Parting Words From the Class Correspondent

Photo by Christi Rentsch Moraga 

A reunion is like Waterloo. Whether you overcome the many years of regret or embrace the joy of the return depends on who you were – Napoleon or Wellington. I had been a Napoleon, but left the campus finally on Sunday morning from Proctor, Gene O’Neill, again. The campus has shown much growth and change. Eastern vistas of the Green Mountains I had wished to revisit near Pearson, for example, had become obscured by trees. So quickly? And why? Wouldn’t anyone with an eye, see that and preserve it from other agendas? I chuckled though at declaiming against trees forty years old at least, on a campus such as this. And when I stared up at the four windows of my college lodgings, I heard the chatter of typewriters, the familiar voices of classmates, the soft resettling of gathering leaves, a recognizable rock tune from an opening in a building, and then the wind stopped. I was alone. Looking up at my past, in the hope that that uncertain college student inside my mind might look up from his desk and out, still… I completed my final walk reconciled to the forty year growth.

At the Reunion, the class of ’76 exchanged hugs, handshakes, anecdotes, memories; showed tears, enjoyed body shaking laughs, returned beer mugs, updated addresses, walked in parades, took pictures, showed grandchildren pictures, made promises to stay in touch and enjoyed a weekend made larger than three days’ time by the return of their classmates to a place they had shared for four years of their lives.

This is my last note as your class correspondent. It has been rewarding to share your thoughts with your classmates through this magazine. Stay in touch.

Gene O’Neill (ONeillEsq@optimum.net)

Lucy Call King

Contact: king4128@aol.com

Personal:  After marrying Roger King (’75) in Mead Chapel in 1976, I moved to Portland, ME.  In 1980 I headed west to Dallas, TX. where we lived and worked for the next 30 years.  I was in sales for both Towle Silversmiths and Reed and Barton Silversmiths.  In 2010 we moved to Boulder, CO.  My favorite activity is hiking.  Our daughter, Amanda, went to Colby and now lives and works in Boulder.  Our son, Joseph, went to the University of Texas and now lives and works in Aspen.  Colorado feels like home as we reconnect with so many Middlebury friends in the mountains.  We spend summers in Newburyport, MA. where I am learning to sail as a senior.    Please look us up in either location.

I found reunion to be an amazing experience.  I am filled with gratitude for the many experiences and friendships I had with you all.

 

Convocation Reminiscences — Class of 1976

These were the reminiscences of the Class of 1976 as presented at Convocation by Gary Holmes:

The 1970s was a good time to be in Vermont, far away from Watergate, the fall of Saigon, inflation, the gas crisis, the Arab-Israeli war and the looming threat of disco.

Our hair was shaggy, our shirts were flannel and the residences behind Pearson were still called the New Dorms. When our parents bought dinner we went to the Dog Team.  When we did, we went to Tony’s pizza. The drinking age was 18 and we took our business to The Alibi.

We began at Bread Loaf, with President Armstrong beating us in wood-chopping, and ended behind Forest with Holy Olin Robinson handing out diplomas.

In between we saw the final dismantling of parietal rules for late-night visits to Battell, experienced our first Aurora Borealis, survived the Otter Creek raft race, skinny-dipped at The Quarry, and somehow managed to learn more than we’d ever learn again in our lives.

Welcome back.

 

Reunion Photos

Here are some of the photos from the June 10-12 reunion.

A link to photos from Christi Rentsch de Moraga (click here)

A link to photos from Brian Holtan (click here).

Also:

Class photo by Sally Russell

Sheara Friend (on left) and Alexandra Baker

(At Alexandra Baker’s Open House for her former Russian students) (from left to right) Denise Selder, Marion Adler, Marie Zehngebot, & Alexandra (Alya) Baker.  Mrs. Baker was the wife Dr. Robert Baker (deceased), Chairman of the Russian Department, and she was also a professor in the department.

Denise Selders and Lucy Call King

Sue Potter Spencer, Bill Spencer, Jan Carney, and Geoff Knisley (’75) (Jan & Geoff are married)

Sue Potter Spencer and Denise Selders

Convocation remarks

The march to Mead Chapel

John Germanow and Betsy Kuphal Wyckoff

From the Golf outing- L to R- Tim Fisher, Peter Prescott, George Tooley, Dave Treitel, John Germanow and Bill O’hare

Deb Martin, Nancy Clark Herter, Jack Henderson, Jennifer Cogswell, Robin Wonnacot Davis atop Snake Mountain

Robin, Nancy, Jennifer, Deb

Carol Miller, Roz Walrath, Nancy Clark Herter

The march to Convocation

Chris Ryer, Gary Holmes, Sheara Friend, Sally Russell, Betsy Shreve-Gibb

Patty Forbes Gray and Gary Gray

Karen Gross Straim and Sheara Friend

Chris Ryer, Scott Pitz, Roger Prince, Gary Holmes

Carol Schnabel

Personal:  I have lived in Vermont since college.  We (husband Peter Hetzel) and I have 2 grown boys.  Ted works in engineering in Portsmouth NH and Jeff works at a criminal defense firm in NYC.  He surprised his mother by choosing Middlebury and graduated 2 years ago.  It turns out that the photo above is the only one I could find of all of us together-along with my aunt who was at my graduation too.

