Notes from a Mini Reunion in North Conway, NH – August 21, 2012
A dozen members of the Class of 1961 gathered for a Mini-Reunion on August 21, 2012, organized by Judy Marshall Kennedy and Barbara Freeman Douglas, at the Front Side Grind in North Conway Village, NH. At the suggestion of Dottie Smith Mann, we all sat down to an “around the circle” session, telling briefly a couple of things that have been most important to us personally in the last few months or since the 50th reunion in May 2011.
Sallie McCaleb Crittendon – Sallie, formerly Sallie Nealand, recently married Donaldson Moorhead and reclaimed her maiden name of Crittendon. Her second husband, John Nealand, died 2 years ago.) Sallie has spent the past year largely occupied with managing 3 houses and trying to sell two of them. Now two houses are sold and she is happily settling into the third one, the big house in Norway, ME. And the new husband? “Best one so far,” Sallie quipped with a happy smile.
Barbara Freeman Douglass – Barbara has started a second career teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) to immigrant women. “It’s not only needed education, it provides a heart-warming support group for these women,” she said. Favorite personal activities are Yoga and tai chi – “It is wonderful to have the time to pursue them.”
Bonnie Stretch – After a surprisingly prolonged adjustment, Bonnie and husband Dan are feeling more at home in New England after a lifetime in NYC. Their two children continue to live and work in Brooklyn and by all reports are doing fine. Bonnie gladly ended a long-time job this spring that had continued to pay her after leaving New York, but was killing her soul. She still writes mainly about art (exhibition and book reviews) for ARTnews, and is also pleased to have been found by the Editor of Art New England, who asked her to do reviews of interesting shows at the Williams College Art Museum and Mass MOCA and other venues in the Berkshires. She continues to do other occasional editing – for example, documents for the UN Population Fund and an interesting academic article for a Boston College professor, titled “Of Unequal Advantages in the American Meritocracy”.
But mostly she writes gratis for people and organizations she cares about, such as the MHC Art Museum and the Congregational church she and Dan attend in Amherst. She’s always passionate about politics, because she believes it dramatically shapes the future – for us, our children, and generations to come.
Her biggest personal concern at the moment is whether or not she has COPD or asthma – to be decided in September by a pulmonologist, after waiting for an appointment for 8 months. She says it seems really weird to get this exhausting and frustrating disease now that she’s no longer living in NYC but up in the beautiful Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. She is also trying to start a memoir of her father who was a beloved country doctor in Connecticut from the late 1930s to 1968.
Elsa Anderson van Bergen – A new daughter-in-law has brought the most significant change in her life this past year—a young woman so very different from Elsa and her family, from anyone she knows, but as they have gradually grown closer the dynamism and the global involvement of Rebecca have been enriching. Rebecca founded NEST.org, which works with impoverished/trafficked/abused women in third world countries, supporting them as artisans to become self-sufficient (their products are then made available through special retailers here). Christopher, otherwise freelance musician, has joined her work as director of development and partnership. So they have brought new faraway/dangerous places into Elsa’s universe. And also brought back some of her comforting “old” world as they currently live in the Park Slope, Brooklyn area where all her maternal relatives once lived.
Carol Sweeney Benson – Carol is very excited about a grand new acting opportunity for her. Award-winning Burlington playwright Maura Campbell, impressed with Carol’s past performances at Quarryworks Theater in Adamant, VT, has personally asked her to perform Open Me Last — Campbell’s one-act, one-character, half-hour play about a homeless woman who breaks into a storage shed. Campbell even rewrote the play’s ending to accommodate Carol’s age. Challenged to bring this complex character to life with both humor and compassion, Carol says it’s the most important and difficult role she has played. “I am constantly amazed and energized at the cooperative, collaborative and sudden inspirations live theater opportunities offer,” Carol declared. The play will be produced August 2013 at QuarryWorks. Carol will send complete details next spring to both the chat list and also the mini-reunion list. After the performances at QuarryWorks Carol will offer to do “Open Me Last” (with permission from Maura Campbell of course) for organizations such as churches, civic groups, etc. to raise awareness of the issues of homelessness and hunger.
Dottie Smith Mann– Dottie read two superb new poems – “Cardinal at my Window” – about a bird who attacked its own reflection in a window – and “Late Afternoon” – “This is where I am in my life,” said Dottie. We were all deeply moved by the poems and encouraged Dottie to publish – even if it starts as only self-publishing. Nowadays you can get a sizable audience by doing that, thanks to the Internet. We all felt strongly that Dottie’s poetry deserves a much wider audience. (*Both poems are included at the end of this report.)
