Hollywood Squares?

 

Thanks to the six classmates who gathered to celebrate Deerfield's 225th birthday on March 1!  We were able to catch up on what was happening in our lives and as usual, have a few laughs.  Can you name all six?

Zoom HH #2 - some old, some new!

Another fun Happy Hour on Zoom occurred - and it was great to see some new faces!  Welcome to Charlie Gagne (CA), John Cianciolo (RI), Sean Nottage (Bahamas), Scott Pryce (VA) and Bob Keirstead (IL).  Thanks for returning Doug Cruikshank (NY - points for the DA hat!), Jim Wareck (CA), Whit Sheppard (VA), Eric Suher (MA), Chris Flagg and PB Weymouth (NY) and JK in CO.

We learned that Cianciolo is engaged, Keirstead is retired from the Air Force, Pryce works in commercial real estate and the Bahamas lock down has been tougher, and more effective, than most other countries in the world. We also learned that Jim Wareck is Jewish and that JK has no idea how to "print screen" on his Mac desktop.

Look for another invite from "john.g.knightATdu.edu" (AT=@) for DA83 Zoom HH #3 - to be held SATURDAY, MAY 23 at 6 pm ET.  Share the invite with anyone else in the class you'd like to see on the call - JK might not have their email address and it might have never made it to them.

That was fun. Zoom HH #2 scheduled for May 2

Thanks to those classmates who braved the first Class of 83 Zoom Happy Hour!

Great to See and hear from Brian Steward (TX), John Knight - Don Hindman and Will Piersol (CO), Adam Feiges (IA), Eric Suher and Ben Patton (MA), Dean Singewald (CT), Jim Wareck and Alex Kerr (CA), Whit Sheppard (VA) and Chris Flagg - PB Weymouth and Doug Cruikshank (NY).

We all agreed to do it again and to try and expand the attendee list!

One classmate also recommended a book to the group: "The Classmates: Privilege, Chaos and the End of an Era" by Geoffrey Douglas.  Big picture - it follows five classmates from the class of 1962 at St. Paul's School - John Kerry among them".  Sounds interesting!

Class of 1983 Zoom HH #2 will be May 2 at 6 pm ET.  To get the invite - ask any of the attendees from HH #1 or email "jgknight83 AT gmail.com".  (HINT: use @ for "AT")

The more the merrier!!!

Kudos to Dean Singewald for the DA Dining Hall as his virtual background!  Maybe we should call it "Sit-Down Happy Hour"?

Still the Dean and Dave Show!

Great FB post by Dean Singewald with photos of David Morley's recent visit.

Catch up with more old friends at our 35th reunion!  Pricing increases after May 24 so ACT NOW if you haven't registered yet.

Reunion Attendees As of 5/11: (but at least 6 more are in the pipeline we're told)

1983
Kevin Bresnahan ’83 and Maura Bresnahan
John Brown ’83
Spencer Brown ’83
Doug Cruikshank ’83
Adam Feiges ’83
Christopher Flagg ’83 P’18 P’20 and Heidi Flagg P’18 P’20, Emmeline Flagg ’18, Elliott Flagg ’20
Christopher Harris ’83
Don Hindman ’83
Robert Keirstead ’83
John Knight ’83 Former Faculty
Craig Pattee ’83
Ben Patton ’83 and Blair Miller
J. Douglas Schmidt ’83
Brian Steward ’83
Peter Townsend ’83 and Christina Townsend
Adam Weinberg ’83
P.B. Weymouth ’83 P’18 ’20 and Elizabeth Weymouth P’18 ’20
David Ziccardi ’83

Past Faculty:
Susan Carlson, Former Faculty
Peter Clark ’58 Former Faculty
Larry Jerome ’73, Former Faculty
David Knight ’58 P’87 Former Faculty
John Knight ’83 Former Faculty
Shantel Moses ’93 Former Faculty and Kevin Ng, and Cheyenne Watson
Michael Sheridan ’58 P’93 ’00 ’05 Former Faculty and Kathy Robertson P’93 ’00 ’05
James Smith P’80,’82,’86,’91 G’13 Former Faculty and Carole Smith P’80,’82,’86,’91 G’13

A Month With New Meaning

With April being Parkinson’s Awareness Month, I wanted to share some health news with you. 

This past September, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system that affects nerve cells in the brain.  In short, a person's brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine. With less and less dopamine, the nerve cells die, and a person has less and less ability to regulate his/her movements, body and emotions.