Professional: I have had my own weaving business for 36 years.  I also have been a doula for the past 13 years and I currently run the Volunteer Doula Program at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.  I love the juxtaposition of working alone in my studio and working with others at the hospital.

I spend as much time as possible outside and enjoy almost daily walks with my good friend and neighbor Nancy (Smith) Detra, also class of 1976.

 

John and Ann Germanow

Blended Family- John and Ann;  Gabe and Jesse Germanow on left; Rick, Evan and Sophie Beckerman on right

 

Family info  Ann and I married July 31, 2004 in the backyard of our home in Pittsford NY, outside Rochester, We are a blended family with 5 kids. My two kids from my first marriage- Gabe (31) and Jesse (27) Germanow. Ann’s kids from her first marriage- Rick (31), Evan (28) and Sophie (24) Beckerman. We are fortunate that our kids have gotten along very well together. Many a summer weekend early in our marriage was spent at a family cottage on nearby Keuka Lake and winter weekends and Holidays were spent skiing in the resort town of Ellicottville NY, South of Buffalo. We’ve also taken family trips to Aspen Co, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, and Mexico. Ann’s 3 kids all live in San Diego, my son Gabe lives in N. Cal near Yosemite Park and my son Jesse is finishing a Masters this summer at London School of Economics and will likely end up on the West coast too. So it appears Ann and I will be spending much more time there in the years to come!

Ann and I have been able to take some time away from work in the past few years to enjoy travels to San Diego of course, Hawaii, Italy and just recently Scotland, England and Ireland. We enjoy exploring, walking, hiking on these trips and of course tasting the local foods! Around Rochester we walk,bike and ski as well and enjoy going to the latest movies. Personally, I gave up Rugby a while ago but I still play in a weekly basketball league in the Winter and a weekly golf league in the summer.

Contact Info
John Germanow
38 Chelsea Park
Pittsford, NY 14534

585-218-0672 Home
585-330-6090 Cell
jgermanow@gmail.com

Professional Background  My wife and I started a business 10 years ago- The Scensible Source Co. http://www.scensiblesource.com and http://www.scensiblesbags.com. Our tag line is “Innovative Products for the Disposal of Feminine Care Items”! The genesis for the business was Ann’s experience at a prior work place where the existing disposal conditions were unacceptable to her and she knew right then and there that there had to be a better way! After a lot of tinkering, prototyping, market surveys, focus groups etc we developed our first and still primary product- a small, single use plastic disposal bag- with a fragrance-hence the name “Scensibles”- a double entendre evoking the scent and a practical, useful, makes sense kind of product. We have grown steadily every year form those humble beginnings to broaden our line to include wall mounted dispensers for packs of the bags, specialized feminine waste receptacle bags and more recently larger bags for adult bladder control. Most of our business is in the US supplying a wide variety of commercial and public facilities including Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, Atlanta Airport, Washington State Ferry system, Ohio State Univ., Wegmans Grocers, U Mass. We source our products from manufacturers in China, Italy and the UK that are able to hold to our quality standards. We are looking forward to the next few years of accelerated growth as we embark on some new partnerships and large customers.

Prior to this I spent 10 years as an independent broker/agent/intermediary raising start-up and growth financing for promising local companies and working on small Merger and Acquisition deals through an International Assoc. of M & A professionals.

Before this I was co-owner of a small environmental services firm for four years where we performed Air testing and monitoring for Asbestos removal projects, environmental surveys and oversaw small soil cleanup jobs.

I joined our family business- plastic watch crystals and lenses and industrial and commercial thermometers- in Rochester right after completing my MBA at Cornell Univ in 1979. I worked there until the mid 1990’s as Materials Manager and Plant Manager when I got the urge to go out and do more on my own.

This included a run for a position in our local County Legislature. Although I lost the campaign, it was an incredible experience- going door to door, attending local events etc and gave me a sense of political campaigns on a larger scale.

My political run was inspired by the year I spent right after Midd graduation in Washington DC working for my local Congressman and a study commission he co-chaired- The Commission on Federal Paperwork! While working on a variety of projects, my primary job was to set up and man a Toll Free Hot line for anyone to call in complaints about excessive forms. The main caller to the Hot Line happened to be my Mother who would call “just checking in”!

To this day, tangible lasting evidence of the Commission’s work is found on every bill Congress considers- it has to have a “Paperwork Impact Statement” (akin to an Environmental Impact Statement) for the amount of time it takes to fill out any mandated forms that may come from that bill or any other gov’t forms.

Favorite Memory  Dr Jazz parties at Sig Ep (well a blurred memory)

Memorable Professors Rowland Illick and Vincent Malmstrom- both Geography.
While Illick and I had some strong differences on the Israeli/Arab conflict- he was my adviser and I greatly admired him. Malmstrom was an incredible lecturer who combined wit and dry humor into his talks.

