea. Toasting you all with a lovely glass of fresh-pressed cider!
—Jim Sterling, 108 E 4th St., Apt 17, NY, NY 10003; jsterlnyc@gmail.com