For about two years, I had been experiencing slight tremors with my right arm that progressively worsened. Over time, my right arm stopped naturally swinging as I walked, and I began dragging my right foot as I stepped. I attributed the “weakness” to an old shoulder injury, and the foot-dragging to wearing flip-flops. 

As it turns out, I exhibited many of the primary and secondary young-onset symptoms of the disease.  The good news is, with medications and rigorous exercise, unless I am an outlier, I should be able to manage well for the foreseeable future.

That said, I encourage you to learn more about Parkinson’s.  The Michael J. Fox Foundation is doing incredible things to advance research in this area.  If you are feeling philanthropic, now or in the future, after donating to Deerfield, consider going to my fundraising page athttp://www2.michaeljfox.org/site/TR/TeamFox/TeamFox?px=2304245&pg=personal&fr_id=1890

All the best,

Dean

Sending our love to David....

Today we learned that David Morley’s wife Susan passed away after a long, courageous and hard-fought battle with breast cancer.

Forever devoted to David and her three children, Susan lived life to the fullest and celebrated her children, travelling near and far to root for them in their scholastic pursuits. 

Emily is at Ithaca College, majoring in Integrated Marketing and rowing in the varsity 1 boat. 
Laura was recruited to swim by several colleges and has decided on Indiana University which has one of the top 10 women’s swimming programs in the US. 
Peter is also a standout swimmer, competing internationally for the Bahamas, and has applied to boarding schools for next Fall.  

David and Susan were married in Nassau 20 years ago.  She will be dearly missed. 

Condolences can be directed to David at Morley Realty Limited, P.O. Box SS-19085, Nassau, Bahamas.

Thanks go to Sean Nottage and Dean Singewald for sharing this sad news.

We are in this life together, as classmates and teammates, 'til the end.

Home Game at CCSU

Thanks to Dean Singewald for this note!

Sandy and I along with the boys (Hunter-12 and Max-7) caught a Central Connecticut State basketball game today, thanks to Paul Schlickman, the University's AD.  While Paul had official duties to tend to (note photo op at halftime ceremonies), we did get a chance to chat for a few minutes at halftime and at the end of the game. Paul has been at Central for the past three years, and the job is treating him well. He and wife Kristin were heading to Syracuse after the game to visit family and catch the CCSU-Syracuse basketball game. Both will be at our 30th reunion!

We too will be at the reunion with the boys and are looking forward to it! Hunter and Max thoroughly enjoyed the basketball game and can't wait to catch the next game. Had hoped to see Jim Wareck at the game as well, but he changed plans do to an impending snow storm.  The weather has not been kind to Connecticut of late.

Looking forward to seeing everyone back at Deerfield this Spring! Hope you enjoyed the holidays.

Best,

Dean

'83 earns $15K as Most Improved! Way to go!

Results of the April Donor Challenge at DA are in and congratulations are in order.  Thank you so much for responding to the outreach of your class agents: Blain, Clark, Feiges, Fitzpatrick, Flagg, Knight, Singewald, Sullivan, Townsend, Weymouth and Wolf, who were led by the enthusiastic Doug Schmidt...

What a rally - with a week to go we had 20 april donors and the class of '74 had 27.  In the last week we added 17 donors and they only added 3!

The team will bask in the glory for a week or two, then its back to the phones to rally the rest of the class to make a gift by June 30 to help DA garner >50% alumni participation for the first time in 6 years...

The official announcement:

Class of 1983 Surprises, Class of 1979 Repeats!!

Congratulations to the winners of the 2011 April Donor Challenge!

Most Donors in April

Class of 1979 with 113 donors, 1st place $15,000

Class of 1964 with 84 donors, 2nd place $8,000

Class of 1983 44 donors*  

Class of 1974 38 donors*  

Class of 1966 with 32 donors, 3rd place $1,797

Most Improved April 2011 Donors Compared to April 2010

Class of 1983 +37 donors, 1st place $15,000

Class of 1974 +30 donors, 2nd place $8,000

Class of 1966 +20 donors*

Class of 1964 +16 donors*

Class of 1977 +10 donors, 3rd place tie $898.50

Class of 2009 +10 donors, 3rd place tie $898.50

 *Challenge rules stipulate a class may only win in one category.

To view complete results, go to deerfield.edu/go/aprildonorchallenge

The April Donor Challenge brought in 894 gifts and $585,595 in revenue, greatly helping us toward our year-end goals of 50% participation and $5,000,000 in revenue.

