Doug and JK's next Excellent Adventure...

 

Doug Schmidt stopped in Rhode Island on his way back from dropping his son at UVM for second semester...and the usual planning ensued.

Deerfield's next Day of Giving (DOG) is coming up and is using the newly renovated Dining Hall as its theme.

Did you know that the new DH has 906 seats in total (includes up and down stairs...)?

Did you know that Deerfield's next DAY OF GIVING will be February 26, 2026?  Good news though, the FIRST WAITER phase will be held Feb 2 to Feb 25! Those who get things done early, who are organized or who need it all to be over with asap can benefit from early giving! Additionally, givers on the day (MAIN PHASE) will be enticed with matches and challenges to multiply the effect of their giving.  ANY AMOUNT COUNTS FEB 2-26!  BE READY!

Hiccup...

So we recently learned that the RSS feed from the blog to the email client went offline in August 2025. Thus, the six posts since that time were never distributed and none of our content from that time made it to the Class Notes section in the last two DEERFIELD magazines.

That said, we did not have to hire any additional operators to field calls and emails from irate subscribers.  Some just thought the editor was ill, or tired, or sick and tired?

Let this be a lesson: if you don't see something for a while, say something (jgknight83[at]gmail.com)!

Happy New Year!

JK expands his Deerfield family - Lisbon

JK and family traveled to Portugal for Spring Break and connected with Julie Deffense '91, the world's greatest cake designer and her husband Jacques. 

Only the best people for us!

https://www.juliedeffense.com/press

JK expands his Deerfield family - NYC

JK was attending a wonderful bar mitzvah in NYC recently - a relative on his wife's side - and at the reception he learned that another attendee's daughter was a 9th grader at Deerfield!  While JK was extolling the outsized impact the Class of 1983 has on the Deerfield Magazine (especially) all agreed a photo for Class Notes was warranted. What started as being in the audience for a simple right of passage for a cousin-in-law turned into the best day ever!

Happy New Year!

Be sure to spend 2025 with people who know you well and still love you!

Cheers!

JK and Doug

Catch Them When You Can

John Cianciolo and John Knight hosted Jim Wareck for lunch at Matunuck Oyster Bar on the south coast of Rhode Island to wish Jim well as he heads back to Boise State in Idaho to teach in the fall term. Local oysters were enjoyed and hopes and dreams were shared, all with an undertone of hilarity.

RSS Feed Test

Well its my 4th try, but if you get this as an email, the feed is back up and running!  Here's a photo from Stowe, VT this weekend to enjoy too...

Shock and awwwwwwwwwwwwwe!

While congratulations are in order for John Cianciolo on the occasion of his 60th birthday,  it was universally agreed that his daughter Lilly should get all the praise for the SURPRISE 60th she unleashed.

It started with an abbreviated Peleton ride when Bob Keirstead (from Illinois), Will Piersol (from Colorado) and local driver John Knight showed up in his driveway. (CC was overhead later saying, "I'm gonna kill her!")

Phase one surprise visitors included: Knight, Keirstead, CC, Piersol and Doug Schmidt!

More school friends from Deerfield and Boston College descended on a bar in Narraganset for further shenanigans.

Thanks to Nelse Clark (MA), Spence Brown (CT) and Jim Wareck (CT) for joining in the fun!

Kudos to all the classmates that were able to answer the call for John, but especially class spokesman, Bubba Keirstead!

Knight sends his best from Italy!

Recent Lunches announce new photo policy

Two great classmate lunches happened recently and all participants "forgot" to include a photo with their information sharing.  This, sadly, includes your editor.  Hence the new policy of yearbook photos as stand ins.  Enjoy!

Will Piersol and Andy Stewart dined in the West...

While Knight and Wareck dined in the East!

Stick together in ‘24

Celebrate '24 by connecting with DA classmates just like Doug and JK did!  And remember to send the evidence to the blog, please.

Happy New Year ‘83!

When in Newport...

John Knight got his first taste of Newport (RI) Polo with the USA v. England tilt on Saturday of Labor Day Weekend.

Pictured (LtoR): John's wife Martha Wofford, Laurie Knight, Jim Knight (DA '81) and John.