Memorable Song  Introduced to “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen by Eric Silverman- Frosh hall mate and roommate Sr year- a Philly boy with close Jersey Shore connections.
Memorable song has to be “Born to Run”

Old Photos:

Eric Siverman, John Germanow, Andy Sobel, Dave Byrd

Peter Prescott and Eric Silverman

John with Betsy Kuphal

Eric Silverman and Senior Thesis

Lisa Bent Chace

Contact: lisabchace@gmail.com

Professional background : After Middlebury, I went to Cornell Nursing School in NYC. I worked for two years at Dartmouth Hitchcock, did a five month stint with the Cornell Medical Team in Cambodia and then earned a Masters in Nursing in Adult Primary Care at Boston College. My career began in occupational health, however I retired in October, 2014 from a primary care practice in Exeter, NH.

Personal: It was in Boston that I met my husband, Ric, who was completing his residency in ophthalmology at Tufts. We moved to NH in 1983 and were married in 1985. Ric started Eyesight, which is one of the largest ophthalmology practices in NH. In addition to general ophthalmology, he specializes in medical retina and is involved in numerous research studies.

We have three children. Meredith, 35, UNH ’04, (my stepdaughter and avid skiier) lives in Denver with her husband and our two grandchildren.  Taylor, 30, UNH ’11, lives in NH and works as a strength and conditioning coach for Exeter Hospital’s Athletic Performance Center. Rossli, 28, graduated from RPI where she played on the Womens’ Ice Hockey Team. She earned her masters in nursing from UNH. She and another nurse recently opened Lashbar, a successful lash extension business in downtown Portsmouth, NH, www.lashbar.life.  Rossli is also in the Nurse Practioner program at UNH, after which she plans to focus on dermatology.

My mini-bio would be incomplete without mentioning that ice hockey has been a big part of our family’s life for many years. Taylor was an accomplished hockey player, who was playing Juniors in 2002, when he suffered an incomplete spinal cord injury in a game in Canada.  After years of rehabilitation he relearned to walk and tried Sled Hockey with Northeast Passage at UNH. In 2005 he was selected to the United States Sled Hockey team and played for ten years, earning a bronze medal in the 2006 Torino Paralympics, and a gold medal in 2010 and 2014 in Vancouver and Sochi. He was voted male Paralympian of the Year in 2010 by the US Olympic Committee.  We have travelled the world with Taylor. He and his teammates continue to inspire. In addition to his job, he now coaches sled hockey at UNH and does motivational speaking.  www.taylorchace.com

My current interests:  Golf, cycling, running, paddle board, singing, Advisory Board, Northeast Passage, dabbling in interior design.

Favorite memory: choir

Favorite professor: Emory Fanning

Favorite song: anything by Pousette Dart Band

Sheara Friend

Personal: I have been married to Mark for over 33 years.  Our two boys, Noah and Ben have graduated from college and are making their way through the world, figuring it out, whatever ‘it’ is.

Contact: sfriend@wcfllp.com

Professional: I still practice law in my own firm, owned with three others in Wellesley, Massachusetts; the firm has 22 lawyers.  Retirement is not on the horizon for us.  Mark and I still lead kayaking expedition trips to 18 year olds to Central America, Mexico and the Bahamas, although we are thinking of stopping as we are getting tired of roughing it.

Song: We also continue to travel together on our own. Judy Collin’s song, ‘who knows where the time goes’  rattles around in my head on a frequent basis particularly during this reunion time.

Sue Ringe Bigl

 

Contact info: Susan (Sue Rindge) Bigl, 618 Bigl Lane Bradford, VT 05033 Email sbigl_vt@yahoo.com

Personal: I have been married to Robert (Bob) Bigl since 1981. We have lived in our off-grid home in Bradford since 1982.  Our two sons, Ryan (32) and Matthew (29) (Midd class ‘10.5), also live in Bradford.

Professional: I am retired after working as a research physical scientist at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, NH for my entire career.

Favorite memory: Learning “Classical Gas” on my guitar in the basement of the “old” science center while taking breaks from preparing my senior thesis in geology. Another involves skinny dipping at Lake Dunmore on a hot spring day.

Favorite professor:  Dave Folger, of the geology department.

Favorite song: I remember dancing to “Amie,” by Pure Prairie League.

Bob Pender

Personal: Married to Victoria Lawford. Three daughters (Alex, Caroline and Victoria), all out of college and launched. Living in Falls Church, Virginia.

Contact: robert.pender10@gmail.com

Professional: After graduation, kayaked a lot; worked for the Senate Ethics Committee, then White House Staff; Georgetown Law; energy project finance lawyer with global law firm (Hogan Lovells), left in 2010; pro bono counsel to Interim Haiti Recovery Commission; founded new company (Venture Global) developing two large infrastructure projects in Louisiana – very happy, caught and surfing an amazing set of waves….

Memory: Gratitude. I learned my life lessons there. But, also: skating for miles on the flooded, frozen Lemon Fair River; Pardon Tillinghast’s lectures on Oliver Cromwell; stair diving at Sig Ep; the Northern Lights. A transcendent dream.

Song: Purple Haze, turned way up, right before we jumped out of the car (amped) and skied the next slalom run at the Bowl.