Thanks to everyone who made a gift in April!

2006 - January - DA 83 E News

DA Class of 1983 E-Newsletter
January 2006


Dear 83er,

FEEDBACK:
Always great to know Jim Wareck is reading the newsletter: “Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to the latest email, but a few thoughts came to mind. One, it appears you must be very busy and successful in your new development post because the November 05 DA 83 newsletter was definitely a paste and cut job. I mean a word for word recitation of an Adam Weinberg PR press release? And Weinberg, are you going to try and convince us that this World Learning Center is NOT a North Korean front operation? Two, since when is it news that Eric Suher is controlling more means of production and avenues of commerce? Couldn't that be in the newsletter every month? And finally, I want to thank you and the newsletter for clearing up a potentially ground-breaking discovery. Around the time I received it, I was out walking at night and thought I had witnessed an unmistakable UFO. But now with the news that DA has appointed a female head of school, I realize the unidentified flying object shooting past the planet Venus was just PB Weymouth when he heard the news. Still in DC, all DA 83ers should call, I make an excellent tour guide and Craig Pattee has offered to pick up lunch.”

(PB gets much positive pub later in this issue…)

November 30 Beer and Burger Social at PJ Clarke’s was well attended and provided many good laughs. Thanks to Doug Schmidt for getting it organized. Knight drove down from DA and brought Andy Blau ’81 with him to the event. Ian Murray ’82 attended and wondered who all the youngsters from ’83 were. Geoff Siefert ’84 stopped by as well, just in from South Africa via London! Dominating the scene was ’83 with Will Piersol, Whit Armstrong, John Kikoski, Schmidt, Knight, Al Compagno, Chris Lynch, Drew Schiff, PB Weymouth and hopefully I didn’t forget anyone. Pete Pauley was sad to miss it, and Dave Madden from CA lamented he had been in NYC only a day before!

Nate Blain complained from DC that nothing fun ever happens there with the class of ‘83. Sadly, I had to inform Nate that a DA sponsored young alumni event was taking place in DC in December…but he didn’t qualify!!! Maybe Nate can find a way to actually get Wareck and Pattee in the same room for a social occasion…

Johannes “Yogi” Mortier apologized from Germany that he could not attend. (Fifty bucks says he is coming to our 25th reunion in June 2008!!!) “Thanks for the note. Sorry, I cannot make it. I left the university of Frankfurt / Main and went into private practice (orthopedics). Home address is still the same.”

Jamie Robinson’s art has really taken off in Athens, Ohio. Look for his “Athens Block” reproductions at this art gallery site: http://www.lamborns.com/athensblock.html

This just blew in: Don Hindman (dhindman@clarknational.com) is living in Chicago with his wife, Maron, and their four children, ages 9, 7, 5, and 7 mos.! Don's most recent (surprise) baby, Trudy, will inevitably prompt a visit to the Urologist for Don at his earliest opportunity. As a "recovering lawyer", Don is running his family's distribution business, Clark National, Inc. Lastly, Don relates that he sees fellow alum Eddie Opler '89 on a regular basis in Chicago, where they meet to discuss the benefits of coeducation at Deerfield.

Eduardo Blohm is Deerfield’s Admission Representative in Venezuela and reports all is well with him…


NEW ALUMNI WEBSITE!
Having you been to the http://www.deerfieldalumni.org/ site lately? (You can get there from http://www.deerfield.edu/ too). It is all NEW – and hosted by a new company – so you will need to register again ONCE then you can create your own username and password. The 9 digit ID # required is being included on address labels in all major school mailings: it starts with “D00”. Contact Doug dschmidt2@nyc.rr.com or John jknight@deerfield.edu if you would like your ID# sooner than the Annual Report 2005 which is in the mail…

Upgrades include:

Automated registration and password retrieval process.
MyPage feature that will contain that information of most relevance and interest to the alumnus/a.
Easy to use and manage permanent email forwarding system.
Regular changes in photographs, content and layout.
The ability to create and edit class and club pages.
An ‘auto generator’ process for alumni to create their own class notes and allows them to upload related photos.
The ability to register online for events in addition to Reunion.
The alumni directory makes it possible for us to use virtually any field in the database for searches.
When updating records, alumni will be able to personally select which pieces of information are viewable and which are hidden.