Dee deFerranti Abrahamse – Dee was inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, a work that documents the oppression of women and girls around the world, and what individuals can do to change it. The accounts of human slavery and trafficking for prostitution were especially shocking, and it was even more shocking to discover that the sexual exploitation of young girls doesn’t just happen in other parts of the globe, but right here at home. She and friends have formed a group in Long Beach CA to address the problem of trafficking and abuse of young women. The group has also been a mutual friendship and support group for its seven members in dealing with issues of illness, caretaking and setting priorities in retirement. They have held fundraisers and brought in speakers to raise awareness that this is an American, as well as global, problem. They have also connected with national groups working to stop both local and global abuse, and would like to share resources for anyone interested. She says she especially enjoys being part of a group that combines personal enrichment and activism. She treasures her trips to Vermont, where her extended family gathers each summer and she has a chance to reconnect with old friends and classmates.
Nancy Dingwall Platt – A recent college tour of New England with her oldest grandchild has been the highlight of the last year for Nancy. Her daughter-in-law, Flora, called to ask her to do this, and Nancy said she felt honored at the request. Her daughter-in law has had serious health challenges and, although she could have carried out this traditional journey herself, she asked Nancy to join her on the college odyssey. Although Flora is only 40 years old, she suffers from Crohn’s disease and has thyroid cancer in remission. What Nancy loves most about Flora is her positive attitude and the fact that she doesn’t let these health issues get her down. This summer Nancy also spent a wonderful week with everyone from her extended family – all her children, in-laws and eight grandchildren at Chautauqua, but getting to know Flora has changed her own life for the better.
Nancy also strongly recommended the movie “Intouchables” – playing now to enthusiastic reviews, it tells the true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.
Judy Marshall Kennedy – What Judy finds most enriching in her life right now is a new interest in jazz music. She and husband Dan have been taking a Jazz History course for the past three summers at Mountain Top Music Center, the local community music school in the Mount Washington Valley region. Judy has also joined the board of Mountain Top where she is focused on organizing their concert offerings to provide high quality music events in the valley and to fundraise for operating funds for the school. Judy, who says she had little or no background in jazz music, now is passionate about it. “It’s so wonderful to have something new like that in your life and be totally obsessed with it.” Recently, she and Dan went to Boston to see Kurt Elling (Downbeat Magazine’s Male Jazz Vocalist of the Year for the last 12 years) perform live at Scullers Jazz Club and were “totally blown away.”
The other thing important to Judy has been Dottie’s courageous and beautiful writing about her and ED’s struggle with cancer. “It had a very profound effect on me,” Judy told Dottie – a sentiment echoed by everyone at the gathering.
Diana Diggin – Shortly after our 50th Reunion last summer, Diana had successful total knee replacement surgery. Unfortunately, the antibiotics necessary for this surgery led to a life-threatening bout with C. Difficile – a very hostile intestinal condition which landed her in an isolation ward for 10 days and then months of slow recovery. She is only now feeling back to normal. However, she was able to do her beloved house-sitting in France again last spring. Feeling strong enough for paid work again, she has a part-time job at King Arthur Flour in Norwich (VT) on the retail sales floor and is loving it. Good people, great products – she feels like she’s found herself again. “What a resurrection story,” she said. More good news – Diana’s granddaughter is coming to Dartmouth from CA as a first year student in September!
Mette Lian Eglinton – Metta briefly joined the group, dropping in from Kenebunkport, ME with many family members in tow. Her news, besides showing off 3 generations of her lovely family: They recently took everyone – all 15 of them! — on vacation to Costa Rica to celebrate their 50th anniversary!
Marian Strong Moore – Marian has been musing on the crisscross pulls and tugs of time. She spoke movingly of this summer’s opportunity to establish a closer relationship with her daughter-in-law, who spent five weeks in their summer home in Maine. The place used to be a girl’s camp and so each member of the family can have a separate cottage. Marian said, “I have had a chance to spend more time with Robin and learn new and wonderful things about her. My daughter and husband, son and wife had more time together, and the cousins had great play time to know each other better.” Strengthening these relationships is so important to her. Marian also recalled that classmate Nancy Niemann was a camper at Marian’s family’s camp in about 1948 and ’49!
This led to a brief (and unfortunately largely unrecorded) discussion among the group about how family relations are always changing and how important they are to our own growth – sometimes bringing happiness and joy, sometimes worry and pain, but always shaping our lives.
–From notes taken by Bonnie Stretch and corrected by participants
NOTE FROM EDITOR: THERE WILL BE ANOTHER NORTH CONWAY MINI-REUNION ON AUGUST 20, 2013.
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