DA1983 virtual Golf Tournament is LIVE

Knight isn't sure if he has to invite players to join the tournament or if they can join on their own - but if you're game - play a round between Thursday 8/4 and Sunday 8/7 and post the score to the 18Birdies tournament he set up:

Tournament: DA1983

Codes: Tournament Code 1425 / Gallery Code 5031

Full Handicap - 18 holes

If you are tech savvy enough to join the tourney, that's already a win.  If not, Knight will certainly claim victory as the only participant.

Good Luck!

Here's a screen shot of the page to enter the tournament code...

Travelling?

 Congratulations to Rob McGill for getting out of the house and hitting Paris!

and to Jon Bernstein - Congratulations on your 25 years working for American Airlines!  Lord knows you've travelled far and wide!

Oh, and Knight went to Tahiti from Australia, so here's a gratuitous "winter in Tahiti" shot:

Fortune of War

Sydney Australia's oldest pub, Fortune of War, was the scene of John Knight's furthest DA reunion to date. Rob McCreery '82 played host to "the first person I met at Deerfield as we both moved in to Plunkett West 1 in the fall of 1980" and many memories were shared. Rob is now a full time math teacher at a nearby public school and while exhausting, he adores his new profession. Good on ya, Rob!

Townsend hosts Patton and Knight to kick off golf events

Ben Patton drove from NYC, dropped his son at camp in Maine then returned to his homestead of Hamilton, MA to catch up with his old pal Peter Townsend.  John Knight drove up from Rhode Island and the threesome enjoyed a lovely Sunday of golf at Essex County Club (1893, Donald Ross was head pro for 7 years starting in 1910 and redesigned the course).

A dozen members typically gather on weekend mornings at 7:30 am and politely divide into groups and tee times, so our golfers teed off about 8:00 am with the warning that they must be off the course by 11:30 am - the start of an 80 golfer shotgun tournament.

The morning was warm but clear and the golf was crisp!  Lots of fun with the challenge presented and Pete, Ben and John were putting the 18th green as the 80 golfers headed to their assigned tees right at the appointed hour.

Find a classmate and go golfing! (or dining, or bowling, or drinking or...)

Remember the virtual golf tournament currently scheduled for the first weekend of August.  The tournament link on 18Birdies will get posted on the blog and you can play anytime that weekend!

Golf Anyone?

Inspired by the fun times and meaningful conversations that occurred on the recent '83 Ski Weekend, an impromptu committee has formed to try and replicate some of those interactions...on a golf course or twenty...

Spence Brown and Pete Townsend and John Knight chatted recently and came up with two ideas.  This post is to elicit feedback and opportunities.  It's possible some of these early communications will also be emailed to make sure they are seen by as many classmates as possible.

MINI OUTINGS: Some of us have access to golf clubs that might allow a few foursomes of classmates to golf on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday and maybe even host a meal of some kind.  We'd like to build a list of those classmates, the clubs and the rough parameters if known.  Then we can just try a date and a club and see who is game... Costs would vary by course obviously.

VIRTUAL TOURNAMENT: By using the same golf app on the same weekend, it's actually easy for us to hold a Class of 83 Golf Tournament!  The app we're considering was actually created by a fellow Deerfield golf addict (Eddie Lui '79) and is called 18Birdies.  The free app can handle 100 classmates playing in the same tourney and each participating classmate would play a round on a course of their choosing on the same weekend. We could use full handicaps and give awards for all kinds of things. Entry fee would relatively small and would be used for Deerfield merch for the category winners...Would be fun to have a nationwide or worldwide tournament to our credit!

Tentative timing for a virtual tournament is August 4-7, 2022.  You would join the tournament through a link and record one score on one of the days that weekend.  Like golf itself, this is "on your honor" so you would be expected to post the score from the round you intended to be for the tournament and not see if you play better the next day.

What do you think?  Send an email to JK (jgknight83 "AT" gmail.com) with your thoughts and any options for a mini-outing that you might have. Committee members welcome too!

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?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Your (*ahem*) 40th Reunion Committee held its first meeting in NYC this past weekend and great things are afoot! Be sure to reserve the first part of June 2023 for the festivities.

Doug Schmidt is well in NYC and John Knight appreciates being only a 3 hour train ride away after his move to RI.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours and enjoy the day.