Further Upgrades Coming:

Message Boards and Chat module
Polls and Quick Survey Module
Career and College Mentoring Modules

83 ON CAMPUS


Recently an alumni swim meet was held to honor the memories of former faculty Larry Boyle (recently deceased) and Bill Tyler (still very much kicking). Team ‘83 was well represented by Dean Singewald, Dave McNeil, Dave Morley and Sean Nottage. John Knight jumped in when the photographer appeared…Nottage and Morley are clearly benefiting from living in the Bahamas and it was fantastic they made the effort to attend the event. Dave McNeils’s father swam in the meet also…Great job!

Tim Ehrhart called from campus on January 6th to see if John Knight was getting any sleep (see below). Tim was in town to help with some family matters. Still working at Chubb (18 years) and living near Clinton NJ with a great wife and a great family of three kids 8,5 and 4!

As for John Knight, he is on a brief break from work at DA to help his wife Martha cope with the Christmas Day arrival of Eleanor Noelle Knight! He says it was still fun opening the gifts 10 days later! JK is taking any advice from Christmas babies on when to celebrate birthdays! Jim Wareck on Nora’s birthdate: “John many congrats to you and Martha. But god it sucks for Eleanor. Now she will only get one set of gifts, unless the Vatican acknowledges that Jesus was actually born in May.”

Making it happen at DA:
PB Weymouth was on hand for the new boathouse dedication, partly to honor his father. Here he is with his dad and his own two rugrats followed by the “press release” about the opening! PB is in his sixth year on the Executive Committee of the alumni association. THANKS PB!
November 15, 2005 Last Saturday on a crisp, blue sky morning, friends of Deerfield crew gathered to recognize donors and to dedicate the newly opened Hammerschlag Family Boathouse. A first-class facility that provides more convenient access to the Connecticut River for rowers, the Hammerschlag Family Boathouse is named in honor of Lynne and Mark Hammerschlag, P'93, P'04 and features three bays of shell storage space, training and strength conditioning rooms, and generous rigging areas.
Evoking a traditional New England barn, the post & beam wooden structure fits in comfortably with its natural surroundings, overlooking a grassy meadow above a quiet stretch of the river. Guests at the dedication ranged in age from 8 to 98 years and traveled from as far as the rowing Mecca of Henley-on-Thames, England -- a testament to the long and proud tradition of Deerfield graduates in the rowing world as well as the prospect of more enthusiastic rowers to come!
NOTHING NORMAL EVER HAPPENS TO:
Brian Steward
This is a picture which was taken (against my pleading) after I fell into the Nueces River near Montell, Texas (20 miles from Rocksprings) last Friday (in November). While the air temp was 70 degrees, the water was approximately 45. That did not prevent me from spending the next 2 hours in and around the river. Beautiful country. The comments about throwing a dog into the river were exaggerated. I was simply trying to ease her transition into the water…unsuccessfully. Fortunately, she eased my transition into the water on two occasions. Also note that I had changed clothes immediately before this spill which made it even more pleasurable.

AND THIS ONE IS FOR BEAUBIEN, SILVERMAN AND SUHER and any other WGAJ founders…an email sent the students 1/11/06 by the faculty rep for the radio station:

“Over the years Deerfield Academy's very own Radio Station WGAJ 91.7 FM THE VOICE has been under-recognized by our beloved community. Year after year DJs have come and gone and the greater community has neither embraced nor directly rejected these beautiful souls. Instead they have been given the cold shoulder of apathy. The poor radio station began to slowly fall and decay.
Luckily for the world, 6 brave Radio Warriors have arisen and taken up the challenge of getting everyone to tune into 91.7 FM, the place to be on the Franklin County dial. These 6 have decided that the station's black and white colors are too boring and out dated. After much debate, coffee and a scuffle or two they came up with the greatest idea imaginable. Give the station back to the people.
In order to do so these great wave warriors have decided to challenge you, O mighty Deerfield, to give the station a new image. There will be a T-shirt contest so everyone can proudly wear the WGAJ logo, which will be displayed on both our new banner and stickers. The logo, the sticker the banner and the T-shirt will all be made by you and contested over. All these will be submitted to the ITS box in the switchboard under the name Mr. Terwilliger.
Then the best 3 of each catogory will be picked and you will vote on the new image of WGAJ. Our job is done. Now it's your turn to let THE VOICE be heard.” The Mighty 6

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL and keep those stories coming…

P.S. 25th reunion is June 6-8, 2008

Please let me know if there is a better email address for this missive…New email for newsletter contributions is jknight01038@comcast.net – or you could always use classnotes@deerfield.edu. Hope to hear from you…